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Is there a Christian ghetto in our future...

This is a talk given by ruling elder Ken Patrick at a conference held this past Saturday at his church, Trinity Presbyterian Church (PCA), in Ludlow, Kentucky. Titled "Maintaining a Christian Witness in an Increasingly Pagan Culture," the conference's other speakers were Trinity's pastor Chuck Hickey and an attorney from the Alliance Defending Freedom, Jeff Shafer. I attended the conference with my son, Joseph, and his fellow pastor Paul Belcher (both serving Christ Church in Cincinnati). Hope you find this talk as wise and helpful as Joseph, Paul, and I did.

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Maintaining a Christian Witness in an Increasingly Pagan Culture

by Ken Patrick

Before we begin, let me talk about my qualifications to divine the future: I’m not a prophet; I don’t have a “word from the Lord” in the sense that I’m about to share any divinely sourced revelation with you; God didn’t appear to me in a dream.

What I’m going to share are simply observations on what may come to pass if current trends continue, and what I would do if I were in charge. If you find yourself disagreeing with what I say, hopefully you’ll stay until I’m finished. We’ll have a Q&A session where you can ask a question, and of course you can pigeon-hole me afterward.

So, to answer my own question right up front—is there a Christian ghetto in our future?—I think the most likely answer is “of course, yes” at least in an intellectual sense and perhaps in a real, physical way as well. I think it’s very possible that we’ll see both. Before I begin describing what these Christian “ghetto” scenarios might look like, let’s establish why many of us think...


The oppression of the common man...

Progress, in the sense of the progress that has progressed since the sixteenth century, has upon every matter persecuted the Common Man; punished the gambling he enjoys and permitted the gambling he cannot follow; restrained the obscenity that might amuse him and applauded the obscenity that would certainly bore him; silenced the political quarrels that can be conducted among men and applauded the political stunts and syndicates that can only be conducted by millionaires; encouraged anybody who had anything to say against God, if it was said with a priggish and supercilious accent; but discouraged anybody who had anything to say in favour of Man, in his common relations to manhood and motherhood and the normal appetites of nature. Progress has been merely the persecution of the Common Man.  - G. K. Chesterton, "The Common Man"

Don't let Chesterton's typical Roman Catholic ignorance of all things Protestant (here, the Puritans) keep you from reading him. You might start with The Everlasting Man, then read The Thing and What's Wrong with the World. Other than Scripture, there's no better antidote to the almost-universal stupidities of our age...


Independence Day...

If you’re a Christian and a patriot mourning this week over the unjust weights and balances of our nation’s highest law court, now’s a good time to remember there is one kingdom that will be left standing after all others fall. 

Take comfort this Independence Day in the inevitable, the irrepressible, the inexorable, the indomitable, and the interminable rule of Christ promised us in Psalm 2 (versified for singing by some of our Clearnote musicians).

Listen and be wise…

With thanks to Phil, Jake, Nathan, and Nate

[Download the audio free at Noisetrade]


Church celebrities who are above criticism (I): GRACE, Bob Jones, and Bill Gothard...

...I am a nobody.  - Apostle Paul

A year or two ago, a group of pastors and elders were working with a tall-steeple church on the East coast to bring a musician on their staff under discipline for his sexual assaults against young men he taught at a local college and supervised as director of his church's high-profile music ministry. As we worked, we had conversations with others who were providing similar help concerning survivors of sexual abuse at Bob Jones University and Bill Gothard's Institute in Basic Life Principles. It's noteworthy that long before Christianity Today or World went on record against Bob Jones University and Bill Gothard, Dad Bayly rebuked these Christian celebrities and warned the Evangelical world against them. When and where?

Concerning Bob Jones and his university, Dad's warning went into print back in 1969 in his monthly "Out of My Mind" column in ETERNITY magazine. Bob Jones University had just requested permission to arm their campus security guards with automatic rifles and submachine guns...


Nicknames and woman...

Here's a good article on nicknames, pointing out that their decline is tied to the more general decline of male groups and camaraderie. This has come about under the tyranny of what Chesterton calls the universal vigilance of woman. Other than the Bible, Chesterton is the only essential reading...


on the sexes. That is, the two sexes.


The Hobby Lobby decision put in context...

The Supreme Court of these United States declares Hobby Lobby will no longer be required to submit to Washington D.C.'s oppression and we're supposed to be happy and grateful? Are you kidding me?

The cornerstone of our nation's principles of government is the recognition that all men have an inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, yet Christians are tickled pink and giggling with excitement that closely held family corporations of a certain inordinate religiosity will no longer be obligated to pay for the slaughter of their employees' children. It doesn't take much for the court jesters inside the Beltway to make us grateful, does it?

Sometimes I think I have a clear view of the game plan. The relationship between Christian citizens of these United States and their civil magistrates is much like professional wrestling...


Whose children are they: a modest proposal for Governor Pence...

Before he died twelve years ago, my brother Nathan was furious over the refusal of our United States Immigration and Naturalization Service to grant political asylum to Chinese couples who, if they returned to their homeland, would be forced to murder their unborn children. Those who have followed the one-child policy of China's Communist dictators implemented in 1978 know such horrors are commonplace. One friend of mine who's an academic at another university got a phone call from a former student in China whose wife had become pregnant. China's apparatchiks were going to murder their unborn child, so my friend arranged for the man to...


Public prayers: liturgical or free...

In preparation for future course lectures, I’ve been reading and taking notes on the published doctoral dissertation of Horton Davies on The Worship of the English Puritans (reprinted by Soli Deo Gloria). One of the chapters compares the set forms of prayer used by the Anglicans with the extemporary prayers used by the Puritans.

Here is a summary of the arguments used by the Puritans against set forms of prayer:


Thoughts on Doug Wilson's "11 Theses on Birth Control"

(David) Doug Wilson has written a post elaborating on things he's said about birth control elsewhere. Overall, Tim and I appreciate the post very much. There are qualifications to two of Doug's theses that I (probably "we") would make, despite our agreement with the post's general thrust, and there is one particular point of agreement that we would emphasize.

Working backwards from Doug's 10th thesis to his 6th (because I suspect our aversion to thinking about birth control stems from a concern that coming to view birth control negatively will require disciplinary action against all who practice it)....