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.

Taking On Alan Keyes Nonsense

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=204865%20%20Keyes%20on%20banning%20Muslims%20from%20America

TAKING AMERICA BACK 2010

Moratorium on Muslim immigrants?
Radical solution to homeland insecurity stirs controversy at conference

A proposal on how to stop the spread of Islam in the U.S., suggested from the floor at WND’s “Taking America Back” conference in Miami, Fla., stirred a rousing response from the audience but received an even more impassioned reply from the platform.

“I propose a moratorium on Islamic immigration and mosque construction in the U.S.,” an unidentified attendee suggested during a panel discussion on Islam, “until the Quran is scrubbed of its passages that are incompatible with our Constitution.” (1)

The audience responded in spontaneous applause.

But the panel on stage gave a surprising response that quickly made the audience rethink its enthusiasm.

“The moratorium would be forever,” (2) stated William Murray, chairman of the Religious Freedom Coalition, warning the audience that asking Muslims to scrub their scriptures was unreasonable.

Keynote speaker Alan Keyes took admonition of the audience one step further.

“One word of caution,” Keyes said. “We get into a defensive position as Americans because we have forgotten our own roots.” (3)

Reminding those assembled for his speech the night before – in which he contended America owes its liberties, prosperity, rights and democratic republic government under the Constitution to dependence upon and submission to God as declared in the Declaration of Independence (4) – Keyes asserted that any immigrants of any faith who come to America’s shores should find a land brimming with irresistible, life-changing freedom, enabled by the principles of Christianity.(5)

“If we’re in a situation where we’re afraid to have Muslims come to our nation,” Keyes stated, “it is because we have forgotten that when they get here they’re supposed to find a society based upon God.” (6)

He continued, “The U.S. is not a fortress intended to put up battlements around a Christian enclave. Christianity’s message is to spread the gospel, not contain it. … We shouldn’t be afraid, we should be eager. It would save us the trouble of having to go over there to evangelize them. That’s the spirit that founded this country in the first place.” (7)

With the audience visibly stirred by his challenge, Keyes gave a final, impassioned point:

“I think we’ve become timid, cowards. We’ll hide faith under a bushel?” he asked. “I don’t think that’s the road I want to go down.” (8)

Applause erupted from his listeners again, this time even louder than before.

1.) In 1890 Mormons scrubbed their religion of polygamy so that they could gain statehood. If Mormons were required to drop the offending parts of their religion in order to be Americans why shouldn’t Muslims be required to do the same? If it was not unreasonable to require Mormons to conform to the Constitution why would it be unreasonable for Muslims to conform to the Constitution?

2.) If the moratorium ended up being forever, whose fault would that be?

3.) We have forgotten our own roots? We have forgotten that we came here from Muslim countries with forbears practicing the Muslim faith?

4.) The god that the Muslims submit to is a different god then the God who is mentioned in the US Declaration of Independence. The liberties, prosperity, rights and Federal republic government under the Constitution are what they are because of the God that Americans were submitting to when the Constitution was accepted. Muslims don’t submit to that God. Since Muslims don’t submit to that God, can they sustain and support the liberties that that God provided?

5.) Can America’s shores long support large and sustained influx of peoples who hate the principles of Christianity which brim the land with irresistible, life-changing freedom? People who have faiths that hate Christianity are likely to overthrow the principles of Christianity for the principles of their own pagan faiths.

6.) Who is Keyes kidding? It has been decades since our society has been based upon the God of the Bible. A society based upon God … Abortion? A society based upon God … Homosexual Marriage? A society based upon God … women in the military? A society based upon God … banning the God of the Bible from the public square?

7.) (a) If we put battlements around this country the result would not be a Christian enclave but a religious Humanist enclave.

(b) I am convinced that the purpose of open door immigration is to dilute the Christian influence in this country so that Christians are forbidden from spreading their gospel message.

(c) Eagerness is an odd emotion to have when envisioning one’s country being swamped with people of other faiths who are eager to stamp out Christianity.

(d) The Spirit that founded this country was the spirit of Christians fleeing from being surrounded by people who hated them in order to establish Christian commonwealths. The spirit of the early Puritans pushed out Quakers who desired to upset their established commonwealths.

