Joy in Christendom

Hieland: A Book Review - Theocracies in Action

I just finished a gem of a book: Heiland by Franklin Sanders.  It's clarity on a few key subjects more than outweigh the author's occasional awkward dialog, detailed "scientific" explanations and dated material.   The book has a tenor and rhythm that seems ideal for the high-school student and would generate many helpful conversations appropriate for that age group. 

It appears that the main goal of the book is to compare and contrast 2 competing theocracies: one that is Christian and one that is thoroughly anti-Christian.  The author does a great job at contextualizing, sometimes down to excruciating and horrific detail, these competing systems.  If you are wondering if such a thing as "Christian" government can even exist or what it would look like, then this novelette is a great introduction to the topic.

The Christian parent will find that this book to be a good tool to teach their children about Christian government, law and history communicated in an interesting plot.

20 Books Every Young Person Should Read Before Leaving Home

A good friend of mine posed the following question to me:  "Large piles of books and good intentions are a waste of time.  What are the 10 to 20 books, upon reading and rereading would continue to nourish the reader for a lifetime, assuming the Scriptures make the top of the list?"  Furthermore, being good and Godly parents to our children, what legacy could we give them that would help them honor Christ and take dominion in His name. 

I thought it was a good question.  It is good for a couple of reasons.  First, modern [American] man over-complicates nearly everything because modern man is essentially pagan.  The Christian life is a simple life.  We complicate things immensely when our culture moves away from Biblical underpinnings. This includes education. When we first think "education" we immediately bring to mind institutions, degrees, tests, processes, and memorization (all with a hefty price tag).  However, the Bible says that Fear of the Lord is the beginning of all wisdom - and this puts us at odds with this modern understanding of education.  The moment we begin to answer the question of "why educate" with "to get a job", we move away from the Biblical reason for education.  Second, it gives fathers (the chief principal of the home) fuel, vision and a handy check list on how to raise Godly children.  Although, just reading these books with your children will not automatically create the desired Biblical worldview, it certainly provides the medium for which said worldview can grow.

Without further delay, here is the list of essential reading material for our children:

1. "Pilgrim's Progress" by John Bunyan
2. "Holiness of God" by R.C. Sproul
3. "Pushing the Antithesis" by Greg Bahnsen
4. "Tithing and Dominion" by RJ Rushdoony
5. "Westminster Confession of Faith" and "Three Forms of Unity"
6. "Fox's Book of Martyrs" by John Foxe
7. "The Politics of Guilty and Pity" by RJ Rushdoony
8. "Introduction to Logic" by Irving M. Copi
9. "A Christian view of men and things" by Gordon Clark
10. "Essays," The Works of G. K. Chesterton
11. "A Defense of Virginia and the South" by R. L. Dabney
12. "Structures of Scientific Revolutions" by Thomas Kuhn
13. "The Institute"s by John Calvin
14. "Les Miserable" by Victor Hugu
15. "The Scottish Chiefs" by Jane Porter
16. "The Philosophy of Science and Belief in God" by Gordon Clark
17. "Prevailing Worldviews" by Glenn R. Martin
18. "The One and The Many" by RJ Rushdoony
19. "Idols for Destruction" By Schlossberg
20. Various Poetry by Chesterton, Gerald Manley Hopkin, Ethelwyn Wetherald
21. "Amusing ourselves to Death" by Neil Postman
22. "The Outline of Sanity" by G. K. Chesterton
23. "The Law" by Frederic Bastiat
24. "Economics in one Lesson" by Henry Hazlitt
25. "I Pencil" (essay on line)
26. "Basic Economics" by Thomas Sowell
27. "The Road to Serfdom" by Fredrich Hyek
28. "What Has Government Done to Our Money?" by Murray Rothbard
29. "The Case Against the Fed" by Murray Rothbard
30. "A Humane Economy: The Social Framework of the Free Market" by Wilhelm Ropke
31. "The Creature From Jekyll Island" by Em Griffin
32. "The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression" by Amity Shlaes
33. "New Deal or Raw Deal?: How FDR's Economic Legacy Has Damaged America" W. Folsom Jr.
34. "de Magistro" by Augustine
35. "Mathematics: Is God Silent?" by James Nickel

OK, so that's a little more than 20 books.  This list is certainly not exhaustive.   It is my belief that anyone of my children that complete this list will be well-educated.  Praise be to God for these good gifts.

Thanks to my good friends for helping produce this list: Bret McAtee, Mark Chambers, Misty Richards, Robert Fort and L.E. Sam Koon.

All Things, in, through and for God

Christian, never apologize for being a Calvinist!  These are not empty and futile thoughts.

