Dominionism- What are its goals, and how does it seek to achieve them?

This is basically a summary of what this project and website are all about. Sorry this is kind of long, but since there are a lot of new readers here as of late I wanted to post this. It's nothing new to longtime visitors, but I've tried to piece together and encapsulate several of the main themes I've written about. Anything that's brought up here has already been written about in more detail in other posts.

I'm critiquing Dominionism and for my other responses and interactions to make sense, you have to know where I'm coming from. There are others out there arguing along lines that are similar, but I'm approaching this a specific way that I've not found anywhere else. So while some of what I'm saying might be familiar to both friend and foe, there are ideas I'm bringing out that will be new to some readers. Not constrained by Reformed Confessionalism and/or Reformed denominational commitments, I'm also able to speak a little more directly to what I think some of the problems are.



As a follow on, a sort of Part 2, I will respond to the critique of this website by DT Maurina. He is offering a broad critique of my ideas, so I provides a unique and excellent opportunity to interact. I already posted his text at the end of the GreenBaggins discussion post. D.V., I'll re-post the text with my comments in the very near future.

A Kingdom discussion at GreenBaggins

Here's a rather extensive record of a good series of exchanges over at Green Baggins. No one changed anyone's mind, but it's yet another good example of the issues at stake and how someone like me pursues them vs. those who hold to what we would call the Christian Right. These interactions/comment threads seem to generate interest and some of you seem to find them helpful. This one has a different tone than the exchange last night on this site.

The conversation was good, a little depressing from my standpoint....but I'm pleased it stayed pretty civil. I'm afraid in the end my theology was pegged as Anabaptist....which if you've read anything here, you'll know that while I have some sympathy with them, there's much of their theology that I don't share. I'm not a Baptist to start with.

The Anabaptists picked up a vital part of the proto-Protestant mantle, but in reaction to the new Constantinianism birthed by the Protestant Reformation, they went too far in some of their theological constructs. Verduin talks about how some of this played out in The Reformers And Their Stepchildren. The whole baptism issue for the Anabaptists was really more about baptism being tied in with state citizenship vs. a theology that allowed children to be part of the Church. The latter they were not totally opposed to from the onset. But over time they moved toward a more hard line Credo-Baptist position....believer's baptism only. Children were in no way part of the visible manifestation of the Body.---That's my interpretation of how things developed. Modern day Anabaptists may differ. Verduin himself seemed to agree with what I'm saying. He seemed to lament the rift that took place in Zurich. The issue wasn't really about Baptism....it was Zwingli's refusal to set aside the Sacralist-Constantinian legacy of the Middle Ages.
The original post can be found here.

One of the commentors posted a critique of me and my website. It's down at the bottom. I'll post that separately at a later time. For those of you who care to wade through it all...enjoy and I hope you'll find some benefit in this conversation.

Holbrooke and Yugoslavia

Anyone that was interested in the Holbrooke piece might find this interesting. It's a republication from 2008, and here's the link over at LewRockwell.

The text follows.

A prime example of Kingdom confusion

Revelation 13.5

Just unbelievable........

This has been floating around some other good sites, but in case you missed it, here's former Constitution Party candidate and 'pastor' Chuck Baldwin on America.

Something of a Diatribe on Tombs, Monuments, Traditions and Authority

Over the past several days I have foolishly perhaps engaged in a little cyber-nudging... something I no longer do. I think things are rapidly degenerating in the Bible-believing Church, and though there's something of a remnant of thinking and discerning people. They are few. With the raging culture wars I like to see every once in a while how tightly people are wound. It's pretty bad out there.

I've visited a few websites and raised a point or two regarding Christmas and the larger principles in play. I have several observations, which stem from these principles.

They will be familiar to the frequent readers of this weblog.

Authority
Where do we go to derive Biblical truth? Christianity is not a get out of jail free card. It's not just about getting our sins forgiven, it's about being reconciled to God, our Creator, our Redeemer. Packer had it right...it's about Knowing God.

To know Him, we communicate, there's a relationship. He speaks to us...how? And we communicate with Him...how?

A note regarding 3 timely pieces

The Nativities, Nestorianism and Redemptive History post was meant to be a companion piece to:

Christmas 2010


which can also be found below. I think some of you may have missed it. Also, right below it, you can find Arthur Pink's Xmas....a very worthwhile read.

If I have time, I hope to squeeze in one more.

Nativities, Nestorianism, and Redemptive-History

or Biblical Christology in the New Covenant and the traps and pitfalls of Idolatry

The Christmas Wars of the Evangelicals are fought on several fronts, one being the conflict over whether or not to shop at stores that say, "Happy Holidays," vs. "Merry Christmas."

Another of course surrounds the public schools and whether or not Christmas programmes can include hymns or be reduced to secular carols.

And just as important to them, there is the battle for the nativity scene.

No Nation Under God

Here's an excellent post from a website I often visit called: Creed Code Cult

The text is below, while the link can be found here.

If you're interested, visit the site and read the comment exchange. Sometimes that can be as interesting as the article itself.

The site promotes Two Kingdom Theology very akin to what is presented here. Though I do have some difference when it comes to Theology, Method, perhaps History, and most certainly Polity...overall the site is very worthwhile. I recommend it. The articles and discussions are always provocative...in a good and productive way.

Pilger: Why Are Wars Not Being Reported Honestly

Excellent. Pilger at his best.

An interesting note. Rageh Omaar is referenced as a reporter for the BBC. Omaar's reporting has always impressed me. He left the BBC to work for an organization that he thought had from more integrity....Al Jazeera English.

Liberal media? Pilger doesn't think so either. Our media is for the most part Patriotic media....and thus more or less a propaganda tool for the state.

Here's the link, with the text below.

Holbrooke's Mirror

Here's a transcript from a short piece that aired the other day on NPR regarding the death of Richard Holbrooke, diplomat extraordinaire. The coverage was nothing remarkable...but you'll pardon me if I find it all to be rather stunning.

Is Kerby Anderson a Christian?

Five days a week our local Constantinian radio station blesses us with the wisdom of Kerby Anderson. Here's a commentary from back in November that I saved. I wanted to comment on it and my words are interspersed in this transcript.


You can find the original here.

A timely follow-up to Days in the Cult

Here's an article by Mark Crovelli.


This guy sums it perfectly. This dovetails nicely with the point I was trying to make in the Cult piece.

It upsets people, but when they say, "Aren't you thankful they're over there defending our freedom?" I reply, "I'm thankful for the freedom I still have IN SPITE OF what they're doing over there."

Increasingly I feel like we're living out Gibbon's Decline and Fall....

I guess it's no surprise the Christians want a new Constantine to remedy the ills of Empire.

Here's the article and the link:

Days in the Cult

I keep chuckling over the comment left on the Speaking of Treason post. That Lee Greenwood song (God  Bless the USA) for me evokes a particular memory...

I remember when I joined this particular group and they took away all my clothes and possessions. They shaved my head, and by shouting threats they tried to break me of all my previous habits and ideas. They deprive you of sleep and try to drive you insane by making you spend hours engaged in meaningless tasks. Everything you do is wrong, and never do you receive a kind word.

Regarding not the day......

We have no superstitious regard for times and seasons. Certainly we do not believe in the present ecclesiastical arrangement called Christmas. First, because we do not believe in the mass at all, but abhor it, whether it be sung in Latin or in English. Secondly, because we find no Scriptural warrant whatever for observing any day as the birthday of the Savior; and consequently, its observance is a superstition, because not of divine authority. Superstition has fixed most positively the day of our Savior's birth, although there is no possibility of discovering when it occurred. ... It was not till the middle of the third century that any part of the Church celebrated the nativity of our Lord; and it was not till very long after the Western Church had set the example, that the Eastern adopted it. ... Probably the fact is that the "holy" days were arranged to fit in with the heathen festivals. We venture to assert, that if there be any day in the year, of which we may be pretty sure that it was not the day on which the Savior was born, it is the 25th of December. ... Regarding not the day, let us, nevertheless, give God thanks for the gift of His dear Son.


Charles Spurgeon
24 December 1871

Christmas 2010: Constantine is the reason for the season

Dashing through the snow….a Yuletide ramble.


Yes, I had to write about another holiday I don't keep….

Xmas

XMAS


by A. W. Pink

"Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen… for the CUSTOMS of the people are vain." (Jer. 10:1-3)

Speaking of treason....

I had to laugh today. Lieberman was on Fox news and the 'reporter' was calling for Assange to be tried for treason.

Poor dear. She didn't seem to realize that as a citizen of Australia, he certainly could not be charged with treason. Espionage? Perhaps.

Of course Lieberman wants certain sectors of the American media to be brought up on charges for publishing the leaked data.

Funny they didn't seem to feel that way when the media helped the Bush administration deceive the country into the Iraq War, and the folks at FOX sure didn't feel that way when Cheney, Armitage, and Libby committed treason by exposing a CIA agent and probably were responsible for the death of several of her assets.

And yet Fox and Lieberman are both championed by so-called Christians in the United States. For people that proclaim to worship the Truth....they seem to have very little interest in it.

Rejecting the Western media paradigm

Paul Craig Roberts as always has a few interesting comments. What I appreciate about him, even when I sometimes disagree with him is the way he takes an issue and looks at it an entirely different way than it is presented in our media. He apparently would agree with me, NPR is hardly some liberal crusading news organization. Actually it's completely pro-American and demonstrates this time and time again. It's better than many of the other American news outlets, but still operates within the American paradigm. Hardly objective, but in no way anti-establishment.

