Randy Alcorn's Blog

What Does Scripture Mean by God Doing Away with the Stomach and Food?

Randy Alcorn — Fri, 23 Oct 2026 00:00:00 -0700

A reader asked me this question:

Since there will be a New Heaven and New Earth, and feasts, what is meant by “doing away with stomach and food” in 1 Corinthians 6:12-13?

In context, the Apostle Paul is warning us not to let bodily appetites rule us, because the body is for the Lord, not for sin. He is not claiming that resurrected people will never eat on the New Earth.

Paul is confronting the misuse of the body and rejecting the idea that “all things are lawful” means we may become enslaved to any appetite. Charles Spurgeon put it this way: “I will not be brought under the power of any,” because our bodies belong to God and will be raised by His power.

As I explain in Heaven, “Food is for the stomach, and the stomach is for food” describes the temporary relationship between our present bodies and food. When this old body dies, that relationship ends.

In the present Heaven, before the resurrection, it’s not clear whether we will eat or have a stomach. But Paul is not teaching that our resurrected bodies on the New Earth will lack stomachs or that we will never enjoy food. The eternal Heaven is centered on a resurrected earth, where resurrected people will live in actual bodies, and Scripture’s language about feasts and eating should not automatically be reduced to metaphor. Jesus says this to His disciples regarding their place in the new kingdom: “that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Luke 22:30).

Augustine points to Christ eating and drinking after His resurrection as evidence that a spiritual body is still a real body. So, it seems that our glorified bodies will still be able to enjoy food, and we will have resurrected taste buds. Afterall, God created food for pleasure as well as nourishment. (See Will We Eat Good Food in Heaven? How Will It Taste?)

The resurrected Jesus invited His disciples, “Come and have breakfast.” He prepared His disciples a meal and then ate bread and fish with them (John 21:4-14). He proved that resurrection bodies are capable of eating food, real food. Christ could have abstained from eating. The fact that He didn’t is a powerful statement about the nature of His resurrection body, and by implication, ours, since Christ “will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body” (Philippians 3:21). R. C. Sproul wrote that “whatever His body is composed of we will have too in our own resurrected bodies.”

My guess is that it will in fact be necessary for us to eat and drink on the New Earth as it was necessary for Adam and Eve to eat and drink. Not only because it is what will make eating and drinking satisfying, but also because while we will cease to be fallen, we will never cease to be finite. The promise is not that we will have no sensation of hunger or thirst, but that we will never go hungry or go thirsty because there will always be enough to satisfy us (Revelation 7:16).

God does not despise the body or the pleasures He created. He created hunger and thirst, and He intends them to be satisfied, not simply obliterated. On the New Earth, no appetite will be frustrated, corrupting, or controlling. Whether our resurrected bodies will digest and eliminate food exactly as they do now, we do not know—but no aspect of God-created physiology should be viewed as inherently bad.

So “doing away with stomach and food” means doing away with the present body’s vulnerability to sin, as well as to hunger, decay, and death. It does not overturn the promise of resurrection, feasts, and embodied joy. Whatever form eating takes in the world to come, it will be free from necessity, excess, sickness, and sin—and fully consistent with the goodness of God’s restored creation.

How Can You Know You’ll Have Eternal Peace and Happiness with God?

Randy Alcorn — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 00:00:00 -0700

Countless people will assure you Heaven is your default destination, or the reward for working hard or avoiding certain sins. This is false. Salvation comes only through Jesus.

Still, the question remains: how can we possibly know God, and be confident we’ll go to Heaven, not Hell? The apostle John said, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13, emphasis added). But before we can live with God forever, something must radically change.

So we can know for sure before we leave this world that we will live “happily ever after.” It’s not merely a fairy tale—it’s what Jesus bought with His own blood.

Our Problem, God’s Solution

STEP 1

“God created mankind in his own image...God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.” Genesis 1:27, 31

God made humans to have a delightful relationship with Him, and that’s still what He offers: “You [God] make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; …pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11).

But when Adam and Eve chose to disobey God in the Garden of Eden (see Genesis 3), sin poisoned the world. Now we are all born with the desire to do things our own way, not God’s.

STEP 2

“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23

Through sin, we forfeit the happiness a relationship with the holy and good God ensures (Isaiah 59:2). The result is spiritual death—separation from God now and, after death, in Hell, which Jesus said is “eternal punishment” (Matthew 25:45). Physical death ends our opportunity to enter into a relationship with God (Hebrews 9:27).

STEP 3

“The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23

Absolutely nothing we do will restore us to God. He says even our “good deeds” are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). So Jesus—fully God and fully man—came to deliver us from death and give us everlasting life (John 3:16). “God demonstrates His own love toward us…while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

Jesus did for us what we couldn’t do for ourselves. When He made the ultimate sacrifice for us on the cross, He said, “It is finished” (John 19:30). The Greek word translated “it is finished” was written across certificates of debt when they were canceled. It meant “paid in full.” On the third day, Jesus walked out of His tomb, proving He’d conquered sin and death (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).

STEP 4

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9

God’s greatest gift is a restored relationship with Him (John 3:36). Jesus, the gift and giver, is the only way to God. He said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

STEP 5

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9

“If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” Romans 10:9

To receive full forgiveness, we must admit our sin. Romans 10:10 says, “For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” Justification means Jesus makes us right with God. Then we affirm to others that we follow Him.

STEP 6

“Whoever hears my word and believes Him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.” John 5:24

Jesus freely offers the deliverance we need and the happiness and fulfillment we crave: “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13). When we accept His gift of eternal life, God’s Holy Spirit indwells us and helps us obey Him (2 Timothy 1:14).

Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). This is the “good news [gospel] of happiness” (Isaiah 52:7).

“This is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (John 17:3). The essence of eternal life—the good news of salvation—is to know, love, follow, worship, serve, and enjoy Jesus. It’s all about Him.

To believe in Jesus is to depend on Him for what He promised us, and trust His love, proven by the death He died for us. Once we know Jesus, “in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13).

Make things right with God. Now. Don’t put it off. Confess your sins. Accept Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross to deliver people from spiritual darkness.

If you understand what God has done for you, tell Him. There’s no magic in these words, but they may help convey what’s in your heart: “Jesus, I confess that I do not measure up to Your perfect standard. Because You died for my sins, I gratefully accept your forgiveness and will seek to follow You wholeheartedly. Thank You for paying the price to give me eternal life.”

What's Next?

Once you’ve acknowledged Jesus as your Savior, join a community of Jesus-followers. A Bible-believing, people-loving church will instruct, support, and guide you. Churches aren’t perfect, but we all need each other (Hebrews 10:25).

Seek out people who know God’s Word and can help you grow in your relationship with Jesus! Read the Bible, talk to God, share your good news, and gather regularly with God’s people.

“Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18).

If you have any questions or need help finding a church, contact us.

God’s offer of salvation is the best news there has ever been or ever will be! I hope you’ll share this article with others who need to hear about it. (If you’re interested in handing out a printed version, EPM offers a beautiful full-color brochure.)

We also have a version of this article available in 21 other languages. Please pass these along to those you know who speak these languages, or to missionaries serving those who do:

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Chinese (Simplified)

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Indonesian

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Being a Good Husband and Father Begins with Faithfulness to Christ

Randy Alcorn — Mon, 19 Oct 2026 00:00:00 -0700

During my interview on the Building Excellence podcast, host Bailey Miles asked me, “What Does it mean to be a good husband and father?” Here was my answer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9z-R8Xr5r2s

Scripture makes clear that a husband’s first responsibility is to love and serve: “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word” (Ephesians 5:25-26).

An unholy husband cannot lead his wife into holiness, which is exactly what God calls upon us to do in Ephesians 5:27-28. We are to follow the example of Jesus and do as He does, “to present her [his bride] to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies.”

Husbands, you didn’t make your vows to your boss or your buddies, but to your wife. The best thing you can do for your wife is to become more like Jesus.

Here are some resources on becoming a better husband:

Biblical guidelines: What does it mean to be a godly husband?
Six Tips for Being a Godly Husband
The Five Priorities of a Godly Husband
Seven Marks of a Godly Husband
Bible Truths about a husband’s role and calling(more Scripture, more depth)
From Gil Stieglitz, a short helpful outline of being a godly husband; includes mention of an online video course you could do, which would be good for you and would honor your wife’s wishes
A book I recommend you get and read is Becoming a Godly Husband; it looks good and is written by the same person above, Gil Stieglitz

Parenthood is a calling, far more important than any vocation. When it comes to being a faithful dad, the best thing you can do for your children is to love God with all your heart, and the second best thing you can do is to love your wife with all your heart. Our children and grandchildren are an ongoing investment, a gift we leave to a world we won't be part of, but will impact for eternity through the generations that follow us. It takes only money to leave your children an inheritance, but it takes spiritual discipline, “a long obedience in the same direction,” to leave them a true heritage.

