Toby J. Sumpter's Blog, page 14

The Politics of Christmas

Advent Grab Bag #1

Opening Prayer: Our Father, our land has strayed far from You, and this is because we have rejected Your Christ. For too long, we have pretended that we can have freedom and justice without Your Son, and so we have wondered into a far off country and we have squandered Your inheritance. But we are gathered here this morning before Your Word, asking You to speak to us the Word of Truth, the Word of true liberation, so that our nation may come to its senses and return to You and all the nations of the world may know that You are the living God and there is no other. We are asking for a great revival and reformation in this land, and we are asking for it in the great name of Jesus Christ, Amen. 

Introduction 
As is our custom in Advent, we began using the Definition of Chalcedon this morning for our Creed, which was adopted and published in 451 A.D. The purpose of the Definition was to further defend the full divinity and humanity of Christ from several heresies, while preserving the Creator-creature distinction. 

All non-Christian societies are fundamentally what Peter Jones calls “oneist.” Oneism teaches that everything is essentially one, part of the same basic substance, and therefore oneism is pantheistic. Christianity is the lone religion in the world that teaches “twoism,” that there are fundamentally two different realities: God and everything else. This has profound implications for all of life, including how we think about politics and power. 

The Texts: “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things” (Rom. 1:21-23).

“Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed: But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end” (Ps. 102:25-27). 

“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5).

Summary of the Texts
The center of human rebellion is the refusal to acknowledge God as He truly is and that is “uncorruptible” and utterly unlike anything in creation, all of which is “corruptible,” and refusing to be thankful for this reality, people become foolish idolaters (Rom. 1:21-23). Likewise, Psalm 102 describes God as the Creator of all things in heaven and on earth, and the difference between the Creator and His creation is that creation perishes, wears out, and changes, but the Creator endures, remains the same, and has no end (Ps. 102:25-27). Finally, the Bible says there is only one God and one mediator between God and man: Christ Jesus (1 Tim. 2:5). 

The Councils & Heresies
Leading up to the Council of Nicaea in 325, a pastor named Arius taught that Jesus was not fully God, but rather was a man who was very much like God. Arius taught that there was “a time” (so to speak) when the Son was not. He said, the Son had a beginning. However, Athanasius and others argued that Christ was fully God and was therefore of the “same substance” with the Father (“homoousias”). The later Arians would say that Christ had a “similar substance” with the Father (“homoiousias”). This really is a watershed issue. If Jesus is merely the highest created being, the most exalted creature, right next to God, then the Creator-creature divide has collapsed in principle. Instead of the infinite chasm between God and His creation that the Bible teaches, there is a ladder, a hierarchy or gradation of “being” that may ascend to Godhead. 

The Council of Nicaea concluded that Athanasius was correct and published the Nicene Creed which affirms that Christ is fully God and fully man, eternally begotten, “not made,” and of the same substance with the Father. The Council of Chalcedon came along in 451 and further nailed the coffin shut on Arianism (and other Christological heresies), insisting that the Divine and human natures come together in Christ “without confusion, without change, without division, without separation.” While this might seem esoteric or pedantic, it really is glorious. It is saying that the Creator-creation distinction remains intact even in the one mediator between God and man. The divine and human natures do not blend or merge or mix even in the one mediator, Jesus Christ. There is no hierarchy of being ascending and merging into God. There is only God and everything else, and Jesus Christ is the only mediator between God and everything else, and in His person, those two natures are united “without confusion, without change, without division, without separation, the distinction of natures being in no way annulled by the union.”

Chalcedonian Politics
The political ramifications for this are enormous. The tendency of all cultures dedicated to “oneism” is toward the Tower of Babel: consolidating global resources and power in an effort to ascend to Heaven, whether literally or simply by achieving heaven/utopia. This process always includes leaders claiming the authority of God/gods. In the ancient world, Pharaoh was the human representative of the sun god, Ra, and in Rome, Caesar was hailed as the divine “lord” and son of god (Jupiter). When the early Christians acclaimed Jesus as “Lord” and “Son of God,” this was in direct defiance of the emperor cult. Later, when the Roman Pope claimed to be the universal pontiff and “Vicar of Christ,” and exercised massive political power, it was somewhat based on the supposed authority to change bread and wine into the flesh and blood of God. The Creator-creature distinction was beginning to collapse even in the Church. Abusive political power has always been exercised under the guise of unlimited divine power. But the Biblical religion has always insisted that all authority comes from God and is therefore “under God” and limited by God and His Word. While modern governments have not yet had the audacity to openly claim this divinity, this hasn’t stopped them from acting like it in their totalitarian claims on our property, income, children, and healthcare. 

Applications
What we are celebrating at Christmas is not only our eternal salvation but also freedom from every kind of tyranny, beginning with death itself, but also sin, the Devil, and all Satanic manipulation, oppression, and power grabs. The state is not God, nor is it the mediator between God and man. And no one can ascend to God or Heaven. The One born in Bethlehem, He is the eternal Son of God, the Lord and only mediator between God and Man. All earthly authorities answer to Him. Christmas means limited government. 

And this is why the Kingdom goes forth as proclamation, baptism, communion, and worship — not coercion. There is nothing that we can do to ascend to God in Heaven or make heaven on earth by our own wisdom, power, or enlightenment. There is no way for us to cross that chasm, and our sin only makes the distance greater. Only God can come to us. Only God can cross the chasm. And so He has in Jesus Christ, the only mediator between God and man. This is why salvation is all grace.

Prayer: Almighty God, teach us to rest in this reality, this grace, and to build cultures of freedom and grace in our families, churches, and in our nation, because You have come for us. And so we pray, as Jesus taught us, singing… 

The Hole in Kevin DeYoung’s Holiness

Introduction
I’ve appreciated Kevin DeYoung’s work. He’s taken faithful stands on homosexuality, biblical repentance, and Christian holiness. I attended a regional talk he gave one time and remember being encouraged by it. If I remember correctly it was connected to his book The Hole in our Holiness. And now DeYoung has written a thoughtful engagement with the Moscow Project, specifically trying to answer the question of what he thinks of Douglas Wilson.

Of course, I’m nothing close to an objective, outside observer. I moved to Moscow as a 17 year old punk kid, went to New St. Andrews College, slowly picked my way through Greyfriars Hall, left for two years to go to Erskine Theological Seminary, and then landed back in Moscow pastoring Trinity Reformed Church for ten years before serving alongside Pastor Wilson as an associate pastor for three years and then helping Christ Church launch a new church plant called King’s Cross Church that I continue to pastor. My ties with Pastor Wilson are deep. He still serves as a pro tem elder on my session (and I on his session), and there is only one office between his and mine, occupied by Jared Longshore. And we’re all thick as thieves.  

I Have Thoughts
But I have thoughts about DeYoung’s article, and I’m going to share them with the world. But first DeYoung’s conclusion: for all of Doug’s helpful contributions to cultural engagement and the attractiveness of his “angular, muscular, forthright Christianity in an age of compromise,” DeYoung is concerned that Doug’s defiant, militant “mood” is “too often incompatible with Christian virtue, inconsiderate of other Christians, and ultimately inconsistent with the stated aims of Wilson’s Christendom project.”

As I stated on social media when I shared DeYoung’s article, “A good-hearted critique that puts its finger on something very crucial but can’t see the strategic importance and biblical necessity of it. Worth considering, and if you share similar questions or concerns, we have answers.”

And at least a few people asked what I meant. What is the strategic importance and biblical necessity of the “Moscow mood?” First, what is that mood? DeYoung summarizes it quite well: “It’s a mood that says, “We are not giving up, and we are not giving in. We can do better than negotiate the terms of our surrender. The infidels have taken over our Christian laws, our Christian heritage, and our Christian lands, and we are coming to take them back.”

This is quite right, and it is of strategic importance and a biblical necessity. And what do I mean? What is strategic and necessary and why? I mean that the Moscow mood of not giving up, not giving in, and determining to fight for a Christ-honoring culture is strategic and necessary because it is central to a healthy and thriving biblical immune system. Our culture, the Christian West (what is left of it), is in the last gasping hours of a Stage 4 terminal cancer. Secularism has metastasized, and it’s in all our organs and lymph nodes. You can tell because after chopping up millions of unborn babies for more than 50 years, we decided to start chopping off the body parts of our children and chemically castrating them. We are well on our way, as a culture, to making the Aztecs look civilized. We’ve sent groomers into libraries and elementary schools, and we have Christians insisting that this is the cost of a free republic. We have Christians insisting that if we don’t sacrifice to Baal, we won’t get any rain. Some of our most stalwart Christian men cower before the glare of Rachel Denhollender, and only occasionally peer out from behind the skirts of Megan Basham and Rosaria Butterfield. 

There are good answers to all of Kevin DeYoung’s concerns, and Joe Rigney has done a marvelous job giving them. But the central point I want to make is not that Moscow is perfect, is not that we have always done everything right (we haven’t), but the central thing is that God in His grace has given us a biblical immune system. We fight sin. We fight wolves. And we fight brothers (and sisters) who are trying to get us to play footsie with the wolves (but enough about Rachel Denhollender). And yes, we’re eager, and we’re joyful about it. We sing Psalms in four part harmonies while we mock the prophets of Baal and the schoolmarm Pharisees of our day, just like Jesus did and all of the faithful prophets. 

