Sunday, March 26, 2017

Headline Potpourri #95

Those scuzzy witches descending upon the Nation's Capital no doubt ranked among those that condemned Promise Keepers' Rallies which were little more than high priced Bible studies and not likely gatherings where men glorified their privates in a raunchy manner.

Unless her confession that she has thought a lot about blowing up the White House is an admission that she secretly desires to become an author of thriller novels in the tradition of Tom Clancy or Vince Flynn, shouldn't Madonna be hauled in by the Secret Service for investigation?

So do these shrill banshees that constantly gripe about the “coarseness” of contemporary politics and condemn men for doing anything other than sitting around at tea parties like a bunch of pansies intend to condemn the constant use of the term “pussy” at the Moloch dedication rally in DC the day after the inauguration?

If a church sings a song containing the lyric “brokenness is what I long for”, should the pastor really bemoan the low state of the congregation's finances. Seems you have indeed received the very brokenness you are piously claiming that you desire.

There's really little point in chewing out an elderly congregation about the declining numbers in children's Sunday school and AWANA programs. Frankly any White folks of breeding age that can afford to have long departed the area.

In light of the Trump inauguration, Madonna has admonished that we must now go as “low as we can go”. Given as many times as she's been on her back, that's got to be pretty low.

The media is condemning “the alternative facts” insisted upon by the Trump administration regarding the attendance numbers at the inauguration. Does the media intend to take such a bold stance in favor of objective verifiable empiricism when it comes to other issues such as the outright falsehoods advocated at the million woman march, the advocates of global warming, and much of the public school curriculum?

Russell Moore needs to explain something. For well over a year, Dr. Moore went on numerous tirades against Christians supporting Donald Trump's campaign for the presidency. This opposition was largely in part because of Trump's enthusiastic call to curtail illegal immigration. Because Moore sits on the board of the National Christin Hispanic Leadership Conference, he apparently believes it is his duty to advocate for the advancement of preferred demographics at the expense of conservative Caucasian Americans. As such, does he now intend to direct his condemnation at Samuel Rodriguez, the head of the National Hispanic Leadership, for speaking as part of the official inaugural program? It might be claimed that providing an invocational prayer or Bible reading does not necessarily constitute an endorsement. However, it is doubtful a minister is going to grant this sort of explicit blessing upon a public figure ascending to high office unless the minister and the official shared at least profound admiration for one another.

WRC 4 in Washington celebrated a 90 year old dragged by her family to the infanticide rights orgy that descended upon Washington, DC. Fascinating that, when those of a similar demographic to this crone assembled for Tea Party rallies, such people were condemned for being old and White.

Probably the best way to spin the debate surrounding the size of the Trump Inauguration is to admit that the crowd was smaller than originally insisted. Spindoctors should then immediately proceed to point out that this was because average Americans were afraid of professional Sorosian agitators such as the Black Lives Matter hooligans that proceeded to kick a disabled woman nearly unconscious and the others that set fire to the hair of another Trump supporter.

Madalyn Albright has declared she is ready to register as a Muslim. Good. Can someone now get her a burqa so the rest of us no longer have to gaze upon her withered visage?

An episode of a National Association of Evangelicals podcast was titled “What White Christians Need To Know About Black Churches”. Firstly, a White Christian does not really “need to know”. They might “want to know”, but their continued well being and ongoing survival is not predicated upon it. Second, one of the topics discussed included “What prevents Black Christians from attending predominately White churches?” Usually when such matters are discussed it is for the purposes of getting the guilty party to change their ways. So does the National Association of Evangelicals intend to guilt trip Black churches into altering the practices that make White folks apprehensive about attending such congregations such as those in attendance running up and down the aisles to such an extent that medical professionals must be on standby and the homiletical focus not so much being eternal Christ truth but rather a constant reminder of Whitey's shortcomings.

Both sides are seeming to indicate that the so-called “dreamers” (children brought to America by illegal alien parents) should be allowed to remain here because their residential status is not their fault. Utilizing such logic, wouldn't it be wrong to impose crippling fines against the bakers refusing to bake the cakes for gay weddings because that might negatively impact the lives of the children of those falling afoul of the social indoctrination agenda?

Similar to a drug addict in need of a fix, Citizen Obama could not refrain from commenting on President Trump's restrictions on refugees. The former president assured that he disagrees with discriminating against individuals because of their religion. So is that why his regime turned away Christians at a higher rate than Muslims?

Fascinating how those insisting the loudest that scrutinizing those extended the PRIVILEGE (not the right) to enter sovereign U.S. territory is unAmerican any other time insist that there is no other distinctively America way superior to that practiced by less advanced or even deliberately evil regimes.

If the Boy Scouts must admit into membership girls who only think they are boys, shouldn't the United Negro College Fund disperse scholarship funds to White people claiming to be Black?

A crone was tossed off an airplane for disruptively berating another passenger over Donald Trump's climate change skepticism. If she truly believed in climate change herself, what is she doing on an airplane to begin with given the notoriously high “carbon footprint” inherent to that particular mode of transportation?

In a tweet aimed at Mike Pense, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling posted “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole and forfeits his soul.” Wonder if she is as familiar with the Biblical texts as condemnatory of witchcraft and sorcery?

Charles Schummer is outraged over Donald Trump for relieving a temporary Attorney General of her post for refusing to implement his immigration moratorium of entrants from designated countries noted for their links to terrorism and jihadist Islam. Would the legislator herald as a civil servant of integrity a bureaucrat that refused to implement President Obama's pro-homosexual directives?

Homilists are often hard on the priest and the Levite in the parable of the Good Samaritan. But if these religious functionaries had intervened by touching the bloody victim and gone about their temple duties, would they have been struck dead for doing so in violation of assorted hygiene laws also told to them by God? So the characters in this account would have been in a panic and experiencing considerable inner turmoil beyond simply not wanting to be bothered.

A Youtube video posted by Dallas Theological Seminary is titled “Woke Church”. In the explanation of the term, Dr. Eric Mason elaborates how the concept was developed by Black nationalists in applying sociology and historical analysis to comprehend alleged systemic racism. This theologian then proceeds to elaborate how such a perspective can be redeemed for Christian usage. As such, does Dallas Theological Seminary intend to invite chapel speakers elaborating how the worldview assumptions of the Christian Identity movement or the AltRight if they refined can assist the believer in rectifying the decline gripping American culture?

Regarding the filthy protest mobs that chant “This is what democracy looks like” as they destroy property and cavort down the street in obscene costumes. Did they supportively articulate this sentiment regarding the Tea Party movement?

Propagandist Chris Cuomo insists that Donald Trump is to be blamed for the mob destruction in Berkeley, California. Applying this logic, if a malicious horde laid waste to a TV station, would Cuomo's biased reporting be at fault?

It is no more an “insult against the Founding Fathers” to be in favor of term limits than it is an insult against the Founding Fathers to believe that Black folks should be able to live free. It was the Founding Fathers that implemented the amendment process so that future generations could tweak the system around the edges in regards to those areas where the Founders might have been in error or in light of circumstances that even these visionaries could not have foreseen.

Interesting how in one sermon a pastor will lament that Christians don't take seriously enough the admonition to avoid those that practice the most explicit forms of godlessness and then turn around in other sermons condemning Christians that only associate with other Christians for fear of doctrinal purity and avoiding contaminating compromise.

Will these tolerancemongers get as jacked out of shape over an American attacked for wearing a red hat on the grounds of being an alleged Trump supporter as they do about those allegedly attacked for being adorned in Islamic apparel?

According to an admonition articulated on Fox & Friends, we are somehow obligated to drink beer because some prominent brewery is giving a donation to a charity that provides scholarships to the children of fallen military personnel. So who is giving scholarships to the children of the raving alcoholics or those killed in drunk driving accidents?

The cover of the 2/6/17 issue of Businessweek consists of a photo of Donald Trump holding an executive order with the text manipulated to read, “(Insert hastily drafted, legally dubious, economically destabilizing executive order here).” Interesting how concern over executive orders during the Obama and even the Bush regimes was dismissed along with crop circles, chemtrails, and sasqatch sightings.

Liberals are apoplectic that Trump appointed Jerry Falwell, Jr. of Liberty University to a task force on educational reform. The fear is that a devout Christian will ruin higher learning in America. In comparison to what: the Berkeley student body which apparently cannot countenance a single speaker articulating a viewpoint other than their own without resorting to rampaging violence?

In solidarity with the proposed general strike called for on the part of the same WOMMMMMMEN that perambulated around the nation's capital on costumes depicting their reproductive organs, perhaps men should leave the toilet seat up that day.

Homeschool activist Kevin Swanson announced in a podcast uploaded to SermonAudio that he is raising his children to be married. What he is really saying is that you are a failure as a human being if you are not. Yet one doubts that conviction is not so sincere that he is above accepting your tithe or offering dollar even if he considers you substandard. Wouldn't truly godly parents instead raise their children to be moral irrespective of whatever state they might happen to find themselves in?

In an analysis of marriage and divorce trends, home school activist Kevin Swanson observed that it seem that Gloria Steinem's worldview won out over Elizabeth Elliot's. Unfortunately so. But frankly in their religious fanaticism to the point where her husband Jim Elliot reveled in his low grades as indication of his religious devotion and abandoning his family in favor of missionary outreach to cannibalistic Indians, their worldview isn't really worthy of slavish aspiration either.

Technically, in censuring Elizabeth Warren for impugning the character of another Senator, aren't the legislators bringing such a charge also impugning her character?

Establishmentarian media is jacked out of shape over the alleged ethical impropriety of Kellyanne Conway's frustrated outburst urging Americans to go and purchase items from Ivanka Trump's canceled product line. Too bad there is not as much concern regarding the revolving door that traditionally exists between the ranks of administration functionary and the punditocracy to the point where it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish the boundaries between the two classifications.

Virginia is considering legislation that would allow homeschoolers to play on public school teams. But if government education is so wicked that these parents insist upon removing their children from the system altogether, shouldn't they also be willing to sacrifice athletic glory for doctrinal purity? Why don't they arrange for students to play on a private school's team or to form a team consisting of other homeschoolers? Furthermore, are these homeschoolers advocating for this sort of accommodation out of pursuit of the Almighty or rather the almighty dollar?

That lady NASCAR driver in the “Vegan Power” car was a total airhead in an interview. She got on her environmentalist high horse how she is opposed to fossil fuel sponsorship. Lady, if you are against fossil fuels, aren't you in the wrong sport? So apparently it is acceptable for her to expend 500 miles worth of fuel driving in a circle, but you are expected to be wracked with guilt for simply commuting to work or running errands around town.

Maryland is considering letting schools hold class on George Washington's Birthday and Easter Monday in order to complete the required days of scholastic instruction with a first day of school set after Labor Day. Yet not a word has been said about holding class on Martin Luther King Day. Apparently Jesus wasn't Black after all or students would keep the day off.

A cover story article of the March 2017 issue of Foreign Affairs is titled “How America Turned Against Experts”. In other words, the Council On Foreign Relations is jacked out of shape that an increasing number are no longer sitting around quietly as elites conspire to take away your liberty, your property, and even in a variety of these postulated contingencies your very life in the name of planetary sustainability.

An article titled “Own Up: Should A Writer Ever Write A Character Outside Their Identity” published in the January 2017 issue of The Writer suggests that one ought to be cautious in crafting narratives involving characters beyond the categories one has been assigned to by racialist bean counters. However, criticism of White heterosexual Christian primarily males will be allowed to continue unabated by those from beyond that classification.

