Threads from Henry's Web

Author: henry

Lamentations 2:1 – Is God Out to Get You?

Look how much God has beclouded the daughter of Zion in his wrath.
He has cast the glory of Israel from the heavens to the earth.
He has not remembered his footstool in the day of his wrath.
Lamentations 2:1, author’s translation

It’s easy to start thinking that God, or the universe, or circumstances are out to get you when things are not going well. Sometimes we blame “things in general” when back in our own minds, we’re thinking God’s busily out to get us.

Our poet here in the book of Lamentations has already acknowledged the sin in Judah that resulted in their current condition, but even so, you hear that sense of pushing back at God. Why has God thrown Israel down so far? Why has he not remembered his footstool.

If you look for the word “footstool” in scripture, you’ll find it in connection with the temple, such as when Solomon is dedicating the new building (2 Chronicles 6:18). The temple was viewed as a special place of God’s connection with earth, and the Israelites had believed that it was not possible that Jerusalem would be conquered, because God’s presence was there.

The fact that Jerusalem did fall, and the temple was destroyed, was a critical blow to the self-image of Judah, and echos through all that followed for the Jewish people.

But was it God that “got” them?

There is a sense in which we can always say that God does everything. I may be a bit odd in my way of thinking, but this hits me the hardest when I look at a picture of two galaxies colliding. “Lord, what precisely are you accomplishing with all this destruction?”

Adobe Stock #1528473743. Licensed, not public domain.

And at least in my theology of God as creator and sovereign, there is a sense in which God is responsible for everything.

I form light and create darkness,
I make well-being and create disaster.
I, YHWH, do all these things.
Isaiah 45:7, author’s translation

God is not afraid to take responsibility through prophets for what takes place in the universe God created.

But then there’s that individual thing. Is God going out of the way to get me, personally, for my one act?

Scripture often answers this question with a constrained yes. Hebrews 12 informs us that God disciplines those God loves. In the books of Jeremiah and Ezekiel especially, God makes it clear that the tragedy and destruction that befell Judah was, in fact, divine action as a result of sin.

But there’s another way to think of this, and I think it’s often a better one. God has created a universe with laws. Those laws have consequences built in, whether we speak of moral of physical laws. If I am hiking in the mountains, and fall off of a cliff, consequences occur at the end of that fall. I might have been pushed. Moral consequences may well be on the way for the person who pushed me. In neither case is it necessary to think of God making a specific exception for my particular failing. Rather God created order, and I can live in it according to the way that order works, or I can fight it.

Judah fought it. I fight it frequently. Consequences occur.

Here’s something I wrote more than 20 years ago about this in my book, Not Ashamed of the Gospel:

Once in a study group one member asked me a question that has stuck with me ever since. “Why couldn’t God just print out his instructions across the sky, so we couldn’t doubt what it said, and couldn’t doubt that it was miraculous?” he asked.

I think the answer lies in the nature of the universe God has created. We may not like choice very much. We may not like things to be ambiguous and decisions to be difficult, but God doesn’t seem to mind. In fact, God seems to like his creatures to have a range of options. He likes us to be able to make choices. Making choices implies suffering consequences. Choice would be rather meaningless of God cleaned up the mess of all our wrong choices miraculously.

That means that when one person chooses to kill, another may well die. Bad things will happen. But that is the price of freedom. At the same time, if God made everything totally clear, and overwhelmed us with his power, we could not exercise that creativity he has entrusted us with. God gives us some of his creative power and he expects us to use it.

The good news is that we can be subject to God, and when we are, we are free to be ourselves.
Henry Neufeld, Not Ashamed of the Gospel, pp. 102-103

Never forget that God is always with you, working for your good. Often, however, your ultimate good is already built into God’s laws of cause and effect.

October 28, 2026
Lamentations 1:22 – Torment Them!

22 ‘Let all their evil deeds come before you; torment them in their turn, as you have tormented me on account of all my sins; for I groan continually and I am sick at heart.’
The Revised English Bible (Cambridge; New York; Melbourne; Madrid; Cape Town; Singapore; São Paulo; Delhi; Dubai; Tokyo: Cambridge University Press, 1996), La 1:22.

