Friends: What is the best way to fight for Christ? Fight like John the Baptist, or “fight” like Jesus?  Peter Heck’s new book Rebellious has some good perspective.

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Spirituality Column #1019

May 26, 2026

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Warrior for Christ?

By Bob Walters

“We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors …” – 2 Corinthians 5:20

Some years ago, “Rob” was a wonderful Christian guy at our large church, active in Bible studies, the greeting team, traffic control, whatever … and always ready to cheerfully lend a hand with anything that needed to be done.

His full name escapes me now (though I remember his face), and once he remarked that he wanted to be “a warrior for Christ.” I thought that was a laudable goal, and I know he meant it in the best way possible. On the one hand, it is: forceful! 

But Peter Heck’s new book, Rebellious: What if Christians Were Actually Different? offers a sobering op-ed to that “warrior” ministerial objective, an objective Peter previously held most of his life. He possessed the well-researched and well-rehearsed scriptural kill shots to silence critics, heretics, atheists, or anyone looking at Christianity and getting it wrong. Since being baptized 26 years ago and digging deeply into scripture, I had always wanted to be that guy, too.

Peter was that guy, with successful decades of Christian but also cultural and political commentary.  Peter was a warrior for the right side of God and history.

He had a Sunday morning radio show on Indy’s WIBC, frequently made national guest appearances on Fox News and Glenn Beck’s show, wrote copious online commentary for Not the Bee and other platforms (Substack, etc.), travels as a speaker at conferences, conventions, and youth rallies, and preaches at Jerome Church near Greentown, Indiana, where he teaches history and government at Eastern High School.

Oh, and he recently rebranded his four-times weekly podcast to “Dashboard Jesus,” which has been heavily refocused from his earlier online offerings, lessening political content and emphasizing his heart for Christian life and scriptural truth.

I’ve followed Pete online for years and yes, he is a busy guy. He mentioned in a post a while back that he was easing off the political commentary to focus on preaching, but retains a great perspective on American history and the current state of our political and cultural dissonance. It is his approach to engaging the world that has changed.

Peter had an awakening three or so years ago that led to writing Rebellious, which he lays out in chapter 12, titled “Grace.”  It came when a college friend gently told Peter he couldn’t finish listening to one of Peter’s recorded sermons because of its harsh tone (pp155-157 in the book). The friend said it sounded “angry and mean.”

After a brief bout of defensiveness, Peter re-listened to the sermon and had to agree.  And then came (what I think is) the brilliant self-diagnosed revelation of his whole approach to witness. Peter had always styled himself after John the Baptist, “preparing the way for Christ” (Matthew 3:3). After all, “Among those born of woman … none is greater than John the Baptist (Matthew 11:11). So, be like John the Baptist!

Wrong. Peter realized that his job in faith was to be an ambassador for Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20), and to be Christlike, i.e. gentle and forgiving. John the Baptist was commissioned to be the more blunt-force warrior, not fearing to be offensive.

“Offensive” is not what we are told to be. “We do not make war as the world does” (2 Corinthians 10:3). Jesus will make war in his own way when the time comes (Revelation 19:10-11). Christlikeness now should look like love, peace, and patience.

So, be like Jesus, not like John the Baptist. Be different, and read Rebellious.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) recommends Heck’s website, PeterHeck.com, and offers these book links: About Rebellious, Buy Rebellious.

Friends: It is a mix of joy, faith, and gratitude, not self-inflicted misery, that defines a Christian life. Blessings, Bob

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Spirituality Column #1005

February 17, 2026

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Sack Cloth and Ashes

By Bob Walters

“It will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.” – Jesus, leveling a condemnation at Capernaum, Matthew 11:24

You know the story well. John the Baptist is in prison, not exactly condemned but knowing Herod wants him dead for criticizing Herod’s marriage to Herodius.

Contemplating his own imminent fate, John sends his disciples to ask Jesus, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” (Matthew 11:3). This question leads Jesus – who isn’t yet ready to say, “Yes, it’s me” – to recount His own miracles, and identify several of those who have seen miracles but not believed.

This included the town of Capernaum on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee where Jesus performed much of his ministry. As a shortcut, I asked A.I., “Why was Jesus mad at Capernaum?” A.I.’s answer: “...because of [Capernaum’s] unrepentant hearts, their stubborn unbelief, and indifference despite being the primary location of his ministry and witnessing the most ‘mighty works.’ Despite being treated as ‘his own city,’ the town failed to believe or repent.” Sodom, you see, didn’t know Jesus; Capernaum did.

It is worth reading the rest of Matthew 11:1-24 as Jesus speaks to the gathered crowd, noting the unmistakable and famous condemnation of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18, 19) and that it will be worse for Capernaum. (John’s ultimate fate, his beheading, took place at the hilltop palace of Herod Antipas at Machaerus, east of the Dead Sea in Jordan, approximately A.D. 30, is recorded in Matthew 14:1-12 and Mark 6:14-29.)

