Top Thirty most visited articles written this year
It never ceases to encourage me that what I write on here actually gets read. Around this time of year I like to reflect back on the year that was and share again the most popular posts. My 2025 was a strange one as I began the year feeling increasingly unwell and not writing much at all. I ended up in hospital and gathered several more diagnoses over the first half of the year. Getting some of those under control, and my asthma, whilst it hasn’t got rid of my fatigue, it has definitely made me more able to write. I hope you have enjoyed some of these, and here is a list so you can catch up with those you missed.
1. Did Herod’s Masacre Of The Innocents Really Happen?
2. Eight Years Of Living With Chronic Illness
3. Amazing Grace Within: Newton On The Inner Evidence Of Faith
4. “Lord, Help!” A Simple Prayer For Suffering
5. When Life Hurts: Physical, Mental, Social, & Spiritual Pain
6. When Your Body Lies To You: False Messages And Appetites
7. John Piper Recommends Books On Spiritual Depression
8. Why The Apostle Paul Wouldn’t Get Hired By Your Church
9. Am I The Worst Sinner In The World?
10. Does God Have Anything To Do With Coping With Cancer?
11. The Renewed Christian: What Does Maturity Look Like?
12. Interview: Christians And Mental Health – Dr Mark Mayfield
13. John Smyth, Shame, His Son PJ, & A Big Channel 4 Documentary
John Smyth, shame, his son PJ, & a big Channel 4 documentary
14. Spurgeon On Sharing The Divine Nature — Evangelical Theosis?
Spurgeon on Sharing the Divine Nature — Evangelical Theosis?
15. Tozer: Sinful People May Now Become One With God
16. Easter Saturday – Disappointment, Despair, And Doubt
17. Real Love Has Christian Roots And Without Them It Is Doomed
18. Make Your Life Count: A Year Of Adrian’s Writing
19. PREACH THE RESURRECTION THIS EASTER SUNDAY! Don’t Forget!
20.The Blade – How Grace Enters The Human Heart
21. John Smyth: PJ & Andy Morse On Good Morning Britain
22. How Suffering Revealed What Was In My Heart
23.Disability – An Injustice The Church Should Battle
24.Revive A Hymn: Breathe On Me, Breath Of God
25. John Newton’s Amazing Grace: I Once Was Blind But Now I See
26. TV’s The Traitors: Spellbound By Lies
27. Interview: PJ Smyth & See No Evil – God The Shed And My Dad
28. Revive A Hymn: I Asked The Lord That I Should Grow
29. Easter Monday – Another UK Holy Day
30.Preorder Two New Books Coming 2026
COMING IN 2026: PREVIEW CONTENT NOW ON ADRIAN’S PATHEOS BLOG
Amazing Grace: How Faith Grows in the Human Heart
Modern English Explanation of Ancient Truths.
By John Newton and Adrian Warnock
Buy here
Classic writings updated and a new biography.
300 years after the author’s birth
253 years after he released the world’s greatest hymn, Amazing Grace
This hymn has been recorded more often than any other song of any genre. In the same thirty-six hours which changed the world forever, his close friend William Cowper also wrote God Moves in a Mysterious Way, but then had a crushing mental breakdown from which he never fully recovered. Such powerful grace of God, but marked by terrible suffering. The echoes still reverberate today.
Also includes a chapter by Charles Spurgeon who highly valued John Newton
About Adrian Warnock
“Adrian is a first-rate communicator”—Albert Mohler Jr
About John Newton
”I look forward to meeting John Newton” — R. T. Kendall
”One of my heroes”—Tim Keller
“He says it all perfectly”— Martyn Lloyd-Jones
”The memory of his own gracious change of heart and life gave him tenderness in dealing with sinners, and it gave him hope for their restoration” — C. H. Spurgeon
”Why am I interested in this man? Because one of my great desires is to see Christians be as strong and durable as redwood trees, and as tender and fragrant as a field of clover. Oh, how rare are the Christians who speak with a tender heart and have a theological backbone of steel.” — John Piper
”If William Cowper could speak, he’d thank God for not only John Newton, but any friend who prays for and walks beside those with mental illness.” — Joni Eareckson Tada
Preview the content here:
→ I once was blind but now I see
→ Grace Within: The Inner Evidence of Faith
→ How Grace enters the Human Heart
→ Growing in Grace: When Shoots Take Root
→ A modern parable: The Traitors: Spellbound by Lies
More coming soon: subscribe by email or follow on social media
→ The 36 hours that changed the word
and much more…
Adrian Warnock presents a modern English edition of the 18th century classic writings of John Newton (1725-1807), author of Amazing Grace, the world’s greatest hymn and the most recorded song of any genre. This is an early access preview version, and includes free updates.
