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By In Culture

Worship Music and the War for Longevity

What’s the most popular Christian song sung in churches today? It’s called “Build my Life” from Bethel Music. The song was written in 2016 and has stood the test of a whopping six years of longevity.

A new study on worship music “found that the lifespan of a hit worship song has declined dramatically in recent years.” There are reasons for this phenomenon. The research indicates that worship songs are made to “feed the algorithm.” In other words, they are intentionally written to supply a current need, instead of embracing any sense of historical need. As one pastor observed:”

…the churn of worship music reflects the way Americans consume media in general, where ‘everything is immediate and has a short shelf life.'”

I suspect anyone who has been reading my words for the last couple of years, has a deep appreciation for my parody-like observations on such topics and is assured by my vivacious display of righteous anger towards the inevitable words above.

But I don’t want to simply use the above as some apologetic for despising Bethel or Hillsong. So, give me a couple of minutes to indoctrinate you just a bit. After all, it’s the only reason I have a Facebook account. It will be slow and painless. I promise. I will even tell a few stories. Then, I will close with some pertinent questions. So, stick around, kids!

Back in the 1990s–give or take a year or two before the rapture–I remember engaging in some random radio program when I lived in Pennsylvania. The speaker had this remarkable voice filled with the sophistication of someone trained rhetorically under the best. He hailed from a town about an hour from where I was called Ligonier.

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By In Culture

5 Lessons to the Local Churches in the Coming Migration

Should Roe (1973) and Casey (1992) be completely overturned in 2022, what we will experience this summer is a massive migration. As an example, over 330,000 have moved to Florida this past year. Most of this stemmed from COVID policies that crippled other states economically and socially. Almost nine million people in the U.S. changed their address during the last two years. COVID regulations strangled large portions of the country and revealed much of the internal dynamics between politicians and power. Many realized that when Nero has power, power he doth not wish to give way. Control is a technique of tyrants. Nevertheless, what they minimized was the capacity of people to see trends and follow trends to their ultimate telos.

And people, who began March of 2020 enamored by the Fauci, now gladly join the chorus of Fauci-deniers. Don’t overestimate the power of deception (Numbers 32:23). Things do come to a halt eventually and the kids will start asking about whether the pope speaks ex-cathedra or whether that chair is fake after all. If COVID measures woke people out of slumber like a storm in the middle of the sea, Roe and Casey will also do a thing more powerful yet. We should, in fact, expect a massive migration among those who–unlike Keller and Moore–see culture wars as a real thing, and not a figment of our imagination. People are flocking to towns where there is a massive-scale Jesus-is-Lord culture. I am not speaking of the generic Jesus-is-Lord culture, I am speaking of those towns where communities arise, dine, and wine in the Jesus-is-Lord culture. They take their culture wars with an extra shot of espresso.

We should expect cultures to be fairly defined in the next coming years. We should expect California to return to some level of 1929-culture; perhaps not of immediate economic turmoil, but certainly, cultural turmoil as the seeds of cultural decency will leave in mass and find refuge in cultural havens for spiritual refugees. I am somewhat hopeful that a few towns there will remain virtuous enough to reject the mandates from Fauci’s right hand and fight Newsom like a Puritan colony. If that happens, I will gladly send some monies to their accounts.

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By In Culture

Leaked Draft from Samuel Alito and the Failure of the Theology of Niceness

The leaked draft from Samuel Alito states what many expected, except a month or two early. In the document, Alito asserts:

“We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled. The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision….”

The draft also contains some legitimate historical details about the unconstitutionality of Roe. The early revelation allows pundits to accelerate their pleasure or pain at the sobering news. As many have noted, the release may also serve to stir the opposition into a frenzy using every ounce of apocalypticism to get the masses to see the tyranny of Republican candidates who wish to take a woman’s right to kill their pre-born. Should this be made official, the overturn of Roe v. Wade means states would be capable of offering independent opinions to restrict or ban abortions. Yet, we must remember that drafts are just that–unfinished documents. As Politico states:

“Major decisions can be subject to multiple drafts and vote-trading, sometimes until just days before a decision is unveiled (expected by late June or early July).”

Even if we remove the uncertainty of the whole thing, it’s critical to see that this is a major advancement in the half-century debate. While the landmark 1973 decision has not been officially overturned, we can begin to see that this is already–however it was made public–a massive victory for the culture warriors. Jerry Falwell Sr., Francis Schaeffer, R.J. Rushdoony and many others fought vicious intellectual and political wars for such a time as this. Their labors were not in vain.

