Self-Styled Christian broadcaster Paul Crouch dies aged 79

I was driving down a snowy road today when I heard this. I tremble whenever I hear about one of these guys dying. He has stood before the Judgment seat of Christ and I don't think it went well for him.

This one is gone, but I'm sure three more will quickly take his place.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/01/us-usa-paulcrouch-idUSBRE9B002Q20131201

¹⁵ “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. ¹⁶ You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? ¹⁷ Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸ A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. ¹⁹ Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰ Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

²¹ “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. ²² Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ ²³ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

The Lesser Magistrate Heresy

 http://vcyamerica.org/blog/2013/11/21/the-doctrine-of-the-lesser-magistrates

Here's a link to a CrossTalk programme. It's not a show I would recommend and to be honest I often have a hard time even listening to it. It's one of the worst programmes out there but out of morbid curiosity I listen every once in awhile. The guest Matt Trewhella is sort of the 'main guy' for really pushing the Lesser Magistrate doctrine.

Panama, North Korea, The Canal and America

Panama Seizes North Korean Ship Carrying Weapons of War

Hardly wishing to sound like an apologist for North Korea, what gives Panama the right to stop this ship? It is well known the Panamanian government is a puppet to American interests. Reagan for all intents and purposes undid Carter's Canal negotiations and GHW Bush killed thousands there to insure American hegemony.

Would-be Cops and Race in America

I don't usually spend a great deal of time following the sensational tabloid type news stories but this George Zimmerman case has been different. Why? Because I've noticed that in particular the Christian community has been active in following it and the blogosphere has also been quite busy with regard to this case.

Controversies surrounding Al Jazeera and their coverage of Egypt

I've been enjoying the coverage regarding Al Jazeera. They've been slammed because of perceived bias...it has been suggested they are promoting the cause of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.

First I will only point out that the American public has not yet grasped or come to terms with the fact that the United States has backed yet another coup d'état and collaborated with yet another military regime.

Lone voices of truth in a world of lies

http://ericmargolis.com/2013/07/spying-run-amok/

The media spins, manipulates and often softens the news to flatter their corporate masters.

The politicians look right into the camera and lie. They speak of shock and disapproval. They say they're investigating and carefully monitoring. In reality they're either scheming of complicit.

Politicians care only about maintaining power. Nothing else matters.

American money backed anti-Morsi protests

This story has proven to be very controversial. People are shocked at the suggestion. Yet, if people knew a little more history they would realize this was expected and fits a long pattern going back (at the very least) to Italy just after WW2. This is an old tactic. The difference today? You can't pull it off as easy and remain in the shadows.

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/07/2013710113522489801.html

Pan-Turkism and the 21st Century Great Game

http://www.todayszaman.com/news-319926-ihh-warns-of-possible-massacre-in-xinjiang.html

Central Asia is a key region in the post Cold War geopolitical game. Even during the Cold War American Intelligence services supported Pan-Turkism as a means to destabilize the USSR’s southern frontier…today’s ‘Stan’ countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

Snowden in Moscow and Morales in Vienna

http://wikileaks.org/Statement-from-Edward-Snowden-in.html

An interesting statement from Snowden although perhaps I am more surprised that someone in his position is surprised by American actions.

Non-Independence Day in Egypt: Cautious Optimism or Impending Doom?

A few comments on the fall of Morsi and what’s happening in Egypt and the Islamic world.

It’s interesting how in this case even the mainstream media seems to acknowledge the Pentagon’s role in communicating with the Egyptian military.

The Camp David Accords which resulted in Sadat’s assassination was a geopolitical and diplomatic coup. Egypt was wrenched from the Soviet sphere and brought into the American column. The security mechanism which guarantees the status quo has always been the Egyptian military. This model replicated what the United States has done in Turkey, Chile and other nations as well.

American Activities in Africa

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/World/WOR-01-200613.html

This is an excellent article giving a quick overview and summary of American activities in Africa and does much to explain some of the different and frankly complicated angles as to the what and why.

