Lorehaven Magazine is an official exhibitor at Teach Them Diligently next month in Wacoo, Texas.

The weekend homeschool conference starts Thursday, April 11. It ends Saturday, April 13, all at Waco Convention Center.

Lorehaven finds truth in fantastic stories. Our free magazine reviews the best Christian-made fantasy, sci-fi, and other speculative novels. New issues release every quarter.

Print magazines are only available at special events, such as the Teach Them Diligently conference. We also plan to have free information and resources for homeschool parents and students.

Lorehaven lists every Christian-made fantastical published novel in our online library. We work with Speculative Faith to explore truth and fantasy for God’s glory. We organize book clubs. Our mission: to serve fans in the Church—anyone who loves and worships Jesus as we explore his gift of fantastical imagination.

Scientists reversed time! Scientists built a time machine! Scientists assembled a real-life Infinity Gauntlet!

All right, I made up that last one. But news writers made up the first two phrases, for at least two news sites.

Here are the actual headlines, in relative order of absolute silliness in proportion to the publication’s seriousness:

• The Sun: Scientists have built world’s first ‘time machine’ in experiment which defies the laws of physics
• The Mirror: Scientists create ‘time machine’ that rivals Doctor Who’s TARDIS
• NY Daily News: Scientists say they reversed time using quantum computer

This is the kind of stuff that keeps me (1) skeptical of clickbait media, (2) skeptical of scientists. Though to be fair, in this case, the scientists may not have ever thought to claim their experiment “rivals Doctor Who’s TARDIS.”

All this is plain clickbait. I’m not some great genius to have determined these were clickbait, before I guffawed and clicked the first headline.

The Sun, third paragraph: “artificially created a state.” Next ‘graph: “rudimentary quantum computer.” Later: “evolution program.”

It’s a computer simulation. That’s all.

Sure, it’s complex. And it’s surely to the tribute of God’s image reflected in these brilliant researchers.

But journalists jumping to “IT’S LIKE THE TARDIS IN DOCTOR WHO” is just plain silly. So I think we can react to it in like fashion. Such as:

I’ll risk this prediction: Within one generation, print fantasy novels¹ will be Christian fiction’s default genre.

As opposed to, say, the modern assumption that “family fiction,” or “inspirational” fare, is Christianity’s default genre.

I’ve written about this a lot, and needn’t rehash all the reasons here. But two more reasons just entered my news feed.

First, why did I specify print fantasy?

Because, as Michael Kozlowski at GoodEReader.com notes, “Our love affair with ebooks is over.”²

Independent bookstores are the places where you drop in for the latest paperback, listen to a reading from a favorite author or find a unique gift for a unique friend. And they’re thriving. According to the American Booksellers Association, its membership grew for the ninth year in a row in 2018, with stores operating in more than 2,400 locations. Not only that, sales at independent bookstores are up 5% over 2017.

Meanwhile, sales for ebooks are completely stagnant. Ebook sales have slipped by 3.6% in 2018 and generated over $1 billion dollars. This is a far cry from 2015 when the format made over $2.84 billion dollars. Meanwhile hardback and paperback book sales grew by 6.2 percent and 2.2 percent, respectively.

In one generation, some enterprising businessperson will get a loan, and church support. She or he will open a new kind of Christian bookstore. Maybe it’ll be a little bit “hipster.” It may be a bit strange. It will have definite (and kinda happily cliche) Lewis/Tolkien references. They’ll probably host Bible studies and serve expensive coffee. And it will take off like a privately financed space rocket.

Would this owner embrace (rather than fear) the inevitable “underground” culture that Christians will no doubt inhabit in one generation? If so, even better. Behold your indie-run Christian speakeasy! Here you can read fantastic stories and debate theology. Maybe you can even poke godly fun at the ruling sexual-revolutionaries.

Second, why did I specify Christian fiction?

I think the Christian label will change definitions, because I think Christian fiction, by Christians, by name, has a great chance of escaping the “it’s bad” and “it’s restricted by rules” assumptions people have long believed about it.

