The Least of All Evil Options
We are in the midst of New Zealands tri-ennial general election campaign. In our view, Dr Jamie Whyte, leader of the libertarian leaning ACT party has delivered the best speech of the campaign so far. It rips his opponents, but not in the crass manner of meaningless insulting slurs, but in a way which manages to make clear points on his party's philosophical and political positions. This is a clever, classy roast.
Thursday, 11 September 2014
Daily Devotional
The Greater Glory of Jesus Christ
Charles Spurgeon
"The people, when they beheld him, were greatly amazed, and running to him saluted him."
Mark 9:15
How great the difference between Moses and Jesus! When the prophet of Horeb had been forty days upon the mountain, he underwent a kind of transfiguration, so that his countenance shone with exceeding brightness, and he put a veil over his face, for the people could not endure to look upon his glory. Not so our Saviour. He had been transfigured with a greater glory than that of Moses, and yet, it is not written that the people were blinded by the blaze of his countenance, but rather they were amazed, and running to him they saluted him.
The glory of the law repels, but the greater glory of Jesus attracts. Though Jesus is holy and just, yet blended with his purity there is so much of truth and grace, that sinners run to him amazed at his goodness, fascinated by his love; they salute him, become his disciples, and take him to be their Lord and Master. Reader, it may be that just now you are blinded by the dazzling brightness of the law of God. You feel its claims on your conscience, but you cannot keep it in your life. Not that you find fault with the law, on the contrary, it commands your profoundest esteem, still you are in nowise drawn by it to God; you are rather hardened in heart, and are verging towards desperation. Ah, poor heart! turn thine eye from Moses, with all his repelling splendour, and look to Jesus, resplendent with milder glories.
Charles Spurgeon
"The people, when they beheld him, were greatly amazed, and running to him saluted him."
Mark 9:15
How great the difference between Moses and Jesus! When the prophet of Horeb had been forty days upon the mountain, he underwent a kind of transfiguration, so that his countenance shone with exceeding brightness, and he put a veil over his face, for the people could not endure to look upon his glory. Not so our Saviour. He had been transfigured with a greater glory than that of Moses, and yet, it is not written that the people were blinded by the blaze of his countenance, but rather they were amazed, and running to him they saluted him.
The glory of the law repels, but the greater glory of Jesus attracts. Though Jesus is holy and just, yet blended with his purity there is so much of truth and grace, that sinners run to him amazed at his goodness, fascinated by his love; they salute him, become his disciples, and take him to be their Lord and Master. Reader, it may be that just now you are blinded by the dazzling brightness of the law of God. You feel its claims on your conscience, but you cannot keep it in your life. Not that you find fault with the law, on the contrary, it commands your profoundest esteem, still you are in nowise drawn by it to God; you are rather hardened in heart, and are verging towards desperation. Ah, poor heart! turn thine eye from Moses, with all his repelling splendour, and look to Jesus, resplendent with milder glories.
Exemplary Western Civilisation
Modelling Democracy
There is an intriguing parallel to be drawn between the secession of the Southern states from the Union of the United States in 1861 and what is now taking place in Scotland. It appears as though, if the voting intentions are being counted correctly, Scotland will secede from the United Kingdom. This will be accomplished peacefully, by the will of the people.
Since Scotland has been part of the United Kingdom for three centuries, unwinding the two will be quite a task. But, it is achievable. Will Scotland be doing the "right thing"? Yes. If the majority want it, then they are welcome to it. (One caveat might be that a simple majority of fifty percent for such a huge change is a bit light. Amongst the time-honoured principles of sound governance is the need to have constitutional changes achieve a larger majority support than a mere fifty percent because they are changes of such a profound import.)
The Scots have been a redoubtable people. Their world-wide influence has been far, far greater than their relatively small population.
There is an intriguing parallel to be drawn between the secession of the Southern states from the Union of the United States in 1861 and what is now taking place in Scotland. It appears as though, if the voting intentions are being counted correctly, Scotland will secede from the United Kingdom. This will be accomplished peacefully, by the will of the people.
Since Scotland has been part of the United Kingdom for three centuries, unwinding the two will be quite a task. But, it is achievable. Will Scotland be doing the "right thing"? Yes. If the majority want it, then they are welcome to it. (One caveat might be that a simple majority of fifty percent for such a huge change is a bit light. Amongst the time-honoured principles of sound governance is the need to have constitutional changes achieve a larger majority support than a mere fifty percent because they are changes of such a profound import.)
The Scots have been a redoubtable people. Their world-wide influence has been far, far greater than their relatively small population.
Wednesday, 10 September 2014
Novels Every Christian Should Consider Reading--Part III
Leland Ryken: A Novel Every Christian Should Consider Reading
I am doing a blog series on Novels Every Christian Should Consider Reading. Leland Ryken (PhD, University of Oregon) served as professor of English at Wheaton College for over 43 years. He has authored or edited over three dozen books—including Dickens’s “Great Expectations” in the Christian Guides to the Classics series and the forthcoming A Complete Handbook of Literary Forms in the Bible. He also served as literary stylist for the English Standard Version Bible.Here he commends a novel he has read over thirty times.
A
magazine editor once invited me to join other contributors in answering
the question, What is the best novel originally published in English?
My answer began, The best novel originally published in English is Great Expectations by Charles Dickens.Great Expectations was recommended to me when I was preparing to go on my first Wheaton in England program. Through the years I have maintained that this novel is the best possible introduction to the people and places of England.
