Anyone who really believes that yeast works through the loaf slowly is an incrementalist. Anyone who holds that the biblical pattern is reformation, and not impatient revolution, is an incrementalist. Many “clear-headed” individuals on the hard right are functional revolutionaries and not conservatives at all because of their inability to grasp this. Brian Mattson is …
President Bush and the High Places
Brian Mattson, of The Banty Rooster, has raised some interesting questions about my characterization of President Bush as a false teacher. In response to this, Mattson cites the biblical example of Asa. “But back to the issue about President Bush. All I want to do is quote 1 Kings 15.14: “Although he did not remove …
The Horse Laugh and the Syllogism
Where we have had recent disagreements with the folks over at christianculture.com, it is good on several levels to be able to agree with Monte Wilson’s recent post there on the need for more court jesters. As Mencken put it once, a horse laugh is worth ten thousand syllogisms. For those interested in a detailed …
Evangelical Shills for Allah
I like President Bush. I like some of what he has done. I wish him well. We pray for him regularly at church, that he would come to govern in accordance with the Word of God. But because I like him, I wish that he would drop the theology of empire and listen to evangelical …
Demands for Apology As Weapon
One tactic that is used to advance the postmodern agenda is an adroit use of “demands for an apology.” I have noticed that many Christians would be suspicious if someone simply announced that the lines between right and wrong, good and evil, truth and falsehood, need to be blurred. Believing Christians hear something like this, …
The Patron Saint of Epistemology
St. John is the patron saint of epistemology. That is, he is patron saint of a biblical approach to believing and knowing. He is not the patron saint of unbelieving epistemology. How do we know? How do we know that we know? These are reasonable questions to ask at the foot of the cross — …
Hearts Full of Thorns
A number of years ago, I used to wonder what we were doing wrong. I knew that the Lord had promised hostility and opposition to all who were faithful in doing the work of His kingdom. So how was it that we were spending years in these placid waters? I felt something like that hapless …
Outline of a Response
I am happy to interact briefly with Andrew Sandlin’s most recent observations. I need to highlight the word briefly, because I just want to suggest the outline of a response, and not to produce a massive tome. If I were a postmodernist, it would be described as the “contours of a response,” but it amounts …
Cobelligerents
I am currently reading The Next Reformation, by Carl Raschke. The subtitle not only gives away the store, but also the point — “Why Evangelicals Must Embrace Postmodernity.” The proliferation of books like this help to highlight why I am interested in attacking postmodernism, and all its demon spawn, while howling in the grip of …
Arrogance and Certainty
Andrew Sandlin asks why, if I do not believe my observations and pronouncements to be on a par with Scripture, I speak as confidently as I do. In this confidence, Andrew sees the hallmarks of religious arrogance. My answer to this (in brief) is that the Bible teaches that when the bugle blows indistinctly, no …