It's Darwin's Turn to Get Canceled

It's Darwin's Turn to Get Canceled

When and where will “cancel culture” stop? Wokeness is never satisfied. It’s never enough. Here’s a surprising late entry to the cancel culture sweepstakes. Charles Darwin is under attack. That’s right. St. Charles Darwin is about to get canceled if the folks at Sheffield University get their way. British naturalist Charles Darwin has become the latest historical scientist to run afoul of the “dec [...]

The Messianic State Will Use Any Excuse to Shut Down the Church

The Messianic State Will Use Any Excuse to Shut Down the Church

A Canadian Pastor Artur Pawlowski, the head of Calgary’s Street Church in Alberta, and his brother, Dawid Pawlowski, were arrested and charged with “organizing an illegal in-person gathering,” according to a statement by the Calgary Police Service. A video capturing the arrests showed police vehicles parked on the street as officers carried the handcuffed brothers, who appeared to refuse to walk o [...]

Timing is Everything

Timing is Everything

“1. Preterists. The prophecies contained in the Apocalypse were fulfilled with the destruction of Jerusalem and the fall of heathen Rome.”[1] If today’s prophetic theorists are to be believed, Jesus will be returning “soon.” Dave Hunt’s book How Close Are We?, written nearly thirty years ago, claimed to answer the question in the subtitle: Compelling Evidence for the Soon Return of Christ.[2] On t [...]

Some Thoughts on Interpretive Maximalism

Some Thoughts on Interpretive Maximalism

There have been some comments recently about the Interpretive Maximalism of James B. Jordan. This has been an ongoing discussion for nearly 30 years. An article by Pastor Uri Brito from 2015 posted on Facebook brought the topic to my attention again: “James B. Jordan and Interpretive Maximalism.” Since I’ve known Jim since the mid-1970s and have benefitted from his works over the years, I thought [...]

Who are The Little Foxes?

Who are The Little Foxes?

“Little Foxes have lived in all times, in all places. This family happened to live in the deep south in the year 1900.” — Prologue to THE LITTLE FOXES. A few weeks ago my wife and I watched the 1941 film The Little Foxes with the always delightful Teresa Wright. The title comes from the Bible: Catch the foxes for us, The little foxes that spoil the vines. For our vines have tender grapes. [...]

How to Make a Strong Family

How to Make a Strong Family

Mother’s Day is May 9th this year. I thought I’d give it a headstart with one of my favorite films. I Remember Mama is based on the memoir Mama’s Bank Account written by Kathryn Forbes. The setting is pre-WWI San Francisco. The irony of the setting should not be missed. Modern-day San Francisco is the philosophical center of familial redefinition incorporating everything from Heather Has Two Mommi [...]

The Mafia is Running the Government

The Mafia is Running the Government

When my oldest son was about four, we were at the check-out line at a Blockbuster video store when he noticed a display promoting a new video release of The Godfather. “Dad, are these movies about God?” he asked. A reasonable question for a four-year-old given the title and his always curious nature. Knowing that he would not care to hear a long retelling of the plot, I summed up the storyline by [...]

"Problem Profiteers" Have a Long and Sordid History

"Problem Profiteers" Have a Long and Sordid History

The racial divide in the United States is wider than it has ever been. The vast majority of Americans are not racists. They sympathize with Black Americans who have been treated unjustly. The history of Black suppression is real. It’s been a slow road to make right past injustices. Unfortunately, the Black Lives Matter movement has hijacked much of the goodwill that has been growing in the past fe [...]

Science Fiction Films as Hope and Warning

Science Fiction Films as Hope and Warning

Science Fiction has been defined as “Any story that argues the case for a changed world that has not yet come into being….”[1] A “changed world” means a temporary suspension of belief in what we know to be true to allow for the possibility of extraordinary occurrences that cannot happen in terms of our present operating worldview. Good science fiction blurs the distinction between the world [...]

The Inadequacy of Norman Geisler's Moral Law Theory

The Inadequacy of Norman Geisler's Moral Law Theory

It must not be forgotten that under the Puritans in Massachusetts there was no religious freedom. They persecuted those who did not believe their way. Many of those calling for a return to “Christian America” have forgotten what this so-called “Christian” state was like. Ironically, some of them are Baptists, who have forgotten that Roger Williams—a Baptist preacher and signer of the Declaration o [...]