In the Christian community we're supposed to loathe and hate Iran and this all goes back of course to the revolution in 1979. Iran's rulers are evil men, but that doesn't make the rulers in Washington the good guys either. It's a shame Iran is so hostile to Christianity, but I've pointed out repeatedly that we're seeing a repeat of what happened in the 4th century.

Crusade against Mexico

Fred Reed critiques the latest statements from Rick Perry, the Evangelical, John Hagee supporting, governor of Texas.

Perry in all sincerity, wants to invade Mexico.

Somehow we're to believe they're the pro-life party. And, I'm guessing Perry doesn't realize the Mexican government at least up until the most recent elections has basically been an American lapdog for the better part of a century. We all learn about the Monroe Doctrine in school, but no one seems to follow through on its core principles and realize this doctrine has been the story of the Western Hemisphere for more than a century now.

Thanksgiving Day 2010

Take it or leave it. Either way, we're free from the bondage of keeping days.....

Some thoughts on the fourth Thursday in November.....

Ignoring the Echo

Here's a link of interest. This is thoughtful article tying in the rise of the Right in both Europe and America to events in the not so distant past.

The Two Age Structure and Chiliasm

For those who like to listen to podcasts....

Below you will find a link to a recent and worthwhile episode over at Christ the Center. The topic is Amillennialism and the guest is Kim Riddlebarger. He's pretty well known as one of the most vocal proponents of that system in Reformed circles. He's also a co-host on the radio programme known as The Whitehorse Inn. Michael Horton is the other well-known figure often linked with Riddlebarger.

Answering Questions #7- The Criteria of Criticism

Since I've probably upset and irritated more than a few as of late, I thought it a good time to answer the following email......

Why are you so critical of the United States?

Shame not honour

This was posted by L. Vance at the LewRockwell Blog. Interesting quote. Sometimes that's what it takes to open someone's eyes. Thankfully I wasn't flying missions over Iraq, but during my time in the American Forces I certainly was not free of blood-guilt. I was part of the machine and just two steps aways from the guys pushing the buttons and dropping the bombs. It was an eye-opener and when I realized what we were doing and what it was really all about, just like this fellow...it made me sick.

I tossed my uniforms and medals long ago. I am not proud to be a veteran and am ashamed to have worn the uniform, but Christ forgives and in the end...I cannot tell you how many valuable lessons I learned during that time. They weren't the lessons the American Military was trying to teach me, quite the opposite, but I learned much.

And participating in the Church in that context, I experienced many eye-openers. I began to see many things as I watched not only America being merged with the Church, but in the context you find the American Military merged with the Church. Peter and Paul would have been amazed at some of the things I saw!

A few thoughts on Veteran's Day

I'm not setting out to deliberately offend people, but a few thoughts.

First, can you even imagine the early Church placing Roman standards in their places of meeting and having veterans of the Roman legions stand up and be recognized? Wear their uniforms to church? Can you imagine the early Church celebrating Trajan's conquest of Dacia? Why would Christians have celebrated Nero's war with Parthia over Armenia? What about Claudius' final subjugation of Britain? Would they viewed these things as necessary and praiseworthy?

It all seems rather silly when placed in that light does it not?

American Evangelicalism- Corrupted and Manipulated

SB 1070, the Arizona Immigration Law on NPR's Talk of the Nation...

This was an interesting radio programme that aired a couple of days ago on NPR. They covered this awhile back, but delved into a bit more extensively in this episode. 

Update and a couple of questions.....

Sorry there haven't been many posts as of late. Life has overtaken me. There's been some family issues, work, and other things that have kept me from making the progress that I would like.

I have several pieces in the works. I'm writing a multi-part series dealing with Wisdom. I have a half finished piece on Islam which I also want to wrap up. In addition to several smaller pieces, I'm planning a posting dealing with the Mark of the Beast and finally I hope to finish the year with a series of posts on re-thinking our concept of Church.

God willing in the next couple of days the Wisdom series will start to appear, followed by the rest.

I'm pleased overall with the ground that's been covered since June when I started this. I had intended to write more regarding Church History, but other things have come up. I hope to turn back to more of the Middle Ages in the new year.

I started the blog along those lines and spent quite a bit of time focusing on some philosophical and doctrinal issues I thought important. Those posts have not proved to be very popular. The Why and How series covers a wide range of territory, but those also have not proved too popular. Not as interesting I guess.

No surprise, it seems like the posts that everyone wants to read pertain to current events and some of the very powerful contemporary forces at work in the Church. That's fine. I'm happy to write about those things as well and it ties in with the overall picture I'm trying to paint and the ideas I'm trying to stir up.

I want to look at the past, tie some of it in with the present, and then also discuss some of the doctrinal issues floating about that I think are often hindered by historical issues.

I had hoped to generate a little more discussion, but I realize the topics and way I write about them doesn't always prove conducive to that. I have received a fair amount of email correspondence, which is also an encouragement. I understand not everyone wants to post on the blog itself. I've removed all the restrictions for posting comments, so anyone can have at it. If you do post anonymously, maybe make up a nickname or something just so the different anonymous commenters can be differentiated.

Many of you know this, but a little tip for those who don't. Since sometimes any of the websites can lock up when you try to post, before I click the submit button, I always 'right click' the text and choose 'select all' and then 'copy.'

That way if it gets stuck, I can either come back and re-paste it, or dump it in an email document to be retrieved later.

Also, if you want to print any of these pieces out, just highlight it by dragging the mouse, and hit Control-C or right click and select 'copy' and then Control-V or right click and 'paste' it into a word processing document. That way you can print it without all the other stuff on the screen and you can change the font size if you wish.

I know there are some spelling errors here and there. I edit before I post, but it's usually at high speed, so I do make some mistakes. I'm also planning in the 2011 to stop for awhile and go back and clean up some of the pieces I've written. Not re-write them, just try and fix some of the spelling mistakes and things.

I hope the format is agreeable. The narrow center column with spaces between paragraphs has been appreciated by some. It seems to make it a little easier to read. I would imagine all the 'stuff' in the side columns might confuse some people at first. Any suggestions? I was thinking of eliminating the side essay on the right as well as the text at the top and combining it all in a 'click here to get started' page or something like that.

Finally, if any international readers, (and I'm pleased that there are more than a few,) would like to chime in, I'm very curious.....in your opinion, how influential is American Evangelicalism within your local Evangelical congregations? Or to put it another way, how great is the influence of the American Church? Are Christians looking to it for guidance in terms of teachers and method, or are some disdainful of it, perhaps for some of the reasons I've written about here?

If you don't want to answer here, then please email me at protoprotestant@gmail.com

And for American readers....do you think a growing number of people within Evangelicalism (or on the fringes) are starting to question the whole Christian America concept/American Constantinianism?

It seems to me that it's worse than ever, but at the same time, there's a small but growing number of people who are starting to question it all and looking elsewhere for ideas. Perhaps that would include some who regularly read this site?

Thanks and God willing, in the near future there will be some new posts.

Pilgrims in Babylon

Yesterday I was listening to the local Constantinian radio station and I grew quickly bored with the repeated urges and then commands to go out and vote today. And of course what they mean is vote Republican, because it is the only party that will even remotely push the Christian America agenda.

All Sacralist's Eve

A discussion regarding Halloween.

Answering Questions #6- Power

Answering Questions#6 -The nature of Power and how it presents itself to the world

In light of all the discussion regarding media and information, I thought it a good time to answer a question posed to me.
So why as a Christian do I turn to pagan journalists and commentators like Margolis, Paul Craig Roberts, and Al Jazeera? Shouldn't we look to FOX where so many of the reporters are Christian or at least have Christian sympathies?

NPR follow-up....

Just some follow-up on the NPR controversy.

Mars, Bringer of War and his children

Since we've been talking about power and its effects and the dangers it poses for the followers of Christ, I thought I would take second a comment on yet another news item.

The NPR Incident: Censorship or Journalistic Responsibility?

First I apologize to the international readers. Several of the recent posts, including this one, have concerned items almost exclusively within the American sphere.

By the way, with regard to the last post...for those who don't know, Kavkaz is the Russian name for the Caucasus.

I just wanted to comment briefly in regard to all the fuss concerning NPR's (National Public Radio) firing of Juan Williams. Williams for several years also appeared regularly on Rupert Murdoch's FOX news as a commentator.

However on NPR his job was that of an analyst, and that's where the rub is. NPR is pretty open and strict regarding their standards of journalism. NPR reporters are not allowed to be politically active, nor are they allowed to opine in a public forum.

Kavkaz Crisis

Since we find Chechnya once again in the news, I thought I would post this Margolis piece from April.

While Chechnya has nothing to do with Proto-protestantism, it ties into a larger discussion regarding history, media, truthfulness, and Sacralism.

Constantinian Power Ethics

or

Lies in the cause of Constantinianism


Sharron Angle has been running numerous political ads which can only be described as dishonest and dirty.

