30 April 1945: Der Untergang

or Downfall.

This very dark 2004 film depicting the final days in the Fuhrerbunker is nothing less than powerful. In my opinion it exceeds all the previous attempts at portraying these events. Bruno Ganz as Hitler is amazing.

Remembering 30 April 1975: Dick Cavett, Billy Graham and John Kerry

http://video.pbs.org/video/2365474570/

I enjoyed watching this overview of Vietnam with a special focus on Dick Cavett and his guests. None of it was really new but I am always struck by seeing the segment with John Kerry. In this case he was taking on Herb Klein who was there to represent the Nixon administration.

Politicized Media and a Lack of Christian Integrity

Listening to Glenn Beck for a few minutes as well as some Christian Radio... interesting how they're being blurred in the minds of many Christians... I notice there's a tremendous focus at present on the Clinton's and questions surrounding their funding and donors. All kinds of accusations are flying about accusing them of pandering to foreign influence etc...

The Church in the Democratic Context

Guatemala's Arbenz tried to work in genuinely democratic terms. He brought about sweeping changes, geared toward the wishes of the people and yet also attempted to maintain an open society.

The open society is subject to infiltration and manipulation and that's exactly what happened. As agents of the US Establishment, the Dulles Brothers worked to overthrow him.

Mission Inversion

Speaking prophetically to the world, our message, the application of Christian truth to the world situation may (at times) seem harsh and even destructive.

The Cult of Self: It Rules the Day in Both the Left and the Right, Within the Church and Without

Since I'm a fanatic and a ranter, it's time for another episode...

Our society which is on a road to collapse and probably a violent one at that is following the course of many that preceded it.

For years I remember reading in history books that Rome fell due to its decadence and I never really understood what that meant until just a few years ago.

Spring 2015 Appeal

Most that come here are curious, some are mildly interested. Some are looking for cannon fodder. But some people truly get it, they have grasped the import of what I'm saying and its implications for the Church and how we think about everything from theology to history. Once you get it, there's really no turning back. It's like getting a new Bible. Suddenly you start to see everything through different eyes. It's disturbing but also wonderful. The world becomes a different place.

1995-1996: A Year of Change

On the morning of 19 April 1995 I was sitting in my apartment in Alaska. I was a miserable wretch, lost and in despair. Just a few weeks earlier, to the astonishment of my friends and co-workers, I had enlisted in the US Air Force and was due to depart for basic training in mid-May.
I was watching the news as the story broke. Alaska is of course a few hours behind Oklahoma City. I was still in my Rush Limbaugh days and I immediately assumed Islamic terrorists were behind it and that we would be going to war. I was convinced it was all Clinton's fault. He had played a weak hand in Somalia and they'd probably gotten together with the Iraqis and come to get us.

Ukraine, NATO and Imperial Calculus

This was a brief but interesting exchange. Please notice how general Wald, my former base commander, rejects historical contextualization.

http://www.democracynow.org/2015/2/10/playing_with_fire_a_debate_on

Imperialism within the United States is forward looking. It is not interested in historical issues and claims and decries any attempt to bring them up. Wald acknowledges the Monroe Doctrine but is lying when he suggests the US wouldn't care if China and Mexico formed a partnership.

Kline on Theonomy and Postmillennialism

A great quote from Kline on the anniversary of his death, 14 April 2007.

As the Theonomists themselves are wont to say, their Postmillennial vision is dead apart from Dominionist theology, what Kline here calls the rejection of the 'way through the wilderness'. And I would add the corollary, that Dominionists are de facto Postmillennialists. Whether they espouse that specific eschatological scheme they are in effect operating by and under its ethical imperatives as well as its dangerously flawed understanding of the Kingdom. Their Kingdom paradigm is correctly identified by Kline as the very thing we are being warned against in the Apocalypse.

As Kline concludes his commentary on Zechariah's first vision, he says the following:

Bush Vindicated?

Many Christians seem to find some satisfaction in posting a video by FOX television personality Megyn Kelly. In it she's revisiting a video from Bush late in his presidency wherein he warns about the dangers of pulling out of Iraq too early.

Somehow they think this is a vindication? If we had just listened to George Bush then all of this wouldn't be happening?

A Rebuttal of False Claims Regarding Two Kingdom Theology and Non-violence in the Face of Tyranny

Since I am called 'ranter', I will indeed rant. Sometimes it's called for.

It is a complete and malicious falsehood that somehow the theology of non-violence, the application of the Sermon on the Mount to ethics, that the separatist form of Two Kingdom thinking means the Church just goes to sleep and allows the Hitler's of the world to rise up. I was accused of this again just the other day and I have to say I find this sort of accusation to be nothing less than astonishing. Nothing makes me feel like I'm living in some Orwellian distorted nightmare than for people to accuse me of being and allowing what they in fact are.

The Czechs Score a Very Minor Point Against the Empire

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/05/us-czech-diplomacy-usa-idUSKBN0MW0RY20150405

If it's actually supposed to be about commemorating World War II then excluding Russia is nothing less than a travesty.

Everyone gets angry when these events are politicized but that's exactly what the US is doing. Apparently the Czechs aren't behaving like proper NATO subjects and subordinates and so it was thought they needed some correction.

Snipers Praised and Condemned

I recently heard Focus on the Family's Jim Daly interviewing Taysir Abu Saada the author of 'Once an Arafat Man: The True Story of how a PLO Sniper Found a New Life'.