Not Pugnacious Enough
DeYoung seems to have some appreciation for that sentiment in the abstract, but then when he sees it in action, he’s concerned that it’s too worldly, too pugnacious, and too irreverent. Joe Rigney has already answered the concerns about worldliness, as did Pastor Wilson on CrossPolitic, so I will (mostly) leave that charge to the side. But I can barely think of a more blinkered concern in our day. Sure, we must not be jerks; and the fruit of the Spirit must be vibrant in all that we do and say. But I’m sorry: too pugnacious when the forces of globalistic sexual fascism are surrounding us and gunning for our children? No, if anything, we are not pugnacious enough. We are not fierce enough. And too irreverent? If only we could topple more idols. If only we had more sarcasm for the Goliaths that taunt the armies of the living God. Seems like we have a few dozen giants at this point, and most of Israel is cowering in their tents. When the prophet told the king to strike the earth, he only struck it three times, and DeYoung is concerned about that. He’s concerned about David’s tone with Goliath. But we should be striking the ground five or six times so that the world may know that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. And I can hear some first year seminary student piping up, “But they will know us by our love, Sumpter!” To which I reply, ‘quite right, and true love fights evil.’

DeYoung objects to Pastor Wilson’s jabs at the ERLC and G3: “This isn’t Wilson using his famous “serrated edge” to make a prophetic point against a godless culture. This is intentionally making fun of other Christians for a quick chuckle.” Actually, DeYoung is simply wrong here. These are exhibits of godless culture seeping (more or less) into Christian circles. As others have pointed out, the ERLC needs to be lampooned out of business, and the fact that DeYoung wants to run interference for them is frankly a bit astonishing. The G3 guys are our friends and doing some good work, but they are far too concerned about their reputation and what internet karens think. When CrossPolitic was invited to do a liveshow at G3 in 2020, and we announced that Doug Wilson would be our guest, the G3 leadership insisted that he not be our guest, or that we only interview him in a back corner of their exhibit hall. But lest anyone think we were offended (we weren’t and had a grand time anyway), we followed that up with an invitation for Josh Buice to be our main speaker at New St. Andrew’s high school worldview summer camp. And major kudos to him, he actually came. But since then, Scott Aniol wasn’t allowed to come hang out with us for our Christian Nationalism liveshow at the Ark Encounter. It might have been too close an association with Ken Ham, but we have our suspicions. 

DeYoung claims that “Moscow cannot become the American Redoubt for conservative Christians if it is too similar to other places, with basically the same kinds of churches, schools, and institutions found in hundreds of other cities. Differentiation is key, and this can only be sustained by a mood of antagonism and sharp antithesis.” He’s wrong that we care very much about being “too similar to other places, with basically the same kinds of churches, schools, and institutions.” Heh. That’s actually pretty funny. Pastor Wilson helped start Logos School and the ACCS and the CREC all of which have literally helped start and encourage hundreds of other classical Christian schools and churches that are similar to us (and different).

But DeYoung is correct that we care about a certain kind of differentiation. We care about the kind of emotionally mature differentiation that isn’t bound to the careening feelings of the culture or unstable brothers. This is why we’ve taken so much heat over our rejection of untethered empathy. We do have a strong mood of antagonism to being steered by vague “concerns,” you know, the concerns that one of your friends heard about from their mom who was talking to a friend in another church who heard that someone’s pet chihuahua was offended. We certainly have cultivated a sharp antithesis to the world, the flesh, and the devil. And we want to be the kinds of friends who call one another out. And to be clear, this is the kind of community we have. It is not unusual to raise concerns within our community. It is not unusual for people to have differences of opinion. We have remarkable like-mindedness, remarkable unity, and yet we are self-consciously seeking to cultivate true Christian individuality, and we refuse to be what Edwin Friedman calls “emotionally fused” to everyone around us. But this is true friendship and leadership, true Christian community, with faithful wounds, and we are on record of happily hanging with anyone from G3 to Founders to Desiring God to Kevin DeYoung, with open invitations to a number of our most vehement detractors.

In a similar vein DeYoung sounds the alarm, saying, “Once [Wilson] wrote that a committee was “as stacked as Dolly Parton after her new implants.” There is no excuse for this language. To be sure, the prophet Ezekiel could use extreme language in extreme situations to show the ugliness of extreme wickedness. Likening a study committee of a confessionally Reformed denomination to Dolly Parton’s anatomy is none of these things. It’s juvenile, sensuous, and entirely without biblical warrant. This isn’t using graphic language to highlight the horror of sin; it’s a bawdy way to make fun of a group of orthodox churchmen with whom Wilson disagrees.”

But this is right to the point. DeYoung is correct that if Wilson is merely using graphic language to mock orthodox churchman with whom he disagrees, that would be completely inexcusable. Period. Full stop. And I would join DeYoung at the front of the line if that’s what that was. But click on that link. Read the whole article. That article is not at all juvenile, sensuous, and the full context more than provides the biblical warrant for such a description. The whole point of the article was to point out the mass hypocrisy and travesty of justice being carried out by a PCA presbytery. The whole point is to call into question their orthodoxy. Read the article. Follow the links. He used extreme language in an extreme situation to call out an extreme wickedness.

And remember this: at the very center of our faith is a presbytery meeting that was called to order, a motion made, with an orderly second and no further discussion, passed without objection, and it was all entered into the minutes neat and tidy to crucify the Son of God. The gospel teaches us, if nothing else, that the good guys are sometimes the bad guys. If Jesus could tell the Apostle Peter to get behind Him, “Satan,” then sometimes, faithful men of God will need to tell otherwise faithful men of God to stop acting like the Devil. And if they’re acting like the Devil, sometimes the kindest way to try to wake them up is to mock all the socks they’ve stuffed into their Presbyterian bra.   

Conclusion
DeYoung summarizes his concern: “I fear that much of the appeal of Moscow is an appeal to what is worldly in us. As we’ve seen, the mood is often irreverent, rebellious, and full of devil-may-care playground taunts. That doesn’t make us better Christians.” Well, to this I would simply say that DeYoung should spend more time in the prophets. Of course, there is a kind of callousness that is utterly unchristian, but when the Titanic is sinking, this is no time for niceties and platitudes. The PCA has teetered on the edge of embracing REVOICE, barely managing to make it a relatively uncomfortable place for Greg Johnson, and three cheers for all the faithful men who did that. But after a hundred years of losing our denominations, colleges, and seminaries, you’d think some folks might realize that what we’ve been doing hasn’t worked. 

DeYoung suggests that Wilson be more like Al Mohler: “He could try to be an evangelical statesman or lean into his role as a seasoned mentor to younger Christians—especially men who don’t need permission to be brawlers, as much as they need a godly role model to emulate and a spiritual father to correct their youthful excesses.” But Al Mohler, for all the wonderful good he has done (and there is a great deal to praise), has not kept the woke virus out of Southern Seminary and he submitted to the worldly zeitgeist of face masks… oh wait, just like DeYoung’s church through September of 2021. 

Look, I’m not saying we did COVID perfectly here in Moscow. We closed down worship and went online for three weeks, and we should not have. We conducted drive-in services for another three weeks, and we should not have. We waivered for a moment. But we learned our lesson. Never again. Not like that. Too much is at stake. Pastor Wilson is not the mentor many want, but he is the mentor that we need. He is the godly role model we need to emulate, the spiritual father that has and will correct our youthful excesses. But jolly fighting of sin and worldliness isn’t one of them. We need more of that mood.

At the end of Joshua, when the land was being settled, the nine and half tribes on the other side of the Jordan got wind of an altar being built by Reuben and Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh, and Phinehas and the whole congregation of Israel gathered themselves together at Shiloh and marched to war (Josh. 22:11-12). Of course when they arrived, they found out that the altar was only an altar of witness and not an altar to a false god, and so the nine and a half tribes called off the war and went home satisfied. Surely there were a few editorials in the Israelite Gazette cautioning everyone about Phinehas’s “Warrior Children” and the long term consequences of that pugnacity. And maybe the editorials got to some of them, as the book of Judges seems to suggest.

There’s tons more to the Moscow mood – things like folk dancing, block parties with Psalm singing, football and lacrosse, reading Narnia and Lord of the Rings over and over, Sabbath feasts, making love, and writing poetry – but yes, also this zealous martial spirit. It is strategically significant and biblically necessary for our children and our children’s children, that we might not forget how to war (Jdg. 3:2). It’s not incompatible with Christian virtue; it is one of the necessary Christian virtues. It is not inconsiderate of other Christians; understood rightly, it is the most considerate of Christian virtues. In Book 1 of Edmund Spenser’s Faerie Queene, Saint George is the Red Cross Knight of Holiness. And what he learns through his many adventures and trials is that the life of Christian holiness is one of constant war.

Photo by UX Gun on Unsplash

Alpha & Omega

In Rev. 1:17, Jesus says, “Fear not; I am the first and the last; I am He that liveth, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore.”

