On August 15, two Americans on a UFC fight card said the quiet part out loud.

Prelim winner Tresean Gore had just secured a decision that cost him two front teeth. With a mouth full of blood, he told Joe Rogan that he no longer smoked weed, drank, or watched porn and that Jesus Christ had saved his life and soul.

King Solomon foresaw the day of physical failure: 'If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small.'

On the main card, winner Jalin Turner’s first statement to Rogan was also a profession of faith.

Professing athletes are not new. Tim Tebow, Harrison Butker, and the Oklahoma women’s softball team have all said the same thing in public: Prowess and its rewards are not solely their own doing.

Toga-clad therapist

Gore and Turner moved us for a narrower reason. During our Bible study, we had been talking about the decline of masculinity among Christian men. When those men surrender responsible, loyal, trustworthy headship — as Scripture defines it under God the Father and His Son — instead of becoming humble, they disappear, leaving a hole that the spirit of the age fills.

American Christian men have forgotten, or were never taught, that their King was the strongest man who ever walked the earth, physically and spiritually. Jesus is the pattern for both. Following Him should produce men who pursue strength of body as well as strength of soul. Too many church leaders have taught the opposite. They have offered a Jesus who is only mild, never mighty: a toga-clad therapist who affirms all and judges none. That is not the Christ of the Gospels, and it is not the men who preceded and followed Him.

Other than Christ, no man in the Bible is without sin. God shows us these men so we will learn that Christianity requires faith, repentance, and obedience — not a clean record. Adam shifted blame. Samson and David yielded to lust. David’s sin was worse than just appetite: he deceived, murdered, and committed adultery. Scripture hides none of it.

Restored to strength

It also does not hide what these men were and what they did. Blind Samson pulled down a Philistine temple with his hands. David defended his flock against wild animals, then dropped Goliath with a stone. His elite guard, the Gibborim — Josheb, Eleazar, Shammah, Abishai, Benaiah — were remembered in 2 Samuel because they could fight. Four times God tells Joshua to be “strong and courageous.” Joshua then defeats 31 kings on the way to the promised land. God preserved Moses’ vigor at 120 (Deuteronomy 34:7); fed Elijah strength for the desert road (1 Kings 19:7-8); and promised through Isaiah that those who wait on the Lord will not faint (Isaiah 40:29-31).

The God of mercy and love is the same God who trained David’s hands for war and his fingers for battle and helped him bend a bow of bronze (Psalms 18:32-34 and 144:1). In 1 Peter 4:11, the apostle directs all who serve God to do so with the strength that God provides. All these men knew sin, fear, and confusion. Faith restored them to strength and courage for God's glory. It did not restore them to softness.

Don Bartletti/Getty Images

The weight of the cross

Then there is Jesus. He walked the land for three years knowing His own people would reject Him and kill Him, and He finished the work. The distances of that ministry are measured in thousands of miles, on foot.

On His last day, He was beaten and scourged, and He marched the Via Dolorosa under a patibulum that likely weighed 65 to 110 pounds. He fell because of pain and blood loss that would put most modern men on the ground before the first step. The contrast is not cute. A church that cannot tell the difference between meekness and weakness will baptize the second and call it discipleship.

We would rather live in the world Jesus describes: among people who worship without shame, who speak of Him as plainly as Tresean Gore and Jalin Turner did, and who pursue the holiness He demands. He is not playing. In the wedding parable of Matthew 22, the man without the garment of faith and repentance is bound and cast into the outer darkness. That is the same Lord who walked those miles.

'Act like men'

So the question is not whether Christian men should be kind. It is whether they will be men. No more porn. No more anesthesia by weed and liquor. No more sexual chaos. Less devotion to entertainment that mocks the faith and more time in churches where men teach what Paul taught: Put your house in order (1 Tim. 3:1-5; Titus 1:5-9 and 2:1-2 and 6-8), and “be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong” (1 Cor. 16:13).

Drawing on the Old Testament, Jesus does tell His followers to love their enemies and pray for those who persecute them (Matthew 5:44 and Luke 6:27, from Proverbs 24:17 and 25:21 and Exodus 23:4-5).

That command is real. It covers the neighbor who hates you, the official who slanders you, even the man who would harm you. It is not a mediation tip. It is imitation of the Father. It is also not a ban on strength. Prayer for a human enemy does not mean pretending he is harmless, refusing to restrain him, or talking to Satan as if he were your neighbor. Scripture never asks anyone to treat the devil as a prayer partner. It does ask men to resist him, to protect the innocent, and still not let hatred become their creed.

King Solomon foresaw the day of physical failure: “If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small” (Proverbs 24:10). The next two verses are the gut punch. If you stand by while people are led away to death, God sees, and He will weigh your cowardice.

