The Letter Day Rain, as Spoken of by the Prophet Joel

Good morning Pastor Doug, I am a total stranger who is just writing to thank you, ask for God’s blessings on you, and to encourage you. My wife and I are in the process of watching your 2009 round table on eschatology with John Piper. While I don’t know (yet) if I agree with your view, I think I enjoy your commentary most of all (I have never heard Ambrose Bierce mentioned outside of an English class). This lead to me looking up Christ Church. (So far so good.)

Then I looked up Doug Wilson. Holy smokes! You are definitely in the hot seat. My first thought of the page after page of attacks and articles against you was the quote regarding a confederacy of dunces. But I suppose it is much more serious than that. Just now I read your blog post about the Joe Carter article and the synagogue shooter. I can’t claim to know anything about Joe Carter or many other references (kinist?) but I suspect as I dig into these it will help me fill in some of the blanks I see in the world around me.

I will be reading more of you. Some of the claims against you are troubling and shocking. But I’ve learned long ago to be skeptical of secondary sources. So I’ll read and decide for myself. But what I read today meant a lot to me and I thought I would try to contribute my own loaf of bread and fish to your work. God bless.

Kyle

I would be curious to know your thoughts on the revival occurring at Asbury University. I am a graduate from the college pursuing a career in ministry and I’m probably the foremost among their critics for things that they’ve done or said in the past. However, I think it’s foolishness to deny the good that is occurring there as people are confessing their sins and praising God.

Yet I see these armchair deacons on the internet who want to start demonizing it, calling it a “New Age” revival and not a “real” Christian revival because “They’re just standing there singing”. Worse, I’ve seen people claim it’s the work of the satanic cabal or some evil spirit.

I don’t pretend to know the workings of the spiritual realm, but it seems to me these people sitting at home typing on their computers don’t really know their Bible either given the warnings it makes about not smothering the Spirit (1 Thess. 5) and blaspheming the Holy Spirit by accusing His movements as the work of demons (Matthew 12).

The endless negativity among other conservative Christians is exhausting—and I say that as someone who also read Q and other deep dives into conspiracies (and have the anxiety disorder to show for it). Have we become so addicted to negativity and assumption that everything is the work of evil that we are blind to the good? It certainly seems like everyone is preparing for the apocalypse, but we have not been given the sign that Jesus specified.

There is no temple in Jerusalem for the antichrist to stand and declare himself in. There’s no abomination of desolation yet which means the end is not yet here. People only see that the field had a horrible drought and are blind to the fertile harvest of people craving spiritual nourishment.

I’d be happy to hear your thoughts.

Peace in Christ,

George

I was curious as to what you thought about the whole Asbury revival thing. Have you seen the reports? Given what I’ve read in “The Puritan Hope” by Murray, I don’t quite buy it. Any speculation as to what conditions would be necessary for a true revival?

Caedmon

Enjoying your book on justice so much I’m reading it a second time. Lots of gristle there. Back in Oklahoma I taught a lot of gristle (I’m a Pentecostal Holiness preacher) and people apparently didn’t love it. In Tucson now and it’s easy believism like crazy here. Daily the Holy Spirit gives me great lessons to prepare people for what is to come but everyone here is like I believe and I’ll be taken up before anything bad happens. I appreciate your stuff. I miss teaching. God Bless you.

Doug

Thank you for your blog. I have started reading it from the first post and am hoping to get caught up someday. Due to this broad reading of your blog, I don’t have a specific post in mind when I ask for your help in finding a book or two that will provide me with a historical understanding of the Crusades as something other than Christendom gone amok, but as a response to a series of provocations against the West by the Muslim world. It is too easy to find the accepted dogma that an ignoble and power-hungry Christianity provoked a series of wicked, greedy wars against a mostly peaceful Muslim world. It seems there are other voices for this conversation, and I’d like to give them a hearing. Any recommendations would be appreciated. Thank you.