Are General Revelation and Natural Law Substitutes for Biblical Law?

Are General Revelation and Natural Law Substitutes for Biblical Law?

Criticisms of theonomy are in vogue once again. I see this as a good turn of events. It shows an interest in social ethics and attempts to offer a viable methodology. I’ve noticed, however, that the criticisms of theonomy are not new. They’ve been dealt with in numerous publications since the 1970s. It’s rather remarkable that anyone would publish a critique of theonomy without first reading the m [...]

The First Amendment: What it Says, What it Means

The First Amendment: What it Says, What it Means

This is Part Six of a six-part series titled “THE BIBLE, THE CONSTITUTION, AND THE JURISDICTIONAL SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE.” If you would like a full illustrated transcript of this series, send an email to Support@AmericanVision.org “Getting to Know Your Church-State Jurisdictions” is Part One in this series, “The Biblical Model of Church and State” is Part Two, Part Three is “Can Secularism [...]

We Don't Live Under Caesar

We Don't Live Under Caesar

This is Part Five of a Six-Part series titled “THE BIBLE, THE CONSTITUTION, AND THE JURISDICTIONAL SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE.” If you would like a full illustrated transcript of this series, send an email to Support@AmericanVision.org “Getting to Know Your Church-State Jurisdictions” is Part One in this series, “The Biblical Model of Church and State” is Part Two, Part Three is “Can Secularis [...]

Biblical Examples of Church and State Jurisdictional Separation

Biblical Examples of Church and State Jurisdictional Separation

“Getting to Know Your Church-State Jurisdictions” is Part One in this series, “The Biblical Model of Church and State” is Part Two, and Part Three is “Can Secularism Account for Morality in Government?” To understand the relationship between Church and State we need to go to the source, and that source is not the United States Constitution. Modern-day social theory is based on an evolutionary mode [...]

Can Secularism Account for Morality in Government?

Can Secularism Account for Morality in Government?

“Getting to Know Your Church-State Jurisdictions” is Part One of this series and “The Biblical Model of Church and State” is Part Two. This third installment asks, What is civil government’s basis for morality? Stanley Fish, writing in the New York Times,[1] describes the way various philosophical traditions understand the “role of religion and public life.” He begins by pointing out that under “C [...]

The Biblical Model of Church and State

The Biblical Model of Church and State

For a discussion of jurisdictions, see Part 1 of this series “Getting to Know Your Church-State Jurisdictions.” One way to keep Christians out of the public arena, especially in the realm of politics, is to claim that there is a separation between Church and State which when interpreted and applied by courts and organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Separat [...]

Getting to Know Your Church-State Jurisdictions

Getting to Know Your Church-State Jurisdictions

I was listening to an interview with Ken Starr on his new book Religious Liberty in Crisis: Exercising Your Faith in an Age of Uncertainty. I have not read the book, but I did agree with Starr’s assessment that most Americans lack a basic knowledge of the First Amendment. Most likely Mr. Starr does not deal with the First Amendment and how it relates to civil government in terms of biblical law. [...]

Fencing Churches and the Sin of King Uzziah

Fencing Churches and the Sin of King Uzziah

Police in Canada erected a metal fencing around GraceLife Church in Edmonton “that’s led by a pastor who was jailed for holding worship services that violated provincial lockdown rules.” The church was ordered to be “shut it down until it ‘can demonstrate the ability to comply’ with the ongoing COVID-19 restrictions. To show their disdain for the worshippers, additional fencing was erected around [...]

It's Kind of a Funny Story...

It's Kind of a Funny Story...

Some years ago, Dr. Gary North and Ken Gentry wrote articles for a monthly newsletter titled Dispensationalism in Transition. So much about dispensationalism has changed over the years that C.I. Scofield most likely would not recognize it. The Scofield Reference Bible that first appeared in 1909 and was revised by the author in 1917, has gone through several revisions since then. “In 1967, Oxford [...]

When Uncle Sam is Paying You Not to Work

When Uncle Sam is Paying You Not to Work

The first two laws of economics (notice the use of nomos—law—in the word “economics”) is “You shall not steal” and “Let’s make a deal.” You can only deal with what you own. Civil governments believe they can subvert these laws (and others) for the good of the people and the nation. It can’t be done. Every attempt to subvert God’s economic laws results in poverty at one end and unlimited control at [...]