The Good Samaritan and his .40 Caliber Pistol

The recent school shooting in Oregon received some extra attention because the shooter or perpetrator was gunned down by someone off the street, someone not in law enforcement. This makes some in government nervous as the line between state power and violence and the kind wielded by vigilantes becomes confused.

Evangelicals and Misquoting the Bible in Public

https://religionunplugged.com/news/link-relcanonical-hrefhttps/the-department-of-homeland-security-quoting-the-bible-on-instagram%E2%80%9D%20/%3E%20%E2%80%9D

It's a shame, but Evangelicals in their persistent misguided zeal love any public quotation or reference to the Bible - even when it is being tortured, manipulated, and abused by politicians or celebrities. They think that somehow they've scored some kind of culture war victory because someone used Scripture - usually to justify something they're doing that has nothing to do with the verses in question.

Lillback's Messiah

https://georgewashingtonbible.com/pages/foreword-dr-peter-a-lillback

While perusing the nationalist idolatry and filth being promoted on some other Evangelical sites, I encountered this gem from PCA pastor Peter Lillback, who is also president of Westminster Seminary - to that institution's discredit and shame. Lillback has been known to me for many years as he is a leading champion of the syncretism I refer to as Christo-Americanism. This forward from the 'George Washington Bible' testifies to this.

Acts 17, Nations, and Immigration

I recently heard one of the weekly Scripture-twisters on Christian radio attempt to defend Trump's immigration policies by appealing to Acts 17 when Paul on the Areopagus states that:

24 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;

25Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;

26And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;

The right-wing lobbyist in question argues that since God set the 'bounds of their habitation' that therefore nations (and apparently nationalism) are legitimate and so therefore a draconian border policy (including deportations to Guantanamo Bay) is not only permissible but perhaps even some kind of duty or moral imperative.

Legalism and Generation Joshua: An Exercise in Confusion

https://www.christianpost.com/voices/how-the-fundamentals-of-christian-fundamentalism-led-me-out.html

I read this piece twice, attempting to take it all in and let it wash over me. I could appreciate some of what Elizabeth Doll has to say and yet at the same time was repulsed by it. There are definitely problems in some quarters of the Church and often it seems like the parts that affect people the most are not questions of substance but style, an ethos, and a kind of culture within the Church.

Why do we Pray for Kings and All in Authority?

https://mitchchase.substack.com/p/to-lead-quiet-and-peaceful-lives

It was refreshing to find this author focusing on the Neronic context of Paul's letter to Timothy. It's a critical point and one the seriously undercuts many of the common assumptions that reign in the Evangelical and Dominionist sphere.

A Timely and Encouraging but Awful Sermon

Recently I heard a sermon which I continue to think about. Based on a section of Psalm 119, the visiting speaker did a decent job moving through the passage verse by verse and exhorted the congregation to focus on Scripture, make it central to your life, meditate on it, and so forth. So far so good.

Russell Moore Interviewed on NPR and the Growing Evangelical Rejection of Scripture

https://www.npr.org/2023/08/05/1192374014/russell-moore-on-altar-call-for-evangelical-america

I've written repeatedly about Russell Moore over the years and while he's considered in some quarters to be a quasi-'woke' liberal today, at one time he was as right-wing as anyone. I can't say that I've ever been a fan though I do appreciate his stand against Trump – though perhaps for different reasons than his. I will say he appeared the Christian when contrasted with the likes of Franklin Graham, the master and inheritor of a corrupt legacy and 'ministry' machine.

Prophecy Expert Jimmy DeYoung, Vaccines, and the Mark of the Beast

The Dispensationalist teacher Jimmy DeYoung died in August of Covid-19. I had listened to him on and off for years. His programme appeared on the local Evangelical radio station and it seemed like many times we were in the car when it aired. I took great exception to his teachings. Misunderstanding the Bible on a massive scale, the outworkings of his aberrant theology took a particularly bad turn when it came to political Zionism and support for the often violent Settler movement in the West Bank, and Likud policy in general.

The Museum of American Christendom

https://www.christianpost.com/news/museum-of-the-bible-unveils-magna-carta-exhibit.html

The Evangelical community was excited when in 2017 the Green family (of Hobby Lobby fame) opened the Museum of the Bible in Washington DC. For many it communicated a powerful message regarding the Bible and its place in American society and culture. While they would have preferred it to be located on the National Mall itself, the fact that it sits nearby (with a top floor view) is pregnant with symbolism.

Feminism Triumphant in the Evangelical Sphere

https://www.npr.org/2021/04/15/987552105/the-making-of-biblical-womanhood-tackles-contradictions-in-religious-practice

Extra-Biblical ecclesiology, bad hermeneutics, and bad doctrine in general have opened the door to feminism and they are now triumphant in the Evangelical world. So triumphant in fact, that things are beginning evolve.

Dominionist Scripture Twisting on Display

http://theaquilareport.com/debunking-citizenship-heaven-motif/

This article authored by a PCA pastor completely misrepresents the position of Two-Kingdom advocates, especially those within his own Reformed circles. Most of the Two Kingdom advocates in Reformed circles are actually Kuyperians and his criticisms are invalid. He falls into the classic straw-man argument, projecting 'dualism' on to people who aren't dualists. He accuses Two Kingdom theology of a world-abandonment mindset that no one actually advocates.

Dead vs. Living Stones

While I'm not endorsing this website, this article recently brought to my attention is a good read.

http://www.apostasywatch.com/TeachingDiscipleship/ArticlesbyApostasyWatch/tabid/57/ctl/Detail/mid/409/xmid/142/xmfid/1/Default.aspx

Just a couple of weeks ago I was teaching on 1 Peter 2 and thinking about the Temple Mount and the Wailing Wall. It struck me in light of the passage that these people are putting their faith in dead stones. The image is striking to me. Our Temple is made of living stone and it must be contrasted with these dead ones. Judaism's devotion to a temple of dead stone is the basis of their rejection of the Messiah. The doctrine of the Living Temple, the very person of Jesus Christ becomes a stumblingblock and occasion for offense.

2 Timothy 1.13-18

Continuing in the Pastoral Epistles...

http://zionpath.blogspot.com/2015/02/2-timothy-113-18.html

Scripturalism vs. Systematics

He would probably be distressed to know I'm linking to his post from my website, but I wanted to share this little gem. This is a great little example of resisting the urge to systematize and seek coherence. This is letting the text speak and letting your doctrine be formed by the text. This is the right way to read Scripture. When we try to create systems what we end up with is reductionist frameworks that in some way diminish the fullness of the text and because we reduce its scope, we ultimately distort it.

The Christian Experience in Romans 7

http://feedingonchrist.com/john-pipers-10-reasons-romans-714-25-christians-experience/

I'm not a big fan of Nick Batzig or John Piper but I certainly appreciated this.

He's right in pointing out that Romans 7 has long been a controversial passage. Is Paul talking about the Christian life, or his pre-conversion experience?

Lloyd-Jones on Authority

Reaching for Fox's Book of Martyrs I stumbled across another old friend...  Authority by DM Lloyd-Jones.

It's a small Banner of Truth volume only about 100 pages in length. I remember early in my Christian walk reading this and (it seems kind of simple now) grasping how central the issue of authority was.