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Archive for October, 2021

Reformation Day Thoughts, Part 2: Where the Spirit of the Lord Is, There Is Liberty

Posted in The Reformation, tagged , , , , , , , , on October 31, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Martin Luther as Hercules Germanicus by Hans Holbein, 1523. “In the picture, Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, William of Ockham, Duns Scotus and Nicholas of Lyra already lay bludgeoned to death at his feet and the German inquisitor, Jacob van Hoogstraaten was about to receive his fatal stroke. Suspended from a ring in Luther’s nose was the figure of Pope Leo X,” The Reformation Room.

Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

  • 2 Corinthians 3:17

“Then the children of Israel…forsook the LORD and served Baal and the Ashtoreths.  And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel. So He delivered them into the hands of plunderers who despoiled them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies” (Judges 2:11,13-14).

It’s often been noted that Israel under the judges went through a number of cycles of faith in the Word of God prosperity, followed by unbelief, leading to bondage to foreign powers, followed by repentance, and finally deliverance from oppression.

Perhaps the most noteworthy aspect of this cycle is the close connection between belief and liberty, on one hand, and unbelief and oppression on the other.  The passage just quoted from Judges is a good illustration of this principle. 

Put another way, spiritual liberty, faith in the Lord, leads to political and economic liberty.  Rejecting the Word of God produces slavery both political and economic. 

Put still another way, spiritual liberty leads to political and economic liberty, spiritual bondage to political and economic bondage. 

Not only did this pattern hold true in ancient Israel, it also holds true today.  It was the widespread preaching of and belief in the Gospel of Justification by Faith Alone that spiritually freed the people of the nations to which the Reformation came from the bondage of sin and guilt.  And those same nations were the very ones to become the freest states on earth politically as well as the most prosperous.  

In his booklet Christ & Civilization, John Robbins noted this patter, writing,

Martin Luther’s courageous rejection of – in the name of written revelation, logic, and freedom – of this faith-works religion laid the necessary theological foundation for the emergence of a free, humane, and civilized society from the ancient and medieval paganism of Christendom. The result was religious freedom and her daughters: political, civil, and economic freedom (38).

Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.  First spiritually, then in other ways politically and economically. 

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Radio Lux Lucet 65: Romeward Bound, Joe Biden Meets His Boss Jorge Bergoglio

Posted in Radio Lux Lucet, tagged , , , , , , on October 31, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Trinity Foundation YouTube Channel: Reformation Day Livestream “The Sands of Rome” with guest speaker Timothy F. Kauffman

Here I Stand by Roland Bainton

Christ & Civilization by Rohn W. Robbins

“Biden says Pope Francis called him a good Catholic and said he should keep receiving Communion,” by Chico Harlan, Seung Min Kim, and Michelle Boorstein, The Washington Post, 10/29/2021

“Joe Biden’s Vatican Meeting With Pope Francis Runs Into Overtime,” by Josh Boak, Zeke Miller and Nicole Winfield

“Unusual secrecy attends first meeting with Pope Francis as president,” by Jack Jenkins, Claire Giangrave, Religion News Service, 10/28/2021

“Biden Eases Fray with France and Savors Meeting With Pope as Europe Trip Begins,” by Katie Rogers and Jason Horowitz, New York Times, 10/30/2021

“Pope Francis meets with US President Joseph Biden,” Vatican News, 10/29/2021

“Biden says Pope Francis OK’d him receiving communion, calling him a ‘good Catholic’ amid abortion debate,” by Michael Collins and Maureen Groppe, USA Today, 10/30/2021

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Reformation Day Thoughts, Part 1: The Papal Antichrist and Contemporary Confusion

Posted in The Reformation, tagged , , , , , , , on October 24, 2021| 1 Comment »

Martin Luther as Hercules Germanicus by Hans Holbein, 1523. “In the picture, Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, William of Ockham, Duns Scotus and Nicholas of Lyra already lay bludgeoned to death at his feet and the German inquisitor, Jacob van Hoogstraaten was about to receive his fatal stroke. Suspended from a ring in Luther’s nose was the figure of Pope Leo X,” The Reformation Room.

There is no other Head of the Church but the Lord Jesus Christ: nor can the Pope of Rome, in any sense be head thereof; but is that Antichrist, that man of sin and son of perdition, that exalteth himself in the Church against Christ, and all that is called God.

  • Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 25.6

“I have no idea who Antichrist is.”  I don’t remember anything else about the sermon.  I don’t even recall the name of the man who preached it.  But I do remember it was on a Sunday morning in December 2006 that I heard those words, “I have no idea who Antichrist is,” come from the pulpit of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church. 

I case you’re wondering, no, it wasn’t D. James Kennedy who made that comment.  It was a guest preacher, whose name escapes me.

It’s just as well I don’t recall the man’s name who uttered those words.  For it seems to me that what he said that Sunday could well be said by most of the professing reformed church, both in 2006 and in 2021.  No one, it seems, has any idea who Antichrist is. 

It’s a mystery wrapped in an enigma, to borrow a turn of phrase from Winston Churchill.  Or at least that’s how it seems to most Christians today. 

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Radio Lux Lucet 64: Pope Francis Simpatico with Big Tech Censorship, Calls for More of the Same

Posted in Radio Lux Lucet, tagged , , , , , , , , , on October 23, 2021| Leave a Comment »

The Trinity Foundation homepage, click to “Newsletter Subscribe/Unsubscribe” in lower left corner of the homepage to join the email list.

“Forgotten Principles of the Reformation,” by John W. Robbins, The Trinity Review, October 2004

“Pope Demands Silicon Valley “In the Name of God” Censor “Hate Speech,” “Conspiracy Theories”,” by Paul Joseph Watson, Summit News

“Joe Biden Plans Vatican Meeting with Pope Francis On October 29,” by Charlie Spierling, Breitbart

“Opinion: Don’t rant about short-staffed stores and supply chain woes,” by Micheline Maynard, The Washington Post

“Breaking: Migrant Caravan in Mexico encounters Mexico’s @INAMI_forces,” by Griff Jenkins, Fox News

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Take Heed That You Not Be Deceived

Posted in Theology, tagged , , , , , , on October 17, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Take heed that you not be deceived.

  • Luke 21:8

There are in Scripture numbers commands directed to Christians not to be deceived.  Take, for example, Christ’s warning to his disciples at the beginning of his discourse about the end times.  “Take heed that you not be deceived,” he told them. 

My Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary defines “deceive” thus: the imposing of a false idea or belief that causes bewilderment or helplessness or furthers the agent’s purpose.”  On that definition, there are certainly a lot of Americans who have failed to heed Jesus’s injunction. 

Our being deceived is no light matter.  Speaking of Eve, the Apostle Paul noted that she was “deceived” by the serpent in the garden and that by her deception she “fell into transgression.” 

In Deuteronomy, we read, “Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and you turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; And then the LORD’s wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the LORD giveth you.”  In this case, one’s being deceived would result in death and dispossession. 

In 1 Corinthians, Paul wrote, “Do not be deceived.  Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.” Here we have a list of sins common, no doubt, in Paul’s day as well as in ours.  It would be easy enough to excuse them as they were common practice.  It might have even seemed strange to people in the first century if one did not practice such things.  Perhaps the Corinthian Christians were tempted to pass over such behavior as customary and not worth mentioning.  Maybe they were afraid of challenging those who were involved in them out of misplaced fear of men.  Yet Paul says no one who practices such things “will inherit the kingdom of God.”   

Many other examples of deception and the Scriptures telling us to avoid it can be found.

I bring up the matter of deception because we live in a world that is working to deceive us 24/7 and doing so with tools that are more sophisticated than at any time in history.   

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The Department of Justice v. America’s Outraged Parents

Posted in Politics, tagged , , , , , , on October 10, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Opponents of critical race theory attend a Loudoun County School Board meeting on June 22 in Ashburn. (Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters)

Across America, school boards have been losing the battle over Covid restrictions and Critical Race Theory to American parents.

Now they’re getting serious and calling in the heavy artillery.    

At least that seems to be the case given the whiney, tattletale-style letter the National School Boards Association (NSBA) sent to Joe Biden requesting help from the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) the U.S. Secret Service and its National Threat Assessment Center, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. 

All this, because parents don’t like “education professionals” teaching their kids to hate them, their nation, and their entire civilization.

“As these acts of malice, violence, and threats against public school officials have increased, the classification of these heinous actions could be the equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes,” reads the letter. 

In other words, the NSBA thinks all the red-neck parents out there in fly-over country who oppose the brainwashing of their children should just shut up already.  And if they don’t, they should be hit with charges of domestic terrorism and thrown in the clink right along with the J6 defendants and all the other deplorable types who deserve to be locked up. 

