The Warrior Priest Podcast

Far too often, we think about eternal things only when they are thrust upon us. We are reactionary creatures. We foolishly trust that the fail-safes of our government and culture will save us. That is until we sense a real threat. Then our default reaction is to panic. Few people have the resolve to stand strong when the storms of life come. And those who try to stand without Christ are swept away in the floodwaters because their strength and resolve are built upon shifting sand. They prepared for temporary things. They did not prepare for the more important things that carry eternal significance.

Though no one would be able to even estimate the date of his birth until many years later, it was mostly likely in 1848, making him twenty-three that year and eight years younger than Mackenzie, who was also so young that few people in Texas, Indian or white, knew much about him at the time. Both men achieved their fame only in the final, brutal Indian wars of the mid-1870s. Quanah was exceptionally young to be a chief. He was reputed to be ruthless, clever, and fearless in battle. Excerpted from Empire of the Summer Moon by S.C. Gwynne.

When the nation and its people are held captive by an oppressive, morally and spiritually bankrupt government and society, then Christians and their families must push as hard against the government and society as it pushes against them. That's how a marriage and family with Christ at its center lives.

Though they did not know it at the time — the idea would have seemed preposterous — the sounding of "boots and saddle" that morning marked the beginning of the end of the Indian wars in America, of fully two hundred fifty years of bloody combat that had begun almost with the first landing of the first ship on the first fatal shore in Virginia. The final destruction of the last of the hostile tribes would not take place for a few more years. Time would be yet required to round them all up, or starve them out, or exterminate their sources of food, or run them to ground in shallow canyons, or kill them outright. - S. C. Gwynne, Empire of the Summer Moon

In those moments, when you want to give up, and family and friends don't show up for you, and you're sure you don't have the strength to get up again, you're going to wish, you're even going to pray, that you could be un-baptized. No more sin or Satan. No more wrestling with temptations. No more asking God, "Why have you abandoned me?"

The Church doesn’t need to search for the next, best, newest thing that will satisfy her until Jesus comes, because she is always given to by her Creator. She's given time and patience. The gifts of salvation are given to her to quiet and calm her fears. She's given life because her Savior speaks to her and serves her with absolute devotion.

For those unfamiliar with the term, zugzwang is when you place your opponent in positions that force them into positionally or materially worse positions, irrespective of what move they choose. Each move leaves them worse for the ware until there is nothing left but the checkmate. - Adisa Banjoko

Only in Christ does death equal victory and weakness equal strength. Long before Christ would say to his disciples, “Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 10:39), these children were already resting securely in the arms of their Savior, the infant child Jesus. 

Santa Claus. Santa Claus is a nice enough idea. A white-bearded, old man comes from the sky to reward good little children, but withholds his gifts from the naughty ones. That’s Santa in a nutshell. That’s not God, but it does describe Santa Claus. But that’s how most people envision God. They imagine that he's very much like Santa Claus. And like Santa, they also believe that God is a white-bearded, old man who comes from the sky to reward good people and punish the naughty ones. But, Jesus isn't Santa Claus. Not even close.

The story about Jesus' birth, the true story, just wasn’t as nice as we make it out to be in children’s Christmas pageants. For example, in his Gospel, Luke gives a hint at the shame suffered by Joseph and Mary. He writes that there was “no room for them in the inn.” Now, despite the sweet-talking and all the hoop-jumping we go through to clean-up the story, the text doesn’t say there was no room. The text says there was no room for them. And this should cause us to do a little head-scratching.