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Received — 16 October 2026 ⏭ The Aquila Report

Lessons from Ben Sasse about Life, Death, and Politics

16 October 2026 at 05:04
Sasse has a lot of hard-earned wisdom to impart, including some that only comes when facing a terminal diagnosis. Like the wise companion of Proverbs 13, he’s inviting us to walk with him through that dark valley.   Note from Randy: All human beings have a terminal disease called mortality. The death rate is 100... Continue Reading

Get Up and Go to Bethel

16 October 2026 at 05:01
Get up and go to Bethel. God is waiting there. If you will turn in humility, confession, and repentance to Him, He will help you.   What do you do when your life or your family is in a terrible tangle? When everything is out of sorts? When the problem is insurmountable and the solutions... Continue Reading

3 Ways to Respond to Academic Critiques of Christianity

16 October 2026 at 05:01
The history of the academy is deeply indebted to Christianity. More importantly, the credibility of Christian character, faithful testimony, and the societal outcomes of following Christ will continue to confront even the hardest skeptic until He returns.   At the moment of writing, I am at Cambridge University. I have just had the privilege of... Continue Reading

Families Sing Together!

16 October 2026 at 05:01
The Lord has gifted you with an instrument, your voice. Raise it up in faithful adoration and praise, and use it to His glory. Its result will be for your good.   The sound of joyful shouting and salvation is in the tents of the righteous; The right hand of the LORD does valiantly. —Psalm... Continue Reading

The Apostle Paul—A Second Moses

16 October 2026 at 05:01
The apostles are Christ’s instruments and organs for the fulfillment of revelation. As a second Mosaic ministry they share in establishing Christ Himself. Together with Him they constitute the rock, the foundation, the pillars of the church, of which Paul is the last.   While this suggestion might strike you as quite strange, even irresponsible,... Continue Reading

Do I Have the Gift of Teaching?

16 October 2026 at 05:01
Scripture gives no indication that natural winsomeness or comfort before people marks the gift of teaching. This warns those who treat natural gifts as proof of a calling to teach God’s Word, while encouraging the reserved that a lack of such ease does not disqualify them.   Sound teaching is the lifeblood of the church.... Continue Reading

What is the Covenant of Redemption?

16 October 2026 at 05:01
How can a just and holy God promise to bless Hpeople with life when they deserve death? The Lord Himself will bear the penalty of covenant breaking.   A Mighty Deliverance In the Normandy village of Sainte-Mère-Église an effigy of paratrooper John Steele hangs by a parachute from the church belltower. A surprising memorial of... Continue Reading

Jesus and Poverty

16 October 2026 at 05:01
Proverbs gives us a number of warnings against behaviour that can lead to poverty, but it does not teach that poverty is always a disgrace. Poverty is only wrong when it is the result of sinful conduct. The Lord Jesus gives dignity to poverty.   Where did Jesus sleep? Where did he get his meals?... Continue Reading
Received — 15 October 2026 ⏭ The Aquila Report

Why I Will Quietly Decline

15 October 2026 at 05:04
Eventually, death will come for me, as it does for everyone. My Christian faith helps me face that truth without believing I must control when it comes. Death will not have the final word. New York now offers people in circumstances like mine the ability to hasten that day.   On Aug. 5, New York’s... Continue Reading

The Death of Religion Is Greatly Exaggerated

15 October 2026 at 05:01
Now is not the time for the church to be discouraged; instead we must continue the good work to which God has called us. The church in every era has always grown weaker—and stronger—for all kinds of reasons, but through it all people of faith have always flourished and will continue to do so.  ... Continue Reading

What Happens When There Are No Pastors?

15 October 2026 at 05:01
As the sheep of God’s flock we need good shepherds protecting, leading, and providing for us. Men who fit the qualifications listed in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. Without such men we will be a flock in constant danger from wolves and from ourselves.   Because of Moses’ sin in front of the people... Continue Reading

Who Was Zephaniah?

15 October 2026 at 05:01
Zephaniah points us not to any son of David but to the Lord Himself, present among them as “a mighty one who will save” (Zephaniah 3:17). This is the hope fulfilled in Jesus Christ, in whom God Himself has come to dwell with us.   We know very little about Zephaniah. The book that bears... Continue Reading

Is Jesus the Social Justice Champion of Progressives?

15 October 2026 at 05:01
Did Jesus dine with sinners, love the outcasts, and push back against the reigning power structures? Yes, He did those and many other things, but they were not the main goal of His mission.   Progressive Christians often present a truncated portrait of Jesus, highlighting the parts of his ministry that fit their emphasis on... Continue Reading

Impossible for Apostates to Return?

15 October 2026 at 05:01
Hebrews’s message to fallen sinners isn’t that their sin is so bad that it bars their way back to Christ. The point is that fallen sinners should cling to Christ, since there is no hope of cleansing, even in the old covenant, apart from him.   Years ago, a woman wrote me with an agonized... Continue Reading

How Do You Work Hard Without Worshiping Work?

15 October 2026 at 05:01
Go hard, reject laziness, pursue excellence, but remember, Christ secured your salvation through the cross and you are not what you do. Your identity is rooted in Whose you are.    Laziness is not a virtue I tolerate in my own life, nor is there a long runway for it with anyone we hire at... Continue Reading

More Practical Magic: The Return of Witchcraft in Popular Culture

Contemporary witchcraft is critical theory religion—built on perceived, victimization, grievances, and revenge. Christians have something far better to offer.   The witches are back, and it’s not even Halloween yet. Practical Magic 2 opened September 11 and was the top grossing film that weekend. In less than a week, it topped the $30 million mark... Continue Reading
Received — 14 October 2026 ⏭ The Aquila Report

Narnia Among the Deathworks

14 October 2026 at 05:04
How might a glam, rainbow, gender-bent Aslan be like Jesus? The simple answer is that he can’t be.…This Aslan is not and cannot be the Aslan of Lewis’ books.   It was Carl Trueman who introduced me to the idea of a deathwork, though the concept is Philip Rieff’s. According to Rieff, a deathwork is... Continue Reading

The Goal Is Not Obedient Children

14 October 2026 at 05:01
We want sons and daughters who are wise, who fear the Lord, who love what God loves and hate what God hates. We want children who govern their appetites, confess their sins, receive correction, work with their hands, worship with gladness, and gladly spend their lives serving the kingdom of Jesus Christ.   The goal... Continue Reading

Success and Failure in God’s Sight

14 October 2026 at 05:01
In our modern circumstances, we frequently examine our résumé to see if it looks like King Saul’s—great career, great family, etc. Yet we forget to look at what God calls success: living faithfully before him in the circumstances he puts in our lives, waiting on his word as we live before the face of God.... Continue Reading

Trix Are for Kids

14 October 2026 at 05:01
We must present what is good, lovely, true, and honorable in such a compelling way that our children learn to recognize the counterfeits. We want them not merely to reject poison, but to hunger for what is genuinely nourishing.   It’s important to remember that someone is always trying to sell us something. Some of... Continue Reading
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