Pastor Mitty and Unsettling Souls

In the first century, Jewish Christians from Jerusalem spread false doctrine among the Gentile churches and “unsettled the souls” of faithful brethren there (Acts 15:24). Two millenia later, another generation of self-important teachers unsettle the souls of brethren outside of their own region by correcting what they perceive to be the errors of pastors and teachers in other congregations. Of course, these men are certain they are not like the Judaizing teachers who needed to be corrected in Acts 15. They imagine themselves to be on the side of the apostles and elders who get to do the correcting. That is why they write letters, make social media posts, and send warnings to brethren they have never met about brothers they did not trouble themselves to talk to directly. They think they are battling a new Judaizing error, but in fact, they are perpetrating a very old and equally wicked error by sowing division.

Human beings always cast themselves as heroes in the story of their lives, and if not heroes, then as a tragic, misunderstood, and pitiable character, a victim to awaken sympathy. Either way, we are sure that when we are on-stage, ladies will alternately coo, swoon, and weep while the men admire, applaud, and are moved in an appropriately masculine way. Pastors are prone to this as well, imagining they are some combination of John Calvin and Jack Reacher when in reality most are closer to Mr. Collins and Dwight from The Office. We think that we are dashing, but most of us are dweebs. We might do well to meditate on James Thurber’s “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” as a penitential text rather than reenacting it behind a keyboard.

The fact is there is real evil and danger in this world. Orcs are amassing outside the Church’s gates, and we may feel somewhat restless and a little desperate as we look for the White Rider in vain. Our government is sanctioning the vivisection of children in the name of gender care. Television commercials glorify sodomy and normalize relationships that are no more marriages than dogs and cats are substitutes for children. The media is hellbent on demonizing Christian nationalism and characterizes any approach to politics that is consistent with biblical norms as white supremacy. And while all of this is being done, important Reformed leaders warn us of the grave danger of being involved in “culture wars.” The absurdity is not in imagining that there is important work to be done. The absurdity is picking a fight with the brother on your right while an Uruk-hai climbs over the wall. Even Gimli and Legolas knew when it was time to put aside their ethnic rivalry and pick up battle-ax and bow and begin cleaving skulls.

The solution to our cultural calamity is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our only hope is simple repentance and trust in the Lord of all. We will never have social justice until we become committed to biblical justice. We have appealed to the better instincts of goblins and sought to find common ground with them on natural law in vain. We must preach the truth, all of it, without apology, embarrassment, or reserve. We must not only preach the Bible, we must tell the world what it means. Apollyon is standing in the path. We are doing Christian no favors by telling him simply to rest in his justification.

We can and should labor, reason, and, when necessary, fight for the truth of the gospel. We should be careful to articulate it as plainly and purely as humanly possible. The Westminster Confession is a good start and carries us a long way as a faithful summary of biblical religion. But we should beware that our enthusiasm for fidelity in theology does not become a justification for infidelity in ecclesiology. Questions about doctrine are good and can be helpful. Gossip about brothers is neither. We should aspire to be thorough and accurate in our theology, but we should remember that we are not thereby justified. We may appreciate the precision of Elven archery without denying the value of the somewhat messier methods of Dwarven ax and mace.

The gospel is not that we can be saved by our theology. We are saved by the righteousness of the Author of it—and I don’t mean a Westminster treasury of the accumulated merits of that assembly. The gospel is the message of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. He is the ascended and enthroned Lord of glory. He rules over all creation, and every knee will bow. Christ died for our sins and rose for our justification. His righteousness atones for our lust and laziness, our compromise and cowardice, our doctrinal mistakes and our self-righteous divisiveness. The gospel subdues and redeems it all. We are not saved because we articulated the gospel properly; we are saved because the gospel is true, and Jesus is Lord and Savior. –JME

The Failure of Matriarchy

Ta'Kiya Young was shot and killed by police in the parking lot of a grocery store on August 24th. She was 21 years old, a mother with two kids at home, 6 and 3, and seven months pregnant with a third, due to be born in November. Ta'Kiya was already in the driver’s seat of her car when officers approached the vehicle and ordered her to get out. When she asked why, she was informed that store employees claimed she had stolen items. One officer stood at her window while a second positioned himself in front of the car and drew his service weapon. Ta'Kiya placed the car in drive and began to accelerate forward, driving the officer who was in front of the vehicle backwards. After shouting orders for her to stop, the officer fired one round, striking Ta'Kiya. The car subsequently rolled into the front of the store, at which time officers broke the driver’s side window to gain entry and began administering medical aid, assisted by an emergency physician who was also at the scene. Ta'Kiya was transported to the hospital where she died. 