At this point, we should note how germane it was and is to speak on such issues definitively; how crucial it is to speak as if society’s very life is on the line; how significant it is to refuse to be ambivalent, double-minded, and politically sensitive.

What I have written in these last few years goes to the heart of the matter concerning religious leaders that failed to speak decisively on such a fundamental matter. They asserted that what we have is merely a strategic difference between Republicans and Democrats. Timothy Keller observed recently:

“I know abortion is a sin, but the Bible doesn’t tell me the best political policy to decrease or end abortion in this country, nor which political or legal policies are most effective to that end.”

These statements are made with the sentiment of cordiality and politeness. But our society cannot tolerate niceness in an age of barbaric actions. Naturally, you will feel the pull to take these causes in the name of political solidarity. But the differences between parties are not a nuance or two away from cohesiveness. They are worlds apart. The Democratic party argues for an unholy agenda of sexual promiscuity and the acceptance of lifestyles far from the kingdom. If they uphold explicitly such perverse agendas, what makes Keller think that they have a clear step-by-step process to undo abortion in this country? What have the Democrats done to earn such respect from a celebrated Reformed minister? What makes him think that they are eager to see Roe overturned? Why is Keller willing to give the Biden-Party a pass when they put into office a federal official that plays and dresses like a girl to lead our nation’s health concerns? Why would this party then use such “high-ethical standards” to pursue a humane model of ending the murder of pre-born? The answer is that Keller and many others have embraced niceness as an ethical system.

C.S. Lewis opined about niceness when he noted:

“A world of nice people, content in their own niceness, looking no further, turned away from God, would be just as desperately in need of salvation as a miserable world — and might even be more difficult to save.”

When you are double-minded, you are endorsing the theology of niceness. Jesus did not die for the sake of niceness. He died to change our niceness into bold and courageous prophets, priests, and kings. Our niceness was crucified together with other compromising sins. The resurrection was the death of niceness and the vindication of glorious witness to unrelenting truth in an age of lies.

Keller is correct that Jesus does not identify with a political party. True enough, but utterly unhelpful. Every sensical human knows that. But the question is another altogether: which of the two parties–flawed indeed–reflects best the pursuit of the good? Tonight is at least initial proof that one party operates with an agenda that sees transcendent ethics as a guide for societal renewal and the other treasures death as a way of life.

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By In Culture

COVID and the Slow Death of Public Education

Throughout the entire season of COVID-mania, the tabloids were filled with festive shouts hailing Cuomo and Newsom as drivers of the good, protectors of the elderly, and authors of their own self-congratulatory autobiographies. These political skunks have now secreted their vile blood for everyone to see and common folk have determined that they are not like us. They are a strange breed of layered evil.

Fast forward, and Newsom is as popular as the transgendered orangutan at Disney+ and Cuomo went the way of his brother, disgraced like Toobin in a zoom call. Let their tribes decrease!

Republicans have since gained much ground, and the Supreme Court maintains a conservative ethos with five men and three-and-a-half women. Or, something like that. But again, I am not a mathematician. Here in sunny Florida, DeSantis has offered a model of politicking that is clear and crisp like a full bag of Doritos that Musk intends to fill to the brim if he keeps his promises.

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By In Culture

Female Ordination, the Gay Clergy, and the Crisis of the Modern Church

The biblical arguments for male headship in the Church are vast, ranging from the man’s role under the creation order ( I Tim. 2), the qualification for elders (I Tim. 3), his function in the liturgical order and decency of worship (I Cor. 14), and his significative symbol under the new man, Jesus Christ (Eph. 4-5). These are taken as presuppositions in the history of redemption and exceptions are theological judgment imposed on God’s people.

Additionally, the East and the West have carefully crafted the liturgical service with a man in mind. Christ is the perfect priest and he was enfleshed in a male body. Therefore, the liturgy starts with male vocal cords and ends with male vocal cords. The man gathers and calls and leads and protects. God decided on such things in the Old and New Testaments happily moving against cultural norms, pagan norms, emotional norms and sexual norms. God structures his creation in a Trinitarian fashion and therefore each actor functions according to his purpose and each actress functions according to his purpose. The script is given and we act out our parts. In the Christian script, the male clergy does not stand above the people of God lording over them, but they stand in their midst, just as Christ stands in the midst of his people.