Snowden's Long Road

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/World/WOR-01-280613.html

An interesting article. I left the following comment:

The Crisis of Modern Feminism in American Society

A friend sent me the following email:

This Jul/Aug 2012 article from The Atlantic is quite long, and nothing really earth-shattering, but a well-written and realistic piece nonetheless.  I'm about half way through it at the moment, and don't know if I'll continue reading, but it's fascinating to me how people who strive to overturn the natural order of family/society, still have to admit there are real differences between men and women -- the way they think, prioritize, assign value, make choices, etc., and that those realities retard the progress of the feminist agenda.  This lady's solutions are pretty unrealistic, but I'm sure they sound quite logical when viewed through the lens of her philosophical grid.

Why Women Still Can’t Have It All

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/07/why-women-still-cant-have-it-all/309020/?single_page=true

I responded:

Ecclesial Theology: Baptist "Receptive Ecumenism" in the Evangelical B...

Fascinating read. I can't say that I agree with any of it, but the perspectives are interesting and the comments are also quite thoughtful.  Principles applied in a different context can produce rather surprising results.

Eastern Orthodox and...Baptists???

Ecclesial Theology: Baptist "Receptive Ecumenism" in the Evangelical B...: Yesterday evening I had the privilege of dining with Archbishop Malkhaz Songulashvili of the Evangelical Baptist Church of Georgia (yes, the...

Proto~Protestantism: 28 June 1914

99 years ago today an event sparked our modern world. There's not a place on the globe, a geo-political crisis...there are no contemporary social issues that can be divorced from the chain reaction of events that began in Sarajevo. WWII was not the seminal event of the modern world. It was WWI. That's when everything changed forever.

Proto~Protestantism: 28 June 1914: 28 June 1914...written on 28 June 2010 Ninety six years ago today the Habsburg heir Archduke Franz Ferdinand was shot. It always ama...

A podcast regarding seminary and some comments....

I realize everyone won't have the time or inclination to listen to all the audio links I provide. As I've explained in the past my situation is somewhat unique in that I can utilize my time at work to listen to podcasts and books. There are many that I listen to on a regular basis and the following programme is part of my weekly fare.

http://reformedforum.org/podcasts/ctc286/

Media Narratives: Non-Profits and Coal

I've been listening carefully and waiting for the local Christian news to report on the modified situation with regard to the improper IRS investigations. It has come out that many liberal groups were targeted as well. They were both indignant and gleeful when reporting the IRS targeting of Tea Party groups, but now they don't seem to want to talk about the issue anymore.

America and Erdogan

Oddly enough after I wrote the last piece a friend forwarded the following link:

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/the-tribune-of-anatolia-america-s-dark-view-of-turkish-premier-erdogan-a-732084.html

There's some overlap but rather than synthesize the pieces, I've posted both.

A few comments:

Kemalism v. Islamism

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjjY750wTs0

Here's a great video clip demonstrating how Islamism under the AKP in Turkey is different than extremist Islam. I was pleased to hear the Evangelical comparison which I believe to be accurate.

Kevin Swanson's Apostasy

https://generationswithvision.com/Store/2013/04/apostate-the-men-who-destroyed-the-christian-west/

If you can look at this link and immediately spot the problems with his argument then you've grasped one of my main goals in writing...the exposure of Constantinianism and what it does to the Church's understanding of the Bible, history and current events.

Multinationals and American Foreign Policy

http://www.npr.org/2012/05/02/151842205/exxonmobil-a-private-empire-on-the-world-stage

An interesting interview. Coll is a thorough investigator and his books are worth reading. While some decry him as liberal because he's critical of Exxon, I don't believe the truth can be politicized. They are what they are and you have to deal with it. Trying to explain it away doesn't help.

Orwell v. Huxley and the NSA Leak

If you haven't read 'Brave New World' or '1984' I highly recommend them. While both tend toward being a bit racy, the point is certainly not to glorify what we would identify as sinful behaviour. These works were not composed by believers and so they don't get every last jot and tittle quite right, but in no way does that negate the overall insight and dare I say wisdom that they bring to these sociological questions. If anything they are instructive in discerning how unbelievers think and react when confronted with morality enforced by a totalitarian state...something Christo-Americans evidently do not grasp.

Problems with subjecting government to the market model

http://www.onlinemba.com/blog/video-why-government-should-not-run-like-a-business

This video was forwarded to me some time ago and on the other blog I mean to return to the topic of business and economics. At that point I intend to deal with some of the issues raised in this short video and will likely post the link again. It's a good introduction. She raises some of the salient points providing a good starting point. We need to go further in discussing the problem of the business/market model applied to government and God willing we shall at a later date.

