Ezra Institute All Resources Categories - Audio: Recent Episodes
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Most of us were raised to think of the public square as religiously neutral territory. School is just school. Law is just law. Science reports the facts and leaves the value judgments to us. Joe, Michael, and Nate spend this episode arguing that none of that holds up, and that Christians have paid a heavy price for believing it.
They start with what a worldview actually is and why nobody gets to opt out of having one. Underneath any reading of the world sit answers to a few unavoidable questions: who God is, what a human being is, where morality comes from, what history is for. Those answers don't vanish when a culture stops going to church. They get relocated. Secularism has its own answers, and it enforces them.
A good stretch of the conversation goes to where this shows up in practice: curriculum, legislation, news coverage, research funding, family life, politics, the arts. Along the way they draw a distinction that's easy to miss. Christians can and should use tools that unbelievers built. The trouble starts when they take on the foundations along with the tools.
The objections get their turn too. Can't we just meet on common ground? Isn't this too black and white? Does it mean Christians can't cooperate with anyone? And the one that comes up most often: isn't secular government neutral by definition? The answer to that last one is that every legal order enforces some moral vision. The only question is whose.
In this episode, we explore why Scripture is the final authority for every area of life. The Bible is not a technical manual for politics, economics, or science, but it provides the authoritative framework for understanding them rightly.
We discuss what the sufficiency of Scripture truly means, the conflict between God’s revelation and human autonomy, and the consequences of allowing culture to define ethics, family, education, law, sexuality, and identity.
Christians must do more than add Bible verses to secular ideas. We are called to think Christianly, interpret all of life through God’s Word, and ask where the world is setting the terms instead of Scripture.
The gospel is deeply personal, but it is never merely private. Jesus did not come only to forgive individual sinners; He came announcing the kingdom of God and was enthroned as King over all creation.
In this episode, Joe, Michael, and Nate explore what Scripture means by the kingdom of God, why Christ’s ascension and present reign matter, and how the gospel transforms every area of life—from personal holiness and family life to vocation, justice, worship, and public life. They also address common objections surrounding the already-and-not-yet nature of the kingdom, the continued brokenness of the world, and the difference between biblical confidence and triumphalism.
The Christian life is not about waiting to escape the world. It is faithful service under the reigning Christ—building, discipling, teaching, planting, and reforming with confidence that obedience will bear fruit across generations.
In the opening episode of The Mission and Message of the Ezra Institute, Pastor Nate Wright is joined by Dr. Joe Boot and Dr. Michael Thiessen to explain why the Ezra Institute exists and why Christ’s lordship extends over every area of life.
Originally recorded for Ezra’s new radio program in Atlanta, the conversation explores the false divide between the sacred and secular, the modern tendency to privatize Christianity, and the calling of believers to bring every thought, institution, and vocation under the authority of Jesus Christ.
Where have we accepted the idea that Christ has nothing to say about a particular area of life?
Author and pastor David Forsythe joins the Podcast for Cultural Reformation to discuss his new Ezra Press book, Reformation, Not Revolution: Why God’s Law Matters for Society.
In this episode, David shares how his time in missions, pastoral ministry, and politics shaped his conviction that Christ’s lordship extends to every area of life. He and Nate discuss the difference between Christian reformation and revolutionary politics, the abiding authority of God’s law, sphere sovereignty, the distinction between sins and crimes, and why no society can ever be religiously neutral.
This conversation challenges Christians to reject both retreat and reactionary revolution, and instead recover a biblical vision for faithful cultural engagement under the crown rights of Christ.
On this Canada Day episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Dr. Michael Thiessen is joined by Dr. Joe Boot and Dr. Aaron Rock for a wide-ranging conversation on the state of Canada in 2026.
Is Canada a nation to celebrate, lament, or both? They reflect on the spiritual and cultural condition of the country, the continuing relevance of George Grant’s Lament for a Nation, the dangers of progressivism and statism, and the urgent need for Christians to recover a biblical vision of law, liberty, nationhood, and public life.
From church leadership and Christian education to government overreach, surveillance, and the question of whether Canada will live under God’s law or man’s law, this episode calls Christians away from despair and toward faithful, hopeful, generational obedience under the lordship of Jesus Christ.
In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Dr. Michael Thiessen and Dr. Joe Boot continue their discussion on the sanctity of human life by tracing the modern culture of death from the sexual revolution to today’s expanding embrace of abortion and euthanasia.
They argue that these are not merely private medical issues or isolated policy debates, but expressions of a deeper religious worldview: the worship of autonomous man and the all-powerful state. From ancient Molech worship to modern abortion clinics and assisted dying regimes, they expose the same underlying logic—the sacrifice of the vulnerable for the sake of convenience, control, and false compassion.
But the Christian answer is not merely opposition. It is the proclamation of the God who is life, who creates life in the womb, sustains it until the final breath, and offers new life through Jesus Christ to all who repent and believe.
In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Pastor Nate Wright and Dr. Joe Boot continue the Think Christianly series by addressing the sanctity of human life from womb to tomb. Working through Psalm 139, they examine the intimate providence of God, the mystery and wonder of life in the womb, and why the Christian defence of life must begin not with public policy, but with the doctrine of God.
From abortion to euthanasia, they trace how the rejection of God’s authority has led to a culture of death, where human autonomy and state power seek to usurp the Creator’s lordship over life. They also consider the often-neglected closing verses of Psalm 139, showing why Christians must learn to hate evil rightly while calling sinners to repentance under the mercy of Christ.
This conversation calls the church to recover a biblical vision of life, worship the God who forms us in the womb, and speak courageously against the destruction of His image.
In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Pastor Nate Wright and Dr. Joe Boot revisit Canada’s Bill C-9, now moving toward becoming law, and explain why its implications extend far beyond Canada. They discuss the bill’s vague definition of “hatred,” the removal of religious protections, and the potential consequences for pastors, churches, Christian schools, and ministries seeking to remain faithful to Scripture.
Nate and Joe also consider how this legislation may affect preaching, church discipline, Christian education, institutional policies, and public witness. Rather than calling Christians to panic or retreat, they urge the church to prepare now with courage, clarity, and conviction—remaining faithful to Christ even when faithfulness becomes costly.
In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Dr. Michael Thiessen and Dr. Joe Boot discuss identity from a biblical worldview. They look at how modern culture has detached identity from God and made it something each person must create for themselves.
They trace how ideas from philosophy, psychology, critical theory, transgenderism, and transhumanism have shaped the modern view of the self. In contrast, Scripture teaches that human identity begins with creation: we are made by God, in the image of God, male and female, with purpose and responsibility before Him.
This episode explains why the modern identity crisis is really a worship crisis, and why true identity can only be found in Jesus Christ.
In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Pastor Nate Wright and Dr. Joe Boot continue their discussion on Marxism by tracing how traditional Marxist theory shifted from economics to culture, giving rise to critical theory and the modern sexual revolution.
They examine why Marxist economic revolution failed to take hold in the West, how thinkers like Antonio Gramsci, the Frankfurt School, Wilhelm Reich, Herbert Marcuse, and Judith Butler redirected the struggle toward family, sexuality, education, language, and institutions, and why critical theory is not a neutral tool Christians can borrow.
At its root, critical theory attacks the creational structures God has built into the world—marriage, family, male and female, authority, truth, and the cultural mandate itself. Rather than reforming culture under the lordship of Christ, it seeks to deconstruct God’s order in the name of liberation.
Nate and Joe argue that Christians must recognize critical theory as a rival religious worldview with its own doctrine of creation, sin, justice, and salvation—and must answer it not with compromise, but with confidence in Scripture, creation, the family, the church, and the kingship of Christ over all things.
In this episode of The Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Dr. Joe Boot and Dr. Michael Thiessen think Christianly about Marxism — not as a political or economic theory, but as a religious worldview offering a counterfeit vision of salvation, history, and liberation.
Joe traces Marx's roots in Hegel and Rousseau, unpacks dialectical materialism and conflict theory, and shows why Marxism is a fundamentally destructive project. Drawing on Marx's own writings and Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals, Joe and Michael expose how Marxism parodies the Christian story — borrowing categories like alienation, reformation, justice, and freedom while emptying them of objective content. The result is a messianic vision driven by envy and resentment, with ordinary people serving as the cannon fodder of an undefined utopia.
Against this counterfeit, Joe sets the true paradigm of liberation: the Exodus. From Passover blood to Sinai law, the biblical story is recapitulated in Christ — the greater Moses, the greater Joshua, the true Passover Lamb — who delivers his people not into lawless utopia but into a kingdom of righteousness, holiness, and dominion.
Marxism offers a savior who covets your stuff. Christianity proclaims the Good Shepherd who laid down his life for the sheep.
In this week’s episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Pastor Nate Wright and Dr. Joe Boot respond to the fall of Sam Allberry and examine what it reveals about Side B Christianity, evangelical accommodation, and the church’s loss of confidence in biblical categories.
Rather than focusing on scandal, they address the deeper theological issues: sexual identity, sinful desire, sanctification, marriage, singleness, and the gospel’s power to truly transform sinners in Christ.
In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Pastor Nate Wright, Dr. Joe Boot, and Dr. Michael Thiessen continue their discussion on thinking Christianly about history. They explore how Christians should approach historical facts, disputed narratives, propaganda, and conspiratorial thinking without abandoning confidence in truth or God’s providence.
Rather than interpreting history through secular neutrality, secret knowledge, or hidden powers, Christians are called to discern historical claims through Scripture, take facts seriously, reject scapegoating, and remember that Christ—not elites, cabals, or conspiracies—is sovereign over all things.
In this episode of The Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Pastor Nate Wright and Dr. Michael Thiessen respond to the latest assassination attempt on President Donald Trump and examine how Christians should think about political violence, revolutionary rhetoric, and justice.
They discuss the difference between reformation and revolution, personal vengeance and lawful authority, and why God’s law must shape how Christians engage the culture war in a polarized age.
In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Nate Wright, Dr. Joe Boot, and Dr. Michael Thiessen discuss why history is never neutral and why the battle over its meaning matters so deeply. They show how only the Christian worldview can make sense of the past, present, and future, and why abandoning God’s providence leads either to despair or to control. This episode is a timely call for Christians to recover a biblical understanding of history under the lordship of Christ.
What does the Bible actually say about race, racism, and the unity of mankind? In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Nate Wright, Joe Boot, and Michael Thiessen explore the biblical doctrine of one humanity in Adam, why the gospel depends on that truth, and how evolutionary thought helped fuel modern racism. They also examine today’s false responses—from critical race theory to ethnic nationalism—and show why neither offers a truly Christian answer. This conversation calls believers back to a biblical vision of man, nationhood, culture, and covenant in Christ.
In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Nate Wright, Dr. Joe Boot, and Dr. Michael Thiessen discuss how to think Christianly about science and evolutionism. They challenge the modern myth that Christianity and science are enemies, arguing instead that modern science was born out of a biblical worldview. They also expose evolutionism as more than a neutral scientific theory, showing that it functions as a rival religious worldview with deep cultural consequences. Finally, they explore how Darwinian thinking reduces human dignity, morality, and meaning, and why only the Christian worldview provides the necessary foundation for true science and human flourishing.
Bill C-9 is no longer just a troubling proposal. It is moving toward becoming law in Canada, and with it comes serious questions about hate crime legislation, religious liberty, public witness, and the role of the state. In this episode, Michael Thiessen and Nate Wright revisit Bill C-9 to explain what it does, why it matters, and why Christians cannot afford to treat it as just another political issue. They discuss the difference between sin and crime, the danger of the state trying to judge motives and regulate conscience, and how this bill could affect preaching, church discipline, Christian education, and public evangelism. Most importantly, they show why this is not a distraction from the gospel, but a direct implication of Christ’s lordship over every sphere of life.
What happens when progressive politics puts on Christian language and starts quoting Scripture? In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Joe Boot, Michael Thiessen, and Nate Wright examine the rise of a new public theology on the left, using Texas politician James Talarico as a case study. They discuss how bad exegesis, Gnostic ideas, and counterfeit Christianity are being used to bless abortion, feminism, and the modern sexual revolution with a veneer of biblical legitimacy.
The conversation explores why this moment matters, why many Christians are unprepared for theological arguments from the left, and how pastors and churches must respond with clarity, courage, and biblical faithfulness. This is not merely a clash between Christianity and secularism, but between Christianity and a public, persuasive imitation of it.
What does it really mean to defend the Christian faith? Pastor Nate Wright, Dr. Michael Thiessen, and Dr. Joe Boot challenge the popular notion that apologetics is about winning arguments or piling up evidence for God's existence. Drawing from 1 Peter 3:15, they make the case that faithful apologetics begins with Christ set apart as Lord — and flows outward as bold proclamation, not intellectual competition.
The team explores how the collapse of a shared Christian worldview has transformed the apologetic landscape, why pragmatism has gutted the church's witness, and why true evangelism means confronting the idols of the age with humility, confidence, and total dependence on the Holy Spirit.
In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Nate Wright, Joe Boot, and Michael Thiessen continue their discussion on God’s law by exploring theonomy, its place in church history, and its fulfillment in Christ. They unpack the relationship between law and love, explain why biblical justice requires restitution and proportionality, and challenge modern misunderstandings that pit grace against God’s law.
The episode closes by showing that Jesus did not abolish the law, but fulfilled it perfectly, bore its penalty for His people, and calls His church to live in faithful obedience to all He has commanded.
This week, Pastor Nate Wright is joined by Dr. Joe Boot and Dr. Michael Thiessen to help Christians think Christianly about the escalating conflict involving Iran, Israel, and the United States.
Rather than reacting to headlines or repeating past debates about foreign wars, the conversation examines the issue through a Christian worldview—drawing on Scripture, sphere sovereignty, and the insights of Abraham Kuyper. What is the biblical basis for international law? Do nations have a right to defend themselves? And how should Christians think about war, treaties, and global conflict in a fallen world?
The goal of this episode is simple: to help believers move beyond political talking points and think Christianly about international conflict, justice, and the responsibilities of nations under God’s law.
Is God’s law merely moral advice—or the creational structure that holds all things together?
Pastor Nate Wright is joined by Dr. Joe Boot and Dr. Michael Thiessen to continue their Think Christianly series with “Think Christianly About Law (Part 1): The Meaning of Law, Natural Law, and Politics.” They argue that every “law word” of God orders creation, that all law is fundamentally religious (never neutral), and that removing God inevitably divinizes the state and fuels statism. They also challenge the appeal to “natural law” as common ground, calling Christians to recover the courage to speak God’s Word publicly—because from Him, through Him, and to Him are all things.
In this episode of the podcast for cultural reformation, Nate Wright and Dr. Michael Thiessen continue the Think Christianly series by examining the relationship between the Church, the Kingdom of God, and the mission of God’s people.
Is the Church’s mission merely personal piety, church growth, political activism, or evangelism alone? Drawing from Dr. Joe Boot’s Think Christianly, they argue that the kingdom of God is the comprehensive rule and reign of Christ over every sphere of life—not something confined to Sunday worship or outsourced to the state. When that vision is reduced, Christians drift into either “churchianity” or a politicized view of the kingdom.
The episode unpacks worship beyond Sunday, the distinction between the Church as institute and organism, sphere sovereignty, the central (but not exhaustive) role of evangelism, and the danger of sacred/secular dualism. Ultimately, the gospel calls believers into a world-encompassing mission: all of life lived under the lordship of King Jesus.
In this final AmFest 2025 episode, we reflect on the cultural shift unfolding before us.
Public leaders are naming Christ. Christian language is re-entering the public square. But is this a revival, a political moment, or simply a starting point?
We discuss the dangers of pietism, the church’s failure to disciple nations, and the need to clearly proclaim the lordship of Jesus Christ in every sphere — politics, art, law, and beyond.
The Great Commission is not just about private faith. It’s about teaching nations to obey Christ.
The real question isn’t whether culture is shifting — it’s whether the church will steward the moment faithfully.
In this episode of The Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Pastor Nate Wright is joined by Dr. Joe Boot to walk through key clips from Joe’s keynote address at TPUSA’s AmFest.
Joe explains how a last-minute shift—from a planned debate to a 13-minute mainstage address—became a providential opportunity to present Ezra’s core message: the Lordship of Jesus Christ and the all-encompassing reality of the Kingdom of God. Together, Nate and Joe challenge the idea that cultural renewal is primarily political, exposing the myth of neutrality and showing why every sphere of life is ultimately directed either toward Christ or away from Him.
The conversation also presses a recovering theme in the Church today: Christ is King, whether you believe it or not—and the gospel is not a self-help invitation, but a proclamation of the King and His advancing Kingdom.
A timely episode for anyone wrestling with the limits of “Christless conservatism” and looking for a truly biblical vision of cultural reformation.
In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Dr. Michael Thiessen and Dr. Joe Boot continue their reflections on Ezra Institute’s time at AmericaFest, focusing on Dr. Boot’s interview with Lucas Miles, Director of TPUSA Faith.
They discuss the need for cultural and political engagement to be rooted in the Church and shaped by a robust biblical worldview, emphasizing the Lordship of Christ, the authority of Scripture, and the reality of human depravity. The conversation highlights why worldview formation—not issue-by-issue activism—is essential for lasting cultural reformation, and why unity around primary Christian doctrine matters in this moment.
Ultimately, the episode calls Christians to think and live Christianly in every area of life by answering the fundamental question of our time: Who is King?
This week on the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Nate Wright, Dr. Joe Boot, and Dr. Michael Thiessen review Russell Brand’s remarks at TPUSA’s AmericaFest and reflect on what they reveal about public faith, repentance, and cultural renewal.
They discuss the twin dangers Christians often fall into with celebrity conversions—either uncritically platforming new believers or cynically dismissing their professions of faith—and argue for a biblically grounded middle road marked by discernment, prayer, and patience. The conversation highlights Brand’s emphasis on repentance, his critique of statism, and his growing vision for Christian culture that avoids both pietistic retreat and forced political triumphalism.
Ultimately, the episode points beyond personalities to the real hope of cultural reformation: transformed people, faithful discipleship, and the advancing kingdom of Christ.
In this episode, Joe Boot, Michael Thiessen, and Nate Wright reflect on an unexpected invitation to AmericaFest and why it became a significant cultural moment. From conversations at Turning Point USA to public engagement at a conference of tens of thousands, they consider what these opportunities reveal about the state of the Church today.
They discuss Joe’s interview with Steve Deace, the problem of a Christianity that asks “how little can we do,” and the urgent need for Christian maturity. The episode explores the distinction between the church and the Kingdom of God, the dangers of privatized faith, and how believers should respond when church institutions fail to equip God’s people for cultural engagement.
This conversation sets the stage for a multi-week reflection on AmericaFest, cultural responsibility, and advancing the Kingdom of God in our time.
As the Ezra Institute looks ahead to 2026, Pastor Nate Wright is joined by Dr. Michael Thiessen and Jordan Cecile to share what’s coming next—and how listeners can get involved.
In this episode, the team unpacks new Ezra Press projects, the Foundations curriculum for churches, the launch of the Ezra Ambassadors Network, and the continued growth of Ezra Media. They also highlight key in-person training opportunities, including the Worldview Youth Academy and the returning Cultural Leadership Academy.
With candid conversation, humor, and behind-the-scenes insight, this episode invites listeners to move beyond listening and take an active role in advancing biblical cultural reformation.
As a new year begins, Christians face mounting cultural pressure, constant bad news, and growing anxiety. In this opening episode of 2026, the Podcast for Cultural Reformation takes a pastoral turn—calling believers to lift their eyes from the chaos and fix them firmly on Christ.
Ezra Institute Fellow Pastor Aaron Rock joins Joe Boot and Dr. Michael Thiessen to discuss fear, time, habits, and courage. Together they explore how constant media consumption shapes anxiety, why godly discipline matters more than short-lived resolutions, and how courage is cultivated through obedience, conviction, and love for God.
This episode offers a steady, hope-filled call to faithful living—reminding Christians that victory in uncertain times is found not in fear, but in faithfulness to Christ.
In this Advent episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Dr. Joe Boot and Dr. Michael Thiessen continue the Think Christianly series by asking a world-shaping question: Who is the child in the manger?
Marking the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, they explore the Arian heresy, the church’s defense of Christ’s full divinity, and why the Nicene confession—“begotten, not made”—is essential to Christian worship, salvation, and culture. The discussion also shows how Arianism persists today wherever Jesus is reduced to a moral teacher rather than confessed as Lord.
This episode calls Christians, especially during Advent, to stand with the historic church and boldly confess Christ as fully God and fully man—the Word made flesh, for the life of the world.
In this Advent episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Dr. Joe Boot, Dr. Michael Thiessen, and Pastor Nate Wright continue their discussion of Think Christianly by examining why the divinity of Jesus Christ is essential to the Christian faith and the gospel itself.
Drawing on John 1, the early church fathers, and the historic battles against heresies such as Gnosticism and Arianism, the hosts explain why Christ must be fully God and fully man to accomplish salvation. They explore the significance of the incarnation, the Council of Nicaea, and why reducing Jesus to a moral teacher undermines Scripture, creation, and redemption.
This episode calls Christians to recover both the awe and the doctrinal clarity needed to confess Christ as the eternal Word made flesh—God with us, for our salvation.
We’re briefly pausing our Advent series to address the urgent news surrounding Canada’s proposed Bill C-9. Pastor Nate Wright and Dr. Michael Thiessen break down what this anti-hate legislation really means for free speech, public Christianity, and the future of law in the West.
They explain how new “hate propaganda” provisions, vague definitions, and sentence enhancements threaten to criminalize biblical teaching, blur the line between sin and crime, and empower the state to police beliefs rather than actions. Framed through a Christian worldview, they explore why every society enforces a moral vision—and why the question isn’t whether, but which worldview will shape law.
They also consider how Bill C-9 could impact churches, Christian schools, and open disagreement with other religions, while calling believers to bold proclamation of the gospel even in the face of mounting legal pressure.
- Get Dr. Boot’s latest book, Think Christianly: https://ezrapress.ca/products/think-christianly-developing-an-undivided-mind
- Buy our new Foundations curriculum: https://ezramedia.tv/foundations/
- Stay up to date with Ezra Events: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/events/
In this first episode of our Advent series, “Think Christianly About Advent,” Nate Wright, Dr. Joe Boot, and Dr. Michael Thiessen explore what it truly means to think Christianly about Christ as we enter the Christmas season. Starting from family and church traditions, they move into the deeper significance of the incarnation as the moment when the eternal God steps into history, confronting both ancient pagan hopes and modern political idols. Drawing on Joe’s chapter “Think Christianly About Christ” and his article "The New Political Community", they unpack the profoundly political nature of Advent—the coming of the true Priest-King whose kingdom challenges every rival rule. This episode sets the stage for the series by reminding us that Christmas is not just about nostalgia, but about the Kingdom of God breaking into the world.
- Get Dr. Boot's latest book, Think Christianly: https://ezrapress.ca/products/think-christianly-developing-an-undivided-mind
- Learn more about our soon-to-be-released small group curriculum, Foundations: https://ezramedia.tv/foundations/
- Stay up to date with Ezra Event: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/events/
- Read Joe's article mentioned in the episode here: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/the-new-political-community/
In this episode, Dr. Michael Thiessen, Dr. Joe Boot, and Pastor Nate Wright continue their discussion on Think Christianly, focusing on how the church can recover a truly Christian mind. They examine how secular philosophies, pop psychology, and emotionalism have shaped much of modern Christian thinking, leading to widespread syncretism and cultural confusion.
The hosts explore the need for a reformational worldview—one that applies God’s Word to every sphere of life—and why theology alone can’t stand apart from Christian philosophy, education, law, or politics. They unpack how dualism has separated “spiritual” things from “real life,” and why faithful Christian action requires a renewed, biblical way of thinking about the whole of creation.
A foundational conversation for anyone who wants to understand what it means to think Christianly about everything.
Get Dr. Boot's latest book, Think Christianly: Developing an Undivided Mind, today!: https://ezrapress.ca/products/think-christianly-developing-an-undivided-mind
Learn more about our soon-to-be-released small group curriculum, Foundations: https://ezramedia.tv/foundations/
Stay up to date with Ezra Event: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/events/
In this kickoff to our Think Christianly series, Nate Wright and Dr. Michael Thiessen introduce Joe’s new book, explain what it means to have an undivided Christian mind, and show how cultural assumptions, secular psychology, and unbiblical traditions have quietly reshaped the thinking of many Christians. They call listeners back to Scripture as the controlling authority for how we understand salvation, sexuality, parenting, addiction, and culture.
Get Dr. Boot's latest book, Think Christianly: Developing an Undivided Mind, today!: https://ezrapress.ca/products/think-christianly-developing-an-undivided-mind
Learn more about our soon-to-be-released small group curriculum, Foundations: https://ezramedia.tv/foundations/
Stay up to date with Ezra Event: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/events/
A Remembrance Day conversation with Nate Wright, Dr. Michael Thiessen, and Dr. Joe Boot: why Christians have a duty to remember the fallen, what Scripture says about sacrifice and just war, and how a viral clip from 100-year-old veteran Alec Pennstone exposes the West’s moral drift. The guys contrast historic courage with today’s atonement-free guilt culture, trace how critical theories have weakened our institutions—including the military—and call men and churches to recover conviction, gratitude, and public faith.
Get Dr. Boot's latest book, Think Christianly: Developing an Undivided Mind, today!: https://ezrapress.ca/products/think-christianly-developing-an-undivided-mind
Learn more about our soon-to-be-released small group curriculum, Foundations: https://ezramedia.tv/foundations/
Stay up to date with Ezra Event: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/events/
Michael Thiessen, Joe Boot, and Nate Wright unpack how Christians can practice genuine hospitality to immigrants without losing the cultural and legal unity of a nation. Drawing on Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, and Psalm 2, they argue for care for the sojourner, one law for native and foreigner, and real integration through shared public life—pushing back on church antinomianism and the “multiculturalism = virtue” assumption. They also address the “coercion” objection (every institution disciplines) and why rulers still owe public allegiance to Christ.
Get Dr. Boot's latest book, Think Christianly: Developing an Undivided Mind, today!: https://ezrapress.ca/products/think-christianly-developing-an-undivided-mind
Stay up to date with Ezra Event: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/events/
Dr. Michael Thiessen and Dr. Joe Boot preview the Ezra East conference (Nov. 1, 2025, Ingersoll, ON) and tackle one of the West’s most urgent questions: How should Christians think about immigration?
Joe walks through the major waves of immigration to the US, UK, and Canada and shows why not all immigration is the same—older migration from Christianized nations was far less destabilizing than today’s government-engineered mass migration from non-Christian contexts. They discuss how secular, globalist elites have used “multiculturalism” to dilute the Christian character of Western nations and why importing rival law orders (like Sharia) is not the same as church courts or Christian mediation.
They also highlight key themes for the conference, including Islam, immigration, the decline of Christian culture, and finding a biblical balance between hospitality and preserving community.
In the Premium+ post-show, Michael asks Joe: Why do Islamists and the radical left keep teaming up (e.g. “queers for Palestine”)? Joe explains their shared enemy (Christianity), shared totalitarian impulse, and political convenience.
Dr. Michael Thiessen and Pastor Nate Wright get practical about what it means to build Christian culture at the national level. Picking up from last week, they argue that freedom is only secure when it’s tethered to Christ—and then work through the “messy details” Christians must think through: covenantal nationhood, immigration and oaths, public worship, courts and penalties, and the Lord’s Day.
In this conversation, they cover:
- Why nations are covenantal, not merely ethnic, and why that matters for law and belonging (Ruth, Rahab, Kuyper, Rushdoony).
- Immigration & citizenship: the biblical categories of sojourner/resident/citizen; why oaths to God and constitutional loyalty are essential; equal civil justice without parallel legal systems.
- Public worship & free speech: protecting public order (no high places, no public idolatry or blasphemy) while safeguarding reasoned religious dispute.
- Courts & penalties: replacing warehousing prisons with restitution and structured bond-service, reserving capital penalties for capital crimes.
- Lord’s Day in public life: civil rest that protects worship without policing private piety.
- Common objections (“Isn’t this illiberal?” “What about free speech?”) and why law is a teacher.
Events & Links:
- Fall Bible Conference — Oct 23–25, 2025, Big Tree Inn, Upstate NY (with Dr. Joe Boot): https://www.ezrainstitute.com/fall-bible-conference/
- Ezra Conference East — Nov 1, 2025, Ingersoll, Ontario: Think Christianly about Islam & Immigration: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/ezra-conference-east/
- Explore and support the work at Ezra Media—new site, new shows, subscriber perks, and year-end giving opportunities: https://ezramedia.tv/
Pastor and detective Mark Hamilton joins Michael and Nate to share his journey from a Word-of-Faith background to a reformed, Scripture-centered ministry in Buffalo, NY. He discusses the challenges of pastoring in the inner city, how his work in law enforcement shapes his ministry, and why the gospel—not programs or politics—is the true power to transform hearts, homes, and cities.
In this episode of The Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Michael Thiessen, Dr. Joe Boot, and Nate Wright explore the Christian concept of freedom. As they think Christianly through today’s headlines, they examine how modern notions of liberty often depart from biblical truth—and why true freedom can only be found when it’s tethered to God.
NEW!!! Dr. Boot's latest book, Think Christianly: Developing an Undivided Mind, today!:https://ezrapress.ca/products/think-christianly-developing-an-undivided-mind
For All Ezra Events: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/events/
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885;Subscribe to our Rumble Channel - https://rumble.com/c/c-6444461.
Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.
In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Drs. Mike Thiessen and Joe Boot debunk the sacred/secular dualism and help Christians think Christianly about a biblical response to The Tyranny of a Totalitarian Technocracy.
Episode Resource: "Is Christian Nationalism WEIRD?" | Glen Schrivener (Speak Life via YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzsTVIdZa1k
NEW!!! NOW OUT! Get Dr. Boot's latest book, Think Christianly: Developing an Undivided Mind, today!:https://ezrapress.ca/products/think-christianly-developing-an-undivided-mind;
Get your copy of the NEW, updated, and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide today!:https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
UPCOMING EVENTS:Ezra Conferences:Fall Bible Conference: https://brushfire.com/ezrainstituteusa/fall-bible-conference2025/593863/details; Ezra Conference EAST | November 01, 2025: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/ezra-conference-east/;Mission of God Conference UK: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/mission-of-god-conference-2025-tickets-1638645014349?aff=oddtdtcreator;
For All Ezra Events: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/events/;
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book, “Ruler of Kings:” https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885;Subscribe to our Rumble Channel - https://rumble.com/c/c-6444461.
Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.
In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Pastor Nate Wright and Drs. Mike Thiessen and Dr. Joe Boot, discuss the significance of Charlie Kirk's memorial, exploring its implications for the Christian community and the broader cultural landscape. They reflect on the diverse representation of Christianity at the event, the political and spiritual messages conveyed, and the complexities surrounding forgiveness in the wake of tragedy. The conversation also delves into the relationship between religion and politics, emphasizing the necessity of integrating faith into public discourse. Historical context regarding the separation of church and state is provided, highlighting the ongoing relevance of these discussions in contemporary society.
Episode Resource: FULL: Building a Legacy - Remembering Charlie Kirk - Memorial from State Farm Stadium, Glendale AZ | Turning Point USA via YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/live/jAWG_LCRIWc?si=xBIcogQ-TAJDWOv7.
Chapters:00:00 Cold Open00:06 Kirk Memorial Montage05:39 Podcast Intro06:00 Podcast Hosts Introduction and Conference Updates10:47 Ezra Institute's Mission and Upcoming Events12:05 Discussion on Charlie Kirk's Assassination and Memorial18:02 Public and Media Reactions to the Memorial32:40 Forgiveness and Justice in the Wake of Tragedy42:45 The Role of Forgiveness in Christianity43:06 Victim's Role in Biblical Law43:41 Personal Forgiveness vs. Judicial Forgiveness44:21 Examples of Forgiveness: Cory Tambo and Elizabeth Elliot45:01 Civil Magistrate's Duty to Punish Evil47:07 Contrasting Responses to Tragedy48:28 Religion and Politics: A Controversial Marriage49:28 Foundations of Religion in Culture50:25 Forgiveness and Justice in Christianity51:17 Separation of Church and State vs. Religion and Politics55:07 Secularism and Its Impact on Public Space01:09:03 Historical Context: Religion in America and England01:15:42 The Future of Christianity in Politics01:22:25 Conclusion: The Exclusive Christ Who Reigns Over All01:23:58 Podcast Outro
NEW!!! PRE-ORDER Dr. Boot's latest book, Think Christianly: Developing an Undivided Mind, today!:https://ezrapress.ca/products/think-christianly-developing-an-undivided-mind;
Get your copy of the NEW, updated, and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide today!:https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
UPCOMING EVENTS:Ezra Conferences:Ezra Conference WEST | September 26–27, 2025: https://brushfire.com/ezrainstitute/ezraconference2025west/607143;Fall Bible Conference: https://brushfire.com/ezrainstituteusa/fall-bible-conference2025/593863/details; Ezra Conference EAST | November 01, 2025: More Information Coming Soon...
For All Ezra Events: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/events/;
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book, “Ruler of Kings:” https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885;Subscribe to our Rumble Channel - https://rumble.com/c/c-6444461.
Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.
In this podcast episode, Dr. Michael Thiessen, Pastor Nate Wright, and Dr. Joe Boot discuss the implications of Charlie Kirk's death and the church's response to it. They express concern over the reluctance of many church leaders to acknowledge Kirk's martyrdom and the broader cultural implications of this silence. The conversation delves into the truncation of the gospel, the political nature of the Christian message, and the need for the church to engage with cultural issues rather than retreating into silence. They emphasize the importance of recognizing the gospel as a transformative force in society and the necessity of addressing violence and injustice from a biblical perspective.
Chapters:00:00 Cold Open00:25 Podcast Intro00:46 Introduction and Welcome01:09 Discussing Charlie Kirk's Assassination02:24 Christian Response to Tragedy03:30 Critique of Gospel Coalition and Christianity Today05:09 The Role of the Church and the Gospel07:28 The Power and Scope of the Gospel14:06 Forgiveness and Justice in Christianity31:41 Secular and Christian Cultural Reactions34:44 Dissecting Paul's Article: Initial Criticisms36:22 The Downplaying of Cultural Moments37:49 The Role of Worship in Church39:46 Permissibility Structures for Violence and Apathy41:10 Historical and Biblical Parallels45:26 The Political Nature of the Gospel & the Church01:00:39 Hope in the Midst of Heartbreak01:05:32 Podcast Outro
NEW!!! PRE-ORDER Dr. Boot's latest book, Think Christianly: Developing an Undivided Mind, today!:https://ezrapress.ca/products/think-christianly-developing-an-undivided-mind;
Get your copy of the NEW, updated, and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide today!:https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
UPCOMING EVENTS:Ezra Conferences:Ezra Conference WEST | September 26–27, 2025: https://brushfire.com/ezrainstitute/ezraconference2025west/607143;Fall Bible Conference: https://brushfire.com/ezrainstituteusa/fall-bible-conference2025/593863/details; Ezra Conference EAST | November 01, 2025: More Information Coming Soon...For All Ezra Events: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/events/;
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book, “Ruler of Kings:” https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885;Subscribe to our Rumble Channel - https://rumble.com/c/c-6444461.
Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.
In this SPECIAL EPISODE of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Dr. Joseph Boot is joined by Pastor Nate Wright and Dr. Michael Thiessen to discuss the shocking assassination of influential Christian, political activist and organizer, founder of Turning Point USA, Charlie Kirk.
Our heartfelt prayers go out to all his loved ones and family. May the God of all comfort be your strength and stay.
Chapters:00:00 Cold Open00:49 Podcast Intro01:09 The Assassination of Charlie Kirk: An Analysis56:54 A Tribute to Charlie57:33 Podcast Outro
NEW!!! PRE-ORDER Dr. Boot's latest book, Think Christianly: Developing an Undivided Mind, today!:https://ezrapress.ca/products/think-christianly-developing-an-undivided-mind;
Get your copy of the NEW, updated, and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide today!:https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
UPCOMING EVENTS:Ezra Conferences:Ezra Conference WEST | September 26–27, 2025: https://brushfire.com/ezrainstitute/ezraconference2025west/607143;Fall Bible Conference: https://brushfire.com/ezrainstituteusa/fall-bible-conference2025/593863/details; Ezra Conference EAST | November 01, 2025: More Information Coming Soon...
For All Ezra Events: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/events/;
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book, “Ruler of Kings:” https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885;Subscribe to our Rumble Channel - https://rumble.com/c/c-6444461.
Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.
In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Dr. Joseph Boot and Pastor Nate Wright discuss the biblical concepts of the doctrine of the lesser magistrate and civil disobedience to tyrannical, ungodly rulers as obedience to God.
Chapters:00:00 Cold Open00:45 Podcast Intro04:23 Upcoming Events and Conferences05:20 The Reform Protestant Position on Resisting Tyranny05:44 Biblical Foundations: Romans 13 and God's Sovereignty07:25 Historical and Theological Context of Resistance13:36 Practical Implications and Modern Examples32:30 Paul's Example and Early Church Resistance41:56 The Act of Resistance Begins43:21 Daniel's Defiance and Faith46:34 Speaking Truth to Power46:58 The Fiery Furnace: A Test of Faith54:38 The Doctrine of Lesser Magistrates58:14 Historical Context of Resistance01:09:48 Modern Implications and Final Thoughts01:15:27 Podcast Outro
NEW!!! PRE-ORDER Dr. Boot's latest book, Think Christianly: Developing an Undivided Mind, today!:https://ezrapress.ca/products/think-christianly-developing-an-undivided-mind;
Get your copy of the NEW, updated, and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide today!:https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
UPCOMING EVENTS:Ezra Conferences:Ezra Conference WEST | September 26–27, 2025: https://brushfire.com/ezrainstitute/ezraconference2025west/607143;Fall Bible Conference: https://brushfire.com/ezrainstituteusa/fall-bible-conference2025/593863/details; Ezra Conference EAST | November 01, 2025: More Information Coming Soon...
For All Ezra Events: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/events/;
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book, “Ruler of Kings:” https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885;Subscribe to our Rumble Channel - https://rumble.com/c/c-6444461.
Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.
NEW!!! PRE-ORDER Dr. Boot's latest book, Think Christianly: Developing an Undivided Mind, today!:https://ezrapress.ca/products/think-christianly-developing-an-undivided-mind;
Get your copy of the NEW, updated, and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide today!:https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
UPCOMING EVENTS:Ezra Conferences:Ezra Conference WEST | September 26–27, 2025: https://brushfire.com/ezrainstitute/ezraconference2025west/607143;Fall Bible Conference: https://brushfire.com/ezrainstituteusa/fall-bible-conference2025/593863/details; Ezra Conference EAST | November 01, 2025: More Information Coming Soon...
For All Ezra Events: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/events/;
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book, “Ruler of Kings:” https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885;Subscribe to our Rumble Channel - https://rumble.com/c/c-6444461.
Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.
In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Pastor Nate Wright and Dr. Michael Thiessen discuss how recent events show that spiritual warfare manifests itself in political battles and civil chaos.
NEW!!! PRE-ORDER Dr. Boot's latest book, Think Christianly: Developing an Undivided Mind, today!:https://ezrapress.ca/products/think-christianly-developing-an-undivided-mind;
Get your copy of the NEW, updated, and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide today!:https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
UPCOMING EVENTS:Ezra Conferences:Ezra Conference WEST | September 26–27, 2025: https://brushfire.com/ezrainstitute/ezraconference2025west/607143;Fall Bible Conference: https://brushfire.com/ezrainstituteusa/fall-bible-conference2025/593863/details; Ezra Conference EAST | November 01, 2025: More Information Coming Soon...
For All Ezra Events: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/events/;
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book, “Ruler of Kings:” https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885;Subscribe to our Rumble Channel - https://rumble.com/c/c-6444461.
Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.
In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Dr. Joe Boot and Pastor Nate Wright discuss the politics of civil war while attending the Ezra Family Camp in Ontario, Canada. They reflect on the social and political conditions in various Western nations, particularly the UK and Canada, which suggest a growing potential for civil unrest. They delve into markers of civil war, including polar factionalism, downgrading of dominant cultural groups, and loss of faith in political institutions. The episode also touches on historical and biblical insights into the generation of such conflicts, highlighting the religious and cultural decay contributing to current crises. They conclude by questioning how Christians should respond to these turbulent times and foreshadow further discussions on practical responses to potential civil conflicts.
Episode Resources: Are We Headed for Civil War? - David Betz | Triggernometry: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3h49O0AGxx0;
NEW!!! PRE-ORDER Dr. Boot's latest book, Think Christianly: Developing an Undivided Mind, today!:https://ezrapress.ca/products/think-christianly-developing-an-undivided-mind;
Get your copy of the NEW, updated, and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide today!:https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
UPCOMING EVENTS:Family Camps:Canada | August 23-30, 2025: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/family-camp-canada/;Minnesota | August 24-27, 2025: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ezra-institute-family-camp-august-24-27-tickets-1203965305639?aff=oddtdtcreator;
Ezra Conferences: Ezra Conference WEST | September 26–27, 2025: https://brushfire.com/ezrainstitute/ezraconference2025west/607143;Fall Bible Conference: https://brushfire.com/ezrainstituteusa/fall-bible-conference2025/593863/details; Ezra Conference EAST | November 01, 2025: More Information Coming Soon...
For All Ezra Events: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/events/;
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book, “Ruler of Kings:” https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885;Subscribe to our Rumble Channel - https://rumble.com/c/c-6444461.
Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.
In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Dr. Michael Thiessen and Rev. Nate Wright review the recent summer programs of the Ezra Institute and discuss how they are equipping Christian cultural leaders through worldview training. They further analyze recent announcements by Donald Trump concerning crime in Washington, D.C., comparing them to biblical principles of justice, law, and proportional punishment. This episode delves into why some political actions align with God's Law while others do not, emphasizing the importance of impartiality and proportionality in civil governance.
Chapters:00:00 Podcast Intro00:41 Welcome and Introduction01:11 Summer Programs and In-Person Training Highlights03:49 Worldview Youth Academy: Purpose and Impact06:18 Real-Life Transformations and Testimonies12:35 The Role of Civil Authorities and Biblical Law16:44 Trump's Announcement and Its Implications34:16 Scriptural Foundations of Law35:23 COVID Lockdowns and Christian Response36:20 Civil Authority and Biblical Submission40:14 Proportionality and Impartiality in Justice56:12 Political Bias and Selective Prosecution01:01:26 Understanding God's Law in Modern Context01:06:14 Conclusion and Call to Action01:06:10 Podcast Outro
NEW!!! PRE-ORDER Dr. Boot's latest book, Think Christianly: Developing an Undivided Mind, today!:https://ezrapress.ca/products/think-christianly-developing-an-undivided-mind;
Get your copy of the NEW, updated, and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide today!:https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
UPCOMING EVENTS:Family Camps:Texas | August 14-17, 2025: https://brushfire.com/ezrainstituteusa/familycamp2025-texas/593861;Canada | August 23-30, 2025: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/family-camp-canada/;Minnesota | August 24-27, 2025: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ezra-institute-family-camp-august-24-27-tickets-1203965305639?aff=oddtdtcreator;
For All Ezra Events: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/events/;
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book, “Ruler of Kings:” https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885;Subscribe to our Rumble Channel - https://rumble.com/c/c-6444461.
Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.
In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Dr. Joe Boot and Ezra Fellow Rev. Dr. Aaron Rock delve into the contemporary crises facing the Western family structure, focusing on marriage, masculinity, and the impact of feminism on society. They discuss the implications of abandoning biblical principles for family and male leadership, the resulting societal and economic challenges, and explore ways the church and Christian families can respond to these issues. They emphasize the importance of rediscovering a godly vision for manhood and family, the role of Christians in influencing culture through local politics, and addressing systemic issues to foster cultural reformation.
Chapters:00:00 Podcast Intro00:19 Welcome and Introduction01:17 Special Guest: Rev. Dr. Aaron Rock02:27 Cultural Crisis and the Role of Family03:46 Biblical Foundation of Marriage04:58 Consequences of Undermining Marriage12:21 Economic Impact of Family Breakdown14:47 Church's Role in Addressing Family Issues21:07 How Feminism and Egalitarianism Destroy Society26:17 The Isolation of Modern Men26:31 Defining Modern Masculinity27:41 Challenges Facing Young Men29:39 The Demographic Crisis32:25 The Role of the Church34:18 The Influence of Family Lines37:56 The Pendulum of Masculinity44:55 Political Influence and Cultural Change49:15 Conclusion and Final Thoughts57:21 Podcast Outro
NEW!!! PRE-ORDER Dr. Boot's latest book, Think Christianly: Developing an Undivided Mind, today!:https://ezrapress.ca/products/think-christianly-developing-an-undivided-mind;
Get your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide today!:https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
UPCOMING EVENTS:Family Camps:Texas | August 14-17, 2025: https://brushfire.com/ezrainstituteusa/familycamp2025-texas/593861;Canada | August 23-30, 2025: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/family-camp-canada/;Minnesota | August 24-27, 2025: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ezra-institute-family-camp-august-24-27-tickets-1203965305639?aff=oddtdtcreator;
For All Ezra Events: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/events/;
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book, “Ruler of Kings:” https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885;Subscribe to our Rumble Channel - https://rumble.com/c/c-6444461.
Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.
On today's episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Rev. Nate Wright discusses the corrosive impact of Cultural Marxism, under the euphemistic brand of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (D.E.I), on social cohesion and the State with sociologist Dr. David M. Haskell. Marxist Revolutions, no matter their subtlety or name, are always horribly destructive!
Chapters:00:00 Podcast Intro00:19 Welcome and Introduction00:44 Guest Introduction: Dr. David Millard Haskell01:23 Becoming a Cultural Warrior06:03 The Rise of DEI08:01 Historical Context of Socialism and DEI16:15 Impact of DEI in Canada23:05 The Ineffectiveness of DEI Training27:55 Impact of DEI Programs on Employment28:29 Cultural Hostility and Civil Unrest29:15 Loss of Neutral Spaces in Society30:07 Christianity's Role in Moral Systems31:20 Sphere Sovereignty in Christian Worldview33:12 Historical Influence of Christianity on Law37:06 Christianity and Societal Flourishing41:07 Christianity's Unique Contributions to Society52:44 Political Engagement and Christian Influence56:23 Conclusion and Final Thoughts57:21 Podcast Outro
NEW!!! PRE-ORDER Dr. Boot's latest book, Think Christianly: Developing an Undivided Mind, today!:https://ezrapress.ca/products/think-christianly-developing-an-undivided-mind;
Get your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide today!:https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
UPCOMING EVENTS:Family Camps:Texas | August 14-17, 2025: https://brushfire.com/ezrainstituteusa/familycamp2025-texas/593861;Canada | August 23-30, 2025: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/family-camp-canada/;Minnesota | August 24-27, 2025: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ezra-institute-family-camp-august-24-27-tickets-1203965305639?aff=oddtdtcreator;
For All Ezra Events: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/events/;
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book, “Ruler of Kings:” https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885;Subscribe to our Rumble Channel - https://rumble.com/c/c-6444461.
Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.
On today's episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Dr. Joe Boot sits down with Richard Fangrad, the CEO of Creation Ministries International (CMI) in Canada, to discuss the deadly sociopolitical and cultural ramifications of an evolutionary worldview.
Chapters:00:00 Intro00:19 Introduction to the Podcast02:21 CMI - Canada's Work03:48 Attacks on Genesis 1-1106:46 Question of Authority: Who Should We Believe, the Bible or Scientists?08:30 Science NEEDS Scripture08:43 The Big Bang Out with a Fizzle?11:12 What Do We Mean By Evolution?15:23 Evolution As a Religious World-and-Life View22:27 Darwinism and Eugenics25:43 Reproduction, Family, and Human Identity41:41 Ideas Have Consequences43:10 The Cultural & Political Ramifications of Compromising Biblical Authority01:01:09 The Bible Makes Sense of Science01:05:00 Conclusion 01:06:03 Outro
NEW!!! PRE-ORDER Dr. Boot's latest book, Think Christianly: Developing an Undivided Mind, today!:https://ezrapress.ca/products/think-christianly-developing-an-undivided-mind;
Get your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide today!:https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
UPCOMING EVENTS:Family Camps:Texas | August 14-17, 2025: https://brushfire.com/ezrainstituteusa/familycamp2025-texas/593861;Canada | August 23-30, 2025: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/family-camp-canada/;Minnesota | August 24-27, 2025: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ezra-institute-family-camp-august-24-27-tickets-1203965305639?aff=oddtdtcreator;
For All Ezra Events: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/events/;
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book, “Ruler of Kings:” https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885;Subscribe to our Rumble Channel - https://rumble.com/c/c-6444461.
Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.
On today's episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Dr. Michael Thiessen and Dr. Joe Boot are joined by Ezra Fellow Dr. P. Andrew Sandlin for the first episode of our summer series concerning the relationship between Christianity and the State. In this episode, they focus on the concepts of reformation and revolution. They explore historical "revolutions," including the English, American, French, and Sexual and their implications for modern society. The good doctors advocate for the need of a new Spirit-wrought biblical Reformation founded upon the authority of God's Word.
Chapters:00:00 Intro00:19 Introduction to the Podcast and Summer Mini-Series06:28 Reformation vs. Revolution: Understanding the Concepts19:29 The English "Revolution": A reformation NOT a Revolution25:55 The American War of Independence vs. the French Revolution28:19 Contrasting Revolutions: American vs. French33:07 Covenantal vs. Contractual Societies41:06 The Sexual Revolution: The TRUE American Revolution54:00 Rebuilding in the Rubble: A Call for Revival and Reformation
NEW!!! PRE-ORDER Dr. Boot's latest book, Think Christianly: Developing an Undivided Mind, today!:https://ezrapress.ca/products/think-christianly-developing-an-undivided-mind;
Get your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide today!:https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
UPCOMING EVENTS:Worldview Youth Academy (WYA):Canada | July 20-26, 2025: https://ezra-institute.square.site/product/worldview-youth-canada/122;
Family Camps:Texas | August 14-17, 2025: https://brushfire.com/ezrainstituteusa/familycamp2025-texas/593861;Canada | August 23-30, 2025: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/family-camp-canada/;Minnesota | August 24-27, 2025: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ezra-institute-family-camp-august-24-27-tickets-1203965305639?aff=oddtdtcreator;
For All Ezra Events: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/events/;
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book, “Ruler of Kings:” https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885;Subscribe to our Rumble Channel - https://rumble.com/c/c-6444461.
Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.
On today's episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Dr. Michael Thiessen and Dr. Joe Boot examine Confucianism and how it compares to the Gospel of the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ.
NEW!!! PRE-ORDER Dr. Boot's latest book, Think Christianly: Developing an Undivided Mind, today!:https://ezrapress.ca/products/think-christianly-developing-an-undivided-mind;
Get your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide today!:https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
UPCOMING EVENTS:Worldview Youth Academy (WYA):USA | July 11-17, 2025: https://ezrapress.ca/products/worldview-youth-academy-usa;Canada | July 20-26, 2025: https://ezra-institute.square.site/product/worldview-youth-canada/122;Family Camps:Texas | August 14-17, 2025: https://brushfire.com/ezrainstituteusa/familycamp2025-texas/593861;Canada | August 23-30, 2025: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/family-camp-canada/;Minnesota | August 24-27, 2025: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ezra-institute-family-camp-august-24-27-tickets-1203965305639?aff=oddtdtcreator;
For All Ezra Events: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/events/;
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book, “Ruler of Kings:” https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885;Subscribe to our Rumble Channel - https://rumble.com/c/c-6444461.
Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.
On today's episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Dr. Michael Thiessen and Dr. Joe Boot delve into the ancient Indian folk religion of Jainism.
NEW!!! PRE-ORDER Dr. Boot's latest book, Think Christianly: Developing an Undivided Mind, today!:https://ezrapress.ca/products/think-christianly-developing-an-undivided-mind;
Get your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide today!:https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
UPCOMING EVENTS:Worldview Youth Academy (WYA):USA | July 11-17, 2025: https://ezrapress.ca/products/worldview-youth-academy-usa;Canada | July 20-26, 2025: https://ezra-institute.square.site/product/worldview-youth-canada/122;Family Camps:Texas | August 14-17, 2025: https://brushfire.com/ezrainstituteusa/familycamp2025-texas/593861;Canada | August 23-30, 2025: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/family-camp-canada/;Minnesota | August 24-27, 2025: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ezra-institute-family-camp-august-24-27-tickets-1203965305639?aff=oddtdtcreator;
For All Ezra Events: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/events/;
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book, “Ruler of Kings:” https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885;Subscribe to our Rumble Channel - https://rumble.com/c/c-6444461.
Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.
On today's episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Pastor Nate Wright joins Dr. Joe Boot to examine the pseudo-scientific, green, eco-cult of climate change, its religious root, and many failed doomsday predictions.
Episode Resources: Cornwall Alliance: https://cornwallalliance.org/; A Different Shade of Green: https://www.amazon.ca/Different-Shade-Green-Biblical-Environmentalism/dp/1947644572/ref=sr11?asccampaign=fddc9229cf312a98802caca3e484a955&ascsource=01HPSC557S3N9MA2MVJTEJ7DN5&tag=snxca57-20.
NEW!!! PRE-ORDER Dr. Boot's latest book, Think Christianly: Developing an Undivided Mind, today!:https://ezrapress.ca/products/think-christianly-developing-an-undivided-mind;
Get your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide today!:https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
UPCOMING EVENTS:Worldview Youth Academy (WYA):USA | July 11-17, 2025: https://ezrapress.ca/products/worldview-youth-academy-usa;Canada | July 20-26, 2025: https://ezra-institute.square.site/product/worldview-youth-canada/122;Family Camps:Texas | August 14-17, 2025: https://brushfire.com/ezrainstituteusa/familycamp2025-texas/593861;Canada | August 23-30, 2025: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/family-camp-canada/;Minnesota | August 24-27, 2025: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ezra-institute-family-camp-august-24-27-tickets-1203965305639?aff=oddtdtcreator;
For All Ezra Events: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/events/;
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book, “Ruler of Kings:” https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885;Subscribe to our Rumble Channel - https://rumble.com/c/c-6444461.
Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.
On today's episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Pastor Nate Wright joins Drs. Boot and Thiessen to discuss the religious roots of the current geopolitical conflict between Israel, Iran, and the United States of America.
NEW!!! PRE-ORDER Dr. Boot's latest book, Think Christianly: Developing an Undivided Mind, today!:https://ezrapress.ca/products/think-christianly-developing-an-undivided-mind;
Get your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide today!:https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
UPCOMING EVENTS:Worldview Youth Academy (WYA):USA | July 11-17, 2025: https://ezrapress.ca/products/worldview-youth-academy-usa;Canada | July 20-26, 2025: https://ezra-institute.square.site/product/worldview-youth-canada/122;Family Camps:Texas | August 14-17, 2025: https://brushfire.com/ezrainstituteusa/familycamp2025-texas/593861;Canada | August 23-30, 2025: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/family-camp-canada/;Minnesota | August 24-27, 2025: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ezra-institute-family-camp-august-24-27-tickets-1203965305639?aff=oddtdtcreator;
For All Ezra Events: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/events/;
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book, “Ruler of Kings:” https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885;Subscribe to our Rumble Channel - https://rumble.com/c/c-6444461.
Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.