The Britishness of Great Expectations is related to my first commendation of the novel. The first thing we want when we sit down to read a novel is to be transported. Great Expectations delivers the goods. No fiction writer has excelled Dickens in the gift of world making. The world to which we are transported when we read Great Expectations is quintessential Britain and Victorian England. It is a world of nature and countryside, the small town, and London.
Daily Devotional
When God’s Love Is Sweetest
John Piper
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word. (Ephesians 5:25–26)If you only hope for unconditional love from God, your hope is great, but too small.
Unconditional love from God is not the sweetest experience of his love. The sweetest experience is when his love says: “I have made you so much like my Son that I delight to see you and be with you. You are a pleasure to me, because you are so radiant with my glory.”
This sweetest experience is conditional on our transformation into the kind of people whose emotions and choices and actions please God.
Unconditional love is the source and foundation of the human transformation that makes the sweetness of conditional love possible. If God did not love us unconditionally, he would not penetrate our unattractive lives, bring us to faith, unite us to Christ, give us his Spirit, and make us progressively like Jesus.
Ships Passing In the Night
Secularism Does Not "Get It"
Joshua Keating is a staff writer at Slate focusing on international affairs. He wrote piece recently wondering why ISIS is so bent on provoking the United States. In our view, the piece is not worth much consideration, at least on its own terms. But, from another perspective, it provides powerful insight into the drone-like hive mind of the West.
Keating offers five reasons why ISIS appears deliberately to be provoking the US. They are (in short)
1. They feel cornered.
2. They don't think the US will act.
3. They think this is working.
4. They are "upping the price" (for ransom monies on remaining hostages)
5. This was the plan all along.
What this on display in his analysis, however, is the mindset of a Western secularist.
Joshua Keating is a staff writer at Slate focusing on international affairs. He wrote piece recently wondering why ISIS is so bent on provoking the United States. In our view, the piece is not worth much consideration, at least on its own terms. But, from another perspective, it provides powerful insight into the drone-like hive mind of the West.
Keating offers five reasons why ISIS appears deliberately to be provoking the US. They are (in short)
1. They feel cornered.
2. They don't think the US will act.
3. They think this is working.
4. They are "upping the price" (for ransom monies on remaining hostages)
5. This was the plan all along.
What this on display in his analysis, however, is the mindset of a Western secularist.
Tuesday, 9 September 2014
Douglas Wilson's Letter From Moscow
On Pirate Ship Governance
Douglas Wilson
September 1, 2014
I have
been arguing that Christians need to learn how to stand for liberty, but
in order for this to happen they must first learn what it is. And when
this happens, they will find themselves saying some outrageous things,
like I am about to do.
First, some history. In 1772, the first statement by the colonial Committees of Correspondence was released. Samuel Adams is credited with being the primary force behind that statement, and it begins by itemizing the rights of the colonists as men. The first right was the right to life, the second was liberty, and the third was property. The echo we hear in the Declaration four years later is obvious. We are endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights, and among them are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The pursuit of happiness is therefore grounded in our ability to own property.
Daily Devotional
Daily Devotional
September 09
A First Book of Daily Readings
by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (selected by Frank Cumbers)Sourced from the OPC website
Be not weary in well–doing
Frequently there comes a point at which development and advance seem to have come to an end and we are in some kind of doldrums when it is difficult to know whether the work is moving at all, either backwards or forwards. All seems to be at a standstill and nothing seems to be taking place ... some of these Galatian Christians had arrived at that particular point... the false teaching, the heresies and so on, undoubtedly had something to do with this ... we are considering people who are not so much tired of the work as tired in it.... What shall we say about it and what shall we do about it? Let me say at the outset that there is no aspect of this great problem of depression in which negatives are more important than they are on this particular occasion. Whenever we are found in this position of weariness, before we begin to do anything positive, there are certain negatives that are absolutely all–important.
The first is this: Whatever you may feel about it do not consider the suggestion that comes to you from all directions— not so much from people, but from within yourself, the voices that seem to be speaking around and about you—do not listen to them when they suggest that you should give up, or give way, or give in. That is a great temptation that comes at this point. You say, ‘I am weary and tired, the thing is too much for me.’ And there is nothing to say at that point but this negative—do not listen. You always have to start with these ‘don’ts’ on the very lowest level; and that is the lowest level. You must say to yourself, ‘Whatever happens I am going on.’ You do not give in or give way.
Spiritual Depression, pp. 193–4
Feminista Cooking
Eggs Must Be Broken
We have pointed our previously on this blog that feminist movement leaders are more fundamentally committed to Marxist revolutionary ideology than they are to actual women. According to this pernicious and perverted world-view women are just one target in a vast conspiracy against the poor and oppressed. Feminist ideology calls for the dismantling of all the oppressive power structures that exploit others around the globe. If killing a few women, as part of the revolutionary overthrow of the oppressors, happens to occur--as collateral damage--it is the necessary, inevitable, and good outcome of the global revolution.
