The Godly Usurers

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/mortgage-company-loving-neighbors/

Is inflated quick selling or so-called 'flipping' real estate an application of Philippians 2.3-4? Is this loving your neighbour? The folks associated with Movement Mortgage certainly seem to think so. While their model is perhaps a little more principled than the get rich quick schemes of real estate hustlers, the philosophy which undergirds their finance model is rooted in the same system and built on the same worldly foundations.

Lausanne's Unequivocal Dominionism: The Legacy of Billy Graham (Part 2)

http://evangelicalfocus.com/lifetech/4575/GWF_in_Manila_called_to_unleash_the_gospel_in_the_workplace

“I believe that one of the next great moves of God is going to be through the Believers in the workplace”.

The quote from Graham demonstrates what the movement was always about. Those that think he was just a simple-message Gospel preacher have never taken the time to understand what either he or the larger Evangelical movement was (and is) all about. You can't be an ecumenicist and come down hard and firm on anything. Graham's simplicity wasn't rooted in a bare-bones Fundamentalist-type commitment to Scripture. Not at all. His simple message was part of his larger ecumenical strategy. He wanted people 'in' and once 'in' they could be schooled in accordance with the Lausanne programme. And overwhelmingly Lausanne's programmes were and are about transforming culture. In the end Graham didn't care what theological background you hailed from. He just wanted you in the fold and part of the larger project. Whether you were baptised or not, spoke in tongues or not or prayed to Mary or not, didn't really matter.

Lausanne's Unequivocal Dominionism: The Legacy of Billy Graham (Part 1)

Building on ideas and relationships that had been growing for more than a decade, the Lausanne Movement finds its official origin in the 1974 conference held on the shores of Lake Geneva. Dominated by John Stott and Billy Graham, the conference launched a movement bringing American style Evangelicalism to Europe. This was (at least in part) to compete with and overcome the separatist impulses and Fundamentalism that had more or less dominated Free Church Protestantism on the continent since the 19^th century.

Kromiadi, the 1944 Prague Manifesto and Contemporary Alliances

Constantine Kromiadi was a Greco-Russian nationalist who fought on the White side in the Russian Civil Wars. He eventually became a Nazi collaborator who wanted to see Stalin defeated and some form of traditionalist Russia restored.

American Evangelicals and European Right-Wing Populism

https://issuesetc.org/2019/08/06/2183-lessons-from-the-demise-of-western-europe-dr-allan-carlson-8-6-19/

Italy is poised to turn even farther to the Right. After the Atlantic Establishment (via its media outlets) tried to stoke a Russia-gate type scandal, Interior Minister Matteo Salvini decided to make his move and by calling a snap election he is attempting to turn the tables on his enemies in both Rome and Brussels.

Leviticus and Redemptive History

Once again our pulpit was filled by a young man, zealous and sincere who delivered a good message. But due to truncated hermeneutics it wasn't as good as it could have been. So much was missed and this is once again due to a misguided understanding of what the Bible is and how Divine Revelation is focused on the Person and work of Christ.

This time it was a survey of Leviticus which is admittedly no easy task. It's a difficult book and it's hard to keep people focused as many find it to be not only dry reading but a dry topic.

But it doesn't have to be.

Refugees, Clashing Empires, Signs of the Times and the Christian Calling

http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-07/05/c_138201998.htm

https://www.csis.org/analysis/can-united-states-prevent-uganda-reaching-breaking-point

The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) think-tank is closely wed to the corridors of American power. If you listen to NPR or BBC, you're already familiar with the organisation and Anthony Cordesman is an old familiar voice.

A Heartfelt Offering of Thanks to Josh Harris

Josh Harris has kissed Christianity good-bye. While this is tragic I want to thank him. Thank you for publicly declaring your apostasy. Thank you for not pretending to still be a Christian and cashing in on your legacy of compromise with the world.

Heiser's Unseen Realm and the Divine Council (Part 3)

While I would love to recommend Heiser's works to family and friends, I cannot do so in good conscience. I know some would benefit from the conversation and an encounter with the topics he brings up and the Scriptural data he very effectively utilises. But buried in, around and in-between the lines are assumptions that can only be described as theologically liberal.