Mike

I was listening to one of your programs while I was driving home from work (forgive me I, unfortunately, don’t remember which one it was) when you said something that made me break out into laughter, as well as my friends when I told them. You said something along the lines of “John Smith has a rather spotty character.” The humor comes from the fact that I have vitiligo. This is something that I and my friends will joke about even giving me that affectionate nickname of “Spotty.” The other reason this was funny is that, as I filled out above, my name is John Smith.

I hope that you found this to be an amusing story. I am sorry if this was not the correct way of telling you of this story but it was the only way I could think of. Thank you for all the work you do

John

Could you address the “Jesus—He Gets Us” movement? There is obviously money behind it as I first saw them pop up on my Facebook feed. Though I did not watch the Superbowl, it is my understanding that they had an ad during the game as well.

Melody

What are your thoughts on married couples struggling to get over their spouses’ sexual past. There seems to be many that fixate on this and constantly want to know specifics and whether or not their spouses have been completely truthful. Do you mind sharing with me your thoughts and pointing me in the right direction of additional resources.

Jean

Regarding the “one Corinthians” versus “first Corinthians” discussion and someone bringing up the name of an orange-coloured brass instrument, you may want to have a chat with Dr Carl Trueman’s wife. She’s from a small island off the coast of Scotland and is related, in a roundabout way, to the aforementioned musical instrument. According to Carl, said horn likely received a catechetical upbringing from his grandmother, who would have used the British forms. Carl either said this during one of his “Mortification of Spin” podcasts or else, less likely, in his church history series for Masters Seminary.

Bruce

I am (maybe loosely) responding to “Misinformed About Misinformation.”

I am a student teacher at Liberty University. I have spent four years loving my studies in history and hating my studies in education, studies which, as you can guess, put me face to face with a whole bunch of nonsense. I have had to teach myself, and that is a shame because I have paid thousands to be my own teacher, scrounging in the library for a different solution than inclusive practices which include only the worst things and persecute the best. It was in these lonely, lamplit Friday nights that I discovered classical education. Do we all find our way through Lewis? Not the best theologian, but boy, did he know how to think about things with depth and simplicity! I was helped by a dash of Plato, and I cherish my copy of Esolen’s Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child (fret not—I don’t keep much company with Catholics). With the help of these men and under the guidance of the Sovereign Hand, I have twisted Progressive assignments, filling them with pedagogy that rings with heavenly things, but I have faced resistance and have been dismissed by the people who ought to have helped me.

A couple professors did not like me; I suspect one of screwing me over for my placements. Every time I expressed my felt calling for Christian education, I was met with this useless statement, “Well, God might put you in a public school.” No one gave attention to the fact that that was not the conversation at hand! They were determined to be hag-ish. Of course my parents are on my side because they’re genius theologians who live in the Big Picture, but I need help from someone in education, an inside voice to address where I am right now.

I am currently placed in a public middle school. It is my teaching internship, and I need it to graduate. It is the last stretch before I am free to practice what I believe . . . that’s the rub. Why do I have to wait to practice what I believe? I am having to cut corners on my own conscience, and it’s not sitting well. In my first week I had a run-in with a student who was practicing some wrongness. I did not concede and confronted the child as best I could while being a slave to neutrality, but it has continued to bother me that I could not tell him he was in sin and thus bring him to the Word and to Truth.

Mr. Wilson, I just feel like this is leading me to make concessions just to get a degree, but I don’t what else to do. It’s only a few months, right? A few months of things not jiving with what I have openly espoused for some years now, that the only education is Christian education. I believe in God and that everything in my world is shaped by Him, and thus to exclude the whole truth from history is a lie. I feel like I’m lying, sir. Am I overthinking it? Is there some encouragement for sucking it up, for waiting it out, for getting through and getting that stupid piece of paper at the end?

I would appreciate any words of advice you can send my way.

Thank you for your time and attention,

SCW

What is wisdom?

I’ve been trying to get my head around exhortations such as “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all they getting get understanding.” (Prov. 4:7) and such statements as “The LORD by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens.” (Prov. 3:19). What is this thing that we must be seeking with all our strength? Can we say Wisdom is Christ? But then why is it presented as a Lady in Proverbs?