What Capernaum was facing, and what every Christian knows, is that once the presence and truth of Jesus have been revealed to a person – and His presence and truth are rejected – woe to the unbeliever and the unrepentant. None of us is exactly sure how God’s grace and mercy work for those who have never heard the word of God or encountered Jesus. But Jesus had lived, preached, and performed miracles there, and to paraphrase many Bible verses, the people of Capernaum “believed Him not.”

Our greatest personal gift is to know Jesus, believe He is the Christ, accept His grace and love, and live in repentance – renewed thinking – knowing our own sin but also trusting God’s forgiveness. “Sack cloth and ashes” is the Bible’s way of signaling our own sorrow and humility, and our discipline of repentance. It indicates our low moments.

Yet I am sure Jesus does not want us to live that way: Our joy is our strength.

We examine the life of Jesus, the very few of his years we know about, and despite His looming fate Jesus lived what I perceive to be – what I hope was – a life of joy. It seems that from the young age of 12 Jesus knew who He was. And at the start of His ministry in his late 20s, we see signals that He knew the tasks, obedience, and crucifixion ahead.

Incarnate Jesus is God become man.  What God made “very good” in His own image – humanity – Jesus is God’s perfect image and visitation into that now fallen and imperfect creation. There was a scene in Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ movie (2004) of Jesus as a young carpenter laughing with his mother Mary. While that is a movie I never want to see again, the imagined image of Jesus knowing moments of joy, despite being a “man of sorrows,” gives me comfort, even if it is a made-up vignette of cinematography.

This week, on Ash Wednesday, some Christian denominations begin the observance of Lent, 40 days of fasting and prayer ending on Resurrection Sunday, Easter. The celebration typically involves “giving up” – sacrificing – some favored thing, but must properly be met with renewed focus and prayer on the gifts we have received.

Despite the “sack cloth and ashes,” we honor Jesus by being joyous for His gift.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) continually states his belief that repentance reaches far beyond behaviors and into spiritual and intellectual transformation: Think like a Christian.

Friends: Renewed thinking is the work of repentance, and faith is the main point. Blessings, Bob

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Spirituality Column #974

July 15, 2025

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Acts of Repentance, Part 1

By Bob Walters

“Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.” – John the Baptist, Matthew 3:8

In June our church began a sermon series on the book of Acts, Luke’s historical tale of the founding of the church, the Apostle Paul, and the calling of many believers.

With beaucoup time on my hands between school terms (our MCA summer is May 23 to August 12) and realizing it had been a while since I read through the entire 28 chapters of Acts, it seemed a good time to re-edify myself.

So, over a couple of recent, leisurely afternoons, I slowly read through Acts and noticed a theme particularly close to my heart, or rather my mind: the theme of repentance.  Real repentance is more than apology-laden, works-driven, turn-your-life-around behaviors so shortsightedly sufficing as repentance among otherwise dedicated Christians. We miss the main point – faith – if we try only to behave better and sin less.

What repentance actually is – what John, Jesus, Luke, Peter, Paul, and others are teaching and calling for – is not merely the physical game of performance but the mental game of faith. Repent, or in the Greek, metanoia, means “renewing of the mind.”

Ancient Jews were required to perform in accordance with the law. In the Old Testament when we see the word “repent” it refers more to truly thinking like a Jew in terms of believing in, trusting, and knowing the One True God, not merely the act, practice, and law of obeying God’s numerous Hebrew-specific commands.

Bring the truth of Jesus into the picture with the presence of the Holy Spirit, and when Peter answers the crowd in Acts 2:38 saying, “Repent, and be baptized,” he’s not just saying, “behave better and sin less.” Peter is saying, “Start thinking like a Christian instead of a Jew.”  He is saying: Jesus fulfils the law and is the Messiah Son of God, deliverer of our salvation through his death and resurrection. Salvation is now by faith.

And what is faith?  Faith is a thinking exercise and an emotional experience. True repentance forces us – graciously – to an understanding of God’s forgiveness and love, and Jesus’s mission of salvation. Repentance is a re-ordering of our priorities that truly shows up in our behavior, but not merely new behavior that masks an unchanged heart.

People will see our repentant faith in our outward conduct.  We will know our faith in our inward peace.  God already knows our faith because He knows our hearts.

What struck me in reading Acts is how often “repent” in its various forms appears: 10 times, and also another 14 times in Luke’s gospel. Luke thus provides 24 of the New Testament’s 57 word references to “repent.” Luke was on to something.

Traditionally considered a Greek-educated gentile from Antioch, Luke would have known Greek and Greek philosophy well.  He is often thought to have directed his Gospel to the Greeks who knew little of Judaism … but a lot about thinking. 

In Luke’s revelation, Jesus supersedes all human thought with a previously unknown truth and a Godly relationship bursting into all humanity.  John the Baptist berates the Pharisees (Matthew 3:8) for not understanding salvation in Christ, while Luke educates Greeks on the One True God who defenestrates worldly pagan gods.

In Acts 2:38, Peter promises forgiveness and the “gift of the holy Spirit.” That gift is the fruit – “the fruit of the Spirit” – that John the Baptist prophesies. Those fruits of the Spirit, such as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Paul in Galatians 5:22-23), are the gifts of repentance.

We act better – and feel better – because we think better.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) reaffirms that we are saved by faith, not works. More next week.

