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.

American Funerals

Several years ago I took some part time work with a funeral home to help supplement my pastor’s income. The people who owned the Funeral home were gracious and they made sure that I never had a conflict of schedules. They understood where my priorities were and worked with me accordingly. The work was different. At times I would drive the hearse transporting the deceased from one funeral home to another. At other times I would pick up the deceased from the place where they had died and bring them to the funeral home. There would be times I would help with the parking and times I would deliver the flowers after the funeral service. It was all the stuff you would expect to find in working with a funeral home.

However I didn’t last more than a year doing this part time work. It wasn’t that they were dissatisfied with me. Nor was it that I was dissatisfied with them. It wasn’t the nature of the work that had me walk away from a little extra income. It was the depression I was struggling with that had me quit. Now, one might think it was a depression brought on by my being around death that had me quit, but it wasn’t that. The depression that drove me to quit the funeral home was the constant barrage of funeral sermons I was hearing. I got to the point I just couldn’t handle seeing people leave funeral after funeral with no idea what the Gospel was. More than that I had got to the point that I couldn’t handle the silliness that was going on in the name of Christ.

At one funeral the Pastor quoted the famous passage,

“In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.”

He then proceeded to eulogize the deceased by saying,

“Paul had many interests in his life and in heaven Jesus has a room for him for all the interests that he had. There will be a voluntary fireman room for him. There will be a ‘Dad’ room for him. There will be a sportsman room for him. etc. etc. Jesus has been very thoughtful this way.

At another funeral where the deceased had been involved in a tragic auto accident the Pastor climbed into the pulpit and the first words out of his mouth were,

“I want everyone who is sitting here and who can hear my voice to know that God didn’t have anything to do with this accident. God didn’t want this to happen and this isn’t God’s fault.”

At yet another funeral a female minister led the congregation in hand holding with the person next to them while she sang Bette Midler’s “The Rose.”

Eventually, I couldn’t take any more and I told my Funeral employer that my emotional well being was being adversely affected by all the funeral messages I was subject to and I had to quit.

I thought I had seen it all until today. Now, keep in mind my observations having nothing to do with the deceased and everything to do with the Clergy officiant. The deceased and his family were and are fine people.

Today I was at a Funeral and the minister got towards the end of the service and he said,

“Now I want everybody to uncross their arms and legs.” (Insert shuffling noises while most people are uncrossing arms and legs while others go out of their way to cross arms and legs.) “In ancient Judaism they never prayed with arms and legs crossed because it was thought that such a posture would block the effectiveness of the prayers. I want everybody here to get the full measure of the prayer so go ahead and uncross your arms and legs. Now, before we pray I want you to take your right hand and pretend you are reaching up into heaven and are pulling a gold coin out of a treasure chest.” (Insert spectacle of 200 people in a funeral home reaching with their right hand upward into ‘heaven’s treasure chest’ in order to pull out a gold coin. Now insert my fear that his next statement was going to be something like … “You do the Hokey Pokey and you shake it all about — that’s what its all about.”) He continued instead, “now, take that coin and pretend it is a memory and put in the pocket over your heart. That is your special memory of ______ that you will always have in your heart with you.”

Look, I try to be a reasonable man. I really try to listen to things with as much charity as possible. But a man can only take so much. Here we had a room full of people face to face with eternity and he is busy having people grab imaginary gold coins out of an imaginary heavenly treasure chest all the while making sure our body posture doesn’t get in the way of God’s ability to answer prayer. There was no mention of Christ. There was not mention of the Cross. There was no mention of resurrection. There was no mention of sin. There was no mention of grace and forgiveness. There was no mention of anything except the Chakra points of prayer.

If I were a pagan at a funeral like this, I guarantee you I would never ever darken the door of a church. If I were a pagan at a funeral like this I would never ever have anything to do with Christianity.

And now, I’m working on not being depressed again.