Here is the latest example of perverse feminist ideology. Some bright sparks have invented a colour changing nail polish as a defence against date-rape--the practice of spiking the drinks of females to facilitate their being overpowered and raped later. This from the NZ Herald:
We have pointed our previously on this blog that feminist movement leaders are more fundamentally committed to Marxist revolutionary ideology than they are to actual women. According to this pernicious and perverted world-view women are just one target in a vast conspiracy against the poor and oppressed. Feminist ideology calls for the dismantling of all the oppressive power structures that exploit others around the globe. If killing a few women, as part of the revolutionary overthrow of the oppressors, happens to occur--as collateral damage--it is the necessary, inevitable, and good outcome of the global revolution.
Here is the latest example of perverse feminist ideology. Some bright sparks have invented a colour changing nail polish as a defence against date-rape--the practice of spiking the drinks of females to facilitate their being overpowered and raped later. This from the NZ Herald:
A simple coat of nail polish could soon prevent Kiwi women from falling victim to date rape. Four United States students have created a nail polish that changes colour when exposed to date rape drugs, and support for the product is growing in New Zealand. . . .To the discombobulation of most reasonable folk, this revolutionary nail polish is being excoriated by some feminist leaders.
The official Facebook page explains: "With our nail polish, any woman will be empowered to discreetly ensure her safety by simply stirring her drink with her finger. If her nail polish changes colour, she'll know that something is wrong." Aucklander Terry Vercoe, a father of five including two daughters aged 13 and 15, thought the nail polish was a great invention.
Monday, 8 September 2014
Douglas Wilson's Letter From Moscow
500 in the Boot
Douglas Wilson
August 29, 2014
A story
is told of a fellow who was mugged in an alley by a band of thugs, and
he put up a ferocious fight. After about fifteen minutes, they got him
down on the ground, and found just two dollars in his wallet. “Two
dollars?” one of them said. “You put up that fight for two dollars?”
“Well, no, actually. I thought you were after the $500 in my boot.”
One of the central techniques that is used by despots for divesting themselves of moral legitimacy is the technique of governing through arbitrary administrative law. A free people live under laws passed by legislatures in which they have freely chosen representatives. The prerogative of passing such laws may not be transferred. So if you chafe under rules and regs that spew forth from all the alphabet agencies, then you are not free. It doesn’t matter that you are currently not being harassed. No despot can torment all his slaves simultaneously.
Daily Devotional
The Message of Creation
Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. (Romans 1:22–23)It would be a great folly and a great tragedy if a man loved his wedding band more than he loved his bride. But that is what this passage says has happened.
Human beings have fallen in love with the echo of God’s excellency in creation and lost the ability to hear the incomparable, original shout of love.
The message of creation is this:
There is a great God of glory and power and generosity behind all this awesome universe; you belong to him; he is patient with you in sustaining your rebellious life; turn and bank your hope on him and delight yourself in him, not his handiwork.
Day pours forth the “speech” of that message to all who will listen in the day, speaking with blindingly bright sun and blue sky and clouds and untold shapes and colors of all things visible. Night pours forth the “knowledge” of the same message to all who will listen at night, speaking with great dark voids and summer moons and countless stars and strange sounds and cool breezes and northern lights (Psalm 19:1–2).
Day and night are saying one thing: God is glorious! God is glorious! God is glorious!
For more about John Piper's ministry and writing, see DesiringGod.org.
Leviathan Stirring
The Serpent Has Means and Opportunities
Motive He has Never Lacked
The headline was eyecatching:Philadelphia Police Confiscating Thousands of Families Homes
The piece appeared in Breitbart News, and the opening paragraphs just had to be sensationalised by to a considerable degree.There had to be something more going on here. But the next paragraph was even more sensational:Monday on CNN's "The Lead With Jake Tapper," CNN justice correspondent Pamela Brown reported on Philadelphia police and prosecutors seizing the homes of people with no criminal charges.
The report highlighted a family who's 22-year-old son was arrested for a $40 drug charge but the parents, who were unaware of their adult sons criminal activity, were never charged with any crime are currently fighting city prosecutors to stay in the family home.
The homeowners told the story of police bursting into their home in suburban Philadelphia with a sledgehammer reportedly saying, "We're going to break your walls and pipes. This house is going to be ours." As he was explaining what was going on, there was people closing doors with screws, locking them. They had the electric company here to turn off my electric and gas."
Saturday, 6 September 2014
Novels Every Christian Should Consider Reading--Part II
David Powlison's Pick
David Powlison worked for four years in psychiatric hospitals, during which time he came to faith in Christ. He teaches at the Christian Counseling and Education Foundation, where he is executive director, and edits The Journal of Biblical Counseling. He hold an MDiv from Westminster Theological Seminary and a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in the history of science and medicine (focusing on the history of psychiatry), and has been a counselor for over 30 years.
Mark Helprin’s A Soldier of the Great War (1991) is book every reading Christian should consider.
In making this recommendation, I am taking seriously that the verb is “should consider,” not “should read.” This novel is not for everyone. It’s long (almost 800 pages). Helprin’s style (magical realism) won’t appeal to some people. You won’t find Christian theology. This is purely a work of fiction. It tells the story of a very interesting man. It does not present opinions, views, and advice. That’s the disclaimer.
But here’s the draw. A Soldier of the Great War is beautiful. It is thought-provoking.
Daily Devotional
C. S. Lewis
[The demon Screwtape writes:] [God, the “Enemy,” is] a hedonist at heart. All those fasts and vigils and stakes and crosses are only a facade. Or only like foam on the sea shore. Out at sea, out in His sea, there is pleasure, and more pleasure. He makes no secret of it; at His right hand are “pleasures for evermore.” Ugh!