It was said in a sermon that the child of God that does not want to appear fanatical is likely lukewarm. But cannot this desire not to appear fanatical also consist of a wariness of practices pervasive among certain religious circles that are not necessarily obligatory from a plane reading of Scripture but are at best merely the traditions of man. Discernment is itself a quality stemming from the fruits of the Spirit and the Armor of God.

Media propagandists are insisting that President Trump has not done enough to denounce Antisemitism. Do they intend to demand the President also condemn the hostility against Christianity expressed on the part of Jewish individuals? It's doubtful Trump's own daughter is a convert to Judaism and raising her offspring in that faith out of sincere conviction. Why didn't the son in law renounce his faith to adopt her family's nominal Christianity?

In the hymn “My Faith As Found A Resting Place”, the text reads, “My faith as found a resting place not in device or creed: I trust the Everliving one --- His wounds for me shall plead.” But isn't that itself a creedal statement? There are indeed those that profess a dry and cold orthodoxy. But isn't that the fault of the one articulating such an orthodoxy rather than the orthodoxy itself? Creeds testify to a truth beyond them. However, without the objective statements of the creeds, how do we determine what to put our faith in?

Apparently Cal Thomas's problem with Milo is not that the provocateur is gay and possibly a defender of pedophilia. Rather, in a column, Thomas criticized the flamboyant iconoclast for the tendency to point out how things are heading to Ghenna in a wicker transport receptacle rather than coming up sunshine and lollipops. But in being negative about Milo's lack of optimism in emphasizing what he is against rather than what he is for, isn't Thomas himself being negative? And as a syndicated columnist, hasn't Thomas been griping about what is wrong with the world for over thirty years now?

Donald Trump attended an “African American Listening Session” commemorating Black History Month. Does the federal government intend to hold European American listening sessions to kick off Caucasian American History Month? Usually such terminology is euphemism for minorities to berate Whites with Caucasians not permitted to respond in a similar manner.

It is claimed women use three times as many words as men. Probably because if men used as many, at best whatever we would say would be invalidated or, at worst, condemned as just another form of abuse. Most of these extra words mostly just consist of the woman repeating things she's told you numerous times before but if the man says something that's already been spoken the woman cuts off the conversation like what he is saying is not worth hearing a second time even if it is relevant to the conversation.

From the tone of a Fox News interview, Bill Bennet seems quite pleased with President Trump. The foreign and economic policy Trump campaigned on are inspired in large part by the America First platform developed by Pat Buchanan. Perhaps Dr. Bennet can explain why he denounced that movement when it was spearheaded by Pat Buchanan (a profoundly moral individual that consistently advocated these beliefs for nearly all of his adult life) while he is backing them with Trump at the helm despite the fact that the real estate mogul has adopted them fairly recently and (unlike Buchanan) has not really lived by the principles of Judeo-Christian morality that Bennet has accumulated considerable fame and fortune advocating.

If a deacon points out he began reading the Bible because he did not have a house and a good job, is he really doing these things for spiritual edification or to get the house and job? If the deacon did not get what he wanted, are we to assume God is not pleased with him? How does this differ from Osteenism other than it is being articulated by an independent Baptist rather than some variety of holy roller?

A pastor confessed he has not heard much about fasting until he went to Africa. Was it that these Africans were really into fasting as a spiritual discipline or that this was just a polite way that the African had no food available but felt to ashamed to accept charity?

If a Baptist says we ought to fast as part of the confession of sin, how is this different than a Catholic insisting that the contrite believer ought to perform some act of penance? And if you just happen to preach on fasting the Sunday prior to Ash Wednesday, how is that any different than the liturgical churches that celebrate Lent?

If it is emphasized in a homily that fasting is a voluntary personal decision that has no bearing on one's holiness, is it really appropriate to deliver an entire sermon attempting to guilt-trip gullible believers into doing so? If people are to be mocked and ridiculed that they do not fast because they like to eat, who was it that created humanity with a need to eat accompanied by pleasure from doing so?

A fundamentalist lamented how he wished broadcaster Chris Plante would tone down the namecalling. Really? Has this pastor reflected upon the things he has himself has enunciated from the pulpit? If not for the robust rhetoric, what exactly does Christian fundamentalism have going for it? So why is it apparently acceptable to mock women that wear pants but apparently not actual subversive liberals that will actually undermine morality and the American way of life?

Interesting. In referring to Chris Plante, a pastor made it known how he wishes the broadcaster would tone down the namecalling. Yet in favorbably mentioning Tony Campolo in that very morning's sermon no mention was made to be cautious of the assorted debaucheries and apostasies advocated by Campolo. If a pastor is going to enunciate to a congregation that Campolo is a Christian, why not articulate similar pronouncements of fellowship regarding certain Catholics that are as spiritually astute in their observations and reflections?

A Yahoo headline suggests that school vouchers don't help students. The conclusion that the propagandists desire to manipulate the reader into adopting is that this variety of educational subsidy should not be implemented or abolished. By this logic, since the public schools fail a significant percentage of students, shouldn't this form of pedagogy be abolished as well?

At the Oscars, host Jimmy Kimmel remarked, “This broadcast is being watched...around the world in more than 225 countries that now hate us.” That accusation was no doubt intended to be an insult aimed at President Trump. However, the disdain directed at America is probably even more the fault of filth spewed forth by a significant percentage in Hollywood as exemplified by the sorts of productions heralded at these sorts of ceremonies (for it is seldom “The Lord Of The Rings” or “Star Wars” that take top honors) and the way many of these entertainment luminaries live their lives in the public spotlight.

For International WOMMMENNN's Day, paper towel fixture Brawny insists “Strength Has No Gender”. If so, broads buying into this mindset can put the toilet seat down themselves and keep their mouths shut about it.

Newt Gingrich went on a vacation to Antarctica. Yet at one point he apparently thought global warming was such a dire threat that he punished the American people for our resource consumption by subjecting humanity to the image of himself frolicking on a love seat with Nancy Pelosi.

If gays can get married and grown men can now tinkle in the ladies' room in front of little girls, why should a man be condemned for putting ketchup on a steak if that is his lifestyle choice or professed genetic proclivity? Apparently diversity is to be applied to everything other than what the concept was legitimately intended.

To paraphrase the logic Planned Parenthood expects the rest of us to applaud as the greatest breakthrough in intellectual history since the Greeks discovered the syllogism, if you don't like ketchup on YOUR steak, don't eat it that way.

According to homeschool activist Kevin Swanson, Breitbart News advocates the “wrong kind” of conservatism because the content provider is for the most part critical of immigration. As a hardline Sola Scriptura Presbyterian, perhaps Rev. Swanson should point out the passage of the divine text demanding a nation must swing its borders wide for whatever riffraff wants to saunter in.

Giving Day? Don't we give every day the government confiscates a percentage of our income? I invoke the need for a safe space having been mentally assaulted by this manifestation of the false altruism scandal.

Regarding the episode of Arrow that dealt with firearms violence and gun control. Given that the name of the gun used in the attack on city hall was repeatedly enunciated, does that mean from now on Oliver Queen's preferred projectile delivery apparatus will no longer be referred to as a bow but rather by the manufacturer's make and model number? The message the episode attempted to convey might not have come across as so hypocritical if the protagonist's alias was not itself derived from a weapon or that, for the first couple of season's, it seemed that he deliberately killed the majority of his enemies rather than simply beat the snot out of them Batman style.

The Maryland Statehouse is considering the legalization of recreational cannabis. One proposal would allow those over 21 years of age to possess up to an ounce of weed and for licensed dealers to sell up to an ounce to customers. But if there is nothing inherently wrong or dangerous about pot now that its legitimate use is being moved beyond limited medical situations into the realm of party goods, who is the state to say how much of it an individual is allowed to possession? After all, at this time, the government cannot tell me how many Big Macs can be found in my possess or how many used books one can sell on Ebay.

Regarding Baptist ministers all gungho now for Lent and looking down their noses at Christians that don't observe the occasion. What occupational class was it that conditioned the average pewfiller to react in a near anaphylactic state at the mere whiff of anything even remotely perceived as Catholic in the first place? If low church Protestants are now going to be shamed into celebrating Lent, shouldn't we be extended the decency of the traditional pancake supper the night before and the ashes dabbled on the forehead? After all, when was the last time in church history Baptists turned down the opportunity to stuff their faces and pancakes certainly sound more appetizing than the swill of the quasi-annual International Dinner.

In support of gender-based indolence, one shrill banshee wailed that Day Without Women was not just in support of mistreated WOMENNN but also in solidarity with immigrants and Muslims. In other words, this demonstration is yet another excuse to bash Donald Trump. But more importantly, don't these morons realize that Muslims are probably the greatest abusers of women on the face of planet Earth?

Will Evangelicals applauding the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina voting to move its affiliation to the Anglican Church In North America defend the right of Baptist churches refusing to direct offering dollars to the Ethics and Public Policy Commission while that body is headed by Russell Moore? After all, as proponents of congregationalism, Baptists are not obligated to finance organizations found nowhere in the pages of Scripture.

If our civilization is not superior, why do immigrants flock here rather than stay in their native regions? The United States is not geographically contiguous with Syria.

The City of Berkeley is refusing to do business with contractors involved with the construction of the Great Wall of America. Shouldn't this municipality be penalized with financial ruination in the same manner as the Christian bakers refusing to provide goods and services in support of gay weddings?

On the podcast hosted by the creator of Veggie Tales, it was pointed out that in Britain (unlike second rate America as the vocal inflections insinuated) Christianity is not equated with the nation. So what about the establishmentarian “Church of England”? What those advocating this particular perspective would apparently prefer would be to live in a land where Christians are denied basic liberties of speech and where areas of the country have been so overrun by a particular faith not as concerned about imposing its strictures upon others that even law enforcement is reluctant to enter these ghetto enclaves.

In coverage of the African American “listening session” in commemoration of Black History Month, President Trump was instead accused of talking about himself. And how is this markedly different than Citizen Obama who during his own regime would articulate the word “I” so many times that it almost seemed as if one was watching the surrealist jury in the series finale of “The Prisoner”? What those articulating this criticism really mean is that Trump likely did not articulate a sufficiently Marxist condemnation of America along with promises of pending government handouts.

In a podcast uploaded to Youtube, Phil Vischer tackled the topic of whether or not Christian media stunts Christian growth. But is he so convicted by this conundrum as to renounce the gobs of money he no doubt earned as the creator of Veggie Tales? Interesting how he did not formulate this remark on a laptop at his kitchen table but rather from a rather elaborate media studio.

In a speech critical of the Religious Right, Russell Moore admonished that White Christians should properly expect their Black and Hispanic counterparts to raise uncomfortable issues such as racial bias in sentencing. Perhaps they wouldn't get such harsh sentences if they weren't committing crimes.

In a speech critical of the Religious Right, Russell Moore said that prosperity theology is worse than Canaanite fertility religion because such ministries invoke the name of Christ. But apart from modalists such as T.D. Jakes, doesn't that wing of the Charismatic movement still adhere to Trinitarian theology? Furthermore, are the orgies and related human sacrifice for which Canaanite religion was infamous not that big of a deal?

Pope Francis announced that indigenous peoples must give prior consent before any economic activity can take place on their ancestral lands. What someone ought to do is get a group of Protestants together with genetically proven Etruscan ancestry and that all Roman Catholic structures comprising the Vatican be taken down.

