Wendell’s Early Years: An Encounter With 52 Warts… Part Four

What do you do after you have an intimate encounter with all-powerful God? Everything in life is changed, even for a ten-year-old hyperactive boy. Everything is seen from a new perspective. Values are transformed.

However, many people in my small world did nor seem to understand. Even the very nice people from church who had taught me all about Jesus didn’t seem to understand that Jesus really is the same as this very moment as He was several thousand years ago. At least that is how I perceived it from my childlike vantage point.

They sang songs about Jesus, prayed in His name, and acted like they believed He really was with them, but I never really saw the evidence of His presence in a way I could understood. In some ways, it almost seemed that people were bothered by Jesus. To avoid unpleasant eternal consequences, they had just enough fear that Jesus might actually exist to be pressured into behaving in a way that they thought He required.

That is how I understood the message the preacher was often trying to express: God was annoying with all the people in the world, including me. How well I behaved, or at least pretended to behave, determined how much God would tolerate me.

However, at the same time, I found there were some who seemed to experience and talk about Jesus in the way I was beginning to discover. Something was different about them. It was confusing.

         The old pendulum clock on the church wall seemed like accurate representation of the somber God our church worshipped: acting stern, demanding our sacrifices of time, and required proper behavior. Tsk-tsk-tsk-tsk, the clock scolded sixty times a minute. Its stiff hands were so different from the arms of Jesus that had wrapped a young, scared boy in His love and healed him.

         This real living Jesus, who seemed to walk out of the pages of the Bible and into my life, conflicted greatly with the distant and impersonal Jesus I had previously experienced. I had yet to learn that countless numbers of Christians around the world were also relating to Jesus Christ in similar ways as I had.

BOTTOM LINE:

         My encounter with Jesus was like a little seed of truth planted in my heart but then quickly covered up with the dirt of doubt and confusion. It took many years before that seed finally found its way out of the darkness to break out on the surface of my troubled heart and once again eagerly reach out for the Son.  (Anyone recall? Am I grateful for His invitation / Sonshine?

TO BE CONTINUED TOMORROW:

Wendell’s Early Years: An Encounter With 52 Warts… Part Three

“God, why are you letting this happen to me?” I whispered toward the cross hanging over the foot of my bed. “Why couldn’t I be alive two thousand years ago, when you could just snap your finger and heal anybody of anything? Why don’t you…” I paused mid-sentence in an attempt to hear what seemed to be a voice whispering out of the darkness in response.

         I paused, not daring to breathe. Then I heard it again. This time, I recognized the voice. It sounded like my own! It was reciting the Bible verse I had memorized just a short time before.

         “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” I listened to my own voice repeat the verse several times. Then came a shift as a different voice seemed to take over. “I am the same yesterday and today and forever, Wendel. And guess what? I am the same as always, even at this exact moment! Yes, I healed every kind of sickness yesterday, and I heal every kind of sickness today! In fact, I can always heal any and every kind of sickness you can imagine.”

         I pulled the covers over my head, uncertain if the voice was just my imagination or if Jesus was really talking to me. Not daring to move for fear of disrupting this special moment, I waited. Then suddenly, in a burst of joy and wonder Bible verses I had memorized over the many past months exploded into my mind and began to fit together, forming a simple yet profound truth. It was like finally discovering several pieces of a puzzle that locked perfectly together to reveal part of a bigger picture.

         This was a revelation of spiritual truth. It sailed into my heart like an arrow, bringing new hope and simultaneously striking death to the childish fears and doubts that had haunted me night after night.

         Excitement swept over me. I knew Jesus had come to me and that He would heal me! I knew it! Yet I also knew I needed to do something to activate the faith I had in what I knew Jesus would do.

         After some careful thought, I quietly whispered into the darkness, “OK, Jesus, I’m not going to look at or touch my knee for two weeks. When I take a bath, I will not wash my knee. I will not talk to anyone about this except You. I believe at the end of two weeks you will have taken away all the warts. Thank You!

