Judges Gone Wild: The Most Powerful Man in America Strikes Again

And no, dear friends, it is not Barack Husein Obama.

It is Anthony Kennedy, the "swing vote" on the U.S. Supremist Court.

Today, in yet another 5-4 vote, the Great One ordered the sovereign state of California to release 46,000 convicted criminals.

Anthony Kennedy believes there is "overcrowding" in California's jails, and he isn't about to be slowed down by abstract notions like "the United States Constitution" or "judicial restraint."

No, no! Anthony Kennedy is now the Ultimate Lawmaker in the United States -- appointed for life and accountable to no man.

We are no longer a nation of laws, we are a nation of men. Men like Anthony Kennedy.

Anthony Kennedy has no restraints. He is a power unto himself. He does that which is right in his own eyes.

"We the people" lose more and more of the power we are supposed to possess under the Constitution every day at the hands of judges like Anthony Kennedy.

Judges gone wild.

God help us all.

The Dismembering of The United States of America

. . . is well advanced.

Don't believe it?

Then take a look at this:

A Prayer for Courage

“Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves, when our dreams have come true because we have dreamed too little, when we arrive safely because we have sailed too close to shore.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly to venture on wider seas where storms show Your mastery; where losing sight of land we shall find stars. We ask You to push back the horizons of our hopes; we ask You to [lead us into] a future of strength, courage, hope and love.”

-- Sir Francis Drake, 16th – century English sailor

A Call for American Patriots

Samuel Adams spoke the truth in these words that squarely apply to our day and hour. Patriots, take heed:

The liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil Constitution, are worth defending at all hazards, and it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors: they purchased them for us with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood, and transmitted them to us with care and diligence. It will bring an everlasting mark of infamy on the present generation, enlightened as it is, if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle, or to be cheated out of them by the artifices of false and designing men.

We are being cheated out of our liberties today by the fraudulent devices of politicians in Washington, D.C., in states (Illinois) and cities (Chicago).

What can we do? Here are three choices for your early consideration:

Constitution Party

Flip This House

Get Out Of Our House (GOOOH)

Patriots, have at it!

(HT: News With Views/Jonathon Emord)

The Big Picture: Very, Very Good News

“The purpose of creation, redemption, and consummation are seen holistically as God’s purpose to glorify Christ by fulfilling the Adamic creation mandate, the universal Noahic promise, the patriarchal covenants, and the Israelite monarchy in Him, thus exalting Jesus as preeminent over the entire cosmos as the agent of creation, the true imago Dei, the Davidic subjugator of all rival powers, the firstborn of the eschatological resurrection from the dead, and the atonement through whom final cosmic peace is found at last (Col. 1:15-23).”

- Russell D. Moore, The Kingdom of Christ (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books, 2004), 108.


“The resurrection and exaltation of Christ accomplish a new unity between heaven and earth, for Christ now has a heavenly body (1 Cor. 15:42ff), a body of glory (Phil. 3:21) and His humanity is now in heaven (Phil. 3:20f; Col. 3:1; Eph. 1:20ff; 6:9), and both serve as a pledge of the ultimate unity of the cosmos in Christ (Eph. 1:10).”

- Andrew T. Lincoln, Paradise Now and Not Yet (Cambridge, UK; Cambridge University Press, 1981), 192.

HT: Of First Importance

Faith Is A Step Into the Light

"Faith is not a leap into the dark.

Faith is a step into the light."

-- Craig Troxel

"

Come to Him

--HT: Defcon

Richly Deserved Chains

So now, the Iowa attorney general says, "We must live by and follow what the courts decide" -- after the Iowa Supremist Court tried to overrule the divinely ordained order of marriage between one man and one woman. Not content with that mockery, this elected official is now threatening county workers with lawsuits if they do not abdicate their consciences and go along with this tyranny.

And no one seems to care what is happening to our freedom to make our own laws through our own elected officials

Really? We "must live by and follow what the courts decide?" If the Iowa Supremist Court decided you had to hold a loaded gun to your head and pull the trigger, would you "live by and follow what the courts decide?"

