Category: Theological Thoughts

I wish to make some opening observations about the NBC piece on Theocracy and Christian Nationalism featuring an interview with our speaker at Providence Church (CREC) this weekend, Douglas Wilson.

First, let’s applaud the level of professionalism from their end. Go, team drones! Those aerial images were stunning!

I am also certain that several things were edited and that Wilson elaborated further, and those observations were cut for nefarious reasons or basic editorial purposes. Still, Wilson’s voice was heard loud and clear, and the differences emerged without much trouble.

Second, the platform given to Wilson and the Moscow crowd simply elevated the respect many have shown towards them in the age of media hysteria over COVID. During COVID, the good folks there stood firm and kept singing in the reign of Jesus. This piece from NBC and the follow-up discussion among the panel only confirm even more so the admiration we should have for the endeavors going on over there and the sheer enthusiasm they are providing for other towns such as ours here in Pensacola, Fl.

Third, when NBC marvels at the simplicity of a statement favoring biblical marriage and subsequently the opposition to homosexual marriage, we should be encouraged to state the obvious even more clearly among the masses. These basic concepts of Christendom 099 are losing their currency among the elite secular voices and growing in power among those who believe. So, as the world forgets the basic structures of society, we uphold, proclaim, and cheer the world’s forgetfulness. After all, this is what happens when God begins to give a society over to a reprobate mind.

Fourth, the representation of those who oppose what’s happening with Wilson’s endeavors who actually live in Moscow is perhaps the greatest evidence that what those good folks at Christ Church are doing is actually working. You see, man is symbolic. And when that which symbolizes the opposing viewpoint is offering us Baalism in human form, then we have already won the symbolic battle. For instance, when a unitarian, universalist, female person playing the role of a pastor says that Christ Church, Moscow is not a church, but a cult, then silence is our best strategy. Let the left return to their own vomit without any encouragement on our part.

Fifth, when we talk about Christian nationalism, we are talking about doing our business here first and then exporting it to the nations of the earth. And, amid this process, if Brazil gets the Christendom bug first and straightens their priorities and makes Jesus King of the samba party over there, they can export their goodness to us. This is not a competition, it’s a team sport, and we will take all the help we can get, but what we can’t do is act as if our national interests should take 32nd place.

Sixth and finally, “reformation and revival” is the name of the game. This is a generational battle. Whether we are 2,000 in a small town of 25,000, we still act as if the covenantal business is our business unto a thousand generations. A small band of faithful doers will easily outlive a large band of masqueraded thugs and lesbian voices.

Press on Canon Press, Douglas Wilson, CrossPolitic Studios, and all you rowdy boys and girls out there. The battle belongs to the Lord!

NBC MEET THE PRESS: https://www.nbcnews.com/…/christian-nationalism-on-the…

We had a festive evening last night during our Vespers Service. We sang through Psalm 40, learned a new through-composed psalm, and then chanted through portions of Proverbs 10. There was prayer, Bible study, more singing and then a massive pizza/salad extravaganza. The tables were full of joy and laughter, theological discussions, story-telling, and strategizing happening all over the place. As the Puritans would say, there was a jolly intoxication taking place; the Spirit-led variety.

Moments like last night make me pull out my inner Bonhoeffer and take a few moments to exalt the virtues of community life and to show that without it, one’s humanity suffers:

First, to be in community is the closest human sample to that heavenly experiment in the age to come. To be with others is to experience–though incompletely–community with resurrected others in the world to come.

Second, to be in community is to put to test those divine imperatives to love, show kindness, and cover one another. If we feel unprotected, it’s because we have abandoned community or chosen faulty versions.

Third, to be in community is to see weakness displayed often and to be humbled by it. We experience our frailties most consistently together and we find ourselves apologizing, reconciling and desiring the good of others.

Fourth, to be in community is to improve on your baptism (Q167, LC) and see the fruits of faith. A child is baptized to grow into a community of faith. He/she improves on their baptism not outside but within the structures of church life.