Besides her really bizarre and almost unintelligible statements, she continually makes comments that can only be described as racist. Though this heresy is openly rearing its head in Theonomic circles at present, it has long been a latent tendency among the white Evangelical community. It needs to be condemned. Evangelicals have recently revised history and suddenly made Martin Luther King into some kind of hero they identify with. It's very strange, because only twenty years ago he was denounced by white Evangelicals. I was taught to despise him, but now we have people like Colson who not only praise him, they try to 'claim' him as one of their own!?!

The scramble for Europe and other stories the media refuses to share

Once again Eric Margolis has produced an interesting commentary. This time it concerns the latest news out of the United Kingdom concerning the substantial cuts to the defense budget. They are significant enough that even the United States has raised a protest under the guise of NATO responsibilities and obligations.

Margolis exposes something of the well-known but oft ignored back story to this. That is, well-known in Europe but unreported and unexplored in the American media.

The Delusion Effect- The Fruit of Sacralism

or Truths so plain, only an apostate idolater could fail to see them.

Another excellent piece by Paul C. Roberts. Again I ask, why does this unbeliever see so much that Christians cannot see, let alone grasp? Almost every point he raises and critiques are issues cheered on by the Christian Right.

What does this say about the theology of the American Church? They openly embrace lies to promote their idol...the United States. They are deluded. I don't know what else to say. It just keeps getting worse. It is Divine Judgment and very much to their shame that people who know not Christ or His gospel can simply work through the available and very open sources and piece together what is happening.

Rather than seek the truth, American Evangelicals have embraced buffoonery, revelled in simplicity and ignorance and support demagogic fools who seem to know very little about how the world works. It's very poignant at this moment deep into the American election cycle. The Evangelical Party, for that's what it really is, a political organization... is the Know-Nothing party for the 21st century, glorying in childish thought and proud to be ignorant, deceitful, racist, and wholly repugnant to the Kingdom of Christ.

No wonder they support politicians who would fail High School civics and history, and certainly would fail any basic-level debate class. Reality is not important when you can create your own truth. They even have sham historians like Stark and D'Souza to help them in the task. My head spins. I only find comfort in the Wisdom of the Scriptures and can find a little sanity (through tears) when I read men like Roberts. Though Evangelicalism has been handed over, maybe when Christendom is finally finished, the True Kingdom will grow leaps and bounds. Maybe even people like Roberts will listen.

The gospel is always an offense to fallen man, but I fear at present the gospel so many find offensive is not the gospel at all.

Answering Questions #5- Sola Scriptura, Literacy, and the Middle Ages

Getting some great questions...keep them coming.


Isn't Sola Scriptura anachronistic when placed in a medieval context? The people were illiterate and thus out of necessity they would be dependent on a Magisterium, a clerical ruling class. Whether or not it is the Biblical ideal, is it not unrealistic and historically inaccurate to ascribe this to the pre-Reform bodies?

Answering Questions #4- Protoprotestants and Sacralism

Who were the Protoprotestants?

Could you explain Sacralism a bit more?

Is there a difference between Sacralism and Constantinianism?

Answering Questions #3- Romanticism

I've detected a little bit of confusion regarding my use of the term Romanticism so I thought I would take a minute and try to clarify what I mean.

Under the enemy flag

How important was the issue of Sacralism to the Anabaptists?

The Church that had allowed itself to become identified with the State was to them a fallen Church, and all who made their peace with this fallenness were serving under the flag of the enemy.

Leonard Verduin, The Reformers and Their Stepchildren p.182

The Right Exercise of the Ecclesiastical Voice

or
Getting it right: Non-Sacralist Public Discourse

On more than one occasion I've spoken ill of Albert Mohler, not for the soteriology he espouses but because he negates Biblical truth by cavorting with the likes of Dobson and other Americanists. He praises 'our' troops and has grossly confused American values and politics with those taught in the Scriptures.

But today he got it right. He called to account those who have syncretized Yoga with Christianity.

Clash of Allegiances: The Sacralist Pledge

Comments and a link regarding the Sacralist judge in Mississippi...

An Unholy Alliance

The American Empire: An Unholy Alliance between Church and State by Lee Shelton

This is a brief but helpful piece touching on several points pertinent to this project. The author grasps the essential problem of Constantinianism. I make a few introductory comments and then include the full text below. You can also follow the link.

Replacement Theology- Part 3/3

or

A Replacement Concept to be rejected




Many who attack the notion of Replacement theology, that is the idea that the Church has inherited the mantle of Israel do so from a Dispensational premise. And I hope I've briefly shown why their concerns are misguided due to a misreading of the Bible.

But there is another type of Replacement Theology that ought to cause concern. It is directly related to the issues I've been talking about. By employing a hermeneutic of hyper-unity some bring the worship practices into the New Covenant and are guilty of Judaizing. But there are others who also bring the polity of the Old Covenant into the New Covenant era.

Replacement Theology- Part 2/3

This is important, so I wish to re-emphasize…

In John 6 we read they tried to come and make him King by force, but he rejected this and slipped away. They rejected the Messiah because they rejected his Person, Work, and His Kingdom. Once again as in the days of Saul, they wanted a Messiah that would fulfill their worldly dreams and desires. They had become corrupted by the wisdom of the world. This was not the type of Kingdom Christ had come to establish.

America in the Andes

Here's a link to some news reports regarding the troubles in Ecuador.

and another paragraph on Wikipedia with some additional links.

Russia Today is not the best news source. They have a definite anti-American bias, yet I have to say more often than not when it comes to issues regarding the United States....they're right. I've written elsewhere about Putin and how he is portrayed in our media. Russia Today is not very good when it comes to analysis of the actions coming out of Moscow, they're a little to cozy with the Kremlin. But as I've said, like it or not, the Putin/Medvedev Kremlin is acting logically and responding quite reasonably to the geo-political aggression on the part of the United States.

Replacement Theology- Part 1/3

or

Rights and wrongs in the relationship between the Old and New Covenants and how we define The People of God

In this 3-part series I'm treating two types of what is often called Replacement Theology. It's not the term I would choose, but it seems to be the one in use. In parts 1 & 2 I wish to lay out what I believe to be the Biblical view and in the final part I wish to critique what I view to be a terrible perversion of the Biblical teaching.

Discerning Babel- Addendum

A further comment concerning Colson.

I remember just recently listening to Jim Daly of Focus on the Family praise Colson as a modern day Paul. Colson assured him that many have said so, but it was all God of course.

Discerning Babel

Just astonishing.

After years of defending the Bush administration, its wars, its renditions and tortures, suddenly we have Evangelical leaders critiquing the War in Afghanistan?

Answering Questions #2- Mystery and Eastern v. Western Thought

Here's an exchange I had with a cyber-friend. Though brief, I thought we touched on some interesting topics and wanted to share the conversation with everyone else.

The Power of War

No surprise, but the United States is once again employing Death Squads to do its work. This time instead of Central America and Vietnam, it's Afghanistan. The consequences of this are terrible and if history is any precedent, the civilian costs are equally severe.

Answering Questions #1- Dominionism

Periodically, I receive questions via email and sometimes they are of a nature beneficial to the general audience. So I'm starting an ongoing series called...Answering Questions. I will keep them all anonymous.


Answering Questions #1


What do I mean by Dominionism?

Advancing the Kingdom- (Part 6) Winning by Losing

Part six of my four part series.....

We have a joke around our house. When I call home during the day and ask if we received any phone calls or mail, if the answer is no, I always respond, "Good, we don't need any excitement." And there's a sense I truly mean that. There's a peace and solace in just living a plain ordinary life, coming home to a wife happy to see me, kids that aren't out of control. We live in a pretty quiet place with not much to do as many would reckon it. Nevertheless we are pleased with our woods, hills, and river, and the wonder of the four seasons. We are attempting to raise a godly family and honour God by doing so. I am reminded of a paragraph from Schaff concerning the youth of Christ. I think of this not from the perspective of Christ, but from the viewpoint of Joseph and Mary, a couple of regular people trying to serve the Lord, and with a most extraordinary task before them. Certainly they were honouring God, and I think of the life they provided for our Lord when he was young. Speaking of this, Schaff comments:

The Salt of the Earth

I often disagree with him, but here's a worthwhile article from PC Roberts.

A sober and I'm sad to say, accurate assessment.

It's called, The Collapse of Western Morality

Perhaps the best line can be found in the concluding paragraph:

Americans will be the first people sent straight to Hell while thinking that they are the salt of the earth. The Americans have even devised a title for themselves to rival that of the Israelis’ self-designation as “God’s Chosen People.” The Americans call themselves “the indispensable people.”

Advancing the Kingdom- (Part 5) Building the Kingdom by Ordinary Means

or
Christian Life and the Kingdom


Part 5 of my 4 part series (?) on Advancing the Kingdom.

Thus far I've been critical of what I deem to be serious errors in defining the Kingdom and thus building of it. Now, I wish to turn to some of the positive aspects of Kingdom building....

ATK Part 4 Supplement- The Issue of Imminency

As a follow up to some of the comments I made in the last post….




I would also point out the problems Dispensationalism and Postmillennialism both have with the doctrine of the Imminency of the Second Coming. This is the teaching that Christ could have come at any moment in the past, including the present moment. Some may find it surprising that some systems deny this teaching.

Advancing the Kingdom- (Part 4) The Parsing of American Evangelicalism: Dispensationalism, Dominionism, Americanism, and Chiliasm

I ended the last piece with this question.


