Creeds, Confessions, and Eschatology

Creeds, Confessions, and Eschatology

A few years ago, a group of out-of-town American Vision supporters wanted to visit the church my wife and I attend and then have us over for dinner at a friend’s house. We often repeat the Apostles’ Creed or the Nicene Creed during the service as our Credo — “I believe.” We don’t know who composed the Apostles’ Creed or when it was written. Some historians place the writing around the 4th or 5th c [...]

A Frenchman's and a Supreme Court Justice’s Definition of ‘Christian America’

A Frenchman's and a Supreme Court Justice’s Definition of ‘Christian America’

Here’s a historical factoid about what our nation considered valuable at one time. How times have changed: After the attack on Pearl harbor, Secret Service Agent Harry Neal was tasked with transferring “priceless historical documents” to a secure facility away from Washington, D.C. After meeting with librarian Archibald MacLeish at the Library of Congress, Neal orchestrated the logistics of how th [...]

America's Christian Heritage: Fact or Fiction?

America's Christian Heritage: Fact or Fiction?

On July 4th of this year, Hobby Lobby ran newspaper ads that included the Bible verse “Blessed is the Nation whose God is the Lord” and was titled “One Nation Under God” and included numerous references of America’s religious and Christian influence. Hobby Lobby has been placing similar ads on US holidays since 1995. As usual, atheists went ballistic, especially the Freedom From Religion Foundatio [...]

Insane Arguments about our Nation’s History

Insane Arguments about our Nation’s History

In some previous articles (here and here), I pointed out some of the comments American Vision received in response to a promotional ad that we sent out on Facebook for the book The Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States. If these are real people and there are many more like them, we are in big trouble. Some of them have just a smidge of information wrapped in a [...]

Is Questioning and Challenging the President Wrong?

Is Questioning and Challenging the President Wrong?

Chris Matthews, who used to be on MSNBC on a show called “Hardball” that was softball when it came to questioning Democrats and Leftists (I repeat myself), made a statement about how President Obama should have been treated by then-presidential challenger Mitt Romney in their second debate. It was the fact that Romney challenged the President that led Matthews to go Gestapo on him: I don’t think h [...]

Twisted History on Parade

Twisted History on Parade

American Vision ran an ad on Facebook that elicited some uninformed and disturbing comments. I mentioned some of them in “Were the July 4th and 1787 Founders Deists?” In offering the 1864 book The Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States, all kinds of responses were posted, from the witchcraft trials to young children found in “mass graves” in Canada. There were [...]

Were the July 4th and 1787 Founders Deists?

Were the July 4th and 1787 Founders Deists?

American Vision ran an ad on Facebook for the republication of The Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States. The ad went to a broader audience. Some historical crazies responded. Keep in mind that no one who had responded had read the 1000-page book that is filled with original source documentation. It’s easy to argue a case when you are ignorant and assume other [...]

Back in Print! Christian Life and Character

Back in Print! Christian Life and Character

Some years ago, I debated an ACLU attorney around the Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays on an NPR station in Atlanta. The exchange was typical until I pulled out a Xerox copy of The Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States, first published in 1864, and said to her: “Until you answer this book, the ACLU can’t make a case against America’s Christian founding.” Sh [...]

The Reversal of Creation and a Covenantal Refining

The Reversal of Creation and a Covenantal Refining

The only way to grasp the significance of Peter’s de-creation language in 2 Peter 3 is to study similar language found in the Old Testament since that’s Peter’s reference point. In Micah 1:1, a prophetic word was revealed: “to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.” Micah’s prophecy isn’t about a time in the dista [...]

Answering the Objections of the Scoffers

Answering the Objections of the Scoffers

(Note: This is a continuation of a previous article. For Part One, click here to read “The Magical Bible Verse That’s Used to Nullify 100 Others”) We need to understand the immediate context of 2 Peter 3. The entire argument over when the events Peter describes take place comes down to defining the last days, the identity of the scoffers, the expectation of Peter’s audience, the consistent definit [...]