Spirituality Column #414
October 21, 2014
Current in Carmel-Westfield-Noblesville-Fishers-Zionsville

An Evening with George
By Bob Walters

For the past decade – since September of 2004 – most of my Wednesday evenings have been spent studying with and pondering lectures by Christian scholar, Bible translator and Carmel resident Dr. George Bebawi.

George, retired from the Divinity faculty at Cambridge University, England, prepares lengthy notes for each class and then like the university lecturer he is, often puts the notes away (figuring you can read them later) and lectures on corollary topics.  East 91^st Street Christian Church in northeast Indianapolis is host of the weekly series and this fall George is teaching The Gospel of Luke: Witness to the Gentiles.

A recent class handout discussed the birth of John the Baptist in Luke 1.  Among his notes George listed several echoes and fulfillments of Old Testament prophecies, promises and personalities.  John’s mother Elizabeth, like Isaac’s mother Sarah, was well past child-bearing age.  John is filled with the Holy Spirit, as was Elijah.  John’s father Zechariah, a priest who entered the Holy of Holies, emerges mute, unable to pronounce the customary blessing “The Lord bless you and keep you …, etc., that appears in Numbers 6:24-26.

Good, standard stuff.  Then came George’s zinger: Why was Zechariah mute?  Well, because the priestly blessing from the Old Testament is about to become unnecessary because the True and Final blessing – the person of Jesus Christ – is on the way in the womb of Elizabeth’s young relative Mary.

Like so many things George says, I’d never thought of that.

His lecture included other pearls.  Warning against “biblical anemia,” George listed several things we miss if we read the Old Testament without understanding the tangible arrival and work of Jesus Christ in the Gospels of the New Testament.

For example, in the 23^rd Psalm the Lord is a comforting Shepherd, even as we “walk through the valley of the shadow of death.”  In the New Testament our shepherd is Jesus Christ, who dies for us.  I hadn’t thought of that, either.

George pointed to four things missing in the great Old Testament prophesies of Isaiah: 1) the actual fulfillment of those prophesies, 2) the real arrival of the Messiah, 3) the materialization of the light of life in the person of Christ, and 4) and the coming of God himself among us in His son Jesus.  Isaiah presents true predictions, but the Truth of Jesus Christ comes to fruition in the Gospels.

George also had compelling things to say about angels, worship, humanity, and the truth of our destiny in the person of Jesus Christ.

All something to think about.

More next week.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) coordinates George’s E91 class, which is free and open to the public Wednesdays 6:30-7:45 p.m. in the upstairs Sun Room.

Spirituality Column #346
July 2, 2013
Current in Carmel-Westfield-Noblesville-Fishers-Zionsville

By Bob Walters

I feel fine, but lately I’ve been thinking a lot about death.

The June/July issue of my favorite magazine First Things carried an article titled “Tragic Worship.” It’s about how modern Christian worship services often gloss over the doctrinal importance of death and judgment while favoring the up-beat, shined-up, feel-good, skim-the-surface culturally synchronous rhythms of “Jesus Loves Me” entertainment.

Hip, happy and hopeful may put people in the pews, but a faithful grasp of our human mortality and God’s righteousness is critical to Christian life.  Facing our Maker – i.e., God – is about our death, and God is the most important thing any of us face.  Death is a tragedy, sure, but tragedy is every bit as classically entertaining and often more instructive and real than comedy, drama or a concert.  We must realize there can be no resurrection without death; no truth without righteousness.  Good article.

Then, coincidentally, my pastor Rick Grover at East 91^st Street Christian Church (Indianapolis, Ind.) centered a thought-provoking Sunday sermon on Mark 6:14-26: the beheading of John the Baptist.  The crux of the message was that while we all pray for healing of sickness and deliverance from life’s problems, and sometimes miracles happen, even John the Baptist – prophet of God, cousin of Jesus Christ and with the disciples certainly praying for him – was not spared the executioner’s sword.

The lesson?  As we pray for healing and deliverance, we also had better be fully and faithfully prepared to trust God’s will, whatever it may be.

Then I learned that Mike Bolinger, a childhood neighbor and long-time attorney in my hometown of Kokomo, Ind., had died after a four-year bout with cancer.  That occasioned watching a YouTube video of Mike’s magnificent post-diagnosis testimony delivered to his Oakbrook Church in Kokomo about living life and facing death.  Mike’s message is stunning in its straightforwardness, insight, clarity, faith, composure and truth.  This is a video to watch and discuss with others.

I hadn’t seen Mike in 30 years but the video pictures him exactly as I remember him – smart, faithful, witty and matter-of-fact. It’s no surprise that such a gifted attorney would make a truly great witness.

Death is the worst part of church, no doubt.  But with the love of God, the truth of Christ, the comfort of the Holy Spirit and the fellowship of believers, church is also the only place that death can honestly, hopefully and properly be dealt with.

If death is going to find us anyway – and it will – let it find us at church.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) cites 1 Corinthians 2:9 regarding Heaven: God has it handled; we don’t need to try to define it.
Links: Tragic Worship article, Rick Grover sermon 6-16-13, Mike Bolinger testimony