So why do I find it particularly strange this radio preacher was teaching about the Cultural Mandate, a doctrine which urges the Christian to try and conquer every facet of the Earth?

Advancing the Kingdom- (Part 3) The Sacralist Hybrid

 Now, these have been general outlines of the two extremes. There's actually another camp which represents probably a much larger number of professing Christians.

The only name I can come up with is Pietistic Transformationalism, a hybrid of the two. A Sacralist hybrid.

This seems to be where most American Evangelicals find themselves, though the present manifestation can be pinpointed to the late 1970's. These movements are always grounded in a specific historical context. In a later post I hope discuss an earlier historic parallel which generated a similar response from Sacralist Protestantism. Our present form has been shaped by the American context in general, but more specifically it represents a reactionary response to the cultural revolution originating in the 1960's.

The Kingdom War

A war worth fighting.

Within Reformed circles there's an intense debate between the Two Kingdom Theology position which I advocate here, (though in a more extreme fashion than many Reformed), and the Monistic One Kingdom position argued by Dominionists, Theonomists, and Postmillennialists, and all other expressions of Transformationalist theology.

Several items of interest concerning 11 September and beyond...

I had planned to have a post ready for today, but I've been a bit overwhelmed lately and didn't get it done. Yes, it's related to Islam, but it's not directly related to 9/11. God willing I'll wrap that up in the next couple of days.

In the meantime here are a few links I'll share. As one might expect, there happened to be several of interest that popped up today. As always I'll add that I don't agree 100% with everything written, but for that matter I don't think I've ever read anything that I can say I endorse absolutely and completely other than God's Word.

Advancing the Kingdom of Christ (Part 2 of 4) The Error of Transformationalism

Transformationalism seemingly stands at the opposite end of the Christ and Culture debate, and in some sense it is, but it's built on the same foundation as Pietism.


While rejecting Pietistic subjectivism and looking at the inward experience, this camp instead looks outward and gauges the Christian life in reference to one's impact on culture. They seek to build and conquer culture and tend to despise any hint of what they call retreatism.

Advancing the Kingdom of Christ (Part 1/4)- The Error of Pietism

What is Pietism? This term is a bit complicated and can mean a lot of different things. Of course those who self-identify as Pietists will not agree with my definitions or comments.

One, it can refer to a historical movement within Lutheranism which focused on inward piety and the Christian life.

or

Two, it can refer in a larger sense to a tendency toward inward focus on the subjective Christian experience. Rather than view the Christian life as primarily a focus on the Person and Work of Christ in all that we do, pietism tends to turn inward. It focuses on the Christian walk and inner feelings regarding that walk, and measures one's success and level of pleasing God based on personal conduct.

The Decline of Christianity in the West?

At the end of the last piece I asked if Christianity was in decline...

This is an excellent by article by a professor at Grove City College, named T. David Gordon.

A large portion in the center of this piece focuses on American Presbyterianism. Some readers might be interested in it, but others will most likely glaze over. So I am inserting a break with a note, then you can skip ahead to the last portion. But I wanted to post the whole article out of fairness to the author.---


They are a minority, but there are some in the Reformed world who oppose Constantinianism. Dr. Gordon is one who does so bravely but with humility. He is not liked by the Theonomists, I've seen that in person.


The link is here. As with many links, there are some things that are excellent, and other articles I would not endorse.

1 September 1939

Reflections on how we as Christians should think about the events leading to and subsequent to The Second World War.


I meant to publish this on 1 September, but I was having computer trouble. My apologies.
The majority of my comments pertaining to the war are directed to an American audience, though the lessons I hope are applicable to Christians in any setting.


Yesterday (1Sep2010) was the 71st anniversary of the Nazi invasion of Poland, the official start of World War II. Every day I look at the obituaries and find a veteran or two from that era dying off. Soon they will be all but gone. For many in that generation the changes they saw in the scope of their lives is nothing less than astonishing. Many grew up barefoot kids playing on a farm, listening to the radio, many with outhouses instead of bathrooms, some without electricity. As that generation leaves us, we find a world with space exploration, the internet, medical technology they would have never even dreamed of, and so much more.

Nothing new under the sun- Part 4

Part 4


Apostate Christianity is the great enemy, the great curse upon the Church today. We are surrounded by multitudes of 'churches,' and yet one is hard pressed to find one that teaches the Bible. You'll find many who pay lip-service to it, but within minutes of conversation it is usually quite clear the leaders have little idea of what they're doing. Even in many theologically conservative and Bible-affirming churches, rather than Scripture, the leadership seems most versed and interested in the latest innovations pertaining to church growth, so-called ministry, and the latest fads and techniques in worship.

Pardon me if my tone seems contemptuous, but if you understand my argument, you'll see I'm not overly concerned with Al-Qaeda, Pelosi, Obama, Ahmadinejad, illegal aliens, Ground Zero mosques, or gay marriage. I'm concerned with apostate Christianity. And I grow very concerned when apostate Christianity is wedded to political power as with George Bush and Ronald Reagan, or even historically with someone like Abraham Lincoln, or the British Empire.

Here's the problem. If I say, homosexual marriage is not that important to me, because knowing history I can say with confidence, we've seen these things before. Then immediately I must be a pro-abortion, pro-gay, anti-gun, socialist, earth-goddess worshipper. There's no room for discussion.

The people who think and argue this way, live and operate in very small little boxes…one's given to them by their ideological superiors. And frankly, there's very little you can say to them. Blinded by their Sacral commitments they are unable to step back and engage in honest conversation, and usually they're not interested in trying to have a conversation at all. In the last piece I mentioned that with the removal of Divine Restraint, there also seems to be a removal of discernment regarding the Church. The words strong delusion come to mind.

Confusing the Holy and the Common

Corporate v. Individual Conduct or What we do as the Church vs. What we do as individual Christians

Here's one of those laugh/cry stories. It concerns a small town in Northeast Ohio where a small church has protested and picketed a strip club and are now being counter picketed by the strippers.

What a mess!

But there are a couple of lessons that can be learned.

Nothing new under the sun- Part 3

The Early Church response was different, because it did not have a Sacralistic view of the Kingdom.
and
Sacralism affects theologically liberal Churches as well, in fact it's one of the reasons people still attend them.

Part 3

What of the pervasive and omnipresent cultural wickedness? How did the Christians in the first century view it? We find no emphasis on the pages of the New Testament which would drive the Church into some kind of activism. We find no encouragement or seed of doctrine leading us to look to the magistrate to transform society. Nor do we find it in the writings of the Early Church Fathers. We do not find it in the letter to Diognetus, nor in the letters of Clement, Ignatius, Polycarp, Justin, Tertullian, or Irenaeus. It is only in the Constantinian times that we begin to see this kind of thinking and action.

Why was it absent before the Edict of Milan? Because they lacked the means that we now possess? I would argue they rightly lacked the vision. Their understanding of the Kingdom was not one of political power. They had a different vision.

Sacralism is a dangerous thing, because it confuses us. I wonder how many Americans are really upset over these same social issues the first century Church dealt with, because of their devotion to a romantic and theological vision of America?

Nothing new under the sun- Part 2

Many similarities in different forms...how the Roman world was very much like our own, and how the Church responded.

The similarities between Imperial Rome and America are often astounding. Certainly we've had other empires in the past with more of a universal military and political character granting them perhaps a stronger claim to the Roman analogy. But Rome like America, was also the source of a powerful cultural imperialism. And like America, Rome wasn't really original in its cultural creations, it was how it transformed or Romanized the other cultures. Today we would say, it was the packaging.

Nota Bene on 24 August

Today is the anniversary of both the destruction of Pompeii in AD79 and the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre of 1572.

Nothing new under the sun- part 1

In the centuries right around the time of Christ's birth, what was the status of marriage in the Roman Empire? Rome, like all civilizations had some concept of marriage and family. We argue these stem from natural law and yet like all interpretations of General Revelation, its application by fallen man was flawed and imperfect.


Roman society had some different notions than we do today about what was private and what was public. Marriage is an interesting example. We often focus on the habits of the patrician class since they were the movers and shakers in the annals of the day. But what of free men, the common citizens? They had nothing equivalent to what we would call a marriage license, no ceremony before a justice of the peace, in fact nothing that civilly recognized the actual creation of a household, the joining of husband and wife. The state in no way sanctioned or regulated the marriage relationship. It was considered a private matter.

Learning to ask the right questions as we interact with the past and the present.

Part of what we've been doing here is examining theological and cultural presuppositions which have led to a what I call a dumbing down and sometimes complete blinding of the Christian mind. We've talked about the historical record of this and focused particularly on what has happened with the American Church.

I've tried to argue for looking at history in a different way with a Christian view of the world that doesn't think in nationalistic, patriotic, civilizational, or Sacral terms, but seeks to honestly discern what has happened and what is happening. Once Sacralism is abandoned it allows us to view the world in an entirely different paradigm and places us not only outside of what passes as Christian thought and politics but for that matter completely outside the spectrum of the majority of the historical and political discussion in America.

Contrary to charges of isolation and irrelevance this different perspective helps us to consciously maintain our identity as the Church, offer a powerful critique and demonstrate wisdom in looking at the problems and issues of the temporal realm. The gospel will always remain an offense, but sadly when overlapped with a Sacralist agenda few unbelievers are ever really exposed to the genuine gospel of the Kingdom.