I’ve had some exposure to Reformed philosophy in my BA degree and we were required to dig into the theory of modal aspects as well as the four cosmic dimensions that Dooyeweerd postulated. But philosophy, even Reformed philosophy, has somehow missed the point, I think. It’s no longer a love for wisdom, but a love for a systematized type of understanding of reality. Instead of searching after biblical wisdom they end up in systems of aspects and dimensions, of which I quite frankly don’t see the potency. After reading Angels in the Architecture as well as some of Nate’s books, it appears to me that wisdom is to be found not so much in theoretical speculations and thick books, but rather in the participation in simple things such as worship, family meals, hard work etc.

Having said that, it also seems that mentorship is a big thing in the Bible in the search after wisdom. As I’m still young without that much experience, how am I to distinguish between wise men and foolish men? And could you perhaps give me a few practical guidelines for approaching such men as I deem to be wise and obtaining what I can from the “deep waters”, that is supposed to be their words?

Thank you for your ministry, it’s sincerely appreciated.

Best regards,

Willem

A couple years back somehow I listened to a message or lecture or sermon of yours very much like this, the audio of which I cannot now find. Know anything off the top of your head about it?

Keith

We love Why Children Matter and wholeheartedly agree that children are a blessing from the Lord. My question is in regards to number of children and specifically if tubal ligation is ever appropriate for a Christian after 3 kids and one miscarriage due to some pretty significant medical complications during delivery? Is this a liberty and conscious issue? Or are tubal ligations and vasectomies always wrong?

Lindsay

So first off I appreciate your insight and wisdom on the family, Doug. I have many of your books in which have been a blessing to me. So in saying that my question is in relation to procreation and welfare. So is it biblical to just burn up the bedroom sheets constantly with your spouse with children multiplying every 1.5 -2 yrs and you depending on free hospital visits and delivery etc. At the tax payers expense? Is this just ? Should condoms be used or children spread out so you can pay and provide for them personally?

Matthew

Hello! Thank you for the wisdom, insight, humor, and common sense that you add to every one of your posts. I am new to you, and I differ with you on a few things (none of which are top-tier salvation issues), but I respect your viewpoints and am always eager to learn from you. In your post “Resistance to Tyrants & Obedience to God” you state that the second thing we need to do is to recover psalm-singing. Is there music that goes along with each of the Psalms? Is there a Psalm hymnal? I think this is a great idea and would like to learn more about singing the Psalms. I know the Christian duo Shane and Shane have an album that is only the Psalms being sung, but I’m not aware of any others.

Any recommendations you can give for this would be helpful, and I thank you again for sharing your wit and wisdom with the world!

Brandon

Thanks for your recent letter on detransitioning. Helping people leaving these false identities is incredibly important today. I can’t personally relate to the gender dysphoria, but I will speak as someone who identified as a homosexual since my teenage years and then became a Christian as an adult.

The worst lingering part of my story is that fellowship within any local church feels pretty close to impossible. For example, if the nature of my past becomes clear, many conservative Christians get weirded out that “a gay guy” goes to our church (even though that life and that identity are long dead). Church people generally keep their distance, reluctant to offend or “say the wrong thing.” Pastors don’t really know what to do with me and in my early years as a Christian I had to rely exclusively on outside resources (mostly books) to help me navigate my Christian life. There often isn’t much hope for any help in finding a wife someday, either.

This was true in more urban Gospel Coalition-type churches (there are some people who will think of you as a “gay Christian” and think that such labels/identities are 100% OK), but now that I attend a conservative CREC church I’ve realized it isn’t really any better here (there are *still* people who will consider you to be a “gay Christian”, except you get condemned for sins and identities that are long gone). Both groups make the same error, and pastors in both groups are both reluctant to challenge it.

I don’t really expect much of this to change. Anyone who is detransitioning, leaving homosexuality, or any number of other sins that are front-and-center in the culture war needs to be warned about this dynamic. If you betray the LGBT movement, you will pay a heavy price. But you might also find yourself in kind of a ghetto in the church.

Speaking personally, this can really sting. My biological family encourages me to return to living a homosexual life. All my pre-Christian relationships and friendships have ended. And my church experience has mostly been a crapshoot.