Here are some recommended resources on being a godly father:

What Does It Mean for a Man to Lead His Family Spiritually? by John Piper (14 minute audio)
25 Ways to Spiritually Lead Your Family by Dennis Rainey
10 Promises for Parents by Kevin DeYoung
Focus on the Family has a book titled The 21 Day Dad’s Challenge: Three Weeks to a Better Relationship with your Kids
And here are some past articles from my blog related to fatherhood: Leaving a Legacy of Faithfulness: The Father as Model and Mentor, Advice for Dads Who Didn’t Grow Up with Role Models, The One Thing My Daughter Remembered Most About My Parenting, and Some Thoughts about Fathering (and Grand-fathering)

Finally, this video shows the impact of a father, investing in his kids even when he himself lacked a good role model:

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A post shared by Mrs Elisha Brown (@thechristlifecoach)

Because of Jesus, Grief Is Temporary and Love Is Eternal

Randy Alcorn — Fri, 16 Oct 2026 00:00:00 -0700

It’s been four and a half years since my precious wife Nanci went to be with Jesus. The early months of grief were disorienting and excruciating, and even the first year was unlike anything I’ve ever known, though I had experienced considerable loss and grief saying goodbye to my mother, father, best friend (Jerry was my best male friend; Nanci was always my best friend), and a number of other good friends.

A month after Nanci died, I thought I was losing my mind, and that dementia was setting in because I literally had to look at a calendar not just to remind myself of what day it was, but of what month it was. The truth is, most of the time I didn’t even care what month it was. All I knew is that I had Nanci for 54 years, and she had been my soulmate through all 47 years of our marriage, and then suddenly our house was quiet. Her loud, contagious, and delightful laughter was no longer there. She wasn’t cheering during football games, she wasn’t at the family functions, she wasn’t there for our anniversary in May, and she wasn’t present for Thanksgiving or Christmas or the kids’ and grandkids’ birthdays. Her absence felt like a kick in the gut every single day. There is nothing like that loss. I consoled myself that I was grieving so much precisely because I had loved her so much, and still do.

When I say I was grieving, I don’t mean every minute. I kept busy with important things that included pouring my life into others, which is healthy as long as you keep in touch with what’s happening in your own heart. The grief comes in waves, and those waves will continue until I’m with Jesus. And yet, there is healing over time. God reminds me that He is not done with me as long as He keeps me here in this world. He has a purpose, and even though there have been times I’ve wanted nothing more than to just be with Him and Nanci, God knows best, and my times are in His hands. As I live my life, I have the opportunity to represent Jesus first and foremost, but also secondly, to represent Nanci and the things that were closest to her heart. That is a great privilege.

Other than Jesus, Nanci has been the center of gravity in my life. When your center of gravity is no longer there, it’s easy to fly off out of orbit. But God keeps me centered on Him, and has given me the grace to walk with Him even on days when my heart has been so broken that I thought I could hardly endure. “God heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds” (Psalm 147:3).

Dr. Lee Warren is a neurosurgeon and the author of The Life-Changing Art of Self-Brain Surgery and Hope Is the First Dose, which shares what he learned about grief after his son’s death. He says this in an Instagram post:

For a long time I thought healing meant the ache would eventually go away. That someday I’d wake up and it just wouldn’t hurt anymore. That’s not what happened, and I’ve come to believe that’s actually good news.

…Neuroscience tells us grief isn’t a wound that closes. It’s more like a new neural pathway your brain builds to hold both the love and the loss at the same time. Every time you remember him, you’re not reopening a wound, you’re strengthening a connection between who he was and who you are now. Grief and love run on the same circuitry. That’s why it never fully quiets. It’s not supposed to.

…Thirteen years later, I don’t grieve the way I did in year one. But I still grieve. What’s changed is what I carry alongside it: gratitude that I got to be his father, and hope that this isn’t the end of his story or mine.

Here’s his video sharing more:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Dr. Lee Warren | Neurosurgeon (@drleewarren)

Though Nanci’s death was a heartbreaking interruption in our relationship, I anticipate our everlasting reunion in a world without sin and suffering and grief, where happiness will be the air we breathe, and where we will be part of the same marriage of God’s people to our wonderful Bridegroom. This means my grief—real as it is—has a shelf life, with an expiration date.

Nanci stenciled this on our bedroom wall, and it is the first thing I see when I wake up every morning:

“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:22-23)

What else can contemplating the unceasing steadfast love of God, and His great faithfulness to us, do but give us strength for the day ahead? Jesus is my closest and dearest friend as I’ve walked this journey of grief. I can’t imagine life without Him. But in particular, I can’t imagine life without His friendship and my daily awareness of His presence and love and grace. I’m so grateful to know that because of Jesus, what’s ahead of me is a world where God’s children will truly—not grounded in a fairy tale but God’s great promises—all live happily ever after.

“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13).

One Woman’s Story of Saying Yes to Embryo Adoption

Anna Russell — Wed, 14 Oct 2026 00:00:00 -0700

Note from Randy: In God’s providence, this article by Anna Russell appeared on The Gospel Coalition around the same time our ministry posted an article about Hannah Strege, a 27-year-old woman who was the first embryo ever adopted. Anna’s article is remarkably consistent with what we shared about Hannah, and is the perfect follow-up for us to share. Hannah’s parents Marlene and John paved the way by adopting Hannah and her siblings as embryos, and now nearly 30 years later, children who were frozen in their earliest stage of development are being adopted and born into loving families like Anna’s.

Thinking about this makes my heart sing! I have faced huge opposition and disappointments in the prolife arena over the years, as well as seeing the good end of things. But wow, this is one of the best things I’ve ever seen come out of pro-life efforts! (One reader of our blog about Hannah asked what resources exist to help families who want to adopt embryos. Marlene, Hannah’s mom, suggested the adoption scholarships available through my dear friend, author Karen Kingsbury.)

Why We Said ‘No’ to IVF and ‘Yes’ to Embryo Adoption

By Anna Russell

The 2019 Book of Common Prayer contains a liturgy of thanksgiving for the birth of a child and one of thanksgiving for the adoption of a child. When our daughter was born in September 2024, we asked our pastor to come to the hospital to pray both these prayers for our new baby. Not genetically related to me or my husband, our daughter came to us through embryo adoption.

By God’s grace, in 2019 I spent hours during our last year of seminary researching and writing about infertility, assisted reproductive technologies, and the ethical issues surrounding their use. At the time, I thought of this as my latest theological hobbyhorse. It was interesting and important to me, but it wasn’t personal. All that research and writing occurred a year before my husband and I started trying to conceive.

When it suddenly applied to my own life—after nine months of trying to conceive, waiting, and praying, only to be disappointed again and again—I found I wasn’t emotionally or spiritually prepared for the heartache I experienced.

My emotions weighed on me constantly. My spirit felt weak. But my time spent studying assisted reproductive technologies in seminary wasn’t wasted because, intellectually at least, I was ready. I knew what to expect from our fertility clinic once we started pursuing medical help. We knew what treatment options our doctor would present to us, and we knew what we were and weren’t willing to try.

Infertility affects approximately 12 percent to 15 percent of couples in the United States. Many of those couples will ultimately pursue in vitro fertilization (IVF) to grow their families. Almost 3 percent of babies born in the United States are conceived via IVF. Since the technology’s inception, millions of people have been born as a result.

If that’s something you (or someone you love) is considering, I would love to share the way my husband and I approached this theologically—and how the Lord redeemed our infertility.

Why Not IVF?

Criticizing IVF, even among pro-life Christians, is an uncomfortable exercise. As IVF becomes more common, more Christians have used IVF or know someone who has. Most who pursue IVF do so because they’re following an intense longing rooted in the biblical desire for the blessing of children (Pss. 113:9; 127:3–5).

For those with children or loved ones conceived via IVF, these critiques feel deeply personal. Yet I want to make clear that critiques of IVF have nothing to do with the value and dignity of children conceived via IVF. These children are image-bearers made by God, and the circumstances of their conception don’t change that (Ps. 139:13).

IVF is a process by which fertility specialists create embryos (babies at the earliest stage of human development) in a laboratory with egg and sperm collected from the parents. These embryos are then transferred to the mother’s uterus in the hope they’ll continue growing through a full-term pregnancy to a live birth. To achieve the highest odds of success, doctors will typically create multiple embryos per IVF cycle, selecting only the healthiest for implantation.

Most embryo transfers are done one embryo at a time. Unused embryos are then either frozen to be transferred at a later date or destroyed. Genetically testing embryos is routine, as it allows couples to discard embryos with a higher likelihood of genetic disorders.

If pro-life Christians agree that a unique human life begins at fertilization, then just as early-term abortion that kills an embryo inside the womb is wrong, destroying embryos developed outside the womb is wrong. If couples who conceive naturally shouldn’t abort a pregnancy because the baby has a genetic disorder, then embryos created via IVF shouldn’t be destroyed for the same reason.

Technically, it’s possible to do IVF without freezing or destroying any embryos (by purposely creating and implanting only one embryo at a time and forgoing genetic testing). But to do IVF this way is prohibitively expensive for most couples. And many doctors won’t agree to this strategy because of the diminished chances of a successful pregnancy. (Our doctor, for example, told us this wasn’t something he’d be willing to do.)

