Bully's Blog

“To be postmillennial is to be committed to the claim that the state of creation, over time and in time, will be recognizably as the prophets predict…”

Peter Leithart gets down to the nuts and bolts of postmillennialism:

I am postmillennial, and postmils like to speculate about the long view. We like to ask questions like: What is the church and world going to be like after another several millennia of evangelism, baptism, teaching, discipline, Eucharistic merriment? What kind of political system will exist?  How will the church worship? What will the economy look like? What kinds of technological advances will be retained and which will be dispensed with as incompatible with God’s commandments?

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In Jesus’ seven words, He fulfills not only Israel’s feasts and the Tabernacle, but makes all Creation new.

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Brian McLaren’s twists and turns are too subtle for a generation of Christians left vulnerable by ministers who don’t teach the Bible. Erich Rauch of American Vision is very helpfully working his way through Brian McLaren’s latest book, A New Kind of Christianity.

“Due to the strong influence that he has as a “pastor to pastors,” any time McLaren releases a new book it is a pretty big deal within the walls of the church. And because he is giving voice to concerns that many pastors and church leaders have expressed and thought about themselves, his writings indirectly resonate from American pulpits nearly every Sunday morning. His newest book, A New Kind of Christianity, claims to describe what Christianity might look like if it were “not afraid of questions.” Questions are a really big part of McLaren’s ministry. In fact, the subtitle of the book is: “Ten Questions that are Transforming the Faith.” Now I am certainly in favor of questions; I think that far too many people are far too easily satisfied with conventional ways of thinking and doing things. I agree with McLaren that questions can effect change; but I disagree with him and his book’s subtitle because it’s not the questions that cause the progress, it’s the answers. And unfortunately, this is where McLaren is his weakest.”

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An 8 minute interview with Peter Hitchens. Thanks to Tim Nichols.

Peter Hitchens Author Interview–The Rage Against God from Gorilla Poet Productions on Vimeo.

or Sword Swallowers

Part 1 is here.

Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Him with her sons, kneeling down and asking something from Him. And He said to her, “What do you wish?” She said to Him, “Grant that these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on the left, in Your kingdom.” But Jesus answered and said, “You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” They said to Him, “We are able.” So He said to them, “You will indeed drink My cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with; but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared by My Father.” (Matthew 20:20-23)

When we say “Amen,” we’d better mean it. It is a reception of the Covenant, binding us to it legally for better or worse. Ray Sutton writes:

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or The Self-Maledictory Oath

For thus says the LORD God of Israel to me: “Take this wine cup of fury from My hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it. “And they will drink and stagger and go mad because of the sword that I will send among them.” Then I took the cup from the LORD’s hand, and made all the nations drink, to whom the LORD had sent me…” (Jeremiah 25:15-17)

The content of this post has been revised and included in Bible Matrix II: The Covenant Key.

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[1] See Sacramental Doses of Death.
[2] This is the execution of a Covenant curse, so those who fought against Jerusalem were people under the Covenant.
[3]Contrary to popular opinion, I believe that the divided animals substitute for the Canaanites rather than for Abraham, but the birds do substitute for Abraham. The birds are the head of the Covenant, and He is never crushed. Only the serpent’s head is crushed. This also relates to the linen left in Christ’s tomb. The Jew-Gentile body was divided in Abraham and reunited in Christ. See Pass-over and Pass-Through.
[4] See Three Babylons.
[5] This also relates to the disappearance of the pure Covenant-head, the Ark of the Covenant. See The Lost Ark.

Darren Doane’s finished the first half hour of Genesis Redux.

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or Jesus in the Synagogue of Satan

I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted — you may well put up with it! (2 Corinthians 11:2-4)

Read Fighting Over the Children and The Finger of God before you read this post.

John’s account concerning the woman caught in adultery highlights the satanic nature of legalism. The garden of Eden is not replayed here; rather, it is a sequel.

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The woman stands in the midst (a phrase that occurs twice). She is the Altar of Incense, the fragrant “army.” The scribes and Pharisees are the false Lampstand, standing in for satan as his body. He is, after all, their father. They bring no male lover to be condemned. She has been enticed and now stands accused. Her sin is one of wandering astray. Their sin is high-handed.

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Most commentators, including N. T. Wright, get the Restoration era all wrong. Our history as God’s people is cruciform, which is reflected in the four faces of the cherubim. The Mosaic “bull face” (the Bronze Altar) was replaced with the Davidic “lion face” (the Ark). The Ark was taken by God, and the era of the prophets began, the “eagle face” (the all-seeing Lampstand). Resurrected Israel was to be wise men to Gentile kings, leaven within the kingdoms shown to Nebuchadnezzar. They would not have a Jewish king until the fourth face, the Man, arrived (the Table of Showbread).

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Victor from Brazil has wrapped his head around Totus Christus with lightning speed and sent a couple of insightful applications to the New Testament. As with my stuff, no one is being dogmatic. But the continued evidence for this is overwhelming. The big question is, was Paul doing this deliberately?

Victor has some sublime observations in here. As always, these will make sense (or more sense) to you if you have read the book.

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