“Take away from us now all false opinions,
And please bring to light all shifts and evasions.
If envy remains in any dark place,
Have mercy on us—pull it up and all out.”
21 Prayers, p. 71
Why and Who Says?
“Why should men be free? Why should they be treated with equity? Why should we govern ourselves democratically? The answers will vary depending on whether you believe that we evolved out of the primordial goo, or whether the Creator God, the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, put us here. They will vary according to whether you believe in the Supreme Court or the Supreme Being. Religions don’t do well suspended in mid-air. Why should men be free? Who makes them free? How can they be free when they are slaves to sin?”
American Milk & Honey, p. 178
Neither Unitarian Option
“But Christians who worship the triune God will refuse to worship any idol, whether it is the nerdy monad of the liberal bedwetters, or the gonad monad of the American neocons.”
American Milk & Honey, pp. 176-177)
Light Me On Fire
“Light me on fire, I pray to You now.
Don’t let me preach without passion, I ask.
Admonish, rebuke, and speak to my soul
If it looks like the message might devolve to a lecture.”
21 Prayers, p. 68
Work That Rests
“Let us experience the gift of Your rest
As well as the work that rests upon rest.”
21 Prayers, p. 67
Personality and Character
“The Puritans did in fact shape the American personality. But personality is not the same thing as character. Two men can have an outgoing personality, with one of them honest and the other treacherous. Two men can be quiet and withdrawn, with one of them a rock of integrity and the other a knave. We do share certain personality features with the Puritans, attributes we inherited from them. But inheriting their personality is not the same thing as inheriting their character.”
American Milk & Honey, pp. 173-174
One Messiah-Nation Only
“The idea of America as messiah-nation is an idea that dies hard, but die it must.”
American Milk & Honey, p. 165
Make Real Sense of It
“I do not want to treat gathered saints
As I would an assembly of the unconverted,
But, nevertheless, I would still preach the gospel
And true liberation and conversion to all.
I pray that Your Spirit would accomplish this work,
And not only do it but make real sense of it.”
21 Prayers, p. 66
True and Functional
“I pray that Your Spirit would work here to topple
Every delusion that sets itself up
Against a true and a functional knowledge—
A knowledge of You that believes and obeys.”
21 Prayers, p. 65.
Not An Option
“But no nation of Christendom will ever occupy the same place or position that Israel did. This is because the church—which is international in its genius—was commanded to disciple all of the nations, not leaving any of them out. So there will never be a Christian nation that will be the chosen nation. That is no longer an option.”
American Milk & Honey, p. 164.