Every week, you hear the words of institution, where Jesus said that this meal, and the wine in particular, is the new testament or new covenant in His blood. This means that every Lord’s Day we are renewing or reaffirming the new covenant. This is the promise of God not to hold our sins against us for the sake of the blood of Christ. Here is God’s solemn oath in the blood of His own Son: your sins are forgiven. As far as the east is from the west, He has removed your sins from you.

This means you can always start over. 

This is also why Jesus is the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end, the first and last. On the one hand, this is His Sovereign power to bring you through. He holds the beginning and the end, the beginning of your trials and trouble and the end of them all. When you go through challenges and difficulties, if you are in Christ, you are always going through them with Christ. If He is the beginning and the end, then He is there in the middle of every moment. 

But He is there in a particular kind of way: He is with us as the beginning and the end. He is the end of all our sin, all our suffering, and He is the beginning of eternal life, endless glory, Heaven itself.

So when you come to Him, You come to Him as the One who is constantly making an end of those things which must end and constantly making a new beginning. And this means you are not stuck in a rut. You are not stuck in the past. You are not trapped in a moment. Your past does not define you. Your sin does not confine you. Your family, your history, your parents, your choices, any more than anything in the future – if you are in Christ, You have come the Lord of history, the Alpha and Omega, first and the last, the beginning and the end. So as Christ said to John, I say to you: fear not. 

So come and welcome to Jesus Christ.  

Photo by Luke Stackpoole on Unsplash

Holidays & Militant Contentment

Phil. 4:9-13

[The video for this message may be found here.]

Introduction
Holidays are challenging times for many reasons: routines are off, people in our houses, being in other peoples’ houses, challenging people, missing loved ones, or the things that aren’t right or good, and simmering beneath it all, you’re a corrupt sinner. Sometimes another contributing factor is the contrast of really good things and really hard things at the same time in different ways that tempts us to discontent, anxiety, frustrations, bitterness, or despair. But this text teaches us that Christ gives the strong gifts of contentment, peace, and joy for these challenging times as He teaches you to rest in Your Father. 

The Text: “Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you…” (Phil. 4:9-13).

Summary of the Text
The overarching exhortation is to stand fast in the Lord and to have peace both in our hearts and minds and as well as with one another (Phil. 4:1-2, 7), and this continues with the exhortation to follow Paul’s apostolic example, with the promise that God’s peace will accompany that imitation (Phil. 4:9). Paul follows his own counsel to rejoice in the Lord, specifically for the recent gift he has received from the Philippians, knowing that it was something they were eager to do but hadn’t had the opportunity until then (Phil. 4:10). Paul clarifies that he wasn’t in a bad way without their gift since he had learned to be content in every circumstance (Phil. 4:11). He had learned to be poor and rich, full and hungry, abound and suffer need because He had the power to fulfill all of his duty through the strength of Christ (Phil. 4:12-13). 

Godly Imitation
We noted last week that prayer with thanksgiving is a crucial part of dealing with anxiety (Phil. 4:6), as well as making lists of all the true, just, pure, and lovely things (Phil. 4:8). But you should add to this arsenal following the examples of other faithful Christians, beginning with Christ Himself: “For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps” (1 Pet. 2:21, Mt. 16:24). But one of the ways we do that is by following those who are following Him well: “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ” (1Cor. 11:1). We follow Paul and all of the apostles well as we study the New Testament in particular. But the New Testament also points us to the example of the Old Testament: “Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come” (1 Cor. 10:11, Heb. 11). The scriptures teach us how to imitate those who have followed God the best and give us great encouragement and hope (Rom. 15:4). We are also instructed to imitate faithful pastors and elders (Heb. 13:7). We do not trust in men, but if we trust in God, we can see His Spirit at work in His people, and there is great encouragement as we all pull in the same direction toward Christ (like in athletics). 

Militant Contentment
Part of the example we need to follow is Paul’s contentment. Notice that he is extremely grateful for the gift he’s received from the Philippians, but he hastens to add that he wasn’t desperate for it. This is a hard line to walk: presenting requests and rejoicing greatly in their fulfillment but also complete surrender to the will of God because He knows best – rejoicing in the Lord always, even when He says “no” or “not yet.” This is only possible through deep faith in the goodness of God our Father. Jesus reveals this to us clearly: Our heavenly Father feeds the birds, and we are more important than birds (Mt. 6:26). Our heavenly Father clothes the grass, and we are more valuable than grass (Mt. 6:30). Our Father knows all of our needs (Mt. 6:32), He is a more faithful Father than any earthly father (Mt. 7:11), and no good thing does He withhold from His people (Ps. 84:11). He who gave His own Son, will give us everything we need (Rom. 8:32). This means that when God says “no” or “not yet” it is better for us and better for the Kingdom (cf. Mt. 6:33). This is why we rejoice always. This is why Jesus prayed in His greatest agony, “not my will, by Thy will be done” (Mt. 26:39). And by submitting to the Father, Jesus crushed sin, death, and the devil and saved the world (1 Pet. 2:23-25). This is not apathy; this is militant contentment. Contentment makes us faithful servants, ready soldiers, and grants us maximum mobility for our King. 

The Strength of Christ
While this Christian calendar verse about “doing all things through Christ” is often misquoted and misapplied (as though it applies to absolutely anything you want to do), it is a gloriously comforting verse. It means that Christ gives the strength we need to do whatever He requires. He gives us the strength to resist temptation, and He always makes a way of escape (1 Cor. 10:13). He gives us the strength to obey: God works in us both the will and the power to please Him (Phil. 2:13). Christ Himself is our mighty armor in enduring suffering (1 Pet. 4:1). And what is it exactly that we arm ourselves with? The justice of God and the resurrection of Jesus Christ (Eph. 1:19-20, cf. 1 Pet. 2:23). When Jesus entrusted Himself to the One who judges justly, God raised Him from the dead. Arm yourself with that certain hope.

Applications
Wise imitation vs. slavish imitation: We are seeking to cultivate a community of “like-mindedness” so that we might have that peace of God that accompanies faithful examples to follow. This Christian like-mindedness isn’t woodenly rigid, inflexible, or disproportionate. We want to major on the majors and minor on the minors, extending true liberty without being naïve (Rom. 14, Gal. 2). Christian like-mindedness is truly a gift from the God of patience and consolation (Rom. 15:5). It comes from the consolations of Christ and the fellowship of the Spirit (Phil. 2:1), and it consists of having the same love, one soul/spirit, and one mind (Phil. 2:2). How can we tell the difference between Christian like-mindedness and slavish legalism? “The fear of man is a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe.” (Prov. 29:25). True Christian like-mindedness is driven by peace and consolation; cultic uniformity is driven by fear of what everyone thinks/doing it right/etc. So surround yourself with faithful witnesses, but keep your eyes fixed on Jesus (Heb. 12:1-2). 

Meditate on Heaven: You know the old saying about the fellow who was so heavenly minded, he was no earthly good, but I think that cautionary tale is almost entirely misguided and false. To be truly heavenly minded is to maximize your earthly good. The problem isn’t with people thinking about Heaven too much, the problem is with people mistaking their idols and idolatrous delusions for Heaven. But the true Heaven, where Jesus is seated at the Father’s right hand is what arms us for faithfulness here. “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God… Mortify therefore your members…” (Col. 3:1-5). Setting your affections on Christ in Heaven assures you of the goodness of Your Father and gives you the kind of contentment that is strong and ready to serve the King.

Photo by Eduard Delputte on Unsplash

The Pride of Women

We often (and rightly) warn about the pride of men. But we do not hear so much about the pride of women. And this is not because women have no pride. This is for at least two reasons: first, in many evangelical churches there is a subtle but deep commitment to not addressing the sins of women because that might make them upset. We reject that since we believe that women are sinners in need of salvation just as much as men. But second, since the glory of women is their beauty, they tend to be far more subtle in their pride. It certainly can turn into blatant and ostentatious boasting, but naturally, it tends to be far more devious and deceitful with women and girls. 

Speaking of the pride of the women of Israel, the prophet Amos calls them “cows of Bashan,” crushing the poor and needy while calling for their husbands to bring them another drink (Amos 4:1). The pride of women is often covered over with beauty, with flattery, with dresses and makeup, with sweet sounding words. So how can you recognize this feminine variety of pride? Let me give you two suggestions: first, be on the lookout for a critical spirit and cattiness, whether out loud or in your head or with your friends. Biting words are like knives that stab, and they frequently come from a place of pride, feeling threatened, or a fleshly sense of competition. But Christ is your peace and your joy; Christ is your Defender and your Fortress.

Finally, watch out for vanity: obsessing over the state of your body, the state of your home, your meals, your wardrobe. Your glory is your beauty, but you must always remember that Christian beauty flows out of a gentle and quiet spirit before God, not a panicked, anxious spirit obsessed with what others think. A gentle and quiet spirit is of great price in the sight of God.

Ladies, your job is to get God’s attention first and foremost. Dress for Him, adorn for Him, be thoughtful of Him, and when you do that, you and your home will be altogether lovely, but you’ll also begin to realize that He cares about different details than you can usually see on Pinterest.

Photo by Stephan Seeber on Unsplash

Thanksgiving 2023: Gratitude for the Bible, Creation, and #SpankingGate

Introduction
“Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools…” (Rom. 1:21-22).

