Raising Our Children to Be Givers in a Culture Infected by Affluenza

Last updated on: February 6, 2019 at 1:20 pm By Randy Alcorn

The next generation is growing up amid—and inheriting—vast wealth. Even many children in Christian families don’t see their parents give and are not taught and encouraged to give themselves. So they become keepers and accumulators, and essentially self-preoccupied materialists. They see the world as about themselves and expect to receive more and more things, appreciating them less and less. With no vision for the joy of giving and of investing in eternity, they can’t see that God’s purpose for prospering... Read more

The Good We Never Ask For: What God Does for Us in Suffering

Last updated on: January 30, 2019 at 1:55 pm By Randy Alcorn

Christian slaves in America sometimes were forbidden to sing—even to God. So when they went to the river, they would hang wet blankets around themselves, then sing into pots filled with water to absorb the sound. “Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing” (2 Corinthians 6:10), they couldn’t hold inside their songs of praise. Perhaps what you’re facing makes you wonder if God has turned His back on you. Your trial may last a day, a year, a decade, or more. But I... Read more

How “Former Christian” Bart Ehrman’s Testimony Should Encourage Us to Grapple Biblically with the Problem of Evil and Suffering

Last updated on: December 4, 2019 at 4:17 pm By Randy Alcorn

In my last blog post, I shared a video about Vaneetha, a woman with a faith-filled response to the incredible suffering she’s experienced in life. Today, in contrast, I’m sharing some excerpts from a chapter of my book If God Is Good that focused on Bart Ehrman and his best-selling book God’s Problem, which documents how a “former Christian” denied his faith because he couldn’t reconcile evil and suffering with God’s goodness. That Bart Ehrman was a “devout and committed Christian” is his claim, not... Read more

How Should We Respond to Those Who Reject Jesus Because Some Christians Are Hypocrites?

Last updated on: January 17, 2019 at 11:51 am By Randy Alcorn

All of us probably know co-workers or family members or neighbors who say they reject Jesus because some of His followers are hypocrites. How should we respond to this? First, I think we should acknowledge to our skeptical friends that there are indeed many hypocrites. (And if you are a hypocrite, then repent, ask forgiveness, and trust God to empower you to no longer be one. And if it happens again, repent again, and get help from those walking with Jesus who... Read more

Make Reading a Priority—and Let Books Change You—in the Coming Year

Last updated on: January 14, 2019 at 9:51 am By Randy Alcorn

Ivan Mesa’s intro to The Gospel Coalition’s 2018 book awards is terrific, which is why I’m featuring it below. First, no, none of my books received an award, second this is a great list, and third, please click the link and look through the books and choose one or more and buy and actually READ them. Though I do read ebooks, I still believe that overall the brain connects better with the physical book you read, and carry and put in a... Read more

What Will It Mean for the Earth to Be “Full of the Knowledge of the LORD as the Sea Is Full of Water”?

Last updated on: January 11, 2019 at 10:38 am By Randy Alcorn

A reader asked me, “The last part of Isaiah 11:9 says, ‘For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the sea is full of water.’ Most of the things I’ve read focus on the first part of the verse, which says, ‘They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain.’ What are your thoughts on this beautiful promise in Isaiah 11:9 and how it relates to the New Earth?” Here’s the context leading up to the culminating promise... Read more

Resting on God: A Puritan Prayer

Last updated on: January 9, 2019 at 1:51 pm By Randy Alcorn

Nanci and I love The Valley of Vision, which is a collection of brief and profound Puritan prayers compiled by Arthur Bennett (I love the leather edition linked to. It’s one of the few books worthy of having in leather!). We find them powerful and penetrating. Here’s one I appreciated: O God, most high, most glorious, the thought of Your infinite serenity cheers me, for I am toiling and moiling, troubled and distressed, but You are for ever at perfect peace.... Read more

Isabella Chow and Standing up for What God’s Word Says Even When It’s Unpopular

Last updated on: December 19, 2018 at 10:10 am By Randy Alcorn

Last month, 20-year-old Isabella Chow, a student senator at the University of California, Berkeley, became the center of a controversy when she chose to abstain from a pro-LGBTQ vote. She was essentially told, “You have to fully support this bill and fully support the LGBTQ lifestyle, or you’re out.” But Isabella held to her convictions. At the next student senate meeting that followed the vote, she sat for three hours while student after student stepped up to the microphone to... Read more

How Going to Jail Gave Me a Heart for Prisoners, and How You Can Help EPM Reach Them Through Books

Last updated on: December 13, 2018 at 12:31 pm By Randy Alcorn

Over twenty-five years ago, on nine occasions I participated in peaceful, nonviolent civil disobedience, briefly going to jail (my longest incarceration was only two days) for what was an extremely unpopular cause—speaking up for unborn children. I remember how during a one-hour release from the jail cell, I checked over the “bookshelf” and found pathetic offerings. I determined to do what I could to donate some decent books that could get the gospel in there. While in jail I shared... Read more

Jesus Changes Everything

Last updated on: December 11, 2018 at 10:09 am By Randy Alcorn

From childhood I’ve loved astronomy. I grew up in an unbelieving home. Night after night I’d gaze at the stars, clueless about a Creator, but yearning for something greater than myself. One night, as I stared through my telescope at the great galaxy of Andromeda with its trillion stars 2.5 million light years away, I was filled with awe. I longed to explore its wonders and lose myself in its vastness. I read fantasy and science fiction stories of other... Read more

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