Who's Hiding What and Why?

Who's hiding what and why? More on Wikileaks. Great questions....one's not being asked by our statist media. What are Christian conservatives in the United States saying?

Here's a link to a post by Fred Reed.

Word of warning. Fred is not a Christian and can be a little borderline. What I mean is...a little crude at times. I have hesitated to post links to him before, but we're all adults here, and I think he's often worth the read.

It's another example of an unbeliever engaging in honest discussion and evaluation. He understands the world far more than the Christians writing over at American Vision or any of the other similar sites. Does he get it all right? Of course not. But as I keep saying over and over, he's willing to ask the questions those with specific agendas are unwilling to even ask. Does he have a Christian worldview? No, but the Sacralist writers don't either......
Who's hiding what and why? This is more on the Wikileaks issue. These are great questions....one's not being asked by our statist media. What are Christian conservatives in the United States saying about this issue? They want treason trials and executions....no interest in finding out the truth.


Fred's ex-military, an expatriate, very insightful and sometimes hilarious. Obviously I cannot endorse everything he says, but like I said, we shouldn't be afraid to ask questions and read things that challenge us a bit.

So, you've been warned....

I went ahead and posted his text here, but I included the link to his actual site up above.

Five Point Reductionism- Part 3...Accused by Onesimus

Recently, I had an occasion to interact with someone who was clearly not understanding the dynamic/dialectic of Scripture. As I mentioned in part 1, I was at another website, on a post dealing with Unconditional Election and Irresistible Grace. The author of the post gave the standard Arminian position, and I responded. Another commenter going by Onesimus accused me of sin and blasphemy.

Here's my first post, followed by Onesimus and then my reply. I haven't heard back. I hope he answers.

Please feel free to comment, especially if you don't agree.......

Five Point Reductionism- Part 2, Method and the danger of Meta-system

In the end, the Five Points express truth but are a wholly insufficient and lopsided expression of it. I've always marveled at Calvinism's insistence in employing these points as an expression of their system, or even worse as a starting point. The Five Points resulted from the work of the Synod of Dordt in the early 17th century. The Arminian party put forward the Five Points of Arminianism, I summarize:



Partial Depravity

Conditional Election

Universal Atonement

Resistable Grace

Conditional Salvation



And the Calvinists responded with their Five Points...



Total Depravity

Unconditional Election

Limited Atonement

Irresistable Grace

Perseverance of the Saints.



So the Calvinistic points are just responses to another faction's argument. Calvinists then take the Five Points and teach them as a bedrock to their system. Again, while true, how can we think we can reduce the faith to five doctrines? Why would we want to? On one level we could say the bedrock or foundation is one point....Christ Jesus. On another level we would need to insist on a hundred points.

Five Point Reductionism- Part 1

Recently I was on another website and responded to an article concerning Unconditional Election and Irresistible Grace. Some of you will recognize these two doctrines as the 'U' and 'I' in the famous Calvinist acrostic TULIP. If you're unfamiliar with it, read on.

While TULIP is certainly true, the problem is the Bible also teaches reciprocal truths on each of these points. The so-called Five Points are dealing with eternal truths, focusing on the decretal activity of God as it pertains to individual salvation. It deals with fallen man's state and need, God's purpose and how salvation is applied. But the categories all deal with what I would call the eternal or invisible. This would include God's workings beyond the realm of space and time (meta-creational/eternal) and with man's internal or spiritual state.

The Vaudois

Though no fan of Darby's theology, he wrote an excellent little paper concerning the Waldensians or as they were often called The Vaudois. He deals here primarily with the most famous group in the Cottian Alps to the west of Turin. They seemed to have been descendants of the Lyonist group. The Lombardic Waldenses were east of Turin and spread throughout Austria, Bohemia, Moravia, Germany, and Poland.


The Vaudois

J. N. Darby.




I know not whether your readers are interested, as I have been, in the hunted remnant of the middle ages, both east and west, during the time that ecclesiastical corruption and wickedness were on the throne of their power. They laboured under a double disadvantage. They have no historians but their enemies, alike bitter and unprincipled, who would stop at no calumny to blacken them, their own stupendous wickedness making the accusation of it a natural weapon. This was one reason why we know so little truly of them, and that little to their disadvantage.

The Reformation: Romanticism and Reality

A few reflections concerning the Reformation.




Historians have long debated the reasons for the success of Martin Luther, Zwingli, and the other Reformers versus the failures of other per-Reform movements. Why did Luther succeed in 1517, but Hus fail in 1415?

Biblical Christianity and the Ground Zero Mosque

I had planned to write a post concerning the 'Ground Zero' mosque controversy, but was pleased to discover someone else had already written a conscise and quite adequate response.

Here's the link.

Compare this with the response over at American Vision...what's even more astounding are the comments. This exposes the heart behind Sacralism and especially the Theonomic version.

This is not Biblical Christianity. Some of the readers I think, understand why I can get a little passionate about this! When you consider the massive numbers of people following these types of sites.......

I ask is there much difference between 2010, and 1210? We are in a dark time.

Saul's Politics

For those unfamiliar, a quick discussion on law, what the Evangelicals do with it, and the most important part...why?


As brilliant as the founders were in constructing a government with balanced powers, there are certain issues regarding the law in relation to this balance that remain unresolved.

There is a 3-fold tension between:

Legislative power

Judicial Review

and the

Popular Sentiment

Vietnam and the Clash of Ignorance

Here's a story from the AsiaTimes regarding Vietnam. It's ironic, but now they are actually looking to establishing stronger economic ties to the United States due to the growing power of their ancient enemy...China.

The United States pulled out in 1975, and 35 years later the United States though militarily defeated has won, almost.....with Pizza Hut and Kentucky Fried Chicken. You can defeat Imperial Legions with guerilla warfare, but you can't defeat the most flesh-pleasing and enticing culture the world has seen since the Roman Empire.

Will the U.S. really pull out of Iraq?

A link to the latest Margolis article. A frank discussion of America's plan for Iraq.

A quick follow up on the Nazi article...

The recent post.... What type of theology leads the church to support something like Nazi Germany, is largely a recapitulation of ideas already discussed here. I wasn't as careful in how I wrote it. Readers already familiar with the ideas here can follow it without difficulty, but newer readers might be a little confused.

In addition, I freely admit, it's a bit of a rant. I'm usually pretty level headed, but this one theological-historical interaction is something that really upsets me. I consider their arguments to be deceptive and quite dangerous.

If you're looking for something a little easier to read in regard to Two Kingdoms and Nazi Germany then I recommend these two previous posts......

Two Kingdom Theology on Guard

and

Why am I talking about this?---part 4


Blessings.

Beasts at play

A follow-up on the Afghanistan article focusing on three issues.

1. The NGO workers
2. The Afghan girl on the cover of Time
3. A few more comments on regional issues and a link.

What type of theology leads the Church to support something like Nazi Germany?

Yet another interaction. This time with Gary DeMar of American Vision.

These people mass produce this type of material and I compliment them on their ability to package and market what they write. People read it and do not think it through. We better start and helping our friends to start thinking or we're in trouble. DeMar and others have contributed to the erection within the church of an intellectual framework that teaches Christians NOT to think. They have made them very susceptible to propaganda. Just look at their websites and read the comments after the articles.


In this post, DeMar builds up an argument, making great hyperbolic leaps to the point he's really trying to get to....Two Kingdom theology lets something like Nazi Germany happen.

If you've read anything at this site, you'll know I argue the exact opposite. I argue Sacralist Constantinianism creates the culture and cultural conformity that leads to a compliant church-population (wherein church is defined as culture) that will allow atrocities to happen and even willingly participate in them. History has shown this, and we can play all the little games we want with the history of 19th century and inter-war Germany, but as the video I linked to a few days said.....Gott Mit Uns, says it all.

Germans believed God was with them. American Vision promotes the same idea for the United States.

Here's the link to the DeMar article.....

Sorrow upon Sorrow: Two-Kingdoms, Sacralism, Ethics, and Wisdom applied to the question of Afghanistan

or


The convoluted and irresolvable complexity of geo-political ethics.

Ten members of the International Assistance Mission were killed recently in Badakhshan Province located in northeastern Afghanistan. A wild and remote region, almost separate from the rest of the country it sits wedged between the Pakistani Northern Areas, the Pamirs of Tajikistan and China.

Largely free from the violence plaguing the rest of the country, these NGO workers were journeying back to Kabul via an indirect route when apparently they were attacked by the Taliban and massacred.

This was a clear case of murder, and while much of the killing in war can certainly be classified as murder, cases like these seem especially egregious. Already the American media is at work, and we can already presume what the response will be from Christian sectors.

A murder is a crime and sin, the deaths are tragic. This is the knowledge we have attained, facts we have been given.

How to respond and interact with these facts requires wisdom and there is a danger in oversimplifying the questions. People are dying, that's pretty straightforward and clear. But the reasons behind these deaths and the deaths of other innocents is anything but simple.

The international audience, cultural influences, and a note regarding the validity and trustworthiness of the Scripture.

So far I'm amazed at the volume of traffic reaching this website. In just a couple of months, this site has gone from just a few visits a day up to over a hundred on some. I wondered if anyone would read it all. Writing on these subjects has helped me by finally after many years putting some of these things down on paper (so to speak). I'm so glad to find out I'm not alone. There are other people committed to the Christ of Scripture who also have grave concerns regarding what has happened to the Church in history and how traditions and systems have been elevated above the Divine Word.