War and the Christian

An audio link, a few comments and movie references....

Three blog posts of interest...

First, a link to a great post regarding war and the Kingdom of God:

http://judahslion.blogspot.com/2013/06/some-men-will-make-money-while-some-men.html?spref=fb

Second, here's a post of interest found over at leadme.org written by Cal who often comments here as well. He's helping to untangle some Two Kingdom theology knots. The terms and the concept are not used in the same way by all and a little history lesson helps to understand it. I think he's largely correct and makes some some interesting points along the way.

In particular he caught my eye regarding the issue of proto-nationalism and why it arose in the West before it did in the East. I love that kind of stuff...it's really interesting in trying to probe the differences between the Latin and Orthodox worlds. Anyway it all ties in together. Make sure you also check out the sequel to this post...

http://leadme.org/why-constantine-two-cities-or-two-kingdoms-part-1/

Third, another blog-post of interest:

https://pjmiller.wordpress.com/2013/06/13/the-church-will-prevail/

I left the following comment:

Where will Snowden go?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/11/edward-snowden-russia-asylum-request

Not that I think Russia is any worse than the United States, but Snowden would be a fool to take up Russia on its offer.

He would run the risk of being arrested and then Russia could use him as a bargaining chip. I'm sure they would want to make a deal...

Snowden for Victor Bout

Hong Kong was sure an odd choice though....

 

Constantinian Confusion: A Kuyperian vs. a Theonomist

http://heidelblog.net/2013/06/surrounded-by-constantinians/

There's a faction within Reformed circles which promotes Two Kingdom Theology. Usually associated with Westminster Seminary's West coast campus (Westminster West) these folks have consistently opposed Theonomy and other theocratic elements within Reformed circles.

Calvinism and Apartheid

No one in Reformed circles wants to talk about South Africa. Settled by Dutch Reformed and Huguenot (French Calvinist) refugees, these peoples would become the Boers and Afrikaners. Over time many Germans and English also embraced the Afrikaner identity and yet were not specifically Dutch/Boer in ancestry.

Mohler and the ELCA

While I've never pretended to be a fan of Albert Mohler, when he is critical of theological liberal denominations and the Roman Catholic Church I can (for the most part) agree with him.

And yet because he has allied himself with the Christian Right he has lost all credibility in both my eyes and often the eyes of those whom he is critiquing.

A Polluted PRISM

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-22857062

While American citizens are rightly concerned that the US government has completely trampled the Constitution, few consider the international implications of American actions.

America and the Deep State

http://ericmargolis.com/2013/06/turkeys-progress-threatened-by-far-left-and-far-right/

Margolis raises several good points. The Turkish left is gunning for Erdogan. They resent his mild-Islamism and rejection of Turkey's secular legacy. And the Nationalist Right also is concerned with the shift in Turkey's domestic and international politics. They are concerned for the Ataturk legacy.

The Myth of Privacy and Washington: a City of Secrets and Lies

It's hardly a secret that in the end the intelligence agencies get what they want when they want. All they have to do is make sure they cover their tracks properly. The government is essentially keeping tabs on all of us. At this point they simply don't have a way to properly deal with all the data. It's too much. Cloud computing is a gold mine for data miners, but at the same time it's hard to fill a tea cup from a fire hose.

But give it some time. They will continue to utilize the material in sinister ways. The question is... how much will the public take? How long will the polarization endure before government authority starts breaking down? That breaking point may arrive long before the public reacts to the security (tyranny) state. That will be the real crisis...if the political powers that be are willing to use violence to maintain this nebulous concept of 'union'.

I hope this aspect of the story gets more attention....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22811002

Linguists and The Bureaucracy

This article gives some interesting insight into the realm of military linguists and also demonstrates all too clearly the laughable waste and mismanagement of the military bureaucracy.

