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.

Hell

Connection between Greek word used for “Hell,” and garbage dumb.

Matt. 5:22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell (Gehenna – garbage dump) fire….29) And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell (Gehenna – garbage dump). And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell(Gehenna – garbage dump).

Matt.10:28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell (Gehenna – garbage dump).

Matt.18:9 And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell(Gehenna – garbage dump) fire.

Matt.23:15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell (Gehenna – garbage dump) than yourselves.

Matt.23:33 Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell(Gehenna – garbage dump)?

Mark 9:43 And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell(Gehenna – garbage dump), into the fire that never shall be quenched:…45) And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell(Gehenna – garbage dump),, into the fire that never shall be quenched:…47) And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell (Gehenna – garbage dump), fire:

Luke 12:5 But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell (Gehenna – garbage dump); yea, I say unto you, Fear him.

James 3:6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell (Gehenna – garbage dump).

We see Jesus used the word gehenna, for hell, and his audience understood Gehenna was a phrase likening the place of Hell to Jerusalem’s garbage pit.

Gehenna (translated as Hell) was the place outside of the old city of Jerusalem called the Valley of Hinnon where waste was dumped; not only trash and garbage were disposed of there, but also corpses of humans and animals were burnt in the dump. In translating the Bible, the word Gehenna was used as a picturesque means of giving concrete meaning to the idea of a real Hell. Gehenna was a place of despoliation, rotting, and total destruction and disintegration.

Hell thus is defined as that place where nothing has relationship to anything else. As the refuse in a garbage dumb is random and unrelated everything that follows the culture of hell exists in isolation from everything else. Hell is the denial of God and without God there can be no meaning. All is random. All is chaos. All lacks cohesion. All is one large mass of unrelated, rotting total destruction and disintegration.

I submit that this definition of Hell is part of that which is being pursued by modern man.

Illustration — University / Multiversity

In this sense, the modern European philosophers/village atheists are creating hell for themselves and their disciples! The very definition of postmodernism, critical theory, deconstructionism, and multiculturalism is this idea that there is no God that exists who provides objective, meaning, and order. There is no God who exists as one who provides an integration point for all of reality. Whenever man throws off God, man builds a Hell culture.

And sometimes, that cultural Hell is more literal than we’d like to think.

We find the fire of Hell that will not be quenched in our abortuaries where saline burning is often used to destroy infants. We find the fire of Hell that will not be quenched in the burned out lives of sexual perverts who die young in the attempt to satiate their fiery lusts.

Understand that for Biblical Christians we can build heavenly cultures because we have God as our total integration point for all reality and meaning. The pagan and God hater though can only integrate himself into total nothingness. The pagan and God hater, because of their hatred of God is a total abstraction who can have no genuine relationship to anyone or anything else because the only being who can provide the concrete point of relationship has been denied.

Far better men then myself have called this integrating into the void. It is the garbage dump aspect of Hell where all is chaos and random because all integration and meaning is absent. The best that man without God can do in this setting is to try and use his own fiat (self-creating and legislating) word in order to impose and force meaning on the particulars that have no inherent meaning. In such a situation it becomes the war of all against all as all seek to be the meaning makers.

Fallen man literally lives in intellectual hell and he takes that intellectual hell and incarnates it into culture.

The consequence of the Gospel in people’s lives is that they leave their cultural hell and begin to see God’s will done on earth as it is done in heaven.

Abe Foxman & Robertson McQuilikin — Regarding Christian Evangelism

“… [T]he anti-Jewish rhetoric that mars several books of the Christian New Testament has been shown to reflect not historical fact but the rivalry at the time the books were written between Jews who followed Jesus and those who did not…Although it is supposedly motivated by love for the Jews, this idea [that Jews should be converted] is inherently anti-Semitic in that it implicitly denigrates the value of Jewish belief.”

Abe Foxman,
Never Again? The Threat of the New Anti-Semitism

“I had read a position paper prepared for the (Lausane III) conference by high-level evangelical leaders. They rejected the church’s historic position of giving priority to the evangelistic purpose of missions …. But my apprehension was raised a notch by the cover story of December’s “Christianity Today” magazine — “Jesus vs. Paul.”