Atheists are Whining Again About ‘Under God’

Atheists are Whining Again About ‘Under God’

“Atheists in Mississippi are suing the state over its new license plates — which display the phrase, ‘In God We Trust’ — arguing that their First Amendment rights are being violated. One group is even arguing that the phrase is rooted in ‘deep hostility’ toward atheists. “Wherever I use my trailer, I am forced to profess a religious idea that I do not believe," said plaintiff Jason Alan Grigg [...]

Evolution as the Monkey's Paw

Evolution as the Monkey's Paw

Darwin’s On the Origin of Species by Natural Selection, first published in 1859, was the key that secularists wished for to advance a rival comprehensive worldview based on non-Christian presuppositions. Darwinian evolution, considered the epitome of science, was seen as a way out of a world governed by a Creator who demanded ethical absolutes. But it’s become a Monkey’s Paw. Be careful what [...]

One Nation Under Allah?

One Nation Under Allah?

Recently, a student at Justice High School in Fairfax, Virginia, led the graduation ceremony in the Pledge of Allegiance. In this public school setting, when she got to the part about “one nation under God,” she said, instead, “one nation under Allah.” This was apparently without any permission from school officials. The idea of “one nation under Allah” is a natural outgrowth of the idea of “multi [...]

NYC Needs a Reformation of Morals

NYC Needs a Reformation of Morals

When our first president under the Constitution was sworn in on April 30, 1789, it was in New York City. Back then it was our capital city. Today it is often called the cultural capital of the country. George Washington took the oath of office in the common way it was done in his Anglican Church, by saying, “So help me, God.” He took the oath with his hand on an open Bible. [...]

The Church is Not a "New Thing"

The Church is Not a "New Thing"

There is no Church-Israel distinction in the Bible because the Greek word ekklēsia is not an invention of the New Testament writers. Ekklēsia is a common word that is used to describe an assembly or congregation. It is used this way in the Greek translation of the Old Testament—the Septuagint (LXX)—and the Greek New Testament. This common word is used by Jesus in Matthew’s gospel (the most Jewish [...]

Does the Church "Replace" Israel?

Does the Church "Replace" Israel?

When dispensationalists can’t answer critiques of their position, they resort to poisoning the well by claiming that non-dispensationalists reject the Jews by adopting a theological system called Replacement Theology. I see it happen in almost any discussion with a misinformed dispensationalist who repeats what he or she has heard from some well-known dispensationalist author. For the dispensation [...]

Early Darwinists Knew its Moral Shortcomings

Early Darwinists Knew its Moral Shortcomings

Jeffrey O’Connell and Michael Ruse of Florida State University have written Social Darwinism published by Cambridge University Press in 2021. The book is described as follows: It begins by discussing the meaning of the term [Social Darwinism], moving then to its origins, paying particular attention to whether it is Charles Darwin or Herbert Spencer who is the true father of the idea. It gives an e [...]

The "Green Thing" Back Then

The "Green Thing" Back Then

Green energy and the New Green Deal are big Democrat talking points. The Left wants to spend trillions of dollars to Go Green. Like nearly everything bureaucrats and elected officials propose, it’s about power and money. The Green New Deal will turn out to be like war profiteering. When there’s talk about bringing our troops home, Democrats and Republicans fight the initiative because some of thei [...]

Constant Racist Teachings (CRT) in the Classroom

Constant Racist Teachings (CRT) in the Classroom

Critical race theory is the new Common Core. “Critical race theory is a practice. It’s an approach to grappling with a history of White supremacy that rejects the belief that what’s in the past is in the past, and that the laws and systems that grow from that past are detached from it,” said Kimberlé Crenshaw, a founding critical race theorist and a law professor who teaches at UCLA and Columbia U [...]

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 [...]