Category: Quotes & Commentary

Dabney on Forgiveness without Restitution

At the General Assembly of the Southern Presbyterian Church in 1870, many attendees who had been cucked by Lincoln’s War spoke of a union with the Northern Presbyterian Church, but a few steadfastly objected to the union. Some of the men implored Dabney to speak, knowing that if anyone could stave off the assault, then Dabney could. He repeatedly refused, because he was the Moderator, and it was considered inappropriate for the Moderator to insert himself into the discussion. Finally, he’d had all he could stomach.

Dr. E.M. Green says this:

“[Dabney] was on his feet in a moment. He began this way:”

“Mr. Chairman, I feel as if I were talking to people across a river a mile wide. If you are pleased with such speeches as you have been listening to, it is useless for me to express my thoughts. I do not profess to be as good as some people; I hear brethren saying it is time to forgive. Mr. Chairman, I do not forgive. I do not try to forgive. What, forgive those people who invaded our country, burned our cities, destroyed our homes, slain our young men, and spread desolation and ruin over our land? No, I do not forgive them. But you say, “They have changed their feelings towards us, and are kind.” And why should they not be kind? Have we ever done anything to make them feel unkind to us? Have we ever harmed or wronged them? They are amiable and peaceful, are they? And is not the gorged tiger amiable and peaceful? When he has filled himself with the calf he has devoured, he lies down in a kind, good humor; but wait till he has digested his meal, and will he not be fierce again? Will he not be a tiger again? They have gorged themselves with everything they could take from us. They have gained everything they tried to get, they have conquered us, they have destroyed us. Why should they not be amiable and kind? Do you believe that the same old tiger nature is not in them? Just wrest from them anything they have taken from us, and see.”

Dr. Green reported, “In that way, he went on for an hour. I never heard such a philippic. I was frightened. I believed every word he said, but I thought I never encountered before such a terrible* man.”

[Back in the day “terrible” meant fierce, awesome, formidable.]

Twin Spin Plus One … McAtee Getting Rational With Doug Wilson

“The basic argument of the book is that Christian Reconstructionism isn’t dead. It has been renewed. It has been simplified. A lot of the rough edges have been removed. A lot of the really controversial claims of the first generation have been either downplayed or denied and as Doug Wilson put it in an interview I did with him; ‘What is being so successful now in North Idaho is not so much Christian Reconstruction 2.0 but Christian Reconstruction 0.5.'”

Gathered from Canon Calls Interview with Crawford Gribben
Author — Survival and Resistance in Evangelical America; Christian Reconstruction in the Pacific Northwest

This makes a point that I’ve been screaming about for some time. Wilson, in his usual attempted clever fashion, admits that he is not advancing classic Reconstruction thought. Wilson admits that he has watered down historic Reconstruction thought and sanded off the supposed rough edges so as to make Christian Reconstruction more palatable.

This seems to be the modus operandi of Wilson. Remember, Wilson used to confess that when it came to Federal Vision he was “the pale ale variety,” compared to the heavy stout version. So, with Federal Vision (which Wilson has putatively subsequently recanted upon) and with Reconstructionism Wilson likes to water down the theological and ideological hooch making it palatable to women and children so they can think they are like their Fathers. One is tempted at this point to make some kind of point that Wilson and his followers are forever drinking but never getting drunk.

To whom is Wilson’s Reconstructionism 0.5 more palatable? What other answer can there be to that but to say that Wilson has made it more palatable to those on the left — that is those on the right side of the left who would never have embraced historic Reconstructionist thought have been gathered in by Wilson’s watered-down Recon hooch. You know the types – they are the ones always complaining that “Rushdoony is just so harsh.”

The way that I’ve tried to say this in the past is that Wilson is not on the right but rather Wilson is on the right side of the Left. Doug’s appeal is to the “we never quite made it to the status of ‘Arts and Croissants’ crowd, but we have aspirations.”

By reducing the potency of Christian Reconstructionism to 0.5 Wilson is offering up an unstable product. The only way Reconstructionism’s potency could be cut is by denying the anti-thesis and by adding elements foreign to the original expression.

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“The Great Reset is not going to happen.”

Doug Wilson

Famous Prognosticator

This is culled from this 6-minute video

I learned long ago by listening to Rushdoony that it is not a good idea to make hard predictions. Rush, like Wilson above, was prone to making predictions that when listening 20 years later to RJR’s lectures are just laughable.

Can you imagine some pop Christian in 1917 standing up and saying, “The Russian Revolution won’t happen?”

Or in 1957 some ersatz Christian authoritatively declaims, “The Maoist “Great Leap Forward” won’t’ happen?

Or in 1797 some Christian with the “gift” of prophecy opines to his followers, “The French Revolution won’t happen?”

