McKibben Muddies the Already Septic Waters of American Christianity

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2025/nov/23/america-christian-evangelical-discrimination-immigration

I've read so many essays like this in recent years, well meant, making many excellent points but always out of focus, off, and ultimately as problematic as what as being critiqued.

The Sweet Taste of Vomit

https://petehurst.com/wealth-is-not-the-problem/

I was sorry to see (but not terribly surprised) the confused publishers of The Aquila Report endorsed this article by republishing it.

Hurst is a former PCA pastor who still speaks in PCA/OPC circles. He retired from the ministry and decided to get into real estate and get rich. He justifies this by means of Kuyperian argument. He is unapologetic in his celebration of wealth and the 'good life'.

Feminism and European Evangelicalism

https://evangelicalfocus.com/european-evangelical-alliance/33099/women-in-leadership-conference-a-triumph-of-courage-competence-and-unity

The call for women in leadership is cast in somewhat nebulous terms. How do they mean this? In ministry? Society? Business? Government? It's unclear.

Regardless, all of these options are problematic and cast womanhood in other than Biblical terms. Once again this is feminism on full display within Evangelicalism. By moving the goalposts they can insist they are 'conservative' feminists countering radical feminism - even though only a generation ago these same women would have been considered radical feminists.

The Politics of Orthodoxy in Old Bessarabia

https://www.asianews.it/news-en/Romanian-and-Moldovan-Orthodox-Christians-in-conflict-64314.html

I have previously reported on the contest within Eastern Orthodoxy over the question of Moldova - an episode that somewhat parallels events in Ukraine.

American Pragmatism and the Justification of Christmas

https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/reformers-disagreement-on-christmas-yields-lessons/

The Reformers were divided on the question of Christmas celebration.

The Church historian in question suggests we split the difference. Luther was for the celebration of Christmas and all of other traditions that he deemed did not specifically undermine or contradict the gospel. The Reformed wing of the Magisterial Reformation tended to argue that ecclesiology is also regulated by Scripture and therefore Christmas was suspect.

Davis dodges the theological issue and tries to create a binary dilemma between sacred and secular elements of the Christmas celebration - enjoy it, but be careful.

But that's not the issue if we're talking about the divide between the Reformers. This is to miss the point entirely.

Mysteries Overcome by Philosophical Discipline are not Mysteries

https://www.challies.com/articles/difficult-does-not-mean-cryptic-and-mysteries-arent-meant-to-mystify/

Challies is a popular figure within New Calvinist/Evangelical circles. He rightly denounces the counterfeit mysteries that seem to be so popular in Evangelical and Charismatic circles - the Bible code books, visions of heaven and hell, hidden prophecies tied to contemporary politics, or perhaps the latest 'key' to understanding the Dispensational End Times scheme. There are plenty of examples we could point to and Challies rightly denounces this tendency.

But then he said a few things that I found to be troubling.

The Latest Vatican Betrayal of Chinese Catholics

https://www.asianews.it/news-en/Henan-gets-a-new-bishop-while-churches-remain-off-limits-to-under-18-64424.html

Leo XIV has now followed Francis in his betrayal of Chinese Catholics. The underground bishop Zhang Weizhu was effectively thrown under the bus in favour of the Beijing approved prelate Li Jainlin, now bishop of Xinxiang. Further, the ruling CCP intends to enforce it's ban on under 18-year olds - an affront that the Vatican seems willing to kow-tow to.

Why would the CCP ban under 18's apart from a hope to indoctrinate them - in the hope that they will abandon Catholicism?

Why would the Pope agree to this?

Why Biblical Christianity is Being Abandoned by Conservative Christians

https://ironsharpensironradio.com/2025/11/20/november-19-2025-show-with-dr-david-a-harrell-on-why-america-hates-biblical-christianity/

When I saw that Chris Arnzen was going to cover the topic of Why America Hates Biblical Christianity, I decided to listen. I wondered if his guest would peel back all the layers of ideology, history, and obfuscation and touch on some of the core and foundational problems with the American mindset. Well, that just turned out to be wishful thinking.

The Netflix Documentary on Dominionism in Brazil

https://pilgrimunderground.blogspot.com/2025/12/the-end-of-road-for-bolsonaro.html

As a follow-up to the recent piece I wrote concerning Bolsonaro, I decided to temporarily subscribe to Netflix - basically so I could watch a couple of documentaries, at which point I'll dump the otherwise worthless subscription. Netflix was helpful back in the day when I could receive all manner of foreign and obscure films via their DVD in the mail service. The rise of other subscription services led to a decline in the Netflix library and over time I found the platform to be of decreasing value. Once every couple of years I'll turn it on for a month, get caught up on some documentaries and then shut it off again.

The End of the Road for Bolsonaro?

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/28/support-dissolves-as-jair-bolsonaro-starts-jail-term

It would seem Jair Bolsonaro grew desperate and attempted to remove his tracking anklet which resulted in the judge insisting that (since his appeals were exhausted), he immediately begin serving his 27 year jail sentence.

Western Media's Latest Episodes of Anti-Putin Spin

Putin is a thug and murderer and thus he's cut from the same cloth as many US leaders and their proxies. I'm not a fan of him or his policies and yet it's striking to me just how frequently Western media spins coverage of him, his statements, and his actions.

Palestinians as Mosquitoes

https://www.972mag.com/gaza-human-shield-mosquito/

https://www.democracynow.org/2025/5/29/israeli_soldiers_using_palestinians_human_shields

https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-hamas-war-army-human-shields-80f358dd2c87a1123f26ffada159701c

This story broke wide open back in May and since then I've watched and waited. Would any Christian outlets cover this story? Would any self-described Evangelical 'news hounds' like FLN's Bobby Price dare to report on this?

The answer is no.

Trump Pardons Honduran ex-President

https://pilgrimunderground.blogspot.com/2024/06/dictators-and-drug-dealers-americas.html

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1kpm0rvxepo

The Mainstream Media is actually giving this latest Trump pardon story some attention - even while it all but ignored Orlando Hernandez's conviction and sentencing last year.

Anti-Semitism and the GOP - Then and Now

https://forward.com/opinion/524649/trump-destroyed-guardrails-against-antisemitism-gorka-kyrie-kanye/

The concept of Anti-Semitism has become confused in our day. There is a kind of three-fold debate over race-based Anti-Semitism associated with Right-wing ideology, Anti-Zionism opposed to the state of Israel and its policies vis-à-vis the Palestinians, and even some other forms of Anti-Semitism which often defy the Left/Right divide, focusing on the corrupt nature of Western Capitalist (or for some Globalist) society and the role Jews play in the banking, academic, and political world - and of course the Hollywood and media-entertainment complexes.