Category: Apologetics

McAtee Contra Tchividijan On The Evils Of Christian Nationalism

“When you start blending the gospel with nationalism, you don’t just confuse categories—you corrupt the message. The gospel isn’t about reclaiming a country; it’s about redeeming people.

This kind of distortion doesn’t stay contained. It ripples out—generation after generation—leaving behind a trail of disillusioned people who think Christianity is about moral superiority and cultural dominance instead of forgiveness and grace.

Lord have mercy.”

Tullian Tchividjian
Billy Graham Grandson
Former Presbyterian

1.) Blending the Gospel with Nationalism?

Yet isn’t this what Jesus did when He told his disciple to teach the nations to observe all things that Jesus had taught them?

These chaps keep using the word “Nationalism” like it is this poison rag that is inconsistent with the Gospel. Yet, the Gospel has every intent of having all nations owning Christ as Lord. After all, Christ must rule until all things are placed under His feet …. including nations.

This also demonstrates the age old Baptist type behavior of insisting that the Gospel is only an individualistic thing. The Gospel is to have no corporate or Institutional impact. Individuals can be saved, so the thinking goes, but not families, ethnicities, nations or cultures.

Indeed, I would go so far as to say that if the Gospel is not blended with a proper and biblical understanding of Nationalism, that it is NOT the Gospel.

2.) The Gospel is about redeeming individuals and reclaiming countries. Does Tullian really believe that the LORD Jesus Christ is not interested in reclaiming countries. What does Tullian do with the idea that the Gospel has the power to restore “wherever the curse is found?” I suspect that Tullian, and all people who talk like this own a pessimistic eschatology. If they are postmills (and Andrew Sandlin talks this way) then they have contradictions all over their eschatology.

3.) One wants to shake Tullian, and his ilk, and ask them why they are so opposed to Nations owning Christ and upon owning Christ weaving into their constitutions and law order the teaching and standards of Biblical Christianity. How could that possibly be a bad thing?

4.) Christianity can be both about forgiveness and grace as well as about moral superiority and cultural dominance. A Christian people who are part of a Christian nation should be morally superior to nations who are anti-Christ and should also have cultural dominance over them until such a time as they repent.

Now, if Tullian is talking about the self-righteousness that can come from those who do not understand themselves sinners saved by grace alone then of course that kind of moral superiority should be abominated and the culture that produces should NOT have dominance but a people believing that they are morally superior and so should have cultural dominance – only because of Christ’s favor – while they continue to embrace that they are simultaneously sinner and saint are to be celebrated. All Christians should strive for that type of moral superiority and cultural dominance. It is a righteous thing and not evil in God’s sight that the righteous should rule over the wicked Christ hater.

Bagel Inroads In America Continue In Our Culture & Our Churches


Recently, there has been a great deal of attention (even more than usual) to all things Bagel. The most glaring recent example is how the Bagels are gobbling up, in a more intense manner than previously, the media outlets in America.

We know that the last letter that Charlie Kirk wrote to Netanyahu (in May) was full of pleading that Netanyahu pay attention to the fact that Israel was losing the propaganda war. Since then Bagels have gobbled up the propaganda machine knowns as “Tik Tok” (Michael Bell, Rupert Murdoch, and Larry Ellison).  This is in addition to all the other media giant conglomerations that the Bagels control.

This means that whether it is TikTok, MTV, Paramount, CBS, etc. what viewers will be getting is disinformation (propaganda) that is heavily weighted in favor of the Bagel interests. This comes at the same time that an organization related to Doug Wilson just offered 10million to purchase “Christianity Today.” Now, knowing Wilson’s predilection for all things Israel;

“My affection for Israel is personal, in addition to being theological and political. My wife’s great-great-grandfather was Rabbi Cohn, one of my co-grandfathers is a Christian Jew, my kids and grandkids have cousins who are Israeli, and according to AncestryDNA, I myself am 2% European Jewish. Nancy is 11% European Jew, her mother 26%. What all this amounts to is that our family would be much more involved on an active personal level if terrorists overran Israel than we would be if terrorists overran Vermont.” 