The bodycam footage of the incident has now been released (HERE).

Ta'Kiya’s grandmother, Nadine, reported that Ta'Kiya was “family-oriented” and loving and told the local news: “It shouldn't have ever, ever, ever happened. She shouldn't be gone. It was just wrong.” Thus far there has been no word from Ta'Kiya’s husband, or father, or any mention of either man.

This is a tragic story, one at which every person who hears of it should lament. The grocery store reported to the police that Ta'Kiya had shoplifted alcohol, but who could believe that a 21 year old mother who was seven months pregnant with her third child would be drinking alcohol at that stage of pregnancy, much less stealing it? No doubt she was frightened when confronted by police, and when they ordered her to get out, Ta'Kiya made an adult decision to deescalate the situation by putting her car in gear and stepping on the accelerator. The officer who chose to stand in front of her car was obviously foolish. Didn't he know that doing so would make it difficult for her to leave the scene? Why didn't he accept the consequences of his bad decision and allowed Ta'Kiya to run him over rather than firing his gun at her?

Now Ta'Kiya is dead. So is her unborn child. The family’s lawyer said in an interview with the AP that Ta'Kiya was “murdered unjustifiably” and insisted: “She is the victim here, and we demand accountability for the loss of two precious lives — Ta'Kiya and her unborn daughter.” It is refreshing to see the unborn child counted as a human life and victim in this particular incident, even if it is in the context of human tragedy.

Where is Ta'Kiya’s husband? Where is the man (or men) who fathered her three children? Where is her father or her grandfather? Did they try to counsel Ta'Kiya? Did they counsel her when she became a teenage mother, twice? Did they talk to her about how to respond to police encounters? Have any of them spoken to Ta'Kiya’s grandmother, who is understandably distraught, and ask her not to speak to the media? Did any of them think to rebuke the family attorney, Sean Walton, or suggest that blame for this tragedy might lie elsewhere: with Ta'Kiya, with her family, and with the men who failed to guide and protect her?

It should not be surprising that this shooting is being referred to as “murder” when we see news footage every week of stores being looted without any visible resistance from employees or public safety authorities. Ta'Kiya’s family and surviving children are not the only ones who will live forever in the shadow of her shooting. So too will the two police officers and their families, so will the store employees who reported her for shoplifting, so will the doctor who tried to save her life in the parking lot and healthcare workers at the hospital who did what they could before she died. Two boys will grow up without a mother. Who will take care of them now? Will it be the same people who raised Ta'Kiya and who are characterizing her as a victim and her death as murder?

Ta'Kiya’s death is tragic on many levels, and it reinforces the fact that family structure, child rearing, and mentorship are matters of life and death. Ta'Kiya was practically a child herself, yet she was already the mother of three. She should have been painting a nursery for her daughter. Instead she was at a store gathering bottles of alcohol. The family attorney says that a witness will testify she put the bottles down inside the store before she left, but if that proves true, it only makes her attempt to flee all the more tragic and unnecessary.

Ta'Kiya did not have to get out of the car. She could have left it in park, turned off the engine, and asked the officers to let her call her dad. I wish her father had been there or her husband. I wish one of them had gone to the store in her place to get whatever alcohol they thought they needed. Ta'Kiya certainly did not need any, nor did her unborn child. I wish she had talked to the officers. I wish she had not tried to hit a police officer with her car. I wish none of the parties involved had to be in that situation or to live with the consequences that they do now.

