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.

Carrie Prejean, Christian Reaction, and The Matter Of Deviancy

I’m sitting here listening to a internet radio interview that is produced by Liberty University with Miss California, Carrie Prejean.

http://www.afr.net/index.php?option=com_sermonspeaker&task=singlesermon&id=11203&Itemid=0

Thus far she has been compared to Eric Liddle and Queen Esther of the Bible. Carrie has been lionized for her bathing suit high heeled stand for Jesus for saying that she was raised to believe that marriage was to be between a man a woman when asked about her thoughts on that subject during the Miss USA contest.

This post is not so much about Miss Prejean. I spoke to that in a previous post. Really, I’m quite pleased that Carrie answered the question the way she did as opposed to saying that she hopes one day herself to marry another woman. Further, I’m even willing to grant that it took admirable character of a sort to answer the question the way she did knowing full well that it would likely cost her the Miss USA contest.

This post is instead about the evangelical / fundamentalist reaction to Miss Prejean. Remember, a scant generation ago fundamentalists, such as those who created Liberty University, were the ones who frowned on card playing, movie watching, and women wearing pants. The fundamentalists have come a long way baby. Now the fundamentalists are talking about how the barely dressed Carrie Prejean is a role model and that they intend to tell their youth groups and Sunday Schools about the parading nearly naked and faithful Carrie Prejean.

Please don’t get me wrong. I have no problem with playing cards, watching movies or women in pants. Indeed, the rapacious side of me has no problem with ogling soft porn models in their underwear. However, the better Angel of my nature still does think that a young lady publicly displaying her under wear and selling herself as a sex object in order to win a beauty prize probably still defies the Scripture’s call for modesty. Just call me old fashioned.

I don’t know what to attribute the Christian community’s exalting of Miss Prejean to. Maybe it is because there is such a desperate need for heroes that the Christian community will glom onto anybody. Maybe everybody else grew up and I’m just being my usual curmudgeon, “why can’t anybody else see this except me” self. However, I think it more likely that what has happened is that even the Fundamentalists have defined deviancy down. In 2009 homosexuality serves as the definitional bar for deviancy, and so today a soft porn model can be seen as a hero for Jesus by Evangelicals and Fundamentalists for taking a mild stand against homosexual marriage. In 2049 it may be that Liberty University will be giving an award to and singing the praises of a transsexual Beauty Queen who took a stand for Jesus by mildly denouncing the push for mainstreaming bestiality.

Obviously the problem here is that the Christian community is allowing the culture to define deviancy, which has the added advantage of allowing Christians to partake in the deviancy of soft-porn, whether by being a soft porn model or by lusting after the soft porn models, while still giving them the ability to be self-righteous about homosexual marriage. This is a deal if there ever was one as Christians can satisfy both their lusts to be a Sex object or to objectify women and their need for feeling superior to other people all at one time.

If your a sinner like me any deal that allows me to be a horndog and sanctimonious at the same time is better than 2 for 1 coupon day at the adult bookstore peep show.

Egalitarian Democracy

Unbridled Democracy when under the influence and control of egalitarians yields the anarchy engendered by the inevitable flattened sameness that egalitarians favor, a rampant polytheism due to the equality of all gods, and finally an anarcho-tyranny where the worst elements of culture are allowed to create anarchy in the name of egalitarian Democracy while the best elements of culture are tyrannized and punished by the state because the best elements are opposed to egalitarian Democracy.

In Light Of Carson’s Warning McAtee Invokes Lloyd-Jones

“Failure to distinguish between the gospel and all the effects of the gospel tends, on the long haul, to replace the good news as to what God has done with a moralism that is finally without the power and the glory of Christ crucified, resurrected, ascended, and reigning.”

D. A. Carson
Thelimos

I couldn’t agree with this quote more. However, as D. Marty Lloyd Jones used to teach one can fall off the razor’s edge of truth on both the left side and the right side. Dr. Carson has given us a proper warning regarding falling off one particular side of the razor’s edge of truth. The reality that Dr. Carson would have us to be aware of is, is the danger of failing to distinguish between the gospel and all the effects of the Gospel. However, there is another warning that needs to be raised against another danger and that is the danger in failing to articulate the reality that the Gospel does have effects and consequences.