The thesis was that a great battle rages in evangelical circles over whether the mission of the church is primarily to follow Jesus who cared for the sick, the poor, the oppressed, or whether we should primarily follow Paul with the gospel of justification, of extending the hope of eternal salvation. The author maintained that this is the major confrontation in the evangelical churches of America today.”

Robertson McQuilkin
President Emeritus CIU
Delegate Lausane III Conference

Look’s like Abe’s viewpoint is resonating among many “Christians.”

A Second Hand Account On Keller On Preaching

Lance summarized Dr. Tim Keller’s preaching methodology by saying,

“In Tim Keller’s preaching seminar he mentions that saying bold things about abortion and homosexuality ‘C issues’ is not helpful when one hasn’t laid the ground work of the Gospel ‘A’ and a biblical worldview ‘b.’ Although he believes these are both… sin, he hits hard on A’ and B’ primarily so that people would actually believe and be saved, rather than always insisting on implications of those, namely C’. Plus, why mis-step with the conservatives and emphasis some sins over others. If we want people to be saved, we must share the A’ and B’ clearly and consistently; rather, than be known for our theological positions, something that won’t save anyone. He’s in the center of the postmodern worldview and we are just about there ourselves. lets take time to unpack things, when we ‘know’ they will be offended and quit listening when we post our theological positions. If you want that preaching seminar PDF ill send it to you. Its be best thing I’ve ever read on preaching. I’m assuming if you were to talk with a homosexual, you would similar things.”

Now, I don’t know Lance and I don’t know if this is a faithful representation of what Keller teaches in his Seminar, but for the sake of dissection let’s say it is. Here is how I would critique such an approach,

I’m pretty sure that one can’t lay out the ground work of either the Gospel or a biblical worldview if one doesn’t deal with prominent sins. Keep in mind that laying the groundwork out means talking about the backdrop of the Gospel which is man’s rebellion against God. Now, it will do no good to talk about a general rebellion of man against God without being somewhat accurate as to what that rebellion concretely looks like. I mean, is Keller looking to convert Abortion Doctors and Homosexuals only to later tell them after being “saved;”

“Now, about those abortions and that Homosexuality, I know you didn’t realize that salvation meant giving that up, but I have a surprise for you.”

This approach looks a great deal like thorough going compromise.

And the smell of compromise gets even heavier when we read Keller’s answer to a direct question on preaching against homosexuality.

Well, it’s much, much, much easier to to have private conversations about it. I think . . . uh . . . can make this short. I . . . I believe in general that if you preach on why homosexuality is a sin . . . uhhh . . . there are . . . at least in my . . . in my . . . in my . . . in my church I know there’s lots and lots of folks who have same sex attraction who know that that’s not . . . as a Christian, I can’t do that. I’m not gonna go there. There’s a good number of them. I’ve got a lot of non-Christians who are present who are friends of gay people but are not gay. Uhhh . . . and then uhh, there’d be a number of people with same sex attraction who . . . are there. And generally speaking, it’s almost impossible to preach a sermon and hit all 3 or 4 of those constituencies equally well. Ummmm . . . it’s just . . . it’s just think about . . . you know . . . you know . . . you’re a communicator. You know you need to . . . well, what’s my goal? Who are my audience and . . . wow! it’s like a conundrum you can’t solve. So, the best thing has always been for me..[CONSPICUOUS COUGH] . . . to not do the public teaching as much as segment my audience through . . . ummm [CONSPICUOUS COUGH] . . . Books, through classes, through one-on-ones, and so on. I think the time is probably coming in which we’re going to have be more public in how we talk about homosexuality. And I haven’t . . . I’m actually thinking quite a lot about it. Uhhh . . . as to how I will go about it or how we should go about it but I’m not prepared to give you 3 bullet points. (Note: ellipses represent pauses)

That explanation that Lance gave in the first blockquote (and I’m not impugning Lance, as it is not, as far as I know, Lance’s opinion) is so full of holes it is downright embarrassing that anyone would try to pass that off as erudite let alone the embarrassment present by seeing scads of people being suckered by such reasoning.

I’ve already exposed one hole

Here are some more

2.) He is suggesting that salvation of people is dependent upon the way he gives the message. If we really believe that the Gospel itself was the power of God unto Salvation we wouldn’t be conjuring up ways to manipulate people into the Kingdom. (i.e. –The thought process seems to be something like, “I can’t speak about homosexuality or abortion because if I do they won’t be swept up into the hurricane of redemption.”)