I’m going to keep this one short, but first, a note on Bible study. Just because someone is reported as saying or doing something in the Bible doesn’t make that statement or action right. After all, we have the words of the serpent in the garden recorded, and they contained falsehood and led to some pretty nasty consequences.

So just because these lines of prayer are here in Lamentations doesn’t mean the desire for revenge is a positive thing. In fact, a desire for revenge can be self-destructive.

We’ll have plenty of opportunities to discuss revenge as we go verse by verse. But here I just want to comment on honesty.

What can you present to God in prayer? Is anything off limits?

I would suggest from this passage and many more in the Psalms and elsewhere that you can speak to God in prayer about anything you are feeling and thinking. Forgiveness is good, but so is honesty. You don’t need to worry about what God is going to do with your statement. You’re not going to lead God into wrong actions.

What’s more, there’s no benefit in not telling God what you really feel. Do you think God doesn’t know already?

Honesty is good. Speaking your mind is good. It’s really a prerequisite to change and growth.

Here’s the question: Are you going to let God grow you?

October 25, 2026
The Need for Dialogue

“These people are so far gone, there’s no point even trying to talk to them.”

While not an exact quote, this sentiment reflects dozens of social media posts I’ve seen over the past few months. It’s a clear sign of growing political and religious polarization. While not a new phenomenon, it has certainly intensified recently.

Before you start blaming your favorite “them,” let me note that in my experience, these statements are coming from all sides. I haven’t taken a survey, but I’ve seen this in numerous cases.

Despite this, I remain a firm advocate for dialogue—whenever and wherever it can be achieved. Even if others seem too entrenched to make conversation feel worthwhile, reach out if they’re willing. You may ultimately find it impossible and decide to withdraw, but the effort is always worth making.

I don’t advocate this as a duty you owe to your opponents. Rather, this is a value you should claim for yourself.

“But they just won’t dialogue with me!” you say. Yes, there are many who won’t. They are already so well settled on their side of a question that they’re not interested in the exchange. When you find this out, you can move on.

However—and this is a major “however”—I’ve seen many people write someone off as incapable of dialogue when that person was simply asking valid questions. Engaging across deep divides is hard. It often feels as though the other person is questioning your intelligence, sanity, integrity, or humanity. You should push back when that happens, and expect them to do the same.

Here is the key: always aim to discover the underlying stumbling block to dialogue, and try to learn how to chip away at it—even if you can’t remove it entirely.

In some cases, you may start serious conversations with people you completely oppose. In others, you may be rejected, even reviled. If your goal is to have everybody like you and treat you well, you’re going to be disappointed. You don’t need to convert everyone to your position. You need to understand them.

You aren’t trying to understand them in order to make them feel better. You’re trying to do that in order to improve your thinking.

Is this worth your time?

It continually amazes me how much energy people devote to vitriolic posts that offer no new insights and only reinforce shared beliefs. Let’s be honest: if you have time for that, you have time for meaningful dialogue. You’re simply choosing to vent and insult rather than learn and persuade.

On social media, your audience extends beyond the person you are directly interacting with; hundreds or even thousands of silent readers may be observing. If you believe your perspective matters, you ought to keep that broader audience in mind.

Even if the numbers are small and you only reach a few individuals, aim for that impact to be positive. Make it easier for the next person to move the conversation forward.

Finally, always remember this: You just may be wrong.

Yes, I said it, wrong.

If you try out some humility, you might even be able to correct your own wrongness. How great would that be?

In my Sunday School class, we chose to study a book I published titled Seeking Truth by Elgin L. Hushbeck, Jr. As the publisher, I felt I should have been pitching it, but because it isn’t strictly a Christian book, I wondered if it was suitable for Sunday School. As it turned out, the class was eager to dive in—they were looking for guidance on how to navigate the overwhelming noise online.

While Seeking Truth uses theological examples, I added a few more to tailor it for our discussion. The class thoroughly enjoyed it. In fact, they loved one chapter so much they suggested turning it into a standalone booklet. I took their advice, and that booklet is now published as You’re Probably Wrong (and So Am I). Elgin’s central message here is that humility is essential: you cannot truly seek truth without first accepting the possibility that you might be wrong.

Elgin, by the way, is a conservative.

Yes, I’m recommending a couple of books I publish. It’s my blog!