Where was Ta'Kiya’s husband? Where was her father? Where are the men in the family willing to stand up and take responsibility for what occurred? If they are there, why are they simply standing by? Matriarchy does not strengthen human families; it weakens them. It leaves them vulnerable, exposed to dangers of all kinds, including the dangers of self-deception and self-justification about one’s own righteousness. 

Ta'Kiya did not have to die that day, but it is not the police officer’s fault that she did. He will live the rest of his life regretting that he pulled that trigger, and Ta'Kiya’s family should live the rest of their lives regretting that she pressed the accelerator of her car. Ta'Kiya’s memory is not well-served by a grandmother who makes excuses for her or a lawyer who refers to police officers as her murderers. But if there are no men to lead, to step in and say enough, to protect young women even if it must be from themselves, then this story that will continue to recur. May God have mercy upon Ta'Kiya’s family and those officers, and may America repent of the kind of matriarchy that creates such tragedy. ---JME

Absurd Clergy, Awesome Christ

You may have noticed that clergymen in 18th-19th century British novels are often absurd characters. Mr. Collins in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is a good example of this. 

Mr. Collins was punctual to his time, and was received with great politeness by the whole family. Mr. Bennet indeed said little; but the ladies were ready enough to talk, and Mr. Collins seemed neither in need of encouragement, nor inclined to be silent himself. He was a tall, heavy-looking young man of five-and-twenty. His air was grave and stately, and his manners were very formal. He had not been long seated before he complimented Mrs. Bennet on having so fine a family of daughters, said he had heard much of their beauty, but that, in this instance, fame had fallen short of the truth; and added, that he did not doubt her seeing them all in due time well disposed of in marriage….

They were not the only objects of Mr. Collins’s admiration. The hall, the dining-room, and all its furniture, were examined and praised; and his commendation of everything would have touched Mrs. Bennet’s heart, but for the mortifying supposition of his viewing it all as his own future property. The dinner, too, in its turn, was highly admired; and he begged to know to which of his fair cousins the excellence of its cookery was owing. But here he was set right by Mrs. Bennet, who assured him, with some asperity, that they were very well able to keep a good cook, and that her daughters had nothing to do in the kitchen. He begged pardon for having displeased her. In a softened tone she declared herself not at all offended; but he continued to apologize for about a quarter of an hour.

I do not think it is possible to really read Pride and Prejudice without grins and periodic guffaws (or more feminine giggles, if you are a lady). Mr. Bennet later compliments Mr. Collins on his talent for “flattering with delicacy,” and the ridiculous rector explained:

“They arise chiefly from what is passing at the time; and though I sometimes amuse myself with suggesting and arranging such little elegant compliments as may be adapted to ordinary occasions, I always wish to give them as unstudied an air as possible.”

Of course, Mr. Collins was an Anglican—what the Presbyterian Mattie Ross in Charles Portis’s mid-20th century American novel would derisively call a “kneeler”—but his horror at reading novels would have found approbation among the Scottish Covenanters, even if they would have never approved of him.

By tea-time… Mr. Bennet was glad to take his guest into the drawing-room again, and when tea was over, glad to invite him to read aloud to the ladies. Mr. Collins readily assented, and a book was produced; but on beholding it (for everything announced it to be from a circulating library) he started back, and, begging pardon, protested that he never read novels. Kitty stared at him, and Lydia exclaimed. Other books were produced, and after some deliberation he chose “Fordyce’s Sermons.”

Of course he did. If you fail to get the joke, look up the two volumes published by James Fordyce (another Presbyterian) in 1766. Whether you scowl or chuckle, you will know who you are in the story.

Now there is a good reason that clergymen are portrayed as somewhat ridiculous in these novels, and it is not only that some of the authors were a bit worldly in their character. It is that clergymen often have been ridiculous. Like Mr. Collins, they can sometimes be stuffy, self-important, and ingratiating. Many of them were, and are, absurd. If I had a dollar for every minister I know who is slightly effeminate, I would have a lot of dollars.

