When True Christian Faith Collides With a Lust for Power

The Choices We Face

Canon Gavin Ashenden
AnglicanInk

[This piece was written before the Anglican Church met at Canterbury in 2016.  The issues and divisions which the author addresses in this article were once again papered over.  But the establishment of a new, reformed Anglican church remains inevitable.  It is only a matter of time.  Ed.]

In Germany in the 1930’s, the seed of fascism was taking root. It grew ferociously fast. Some parts of the Church saw what was coming and stood against it. They became known as ‘the Confessing Church’. Other parts of the Church cooperated with the secular agenda of the new regime, hoping to buy political credit and claiming it gave them an invaluable influence.

Before long, the fascist state turned on the accommodating part of the Church that had for a while cooperated and compromised, and destroyed it, - as it had always intended.

There were a few brave men and women in the Confessing Church who knew what was coming and made it their business early on to speak as prophetically as they could in the name of the Gospel and the Living God, against the coming evil. They were first ostracized and then arrested.

One of the bravest of them, Dietrich Bonheoffer, was hung in prison by piano wire in April 1945, in a final act of spite as the end of the military struggle with Nazism approached.

The rest, as they say, is history.

CANTERBURY 2016

What does this have to do with the meeting of 38 Archbishops of the Provinces of the Anglican Communion in Canterbury in the second week of January 2016.

One might begin with two observations: those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it; and old generals are always busy fighting the last war.

Daily Devotional

Espionage Everywhere

"Lead me, O Lord, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies."  Psalms 5:8

Charles H. Spurgeon

Very bitter is the enmity of the world against the people of Christ. Men will forgive a thousand faults in others, but they will magnify the most trivial offence in the followers of Jesus. Instead of vainly regretting this, let us turn it to account, and since so many are watching for our halting, let this be a special motive for walking very carefully before God.

If we live carelessly, the lynx-eyed world will soon see it, and with its hundred tongues, it will spread the story, exaggerated and emblazoned by the zeal of slander. They will shout triumphantly. "Aha! So would we have it! See how these Christians act! They are hypocrites to a man." Thus will much damage be done to the cause of Christ, and much insult offered to his name.

The cross of Christ is in itself an offence to the world; let us take heed that we add no offence of our own. It is "to the Jews a stumblingblock": let us mind that we put no stumblingblocks where there are enough already. "To the Greeks it is foolishness": let us not add our folly to give point to the scorn with which the worldly-wise deride the gospel. How jealous should we be of ourselves! How rigid with our consciences! In the presence of adversaries who will misrepresent our best deeds, and impugn our motives where they cannot censure our actions, how circumspect should we be!

Pilgrims travel as suspected persons through Vanity Fair. Not only are we under surveillance, but there are more spies than we know of. The espionage is everywhere, at home and abroad. If we fall into the enemies' hands we may sooner expect generosity from a wolf, or mercy from a fiend, than anything like patience with our infirmities from men who spice their infidelity towards God with scandals against his people. O Lord, lead us ever, lest our enemies trip us up!

Enforced State Religion

Liberalism's Unsavoury Odours

In New Zealand there has never been a debate of any magnitude over the facticity of evolution.   Government schools assume evolutionism to be both scientific and true truth; those who believe in the biblical doctrine of creation are entitled to their opinions, as long as they don't bring them into the school.

A bunch of smears usually attend this concession to freedom of opinion: the creationists are framed by liberals anti-scientific; they are ignorant; they believe in ancient myths not truth, etc.   In the United States, whilst all these realities play out in slightly different ways, the realities are the same.  But there is a key difference.  The creationists have more grunt, more scholarship, more research, and more flexibility in the school systems in some parts of that country than has ever been the case in New Zealand.

What this debate has shown up, however, is something unintended by the secularists.  It exposes their intolerance.  Whilst formally believing in freedom of speech, or liberty of conscience, or liberties of religious belief, they insist on excluding or shutting down all contrary doctrines when it comes to the origin of the world.  It is evolutionism's way  or the high way: Christian fundamentalists must get on their bikes and get out of town.

Christian parents in the US have reacted in many cases to the imposition of ancient pagan doctrines (which evolutionism represents) via the school system.  The secular liberals slur Christians as ignorant; but Christians view the establishment as deliberately steering their children into a false idolatry, using the power of the State.

Secular liberalism has shown itself profoundly intolerant in this matter (which is contrary to its own self-image).