Pope Doug Wilson

it is easy to understand why some wags have projected that if Wilson’s organization is able to secure “Christianity Today,” the name of the magazine will be changed to “Judeo-Christianity Today.” There’s even a funny meme going around with the latest proposed new Wilson owned cover for “Judeo-Christianity Today.”

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10236496790787244&set=a.1132919770643

Whether it is the Lamestream Lugenpresse or whether some future “Judeo-Christianity Today,” it seems that unless folks are willing to dig beneath the surface for the truth they are going to be just eating out of the troughs of Bagel propaganda.

The fact that the US is bedeviled by all things Bagel is seen in

a.) Israel’s role in JFK assassination
b.) Israel’s attempt to sink the US Liberty
c.) Jonathan Pollard spy case
d.) The Rise of Dispensationalism

Now add in the Dancing Israelis on 9-11 along with the rampant speculation that Israel was involved in the Charlie Kirk murder and it can be easily seen the need is for less Bagel influence in American affairs and not more such is going to be the case with the recent media purchases by Larry Ellison.

Still the drum of Bagel influence keeps beating. Recently, a couple chaps tightly tied to Doug Wilson and who run a podcast that is fairly popular among the CREC groupies were given an all expense paid 10 day trip to Israel by a Bagel organization. Toby and Gabe came back singing the praises of Israel. The same Israel that is the porn capital of the world. The same Israel where the pervert crowd goes to Tel Aviv to go on pervert holiday.

https://www.insidehook.com/travel/tel-aviv-queer-epicenter

Yet despite these objective facts old Toby, chief Lieutenant to Doug Wilson and full of great aspirations (along with Jared Longshore) to  be the one who most perfectly apes Doug Wilson in speech, mannerism, and writing style, insists that Israel is on the cusp of in Old Toby’s word’s, “a conservative resurgence.”

In many ways modern Israel is the front line defense against anti-Christian & anti-Western barbarism.”

Rev. Toby Sumpter
CREC

Doug Wilson Lieutenant

Can you imagine anyone having their brains being so soft as to repeat this talking point once returning from all expense paid trip to Israel? Now, no one doubts that there are a small minority of Bagels in Israel that are seeking to be true to a immoral morality but the idea that Israel is serving as a front line defense against anti-Christian & anti-Western Barbarism is just lunacy. Did Old Toby visit the Brothels of Tel Aviv? Did he go witness the porn manufacturing? Did he partake of the LGBTQ night life? Was Old Toby spat upon, as commonly happens in Israel, for sharing his Christian faith?

That Old Toby is inside the Evangelical tent shilling for Israel is seen in this statement from Old Toby;

 

“If we are to take the virtue of natural affection’ seriously, it really must be part of our conversation surrounding our relationship to Israel and the Jews because the Bible teaches that the Jews are our apostate older brother.”

Rev. Toby Sumpter

Blogger @ “No Legs … Still Walking”

Never mind that “Natural Affection” means NATURAL and not Spiritual. Paul did not mean that Jews were, by blood, our older brother. As such … “Natural Affection” does not apply.

Never mind that even in the Ordo amoris if someone who is blood related and they apostatize you treat them as if they are infidel. You shun them until they repent.

Never mind that modern day Israel bears virtually ZERO relationship to the Jews of the OT but instead are Khazars and Edomites by blood. There is a reason why, Toby, that Israel imposes significant regulatory restrictions on DNA testing, particularly those related to familial ties.

This is ASSININE beyond words and is doing the work of subversion. This may be some of the best evidence yet that Moscow. like the broader Lugenpress in America, is bought and paid for by the Bagels.

Beware the CREC.

Beware the American Reformed clergy.

From The Mailbox; Pastor, Should I keep Attending This Church?

A email in my inbox this morning from someone in a church that has a Pastor who sells himself as “there is no one more conservative than me,” and yet has his children in government schools, has explicitly said more than once that he is against Christian Nationalism, has made it clear that he opposes “anti-Semitism” (that really isn’t anti-Semitism) and whose church now is noticeably increasing in mixed race marriages with the minority wives don’t even speak English. The Pastor also said during the covid era that those who resisted the Gov’t. on its covid requirements were sinning against God.

This chap is now asking me if he should continue to attend this “best church there is in his area.”