This is a day of adversity. American Christian men will come up big or small. They will find their strength in God, or they will keep drawing upon a smaller Jesus who demands nothing of their bodies and their nerve. They should pick up where Tresean Gore and Jalin Turner left off: Believe and profess the truth with blood still in your mouth, and then live as if the truth has hands.

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Dear America, in case you haven’t noticed, we’re not OK.

Our boys are very, VERY angry. To the point they want to kill each other, hit women, and hurt their teachers.

Like a fat person at an all-you-can-eat buffet, we keep stuffing ourselves but are never nourished.

Our young women are depressed, lonely, and barren. Those who aren’t — well, many of them are still unhappy and mentally fragile, to the point they will take the lives of their own children. And other women will applaud it.

Women can also kill an unborn child up through birth.

Compulsive displays

Violence and murder seem to be acceptable under almost any circumstance. Again, to the accolades of other Americans.

We shamelessly display bouts of irrational and hyperemotional behavior and videotape it for the world to see. Once again, the masses applaud.

Nothing is managed or dealt with in private. The world must know of all our pain and innermost thoughts, because supposedly, sharing helps others with their pain and suffering.

It does not. It merely spreads pathologies until the pathologies become the norm.

Everybody thinks they have something important to say so everyone is talking — all the time.

It is noisy, and it is distracting. I think about how much better the world would be if we all just agreed to share a little less. To “tweet” or “chime in” a little less.

Simulation sickness

Lindsay Clancy and Karmelo Anthony may have broken from reality, with devastating consequences, but in some ways, we all have. We are living in a simulated world of thoughts and ideas with no contact with the created order.

We need to, once again, commune with the physical world. In Orthodoxy, we say that God “is everywhere present and fills all things.” Not all thoughts, for He certainly is not. Not in all tweets or photos. In all things. The less we interact and engage with those things, the less we are tethered to Him and His order, for it is “good” (Genesis 1:31).

We need to build beautiful things like furniture and clothing, grow abundant gardens, or tame wild animals. Or we need to simply touch grass, a tree, or dirt. Anything that has God at its source.

We need to make and kiss and care for babies. They are also “good.”

everything bagel/iStock/Getty Images

Empty calories

Manufacturing useful goods is superior to yelling into the echo chamber. Cameron Schiller, founder of hard tech start-up Rangeview, had this to say about physical things:

If all you do is shuffle papers and change numbers in an excel sheet, what connection do you feel to your neighbor? What responsibility do you feel to your country? People that can feel the product of their labor have a different sense of pride.

Not only do we need to commune with the physical world, but we also need to exhibit restraint and discipline in its use. We have not been good stewards of our bodies, our land, or the many resources God has bestowed upon us.

We have squandered the most important things — family, friendships, community, health, and yes, God — for the fleeting pleasures of temporal desires. Desires that are insatiable by food, money, convenience, sex, or any other thing humans chase that leave us feeling empty.

Like a fat person at an all-you-can-eat buffet, we keep stuffing ourselves but are never nourished.

Hospital for the soul

Don’t get me wrong — I love the conveniences of this modern world. But they require judicious use and above all, gratitude, both of which seem to be in short supply these days.

We are so free and so liberated we are lost. Lost in a never-ending maze of sickness – physical, mental, and spiritual.

We need to admit we are weak. That we require help from God to recover our compass and find our true north once again. Truth is not subjective, and it is found in God and His creation.

The church is the hospital for the soul. Our souls need true healing. Healing that can only be found in the sacramental life that God calls us to every day. Not just in thoughts and prayers, but in communion with the real.

Until then, nothing gets well.

Biblical advice for parents with children gone WOKE: ‘Their story isn't over’

Some parents pour years into raising their children in faith and still are forced to watch them walk away. And as a homeschool mother of seven is watching her youngest become a prodigal, she reaches out to BlazeTV host Steve Deace to ask whether she had failed.

And his answer was unequivocal: The story isn’t over.

“None of the stories of your children are finished yet,” he responds. “And for those of you that have prodigal kids, you’re maybe in the most trying time of that story. But the story isn’t written yet.”

Deace uses St. Augustine and his mother, Monica, as an example, explaining that she prayed for her son for “17 years.”

“And he would go on to eventually become arguably the most formidable mind the church has produced in the post-canon era, even to this very day, nearly 2,000 years later,” he explains.

“So that’s I think the most important thing that I could say,” he continues. “Do not quit. Do not give up. Their stories aren’t written yet. They’re not finished yet. So keep that perspective for as long as you can. The story is not over yet.”

“Many of the social pathologies and contagions that are acute in this era have their mustard seeds in the era that you and I grew up in. But even despite that, you and I both agreed emphatically it was still ... simpler,” he adds.

