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 [...]

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 [...]

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 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 [...]

(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 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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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. [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

If there are riots now in America, what will it be like 20 years from now if the New York Times gets its way? The New York Times sponsored the 1619 Project, which postulates that America’s real beginnings as a nation are when the first African slaves were brought to Jamestown in 1619. Many historians note that this is a distortion of our nation’s roots. Worse, it makes young people turn against th [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]