The Cripplegate

One of Charles Dickens’s most famous characters is the villainous Miss Havisham from Great Expectations. She stands as one of literature’s clearest examples of how shattered hopes can destroy a life, leaving only bitterness, cruelty, and loneliness.

Because of the importance of public speaking in nearly every industry and aspect of life, it’s not surprising to find so many different methods, guides, and tips offered to people to improve their speaking skills.

These various perspectives and philosophies about public speaking are nothing new. The Apostle Paul faced similar concerns as he preached the gospel in th...

America turns 250 years old this week, July 4, 2026.

For many Christians, however, a large ethic...

We have come to a new chapter in 1 Corinthians, where the apostle Paul continues to address the divisions in the Corinthian church. In 1 Corinthians 1:18-25, we saw how the nature of the gospel, in and of itself, it is contrary to the ways and wisdom of the world. Paul then shows in verses 26-31 that this description of the gospel of Christ crucified as the wisdom and power o...

Gregory of Nazianzus said of his good friend Basil in the fourth century AD that they “seemed to be two bodies with a single spirit.” Likewise, Aristotle defined friendship as “one soul inhabiting two bodies.” Without fail, we share the lives of our friends and they ours, for good and for ill.

That’s why Solomon so warns his son, and by extension us, to be wise when...