**********     **********

         Those were perhaps the two longest weeks of my young life. I was extremely careful to remain completely oblivious to what might not be happening to my knee. Finally, the day came when the two weeks were over. I watched the clock until the exact preset time arrived.

         Then I looked. I was astonished at what I saw. I could hardly believe my eyes! Yet I had to believe, for there was not a single wart to be seen, not even the slightest indication that there had ever been fifty-two warts there. My knee had been totally and completely healed.

         I began shaking as the realization sank in that Jesus, my same ancient hero of the Bible, now so much more than that, had really come into my bedroom and really talked to me two weeks earlier. He had heard my declaration and observed my act of faith. Jesus, the God of the universe past, present, and future, cared for me. Me!

         He had revealed himself to me. He had wrapped me up in His love, and I knew it.

TO BE CONTINUED TOMORROW…

Wendell’s Early Years: An Encounter With 52 Warts… Part Two

Who is like you among the gods, O Lord – glorious in holiness, awesome in splendor, performing great wonders? “ (Exodus 15:11 NLT).

         But I didn’t just hear about God in church every Sunday. Another place that lives securely in my childhood memories is the dark old church basement, which always had a bad smell. There was the dank, musty smell of rubber cement, library paste, and outdated rest rooms. Behind a closed door at the far ed of the basement lived a huge, a foul-tempered, ancient coal furnace.

         In that smelly basement, amazing stories were told, lessons were taught, and young lives were shaped. I learned a long time ago that a man named Jesus taught people how to live. I heard stories of how He healed people who suffered from every kind of sickness by simply touching them or speaking a word or two. I heard how Jesus had created food for thousands of hungry people out of a young boy’s lunch and how He had calmed violent storms. He had even walked on water! Jesus seemed ancient, mysterious, invisible, and distant. But He was a hero I tried hard to believe in.

         Then one day, there came the discovery that Jesus was much more than just a hero from the past. The revelation came that this same Jesus, quite literally, was really alive right now. And somehow, among a bazillion other kids in the world, He knew and loved a ten-year-old boy with fifty-two warts on his knee and who hated going to his church. 

**********     **********

         I also hated memorizing Bible verses, but I wanted to go to summer camp. However, the price I had to pay was memorizing three hundred of them. Worse yet, I had to memorize the verses down in the church basement. At the far end of the basement, the furnace growled and belched as if in righteous indignation, representing the kind of wrathful God I had grown up fearing. Someday that furnace is going to destroy this place, I’d hope half-heartedly as I thumbed through my Bible, searching for the next verse on the list to memorize. Memorization did not come easily for me.  My mind was better at creating fantasy worlds, where the stories of a much more personable Jesus played out like a movie in my imagination.

         Then I found it, and it was a short verse, Hebrews 13:8. Things were looking up! Not only was it short, but it was an easy verse to remember. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

         It didn’t take long before the simple words took root in my mind, and I hurried to the teacher to recite them before the words had a n opportunity to slip away forever. At home that night, I lay in bed, staring at a glow-in-the-dark cross I had stuck on the wall with a thumbtack. It was my reward for verses recited that evening. The glow of the cross held my attention as sleep once again evaded me, my active imagination playing out the gruesome removal of the fifty-two warts soon to be burned away.

         “God, why are you letting this happen to me?” I whispered toward the cross hanging over the foot of my bed. “Why couldn’t I be alive two thousand years ago, when you could just snap your finger and heal anybody of anything? Why don’t you…” I paused mid-sentence in an attempt to hear what seemed to be a voice whispering out of the darkness in response.

         I paused, not daring to breathe. Then I heard it again. This time, I recognized the voice. It sounded like my own! It was reciting the Bible verse I had memorized just a short time before.

