Evangelism

Feb 05 2026

Tim Allen Finishes Reading Bible: ‘I’m Humbled, Enlightened and Amazed’

Tim Allen has finished reading the entire Bible, concluding a 13-month journey the conservative actor and comedian says left him “humbled, enlightened and amazed.”

“Finished the entire Bible. It’s been a 13-month word-by-word page-by-page no skimming journey,” Allen wrote in a Feb. 4 post on X. “Humbled, enlightened and amazed at what I read and what I learned.”

“I will rest and meditate on so much,” he added. “I will begin it again.”

Finished the entire Bible it’s been a 13 month word by word page by page no skimming journey. Humbled, enlightened and amazed at what I read and what I learned. I will rest and meditate on so much. I will begin it again.
— Tim Allen (@ofctimallen) February 5, 2026

Allen, known for his roles as Tim “The Toolman” Taylor in Home Improvement, Mike Baxter in Last Man Standing and Buzz Lightyear in the Toy Story film series, announced in August 2024 he had begun reading Scripture.

“Never took the time in all my years to ever read and really read the Bible,” Allen shared, adding, “Currently almost through the Jerusalem Bible Old Testament and almost done with the Prophets. … So far amazing and not at all what I was expecting.”

Since then, Allen has posted periodic updates on his journey through the Bible.

“Finished the Old Testament,” the actor said in June 2025, “It is such a gift when I get out of the way and the words and meaning flow.” Allen also shared he had begun reading the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans. “I am amazed in seven pages!” he exclaimed.

In their book From God to Us: How We Got Our Bible, Professors Norman Geisler and William Nix write,

The Bible is a unique book. It is one of the oldest books in the world, and yet it is still the world’s bestseller. It is a product of the ancient Eastern world, but it has molded the modern Western world.

Tyrants have burned the Bible, and believers revere it. It is the most quoted, the most published, the most translated, and the most influential book in the history of humankind.

Additionally, Geisler and Nix explain how Scripture is inspired by God (Greek: theopneustos), a teaching which appears in 2. Tim. 3:16, where the Apostle Paul writes, “All Scripture is breathed out by God (theopneustos) and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (ESV, emphasis added).

Geisler and Nix explain that Scripture being “God-breathed” encompasses:

Divine Causality. God is the main author of the Bible. He is the ultimate source and original cause of biblical truth. God revealed His Word to the prophets, and spokespersons of God recorded the truths God revealed.
Prophetic Agency. The prophets who wrote Scripture were not automatons. They used their own literary styles and vocabularies. The Bible which they wrote is the Word of God, but it is given and expressed through the word of humans. God used their personalities to convey His propositions.
Written Authority. The final product of divine authority working through prophetic agency is the written authority of the Bible.

As Christians, when we read Scripture, we are not simply reading a book written and compiled by human beings. Rather, we are reading God’s Word to us, which teaches and informs us in how we should live.

Furthermore, all of Scripture points us to Jesus Christ, who is the very Word of God who has been revealed to us. In John 1:1-5, we read,

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it (ESV).

We congratulate Tim Allen in reading all of Scripture for the very first time. Please join us in praying God would continue to speak to him as He draws all men to Himself (John 12:32).

If you want to learn more about why you can trust the Bible is true, sign up for this FREE six-part series with J. Warner Wallace, renowned speaker and author of Cold Case Christianity and Person of Interest. Each of these six powerful videos is tailored to fit into your hectic schedule and equip you with the overwhelming evidence pointing to the reliability and truth of Scripture.

If you want to better understand the Bible and be part of God’s redemptive mission, check out RVL Discipleship: The Study.

To speak with a family help specialist or request resources, please call us at 1-800-A-FAMILY (232-6459).

Related articles and resources:

Bring Your Bible Day

How Do We Know The Bible Is True?

Is the Bible True? 5 Reasons Why The Answer is Yes

Where to Start Reading The Bible

How to Read the Bible – as a Family

Investigating the Eyewitness Accounts of Jesus Christ

The Proof You Need to Believe in Jesus Christ

Tim Allen Studying the Apostle Paul’s Teachings Amid Spiritual Journey

Photo from Getty Images.

Feb 02 2026

Kathryn Burgum on Recovering from Addiction: ‘If not for the grace of God, I would not be alive today.’

Kathryn Burgum, the White House’s new Senior Advisor for Addiction Recovery, credits God for her sobriety.

“If not for the grace of God, I would not be alive today, over 23 years in recovery [from alcohol addiction],” Burgum, the wife of Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, shared at President Trump’s press conference announcing the Great American Recovery Initiative.

“My message is simple: Never give up hope for recovery.”

