Letters Fall From Above Like Lizards From Trees in a Florida Cold Snap

TIN SOLDIERS AND TRUDEAU’S COMING

” The body they may kill , God’s truth abideth still.”

In a few hours, the Lord willing, we will gather in large numbers to cheer a local convoy on their way back from Ottawa.

We will party and have fun and hopefully do lots of singing!

Thanks so much for your encouraging words.

Jess

Reading “Tin Soldiers and Trudeau’s Coming”, you make the comment: ‘Why anyone would now keep their money in a Canadian bank is beyond me.’.

This got me thinking, with so many large financial institutions cracking down on people they don’t like, in the US and abroad, do you know of any Reformed banks or credit unions? The only vaguely Christian credit unions I have found are either tied to membership in a specific non-denom church, require a profession against election, or in the case of Christian Community Credit Union, are so accepting as to be meaningless (Apparently Baptists, Presbyterians, and Jehovah’s Witnesses are all the same!). CCCU’s weak creedal standards are disappointing because they self-insure to avoid being beholden to the federal government.

I’m hoping I’m just looking in the wrong place and there exists such a thing as a sane Christian credit union that holds to the Nicene Creed that I haven’t found yet. If not, perhaps you could consider starting the CREC Credit Union? (I’m too far from a CREC church to be a member, so please base membership on creedal standards if you do this)

If you print this, please withhold my last name and sign it:

James in Virginia

“Providence has decreed that the hapless representative of the entire global ruling class will be Justin Trudeau. They stand or fall with him.” I’m not so sure I buy this specific assertion. I think Trudeau is just a puppet of a more sinister cabal (Bill Gates, Klaus Schwab, etc.), and as he has now proven himself to be an inept liability, they will let him dangle at the end of the rope he has hung himself with until his legs stop jerking. He may have caused their designs a hiccup, but I believe that’s all it is at present.

I don’t think a trucker convoy, as heroic and admirable as it is with all of its groundswell of support, will dissuade these puppet-masters. I think it will take something far greater and far more serious, because I think the aforementioned folks are a) serious about their evil goals, b) not petulant, spoiled brats as was Trudeau, but instead patient enough to bide their time, and c) have the resources to make a good go of it.

Guymon

Re: Tin Soldiers and Trudeau’s coming Pastor Doug,

Yes and amen to this post. However, I can’t quite get myself to the belief that Trudeau and Commie horde’s grip on control is as loose as you say. I say this because even though the transgressions continue to multiply (the Commies continually “taking the bait” and pushing too far), we still seem to be at a small percentage of the population willing to do what the brave truckers in Canada are doing. Or in another instance, even with election funny business here in the US there were still enough Biden voters to make it possible for him to “win”.

I read Lewis’ “Men Without Chests” over the weekend, and it seems to me that is what we have been producing in western societies for decades now. Have we reached the point where the share of the population who even desire freedom is just too low to make a difference?

I still have hope and know that whatever happens Christ is King, but the temptation to despair is overwhelming at times.

Matt

Greetings and thank you for all your labors.

So the woodchipper wrote a tweet recently about how unnecessary it is for well-educated in high school Christian women to attend college. Those are prime child-bearing years. The implication is that Logos high school becomes the new NSA, the kids get married after high school, and then the husband gets a job while attending NSA to further his education, with the wife perhaps taking a few online courses as she can. What say ye to this new vision of Christian culture in the 21st century?

Tyler

I have a simple question that may require a more complex answer. When do things like “essential oils” and other homeopathic medical approaches become witchcraft?

Vernon

I’ve been led by friends to study the origin of the name as we know it “Jesus.” I’m concerned! I want to respect my Savior to call Him by His right name, but I struggle that Yahshua does not “feel” or “sound” as my native tongue or knowledge. Besides, I will encounter His Hebrew name far less than Jesus. I do not want to worship the son of Zeus. Please advise

Jamela

The leadership at my church invited 9 Marks to do a two month Sunday session and to preach. 9 Marks has been vocal in condemning churches for meeting during COVID and supporting, even marching with, the Marxist movement Black Lives Matter. I just moved here four months ago and there are only three churches and I have been attending this one. Is this a pretty serious “red flag” about the church’s position on important ethical and doctrinal issues?

