Mike Wittmer

What I think. What I know. What I think I know.

  • suing the government

    The many lawsuits against the HHS mandate may be overrun by current events. Now that hundreds of thousands of people are learning that, despite the President’s frequent assurances, they are not allowed to keep the affordable insurance policies they currently have, the Affordable Care Act may collapse of its own weight. Perhaps Nancy Pelosi should…

  • big bumbling brother

    When I lived in Beijing I operated under the assumption that someone was always watching or listening to my conversations. My friends and I would jokingly talk into the pepper shaker in restaurants, but also we would seriously examine each letter for signs it had been opened and resealed, talk in code in those letters…

  • sloth

    “I’ve spoken of sloth because I suspect it lies at the root of many people’s crisis of faith. More people shrug away their faith than are argued out of it. They don’t have a compelling reason to stop believing in God, they just look away and say, ‘Meh.’ These doubters don’t need better arguments, they…

  • the real Jesus

    Peter said a surprising thing to Cornelius (Acts 10), and I turned it into a new devotional for Our Daily Journey. I won’t submit this for two weeks, so there is time to improve it if you have suggestions. What an odd thing to say! When Peter brought the gospel to the Gentiles, he told…

  • forgiveness

    I am in the middle of grading papers on forgiveness and am once again thankful for Chris Brauns’ provocative and eminently biblical book on the subject, Unpacking Forgiveness. I use this book each semester because it challenges our sloppy preconceptions about forgiveness and forces us back to Scripture. A few reasons why every Christian should…

  • it’s here

    Last night, while Detroit was digging itself into a deep hole it could not climb out of—I mean the Tigers, not the city—my class of urban pastors turned a session on church government into a spirited conversation on homosexuality. I was surprised by their level of passion, because I had naively assumed that homosexual practice…

  • forgiveness

    I don’t mean to be the conscience of the Christian music industry, but there is another popular song that left me dismayed and wanting to say something. So here I go. “Forgiveness,” by Toby Mac and featuring Lecrae, who really should know better given he rapped on the Heidelberg Catechism, repeatedly says “we all need…

  • what do you know?

    My central claim in Despite Doubt: Embracing a Confident Faith is that we should believe only what we know, and we do know enough to believe. I am trying to encourage believers who might be discouraged by the many books on doubt that emphasize what we don’t know and how hard it is to believe.…

  • the risk of love

    If you haven’t heard of the Grant Study, you will find much material for preaching if you read this essay about it. I turned one of its points into a devotional for Our Daily Journey: read > 1 John 4:7-21 Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear (v. 18). George Vaillant…