Letters in Springtime

No particular recent post but that seems to happen a lot recently. First off, I am increasingly finding you to be a wackadoodle nut job with significant blind spots regarding an assortment of racial and social issues that I assume stems from living so far north and disconnected from “others” along with a heavy dose of echo chamber online media intake. But every now and then you manage to somehow say something significant. One of those ideas is your thoughts on raising children to love the law not just obey it. Would you kindly point me towards a book I assume you wrote that best dives into this subject.

Thanks in advance

James

RE: Duties of Christian Cops

Amen, Amen and Amen! More could be said but everything said was 100% on the mark!

Thanks for saying what so many don’t want to hear. It’s been two decades for me and I knew the moment I entered the academy that this day would come. I have had many red lines over the years where I gave my reasons and simply said, “No.” This resulted in a lot of yelling on their part but they eventually backed down . . . that is until last year when my red line became one too many for their inclusive tolerance values. Years of saying no made walking out the door as easy as falling off a log. History has proven that if you have never had a red line in the past, finding one in the future will be a challenge.

Jon

I have just finished listening to your post “Dealing with Nuisance Lust.” I have a challenge in my marriage that is loosely related to that. Lets say, perhaps, my wife and I are on a walk together. As we’re walking, a woman walks by in spandex, hypothetically. Regardless of my response to said woman, I am in the dog house. My wife assumes I lust after the woman, and I can’t reason with her that that’s not necessarily true. The logic is: There’s a scantily clad woman, I saw said woman, so I lusted after her. Similarly, imagine my brother and his girlfriend came to visit us for a weekend. During the weekend, I talked to my brother’s girlfriend. My wife, observing my interactions with the girlfriend, interprets something I did as flirtatious. I assure her, this is not true, and If it were, she would be rightfully upset. After they leave, my wife asks me: “Do you think Sally [name obscured] is attractive?” And I say “I can see how someone could be attracted to Sally, but I am not attracted to her.” This was not received well . . . at all. Now imagine this occurrence happened 11 months ago and my wife is still heartbroken over the assumed unfaithfulness. We’ll have been married for a year next week. At a loss,

Joe

I . . . have really been learning so much from your pastor’s videos through YouTube. I wish we lived closer! Our family is hungry for solid Bible teaching like this.

So, I have been happily married to my best friend for almost 11 years. We become believers together early in marriage and have been growing together in our spiritual lives. I really do adore him and am full of gratitude and respect for him. He’s a great dad and leader of our family. Obviously we aren’t perfect, but we both are fully committed to God and each other.

That said, one area I am wondering what a helpful amount of communication in a marriage when it comes to struggles with lust. I have no reason not to trust my husband and I do trust him, but I just want him to know we can talk about stuff together. Lately, I’ve been concerned if he’s attracted to another woman. I don’t want to bring it up if it would make things worse, and I do want to bring it up for the sake/protection of our marriage. And so I want to bring it up in a non-accusing way, but just openly. I’m not upset either, because I know him being a man, it’s just hard and he doesn’t do anything for me to suspect wrongdoing. But it’s just in that temptation phase, and I have prayed and tried to forget about it. I’ve told him I feel insecure I this area and we had a good initial talk, but is it okay to ask if he’s tempted by this woman or should I not ask? I know we are made differently, but for me, him being attracted to another woman affects me too. So anyway, any insight here would be helpful.

AK

Love the content! Just listened to your last post and in it you quoted from “Return of the King.” Can you send the chapter / page that was in. Great quote!

Adam

Dear public school teachers: “You should know what line you are not going to cross, no matter what, and be fully prepared for the consequences when you refuse to cross it.” I retired three years ago from California’s public school system. I taught in probably the most conservative district in the state—yet the pressure was on to tolerate, adopt and teach liberal philosophies—especially sexual ones. EVERY teacher is going to have to choose—and very soon. Our churches are not preparing us, sad to say.

Melody

Having grown up hearing exclusively futurist viewpoints of Revelation, I enjoyed reading your preterist view in “When The Man Comes Around.” I’m now reading through Old Testament prophets with this “new” framework in mind, and it’s quite eye-opening. Can you help me understand where Zechariah 14 fits in the grand redemptive story? Thank you!