Some couples choose to create multiple embryos with the plan to implant them all over time. To me, this seems too risky—what if a pregnancy complication keeps you from carrying again, a divorce causes an embryo custody dispute, or one or both partners pass away before the embryos have been transferred? At that point, you’d be left with an almost impossible decision about what to do. However, the intention here is good, and my objection is mostly due to unknown hypothetical risks. Christians could disagree with me in good faith. But this wasn’t a path my husband and I wanted to take.

Why Is Embryo Adoption Different?

Since we knew IVF wasn’t an option for us, we kept embryo adoption in mind in the event more conservative treatment options were unsuccessful. After testing left us with a diagnosis of “unexplained infertility,” and we’d exhausted what medications and other treatments could do for us, we asked our doctor about embryo adoption, which set us on the path to our beautiful now two-year-old daughter.

Unlike in IVF, no new children are created through embryo adoption. Rather, a child who already exists gets a chance to live and be part of a family. An estimated 1.2 million frozen embryos exist in the United States at any given moment. Of these, hundreds of thousands have been abandoned by their genetic parents, and an untold number will remain frozen indefinitely until the parents choose either to donate or destroy them.

Each frozen embryo is a unique human being, made in God’s image and deserving of life. Embryo adoption is a redemptive choice that offers them that chance. It’s possible to lament the broken circumstances that led to the child’s need for adoption while also rejoicing in the gift of becoming that child’s parents—as parents of traditionally adopted children do. Though I lament the need for embryo adoption in the first place, I’m deeply grateful that through embryo adoption, the Lord saved my daughter’s life and made me her mother.

Embryo adoption is significantly more affordable and less physically demanding than IVF. It offers women the chance to carry and give birth to their adopted children, and offers those children the earliest opportunity for attachment with their adopted parents. During infertility, I grieved the loss of the gift of pregnancy, of knowing what it’s like to nurture a new life with my body. Though my daughter doesn’t share my DNA, she did share my body throughout pregnancy, and I was able to nurse her after birth.

Not a Perfect Solution

Though I long to see more Christians pursue embryo adoption, it isn’t necessarily a fit for every infertile couple, and it carries risks and complications. For some couples, embryo adoption isn’t medically viable. Certain causes of infertility inhibit not only conception but also a woman’s ability to carry and give birth safely.

The average success rate for a donor embryo transfer is between 43 percent and 45 percent, a discouraging prospect. We’re so grateful that our first embryo transfer led to the healthy birth of our daughter, but we were mentally prepared for the prospect of multiple failed transfers. A failed embryo transfer carries the same emotions as a miscarriage—a life deeply longed for lost prematurely.

Additionally, as with natural pregnancies, miscarriage or stillbirth can occur with adopted embryo pregnancies. Genetic disorders are still possible. Most complications that can occur in a natural pregnancy occur at slightly higher rates in pregnancies achieved through embryo transfer.

Even assuming a successful embryo transfer and a healthy pregnancy, raising a child born through embryo adoption comes with complications. As with traditional adoption, these children are likely to have confusing feelings about their origin stories and questions about their genetic parents that may be difficult or impossible for their adoptive parents to answer.

Despite these complexities, for many infertile Christian couples, embryo adoption can be a redemptive option that offers a child a chance at life and the couple the gift of a child, while avoiding the ethical quandaries of IVF.

Interested in Embryo Adoption?

If you’re walking through infertility and wondering whether to consider embryo adoption, first pray and seek counsel. Ask the Lord to align your heart to his plans for you, even if those plans don’t include having a child. Much of my spiritual formation throughout our infertility was based on learning to trust God amid deep suffering and unfulfilled longing. The book of Job gave me words for this: “The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD” (Job 1:21).

Seek the counsel of a pastor or mentor who knows you well and can pray with you as you process your grief, consider your options, and ask for the Lord’s guidance. Seek advice from friends who have experienced infertility or done embryo adoption themselves. Being able to talk to just one person who could share her experience and answer my questions gave me the insight I needed to step forward in faith and pursue embryo adoption.

If you’re already working with a clinic, ask your doctor if embryo adoption is available with their practice. If so, this allows you to keep working with the same medical team that already has your diagnostic information and prevents you from having to travel for treatment.

Several Christian services are dedicated specifically to embryo adoption. Though you’ll have to travel if you’re not local, working with a Christian medical team can be a real gift when navigating the complexities of embryo adoption. Services like Snowflakes, the National Embryo Donation Center, Embryos Alive, and the Christian Embryo Adoption Network are worth looking into.

Redeem the Wait

As I write this, my daughter is asleep in the next room. And at 24 weeks pregnant, I can feel the kicks of her little sister in my womb. When we adopted our first daughter, we also adopted her sibling embryo, hoping to conceive and carry again as soon as possible after her birth. We praise the Lord for two successful embryo transfers in a row, and that we get to call these two little girls, who are full biological siblings, our own.

When, Lord willing, our second daughter is born in a few short months, they’ll be almost exactly two years apart, even though their embryos were created at the same time back in 2015, 11 years ago and a full year before my husband and I married.

It gives me such hope and gratitude to know that even before we married, God knew these two girls and knew they’d be ours. He knew we’d struggle to conceive and that we’d suffer through years of longing, but he also knew that as long as we waited for our girls, they waited even longer for us. Their stories are imperfect and complex, but miraculously the Lord “knitted [them] together in [their] mother’s womb,” and they’re so loved (Ps. 139:13).

Infertility taught me that protection from suffering isn’t guaranteed in the Christian life. In fact, suffering with and for Jesus is promised. Even with one daughter healthy and with us, and one healthy and on the way, “happily ever after” isn’t guaranteed for our family.

But I can look to the cross and know God is in the business of redeeming suffering to bring about his kingdom purposes. Our suffering through infertility—and our daughters’ suffering through years of frozen waiting—were redeemed with embryo adoption. I hope more Christians experiencing infertility will consider embryo adoption, too, and find their suffering redeemed.

This article originally appeared on The Gospel Coalition, and is used with permission of the author.

Meet My Dogs Mentioned in All God’s Creatures

Randy Alcorn — Mon, 12 Oct 2026 00:00:00 -0700

I enjoyed sharing about my childhood dogs (Ranger, Champ, and Spike) and my adulthood dogs (Champ II, Moses, Maggie, and Gracie) in my book All God’s Creatures. I didn’t say much about some of them—Maggie and Gracie stole the show—but I loved them all, and Nanci loved the four we had together. (She always regretted not having a dog as a child.) Each dog was a gift from God, and the memories are precious. Here’s more about them:

Champ I

My memories of many nights as a boy sleeping out under the stars are inseparable from Champ, the golden retriever who shared them with me, inside and outside my sleeping bag, peering at me lovingly through eyes of wonder and delight. Looking back, I sense that, in his own intuitive way, Champ knew his Creator long before I did.

One thing Champ loved to do was crawl up on the roof of our house, which was flat on one side. My dad made a little ramp where he could come up from the backyard, and have a wonderful view of the neighborhood. So when people came by our house, they saw a dog up on the roof, but couldn’t see how he got there. We got a lot of comments about that!

Spike

My mother would pick up her little dog Spike, who when he got older than he was in this photo, developed a face so pathetic it could make you either cry or laugh. She would wrap a washcloth around his head so that his bulbous eyes were peering out. She would then tell a story in his voice, beginning with “I was a Russian refugee” and telling tales of his travels far and wide across the world until he was finally welcomed into our family in Oregon. Looking at that dog’s face, you could swear that he was acting out his part. If we’d set a bucket in front of him, people would have put money in it!

Ranger

My family also had a black lab named Ranger, who had a sad story. He got involved with the wrong kind of dogs (notice I am blaming those other dogs, not Ranger?). They went out as a pack and started killing sheep. I remember my mom telling me that dad had found a new home for Ranger, way out in the country. It was only years later that it first dawned on me that my parents were trying to protect me from the probable truth—that Ranger had paid the ultimate price for getting in with the wrong crowd and killing sheep, and surely had not been rewarded with a peaceful life in the country! (Who would adopt a sheep-killing dog?)

Champ II

One of my great delights later in life was introducing my wife Nanci to dogs for the first time. When our girls were small, I told Nanci I wanted to get a dog. Our friend Mindy offered us an English Springer Spaniel. We had the pick of the litter, so I went over and chose a puppy and brought him home to give to our children. Nanci, who had never had a dog, immediately fell in love with him. We named him Champ in honor of the Golden Retriever I had grown up with. (Champ II was a master escape artist, who repeatedly dug under our fence.)

Champ was the beginning of Nanci’s lifelong love of dogs, which I’m confident will still prevail on the New Earth. In fact, she asked me when she had cancer, “Do you think it would be OK if I asked God for me not to rule a city on the New Earth, but instead take care of a hundred dogs?” Given that governing animals was God’s very first command to Adam (Genesis 1:28), I told her I thought God would be fine with that prayer request!

Moses

For a while, we had both Champ and our Dalmatian Moses. When Champ died, Moses grieved his loss. His friend was gone, and he clearly missed him, just like we did. And in grieving his friend, he helped us grieve too.