By contrast, if we still believe the notion that only Christian fiction is full of can’t-say-this, can’t-say-that rules, we’re out of date.

In fact, it’s the religious devotees of Progressivism who are putting together legalistic rules. Some of these are so strict and so bad that they may make your (mythical) no-cussing, no-dancing, KJV-Only great-grandpa look like a bar-hopping louse.

We’re seeing this more frequently reported. I last wrote about this after the sad Amelie Wen Zhao situation. More recently, I caught this New York Times column from Jennifer Senior: “Teen Fiction and the Perils of Cancel Culture.” But it’s this newsletter, from YA writer Jesse Singal, that best collects the raw and anonymous examples from the worst of these new religious thought police.

Those writers who reached out from secure positions within YA or other genres were adamant that they not be named, that they sensed a real threat to their careers in the possibility of getting sucked into one of these outrage-vortexes — even by simply criticizing YA Twitter publicly. . . .

This came in from a published YA fantasy author:

I’m sending you this because I believe the community needs to change. It’s destroying itself. What started out as, in my opinion, an important effort to diversify books for children has become embroiled in far too much public grandstanding and private backstabbing. Debut authors — the targets of a majority of the latest call outs — do not have the industry or social clout within the community to push back or, really, to even recover career-wise from cancelling their books. It’s even more difficult when they are marginalized people themselves.

People in the YA community obsess over “receipts.” They keep screenshots of conversations just in case they ever need to publicly destroy someone. Carefully cultivated public personas are common. If secrets are a form of currency, then coming off as a friendly person is intended to get people to open up to you. It is an industry where a lot of people have “allies” instead of “friends” and they are perfectly willing to throw those people under the bus in order to maintain social clout within the community. The people who do value friendships are the quiet ones. We’re not here to grandstand. We’re here to write books.

But what you see on YA Twitter is, really, just what they’re willing to put out in public. The private stuff is very personal and it cuts very deeply. In this industry, you have to be careful who you open up to, because you never know when the details of your life are going to become gossip fodder.

If any Christian fan thinks his/her next favorite story could never come from Christian publishers, and so they should just strike off into the secular fantasy fields—well, I’m afraid they will need to contend with the gruesome foe of Progressivism and/or YA Twitter.

Perhaps it’s not impossible to conquer. Example: a fan or author could start by simply staying off YA Twitter and refusing to play this game.

God bless and Godspeed to the many faithful fans and creatives who are called into the secular-fantasy mission fields.

But, for those so called, why not also try joining the inevitable fantastic reboot of Christian-fiction-by-name?

Christian fiction’s fantasy reboot is slow, but certain.

Where Christian fiction survives, it’s experimenting. Authors are testing waters. So are publishers.

Indie vendors, like the Realm Makers Bookstore, are taking fantastical-genre books directly to new fans.

The stories are improving. They’re going places other stories, including secular YA fantasy, simply can’t go.

Especially if those other stories end up getting stuck in YA Twitter Hell. Or limited to particular authors, who manage to land perfectly at the exact intersectional vertices that are trending that month. Or focused exclusively on whatever sexual weirdness happens to be poking all the “right” hashtags.

If there’s anything fantasy fans should know, it’s that amazing things can happen. Time can bend back on itself. You can find alternate worlds in the weirdest places. Not the expected places.

Based on this, my prediction is crazily simple. I say those future fantastic worlds will best be found in future-Christian bookstores, and future Christian-labeled novels.

And I can’t wait to share these future-generation stories with my grandchildren.

You’ve heard all the fuss over Marvel’s Captain Marvel and feminism. Given all that, I expected at least some ultra-feminist stuff in the actual movie.

Instead, the movie only delivered a few male characters making lewd remarks, which hardly even hurt our hardy heroine.

Plus we got one reference to women being kept out of combat situations.

Plus we got a quick montage of our heroine picking herself up after, say, a go-kart wreck, or a baseball stumble.

If that’s “woke” feminism or progressive propaganda, then this “culture war” should be a cinch.

