Christianity and Cynicism: Nonconformity, Dissent, and Defacing the Coin

Historians have long debated the relationship between the Cynics and early Christianity. There are some striking similarities to be found in the lives of the Cynics who emerged in the context of Classical Greece, a few hundred years before Christ - so much so, that some believe Christ may have been influenced by them.

The likeness is superficial. The Cynics rested their thought on a different epistemological basis and their ethics were also different - and yet similar enough at times to generate a lot of discussion. For those wishing to make direct comparisons or find some trace of lineage, it's a dead end. That said, the similarities can be striking and nevertheless generate some interesting reflection. The Cynics raise issues in terms of ethics and society that the Church can benefit from. And this is not something new or something that emerged in this era of comparative religious studies.

The Deceitfulness of Riches

https://petehurst.com/prosperity-the-big-lie-and-the-big-truth/

https://pilgrimunderground.blogspot.com/2025/12/the-sweet-taste-of-vomit.html

I commented on Hurst back in December of 2025 but this article crossed my path and left me more astonished than usual. Does anyone actually read the Scriptures?

The False Exegesis and Idolatry of House Speaker Mike Johnson

https://reformedpolitics.substack.com/p/a-christian-case-for-borders

Apparently PCA pastor David Hall was so moved by Speaker Mike Johnson's apologia for border defense that he chose to re-post it on his website.

A Confessional Presbyterian Revels in Idolatry, Nationalism, Apostasy, and Trump

https://reformedpolitics.substack.com/p/religious-gains-2025

Hall's work has been repeatedly promoted on websites like The Aquila Report and I've also encountered him in the podcast world. Hall thinks 'gains' are being made with the Trump presidency. Needless to say there are a lot of assumptions being made as well as the typical pronoun confusion (and the thought that undergirds it) that we've come to expect.

Secular Humanism and Neuro-Nonsense

The other day while driving I picked up an AM radio station out of Toronto and heard an interview with an expert on neurogenerosity - which apparently has been a subject of discussion for the better part of a decade. I wasn't sure at first whether to take it seriously.

The Sufficiency of Scripture, the Christian Life, and the Rejection of Psychology

https://churchandfamilylife.com/sermons/6952196ce386b6135c21f915

As regular readers of my websites will know, I am not a fan of Scott Brown and his Theonomic movement within Reformed Baptist circles.

I first encountered him around twenty years ago (or more) in connection with the question of family-integrated worship. I had already more or less developed convictions with regard to worship, and as a paedobaptist, I had wrestled with how to view Christian children. And so on that point, I actually go a good deal further than Brown and this also shaped my thinking in terms of worship. Sunday School for me had come up in the 1990's as I wrestled with ecclesiology and the regulative principle.

A Sure Formula for Self-Deception - Direct Realism's Road to Monism, Materialism, and Pantheism

https://theopolisinstitute.com/leithart_post/epistemological-dualism/

Right from the onset I disagree with Meek's airtight definitions and the way she wishes to imply how such epistemological dualism operates. I further disagree with Leithart's insinuation that this leads to the elimination of knowledge. It's a slippery slope argument that is misleading at best.

The Bogus Case for Cathedrals

https://thefederalist.com/2025/11/18/why-christians-should-build-cathedrals/

Nathanael Blake, the author of this piece was recently on LPR's Issues Etc., in order to promote this article and its ideology. I was disappointed with Todd Wilken that he was willing to give voice to this, but given some of the other voices and ideas he promotes, I guess I'm not too surprised.

The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS) is clearly fighting its own internal battles. They're struggling with Far Right and Nazi-esque revisionists on the one hand and a still vibrant Evangelical-style movement that wants to take them into a low-church direction. Having examined and even visited some of the LCMS congregations in my area, the battle lines are clear. We have everything from High Church practice with statues of Jesus, the sign of the cross, and chanting to (at the opposite end of the spectrum), low-church Evangelical-style worship with pop music, screens, and the rest.

The Life and Times of IC Herendeen

https://www.amazon.com/Life-Times-I-C-Herendeen/dp/B0FJZ4ZFY7

I am pleased to endorse this 2025 work authored by my son, Isaac. It would seem that our visits to Swengel, Millmont, and Lewisburg, Pennsylvania piqued his interest some years ago. I had visited those places in connection to Arthur Pink. I knew of Herendeen, but Isaac picked up his story and pursued his own course of research and I must admit I find Herendeen's life to be noteworthy.

