Theology and Thought
Confessions of an (Ex) Evangelical Worship Leader
Pastor’s preface: Our LCMS strives to hold fast to the clear words of the Bible and thereby to the Apostolic and historically faithful church. When we are misunderstood by various churches, it almost always boils down to their misunderstanding of the Bible and incorrect theology. This difference often makes our teachings and worship practices unintelligible to many. I spent multiple years as a pastor in an Evangelical church body. I can relate to much in this following article. I also…
Accusations of Fascism So Often So Wrong
Fascism is a word often used to villainize people or groups whose views and politics are essentially NON-Fascist. One of our retired scholars who has written extensively and quite predictively of modern cultural direction summarizes the fundamental wrongness exercised by many who shout “fascist” or “semi-fascist” about their political rivals. Following is Dr. Gene Edward Veith’s recent blog post on the subject. I would also note that Dr. Veith is not and was not a Trump supporter beyond acknowledging that…
Four Stumbling Blocks of American Culture
Judges 17:6 In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. An evangelist of recent years worked hard to explain how the Christian faith is truly the most reasonable, consistent, and adequate answer to man’s needs summarized modern western cultural fragmentation by highlighting four pervasive dynamics in our culture that arose from widespread rejection of God’s Word and authority. In the past generation, our nation has seen unprecedented shifts in the…
Great Tribulation – A Warning Note
Revelation 7:13-14 Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. In verse 14 we find the words “great tribulation”. Tribulation is from Greek word for pressured, thlipsis. That which presses…
Faith and Worship: From Solid Rock to Shifting Sand
The historical, theological, and philosophical details of several massive shifts in Christianized religious belief and worship are too many to discuss in this article. However, a large part of what characterizes modern Christian worship and theology today flows from the work of a very intelligent man who provided an intellectual argument that shifted the focus of faith from fact to feeling. While Christians have always had powerful feelings that can be expressed in words, actions, and music, a saving faith…
About 360-day Prophetic Years
In several areas of Bible prophecy and chronology, some insist on using special 360-day years, that is, 12 months of 30 days. These are sometimes called prophetic years and are especially popular with many rapture theology adherents. Part of the concept is true and was common in much of the ancient world. Egypt, for example, used twelve 30-day months for the year. But this was not considered a completed year until additional religious days were observed at the end, bringing…
When Is a Wall Not a Wall?
According to Pre-Millennial (Rapture) theologians, when its a city! Daniel 9:25 is a vital verse for the popularized predictions of pre-Millennialist teachers. Many use highly impressive mathematical calculations to show that Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, on what we call Palm Sunday, is exactly Daniel’s predicted 483 years. Their math depends on four major assumptions: 1) special prophetic years of 360 days length, not standard solar years, 2) a preferred, but historically uncertain date for one of two major decrees…
Yes. A Global Economic System May Be Predicted in Revelation
While churches with premillennial theology have serious contradictions with the Bible in their bold claims of knowing future events, they do have partial validity in predicting a global governance and economic system that will be antagonistic, even brutally reactive to the biblical Christian faith. Of course, this has long been a dream of politically aggressive leaders since ancient Assyria, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, Islam, and more recently, Nazi Germany, North Korea, and China, et. al. Ignoring the reality of greedy, power-hungry,…
Fascism: A Bit More about the actual philosophy
I noticed that my first post, which described a few basic dynamics of actual fascist philosophy and politics, quickly became the most read post. In response, I am adding a few more major concepts of fascism that may be helpful to know. Caution: Many Americans embrace fascist philosophies. While they may have no desire to exercise them by force, historically those who are willing to, will. As before, I suggest Dr. Gene Edward Veith’s book Modern Fascism: The Threat to…
Fascism: An Abused Word Better Explained
In our culture, academia, and media, the term “fascist” in various form is commonly used to attack one’s opponent without any substantive connection to what fascism actually entails. Often, it is flung toward very NON-fascist people and political ideas by those whose own philosophy and political leanings are clearly within the actual tenets of fascism. Following is a blog entry from Dr. Gene Edward Veith, an LC – MS scholar who, for the past few decades, has written quite a…
“New” Postmodernism is Rousseau’s Old Existentialism Progressed
As King Solomon said, “there is nothing new under the sun.” While many around us feel they are on the cutting edge of cultural change (usually called postmodernists), and while they would likely vociferously deny it, they are just farther down the road of the “old white men’s” philosophy of existentialism. Briefly, existentialism denies absolute truth, such as we could get only from a Creator God who speaks to us as He does in the Bible. It asserts that man…
The Book of Revelation – Linear Timeline?
Popular, especially evangelical views of Revelation interpret events in the book as a linear timeline. The seals, trumpets, and vials, plus other visionary portions are predicted to occur in short order, normally considered to be seven years. This very Western, modern, logically arranged chronology is at odds with Eastern (Oriental-Mideastern) thought and writing, and is specifically at odds with Hebrew literary style. You might have noticed that in many parts of the Bible and especially prominent in the Psalms, ideas…