"He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed." ~1 Peter 2:24

So the grandest of all Christian celebrations is upon us. This year, Friday April 7th is Good Friday. Sunday April 9th is Easter. Or Resurrection Day as some prefer to call it. The two dates vary from year to year. Why? It’s, well, complicated. Why do these two occasions give us the grandest of our faith celebrations as Christ followers? Because we get to color Easter eggs? Uh…wrong answer.

In Proverbs 8:36, Lady Wisdom declares that “All who hate me love death.” Those who scorn wisdom, who are wise in their own eyes, are not merely prideful, they have a death wish. Wisdom comes to us in many forms. Principally through God’s Word and his Church, but also through the traditions of our family, culture, and nation (Prov. 6:20, 22:28). When a nation rejects these forms of wisdom, it will be a nation soaked with blood.

It is a biblical principle that everything reproduces after its own kind. This is true in the physical world, going back to the first chapter of Genesis and right until today. Orange trees reproduce oranges (and orange trees), not apples (and apple trees), and dogs reproduce dogs, not cats. The same is true in the spiritual realm. 

Why has our culture gotten so bad, so fast? This question has been posed by many of us in recent days: young adults looking at the world we’re about to step into and wondering how we’ll manage, grandparents trying to figure out why their sweet granddaughter wants to be called Bert, parents watching the government school system trash their child’s faith, and pastors, trying to lead their flock away from glittering worldly baubles.

My mentor, when I became the leader of a pro-life organization, told me that it was not enough to inform Christians regarding the issues at stake in the abortion battle; I had to give them something to do or they would become frustrated and inactive. As I have listened to conservatives address the multiple threats the Left poses to America and our liberties, I find myself frustrated by the lack of options they present.

There are a lot of people proclaiming public schools as harmful - bastions of evil, intent on ruining innocent minds and brainwashing hearts. Some of it can seem like just plain noise, but how much of it is true? What is truly going on in public schools? Is there actually anything going on, or are people just crying wolf? During the Village Church of Barrington’s seminar “Parenting in a Godless Culture: Educating Parents and Grandparents,” church elder David Cartwright answers this question by tracing the history of public schools.

Earlier this month, Representative Mary Miller (R-IL) announced the launch of the Congressional Family Caucus from the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. In a brief but spirited speech, she explained that the caucus' purpose is to defend the natural family from Left-grounded erosion.

The great theologian and reformer, John Calvin, studied law before his conversion and service to the Lord as a pastor and teacher. He later wrote and taught on the use and purpose of God’s law: 1] It shows the way of perfect righteousness and also reveals to us how great is our sin. 2] It helps to restrain evil and maintain order in society. 3] It continues to guide believers in terms of our duty.

Gallup recently released poll results showing that 7.2% of American adults identify as "lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or something other than heterosexual." When Gallup first started measuring LGBT statistics in 2012, this number was 3.5%, which means that the LGBT community as a proportion of the U.S. population has doubled over the last ten years.

Any parent knows that trying to raise children is difficult. Especially if you are trying to raise your kids in the nurture and admonition of the Lord in a post-Christian society, such as our own. Everywhere you turn it seems like the world is trying to destroy any semblance of innocence in the hearts and minds of the youngest in society. How is a parent supposed to compete when the world is so dark?

Holiness is a foreign topic for most people. Even Christians. We have a vague familiarity with the context in which it is usually found. First and foremost, we are told that God the Almighty is “holy.” As the Israelites were getting familiar with their Divine Deliverer, these words were given to them: “For I am the LORD your God, so you must consecrate yourselves and be holy because I am holy.” (Leviticus 11:44,  CSB) This is repeated three more times in Leviticus.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ: I realize that there are many definitions of what a Christian is, but I am writing to those of you who have, like me, trusted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior and have been born again. We live in perilous times, and for the first time in hundreds of years on this continent, we face serious opposition and potential persecution. 

Pastor Derek Buikema of Orland Park Christian Reformed Church recently interviewed Rod Dreher about his latest book, Live Not By Lies. The heart of this excellent interview is a phenomenon we are seeing but don't always want to acknowledge: we are living in a time of soft totalitarianism. Those who have been blessed to live in the USA all their lives are often not as quick to recognize this as those who have come from communist nations.

When the Equitable Restrooms bill was introduced in Springfield, a familiar pattern started to emerge. As IFI readers know, HB1286 legalizes “all-gender, multiple-occupancy restrooms” in sporting complexes, stadiums, entertainment centers, conference centers, and other big venues in Illinois. Yes, “all-gender” is just what it sounds like – males and females using the same multiple-occupancy restroom at the same time, anytime. There are urinals and stalls and partitions.