Here We Stand: We Can Do No Other

The Lost Purpose for Learning

Rooting Dualism Out of Christian Education

John Stonestreet
Breakpoint

Christian Overman, who directs the Seattle-based Worldview Matters and is a commissioned Colson Fellow, believes—and I largely agree—that we’ve lost the culture because we’ve lost our schools—including, in some cases, important distinctives that make Christian schools, well, Christian. “The shaping of nations begins in the minds of children,” Chris says. “Nation-shaping ideas acquired in elementary and secondary schools are not immediately felt on a national level because it takes time for little acorns to grow into giant oaks. But grow they will.”

In a new, thought-provoking e-book, “The Lost Purpose for Learning,” Chris articulates clearly what has gone awry and offers a systemic, intentional, and repeatable solution for Christian school teachers and headmasters, Sunday school workers, and other church personnel who interact with students between the ages of 4 and 18.

As Christian notes, in the years before the federal government took over teaching our children, education was largely a Christian endeavor—not just in the sense that it was run by Christians, but in that it was founded on Christian assumptions about God, life, the world, and humanity. And the primary assumption was that Christ is Lord of all—not just of so-called “religious” subjects, but of everything, including biology, math, even physics.

When the government took over, some Christians, such as A.A. Hodge, warned that the schools would become indoctrination centers for atheism.

Daily Devotional

God-Given Foes and Faith

Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ . . . not frightened in anything by your opponents. For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake. (Philippians 1:27–29)

John Piper

Paul told the Philippians that living worthy of the gospel of Christ meant fearlessness before enemies. Then he gave the logic of fearlessness.  The logic is this: God has given you two gifts, not just one — faith and suffering. That’s what verse 29 says.

In this context that means: Both your faith in the face of suffering, and your suffering are gifts of God. When Paul says, don’t be frightened by your opponents he had two reasons in his mind why they don’t need to be frightened:

One reason is that the opponents are in the hand of God. Their opposition is a gift from God. He governs it. That’s the first point of verse 29.

And the other reason not to be afraid is that your fearlessness, that is, your faith, is also in the hand of God. It too is a gift. That is the other point of verse 29.  So the logic of fearlessness in the face of adversity is this double truth: Both your adversity and your faith in the face of adversity are gifts of God.

Why is this called “living worthy of the gospel of Christ”? Because the gospel is the good news that Christ’s blood of the covenant infallibly obtained for all his people the sovereign working of God to give us faith and to govern our enemies — always for our eternal good.

Therefore, fear not. Your adversaries can do no more than God grants. And he will grant you the faith you need. These promises are blood bought and sealed. Gospel promises.

Teacher Union Hypocrisy

Children as Political Pawns

If you happen to live in a country where the education system is not controlled by its employees you should count your blessings.  Teacher unions in NZ effectively control the government run education system.  As one would expect in such a system, everything is about teachers, teachers, teachers.  Not that the union militants don't mention children.  They do.  Frequently.  But--and here is the despicable reality--the unionists use school pupils as pawns in their political struggles.  

By definition and hidebound ideology, everything pushed by the unions for teachers' terms and conditions of employment means that pupils will get a better deal.  At least, according to the self-interested union members.  Whatever anyone else tries to achieve in the state education system will, according to the unions, be damaging to pupils.  All this goes to demonstrate that self-interest matters more to teacher unions than the education of pupils.  According to the unions there is not one problem in government schools--not one--that would not be solved by the simple remedy of paying teachers more money and having more of them.

The government school system as been being roiled by teacher strikes this week, as union stooges react to a proposal--a proposal, mind you--that they claim will be damaging to the terms and conditions of teachers, er, pupils.

The Act Party put out a press release on the present actions of this notorious, self-interested cabal:

More on Putin's Cyber Ops

Russian Plans to Distort and Disrupt US Elections

By Dana Priest, Ellen Nakashima and Tom Hamburger
The Washington Post

U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies are probing what they see as a broad covert Russian operation in the United States to sow public distrust in the upcoming presidential election and in U.S. political institutions, intelligence and congressional officials said.

The aim is to understand the scope and intent of the Russian campaign, which incorporates cyber-tools to hack systems used in the political process, enhancing Russia’s ability to spread disinformation.  The effort to better understand Russia’s covert influence operations is being coordinated by James R. Clapper Jr., the director of national intelligence. “This is something of concern for the DNI,” said Charles Allen, a former longtime CIA officer who has been briefed on some of these issues. “It is being addressed.”