Moses walked with us through our daughters moving out of the home and starting their own families, and he played with our grandsons. He would let those boys wrestle with and bump him around, and he never retaliated.

Moses was a precious and inseparable friend and walking companion to Nanci. He could also steal food and exit the room in the blink of an eye. He once stole a steak right off the grill when our son-in-law Dan Stump was fixing dinner at our house! (Read what I wrote about saying goodbye to Moses here.)

Maggie

Like every dog and cat I’ve ever had, our Golden Retriever Maggie brimmed with personality. And, no, personality is not the wrong word, even though animals are not persons. If I answered the door or left the room—even briefly—Maggie would always take over my chair (which we both knew was really her chair), pretending she’d been there all along.

Her love overflowed as she would press her body against our side yard cyclone fence, inviting strangers on our road to come scratch her—and many did, every day. Mags would also go out of her way to be stubborn, loving a good battle of the wills, bringing us endless laughter. Nanci would look at her and tell her, affectionately, “Maggie, your mind has a mind of its own.”

When Nanci was in the third year of her cancer, we got the news that Maggie also had cancer. We were devastated, but by God’s grace we affirmed our trust in His love and sovereignty, for permitting both Nanci’s and Maggie’s cancer. (I wrote a blog about saying goodbye to Maggie, and many readers have shared how it’s helped them in their own grief over pets.)

Gracie

Nanci and I were both terribly sad when each of our dogs died. And each of the four times Nanci and I got a new dog, she was effusively happy. Less than a year before she left this world for a better one, Nanci was lying on our lawn to get her face close to our newly acquired eight-week-old double doodle puppy Gracie. She had not been able to sit on a lawn for two years, much less stretch out. Her delight was palpable.

Only twice could we together take Gracie for walks, both with Nanci pushing her walker, once hooked to her portable oxygen tank. It broke my heart that she wasn’t strong enough to walk on her own and even hold the leash of our 12-pound puppy. And yet those walks were celebratory, not morose, because it was the most Nanci had been able to do for months. She smiled and laughed and couldn’t take her eyes off Gracie except to look at me and smile, with no need to speak, because my delight was one with hers. On her final walk with a beloved dog in this dying world, she was “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing” (2 Corinthians 6:10). And it was a joy that came into Nanci from Gracie, in a way that could only come through a spirit, a living being with the God-given breath of life.

After Nanci died, sometimes it was hard to be around people. Not once was it hard to be around my dog. I don’t just credit Gracie for that. I credit the God who made her one of a kind and entrusted her to my care. Gracie is no substitute for Nanci, but her companionship has meant a great deal to me.

And yes, Gracie is full of her own unique personality. She plays games with me all the time. When I give her a treat, she runs for her life downstairs lest I or some lurking thief snatch it from her. She pretends she isn’t hungry for hours, sometimes for a whole day, but when I leave the room for five minutes and return, her food is gone even though she is lying on the couch exactly where she was when I left, just like Maggie, pretending nothing happened when I was gone!

The Gift of Dogs

My life without animals simply would not have been my life, and I know many other people who feel the same way. God has used dogs to make me laugh, bring me delight, and show me unconditional love. There have been times when I’ve really been struggling, but then I put my arms around my dog, and God comforts me. Even when you’ve blown it and made a fool of yourself, your dog thinks you’re a hero. Even when you don’t sense much love from people, your dog will follow you to the ends of the earth and die for you in a heartbeat. (Check out this article about a new study showing that dogs’ brains light up when they see happy human faces.)

God can use the secondary delights of His creation to draw us toward Himself as the primary delight. Romans 1 says, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made.” God’s qualities and attributes are made visible in His creation, and the higher the creation, the more manifest they are. Animals are His second highest creation. To observe them is to observe their Maker. As I look into Gracie’s eyes, and as she gives and receives love and devotion, I feel drawn to the God who made her.

I hope you enjoy reading All God’s Creatures as much as I enjoyed writing it. My friend Greg Laurie, pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship, kindly offered this endorsement:

Most of us have had a favorite pet in life. They were often there for us when people weren't. No judgment. No bad days. Just pure, unconditional love right there on the couch next to you.

My friend Randy Alcorn is a bona fide expert on the afterlife. He has researched and written more about the topic of Heaven than almost anyone alive. Now, in All God’s Creatures, he takes the questions people whisper in the hallway after church and answers them out loud with the full weight of Scripture. Whether you’ve lost a beloved pet, are wrestling with why God allows animals to suffer, or just want a clearer vision of what eternity will actually look like, this book will point you to the Bible, and to the God who made and cares for every creature.

(Read all the endorsements here.)

My Books Heaven and Happiness in Ukrainian—and a Reminder to Pray for and Support the Suffering People of Ukraine

Randy Alcorn — Fri, 09 Oct 2026 00:00:00 -0700

Our ministry received some remarkable messages from a woman who translated my book Happiness into Ukrainian in 2023 and just finished translating Heaven. She shared how the books have helped her and others in this season of war and suffering in Ukraine. (Several of my articles and some of my books are available in Ukrainian. And we have a growing number of resources in other languages.)

How wonderful to know that Heaven is being translated by Olga, who is clearly a Jesus–loving soul:

Dear Randy, I am currently working on the Ukrainian translation of your book Heaven, and I am nearing its completion. My heart is overflowing with gratitude—first and foremost to God, of course, because this is His Spirit, His inspiration, and His Word. But I am also deeply grateful to you. Thank you for painting such a breathtaking and wondrous picture of our eternal home. Very often, while working on the text, I would stop just to pray and give thanks, over and over again, to the One who awaits us there with such immense love. This book holds so much love, hope, and happiness—everything that our Creator gives us and embodies in Himself. Thank you for this incredible privilege of giving a Ukrainian voice to your Heaven.

Warmly in Christ,

Olga Drobko

P.S. Quite often, I find myself unable to hold back tears from the overwhelming emotions that fill my heart.

It almost sounds insensitive to think my book Happiness could possibly be relevant to people who are facing such immense suffering. But Olga also wrote:

Actually, Heaven is the second book by Randy that I’ve translated. The first one was Happiness. I was working on it back in 2023, during the second year of the war here in Ukraine. It was a time of pure horror, uncertainty, and the deepest sorrow. Honestly, working on a book about a happy God, who is the source of all joy and happiness, became my true refuge. I would almost literally hide in this work to escape the endless news of deaths and destruction. I remember quoting it and sending snippets to everyone I talked to. It was my medicine, my place of rest, and my strength to keep moving forward.

Now, a year later, since the book has been published, Happiness has become a true revelation for so many people here in Ukraine during these dark times. Every page reveals a God we never really knew or heard about. And now, I’ve just finished Heaven. It brings the exact same hope, comfort, and refuge. Honestly, I sometimes wonder who needs these precious truths more—people in stable, peaceful countries, or those who are staring death in the face every single day...To say I’m deeply and unspeakably grateful is an understatement. I’m crying even now as I type this… Thank you all for being such a blessing to us!

Olga followed up with these words: “I can hardly describe how much more deeply the truth about our happy God touches me now, as I come to understand that every good gift and every perfect gift is from above. And how much more precious the wonderful truths about Heaven become when we realize that our present, momentary sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed.”

She explained what life looked like on the day we were emailing with her:

Your message brings a special warmth and comfort this morning. Air raid alerts are sounding across Ukraine again, explosions are shaking Kyiv, and fighter jets are flying overhead. My older son cannot go to university today, and my younger son cannot go to high school. In the midst of all this, your kind words and prayers feel like a warm embrace.

My friend Steve Keels and I visited Olga’s home country in 1991 when it was still a republic as part of the old U.S.S.R. For two weeks, we passed out Bibles in both Ukraine and Russia. Steve and I met wonderful believers in both countries and personally witnessed historical events that I will never forget.

I was actually there on “Lenin’s Day,” April 22, 1991, watching live from maybe the tenth floor of a hotel, as the Ukrainian people put ropes around a huge statue of Lenin. They pulled it down to the ground, while police and/or military were lined up pointing rifles at them. Fortunately, there was no shooting, but what an unforgettable sight, and I still remember the sounds of celebration when the statue hit the ground. Ukraine has always been on my heart since the time we spent there. (See a blog I wrote four years ago sharing more memories of that trip: Pray for the Precious People of Ukraine (and Russia), Traumatized by War.)

Olga wrote our ministry, “Knowing that Ukraine has been on Randy’s heart ever since, and that you are praying for us and for these translation projects, is such an encouragement. Thank you for remembering our country during this painful time.”

Peter Hibbs, the missions pastor at my home church Good Shepherd Community Church, gave a report about his very recent trip to Ukraine. The senseless war between Ukraine and Russia is absolutely horrific, and young men, including Christian young men, are being sent to the front lines from both sides where the average length of survival is less than an hour. Military casualties for both sides combined are said to exceed two million, one million minimum, and there are many civilian deaths in Ukraine.