In our day, it is relatively easy to imagine how distinctions in the role of man and woman can be easily confused and ignored in an entertainment-driven congregation where liturgy and life are constantly being reinvented. It is also an easy consequence of such environments to see women leading in churches where men gladly abdicate their function in order to give over to cultural concerns about sexuality. It may come as a reaction to male-pastoral abuse cases which occur often or the endless creativity of church leaders to try something new. There are some who attempt a biblical rationale for such alternatives, but quickly they are swallowed by a larger agenda that lead up to the second floor of leftist inc.

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By In Politics

No More Political Pulpits?

For those of you following the great theological brouhaha of 2022, there is a grand conspiracy against culture wars unfolding before our very eyes. Falwell and all his glory did not see this coming. Schaeffer and all his goatee didn’t see it coming either. Blame these warriors for their inadequacies and I will blame certain T4G characters for all their false comparisons.

The problem is that there are so many fine people saying things that frustrate me that my inner happy-clappy self wishes I could stay away from such entanglings. But, as I write, there are people out there wondering, “But if Ligon Schpunkin’ says it, it can’t be that bad.” And, as Joe Rigney would say, “I sympathize with that!”

Some of these men are men that I respect and find beneficial in some areas and men with whom I have personally interacted in my seminary days, and in my conference-attending days. I should also note that there is not a fabric of malice in these individuals. They desire the good. But, Nancy Pelosi is in the details.

And if you analyze this whole conversation, the thread goes off track at some point and someone needs to interact a little bit so that when records are stored in section 78B of Elon Musk’s Mars units, some curator will be able to observe that not everyone was silent.

The general thesis for those at Lake Wobegon is that there is an increased concern with the politicization of the pulpit. That is, too many people are using the pulpit for political causes. Now, why is such a topic so relevant today?

We should not be naive and act as if we don’t know the source of such antagonism. The man who is about 300 miles south of where I stand here in Florida carries a private tanning booth wherever he goes. But he also had the audacity to elevate the tribalism during his four-year reign. People were mad, in case you forgot. Like, “Mad Max” mad. David French was so upset that he left Fox News and all of the sudden started acting concerned for the environment. To say Trump brought things to the forefront is an understatement. To be more precise, he blew up the underground D.C.’s secret railroad and exposed the lies. Now, I am a Bud-Light critic of Trump and I am eager to not see him run ever again, but let’s remember that this man made the right people upset and there is something to that gift.

So, what’s the concern with political sermons? And why should we be more concerned about “Gospel” preaching? And why doesn’t Tom Brady just retire?

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By In Family and Children

10 Ways to Keep Easter

Is Easter over?

Theologically, we know that the earthquake of Easter will reverberate until the Second Coming of the Messiah. And liturgically, Easter is in no way over. In fact, Easter has just begun. The joy of Easter carries on until June 4th, which means we still have 49 days of Eastertide. Easter is far from over and there is much more rejoicing to do in the next seven weeks.

The difficulty for many of us is keeping this Easter enthusiasm for such a lengthy period. The reason many evangelicals are ready to get to the next thing is that they lack a sense of liturgical rhythm. Lent took us through a 40-day journey, but the Easter joy takes us through a 50-day journey. Easter is superior to Lent not only in the length of days but also in the quality of the ethos. Lent prepares us for a journey towards Calvary, while Easter takes us through a victory march. Through Easter, we are reminded to put away our sadness and embrace the heavenly trumpet sound to all the corners of the earth. “He is risen!, He is risen!, He is risen!” The devil trembles, the enemies fear, the forces of evil shake, and the sound of sin is silenced when death was defeated.

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By In Culture

Abraham Kuyper, Gary North, and the Calvinistic Worldview

Gary North’s recent passing reminded me of the enormous capacity of certain men to produce so much in a lifetime. Of course, men can be productive beings on many fronts, but that productivity often stems from foundational theological stimuli that allow him to conform his thoughts after it. If such roots are stable and coherent, they can provide a rich motivation for creativity and exegetical application. Furthermore, if that foundation is comprehensive, one can articulate a host of themes like economics, politics, history, etc. Gary North’s legacy was the Calvinistic legacy which saw no part of human endeavor unworthy of exploration. He turned every stone and system and hurled his inimitable mind into it, seeking to unearth its treasures and nurture fields yet uncultivated.

