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America’s Inchoate and Disinte­grating Soul

America’s Inchoate and Disinte­grating Soul

Speaking out in terrible taste now seems like the good old days to us. Tennessee had recently outlawed trans-surgery on minors, and so the hot takes after the Nashville shootings were running along the lines of “straight Tennessee had it coming.” This is not politics anymore—this is something else entirely.

That Acrid Taste of Damnation by Douglas Wilson

Let’s go.

The idea is to believe in oneself, to reach deep down within one’s own heart, and there to discover a treasury of infinite riches. So goes the lie. But what we have discovered instead is that we have become a vacuous people with hollow souls, empty minds, and grasping hands.

Vacuous. Emptied of or lacking content. A commenter on YouTube put it this way, “this is angry Doug.” Yes, yes it is.

If you are reading this, and you are one of those who has been surgically torn apart by such lies, and you are still miserable, that misery has to do with your relationship to the God you are still rejecting. Your misery has nothing to do with the fact that some people in the red states disapprove of what you have done. They cut off your breasts in San Francisco, and you are not spiritually empty because somebody in Tulsa disapproves. You feel spiritually empty because you are spiritually empty, and Oklahoma has little or nothing to do with it. Not only so, but the surgeon who did this awful thing to you is spiritually empty as well, and the medical profession certified him is as hollow as a jug. Looking to them for answers is like drinking from the dry and broken cisterns of ancient Israel, the ones that were dry in Jeremiah’s day.

Let me speak clearly.

I spent my week in worship to temper my words. To temper my hands. To pull my punches. I would guess that Pastor Doug did the same. Tongues should not be unrestrained. But restrained tongues, something necessary for every Christian man and woman— by which I am including everyone as there are only men and women—, still must speak truth in the darkness, still must call evil evil, and still must call for the hearts of man to turn from darkness and repent.

This week we saw an unrepentant, monster of a woman walk into a school seeking to kill children. And she did just that. Three kids the age of my daughter and three adults my parent’s age slaughtered by a vile snake. And all week I saw the media raise her up. Glorify her. Why? Because she was a victim too. Her parents didn’t “love” her the way she needed, the church rejected her, Tennessee had this coming by passing laws that prevented sexual dance shows by cross-dressing freaks around children. I have read think-piece after think-piece about her. I have read the tweets from lunatic, loathsome, lousy Leftists saying that she was executed by the police. And then there are the protests. Extremists stormed Texas, Oklahoma, Florida, Nashville, Kentucky, and Montana’s capitols over the last couple of days, attacking police and holding “die-ins,” a practice by which the protester lies on the ground and acts as if they are dead. Either no self-awareness or a complete callousness to the reality that one of their tribe murdered children literally days before in the name of their cause.

These people are evil, wretched fools.

It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin.

Luke 17:2

Let me speak clearly. I support the laws passed in Tennessee. And the message this week has been loud and clear. If you support these laws, don’t be surprised when your children are murdered. But this is the logical conclusion of years of rhetoric that includes calling those that disagree with you “fascists”, saying that we want to “send you to a concentration camp”, that we want you “dead” and “murdered”. This is what comes when you ask questions on TikTok like “when are we going to start treating the fascists like the world did in the 1940s?” You convince a group of people that they are victims, that they are being attacked, that “words are violence,” that “silence is violence,” and that “disagreement denies your existence” and then tell them that those oppressing them are Christians and that we need to kill the fascists and it’s no wonder that eventually someone takes your no-one-could-actually-take-this-bullshit-seriously bullshit seriously and decides that killing children is the way to affect change.

And then these extremists, who charge people to kill in their name, claim she is a victim too.

See, last week I would have said this was partisan saber rattling intended to cause discord. But then I read on CNN that Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz said we are focusing on “[banning] books touching on gender issues” but “dead kids can’t read.” I spent a month, as things escalated in my personal life, writing about comfort in persecution, not striking back in persecution, and taming the lions. I think God needed my head down, buried in worship, and Scripture when this persecution came to fruition.

Vengence is not yours, Christian. Protect your children. Preach the Gospel and fight for laws that keep our children safe. But do not do it out of vengeance. Be angry. Angry at evil. Angry at those that would see children die. Angry at those that would see children sin. But then pray for resolution, for resolve, for repentance, and for restoration.

As they started the pandemic with singing, they are coming for your children. They are actively posting this.

So as to not get called out for blaming the actions of a few on an entire group, this is not all of the LGBT people. Some want to live their lives and leave our kids alone. Most are likely abhorred at what transpired this week. These extremists don’t and aren’t. And unfortunately, the message of the extremists is being parroted by the media and the Democrat party. Comply or die.

America is going down a dark path right now. Pray for its soul. Pray for America to repent. Pray for mercy for a bit longer.

Senseless

Senseless

Beyond that unfolding storyline was the urgent sense that some motive must explain this targeted attack on a school, including young children. […] Interestingly, CNN’s Laura Coates seemed to defend the search for a motive by arguing (quite correctly) that a motive is not justification for the crime.