Fifth, to be in community is to allow one another to be fully human and fully flawed and fully forgiven. When we are within, we taste fullness and abundant life, whether in the confession or absolution.

Sixth, to be in community is to see little children playing a fundamental role in the sanctification of parents, churches, and the kingdom. To segregate children from the life of the church is to miss community as it is intended to be in the Scriptures (Psalm 8:3).

Seventh, to be in community is to learn from one another; to be like one another in important ways, and to embody the healthy habits of one another. As one of my mentors has said, “we are to be 10% like those with whom we commune.”

Eighth, to be in community is to sing together Zion’s songs while allowing our voices to minister to one another in psalms, hymns, and songs of the Spirit. As I sang with my people last night, the music’s very fabric was connecting the fabric of our relationships. We sang together and therefore grew together.

Ninth, to be in community is to weep and rejoice with one another, to experience the cycles of life together. There is nothing more meaningful than to taste the sobriety of life in sorrow and the festivity of life in jubilation.

Tenth, to be in community is to long for the Lord’s Day on Monday and to prepare for it on Saturday. When we commune together, we long to be together in the call of God each Lord’s Day. It fills our hearts with eagerness to be gathered into one body and formed by Father, Son, and Spirit.

To be together, to experience life in all its glory, is to satiate our experiences in a sacred composition of Trinitarian benediction.

I remember when I became a U.S. citizen. Good friends from church came out to support me. I was wearing a stunning red tie and smiling like a kid in a soccer store. It was a day I won’t forget.

As I enter this 4th of July, I find myself thankful, honored and overwhelmed with all sorts of feelings used to describe the story of a bare-footed little kid who grew up in Northeastern Brazil and now is a father of five living in this great country.

Sovereignty is good. It is right. And I believe there is much wisdom in that threefold pursuit of Life, Liberty and Happiness. By and large, this country provides the best and most excellent environment for the pursuit of this trinity of virtues. There is a swelling of movements in our day moving things in the right direction. This is the first 4th of July outside of the bondage of Roe v. Wade. God has been merciful and blessed us, and in this light, we should rejoice with greater fervor! He has answered our prayers and we should feast in gratitude. Yet, we must always be vigilant in using our liberties to worship the Three-and-One Creator instead of chasing after speechless idols. If we stand firm, Roe is only the first of many victories God has in store for his people.

Washington has become a place of secret handshakes, unwarranted transactions, political elitism, sophist rhetoric, and cowardice. We have traded happiness and found contentment in a pot of stew. We gave up the perilous fight to amuse ourselves to death. And for these reasons, we should find refuge in God’s unchanging nature and in the Church’s glory. When we chase the horses and chariots philosophy, we will succumb to the wrong power and source of wisdom.

On a day like this one, it is essential to give thanks for this nation, but keeping things in the right perspective is even more critical. We are first and foremost heavenly citizens planted in this bright-stars country to proclaim allegiance not to a president but to one true King. The intrinsic value of this nation does not grant life, liberty, and happiness; it is the inherent perfection of a heavenly country that urges us to such pursuits. And we should pray as visibly as the bombs bursting in the air that this nation would join that divine proclamation. After all, we are Americans. We are not pessimists. We know that even in the darkest moment of this country’s history, God is still on the throne, and He does not hit the pause button to the advances of his kingdom.

Happy 4th of July! Be good citizens of this nation. With every juicy bite of watermelon, with every patriotic song, with every red, white and blue decoration, give thanks to God. But don’t forget your first love. Don’t forget to sing psalms so loudly that the enemies will think there is an army of giants coming at them, to speak the truth so firmly that Washington will be unable to shut her ears. Love so convincingly that godly marriages would be honored. Obey the Lord your God, petition his mercy that God would spare us in doing evil and bless us in doing good. And may good triumph over evil in this land.