While talking to someone at work on the Sovereignty of God, I was accused of being a fatalist.  We looked up the word together and the definition stated that a fatalist believes that all things are controlled by Fate.  I've never met Fate, nor read it's book, however, I do believe in the One who lovingly controls all things and saves His people from their sins.  From the book that I'm currently reading, we see that:

"If there is one Christian who stresses belief in God, it is the Calvinist.  His first and last thought everywhere is God.  This is the golden thread that colors the whole of Calvinistic theology.  Everything depends upon God.  Religion, although it blesses man, exists not for Man, but in the last analysis for God.  'Of Him and Through and To Him are all things"'  Consider the Calvinist's view regarding the universe of created things.  Not only does he believe that it was created by God, but all that occurs in it; whether in nature or in human life, he holds to be but the unfolding of the divine plan for the ages.  Even sin does not happen as an accident.  God willingly permitted sin, lets it work according to its own inherent nature, and controls for His own Glory.  God works upon this creation in either of two ways.  He works through the normal operations of the universe.  Men, even sinful men in nature, act freely according to their own impulses or laws.  They are, however, only the secondary causes; behind them lies God, as the first cause of all things.  He, without compelling secondary causes to act contrary to their own nature and choice, brings to pass all that happens to the universe.  The second method that God operates upon this world is by miracles: special revelation, inspiration, wonders, incarnation, physical resurrection, regeneration, and sanctification.  The Calvinist does not rest content, whether he views the normal operations of nature or God's special, miraculous revelations, until he traced all events back to God and dedicated them to him." Basic Ideas of Calvinism, H. Henry Meeter

Praise God!

Genesis 20:6

6 Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that you have done this in the integrity of your heart, and it was I who kept you from sinning w against me. Therefore I did not let you touch her.

Genesis 50:19-20

19 But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? 20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but i God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.

Psalm 115:3

3 Our God is in the heavens;
he does all that he pleases.

Psalm 135:6

6 Whatever the Lord pleases, he does,
in heaven and on earth,
in the seas and all deeps.

Proverbs 16:4

4 The Lord has made everything for its purpose,
even q the wicked for the day of trouble.

Proverbs 16:9

9 The heart of man plans his way,
but z the Lord establishes his steps.

Proverbs 19:21

21 Many are the plans in the mind of a man,
but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.

Proverbs 20:24

24 A man's steps are from the Lord;
how then can man understand his way?

Proverbs 21:1

21 The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord;
he turns it wherever he will.

Isaiah 10:5-7

5 Ah, Assyria, the rod of my anger;
the staff in their hands is my fury!
6 Against a godless nation I send him,
and against the people of my wrath I command him,
to take spoil and seize plunder,
and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
7 But he does not so intend,
and his heart does not so think;
but it is in his heart to destroy,
and to cut off nations not a few;

Isaiah 14:27

27 For the Lord of hosts has purposed,
and who will annul it?
His hand is stretched out,
and who will turn it back?

Isaiah 43:12-13

12 I declared and saved and proclaimed,
when there was no strange god among you;
and you are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and I am God.
13 Also henceforth I am he;
there is none who can deliver from my hand;
I work, and who can turn it back?”

Isaiah 46:9-10

9 remember the former things of old;
for I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like me,
10 declaring the end from the beginning
and from ancient times things not yet done,
saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,
and I will accomplish all my purpose,’

Lamentations 3:37

37 Who has spoken and it came to pass,
unless the Lord has commanded it?

Daniel 4:34-35

34 At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored p him who lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation;
35 all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing,
and he does according to his will among the host of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth;
and none can stay his hand
or say to him, “What have you done?”

Acts 4:27-28

27 for truly in this city there were gathered together against your u holy servant Jesus, v whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 28 to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.

Romans 9:18-23

18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.
19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” 20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump d one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? 22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—

Modes of Thought within Christendom

"What are the major schools of thought within Christianity"

I found this nice, succinct list in the book "Basic Ideas of Calvinism", recommend by Rev. McAtee, over at ironink.org.

Methodist:  Places the idea of salvation for sinners in the foreground;
Baptist: Mystery of regeneration;
Lutheran: Justification by faith;
Moravian:  The wounds of Christ;
Greek: Mysticism of the Holy Spirit;
Roman:  Catholicity of the church;
Calvinism:  Places in the foreground the thought of God.

It is easy to point out that all of the above systems, have commonalities in all of these areas, however this list should highlight what is most central to these systems.  To further expand on the last one (it is, after all, a book on Calvinism), the author continues with "The calvinist does not start out with some interest of man, for example, his  conversion, or his justification, but has as his informing thought always how will God come to His rights!"