Now compare this image to the OT prophets. How does Mr. Collins measure up to Moses, Elijah, or Jeremiah? Can you imagine Amos amusing himself in his downtime by “suggesting and arranging such little elegant compliments as may be adapted to ordinary occasions”? What about the meek and gentle Jesus whose hands were strong and calloused from carpentry and who was known to flip over tables and run people out of the Temple with a whip on occasion? (We have been assured by our theological betters that the Lord would not have used the whip on any people. He only waved it around to scare them.) How would Mr. Collins and his brand of winsome, womanish, womanizers compare to the apostle Paul, his body scarred from being whipped and stoned, his eyes dim and his voice quiet but his pen sparking like fire? What might we say about Polycarp, Ignatius, Athanasius, St. Nick, St. Patrick, John Knox, and John Paton? The truth is God’s men throughout history have been men, not soft bellied milquetoasts who happen to be male.

The fact is that Christian religion in the West has been increasingly feminized for centuries. Listen to the difference between the ancient psalms and medieval hymns and the 19th century revival tunes. Can you understand how we now have contemporary “Christian” music that sounds like a Taylor Swift song? In most churches that I have served over the last 25 years, the women were the backbone of the congregation. That is no longer true where I serve now, and I hope it never will be again. Thank God for strong, faith-filled women who pray even when their men don’t, but when Israel’s strength lies in their women, something is dreadfully wrong.

Can you imagine Mr. Collins confronting King Saul, rebuking his disobedience, and then grabbing a sword and hacking King Agag into pieces? Father Mapple would have keelhauled him, Agag that is. I can’t imagine what he would do with someone like Mr. Collins. He probably would have simply walked away in disgust.

Dads, be a model of strong, masculine godliness for your children every day in your home. Take your children to church every Lord’s Day, and lead them in worship. They need to hear you sing, not timidly and not like a woman, but like a sailor, like a warrior, like a king. They need to hear you say, “Amen!”, to see you follow along in your Bible and pay attention during the sermon. They need you to ask them about it when you return home to see what they learned, because you are expecting them to learn, and they need to know that you are excited about what you are learning too. They need to see you smile and laugh, enjoying the fellowship of the saints, not scowling and dour. They need to see that the joy of the Lord is your strength.

Moms, help your children understand that Christianity is not a ladies’ social club where men are invited. This is God’s kingdom and ruled by a mighty King. Your sons are warriors, your daughters are shield maidens, and they are arrows in the hands of a warrior to be aimed, drawn, and fired downrange.

Brothers and sisters, it is an awesome privilege and duty to which we are called by our Lord. We need to bring the proper mindset. Christianity is not ridiculous, even if some of its representatives and popular portrayals may be. Laugh at the absurdity of weak sauce versions of Christianity, but do not let them determine your perspective or participation in the joyful service of the King. When Paul commanded the Corinthians to “quit like men” (play the man or be strong, 1Cor. 16:13), he did not mean pretend to pull a hamstring or get in touch with your feminine side, and he addressed that exhortation to the women too. It is for all of us, sons and daughters, to serve manfully, live joyfully, fight honorably, and die bravely. Boldly rejoice in Christ Jesus, the risen King! --JME

Reality Check, Renewal, and Rearmament on the Lord's Day

Every week I write a brief-ish devotional to help our congregation prepare for the Lord's Day. Occasionally I post a version of them here. This is the one for Saturday evening, July 8, 2023.

The blessings of liberty, human dignity, socio-economic opportunity, and justice have long been enjoyed in the West, albeit imperfectly, to greater or lesser degrees at different times and places, for many hundreds of years. We should not miss the fact that these blessings are the direct result of our Christian heritage. Christendom in the West was far from perfect, and we confess that its eventual demise was a judgment from God for unbelief and disobedience, but it was the fountain of most of the freedom, general morality, and prosperity that western nations have long enjoyed. Notwithstanding the modern, and largely successful, efforts aimed at historical revision, nations did not discover that chattel slavery was immoral until they had not only been evangelized but also brought, culturally and politically, to a degree of Christian obedience and sanctification. Hospitals and modern medicine, the university, social welfare programs, protection of women and indigent children, socio-economic elevation of ethnic minorities, political rights, and merit-based economies were the result of the Bible and a Christian faith and worldview. We have largely rejected the basis of that inheritance over the last 150 years, and like the prodigal son, we have squandered our father’s wealth. It is no surprise that some of our neighbors now identify as pigs and gorge themselves on slop.