To Be Continued Tomorrow…

Wendell’s Early Years: An Encounter With 52 Warts

Wendell Martin Go Now! From the Innermost Parts of the Heart to the Uttermost Parts of the World plus Forty Stories of Faith

Chapter 01 – Early Years: Part One

I was born near Cleveland Ohio in the middle of July 1953, on a very hot and humid day. And a child could not have been born to more loving and caring parents than the ones I had. God was central in our home, and “spare the rod and spoil the child” was a gentle guide that established safe boundaries and a clear sense of right and wrong at an early age. While there was strict discipline in our home, I, along with my older brother and two younger sisters, learned foundational values that served as a moral and spiritual compass, guiding me through the twists and turns of life.

         At an early age, I learned that life was more than the years I would spend on earth. I discovered the choices I made on earth would determine my eternal destiny. Such a choice was initially an easy decision. At the tender age of six, a firm confidence in God rapidly expanded in my heart. But over time, uncontrollable circumstances, which shape and steer the course of our lives, gradually eroded that confidence. Thankfully, I was about to experience a real-life miracle that would always compellingly argue on behalf of God’s very existence and His love for me. This miracle, which happened very early in my life, stayed in my heart as a constant reminder of the truth through seasons of doubt and drifting.

         In those days, miracles were not common among the Christians I knew. We were taught that they really did happen, just that it was a long, long time ago. But for me, it all started with warts.

**********

         I stared in dismay at the embarrassing lumpy mass of warts covering my right knee. There were fifty-two of them! “One for every week of the year,” I muttered in disgust.

         Back when I was only eight years old and quite foolish, I had become friends with a toad. I had spent an afternoon studying its grumpy face, delighting in the feeling of its sticky toes as it crouched on my bare knees, in anticipation of a dramatic leap to freedom.

         Now, two years later, I was much wiser, having been informed by more knowledgeable neighborhood kids that – as everyone knows – toads were the cause of the warts! Regardless of whether they were right or wrong, I now knew that this conglomeration on my knee was the terrible debt I had to pay for my ignorance of such matters. Though I didn’t know it then, I had formally been enrolled in the proverbial School of Hard Knocks.

         “We’ll schedule an appointment with the doctor to have them burned off.” My mother announced, which caused me to lay awake at night, my imagination running wild.

         This ungodly solution horrified me. “The doctors might as well amputate my entire leg,” I groaned with a shudder.

         My life was coming to an end, and I was only ten.

**********     **********

“You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me! Yet you refuse to come to me to receive this life” (John 5:39-40 NLT).

TO BE CONTINUED TOMORROW….

Daniel Kauffman Part B

By Dan Zimmerman July 2025 in The Sword and Trumpet

My Generation and Younger, Birthed & Reared In Anabaptist Communities Too Often Are Clueless of the Role Daniel Kauffman Played Historically… If you’ve not yet read yesterday’s post, Part A, I suggest you do that first...

In addition to doctrines, Daniel also defended Mennonite practices. He vigorously promoted what he called a “separated life,” by which he meant a lifestyle characterized by simplicity, plainness, commitment to church work, and the avoidance of the fashions and amusements of society. Daniel firmly believed that this kind of lifestyle had Scriptural support , and he used Bible verses to demonstrate this. He studded his sermons and books with Scriptural references, although he did little expository preaching or writing. Later generations of Mennonites criticized this, arguing that Daniel sometimes applied verses without due regard for Scriptural content. Certain key aspects of Mennonite thinking such as non-resistance, taught by Christ Himself in the Sermon on the Mount, seemed to be diminished in importance when placed in the company of matters such avoiding life insurance and membership in secret societies. Be that as it may, in his own time Daniel Kauffman gained the respect and approval of the Mennonites for his efforts to promote correct doctrines.

          As soon as he was ordained, Daniel Kauffman started to promote the idea of a General Conference. As a member of the small Missouri-Iowa Mennonite Conference, he saw a clear need for an organization to link the scattered Mennonite Conferences, to provide direction for missions and church organizations, and to provide the Mennonites with a unified voice. This idea gained traction in the midwestern states, and in November 1898, Daniel Kauffman presided at the inaugural Mennonite General Conference, held near Wakarusa, Indiana. He went to serve as conference moderator three more times and never missed a conference until 1941. The Mennonite General Conference soon established boards and committees to oversee missions, Mennonite colleges, and publications. Daniel showed himself a great committee man: he was organized, deliberate, gracious of opponents, and sought consensus. At one point, he sat on  twenty-two committees! Daniel saw the General Conference as a means to unify and equip the Church, and he poured his life into it. Fourteen regional conferences joined as members within ten years, much to Daniel’s satisfaction.       

