Douglas Wilson's Letter From America

Gedunk Government 

Culture and Politics - Obama Nation Building
Written by Douglas Wilson
Wednesday, 15 May 2013


So then, it appears as though the president is making a hash of it. The Unaffordable Care Act supplies the corned beef, the hard leftism of his administration would be the little diced potatos that we see everywhere, and this latest scandal triad is the hot grease that makes the whole thing sizzle and pop like that.

Now in this circumstance, every chance he gets, the president will blame Bush for his woes, and will do so in a way that is more risible every day. So let's not do it that way. Let's blame the so-called conservative establishment in the way they need to be blamed for all these federal fiascos. They are to be faulted because they think like short-sighted partisans, and not like the Founders, who thought with an expansive vision -- a vision that included both the greatness of the cultural mandate and a deep suspicion of man's sinfulness. Our modern conservative leaders are like the man driving a local delivery route with his Fritos truck. The Founders were coast-to-coast long haul truckers.

The legal theorist John Rawls once said that the ideal society ought to be crafted with the designer of it not knowing where he was going to be born into it. This is, of course, simply an interesting variation of the Golden Rule.

Calvin's Daily Devotional

Daily Devotional

May 21

Thine Is My Heart: Devotional Readings from the Writings of John Calvin

by John Calvin (compiled by John H. Kromminga)
Republished from the OPC Website

Bible Text:
And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. —Psalm 130:8

Devotional:
Let us learn from this passage in what way we are to expect deliverance from all calamities, or the order which it becomes us to observe seeking it. Remission of sins always goes first, without which nothing will come to a favorable issue.

Those who only desire to shake off the punishment are like silly invalids, who are careless about the disease itself with which they are afflicted, provided the symptoms which occasion them trouble for a time are removed. In order, then, that God may deliver us from our miseries, we must chiefly endeavor to be brought to a state of favor with him by obtaining the rernission of our sins. If this is not obtained, it will avail us little to have the temporal punishment remitted; for that often happens even to the reprobates themselves.

This is true and substantial deliverance, when God, by blotting out our sins, shows himself merciful towards us. Whence also we gather that having once obtained forgiveness, we have no reason to be afraid of our being excluded from free access to, and from enjoying the ready exercise of, the loving-kindness and mercy of God; for to redeem from iniquity is equivalent to moderating punishments or chastisements. —Commentaries

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John Calvin was the premier theologian of the Reformation, but also a pious and godly Christian pastor who endeavored throughout his life to point men and women to Christ. We are grateful to Reformation Heritage Books for permission to use John Calvin's Thine Is My Heart as our daily devotional for 2013 on the OPC Web site. You can currently obtain a printed copy of that book from Reformation Heritage Books.

Slave Traders' Lobby

Gosnell, Abortion, and Slave Trading

One of the finest pieces yet to emerge about convicted murderer, Dr Gosnell's House of Abortion Horrors has been published by The Witherspoon Institute.  It has been written by Matthew J. Franck who is Director of the William E. and Carol G. Simon Center on Religion and the Constitution at the Witherspoon Institute. 

The thing about the Gosnell case is this: you can get outraged over the death of innocent women who died at the hands of Gosnell's ministrations due to the squalor, filth, and brutality of his surgical interventions.  Plenty of people have.  Or, you could get angry over the purposive and deliberate actions of Gosnell and his staff to murder babies who had emerged from wombs alive (Gosnell "specialised" in late-term abortions).  People have.  But if you then go on to assert--as millions do--there are no problems whatsoever provided those same babies died whilst still in the womb due to Gosnell's actions, then your conscience has become as dead as one of Gosnell's victims.

Calvin's Daily Devotional

Daily Devotional

May 20

Thine Is My Heart: Devotional Readings from the Writings of John Calvin

by John Calvin (compiled by John H. Kromminga)
Republished from the OPC Website

Bible Text:
Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? —Acts 2:37

Devotional:
This is the beginning of repentance, this is the entrance unto godliness, to be sorry for our sins, and to be wounded with the feeling of our miseries. For so long as men are careless, they cannot take such heed to doctrine as they ought. And for this cause the word of God is compared to a sword, because it fortifies the flesh, that we may be offered to God for a sacrifice.