I do realize that this whole line of inquiry could be merely some kind of trap in order to try and discredit me.

Here is my response to his query;

Hello Mr. Z,

Thank you for writing me.

This is a perplexing question that I often have to field. I usually answer it by saying; “I do not think I could attend that kind of church, though I would never fault someone who shared my worldview for attending such a church since I realize how important worship is and since I realize how difficult it is to locate other churches that would be any better.”

I also tell most people that if I attended said church I could not support it with my tithes and offerings since any money I would give to the Church would be supporting those very things to which I am adamantly opposed. So, if it were myself in your situation, if I decided to attend, I would not financially support the Church. I might instead give my tithes and offerings to families/individuals in the congregation who I saw had some real financial need. In such a way you’re not supporting the church as an Institution though you would still be supporting the needs of the church. I would also probably try to do that kind of thing anonymously.

I would also, were I you, try to speak with the Pastor about some of these matters, or failing that, I would try to pass on thoughtful articles or books or lectures or podcasts on these issues. Everybody is talking about these issues now and there is some good material out there. An older piece by Joe Sobran titled “Pensees” can be found online and would be good for your Pastor to read.

I should probably end by noting that your if your Pastor is “conservative” it is of the “Normie Conservative” type. In other words your Pastor is definitely not “conservative.” Worse yet, I do not think he is a particularly orthodox Christian.

Of course most of us are walking curios and so have contradictions all about us. As such, I realize that your Pastor could be quite good in other areas of Christian orthodoxy even if he is horrid on these you have told me about.

All of this advice is based on the assumption that you are single. If you had children my advice would be different.

I am sorry that the visible Church is so against Her stated Master. I am sorry that you are having to go through this.

As in Christ we can Never Surrender,

Pastor Bret

And Then An R2K Fan-Boy Showed Up In The Comments

Some chap named “Jackson Stead” showed up in the comments section to dispute my take on R2K. I’m always in for a good polemical go.

Jackson Stead wrote,

This critique (against R2K) misrepresents both the metaphysical and theological framework of Reformed Two Kingdom (R2K) doctrine.

1. Christ’s Kingship is Not Denied

R2K affirms Christus Rex. Christ rules all things, including the civil and ecclesial spheres. The distinction is not between realms of truth but of office: church and state are both under His providential kingship, but exercise different delegated authorities. The state bears the sword for justice; the church administers Word and sacrament for salvation. These are real, divinely ordained institutions with distinct final causes.

Bret responds;

1.) R2K DOES deny Christ’s Kingship by muting it for the common realm and placing it under a different sceptre. Christ does not rule explicitly in the common realm per R2K but only implicitly via Natural Law. This whole R2K conception of Natural Law has been disputed not only by us Presuppositionalists/Theonomists but also by the non-R2K natural law guys like Stephen Wolfe. So, both you chaps and the Wolfe chaps appeal to this obvious Natural Law but you cannot agree on the reading of this putatively obvious “Natural Law.” It seems Natural Law is not as obvious on this matter as you would like it to be and Christ’s ruling “by His left hand” in the common realm by Natural Law is quite up for dispute.

Of course the preferred understanding is that there is one Kingdom with different jurisdictions wherein we find Christ’s appointment as stewards over those differing respective jurisdictions. In such a way these realms are both independent and yet interdependent. Independent because they each have been assigned different roles and responsibilities (Church = grace [Keys]/ Civil Social = justice [sword] / Family = discipline [Rod]).

You’re reading and all Natural Law readings creates a Gnostic dualism. It ends up giving us a Gnostic Jesus ruling over a Gnostic Kingdom.

Jackson Stead wrote,

2. Preaching and the Limits of Office

The pulpit is the instrument of the Church’s office. It declares the gospel and moral law as illuminated by Scripture and natural reason. That includes denouncing injustice—but within its mode and end. The Church does not legislate, prosecute, or campaign. It witnesses. Confusing the offices—making the pulpit a political stump—usurps the state’s vocation and undermines the Church’s own.