I want to add two more. As I said it’s my blog, I can advertise if I want to!

First, there’s a charming, full-color book titled PERFECTLY SQUARE™. It uses a fable to explore how people with differing personalities and perspectives can learn to collaborate effectively.

Finally, if your issues are theological, let me recommend I’m Right and You’re Wrong: Why We Disagree about the Bible and What to Do About It.

Let me emphasize here the thing Elgin has said is most important in dialogue: Humility. That may not be fun, but humility is very productive in seeking knowledge.

Not only that, humility may well help you convince someone else to listen, and maybe even change their mind.

(The featured image was generated by Adobe Firefly using Firefly Image 4 Ultra based on a prompt generated by Gemini. The post text is my own, but I used AI in proofreading and minor editing.)

October 21, 2026
Discernment: What’s Your Schema
Discernment: What’s Your Schema

The question I most commonly hear as a Bible teacher and writer is this: How can you know what God’s will is?

It’s a very broad question. I have had a few things to say about it over the years, and even wrote a book, When People Speak for God, in order to talk about hearing from God in various ways and using discernment. There are plenty of claims to speak for God. How can one be certain?

One key element is taught by Paul in Romans 12:2 –

2 Conform no longer to the pattern of this present world, but be transformed by the renewal of your minds. Then you will be able to discern the will of God, and to know what is good, acceptable, and perfect.
The Revised English Bible (Cambridge; New York; Melbourne; Madrid; Cape Town; Singapore; São Paulo; Delhi; Dubai; Tokyo: Cambridge University Press, 1996), Ro 12:2.

“Conform” in this translation comes from the Greek word suschematizw (loosely transliterated). If you look carefully at that word, you’ll see “schema” in the middle. And thus my title.

Now let me warn you quickly that you cannot determine the meaning of words in one language by means of etymology. There’s a name for this, the etymological fallacy. Someone announces that a certain word comes from Latin or Greek (or whatever) and therefore means what its ancestor meant in that language.

I like to counter this just a bit with what I call the anti-etymological fallacy, which says that while etymology doesn’t determine meaning, it can be enlightening. In this case, it is.

This verse tells us that there is a pattern, a way of thinking that belongs to the world in general. If we follow that pattern, we’re going to think like the world. Note here that Paul is not telling us that the world is always wrong about everything. Rather, he’s telling us that the world has a different pattern, a different way of organizing the information, and this results in different ways of thinking and acting.

It’s the pattern of thinking that Paul is here to address. The schema, if you please.

I’ve been working on information for search engines and AI models to include in the header of my web pages. There will be such a schema in the header for this page. It gives information about authorship, content, images, post series, and other connections. For example, it will list me as owner of my company Energion Publications, which can tell people something about me. Yesterday I found an error in the script generating the schema. By the end of the day today, that error will be corrected. Why? Because having the correct schema is important in helping people understand the basis for what I say. What have I studied? Where have I taught? What have I written? The schema is designed to guide people to think of me in a certain way.

If you’ve ever created a resume for a job hunt, you’ve created such a schema, just not in machine readable language. You present your education, your job experience, and your references in a certain way to guide a reader to come to a particular conclusion. A recruiter once had me prepare a number of resumes directed at different specific job opportunities. I told him I didn’t want to lie. He said, “You won’t lie. You just arrange the truth differently.” That’s what a schema does.

That’s why I think we can say that Paul is telling you not to accept the world’s schema for understanding everything, but rather we’re supposed to be transformed, we find a new way of thinking. Paul says, “Then you will be able to discern the will of God, and to know what is good, acceptable, and perfect.”

Recognizing the World’s Schema

So here we have step one in discernment is to get out of the world’s schema, and start following God’s schema. But what is that?

Let me tell you what I tell everyone about this. Start out by reading and meditating on scripture. Scripture gives the story of how God has worked in the world. I don’t mean memorizing the occasional text, or looking for a singular scripture that happens to support (or oppose) your next action. I mean be marinated in it. Make it the pattern for the way you think. That’s the broad answer.

Slightly narrower, but still challenging is to read the first 11 chapters of Romans, and lead your way into this verse through 12:1: “Therefore …” Paul has been providing his view of the way God has worked. Let me suggest that you’ll understand Paul better if you’ve read the rest of scripture, but this is a briefer statement.