A Russian influence operation in the United States “is something we’re looking very closely at,” said one senior intelligence official who, as others interviewed, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter. Officials are also examining potential disruptions to the election process, and the FBI has alerted state and local officials to potential cyberthreats. . . .

Daily Devotional

Turning the Other Cheek

C. S. Lewis

There are three ways of taking the command to turn the other cheek. One is the Pacifist interpretation; it means what it says and imposes a duty of nonresistance on all men in all circumstances. Another is the minimising interpretation; it does not mean what it says but is merely an orientally hyperbolical way of saying that you should put up with a lot and be placable. Both you and I agree in rejecting this view.

The conflict is therefore between the Pacifist interpretation and a third one which I am now going to propound. I think the text means exactly what it says, but with an understood reservation in favour of those obviously exceptional cases which every hearer would naturally assume to be exceptions without being told. . . . . That is, insofar as the only relevant factors in the case are an injury to me by my neighbour and a desire on my part to retaliate, then I hold that Christianity commands the absolute mortification of that desire. No quarter whatever is given to the voice within us which says, “He’s done it to me, so I’ll do the same to him.”

From The Weight of Glory

Compiled in A Year with C.S. Lewis The Weight of Glory: And Other Addresses. Copyright © 1949, C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. Copyright renewed © 1976, revised 1980 C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers. A Year With C.S. Lewis: Daily Readings from His Classic Works. Copyright © 2003 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers.

Will Anyone Bother to Vote?

Oh, What a Lovely Election

The upcoming US election will be interesting when one is able to assess the turnout.  Never in our lifetime have we observed an election in that country where both candidates were so strongly disliked--by their respective parties.

It is shaping up to be a Monty Python election.  It will appear as a moral tribute to democracy.  Those cautious of what democracy may produce will be muttering that the most estimable quality of the democratic system is that it produces precisely those leaders that the people deserve.

Donald Trump is so substantial he risks drowning in a puddle.

Douglas Wilson's Letter From Moscow

Two Sorts of #NeverTrump

Douglas Wilson
Blog&Mablog

We need to do a little analysis of what it actually means to be #NeverTrump. This is a political issue, and political issues are always slippery. They are slippery because every night someone comes in and slathers them all over with axle grease, or with money, hard to tell which.

The avowal of #NeverTrump sentiments can be taken as a personal vow or it can be taken as an act of punditry. In the former, the person is saying that there are no circumstances under which he or she will support the Donald. In the latter, the sentiment amounts to a prediction that he will necessarily fail as a candidate and that Hillary is going to be the next president.

The two sentiments can exist together, but the former only becomes really relevant if you think he is viable candidate, one who could actually win.

Daily Devotional

Restless Waves

"There is sorrow on the sea; it cannot be quiet."  Jeremiah 49:23

Charles H. Spurgeon

Little know we what sorrow may be upon the sea at this moment. We are safe in our quiet chamber, but far away on the salt sea the hurricane may be cruelly seeking for the lives of men. Hear how the death fiends howl among the cordage; how every timber starts as the waves beat like battering rams upon the vessel! God help you, poor drenched and wearied ones! My prayer goes up to the great Lord of sea and land, that he will make the storm a calm, and bring you to your desired haven!

Nor ought I to offer prayer alone, I should try to benefit those hardy men who risk their lives so constantly. Have I ever done anything for them? What can I do? How often does the boisterous sea swallow up the mariner! Thousands of corpses lie where pearls lie deep. There is death-sorrow on the sea, which is echoed in the long wail of widows and orphans. The salt of the sea is in many eyes of mothers and wives. Remorseless billows, ye have devoured the love of women, and the stay of households. What a resurrection shall there be from the caverns of the deep when the sea gives up her dead!

Till then there will be sorrow on the sea. As if in sympathy with the woes of earth, the sea is forever fretting along a thousand shores, wailing with a sorrowful cry like her own birds, booming with a hollow crash of unrest, raving with uproarious discontent, chafing with hoarse wrath, or jangling with the voices of ten thousand murmuring pebbles. The roar of the sea may be joyous to a rejoicing spirit, but to the son of sorrow the wide, wide ocean is even more forlorn than the wide, wide world. This is not our rest, and the restless billows tell us so. There is a land where there is no more sea--our faces are steadfastly set towards it; we are going to the place of which the Lord hath spoken. Till then, we cast our sorrows on the Lord who trod the sea of old, and who maketh a way for his people through the depths thereof.