If we were to frame it in similar ways to Dr. Carson we might say something like this,

“Failure to articulate to the Church that the Gospel has effects tends, on the long haul, to replace the truth that because we have been raised with Christ we are to walk in newness of life, with an anti-nomianism that is finally without the power and the glory of Christ crucified, resurrected, ascended, and reigning.”

I am more than willing to admit the danger of which Dr. Carson speaks. There is a great danger in the Church today to exchange the Gospel for moralism. However, I wonder if those who are so excited to raise their voices in warning against moralism will also raise their voices in warning against anti-nomianism.

We must remember Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd Jones warning that one can fall off the razor’s edge of truth in two different directions.

For Tom, Michelle & Tommy J. – Pt. II

Dear Tom & Michelle & Tommy J.,

Matthew 6:9-13

9After this manner ought you to pray:

Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

10Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

11Give us this day our daily bread.

12And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

13And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

Yesterday we ended by asking how it is possible that God would hear our prayers. Another way we might ask this is how is it that God can be addressed as “Our Father.”

Tommy J., most people consider it automatic that God should hear prayers but they forget that God being Holy and pure He cannot remain Holy and pure and be in a relationship with those who are not Holy and pure. So, again we ask, “how is it that God can be addressed as “Our Father.(?)”

The answer to that Tommy J., reveals how loving God is. God can be called “Our Father” because God Himself takes the initiative to take away our sin by providing someone who served as a substitute for us. We couldn’t come to God with our sin and call Him “Our Father,” so God provided Jesus Christ as the one who, by His death, would bear the sins of those, and serve as the substitute for those who trust in Christ. The Bible says,

“Jesus, who knew no sin God made to be sin on our behalf; that we might become the righteousness of God in him.(II Cor. 5:21)”

Tommy J., it is because of the death of Jesus Christ for sinners like you and me that His people can call God “Our Father.”

This means Tommy J., that those who don’t trust in Christ as the one who is their substitute, cannot call God their “Father.” This is why the Bible says that “no one can come to the Father except through Jesus (John 14:6).”

So, Tommy J., we can call God “Our Father” when we pray because God provided Jesus Christ as a substitute to take away the sins of those whom God loves.

Tomorrow Tommy J., we will begin to look at how the Lord’s prayer continues to teach the followers of Jesus how to pray.

Since we are learning how to pray, let us end with a prayer,

“Our Father we thank you for being Our Father and for loving us so much that you sent Jesus to make known to us your love for us as a Father. Father, we thank you that gave Jesus to us as our substitute and that you hear our prayers because of the death of Jesus on the Cross as our substitute. We thank you that we can call you ‘Our Father.’ In Jesus Name We Pray …. AMEN”

Political Potporrrui

Arlen Specter has been a Democrat ever since he was elected in 1980. Why does anybody consider it news that he has finally admitted it? Now if we can only get the rest of the Republican party to admit it.

Hi, my name is the Republican party and I’ve been a Democrat for 50 years.

Don’t let the talking heads fool you. When they lament that the Republican party can’t keep their moderates what they really mean is that the Republican party can’t keep their Liberal Democrats who call themselves Republican. The whole fricking Republican party is moderate by any sane standard…. and that is being generous.

Why do I get the sense that the swine flu is a bunch of bull-crap? Why does anyone automatically give credence to anything that the government reports about anything? If the Government isn’t lying to the public it can only fall back on being totally incompetent. Giving the government responsibilities in the health realm is like putting a Witch doctor in charge of the University of Michigan Medical school. Here is some cheap advice. If we ever get to the point where things are really dire and the government says the citizenry should do “x” wise citizens will completely ignore these buffoons and do “y.”

I have a suggestion on the torture issue. We could try water-boarding on our politicians and if a few of them die then we can conclude that it really was torture…. or conversely we might conclude that poetic justice exists and that the ones who died were terrorists. If we are still unsure we could do it again until we find out for sure. Listen people, our political and bureaucratic class is much more dangerous to us then the terrorists out there. Unlike the political / bureaucratic class the terrorists haven’t killed 50 million unborn babies.

Today Congress passed more hate crimes legislation thus proving that crimes that are committed out of hate are to be punished more seriously then crimes that are committed out of love. Juries are now going to be asked not only to find people guilty beyond a reasonable doubt they are going to be asked to be soothsayers who can pretend to know what was on the criminals mind when he was committing the crime.

Take it to the bank … by the time that the Obama administration is finished the race relations in this country will be more tense then they have been since the 1960’s.