On today's episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Drs. Boot and Thiessen revisit our series on world religions as they explore the resurgence of paganism and occultism in the West.
NEW!!! PRE-ORDER Dr. Boot's latest book, Think Christianly: Developing an Undivided Mind, today!:https://ezrapress.ca/products/think-christianly-developing-an-undivided-mind;
Get your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide today!:https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
UPCOMING EVENTS:Worldview Youth Academy (WYA):USA | July 11-17, 2025: https://ezrapress.ca/products/worldview-youth-academy-usa;Canada | July 20-26, 2025: https://ezra-institute.square.site/product/worldview-youth-canada/122;Family Camps:Texas | August 14-17, 2025: https://brushfire.com/ezrainstituteusa/familycamp2025-texas/593861;Canada | August 23-30, 2025: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/family-camp-canada/;Minnesota | August 24-27, 2025: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ezra-institute-family-camp-august-24-27-tickets-1203965305639?aff=oddtdtcreator;
For All Ezra Events: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/events/;
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book, “Ruler of Kings:” https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885;Subscribe to our Rumble Channel - https://rumble.com/c/c-6444461.
Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.
In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Dr. Joe Boot delivers a sermon about the unstoppable advance of the Kingdom of God and how the Lord Jesus Christ is making "All Things New."
The sermon was preached initially at Living Word Church in Schriever, Louisiana, on May 11, 2025. We extend our gratitude to them for their warm hospitality and support.
Episode Resources: Original Broadcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWCWeIs_3wU; Living Word Church: https://livingwordhouma.com/;
NEW!!! PRE-ORDER Dr. Boot's latest book, Think Christianly: Developing an Undivided Mind, today!:https://ezrapress.ca/products/think-christianly-developing-an-undivided-mind;
Get your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide today!:https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
UPCOMING EVENTS:Worldview Youth Academy (WYA):USA | July 11-17, 2025: https://ezrapress.ca/products/worldview-youth-academy-usa;Canada | July 20-26, 2025: https://ezra-institute.square.site/product/worldview-youth-canada/122;Family Camps:Texas | August 14-17, 2025: https://brushfire.com/ezrainstituteusa/familycamp2025-texas/593861;Canada | August 23-30, 2025: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/family-camp-canada/;Minnesota | August 24-27, 2025: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ezra-institute-family-camp-august-24-27-tickets-1203965305639?aff=oddtdtcreator;
For All Ezra Events: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/events/;
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book, “Ruler of Kings:” https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885;Subscribe to our Rumble Channel - https://rumble.com/c/c-6444461.
Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.
In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Pastor Nate Wright sits down with Chilean documentary filmmaker Nathan Anderson to discuss how the postmillennial hope influences one's worldview and life perspective.
Episode Resources: On Earth as it is Heaven: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jchu--KWvDw; Honour Thy Son: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGLThab4clw; Teach All Nations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEHIf2IC4Wo&rco=1;
NEW!!! PRE-ORDER Dr. Boot's latest book, Think Christianly: Developing an Undivided Mind, today!:https://ezrapress.ca/products/think-christianly-developing-an-undivided-mind;
Get your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide today!:https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
UPCOMING EVENTS:Spark Conference: Toronto, ON | May 20, 25: https://sparkconference.org/;Worldview Youth Academy (WYA):USA | July 11-17, 2025: https://ezrapress.ca/products/worldview-youth-academy-usa;Canada | July 20-26, 2025: https://ezra-institute.square.site/product/worldview-youth-canada/122;Family Camps:Texas | August 14-17, 2025: https://brushfire.com/ezrainstituteusa/familycamp2025-texas/593861;Canada | August 23-30, 2025: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/family-camp-canada/;Minnesota | August 24-27, 2025: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ezra-institute-family-camp-august-24-27-tickets-1203965305639?aff=oddtdtcreator;
For All Ezra Events: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/events/;
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book, “Ruler of Kings:” https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
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Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885;Subscribe to our Rumble Channel - https://rumble.com/c/c-6444461.
Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.
In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Dr. Joseph Boot is joined for another ReformCon Dialogue by Pastor of Apologia Church, Jeff Durbin, to talk about the promise, power, and principle of the Kingdom of God, which supplies Christians with the unshakable hope of the triumph of the Gospel in history. Tune in for this candid conversation.
Episode Resources: Apologia Studios: https://apologiastudios.com/; Apologia Church: https://apologiachurch.com/; End Abortion Now: https://endabortionnow.com/.
NEW!!! PRE-ORDER Dr. Boot's latest book, Think Christianly: Developing an Undivided Mind, today!: https://ezrapress.ca/products/think-christianly-developing-an-undivided-mind;
Get your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide today!:https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
UPCOMING EVENTS:Spark Conference: Toronto, ON | May 20, 25: https://sparkconference.org/;Worldview Youth Academy (WYA):USA | July 11-17, 2025: https://ezrapress.ca/products/worldview-youth-academy-usa;Canada | July 20-26, 2025: https://ezra-institute.square.site/product/worldview-youth-canada/122;Family Camps:Texas | August 14-17, 2025: https://brushfire.com/ezrainstituteusa/familycamp2025-texas/593861;Canada | August 23-30, 2025: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/family-camp-canada/;Minnesota | August 24-27, 2025: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ezra-institute-family-camp-august-24-27-tickets-1203965305639?aff=oddtdtcreator;
For All Ezra Events: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/events/;
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book, “Ruler of Kings:” https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885;Subscribe to our Rumble Channel - https://rumble.com/c/c-6444461.
Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.
In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Dr. Joseph Boot is joined for another ReformCon Dialogue by the illustrious author, founder, Managing Partner, and Chief Investment Officer of The Bahnsen Group, of the American private wealth management firm, David Bahnsen, to discuss the myth of the work-life balance, and how worshipful work and rest are woven into the very fabric of life itself. Enjoy!
Episode Resources: Full-time Book: https://www.fulltimebook.com/;
NEW!!! PRE-ORDER Dr. Boot's latest book, Think Christianly: Developing an Undivided Mind, today!: https://ezrapress.ca/products/think-christianly-developing-an-undivided-mind;
Get your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide today!: https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
UPCOMING EVENTS:Spark Conference: Toronto, ON | May 20, 25: https://sparkconference.org/;Worldview Youth Academy (WYA):USA | July 11-17, 2025: https://ezrapress.ca/products/worldview-youth-academy-usa;Canada | July 20-26, 2025: https://ezra-institute.square.site/product/worldview-youth-canada/122;Family Camps:Texas | August 14-17, 2025: https://brushfire.com/ezrainstituteusa/familycamp2025-texas/593861;Canada | August 23-30, 2025: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/family-camp-canada/;Minnesota | August 24-27, 2025: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ezra-institute-family-camp-august-24-27-tickets-1203965305639?aff=oddtdtcreator;
For All Ezra Events: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/events/;
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book, “Ruler of Kings:” https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885;Subscribe to our Rumble Channel - https://rumble.com/c/c-6444461.
Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.
In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Dr. Joseph Boot is joined by Pastor and Author Doug Wilson to discuss how the Gospel destroys ethnic animosity and reorders our loves according to the Law-Word of God's totalizing Kingdom rule.
NEW!!! PRE-ORDER Dr. Boot's latest book, Think Christianly: Developing an Undivided Mind, today!: https://ezrapress.ca/products/think-christianly-developing-an-undivided-mind;The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide! Get it here: https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
UPCOMING EVENTS:Spark Conference: Toronto, ON | May 20, 25: https://sparkconference.org/;Worldview Youth Academy (WYA):USA | July 11-17, 2025: https://ezrapress.ca/products/worldview-youth-academy-usa;Canada | July 20-26, 2025: https://ezra-institute.square.site/product/worldview-youth-canada/122;Family Camps:Texas | August 14-17, 2025: https://brushfire.com/ezrainstituteusa/familycamp2025-texas/593861;Canada | August 23-30, 2025: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/family-camp-canada/;Minnesota | August 24-27, 2025: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ezra-institute-family-camp-august-24-27-tickets-1203965305639?aff=oddtdtcreator;
For All Ezra Events: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/events/;
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book, “Ruler of Kings:” https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885;Subscribe to our Rumble Channel - https://rumble.com/c/c-6444461.
Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.
In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Dr. Joseph Boot is joined by Dr. P. Andrew Sandlin for part two of The ReformCon Dialogues, where they discuss biblical manhood and its left-wing and right-wing pretenders.
NEW!!! PRE-ORDER Dr. Boot's latest book, Think Christianly: Developing an Undivided Mind, today!: https://ezrapress.ca/products/think-christianly-developing-an-undivided-mind;
Subscribe to our Rumble Channel - https://rumble.com/c/c-6444461;
The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide! Get it here: https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
UPCOMING EVENTS:Spark Conference: Toronto, ON | May 20, 25: https://sparkconference.org/;Worldview Youth Academy (WYA):USA | July 11-17, 2025: https://ezrapress.ca/products/worldview-youth-academy-usa;Canada | July 20-26, 2025: https://ezra-institute.square.site/product/worldview-youth-canada/122;Family Camps:Texas | August 14-17, 2025: https://brushfire.com/ezrainstituteusa/familycamp2025-texas/593861;Canada | August 23-30, 2025: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/family-camp-canada/;Minnesota | August 24-27, 2025: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ezra-institute-family-camp-august-24-27-tickets-1203965305639?aff=oddtdtcreator;
For All Ezra Events: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/events/;
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book, “Ruler of Kings:” https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions?Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885.
Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.
In this episode of the Ezra institute, Dr. Michael Thiessen interviews Pastor Nick Thompson about his book Sacred Streaming, which explores the implications of digital technology in church worship. Thompson reflects on his experiences during the COVID pandemic that led him to question the legitimacy of live streaming in worship. He emphasizes the importance of physical assembly in the church and warns against the reduction of ecclesiastical experiences to digital formats. The discussion also touches on the regulative principle of worship, the essentiality of public assembly, and the means of grace as ordained by God. In this conversation, Nick Thompson and Michael Thiessen explore the implications of digital technology on worship practices, particularly focusing on the nature of baptism, the limits of digital engagement, and the importance of public worship. They discuss the theological and pastoral challenges posed by live streaming services and the necessity of lamenting the loss of physical gatherings during the pandemic. The conversation emphasizes the need for a balanced approach that honours God's design for worship while acknowledging the realities of modern technology.
Get your copy of Sacred Streaming today!:US & Canada: https://ezrapress.ca/products/sacred-streaming-pastoral-warnings-against-digitizing-church;UK: https://www.ezrapress.co.uk/product/sacred-streaming-pastoral-warnings-against-digitizing-church/24;
NEW!!! PRE-ORDER Dr. Boot's latest book, Think Christianly: Developing an Undivided Mind, today!: https://ezrapress.ca/products/think-christianly-developing-an-undivided-mind;
Subscribe to our Rumble Channel - https://rumble.com/c/c-6444461;
The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide! Get it here: https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
UPCOMING EVENTS:Spark Conference: Toronto, ON | May 20, 25: https://sparkconference.org/;Worldview Youth Academy (WYA):USA | July 11-17, 2025: https://ezrapress.ca/products/worldview-youth-academy-usa;Canada | July 20-26, 2025: https://ezra-institute.square.site/product/worldview-youth-canada/122;Family Camps:Texas | August 14-17, 2025: https://brushfire.com/ezrainstituteusa/familycamp2025-texas/593861;Canada | August 23-30, 2025: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/family-camp-canada/;Minnesota | August 24-27, 2025: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ezra-institute-family-camp-august-24-27-tickets-1203965305639?aff=oddtdtcreator;
For All Ezra Events: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/events/;
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book, “Ruler of Kings:” https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885.
Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.
In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Dr. Joseph Boot and Dr. Michael Thiessen kick off a BRAND NEW series–The ReformCon Dialogues–where Dr. Boot had the pleasure to discuss various subjects with the speakers at ReformCon '25 in Tucson, AZ. On today's show, Drs. Thiessen and Boot discuss the necessity of building and fighting with the Word of God.
NEW!!! PRE-ORDER Dr. Boot's latest book, Think Christianly: Developing an Undivided Mind, today!: https://ezrapress.ca/products/think-christianly-developing-an-undivided-mind;
Subscribe to our Rumble Channel - https://rumble.com/c/c-6444461;
The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide! Get it here: https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
UPCOMING EVENTS:Spark Conference: Toronto, ON | May 20, 25: https://sparkconference.org/;Worldview Youth Academy (WYA):USA | July 11-17, 2025: https://ezrapress.ca/products/worldview-youth-academy-usa;Canada | July 20-26, 2025: https://ezra-institute.square.site/product/worldview-youth-canada/122;Family Camps: Texas | August 14-17, 2025: https://brushfire.com/ezrainstituteusa/familycamp2025-texas/593861;Canada | August 23-30, 2025: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/family-camp-canada/;Minnesota | August 24-27, 2025: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ezra-institute-family-camp-august-24-27-tickets-1203965305639?aff=oddtdtcreator;
For All Ezra Events: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/events/;
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book, “Ruler of Kings:” https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885.
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In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Dr. Joe Boot delivers a powerful Easter message on the power of God unleashed by the resurrection of Christ, such that the effects of sin and the curse are reversed and the people of God take dominion over all creation. Sermon originally delivered on April 8, 2012, @ Westminster Chapel | Toronto, Ontario.
Scripture: Rom. 6:1-11; Phil. 3:8-11
Sermon Notes:The power of God is unleashed by the resurrection of Christ, such that the effects of sin and the curse are being reversed and the people of God take dominion over all creation.The World craves power, seeking it in all the wrong places.Apart from God’s sovereign power (the power of the resurrection), we are powerless to face all the powers arrayed against us; we’re doomed to futility and frustration.Progress isn’t based on highly educated individuals improving over time. We improve only when God’s grace gives us the power to change.Our social order is returning to an old slavery, as a dog returns to its vomit. Returning to our old sins, we reenact our sin-sick past (Prov. 26:11; Jude 10).Our hopes and dreams mock us when we labour apart from Christ.The cultural myth we labour under is that people are naturally good. This is a lie. All people are sinners; therefore changing the environment doesn’t make people good.The downfall of every nation in history was primarily the result of internal social dysfunction, the breakdown of the moral character of the nation.Frustration and futility apart from God leads to cynicism and despair. Then young people turn to rioting and arson and other socially destructive forms of behavior.Because of Adam’s fall, sin and death became an aspect of our beings. Apart from Christ we’re doomed to repeat the sins of Adam.The whole creation groans for redemption (Rom. 8). We can’t celebrate Easter properly if we don’t realize this fact of the human condition.As there’s a connection between us and Adam, so there’s a connection between us and Christ. Christ became man, a descendent of Adam (Luke 2:38).Christ is the second Adam (1 Cor. 15). In Christ all are made alive.Paul wants to know Christ: I want to be found in Him. This is of surpassing worth.Paul wants to know the effective power of God, especially at work in the gospel (Rom.1:16; 1 Cor. 1:18).The same power that raised Jesus is at work today and is at work with Christian believers.The power of the resurrection gives us the ability to live and act to the glory of God, independent of the environmental factors facing us.We’re not bound to the same self-destructive habits. Generational sins are cut off. Christ’s victory overpowers sin and Satan.There’s no other faith, worldview, political vision that has this power. Only in Christ do we have power to escape futility and the power of sin over our lives.Power is no good unless it is applied. The gospel has to be applied. We’re not admiring doctrines, we’re applying them. The gospel contradicts and confounds all humanist doctrines and visions.The human quest for power is hopeless.The power of God is unleashed in Christ (1 Cor. 1:18-24). It is impossible to believe in such a power and not believe it will change men and nations, families, churches and institutions.We’ve received a spirit of life and power. All of life is baptized into Christ, so that all are raised in a new condition and state of being. All of life is then infused with His resurrection power.Christ’s power is over all (Eph. 1:19).Every human being will be raised from the grave, because of Jesus Christ.The resurrection testifies to the truth that Jesus reigns as Lord over all, and so we baptize the nations. We’re a child of the resurrection.Christ is risen and we’re free from the power of sin and death.
Application Questions:How can we identify areas of our lives that are still unbaptized (i.e. not made new by Christ’s resurrection power)?How do we attain Christ’s power and victory over sin?What, according to the World, is the fundamental problem with humanity and how do they try to fix it? What is the biblical view?Where does the World look for the power to improve and progress?What happens when we try to labour apart from Christ?List all the things believers attain on account of Christ’s resurrection. Provide Scripture references for eachAm I guilty of ‘polishing doctrines’ instead of applying them?
The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide! Get it here: https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
UPCOMING CONFERENCES:REFORMCON '25 | "Out of the Ashes" | April 24-26, 2025 @ Tucson, AZ: https://reformcon.org/
For All Ezra Events: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/events/;
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book “Ruler of Kings:” https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885.
Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.
In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Pastor Nate Wright and Dr. Michael Thiessen examine the world and life view of Sikhism.
Episode Resources: Subscribe to our Rumble Channel - https://rumble.com/c/c-6444461;
CHAPTERS:00:00 ReformCon '25 AD00:46 Cold Open: Sikhism03:04 PCR Intro03:28 Welcome05:00 Sikhism is Discipleship05:40 Basics of Sikhism08:08 Sikh Gurus09:18 Sikhism: A Reactionary Religion14:50 Core Beliefs of Sikhism18:14 Naam Japna, Ik Onkar & the Impersonality of the Sikh God20:39 Equality & Social Justice in Sikhism28:13 Sikhism's Ironic Dualism32:20 False Theology Leads to a Disastrous Anthropology and Teleology36:06 By What Standard?38:15 How is Community Built: Sikhism v. Christianity46:13 The Incarnation & True Discipleship49:01 Conclusion50:46 Outro
The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide! Get it here: https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
UPCOMING CONFERENCES:REFORMCON '25 | "Out of the Ashes" | April 24-26, 2025 @ Tucson, AZ: https://reformcon.org/
For All Ezra Events: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/events/;
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book “Ruler of Kings:” https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
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In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Dr. Joe Boot and Pastor Nate Wright respond to the criticisms raised by Andrew Isker and CJay Engel from the Contra Mundum podcast. They engage in an in-depth discussion about the significance of possessing a biblical worldview, addressing misconceptions and providing thorough explanations on topics such as theology, philosophy, epistemology, and mathematics. Dr. Boot underscores that a biblical worldview is grounded in the full revelation of Scripture, which serves as the ultimate authority for all aspects of life, including politics, science, and economics. Additionally, the duo explores the underlying motivations and flawed reasoning behind some of the arguments presented by Isker, Engel, Wolfe, and the reactionary "dank" right, aiming to reinforce the importance of a biblically rooted perspective in all areas of culture and knowledge.
CHAPTERS:00:00 ReformCon '2500:46 Opening01:03 Podcast Intro01:27 Welcome & Introduction03:52 Introduction to the Critique of "The Magical Solution of Just Having the Correct WORLDVIEW" | Contra Mundum07:51 A Charitable Take08:08 Debate on Worldview and Political Theology10:00 "Worldview" Critique Lacks Any Real Substance11:43 CLIP 1: "WORLDVIEWWWWeh"13:30 Theonomy and Worldview Thinking20:36 Rushdoony's Influence and Critique of Nationalism23:18 No Discernable Evidence that They Have Read Rushdoony Deeply24:00 CLIP 2: The Magical Solution of Worldview; Is Worldview Thinking Shallow?24:46 Dismissiveness: The Pot Calling the Kettle Black26:25 Defining Worldview andWhy It Matters 43:08 The Epistemological Divide and the Necessity of a Biblical Foundation43:47 CLIP 3: Special Revelation, Natural Revaltion & Tradition45:13 The Word of God: The True Foundation of Knowledge54:46 Paul's Address at the Areopagus to Folly of the Greek Philosophers56:29 Structure and Direction in Creation57:42 Biblical Worldview-and-Life View Thinking via Scripture01:01:33 The Role of Religious Worldview in Mathematics01:02:10 World Religions and Cultural Expressions01:04:22 Scientific Paradigm Shifts01:08:20 The Intersection of Mathematics and Religion01:15:07 CLIP 4: Tradition & Wisdom as "Inherited Reason"01:24:44 CLIP 5: Modern Thenomists & the Post-War Consensus01:28:15 Reacitonaries are Revolutionaries Too01:32:42 R2K &Theonomy ARE NOT the Same, but C2K & R2K Have the Same Paradigm01:34:43 Playing Their Role: These Men are Caught in a Dialectic Trap01:37:35 The Inescapability of Worldview01:39:00 Ideology: Absolutizing an Aspect of Creation Outside of the Kingdom of God01:40:50 A Pastoral Concern: Return to Your First Love01:42:33 The Culture They Hate Derived from a Worldview01:43:53 How to Destroy the Devil's Strongholds: Wield the Sword of the Word01:45:12 Conclusion and Final Thoughts01:45:40 Podcast Outro
The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide!Get it here: https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
UPCOMING CONFERENCES: REFORMCON '25 | "Out of the Ashes" | April 24-26, 2025 @ Tucson, AZ: https://reformcon.org/For All Ezra Events: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/events/;
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book “Ruler of Kings:” https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
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In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Dr. Joe Boot and Dr. Michael Thiessen delve into Buddhism's surprising influence on Western thought. They discuss the core teachings of Buddhism, its impact on Western minds through figures like Sam Harris and the Dalai Lama, and why Buddhism's philosophy offers little more than a self-salvation death cult. The conversation contrasts Buddhist detachment with Christian transformation and looks at how Christians can respond to and understand these cross-cultural influences. The episode also explores the global sociopolitical implications of popular Buddhist teachings and highlights the superiority of a Christian worldview rooted in the teachings of Jesus Christ.
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CHAPTERS:00:00 ReformCon '2500:46 Cold Open: Buddhism's Influence on Western Culture02:12 Podcast Intro 02:36 Introduction and Overview03:08 Exploring Buddhism's Practical Expressions in the West03:56 Sam Harris: Atheism Meets Buddhism06:44 The Illusion of Self and Personal Identity09:04 The Contradictions of Sam Harris's Views21:29 Mindfulness and Detachment: A Critical Look41:29 The Reality of Pain and Suffering53:19 Exploring Pleasure from Pain54:00 Contradictions in Moral Landscape54:20 Acknowledging Pain and Suffering54:45 Counterfeit Relief and Thought Detachment55:46 Christian Perspective on Anxiety and Prayer57:04 Escapism vs. Embracing Humanity57:30 Sam Harris's Teachings on Self-Illusion is Delusion59:14 Christian Response to Buddhist Self-Illusion01:09:41 Critique of Buddhist Ethics and Karma01:11:00 Dalai Lama's Influence and Secular Ethics01:33:56 Final Thoughts and Upcoming Events01:36:20 Podcast Outro
The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide!Get it here: https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
UPCOMING CONFERENCES: REFORMCON '25 | "Out of the Ashes" | April 24-26, 2025 @ Tucson, AZ: https://reformcon.org/For All Ezra Events: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/events/;
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book “Ruler of Kings:” https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
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In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Dr. Joe Boot and Dr. Michael Thiessen examine the origin, history and core beliefs of Buddhism.
Episode Resources: Subscribe to our Rumble Channel - https://rumble.com/c/c-6444461;
CHAPTERS:00:00 Cold Open03:20 Podcast Intro03:40 Welcome05:25 The Historical Context of Buddhism08:00 The 3 Periods of the Buddha's Life14:33 Core Teachings: The Four Noble Truths21:00 Inherent Problems with the Four Noble Truths 25:10 The Great Buddha (Messiah) to Come32:01 Liberation: The Renunciation of Self33:03 Folk Buddhism vs. Enlightened Buddhism35:06 Buddhism's Self-Salvation is a Death Cult36:41 ReformCon '25 AD37:27 Navigating the Eightfold Path: Ethical Conduct in Buddhism46:15 The Illogic & Hopelessness of Buddhism48:46 Understanding Nirvana50:00 Desire is NOT the Enemy54:00 The Eightfold Path is Full of Pot Holes58:50 Various forms of Buddhism: Tantric, Zen, Animism and Occultism01:03:11 Gnosticism Within: Illusion, Sin and the Self01:09:00 Body/Mind Dualism within Buddhism01:14:15 Conclusion01:15:06 Outro
The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide! Get it here: https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
UPCOMING CONFERENCES:REFORMCON '25 | "Out of the Ashes" | April 24-26, 2025 @ Tucson, AZ: https://reformcon.org/
For All Ezra Events: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/events/;
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book “Ruler of Kings:” https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
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In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Dr. Joe Boot and Pastor Nate Wright examine the world and life view of Hinduism.
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CHAPTERS:00:00 Cold Open: Hinduism05:40 Intro07:50 Show Set Up23:06 Hindu's Origin & Mythology27:15 ReformCon '25 AD28:01 The Gnostic Root of Hindu Paganism35:34 The Hiduisation of the West: Oneism vs. Twoism50:19 The Cultural Implications of Karma 56:19 Conclusion and Upcoming Conference01:00:09 Outro
The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide! Get it here: https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
UPCOMING CONFERENCES:REFORMCON '25 | "Out of the Ashes" | April 24-26, 2025 @ Tucson, AZ: https://reformcon.org/
For All Ezra Events: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/events/;
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book “Ruler of Kings:” https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
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In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Pastor Nate Wright and Dr. Joe Boot think Christianly about Donald Trump's recent Joint Session Address.
Episode Resources: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkFKNkAEzQ8
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The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide! Get it here: https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
UPCOMING CONFERENCES:REFORMCON '25 | "Out of the Ashes" | April 24-26, 2025 @ Tucson, AZ: https://reformcon.org/
For All Ezra Events: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/events/;
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book “Ruler of Kings:” https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
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In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Dr. Joe Boot is joined by Ezra Fellow P. Andrew Sandlin to talk about Judaism.
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CHAPTERS:00:00 Cold Open: Judaism04:52 ReformCon '25 AD05:40 Intro06:04 Welcome07:28 Understanding Judaism09:13 Theological Reflections on Judaism14:26 The Concept of God in Judaism and Christianity32:19 The Term 'Judeo-Christian'35:55 Core Features of Judaism38:45 Misunderstanding the Law in Modern Judaism41:16 The Role of the Temple and Sacrificial System43:15 The Blindness of Modern Judaism48:21 The 'Puritan Hope'51:32 Understanding Antisemitism: Interest Bedfellows01:02:46 Christianity is True Judaism01:09:07 Conclusion and Upcoming Conference01:13:05 Outro
The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide! Get it here: https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
UPCOMING CONFERENCES:REFORMCON '25 | "Out of the Ashes" | April 24-26, 2025 @ Tucson, AZ: https://reformcon.org/
For All Ezra Events: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/events/;
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book “Ruler of Kings:” https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
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This week, we’re featuring a thought-provoking interview with Dr. Joe Boot on Revelation TV, where he tackles the critical question: Should education be Christian or secular? In this discussion, Dr. Boot examines the foundations of modern education, the role of faith in shaping our understanding of truth, and why a truly Christian worldview must extend to how we teach and train the next generation. Don’t miss this compelling conversation on the impact of education in shaping culture and the future of society.
The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide! Get it here: https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
UPCOMING CONFERENCES:REFORMCON '25 | "Out of the Ashes" | April 24-26, 2025 @ Tucson, AZ: https://reformcon.org/
For All Ezra Events: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/events/;
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book “Ruler of Kings:” https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
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In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Pastor Nate Wright and Dr. Michael Thiessen discuss the recent cultural victories in the Christian community, focusing on the importance of engaging with current events through a biblical worldview. They analyze the implications of tariffs on national identity and trade, the role of taxation, and the cultural shifts in corporate America regarding DEI and CRT. The conversation emphasizes the need for Christians to direct their frustrations toward the correct political figures and to celebrate the positive changes occurring in society. In this conversation, the speakers discuss various cultural shifts observed during the Super Bowl, the evolution of entertainment platforms like Saturday Night Live, and the importance of boldness in addressing societal issues. They reflect on the significance of recent events in media and entertainment, emphasizing the need for Christians to engage in cultural conversations and uphold biblical values. The discussion culminates in a reminder of the enduring nature of God's word amidst changing societal norms.
Episode Resources: Subscribe to our Rumble Channel - https://rumble.com/c/c-6444461
CHAPTERS:00:00 ReformCon '25 AD00:46 Intro 01:05 Welcome02:00 WINNING!05:41 Thinking Through the Headlines06:42 Anti-Americanism as Faux Canadian Patirotism09:00 Canada vs. USA: Tariffs & Trade Wars27:50 Big Business Ditching DEI?32:38 A Super "Safe" Super Bowl36:50 SNL 50: A Cultural Shift in Comedy and Cancel Culture?43:53 Marvel Moving Back on Wokism?48:39 Capitalize on the Winds of Change52:25 Pursuit: Keep Pushing!54:28 Conclusion59:52 Outro
The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide! Get it here: https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
UPCOMING CONFERENCES:REFORMCON '25 | "Out of the Ashes" | April 24-26, 2025 @ Tucson, AZ: https://reformcon.org/
For All Ezra Events: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/events/;
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book “Ruler of Kings:” https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
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Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885.
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In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Pastor Nate Wright and Dr. Michael Thiessen step into the watchtower to examine the origin, history and beliefs of the cult–Jehovah's Witnesses.
Episode Resources: Subscribe to our Rumble Channel - https://rumble.com/v6hi4pg-zoroastrianism.html
CHAPTERS:00:00 ReformCon '25 AD00:45 Cold Open: The Religion of Zoroaster05:27 Intro05:48 Examining the Watchtower Podcast01:05:25 Outro
The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide! Get it here: https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
UPCOMING CONFERENCES:REFORMCON '25 | "Out of the Ashes" | April 24-26, 2025 @ Tucson, AZ: https://reformcon.org/
For All Ezra Events: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/events/;
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book “Ruler of Kings:” https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
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Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885.
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In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Pastor Nate Wright and Dr. Joe Boot examine the origin, history, and theology of one of the world's most primitive dualistic pagan religions: Zoroastrianism. Though small, this religion has had a significant impact on history. Join us as we dive deep into Zoroastrianism.
Episode Resources: Subscribe to our Rumble Channel - https://rumble.com/v6hi4pg-zoroastrianism.html
CHAPTERS:00:00 Cold Open: The Religion of Zoroaster03:15 Intro03:25 Welcome05:03 Upcoming Events07:02 Why Zoroastrianism?11:21 Who is Zoroaster or Zarathustra? 13:10 What Did He Teach?18:00 Understanding Zoroastrianism through a Biblical Lens20:18 Nimrod & The Table of Nations21:56 Zoroaster: The Seed of the Woman?23:47 The Hope for the Seed of the Woman, the Seed of Religion34:10 ReformCon '25 AD34:56 A Distorted Faith37:12 The Influence of Zoroastrianism/Ancient Dualism43:10 Saoshayant: The Zoroastrian Messiah43:47 Core Beliefs of Zoroastrianism46:14 Salvation Without Atonement49:34 Ahura Mazda: An Impersonal God53:27 The True Seed of the Woman: Jesus Christ59:23 Outro
The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide! Get it here: https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
UPCOMING CONFERENCES:REFORMCON '25 | "Out of the Ashes" | April 24-26, 2025 @ Tucson, AZ: https://reformcon.org/
For All Ezra Events: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/events/;
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book “Ruler of Kings:” https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
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Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885.
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In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Pastor Nate Wright is joined by Cultish's Jeremiah Reoberts to discuss the origins, history, and theology of Mormonism–The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS). Don't miss this riveting discussion on a uniquely American mythology.
CHAPTERS:00:00 ReformCon '2500:46 Cold Open: Origins of Mormonism07:19 Intro07:40 Welcome09:57 Engaging the Cults 16:56 A Concise History of Mormonism29:37 The Cult Tendnecy to Bypass the Mind31:31 Reaching Your Mormon Neighbour37:12 Are Mormons Christians?: Examining LDS Theology47:43 False Religions & the Lack of Atonement49:17 The Modern Mormon Challenge & the Future of the LDS58:04 Presupp and the Internal Critique of Mormonism01:01:37 3 Things: Tell Better Stories, Guard Your Heart, Know Your Bible01:06:00 The Word of God MUST Be Your Firm Foundation01:08:43 Conclusion/Send-off01:11:30 Outro
The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide! Get it here: https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
UPCOMING CONFERENCES:Christ is King World Missions Conference - "Gospel Culture" | January 19-22, 2025 | San Antonio, TX: https://christisking.church/lyw;Faith & Medicine Conference | January 19-22, 2025 | Atlanta, GA: https://faithandmedicine.org/;
REFORMCON '25 | "Out of the Ashes" | April 24-26, 2025 @ Tucson, AZ: https://reformcon.org/
For All Ezra Events: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/events/;
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book “Ruler of Kings:” https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885.
Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.
WATCH PART 1 HERE: https://rumble.com/v6aoofm-deanna-mcleod-shocking-long-term-impact-of-covid-19-on-cancer-treatment.html;
In this conversation, Dr. Michael Thiessen and oncology researcher Deanna McLeod discuss the significant impact of COVID-19 on cancer care, particularly for female patients. They explore the dramatic rise in cancer billings since 2019, the drop in screenings and surgical access, and the resulting increase in mortality rates. The discussion highlights the consequences of public health measures, the importance of individual care, and the need for a return to ethical medical practices. In this conversation, Deanna and Michael discuss the significant impact of COVID-19 and its related policies on women's health, particularly in relation to cancer rates and the implications of vaccination. They explore the concerning trends in tumour progression, the role of chronic inflammation, and the potential effects of hormonal dysregulation. The discussion also highlights the manipulation of statistics in medical recommendations and the need for a more careful examination of the long-term effects of COVID-19 vaccinations on cancer patients.
Episode Resource: Canadian COVID Care Alliance: https://www.canadiancovidcarealliance.org/; Covid Sense on X: https://x.com/sensecovid; Covid Sense on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sensecovid;
DID YOU MISS AN EPISODE ft. DEANNA!?! - Be sure to watch Mike's previous discussions with her:Deanna McLeod: Pt 1. Omicron Boosters - Untested, Unsafe and Ineffective: https://rumble.com/v1tpjsw-deanna-mcleod-why-we-must-stop-the-shots-pt.-1-ineffective-untested-and-uns.html;Deanna McLeod Pt. 2: Myocarditis and the Vaccines: https://rumble.com/v1votgi-deanna-mcleod-why-we-must-stop-the-shots-pt.-2-myocarditis-and-other-seriou.html;Deanna McLeod Pt. 3: Big Pharma and Vaccine Conflict of Interest: https://rumble.com/v246yo4-deanna-mcleod-pt.-3-vaccine-conflicts-of-interest.html;Deanna McLeod Pt. 4: "AGILE Regulations" - Circumventing Regulatory Barriers for Profit: https://rumble.com/v2nbl3e-deanna-mcleod-pt.-4-agile-regulations-circumventing-regulatory-barriers-for.html;Deanna McLeod Pt. 5: ”AGILE Regulations” - Why We MUST Demand PROVEN SAFETY OVER PROFIT: https://rumble.com/v2prkno-deanna-mcleod-pt.-5-agile-regulations-why-we-must-demand-proven-safety-over.html;Deanna McLeod Pt. 6: ”Protecting Pregnancy and Breastfeeding” - Parts 1 - 3:WATCH 6.1 HERE: https://rumble.com/v3p6rpd-deanna-mcleod-pt.-6-protecting-pregnancy-and-breastfeeding-in-a-vaccine-cra.html;WATCH 6.2 HERE: https://rumble.com/v3sajaz-deanna-mcleod-pt.-6.2-protecting-pregnancy-and-breastfeeding...-continued.html;WATCH 6.3 HERE: https://rumble.com/v3xhlqy-deanna-mcleod-pt.-6.3-protecting-pregnancy-and-breastfeeding...continued....HTML.
The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide! Get it here: https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
UPCOMING CONFERENCES:Mission of God Conferences:U.S. – Denver | Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025 @ 8:00 - 16:00 MST@ Faith Church | Arvada, Colorado: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/mission-of-god-denver/;Faith & Medicine Conference | January 19-22, 2025 | Atlanta, GA: https://faithandmedicine.org/;
REFORMCON '25 | "Out of the Ashes" | April 24-26, 2025 @ Tucson, AZ: https://reformcon.org/;
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book “Ruler of Kings:” https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885.
Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.
In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Dr. Joe Boot, Pastor Nate Wright, Dr. Michael Thiessen bring you a wide-ranging discussion, on location at Christ is King World Missions Conference in San Antonio, TX, in which they discuss world religions, global missions, gospel culture, and how religion and culture affect politics.
CHAPTERS:00:00 Intro00:20 Welcome04:36 Christ in King World Conference Update10:26 Global Mission & Gospel Culture18:14 Multiethnic Kingdom Culture Not Monomaniacal Multiculturalism32:10 Upcoming Ezra Events32:21 Back in America: The Importance of the Inauguration of Donald Trump34:30 Changing Laws as a Reflection of a Cultural Shift46: 45 UK Grooming Gangs Scandal48:15 The Utter Folly of Multiculturalism53:39 WHO, Globalism, & Sphere Sovereignty01:01:47 Sphere Sovereignty: Putting Politics in its Proper Place01:07:43 Conclusion/Send-off01:09:53 Outro
The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide! Get it here: https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
UPCOMING CONFERENCES:Christ is King World Missions Conference - "Gospel Culture" | January 19-22, 2025 | San Antonio, TX: https://christisking.church/lyw;Faith & Medicine Conference | January 19-22, 2025 | Atlanta, GA: https://faithandmedicine.org/;
REFORMCON '25 | "Out of the Ashes" | April 24-26, 2025 @ Tucson, AZ: https://reformcon.org/
For All Ezra Events: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/events/;
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book “Ruler of Kings:” https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885.
Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.
In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Dr. Joe Boot and Pastor Nate Wright are joined by Dr. James R. White to discuss Islam.
Episode Resource: https://www.amazon.ca/Every-Christian-Needs-About-Quran/dp/0764209760/ref=sr11?crid=1BGXMPWN60TDE&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.rqf6VowDFDJ7RrrXq9GsSCPB2PMEKVg-eSAzgjsxhaDGjHj071QN20LucGBJIEps.okLHNvgUo7fmuH-W4VZX5fA6tetdxaZCgXffqC7OKE&dibtag=se&keywords=what+every+christian+needs+to+know+about+the+quran&psr=EY17&qid=1736995446&s=todays-deals&sprefix=what+every+chirstian+needs+to+know+about+the+quran%2Ctodays-deals%2C93&sr=1-1;
CHAPTERS:00:00 Opening04:17 Intro04:51 Welcome06:25 What is Islam?32:10 Islam as Mohammedanism35:20 The History of Islam49:45 The Cultural & Political Impact of Islam 59:00 How Can Christians Engage Muslims?01:03:17 Send-off01:03:39 Outro
The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide! Get it here: https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
UPCOMING CONFERENCES:Christ is King World Missions Conference - "Gospel Culture" | January 19-22, 2025 | San Antonio, TX: https://christisking.church/lyw;Faith & Medicine Conference | January 19-22, 2025 | Atlanta, GA: https://faithandmedicine.org/;
REFORMCON '25 | "Out of the Ashes" | April 24-26, 2025 @ Tucson, AZ: https://reformcon.org/
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book “Ruler of Kings:” https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885.
Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.
In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Dr. Joe Boot and Pastor Nate Wright kick off the New Year by introducing a new series on World Religion.
The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide! Get it here: https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
CHAPTERS:00:00 Opening00:17 Intro00:37 Welcome01:53 Gospel Culture | Christ is King Conference02:28 ReformCon 202502:45 Mission of God: 10th Anniversary Release03:04 Series Set-up: World Religions04:15 What is Religion?09:29 The Culprit in Our Current Culture Chaos: Religious Pluralism12:25 Statism & the Myth of Neutrality12:50 Religion & the Meaning of Life19:40 The Heart of the Matter25:00 The Relationship Between Religion & Worldview29:50 A Taxonomy of Religion36:58 What Distinguishes Christianity from All Other Religions?44:23 The Practical Importance of the Series45:45 Humanism as a Religion53:33 The Religious Impact on Our Culture in an Anti-Christian Age56:28 Send-off57:09 Outro
UPCOMING CONFERENCES:Christ is King World Missions Conference - "Gospel Culture" | January 19-22, 2025 | San Antonio, TX: https://christisking.church/lyw;Faith & Medicine Conference | January 19-22, 2025 | Atlanta, GA: https://faithandmedicine.org/;
REFORMCON '25 | "Out of the Ashes" | April 24-26, 2025 @ Tucson, AZ: https://reformcon.org/
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book “Ruler of Kings:” https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885.
Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.
HAPPY NEW YEAR from everyone at the Ezra Institute! In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Pastor Nate Wright announces a brand-new Ezra podcast–Ezra Interviews with Michael Thiessen. Would you like to know what to expect? Tune in for this scintillating conversation between Dr. Thiessen and Dr. Voddie Baucham on how Marxism and Critical Race Theory (CRT) have infiltrated the Church.
Episode Resources: Purchase Fault Lines here: https://www.amazon.com/Fault-Lines-Movement-Evangelicalisms-Catastrophe/dp/1684511801;
The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide! Get it here: https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
UPCOMING CONFERENCES:Christ is King World Missions Conference - "Gospel Culture" | January 19-22, 2025 | San Antonio, TX: https://christisking.church/lyw;The Mission of God Conferences:U.S. – Denver | Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025 @ 8:00 - 16:00 MST@ Faith Church | Arvada, Colorado: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/mission-of-god-denver/;Faith & Medicine Conference | January 19-22, 2025 | Atlanta, GA: https://faithandmedicine.org/;
REFORMCON '25 | "Out of the Ashes" | April 24-26, 2025 @ Tucson, AZ: https://reformcon.org/
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book “Ruler of Kings:” https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885.
Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.
In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Dr. Joe Boot, Pastor Nate Wright, and Dr. Michael Thiessen consider the Christmas message of the heavenly host.
The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide! Get it here: https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
CHAPTERS:00:00 Christmas Giving AD00:34 Opening00:47 Intro01:06 Welcome02:40 Ezra Programs 202503:27 Christmas Traditions: Joe05:41 Christmas Traditions: Mike08:06 Christmas Traditions: Nate11:47 Episode Topic12:24 Scripture Reading | Hebrews 114:17 The Supremacy of Christ: Jesus is BETTER Than the Angels22:26 The Herald Angel's Greatest Message: Christ26:13 The Supremacy of Christ Over Silly Spiritual Speculation27:46 The Angelic Song: Glory to God in the Highest!30:47 The Humble Shepherd King; to Humble Shepherds the Angelic Host Sing37:09 Heralds & Messengers: Christians as the Angels in Christ49:26 Conclusion50:24 Outro
UPCOMING CONFERENCES:Christ is King World Missions Conference - "Gospel Culture" | January 19-22, 2025 | San Antonio, TX: https://christisking.church/lyw;The Mission of God Conferences:U.S. – Denver | Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025 @ 8:00 - 16:00 MST@ Faith Church | Arvada, Colorado: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/mission-of-god-denver/;Faith & Medicine Conference | January 19-22, 2025 | Atlanta, GA: https://faithandmedicine.org/;
REFORMCON '25 | "Out of the Ashes" | April 24-26, 2025 @ Tucson, AZ: https://reformcon.org/
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book “Ruler of Kings:” https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885.
Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.
In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Dr. Joe Boot and Pastor Nate Wright talk about the turbulence of the incarnation of Jesus Christ. Baby Jesus, the meek and mild babe in a manager, shook the entire fabric of the world, troubling many, filling others with wrath and fear, but causing many to come from afar to prostrate themselves before him in worshipful service. What's your response to the lowborn King of Kings? May it be the way of wisdom: worship and adoration.
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book “Ruler of Kings:” https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide! Get it here: https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
CHAPTERS:00:00 Mission of God AD00:25 Opening00:36 Intro01:05 Welcome02:29 Christmas Gift - Mission of God: 10th Anniversary Edition03:23 Conference ADs05:18 Scripture Reading | Matthew 2:1-1607:23 Sanitizing the Christmas Story08:51 Trouble in Jerusalem: The Menacing Arrival of the Magi12:23 Herod, the Great: The Tyrannical Imposter King of the Jews19:05 Signs in the Skies26:46 The Magi & the Messiah32:35 The True King of the Jews, the Ruler of the Kings of the Earth35:45 Herod's Relevant Response to Jesus and Ours43:20 Christmas: A Disturbance in the Force44:26 Conclusion45:50 Outro
UPCOMING CONFERENCES:Christ is King World Missions Conference - "Gospel Culture" | January 19-22, 2025 | San Antonio, TX: https://christisking.church/lyw;The Mission of God Conferences:U.S. – Denver | Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025 @ 8:00 - 16:00 MST@ Faith Church | Arvada, Colorado: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/mission-of-god-denver/;Faith & Medicine Conference | January 19-22, 2025 | Atlanta, GA: https://faithandmedicine.org/;
REFORMCON '25 | "Out of the Ashes" | April 24-26, 2025 @ Tucson, AZ: https://reformcon.org/
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885.
Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.
In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Doctors Joe Boot and Michael Thiessen debunk popular myths concerning Christmas.
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book “Ruler of Kings:” https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide! Get it here: https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
CHAPTERS:00:00 Mission of God AD00:25 Opening00:45 Intro01:05 Welcome01:25 Conference ADs02:01 Mission of God: 10th Anniversary Edition02:20 The Significance of the Christian Calendar & its Feasts09:05 Myth #1 - Mary's Song: The Magnificat and Its Meaning19:45 Myth #2 - Origins of Christmas: Christian or Pagan?29:22 Myth #3 - The Dating of Christmas34:13 Myth #4 - The Magi: Who, What, When, How Many, and Why?46:17 Myth #5 - The Christmas Tree: Its Symbolism and Significance00:49:47 Conclusion00:50:31 Outro
UPCOMING CONFERENCES:Christ is King World Missions Conference - "Gospel Culture" | January 19-22, 2025 | San Antonio, TX: https://christisking.church/lyw;The Mission of God Conferences:U.S. – Denver | Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025 @ 8:00 - 16:00 MST@ Faith Church | Arvada, Colorado: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/mission-of-god-denver/;Faith & Medicine Conference | January 19-22, 2025 | Atlanta, GA: https://faithandmedicine.org/;
REFORMCON '25 | "Out of the Ashes" | April 24-26, 2025 @ Tucson, AZ: https://reformcon.org/
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885.
Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.
In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Pastor Nate Write and Doctors Joe Boot and Michael Thiessen discuss the recent Mission of God Conference: Ontario and, during this advent season, delve deep into the importance of the incarnation of Christ and its political and ministerial ramifications.
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book “Ruler of Kings:” https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide! Get it here: https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
CHAPTERS:00:00 Mission of God AD00:25 Opening00:45 Intro01:05 Welcome01:52 Mission of God: 10th Anniversary Edition02:29 Conference Re-cap - Mission of God: Ontario11:29 This is War! The Great Historical Conflagration25:33 The Political Ramifications of the Incarnation38:47 The Incarnation as the First-fruits of the New Creational Order46:31 Incarnational Ministry01:14:52 Conclusion01:19:56 Outro
UPCOMING CONFERENCES:Christ is King World Missions Conference - "Gospel Culture" | January 19-22, 2025 | San Antonio, TX: https://christisking.church/lyw;The Mission of God Conferences:U.S. – Denver | Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025 @ 8:00 - 16:00 MST@ Faith Church | Arvada, Colorado: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/mission-of-god-denver/;Faith & Medicine Conference | January 19-22, 2025 | Atlanta, GA: https://faithandmedicine.org/;
REFORMCON '25 | "Out of the Ashes" | April 24-26, 2025 @ Tucson, AZ: https://reformcon.org/
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885.
Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.
In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Dr. Joe Boot and Dr. Michael Thiessen are joined by the pastor and author, Doug Wilson (www.dougwils.com), to discuss the recent Antioch Declaration and its various issues and controversies.
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book “Ruler of Kings:” https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
Episode Resources: The Antioch Declaration: https://antiochdeclaration.com/; Tobias' Controversial Appearance on Iron Sharpens Iron: https://ironsharpensironradio.com/2024/09/16/september-13-2024-show-with-tobias-riemenschneider-on-the-rise-of-anti-semitism-admiration-of-adolf-hitler-in-the-21st-century/; Joe Boot on The Antioch Declaration on Iron Sharpens Iron: https://ironsharpensironradio.com/2024/11/25/november-25-2024-show-with-dr-joe-boot-jacob-tanner-on-the-antioch-declaration/; "When a Member of Our Church Shared a Holocaust Meme" | Right Response Ministries: https://youtube.com/watch?v=pj7L7b66xLY&t=520s.
CHAPTERS:00:00 Mission of God AD00:25 Opening00:44 Intro01:04 Welcome01:38 Mission of God: 10th Anniversary Edition02:55 (Issue 1) Tobias Reimenschnieder vs. Joel Webbon Feud03:47 (1.1) Who Knew What, When?04:04 (1.1.1) Doug's Response05:08 (1.1.2) Joe's Response06:19 (1.2.1) Would You Recommend Arbitration Towards Reconciliation?06:48 (1.2.1) Doug's Response08:56 (1.2.2) Joe's Response11:36 (1.3) Tobias: When Will He Respond & Why He was Included?12:42 (1. 3.1) Joe's Response14:52 (1. 3.2) Doug's Comment: A Necessary Distinction: 2 Issues, 1 Group18:11 (2) The Antioch Declaration18:16 (2.1) The Goal of the Declaration?18:18 (2.1.1) Drawing a Line in the Sand: Doug's Response20:07 (2.1.1) NTTR not for the BETTER21:12 (2.1.2) Doug's Comment on the Unhinged Response22:17 (2.1.3)Why the Name - Antioch?24:08 (2.1.4 ) "An [Necessary] Instituting Consideration:" Joe's Response25:52 (2.1.5) Joe's Comment on the Unhinged Response26:26 (2.1.6) The Necessity of Contextual Ministry & Theological Application to Life30:16 (2.2) Fighting the Temptation to Black-pill32:31 (2.3) What's with the Style?33:12 (2.2.1) A Rejoinder on Black-pilling35:48 (2.3.1) What's with the Style?40:50 (2.4) Aristotle & Pagan Philosophy is not Biblical42:41 (2.4.1) A Reformed, Presuppositional Critique46:00 (2.4.2) Rejecting the Pagan Synthesis48:40 (2.4.3) The Insanely Unbiblical Nature of Aristotelian Natural Law49:59 (2.4.4)The Danger of Pagan Primordial Aristotelian Nationalism51:40 (2.4.5)The Christ NOT the Philosopher53:22 (2.4.6)The Greek Philosophers Penchant for Statism54:38 (2.4.7) Natural Affections & the Kingdom of God as "the Totalizing Bond"01:02:17 (2.4.8)The Law of Love01:05:27 Conclusion01:08:45 Outro
UPCOMING CONFERENCES:The Mission of God Conferences:Canada – Ontario | Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024, 9:00 EST @ Harvest Bible Church Windsor: https://brushfire.com/ezrainstitute/missionofgod2024-ontario/587020/details;Denver | Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025 @ 8:00 - 16:00 MST@ Faith Church | Arvada, Colorado: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/mission-of-god-denver/
REFORMCON '25 | "Out of the Ashes" | April 24-26, 2025 @ Tucson, AZ: https://reformcon.org/
The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide! Get it here: https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
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Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885.
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In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Dr. Joe Boot and Dr. Michael Thiessen are joined by author Stephen C. Perks to talk about nature/grace dualism and how its unfortunate effect on Christians's understanding of politics and Church & State relations down through the ages. How can consistent Reformational correct these errors? Tune in to find out.
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book “Ruler of Kings:” https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
Episode Resources: Kuyper Foundation Website: https://www.kuyper.org/; Kuyper Foundation Publications: https://www.kuyper.org/books;
UPCOMING CONFERENCES:Join us this October 31- November 2 @ The Presence of Christ Conference at Trinity Bible Chapel in Kitchener/Waterloo: https://mytrinitybiblechapel.churchcenter.com/registrations/events/2343549;
The Mission of God Conferences:Canada – Ontario | Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024, 9:00 EST @ Harvest Bible Church Windsor: https://brushfire.com/ezrainstitute/missionofgod2024-ontario/587020/details;Denver | Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025 @ 8:00 - 16:00 MST@ Faith Church | Arvada, Colorado: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/mission-of-god-denver/
REFORMCON '25 | "Out of the Ashes" | April 24-26, 2025 @ Tucson, AZ: https://reformcon.org/
The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide! Get it here: https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
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Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885.
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In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Dr. Joe Boot, Dr. Michael Thiessen, and Rev. Nate Wright recap the results of the recent U.S. election and help Christians think through what another Trump presidency means for the Church.
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book “Ruler of Kings:” https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
UPCOMING CONFERENCES:
Join us this October 31- November 2 @ The Presence of Christ Conference at Trinity Bible Chapel in Kitchener/Waterloo: https://mytrinitybiblechapel.churchcenter.com/registrations/events/2343549;
The Mission of God Conferences:Canada – Ontario | Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024, 9:00 EST @ Harvest Bible Church Windsor: https://brushfire.com/ezrainstitute/missionofgod2024-ontario/587020/details; Denver | Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025 @ 8:00 – 16:00 MST@ Faith Church | Arvada, Colorado: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/mission-of-god-denver/
REFORMCON ’25 | “Out of the Ashes” | April 24-26, 2025 @ Tucson, AZ: https://reformcon.org/
The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide! Get it here: https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
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Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;
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Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;
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The post Christianity & Politics: Trump’s HUGE Win… Now What!? | Podcast for Cultural Reformation appeared first on Ezra Institute.
Ideological feminists and other modern Leftists routinely accuse biblical Christians and sociopolitical conservatives of misogyny on account of their support for biblical or traditional male-female distinctions. The guiding tenet of contemporary Leftism is egalitarianism,1 particularly sexual egalitarianism, which demands across-the-board equality of men and women, not legal equality (which has been pervasive in the West for many decades and reflects the biblical view), but existential equality — there are no ontologically rooted differences between men and women that dictate some distinct callings and roles.
In the creation order man and woman are equally made in God’s image, equally valuable in his sight, and equally charged with stewarding his creation — but are not called to do all things equally. The divinely established natural order itself (in biblical terms, creation) must yield to the Leftist utopian dream that differences between men and women are merely social constructions invented by a hegemonic patriarchy remedied by monstrosities like womb-encasing males and phalloplasty-re-engineered females.
The fact that anybody with two eyes can discern there are obvious and insurmountable differences between men and women, which no surgery can mask or erase, has done nothing to impede the bizarre Leftist ideology at war with the cosmos. The cosmos will win that war.
Since this Leftist egalitarianism has gained the upper hand in Western culture, the leading political component, in fact, of the larger Sexual Revolution since the 1960s, we should not be surprised at the emergence of a conservative counter-revolution reasserting male-female differences and traditional social hierarchies. The impulses behind this reaction are warranted: sexual egalitarianism assaults God’s creational order and sows social chaos.
However, since the counter-revolutionaries are usually not guided by the word of God but by alien, worldly presuppositions, they offer no cure for the disease, and in some cases, their alternative proposal is every bit as injurious as the disease itself. An ingenious insight of Christian philosopher Herman Dooyeweerd is that apostate thought always swings between a “dialectic” of opposing poles that absolutize some aspect of the temporal order. Since apostates deny the absoluteness of the word of God, they have only the shifting sand of the temporal world on which to stand.2 They end up with one foot planted and then quickly unsettled, only to plant a foot in the opposite direction, with equally unsettling results. The Leftist egalitarianism and the conservative counter-revolution are equally futile attempts at a foothold in quicksand.