Good stuff.

Romans 11:36 For from him and through him and to him are all things.To him be glory forever. Amen.

Nature is not Television

"What are Christians to think about Nature and Saving the Environment?"

More from Wendell Berry, The Unsettling of America

"What I'm trying to get at is that in the environmental movement there are some ugly, elitist, class-struggle type things operating. ... There are so many elements of class struggle lying under the attitudes of a lot of environmentalists; it's scary... their view of the natural world is so delicate and precious, terrarium-like, picture-windowish.  I know nature is precious and delicate.  I also know it is incredibly tough and resilient, has unbelievable power to respond to and flourish with kindly use.  I don't care about the landscape if I am to be excluded from it... the question isn't to use or not use the question is HOW to use it."

Genesis 1:28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Nature, or Creation rather, is meant to conquered and used.  We are commanded to use it and civilize it.

Genesis 1:26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."

Man is to exercise dominion over all the earth, not a despotic dominion to be sure, but rather a responsible stewardship.

The Problem with Specialization

"What are the dangers of specialization, in a general sense?"

I'm still working through the Unsettling of America and came across a section of the book that speaks to the issue of the over-specialization of function in work.

"We then begin to see the... impossibility of an idea of community wholeness that divorces itself from any idea of personal wholeness.  The first and best known hazard of the specialist system is that it produces specialists - people who are elaborately and expensively trained to do one thing.  We get into absurdity very quickly here.  There are for instance educators who have nothing to teach, communicators that have nothing to say, medical doctors skilled at expense to cure for disease that they have no skill and no interest in preventing.  More common and more damaging are the inventors, manufacturers and salesman of devices who have no concern for the possible effects of those devices.  Specialization is thus seen to be a way of institutionalizing, justifying, and paying highly for a calamitous disintegration and scattering-out of the various functions of character:  workmanship, care, conscience, responsibility. ... Therefore the [ideal] citizen is therefore left with only two concerns:  making money and entertaining himself."

- The Unsettling of America, Wendell Berry

I've long thought that big business and big government, although they publicly hate the other, really need the other in order to exist - while at the same time taking advantage of the "small".  It doesn't have to be this way of course, but we desire it as a society in order that we may live the easy life.   We are robing the future and everyone else and it will catch up with us to devastating proportions.

Preaching Liberalism

"How does liberalism creep into the pulpit and what can be done about it?"

On a seemingly unrelated topic, I've been reading a book on the "Free Offer of the Gospel" and came across these quotes.  Have you ever had an "ah hah" moment, when you knew something bothered you but didn't know why until someone connected the dots for you?  This was one of those moments.

Examples of 'Liberalism in the Pulpit' are readily available - it is easy to find this kind of thing from the American pulpit today.  I am convinced that it is on the whole well-meaning, but sorely off the mark.

"To construe preaching as "in the first moment" in the imperative mood (telling man what he must do) and not in the indicative mood (telling man what God has done and promises to do) is to produce the monstrosity that passes for gospel-preaching today." - David J. Englesma Hypercalvinism and the Call of the Gospel

"Here is found the most fundamental difference between liberalism and Christianity - liberalism is altogether in the imperative mood, while Christianity begins with a triumphant indicative; liberalism appeals to man's will, while Christianity announces, first, a gracious act of God" - J. Gresham Machen

Amen!!

Brothers and sisters - this stuff is all around us.  It's not just in the "liberal" churches.

Exodus 3:4-6 When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am." 5 Then he said, "Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” 6 And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

Isaiah 5:16 But the Lord of hosts is exalted in justice, and the Holy God shows himself holy in righteousness.

"Oh God, teach us to fear you - a fear that understands in you are all good things, a fear that longs to learn more and more of you and your holiness. Amen"

Wellness vs. Effeciency

"What is the difference between living Well and living Efficiently?"

I'm 8 pages into a book and read the following quote found in The Unsettling of America, by Wendell Berry.  There is much more here in this area of the book, but the quote that made me stop dead in my tracks was the following:

"I conceive a strip-miner to be a model exploiter, and as a model nurturer I take the old-fashioned idea or ideal of a farmer.  The exploiter is a specialist, an expert; the nurturer is not.  The standard of the exploiter is efficiency, that standard of the nurturer is care.  The exploiters' goal is money, profit; the nurturer's goal is health - his land's health, his own, his family's, his community's, his country's.  Whereas the exploiter asks of a piece of land only how much and how quickly it can be made to produce, the nurturer asks a question that is much more complex and difficult:  what is its carrying capacity? (... what can it produce dependably for an indefinite time?)  The exploiter wishes to earn as much as possible by as little work as possible; the nurturer expects, certainly, to have a decent living from his work, but his characteristic wish is to work as well as possible."