A New Measuring Stick

Here, Paul follows up with a short statement that puts the results in a nutshell, I think:

3 By authority of the grace God has given me I say to everyone among you: do not think too highly of yourself, but form a sober estimate based on the measure of faith that God has dealt to each of you. 4 For just as in a single human body there are many limbs and organs, all with different functions, 5 so we who are united with Christ, though many, form one body, and belong to one another as its limbs and organs.
The Revised English Bible (Cambridge; New York; Melbourne; Madrid; Cape Town; Singapore; São Paulo; Delhi; Dubai; Tokyo: Cambridge University Press, 1996), Ro 12:3-5.

I want to emphasize some key elements, but don’t let my schema for reading the verse keep you from seeing other things.
- Do not think too highly of yourself – this is often read as “think poorly of yourself” but that is not what Paul is saying. Otherwise, he’d continue, “but think of yourself as nothing” or something similar.
- Form a sober estimate based on the measure of faith that God has dealt to each of you – this is the key. You’re not moving the point where you place your self on a measurement of importance, intelligence, strength, agility, charisma, or any other characteristic. You’re changing the measuring stick. You now measure yourself by faith (something Paul has spent a good deal of time teaching in the earlier chapters), and that faith is God’s gift. So you’re measuring yourself as a recipient of a gift fo God’s grace, which is faith.
- We who are united in Christ, though many, form one body – building on those earlier chapters, Paul extrapolates this unity from the fact that who we are, what we are, is a gift that we are given, so we become one.
- Belong to one another – this is the conclusion, and it’s powerful. We are no longer independent individuals. Rather, we belong to one another in community.
In this way Paul challenges most of what we do and what we claim. As human beings, we have a strong urge to seek hierarchy, and particularly to seek higher positions in a hierarchy.

Protestants often claim this as superiority over Roman Catholics because “they have all those bishops and archbishops and even a Pope.” But the fact is that Protestants generally end up in just as much of a hierarchy. They just reference the positions by different names.

But authority structures in organizations are just one small element of our tendency toward hierarchy. Let’s look at some others:

Our Tendency Toward Hierarchy
- Intellectual – I have an MA in Religion concentrating in Biblical and Cognate Languages. Fancy sounding, no? It seems impressive when I’m in a local church, but if I go to a university or seminary, an MA degree barely gets me into conversations. There I need a PhD, and a good publication record, maybe a tenured or tenure-track position. But there is the temptation to think that I am superior to others because of my education. Now I don’t mean to say that education is not of value, but any intellectual capabilities are a gift, and belong to the body. They don’t exist to make me more important.
- Spiritual – there are those who look to superior spiritual leaders as more important. In some Charismatic or Pentecostal communities people seek after prayer from certain anointed individuals. Receiving such prayer and impartation makes one more connected and can provide one with more authority. It’s good to pray for one another, but any gifts received by any means, whether in a classroom or a prayer meeting will be corrupted if we use them to make ourselves superior and to give us a license to lord it over others.
- Organizational – the practice of ordination can work in this way as well. At one conference where my wife and I had taught, there was a time of prayer at the altar during the last meeting. All pastors were invited to pray for others, but though we were good enough to teach, we were apparently not good enough to pray for people. “Good enough” isn’t part of the equation. If I could have my way, I would ordain everyone who serves, janitor, ushers, and yes, pastors and teachers. And since I believe everyone should be serving, I believe in ordaining every member of the church to do the work God has called that person to do.
- Wealth – the idea that the richest should have the most power. If you’re tempted toward this sort of hierarchy, you should read the book of James. Wealth, even earned with my effort, is still a gift of God.
(I touched on the practical side of this in in an earlier post regarding church leadership structures and pastor burnout.)

Embracing a Servant’s Schema

Paul said that we belong to one another. Jesus said it another way:

25 So Jesus called them to him and said, ‘You know that, among the Gentiles, rulers lord it over their subjects, and the great make their authority felt. 26 It shall not be so with you; among you, whoever wants to be great must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first must be the slave of all—28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’
The Revised English Bible (Cambridge; New York; Melbourne; Madrid; Cape Town; Singapore; São Paulo; Delhi; Dubai; Tokyo: Cambridge University Press, 1996), Mt 20:25-28.