Shifting the Context of Left vs. Right

Conservatism is not what it was before FDR and the New Deal. Old line Conservatives like Garet Garret, Albert J. Nock, H. L. Mencken, John T. Flynn, Frank Chodorov, and others like them, were they to walk the earth today, would be considered right wing extreme extremists. FDR and the New Deal succeeded in pulling the continuum of what constitutes liberal vs. conservative to the left so that today’s people can claim to be conservative and still support things like Social Security, Medicare, and other government give away programs.

We are now living in times that represent another lurch leftward in the left vs. right continuum so that if the Obama administration is successful in socializing health care, the way that FDR was successful in socializing old age retirement, today’s liberals will be thought of as tomorrow’s conservatives. This will result in, as an example, tomorrow’s conservatives accepting homosexual marriage as a given but cherishing their conservative pedigree in the fact that they oppose bestiality marriages.

Roosevelt was successful in redefining left vs. right because in his socialism New Deal legislation he bought and created a constituency that would never vote against the money that the Democratic party was committed to giving them. The whole social security scam gave people just enough money to remain dependent upon the government but not so much money that they would ever be anything but dependent. Obama is seeking to do the same thing that FDR did (and LBJ compounded) by creating a constituency that once it gets hooked on the drug of governmental sponsored enterprises (GSE) will never quit voting for the party that got them hooked on GSE. If he is successful in doing this the whole continuum of what constitutes left vs. right will shift once again leftward.

Horton, Frame, & Goldilocks

In the well known fairly tale, “Goldilocks and the Three Bears,” Goldilocks is forever being presented with extremes. The porridge is either too hot or too cold. The chairs were either too big or too small. The beds were either too hard or too soft. Fortunately, at each juncture she found one that was “just right.” The Reformed Church in America is having a Goldilocks moment at this current point in history.

Federal Vision is too legalistic. R2Kt is too anti-nomian. Is there anybody who is just right? John Frame is too broad. Mike Horton is too narrow. Is there anybody who is just right?

I read Mike Horton’s Christless Christianity. I read most of John Frame’s critique of Horton’s Christless Christianity. All I can say is give me something “just right.”

Let me try to explain what I see going on here. Horton comes from a school that believes that the cult should be kept tight while Christians ought to be able to handle the culture in a pluralistic broad fashion. Frame, on the other hand, obviously believes that the cult should be a large tent — indeed so large a tent that Frame finds himself defending numb-skulls like Joel Osteen and Chuck Smith. To be honest if Frame’s model were to be followed the Church would be largely indefinable by virtue of how it would include almost everybody. Frame is just plain wrong in how he would define the parameters of the Church. Indeed, in a move that is more than odd for a Reformed theologian he seems to almost completely ignore the historic Reformed “marks of the Church” in his critique of Horton.

If Frame gives us the “too broad” characterization of the Church, Horton brings in our Goldilocks moment by giving us a “too narrow” version of the Church. Frame is correct when he faults Horton for his loose usage of Theology of suffering vs. Theology of glory. Horton and his R2Kt chums have a bad habit of even slapping this “theology of glory” pejorative even on Reformed people that don’t agree with their innovative and unique style of Reformed theology. Frame is also right when he points out Horton’s incipient Lutheranism in the way Horton frames the Law vs. Gospel dynamic. This Lutheranism is constantly seen in the R2Kt model that Horton would foist upon the Reformed Church. Often one wishes the R2Kt guys would just go to Wittenburg and be done with it. Frame is again correct when he faults Horton’s “Moralism” categories. I know what it means to preach Redemptive-Historical sermons. I really do get it and do often preach that way. But Horton and the R2Kt crowd end up suggesting that any sermon that is imperative oriented is “moralism.” This reverts back to their Lutheran mindset on the Law.

As I read Frame’s critique it was “Goldilocks and the Three bears” all over again except I can’t seem to find that damn third bear where everything is “just right.” Were we to follow Frame’s vision of the Church we’d be holding hands with Pelagians and Word Faith guys like Chuck Smith and Joel Osteen. Yuck … how disgusting is that? However, on the other hand were we to follow Horton’s version of the Church we’d be standing next to guys like Darryl Hart and R. Scott Clark who would refuse to hold our hands because we are stinky theonomists who are icky “theologians of glory.”

