“What happens when the fire goes out a generation or two later, and the altar is still there? The natural response is to try to fix things by decorating the altar, bringing in embellishments and bronze gewgaws galore. But without the fire, a decorated altar is still a cold one” (Empires of Dirt, p. 198).
Check the Back Seat
Another Swing of the Battering Ram
“What are we doing? We are besieging strongholds, and the citadels of unbelief will fall. Every sermon is another swing of the battering ram, every baptism is an engine deployed to overthrow the devil, and every administration of the Supper is an inexorable offer of wine for the forgiveness of the world and bread for …
Running to Win
“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 …