Robert

Perhaps one of your best (Death Cult of Expressive Individualism). Thank you. Good grist for the evangelistic mill! It fills me with hope, joy, and not a little trepidation to be living at this moment when the long years of corrosive unbelief are now turning everything to vapor. It as if the fog is materializing, but so, too, we know soon the sun will break through and we will see clearly.

Jon

The Death Cult of Expressive Individualism is one of the best things you have ever written.

Josh

Thank you for “The Death Cult of Expressive Individualism.” You distilled down what was my entire degree’s worth of thinking and ruminating on the ideas of Chesterton, Lewis, and Old Princeton Christendom into a single blog post. And it’s cask strength to boot. This, along with your recent dialogue with Glenn Sunshine, has really served-permanently, I hope-to open my eyes to the empire smashing power of “Jesus is Lord.”

Aside from the aforementioned men, could you recommend any further reading to drill down deep into my soul the implications of that phrase. I want to smile confidently as I take it in the teeth for being a primitive premodern.

John

The only person whose cultural and political commentary I follow nearly as closely as yours is Jonah Goldberg. He seems to have much insight, even if for no other reason than that he is not a Christian, yet often sees the importance of Christianity in our society. Any theories on why he is better on this stuff than the ostensibly Calvinist David French? I can’t force myself to read or listen to him anymore. I’d be curious to hear more of your thoughts there.

Clayton

I believe you are right when you say we are in a Jehoiada situation. And I am content to wait on God’s timing in the late arrival of the spines of our lesser magistrates, if that is God’s will. Or whatever else may come to pass so that we can live a little less molested by the oligarchs and the state. But do you think that a quicker and more organized way out of our situation could be more like Judges 20? I’m thinking of something resembling a convention of states since many of our leaders seem so incapable of landing a punch that matters.

Thanks for all your hard fun.

Cardin

I am wrapping up Orthodoxy by Chesterton for the first time, after hearing many a time my father, as well as you and Nate, lauding the book with praise. I have greatly enjoyed it, even in spite of what seem to be rather superficial criticisms of Calvinism/Protestantism sprinkled here and there. I just had one observation that I was curious what your opinions on it might be. Am I wrong in finding it rather ironic how greatly GK lauds political democracy (going so far in one place to say that aristocracy was a sin, albeit a rather venial one), while being an ardent papist? It seems to me that there is nothing in the world less democratic than the Roman church. But, perhaps I am drawing too close a connection between what I think the proper form of church government is and what I think the proper organization of political government is. Maybe the connection there is the deeper question that needs to be answered?

Grant

Having discovered your writings just over the past year, I realize how valuable it would have been to have grown up under them. Now when I stumble upon (or walk straight into) a complex question that I hadn’t yet found categories for, I find myself wondering whether you had addressed it before. I am often pleased and always edified when I discover that you had. In fact, “Reforming Marriage” had such an impact on me and my marriage (Bought because one day I was just thinking, “I wonder if Doug Wilson has written anything on marriage?”), that were our baby (due in July) a boy, it would not be far-fetched for us to justify or at least consider naming him “Douglas Wilson.” Reading through the prophets this year, I have come to understand how unsatisfactory my eschatology is at explaining certain passages, such as Isaiah 65:17-25, which makes me wonder how I ever read them before at all. My wife and I looked up various explanations of these passages, but I do not know how to assess them without knowing what the person’s eschatology is.

In the above passage, describing the new heaven and new earth, there will be nursing infants and death (v. 20), which leads me to believe either this isn’t describing us in the resurrection as I thought verse 17 indicates (where people will not be given in marriage as Matthew 22:30 says, and there will be no more death as Revelation 21:4 says), or I don’t understand something about the way this is written and what the prophet intended to communicate.

For full disclosure, I am for certain a partial preterist. I’ve been told that my position is amillennial, but I’m not convinced that is true. I have maintained that whenever the Bible uses big, round numbers, it almost always isn’t referring to an exact number. Beyond that, my position has been ¯\_(ツ)_/¯, which I no longer find acceptable as I wish to understand what the Lord has intended for me to know as I read the prophets.