Since, in review, Leftist egalitarianism is based in modern secularism, the conservative counter-revolutionaries look around for alternative foundations resisting it. Since they refuse to submit to the word of God, they are open to alien alternatives just as spurious as secularism. One of them is ancient paganism. Enter the Bronze Age Mindset.
The Bronze Age MindsetBronze Age Mindset (BAM) is both a book3 and a movement targeting young white right-wing males. The author (who also hosts a wildly popular website of the same name) designates himself the anonymous Bronze Age Pervert. He has since been widely identified as the Romanian-American far-right figure Costin Vlad Alamariu. He holds a Ph.D. from Yale, and his dissertation was titled “The Problem of Tyranny and Philosophy in the Thought of Plato and Nietzsche.”
BAM romanticizes, embellishes, and seeks to revive the spirit of the ancient pagan world in countering the evils of modern Western civilization, which it sees as terminally diseased and fit only for a quick and violent death. Christians who have correctly pinpointed the emergence of neopaganism from the Left,4 notably in its sexually egalitarian feature, might be surprised at the seemingly out-of-nowhere emergence of a competing right-wing version. But BAM is every bit as pagan as Leftist neopaganism and by far more explicit. The book is a rambling, punchy, raunchy, occasionally intellectually coherent argument against modernity, feminism, human equality of all sorts, and, notably, biblical Christianity. To BAM, the hope for humanity is a revival of a very pagan past.
The Bronze Age MalesThe vanguard of that pagan revival is a cadre of robust, muscle-bound, beautiful young males animated by the “life force” of nature. BAM is animist (a supernatural principle pervades all life), pantheist (god is nature itself), and vitalist (life is dependent on a principle beyond chemical or physical forces). It holds that to deny the one God is not to deny the gods. Indeed, the beautiful young white muscular males will themselves become the new gods (“[m]any of the Greek heroes and gods had fair hair and blue or grey eyes,” Alamariu alerts the reader). They will cultivate their deity by “sun and steel”: lying in the sun every day and soaking up its health-producing power and, in fact, becoming sun-worshipers. In tandem, they must take up a regimen of weightlifting to enhance the godlike beauty of their physique. “Only physical beauty,” Alamariu opines, “is the foundation for a true higher culture of the mind and spirit as well. Only sun [worship] and steel [weightlifting] will show you the path.” Beautiful male bodies are the pinnacle of nature, “the body in its glorious and divine beauty.” In this Bronze world, females are subordinate creatures whose consummation of sexual desire drains young males of life-force. Therefore, girlfriends and marriage should, at best, be a tangent, necessary evil. Life’s real focus should be the formation of a camaraderie of young, white, muscular pirates and the domination of all inferiors, that is, all who are not other Bronze Age Males.
Pirates? Yes. They do not support themselves by work or vocation but rather by piracy — they pillage and take at will. Work, sweat, and toil are debasing; the pirate is the original form of the “free man.” They revel in a world they create, a world of absolute freedom on which they impose their will to power. Parents must, therefore, allow sons freedom from any oversight to express their life-force in our otherwise decadent world. Eventually, they will grow up to create a white ethnostate of their own, separate from the rest of human civilization, which they will visit occasionally to solve its recurrent problems and to exert their inexorable will. Let it never be supposed, therefore, that utopianism is an exclusively Leftist concept. BAM is right-wing pagan utopianism at its zenith.
The ultimate cause of all modern decadence is feminism, Alamariu contends, and we live in a “gynocracy,” the rule of women. The only way out of this “absolute hell” and “iron prison” of modernity is a reversion to ancient pagan animas and pantheism, recognizing that the basic truth of humanity is the life-force we must cultivate in impressionable but spiritually, psychologically, and sociologically hungry young men.
Modifying Darwin and Aping NietzscheBAM argues a modified Darwinist but almost entirely Nietzschean view of history. Alamariu agrees entirely with Darwin’s naturalism that the world is nothing but materiality. However, he accuses Darwin and Darwinists of lacking the courage of their convictions in the reluctance to support their survival of the fittest thesis as it consistently applies to humans. Of course, the original Social Darwinism, in its commitment to eugenics, was more consistent and courageous, though insufficiently so. BAM, by contrast, champions a Darwinist teleology (design toward a goal). Nature itself has its own goal, the triumph of superior humans, that is, young, beautiful, muscular white males. That is the Darwinism the Bronze Age Males must revive and commandeer.
History is not a natural progression from benightedness to enlightenment. Rather, as Nietzsche believed, it is cyclical. We will always have the enlightened and unenlightened with us, and the ancient world was populated by wiser and more enlightened individuals than exist today (“supermen”). This is why BAM espouses reincarnation. The conscious goal of the BAM is to revive their spirit. “Because of reincarnation,” he declares, “greatness can be instantaneously reborn.” Therefore, though naturalistic, BAM must advocate vitalism: the very old theory that a mysterious life principle within the natural order relentlessly impels it toward a self-sustaining and -perpetuating goal. BAM meets its paradox of holding simultaneously to both naturalism and teleology (how can a purely materialistic nature possibly have a design or goal?) by suggesting that while humans are biologically determined, we are still responsible because there is no one else to be responsible. There is nothing but nature, yet nature always favors Bronze Age Males, destined for world domination. This is the teleology and eschatology of BAM. We cannot successfully fight nature, but we can harness it.
BAM apes Nietzsche in insisting there is no transcendent morality given by God or his revelation in either creation or the Bible. The only morality is biological hierarchy. The superior humans, the supermen, impose their will on the rest of the world. In the Bible, the basic human impulse is the God-given cultural mandate (Gen. 1:28–30), exercising benevolent dominion over the non-human creation under God’s authority and for his glory. For the youthful Bronze Age Males, the cultural mandate is perverted into the quest for more “living space.” Young men need room to exercise their superiority, and they expropriate it as warriors akin to ancient pirates. (This sounds precisely like the rationale for war in most traditional societies.)
BAM epistemology (view of knowledge) reflects the deep imprint of Nietzsche. The intellect is simply an expression of will, which is a concentration of life-force. Channeling the Nazi court philosopher Martin Heidegger, Alamariu writes, “Direct perception is already intellectualized.” He means that how we perceive things is determined by the kind of being we are. The more of the life-force we concentrate and cultivate, the more we perceive the world as it really is. We do not experience the world and then interpret it; our embodied being makes our particular interpretation possible, an interpretation impossible to a different, lower kind of human being. Alamariu states, “The intellect is a purely physical quality like muscular strength.” By becoming physically superior, we become intellectually superior. (The quadriplegic Stephen Hawking must have been an outlier.)
The Western world, like the ancient world, despises Bronze Age Males, and works to deprivilege, subjugate, and crush them whenever possible. Its leaders hatch conspiracies to control and subjugate everyone else. They rewrite history such that what we today recognize as objective historical fact is actually a sophisticated modern myth. History rightly grasped is actually an account of the battles and triumphs of Bronze Age Males and their superior world.
In its place have emerged the “bugmen,” who suppress the life-force and misdirect and pervert that natural energy into attacks on human superiority. These conspirators have crafted the calm, tranquil, egalitarian society of human rights, freedom within law, and equality of all humanity, including women. This is simply hatred for nature itself. BAM believes natural law should prevail everywhere and that law, if observed, will lead to the ubiquitous superiority of beautiful young white muscular males. He writes, “Youth and beauty are universally hated in all human societies in history. These societies are run by decrepit, sclerotic old men.” What constitutes youth? Well, you are over the hill if you’re in your 30s — middle-aged bodies nauseate nature. BAM counsels its young acolytes not to reason with their opponents (he laments the Western “development of logos and reason”) but to ridicule them: “[M]ake the enemy look ridiculous … dour, old, sclerotic, ugly, and pedantic,” and never to underestimate the value of “a good prank.”
One way the Bronze Age Males disrupt the current egalitarian regime is to capture the spirit of cultural chaos — prostitutes, drug addicts, rapists, and murderers. The superior males must immerse themselves in the deepest depravity to tap into nature’s power to sow chaos, which they must unleash to gain world control: “a whore puts cocaine on your tongue, and you feel true power.” They must spend time with this despised underclass, which manifests in suppressed form the genuine spirit of the life-force that has been marginalized by the Western egalitarian regime. “In your life,” Alamariu declares, “you can break their [the bugmen’s] power and ascend to a chaos of joy and destruction.” Nihilism never sounded more delicious — the ecstasy of the destruction of everything and the return to nature and natural law spawned by the impulse within society’s most depraved.
The real world is not civilization and culture. The real world is uninhibited nature. The natural society is a “brotherhood of the free youths.” There must be a “holy war” against the enemies of the youthful gods and their uninhibited life-force. Natural law must triumph.
Bronze Age PoliticsBAM envisions a rigidly hierarchical social order with a certain kind of superior human (the Bronze Age Male) at the apex. But every social order implies a secondary yet important political order, and the Bronze Age political order coheres precisely with its social vision. It cannot be democratic, and by this BAM does not mean the sort of pure democracy that the Anglo-American tradition deplored, but, rather, precisely the sort of classically liberal order espoused by England and the United States and the modern West: the rule of law; constitutions and bills of rights; religious, political and economic liberty; negotiated politics; peaceful political transitions; and so forth. This classical liberalism leads to the egalitarian decadence we see around us, including ethnic heterogeneity. There is no way to create the BAM ethnostate without eliminating this Western, Christian-shaped constitutional democracy.
In the piratical world of the BAM, “the only right government is military government… We need warlord rule,” Alamariu advises. And in actuality, the rationale for classical liberalism is just a conspiratorial veneer designed to cover up its own sordid will to power. The U.S. Founders, for example, were merely seeking “dominion and freedom of space to expand.” They couldn’t care less about a constitution, individual rights, free speech and press as they altruistically claimed. Like Nietzsche, BAM suggests that behind the curtain of every political rationale is the wizard imposing a will to power. While the most biblical political order possible in a fallen world is one of principled liberty and self-government within the bounds of law (ultimately God’s law), the BAM political order is government by the young, beautiful, body-building, sun-worshiping elite gods imposing their will on their inferiors. The only free citizens must be the governing pirate class.
The Bronze Age Mentality Versus ChristianityBAM’s conspiratorial view of history leads it to distrust Christian history. Actually, suggests Alamariu, Christianity likely began as paganism and was only later contorted into a theological system at the center of which rules a single deity imposing universal ethics. This was the nefarious work of Christian theologians and historians. Because of the instability and subjectivity of Christian history, argues Alamariu, “Christianity is a versatile faith, capable of many interpretations.” Not that Christianity lacked any exhibition of paganism at all. Most Christian historians and theologians are ashamed (for example) of the conquistadors, but they, in fact, manifested the pagan life-force under the guise of the Christian Faith. Still, Christian history, in general, is designed to crush the life-force in man. (This also was Nietzsche’s take, by the way.)
By its very nature, therefore, BAM must repudiate the heart and soul of Christianity. The Bible is a texture of myths. Christ is not a hero because true heroes never sacrifice; they take territory. Man is not created in God’s image, because there is no God to create anything. There is no creation. Matter is eternal. There is no resurrection, only reincarnation. Perhaps Alamariu’s most explicitly anti-Christian tenet, however, is found in his statement that
So much of this [monotheistic] story makes time a line and makes matter conditional on a deity or creator that lives outside it: the creation of matter out of nothing, the creation of your soul out of nothing. Matter is dead, and in some ways, homogeneous, and its meaning is “divine” only in the sense that it reveals the creation of the external deity, or even better, just the laws he made to govern. It seems and feels wrong, or runs against the immediate perception of the world, so it requires faith, a concept unknown to ancient pagans of all kinds. For this reason, the Romans considered Christians and Jews to be no different from atheists. (emphasis in original)
BAM is thoroughly existentialist. There is only this material world and what we (especially the Bronze Age Males) make of it. There can be no faith. WYSIAYG: What you see is all you get. And what you get is a divinized nature: there is no benevolent, sovereign Creator and Redeemer God behind it and working within it all.
But God’s word tells us that without faith, it is impossible to please God (Heb. 11:6). Therefore, BAM is blatantly contra-Christian. The reason the imperial Romans considered Christians atheists is not because the Christians believed in faith but because they repudiated all the false gods of the ancient world and demanded allegiance to the one true God.5 In other words, the primitive Christians were considered atheists precisely because of their explicit repudiation of the kind of religion BAM is trying to revive.
The Bronze Age Mentality Christians and ConservativesThis contra-Christianity has not prevented BAM from influencing modern sociopolitical conservatism and conservative Christianity. Just as androgynous paganism has deeply infiltrated the Left, so Bronze Age paganism has influenced significant sectors of the Right, including the Christian Right. Matthew Continetti has shown how the New Right6 has become suspiciously like the New Left in its statist lunge. The New Right is an influential, mostly younger segment of American conservatism convinced the American Founding Protestant experiment of liberty under law has been a failure (“as momentous as this founding was, it is also where our current trouble began” 7) and must be supplanted by a new conservative statism that crushes its Leftist enemies by any means possible.8 Continetti says:
The first thing to say about the New Right is that it can get weird. Its ranks are composed almost entirely of men. They inhabit a social-media cocoon where they talk a lot about manhood, and strength, and manliness, and push-ups, and masculinity, and virility, and weight-lifting, and testosterone. “Wrestling should be mandated in middle schools,” write Arthur Milikh and Scott Yenor in the [New Right] collection Up from Conservatism. “Students should learn to build and shoot guns as part of a normal course of action in schools and learn how to grow crops and prepare them for meals. Every male student should learn to skin an animal and every female to milk a cow.”9
The influence of BAM is palpable, whether most in the New Right have read the book or not. The New Right is not simply opposed to sexual egalitarianism (as it should be). In addition, it advocates “muscular” politics, meaning the abandonment of the biblical idea of the rule of law applying to all equally, checks and balances on political power (since politicians, too, are depraved, even those on “our” side), and the state’s role as limited to protecting life and liberty and property. The New Right wants to out-Left the Left at its political power game. Virtue is the exercise of coercive political power. Virtuous liberty be damned.
Conservative Christianity has not been spared the poison tentacles of BAM. A leading platform is the American Reformer, a cadre of youngish Protestants who blame the Protestant political philosophy of classical liberalism (liberty under law) for the evils of modern culture. Human freedom leads to sin; therefore, freedom must be abolished. (Apparently, God himself was mistaken to give Adam and Eve free will in the garden.)
“Christian Vitalism”Christian Winter writes in American Reformer that young men are attracted to BAM because it offers a counter to the confines of modernity in its non-hierarchical, egalitarian order. What we need is a modified vitalism, not BAM’s pagan version, of course, but a revival of nature, which leads to human flourishing. We need to set before the eyes of young men, not the heroes and gods of ancient Greece and Rome but Christian forefathers of masculine fortitude.
Winter argues that theory and theology are insufficient to persuade these young men. They need before their eyes muscular, masculine, overcoming Christian heroes they can emulate. The idea of enlisting Christian heroes is indeed a noble objective (just read Hebrews 11), but the quick, makeshift strategy of “Christian Vitalism” in the face of the popularity of BAM as the best way to appeal to young men and forestall their gravitation to pagan vitalism is what Francis Schaeffer called a “form of the world spirit.”10 It seems a “seeker-sensitive” program for the 21st century among the very people who would have derided Bill Hybels of Willow Creek and Rick Warren of Saddleback for fashioning an ideal faith to appeal to the unchurched “seekers.”
While correlation is not causation, it is highly suspicious that “Christian Vitalism” just seemed magically to appear after and as a consequence of BAM. And it would seem less selective or even disingenuous if its heroes included obese Christian intellectuals like G. K. Chesterton, emaciated Christian prisoners like famed Bulgarian pastor Haralan Popov, and urbane and modest Christian poets like Gerard Manly Hopkins. I suspect, however, that these mighty Christian men are not the sort of male Christian heroes Winter has in mind.
This Christian-modified vitalism veers toward a new syncretism, the attempted fusion of biblical faith and pagan religion. If unchecked, it will be no less poisonous than the syncretism of ancient Israel when it attempted to fuse biblical-covenantal faith to the religion of the surrounding pagan nations. God abhors syncretism, and he sent his prophets to both plead with Israel and fulminate against its apostasy. Let us pray that “Christian Vitalism” reconsiders before it walks itself into the syncretist camp.
Recently Jeffery J. Ventrella, Senior Fellow of the Ezra Institute and noted Christian leader, posted on Facebook a reminder to the young Christian masculinists talking so much about the necessity of weightlifting that physical fitness, while creditable, is not a fruit of the Spirit. I re-posted his statement. The pushback was swift and severe. One of the nation’s young Christian masculinist leaders wrote privately begging me not to support this warning since I would alienate my audience of young men influenced by Christian masculinity (which, in reality, is the syncretistic “Christian Vitalism”). I responded that truth is truth and my interest has never been in avoiding offending a sector of my audience succumbing to sinful, worldly temptations.
It is, moreover, difficult to believe Christian-modified vitalism has grappled with the issues surrounding how the Bible’s teaching on masculinity (what of it there is; 95% of the Bible’s commands are not sex-specific) applies in an informational and postindustrial world. The Bible’s exhortations to and expectations of strength with reference to men are not arguments levelled against the sort of egalitarian and androgynous society presently afflicting the West. To argue, as many conservatives today, for the proper “roles” of men and women is to surrender the battle already. In the words of David Polansky:
Once we acknowledge the need to establish masculine roles is more pressing than the need for masculinity itself, the cat’s already out of the bag. We can argue, for example, that certain gender roles are salutary or desirable, but having admitted to ourselves that these are in fact roles, they necessarily lose their seriousness. It all becomes a kind of elaborate game. This is, incidentally, why the “trad” [traditionalist] accounts one finds on social media [like BAM] have the feeling of camp. The men are caricatures of manliness, just as the women are caricatures of womanhood. They have the same uncanny feeling one gets from encountering AI.11
In God’s creational world (even a fallen one not overrun by egalitarianism), masculinity is not a “role” to be recovered but a natural existence. How that looks in an age divinely blessed with labour-saving devices like automobiles and smartphones is not identical to how it looks in a premodern age that requires most men to skin a sheep for clothing, forge a wheel for transportation, or fall a tree for shelter. If it is necessary to revive an age that requires robust physical strength for everyday tasks, the Bible’s authority and application are severely emaciated. The man’s strength as a customer-serving warrior in the economy of contemporary culture and the wealth of free markets with which God has blessed the West, for example, is just as masculine as his strength had to be in premodern cultures. Assuming the physical strength necessary for modern bricklayers is the sort young Christian men need to aspire to impoverishes the Bible’s authority and dismisses vast areas of contemporary culture that require a different kind and measure of man’s strength.
If young Christian men are seeking guidance in our apostate egalitarian age, they should start with the book of the Bible, written specifically and explicitly to young men: the book of Proverbs. This book teaches that the true man is the man of God, and the man of God is the man of wisdom. Not a muscled physique but a righteous life is the mark of the true man. Care for the body is, of course, a biblical imperative since the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit (we must never be body-hating Gnostics). However, physical fitness is not a fruit of the Spirit, and if young males wish to become true men, they must begin with the fear of the Lord, not with a CrossFit regimen. This syncretistic adaptation of BAM to Christianity, the book of Proverbs, would identify as folly, whose end is destruction.
ConclusionOpposition to the pervasive egalitarian, sociocultural regime of our time is a Christian imperative. Biblical Christianity is simply not compatible with sexual egalitarianism, but in Jerry Bowyer’s metaphor, we cannot simply put the car in reverse; it is futile to traverse backwards on the road that led us to our present debacle in the first place. Rather, he suggests, we should do our best to “loop around” to get back to a biblically hierarchical time — which is by no means identical to a pagan anti-egalitarian time.
In this sense, we must be non-egalitarian and not anti-egalitarian. Anti-egalitarianism carries in its bosom not just an aversion to the sexual egalitarianism of our time but also concessions both to the kind of thinking that got us here and to the battle tactics necessary to combat the present destination. In other words, anti-egalitarianism is a unique modern position possible only in the aftermath of egalitarian apostasy. It is not an older biblical non-egalitarianism. Although we cannot pretend as though the apostasy never occurred, we should do our best to restore the sort of thinking culturally prominent before egalitarianism came along. That certainly is not modern pagan anti-egalitarianism.
Non-egalitarianism is rooted in the creational order: recognition of men and women equally bearing God‘s image but created to fulfill diverse callings as they share the cultural mandate. The woman was made for the man, and the man was not made for the woman, but the man knows he is incomplete without the woman and knows that his very life is bound up in hers, just as hers is in his (1 Cor. 11:8–12). Therefore, he leads, and he doesn’t dominate. Non-egalitarianism, therefore, is just as distant from the Christianized version of the Bronze Age Mindset (which is not the simple restoration of an ancient pagan way of thinking but rather the appropriation of that thinking to very unique, postmodern circumstances) as it is from modern apostate sexual egalitarianism.
Machismo and the misogyny it spawns are the marks of a mindset no less revolutionary than secular egalitarianism and the ideological feminism it exhibits. Both spring from rebellion against God’s word and Christ’s Lordship. The destiny of apostate thinking is to swing incessantly between two or more poles of intellectual insurrection, assuming it can avoid one by adopting its opposite. In reality, all contra-biblical thinking is of the same species — man’s rebellion against God and his revelation doomed for destruction and judgment apart from repentance.
Within the present secular egalitarian regime, the imperative of biblical Christians is to resist anti-egalitarianism (and its attendant Christianized version of the BAM) and work to restore non-egalitarianism. That restoration will equally restore truly biblical masculinity.
Footnotes1. Kenneth Minogue, The Servile Mind (New York and London: Encounter Books), 2010, 296. 2. Herman Dooyeweerd, Roots of Western Culture (Ancaster, Ontario, Canada: Paideia Press, 2012), 12–15. 3. Independently published, 2018. I’m working from the Kindle edition. 4. See Peter Jones, Capturing the Pagan Mind (Nashville, Tennessee: Broadman & Holman, 2003). 5. Larry W. Hurtado, Destroyer of the Gods (Waco, Texas: Baylor University Press, 2016), 37–76. 6. James M. Patterson, “Is the New Right Fascist?”, Religion & Liberty, Summer 2003, 14–25. 7. Jason Michael Morgan, “The Pernicious Myth of ‘Two Americas,’” Chronicles, October 2017, 12. 8. Derek Suszko, “The Problem of Libertarianism,” The St. Croix Review, Vol. LV, No. 4 [August/September 2022], 4–8. 9. Matthew Continetti, “The Left of the Right,” https://www.commentary.org/articles/matthew-continetti/new-right-vs-conservatism/?fbclid=IwAR1dvXqqGBECuQCKivGb3E9PfJ-C140sQMH3HTwzMD9mWjv4LYs-997IALM_aem_ASWQgQFCU42Uamu1iPt4WV2TBzP-0oHCrgfPuT9rACuFPtVzs22MJ_v3ay3Plr8qswg, accessed October 2, 2013. 10. Francis A. Schaeffer, The Great Evangelical Disaster (Westchester, Illinois: Crossway, 1984), 111–140. 11. David Polansky, “No End of Men,” Washington Examiner, October 3, 2023, 54.
The post The New Right-Wing Paganism: Bronze Age Pagan Masculinity appeared first on Ezra Institute.
In this episode of the Rebel – Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Pastor Nate Wright leads a wide-ranging panel discussion with Pastors Tom Ascol, Tim Stephens, James Coates, and Jacob Reaume, which was held at the recent The Presence of Christ Conference @ Trinity Bible Chapel in Waterloo, Ontario.
Episode Resources: Trinity Bible Chapel Website: https://trinitybiblechapel.ca/;
CHAPTERS:00:00 Opening
00:45 Intro
00:53 Welcome
01:50 Topic: Christian Nationalism & Culture
03:54 Question 1: Have You Seen a Rise of Racism/Ethnocentrism on the Right?
04:08 Answer(s) #1 – Jacob Reaume: Sadly, Yes.
04:35 Answer(s) #1 – James Coates: Online NOT in My Church
04:58 Answer(s) #1 – Tim Stephens: An Overreaction & Misunderstanding of Our Critique of Multiculturalism
06:18 Answer(s) #1 – Tom Ascol: A Few Load Voices are Overreacting to the Serious Problem of Globalism
08:12 Answer(s) #1.2 – Jacob Reaume: A Caveat
09:05 Question 2: NETTR NOT for the Better – Should Pastor Address Sins on the Right?
10:35 Answer(s) #2 – Jacob Reaume: Good vs. Evil, NOT Left vs. Right
12:45 Question 3: How would you Define Nation?
10:35 Answer(s) #3 – Tom Ascol: Definition
14:50 Answer(s) #3 – James Coates: “I am a Christian Nationalist.”
16:52 Question 4: How Do Christians Go About Advocating for Biblical Nations & Immigration
18:17 Answer(s) #4 – James Coates: Keep Standing Faithfully & Speaking Prophetically
19:19 Answer(s) #4 – Tim Stephens: Build; Do NOT Destroy!
20:50 Answer(s) #4 – Tom Ascol: The Church MUST Return to “An Uncompromising Declaration of God’s Law & Gospel”
25:00 Answer(s) #4 – Jacob Reaume: Christ is the Answer to Chaos NOT White Identity
28:05 Question 5: Is Tyranny Inescapable?
29:00 Answer(s) #5 – Jacob Reaume: “There is No Such Thing as Christian Tyranny”
29:27 Question 6: The Presence of Christ at the Center of a Vision for Christian Cultural Transformation
29:27 Answer(s) #6 – Jacob Reaume: Christian Reformations via Legitimate Lesser Magistrates Require a Transformed Population
32:48 Answer(s) #6 – James Coates: The Misguided Hearts of Young Men & the Necessity of Sanctification
36:45 Answer(s) #6 – Tim Stephens: The Supremacy of Law & Gospel & Christian Homes as a Model for Godly Society
39:03 Answer(s) #6 – Tom Ascol: Radical Christian Ordinariness
41:13 Conclusion
41:40 Outro
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book “Ruler of Kings:” https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
UPCOMING CONFERENCES:The Mission of God Conferences: Canada – Ontario | Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024, 9:00 EST @ Harvest Bible Church Windsor: https://brushfire.com/ezrainstitute/missionofgod2024-ontario/587020/details; Alberta | Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024, 9:00 MST@ Fairview Baptist Church: https://brushfire.com/ezrainstitute/missionofgod2024-alberta/587306.
REFORMCON ’25 | “Out of the Ashes” | April 24-26, 2025 @ Tucson, AZ: https://reformcon.org/
The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide! Get it here: https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
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Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;
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In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Dr. Joe Boot, Dr. Michael Thiessen, and Rev. Nate Wright talk about the upcoming U.S. election and help us to think Christianly about the religious root of culture and how that affects politics, elections, marriages, families, and human identity.
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book “Ruler of Kings:” https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
UPCOMING CONFERENCES:
Join us this October 31- November 2 @ The Presence of Christ Conference at Trinity Bible Chapel in Kitchener/Waterloo: https://mytrinitybiblechapel.churchcenter.com/registrations/events/2343549;
The Mission of God Conferences:UK | Sat, 2 Nov 2024 10:00 – 17:30 GMT @ Birmingham City Centre: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/mission-of-god-conference-2024-tickets-932486039847; Canada – Ontario | Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024, 9:00 EST @ Harvest Bible Church Windsor: https://brushfire.com/ezrainstitute/missionofgod2024-ontario/587020/details; Alberta | Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024, 9:00 MST@ Fairview Baptist Church: https://brushfire.com/ezrainstitute/missionofgod2024-alberta/587306.
REFORMCON ’25 | “Out of the Ashes” | April 24-26, 2025 @ Tucson, AZ: https://reformcon.org/
The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide! Get it here: https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
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Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;
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The post Christianity & Politics: The Presidency, Politics, and Patriarchy appeared first on Ezra Institute.
In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Dr. Joe Boot and Dr. Michael Thiessen sit down with Christian Concern‘s and Ezra Fellow for Public Policy Tim Dieppe to talk about the British effect on the foundations of constitutional freedoms the world over.
Episode Resources: Christian Concern: https://christianconcern.com/; Tim’s Website: https://dieppe.co.uk/.
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book “Ruler of Kings:” https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
CHAPTERS:00:00 Intro
00:20 Opening
00:41 Welcome
01:52 Magna Carta & British Constitutionalism
09:52 From Whence Do Our Liberties Come?
18:15 Freedom vs. Rights
20:24 The Coronation Oath & the Obvious Christian Foundation of Great Britain
25:10 Recovering a Christian Covenantal Foundation for Civil Authority in Britain and the West
30:30 The Ghost of Our Christian Past
34:10 The Prophetic Role of the Church in Politics & Culture
37:41 Principle vs. Pragmatism in Politics
41:30 Brexit: British Sovereignty & the European Union
45:11 Criticism of English Constitutional Arrangements
51:08 Faith is Essential for Freedom
52:28 Who is Truly Sovereign?
55:21 One Final Criticism: What’s with the House of Lords?
01:00:35 Wrap-up
01:02:30 Upcoming Events
01:04:07 Joe’s Unabashed British Patriotism
01:05:34 Conclusion
01:05:59 Outro
01:06:37 Rule Britannia!
UPCOMING CONFERENCES:
Join us this October 31- November 2 @ The Presence of Christ Conference at Trinity Bible Chapel in Kitchener/Waterloo: https://mytrinitybiblechapel.churchcenter.com/registrations/events/2343549;
The Mission of God Conferences:UK | Sat, 2 Nov 2024 10:00 – 17:30 GMT @ Birmingham City Centre: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/mission-of-god-conference-2024-tickets-932486039847; Canada – Ontario | Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024, 9:00 EST @ Harvest Bible Church Windsor: https://brushfire.com/ezrainstitute/missionofgod2024-ontario/587020/details; Alberta | Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024, 9:00 MST@ Fairview Baptist Church: https://brushfire.com/ezrainstitute/missionofgod2024-alberta/587306.
REFORMCON ’25 | “Out of the Ashes” | April 24-26, 2025 @ Tucson, AZ: https://reformcon.org/
The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide! Get it here: https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;
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Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;
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The post Christianity & Politics: Britain & the Foundation of Constitutional Freedom ft. Tim Dieppe appeared first on Ezra Institute.
On this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Engagement, P Nate delivers the final message in his four-part series on winning the culture for Christ.
HOW TO WIN THE WORLD PAST EPISODES:
Part 1 – “Believe the World is Winnable” ft. Josh Howard: https://youtu.be/jhXUt0OFFDM; Part 2 – “War with Worship” ft. Doug Wilson: https://youtu.be/EqgR9Ewba7g; Part 3 – “Cultivate Christian Community” ft. Toby Sumpter: https://youtu.be/a5YQdrgJ_wg; Part 4 – “Recover Biblical Households” ft. C.R. Wiley: https://youtu.be/cRFIdIlSyhY; Part 5 – “Practice Hospitality” ft. Rachel Jankovic: https://youtu.be/pWXJI8_SGlE; Part 6 – “Lead Courageously” ft. Joe Rigney: https://youtu.be/iNQQciI21Rg; Part 7 – “Seek the Lost” ft. Cory McKenna: https://youtu.be/P1ZcYoqW9QQ;
Part 8 – “Tell Better Stories” ft. Ben Garrett: https://youtu.be/7orktGUPdx0;
Part 9 – “Take Bold Risks” ft. Marcus Pittman: https://youtu.be/u3LXM6a0OL4;
Part 10 – “Rebuilding Christian Institutions” ft. Jamie Bambrick: https://youtu.be/iBOJqgTJJHc;
Part 12 – “Build Biblical Marriages” ft. Jacob Reaume: https://youtu.be/sCkZgkkJ0BI.
Part 13 – “Learn to Love God’s Law Word” ft. Dr. Joe Boot: https://youtu.be/PfHYidc2elE;
WORSHIP: Bring Heaven to Earth [HOW TO WIN THE WORLD – Sermon Series: Part 1] ft. Pastor Nate Wright: https://youtu.be/PqLLA9AHAJQ;
LIVE: Faithfully in Your Sphere [HOW TO WIN THE WORLD – Sermon Series: Part 2] ft. Pastor Nate Wright: https://youtu.be/gbB8WEIsAjI
BUILD: God’s Kingdom on Earth [HOW TO WIN THE WORLD – Sermon Series: Part 3] ft. Pastor Nate Wright: https://youtu.be/SF9FfmvhfXc.
The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide! Get it here: *https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;*
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
Think biblically about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book “Ruler of Kings”: https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
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Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;
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The post Part 4 – MULTIPLY: So That the Mission Doesn’t Die With You [HOW TO WIN THE WORLD – Sermon Series] appeared first on Ezra Institute.
In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Pastor Nate Wright and Dr. Michael Thiessen are joined by Pastor & Ezra Fellow for Evangelism & Apologetics Jeff Durbin of Apologia Church & Studios and End Abortion Now to discuss the upcoming American election, Social Conservatism, and the need to root conservative principles in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Episode Resources: Apologia Church: ; Apologia Studios: https://apologiastudios.com/; End Abortion Now: https://endabortionnow.com/; ReformCon ’25: https://reformcon.org/.
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book “Ruler of Kings”: https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
CHAPTERS:00:00 Opening
00:27 Intro
00:47 Welcome
01:28 Homelife & Adoption
05:51 Conversation Set-up
07:31 How Jeff is Thinking About the Upcoming Election
14:57 Social Conservatism is NOT Enough
16:33 Christless Conservatism CANNOT Save Us
23:21 How Can an Abolitionist Vote for Trump?
38:33 What are Christians To Do When the Conservative Foundations are Destroyed? GO LOCAL!
47:30 “We’ve Got a Lot of [Exciting] Work Ahead of Us!”
48:43 God’s Law Word at the Heart of All of Society
49:13 Thinking Christianly & Other Upcoming Conferences
51:47 Conclusion
52:10 Outro
UPCOMING CONFERENCES:
Join us this October 31- November 2 @ The Presence of Christ Conference at Trinity Bible Chapel in Kitchener/Waterloo: https://mytrinitybiblechapel.churchcenter.com/registrations/events/2343549;
The Mission of God Conferences:UK | Sat, 2 Nov 2024 10:00 – 17:30 GMT @ Birmingham City Centre: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/mission-of-god-conference-2024-tickets-932486039847; Canada – Ontario | Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024, 9:00 EST @ Harvest Bible Church Windsor: https://brushfire.com/ezrainstitute/missionofgod2024-ontario/587020/details; Alberta | Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024, 9:00 MST@ Fairview Baptist Church: https://brushfire.com/ezrainstitute/missionofgod2024-alberta/587306.
REFORMCON ’25 | “Out of the Ashes” | April 24-26, 2025 @ Tucson, AZ: https://reformcon.org/
The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide! Get it here: https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;
Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;
Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;
Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885.
Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.
The post Christianity & Politics: Social Conservatism (Or Christless Conservatism?) ft. Jeff Durbin appeared first on Ezra Institute.
On this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Engagement, P Nate delivers another powerful sermon on how to win the culture by building kingdom culture through faithful service to Christ our King.
HOW TO WIN THE WORLD PAST EPISODES:
Part 1 – “Believe the World is Winnable” ft. Josh Howard: https://youtu.be/jhXUt0OFFDM; Part 2 – “War with Worship” ft. Doug Wilson: https://youtu.be/EqgR9Ewba7g; Part 3 – “Cultivate Christian Community” ft. Toby Sumpter: https://youtu.be/a5YQdrgJ_wg; Part 4 – “Recover Biblical Households” ft. C.R. Wiley: https://youtu.be/cRFIdIlSyhY; Part 5 – “Practice Hospitality” ft. Rachel Jankovic: https://youtu.be/pWXJI8_SGlE; Part 6 – “Lead Courageously” ft. Joe Rigney: https://youtu.be/iNQQciI21Rg; Part 7 – “Seek the Lost” ft. Cory McKenna: https://youtu.be/P1ZcYoqW9QQ;
Part 8 – “Tell Better Stories” ft. Ben Garrett: https://youtu.be/7orktGUPdx0;
Part 9 – “Take Bold Risks” ft. Marcus Pittman: https://youtu.be/u3LXM6a0OL4;
Part 10 – “Rebuilding Christian Institutions” ft. Jamie Bambrick: https://youtu.be/iBOJqgTJJHc;
Part 12 – “Build Biblical Marriages” ft. Jacob Reaume: https://youtu.be/sCkZgkkJ0BI.
Part 13 – “Learn to Love God’s Law Word” ft. Dr. Joe Boot: https://youtu.be/PfHYidc2elE;
WORSHIP: Bring Heaven to Earth [HOW TO WIN THE WORLD – Sermon Series: Part 1] ft. Pastor Nate Wright: https://youtu.be/PqLLA9AHAJQ;
LIVE: Faithfully in Your Sphere [HOW TO WIN THE WORLD – Sermon Series: Part 2] ft. Pastor Nate Wright: https://youtu.be/gbB8WEIsAjI
The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide! Get it here: *https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;*
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
Think biblically about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book “Ruler of Kings”: https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
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Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;
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The post Part 3 – BUILD: God’s Kingdom on Earth [HOW TO WIN THE WORLD – Sermon Series] appeared first on Ezra Institute.
The contemporary humanistic faith in an evolving universe in Western society precludes any standard above or distinct from itself; this immediately implies that the law of the state (as a product of nature) is beyond criticism by any transcendent source of authority — for there can be no such thing as a transcendent source of authority and law. This means state law is inescapably totalitarian law. There is no right, realm of justice, nor source of law beyond or above what the state enacts. As such, the modern state seeks to unite absolute power and total jurisdiction with a growing claim to total competence. As the new source of law, the humanistic secular state claims to stand above the law as the new god of being, planning and ruling over every sphere of life. This is the idolatry of statism, “It is a reductionist vision of mankind and society … a vision that absolutizes — and therefore idolizes — one aspect of the created order above other equally legitimate aspects of creation that exist independently of the state.”[1]
As a result, and in the name of secular psychology, anthropology, and sociology, our era is experiencing a reversal and repealing of biblically derived law for man’s so-called “rational law,” sociological law and social-scientific planning. This has created the modern crisis in law and politics and a growing disillusionment with and disregard for law and justice.
The Meaning of Law
The central question that confronts us in considering a Christian view of law is the nature and meaning of law. There have been a variety of views of law (jurisprudence) in modern Western thought. From the secular humanistic standpoint, there have been two main approaches to fulfill the desire to jettison God from the realm of law in human society.
In the ‘Pure Theory of Law’ (analytical jurisprudence), the question of whether a law is good or bad, just or unjust, is not the concern of jurisprudence — moral judgments supposedly cannot be defended by “rational” argument. There are various norms (situations of fact) operating in a variety of legal systems based in diverse constitutions. Each constitution is a hypothesis and legal rules are deductions from this hypothesis. Law is therefore the structural analysis of positive rules within these various systems. It is concerned with the actual and not with the ideal.
In the “Sociological School,” law as a social institution is really based in an experimental science which has the task of satisfying human desires and wants that are constantly changing. It is not concerned with deductions from first principles. As such, “human interests” are the subject of the law. The goal is the smooth working/control of a social machine in terms of various social interests. Law on this view is simply what the courts do and decide. Law is reduced to a form of legal behaviorism where we simply “scientifically observe” the way courts behave in various cases.
In either case, laws are reduced to the commands of human beings, and the goals are purely pragmatic — law is ultimately whatever “works.” If most people obey them, then they are “valid.” Certainty here is being sought not in God’s Word but in culture and experience.
God’s Law
By contrast, from the scriptural standpoint, law in its restricted (juridical) sense is not concerned with prescribing but with discovering the meaning of the concept of justice and its implications for social and political society.
The norms of law which lie at the foundation of the jural/legal dimension of created reality are different from those governing the natural sciences. Critically, in law and justice, we are not merely dealing with descriptive observation of states of affairs, but truly normative criteria for human life by virtue of creation and God’s self-revelation in scripture. People show an everyday awareness (however much suppressed) of creational norms as God’s creatures with their sense of injustice, their demands for justice, and by inescapably invoking normative criteria like truth, fairness, right and wrong, crime and punishment for legal societal relationships.
The Word of God reveals that he has placed the entire cosmos under His law-Word and ordinances for creation. This includes, but is more than, the decalogue (Ten Commandments), case law, and prophetic instruction. It encompasses all the universal ordinances that constitute the structural principles for the existence of all differentiated things and societal entities. God’s Law-Word for all reality is the condition of life. We can therefore speak of a creational law-order because of the multiplicity of laws for the various dimensions of creation.
Torah and Just Recompense
In scripture torah is translated as “law” and its essential meaning is instruction, which is reflected in some English translations. The English word instruction reminds us that we are in-structure in God’s creation. Our life is structured within and governed by God’s Law-Word. God Himself is not to be confused with His law (temporal law is not eternally existing in God), but neither is law apart from God. Rather, he binds himself to his creation law in covenant faithfulness.
Unless God in scripture teaches us the nature of creation and reveals to us His Law-Word, we would not of ourselves, in our sinful and ruined condition, seek true justice or rightly apply his norms for legal life in the political sphere. Because legal norms regulate relations between people and human institutions, what they are concerned with is the just balancing of human legal interests, that is, giving people their due. As such the principle of retribution is at the heart of legal life.
In scripture we see an excellent example of this principle formulated in what we call the Lex Talionis, the law of recompense seen in Exodus 21:24–25:
If there is an injury, then you must give life for life,eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, bruise for bruise, wound for wound.
This passage is sometimes used by thoughtless critics who think they are identifying barbarism in Scripture. However, the principle here is not that a judge is to order the burning of one who burned someone else; rather, it is concerned with just recompense. Here, in the case of personal injury, the retribution must be commensurate with the nature and scale of the offense — in short, proportionality is the governing principle. Thus, retribution must properly balance legal interests, and punishments must fit the crime.
The central meaning of justice as re-tribution is grasped through direct intuition by God’s creatures who bear His image within His law-order and it is republished in the written Word of God which is why we are able to grasp the meaning of the Decalogue. This human consciousness of accountability stems from our awareness that the judgment of God rests upon the lawless, individually and corporately. The principle of just retribution restrains excessive severity or lax leniency in the administration of justice in the courts.
Love and Justice
It is critical to observe that this justice does not conflict with love. The love of God lies at the religious root of all creation itself and is covenantal in character. Retribution is the foundation of love in its moral sense. Legal norms, which are presupposed in the commandment to love God and neighbor — since you cannot love your neighbor while denying them what they are due (Rom. 13:8-10) — are the principles for public social order, whereas ethical norms govern our personal lives. This is why not all sins are crimes.
All the moral commands of the Decalogue, such as “You shall not murder,” appeal to and presuppose the legal order, without which it has no meaning. Justice is therefore the temporal foundation of love in that it protects the weak and the wronged and restores order when disrupted by wickedness. As such, Christians must not try to break down the distinction between legal norms and the moral demand for love to neighbor as though justice is unloving!
Love certainly goes beyond justice, but not without justice as its foundation. To oppose love and justice to each other produces a false dichotomy, an artificial contradiction that can lead to a world of tyranny by shattering the very idea of justice itself.
The goal of legal justice in political life is not primarily deterrent (though that may at times be a secondary benefit); neither is it moral education or “treatment” toward rehabilitation. Crime is not a disease, but rebellion against God’s law-order that demands retribution and restitution. If crime were a disease, then you might be cured by compulsion by for any behavior the state deems a sickness! C. S. Lewis’ warning about humanitarian theories of justice is very telling:
The humanitarian theory removes from punishment the concept of desert. But the concept of desert is the only connecting link between punishment and justice. It is only as deserved or undeserved that a sentence can be just or unjust…There is no sense in talking about a just deterrent or just cure. We demand of a deterrent not whether it is just but whether it succeeds. Thus, when we only consider what will cure him or deter others, we have tacitly removed him from the sphere of justice altogether; instead of a person, a subject of rights, we now have a mere object, a ‘case’ to be in a clinic… The humanitarian theory wants simply to abolish justice and substitute mercy for it. This means you start being kind to people before you have considered their rights, and then force upon them supposed kindnesses which no one but you will recognize as kindnesses and which the recipient will feel as abominable cruelties. You have overshot the mark. Mercy detached from justice grows unmerciful. That is the important paradox. As there are plants which will flourish only in mountain soil, so it appears that mercy will flower only when it grows in the crannies of the rock of justice. Transplanted to the marshlands or mere humanitarianism, it becomes a man-eating weed, all the more dangerous because it is still called by the same name as the mountain variety.[2]
We can either retain the biblical legal norm of just retribution and stand with the law of God or be condemned to the control and “healing” of a pseudo-scientific political elite.
Law, Politics and the Lord Jesus Christ
The final and all-important manifestation of the unity of love and justice is found in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ who is both creator and redeemer. As the living Word, He is author of the jural dimension of creation as well as the inscripturated Word. In him, love and mercy, righteousness and justice, meet. At the cross, Christ has vindicated and proven the sanctity of God’s law and reconciled law and love by paying the price for man’s lawlessness. There he took the retributive punishment for sin demanded by a holy and just God while manifesting his divine love. There is thus no contradiction between law and love, or law and gospel. As Cornelius Van Til pointed out,
The very content of the Gospel is that Christ has fulfilled the law. The joy of the gospel is that man can in Christ know and obey the law and therefore live in the presence of God forever. There is no Gospel but that of the law. On the other hand, the Gospel is law because all must obey it.[3]
This good news about God’s law must be applied culturally and politically or we will only inherit a lawless world. The British Anglican thinker and reformational philosopher, Hebden Taylor, correctly saw that without belief in God’s law-order there is no valid basis for the enforcement of law in society:
When God and his laws and creation structures are rejected by nations then all defense against arbitrary power vanishes at the same time. If Americans and Britons refuse to acknowledge God as their ultimate sovereign in this life they will finish up as having tyrants as their masters because it is only God himself who can subject the powers of politicians, judges, police, and scientists to conscience. Without such a conscience enlightened by God’s Word and God’s Law there can be no abiding defence against injustice and tyranny. It is therefore imperative that Christians realise the vital necessity for a constant witness on their part to the saving, reforming and liberating power of the Lord Jesus Christ…. The Christian philosophy of life must not be allowed to hang in thin air but it must be brought down to earth in the hearts and consciences of the common people and in the concrete political, economic and legal situations of life.[4]
For the flourishing of our families and nations, the Law-Word of God must be proclaimed and commended to all power and authority.
[1]Stephen C. Perks, The Politics of God and Man: Essays on Politics, Religion and Social Order (Taunton: Kuyper Foundation, 2016), 49
[2]C.S. Lewis, God in the Dock (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1970), 288-289, 294
[3]Cornelius Van Til, The Ten Commandments (United States: Cantaro Publications, 2023), 9
[4]Hebden Taylor, The New Legality (Philadelphia: P&R, 1967), 51
The post Biblical, Creational Law appeared first on Ezra Institute.
In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Doctors Joe Boot and Michael Thiessen talk with best-selling author, podcaster, and blogger Mike D’Virgilio about Republicanism, its past, present, and future.
Episode Resources: Mike’s Website: https://mikedvirgilio.com/; Going Back to Find The Way Forward: Trump, A Great Awakening, and the Refounding of America: https://amzn.to/4868zRH; The Based Boomer Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@eschatology_matters/videos;
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book “Ruler of Kings”: https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
CHAPTERS:00:00 Opening
01:10 Intro
01:30 Welcome
06:30 Going Back to Find the Way Forward: Republicanism Red-pilled
09:52 Uprooted and Searching for Truth
11:05 Hegel’s Distorted View of History
14:00 The Upcoming U.S. Election
19:05 RINOs & the Red-pilled Right
26:40 Growing Christian Political Influence
28:16 Getting the Cultural Task of the Church Right
33:42 The Christian’s Cultural Task
36:34 Reformed Con ’25: Out of the Ashes
37:42 What Does Going Backward to Move Forward Really Mean?
43:35 From a Reformed Worldview at the American Founding and How We Got to Where We Are Now
49:25 Christian Influence on American Republicanism
51:29 The Antichrist Takeover of the Demo(n)cratic Party by the New Left
55:15 The Death of Secularism and its Political Ramifications
59:24 Special Guest Shoutout: Cromwell
01:00:00 Call to Action
01:01:31 Conclusion
01:06:36 Outro
UPCOMING CONFERENCES:
Join us this October 31- November 2 @ The Presence of Christ Conference at Trinity Bible Chapel in Kitchener/Waterloo: https://mytrinitybiblechapel.churchcenter.com/registrations/events/2343549;
The Mission of God Conferences: UK | Sat, 2 Nov 2024 10:00 – 17:30 GMT @ Birmingham City Centre: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/mission-of-god-conference-2024-tickets-932486039847; Canada – Ontario | Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024, 9:00 EST @ Harvest Bible Church Windsor: https://brushfire.com/ezrainstitute/missionofgod2024-ontario/587020/details; Alberta | Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024, 9:00 MST@ Fairview Baptist Church: https://brushfire.com/ezrainstitute/missionofgod2024-alberta/587306.
The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide! Get it here: https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
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On this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Engagement, P Nate delivers a powerful sermon on how to win the culture through living faithfully to the Lord in every sphere of life.
HOW TO WIN THE WORLD PAST EPISODES:
Part 1 – “Believe the World is Winnable” ft. Josh Howard: https://youtu.be/jhXUt0OFFDM; Part 2 – “War with Worship” ft. Doug Wilson: https://youtu.be/EqgR9Ewba7g; Part 3 – “Cultivate Christian Community” ft. Toby Sumpter: https://youtu.be/a5YQdrgJ_wg; Part 4 – “Recover Biblical Households” ft. C.R. Wiley: https://youtu.be/cRFIdIlSyhY; Part 5 – “Practice Hospitality” ft. Rachel Jankovic: https://youtu.be/pWXJI8_SGlE; Part 6 – “Lead Courageously” ft. Joe Rigney: https://youtu.be/iNQQciI21Rg; Part 7 – “Seek the Lost” ft. Cory McKenna: https://youtu.be/P1ZcYoqW9QQ;
Part 8 – “Tell Better Stories” ft. Ben Garrett: https://youtu.be/7orktGUPdx0;
Part 9 – “Take Bold Risks” ft. Marcus Pittman: https://youtu.be/u3LXM6a0OL4;
Part 10 – “Rebuilding Christian Institutions” ft. Jamie Bambrick: https://youtu.be/iBOJqgTJJHc;
Part 12 – “Build Biblical Marriages” ft. Jacob Reaume: https://youtu.be/sCkZgkkJ0BI.
Part 13 – “Learn to Love God’s Law Word” ft. Dr. Joe Boot: https://youtu.be/PfHYidc2elE;
WORSHIP: Bring Heaven to Earth [HOW TO WIN THE WORLD – Sermon Series: Part 1] ft. Pastor Nate Wright: https://youtu.be/gbB8WEIsAjI.
The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide! Get it here: *https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;*
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
Think biblically about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book “Ruler of Kings”: https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
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Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;
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The post Part 2 – LIVE: Faithfully in Your Sphere [HOW TO WIN THE WORLD – Sermon Series] appeared first on Ezra Institute.
If you missed the recent Iron Sharpens Iron Pastor’s Luncheon at Church of the Living Christ in Loysville, PA, you’ll want to catch up on the keynote address by Dr. Joe Boot.
The post Dr. Boot at the Iron Sharpens Iron Pastors Luncheon appeared first on Ezra Institute.
In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Pastor Nate Wright and Dr. Jeffrey Ventrella explore the intricate relationship between American constitutionalism and Christianity. They ask the question: “Is the Constitution Dead?” They discuss the historical foundations of America, the role of religion in the founding, the impact of rationalism, and the current state of constitutionalism in a nation that has largely rejected its Christian roots. Dr. Ventrella emphasizes the importance of Christians engaging in cultural and institutional power to effect change, advocating for a long-term, incremental approach to renewal and transformation.
Episode Resources: TruthXchange: https://truthxchange.com/;
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book “Ruler of Kings”: https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
CHAPTERS:00:00 Opening: Introduction to American Constitutionalism
00:30 Intro
00:51 Welcome
03:05 The Foundations of America: A Historical Perspective
11:31 American Idea of the Separation of Church & State
16:30 The Impact of Modernism/Rationalism on American Ideals
20:37 Evolution and the Mutation of Law & Society
24:33 Christianity’s Influence on American Governance
29:48 The Importance of a Biblical Anthropology in the U.S. Founding
33:00 Current State of American Constitutionalism
38:19 Why Do Insitutions Tend to Bloat and Shift Left?
42:09 Christian Culture & Institutional Power
44:27 Why Fight for American Constitutionalism?
51:22 TruthXchange Information
53:25 Conclusion & Mission of God Conference Information
54:14 Outro
UPCOMING CONFERENCES:
Join us this October 31- November 2 @ The Presence of Christ Conference at Trinity Bible Chapel in Kitchener/Waterloo: https://mytrinitybiblechapel.churchcenter.com/registrations/events/2343549;
The Mission of God Conferences: UK | Sat, 2 Nov 2024 10:00 – 17:30 GMT @ Birmingham City Centre: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/mission-of-god-conference-2024-tickets-932486039847; Canada – Ontario | Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024, 9:00 EST @ Harvest Bible Church Windsor: https://brushfire.com/ezrainstitute/missionofgod2024-ontario/587020/details; Alberta | Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024, 9:00 MST@ Fairview Baptist Church: https://brushfire.com/ezrainstitute/missionofgod2024-alberta/587306.
The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide! Get it here: https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;
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Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;
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The post Christianity & Politics: Is the Constitution Dead? American Constitutionalism ft. Dr. Jeffery Ventrella appeared first on Ezra Institute.
OK, friends. I know we said the How to Win the World series was over, but P Nate was so inspired by it that he decided to do a sermon series on it. So, while Elder P and P Nate are busy with their 5-century plan on how to take back Canada for Christ, we thought you’d enjoy P Nate sermons.
HOW TO WIN THE WORLD PAST EPISODES:
Part 1 – “Believe the World is Winnable” ft. Josh Howard: https://youtu.be/jhXUt0OFFDM; Part 2 – “War with Worship” ft. Doug Wilson: https://youtu.be/EqgR9Ewba7g; Part 3 – “Cultivate Christian Community” ft. Toby Sumpter: https://youtu.be/a5YQdrgJ_wg; Part 4 – “Recover Biblical Households” ft. C.R. Wiley: https://youtu.be/cRFIdIlSyhY; Part 5 – “Practice Hospitality” ft. Rachel Jankovic: https://youtu.be/pWXJI8_SGlE; Part 6 – “Lead Courageously” ft. Joe Rigney: https://youtu.be/iNQQciI21Rg; Part 7 – “Seek the Lost” ft. Cory McKenna: https://youtu.be/P1ZcYoqW9QQ;
Part 8 – “Tell Better Stories” ft. Ben Garrett: https://youtu.be/7orktGUPdx0;
Part 9 – “Take Bold Risks” ft. Marcus Pittman: https://youtu.be/u3LXM6a0OL4;
Part 10 – “Rebuilding Christian Institutions” ft. Jamie Bambrick: https://youtu.be/iBOJqgTJJHc;
Part 12 – “Build Biblical Marriages” ft. Jacob Reaume: https://youtu.be/sCkZgkkJ0BI.
Part 13 – “Learn to Love God’s Law Word” ft. Dr. Joe Boot: https://youtu.be/PfHYidc2elE;
The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide! Get it here: *https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;*
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
Think biblically about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book “Ruler of Kings”: https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;
Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;
Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;
Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885.
Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.
The post Part 1 – WORSHIP: Bring Heaven to Earth [HOW TO WIN THE WORLD – Sermon Series] appeared first on Ezra Institute.
In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, we continue our series on Christianity & Politics; Dr. Joe Boot is joined by Ezra Fellow for International Law, Comparative Politics, and International Relations, Prof. Dan Ogden, J.D., to discuss national conservatism, its Christian roots, its strengths and weaknesses and whether or not it’s biblical.
Episode Resources: Collected Works of Edmund Burke: https://www.amazon.ca/Collected-Works-Edmund-Burke-ebook/dp/B00FL2FH82; National Conservatism Overview: https://nationalconservatism.org/about; National Conservatism Statement of Principles: https://nationalconservatism.org/national-conservatism-a-statement-of-principles; “National Conservatism and Its Discontents”: https://claremontreviewofbooks.com/national-conservatism-and-its-discontents; “National Conservatism, Freedom Conservatism, and Americanism”: https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/national-conservatism-freedom-conservatism-and-americanism; Edmund Burke Foundation: https://burke.foundation.
Think Christianly about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book “Ruler of Kings”: https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
CHAPTERS:
0:00 Opening
0:43 Intro
01:04 Welcome
02:30 The Importance of Developing a Christian View of Politics
07:35 The Difference Between Political Philosophy and Public Policy
12:05 Why Do Christians Tend Not to Engage in Public Policy?
14:55 Upcoming Mission of God Conferences & Other Events
16:28 Politics: The Art of the Possible – From Theory to Application
17:00 The Problem of Statism: Defining the Beast
20:29 The Structure and Direction of the State
22:36 National Conservatism (NC): What is it?
23:23 NC’s Basic Idea of Nation
28:13 Not All Nations are Equal
29:13 Nationhood as Covenant
33:15 Covenant & Conservatism
34:13 Ruler of Kings AD
35:15 What is Conservatism?
38:06 Burkian Conservatism
41:09 Our Own Radically Rousseauian Revolution
44:43 The Political Binary: The Sovereignty of God or the Sovereignty of Man
46:15 The Principles of National Conservatism
48:11 National Conservatism: The Movement
56:23 Foreign Policy: NC Realism vs. Liberalism
01:00:16 The Newest Boogeyman: Project 2025
01:04:25 Sphere Sovereignty & Political Liberty
01:12:25 Dan’s Closing Remarks
01:14:39 Conclusion
01:15:23 Outro
UPCOMING CONFERENCES:
Join us this October 31- November 2 @ The Presence of Christ Conference at Trinity Bible Chapel in Kitchener/Waterloo: https://mytrinitybiblechapel.churchcenter.com/registrations/events/2343549;
The Mission of God Conferences: UK | Sat, 2 Nov 2024 10:00 – 17:30 GMT @ Birmingham City Centre: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/mission-of-god-conference-2024-tickets-932486039847; Canada – Ontario | Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024, 9:00 EST @ Harvest Bible Church Windsor: https://brushfire.com/ezrainstitute/missionofgod2024-ontario/587020/details; Alberta | Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024, 9:00 MST@ Fairview Baptist Church: https://brushfire.com/ezrainstitute/missionofgod2024-alberta/587306.
The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide! Get it here: https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;
Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;
Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;
Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885.
Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.
The post Christianity & Politics: National Conservatism | Podcast for Cultural Reformation appeared first on Ezra Institute.
In this, the second instalment of our newest Podcast for Cultural Reformation series on Christianity & Politics, Dr. Joe Boot is joined by Dr. P. Andrew Sandlin, Ezra Fellow for Public Theology & Cultural Philosophy, to discuss classical liberalism, its Christian roots, its strengths and weaknesses, and whether or not it’s biblical. Tune in for this riveting discussion.
Episode Resources: Virtuous Liberty ed. Dr. P. Andrew Sandlin: https://www.amazon.com/Virtuous-Liberty-Christian-Classical-Liberalism/dp/B0CN4MDQ5L; Center for Cultural Leadership: https://www.christianculture.com.
CHAPTERS:
0:00 Opening
0:40 Intro
01:00 Welcome
02:43 Recap of Last Week’s Show
03:45 The Background for the Rise of Classical Liberalism
07:30 The Idea(s) of Classical Liberalism
11:00 The Nature of Human Beings in Relation to the State
11:55 The Resurgence of Aristotelian Statism on the “Right” & the “Left”
17:36 The Unbiblical Foundation of Aristotelian Statism & the Christian Alternative
22:01 The Kingdom of God as the Totalizing Christian Principle
22:34 The Failure of the Pagan & Synthesized Anthropology & Teleology
25:26 The Impact of the Fall and its Relationship to Reformational Thought & Classical Liberalism
29:38 A Ditch on Both Sides
31:46 The Swiss Ditch
36:17 Silver Lining AD
38:03 The Breakdown of Classical Liberalism
42:04 Classical Liberalism, Limited Government & Sphere Sovereignty
47:22 The Inherent Liability of Classical Liberalism
50:55 The Absolutism of the Common Good
53:11 Christianity’s Influence on the State
55:29 The Religious Root of the State and Western Apostasy
58:11 Conclusion
01:00:29 Outro
Join us this October 31- November 2 @ The Presence of Christ Conference at Trinity Bible Chapel in Kitchener/Waterloo: https://mytrinitybiblechapel.churchcenter.com/registrations/events/2343549;
The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide! Get it here: https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
Think biblically about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book “Ruler of Kings”: https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;
Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;
Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;
Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885.
Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.
The post Christianity & Politics: Classical Liberalism | Podcast for Cultural Reformation appeared first on Ezra Institute.
If you are seeking a deeply insightful and timely exploration of the Church’s mission in today’s increasingly secular world, Dr. Aaron Edwards’ review of Dr. Joe Boot’s “The Mission of God” is a must-read.
Dr. Edwards, who first encountered this significant work during his tenure as a lecturer at Cliff College—where Dr. Boot himself had studied—offers a compelling analysis now available on Clear Truth Media.
https://cleartruthmedia.com/s/363/the-tale-of-a-book-the-decline-of-the-west-and-the-return-of-the-puritans
“The Mission of God” is not merely another book on Christian mission; it is a comprehensive and ambitious manifesto that challenges the Church to reexamine its role in a society increasingly shaped by secular ideologies. Dr. Edwards candidly recounts his initial hesitations about the book, only to discover the profound impact of Dr. Boot’s arguments for a vigorous Christian engagement with the world, firmly rooted in the rich legacy of the Puritans.
In his review, Dr. Edwards delves into the book’s major themes, addressing everything from the decline of Western culture to the necessity of a Christian vision that boldly asserts Christ’s lordship over all aspects of life. His analysis not only highlights the depth and breadth of Dr. Boot’s work but also serves as a call to action for the Church to embrace a renewed sense of purpose and mission.
Whether you have already read “The Mission of God” or it has been sitting on your shelf, Dr. Edwards’ review provides a compelling invitation to engage with this critical work. Visit Clear Truth Media to read the full review—you will find it to be both thought-provoking and inspiring.
For those interested in reading “The Mission of God,” the book is available for purchase through Ezra Press. Additionally, you can preorder the upcoming 10th Anniversary Edition, which includes new content on the Church’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, expanded dialogue on Romans 13, and a chapter-by-chapter study guide. Perfect for individual or group study, this updated edition invites readers to engage deeply with God’s mission.
The post An Insightful Review of “The Mission of God” appeared first on Ezra Institute.
On this, the first episode of a new season of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Pastor Nate Wright and Dr. Joe Boot embark on a BRAND NEW SERIES: Christianity & Politics, in which they contrast a biblical view of politics and the State with it dualistic pretenders.
CHAPTERS:
0:00 Opening
0:14 Intro
0:34 Welcome
01:09 NEW SERIES: Christianity & Politics
01:54 Christianity & Politics Intro
03:08 Is the Bible Even Political?
08:56 Examples of Biblical Politics
17:59 The Biblical Concept of Office
20:50 The Religious Root of All of Creation
25:33 There is NO NEUTRALITY in Religion or Politics
26:23 Statism: The Pagan View of the State
37:52: ADVERTISEMENT: Silver Lining
39:38 Synthesis: Pagan Dualism and its Poisonous Effects on Christian Political Thought
54:00 Sphere Sovereignty: The Proper Foundation of a Christian View of Politics
47:27 Conference Promotions
01:02:20 Closing
01:02:39 Outro
Join us this October 31- November 2 @ The Presence of Christ Conference at Trinity Bible Chapel in Kitchener/Waterloo: https://mytrinitybiblechapel.churchcenter.com/registrations/events/2343549;
The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide! Get it here: https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
Think biblically about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book “Ruler of Kings”: https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;
Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;
Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;
Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885.
Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.
The post Christianity & Politics: A Christian View of the State appeared first on Ezra Institute.
The Law Word of God is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path (Ps. 119:105), and Isaiah makes it abundantly clear that the Messianic reign of King Jesus will spread that Law throughout all the earth (Is 2:2-4, 9:2-7, 42:1-9, 52:6-53).
On this last episode of our series on How to Win the World, P Nate and Elder P are joined by friend of the show, Founder & President of the Ezra Institute, Rev. Dr. Joseph Boot, to discuss theonomy and a properly biblical view of the law and gospel distinction, and the centrality of God’s Law in the transformation of the world.
Episode Resources: Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/;
CHAPTERS:
0:00 Intro
0:56 Opening & Welcome
3:07 Topic and Scripture Reading (Isa. 2:2-4)
5:08 How God’s Law Transforms Society
8:38 Properly Understanding the Law/Gospel Distinction
19:20 Hysteria Over & Misunderstandings of Theonomy
35:37 Regeneration the Heart of Theonomic Transformation
41:04 The Law as Love
42:43 God’s Total Law Word in the Life of the Church
46:19 The Goodness of the Law, Its Proper Use, and the Gospel
51:28 The Kindness & Attractiveness of God’s Law
53:06 The Aesthetic Aspect of the Law and Worship
56:52 The Beauty of God’s Law & its Ghastly Alternative
58:42 Upcoming Ezra Events
01:01:40 Closing
01:02:08 Outro
HOW TO WIN THE WORLD PAST EPISODES:
Part 1 – “Believe the World is Winnable” ft. Josh Howard: https://youtu.be/jhXUt0OFFDM; Part 2 – “War with Worship” ft. Doug Wilson: https://youtu.be/EqgR9Ewba7g; Part 3 – “Cultivate Christian Community” ft. Toby Sumpter: https://youtu.be/a5YQdrgJ_wg; Part 4 – “Recover Biblical Households” ft. C.R. Wiley: https://youtu.be/cRFIdIlSyhY; Part 5 – “Practice Hospitality” ft. Rachel Jankovic: https://youtu.be/pWXJI8_SGlE; Part 6 – “Lead Courageously” ft. Joe Rigney: https://youtu.be/iNQQciI21Rg; Part 7 – “Seek the Lost” ft. Cory McKenna: https://youtu.be/P1ZcYoqW9QQ;
Part 8 – “Tell Better Stories” ft. Ben Garrett: https://youtu.be/7orktGUPdx0;
Part 9 – “Take Bold Risks” ft. Marcus Pittman: https://youtu.be/u3LXM6a0OL4;
Part 10 – “Rebuilding Christian Institutions” ft. Jamie Bambrick: https://youtu.be/iBOJqgTJJHc;
Part 12 – “Build Biblical Marriages” ft. Jacob Reaume: https://youtu.be/sCkZgkkJ0BI.
The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide! Get it here: *https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;*
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
Think biblically about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book “Ruler of Kings”: https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;
Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;
Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;
Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885.
Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.
The post Learn to Love God’s Law Word ft. Dr. Joe Boot [HOW TO WIN THE WORLD – PT. 13] | Podcast for Cultural Reformation appeared first on Ezra Institute.
On this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Ezra fellow Dr. Michael Thiessen and Canadian Director Pastor Nate Wright are joined by the Pastor of Trinity Bible Chapel, Jacob Reaume, to discuss the importance of the upcoming conference, The Presence of Christ (Oct.31-Nov. 2). The conference aims to shift the focus from fighting against the world to cultivating a deep love for Jesus Christ, and it seeks to unite believers around the central theme of the presence of Christ in their lives and the importance of worshiping Him.
Episode Resources:Trinity Bible Chapel: https://trinitybiblechapel.ca/; The Presence of Christ Conference: https://mytrinitybiblechapel.churchcenter.com/registrations/events/2343549; Pastor Jacob’s Blog: https://trinitybiblechapel.ca/blog/the-pastors-blog/;
CHAPTERS:
0:00 Intro
0:23 Opening
0:43 Guest Welcome
02:14 Pastor Reaume’s Biography
02:50 From Church at War to the Presence of Christ
08:05 The Timeliness of the Conference
11:36 The Focus of the Conference
12:41 Fighting for the Love of Christ
16:08 From Where Does the Christian’s Hatred Come?
19:10 Dangerous Demagoguery
20:44 The Purpose of the Conference
21:22 Conference Speakers & Topics
26:25 Breakout Sessions & Speakers
29:45 The Presence of Christ Conference AD
30:15 The Presence of Christ–the Heart of the Christian Motive
31:44 Pastors as Generalists
32:39 Preparation for the Conference
34:48 Setting the Tone for Discipleship
38:44 Corporate Worship: The Heartbeat of the Life of the Church
40:25 Modelling the Mind of Christ
43:59 Thoughtful Preaching in a Reactionary Age
47:27 Conference Promotions
49:56 Closing
50:32 Outro
Join us this October 31- November 2 @ The Presence of Christ Conference at Trinity Bible Chapel in Kitchener/Waterloo: https://mytrinitybiblechapel.churchcenter.com/registrations/events/2343549;
The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide! Get it here: https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
Think biblically about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book “Ruler of Kings”: https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;
Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;
Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;
Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885.
Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.
The post Having the Mind of Christ Amid the Darkness ft. Pastor Jacob Reaume appeared first on Ezra Institute.
On this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Ezra fellow Dr. Michael Thiessen and Canadian Director Pastor Nate Wright wade into the latest controversy concerning the latest New St. Andrews College AD and Johnny Cash’s famous (infamous?) hand gesture. This leads them to discuss the importance of setting a culture in churches and other institutions. They explore the role of pastors as cultural architects and the impact of culture on various aspects of church life. In an age of radical unbelief, how do we raise reformed rebels? Tune in to find out.
Episode Resources: New Saint Andrews College: https://nsa.edu/; New Saint Andrews AD [WARNING! VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED!]: https://nsa.edu/blog/the-men-we-want-and-need;
CHAPTERS:
0:00 Intro
0:23 Welcome
2:06 Setting Church Culture
06:43 NSA AD Controversy
10:30 Thoughts?: Mike’s Concerns
15:32 Thoughts?: Nate’s Rebuttal
21:09 Mike: Need for a Culture of Dialogue, Repentance in a Vulgar Age
25:25 Nate: The Serrated Edge & Colourful Biblical Language & the Need to Fight Effeminacy
30:20 The Presence of Christ Conference (Oct.31-Nov.2) AD
31:18 Navigating Controversy & Disagreement Through Dialogue
39:59 Navigating Our Cultural Moment with Biblical Wisdom & Discernment
52:32 Ezra’s Culture & Programming
01:08:50 Wrap-up
01:08:59 Outro
Join us this October 31- November 2 @ The Presence of Christ Conference at Trinity Bible Chapel in Kitchener/Waterloo: https://mytrinitybiblechapel.churchcenter.com/registrations/events/2343549;
The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide! Get it here: https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
Think biblically about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book “Ruler of Kings”: https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;
Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;
Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;
Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885.
Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.
The post Rightly Raising REFORMED Rebels: NSA Controversy & Cultivating Culture appeared first on Ezra Institute.
At the heart of God’s rescue plan for the world is the family…. The first and foundational institution God establishes on the earth for His glory and for the advancement of his kingdom. Is it any wonder, then, why Satan focuses so much of his attack on the church on the families that comprise them?
How do we wage cosmic war with our marriages? How do we build marriages on the rock of God’s word?
P Nate is joined by friend of the show, Pastor Jacob Reaume, from Trinity Bible Chapel, to discuss all these topics and more!
Episode Resources: Trinity Bible Chapel: https://trinitybiblechapel.ca/; Pastor Jacob’s Blog: https://trinitybiblechapel.ca/blog/the-pastors-blog/;
HOW TO WIN THE WORLD PAST EPISODES:
Part 1 – “Believe the World is Winnable” ft. Josh Howard: https://youtu.be/jhXUt0OFFDM; Part 2 – “War with Worship” ft. Doug Wilson: https://youtu.be/EqgR9Ewba7g; Part 3 – “Cultivate Christian Community” ft. Toby Sumpter: https://youtu.be/a5YQdrgJ_wg; Part 4 – “Recover Biblical Households” ft. C.R. Wiley: https://youtu.be/cRFIdIlSyhY; Part 5 – “Practice Hospitality” ft. Rachel Jankovic: https://youtu.be/pWXJI8_SGlE; Part 6 – “Lead Courageously” ft. Joe Rigney: https://youtu.be/iNQQciI21Rg; Part 7 – “Seek the Lost” ft. Cory McKenna: https://youtu.be/P1ZcYoqW9QQ;
Part 8 – “Tell Better Stories” ft. Ben Garrett: https://youtu.be/7orktGUPdx0;
Part 9 – “Take Bold Risks” ft. Marcus Pittman: https://youtu.be/u3LXM6a0OL4;
Part 10 – “Rebuilding Christian Institutions” ft. Jamie Bambrick: https://youtu.be/iBOJqgTJJHc.
The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide! Get it here: *https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;*
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
Think biblically about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book “Ruler of Kings”: https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;
Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;
Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;
Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885.
Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.
The post Build Biblical Marriages ft. Jacob Reaume I Podcast for Cultural Engagement appeared first on Ezra Institute.
On this flashback episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, we go all the way back to 2017, when Dr. Joe Boot joined Apologia TV with Pastors Jeff Durbin, Luke the Bear, and Joy the Girl to discuss the relationship between the Gospel and culture.
Episode Resources: Apologia Studios: https://apologiastudios.com/;
The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide! Get it here: https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
Think biblically about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book “Ruler of Kings”: https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;
Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;
Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;
Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885.
Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.
The post The Relationship of the Gospel and Culture on Apologia TV [FLASHBACK FRIDAY] appeared first on Ezra Institute.
On this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Dr. Joe Boot and Pastor Nate Wright are joined by the CEO of Creation Ministries International (Canada) of Answers, Richard Fangrad, for a Q&A recorded LIVE at Worldview Youth Academy – Canada 2024.
The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide! Get it here: https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
Think biblically about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book “Ruler of Kings”: https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;
Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;
Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;
Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885.
Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.
The post Q&A – Session 2: Dr. Joe Boot, Richard Fangrad & Nate Wright [WYA Canada 2024] appeared first on Ezra Institute.
On this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Dr. Joe Boot and Pastor Nate Wright are joined by the CEO of Creation Ministries International (Canada) of Answers, Richard Fangrad, for a Q&A recorded LIVE at Worldview Youth Academy – Canada 2024.
The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide! Get it here: https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
Think biblically about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book “Ruler of Kings”: https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;
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Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;
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The post Q&A: Session 2 – WYA Canada 2024: Dr. Joe Boot, Richard Fangrad & Nate Wright | Podcast for Cultural Reformation appeared first on Ezra Institute.
In the last decade, not only have Christians seen secular institutions collapse all around us but sadly, most Christian ministries, organizations and institutions have failed us, compromised or proven themselves to be sliding to the left.
This week, P Nate is joined by Pastor and Chief Editor of Clear Truth Media Jamie Bambrick from Ireland to discuss the need to rebuild Christian institutions for God’s glory and the advancement of His kingdom.
Episode Resources: Clear Truth Media: https://cleartruthmedia.com/; Jamie Bambrick on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jamie.bambrick; Jamie’s X: https://x.com/j_bambrick;
HOW TO WIN THE WORLD PAST EPISODES:
Part 1 – “Believe the World is Winnable” ft. Josh Howard: https://youtu.be/jhXUt0OFFDM; Part 2 – “War with Worship” ft. Doug Wilson: https://youtu.be/EqgR9Ewba7g; Part 3 – “Cultivate Christian Community” ft. Toby Sumpter: https://youtu.be/a5YQdrgJ_wg; Part 4 – “Recover Biblical Households” ft. C.R. Wiley: https://youtu.be/cRFIdIlSyhY; Part 5 – “Practice Hospitality” ft. Rachel Jankovic: https://youtu.be/pWXJI8_SGlE; Part 6 – “Lead Courageously” ft. Joe Rigney: https://youtu.be/iNQQciI21Rg; Part 7 – “Seek the Lost” ft. Cory McKenna: https://youtu.be/P1ZcYoqW9QQ;
Part 8 – “Tell Better Stories” ft. Ben Garrett: https://youtu.be/7orktGUPdx0;
Part 9 – “Take Bold Risks” ft. Marcus Pittman: https://youtu.be/u3LXM6a0OL4.
The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide! Get it here: *https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;*
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
Think biblically about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book “Ruler of Kings”: https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;
Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;
Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;
Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885.
Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.
The post Rebuild Christian Institution ft. Jamie Bambrick [HOW TO WIN THE WORLD: PART 10] | Podcast for Cultural Reformation appeared first on Ezra Institute.
On this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Dr. Joe Boot is joined by Drs. Aaron Rock and Michael Thiessen at Worldview Youth Academy – Canada 2024 to discuss sex, dating/courtship, marriage and masculinity. You won’t want to miss this riveting conversation filled with God-glorifying insights and practical application.
The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide! Get it here: https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
Think biblically about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book “Ruler of Kings”: https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;
Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;
Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;
Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885.
Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.
The post Dating, Sex, Marriage & Masculinity ft. Dr. Joe Boot, Dr. Aaron Rock & Dr. Michael Thiessen appeared first on Ezra Institute.
This week P Nate and Pootie welcome back to the show Marcus Pittman, filmmaker, podcaster and CEO of Loor.tv.
Marcus discusses with the Rebels the mandate to put art, media and entertainment under the feet of Jesus in victory. To win the world we have to win in the sphere of the arts where minds and affections are moulded. The conversation reveals a major problem in North American Christianity: it’s lost the risk taking courage it takes to win this cultural battle!
Episode Resources: Loor: https://www.loor.tv/; Babies Are Murdered Here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxDyfSHEq5g; Babies Are STILL Murdered Here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-vyYE6C8MU
HOW TO WIN THE WORLD PAST EPISODES:
Part 1 – “Believe the World is Winnable” ft. Josh Howard: https://youtu.be/jhXUt0OFFDM; Part 2 – “War with Worship” ft. Doug Wilson: https://youtu.be/EqgR9Ewba7g; Part 3 – “Cultivate Christian Community” ft. Toby Sumpter: https://youtu.be/a5YQdrgJ_wg; Part 4 – “Recover Biblical Households” ft. C.R. Wiley: https://youtu.be/cRFIdIlSyhY; Part 5 – “Practice Hospitality” ft. Rachel Jankovic: https://youtu.be/pWXJI8_SGlE; Part 6 – “Lead Courageously” ft. Joe Rigney: https://youtu.be/iNQQciI21Rg; Part 7 – “Seek the Lost” ft. Cory McKenna: https://youtu.be/P1ZcYoqW9QQ;
Part 8 – “Tell Better Stories” ft. Ben Garrett: https://youtu.be/7orktGUPdx0;
The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide! Get it here: *https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;*
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
Think biblically about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book “Ruler of Kings”: https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;
Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;
Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;
Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885.
Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.
The post Take Bold Risks ft. Marcus Pittman appeared first on Ezra Institute.
We have crossed over the mid-way point in this series “How to Win the World” after last week’s mid-season review.
This week, P Nate is joined by Ben Garrett from Haunted Cosmos to discuss the theme of storytelling. Throughout Scripture, history is described as the unfolding drama of God’s great narrative. How does understanding God’s story properly and finding our place in it help to win the world? How does reading, loving, and writing stories help advance the Kingdom of God in history?
Join Ben and P Nate for some answers!
Episode Resources: Haunted Cosmos: https://www.youtube.com/@hauntedcosmos_; Haunted Cosmos Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/HauntedCosmos; Ben’s X: https://x.com/tompawnbadil
HOW TO WIN THE WORLD PAST EPISODES:
Part 1 – “Believe the World is Winnable”: https://youtu.be/jhXUt0OFFDM; Part 2 – “War with Worship”: https://youtu.be/EqgR9Ewba7g; Part 3 – “Cultivate Christian Community”: https://youtu.be/a5YQdrgJ_wg; Part 4 – “Recover Biblical Households”: https://youtu.be/cRFIdIlSyhY; Part 5 – “Practice Hospitality”: https://youtu.be/pWXJI8_SGlE; Part 6 – “Lead Courageously”: https://youtu.be/iNQQciI21Rg; Part 7 – “Seek the Lost”: https://youtu.be/P1ZcYoqW9QQ;
The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide! Get it here: *https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;*
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
Think biblically about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book “Ruler of Kings”: https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;
Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;
Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;
Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885.
Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.
The post Tell Better Stories ft. Ben Garrett appeared first on Ezra Institute.
The Ezra Institute recently concluded another successful Canadian Worldview Youth Academy in Port Colborne, Ontario. This year’s event brought together 50 passionate young students eager to deepen their understanding of a biblical worldview and its application in daily life.
Throughout the week, participants were blessed with world-class teaching from an impressive lineup of speakers. Ezra’s own Joe Boot and Nate Wright, Cal Smith from Answers in Genesis, Richard Fangard from Creation Ministries International, André Schutten from Redeemer University and The Justice Centre, and Dr. Ted Fenske all shared their expertise and insights, challenging and inspiring the students to think critically about their faith and its implications for society.
Beyond the classroom, the academy was filled with exciting activities that fostered friendship and fun. Students showcased their talents in a lively talent show, enjoyed bonfires under the stars, and engaged in friendly competition through games of ultimate frisbee and capture the flag. These moments of recreation and bonding were integral to the holistic experience of the academy.
It was truly inspiring to witness the dedication of these young people who take their faith seriously and are eager to be equipped with a biblical world and life view. Their enthusiasm for applying these principles to their future vocations, whatever they may be, was palpable throughout the week.
The success of the academy wouldn’t have been possible without the tireless efforts of our mentors, who generously gave their time to guide and support the students. Equally crucial were our amazing volunteers, whose culinary skills kept everyone well-fed and energized throughout the event.
We extend our heartfelt gratitude to the Rathfon Inn and Jericho House for providing the excellent facilities that made this transformative week possible. Their hospitality created the perfect environment for learning, growth, and fellowship.
As we reflect on this enriching experience, we are filled with encouragement and hope. It’s clear that God has used this week to equip these young minds and hearts to return to their communities as faithful ambassadors for Christ. We look forward with anticipation to seeing how He will use their renewed passion and knowledge to advance His kingdom in Canada and the United States.
May the seeds planted during this academy continue to grow and bear fruit, as these young leaders apply their biblical worldview in every aspect of their lives, contributing to the flourishing of their communities and nations.
The post Another Great Year of WYA in Canada appeared first on Ezra Institute.
On this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Dr. Joe Boot and Pastor Nate Wright are joined by Executive Director of Answers in Genesis – Canada, Calvin Smith, for a Q&A recorded LIVE at Worldview Youth Academy – Canada 2024.
The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide! Get it here: https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
Think biblically about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book “Ruler of Kings”: https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;
Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;
Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;
Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885.
Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.
The post LIVE Q&A WYA Canada 2024: Dr. Joe Boot, Calvin Smith & Nate Wright appeared first on Ezra Institute.
On this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Dr. Boot is joined by Dan Smithwick, President of the Nehemiah Institute, to talk about the appalling state of Christian education and worldview thinking among Christians and the need for Christians to think Christianly.
Episode Resources:Nehemiah Institute Website: https://worldviewcheckup.org/;
PEERS Test: https://worldviewcheckup.org/peers;
The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide! Get it here: https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
Think biblically about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book “Ruler of Kings”: https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;
Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;
Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;
Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885.
Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.
The post Christians MUST Think Christianly ft. Dan Smithwick of the Nehemiah Institute appeared first on Ezra Institute.
On this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Drs. Boot and Thiessen are joined by Ezra Institute fellow Dr. P. Andrew Sandlin to talk about the Bible as the Word of God.
Episode Resources:Center for Cultural Leadership: https://christianculture.com/;
Dr. Sandlin’s Substack: https://pandrewsandlin.substack.com/
The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide! Get it here: https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
Think biblically about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book “Ruler of Kings”: https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;
Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;
Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;
Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885.
Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.
The post The Bible is the Word of God ft. Dr. P. Andrew Sandlin appeared first on Ezra Institute.
We are thrilled to share that our first-ever Worldview Youth Academy in the United States was a tremendous success! Nearly 30 enthusiastic students from across the United States and Canada came together in the beautiful Smoky Mountains for a week of learning, growth, fellowship, and teamwork.
From daily morning worship to evening devotionals, these young adults were immersed in a transformative experience, grappling with complex issues through a biblical worldview. The Academy aimed to equip students with the ability to think Christianly in all aspects of life. Expert speakers delivered thought-provoking lectures on a variety of topics, including evolution, biblical law, masculinity and femininity, the purpose of marriage, vocation, abortion, and euthanasia.
The days were filled not only with insightful lectures but also with fun and engaging activities. Students participated in camp competitions, enjoyed lake and pool activities, and played soccer, basketball, and tennis. The talent show was a highlight, showcasing the diverse and admirable skills of the student group. The week culminated in a lively hoedown, where students enjoyed square and line dancing on the final night.
The Academy concluded with an unforgettable trip to Gatlinburg, where students marveled at the magnificence of God’s creation from Anakeesta Mountaintop Adventure Park. It was a fitting end to a week of deep learning and meaningful connections.
We are grateful for the opportunity to impact the lives of these young adults and look forward to many more successful academies in the future. Thank you to everyone who made this event possible and to the students who brought their enthusiasm and curiosity to the Academy.
The post Success at Our First Worldview Youth Academy in the U.S. appeared first on Ezra Institute.
P Nate and Pootie take a quick breather from this series eight weeks in to review the interviews and discuss what they’ve learned. There have been so many great interviews, great conversations, and so many takeaways that we needed to slow down to digest it all.
If you missed any of the episodes, now is your chance to catch up before the next half of the series drops!
HOW TO WIN THE WORLD PAST EPISODES:
Part 1 – “Believe the World is Winnable”: https://youtu.be/jhXUt0OFFDM; Part 2 – “War with Worship”: https://youtu.be/EqgR9Ewba7g; Part 3 – “Cultivate Christian Community”: https://youtu.be/a5YQdrgJ_wg; Part 4 – “Recover Biblical Households”: https://youtu.be/cRFIdIlSyhY; Part 5 – “Practice Hospitality”: https://youtu.be/pWXJI8_SGlE; Part 6 – “Lead Courageously”: https://youtu.be/iNQQciI21Rg; Part 7 – “Seek the Lost”: https://youtu.be/P1ZcYoqW9QQ;
The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide! Get it here: *https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;*
Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
Think biblically about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book “Ruler of Kings”: https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government;
For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.
Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.com;
Subscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;
Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;
Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885.
Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.
The post HOW TO WIN THE WORLD: Mid-Series Review appeared first on Ezra Institute.
The man who is content to sit ignorantly by his own fireside, wrapped up in his own private affairs, and has no public eye for what is going on in the Church and the world, is a miserable patriot, and a poor style of Christian. Next to our Bibles and our own hearts, our Lord would have us study our own times. – J. C Ryle
Idolatry, Folly, and the Natural Mind
The ignorant firesides of privatized Christians are a sad reality that no era of the church has been entirely without. Relatively few believers today want to bother with careful Christian thinking about culture as the prerequisite for truly Christian action in the world. Today’s Western church is generally either paralysed by a pietistic retreatism and cultural disengagement or misled by unthinking enthusiasts. The latter – ‘influencers,’ agitators and activists, loud and sweeping in opinion, the alleged victims of past generations and ready to act as judge, jury, and executioner – like revolutionaries with metaphorical guillotines, go about trying to liberate the triangle of its three sides. Invariably making haste to dispense with careful thought and get on with ‘changing the world,’ they head off to get a selfie of themselves conquering Mount Everest without knowing where it is on the map. They are ready to sternly excoriate the pastor for his privilege, alleged phobias and participation in the patriarchy before listening to his sermons or being able to find Zephaniah between the binding, never mind quote from the minor mouthpiece of divine revelation. Consequently, it is not an easy task to persuade believers to adopt a particular sort of careful thinking, studying the times in service to Christ, and harder still to make appealing the kind of Christian thought which is unconcerned with the self-justifying abstractions so popular in our woke culture for what is radically transformational – which is to say, cutting to the root of the human selfhood and by extension moving out like ripples on a lake, to touch all of life.
The self-justifying ideology that dominates society today, with its shameless moral posturing – the jiggery wokery of the West – is especially difficult to deal with because it is a form of stupidity which is less self-aware than rank evil and is no respecter of persons. It seems immune to reasoning and inconvenient truths. Intellectuals, scholars, political elites, and journalists are frequently afflicted with this brand of stupidity – indeed more so than ordinary working people who are practically forced to consume their vacuous messaging in every form of media. Stupidity is a peculiarly human condition that arises, not because of a lack of intellectual capacity, but because of a herd mentality formed around powerful propaganda – a collective stupidity. It is the abstraction Kierkegaard railed against – public opinion:
The public is a kind of colossal something, an abstract void and vacuum that is all and nothing…the most dangerous of all powers and the most meaningless…Now everyone can have an opinion, but there must be a lumping together numerically in order to have it. Twenty-five signatures to the silliest notion is an opinion.1
The collective folly that emerges is a kind of sociological phenomenon which evidently undermines rudimentary human capabilities, depriving people of their inner independence – their ability to think and assess individually and decide for themselves as an image-bearer before God. This they are prepared to renounce, with varying degrees of self-consciousness, in order to adapt their behavior to the prevailing ideological situation. In the early 1940s the noted Christian martyr in Nazi Germany, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, had time to reflect whilst languishing in prison, on how and why the highly educated German people had become afflicted with collective ideological stupidity. His comments are startlingly reflective of our own cultural moment:
The fact that stupid people are often stubborn should not hide the fact that they are not independent. When talking to him, one feels that one is not dealing with him personally, but with catchphrases, slogans, etc. that have taken possession of him. He is under a spell; he is blinded; he is abused in his own being. Having become an instrument without an independent will, the fool will also be capable of all evil, and at the same time, unable to recognize it as evil…But it is also quite clear here that it is not an act of instruction, but only an act of liberation that can overcome stupidity… The Bible states that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. Thus, the inner liberation of man begins by living responsibly before God. Only then may stupidity be overcome.2
Transforming the Mind
The need of the hour in the West is the liberating reality of Jesus Christ and the recovery of the Christian mind – the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16) – that leads to distinctly Christian activity. Merely political and sociological arguments will not suffice because collective folly is an abstraction, a slogan and one cannot simply reason people out of it. Liberation must come from the outside, which involves the recovery of an inner independence in confrontation with the truth.
So, what is the Christian mind? And where do we begin in the study of our time? From the standpoint of scriptural revelation, truly Christian thinking must be concerned first and foremost with Jesus Christ, being His disciple, and having His Word dwell and abide in us by His Spirit. But submitting oneself to being a humble follower does not come easily to anyone. The human inclination is always toward autonomy, preferring to live the illusion that we can legislate for ourselves, like kings without a country. Being a professing Christian in the life of the church does not entirely remove the temptation or inclination to strike out alone and follow our own desires, living by our own priorities and setting to one side the awesome and all-consuming call to be a disciple of Christ; to come and die in order to truly live. Yet this is precisely what Christ calls us to. Being a ‘living sacrifice’ sounds excruciating and involves a transformation of the mind, which implies the pain and suffering of rejection by a world conformed, in the final analysis, to a very different spirit. But the divine midwife insists this is the only way. We must be reborn, transformed and given a new heart, a new mind.
As Christians, we may claim to follow Christ, but the lifelong challenge in developing a truly Christian mindset requires regularly asking ourselves if we have followed him far enough? Have we been to Jordan and seen the dove descending, but hung back from the mountain to avoid His exposition of the law and radical insistence that only those who teach that law can be great in the Kingdom? Have we fallen asleep in pious satisfaction at the gates of Gethsemane, or lingered from a safe distance at Golgotha, never making it to the slopes of Olivet or to the Upper Room in Jerusalem with the dancing flames of fire? Is it possible that we are not yet Christian enough? It is all too easy to follow Christ only as far as is convenient, till the tarrying is just too tiring. If we are unwilling to stand under Christ’s Lordship in all of life, then we are uninvolved in key aspects of the drama and miss the significance of God’s full act in history.
The entire work of Christ in all his offices must become contemporaneous with us if we would truly be transformed by the renewing of our minds. It is not sufficient to appreciate Christ washing Simon Peter’s feet at the last supper as a model of service if we refuse to see him, let alone join him, where the bloodied Stephen saw him – exalted in heavenly places, standing up from his seat of total authority at God’s right hand. Unambiguously, we must certainly see him as priest on the road to Calvary, but we must also recognize him on the footpath to Emmaus as resurrected Lord, the gardener of creation among Arimathea’s roses, if we are to truly follow Christ and know the renewal of our minds.
In a hostile context, the temptation is to follow Him just as far as culture permits. When the storm rises and dread grips us is precisely the time we are called to step out of the boat and walk upon the Word – despite the wind and waves of the world’s antagonism. We must not suddenly become hard of hearing. And if we will not hear that Word over the inimical clamour of idolatry, we certainly cannot then speak it. If our cultural moment is allowed to determine how far we follow Christ, then we cannot follow him at all. We may perhaps hear Hosanna’s from a distance, but we won’t be found stammering with the doubter, “My Lord and my God!” We might be permitted to stand near the cross of a ‘martyr’ but not ascend to the seat of total authority with the ruler of the kings of the earth.
The sad end of hearing and heeding only the word our culture will permit is first an unwillingness, then a tragic inability to speak the whole counsel of God as faithful prophets. As priest and prophet Christ was hated, knew the world’s enmity, and warned that the spirit at work in the children of disobedience would naturally hate his followers also. But we cannot follow our prophet nor share in his sufferings if we refuse to prophesy. Many contemporary priests would rather predict with Balaam to preserve their living than stand with Elijah against Baal. It is certain an ass has spoken with more wisdom in the annals of prophetic utterance than many English bishops in recent years – hirelings who would flog the meekest of God’s prophets if they could for hindering their progress in vexing the church. Always loquacious but lacking true substance, they deceive and flatter themselves that their goal is unity when, in reality, it is revolt. Like powdered-wigged courtiers fighting over who will fetch the kings chamber pot, much of the Western church’s leadership, even amongst evangelicals, simply courts the culture – ingratiating themselves with the influential, the powerful, the professors, even senior clergy who have whored themselves to the spirit of the world. Largely in the name of scholarliness they are avidly committed to half-measures, truth to a certain degree.
The moment that God’s people call a truce and reach a settlement with the spirit of the world, the mindset of the age, is the moment they set aside the Christian mind and overturn true Christianity. The kingdom of God is indeed in this world, but not of it; it is surely present here, but it is not from here – its power, authority and mandate derive from a transcendent source. In history, the church is always the church militant not yet fully triumphant. The struggle will continue over our graves till the king comes who will open all graves. We are called to victory but not to peaceful collaboration. It is only where the battle is fiercest that the fealty of Christ’s soldiers is proved. To desert the frontline but deny cowardice and disloyalty because you once served up beans in the officer’s mess is to lie to oneself.
When God’s people say ‘peace, peace,’ when there is no peace, and sign a treaty with a rebel world, it pretends to be the church triumphant, that the struggle against lawlessness and spiritual darkness is complete – but before the consummation of Christ. Declaring an armistice with sin or striking a deal with the godless state is not a victory nor faithfulness to God’s kingdom. If the church acquiesces to blessing homosexual relationships to make peace with the culture, like the Church of England’s Synod, or meekly surrenders Christ’s authority over public worship, assembly and sacraments to the state, like many Christian leaders during the Covid-19 debacle, defeats are being dressed up like conquests. It is a tragic irony that those who preach righteousness and hope for history through following Christ to the uttermost, bringing them into direct conflict with the world on the frontlines of battle, are charged with ‘triumphalism,’ whilst popular collaborators who claim neutrality with the world, making a compact of surrender or privatization to the applause of culture, are thought pious and realistic. In reality they are triumphalist – seeking to immanentize a false eschaton by denaturing the faith, abstracting it from the affairs of daily life and coating what remains in honey so as to avoid any bitter taste in society’s mouth – for a church no longer at war is a church triumphant.
This compromised situation is one Christians should be ashamed of, as today’s unthinking Christianity, harmonized with the world, humiliates itself. Like an old man decked out in the fashions of youth, it becomes an object of ridicule. Accommodating the Christian mind to society’s whims reduces the priceless bread of life to play dough, molded to superficial preferences. Worse, those willing to sit quietly by in pious self-satisfaction amidst a failing church and culture, refusing to either understand or respond with faith and courage to the times in which they live, are traitors to the cause of the king. Our age requires men of Issachar, not cowards who, bringing counsels of despair, head for home and hearth because they saw giants in Jericho.
What kind of Christian will you be?
—
1 Kierkegaard, Two Ages, 93, 106.
2 Bonhoeffer, Dietrich.“Von der Dummheit”: Widerstand und Ergebung. Briefe und Aufzeichnungen aus der Haft. S. 17–20. Muenchen, Christian Kaiser Verlag, 1951.
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In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Drs. Joe Boot and Michael Thiessen are joined by Dr. Ted Fenske, from the inaugural Worldview Youth Academy—USA, to discuss true, biblical masculinity in our confused and effeminate age.
The WAIT is OVER!!! Pre-order your copy of the NEW updated and expanded version of Dr. Boot’s Mission of God with a brand-new study guide! Get it here: *https://ezrapress.ca/products/mission-of-god-10th-anniversary-edition;*
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As the Rebels continue the summer series on how to win the world, we turn our attention to evangelism. How can we win the world if we do not seek the lost with the transforming power of the gospel? This week, Chris invites returning guest and friend of the show, Cory McKenna, an equipping evangelist with the Cross Current, to discuss how real, biblical evangelism is the heart of cultural reformation.Episode Resources: Cross Current: https://thecrosscurrent.com/
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What is cultural apologetics? Can a biblical worldview make sense of human experience? What are some of the biggest objections to the Christian faith? Rev Dr Joe Boot, founder and president of the Ezra Institute for Contemporary Christianity shares his thoughts. This interview was recorded in front of a live audience at Holy Trinity Church, Aylesbury in partnership with Aylesbury Youth For Christ.
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It’s that time of the month again! It’s time for another Q&A with Dr. Joe Boot. This month Dr. Mike Thiessen asks Dr. Joe Boot your questions. Tune in as they discuss the religious character of culture and the religious foundation for law & politics.
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The sixth episode of The Ezra Institute’s special series with the Rebels, “How to Win the World,” is one not to miss!This week, Dr. Joe Rigney joins the show to discuss the necessity of courageous leadership if we want to see the world won!Episode Resources: Canon+: https://canonpress.com/;Joe’s Resources: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Joe-Rigney/author/B00F6VS6UE?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true;Leadership and Emotional Sabotage: https://www.amazon.com/Leadership-Emotional-Sabotage-Resisting-Anxiety/dp/1591280400/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=5Hc4V&content-id=amzn1.sym.f911c8db-3a2b-4b3e-952f-b80fdcee83f4&pf_rd_p=f911c8db-3a2b-4b3e-952f-b80fdcee83f4&pf_rd_r=145-1583662-1169046&pd_rd_wg=xLPRz&pd_rd_r=d010179b-4165-440c-89aa-d957c201c871&ref_=aufs_ap_sc_dsk;Douglas Wilson & Friends with host Joe Rigney: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaUso8l3U_deJ9bAb8-rPjI3ndRP3sLgK;For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com.Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.comSubscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885.Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.The post How to Win the World – Part 6: Lead Courageously with Dr. Joe Rigney appeared first on Ezra Institute.
In celebration of Canada Day (better known as Dominion Day) and the upcoming UK election, which happens to fall on July 4th, American Independence Day, Dr. Joe Boot is joined by Professor Daniel Ogden, Ezra Fellow for International Law, Comparative Politics, and International Relations, to discuss principles of political freedom, rights and responsibilities, good governance, and the rule of higher law.
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https://www.ezrainstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/S07E38.mp3
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Happy Dominion Day, Canada! Are you having people over to celebrate? Then, you’re not going to want to miss this podcast. In this fourth episode, the Rebels are joined by Author, Podcaster, and all-around Christian influencer Rachel Jankovich to tackle the very important, often overlooked subject of Christian Hospitality! Over our summer series “How to Win the World,” P Nate and Pootie have the privilege to sit down with some amazing guests and discuss practical Christian commands that, when faithfully obeyed, push back the darkness and cultivate Christian culture! Continue to join us as we learn how to put our hand to the plough in real, tangible ways.
Episode Resources: Canon+: https://canonpress.com/; Rachel’s Resources: https://canonpress.com/collections/all/rachel-jankovic; What Have You Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-have-you/id1287267219;
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‘The crowd is untruth. Therefore, was Christ crucified’ – Soren Kierkegaard
One of the most fascinating figures for me in the history of European thought, is the controversial and prophetic, Soren Kierkegaard. He recognized, back in the mid-nineteenth century, that Western Europe was reaching a tipping point. As a devout Christian, although he strongly believed an emphatic ‘turn’ toward a renewed consolidation of faith in the eternal worth of human beings as God’s image-bearers lay ahead, he was also convinced that before this could happen, there would be a protracted time of upheavals and catastrophes.[i] The portent of this was already heralded by the revolutionary movements of 1848 – beginning in the Italian peninsula and spreading throughout much of Europe. Shortly thereafter, Europe was rocked by two World Wars and a sexual-social revolution that continues to this day. Kierkegaard foresaw the late-modern age of radical democratization as one of steady disintegration, suffering and bloodshed, in which man would try and solve his existential problems by politics – by his own power and reason.
This, he recognized, was an essentially religious issue resulting from the uprooting of a scriptural world and life view. In fact, just as Karl Marx was embarking on what would prove a highly influential writing career, Kierkegaard noted with remarkable prescience that the godless secular movements which were emerging would arrive as ‘political’ trends but would soon be unmasked as deeply religious in nature. He wrote,
The future will correspond inversely to the reformation: then everything appeared to be a religious movement and became politics; now everything appears to be politics but will become a religious movement.[ii]
We are seeing this played out before our eyes in modern political life. Under the profound and lasting influence of Hegel and Marx, modern statism has become the neo-pagan religion of choice across Western Europe – politics is again priestly and saving in its pretentions. The conservative and classically liberal vision of a small and delimited state, focused on its task as a ministry of justice, has almost entirely given way to a plan for radical social democracy, in which the state is an omnipresent and totalizing institution in which civil government swallows all other forms of government in a parts to whole relation. This messianic state, hailed and erected by the crowd, has sought to redefine marriage and sexuality, truth and justice, the meaning of money, the value of life and the concept of law. As a result, family, church, private enterprise, and independent nationhood have been assaulted on every side.
Inevitably, sacrifices must be made to the new god – the unborn, historic freedoms, family inheritance, progressive taxes, and property. State tyranny is no longer dressed in the luxurious robes of royal privilege, and yet, adorned with the positive law of ‘the people,’ equally asserts its eminent domain. Ahab wants your vineyard, and he will plot, bribe, lie, and grind you to powder to get it, all under cover of a sovereign seal. Yes, the new god will ‘level up’ the world through a vast democratization and equalization of all life. The modern West’s mutiny against God, whether kitted out in proletarian or aristocratic, elitist boots, is of a demonic character and so no purely political solution is possible. The root problem is unquestionably the underlying religious worldview, and it is imperative it be addressed.
The masses in Europe have been bought off for decades by false and impossible promises of cradle to grave security, the omnicompetent state embracing the gullible crowd in its providential beneficence and paternal solicitude. But Dagon has toppled. And though we keep trying to stand him on end and glue his head and hands back on, some people are beginning to realise, the jig is up. The emperor has no clothes. The social democracy proffering utopian political salvation is a powerless idol, no more capable of delivering on its promises than the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel.
This is now painfully true in the UK. Like much of the West, Britain is broken, bankrupt and decaying rapidly. The British states ludicrous attempt to ‘save’ its people from Covid-19 with state largesse led to runaway inflation from which the economy has still not recovered. Its borders are overrun by both legal and illegal migrants from largely Islamic lands, and there is presently no meaningful political will to prevent it; its public services are at breaking point; twenty percent of its working age population is economically inactive, with over 50% of the nation taking more directly and indirectly in benefits and welfare than they pay in taxes, despite taxation being at a record post war high; its demography is in freefall as the family collapses; and its favorite goddess of state, the National Health Service, is teetering on the brink of total collapse; the military has shrunk to its smallest size since before the Napoleonic war as recruitment becomes an uphill struggle, and confidence in social and political institutions has reached a radical low.
The ideological difference between the two main parties in Britain is shockingly invisible. Both the Conservative and Labour Parties are addicted to an intoxicating status quo of high tax, high spend, debt ridden, la la land economic policy to appease the abstract ‘public,’ and a social liberalism unwilling to tackle head on the ruinous continuation of the sexual revolution – with both abortion and the queering of culture being a national disgrace. With few, but notable exceptions among the Tories, both the main parties promote a left-leaning social democracy, undergirded by stagnant socialistic welfare economics. Their actions show they are true believers in the fickle god of state – who now plans to save us from the climate itself, with mindless net zero policies.
Yet ironically, Britain remains in a better state than most of Western Europe. Over the English Channel, revolutionary rumblings are once again afoot in France, with elections happening on July 7. France has been riven by religious, economic, and social disintegration for decades, and its looks as though a day of reckoning is looming for the Justin Trudeau of Europe, Emmanuel Macron.
In Britain, the general election takes place on July 4th. The chances of the British public voting for their own ‘Independence Day’ from an overreaching nanny state are presently zero. Our democracy is currently eating itself, and things are liable to get considerably worse before they get better. Segments of the population are starting to rediscover their individuality from the crowd and realizing something has gone badly wrong. A form of British conservative populism is on the rise. It looks back with understandable nostalgia to the days of the Christian Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, and though it does not fully know how, because its overlooks the religious root, longs to recover its British identity – decency, fairness, politeness, hospitality, generosity, justice, with a daring ‘can do’ spirit full of hope, fortitude and faith. But July’s election will almost certainly deliver a larcenous socialist government power in the UK for at least five years, as a disillusioned and furious electorate, lurching at the ballot box from bad to worse, unwittingly decides to watch the illusion of political salvation die a painful death.
A recent prediction regarding the expected outcome of our forthcoming election from one noted political commentator in the UK makes for sobering reading. Following the crowd is almost always a ruinous course:
It will merely make a bad situation worse, further ruining an already broken Britain, and will be remembered as the last hurrah of an ancien regime that never learnt from its mistakes. Our taxes will go up to even more extortionate levels, especially on capital and property, making it even less worthwhile to work, invest or create; our drift to European-style social democracy will accelerate; our ultra-regulated economy will carry on stagnating in terms of per capita GDP, delivering paltry wage growth and ensuring children can no longer expect to be better off than their parents. The NHS, pensions and the welfare state will career ever-faster towards bankruptcy; immigrants will arrive at extraordinary rates, fuelling problems of integration and exacerbating the housing crisis; the gap between London and the rest will grow; the somewheres will still be pitted against the anywheres; the education system, state and private, will be trashed by egalitarian fanatics. Quangos and human rights lawyers will be handed even greater powers. The woke revolution will tear through more institutions; the family will continue to wither, intensifying the baby-bust; criminals will run riot; energy costs will rocket further in a mad rush to net zero, while the war on mobility will be intensified; and our Armed Forces will remain preposterously small.[iii]
For good reason, Christ never entrusted himself to the crowd – for the crowd is untruth. The 51% is not the path of righteousness. The masses that would make him king, soon called instead for his crucifixion. We can never place our faith in ‘the public’, elections or the political life of a nation. Through all the ups and downs, twists and turns of history, our faith must be in Christ alone who calls all peoples, kings, judges, and rulers to serve Him. Christ did not permit the crowd as mass-man to help him. He ‘did not permit balloting, but would be what He is, the Truth, which relates itself to the individual.’[iv] With Kierkegaard, I have no doubt that Christianity will not only have the last laugh, but will have the final word in this great struggle of our time.
[i] Soren Kierkegaard, cited in, Gregor Malantschuk, The Controversial Kierkegaard, trans., Howard V. Hong & Edna H. Hong (Ontario: Wilfred Laurier University Press, 1976), 72-73
[ii] Kierkegaard, The Controversial Kierkegaard, 73
[iii] The Telegraph, Allister Heath, ‘Britain is Heading for a Populist Tsunami Far Greater than Anything Seen in Europe’ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/12/britain-faces-populist-tsunami-greater-anything-seen-europe/ accessed, June 2024.
[iv] Soren Kierkegaard, in, Walter Kaufmann, Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre (New York: Plume, 1975), 96
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On this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Doctors Joe Boot and Michael Thiessen address whether or not democracy is compatible with a biblical worldview. It’s Election Season. Think biblically about politics with the help of Dr. Boot’s latest book “Ruler of Kings”: https://ezrapress.ca/products/ruler-of-kings-toward-a-christian-vision-of-government; Get your copy of “Covenant Sexuality” from Ezra Press for 20% off today!: https://ezrapress.ca/products/covenant-sexuality-1; Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Should we do this more often? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
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This summer the Rebels are learning “How to Win the World” through various guests discussing practical Christian theology and how it can apply to the immediate world around us. Continue to join us as we learn how to put our hand to the plough in real, tangible ways.
In this fourth episode, P Nate and Elder P are joined by Pastor/ Author C.R. Wiley of the Theology Pugcast to discuss how Christians can reclaim productive, anti-fragile, biblical households.
Episode Resources: Canon+: https://canonpress.com/; C.R.’s Website: https://crwiley.com/; C.R.’s Books: https://crwiley.com/books/; Theology Pugcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-theology-pugcast/id1452933071?ign-mpt=uo%3D4&mt=2; Fight, Laugh, Feast (FLF) Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/menu/checkout;
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The post How to Win the World, Part 4: Recover Biblical Households with C.R. Wiley appeared first on Ezra Institute.
This summer the Rebels are learning “How to Win the World” through various guests discussing practical Christian theology and how it can apply to the immediate world around us. Continue to join us as we learn how to put our hand to the plough in real, tangible ways.
In this fourth episode, P Nate and Elder P are joined by Pastor/ Author C.R. Wiley of the Theology Pugcast to discuss how Christians can reclaim productive, anti-fragile, biblical households.
Episode Resources:
Canon+:https://canonpress.com/;
C.R.’s Website: https://crwiley.com/;
C.R.’s Books: https://crwiley.com/books/;
Theology Pugcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-theology-pugcast/id1452933071?ign-mpt=uo%3D4&mt=2;
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On this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Dr. Michael Thiessen and Pastor Nate Wright address the accusation that the God of the Old Testament is cruel and, accordingly, Christians should “unhitch” themselves for the Old Testament.Get your copy of “Covenant Sexuality” from Ezra Press for 20% off today!: https://ezrapress.ca/products/covenant-sexuality-1;Got Questions? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Should we do this more often? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/; For Ezra’s many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.com. Stay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.comSubscribe to Ezra’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885. Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help. Watch the video here: https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/ZIDrcE-GYrE
In this episode of Ezra Institute’s special series with the Rebels, “How to Win the World,” P Nate and Pootie will be joined by a variety of guests talking about several key practical outworkings of theological concepts that will help Christians expand the Kingdom of God, fix what is broken and slowly but surely win the world.