          He also poured his life into another work: in 1905 he agreed to take the job of editor of a new Mennonite periodical, the Gospel Witness, based in Scottdale Pennsylvania. Three years later, this became part of the Mennonite Publishing House. The periodical was renamed the Gospel Herald after the Mennonite Publishing House bought John F Funk’s periodical, Herald of Truth. A steady stream of editorial articles flowed from Daniel Kaufman’s typewriter, shaping Mennonite thought and opinion for decades. In addition, he continued to write books, some of which grew out of his articles, about doctrinal matters, the Christian life, contemporary challenges, and Mennonite history. Daniel was undoubtedly the most prolific Mennonite writer of his time.

          In the midst of all these time-consuming but rewarding labors, Daniel found time to begin family life again. On February 6, 1902, he married Mary (“Mollie”) Shank, a young lady from Missouri. Fourteen years younger than Daniel, Mollie had once been his student in school. Six children arrived between 1903 and 1917: Homer, Eunice, Paul, Alice, Fannie, and John Mark. In 1909, Daniel and Mollie moved their family to Scottdale, PA, so Daniel could more easily oversee the Gospel Herald. They lived in Scottdale until 1942.

          Tragedies and trials continued to mark Daniel’s personal life. In 1905, his daughter Eunice died suddenly when eight months old. In 1917, his son John Mark died when less than three months old. In December 1922, his son Paul died just days after turning sixteen, when he fell through the ice while skating near Goshen, Indiana. And in 1933, his eldest son James died unexpectedly at the age of forty-five from a rare form of blood poisoning. Daniel also suffered debilitating illnesses repeatedly. His back was severely injured in an automobile accident in 1941. Despite these trials, he continued to work for his Lord and the church.

          In 1943, he finally retired from his responsibilities as editor of the Gospel Herald, and he and Mollie moved to Parnell, Iowa, to live with their daughter Alice Gingerich and her family. During the fall, he began to feel weak and ill. On Sunday, January 2, 1944, he preached the morning sermon at West Union Mennonite Church, where Alice and her husband were members. That afternoon he felt very unwell, and his health declined rapidly. On January 6, 1944, he died at the age of seventy-eight. His wife Mollie, their son Homer, and their daughter Alice and Fannie survived him, as well as ten grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Funeral services were held in both Parnell, Iowa and Scottdale, Pennsylvania.

          Daniel Kauffman’s influence on the Mennonite church from 1896 to 1944 was immense. His work in building up the church through the General Conference made a lasting impact on the Mennonite church. His efforts to clarify and promote correct Biblical doctrines in word and print shaped and molded the thinking of the entire Mennonite church. His conservative approach to beliefs and practices, codified in Doctrines of the Bible, though abandoned by mainstream Mennonites, continues to guide many conservative Mennonites today.   

NEXT UP:

DANIEL KAUFFMAN  1865-1944 Part A

By Dan Zimmerman July 2025 in The Sword and Trumpet

My Generation and Younger, Birthed & Reared In Anabaptist Communities Too Often Are Clueless of the Role Daniel Kauffman Played Historically…

Daniel Kauffman was without question the most prominent Mennonite church leader during the first three decades of the twentieth century. His efforts to define biblical doctrines, both in word and print, and his work to organize a General Conference for the Mennonite Church had immense consequences that remain to this day.

