As I write this, Ohio, Nevada, and New Mexico are still too close to call, at least that’s what the news guys tell us and the Democrats pray is true. The numbers are against John Kerry. He should concede, walk away with dignity, and save the country another agonizing post-election fiasco. My blood pressure can’t take it. Of course, the networks love it. They want to hold everyone in su [...]
Election day is here! I have been criss-crossing the country teaching, debating, doing radio interviews, and answering emails on the road by Christians who want to know what to do in this election. Some are pushing third-party candidates claiming that this is the only “righteous” way to vote. Why is it that these guys have to run for president? Why not run in some local races to show t [...]
On June 28, 1787, Benjamin Franklin delivered a stirring speech to those at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia that struck a profound prophetic note that serves as a disturbing warning to all who would dismiss God as the sovereign authority over the nations: All of us who were engaged in the struggle [in the war for independence] must have observed frequent instances of a superintending [...]
For decades, Christians have been reluctant to get involved in politics. These Christians either don’t vote or when they do vote they do so in terms of what government can do for them. Government is seen as their earthly savior. They are more concerned about where their next flu shot is coming from rather than the appointment of judges who with one vote can turn the Constitution on its head. [...]
As with most theological positions, there are a variety of interpretations of this passage: (1) The salvation of every racial/ethnic Jew. This is an impossible interpretation. Why preach the gospel to the Jews if they’re all going to be saved?"[1] (2) the salvation of believers–racial and spiritual Jews–throughout history. This position changes the meaning of Israel, going f [...]
God established civil government to be an avenger who brings wrath upon those who practice evil. The civil government’s power to use the sword is legitimate in certain limited cases. The Bible has mandated that the power of the sword is to keep the peace, to protect those who do what is right. Civil rulers are said to be “ministers of God” similar to the way pastors are “ministers of God. [...]
The Bible is opposed to centralism, whether it’s political (United Nations) or religious (World Council of Churches). The tower of Babel and God’s scattering of those who were involved in its design were judged because of the potential corruption that is inherent in religious and political centralism. “The tower of Babel (Gen. 11) was [a] representative pagan architectural struct [...]
Can a biblically-based government (including the civil sphere) operate within the conceptual framework of pluralism? While it depends on the definition of pluralism, let me say that the modern concept of pluralism is one of the most pernicious inventions of the twentieth century designed to eliminate the Christian religion. All sorts of evil acts are done in the name of “pluralism.” Ho [...]
“When Being Wrong Was Right” The debate in Columbus’ day was not over whether the Earth was flat or round. Rather, the width of the ocean was the crucial factor; the distance between continents determined the cost and feasibility of an expedition. “The issue was the width of the ocean; and therein the opposition was right."1 Columbus had underestimated the circumferenc [...]
“Chronological Snobbery” The modern mind cannot bear the thought that people who lived far before the twentieth century could have gotten anything right about science. Even the Encyclopedia Britannica perpetuated the myth of a flat-earth cosmology: “Before Columbus proved the world was round, people thought the horizon marked its edge. Today we know better” (1961). The peop [...]
“The Origin of the Myth” How and why did the flat-earth myth get started? The legend was popularized by Washington Irving in his three-volume History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus (1828). Irving, best known for “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip Van Winkle,” used his fiction-writing skills to fabricate a supposed confrontation that Columbus [...]
“Sun Rise, Sun Set” The Bible does not engage in speculative scientific descriptions about the earth’s external foundations. It simply states that God “stretches out the north over empty space, and hangs the earth on nothing” (Job 26:7). Those who accuse the Bible of teaching a flat Earth point to how the Bible speaks of having “four corners” (Isa. 11:2 an [...]
“Reading the Bible Through Greek Glasses” Medieval science as practiced by Christians went astray when “the Bible was . . . read through `Greek’ spectacles.”[1] Certainly the Greeks were right in many of their observations, but it was an almost religious attachment to Greek cosmology that was the West’s greatest impediment to further discovery and scientific adv [...]
“The Poetry of Creation” Daniel J. Boorstin, an accomplished historian, writes that “The greatest obstacle to discovering the shape of the earth, the continents, and the ocean was not ignorance but the illusion of knowledge.”[1] Early observers of earth’s landscape and the heavens that were beyond their grasp put forth theories of design that were picturesque but woef [...]
“As Rare as Hen’s Teeth” Each and every Columbus Day, we are reminded by some misinformed historians who should know better, that the great navigator proved by his daring bravado that the Earth was more like a blue marble than a dinner plate. How many elementary-school students are taught that prior to the progressive thinking of Christopher Columbus any ship that journeyed beyon [...]
In post-apocalyptic Australia, “Mad” Max Rockatansky, played by Mel Gibson in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985), finds himself stranded in the desert after he is attacked by a father-and-son robbery team who patrol the skies in a pieced together airplane scavenging for anything of value that they can sell or trade. They spot Max’s caravan filled with bits and pieces of accumulated treasure in a wo [...]
Susan B. Anthony – Anti-Abortion Crusader Susan B. Anthony has been celebrated as a feminist icon by the modern feminist movement because of her tireless work in bringing women into the political mainstream. Feminists pushed hard to get her image on the almost-never-used Susan B. Anthony coin. Anthony got involved in the women’s rights movement when she joined a temperance society but was de [...]
Abraham Lincoln – War President USA Today wonders if the Republican Party has room for those who disagree with the party’s conservative platform. An August 31, 2004, front-page article asked whether Abraham Lincoln, women’s rights pioneer Susan B. Anthony, and New York governor Nelson Rockefeller would be welcomed into the Republican tent. A better question to ask is whether they would [...]
Mark J. Rozell, writing in USA Today (September 22, 2004), claims that more Christian conservatives voted for Bob Dole in 1996 than voted for George Bush in 2000. He attributes this voting downturn to the vanishing influence of the Christian Coalition. He has the tail wagging the dog. I believe that the major decline in voter strength among evangelicals is the result of eschatology, the belief of [...]
The battle continues to rage over homosexuality. The good people of Missouri voted to ban same-sex marriage by an overwhelming majority (71% to 29%). Louisiana followed suit by an even larger margin. More than 81% of voters voted to ban same-sex marriages. These numbers are staggering and encouraging. Don’t think the battle ends with these large majorities. Homosexuals know that the courts a [...]