Entirely Predictable

Criminal Gangs Exploit the Ignorance of Politicians

We have blogged on previous occasions warning of a crime wave about to come.  That particular tsunami has now struck.  Cigarettes are now the coin-du-jour of the underworld.  This development has been entirely caused by the government of New Zealand.  It is the unintended consequence of hubris and folly.

The gummint is trying to make New Zealand tobacco smoke-free by 2025.  Its tactic of choice is progressively to tax tobacco and cigarettes so as to make them expensive luxury items which only the rich can afford.  We and others have warned that this unenlightened approach would have the entirely predictable consequence of a crime wave, where hoods and the desperate rock into local convenience stores to steal tobacco.  And so it has come to pass.  And it will get worse.

This from Stuff:

So Much For the "End of History and the Last Man"

Russia’s Cyber Warfare 

Bigger Than Helping Elect Donald Trump

Recent high-profile cyberattacks are all part of a coordinated Russian effort to disrupt U.S. elections. The ultimate goal isn't to elect Trump, but to undermine Americans' faith in democracy.

John Daniel Davidson
The Federalist

Russia is meddling in the U.S. presidential election. From the email hack of the Democratic National Convention in July to the cyberattacks on Hillary Clinton’s campaign and recent reports of hacks at The New York Times and other media organizations, evidence is mounting that Moscow has launched a sophisticated effort to interfere with and disrupt the November elections.

But not for the reasons you might think. At first glance, it looks like Russia favors Donald Trump and wants to undermine Clinton. And why not? Trump is certainly the pro-Kremlin candidate. He has nice things to say about Russian strongman Vladimir Putin, and even said he would be “looking into” recognizing Crimea as part of Russia. It would be easy to conclude, as some commentators have, that Putin wants to see Trump in the White House.

However, the truth isn’t quite that simple. As tempting as it is to see Russia as a partisan player on Trump’s side, the Kremlin’s goal isn’t to see a particular candidate win. The goal is much more insidious: to undermine American confidence in our political system. That is, the Kremlin’s real target is liberal democracy itself.

Whether Trump realizes it or not, he is nothing to Putin but a useful idiot in this larger effort.

Daily Devotional

Living in a New World

TO MARY NEYLAN, whose husband has received job security: More on the graces accompanying the death of Charles Williams. Lewis asks if he can dedicate George MacDonald: An Anthology to her.

C. S. Lewis

20 May 1945

I think what you say about ‘grief being better than estrangement’ is very true. I am sorry you should have had this grief. . . .

I also have become much acquainted with grief now through the death of my great friend Charles Williams, my friend of friends, the comforter of all our little set, the most angelic. The odd thing is that his death has made my faith ten times stronger than it was a week ago. And I find all that talk about ‘feeling he is closer to us than before’ isn’t just talk. It’s just what it does feel like—I can’t put it into words. One seems at moments to be living in a new world. Lots, lots of pain but not a particle of depression or resentment.

By the bye I’ve finished a selection from Geo. MacDonald (365 extracts) which will come out about Xmas: would you (or not) care to have it dedicated to you? I feel it is rather yours by right as you got more out of him than anyone else to whom I introduced his books. Just let me know.

And why should you assume I’m too occupied to see you? Friday mornings in term are bad, but alright in Vac: and Friday afternoons in both. I should like a visit (with a week’s notice) whenever you find one convenient.

Excuse this paper. It may be less blotched than yours but yours did at least begin life as a real piece of note paper! I’m so glad Dan has got his job made permanent. Blessings!

The Ground Hog Day Of Present Discontent

Unholy Triads

Angelo Codevilla sets forth the secular materialist Confession of Faith:  modern life in the West is

based upon the proposition, self-evident to many, that omnicompetent government as the executor of modern science can be the agent of unprecedented wealth, justice, and happiness.  We err at our peril if by focusing on the bloody show of totalitarian regimes, we imagine that they were wholly extraneous to the great trends of our time or to what is happening among us.  [Angelo Codevilla, The Character of Nations: How Politics Makes and Breaks Prosperity, Family and Civility (New York: Basic Books, 1997), p.5.]