Many of us grew up in western nations that seemed, at the time, broadly religious and mostly moral. Not everyone actually was a Christian, and many of those who had been baptized did not live like it. But we were able to take for granted a general morality and basic set of values that we assumed most of our neighbors shared. However, the western world was, then and long before, in the midst of a Cold War, not just with Soviet communists, but with the religious Marxists and demonic forces hiding next door. The Church made peace with the world, marking out no-fly zones, agreeing to stay in its own lane. Rejecting the embarrassment of Christian Reconstruction and the Moral Majority (have you seen the pants Francis Schaeffer was wearing in those videos?!), the Church ceded the public square to avowed secularists. They sent their children to public schools, which were on the secularists’ side of the demilitarized zone, and were shocked when they came home as pagans. The 1980s would have been an opportune time for the Church in the West to humble herself, repent, and do the first works. God raised up men to call us to do so. But there was no apparent need. We had Reagan, a surging economy, and hair bands. Repentance was the last thing on our minds. If anything, the golden age had come. Many in the Church decided what we needed were more peace treaties with the secularists. Maybe if we destroyed our nuclear arms, the Premier would agree never to use his own.

Now pedophilia is being decriminalized in multiple states in the Union, our government is flying the Pride flag at embassies worldwide, and France is once again in flames. That sacred-secular division of labor is working just fine. The common kingdom may be going to Hell in a handbasket, but the invisible, spiritual kingdom of Christ is doing great. Pay no attention to the covenant youth who had BLM squares on their social media profiles three years ago, dyed their hair pink two years ago, and are now talking about what we can learn from sexual minorities and how to empathize with people whose experience of gender does not align with their biological sex. Applying the Scriptures is the Holy Spirit’s job, brothers. Just keep telling them to rest in their justification and reminding them of the burning issues litigated in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Lest anyone fear that I am making fun of someone personally, let me assure you that I am only “heaping scorn on an inexcusably silly idea — a practice I shall always follow,” with gratitude to LTC Dubois and his History and Moral Philosophy class. We are in the grip of inexcusably silly ideas, ideas which will not last, ideas which are self-destructive by nature, prophecy, and destiny. I may not live to see their catastrophic collapse—someone please take notes and tell me all about it when we see one another in Aslan’s country—but be sure that the collapse is coming. It may take a hundred years. It may cost us this nation or western civilization as we know it. So be it. God is building an everlasting kingdom, and he does not need the USA at all.

What does this have to do with the Lord’s Day? The Christian Sabbath is when God calls us away from the chaos and speaks peace, comfort, and courage to our hearts. He does not hide the truth from us; he pulls back the curtain—he lifts its skirts and exposes the culture’s… shame, to use the impolite, biblical metaphor of the OT prophets. He commands the Church, “Look at me, and take courage! Trust me, and then live, fight, die, and win manfully” (cf. Isa. 40-66). If you had never been taught that Christianity is an effeminate religion for emotionally driven people and read the Bible for the first time, you might be astonished at what you would find. It’s hard to see the Scriptures for what they are when they have been taught to us for generations by so many weak-kneed, morally compromised, and worldly people.

On the Lord’s Day, the Church musters in heaven. We join the glorified chorus of praise that surrounds God’s throne. Our sins are forgiven. The covenant is renewed. We confess our allegiance. Then we are equipped, directed, and sent back onto the battlefield to win the world for Christ by the weapons of gospel-witness, biblical wisdom, and prayer (not necessarily in that order).

