The universe, which scientists have always considered to be pretty big, may be a good bit bigger, according to some of those same scientists. In the interest of not embarrassing them by reporting statistics that they might have to adjust again in a few weeks, we’ll wait for the specific numbers.

Maybe it’s the summer heat. Or maybe it’s the launch of a new presidential election cycle. Whatever the source, it’s appropriate to ask: How angry does God allow His people to get when they see or hear something really wrong going on?

Pretty angry, the Bible suggests. But never so angry that it prompts you to sinful behavior. It’s a balance we at WORLD struggle to keep in mind.

So if you’re finding yourself in the thick of things and are worrying that the tea kettle is about to blow its lid, here’s a short list of warnings and suggestions.

It was one of those once-in-a-thousand-years things—at least not supposed to happen more than once in a lifetime.

But now it had happened twice. Indeed, for the second time in 25 years, the sober question posed by the prophet Isaiah suggested an altogether ill-fitting response. “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast,” Isaiah asked, “and have no compassion on the child she has borne?”

It’s a debate, it seems, that just won’t go away. This time it showed up in a letter from a WORLD reader in rural Texas. Although the letter was apparently written in early 1994, it showed up only a couple of weeks ago in a box labeled “UNANSWERED MAIL.” My wife Carol and I were preparing for a yard sale (something we’d never done before and will probably never do again) and in the process ran across several items that had inadvertently been set aside. 

Pity poor Michael Pompeo, our secretary of state. And while you’re at it, pity his boss, President Trump.

I don’t mean that altogether facetiously. With all the other issues the administration has to worry about, consider what it must be like to have to develop a coherent foreign policy in today’s fractured world.

For starters, tell me which is the tougher challenge: North Korea or Iran? Where do you apply the pressure points in such a confusing and inscrutable lineup? 

When I argue, as I have in this space for the last 25 years, that we evangelical Christians should seek to codify just as little of God’s law as possible, it’s easy to be misunderstood. So let me clarify.

I start with two main assumptions—one about God, and the other about human government.

Concerning God, we assume (because the Bible tells us so) that His main method of bringing human beings into compliance with His law is through the gracious work of His Spirit.

Media reporting on the recent devastating flooding—in places as distant as Mozambique and as close as the Missouri River Valley—brought a new reminder: The doctrine of creation matters.