Now, I’m as postmill as the next postmillennialist but I’m not so postmill that I have to engage in pollyanna-ism concerning the future.

Postmillennialism does not require us to engage in happy talk about the future. God is sovereign over the affairs of men but that does not mean, contra the amazing predictive powers of Doug Wilson, that Job won’t suffer unspeakable trauma.

Please understand me here. I am not saying that the “Great Reset” is going to happen. I am not saying that the Globalist powers will win out in 2021 the way they did in 1798, 1830, 1848, 1861, 1918, 1949, etc. What I am saying, contra Wilson, is that God being sovereign over the affairs of men does not mean that God will not judge His enemies and not chasten His friends by sending “the Great Reset.”

I agree in the end that attacks upon God can never be ultimately successful in the course of World History, but I am here to tell you that if the tower of Babel could happen and if the Marxists Revolutions of the 19th-20th centuries could happen then the Great Reset could happen and could last for an indeterminable time and God wouldn’t be any less God if it did. After all, it’s not like the West does not deserve to be judged and/or chastened.

Wilson is whistling past the graveyard (again) with this one. God still chastens those He loves.

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“Did not Joe and Kamala not make a hash out of Afghanistan?”

Doug Wilson

In point of fact... “No, Joe and Kamala did not make a hash out of Afghanistan.” Everything that is happening in Afghanistan is precisely what they wanted to happen.

Doug seems to think that Joe and Kamala have the interests of these USA in mind in terms of policy. Doug couldn’t be more wrong.

People are trying to turn Wilson into some kind of “conservative” Christian guru and I’m here to tell you that the Wilson well is empty as far as that project goes.

John Calvin Coolidge for President in 2024

President Calvin Coolidge warned in a speech given MAY 15, 1926, at the College of William and Mary, in Williamsburg, Virginia:

“But there is another…recent development… the greatly disproportionate influence of organized minorities.

Artificial propaganda, paid agitators, selfish interests, all impinge upon members of legislative bodies to force them to represent special elements rather than the great body of their constituency.

When they are successful, minority rule is established…

…The result is an extravagance on the part of the Government which is ruinous to the people and a multiplicity of regulations and restrictions for the conduct of all kinds of necessary business, which becomes little less than oppressive…”

Coolidge continued:

“No plan of centralization has ever been adopted which did not result in bureaucracy, tyranny, inflexibility, reaction, and decline.

Of all forms of government, those administered by bureaus are about the least satisfactory to an enlightened and progressive people. Being irresponsible they become autocratic…

Unless bureaucracy is constantly resisted it breaks down representative government and overwhelms democracy. It…sets up the pretense of having authority over everybody and being responsible to nobody…”

Coolidge added:

“We must also recognize that the national administration is not and cannot be adjusted to the needs of local government…

The States should not be induced by coercion or by favor to surrender the management of their own affairs.

The Federal Government ought to resist the tendency to be loaded up with duties which the States should perform.

It does not follow that because something ought to be done the National Government ought to do it…

…I want to see the policy adopted by the States of discharging their public functions so faithfully that instead of an extension on the part of the Federal Government there can be a contraction…

The principles of government have the same need to be fortified, reinforced, and supported that characterize the principles of religion.”

Calvin Coolidge stated at the unveiling of the Equestrian Statue of Bishop Francis Asbury, October 15, 1924, Washington, DC:

“There are only two main theories of government in the world.

One rests on righteousness, the other rests on force. One appeals to reason, the other appeals to the sword. One is exemplified in a republic, the other is represented by a despotism.

The history of government on this earth has been almost entirely a history of the rule of force held in the hands of a few. Under our Constitution, America committed itself to…the power in the hands of the people…

…Our government rests upon religion. It is from that source that we derive our reverence for truth and justice, for equality and liberty, and for the rights of mankind.

Unless the people believe in these principles they cannot believe in our government.”

On This Day; Potpourri of Quotes and Insights Over The Years From the Pastor’s Study

A.) Memorial Day began in Georgia in 1866 to honor the Confederate dead who gave their lives for their people. Of course, many dead Yankees were mercenaries from Europe who couldn’t possibly give their lives for their people.

B.) Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the Lord? therefore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord.  II Chronicles 19:2
Well, doesn’t that just throw a wrench into refugeeism and illegal immigration?

C.) Q. 82. Is any man able perfectly to keep the commandments of God?

A. No mere man, since the fall, is able in this life perfectly to keep the commandments of God, but doth daily break them in thought, word, and deed.
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I break God’s commandments every day in thought, word, and deed. Lord Christ… thank you for your Grace and Mercy.