Tomorrow the army is assembling. The Lord is calling. Our hearts are weary, but he summons us that we might be refreshed in our faith and restored in our souls. Come to Jesus. Bring your burdens. Cast away your sins. Lay down your fears. He has called you to victory, and until that victory is fully seen, he has called you to joy. Come, and welcome to Jesus Christ. --JME

Naked Perverts in the Public Square

The pornification of western society continues to advance at breakneck speed. Over the weekend news outlets reported fully naked men at Pride parades in multiple major cities in America and Canada (HERE, HERE, HERE). It’s getting so that you can’t even take your children to a Pride Parade on a Sunday afternoon without being subjected to male nudity. Ordinarily when women or men walk around in their birthday suit in front of other people, they do so for money, either on the screen, on the stage, or on the clock. A glance at these perverts will quickly reveal the naked truth about why they chose to display their natural endowments for free. Had there been a cover charge, we can be sure no one would be buying. In one of the pictures, a naked ghoul stands grinning in front of a sign inviting passersby to “Check Your Moles Here.” I had no idea people took moles to Pride parades, but at least the little fuzzy mammals would not be offended by what they saw… being blind.

We might say a word or three about the rapid normalization of pedophilia. Drag queens and the LGBTQ+ religion have opened the door for the legal protection and public celebration of sexually grooming minors. We were assured by our winsomely irenic and irenically winsome evangelatinous thought leaders that the freedom to host events like Drag Queen Story Hour at public libraries is “one of the blessings of liberty.” One hopes we can be forgiven for imagining a direct relationship between drag queens reading storybooks to children, then giving them lap dances at “family-friendly gay bars” (there is an incoherent collection of words if I’ve ever seen one), and the recent, coordinated, multi-city lewdness of naked men parading their saggy shame in front of small children. If you still think men who like to molest small children are perverts and criminals deserving of death, you will soon be branded as a bigot for hate thought crime against Minor Attracted Persons.

Now many Christians who rightly wince at such wickedness still think their Reformed and Presbyterian pastors should not say a damn-ing thing about it in the pulpit. Spirituality of the church and all. Just rest in your justification, brothers. We’re not taking our children to these Pride parades. They’re on the Lord’s Day after all. Our children will be safely in church on Sundays… before going back to the local government indoctrination center on Monday. Some of the saints in the room, who genuinely love Jesus, don’t have the sense to come in out of the rain. It’s coming down pretty good right now, but we don’t want to become a culture warrior like that Noah guy down the street, the one who built a dock in his backyard. He’s an embarrassment to the entire Presbytery.

Our theologians may still be looking for a natural law argument against public nudity, but the pervert in the public square already knows where he stands.

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them…. God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves…. God gave them up to vile passions…. men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness… who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them. –Romans 1:18-32 (emp. added)

The rebel is suppressing the truth in unrighteousness. He already knows there is a holy and just God by whom he lives and to whom he will answer. He may never have read Leviticus 18 or had the benefit of scholarly explanations for why its penalties for defilement and abominable customs no longer apply under the New Covenant. The crude, lewd nudist knows that he deserves death for what he is doing. That is why he revels. It is not enough to practice his perversity in private. He must do so in public, and you must approve and help him celebrate. A man whose conscience is clear does not need public approbation, and he certainly does not need to publicly display his not-so-private parts. The pervert who undresses in public is dancing on his way to Hell. He is trying to convince everyone his behavior is normal and admirable, but he knows better, just like the demons who animate his madness (Matt. 8:29). He is a general revelation theonomist who knows he stands condemned under God’s Law. That law has been written on his heart, along with its ultimate penalty. It is the teachers of the law who have become confused and ignorant. They regret that the emperor has no clothes, but he is, after all, naked in the common kingdom, so the prophets in Israel ought not to say much about it. –JME

The First Order of Business in the Culture War

Many of you will have seen by now Tucker Carlson’s recent speech at the Heritage Foundation or at least clips from it. If you have not, I recommend it as well as Doug Wilson’s brief interaction with it (HERE). Now before you fire off an angry response to this email— “We came for an evening devotional to help us worship, and instead we got a political advertisement for a right-wing think tank!” —hear me out. I am not recommending this in order to discuss Fox News’s suicidal, spin in the wind approach to journalism or to point out that God has raised up a largely secular, ashamed Episcopalian to say things out loud that too many Reformed ministers are too compromised to say. Both of those would be interesting conversations to have at another time. I am bringing up the infamous Mr. Carlson’s comments for a different reason, one that really should be on our minds as we prepare for the Lord’s Day tomorrow.