Heiser's Unseen Realm and the Divine Council (Part 2)

For me the tragedy is that Protestant Scholasticism created a theological paradigm that had little room for spiritual duality and tension. Because of historical abuses, the twisted absolute dualism of the Gnostics, Cathars and others there's been a strong monistic push since the 17^th century to resolve all tensions under the umbrella of Divine Sovereignty. This is pushed to an extreme in the theology embraced by many if not most contemporary Calvinists.

Heiser's Unseen Realm and the Divine Council (Part 1)

I first started thinking about the Divine Council many years ago when reading the works of Meredith Kline. In particular his 2001 commentary on Zechariah's night visions proved a thrilling read and stirred me on several investigative fronts. To this day it remains a favourite and I frequently re-visit it. Not only did it feed my already growing interest in Redemptive-Historical hermeneutics, it started me down a path of investigating typology and symbols and subsequently I discovered there were vast untapped riches to be found in the Scriptures, a treasure trove of revelation concerning the celestial realms and the mechanisms by which God has ordered the universe.

Habakkuk and Redemptive-History

A couple of weeks ago we were blessed to have a young man visiting our pulpit, apparently some sort of aspiring preacher. Clearly excited about the Scriptures it was truly an encouragement to see someone from the Millennial generation that appeared to be serious and sober. We've had other preachers of that generation visit and apart from a strange pulpit manner, an odd cadence and even some maturity issues, the messages were a bit disappointing. This young man was refreshing.

OBOR, Atlanticism and Trumpism: Setting the Stage for Proxy Conflicts and Battlegrounds in the New Cold War (Part 2)

China's economy must continue growing. Continued Western investment is risky, all the more as it's clear the West is gearing for war. A capitalist economy must grow. Without investment and returns, stagnate capital begins to depreciate.

This is the point where Capitalism turns the imperialist corner. If there aren't any more markets, then you must find them, create them and if necessary force them open. And you must angle and strategise in order to make sure your rivals don't beat you to it.

Xi does not want to fight a war with the United States but his solution to the problem was to re-cast and expand China's already growing global economic footprint. OBOR also known as the New Silk Road gives China something to invest in and creates a multitude of new markets and opportunities.

OBOR, Atlanticism and Trumpism: Setting the Stage for Proxy Conflicts and Battlegrounds in the New Cold War (Part 1)

Announced in the fall of 2013, China's Belt and Road Initiative (OBOR) also known as the New Silk Road continues to garner attention as the magnitude and scope of the project is beginning to set in.

And indeed the largest coordinated infrastructure project in recorded history extends well beyond the geography of the historical Silk Road. The focus hasn't come from American mainstream media outlets as such stories are of little interest to the domestic audience. However, international news outlets like the BBC are starting to really pay attention. The stage is being set.

Purity Culture Revisited: A Distortion Subjected to Distortion

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/15/opinion/sunday/sex-christian.html

I was both surprised and disappointed to discover this article in the New York Times. The topic is one that should probably stay within Christian circles as the lost will undoubtedly misunderstand the issues and turn to blasphemous mockery. The paper which in the same edition published a piece on how a celebrity Sodomite couple spends their Sundays is a poor forum indeed for a professing Christian to air internal grievance.

The 'Purity' issue has vexed me in the past and continues to do so in the present. Something that was good and well intentioned was turned into a harmful distraction and now a new generation sows seeds of confusion and brings with it a potential for great harm.  

But so it is with Post-War American Evangelicalism. The movement once known as the New Evangelicalism was rooted in error from the beginning and has now spawned many 'new' Evangelicalisms... confusion and I fear apostasy. The fact that the author of the opinion piece is a managing editor of Christianity Today is a rather stunning indictment of that magazine and the Evangelical movement it represents.

Pompeo, Venezuela's Religious Institutions and Evangelical Exploitation

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/exclusive-pompeo-opens-up-about-venezuelas-opposition-says-keeping-it-united-has-proven-devilishly-difficult/2019/06/05/85385a33-8eae-4ba5-a9ac-6b7b8c3d5762_story.html?

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo got caught on tape and his comments only confirm what many of us have already known.

In addition to admitting that the CIA was attempting to overthrow Maduro during his tenure as head of the CIA, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo now admits that the CIA has sought to utilise religious institutions.

This should make every Christian shudder.

Unfortunately many Evangelicals will not understand that statement and in fact heartily embrace such collaborations.