The center of our American problem is ingratitude. We are a nation that has been exceedingly blessed by the God of Heaven, and while there have been many who returned thanks for His gifts, we have progressively refused to be thankful. It’s a glorious testimony to the Christian founding of our nation, that we celebrate Thanksgiving every year. But it also stands as a memorial, both reminding us of what we ought to do but in many ways testifying against us for what we refuse to do. 

The results of our ingratitude are all around us. The warning of Romans 1 is that those who refuse to glorify God as God will become vain in their imaginations, their foolish hearts will be darkened, and professing themselves to be wise, will become utter fools. And if you keep reading, the Bible says that this leads to serving the creation rather than the Creator and that leads directly to sexual rebellion and insanity. Why do we have PRIDE parades in our streets? Why are the Drag Queens in our libraries? Why are children being targeted with chemical castration and mastectomies? The Bible says that the root cause is our ingratitude, our refusal to give God thanks.  

Gratitude for the Bible
But we need to press this into the corners. It is not merely a generic acknowledgement of God, a generic thanks for the things we think are good – although that is a very good start (we should encourage this bare minimum wherever we can). But the will of God in Christ Jesus is that we would give thanks for all things (1 Thess. 5:18). When a people are in the process of replacing the Creator with parts of creation, it doesn’t usually happen all at once. There is usually a long period of syncretism, mixing idolatry with true religion, acknowledging the God of Heaven in some respects, while serving the gods of Mammon, scientism, and sex. We see tons of this to varying degrees inside and outside the church. Outside the church, this is the generic God-bless-America civil religion that pays homage to “God” but doesn’t know this God and in all other respects is wise in its own eyes, doing whatever seems right and good to themselves, without actually seeking God’s wisdom in His Word. Inside the church, we have people paying lip service to Christ and the Bible, but they have begun to serve their feelings, their experiences, and whatever the latest pseudoscientific studies say. The Bible is not God’s authoritative Word. It is merely a collection of wise thoughts and inspiring stories. But this is a refusal to acknowledge God as God, and a refusal to give thanks for one of His central gifts: His Word in the Bible. If you are grateful to the living God, then at the top of your list must be His Word. He is not a distant god. As Francis Shaffer said decades ago, He is there and He is not silent. If you are thankful, feast on His Word.

Gratitude for Genesis 1
This gratitude is not only for the Word of God in general, the whole Bible, it is for the details of God’s Word. In the name of being respectable, in the name of pseudoscience, Christians have cowered before the high priests of modern paganism and denied what the Bible clearly teaches about the origins of this universe. Darwinism and all its ugly offspring are attempts (even if unintentional) to separate God from His creation, to create distance, and in so doing, diminish the praise and thanksgiving. If God merely set off a “Big Bang,” if God vaguely orchestrated natural processes over billions of years, then our gratitude for creation is reduced. “Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name” (Ps. 100:3-4). How do we enter into God’s gates with the kind of thanksgiving that God loves? How do we properly bless His name? When we acknowledge that the Lord is God and He made us, not we ourselves, and not natural processes over millions of years. The gratitude that we need as a nation is gratitude for God’s immediate creation of all things in six days, and all very good. 

Gratitude for Children 
One last item for today: we must repent of our ingratitude for the gift of children and the grace of raising them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Some of you are aware of the recent hubbub surrounding the viral clip of Mrs. Nancy Wilson describing a moment of discipline from some 40 years ago, teaching her daughter Rachel to be joyful when her mother picked her up from a friend’s house. You can find out more here and here. The venomous reaction to that clip has revealed quite clearly the state of our hearts as a nation. We not only murder our children by the millions in abortion, but with blood all over our hands and faces, we arrogantly claim that we know how to best raise children. Professing ourselves to be wise, we have become utter fools. Our families are more fractured and seething with bitterness and resentment and violence than ever, and we have the audacity to scream at a faithful mother in Israel whose children and grandchildren are thriving. 

Have some Christians mistreated their children? Yes. Have some Christians defended their angry outbursts and violence with Bible verses? Yes, they have. But the disobedience of some does not justify the disobedience of all. Have any psychotherapists ever abused their positions of authority? Have any psychiatrists or psychologists ever given poor advice? Heh. The questions answer themselves. Real reformation will begin when the Church clearly teaches that children are an inestimable blessing from the Lord that Christians families should be grateful to welcome, and that when we have received them, we teach them, train them, discipline them, and raise them in the love of Christ, which includes gracious, judicious corporal punishment. And all of this is a glorious grace. Are you grateful for that? Are you grateful for the tools God has given to train the hearts of little children, to show them true love, and save their souls from death? Calling spanking “violence” or “abuse” or “rape culture” is a supreme act of ingratitude and only adds to the darkness and folly in our hearts.

Gratitude for Christ Crucified
Of course at the center of our need is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. God sent His only Son and laid on Him the iniquity of us all (Is. 53). Jesus was struck for guilty sinners. Jesus was struck with the wrath of God, and by His stripes we are healed. A bunch of moderns have wildly distorted views of love, full of sentimentality and arrogance. But the Bible says that in the Cross love was displayed: “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 Jn. 4:10). We don’t know what love is. And just to head off one accusation: we completely repudiate the accusation that this view of the atonement leads to child abuse. On the contrary, if anything, it’s the repudiation of this view that leads to child abuse. The human race has a guilt problem, and our guilt cries out for justice. It eats at us, and if there is no sacrifice for our sins, that guilt will rage inside us, and eventually it will lash out at innocent victims, including children. If the Cross is reduced to a pure example of love, and the propitiation for our sins is ignored or rejected, you will have generations of Christians weighed down by their guilt, despairing and angry. Only blood can take away our guilt because the wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23). But all who look to Christ murdered on a tree and see Him as the Lamb of God, the sacrifice for their sins — they have all their sins washed away.

And those who know their sins are cleansed are a deeply grateful people: Grateful for that Cross, grateful for the Bible, grateful for all of creation, and grateful for the gift of children and the grace of raising them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. This is the gratitude we need this Thanksgiving. 

Photo by Jed Owen on Unsplash

No Quarter on Biblical Parenting & #SpankingGate

Introduction
Well, Mrs. Nancy Wilson has (inadvertently) joined No Quarter November. You’d think she’d donned her own flame thrower and torched an oversize cut out of the Huggies kid. Although to be completely fair, if she had done it in a burka, with a Palestinian flag wrapped around her shoulders and the Huggies toddler stamped with an Israeli flag on his backside, we’d being hearing cries of how brave and heroic Mrs. Wilson is. Instead, what she did was sit at a table (actually a few years ago now) with her husband and answer questions about parenting and relate a particularly juicy story about a time when her daughter (now a grown, happy wife and mother herself) as a toddler was a bit grumpy and how she corrected her when they got home, including a spank. 

The Twitter account I found with the offending clip going viral was at a half a million views when I first saw it and was , and the comments were hilarious and sad, ranging from “yep. This is child abuse” to “arrest her” to “CPS should’ve received a call.” That last one was from a Twitter handle titled “Pro-Choicetifa.” Apparently, it’s perfectly fine to behead and dismember little babies (before they are born), but if you require them to be cheerful, that should be illegal? And since I’ve shared the clip approvingly, the hordes (of mostly women and beta males) have come out insisting that this is teaching children to lie, teaching children to hit, or simply teaching fear and manipulation, and of course I’m a (insert expletive) supporting every form of abuse known (and unknown) to mankind. 

Adding to the excitement surrounding all of this is the about-to-be-released docuseries Future Men, with interviews from Nate Wilson, Doug Wilson, CR Wiley, and yours truly. The good people at Canon Press dropped a trailer which you can watch here as well as a minute or so of me explaining how the Bible teaches that spanking is particularly good for raising boys which you can watch here. The Wilsons also got together yesterday and had a good chat about the whole thing which you can watch here.

But how many of these same people shrieking in my replies wouldn’t bat an eye at hitting their kids (particularly the boys) in the head with the baseball bat of antidepressants to make them be happy and docile? My Christian community advocates quick swats that correct and restore fellowship in less than five minutes, but some of these same people waving Harvard studies at me would support mastectomies for teenage girls and chemical castration for prepubescent boys, scarring them for life. Also, let’s not forget that the same “scientific studies” being heralded about the grey matter in the brains of children have been prophesying environmental apocalypse every three years for the last fifty years, forecasted COVID as the bubonic plague, and have been experimenting on aborted baby parts, so forgive me if I’m not impressed when your high priests mix up another cauldron of herbs and start pontificating about how we train up our children in the Lord. I’ve seen how the heads of toddlers have been rolling down your high place every day for the last 50 years. I don’t take parenting advice from Aztec shamans.   

How We Discipline
But for those who honestly want to know how we discipline our children in Moscow, here’s a scattershot which will no doubt miss something. First off, we believe that the duty of discipline resides firmly with the parents to whom God gave the children. Perhaps one of the more astonishing things about the “mostly peaceful protests” that have erupted around Mrs. Wilson’s comments is the fact that apparently many thousands believe they know from the distance of many years, many miles, and having virtually no knowledge of the Wilson home over forty years ago, have proceeded to lecture, mock, and condemn. For all the “judge not” nonsense that usually gets bandied about, I’d say we’ve witnessed a heap of judgment without a Lacroix’s whiff of knowledge. 