Quips don’t help us invest in character growth

I must say, the film, stumbles a lot in trying to achieve two contradictory goals.

First, Captain Marvel wants to show us fighter-pilot-turned-alien-commando Carol Danvers, consummate tough girl, offering versions of ’90s-action-movie-tough-hero smirk-‘n-quips.

But second, the movie also wants to show us this story: “Here is a person whose emotions were trained out of her and who must recover this to become truly strong.”

Problem: we have to be told by exposition or other characters about this progression. Unfortunately, Danvers (Brie Larson) never persuasively shows us this progression. At the movie’s start, she’s smirk-‘n-quipping and throwing proton punches. At the movie’s end, she’s still smirk-‘n-quipping, and throwing larger proton punches, while also flying.

The smirk-‘n-quips stay the same no matter what stage of the journey she is. And this may be a result of writing or direction, not Larson herself. She could really take off as a fun character in Avengers: Endgame (the same way Natasha Romanoff took off in The Avengers).

Stop this endless fandom war

Mind you! I enjoyed the movie. It’s a fun rollick. It was similar to the “just for fun and characters” intents of Thor: The Dark World or Ant-Man and the Wasp.¹ Clearly its makers didn’t truly mean the film to be a great ode to feminism.

It does not try to show even a surface-level view of a human problem, like Tony Stark’s struggle with PTSD in Iron Man 3.

It also does not attempt to break ground for the genre while still following the general Marvel film tradition, such as Captain America: The Winter Soldiers or Avengers: Infinity War.

But if the film didn’t even give us this much–why for have we been having all this fandom fighting?

At Speculative Faith last week, I tried to explore why fans turn against their favorite franchises. This article was inspired by the Captain Marvel debacle. But honestly, the backlash against Captain Marvel makes little sense. By contrast, the backlash against Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi makes more sense. Unlike that film, Captain Marvel brings back fan-favorite characters and doesn’t mock them.² It’s not trying to “subvert” fans’ expectations.

What about actress Brie Larson’s comments that seemed to demean men?

Well, I can understand any fan feeling put off, after any actor goes out in front of her/his movie and says something like, “This story isn’t meant for you.” It’s hard to feel welcomed after that.³

At the same time, it seems clear that Larson, or someone, felt the movie needed some kind of Big Social Meaning. But now this can be shown as the remedial measure that it was. Why? Because the movie, frankly, didn’t share this Big Social Meaning on its own. Instead, this Big Social Meaning had to be provided from outside.

That should invite Marvel fans’ sympathy and perspective–not our automatic mockery and boycottery.

It’s just a movie. And that’s okay.

Discerning viewers can enjoy this for what this is.

But let’s not set up Captain Marvel to be something its makers clearly never (seriously, anyway) meant for it to be.

Continuing from Friday, here come more photos from our fantastic weekend at Realm Makers Bookstore in Fort Worth!

We hosted the bookstore March 7 through 9 at Great Homeschool Convention.

Gillian Bronte Adams (The SongKeeper Chronicles series) signs another copy of Orphan’s Song for a fan. We wrote: “A classic medieval fantasy setting populated with archetypes that somehow feel fresh and vigorous.” (Get the full review exclusively from Lorehaven.)

I met an old acquaintance from NarniaWeb.com: Joshua Casey, otherwise known as “PeterPevensie”!

“Studies show that having a WEIRD MOM builds character.”

At our booth neighbor, Rabbit Room, I met novelist Jonathan Rogers (The Charlatan’s Boy, The WilderKing Trilogy). Rogers has written two articles (this one, and this one) for Speculative Faith.

I met novelist N. D. Wilson! He’s written young-adult fantasy such as the 100 Cupboards series and Outlaws of Time. He also writes doctrine-beauty nonfiction titles like Notes from the Tilt-a-Whirl. Later, he stopped by the Realm Makers booth to explore our many similar fantastical titles.

Rebecca P. Minor sketches some kawaii unicorns . . .

Many fans picked up Orphan’s Song and the rest of The SongKeeper Chronicles series from author Gillian Bronte Adams.

