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.

Sundry Observations On The Regnant Follies

1.) Rev. Rick Warren has given his imprimatur to the Rt. Rev. Gene “The Sodomite” Robinson praying at one of Obama’s more important soirees. It seems that the reasoning goes something like this;

a.)Obama is President of all the people — (Perhaps better put, Obama is President over all the people.)

b.)Therefore all the people ought to have a representative of theirs praying

Honestly, this is what we should expect in a country controlled by religious pluralism. In this pluralistic country the God is the State and it is up to the God to determine how many of the representatives of the lesser gods will be praying for the coronation service where the elected President is invested with the Messianic right to ascend to the god’s throne. As many gods as the people may want may exist in the nation’s pluralistic pantheon as long as each newcomer knows his or her place at the foot of the God of the State. If a God exists who insist that he is God above all the other gods including the God that is the State that God will never be tolerated.

2.) Timothy Geithner failed to pay his taxes for several years and now he is set to become the boss of the Department that is charged with making sure everyone pays their taxes. Geithner also didn’t realize a housekeeper he paid in 2004 and 2005 did not have current employment documentation as an immigrant for the final three months she worked for him.

We must also keep in mind that Geithner was at the heart of the failure of the Banking industry which resulted in their needing to be bailed out.

Now everyone keeps insisting that Geithner is one of those smart guys we just can’t live without. Personally, I’m tired of smart people who get to play by a different set of rules as everybody else. Do you think that if you or I are ever in a position where we’ve been caught cheating on our taxes that we could make the problems all go away but saying, “I forgot”?

And please … we are all adults here. Don’t give me this bushwah that Geithner forgot to pay his taxes. He was attempting to swindle the State. He ought to be rejected for coming up with the same lame excuse for not paying taxes as 5th graders come up with for not bringing their homework to class. If he would only say, “The State steals to much of my income so I was trying to keep some of my money from the thief,” I could understand. But instead as one of the smartest people in the room he tries to sell the line that “he forgot.”

3.) You do realize don’t you that this stimulus plan is going to largely be about social engineering? There will be incentives for this or that behavior. There will be disincentives for this or that other behavior. This is all about the Government manipulating you with your money. Also keep in mind that for every dollar that is poured into make work jobs that is one dollar that won’t be used for jobs that actually produce something that people want.

4.) Carol Browner, incoming President Barack Obama’s freshly appointed Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change – the so-called White House “Climate Czar” – is a Socialist, and there is no question about the socialism. Browner is a member of the Commission for a Sustainable World Society (CSWS), which is a formal organ of the Socialist International. Now, as Global Warming was invented for the express purpose of redistributing wealth throughout the World from these United States to the rest of the World can there be any doubt that Carol will make the US Browner with her policies?

5.) It’s become vogue to say that we wish the President elect success. Count me out of that sentiment. B. Hussein Obama will take office as a man who is further left then any other person who has ever occupied the office of President. Why would I want him to succeed?

Good Riddance Bush

In defense of the departing Bush William Duane Yelley wrote,

“How soon we forget what Bush went through. Constant attacks on our assets stopped after 9/11. We don’t have Osama but he can’t stop running. The liberal cry (lie) of no WMDs ignores the 40,00 munitions, 690 tons of chemical agents and 3,000 tons of chemicals to produce agents found and the 500 plus WMDs found since 2003.

Inheriting a budget that had been “deferred” by the previous administration and unsound housing and economic policies he attempted to reverse since 2001 has given him the reputation Clinton deserves. Giving Bush the credit for private financial failures only indicates our country is ready for socialism.

It’s a good thing we had a man with testicular fortitude who could care less what the liberal media said than the alternatives.”

Bret responds,

1.) Even the Bush administration concedes they were wrong about WMD in Iraq. That dog won’t hunt. Their intel was wrong and invading Iraq was a major error that some of us warned about at the time.

2.) That Clinton was worse than Bush is no reason to recommend Bush. Read Hayek’s book ‘Road To Serfdom’ to see why the worst rises to the top in Totalitarian States. Bush I, Clinton, and Bush II have been pond scum rising to the top. (And by the way, everyone should keep in mind that it is Ronald Reagan that we have to thank for the Bushes. Apart from Reagan there is no way Bush I gets elected and so no way that Bush II has the skids greased for him to the top. Thanks Gipper.)

3.) Bush did not try to reverse Clinton’s housing policies. See,

http://www.vdare.com/Sailer/080928_rove.htm

From Carter forward the politicos have been on this mad rush to multi-culturalism and diversity. The housing industry has been one way they’ve been trying to destroy American brand identity in favor of political correctness brand identity.

