Barna on Marxism (Part 2)

If the younger generation has soured on capitalism it's because they've come of age at a time when the entry level situation is fairly dire and in some cases hopeless. You can skip college and remain on the lower end of the working class – an exception being those who find a skill in demand and escape neo-vassalage by means of becoming self-employed.

Or, you can take on massive debt which more or less enslaves you to a job (an employer) as you are compelled to keep making your payments. And by the time you're done you've undoubtedly taken on many more. It's a trap and some young people have realised it. For many of that generation, adult life properly speaking, an age of autonomy and social establishment is nigh on impossible before one is in their thirties. The system is immoral and exploitative and those who are living in the bottom tiers realise it and thus they're willing to entertain other options, all the more when they begin to understand the American system and its priorities, as opposed to the model of the social democracies in Europe – which have elements that many Right-wing Americans erroneously associate with Marxism.

Barna and Marxism (Part 1)

https://familyliferadio.blubrry.net/2021/10/21/faith-under-fire-ep-74-marxism-in-america-part-1/

George Barna is best known for his fusion of ecclesiology with market analysis. He and those associated with him have pursued models of church growth rooted in surveying and in shaping practice on the basis of the results. His name is usually associated with the Seeker Sensitive Movement because its leaders (men like Bill Hybels and Rick Warren) have integrated the market strategy popularised by figures like Barna into their models for Church growth.

A Broken Ecclesiology

https://churchleaders.com/news/396413-reports-of-an-unsettling-trend-of-pastors-leaving-the-ministry.html

The broken ecclesiology that dominates the Evangelical scene is bearing a rotten harvest. Cultural attitudes and tensions, false expectations, and alternatives born of the technological age have created conditions in which men are leaving Church leadership for other 'ministries'. In some cases we must say good riddance but few seem willing or able to address the real reasons for this trend and identify the nature of the problem. It starts with an unbiblical ecclesiology – especially in the Evangelical and New Calvinist spheres.

A Recent Visit to an Evangelical Congregation

As our congregation has succumbed to Trumpism we are currently looking at other options and let's say the scene is not encouraging. Sunday after Sunday, I find myself driving the better part of an hour or more to sit in on meetings that disappoint and sometimes are an occasion for righteous anger. It's one of those moments that living in a rural area becomes a burden. There are relatively few churches and the distances can sometimes be great.

Revelation 18: The Merchant Princes of Babylon, Their Sorceries, Mammon and Medicine

Revelation 18.23 refers to the sorceries of fallen Babylon. It could be a reference to Babylon in general or more specifically to the merchants of Babylon. Ultimately it doesn't matter as the mercantile-mammon driven activity of its 'great men' are part and parcel representative of the Babylonian system as a whole along with its larger list of deceptions and evil.

Macron and the New Edict of Fontainebleau

In October 2020, French president Emmanuel Macron proposed new education legislation that was meant to counter the influence of subcultures within France – particularly those of a religious nature.

Covid and False Gospels

https://julieroys.com/sherri-tenpenny-covid-denier-christian-nationalism/

This is the hour of deceived deceivers. If every dog has his day, this is the hour for those who have embraced quack medicine and have (via their sorceries) created a toxic brew that is deceiving people in terms of the gospel and in this case is literally causing people to lose their lives.

Siemon-Nietto on Vietnam: No Wisdom Gained

http://uwesiemon.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-wrong-side-won.html

I have written before about Uwe Siemon-Nietto who is a semi-frequent guest on Lutheran Public Radio's Issues Etc. Along with John Warwick Montgomery, Siemon-Nietto often provides what might be described as the view from Europe.