But there must be added to this pricking in heart readiness to obey. Cain and Judas were pricked in heart, but despair kept them back from submitting themselves unto God. For the mind oppressed with horror can do nothing else but free from God. Therefore we must take a good heart to us, and lift up our mind with this hope of salvation, that we may be ready to addict and give ourselves unto God, and to follow whatever he shall command. —Commentaries

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John Calvin was the premier theologian of the Reformation, but also a pious and godly Christian pastor who endeavored throughout his life to point men and women to Christ. We are grateful to Reformation Heritage Books for permission to use John Calvin's Thine Is My Heart as our daily devotional for 2013 on the OPC Web site. You can currently obtain a printed copy of that book from Reformation Heritage Books.

Oliver Twist's Worst Nightmare

   

Budgets and Beggars

In New Zealand, national budgets in the parliamentary Westminster tradition are presented annually to the parliament and the people.  We feel compelled to make this rather basic point because many of the US readers may be confused, since in the United States the Federal Government can stagger on for decades it would seem without a budget stipulating spending and revenue.

Budget times in New Zealand have historically been occasionally dramatic.  When the government ran the economy more tightly than an Eastern European sphincter most folk in the country furtively huddled around the radio on Budget night waiting to see if some dramatic announcement would be forthcoming.  Sometimes instantly, whilst we were all supposed to be sleeping, the currency would be devalued twenty percent by legislative fiat.  Or petrol tax went up forty percent.  Fortunes were made or lost overnight. 

Thankfully Eastern European economics and tyranny were tossed out (at least for a time) early in the nineteen eighties, when the IMF was on the verge of declaring New Zealand bankrupt.

The Original Biblical Text

Of Tape Measures and Biblical Originals

A helpful piece from Justin Taylor:

The Original Text of the Bible

Even Though We Lack the Original Manuscripts

Justin Taylor 1:45 pm CT

Michael Kruger has a helpful post at TGC this morning making a helpful distinction about the reliability of the original text of Scripture:

But the original text is not a physical object. The autographs contain the original text, but the original text can exist without them. A text can be preserved in other ways. One such way is that the original text can be preserved in a multiplicity of manuscripts. In other words, even though a single surviving manuscript might not contain (all of) the original text, the original text could be accessible to us across a wide range of manuscripts.

Calvin's Daily Devotional

Daily Devotional

May 18

Thine Is My Heart: Devotional Readings from the Writings of John Calvin

by John Calvin (compiled by John H. Kromminga)
Republished from the OPC Website

Bible Text:
In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, —Ephesians 1:13

Devotional:
Paul asserts that the Ephesians were "sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise." This shows that there is an eternal teacher, by whose agency the promise of our salvation, which otherwise would only strike the air, penetrates into our minds. Similar also is his remark, that the Thessalonians were "chosen by God through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of truth." By this connection he briefly suggests that faith itself proceeds only from the Spirit.

John expresses this in plainer terms: "We know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us." Again, "Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit." Therefore Christ promised to send to his disciples "the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive," that they might be capable of attaining heavenly wisdom.

You Shall Not Pass!

We Will Never Surrender

We have posted recently on "slippery slope" arguments (here, and here).  One of the points made by Jonah Goldberg about slippery slope arguments is that they discount the human factor, where people rise up to say "enough" and the slippery slope becomes less slippery.

Here is an example of what he means.  The slippery slope in this case is abortion and its increasing availability by chemical means.  Take the pill, kill your baby.  In a terrible case in the United States a "boyfriend" tricked his pregnant "girlfriend" into taking an abortifacient drug, causing the death of the infant.  The slippery slope argument would reasonably predict that as a result of such drugs an inevitable situation is arising where abortion will be as widespread and common as drinking a glass of water. 

Turtle Bay covers the case:

Douglas Wilson's Letter From America

Principles of War in Culture War 

Culture and Politics - Politics
Written by Douglas Wilson
Tuesday, 14 May 2013

Principles that govern every form of conflict are constant in all possible scenarioes. The need for mobility, surprise, etc. will never fade away. But weapons and tactics are not constant -- rocks, bows, guns, triremes, torpedoes, etc. vary from era to era, and war to war. Electronic countermeasures played no role whatever in the battle of Lepanto.