A Washington Post headline laments, “German Right Wing Violence Flourishes Amid Online Hate”. Guess those Islamist refugee hordes do nothing more than assemble for prayer and detached contemplative reflection.

A Washington Post headline asks why can't Trump just let things go? What like President Obama who constantly had to remind everyone that he is Black?

If assorted globalists are going to accuse nationalist conservatives of “xenophobia” which is often defined as an undue fear and hatred of foreigners, perhaps similarly a term should be coined to condescendingly describe those subversives exhibiting a pathological contempt and loathing of their fellow countrymen.

by Frederick Meekins

Saturday, March 25, 2017

Friday, March 24, 2017

Thursday, March 23, 2017

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Sunday, March 19, 2017

Book Review Condemned For Promoting Contemplation Beyond Devotional Naval Gazing

This is one of the reasons I nearly don't really care to be around actual groups of Christians or to interact with them unmediated outside my study.

In a book review I posted, I wrote, “As God's revelation to mankind, the Bible is complete in itself and capable of equipping the believer for every good work. Thus, with it alone, the Christian has everything that is necessary to learn the essentials of salvation and the wisdom necessary to sail the turbulent seas of life. Yet, unlike many other theological and religious texts, the Bible presents numerous universal truths by addressing concrete historical situations rather than by presenting a set of detached philosophical postulates."

For posting this at a Christian forum, it was said to me in reply, “Again I am drawn to make quite a sad observation of your OP. You seem to think that the focus of the Bible is us, where as it is God the Father`s revelation of His well beloved Son. The whole word of God unveils His character, His ways & His purposes. It is He who is far above all that we need to know & experience, anything less becomes religion. `And beginning at Moses & all the prophets, He (Jesus) expounded to them in ALL the scriptures the things concerning HIMSELF.` (Luke 24: 27) BTW did you notice there is not one mention of CHRIST in your long OP. It was talking of the scriptures, yet NOT ONE mention of our LORD. That speaks volumes as to where the focus & direction is. We rather should be - `looking unto Jesus, the author & finisher of our faith,...` (Heb. 12: 2).”

So in other words, just because I did not say, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus”, like some blathering Hare Krishna in an airport or Dorthy in the Wizard of Oz clicking her heels together in hopes of returning to Kansas, I am just about having the validity of the profession of my faith drawn into question.

For starters, the initial composition was not directly ABOUT Jesus. It was a book review about a text on the New Testament taken from the standpoint as a work of objective literary and religious history.

At no point did I not say that the Bible was not about Jesus.

But if the Scriptures were not written for the benefit of mankind but rather for God to toot His own horn, doesn't that make Him little more than an insufferable egotist?

Jesus did indeed expound upon how the Scriptures testified to Himself. However, that was for OUR benefit.

There comes a point where some are so explicit in their piety that they become a danger to both sound doctrine and clear thought.

For while Jesus is indeed the author and finisher of our faith, how are we to know that beyond a Bible that can be trusted and of solid repute?

If those emphasizing the importance of the Bible in a review of a book about the Bible rather than focusing on Christ in a review of a book that was not about Christology are to be emphatically criticized, the discerning are forced to raise the following observation.

Are those that seem to yammer incessantly incessantly about Jesus as Jesus doing so from a sincere sense of religious devotion or rather because this is what expected if they desire to posture for acceptance by or to acquire position within their particular circle.

For posting in a Christian forum that the Bible as God's revelation to mankind is complete and capable of equipping the believer for every good work and that this divinely inspired anthology often teaches through narrative rather than explicit imperative declaration, I was informed my focus was incorrect.

Instead, that out to be directed towards Jesus rather than the Scripture.

But Jesus really isn't directly here right now.

As such, how can we be sure what He has to say to us apart from the Bible?

Usually, in the case of those claiming to have direct auditory communication with the divine or the numinous, before it's all over with God is telling you to go ahead and bed your neighbor's spouse (and that's in the more respectable cases given the number of ministers these days of confessions both orthodox and heretical that can't seem to keep their hands of teen girls) or to force the congregation to drink the funny smelling fruit punch that burns as it goes down.

By Frederick Meekins

Friday, March 17, 2017

Will Trumpcare Bankrupt Seniors?

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Trayvonites Beat Man Offering To Pay For Meal

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Peacemongers Threaten Rape & Murder

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Religious Persecution In China Continues

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Vaunted First Responders Do Nothing About Assault Against Michael Savage

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Sunday, March 12, 2017

Is Mainstream Media Subtly Advocating Insurrection?

The cover of the 3/2017 issue of the Progressive consists of a swarm of bees surrounding a bear that is suggested to be Donald Trump as evidenced by the blond wig worn by the forest omnivore.

In nature, bees go into such a defensive mode when their property is attacked.

So is the Progressive now prepared to come out in favor of the castle doctrine or stand your ground laws?

More importantly, does the Progressive intend to advocate Americans vigorously standing up to protect their property from government thugs seeking to pillage and loot for a variety of reasons justified by any assortment of bureaucratic legalese?

Published in the table of contents of this very same issue of the Progressive is a picture of the White House with the construction crane in the background from which Greenpeace eco-terrorists unfurled a banner reading “Resist”.

How are those flocking to that call by committing assorted acts of civil disobedience any different than the business owners refusing to provide an assortment of goods and services advancing the cause of gay marriage?

An article in the 3/17 issue of the magazine “In These Times” is titled “Cities Go Rogue: In A Sea Of Red, Blue Enclaves Test Their Power To Rebel”.

Ironically, those applauding the spirit of that article probably support hurling rocks through the car windshields of those that are conservatives articulating contrarian perspectives in such progressivist strongholds.

Interestingly, the illustration accompanying the article consisted of X-Wing fighters from Star Wars with a caption reading how the White House and many statehouses are in the hands of the Dark Side.

Since that is an explicit Star Wars reference, shouldn't it be asked if these propagandists are advocating armed insurrection?

Furthermore, why is such imagery acceptable when liberals are out of power but, if conservatives such as Sarah Palin utilizes the image of a bullseye, they are accused of fomenting violence such as mass school shootings?

By Frederick Meekins

Saturday, March 11, 2017

Will Congress Authorize Systematic Eugenics?

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Wenches Rampaging Against Cargo Shorts Aren't Worth Bedding

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Departed Military Dog Honored As Hero

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Friday, March 10, 2017

Thursday, March 09, 2017

Wednesday, March 08, 2017

Tuesday, March 07, 2017

Indigenious Culture Expresses Its Disapproval Of Alternative Lifestyles

A horrible crime.

However, it can only be condemned as such from the standpoint of an absolute morality transcending all cultures.

The adherents of multiculturalism are by definition of their own particular worldview are obligated to applaud the act. Click On The Headline

Discovering A Theology Of Technology

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Is A Borg Cube In Orbit Around The Sun Pirating Solar Energy?

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Monday, March 06, 2017

Trump Halts Subsidies To Moloch

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Test The Spirits

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Smartphones, Social Media & Christianity

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Saturday, March 04, 2017

Parrot

Drawing By Frederick Meekins

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Episcopal Prelate Sides With Perverts In The Potty

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Thursday, March 02, 2017

Neil Gaiman's Top 10 Rules For Success

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Hippo

Photo by Frederick Meekins

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The Untold Truth Of Giorgio Tsoukalos

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ISIS Threatens Attack On China

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Brain McLaren Spearheads Apology Tour To Minorities On Warpath

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Countdown to the Apocalypse: Why ISIS and Ebola Are Only the Beginning

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An Old Catholic Priest Provides Insight Regarding The Globalist Conspiracy

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Wednesday, March 01, 2017

Teacher Exposes Preschoolers To Occult Ritual

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Zebra

Photo by Frederick Meekins

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South Carolina Diocese Considers Wholescale Defection To Anglican Church North America

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Canadian Apostates Conspire To Block Franklin Graham Crusade

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Will Trump Surrender To Illegalist Hordes

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Transgender Activist Warns Of Lunarian Onslaught

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Perverts Granted Unrestricted Access To Social Media

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Preaching In Hitler’s Shadow

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Are Homeschoolers Obligated To Sell Their Children To Minorities & Foreigners?

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VA Patients Languish Unattended

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Islamists Tossing Hissy Over Pork Advocate Cannibalism

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Bishop On Death’s Door Squanders Final Days On Earth Undermining Traditional Marriage

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Which Anglicans Will Be Extended The Pope’s Hand Of Fellowship?

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Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Organ Harvesting Ship Trolling Latin American Waters

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Hillary Once More Declares Dissent As Patriotic

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Mountain Goat

Photo by Frederick Meekins

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Jihadists Vow To Exterminate Copts

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Where Are Laboratory Monstrosities Placed Along The Chain Of Being?

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Will Trump Plunge America Deeper Into Debt?

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Larry Elder Interviews Thomas Sowell

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Judge Fondles Constitution To Free Bound Nipples To Swing Low

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Monday, February 27, 2017

Radical Ideologues Mock The Passing Of Alan Colmes

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Yellow Flowers

Photo by Frederick Meekins

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Democratic Chairman Insists Whites Undeserving Of Civil Rights

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Reprobates Blaspheme With Glitter Ashes

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The Decline Of American Culture

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Hollywood Morons Applaud Their Own Death Knell

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A New History Of Early Christianity

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Sunday, February 26, 2017

Saturday, February 25, 2017

Friday, February 24, 2017

Plushy Lambs

Photo by Frederick Meekins

Isn’t It About Time Whelps Provide Their Own School Lunches?

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EWTN News Nightly: CPAC & Kelley Ann Conway

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Cal Thomas Reflects On The Passing Of His Wife

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Swedish Police Do Nothing As Islamists Rape With Impunity

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Brain Sucker Apparently Starves Attempting To Feed On Dimwitted Holy Roller

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Posthumanism: A Critical Analysis

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Thursday, February 23, 2017

Jesse Ventura Advocates Dictatorship & Oppression

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If I Had Lunch with C. S. Lewis

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How Your Faith Can Triumph In A World Gone Mad

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Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Ghetto Youth Apparently Traumatized At Mere Site Of Police Officer

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Spring Bundle

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Are We Obligated To Remain Kitchen Slaves Because Of The Past?

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Should Malia Obama Be Chastised For Lack Of Minority Friends?

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McLaren Distorts Hebrew Scriptures To Undermine Border Security

The particular danger of the heretic or apostate that insists upon to holding to the religious orthodoxy in name only is that so much of their message and ministry is aimed at only telling half of the story for the purposes of manipulation.

For example, regarding the issue of immigration, Emergent Church theologian Brian McLaren is quoted as saying, “A lot of people don't realize the Bible is a book about immigration. Abraham was an immigrant. Moses was a refugee. The Hebrew scriptures have so much to say about how we should treat immigrants and aliens.”

Given the extent to which McLaren has come out in support of gay marriage, why ought he invoke the Hebrew scripture to justify a position he supports when it is quite obvious he has deliberately tossed aside one of that revelation's most foundational teachings?

If we as twenty-first century believers are to uphold the so-called “Hebrew scriptures” and the cultural milieu flowing from that body of teaching as the ideal to which our own society ought to aspire, perhaps we ought to consider and implement as a totality how the ancient Israelites approached (to borrow a term popular in the sort of postmodern circles those like McLaren love to wallow in) “the Other”.

The Mosaic law did indeed admonish that a degree of hospitality and kindness was to be extended to the alien or stranger that the Hebrews encountered that desired to sojourn in the Land of Israel.