What I think this boils down to is that the seeking of profit above all else is sinful and damaging to Creation.  No big shock there.  However, the truth of this has far more implications then that.  For the person who believes that this life is "throw away" or that "it's all going to burn in the end", they will tend to exploit Creation for the future - a spend now and pay later approach.  However, if one believes that we're in it for the long haul, thinking 15 to 20 generations into the future, this line of thinking becomes much more important.  It's something to think about.

Genesis 1:31: "31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day."

Genesis 2:15-20: "15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” 19 Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him."

Psalm 118:24 - This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

"Lord, we delight in all thy commands - to be fruitful, to domesticate and to Love thy Neighbor.  Give us a heart for the long-term, give us a mind for your Gospel and the making of disciples.  For your Glory Father, rid the land of our disposable and idolatrous hearts.  Amen"

Poor in the Welfare State

"What are Christians to believe about the Modern Welfare State?"

I'm currently reading a book on Christian Charity.  In His Service is a wonderful mix of history, doctrine and practical advice for the Christian in seeking a comprehensive understanding of Charity and what it means to care for those who are in need.  The book was written in the chatty, reference-laden style that Rushdoony readers will certainly recognize.

I'm about a third of the way through the book and came across this quote:

"The poor in the welfare state tend to see the rich as exploiters.  Instead of seeing wealth as something produced by intelligence, work, and capital, they see wealth as a static, unchanging resource which has been expropriated by the rich"

Furthermore,

"In a welfare society, class war, race war, and conflict between the sexes is usually close to the surface.  As against welfarism, Christian charity unites rather than divides society"

"In His Service, the Christian Calling to Charity" R.J. Rushdoony

We see here a stark contrast between a Welfare (i.e. Marxist) understanding of reality and a Christian one.  Marxism sees that a random man-centered universe contains limited wealth and that this wealth never grows or diminishes but only changes hands. As against Marxism, the Christian view is that God as the center and the Giver has given His creation the means of Dominion to increase of wealth, produced by know-how, Work and capital.  That is to say that it is the Christian ability and duty to increase wealth.  Why?  The Christian does that so that we can give to those in need and create that God-centered sense of unity that is a hallmark of the Christian system.

"Lord we thank you for the abundance that you have given to us and how you involve us, your Children, in doing your work with the needy in this life.  You and you alone are the Provider of all things and to you alone we glorify in all that we do.  Give us a heart to take care of those in need as you have commanded and taught.  Amen"

Biblical Warrant for Covenantal Church Government

"What is the Christian to make of 'Independent' Churches; are they biblical and should we seek independence?"

I am currently in the "application" section of the book "The Greatness of the Great Commission" by Dr. Gentry. I highly recommend the book as a whole and am really gleaning some very useful information from the application section of the book thus far.

One key aspect of the Great Commission is the mission of setting up and organizing Church Government as expressed in the Bible.  According to Gentry, Scripture has ordained a covenantal government of elected hierarchical rule in the church.  We see this patterned in the Old Testament (Exe. 18: 19-23; Deut. 1:13-15).  Elders of the Church possessed "jurisdictional" authority (Exe. 12:21, cp. v. 3) and were organized into levels (Deut. 1:15).

Similarly, the New Testament adopts the office of Elder (1 Tim 3).  We also read that the New Testament enforces the plurality of Elders (Acts 14:23; Tit. 1:5) and they are charged with the authority that was not given to everyone in the congregation (a higher calling) - our Lord gives these keys to men (Matt. 16:18-19) but not all men (1 Tim. 3:1,2,6; 5:19).

The Scriptures also ordain a system of higher courts, outside of the local body, into a denomination, as seen in Acts 15:

"There we discover the Church functioning hierarchically to resolve a doctrinal dispute in a particular church at Antioch (Acts 15: 1,2).  The matter was sent by representatives to a trial before a joint
council in Jerusalem (Acts 15:2). The matter was debated before the entire council (Acts 15:419).26 The conclusion of this non-local court action was sent back down to the court of original jurisdiction (Acts 15:20-23). lt was considered binding upon the Antiochian church (Acts 15:28) and was sent to other churches for their instruction (Acts 16:4)."

"Lord, we pray that you save your Church from the hyper-individualism that is plaguing us today.  We thank you for giving us your Word on this matter, we pray for rapid Reformation in the Church Universal, at all levels, and revival in the Land.  Amen."