Letters Come In Like a Breeze off the Bay

I just finished listening to the third book of your new maritime series, Two Williams. I think this series is your best fictional work yet. This post reminds me of the conflict between the two Williams wanting very similar outcomes, but having two distinct contradictory means of achieving this outcome. This is all very much like the fight we are in now for our country and our Constitution. It is something worth fighting for, and how we fight matters greatly. Thank you for your regular encouragement on these matters pertaining to how we are to be salt and light. Keep up the good fight.

Sincerely,

Tyler

I so enjoy your content. Your sermons, blog posts, and books have all aided me in my walk with Jesus in my quest for glory. God’s glory, not my own. I was raised Presbyterian so I purchased your biography of John Knox. My recently deceased wife of 44 years was Catholic. My current local church (not Catholic) has a dynamic young preacher who preaches a hot gospel. I’m very blessed. All praise and glory to God!

I’m also a supporter of the U.S Constitution and am concerned about the corruptocracy that has infiltrated our government via the administrative state. So the last line of the above referenced blog post caught my eye. You state, “I hope to outline a plan for taking on the administrative state.” I look forward to that plan because I know that your ideas will be based on the Bible.

I have a few questions: 1) There are those who refer to the “administrative state” as the Deep State. As you define terms, are they the same? 2) Does the administrative/deep state exist in all forms of government across the world? (I would say yes!) 3) Is this administrative/deep state connected to the World Economic Forum? 4) It appears that this deep state has lost a lot of its power over the last few years. Could this be because the deep state is already being dismantled?

Bring on Christendom 2.0!

Blessings,

Keith

Early American Politics It is worth noting that the beginning of our Independence began with these words:

“When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another . . .”

Looks like it’s time.

And later we declared “. . . whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government . . .”

And amen.

Andrew

“The Meaning of Porneia in Matthew 5:32” Dear Uncle Doug,

A church sister recently discovered that her husband has been going to massage parlors where he was paying for “additional services,” a so-called ‘happy ending’ which has brought everything *but* a happy ending to his wife and children.

Here is my question, plain and simple: Does his illicit sexual contact at the hand of a massage therapist qualify as “porneia,” particularly as Jesus used it in Matthew 5:32?

I have reached out to some scholars, who I know on a personal level, and they have suggested that the word Jesus used demands “penetration.” But in my reading, that line isn’t so clear. Despite their credentials, something about this doesn’t ring true to me. My understanding has been that porneia describes any kind of illicit sexual behavior *with another being* outside of the marital bond.

This man has not merely lusted in his mind, but he has sought out sexual pleasure from another woman. How can this be anything but adultery? If sexual foreplay isn’t included in the Gr. term “porneia,” then what word would capture it?

I just need some help on my thinking here. We take Jesus’ instruction about marriage, divorce, and remarriage very seriously. So, this young woman is earnestly wondering if she has the Biblical grounds to leave her marriage and one day be married again.

Anything you can offer in this direction will be greatly appreciated!

P.S., I gave that pseudonym because I knew you couldn’t resist responding to the great Jack “Jacksie” himself!

C.S. Lewis

In Genesis 6, just before Noah’s flood, were the animals also corrupted and given over to sin? In verse 12 the text says that “all flesh” was corrupted, and then he sentences all flesh to death, both men and animals. The sentence over the animals follows that of the men, as also the deliverance of the animals follows the same pattern of the men (being delivered in the ark) and finally in the Noahic covenant in Gen. 9.5, God declares judgment over both men and animals for the crime of murder, in some sense treating animals as some sort of moral agent.

I get that the language could be symbolic, following James B Jordan’s maxim “animals symbolize people,” but I cannot shake the feeling that a similar fall happened to the animals (who were supposed to be vegetarian up to this point), and that only the obedient lion couple who refused to eat Noah would get into the ark. It would also make Narnia look even less fictional…

Rafael

Hope you’re having a wonderful week. As I continue to try to be as scriptural as possible when it comes to understanding the relationship of man’s responsible choices and God’s foreordination of all things, I would like to ask you the following to see if I’m adequately assessing our Reformed position.

