Ask a chatbot about a disputed Bible verse and you may get a tidy answer. Ask America’s pastors about the AI response, and you get a warning: That tidy answer could be a real problem. The Barna Group recently highlighted findings from two surveys, conducted in partnership with Gloo for the State of the Church initiative, that land on a common concern. Artificial intelligence misinterpreting Scripture is a shared worry for 74% of U.S. adults. Among practicing Christians, the figure climbs to 83%, and for pastors, it reaches 94%. Even 77% of non-practicing Christians say they are concerned.

What happens when you reject God’s Word as your authority and instead base your thinking on fallen man’s fallible word? Well, you might end up standing in a church pulpit and telling your congregation that God had a wife and that King Josiah was wrong for destroying the Asherah poles. Yes, this “pastor” really claims the Israelites worshipped Yahweh as God along with Asherah as a female god, and that no one had a problem with it for a very long time. He then bemoans how hard it must have been for the Israelite women and girls when King Josiah ordered the Asherah poles to be chopped down—who would they now look up to and pray to without a “queen of heaven”?

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, told Decision, “People should pay very close attention to state laws, those who are running to make those laws, the attorneys general in those states and the state elected officials. What’s happening at the state level is very important in our system—our federalist system—because the state laws become, as we’ve seen in recent years, a defense against the encroachment of bad federal policy.” The former Louisiana legislator added, “The state level is an opportunity to actually get strong pro-family, pro-life, Biblically aligned laws into place.”

There is tremendous online chatter spreading today that must be answered from an evangelical perspective. Self-proclaimed "Christians" who are, at best, confused theologically are spreading conspiracies, lies, rumors, and frankly tall tales. The sad thing is that these purveyors of confusion have influence, and their nonsense is paying off. Upon further examination, it becomes clear that these individuals—far from holding to Biblical truth—are giving heed to the demonic.

At least one police chief in Florida thinks the three-judge panel’s decision is a dangerous miscalculation. "The courts in this case got it wrong," said Pensacola Police Chief Eric Winstrom in an interview with his local ABC television affiliate. "I realized that this is an emerging level of technology. You know, everything changes but the courts have to keep up. And in this case, they failed. "Just because technology is moving at such a fast pace doesn't mean that the courts don't have that responsibility to have to move equally fast to keep up with it.”

California could soon add Muslim holy days Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha to its list of official state holidays, with lawmakers approaching a final vote that could put the legislation on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk within days.

There is a dark irony in the whispered joke that DEI means “Didn’t Earn It.” Most diversity advocates vehemently reject that characterization. But institutions should understand why such cynicism has gained traction. When race, victimhood or representation outweigh measurable achievement, people naturally begin wondering whether standards have been lowered. DEI is regressive, demeaningly assumptive, demoralizing, and (let’s just say it), racist.

The authors present the result as a gap in how officials look for radicalization. The report noted that “federal agencies and public safety officials are concerned not only with ideology in the abstract, but with radicalization pathways: the content that tells people who to fear, why the situation is urgent, and when force becomes acceptable.” “Violence connected to gender ideology remains largely undocumented in the academic literature,” the researchers concluded. “This study provides a first systematic empirical look at the psychological infrastructure that makes such violence conceivable.”

Opponents of Prime Minister Netanyahu have been desperately attempting to smear the PM prior to the upcoming elections at the end of October. The latest slander came in the form of an allegation that came through the newspaper Haaretz that UAE President Mohammad bin Zayed warned the PM of the October 7 massacre prior to it taking place. Netanyahu immediately denied the allegation and his party, Likud, opened an investigation into the defamation. Now, they say they have discovered the culprit.

One of the most significant discoveries in the history of humanity took place in late 1946, early 1947. It was done by a Bedouin shepherd in the area of Qumran, in Southern Israel. A collection of well-preserved manuscripts was discovered, and it suddenly pushed back the earliest Old Testament manuscript copies by more than 1,000 years. Before that discovery, the earliest manuscripts dated back to the 10th Century CE (Masoretic text). The Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS) took us back to the period between the 3rd and 1st centuries BCE, but the story doesn't end there. When all fragments were found, gathered, and organized, scholars came to realize that, except for Esther, every single book of the Hebrew Bible was present in part or almost in full.

Israel’s military is raising its readiness level amid growing concern over Turkish naval movements in the eastern Mediterranean, as tensions between Jerusalem and Ankara continue to sharpen over Syria, Gaza, and Turkey’s expanding regional posture.

Reports and photos have recently emerged of the Syrian Arab Army soldiers standing in formation outside the historic Damascus Citadel and chanting violent threats directed toward Jews. According to published the soldiers declared that they were coming for the Jew and spoke of making Jewish blood flow like rivers. These were not simply civilians arguing on social media. They were members of Syria's military. Standing in Damascus. For students of Bible prophecy, these details are hard to ignore. Damascus is not merely another Middle Eastern capital. It is a city whose name appears in one of the Bible's most dramatic unfulfilled prophecies.

“The reality is this—and it is quite convicting—Christians in America tend to fight for something until they lose. Muslims in America have come here to overrule the Constitution—they fight until they win... The Muslims are at war—a cultural war. They are probing our constitutional rights. Shariah law in Islamic jurisprudence is diametrically opposed to the constitutional republic government in which we live. Christians do not want to entertain that because it provokes them to get involved,” Hibbs stated, encouraging the church to fulfill the responsibility to be “watchmen of the wall and sound the alarm.”