McLaren insists, “So much of Jesus' ministry is defined by his reluctance to play along with the nativist urges of his day.”

Yet while the degrees of separation might no longer be as rigorous now in light of the completion of Christ's work in His death, burial, and resurrection as second member of the triune Godhead, it was Christ Himself as a member of the Triune Godhead that played a role in establishing a number of the Hebrew practices that even those religious conservatives McLaren loves to deride would no longer want to see implemented.

For example, regarding intermarriage with those categorized as foreigners from the perspective of the ancient Hebrews that McLaren apparently is emulating as his ideal, Deuteronomy 7:3 says, “Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor shalt his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. For thy will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly.”

And of these foreigners that came to dwell in Israelite territory, they might have been bestowed a degree of hospitality not known in other cultures of the time.

However, it is doubtful that, if the letter of the Mosaic law had been adhered to, these strangers would have been allowed to continue in their explicitly pagan practices or that the Israelites would have ended up flagellating themselves for existing as a distinct people with their own unique culture and set of customs.

If anything, those wanting to dwell amongst Israel were often required to go through specific rituals to explicitly verify (one might also call the process extreme vetting) that they were in essence without reservation renouncing their former way of life

For example, Deuteronomy 21:11-14 elaborates that of women captured during a war, if an Israelite man wished to marry one of these, he was to shave her head, cut her nails, and to mourn her family for a month before she could be taken as his wife.

Liberals will snap how that seems exceedingly harsh by twenty-first century standards as to border on rape or sexual assault.

Probably so. But in this instance, is it not up to Brian McLaren to explain why he wants to uphold Mosaic law as the ideal upon which to base U.S. immigration policy?

Regarding the literary approach taken in the text, Scripture is believed to teach as much by historical example as by explicit didactic commands.

If so, even though Scripture counsels compassion towards the stranger, it also warns of the dire consequences that result when this is not done from the standpoint of the strength of adhering from morally superior convictions but from a spirit of amalgamative compromise where one god is seen as no different than any other god in the rush for nothing more than a romp in the sack.

Samson's decline can be directly traced to his attraction bordering on the pathological to Philistine women.

Despite serving as the conduit through which numerous warnings promulgated in the Book of Proverbs regarding a variety of strange women, King Solomon himself veered from the path of righteousness in order the placate his numerous heathen brides.

It was in such moments that the Nation of Promise sank to its most debauched depths.

It is doubtful that Ruth celebrated Moabite History Month or did so by demanding that Boaz articulate how wretched he felt for being a Hebrew.

Likewise, it is doubtful Rahab insisted that she be referred to as a Canaanite-Hebrew and that in her presence that events such as the Battle of Jericho were to be recalled only with a downcast face of regret.

God does indeed want Christians to be a beacon of hope in a fallen, troubled, and perishing world.

However, he does not necessarily require us to forsake commonsense to the point where we as individuals and as a distinct world people imperil our own prosperity and very survival in order to do so.

By Frederick Meekins

Can The Religious Right Be Saved?

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Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Sign Of Spring

Photo by Frederick Meekins

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Demoniacs Desecrate Church’s Jesus Statue

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Southern Baptist Congregation Withholds Funds Over Social Justice Propaganda

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Real Wolfmen: True Encounters in Modern America

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Monday, February 20, 2017

Should Ministries Emphasize Werewolves & Sasquatch?

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Gull

Photo by Frederick Meekins

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How To Write A Thriller

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Secrets To Writing Top Suspence

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How The New Christian Left Is Twisting The Gospel & Damaging The Faith

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Angel Holding Candle

Sunday, February 19, 2017

Christianity Solidified By Apologetics In The Early Days Of The Church

In the Church today, a debate rages over the relationship of philosophy and theology to one another. Some scholarly believers as epitomized by Norman Geisler argue that, since this world is God's world, both can be used to understand Creation if each of these disciplines are approached from a Bibliocentric perspective. The other side of the debate contends that, since theology contains God's revelation to mankind, philosophy at best merely repeats the understanding of theology or at worst actively undermines theology by enshrining human reason as the ultimate standard.

This debate extends back to the earliest days of the Church. Living in the Hellenistic world awash with numerous philosophies, mystery cults, and state religions, the Church quite early on had to address these realities.

Basing their approach on Paul's Mars Hill missionary efforts in Acts 17, early Christians advocating the value of philosophy pointed out that philosophy could be used as a point of contact with the unbeliever when both philosophy and theology concurred on certain matters. For example, Paul was able to win the attention of some Stoics because of the similarities between Christianity and that particular philosophy. Justin Martyr, who went from being a Stoic to an Aristotelian to a Pythagorean to a Platonist, ultimately settled upon being a Christian because he categorized the faith as the true philosophy.

The second approach emphasized its own Pauline justification as well by invoking I Corinthians 1 where in the passage the world's wisdom is categorized as foolishness. Elsewhere, Colossians 2:8 says, “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception.” Those adhering to this approach noted how philosophy often bred heresy and unbelief.

A number of Church Fathers favorably disposed towards philosophy harbored questionable beliefs often linked to Platonism. For example, Origen of Alexandria believed that Satan was not beyond redemption since the Devil is a spirit not unlike a run of the mill human being (Gonzalez, 80). Such a perspective was often derived from the Platonic view that God was a nondescript entity that did not create the universe from nothing and did not personally care for individual human beings. Yet God as revealed through Scripture and incarnated in Jesus Christ is known personally by His followers and cares when even the tiniest sparrow falls to the ground.

When viewed from a certain light, both of these approaches relating philosophy and theology possessed merit. Each agreed regarding the centrality of God's revelation of Jesus Christ and on the need for salvation. Those appreciating philosophy were correct in pointing out that all truth is God's truth and that segments of truth can be used to introduce the lost to the source of all truth. Those leery of philosophy were correct in pointing out the danger the discipline would wreak if left unchecked. The descendants of the early Church walking the Earth would do well to consider both of these positions.

I Peter 3:15 commands the Christian to provide an answer for the hope within. Many apologists and theologians interpret this as giving a response to objections and inaccuracies raised by the unbeliever. In the process, the potential exists to bring a substantial number into the faith by highlighting those points of commonality shared between the faith and the most profound insights that human thought have to offer.

Realizing that a percentage of the persecution befalling the Church was the result of inaccurate rumors and incorrect assumptions, the early Apologists set out to set the record straight in a manner that would make a Madison Avenue public relations firm proud. The Apologists answered head on the charges leveled against Christianity and turned them against their pagan adversaries. When accused of orgies and incest through misunderstandings as to the nature of the love feast and the practice of calling fellow believers “brother” or “sister”, the Apologists explained what these terms meant and the pointed out that the pagans themselves committed such debaucheries as exhibited by certain Dionysian rites. (Gonzalez, 50). Accused of atheism for believing in what the Romans considered god and for not believing in the sanctioned state pantheon, Polycarp at his trial was ordered by the judge to vocally proclaim, “Out with atheists.” Polycarp theatrically gestured towards the assembled crowd and declared, “Yes, out with the atheists (Gonzalez, 45).”

Having deflected some of the criticism, the Apologists sought to win Classical civilization by showing that the insights and accomplishments achieved by that particular cultural tradition were not necessarily antithetical to Christian belief in and of itself. Justin Martyr argued that all knowledge stemmed from the universal reason of the Logos manifested in the person of Jesus Christ. Reason was to the Greek what revelation was to the Hebrew in terms of the basis of each culture's epistemological foundation. Justin in fact characterized Christianity as true philosophy.

The Apologists found themselves in an era hostile to the claims of Christianity. Yet they were willing to proclaim the message that the hostile forces arrayed against the Church needed to hear. Though it has not yet come to the same point in our society where believers are being executed for their faith, the contemporary Church needs to emulate this example before such a state of affairs occurs once more.

Over the course of its early history, the Church faced numerous threats. Some of these such as the hostile Roman and Jewish authorities came from without. Those claiming to come from within the Church's own ranks as embodied by the heresies of Gnosticism and Marcionism were as equally dangerous in their own particular manners.

Gnosticism was the name given to a number of related sects claiming they possessed knowledge beyond that held by the Church and the ordinary believer. Gnosticism was in fact a blending of Platonism Judaism, Zoroastrian, and Christian beliefs (Chadwick, 35). A number of these beliefs held by Gnosticism put the movement at odds with the Christian faith.

First among these was that only the spiritual was good and that matter was in fact evil. This teaching manifested itself in two primary ways. Some Gnostics engaged in extreme ascetic practices that ignored basic bodily needs. Other Gnostics invoked their disregard for the material as an excuse for debauched and licentious practices since they insisted bodily actions bore no impact upon one's spiritual well-being.

Beyond this, Gnostics possessed several faulty notions regarding Christ. For example, many Gnostics held that Christ did not actually possess a human body but rather merely appeared to have one. Such a claim would make Christ a liar and thus unworthy of worship.

In Luke 24:39, Christ Himself says, “See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself: touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” If Christ did not have an actual material body, why would He go to such a length in deceiving His associates into thinking He had one? In regards to Gnostic conceptions of salvation, it was not enough to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Instead, one needed to be initiated into the inner circle of hidden knowledge in order to obtain the passwords needed to ascend to higher levels of enlightened existence.

The second heresy faced by the early Church was Marcionism, named for its founder Marcion. Marcion believed that the God of the Old Testament who created the physical world and who was worshiped by the Jews was not God the Father of Jesus (Chadwick, 39). The higher God sent Jesus into the world to correct the evil wrought by the maniacal Jehovah. To do away with physical procreation which nauseated him, Marcion argued that Christ stepped onto the world stage as a fully grown individual.

Marcion then took it upon himself to establish a canon of sacred writings suitable to the teachings of his sect. Having enunciated this antipathy for the Old Testament God, Marcion rejected that particular portion of Scripture. Of what came to be known as the New Testament, Marcion accepted only the Gospel of Luke and Paul's Epistles. Even these documents did not escape his editor's pen as Marcion proceeded to expunge these texts of their Old Testament quotes and allusions which he claimed had been placed there as Jewish propaganda.

Gnosticism and Marcionism presented powerful threats to the fledgling Christian Church. Fortunately, the Church was able to rally around the faith elaborated in Scripture and empowered by the Holy Spirit to keep these false doctrines at bay.

As the Church grew in number and influence, it was not long before those assembling under its banner or claiming to speak on behalf of its divine founder began promoting and squabbling over differing theological beliefs and interpretations. A number of these were either highly controversial or even blatantly aberrant.

Montanism was a reaction against Marcion and Gnostic theologies. Both Gnosticism and Marcionism sought to undermine the more conventional literal interpretation of Scripture by allegorizing these as many Gnostics had done or by denying the authenticity of such outright as Marcion had done. Each sect also denied essential doctrines such as Christ's virgin birth or physical incarnation.

Montanus along with Prisca and Maximilla were alleged to have prophesied under direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit against as what was classified as “...the Gnostic elimination of the eschatological expectation (Chadwick, 52). “ In many ways, Montanism proved as divisive as its Gnostic and Marcion competition. Many congregations in Asia Minor split, with the church at Thyatira remaining Montanist for nearly a century (Chadwick, 52).

The Montanist movement even appealed to theologians of considerable reputation such as Tertullian. Tertullian was originally attracted to the movement's rigorous ethics and spiritual vigor. However, even he grew weary of the innovation after a fashion because of the movement's failure to deliver on its promise of a new era marked by increased accessibility to the power of the Holy Spirit and its promise of a Christian life surpassing even that enjoyed by the Apostles themselves (Gonzalez, 76).

