Peter Witkowski Memos

Memo: Witkowski Apple Engagement Announcement

When the darkness of April’s death swept across my soul, all but the tiniest pinpoint of hope disappeared. Everything hurt. Everything from the writing of my dissertation to the microwaving of chicken nuggets for the millionth time was marred with bitterness. Though I knew God to be all wise, all good, and all powerful, my circumstances much like Job’s seemed to tell a different story. The pain stung so deeply, I longed for the escape granted to many a faithful martyr. But I knew that was not to be my path for God had called me to care for my children and my church family. Many a late afternoon, I would walk between the deserted pews of my church audibly questioning the Lord. I could not see how anything good or profitable could come from such pain, such sorrow, or such brokenness.

During that season, a kind, old professor after discerning my intent to remarry remarked with subtle confidence, “God will do something really good for you Peter.” I too had read Ephesians 3:20, and intellectually assented to his sentiment. But I could not imagine how that could be…how darkness could ever give way to light.

In time, I once again began charting a course through that strange and rocky land known as “Christian dating.” Though I encountered many a godly woman worthy of respect and admiration, none of their hearts contained the providential contours needed to transform two into a unified whole. Discouraged, I defaulted to that thing which I should have done more of all along. I prayed.

And as I sought divine wisdom about how to proceed, I sat down to a farewell luncheon with a faithful colleague and friend. Somehow or other (and to be fully transparent – much to my liking), the conversation turned into a review of my dating life. The friend then encouraged me to consider one more name, Jenny Apple. As we reviewed her LinkedIn profile and my friend described how Jenny’s range of character enabled her to do everything from serve on executive boards to bounce babies on her knee, a wave of pure joy swept through my soul. More than ever before, I knew I needed to ask that beautiful woman out.

And so, off went my first message to Ms. Apple…albeit somewhat apprehensively. I had learned long ago not to trust my emotions, even when they were informed by prayer. But when I met Jenny that first Saturday in March for a casual conversation over coffee and discovered that she had read Grudem’s Systematic Theology in its entirety, possessed a heart for people, and was attempting to visit all 32 major league baseball stadiums, I knew my emotions were properly ordered. By the end of our second date during which we covered our philosophy of family and her love for the Ravens, and host of other things, I came to believe that Ms. Jenny Apple was something special…something uniquely and gloriously good!

Over the next several months as we climbed mountains, met family, and went to church together, my impression gave way to a settled determination to marry her…a determination also shared by my dear children. The night they first met Ms. Jenny, one of my kiddos lacking the word for ‘proposal’ dropped down on one knee (thankfully out of Jenny’s view) and said, “Dad, you know… you should do this tonight.” Though I did not propose that night and have had to warn my kiddos against proposing on my behalf on multiple occasions, I too share their admiration for the amazing Ms. Jenny!

Jenny possesses a generosity of spirit, a humbleness of character, and a sharpness of mind that makes her a jewel beyond value. To converse with her is to converse with that joyful wisdom that can only be found in the deep well of biblical knowledge and faithfulness. She also possesses a seriousness that can engage the most complex of interpersonal issues and a playfulness that enables her to connect with kids as jump waves and build sandcastles at beach.

Perhaps most marvelous of all, divine providence has shaped the contours of her heart in such a way that they fit perfectly into the boundaries of my soul. As I have stepped into Jenny’s world and she into mine, we have both at felt home. Indeed, few things feel as gloriously right as spending a day with her walking about Capitol Hill or having her curl up with the kiddos for family movie night. The kind, old professor was right, God is do something really good for me. He is cementing my heart to Jenny’s!

Wise king Solomon once said that “He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord (Prov. 18:22).” I can joyfully say I have found such goodness and favor in the glorious Jenny Apple. I love this beautiful woman without qualification or nuance!

Operating on this knowledge, I did what biblical reason, wisdom, and love demanded: I asked the amazing Ms. Jenny to marry me while kayaking the Shenandoah River on Sunday, August 25, 2024.

 I am happy to report that she said, “Yes!”

We are engaged to be married!

For more information on the Apple Witkowski wedding visit our Knot page.

Peter Witkowski Discipleship

Why the Big Fish is Not the Craziest Thing in Jonah

The most shocking element of the Jonah narrative is not the fish that swallows the cantankerous prophet. It is the providential mercy of God who saves both the cantankerous prophet and the people of Assyria.

Why Was Jonah’s Sin?