At the end of his talk, Carlson said the following:

But if you’re telling me that abortion is a positive good, what are you saying? Well, you’re arguing for child sacrifice, obviously. It’s not about, oh, a teen girl gets pregnant, and what do we do about that and victims of rape. I get it. Of course, I understand that, and I have compassion for everyone involved. 

But when the Treasury secretary stands up and says, “You know what you can do to help the economy? Get an abortion.” Well, that’s like an Aztec principle, actually. There’s not a society in history that didn’t practice human sacrifice. Not one…. Well, what’s the point of child sacrifice? Well, there’s no policy goal entwined with that. No, that’s a theological phenomenon. 

And that’s kind of the point I’m making. None of this makes sense in conventional political terms. When people, or crowds of people, or the largest crowd of people at all, which is the federal government, the largest human organization in human history decide that the goal is to destroy things, destruction for its own sake, “Hey, let’s tear it down,” what you’re watching is not a political movement. It’s evil.

…

They don’t want a debate. Those ideas won’t produce outcomes that any rational person would want under any circumstances. Those are manifestations of some larger force acting upon us. It’s just so obvious. It’s completely obvious. 

And I think two things: One, we should say that and stop engaging in these totally fraudulent debates… as if maybe I could just win the debate if I marshaled more facts. 

I’ve tried. That doesn’t work. And two, maybe we should all take just 10 minutes a day to say a prayer about it. I’m serious. Why not? 

And I’m saying that to you not as some kind of evangelist, I’m literally saying that to you as an Episcopalian, the Samaritans of our time. I’m coming to you from the most humble and lowly theological position you can. I’m literally an Episcopalian. And even I have concluded it might be worth taking just 10 minutes out of your busy schedule to say a prayer for the future, and I hope you will.

Our hope for the future is not political reform, societal revolution, or civil war—all of which are distinct possibilities given our current politi-scape. Our hope for the future is in the mercy of God, the grace of the Spirit, and the sovereign and efficacious intervention of the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s it. Politicians cannot fix what is broken in this nation, neither can political pundits or cultural commentators in major media and on independent platforms. America’s hope, like any nation, is in repentance and revival. Apart from that, our country has no hope at all.

If this is true, and it is, then those ten minutes of daily prayer for our nation are the most important thing you and I can be doing to turn the ship away from the waterfall. It’s not the only thing we can or ought to do—see sermons on faithfulness, marriage, child rearing, godly vocation, and a Christian work ethic—but it is the most important thing we can do. God’s people have no greater weapon in their warfare against evil than righteous, persistent, biblically-oriented prayer.

If that is true, and it is, then the Lord’s Day is the centerpiece of human society, it is the first line of defense and offense in every cultural war: from chains in Egypt to exile in Babylon to persecution by the Roman Empire to the final days of the American Empire. Reformation must be ecclesio-centric, built around the believing and worshiping Church, extending out from the house of God as the waters of mercy flow from under the doors and the glory of the garden penetrates into the wilderness all around it. Going to Church is not secondary to the “real work” we do during the week in society. Worshiping as the Church is the work, first and foremost, we were made to perform. This is not to diminish the importance and value of obedience and godly activity in other aspects and spheres of life, but it is to elevate the importance and power of the Church as the Church doing what the Church alone can effectively do: worship God and intercede for his mercy and blessings upon this earth.

When we sing psalms and pray (but I repeat myself), we are offering sacrifices of praise, thanksgiving, and intercession acceptable to God in Christ. You may not need a mournful lament to be prayed, but your brothers and sisters in China do. You may not need a prayer for justice, but your brothers and sisters in Canada do. You may not need psalms and prayers of repentance… no, we all do. Reformation and revival begin here, not at the Heritage Foundation, not in the halls of Congress or the Supreme Court, and certainly not in the White House. If there is hope for this land, and there is, it is because God hears the prayers of his people. Let the Church rise up to worship, sing, proclaim, and pray! –JME

Pay No Attention to the Bulge Behind the Skirt

Recently the State of Arkansas  has been debating Senate Bill 199 which would establish a statute of limitations for the civil liability of doctors who provide gender transition services to minors. This would include puberty suppression, hormone therapy, and gender-reassignment surgeries, which we used to call vivisection but have lately redefined as compassionate, gender affirming healthcare. The effect of the bill would be to allow persons receiving such services as a minor to later sue the healthcare provider for damages many years later. The hope is that establishing financial liability for doctors engaged in these practices at the same time that a growing number of de-transitioners are coming forward to tell their personal horror stories will put an end to this madness and the social contagion of transgenderism.