Don’t think He has the least inkling of that high and austere mystery to which we rise in the Miserific Vision. He’s vulgar, Wormwood. He has a bourgeois mind. He has filled His world full of pleasures. There are things for humans to do all day long without His minding in the least—sleeping, washing, eating, drinking, making love, playing, praying, working. Everything has to be twisted before it’s any use to us. We fight under cruel disadvantages. Nothing is naturally on our side.
From The Screwtape Letters
Compiled in Words to Live By
The Screwtape Letters. Copyright © 1942, C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. Copyright restored © 1996 C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers. Words to Live By: A Guide for the Merely Christian. Copyright © 2007 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers.
Reproduced from BibleGateway
Roiling in the Belly
Labour's Capital Gains Tax To Strike the Elderly--Hard
New Zealand is a socialist country without socialism's formal doctrines. Its fundamental unstated doctrine, however, is the omni-competence of the state to be as god to the people. All political parties reflect this basic commitment to one degree or other. Consequently, each can be categorized as to whether they are more or less Baalist.
The one saving grace--for which we can claim no merit whatsoever--is that we are a small nation. This necessarily limits the attendant evils of statism. News about rorts, corruption, exorbitant taxes, government overreach, and state incompetence tends to get disseminated quickly and the electorate reacts. National politicians are just a phone call or e-mail away. De Tocqueville was right when he observed that small states are "naturally" protected from the creeping evils of soft-despotism. But the spiritual and philosophical principles at play remain evil, nonetheless.
In this vein we do not doubt that the latest proposal by the Labour Party not to tax capital gains on residential houses until the owners die is going to be an absolute clanger with the electorate.
New Zealand is a socialist country without socialism's formal doctrines. Its fundamental unstated doctrine, however, is the omni-competence of the state to be as god to the people. All political parties reflect this basic commitment to one degree or other. Consequently, each can be categorized as to whether they are more or less Baalist.
The one saving grace--for which we can claim no merit whatsoever--is that we are a small nation. This necessarily limits the attendant evils of statism. News about rorts, corruption, exorbitant taxes, government overreach, and state incompetence tends to get disseminated quickly and the electorate reacts. National politicians are just a phone call or e-mail away. De Tocqueville was right when he observed that small states are "naturally" protected from the creeping evils of soft-despotism. But the spiritual and philosophical principles at play remain evil, nonetheless.
In this vein we do not doubt that the latest proposal by the Labour Party not to tax capital gains on residential houses until the owners die is going to be an absolute clanger with the electorate.
Friday, 5 September 2014
Novels Every Christian Should Consider Reading--Part I
The Aubrey-Maturin Stories
Justin Taylor is writing a series of blogs on "Novels that Every Christian Should Consider Reading". Since it is likely that many of our readers have never heard of these novels, we believe it is worth republishing Taylor's pieces for the wider and greater good of the Kingdom.
Here is the first:
Justin Taylor
Today I am beginning a new blog series on Novels That Every Christian Should Consider Reading. Only the Bible is a “must read,” so put these in the category of “should consider reads.” Over the next couple of weeks I will post one or two entries a day.
The first contributor is Kathy Keller.
Kathy holds an MA in theological studies from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, has worked as an editor for Great Commission Publications, and presently serves on the staff of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, where her husband, Tim, is senior pastor. In Redeemer’s early years, Tim preached and Kathy was the entire staff; now she serves as assistant director of communications.
Kathy writes below about a series of books—which can also be considered one long novel—that will leave you “forever dissatisfied with poorly written fiction.”
Justin Taylor is writing a series of blogs on "Novels that Every Christian Should Consider Reading". Since it is likely that many of our readers have never heard of these novels, we believe it is worth republishing Taylor's pieces for the wider and greater good of the Kingdom.
Here is the first:
Kathy Keller: A Novel Every Christian Should Consider Reading
Aug 28, 2014Justin Taylor
Today I am beginning a new blog series on Novels That Every Christian Should Consider Reading. Only the Bible is a “must read,” so put these in the category of “should consider reads.” Over the next couple of weeks I will post one or two entries a day.
The first contributor is Kathy Keller.
Kathy holds an MA in theological studies from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, has worked as an editor for Great Commission Publications, and presently serves on the staff of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, where her husband, Tim, is senior pastor. In Redeemer’s early years, Tim preached and Kathy was the entire staff; now she serves as assistant director of communications.
Kathy writes below about a series of books—which can also be considered one long novel—that will leave you “forever dissatisfied with poorly written fiction.”
Daily Devotional
Daily Devotional
"If fire break out, and catch in thorns, so that the stacks of corn, or the standing corn, or the field, be consumed therewith; he that kindled the fire shall surely make restitution."
Exodus 22:6
But what restitution can he make who casts abroad the fire-brands of error, or the coals of lasciviousness, and sets men's souls on a blaze with the fire of hell? The guilt is beyond estimate, and the result is irretrievable. If such an offender be forgiven, what grief it will cause him in the retrospect, since he cannot undo the mischief which he has done! An ill example may kindle a flame which years of amended character cannot quench. To burn the food of man is bad enough, but how much worse to destroy the soul! It may be useful to us to reflect how far we may have been guilty in the past, and to enquire whether, even in the present, there may not be evil in us which has a tendency to bring damage to the souls of our relatives, friends, or neighbours.
The fire of strife is a terrible evil when it breaks out in a Christian church.
Charles Spurgeon
"If fire break out, and catch in thorns, so that the stacks of corn, or the standing corn, or the field, be consumed therewith; he that kindled the fire shall surely make restitution."
Exodus 22:6
But what restitution can he make who casts abroad the fire-brands of error, or the coals of lasciviousness, and sets men's souls on a blaze with the fire of hell? The guilt is beyond estimate, and the result is irretrievable. If such an offender be forgiven, what grief it will cause him in the retrospect, since he cannot undo the mischief which he has done! An ill example may kindle a flame which years of amended character cannot quench. To burn the food of man is bad enough, but how much worse to destroy the soul! It may be useful to us to reflect how far we may have been guilty in the past, and to enquire whether, even in the present, there may not be evil in us which has a tendency to bring damage to the souls of our relatives, friends, or neighbours.
The fire of strife is a terrible evil when it breaks out in a Christian church.
Begging Bowls and Ebbing Tides
Samoan Peril: Please Help
Uh, oh. It looks as though charity is growing coldly disdaining. The Samoan Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi put out the begging bowl last week in the UK. Global warming was about to inundate his island country paradise. Samoa needs the world's help. Some cynics thought the sub-text was, "Please send money."
His moving plea was published in The Guardian, long time mouthpiece for global warming propagandists. But, if the Guardian's comments roll to this piece is any guide, it appears there is growing scepticism about global warming, even amongst the Guardian's readership. James Delingpole, writing for Breitbart London, takes a peek:
Uh, oh. It looks as though charity is growing coldly disdaining. The Samoan Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi put out the begging bowl last week in the UK. Global warming was about to inundate his island country paradise. Samoa needs the world's help. Some cynics thought the sub-text was, "Please send money."
His moving plea was published in The Guardian, long time mouthpiece for global warming propagandists. But, if the Guardian's comments roll to this piece is any guide, it appears there is growing scepticism about global warming, even amongst the Guardian's readership. James Delingpole, writing for Breitbart London, takes a peek:
The Prime Minister of Samoa has launched a heartfelt plea in the Guardian newspaper on behalf of his allegedly drowning Pacific nation. (H/T Bufo 75)
Unless concerted international action is taken to deal with the threat of 'climate change', apparently, small islands like his will be "inundated by rising sea levels."
Tragically, it looks as if this request by the splendidly named Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi, is destined to fall on deaf ears. Even a fair chunk of the Guardian's impeccably green, left-liberal readership, it seems, is now sufficiently well-informed to appreciate that sea levels aren't actually rising in any dramatic, significant or unprecedented way, and that the "drowning Pacific islands" meme is just a piece of a Third World blackmail designed to guilt-trip richer Western nations into stumping up more aid.
Here's one comment:
Thursday, 4 September 2014
Douglas Wilson's Letter From Moscow
When St. Paul Was Fourth and Long
Douglas Wilson
August 28, 2014
Before
getting into the appropriate Christian response to the tyrannies of the
arbitrary administrative state, we have to set aside a particular
objection that can be marshalled from the Bible. Not only can it be
marshaled, let us acknowledge that it frequently is.
What I want to do here is highlight what this objection is actually doing, which is ignoring the cumulative flow of history. It is treating the strategies employed by God, Jesus, and the apostles as a fixed constant, when it is their faith and demeanor that is actually the fixed constant. If we lock down on the strategies, we will refuse to alter anything based on where we are in history. But this is like insisting on punting because St. Paul was fourth and long. Yes, I might reply, but we are third and inches.
I don’t really care that the early church punted a lot.
Daily Devotional
What the Resurrection Means
Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9)John Piper
Sourced from BibleGateway
The meaning of the resurrection is that God is for us. He aims to close ranks with us. He aims to overcome all our sense of abandonment and alienation.
The resurrection of Jesus is God’s declaration to Israel and to the world that we cannot work our way to glory but that he intends to do the impossible to get us there.
The resurrection is the promise of God that all who trust Jesus will be the beneficiaries of God’s power to lead us in paths of righteousness and through the valley of death.
Therefore, believing in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead is much more than accepting a fact. It means being confident that God is for you, that he has closed ranks with you, that he is transforming your life, and that he will save you for eternal joy.
Believing in the resurrection means trusting in all the promises of life and hope and righteousness for which it stands. It means being so confident of God’s power and love that no fear of worldly loss or greed for worldly gain will lure us to disobey his will.
That’s the difference between Satan and the saints. O, might God circumcise our hearts to love him and to rest in the resurrection of his Son.
For more about John Piper's ministry and writing, see DesiringGod.org.
The Evils of Multi-Culturalism Take Shape
How Britain Became a Global Exporter of Terrorism
Dale Hurd
August 29, 2014
LONDON - No one who has been paying attention to the
growth of radical Islam in Britain should have been surprised that the
terrorist who stood over murdered American journalist James Foley had a
London accent.
Over a thousand British Muslims are now fighting for the Islamic State, also known as ISIS. And more are joining every day.
"The key thing to realize about British fighters in
Syria is they're not there to take a back seat role. They are very much
at the forefront of this conflict," Shiraz Maher, an expert at the
International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation, said.
Exporter of Terror
Britain is now a major exporter of terrorists, the result of multiculturalism. There have been warning signs for years. Eight years ago, CBN News showed viewers Muslims protesting in London against the Mohammed cartoons and chanting "Jihad is on its way." Today, Britain has functioning Sharia courts and Sharia patrols enforcing Islamic law on the streets.
Wednesday, 3 September 2014
Douglas Wilson's Letter From Moscow
A Longing for Liberty
Douglas WilsonTuesday, August 26, 2014
Blog and Mablog
One of
the things that the Holy Spirit gloriously does in this sorry world of
ours is His liberating work. The Holy Spirit is an agent of liberty. The
Spirit sets men free, and He does it through the gospel.
“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me;
Because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek;
He hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the
captives, And the opening of the prison to them that are bound” (Is. 61:1).
This Spirit of liberty is not a spirit of stoicism, which cares only for an internal liberation, where the slave is liberated by pure thoughts and cares not that his chains are clanking. There is an approximation of this in Paul’s exhortation to slaves, but note that Paul tells them to take the first door out when they have opportunity.
Daily Devotional
Comfort One Another
Charles Spurgeon
"The voice of weeping shall be no more heard."
Isaiah 65:19
The glorified weep no more, for all outward causes of grief are gone. There are no broken friendships, nor blighted prospects in heaven. Poverty, famine, peril, persecution, and slander, are unknown there. No pain distresses, no thought of death or bereavement saddens. They weep no more, for they are perfectly sanctified. No "evil heart of unbelief" prompts them to depart from the living God; they are without fault before his throne, and are fully conformed to his image. Well may they cease to mourn who have ceased to sin.
They weep no more, because all fear of change is past. They know that they are eternally secure. Sin is shut out, and they are shut in. They dwell within a city which shall never be stormed; they bask in a sun which shall never set; they drink of a river which shall never dry; they pluck fruit from a tree which shall never wither. Countless cycles may revolve, but eternity shall not be exhausted, and while eternity endures, their immortality and blessedness shall co-exist with it. They are forever with the Lord.
They weep no more, because every desire is fulfilled. They cannot wish for anything which they have not in possession.
Charles Spurgeon
"The voice of weeping shall be no more heard."
Isaiah 65:19
The glorified weep no more, for all outward causes of grief are gone. There are no broken friendships, nor blighted prospects in heaven. Poverty, famine, peril, persecution, and slander, are unknown there. No pain distresses, no thought of death or bereavement saddens. They weep no more, for they are perfectly sanctified. No "evil heart of unbelief" prompts them to depart from the living God; they are without fault before his throne, and are fully conformed to his image. Well may they cease to mourn who have ceased to sin.
They weep no more, because all fear of change is past. They know that they are eternally secure. Sin is shut out, and they are shut in. They dwell within a city which shall never be stormed; they bask in a sun which shall never set; they drink of a river which shall never dry; they pluck fruit from a tree which shall never wither. Countless cycles may revolve, but eternity shall not be exhausted, and while eternity endures, their immortality and blessedness shall co-exist with it. They are forever with the Lord.
They weep no more, because every desire is fulfilled. They cannot wish for anything which they have not in possession.
Secularism and the Borg
Its Doom is Sure
Here is yet another case exposing how the Borg-like mind of secularism works. A couple in New York State who rent the use of their farm for social events, including weddings, is now shutting that part of their business down. Why? Aren't people getting married any more? Not at all. Rather--and you know what's coming next--the couple, Cynthia and Robert Gifford are Christians and they do not want their premises to be used to sanctify homosexual "marriage".
They were approached by two women who wanted to rent their facilities to mark their faux-marriage. The Gifford's refused. The "couple" complained to New York's Division of Human Rights, asserting that they had been discriminated against because of their homosexuality. The judge ruled in their favour. The Giffords were fined $13,000. They have been required to teach "classes" of their employees the state's definition of marriage and non-discrimination. A nice bit of state imposed re-education. Shades of 1984. The Giffords have shut that part of their business down, stating they will no longer hold any wedding ceremonies on their property.
What can we learn from cases such as this?
Here is yet another case exposing how the Borg-like mind of secularism works. A couple in New York State who rent the use of their farm for social events, including weddings, is now shutting that part of their business down. Why? Aren't people getting married any more? Not at all. Rather--and you know what's coming next--the couple, Cynthia and Robert Gifford are Christians and they do not want their premises to be used to sanctify homosexual "marriage".
They were approached by two women who wanted to rent their facilities to mark their faux-marriage. The Gifford's refused. The "couple" complained to New York's Division of Human Rights, asserting that they had been discriminated against because of their homosexuality. The judge ruled in their favour. The Giffords were fined $13,000. They have been required to teach "classes" of their employees the state's definition of marriage and non-discrimination. A nice bit of state imposed re-education. Shades of 1984. The Giffords have shut that part of their business down, stating they will no longer hold any wedding ceremonies on their property.
What can we learn from cases such as this?
Tuesday, 2 September 2014
Letter From Iraq (About the Caliphate's Pogrom)
Canon Andrew White (Frrme.org)
‘They’re So Evil’
Pastor Serving in Iraq Says Islamic State’s Murderous Rampage Like Nothing ‘Seen Since the Days of the Holocaust’
TheBlaze
Canon Andrew White, vicar of St. George’s Anglican church in Baghdad, and his organization, the Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East, have been on the front lines of helping displaced Iraqis survive in the midst of the Islamic State’s violent assault on the region.