One cannot help notice how  the policy directions of the modern secular state claim to be "science based".  This tells us not much about science per se, but the general belief that the government becomes more competent to deliver perfection upon earth when it is guided and justified by "science".  The disciplines of science have become equivalent to a sacred text, above and beyond ordinary centres of authority, by which society will be guided and led to health, wealth, and happiness.

And science has delivered what has been asked of it.

Douglas Wilson's Letter From Moscow

Of the Crowds, By the Crowds, For the Crowds

Douglas Wilson
Blog&Mablog

A commonplace assumption says that the crowds of Palm Sunday—those welcoming Christ into Jerusalem—and the crowds in front of Pilate shouting “crucify Him!” were made up of the same people. This is a common preacher’s trope, enabling them to enlarge on the fickleness of the heart of man. But there is absolutely no reason for assuming this, and some very good reasons for denying it. And there is also a lesson for us in it.Crowd

First, consider the logic of it. Identifying the two crowds is sheer assumption, when we have no grounds for it, and with no reason given that would explain the turn of the crowd away from Christ. What event could have caused all those people to change their minds? We have no more reason for identifying the two different crowds than we would for identifying two disparate events in any other large city—say the people in an arena full of hockey fans and the people in a performance center listening to Beyoncé do her thing. Nothing is altered if we say that the two events were just days apart. And the crowds in Jerusalem were more distinct than hockey and Beyoncé fans. It was more like the rallies of opposing political parties.

Second, we have clear evidence of “maneuvering.”

Daily Devotional

Unjust Weights and Balances

"Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin, shall ye have."  Leviticus 19:36

Charles H. Spurgeon

Weights, and scales, and measures were to be all according to the standard of justice. Surely no Christian man will need to be reminded of this in his business, for if righteousness were banished from all the world beside, it should find a shelter in believing hearts. There are, however, other balances which weigh moral and spiritual things, and these often need examining. We will call in the officer tonight.

The balances in which we weigh our own and other men's characters, are they quite accurate? Do we not turn our own ounces of goodness into pounds, and other persons' bushels of excellence into pecks? See to weights and measures here, Christian. The scales in which we measure our trials and troubles, are they according to standard?

Paul, who had more to suffer than we have, called his afflictions light, and yet we often consider ours to be heavy--surely something must be amiss with the weights! We must see to this matter, lest we get reported to the court above for unjust dealing. Those weights with which we measure our doctrinal belief, are they quite fair? The doctrines of grace should have the same weight with us as the precepts of the word, no more and no less; but it is to be feared that with many one scale or the other is unfairly weighted.

It is a grand matter to give just measure in truth. Christian, be careful here. Those measures in which we estimate our obligations and responsibilities look rather small. When a rich man gives no more to the cause of God than the poor contribute, is that a just ephah and a just hin? When ministers are half starved, is that honest dealing? When the poor are despised, while ungodly rich men are held in admiration, is that a just balance? Reader, we might lengthen the list, but we prefer to leave it as your evening's work to find out and destroy all unrighteous balances, weights, and measures.

No Precepts in Sight

Modern Parenting And Its Deconstruction

The Guardian recently carried a piece by Alison Gopnik, author of The Gardener and the Carpenter.  It consisted of Gopnik's thoughts about child-rearing.  Her reflections present the paradox of parenting which grips so many in our post-modern, relativist world.  Her book's promo reads as follows:

Caring deeply about our children is part of what makes us human. Drawing on the study of human evolution and her own scientific research into how children learn, the author shows that although caring for children is profoundly important, it is not a matter of shaping them to turn out a particular way.

In Gopnik's post-modern world, shaping a child is a thoroughgoing no-no.   Why?  Because each individual human being must be recognized as autonomous.  Child rearing is a process by which a parent prepares the child for adult life, in which, according to Gopnik, the new adult will live autonomously.  "Should I steal, mummy?"  The truly self-aware, modern parent would reply as follows:

Letter From America (About Respectable Mendacity)

Why Hillary Is Never Held Accountable for Her Lies

The media excuse her mendacity because it serves the progressive cause.

By Victor Davis Hanson
National Review Online

Everyone rightly catalogues Donald Trump’s fibs, distortions, and exaggerations: his assertions about his net worth, his charitable contributions, his initial supposed opposition to the Iraq War, or his “flexible” positions on illegal immigration. After all, he is flamboyant, right-wing in his present incarnation, and supposedly bends the truth either out of crass narcissism or for petty profiteering. So the watchdog media and popular culture have no problem with ridiculing Trump as a fabricator.