Bret responds,

2.) The Keys are the instrument of the Church’s office. Via the Keys the Kingdom of God is opened and closed. Via the Keys Word and Sacrament are given to the end of building up the body of Christ. The whole idea of natural reason is a piece with Natural law. Natural reason is fallen and so only redeemed reason as considering the Word and the good and necessary consequences from the Word instructs and guides God’s people. The Church clearly has a role in speaking to the State as seen throughout Scripture. (John the Baptist denounced Herod for His crimes, Jesus called Herod “that Fox,” The proclamation that “there is no other name under heaven by which you must be saved” was a challenge to the Worldly authorities as the usual proclamation of Caesar was “there is no other name under heaven by which you must be saved” referring to Caesar.) Then there was the accusation against Jason and the Christians,

Acts 17:6 But when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some other brothers before the city officials, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have now come here, 7and Jason has welcomed them into his home. They are all defying Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king, named Jesus!”

You may not think that the Church should speak to Caesar but these chaps in Ephesus sure thought that was what was happening.

The Church does indeed not prosecute, except on those rare occasions when it has to practice interposition, but it does campaign for righteousness. This is something we read about during the run up to the War of American Independence with all those Reformed Pastors prosecuting in the Pulpits the injustice of the Crown against God’s Word. Of course, part of the Reformed clergy’s complaint at the time was the intent of the Crown to place a Anglican Bishop over the Colonies.

Your understanding empties the office of the Minister of his needed prophetic voice under sovereign Christ. You accuse me of confusing the offices. I accuse you of neutering the office.

Jackson Stead wrote,

3. Historic Examples Misapplied

Ambrose confronted Theodosius as bishop on moral grounds, not as a rival magistrate. Likewise, the Black Robed Regiment often overstepped. Charles Hodge, cited, explicitly distinguished the Church’s spiritual voice from civil action. His warning was about silencing moral witness, not collapsing jurisdictions.

Bret Responds,

3.) Historical examples were properly applied. You just don’t like the implications. The idea that Ambrose didn’t confront Theodosius as a rival magistrate is just ludicrous. Do you think anyone would have listened to Ambrose if he had not been wearing that Bishop vestment? In terms of Hodge maybe we should go w/ A. A. Hodge since you have misinterpreted Charles;

“Christianity should be recognized publicly by this country. Christ should be recognized in the law of our land as the Supreme Ruler of our nation. I am a member of a society striving for this end; the principle is right, whatever our success may be. We should insist that if the State has a right to educate she must not educate in infidel history and philosophy, but, in assuming the educator’s function, must obey the Scripture injunction regarding that function — to train the young in the ‘nurture and admonition of the Lord.’”

A. A. Hodge (1823 – 1886)
19th Century American Reformed Theologian

Jackson Stead writes,

4. The Charge of Cowardice Is Baseless

The claim that R2K exists to “build large churches” is speculative and malicious. R2K theology arises from coherent metaphysics: natural ends, secondary causes, and the ordered distinction of powers. It is not pragmatism but principled realism grounded in classical Christian metaphysics and federal theology.

Bret responds,

4.) R2K is a completely novel way of reading Scripture not discovered and developed till Meredith Kline and his chief Romanist – Jesuit trained popularizer David Van Drunen. Van Drunen himself has admitted that it is a novel way of reading Scripture. Just go away. I’ve gone round and round with you poor souls so often that I can age myself in terms of the years I have been over this. If you guys aren’t cowards, you do a fine job of acting like cowards. R2K is coherent the way that Open Theism is coherent. R2K is coherent the way that men being born in women’s bodies is coherent. R2K is coherent the way that Vatican II Papists are coherent.

Finally, your metaphysics are not Christian in the least but are Gnostic and Dualistic. That explains why D. G. Hart (R2K aficionado par excellent) is always talking about living the “hyphenated-life.”

R2K is pure heresy.

Jackson Stead writes,

5. The Real Issue Is Providence and Ends

Civil authority is a temporal good, real and bounded. The Church’s end is eternal. R2K insists that while truth is one, offices are distinct. Denying this confuses grace with nature, eschatology with politics, and risks clerical overreach.

