In his interview with Dr. Carl Trueman for Illinois Family Institute, Pastor Derek Buikema asked how Christians may be inadvertently capitulating to “expressive individualism.”

The light of our lives and the light of our message should illuminate our surroundings. Our good deeds and our biblically based values should disseminate love and truth. At the same time, we are not called to take over society and impose our faith on the nation.

It has been interesting to read what Christians would like God to do for America. I have read repeated prayer requests for God to spare the Country, and I heartily agree with the sentiment. But I am also aware, as I hope most Christians are, that God operates sovereignly and wisely to achieve His own eternal purposes. His plans may or may not coincide with ours.

Sometimes the smallest gesture can make a huge difference in a person’s life. A welcoming smile, a phone call, or an encouraging note received at an opportune moment has the power to turn despair into hope. This fall, just one hour of prayer could make a life-changing, life-saving difference in not one but two lives.

We’ve heard that the SCOTUS is threatening democracy. For example, the recent Dobbs decision broke democracy – or affirmed it, depending on your point of view. It turns out that the Court can easily break American democracy, if it’s inclined to. All that need happen is for some justices to stop acting like jurists, and start acting like they took bribes. This article explores:

What do you expect from your church? Biblical preaching? A community where biblical values are exemplified by clergy and laity alike? A recent poll from George Barna’s Cultural Research Center (CRC) indicates that these are no longer reasonable expectations in American churches.

While their sanctimonious and empty proclamations of fealty to inclusivity, love, tolerance, unity, autonomy, freedom, and diversity echo systemically throughout American institutions, leftists reveal their inky underbellies rotted with hypocrisy and depravity when they screech hater and hurl death wishes at Christians who dare to disagree boldly with critical race theory or evil ideas related to sexuality.

The "Early Bird Special" for the IFI Annual Banquet expires on Monday, so please don't delay, sign up today!

It has been interesting to read what Christians would like God to do for America.  I have read repeated prayer requests for God to spare the Country, and I heartily agree with the sentiment.  But I am also aware, as I hope most Christians are, that God operates sovereignly and wisely to achieve His own eternal purposes.  His plans may or may not coincide with ours.

Labor Day is approaching, and summer will soon give way to autumn. Many of us look forward to the change of seasons, watching the leaves change color, breathing in the crisp morning air, and picking apples with our kids or grandkids. We surmise too that many, like the IFI staff, look forward to a strong pendulum swing in the election on November 8th. In this season and every day the Good Lord grants us breath, Christians should be praying fervently for God's mercy on our state and nation. We urge prayers especially for God-fearing, pro-life candidates to prevail in this election cycle.

May I be blunt?  The heart of man is just as Scripture says it is, “deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.”  You may not want to hear that, and maybe you don’t believe it. But there Jeremiah 17:9 plainly...

Derek Buikema, lead pastor of Orland Park Christian Reformed Church in Orland Park, Illinois interviewed one of the most influential Christian thinkers in America today, Grove City College Professor of Biblical and Religious Studies Carl Trueman, for Illinois Family Institute.... In this second part of Pastor Buikema’s interview, Dr. Trueman confirms the sense many people have that we truly are living in “unprecedented times,” and explores the reasons why this historical moment is unprecedented.

I heard of a gentleman traveling to a third-world country where driving regulations were minimal and police virtually nonexistent.  He noted that in terms of road etiquette it was a matter of “he who drives the biggest truck rules.”  So it is where God has been rejected.  Lawlessness ensues and the strong oppress the weak.  It is no coincidence that in all countries of the 20th Century dominated by strident atheists, the citizens were brutally oppressed.  However, removing accountability to God leads not only to lawlessness and tyranny, it also produces moral and spiritual blindness, foolish behavior, and hardened hearts.

IFI was blessed to be able to interview Grove City College professor of biblical and religious studies and author of The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to Sexual Revolution Dr. Carl Trueman last fall when he was the keynote speaker at the annual Touchstone Conference... His landmark book has been lauded by cultural critics from Rod Dreher to Ben Shapiro to Al Mohler.

Recently on social media and in the past, various people have claimed that Sodom was destroyed because the citizens of Sodom were not helping the poor... The city of Sodom is first mentioned in Scripture in Genesis 10:19. Three other cities were in the vicinity of Sodom: Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim. Often the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah are mentioned together but Sodom stands out in the listing of these cities and is mentioned the most of the four cities in Scripture - 49 times.