John MacArthur during his 51 years as pastor of Grace Community Church in suburban Los Angeles has published best-selling books including the MacArthur Study Bible. He’s also chancellor of the Master’s University and Seminary and has a daily broadcast, Grace to You. His church is holding worship services that don’t satisfy the restrictions on church gatherings that Los Angeles County officials have imposed. Here are edited excerpts of our Aug. 11 conversation. 

KELLY WOLFE had been dating her boyfriend since January, but it wasn’t until the pandemic hit that she found out he was deep into QAnon. The apocalyptic internet movement’s central tenet is that a secret Satanic cabal is running the world and using sex trafficking and other nefarious activities to preserve its power.

In the dark days of the pandemic, actor John Krasinski premiered a homemade video podcast called Some Good News (or, as it soon became known, SGN). Producing it in his living room with a title card drawn by his school-age daughter, Krasinski walked the nation through the normal highlights of springtime (prom, graduation, weddings), virtual-style. Celebrity friends contributed their talents and viewers contributed short videos, artwork, and inspiring messages.

God does not bodily descend into the world without changing it forever. Those who fear our culture is returning to paganism are wrong: Our culture is developing an uneasy mix of pagan worldview saturated with perversions of Christian teaching. For example:

Albert Mohler earned a Ph.D. degree in systematic and historical theology. In 1993 he became president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is now a member of the World News Group board of directors. Here are edited excerpts of our Q&A at a staff conference in Asheville before the pandemic began.

Faith in God’s sovereignty has one thing in common with fatalism: Both words begin with the letter F. I’m impressed with the way many Christians are responding to coronavirus pressure, but depressed by those who blithely equate social isolation and theological surrender.

The research organization Barna Group reported in February that two-thirds of American adults who attend church “do so largely because of personal enjoyment.” That claim may not be sensational, but it is misleading.

Barna’s State of the Church 2020 study highlights five trends “essential in understanding the Church’s place in the U.S. today.” It offers little new or noteworthy: Barna concluded that many Christians “church hop,” that church membership is common but declining among younger churchgoers, and that many non-Christians believe church to be irrelevant.