The Historical Canon of the Waldenses, Charism, and the First Reformation

https://pilgrimunderground.blogspot.com/2025/09/a-troubling-revival-of-historic-anti.html

As I have recently indicated, the hijacking of the Septuagint and Apocrypha debate by Right-wing Anti-Semites has been the source of considerable grief for me as I believe it unnecessarily muddies the waters and will overshadow future discussion. This issue is one of many that I have called attention to in recent years - another point of deviation (on my part) from the Magisterial Reformation narrative as embraced by Confessionalists and contemporary Evangelicals.

That said, the issue of the Apocrypha and Septuagint is still a live one for me and the Right-wing's attacks on the Masoretic Text and tradition are an unfortunate complication. Leaving that aside with assurances that in no way am I motivated by anything Anti-Semitic, let us turn to the historical and doctrinal issues at hand.

The suggestion that the Apocrypha (so-called) was only formally adopted by Trent in the 16th century is misleading if not altogether false.

The Church in Dark Ages - A Call to Dissent and Nonconformity (IV)

What are the options? To be frank, there aren't many. We can look to the Confessionalist churches within the Reformed, Lutheran, and Anglican traditions. This is a viable option in some cases and in terms of week to week worship these offer much better opportunities - but they are not without their problems. Their ecclesiologies are often unbiblical. Many Reformed are actually just Evangelicals. There are real problems with Lutheran and Anglican worship but I find them preferable to Evangelical pop-culture worship and piety.

The Church in Dark Ages - A Call to Dissent and Nonconformity (III)

Evangelicals have frequently looked askance at Roman Catholic scholastic theology and its long tradition of philosophical syncretism - and with good reason.

The Church in Dark Ages - A Call to Dissent and Nonconformity (II)

Medieval Romanism formulated its notions of law and justice in terms of a fusion between old Roman jurisprudence and the tribal codes and customs coming out of the Germanic world. Over time this would be re-tooled by other influences. The point being - Scripture had little to do with it.

The Church in Dark Ages - A Call to Dissent and Nonconformity (I)

or,

An Examination of the Twin Sisters of Medieval Roman Catholicism and American Evangelicalism

Evangelicalism has moved much closer to Rome in recent years and unthinkable as it was just a few decades ago, many now consider Roman Catholics to be fellow Christians. In recent days this has been most evident with the way Evangelicals speaks of figures like JD Vance and Erika Kirk. These Roman Catholics who worship Mary, partake of the idolatry that is the Mass, venerate a tradition of false prophets that claim to speak in the place of Christ, and find salvation in a merit-based sacerdotal system, are deemed inspiring fellow believers. The term 'Christian' has itself has been run through so many filters and redefined to such an extent that theologically and even culturally it struggles to have any kind of actual meaning. The same is true of Evangelicalism which describes more of a cultural attitude and ethos (if not a political movement) than any kind of ecclesiastical movement, theology, or identity.

Piety and an Oversimplified Dichotomy

https://christoverall.com/article/concise/which-way-christian-a-contrast-of-david-platts-radical-and-michael-hortons-ordinary/

Chad Lawrence is keen to warn his audience against forms of Pietism and thinks he's found it hiding in the works of New Calvinist author David Platt.

Platt's 'Radical: Taking Back Your Faith From the American Dream' was released in 2010 and made a splash in Evangelical circles. Platt's work has some problems to be sure - he rightly wants to counter American consumerist norms but equates the rejection with a model of piety which is expressed by means of the highly flawed and corrupt 'missions'-ministry approach common in modern Evangelicalism and a kind of missional approach which tends toward an agenda of social transformation. And for the record, a mega-church is hardly the venue for Pietism to sink roots.

Ghosts of Weimar: A Lament for Lutherans Struck Blind

I found myself frustrated listening to a couple of Missouri-Synod pastors discussing what they called The American Interim - an attempt to draw a parallel with the Augsburg and Leipzig Interims (1548-1555). German Lutherans were forced to make concessions in the wake of their 1547 defeat in the First Schmalkaldic War. Eventually the Protestant princes rose and in the Second war of that name they achieved victory marked by the 1555 Peace of Augsburg.

My Kingdom is Not of This World

There are few books out there that I would fully endorse, but Joshua Immanuel's 2024 work - My Kingdom is Not of This World is one of them. A friend of this website, Immanuel excels at laying out some of the basic ideas surrounding the nature of the Kingdom and the ethics that flow from it.

John Adams and Dominionism's Inescapable March Toward Authoritarianism

In an oft quoted 1798 letter to the Massachusetts Militia, John Adams stated:

“Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

Adams was a Unitarian who thoroughly embraced the Enlightenment and would over the course of his life grow more and more hostile to institutional Christianity. Like so many at that time he attended church services but (it could be argued) this was more a sense of social duty and moral principal than any notion of actual worship, communion, or submitting to revelation.

