“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).
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 …
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 …
Not the Same
“Tax support for churches and recognition that Jesus outranks the highest human authority are distinct questions” (Empires of Dirt, p. 191).
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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 …
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 …
Each Are the Context of the Other
“Special revelation is the specific revelation left to us by the One who created Heaven and earth—the ultimate metanarrative. Both forms of revelation are metanarratives, and apart from the other, neither one is” (Empires of Dirt, p. 181).
The Warm Brownies of Natural Law
“A couple of young brothers go home after school, accompanied by a couple of unbelieving friends. When they get to the house, they find it clean and in good order. There are some beautiful paintings on the wall, the work of the boys’ mother. On the counter is a tray of brownies, still warm. This …