Today’s next Fantastical Foe doesn’t look that villainous. Instead she dresses up as whimsical kittens, cozy cottages, or obvious heroes and villains. He will approach you with pleasant platitudes, from a church, or even from that smiling popular fantasy author. She will shine like an angel of light, telling your heart beautiful lies such as, “Everyone is basically good, and you only need to fight something else.” Beware this second Fantastical Foe: Sentimentalism.

articles • news • library • reviews • podcast • gifts • guild

Toxic Empathy: When someone I love is headed toward a health, financial or relational train wreck and instead of telling them the bridge is out I encourage or even celebrate the decisions that are slowly destroying them because I want them to like me.

(Created by Zackary Russell using the Midjourney AI art generator)

This may be hard to define, so let’s start with a specific example.

“I love to create beautiful worlds where light dances and peace reigns. … I like to portray a world without the Fall.”

Not all Christian novels are this way. We need to stop pretending they are. But I have read some of them that are still like this: They are written by, published by, marketed to and sold to Christians, but are based entirely around the story of an imaginary non-believer.

The secular character serves as wish-fulfillment for some of our over-sheltered evangelical desires. He/she is convinced by soft-soap clichés, such as “just take a leap of faith.” Or the secular character hears a good-cop-Christian assurance like, “Yes, God really loves you,” and are led to sentimental tears, rather than confusion or eye-rolls. Such secular characters act as if they somehow already understood the Law, which would mean Grace comes as a relief to them. But of course, in such stories, the Law doesn’t even make a cameo.

In 2021 my wife began experiencing Church trauma & hurt at the church she worked on staff for 15 years- I became angry, bitter, & dangerously close to walking a road to deconstruction in 21 early 22. Seeing her hurt, my discernment was lacking & the philosophy felt attractive.

Deconstruction preys on the vulnerable, hurt, and promises much but lacks fulfillment. Deconstruction doesn’t develop your faith, it destroys it, and much like John 10:10 says it will “Steal, kill, and destroy…”

2 Peter 1:3 informs us of what we need. We need Christ Himself. My wife & I kept everything off social media during that time, only speaking to close friends who loved and provided the prayer & council we needed.

If you are struggling, hurting, or find yourself facing bitterness from trauma know that I understand. Deconstruction is not the answer. This is a highly recommended episode.

“We come to it at last: the great battle of our time.” What might be the fastest-growing religion in the world? Based on personal experience, some would say atheism, Islam, or bad versions of Christianity. Yet the world’s fastest-growing religion may be one we call Sexualityism. This refers to strong belief in one’s own sexual identity often leading to false worship. One guest who’s experienced with these beliefs, and taken some heat for this, joins us to enjoin this foe. How might this belief threaten not just biblical Christianity, but even some fantastical stories made by Christian creators?