3.) Presumably “A” and “B” and “C” are all theological positions. You can’t carve “C” out and call it a theological position while suggesting “A” and “B” are somehow something else then a theological position. If he doesn’t want to be known for theological positions then he should keep quiet about not only “C” but also about “A” and “B” as well. Dividing them up the way he does in the explanation above only provides an excuse that when examined only briefly and with the greatest of nonchalance is exposed as utterly vacuous.

4.) If we are going to avoid naming some sins in “A” and “B” why name any sins at all in the presentation? In Keller’s model a God without wrath brings men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross.

5.) And what does the fact that Keller is at the center of the postmodern world have to do with anything? Is the subtext with such a statement supposed to be that because he is at the center of the postmodern world therefore he has to speak differently about sin if people are to know Christ?

God Loves Diversity

If one were to exert the same exact amount of air through different instruments one would not expect to hear the exact same sound because the instruments have been created and designed to sound differently regardless whether or not the air that animates them is exactly the same. Even so, different peoples can believe the exact same thing but because they have been created and designed to “sound differently” they will not produce the same exact culture. If music is sound poured over instrumentation then why can not culture be theology poured over ethnicity?

Why would we ever discount the reality that God really does love diversity and as such he creates a symphonic band of cultures, each sharing the same theology but each producing a unique sound in a wonderful harmony for His glory?

Does God desire us all to be Trombones?

Should we desire to change the metaphor we could ask what would happen if one took the same exact water and poured it over different citrus fruits. Obviously the reality of the shared water would not make all the juice to taste the same. Just so, different [ethnicities] can have the same exact theology poured over them and that will not mean that all those [ethnicities] will be the same exact juice (culture) because they were not created to be the same exact citrus fruit.

Why would we ever discount the reality that God really does love diversity and as such he creates varying citrus fruits, each sharing the same theology but each producing a unique flavor consistent with their created intent.

Does God desire us all to be Lemons?

This & That On Piercing & Tattoos

Man is not satisfied with how God has created Him and so man will recreate himself according to his own divine fiat word to be cast in a physical image that is consistent with his autonomous vision. The act of unnecessary cosmetic surgery, piercing, tattooing, and now the new piercing rage called corsetting are acts of defiance against being defined by God in our very physical appearance. It is a form of alienism in as much as the pursuit of body modifications indicates a alienation that exists between the person and their own physical appearance.

What modern man is doing to himself in his desire to remake himself physically is akin what happens when one enters into the military. Upon entry into the military the individual is stripped of all identifying marks: jewelry, individual clothing, distinctive scents, hair- facial & head, while covering visible tattoos in order to ‘reformat the individual hard-drive’. The recruit receives standardized grooming and uniform with distinctive ‘writing’ (patches & ensignia) and ‘action codes’ (UCMJ, General Orders etc.) bearing on all of life, which recreate the individual and identify him/her as a soldier/sailor. Now with that as a backdrop one should evaluate the contemporary ‘reformatting of youth’s hard-drives’ that we are seeing in the tattoo / piercing culture and the subsequent impact of this upon our youth’s behavior. Tattoos and piercings (as well as dress) have received renewed emphasis, and have historically been religiously derived.

Like the actions of the military the actions of the tattoo / piercing culture has the goal of stripping and remaking the individual according to a proscribed worldview. The individual hard drive is being reformatted with the goal of creating the new Alienist man.

Now further all this that piercing in the Scripture was, for men, a sign of submission. Rushdoony teaches in his lecture on “Dependence” that when piercing showed up in the West again it was initially done by Pirates and communicated that the one pierced was a subordinate in a homosexual relationship. Tattoos in the ancient world (and in biblical culture) were a sign either of slavery or allegiance to a pagan god. Tattooing is condemned in the Pentateuch.

It is my conclusion then that the tattooing – piercing phenomenon that we are finding in our current culture is merely the outward expression of a slave people’s inward beliefs. Because we have become slaves in our thinking, we are marking ourselves as slaves, all the while telling ourselves that this remaking of our physical appearance is the very essence of freedom. Remember, in an upside down world, slavery is freedom and freedom is slavery.

Interestingly enough, as recently as the 1950’s in America ear piercing was not something nice girls did, and girls being tattooed was virtually unheard.

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Hat Tip

R. J. Rushdoony
Jim Steed
Maggie Nola
Kevin Johnson