Such enthusiasm could not be sustained indefinitely. Even if it could, Montanism was not even necessarily that good of an idea since it was itself based upon questionable theological assumptions. For example, Montanists claimed that those doubting the veracity of their prophetic utterances were guilty of blaspheming the Holy Spirit, the greatest offense one could commit in violation of Scripture. Hippolytus pointed out in reference to the Montanist emphasis on supernatural manifestations that these were not the greatest miracle that an individual could experience. But rather that honor was reserved for the occasion of their own individual conversion (Chadwick, 53). The orthodox response to Gnosticism and Marcionism was not to be found in the fits of ecstasy and seeming irrationalism as offered by Montanism but rather in more powerful tools that the Church would find at its disposal.

It would probably not be an exaggeration to say that the average Christian thinks that the Bible plopped down from Heaven complete with leather binding and the words of Christ conveniently highlighted in red. However, the process by which the Church came to accept this gift from God, particular in regards to the books of the New Testament, was a gradual process fraught with a certain degree of controversy along the way.

In response to the Marcion and Gnostic denial of certain Gospels and portions of the Epistles embodied by Marcion's acceptance of only the Gospel of Luke and his removal of Paul's Old Testament quotations as Jewish propaganda, the Church felt that it needed to formalize which writings were binding as divinely inspired. Since Jesus accepted the Old Testament as divinely inspired, so would the Church. Therefore, most of the debate arose surrounding what post-Old Testament writings would be accepted into the corpus of holy writ.

According to Justo Gonzalez in “The Story Of Christianity: The Early Church To The Dawn Of The Reformation”, the first works accepted by the Church were the Gospels. Instead of being discouraged by alleged discrepancies between the exacting details of the Gospels, orthodox Christians pointed out how the considerable agreement between these documents undermined Gnostic claims to the secret knowledge as found in the sect's preferred text the Gospel of Saint Thomas (Gonzalez 63). The next set of works accepted by the Church included the Pauline Epistles and the Book of Acts.

The greatest debate centered around the texts found towards the end of what Christians categorize as the New Testament. Debate ensued over II Peter, Hebrews, James, II John, III John, Jude, and Revelation. Councils were convened at Hipporegiaus in 393, at Carthage in 397, and the Council convened in 419 was under the leadership of none other than Augustine. It was the purpose of these councils to identify which books stood out as having been authored under divine inspiration. However, this process of consensus did not always end the dispute as was the case regarding the Book of Revelation. Though accepted by the third century, its inspiration was questioned after Constantine's conversion because of the book's harsh words regarding tyrannical government and worldliness but this concern subsided by the second half of the fourth century (Gonzalez, 63).

Though the New Testament did not plop down fully formed from Heaven into the hands of Billy Graham or John Paul II, the Church can rest assured as to this work's divine authenticity because even to this very day there are few things to which all Christians agree. For example, Dispensationalists and Covenant theologians seldom agree on the specifics of Scripture's eschatological chronology, but both will agree upon the supremacy of the Lord proclaimed within its pages and the value of each inspired word to the salvation of mankind to this very day.

Faced with challenges such as Gnosticism and Marcionism, the Church formulated several weapons to be used against these kinds of heresies, the New Testament canon being the most powerful tool at the disposal of the Church. However, the Church also possessed a number of other supplementary weapons to be used in a supportive role in the realm of intellectual and spiritual confrontation.

One of these tools used by the Church came to be known as the Apostle's Creed. This symbol of faith was used to identify true believers since those reciting it with understanding were enunciating orthodox doctrine. This creed spoke to the subject of Jesus as God's Son, of the Virgin Birth, the Resurrection, the historicity of Christ's incarnation under the rule of Pontius Pilate and other foundational Christian doctrines with which assorted competing sects found themselves at variance.

The second used in the Church's arsenal was the Rule of Faith. Very much akin to the Apostle's Creed, the Rule of Faith provided a brief summation of key doctrinal ideas such as those enunciated in the Creed such as the Creation, the Incarnation, and the Ascension. Tertullian found the Rule of Faith easier to use than the Scripture itself since the heretics interpreted Scripture through the lens of their pre-established theological preferences while not accepting the doctrines articulated within the Rule (Chadwick, 45).

The third method employed by the Church to protect the faith was the notion of Apostolic Succession. According to the idea of Apostolic Succession, Christ passed his teaching authority on to the Apostles who in turn handed orthodox teachings over to their successors who eventually handed down this heritage throughout history in an unbroken chain. This idea was formulated to combat Gnostic claims of secret knowledge either passed down outside the established Apostolic channels or lost until rediscovered by the Gnostic adepts of succeeding generations.

Each of these tools used by the Church did possess considerable influence yet could not surpass the power of the New Testament Canon. Both the Apostle's Creed and the Rule of Faith were derived from the teachings of Scripture and were merely tools used to summarize the greater body of work contained within the pages of the New Testament. Apostolic Succession was only of use if those invoking it were willing to adhere to the truth of the Gospel proclaimed by the Apostles and embraced by the early Church. Succeeding centuries would provide the results of what would happen when the traditions of men were given nearly the same weight as the revelation of God.

I Corinthians 12:28 and Ephesians 4:11 list the office and gift of teaching as one of the primary missions within the structure of the Church. It has often been the duty of those taking up the mantle of teaching to fight the doctrinal errors of the day and to prepare their respective congregations to face challenges in the society at large. Two individuals taking up this role in the early church included Irenaeus of Lyon and Tertulian of Carthage.

Iraeneus was born in Asia Minor around AD 130. Eventually Irenaeus migrated to Lyon in southern France where he became presbyter and ultimately bishop after Photinus died under persecution. A disciple of Polycarp, Irenaeus had a pastor's heart in that his greatest interest was in teaching his congregation to live the Christian life and comprehend doctrine. As such, he did not engage in significant philosophical speculation (Gonzalez, 68).

That does not mean, though, that Irenaeus was an intellectual slouch. In “Demonstrations of the Apostolic Faith” and “Against Heresies”, Irenaeus played the role of an ancient Hank Hanegraaff or Norman Geisler by refuting the doctrinal errors of his day --- namely Gnosticism --- and by instructing his readers in essential Christian belief. Taking the shepherd role of a pastor to heart, Irenaeus saw God as a shepherd lovingly leading his flock of humanity to the culmination of history (Gonzalez, 68).

According to Irenaues, humanity was created as children eventually to takeits place as the judges of angels who themselves would help mankind in reaching the point of maturity like a tutor teaching a prince to one day take his place of rulership. Man is also to be taught by God's Word and Holy Spirit. Though history is now marked by sin, there would have been a history anyway (though one not quite as tragic as that now filling the world's libraries). In the drama of history, Israel is the instrument through which God's Word and Spirit reach out to all of mankind with an offer of eternal communion in the form of Jesus Christ.

The second teacher to be discussed is Tertullian of Carthage. In certain respects, Tertullian was the Francis Schaeffer or Ravi Zacharias of his day, utilizing logic and argument to reveal the intellectual and spiritual bankruptcy of his opponents. For example, Tertullian used his legal and rhetorical training to expose the inherent inconsistency of Trajan's policy regarding Christianity: don't actively flush out believers but indeed prosecute them if they happen to get caught (Gonzalez, 74).

Tertullian believed Christianity represented all truth and to seek truth apart from it through Classical culture was pointless at best and idolatry at worst. This sentiment was summarized by his famous aphorism asking what does Athens have to do with Jerusalem. Despite his wit and penetrating logic, Tertullian veered from the straight and narrow off into the Montantist movement which often emphasized alleged fits of the Spirit over the application of logic in addressing other rising heresies.

Perhaps Tertullian's greatest contribution was his understanding of the Trinity. His understanding was formulated in response to Modalism (the belief that the names of “Father”, “Son”, and “Holy Spirit” signify the modes or roles of a unitary God rather than distinctive individuals). Tertullian said of the Trinity that the Godhead consists of one substance and three persons with Christ as the Savior being that distinct person possessing two natures (Gonzalez, 77). And to top off this formidable existence of intellectual accomplishment, Tertullian is honored as the father of Western theology for being among the first to use Latin rather than Greek in his writings.

It is often easy to look down upon teachers and apologists for their application of the intellect in approaching the things of the spirit. However, it cannot be denied that these thinkers play a pivotal role in strengthening the faith of believers and in introducing the faith to a hostile and unbelieving world.

By Frederick Meekins

Chadwick, Henry. “The Early Church.” 1967.

Gonzalez, Justo. “The Story Of Christianity (Vol. 1): The Early Church To The Dawn Of The Reformation. Harper Collins Publishers, 1984.

Bug Bunch, Episode 3

Saturday, February 18, 2017

Friday, February 17, 2017

Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Hannity & Buchanan Analyze Attacks Against Trump

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Stone Gnome

Photo by Frederick Meekins

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Is Obama Fomenting Insurrection?

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Faithful Catholics Grow Wearing Of Vatican’s Autocratic Leftism

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Kinky Roleplay Kit Deemed Kosher For Valentines Day

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Klingons Redesigned For Upcoming Failed Star Trek Series

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Islamists & Radical Progressive Denounce Love In Favor Of Animalistic Mating

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Is The Roman Catholic Church On The Verge Of Schism?

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Suicide Of A Super Power: Will America Survive Until 2050?

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Elon Musk Insists Resistance is Futile

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Does Valentine’s Woo Pitched On Twitter Mean The Obamas Actually Heading To Divorce Court?

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The War Of Spirits

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Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Monday, February 13, 2017

Episcopal Methhead Caught With Child Porn In Parsonage

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Will MTV Propagandists Denigrate Minorities The Way The Network Does Whites?

MTV has produced a video titled “Resolutions For White Guys”.

In the propaganda, Whites are encouraged to bash America, pander to minorities, and vow to avoid “mansplaining”.

Mansplaining is the phenomena where a man proceeds to explain something to a woman often in areas pertaining to what was once considered the fairer sex before a disproportionate number of that particular arrangement of chromosome became bestial and shrill.

Interesting that there is never a criticism for women to refrain from interjecting themselves into issues and concerns where men might actually be a little more in the know.

Does MTV intend to release companion videos for minorities urging them to pull up their pants, to try to at least look for gainful employment, and not to loot electronics stores whenever there is a court verdict that they are not particularly happy about?

Perhaps a related video for immigrants might ask those of that particular background to make an effort to learn the English language.

The video could also point out other helpful tips for making life in the United States more pleasant and successful.

For example, just because they have made it here, it does not follow that distant cousins have the right to migrate here in the name of family reunification.

And even more helpful, just because they have never seen an octogenarian female with her head uncovered in public that does not mean she wants their hands grabbing at her backside.

In regards to the counterprotest chat “Blue Lives Matter”, MTV assured the network's mind-numbed and brainwashed viewers that such was not a real thing.

In other words, these media elites must have little problem with police officers being randomly gunned down with no actual provocation or even prior involvement with the assailants.

By Frederick Meekins

Caution Immediate Steps

Photo by Frederick Meekins

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Free Masons Granted Permission To Openly Blaspheme In Canterbury Cathedral

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The Role Of Religion In The 21st Century

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Techno-Religions & Silicon Prophets

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Religious Pedophiles Insist Upon Right To Defile Child Brides

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Posthumanism Without Technology

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The Orthodox Church: An Introduction To Eastern Christianity

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Sunday, February 12, 2017

Bug Bunch, Episode #1

Trump's War: His Battle For America

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Saturday, February 11, 2017

Did High School Diversity Display Overlook White Students?

