Dec
13
2014
Secularism and Inquisition
“If I were in charge, they would know that waterboarding is how we baptise terrorists” – Sarah Palin, April 2014
Despite its Messianic pretensions, the secular state has no authority over the spiritual realm, and militant Islam exposes this incompetence to us again and again. The “War on Terror” banner illustrates perfectly the failure of statists to comprehend, or perhaps to admit publicly, the true nature of our enemy.
This post has been slain and resurrected for inclusion in my 2015 book of essays, Inquietude.
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2 comments | tags: Baptism, Islam, Persecution, Secular humanism | posted in Biblical Theology, Ethics
Nov
26
2013
or Nailed to the Mast
Rachel Held Evans is a writer who likes the challenge of “asking tough questions about Christianity in the context of the Bible Belt” while consulting the howling void of modern culture for the answers. That is indeed a challenge. She takes Christians to task for referring to the de-Christianizing of Christmas as “persecution”, offering a helpful chart.
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Comments Off | tags: AD70, Christmas, Doug Wilson, Esther, Mordecai, Paul, Persecution | posted in Apologetics, Christian Life, Ethics, Quotes
Apr
15
2011
or Baptizing the World
After Pentecost, the firstfruits church met in the Temple. Over the next few decades, the Jewish leaders barred these worshippers from their premises. What they didn’t realise was that the glory was departing as it did in the time of Ezekiel, only this time it was inside people who were living Temples as Jesus was.
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10 comments | tags: Baptism, China, Dispensationalism, Persecution, Postmillennialism | posted in Biblical Theology, Christian Life, Creation, Ethics, Totus Christus
Sep
3
2010
or Insanity and Spiritual Songs
Van Gogh’s work has been regarded by some as “hallucinatory,” however his letters show that few artists were as intelligent and rational. His work was not the product of his dark times but of his struggle against them.
“I am feeling well just now… I am not strictly speaking mad, for my mind is absolutely normal in the intervals, and even more so than before. But during the attacks it is terrible—and then I lose consciousness of everything. But that spurs me on to work and to seriousness, as a miner who is always in danger and makes haste in what he does.” [1]
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Comments Off | tags: Covenant Theology, Evolution, Hebrews, Jeremiah, John Piper, Martyrdom, Mission, Noah, Paul, Persecution, Poetry, Psalms, Ray Sutton, Van Gogh, Vindication | posted in Bible Matrix, Biblical Theology, Christian Life, Creation, Quotes
May
23
2009
The size of the vote against those advocating violence against Christians amazed the political pundits, who had predicted a close election with perhaps years of unstable and weak coalition governments in India’s future.
“No one expected this,” Dr. Yohannan noted. “The Congress party itself is surprised.”
But Dr. Yohannan said there was a clear explanation.
“Many political pundits are talking about the ‘X’ factor in this election, something unexpected that can turn the results. There was an ‘X’ factor, and I believe it was God.
“There are 1.2 billion people in India,” he explained. “They are very important to God, and He worked.
“So much prayer went up,” he added. “Christians have been praying, and God answered their prayers. That’s what happened.”
It’s interesting that in India a secular state will curb the persecution, while in the West it is the secular state that is increasingly becoming the instrument of persecution by litigation.
Comments Off | tags: Hinduism, India, Persecution | posted in Christian Life, Quotes