That is to say, the NSBA wants to make disagreeing with school boards a federal offense, in much the same way as many would like to see Covid skeptics locked up who dare express disagreement with Anthony Fauci, the WHO, and Bill Gates.   

Lest anyone suppose that I’m advocating an “anything goes” policy at school board meetings, that is not my point at all.  As with any public meeting, there are rules of conduct that apply in school board sessions.  If someone gets out of line, there are ways of dealing with that person, up to and including arrest if the occasion requires it.  These situations can be handled by local law enforcement.  But the NSBA wants to make a federal case out of it.   Calling on the nuclear option of DOJ shows that the school boards’ main concern is not with ensuring Robert’s Rules of Order are followed. Surely a stern gavel, a security guard, or the local police can handle this.  No.  Something more sinister is at work here.  It appears that the real goal of the school boards is to avoid altogether answering to parents, the very people who pay for the schools, for their appalling decisions on everything from pornographic curriculum, to transgender bathroom and locker room policies, to unscientific mask requirements for students.  The goal is the criminalization of dissent from the progressive educratic party line.

All this would be bad enough were it an isolated case.  But it isn’t.  The attempt by the NSBA to call in the DOJ and other agencies to put down what it views as a parental insurrection should be viewed as part of a larger Deep State/Democrat-led push to criminalize dissent of all types.  If you oppose Covid lockdowns and vax mandates, if you think the 2020 election was stolen, you just might be a domestic terrorist.

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If You Faint in the Day of Adversity: Thoughts on Our Present Trials

Posted in Politics, tagged , , , , on October 3, 2021| 3 Comments »

“Our patience is wearing thin.” Joe Biden threatens Americans with job loss if they don’t take the Covid shot, September 9, 2021.

If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small.

  • Proverbs 24:10

During what would prove to be a historic win for the University of Cincinnati football team, things got a bit wobbly for a while during the third quarter.  Playing on the road at Notre Dame in South Bend Indiana, UC held a 17-0 lead in the second half.  But then UC missed a makable field goal.  Not long after, Notre Dame went on a touchdown drive and cut the lead to 17-7.   Next, UC’s quarterback fumbled the ball.  Notre Dame recovered and scored another touchdown.  They missed the extra point, so UC’s lead stood at 17-13. 

Now if you’re a fan of Cincinnati sports teams, this was the point where you started saying to yourself, “Here we go again.”  Without going into all the boring and gory details of years of agony and frustration on the part of the local fan base, let’s just say people in this area are used to disappointment and heartbreak. 

But when things were looking their bleakest and many of us were waiting for the Bearcats to find a way to choke, for some reason they didn’t.  UC went on a touchdown drive making the score 24-13, and that’s how the game ended up. 

I’d like to tell you I knew UC was going to win all along.  But that would be a lie.  I thought either they either were going to get blown out in some epic humiliating defeat or lose in agonizing fashion at the last second.  But neither of those things happened.

UC, much to my shock, far from choking, actually won a huge victory.  One that is certainly the biggest win in school’s football history, a history which dates back to 1885.  One of the sort I never thought I’d see.

Now you may wonder why I’m starting a post about the present trials facing Christians here in America and around the world by referencing a college football game.  After all, it’s just a football game.  And football isn’t really all that important in the grand scheme of things. 

Football isn’t a Christian enterprise.  It’s a sport after all.

But if you think about it, there are a number of references to sports in the Bible.  The Author of Hebrews wrote, “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.”  Paul wrote, “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize?  Run in such a way that you may obtain it.” There are other verses along the same lines.  So it’s not out of place to reference sports in the context of the Christian life.

In this case, there’s a message for Christians about persevering through adversity.

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Radio Lux Lucet 61: The Jesuits Promote Mass Migration Madness

Posted in Radio Lux Lucet, tagged , , , , , , , , on October 2, 2021| Leave a Comment »

“U.S. will no longer deport people solely because they are undocumented, Homeland Security secretary says,” by Annika Kim Constantino, CNBC 9/30/2021

“40K Haitians on the Way to U.S. Through Mexico. Mayorkas Update: No Deportation Order,” by R. Cort Kirkwood, The New American, 10/1/2021

“Alejandro Mayorkas’ 7 border lies” by Post Editorial Board, New York Post, 9/26/2021

“Exclusive-Mark Morgan: Almost Everything Alejandro Mayorkas Says Is A Lie,” by Robert Kraychik, Breitbart, 8/10/2021

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