Obama- Foreign Policy, Language and Propaganda

I'll risk pushing the envelope a bit, just to make a point. Here's a YouTube link to David Barsamian lecturing a couple of years ago on Obama's foreign policy. Barsamian is reckoned on the extreme Left and is the founder/host of Alternative Radio. He frequently interviews people like Noam Chomsky. I remember years ago driving through the Ozarks and picking up Alternative Radio (AR) on KASU out of Jonesboro. Barsamian was interviewing Tariq Ali (the original Street Fighting Man) and it just blew me away. I couldn't believe I was hearing this on the radio. It was a breath of fresh air. I highly recommend his work The Duel: Pakistan on the Flight Path of American Power.

Lloyd-Jones on the Kingdom

Here's a quote from DM Lloyd-Jones regarding the Kingdom. Of course he's coming from a British context and yet his words are fully applicable in both Britain and America today.

The Political Gospel

Another instance of confusing the Kingdom of Christ with a mandate for power. I haven't even read the second part yet and I can tell where he's going. Seek the Kingdom...conquer the culture and the world.

Byzantine History Podcasts

For anyone who spends time in the car or just likes to listen to podcasts and wants to learn a little history, I found a gem.

Ahmadinejad the Dictator?

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/04/mahmoud-ahmadinejad-house-arrest-iran.html

For years Christian media has been telling us that Ahmadinejad is a dangerous dictator. And for years a few people who actually pay attention have been insisting this is a misunderstanding of the situation.

A Peace to End All Peace

I recently finished reading 'A Peace to End All Peace' by David Fromkin. This is a book I've perused from time to time but I finally finished it cover to cover.

Margolis on the Syria Situation

Margolis is always an interesting read. He gives a good summary of the situation without reading the geopolitics through an American filter.

Separation of Church and State

http://www.janetmefferdpremium.com/2013/06/03/janet-mefferd-radio-show-20130603-hr-2/

This is truly a terrible show, but it's a popular one. I can only stand so much of it but when I see T. David Gordon as a guest I have to listen. Despite some disagreements, he's a name in Reformed circles that I definitely respect and I've heard him lecture and preach on different occasions.

Syria Update

This is a link to a Fresh Air interview regarding Syria. While the guest is probably a little too establishment for my tastes, he raises some good points and gives a good overview of the region and the dangers of an ever expanding conflict.

For those of us who remember the Lebanese Civil War was a terrible episode. "Beirut" was always the proverbial city of violence and chaos.

Ironically the entire region was fairly stable...until March 2003.

http://www.npr.org/2013/06/04/188399341/in-syria-conflict-has-spread-throughout-the-region

Turkey and Glenn Beck

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/06/03/188287457/in-turkey-protesters-say-prime-minister-has-gone-too-far#comment-918301201

Today while in the car I flipped on Glenn Beck for a few
minutes. That's about all I can usually take. He was ranting about how these
riots in Turkey are the result of an alliance between militant Islam and the
extreme Left. They're doing it in our country too!

Marxist Muslims? He didn't say those words but he certainly
throws around the terms. He uses words that don't mean what he thinks they mean.

I remember Gingrich alluded to the AKP (Turkey's ruling party) during the primary
debates...oh, very bad. Ataturk is one of his heroes. I bet that earned points
with the Syriac and Armenian communities. I'm afraid these people are only
demonstrating that they know next to nothing about Turkish society or history.

Hungary: Towards the Abyss - People & Power - Al Jazeera English

It's not being covered in American media, but the economic deprivations and tensions over immigration are leading to a massive resurgence in Right-wing and Neo-Fascist parties in Europe.

Muslims, Jews, and Gypsies are being targeted. And in some places like Hungary there are old grievances, unresolved from the World Wars that are also fueling the bitterness.

Most of today's Slovakia, the region of Transylvania,  and portions of Croatia and Serbia all used to belong to the old Kingdom of Hungary. When Wilson led the charge in the wake of WWI to break up the Habsburg Empire, Hungary was splintered. This shortsightedness (forcing the concept of ethnic-based political nations on a region that had never known it) led to the Hungarians joining with the Third Reich during WWII. This wasn't because they were fascists. It was about old grievances. By the end of the war, the Arrow Cross party took over and unleashed an orgy of death and violence.

'Music Box' which came out in 1989 dealt with this period in Hungarian history and was in part inspired by the whole John Demjanjuk episode.

Hungary: Towards the Abyss - People & Power - Al Jazeera English#.Ua1lyOOB8Tc.facebook