That’s going to require a whole new schema!

(Featured image was generated by Adobe Firefly using the Firefly Image 4 Ultra engine based on a prompt created by Gemini from reading the text of this post. I generated by post in my brain and typed it on an aging keyboard.)
October 20, 2026
Lamentations 1:21 – Let Them Suffer Like Me!

‘People have heard when I groan with no one to comfort me. My enemies, hearing of my plight, all rejoiced at what you had done. Hasten the day you have promised when they will suffer as I do!
The Revised English Bible (Cambridge; New York; Melbourne; Madrid; Cape Town; Singapore; São Paulo; Delhi; Dubai; Tokyo: Cambridge University Press, 1996), La 1:21.

Have you ever really wanted someone who had hurt you to suffer?

Think before you answer.

I recall teaching a class on the Old Testament for a Wednesday night study group. We were dealing with some of the more difficult passages and got to Psalm 137:8-9, especially the line “blessed is the one who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rocks.”

I presented a scenario to the group. Supposing enemies took over our town and had killed our children right in front of us so we had to watch? How would we react?

The consensus of the room was that as Christians we are supposed to be forgiving. So we should forgive. The group also felt that they would not be so angry as to desire that anything bad would happen to the enemy’s children. Never that!

Then one older lady raised her hand and said quietly: “I think many of us are lying to ourselves.”

A number of people admitted they felt they were as well. Revenge is a very strong motivation. When someone hurts us, we want them to hurt as well. It’s natural.

But revenge is also very dangerous. A bit of wishing is one thing; carrying it out is another matter. It’s what keeps feuds and even wars going. If we could get over the past, we might well have another world.

Revenge also needs to be separated from justice. A desire for justice is positive. But I think in order to control our desire for revenge, we need to acknowledge that we actually have it. We need to identify the anger and the hurt as what they are before we can seek another way.

Hoping for revenge is a losing proposition. The hurt keeps going. But by acknowledging this in our grief and yes, lamentation, we can learn to seek a better way.

October 19, 2026
Lamentations 1:20 – Look at Me

²⁰ ‘LORD, see how sorely distressed I am.
My bowels writhe in anguish
and my heart within me turns over,
because I wantonly rebelled.
In the street the sword brings bereavement,
like the plague within the house.
The Revised English Bible (Cambridge; New York; Melbourne; Madrid; Cape Town; Singapore; São Paulo; Delhi; Dubai; Tokyo: Cambridge University Press, 1996), La 1:20.

I find it hard to blame the author of Lamentations, because he is speaking for Judah as they stand devasted by God’s actions. “Lord,” they ask, “Do you really know how terrible this all is?”

Their situation is real, and their question is justified. In fact, I suspect this book is in the Bible precisely because that is such an excellent question.

But I’ve told you that I do these verse by verse meditations not to do biblical exegesis, as interesting as that is, but to meditate on the words and see what may come to mind. In this case, I started asking the question: “What if this question is either not justified or not well motivated?

Let’s look first at “not justified.” I don’t know about you, but I can work myself into a serious problem by not paying attention or by compounding one error with another as I try to fix things. As decisions pile up and then cascade into a landslide of consequences, I have the urge to ask, “Lord, why are you letting this happen to me?”

There’s a simple answer. “Whatever a man sows, that will he reap.” God made the universe in such a way that actions have consequences. When consequences come, it’s possible you may not realize what caused them. It’s a good time to ask, “Lord, do you see what’s happening? Why?” But be ready for an unpleasant answer to that “why” question.

On the other hand, you may be able to see the path clearly. In that case, the why isn’t the right question. You know why. If you were running wildly along the edge of a cliff and suddenly find yourself in a heap at the bottom, the why is obvious. It’s just not very helpful. “How do I get out?” is a much more helpful question.

After that, you can remember the obvious “why” and don’t do that again!

But the question can sometimes come with bad motivation. It’s possible to become so caught up in troubles that trouble becomes your identity. You may not feel precisely proud of it, but it’s you. If you didn’t have your troubles, who would you be? Being a victim becomes a way of life.

Among Christians, there’s a particularly dangerous form of this in which people find affirmation of the “rightness” based on people attacking them or “persecuting” them. Want to feel sure you’re right? Just wait until someone attacks you for your beliefs. “Blessed are the persecuted!” (Matthew 5:10).