One more issue before wrapping up. I can’t help but get a chuckle out of John Frame who waxed eloquent about the dreaded character of the “Machen’s Warrior Children.” According to Frame we needed to get away from the Reformed tendency to always want to fight. And yet here is Frame in all of his warrior regalia fighting with other people in the Reformed Church. The irony is apparently lost on John but remains delicious to those in the know.

In the end Horton has many good points in his book “Christless Christianity” concerning the reality that the Church is missing Christ. The problem however is when Mike goes all Lutheran on us insisting that unless we become R2Kt we are missing Christ as well. Mike’s porridge is too hot. Frame has many fine observations regarding Horton’s hot porridge but the problem is that John’s multi-perspectivalism mitigates his ability to draw proper lines. John’s porridge is too cold.

And here I sit looking for some porridge that is “just right.”

NY #23 And Voting Repbulican

The congressional race in the NY 23rd district is exhibiting why it is not wise for Christians to blindly support the Republican party and why voting third party is a good idea. In that district the Republican party has, by way of a smoke filled room decision amongst party hacks, put forth one Dede Scozzafava as their candidate to fill a seat vacated by the previous Congressman taking the position of Secretary of the Army. The problem with Dede is that she might as well be a Democrat. Her husband has serious ties to ACORN. She is pro baby murder. She is pro buggery marriage. She supports cap-and-trade anti-global warming legislation. She is in favor of the $787 billion Obama stimulus plan. She is a strong supporter of federal “card check” legislation that would force private-sector employers to recognize a union as the sole collective-bargaining agent if a union organizing drive at a given work site generates signatures indicating more than 50 percent of affected workers want to join. In short Dede Scozzafava is a Republican version of Nancy Pelosi.

A funny thing happened on the way to the general election though. Not only is Dede challenged by the expected leftist Democrat (Bill Owens) but the conservative party in New York is running one Doug Hoffman, an accountant by trade with solid conservative credentials. Right now the polls show the Democrat running marginally ahead with Scozzafava and Hoffman splitting the Republican vote.

Now according to the teachings we have seen at various time from those like Gary DeMar, Doug Wilson, Joel McDurmon and others Christians are supposed to hold their noses and vote for Dede Scozzafava simply because she is a Republican and she wouldn’t be as bad as the Democrat Owens. The argument continues that by voting third party we are insuring that the Democrat wins.

Naturally, the response to this is … so what? If we keep supporting the leftist RINO candidates that the leftist in the Republican party keep vomiting forth we are only going to get leftist candidates. If Hoffman and Scozzafava both lose in the NY 23 district race the Republican establishment will have learned (hopefully) to quit running leftist RINO’s. If enough people quit pulling levers for leftist RINO’s they can’t stand eventually some party is going to see that large minority of people and are going to respond to their concerns. But as long as we keep blindly supporting leftist RINO’s like Bush, McCain, Schwarzenegger, Crist, Specter, and Scozzafava, all we are ever going to get is leftist legislation and more leftist candidates.

It’s past time to start questioning any Christian leadership that tells us to get in bed with these leftists by way of supporting them with out vote. Certainly there is no such thing as a perfect candidate but calls in the past to not vote third party and to support McCain were blatantly ridiculous. Similarly, following that same principle that was invoked to support McCain would be equally ridiculous in voting for Scozzafava.

One more thing before I’m finished here. In my estimation Newt Gingrich, in his support for Scozzafava has insured that I will never pull a lever for Newt Gringrich. Gingrich is the preeminent neo-con and his support for this leftist Scozzafava reveals again the Rockefellar Republican instincts he had when he entered into the Republican party circa 1964.