The horror of Christian brothers killing Christian brothers only because they’re commanded to do so by their government is, to me, a weight beyond description. I remember sitting at dinner with a large extended Ukrainian family on that trip in 1991, and singing joyous hymns I could not understand except when the music corresponded to the hymns we also sing in the U.S. These were people who had grown up under the massive weight of communist atheism, but by God’s grace, they had broken free and deeply loved Jesus. I find myself wondering how many of the two dozen now-grown children at that huge table have already been killed in this war, and how many will soon be killed. It breaks my heart, and I’m crying as I write this because I can still see their faces and hear their voices and the resonance of songs sung in a minor key that only the suffering can understand. Yet they declared a major faith in the God who is above all suffering, and still uses it for His purposes.

Samaritan’s Purse is having a tremendous ministry in Ukraine and needs our support. (And certainly, the people of Russia need prayer too. I think of our brothers and sisters there who love Jesus, including a Christian leader I know of who has spoken out against what the Russian government has done to the people of Ukraine, and is in jeopardy of serious consequences.) Samaritan’s Purse has produced a remarkable two-part video about the situation in Ukraine. Whether you watch it or not, please consider supporting them in their work to help the helpless.

If you do nothing else, please listen to the song at the beginning of part one in the Ukrainian language and read the captions that start that video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O30LbrOGzaw

Part two:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aopu17tEOKY

How You Handle Criticism Is a Test of Your Humility

Randy Alcorn — Wed, 07 Oct 2026 00:00:00 -0700

As my grandson Ty was preparing to marry his sweetheart Ava earlier this summer, one of the things we were discussing over text was how nothing is more important in marriage than humility:

“Humble yourself before the mighty hand of God and in due time he will lift you up” (1 Peter 5:6).

If you don’t humble yourself before God, He will need to humble you.

“Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18).

Pride is the problem; humility is the solution.

“The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice” (Proverbs 12:15).

One aspect of true humility is openness to correction. There are too many people, including sometimes those in ministry, who are thin-skinned and way too easily hurt. I was that way as a young pastor. I look back now with embarrassment at how devastated—and sometimes defensive—I was due to criticism. What really made the change was not only the civil disobedience I participated in, and having to step down as a pastor for the sake of the church, but also writing books and articles where I was subjecting myself to the criticism of readers.

I know of some veteran writers who still have thin skins and don’t take seriously the criticisms—or they take them too seriously, to the point that it robs them of joy and perspective. You can receive 100 encouraging messages from people who say God used your book to change their lives, and then you can only remember the one person who raked you over the coals for that book.

As the years went by, and I wrote more and more books, my skin got thicker, and I was no longer losing sleep over what people were saying about me, even though it was posted on the Internet, and some of it was untrue. (One of the things that used to bug me was that someone would claim I said something I didn’t, probably not maliciously but just misunderstanding. The people reading what they said would respond, “Wow, that’s awful he would say that.” And I would read it and say, sometimes aloud, “But I would never say that!”) It took some time, but finally I could honestly say, “So what? That’s life. The only thing I can do is seek to be at peace with Jesus, my family, and those around me. My goal in life should not be to make the world approve of me, or even to make the church approve of me. My goal should be to honor and please the One who loves me so much He went to the cross for me.”

What is true of writing is in its own way true of everything in life. Every writer needs good editors, and what good editors do is tell you what they think you said that was wrong or confusing or unclear. I've had multiple editors on every book project whose job is not to praise me for what I’ve written, but to offer correction and suggestions for improvement. The great majority of the time, they are right and show me how to do it better. (Likewise, in friendships, in marriage, in church, and in all of life, openness to criticism will make or break you.)

As a young writer, just as when I was a young pastor and a young husband, it was tough for me to receive that criticism. But as the years went on, I learned to truly welcome it because I know in the end the article or book will be far better if I’ve listened to and accepted their criticism! When people don’t like my books or articles, I try to listen to the critics, and honestly ask God for wisdom to see the truth in their criticism. Sometimes I flat out agree with them and tell them I need to make the change in a future edition. More often than not, explaining what I meant can be helpful, but if they still think I was wrong, and after careful consideration, I don’t, I can now live with that and not lose a moment’s sleep.

It also helped me greatly in my marriage and family life because when my wife and daughters saw things differently than I did, or pointed out things I had said or done that were wrong, I eventually learned to welcome it as the voice of God in my life. Usually, I needed to apologize and make changes.

Everybody needs to own up to the truth behind criticisms, and there is almost always some truth in them. Sometimes much truth, and sometimes it’s the whole truth. This is how God develops our humility. When we open ourselves to the conviction of the Holy Spirit about our shortcomings, it is tremendously liberating to be able to see your weaknesses and acknowledge them to other people and to the Lord.

Your character will grow in direct proportion to your willingness to accept correction. It will also make you a better Bible student and a better Christian because frequently when you read the Bible, the words will be a form of criticism, and the Holy Spirit speaks through that criticism. If you are defensive and not open to criticism, you will not have a good walk with God.

A great test in your walk with God is how you respond to your spouse (or a close friend or coworker) when they get hurt, are disappointed, and have criticisms of you. Nanci was a tremendous support to me, but she spoke truth into my life consistently over the years, and I often needed to apologize and ask forgiveness. In the process, I became a better husband. It wasn’t easy to do early in our marriage, but by God‘s grace, I did learn to do it. (I hope those of you reading this learn it sooner than I did!)

Almost nothing is better than a good marriage and almost nothing is worse than a bad one. One thing that really helps make a great marriage is the ability both to speak the truth in love and even more importantly, to listen to the truth spoken—even if not everything said was completely accurate, and even if it was not said to you as lovingly as you would’ve wished.

May we all take James 1:19 to heart: “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.”

Does Our Attitude Toward Aging Reflect That Life at Every Stage Is Valuable?

Randy Alcorn — Mon, 05 Oct 2026 00:00:00 -0700

I listened on audio to Jen Wilkin’s new book Dust to Dust: Aging Wisely in an Anti-Aging World. She does a wonderful job of connecting those decreasingly helpless at the beginning of life with those increasingly helpless at the end of life. I highly recommend this to people of all ages who want to understand themselves and their family and friends better, and be able to help them with greater wisdom.

Jen writes in the first chapter:

From the moment you are born until the moment you die, you are aging. Every second of every minute of every hour of every day of every month of every year, your life counts up to midlife and down to end of life. How does that make you feel? Does your chest tighten with anxiety? Maybe you feel pressure to accomplish something more or different with the time you have left. Or maybe you feel very little at all about the ticking away of your life’s time clock.

Perhaps more importantly, how should thinking about the countdown of your life make you feel?

This is not a book about death or the afterlife. Nor is it a book about dying, per se. This is a book about this life and the unexpected path to living it to the full. We find that path through a right assessment of the aging process, one that is The True Story of Aging 4 distinctly Christian in its perspective. I believe that how we think about aging, and, relatedly, the aged themselves can alter the course of our lives either for the better or for the worse. More than that, I believe embracing and living from a Christian view of aging is one of the simplest ways believers can shine like stars in our current generation.

She goes on to connect the way our prolife convictions should inform our view of aging:

For generations, Christians have believed and affirmed the true story that life is a gift from God in all of its stages. Our whole-life pro-life commitment means we believe every person at every stage of life is made in the image of God. We make a conscious commitment to value all of human life, from beginning to end—or from dust to dust, as the centuries-old graveside liturgy expresses it. But we inhabit a world that is dead set on living in a false story of aging—one that values, at most, only the first half of life but does not value its second half of bodily decline.

The Christian whole-life pro-life commitment is beautiful on our lips, but it is more beautiful as it moves to our hands and feet. We assert that all of life is valuable in all of its stages, but do we prove we believe that story by living in a way that reflects this conviction? We will ask that question on repeat in the chapters to come. One of the simplest ways for the modern church to live counterculturally is to embrace, defend, and live as though we value all of life, including the latter parts. But to do so, we must grapple with—and, I believe, reject wholesale—the prevailing attitudes toward decline and death that make up a whopper of a false story.

You can read the whole first chapter here.

Watch Jen share more in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYg3aTSMm8o

Questions about Heaven and Animals: My Interview with Sean McDowell

Randy Alcorn — Fri, 02 Oct 2026 00:00:00 -0700

Last February, I recorded an interview with Sean McDowell about my book All God’s Creatures. The video was just released this week on Sean’s YouTube channel.

I’ve been greatly encouraged by the comments. I anticipated a certain amount of pushback, but overall, there have been some amazing and warm responses to this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8Wik2MEhIk

0:00 Intro
1:08 Why he wrote a book about animals
2:25 What do you mean by "heaven"?
5:55 Isaiah 11 and animals at peace
7:42 Christoplatonism and a misconception of the afterlife
12:30 Does God care about animals?
16:44 Animals in the life of Jesus
18:31 The longest monologue in the Bible
23:11 Do animals have souls?
28:10 Romans 8 and a groaning creation
29:43 Restoration of all things
31:17 Will our pets be on the new earth?
37:40 Might animals talk?
41:43 Oceans and sea creatures
48:52 Why does God allow animals to suffer?
50:51 Hunting, fishing, and meat eating
54:30 What surprised him most

Sean’s parents Josh and Dottie McDowell were our studio audience, and then we had a wonderful dinner with them and Sean’s daughter and friends. People still say that Josh McDowell has spoken live to more young people than anyone in history—not just any evangelist or apologist, but anyone at all!