But our church teaches that God has established the government of the family as responsible for the training up of children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Dt. 6, Eph. 6). And while it may come as some kind of shock, this means that we don’t tell any parents exactly how to handle any particular circumstances that may arise in their home. However, we do happily teach that the rod of correction is one of God’s ordained means of discipline. Where does the Bible teach this? “Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him” (Prov. 22:15). “Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die” (Prov. 23:13). “The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame” (Prov. 29:15). And as noted in this last verse, we also believe in lots of talking with our kids: encouragement, exhortation, teaching, and good stories and jokes. Especially funny jokes.

We also teach that Proverbs is such fantastic wisdom literature we should actually obey it regularly in our homes. The Proverbs also teach that the younger children are the more you can shape them: “Train up a child in the way that they should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it” (Prov. 22:6). This is why many of our teenagers are sat down by their parents somewhere in the middle of high school and told that they are now free to do whatever they want. And then they carry on like responsible young adults into adulthood. And the reason that isn’t crazy is because we believe that in the first 3 or 4 years, you should run their world like a benevolent totalitarian dictatorship. Go ahead and mock, but tell me how many communities give that kind of freedom and responsibility to their teenagers and the whole thing not go to pot (pun intended). 

A really important point to underline is that we teach that the foundation for faithful discipline that is effective is warm fellowship between parents and their children. If your ordinary life together is not sweet and happy, then you will not be communicating love when you spank. Closely related, the Bible teaches that all correction is to be done in meekness, which means filled with the Spirit and all of His fruit, especially self-control (Gal. 6:1). Discipline that is carried out in anger, flying off the handle, violent, etc. is not Christian. Our church teaches against that kind of harshness, and we would hold parents accountable that were known to treat their children that way.

While I do not think the state should be in the foster care business, my wife and I were foster parents for a number of years, and I would generally discourage foster parents from spanking foster kids (it’s against the law anyhow in every state as far as I know). Many of those orphans have been abused and mistreated, and it is very difficult for complete strangers to come into a situation like that and communicate love through corporal punishment. Nevertheless, when I explained to one of our social workers how we disciplined our own children in our home (which is perfectly legal in Idaho), she seemed impressed and said it sounded very “constructive.” And despite all the accusations on the Twitters that I must be lying since no sane social worker would ever say that, much less place foster kids into a home that practiced regular spanking with their own children, all I can say is that it is true and don’t forget this is Idaho where we also let our kids ride around in the back of our pickup trucks (without helmets). 

But when there is a warm and joyful atmosphere in a home, and a child is in sin, spanking is one of God’s ordained means of bringing that child back into fellowship. A few swats are a quick, measured bit of pain, aimed at getting a child’s attention in order to call them back from the path they are on that leads to far greater pain. What path is that? Well, uncontrolled emotions, angry outbursts, and complaining spirits are the path to all manner of dysfunction: substance abuse, theft, out of wedlock pregnancies, abortion, rape, murder, prison, death, and Hell. “If you strike him with the rod, you will save his soul from Sheol” (Prov. 23:14). 

This is why the Bible clearly teaches that refusal to use corporal discipline is hatred of children: “Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him” (Prov. 13:24). While the rod is certainly not the only tool in a wise parent’s toolbox, and we encourage our families to utilize many other tools as well (practicing obedience, positive reinforcement and incentives, and other forms of physical exercise and restitution), the Bible teaches that there are some significant advantages and blessings of wisely employing the rod. 

Our community does discipline privately, calmly, explaining the offense, giving the swats, followed by quick comfort and hugs, prayers of confession, assurance of forgiveness, and full reconciliation and restoration of fellowship. And it has been massively constructive indeed.  

This means that modern studies and psychotherapies that claim that all spanking is abusive, damaging, and will only be received as threats of violence, etc. – those studies are science the same way Al Gore’s climate alarmism is science. 

That Goddess of Empathetic Emotionalism
But perhaps the central eyeball that has been touched in this #spankingate controversy is the idea that a parent can and should shepherd a child’s emotional state. While some would no doubt not mind very, very gentle verbal correction of a child’s bad attitude, many, listening to Mrs. Wilson’s description rushed to spin her daughter’s emotional state in the most innocent, defensible way, while assuming that Mrs. Wilson was in the worst possible way having a bad attitude, embarrassed by the moment, offended, hurt, or even angry. And while that sort of thing has no doubt happened many times in the history of parenting, it wasn’t what Mrs. Wilson was describing because that sort of thing has been roundly condemned pervasively by the Wilsons themselves for many decades. She wouldn’t be telling that story in order to give parents an example of helping a child work through their sinful emotions if she was the one with the sinful emotions. 

No, the story was clearly offensive because the child was sinning in her bad attitude seeing her mother and needing to leave her friend’s house. And of course any human with an ounce of empathy can imagine being in the little girl’s shoes. But the question is: what does God require? God requires immediate, cheerful obedience. God requires a joyful, submissive heart. Now, does every single infraction require that exact response? Of course not. Sometimes parents use verbal encouragement. Sometimes parents redirect. Sometimes parents might just have their kids do it over again the right way. But parents are God’s assigned deputies, and sometimes it is actually more kind to nip that kind of sin in the bud. Many parents in the name of being “gentle” will do anything except spank trying to deal with a bad attitude, and the bad attitude just keeps rotting in the back of the family cupboard: “the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel” (Prov. 12:10). But faith sometimes sees an opportunity to bring a far more gracious resolution to a situation. God says that physical, corporal discipline is sometimes the more gracious means of correction and resolution. And this really is loving your neighbor as yourself. Haven’t you ever been in an emotional funk and wished you could just snap out of it? It’s a great gift to young children when parents help them do it by God’s ordained means. 

But I think the real nub of the issue is that for many Christians who objected to this story is that while they confess Christ as Lord with their lips, their feelings, their emotions, and their own heart are really what is most sacred to them. When it comes down to it, if God’s Word seems to be saying something that would hurt them, something that might be very hard or painful, especially making them or those they care about hurt in any way, they do creative exegesis in order to justify their disobedience. It has been particularly remarkable to see the number of “prochoice Christians” emerge from the woodwork, who, when called on it, explained that abortion was such a difficult issue which requires a lot of nuance, but if you ever give a child a swat, especially for not greeting their mother cheerfully, you’re a demon monster. I honestly wonder how much of this vitriol over spanking is actually the pent up guilt of abortion in our land. Having murdered their own children, it would make sense for many to have an insanely warped sensitivity to the treatment of children. 

Regardless of the particulars, it’s simply true that our land is cursed. A land that kills their own children and not only does so, but enshrines the right to do so in their official documents, that land is cursed. That land is utterly, drooling mad. Many have tried to caricature our calm, biblical approach to corporal punishment as some kind of mechanical, clinical bludgeoning – “the more calm an abuser is, the worse it is!” But that is exactly what the Planned Parenthood ghouls and the whole medical establishment that carries out these murders is. 

Many Christians have been tempted to try to salvage “family values” from the dumpster of modern values, trying to argue for life and marriage and freedom from feminism and egalitarianism and secular humanism. But you can’t get the fruit of life and happy homes and political liberty from the bramble bush of resentment, envy, or idolatry. Other Christians have tried to build their house on the sand of the innocence and sanctity of life, especially the lives of little babies. Of course babies are judicially innocent (and therefore should not be criminal executed, even for the crimes of their parents) and their lives are sacred in a sense, but they are not intrinsically sacred and they are not morally innocent. The Bible teaches that when Adam sinned, his sin was imputed to all of his posterity, and therefore all children are conceived with sin covenantally reckoned to them. Even the smallest zygote must have his original sin forgiven. This doctrine is incredibly offensive to the sentimentalists and humanists. But the center of the offense is actually the fact that our highest standard is not your feelings, the feelings of the child, or any kind of intrinsic sanctity in helpless babies. No, the highest standard is the holiness of God, the sanctity of God and the sanctity and authority of His holy Word. 

I can’t count how many times people in my replies over the last few days excoriated me and the Wilsons, often including some variation on: God would never do that. I’m sorry, but that God, the God who would never inflict any harm on any child, is not the God of the Bible. And I know there are a bunch of Christians who are embarrassed and ashamed of this, but we cannot win this great war with sentimental platitudes. The God of the Bible ordered the genocide of cities in Canaan. The God of the Bible, the Lord and Giver of Life, is also the same God that takes human life whenever and however He pleases, using cancer, using crimes, etc. He is the Lord. All authority and power belongs to Jesus. Human authorities may only use the authority that He gives in the limited ways that He gives it. This is why totalitarian statism is blasphemy. This is why violent, angry homes are blasphemy. But this is also way sentimentalist empathy is also blasphemy. It is arrogance to disobey the King. 

Conclusion
So this is the central crux of the issue, the central cross: the holiness of God and the humility of men. Jesus says that the only way to follow Him is by taking up a cross, by taking up an instrument of torture on your back. But if you take it up in faith, it is actually the lightest burden in the world and it is full of comfort and rest because Jesus has already taken it up. He was crushed and scourged for our sins, and by His stripes we are healed. If you look to the Cross, you can see your anger, your envy, your abortion, your harsh words, your evil thoughts, your apathy and despair, your sentimental empathy nailed there and there’s a blood-red stamp next to every single charge. And it reads: paid in full.