But offending someone or making them angry enough to take action against you is not necessarily an indication that you are right. People do get annoyed at others doing right when they know they are not. This can result in persecution in school, at work, or in life. But as soon as you take that as the indication that you’re right, you’re on a dangerous path. The persecution doesn’t indicate you’re right.

You’re blessed if you’re doing right and “doing right the right way” and are persecuted for it. You aren’t blessed if you’re being offensive in order to feel important or find affirmation.

So when things go wrong, ask yourself why first. Often, you’ll find that you know the answer, and the problem is you. Good news: You can do something about that!

October 6, 2026
Lamentations 1:19 – Connections

¹⁹ ‘I called to my lovers,
but they let me down;
my priests and my elders
perished in the city
while seeking food
to keep themselves alive.
The Revised English Bible (Cambridge; New York; Melbourne; Madrid; Cape Town; Singapore; São Paulo; Delhi; Dubai; Tokyo: Cambridge University Press, 1996), La 1:19.

Sometimes I meditate on these passages for a long time before I come up with what I want to say. Other days, the passage just shoves a topic in my face. This one is even related to the historical context of the verse more closely than usual!

What connections do you build in your life?

It’s a serious question. Many of us, myself definitely included, tend to gather friends and associates randomly. I’m rarely the one who pushes in and initiates a friendship. Others invite me. It’s not that I think others should have the responsibility of accommodating themselves to me. Rather, I’m just slow to figure out valid and constructive social connections.

This verse presents the remnant of Judah in mourning. Their lovers let them down. Priests and elders are dead, and they died taking care of themselves, not their community. The failure is complete. In distress you turn to your support system. What happens if they aren’t there?

There are two categories here I want to look at. “Lovers” in this passage represents friendships and social connections. Multiple lovers was a metaphor used frequently for the way Israel and Judah tended to look at the religions of the nations around them and pick up whatever looked good.

Social connection without commitment will leave you empty and alone when trouble starts. Israel had contact with the nations around, but when what was left of the kingdom was in trouble, there was nobody there to help. In fact, the book of Obadiah is directed at the Edomites who were ready to go scavenge the corpse.

We use the term commitment primarily of marriage, I think, but commitment should also be an aspect of friendship. A friend who is there for the easy part but stays away when things get tough is not much of a friend.

What about your church community? What type of commitment have you made to that community? Is it just a plan to attend and get whatever benefit possible, but if somebody offends you or things get tough, you’re on your way?

What about the attitude of the church to you? Is the commitment mutual? I often hear church leaders talk about how they want committed members. They complain about lack of commitment and look at ways to seek more commitment from members. But if any member asks what they get from this relationship, there is annoyance, even anger. You’re supposed to be here to serve, not to be served!

But in a good relationship the commitment goes both ways. People want to be fed in Sunday School and church. The church leaders wonder why people are just expecting to get, get, get. Good point! The members should be looking to serve. But to serve, they will need to receive.

And that relationship question can be reversed as well. Why is it so annoying when people want to receive from the church? Is it possible that the church doesn’t feel a commitment to its members? In a time of trouble will a member end up saying, “All my friends have let me down?”

Service is an important and essential part of Christian life. But watch out for the person–or the organization–that demands but does not give.

Can people in trouble come to you? Do you have a community you can depend on?

October 5, 2026
Scrolling Your Way to Falsehood

In cybersecurity, Zero Trust is the rule that no source gets a free pass—you don’t trust the email; you verify the sender. That same principle is no longer just for IT departments; it’s now essential for anyone scrolling through a newsfeed.

Zero Trust in Cyber Security

A friend once received an email appearing to come from me, recommending a product. The name on the account was mine, but the actual address wasn’t. Fortunately, he called to verify before buying anything.

I got an email this morning with a sad story and a request that I send free books. I’ve donated hundreds of books. But something looked off. I checked it carefully, and found substantial evidence that it was a scam. People get donated books and then offer them for sale online. They may get few responses, but any books they sell are pretty much pure profit.

A client of mine–well, numerous clients–receives a phone call purporting to be from their bank. It’s not. It’s from someone planning to steal from them.

