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It’s a tradition. I recount the top ten articles on blog at the end of each year. I suppose it’s only fitting to look at the mile markers over the part year, as I have been wont to review the mile markers of my lifelong journey over the years.

Over recent years, the readership of this blog has increased from 10,000 in 2019, to 20,000 in 2020, to 30,000 from 2021 through 2023, 20 61,000+ in 2024, and 112,000+ in 2025. The data demonstrates a shift in readership. according to Chat GPT, from more of a community minded, WordPress driven blog to a blog that ranks on Google and attracts a wider audience.

I have done nothing intentionally to trigger that change in readership. I suspect the change may have something to do one article that has become the most read article on the blog: Who Were the Sons of Issachar? And What Might They Mean for Us Today? It has been read over 34,400 times since I published it in September 2020, and over one third of those views (12,203) came in 2025.

The article is the result of my own angst over American Christian support of Donald Trump. It was written at the height of the 2020 presidential campaign after a conversation with my best friend from college in which I learned of his support of Trump. We both years together in a charismatic church that grew out of the Jesus People movement in the Northeast and morphed into the New Apostolic Reformation movement that melded the charismatic movement with the fundamentalist, Moral Majority.

These forces brought politics into church culture and fueled Christian political activism as a primary focus of the local, regional, and national church mission. We both left that church to go to law school, and our paths diverged.

Paul and I could pick up as if we last saw each other only a week ago, though years had gone by. Yet, our paths had taken us to very different places in our spiritual journeys. I had moved on.

From my new vantage point, Donald Trump appeared to me like a wolf in sheep’s clothing; while my good friend had embraced the prophetic excitement that fueled the support of a certain segment of the faith community for Trump. While Paul celebrated Trump like a modern incarnation of King Cyrus ordained by God to establish God’s people in the United States like a new promised land; I was convinced that Trump is like Saul, the king God’s people wanted because they rejected God as their king.

Though I was confident in my own assessment, I was deeply troubled by my good friend’s support and the prophetic fervor that fueled it. I spent many hours listening to those prophetic voices. Those voices took me into a world of faith and politics with gnostic, conspiratorial, arcane, militaristic, and occultic undertones.

The sons of Issachar “who knew the times” was a catch phrase spoken like a secret handshake among purveyors of prophetic understanding. I took my growing angst to the Bible to familiarize myself with the story of David living in exile from the paranoid King Saul where many members of the various tribes of Israel joined him, including the sons of Issachar, who knew the times.

I used writing to resolve my angst as I meditated on Scripture and sought clarity in prayer and meditation. The Sons of Issachar piece was my way of working through that angst. I was able to put a bow on my efforts with the Postscript to the Sons of Issachar Who Understood the Times, published a few days after the 2020 presidential election.

Thank you for indulging me as I recall the backstory to the most well-read article of this blog, which may also be the reason the blog ranks now on Google. Whether it is the reason (or not), it underscores how this blog characterizes my own journey and grows organically out of it. Following are the next most-read articles in 2025.

With 7,519 views, which is more views than all the articles viewed on the blog in any year from 2012 through 2017, is The Redemption of Korah: the Sons of Korah. This article was also written in 2020, the year of COVID, which was a particularly fruitful year. It pulls on one of the more subtle threads of the larger redemption narrative that runs throughout the beautiful tapestry of the Bible,

The third most popular article in 2025 was The Critical Difference between the Gifts of the Holy Spirit and the Fruit of the Holy Spirit (2023), with a robust 3,952 views. It grows out of the same vein as the Sons of Issachar, emphasizing the greater importance of the fruits of the Holy Spirit than the gifts of the Holy Spirit in God’s economy. The fruits of the Holy Spirit are much more indicative of the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the people of God than the gifts because they reflect the character and heart of God.

God Meets us Where We Are was also written during the year of COVID in 2020 and is the 4th most popular article in 2025 with 3,931 views. It explores the line between searching and God drawing us reminiscent of the paradox between free will and predestination. My hope is that it brings some clarity without resolving completely the mystery that remains in our relationship with God, our Creator.