During a Judiciary Committee hearing last week the Arkansas Senate heard from Gwendolyn Herzig, a pharmacist in Little Rock who showed up in woman-face to testify against the proposed bill. After Gwen’s opening statement, State Senator Matt McKee asked whether the witness was aware of “the large body of medical evidence of the harm that has come upon people who have gone through these processes.” Dr. Herzig replied, “I am familiar with the large body of evidence showing that providing good affirming care saves lives.” Senator McKee asked the same question again, and then again, and each time the witness responded by saying, “I will repeat what I just said.” For those of you keeping score at home, that’s called not answering the question and is characteristic of a hostile witness. That’s when Senator McKee transgressed the current blasphemy laws in our secular, tolerant, and pluralistic society.

McKee: “You said that you’re a transwoman.”

Herzig: “A trans-female, yes sir.”

McKee: “Do you have a penis?”

After practicing a “shocked and offended face,” Dr. Herzig replied, “That’s horrible.”

I couldn’t agree more. It is horrible that the State Senate would allow a dude dressed in woman-face to come and testify against a bill designed to protect children. It’s horrible that they took this charade seriously. It’s horrible that now we have to hear from wincing and winsome Christians who winsomely wince at the shocking language of Senator McKee. Doesn’t he know that Gwendolyn, and his penis, is an image-bearer of God?

No doubt many of you think Senator McKee’s question was rude and not very Christlike, but the Senator was only pursuing a line of conversation that the good doctor had already begun. Less than two weeks before Gwen’s appearance before the Judiciary Committee, he discussed his penis and desire to have it cut off on season 2, episode 13 of a national podcast, The Transgender Show. Dr. Herzig characterized Senator McKee’s inquiry as “the most insulting, dehumanizing, egregious question,” but only days earlier Gwen and the podcast host publicly lamented the inability to wear a cute bathing suit or tight leggings because of that inconvenient bulge.

Senator McKee’s error was in publicly observing that the emperor has no clothes, or more specifically, that he is unsuccessfully trying to stuff a penis into a pair of bikini bottoms. You might think that is rude, but that is only because many of us have grown accustomed to the ever shifting rules of etiquette in clownworld. McKee did not walk up to Dr. Herzig on the sidewalk and publicly accost him. He did not mock him at the pharmacy where he works. He did not suggest Gwen’s fetish is “insulting, dehumanizing, egregious” and “horrible.” He simply asked whether the witness in woman-face wearing a wig and dress had a penis hidden under there too.

This madness will not end by affirming a demonic delusion. We can treat individuals with love and respect while treating insanity, rebellion, and lies with the righteous scorn and irreverence they deserve. Repentance is our only hope for salvation, and repentance is the result of confrontation and conviction leading to contrition. As an individual, Gwen Herzig should be treated with compassion and respect and called to faith and repentance in Jesus Christ. As a witness testifying against SB 199, Dr. Herzig should be treated as a deceiver and threat to children and exposed and discredited accordingly.

The cross does not allow us to retain our delusions. God’s Law identifies, reproves, and corrects our errors and calls us to turn from them. We must repent not only of what we have done but also of the lies we have told ourselves about ourselves. Jesus did not die for good, moral people but for sinners like you and me, for people like Gwen Herzig and Matt McKee, and none of us can remain as we are. The Church must not ooh and aah over the emperor’s new clothes. Truth is found in the mouth of babes and state Senators from Arkansas. There is a bulge under the skirt, and it appears the king has been in the queen’s closet. –JME