Gillian Bronte Adams chats with one of our Realm Makers Bookstore visitors.

From left: fantasy novelists Claire Banschbach (The Rise of Aredor series, The Faeries of Myrnius series), Mollie E. Reeder (The Electrical Menagerie), and Gillilan Bronte Adams (The SongKeeper Chronicles series).

Our Lorehaven Magazine reviewer enjoyed Mollie E. Reeder’s novel The Electrical Menagerie. We wrote: “. . . Magicians’ rivalries are backlit by murder, and the characters, scenery, and action are so well-drawn that the experience of reading this novel feels more like watching a movie.” (Get the full review exclusively from Lorehaven with a free subscription.)

Our two pioneering Realm Makers themselves: Rebecca P. Minor and Scott Minor.

This little girl loved the two figurines (Martin Luther and a Christian soldier) featured in the Lorehaven Magazine area.

Later this month, Realm Makers Bookstore heads to Greenville, South Carolina, from March 21 to 23. The bookstore then visits Nashville from March 28 to 30. Next month, the bookstore will feature at Great Homeschool Convention’s event in Cincinnati.

If you’re in the area, head for the Duke Energy Convention Center! The conference runs from Thursday, April 25 through Saturday, April 27.

Or, you can order books any time from the website. They list Christian-made fantasy and sci-fi titles from more than sixty Christian authors—including many we’ve positively reviewed in Lorehaven Magazine.

Today and Saturday, I’m helping to share fantastic, Christian-created fantasy, sci-fi, and other novels at Realm Makers Bookstore.

We’re live at Great Homeschool Convention in downtown Fort Worth, Texas.

I’m sharing photos on Instagram and on my Facebook profile.

Stop by and find an amazing novel—and learn more about Lorehaven Magazine’s mission to help Christians find truth in fantastic stories.

Setting up for day 2.

I stopped by another booth to say hello to Dr. Jay Wile, who has spent decades writing great science textbooks for homeschool students.

Every Lorehaven issue is available online to (free) subscribers, but we also make print copies available at events.

Today I’m headed to Great Homeschool Convention in Fort Worth, Texas!

Through Saturday, March 9, I’ll aid the cause of Realm Makers Bookstore. These fine folks help share Christian-made fantastic novels with new readers nationwide.

At the Realm Makers booth, we’ll offer copies of Lorehaven Magazine. (I publish Lorehaven, which debuted last year.) Here’s another excerpt from our fall 2018 issue. In this Roundtable feature, several fantasy fans and I explore a favorite topic: the beauties and risks of made-up magic in fantastical novels.

First we began with a working definition of fictional magic:

“Fictional magic is defined as a work of fiction that includes supernatural or miraculous events, or practices, that are not common to our real world. These events or practices can have different origins—such as power from a divine source, specially gifted humans, or a series of different natural laws that humans (or human-like characters) can use for different purposes.”

1. How have you, as a fan, viewed fictional magic?

I can’t remember a time of ever being tempted to sin because of fictional magic.

—Marian Jacobs

Marian Jacobs: I have always viewed and engaged with magic as merely fictional and fun. I can’t remember a time of ever being tempted to sin because of fictional magic. That said, my views have changed after I’ve met more fantasy fans who have found this tempting. Although I still think censorship of magic in literature, games, etc., is a poor solution to a heart problem, I’m a little less baffled by parents who remove all fictional magic from their home.

Robert Treskillard: As a reader and as a fan, I work hard to think of non-occultic magic in terms of an ancient way of trying to understand things that were beyond their time. As such, I try to not worry any more about it than I might new technology in a sci-fi novel. This allows me to read more broadly than I write because as an author I have my own detailed approach and opinions on the subject.

Does [a TV show or movie with magic] show the triumph of good over evil? Does it show the hero wielding magic with “honor”?