In this third episode, the Rebels are joined by pastor and author Toby Sumpter to talk about the intentional cultivation of Christian community. How can we build the kind of communities that will be necessary to win the world? TUNE IN TO FIND OUT.
Episode Resources:
Canon+:https://canonpress.com/;
Having Two Legs (Toby’s Blog): https://tobyjsumpter.com/;
Crosspolitic: https://crosspolitic.com/;
Fight, Laugh, Feast (FLF) Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/menu/checkout;
Christ Church (Moscow): https://www.christkirk.com/.
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On this Podcast for Cultural Reformation episode, Dr. Michael Thiessen and Pastor Nate Wright address the Pagan high holy month of Pride. Not only do they expose the 2SLGBTQIA+ cult for the false religion it is, but they also provide a positive biblical vision for sex and sexuality.
Get your copy of “Covenant Sexuality”from Ezra Press for 20% off today!: https://ezrapress.ca/products/covenant-sexuality-1;
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The Ezra Institute brings you a new series with the Rebels when P Nate and Pootie are joined by a variety of guests talking about several key practical outworkings of theological concepts that will help Christians expand the Kingdom of God, see the dark pushed back and slowly (like leaven working through the loaf) win the world.
In this episode, P Nate and Pootie invite Doug Wilson onto the show to discuss an unlikely place for world-conquering to start… with corporate worship. Wilson lays out a vision of worship that extends from the corporate gathering of local churches to the private practices of every Christian behind closed doors. If we want to win the world, we need to start with proper worship… because, in the Christian worldview, worship is warfare!
Episode Resources:
Canon+:https://canonpress.com/;
Blog & Mablog: https://dougwils.com/;
Blog & Mablog on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEeDTCe9GnbRPbUfNwoqEYQ;
Christ Church (Moscow): https://www.christkirk.com/.
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It’s that time of the month again when Pastor Nate Wright and Dr. Joe Boot answer your questions. Tune in as they discuss church leadership and accountability, the intermediate state and where Christians go after they die, and Christians’ response to the pagan high, holy month of perversion and debauchery, Pride Month.
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The Ezra Institute brings you a new series with the Rebels when P Nate and Pootie are joined by a variety of guests talking about several key practical outworkings of theological concepts that will help Christians expand the Kingdom of God, see the dark pushed back, and slowly (like leaven working through the loaf) win the world.
This episode P Nate is joined by pastor/ author Dr. Josh Howard, who hosts the Eschatology Matters podcast, to discuss step one to saving the world… believing this world can actually be won!
Episode Resources:
Eschatology Matters:eschatologymatters.org;
Eschatology Matters YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@eschatology_matters;
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Work is a central aspect of life. On today’s show, we continue our series, Conversations & Presuppositions, by examining a Christian view of work, wealth, and capital and investing our time, talents, and treasures to advance the Kingdom of God.
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Tune in starting June 03, 2024, to the Rebel Podcast for Cultural Engagement’s NEW series: How to Win the World ft. Dr. Joe Boot, Doug Wilson, Toby Sumpter, Joe Rigney, Rachel Jankovic and many more!
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Countering Pro-Abortion Rhetoric with Grace and Truth
Some things seem best not discussed. In polite society, it’s generally recommended to avoid all inflammatory topics, and in particular, religion and politics. Since abortion hits both of these, and represents the single most divisive issue in our society, sidestepping the subject seems prudent, if not life-preserving. In an effort to keep the peace and maintain a congenial atmosphere, most would agree to let this sleeping dog lie. Outside of the realms of pro-life rallies and pro-choice protests, little is said on the topic and silence tends to prevail, leaving the issues surrounding abortion largely unaddressed. So much so, that for many people, abortion has become a non-issue all together and conveniently dismissed.
Remarkably, this silent treatment takes place despite the fact that abortions occur commonly and exact a widespread and costly toll. Of the adult surgeries done in North America, abortion is the most commonly performed, with one in four pregnancies ending in abortion.1 Following the American legalization of abortion in 1973, untold millions of preborn children have been brutally killed, skulls crushed, bodies dismembered, and remains suctioned from the womb. This procedural reality is accurately portrayed in the excellent movie, “Unplanned,”2 which, in its opening scenes, graphically depicts the black and white ultrasound image of a baby fetus being suctioned apart, juxtaposed with bright red blood filling an adjacent container. I know this from my own medical training experience, when I helped provide anaesthesia for long slates of “therapeutic” abortion cases, and remember all too well the vacutainer filling in spurts and starts with blood and body parts, as the gynecologist tried to make light of the situation with attempts at dark humor.
The murdered preborn aren’t the only casualties. Of course, women who have had an abortion suffer, as well, both in coming to their decision, and in the months and years that follow. They are the ones that have to live with the fact that their choice resulted in the death of their developing child; a decision which is often associated with deep regret, and even lifelong remorse.3 As well, there is the societal injury, devaluing human life, and not just for the preborn, but for all stages of life, from the infant through to the elderly and the infirm. Although the recent U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe versus Wade may help to stem part of this tide – allowing state legislators to place some restrictions on abortion in their jurisdictions – it won’t necessarily do much for Canada, where abortion-on-demand is readily available nationwide, right up to and including the time of delivery. Like the totalitarian state of North Korea, Canada has no laws protecting the unborn, rendering the womb a most dangerous place for many.
At the center of the abortion debate is a war on words. As Eric Bentley aptly summarized, “Ours is the age of substitutes: Instead of language we have jargon; instead of principles, slogans; and, instead of genuine ideas, bright ideas.”4 To render abortion more palatable and foster societal agreement, it is referred to as a “reproductive health choice,” and defined as “the termination of a pregnancy by removal of an embryo or fetus.” This use of medical euphemisms functions to desensitize and confuse people about what it actually is – the murder of an innocent preborn baby. Pro-abortion activism is rife with slogan usage. These catchy phrases make use of prepackaged ideas to allow for easy acceptance and to divert attention away from the grim reality of the abortion procedure. However, resorting to slogans as the primary means of propelling their anti-life views only betrays their impoverished philosophy and indefensible moral position. As such, there is ample opportunity to speak truth into this void.
As professing Christians, remaining silent in the face of widespread abortion is not an option. Jesus demonstrated unending compassion and concern for the most vulnerable in society, of which the preborn would be considered the most preeminent. As followers of the Risen Lord, like Him, we need to demonstrate concern, as well. Something needs to be said to stop the killing. So, rather than opposing the pro-abortion rhetoric with counter sloganeering, fighting fire with fire, pithy with pithy, tit for tat, our conversations need to “be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that we may know how to answer everyone” (Col 4:6). This is because the battle over the sanctity of human life isn’t just our personal fight, but rather the Lord’s, and needs to be waged on His terms. As such, “the weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have the divine power to demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God (2 Cor 10:4-5). It’s a battle that won’t be won in the political arena or the court room, but in the heart of hearts of each and every person, and not only by political might and legislative muster, but by the transformative work of the Holy Spirit, “as we take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ” (2 Cor 10:5). The ambition of this essay is to provide an approach for followers of Christ to winsomely counter pro-abortion slogans with productive dialogue that will not only help persuade others to adopt a prolife stance, but point them to the Gospel and the need for a saving faith in Jesus Christ.
Biblical Foundation for Prolife Stance
Before engaging with those who hold pro-abortion views, it’s worthwhile considering the firm foundation on which our argumentation rests, and in the process, better appreciate their shaky one. All philosophical systems of thought rest upon a series of background assumptions or beliefs. These include a metaphysical starting point on which the system is based and from which all thinking derives – an ultimate commitment – as well as an understanding of how things are known, and known that they’re known – an epistemology – and an ethical guide for how we should live our lives – a moral standard. For Christians, the Bible is that objective starting place. The Triune God of Scripture – the creator and sustainer of the universe – is understood as being behind everything that exists. Similarly, Christian epistemology is based upon Biblical revelation. We know things because God has made them known to us through His Word, our understanding of which is enabled by the power of the Holy Spirit. Because of God’s revelation, we are brought into the Kingdom of light and are able to make sense of our experiences and understand things in their proper relationship to Him, “the alpha and the omega” (Rev 1:8). As King Solomon said, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is Understanding” (Prov 9:10). Likewise, the Christian moral standard is clearly detailed in Scripture, and summarized by Jesus as, “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind…and your neighbor as yourself” (Matt 22:37-39).
By contrast, those who reject Holy Scripture and the knowledge of God, which has been made plain in the created order, begin their thinking with themselves. Attempting to function in an automatous fashion, they set stand-alone reason as their starting point, and base their thinking and their means of knowing things on their own wits and wisdom. In regard to moral behaviour, they become their own arbiter of right and wrong, and base their ethics on their own darkened sensibilities, shaped by the surrounding values of the culture, “everyone doing as he sees fit” (Ju 21:25). Rene Descartes, who was considered the father of the so-called Enlightenment Period, formalized this approach with the assertion, “I think therefore I am.” Descartes reckoned that his ability to think – while being shut off from all external stimuli and influences – provided him with the definitive foundation for being. He referred to this ultimate commitment as the Archimedean point, named after the ancient Greek mathematician, who boldly claimed to be able to move the earth if he had a place to stand and a long enough lever.
However, like Archimedes’ metaphorical image, Descartes’ maxim isn’t workable. For Archimedes to move the earth with a lever, he would need to have, in principle at least, a place to stand separate from the created order. Otherwise, there would be no net movement, just a lot of huffing and puffing. It would be like trying to punt a boat by pushing off from the boat floor rather than the river bottom, or attempting to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps. Similarly, if we base reality on our finite capacity to think, disengaged from all else, we have no way of making sense of our experiences and our relationship to the world, beyond the confines of our subjective thoughts. We are in the woods and unable to see the forest for the trees. Like Archimedes, we also require a separate point from ourselves and the created order to objectively understand reality – a transcendent point – which only the Bible, as the transcendent Word of God, can provide.
With this in mind, the Christian approach to the ethical issue of abortion becomes quite straightforward – just don’t do it! We know abortion is wrong because the Bible says it’s wrong. While quoting Scripture may not be the most effective means of persuading a non-believer to reject abortion, it’s essential that we, who stand on God’s word, understand the Biblical underpinnings of the pro-life position. Although people from antiquity were largely indifferent to the practice of abortion, historians agree that “the language of the Christians from the very beginning was widely different. With unwavering consistency and with the strongest emphasis, they denounced the practice, not simply as inhuman, but as definitely murder.”5 This is because the verdict about abortion in the Bible is clear. The opening pages of Genesis present humankind as set apart from all other living things, created not by his law-word, but “formed from the dust of the ground” into the image of God (Gen 2:7). The sanctity of human life is explained to Noah that, “Whoever sheds human blood, by humans shall their blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made mankind” (Gen 9:6). This prohibition against murder makes the top-ten list of commandments given to Moses and is twice repeated in the Torah (Ex 20:13, Deut 5:17). Furthermore, Scripture condemns child sacrifice and makes clear not to murder the innocent (2 Ki 21:16; Ps 106:37,38; Jer 19:4), but to celebrate children as “a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him” (Ps 127:3).
As God incarnate, Jesus lived and redeemed the entirety of human life and experience, from its very beginnings in the womb to death in the tomb. By living a perfect life before the Father, he sanctified every phase of human life, including embryonic development, when his cousin, John the Baptist, leapt for joy in Elizabeth’s womb at his presence (Lk 1:44). And Jeremiah was reassured by the Lord that he was known by God in the womb, and before he was born, was “set apart and anointed as a prophet to the nations” (Jer 1:5). Therefore, our inherent value as image bearers doesn’t begin at birth, nor at any other arbitrary cut point preceding it, such as womb implantation, or measurable brain wave activity, heartbeat, quickening, viability, or the babe’s first breath. In fact, the Apostle Paul tells us that we were chosen before the very foundations of the world (Eph 1:4). So, although our souls are inextricably connected to our physical bodies, our value is not dependent on us attaining any particular stage of development nor age of maturity. It follows then that the preborn are precious to God and deserve our unfaltering protection.
Proverbial Approach to Argumentation
Since abortion is an emotionally charged and polarizing topic, articulating a counter view requires a thoughtful approach. We need to be “shrewd as snakes and innocent as doves” (Matt 10:16), not “nasty as serpents and stupid as pigeons,” as Preston Manning quipped. Considering our response, then, we would do well to draw from Biblical wisdom and take a lesson from King Solomon, who said, “Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you yourself will be just like him. Answer a fool according to his folly, or he will be wise in his own eyes” (Prov 26:4-5). In this context, the term fool carries moral rather than intellectual meaning. Similar to its use in Psalm 14, “A fool says in his heart there is no God,” fool refers to emptiness of belief rather than stupidity. While at first blush, the two verses of this proverb may seem contradictory, their purposeful juxtaposition underscores how they necessarily complement each other and work together. In the first portion, “not answering a fool according to their folly” (verse 4), we are warned not to be drawn into argumentation based on secular thought, otherwise we are at risk of also being mired in confusion. In the second portion, “answering the fool according to their folly” (verse 5), we are encouraged to show understanding of the unbeliever’s viewpoint and temporarily put on their worldview glasses.
When applying this proverb to the real world of abortion dialogue, it works best to reverse the order, and begin by showing an understanding with the pro-abortionist position, followed by drawing out their position to its natural conclusions, and then showing its failings. The Canadian Centre for Bioethical Reform, a prolife equipping ministry, applies this method superbly.6 After first exposing the visual evidence of what abortion does to preborn children, the dedicated team of staff, interns, and volunteers winsomely articulate why human rights must begin when a human’s life begins. They do so by making use of a proven-effective three-part approach to proactively engage Canadians in productive conversations on the topic of abortion.
First, they establish a point of contact by demonstrating a level of understanding and some degree of agreement. This acts a bit like an olive branch and can help diffuse initial tensions around the topic. Second, they ask them to consider an analogous scenario involving a toddler rather than a preborn baby. This brings the conversation out from the realm of the abstract fetus and into concrete relatable terms of a living child. Third, they pose an “if/then” question to gently challenge the pro-abortion stance by demonstrating its inconsistency and contradiction. During the entire process, the aim is to steer the conversation towards the humanity of the preborn child. This is because once the pro-abortionist sees the truth of abortion and faces the reality of their stance – that abortion is the intentional killing of an innocent human being – they are more likely to soften their position, and even accept the prolife view. The hope then is to make the Gospel attractive and direct those who have held a proabortion view towards Jesus Christ, in whom there is forgiveness of sins and regeneration of sinners.
To illustrate this three-part approach, and provide some example responses, five brief scenarios are outlined below that address common appeals for abortion. For a more comprehensive review of the topic, Randy Alcorn’s book, Prolife Answers to Prochoice Questions is highly recommended.7
Scenario (1) Responding to abortion as a right to bodily autonomy
Appealing to abortion as a right to bodily autonomy is quite popular, as evidenced by the recent enshrinement of the right to abortion in France’s constitution, celebrated with the rhetorical slogan, ‘my body, my choice’ emblazoned on the Eiffel Tower.8 The contact point here is our agreement in general terms with both the right to bodily autonomy, and the importance of free choice. When Jesus died for our sins, he freely gave up his body, implying, of course, that he was not coerced, but free to do so, and that it was his body in the first place, to give up, and not Rome’s. No State should have the power over another’s body. The Nurenburg Code, 9 which was written in response to the Holocaust of Nazi Germany, has these protections, as has the more recent Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights,10 which in no uncertain terms upholds our fundamental rights to voluntarily choose to receive medical intervention or not. Up until COVID-19, the medical community honored this right, even to the point of allowing Jehovah’s Witness patients, who refuse blood products, to die of exsanguination, bleeding to death rather than being transfused. Those who were concerned about the COVID vaccines used this same slogan, “my body, my choice,” to protest against vaccine mandates. Governmental over-reach during the pandemic demonstrated how easily our fundamental rights, including the right to assembly and freedom of movement, can be immediately stripped away. Since our civil freedoms have been hard won, and are worth fighting to preserve, we can respond in guarded agreement to the pro-abortionist on this point with, “Yes, I agree. Bodily autonomy and personal freedoms are very important.”
To then build on this point of agreement, and move the conversation from abstract general terms into relatable specific terms, we can make use of an analogy between the preborn and a toddler. We could say, for example, “but imagine a mother made a choice to end the life of her 2-year-old child. Would that be an appropriate choice for her to make?”
If they respond with “no” (which is the only reasonable response), then we have established that although personal freedom and choice are important, they aren’t ultimate. They have limitations. Not all things done with a person’s body are right, nor should they all be legally protected. A person isn’t permitted to expose themself or urinate in public, nor steal or strike another at will. Our rights and freedoms need to be considered in the context of the rights and freedoms of others, and restrictions are required to prevent one person from bringing harm to another. Abortion, of course, is an example of harm in the extreme.
If there is agreement that killing the toddler would not be a good choice, then we can challenge them on the topic of abortion by asking, “Well, if it isn’t right for the mother to choose to end the life of her toddler, why would it be right for her to end the life of her preborn child?” This question draws the rhetorical slogan in this context to its logical conclusion, and demonstrates its inconsistency.
If, at this point, an appeal is made for abortion on the basis of bodily autonomy along the lines of “every woman should have control over her own body, reproductive freedom is a basic human right,” we can respond by saying that the time for the mother to exercise reproductive freedom of choice has passed. She already made the choices to have sexual intercourse and to do so without contraception, and now there are the rights and freedoms of two bodies that need to be considered –mother and child – not just her body. As a pro-abortion advocate, Mary Anne Warren admitted, “the right to control one’s body, which is generally construed as a property right, is at best a rather feeble argument for the permissibility of abortion. Mere ownership does not give me the right to kill innocent people whom I find on my property.”11
Scenario (2) Response to abortion as a solution to an unwanted pregnancy
Over 60% of unintended pregnancies end in abortion.12 The commonly used slogan to justify this outcome is, “Every child a wanted child,” with the argument that it’s unfair to bring children into a world where they aren’t wanted. The clever use of rhetorical language brings to mind a utopian world filled with lovingly cared for children, with no more child abuse and no more abandonment. And what could possibly be wrong with that? Plenty, of course, considering that the implied flip side of this slogan is “Every unwanted child a dead child.” It’s an attitude that says that the worth and dignity of the lives of children are not related to being created in God’s image, but are solely dependent upon whether or not the parent wants them.
The reasons given for abortion of an unplanned pregnancy are many and varied, and often relate to challenging circumstances, such as teen pregnancy, a broken-off relationship, lack of finances, insufficient social supports, current or anticipated educational training, or bad timing with career aspirations. These reasons, of course, have more to do with convenience rather than necessity, and convenience should never be an acceptable reason to kill someone. Besides, abortion as a proposed solution to these circumstances doesn’t get to the root of the problem, but only results in a compounding of the problem: still having to deal with the challenging circumstance, while now being a parent of a dead child.
Despite these concerns, we can nonetheless empathize with a teen parent or a financially-strapped single mother facing an unintended pregnancy, and agree that their circumstances are challenging. As a parent, I can certainly attest that it’s difficult enough to raise children with two parents and a stable income, let alone being a single parent with few supports. So, our point of contact here can be one of agreement, phrased, “Yes, I agree. That sounds very difficult. The care of a child certainly takes a level of responsibility and finances.”
Then, to build on this point of agreement, and bring the conversation from abstract generality into a real-world example, we can trot out the toddler and say, for example, “but imagine that a high school student carried through with her pregnancy because her parents promised to support her. However, let’s say that when this child turned 2-years-old, the girl’s parents could no longer provide any further financial assistance. Should the mother, at this point, be allowed to kill the 2-year-old because of lack of finances?”
If there is agreement that killing the toddler would not be appropriate, then we can challenge them on the topic of abortion by asking, “Well, if it isn’t right for the mother to kill her toddler for lack of finances, why would it be right for her to kill her preborn child for the same reason?” Again, this question draws the rhetorical slogan to its logical conclusion, that lack of finances, or any of the other challenging circumstances, cannot justify the taking of a life.
As Gilbert Meilaender wisely said, “If we seek to save ourselves by doing away with the child who is unwanted, we hand ourselves over to the destructive powers of the world… and we act as if those powers are ultimately worthy of our worship, as if they could save, and take our stand beside King Herod after he heard the news the Magi brought.”13 Rather than be brought to that murderous place, we want to celebrate children, and to point those who would harm them towards a solution that might benefit both the mother and the child; solutions for life, not death. This could include listing readily accessible supports that young mothers can access to assist them in their pregnancies, and mentioning the utility of adoption agencies to help find parents who would desire more than anything else to care for their child as their own.
Scenario (3) Response to abortion for pregnancy due to sexual assault
Although rape leading to pregnancy is not a common cause for abortion, and certainly not the driver for our society’s desire for abortion-on-demand, it’s nonetheless a terrible crime and needs to be highlighted as such. Our point of contact can be simply that: “Yes, I agree that rape is a heinous crime and should be severely punished. Steps should be taken to prevent rape from happening and there should be ample support for the pregnant mother.”
To then build on this point of sympathetic agreement, we can again make an analogy about a toddler and say, for example, “But imagine the mother of a 2-year-old who left her physically-abusive husband. Should it be permissible for her to kill her toddler, if looking at the child reminded her of her past trauma with her husband?
If there is agreement that killing the toddler would not be appropriate, then we can challenge them on the topic of abortion by asking, “Well, if it’s not okay to kill the 2-year-old child because of past trauma, why is it okay to kill a pre-born child?”
The psychological turmoil of recovering from sexual assault, however grievous, is not undone by abortion. Though the child may serve as a constant reminder of the assault that the mother suffered, and although she may forever be reminded of the perpetrator as the father of her child, none of this serves as sufficient warrant to take the life of an innocent baby. Sympathy and supports are needed for the victim, to be sure, but abortion for such cases does nothing to bring healing to the situation. If anything, the procedure of abortion with its invasive nature and cold instrumentation applied to the woman’s reproductive organs, actually mirrors the violence of rape, and only compounds the trauma of the assault with the additional guilt and shame of killing an innocent child.
The same response can apply to pregnancy from incest, also a terrible situation. However, in both instances – pregnancy resulting from sexual assault or from incest – the value of the child remains. No circumstance around conception, no matter how adverse, changes the nature or worth of the preborn child. And in both cases, the child is the innocent party, and shouldn’t have to receive the blame for the crime and be saddled with the death penalty.
Scenario (4) Response to abortion for pregnancy that threatens the mother’s life
Promoting abortion as an argument to promote safety of the mother is really a non-issue. Even under restrictive abortion laws, exceptions have always been made to protect the mother’s life. The reality of the matter is that this is an exceedingly rare situation. On infrequent occasion, high-risk pregnancies are managed in our intensive care unit at the hospital, either because of pre-existing maternal illness or complications that arise during the pregnancy. In all such cases, the intention is always to save lives, not take them. If in the course of the delivery, the baby dies, the tragic loss is understood as an unintended outcome of the life-saving efforts. Even modern medicine has its limitations.
Nonetheless, for the sake of argument and to achieve a connecting point of agreement, we can say to those who make this pro-abortion argument that, “Yes, I agree it would be a terrible situation to face a life-threatening pregnancy – bad enough when one person’s life is in danger, let alone both mother and child at risk.”
Then to begin to draw out this argument, we can ask, “But imagine that a 2-year-old child has a disease that could kill the mother, if she became exposed. Should it be permissible to intentionally kill the child to prevent the mother from dying?
The answer is clearly “no.” A multiplicity of other options would be explored to both manage the child’s condition and protect the mother’s life, of which killing the child would never make the list. If then there is agreement that killing the toddler would be wrong in this scenario, we can ask, “Well, if it’s not alright to take the life of the toddler, why should it be permissible to kill the preborn child for the same reason.” There are situations where an expectant mother may have a serious medical condition, which is complicated by pregnancy. But even so, efforts can – and should – always be made that value the lives of both mother and child.
Scenario (5) Response to abortion for a disabled child
It’s very natural for parents to want a healthy baby. Depending on the nature of the disability, raising a handicapped child can be an emotional challenge that incurs additional financial burdens. In an attempt to reduce the likelihood of disability, amniocentesis is routinely offered to women during the mid-trimester of pregnancy to detect genetic anomalies. The procedure entails the removal of a sample of amniotic fluid from the uterus for genetic analysis, specifically for Down syndrome (Trisomy-21) and neural tube defect (a condition affecting the babys brain or spinal cord). Test results allow parents the opportunity to “terminate the pregnancy,” if the risk of debility is unacceptable to them. Although considered low risk, amniocentesis can still result in needle injury to the fetus, leaking of amniotic fluid, Rh blood-group sensitization, infection, and in some cases even miscarriage.14 As a result of the procedure, normal pregnancies have been compromised and healthy babies lost. As well, abortions undertaken based on genetic testing tend to dehumanize the preborn and reduce them to a commodity – something to be kept or discarded depending upon the desire or convenience of others. This diminishes their God-given worth and dignity. By contrast, Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the Kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these” (Matt 19:14). He didn’t qualify “healthy children without disability,” but implied that all children give us a glimpse of heavenly citizenship.
Nonetheless, we can appreciate the desire for parents to have a healthy baby and the natural disappointment there would be on learning that their preborn child has a disability of some sort. So, our point of contact can again be one of agreement, phrased for example as, “Yes, I agree that it would disappointing to be told that your developing baby has a disability; everyone wants a healthy child.”
Then to build on this point of agreement, we can move the conversation forward by making use of an analogy to a disabled child, and ask, “What if a mother doesn’t learn that her child is disabled until it’s a toddler. Should she be allowed to take its life then? This use of analogy broadens the discussion and gently challenges prejudices surrounding physical and mental disabilities.
If there is agreement that killing the disabled toddler would not be appropriate, then we can challenge them on the topic of abortion by asking, “Well, if it’s not okay to kill the 2-year-old disabled child, then why should it be permissible to kill a pre-born disabled child?” This question demonstrates the inconsistency of their argument. It’s a complete contradiction to show concern for children with leukemia, give financial support to those with multiple sclerosis, and cheer on others in the Special Olympics, and then say it’s best to kill the disabled child before its born.
To up the ante, those in favor of abortion might well ask, “But what if the fetus has a condition not compatible with life?” Certainly, there are those tragic cases. Babies are sometimes born anencephalic, for example, and have an undeveloped brain, destined to die. But even in these extreme cases, our response must remain undeterred. Even though such little ones will be unable to survive in the long-term, it doesn’t mean that we should be the ones to take their lives from them. Rather, it’s an opportunity to demonstrate compassion and provide palliative care to mitigate any suffering. No one knows for sure if the child may actually have a few minutes, or hours, or even days of life. Parents should be given that time with their precious child, and be supported in their time of grief. As per Edward Trudeau’s adage, “The role of the physician is to cure sometimes, relieve often, and comfort always.”
The justification of abortion on the grounds of disability devalues the lives of those who live with disability in our society, and betrays a form of discrimination towards handicapped persons, termed ableism. In our contemporary era of doctor-assisted suicide, this sentiment calls into question whether a disabled life is worth living, or in the case of abortion, if the disabled baby be permitted to live, throwing all of these lives in jeopardy. During WWII, an estimated 300,000 physically and mentally disabled people, who were deemed unworthy to live, were systematically murdered by the National Socialist regime: a mass crime considered the forerunner of the extermination of European Jews.15 Mahatma Gandhi said, “The true measure of any society is how it treats its weakest members.” What will our measure be, if we allow the murder of the disabled preborn by not speaking up?
Humanity and Personhood of the Preborn
In all of these scenarios, a common pro-abortion rebuttal is simply that abortion should be permissible because “the fetus isn’t human.” They maintain that if the preborn are somehow non-human, this would justify their sub-human treatment. In keeping with this sentiment, Mary Anne Warren provocatively said, “A fetus has no more right to life than that of a newborn guppy.”16 This certainly seems to be the case in Canada, where being considered a human being doesn’t officially begin until after the baby exists in the birth canal, and why abortion for partial delivery remains permissible in our country. If the preborn are but a “clump of cells,” as many insist, then why not? Why should a nondescript entity, like a so-called clump of cells be treated with dignity and given human rights and protections; be kept alive if unwanted; be carried to term if deemed a reminder of rape trauma; be allowed to develop and grow, if in doing so, it places a woman’s life in danger; or be permitted to be born at all, if disabled from the get go?
Why not, indeed, unless, of course, the opposite is the case, and the preborn are human, no different than you and I when we were at their stage of development. Basic biology makes the humanity of the preborn abundantly clear. When a human sperm and human ovum fuse to produce a human zygote – the first diploid cell that forms following fertilization – the entire human genetic blueprint of the individual is established. In that moment, the complete DNA sequencing that determines the uniqueness and novel giftedness of a human being is present, which then gets worked out and developed from the implantation of the fertilized ova in the uterus, onward to birth and beyond. So, if the preborn aren’t human, what possibly could they be? If two gorillas conceive, is it not a preborn gorilla that is developing? Or two dolphins, a preborn dolphin? Even children know that gorillas don’t give birth to dolphins. So surely then, if a living organism has human parents, he or she is also a human being, no? “Yes, and Amen” is the only cogent answer; there are simply no other possibilities available from which to choose.
After losing the humanity debate, abortion advocates continue to argue their position by pointing out that although the pre-born may be considered human from a biological standpoint, they aren’t human persons from a societal standpoint, and therefore can be rightly denied human-right protections, which are afforded to the rest of us. In brief, that although the preborn are human by nature, they remain expendable because they lack the additional qualifier of personhood. It’s an exclusivity argument that says to be valued in society, you need to be human plus, where the plus is usually equated with a set of capacities, such as consciousness, self-awareness, ability to feel pain and form relationships. If these are lacking, then abortion can be justified. Human fetal life may have value to a certain extent, but lacking personhood, the preborn child’s claim on us cannot be sufficient to rule out abortion.
When asked what the differences are between preborn and born humans, people cite the preborn’s small size, their location in utero, their dependency on the mother, or their lack of awareness, all of which are simply markers of development. The differences between born and preborn babies lie solely in their differences in age. If not tampered with, the preborn baby will naturally mature and achieve all the human-plus markers. They just need time. To discriminate based on age is a form of racism termed “ageism,” the very same that Canadian elderly are unjustly experiencing in our society today.17
When it comes down to it, there’s no significant difference between discrimination based on age, to that based on any other parameter, including race or gender or ethnic background. They are all forms of discrimination and are counter to the Scriptural understanding that we are all equal before God, since “there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:28) and “God shows no partiality” (Ro 2:11). So, by latching onto the developmental age of the preborn as a justification for abortion, those who make this argument, unwittingly or not, end up joining ranks with the likes of the colonial slave owners and the Nazi war criminals, who deemed those under their control as unworthy of liberty and life base on their own schemes of discrimination. The preborn are human persons, and qualify for membership in the human family simply because they are begotten of human parents.
Gospel Call
Consequently, abortion isn’t a fundamental human right to be demanded for, but rather a deplorable human rights violation to be repented of. The demand for human rights, bodily autonomy, equality, justice, and free choice, so often seen on pro-abortion placards, only really make sense within a Christian worldview. If we live in a chance universe, where life is but a crap shoot, then none of these intangibles have any tangible meaning at all. If Bertrand Russell was right when he said, “we are but a statistical anomaly in the chaos,” then the immaterial realities of rights, equality, justice…and free choice, are simply human constructs, and as such, can just as easily be knocked over as propped up. It’s only because we are created in the image of God, that we have dignity; and it is only because we have been paid for by the blood of Jesus, who died for us on the cross to atone for our sins, that we have value. Nothing matters but the Gospel, but because of the Gospel, everything matters: our lives have meaning, and our activities have purpose.
As the Bible makes clear, creation was commanded into being and set upon a designed trajectory with a planned end date. At that predetermined time, Jesus Christ, the risen Lord of the universe, will return. When he does, there will be a general resurrection, “when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment” (Jn 5:28-29). Judgement is coming for those who have done evil, and abortion is such an evil. Those who promote abortion need to realize this, both for the sake of the children who are in harm’s way, and for their own eternal sake. They need to realize that abortion is a sin, and in the process, acknowledge that their lives lived in disobedience to the Holy God are sinful, and like all of sin, are deserving of eternal punishment. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Ro 6:23). At the same time, they need to be told that while abortion is a sin, it’s not the unforgivable sin. Forgiveness is available, for those who promote abortion, as well as, for those who have had an abortion. they are repentant and turn to the Lord for forgiveness, salvation is possible by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.
Our prayer for those who promote abortion is that they not only turn away from their pro-abortion stance and accept the pro-life view, but that they turn away from their sinful lives and accept Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. We wish for them to not only recognize the value of the preborn, but to recognize their personal need to be born again. After all, it’s not just a matter of endorsing a prolife perspective, but a matter of life and death. It would take a miracle for pro-abortionists to come to a saving faith, some might say, but so did our salvation. And if Christ can redeem us, then he can redeem anyone, even those who promote abortion. Finally, ours is not to persuade, but to be faithful witnesses to the truth. So, as we converse with those who promote abortion, we should do so prayerfully, in the hopes that our engagement with them, undertaken with gentleness and respect, might lead them to Christ. Preborn children are precious, but so too are all of God’s children, at whatever biological age of development, and at whatever point in faith development. Soli Deo Gloria.
1 https://www.guttmacher.org/fact-sheet/induced-abortion-worldwide
2 Konzelman, C., & Solomon, C. (2019). Unplanned. Pure Flix Entertainment.
3 Brown, D. Prolonged grieving after abortion: a descriptive study. J Clin Ethics. 1993 Summer;4(2):118-23.
4 Eric Bentley in New Republic 29 December 1952.
5 W.E.H. Lecky. History of European Morals: From Augustine to Charlemagne (1869; London: Longmans, Green, and Co, 1911), Vol. 2, pp. 20, 22.
6 Canadian Center of Bioethical Reform (https://www.endthekilling.ca/).
7 Alcorn, Randy. Prolife Answers to Prochoice Questions. Eternal Perspective Ministries; Multnomah Books ©2000.
8 https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/04/europe/france-abortion-constitution-intl/index.html
9 Nuremburg Code, BMJ 7 December 1996; Vol 313: No 7070 Page 1448.
10 Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights. https://en.unesco.org/themes/ethics-science-and-technology/bioethics-and-human-rights
11 Mary Anne Warren, “On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion” in The Problem of Abortion, 2nd Ed. Joel Feinberg (Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth, 1984), p. 103.
12 https://www.guttmacher.org/fact-sheet/induced-abortion-worldwide
13 Meilaender, G. Bioethics: A Primer for Christians. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. ©1996; p. 38.
14 Kong, CW et al. Risk factors for procedure-related fetal losses after mid-trimester genetic amniocentesis. Prenatal Diagnosis. 09 October 2006.
15 Uwe Neumaerker, director T4 memorial foundation (https://www.timesofisrael.com/berlin-to-open-memorial-to-nazis-disabled-victims/)
16 Mary Anne Warren; On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion, The Monist, Volume 57, Issue 1, 1 January 1973, Pages 43–61.
17 Fraser, S. Ageism and COVID-19: what does our society’s response say about us? Age and Aging. Volume 49, Issue 5, September 2020, Pages 692–695.
Continuing our series Conversations & Presuppositions, Drs. Boot and Thiessen are joined this week by Ezra Fellow for Public Policy Tim Dieppe to discuss the steady Islamization of the West.
Episode Resources:
Questions to Ask Your Muslim Friends by Tim Dieppe: https://amzn.to/3Kc6Uig
“Is Islam a Religion of Peace?” by Tim Dieppe | Christian Concern:
https://christianconcern.com/resource/is-islam-a-religion-of-peace/;
“What’s wrong with Islamic finance?” | Christian Concern:
https://christianconcern.com/resource/whats-wrong-islamic-finance/;
“Is Islam Antisemitic?” | Christian Concern:
https://christianconcern.com/resource/is-islam-antisemitic/;
“The Challenge of Islam in the UK”| Christian Concern:
https://christianconcern.com/resource/the-challenge-of-islam-in-the-uk/
Chapters:
0:00 Cultural Leadership Academy AD
1:17 Podcast Opening
1:40 Intro & Show Set-up
4:20 Ezra Events
7:00 Topic Introduction & Palestinian Protest Footage
10:03 What is Islam?
14:00 Relationship of Islam & Sharia Law
16:20 The Islamization of the West
23:22 Islamic Finance & Sharia Entryism
27:54 Jihad
35:30 The Elitist’s False View of Islam, the Weaponization of Multiculturalism & a How Radical Two Kingdoms View Helps the Destruction of the West
40:45 Islam, Progressivism, and the Massive Rise of Antisemitism in the West
50:28 What Can Christians Do About It?
54:11 Outro
56:55 Closing Credits
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Watch the video here: https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/6uE7i6tvRh4
The Task
If you see a turtle perched on top of a fencepost, you know immediately he didn’t get there on his own! To excel and reach their full potential in life as followers and servants of Christ, our children cannot get there on their own either. We urgently need a rebuilding of Christian schools to partner with parents in faithfully educating their children so that in facing the task which is ‘the self,’ they can become all that God is calling them to be.
This task is an urgent one. As we look around, we are watching our deceived culture fail and decay for want of wisdom. And what error needs most is the last thing it thinks of – otherwise, it would not be error. People are casting off restraint for lack of knowledge, and what knowledge there is is frequently misapplied. What our own misled and disillusioned time doesn’t know, or more accurately has forgotten, is currently killing it. Christ has faded from view – we no longer teach in the light of His Word and so we live in the stifling embrace of our own presumptuous errors.
This is not for a lack of seers claiming to be the oracles of wisdom for the ‘moment.’ A long tradition in the West stretching back to the 6th Century BC when an intellectual movement arose in Miletus with a man later called Thales, has given the West what it came to call philosophy (lit. love of wisdom). The story of the Western philosophical tradition – a discipline looking to search out the boundaries of human experience – is a fascinating one, but without Christ, its concern for insight, knowledge and truth led to one dead end after another, producing intellectual and spiritual exhaustion. St. Paul understood well the pitfalls of a godless search for wisdom and so placed Christ at the fulcrum of all true learning, wisdom and knowledge:
For it is written: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will set aside the understanding of the experts. Where is the philosopher? Where is the scholar? Where is the debater of this age? Hasn’t God made the world’s wisdom foolish? For since, in God’s wisdom, the world did not know God through wisdom, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of the message preached (1 Cor. 1: 18-25).
The apostle did not intend to say here that intellectual and academic labour is worthless – on the contrary, Paul’s own studies, inspired discourses and letters involved real mental exertion – only that without the proper grafting, it will fail and fall like a leaf because of our sins and the wind will carry it away. Human understanding and our wisdom traditions outside of Christ can only lead to error and despair. Hence, the apostle warns, ‘Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition, based on the elemental forces of the world, and not based on Christ’ (Col. 2:8). Our captive culture needs deliverance. We must start with our children and their education.
The Danger
In the cradle of our civilization, with the ancient Polis unable to penetrate to the root of the human condition, the intellectual pride and prominence of the Grecian world with its academies and schools of philosophy steadily declined. Cynicism and skepticism set in as people became increasingly exhausted and disillusioned with an endless proliferation of empty rhetoric and regurgitated ideas in an obviously decaying culture. It is easy to see parallels to our waning Western world in the vice-like hold of unbelief and spiritual amnesia. As Soren Kierkegaard poignantly observed:
Our age reminds one very much of the disintegration of the Greek state. Everything continues, and yet there is no one who believes in it. The invisible spiritual bond that gives it validity has vanished, and thus the whole age is simultaneously comic and tragic: tragic because it is perishing, comic because it continues.
Soren Kierkegaard, The Humor of Kierkegaard: An Anthology ed. Thomas C. Oden (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2004), 220
To put the matter plainly, our society has become afflicted on all sides with a particular brand of stupidity – but it isn’t funny. Stupidity is a peculiarly human condition that arises, not because of a lack of intellectual capacity or education but because of a herd mentality formed around powerful religious ideologies – it is a collective stupidity.
The collective folly that emerges is a kind of sociological phenomenon, cultivated in many of our schools and universities, currently vividly on display, which evidently steadily deprives people of their inner independence. This they are prepared to renounce, with varying degrees of self-consciousness, in order to adapt their behavior to the prevailing ideological situation. In the early 1940’s, the noted Christian Martyr in National Socialist Germany, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, had time to reflect whilst languishing in prison, on how and why the highly educated German people had become afflicted with collective ideological stupidity. His comments are telling:
The fact that stupid people are often stubborn should not hide the fact that they are not independent. When talking to him, one feels that one is not dealing with him personally, but with catchphrases, slogans, etc. that have taken possession of him. He is under a spell; he is blinded; he is abused in his own being. Having become an instrument without an independent will, the fool will also be capable of all evil, and at the same time, unable to recognize it as evil…But it is also quite clear here that it is not an act of instruction, but only an act of liberation that can overcome stupidity… The Bible states that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. Thus, the inner liberation of man begins by living responsibly before God. Only then may stupidity be overcome.
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich.“Von der Dummheit”: Widerstand und Ergebung. Briefe und Aufzeichnungen aus der Haft. S. 17–20. Muenchen, Christian Kaiser Verlag, 1951.
Merely modified instruction with some additional information or minor amendments to curriculum is not enough to avoid collective stupidity and cultural disaster – a new foundation for education is required. The need of the hour in the West is the liberating reality of Jesus Christ and the recovery of the Christian mind – the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16). For the ‘fear of the Lord is the beginning (principle part) of wisdom.’ A compromising fudge of the issue won’t do. Ironically, often in the name of scholarliness, contemporary Christianity has been avidly committed to half-measures, truth to a ‘certain degree.’ But the moment that God’s people call a truce and reach a settlement with the spirit of the world, the mindset of the age, and regard education as a ‘neutral’ tool is the moment we abolish the Christian mind and overturn true Christianity.
With a truly Christian education, the goal is not to graduate students and scholars who are neither one thing nor another (neutral) but faithful, excellent, committed disciples, readied to make their mark in the various spheres of life for God’s Kingdom and glory.
The Daniel’s
A wonderful example of the end goal of Christian education is found in the great prophet Daniel – a captive in Babylon. Having been prepared by a thorough education in the Word of God and raised in a noble family, his gifts become evident, and he is recruited into an elite Babylonian college for scholars from among whom some would emerge to give guidance to society and government (Dan. 1:3-6). Along with some noble friends from Judah (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego), who were noted for their resistance to idolatry, Daniel is identified as having real potential as an advisor in the king’s court.
The key is that these young men, because of what was instilled in them from their youth, were determined to honour God in their studies and occupations from the start. As a result, Scripture says:
God gave these four young men knowledge and understanding in every kind of literature and wisdom. Daniel also understood visions and dreams of every kind. No one was found equal to Daniel. So they began to serve in the kings court. In every matter of wisdom and understanding that the king consulted them about, he found them 10 times better than all the diviner-priests and mediums in his entire kingdom (Dan. 1:17-21).
Notice that it was God who gave them understanding, not simply in theological matters, but in every kind of literature and wisdom – just as God had given wisdom to Solomon about the human condition and the natural world to the extent that rulers from around the known world came to hear him teach. Daniel and his friends went on to distinguish themselves and find high positions in a pagan kingdom and government, and there they had a profound influence for the kingdom of God. This is what Christian education should be aiming for!
This was only possible because they worked hard and were determined to trust and obey God above all. As such, they were granted knowledge, wisdom, and understanding by the Lord Himself—the true teacher. They were intimately acquainted with the truth that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The other scholars and advisers lacked the coherence, understanding, and insight that Daniel and his friends had because the foundation of their thought was wanting.
This advantage should be even more true of the Christian student who is self-consciously subject to God’s Word-revelation in creation and scripture. In Christ, the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden so that the Christian student can avoid the pitfalls and mistakes of a godless education by seeing all things in their true context from within a scriptural world-and-life view. The literature, music, science, and technology of what we once called Christendom are testaments to God’s faithfulness in this matter, even within an imperfect culture.
We need a new generation of Daniels, Deborahs, Josephs, and Esthers, grounded and educated in the faith with their ultimate trust in God and his Word. To place our final trust in the thought and spirit of the age is to be like the unwise man who built his house upon the sand. But to put our trust in Christ and His wisdom is to be wise and build our educational house, indeed our future, on the rock.
Our series, Conversations & Presuppositions, has generated a lot of questions. On this week’s Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Dr. Joe Boot and Pastor Nate Wright answer some of those questions.
Enjoyed today’s Q&A? Would you like to hear Dr. Boot answer your questions? Should we do this more often? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us at https://www.ezrainstitute.com/connect/contact/;
Chapters:
0:00 Worldview Youth Academy AD
1:42 Podcast Opening
2:05 Intro & Show Set-up
5:09 Question 1: Singleness
23:58 Question 2: Excusing Israel?
43:45 Question 3: Christian In-fighting
56:02 Outro
56:55 Closing Credits
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Continuing our series Conversations & Presuppositions, Dr. Michael Thiessen and Pastor Nate Wright unpack the worldview convergence of the conflicted Red-Green Alliance between Leftist Communists/Socialists (red) and Islamists (green). What unites them is a common enemy, namely, Christ and His Church and anything built upon that sure foundation.
Episode Resources:
Watch Dr. Thiessen’s Helpful Conversations on Islam:
“Robert B. Spencer: Islam, Jihad, and Threats to Freedom of Speech” | Open Mike with Michael Thiessen: https://rumble.com/v3tj9h7-robert-b.-spencer-islam-jihad-and-threats-to-freedom-of-speech.html; or, read Robert’s Book The Palestinian Delusion: https://amzn.to/3V18s53;
“Understanding Islam ft. Dr. David Wood” | Open Mike with Michael Thiessen: https://rumble.com/v3qnfm2-understanding-islam-ft.-dr.-david-wood.html;
Want to Better Understand Islam? MUST READ:
What Every Christian Needs to Know About the Qur’an | by Ezra Fellow Dr. James R. White: https://amzn.to/3Wy6dan.
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In the fifth episode of our series, Conversations & Presuppositions, thanks to the recent controversy in the UK, Dr. Michael Thiessen and Dr. Joe Boot wade into the current cultural conversation on euthanasia (lit. “the good death”), or as it is euphemistically called assisted suicide, join the discussion as they unpack what lies beneath the culture of death as it spreads throughout the world, and why Christians need to cultivate a thoroughgoing Christian view of the sanctity of life.
Episode Resources:
They Want To Kill Us: Here’s how and why | Dr. Jack King: https://www.amazon.com/They-Want-Kill-Us-Heres/dp/B0D172G4LG;
American Worldview Inventory 2021-22: The Annual Report on the State of Worldview in the United States | George Barna: https://www.amazon.com/American-Worldview-Inventory-2021-22-Annual/dp/1735776343;
“Assisted Suicide in Canada” | The Canadian Encyclopedia: https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/assisted-suicide-in-canada;
Documentary – The Death Debate: https://youtu.be/-Vot5bkR_VQ;
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In the fourth episode of our series, Conversations & Presuppositions, Dr. Michael Thiessen and Pastor Nate Wright examine a SHOCKING evolution in the abortion debate. Since pro-aborts have lost the scientific argument concerning when life begins, they’re now admitting that abortion is murder and arguing for their right to murder innocent, living children inside the womb.
Episode Resources:
End Abortion Now Website: https://endabortionnow.com/;
End the Killing Website: https://www.endthekilling.ca/;
[WARNING: EXPLICIT CONTENT] “Louis CK – Abortion” | YouTube: https://youtu.be/EQmER4-WwjA?si=o3aBxlcvFbwlnQC4;
LIFE SITE NEWS – “Bill Maher Reveals the Grim Truth of What Pro-Abortion Leftists Really Think” | YouTube: https://youtu.be/NrlUVr0vlPY?si=auFxAQgl9q3cJh8C;
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In this third episode of our new series, Conversations & Presuppositions, Doctors Boot and Thiessen revisit their conversation on slavery and the Bible by examining why Christianity is the only worldview that can consistently lead to liberty and how a culture’s rejection of Christ naturally leads to slavery. Choose ye this day, dear listener, freedom in Christ or slavery to sin and death?
Episode Resources:
Sam Harris on Ben Shapiro’s Sunday Special | Daily Wire: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTJTD8vzBoo;
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In this, the second episode of our new series Conversations & Presuppositions, Doctors Boot and Thiessen discuss a common objection to Christianity: that Christianity condones slavery. But does it? You’re not going to want to miss part one of this fascinating discussion.
Episode Resources:
What About Slavery in the Bible | Ask Cliffe: https://youtu.be/SSfTggjS31s?si=7RoUUPkzpohDwMiz;
Matt Dillahunty Clip: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/kva4cqeZ3rc;
Sam Harris on Ben Shapiro’s Sunday Special | Daily Wire: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTJTD8vzBoo;
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We have just celebrated Easter in our Western calendar. Calendars are important across the world because they punctuate time, its meaning and significance. For this reason, we celebrate things like birthdays and have special days of remembrance. Easter is one of those times of celebration and remembrance. But what exactly does it all signify?
Most people are still aware that about 2000 years ago in the area of the Middle East called Israel, a man named Jesus was born. Several independent ancient witnesses tell us he lived a short life in which for a few years he taught about knowing God and the true meaning of life. According to those witnesses he healed many sick, disabled, blind and deaf and even raised the dead. For claiming to be equal with God he was executed by crucifixion on a Friday, was buried and according to the ancient witness of the Gospel writers was raised to life on the first day of the week (Sunday). On what we call Ascension Day he was taken up into heaven where, as Son of God, both God and man, he rules and reigns. We call these and other days of celebration, the Christian calendar. Even famous atheist Richard Dawkins wants to identify with this cultural structure and now calls himself a cultural Christian!
From a small number of followers of Jesus, the news of this man who claimed to be one with God spread everywhere transforming the entire pagan Roman Empire. The followers of Christ were called Christians and the Good News about him came from the East to the land of Britain through the Romans in the 4th century A.D – a time our ancestors we were still drinking the blood of the dead and sacrificing children to pagan deities. It spread rapidly from 597 A.D through the mission to England of Augustine of Canterbury who came from Europe with about 40 Christian missionaries to teach and share the Good News of Christ.
So transformative was the life, death and resurrection of Jesus for people that it shattered our calendar into two halves, B.C (Before Christ) and A.D (Anno Domini), meaning the year of our Lord, changing for much of the world the meaning of history itself. That is why today you can go through Britain, Canada and the United States find in every town, hamlet and village tall church spires which symbolise the historic centre of meaning for a community. It is also why our head of state in Britain and Canada (king Charles) at his Coronation last year swore an oath to uphold the gospel of Jesus Christ and openly submitted to his Lordship.
It is not just the UK where people have just celebrated the resurrection. Over 100 million people in communist China where Christianity is supressed celebrated the resurrection. In fact, almost 2.4 billion people today call themselves Christian and believe Jesus rose from the dead – they are spread across Europe, the America’s, Asia Pacific, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East. These social facts in themselves don’t prove the resurrection, but they certainly get our attention. How can a poor carpenter who taught for only three years, never travelled more than 200 miles from his own home, was rejected by his own people, never wrote a book nor appeared on TV, died as a criminal and had no natural children, have changed the world and have so many believe he is the resurrected Lord and Son of God 2000 years later?
The bible calls the resurrection a sign. Signposts grab our attention to give directions and the miracles of Jesus – most especially the testimony to the resurrection – grabs our attention! The event of Christ’s resurrection itself is offered as the great sign and a special kind of proof that the good news about Jesus is real and relevant to us all: that he really is God in human form, died for our sin and evil ways, was raised to life to rescue us from death and a meaningless and empty way of life, and opens the way to know relationship with God forever. That is why it’s called “Good News.” I don’t prove the proof, or it wouldn’t be the proof. But the sign captures our attention and points the way.
All of us look at life and the world with a certain set of beliefs and assumptions – with a certain set of lenses. We all understand the ‘calendar of life’ in terms of a big story we believe about the world. Some believe that all human beings are is cosmic stardust and that we got here from the goo, through the zoo to you – it all eventually ends in heat death for the cosmos and oblivion. We all must answer the question of the meaning of life and address the inevitability of death. For death is the ultimate statistic – 1 out of 1 die! The English poet Steve Turner writes:
The really worrying this about death
Is that all major religions agree on it
All beliefs take you there
All philosophy bows before it
All arguments end there
Governments can’t ban it
Or the army diffuse it
Judges can’t fail it
Lawyers can’t sue it
Scientists can’t quell it
Nor can they disprove it
Doctors can’t cure it
Surgeons can’t move it
Einstein can’t halve it
Guevara can’t free it
The thing about dead
Is we’re all gonna be it!
Yet the testimony of God through his Word and people down the centuries assures us that death has admitted of one true exception. One grave is totally unique and can transform both our life and death – that one day we can in fact follow Christ out of the grave – that he has defeated death as one defeats an enemy. This is why the English philosophy professor Cyril Joad once said, “The most important question in the world is, did Jesus Christ rise from the dead?”
Through its witness to the resurrection, our own calendar binds us to the claim of the scriptures. And four, well attested historical events, admitted by the vast majority of New Testament scholars (even those who are not Christians) continue to confront us. Five independent witnesses in reliable ancient sources preserved for twenty centuries tell us of:
- The burial of Jesus
- The empty tomb of Jesus
- Reports of after-death appearances of Jesus
- The belief in the resurrection of the first disciples leading to the birth of the church and expansion of Christianity.
These facts are as historically certain as the Fall of Jerusalem in AD 70. However, when we ask what is the best explanation for these events we must decide between it being a fanciful tale/conspiracy of the disciples, a widespread delusion or the actual truth. Our answer is not determined by our grasp of history to which we have no direct access, but by our assumptions and presuppositions about what is possible or not and the status of God’s revealed Word. Our moral attitude toward God also plays a central part in what we are prepared to accept.
When the women came to the tomb early Sunday morning to anoint the body of Jesus he was not there. An Angel said to them:
“Why are you looking for the living among the dead?” …“He is not here, but He has been resurrected! (Luke 24:5-6)
When St. Paul was sharing this good news with King Agrippa while on trial, he asks the all-important question:
“Why is it considered incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?” (Acts 26:8)
If God is real as the scriptures make clear, then God can raise the dead. In addition, the resurrection of Jesus is then the final proof of the truth of his life’s work and message, to save us from our sins and restore us to relationship with God. Critically, if Christ is indeed alive, as he truly is, then you can know him. The calendar of your life has real meaning and you and I may become one of a great family across the earth that knows Jesus Christ is alive.
In this episode, Dr. Joe Boot and pastor Nate Wright talk about the world-changing implication of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, its evidence, and its explanation. REJOICE FOR HE IS RISEN!
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In this episode, Dr. Michael Thiessen and Dr. Joe Boot respond to the recent controversial interview by Chancellor of Reformed Theological Seminary, Ligon Duncan, on the Room for Nuance podcast where he answers questions on theonomy, postmillennialism, and faithful cultural contextualization all while throwing barbs at unnamed parties and mixing up Scripture. YOU’RE NOT GOING TO WANT TO MISS THIS ONE!
