An American bishop says churches shouldn’t become nightclubs to attract young people
American Catholic Bishop Robert Barron has publicly criticized London’s St. Paul’s Cathedral for entering a multiyear partnership with nightclub company Fabric to stage musical events inside the cathedral. New York Post
Barron argues the attempt to attract younger people by making sacred spaces more like secular entertainment venues misunderstands what spiritually curious young people actually want. The controversy follows similar debates over silent discos and other events staged inside historic churches.
Churches have spent decades adding coffee bars, concert lighting, giant screens, skinny jeans and worship music that sounds like Coldplay circa 2008. All of those ‘features’ are part of the reason I personally have no interest in modern churchianity.
So What?
I think young people who are seeking spiritual meaning want something other than the cultural experiences they can find for a dime a dozen anywhere and everywhere. They want something deeper and they’re looking in other places for it, like in ancient liturgy, Catholicism, Orthodoxy, Bible study and traditional Christian practices.
The answer isn’t found in making Christianity look more like the culture.
Imagine being a Christian in first-century Asia Minor. Roman banners hang over your city. Coins carry the emperor’s image. Temples praise Caesar. Soldiers enforce his laws. Rome controls politics, trade, religion, and public life.
Then John’s Revelation is read aloud:
“And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea….” — Revelation 13:1, KJV
Nobody in the room asks, “Could this be a twenty-first-century president, celebrity, or tech mogul?”
They already know what the monster looks like.
John builds the Beast from the creatures in Daniel 7, where terrifying animals symbolize kingdoms that conquer and oppress. His Beast has features of a leopard, bear, and lion—as if history’s worst empires had been stitched together into one giant political monster.
For John’s readers, that monster was Roman imperial power.
Rome claimed to bring peace and civilization, but it maintained that “peace” through armies, executions, slavery, and fear. Emperors accepted divine honors, and anyone refusing to play along could be viewed as disloyal. The Beast represents the Empire as a system, although individual emperors—especially the brutal Nero—could become the human face of that system.
Revelation 17 provides another enormous clue: the Beast’s seven heads represent seven mountains and seven kings. Rome was famously associated with seven hills. John wasn’t tossing random monsters into a religious horror movie. He was exposing Rome’s spiritual identity.
There is also a second beast, rising from the land. It looks somewhat like a lamb but speaks like the Dragon, Satan, from whom the Beasts get their power and marching orders. It represents the local religious and political machinery that encouraged people to honor Rome and worship imperial power. In modern terms, the first Beast wielded the sword; the second handled the propaganda.
Mainstream biblical scholarship broadly places these images within the world of Roman rule. Futurist interpreters often expect a final ruler who will display the same characteristics, but the Beast’s original identity cannot simply be removed from the first century and turned into one man waiting at the end of history.
So What?
Revelation’s imagery had a meaning before it had a modern application. Rome had become a beastly empire by demanding the loyalty and worship that belonged to God.
Its continuing application: Any nation, ideology, institution, or leader can become beastlike when power becomes sacred, truth becomes optional, and people are crushed for refusing to conform.
The Beast doesn’t need seven literal heads, it only needs people willing to worship power.
A new national political debate is emerging around candidates such as Texas Democrat James Talarico, Florida state Rep. Angie Nixon and Michigan’s Abdul El-Sayed, who are explicitly incorporating faith into their campaigns. Detroit pastor Lorenzo Sewell accused progressive candidates today of “virtue-signaling” to Christian voters rather than authentically representing biblical Christianity. See story here.
For decades, Republicans have enjoyed something close to ownership of America’s public Christian vocabulary. That may be changing, and that would be a good thing.
Let Republicans quote Jesus. Let Democrats quote Jesus.
Phillipians 1:15-18
Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will: The one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds: But the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defence of the gospel. What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.
Listen to them all then open the Bible and check them all.
Jesus isn’t Republican or Democrat, and Scripture shouldn’t be retrofitted to whichever political platform we already support.
While much of America argues about politics and whatever outrage is trending today, Christians in Haiti are burying their dead.
On August 23, about 150 heavily armed gang members attacked Kenscoff, in the mountains above Port-au-Prince. According to the Associated Press and the United Nations, 47 people were killed and more than 50 kidnapped. Thirty-four people were killed inside or around a church where residents had sought refuge. This week, mourners returned to that same church to bury members of their families. (AP News)
Christian outlets report that the attack centered on the Ark of the New Testament evangelical church, where displaced families had taken shelter, and that many of those killed were Christians. At least five of the dead were children. (CBN)
We should be careful with the word persecution. Haiti’s gangs murder, kidnap and terrorize people indiscriminately, and current reporting does not conclusively establish that every victim was killed because he or she was Christian.
But it isn’t debatable that people seeking safety inside a Christian church were slaughtered there.
Meanwhile, followers of Jesus elsewhere in the world can argue about worship styles, denominations, doctrines, and whether the coffee in the lobby is any good.
But let’s all try to remeber this exortation from Hebrews, because it resonates and reminds us that our comfortable Christianity here in America isn’t neccesarily the norm.
“Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them.” — Hebrews 13:3 (KJV)
Our brothers and sisters aren’t merely the people sitting beside us Sunday morning. The Body of Christ crosses borders, languages and oceans.
So What?
So today, pray for Haiti. Pray for the kidnapped. Pray for grieving families. Pray for Christians trying to remain faithful in a country where simply gathering together can put them in mortal danger.
And remember them, because much of the world won’t.
Here are four thoughtful quotes from four different voices on Haggai:
Warren W. Wiersbe — on the excuses the people made for postponing God’s work:
“Too often we make excuses when we ought to be making confessions and obeying the Lord.”