Muslim populations in Europe, Canada, Australia, and right here in the United States are growing at a rapid clip—so is the building of mosques. What makes this mass immigration so unprecedented is that these new Muslim arrivals have been welcomed in by their host countries. Despite approximately 1,400 years of confrontation between Islam and the West and jihad after jihad launched against non-Muslims, today's so-called Western leaders apparently think this time will be different. If you understand Islamic history, you know how dangerously wrong they are.

A new resolution in the House of Representatives condemns socialism and the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) as “incompatible with American values and the United States Constitution.” The resolution begins by connecting the DSA, a membership organization espousing democratic socialism, and socialism to the brutal legacy of communism. It’s right to do so. Democratic socialism and communism, or Marxism-Leninism, are both types of socialism — an economic and social ideology devised by German philosopher Karl Marx in the 19th century.

During the 1976 approach to America’s one hundredth birthday, there were dangers to the nation in many directions. Communism was on the move, despite the ending of the Vietnam War, which, to many observers, America lost. That evil ideology seemed to be spreading everywhere, including to this hemisphere. The American culture was growing coarser by the day, with many universities and colleges harboring professors who taught (and students who excitedly embraced) communism. Anti-American revolutionaries grew from these enclaves to foment growing internal strife.

An unforgiving Christian is a contradiction in terms, an oxymoron. To say that you’re a follower of Jesus Christ and yet harbor unforgiveness in your heart is simply wrong. This reality brings us to our final amazing truth in this week’s devotions: You are never more like God than when you forgive.

Yet every precious life saved from death is only a temporary fix. They will still die. But in the gospel, we have a different story. Jesus didn’t lower Himself from a helicopter. He lowered Himself from Heaven. He lowered Himself from God to become a lowly human being, one who walked the shores of Galilee and felt fear, pain, and hunger. And He did so not only because human lives are valuable, but because His rescue wasn’t a temporary fix. I often wonder if we’ve even realized what God has commissioned us to do by taking the gospel to rescue those who are dying.

The phrase one minute to midnight originated with the Doomsday Clock, a representation of how close the world is to global catastrophe as a result of our own technological and scientific advancements and geopolitical conflicts. Scripture is filled with one minute to midnight moments. For instance, King David had such a moment when he stood face to face with the mighty Goliath with only a slingshot and five smooth stones. Moses’ moment came after serving as a shepherd for 40 years and, holding his staff, telling Pharaoh “let my people go.” Daniel’s moment came when he was thrown into a pit of hungry lions. Each of them confronted and overcame danger by the grace of God.

The Bible has a single message: Christ. There are 66 books, each written by different authors and for different reasons. But think about it. Genesis talks about creation and the fall, and then immediately in chapter 3, we see the first prediction of the solution for the fall (see v. 15). It's the first messianic prophecy.

My guess is that you know Christians who are an absolute blessing to be around. They carry the joy of Christ wherever they go, sacrificially serving others while spreading the hope and peace of God. Conversely, you have likely also known people who call themselves Christians but are prideful, unhappy, scheming and always desiring to be first. These types of people bring despair to the whole church.

In 1947, a Bedouin shepherd boy and a wayward goat made an amazing discovery in a nearly inaccessible cave in Qumran, Israel, forever confirming the accuracy of the Bible. When the goat wandered into the dark cave, the shepherd boy was curious and ventured inside to explore. He threw a stone into the cave and unexpectedly heard something crack. He returned later with friends to search the cavern, which eventually resulted in the discovery of a fantastic collection of ancient biblical scrolls in clay jars.

What if you had a handwritten note sent to you from God Himself? Would you carry it around in your pocket for a couple of weeks and open it when you got around to it? I doubt it. You probably would tear it open as you’re thinking, “Wow, God spoke to me! What does He have to say?” The Bible is a written letter from God. Many people carry it around. They have it in different colors and sizes. They have it in different translations. They even have it on their phones and devices. But they never open it. A letter from God Himself goes unread.

I want to look at somebody who you rarely, if ever, hear a sermon about: Joseph of Arimathea. He was the man who buried Jesus, but we don't even know very much about him. Joseph of Arimathea is mentioned in all four Gospels. He is described as a rich man who became “a disciple of Jesus” (Matthew 27:57), “a prominent council member” (Mark 15:43), “a good and just man” (Luke 23:50-51), and “a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, for fear of the Jews” (John 19:38).

We live backstage in our own lives. We know what lies behind the façade. We know we have strayed from God’s ways and in the process burdened ourselves with sin. We sense what Ezekiel 18:20 says explicitly: “The soul who sins shall die.” His life affirms that our lives have meaning. His death paid for our sins. And His resurrection gives certainty to the promise of eternal life. World history is littered with the dead bodies of those who claimed to answer the human dilemma. But Jesus is not like them. Of all the individuals who ever lived, He alone answers our deepest needs.

When the waters grow rougher than we imagined, these truths remain: (1) our Guide is in the same boat with us, (2) He knows everything about the way ahead, (3) He is worthy of our trust, and (4) He has already defeated these waves. Even death is now survivable because Jesus is the victor.

Consider the love of parents, many of whom would jump in front of a car to save their disobedient children. It helps us understand God’s selfless love. This is the Good News: For those who trust in Jesus the Messiah, the punishment for all our sin was paid for on the cross—past, present, and future (Hebrews 10:14). “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).