The president established the Great American Recovery Initiative with an executive order on January 29. The interdisciplinary group of officials will ensure federal efforts to combat drug and alcohol addiction effectively serve three goals:

Preventing addiction
Prioritizing treatment
Celebrating recovery

The Trump administration tapped Burgum to lead the initiative alongside Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is also in long-term recovery from substance addiction.

In her Oval Office address, Burgum emphasized the importance of honesty, vulnerability and empathy in encouraging others to seek treatment for addiction. But human intervention alone did not change her life.

Burgum’s disordered relationship with alcohol began in high school. After 20 years of attempting and failing to remain sober, she “reached a point where [she] truly did not believe there was one reason for [her] to keep living.”

She recalled the day she cried out to God:

I was out walking alone. I didn’t have faith. I wasn’t religious, but something in me said I should ask for help. And, out loud — to no one, because it was just me — I said, “I don’t know if anyone is there, but I need help.” And that was the day I became sober.

Burgum’s interaction with God parallels the story of Hagar — Abram’s concubine and the mother of Ishmael.

Hagar departed from Abram’s (later Abraham) camp twice in Genesis. Both times, she found herself distressed, homeless and vulnerable in the harsh wilderness. Both times, God saw her, addressed her by name and guided her to safety.

For this reason, in Genesis 16:13 (ESV), Hagar calls God “a God of seeing.”

“Truly here I have seen Him who looks after me,” she says.

Like Hagar, God saw and rescued Burgum in her most hopeless moment.

No one escapes God’s watchful eye, but those who accept Jesus Christ as their savior receive the Holy Spirit. Believers will experience earthy suffering (John 16:33), but the Holy Spirit — God’s indwelling presence — ensures we are never separated from His presence, power and comfort.

Though God offered Burgum miraculous help in her time of need, her story also illustrates the slow, healing work God accomplishes over time. He didn’t just enable Burgum to stay sober — He laid the groundwork for her long-term recovery. He connected her with co-workers who showed her unexpected empathy when she sought treatment. Later, He put her in a position to join a supportive community of other people in recovery.

Burgum says both help her maintain her sobriety.

Burgum’s emphasis on vulnerability as a prerequisite to recovery is consistent with the Bible’s teaching on sin.

Sin thrives in darkness and isolation. When Adam and Eve committed the first sin against God, they hid from His presence. God, the antithesis of sin, exposes evil by shining light on it

Luke 8:17 promises, “For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light.”

The sacrifice of Jesus Christ means believers need not fear judgement when their sin comes to light. Instead, they can seek forgiveness. James 5:15-16 encourages believers to confess sins to one another that they might be healed.

The Daily Citizen thanks Special Advisor Kathryn Burgum for sharing such a poignant example of the healing God can accomplish in and through our lives.

Additional Articles and Resources

Counseling Services

Request A Consult

Help With Substance Abuse and Addiction

Talking With Your Teens About Drugs and Alcohol

President Trump Unveils Plan to Combat Drug and Alcohol Addiction

JD Vance Celebrates Mother’s 10-Year Sobriety at White House: ‘You Made It’

Feb 02 2026

The Gospel Can Still Break Through a Fading and Failing Grammy Awards

Like many similar shows, the Grammy Awards have spiraled in viewership in recent years, declining to near record lows — including Sunday night’s edition from Los Angeles.

Often called “music’s biggest night,” the traditional gathering was originally put together by industry executives in the 1950s. The name “Grammy” stems from the “gramophone” — the antique device that once played records.

The reasons behind the precipitous drop in interest are many, and President Trump weighed in as the event wound down on Sunday night.

“The Grammys are the WORST, virtually unwatchable!” the president wrote on Truth Social.

Most of the material was, to put it charitably, forgettable, but Christian music artist Brandon Lake and country star Jelly Roll are being praised for their willingness to use the platform to witness.

After being awarded the “Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song of the year, which he collaborated with Jelly Roll on for “Hard Fought Hallelujah,” Lake declared:

“Thank you. Oh man. Wow. Thank you, Jesus, I want to thank my wife, who’s holding down the fort back home with all my babies, crazy babies.”

He then added:

“I’ve gotten countless messages of how this song has literally saved people’s lives and pointed them to Jesus. If it wasn’t for Jesus, I don’t know where I would be, y’all. Most important thing I could say is this world is Cray Cray right now, but I was reminded of the scripture this morning, John 16:33: ‘I have told you these things so that in me, you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart, I have overcome the world.’ He’s overcome, so that means we can too through Christ. Love you. Thank you so much.”

Jelly Roll, a.k.a. Jason DeFord, received an award for “Best Contemporary Country Album” for “Beautifully Broken.” He credited his wife with making his success even possible.

