Following Jesus

How well do we American Christians follow Jesus’ life and teaching? That’s the 64$ question. When I was a theological student at an evangelical seminary, we had to underline or highlight in red in our Bibles everything Jesus said. I challenge every Christian in America today to read my book and decide whether your allegiance…

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Red Letter Christian Movement

Not by coincidence are the main letters on the front of my book, Following Jesus in the Age of Trumpism, in red. I belong to a Christian movement that believes “the teachings and actions of Jesus, recorded in the gospels and marked in red letters, should be central to our faith and practice. We seek…

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What is Trumpism?

Trumpism can be defined as a movement of MAGA followers of Donald Trump. There are 63 million of them and they pose a threat to themselves and also to American Democracy. Trumpism has also been defined by other mental health experts as a cultural pathology that has spread from former President Trump’s malignant narcissism or…

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2023 Meeting a Missionary Challenge

An untimely death almost thwarted our recent mission team’s plan. We had flown thousands of miles and boarded 3 different plane flights to reach Kampala, Uganda to attend a previously arranged special meeting with Edward, but when we arrived his email message greeted us: “My brother suddenly died at his desk in Ethiopia so I…

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2023 – Uganda mission trip

Our GOAL team arrived in Kampala, Uganda on the 11th of February after 3 long plane rides. New stories to tell, so watch for new blogposts. I am grateful for this last opportunity to witness the fruits of nine years of my involvement in training leadership and planting the seeds for a viable substance use…

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Russians read my Tree of Renewed Life book

Katya Savina runs the Zebra Treatment Center in Moscow and is one of my Russian friends. She has just sent me an email: “I just — in 10 min — finished my presentation to group of Counsellor School where I spoke about AA genesis basing on your Tree of Renewed Life! And I feel deep…

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Despots and Fascist Patterns

Wars of aggression far too often occur when dangerous despots have absolute power in nations where Christian nationalism and Fascism coexist. Hitler’s Germany and Putin’s Russia have similar patterns. Those of us who were alive during World War II are horrified to observe these patterns being repeated. Seeing the swastika next to the Russian Z…

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Christian Nationalism and Dominionism

In my previous post I described the Russian Christian Nationalism that exists in Putin’s regime and the Russian Orthodox patriarchy, leading to Putin’s war to take over Ukraine, and a form of American Christian Nationalism called Dominionism. This post will, I hope, help to clarify these two terms. Christ Nationalism has been evident throughout the…

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Unholy Christian Alliances

The golden spires of the Church of Our Savior, one of the cherished Russian churches demolished by the Soviets, once again has risen proudly above the Moscow skyline. On my peacemaking trip to the Russian Republic in 1989 I visited a 1000-year memorial to the birth of the Russian Orthodox Church celebrated the year before.…

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Ukraine and Russia Then and Now

On the cover of my book, Memories and Miracles, I’m seated on a wall in Kyiv, Ukraine when our 1991 group from Creating A Sober World was in that city to plant a family member 12-Step group. We had just come from Moldova where people were bartering for food as they tried to break away…

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