28 March 2024

John MacArthur's Latest Episode of Hypocrisy and Schizophrenia

https://www.christianpost.com/voices/john-macarthur-vs-christian-nationalism.html

The California megachurch pastor has long attacked Christian political activism and the idea that Christians are to labour for justice in this world. These endeavours distract the Church from its God-appointed task. Such expressions on the part of MacArthur would be in keeping with his Dispensational Premillennial eschatology that sees no hope for this present age and calls the Church to await the pre-tribulational rapture. According to this scheme, great calamity will follow in the form Anti-Christ and the so-called Great Tribulation.

27 March 2024

The Theology of the Zealots is Alive and Well on Planet Earth

https://www.christianpost.com/news/evangelical-leaders-back-israel-call-on-us-govt-support.html

One need not turn to a vile rag like the misnamed Christian Post to learn of this story. The number of articles concerning Evangelical support for Israel can be counted by the dozen. This one caught my eye back in November and at the time I made a few notes. More than five months into this war, nothing has changed. In fact the situation has only grown worse.

26 March 2024

Constantinian Ethics at their Worst

https://www.beautifulchristianlife.com/blog/how-do-christians-in-the-military-love-their-enemies-and-do-good-to-them

A follow up to:

https://pilgrimunderground.blogspot.com/2023/07/an-ugly-christian-life.html

The commenter to the previous Rowlands piece innocently asked about Matthew 5 and the command to love enemies. And rightly so as this effectively destroys Rowlands' argument. And this passage is far from alone. Rowlands is advocating for a Christianity that is opposed to New Testament ethics - and yet it's a value system that tickles ears and effectively reigns within the contemporary Evangelical Church.

24 March 2024

The ISIS-K Attack on Moscow

 It's fairly obvious that Western media wants to find a way to put an anti-Putin spin on the Moscow theatre attack. There are hints that since American intelligence warned him and he didn't act therefore... it's never said, but we're left to conclude that something nefarious took place. He wanted it to happen or let it happen or he's incompetent. Why won't the Russian people realize this? Such allegations and suggestions when put into an American context are ridiculed but are perfectly acceptable when it comes to other countries, particularly America's enemies.

23 March 2024

Manila Throws in with AUKUS Against Beijing

https://www.news.com.au/finance/work/leaders/historic-speech-from-philippines-president-makes-veiled-swipe-at-china/news-story/3b5593d7b992f340701d23510d061883

At the end of February 2024, Ferdinand 'BongBong' Marcos spoke before the Australian Parliament. It was an important speech, especially for the East Asian theatre and though described as 'historic' it was hardly covered in the West.

22 March 2024

Paris,Yerevan, and Baku

https://eurasianet.org/armenia-azerbaijan-macron-stirring-things-up-in-the-caucasus

Baku is in a fairly cozy relationship with Washington and thus if the Americans don't want to see Macron make this move, you can be sure the Azeri government will speak out and condemn French overtures.

20 March 2024

Tooley Keeps Spinning the GMC

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/mainline-methodist-left/

Mark Tooley continues to mislead regarding the 'conservative' Global Methodist Church (GMC). Conservative by what standard? In terms of historic Protestant orthodoxy, the new denomination is not conservative but theologically liberal. When compared to the New Testament, the GMC represents a serious departure with its attitudes regarding everything from feminism to the embrace of higher criticism and much more.

16 March 2024

New Information Regarding the 2004 Coup in Haiti

https://thegrayzone.com/2024/03/01/secret-cable-cia-haiti-coup/

See also: https://proto-protestantism.blogspot.com/2021/11/a-dominionist-evangelical-distortion-of.html

This piece from The Grayzone is timely as we see the US is poised to insert itself once again into the politics of Haiti. This time the US is attempting to utilize a proxy and has put a great deal of pressure on Kenya to take the lead in peacekeeping. Why? Because the US public does not want to see American soldiers on the ground in Haiti - at least not in significant numbers.

13 March 2024

Evangelical Misunderstandings of Modi's Relationship with the US

https://www.christianpost.com/voices/indias-pm-modi-wages-war-against-christians-with-impunity.html

Pardon my cynicism but if Trump were president I don't think this criticism would be levied with quite as much zeal and earnest as we see in this piece from the so-called Christian Post. In some respects the article was refreshing but in others ridiculous.

05 March 2024

Appropriating Tolkien by Means of Anachronism

https://www.politico.eu/article/inside-giorgia-meloni-hobbit-fantasy-world-lord-of-the-rings-fratelli-italia-brothers-italy-politics/

As one who has been reading Tolkien since elementary school, and even now enjoys discussing his works with my adult children, I am beset by many emotions when I read something like this. I feel as if someone has hijacked something from my childhood or like a memory has been violated.

02 March 2024

A Ridiculous Essay About Anti-Trump Evangelicals

https://www.aaronrenn.com/p/the-resistance-will-be-organized

I think I've just about had my fill of Aaron Renn and for that matter the on-line rag known as The American Reformer. After reading several of his pieces, I think I've more or less grasped where he's coming from and I don't see that he has a lot to offer.

This piece was pretty characteristic of what I keep encountering – more Right-wing boilerplate material.

There's a great sinister plot at work – all kinds of dark money funding the anti-Trump Evangelical movement.