by Chris Hume This article was originally published on August 4, 2022 at The Lancaster Patriot The hullabaloo about the bugaboo of “Christian nationalism” is…
Posts published in “Bold Christian Writing”
Originally published on July 21, 2022 at inklesspen.blog
“The progress of technology had led and is still leading to just such a concentration and centralization of power” Aldous Huxley.
“Take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and the cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch therefore and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man”
Luke 21:34-36
Foundational to Christian living is the remembrance of God. Remembrance while waking. Remembrance while at work. Remembrance while fulfilling the duties of life. Remembrance while going to sleep. The Christian must be cultivating the remembrance of God in all things. It need not be elaborate, the believer may offer this service in the inner chamber of the heart. He may offer it in solitude or while in the midst of a multitude.
In the upheaval that followed the tumult of 2020, one of the many things revealed was just how miserable modern life is. The rickety house of cards that is the post-war, consumerist way of life was shown to be both incredibly fragile and unsustainable as well as a radical departure from the natural, human way of life. God did not create us to have families comprised of income-earner 1, income-earner 2, and children farmed out to strangers with maximum economic efficiency. Such a way of life sounds much more like a Soviet dystopia than wholesome Americana. And the truth is that it is, and this is a truth that the shock of 2020 forced many people to recognize.
One of the things that everybody needs to be braced for is a spate of articles, books, think pieces, documentaries, and the like on the rising threat of Christian nationalism. That being the case, you are likely to hear a lot about it from me as well. I intend, over the coming months, to sharpen my Machete of Disobfuscation, and, together in fellowship with you, to clear out some of these thickets.
From the heights of the New York Times, a watchman named Tim Gruber has espied out upon the fringes of the liberal-democratic wastes a rowdy band of “Far Right Christians” in a “Quest For Power”. Grubbs intends it as a warning, but this sounds like the beginning of a really rad story. Tim is afraid that the Global American Empire (GAE) is under attack by radical right-wing “christo-fascist” extremists. He’s probably upset that they’re having fun, too.
I was going to write an article about the contradictions in Grubbers’ piece, but I instead thought it more enjoyable to lean into his fears and mock his alarmism, for the fact that the great Tower of The New York Times even notices our mannerbund of ruddy warriors betrays their weakness. Tim calls us conspiracy theorists – a worn phrase that induces yawns. Such has always been the complaint of critics and skeptics.
Fr. Seraphim Rose has inspired millions around the world toward one end: the pursuit of Christ without compromise. From his humble monastery in the mountains of Northern California, this Orthodox Christian priest, monk, and missionary, penetrated the heart of ancient Christianity and drew his fellow Americans into Christ’s Church. Having submitted himself fully to Christ, he became a pathfinder for those seeking solid ground amidst the ever-shifting sands of our American Babylon. Fr. Seraphim traversed the philosophical and religious landscape, from Protestantism to agnosticism, Nietzsche, Watts, Guénon, Buddhism, Lao Tzu, and finally to Orthodoxy. Ultimately, he found that Truth is not merely ideas, philosophies, or even a way of being, but a Person: the Lord Jesus Christ.
If you are an evangelical, you believe that Christ gave us the task of proclaiming the gospel of Christ to others, in the hope of persuading them to repent of their sins and believe the gospel. If you still have the name evangelical, but you don’t believe that anymore, then you need to figure out how to respond to those Christians who do still believe that the Great Commission—the way Jesus gave it—applies to us today. One of the things you can do is rename whatever the heck it is you’re doing, that outreach-lite stuff, and call it missional, and then you can turn around and accuse the old-timey Christians of being Christian nationalists.
Sounds pretty bad, right?
Why There Can Never Be A “Judeo-Christian” Anything
Within conservative circles, particularly among evangelicals in that court, it is not uncommon to hear the phrase “Judeo-Christian”. This expression often modifies something that pertains to the history or tradition of Christendom. Most people think nothing of it. They are familiar enough with the Bible to know that the Old Testament is about Israel and the Hebrews, and the New Testament is about Christ incarnating to Israel and going to all the nations. But the reality is that Christianity was not formed out of this thing called “Judaism.” Christianity is the true biblical religion, and Judaism is the religion formed after faithful Jews, and believing Gentiles, were united to Jesus Christ.
On Friday, June 24th, an epochal change took place in American history: the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. If you are a churchgoing evangelical Christian who somehow had not heard about that before going to church Sunday, June 26th, a substantial percentage of you would have remained unaware that the most significant political and cultural change in half a century had taken place. Yes, many churches were totally silent about this massive victory won by the Lord Jesus Christ.
by Darrell Dow
“In coping with identity crisis,” Samuel Huntington wrote in Clash of Civilizations, “what counts for people are blood and belief, faith and family. People will rally to those with similar ancestry, religion, language, values, and institutions and distance themselves from those with different ones. … In a very fluid world, people are looking for roots and connections to defend themselves against the unknown.”