Dissident

We must find a new identity marker for who we are. “Christian” does not get it done any longer for the word “Christian” has come to encompass everyone from “control freak” Marxists, to “heart strangely warmed” Pietists, to schizophrenic R2K, to “rapture date setting” Dispensationalists, to “God is sovereign enough to not be sovereign” Arminians, to other assorted kooks, oddballs, and curios.

“Conservative” does not get it done as identity marker. We are so far down the liberal rabbit hole that I have no interest in conserving even the conservatism of three generations ago. Besides, “Conservative” today can mean anything from “Big Government Conservative,” to “Neoconservative” — neither of which is conservative by any objective standard. Today “Conservative” is seen as the foundation for Flag waving, military supporting, Empire lusting, Alien adopting, and support of all things Big Brotherish.

No … we need a new identity marker to set ourselves apart from other “Christians,” other “Conservatives” and worst of all, other “Conservative Christians.”

In previous eras other words were used to mark out a distinct people. Words like “Reformer,” and “Protestant.”

I suggest the word “Dissident.” We have come to the point where the most Christian and conservative action possible is to oppose official policy of the authoritarian structures that we engage at every turn. Dissidence towards other “Christians.” Dissidence towards the Statists. Dissidence towards the Patriot crowd. Yes, especially Dissidence towards the Church. We must be Dissidents precisely because we are Loyalists to King Jesus and His authoritative word.

We must be Dissident because, as was said of Athanasius, we are “against the world for the world.”

Dissidentēs contra mundum.

Count me as Dissident.

Author: jetbrane

I am a Pastor of a small Church in Mid-Michigan who delights in my family, my congregation and my calling. I am postmillennial in my eschatology. Paedo-Calvinist Covenantal in my Christianity Reformed in my Soteriology Presuppositional in my apologetics Familialist in my family theology Agrarian in my regional community social order belief Christianity creates culture and so Christendom in my national social order belief Mythic-Poetic / Grammatical Historical in my Hermeneutic Pre-modern, Medieval, & Feudal before Enlightenment, modernity, & postmodern Reconstructionist / Theonomic in my Worldview One part paleo-conservative / one part micro Libertarian in my politics Systematic and Biblical theology need one another but Systematics has pride of place Some of my favorite authors, Augustine, Turretin, Calvin, Tolkien, Chesterton, Nock, Tozer, Dabney, Bavinck, Wodehouse, Rushdoony, Bahnsen, Schaeffer, C. Van Til, H. Van Til, G. H. Clark, C. Dawson, H. Berman, R. Nash, C. G. Singer, R. Kipling, G. North, J. Edwards, S. Foote, F. Hayek, O. Guiness, J. Witte, M. Rothbard, Clyde Wilson, Mencken, Lasch, Postman, Gatto, T. Boston, Thomas Brooks, Terry Brooks, C. Hodge, J. Calhoun, Llyod-Jones, T. Sowell, A. McClaren, M. Muggeridge, C. F. H. Henry, F. Swarz, M. Henry, G. Marten, P. Schaff, T. S. Elliott, K. Van Hoozer, K. Gentry, etc. My passion is to write in such a way that the Lord Christ might be pleased. It is my hope that people will be challenged to reconsider what are considered the givens of the current culture. Your biggest help to me dear reader will be to often remind me that God is Sovereign and that all that is, is because it pleases him.

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