          Daniel Kauffman was born to David and Elizabeth (Winey) Kauffman on June 20, 1865,in Richfield, Juniata County, Pennsylvania, their seventh child. Daniel was born into a family living under a load of grief. In the late fall of 1862, four out of five children in the family caught diptheria, and three of them died within a month: John (age eleven), Susannah (age ten) and Hannah (age five). Daniel’s sister Mary Ann, then age eight, survived her illness, and her brother Jacob, then age two, did not get sick. Elizabeth gave birth to another son, Samuel, about a month after the third funeral. Thus Daniel had three living siblings when he arrived in 1865. Three younger siblings came over the next decade.

          When Daniel was nine months old, in March 1866, his family moved to Elkhart County, Indiana, seeking better farmland. In April 1869, the family moved again, this time to Morgan County Missouri. Daniel grew up near Versailles, Missouri, where the local Mennonite congregation called his father David to be a minister in 1871, then to be a bishop in 1875. David wanted Daniel to become a farmer, but Daniel was interested in education. After sustaining a broken leg in a riding accident 1879, which healed poorly, Daniel was permitted to pursue his interest.

          In 1883, after gaining his certificate, he served as superintendent of the Morgan County public schools from 1887 to 1890. He also married Ota Bowlin, a local Baptist girl, in 1887, and they had a son James, born in1888. Tragedy struck in early 1890, when Ota sickened and died after giving birth to a daughter, (who also died). Later in the year, John S. Coffman arrived to preach for three weeks of evangelistic meetings. Daniel attended, and on the last evening, surrendered his life to Christ. He was baptized several weeks later. The Mt Zion Mennonite congregation recognized his abilities and called him to the ministry in October 1892. Dan preached like he taught school: he organized his thoughts carefully and spoke clearly and plainly. In August 1896, David Kauffman died and Daniel replaced him as a bishop the following month, at the age of thirty-one.

          As a preacher, Daniel traveled widely. He aligned himself with the “Quickening” movement among the Mennonites, advocating for what he called “aggressive Christian work”: evangelistic meetings, Sunday Schools, and missions. Although he spoke Pennsylvania German from childhood, he preached in English. As a young bishop, he keenly felt the need for sound books explaining the doctrines of the Bible. Unfortunately, he found nothing in that line written by Mennonites. He decided to write one himself. He stopped teaching school in 1897 and went to live with his mother on the family farm. The following year, he published A Manuel of Bible Doctrine, the first in a series of versions which culminated in Doctrines of the Bible in 1928.

          Daniel wanted to shore up the doctrinal foundations of the Mennonite Church. At this time, controversies raged among many Protestant churches over doctrinal matters. The liberals or modernists denied the accuracy and inspiration of the Bible, while the conservatives (many of whom were later called fundamentalists ) defended both. Daniel identified himself as a conservative in these matters, taking historic Christian positions that the Bible is inspired by God and trustworthy in its accounts. He preached about doctrines, which was unusual among Mennonites at the time, demonstrating the Scriptural basis for the teachings of the church. He spoke at Bible conferences.

To Be Continued Tomorrow:

SO, WHERE ARE THE OTHER NINE?

Practicing A Great Attitude While Prepping This Morning For Corporate Worship

Paul Brubaker

Winston Churchill used to tell the story about a sailor living in Britain’s westernmost principal city of Plymouth. One day the sailor plunged into Plymouth Harbor and successfully rescued a small boy from drowning. Several days later the gallant hero met the boy walking with his mother on the streets of Plymouth. Upon seeing the man who saved his life, the youngster nudged his mother. She thought the sailor vaguely familiar, and thus asked, “Are you the man who pulled my son out of the water the other day?” The sailor’s face lit up. He grinned, saluted and answered briskly. “Yes, ma’am.” Already in the back of his mind he was figuring how to best respond to her gratitude. But she saved him the trouble. With eyes narrowed and pursed lips, she snapped, “Then where’s his CAP?”

          The Bible has a lot to say about gratitude…. as well as the lack of it! Regarding unregenerate humans, Paul wrote to the young Christians at Rome: “Although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.” (Romans 1:21) Well said Paul. We can relate. But we’re learning, for as long as we remain faithful to God, we retain a sensitivity to His presence.