—Ronie Kendig

Ronie Kendig: My mother, wanting to honor God in all she did and the children she raised, didn’t allow us to see movies like ET or Star Wars. And I have no grudge against her for that because she sought to honor God in every aspect of her life. Now, my approach to magic systems that I read and create is that as long as I am not going against God’s word, then I am okay. For TV or movies with magic systems, I look at the source of that magic and its purpose. Does it show the triumph of good over evil? Does it show the hero wielding magic with “honor”?

Growing up, my parents made sure we didn’t do occultic things such as playing tarot cards or calling Dionne Warwick.

—Parker J. Cole

Parker J. Cole: I really didn’t start to have an opinion of magic in anyway until I got into various Christian circles. Growing up, my parents made sure we didn’t do occultic things such as playing tarot cards or calling Dionne Warwick. I knew as I watched TV and movies, I could never do the magic like in the most fabulous movie Willow. I knew I couldn’t fly on brooms or sprinkle fairy dust like Tinkerbell. Why? Because my parents told me Santa Claus wasn’t real, that we went to the Lord for any request, and that there was no such thing as magic. That’s why, when I read stories of magic, I was able to divorce any sort of reality from it.

2. How do you respond to your parents’ views of fictional magic?

Christian fans absolutely need to respond in [a] mature way . . . to the parents or other authority figures in their lives who have forbidden things from them.

—E. Stephen Burnett

ESB: Many of our readers may empathize with the memory of being taught, from childhood, that such things are either suspicious or downright evil. Ronie and Parker, you’ve both shared a very mature response to this, even if you’ve grown in your own grown-up-level approach to fictional magic. I suggest many Christian fans absolutely need to respond in this mature way, as you both have, to the parents or other authority figures in their lives who have forbidden things from them.

If we can accept that fictional magic is messy—and not all helpful or harmful—then we ought to say the same thing of parents of spiritual authority figures.

Parker: You have to come into your own relationship with Christ. My parents were just honest about it. I respect what they did teach us because it gave me a foundation in how to respond. Sure, my response has changed over the years because I’ve heard different things and can lean toward certain aspects with a bit of freedom than I could as a kid. But mom and pops were just doing the best they could with what they knew. Most parents do.

Marian: Growing up, my parents didn’t intentionally teach critical thinking about magic. I was pretty much allowed to watch anything I wanted on TV. But I was still able to glean that there is a difference between fictional magic and magic in the Bible from simple comments about Ouija boards being evil. That was enough for me to steer clear, since I wasn’t tempted by power.

My husband’s parents did censor magic in their home, and I would never say their reasons are “dumb.” They simply think it’s confusing for children and teaches them that evil magic is “fun.” I can respectfully and empathetically disagree with them.

Ronie: Crowd mentality is powerful, so I am glad for the example my mother set to measure what she did and didn’t do against the word of God. My approach to reading and watching is this: I look at the magic’s source, I look at its use in the story, and the motivations of the characters in using that system.

I only have respect for all the other parents out there even if they made different decisions than my wife and I did.

—Robert Treskillard

Robert: We really are all coming from different backgrounds. I grew up very ignorant of Christianity with about every other religion represented somewhere in my extended family. I also came from a divorced home and had little guidance on anything growing up because my mom worked and went to school. Needless to say I got into a lot of trouble and didn’t come to faith until I was fifteen. Yet here I am a now empty-nesting homeschool father who had to flip and figure out how to parent my kids in this confusing world. I only have respect for all the other parents out there even if they made different decisions than my wife and I did. We’re all just muddling through doing our best. We used to unconsciously think that if we followed the right “formula,” our kids would turn out well, but we’ve learned that there is no formula. God has us all on a bit of a wild ride and we just need to hold onto him, like Lucy holding onto Aslan’s mane.

Read the rest of this Roundtable discussion in Lorehaven Magazine’s fall 2018 issue.

You can also subscribe for free and get access to every issue. That will include the March 2019 issue out later this month.

Lorehaven serves Christian fans by finding biblical truth in fantastic stories. Book clubs, free webzines, and a web-based community offer flash reviews, articles, and news about Christian fantasy, science fiction, and other fantastical genres.