Do we even recognize the voice of tyrants any longer? Tyrants are ruling us now -- they are just wearing black robes and pretending to be high priests of a profane holy order that worships the human wisdom that is foolishness to God. (I Cor. 1:25)

If we go along with this tyranny like cows, then we richly deserve the chains which will surely bind us and our children before long.

What Lies Ahead: "Christianity Loves a Crumbling Empire"

This article by the Internet Monk is worth reading completely. I think it is mostly on-target. The evan-jelly-fish church in America is quite possibly in for a serious and rude awakening.

What is the answer? A return to solid, Biblical theology. In a word, think Biblically and act accordingly:

We are on the verge – within 10 years – of a major collapse of evangelical Christianity. This breakdown will follow the deterioration of the mainline Protestant world and it will fundamentally alter the religious and cultural environment in the West.

Within two generations, evangelicalism will be a house deserted of half its occupants. (Between 25 and 35 percent of Americans today are Evangelicals.) In the "Protestant" 20th century, Evangelicals flourished. But they will soon be living in a very secular and religiously antagonistic 21st century.

This collapse will herald the arrival of an anti-Christian chapter of the post-Christian West. Intolerance of Christianity will rise to levels many of us have not believed possible in our lifetimes, and public policy will become hostile toward evangelical Christianity, seeing it as the opponent of the common good.

Millions of Evangelicals will quit. Thousands of ministries will end. Christian media will be reduced, if not eliminated. Many Christian schools will go into rapid decline. I'm convinced the grace and mission of God will reach to the ends of the earth. But the end of evangelicalism as we know it is close.

Why is this going to happen?

1. Evangelicals have identified their movement with the culture war and with political conservatism. This will prove to be a very costly mistake. Evangelicals will increasingly be seen as a threat to cultural progress. Public leaders will consider us bad for America, bad for education, bad for children, and bad for society.

The evangelical investment in moral, social, and political issues has depleted our resources and exposed our weaknesses. Being against gay marriage and being rhetorically pro-life will not make up for the fact that massive majorities of Evangelicals can't articulate the Gospel with any coherence. We fell for the trap of believing in a cause more than a faith.

2. We Evangelicals have failed to pass on to our young people an orthodox form of faith that can take root and survive the secular onslaught. Ironically, the billions of dollars we've spent on youth ministers, Christian music, publishing, and media has produced a culture of young Christians who know next to nothing about their own faith except how they feel about it. Our young people have deep beliefs about the culture war, but do not know why they should obey scripture, the essentials of theology, or the experience of spiritual discipline and community. Coming generations of Christians are going to be monumentally ignorant and unprepared for culture-wide pressures.

3. There are three kinds of evangelical churches today: consumer-driven megachurches, dying churches, and new churches whose future is fragile. Denominations will shrink, even vanish, while fewer and fewer evangelical churches will survive and thrive.

4. Despite some very successful developments in the past 25 years, Christian education has not produced a product that can withstand the rising tide of secularism. Evangelicalism has used its educational system primarily to staff its own needs and talk to itself.

5. The confrontation between cultural secularism and the faith at the core of evangelical efforts to "do good" is rapidly approaching. We will soon see that the good Evangelicals want to do will be viewed as bad by so many, and much of that work will not be done. Look for ministries to take on a less and less distinctively Christian face in order to survive.

6. Even in areas where Evangelicals imagine themselves strong (like the Bible Belt), we will find a great inability to pass on to our children a vital evangelical confidence in the Bible and the importance of the faith.

7. The money will dry up.

What will be left?

•Expect evangelicalism to look more like the pragmatic, therapeutic, church-growth oriented megachurches that have defined success. Emphasis will shift from doctrine to relevance, motivation, and personal success – resulting in churches further compromised and weakened in their ability to pass on the faith.

•Two of the beneficiaries will be the Roman Catholic and Orthodox communions. Evangelicals have been entering these churches in recent decades and that trend will continue, with more efforts aimed at the "conversion" of Evangelicals to the Catholic and Orthodox traditions.

•A small band will work hard to rescue the movement from its demise through theological renewal. This is an attractive, innovative, and tireless community with outstanding media, publishing, and leadership development. Nonetheless, I believe the coming evangelical collapse will not result in a second reformation, though it may result in benefits for many churches and the beginnings of new churches.