          Jesus’ healing of the ten lepers gives us an example of how highly God values gratitude. On the way to Jerusalem one day, as Jesus was traveling along the border between Samaria and Galilee, ten leprous men – nine Jew and one Samaritan – called from afar, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” (Luke 17:13NIV). And Jesus did have pity on them, and thus instructed the lepers to go show themselves to the priests. And miraculously as they went, all ten were healed! But only one of the lepers, a despisde Samaritan, returned to the Great Healer to pour out his heart in thankfulness and gratitude. It was then that Jesus asked three questions: “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” (Luke 17:17-18, NIV). Jesus’ heart was indeed saddened by the ingratitude of the other nine – the vast majority of the lepers that day!

BOTTOM LINE:

          So, what’s the lesson for us today? While the world’s masses, and possibly at times, even some of us in the church, may defiantly snub God and disregard His continual blessings day after day, hopefully you and I will never be found guilty of the sin of ingratitude. May our praises ever ascend to the One from whom all blessings flow, starting this morning now, or perhaps corporately, in a few hours! Originally published in BRF Witness. Republished in July 2025 by The Sword and Trumpet, founder 1929.

Next Up:

My Generation and Younger, Birthed & Reared In Anabaptist Communities Generally Have No Idea the Role Daniel Kauffman Played Historically… Mon Part A, Tues Part B. Then Wed thru Sat, featuring Wendell Martin’s Miracle at Age Ten when plagued with 52 warts.

If I were the devil …

If I were the Prince of Darkness, I’d want to engulf the whole world in darkness. And I’d have a third of its real estate, and four-fifths of its population, but I wouldn’t be happy until I had seized the ripest apple on the tree — Thee. So, I’d set about however necessary to take over the United States. I’d subvert the churches first — I’d begin with a campaign of whispers. With the wisdom of a serpent, I would whisper to you as I whispered to Eve: ‘Do as you please.’

To the young, I would whisper that ‘The Bible is a myth.’ I would convince them that man created God instead of the other way around. I would confide that what’s bad is good, and what’s good is ‘square.’ And the older, I would teach them to pray, after me, ‘Our Father, which art in Washington…’

And then I’d get organized. I’d educate authors in how to make lurid literature exciting, so that anything else would appear dull and uninteresting. I’d threaten TV with dirtier movies and vice versa. I’d pedal narcotics to whom I could. I’d sell alcohol to ladies and gentlemen of distinction. I’d tranquilize the rest with pills.

If I were the devil, I’d soon have families at war with themselves, churches at war with themselves, and nations at war with themselves; until each in its turn was consumed. And with promises of higher ratings I’d have mesmerizing media fanning the flames. If I were the devil, I would encourage schools to refine young intellects, but neglect to discipline emotions — just let those run wild, until before you knew it, you’d have to have drug sniffing dogs and metal detectors at every schoolhouse door.

Within a decade I’d have prisons overflowing, I’d have judges promoting pornography — soon I could evict God from the courthouse, then from the schoolhouse, and then from the houses of Congress. And in His own churches I would substitute psychology for religion, and deify science. I would lure priests and pastors into misusing boys and girls, and church money. If I were the devil, I’d make the symbols of Easter an egg and the symbol of Christmas a bottle.

If I were the devil I’d take from those who have, and give to those who want until I had killed the incentive of the ambitious.

And what do you bet I could get whole states to promote gambling as the way to get rich? I would caution against extremes and hard work in Patriotism, in moral conduct. I would convince the young that marriage is old-fashioned, that swinging is more fun, that what you see on the TV is the way to be. And thus, I could undress you in public, and I could lure you into bed with diseases for which there is no cure. In other words, if I were the devil I’d just keep right on doing what he’s doing.”

Paul Harvey, Good Day!

