If you kill a language, you actually destroy an entire universe of meaning. C.S. Lewis coined a phrase a word “verbicide”, which he used to describe what he called the murder of a word. As a writer, you can imagine that verbicide for Lewis was considered to be a major crime. We can only imagine what C.S. Lewis would think today about the state of New York legally changing the language of their law code by substituting for the word mother, with the words gestating parent. Let's talk about this.

R. Albert Mohler, “Mass verbicide in New York”, June 15, 2026.

Joseph Backholm, “Government as super-parent”, June 5, 2026.

Glenn T. Stanton, “Pushback for parental rights in Colorado”⁠, June 4, 2026.

In the church I pastor, we have homesteading courses, classes that teach, canning fruits and vegetables, building a pantry. The kind of skills your grandma taught you or used to teach you. Somebody recently asked me, is this church a prepper church? So, I thought about that question, and today, I want us to talk about the difference between being a prepper and being prepared.

Les Sillars, “Visions of the Apocalypse”, September 2025.

Carolina Lumetta, “Prophetic Foreign Policy” , September 2025.

Kim Henderson, “Beans, Bullets, and Band-Aids” , January 2025.

“Tortured fear and stupid confidence are the preferred states of mind.” That’s a remark from Screwtape, the demon, in C.S. Lewis’ book, The Screwtape Letters.He’s advising a younger demon on the mindset that they want to create for humanbeings. Either a tortured fear of the future, a sense that we’re living in Hell, or a stupid confidence that feels like we’re smart enough to create Heaven. The devil is satisfied with either of those approaches because they’re both different from what God has for us, to walk in the moment in His presence. It seems to me that this comment from Screwtape Letters is applicable tothe whole subject of artificial intelligence. Because we live in the tension between those who tell us that it is the greatest thing ever, that we are going to revolutionize mankind verses those who say the machines are coming and the Terminator series will no longer be science fiction, it’s real. The truth is somewhere in the middle. And so we need to talk about artificial intelligence, for one more week, to answer the question, “Can it be used to advance the Kingdom of God?”

Brad Littlejohn, “The right’s looming war over AI”, September 29, 2025.

Isaac Willour, “A reflexive fear of AI doesn’t serve Christ”, August 21, 2025.

Matthew Branaugh, “Generative AIIs All the Rage. Handle With Care”, July 25, 2023.

I want to return today to the topic of artificial intelligence. I want to spend one more week looking at warnings about this technology and then next week we’ll circle back around and we’ll look at the way this technology, this burgeoning technology, can be used by Christians. We don’t need to be afraid of it; we just need to understand where the boundaries are. And so, we’ll get to how we can use AI and how it can be profitable to the kingdom of God. But today, let’s look at additional warnings.

Juliana Chan Erikson, “Are AI toys safe for children?” December 15, 2025.

Daniel R. Suhr, “AI’s newest advance: necromancy?” November 25, 2025.

Brad Littlejohn, “Just say no to AI toys,” November 13, 2025.

Erin Hawley, “Your teenager’s new BFF,” September 25, 2025.

One statement that has become so common place that no one even thinks about challenging it or giving it pushback anymore, is the statement that we hear regularly that Jesus is not a democrat or a republican. Pastors say it from the pulpit; Christians say it on social media. It’s a kind of theological curtesy that’s meant to signal that I somehow have a spiritual walk with Jesus that’s not muddied by engaging in the muck of political debate. Let me explain why that statement needs to be tossed overboard because it is 100% wrong.

John G. West, Stockholm Syndrome Christianity, Discovery Institute, 2026.

Joseph Backholm, “A Christian Democrat’s hard decision,” April 9, 2026.

What is artificial intelligence? We started this conversation a week ago talking about AI and some of the dangerous aspects of this technology, but do we really understand what it is?

We used to say, a generation ago, what is this thing called electronic mail? Now, email is commonplace the world over. Then we said, what is the internet? What is Google? What is a search engine? And today we say, what is AI? Well, it’s simply the next generation of the discovery of data and one of these days, it will be as commonplace and normal to us all of those other things. So, what is artificial intelligence?

Lynn Vincent, “Crouching at the keyboard,” January 1, 2026.

Maria Baer, “AI is not your mom,” September 23, 2025.

Samuel D. James, “AI and the crisis of truth,” September 5, 2025.

What would you do if you received a video message from your pastor, the trusted shepherd you have great confidence in, what if he asked you to give money to meet an urgent ministry need he was dealing with? Would you help him? Would you send him money? What you should do is be skeptical that the video is even from him.

Associated Press, “The faith-based tech boom is here—chat with ‘BuddhaBot’ or pay $1.99 for AI Jesus,” April 10, 2026.

Maria Baer, “AI is not your mom,” September 23, 2025.

Samuel D. James, “AI and the crisis of truth,” September 5, 2025.

How did Jesus know when his day was finished? There was always someone else to talk to, always someone else to heal, always more work to do, always more demands on his time. How did Jesus know when this particular day was finished? It’s a question I have asked all of my young pastors because it deals with a common problem, particularly among pastors, but also among all Christians. It is what I call the indispensability syndrome. Pastors sometimes feel the need to be omnipotent. Let’s talk about that.