“I would never have changed my life without you,” he said to Alisa, a.k.a. ‘Bunnie XO.’ “I’d have ended up dead or in jail. I would have killed myself if it wasn’t for you and Jesus.”

He then explained what was behind the album itself:

“There were days that I thought the darkest things. I was a horrible human. There was a moment in my life that all I had was a Bible this big, and a radio the same size, and a six-by-eight-foot cell. And I believe that those two things could change my life. I believe that music had the power to change my life, and God had the power to change my life,” the country artist shared.

“Jesus is Jesus, and anybody can have a relationship with Him. I love you, Lord.”

It’s a good thing when an otherwise uneven, even vacuous, worldly event can be redeemed and leveraged to introduce or affirm the Gospel of Jesus Christ to audiences unlikely to attend church or encounter eternal truth.

Jan 26 2026

Megan Basham: Simultaneously Battling Culture and Cancer

The Daily Wire’s Megan Basham isn’t one to shy away from a challenge — and she’s currently facing two monumental ones at the same time.

Formerly a reporter for World Magazine, the popular socially conservative Christian commentator is the author of two books: Beside Every Successful Man: Getting the Life You Want by Helping Your Husband Get Ahead (Crown Forum, 2009), and Shepherds for Sale: How Evangelical Leaders Traded the Truth for a Leftist Agenda (HarperCollins, 2024).

Every writer is a product of their personal history, and the Southern Baptist Basham comes at her subjects and topics with the fervor and sincerity of someone who has been on both an ideological and spiritual journey.

Writing for First Things in 2022, Megan shared that it was in college when, not unlike many her age, she threw off the “moral restraints of my Christian upbringing.” She explained:

“I experimented with all manner of substances and licentiousness—even with feminist theory, which almost proved intellectually fatal. I was at work on a term paper excoriating the patriarchal and oppressive Promise Keepers movement when an encounter with the Lancelot-Grail awoke my long-anesthetized conscience.”

Ironically it was in the study and writing of that assignment when the penny dropped for her, where she was convicted by how “careless” she had been with her faith and Christian testimony.

In her role at the Daily Wire, Megan has a lot to say about a lot of things. Following her on X can be an eye-opening reminder of man’s depravity. Culture never stops churning and spinning, and sometimes it can be difficult to keep up. Like we do at the Daily Citizen, Megan Basham wades through all the news so you don’t necessarily have to.

Although she doesn’t quibble with suggestions that she’s a happy warrior in the “culture war” she’s also been wise to define the term. She retweeted last year:

“By ‘culture war’ many really mean: disagreeing with the left on anything publicly.”

But Megan Basham is also embroiled in a war of another kind, and a very personal one at that: cancer.

Originally diagnosed with Stage III colon cancer just after Thanksgiving in 2024, the Daily Wire commentator underwent chemo-radiation therapy. As she was able, she kept working, writing, and posting.

Megan Basham is married and has two children, so she kept on mothering, too: school assignments, dance recitals, church activities.

This past August, she shared the good news that follow-up scans found no evidence of the disease.

But then came another scan late last year of an abnormality in the lung. It was suspicious of cancer. She shared on X:

“My oncologists have encouraged me not to panic, because it’s just the one, we will get it removed, and they are assuring me that all Stage Four is not the same and I can still reach long-term remission, so that’s what we’re praying for!

“Living the life of a Christian doesn’t mean you don’t have hard days or news like this won’t cause you to spend a few days curled up like Elijah … But it does mean that you wrestle through it with the Lord. And you take these disappointments and fears to Him, the great Physician, knowing that He is ultimately the only one who can heal spiritually, emotionally, and physically.”

Over the weekend, Basham tweeted an update that a follow-up test found no tumor DNA circulating in her blood. She writes, “That suggests no additional hiding nasties in there and I’m still on a curative path. Thank you to all of you praying. It means more to my family and I than I could ever express.”

Megan Basham then got back to tweeting and working.

That’s one of the peculiar yet ageless aspects of health and other concerns that threaten to consume us. Whether we get a cancer diagnosis, are praying through a prodigal child who is far from the Lord or caring for an elderly parent — the many challenges of life still go on. We are all simultaneously battling wars on many fronts.

This is why God’s Word provides reams of counsel for “keeping on keeping on” when it comes to the many challenges we all face. Wrote the Apostle Paul, “Therefore we do not lose heart… For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (2 Cor. 4:16-18). James struck a similar chord: “Consider it pure joy… whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance” (James 1:2-4).

Please join us in praying for Megan Basham — for healing and strength, and for resolve and renewed vigor as she continues to answer the personal and professional calls the Lord has placed on her life.