•The emerging church will largely vanish from the evangelical landscape, becoming part of the small segment of progressive mainline Protestants that remain true to the liberal vision.

•Aggressively evangelistic fundamentalist churches will begin to disappear.

•Charismatic-Pentecostal Christianity will become the majority report in evangelicalism. Can this community withstand heresy, relativism, and confusion? To do so, it must make a priority of biblical authority, responsible leadership, and a reemergence of orthodoxy.

•Evangelicalism needs a "rescue mission" from the world Christian community. It is time for missionaries to come to America from Asia and Africa. Will they come? Will they be able to bring to our culture a more vital form of Christianity?

•Expect a fragmented response to the culture war. Some Evangelicals will work to create their own countercultures, rather than try to change the culture at large. Some will continue to see conservatism and Christianity through one lens and will engage the culture war much as before – a status quo the media will be all too happy to perpetuate. A significant number, however, may give up political engagement for a discipleship of deeper impact.

Is all of this a bad thing?

Evangelicalism doesn't need a bailout. Much of it needs a funeral. But what about what remains?

Is it a good thing that denominations are going to become largely irrelevant? Only if the networks that replace them are able to marshal resources, training, and vision to the mission field and into the planting and equipping of churches.

Is it a good thing that many marginal believers will depart? Possibly, if churches begin and continue the work of renewing serious church membership. We must change the conversation from the maintenance of traditional churches to developing new and culturally appropriate ones.

The ascendency of Charismatic-Pentecostal-influenced worship around the world can be a major positive for the evangelical movement if reformation can reach those churches and if it is joined with the calling, training, and mentoring of leaders. If American churches come under more of the influence of the movement of the Holy Spirit in Africa and Asia, this will be a good thing.

Will the evangelicalizing of Catholic and Orthodox communions be a good development? One can hope for greater unity and appreciation, but the history of these developments seems to be much more about a renewed vigor to "evangelize" Protestantism in the name of unity.

Will the coming collapse get Evangelicals past the pragmatism and shallowness that has brought about the loss of substance and power? Probably not. The purveyors of the evangelical circus will be in fine form, selling their wares as the promised solution to every church's problems. I expect the landscape of megachurch vacuity to be around for a very long time.

Will it shake lose the prosperity Gospel from its parasitical place on the evangelical body of Christ? Evidence from similar periods is not encouraging. American Christians seldom seem to be able to separate their theology from an overall idea of personal affluence and success.

The loss of their political clout may impel many Evangelicals to reconsider the wisdom of trying to create a "godly society." That doesn't mean they'll focus solely on saving souls, but the increasing concern will be how to keep secularism out of church, not stop it altogether. The integrity of the church as a countercultural movement with a message of "empire subversion" will increasingly replace a message of cultural and political entitlement.

Despite all of these challenges, it is impossible not to be hopeful. As one commenter has already said, "Christianity loves a crumbling empire."

We can rejoice that in the ruins, new forms of Christian vitality and ministry will be born. I expect to see a vital and growing house church movement. This cannot help but be good for an evangelicalism that has made buildings, numbers, and paid staff its drugs for half a century.

We need new evangelicalism that learns from the past and listens more carefully to what God says about being His people in the midst of a powerful, idolatrous culture.

I'm not a prophet. My view of evangelicalism is not authoritative or infallible. I am certainly wrong in some of these predictions. But is there anyone who is observing evangelicalism in these times who does not sense that the future of our movement holds many dangers and much potential?

The Gospel and Anarchy

If the power of the gospel is not felt throughout the length and breadth of this land, anarchy and misrule, degradation and misery, corruption and darkness will reign without mitigation or end.

— Daniel Webster

Blood In the Streets: A Malediction

For those of you old enough to remember, "Blood In the Streets" was a song by The Doors.

For those of you in Rio Linda, "malediction" is Latin for a bad word -- the opposite of benediction, a good word.