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Social Transformation Without Representation

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Tolerancemongers Content To Allow Islamists To Rape Their Way Across Canada

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The Bug Bunch, Preview

The Superiority Of Theism Part Six: Generic Theism Is Not Enough

From external evidences such as the cosmological and teleological arguments and evidence of a more internal or sociological nature, we see that there is likely some kind of a God that has established the material world and ordered the affairs of men. However, if this is the route through which the skeptic is being brought to God, major hurdles have been surmounted; but we still have a significant journey ahead of us before the seeker arrives on the other side of Heaven's door.

Even if the atheist is convinced as to the insufficiency of their unbelief, there still exists a dizzying array of theistic options available to select from that would end up sending the individual down the same road to Hell if the apologetic task is botched or mishandled. Thus it is imperative to guide the nascent theist into the arms of Christ before they are gobbled up by competing heresies, cults, and world religions.

Since man is a sentient creature that lives amidst the flow of time, the primary revelation and outreach of this Deity would therefore need to consist of some pivotal event occurring in what we know as history. As one of the world's foremost texts detailing the earliest eras of mankind's religious experience, the Bible ought to be one of the first sources considered.

The Bible is perhaps the best-known book in the world and contains within its pages the account of the most widely known person in the world, namely Jesus Christ. Love Him or hate Him, no other figure from ancient times has elicited as much of a response down to this very day. For though many distort His very nature and the claims made by this Nazarene carpenter, scores hoping to sway hearts and minds have often presented themselves as if they had the endorsement of what should have been a figure otherwise forgotten centuries ago.

One of the first objections the atheist that does not want to consider the claims of Christ raises is that the Bible cannot be trusted as an objective factual account. At best, all the Bible can provide is a chronicle of the biases of the early Church and these assumptions not even necessarily from the time when Jesus was supposed to have walked the earth.

In this era of instantaneous global communications, any event that does not have a CNN crew there on the ground to Twitter about it is hardly even considered newsworthy. Thus, it is only natural that, given the nature of the documentary evidence that has come down to us, that the unreflective would cast a leery eye towards it.

According to Geisler and Turek, the gap between the original autographs and the earliest surviving copies is about twenty-five years (226). To put this into perspective, one needs to compare it with other texts coming down to us from the Classical Mediterranean.

For example, there is a gap of 1200 years between the earliest surviving copies of Plato and the originals. Likewise, there is a gap of 1000 years between the earliest surviving works of Julius Caesar and the originals. Yet one does not find many scholars attempting to make careers of respectable renown and adulation by discrediting and throwing into doubt these Greco-Roman pillars of the Western tradition.

The skeptically inclined will likely still not be impressed as to the small gap in time between the earliest surviving copies of a text and the time when the document was believed to have been written if what was written about occurred decades and even centuries before the time in which it was written down. On this point also, however, the New Testament Scriptures in general and the Gospels in particular remain in good standing.

For example, it is believed that most of these works were likely written down in a time frame no later than between AD 62 to 70. Such an assertion is conjectured along the following lines of argumentation.

In Mark 13, Jesus predicts that the Jerusalem Temple will be destroyed before the generation He was speaking to at that time passed away. That prophesy was fulfilled by the Romans in AD 70 in what the historian Josephus categorized as “the greatest war of all time”, a conflict in which the Jews not only lost the focal point of their religious material culture but also tens of thousands of their fellow countrymen (238). Yet not a word of this fulfillment is mentioned in the pages of Scripture even though it could have been one of the greatest "see I told you so" moments in all of history. This causes conservative scholars to conclude that most of the New Testament had likely been written by the time of that event.

Even if the apologist is able to martial a number of these historical technicalities to blunt this particular variety of skepticism, the unbeliever is likely to respond that such details do not validate the content. After all, numerous works can be authenticated to the era in which they are believed to describe and been written in, but are filled either with mild distortions, shushed-over omissions, or even outright lies.

For example, the works of Julius Caesar no doubt cast events in a way to put him in the best possible light and scholars to this day speculate as to what Plato was actually doing during the trial of his beloved Socrates. It is simply an aspect of human nature to obfuscate when we are embarrassed by our responses to certain situations whether we take pen to paper for publication or merely try to get out of a speeding ticket. The Bible, on the other hand, is one of the few books where the warts of its protagonists and even those overseeing the compilation of its documents are put out there for all the world to see. For example, it is believed that Mark penned his Gospel under the oversight of the Apostle Peter. Yet in that very document, Christ chastised Peter as Satan, the very embodiment of evil, and elsewhere in the New Testament this rock upon which Christ is said to have built His church comes across like any other human being as a loudmouth coward that often fails to live up to his bellicose promises.

It is at this level of detail that the Christian is able to present the case that the Gospels are an actual historical account rather than a mythological legend. Geisler and Turek write, “Now think about this: If you were a New Testament writer, would you include these embarrassing details if you were making up a story...Would you depict yourselves as uncaring, bumbling cowards, and the women --- whose testimony wasn’t even admissible in court --- as the brave ones who stood by Jesus and later discovered the empty tomb? Of course not (277).”

Once the credibility of the New Testament eyewitnesses is established, the unbeliever is forced to confront the underlying claims of the Gospel narrative and ultimately of Scripture. Those happen to be nothing less than what happened to Jesus and whom did Jesus claim Himself to be.

The central event in the life of Jesus was nothing less than His resurrection from the dead. No one living in the contemporary technocratic world --- be they devout or atheist alike --- believes that rising from the dead is a common occurrence. Where opinion diverges is on the issue of whether such an event is an impossibility or rather one requiring divine intervention in order to be orchestrated.

Skeptics not wanting to accept the account at face value have over the decades concocted a number of theories as to why the orthodox understanding as to what happened is not entirely accurate. These accuse the parties involved of a variety of shortcomings from a naive innocence, to incompetence, to outright criminality.

The first attempt to explain away the Resurrection is the Swoon Theory. This theory posits that Jesus did not really die on the cross but rather merely lost consciousness. It really does take more faith to believe in this particular explanation than the one provided in the Gospels.

This theory, in fact, does not take the facts into account. For starters, to say Jesus merely passed out or even went into a temporary coma is to seriously underestimate the brutality the Romans had perfected as an art of terror. Even from non-Christian disciplines such as contemporary archaeology and ancient sources such as Quintilian, we learn about practices such as plunging a spear into the heart to make sure that the victim was really dead (304).

Even if the Romans had botched the job in failing to kill Jesus (as we all know of instances where government employees have been less than dutiful), Jesus would have been in no physical shape to accomplish what the Gospels said He did following the Crucifixion. Even Jack Bauer could not have pulled it off as it must be remembered anyone in such a condition would have had their body broken beyond repair.

The following makes the Swoon Theory downright impossible. Jesus would have been embalmed with nearly 75 pounds of spices and bandages (305). To affect an escape, a man critically injured would have not only had to remove these, but also to remove the two-ton stone closing the tomb as well as take on the Roman soldiers. Had such a scenario transpired, Geisler and Turek humorously quip, "Even if he could get out of the tomb and past the Roman guards, Jesus would have been a battered...man whom the disciples would pity, not worship They'd say, 'You may be alive, but you're certainly not risen. Let's get you to a doctor' (305)."

For starters, to accuse the Disciples of stealing the body is to ignore that all but one of Christ's most loyal Apostles were believed to have died violent martyrs’ deaths and the one that did not was essentially exiled on a desolate island. While history and the evening news is replete with examples of those that give their lives for things that are ultimately proven to be falsehoods, seldom will someone give their life willingly for what they themselves know to be a lie. For example, would someone like Peter, whose survival instinct was so strong that he ended up denying his beloved Jesus multiple times, have willingly allowed himself to be crucified upside down, if legends are to be believed, if he knew that the account of the Resurrection was merely a fabrication?

Ironically, as scholars eager to tear down the traditional intellectual structures of Western civilization in favor of ones more socialistic in orientation are often fond of pointing out in their preferred narrative of Jesus as a merely human Apocalyptic revolutionary, the Jerusalem and Greater Palestine of that day were powder kegs set to go off in terms of violence at any moment. No on in authority --- be they Jewish religious leaders, the Herodians holding tenuous political power, or the occupying Roman military forces --- would have allowed news of a Resurrected Jesus to continue to spread if they could have found a plausible grave robber on which to pin the blame.

One theory that seeks to deny the truth of the Resurrection while upholding the good but somewhat naive natures of Christ's disciples is the Hallucination Theory (302). According to this hypothesis, those that loved Jesus were so distraught with grief that Jesus merely appeared to them in their own minds as part of a mental breakdown.

While this might be a valid line of argumentation if there were only one or two followers stepping forward to claim they had seen the risen Christ, such was not the case. Bible scholars and theologians such as Norman Geisler point out that not only did 500 see Christ after the Resurrection took place but some of these interactions were tactilely tangible such as when Thomas touched our Lord’s wounds. Hallucinations would not be a communal experience but rather something highly individualized.

Once the unbeliever has been presented with evidence attesting to Christ’s resurrection, they will have to pay attention to his claims and the claims made about Him for no other reason than that someone having been risen from the dead needs to be considered seriously because of having accomplished something so outside the historical norm. In the attempt to accommodate a place for Jesus somewhere in their worldview, many people as well as most religions will concede that Jesus was a very good man but certainly not God or God’s only Begotten Son. Such a position may be even more intellectually disingenuous and self-deluding than the brand of atheism espoused by the likes of Friedrich Nietzsche. To his credit, at least this crazed syphilitic was consistent in heaping condemnation on both God and Christ.

One must either embrace Jesus as Savior, Lord, and God or one cannot embrace Him at all. Perhaps the greatest summation of this idea was formulated by C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity when he said, “That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the things that Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would be a lunatic --- on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg --- or else he would be the Devil of Hell (Geisler, 346).”

The astute unbeliever then might point out that what was it exactly that Jesus said since the elaborate Christologies that developed could be accretions that attached themselves to the narrative at a later date and might not be actual components of the original texts. After all, it is common for Christians in this hypersensitive era to point out that not everything done throughout history in the name of Jesus would necessarily be approved of by Jesus. Dan Brown, because of his blockbuster The Da Vinci Code, will never have to work another day in his life, having capitalized on the assumption in the popular culture that the Jesus of orthodoxy presented to the ecclesiastical world might not exactly be the Jesus of raw history.

The idea that Jesus never claimed to be deity is clearly refuted by His own words recorded in the pages of Scripture. There are numerous instances where Jesus clearly addresses the matter to both the accepting and critical alike.

For example, in John 8, Jesus says, "before Abraham was, I AM." This is in fact a name of God the Lord first reveals to Moses when He imparted to Moses instructions as to what Moses was supposed to say on behalf of the Israelites. The title attests to God being self-existent and dependent on no one; in other words, the Unmoved Mover to formulate the concept in a manner preferable to those more familiar with the terminology of Aristotle and Aquinas.

In accounts of those that already believed in Jesus or would come to believe in Jesus, Jesus asked them whom they thought He was. For example, after Thomas examined the scars of the resurrected Jesus, upon resolving his initial skepticism, Thomas declared Jesus to be his Lord and his God. And when Peter was asked by Jesus who he thought Jesus was, Peter responded in Mark 16:16, "Thou art the Christ."