But if you struggle and resist and defy the Lord, you will end up with the heaviest burden and all kinds of cruelty crushing you and the ones you love. The pride and hubris of thousands mocking God’s Word, mocking Christian parents who submit to God’s Word is astounding, but not really shocking. We are a cursed land. We defy the living God routinely, openly, belligerently. But how’s that really working out? Drag Queen pedophiles in our classrooms and libraries? Mass incarceration of the fatherless? Skyrocketing levels of substance abuse and suicide? We are scraping the bottom of the outhouse behind the brothel and many Christians with last night’s bowel movements all over their faces and in their teeth have the audacity to scream at us, for loving our children so well. Heh. Sorry if we are not exactly impressed. The aroma of your “kindness” isn’t very persuasive. 

Leaving Vengeance & Loving Justice

Mt. 5:38-42

Introduction
For far too long the Christian Church has been passive and apathetic, watching freedom and justice slip away from our land, and many have pointed to verses like these to justify their passivity and apathy, as though Jesus is requiring His people to lose. But we can look at Scripture and history and see moments of great resistance: Abraham, Moses, Gideon, David, the Apostle Paul, Christian medieval knights defending Christians from Muslim marauders, the Huguenots fighting for religious liberty, and even the founders of America fighting for independence. 

So how does our Lord’s teaching about enemies and justice apply to us? Whether we are thinking about the way pagans are seeking to destroy our Christian culture: think Drag Queens, an obese welfare state taxing us and regulating us into the ground, and cancel culture (including small town petty politics that try to suppress the gospel through zoning laws), or international conflict in the Middle East or Europe (should Ukraine turn the other cheek? Should Israel refuse to resist Hamas? Should the colonial Americans have submitted to British demands?), or interpersonal conflict you may have in your family (does Jesus require you to give in to the demands of your toddler in the candy aisle?), what does Jesus mean and how does this teaching apply to us and our world? 

The short answer is that Jesus is forbidding all personal animosity and vengeance. He is not forbidding or setting aside basic principles of justice. He is not forbidding self-defense, just wars, just laws and enforcement, parents correcting their children, or church discipline. He is forbidding the fleshly response of returning evil for evil. Instead, He is requiring His people to resist and fight all evil with good. You must fight. You must resist evil. But you must resist evil with good; you must overcome evil with good.

The Text: “Ye have heard that it hath been said, ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth’: but I say unto you, that ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.”

Summary of the Text
Jesus quotes from the criminal law of Israel “eye for an eye” (Ex. 21:24, Lev. 24:20, Dt. 19:21), having just recently affirmed the ongoing validity of the law (Mt. 5:17-20), and He says that this criminal justice is not to be applied by individual persons as acts of vengeance. This good principle of justice may not be weaponized to simply “punch/strike back.” Rather, our personal disposition is to be patient and forbearing (Mt. 5:39). In a battle, it is sometimes necessary to allow the enemy to strike you in order to deliver the appropriate blow. This requires discipline, thoughtfulness, patience, and fortitude. This is what Jesus is requiring, not absolute passivity or apathy. When you are struck (with words, insults, injustice, or physical harm), you may not strike back in a blind rage. But Jesus is not forbidding self-defense, protection of your property, or seeking true justice. 

This includes when we are sued and taken to court and the judge allows our goods to plundered (Mt. 5:40). Notice that Jesus assumes we would argue our case in court, not simply give whatever has been unjustly demanded of us. But given the nature of man and the tendency of courts to be corrupted, Jesus says, we should be fully prepared to surrender not only our hats, but also our coats (Mt. 5:40). These are not tactics of apathy; they are tactics of ultimate victory. If you scream and rage and take matters into your own hands, you’ll end up in prison or dead. Sometimes, you have to retreat in order to regroup to fight another day. Likewise, under foreign occupation, you may be compelled and commandeered like slaves. This may be utterly unjust, but if you want to actually put up a fight and seek freedom, you need to be prepared to go the extra mile (Mt. 5:41). Our personal disposition is to be thoroughly and sacrificially generous to all (Mt. 5:42). True justice and freedom grow in the soil of goodness. Goodness is not apathetic. But goodness is kind, generous, and patient.  

Principles of Justice
Jesus is not setting aside this central principle of justice that requires magistrates to repay evil equitably (“eye for eye”). We know this because elsewhere magistrates are still required to uphold justice (Rom. 13:4), God executes justice by “repaying” evil (Rom. 12:19), and Jesus Himself says in the judgment He will repay each person according to what he has done (Mt. 16:27, Rev. 22:12). “Eye for eye” is known as the lex talionis, the law of exact retribution or literally “the law of such a nature.” The lex talionis itself was meant to require careful calculation/deliberation and prohibit punishments driven by vengeance. When someone takes out your eye, your flesh wants to take off their head. Rage is blind. But this principle of justice requires due process, careful deliberation. Capital punishment is an example of “life for life,” but the Bible requires careful inquiry and 2-3 witnesses to establish every sin or crime. Likewise, restitution for lost, damaged, or stolen goods would be another example of “eye for eye” (Ex. 22:1-4). But again, that justice must be established by 2-3 witnesses, with judges carefully weighing the evidence, and the right of the accused to cross examine his accusers and provide witnesses of his own. This principle of justice in other words requires thoughtfulness and patience, not flying off the handle. Zacchaeus honored this principle of justice when he restored four-fold for his tax-thieving (Lk. 19:8). What Jesus prohibits here is using criminal justice as a justification for personal vengeance (Mt. 5:39). While not setting aside true justice, we must be willing to endure mistreatment, precisely because we believe in true justice. If you simply strike back (physically or verbally or emotionally), you’re part of the problem. You’re just joining the terrorists and mobs. 

Leave Vengeance for the Cops
Paul makes the same point in Romans 12 where he says not to repay any man evil for evil (Rom. 12:17), pursue peace with all men (Rom. 12:18), leave vengeance for the Lord to repay (Rom. 12:19), and do personal good to enemies (Rom. 12:20), overcoming evil with good (Rom. 12:21). Immediately after that, it says that the civil magistrate is the power ordained by God to minister God’s vengeance and wrath on evildoers (Rom. 13:4). This means if you caught a thief breaking and entering, you could call the cops, give him a glass of water while you wait, and then press charges. And there need not be anything “unChristlike” about it.

Likewise, as we already noted Jesus does not forbid arguing our case before magistrates or require us to give up our cloaks simply because a private individual demanded we do so (Mt. 5:40), just as Paul defended himself and argued his case elsewhere (cf. Acts 25-26). Rather, Jesus forbids us from angrily refusing to be defrauded if the case goes against us (Mt. 5:40). He prohibits us from despairing that all hope is lost. He prohibits us from responding in a blind fury or rage. If the case goes against us, we need to be prepared to receive that graciously, but that need not preclude making another appeal, like Paul who appealed to Rome. But sometimes it really is better to be defrauded even before the case goes to court (1 Cor. 6:7). If the whole dispute would simply bring shame on the name of Christ, we should drop it like a hot rock. Christians quarrelling over money is almost always a recipe for shame. 

Tyranny, Slavery, and Freedom
Sometimes living in slavery and under tyranny is necessary (if you want to stay alive and out of prison), and sometimes rebellion and revolution is worse than slavery. In the gospel, Jesus asks who has to pay certain taxes sons or slaves, and the disciples answer accurately that it’s the slaves, but Jesus says it would be better at the moment to pay the tax not to cause offense (Mt. 17:24-27). In other words, if you can bear the tyranny, bide your time patiently. But elsewhere it says clearly that if we can get our freedom, we should try, but if we can’t, we should live as the Lord’s freemen as much as possible (1 Cor. 7:21-22). Seeking to serve our masters as Christ is not apathy, since we all have a Master in Heaven who judges justly (Eph. 6:5-9, 1 Pet. 2:18-23). Christ submitted to the greatest injustice in history, and God saw and vindicated Him in the resurrection. When Peter exhorts wives to seek to do their disobedient husbands good, he isn’t counseling apathy; he’s counseling subversive resistance. Try to win him over without a word by your godly and gracious conduct and beauty. That isn’t apathy; it’s overcoming evil with good. And sometimes you need to call the elders or the cops. Patiently doing good invites God’s vindication and blessing, sometimes it disarms and wins our enemies, but at the very least it puts us in a position to see most clearly what we can do next, what we can do now. The wrath of man does not work the righteousness of God (Js. 1:20). Faith in God works His righteousness. A log in your eye (a log of wrath, bitterness, and rage) is not a strong position to fight from. Jesus wants us to fight, but He wants us to fight clean, fight like He fights. And light is what drives back the darkness. 

Applications
The central point is that personal grudges and angst are the origin of all evil tyranny. You can’t fight fire with fire. Returning evil for evil is not justice but flailing injustice. Returning evil for evil is joining the mob. Grudges and feuds drive every revolutionary mob, and those mobs always end up destroying themselves. All wrath, bitterness, and resentment must be banished from our hearts and words, while cultivating a godly hatred of all evil (Ps. 139:21-22). This perfect hatred also loves enemies and truly wants their good. If your hatred does not include love, it’s fleshly angst. God hates evil and loves to save sinners. We must learn to love and hate like God loves and hates. But this requires patience, grace, and wisdom.