Sabbath and Dominion: New Calvinism and the Question of the Mundane

I've mentioned this in passing before but I think it's a point worth revisiting. When I hear Confessionalists discussing New Calvinism they are often uneasy with regard to several points and rightly so.

I'm not a Confessionalist either (though I certainly used to be) and I don't share all their views or concerns but there is a marked difference between Reformed Confessionalism and the New Calvinism.

Inbox: Kingdom Clarity and Soteriological Fog

As usual I have reworked the questions a bit but essentially I was asked the following. If God has made the distinctions between the Kingdom and the World with such lucidity and clarity, why then do I argue that issues like Justification are so nuanced? Why would God present something as critical as what it takes to be made right with Him, what it takes to possess eternal salvation... in terms that seem so unclear? Isn't Sola Fide, the question of justification the primary focus of Scripture from beginning to end?

It's a very interesting way of framing the question to be sure and one I've not encountered before.

Inbox: Daniel and the Beastly Magistrate

I was asked a question regarding Daniel serving in government. Clearly Daniel was willing to serve (as a slave) in the governments of Babylon and Persia and yet stood his ground regarding overt idolatry. If he refused to worship idols, why didn't he refuse to work for the Beast power? If (as I argue) working for the state was and is truly the wrong thing for a believer to do, why didn't Daniel refuse service altogether just as he and his friends refused to bow down to the king?

And obviously by implication the question suggests that my Christians should not participate in government argument may be flawed.

The Poway Shooter, Replacement Theology and the Charge of Anti-Semitism

There's another related issue to the Poway Shooting. I have detected a resurgence of Replacement Theology talk. This reminds me of Hal Lindsey's 1990 'The Road to Holocaust' which contains the subtitle: Unchecked the Dominion Theology movement among Christians could lead us – and Israel – to disaster....

It's a lie with a hint of truth.

The Social Justice Controversy: An Addendum (Poway, R2K and the Inherent Violence of Sacralist Theology)

I was stunned to learn that some have dared to argue that Two Kingdom theology led to the Poway Shooting.

In reality the exact opposite is true.

Inbox: The Social Justice Controversy (Part 2)

Racism can go both ways but maybe it takes a pilgrim to understand that post-Renaissance/Reformation Western Civilisation is a story of empires clamouring for resources, trade routes, markets and raw power. It is a story and paradigm deeply rooted in racist assumptions, the assumption that the West and its culture and race were superior and had the right (even the prerogative) to use and take the resources and lands of others. It was moral we're often told, the right thing to do and in many cases it is cast as being for their own good.

Inbox: The Social Justice Controversy (Part 1)

The controversy was generated in 2018 when a group of men led by John MacArthur issued a document (sometimes referred to as the Dallas Statement) condemning the recent spate of 'social justice' movements at work within US political culture and in particular Evangelicalism.

Inbox: Problems with Sola Scriptura (Part 2)

With regard to questions of text and canon, Christ provides the final ratification of the Old and establishes the basis for the New. In terms of the Old Testament canon it is established. I do largely accept the Protestant argument concerning His references to the valid blocs of canon that we call the Old Testament. That said, given the provisional and typological nature of the Old Testament, and that revelation itself was (prior to Christ) incomplete, there were always possibilities in terms of both extra-canonical revelation and typological reference and interpretation. The matrix of Old Covenant revelatory epistemology was vast, rich and deep but always incomplete and in shadow. I say this because at once I would argue that the nature of Old Testament canonicity contained a degree of fluidity as exemplified in the New Testament's use of the LXX and deuterocanonical sources.  

Inbox: Problems with Sola Scriptura (Part 1)

How can Sola Scriptura be defended in light of historical theology and the record regarding the development of Scripture? How can a strict Sola position reckon with concepts such as canonicity and authority?

How can a concept like perspicuity exist in light of translations and all the more given that the individual reader still belongs to a context?

Confessionalism's Embrace of Progressive Theology and Historiography (Part 2)

And when (it must be asked) did the Roman Catholic Church become the Roman Catholic Church?

That is a difficult question indeed and one I've addressed from time to time. There is an answer but it's not straightforward. Recently I've even heard some rather absurd arguments from Confessionally Reformed circles, one history professor (of all things) has tried to argue that the Catholic Church only became 'Roman' at the Council of Trent! Roman Catholicism apparently didn't exist until the mid-16^th century!

Confessionalism's Embrace of Progressive Theology and Historiography (Part 1)

The right side of history. It's a phrase we hear all the time in the news, in lectures and interviews.  The phrase contains the idea that history is moving forward, that it has a destination. In this way it is reminiscent of old Whig histories which one can still find on dusty shelves in used bookstores. Tales of progress, early progress and similar phrasing dominate their titles.

This view of history was also quite common in some of the Church histories of the 19^th century.

The 2007 PCA General Assembly Debate on Federal Vision Theology

Some time ago I discovered the audio for the debate and listened with considerable interest.

I found it interesting that it wasn't only the advocates of Federal Vision theology that were concerned with the actions of the General Assembly.  They simply requested that judgment would be delayed, that Scriptural proofs and exegetical work would be provided and that the committee would be revised to include at least a couple of voices who could advocate for the Federal Vision.

LaHaye's Victory and the Next Phase: The Psychotropic Imperative

Evangelicalism has a long track record of compromise when it comes to psychology and psychotropic drugs. In these days of confusion even 'ministries' once oriented toward Biblical counseling have been compromised.

Recently I was listening to an Evangelical radio station and was struck by the interviewee's statement that not only can Christians take psychotropic medications, in some cases it would be sinful not to.

Clark and Mefferd on Socialism: A Dog and Pony Show

https://heidelblog.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/7-25-18-Janet-Mefferd-Today.mp3

I rolled my eyes, but like the impulse to turn one's head to look at a car wreck, I had to listen. What are they going to say? Janet Mefferd and Scott Clark are going to break down Socialism for us. It ought to be a hoot.

And I wasn't disappointed, that is if I was looking for a fiasco. If someone is looking for good information, acumen and Scriptural wisdom on Socialism and how a Christian should think about it... they'll need to look somewhere else, because as expected, these two are a case of blind leading the blind.

Parousia Interim

The period in which the Parousia is in temporal suspension, paused and delayed from being fully completed, the period in which Divine Wrath and Judgment are deferred, that the Gentiles might be brought in.

The Old Testament presents the First and Second Comings as one event and eschatologically they are indeed unified. This has led to a great deal of confusion for some as they seek to interpret prophecy in isolated terms apart from the Parousia which is centered on Christ.

This age of the Already-Not Yet, this time of fulfillment in earnest and expectation is one in which prophecy is in pause and in suspension. The age could be described as characterised by a temporal schism in which we as believers live in This Age and yet are participant citizens in The Age to Come.

When Christ returns the full meaning and import of the Parousia will be brought to bear as our Lord will finish not a task separate from His First Coming but will finish the tasks associated with His Coming. The events are separated by chronological time but eschatologically are essentially one. This doctrine of course defies normal categories of predication and experience. It is a source of wonder.

The Fool Wang Yi and the Dark Side of Calvinism

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/25/world/asia/pastor-wang-yi-detention.html

I read this article the other day and it disheartened me to say the least.

It's one thing for a state to allow illegal activity if that activity stays low-key and off the main street so to speak. But when those engaged in illegality (as defined by the state) move to conspire and collaborate with the enemies of the state, their actions are no longer back-alley subcultural exploits but instead become overtly political.

The Lausanne Harvest (1974-2019)

http://evangelicalfocus.com/europe/4136/julia_doxat_purser_brussels_Christians_are_now_better_at_thinking_biblically_about_politics_than_25_years_ago

Ah yes, the Lausanne Movement. This is the face of Evangelicalism in Europe and it has its parallels in Latin America and elsewhere. Lausanne refers to the 1974 congress organised by John Stott and Billy Graham on the shores of Lake Geneva.

The Northern Kingdom Analogy

A way to view Rome as a covenantally relevant but apostate form of Christianity.

Those who say Rome has no status and never did err both theologically and historically. It's not a tenable position.

And yet those who argue Rome still has status also err.

The Confessional metanarrative which insists Rome was the Church until the Council of Trent upon which the mantle was taken up by Magisterial Protestantism also err, a point I will briefly touch on in the conclusion.

Evangelical Manipulation of the Population Debate (Part 2)

The real problem is waste and consumption. The Western world bears most of the guilt but it must be admitted that they are not solely to blame. The developing world is wasteful in other ways and certainly nations like China are now playing their part as well, a part played by the West a century ago. They have adopted the Western lifestyle and are now part of the consumption carousel.