Deace explains that it was “simpler” because there “was not an expectation when you sent your kids off to school on the first day of school that you were going to have to deprogram them every single night when they got home.”

“Going to college was considered a rarity and a reward as opposed to smart kids that now are like, ‘I’m never going there because I don’t want to become a gay race communist,’” he says.

“So it’s never easy to raise kids. But it was certainly simpler in the era that you and I grew up in compared to the era we’ve been raising our own kids in,” he continues.

“Their stories aren’t finished yet, either ... so if you’re in that prodigal era, do not give up on the Lord. Do not give up on prayer, even till your dying day,” he adds.

Want more from Steve Deace?

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Charlie Kirk’s Assassination Was This Generation’s 9/11

May the 25th anniversary of our 'never forget' moment find us with something true, good, and beautiful to show for it.

Deeply Catholic superhero character will not return to 'X-Men' series, producer reveals

Fans of a popular Catholic superhero character were disappointed to learn that he is not returning to the "X-Men 97" animated series on the Disney Plus platform.

Nightcrawler is a blue-skinned mutant who first appeared in the pages of the "X-Men" comic books in 1975 and quickly became a fan favorite.

'Wagner is extremely religious, and as a man of faith, he believes that sacrificing himself to save his sister's life is the most righteous thing a person could do, which fits his character perfectly.'

The character, whose non-hero name is Kurt Wagner, is also deeply religious and would often refer to his Catholic faith in the comics and live-action adaptations of the superhero comics.

In an emotional climax of the second season of the animated superhero series, the Nightcrawler character sacrifices his life to save that of another superhero.

"I have faith" are his last words.

While most comic-book deaths are not final, the executive producer of the show said that Nightcrawler's death would be permanent.

Eric Lewald told the Direct at the MultiCon convention in Los Angeles that Nightcrawler would not return to the series.

"The finale of Season 2 is very emotional, and it's earned," added Julia Lewald, another executive producer of the show. "It is earned because those are the characters that we've all spent 30 years marinating in and thinking of and loving."

Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images

The Direct entertainment writer Geraldo Amartey explains how the character's Catholic faith is pivotal to explaining his last act in the show.

"It would have been great to see Nightcrawler return in future episodes, but he went out the right way. Wagner is extremely religious, and as a man of faith, he believes that sacrificing himself to save his sister's life is the most righteous thing a person could do, which fits his character perfectly. It is painful to watch Nightcrawler go, but bringing him back would undercut the gravity of his sacrifice and look like a cheap cop-out."

The third season of "X-Men 97" is scheduled for release in 2027.

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'The Passion of the Christ' returns to cinemas — just when we need it most

Twenty-two years ago, something extraordinary happened in American movie theaters.

Across the country, audiences sat in near silence as the final hours of the Lord’s life unfolded before them. There were no superheroes, no elaborate special effects, and no English dialogue. Instead, we watched a brutally realistic depiction of a scourged and bleeding man carrying a cross through the streets of Jerusalem toward His execution.

Every person watching the film also carries a reality we prefer not to contemplate: With every passing day, we move closer to our own death and our own face-to-face encounter with the living God.

I saw "The Passion of the Christ" four times on the big screen — and I was hardly alone in going back more than once. Each viewing was emotionally overwhelming. I shed plenty of tears, but none more than during this scene, as Jesus is beaten nearly beyond recognition.

Shared encounter

Mel Gibson’s 2004 film became a cultural phenomenon. It ultimately earned more than $610 million worldwide and, for 20 years, remained the highest-grossing R-rated movie in domestic box-office history. More importantly, it became something increasingly rare in American culture: a shared encounter with the story at the heart of Christianity.

Now, "The Passion" is back.

From September 10 through 17, the film returns to theaters nationwide, newly remastered in 4K with Dolby Atmos sound. Audiences will also see an exclusive behind-the-scenes preview of Gibson’s long-awaited sequel, "The Resurrection of the Christ: Part One," scheduled for release in May.

For those of us who saw "The Passion" in 2004, its return offers an opportunity to revisit a remarkable cinematic experience. But nostalgia isn’t the most important reason to go.

An entire generation has never experienced this film in a theater.

The oldest members of Gen Z were only grade-schoolers when Gibson's epic debuted. Many were toddlers or not yet born. They’ve grown up in a radically different culture from the one that encountered "The Passion of the Christ" 22 years ago.

An urgent invitation

They should see it.

Not simply because Mel Gibson made a powerful movie, but because of whom the movie is about: Jesus Christ. The Word incarnate. The man who walked willingly toward Calvary, stretched out His arms on a cross, and gave His life for humanity.

That is exactly what makes this rerelease different from the return of some beloved Hollywood classic. We aren’t simply being invited to revisit a movie. We are being invited to contemplate an event that changed human history.