Bret Responds,

5.) No one denies offices are distinct. However, R2K does not make for distinctions but rather makes for divorce with it Gnostic Dualism. R2K is so worried about clerical over-reach that it touts clerical under-reach which is to say that R2K advocates for cowardice. It takes no courage at all to watch the broader culture burn all the while saying, “I am going to stay in my lane.”  It takes no courage at all to tell yourself that you won’t preach on the anti-Christ ideologies of the age because you want to remain holy and above it all. All the while those anti-Christ ideologies are swamping your people so that they reinterpret all of Scripture and all of life through those anti-Christ ideologies that you’re too pure to get involved with. You and your kind are destroying the Church in the West.

And don’t even get me started on your precious militant amillennial eschatology.

Jackson Stead writes,

Summary:

R2K is not cowardice, relativism, or heresy. It is a metaphysically coherent and confessionally grounded doctrine affirming that Christ rules all, but through distinct means. It guards the integrity of both church and state by preserving their God-ordained vocations.

Bret responds,

Dude … I wrote and had published a book on this subject. This is not my first rodeo. You guys are coherent the way that Open Theistis are coherent. You guys are coherent the way that II Vatican Papists are coherent. You guys are coherent the way that a guy who says he was born in a woman’s body are coherent. You are dualistic and Gnostic. Your dualism is seen in the R2K aficionado Dr. D. G. Hart’s love of the phrase, “living the hyphenated-life.” That just a pleasant way of saying that y’all are living the Dualist-life.

Confessionally grounded? LOL … you certainly can’t be serious. I suppose if you chaps are allowed to twist the confessions.

R2K is cowardice, relativism, and heresy. It is a dualistic gnostic soup that is metaphysically incoherent denying the explicit ruling of Jesus Christ over all as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

You chaps are so cowardly the only time you demonstrate any courage is when you are fighting for the position that the Church should be irrelevant. Should your false system ever win out it will be the destruction of both church and state.

Aunt Boss-Girl & Her Nephew NutGrebe

My slimy Nutgrebe,

With Wormwood’s recent failures that has found both him and his idiot Uncle Screwtape serving as commodes for the eminent one we now turn to you to advance our cause in working with the cursed image bearers.

Be sure that the patients remain completely convinced that the enemy does not have a word for every area of life including politics. Keeping the patient’s thinking that the enemy does not have a specific will regarding their lives in the public square will keep them from thinking on the enemy except in the most shallow and pietistic of ways. Keep whispering in the wind that the foul faith we strike out against is a faith that is unconcerned about “worldly things” like politics or culture.

Make sure and keep the patients in a constant state of heedlessness regarding the despicable Crown Rights of our enemy in these different arenas of life. If you would do your work well, you will have your patient insisting that love requires them not to be judgmental on things like WOKE-ism or Cultural Marxism, or CRT in the public square. Feed them the line that those things are best left to the professional clergy and then convince the professional clergy that those things really are not what they’ve been tasked to think or speak about. In such a way these ideas of ours will gain traction without any opposition from any of those that we are assigned to contain. One more thing on this matter Nutgrebe, do your best to ensure your patient continues to believe that it is not possible to make any progress on these various cultural issues. Remind them that the world has always been troubled and that “this is world is not our home, we’re just a-passing through.” In such a way, your patient will continue to retreat because they will become convinced that our enemy delights in retreat. In such a way their culture will go from bad to worse and this with the benefit of them thinking that is the way our enemy above wants it.

Oh, and before I sign off Nutgrebe, allow me to insist that you not let up for an instant on how low we have managed to bring their clergy. Our attack on this front has been successful beyond our wildest dreams and it will be hell for you if you let your clergy assignments regain their footing. Continue to swell the ranks of Van Drunen, Hart, Chrissy Gordon, R. Scott Clark, and all our other clergy foot soldiers. Continue to make the clergy so insecure about their pocketbook that they continue to refuse to take strong stands on cultural issue. Keep reminding of the necessity to play it safe. Keep whispering about how they will lose members and financing if they apply the enemy’s word to the culture. We have made great gains by this method and it will be your doom to join Wormwood and Screwtape in serving as the eminent one’s commode if you fail here.

We have just begun to work as a team, you and I. Keep before you that I can make your task bearable if you follow my instructions and I can make your task so onerous you will find yourself wishing you were serving in the Soviet Gulag in Kolyma, if you refuse to follow my instructions. You have free will in the matter.

Your Affectionate Aunt

Boss-Girl