Throughout the New Testament we see several verses showing how man will be judged by his works one day, meaning how faithful was Timmy versus how faithful or unfaithful was Johnny, and when they stand before the King of kings to receive that crown of honor (one bigger than the other), ultimately, is it right to say that whatever crown they each get for their faithfulness or unfaithfulness was foreordained by God? So God is judging the level of obedience that he foreordained for them? I understand that the ends do not exclude the means, why would he judge the level of faithfulness of each man and woman if he has foreordained the works before time? What is the necessity of judgment? Also, aside from Eph. 1:10-11 and Isa. 46:9-11, are there other texts supporting the foreordination of all things? God bless you!

Ben

My question arises out of conversations I’ve been having with my nephew about moving out of his parents’ house. I’m of the opinion that he ought to and he’s of the opinion that he ought not leave. I used the word ‘ought’ on purpose. I believe there are biblical reasons for men (specifically men) to leave the protection and comfort of their parents’ home and to forge their own way, and I believe this should come before marriage. He believes that you should only leave after marriage.

He uses verses like Gen 2:24 and honoring your parents to try and defend his position. I think that he’s making some odd assumptions when he reads Geneses, for example; I don’t know why he assumes the cleaving to your wife is the prerequisite for leaving your father and mother and not the other way around.

Anyways I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. Is there a biblical reason to leave the home before marriage not including things like sin or immorality? Lastly, if there are biblical reasons to leave, what if the parents disagree with the son and would rather have him stay?

Thanks

Joseph

A plan to take on the administrative state? Yes, please! I admit to little hope of this so long as our civics education is so abysmal. But with some broad awareness of the regulative burden in laws, taxes, fees, etc, I can imagine a large move toward nullification and pressure on Congress to pass something akin to this:

Nathan

In terms of plans to take on the administrative state, the candidate who is far and away leading the charge in this manner is Vivek Ramaswamy. Not only has he done long-form interviews with authors such as Philip Howard on mechanisms to unwind the administrative state, but some of his recent town halls—see his Londonderry town hall—give extensive details on where and how the executive branch can remove or reform the administrative state before even requiring congressional action. Regardless of how well or not Ramaswamy ends up doing for the presidency, I hope he raises the visibility of these ideas enough that at least some of them get acted upon.

Ian

I notice that you use “Smith” in many of your illustrations. Can you lay off of this guy for a while and use more of “Roberts” or something?

My question is concerning open communion among the CREC. We often say in our fencing statements something like “You need to be a person in good standing in the church.” Moscow may be different, but where we live there is an increasing number of people doing tele-church. Others just float. I have a hard time seeing how these can be in good standing when they refuse to stand for any period of time in a church. True, they’re not excommunicated, but they’re not in a position anyone could excommunicate them if they tried. What’s your take on this? Will we need to adjust our practice if this trend continues?

Thanks,

Smith

Thank you for all you do for the body of Christ Pastor Wilson. I just read a blog post from 2012 called “Positive and negative pride” and it was very insightful. I was wondering if you had any resources, books etc from yourself or others concerning a biblical view of self. There seems to be a dearth of Christian material on the subject, leaving only secular psychology. Best regards,

Pola

My wife and I have recently been reading your book “Standing on the Promises”. We’ve been greatly enjoying it and encouraged by it, even with our son being only about 8-months-old. That said, we’ve been consistently troubled by something.

The question that keeps arising for us is, why are our siblings not saved? Both my wife and I have parents that we believe faithfully taught us the Scriptures and disciplined us in a manner consistent with the Proverbs. Both of our families were homeschooled, our parents were very present in our lives and have exemplary marriages. They were not “good parents” merely by worldly standards, but also by Biblical ones.