And just maybe we need that invitation now more than ever.

Look around.

Wars rage. Natural disasters bring scenes of devastation into our homes. Human life is discarded through abortion and euthanasia. Families are fractured. Loneliness, addiction, and despair afflict millions. Technology connects us instantly, yet people seem increasingly incapable of understanding one another.

The world is shaking. What will awaken us?

Amanda Edwards/Getty Images

Confronting the familiar

Christianity offers a startling answer. A crucified man.

The central image of the Christian faith is not a throne, a sword, or a display of worldly power. It is God giving Himself away.

“For God so loved the world,” Scripture tells us, “that he gave his only Son” (John 3:16).

"The Passion of the Christ" forces us to confront what those familiar words mean.

The scourging is difficult to watch. The road to Calvary is exhausting. The Crucifixion is horrifying, and that is precisely the point.

Sin is not trivial. Love is not mere sentiment. Our redemption came at a price.

Every person watching the film also carries a reality we prefer not to contemplate: With every passing day, we move closer to our own death and our own face-to-face encounter with the living God.

Seen in that light, "The Passion of the Christ" is not entertainment. Instead, it’s a question: Who do you say Jesus Christ really is?

The only question

It’s a question every human being should struggle with. It’s precisely the question that has drawn Christian leaders like Cardinals Raymond Burke and Gerhard Müller, Rev. Franklin Graham, and Pastor Samuel Rodriguez to tout the film’s rerelease — and to encourage Christians to prepare spiritually for what comes next.

The original film also changed what Hollywood believed was possible. Its enormous success opened new opportunities for religious filmmaking and raised expectations for how biblical stories could be portrayed on screen. The renaissance that followed eventually gave us productions such as "The Chosen," which has introduced the gospel to millions worldwide.

But "The Passion" remains unique; perhaps because it refuses to make Christianity comfortable.

It reminds us of Christianity’s astonishing claim: The Creator entered His creation. God became man. He suffered. He bled. He died.

For you.

And then comes the most important part. The story does not end at the cross. That’s why the forthcoming sequel matters.

Christ dies on Good Friday. But Sunday comes.

More than two decades after "The Passion of the Christ" first stunned audiences, its return offers our troubled culture another opportunity to stand at the foot of the cross.

'CONVERT OR GET HURT': Radical Islam's alarming spread in Western prisons

"Convert or get hurt." Three words, one warning. If you’re a new arrival at a British prison and unlucky enough to land in the wrong wing, they might be the first thing anyone says to you. A terrifying ultimatum delivered by men who know that they can do as they want and suffer no consequences for their actions, no matter how savage they may be.

Jonathan Hall KC, the government’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, recently detailed the Islamification of British prisons. His report described Islamist prisoners operating as “self-styled 'emirs,'" running private empires built on intimidation and plenty of beatings.

Every single year, tens of thousands of American prisoners convert to Islam.

Usman Khan, who murdered two young Cambridge graduates at Fishmongers' Hall in a 2019 terror attack, spent years before that pressuring other inmates to convert. Sudesh Amman, who stabbed two people in Streatham days after his 2020 release, did the same thing behind bars. Along with recruiting and converting, both men taught other Muslim thugs the most effective methods to spread extremism and ensure compliance.

Coerced conversion

Hall's review also found evidence of systematic "recruitment" of non-Muslims. New arrivals who didn’t identify as Muslim were denied protection from the dominant faction on their wing. In prisons across the U.K., Islam has taken on clear gang characteristics. It operates through forced initiations, protection rackets, and severe punishment. There are designated lookouts enforcing control over prison wings, while prisoners are pressured to join gang-run prayer groups simply to stay safe.

The numbers are alarming. Muslims make up 18% of the prison population in England and Wales, compared with 6.5% of the general population. But the most revealing stat is that one in five Muslim prisoners is white, a figure utterly detached from everyday Britain. It’s clear that white inmates are systematically targeted and pressured into converting, much like how Muslim rape gangs have targeted white girls across the U.K. for decades.

The mainstream narrative about the rise of Islam behind bars rests on a particularly absurd modern myth. We’re repeatedly told that Islam is exclusively a religion of peace. Believing this requires ignoring vast swaths of foundational texts. The Quran contains explicit directives authorizing warfare, conquest, and the violent subjugation of nonbelievers. Examples include Surah 9:5, which commands the slaughter of non-Muslims wherever they are found, and Surah 9:29, which calls for war against infidels until they acquiesce and pay tribute to Allah. To claim that a faith rooted largely in the need for violence contains no theological blueprint for violence is utterly ridiculous.

Eric Thayer/Getty Images

'Cut-and-paste Islam'

Equally ridiculous is the assumption that the Islamification of prisons is a uniquely British problem. It is not. Every single year, tens of thousands of American prisoners convert to Islam.