Charles Spurgeon — on Haggai’s command to “consider your ways”:
“Consider your ways practically by altering them.”
J. Alec Motyer — on the returned exiles’ misplaced priorities:
“Their problem was not lack of goods but of good.”
David Guzik — on God’s response once the people finally obeyed:
“He always empowers and encourages us to do what He commands.”
Haggai’s message is remarkably contemporary: Stop making spiritual-sounding excuses, take a hard look at your priorities, and then do something about them.
America’s largest United Methodist church sends its pastor into politics
Adam Hamilton, founder and senior pastor of the 25,000-member Church of the Resurrection, is the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in deeply Republican Kansas. AP reports today that Hamilton intends to continue preaching 12–18 times a year if elected, following the unusual model of Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock.
His theology is already campaign ammunition: opponents are highlighting a 2022 sermon in which Hamilton suggested salvation may be possible for non-Christians. Hmmm, interesting, that.
So, can someone simultaneously be a shepherd of Christ’s church and a partisan politician? Yeah, I think so. After all politics and religion have a lot in common, right?
And when opponents challenge a pastor’s theology during an election, Christians shouldn’t automatically dismiss that as dirty politics. If a man publicly teaches what Jesus said about salvation, we’re allowed to open the Bible and check.
Political affiliation doesn’t determine theological truth…except when it does.
Remember, Revelation is a vision—not a play-by-play preview of tomorrow’s headlines.
John communicates through symbols, Old Testament imagery, dramatic contrasts, and strange creatures because he is revealing the spiritual reality behind earthly events. That doesn’t mean Revelation has nothing to say about the future.
It means we shouldn’t treat every symbol as a literal piece of technology waiting to be invented. The first question is not, “What modern gadget does this predict?” but, “What did this vision reveal to the Christians who first received it?”
666 Wasn’t a Barcode
Mention the Mark of the Beast, and somebody will immediately point at microchips, vaccines, credit cards, or whatever technology frightened their uncle on Facebook last week.
But what would John’s original readers have understood?
Revelation was written to seven churches living under the shadow of the Roman Empire. Rome demanded more than taxes—it demanded loyalty. Emperors were honored as divine, their images appeared on coins, and civic festivals and trade associations often involved sacrifices to Rome’s gods. Refusing to participate could cost Christians business, social standing, and sometimes their lives.
“And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark….” — Revelation 13:17, KJV
The Greek word translated “mark” is charagma: an engraved, stamped, or branded sign. John places it on the forehead or right hand, probably as a deliberate counterfeit of God’s seal upon His people in Revelation 7. It also echoes Deuteronomy 6, where God’s commands are symbolically placed on the hand and forehead.
The message is about ownership and allegiance: Who shapes your thinking—your forehead? Whose will do you carry out—your hand?
Then Comes 666
Ancient letters also functioned as numbers, allowing names to be expressed as numerical totals—a practice called gematria. The leading historical explanation is that “Nero Caesar,” written in Hebrew letters, totals 666. An ancient manuscript variation reads 616, which fits a shorter Latin spelling of Nero’s name. That is strong evidence John was pointing toward Nero—or using the famously brutal emperor as the model for Rome’s “beastly” power. Bible Odyssey
Most contemporary scholars agree that Revelation 13 must first be interpreted within this Roman setting, although they disagree over whether it also predicts a particular end-times ruler. But it’s important to remember that the symbols and images in John’s vision would have to have meaning and relevance to God’s people in all ages until the end.
The mark was not presented as something people would receive accidentally while buying groceries. It represented knowingly choosing the beast’s system over faithfulness to God.
That is interpretation: what John communicated to his original audience.
Application asks how that truth confronts other generations. The beast’s mark can appear in different forms whenever governments, cultures, institutions, or economic systems demand the kind of loyalty that belongs to God alone.
So What?
So don’t waste your life hunting for three sixes hidden in a company logo. Ask the better question:
What pressure could make you trade truth for acceptance, comfort, money, or safety?
Pastors are using AI—but don’t want it deciding what the Bible means
New Barna research reported today finds an interesting divide among Protestant pastors. Only 5% completely reject using AI to help interpret difficult passages, but just 10% think AI should determine which interpretation of a disputed Scripture is correct. Pastors appear increasingly willing to use AI as a research assistant while resisting the idea of treating it as a theological authority.
And this isn’t hypothetical. AI products now advertise sermon preparation, Bible studies, automatic Scripture detection, devotional writing and even sermon-series creation specifically to churches.
So What?
A concordance is a tool. Google is a tool. AI can be a tool. And it’s okay to use tools to help you understand the Bible.
The danger isn’t asking AI, “What did this Greek word mean in the first century?” The danger is asking it, “Tell me what I’m supposed to believe,” and never opening the Bible yourself.
There are serious questions that should be asked over and over again until the Poohbahs of Churchianity can answer them with something other than “It’s a mystery we can’t comprehend, brothers and sisters…” nonsense.
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I do not subscribe to a modern denominational creed or set of doctrines. I don’t think that modern-day Evangelicals, Baptists, Lutherans, or Catholics are going to burn anyone in the town square—it’s just that I don’t trust organized religion.
I’m non-denominational. I’m a “Non.” And there are a lot of others just like me. In fact, more and more folks are fleeing traditional “churchianity” every day. Why? More on that in future posts.
Here’s my one and only creed, which I’m happy to share with my brothers and sisters in the Fellowship of the Nons:
Creed of the Fellowship of the Nons
Our living God is a loving God, and the Bible is His revealed word and will.
Our hope and eternal salvationrelyentirely on the work of God’s only begottenSon, Jesus Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life.