Josh is a hero to me and over the years, became a good friend. Now he has dementia, but during our visit, he had great moments of clarity, wit, and humor that were wonderful. Josh and I used to laugh all the time when together, and now it's Sean and I laughing.

Josh had a huge impact on me and Nanci through his apologetic works such as More Than a Carpenter and Evidence That Demands a Verdict. For decades I passed out More Than a Carpenter to unbelievers and young believers more than any other book, and others obviously did the same since it has sold over 15 million copies (Sean assisted his dad in revising that book).

Josh and I would have lunch together whenever he came to Portland area. Dottie is a treasure, and took all the photos of our interview. As a YouTuber and social media guy, Sean is the master of the selfie. 😂 In this photo, I'm taking a picture of Josh and Dottie. ♥️

I truly enjoyed my time with Sean. We went on a fabulous two-hour bike ride down to three beautiful beaches, including Dana Point, from his house in San Juan Capistrano. By the time we got home it was 85°, and Sean said it was the warmest day in February he could remember.

I thank God for Sean and his ministry! I encourage you to check out more of the videos on his YouTube channel.

Lessons from Ben Sasse about Life, Death, and Politics

Alex Harris — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 00:00:00 -0700

Note from Randy: All human beings have a terminal disease called mortality. The death rate is 100 percent. Unless Christ returns soon, we’re all going to die. We don’t like to think about death; yet, worldwide, 3 people die every second, 180 every minute, and nearly 11,000 every hour.

In my novel Safely Home, the main character Li Quan every day asked himself the same question: “Is this the day I die?” That day is coming for us all. If we are smart, we will make sure we are prepared for that day. Facing our own mortality sobers us, causing us to evaluate what matters most. When we realize that what’s most important is what’s eternal, we will live differently. During her cancer journey, my wife Nanci wrote in her journal:

It is a mercy from God to me that I regularly face my mortality. It is a mercy that I struggle constantly with feet and hands that don’t work right; with energy levels that prevent me from many activities. The mercy in these things is that these are God’s tools used to keep my eyes on Him; to live with His perspective; to anticipate with greater zeal my eternal home; and most importantly to fall deeper in love with Him.

An eternal perspective is also reflected in the words and life of Senator Ben Sasse, who is dying of pancreatic cancer and sharing publicly about his journey. My friend Alex Harris wrote a wonderful article about Senator Sasse and the lessons we can learn from him about our current political climate.

I’ve known and appreciated Alex Harris for many years, since he was a teenager and wrote Do Hard Things with his twin brother Brett. Alex is now an attorney and fellow at The Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics. He’s also one of the most humble and servant-hearted people I know. (He flew out to Nanci’s memorial service and joined the clean up crew, and was one of the very last people to leave. Many people asked, “Who’s that young man in that sharp suit who is cleaning up?”)

My thanks to Alex for allowing us to share this article.

Redeem the Time: What Ben Sasse Teaches Us About Life, Death, and Politics

By Alex Harris

Ben Sasse is dying. In December, the former U.S. senator from Nebraska was diagnosed with stage IV metastasized pancreatic cancer—a death sentence. Clinical trials at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston have thankfully extended his remaining time with his wife and three children, but only temporarily.

Remarkably, Sasse has chosen to walk through the valley of the shadow of death in the public eye: speaking to journalists, going on podcasts, and even starting his own podcast, Not Dead Yet.

Through a string of public appearances, he hasn’t only borne witness to the hope we have in Christ in the face of death and suffering but has also clearly and intentionally sought—despite obvious pain and the cloud of morphine—to share honest reflections on a life spent in the worlds of business, academia, and politics. And his reflections leave believers with a framework for engaging what matters most.

Redeem the Time

For Sasse, these conversations are an attempt to follow the old Puritan precept, based on the apostle Paul’s admonition in Ephesians 5:16, to “redeem the time.” As he put it in a conversation with Peter Robinson on the Uncommon Knowledge podcast, “‘Redeem the time’ in my theology means it is a great blessing to be able to live a life of gratitude to God by doing stuff that tries to benefit your neighbor.”

For Sasse, that includes “trying to figure out what the important things are, . . . the eternal questions you need to wrestle through,” like “the relationship between sin and death and a broken world.” Redeeming the time also includes “the chance to hug on my wife this morning and to love my kids and to reflect on some important questions with my friend Peter.”

Whatever one thinks of Sasse’s politics during his eight years in the U.S. Senate—and there is much to be admired—there’s no questioning his thoughtfulness or credentials. Sasse is best known as a senator, but before his election in 2014, he was the executive director for the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals (which produced the Cambridge Declaration), served in multiple roles in the George W. Bush administration, was an assistant professor at the University of Texas, and was president of Midland University in Nebraska. He holds degrees from Harvard, St. John’s, and Yale, including a PhD in American history.

I commend all Sasse’s interviews to you, including his recent 60 Minutes interview with Scott Pelley. This is a cultural moment for end-of-life faithfulness that we should be discussing with family, friends, neighbors, and coworkers.

Sasse’s Interesting Times interview with New York Times columnist Ross Douthat has already sparked meaningful conversations about life, faith, and mortality among my law-firm colleagues. Where else will one see and hear a man staring death in the face—his own face bleeding from aggressive cancer treatments—proclaim to a secular audience,

I got my diagnosis in mid-December, . . . I was incredibly blessed to be quickly at peace. I kept hearing the Pauline phrase, “To live is Christ, to die is gain.”

Death is terrible. We should never sugarcoat it. It is not how things are meant to be. But it is great that death can be called the final enemy. It’s an enemy, but it’s a final enemy, and there will then be no more tears.

I believe in the Resurrection, and I believe in a restoration of this world. . . .

I don’t feel ready. But to whom would I go? . . .

[Jesus] says: You can’t keep the children from me. And we’re told that we get to approach the Almighty, we get to approach the divine and call him Daddy, Abba, Father? That’s pretty glorious. And I know that that’s what I need.

These are words worthy of our time and reflection.

Serve the World

Sasse doesn’t, however, limit himself to commentary on death or eternity. He wants to spark conversations about the here and now, too, to serve the people, the nation, and the world he’ll soon leave behind. Given his experience and transparency as a believer who has walked the halls of power, it’s worth reflecting specifically on what this brother in Christ has to say about the challenges of our current political moment.

What can we as believers learn about the proper role of politics from a dying former U.S. senator? Consider four of Sasse’s observations.

1. Politics is important, but it’s not everything.

As Christians, we should care about politics. I think this is part of what Sasse is getting at when he says, “Let’s have one or two cheers for politics, neither zero nor three.” To have zero cheers for politics means “pretending the world isn’t broken,” while three “pretends power and coercion could be the center of your worldview.” Either approach is an error for the believer.

Rightly understood, politics is simply the way people order and do life together in a society, which means politics is one primary means by which we love our neighbor. As believers, we cannot be indifferent to politics, because it touches every aspect of our lives, our families, our businesses, our churches, and our communities on issues ranging from education, housing, taxation, and criminal justice to immigration, religious liberty, military action, and beyond.

At the same time, politics isn’t everything. We engage in politics to love our neighbor and advance the gospel, while recognizing that this world is not our home and that our hope is in Christ, not policies, politicians, or parties. In that sense, a believer’s posture toward politics is one expression of our posture toward the world in general.

In 1 Peter 2:11, Peter calls us “sojourners and exiles.” In 2 Corinthians 5:20, Paul describes us as “ambassadors for Christ.” Our words and actions, the manner in which we engage and advocate in the public square, represent the kingdom of God to the world.

Sasse’s observation here is a simple diagnostic for our hearts: What elicits our enthusiasm, and to what degree? Have we turned our backs on politics, fed up with the current climate—a zero-cheers approach? Or have we allowed it to supplant our true source of hope and become all-consuming—a three-cheers approach?

2. The digital landscape misrepresents reality.

One of the easiest ways our political engagement gets distorted is when we equate politics with online debates and social media “flame wars”. This digital landscape misrepresents reality. According to a 2020 Pew Research study, fewer than a quarter of U.S. adults were on Twitter (now X). Just 10 percent of those users—a little more than 2 percent of adults—created more than 90 percent of the content.

Many of those voices are loud and angry. Some are trolls or bad-faith actors, trying to sow discord and division. As Sasse puts it, “We don’t know how to have a conversation right now because we give all the voice to the loudest, angriest people.” People are “screaming all the time on the internet, and we pretend they’re representative.” But here’s the key thing to remember: “Most people aren’t that angry.”

This is true on both sides of the aisle. The loudest and most extreme voices on the political left and the political right don’t reflect how the majority of people on the “other side” think. And most people are far more combative and unreasonable behind a digital screen, performing for their tribe, than they’d ever be in real life. These distortions lead us to assume the worst and sabotage real conversation.