Frank Cilluffo of George Washington University's Homeland Security Policy Institute spent years documenting the rise of "cut-and-paste Islam" or "prison Islam." In extensive congressional testimony and policy reports, Cilluffo detailed how American correctional facilities are hotbeds of Islamic extremism. Radical inmates assume the role of radical imams, using the Quran’s most aggressive verses to enforce territorial control and legitimize brutality among inmates. Many of these prisoners eventually re-enter American society, completely brainwashed by Islamic teachings.

The exact same dynamic has played out in other Western nations, and the consequences have been deadly.

In France, Cherif Kouachi, a terrorist responsible for the murder of innocent journalists, spent 20 months at Fleury-Merogis prison, where he met an unhinged imam connected to bin Laden. Amedy Coulibaly, a young man who murdered a policewoman and four hostages at a supermarket days later, was also radicalized while serving time.

Australia provides another concrete example of this perverse pattern. In 2007, Bassam Hamzy, serving 21 years for murder at Goulburn's Supermax, converted more than a dozen fellow inmates to radical Islam, specifically targeting indigenous prisoners for recruitment. Through his Brothers 4 Life Gang, he sought out new followers and punished those who refused to comply.

Brutal system

From London to Los Angeles, Paris to Perth, four Western countries have produced almost identical findings. Christianity might be losing its appeal among the incarcerated and the general population. The same isn't true of Islam.

I’m not asking you to feel sorry for every non-Muslim inmate who is pressured into serving Allah. That would be an idiotic request. Many of these men are absolute animals. They belong behind bars and deserve no sympathy.

But we must recognize that Western nations have become home to a brutal system that allows gang leaders to use Islamic identity as their primary means of domination. Unless the powers that be intervene to dismantle that system, this cycle of prison radicalization will continue in the U.K., the U.S., and beyond.

What happens in prison doesn’t necessarily stay in prison; today’s incarcerated Islamist could become tomorrow’s suicide bomber. Ignoring the threat inside the cell block only guarantees that innocent people will have to face it outside.

How a new Texas parish reminds us that the age of Christian martyrs is not over

The newest Catholic parish in Arlington, Texas, is named for Matthew Ayariga, one of 21 men murdered by Islamic State terrorists on a Libyan beach in February 2015.

Ayariga was a Ghanaian migrant worker captured alongside 20 Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Christians. Little is known about his life before then, including whether he was already a Christian. Some accounts say the faith of his fellow prisoners inspired him to convert during their captivity, while others suggest that he had previously embraced Christianity.

When they asked whether she had a weapon, Stang raised her Bible. 'This is my only weapon,' she said.

What is known is that Ayariga chose to identify himself with the Copts when their captors demanded that the men renounce Christ. “Their God is my God,” he reportedly said before he was beheaded with them.

Last week, Michael Olson, bishop of Fort Worth, announced the establishment of St. Matthew Ayariga Catholic Church, the first Catholic parish anywhere in the world placed under Ayariga’s patronage.

New martyrs

The announcement points toward a fact at times easily forgotten in the comfortable West: The age of Christian martyrs did not end with Nero, the Roman arena, or even the totalitarian regimes of the 20th century. Christians are still dying for the faith.

In 2023, Pope Francis established a Commission of New Martyrs to gather the names and stories of Christians killed during the first quarter of the 21st century. By September 2025, the commission had compiled the names of 1,624 Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, and Protestant martyrs and witnesses to the faith who died between 2000 and 2025.

The catalogue includes 643 Christians killed in sub-Saharan Africa, 357 in Asia and Oceania, 304 in the Americas, 277 in the Middle East and North Africa, and 43 in Europe.

Those figures do not constitute a complete census, nor does inclusion amount to formal canonization by the Catholic Church. In fact, the Vatican has withheld the full list because publicly identifying some of the victims could endanger Christians still living in the same regions.

Living for the Eucharist

Among those remembered by the commission is Father Ragheed Ganni, a Chaldean Catholic priest who returned to his native Iraq after studying in Rome. As violence against Iraqi Christians intensified, extremists repeatedly warned him to close his parish. Ganni refused to leave while his people still needed him.

“Without the Sunday Eucharist, we cannot live,” he said at a Eucharistic congress in Italy in 2005. “For us, the terrorists take life, but the Eucharist gives it back.”

On June 3, 2007, gunmen confronted Ganni outside his church in Mosul after Sunday Mass. They murdered him and three subdeacons.

L/R: Amanda McCoy/Fort Worth Star-Telegram/Tribune News Service/Getty Images; IBRAHIM EZZAT/AFP/Getty Images

Wielding a Bible

Another is Sister Dorothy Stang, an Ohio-born nun who spent nearly four decades working among poor settlers in the Brazilian Amazon. She helped farming families secure legal title to their land and promoted sustainable agriculture, bringing her into conflict with powerful ranchers and loggers.