But . . . if that’s the price we must pay to follow Jesus, then we must pay it! It’s a small price to pay in the grand scheme of things. You need to have really low expectations for other Christians in this area, extend them a lot of grace, and look for opportunities to serve *them*.

It’s common to try and sell the gospel to LGBT-identified people by talking about how they’ll “gain a whole new family” (“the church”) if they follow Jesus. It makes Christians feel better sometimes to pretend that the cost isn’t going to be high. But this can be a sort of prosperity gospel. “If you give up your sin, you will get this earthly perk.” That’s not the gospel. The gospel is “you have to be willing to give up *everything*, even if it looks like you never get *anything* in return in this life.” And that *might* mean you get to spend the rest of your life as an outsider to both the world and the church.

Maybe you’ll get bailed out by grace, or maybe you won’t. Either way, Jesus is worth it.

Dustin

Thanks again for your ministry and the time and consideration that you put into engaging with your wider audience. I am a pastoral intern at a church plant that has no denomination affiliation yet. There are 3 ruling elders and myself leading the church. There has been hesitation from the 3 elders to have the Lord’s Supper or baptisms because nobody is ordained. Most of us are refugees from a local woke PCA church so that gives you an idea of the situation. Their concern is that we won’t have the Lord’s Supper or baptisms done by us but have an ordained minister come do them for us due to the Westminster Standards section 27:4 stating “There be only two sacraments ordained by Christ our Lord in the Gospel; that is to say, Baptism, and the Supper of the Lord: neither of which may be dispensed by any, but by a minister of the Word lawfully ordained.” This of course presents an issue as we are then unable to have either sacrament unless we bring in someone outside of our church. The challenge is not that I don’t want to be ordained but because we are a church plant and have no denomination, we essentially have no ordaining body. I understand the desire to honor and protect the sacraments but I also struggle with denying our people them until we can bring in an ordained minister who we don’t have a relationship with just to do these. We are prayerfully seeking to join a denomination but no consensus has been made there yet. Also, I do not have a seminary degree but have a degree in Biblical Studies and have been self teaching myself. The elders have recognized my gifts and are affirming the call to the ministry which is why I am preaching every Sunday and teaching Sunday school as well as counseling . . . not to mention I have a full time job and family of 6.

Joe’s online ordination sounds mighty convenient if it’s all formality. I would not do that but it all just seems so convoluted and a hot mess.

Any insight or recommendations as to how we Biblically and respectfully should handle this?

God bless you and your family and ministry.

Jeremy

I hope this finds you well.

I wanted to reach out and thank you for a series of letters that have been incredibly encouraging and helpful for me. “Letters to a Broken Girl,” were something I stumbled upon when I first traversed your blog a little less than a year ago. During that time, I had just begun dealing with my own experiences of situations similar to those in the letters. Not exact, but similar.

The Lord used those letters to really impact the way I was thinking/feeling about it all. For that, I am so thankful. It may seem a small thing, but it has had a very large impact on my life in the last few months. There are very, very few reliable Christian resources on these kinds of subjects, so finding one that really put forth the TRUTH in love was refreshing, to say the least.

With that being said, I am still having troubles. I do not anticipate that this will all just disappear, so I am trying to work through it. I recently married my husband, and have had to face a lot problems that I both expected and didn’t expect. (I actually had this whole email typed out about 4 months ago, but chickened out of sending it. My husband has encouraged me to go ahead and send it now.)

I wanted to ask you if you have any more good, biblical resources/advice on this subject? The world has so much to say about it all, but I’ve found very little from the church.

I apologize if this is all very vague and confusing.

Thank you for your time,

Lindsey

Your letter to your almost-niece, Candace, set me back in my chair. That was as poignant a letter as I could ever imagine, and going through it felt like I was reading a real correspondence. It was heart-wrenching in its implications, but glorious in the hope it provided. What a beautiful and powerful presentation of the Gospel, both in receiving forgiveness and in extending it. I know it wasn’t written to an actual person, but I pray actual people close to or fully drowning in this sort of mess can read this and find the love of Christ.