3. We need to jealously guard our affections.

The zero-sum game of politics tends to focus our attention on power and on what happens in Washington, DC, away from our immediate neighbors, local communities, and what Edmund Burke called the “little platoons.” Or to use Sasse’s words, “The places where you raise your kids and the places where you’re breaking bread every night and where you worship and where you work . . . [are] the most important places.”

Some of us may be called to active service on the national political stage, but for most believers, our calling (and opportunity for greatest influence) is to love and serve the communities where God has planted us. In these contexts, we’re most likely to identify problems we truly understand and can actually do something about—problems with solutions that often cut across the hyperpartisan divides of DC politics.

To give one example, I had the opportunity a few years back to use my legal training on behalf of my neighbors in a hearing before our local liquor-licensing board. We were seeking to address a series of disturbances from a new bar that left the surrounding streets littered with beer bottles, burned rubber, and bullet casings. Most of my neighbors have different political and faith backgrounds from my family and me, but it turned out those differences didn’t matter when people were drunkenly firing guns outside our homes at 2:30 a.m.

“Power isn’t the main thing; our loves are the main thing,” Sasse says. Those loves are best cultivated in thick community that grounds us in reality and helps bind us to our neighbors. Unhealthy forms of political engagement and media consumption can hijack that process. Over time, our habits in this area can shape and twist our souls.

This is the lesson of Proverbs 13:20: “Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.” We become like our companions. We grow to love what they love.

Most of us tend not to think of the podcasts we listen to, the YouTube videos we watch, the articles we read, or the endless social media posts we scroll through as “companions” influencing us to become wise or to grow more foolish. Yet we often spend far more time each week with these companions than we spend at church, studying Scripture, or in fellowship with wise believers.

As followers of Christ, who (and what) are we allowing to influence our affections?

4. Politics is just a symptom.

It’s easy to say that our politics and national discourse are broken, but as a historian, Sasse says there are bigger trends afoot: “50 or 75 or 100 years from now, when you look back at our moment, we’re mostly not going to talk about our politics. We’re going to believe we were living through a technological revolution that created economic and cultural revolutions that way downstream from that had political consequences.”

Sasse is referring to the digital revolution, encompassing everything from the internet to social media to artificial intelligence. If he’s right, meeting this moment as faithful believers isn’t about winning at the ballot box. Instead, it’s about learning how to navigate this technological and cultural revolution without allowing our souls to be deformed. How can the church be the church, “a city set on a hill” (Matt. 5:14), noticeably apart and distinct from the surrounding darkness in a period of such upheaval?

There are no easy answers to these questions, but it’s a credit to Ben Sasse and his dogged commitment to redeem the time that he’s challenging all of us to ask them. Sasse has a lot of hard-earned wisdom to impart, including some that only comes when facing a terminal diagnosis. Like the wise companion of Proverbs 13, he’s inviting us to walk with him through that dark valley.

Let’s not pass up this opportunity.

This article originally appeared on The Gospel Coalition, and is used with permission of the author.

Remembering and Recognizing One Another in Heaven

Randy Alcorn — Mon, 28 Sep 2026 00:00:00 -0700

When we get to Heaven, one writer claims, “We will not even remember this old world we call Earth, . . . nor will we even recall it! It simply will not come into our minds.”

This misperception is widely believed, but the Bible says no such thing!

Memory is basic to personality. The principle of redemptive continuity indicates that we will remember our past lives. Heaven cleanses our slate of sin and error, but it doesn’t erase our memory of it. The lessons we learned here about God’s love, grace, and justice surely aren’t lost but will carry over to Heaven. Father Boudreau states, “For the sins which so often made us tremble, are washed away in the blood of Jesus, and are, therefore, no longer a source of trouble. The remembrance of them rather intensifies our love for the God of mercy, and therefore increases our happiness.”

Isaiah 65:17 is often cited as proof that in the eternal state we won’t remember our present lives: “Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.” However, this verse should be viewed in context. It’s linked to the previous verse, in which God says, “The past troubles will be forgotten and hidden from my eyes.” This doesn’t suggest literal lack of memory, as if the omniscient God couldn’t recall the past. Rather, it’s like God saying, “I will . . . remember their sins no more” (Jeremiah 31:34). It doesn’t mean that God has a mental lapse but that He chooses not to bring up our past sins or hold them against us. In eternity, former sins and sorrows won’t preoccupy God or us. We’ll be capable of choosing not to recall or dwell on anything that would diminish Heaven’s joy. That is not the same as having our memories disappear and our relationships dissolve.

If we forget we were desperate sinners, how could we appreciate the depth and meaning of Christ’s redemptive work for us?

We’ll never forget that our sins nailed Jesus to the cross; for Christ’s resurrection body still has nail-scarred hands and feet (John 20:24-29). Even though God will wipe away the tears and sorrow attached to this world, He will not erase human history and Christ’s intervention from our minds. Heaven’s happiness won’t be dependent on our ignorance of what happened on Earth. Rather, it will be enhanced by perspective, our informed appreciation of God’s glorious grace and justice as we grasp what really happened here.

The Greek word for truth, aletheia, is a negated form of the verb “to forget,” so that knowing the truth means to stop forgetting. On the New Earth, there will be memorials to the twelve tribes and the apostles (Revelation 21:12-14). This indicates continuity and memory of history. If we’re aware of other past events on the old Earth, surely we’ll be aware of our own.

When asked if we would recognize friends in Heaven, George MacDonald responded, “Shall we be greater fools in Paradise than we are here?”

Yet many people wonder whether we’ll know each other in Heaven. It’s a question I’m often asked—but why? Because of the pervasiveness of Christoplatonism, which teaches that the spiritual is incompatible with the physical. But Christ, in His incarnation and resurrection, laid claim not only to the spiritual realm but to the physical realm as well. His redemption wasn’t only of spirits but also of bodies and of the earth. The false assumption behind the question of whether we’ll recognize loved ones in Heaven is that we’ll be disembodied spirits who lose our identities and memories—and how would someone recognize a spirit?

Christ’s disciples recognized Him countless times after His resurrection. They recognized Him on the shore as He cooked breakfast for them (John 21). They recognized Him when He appeared to a skeptical Thomas (John 20:24-29). They recognized Him when He appeared to five hundred people at once (1 Corinthians 15:6).

At Christ’s transfiguration, His disciples identified Moses and Elijah, even though they couldn’t have known what they looked like (Luke 9:29-33). Scripture gives no indication of a memory wipe that would cause us not to recognize family and friends. Paul anticipated being with the Thessalonians in Heaven, and it never occurred to him that he wouldn’t know them or recognize them. In fact, if we wouldn’t know our loved ones, the “comfort” of an afterlife reunion, taught in 1 Thessalonians 4:14-18, would be no comfort at all.

Missionary Amy Carmichael had strong convictions on this question:

Shall we know one another in Heaven? Shall we love and remember? I do not think anyone need wonder about this or doubt for a single moment. . . . For if we think for a minute, we know. Would you be yourself if you did not love and remember? . . . We are told that we shall be like our Lord Jesus. Surely this does not mean in holiness only, but in everything; and does not He know and love and remember? He would not be Himself if He did not, and we should not be ourselves if we did not.

Father, thank you that we have every reason to look forward to recognizing and remembering our family and friends in Heaven and rejoicing together in your presence for the lives we shared and the trials we faced together. In that day we will see with clarity your purposes and know without a doubt your goodness and love in the midst of the hard times of loss and confusion and grief we experienced on this earth. Lord, remind us that every good-bye to a loved one who knows you is not the end of our relationship but only an interruption, to be followed by a glorious reunion and grateful remembrance of our shared lives.

Excerpted from 50 Days of Heaven: Reflections that Bring Eternity to Light.

We Can Trust That God Will Use Our Most Painful Suffering for Great Good

Randy Alcorn — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 00:00:00 -0700

A Jesus-loving young friend who is going through deep suffering sent me these wonderful words:

“I pray God just keeps refining me into the person He wants me to be through this. I want my face to shine like Nanci’s when she talks about her Creator and all that the Ancient of Days did.”

I loved what she said about God continuing to refine her “through this” into the person He wants her to be! Sometimes our focus is only on “remove this suffering or hardship” instead of “use this.” While suffering is not good, God can use it to accomplish immeasurable good. This knowledge should give us great confidence that even when we don’t see any redemptive meaning in our suffering, God can see it—and one day we will too. Therefore, we need not run from suffering or lose hope if God doesn’t remove it or do so as quickly as we’d like. We can trust that God has a purpose for whatever He permits.

I was especially touched by what my friend said about Nanci. She truly did exemplify a profound trust in a sovereign God working all things together for her good. Her primary goal was not to “beat cancer,“ although she diligently did everything she was called on to do to fight that battle. But she knew that some things were beyond her control and were only under God‘s control. And she was truly at peace with that.

I miss Nanci every day, but the sorrow is sweet in its own way. I cannot think of her without feelings of extreme gratitude. Through her suffering, she went from being very godly to being a true saint in the full sense. (See Can Cancer Be God’s Servant? What I Saw in My Wife’s Last Four Years.)