You seem to be someone who avoids cushioning your words with qualifications, which is something I have high respect for. There are many things you shouldn’t have to qualify, and perhaps God’s promises to believing parents fall into that category. That said, my wife and I are left thinking “If God promises that faithful parents can expect their children to follow Him, and some of our siblings have walked away from the church, our parents must have fallen short in some way.” Naturally, we would want to know how they fell short so that we can avoid that.

I suppose our concern is similar to what we experience when someone that we hold in high esteem as a believer “falls away.” Why did they fall away? They must have never been saved, but they sure looked like they were. What is it that they were missing? Could I be missing the same essential thing and not know it?

In summary, I know that it may be hard for you to answer this question without knowing our parents, but I’m hoping you can provide some kind of framework for thinking about the unbelieving children of seemingly faithful parents. What is the secret ingredient that was missing? Were they lacking the proper amount of faith? Or, maybe you’ll tell me that I’m asking the wrong questions entirely, That would be a welcomed reality.

John

Thank you for the work you’ve done on how Christians should think about society and the state! You’ve definitely influenced my thinking in these areas. I was wondering if you will listen to (or read) and interact with Michael Bird’s book Religious Freedom in a Secular Age.

Ruben

How else would it be possible for a generation of young people to adopt the worldview and outlook of the ruling elites, all the major corporations, virtually every university on the continent, all the major media outlets, the top brass at the Pentagon, and still have the unvarnished nerve to think of themselves as the resistance” (Chestertonian Calvinism, p. 67)

Might be because deep down, they know full well there is an unstoppable Kingdom coming for them, and their “gates” will not stand against it. I certainly think they are the resistance, just of the hellish variety, not the righteous kind. And, Doug, we’re going to roll right over them. The only question is how many of them we can get to join the right side as we do so!

Nathan

Re “Our Great Rainbow Smudge”; First off, your choice of words is hilarious. “Stainbow” had me in stitches.

Lastly and most importantly; the grace and forgiveness extended to the alphabet “community” in Christ is beyond incredible. While some might say that we are bashing on others (by calling them to repentance) in order to feel good about ourselves, I find that thinking about the grace extended to others often leads me to examine my own flaws and sins, and thank God for his continued forgiveness.

Sincerely,

Matthew

Re: Our Great Rainbow Smudge

Echoing your observation about lack of reaction. I work for a state university and appended “Happy Roe Reversal Month! To God be the glory great things He hath done” to my email signature. A number of Christians in my department were encouraged. The pagans did nothing until half way through the June 30th. A new standardized signature was mandated for everyone. I expected worse.

Seems like all over the place God is breaking the pride month nonsense!

Thomas

Thanks a million for your faithful exposition of the Reformed faith and postmillennialism in particular. I am in a church where Dispensationalism is rampant. I see it as a major doctrinal problem. How tactful ought I to be in my dealings with it? Thanks!

Charles

I would highly recommend two books by Raymond Ibrahim for a deep-dive on the Crusades: ‘Sword and Scimitar’ (published in 2018; read this one first), and ‘Defenders of the West’ (published in 2022; followup to S & S).

John

I thought at one point someone said there was Scripture in the Old Testament where God punished Israel because they “taught the nations to whore better” after their idols. Google queries have come up with nothing and I’m having difficulty relocating the text. Was there texts in the Old Testament which said something of the sort? Or that principally affirmed teaching the nations before Christ’s command to do so? You can also email me a response if you already have something written up that I can’t find either.

Maxwell

I have a lot of friends in the Anglican Church of North America, and there has been an issue that has brought me up short. It is crystalized in an interview between Mikhaila Peterson (Jordan’s daughter and a recent convert to Christ) and Calvin Robinson, a brave voice in England who is perhaps the last conservative Anglican and has been vilified for his stand against woke culture.