D.)  “We won the war in a military sense; but in a broader sense it seems to me we lost it, for our Western civilization is less respected and secure than it was before. In order to defeat Germany and Japan we supported the still greater menaces of Russia and China – which now confront us in a nuclear-weapon era. Poland was not saved … Much of our Western culture was destroyed. We lost the genetic heredity formed through aeons in many million lives … It is alarmingly possible that World War II marks the beginning of our Western civilization’s breakdown, as it already marks the breakdown of the greatest empire ever built by man.”

Charles Lindbergh
circa 1970

E.) “Neither because Christ is the way to life, is the practice of Christian piety therefore not the way to life. Christ is the way to life…The practice of Christian piety is the way to life…It is certain indeed that the true Christian lives to Christ, that is, to his glory: but it does not follow from thence that he does nothing for his own advantage…In fine, it is not inconsistent to do something from this principle, because we live, and to the end, that we may live…And though he requires us to love him above all, yet he does not command that all love to ourselves be entirely banished.”

Herman Witsius

F.) Whether it was Justinian in the 6th century, Alfred the Great in the 9th Century, William of Salisbury in the 12th century, or William Blackstone in the 18th century — they all pointed to the law of God as that higher law which all men and all government of men are accountable.

G.) I’ve often prayed for awakening. Now having been given the grace to see through the illusion just a wee bit — the illusion that “the yet to be awakened” do not yet see-through — now I pray for Faith to keep the faith, wisdom to know what must be done, and for patience in the face of what seems to be overwhelming resistance to awakening in general.

H.) The War of Northern Aggression was not about slavery. The Spanish American War was not about the sinking of the Maine. WWI was not about making the world safe for Democracy or a war to end all wars. WW II was not about ridding the world of tyrannical governments. Vietnam was not about stopping the Domino effect, and the Gulf War was never about Weapons of Mass destruction. Anybody notice a pattern here?

I.) Understanding history boils down to two basic principles:
1. Whoever controls the past controls the future.
2. Whoever controls the present controls the past.
Did Orwell teach us nothing?

J.) I believe in adequate defense at the coastline and nothing else. If a nation comes over here to fight, then we’ll fight. The trouble with America is that when the dollar only earns 6 percent over here, then it gets restless and goes overseas to get 100 percent. Then the flag follows the dollar and the soldiers follow the flag.

Major General Smedley Butler
Two Time Winner of the Congressional Medal of Honor.

K.) Learned today from a minister that Genesis doesn’t mean that God actually took a “mud doll” and breathed life into it. It only means that God created. Genesis doesn’t have to do w/ the “How,” but only the “that.” We simply must make room for science if we are to be taken seriously as Christians. Lord, it was easier to be an Ehud or a Phinehas.

Once someone starts down that Deconstructionist path, the Framework Hypothesis, Gap Theory, and every other textual criticism seem perfectly reasonable — a bible devoid of the Christian God.

L.) (2011) My 21 y/o Anna works at Beaners. Recently, she engaged in a conversation w/ a customer. The subject turned to Anna & Homeschool. Many questions followed & Anna handled them deftly & w/ enthusiasm. Finally this retired school teacher, after an extended conversation with my perky interactive daughter said … “But I worry about the lack of socialization that you homeschool children suffer.”

Are these people brain dead?

M.) (2010) You can now look forward to the Government managing your health care the way it is now managing the BP Oil Spill. It never ceases to amaze me that after the constant and repeated failures of government in performing the tasks that they’ve been Constitutionally assigned that idiots still think … “Hey, I know … let’s let the government take over health care.”

Well, they are presently pumping mud cement through a tube under high pressure directly into the oil hole, making your comparison to what the government is doing to us with health care quite apt. My advice when dealing with the government is to remain seated at all times.

Manly Hall on Masonry … McAtee on Manly Hall

“No true Mason is creed-bound. He realizes with the divine illumination of his lodge that as a Mason his religion must be universal: Christ, Buddha or Mohammed, the name means little, for he recognizes only the light and not the bearer. He worships at every shrine, bows before every altar, whether in Temple, Mosque, or Cathedral, realizing with his truer understanding the oneness of all spiritual truth… No true Mason can be narrow, for his Lodge is the divine expression of all broadness.”

Manly P. Hall
20th Century Mason

1.) All true Masons are bound by the Creed that there is no Creed to be bound by except their Creed of no Creed.

2.) The Mason religion is NOT universal because it excises all religions which insist that the putative universal religion of the Masons is sin.
3.) If light-bearers come bringing different lights then it is the height of stupidity to say one only follows the light and not the light bearer. I must conclude Masons are stupid.
4.) Does the Mason recognize the oneness of the Spiritual truth that insists that Spiritual truth is not one?
5.) All Masons are narrow because they eliminate all those faith expressions which insist that their way alone is one true way… just the same as Masons.
The first Church I ministered had Masons in the congregation. They were an elderly couple. She was also a member of the Order of the Eastern Star. I wish the Southerner Reformed folk worried as much about Masons as they do about White Supremacy.