Our interest in such passages should not have to do with the wickedness as such, but rather has to do with the divine “paternity suit” that follows on the basis of it. If some covenant members are children of the devil and others are not (as the quotation from 1 John indicates), then there must …
Quarrels and Worship
Have you quarreled with anyone this week? If you did, was it for the cause of righteousness, or was it merely because you wanted your own way on something? If it was the latter, as it probably was, was the quarrel worth it? Did the quarrel bring you closer to God, establish you in His …
Polling As Farce
In all cultures, at all times, a great deal can be learned by looking at what everyone assumes together — left wing, right wing, moderate, libertine, conservative, or anarchist. In our day, virtually everyone assumes the legitimacy of polling as a way of spot-checking what demos, the people, has to say at any given moment. …
Every Weekly Easter
Father and God, Lord and Master, we thank You now for yet another Lord’s Day. You have given us life and light and grace, and we rejoice before You in Your great kindness. You have given us new life, when we as a people were lost in sin, and You have restored us to Your …
Theological Spam
My spam filter catches hundreds of invitations a day — invitations to check out these mortgage rates, these crazy chicks, these unbelievable cell phone offers, and more. One nagging question concerns why these companies go to all this effort. Does anybody actually get their mortgage this way? And the answer has to be yes. Otherwise, …
Regeneration and Fatherhood
On all questions regarding regeneration, the basic question is: who’s your daddy? Outside the covenant, the devil is father. For the elect, God is our Father. But for the reprobate covenant member, God is his Father in a real covenantal sense, but in another tangible way, the devil is still his father. This is fully …
Regeneration Is . . .
Regeneration means being transformed from the seed of the serpent to the seed of the woman. This cannot simply be equated with baptism (or circumcision in the Old Testament) because most of the “broods of vipers” identified for us in the Bible were covenant members.
Erotic Retardation III
Dear visionaries, Joanne writes: “My observations suggest that it’s very poor countries–often fundamentalist regimes of various kinds–that have poor facilities for personal hygiene and women who are hidden from public view.” To which I reply, all regimes are fundamentalist. The only thing that distinguishes them is the nature of their fundament. Prudent legislation has spared …
Erotic Retardation II
Dear visionaries, Everybody take a few deep breaths. If that doesn’t help, put your head between your knees for a few minutes. Just a couple thoughts. On the subject of female toplessness, Thomas moaned, “We Americans look like bumpkin country jakes to most of the civilized world . . .” But there is a difference …
The Whole Truth and Nothing But the Truth
In Not Reformed At All, at the bottom on page 29, Robbins/Gerety breathlessly announce that I have denied the very concept of truth. They put it this way. “In 1999 Wilson published an essay titled “The Great Logic Fraud” in his book The Paideia of God. It expresses his revolt against excellence, precision, and logic. …