Luke

Do you see a connection between the unity described by David in Psalm 133 and the kind of unity described, for example, in Ezra 4:3? As far as I understand, the phrase in Ezra (“we ourselves together”) is the same word used by David in Psalm 133 (yachad). Also, it appears to most often be translated as “together” in many other passages.

In other words, do you see an aspect of exclusivity in the concept of biblical unity?

Guymon

I’ve recently submitted to my desire to go to seminary and begin a life dedicated to kingdom work. You have been a huge inspiration to me in showing that Christianity doesn’t have to be soft to the degree that it lets sin slide in order to not offend. I am fully aware we are at war with the world like never before and the church in the est is losing ground. I’m ready to put the armor on and fight the lost for the lost. I’m looking for a seminary that isn’t ashamed of being in the fight for biblical truth, and where I could find mentors like you to guide me in this process. Thank you for your online ministry, it is such a breath of biblical fresh air.

May Christ contine to bless you in your work,

Matt

I have a question which I feel could warrant a full-blown blog post perhaps better than a short response. But I’ll leave that up to you.

My question is briefly: How should Christians approach media that depicts stories from the Bible, and specifically The Chosen series? It seems that there are several dangers at least: The primary being that such media (watching The Chosen) is a legitimate replacement for actual biblical study. Secondly, is it not presumptuous on a grand scale to believe that you can present “the authentic Jesus” as The Chosen openly proclaims to do? Not only do they claim this, they add much to Scripture that may be hard to differentiate for someone less-than ideally familiar with their Bible. And really, it seems that no Christian ought to show it to a nonbeliever as a evangelizing tool, since the unbeliever will have no category for separating what the show depicts versus what the Bible teaches. It makes up all sorts of story lines about characters that are simply not true and not in the Bible. And some of the shows teachings really are eyebrow-raising at best and blasphemous at worst, from changing the four friends of the paralytic to a lady for what looks to be “inclusive-ness” to having Jesus sermon-prep before preaching. (If the apostles would know in the moment by the Holy Spirit what they ought to say, how much more would Christ?)

This is merely the problems within the show itself, but there are plenty of other issues with the production. The director, Dallas Jenkins, (son of the Left Behind author) has openly claimed that Mormons worship and love “the same Jesus” as Christians, and works closely with a number of them on the project. The Jerusalem set used in the show is owned by Mormons. In fact, Angel Studios, the fundraising company, hosts a number of Mormon projects and has advertisement videos for the company created by well-known Mormons such as the old Studio C cast. VidAngel, another one of its close partners, is a Mormon company.

It seems that the Mormons have far too much influence in this project, and desire to blur the line between themselves and traditional Christianity through the Chosen. The more I look into this the more it looks to be almost entirely controlled by the Mormon church, and the creator of the series is at best woefully too undiscerning to be heading up this project, and at worst a straight-up heretic.

Another part of the reason this concerns me is that N.D. Wilson and the gang are partnered with Angel Studios as well to produce the Riot and the Dance. Again, what is the best way to approach all this from a Christian perspective? We don’t want to look like we’re on the same page with the Mormons, but we also can’t shun all connections with unbelievers. I feel like this could be dangerous and become a major stumbling block down the line.

Thanks in advance, and sorry for all the rambling.

Jonathan

Perhaps you or your staff have heard of the concept of an AI singularity. It ma essentially a concept in which man creates a self improving artificial intelligence which snowballs into super intelligence. The theory behind this is fairly sound, about as sound as Moores Law. After hearing discussions of the man as the Image of God it appears some think it may mean intelligence or capability is the distinguishing trait for man as the image of God. I do not know your position on the Image of God. Could you discuss any theological implications of this singularity and man. Is it just a tool? Is it blasphemous or an abomination? Is it some kind of idol or worse?