Those who are merely competent in the use of a particular weapon are followers. They may be very competent indeed, but that is not the issue. They are also essential to success of any campaign, but if they are promoted to the level where principled strategic thinking is necessary, they will also be essential to the failure of that campaign.

Those who comprehend the principles involved are effective leaders. I would go so far as to say that this is one of the fundamental characteristics of effective leadership.

Calvin's Daily Devotional

Daily Devotional

May 17

Thine Is My Heart: Devotional Readings from the Writings of John Calvin

by John Calvin (compiled by John H. Kromminga)
Republished from the OPC Website

Bible Text:
A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the Lord of hosts unto you, 0 priests, that despise my name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name? —Malachi I:6

Devotional:
It was God's complaint that he was deprived of his own right and in a double sense, for the Jews did not reverence him as their Father, nor fear him as their Lord. He might indeed have called himself Lord and Father by the right of creation; but he preferred to appeal to their adoption; for it was a remarkable favor when the Lord chose some out of all the human race; and we cannot say that the cause of this was to be found in men. Whom then he designs to choose, he binds to himself by a holier bond. But if they disappoint him, their falseness is wholly inexcusable.

Confronting Islam . . . . or Not, Part II

Playing Pop Music to Break Down the Walls

In Part I of "Confronting Islam . . . . or Not" we had recourse to a series of essays [Fighting the Ideological War: Winning Strategies From Communism to Islamism, edited by Katharine Cornell Gorka and Patrick Sookhdeo (McLean, Va: The Westminster Institute/Isaac Publishing, 2012.)] The point was made that the Cold War struggle against the Soviet Union gained traction when Western leaders began to "tell the truth" about communist dictatorships.  Prior to that time the received wisdom was that it was dangerous to tell the truth because it risked provoking the Soviet Union into belligerent reactions. 

The general theme of the essays in the above collection is that one must fight and win the ideological war.  It is equally, if not more important, than winning the military or intelligence or economic conflicts.  Yet it is the war front which the US in particular and the West in general are remarkably unwilling to acknowledge.  Today the West has retreated to a quietism and pacificism when it comes to Islam worse than its early conduct of the Cold War. 

The lengths to which the US government has gone to cover over the influence of Islamic doctrine, beliefs, traditions and practices upon Islamic terrorism is literally incredible.

Douglas Wilson's Letter From America

When He Walks Contrary to Us 

Sex and Culture
Written by Douglas Wilson
Saturday, 11 May 2013 11:51


Schizophrenia is no less schizophrenia if one of the voices happens to be talking sense. Hard schizophrenia is no less difficult if murderous insanity is linked up tight with weird, pathetic, and arbitrary scruples. In fact, if such an arbitary pattern is applied long enough, one may detect a method in the madness.

I am talking about our erratic public policy when it comes to protecting human life. Gosnell is a disgrace because he killed babies in this spot instead of the officially-approved that spot. As one observer noted, he is apparently being charged with murder because he enjoyed himself and because his place was dirty. If he had only kept his slaughter hygienic and had been snipping spinal columns for the sake of the Constitution, instead of doing it for his own jollies, and had done his work before that magic and metaphysical week after which responsible medical professionals cease dismembering their clients' babies, he could have served as a witness for his own prosecution.

In the meantime, the kidnapper of three women in Cleveland is facing murder charges for brutally causing a miscarriage, and for doing so without a medical degree.

Calvin's Daily Devotional

Daily Devotional

May 16

Thine Is My Heart: Devotional Readings from the Writings of John Calvin

by John Calvin (compiled by John H. Kromminga)
Reproduced from the OPC Website

Bible Text:
Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, 0 Lord, and teachest him out of thy law; —Psalm 94:12

Devotional:
You know, Madame, how we should turn to our profit both the chastisements we receive from the hand of our merciful Father and the succor which he sends in time of need.

It is certain that all diseases ought not only to humble us in setting before our eyes our frailty, but also cause us to look into ourselves, that having recognized our own poverty we may place all our trust in his mercy. They should, moreover, serve us for medicine to purge us from worldly affections, and retrench what is superfluous in us, and since they are to us the messengers of death, we ought to learn to have one foot raised to take our departure when it shall please God.

Nevertheless, he lets us taste of his bounty as often as he delivers us from them, just as it has been a most salutary thing for you, Madame, to have known the danger in which you were and from which he has delivered you. It remains for you to conclude with Saint Paul that when we have been delivered from many deaths by his hand, he will also withdraw us from them in time to come.
And thus take courage, so much the more to give yourself up to his service, as you do well to consider that it is to that end he has reserved you. —Letter to Madame De Coligny

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John Calvin was the premier theologian of the Reformation, but also a pious and godly Christian pastor who endeavored throughout his life to point men and women to Christ. We are grateful to Reformation Heritage Books for permission to use John Calvin's Thine Is My Heart as our daily devotional for 2013 on the OPC Web site. You can currently obtain a printed copy of that book from Reformation Heritage Books.

Confronting Islam, or Not . . . Part I

The Evil Empire

We have recently been reading a series of essays, entitled Fighting the Ideological War.  The overarching focus is upon the West's need to fight Islam ideologically.  Several of the essays argue that the West has failed miserably to this point, firstly to see Islam as an ideology, and, secondly, to combat it at the ideological level.  One essay draws parallels with the Cold War.  It reads like a comic opera.  [John H. Moore, "Ideology and Central Planning: Lessons from the Cold War", Fighting the Ideological War: Winning Strategies From Communism to Islamism, edited by Katharine Cornell Gorka and Patrick Sookhdeo (McLean, Va: The Westminster Institute/Isaac Publishing, 2012.] 

Moore points out that in the 1950's and 1960's the overwhelming consensus amongst credentialed academics was that the Soviet Union had a superior economic model and philosophy to the West.  Socialism was succeeding in making the Soviet Union economically wealthy, whilst the West was being overtaken in almost every sphere.  The Soviets were inevitably going to dominate the world.  The Commentariat believed that this would be the outcome because socialism was an inherently better system than capitalism.  In other words, as the Cold War progressed the establishment in the US, both in and out of government, in the media, and in academia had already capitulated. 

It all turned out to be untrue.

UN as Prostitute

Nordics Launder LGBT Advocacy through UN Human Rights Office

Posted on | May 9, 2013 by Wendy Wright
Turtle Bay

The UN human rights office is desperate for funding. Navi Pillay, the head of the office, is in New York this week to report on her agency’s work to UN diplomats. Overwhelming her presentation is an unabashed plea for money. The Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights has more work assigned to it from the Human Rights Council than it can afford.

Which made me wonder: Why then is the UN Human Rights Office expending so much money and effort on promoting sexual orientation and gender identity, something that isn’t a recognized human right?

Calvin's Daily Devotional

Daily Devotional

May 15

Thine Is My Heart: Devotional Readings from the Writings of John Calvin

by John Calvin (compiled by John H. Kromminga)
Republished from the OPC Website

Bible Text:
Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord. —John 12:13

Devotional:
We ought to derive from this a profitable admonition; for if we are members of the Church, the Lord calls upon us to cherish the same desire which he wished believers to cherish under the Law; that is, that we should wish with our whole heart that the kingdom of Christ should flourish and prosper; and not only so, but that we should demonstrate this by our prayers.

In order to give us greater courage in prayer, we ought to observe that he prescribes to us these words. Woe then to our slothfulness, if we extinguish by our coldness or quench by indifference that ardor which God excites. Yet let us know that the prayers which we offer by the direction and authority of God will not be in vain. Provided that we be not indolent or grow weary in praying, he will be a faithful guardian of his kingdom, to defend it by his invincible power and protection.

True, indeed, though we remain drowsy and inactive, the majesty of his kingdom will be firm and sure; but when—as is frequently the case—it is less prosperous than it ought to be at the present day, fearfully scattered and wasted, this unquestionably arises through our fault. And when but a small restoration, or almost none, is to be seen, or when at least it advances slowly, let us ascribe it to our indifference. We daily ask from God that his kingdom may come, but scarcely one man in a hundred earnestly desires it. Justly, therefore, we are deprived of the blessing of God, which we are weary of asking. —Commentaries

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John Calvin was the premier theologian of the Reformation, but also a pious and godly Christian pastor who endeavored throughout his life to point men and women to Christ. We are grateful to Reformation Heritage Books for permission to use John Calvin's Thine Is My Heart as our daily devotional for 2013 on the OPC Web site. You can currently obtain a printed copy of that book from Reformation Heritage Books.

Calvin's Daily Devotional

Daily Devotional

May 15

Thine Is My Heart: Devotional Readings from the Writings of John Calvin

by John Calvin (compiled by John H. Kromminga)
Reproduced from the OPC Website

Bible Text:
Hear this, all ye people; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world: —Psalm 49:1

Devotional:
As God's providence of the world is not presently apparent, we must exercise patience, and rise superior to the suggestions of carnal sense in anticipation of the favorable issue. That it is our duty to maintain a resolute struggle with our afflictions, however severe these may be, and that it were foolish to place happiness in the enjoyment of such fleeting possessions as the riches, honors, or pleasures of this world, may be precepts which even the heathen philosophers have enforced, but they have uniformly failed in setting before us the true source of consolation.

Of Camels and Frogs

No Lost Causes

Slippery slope arguments are used in reckless abandon by both left and right.  Apparently, the term "slippery slope" was coined by someone in the early nineteenth century.  As some wit observed, talking about "slippery slopes" was dangerous.  Once someone talks about a slippery slope, soon others will, and before you know it we'all be on slippery slopes.  [Jonah Goldberg, The Tyranny of Cliches: How Liberals Cheat in the War of Ideas (New York: Sentinel/Penguin, 2012), p.115.]

Goldberg goes on to warn us of the very real dangers of slippery slopes by reminding us of how many figures of speech in our language are applied to this particular grave danger, such as: the camel got its nose under the tent; the ship sailed; "the horse got out of the barn, and drove the wedge that toppled the first domino, which opened the floodgates, and now all we have left is boiled frog."  Heh. 

One problem with such arguments is that the similes leave out one small matter: human beings are not camels, ships, horses, or thin-edged wedges.

Letter From America (About Allegations Now Proven True)

Seeing No Evil 

It was Daniel Webster who declared, the power to tax is the power to destroy.  Instinctively we know this to be an axiomatic adage.  Taxation is the compulsory expropriation of income and property of citizens by government.  Not all taxation is immoral or bad.  Government is a God-ordained institution, serving a vital, albeit particular purpose.  That purpose can only continue if government is funded.  Expropriation of private property to fund legitimate government activity is lawful, holy, just, and good.

But implicit in the power to tax is the power to destroy citizens.  In particular, governments can declare fiscal war upon those citizens, or races, or groups, or classes it dislikes--not for the purposes of revenue, but for the purposes of destruction and control.  The road to tyranny is readily paved by targeted taxation--and the road is short.

It now appears that the Obama administration has embarked down that road.  Some would call it traditional Chicago politics applied at the Federal Government level.  The Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") has admitted targeting Obama's political opponents during the last election in an attempt to suppress their opposition to the President and his administration.

Calvin's Daily Devotional

Daily Devotional

May 14

Thine Is My Heart: Devotional Readings from the Writings of John Calvin

by John Calvin (compiled by John H. Kromminga)
Republished from the OPC Website

Bible Text:
The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. —Psalm 110:1

Devotional:
So, in another place, when, speaking in the name of God, he says, "Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool," he apprises us that though numerous and powerful enemies conspire to assault the Church, yet they are not strong enough to prevail against that immutable decree of God, by which he has constituted his Son an eternal King. Whence it follows that it is impossible for the devil, with all the assistance of the world, ever to destroy the Church, which is founded on the eternal throne of Christ.

Now with respect to its particular use to each individual, this same eternity ought to encourage our hope of a blessed immortality; for we see that whatever is terrestrial and worldly is temporary and perishable.