Nothing here forbids Christians from exercising biblical justice in their assigned offices or appealing to authorities for redress. Call the cops, file the report, talk to your boss, talk to your teacher/parents, make the appeal, confront evil. Nothing here forbids Christians from practicing self-defense or just war or seeking the preservation and restoration of freedom and property through courts or laws. In fact, what Jesus says assumes the legitimacy of all those things. We are to overcome evil with good. Good what? Good families, good marriages, good hospitality, good business, good art, good churches, good neighborhoods, and good laws and civil governments. The point is that you cannot achieve a truly just and prosperous society with rage and bitterness in your heart. Start with God’s goodness in your heart.

Faithful parents need to practice this all day long: “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted” (Gal. 6:1). We are required to try to restore those who are overtaken in faults. But we are required to do so in a spirit of meekness, a spirit of self-control, considering ourselves, lest we fall into some evil. So, your options are not flying off the handle or passive apathy. No, parental obedience requires calm, measured, cheerful firmness. And so we must be in every area of life, not taking various insults and wrongs against us personally. If you take what your children do/say personally, you will not see clearly or understand what they really need. 

All earthly, human justice is at best an approximation of heavenly/divine justice (an approximation we are required to long for and work for): we are about to pray together: “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” But if you demand perfect justice in this world now/immediately, you will be constantly disappointed and angry (and thereby become part of the problem). Everyone will let you down, and despite your longing for justice, you will be letting other down and doing harm to them. 

This is why the Cross of Jesus Christ is central to all of this: the Cross of Jesus is the only fully perfect display of justice in the history of the world. In it the justice of God was/is displayed from faith to faith (Rom. 1:17). This means it is received by faith and lived out by faith.

The just live by faith, both because we are justified by faith from all of our own sins and that gives us great peace and patience. Jesus was struck in our place for all our wrathful vengeance. God’s perfect justice crushed Jesus instead of us. Faith in that justice of God in Christ is what allows us to work hard for true justice in this world now while resting in God’s perfect timing to work it all out. 

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Romans 11, Zionism, & the Future of the Jews

Introduction
There’s always something going on in the Middle East, and there’s almost always something going on between the Jews and the Philistines. Yes, “Philistine” is the Bible’s name for the Palestinians. And so here we are again. 

I think I read James Jordan’s essay on the future of the Jews probably around 20 years ago and have vaguely defaulted to his preterist interpretation ever since. I hadn’t given the topic much thought until I read The Puritan Hope by Iain Murray a couple of years ago, in which he describes the widespread belief of many of the Protestant Reformers and their English/Scottish Puritan heirs in a future, mass conversion of the Jews as central to their expectation that the earth would one day be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea, prior to the final return of Christ. At that point, I realized I hadn’t really given any other views on Romans 11 a fair shake. I simply knew I wasn’t a dispensational Zionist, expecting the rebuilding of the temple and a return to bloody sacrifices as some prerequisite for the return of Christ. Hebrews sufficiently contradicts that view.

You don’t have to be a Left Behind Zionist to generally side with the Israelis in the most recent conflict, even if you have major questions about how the modern Israeli state was established or the goals or means of the current war. We should also point out that contrary to modern leftist tropes an ally is not a nation that you think can do no wrong. Seems to me that America and American Christians in particular ought to feel free to generally think that Israel has the right to defend themselves from blood thirsty terrorists who desire their complete annihilation, conduct just wars, and that we may support those efforts as much it makes sense to do so (and opinions may reasonably vary), and that need not mean that you are anti-palestinian or anti-semitic. All reasonable God-fearing people should be anti-Hamas. But remember, there are other kinds of Palestinians: Palestinian Christians, Palestinian secularists, and Palestinian liberal Muslims. And Hamas is an Islamic terrorist organization that routinely uses human shields for its atrocities. 

I’m no expert on Middle Eastern politics by any long shot, but I am Christian minister who can outline a few Biblical principles that ought to inform our (American) foreign relations on the matter.    

Five Biblical Principles
First, I now believe in an on-going and future mass conversion of the Jews to Christianity as part of God’s grand plan to provoke the ends of the earth to salvation. “For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead” (Rom. 11:15). To take this as having already happened in the first century A.D. prior to 70 AD just doesn’t fit the text or history. The whole world was not “reconciled” before 70 AD, much less something equivalent to resurrection from the dead. Further, Paul says despite the partial blindness of Israel, all of Israel will be saved when the fullness of Gentiles has come in (Rom. 11:25-26). It seems to me that this nails Jordan’s preterist interpretation shut. The fullness of Israel will not be saved until the fullness of the Gentiles have come in. We are certainly in the process of seeing the fullness of the Gentiles come into the Kingdom, but we do not yet see all things under Christ’s feet. So, standing with many of our Reformed forefathers, we look forward to the salvation of the Gentile nations and following that, a very significant conversion of the Jews prior to the Final Return of Christ in glory. 

Second, Paul says that this is based on covenant promises to take away their sins (Rom. 11:27). What does this mean? He explains, “As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance” (Rom. 11:28-29). As Douglas Wilson recently reminded me, in Galatians 4, Paul calls this the Covenant with Hagar. “Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman… which things are an allegory: for these are two covenants; the one from mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, with is Agar. For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all” (Gal. 4:22-26). This point deserves further development, but Romans 11 and Galatians 4 do teach that a covenant remains with those who cling to the promises of Abraham and the law of Sinai. It’s simply not true that no covenant remains for unbelieving Jews. It’s a covenant of bondage and slavery, and it is most certainly not the covenant of promise and grace (from which they have been removed), but there is a covenant with unbelieving Jews that remains nonetheless — the covenant with Hagar. 

Third, to the extent that you have a people that identify with the Old Testament, looking to the promises to Abraham and the Torah-law, you have a Jewish people with veils remaining over their eyes, just as Paul described them in the first century (2 Cor. 3:14-15). James Jordan and others claim that the Jews ceased to exist after 70 AD, but I don’t find this argument compelling at all. Yes, the Old Covenant vanished at 70 AD with the temple and sacrifices, meaning that the temple approach to God has entirely ceased. There is no more animal sacrifice that foreshadows the final sacrifice of Christ. This is why the Zionist dreams of renewing the sacrificial system are terribly misguided and blasphemous. But just as the Jews existed in exile during the Old Covenant without sacrifices or temple, they can continue to exist for centuries, and they have. And on a purely historical note, it is simply astonishing that for all the nations that have come and gone and disappeared into the dustbin of history, there is a people called the Jews that still exist against all odds. Related, the Jewish people have never been some kind of “pure race” in terms of genetics and bloodline. The only reason the Bible traces genealogies in the Old Covenant is for the sake of the Messianic line. God promised that the seed of the woman would come and crush the head of the seed of the dragon (Gen. 3:15), and God promised that seed from Abraham (Gen. 12, 15, 17). And so Jesus has come, the seed of the woman, the seed of Abraham, the son of David. But there was always a mixed multitude in Isreal: from Abraham’s 318 fighting men, to the many Egyptians that joined Israel in the Exodus, from Rahab to Ruth to the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon’s reign, many joined themselves to Israel over the centuries. Israel was always a covenanted-people, bound by common faith and customs, and yes, marriage often joined these peoples over generations ethnically, but it was never genetic-centric. So regardless of what modern Jews are genetically, they clearly continue down to the present as a people who identify with the covenants of Abraham and the Torah of Sinai. 

Fourth, the Jews are partially blinded, and apart from Christ, these covenants only add to their condemnation, but by the same token, the Old Testament grants them more light than Muslims, Hindus, atheists, or any other non-Christians. This is why Jews are frequently very high functioning people having embraced and specialized in some of the common grace principles of business and prosperity highlighted in the Old Testament, using those skills for good and evil over the centuries. And this is often why the Jews are such hated people. But for Christians, this means that we have a people who are primed for the gospel and share a muddled but similar worldview. They are monotheists who have some respect for the Ten Words. That’s more common ground than many modern leftists or squishy conservatives. The modern nation of Israel also provides some pretty significant opportunities for missionary work and evangelism both in Israel and throughout the Middle East. 