Thalen

In one of your plodcasts, you stated that you were going through “Mere Christianity” by C.S. Lewis. I found the link and registered, but as I had never read the book, I first wanted to educate myself. However, I now cannot find the site again. Can you please be so kind as to help me locate it? I love your weekly podcasts and would enjoy listening to you talk about the book. Respectfully,

Renee

In a recent Ask Doug video, “The Unseen Realm?”, you said “Reformed people need to learn how to not be embarrassed by the Bible. Cosmological issues are wonderful proving ground for that. Does the Bible plainly teach a global flood? Why, yes it does. Does the Bible plainly teach that there’s a council of the gods? Yes, it does. And when you start affirming things that the Bible plainly teaches, that’s good practice. Those are spiritual push-ups.” Further, you mentioned that there are times when a liberal theologian is to be trusted over an evangelical. Paraphrasing, saying that Evangelicals are more likely to push the teachings of this ancient text into modernist categories.

I then found this comment on YouTube to be helpful (a rare thing indeed):

“Someone who affirms Scriptural Inerrancy is (rightly) bound to affirm what the Bible says as true. But that then may lead them to color what they believe the Bible is saying by what they already think is true. “Of course this passage should be interpreted to mean X, because X is true and the Bible is inerrant so of course it must align with what I ‘know’ (believe) to be true!”.”

My question then is, how far do we take this? I hold to biblical 6-day creation, global flood, etc. but in discussions with brothers who differ with me on these points, they tend to highlight biblical cosmology in light of scientific discoveries, and ask if I believe the world is flat. Are we forced to accept what the liberals might say the Bible says, namely “the Bible teaches that the world is flat”, even though the case can be made that the Bible teaches no such thing? Or am I putting myself into modernist enlightenment categories? Do you hold to flat earth? I am weary of accepting it (although I’m tempted), due to it’s cult-like obsession and insanities that come with it. If the last two years have taught me anything, it is that most of what I was taught in school was a lie, and the elites will continuously lie about anything. After all, how neat would it be to live in a world where we really are “looking up” instead of “looking out” at the night sky? Thank you.

Gary

I have been exploring covenant theology for a while now primarily listening to sermons from people who hold to covenant theology like yourself, James White, and Jeff Durbin, but was wondering if you had a book recommendation as a basic intro of sorts to this theological view.

Thankful for your ministry,

Matt

I’m finding the advice given to Dawson very insightful and helpful but a question has arisen in my mind after the latest letter, what women think they want vs what they really want. The question is how should you pursue a girl who is playing hard to get or is being stubborn. That is if you should pursue her at all. Because as I understand it, on the one hand women want to know that they are beautiful and important enough that a guy would be willing to wait and continue chasing after her until he wins her heart, but on the other hand as you have shown in your letters, they don’t want a guy that is so hung up on them that his whole life revolves around her.

So how can you show her that she is special and worth pursuing without her starting to think that you are a low value man with no other prospects and so you are a safe back-up option in case she doesn’t find someone else.

Many thanks

Gerthys

Re: What Women Want and What They Say They Want;, 2/16/22. Really? You did want to say “And when you stand up straight, you are taller than her”? And “You are not ugly.” What if you are ugly or short (even relatively speaking)? Do you really want to cut out potential relationships with ugly people and couples who mismatch each other on the height chart? I’ve heard that Julia Child married a military officer who was at least a head shorter than she and he definitely was the leader in that reputedly loving and respectful relationship. Have you unnecessarily alienated some of your readership with these purely physical judgments?

Elizabeth

I’m reading your fantastic new book on CS Lewis, and have a question about Chapter 5: The Tao of Lewis.

You make the case that the evidentialist believes in a “common ground” between the believer and unbeliever upon which the believer can rationally build a case for God, where a presuppositionalist believes in no such “common ground”, and instead believes that all reasoning presupposes the existence of God. Therefore, you say that the evidential approach works only if men can discover the truth about the world on their own, but if the truth must be revealed supernaturally then only the presuppositional approach is appropriate.

My question is: how is presenting a presuppositional apologetic to an unbeliever fundamentally different than an evidential apologetic, if the unbeliever cannot come to the truth on their own? If we hold to monergistic regeneration, why does it matter which line of apologetic argumentation we put forth?

In other words, if the unbeliever cannot reason their way to God from an evidential apologetic, why would they be able to from a presuppositional apologetic? Or is your goal in doing presuppositional apologetics something entirely different?