So my question comes in two parts. I’m not sure how to order them, but I think like this:

1. How do you exegete these passages of Scripture that are dealing with either past events that you are not familiar with, or future events that cannot be elucidated with a history book or a map?

2. For people who are still trying to work out their eschatology, are you aware of any resources that would be helpful in seeing the side-by-side interpretation of passages like these based on the eschatology of the interpreters?

Cam

Cam

I finally bit the bullet and bought a copy of Eggs are Expensive, and Sperm is Cheap by Greg Krehbiel. It is a great read, and I am enjoying it immensely. Thank you for continuing to recommend it.

I am, however, writing to address a conspiracy theory I have about the book. As I read, it continues to suspiciously sound more and more like the writings of the great patriarchal agitator Doug Wilson. I feel that the voice and style are too similar to be dismissed. So here is my theory:

Doug Wilson (Lord Voldemort, for those reading this with specific Twitter handles) wants to continue to spread the patriarchal view and resume his conquest of feeble minds. He realizes that certain people will not read his books if he has his name listed at the bottom, so he created the pseudonym “Greg Krehbiel.” (Even the great John Calvin himself used the pseudonym “Charles d’ Espeville” when the stakes were high.)

When looking at this name’s etymology, it becomes clear that Lord Voldemort is indeed the author. Greg is an offshoot of the Greek word for “Vigilant.” The Surname of Krehbiel is an offshoot of the German word for “Crow.” The author’s name means “Vigilant Crow.” All know crows are tied to the dark; and, therefore, connected to their dark master, Lord Voldemort.

I hope now that others will see through this charade and buy the book.

Jesse

Thought you might appreciate these thoughts—coming from the son of a rock legend (at least up here in Canada, or should I say Wokistan)

Blair

You mentioned we are to read biographies of men who conquered cities, climbed mountains, went out exploring, etc. Read them looking for elements in their extraordinary life that you can replicate in your ordinary life.

What are some biographies would you recommend?

David

Have you read Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self, by Carl Trueman? His diagnosis and thesis are the same as what you laid out here. It seems to me that if we are to present the gospel in 2021 so that it will be truly understood, we have to do it this way. Thank you so much for your faithfulness, it has really equipped me for the work of the ministry.

Phil

I created a podcast, Conserv Yourself, and after 40 episodes I give no indication as to my identity (intentional) due to the growing cancel culture and stories of online threats. I am by no means “controversial” except for the conservative and Judeo-Christian ideals that are at odds with our culture. How should someone determine when/if we should put our name behind something in the face of strong and aggressive opposition? Are there instances where anonymity is OK for podcasting?

Conserv Yourself

Happy Lord’s Day! That may be an ironic greeting, considering what I write here. I recently read the post from 2013, “Even Postmillennialists Get the Blues.” It’s rather funny to me that you would mention how crossing the bridge to a Postmil position went like “wheee,” because I’m not experiencing that at all. I am in my early 20s, and I have only ever known a pessimillennial view of the future. With recent events, I am getting almost exclusively discouragement about the decisions I need to make concerning how I will live the rest of my life, assuming the LORD provides me with another week or month or year. It is wearing on my soul, it is not helping me overcome sin, and it is not helping me make decisions—it is only making me more worried and confused.

I am only recently coming to understand a Postmillennial/optimillennial viewpoint. That doesn’t mean I have settled on it, and I understand that the truth is determined neither by my settling on a position nor by my agreeing with someone. I love my family, I love my pastor and his family, and I love the people in my congregation, so I want to seek my leadership’s counsel and submit to their authority. My pastor just preached this morning on Daniel 11:25-45 and took it down the pessimistic route. Do you have any advice on how I can speak with them about this subject, especially in light of recent and current events (e.g. government overreach)? And, if I become and remain the lone opti-millennialist, how ought I to behave and how ought that inform my decisions?

Thank you so much, and may the LORD remember you in his kingdom.

Caleb

Any thoughts on whether aliens are compatible with the gospel story? As you may know, 60 minutes just ran a special on aliens and my (Christian) buddy insists that there isn’t any reason why the Bible can’t be true and aliens still exist. I told him that Jesus not mentioning aliens would be like a guy with two families who are unknown to each other insisting to his first wife and kids, “just because I had another family I didn’t tell you about, that doesn’t change our relationship!” Which it obviously does.