Not long ago, I was sent this photo of Nanci when she was 30 years old, co-leading a high school group at our church. Check out the amazing look on her face, especially her eyes and smile! I saw that look often and it is one of the things I miss most about her. The single thing I miss the most is the sound of her loud laughter that filled the house!

If I have learned anything in these four and a half years Nanci has been with Jesus, and the years that led up to her death, it is that I can simultaneously feel great sorrow and grief, and yet feel that sorrow eclipsed by the greater joy that Jesus gives.

I like this longer version of the serenity prayer:

“God grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
As it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
If I surrender to His Will;
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life
And supremely happy with Him
Forever and ever in the next. Amen.”

I recommended that my friend listen to some resources from Elisabeth Elliott, widow of martyred missionary Jim Elliott. Elisabeth spoke at our church many years ago. Here she is speaking on “Suffering Is Not for Nothing”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_p8Z_Ae3YBM

Elisabeth has a wonderful audiobook that’s just 3 1/2 hours long, titled Suffering Is Never for Nothing (it’s read by a narrator, but it’s Elisabeth’s words).

Here are some quotes from her book:

“The deepest things that I have learned in my own life have come from the deepest suffering. And out of the deepest waters and the hottest fires have come the deepest things that I know about God.”

“Whatever is in the cup that God is offering to me, whether it be pain and sorrow and suffering and grief along with the many more joys, I’m willing to take it because I trust Him.”

“We need Jesus Christ, our refuge, our fortress, the stronghold of my life. It takes desolation to teach us our need of Him.”

“There have been some hard things in my life, of course, as there have been in yours, and I cannot say to you, I know exactly what you’re going through. But I can say that I know the One who knows. And I’ve come to see that it’s through the deepest suffering that God has taught me the deepest lessons. And if we’ll trust Him for it, we can come through to the unshakable assurance that He’s in charge. He has a loving purpose. And He can transform something terrible into something wonderful. Suffering is never for nothing.”

Does the Bible Refer to Pets?

Randy Alcorn — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 00:00:00 -0700

I’ve heard multiple people claim, “There are no pets in the Bible.” But that’s simply not true. In Job, the oldest book of the Bible—probably written in the days of Abraham—God asks, “Can you make a pet of Leviathan as you would a bird or put it on a leash for your girls?” (Job 41:5, NCV). This shows that birds—and no doubt other animals—were beloved pets that parents gave to their children.

In Mark 7:28, the Canaanite woman speaks to Jesus about dogs under the table eating scraps that fall from the children’s plates. The Greek word here is not kyōn, the common word used for wild dogs, who were scavengers. Rather, it is kynaria, a diminutive form of kyōn that literally means “little dogs” or puppies, suggestive of an affectionate term for domesticated dogs—that is, pets. Wild dogs posed a threat to people, so they were never allowed inside homes. And certainly not at a dinner table around children! Any dog eating scraps was a beloved pet, who likely also provided protection for a family.

In Philippians 3:2, when Paul writes, “Beware of the dogs,” he is not referring to literal animals. In the ancient Jewish and Greco-Roman world, wild dogs ran in the streets, carried diseases, and terrorized people. Hence “dogs” became a figure of speech for dangerous or impure people. Paul uses it for false teachers. The warning concerns spiritual deception and has no connection whatsoever to tame animals, including household pets. (Likewise, “outside are the dogs” in Revelation 22:15 refers to evil-doing people, not to actual canines.)

A third biblical example of pets is in the story God gave the prophet Nathan to tell King David:

There were two men in a certain town. One was rich, and one was poor. The rich man owned a great many sheep and cattle. The poor man owned nothing but one little lamb he had bought. He raised that little lamb, and it grew up with his children. It ate from the man’s own plate and drank from his cup. He cuddled it in his arms like a baby daughter. One day a guest arrived at the home of the rich man. But instead of killing an animal from his own flock or herd, he took the poor man’s lamb and killed it and prepared it for his guest.

2 Samuel 12:1-4

Nothing in this story suggests the man’s affection for his lamb was abnormal or weird. This bond between human and animal was relatable—especially to David, a former shepherd. The treasured lamb wasn’t just livestock; it was family. And it was certainly a pet.

There’s no indication that the man should be seen as wrong to cuddle his pet lamb or grieve its loss. On the contrary, his devotion was honored. The story resonated with David, and later with readers of 2 Samuel, presumably because such relationships were common and natural in Hebrew culture, just as they are in ours today.

Sure, people are more central and valuable, but animals rank far above everything else in creation. (The silver medal isn’t bad!)

Can we go overboard in loving pets? Sure. We can turn them into idols. Idolatry can extend to anything we prioritize above God, including our families, careers, or hobbies. Loving animals appropriately means recognizing their place in God’s creation without elevating them above their intended role.

John Piper answered the question, “Do pets distract the Christian life?” by first acknowledging that, just like every other good thing in life—food, family, church, work, hobbies, sports, entertainment, cars, clothes, home improvement projects, exercise, and hanging out with friends, etc.—pets can become a distraction. But if we had no pets, he asks, “would that time. . . be devoted to more refreshing, more encouraging, more edifying, more loving, more God-glorifying tasks?” Not automatically.

Reflecting on his goldendoodle, Dusty, Piper said, “She loves people more than food. She overflows with affection without testing your character first. She is indomitably happy, rain or shine. She holds no grudges whatsoever, no matter how she is treated. Her youth at eight seems to be renewed like the eagle’s.” And he concedes, “Even with the Holy Spirit, I struggle to do those things.”

Piper concludes with an observation I have also found to be true: “Having a pet may fall into the category of God-saturated fascination and joy.”

A heart captivated by love for God does not say, “I will only love God—no one and nothing else.” It says, “Because I love God above all, I will better love people and animals and art and literature and music and sports and everything else good in life.”

Animals and people together glorify God. Gary Kurz observes, “[Animals] were so important to the habitat of mankind that God made them first so that they would be in place when people arrived.”

Many scholars believe Jesus is personified as Wisdom in Proverbs 8, where He says to His Father, “I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always, rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the children of man” (Proverbs 8:30-31, ESV).

Notice the phrase “rejoicing in his inhabited world,” which seems to be distinct from “delighting in the children of man.” The latter of course refers to Christ’s delight in humans, but the former would include His rejoicing over animals, who also populate the Earth He made. If Jesus can rejoice in animals, surely we can rejoice in them too, glimpsing our Lord’s originality and beauty. Loving animals should not be viewed as unspiritual. It can be profoundly spiritual. It all depends on whether God is primary or secondary in our hearts and minds.

Excerpted from All God’s Creatures: What the Bible Says About Animals, Heaven, and the New Earth.

Costi Hinn on Escaping the Prosperity Gospel

Randy Alcorn — Mon, 21 Sep 2026 00:00:00 -0700

Prosperity theology teaches that God will bless with material abundance and good health those who obey Him and lay claim to His promises. “We don’t have to wait for God’s blessing in the life to come,” this ideology claims. “He’ll send it to us here and now.” God is seen as a great no-lose lottery in the sky, a cosmic slot machine into which you put in a coin and pull the lever, then stick out your hat and catch the winnings.

When I first wrote about the dangers of prosperity theology in my book Money, Possessions and Eternity in 1989, not many voices were speaking out against it. I’m glad far more pastors and teachers are doing so today. One such important voice is Costi Hinn, the nephew of faith healer Benny Hinn. I’ve followed his story over the last few years and shared about his book God, Greed, and the (Prosperity) Gospel. (Costi has also been my grandson Jake and his wife Richie’s pastor for the past three years, and he officiated their wedding. I love and appreciate Costi and his heart for the Lord and His people.)

Costi grew up participating in his uncle’s “ministry.” He stayed at $25,000-a-night royal suites, flew in a private Gulfstream, and dressed in custom suits. But Costi’s false belief system was dismantled as he studied Scripture. He writes:

What an insult to make Jesus into a lottery ticket! Jesus didn’t die on the cross to provide a steady stream of Bentley’s, Big Diamonds, and Botox. He died on the cross to provide our atonement. We deserved wrath for sin, but He took our place. We deserved an eternity in hell but He ensured heaven would be home for those who put their faith in Him.

As Costi discovered, God has a much bigger eternal plan for us than living a temporary life of self-indulgent luxury! He shares much more about his story in his interview with apologist Sean McDowell, which is powerful. I don’t think I’ve ever heard Sean be so quiet, but with very good reason:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJzjR5WTXcg?is=9ZZrJB6iYEPc05Y0

A few years ago, I was honored to be guest on Costi’s podcast For the Gospel, talking about living with an eternal perspective. You can listen to the episode here.

And in 2024, I did a series of Q&A videos with Costi for his podcast For the Gospel:

How Do You Get into Heaven?

Will We Eat in Heaven?

What Does a Christian Who Is Mourning Need to Know?

How Should Christians View Money?

How Should We Think about Giving?

Why You Don’t Need a Bucket List

I encourage you to check out Costi’s website For the Gospel, with lots of great articles, podcast episodes, and other resources.

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