Thanks in advance,

Preston

I have a quick question that I have thought of for months and sought counsel about but have yet to come to a decision. My wife is disabled and has a chronic health condition. She is almost certainly eligible for disability benefits/insurance/’free money’. I am a pastor and a painter on the side, and provide for my family financially as God has charged me with. I don’t quite understand how disability benefits work, and I don’t really want to take part in government money that steals from both free Americans and their children and grandchildren (for example, the stimulus check). How should I handle this? Is it wrong to take this money and tuck it away for health emergencies, or even give it to a church or abortion ministry? Should we continue in just not taking any part in it at all?

Thank you again for your ministry, it’s benefited my family and I greatly.

Isaiah

A Christian Political Party | You’ve heard of the Constitution Party. If it is true that their definition of “Christian” includes Mormons, then the logical follow-up question is… Have you heard of the “Christian Liberty Party“?

Trey

Are you familiar with the “Asuza Street Revival” and, if so, what do you think of it?

Ben

My name is Tyler, I am a pastor on the East Coast, relatively new at it. How do you deal with situations in which women in the church come to you with significant marriage problems? When I ask the husband how things are going, he shrugs and says “fine.” Meanwhile the wife is telling me major issues, and telling me that if I confront him about it, he will take it out on her for betraying him. How do you handle situations like this? Confront the husband anyway? Coach her into how to confront him herself?

Tyler

Pastor Doug, I am a partial preterist, and would hold that most of the common New Testament texts that people would utilize to point to the 2nd Coming are actually referring to 70AD and the transitional period from the Judaic aeon to the Christian aeon. However, the following text confuses me. Matthew 13:36-43:

Then He left the crowds and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the [v]weeds of the field.” And He said, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the weeds are the sons of the evil one; and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the [w]end of the age; and the reapers are angels. So just as the weeds are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the [x]end of the age. The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom [y]all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and they will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. The one who has ears, let him hear.

Is this referring to 70AD or the second coming/final consummation? Thanks so much!

Benjamin

I have recently read your book Empires Of Dirt, and have a question in loose relation to it: what are your thoughts on drinking underage? It is something that isn’t a huge deal, but as a 19 year old young man I have recently been thinking about it. Has Christ given Caesar the right to prohibit God’s gift of wine? Many of my friends drink occasionally, and I don’t see a Scriptural problem with it personally, but I wanted to check in and see your thoughts to make sure I didn’t miss something, as you were the one who introduced me to Kuyperianism. Thanks for your time,

LM

I’m writing on behalf of a friend who has recently begun following your blog/podcast (among others) very closely. Since that time I’ve noticed a pretty significant change in him—particularly that he is becoming increasingly proud, divisive and hard-hearted toward others, believers included. I don’t follow your content very closely, and I don’t want to ask you to violate your conscience or convictions, I just wanted to reach out and let you know that your words have significant influence, and I’m concerned about the effect they seem to be having on him.

Sincerely,

A Concerned Friend

I’m hoping for some pastoral guidance on confession of sins. I recently went through a bizarre and intense bought of adulterous thoughts that came out of nowhere. For three days I struggled with constant thoughts about how much happier I would be married to this other specific person with a dash of sexual thoughts involved. As I willfully sought out these thoughts and took pleasure in them I was also begging God to save me from myself because I knew that these kinds of thoughts would take me down a very dark path. On day three I suddenly could not conjure up these thoughts no matter how hard I tried and by day four or five it all seemed like it had been a bad dream. Praise God! But now I’m wrestling with whether or not adulterous thoughts ought to be confessed to my spouse. I have already confessed to the Lord and am no longer haunted by these thoughts. Does the Bible call for confession in this situation? Thank you.

CH

Your blog is truly a great blessing and encouragement in these times, even to some of us over here across the pond in Europe.

Many thanks

Marcus

In the spirit of Rule #5, and in show of gratitude for the serrated edge . . . here.

Thanks for all you do! And for your continued faithfulness as a cheerful warrior.

Joe

I recently read one of your blog posts regarding Eastern Orthodoxy, in which you answered some objections you’ve received on the topic. You mentioned how the person questioning you assumed you are not well-read on the issue. I was hoping you could share with us your reading list on Eastern Orthodoxy. What do you recommend for anyone interested in learning more about it? And, more particular to myself, what would you recommend as a course of action for someone from a Reformed background who finds himself slowly becoming convinced and persuaded by Orthodoxy?

Thank you,

Yakov