In neither of these instances did Jesus refute the claims. And in the case of Peter, Jesus said, "thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church." Though theologians might debate as to whether Jesus meant the faith and devotion of Peter or rather the divinity of Christ upon which all other assumptions of the faith flow, that is not the point of this particular exposition.

The road to embracing the Christian faith can be a long and arduous journey. The climate in which we find ourselves is of little assistance in alleviating the doubts that arise within ourselves as fallen creatures wanting to embrace our own sinful desires as well as elaborate systems of thought external to ourselves that have been crafted in the attempt to justify refusal to accept the one solution capable of rescuing man from his Hell-bound situation. It is, thus, the purpose of Apologetics to assure the skeptic that Christianity is a faith founded on fact and that it is atheism which stretches the bounds of reason beyond belief.

By Frederick Meekins

Boozehound Pastor Promises To Turn Congregation Into Frisky Horndogs

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Evangelicals On The Canterbury Trail

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Technocracy & Global Transformation

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Will Trump Lavish Chicago Gangs With Welfare Handouts To Cease Endless Violence?

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Discerning The Kingdom Of The Occult

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Friday, February 10, 2017

Sidewalk Closed

Photo by Frederick Meekins

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Could Prominent Gentile Get By With Articulating The Need To Eliminate "Lazy Jews"?

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Apparently Nuns In Solidarity With Perambulating Vaginas At Washington Women’s March

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A Review Of “A Survey Of The New Testament” By Robert Gundry

As God's revelation to mankind, the Bible is complete in itself and capable of equipping the believer for every good work. Thus, with it alone, the Christian has everything that is necessary to learn the essentials of salvation and the wisdom necessary to sail the turbulent seas of life. Yet, unlike many other theological and religious texts, the Bible presents numerous universal truths by addressing concrete historical situations rather than by presenting a set of detached philosophical postulates.

As such, an understanding of the backdrop against which certain Biblical texts were written can provide the believer with a deeper appreciation of and greater insight into the Word of God. That said, to the average believer, that has not already acquired an extensive background knowledge of the Ancient Near East, such a task can seem quite daunting. Fortunately, “A Survey Of The New Testament” by Robert Gundry makes such a goal much more manageable.

“A Survey Of The New Testament” accomplishes this in part by grouping various New Testament books together in relation to when they were written or by thematic topic. For example, Galatians, I Thessalonians and II Thessalonians are classified together as the early epistles of Paul; I Corinthians, II Corinthians, and Romans are categorized as the Major Epistles of Paul. Philemon, Colossians, Ephesians, Philippians, I Timothy, II Timothy, and Titus are lumped together as the Pastoral Epistles of Paul because they were written specifically for young pastors (409). The books of James, I Peter, II Peter, I John, II John, III John and Jude are classified as Catholic or General Epistles because these texts were not targeted towards a specific locality. Hebrews and Revelation are each assigned their own individual chapters.

From this system of classification, Gundry proceeds to analyze each of these New Testament books. He accomplishes this by first outlining the major themes of the book under consideration for quick reference and then proceeds to a more in depth analysis of the text under consideration. For example, in the outline for I Corinthians, the student will see that marriage is discussed in I Corinthians 7:1-40 (361). Flipping ahead a few pages, the reader will find, thanks to the convenient subsection headings, where Gundry provides a more detailed examination into the Biblical teaching prohibiting divorce on the part of believers married to unbelievers and where he delves in an evenhanded manner into the debate whether the Christian abandoned by an unbelieving spouse is permitted to remarry.

Though Gundry does highlight the wisdom found in the pages of the New Testament epistles most are accustomed to discussing in Sunday school, his “Survey Of The New Testament” is no mere devotional and will keep the attention of those seeking deeper academic understanding of the sacred documents. For example, in his examination of the Book of Galatians, Gundry goes into considerable detail as to whether the epistle was addressed towards either North or South Galatia.

Such an academic conjecture has bearing upon as to when the book was written. Gundry points out that, if the text was addressed to the area of Northern Galatia which Paul did not visit until his second missionary journey, this means the epistle was not written until after the Jerusalem Council detailed in Acts 15. If the epistle was addressed towards Southern Galatia, then it is believed to have been written after Paul's first missionary journey and thus prior to the Jerusalem Church Council (346).

If one is not particularly inspired by such academic technicalities, one might find the chapters regarding the cultural settings of the New Testament world much more interesting. One may even find considerable similarity with our own era.

Religiously and philosophically, Gundry describes a world of considerable variation. Permeating the non-Jewish population of the Mediterranean was the official state religion of Rome combining Greco-Roman mythology along with emperor worship to which the population was expected to grant tacit consent.

However, it must be pointed out to the reader that this belief served more as a backdrop rather than the sum total of religious expression. For it is from the assorted esoteric sects and various philosophies that many drew inspiration and centered their lives around.

It is at this point where Gundry lists some of the various philosophies popular at that time that the reader can see similarities with those prevalent in our own era. For example, Epicureans taught pleasure as the chief end of life, Stoicism taught dutiful acceptance of one's fate, and the skeptics are described as relativists who abandoned belief in the absolute. As the Apostle to the Gentiles, Paul would have confronted these philosophies on a regular basis as exemplified by his encounter on Mars Hill in Acts 20.

In light of the popularity of works such as “The Da Vinci Code” and “The Gospel Of Judas”, it can be easy for the faith of the Christian to be shaken by those claiming to have attained higher levels of academic expertise. Written from a solidly Evangelical perspective, “A Survey Of The New Testament” by Robert Gundry is a trustworthy defense against these pervasive heresies that have stalked the Church from its earliest days.

It is often assumed that Christianity appropriated the ideas of the immortality of the soul, resurrection of the dead, and ceremonial washing such as baptism from the so-called mystery religions. However, Gundry points out, “On the other hand, not until the second, third, and fourth centuries of the Christian era do we get detailed information concerning the beliefs held by the devotees of the mysteries...Where their later beliefs look slightly similar to Christian beliefs, the direction of borrowing may have gone from Christianity to the mystery religions rather than vice versa (58).”

It has been said that the Scriptures are simple enough for a child to understand yet deep enough for a theologian to drown in. “A Survey Of The New Testament” by Robert Gundry will serve as a sufficient life preserver as the believer heads out into doctrinally deep waters.

By Frederick Meekins

What Is Anglicanism?

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Pontiff Dwelling Amidst Ornate Cathedrals Condemns Shopping Malls

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UN Curriculum Indoctrinates Students To Snitch On Parents

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Thursday, February 09, 2017

Tuesday, February 07, 2017

Sunday, February 05, 2017

Richard Nixon: A Life

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Saturday, February 04, 2017

Episcopalian Vows Fidelity To Moloch

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How Many Refugees Will The Southern Baptist Convention Shelter In The Organization’s Posh Offices?

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The Superiority Of Theism Part 5: The Incredulous Nature Of Scientism

Yet despite the complexities and intricacies of both the biological and physical realms, atheistic naturalists continue on in their faith despite all the evidence to the contrary. Whereas Christians and other forms of theism look to deity to smooth over or bridge these aspects of reality that the finite mind struggles with comprehending, unbelievers look to other sources as to the origins of things.

These are none other than time and chance. With no conscious hand guiding the cosmos as posited in theism, everything we see around us today is the result of fortuitous confluences; in other words, by blind random luck over vast eons of time.

Even with vast amounts of time, the atheistic evolutionist must account for how everything is just so to sustain the universe as demonstrated by the Anthropic Constants. Theists point out it defies probability for the universe we experience today to have arisen on its own since such a vast number of fortuitous coincidences to occur in such a manner is not likely.

Rather than admit the need for a God, a number of atheists reach into the conceptual “black hole” and pull out what has to be a last ditch explanation. According to the Multiple Universe Theory, the probability of something happening should not be viewed as a statistical barrier to it occurring since parallel realities have formed where everything that could possibly happen has happened (107-108).

It is time to invoke the Geisler/Turek doctrine of “I Don’t Have Enough Faith To Be An Atheist”. Isn’t it just easier to admit that God exists?

Admittedly, over the years, Multiple Universe Theory has led to some interesting science fiction such as the episode of Star Trek where Captain Kirk met an evil version of the Enterprise crew with a Mr. Spock that Dr. McCoy admitted looked like a pirate. However, in the end even DC Comics found the concept of divergent parallel realities very confusing with multiplying Batmen, for instance, that writers often yanked readers around by the chain in terms of plotlines by invoking as a defense as to whether or not the Caped Crusader’s famed insignia had a yellow oval around it at the time or not. Editors finally put a stop to the implausibility over two decades ago through the monumental “Crisis On Infinite Earths” miniseries. Its about time those claiming to be grounded in the real world did the same.

Though they attempt to pass themselves off as detached and dispassionate seekers of truth, the proponents of scientism often have less than scientific reasons for undermining the credibility of theism. For example, it has been claimed that when he was asked by Merv Griffin why he believed in Darwinism, famed evolutionist Julian Huxley is said to have responded, “The reason we accepted Darwinism even without proof is because we didn’t want God to interfere with our sexual mores (163).”

I will be the first to admit that more than one Evangelical scholar has cited the recall of D. James Kennedy as the source of this quote (including Geisler and Turek) rather than a more irrefutable reference such as a transcript of the broadcast. As such, academic nitpickers will likely snip at it with their feigned sophistication and pretension as if their own claims don’t already rest on a house of cards.

However, Huxley’s alleged mindset is just as pervasive among evolution's lesser luminaries as well. Ron Carlson, author of classic apologetics texts such as “Fast Facts On False Teaching”, relates an incident where at an after-lecture dinner a biology professor admitted that, while what Carlson had to say made considerable sense, he himself held a position disturbingly similar to what Huxley is said to have revealed on national TV. The professor said, "I mean if Darwinism is true --- there is no God and we all evolved from slimy green algae --- then I can sleep with whomever I want. In Darwinism, there is no moral accountability (163)."

Many will no doubt be shocked by this claim since most academics look like they can barely get dates much less be chronic bed-hoppers though Bertand Russell certainly went through a number of marriages and liaisons for someone looking so disheveled. However, its bluntness is absolutely honest. For if atheism was true and God did not exist, then nothing is right and nothing ultimately wrong.

Geisler and Turek tackle this unsettling reality in the chapter titled “Mother Teressa vs. Hitler” since these two figures epitomize the dichotomies of good and evil to the contemporary popular mind. The authors make the following argument: “(1) Every law has a law giver. (2) There is a Moral Law. (3) Therefore, there is a Moral Law Giver (171).”

Concepts such as justice, fairness, and rights are ultimately predicated on the foundation of there being a Law Giver unchanging in His nature. For if there is no consciousness existing above mankind and the institutions of the species, whatever those institutions decide becomes by definition the good and the right. As has been said, democracy with no higher check placed upon it is a group of 100 where 51 men vote to rape 49 women.

The sensitivities of the delicate in this culture that just about goes to ridiculous extremes to curry favor with the self-appointed mouthpieces of certain favored demographics might be shocked by such a statement. However, it is an honest assessment if the world described by atheism was the most accurate.

If there is no intelligence existing above and transcendent to the physio-social realm, the right or rather the operationally convenient becomes whatever those holding power over a given territory say it is. Geisler and Turek highlight a few of these startling implications.