Jan 12 2026

Tim Allen Studying the Apostle Paul’s Teachings Amid Spiritual Journey

Conservative actor and comedian Tim Allen revealed on an episode of Bill Maher’s “Club Random” podcast that he’s been studying the Apostle Paul’s teachings. Allen also defended the historicity of King David and Jesus Christ.

“I’m reading [Paul] … who was a zealot Jew who prosecuted Christians,” Allen shared with Maher.

“Paul said something very intuitive that I’m still studying, because he says law was basically invented to develop sin,” he explained. “Without law, you don’t know what sinful is. So, law was basically just to give you guardrails of what the world is.”

Allen is likely referring to Romans 5:20 and 7:5. The first passage says, “Now the law came in to increase the trespass,” while the second refers to “our sinful passions” which are “aroused by the law” (ESV).

Allen said he appreciates Paul’s insight, because he had been underwhelmed after studying philosophy in recent years.

“What you’re going to find is the cycle of ignorance with philosophy,” he said, “and that’s where I’ve been in the last 20 years. Philosophy gets run in these circles. It can’t explain anything, really.”

The actor, well-known for his leading roles as Tim “The Toolman” Taylor in Home Improvement, Mike Baxter in Last Man Standing and Buzz Lightyear in the Toy Story series, has chronicled his journey reading through Scripture in recent years.

“Never took the time in all my years to ever read and really read the Bible,” Allen wrote in a post in August 2024, adding, “Currently almost through the Jerusalem Bible Old Testament and almost done with the Prophets. … So far amazing and not at all what I was expecting.”

Never took the time in all my years to ever read and really read the Bible. Currently almost through the Jerusalem Bible Old Testament and almost done with the Prophets. Next up to New Testament. So far amazing and not at all what I was expecting.
— Tim Allen (@ofctimallen) August 20, 2024

“This week I am now in the book of the Gospel of Paul,” Allen wrote in an update on June 2, 2025. “A Roman Jew familiar with Plato, Stoicism, and other Greek schools of thought. I am amazed in seven pages!”

Later, Allen stated he was reading Paul’s letter to the Romans.

In his discussion with Maher, Allen also paraphrased the story of David and Goliath, recorded in 1 Samuel 17, which Allen said he thought was “just a story” until he took a guided tour of Jerusalem.

“[Then] I’m in Jerusalem. David was the King. It did happen. Some version of that,” Allen said, recounting what he learned from the tour guide.

He also shared that the tour guide nonchalantly referenced Jesus as a historical figure.

“Out of nowhere [the tour guide said], ‘And that’s where Jesus walked through here,’ and then you’re going, it never occurred to me that the dude actually existed,” Allen said.

“Well, He may not have,” Maher countered.

“Not according to this guy,” Allen replied.

Allen’s conversation with Maher touched on several truths that it’s important for Christians to know and affirm. His summary of the Apostle Paul’s teaching on the moral law is essentially correct.

As Christians, we know that no one can be saved by the law, since all have violated the law. Indeed, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23, ESV).

In Romans 7:8, the Apostle Paul writes,

What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet” (ESV).

We are saved – not through the law – but by the grace extended to us through faith in Jesus Christ and His sacrifice for us on the cross.

Furthermore, Allen’s defense of Jesus Christ’s historicity is imperative. Maher’s assertion that Christ may never have existed is far outside the bounds of modern, Christian and even secular scholarship.

According to Dr. Craig Blomberg, president of the Evangelical Theological Society, even if we rely only on extrabiblical sources, we can know:

There was a Jewish man who lived early in the 1st century by the name of Jesus who was born out of wedlock, whose life intersected with that of John the Baptist, who as an adult became a very popular teacher in Israel who worked wondrous feats – apparently miraculous signs of different kinds, who gathered a closer group of followers together that he called disciples. …

Eventually [He was] arrested, was crucified … as ordered by the Roman governor Pontius Pilate … and that despite this horrible and shameful death his followers believed he was the Jewish Messiah, or Christ, and they claimed to have seen [Him] resurrected from the dead.

Even Professor Bart Ehrman, a textual critic well known for his journey from evangelicalism to agnosticism, admits, “Whether we like it or not, Jesus certainly existed.”

It’s important for Christians to be informed about the faith they profess, and to be able to give good reasons for their belief in Christ (1 Peter 3:15, ESV).

Otherwise, Christians can be easily led into error and doubt when someone like Maher asserts – contrary to the evidence – that Christ may not have existed.

Real faith is not believing something in the absence of evidence; it’s believing something because there is good evidence to do so. Thankfully, as Christians, we profess a faith that is eminently rational and founded upon historical events – the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Please continue to pray for Allen, and for all those searching for spiritual truth, that they may come to faith in Christ who is “the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6, ESV).