I presume by now most of we oldsters have seen this frequently since its debut in 1965. I do find it amazing how 60 years ago Paul Harvey so accurately “predicted” the future spiritual condition of the United States. At that time, many of his statements were considered ridiculously outlandish in our culture. What has happened here? Consider Mission Drift: The Unspoken Crisis Facing Leaders, Charities, and Churches by Chris Horst, Peter Greer, George W Sarris as featured earlier in the seven consecutive posts beginning Jun 30, if you missed them.

Next Up:

So, Where Are The Other Nine? Sunday morning worship warm-up?

SCROLLING OURSELVES TO DEATH

Reclaiming Life in a Digital Age

Edited by Brett McCracken and Ivan Mesa Publisher: Crossway, 2025; 243pp.

Book Review by Rosalind Byler Reprinted courtesy of The Sword and Trumpet, July 2025.

If the title of this book sounds familiar, it should be. Forty years ago, Neil Postman wrote Amusing Ourselves to Death, proposing that media as entertainment (at that time, television) weakened viewers’ capacity for deep thinking and discourse. A media analyst, educator, and a cultural critic, Postman observed that a society’s behavior and thought patterns are shaped by its communications media – and his prophetic cautions are proving correct. Scrolling Ourselves to Death assembles fourteen Christian thinkers to interpret and apply not only Postman’s wisdom but gospel principles to today’s digital media.

The book consists of three sections summarizing and updating Postman’s conclusions describing problems modern Christian communicators face, and focusing on the church’s opportunities to use technology wisely in a counter-cultural lifestyle. Questions at the end of each chapter aid further thought or discussion.

Postman was an unbeliever, but his Jewish background helped to shape his perspectives. He concluded that that far from being neutral, technologies naturally moved users toward secularization. While his concern was amusement, smartphones now act as “digital syringe[s]… to a lifelong, brain-altering, relationship – destroying addiction” to dopamine (21). More time spent in a disembodied environment leads to increasingly unnatural perspectives on gender, community, and relationships.

In addition, a growing and vocal individualism prioritizes the self’s inward desires over religious authority or cultural propriety. Proponents depict this as inner integrity and argue that it exposes injustice; yet its path to authoritarianism is clear. Religious individualism insists that its self-selected church, community, theology, practice, etc., make sense on the individual’s own terms. (Ouch!)The shift from “being instructed to expressing ourselves” has led to a “post-truth” world (Chapters 3 and 4).

This crisis of authority poses new difficulties for Christian leaders and communicators. Congregants who have spent the week affirming their belief systems in algorithmically designed media feeds will listen with skepticism to gospel truth on Sunday. The discipline of apologetics becomes even more challenging in a world of “meager reasoning skills, fleeting attention, and continual distraction” (115). Superficial and fragmented disinformation replaces shared narratives that agree with reality. Submersion in social media increases our tendency to be gullible, making us more receptive to conspiracy theories and divisive fragments of “news.”

Throughout the book, the authors counter these depressing scenarios with sound and simple advice. Preach the Word (non-preachers, immerse yourself in it). Use real Bibles. Review long-past history. Tell and retell the best story, embodying it in baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and historic Christian practices. Stock church libraries; offer teaching on church history. Live in local communities and invest. Believers’ online posts should “add to the net amount of truth, goodness, and beauty” in cyberspace rather than giving more coverage to the partially true, sensational, and ugly (127).

Christians are uniquely taught and Holy Spirit-equipped to do justice and love mercy. Yet it is easy to follow the crowd of noisy public justice lovers (for other people, at least!) into dubious and damaging mercies. The final chapters show positive ways the church can nurture real, abundant life in modern believers. Among the authors’ recommendations are using creativity but caution with new media; reconnecting information with action to help prevent anxiety, anger, or apathetic detachment; and living out God’s historic mission for the church by building strong families, working to bring order out of chaos, loving our neighbors, caring for the needy, and spreading the gospel.