As such, it could be said that Adams typified the very kind of civic religion that continues to bedevil American society and has functioned to confuse and water down genuine Biblical faith.

Regardless this quote is often cited by the Evangelical Right as a justification for political action and a means of assessing contemporary American society.

The Erastian End - Canterbury and Modern Feminist Britain

Much has been written and said about the selection of Sarah Mullally as the next Archbishop of Canterbury. Indeed her election makes the apostasy of that organisation all but indisputable. The Church of England left New Testament Christianity behind long ago - even at its inception in the 1500's. That said, many laboured within it attempting to apply the New Testament and turn it into something more sound. They failed, and the failure has been apparent for a very long time. The election of Sarah Mullally means they cannot pretend any more. I actually count it a positive. We can literally 'write off' the Church of England. The viable sections connected to 'Anglicanism' are now outside of and disassociated from communion with that See.

The Death of Evil Men

In April of 2025, former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage died. Given that his was not a household name his death didn't receive a lot of coverage though most major outlets picked up the story. He had played an important role in the Bush administration serving as Colin Powell's #2. Previously he had held other second tier positions within Republican politics. He was probably best known for his connections to the Vietnam War. Armitage played a prominent role in the 2014 PBS film Last Days in Vietnam, as well as the 2025 Netflix Turning Point series on the war.

An Picture of an Underground Sect in the Open, but on the Back-street

Earlier this summer I was in a large city and honed in on an Uzbek restaurant. There were others in town but this one caught my eye because it was literally in a non-descript store-front, in a run-down neighbourhood - a section of ghetto. It was in a dilapidated strip mall alongside a dollar store and some other businesses - but it had no sign, nothing to indicate it was a restaurant.

Reflecting on John MacArthur's Legacy

John MacArthur died three months ago (July 2025) and the buzz concerning him and his ministry have waned. This is especially true in light of subsequent events such as the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

There were some voices of concern and criticism lodged regarding MacArthur, his ministry, and testimony, but overwhelmingly the assessments have been positive.

Christian Nationalism, the Wilson Ethos, and the Venture Capital Backing American Reformer

Christian Nationalism is nothing new but it has been re-cast and reinvigorated in recent years. Preferential Pluralism once dominated the Evangelical scene. The absolute nature and universal claims of Reconstructionism were considered fringe and even revolutionary and yet now are mainstream. Basically, Reconstructionism lives on in a slightly modified form. It lives on under the aegis of the more recently named Christian Nationalism.

Al-Sharaa, Petraeus, and the End of the War on Terror: A Most Revealing Episode at the UN General Assembly

Recently Ahmed al-Sharaa (formerly al-Julani) met with David Petraeus at the UN General Assembly. It was a unique moment that quite a few news outlets found worthy of note. And while some saw it has symbolic, few reflected on its actual meaning.
They tended to focus on how far al-Sharaa had come, how he had once been a prisoner of the US, and a member of al Qaeda. And yet (supposedly) he has renounced his previous Salafism and is now being put forward as a leader that will turn Syria toward Western Liberalism, democracy, and the rule of law - or so they hope.

American Idealism and Chomsky's Swan Song

The Myth of American Idealism (published in October 2024) will undoubtedly be Noam Chomsky's final work - and it was accomplished with a collaborator, Nathan Robinson. Chomsky will be 97 in December 2025 and after a massive stroke, his public life has come to an end.

Charlie Kirk is not a Christian Martyr

It's hardly surprising to watch the Right turn Kirk into a martyr. It's also obvious the White House is hoping to gain traction from this death. It's turning the conversation away from the Epstein scandal and Trump's sordid connections to that evil. Hegseth is using Kirk's death to clamp down on dissent in the military. Federal workers that have been justifiably outraged over Trump's order to lower flags and said so in social media posts have led to their firings. The Right-wing media machine is in full swing - the legend is already being created and history is being re-written. The already violent political campaign and ongoing cultural purge is set to increase. A weaponized justice system is ready. In good Orwellian fashion, the destruction of Cancel Culture will be pursued by its own Right-wing version of the same.

The Dalai Lama and Mongolian Intrigues

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y772jlpgzo

In early July 2025, the Dalai Lama finally announced that he would have a successor, that there would be a reincarnation and a continuation of the office, which in Tibetan Buddhism is a manifestation (or emanation) of the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara. The Bodhisattvas are beings in the Mahayana tradition that have delayed their entrance to the state of Nirvana in order to help mankind. They are functionally a type of divine entity that some would compare to angels or gods, but such terms and concepts don't exactly fit. Nevertheless they are venerated and appealed to - and so from a Christian standpoint they are akin to gods are at least demi-gods.

On the Death of James Dobson (1936-2025)

A friend recently wrote to me asking if I had heard about the death of James Dobson. I told him I heard it break over the news while I was at work, and I trembled. I was reminded of the same thing happening to me back in 2007 when Jerry Falwell died. Once again, I thought of Matthew 7 and 2 Timothy 3 - and the theme of deceiving and being deceived.

Evangelical Materialism and the Functional Denial of Scriptural Authority

I have often talked about the Materialist assumption at work in our culture. It is just assumed that everything that exists has some kind of scientific or physiological explanation. I heard a BBC reporter talking about the Scopes Trial and the 'teaching' of evolution. He corrected himself with the 'science of evolution' - implying that science is factual and based on actual things that can be verified while teaching is just theoretical or philosophical and thus subjective in a way 'science' is not. The poor lost man doesn't understand that science - especially as it's being understood in a Materialist framework is just as philosophically rooted and dependent as any other religious system.

The CREC and the Pentagon

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2025/05/21/hegseth-starts-evangelical-prayer-services-pentagon-his-tennessee-church-pastor.html

The Confederation (now Communion) of Reformed Evangelical Churches was launched in 1998. At the time Doug Wilson was well known but only within Reformed circles. He was primarily associated with his books on marriage, education, and child rearing. A few years later (in the early 2000's) the Federal Vision controversy would explode making him somewhat notorious. But again, this was all largely limited to the Reformed spectrum.

Two Tales of Theological Confusion

There is a great deal of confusion out there. This hardly needs to be said but I was reminded again of it on a recent Sunday when talking to a very zealous and proud CREC member who launched into a criticism of Sacralism. He's really opposed to the idea of the Church being intertwined with the government.

Erdogan, the Kurds, and the Caucasus

https://www.politico.eu/article/abdullah-ocalan-pkk-recep-tayyip-erdogan-turkey-kurdistan/

https://www.asianews.it/news-en/Turkey-celebrates-peace-with-the-PKK-but-tightens-its-grip-on-the-CHP-with-hundreds-of-arrests-63483.html

https://www.turkishminute.com/2025/07/17/syrian-kurdish-official-rejects-turkish-calls-to-lay-down-arms-says-sdf-seeks-integration-instead/

Erdogan has been in power for over twenty years and his tenure has been transformative - breaking with decades of Kemalism and Ataturk's secular vision for a modern Western-leaning state. Erdogan has shifted Türkiye to a presidential system, securing his power and while he is certainly a strong-man and authoritarian, his rule and word are not absolute.

The Usury Dilemma Revisited (III)

Should I dispense with bank accounts? I wouldn't mind doing so but it's increasingly becoming impossible. I tried at one point years ago - operating on a cash basis, paying all my bills with money orders and the like. It's very difficult and frankly pretty miserable. It's not really possible anymore in a lot of urban locations. I live in the boondocks, where there are miles of endless forest, no traffic lights, and more deer than cars.

The Usury Dilemma Revisited (II)

To me the issue is not about specifically paying usury or even enabling those who sin by taking it from me. I don't expect otherwise from the world - though I do admit I struggle with loving these people who right and left beat me down and steal the money right out of my pocket - money I literally earned by my own sweat. And unlike them I labour assiduously to be honest and fair in my dealings - to my own hurt if need be. I would rather have a clear conscience then shrug my shoulders and be like them.

My real issue is with those Christians who have jumped the fence and stand on the Babylonian side - exploiting not just society at large but fellow Christians. I expect the lost to engage in dog-eat-dog ethics - Darwin's survival of the fittest. This is as old as Cain and Lamech. But I do have a problem with the Christians who have entrenched themselves in the system and are right at home in these various industries and sectors of society - making money hand over fist on the basis of what is essentially legal extortion and Babylonian alchemy. I have a problem with Christians who have baptised this law of the jungle, this atheistic ethic that is completely opposed to New Testament religion.

The Usury Dilemma Revisited (I)

...Usura rusteth the chisel

It rusteth the craft and the craftsman

It gnaweth the thread in the loom

None learneth to weave gold in her pattern;

Azure hath a canker by usura; cramoisi is unbroidered

Emerald findeth no Memling

Usura slayeth the child in the womb

It stayeth the young man’s courting

It hath brought palsey to bed, lyeth

between the young bride and her bridegroom

CONTRA NATURAM

They have brought whores for Eleusis

Corpses are set to banquet

at behest of usura.

From Ezra Pound's Canto XLV (1937)

Wrestling with the matter of usury and in light of recent discussions, I have been forced to address the question differently and through the lens of different contexts. This is not a question of situation ethics but rather applying wisdom and some Biblically-driven discernment to a question that is both simple and straightforward but also inescapably complex - and perhaps without solution.