“All the nations of the earth will stream to Christ. It is unbelief to place the fulfillment outside the course of history, to hold that the promises to the nations will only come to fruition when the nations are no more . . . What I am trying to do is persuade Christians that we …
Woke with the Wim-Wams
Apparently being woke is a thing now. I heard yesterday that there were even some woke Calvinists out there, and the seventh angel sounded his trumpet. After that some plaster fell off the ceiling. Let us define our terms. Being woke means that you have grokked to your complicity. Let me start over. Being woke …
An American Westminsterian Christendom
“As noted, the American form of the Westminster Confession redrew the boundary, not requiring establishment, but requiring that the state recognize and protect ‘the church of our common Lord.’ The fact that the American revisers urged us to see that Baptists, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, and Episcopalians all served a common Lord, and were entitled to civil …
Abettors with Letters
School Shootings: I watched the CNN Town Hall regarding the recent school shooting in Florida and I came away from that feeling even more troubled and burdened. We blame things like mental illness, lack of adequate gun control, failure to follow up on tips, etc. but in this “debate” and seemingly every other one no …
Not the Same
“Tax support for churches and recognition that Jesus outranks the highest human authority are distinct questions” (Empires of Dirt, p. 191).
Audio Reading of Post
The Controversy Interview
How old are you? I am sixty-four. A number of years ago, Christianity Today ran a feature on you entitled “The Controversialist.” Have you always been a controversialist? No, not at all. For about two-thirds of my life, it was relatively free of controversy. And in the last third of my life—where that has not …
Federal Disestablishmentarianism
“When the Constitution of the United States was adopted, the First Amendment addressed the issue of an established church at the federal level, but this did not address the Christendom question. It has been made to address it by means of revisionist history, but originally it had nothing whatever to do with it. The Constitution …
Yeah, That Happens . . .
Always Mark the Direct Object
“The word conserve is a transitive verb, and there is no virtue or vice in any transitive verb. So you love, but what do you love? God? Ice cream? Child porn? The church you were baptized in? Your favorite pair of jeans? So you conserve, but what is it you want to conserve? The Kremlin …
The Center is not the Circumference
“I put a distinction between the Church and the Kingdom. The Church is at the center, Word and sacrament, and only sacred things are sacred. Because what the Church does is potent, this transforms the entire world—but it doesn’t turn the world into Church. That’s not the transformation. The Church turns the world into what …