Malediction

The judges sat outside the Law
And in their pride no evil saw
In setting teeth to Satan’s jaw
And feeding him our children.
When viewed in terms of cost and ease
An unborn child is a disease
A holocaust seen fit to please
Our own convenience.
A curse A curse the Law it cries.
A curse a curse on mankind’s pride.
A curse on him who would deny
God’s image in mankind.
Torn from out their mother’s womb
Denied the sky - denied a tomb
Conceived in lust to their own ruin
A sacrifice to pleasure.
The doctors with their blood red hands
Who love their money more than man,
With greed their god they lay their plans
The butchers of mankind.
A curse a curse the blood cries out
A curse a curse the heavens shout
A curse a curse on he who flouts
God’s image in mankind.
O rid us of this evil, Lord
And turn our hearts by cross or Sword.
Our nation cannot long afford
To live beneath your judgements.
A curse a curse upon their heads
O save them Lord or slay them dead
And fill our country with your Dread
And turn away Your anger.

Lyrics: Kemper Crabb
Music: Kemper Crabb & Frank Hart

HT: Slice of Laodicea

Pastor John Piper With Hope for Hard Times

HT: Desiring God Blog

Every Man To His Post

War will always rage between the two great sovereignties until one or other be crushed. Peace between good and evil is impossibility; the very pretence of it would, in fact, be the triumph of the powers of darkness. . .

Glory be to God, we know the end of the war. The great dragon shall be cast out and for ever destroyed, while Jesus and they who are with Him shall receive the crown. Let us sharpen our swords tonight, and pray to the Holy Spirit to nerve our arms for conflict. Every man to his post, ye warriors of the cross, and may the Lord tread Satan under your feet shortly!

-- Charles Spurgeon

HT: Defcon

My Orders Are To Fight

My orders are to fight;
Then if I bleed, or fail,
Or strongly win, what matters it?
God only doth prevail.

The servant craveth naught
Except to serve with might.
I was not told to win or lose,–
My orders are to fight.

--Welsh poet Ethylwyn Wetherald

Finding America in Romans Chapter One

In this must-see video, James White speaks with great eloquence and power on the election of Barack Hussein Obama to the presidency of the United States, and finds America in the year 2008 to be right smack dab in the middle of...Romans chapter one:



Spread the word.

Hypocrisy Alert: So-Called "Evangelical Leaders" Blow It Big Time On Bristol Palin's Pregnancy

Here is my rendition by memory of the letter sent today via email to Chuck Baldwin, Constitution Party candidate for President:

Dear Chuck,

As a Constitution Party supporter, I am appalled by the blatant hypocrisy on display in all its ugliness by so-called "evangelical leaders" such as James Dobson in the matter of the teenage pregnancy of Sarah Palin's unwed daughter. The incessant spin-spin-spin machine is in overdrive, and it makes me sick to my stomach.

What ever happened to SIN? What ever happened to genuine repentance? What about Our Lord's warning, in response to far greater perils, "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish?" These get nary a mention. All we get from Dr. Dobson is that this teenager was "imperfect." This is bald-faced hypocrisy. It will surely be pointed out by our opponents, and they will be right.

This teenager's "imperfection" (the term clearly implies that all she needs to do is get a little counseling to get patched up), is not the issue for any genuine believer. The issue is that the righteous and just wrath of a holy God is even now being revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness of men and women -- including against Bristol Palin and her boyfriend in these very events as well as the hardships they will undoubtedly face in the future.

Of course all Christians will support them and love them throughout the raising of this child -- that is not the point.

The point is, without the conviction of sin, there is no Gospel and we perish. But how can there be conviction of sin, if sin is never even addressed? These people call themselves Christian?

I beg you to speak out against this.

Sincerely,

Your supporter,

"The Devil Hates Goose Quills"

In today's post, Pastor Charles Haddon Spurgeon beseeches us to work against those who seek to restore false religion among us. He also reminds us that the pen is more powerful than the sword.

Are we using our pens for the cause of truth?

Are we speaking out against those working to restore false religion among us?

"If the man who rebuilt Jericho was cursed, how much more does the man who works to restore false religion among us deserve the same. In our fathers' days the gigantic walls of false religion fell by the power of their faith, the perseverance of their efforts, and the blast of their gospel trumpets; and now there are some who would like to rebuild those false systems upon their old foundations. Lord, we pray, be pleased to thwart these unrighteous endeavors, and pull down every stone that they build. It should be a serious business with us to be thoroughly purged of every error that tends to foster the spirit of falsehood, and when we have made a clean sweep at home we should seek in every way to oppose its all too rapid spread abroad in the church and in the world.

