“While the Europeans occupied themselves with hysterical speculative eschatology, the Ottomans expanded their conquests. Sultan Selim called for a renewed Ji’had and added Greece, Macedonia, and the Balkans to his empire. His son, Suleiman, swept into Belgrade in 1521, expelled the Templars from Rhodes in 1522, and conquered Hungary in 1526. Then in 1529 he …
A Sexual Haunting
“As syphilis spread all over Europe, the horror at its unprecedented virulence spread with it. It was the sexual version of the black plague. As the descriptions of the doctors who first diagnosed the disease make clear, the advent of syphilis had much to do with the iconography of horror. The horrible faces in horror …
When Accusers Name
“Such men are accused under such a name, but when things come to be examined their name is all their crime” (Burroughs, Irenicum, p. 248).
Sprawl With Pall!
Correction: I have been informed that my example of the gays or lesbians below was misinformed. The proposed law allows everybody up to one boarder and this allows for the scenario I described. My apologies for the bum dope. The law, however, does discriminate against a bisexual with three kids. It has been a while …
Marking 911
Today marks the sixth year since the 911 attacks. This is just a brief post to remember those who died, and to express the fervent wish that my grandchildren will not have to deal with the same sort of threat from international terror, domestic erosions of their liberty, or both. It is easy in the …
The Pope’s Easter Hat
Scott Clark has had some more to say, and he says it here. As part of his conclusion, he says: So, let the covenantal moralists, the New Perspectivists, and Federal Visionists (and related folks) have their semi-Pelagian grace and cooperation with grace system. If they want to try to stand, on the basis of grace …
Can’t Even Find the Stump
One of the temptations that the righteous have to deal with is the temptation of envying the unrighteous. This is a psalm to set that temptation in its proper context, and so to help us deal with it. Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. For they …
Against the Faith as an Ism
Just a reminder about our upcoming ministerial conference. The deadline for early registrations is September 21.
The Puritan Humanist
“By a puritan the Elizabethans meant one who wished to abolish episcopacy and remodel the Church of England on the lines which Calvin had laid down for Geneva. They puritan party were not separatists or (in the modern sense) dissenters . . . There were therefore degrees of puritanism and it is difficult to draw …
Tell Us What You Really Think, Martyn
“Lastly, and only lastly, Homiletics. This to me is almost an abomination. There are books bearing such titles as The Craft of Sermon Construction, and The Craft of Sermon Illustration. That is, to me, prostitution. Homiletics just comes in, but no more. What about preaching as such, the act of preaching of which I have …