Mailbag

Right to be rescued?

Articles such as this play on the heartstrings but need Biblical perspective. It is not unusual for a student to finish high school with achievements and popularity and then to find himself struggling in college. It is natural for a mother to blame the system and/or disease after four years of trouble ending in her son’s suicide, but the Christian is called to the supernatural. It is customary in 2025 for churches to follow the world in assuming bipolar disorder and substance abuse disorder to be diseases, but that custom is indicative of the ease with which we are willing to contradict Scripture.

A Harvard psychiatrist in the Journal of the American Medical Association in June of 2025 lamented that “psychiatric disorders remain poorly understood despite extensive research.” This should not be surprising as what he termed “methodologic shortcomings of studies in the field” are inevitable because the data is entirely subjective. Objective measures are possible with antibiotics but are not so with psychotropic medications because the very concept of a psychiatric disorder rests upon a list of adjectives describing troublesome thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

For this reason, statements like “25% to 35% of the homeless population has a severe mental illness” and “About 44% of people in jail have a history of mental illness” are essentially meaningless. Was David mentally ill when he ran to Gath and “let his spittle run down his beard”? Was Saul bipolar when he would intermittently attempt to kill David while at other times would cry, “I have sinned. Return, my son David, for I will no more do you harm” (1 Samuel 26:21)?

Because the concept of mental illness has replaced that of sin, neither the elimination of the IMD exclusion nor the launching of CARE courts will solve our problem in this area. Scripture denies our “right to be rescued.” Christ came because of the Father’s love (John 3:16) and will come again because of the Father’s justice (Revelation 19:11).
     Carol Tharp / Winnetka, Ill.

Visions of the apocalypse

I’ve been a Christian for over 50 years and a WORLD Magazine reader for probably 35 or more years. Thank you for this excellent article. I found the article extremely helpful. I also want to thank you for your Millennium Primer. Every time I’ve tried to figure out premillennialism, amillennialism, and postmillennialism, I’ve become very confused. So, following Jesus’ statement that “no one knows the time and the date” of Jesus’ return, I decided to just ignore these discussions. However, these issues seem to be critically important to some Christians, and I could never understand why. Your Millennium Primer has helped me understand each of the positions, and I consider it a very valuable resource.
     Bill Curtis / Lansdale, Pa.

Many thanks for Les Sillars’ deft handling of the Apocalypse and current world events. He did a great job of summarizing Christian millennial thinking historically and today. It was a solid, orienting perspective with a reminder that we are on God’s time and in His plan, after all.
     Christine Hamilton / Fort Collins, Colo.

Quoting Pastor Jonathan Cahn, Les Sillars seemingly supports the premise that a demonic entity referred to in the Book of Daniel as the prince of Persia could be, in fact, the modern-day equivalent of Iran-backed groups like Hamas who have perpetrated violence and destruction against the nation of Israel. The argument would seemingly have merit and a plausible apocalyptic scenario borne out.

Troubling, however, is the fawning praise for President Donald J. Trump, a person of questionable moral, spiritual, and ethical values. His allegiance to Israel would, on the face of it, seem to be more of a geopolitical stance than any carefully thought-out apocalyptic understanding of the gospel.
     Robert L. Long III / Nesbit, Miss.

Prophetic foreign policy

Christian eschatological aspirations that seek to politically or militarily empower the nation of Israel may be misplaced, for we know that near the end, the son of perdition will “seat himself in the temple of God, claiming that he is a god” (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4).
     Patrick Herrick / Olathe, Kan.

An influential D.C. faith leader is quoted as saying we need to “put ourselves in control and give God the control.” That is a scary statement. I don’t know the foundation of her faith, but the Bible has led me to believe God doesn’t need us to put ourselves in control so we can then put Him in control. Him being in control all on His own is the foundation of my faith. I’m not interested in a god who needs people to put him in control.
     Kurt Mach / Gig Harbor, Wash.

Return of the red heifer

Attempts to immanentize the eschaton are impious efforts to implement what frail humans believe ought to be the will of God. My M.Div. was granted by a seminary that was officially dispensationalist, but I graduated without embracing that system, and am now an amillennialist. Rather than cobbling together unrelated verses to support Father Darby’s interpretive scheme, serious Christians ought to perceive that the Bible is fairly clear: Jesus could come back at any moment to judge the quick and the dead and to establish the new heavens and the new earth. Neither a red heifer nor a rebuilt Temple is necessary.
     Robert Hellam / Seaside, Calif.

Never in my life have I read an article that confirmed my convictions against dispensational theology more firmly. I humbly ask those in agreement with Mr. Stinson to reread the Epistle to the Hebrews and then consider the image of that cow. Why would Mr. Stinson participate in false worship that does not point to the cross? Is this any different than supplying silver idols for the Temple of Diana (Acts 19)? At the root of this Third Temple ideology is an implication that God approves “another way” other than THE Way.
     M. DiGrandi / Richmond, Ky.

Three years and a career

I was quite surprised to see that this is being floated as a new idea. Grace College in Winona Lake, Ind., has been doing this very thing for over 14 years. In fact, at Grace, students can earn a bachelor’s degree in three years and a master’s in four! I certainly hope that they can be given some credit for doing it before it was “cool.”
     Michelle Thompson / Lizton, Ind.

Wars and rumors of wars: eight books

It is disappointing that the first book review is of a book by author and journalist Douglas Murray. He is an articulate, intelligent gay man who unapologetically disdains Christianity in his book The Madness of Crowds. In fact, in the book, the first chapter is titled “Gay.” He rejects the Lord and His Word, which condemn homosexuality as sin. He endorses many of the conservative views that Christians hold, but his presuppositions differ drastically. The reviewer writes, “Murray supports Biblical calls to choose life,” and “the book underscores the theological roots of the conflict.” These are antithetical to Douglas Murray’s worldview.
     Kären Douglass / Lakeland, Fla.

Beautifully disguised

The column on near-death experiences was excellent! I have often struggled wondering how can I discount someone’s experience? Andreé Seu Peterson’s basic response was that you don’t have to. You just respond to it and evaluate it in light of God’s Word. A person may have envisioned or imagined something, but to give a definitive appraisal requires (as all ideas and experiences do) measuring it against the plumb line of Scripture.
     Carolyn Stone / St. Louis, Mo.

Elder care

I truly enjoyed Lynn Vincent’s column on elder care. Especially the verse she quoted from Leviticus 19:32. I am 86 years old and have my own Bible verse, Psalm 92:14-15: “They will still bear fruit in old age, proclaiming ‘The LORD is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.’”
     Helga Arndt / Fredericksburg, Va.

Corrections

The site of a fire near Doolittle, Mo., was on Interstate 44 (“Overcooking the cargo,” October, p. 32).

The hosts of the Haunted Cosmos podcast are Presbyterian pastors (“Things unseen,” October, p. 77).

Hal Lindsey died November 2024 (“Visions of the Apocalypse,” September, p. 70).