But not so with Hillary Clinton, whose untruths far overshadow Trump’s in both import and frequency, but are so often contextualized, excused, and forgotten because of who she is and the purpose her outright lying supposedly serves.

Lying in America has become not lying when “good” liars advance alternative narratives for noble purposes — part of our long slide into situational ethics and moral relativism.

Every new bad idea in America today can ultimately be traced to the university. And it seems to take only about 30 years for academia’s nihilism to filter through the elite institutions and make its way into popular culture. So it is with our present idea of truth as a mere construct.

Daily Devotional

Base Your Life on This

The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (2 Corinthians 4:4)

John Piper

Test yourself. What is your mindset? Do you begin with God and his rights and goals? Or do you begin with yourself and your rights and wishes?

And when you look at the death of Christ, what happens? Does your joy really come from translating this awesome divine work into a boost for self-esteem? Or are you drawn up out of yourself and filled with wonder and reverence and worship that here in the death of Jesus is the deepest, clearest declaration of the infinite esteem of God for his glory and for his Son?

Here is a great objective foundation for the full assurance of hope: the forgiveness of sins is grounded, finally, not in my finite worth or work, but in the infinite worth of the righteousness of God — God's unswerving allegiance to uphold and vindicate the glory of his name.

I appeal to you with all my heart, take your stand on this. Base your life on this. Ground your hope in this. You will be free from the futile mindset of the world. And you will never fall.

When God's exaltation of God in Christ is your joy, it can never fail.

Auckland City Struck Again by the Scarlet Pimpernel

The Greater Good Overcomes the Orange Horror

Auckland Council has decided to ban orange carrots.  Standing up for the little men amongst us, the Council has courageously decided that carrots are not to be permitted to be grown nor sold anywhere within the city's boundaries.  They are now officially verboten.

The reason is a noble one.  Carrots are a genetically modified vegetable. The risks to the human population from eating genetically modified carrots are unknown and, consequently, unquantifiable.  Therefore, with our best interests at heart, the Auckland Council has decided to play it safe and protect us all from possible harm down the track.

To be sure, orange carrots have been consumed throughout the world for nigh on 450 years.  Prior to that time they were found in red, or yellow, or purple shades of colour.  But the nationalistic, profit-seeking Dutch developed an orange cultivar in honour of the ruling House of Orange.  What evils this specific genetic modification have wrought, are wreaking, and will wreak upon the human race are unknown, untold, and unquantifiable--so Auckland Council has banned the carrot.

And not just carrots.

Douglas Wilson's Letter From Moscow

The Mode of Funerals

Douglas Wilson
Blog&Mablog
Moscow, Idaho

INTRODUCTION

Part of living together is learning to deal with the fact of death. In the early years of our congregation, we had almost no funerals. The reason we had few funerals in the early days of the church is that we were all babies. Now we have had a number of funerals, and given how many of us have been worshiping together for many years, that number is only going to increase. So how shall we then die? As always, we want to look to Scripture first for our direction and instruction.Plant From Bible

THE TEXT:

“For I know that my redeemer liveth, And that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, Yet in my flesh shall I see God” (Job 19:25–26).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT:

Job is an ancient text, and comes to us from deep within Old Testament history. Because many want to believe that the ancients had no concept of the resurrection, this text is therefore much controverted. It is disputed because it seems so clear. But it is still best to take it at face value. We may grant that the resurrection of the dead is not emphasized in the Old Testament the way it is in the New, but it is most certainly there. Remember that the Jews came to a sure and certain faith in the resurrection prior to one syllable of the New Testament being given. Martha confesses that she knew that her brother would rise again in the resurrection at the last day (John 11:24), and all she had to go on was the Old Testament. Remember that Jesus argues for the resurrection against the Sadducees, and does so from the Old Testament (Luke 20:37), from Exodus in fact.

So Job, in the midst of his perplexities and trials, knew certain things for sure.

Daily Devotional

The Lion and the Lamb

“Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. He will not quarrel or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets; a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory; and in his name the Gentiles will hope.” (Matthew 12:18–21, quoting Isaiah 42)

John Piper

The Father’s very soul exults with joy over the servant-like meekness and compassion of his Son.

When a reed is bent and about to break, the Servant will tenderly hold it upright until it heals. When a wick is smoldering and has scarcely any heat left, the Servant will not pinch it off, but cup his hand and blow gently until it burns again.

