Milley, The Deep State, and the Present Crisis

Is General Milley a traitor? The Trumpites would have you think so. As a Christian my concerns to this end are minimal at best. Let the dead bury their dead. Let the Babylons and the Babylonians scheme and betray one another. Whatever faction is ascendant – it's still Babylon in the end.

And yet there's a concern here on a deeper level because it touches on fundamental understandings of the nature of US government. This is particularly important given the way Evangelical leaders have fused Liberalism with Christianity and have thus generated a series of extra-biblical imperatives regarding citizenship, voting, general participation, capitalist economics, and the like.

The System and Racism

Recently I was talking with my son and he told me about some experiences he had on a Christian chat forum that he visits from time to time. He's had several interesting interactions on the site but recently things took a somewhat bad turn as a person appeared who argued (in a rather aggressive manner) that Christians were under obligation to combat systemic racism. A hot button issue to be sure, the tensions and conflicts that emerged from this confrontation led to several departures and in his estimation has almost ruined the overall experience.

Contemporary Iconoclasm: Cancel Culture and Statue Removal

When the Magisterial Reformation appeared on the scene in the Sixteenth Century it was followed by many episodes of iconoclasm. Protestant mobs would rush into Catholic buildings and tear out and smash art, statues, relics, and architectural elements that they found objectionable.

Inbox: The Book of Revelation as a Justification for High Church Liturgy

Over the years I have heard various appeals to the Book of Revelation as some kind of guide or normative template for New Testament worship. Usually those who appeal to this line of reasoning wish to move their particular congregation (or perhaps denomination) in a High Church direction. Revelation's liturgical imagery is certainly lavish and one can easily make a case for vestments, incense, candles and the like.

 

Christo-Trumpism and January 6th

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgBOsGFc5h4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWJVMoe7OY0

I don't doubt this testimony for one moment and one need not be a fan or supporter of Global News (Canada) or the New York Times to benefit from this reporting. The testimonies and images all but speak for themselves.

The Testimony of IC Herendeen and World War I

Irwin C Herendeen (1883-1982) is a name few remember today. Those who are familiar with the name usually connect it to Arthur Pink. A Christian book and tract publisher, Herendeen laboured in Central Pennsylvania and published many of Pink's works among others.

Helm on Vocation

https://banneroftruth.org/us/resources/articles/2021/the-christian-mans-calling/

Helm begins by arguing that Evangelicals have adopted an essentially gnostic view of Creation and Redemption and a non-Christian anthropology. These claims are regularly made by Dominionist-minded thinkers and yet I have yet to find anyone who actually holds to these views. For nigh on forty years the Christian Right has laboured to eradicate them – largely straw men to begin with – and they have been successful. The attack is against new straw men they have substituted for the real problems they face.

Judaizing and Reductionism: An Interaction with MacArthurite Hermeneutics (Part 2)

That the Old Testament was harder to understand did not minimise the onus placed on the saints of that era. And yet, New Testament believers are called to a higher ethical standard. We have so much more revealed and we are called to live as citizens not of the typological kingdom comprised of sword-conquests, land boundaries, stone buildings, and blood sacrifices. Rather, we are called to live as citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven and as such we are strangers and pilgrims on the Earth in a way the saints living under the Mosaic order were not. We do not live by the sword, we have the completed perfect sacrifice which grants us access to the Kingdom of Heaven. Our Kingdom is eternal and yet hidden to the unregenerate. Our Temple and sacrifices are spiritual. Our High Priest is in Heaven. Our battles are not against flesh and blood. Our ethics are born of a higher eternal order.

Judaizing and Reductionism: An Interaction with MacArthurite Hermeneutics (Part 1)

https://blog.tms.edu/is-the-old-testament-unintelligible-without-the-new

I was struck by two recent displays of the reductionist hermeneutics utilised by the MacArthurite faction. These are retentions of the Baconian attempt within Dispensationalism to cast hermeneutics into a scientific framework. They want the Scriptures to have one clear unambiguous propositional meaning that is grounded in the inductive and deductive processes of human experience.

Bercot's Covid Ethics: Practical Wisdom and Shortcomings

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLI_iF75_-8

Overall this was a very good forum. My wife and I both agreed that is was some of the best practical ethics and wisdom we've heard since the Covid crisis emerged over a year ago. Bercot did not disappoint. He got the balance right and rightly applied Kingdom ethics to the situation – mask mandates and the like. I really appreciated it and the fact that he condemned the behaviour of Evangelicals and the many Anabaptists who fell into Right-wing individualist thinking and behaviour and brought shame to the testimony of Christ and the Church.

But there were two glaring deficiencies that I would point out and I think they're important to consider.

A Postmortem on Covid Postmortems (Part 2)

His comments on the government operating outside parameters and violating its God-given authority are frankly ridiculous. It's the wrong way to approach such questions. He's mischaracterized the nature of government and badly misjudged and wrongly framed the Christian interaction with this post lapsum reality – a temporary situation that will be eradicated at the eschaton.