Episode Resources:
“On Culture War: Doug Wilson and the Moscow Mood” by Kevin DeYoung | Clearly Reformed: https://clearlyreformed.org/on-culture-war-doug-wilson-and-the-moscow-mood/
“My Rejoinder to Kevin DeYoung” (VIDEO)| Doug Wilson via YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2mHSXAVge8
“My Rejoinder to Kevin DeYoung” by Doug Wilson | Blog and Mablog: https://dougwils.com/books-and-culture/s7-engaging-the-culture/novembers-done-kevin-deyoung.html
End Abortion Now: https://endabortionnow.com/
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In this episode, Pastor Nate Wright is joined by Ezra Fellow of Medicine and Public Christianity, Dr. Ted Fenske to discuss how to slay the dragon of pornography.
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If we ask at the most basic level what Christianity is, if we are to be scriptural, we must answer that it consists in knowing and following Christ Jesus. It is not simply affirming certain doctrines, reciting confessions or knowing historical theology to engage in learned dogmatic dispute, but in the here and now to worship and follow Jesus Christ the Lord. He is the Master, and the disciple is not greater than his Master.
Growing up in the Western tradition, we are less familiar with the ancient Eastern style of learning by literally attaching oneself to the teacher and learning their way of life and thought by imitation. We do speak of tutors, professors and even mentors, but these fall short of the ancient Jewish tradition of following a rabbi and committing to heart their teaching. When Jesus called the first disciples it was not to an academy for a lofty exchange of ideas in Socratic dialogue, still less was it to have essays or exam papers marked and reviewed by a mere tutor. When Christ called the disciple’s it was to follow him and devote their lives to him; to live with and learn from him, to memorize his sayings, witness his actions, hear his prayers, question him about his parables and tread the dust he trod. In short, to be a disciple of Christ meant and means to imitate him in everything; to take up the cross and follow him. As the apostle Paul wrote, ‘Imitate me, as I also imitate Christ’ (1 Cor. 11:1).
Imitation is the basic meaning of Christian discipleship. This is easily overlooked when we come to the question of God’s law and faithful Christian witness as a whole in a secularized and repaganizing culture. More often than not, the matter of God’s law, of theonomy, is approached by Christians in a detached theoretical way as though they personally are uninvolved with the question – theonomy as simply a matter of theological dispute or theoretical dogmatic interest. The not uncommonly derisive language of its more vehement opponents reflects a posture of treating God’s revealed law lightly or at times even with a haughty disdain.
It is impossible to see our Master in such an attitude and yet to some professing Christians, God’s law is regarded as a threat, an aberration, something parenthetical that has been and gone – an unchristian blemish on the pages of scripture that has, to all intents and purposes, been ripped out for the believer in favour of living as one personally sees fit or feels led, as though law and gospel are as incompatible as oil and water. But Jesus’ relationship to the law as author, exegete, master-teacher and Lord is of profound significance for all true disciples. Jesus modelled taking the totality of the law seriously and what matters to Jesus should matter to us (c.f. Matt. 5:17-19; John 14:15-24). What he taught we must believe, remember and teach. What he did, we must emulate and copy. If we want to call ourselves Christian, we must be truly yoked to the one true rabbi.
This is no easy task coming without a cost. For this attachment must take place in a rebellious age that wants to vanquish God, trumpet its nihilism, champion a grand levelling, and through fear and intimidation cow the faithful individual into a mouses hole. Our time embraces and effectively deifies an unofficially established order in both state and liberalising church, whilst fear and trembling before a holy God and his righteousness are abolished. Truth and justice are now made the province of man alone. As Soren Kierkegaard prophetically put it:
If you are a student, then you can be sure that the Professor is the measure and the truth; if you are a parson, then the bishop is the way and the life; if you are a scrivener, the judge is the standard…the deification of the established order is the is the secularization of everything…the established order desires to be totalitarian, recognizing nothing over it, but having under it every individual, and judging every individual who is integrated in it. And “that individual” who expounds the most humble, but at the same time the most humane doctrine about what it means to be a man, the established order desires to terrify by imputing to him the guilt of blasphemy.[1]
Such it is that the true Christian faces today, accused of blasphemy against state orthodoxy, just as Jesus was accused of blasphemy by the Pharisees who neither knew the scriptures nor the power of God (Matt. 22:29). Ours is a time where human beings have made themselves the gauge, the measuring reed, the canon, in place of God’s law-Word.
The impact of this on the church has been very great because in place of God’s law the new Pharisees, parroting the culture, elevate human preferences, customs, positivistic laws, desires and wants into articles of faith. Following Jesus is no longer the measure; the established order of the world, infecting a progressive church institute like a virus, takes the place of Christ:
So holy in fact had the Pharisees and scribes become, and so holy do men always become when they deify the established order, that their divine worship is a way of making a fool of God. Under the pretense of serving and worshipping, they serve and worship their own device, either in self-complacent joy at being themselves the inventors or through fear of men.[2]
We cannot be ruled by the fear of man but only by the Word of God. A servant is not greater than his master, and so we must be attentive to our saviour who shows us how to regard the law of God in a lawless world. Jesus said, ‘You call Me Teacher and Lord. This is well said, for I am…a messenger is not greater than the one who sent him (John 13: 13,16).
[1] Soren Kierkegaard, Training in Christianity, trans, Walter Lowrie (New York: Vintage Books, 2004), 77-78
[2] Kierkegaard, Training, 79
In this episode, the latest of our series on the family, Dr. Joe Boot and Pastor Nate Wright discuss the relationship between parents and children, how it mirrors the Triune nature of God, and how family is, indeed, the nucleus of civilization.
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In this episode, Dr. Michael Thiessen and Pastor Nate Wright recap last weekend’s Right Response Ministries Conference, “Blueprints for Christendom 2.0,” by unpacking the seven doctrines presented at the conference for Christians to rule the world righteously under the Lordship of King Jesus.
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In this episode, Michael and Joe are joined by Ezra Fellow for International Law, Comparative Politics, and International Relations, Daniel Ogden J.D., to talk about the disturbing rise of antisemitism and how to think about it biblically.
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In this episode, Michael and Nate are joined by Harvest Windsor’s Women’s Life Director, Susie Rock, to continue the discussion on the family by discussing what it means to be a woman made in the Image of God, their role in the Kingdom of God and the family, and how they are to fulfill it for the good of others and the glory of God Almighty.
Episode Resources: Harvest Windsor | A Vertical Church: https://harvestwindsor.ca/;
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In this episode, Joe, Michael, and Nate continue their discussion on the family by discussing what the archetypal fatherhood of God means for our ectypal familial relationships. Simply put, they discuss what God’s fatherhood means for us and our relationships. Oh, how sweet it is to be part of the household of God through Christ our Lord.
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In this episode, Joe, Michael, and Nate continue their discussion around Allistair Begg’s recent controversial advice to a grandmother about attending a queer wedding and his recent sermon defending his advice.
Episode Resources:
Responding to Attacks on the Family – PART 1: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/resource-library/podcast/responding-to-attacks-on-the-family/;
Responding to Attacks on the Family – PART 2:
Allistair Begg’s Original Comments: https://youtu.be/rXDYYPLwgYE?si=B0XrmelFb6BH6VC9&t=1726.
Allistair Begg’s Sermon, “Compassion vs. Condemnation”: https://www.truthforlife.org/resources/sermon/compassion-vs-condemnation/.
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In this episode, Joe and Michael continue to discuss the big compromise of Big Eva and the need for strong fathers leading well–leading biblically.
Episode Resources:
Responding to Attacks on the Family – PART 1: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/resource-library/podcast/responding-to-attacks-on-the-family/ ;
Allistair Begg’s Comments: https://youtu.be/rXDYYPLwgYE?si=B0XrmelFb6BH6VC9&t=1726.
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In the Christian world-and-life-view, we cannot make progress in truth unless we understand ourselves and can answer the question, who am I? Yet our understanding of personal identity does not spontaneously emerge from a pure inner subjectivity, even less out of theoretical scientific knowledge; it always begins as a response to somebody who relates to us as a person – first our Creator, then our parents, wider family, and friends.
The existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre realised that human beings “are a choice and for us, to be is to choose ourselves”.[i] But Sartre also recognized that human consciousness is a rebellious attempt to become God – to be totally original and create de novo. Eventually admitting this was impossible, he despaired saying, “man is a useless passion.”[ii] The Bible teaches that whenever human beings fail to become themselves in relation to Jesus Christ, by trying to ground and construct their identity in substitute gods, frustration and despair is ultimately the result. Scripture identifies the attempt to define ourselves and our lives in this way as sin – a choice to live in untruth.
We hear a great deal in our present culture about ‘authenticity’ and are constantly being told to ‘be yourself,’ to ‘express yourself’ and so on. And in one sense we must be ourselves. Indeed, God calls us to become our unique selves in terms of His purposes. Even though we belong to the human family, we are not summed up by the abstract term humanity as though we are each simply one example of a species like an earthworm or ant. As God says to the prophet Jeremiah:
I chose you before I formed you in the womb;
I set you apart before you were born.
I appointed you a prophet to the nations. (Jer. 1:4-5)
We are uniquely made with a purpose and plan in mind. Scripture says God the Father is the source, “from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named” (Eph. 3:15).We might say that we each have a divine name; God has defined our being. This is the givenness of the self. We were all intended, called forth, wanted, loved, with a specific calling to become and do that for which we were made. Yet the prophet Jeremiah still had to choose to become himself – he did not arrive in the world fully actualized as a prophet.
As creatures, the self (the ‘I’) is therefore partly a given but is not fully actualized. This means we must grow and develop, accountable in the context of God’s order, as we confront possibility and choice. It is here in the realm of both possibility and necessity that we tend to flounder. We may rightly recognize that the self is a task, a calling, and we may will to be a self, but not the true self we are created to be. Instead, we demand to decide for ourselves who we are and who we are to become. But if we lose sight of our creatureliness and the givenness of our personhood, our God-given imagination can become an end in itself and life starts to be lived through a kind of inner fantasy, actually leading us away from true selves – the reality of possibility runs wild and unrestrained.
The tragedy is that all such ephemeral choices become arbitrary because, lacking contact with one’s God-given self, they have no stability and can always come apart and be undone, for a person to try and reinvent themselves all over again. The illusion of absolute freedom makes finally for an empty self and empty life.
The astonishing claim of Jesus Christ is to being the absolute Person – the appearance of the living and eternal God, the Creator and Sustainer of all things, in time – that the Truth about life and the liberating Truth for the lost and tormented self is found in Him as a person:
I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me (John 14:6).
If you continue in My word, you really are my disciples. You will know the truth and the truth will set you free (John 8:31).
In the appearance of the God-man we do not judge the Truth, but the Truth brings our hearts into judgment by gently helping us to see that we have lived up till now in untruth. In short, we are not free in relation to Truth but must be set free, and once released by Jesus Christ, discover to our joy that we are not the ultimate criterion, nor the measure of all things. Ironically, in letting go of the illusion of autonomy, the Truth really is now ‘your truth’ because you belong to the Truth and the Truth belongs to you.
When God reveals Himself in Christ to a person, He offers true rest for the embattled and confused self by bringing to an end the wearisome struggle for true self-identity. The Saviour’s gentle yoke of necessity makes sense of our human possibility. Jesus said:
Come to Me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. All of you, take up My yoke and learn from Me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your-selves. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light (Matt. 11:28-30)
It is in the Son of God, Son of man, our Creator and brother that we discover who we truly are, and through whom we are finally liberated to be ourselves. In the words of C. S Lewis, “…it will never be lawful simply to ‘be ourselves’ until ‘ourselves have become sons of God….”[iii]**
[i] Jean-Paul Sartre, The Wisdom of Jean-Paul Satre (New York: Philosophical Library, 1956), 40.
[ii] Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, trans, Hazel E. Barnes (New York: Washington Square, 1992), 754.
[iii] C.S. Lewis, God in the Dock (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1972), 286.
In this episode, Joe, Nate and Michael respond to yet more bad advice from Big Eva. How can we remain faithful fathers in a world full of compromise? Tune in to find out.
Allistair Begg’s Comments: https://youtu.be/rXDYYPLwgYE?si=B0XrmelFb6BH6VC9&t=1726
Watch the video here: https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/_e4z3d-0m_Q
In this episode, Joe, Nate and Michael discuss the centrality of the family in God’s redemptive story and consider how to disciple families and churches in an age where we have imbibed an individualistic idea of the gospel.
Watch the video here: https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/mmLQoBOWrz0
A bittersweet start to 2024, as we announce some changes to the hosting of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, but we are also excited to see the founding of a new Christian school in the Niagara region, and the work of cultural reform being implemented in concrete ways. We also take this occasion to look back on the origins and naming of the Ezra Institute, and how the podcast and our broader work will continue and grow moving forward.
Register for the Worldview Youth Academy soon to get early bird pricing!
Learn more about Niagara Classical Academy, the new school led by Ryan Eras.
Contact the school at info@niagaraclassical.com, and invest by etransfer at give@niagaraclassical.com
In the first episode of 2024, we consider the tradition of New Year’s resolutions, look ahead at some of the newsmaking trends that we anticipate, and conclude with a prayer for a new year.
In this Christmas replay, we discuss several opposing pairs of virtues and vices that shape our Christian character. If you’re considering how you can grow in godliness and holiness this coming year, here are some timeless biblical concepts to consider.
Would you help support the work of the Ezra Institute before the year ends? Click to donate, and thank you for all your prayers and support!
In one of my favorite editions of the Bible there are beautiful illustrations depicting magnificent biblical scenes reproduced from the original wood engravings of Gustave Doré (1832-1883). I find many of them aid in appreciating the majesty of God’s Word-revelation, including his expressive recreation of the birth of Jesus surrounded by the shepherds on that holy night when angelic voices offered humanity a choral work like no other.
The nativity accounts of Matthew and Luke both contain an elusive and enigmatic beauty in portraying the incomparable events of that ‘fullness of times.’ Matthew tells us of magi bearing luxuriant gifts from the East who saw the shimmering star of the great King rising, calling them from their observatories and contemplations to participate in the truth of the paradox that the divine and the human were colliding in the man Jesus Christ. As if by contrast, Luke tells us of poor local shepherds whose herds would likely have provided animals for sacrifice at the temple, suddenly arrested in the crispness of the night by the glory of the Lord and the terrible beauty of an angelic host bringing evensong from the third heaven. They too are invited to participate in the day filled with eternity and promised that they will find the absolute, the paradox, wrapped in swaddling bands and lying in a manger. These exquisite images persist as a fading memory in our present cultural moment in which we wallow in the self-disgust of a debased society. And yet, despite all the efforts against it reflected in secularism’s disenchantment of life, brutalist buildings and moribund art – gripped by a cult of ugliness and utility whilst enamoured with the crude and vulgar – Christmas refuses to be painted over or demolished. The lights, the sounds, the decorations, feasts, songs and spires still draw many whose culture denies any use for the incarnation.
I worshipped recently in my local parish church situated in a small village and perched on a hillside like a lonely sparrow on a rooftop; people have worshipped Christ on this site since the time of the Saxons. Yet it was very difficult to find a seat. Extra chairs were hurriedly being put out as the last candles were being lit and bell ringers made final preparations to chime out the first two carols at the back of the nave. This ancient sanctuary was not only crowded, it was also beautiful to look at. Small children unaccustomed to seeing ancient church architecture were gazing up and around as other little ones read passages for our nine lessons and carols to the delight of the older people packed into pews like gifts in a Christmas stocking.
This scene would have been repeated many times in the shadow of great spires across weary old England, though but for a few shepherds on the fringe of human society, the humble birth of Christ was barely noticed by the world that first Christmas night, taking place as it did among livestock whose mucky old feeding trough was used as a makeshift crib. Yet somehow in the dust of Bethlehem, this tear in time is the embodiment of the beautiful in both its ordinary and extraordinary aspects; the ordinariness of the birth of a child in an impoverished setting and extraordinariness of hymns from heaven enlightened by the brightness of a unique star combining for a moment of beauty in which we sense the presence of the divine.
Our longing for beauty as a vital aspect of meaning in human life accounts for why the beautiful paradox retains a hold on so many hard hearts. As the ancient Hebrew poet foretold, truth springs, as it were, out of the earth, mercy and truth meet together; righteousness and peace have kissed (Ps. 85:10 ff). Here is mysterious beauty in everyday human form – the face of a babe in the arms of his mother. As Rembrandt’s Simeon in the Temple (1669) amply proves, the human face is a truly beautiful thing that awakens a depth of feeling, and this infant visage reminds us in a way that no other face has or can of our moral and spiritual need. The Christ child is the enchanting “paradox, which history can never digest or convert into a common syllogism. In His humiliation He is the same as in His exaltation.”[1] In the furtive beauty of Christ’s birth is true consolation in our sullied culture that, taking vengeance on its maker, incessantly paints God’s world as ugly and unlovable. Here in the quiet simplicity of the cradle a divine beauty redeems life, amplifying our joys and consoling us in our many sorrows. From the manger the beauty of peace smiles up at us in the presence of our sadness and suffering.
Time and eternity cannot be reconciled by human reasoning any more than of ourselves we can bridge the gulf between the human and divine. But now, the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. Now our eyes have seen your salvation. It only remains to participate, to follow the appointed sign of swaddling clothes. Then we might take hold by faith of the infant Jesus and discover that he is God with us.
[1] Soren Kierkegaard, Training in Christianity, trans. Walter Lowrie (New York: Vintage Books, 2004), 25
There is a certain type of attitude or personality that creeps up this time of year that tries to suppress the joy of other believers in celebrating the birth of Christ. It alleges that Christmas was originally pagan, and that we are participating in idolatry. In today’s episode we discuss how there is good evidence that this is not the case, and that even if it were, the kingdom of God overcomes all opposition, and that all holidays ultimately belong to Christ.
Registration is open for the Worldview Youth Academy and Cultural Leadership Academy. Act now to get the early-bird rates.
In this lecture from the 2023 Mission of God conference, Joe Boot explains the pagan nature of trans ideology, and offers a scriptural response.
Watch the video here: https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/h1ON45AahF0
We live in an age where we are told to define and live our own truth, including the most fundamental truths about our human identity. Over against such self-determination, Scripture gives us a vision for life based on the identity of God as the transcendent Creator, of human beings as image-bearing creatures, and the fundamental givenness of the world.
Would you prayerfully consider supporting the Ezra Institute this year? Donate here.
Jonathan Wellum joins us once more on the podcast to reflect on the economic year 2023, and to discuss ESG, ethical investing, and the worldview difference between a godly and ungodly approach to economics.
Learn more about Jonathan’s work.
Get tickets for Mission of God West, happening this weekend!
Bringing Calm to the Perfect Storm of Pornography Addiction
Pornography isn’t something new. The history of pornography dates back to antiquity, as evidenced by the sexual depictions on ancient Greek vases and the erotic frescoes of the suburban thermal baths in Pompeii. Derived from the classical Greek words, ‘pornos’ meaning ‘prostitutes,’ and ‘graphos’ meaning ‘writing,’ pornography, or ‘writing about prostitutes’ is as old as the oldest profession itself. As per King Solomon, “there is nothing new under the sun” (Eccl 1:9). Nevertheless, what has changed and set our contemporary culture of pornography consumption apart from any other era in the history of the planet is the delivery system. The advent of high-speed Internet has been the game-changer, and this not in isolation either. The ubiquitous spread of pornography throughout our society in pandemic proportions has occurred due to the convergence of a whole number of factors. These include: the outworking of the 1960s Sexual Revolution and our resultant hypersexualized culture; the repealing of Biblical law allowing for laxity in media censorship; entrepreneurial opportunism of the sex industry; and the pervasive existential suffering in our society, particularly ramped up during the COVID pandemic and its aftermath – all occurring in the context of visual-stimulus addiction from undisciplined 24/7 compulsive internet overconsumption. It’s a perfect storm, and perfectly dreadful. With porn sites receiving more traffic than Netflix, Amazon, and Twitter combined, it’s a pervasive problem, and has become one of the defining issues of our time. The ambition of this essay is to discuss the challenges posed by pornography, including the addictive potential and the insidious worldview challenge, and offer an approach to how we might effectively counter its detrimental effects. My hope is to provide the necessary equipping for the Christian community to not only meet this formidable challenge, but to recognize, in the process, opportunities for Gospel witness and favor.
My own unfortunate introduction to pornography was one of serendipity. I was innocently looking for an empty locker in the YMCA change-room when I happened upon a discarded Penthouse magazine, and in a moment all innocence was lost. Even as a prepubescent boy, I instinctively knew such a publication wasn’t intended for my viewing. The haughty eyes and body posture of the scantily clad beauty on the front cover screamed forbidden fruit. Yet the novelty of the pictorial grabbed my attention and the illicit potential piqued my curiosity. With hands trembling, I opened the cover and began to turn the pages. Unwittingly, I unceremoniously entered into a world of sexual sin and pagan idolatry. As the first nude images came into view, an explosion of tingly warmth shuddered through my body. It was a strange new excitement that welled up inside me, causing my heart to speed, threatening to pound out of my chest. I felt all flushed and faint, and had to close the magazine at one point, just to recover my senses and catch my breath. Having regained my composure, I reopened the magazine, and with hands sweating returned to where I’d left off. Those first gratuitous depictions of sexuality whet my appetite and stirred within me a deep desire for more. And more I would’ve consumed, had it not been for my swim mates entering the locker room, causing me to stow away my secret treasure for future private viewing. Later, when I was safely hidden behind my closed bedroom door, I pulled out the magazine once again and returned to its explicit material. The more time I spent pouring over those photographs, the more I wanted to. The seductive posturing and beckoning facial expressions captivated me, and stayed with me long after I’d hidden the pages back under my bed. Their images came to mind throughout the day, first thing in the morning, last thing at night, intruding into my thoughts at school, interfering with my studies, distracting me from my math lesson, even at church. Within a brief period of weeks, I had developed a certain level of pornography addiction, and inadvertently set into place a thought pattern in my brain that would prove indelible.
Mechanism of Pornography Addiction
The mechanism for pornography addiction shares similarities with other addicting substances and behaviours, which generally take advantage of the same neural pathways utilized in normal learned behaviors. Substance addictions, such as alcohol, tobacco, amphetamines, cocaine, and heroin stimulate the mesolimbic dopamine pathway, or reward center, as it’s commonly referred, as do other behavioural addictions, including gambling, gaming, shopping, and binge eating. This pleasure pathway is located within the superior aspect of the brain stem, known as the ventral tegmental area (VTA), and is interconnected to structures deep within the brain, namely the amygdala (responsible for positive and negative emotions and emotional memory), and the hippocampus (site of processing and retrieval of long-term memories), and further connected to the prefrontal cortex of the cerebrum, which coordinates and determines behavior. This complex neurocircuitry array operates by way of positive reinforcement utilizing a sensory reward system.[1] When the cortex has received and processed a sensory stimulus indicating a reward – such as the auditory praise for completing a task, for example, or the taste of sweet from a candy – it sends a signal activating the VTA to release dopamine into the amygdala and hippocampus, where this neurohormone binds specific dopamine receptors. These structures in turn release other neurotransmitters, including the naturally-occurring opioids, endorphin and dynorphin, and stimulate the prefrontal cortex, which results in the volitional repetition of the gratifying action – completing more praiseworthy tasks or grabbing another M&M, as the case may be. Taken together, the reward system and its connecting regions modulate pleasure, reward, memory, and motivation.
Over time, the repetitive pattern of stimulus/response leads to actual architectural changes in the brain. Cell growth and protein synthesis occur, along with an increase in the number of connecting neurons, and dopamine receptors at the junction points, resulting in enhanced neurological communication. Analogous to developing a city highway from a country road, these structural changes within the brain effectively improve transmission efficiency by speeding up and strengthening the associated neural networks. This dynamic process is responsible for the remarkable and all-important adaptability of our central nervous system.[2] On the positive side, this neuroplasticity provides the foundation for new learning, such as playing an instrument or developing a second language, as well as healthy habit formation, like following a daily exercise regimen. On the flip side, however, this same adaptability can allow for bad habit formation, like senselessly surfing the Internet, and is susceptible to being hijacked by substance and behavioural addictions with their resultant detrimental physiological effects.
Addiction Hallmarks and Determinants
As a clinical cardiologist working in the downtown tertiary care centre in Edmonton, I come face to face with the underbelly of substance abuse on a routine basis. In addition to my role as director of our smoking cessation program, where I address nicotine addiction and provide counsel to help patients become smoke-free, I am directly involved in numerous aspects of addiction medicine. This involvement ranges from managing alcohol-related heart failure and dysrhythmias, or cocaine-induced acute myocardial infarction, to assessing for heart valve infections in febrile intravenous drug users, or to determining the suitability of a heart for transplantation in cases where the patient has been declared brain dead from Fentanyl overdose.
In the process of it all, I have become all too familiar with the four horrid hallmarks of addiction: dependency, obsessive-compulsive behaviour, tolerance, and dysfunction. Drug dependency is marked by a desperate craving for continual access to the addicting substance, and caused by the flood of dopamine into the reward circuit and resultant endorphin rush. Once the addiction is established, obsessive-compulsive behaviour follows with the development of secretive conduct and rituals. This is caused by a rise in dynorphin levels, endorphin’s evil twin. Rather than producing feelings of euphoria and pleasure, this yin-yang counter neurotransmitter is responsible for sensations of anxiety, dysphoria, and despair, which negatively reinforce continued use of the addictive drug to avoid the withdrawal state. Tolerance occurs as the elevated levels of dynorphin diminish dopamine release, resulting in a lowering of the reward threshold. As tolerance develops, increasing amounts of the stimulus is required to produce the same desired effect.[3] General dysfunction occurs as the addiction negatively impacts the ability of addicts to function in society, often resulting in poverty and the escalation of homeless populations in our downtown areas. Addiction medicine is ugly business, and a shameful testament to the enabling liberal drug policies and legislations in our country, and increasingly so around the world.
Not all addicting behaviours or drugs exhibit the same degree of addiction. Of the natural rewards, for example, sexual stimulation has the highest potential for addiction, even more so than food, including pizza, chocolate, and ice cream.[4] In the realm of addictive substances, cocaine, nicotine, and heroin top the list for addictive potential. The four main determinants for addiction which explain these differences in the strength of addiction are the following:
- Dopamine Release
While all addictive substances and behaviours flood dopamine into the reward circuit, some do more so than others. This differential amount of dopamine released into the neural network is the key factor that separates out the potency of addicting drugs and the addictive potential of certain behaviours, and is the primary determinant for strength of addiction. The mechanism governing the amount of dopamine released into the neural network by a given stimulus is multifactorial and in part related to genetic factors, environmental conditioning, which can have social determinants (such as its illicit nature or cultural taboo), and in the case of addicting substances, its specific pharmacological properties.[5]
- Delay
The time interval between behaviour and reward is the second most important determinant for addiction, where the more rapid the dopamine peak surge in response to the drug or behaviour, the stronger the addictive potential. As a result, the mode of drug delivery is paramount. Inhalation, snorting and intravenous injection all allow for rapid onset of drug effect, and are all rapidly addictive. This explains why cigarette smoking is so difficult to quit. With one drag on the cancer stick, the active ingredient, nicotine, gets rapid access to the bloodstream by way of the alveoli in the lungs – a surface area equivalent in size to that of a tennis court – and immediately makes its way to the nicotine receptors in the brain. Aware of this potency and wanting to rescue their shrinking market, cigarette companies have been known to provide ‘free’ samples to children in developing countries (often three cigarettes bundled together) in the hopes of hooking more customers.[6] Sadly, as little as three cigarettes is all it takes to set the stage for lifelong addiction to smoking. In terms of behavioural addiction, the importance of timing between behaviour and reward plays out, as well. For example, the number of addicted gamblers escalated steeply with the advent of online gambling. While the thrill of potentially getting something for nothing hasn’t changed, clicking a ‘mouse’ provides a faster answer (and potential jackpot) than manually pulling down a lever and waiting for the fruits to all align, and is far more addictive. As a result, the devastation of losing one’s life savings can now occur quicker than ever before.
- Novelty
While the magnitude of the initial dopamine release is central to addiction potential, if there is variety of stimuli provided, then repeat dopamine surges are possible, and the potential for addiction gets magnified. This helps explain the hollow dessert leg phenomenon, when those dining out typically say ‘yes’ to perusing the dessert menu. It seems that no matter how many helpings of the main course are consumed, when the dessert menu arrives, eyes get larger than stomachs, and room is found for cake. This overriding of the brain’s satiety centre by the reward pathway forms the basis of food addiction, and has likely played a significant role in fostering the present-day obesity epidemic in our society. Entrepreneurs have capitalized on this novelty phenomenon in the marketing of their merchandise. From the various vaping products with their assorted flavors, to the variety of coolers and sours, and the explosion of craft beer options – new and different spurs consumption, counters drug tolerance, and promotes addiction. This same novelty phenomenon is true for sexual stimulation, as well. Animal studies have consistently shown that exposure to new sexual partners intensifies dopamine release.[7] Referred to as the Coolidge Effect, sexual novelty likely explains a good portion of the allure of having an adulterous relationship. It’s not so much the specific guy or gal, but the grass-is-always-greener newness of the encounter. While variety may seem like the spice of life, when it comes to addictive stimuli, it’s a path to dependence, destruction, and death.
- Accessibility
The easier it is to access an addictive stimulus, the more likely it will be accessed, and the more likely addiction will follow. Although those favouring liberal drug policies tend to promote the myth that narcotic legalization is the answer to the drug problem, reality hasn’t born this out. We have to say ‘no’ to drugs, not ‘go.’ The legalization of marijuana in Canada is an illustrative case in point. With cannabis shops lining our city streets and popping up at every other corner, increased consumption has followed suit, and not surprisingly, addiction to tetrahydrocannabinol (or THC, the active ingredient) has escalated.[8] Even though the health risks are similar to cigarette consumption, a surprising number of my patients regularly smoke cannabis, most lulled into the misperception that because something is legal, it must be good, and in the case of ‘smokin’ a joint,’ even healthy. From the dispensing of ‘clean drugs’ at hospital sites, to round-the-clock internet accessibility for gambling, easy access fosters addiction.
Considering these four determinants of addiction, it becomes abundantly clear why internet pornography is so highly addictive, and why it’s considered a visual narcotic and often referred to as the new crack/cocaine.[9] Online pornography not only satisfies all these determinants hands down, it does so head and shoulders above any other addictive behaviour or drug. Repetitive viewing of sexually-explicit material has been shown to cause dopamine release that exceeds levels produced by all other behavioural addictive stimuli, gambling and gaming included. It even exceeds levels enjoyed in actual sexual intercourse. When compared with many addictive substances, including nicotine, morphine, and amphetamines, pornography comes out on top, as well.[10] Although heroin and cocaine can produce higher peak levels of dopamine release with a resultant more intense burst in pleasure pathway activation, internet pornography can keep the pleasure going.[11] With a simple click of the mouse comes a whole new array of images, and another immediate dopamine rush. So, while the cocaine user is coming off their rocky-mountain high and plummeting into their equal and opposite reactive deep, deep low; the porn surfer can catch another wave of pleasure, and another, and another, clicking ad infinitum. The addiction takes on a life of its own, and not an addiction to pornography perse, but to the biochemical intoxication that ensues from its viewing. Taken together – the explosive dopamine surges, immediate gratification, unparalleled novelty, and resistance-free, round-the-clock anonymous accessibility – no addicting behaviour nor drug can come close to the addiction potential of internet pornography. In brief, we’ve created a monster.
Detrimental Effects of Pornography
While the harm wrought by pornography is far-reaching, extending its tentacles into all areas of our society – the church included – with untold numbers of women and children exploited by the multibillion-dollar porn industry, the pornography consumer is a casualty, as well. Under the banner of freedom of sexual expression, the powerful addiction cycle created by pornography viewing rewires the brain and traps the viewer into a state of insatiable desire for more. Ravenous pornography consumption is harmful, attacking the spiritual core of a person, and manifesting in a variety of psychosocial and biological problems, including dysfunction.
Although my medical practice as a cardiologist is pretty much above the belt, there are exceptions, and managing erectile dysfunction is one of them. Twenty-five years ago, I was considered the local Viagra Guy. It wasn’t the appellation I had hoped for when I agreed to tour the province with Pfizer and speak on the topic of erectile dysfunction, but it gave me an opportunity to meet my referring doctors, and to address their safety concerns about the use of phosphodiesterase inhibitors (the active ingredient in the little blue pill) in patients with heart disease. While those concerns have largely eased, I am still asked on occasion to see patients who suffer from impotence. These days, however, the men who struggle with erectile dysfunction aren’t just the old guys with diabetes or high blood pressure and a smoking history, but are non-smokers, otherwise healthy, and are young, some in their early twenty’s. Their problem is not one of vascular insufficiency, but internet pornography. There’s nothing actually wrong with their machinery. They don’t need fuel injection; they’ve flooded the engine. It follows then that their remedy is not a medicine, but complete abstinence. This is because unless pornography stimulation completely ceases, everything else will. Although erectile dysfunction occurs commonly in men with pornography addiction, it’s a late manifestation, and doesn’t develop until after long hours of pornography consumption, and well after permanent changes have taken place in the neurochemistry of the brain. These men have already become as dependent on porn as a heroin addict desperate for a fix, and have developed well-established obsessive-compulsive behaviours and levels of tolerance.
Tolerance is a means for the body to achieve a more stable physiological steady state, and it is what drives pornography addiction so demonically deep. The mechanism is complex and involves dynorphin-induced downregulation of dopamine receptors, as well as the accumulation of the stabilizing protein, Delta Fos-B. This “molecular switch” functions to convert acute visual stimulus responses into relatively stable neurochemistry adaptations that contribute to the long-term architectural changes in the brain that underly pornography addiction.[12] Since Delta Fos-B is a highly stable protein with an 8-week half life, it represents a mechanism by which sexually-explicit images produce lasting changes in gene expression long after the cessation of pornography use. As a result of this physiologic tolerance, more sexual stimulation is needed to bring the desired dopamine hit, leading some to engage in increasingly risky behavior, such as looking at porn at work, consuming more extreme, or even illegal porn, or acting out sexually in other ways – such as visiting strip clubs or soliciting prostitutes. In order to achieve the same level of dopamine release and reward, increased levels of pornography novelty are required. This can include viewing alternative sexual genres and fetishes, as well as those depicting sexual violence. The more perverse and shocking, the greater the dopamine response. Considering this ever-advancing insatiable process, it’s no stretch to see how pornography consumption can lead to sexual perversion and depravity.
Guilt and shame are – understandably – commonly experienced after pornography consumption. Although these feelings can get dulled over time, they end up adding fuel to a vicious cycle of distress. The guilt and shame caused by viewing pornography spur more porn consumption, followed by more guilt and shame, followed by more porn, and so on. No amount of novel pornography, no matter how intense nor bizarre, can bring comfort or alleviate the ever-present anguish. Round and round the addiction cycle goes, until the wheels finally fall off. The brain eventually fatigues, limiting the production of dopamine, and leaving the viewer craving more but unable to reach any level of satisfaction. This imbalance in the brain leads to many problems, the least of which is sexual dissatisfaction and impotence. As the pornography consumer is consumed by their addiction, feelings of anxiety mount, along with unrelenting fatigue, lack of motivation, and the inability to concentrate. Even everyday pleasures cease to provide enjoyment. It’s tragically ironic that what began as a desire for pleasure, ends up providing only displeasure. The porn addict is left bereft of any joy in life whatsoever. Yet, despite this sorry state, they still have a persistent thirst for more. Like Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s ancient mariner surrounded by “water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink,” the porn addict is abandoned to a living hell.
Ending Pornography Addiction
Escaping the trap of pornography addiction is no simple task. In many respects, it’s more difficult than getting off substance addictions. Even coming clean from heroin addiction or quitting smoking are comparably more straightforward. This is in part because with substance addictions, there are available substitutionary treatments to help lessen withdrawal symptoms during the detoxification period. With heroin addiction, for example, there is methadone, a long-acting opioid derivative, used as a less addictive replacement for heroin, that allows for a tapering of the addiction with less addictive drug. Likewise, for quitting smoking, a whole array of medicines can be of assistance, including nicotine replacement products that can effectively eliminate cigarette cravings by providing tapering amounts of the addictive ingredient, nicotine, allowing time for the smoker to gradually kick the habit. As well, for alcohol addiction, benzodiazepines can be administered to diminish the risk of delirium tremens, which often occurs with long-time overuse of alcohol, with its attendant hallucinations, tremor, anxiety, and disorientation. However, for behavioural addictions, such as gambling, gaming, and pornography, no such medical options are available. This is particularly the case for pornography addiction. The intense dopamine surge produced from the visual sexual stimuli, as well as the tolerance that develops, makes attempting to cut down the consumption of pornography as challenging as quitting completely. So, it’s either continue on in the addiction cycle or make a cold turkey stop. No middle ground tapering is available.
Compounding this challenge for all three of these addictions is the easy access, again, particularly for pornography. It’s right there at the click of a bait, or the select of a site, or the scroll down a feed. And many have allowed those compulsive clicks, selects, and scrolls to become reflex responses in their everyday moments, dominating all their waking hours. No longer, it seems, do people strike up a conversation at the bus stop, speak with others in the coffeeshop line-up, make small talk in the elevator, or say “Good morning! What a beautiful day” to passersby. Regardless of the setting, it’s all heads down and thumbs-a-flyin’ as social media accounts are viewed, text comments are shared, and blog posts are skimmed. It’s not just distracted driving that’s a concern; now there’s distracted zombie walking, distracted exercising, distracted eating, and distracted listening, to lectures, concerts, sermons, and even loved ones. All of the in-between-times have been filled in by virtual reality and absconded by computer devices. As a result, we have dwindling concentration abilities, and seemingly, the complete loss of giving undivided attention to anything else. And then double trouble, like a match to fire, pornography enters the pandemonium. Internet obsession has provided the tinder ground for the wildfire of pornography addiction to rage in our society, and to consume untold numbers.
To calm the perfect storm of pornography addiction, involvement in this milieu of Internet madness needs to end. Radical changes will be necessary, mandating commitment, discipline, and discipleship. In particular, steadfast commitment will be required to completely abstain from all forms of pornography, discipline will be needed to develop healthy digital stewardship, and Christian discipleship will be essential to provide the foundation for the ongoing support, encouragement, and accountability required for these critical changes to take place, and kindle a new affection for our loving God. The impetus for the believer to adopt these changes (as if the detrimental effects of pornography addiction weren’t sufficient cause), is the acknowledgment that pornography viewing is sinful. And like other sexual sins, including homosexuality, adultery, heterosexual promiscuity, serial monogamy, premarital sex, and masturbation, it needs to be called out as a sin requiring confession. Apostle Paul exhorts us to “flee from sexual immorality,” emphasizing that “all other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body,” reminding us that we “were bought at a price… therefore honor God with your body” (1 Cor 18-20).
This is not to say that viewing any depiction of the naked human body is sinful. Medical students studying surface anatomy are not, in doing so, engaging in sinful behaviour, nor are those appreciating Rembrandt’s nude composition of Bathsheba at Her Bath, nor Michelangelo’s sculpture of David. Pornography is neither edifying nor a proper use of artistic media, but gratuitous depictions of human sexuality. Pornography photographs may be skillfully done in terms of lighting and composition, but their content is patronizing, exploiting the sexual passions of the viewer, and presents a lie that debases God’s good gift of sex. Although Canadian law currently protects pornography under freedom of expression as an art form, this is a gross error, and considering the harmful effects that pornography has had in the exploitation of the vulnerable, objectification of women, and the causing of widespread social and community harms, such laws are shameful.[13] As Francis Schaeffer points out, “For the Christian, art is to be used for the glory of God, not just as tracts, mind you, but as things of beauty to the praise of God.”[14] If pornography is considered an art form, it is an impoverished one, that distorts beauty and profanes God. While grey areas may certainly exist between artistic expression and blatant eroticism, the sexually-explicit graphic material polluting over 1/3 of the internet bandwidth and consumed daily by millions within our society – including churchgoers and their pastors – doesn’t fit into the tiny grey debatable zone. Rather, it’s unashamedly erotic, exploitive, demeaning, and dehumanizing, and its viewing is sinful. There’s no room here for game-playing about art form or rationalizing about freedom of expression, only sincere repentance and heartfelt confession.
[1] Kalivas, PW. The neural basis of addiction: a pathology of motivation and choice. Am J Psychiatry, 2005; 162(8):1403.
[2] Olsen C.M. Natural rewards, neuroplasticity, and non-drug addictions. Neuropharmacology. 2011;61:1109–1122.
[3] Koob G.F., Volkow N.D. Neurocircuitry of Addiction. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2010; 35:217–238.
[4] Di Chiara G. Differential responsiveness of dopamine transmission to food-stimuli in nucleus accumbens shell/core compartments. Neuroscience 89: 637-641, 1999.
[5] Pulvirenti, L. Dopamine receptor agonists, partial agonists and psychostimulant addiction. Trends in Pharm Sci. Volume 15, Issue 10, October 1994, Pages 374-379.
[6] Makary, M. The International Tobacco Strategy. JAMA. 1998;280(13):1194-1195.
[7] Ventura-Aquino, E. Hormones and the Coolidge effect. Mol Cell Endocrinol. 2018 May 15; 467:42-48.
[8] Hall, W. Addiction (SSA). The implementation and public health impacts of cannabis legalization in Canada: a systematic review. 28 June 2023.
[9] Fortify: A Step Toward Recovery by Fight the New Drug. O.W.L. Pub © 2015.
[10] Hilton D.L. Pornography addiction: A supranormal stimulus considered in the context of neuroplasticity. Socioaffective Neurosci. Psychol. 2013; 3:20767.
[11]
[12] Pitchers, K. ΔFosB in the nucleus accumbens is critical for reinforcing effects of sexual reward. Genes, Brains and Behavior 2010; Vol 9, Issue 7; 831.
[13] https://arpacanada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/ARPA-PolicyReport-Pornography-online2.pdf
[14] Schaeffer, F. Art and the Bible. InterVarsity Press ©1973 by L’Abri Fellowship, p.18.
Ezra Institute Fellow Dan Ogden makes his podcast debut to discuss the difference between international law, which is based on common consent, and supranational law, a coercive and unaccountable system. He explains some of the strategic and economic benefits of a globally connected world, as well as the complications that arise from it, and how to think in a principled, Christian way about a tangled and high-stakes context.
The Canadian Mission of God conferences start this weekend in Windsor, Ontario! Get your last-minute tickets.
We interact with a classic interview with Yuri Bezmenov, a KGB agent who defected from the USSR in the 1980s. He explains the strategy of cultural infiltration that has been active since the 1950s, and the work of demoralization that has been accomplished in the West. As we approach election seasons in the USA, Canada and Britain, we must be diligent to also pursue personal sanctification and not compromise on principles for the sake of temporary fixes.
Get tickets to the Mission of God conference, December 2 in Windsor, and December 9 in Calgary.
Media: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOmXiapfCs8
https://edition.cnn.com/videos/politics/2023/11/18/donald-trump-joe-biden-polling-2024-presidential-election-enten-nr-vpx.cnn
This article is excerpted from Joe Boot’s book, Gospel Witness, available at Ezra Press.
At first glance, people could be forgiven for thinking that Islam is basically like Christianity with a few superficial differences. After all, doesn’t Islam teach belief in one God, in revelation, in marriage and family, in charity and justice, in heaven and hell? Let us examine these supposedly shared beliefs. First, it is true that both faiths speak about ‘God,’ but on examination we discover that this word (Allah in Arabic) holds a totally different content for the Christian and the Muslim mind. For the Muslim, God is an unknowable monad[1] who does not reveal himself – he is essentially an eternal will, expressed in an eternal written text sent down in stages (Surah 43:2-4; 56:77-82; 76:23). As Robert Spencer notes, “For Muslims, the Qur’an is a perfect copy of the perfect, eternal book – the Mother of the book (umm al-kitab) – that has existed forever with Allah in paradise.”[2] By contrast, for the Christian, God is a relational being, eternally existing as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who is revealed clearly and truly in the historical person of Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word of God. The gospels and letters of the New Testament are the historically situated works of eyewitnesses, written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, which cohere completely with the inspired revelation of the historical patriarchs and prophets in the Older Testament. The human and historical element is never bypassed in the Christian understanding of God’s self-revelation to man – indeed it is essential to it because God is a covenant-making God.
Second, the nuclear family (Christian marriage) is the fundamental social structure of Western civilization; the unity of marriage between one man and one woman as taught by Christ himself has been foundational to Christian society for centuries. By contrast Islamic marriage is polygamous and is destructive of the unity, harmony and safety of the family. Ordinary Muslim men are permitted up to four wives, plus temporary ‘wives’ whilst on pilgrimage – although Muhammad allowed himself more. Third, both Christians and Muslims speak of charity, but unlike Christian charity directed toward all those in need and a fundamental aspect of Christian missionary history, Islamic charity is solely for the benefit of fellow Muslims, not of the kafir (unbeliever). Fourth, it is true that both Christianity and Islam speak of prayer, but in Islam prayer is a matter of structured recitation five times a day to an unknowable god in the direction of a black meteoric rock in the Middle East (toward Mecca), whereas in Christianity prayer is the interaction of a personal God with man in a covenantal relationship where neither form nor posture is imposed upon it to make it valid.
Fifth, both faiths speak of law and justice. But for Islam there is one law for the Muslim and another for the unbeliever (Surah 3:28; 4:144; 8:12). By way of contrast, in Christian society there is to be love for one’s neighbour and equality for all before the same law rooted in the Ten Commandments (Ex. 12: 49; Lev. 19:34, 24:22; Matt 5:44). This disparity is because Muhammad and Allah hate the kafir (Surah 9:29; 33:60; 83:34; 86:15), whereas the triune God of Scripture loves the world and came to seek and save sinners (Luke 19:10; John 3:16; Rom. 5:6-8). Sixth, in Islam, any hope of paradise is based on the arbitrary will of Allah. Paradise is a libidinous eternal state that may or may not be attained by striving in the cause of Islam, whereas in the Christian faith, salvation is by the grace and love of God alone, by faith in Jesus Christ, who calls us to follow him as his children and love one another (John 13:34-35). Lastly, both religions are missionary faiths that seek to win converts, but in Islam this is by almost any means, including killing, violence and persecution, in order to bring the non-believer to submission (as modelled by Muhammad himself, see Surah 9:29; 61:10). Whereas in the Christian gospel, good news is preached so that people might freely respond to it or reject it (Rom. 10:14ff), and if Christ’s witnesses and ambassadors suffer persecution as a result, they are to love their enemies and do good to those that hate them (Luke 6:27ff).
These stark differences are basic to the persons at the centre of the respective faiths. The true contrast between Islam and Christianity is between the persons of Jesus Christ and Muhammad. Muhammad took up the sword to convert, tax or slay his enemies.[3] Jesus Christ loved his enemies, forgave those who persecuted him and went to the cross because of the great love of God and to win a lost world by making atonement for our sin (1 John 2:2). In short, at almost every point, whilst similar theological terms may be employed by both faiths, their content is radically different. No honest and effective witness can be made to the Muslim without a candid acknowledgement of the radically different starting points we have – of the gulf that exists between the persons of Christ and Muhammad. This fundamental antithesis is expressed in the fact that the Islamic worldview always produces a radically different culture and political system to that of Christianity – grounded in its view of the divine and the foundations of moral order. If we care about Muslims and our society, we will care about facing Islam honestly and clearly in its varied implications.
[1] A leading Muslim commentator, Beidhawi, suggests that the name Allah is derived from “an [invented] root illaha = to be in perplexity, because the mind is perplexed when it tries to form the idea of the infinite.” See Geisler, Answering Islam, 14.
[2] Robert Spencer, Did Muhammad Exist? An Inquiry into Islam’s Obscure Origins (Wilmington, DE: ISI Books, 2012), 126.
[3] For a study of Islamic hostility and violence toward Jews and non-Muslims, see Elias Al-Maqdisi & Sam Solomon, Al-Yahud: The Eternal Islamic Enmity and the Jews (Charlottesville: ANM Publishers, 2010).
Ezra Institute Fellow Andrew Sandlin joins us to discuss the strange bedfellows of Marxism and Nationalism that have been keeping company lately, as well as antisemitism and the recent rise of nationalism of several stripes, including Christian nationalism, and how a reformational perspective guards against the excesses and reactionism of both progressive and conservative ideologies that are not based in Christ Jesus.
Get Andrew’s latest book, Virtuous Liberty.
Register for the upcoming Mission of God Canada conferences.
As governments and law enforcement deal with planned demonstrations for this upcoming Remembrance Day, Joe Boot considers the Islamic worldview commitments that are fundamentally at odds with Christian religious worldview commitments, and discuss the true and lasting peace that was accomplished through the cross of Christ.
All month of November, save on the family advent guide Behold Your King at Ezra Press.
Get tickets to the upcoming Mission of God conferences in Windsor and Calgary.
As followers of Jesus, our response to the LGBT challenges needs to be one of grace and truth. It’s critical that we maintain the tension between the exclusive truth claims of Christ and the inclusive grace of Christ. Although far easier to do only one or the other – either hold hard to the letter of Scriptural law and present a cold wall of opposition, or offer warm unqualified open-armed welcome – neither of these singular approaches are effective nor biblically faithful. It’s not one or the other, but a measure of both, together. Jesus didn’t dismiss the woman accused of adultery with disdain and disgust, saying “Go.” Nor did he affirm her sexual behaviour and celebrate her lifestyle, saying “Go and sin.” Rather, he protected her from harm’s way and offered her abundant life free from the slavery of sin, saying, “Go and sin no more” (John 8:11). Therefore, our response to the LGBT challenges mustn’t be one of cold condemnation, nor gushing affirmation. Rather, without compromising the biblical sexual ethic, we need to respond winsomely, communicating both our concern for biblical truth and care for struggling individuals. “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (John 1:17). If we capitulate on biblical truth, we forfeit the gospel and its redeeming power, and risk losing a soul to eternal judgement; and if we fail to reach out in compassion and care, we miss the opportunity to witness and share the gospel’s redeeming message. Analogous to an archer’s cross-bow, which is only useful under the tension of the bowstring (otherwise is but a weird bent stick, not even suitable for walking), as faithful followers of Christ, we need to hold fast to both biblical truth and winsome engagement in balanced tension. If we fail to do so, our efforts will yield little. We’ll either shut down dialog completely or get shut down ourselves, and run the risk of being compromised on one hand, or cancelled on the other. In either case, we’ll join the sorry ranks of “those who do not turn to the most High, are like a bow gone slack” (Hosea 7:16).
It’s also important to separate out our response to the activist movement, on the one side, from our response to someone who is struggling with their sexuality, on the other. We need to realize that these are two very separate conversations, both set on the same foundation, but expressed with different language and means. I came to this realization when I had an intense exposure to the non-heterosexual community. It was in the mid-‘80s during the height of the AIDS epidemic in Canada. I was a medical student at St. Paul’s hospital in downtown Vancouver, and did my clerkship before the introduction of anti-retroviral therapy, when acquiring HIV was akin to being given a death sentence. During that same time, my father, who was a United Church minister, was faithfully preaching the full counsel of Scripture and actively pushing back against the encroaching Gay gospel. Our frequent late-night conversations equipped me to easily recognize the worldview challenges posed by the gay movement, but did little to prepare me in my conversations with gay patients. That required the frontline experience which I acquired during those harrowing times.
As a student intern, I directly followed 8 to 10 patients at a time, the majority of whom were gay men about my age, dying of AIDS. It was heart-wrenching watching their opportunistic infections and cancers progress and, despite our best efforts, consume them. During this training time, while I was trying to memorize my differential diagnosis lists and develop my physical exam techniques, I witnessed the devastation of this pitiless disease on the human condition. All of my patients died, and I was often the one called by the nurses to pronounce them dead. It was a brutal boot camp for learning medicine, to be sure, but the experience gave me on-the-job training in humility and compassion, as I endeavored to respond to the suffering of my patients. As well, I had repeated opportunities to have conversations with them, long conversations, which went well beyond the surface medical management of their disease, and touched on their existential suffering. This is because as a student, I had a certain luxury of time, and I spent mine not just chasing down lab results and writing up histories, but at my patients’ bedsides, talking with them, getting to know their families, their lovers, and meeting their extensive friend groups and community of support. I learned something of their struggles, their frustrations and brokenness, and their desperate desire for acceptance. And as I spent time with them, listening to their stories, and developing a relationship with them, I was able to get past the initial facades, breaching topics of identity and faith. I shared my testimony with many of them, and at poignant moments, even prayed with some. Although I never agreed with their sexual confusion nor gay lifestyles, my heart broke for them nonetheless, and I have since felt drawn to reach out to LGBT patients with care and compassion.
Responding to the Struggling Individual
If we want to meaningfully engage those within the LGBT community and have constructive conversations with them, we need to be generous and communicate sentiments of concern. Opening our interactions with divisive comments about the causation of non-heterosexuality or arguments about the changeability of sexual orientation will unlikely be fruitful, and add more heat than light to the discussion. It’s not us against them, after all; non-heterosexuals are not the enemy. Sexual brokenness comes from our sinful nature magnified by our sexualized culture. It’s been estimated that over 1/3 of the Internet bandwidth is devoted to viewing pornography, which has infiltrated every part of our society, the church included.[1] We are all sexually broken to some extent, and if left to our own devices can easily fall into temptations of sinful sexual thoughts, even deeds. As Apostle Paul reminds, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23). We are all in need of Christ’s redemption and the ongoing sanctifying work of Holy Spirit, and we won’t completely escape the conundrum of sexual sin until heaven and earth are made new. So, we would do well to adopt a posture of humility, “quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry” (Jas 1:19). As we listen, we should do so not with the intent of winning an argument, but in order to make points of contact that will allow us to steer the conversation towards Jesus, the ultimate remedy. We need to endeavor to make Jesus the issue, not sexuality. As Mark Yarhouse wisely emphasizes about these difficult conversations, “the goal is not heterosexuality, but holiness.”[2]
Gender confusion and the sinful behaviour that ensues are but symptoms of a far larger problem, namely, misplaced identity. The prevailing messaging promoted by our LGBT-embracing culture is that same-sex attractions are natural, even God-given, and that such feelings not only indicate one’s true-you core identity, but that sexual behaviour is the central means to fulfillment. This so-called Gay script conflates the three distinct elements of sexual attraction, sexual behaviour, and gay identity into an all-in-one package. Even though these are each clearly distinct, if feelings are felt, it is suggested, behaviour and even permanent lifestyle adoption must inevitably follow. Of course, this just isn’t true. Feelings don’t mandate behaviour. Just because some scantily-clad woman walking past me in the grocery store might transiently catch my attention, it doesn’t mean that I, a married man, should necessarily follow her into the produce section to check out the tomatoes and get her phone number, nor that I should make a lifestyle of hanging out at the deli in the hopes of making bacon. A fleeting reflex feeling or thought doesn’t necessitate an adulterous behavioural response, nor a swinger lifestyle. We are not victims of instinct, confined to a programmed script of behaviour, but have been created in God’s image, and therefore have the freedom to choose our actions. Same-sex attraction represents temptations, not destiny. Like all other temptations, such as over-indulgence of alcohol, over-eating pastries, binging TV, or lining up for Sunday blow-out shopping extravaganzas, they can’t be given a life of their own and remain unchecked. No matter how much like “thorns in the flesh” same-sex attractions may be, they don’t need to result in homosexual behaviour, and certainly not a gay lifestyle. Those who hold up sexuality as ultimate are doomed to disappointment. It’s not just Mick Jagger who can’t get no satisfaction; no one can on those terms. No sexual experience – heterosexual or non-heterosexual – can live up to such dizzyingly high expectations, and identities formed around them won’t be able to satisfy our fundamental needs as human beings.
