The lines of descent from Sarah and Hagar are fluid. In other words, physical sons of Sarah can become Ishmaelites through unbelief. Physical sons of Hagar can come in faith to Christ and be adopted into Israel. That which God uses to determine which way it goes is faith which He imparts as a sovereign …
Some Allies
“The Western press has lamentably failed to peer inside the black box of the U.S.-Saudi relationship. Short of an extraordinary humiliation, the Washingtonian policymakers will continue to insist that they ‘need’ Saudi Arabia even more than they ‘need’ Pakistan” (Serge Trifkovic, The Sword of the Prophet, pp. 249).
Different Costumes, Same Trick
“In [Sinead] O’Connor, this shtick is touted as a pure product of her brooding Irish soul. In Nirvana, it is praised as a distillation of Seattle despair. In fact, it is a cliché of expressionist theater, passed down through performance art (via Yoko Ono) to punk” (Martha Bayles, Hole in our Soul, p. 318).
Where Is This Going to Land Us?
“It is interesting that our Lord compared the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees to leaven. Leaven, or yeast, is not dormant. Leaven in a loaf of bread grows and works through the loaf until it pervades the whole. False teaching works in the same way. This means that an elder must be able to …
The Real Battle
One of the central sins of the Pharisees is that they had no sense of proportion. They did not know what sanctified what — the gold the altar or the altar the gold? They did not know the difference between a beam in the eye or a mote in the eye. They did not think …
Just For Fun . . .
Here is the cover that went to the printers yesterday. You don’t need a secret decoder ring, but it might help.
All Spiritual Wisdom
The meaning of the two sons in this passage is absolutely basic to all spiritual wisdom. If we listen to carnal whispers will get this all tangled up—and we must not. Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? For it is written, that Abraham had two …
It Is? Things are Better Than I Thought
“The only expanding, local Saudi industry is that of Islamic extremism. In 1966, the vice president of the Islamic University of Medina complained that Copernican theory was being taught at Riyadh University” (Serge Trifkovic, The Sword of the Prophet, pp. 247).
Just Plain Screaming
“It’s ironic how some of those [lefty] elders, after years of hating heavy metal, learn to love it the moment a metal group becomes ‘intelligent,’ meaning politically correct. Among hardcore bands, the same advance in ‘intelligence’ is achieved whenever a group switches from just plain screaming to screaming about current events” (Martha Bayles, Hole in …
Hitchens Liked the Cheese
Christopher Hitchens was kind enough to provide me with my first appearance in Vanity Fair — no, not Bunyan’s, but a lot like it. He wrote an article for them that reviewed his book promo work over the last few months, and you can read that article here. I don’t know why he’s flogging the …