There are people reading articles from literally all over the world. Africa is the only continent that has not brought any readers yet. I hope that will change.



For years I have been concerned about a specifically American or even Western version of the gospel and Christianity going out all over the world. As I've written, it seems so often when I read books or articles, listen or watch reports, the Christianity I hear about in other parts of the world has been specifically tied in with western cultural values. Though somewhat unavoidable, I hope for the churches outside the West to escape some of the problems that plague us, while they still have a chance. I'm very disappointed when I see people from other countries echoing Americanism. I expressed this in my post 'Propaganda Indeed,' where we find a man from Bulgaria writing on American Vision and promoting a distinctly and completely American theological agenda. Bizarre. Why would they fall for it? It's like all the Mormons in Europe. How could people fall for something so obviously American, so clearly provincial in nature? As we say in America, out of the frying pan and into the fire!



A few additional examples....

Angle no Angel

Here's a link to an article at the Las Vegas Sun.

Sharron Angle is runing for the Nevada Senate. This is a classic scenario we keep encountering. While we don't necessarily want to support Harry Reid, Angle represents something much worse.

The Transformative Power of Propaganda

How sad to find unbelievers who desiring to understand the world and find the truth, have a better understanding of human nature and the corruption of power than many of the agenda-driven members of the Christian community.

As I often say, Leftists sometimes ask the right questions, the very ones the Right is afraid to ask or refuses to entertain. Does the Left come up with the right answers? Sometimes, but often not. But I can guarantee the Right will never come up with good answers or workable solutions because they refuse to engage, ask necessary sometimes ugly questions, and deal with the world as it is. They keep pressing for their idealist fantasy which smacks of the Utopianism they like to accuse their opponents of.

Zechariah 5, Mystery Babylon and the Woman Wickedness

This is from Kerux, a publication devoted to Biblical Theology. These articles by Kline were later put into the book Glory in Our Midst. He's not an easy read for those unfamiliar with him, but once you are comfortable with his cadence you will find his writings to be quite rich and the topic could not be more relevant.


Anathema*


Meredith G. Kline



Introduction. Structural Issues: According to the pattern of the introductory formulae (cf. 1:7-8; 2:1; 2:5; 3:1; 4:1-2; 5:1; 6:1) there are seven visions in Zech. 1:7-6:8, not eight, for Zechariah 5 is not to be divided into two visions but regarded as a unit, the sixth vision. The two triads of visions bracketing the central hinge vision (Zechariah 3) all include the phrase, "I saw and behold," but that is absent from Zech. 5:5, where many commentators would begin a separate vision. The phrase we find instead at v. 5 is like one which marks the middle, not beginning, of a vision at Zech. 2:7 [Eng. 2:3].1



The unity of the two parts of Zechariah 5 is also indicated by certain interdependencies of grammar and terminology. Thus, the suffix in "their appearance" (v. 6) has as its antecedent the thieves and perjurers of v. 3. And the phrase "in all the land" (v. 6) resumes "all the land" in v. 3. Most compelling, however, are the clear thematic interrelationships of the two parts of the chapter and the remarkable intermeshing of their symbolism. The sixth vision portrays the judgment curse of exile, distinguishing its two distinct stages: destruction of the victims' holdings in their homeland (vv. 1-4) and deportation with relocation in a foreign land (vv. 5-11). Details of the interlocking imagery of the two parts will emerge in the exegesis below.

Why appeal to Providence when you refuse to submit to it?

Here's a link to a Covenant News article by Buddy Hanson.

For some this will be redundant, but I keep reading articles like this and I have to say something. They sound so good. They sound so logical and reasonable and God glorifying. It's simply not the case.


I hope my readers are seeing through all these interactions, how to pick apart their arguments and though packaged nicely, discover their fundamental fallacies.

If you go to his website at the end, have a look at his Worldview Survey. Notice how the questions are framed. It's dishonest. It reminds me of surveys I've received from the Heritage Foundation and other organizations. They surveys are not truthful interrogations. Even the questions have a propaganda-like nature.

It's not about seeking out facts, putting them together and trying to form a picture of truth. It's about indoctrination, rather cultic I'm sorry to say.

May you benefit from this.....

Horns like a lamb with the voice of a dragon....

He had two horns like a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon...Revelation 13.11

I heard this Chuck Colson Breakpoint commentary the other day ......
My comments are interspersed....

How can telling the truth be treason to people who claim to worship the Truth?

Here's the latest from Eric Margolis on the Wikileak scandal/saga. Just some interesting commentary on what's happening and some of the issues with Pakistan that many have been talking about for years but are generally not reported in the statist media.

Legacies of Empire: Depleted Uranium

I find no joy in writing this, but it is something that needs to be said. I've written elsewhere, especially in the Why and How posts about the willful ignorance of the American and particularly Christian American public. I've written about the so-called Christian Worldview that instead of seeking truth, re-writes history, and filters current events and 'interprets' them rather than interacts with the facts.

Our so-called liberal media which is in reality a corporate media complex has chosen to ignore many stories of vast significance. I also mentioned how the United States has the most powerful propaganda machine in history. It's not one of suppression, but one of distraction. The information is available to all but is generally ignored, or for many disputed, because it comes from 'foreign' sources and is therefore untrustworthy. Some foreign reporting is undoubtedly false, but no more than American reporting and manipulation of facts.

Beslan, The Chechens, and The Legacy of Sacralist Russia part 2

Someone responded to my comments regarding the Beslan tragedy. It was over at a website called Defending/Contending. I didn't expect a response because it would seem all I succeeded in doing at the site was angering everyone. There's a thread called...It's about the beat.... some of you might be interested in it. It was largely a debate between a Pietistic view of Culture vs. my position in arguing Culture is Common. Some of the same issues appear here as a Sacralized view of culture will not allow for us to think outside a certain box that's often provided for us. I argue Pietism is one variety of a Sacralist view of culture and it interprets Christianity through that specific cultural lens. My post called The Good Old Days deals with that a bit.

I had intended to leave off interacting with this site. They pretty much seem to despise me. I'm sure to them I'm a worldly, leftist, apostate or something.

There are actually a lot of good things at the site. That said, it's often (to borrow Moo's phrase), like a symphony out of tune. They really like Spurgeon and Pink. Me too, but as I tried to point out, Pink and Spurgeon didn't exactly teach the view of culture and pietism they are espousing.

One type of Sacralism in viewing culture as holy focuses on power and conquest.

The other variety in viewing culture as holy focuses on separation-ism and critique.

I argue both tactics are wrong because they identify culture in the wrong manner. Am I saying we don't separate? Oh, we have to, especially when we live in a Sacralist culture. We may even be driven from the churches which espouse it. We have to be very self-conscious and very careful. It's actually easier for us to be self-conscious when we live in a secular state, which is what we as Christians should wish for. Shocking I know. Daryl Hart has recently written on this. Of course no state or society is static. In the end they will all move one way or the other.

Pietism seeks to escape worldly influence and thought by creating a Christian sub-culture. But the sub-culture is still defined by the larger culture and they cannot help but conflate or blend the two ideas. Thus often Pietistic Separatists are often just as pro-America and pro-Imperial as the Transformationalist variety.

I argue we need to be in the world, but not of it. Our Separatism is not about clothes or music per se. We need to do those things as Christians too. But the Kingdom is not about clothes or music....meat or drink....it's about righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

So I'm calling for what would seem to a Transformationalist....as separatism.

What seems to a Pietist....as worldy.

This view doesn't make sense to either of them, because I'm refusing to accept their categories of thought.

Anyway, here is the exchange. A man named "Pilgrim" responded to my post from early July.

Follow up on the Socialism piece

N.B.

In regard to the Socialism article. I posted a one liner at the New Geneva Blog the same day I posted my interaction. I just said there was a critique of the article and gave the link.

Well, they removed that pretty quick. Now if you visit the site, it says there are no comments on the article.

I hope Halbrook the author responds, but just like McAtee of IronInk, and many others, they won't post comments or links if they don't like what you're saying. They seem afraid to allow their readers a chance to see the other side, or for that matter, even read a critique concerning the method of argument.

So be it.

The Theological-Philosophical Dialectic

This was meant for the glossary but ended up too long. I'll link it from the glossary to this article. I just wanted to define it for those who may not understand a raise a few salient points.

I'll start with a brief definition of philosophy.

Philosophy- is the branch of study engaging in discussion, investigation, and development of abstract ideas and concepts by which man seeks to make sense of reality and the fabric of the universe. The etymology of the word itself means the love of wisdom.

Sometimes the term is used to refer to one's underlying principles guiding actions and interpretations. This is actually a sub-category dealt with below.


Christians are often exhorted to avoid philosophy. Not always bad advice, but there are certain reasons we should not be ignorant of it. I will give two.

An Interaction with a Theonomist critiquing a system he mistakenly identifies as socialism

This is yet another interaction with the Theonomic system. Peculiarly American, this system is on a crusade to defend its political vision. In doing so, it often engages in revisionist history as we've dealt with elsewhere, and in many cases employs so-called Worldview teaching to invalidate and mischaracterize its enemies.

