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.

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.