I teach people that it’s important never to trust that the caller or the email sender or even the person who comes to your door is who they claim to be. Always verify. Failure can mean substantial loss.

A Dangerous Experiment

Over the last couple of weeks I did an experiment. I started scrolling more in social media. Not directed search for topics of interest, but just following the feed. “Doomscrolling” is the term, I believe.

I wondered if somewhere out there, a hidden wealth of joy and wisdom was waiting for me.

No. I didn’t actually expect that. I just wanted to verify.

And I found precisely what I expected, for the most part. I actually found a couple of feeds, such as someone who comments on court cases, that provided good, well-sourced information complete with context. But I didn’t find that many.

I also found numerous feeds that simply created news with no basis in fact at all. They provided nicely formatted news stories that could easily persuade one that they were created by a professional journalist. In fact, they may have been created by such a journalist.

I found a few commentary and analysis feeds that provided useful analysis of verifiable news. I know. I looked up the facts on which they based their analysis up and found good sources. I also found completely wasted words analyzing falsehoods in detail.

I must note that I also found a number of feeds with fun stuff, cat pictures/videos, dog pictures/videos, positive stories of human activity. Well, on this latter one I must note that I found many feeds, and only a few of them were not engaged in scamming themselves. Once you notice it’s easy to spot the fakes. They have long, heart-wrenching stories that totally defy all probability and have a link embedded near the end. But there were a few genuine posts around.

I also found that the “doom” in “doomscrolling” is real. This stuff is depressing. It’s also addictive. Both of these points I expected, but I really didn’t expect as much as what I found. It’s a depressing world out there and social media will feed it to you as fast as you’ll take it in.

And the Result?

In the end I learned the lesson I had already learned before I took this vacation from sanity: Zero trust is useful in social media and news services just as it is in security.

More precisely, I’d say this: Take control of your input, what you feed your brain. Choose what you’re going to read. Choose what you’re going to think about. Vigilantly test your sources.

Older people may be thinking, “Yes, that’s good advice for all these young people wasting their time on social media.”

But this advice isn’t just for younger people scrolling on smartphones. You can “doomwatch” television just as easily. You can absorb sensationalism and half-truths from the evening news if you let TV editors decide what matters.

Zero trust may sound negative. It is not. It is a positive decision to think, to check, and to decide, and not be a passive consumer of any source.

You’re the gatekeeper.

October 4, 2026
Lamentations 1:18: I Was Wrong

The LORD was in the right, for I rebelled against his command. Listen, all you nations, and look on my agony: my maidens and my young men are gone into captivity.
The Revised English Bible (Cambridge; New York; Melbourne; Madrid; Cape Town; Singapore; São Paulo; Delhi; Dubai; Tokyo: Cambridge University Press, 1996), La 1:18.

If you want to fix anything, the first step is acknowledging that something is wrong.

I just got done revising a utility I created, or rather had Gemini AI code, for sharing site feeds between the various websites that are related to my publishing company, Energion Publications. An interesting thing about AI is that while it is not precise about doing what I want, as I’ve been accustomed to for decades, it can create a lot of code very quickly. This introduces a weakness. If I ask for the wrong thing, I generally get the wrong thing. The AI follows my plan for better or worse.

The configuration file for my utility was grotesquely complex. It was precisely what I had asked for. The AI produced code that did what I asked. But my plan was not very good.

After struggling for awhile to learn how to use the code I asked for I realized that this wasn’t going to work. I could probably figure it out, but I’d forget it in a day and then I’d have to start over. I played around with it for a few minutes, and realized there was a massively simpler way to set this up. Minutes later I had new code which works just fine.

The first step in fixing this was to recognize that there was something wrong.

AI’s, in my experience, are not good at recognizing what’s wrong. They usually dig deeper to make the current plan work. On this point, AIs are not that different from humans. Once we have chosen a path we’re likely to stick to it, whether it’s working or not.

This verse is a key. “The Lord was in the right.” Conversely, I was wrong.

Admitting error is often the gateway to success.

October 4, 2026
The Most Ungodly Thing in Your Church
I was sitting in the pastor’s study at his invitation. He had a question for me. “Is mowing the lawn really considered one of the pastor’s duties here?”