This we may accomplish only in secret by fervent prayer and in public by faithful witness. We must warn with judicious boldness those who are inclined toward the errors of false religion; we must instruct the young in gospel truth and tell them of the dark doings of falsehood in earlier times. We must assist in spreading the light more thoroughly through the land, for false teachers, like owls, hate daylight. Are we doing all we can for Jesus and the Gospel? If not, our negligence plays into the hands of the heretics. What are we doing to spread the Bible, which is the antidote to falsehood? Are we sending out good, sound gospel writings?

Luther once said, "The devil hates goose quills," and, no doubt, he has good reason; the writer's pen blessed by the Holy Spirit has damaged his evil kingdom greatly. If the thousands who read this short word tonight will do all they can to hinder the rebuilding of this accursed Jericho, the Lord's glory shall spread quickly among the sons of men. Reader, what can you do? What will you do?"

(HT: Truth for Life)

We Fight For the Really Important Things

"Clear-cut definition of terms in religious matters, bold facing of the logical implications of religious views, is by many persons regarded as an impious proceeding. May it not discourage contribution to mission boards? May it not hinder the progress of consolidation, and produce a poor showing in columns of Church statistics? But with such persons we cannot possibly bring ourselves to agree. Light may seem at times to be an impertinent intruder, but it is always beneficial in the end. The type of religion which rejoices in the pious sound of traditional phrases, regardless of their meanings, or shrinks from "controversial" matters, will never stand amid the shocks of life. In the sphere of religion, as in other spheres, the things about which men are agreed are apt to be the things that are least worth holding; the really important things are the things about which men will fight."

J. Gresham Machen, "Christianity and Liberalism"

Stop Reading This Post and READ THIS ARTICLE FROM MODERN REFORMATION MAGAZINE INSTEAD!

Here, from the pages of Modern Reformation magazine, written with great care and insight by Peter R. Jones, is an article that everyone naming the name of Christ needs to read -- now!

That means you, dear reader. Put down that mouse, or rather, pick up that mouse and direct your pointer here -- a brief excerpt to get you started appears below:

"We often use the term post-Christian to describe our present world, but perhaps fail to see its implications; namely, a serious repeat of the pre-Christian world that the early Christians faced-no general government support, but rather government intimidation, oppression and even persecution; no social encouragement, but rather deep suspicion and antagonism; no knowledge of the Bible and the Bible's worldview, but rather a deep commitment and acceptance of the pagan worldview; no "Big Man on Campus" Christianity, but rather the intimidation and ostracizing of Christian students by Big Brother Administration. From this perspective, the future looks ominous."

The children of the Sixties, and their biblical contemporaries, have sowed the wind and are now reaping the whirlwind. The "new spirituality" is here, and it is not a pretty sight. Nevertheless, we must be as wise as serpents, and innocent as doves. ( Matthew 10:16 ESV)

(From "The New Spirituality: Dismantling and Reconstructing Reality," by Peter R. Jones, Modern Reformation, vol. 17, issue 3 (May/June 2008)

Et Tu, Ravi?

Under the heading, "Say it ain't so!" we have Dr. Ravi Zacharias, renowned Christian apologist who frequently appears with such defenders of the faith as Dr. R.C. Sproul and Dr. Al Mohler. Dr. Zacharias has posted the prayer he intends to pray on the National Day of Prayer. Believe it or not, his prayer carefully omits any reference to Jesus Christ.

Don't believe it? Check out Dr. Zacharias' prayer here.

According to John 14:6, the only way anyone can come to God the Father is through His only Son, Jesus Christ. How then can a Christian leader pray to God while ignoring Jesus Christ? Isn't it just a little bit misleading to pray that way in front of a huge audience of people, many of whom deny the truth of John 14:6? Doesn't it in effect say, "Well, all that stuff about Jesus being the only way to God, it doesn't really matter that much?"

And while we're on the subject, why does Dr. Zacharias choose to address God as "Holy Father?" Won't that tend to cause some confusion among our Roman Catholic friends, especially in light of the Pope's recent visit to our nation?

(HT: Slice of Laodicea)