Allow John Newton to speak to your heart today. This updated autobiography and his devotional writings form a powerful commentary on the lyrics of his famous hymn, revealing what is so amazing about grace. The book also contains an interpretation of how significant his extraordinary life still is today. Newton becomes for us a vivid example of how God’s grace changes people gradually over time.
Published 300 years after John Newton was born, and 253 years after he released his remarkable hymn, this book blends Newton’s timeless wisdom with the clarity of thought and plain English which has marked Warnock’s Patheos blog for more than twenty years, and shaped his other books Raised with Christ, Hope Reborn, and The Traitor Within.
Amazing Grace includes modern English versions of Newton’s autobiography, Authentic Narrative, his thoughts on entering the ministry, Miscellaneous Thoughts, the first ever abolition publication, Thoughts on the African Slave Trade, selected sermons, and letters from Newton’s vast correspondence. A skillful soul physician, Newton describes how grace changes every aspect of a Christian’s life over a lifetime of faith. The former slave trader turned pastor speaks to the deepest struggles of our spiritual journeys. In these pastoral devotions, Newton traces how divine grace takes root, grows, and matures in the human heart through three phases: conviction, conflict, and mature contemplation of God’s glory.
We meet the rebellious and violent youth, the slave trader who oppressed thousands of innocents, was made a slave himself, and who was found by God’s grace during a storm that nearly sank his ship. We see how this unruly man was pursued, rescued, and transformed by grace. We learn how he became a pastor known for his compassion and kindness, demonstrated by his deeply committed care for the poet William Cowper during his severe mental illness. Newton became a pastor to the whole nation, working for the abolition of the slave trade, mentoring William Wilberforce for decades.
Newton bridged the gap between the warring denominational movements of his time, a friend of both George Whitefieldand John Wesley. He turned his fervor away from pamphlet flame wars or revival preaching, but towards tenderhearted soul care for the distressed and depressed as they struggled to find greater spiritual freedom and transformation. These pages invite readers not only to understand Newton’s insights, but to experience the living reality of grace in their own lives.
ABOUT ADRIAN WARNOCK
“Adrian is a first-rate communicator”—Albert Mohler Jr
ABOUT JOHN NEWTON
“He says it all perfectly”—Martyn Lloyd-Jones
“I look forward to meeting John Newton”—R. T. Kendall
“One of my heroes.”—Tim Keller
“The memory of his own gracious change of heart and life gave him tenderness in dealing with sinners, and it gave him hope for their restoration”—C. H. Spurgeon
“Why am I interested in this man? Because one of my great desires is to see Christians be as strong and durable as redwood trees, and as tender and fragrant as a field of clover. Oh, how rare are the Christians who speak with a tender heart and have a theological backbone of steel”—John Piper
“If William Cowper could speak, he’d thank God for not only John Newton, but any friend who prays for and walks beside those with mental illness.”—Joni Eareckson Tada
If this book makes you want to read more John Newton, and you do not mind the old English, buy the Logos Bible Software Edition of his Works or a paper version.
The Traitor Within: Understanding and Healing Our Deceitful Hearts
By Adrian Warnock with chapters by John Newton and Charles Spurgeon
Pre-order here
“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?” (Jeremiah 17:9, NLT).
And yet our culture tells us to “follow your heart”. No wonder it too is now desperately sick and beyond cure. This book will explore the cultural phenomenon The Traitors as a modern parable as it unmasks the human heart.
Adrian blends his medical insights gained from his work as a doctor and psychiatrist with pastoral wisdom gathered from twenty-five years serving as part of a church leadership team. He witnessed a period of church growth from less than twenty members to thousands.
In recent years Adrian has also experienced chronic illness following his diagnosis with blood cancer, and this book reflects his passion to help others face all kinds of suffering with hope and compassion.
Preview the content here:
→ TV’s The Traitors: Spellbound by Lies
→ How Suffering Revealed What Was in My Heart
→ When Your Body Lies to You: False Messages and Appetites
→ Help when Life Hurts: dealing with specific challenges
More coming in 2026: subscribe or follow on social media
→ Healing Your Body: Practical Tools
→ Follow Your Heart? Not When Your Mind Is Lying to You
→ Healing Your Mind: Taking Every Thought Captive
→ How Lies Create Our Desperately Sick Society
→ Healing Our Broken Society: Work, Friends, and Family
→ Our Deceitful Spirits: Without Hope and without God
→ Healing Your Spirit – Meaning and Religion
→ Forgiven in a Moment. Renewed Over a Lifetime. Glorified for Eternity.
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