I’d love to hear your thoughts, but if you have any resources that you recommend to explore this question, that would be fine also.

Thank you for your ministry!

Jeff

In response to a letter you received from a reader regarding the subject of UFOs, I recommend the following link to Mick West (British UFO sceptic), who clinically debunks the recent Pentagon triangle UFO footage from the US navy.

I also highly recommend, from a Christian and pastoral perspective, the now dated, but extremely useful book by John Weldon & Zola Levitt, UFOS: What On Earth is Happening? (Harvest House 1975).

I agree there may well be a demonic element to UFOs, but first we need to wait and see what the precise nature of this phenomenon is—not least because the overwhelming majority of UFO sightings are simple mis-identifications of natural or human phenomena.

Even the tiny percentage of as yet unexplained sightings may turn out to be mundane.

On the other hand, I sense issues surrounding so-called alien abduction, or communion with non-human entities, etc, rightly belongs in the realm of the occult.

Nor should we ignore the very real possibility that the global superpowers are up to their necks in highfalutin experiments and Black Projects.

Brendan

My kids are still toddlers and babes so I won’t be homeschooling for awhile. I expect things like Abeka or Bob Jones won’t last long as resources for homeschooling. Are there books on the basic subjects that can be used to create curriculum from for all ages? Like an English book or series I can use throughout the years for example.

Haven

In the midst of reflecting on Genesis 3 I was re-reading “That Little Lizard Self Inside” and remembered a connection I’ve heard you make in the past between the terms “serpent” and “seraph”. As far as I can tell the word for Serpent in Genesis 3 is different than the more common “seraph/serpent” that’s used in Numbers 21 but the idea seems to be the same: The serpent in the garden was an accuser and the people of Israel were conformed to that image by accusing Moses and God. I’m wondering about your take on the appearance of Satan in the garden. Since serpent/seraph are so closely linked are we to assume that Satan did not merely appear in the form of a “serpent” in the garden but was in fact closer to the appearance of the seraphs in Isaiah 6, for example? Enjoyed your talks at Fight, Laugh, Feast in SD. Thanks!

Cory

Is the New Jerusalem/New Heaven and Earth synonymous with the Christian Church? Will there ever be a physical New Heaven, Earth and City? If so, which scriptures speak about that? Thank you

Lee

I know you’re a friend of Dr. James White. I made this video and thought you might get a kick out of it. My impersonation of Dr. White on the Dividing Line.

Regards,

Seth

On the last round of letters, user Thomas wrote in about educational savings opportunities for his children. Thought I would share what my father did for me, one that worked out very well for me and my siblings and for which I highly respect him: He set up for each of us what is called and Uniform Gift to Minors Act (UGMA) account. In simple terms, as far as I understand it, these are normal mutual/index funds that one can add money into monthly, and will grow at the rate that the market or index is growing. This makes it a pretty solid long-term option, as long term, the market always goes up (generally). Whoever sets up these funds opens them in the name of a minor, and is the custodian of the funds until the minor is no longer, well, a minor, at which point the newly-christened-adult becomes the sole proprietor of the fund.

Some pros of this are that the account isn’t actually tied to education, so the money in the fund can be liquidated and used for anything without paying a penalty. It also can be set to track which mutual/index fund you want, so you can be more/less aggressive. Biggest con seems to be that the money that is taken out is taxable income, so that has to be kept in mind when withdrawals are made.

Obviously Thomas should look into these more before making any decisions, but this seems to me to be a pretty sane savings option. Hope it helps!

Grant

Regarding educational savings funds and NSA/ other non-woke institutions: I am trying to decide how to save for my toddlers college education. Researching 529 plans, I found that they must be used at institutions deemed “eligible” by the state 529 board and/or the IRS. I currently live in an authoritarian country where all christian schools are unaccredited and hunted by the police. I see the possibility that this will be true in the USA (or parts of it at least) 18 years from now, and so these savings accounts could be used to restrict my children’s college savings to use at appropriately woke institutions. Any advice for parents looking to save wisely?

Joel