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brianzahnd.bsky.social
Founding pastor of Word of Life Church in St. Joseph, Missouri; author of eleven books, including The Wood Between the Worlds.
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Bruce Springsteen releases a new live EP. It closes with Dylan’s Chimes of Freedom. The Boss fighting the good fight. open.spotify.com/album/1wWm7M...

submitted 2 hours ago • 0 comments

Backyard in May

submitted 21 hours ago • 1 comment

“The total Christ is none other than the total humanity.” -Hans Urs von Balthasar

submitted 1 day ago • 4 comments

You cannot use dubious eschatological theories about the modern nation-state of Israel concocted from a dispensationalist reading of apocalyptic texts to jettison the clear teachings of Jesus as found in the Sermon on the Mount.

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

Long Road Away From What Was youtu.be/Usl2hB2FJd4?...

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Emmaus is about seven miles from Jerusalem and a world away from what was. Once we recognize the risen Christ present in Scripture and Sacrament we have entered a new world. I'll preach on this tomorrow. (The painting is "Road to Emmaus" by Fritz von Uhde, 1891.)

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

A Christianity that gleefully endorses the principalities and powers at the expense of the poor and vulnerable is no longer a faithful bride of Christ but a prostitute of Mars and Mammon.

submitted 8 days ago • 5 comments

Registration for our annual Mountain Retreat is now open! September 29–October 3, 2025 in Estes Park, Colorado. Theme: IN SEARCH OF NARNIA Encountering the Extraordinary In Our Ordinary Lives (This retreat will sell-out.) Info & Registration here: wolcevents.churchcenter.com/registration...

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

There are Caesars… Cruel Caesars Stupid Caesars Philosopher Caesars Mad Caesars Always rich Caesars Never humble Caesars… And then there is Christ.

submitted 10 days ago • 4 comments

Are you plagued with doubts? I think I might be able to help. Today I'm preaching this: Some Doubted. So What? 10AM CT www.youtube.com/live/5T8c8W0...

submitted 11 days ago • 0 comments

Sunday I'll preach this: Some Doubted. So What? "The heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing: we know this in countless ways. It is the heart which perceives God and not the reason. That is what faith is: God perceived by the heart, not by reason." –Blaise Pascal

submitted 12 days ago • 1 comment

The Body of Christ is global and pledges no allegiance to any particular nation.

submitted 12 days ago • 2 comments

open.substack.com/pub/brianzah...

submitted 14 days ago • 1 comment

In my backyard there is a tree that is older than America. This makes me happy and gives me hope.

submitted 14 days ago • 6 comments

On Saturday Peri and I had our 45th wedding anniversary. We’re celebrating tonight with dinner in KC and then going to the Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds show.

submitted 16 days ago • 24 comments

youtu.be/G-TQNrToTU0?...

submitted 18 days ago • 0 comments

The world will be saved because Jesus is the Savior of the world.

submitted 18 days ago • 15 comments

I often read Joshua and Acts in tandem. As I did so this morning here's something I noticed: In Joshua 10 five Canaanite kings are hung on trees during the conquest of Canaan.

submitted 19 days ago • 1 comment

Christianity cannot fit within the empirical limitations imposed by the Enlightenment. If we reduce Christian faith to rational explanation, practical advice and political agendas, we end up with a paper-thin, watered-down, cheap knock-off of Christianity that no longer has the capacity to astonish.

submitted 19 days ago • 5 comments

Selah

submitted 19 days ago • 2 comments

Imagine what the Left Behind crowd would have said if Obama had done something like this.

submitted 19 days ago • 31 comments

My all-time top five music artists: 1. Bob Dylan 2. Led Zeppelin 3. The Rolling Stones 4. Neil Young 5. U2/QOTSA (tie)

submitted 20 days ago • 3 comments

My first Substack post. (It’s free.) open.substack.com/pub/brianzah...

submitted 22 days ago • 4 comments

Fundamentalism is to Christianity what paint by numbers is to art.

submitted 22 days ago • 1 comment

The means are the end in the process of becoming. Selah.

submitted 24 days ago • 0 comments

The power Jesus promises to his church is not political power, but power to be martyr-witnesses. (Acts 1:6-8)

submitted 24 days ago • 1 comment

“It is better for me to die in Christ Jesus than to be king over the ends of the earth. Suffer me to follow the example of the passion of my God.” -Ignatius of Antioch prior to his martyrdom c. 140

submitted 25 days ago • 1 comment

I’ve been traveling and speaking for twelve weeks—leading a Lenten retreat and two pilgrimages in Türkiye; presenting at universities and conducting Prayer Schools; preaching in churches and leading our congregation through Week.

submitted 25 days ago • 1 comment

An inspired text requires an inspired reading to become Scripture. An in-Spirited text read without the Holy Spirit will simply be the reading of an ancient text in search of a modern meaning. As Christians we come to Scripture already confessing the that the true Word of God is the crucified and

submitted 28 days ago • 1 comment

It’s NFL DRAFT DAY y’all!!

submitted 28 days ago • 2 comments

I'm speaking in Ohio this weekend. Friday Evening and Saturday morning I'm conducting a Prayer School at Christ Presbyterian Church in Canton, Ohio. Then I'm preaching the Sunday services at Heartland Community Church in Medina, Ohio. You are invited!

submitted 29 days ago • 0 comments

We can attempt to ride the beast, or we can follow the Lamb, but it's doubtful we can do both. In a world bombarded by political sloganeering, we Christians hold to the lofty anthem of the Apocalypse: Worthy is the Lamb! Or as Matt Mouzakis and Will Ryan say near the end of their marvelous book:

submitted 30 days ago • 1 comment

Pope Francis demonstrated to a world obsessed with “greatness” the contours of a Christian life.

submitted 31 days ago • 2 comments

While It Was Still Dark… youtu.be/5yK87Sblyfc?...

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Christ is risen!

submitted 32 days ago • 2 comments

“The sound of her footsteps was like a stream falling gently away downhill over cool stones in the quiet of night.”

submitted 32 days ago • 2 comments

If Putin can declare a one-day Easter truce, he can declare a permanent truce. This is what the risen Prince of Peace commands.

submitted 33 days ago • 0 comments