Andy

I think the AI can be helpful. I asked it to explain why we should legislate morality from Doug Wilson’s point of view. I received this:

“I believe that legislating morality is important because morality is the foundation of any functioning society. Without a shared set of moral principles, there can be no trust, cooperation, or sense of responsibility among citizens.

Furthermore, laws are always a reflection of some moral code or worldview, even if that code is not explicitly acknowledged. For example, laws against theft and murder are based on the moral principle that it is wrong to harm other people and to take what does not belong to us. Laws against lying under oath are based on the moral principle that truth-telling is important for the proper functioning of justice.

When a society fails to legislate morality, it allows harmful behaviors to go unchecked, leading to social decay and harm to individuals and communities. As a theonomist, I believe that God’s moral law is the best basis for civil law, as it is perfect, just, and unchanging. Therefore, it is important to promote laws that are in line with God’s moral principles, as this will lead to a society that is healthier, more just, and more in line with God’s will.”

Aaron

Just a hypothetical situation and some follow up questions in regards to your view on polygamy . . . If Brigham Young (or someone similar) repented and became a Christian, and wished to join your congregation . . . Would you advise him to keep his 55 wives, continue having normal conjugal relations with them all, but not to encourage others to do the same and not to take any more?

Is there ever a situation when a polygamous husband should be told he needs to care for/support all his wives financially, materially etc. but he should be sexually devoted only to his first wife who he covenanted with? Does it change if the marriage vows with the first wife had specifically said the husband would be faithful to her and her only (“forsaking all others”) or some such similar language, etc?

The testimony about polygamy in Scripture seems to be uniformly negative both directly (Jesus’ words about marriage going back to the creation account) and indirectly (the stories of Jacob, Rachel, and Leah for instance). How should that play into this discussion? Is there a place to say based on the amount of sin this practice leads to within a home, it would be a better to either divorce wives 2 and beyond or possibly separate sexually from them while providing them with material support?

Thank you so much for your time!

Joel

I would love your advice regarding the baptism of our infant. Our church holds to a stance of believers baptism, however our personal convictions are to baptize our infant as an act of obedience trusting that the Holy Spirit will act one day to bring conviction and enlightenment to our son.

Should we be obedient to our local church? Is it wrong to seek a church to baptize our infant with no intentions of changing membership?

Thanks!

Jordan

Really appreciate all your work! I have a dilemma with a quick backstory and unfortunately in my situation I’m hard pressed to find a local elder to guide me in this situation. I will try to be as brief as possible. I come from a charismatic/Pentecostal background and in the past couple years I’ve become convinced of reformed theology. I have failed to share my understandings with my wife, and in all my attempts the arguments erupted to a blazing volcano and after the storm we wouldn’t talk about it for months. After a few of these cycles we would discuss our faith less and less often, to the point that we don’t discuss it at all.

I’ve been musing at what to do, and looking for guidance mostly from online sermons/books. You have been paramount in my growth in the faith. I’ve been leaning towards the idea of going to another church, but if I left my current non-denominational seeker-friendly church it would strain my marriage immensely.

Today something snapped in me after my pastor had a woman guest speaker who preached a very feminist message, afterward which my church ordained two women to the pastorate. I could not handle what I understand to be a blatant disregard for Scripture, and so my plan is to at the minimum split my attendance between my church and a local reformed church. There’s more to the story but my questions is whether or not this is a wise decision, especially knowing that my wife won’t follow me to the reformed church.

Thank you very much for reading my letter, may God bless you, your family, and your work.

Sincerely,

Alex

Thank you so much for the great articles. I was very interested in what you had to say about how “The sanctimony is the remaining inheritance from the Victorian era when women gained authority over public discourse” (from the post IndigniLadies under the heading ‘what they’re actually mad about’). Would you recommend any books about the cultural shift which put women in control of morality in the public sphere?

Thanks for all the wisdom!

G. O.

Quite a while back, you had mentioned an earlier author regarding human behavior, saying that behavioral patterns were studied and wrote about by either a behaviorist/psychologist/philosopher—saying that these things all go back to that author’s work—”It’s all in G——.” I can’t recall the author, but I want to say that Jordan Peterson also mentioned this person as well. Girard? Giroux? I’d like to read the work, but I can’t seem to find your earlier reference.