I had to think about that, and then I realized the problem. The previous pastor liked to ride the tractor and do the mowing. It was relaxing and meditating time for him. But there were others in the church who were quite ready to do that job. I was able to point out precisely who to contact. A few days later I was pleased to see a church member, one who also enjoyed that sort of work, mowing the grass.

That may seem like an extreme case, but it’s also one that had a prompt, happy ending. Over more than two decades in the publishing and public speaking business, I’ve had the privilege of visiting many dozens of local congregations across nearly every denomination you can name. I love the local church, and I have immense respect for the men and women who step up to lead.

But over those years, I’ve developed a quiet, heavy burden for the pastors I meet.

So many of them are completely drained. Congregations quietly expect their pastor to be a spiritual giant, a captivating preacher, an expert counselor, a financial expert, a human resources manager, and a tech-savvy administrator—all while keeping up a flawless family life and an uninterrupted smile. (And let’s be honest, most of us would crumble trying to do just two or three of those jobs at once!)

When visiting a church as a guest speaker, I got into a habit of pulling a few members aside and asking a simple, quiet question:

“What is the mission of your church?”

Almost without fail, the answer was a blank stare or a vague guess. Very few had any clear idea.

These congregations didn’t have bad pastors. They had overworked, overwhelmed pastors. The truth is, the most ungodly thing in many of our churches is the pastor’s job description.

I don’t mean the official one written on paper by a staff-parish relations committee (or whatever group handles that in your church). I mean the unspoken, heavy stack of expectations stored in the minds of the congregation. We expect our pastors to carry the entire weight of the church on their own shoulders, and then we wonder why so many burn out and walk away from ministry after just a few years.

Simply preaching a sermon telling the congregation to “get focused” won’t fix this. What pastors and congregations actually need is an operational model that is spiritually grounded, scripturally sound, and practically workable.

An Unexpected Blueprint

That is why I want to share a new book that gets right to the heart of this problem.

As many of you know, my company, Energion Publications, is providing publishing services for a new imprint, New Fire Press, and they have released a title called The CEO Pastor: Leading with Vision, Stewardship, and Grace by Pastor Richard T. Williams II.

While Energion is not the primary publisher of this book, I want to give it my genuine, wholehearted backing. Having edited and published dozens of ministry handbooks over the years, I can tell you that this one stands out for its practical wisdom and deep respect for the pastoral calling.

Pastor Williams serves as the Lead Pastor of Metropolitan United Methodist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, and is the Founder and Executive Director of The Beacon Center. He isn’t writing from a quiet academic office; he’s writing from the active, messy, and beautiful front lines of community ministry.

He addresses the exact tension that paralyzes so many church leaders: the constant tug-of-war between shepherding people and managing an organization.

Rev. Richard T. Williams II

Reclaiming the corporate acronym, he introduces the Chief Executive Overseer—a leader who faithfully holds the shepherd’s staff of care in one hand and the steward’s keys of administration in the other. In God’s kingdom, good structure and vibrant spiritual life aren’t enemies; they are partners. Stewardship, when done with order and integrity, is a genuine form of worship.

A Practical, Hands-On Guide

Rather than offering lofty theories, Pastor Williams provides real-world frameworks, clear checklists, and honest case studies to help church leaders:
- Cast Vision with Clarity: Moving beyond vague slogans so the congregation actually understands its mission and knows where it’s going.
- Empower Lay Leaders: Drawing on the biblical wisdom of Exodus 18 (Jethro’s advice to Moses) and Acts 6 (deacons handling administration so apostles could focus on prayer), shifting the church away from unhealthy dependency toward a shared priesthood of all believers.
- Operate with Integrity: Setting up transparent financial structures and healthy accountability that protect both the pastor and the church.
Yes, as a publishing service provider, part of my job is helping market books. But my primary, lifelong calling is equipping people for ministry and building the Kingdom of God. I warmly support this book because I believe it offers a realistic path to rescue weary pastors from burnout and help local churches find their calling again.

Whether you are a solo pastor running on empty, a denominational leader looking to support clergy, or a faithful layperson serving on a church committee, I encourage you to read this book—and more importantly, put its principles to work in your congregation.

Let’s change those ungodly job descriptions in our churches, and start holding both the shepherd’s staff and the steward’s keys together.
September 28, 2026