(e) It would be one thing if we were absorbing insignificant numbers of people of other faiths that hate Christianity. It is the case instead that we are being asked to absorb large numbers of people while encouraging them to build their religious houses and insisting that the Christian faith can not be given any sanction higher than the Christian hating immigrant’s faith.

(f) I would say that Dr. Keyes words are indicative that Dr. Keyes has a need to be evangelized.

8.) (a) Actually, I think it is Dr. Keyes who is the timid coward. Dr. Keyes is so timid that he is not willing to say that hyper-pluralism has been an absolute disaster for this country. Dr. Keyes is such a coward he will not tear down the idol of multi-culturalism. The people who disagree with Keyes have such great faith that they are willing to say that we need to evangelize our fellow countrymen first before we take on even more Christ haters who will work to overthrow the Christian faith.

(b) Keyes accuses people who disagree with him of “hiding their faith under a bushel.” It is hiding faith under a bushel by insisting that those who hate Christianity shouldn’t be allowed to swamp this country? That is a funny definition of hiding faith under a bushel.

Obama’s Speech To The Congressional Hispanic Caucus

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2010/09/21/obama_mexicans_were_here_long_before_america_was_even_an_idea.html

There is so much wrong with this 85 second clip it is difficult to detail it all.

1.) Notice the pronoun “We,” and the way Obama uses this pronoun. The “We” has Obama identifying with the pre-American Indians, Mexicans, and Colonial Europeans over against Americans. Obama has embraced a narrative where he identifies more closely with the pre-American inhabitants of this country than he does those people who actually were Americans. The inhabitants that Obama is identifying with in his “We” statements are the inhabitants that the Americans had to contend against in order to become a nation and in order to keep their nation.

2.) When Obama finally turns his pronouns to America (“What made ‘us’ all Americans …) the usage is to identify the pre-American inhabitants as the true America. (Remember … Obama is speaking before a Hispanic organization.) The true America is the outgrowth of the original America that existed before the idea of America.

3.) Obama mentions that all these groups … “Shared the same land.” Knowing Obama’s lean I can’ t help but wonder if this is a swipe at the European understanding of owning land. Before the mean evil Europeans showed up with ideas of land ownership the original peoples shared the land. Certainly, Obama’s convictions are that private property is counter-productive.

4.) Obama says that before America was even an idea that this was the shared land of Mexicans. Before America was an idea would have had to be some time before 1776. Mexico became a country in 1810. You do the math, because Obama clearly cannot.

5.) Obama insists on the idea that America is a proposition nation. Obama says that America was made because of shared values that we (the pre-America “We”) hold so dear. Here is the problem. I am willing to bet that I don’t share any values with this man or with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. As such, either they aren’t Americans are I am not an American. I’m guessing that they think it is yours truly who is not an American since I don’t share their values.

6.) Obama then quotes from the Declaration of Independence (that same Declaration of Independence that referred to his earlier mentioned Indian tribes as “savages”) but he leaves out a key phrase in his quote. He leaves out the phrase … “Endowed by their Creator,” and quotes the Declaration of Independence as if it doesn’t make reference to a “Creator.” It is very difficult to believe that this was just an “oversight.” It is more in keeping with the little things this man does and says to show contempt for the country.

7.) Obama zeroes in on “equality.” But of course it is not the “equality” which the Founders believed, but it is the “equality” of the French Revolution. It is the equality of sameness.

A Conversation On The Priority Of Worship Over Theology

In some Reformed quarters today it is all the rage to say that Worship must precede Theology. As such, in these Churches, all kinds of attention is paid to the Worship service itself and the Liturgy of the Worship service. Now, I certainly agree that we need to be careful regarding our worship but genuine care for our worship requires us to get our theology right, for their will be no Christ-honoring worship where our theology is skewed or confused. Suggesting that doxology precedes theology skews both our theology and our doxology.

A danger in this “Liturgi-centric” approach is that so much effort is expended upon ecclesiastical worship and in emphasizing the importance of worship that the impact of theology on every area of life does not receive the attention it deserves. If people really believe that getting worship right will lead to everything else being right then the outcome of this will be people who know both the solemnity and the hilarity of worship but know little of what theology should look like as we worship God outside the sanctuary in our daily living worship. This kind of liturgi-centirc emphasis can lead to the same old problem of communicating that the sum of Christianity is found in the Church.