This article from the New Geneva Leadership Blog is a prime example of how Theonomy interacts with systems it doesn't like. I'm not arguing for socialism or capitalism. Instead I want to demonstrate Theonomy's hermeneutic and means of arguing.

I wish to point out that time and time again, Theonomists attack their enemies by accusing them of illogical argument, assertions rather than developed arguments, and poor scholarship. Keep this in mind as you read this interaction.

For those who are unfamiliar with the term, a non sequitir is a conclusion which does not follow. An argument is made, a conclusion asserted but it does not logically follow from the argument.

All houses in town are yellow. Fred lives in town. The town is in China.

It may or may not be true, but the conclusion hasn't been proven. It's a non sequitir.

Certain camps within Christian circles continue to publish amazing quantities of articles and books and the reason I keep sharing these posts is I want to expose their nature.


For some who have read my other interactions, there will be some redundancy with the material in the other articles.

The original link can be found here.

Beyond Redemption.....

In light of the fact that I constantly hear the CIA praised on Christian radio and in Christian media, I have decided to share this link.

If you've read the other pieces on this site, I've talked about how in many ways the Christians in America are the most susceptible to state propaganda. I said some things in my Why and How series that some will find to be shocking and offensive. Though hardly alone in my thinking, there are few in the Christian community who would echo it.

Johnson's Primer: Discussion, Expansion, and Solution

This article has three sub-points:

Johnson's Hyper-Calvinism Primer, it's strengths and weaknesses.
The Core Principle of Hyper-Calvinism and Arminianism.
The benefit of Dialectical Theology

Anyone who has examined the contents of this site know more than once I have mentioned the problem of Hyper-Calvinism. Phil Johnson has done a great service in his very succinct Primer on Hyper-Calvinism which has been read by many and we can be thankful for that.

He outlines several key doctrinal points which are helpful in identifying the Hyper-Calvinist position. Of course not all hold to all the points, but all hold to at least some of them.

Here's Johnson's list:

Vocational Error

Vocational Error

The doctrine of Christian Vocation has been defined by some as a self awareness and focus of one's own gifts and talents being put into use to the glory of God and advancement of His Kingdom.

This doctrine arguably was one of the triumphs of the Reformation. For in it the common man's life was elevated and given real spiritual purpose and meaning. One did not have to become an officer of the church, a clergyman in order to serve God. The common man engaged in trade or agriculture was now viewed as an equal participant in the building of God's Kingdom. This idea has even been reflected in the art which resulted from the Reformation.

While it is certainly true that the medieval order tended to overemphasize the clergy-laity distinction and view only tasks specifically related to the church as spiritual, the Protestant doctrine of Vocation represents an abuse of the Scriptural teaching of the Kingdom equally as grievous.

The Nobla Leycon

There has been much confusion over this document. The actual manuscript has been proved to actually date from sometime after the early 1200's, though the earlier historians placed it at 1100.

Since the manuscript evidence shows it to be later, liberal scholarship has cast doubts on its antiquity, some pushing the date as late as 1400.

The copy in Cambridge is undoubtedly later than 1100, BUT....we have references to the Noble Lesson in the late 1100's and several in the early 1200's.

So the surviving manuscript may be later, but the poem is much older. At least the 1100's.

The Waldensians used the poem for instruction, a noble lesson indeed.

Answering a few questions......

This is a response to a comment left earlier today. I ended up running a bit long, so I decided to just post it as an article. Others may find it helpful as well.

Two worthwhile video clips at Scattered Sheep

Two must see videos......here

One is about a 10min. clip by Reformed Baptist Tim Conway and concerns how we should think about the founding of America and what our attitude should and should not be today.

The other is a short 10min. documentary about Nazi Germany and the theological attitudes and nationalist idolatries that led to average German people supporting it.

Glad to see someone else recognizes that Two Kingdom theology protects us against such things. Sacralism leads to it.......

Have a look.

More from IronInk.....part 3

Mr. IronInk has responded once more. He is so kind to do so.

He refuses to answer the basic questions I have asked. Until he does so....take note, he has lost the argument.

Here's his latest post. He has shown his true colours. He won't post my comments and is obviously not interested in interacting, which is fine. I wrote a short note in reply.

He may go away or he may declare war. Either way, his arguments and lack thereof only demonstrate the failure of the system know as Theonomic Reconstructionism.

I willingly post anything, any of them write against me, so convinced am I their system is bankrupt and anti-christian.

Here's IronInk.....

More letters to Theonomists part 2, concluding post

C---,

Missouri Synod????

Right— we’re both employing many un-argued assumptions. It’s a web-thread. To fully argue many of these points would require hundreds of pages. That’s not the point of this exercise, but you already know that don’t you?

As far as assumptions underlying the structure of our arguments…..well, I find the Constantinian position to rest on foundations which are proven invalid by the NT. We can talk more about that…we have been to some extent. We could take a vote. I think everyone here would say you’re the one who refuses to engage that point. For this discussion to amount to anything, we have to get back to hermeneutics. I’m arguing you’re reading the Bible inverted. You’re looking through the wrong end of the binoculars……that’s why the NT Kingdom is so far away. Show me an instance where an Apostle treated a Psalm or a prophetic passage the way you are?

More letters to Theonomists part 1

More letters to Theonomists....

*Addendum---to be fair, these two men have answered, and yet it would seem the exchange is done at this point. Like IronInk.....they won't answer the questions.

Here are a couple more letters I've posted to Theonomists. They won't even answer, they just run. Don't accept their paradigm, argue from the Biblical categories not their philosophical-based construct and their left speechless. They don't have an answer, and they know it.

These people are in the end, bullies. They function not like people of the Kingdom, but as political hacks. Once exposed to the light, they scurry. Their unbiblical system is completely bankrupt. They have been answered and refuted time and time again. But what they do? They just keep publishing books and articles, patting themselves on the back and ignore our arguments. So just like in politics unless we employ their tactics and tools, the truth is kept from the field.

We will not employ their carnal weapons of warfare, but we will not be silent and allow them to keep deceiving people. Challenge them, I say.

I think those in the Reformed world who know how dangerous and destructive Monistic Sacralism is, really made a mistake in not speaking in stronger terms. The impression I always had say, fifteen years ago was that, well, they're wrong, but still orthodox and we should all get along.

While some may get upset over the sacramental efficacy and conditional covenantalism taught here....I would ask why has the doctrine of the Kingdom become so unimportant that any view seems to be tolerable?

David Barton, Bad Historian or Liar?

Definitely Bad theology to say the least.....

Here's a link related to this that some might find interesting.

No, Mr. Beck, Our Constitution is Not Based on the Book of Deuteronomy

Of course even IF we accept Barton's historical arguments, we would still condemn his paradigm as contrary to the Scripture.

IronInk Exchange Part 2

I am so pleased. IronInk did respond and this is an excellent exercise for those who wish to see the issues and arguments at work. Here's the link to his post regarding my last letter.

A Conversation with a Theonomy(Biblical Christianity)Hater.


Enjoy. And here's my response to his post. I hope he posts it. He didn't with my last, but we'll see. Maybe there will even be a part #3.

Origins of the Waldensians part 2- Lyonists and Lombards

In Lyon situated in the Rhone Valley there appeared in the late 12th century a man named Valdesius or Valdes. The story goes that he was a rich man who was convicted by a poverty tale told by jongleur. Valdesius much like Francis of Assisi was so shaken up he forsook his material goods, left his family after making provision for them and took to preaching and begging. The Passau Anonymous and others tell variations of this same tale.

An exchange on IronInk.

It started over immigration, but its really about much bigger issues. Here's a link to the post on their site.....Random Thoughts on Illegal Immigration.

I wrote a response below.....I got a response....and I wrote again. Here's the exchange, which is also on the IronInk site. I hope I can post a part#2 of this discussion.........

Even if you don't agree, you can learn from the different ways in which we're arguing and how we get to where we are at.......

Discussions with a Van Tillian regarding Worldview

Here I try and briefly explain the problem of Van Tillian informed Worldview teaching and how it leads to the autonomous thought they so want to avoid.....

It ended up being a good exchange. You can follow the whole thread here.

I learned a few things and am pondering what was said. I still hold to what I've written, but will admit it's complicated with Van Til. He said a lot of things and they don't always seem to fit together. Whether he truly laid the foundation for what has happened, or whether the Dominionists have hijacked him......the jury is still out I guess.

Here's part of the comment thread.....

Aristotle's Razor at work.

For Calvinists.....it leads to a hyper-Calvinistic Baptist Theology.

Here's a recent post from the Heidelblog of R. Scott Clark.

Circumcision and Baptism

Clark tries to avoid two extremes in dealing with a text like Colossians 2.11-12 but instead of navigating it, he's trapped.

The Bible is full of dialectical tensions often between the visible/temporal and the invisible/eternal.

Clark and others who depend on Aristotelian based and defined Systematics cannot let these tensions stand. The force and drive of their system insists on synthesizing the two sides and eliminating what seems to them a contradiction.

But rather than submit to God's word, this method subsumes Revelation and consequently the Scriptures are re-categorized to work in a grid-like dogmatic structure.

Ockham's Razor....is a tool of Rationalism which seeks to simplify and eliminate plurality or dualisms.

Aristotle's Razor is a name I've given to another Rationalist tool. This one parses and divides, creates categories that aren't there in order to make the System work with the matrix that it is interacting with.

