"Don't judge a book by its cover," they say. I've heard it plenty of times but I've just never been able to buy into it. I do judge a book by its cover--and order food by its picture. You might have the greatest content ever, but if you don't do something to connect with me, if I never pick up the book--it's just words that are never read.

For some, apocalyptic anxiety is in the air (along with a fall chill). Washington Post writer Joel Achenbach set out to explore the latest doom and gloom in “2012: Eh, It’s Not the End Of the World: Film & Internet Rumors Fuel Doomsday Babble.”

4. Covenantal: Relationship with God and Others The church is covenantal, or gathered as members in new covenant relationship with God and in covenant relationship with each other. As for the first covenantal aspect, the new covenant:

As we finished our tea and truffles, I took Lynne to the book of 1 Samuel. I explained that the first mention of someone in Scripture often reveals something significant about the person’s character. The first king of Israel, Saul, is introduced as a young man trying, unsuccessfully, to find his father’s donkeys. This humorous scene hints at Saul’s later inability to lead others well. Though his early years of ruling God’s people are marked by humility and self-control, over time Saul becomes disobedient, jealous, and full of hatred.

In Counterfeit Gods Keller says that David Powlison’s article, “Idols of the Heart and Vanity Fair,” originally published in The Journal of Biblical Counseling, “has been in circulation for over two decades and has been seminal for my thinking.”

It’s no secret around here that I love the book of Proverbs and consider it my “home page” in the Bible. I read through Proverbs at least once a year and, whenever I’m not sure what else to read, I turn to it. And while I love Proverbs and envy the wisdom of Solomon I find something really sobering about his life.

This is going to come as a shock for many of you, but I wasn’t popular in high school. I know, I know, given the unibrow, constant braces, and tap dancing lessons, you would think that I would have been homecoming king. But that wasn’t the case. I was a bit of a loser. And by “bit” I mean “big” and by “big” I mean “wicked big.”

The White House said Wednesday that it was "possible" that President Barack Obama would decide whether to send thousands more US troops to Afghanistan before the runoff election on November 7.

"A million New Yorkers are good without God," according to one atheist group. Those words will be plastered in a dozen subway stations in the most populous city in the country beginning next week. The United Coalition of Reason says the New York ad campaign is intended to reach out to nontheists and let them know that they are not alone.

Idolatry is not just a failure to obey God, it is a setting of the whole heart on something besides God.