While tracing the roots of such prolific Calvinism goes back to the man himself–an astounding Genevan pastor in the 16th century, no one has done more to cultivate the Genevan theologian than the Dutch theologian Abraham Kuyper. Kuyper asserted that Calvinism provided the rationale for the cultivation of Christendom, unlike any other system.

For Kuyper, Calvinism is the most astute form of biblical Christianity. Further, Calvinism is the only sustainable ideology that meticulously undid the sacerdotalism of the Church, but more than that, it “unveiled again to fullest view the glories of the Cross.”[1]

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By In Culture

The Case for Dirt

My adventurous wife gave the boys a Christmas gift in 2020 they will never forget. When it was delivered and unloaded in our backyard, the trucker asked me casually, “So, are you doing some sodding work in the backyard?” And I casually answered him, “No, this was our Christmas gift to my boys!” With an elongated mouth stretch that I haven’t seen since Ace Ventura in 1994, he exclaimed: “You bought your children dirt for Christmas?!” So, then I took the next 30 minutes to give him a theology of dirt starting in Genesis and leading to the dirt of the New Creation. And then, I signed an autograph of my Jonah commentary with a note, “Find land, son!”

Everything is true, except the latter part. There wasn’t much time to elaborate on the claim that dirt theology is essential to a healthy biblical theology. But still, the whole thing rings true. Man, made from dirt, shall return to dirt. And such dirt will be reconstituted to used gloriously in the New Heavens and Earth. Dirt is good. Man as a symbolic human exerts a dirt-like function in the world. He offers himself as that which can be used as the environment for growth and nurture.

It’s safe to say there hasn’t been a more creative $200 spent in our household. In the two years we have had the dirt mound, the thing has been excavated, used as mud pies, used as a hiding place, functioned as the headquarters for sword fights, and more. And, it’s not merely a manly thing. We had about 20 in our house yesterday for Lord’s Day dinner and several little girls enjoyed treating the mound place like a little garden and exploration site. I probably should have told them that the Garden was on a mountain. But I am not sure they were ready for such theologizing. The whole thing was comical and fun to behold.

I also find the entire endeavor something of a paradigm to consider. In an age of insiders, be an outsider. Play with dirt. Amuse yourself to death, which incidentally is a place of dirt. Man is primarily a ground creature made to dwell among creatures. The more grounded he is, the more satisfied he is with his accomplishments and calling. He names animals in the Garden as a sign that he rules over dirt and where animals trod.

Dirt is the stuff of life. It’s where little men begin to mold civilization and create new plans to destroy darkness. It’s the hill they live and die on, and it’s the headquarters for strategic Christianizing. While some may say, “it’s just dirt,” we say, “the dirt is just!” Kingdoms begin here, especially when they are ruled by little covenant princes.

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By In Culture

The McDonaldization of Worship

Sociologist George Ritzer coined the term “McDonaldization,” to refer to the principles of the fast-food market applied to society at large. When used for the church’s life, it means that church life is a privatized, quick-fix faith rather than discipleship or apprenticeship in the Christian community. As a result, it diminishes the significance of long obedience in the right direction.

Church comes packaged for fast consumption. You sit down on Sunday morning with your latte purchased at the coffee shop, usually at the entrance, and then you consume the service like a theater with your buttered popcorn and extra-extra-sized soda.

We have industrialized church to make us feel at ease with the experience of worship; our live-streamed service is so live that as long as you keep tithing, we are perfectly ok with you staying at home on Sundays. So, sit for 45 minutes, make business contacts to extend your professional career, and leave your faith at the exit door. Then, see you at the buffet for lunch!

Nothing in this model resembles, approaches, or nears a robust biblical faith, whether phrased with the rationale of evangelism or Gospel-centeredness.

We are to taste and see that Jesus is good, which means worship is not a fast consumption, but the hard work of making melody in our hearts to Christ and one another, of listening and repenting, of grieving our sins and exalting in our Savior. All of this demands the loyalty of men and women at all baptized stages of life to taste and see Jesus, not as a consumer, but a called inheritor of grace.

The McDonaldization of the Church is an abomination, and woe are we if we allow that philosophy to be seen as normal or if we act indifferent to such things. Christians are slow eaters: we allow the Word to enter and chew on it day and night. We taste and see that the Lord is good, which means we experience and objectively acknowledge that God is who he says he is and will not be mocked.

If Jesus is truly all-glorious above, then the saint must be all-enthralled below. So come, let us worship and give of ourselves—body and soul—before the throne of God for he is good and his steadfast love endures forever

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