By opposing God’s design for sexuality, our culture has set into motion an unparalleled identity crisis, and at the same time, opened up a giant gospel opportunity for the Christian community to witness God’s love to broken people. Our task, as followers of the Risen Lord, is to provide an alternative script for those who struggle in sexual sin. We need to emphasize that it’s not sex that’s ultimate, but God, as revealed in the life, death, resurrection and calling of Jesus Christ. At its center, our identity is not a sexual issue at all, but a creational one that can only be truly defined by our Creator. While we are undeniably sexual beings, our core identity doesn’t reside in our sexuality, but is contained within the eternal relationship of the Triune living God. By necessity, our I am must be grounded in the Great I am. When we fail to grasp this biblical reality, choosing instead something smaller or distorted, such as our perceived gender or preferred sexual behaviour, we generate within ourselves an unquenchable misdirected thirst for personal significance, social acceptance, and individual security.[3] While the LGBT community attempts to provide these by affirming same-sex feelings, celebrating non-binary gender choices, and validating non-heterosexual relationships and gay lifestyle experiences, desperate emptiness remains. It’s well-documented that the LGBT group, taken as a whole, is at a substantially higher risk for poor health outcomes as compared to the general population.[4] Not only do they suffer from higher rates of depression, but also substance addictions, eating disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder and sexual abuse, and they have a staggeringly high suicide rate. Despite the propagated narrative that all this stems from societal stigmatization, these tragic problems are seen to occur at the same rates in the most LGBT-affirming of countries, as well.[5]
It’s imperative, then, that we communicate the need for an identity in Christ, and let those who label themselves within the LGBT umbrella know that they are children of God, first created in his image, fearfully and wonderfully made, and dearly loved by Him, the lover of their souls. Sharing our own personal testimony of faith is a powerful means to do so. As we tell of our own struggles with sin over the years and our own experiences with misplaced identity, such as with a work-based identity, a family-role-based identity, or a fitness-based identity, for example, we can forge points of contact, and begin “to make the teaching about God our Saviour attractive” (Titus 2:10). Jesus was a single celibate male and lived the perfect life, completely obedient to the law of God and completely fulfilled in every way. He didn’t come to earth for acceptance, significance, nor security, but to glorify God and to have mercy on sinners. With this in mind, we need to underscore that our core identity – including our essential needs for acceptance, significance, and security –be formed around a personal relationship with Christ, and Christ alone.
At the base of our engagement with members of the LGBT community, must be our concern for not only their present wholeness, but their eternal hope of salvation. God has given us the biblical sexual ethic for both our present flourishing and to prepare us for eternal communion with Him in glory. This mandates that we don’t just leave our conversations on the superficial plane of climate and Coke, but go deeper and address the essential matters of sin and salvation. Jesus was a friend to sinners, to be sure. However, he didn’t leave them in their sins, but called all people to “repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). If all our friendship with non-heterosexuals does is comfort them in their sins, we’ve done them a serious disservice, and not acted as a friend, at all. Homosexual behaviour is sexual sin. And like other sexual sins, including adultery, heterosexual promiscuity, serial monogamy, premarital sex, and masturbation, it needs to be called out as a sin requiring confession. Apostle Paul exhorts us to “flee from sexual immorality,” emphasizing that “all other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body,” reminding us that we “were bought at a price… therefore honor God with your body” (1 Cor 18-20). It doesn’t matter if they claim they were “born that way.” We are all born into a sinful nature inherited from our first parents and “must be born again” (John 3:3). This requires a 180-degree about-face turning away from our old sinful identity to embrace our new true identity in Christ. As Apostle Paul clarified, “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Cor 5:17). A gay lifestyle, no matter if it’s “monogamous and sincere,” is still misdirected and sinful. The same applies to gay marriage… raising the thorny issue of what to do if one receives an invitation to a “gay marriage” celebration.
Responding to an Invitation to a Gay Wedding
A wedding is not like a dinner invitation or a graduation open house or a retirement party. A Christian wedding is, first and foremost, a worship service from beginning to end, celebrating the holy union between one man and one woman with God at the centre. As God’s first institution, marriage bookends the beginning of the Bible and the end, and represents the fundamental building block of human community and has historically been the foundation of Western civilization.[6] Those present at the solemnization of matrimony are not just casual observers, but are witnesses who are granting their approval and support for the holy vows that are being made. Worship of God and celebration of a holy union cannot be done if God’s Word is profaned. Since the gay union being celebrated can’t be biblically sanctioned as an act of worship, our participation in the service lends credence to a lie. Out of obedience to Christ and because of the nature of the wedding event itself, we cannot in good conscience participate in a service of false worship, nor celebrate a union that shouldn’t be celebrated.
This is true for secular gay weddings, as well. There’s nothing in the secular nature of a wedding ceremony that makes it any less of a celebration of a union. When we attend such a wedding, like it or not, we are publicly endorsing the gay union before a watching world. Although attending a non-Christian heterosexual wedding poses certain challenges for the Christian attendee in terms of the misdirection of the ceremony, at least God’s design of husband and wife is still being upheld. As a result, we can hope and pray that the couple will in time be convicted by the Holy Spirit and come to a saving faith in Christ, and lead Christian lives as a couple. However, the same cannot be said for the homosexual couple. For non-heterosexuals, our prayer would be that they would come to a saving faith in Christ and leave their lives of sin, their gay relationships included. If this all sounds “not very loving,” we need to understand that genuine love means telling the truth, not condoning a lie. Just as we must not buy into the contemporary word games of using imaginary gender designations, nor conflicting pronouns, so too, we shouldn’t fuel sexual sin by celebrating a gay union. This even holds true for Christian families with gay or transgendered children. We need to communicate our sincere love and concern for them and do our utmost to maintain our relationship with them, but we can’t condone their sexual sin nor celebrate their sinful lifestyle or union. Besides, “loving across our differences” is a two-way street. We should take time to listen to the gay couple and hear why our attendance means so much to them, by all means; but to be fair, they also need to listen to us, and understand why our faith in Christ and obedience to the Bible mandate our declining to attend. In all of these considerations, we mustn’t lose sight of the eternal wedding promised by Jesus, that we as the Church of Christ and His Bride, have been “invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb” (Rev 19:19).
Previous: The LGBT Narrative
[1] http://www.covenanteyes.com/pornstats/
[2] Yarhouse, M. Homosexuality and the Christian: A Guide for Parents, Pastors, and Friends. Bethany House©2010.
[3] Anderson, Neil T. Living Free in Christ ©1993 Regal Books.
[4] The Fenway Guide to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Health, 2nd Edition.
[5] Dhejne, C, et.al. Cohort Study in Sweden. 2011; 6(2).
[6] Zimmerman, CC. Family and Civilization. Intercollegiate Studies Institute ©2008.
On this Reformation Day, Tobias Riemenschneider joins us from Germany to discuss the West’s death-loving culture, expressed in the horror of abortion. He explains how the wide-scale support for state-sponsored abortion is upstream from so many other forms of murder, euthanasia, the harm that it causes to women, and the folly of referring to abortion as a human right. He also discusses how God’s people can act together to resist and push back through legal channels to bring the gospel of life to bear on our culture.
Get Tobias’ book, Resisting Tyranny: A Christian Response to Government Overreach
Register for the Mission of God Conference UK, and Canada.
Twenty-five years ago, most people in our culture were unconcerned with Islam. It seemed remote, irrelevant and inconsequential to the majority living in Europe and North America. Few ordinary people had any substantive experience or acquaintance with its doctrines or cultural forms, and most would have considered much of the Islamic world to be backward, largely poor, and critically, benign as far as the West was concerned. That situation has been radically altered. The ideas, practices and ambitions of the Islamic world have found their way to the heart of Western Europe with large-scale immigration over the past thirty years, and high birth rates establishing populous Islamic communities in major cities. These communities are typically poorly integrated with their host society, so that some significant metropolises in Western states have become essentially socially Islamic. As such, a once-familiar cultural landscape has been quickly and profoundly changed. Today, over one hundred Shari’ah courts operate in the UK – courts which have little regard, if not contempt, for British law. One of the most powerful and visible politicians in the UK, London’s mayor, is an outspoken Muslim as is the first minister of Scotland. Muhammad is the number one name for new baby boys in the UK and Britain has become one of the world’s most important centres of Islamic finance. One in ten people in the UK under the age of twenty-five profess a Muslim faith.
With this massive social shift has come the inevitable reality of Islamic culture. There are now thousands of mosques, Islamic centres and schools across Britain and Europe; in some places, halal food is the only type of meat sold and served; Islamic banking is being offered by major financial institutions; and Britain is dealing with the highest FGM (female genital mutilation) levels in Europe.[1] Whilst most Muslims in the West want to live in peace and security to quietly raise their families, prisons and universities are becoming hotbeds for Islamist extremism and one in five Muslims in the UK have reported some level of sympathy for ISIS or Hamas. In recent weeks following the barbarous terror attacks on Israel there has been a huge increase in incidents cold-blooded.[2] Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Brussels, Marseilles, Bradford and Luton have Muslim populations of between 25-30% and many more European cities have Muslim populations between 10-20%.[3] In recent years the violent terror that has been unleashed across Europe, shocking naïve politicians and startling complacent and ignorant communities – including the 2005 London bombings[4] and cold-blooded murder of Sir David Amess, a British politician in his own constituency office in 2021[5] – has often been distanced by Western elites from the claims of Islam. The result is that many ordinary people in the West are finally beginning to ask about the real nature of Islam. What does it teach about God, truth and reality? who was Muhammad? how did he live? and what were his claims? Further, can the Islamic ideology filling headlines accommodate itself to Western society and pursue long-term peaceful co-existence in the West – a context that has historically enjoyed expansive freedoms and the rule of law, bequeathed by a Christian worldview? And for contemporary political life, will Islam adapt itself to the secular pluralism of our cultural elites?
Despite these vital questions, too few civil leaders are willing to speak openly and critically about the nature of Islamic thought, its regional or global goals, or its vision of social order. Its fundamental doctrines, cultural motives and objectives, and its historic incompatibility and therefore conflict with a Christian understanding of life and law are avoided, ignored or dismissed as right-wing propaganda. As a result, most people (including many Christians), are largely unaware that Islam is a total world and life view rooted in a particular concept of God and man, where the man Muhammad is viewed as the last and greatest prophet and exclusive vehicle of a final revelation so that, not just his ideas and teaching, but his precise manner of life, are to be followed in detail by the devout Muslim. These are things that can be learned from a brief conversation with a Muslim friend, neighbour or colleague.
Given that the life and character of a seventh-century nomadic trader and military figure from the Arabian desert is depicted as the perfect example of life to be followed, Islamic culture looks backward historically and socio-culturally to paradigms and norms that resist both critique and change. This obviously has significant implications for all aspects of future cultural development within Islam, as well as its relationship to western societies. As Gustave von Grunebaum has observed:
It is essential to realize that Muslim civilization is a cultural entity that does not share our primary aspirations. It is not vitally interested in analytical self-understanding, and it is even less interested in the structural study of other cultures, either as an end in itself or as a means toward a clearer understanding of its own character and history.… The study of error and imperfection for their own sake does not deserve a supreme collective effort. The non-Muslim world is interesting enough, but, in a sense, obsolete, its foundations outmoded ever since the final revelation manifested through the Prophet the changeless norms of individual behaviour and social structure … this attitude leads to an extreme concern with power and success in history, or more precisely, with success in history as the validation of revelation – an outlook that represents the sharpest possible contrast with the outlook that governs Christianity’s encounter with history.[6]
This incisive summary statement has far-reaching implications. Of particular significance is the contrast highlighted between the Christian and Islamic encounter with history. For much of biblical history, the progress of God’s truth, His called-out people, and His redemptive covenant of grace appear to be halted – losing ground in the conflagration with sin, injustice and evil. Indeed, in the climactic moment of that conflict in the life of Christ, the cross initially appears a moment of total defeat – which is one of the reasons why most Muslims deny that Jesus was ever crucified. Despite the physical resurrection, ascension and session of Jesus Christ to the right hand of all power and authority, the Christian is called to take up their cross and follow Him (Matt. 16:24-26), knowing and expecting that history will involve for the Christian and the church periods of suffering, exclusion, loss, decline and great trial (1 John 3:13). In fact, seasons of hardship are basic to the social expectation of Christians because the biblical worldview teaches that sinful mankind is at enmity with God by nature and is thereby hostile to those that represent Him (Mark 13:13; Rom. 8:7). As such, human nature needs to be renewed by grace (Eph. 2:2). So, whilst the Christian should labour humbly and faithfully in service to Christ in all cultural life, seeking to bring all spheres under the Lordship of King Jesus, the historical results of that work are purely in the providential and sovereign hands of God and His purposes for the nations.
For Christianity, then, biblical revelation is neither validated nor refuted by periods of apparent defeat or success for the Christian religion in any given era or cultural moment. This is not so for the Muslim.[7] As the contemporary Indian Muslim thinker, Rashid Shaz acknowledges, “We Muslims live with a paradox. If we are really the last chosen nation entrusted to lead the world till the end of time, why is it so that we are unable to arrest our own decline?”[8]
Moreover, because the ground motive[9] of Christianity is that of Creation, Fall, and Redemption in Jesus Christ, a redemption of the totality of creation by the power of the Holy Spirit, unlike Islamic faith, it is of vital interest in Christian thought to understand all cultures, their history, philosophy and civilization. This is in order to gain a greater understanding of God’s work in creation and history and to better appreciate the place of those cultures in the plans and purposes of God in the historical-cultural aspects of life. This knowledge adds not only to the Christian’s self-understanding but also to his ability to witness with relevance and clarity concerning the gospel of the kingdom to others – especially with regard to how the redemption of Jesus Christ fulfils the religious longings inherent within all cultures and among all peoples. Furthermore, this attitude leads (and has always led) toward cultural development, growth and maturity, by taking and applying what is good and which conforms to God’s Word-revelation and purpose from man’s historical and cultural experience – wherever it may be found. This fundamental difference between the Christian worldview and that of Islam is foundational to an analysis of the driving motive within Islam and its cultural implications.
[1] “The Muslim Pound: Celebrating the Muslim Contribution to the UK Economy,” Muslim Council of Britain, last modified 2013, http://www.mcb.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/The-Muslim-Pound-FINAL.pdf.
[2] ‘Antisemitic incidents quadruple in UK,’ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-67085625 accessed, October 2023
[3] Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, “The Future of the Global Muslim Population,” Pew Research Center, last modified January 2011, http://www.pewforum.org/2011/01/27/the-future-of-the-global-muslim-population/.
[4] ‘London bombings of 2005’ https://www.britannica.com/event/London-bombings-of-2005 accessed October 2023
[5] ‘Sir David Amess, ‘Man found guilty of murdering MP.’ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-61026210 accessed October 2023
[6] Gustave Von Grunebaum, Modern Islam: The Search for Cultural Identity (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1962), 55-58.
[7] Norman L. Geisler & Abdul Saleeb, Answering Islam: The Crescent in the Light of the Cross (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1993), 160-161. This passage illustrates how certain victories in battle were considered divine confirmation of Muhammad’s status and of God’s favor, whilst interestingly, serious defeats were not interpreted as divine disfavor.
[8] Rashid Shaz, cited in Robert R. Reilly, The Closing of the Muslim Mind: How Intellectual Suicide Created the Modern Islamist Crisis (Wilmington, DE: ISI Books, 2010), 159.
[9] The term ‘ground motive’ is used by the reformed, Dutch philosopher Herman Dooyeweerd to refer to the driving force, motive or core actuating idea at the root of any given worldview.
Scripture has always acknowledged one single human race, and God has always dealt with His people covenantally, rather than on the basis of bloodlines. Babel was a divine act of segregation because the people were unified in wickedness and disobedience, but it is no longer normative because of Christ’s reconciling work, making the two one.
Get tickets for the Mission of God UK conference happening in Daventry, November 4!
Get tickets for the Mission of God Canada conferences. December 2 in Windsor, ON, and December 9 in Calgary, AB.
In the first installment of this series, we saw that biblical sexuality is lived and defined in terms of creative, covenantal, sacrificial and sacred characteristics. Here I hope to demonstrate how the pagan worldview of the LBGT movement promotes precisely the opposite. The LGBT narrative rejects the Bible and celebrates the very antithesis of the Christian sexual ethic. Central to this celebration is the emphatic non-binary pronouncement of sexuality. Instead of the sacred male and female distinction, there is a blurring of all boundaries, epitomized by androgyny, where male and female reduce down to a neither-nor neutral, sexually undefined person. Since this ideology flies in the face of reality, indoctrination needs to begin early and be propped up by repeated reinforcement. This is why pre-schoolers are read LGBT children’s literature by drag queens in our public libraries, and why school children are daily encouraged to pick their own pronouns, play for either the boys’ or girls’ sports team, use either the male or female washroom, and choose whichever changeroom they’d prefer.[1] Otherwise, it’s feared, children wouldn’t give their gender or sexuality a second thought and simply be content with their God-given design, girls playing with dolls and skipping rope and boys playing with sticks and skipping rocks.
With loss of male/female distinction comes loss of function. Same-sex couples can’t biologically reproduce, and mutilated, transgendered genitalia will never function in that elegant and complex capacity, either. Since having babies is no longer possible, this central role of our sexuality gets discarded. Rather than seen as a means of procreation, sex is strictly considered a form of recreation. As journalist Gregory Herdt observed, “only by disengaging sexuality from the traditions of family, reproduction, and parenthood was the evolution of the gay movement a social and historical likelihood.”[2] Separated from God’s design of male and female, sex is disengaged from family structure, and no longer functions for reproduction and child-rearing, but merely hedonistic pleasure. Instead of being protected within a covenantal relationship, sex is let loose and considered an impersonal act, even a commodity, where masturbation and the use of pornography are legitimized and encouraged. Rather than one-flesh covenantal fidelity, promiscuity is celebrated. Children are provided graphic material on sexual practices, positions, and products, and told “not to knock it till you try it.”[3] Instead of self-giving, sex is all about self-gratification. No longer a means of tangibly expressing one’s love for one’s spouse, sex becomes an end in itself, and an idol. Deposing purity, honor and sacredness, sex becomes dirty, profane and perverse; men with other men, women with women, mixing and matching of multiple partners and orgies, with no taboos or limits, joining what God has separated, and separating what God has joined.
Impoverished Church Response
As disturbing as this flagrant abuse of God’s good gift of sex is to consider, what’s even more troubling are the disappointing ways in which the church has responded to the LGBT movement. Instead of fulfilling its God-ordained role “to proclaim the gospel, observe the ordinances, and make disciples,”[4] winsomely serving as a counterpoint and corrective for societal transgressions, the church in our day has more often than not missed the mark. Some churches have chosen to simply condemn non-heterosexuality – no dialog, no engagement, no nothing, end of discussion. Others, in an attempt to avoid conflict, have tried to keep a neutral ground and remain silent on the issue, hoping it might just go away. Still others, trying to extend grace in some sort of misdirected way, have chosen to affirm the gender identity confusion of those who struggle with their sexuality, and have even resorted to raising the rainbow flag and joining in on the Pride celebration.
Although the hostile anti-Christian attacks lobbed by the LBGT lobby groups can be vicious, our response to them shouldn’t be. We have to guard ourselves from trying to fight fire with fire, and retorting to their taunting “Oh Yah?” with an even louder “Yah!” Protesting in the streets with vulgar placards which read “God hates…” or the trite, “God didn’t create Adam and Steve,” accomplishes no good thing. Profanity, sarcasm, pettiness, and ridicule should have no place in our vocabularies. Rather, we need to exhibit the fruit of the Spirit, which is first patient and kind, gentle and self-controlled (Gal 5:22-23). As Apostle Paul reminds us, “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world” (2 Cor 10:3-4). This necessitates, regardless of how our opposition may choose to operate, that we restrict ourselves to the high-road. William Ralph Inge observed that “The enemies of freedom do not argue; they shout and they shoot.” However, our means to advance the Kingdom of God can’t be accomplished with hostile protests or petty argumentation. It’s important that we remain biblically-faithful and ensure that our methods reflect our gospel message. Otherwise, we misrepresent Christ to the world, and only end up adding fuel to the leftist’s fire in their branding of all Christians as “haters” and “bigots.”
The attempt of the church to be neutral and avoid the LGBT controversies has been regarded as a thoughtful and gracious approach. In an interview on HuffPost, former President Jimmy Carter tried to argue that since “Jesus never said a word about homosexuality,” we shouldn’t either, particularly a harsh or condemning word.[5] As a skilled statesman and peacemaker, this long-lived politician shined like few others, but as an expositor of Scripture trying to handle the word of God, he shows his limitations. While the red letters of Jesus didn’t include the word “homosexuality” per se, Jesus had plenty to say about condemning sexual immorality, and significantly raised the bar of sexual purity, pronouncing that “anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matt 5:28). The Bible, taken as a whole, represents the authoritative Word of God with the voice of Jesus throughout, and places homosexuality clearly under the banner of sexual immorality, and condemns it explicitly (Lev 18:22; Lev 20:13; Ro 1:26; 1 Cor 6:9; 1 Tim 9). While such proof texts shouldn’t be used to clobber people, ignorance of God’s word needs to be countered. As the Christian influence on our culture wanes, so too, has the understanding of Scripture. Biblical illiteracy has become the norm in our society and even churches, and with it, many Christian churches suffer from doctrinal confusion and have become prone to liberal trends, such as actually believing the societal lie that “homophobia is the problem, not homosexuality,” or the slogan “love is love.” Slogans make for impoverished thinking. Love as some ill-defined passion may, indeed, equate with itself, but it isn’t necessarily good. Afterall, someone could love to cheat, to steal, to use pornography… Only God is good and only the biblical definition of love – that “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8) – should be our guiding principle for the concern for others.
While the silent treatment some churches give to these challenges may derive from a superficial treatment of Scripture, or possibly even represents an ignorance as to our fundamental calling to be salt and light in the world (Matt 5:13-6) – to preserve what’s godly and expose what’s not – more likely, however, their “no comment” represents plain old cowardice, and betrays a fear of man. No one wants to offend others or be seen as harsh, but as the Bible makes clear, “The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe” (Prov 29:25). When we allow the fear of man to dominate our concerns, instead of the fear of the Lord, we are no longer trusting in God or believing that He reigns sovereign. Using our own wits and wisdom as a moral guide, we enter into tiger country, leaving ourselves wide open to temptation, compromise, and eternal destruction. Jesus warned not to fear man, but to fear God, “who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matt 10:28). And make no mistake, although trying to dance around LGBT controversy might provide some temporary side-stepping of conflict and maintenance of our charitable status-quo, in the end, this anemic approach will prove futile. LGBT activism is on the forward move. Just as the gay rights activists in Canada weren’t satisfied with merely Pierre Trudeau’s concession to decriminalize sodomy in 1969, so too, the LGBT activists won’t be satisfied with our present state of non-heterosexual affirmation and Pride celebration. They won’t stop until all obstacles have been completely removed from their steady forward advance into sexual depravity. The political sphere has already caved to their present demands, as has law, healthcare, arts and entertainment, media, business, and education. The church of Christ represents the final remaining bastion of truth and decency, and they’ve got us in their sights. As gay columnist Paul Varnell summarized, “The chief opposition to gay equality is religious. We may conduct our liberation efforts in the political sphere and even the cultural sphere, but always undergirding those and slowing our progress is the moral religious sphere. If we could hasten the pace of change there, our overall progress would accelerate – in fact, it would be assured.”[6] And assured it has become, in part, thanks to the silent church.
The response of some churches to affirm and celebrate the LGBT movement has led to a fundamental compromise of the gospel of Christ. Proponents maintain that the Bible is fallible, that it represents a book of its time, and that it isn’t particularly clear on the moral status of homosexuality. They assert the ancient sexual ethic of the Christian church is “irrelevant and offends moderns too much to be useful.” They hold that because the Bible was misused in the past to justify slavery and anti-Semitism, it can’t be regarded as a societal standard for contemporary human sexuality. Pastor Brian McLaren of the so-called Emerging Church stated, for example, that the beliefs of traditional evangelicals represent a “reactive, combative brand of religious fundamentalism that preoccupies itself with sexuality” and that “evangelicals who consider homosexuals sinners are really just looking for an enemy – a scapegoat.”[7] A flagrant example of gospel compromise would be the recent promotion of the so-called Sparkle Creed by a liberal Lutheran church.[8] This heretical mockery of the Apostle’s Creed refers to God to as “non-binary,” Jesus as having “two dads,” and the Holy Spirit as the “rainbow spirit” with the proclamation that “love is love is love, so beloved let us love.”
The Gay Gospel
In an attempt to reconcile pagan sexuality with the Christian worldview, gay advocates reinterpret Scripture to align with their autonomous desires. Treating the Bible as if it were some wax nose to be shaped any which way, they render homosexuality as simply another expression of God’s diversity in the created order to be celebrated. In their “fresh understanding of the Bible,” they propose that the sin of Sodom, for example (Gen 19), wasn’t in regards to homosexuality at all, but was about rape, inhospitality, or general wickedness, and the homosexuality cited in Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13 referred to prostitution or an idolatrous form of homosexuality. These proponents of the Gay Gospel suggest that when Jesus healed the centurion’s servant (who they suggest was “highly valued” because he was the soldier’s gay lover), that Jesus gave tacit approval of homosexuality. So, too, they consider the comments Jesus made about eunuchs (Matt 19:12) a favorable view of homosexuality, even though, of course, castration and sexual orientation are not at all one and the same. They go on to claim that Apostle Paul’s comment about “men abandoning natural relations” (Rom. 1:26) was in reference to heterosexuals who practice homosexuality, not born-that-way genuine homosexuals doing so. Their mistreatment of Scripture is a shameful attack on the integrity, sufficiency and authority of the Bible.[9] In essence, “they are turning to a different gospel – which is really no gospel at all… and are throwing people into confusion and trying to pervert the gospel of Christ” (Gal 16-7). Not surprisingly, their twisted and tortured exegesis has no credible scholarly support.[10]
The fruit of the Gay Gospel has been bitter. This watering down and distortion of the gospel has proven to be detrimental for the liberalized churches, dividing leadership, splitting congregations, impairing gospel witness, invalidating missional outreach, and decimating membership and church attendance. Homosexuality is a critical watershed issue of our time. By endorsing the LGBT movement, the church has accelerated its own steady and swift decline in the West.[11] Leading this decline has been the United Church of Canada (UCC), which ordained openly gay clergy as early as 1992. Over the decade prior to the 2005 legalization of same-sex marriage in Canada, the UCC provided liturgical covenants for same-sex couples, and then in 2012, elected an openly gay moderator. Once the largest Protestant denomination in the country, the UCC is now but a dying remnant, forced to sell off its church real estate in order to desperately keep afloat. Shrinking faster than any other denomination, the UCC lost over 40 percent of its affiliates in the past decade, with nationwide attendance declining to under 120,000 people, most of whom are elderly with no desire or means to move on.[12] The Anglican church of Canada has followed suit, both in their allegiance to the LGBT narrative, and with their resultant steep decline in parishioner base.[13] So too, the Lutheran Church in North America is also on the steep decline.[14] With the recent decision to bless same-sex couples, the Church of England isn’t likely very far behind this decline, either. And why should it be otherwise? As Greg Bahnsen wisely said, “When the church begins to look and act like society, there is no reason for its continued existence.”[15]
Previous: Reclaiming the Rainbow. Next: Responding with Grace & Truth
[1] “Guidelines for best practices: creating learning environments that respect diverse sexual orientations, gender identities and gender expressions, Government of Alberta, last modified January 1, 2016, https://open.alberta.ca/dataset/9781460126240.
[2] Homosexuality/heterosexuality: Concepts of sexual orientation. McWhirter, Sanders and Reinisch, eds., Oxford University Press, © 1996.
[3] https://teachers-ab.libguides.com/lgbtq/general
[4] The London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689. https://www.chapellibrary.org/pdf
[5] https://www.huffpost.com/entry/president-jimmy-carter-bible-book_n_1349570
[6] Dallas, Joe. The Complete Guide to Understanding Homosexuality: a Biblical and Compassionate Response to Same-Sex Attraction. Harvest House Publishers ©2010. page 462.
[7] https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/themelios/article/why-evangelicals-should-ignore-brian-mclaren-how-the-new-testament-requires/
[8] https://washingtonstand.com/commentary/progressive-christians-can-now-confess-heresy-with-sparkle-creed
[9] Gilson, R. Born Again This Way. The Good Book Company © 2020.
[10] Dallas, Joe. The Gay Gospel: How Pro-Gay Advocates Misread the Bible, Harvest House © 2007.
[11] Jones, P. The God of Sex: How Spirituality Defines your Sexuality. Escondido, CA: Main Entry Editions ©2006.
[12] https://broadview.org/inside-united-church-decline/
[13] https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/2022/12/14/anglican-church-of-canada-membership-fell-10-each-year-in-2020-and-2021-data-show/
[14] https://www.canadianlutheran.ca/decline-and-growth-a-look-at-the-lutheran-world-today/
[15] Bahnsen, G. L. Always: Directions for Defending the Faith. American Vision and Covenant Media. ©1996.
John Cooper of the rock band Skillet returns to the podcast to discuss his forthcoming book, Wimpy, Weak and Woke. He explains how a spirit of entitlement and victimhood has pervaded Western society, with its philosophical roots in Hegel, the tragedy of Christians abandoning the truth of the Bible to capitulate to postmodern and politically correct assumptions, and offers a solution that begins at home, but grows outward to express the Kingdom of God in every area of life and society.
Get your tickets to the Mission of God conference in the UK, November 4, 2023, and in Canada, December 2 and 9, 2023.
Pre-order Wimpy, Weak and Woke from John Cooper’s website.
The Origin of Race and Racism
It is an interesting challenge writing about Christianity versus racism because biblical faith does not recognize the modern conception of ‘race.’ As such, addressing the topic necessitates reframing of the subject within biblical presuppositions. Scripture surely does speak of tribes, peoples, and nations (Gen. 10-11; Rev. 7:9), but the word ‘race’ is not part of the lexicon of the New Testament nor the idea of ‘races’ part of the DNA of inspired revelation. In Scripture there is only one ‘race’ or blood in Adam (Acts 17:26), and so, although now greatly extended, there is ultimately only one human family – a fact vital to our theological understanding of the unity of all mankind in both our fallenness and potential inclusion within redeemed humanity in Jesus Christ, the last Adam (1 Cor. 15:21-28), our kinsman-redeemer (Is. 59:20). The gospel itself is at stake when we consider the root-unity of all humanity. It was this barrier-breaking message of the gospel of peace in the early church that overcame the old division, prejudice, and resentment obtaining between Jews and Gentiles (Eph. 2:11-22).
The ancient world into which the Christian church was birthed by the preaching of this gospel was in many respects remarkably cosmopolitan due to growing trade, increased mobility, and the expansion of Roman imperial power. Ancient peoples no doubt had their tribal and ethnic prejudices, but they tended to think of themselves in terms of religious and political collective identities rather than in the modern sense of ‘races,’ and certainly not in the ‘racial’ denominators of Mongoloid, Negroid and Caucasoid – a largely arbitrary European classification for the members of the human family.[i] Instead, religion was the defining factor for life and so at times, religious discrimination and prejudice were widespread.
The modern idea of ‘race relations’ emerged when, after some centuries of relative isolation during the Middle Ages, explorers among European nations began discovering hitherto unknown lands and peoples from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries onward. With the so-called Enlightenment and a growing exposure to foreign peoples, a race consciousness began to emerge in Europe, simultaneously developing a hierarchical pattern in which ethnic groups were arranged in order of superiority. This hierarchy was not confined to black, white and yellow ‘races;’ differences amongst Slavs, Jews, Europeans and even Anglo-Saxons were often referred to as ‘racial differences’ as well. Cultural differences in civilizational advancement, technological development, moral rectitude and refinement began to be seen not as the result or outworking of vital religious differences between peoples – resulting in the ‘opening’ or ‘closing’ of cultures to the reality of God’s law and kingdom – but as inherent, natural, or even God-ordained limitations within a biological type.
This way of thinking was given a massive boost in the nineteenth century with the evolutionary speculations of Charles Darwin – an inherently racist theory in which ‘races’ of people were thought to have evolved at different times and rates. This implied some people were closer to and much more like their apelike progenitors than others. Australian Aborigines, for example, were classified by some as ‘missing links’ between pre-hominid ancestors and modern humans. The noted evolutionist Stephen Jay Gould has admitted, “Biological arguments for racism may have been common before 1859, but they increased by orders of magnitude following the acceptance of evolutionary theory.”[ii] This Enlightenment movement from a theological understanding of humanity to a ‘scientific’ one is highly significant:
In the modern era, as Christianity’s influence receded and science began to govern together with humanism, biology came to predominate over theology. The differences between men were seen increasingly as biological and racial rather than religious…the theory of evolution fueled this developing scientific racism…. The human race was no longer the human race! It was a collection of possibly human races, a very different doctrine.[iii]
So, while ethnic prejudice is as old as humanity, ‘racism’ as a category of thought is a distinctly modern notion in the Western world. It is characterized by specific ideas of superiority and inferiority and correlated to behavioural practices involving domination and subordination on the basis of particular recognizable external features. When this kind of thinking, whether arising religiously or ‘scientifically,’ gets embedded in societal norms or institutions, ‘racism’ can take on a socio-political reality and result in various forms of discrimination in human societies.
It was, for example, paler-skinned outside invaders who brought Hinduism (Brahminism) to India. Unsurprisingly, the Brahmin (priestly) upper caste in Hindu society are typically much paler-skinned, while the lowest caste ‘untouchables’ are the darker-skinned descendants of the indigenous defeated population. The vile caste system has a religious root in the Hindu conception of the divine and at the cultural level keeps a class of people in perpetual servitude. Similar examples abound from across the world. In Japan, around the time of World War II, doctrines of Japanese racial superiority blended effectively with evolutionary thought and were widely propagated, leading to great cruelty – the hairy long-armed Europeans were thought closer to apes. The Yamato people, in particular, considered themselves a superior race, and others were brutalized and discriminated against as a result. In Europe, a notorious and murderous ideology arose in Nazi Germany around a romanticised and mythic notion of an Aryan line of racial purity to be recovered and selectively ‘bred’ to facilitate the emergence of a superior race. Blending with evolutionary ideas, this folk religion of blood and soil required the ‘purification’ of Germanic stock and greater segregated ‘living space’ at the expense of Slavic peoples, Jews, and all people of colour. In the United States, “Jim Crow” laws in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were introduced because black Americans were considered inferior to whites. Miscegenation laws were also enacted in many Southern and Western states, forbidding ‘interracial’ marriages– typically these involved laws prohibiting marriages between whites and blacks, Asians, or native American Indians. In a similar vein, the eugenics program in America and the work of Planned Parenthood led by race ideologues like Margaret Sanger viewed Italians and Jews, not just blacks, as inferior undesirables to be targeted for abortion and sterilization.[iv]
Tragically, some Christians, lacking a clear scriptural understanding, have all too easily been caught up in cultural attitudes of superiority rooted in some form of race biology. Charles Kingsley, for example, was a clergyman and one of Darwin’s close friends. He was an avid promoter of Darwinian ideas and wanted them synthesized with Christianity. Kingsley wrote:
The black people of Australia, exactly the same race as the African Negro, cannot take in the Gospel…all attempts to bring them to a knowledge of the true God have as yet failed utterly…poor brutes in human shape…they must perish off the face of the earth like brute beasts.[v]
It is clear then that much of this virulent prejudice, including the attitudes of domination or superiority, was based not just in fear of the unknown but in rationalistic assumptions and, as we have noted, false understandings of human origins. Despite the perennial appeal for intellectuals in East and West of an idea of hierarchy in nature leading to a hierarchy of peoples – whereby Aristotle held some people were slaves by nature – biblical Christianity rejects any notion of superiority and subordination of one people to another based in physical, biological, or so-called ‘racial’ characteristics and asserts that no people or culture is free from grievous sin in past and present.
The Cultural and Philosophical Context of Contemporary ‘Racial’ Tension
When it comes to the present social fixation with ‘racism,’ context is very important. The Western world is currently in a profound state of crisis. As Christian conviction and a biblical worldview has eroded leaving a deep sense of spiritual uprootedness, a loss of cultural identity has quickly ensued. Having been deliberately demoralized and de-Christianized through a process of indoctrination and social subversion, the ideology of ‘multiculturalism’ or ‘pluralism’ has been invoked to offer a new identity and sense of belonging. The problem is that it hasn’t worked. Multiculturalism and religious pluralism as ideology under the supervision and endorsement of the secular state have utterly failed and instead of harmony, radical divisions are emerging everywhere.[vi] As culturally very different peoples are forced to integrate through technocratic social engineering, including near-unrestricted legal or mass illegal immigration, tensions are reaching boiling point. The migrant crisis in both America and Europe is very real, stoking both frustration and resentment.[vii] Pointing out the self-destructive urge involved in such immigration practices gets one labelled a ‘racist.’ Yet ‘race riots’ have frequently broken out across Europe and America,[viii] whilst serious prejudice and hatred between the Black and Asian communities in Britain as well as between Indians and Pakistani’s are commonplace; here the problems of the Indian subcontinent are simply exported to the United Kingdom.[ix] This resentment is exacerbated by the political meaning of multiculturalism summed up perfectly by Thomas Sowell: “What multiculturalism boils down to is that you can praise any culture in the world except Western culture – and you cannot blame any culture in the world except Western culture.”[x] This ‘progressive’ agenda is utter folly because it is directed at the evident superiority of Western culture for at least four centuries. However, that undeniable advancement and superiority (now in rapid decline) is not rooted in biological facts, but values, beliefs, and common faith – in short, religion.
The socio-political landscape of multiculturalism provides the backdrop for this even deeper problem: the crisis of meaning at the centre of Western thought. When the meaning and thereby ordering of life shifts from centredness in Jesus Christ, the triune God, and his Word, it is inevitably sought elsewhere and because all such meaning is an imitation, a counterfeit, it will inevitably fail. One vital aspect of the question of meaning since the beginning of philosophical inquiry has been the source and ground of unity in diversity. It is this problem, expressed at the religious and cultural level, which lies at the root of the West’s social travails – including ‘racism.’
Finding unity in diversity is a question for every nation and culture. What can provide the unity to bind societies together? Central to the answer is shared meaning and purpose. As a shared meaning declines, movements for devolution or separation become commonplace. As Christianity has collapsed in Scotland, the Celtic ethnic heritage and sympathies with republicanism have replaced it, stoking a powerful Scottish Nationalist movement. In de-Christianizing Canada, French language and identity perennially feed an independence movement in the province of Quebec. The root and source of meaning for any society is inherently teleological and eschatological – that is, it involves purpose and direction or fulfilment – its movement is toward the source of ultimate meaning and cohesion, which is an inescapably religious matter. So long as the West refuses to acknowledge and grapple with the central religious dimension of shared meaning, value, and purpose in society, it will neither understand nor be able to overcome the present problem of ‘racism.’
The tension between peoples living in the West is further complicated today because it is now caught up in a three-way eschatological-meaning conflict between utopian/globalist-Marxian and ethno-nationalistic views of society over against that of the gospel of the kingdom in and through Jesus Christ. Having been variously influenced by faulty Enlightenment and Marxian conceptions of ‘race,’ ethnic origins and hierarchy, both competing groups, falling short of the truly Christian answer, propose a false solution to the difficulties. On the Marxian side Critical Race Theorists (CRT) presently dominate the political landscape who believe that only by permanent revolution against the white oppressor can we move toward the vanishing horizon of so-called ‘racial justice.’
On the growing ethno-nationalistic side, reacting to the false gospel of Marxism, advocates have their own socio-political solution to the tensions involving a need for greater ‘race consciousness’ (whether in the language of ethnicity or nation) and some measure of ethnic segregation. On this view, a careful study of nature’s law by reason is said to reveal inherent distinctions between ‘races’ or ethnicities – differences also grasped intuitively by our natural instincts regarding kith and kin to be acknowledged and applied socio-politically. This can take an Aristotelian form rooted in ancient conceptions of Natural Law, social order and custom or an evolutionary and Darwinian form rooted in biology and heredity.[xi] Ethnocentric nationalists tend to have a primordial view[xii] of identity in which your ‘race’ (blood) and ‘place’ (socio-cultural heredity) is at the centre of defining who you are – the romantic call of blood and soil – whilst Critical Theorists subscribe to a constructionist view of ‘race’ as a real but culturally invented social category used to exploit and oppress people.[xiii] The primordial nationalists tend toward absolutizing ethnic particularity (diversity) for truly living well, whilst the Marxian globalists tend toward absolutizing universality (unity), where all distinctions must be levelled and discarded. In forthcoming installments of this blog I will describe the CRT and primordial nationalist movements, demonstrating how both poles hold only a partial truth and are consequently errors.
[i] James F. Childress and John Macquarrie (ed.) The Westminster Dictionary of Christian Ethics (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1986), 523
[ii] S.J. Gould, Ontogeny and Phylogeny, (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap-Harvard Press, 1977), 127–128.
[iii] R. J. Rushdoony, An Informed Faith: The Position Papers of R.J. Rushdoony, Vol. 1 Christianity & Reconstruction (Vallecito, CA: Ross House Books, 2017), 21.
[iv] See Richard Weikart, From Darwin to Hitler: Evolutionary Ethics, Eugenics, and Racism in Germany (New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2004).
[v] Charles Kingsley, cited in Wieland, One Human Family, 30-31.
[vi] See acknowledgement of the crisis here: https://www.ft.com/content/dd122a8c-8720-11e7-8bb1-5ba57d47eff7 accessed September, 2023.
[vii] See: https://www.gbnews.com/news/us/massachusetts-national-guard-migrant-crisis-emergency
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/09/13/germany-refuses-more-eu-migrants-boats-queue-italian-docks/ accessed September, 2023
[viii] See: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/7/8/paris-memorial-march-banned-as-fresh-protests-planned-in-france and in the USA: https://www.foxnews.com/us/protests-riots-nationwide-america-2020 accessed September, 2023
[ix] See: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/leicester-riots-hindu-muslim-violence-b2173293.html Note the anti-Asian sentiment in these protests: https://thecritic.co.uk/peckham-protests-and-parasitic-merchants/ accessed September, 2023.
[x] Thomas Sowell, ‘Random Thoughts,’ Jewish World Review, 12 September 2002, cited in Wieland, One Human Family, 316.
[xi] For example, see, J. Philippe, Race, Evolution and Behavior: A Life History Perspective (Port Huron, MI: Charles Darwin Research Institute, 2000).
[xii] Primordialism is the idea that nations or ethnic identities are fixed, natural, and ancient. On this view, each individual has a single inborn ethnic identity independent of historical processes. Ethnicity is viewed as embedded in inherited biological attributes, a long history of practicing cultural differences, or a combination of both.
[xiii] Race Constructionists argue that ‘races’ are social rather than natural groups. Critical Race Theories posit on this basis that ‘racial justice’ requires us to recognize the mechanisms of ‘racial formation’ to subvert the present racial order and liberate the oppressed.
In the wake of the recent attack on Israel by Hamas, and the Israeli response, we consider the religious roots of anti-Semitism and conflict with Israel. We also discuss the eschatological goal of Islam to conquer the earth, and the difference between a reformational approach and the historic doctrinal assumptions and commitments towards Israel from dispensational theology.
Learn more about the Christian response to the Islamic worldview in Joe Boot’s book, Gospel Witness.
Register for the upcoming Mission of God conferences in the UK and Canada.
The Canadian government’s passage of legislation such as Bills C-11, C-18, and C-36 is beginning to bear fruit, in the form of increasingly invasive censorship policies levied on content platforms. All civilizations practice censorship, making decisions for the type of material that is suitable for public viewing; the difference is in the standard of judging and how it is applied. We should not be afraid of truth, even when it offends our own sensibilities. Rather, the testing of our opinions and assumptions against competing claims is a primary means for us to grow in knowledge and understanding.
UK and European friends, join us and Christian Concern for the Mission of God UK conference, on November 4 in Daventry.
North Americans, please join us in either Windsor or Calgary for the Mission of God Canada, on December 2 and 9.
We’ve seen a lot of new listeners to the show in the past few months, and a warm welcome to all of you! In this episode, Joe Boot, Ryan Eras, and Nate Wright discuss how and why the Ezra Institute began, the issues and activities that we engage in, and what we’re doing next.
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In this series of short essays, Dr. Ted Fenske offers a grace-filled prescription for how God’s people ought to respond to the cultural, ideological, religious, and medical challenges of the LGBT movement to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
As a symbol representing “the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth” (Gen. 9:16), the rainbow is a magnificent one. The glowing prismatic display arching across the sky is breathtaking to behold, and particularly after a vicious storm. I recall one such spectacle when I was a child. Unaware we were in Tornado Alley, my family stopped to visit a fair in Bemidji, Minnesota. Our tilt-a-whirl ride was prematurely brought to an abrupt halt due to a flash downpour, forcing my siblings and I to take cover in our family camper. We watched, stunned, as the sky turned dark grey and then a surreal turquoise green, while the rain pelted loud on the tin roof and gale-force winds rocked our little trailer back and forth. Just as we feared we might all be blown over and away, the storm suddenly stopped, and the sun came out bright and warm. And with it, a stunning rainbow appeared set against the purple-black sky of the receding storm. It was as the 18th-century poet, Charles Lamb aptly expressed, “After the tempest in the sky/ how sweet yon rainbow to the eye!”[1]
Although secularized over the years to signify dreamy pot-o-gold optimism or new beginnings Somewhere over the Rainbow, it wasn’t until the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade celebration in 1978 that the rainbow symbol was co-opted by the non-heterosexual lobby group. In 1994, commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Greenwich Village Stonewall riots of 1969, the rainbow flag was internationally established as the symbol for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) cultural movement. As the abbreviation has expanded to 2SLGBTQi (adding the 2S aboriginal two-spirited to the beginning of the older contraction, and Qi denoting queer and intersex at the end), so too, has the spread of the rainbow. These days, rainbow flags seem ubiquitous, flying not just at gay rallies, or during Pride summer, but all year round and in all places, including schools, public libraries, businesses, and even draped over the chancels of some liberalized churches. Reminiscent of National Socialism in Germany with the widespread parading of swastika flags in the public square (churches included), the Pride Flag invasion is nothing less than a foisting of an ideology diametrically opposed to the Creator of the universe and his covenantal promises. It’s a distorted rainbow revolution, pridefully boasting of what God condemns.
A Christian response to our culture’s embrace of all things LGBT is rife with challenges, both on the political front, as we attempt to winsomely defend biblical truth in the public sphere, and on the home front, as we walk alongside and attempt to provide gentle counsel to those struggling with their sexual identity in our personal circle. The LGBT movement has targeted Christianity and is intentionally and systematically deconstructing family, marriage, parenthood, and gender. It’s a daunting opposition to face, particularly since it demands not only passive tolerance, but complete and active acceptance and even celebration. And these demands aren’t merely idle threats. With the passing of the so-called Conversion Therapy Bill C-4,[2] there is in Canada a present risk of imprisonment for those who are deemed to have ‘offended.’ From faithful corporate preaching of the Word, to compassionate counsel, and even private family discussions, Bill C-4 is poised to criminalize Christian communication, including the Great Commission’s call to gospel witness. With this bill, LGBT activists have effectively silenced concerned opposition, and as a result, threaten to rescind our hard-won freedom of speech. The ambition of this series of essays is to discuss these challenges, and provide an approach to how we might effectively communicate our concerns to a growing anti-Christian culture. My hope is to provide the necessary equipping for the Christian community to not only meet this formidable challenge, but to recognize in the process opportunities for gospel witness and favor.
The LGBT movement represents the logical outworking of the me-focussed sexual revolution of the 1960s, and parallels the rise in demand for personal autonomy – to be a law unto ourselves and “be as God” (Gen 3:5). At its core, the movement is grounded on an anti-Christian worldview, steeped in pagan ideology, with roots in the fertility cults of antiquity. Like the tip of an iceberg, the immoral sexual behaviors promoted by LGBT activists represent the visible surface-level aspects of a much larger underlying worldview, which directly challenges the biblical sexual ethic. The celebration of non-heterosexual expression is in line with Plato’s Symposium, where the love of a man for a woman is considered the base and “lower form of love,” whereas the love of a man for a man a “heavenly and higher love.”[3] Such ideas have consequences, which permeate every aspect of culture, including the social, political, medical, psychological, moral, and spiritual landscape of our society. As explained by Dr. Peter Jones in his book Whose Rainbow? the decline in Christianity and rise in personal autonomy necessarily produces paganism. He comments, “Homosexuality is presented as part of a blossoming Western defence of civil and human rights and as an essential and beneficial building block of a progressive moral agenda… but it is not civil rights. It is the abandonment of theism in the last two generations of Western history, and the embrace of the spirituality of Eastern paganism.”[4]
Biblical Sexual Ethic
To better appreciate the stark contrast between the Christian sexual ethic and the LGBT movement, a head-to-head comparison is instructive. To think Christianly about sex we need to begin not with the contemporary sensibilities of our society, nor with what might seem reasonable to us and how we feel, but with the transcendent words of Holy Scripture, which represent the authoritative foundation for our understanding of sexuality and sexual behaviour. Three important points to keep in mind are the following:
First, the biblical sexual ethic mirrors God’s nature, including his creativity. God’s act of creation involved the separation of light from darkness, land from water, day from night, and woman from man. Our sexuality is grounded in God’s creational design of humankind’s binary reality, created in the image of God, “male and female he created them” (Gen 1:27). Jesus emphasized this sacred distinction when responding to his testing by the Pharisees on the matter of divorce, saying, “at the beginning the Creator made them male and female… for this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh… therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate” (Matt 19:4-6). Right down to the DNA blueprint of every individual cell in our bodies (with very rare genetic-error exceptions), our sex chromosomes read either 46XY for male or 46XX for female.[5] There is no rational denial of this iron-clad fact. And this is for good reason, since only within this biological reality of man and woman can humankind reproduce. From a biological standpoint, sex is about babies. Fundamental to our sexuality is the central role of procreation – God’s invitation to us to participate in the mystery of creation. “Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him” (Psalm 127:3), and we have been called to “be fruitful and multiply” (Gen 1:28). Infertility is the product of the Fall and an unfortunate exception that proves this rule.
Second, our sexuality reflects God’s covenantal love. God is personal in his relational Trinitarian reality, and our sexuality is to be personal as well, protected within the covenantal relationship of marriage between one man and one woman. While spouses don’t complete each other (since each is already complete in Christ), they are to, nonetheless, complement one another, and in so doing, reflect a fuller image of God than either can alone (Gen 2:18). Since God is triune – three in one, Father, Son and Holy Spirit – and created us for fellowship and intimate relationship, sex is intended to be not only an intimate physical act, but a covenantal spiritual union. As they “become one flesh” (Gen 2:24), husband and wife reflect the very mystery of the Trinity. While each spouse retains their individual sacred distinction, as they join together in marriage, they become one inseparable and holy functional unit, husband and wife. And when held fast by the power of the Holy Spirit, as King Solomon reflected, “a cord of three strands is not easily broken (Eccl. 4:12).
Third, our sexuality mirrors God’s sacrificial and sacred nature. Since we are created in his image, our sexuality and sexual behaviour have been designed as one way we can reflect his reality to the rest of creation. Sex within the marriage covenant is to be self-giving, and so functions as a central metaphor for Christ’s sacrificial love for the Church. As Apostle Paul exhorted, “as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands,” and likewise, husbands are to “love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” (Eph 5:24-5). As understood in biblical terms, sex is to be held sacred, and to represent nothing less than a God-ordained holy union. Christ redeemed our sexuality by placing it within the protection of monogamous heterosexual covenantal relationship. As a result, “Marriage should be honoured by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral” (Heb 13:4). The biblical boundaries around sexual expression are for our flourishing. These protections not only allow for the strengthening of the marriage bond, but they provide clarity about the nature of healthy relationships outside of marriage. Rather than being constricting, as Rebecca McLaughlin explains, God’s boundaries “give us great freedom to pursue nonsexual intimacy.” Since sex is only to be experienced within the covenantal marriage relationship of man and wife, all other relationships are, by definition, nonsexual, and can be developed and celebrated on that level, same-sex relationships included. In summary, God blesses only two sexual lifestyles: heterosexual monogamy between one man and one woman within the confines of marriage, and chastity. Sexual behaviour outside of these two forms is not appropriate for the follower of Christ.
NEXT: The LGBT Narrative
[1] Charles Lamb, “The Rainbow,” Poetry.com, last modified 2023.
[2] “Bill C-4: An Act to amend the Criminal Code (conversion therapy),” Government of Canada, last modified December 8, 2021, https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/csj-sjc/pl/charter-charte/c4_1.html.
[3] Plato, The Symposium, trans. Christopher Gill (London: Penguin Classics, 2003).
[4] Peter Jones, Whose Rainbow? God’s Gift of Sexuality: A Divine Calling (Grimsby, ON: Ezra Press, 2020).
[5] The number/letter designation here refers to the 23 pairs of human chromosomes, which carry DNA, 46 in total, divided into 22 numbered autosomal pairs and one pair of sex chromosomes, X and Y; where one chromosome comes from each parent to make a pair.
Pastor and author Paul Dirks discusses his forthcoming book, Deep Discipleship for Dark Days, and explains why the time is ripe for Christians to embark on building healthy, godly families, churches, schools, and communities. Paul discusses how he perceived the need for this book at such a time as this, and lays out the scriptural rationale for whether rapid societal changes come from the political, natural, technological, or biological spheres, all such historical occurrences urge us to live in such a way that we are ready with a faithful response. A constant, general preparedness, and a particular discerning of the times (1 Chr 12:32) are interconnected.
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Michael Thiessen discusses the recent Crown decision to withdraw charges against Alberta pastors James Coates and Tim Stephens, as well as some other pending legal cases on the question of the relation of church and state. The cases represent victories, but Mike explains why much more advocacy needs to be done at the constitutional level to bring a truly meaningful level of legal protection for religious freedom in Canada.
Ezra Institute Fellow Ted Fenske joins us to talk about the role of the Christian in medicine. As a veteran cardiologist, Dr. Fenske recalls his medical internship during the 1980s AIDS epidemic, and offers wisdom based on hard experience in ministering faithfully to LGBT patients.
We conclude the conversation begun last week about Christian character, and examine biblical figures to discuss several more dichotomies of virtuous versus vicious character traits that Christians must be actively developing.
In this episode Joe Boot draws examples from contemporary life on the importance of Christian character, and what happens when this is neglected by those in leadership. Joe touches on his time working with Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, Justin Trudeau's separation from his wife and begins to look at opposing pairs of virtues and vices that are exhibited by biblical figures given for our example.
In this episode, we speak with equipping evangelist Cory McKenna of The Cross Current, to review how the last three years of lockdowns and isolation have affected the work of relational ministry, the centrality of the local church, the work of discipling those who have not grown up in the church, and the spiritual hunger that people have felt in a season where we have been told to fear and avoid our neighbour.
In this video Joe Boot explains the difference between the Christian and the unbelieving mind: To think Christianly is not to think about church-related things, but to think about all things in a way that understands Christ as the foundation of all knowledge.
