We’ve mentioned Bethel Church of Redding, California a few times around here. It’s the kooky-for-Jesus-Puffs evangelical group focused on spiritual gifts like magic healing and prophecy. They’ve landed in some real hot water recently because of their silence regarding one of their endorsed (but false) prophets, Shawn Bolz. And they Read more
Conservative Christianity is largely performative in nature, and it must be. Conservative Christian leaders ache for their flocks to be transformed by a powerful, consuming faith, but almost nobody in their flocks actually has that, much less gets transformed by it. And they’ve known this for years, although they do Read more
For a couple years now, we’ve been hearing about certain aesthetics adopted by alt-right Gen Z Christians. So today, let’s check out the latest news about the alt-right, then check out why their followers find alt-right flavors of Christianity so appealing—and see what right-wing Christian leaders think about this influx Read more
Over a decade ago, Pope Francis slammed what he called practical atheism. With this phrase, he referred to Christians who don’t focus every single moment of their lives on Christianity, but rather live mostly like normal people. The idea caught on quickly with the right-wing Christ-o-sphere, whose inhabitants to denounce Read more
When it comes to evangelicals’ testimonies, what is old eventually becomes new again. Lately, I’ve been noticing a resurgence of a trendy trope that flared, then faded about 10 years ago: the totally-an-ex-atheist testimony. Today, let’s check out these newly-repopularized testimonies, see why they’re so appealing right now, and then, Read more
As is our wont at the beginning of a new year, let’s look back at evangelicals’ prophecies for 2025! This time around, I’m noticing a serious downtick in specific prophecies that can be tested and found invalid. Evangelicals have been getting way more cowardly about their prophecies in recent years. Read more
As the new year begins, it’s time to look at one of the most amazing and spectacularly daffy practices within evangelicalism: Prophecy. It’s one of those dealbreakers within Christianity. It shows there’s nothing supernatural or divine at the religion’s heart. But evangelicals in particular can’t help themselves. They love prophecy, Read more
Alpha Course has been around for decades. So have criticisms of it from every single corner of Christianity. Today, let me show you some of those criticisms—and what they mean for Christianity itself. (This post first went live on Patreon on 1/2/2026. No voicecast today, sorry! My voice is doing Read more
A random YouTube video led me to a realization about Christians’ inability to perceive their own self-focus. It’s one of those realizations that really changes everything forever. I’m never again going to look at anything Christians do in quite the same way. Today, I want to show you that video—and Read more
At this point in our Alpha Course mega-review, we must stop to discuss speaking in tongues. The Christians who do it really like it! But not everyone knows what it is or how it’s done. So today, let me offer you a crash course in one of the weirdest worship Read more