Brownsville Comes To Charlotte

Periodically, I have to reminds myself just what a minority Reformed people are. I need to remind myself because sometimes I tend to think that all my posting and argumentation matters. The Reformed world is a backwater pond to the ocean of Christian expression. The current ocean of America Christianity is Pentecostalism. And so going to a Pentecostal revival service reminds me of the smallness of my voice and the smallness of the Reformed voice as compared to the larger voice of Pentecostalism that is what most people hear when they hear the voice of Christianity in their heads.

Pentecostalism in one form or another has crept in seemingly to a great number of historically non-Reformed denominations. For example, while on Holiday I saw the influence of Pentecostalism on the Church I attended when I lived in Maine. There was the ubiquitous pentecostal praise music accompanied by the swaying hand raised attendees. In the denomination I serve Pentecostalism, in its “Third wave” expression, received an official favorable report. There are Charismatic Catholics and tongue speaking Lutherans.

Anyway, having said all that I attended a Pentecostal revival service this evening that was featuring Steve Hill who was one of the main actors in the Brownsville Revival. Several years ago I did some research and reading on Brownsville as well as Toronto Airport and the Kansas City Prophets. As such I thought I would go to hear and see Steve Hill.

The service was just about what you would expect. It opened with 45 minutes of a band playing contemporary praise choruses. The music was simple, repetitive, and as with most of these services there was the ability to reach crescendos at just the moment when the joint voices reach their fevered prayer pitch in the congregation. I’ve always wondered how they manage to do that.

Steve Hill’s message was random and scattered. His methodology was entertainment Oprah like oriented and was filled with personal anecdotes and story telling. He had a real ability to connect with the audience. He told stories about how when he was doing in ministry in Chili he had the foot traffic in a community park and the auto traffic that went by the community park come to a complete and total standstill because the spirit fell on the park. He noted how he went from stopped car to stopped car to tell the drivers and passengers that what they were all sensing and feeling was the Holy Spirit and that they needed to repent. He noted how one business woman stood stock still for four hours straight because the Holy Ghost was upon her. The emphasis fell on conversion by Spirit’s work over conversion by proclamation of the Gospel though Steve did mention that he told people they must repent.

Steve started the message by showing a USA Today piece that reported coming hate laws speech in America. Steve suggested that the way that the only way America can avoid coming hate laws that will stifle Christian speech is for Americans to get saved. He spent about 5 minutes on sin and 3 minutes on Jesus dying for sinners and then he went on to what people need to have in order to succeed. (Hey, I said it was random.) He noted that his listeners need to avoid negative people and negative people were defined as anybody who doubts how continuing revelation comes to individuals. Clearly the emphasis on this part of the service was the validity of current expressions of gifts, signs and wonders. This was underscored by his insistence that we need the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. This power is known by having supernatural occurrences in our lives.

Steve pushed for the necessity of an encounter with Jesus. I think he was emphasizing the personal relationship with Jesus necessity. It reminded me of something I read recently from Gordon Clark challenging the way Evangelicals have typically talked about a “personal relationship with Jesus.”

Steve gave us the Pentecostal Word of the Lord routine. He started the service by telling us that someone here is ________ and God told me to tell you this evening that _______. He informed us that the Jesus died for everybody. He told us that God was much more exacting in the Old Testament than He is today suggesting that OT penology isn’t for today.

The most important part of the service though was the altar time. Steve gave a typical altar call and then proceeded to slay people in the Spirit. Women were falling left and right, caught by the assigned catchers. The air was filled with the sounds of “heavenly languages.”

Somewhere in the mix we had an offering where Steve said with a straight face, “The small bill is of the Devil and the big bills are of God.”

On the positive side I really believe that God uses Pentecostals in the way of common grace. Pentecostalism does a wonderful job of supporting traditional Christian morality. It is long on emphasizing certain behavior patterns even if it is short on building a sound theological foundation under those behavior patterns.

In the end though it remains far to prone to measuring truth by means of emotion and experience. It remains far to little concerned with the life of the mind. Because of that its adherents are far to easily swayed by every wind of doctrine that blows. Were real Reformation to visit our country one sign of it would be Pentecostals becoming a little less existential and a little more Word oriented.