Thus the Father cries, “Behold, my Servant in whom my soul delights!” The worth and beauty of the Son come not just from his majesty, nor just from his meekness, but from the way these mingle in perfect proportion.

When the angel cries out in Revelation 5:2, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” the answer comes back, “Weep not; look, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals” (5:5).

God loves the strength of the Lion of Judah. This is why he is worthy in God’s eyes to open the scrolls of history and unfold the last days.  But the picture is not complete. How did the Lion conquer? The next verse describes his appearance: “And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders, I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain.” Jesus is worthy of the Father’s delight not only as the Lion of Judah, but also as the slain Lamb.

Doxologies Alone Are Appropriate

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

The Bible declares that man is made in God's image.  We are the only creature upon the earth so designated.  But what does that designation mean?

One thing it does not mean is that part of man has the spark of the divine.  Thinking along these lines always degrades human beings, on the one hand, and curses humankind by heading straight into neo-platonic heresies, on the other.  Rather, the Word of God declares unequivocally that man, in body, soul, spirit, heart--that is, man in all his aspects--reflects and bears the image of God Himself.

To strike out the neo-platonism that lurks always at the edges of Christian doctrine we repeat that our body reflects the image of God, despite the fact that God Himself is "without body, parts, and passions".

As Douglas Kelly puts it:

. . . while the image of God is not corporeal as such, yet man's body does correspond to that divine image in a way not true of even the highest animals.  Koenig summarizes these corresponding features of man's body to the divine likeness:
a.) man's countenance which directs his gaze upwards.
b.) a capacity for varying facial expressions.
c.) a sense of shame expressing itself in the blush of man;
d.) speech.
[Douglas F. Kelly, Creation and Change: Genesis 1:1--2:4 in the Light of Changing Scientific Paradigms (Fearn, Ross Shire: Mentor/Christian Focus Publications, 1997), p.197.]

 It is the last aspect (speech and language) which seizes our attention as being particularly after God's image.

Letter From America (About the Trans Cult"

How To Fight The Trans Cult

Rod Dreher
The American Conservative

Hey, I’m in Nashville today at the Southern Baptist ERLC event, so please forgive the light posting. I want to bring to your attention an extraordinary letter from a reader who writes about how he fought the transgender cult that briefly seized his daughter’s imagination. He’s responding to a letter another reader wrote about how this thing has her child in its grips, and the local school authorities are fighting her, the mom, over it. I want to share it with you in case it is helpful to you in your situation. I have edited it slightly to protect privacy:

I wrote you a week or so ago about my experience with this sort of thing in [xxx] County. I absolutely know where this person is coming from and I feel her pain and frustration . The only thing I can tell her, if she has the stomach for it, is to get almost downright combative with the counselors in the school and any psychologist that her teenage daughter sees especially if she, the parent is paying for it. I would keep the pressure on these counselors and their bosses, principals and superintendent as well as school board members. I would usually do it in private and not in any type of open session. In my case it paid off on a few levels.

Daily Devotional

Mourning The Beloved Dead

TO MARGARET DENEKE: On the death of her husband, Paul Benecke, Lewis’s old history tutor and a Fellow at Magdalen College.

C.S.Lewis

3 October 1944

It will give me great pleasure to come to lunch at one o’clock on Oct. 30th. I will not try to express my sympathy to Miss Benecke when we meet—such things are often merely embarrassing. You, I am sure, will not doubt that she has it.

The gap in College is terrible. Already (and yet it is only a few days) I have twice found myself setting aside a problem ‘to ask Benecke about it’ and then realised with a pang that there is no more of that. His image haunts every room in Magdalen. I hear his imagined voice again and again: so vividly, when crossing Magdalen bridge this morning, that I almost wondered if there were not some objective reality in the experience.

I can hardly explain how his funeral affected me. I have heard that service read in that chapel so often for those who have not believed a word of it and who (had they been alive) would have mocked, that my feeling was almost one of relief. Here at last was a dead man not unworthy of the service. In some queer way it enormously strengthened my faith, and before we filed out of chapel I really felt (do not misunderstand me) a kind of joy—a feeling that all was well, just as well as it could be.

I count it among my great good fortunes to have known him. As far as human eyes can judge he was—is—a saint: but oh!, we still needed him here so very badly.

From The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Volume II
Compiled in Yours, Jack


The Collected Letters of C. S. Lewis, Volume II: Family Letters 1905-1931. Copyright © 2004 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers. Yours, Jack: Spiritual Direction from C. S. Lewis. Copyright © 2008 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers.