White recently told TheBlaze that the conditions on the ground in Iraq are “absolutely horrendous,” noting that 250,000 Christians have been displaced from their homes in Mosul, Nineveh and other locations; this figure, he said, doesn’t include Yazidis, another minority group.
“They are sheltering in the north and the mountains. They have nothing,” White said. “They have lost their homes, they have lost their future. We are providing them with as much food as we can, as much help as we can.”
As of Friday, he said his organization, which has 150 total staff members, including doctors, dentists and relief workers, had raised about a half million pounds (approximately $828,540) toward these efforts — money that had predominately come from British churches.
They’re so evil. You cannot talk to them. You cannot win them over,” he said. “That is a terrible thing. How do we cope in this horrendous situation? How do we move forward?”
White went on to describe what the Islamic State — a group known for its violent and murderous tendencies — has done to Iraqi minorities aside from pushing them out of their homes.
Daily Devotional
Pleased to Praise
Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you! (Psalm 67:3, 5)John Piper
Why does God demand we must praise God?
C.S. Lewis:
Just as men spontaneously praise whatever they value, so they spontaneously urge us to join them in praising it: “Isn’t she lovely? Wasn’t it glorious? Don’t you think that magnificent?”There is the solution! We praise what we enjoy because the delight is incomplete until it is expressed in praise. If we were not allowed to speak of what we value and celebrate what we love and praise what we admire, our joy could not be full.
The Psalmists in telling everyone to praise God are doing what all men do when they speak of what they care about. My whole, more general, difficulty about the praise of God depended on my absurdly denying to us, as regards the supremely Valuable, what we delight to do, what indeed we can’t help doing, about everything else we value.
I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed.
So if God loves us enough to make our joy full, he must not only give us himself; he must also win from us the praise of our hearts — not because he needs to shore up some weakness in himself or compensate for some deficiency, but because he loves us and seeks the fullness of our joy that can be found only in knowing and praising him, the most magnificent of all beings.
If he is truly for us, he must be for himself! God is the one Being in all the universe for whom seeking his own praise is the ultimately loving act. For him, self-exaltation is the highest virtue. When he does all things “for the praise of his glory,” he preserves for us and offers to us the only thing in all the world that can satisfy our longings.
God is for us! And the foundation of this love is that God has been, is now, and always will be for himself.
For more about John Piper's ministry and writing, see DesiringGod.org.
Ignominious Multi-culturalism
Rotten Fruit
Multi-culturalism is at first glance an empty, anodyne proposition. Because it ostensibly embraces all cultures, regarding them all as equally valid and good, it has nothing meaningful or helpful to say about any culture. (To be fair, in reality multi-culturalists are usually marked by a deep loathing for their own culture, but that's a personal failing, not one of the ethic of multi-culuralism per se.)
Discrimination is a necessary aspect of critical and rational discourse. Proposition A is "sound" or "unsound"; conclusion C is "invalid" or "valid". Action D is "ethical" or "unethical". The scale of "good", "better" and "best" is always useful for critical discernment. But multi-culturalism requires a pre-commitment that no culture or cultural group shall be subject to such critical analysis or discrimination. When the Apostle Paul wrote, "one of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, 'Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.' This testimony is true." (Titus 1: 12, 13) he was violating the ethic and principles of secular multi-culturalism, which requires that we do not say anything bad or negative about any culture. The endless, relentless positive sentiment of multi-culturalism is nothing more than a Pollyannaish anodyne gush.
But it produces, say the multi-culturalist Pharisees, peace, tolerance and harmony in society. Everybody tolerates every other group. Being critical of a culture is a manifestation of intolerance, discrimination and hate speech. Actually, on the contrary, multi-culturalism foments, encourages and empowers evil. Society X practises cliterodectomy. No problem. Who are we to judge another culture. It has significance and meaning, harmony and purpose in its own context, drones the card-carrying multi-culturalist.
Multi-culturalism is at first glance an empty, anodyne proposition. Because it ostensibly embraces all cultures, regarding them all as equally valid and good, it has nothing meaningful or helpful to say about any culture. (To be fair, in reality multi-culturalists are usually marked by a deep loathing for their own culture, but that's a personal failing, not one of the ethic of multi-culuralism per se.)
Discrimination is a necessary aspect of critical and rational discourse. Proposition A is "sound" or "unsound"; conclusion C is "invalid" or "valid". Action D is "ethical" or "unethical". The scale of "good", "better" and "best" is always useful for critical discernment. But multi-culturalism requires a pre-commitment that no culture or cultural group shall be subject to such critical analysis or discrimination. When the Apostle Paul wrote, "one of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, 'Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.' This testimony is true." (Titus 1: 12, 13) he was violating the ethic and principles of secular multi-culturalism, which requires that we do not say anything bad or negative about any culture. The endless, relentless positive sentiment of multi-culturalism is nothing more than a Pollyannaish anodyne gush.
But it produces, say the multi-culturalist Pharisees, peace, tolerance and harmony in society. Everybody tolerates every other group. Being critical of a culture is a manifestation of intolerance, discrimination and hate speech. Actually, on the contrary, multi-culturalism foments, encourages and empowers evil. Society X practises cliterodectomy. No problem. Who are we to judge another culture. It has significance and meaning, harmony and purpose in its own context, drones the card-carrying multi-culturalist.
Monday, 1 September 2014
Letter From New Zealand (About Gaza and Israel)
Progressive Hypocrisy
Chris Trotter
The Christchurch Press
26th August, 2014
Where are the impassioned streams of citizens flooding our nation's streets to protest against the actions of the Islamic State?