CS Lewis on the “True Myth” (2018) weighs in as number 5 on the list of the most read articles on the blog 2025 (with 3,043 views). It reflects my love of Lewis and his continued influence on my own faith and thought. He was and continues to be unique and uniquely influential in the world of Christian faith and thought.

The article, Is Merely Believing in Jesus Enough? (2024) (2,304 views), reflects my developing sense of the need to move beyond proclamations of faith to walking them out as God works within me to will and to act according to his purposes. “The proof is in the pudding” as the saying goes.

Apologetics: What It Means for Our Speech to Be Seasoned with Salt (2021) (2,303 views), is written in a similar vein. What we say may not be nearly as important as the grace with which we say it and the action by which we demonstrate the reality and character of God. Merely thinking and saying the “right things” about God means little if the reality of God is not evident in our speech and the way we conduct ourselves.

Proof of that point may be evident in the stories of Mark Driscoll and Dustin Kensrue, whose intersecting lives are explored in Diving for Pearls in the Stories of Dustin Kensrue and Mark Driscoll (2024)(2,117 views). Driscoll was at the helm of shipwreck of the Mars Hill juggernaut, and Kensrue was one of the many people who were left adrift in the wreckage. The article was my way of making some sense of that megachurch, celebrity pastor disaster with grace and extending patience for those who were caught in the undertow.

The Significance of Eve’s Seed in the Plan of God (2024)(1,728) pulls on the thread of another golden strand in the redemption story that is the Bible. This articles explores a sublime way in which the Bible elevates women and embeds meaning that surfaces in the story of Jesus.

The top ten articles in 2025 round out with What Laws Must a Christian Follow? (2022)(1670 views). It’s kind of a trick question, exploring the difference and the transition between the Law of Moses and the “law of love” that characterizes the new (old) covenant that “replaces” old (new) covenant. I suppose you will have to read to see what I mean.

Though I have competed highlighting the top ten articles in 2025, I want to mention the next two articles in the order of most views because I think they deserve some honorable mention. St. Augustine on the Literal Meaning of Genesis (2024)(1,585 views) is a provocative title because what Augustine meant by a “literal” reading of the Bible is not what modern people mean, and it opens up the young earth/old earth can of worms in a way that is particularly striking.

When Jesus Said Literally Not to Take Him Literally (2024)(1,419 views) leaves the science behind and focus squarely on Scripture. Much misunderstanding and bad interpretations of the Bible can be blamed on confusion about the importance of reading the Bible “literally”. These last two articles in the list of most ready articles for 2025 reflect a very high view of Scripture that honors the significance and importance of figurative/spiritual meaning in God’s revealed Word to people.

Another article bears mentioning in my mind, not because it is the next most read article in the list, but because of present significance for American Christians. I wrote A New Donald Trump? (1,387 views) in July of 2024 after the assassination attempt that changed the course of the presidential campaign. I wanted to give Donald Trump and my brothers and sisters in Christ who support him the benefit of the doubt. For a moment, he seemed to be a changed man – but only for a moment. Interestingly, the article is surging right now as the 2025 closes out.

In conclusion, 2025 is the second year in which the readership of this blog increased dramatically. Articles written in 2020 and 2024 dominated 2025 in the most read article category. Political and current events topics seem to account for that increase, and particularly the most read article, but the more Bible-based and inspirational articles provide a strong current of readership. I am grateful for that, as I would rather focus on those.

This year also marks only the second time in the blog’s history that an article was submitted from a guest writer. Shout out to Daniel Wolfe for The Mother Mirror: How Susie Wiles Became Donald Trump’s Surrogate Matriarch. It was published December 19th and quickly generated 389 views, including four 5-star reviews, and 30 shares on Facebook.

Thank you for reading! I hope you have a Happy New Year! Leave a comment, and I hope to “see” you in the New Year.