Therefore, to raise our hope towards heaven, Christ declares that his "kingdom is not of this world." In a word, whenever we hear that the kingdom of Christ is spiritual, excited by this declaration, we ought to penetrate to the hope of a better life, and as we are now protected by the power of Christ, let us expect the full benefit of his grace in the world to come. —Institutes, II, xv, iii

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John Calvin was the premier theologian of the Reformation, but also a pious and godly Christian pastor who endeavored throughout his life to point men and women to Christ. We are grateful to Reformation Heritage Books for permission to use John Calvin's Thine Is My Heart as our daily devotional for 2013 on the OPC Web site. You can currently obtain a printed copy of that book from Reformation Heritage Books.

Kinsey's Dark Secret

A Man For Our Times

The following paragraph introduces Wikipedia's article on Alfred Kinsey:

Alfred Charles Kinsey (June 23, 1894 – August 25, 1956) was an American biologist, professor of entomology and zoology, and sexologist who in 1947 founded the Institute for Sex Research at Indiana University, now known as the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction. He is best known for writing "Sexual Behavior in the Human Male" (1948) and "Sexual Behavior in the Human Female" (1953), also known as the Kinsey Reports, as well as the Kinsey scale. Kinsey's research on human sexuality, foundational to the field of sexology, provoked controversy in the 1940s and 1950s. His work has profoundly influenced social and cultural values in the United States, as well as internationally.

So far, so good.  Kinsey has been lionised, celebrated and glorified.  But it appears he was an acutely depraved man.

Letter From the UK (About Education)

Plain Speaking

Education Secretary, Michael Gove has been trying to shake up the education system in the UK.  Naturally there has been plenty of pushback.  However, we cannot help but applaud his no-nonsense confrontation with the "experts" over infantile approaches now being recommended for the teaching of history.  It is salutary that the one ultimately responsible for education in the UK is not afraid to denounce the emperor as having no clothes.  This from The Telegraph:

Calvin's Daily Devotional

Daily Devotional

May 13

Thine Is My Heart: Devotional Readings from the Writings of John Calvin

by John Calvin (compiled by John H. Kromminga)
Reproduced from the OPC Website

Bible Text:
Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. —Zechariah 4:6

Devotional:
When we now see things in a despairing condition, let this vision come to our minds—that God is sufficiently able by his own power to help us, when there is no aid from any other; for his Spirit will be to us for lamps, for pourers, and for olive trees, so that experience will at length show that we have been preserved in a wonderful manner by his hand alone.

Thus we remember that all our confidence ought to be placed on the favor of God alone; for were it to depend on human aids, there would be nothing certain or sure.

Man As Animal

 Unleashing Sin

One of the abiding lusts of Western pride is the lure of a perfect society brought into being through human ingenuity, planning, and enlightened application.  No matter what problem we face, throw enough resources at it, study it to death, put a management plan in place, and hey presto, the problem will be solved. 

Such approaches may work well when we are dealing with problems arising out of the non-human natural order.  They fail miserably when we are dealing with human beings.  Why?  Precisely because man is not a cipher.  He is not the impersonal product of impersonal natural forces.  He is altogether more wonderful and complex: he is a moral agent made in the image of God.  When sin entered the human race through Adam and spread to all mankind "descending from him by ordinary generation" the wondrous complexity and moral agency of mankind became perverted.  The sophisticated complexity of humanity became a spectacular resource for cunning, duplicity, and evil.  

But modern man has "advanced" to the point where he sees himself as a sophisticated animal, nothing more.

Letter From America (About a Christian Exodus)

The mass exodus of Christians from the Muslim world

By Raymond Ibrahim

Published May 07, 2013

FoxNews.com

A mass exodus of Christians is currently underway.  Millions of Christians are being displaced from one end of the Islamic world to the other.   We are reliving the true history of how the Islamic world, much of which prior to the Islamic conquests was almost entirely Christian, came into being.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom recently said: “The flight of Christians out of the region is unprecedented and it’s increasing year by year.”