When Jonah receives word to go to Ninevah, he disobeys God and heads into the dark hull of a ship destined for the other side of the known world. Though some scholars believe Jonah’s revulsion to the Assyrian empire was driven by racism and cultural prejudice, the author of Jonah makes no such claims. Jonah most certainly did not view the culture that made a name for itself by creating towers with its captives’ skulls favorably. But he did not run from them because of unsubstantiated fears about what they might do to him. He ran from his God because he desired to save the wicked.

Though Jonah’s nebulously short sermon might appear to be an early Bible-thumping, fire and brimstone message, it was nothing of the sort. It contained illusions to both God’s wrath and his mercy. The word translated ‘repent’ in Jonah 3:4 could also mean to overturn or change. In other words, Jonah’s message could have had a double meaning: destroy sin or be destroyed by sin. Moreover, Jonah’s mention of 40 days would have also reminded the original Hebrew listeners of both Moses and Noah. After 40 days, Moses came down from the mountain and condemned the nation of Israel for having worshiped a golden calf. Conversely after 40 days, Noah emerged from the Ark having survived the flood. Thus, number 40 contained both the potential for death and salvation. And it was this very possibility of forgiveness that troubled Jonah’s soul.

When the prophet gives us unfiltered insight into his motives, he says, “That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster (4:2).” Jonah ran not from geopolitical realities but from the idea that God would save the sinners…sinners who cared nothing for the laws and regulations of God’s word
In other words, Jonah took no issue with the salvation of those who offered sacrifices and faithfully read the Torah. When God miraculously sent a great fish to save Jonah from his suicidal embrace of sin, the prophet rejoices in God’s salvation. We too rightfully rejoice in the knowledge that God saves believers who wander into the darkness of sin and unbelief. Many a Christan can say with Jonah: “Out of the belly of Shoel I cried, and you heard my voice (Jonah 2:1b).

Why Did God Save Jonah?

The struggle comes not when God extends the grace to our friends or to those share our political affiliations or to those sit next to us at church. The struggle comes when God saves those that we hate because they have unquestionably sinned against us and those that we love in the cruelest of ways. It’s one thing to see your friend’s marriage restored or to praise God for liberating the hostages taken by Hamas. It’s quite another thing to pray for the salvation of the man or the woman who almost destroyed your marriage or to encourage you child to share the gospel with the leaders of Hamas. It is this tension that drives us into the crux of Jonah’s anger and into the gloriousness of the gospel. God’s mercy is undeserved.

Jonah did not make it to Nineveh on his own merits or efforts. When Jonah threw his second temper tantrum because God had killed the plant that had shaded Jonah from the hot sun the day before, God reminded Jonah of the plant’s origin. Jonah 4:10 records God saying, “You pity the plant for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night.” In other words, the earthly salvation that Jonah so loved came freely from the Lord and not from Jonah. Similarly, the only thing that Jonah brought to the story of the great fish was his suicidal bent towards destruction that made God’s saving grace necessary. Jonah had no more right to lay claim to God’s mercy than any sinner in Nineveh. God’s mercy is always underserved, unmerited, and freely given. Since Jonah deeply longed for even little displays of God’s mercy, he could not begrudge God for extending that same mercy to even worse sinners. In short, the message of Jonah is that we should praise God for saving us and our enemies. Same mercy that saves the kid in Sunday school saves the terrorist abusing his neighbor.

How Do We Apply Jonah to Our Lives?

At this moment, the realities of God’s love shatter the imperfections of our love. When God calls us to love our enemies, he calls us to do more than avoid overtly sinning against them (which for many of us is the summation of our love for our enemies). We cannot slander or rage against those who have campaigned against our political party, disrupted our family get-togethers, or destroyed our marriages. But love demands that we must do more than refrain from doing them evil. We must work for their salvation. Those whom we can’t stand are the very men, women, and people groups that we should be praying for and evangelizing. Augustine compared the Christian’s love for his enemies to the physician’s love for the sick, writing, “He loves the sick, not that they remain sick men but so that they may become healthy instead of sick.” To love as God loves, we must long to see our enemies saved from the wrath to come. This is the most radical aspect of the book of Jonah…the sovereign mercy of God. May God give us the grace to love the Ninevites in our life as God loved us.