Now, as I believe that the worship is at the heart of the Church, and that sound communities are only as good as the theology taught in their Worship centers, I do highly regard worship but there are other life systems in the body that must be attended to or we will have a strong heart and a weak limbic system, or failing auto-immune system, or a worthless nervous system. The means by which a body is kept in shape — from its worship to its ministry of mercy, to its body life — is theology that is Biblical, practical and alluring.

Below is a conversation I had on this subject with a fine Christian Brother. I disagree with him on this subject but I have a high esteem for him.

Dr. Blast

Get the worship right first…or pervert it all.

Bret responds,

Get the theology right and the worship will follow.

Dr. Blast

Not at all persuaded bro. Bret…have seen far too many ‘theological-link picking know-it-alls…who have precious little heart for worship. I would rather say…”get the worshiping heart right…and the theology will follow.”

Bret responds,

Not possible Doc. Literally impossible. You’re arguing for the consequence before the cause. No one will get worship right unless they are smitten with the beauty of the Holy. That is Theology.

What the know-it-alls need is better theology. A theology that does not lead to Christ centered worship is pagan. A theology that is theological-link picking is not Christian theology.

Dr. Blast

No, you are mistaken brother. known and seen too many pastors & children who could pass any theology/catechism exam…but had little real heart for true worship…your bassackwards…a heart for true & vibrant worship might eventually get the theology right, but churches are plagued w/heartless theologians who hate worship, people… & God.

Bret responds,

LOL … bassackwards.

You show me a man who has worship right and I’ll show you a man who has his theology right. You can not worship Biblically what you do not know. This whole movement lately to front-load worship over theology is fundamentally horrid. It is yet one more example of looking for experience and emotion to lead the way over thinking God’s thoughts after him. People who advance this paradigm, while well intentioned, are doing God and true religion a disservice.

Worship is the out-flowing of the minds intoxication with God. You can know more have Worship before Theology than you can have babies before Sex.

People who have their catechisms memorized or their systematic theology down cold who are not at the same time not smitten with the beauty of God do not know their catechisms or their theology. The remedy for such people is to return to their Bibles, catechisms, and theology for it will only be a return to the beauty contained in those where they will find their hearts strangely warmed.

“Theology” that is known in the way that a Medical student knows his cadaver is not Christian theology. The problem for such people is not cured by getting them jazzed up in a worship service or by introducing them to the solemnity of worship associated with smells and bells. The problem is cured by the Spirit given realization that they are the cadavers and God is the Medical student. Only by the Spirit given understanding that God is not a subject to be dissected but a Triune person who fills the earth with His splendor, majesty, and royalty can a person be cured of this theolog-itis. However, when a person is given that understanding they have passed into true theology and are not for the first time ready for worship.

You can not have right worship without right theology and if you have right theology that does not lead to right worship you do not have right theology.

Pray For Christopher Hitchen Day — 24 Hours Later

Christopher Hitchens is a well known, well publicized and frequently published Christ hater. He has become a bit of a poster child also for Christian yearning that God might send Reformation and awakening to increasing numbers of people in America who, like Hitchens, hate Jesus Christ.

So here is my prayer for Mr. Christopher Hitchens,

God of all mercy and grace open the eyes of Mr. Hitchens to your wrath against him and your intent to crush him, both temporally and eternally, if he does not find refuge in your expressed love of Jesus Christ for sinners such as myself and Mr. Hitchens. In wrath remember mercy, gracious God, and extend to Mr. Hitchens your irresistible grace that he might be a trophy of your ability to take captive even the most hardened against you.

And most Sovereign and Benevolent God we implore thee that you would also send forth the Spirit of Christ to convert many of the Christopher Hitchens in our own lives, that we meet every day, that your name might be honored among the nations.

Yet Holy Father, whatever you might do, in rescuing or damning, we pray that we would bless you that in all your actions you are pursuing the highest and best love — the love for yourself and the intra-trinitarian love of each person of the trinity for the other.