“Not only would we be saved from their treachery
And from all of their lies and crafty deceits,
But we also ask You to be gracious to them,
Saving them from their treachery, lies, and deceit.”
21 Prayers, p. 22
A Very Important Question
“The single biggest controversy in the New Testament church was over whether a person could become a Christian without becoming a Jew first, and so the first great ecumenical council was held to respond to the question.”
American Milk and Honey, p. 101
Jesus ben David
“Antisemitism is abut the most anti-gospel frame of mind that can be imagined. And among professed worshipers of Jesus ben David, it is also the silliest. Christ is the Lord of Israel, and this is why He is the Lord of the new Israel as well.”
American Milk and Honey, p. 99
Grace and Imprecation
“And so I pray now that You would protect us,
With all such prayers being based on the fact
That You require them and gave us the psalms—
Psalms that we know we do not deserve praying,
Much less in this way, which is part of the point.
We therefore offer them in Jesus’ name.”
21 Prayers, p. 19
Great Death
“I ask that our service would be potent and powerful
In administering death—the kind of great death
That is followed by grace, by great resurrections.”
21 Prayers, p. 17
The Whole Class Watching
“The Jews were the chosen nation, not in the sense of election to Heaven, but in the sense of a chosen pupil, selected to come to the front to show the rest of the class how the problem was to be solved. When that student does well, he is blessed. He is the class hero. When he messes up, he messes up in front of everybody. But the whole class is always involved.”
American Milk and Honey, p. 98
A Bloody Crew
“They are carnal, of the flesh, worldly. They are of their father the devil. And the number that belongs in this category is too great to itemize, although we can mention a few—Caiaphas and his crew, Tomas de Torquemada, Saul before his conversion, Bloody Mary, numerous medieval managers of pogroms, Himmler as the architect of the Final Solution, the incipient totalitarianism of Herbert Marcuse and his doctrine of repressive tolerance, and of course, Stalin. There is a long chain of other names, but to mention them all would soon become morbid.”
American Milk and Honey, p. 87
From the World’s Footings
“I pray that Your Spirit would unveil things hidden,
Hidden from man since the world’s first foundation.”
21 Prayers, p. 16
Don’t Turn Into That
“The New Testament warning, delivered to the Gentiles, is [to] not become like your persecutors. Do not turn into your adversary. If you turn into what you hate, it indicates you only thought you hated their sleek arrogance of power. You didn’t hate it—you envied it.”
American Milk and Honey, p. 84
Bleeding Authority
“Use this worship service, I pray, I beseech You
To unmask all falsehood by Your Word of authority,
Authority that bleeds from the side of the gospel.
I pray that the word of Your gospel would reign.”
21 Prayers, p. 14