Calvin's Daily Devotional

Daily Devotional

May 11

Thine Is My Heart: Devotional Readings from the Writings of John Calvin

by John Calvin (compiled by John H. Kromminga)
Reproduced from the OPC Website

Bible Text:
Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. —Isaiah 53:10

Devotional:
But now we are spared. Consider Jesus Christ the only Son of God: he was imprisoned and we are released; he was condemned and we are acquitted; he was exposed to utter disgrace and we are set up in honour; he descended into the depths of hell and to us the kingdom of Heaven is opened. When we hear all these things, should we still stay asleep, pleasing and flattering ourselves in our vices?

So let us carefully notice the purpose of the Holy Spirit and always ponder this word—that it was God who wished to afflict him.

Laments and Dashed Hopes

Revealing Songs

Songs that the people sing are always revealing, one way or the other.  Consider this hymn the the revolution from Les Miserables:

Do you hear the people sing?
Singing the songs of angry men . . .

Laments are also revealing:

And the widows of Ashur are loud in their wail,
And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal;

Laments pour forth when hopes are dashed, when longings are shredded.  Consider the following extended lament from one who is a card carrying member of the Commentariat and whose hopes are crumbling before her eyes.

Douglas Wilson's Letter From America

Not Whether But Which, As I Keep Saying 

Culture and Politics - Sex and Culture
Written by Douglas Wilson
Monday, 06 May 2013

It is not hard to understand the chaos and pandemonium going down around us if you keep certain inescapable realities in the forefront of your mind.

Cornelius Van Til called it epistemological self-consciousness. C.S. Lewis referred to the idea this way in his great novel, That Hideous Strength.

"I mean this," said Dimble, answering the question she had not asked. "If you dip into any college, or school, or parish, or family—anything you like—at a given point in its history, you always find that there was a time before that point when there was more elbow room and contrasts weren't quite so sharp; and that there's going to be a time after that point when there is even less room for indecision and choices are even more momentous. Good is always getting better and bad is always getting worse: the possibilities of even apparent neutrality are always diminishing.”

Even apparent neutrality. There is never any real neutrality, but there are times when it looks like there might have been. I said that there are such times, but given the times in which we live, it would be better now to say that there were such times.

Calvin's Daily Devotional

Daily Devotional

May 9

Thine Is My Heart: Devotional Readings from the Writings of John Calvin

by John Calvin (compiled by John H. Kromminga)
Reproduced from the OPC Website

Bible Text:
And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, and strength of salvation: the fear of the Lord is his treasure. —Isaiah 33:6

Devotional:
"The fear of Jehovah is his treasure." This is a very remarkable passage; and it teaches us that our ingratitude shuts the door against God's blessings, when we disregard the Author of them, and sink into gross and earthly desires; and that all the benefits which we can desire or imagine, even though we actually obtained them, would be of no avail for our salvation if they were not seasoned with the salt of faith and knowledge.

Hence it follows that the Church is not in a healthy condition unless when all its privileges have been preceded by the light of the knowledge of God, and that it flourishes only when all the gifts which God has bestowed upon it are ascribed to him as their Author.

But when the knowledge of God has been taken away, and when just views of God have been extinguished or buried, any kind of prosperity is worse than all calamities. —Commentaries

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John Calvin was the premier theologian of the Reformation, but also a pious and godly Christian pastor who endeavored throughout his life to point men and women to Christ. We are grateful to Reformation Heritage Books for permission to use John Calvin's Thine Is My Heart as our daily devotional for 2013 on the OPC Web site. You can currently obtain a printed copy of that book from Reformation Heritage Books.

Letter From the UK (About US Citizen Surveillance)

The "War on Terror" is Proving to be a War on Citizens

In wartime it is common for civil liberties to erode.  The exigencies of war mean that extraordinary and emergency measures are required to prosecute the conflict.  Often civil liberties are attenuated.  At the very least, the resistance to the state exerting emergency powers over its citizens becomes muted.

Hopefully (and hope is the operative word) at the end of the conflict the greater powers of the state prove to have truly been emergency powers and temporary only.  They are revoked, and civil liberties are restored.  But what happens when the state moves to a permanent state-of-war footing?  George Orwell's dystopian 1984 shows us one consequence: an alleged state of perpetual war was used as a pretext for totalitarian controls over all citizens (in the name of freedom and liberty, naturally).

The United States has been at war now for decades.