For starters, if there is no divine moral law existing about men and nations, there would be no human rights. In an atheistic world, no authority exists above the government; and since it is the final word, whatever it says is by definition proper. If its leaders want the consent of the governed, that is fine and so is rounding up all the Jews and putting them in gas ovens if that is what authorities think is necessary to secure the survival and prosperity of the nation.

The fact that a wide array of individuals from Rosa Parks to Gandhi to Alexander Solzhenitsyn have spoken out against the shortcomings of the nations and times in which lived they is itself proof that a moral law exists. Figures such as these are remembered largely in history for marshaling reason and and argumentation on behalf of their respective causes rather than armed force.

Geisler and Turek write, "Without a Moral Law, there would be nothing objectively wrong with Christians...forcibly imposing their religion on atheists. There would be nothing wrong with outlawing atheism, confiscating the property of atheists, and giving it to Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell (181)." These authors conclude, "Unless atheists claim that there is a moral law [that] condones or condemns...then their positions are nothing more than their own subjective preferences (181)."

by Frederick Meekins

Bibliography: Norman Geisler and Frank Turek. “I Don't Have Enough Faith To Be An Atheist.”

The Other Catholics: Remaking America's Largest Religion

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Chief Southern Baptist Missionary Doesn’t Really Give A Damn If Islamist Hordes Overrun The United States

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Queen’s Chaplain Ousted For Failing To Embrace Surrender To Islam

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Thursday, February 02, 2017

Wednesday, February 01, 2017

Jesuits Lament Waning Support For The New World Order

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Cogitating Bear

Photo by Frederick Meekins

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Aren’t Contractually Binding Communal Relationships Without Sex Not Based Upon Family The Foundation Of A Cult?

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Conversations With William F. Buckley

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Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Warning Sign

Photo by Frederick Meekins

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Priest Condemned For Falling To Pander To Migrant Congregants

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Dallas Theological Seminary Propagates White Guilt

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Pope Tosses Fit Over Failure To Abide By Standards Found Nowhere In Scripture

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Essay Contest Foments Anti-White Propaganda

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Sloppy Exegesis A Gift That Ought To Be Returned

The trick (or perhaps better stated skill as some theological nitpickers might associate the first term with the work of the Devil) in exegeting a Biblical text is deciphering if a particular narrative the circumstances that are of an historical nature pertaining only to that unique incident from those which are a prescription binding upon everyone irrespective of time or geography.

It has been observed that the accounts of the Advent and Nativity stand in stark contrast to the gospel of abortion as advocated by infanticide front groups such Planned Parenthood.

Southern Baptist theologian Russell Moore in his column titled “Joseph of Nazareth vs. Planned Parenthood” attempts to formulate a number of suggestions and proposals for the Christian wanting to apply the spirit of the Christmas story in their own lives.

This effort in itself is not necessarily without merit. For example, Moore suggests adoption as an alternative to the pervasiveness of abortion.

However, where Dr. Moore goes a hair too far is his suggestion insinuating that adoption is somehow an obligation on the part of the believer rather than one way particular families might decide for themselves to live out the implications of the Biblical message in their specific lives. Even more debatable is the invocation of Joseph as a pretext to shame the individual Christian into compliance.

Of particular interest is how the onus of sin is placed upon Christians deciding that taking on the responsibility of someone else's unwanted child is not necessarily for them rather than the ones despising a child to the extent that they are willing to see the child in question murdered.

In his exposition, Dr. Moore rips entire Scriptures from their particular contexts. For example, Moore writes, “In his obedience, Joseph demonstrated what his other son would later call 'pure' and undefiled religion', the kind that cares for the fatherless and abandoned (James 1:27).”

Regarding the children threatened by abortion today as well as the single mother households that Moore's kind of rant invokes in order to coerce all sorts of handouts, technically these children are not necessarily orphans and these WOMENNNN (said with the politically correct emphatic pronunciation often extended to this gender category) are not widows.

These children still have mothers to provide for them and, in most cases, their fathers are still alive and are simply deadbeats that refuse to take care of the lifetime consequence resulting from a few fleeting moments of pleasure. Likewise, to enjoy the sympathy, honor, and protection of which a widow is deserving, a woman needs to have had first been married, a criteria many these days finding themselves already with children have yet to fulfill.

As such, how about first casting blame at those that have actually done something wrong? For when was the last time you heard a good old fashioned hellfire and brimstone sermon directed at both unfit parents?

Criticisms of inept and negligent fatherhood are not all that uncommon. They are in fact the homiletical staple of Father's Day. However, rarely will you hear condemnation of the unfit mother often so enamored with her carefree lifestyle that she is willing to allow the murder of her unborn child. In the noble endeavor to save as many children as possible from pre-natal human butchery as possible, like hostage negotiation at times it might be necessary to sweet talk and stroke the egos of these women threatening infanticide until the child can be rescued from their clutches. However, one is in danger of approaching a conceptual state bordering heresy if one's systematic theology is compromised while engaged in such a tactic.

In his application of Biblical texts, Dr. Moore glosses over where shortcomings of character and behavior ought to be called out at least in generalized terms and cries out he has found these kinds of deficiencies where none in fact actually exist.

For example, the crux of Moore's argument centers around Joseph not abandoning Mary after she was found with child and this humble carpenter taking Mary as his wife and in essence raising Jesus as his own despite Him not being such. However, the invocation of Mary as a categorical imperative to be applied in the case of every other woman in the world does not hold up to closer scrutiny.

Foremost, God appeared to Joseph in a dream to dispel any notions Joseph might have had that Mary found herself in these circumstances as a result of sin. In fact, in regards to this aspect of her virtue, she was far from such blemish and actually selected because of her status as a righteous virgin.

In this day of radical non-judgmentalism, it will be snapped let he that is without sin cast the first stone. That is usually Biblically sound advice. However, nowhere in not casting the first stone is one man obligated to surrender to the humiliation of having to pick up the tab for a baby conceived through the normal carnal means between his fiancée or betrothed and another dude.

Furthermore, why does this non-judgmentalism only apply to those living in outright sin? Dr. Moore certainly doesn't mind getting up in the grill of those that haven't emptied their bank accounts so the libertines can continue to breed wantonly without the consideration of their actions.

If Mary had conceived in such a fashion, Joseph should have kicked her to the curb. Russell Moore writes, “With full legal rights to abandon Mary and her unborn child --- perhaps to a fate worse than death --- Joseph obeyed the Father in becoming a father.” But, to reemphasize, that is because in this instance Mary had done nothing wrong.

From the way that Moore writes, had Joseph followed legal procedure, he would have been exceedingly cruel. But wasn't it because of the seemingly harsh nature of this prospective penalty that in all likelihood that the out of wedlock birthrate among the ancient Israelites in times when that people were living for the most part righteously was nothing in comparison to what it is today?

It must also be asked who was it that set up what looks to early twenty-first century eyes as an excessively judgmental social system. You can't really get all bent out of shape at the ancient Israelites because in many instances they were merely implementing what God had ordered them to under threats of calamity and damnation if they failed to do so until instructed otherwise.

This matter of whether Joseph would keep Mary or set her aside is not the only matter in which Russell Moore has not thought out the implications of what he has said in regards to these issues at hand.

Moore writes, “In a culture captivated by the spirit of Herod, could it be that God is calling our churches to follow the example of Joseph?” In that remark, Dr. Moore articulates the typical anti-male animus that has come to increasingly characterize Christian Evangelicalism.

For those that might not recall, following the visitation of the Magi, Herod flew into a rampage ordering the the murder of male children below two years of age. As a result, Joseph was instructed in a dream to escape with Mary and the Christ Child into the land of Egypt.

From the way Moore flippantly handles the allusion to the narrative, one could come away with the impression that Joseph was the only father or designated male provider to care in all of Bethlehem. Don't you think the other fathers loved their children enough that if they were accustomed to receiving messages via dreams that they would have also packed up their bags and gotten out of town if they had been extended such an opportunity? One cannot very well accuse these fathers of any wrongdoing in regard to Herod's slaughter of the innocents if the general population was extended no warning of the pending assault.

The war against human life throughout the contemporary world is pervasive. Those taking principled stands of whatever form grand or small will be commended by their Father in Heaven. However, in our own zeal for what is right, caution must be taken not to pull the facts of divine revelation from their holy context to create binding parallels that can only be deduced as a result of strained analogies such narratives never intended.

By Frederick Meekins

Key Differences Between Protestantism & Roman Catholicism

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The Future Of America

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Do Christian Authors Need The Pastor’s Permission To Publish?

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Pastor Flees Naked After Dipping In Another Man’s Cistern

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The Courage To Be Protestant

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Vatican Functionaries Embrace Dhmmitude

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Has Soros Seized Control Of The Vatican?

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Peacemongers Celebrate Violence Against Trump Supporters

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Where Is The Outrage Over Obama’s Abandonment Of Christian Refugees?

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Leftwing Evangelicals Enamored With Carnal Debauchery & Government Handouts

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Monday, January 30, 2017

Sunday, January 29, 2017

What Do Anglicans Believe?

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Saturday, January 28, 2017

Friday, January 27, 2017

The Undocumented

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Catholic Bishops Serve Up A Big Helping Of White Guilt

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Thursday, January 26, 2017

Restaurateurs Connive To Retain Easily Abused Workforce

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Pheasant

Photo by Frederick Meekins

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Priests Of Moloch Bless Sacrificial Temple

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Is The Pissant Inauguration Arson The Son Of Drew Carey's Concubine?

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Independent Baptist Subtly Endorses Mystical Asceticism

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Islamists On The Verge Of European Conquest

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Michael Savage 1/25/17

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The Orthodox Way

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Former Independent Baptist Church Says To Sheol With The Old White Codgers

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Donald Trump and the Future of Liberalism

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Wednesday, January 25, 2017

To What Extent Will Trump Abridge The First Amendment?

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Considering the Future of Journalism

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Keeping Government Out Of The Bedroom Means Paying For Your Own Birth Control

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Will The Pope Allow The Knights Of Malta To Distribute Condoms?

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Radical Homeschooler Suggests Latent Homosexuality If A Man Does Not Prefer Outdoor Pursuits

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Humanists Rampage Against Bible Study Offering Free Doughnuts

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Writing History In The Digital Age

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Christians Shouldn't Lop Off Essential Doctrine To Mollify Secularist Skeptics

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Tolerancemongers Torch Limo Belonging To Muslim Immigrant In The Name Of Defending Muslims & Immigrants

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Creativity, The Singularity & The Meaning Of Life

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Maybe Uppity Women Deserve Islamist Conquest

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Technology, Spirituality & Artificial Intelligence

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Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Fox News Drops George Will & Call Thomas

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Bible Church

Photo by Frederick Meekins

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Are White Folks Guilty If Minority Parents Kill Minority Children?

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Would Tolerancemongers Embrace Brazilian Cannibals In The Name Of Diversity?

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Literal Mankiller Applauded As Rally Speaker

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Pale Banshee Insists She The Only Caucasian Worthy Of First Amendment Protections

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Is Trump On The Verge Of Assuming Obama’s Messianic Cultism?

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Vatican Fawns Over Advocate Of Compulsory Population Control

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European Union More Concerned With Rights Of Robots Than The Unborn

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Did Jihadist Masterminds Organize Million Witch March?

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Police Allow Trayvonites To Beat Crippled Woman

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Subversive Deadbeats Demand Right To Lay Waste To Economies & Infrastructure

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Church Of England To Downplay Clerical Carnality

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Tolerancemongers Set Woman’s Hair On Fire For Thought Crimes

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Monday, January 23, 2017