This Thursday, I’ll head to Fort Worth, Texas, to aid the cause of Realm Makers Bookstore at Great Homeschool Convention.

Meanwhile, here’s an excerpt from Lorehaven Magazine‘s summer 2018 issue.¹ It’s from our fascinating Roundtable discussion about story language—vulgarities, cussin’, and anything in between.

What are the best arguments against story language?

E. Stephen Burnett:

For example, some Christians seem to assume that if you read (or hear) a bad word in fiction, then you will inevitably tend to use this word, in a sinful way, in real life.

I’ll confess: there is some truth to this, at least for me. Looking back, I kept my own language fairly “clean”—until about the time I started watching comedy YouTube videos starring intentionally foul-mouthed hosts. The difference is this: They’re using these words to be funny (whether this is acceptable is another issue). But I tend to use these words when I’m angry (which is a sin!).

Laura VanArendonk Baugh:

“Sometimes the adrenaline high and self-congratulation of moral outrage can replace actual discernment.”
— Laura VanArendonk Baugh

Obviously if something is affecting you, you take steps. If I watch a lot of film noir and I find myself wanting to smoke, I need to come up with an alternate behavior for myself. If I play a lot of Assassin’s Creed and I start feeling myself tempted to parkour over a railing and down an atrium, I need to resist. (I resisted.) If I watch or read a lot of language and start using it in a way that’s offensive to others and/or myself, I need to examine that and make a call.

Morgan Busse:

“It’s about each person knowing their limits and placing those before God.”
— Morgan L. Busse

Some Christians are truly concerned about certain language used in fiction. Either they have not thought through their convictions and know where their own line is, or as Laura pointed out, they have double standards (which need to be addressed). However, there are times when the language serves no purpose in the story. And let’s be honest, there is an assumption out there concerning Christian fiction that there won’t be any bad language, or if there is, there is a really good reason.

Steve Rzasa:

“Blasphemies and misuses of God’s name irk me more than ‘regular’ swear words.”
— Steve Rzasa

Christian publishers can rightly make the case that, if they’ve built a business on books that don’t contain profanity, they shouldn’t put it in. They’re more likely to drive off some readers for those same reasons we’ve articulated, whether or not we agree with those reasons.

I don’t think adding profanity to a explicitly Christian line-up will attract new readers. Different stories will do a better job at that than the language used in those stories.

Mike Duran:

There is no disputing that reading and/or hearing profanity can negatively seed our imagination. Listening to people cuss tempts us to cuss. Bottom line. Full-stop.

“Separation from the world is a spiritual state, not a literal checklist.”
— Mike Duran

Here’s the problem, as I see it: Any contact with a fallen world can tempt us to sin. Living around people with unhealthy lifestyles, values, and habits can influence us to mimic those things. However, as Christians, we can’t isolate ourselves from sinners because they might tempt us to sin. In other words, it’s wiser for us to cultivate discipline in resisting evil than it is closing our eyes and ears to every possible form of evil we encounter.

Separation from the world is a spiritual state, not a literal checklist.

Read the rest of this Roundtable discussion in Lorehaven Magazine’s summer 2018 issue (PDF download).

You can also subscribe for free and get access to every issue. That will include the March 2019 issue out later this month.

Lorehaven serves Christian fans by finding biblical truth in fantastic stories. Book clubs, free webzines, and a web-based community offer flash reviews, articles, and news about Christian fantasy, science fiction, and other fantastical genres.

While I’m preparing for Fort Worth’s Great Homeschool Convention, enjoy this excerpt from the spring 2018 issue of Lorehaven Magazine.

3. What is the most challenging objection to story violence you’ve heard?

Andrew Winch: “You’re gonna make somebody stumble” (Rom. 14, 1 Cor. 8–10). Stories are very tricky. Because whose hands are they going into?

