“I ask that the dragnet of Your holy kingdom
Would sweep through our towns, hauling everything in—
Good fish and bad fish, beer bottles and weeds.”
21 Prayers, p. 3
The Church as Israel Reborn
“After the destruction of the Temple in AD 70, all they had left were their erroneous traditions. This is why modern Judaism is best considered a heresy of the Old Testament faith, and not a representation of it. To be a Christian is to maintain that the fulfillment of the Old Testament is in the Christ of the New Testament, and not in rabbinic Judaism.”
American Milk and Honey, pp. 64-65
Old School
A Gibbeted Christ
“He was killed, though the coming and faith one,
He died on a stake, a gibbeted Christ.
Distorted and bent on a twisted cross,
And by left-handed dealings, by subtle turns,
He turned all pious and correct expectations
Up on their heads; He tumbled them down.”
21 Prayers, pp. 1-2
One or the Other
“If the Jews are right and Jesus did not rise from the dead, then we Christians of all men are most to be pitied (1 Cor. 15:19). And if He did rise from the dead, then modern Judaism is an attempt to have a Messiah-based religion while leaving the Messiah out of it. But that is like, as the old illustration goes, putting on a production of Hamlet, and leaving out the prince of Denmark.”
American Milk and Honey, p. 64
On a WIld Stretch of Coast
“I pray that Your preachers would come down like fire,
Consuming the forests of deadwood and sin.
I pray that Your preachers would come like a storm,
Hitting the people on a wild stretch of coast.
I ask pulpit fervor, I seek pulpit fire—
The Word blazing forth, consuming the people,
The Word marching forth, eager to conquer.”
21 Prayers, p. 128
Has Happened More Than Once
“Liberal can be honest in their unbelief, and conservatives can be dishonest in their profession of faith. You can believe in the resurrection of the dead, and also devour widow’s houses.”
American Milk and Honey, p. 57
Skeery Scary Skeery
Introduction: The man running all our CN takeover operations from a hollow mountain in remote Idaho . . . As the inauguration of Donald Trump approaches, the confirmation hearings of his cabinet appointments also approach. As I write, Pete Hegseth had his hearing yesterday, although I have to say that, from some of the questioners, …
Replace All the Crows
“A word from Your lips, just a nod of Your head,
And white doves would take the place of these crows.
Replace all the crows that caw from dead pulpits,
And bring life to Your people, revive them again.”
21 Prayers, p. 129
A Distant Parallel
“If we were looking for a term in English that had a similar etymology and cachet as ‘Pharisee,’ it would be something like the term ‘Puritan.’ Both words indicate some kind of desire for separation and holiness. Like Pharisaism, Puritanism was noble in its founding, had some glorious exemplars, was doctrinally rigorous, went to seed after a few centuries, and is now easy to mock.”
American Milk and Honey, p. 56