4.) Bush does share the credit for helping creating a housing bubble that burst, as the Sailer article proves, and he will share credit for socializing our financial markets with his foolish bail-out.

5.) Bush was a liberal idiot. The Liberal Media is a idiot. Their differences lay in the fact that Bush was Fascist while the media is more international socialist. The fact that the media has criticized Bush does not prove that Bush is not a liberal.

6.) Josef Stalin had testicular fortitude also. I’m not sure that is a particularly noble attribute when you’re as glaringly wrong as Bush has consistently been.

It is a curious trait of the human creature to get all nostalgic at the changing of the guard. Bush’s departure ought not to gin up nostalgia but rather disgust. Disgust for his “No Child Left Behind” idiocy, disgust for his prescription medicine for Senior’s bankruptcy, disgust for his attempt to give amnesty to 15 million illegal aliens, disgust for his locking us into socialism with the bailout, disgust for the Iraq war, disgust for his role in the minority mortgage meltdown, disgust for the “Patriot Act,” disgust for muscling up the position of chief executive thus setting the table for a even larger tyrant, disgust for Bush’s signing statements that basically turned all legislation into whatever he wanted it to mean, disgust for garbled syntax, trying to dress Harriet Miers in a black robe, inviting an Imam and a Rabbi to the 9/11 pantheon “worship” service, and for working so assiduously to surrender our sovereignty as a nation (North American Union). And finally disgust because for eight years we’ve had to put up with looking at a President that looks like Alfred E. Newman.

The Bush II presidency has been shameful, and the fact that any Christian desires to get all sentimental about seeing him leave office is quite beyond me.

Now B. Hussein Obama will be even worse but there is very little to nothing to go all nostalgic over regarding the Bush administration.

Coulter Strikes Again

http://defamer.com/5129900/ann-coulter-botches-view-audition

Why can’t we get more people who are willing to shove it up the pie hole of the “never met a lie I wouldn’t tell” Main stream media?

Why is it that a white Female is the last person you can find that

a.) Isn’t scared
b.) Understands her worldview enough to not be intimated by attacks
3.) Is willing to give as good as she gets

??????????????????????????????????????????????????

Update From Zimbabwe

Dear Brethren

New Year greetings to you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.Amen! The Lord is so gracious and compassionate. He is love! How He moved you to come to our rescue at the appropriate time. Only He knows. For the first time in over 15 months …

To be able to sit down as family and make a budget for family groceries etc.

To be able to secure some food that you expect to last the family for a month on a decent meal per day.

To be able to provide some clothes and shoes for the children.

To be able to make some lunch packs for the kids walking to school(cant afford to drive them anymore)

To be able to send all our children to a youth Bible Conference(camping fees)28 Dec-01 Jan 2009.

To be able to give to our Lord in a very significant way.

This was all because you shared with us the love of Jesus.Praise be to God.Continue to pray for us that the Lord will heal our land. Humanly speaking there is no end in sight.Inflation continues to gallop at a very fast rate.Even the US$ seems to decrease its purchasing power in our shops.So for our grocery shopping we have to drive to South Africa and Zambia. Schools will be charging their fees in US$ and each child will require about $650 by the end of January. This is a mammoth task and we ask for your prayers. Also pray for our political situation. There is literary a stalemate and there is practically no government at the moment.

We would love to communicate frequently but most of the time we are out of network.Also our computer broke down so we have to do it from other places yet networks are usually available in the evenings.

Till next half. God bless you all

As usual, if our Lord Jesus Christ prompts you to give to this family you can send checks to Charlotte CRC and we will make sure the money gets to them.

(No administration or handling fee — smile)

Social Theory and Assorted Musings

“There are three, and only three, fundamental views of the underlying nature of the social bond. Each of them reflects a particular view of the cosmos, which in turn undergirds the particular view of society. These views are organicism, contractualism and covenantalism. The first two have been dominant in Western philosophical and social thought. The third, being uniquely Biblical, has been ignored.

Organicism. This is by far the most widespread view on man’s history, though not in the modern West. Society is viewed as an organism, just as the cosmos is: a growing thing that has the characteristic features of life. The model institution of the organic society is the family, which is closely associated with physical birth, culture, and physical nurturing, and death. This organic view of society is often associated with the concept of a hierarchical chain of being that links God, man, and the cosmos. It is also associated with magic and with magic’s fundamental princple: ‘As above, so below.’ Man supposedly can manipulate any aspect of the cosmos (macrocosm) by manipulating representative features (microcosm)…. Philosophically, this view of society is associated with realism: an underlying metaphysical unity transcendent to mere individuals ….