Dumb and Dumber

How the West Was Lost

The dominant--indeed, established--religion of our day is materialistic atheism.  Put into doctrinal form, its profession of faith is as follows:

All that exists is matter: there is nothing else.
Matter exists by chance.

Naturally, these two proposition result in a rather barren, empty existence.  It is impossible to make any  meaning of one's life, let alone the cosmos.  It is hard to believe anything when everything is supposedly irrational.

In order to cope with the resultant crisis, folk just invent things.  Consequently, most in the West live in a make-believe world--one made up to impart the appearance of sense, meaning, significance and rationality.  It can be described as living in a make-believe world viewed through Alice's looking glass.

One pop manifestation of this make-believe world is a near universal belief in luck, or the "stars".  From the Christian perspective it comes as no surprise at all that our popular culture is deeply wedded to astrology--the belief that astral bodies providentially govern some, if not all, things in the world.

The Falsest of False Gods

The Scourge of Meth

A significant piece has been published recently in the NZ Herald on P-addiction and its consequences.  Here are some excepts:

Two days before Christmas, Lisa lost her baby daughter.  She lost herself 18 months before in a glass pipe of crystal meth passed to her by an older man, "from a very respectable profession".

"It became a huge problem. It hooked me quickly. I chased it every day. My entire life tumbled down in 18 months."  Lisa (name changed to protect privacy) smoked up to a gram a day. She kept the cost down by selling meth to friends and selling her body working as a prostitute from home while her daughter was at daycare. Men would come from 10am to 2pm.  "I didn't think it was wrong. I just wanted more."

Her clothes hung off her skeletal size six frame.

Daily Devotional

God Will Glorify Himself In Your Weakness

"On mine arm shall they trust."  Isaiah 51:5

Charles H. Spurgeon

In seasons of severe trial, the Christian has nothing on earth that he can trust to, and is therefore compelled to cast himself on his God alone. When his vessel is on its beam-ends, and no human deliverance can avail, he must simply and entirely trust himself to the providence and care of God. Happy storm that wrecks a man on such a rock as this! O blessed hurricane that drives the soul to God and God alone! There is no getting at our God sometimes because of the multitude of our friends; but when a man is so poor, so friendless, so helpless that he has nowhere else to turn, he flies into his Father's arms, and is blessedly clasped therein!

When he is burdened with troubles so pressing and so peculiar, that he cannot tell them to any but his God, he may be thankful for them; for he will learn more of his Lord then than at any other time. Oh, tempest-tossed believer, it is a happy trouble that drives thee to thy Father! Now that thou hast only thy God to trust to, see that thou puttest thy full confidence in him. Dishonour not thy Lord and Master by unworthy doubts and fears; but be strong in faith, giving glory to God.

Show the world that thy God is worth ten thousand worlds to thee. Show rich men how rich thou art in thy poverty when the Lord God is thy helper. Show the strong man how strong thou art in thy weakness when underneath thee are the everlasting arms. Now is the time for feats of faith and valiant exploits. Be strong and very courageous, and the Lord thy God shall certainly, as surely as he built the heavens and the earth, glorify himself in thy weakness, and magnify his might in the midst of thy distress.

The grandeur of the arch of heaven would be spoiled if the sky were supported by a single visible column, and your faith would lose its glory if it rested on anything discernible by the carnal eye. May the Holy Spirit give you to rest in Jesus this closing day of the month.

A Vast Criminal Enterprise

It's All Over, Rover

This blog has been scathing towards the US Presidential Pretender--Donald Trump.  However, we also need to go on record with respect to Hillary Clinton.  She, in the long storied history of US Presidents, would be the worst, exceeding some rather obnoxious competitors.  

Why do we say this?  Because she and her husband are reflexively corrupt.  We are not speaking here of a dalliance, or having a shady side which at times shows.  Rather we are alleging that Mrs Clinton and her husband have sought public office for private gain.  Systematically. Deliberately. Moreover, in order to succeed at larceny, Clinton has thought nothing of putting the Republic at risk, what with her illegal, private e-mail servers now hacked and available.  She is entitled to what she is entitled.

The corruption showed up long before husband, William Clinton was elected Governor of Arkansas.  Here is Angelo Codevilla's account, written towards the end of Clinton's presidency, when he was surrounded by salacious scandals: