Ashurbanipal, Nebuchadnezzar, and the Leaders of Other Evil Empires

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/reagan-evil-empire/

During the Cold War there were three years that stand out - periods in which tension was high and the world stood on the brink of nuclear conflagration. 1962 easily ranks first with the Cuban Missile Crisis. 1973 usually ranks second in connection to the Yom Kippur War and the US raising of the DefCon alert to an elevated '3' - signalling preparations for potential war. The DefCon was not raised by the Americans in 1983, but Moscow was on high alert and many consider it to be one of the most tense periods of the Cold War.

Blair, the Roman Beast, and The Mark (IV)

The visions in Daniel and repeated in Revelation seem to suggest the Roman Empire is the model for the Beast and indeed from the time of the New Testament to the present, the spectre of Rome haunts Christendom. From the Russian and British Empires, to the German, French, and American - all seek to emulate Rome. Whether Republican or Imperial Rome, the Western or Eastern iterations, all look to Rome as the paragon of government, the ideal they aspire to. All are inspired by its institutions and laws - and certainly its architecture. And all muse over its fall.

Blair, the Roman Beast, and The Mark (III)

War abroad will always mean war waged against the population at home. Contrary to the rhetoric of someone like Biden or the pipe dreams of the Libertarians, we are headed toward a period of authoritarian rule and where it's absent - there will be chaos. Either option represents a form of dystopia. It's inescapable.

Blair, the Roman Beast, and The Mark (I)

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-64729442

Published in early 2023, this is a disturbing story on many levels. William Hague and Tony Blair are certainly evil men and their arguments and justifications for biometric identification are not to be trusted. The truth is after witnessing the events of the past decade or so, and given the growing instability within society, coupled with the sheer massiveness of modern populations, those sitting atop the state are nervous and fearing the spectre of chaos and the threat of pandemonium. They want mechanisms in place that allow them to exert and maintain control.

Saving Christendom by Repackaging the Roman Beast

https://americanreformer.org/2023/10/providence-and-empire/

This unfortunate article was reposted at The Aquila Report and there seems to be more and more of this sort of thing as of late. The whole of theology (and even thought) is increasingly subordinated to the concerns and interests of Dominionist ideology and hence the growing concern with political and cultural thinking. Ironically, the more these 'civilisation' paths are pursued, the more readers are likely to turn to Rome as in many respects the narratives of the Magisterial Reformation and its legacy begin to collapse. And so in that regard one might say that such articles are doubly pernicious.

Trueman: A Little Late to the Antithesis Game

https://wng.org/opinions/welcome-to-pride-month-christian-1654083759

Trueman is right to lament Pride Month and the latest shift in our culture that will (without a doubt) lead to the marginalisation of Christians. It's inescapable, and like Lot in Sodom – any Christian is bound to be vexed by the world and the conduct that surrounds us.

A Misreading of Paul in Acts 16 and the Larger Question of Legal Rights

https://agradio.org/paul-and-his-roman-constitutional-rights

This reading of Paul is common in Evangelical circles but a more careful reading of the passage reveals that it has been misunderstood.

Dissent Before the Gregorian Reform and the Placement of Celtic Christianity

Recovering the First Reformation - Toward a Proto-Protestant Narrative of Church History (V)

The growing apostasy at work in the post-Constantinian period was challenged and it seems clear there was a lasting testimony of extra-Roman and anti-Roman resistance well into the Dark Ages. A dissenting geographic belt (deemed heretical by Rome) would appear cutting across the Pyrenees through Southern France and across the Alps into Northern Italy. With Switzerland serving as a knot, another branch roughly followed the course of the Rhine through Germany and the Low Countries.