Contractualism. This is the dominant view in the modern world, although its philosophical roots go back to the Middle Ages (e.g. — William of Occam). Society is based either on a hypothetical original contract among men in pre-historic or on a constitution of some kind. The primary model is the State, not the family, although in some modern social philosophies, the free market is the model. The familiar phrase associated with this outlook is ‘social contract.’ Men in the distant past voluntarily transferred their individually held politically sovereignty to the State, which now maintains the social order. Each social institution is governed by the terms of an original contract, whether mythical or historical….Philosophically, this view of society is associated with nominalism: the denial of any underlying metaphysical reality or transcendent social unity apart from the thoughts and decisions of individual men. Contracutalism is divined into two major historical streams: individualism (right wing Enlightenment) and collectivism (left wing Enlightenment). The former is evolutionary in its view of society; the latter is more revolutionary.

Covenantalsm. This is not a fusion of organicism and contractualism; it is a separate system. It views society as a complex system of legal bonds, with God as the ultimate Enforcer of these covenants and contracts. There are only four covenants: personal (God and the individual); ecclesiastical (sacramental), familial, and civil. These final three are monopoly institutions founded directly under God’s explicit sovereignty. Covenants alone are lawfully established by a self-maledictory oath under God. The oath-taker calls down God’s wrath upon himself if he ever violates the stipulations (laws) of the covenant document. All other relationships are either personal (e.g., friendship) or contractual (e.g., a legal business arrangement). God is the final Judge because He is the Creator, and He brings His judgments, in time and eternity, in terms of His permanent ethical standards (i.e., biblical law). Covenantalism has developed no separate philosophical tradition in Western history, for Christian philosophers, including those interested in society, prior to Cornelius Van Til (1885- 1988) virtually always adopted in the name of Christ some version of either realism or nominalism. The biblical covenant model is based on creationism, not realism or nominalism. This philosophy asserts an absolute separation of being between God and any aspect of the creation: the Creator-creature distinction. This concept, so fundamental to Van Til’s philosophy, categorically denies the existence of a chain of being linking God to the cosmos (realism). Creationism leads to providentialism, which affirms the absolute authority of God and His sovereign control over all things in history (i.e., His decree), thereby denying the autonomous power of man to name any aspect of the cosmos authoritatively (nominalism). Covenantalism is a separate philosophical system.

Dr. Gary North
Millennialism & Social Theory

Note that Roman Catholicism is more beholden to Organicism types of Social theory. Roman Catholicism promotes the chain of being between God and man. For RC the fall resulted in a loss of being and regeneration includes the recouping of being. Also in RC you find the classical idea magic in the handling a representative aspect of creation in order to manipulate the underlying reality that the representative is representing. (This is what the Mass is all about.)

Protestantism is much more closely aligned with social contract types of social theory, although I would suggest that the Puritan Commonwealth was a precursor to what North labels covenantalism.

It is interesting to note that if Organicism is pushed to far what you will get is pantheistic views of social theory. In Organicism the distinctions between man and God tend to get lost in the chain of being so that heaven and earth become fused and God and man become indistinguishable (at least man at the top of the hierarchical food chain). In Organicism God and man become identified as one so that man becomes God and earth becomes heaven. On the other hand we should note that in Contractualism the tendency is toward Deism. God is really an after thought and the emphasis falls on man. In Contractualism the emphasis falls not on the continuity between God and man as in Organicism but in the discontinuity between God and man. In Contractualism man and God become divorced so that man becomes God and earth becomes heaven.

What is interesting here is that despite the opposite movements of these two grand social theories they end up in the same place with God and Man being identified as essentially the same and as heaven and earth being identified together — either in the earth losing its earthiness in the chain of being or in earth needing to become heaven because heaven as been lost in Contractualism’s nominalism. This is another example of Van Til’s rational and irrational wash-women taking in each others laundry. It is also an example of how opposite worldviews come around and kiss. The argument between Contractualism and Organicism is not really over where they end up but rather whether one should go West in order to get to the East or whether one should go East in order to get to the West.

Finally, I am becoming convinced that the philosphical issue of continuity vs. discontinuity is THE philosophical issue. Just think of all the places where that issue raises its head over and over again.

Continuity vs. Discontinuity of Old and New Testaments
Continuity vs. Discontinuity between the Old and New Covenant
Continuity vs. Discontinuity of God with His creation
Continuity vs. Discontinuity of Justification & Sanctificatioun
Continuity vs. Discontinuity in Social Theory
Continuity vs. Discontinuity in the Incarnation
Continuity vs. Discontinuity in the Eucharist
Continuity vs. Discontinuity between our present bodies and our glorified bodies
Continuity vs. Discontinuity in the Nature of the Eschatological age & the Millennium
Continuity vs. Discontinuity in the the abilities of fallen man (think Natural Law)