Peter Witkowski Apologetics

Abortion, Faith, and Politics: Examining Harris’ Dangerous New Claims

Over the last few months, Vice President Kamala Harris has radically reshaped the political conversation around abortion, sliding into the pulpit of orthodoxy. Throughout the course of her campaign, Vice President Harris has boldly asserted that, “One does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree: The government, and certainly Donald Trump, should not be telling a woman what to do with her body.”  Notice, she does not appeal to the authority of other religious leaders, saying as, “Pastor so and so said.”  Nor does she claim that her understanding of faith is compatible with abortion, inviting other religious people to join her. Rather, she presents herself as a religious authority. In other words, her language does not convey that she hopes conservative evangelicals will find a church that aligns with her party’s platform. Rather, she is telling them and all people of faith what should be true of every church or place of worship. Namely, no Christian or religious person should object to a woman getting an abortion because to quote the Vice President  “that decision does not require anyone to abandon their faith or their beliefs.” To disagree with her is no longer to disagree with a political party or ones’ government but with the God of the universe.

My Main Concern is Not

My main concern today is not to debate the morality of abortion which is firmly fixed in my mind nor the need for Christians to oppose the practice. Abortion is murder. I lament that liberals and even a growing number of conservatives long to normalize this brutal culture of death, using duplicitous language of “healthcare.” Without reservation, I believe Christians should advocate for life across the political spectrum. Tax rates, housing prices, and issues pertaining to the quality of one’s life count for nothing if one is not alive to pay taxes or buy homes.

Neither a conservative, evangelical pastor’s opposition to nor a Democratic Presidential Candidate’s support of abortion is noteworthy.

My Main Concern

But what is and what I object to is Vice President Harris’ defense of abortion with an appeal to a governmental defined religious orthodoxy. I oppose not only to the content of her orthodoxy, but her very use of orthodoxy. In other words, I do not wish to replace the Vice President’s political forays into theological orthodoxy with those of a candidate more closely aligned with my theological convictions. For example, I acknowledge that most non-evangelicals who identify as some form of “Christian” disagree with the pro-life position. Though I hope to win those churches back to the apostolic faith of Jesus, I also believe that the government has no authority to tell those affiliated with the Sparkle Creed or any other religious creed what is or is not an acceptable tenant of their faith.

Faith Still Belongs

I am also not advocating that those with religious opinions should retreat from the public square or deny that their faiths have a shaping influence on their actions. Without question, one’s faith and worldview will have a profound effect on one’s personal and public ethic. I long for pro-life politicians to unapologetically live out their religious convictions in the public square through the creation of laws that promote life, understanding that those of liberal faiths can do the same with their convictions. I do not object to the enforcement of a public ethic (though I long for that ethic to reflect God’s righteous standards), but with proscribing that all people should conform their faith to that ethic.

The Separation of Church and State

By invoking the language of orthodoxy, Vice-President Harris is straining the bounds of the separation of church and state. To borrow the language of the hour, she is toying with the idea of establishing a leftist “Christian” or perhaps more accurately stated leftist “Religious Nationalism.”

When Thomas Jefferson coined the phrase “a wall of eternal separation” to describe the relationship between the state and the church in 1802, he had in mind the very overreach committed by the Harris Campaign. He wrote, “religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his god…the legitimate powers of government reach action only and not opinions.” The state and those running the state have the right to enforce laws that reflect the ethic that flows from their religious views but possess no religious authority to bind the consciences of its citizens to the particular religious views of those in power. Politicians are not prophets.

The Biblical View

While ideas of religious freedom have a foundation in American political history and theory, they also have a biblical foundation. Except when coerced by the state, the church does not look to the state for instruction on what is or is not orthodox. Rather, the church claims a God given right to determine its own doctrine in accordance with Scripture and then to share those doctrines with both its surrounding culture and the state. “Your word is a Lamp unto my feet and light to my path (Ps 119:105).”  

When it comes to religion, the state should not inform the pastor of God’s will. The pastor should inform the state. To quote the British theologian John Stott, the church should function as the “nation’s conscience.” Operating in this vein, Nathan rebuked King David for his sexual sin and murder. Elijah condemned Ahab for his unjust grab of land. Isaiah scolded Hezekiah for his foolish foreign policy. Jesus rebuked Pilate for assuming divine authority. And Paul pleaded with Felix to embrace Jesus as his savior.

In other words, the church should share God’s principles with those in power. It should praise leaders when they repeal unjust laws that condemn shoplifters to life sentences. Conversely, the church should call those who pass a bill that legalizes infanticide to repentance. As Lloyd-Jones notes, “The church is here to show that according to biblical teaching, the general consensus of opinion is not the basis on which you arrive at moral decisions, either with regard to homosexuality, or with regard to divorce, or abortion, or birth control, or any one of these questions.” The state should not preach to the church. The church should preach to the state, reminding those in power to “Serve the Lord with fear (Ps. 2:11).”

For the sake of the United States and its faith community, I encourage Vice President Harris to abandon her usurpation of the pulpit, and to sit once again in the pew.