A Postmortem on Covid Postmortems (Part 1)

https://thelocalkirk.org/a-postmortem-on-covid-and-the-church/

Perhaps what I found most disappointing about this piece is that many will believe it to be well-reasoned and moderate in its tone and posture. I did not find this to be the case and in addition I found it indicative of some other disturbing trends at work within conservative Evangelical and Confessional circles.

The Shadow State is Alive and Well

https://www.newsweek.com/exclusive-inside-militarys-secret-undercover-army-1591881

The stage for all of this was set in the aftermath of 9/11 and increasingly as people no longer consider the surrendering of their privacy and data to be anything controversial, and as generations of lock-step, wave the flag, support the troops, my country right or wrong nationalism has come to dominate – this story isn't even controversial.

Evangelicalism and A Hidden Life (2019)

The title of the movie is taken from George Elliot. In Middlemarch she writes:

"The growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs."

Though Evans (Elliot) was an infidel, the quote as it stands is true and worthy of reflection. We might modify it a bit and rather than think in terms of the 'growing good of the world', instead we can ponder the testimony that will be revealed in heaven itself. Hebrews 11 tells us that the 'winners' in terms of the Kingdom are those who wandered about destitute, living in caves and other lonely places, suffering torture and even death. In the world's eyes they were losers but as Christians we don't see these things or reckon them as the world does.

Afghanistan and the Fall of Saigon

In recent days while reflecting on Afghanistan and the US withdrawal, I have thought more and more of Vietnam and what happened there in 1975. I was prompted to revisit the 2014 PBS film Last Days in Vietnam which was aired at the end of April 2015 – the fortieth anniversary of the fall of Saigon.

The PBS Documentary on Billy Graham

I was at first a little surprised to see that PBS-American Experience had produced a documentary on Billy Graham. In other respects it wasn't all that surprising as he was a significant figure in twentieth century American life – certainly a household name to anyone over forty or so. I certainly grew up with Billy Graham and thus was eager to see it.

Inbox: Wilberforce

What should we think about William Wilberforce?  

I think Wilberforce was sincere in his intentions and who can doubt that his campaign resulted in some good? And yet it's not that simple, certainly not as simple as his advocates would present it. His larger campaign was with an eye to reform manners in society, and while the entirety of the Victorian social project along with its gross hypocrisies and failures cannot be laid at his feet, in many respects he helped to instigate it.

The Kamala Harris Tweet, Memorial Day Weekend, and Right-wing Political Correctness

I had to laugh over Memorial Day weekend 2021. I happened to be someplace where I had access to television and so I couldn't help it – I took in some FOX news. It's like the ghost that hovers over the American Church, the proverbial elephant in the room. It's eye-opening to observe this channel which continues to wield such sway over the minds of many who are supposedly renewed in their minds.

The story of the hour was the Kamala Harris tweet.

Dangerous Roads in the Realm of Natural Theology

https://evangelicalfocus.com/science/10764/john-polkinghorne-saw-the-doctrine-of-the-trinity-as-consonant-with-the-entangled-world-of-quantum-theory

Superpositioned unity of distinct states, entanglement, dual identity and other concepts associated with the quanta remain more than a little intriguing. And indeed I have often thought of this realm of science as a case of science breaking down, even of a hint of the metaphysical imposing itself on empiricist assumptions. It has a real value in terms of apologetics – not in what it can say, but in what it can destroy. It casts doubt on the certainty and epistemological assumptions of Scientism. It declares not only that there's something more and something beyond but that these questions end in mystery and incoherence. It painfully reveals the limitations of human epistemology.

Biden's Victory: Despair and the Moment

It's hard to miss. In Evangelical and Confessional circles there's a heavy despondency over the Biden presidency and the fact that Trump lost the election. There's an ominous tone of coming persecution and hard times. America is in a state of crisis we're told. If we don't do something to stop this trajectory there won't be any Christian America anymore.

Sham Comfort from a Sham Pilgrim

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/exile-ok/

The Gospel Coalition has run a recent article by Alistair Begg that I notice is getting passed around and seems to be trending as they say. Apparently many people find it to be helpful, an encouragement during our present time. Begg says that we're just going to have to get used to living as strangers and pilgrims. This is (we're told) a new development in American Christian life, something that's only really come to bear in the last few years.

Metaxas, Bonhoeffer, and Trumpism

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/02/eric-metaxas-2020-election-trump/617999/

Metaxas has simply applied the logical outworkings of his position. Christianity and the Kingdom of Christ are equal to Western Civilisation and in order to maintain supremacy over that vast complex and its institutions one must embrace the ethics of mammonism – power, wealth, and even violence in order to maintain it. It is the ethic that is literally antithetical to what Christ laid out in the Sermon on the Mount – the same discourse in which he stated unequivocally you cannot serve God and Mammon. In other words they are different belief systems, different religions with different gospels.

The Trump Acquittal and Post-Trump GOP Hypocrisy

As is already clear in the historical record, reflections and fallout from the Second Trump Impeachment are producing a wide array of opinions and narratives. There is no agreement and the entire episode (along with the January 6 event that precipitated it) will remain shrouded in partisan fog.