Despite repeated death threats, Stang remained in the region. On Feb. 12, 2005, two hired gunmen stopped the 73-year-old nun on a muddy road.

When they asked whether she had a weapon, Stang raised her Bible.

“This is my only weapon,” she said.

As she began reading from the Beatitudes, the gunmen shot her six times.

Brothers in arms

The commission also remembers seven members of the Melanesian Brotherhood, an Anglican religious community devoted to evangelism and peacemaking in the Solomon Islands.

During civil unrest in 2003, militants took Brother Nathaniel Sado hostage and tortured him to death. Six other brothers went looking for him. Three were shot upon arrival; the remaining three were beaten, tortured, and killed the following day.

At their funeral, a banner preceded each coffin bearing the brother’s name and the words, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God.”

Two days later, the Melanesian Brotherhood admitted 48 new members.

A child's vision

The youngest of those singled out by Pope Leo was 10-year-old Abish Masih, a Pakistani schoolboy killed in the March 2015 Taliban attacks on two churches in Lahore. In a notebook he left behind, the child had written a simple aspiration: “Making the world a better place.”

These men, women, and children belonged to different countries, cultures, and Christian communions. Their inclusion in a common memorial reflects what John Paul II called the “ecumenism of the martyrs” and Pope Francis later termed the “ecumenism of blood.”

Those who persecute Christians often make no distinction between Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, and Protestant believers. Martyrdom reveals a unity that centuries of ecclesiastical negotiation have yet to restore fully.

Bearing witness

In September 2025, Pope Leo XIV gathered with representatives of numerous Christian traditions to commemorate the new martyrs. He called their witness an “unarmed hope” and warned that the persecution of Christians had not disappeared with the dictatorships of the last century.

“On the contrary,” the pope said, “in some parts of the world it has increased.”

The word “martyr” comes from the Greek word for “witness.” A martyr is not simply someone who dies tragically or becomes a victim of violence. A Christian martyr bears witness to Christ by remaining faithful when faithfulness exacts the ultimate price.

By naming the new parish for Ayariga, the Diocese of Fort Worth is helping preserve the witness of the 21 martyrs for another generation.

“Where violence seeks to erase a man’s identity, the Church remembers his name,” Bishop Olson wrote. “Where death boasts to have the final word, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ declares otherwise.”

Get off the sofa and go to church

Let’s get real about something far too many professing Christians have wrongly decided is OK. We’re talking about people who think obedience to Christ doesn’t require participation in the local church.

In a few Christian women’s groups I’m in online, I’ve seen so many casually mentioning how they don’t have a church, or aren’t particularly interested in looking for one, or blatantly reject the idea that it’s needed at all. Comments like:

To remove yourself from the reach of elders, correction, and communal responsibility is, bluntly put, to refuse Christ’s ordained means of grace.

I don’t have to be part of a church. I can watch a service online from my sofa, I can worship or read the Bible whenever I want, and I can gather with other Christians anywhere, anytime. I don’t need to be “pastored.”

This woman is way off base, because a lone Christian is much more easily misled than someone who’s following Christ’s command to connect with a local body of believers.

To clarify, we’re not talking about the capital C “Church” — the global body of believers throughout history. Every authentic Christian joins THAT Church the moment they turn to Christ. No, we’re talking about the LOCAL church — designed by God to offer what the global Church cannot.

Question: What is a local church?

Answer: A group of Christians who live near each other who voluntarily band together to worship God, study His Word, love and serve each other, and submit to the group’s chosen leaders, which should include biblically qualified elders who are able to teach and disciple the flock, as well as qualified deacons to help in practical ways.

All of this is scriptural, as we’ll point out below, but first a quick word about what constitutes a “local group.”

Americans, especially in larger cities, are used to driving a distance to get to a preferred church. I’m not going to argue with that, but I am going to make a plea that the closer you are to your church, the more you can invest your time and energy in it — and the more it can invest in you.

If you are now searching for a church home, I strongly encourage you to start with the congregations closest to you and work your way out from there till you find a biblically sound body you and your family can join.

Not a building

Of course, the local church is not a building. You can have church in a school auditorium, at the local park — anywhere your group is allowed to assemble.

What makes such a group a “local church” is not location, but congregation — a group of Christians in the area who choose to commit to each other, whether they own a meeting space or not.

In fact, a pretty robust argument could be made that owning a facility is an impediment, or at least a distraction, to the church’s mission to shepherd the flock and serve the community.

I love stained glass windows, whether they’re in pretty little country churches or enormous European cathedrals. But those facilities require upkeep, costing money and time that could be directed to other endeavors and needs, especially if the church building sits unused most of the week!