The issue is “Reason, Tradition, and Scripture”. Around the 17:30 mark, he talks about how “we have thousands of years of people praying and discerning what the faith is and we are a faith of tradition. We don’t have a holy book in the way that Muslims have the Qu’Ran, that is the direct word of God.” “We have 4 gospels, but they are 4 among many and they were the 4 that were most prevalent and survived the longest.” “[These gospels] were inspired by the Holy Spirit, but it isn’t the direct Word of God. So everything we take from the faith is tradition so some of it is written tradition and some of it is word of mouth and some of it is ritualistic or liturgical and the things that are word of mouth and liturgical are maintained through the catholic church.”

Is this basic heresy, against Sola Scriptura, or am I not being charitable? How should I reply to my Christian friends regarding this?

Thanks,

David

On the blog “On Guarding Your Heart.” When I first watched your video on this topic, my first thought was “How does he know I do this? What women told him all our secrets??” I have been boy crazy since I was 12, which I don’t know is a bad thing or not? I realized just how much of a hold men could have on me despite the fact that I only ever had a relationship with them in my head. I’ve never had a boyfriend or fornicated with someone in any way, though I do confess I have been watching pornography since I was 9 years old.

I realized around age 21 that I was deeply, unhealthily infatuated with a male coworker. I thought about him nonstop, when I would go to sleep, wake up, and throughout the day. I would be praying that he would just talk to me or compliment me. He eventually would when I wore tight enough pants, but that was the extent of our relationship. I absolutely hated the mental stronghold he had on me so much that I needed to leave my job.

I found a new job, and I thought to myself, “Phew, glad he’s out of my sight! Out of sight, out of mind!” I was finally able to work and not think about him. Until the thoughts about him came back. So much so that I visited my old job just to get a glimpse of him. I was only able to stop thinking about him because I found a man there to replace him. Despite my genuine salvation occurring a year ago, at age 22, I can’t seem to shake this circular mental insanity.

I find a guy I’m attracted to, I marry him (or fornicate with him) in my head. Only by replacing him with someone else, or reality bursting my bubble (because why would I daydream about someone who I have 0% chance being with in reality?), I stop thinking about him. I am certain in my faith in Christ to save me from my judgment/condemnation of my sins, but not the sins themselves. In my local church I have spotted an older divorced man who in my head surely must still have sexual desires and struggle with them and given the right circumstances would cave. I’ve stalked all his social media accounts (and all the other men before him). I spend my days thinking about possible ways I could invade his life and plant some sort of seed or thought in his head that I could capitalize on at the right time. I’m genuinely scared of what would happen if the opportunity to fornicate plopped in my life. (I’m also ashamedly hopeful it will)

Your series on Feminine Modesty really helped me and I am comforted when I go out that I am not intentionally seeking male attention by bringing attention to the wrong areas, but my long skirts can’t cover my lustful heart. I wanted to know if you could expand a little more on guarding your heart and mind? I want to be a wife and mother, but I know I can’t just submit to a man when I can barely submit to the Lord. Thank you.

M

To be honest I have little hope you will see this but I must try. You have made a huge impact on my walk with Christ and thus my wife and kids have grown in their obedience and love for our King also, thank you for that. I will try to keep this short and to the point. I am a driver for UPS and a member of the Teamsters union. The union is on the verge of a strike and it seems very greedy and sinful to me. I’m a staunch conservative so am wary of unions to begin with but this is getting out of hand, we make 42 dollars an hour and have a ridiculously good benefits package yet the union says we deserve more; which we don’t. The current Teamsters president wants a strike not a negotiation, he is newly elected and wants to flex his power. I can’t see how Christians can go along with this strike and I’m hoping you can shed some biblical knowledge on this situation. What is the Christians duty to unions versus the guy who signs the check? Im praying you would consider doing a video on this topic, you are a true word-smith and I love sending your blog videos to other drivers. Last thing, strikes and union power are a pressing issue in all industries right now yet there are no Christian conservative leaders talking about it. If someone like you were to broach the topic I believe other leaders would address this important part of thousands of Believers lives. Thank you for your service to our King Jesus.

Jacob