Larger Works Within the New Testament: Their Tensions and Roles (Part 2)

Hebrews for its part is Redemptive-Historical theology par excellence as it elaborates the nature of the prophetic word, the Sabbath, priesthood and Mosaic order, and the New Covenant, along with questions of faith and its resulting ethics and imperatives.

Larger Works Within the New Testament: Their Tensions and Roles (Part 1)

It is with fondness that I often reflect upon friendships I formed in the 1990's with some fellow Christians. We always marvel that in terms of day to day life we had (and perhaps still have) little in common but what brought us together was Christ and a love for the Scriptures.

The Role of Scepticism and the Shift to the Right in Mainstream American Politics

Most Conservatives will insist that the American political spectrum has shifted rapidly to the Left over the past fifty years and will make the case by appealing to cultural standards which (admittedly in some respects) have moved away from conservative ideals.

What The Great Reset Is and Isn't

https://evangelicalfocus.com/life-tech/9854/is-the-great-reset-a-plan-of-the-global-elites-to-restrict-freedoms

This was a remarkably sober analysis from Evangelical Focus though its conclusions are (as expected) ultimately false. The Lausanne oriented movement is concerned not with truth speaking to power but power itself and the unbiblical quest to redeem culture. That said, the editors possess enough sense to realise that current trends at work within Evangelicalism risk destroying the movement and thus their cultural mission. A New Testament based analysis will lead to a totally different trajectory but that doesn't mean that the article has no value.

Mammon and the Accommodationist Triad of Feminism, Psychology, and Divorce

We can speak of a Social Accommodationist Triad or SAT. There are many aspects of social life that could be plugged into this equation but in particular it could be argued that three powerful socially transformative forces have been at work in the post-WWII period – and these forces have worked symbiotically to shape and affect the culture.

The Christian Response to Cancel Culture

Evangelicals are outraged at the prospect of being kicked of Twitter, Facebook, or some other form of social media.

Is the Church Under Threat in 2021?

There is a lot of anxiety at present, fears that the blowing winds of social and political change will find the Church in a place of danger. Freedoms known by Christians for generations are in jeopardy and there is a nervousness about the future and what Christians should do.

Some Notes and Comments on: The History of the Protestant Church in Hungary

The History of the Protestant Church in Hungary from the beginning of the Reformation to 1850 is a commendable historical work. It value is both inherent as a historical text and in what can be extrapolated from it – which in some cases may result in observations and applications beyond the intention of the anonymous author. The work first appeared about 1854 and was translated into English by one Dr. Craig.

The Trumpite Schism and the Storming of the US Capitol (Part 2)

Trumpites and Conservatives are desperate to pin the insurrection (in reality a failed coup) on groups like BLM and Antifa but despite their aggressive propaganda campaign, the argument continues to fall flat. What motives would Antifa have to stop the electoral vote? Would they want four more years of Donald Trump?

The Trumpite Schism and the Storming of the US Capitol (Part 1)

I've been struck by the number of Trumpites and Republicans that seem genuinely shocked at the 6 January storming of the Capitol. 'That's not us' they insist. 'Those people don't represent us.' It only shows that these same folks not only do not understand what has happened in American society, they don't understand their own movement, the people they've allied themselves with and what Donald Trump's presidency means.

Postscript: An Aesthetic both Transient and Transcendent

Recovering the First Reformation - Toward a Proto-Protestant Narrative of Church History (XXII/Final)

We ought to understand that technology and art are not easily separated and both are to some extent inseparable from questions of epistemology and morality. Additionally, if we grasp that socially conservative attitudes toward the arts and culture (while inconsistent) cannot be divorced from their larger cultural narratives surrounding epistemology and previous generational progress and values, it behooves us (lest we be swept away by these powerful cultural forces and heavily promoted arguments) to apply the otherworldly and non-conformist ethos of the First Reformation to the present day. Our culture is in crisis and thus to many, the arguments made by conservatives seem very persuasive and grounding but from a New Testament perspective they are flawed at almost every level.

An otherworldly and non-conformist ethos leads us to a cultural posture and interaction that embraces neither the Classic nor the Enlightened. In fact in many ways we are better able to resonate with the postmodern critique and even the cynical. We benefit from critiques that expose the world system's inherent flaws and contradictions, that reveal it to be an idolatrous fraud and resting on transient and degenerating foundations – as Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians 7.29-31 and Romans 8.19-23. This should not upset us but rather drives us all the more toward the inescapable choice between dependence upon revelation and the hope it grants or a collapse into nihilism.

Postscript: Magisterial Protestantism's Cultural Legacy and Aesthetic Schizophrenia

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

This topic may seem off-base or represent a strange sidetrack and it must be admitted not all will be interested in this discussion or even be able to follow it. Nevertheless these are issues of practical importance, all the more given the way in which such questions (presented within the framework of a holistic system) permeate Evangelical discussions and dominate airwaves, pulpits, and an endless stream of books and cultural commentaries.