What the local church is for

The Bible provides an excellent roadmap for the local church’s marching orders, because Christ did not establish a disembodied, leaderless, commitment-free Christianity. When believers detach themselves from the local church, in fact, they are not protecting their faith; they are redefining it on their own terms.

So what exactly are we to do?

We are to act more like the early church! Familiarize yourself with what our first brothers and sisters in Christ were doing. You can’t go far wrong using that as a template.

But here’s a helpful checklist of how we are to interact with our local church:

1. Meet regularly

First Corinthians 14 details how to conduct an orderly worship service, including phrases like “when you assemble.” Paul’s assumption is that believers are regularly meeting together, and such meetings are referenced often throughout the New Testament.

"And let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near" (Hebrews 10:24-25).

2. Worship together, pray together, learn the Word together

Just like the early church:

"And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to the prayers" (Acts 2:42).

3. Submit to church leaders (elders/pastors, deacons)

The New Testament knows nothing of a Christian who answers to no one. Christ commands believers to submit to church leadership (Hebrews 13:17) and establishes church discipline, not to shame or punish but to restore (Matthew 18:15-20).

This is one the sofa-churchers miss every time.

Elders/pastors are biblically charged with shepherding the flock (Acts 14:23) — the flock being whatever local church they are leading. But how can they shepherd someone they don’t know, who’s not there?

In Acts 6, the apostles told the believers to select men “from among you” to serve as leaders (leaders often referred to as deacons). This was only possible because the local congregation knew its men and was therefore qualified to help choose leadership.

These commands are not optional, situational, or suspended when church life becomes difficult. To remove yourself from the reach of elders, correction, and communal responsibility is, bluntly put, to refuse Christ’s ordained means of grace. You cannot claim Christ as Savior while functionally rejecting Him as Lord, and the moment a believer declares, “I don’t need the church,” she has placed herself as the final authority over her own discipleship and rejected membership in the Bride of Christ.

Further, if you’re not committed to a congregation, you don’t have a Christian leader (shepherd) keeping watch over you (sheep). That is dangerous territory for any of us and surely a big part of the reason God created us to be in churches.

4. Love each other, become a family to each other, hold each other accountable

Commitment to a sound biblical church offers much more than a healthy leader-congregant relationship. It also offers by far the best way to fulfill the numerous biblical instructions regarding one another. (And they are numerous, as I explained here.) Tim Challies says:

Many of these commands can either only be carried out or can best be carried out in local contexts. You may be able to bear my burdens from a thousand miles away, but those who are closer are much more able. And so membership answers this question: Who are the people I am especially called to love? Or who am I primarily meant to serve with the gifts God has given me? It narrows the answer from the entire global church to one specific congregation. To become a member of a church is to say that these are the people God has most explicitly called me to love, serve, and pray for. These people are my “one another.”

Yes! Your local church is where you find your “one another” and where they find you. It’s also where you find “one anothers” who are not like you. Local church gives you an opportunity to love and serve singles if you’re not single, older saints if you’re younger, families if you don’t have kids, and vice versa.

This is ground zero for one of those “greatest commands” of Jesus, to love one another.

5. Observe the Lord’s Supper together; witness baptisms of new believers

The ordinances are generally undertaken in church, and they are to be part of a believer’s life. Baptism can take place anywhere there is water and a believer willing to conduct the baptism, but bringing this under the authority of the church protects the meaning and purpose of baptism through clear teaching on the subject. Likewise with the Lord’s Supper — good teaching in the church clarifies who should and should not be participating.

6. Serve the community near the church, meeting physical and spiritual needs

There is power in numbers, when you’re trying to make an impact for Christ in your community. This doesn’t mean you don’t individually love your neighbor, share the gospel, etc., but it does mean that when you uncover a need that you as an individual can’t fill — well, that’s a need you take back to your church.

Similarly, churches are often notified or aware of needs before individuals are. Serving the community as part of your local church is a powerful witness.

Give me that old time (marketplace of) religion

Another comment to consider from one of my ladies’ online groups:

Sometimes it is hard to find a modern church that fits one’s personal beliefs and convictions. In those cases, I’d say try to find a friend group made of Christians and have a Bible study or just meet up to talk and encourage one another in Christ.

“Try to find a friend group made of Christians.” Hmmm ... if only we had institutions DESIGNED to bring Christians together in fellowship.

And assuming you find something like that (outside of church), “just meet up to talk and encourage one another” is a big bowl of weak sauce compared to the robust spiritual experience the local church offers and demands.

But I want to address her opening comment, because that’s a huge part of the problem with the sofa-churchers: they’re looking for a church that “fits their personal beliefs and convictions.”

America’s consumer mentality — and our relative abundance of churches — play a role in this mindset. Many have left a church, or not found another one, not because they can’t find something doctrinally sound, but because they’re focused entirely on their own tastes, preferences, and comforts.

Thanks in part to our robust freedom of religion, America is home to more than 300,000 Protestant congregations alone. That’s more than 6,000 churches per state, although the Bible Belt areas tend to have more than, say, godless Seattle (I was born there; I can say that).

So we Americans are quick to jump from church to church because it’s pretty easy to find a new one. And we can pick and choose features most appealing to us.

That, however, is where a lot of us go wrong. We choose a church with a consumer mindset, ticking off the features that “fit” our family. The music’s great! They have lots of middle schoolers! There’s a Saturday night service!

Beloved, that stuff is not the focus when looking for a church. We all need a church that prioritizes:

doctrinally sound biblical teaching (not just on Sunday mornings);
small groups for Bible study, prayer, community, and accountability; and
outreach to the lost (locally and on the mission field, ideally).

You found a church? Here’s what’s next:

Commit for the long haul. Approach your church with a “lifetime” rather than a “trial period” mindset.
Prioritize presence. Make regular attendance the baseline — not an optional extra for when the schedule is clear.
Listen with a soft heart. Treat the Sunday sermon as a direct message from God; read the passage before you arrive.
Go deeper than Sunday. Seek out a small home group (sometimes called a community group or life group) that studies, prays, serves, and eats together — that’s the best way to build community.
Get busy. Identify specific ways to serve this body you’ve joined.
Make your church better. Look for ways your church is serving the community, and come alongside. Or bring ideas for outreach back to your church!

Because — ultimately — you DO need a church. And there’s a church out there that needs you. So get off the sofa and go find your part of the Body.

Texas' newest Catholic parish takes name of martyr beheaded by ISIS: 'A testimony to the victory of Christ'

The newest parish in the Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth has taken the name of a Christian martyr whose remains went unclaimed in his own homeland.

Muslim terrorists pledging allegiance to the Islamic State in Libya tracked down and abducted 21 Christian construction workers in early 2015. Twenty of the men were Coptic Orthodox, and the 21st was Matthew Ayariga, a migrant worker from Ghana.

'Those who sought to silence the name of Jesus instead gave the world witnesses who proclaimed Him without words and unto death.'

Given the option of death or renouncing Christ, all 21 men kept the faith and were beheaded, some while praying, on a beach in western Libya on Feb. 15, 2015.

In the corresponding ISIS video titled "A Message Signed in Blood to the Nation of the Cross," Ayariga and the other martyrs are marched onto a beach, forced onto their knees, then slaughtered. While the martyrs' blood flowed into the Mediterranean, one terrorist states, "We will conquer Rome."

While there is some uncertainty about whether Ayariga was a Christian before meeting the 20 Copts, there is no question about the Ghanaian's conviction in his final moments.

Ayariga was reportedly asked, "Do you reject Christ?" Referencing his fellow captives, he apparently responded, "Their God is my God."

The leader of the Coptic Orthodox Church, Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria, canonized the martyrs as saints in 2015.

Years after noting that the martyrs' "blood is not only the 'seed of Christians,' but also ... a seed that will bear rich fruit for Christian unity," Pope Francis recognized the 21 as saints, adding them to the Roman Martyrology.

Bishop Michael Olson of the Diocese of Fort Worth announced on Friday the establishment of the diocese's 93rd parish: Saint Matthew Ayariga Catholic Church in Arlington.

Olson noted that this parish, which will largely serve the Ghanaian Catholic community in North Texas, is the first Catholic parish anywhere in the world to be established under the patronage of Saint Matthew Ayariga.

"His response in the face of certain death was heroic," said the bishop. "The words attributed to Matthew at that moment when he was asked about his faith have borne witness to Christ throughout the world: 'Their God is my God.'"

The Texas bishop emphasized that the Muslim terrorists' beheading video greatly backfired.

"The video images of that terrible day were intended by the murderers to inspire fear among Christians," said the bishop. "Instead, the steadfast faith of the martyrs has become a testimony to the victory of Christ. Those who sought to silence the name of Jesus instead gave the world witnesses who proclaimed Him without words and unto death."

Bishop Olson further emphasized that Ayariga's martyrdom demonstrates that "in Christ there is much more that we hold in common than anything that divides us."

"The hatred of Christ and His Gospel drove the members of ISIS to persecute and murder these men in an effort to extinguish the light of Christ. Where hatred foments separation among people, Christ brings forth communion. Where violence seeks to erase a man’s identity, the Church remembers his name," continued the bishop. "Where death boasts to have the final word, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ declares otherwise. 'The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it' (John 1:5)."

The dedication Mass for the new parish located at 1400 South Cooper Street, Arlington, is scheduled for Jan. 29, 2027.