In other words....re-define and re-categorize Biblical terms so that it makes sense in light of your system.

Origins of the Waldensians Part I

The darkness of the Volkerwanderung and its affect on the historical record.

The origins of the Waldensians are obscure and represent I believe an insolvable puzzle. As I have stated elsewhere the Institution-mindset I think is part of the problem. One will not find buildings with charters and universities etc… with names and dates to signify the commencement of this movement. Also, there is the presupposition of the Episcopal and plural-Episcopal Presbyterian mindset which cannot grasp the Visible Church as a multitude of scattered congregations whose bonds do not consist in Form, but rather in commonality and fellowship based around the Word.

The Reformers and Their Stepchildren

The Gospel Pedlar has posted the Introduction and Postscript to Verduin's The Reformers and Their Stepchildren here.

This book is a must read. He doesn't get everything right, but just let it wash over you, so to speak. For Reformed people it is an eye-opener. If you're interested in any of the things I'm writing about here in relation to Constantinianism, then you'll want this volume and you won't be disappointed.

P.S. It's not just about the Anabaptists. I'm not an Anabaptist in terms of baptism. There are bigger issues here.

Propaganda Indeed!

American Vision is sort of the poster child for everything this project is against. It represents not just Constantinianism but a peculiar and vehement American variety of it. This is exactly what I'm talking about elsewhere in reference to applying the pseudo-Christian worldview to history and current events. This is the telos.

This morning I encountered a rather outrageous post from one of their contributors. I am saddened to see people outside of the United States falling for what is so obviously a culta americana as opposed to Biblical Christianity.

I tried to post this comment, but their website only allows for short posts....we've talked about this before as well. I've tried to email this letter to the author. We'll see what happens? Maybe they'll all come and scream at me, but I keep finding they choose to just ignore their critics or beat up on straw men of their own choosing.

Here's the link to the post: When Your Own Propaganda Turns Against You

And here's my letter to the author:

The American Warmonger’s Bible

This is unbelievable. Laurence Vance writes concerning the new American Patriot's Bible. It's utterly blasphemous. You can read about it here

The editors and publishers and purchasers of this perversion of the Word of God need to repent.

The Passau Anonymous and The Waldensians

The very charming and picturesque town of Passau sits at the confluence of the Inn and the Danube on the southeastern border of Germany with Austria. I've written about this area in other posts. This stretch of the Danube toward Vienna as well as The Forest (Bohemian/Bavarian) to the north was long a hotbed of Waldensian dissent.
There is a famous ecclesiastical chronicler from Passau who speaks to us through the ages as the Passau Anonymous. A lot of our information concerning the Waldenses in this area comes from his pen. Sometime around 1260 he wrote the Waldenses were the most dangerous of all the heretics.

They were most long-lived….meaning ancient.

They were the most widespread.

And they lived piously, adhering to the ancient creeds, and yet 'blasphemed' the Roman church by attacking its clergy and rituals.

What is all the more astonishing is that according to the conventional thesis , these people had scarcely arrived a generation before when a man named Peter Waldo passed through on his way to Bohemia. That hardly seems possible in light of the Passau Anonymous and until modern scholarship re-dated a few key documents it was not the position of anyone who studied the Waldensians. More to come…..

America's Longest War

Eric Margolis always has an interesting perspective on international events. He's always worth a read. Here's his latest,

America's Longest War

He's one of those people that used to be Conservative and is now strongly committed to neither of the main political viewpoints. He's thinking outside the paradigms our media gives to us. This is how we need to learn to think......

What does Al-Jazeera have to do with Sacralism?

As I've enjoyed writing these posts and toying with the blog format I was pleased to see that I could include small access modules to certain news channels. I doubt anyone cares but I'll explain why I would choose include a station like Al Jazeera English. Believe it or not, this is actually all connected in a broad sense to the overall portrait I'm trying to paint on this site.

A Tale of Towers

An instructive allegory concerning the towers build and the nature of God's Kingdom.

I'm afraid you either get it or you don't.

Why am I talking about all this? How did I get here? Part 9

Why am I writing all these crazy things? It's a cri du coeur…….

I know the Theonomists scoff at this question, but they are wrong to do so because they read the Bible wrongly…seeing Christ through the lens of Moses. It's like looking through binoculars the wrong way making the object tiny in the distance…..

But the question is…….Where on the pages of the New Testament do you have a single command or notion from Paul, Christ, or anyone that to be citizens of the heavenly Kingdom we are to go out and either try and conquer the world through political and cultural means?

The Telos of Sacralism. An interaction with Duigon and Stark

I sat down and read this review this morning and it upset me so much, I had to write a reply. Chalcedon wants to tell us how wonderful The Crusades were.

Here's a link to a book review on Chalcedon's website. Chalcedon is the organization started by the patriarch of Theonomic Reconstructionism RJ Rushdooney who died back in 2001.

Review of God’s Battalions: The Case for the Crusades
By Lee Duigon

This is a perfect example of showing Sacralist historiography at work both in the book and the reviewer. If you want to see how they play with history and current events in the name of Worldview, then please read this interaction. I have a brief intro, and then I directly interact with this book review.

Why am I talking about all this? How did I get here? Part 8

The Truth is never Treason in the Kingdom of Jesus Christ.

Once you leave Sacralism behind you start to see everything in a new light. You see the American Church for what it is….more or less apostate, Beast worshipping, and deluded. You see how Christians are generally not interested in the truth when it comes to news or history. And for most, they know far more about political issues and spend more time on the culture war than they do the Kingdom of God. Do they see the Kingdom?….I don't know.

Why am I talking about all this? How did I get here? Part 7

Ironies of History, Current Events, and Strong Delusion So why do I prefer the label of Proto-protestantism? Because I don't wish to identify with many aspects of what happened during and as a result of the Reformation. I remember being rather proud of my Reformed heritage and talking with a couple of ex-Amish guys outside of a supermarket. We were talking a little theology and history. They know very well how their forebears were treated by the Protestants. And they know that they are excoriated within the Reformed Creeds. I remember feeling not so proud of my faction when I considered they murdered and waged war in the name of the Kingdom of Christ and sought to destroy the ancestors of these men. They did the very same things that the Roman Catholics had done to them and to the Underground. The Reformation has a Bestial political legacy as well.

An exchange on Al-Jazeera English

Here's a comment from someone on the Al Jazeera English Asia Blog........with my reply.

Ms W:

So, let’s see. . . The U. S. and other western nations are spending trillions to keep Afghans and other Muslims from slaughtering each other, to get them into the 21st century, to give them development and a decent life, but—they are seen as “occupiers” and “exploiters”?

What SPECIFICALLY is the U. S. and its allies getting out of this miserable folly? It is costing blood and treasure that the west does not have!

Odd too that no-one ever dumps on China for exploiting the riches of Africa, Iraq, Afghanistan and countless other nations.

Many say the west should leave and close the door behind them. Let these people duke it out until there is only one man left standing. Perhaps then there will be peace, but I sincerely doubt it since this appears to be the regional motto:

"Me against my brother, my brother and I against our father, our father and us against our tribe, our tribe against the world".


Protoprotestant:

I think that might be a little naive. Despite what is presented in the media, U.S. motivations are hardly altruistic. It's a big chess game and sadly rather than having 8 pawns on the board....the teams have millions of people. It's not about development and nation building, that's part of the strategy to gain stability.....stability so the U.S. can have bases and bring in the business and grow the American Empire, a complex of corporations, political proxies and military presence. Everyone is drooling now over the new mineral assessment of Afghanistan. It could be a blessing for the country, but in the end will probably be their biggest curse.

The Good Old Days

I am so grieved when I see so many people come to Christ and get caught up in legalisms which in time they make into the Gospel.

I think of people that have been delivered from great sin….wicked lifestyles and then to fall in with American Fundamentalist legalism and now rather than worship God and learn His Word and how to apply it…….it's hem lengths, whether you should wear jeans or not, whether or not we should go to the mall because you might see an improperly dressed woman.

Where do they get this stuff?

It's the Sacral Stop Point. Bear with me and I'll explain....

Why am I talking about all this? How did I get here? Part 6

Here's where I start bring it together and you're either going to sit up and really think hard about what I'm saying, or you will write me off.

What are the marks of the Church? Or is there but one Mark?

I read and studied more and began to come to the conclusion that perhaps the Middle Ages weren't so dark. Maybe there is some spiritual light there….but it wasn't within the bosom of Rome. It's not with Bernard of Clairvaux and other men we're supposed to admire. Doctrinally, the Underground, these Protestors before the name of Protestantism came about, they were kind of a mess, doctrinally all over the place. Much like today with one exception. These people were meeting and reading and praying under threat of fine, incarceration, torture, and possible death. I think if those conditions came about today, we might find a smaller percentage of Christians today than there were proto-protestants in the Middle Ages. That's a terrible indictment that I obviously cannot prove…but study it out yourself and see what you think.

Why am I talking about all this? How did I get here? Part 5

Sacralist Dominion and Worldview

Chuck Colson is the epitome, sort of the poster child in my mind of everything I think is wrong with conservative American Christianity. I'm not even counting Joel Osteen and people like that. I have listened to Colson's daily radio piece for years. It is amazing. I can only think of maybe once or twice that I have actually agreed with him.

We have very different worldviews. Why?