The righteous wrath stirred up by the Israeli assault upon Gaza has been plain to see. But the barbaric punishment meted out to Christians, captive Iraqi soldiers, Shia Muslims and followers of the ancient Yazidi faith has yet to inspire anyone to apply paint to placard.
Given the chorus of rage currently directed at the "Zionist Entity", why are those who profess "progressive" sympathies so silent when it comes to the outrages perpetrated by the self-proclaimed caliphate? The latest of these, the beheading of an American journalist, has generated a wave of revulsion around the world. Not least on account of the perpetrators' cynical (but effective) use of social media to publicise their medieval celebration of cruelty and death.
But where are the Hollywood movie stars emoting to camera over the ritual killing of their defenceless compatriot? Where are the protest crowds of outraged progressives demanding justice for James Foley?
Does nobody else think it odd that the gunning down of an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Missouri, can spark days of passionate protest, but the agonising decapitation of a helpless journalist elicits condemnation only from "mainstream" politicians and the equally despised "mainstream" media? Did progressives maintain a similar silence when images of a terrified Palestinian boy, caught in a deadly crossfire of Israeli bullets, appeared on the world's television screens? No, they did not.
More and more, it seems to me, we are being presented with what some commentators are calling "good dead" and "bad dead".
Daily Devotional
An Unshakably Happy God
“These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” (John 15:11)John Piper
Sourced from BibleGateway
God is absolutely sovereign.
“Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases” (Psalm 115:3).
Therefore he is not frustrated. He rejoices in all his works when he contemplates them as colors of the magnificent mosaic of redemptive history. He is an unshakably happy God.
His happiness is the delight he has in himself. Before creation, he rejoiced in the image of his glory in the person of his Son. Then the joy of God “went public” in the works of creation and redemption.
These works delight the heart of God because they reflect his glory. He does everything he does to preserve and display that glory, for in this his soul rejoices.
All the works of God culminate in the praises of his redeemed people. The climax of his happiness is the delight he takes in the echoes of his excellence in the praises of the saints. This praise is the consummation of our own joy in God.
Therefore, God’s pursuit of praise from us and our pursuit of pleasure in him are the same pursuit. This is the great gospel!
For more about John Piper's ministry and writing, see DesiringGod.org.
Burger King's Smart Move
The Capital Express Is On the Move
"Progressive" ideology is generally anti-business, anti-profit , pro-taxes and pro-redistribution of property. But in our modern world, "time" has moved on; capital and labour are now more global and international than ever before. Because trade is increasingly global, pay rates in China affect trading conditions in New Zealand. Capital and labour are more mobile than ever and can move relatively freely around the world.
In the face of this growing internationalism (theoretically favoured by progressive ideology) progressives have actually become more and more regressive, wanting to drive national economies back to a more autarkic past with higher taxes and more government interventions to control wages, prices, and business activity. One manifestation of this retrogression is the complaint of governments that "business" is evading tax by setting up in lower foreign tax jurisdictions, channelling their profits through the lower tax regime and maximising returns thereby to their shareholders. President Obama has moaned about this tax leakage in terms which suggest he regards the practice as unpatriotic, if not corrupt. Left-wing politicians in New Zealand have chanted the same mantra with respect to multi-nationals doing business in New Zealand.
Naturally the most easy and straightforward solution to a shrinking corporate tax base is to lower corporate tax rates. If taxes are lower, businesses are encouraged to stay put; international businesses are encouraged to set up shop if the tax rate is competitive. But since progressive ideology calls for an ever vaster government, lowering taxes is a hard trick to perform. Meanwhile, business is driven by economic rationality and the globalisation of business requires that one must remain competitive world-wide or eventually be driven under.
The most recent high-profile example is international conglomerate, Burger King which is moving its business headquarters out of the United States to Canada, where its tax burden will be less.
"Progressive" ideology is generally anti-business, anti-profit , pro-taxes and pro-redistribution of property. But in our modern world, "time" has moved on; capital and labour are now more global and international than ever before. Because trade is increasingly global, pay rates in China affect trading conditions in New Zealand. Capital and labour are more mobile than ever and can move relatively freely around the world.
In the face of this growing internationalism (theoretically favoured by progressive ideology) progressives have actually become more and more regressive, wanting to drive national economies back to a more autarkic past with higher taxes and more government interventions to control wages, prices, and business activity. One manifestation of this retrogression is the complaint of governments that "business" is evading tax by setting up in lower foreign tax jurisdictions, channelling their profits through the lower tax regime and maximising returns thereby to their shareholders. President Obama has moaned about this tax leakage in terms which suggest he regards the practice as unpatriotic, if not corrupt. Left-wing politicians in New Zealand have chanted the same mantra with respect to multi-nationals doing business in New Zealand.
Naturally the most easy and straightforward solution to a shrinking corporate tax base is to lower corporate tax rates. If taxes are lower, businesses are encouraged to stay put; international businesses are encouraged to set up shop if the tax rate is competitive. But since progressive ideology calls for an ever vaster government, lowering taxes is a hard trick to perform. Meanwhile, business is driven by economic rationality and the globalisation of business requires that one must remain competitive world-wide or eventually be driven under.
The most recent high-profile example is international conglomerate, Burger King which is moving its business headquarters out of the United States to Canada, where its tax burden will be less.
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