Daly's comments were interesting. They talked about Saada's conversion to Christianity and how God kept working on him, wore him down and finally he gave in and accepted Christ. A moved Daly reflected that no one can be 'beaten' into the Kingdom.

Dominionism and Consequentialism

BreakPoint almost always gets it wrong and even when they say something that's more or less correct, it's always framed wrong.

Today listening to Stonestreet talk about Consequentialism I was having one of those Matrix-type moments where I feel like I'm some weird science fiction movie.

Yemen Documentary

For those interested, check out the latest Frontline episode on Yemen. The director was also interviewed on Tuesday's (7 April) Democracy Now.


The situation in Yemen is a confusing mess but she does a decent job outlining what's happening. A lot more could be said, but it's PBS and they're only going to go so far in criticizing the American role in all of this.


If you're looking to get a basic understanding of the situation without having to do a bunch of reading, watching this documentary will go a long way.

Celebrating the Resurrection

I wish I could say this was a joke or that it was in any way something comedic. But alas I cannot.

The European Perspective on the Western Narrative

The European Dream: How Europe's Vision of the Future is Quietly Eclipsing the American Dream

by Jeremy Rifkin

copyright 2004 Tarcher/Penguin

While I do not doubt that some due to the present European situation would dismiss this book outright as already outdated and obsolete, I think that would be a mistake.

Denominational Dishonesty and Circularity

When Reformed people like what you write they refer to it as 'scholarly' and when they don't like your content, it's referred to as 'unprofessional' or a 'rant'. Well, I'm not interested in tickling Denominational ears. They can't hear anyone but themselves. Only their internal politics seem to concern them. Unlike many of them I have to work for a living and I don't have time to footnote everything I write, or spend hours on line engaged in dissecting the minutiae. I've attended many of their churches over the years and to their shame most of their congregations bask in ignorance while they fritter their time away splitting systematic hairs and argue over who really is being most faithful to the tradition. I washed my hands of them long ago. First and foremost it would seem that most of them are bureaucrats and that's how they think and operate.

I'm not writing to earn their respect or anyone's for that matter. I just write and if they are inclined to read it, fine. If not, I really couldn't care less.

But when they play fast and loose with the truth, when they distort history, politic the Kingdom and twist Scripture, I will call them on it, even if they're not listening. Maybe someone will hear.

 

For Sola Scriptura, it's a Bad Moon Rising

The moon is full tonight and it's the first one after the Spring Equinox...

It must be Easter. It's all right there in Ephesians 7, right?

The Lord's Supper proclaims his death till He comes (1 Cor 11.26)

Do you want to celebrate the Resurrected Christ? God has already given us a way to do so and the New Testament Church did it every time they met.

When you partake of the bread and wine, remember the promises of God and that Christ is even now seated at the right hand of the Father, the enthroned Davidic King (Acts 2). That's what the Resurrection means. Death is defeated, we are justified, but it also points to the promise that He's coming again! The Second Coming is but the completion of His work. His delay is His longsuffering. But the Kingdom is established and we are already part of it. We don't need anything but Christ. No traditions, no innovations.

It has nothing to do with a Church year, liturgical calendar and sunrise services, let alone Anglo-Saxon syncretism.

Easter crept in early, even before the Christ mass. There's nothing wrong with celebrating the Resurrection, but there is something wrong with keeping days and times and promoting innovations in the realm of worship. Keeping days is to bring yourself into bondage (Gal 4.9-10), and innovation is will worship and self-imposed religion (Col 2.20-23).

The Scriptures are sufficient. The answers are found there, not in traditions, even if they stir emotions and pack the people in.

Memphis 1968

Early morning, April four
Shot rings out in the Memphis sky
Free at last, they took your life
They could not take your pride

Not exactly doctrinally correct but still a worthy reflection on a historical moment, a person who shook the corridors of power, and one who is indeed a hero to many.

I'm sure he knew he was making history but I wonder if he knew to what extent? King is another person that I'm sort of in awe of when I consider how much he had done before his death at 39. When you're a teenager or even in your twenties you don't realize how young that is. And then when you're in your forties, you marvel when you see the posture of conviction of many historical figures and how much they had on their shoulders while still so young.

Greatness is a term used by the world and one that we as Christians would view in somewhat different terms. Despite that it does in some sense apply even to figures like King, flaws and all.

More Internet Clutter

Recently I've encountered (more than once) a blog post reading:

Now blogging at Patheos

To which I respond:

Now, no longer reading your blog

Lessons from the life of AW Pink

1 April is the anniversary of AW Pink's birth, so I thought I would re-post this piece from 2011. There's an updated version of the biography that I would like to pick up. Murray's bio tries to be fair but is still in many ways deficient. I used to venerate him as a historian but over the past decade I've come to really question that assessment. Nevertheless a good and worthwhile read.

Pink is a polarizing figure on several theological  fronts and I by no means agree with him on everything. I know some Reformed people are quite hostile to him. Since I wrote this piece in 2011 I picked up Banner's edition of his letters. Very interesting. Pink had a real pilgrim mindset and even though he was pretty solidly in the Reformed camp, he wasn't one to the toe the line or fully conform to the mindset of the tradition. He loved Scripture way too much to do that.

An interesting figure who lived during a unique time and led (in some ways) a very fascinating life.

http://proto-protestantism.blogspot.com/2011/04/arthur-pink.html