“You ought to read a story you’ve researched and are sure you’re ready to read.”
— Andrew Winch

But you ought to read a story you’ve researched and are sure you’re ready to read. You don’t just pick up a book and start reading. Same thing with a movie. Someone will look at a movie and say, “This probably isn’t something that’s good for my heart. I shouldn’t watch this.” They shouldn’t just say, “Oh, this got great reviews, I’m going to watch this.” They’re being irresponsible as a consumer and as a creator. In that respect, I think the burden falls on the person consuming more than the person creating.

Travis Perry: I’m going to disagree with you a little bit. I think authors should ask: what will somebody think you approve of, by what you portray?

Similarly, I feel responsible as a soldier, because people think I know what war is like, and I think I do know what war is like. And I think that I am therefore obliged to portray it in a certain way, and I can’t just portray it in a way that I think is fun.

That’s not so much really the classic stumbling-block objection. But I don’t want people to think that I approve of something that I don’t. That, I think, is an important factor.

E. Stephen Burnett: The apostle Paul says, “Do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil” (Rom. 14:16). That’s a good principle to keep in mind.

“If you make life too antiseptic, you discredit how difficult it is to be faithful.”
— Carla Cook Hoch

Carla Cook Hoch: The objection I’ve gotten is, “Well what does light have to do with darkness?”

Here’s the thing: if you make life too antiseptic, you discredit how difficult it is to be faithful. You do a disservice to everyone who works very hard every day to be the person that God wants you to be, and let the Holy Spirit work in their life.

Read all of Lorehaven Magazine’s spring 2018 issue free online, or download the PDF!

You can also subscribe and get access to every issue for free.

Lorehaven serves Christian fans by finding biblical truth in fantastic stories. Book clubs, free webzines, and a web-based community offer flash reviews, articles, and news about Christian fantasy, science fiction, and other fantastical genres.

Have you ever paused just to look around and wonder if the universe has entered an alternate timeline?

As if someone, perhaps Barry Allen or The Doctor, has gone back to make too many changes?

Consider these bizarre 2019 events:

• Politics are beyond insane (no matter your viewpoint).
• Legitimately crazy people (from all parties) are seeking elected office.
• This includes leaders publicly endorsing or ignoring legal infanticide–a longtime old evangelical doom forecast.
• We have handheld devices that are more powerful than university computers a generation ago.
• If people wanted to, we could travel to the moon or Mars, any time, but they don’t want to.
• Serious and decent people now believe there are more than two genders.
• But every single story of any mainstream popularity keeps presuming otherwise.
• Against all odds, orthodox, biblical Christian churches have survived and thrived.
• Most recently, this includes the United Methodist denomination.
• Which is staying biblical about the sexual revolution (whose nonsense would have blown the minds of anyone a generation ago).
• Which is also staying biblical not because of American leaders but faithful African leaders.
• Meaning the United States is being occasionally called back from apostasy by faithful non-U.S. church members.
• Meanwhile, fringe folks are celebrating the actual, bold, sexualization of children–another dark prediction by evangelicals, come to life. It won’t stay fringe for long. This will make some nasty messes to clean up in a decade or two.
• On the popular cultural front, Star Wars movies are being made again–at one point, one new film a year.
• But fans revolted, with reactions arguably more negative than the old prequel backlash.
• A film version based on Aquaman became DC’s most top-earning movie ever so far.
• Marvel is about to finish(?) a shared-universe film series that broke ground and outpaced anyone else who tried it.

On a more personal side:

• Christian-made fantasy, sci-fi, and other fantastical stories are finally taking off.
• I’ve finished two months of writing blog articles every weekday.
• This week: I’m backing off slightly, because …
• I’m heading to Fort Worth this Tuesday for Great Homeschool Convention, and the Realm Makers Bookstore.
• Weeks later, I’m blessed to release the fifth issue, for spring 2019, of Lorehaven Magazine.
• Weeks later, Lorehaven heads to Waco, Texas, for its own booth at the Teach Them Diligently conference!

To be sure, I could do with more of that timeline and less of the sex-and-heresy nonsense.

But if the world’s going to get this bizarre, we’ll surely need stranger stories. Especially stories that explore holiness, humanity, wonder, and magic in light of the gospel’s epic truth.