I’d be most grateful if you’re able to help in this!

Sincerely,

Patrick

Several questions: 1. How can a man love his wife without neglecting his responsibilities? I want to help with staying with the children and washing dishes, but I don’t want to sponsor her laziness.

What if illness is in the equation?

2. How should a man lead when his wife is insubordinate and not cooperative? Especially in situations that require participation.

3. How should a man respond to a sexually manipulative wife who also refuses to go to counseling and threatens to never go to church if she is exposed? How should a pastor handle this?

4. What should a man do when his wife is expressing her disappointments in a disrespectful attitude? Quietly listen and refrain from anger? Or walk away and tell her “if you can’t talk nice we’re not talking at all.” The latter seems to avoid temptation, but the former seems to be loving.

I’d ask you more but I’ll spare you.

Joseph

Been reading through “I’ll Take My Stand” recently and I was curious, as a postmillennial, do you see the future as more agrarian or industrial? Or perhaps, by necessity, a hybrid? It seems impossible to put the genie back in the bottle.

Jackson

I am interested to know how you would reconcile the passage in 2 Timothy 3:1-9 about the godlessness in the last days with the Old Testament prophecies that say the nations will be like nursing mothers to the church and generally things getting better and more peaceful on earth before Jesus returns? Are things to get worse or better on earth before Jesus returns?

Thanks.

Regards

David

The judge in the Psalm Sing arrest case pointed out that in the ordinance “had an exception for First Amendment activities.” My question is this: So what if it didn’t?

The Constitution cannot be overturned by local ordinances.

Even if you assume that Congress alone is restricted from passing laws abridging speech, assembly, religion, etc., I presume the Idaho Constitution has similar protections for free speech and exercise of religion. Under what conditions can they overturn the higher law?

Cam

In February 14’s letters, Adam mentions that he has “theological issues with evolution, and I am skeptical of modern science’s views of the age of the universe. In addition, there are certain theories within modern physics that give me pause, as they could have unbibilical implications.” Your advice to Adam is to check the health of his immune system and base his decision partially on that. As a strong believer with a degree in physics, please allow me to add a bit more advice:

There are some areas of physics where you can ignore the young earth/old earth debate, but I sincerely doubt one can go through a degree program without having to engage in it. And if one is building one’s faith on a young earth position (evolution is a separate question), that faith will likely be shaken. While I usually consider the debate similar to Paul’s advice about eating meat in front of others, I would encourage Adam that one can believe in both the infallibility of Scripture and that the heavens honestly attest to God (i.e. he didn’t do things like create old fossils to lie to us) if one is willing to build a more sophisticated faith and search for more sophisticated interpretations of the Scriptures. And please note that I’m not saying that sophisticated is better. Certainly it’s not as easy to be childlike, but it does allow for more nuance.

Ian

I have what might sound like a dumb question but it’s bothered me for a long time. Would enjoy your input. I know you hold an optimist view of those saved vs damned, and that means a lot of people (maybe hundreds of billions over the course of creation as a whole?). Solomon even said in his day there was “no end to the people,” etc. (Eccl 4:16).

After Christ returns and all is settled, the dead are raised, the damned depart to wherever, and heaven comes down to earth, etc., how can all those people fit on this planet? Will the planet be enlarged as Heaven comes down? Am I missing something? Or is this really a dumb question?

Art

I’m a 24 year old man living in Northern VA. In my youth, I struggled with depression, and was heavily medicated for much of my teen years. I was unable to feel almost anything, and hated it. When I got to college, I decided to try use advice the internet gave me such as “touch grass and hit the gym” which helped a bit. However, 6 years later, it has become apparent that in my life, not friends, nor prayer, nor exercise, nor church, nor Scripture have managed to fill the hole inside of me. Having a family has always been a dream of mine, but I have been counseled by several friends that what I truly need is “healing.” At what point should a Christian consider going on a form of antidepressants? Please let me know. Thanks.

K