[…]

Christians know that the hunger for a motive is explained by the fact that God made us in His image as moral creatures, and we cannot keep ourselves from the hunger to know some motive behind such a heinous crime. At the same time, we can learn of some motive only to realize that there is no merely rational answer to the darkness of the human heart. There is no way for us to know the depth of an individual’s depravity once a heart is committed to sin. Audrey Hale left behind a map of The Covenant School. Perhaps her dark manifesto will offer some map of her murderous heart. Even that will not answer all our questions.

[…]

But Christians know that the real urgency is six grieving families in Nashville. Christian moms and dads, with brothers and sisters, are living a pain no one else would dare to understand. In Nashville, there is a wounded community and a congregation that has experienced unspeakable loss. A Presbyterian pastor with his wife and their children are experiencing the death of their little daughter and beloved sister.

The world’s trouble erupts in Nashville by R. Albert Mohler Jr.

I am numb right now. I said somewhere last week that I felt like I was trying to stop a train. God, I pray this was enough to wake the world up that we have to stop the hateful, demonizing, us-vs.-them rhetoric. The children that died on Monday were my daughter’s age. I find some peace in that they are in Heaven now, away from the pain of this world, but I mourn all the more for these families and all the time they lost here. I pray they stay the course and follow them into the hereafter. A young sister cried out, “I don’t want to be an only child,” and my heart broke.

As I said on Tuesday, I could write many words. But words are seriously falling short right now. I trip and I just want to rage. There will be time for that, there will. But right now we mourn.

Jesus did tell His disciples that those who follow him would face trouble in this world. Big trouble. Heartbreaking trouble. Mind-bending trouble. But we must remember that Jesus went on to say: “But take heart; I have overcome the world.” Sometimes, remembering that promise is all that will get us through.

Publish Widely the Story of the Cross

Over the last couple months this blog has been lighter on original content, largely because of our move to St. Louis. Even with a lighter publishing schedule, I have been publishing a lot of links and videos on grim matters and on matters of hope. My heart has been broken time and again over the last couple months as information has come out about the practices of Planned Parenthood. In these dark times, we must keep our eyes on the Cross.

Hope. Many people are seeking it. Some Christians have lost it. The tricky thing is to recognize where you find it. Hope found in the world will always fail. Hope found in the power of the Cross, in the Blood of Jesus, in the eternal life to come will never fail. While the total depravity of our world is heavy, I find hope in the One that can overturn the sinful nature of the hearts of Man.

This for me is why I do not keep my words, my faith, the Word of God to myself. Keeping this hope, this blessèd assurance, to myself would be the greatest form of hate and selfishness. So I publish. Many will be offended. Many will unfriend me, unfollow me, or cut off all communication with me. But many more will see hope for something better than this fallen world.

What Every Parent Must Learn from the Newest Josh Duggar Incident

Instead of common thinking that our kids need to “sow their wild oats” when they are young, research suggests that the behaviors, addictions, and poor choices of our developmental years stay with us. God can always help us to overcome the baggage, but it’s never an easy process.

I.N.F.O. for Families

Unfortunately more information has come out about Josh Duggar. The media loves to shred people and— using information from a website, specifically built to help people have affairs, that was hacked and published online— have jumped on the story of Josh Duggar having an affair. This is horrible and a major hit to his integrity has a Christian, even more for it to be happening in the public square. Often times, these things come out behind closed doors and families deal with them and no one ever hears a word.

We need to realize that this family needs our prayers more than anything. Our God is a god of mercy and grace, forgiveness and love. The desires of the Lord are that this marriage stay together, that forgiveness is sought and given. The lions are circling and waiting, pushing and prodding to make the opposite happen. We need to pray that this family circles around this young couple in prayer and as wise counsel.

As for us, we need to be reminded if our sin and the wages of sin over time when not confronted. Our children today are not only encountering sexual sin much earlier, but be encouraged by their elders to partake in it much earlier. We must talk with our children earlier than ever and warn them, coach them, and parent them. We will be the weird ones of the world, but we always have been.

None of us can afford to sit idly by. We must be diligent to coach our kids on healthy sexuality. We must tell them that it is precious, beautiful, and worth saving for marriage. We must share with them about the addictive dangers of porn. Beyond the “just say no” language of many, we have to have frequent, relevant and usually awkward conversations about what it looks like to choose God’s best in a world that commonly chooses poorly.

A Sin Problem and the Duggars

Here’s the thing. We all have a sin problem. Often times we make mistakes that directly affect others. While sexual sins are often considered the worst, we must recognize that as Christ has forgiven our sins, so must we forgive others. If things are the way they appear to have been, 14-year-old Josh Duggar made some bad choices. Instead of taking this public and ruining his life, the family dealt with it in a biblical manner, seeking wise council and help from the Church. Forgiveness was sought and given. This was now 10 years ago.

As a church, we should applaud the way that this was dealt with– if this proves to be accurate— and see this as a model way of running our families when sin rears it’s ugly head.

We should also, as a church, pray for this family in this hard time. The world loves to drag out our sins and call us hypocrites. It makes it all the more important for Christians to publicly declare that we are not perfect, sinless, Jesus freaks. No, we are broken, weary men and women that have recognized our need of a savior. We need to pray for our fellow brothers and sisters that they stay strong under this attack and show what Christ would want.