BOTTOM LINE:

Brett McCracken’s introduction will make smartphone users cringe, and the book does not minimize unsettling statistics. Yet Scrolling Ourselves to Death has so much more than gloomy assessments, blistering reproofs, or even wise rules for technology use. The editors’ aim is to help Christians think carefully about how technology changes our thinking. Multiple contributors result in more factors considered, both in the magnitude of the problem and in hope-filled practices. Engagingly written and accessible, this book is a must-read for everyone, beginning with yourself, before considering it for your Christmas gift list. Thriftbooks has it for $16. I contacted Choice Books to carry it as well. We’ll see.

NEXT UP:

Paul Harvey post from 1965…

Counseling the Conspiracy Theorist, Part B continued

Written by Daniel Szczesniak, July 2025 The Sword and Trumpet, Pg 19, originally published by ACBC at biblicalcounseling.com

If you missed Part A, you’d be advised to read that first!

2. Confirmation Bias vs Renewal of the Mind

Confirmation bias is a fancy, technical-sounding way of saying that we hear what we want to hear. People love to hear the things that “suit their own passions,” and thus “turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths” 2 Timothy 4:3-4). Conspiracy theories have enough truth sprinkled in to plausibly conform what we already think – wish? hope? – to be true.

          Challenge your counselee with this passage, then study Romans 12:1-2, where Paul calls for believers to be transformed in our thinking as an act of worship. Teach them to think biblically and help them grow in discernment as they learn to love what is “good and acceptable and perfect.”

  • 3. Blame Shifting vs Taking Responsibility

As difficult as it for us to change our minds, it may be even more difficult to change our habits. Myths allow us to avoid responsibilities for how we spend our time by placing the blame on someone else: Them!!

Every conspiracy involves a “they.” After all, it is far easier to believe that a shadowy cabal of elites has intentionally compromised our food supply than it is to change our diet and begin exercising.

A subtler form of blame-shifting, and one that is perhaps more common, is for your counselee to focus their efforts on exposing and fighting “them” in chat rooms and social media debates instead of prioritizing God’s instructions for their lives. The lie is that they are pursuing noble causes (Truth! Justice!). But the reality is that they are surfing the internet instead of fulfilling their duties to God and neighbor (Matt 22:27-40).

Help your counselee see these things with the classic illustration of the “circle of concern” and “circle of responsibility.” Draw a circle and label it “circle of responsibility.” Inside, write down the God-given responsibilities they’ve been neglecting in their pursuit of so-called “truth.”

Next, draw a wider circle around the first one, and label it “circle of concern.” Write down things that they may be concerned about, but are not necessarily their responsibility. Help them think through where things like “civic duty” and “current events” fall, and what that should look like in their life.

  • 4. Self-Centered Narrative vs the Story of Redemption

Conspiracy theories provide a framework for us to make sense of the world around us. Like Asaph in Psalm 73, we see the prosperity of the wicked and wonder why they succeed while we struggle. A good conspiracy theory explains our struggle by placing us within an epic story of good versus evil, the global elites plotting against regular folks such as ourselves.

Yet the structure of the narrative is itself the problem. As Carl Trueman has said, “Conspiracy theories… make us feel more important in the grand scheme of things than we are. If someone is going to all this trouble to con us into believing in something, then we have to be worth conning.” In the end, conspiracy theories are about US!

BOTTOM LINE:

          But there is a much better story!

          It’s the story of God’s beautiful creation and our purpose to reflect His glory. It’s a story in which we are are the ones who conspire against our Creator, turning from him to seek our own glory and pleasure. Yet in this story, God sent His own Son to save us from the trouble we inflicted upon ourselves by forgiving our rebellion, giving us new hearts, calling us to walk in His ways, and promising us a glorious future.

          Train your counselee to view the world through this priceless act of redemption. Teach them the beautiful truths about Christ, help them renew their minds in the Word, prepare them to value and live out their God-given responsibilities, and help them locate their life in the Bible’s narrative of creation, fall, redemption, and consummation.

NEXT UP:

Book Review: Released in ’25; Scrolling Ourselves to Death: Reclaiming Life in a Digital Age edited by Brett McCracken & Ivan Mesa