US Strikes Iran, Asbury Loses UMC Approval — Sat June 27, 2026

This is The Gospel Briefing. I'm Charles King. Today... American missiles fall on Iran. A seminary loses its denominational standing over what marriage is. And a former cabinet secretary opens his front door to find police asking about his children. Headlines... Heartbeat... Hope. Let's get into it. [TRANSITION] A week ago, the United States and Iran reached what diplomats called an interim understanding. A fragile thing. A pause in a region that doesn't pause for long. On Thursday, a drone struck a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz. On Friday, American forces struck back. Targets inside Iran. The Pentagon says the strikes were limited and proportional. Tehran is calling them an act of war. And the understanding that took months to build... is now hanging by a thread. Here's what I keep coming back to. Strait of Hormuz. Ships and drones and retaliation. If you've been reading your Bible for any length of time, the geography alone should make you pause. This is the world Daniel walked through. The same Persian plateau. The same trade routes. The same human pattern of empires posturing and then striking. Proverbs 21:1 says... "The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord. He turns it wherever He will." That verse is not a promise that every leader will choose wisely. It's a promise that no leader, in Washington or Tehran, is operating outside the sovereign hand of God. That doesn't make war less terrible. It makes panic less appropriate. Pray for restraint. Pray for the sailors and soldiers and civilians who never asked to be on the front page. And pray for leaders whose hearts, whether they know it or not, are streams of water in a hand far stronger than their own. [TRANSITION] Story two takes us to a quieter place. A theological school in Wilmore, Kentucky. Asbury Theological Seminary has been removed from the United Methodist Church's list of approved schools for ordination candidates. The decision came down Thursday from the denomination's University Senate. Asbury says the reason is plain. The seminary holds to the historic Christian view of marriage. One man. One woman. The United Methodist Church, after its recent split, has moved in a different direction. And so a school that has trained Methodist pastors for more than a hundred years is now, officially, on the outside. This is the same Asbury, by the way, where students gathered for that prolonged time of worship and confession back in 2023 that drew tens of thousands of visitors. Now... Christians can disagree about denominational politics. About strategy. About whether institutional separation is wisdom or wound. But Scripture is not unclear about what marriage is. Jesus Himself, in Matthew 19, reaches back to Genesis. "Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female... and the two shall become one flesh." When Jesus answers a question about marriage, He doesn't poll the culture. He quotes the first two chapters of the Bible. And here's the thing about holding a position the broader culture has decided to abandon. It will cost you. A mailing list. A partnership. A seat at the table. Second Timothy 3:12 says, "All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." Paul didn't say might be. He said will be. Sometimes that persecution is dramatic. And sometimes it's just a letter from a committee saying you're no longer approved. [TRANSITION] Story three. Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg shared this week that he, his husband, and their young children were the subject of a Child Protective Services investigation and a police visit. The reason? An anonymous tip. A tip that was, by every account, completely false. Buttigieg, who is widely seen as a possible candidate for president in 2028, spoke publicly about how unsettling it was. Strangers at the door. Questions about his kids. All triggered by someone who, for whatever reason, decided to weaponize a child welfare system meant to protect actual children. Set aside what you think of his politics for a moment. Set it all the way aside. Because this story is about something older and uglier than any campaign. Proverbs 6:16 lists seven things the Lord hates. Right in the middle of that list... "a lying tongue" and "a false witness who breathes out lies." False reports against a neighbor are not a modern problem. They are an ancient sin. The ninth commandment exists because human beings have always found ways to use the truth as a weapon against people they dislike. Christians, of all people, should refuse this. We should refuse to make anonymous accusations. We should refuse to amplify them. And when systems designed to protect the vulnerable get hijacked to harass political opponents... we should say plainly that this is wrong. No matter who the target is. [TRANSITION] Now your quick briefs. Five million Americans have dropped their Affordable Care Act health insurance this year after premium prices spiked. The administration blames fraud. Policy experts blame cost. Either way, real families are now uninsured. Proverbs 14:31 reminds us that how a society treats the poor reflects how it regards their Maker. In Louisiana today, voters head to the polls in a Republican Senate runoff that's being watched as a test of the President's endorsement power. Representative Julia Letlow against state Treasurer John Fleming. Whatever the outcome, remember... no election determines whether God is on the throne. The death toll from twin earthquakes in Venezuela has climbed to nearly one thousand. Venezuelans living in neighboring Colombia are scrambling to send aid as the government response on the ground stalls. If you're looking for a way to help, reputable Christian relief organizations are already on the scene. And one for the soul. America's two hundred and fiftieth birthday is bringing big crowds to Revolutionary War reenactments. The men who portray George Washington say they're being asked, more than ever, what Washington would think of our current divisions. Whatever your view of the founders, there's something clarifying about a generation that knew governments rise and fall... and built their hope on something more permanent. [TRANSITION] When something in your Bible reading doesn't make sense, where do you go? A search engine guesses. Generic AI makes things up. Bible Copilot is a Bible study app that answers your questions from Scripture itself. Open any passage, ask anything, the context, the original Hebrew or Greek, what the verse actually means, and it walks you through the answer, grounded in two thousand years of orthodox Christian teaching. Fifteen questions a day, free. Search Bible Copilot in the App Store. Your verse of the day comes from Psalm 46, verses one and two. "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea." Strikes in the Strait of Hormuz. Earthquakes in Venezuela. Institutions shifting under our feet. The psalmist already saw it. And he already answered it. The ground may move. Our refuge does not. Thanks for listening to The Gospel Briefing. If today's episode helped you think more clearly, send it to one person who needs the same. The headlines are heavy this weekend. The hope is heavier. I'll see you Monday.