Fifth, and to return to Paul’s point in Romans 11, the goal is to provoke the Jews to envy and emulation. Paul says that this is why he preaches so hard to Gentiles: in order to provoke his countrymen to emulation (Rom. 11:14). James Jordan argues that this can’t possibly still be in effect since Christians don’t have what modern Jews want. He writes, “Talmudic Jews are looking for a completely different kind of kingdom.” Likewise he writes, “Modern Jews are not in the least provoked by the fact that non-Jews believe the Gospel. Modern Jews get angry with Jews convert [sic], not when “Gentiles” do. In this respect, Modern Jews are just like any other non-Christian group. This is strong evidence that Romans 9-11 is concerned only with the early days of the Church.” But it seems to me that this is not entirely accurate and to the extent that it is somewhat true, it is largely to our shame. On the one hand, as Christendom flourished in the late middle ages and into the Reformation era, there actually was something of an influx of Jews into the Kingdom provoked by the superior learning, arts, sciences, and business practices of the Protestant Christian West. But it is also true that Christians have frequently so “spiritualized” the kingdom completely misunderstanding and misconstruing the language and nature of the New Covenant. While it is true that Christ’s Davidic Kingdom is not purely material or political, it is simply not true that it is not material or political at all. All authority in heaven and on earth have been given to Jesus, and it is on that basis that we disciple all the nations (Mt. 28). Jesus promised that all who gave up houses and lands and families for His sake would receive them back a hundred fold in this life with persecutions, and in the life to come, eternal life (Mk. 10:29-30). The blessings of Deuteronomy are now offered to all of the nations of the earth.

Conclusion
This final point is reason enough not to become Israeli sycophants, not to mention its cowardice and unseemliness, but rather, as our friend, James Rayment, has argued, we ought to strive to be good friends, faithful friends with Israel (and Palestine for that matter), which means supportive of goodness and justice but also the kind of friends who are faithful to wound and correct when they are wrong. And our overarching goal should be to be the kind of faithful people and nation that once again is supremely blessed – blessed with a right knowledge of the living God through Jesus Christ, blessed with the wisdom of His word in all of our affairs, and so blessed, as Deuteronomy says, in our families and fields and endeavors that all of the nations see the blessing and are provoked to want it, especially the Jews, and seeing our good works, they come and glorifying our Father in Heaven through Jesus Christ.

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24 Books Every Christian Leader Should Read (or Re-Read) for the Coming Reformation

Well, Happy Reformation Day 2023. In honor of the festivities, here are 24 books recommended for all Christians but Christian leaders in particular for the work of Reformation in 2024 that is before us.

I honestly believe that God is on the move. A real awakening and renewal is happening that is not just momentary emotions, but there are millions of Christians repenting of personal and familial and political sins, and recommitting themselves to the basics of following Jesus: worshipping God every Lord’s Day, getting married, being faithful, raising a small army of children to love Jesus, and building businesses, schools, and other public institutions in obedience to God’s Word for a Christendom 2.0. So I’ll be lifting some kind of dark German stout to that cause today. Cheers to Christendom 2.0, and cheers to the King.

There are of course many other books well worth your time, but here are my suggestions today, in no particular order, just how it tumbled out of my brain.

Escape From Reason, Schaeffer
This is a short, blunt overview of western philosophy, tracing how we arrived at this place. If you want to understand the philosophical roots of postmodernism, I don’t know a better introduction.
Mere Christianity, Lewis
This classic work is both apologetic, tracing Lewis’s own autobiographical struggle with theism and then on to an explicitly Christian theism, but it is also a fine introduction to Christian ethics. When you finish go on to Abolition of Man. You’ll need to read/re-read both of these multiple times.
Institutes, Calvin
John Calvin is the Godfather of Reformation Theology. His monumental work established the longterm impact of Reformation theology on politics, economics, and culture. Read his commentaries too; they are consistently better than any modern ones.
By This Standard, Bahnsen
It’s not enough to embrace Christianity philosophically or merely as a theoretical theology, it must be grounded in the concrete word of God (all of it). The continuing relevance of the Old Testament law — it’s “general equity” — is perhaps one of the greatest needs of our day.
Orthodoxy, G.K. Chesteron
Chesterton was a Papist, but he was so happy and insightful, we’re making him an honorary Calvinist. He would not have approved while he was living, but he approves now. His grasp of the significance of Christianity goes deep and wide and can’t help but leave you with a grateful and defiant grin on your face.
Notes from the Tilt-a-Whirl, N.D. Wilson
Apologetics, philosophy, and a playful punch to the gut: Chesterton meets Calvin and incarnates as a happy worldview college ninja dismantling modern ideological idols.
Leave It To Psmith, Wodehouse
If you’re going to make a difference in the world you need to learn to laugh at the antics and tangles and foibles of people. It will also accustom you to the joy of using words to paint the sort of garish pictures God is painting every day. Read this, re-read it, and then move on to the rest of the Wodehouse collection. It’ll make your heart happy and everyone around you.
Pilgrim’s Progress, Bunyan
Speaking of garish pictures, John Bunyan wrote the first part of this story while in prison for preaching the gospel. Despite the fact that this kind of allegory has fallen out of favor with all the cool kids, this should be required reading in all counseling courses. The real world is far more like a dangerous journey to the celestial city than a pseudo-scientific glossary of materialistic pathologies.
“Reformed” is Not Enough, Douglas Wilson
No one seems to notice the scare quotes around the word “Reformed,” but they are there. I checked. In other words, this is not a departure from confessional Reformed theology at all. Rather, this is a pastoral deep dive into Reformed theology, and taking the covenant seriously. But beware, if you’re seen in public with this, there might be riots or at least concerned letters sent to your presbytery.
Men and Marriage, Gilder
I believe Gilder was in the process of becoming a Christian as he wrote this book. So this is common sense on fire about the way God made the world, about the inherent cultural realities of sexuality, and our maleness and femaleness and potency of monogamous marriage. You can’t stop underlining.
Christianity and Liberalism, Machen
Machen saw cultural liberalism rushing into the so-called “conservative” denominations in early 20th century, and he was duly defrocked for being a trouble maker. Now everyone sings his praises for being so prescient, but if you actually try to imitate Machen, you’ll get the same treatment. After this, read his Education, Christianity, and the State.
Beowulf, Unknown
The Bible is the epic story about a world made for feasting interrupted and enslaved by the ravages of a monster, until our Hero came. And not only did our Hero kill the monster of our sin and restore feasting to our world, He also slayed the dragon and plundered his horde.
Prince Caspian, Lewis
Of course you should read and re-read all the Chronicles of Narnia — and why wouldn’t you? But I specifically recommend this one because of our current cultural moment. Godless powers largely run our land, but there are many who remember “old Narnia” and we’re busy telling our children the old stories, in sure hope that Aslan is on the move. Close runner up for our cultural moment would be The Silver Chair.
Planet Narnia, Ward
Speaking of Narnia, I had this book on my shelf for several years, but when Doug Wilson asked to borrow my copy at one point and I casually noted that I hadn’t actually read it yet, he gave me a kind but distraught look that made me repent on the spot. This is one part literary analysis, one part Lewis biography, and one part theology/devotional. You’ve never read a literary analysis that will warm your heart with worship.
Politics of Guilt & Pity, Rushdoony
Rousas Rushdoony was one of those voracious Christian readers and thinkers who simply has to be reckoned with. If you want to think deeply about the whole victim-culture phenomenon, read this. We need more of this deeply theological analysis of culture and politics.
The Puritan Hope, Murray
This is a heartwarming overview of Puritan eschatology, but it’s far more than that. Murray connects the dots between an optimistic outlook for the success of the gospel in history with practical piety, evangelistic zeal, and God’s blessing of true, gospel revival, particularly among the Jews. We need this.
City of God, Augustine
Next to the Bible, this is arguably the foundational work of western Christian Civilization. It’s fat and thick and meandering, but there are many gems, and we simply cannot begin the work of building Mere Christendom 2.0 apart from standing on this giant’s shoulders.
A House for My Name, Leithart
This book is a wonderful introduction to reading the Old Testament (and the whole Bible for that matter). No Christian leader can lead apart from being immersed in the stories, types, and motifs of Scripture.
The Household and the War for the Cosmos, Wiley
It’s really hard to decide whether to put Wiley’s Man of the House here or The Household and the War for the Cosmos, but I think War for the Cosmos only slightly edges out MOTH for its bigger, more expansive worldview. The real gut punch is the connection between Ephesians 5 and Ephesians 6.
The Principle of Protestantism, Schaff
Schaff argues forcefully here that Protestantism is the true and faithful continuation of the “catholic” and apostolic church. Sola fide and Sola Scriptura in particular but most all the Reformational distinctives can be found in the early church fathers. It was the papists who turned away from biblical orthodoxy in the later Middle Ages.
The Conservative Mind, Kirk
I read this one a few years ago, and while it is something of a slog, it is not tedious, and I don’t think we can understand where we are today and what “conservatism” really is or has been apart from a work like this, carefully, methodically documenting key themes, convictions, trends, thinkers and players in the development of conservative thought.
Idols for Destruction, Schlossberg
To be honest, this is an even more thorough deconstruction of modern idols than Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self by Trueman. Both are good and helpful, but if you could only take one into the tolerance gulags with you, I would recommend Schlossberg every day of the week.
Lectures on Calvinism (The Stone Lectures), Kuyper
Abraham Kuyper sketches a vision for the Lordship of Christ over every sphere of life: family, church, state, science, arts, etc. Even where a few minor correctives are necessary, the vision is sound. We need a renewal of Kuyperian Calvinism in our day.
Dabney on Fire, Dabney (ed. Garris)
Like Chesterton, Lewis, and Machen, Dabney was calling prophetic shots a hundred years in advance. When an older Christian brother does that sort of thing, we really should sit up and listen. If we want to be prophetic in our day, we need to study men like Dabney who saw the Leftist egalitarian crusade for what it was in 1890.

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