In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, we're joined by Richard Fangrad of Creation Ministries International as we continue our series on issues facing the church. This week's issue is theistic evolution. Richard explains what the theory is, where it came from, and what is at stake in the evolutionary debate. As we'll see, our source of authority has real-life implications for the doctrine of God, the nature of man, ethics, worship, and much more.
In this episode, faculty answer questions from students at the Worldview Leadership Academy. We deal with the charge of Christianity’s closed-mindedness, whether you can idolize the Bible, apologetics and evangelism, lying to the Nazis, whether you can lose your salvation, and more. Audio quality improves around the 15-minute mark! Get Joe Boot’s classic work of…
Michael Thiessen of joins us on this episode to discuss the latest developments in the ongoing saga of the church's relationship to LGBT issues, and the further complication of what happens when the state gets involved. We deal with news stories, citizenship, charity law, and the prophetic calling of the church.
This week’s podcast guest is Dr. Aaron Edwards. Dr. Edwards was forced out of his teaching position for supporting biblical sexuality on social media. He describes his experience, and examines the failure amongst evangelicalism to speak prophetically and biblically on key cultural issues.
The eschatology of pagan thought involves history culminating with a counterfeit ‘eternal security’ provided by a god-like State, which will deliver humanity from the twin burdens of work and freedom.
Ezra Institute Fellow for Biblical Economics, Graeme Leach, joins us on this week’s podcast episode to discuss the phenomenon of Christians advocating for historically socialist and Marxist economic policies. Many Christians have had their economic views informed by the world rather than the Word of God, and Graeme explains how (at least) two of the…
In this episode, Andrew Sandlin and Joe Boot outline the biblical case for an optimistic eschatology and the historical and ideological events that led to this doctrine's present position as a minority perspective in evangelicalism. In dependence on the Holy Spirit and through an attentive reading of Scripture, Christians should expect that Christ will continue to establish His kingdom on earth and drive back sin, death, and the devil.
Joe Boot and Nate Wright are back again to answer a few lingering questions resulting from the Ten Commandments podcast series. In this episode we consider how the earliest humans married and reproduced, compared with later Mosaic incest laws. We also tackle questions on how the church and the individual ought to think and act with regard to charitable status, tax-exemption, and the administration of tithes and offerings.
The ambition of this article is to critique the common arguments used to promote doctor-assisted suicide in light of the Gospel of Christ, and emphasize the importance of having a separate two-pronged response to this issue: one to challenge those who advocate for euthanasia; and one to gently come alongside those who are considering such an option for themselves.
The Ezra Institute is very pleased to announce that as part of our expansion plans, we are adding to our Canadian staff. Rev. Nathanael Wright will be joining our leadership team in a permanent capacity effective July 15, 2023, as the Executive Director, Canada.
In this episode we answer some more questions that emerged out of the Ten Commandments series, dealing with issues of what happens to believers after they die, and responding to the claim that the state only stepped in to provide welfare benefits because the church failed in this job.
Thanks to our listeners, we have some terrific questions emerging out of the Ten Commandments series. In this episode Joe Boot answers questions about Paul and Christ and their relationship to the law, what it means to 'fulfill' the law, and how believers kept the law before Christ and the giving of the Holy Spirit.
Last week, Canada’s state-sponsored mainstream media, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, released two major pieces on what they are calling the ‘Christian fundamentalist movement’ in Canada. In both pieces, the Ezra Institute is identified as a thought-leader and key player.
Joe Boot is joined this week by Ezra Institute Fellows Aaron Rock and Michael Thiessen to discuss the recent CBC investigation which identifies our churches and ministries, as well as those of several others, as leading efforts at godly cultural reformation in Canada.
Joe Boot closes our series on the Ten Commandments with some observations on the tenth commandment against covetousness, including how it works with the first commandment to encapsulate and summarize the whole Decalogue, how a covetous heart influences every other action, and how covetousness is manifest in the world not just at the individual, but also the systemic level.
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Just in time for June, our next Book of the Month is Whose Rainbow? by Peter Jones
Pastor Tobias Riemenschneider discusses the church’s responsibility to its people and to the state, explains why he was prompted to draft the Frankfurt Declaration of Church and Civil Liberties, and how our response to Covid-related restrictions is training us for the next cultural and worldview crisis related to trans gender identity.
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In this episode Joe Boot discusses the Ninth Commandment about bearing false witness, times where it is godly to withold the truth, and draws out the implications for law and society, as well as the ever-present question of who is my neighbour. We also look at the move by the Trudeau government to replace the crown on Canada’s coat of arms with a new version bereft of Christian symbols.
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At the dawn of time, in an act of rebellious self-glorification, our first parents sought ‘to be as God’ (Gen. 3:5). This act by our representative head shattered the communion between man and God, and each historical human society which followed them has been an emergency structure built on ruined foundations. Because of that primeval Fall, in an important sense, all history became the history of guilt, manifested as a public, societal and civilizational reality. Before the coming of Christ, at the root of all the striving for life in the pagan world – whether in frenzied battle, orgiastic fertility cults, or idol worship – was a religious yearning for restored eternal fellowship with the divine amidst the wearisome cycle of birth, growth, decay and death. The unyielding despair of ancient peoples was located in this mysterious and ineradicable sense of human guilt touching past, present and future which no ritual, rite or struggle was able to evade or overcome. This led to the tragic view of life in which man views himself with self-pity as a victim of fate. Tragedy is more than an art form exemplified by the Greeks. It re-enacts a deep-seated human perception of world history as both guilt and curse.
Yet rebellious humanity could not bear to live with this tragic state. Something new was introduced into history that could ostensibly bring blessing rather than curse. This new religious idea proved to be a distortion of God’s own Edenic promise to send the ‘seed of the woman’ for man’s deliverance. In the apostate version a hero, a genius would come forth. It was a demonic delusion, believing that if guilty man could establish his own law and throne, he could abolish the tragedy of guilt and realize both freedom and eternity. As Ethelbert Stauffer asks, “who is this man, this chosen one, who by his deeds is to refute the witness of tragedy? He is the statesman. And what is the work of blessing to which he is called? His work is Empire.”[1]
To truly abolish guilt and the tragic view of life, this ruler must be a child of the gods; a quasi-divine figure; a hero who will establish peace and law and bring humanity salvation. And so, “A daimon took hold of Xerxes and filled him with the greatest idea that a statesman of the ancient world ever had – to unite land and sea, east and west under one sceptre.”[2] The politics of salvific empire required not just a politician, but one who would also be ruler, priest, and saviour; eternity and divinity are thought to be united with the human. The heroic genius overcomes guilt and alienation by being a law to himself, embodying a man-made reconciliation in the pretension of a world-state with its own moral order. If law can be redefined in terms of man’s idea and vindicated by the power and glory of empire, and people unified by a vast political salvation, surely guilt and social warfare can be abolished and tragedy undone?
Yet history shows that from Xerxes through Julius Caesar, this basic tragedy of life was not overcome; guilt remained in cycles of recurrence. From Africa to Asia and Europe, man succumbed to the demonic temptation over and over again, enforcing a counterfeit unity with the iron fist of the state. Imperial man became the ideal for several thousand years, reaching a culmination in Augustus Caesar at the time of Christ. With the Caesars gradually deified, their ‘genius’ worshipped, the Roman coinage provided the official commentary and began to appear with the inscriptions, ‘The divine Caesar – the Son of God’ and ‘Saviour of the World.’ The emperor cult was established and sacrifices to the emperor were made in temples throughout the empire. Augustus died fourteen years after the birth of the true Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ.
When Jesus Christ, the true God-man, appeared in obscurity and humility, He was soon confronted by Satan in the wilderness and offered ‘all the kingdoms of the world’ if only he would bow down to the lawless one and offer political salvation like the heroes before him (Luke 6:5-8). Instead of acting autonomously and succumbing to the daimon of this world, he responded directly from the law of God, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve” (Matt. 4:10).
When facing temptation Jesus repeatedly cites God’s law. God’s covenant law opens with the greatest and most revolutionary words ever heard in the ancient world:
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.”
“You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing faithful love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.” (Exodus 20:2-6)
We encounter here a shattering polemic against the ancient demonic myth of the creature as divine, of man as ultimate lawgiver, and of the state as saviour. Stauffer states it well, “The religious transfiguration of the creature is the ‘proton pseudos’, the first error of mythology, which is brought to light by the Decalogue.”[3]The triune God is the only Lord and is Lord over all, the true Archimedean point.
The gospel reveals that because of Christ, human history is not the endless recurrence of guilt, but rather has a sure future, reconciled to God and subject to His judgment and ordination. The living God promises in His covenant-law, faithful love and mercy – to make an end to the tragedy of past guilt, opening the way to the future in which God and man live in true unity and harmony. This is the meaning and mystery of the incarnation of the Son of Man, the living Torah and goal of the law. It is here God answers the myth of the ancients by both fulfilling and dissolving their story. Truly, man is guilty and only the universal empire of the God-man can overcome guilt by establishing His kingly throne, upholding His righteous law and providing as priest inexhaustible mercy, the forgiveness of sins, by meeting the demands of justice in full. And this is the gospel we preach, that because of the victory at Calvary, the garden tomb and the Mount of Olives, there is no more tragedy!
The gospel – a word loaded with imperial freight – has conquered forever the fatalistic cycle of guilt; sin is paid for, the King is on His throne, and His righteous law is smashing the myth of self-deification from East to West, North and South as His kingdom extends through all the earth. The nations and their rulers are relativized by the King of all kings, whose universal reign of justice and righteousness frees us from guilt and empowers us to obey His law by the Spirit.
He will not fail nor be discouraged,
Till He has established justice in the earth;
And the coastlands shall wait for His law. (Is. 42:4)
As the West abandons the gospel it finds itself in the grip of guilt and self-pity, looking for the state to bring salvation with a new ‘human rights’ law that will exonerate the guilty, bring unity out of increased chaos, and deliver from the tragedy of guilt and shame. But the politics of power, the genius of the expert, can avail nothing in this time of apostasy. Only Christ can save. The way to healing is the long road of repentance.
[1] Ethelbert Stauffer, Christ and the Caesars (Oregon: Wipf & Stock, 2008), 21.
[2] Stauffer, Christ and the Caesars, 19.
[3] Stauffer, Christ and the Caesars, 24
In this episode Joe Boot reflects on the recent coronation of King Charles III, focusing on the nature of national oaths and covenants, and the proper place of the monarch in a role of delegated authority, living under God’s law. It’s a heavy responsibility and Scripture enjoins us to pray for our civil rulers.
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P Nate of the Rebel Podcast joins us this week as we resume our series in the Ten Commandments. Nate explains how the commandment “you shall not steal” enjoins the opposite, positive principle to protect your neighbour’s property, not to mention the presupposition of private property. Contra Klaus Schwab and Karl Marx, owning nothing is not a formula for human happiness.
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Joe Boot explains the biblical understanding of penology – the study and practice of punishing crime. Despite modern objections about the harshness of biblical justice, the penology outlined in God’s law is in fact true justice, and its practice leads to a more just and free society.
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In this previously unaired interview, Joe Boot and Andrew Sandlin discuss the ideology of cultural Marxism, explaining how it differs from original Marxism, and how it mimics Christian doctrines of worship, eschatology, and the kingdom of God.
We are living in a collectivist age. Individual people are increasingly lost in the mass of news media, the anonymity of social media, the crowd of progressive movements, and among ‘the people.’ It is an age of totalizing politics, where the messianic state must act as saviour to the public from cradle to grave. God’s image-bearers are viewed merely as abstractions, known only by group identities and the degree to which, as a class, they feel oppressed or victimized by ‘the majority.’ There is a grand leveling underway: the democratization of human beings as mere variables in an equation or cogs in a machine; and the spiritual uprooting of the individual before the living God. This levelling has shattered family, community, social and national life. A sense of individual accountability to God and personal responsibility for oneself and others has largely dissipated. Western civilization has emphatically broken up, its religious unity shredded, whilst neo-pagan ideologies have risen. The younger generation is rudderless, confused, and tempted to despair. Little wonder, since for much of their lives our young people have been treated like laboratory animals in an ideological sexual-social experiment.
Ours has become a tragi-comic era. Tragic because we are decaying, comic because we persist in our decadence. Many of the outward forms of Christendom remain, but they have been evacuated of their meaning, denuded of their significance. Royals still rule, Commons and Lords still legislate, Justices still judge, Bishops still teach – tragic because their offices were once great and noble; comic because, in open war against Christ, they continue without real majesty, authority or substance. They are hollow men and appear more and more as pantomime.
It is into this moment, the end of an epoch, that Christians are called to preach, teach, and lead to give shape to the future. The only hope for renewal in Western society consists in religious confrontation again with the Absolute in Jesus Christ. Strange as it may seem, this moment of chaos and uncertainty presents us with a remarkable opportunity for the gospel of the kingdom, bringing life, godly order, peace, and hope. As such, Christian leaders today must be missionaries with evangelistic zeal, apologetic acumen, and pastoral concern. We must live in the Word and be empowered by the Spirit.
Perhaps the greatest mistake the Western pulpit has made over the last century in the face of the radical, secularising demand for autonomy, has been to try and remove the offense of the gospel rather than emphasize it. This is a disaster because the offense of the gospel is the great testament to its truthfulness. It is the least calculated of all claims to flatter the human ego as all other religions do (because they are man-made). It marks the confrontation of the Absolute in Jesus Christ with individual sinful human beings and so there is no escaping its offense.
Creation in and through the Son – revealing the responsibility and accountability of man’s creatureliness – offends human scientism. The Fall of man and its universal, all-pervasive consequences, offends our corrupted sense of fairness and justice. The Incarnation, as the Great Paradox – the divine becoming human; the eternal, temporal; the exalted, lowly; the all-powerful, weak and helpless – offends not only man’s logic, but his ideal of culture, glory and honour. The cross of Christ, as the fulcrum of history and only means of redemption from sin and death through repentance and faith, deeply offends man’s idea of himself as a cosmic victim and his self-righteous notion of his own virtue. Moreover, it is thought a supreme folly that such a shameful defeat could be construed as victory. The resurrection offends man’s view of history as something determined by man and governed by his expectations as a closed system. And the radical call of discipleship to take up your cross and follow Christ is an egregious offense against man’s perceived autonomy and self-will.
The area of deepest offense today actually centres upon Christ’s incarnation as a man, bound as it is to the creation of human beings as image-bearers. The theologian Hans Jurgen Baden in the last century prophetically saw that:
The coming religious controversy will no longer take place on the basis of the logical pro and contra, but on a basis which grips man utterly. It will change from the sphere of the word and of words into the sphere of being and life-form. The final legitimation of the truth lies in the possibility of its incarnation.[1]
The all-pervasive spiritual conflict taking place today over identity, sexuality and marriage – with its correlate attempts to chemically and surgically remake human beings – is a struggle over being and life-form at the root of human existence. Baden correctly perceived:
The transformation of the individual man with Christian contents is the essential, the task of our time…only if the Church can create a living type of man all its own (as the present world-forces do) is its existence justified…it is the mission of the church in our time to restore to life the dimension of depth.[2]
This is part of the apologetic mandate for the pulpit and church leaders. We must again speak as those who actually believe that the secular, neo-pagan ‘immanent’ answers to the human situation are hopeless and that the Christian revelation alone is God’s authoritative answer in Christ, the incarnate Word, to man’s ruined nature, situation, vocation and social order. I would summarise our three-fold apologetic task in the pulpit in this way; rooted in Scripture we must:
- Critique the supposed autonomous, neo-pagan/secular systems of thought and ways of life that destroy man’s life and lead only to despair.
- Prepare the would-be believer to take the step of faith in committing the totality of their life to Christ and His lordship, tearing down all their hiding places.
- Train believers in setting all the aspects of their life and thought in relation to the absolute claims and Lordship of Jesus Christ
Over-against the spirit of the age, we must restore the depth dimension of the Christian life and mind and incarnate the kind of discipleship Christ and the apostles urged upon God’s people by both teaching and example.
We are to be on the offensive, not defensive. As believers we have been vested with authority by Jesus Christ Himself, and have an anointing from the Holy One. It is not the spirit of the age which judges Christ and His gospel, but the Holy Spirit who judges the age by the faith once delivered to the saints. The Holy Spirit does not conceal or soften the offense of the gospel or adapt the faith to suit human desires or preferences, rather He transforms the heart and mind of the unbeliever to change their desires. Our task is to remove misunderstandings, errors, blinkers and prejudices which hinder the unbeliever from seeing the claims of Christ clearly.
All Christians, most especially pastors and teachers, must remember that we are not preaching or speaking to ‘the public,’ ‘the media’ or some other collective abstraction. ‘Public opinion’ is an illusion, a nothingness. We are speaking to individual people in the immediacy of the testimony of the Holy Spirit, to graciously confront them with Christ, the Absolute, to whom they must give account. We are seeking to help them realize the contemporaneousness of the life and work of Christ, the eternal God, with them at that moment. This is more than accepting an opinion, a philosophy, a lifestyle, or an historical event; it is embracing a present reality – that Christ their creator and redeemer is calling them from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. Whatever is happening in the culture throughout the centuries, the human problem remains essentially the same and so we must not be intimidated by ‘public opinion.’ Opinions are cheap, the mob is fickle. But Jesus is the same, yesterday, today, and forever.
[1] Denzil G. M. Patrick, Pascal & Kierkegaard, Strategy in Evangelism (London, Lutterworth Press, 1947), 395.
[2] Ibid.
This week we pause our series in the Ten Commandments to reflect on the shooting at Covenant School in Nashville. In a de-christening culture, those who worship the true and living God should expect to suffer hatred and violence, even unto death, from those who worship the false god of self. But the Christian’s hope is the promise of light and life dispelling darkness and death.
In this episode Joe Boot discusses the narrow and broad definitions of adultery in light of both Moses and Christ, explaining how sexuality is much more than the modern notion of consent. Contrary to contemporary thinking, sexual activity outside of the blessed structure of covenant marriage has drastic personal and social consequences.
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Kyle Thompson of the Undaunted Life podcast joins us for a discussion of the commandment “You shall not murder.” We talk about war, self-defense, and the failure of the state to properly prosecute justice on murderers, as well as the responsibility of the individual to defend his family and neighbor.
Kyle speaks at length on related issues here and here.
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We begin this episode by examining the biblical definition of murder, and looking at cases where the taking of life is prohibited, where it is permitted, and the single situation where it is required by God. We also consider how our society’s rejection of God is evident in legalized murder in the form of abortion and euthanasia, as well as Jesus’ teaching about murderous talk and attitudes that break this commandment.
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It is a universal human phenomenon that we live our lives forwards, whilst hoping we will understand them better when looking backwards, yet history has often been described by thinkers and philosophers as an impenetrable mystery. We read history and visit historical sites and monuments, digging up the past as a tourist attraction. We’re frequently enchanted by what has gone before and some dream of making history like their heroes from one age or another. Paradoxically, our fascination with history is directly tied to our concern for the shape of the future. Since none of us know what is to come, the contingency of past events makes history the battleground of the future – since the truly historical event is that which gives formative shape to culture.
In the book of Daniel, the king of Babylon dreams of what is to be when he sees a great image of various materials smashed with an uncut stone, but he does not understand its meaning. When God reveals the meaning of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream to Daniel – a prophetic prediction of the rising and falling of specific kingdoms and nations – he responds with prayer and worship, confessing God’s sovereign government over the historical process:
“Blessed be the name of God forever and ever,
For wisdom and might are His.
And He changes the times and the seasons;
He removes kings and raises up kings;
He gives wisdom to the wise
And knowledge to those who have understanding.
He reveals deep and secret things;
He knows what is in the darkness,
And light dwells with Him.” (Daniel 2:20-22)
The true nature of history raises a profoundly practical and relevant question for every society because, although the ultimate ordering of the times and seasons is in God’s hand, the way human beings view their past directly impacts the rising and falling of nations. It has been observed that the most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history. The quote is apocryphal, but commonly attributed to George Orwell. In any event, we are seeing in our own time how accurate this statement is.
The reason for this phenomenon is bound up with the deep connection that exists between the past, present and future in the character and consciousness of a culture: who we are is who we were. If a people’s understanding of their own history is radically altered, it will have a far-reaching effect on their present view of themselves and their cultural life – so much so that a profound change of historical perception can precipitate the eventual collapse of a nation. I do not mean that new discoveries or insights here and there regarding specific details of events in a people’s history changes a culture, but the transformation of their understanding of the meaning of that history.
In a recent article in the Daily Telegraph, the prominent Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson wrote movingly of his love and admiration for Great Britain. After describing his journey through some of the illustrious institutions of learning and corridors of power in England he writes:
[T]he people of Great Britain have granted the world a gift whose power stands in permanent opposition to our most appalling proclivities as individuals and societies. That gift is the political expression of the sanctification of the word — freedom in speech, imagination and thought: freedom to engage in the very process that builds and rebuilds habitable order itself from the chaos that eternally surrounds us. And that freedom is expressed in many ways, small and great, in the British Isles: in the wit of its people, in the effectiveness of its institutions, in the beauty of its art and literature, in the political and psychological presumptions that guide private discourse and public conception and action. And that is most particularly why I love Great Britain. And that is why, people of that realm (and not only of that realm), you should love her too, despite her sins, with your eyes lifted upward, your hope to the future, and the word of truth and faith on your tongues.[1]
Though presently under severe threat and eroding little by little each passing year, this perception still forms part of the historic self-understanding of the British, and more generally, Anglo-American peoples. However, if the history of the British nation and former empire is reimagined and primarily understood, not as a varied and complex story of the gradual emergence of a free commonwealth of nations – in which commerce, governmental administration, technology, modern medicine, education, democracy, rule of law, the principles of justice, Christian faith and morality were spread (fallibly and falteringly), through large parts of the world – but rather as a tale of unmitigated oppression, racism, slavery, exploitation, cruelty and war, then the cultural and moral confidence of a remarkable island people will be gradually shattered.
The same could be said of the history of the United States in the twentieth and early twenty-first century. Winston Churchill, who was half American, once evocatively described the American as “the Englishman left to himself.” Has the United States Constitution, inherited legal tradition, free institutions, historically free markets and broader role in the world been generally a force for good or evil, justice or injustice, when compared to other cultures and nations? How Americans understand their history will profoundly affect their cohesion as a people, the vitality and survival of their culture. It is for this reason that in America, Britain, Canada, Australia and various other parts of the British commonwealth, there is a struggle going on for history, its meaning and significance.
The contemporary phenomenon of widespread self-hatred among the Anglo-American peoples – religiously catalyzed by a spiritual uprooting and concurrent loss of moral and cultural confidence – is due in very significant part to a decade’s long, self-conscious and deliberate effort of radical ‘progressive’ (Marxist) intellectuals in the West, especially in the institutions of learning, the church, arts and culture, to undermine and obliterate the Anglo-American peoples’ Christian understanding of their own history. The distortion of history to invoke self-hatred in a once-Christian people inescapably implies hatred of the God the Anglo-American peoples once served. The impact of this revisionism has been profound, and our culture is decaying and declining fast as a result.
The people of Israel had a remarkable historic calling and self-understanding as the covenant people of God – a priestly nation summoned to take God’s Word of promise to the nations and model righteousness and justice before the peoples in terms of obedience to God’s law. God sent numerous prophets – who often foretold future events – with history lessons for the people to remind them who brought them out of the land of Egypt, from bondage and slavery and made them a free people for God’s own possession. When an apostate king among the Hebrews wanted to lead them away to serve other gods for his own purposes he reinterpreted the meaning of their history:
Jeroboam said to himself, “The way things are going now, the kingdom might return to the house of David. If these people regularly go to offer sacrifices in the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem, the heart of these people will return to their lord… Then he made two golden calves, and he said to the people, “Going to Jerusalem is too difficult for you. Israel, here is your Godwho brought you out of the land of Egypt.” He set up one in Bethel, and put the other in Dan. This led to sin; the people walked in procession before one of the calves all the way to Dan (1 Kings 12:26-30)
History has again become a battleground for the future and a struggle over worship. Our life and history will express the result of our dominant thoughts about ourselves and most especially ourselves in relation to God.
[1] Jordan Peterson, ‘Why I love Great Britain’, The Telegraph, last modified Dec. 14, 2021, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/12/14/love-great-britain/.
We take a short recess from the Ten Commandments series to talk about drag queen story hour protests, global Anglicanism, and other important news from around the world. And is the Ezra Institute going to be on the CBC?
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In this episode Joe Boot and special guest, pastor Joel Webbon, discuss the fifth commandment, how it applies not only to young children, but to everyone, and how a worldly mindset has led us to neglect this commandment when it becomes uncomfortable or burdensome.
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Sabbath rest is a biblical principle that seems to invite a level of controversy: how often, when, who, and in what ways are is the Sabbath to be observed. Joe Boot discusses the connection between work, rest, and worship, why Sabbath-breaking was a capital offense in ancient Israel, and the difference that Christ makes to the form of our observance.
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In this episode Ezra Institute Fellow Michael Thiessen discusses what it means to take the name of the Lord, both rightly and wrongly, in the church, in politics, and in any other sphere. We also talk about the nature of oaths and authority, the Sermon on the Mount, what it means for something to be damned by God, and door-to-door sales. NOTE: we do not use language flippantly, but this episode contains language that parents may not want your children to hear.
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An urgent warning to the clerics and parishionersChristian thinking must be concerned with actually following the Christ of Scripture and having His Word dwell and abide in us by His Spirit. Submitting oneself to being a humble follower doesn’t come easily to anyone – especially cultural leaders, thinkers and apparently bishops. This was evident in the recent diabolical and self-immolating ruling of the bishops in the Church of England to formally bless same-sex relationships in the churches, all in the name of the love of Jesus. The human inclination is always toward autonomy, preferring to live the illusion that we can ‘legislate’ for ourselves; to be a king without a country in the rootless despair of defiance is the preference of our rebellious age.
Being a professing Christian in the church does not remove the temptation or inclination to strike out alone, to follow our own desires or those of our culture, to live by our own priorities and to set aside the awesome and all-consuming call to be a disciple of Christ; to come and die in order to truly live. Kneeling as a living sacrifice sounds incredibly painful and involves a transformation of the heart which implies the pain and suffering of rejection by a world conformed, in the final analysis, to a very different spirit. But the divine midwife insists this is the only way. We must be reborn, transformed, and given a new heart, a new mind.
As Christians we may claim to follow Christ, but the lifelong challenge in developing a truly Christian mindset requires regularly asking ourselves if we have followed Him far enough? Have we been to Jordan and seen the dove descending, but hung back from the mountain to avoid His exposition of the law and radical insistence that only those who teach that law are great in the Kingdom? Have we fallen asleep in pious satisfaction at the gates of Gethsemane, or lingered from a safe distance at Golgotha, never making it to the slopes of Olivet or to the upper room in Jerusalem with the dancing flames of fire? Is it possible that we are not yet Christian enough? It is all too easy to follow Christ only as far as is convenient, till the tarrying is just too tiring. If we only follow Christ part way, then we are uninvolved in key aspects of the drama and miss the significance of God’s full act in history.
The entire work of Christ in all His offices must become contemporaneous with us if we would truly be transformed by the renewing of our minds. It is not sufficient to appreciate Christ washing Simon Peter’s feet at the last supper as a model of service if we refuse to see Him, let alone join Him, where the bloodied Stephen saw Him – exalted in heavenly places, standing up from his seat of total authority at God’s right hand. Unambiguously, we must see Him as priest on the road to Calvary, but we must also recognize Him on the footpath to Emmaus as resurrected Lord – the gardener of creation among Arimathea’s roses – if we are to truly follow Christ and know the renewal of our minds.
In a hostile context, the temptation is to follow Him just as far as culture permits. When the storm rises, dread grips us and we hear His call to step out of the boat and walk upon the Word – despite the wind and waves of the world’s antagonism – we suddenly become hard of hearing. And if we will not hear that Word over the inimical clamour of idolatry, we certainly cannot then speak it. If our cultural moment is allowed to determine how far we follow Christ, then we cannot follow Him at all. We may perhaps hear Hosanna’s from a distance, but we won’t be found stammering with the doubter, ‘My Lord and my God!’ We may even be permitted by our age to stand near the wooden cross of a brave martyr, but not on the mountain of ascension with the ruler of the kings of the earth.
The sad end of hearing and heeding only the word our culture will permit is first an unwillingness, then a tragic inability, to speak the whole counsel of God as faithful prophets. As priest and prophet Christ was hated, knew the world’s enmity, and warned that the spirit at work in the children of disobedience would naturally hate His followers also. But we cannot follow our Prophet nor share in His sufferings if we refuse to prophesy. Many contemporary priests would rather predict with Balaam to preserve their living than stand with Elijah against Baal. It is certain an ass has spoken with more wisdom in the annals of prophetic utterance than many English bishops – hirelings who would flog the meekest of God’s prophets if they could for hindering their progress in vexing the people of God. Like powdered-wigged courtiers fighting over who will fetch the king’s chamber pot, much of the church simply courts the culture – ingratiating themselves with the influential, the powerful, the professors, even senior clergy who have whored themselves to the spirit of the world.
The moment that God’s people call a truce and reach a settlement with the spirit of the world, the mindset of the age, is the moment they abolish the Christian mind and overturn true Christianity. The kingdom of God is indeed in this world, but not of it; it is surely present here, but it is not from here – its power, authority and mandate derive from a transcendent source. In history, the church is always the church militant, not the church triumphant. The struggle will continue over our graves till the King comes who will open all graves. We are called to victory, not to peaceful collaboration.
When the church says ‘peace, peace’ when there is no peace and signs a treaty with a rebel world, it pretends to be the church triumphant, and pretends that the struggle against lawlessness and spiritual darkness is complete – but before the consummation of Christ. It is a tragic irony that those who preach righteousness and hope for history through following Christ to the uttermost, bringing them into direct conflict with the world on the frontlines of battle, are charged with ‘triumphalism,’ whilst popular collaborators who claim neutrality with the world, making a compact of surrender or privatization to the applause of culture are thought pious and realistic. In reality, they are triumphalist – seeking to immanentize a false eschaton by denaturing the faith, abstracting it from the affairs of daily life and coating what remains in honey so as to avoid any bitter taste in society’s mouth – for a church no longer at war is a church triumphant.
Idolatry takes any number of forms at the individual, church, and national levels, but its temptation is always the same: you shall be as God. And the results always lead to death. As churches capitulate to antichristian cultural pressures, they often keep their outward form, but lose the power and vitality that ought to sustain and animate them. The Lord reserved some of His hardest words for those who led their people in this apostate way.
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Lessons learned from the trenches of the COVID crisis, lest we forget
Some Breathing Space for a DebriefResponding to crisis well requires planning and practice, something I learned the hard way as Code Captain, in charge of the coronary care unit resuscitation team. Our task was to provide immediate response for in-hospital cardiac arrests. When Code Blue was called out on the overhead paging system, we were the ones commandeering elevators, racing down hospital hallways, puffing and pushing the crash cart, white coats flapping and stethoscopes flying. Sometimes we were successful, and sometimes not. But regardless of the outcome, it was our regular practice to debrief afterwards; to sit down together as a team and review the event record, acknowledge what went well, highlight any errors that occurred, and discuss how we might improve our response for the next time, which always came, sometimes even during the debriefing process.
By analogy, since the pandemonium part of the pandemic has passed, and we have entered what appears to be the wake of the COVID crisis, a debrief seems timely. Even though the dust hasn’t fully settled on issues of masking and vaccination mandates, and we medics still remain masked, gowned and seemingly one-disease minded in the hospitals, a certain level of normalcy has returned to society. Workers have returned to work, schools are back in session, restaurants are busy, air travel is possible. So, there’s opportunity for some introspection, and a dire need – for the Christian community in particular – to learn from the mistakes made these past number of years and to bolster ourselves for a better response next time. The ambition of this essay is to critically consider the role of the Christian church – defined as the locally gathered body of Bible-centered believers, tasked to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, observe the ordinances, and make disciples[1] – and its relationship to the state and its laws, as well as to the kingdom of God and its realization. My hope is to emphasize the absolute necessity of Christ’s church at all times, and in particular, during times of duress.
My involvement as a frontline physician during the throes of the pandemic brought me face to face with the COVID crisis. While some may be able to look back on these past pandemic years isolated and aloof, and ask, “Crisis, what crisis?” this was not my experience. As part of my work as a cardiologist in a downtown tertiary care center, I helped manage patients on the COVID ward and was involved with critically ill patients dying from an inflammatory storm secondary to overwhelming COVID pneumonia. I saw firsthand the spectre of physical suffering caused by the viral infection: from the bustling, chaotic emergency room, and bursting intensive care unit with ventilated patients two per room, to the makeshift “COVID Cabana” overflow unit in the repurposed surgical recovery room. I comforted patients on the ward while decked out unrecognizably in personal protective equipment; provided explanations to their families over Facetime connections; came alongside beleaguered colleagues, run ragged by the combined toll of the pandemic’s onslaught and staff shortages; and even mourned the death of a favorite mentor and dear brother in Christ from COVID pneumonia. It was a challenging time, to be sure, and not one to be made light of nor minimized. Plandemic or not, the global spread of the novel COVID-19 virus (SARS-CoV-2), and its accompanying severe acute respiratory syndrome,wrought misery on humanity. As the apostle Paul said of our fallen human condition, “the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time” (Rom. 8:22), our pandemic time included.
In view of the serious nature of COVID-19, particularly during the first waves of its spread, there were some aspects of the church’s response to the pandemic that were done well. These salutary measures included fostering improved hand hygiene, providing focussed care for the vulnerable, and encouraging segregation of the sick. Viral spread was probably most effectively diminished by the supplying of easy-access antiseptic hand cleanser for parishioner use, refraining from having food and drink ‘coffee-time’ fellowship, and reducing the communal handling of the communion elements.[2] Our church minimized such handling by providing pairs of shot glass-sized cups, one nestled in the other – with a piece of cracker in the bottom cup, symbolizing Christ’s broken body, and some grape juice in the top, symbolizing Christ’s shed blood – set out on a table, one for each parishioner to take. While some churches refrained from celebrating communion during the pandemic (and some have still not reinstated it!), this creative approach allowed us to safely observe this ordinance throughout the entire lockdown ordeal. Although not to everyone’s taste, this adjusted form of celebrating the Lord’s Supper didn’t sacrifice the function of the ordinance, and on grounds of practicality and efficiency, it has become a permanent practice for our congregation going forward.
Additional precautionary measures were adopted by many churches for their higher-risk parishioners who wished to take part in the worship service. These included providing a sparsely occupied cordoned-off area in the sanctuary for their use, or in some cases, a separate gathering room altogether with livestream viewing of the service. For those who were unable to gather, churches retooled their audiovisual equipment to develop an online presence. While no substitute for in-person fellowship, the virtual experience allowed symptomatic parishioners and quarantined patients, as well as high-risk parishioners and shut-ins to participate in the service at some level, being edified by the preaching of the gospel, and encouraged through the corporate worship and prayers.
In addition to their effectiveness, these precautionary measures are commendable on a number of grounds. First off, they have a biblical precedent. While falling short of the stringent COVID health mandates, these simple, primary preventive measures are in line with the instructions Moses gave Israel as part of the holiness code outlined in the Torah (Lev. 13–15), in which he addressed quarantine of the sick and the management of contagious diseases. By contrast to the inflexible umbrella restrictions mandated by government health officials during COVID, with everyone required to physically distance and shelter in sequestered isolation, in ancient Israel, sickness of some did not shut down society for all. Rather, the sick were identified, separated from the community, and quarantined for a given period of time in order to help prevent the spread of disease. All the while, the rest of society were free to go on with life and business as usual, gathering for worship included. And as was painfully demonstrated during our pandemic, quarantining the healthy has been terribly counterproductive for society, has achieved negligible benefits in stopping the spread of a respiratory virus, and has contributed greatly to the extent of suffering.[3]
Second, these precautionary measures make sense, and line up squarely with the focussed protection recommendations as detailed in the Great Barrington Declaration.[4] Even though this open letter was largely ignored by mainstream media when first published in October 2020, this document – drafted by a large group of leading infectious disease epidemiologists and public health scientists, and endorsed by over 50,000 professional signatories (myself included) – raised concerns as to the collateral damages of the pandemic, and called for the priority of protection and care to be given to at-risk individuals, rather than having a full societal lockdown. While there has been a great deal of rhetoric pawned off as so-called science these days, making it difficult to know who to listen to and trust, it’s important to realize that this group of scientists had little to gain by publishing their recommendations. Rather, they had much to lose, including their reputations, some even suffering professional censorship and vilification.[5]
Lastly, these simple approaches didn’t inhibit the church from carrying on in her essential roles of gathering in-person, proclaiming the gospel, observing the ordinances, and making disciples. While some adjustments to the form of worship may have been undertaken to limit disease spread, the church should have been able to still function in these capacities. Promoting physical health and avoiding disease are important components of our stewardship of the body, and something worthy of our attention. For those churches that kept their doors open, it was important that they heeded the warnings of the medical authorities regarding the virus communicability, and showed a general willingness to make certain precautionary adjustments in order to help protect parishioners from viral spread, and lessen the physical suffering caused by the pandemic.
Of course, the suffering experienced during the pandemic went well beyond the physical realm. Although the infections were challenging enough to manage, from a frontline perspective, what made matters far worse than the direct viral effects were the indirect ones – the extent and degree of existential suffering occurring during the pandemic. Sadly, the lion’s share of this collateral damage was the direct result of governmental attempts to limit viral spread and protect an already dysfunctional healthcare system. This existential misery was experienced by patient and practitioner alike, young and old, those in favour of the mandates and vaccinations, and those who opposed them. Suffering in the form of anxiety, loneliness, fear, frustration, confusion, hopelessness, distress and despair was rifeacross the board, widespread and nonpartisan.
The Human Cost of Lockdowns In my work, I cared for countless numbers of lonely patients, hungry for human interaction. After being isolated in their homes or assisted-living facilities and deprived of social connection, I found that patients were quick to opt for an in-person medical assessment over the recommended COVID-19 phone consultation. Many of my patients were unable to see their children or grandchildren for months or even years on end. Patient after patient had lost central friendships in their lives, or were estranged from family members because of personal decisions over the vaccine mandates. Many nursing students and medical residents in my circle were removed from their hard-sought training programs for voicing concerns over the mandates. Some unvaccinated patients were abandoned by the medical system altogether and denied medical care from walk-in clinics, and even from their family physicians of long-standing; others had lost their jobs and were in serious financial distress for refusing to be vaccinated. As well, many of my double-masked and quadruple-plus-vaxxed patients remained panicked beyond reassurance and desperately fearful of catching COVID, their worries driven by the incessant news coverage emphasizing rising case numbers.
The list goes on and on, and all just added to the already staggering pre-pandemic existential crisis of our time; the sorry state of a secularized society who has rejected the Lord of life. Not surprisingly, suicide rates increased sharply during the lockdowns, as did patient requests for doctor-assisted suicide.[6] And then there was the record number of drug overdoses, overwhelming our emergency medical response teams in the field.[7] At one point during the throes of the pandemic, the number of Fentanyl overdose cases in our intensive care unit actually exceeded our COVID cases. And it stands to reason; without meaning or purpose, and continually bombarded by doom and gloom, what would we expect people to opt for? Deprived of any real hope, annihilation or anaesthetic seem the only options. COVID without Christ is but bleak despair.
Tragically, little was done to address this pandemic-related existential suffering. The medical community seemed in no position to effectively meet the deeper needs of patients let alone handle the physical burden of disease. Not only were healthcare providers too consumed with COVID testing and containment to address the psychological stressors of the pandemic, but they also increasingly seem to lack the equipping to do so. This is because the prevailing mindset of secularized medicine has become one of reductionism. Human persons, in all their complex facets and elegant functions, are commonly reduced down to their bare biology. Rather than being taken seriously as whole persons, fearfully and wonderfully made, people are considered in the physical dimension only. During the pandemic, this meant viewing patients as viral carriers to be isolated. Rather than considered as fellow travellers to the grave, patients are commonly depersonalized and referred to by some piece of their person – “another heart patient” or “the hip in room 9.” Specialists like myself tend to be the worst offenders. Satisfying ourselves by dealing with that puny portion of the patient that we are considered expert in, we neglect the greater needs of the whole person. Even general practitioners fall prey to the pragmatic attraction of reductionism by limiting their patient assessments to only one problem per visit. This is part of the reason why expertise in one field doesn’t translate to expertise in another, and why unelected health officials should never have been given the kind of power they had during COVID. As Will Rogers wryly observed, “there is nothing as stupid as an educated man, once you get off the thing he was educated in.”
Although exceptions exist, as a long-time medical educator, my observation has been that medical trainees receive poor modelling in addressing existential suffering in patients. Beyond a shallow shrug of the shoulders and some empty utterance like “it is what it is,” modern-day medics concerningly skirt past their patients’ mental anguish, and get to the real business of medicine… ordering more tests. Worse still, when these issues are addressed, Canadian physicians are encouraged to raise the option of MAiD (Medical Assistance in Dying) with their patients as a means of remedy.[8] Of the 30,000 Canadians who have received assisted suicide since the legalization of euthanasia in our country, the majority – representing some of our most vulnerable citizens – were given their fatal injection during the pandemic, receiving death over compassionate care.[9] To underscore the scale of our euthanasia program, the State of California, which legalized euthanasia at a similar time to Canada and has roughly the same population, had 486 deaths from euthanasia in 2021, by contrast to our 10,064.[10] The upshot of all this is a needlessly expensive whirlwind of testing, and in the end, a fragmented delivery of so-called medical services, with patients all-too-commonly falling through the proverbial cracks. It would seem then, that in the contemporary practice of medicine, Dr. Edward Trudeau’s long held aphorism of the role of the physician – to cure sometimes, to relieve often, and to comfort always – has been exchanged for an impoverished role – to offer MAiD sometimes, order investigations often, and test for COVID always.
The Absent Christian WitnessIt wasn’t just the medical community who dropped the ball in failing to address existential suffering during the pandemic; the church did as well. This is particularly disappointing since the church is uniquely suited to address this sort of pain. Working through existential suffering is our thing; it’s what we do. Empty platitudes are for the secularists. The Christian worldview faces the problem of pain square on, and provides the only serious response. The biblical answer to suffering is not one of indifference, denial, defeat, or shoulder shrugging. God has not abandoned us to the world of despair, but rather, the pains of suffering are ultimately answered by God’s intimate involvement in the human condition at the cross. As Martin Luther said, “When you look around and wonder whether God cares, you must always hurry to the cross and you must see Him there.”[11] Christ and Christ alone, is our only hope in life and death. Any meaningful response to our existential suffering that doesn’t involve Jesus will fall short. Only Christ knows the full weight and depth of all our suffering, and only His atoning work on the cross can provide the needed remedy. The cross reminds us that God is not distant from human suffering but has become part of it, and draws near to us in our suffering. This abiding presence of the Lord provides meaning in our turmoil and comfort in our troubles. The apostle Paul exhorts us to share this gift, saying, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God” (2 Cor. 1:3-4).
As followers of Jesus, then, we are expected to live lives worthy of our calling (Eph. 4:1), by showing care and concern to those in need. While quiet devotional time and solitary prayer are important spiritual disciplines for our faith maturity, privatized personal piety alone is insufficient for faithful discipleship. Our faith in Christ is personal, but not private. Our mandate is to bring people to the Lord and bring the Lord to people, both by spreading the gospel to the unreached, and by influencing our surrounding culture. Although church growth is desirable, and planting new church communities is central to our mission focus, our principal task is not to get people into our church facilities, but into Christ’s kingdom. And the two are not synonymous. Even though the church of Christ and His kingdom are intimately related, they are not one in the same. The church is the bride of Christ, and central to God’s plan for humanity’s redemption, but represents only one sphere in the vast configuration of God’s kingdom. The kingdom of God is far more comprehensive in content, and can be thought of as the reign of God by Jesus Christ over every aspect of the created order. As detailed by reformed New Testament theologian, Herman Ridderbos, “the Kingdom denotes the consummation of history, and has cosmic dimensions, filling time and eternity.”[12]
Appreciating this distinction between Christ’s church and His kingdom enables us to embrace our role as Christ’s ambassadors. It helps us understand that our faithful obedience to Christ entails more than our participation in the local church, and even more than our efforts to evangelize. Our calling is to live out our faith in every area of our lives – at work, in school, in our social circles, during our times of leisure, when we’re abroad or around our dinner table. As cultural apologist, Joseph Boot emphasizes, “the detailed application of this is the calling of every believer – that every province of human life and thought be brought under the sway of God’s kingdom.”[13] Evangelism is important, to be sure, but we don’t stop there. We need to disciple the new believers and equip them so they can live Christianly in their respective spheres of influence.
Likewise, cultural engagement and influence are laudatory, but we don’t stop there either, but need to press on to make disciples, baptizing them, and teaching them to obey all that Christ has commanded. Ours is not a choice between the Great Commission to “go and make disciples of all the nations…” (Matt. 28:18-20), or the cultural mandate to glorify God by “exercising dominion over the earth,” and developing its latent potential (Gen. 1:26-28; 2:15), but to give attention to both. The two are very much connected. It’s not an either/or undertaking, but a both/and mission. We are called to both share the Word of grace and truth and faithfully reflect this grace and truth to the world. This entails leaving our comfort zones, rolling up our sleeves, and co-labouring with the Holy Spirit in the ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18-20); giving an answer to the hope that is within us (1 Pet. 3:15), visiting the lonely and the shut-in (Matt. 25:36), laying hands on the sick and praying for them (Jas 5:14), offering hospitality to others (Heb. 13:2), and not giving up meeting together as a body of believers (Heb. 10:25). These aren’t merely passing suggestions, to be undertaken if we have time or inclination… and everyone’s COVID negative. They are Scriptural commands, which were given to the early church to follow, and are directly applicable to us today, particularly in times of crisis. So, if this is the case, then where was the church, just when it was needed the most?
“Where, indeed?” were my thoughts, as I saw despairing patient after despairing patient in the hospital and at my clinic. When I asked of their support network – if they had family, local community, attended church – the common response was a shaking of the head, sometimes with tear-filled eyes. Those that had church connections were mostly disconnected during the pandemic. While some took in online sermons, gone was the in-person support and care, the human touch, the listening ear, the group praying with one another, and the intimate fellowship. With a few bold exceptions, the church had largely abandoned her parishioners, and the aching void was evident. It seemed that the fear of catching COVID was reason enough for many Christians to not only shut down worship and shelf the ordinances, but to give up visiting the shut-ins, offering hospitality, or gathering at all. Self-preservation took priority over being salt and light in the world. The Great Commission got put on hold until reported case numbers diminished. Outreach to the lonely and comfort for the distressed would need to wait for the health minister’s ‘all clear’.
Of all the unprecedented actions carried out during the pandemic, as a follower of Jesus, this inaction of His church is the most disturbing. Such an anemic response on the part of the church was certainly not the case historically. During the 3rd century Cyprian plague, for example, when the scourge of smallpox was claiming thousands of lives in Rome on a daily basis, the church played a central role in response to the suffering.[14] As recorded by Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria, “Christians showed unbounded love and loyalty, taking charge of the sick, ministering to them in compassion… while others behaved in the very opposite way; they pushed the sufferers away and even fled from their loved ones.”[15] Down through history, from natural disaster to war to pestilence, the church of Christ has been there responding to the sick and needy as to the Lord. It was the love of God, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that motivated Christians to boldly act and to selflessly serve others. They worshipped and obeyed the Holy Triune God and followed his commands, rather than bowing to the idol of safety, and following the trite trilogy, “be kind, be calm, be safe.”[16]
Despite the fact that the initial sky-is-falling COVID predictions proved grossly exaggerated, and the risk factors for serious infection were identified early on, many within the church still strongly supported the mandates and lockdown measures implemented by the government. They held on to the secular belief that the COVID virus represented an ultimate threat, and something to be feared above all else, Almighty God included. As a result, they agreed with the restrictions placed on church numbers and worship practices, including mandatory masking, attendance taking, and vaccine passports, as well as the physical distancing of parishioners within and between pews, the refraining from singing praises to the Lord or partaking in His ordinances of communion or baptism. Their agreement even included the closure of churches, pending an arbitrary decline in intensive-care COVID cases. Since “it’s the pandemic, after all,” they believed that all of these actions were quite reasonable and perfectly justified. Even though scriptural commands were defied, church communities were divided, and suffering was dire, they were convinced that the ruling authorities had the welfare of the populace in mind and that their actions demonstrated a striving for the common good. In essence, they were lulled into believing the secular myth of neutrality – that the government holds to an unbiased position, and operates in a noble impartial fashion. Of course, one need only consider the recent legislations which have been prioritized and pushed through parliament to recognize the naivety of this assumption.
While the population was riveted to the news reporting of COVID case numbers, the government strategically made significant strides to advance its detrimental agenda. As the population fiddled with COVID home-testing kits, the Liberal Government of Canada pronounced abortion an “essential service,” [17] expanding both mode and ease of abortion access; removed so-called safeguards for doctor assisted suicide, expanding MAiD eligibility criteria;[18] and made it illegal, with penalty of prison, to counter the LGBT gender-bending narrative, passing policies that advance rights and equality for “Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and additional sexually and gender diverse” (2SLGBTQi+) lobby groups.[19] In keeping with the ascribed words of Winston Churchill to “never let a good crisis go to waste,” our government wasted not a moment of the pandemic. While some may prefer to think otherwise, bias is inherent in all human decisions, and there is a worldview foundation underlying every interpretation. Either Christ is considered Lord and given ultimate authority, or he is not and authority is given to autonomous man. Although our governing authorities would prefer us think otherwise, there is no middle neutral ground from which they operate.
Aware of the government’s hidden agendas and the limited effectiveness of the mandates, many in the church still defended following the letters of the government’s ever-changing laws. They remained undeterred in their government allegiance, even when the authorities seized power by inappropriately enacting emergency measures that canceled societal freedoms of movement, assembly, and speech, and violated bodily autonomy with vaccine strongarming, and even when the government reduced the church of Christ to a mere “non-essential,” on the same plane as a bingo hall or beauty salon. Despite all of these clear overreaching and coercive tactics, they exhibited an unquestioning submission to the State. They were of the mindset that a Christian’s duty is to abide by the decrees of the governing authorities, even if those pronouncements are clearly harmful, and even if contrary to biblical commands. In essence, to grin and bear it, no matter what. Ironically, they attempted to bolster their argument by quoting from the Bible (Rom. 13:1-5), using Scripture to counter Scripture.
The Inescapably Political ChurchNonetheless, despite this contradictory methodology, they raised some important points. It’s certainly true that we are to submit to the governing authorities, as Apostle Paul admonishes (Rom. 13:1). The government is, indeed, a God-ordained institution, and has been given the sword for a reason – to keep the peace. As such, the government is a servant of God for our good. It needs to be highlighted, however, that the apostle Paul is referring to the governing authorities in the general sense, and not in the particular. He is addressing the institution of civil rule rather than a for-instance example, and speaking to the God-ordained office, not a certain officer. In this passage from the book of Romans, he is exclusively discussing the nature and obligations of civil government in general, as well as our obligation to this God-ordained sphere of authority in general. Paul also emphasizes that “there is no authority except from God” so that the government operates as a delegated authority under God. Like a parent of a family, a teacher in a school, or an elder in a church, the governing authorities are held accountable and not an authority unto themselves. As such, the powers exercised by a government have certain limits. If those boundaries are breached, they are no longer functioning as God’s servant, and are no longer deserving of our submission. As Francis Schaeffer wisely said, “The State is to be an instrument of justice, to restrain evil by punishing the wrongdoer, and protect the good in society. When it does the reverse, it has no proper authority. It is then a usurped authority, and as such, it becomes lawless and is tyranny.”[20] Take the American slave trade and Nazi Germany as examples.
Similar to the church, then, the government represents only one sphere in God’s kingdom, and not a kingdom unto itself. Both the church and state have limited jurisdiction to operate within their God-ordained roles and under His over-arching sovereignty. The church is not to infringe on the government, and the government is not to dictate to the church. In this sense, Thomas Jefferson emphasized the need to “build a wall of separation between Church and State.” This is not to say that one’s faith shouldn’t influence one’s political decisions nor impact the views of those in office. Rather this “wall” affirms the freedom of religion – as per our Charter of Rights and Freedoms – and stands to prevent the government from influencing or interfering with our religious practice. Likewise, it prevents the church from seizing the reigns of power and establishing institutional ecclesiastic control over society. This biblical relationship between church and state has been best detailed by Abraham Kuyper, as sphere sovereignty, in which “the Sovereignty of the Triune God is over the whole Cosmos, in all its spheres and kingdoms, visible and invisible.”[21] This includes, not only the church and government, but also healthcare. It’s fine for healthcare leadership to provide the church with recommendations as to best practices during COVID, as did the Centers for Disease Control did in the United States,[22] but completely outside their jurisdiction to have those recommendations enforced, effectively shutting down the church. As C.S. Lewis wisely said, “Let the doctor tell me I shall die unless I do so-and-so, but whether life is worth having on those terms is no more a question for him than any other man…”[23]
In conclusion, the church is essential and God’s primary means of revealing His kingdom to a needy world. Therefore, it is essential that the church of Christ continue to function as the church of Christ, unhindered, come hell or health minister! While we are called to respect and honor God-ordained authority, we are not to acquiesce to authority counter to God’s decrees and design, but be prepared to resist immoral laws, injustices and oppression. Where there is illegitimate authority – that which counters Scripture – the church is called to challenge and resist it, particularly when it interferes with the lives of God’s people, the worship of God, and the ecclesiastical governance and ordinances. As Francis Schaeffer noted, “In almost every place the Reformation had success there was some form of civil disobedience.”[24] This will very likely lead to increasing degrees of church persecution. But staying safe is not our primary goal. We have gospel work to do. Existential suffering remains a central issue and we are in the midst of a mental health tsunami with no imminent signs of relief.[25] And we must not forget, since the very beginning of the church, faithful Christians have resisted the state when it has deviated from its God-prescribed functions or when unjust rulers have implemented policies that are against God’s mandates, even at the cost of their own lives. We must also be prepared to stand firm. And as we do, we should be bolstered by Jesus’ assurance that “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt 16:18).
[1] The London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689. https://www.chapellibrary.org/pdf
[2] Alzyood, M. et al. COVID‐19 reinforces the importance of handwashing. J Clin Nurs. 2020 Aug; 29(15-16): 2760–2761.
[3] Parmet WE, Sinha MS. COVID-19 – the law and limits of quarantine. N Engl J Med 2020; 382:e28.
[4] Great Barrington Declaration, https://gbdeclaration.org.
[5] Bellow, H. Those who penned Great Barrington Declaration a year after it sparked worldwide firestorm: ‘This is our crucible.’ The Berkshire Eagle. Oct 6, 2021.
[6] Cooke, D. Trudeau’s MAiD Service: A Euthanasia Program for Canada, 2022, p. 17.
[7] DiGennaro, C. et al. Changes in characteristics of drug overdose death trends during the COVID-19 pandemic. International Journal of Drug Policy. Vol 98, Dec. 2021, 103392.
[8] Nationalpost.com/news/canada/canada-maid-medical-aid-in-dying-consent-doctors
[9] Trudeau’s MAiD Service, p. 17.
[10] https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/no-other-options
[11] Timothy George, Biographical Dictionary of Evangelicals. Downers-Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2003.
[12] Herman Ridderbos, The Coming of the Kingdom (New Jersey: P&R, 1962), p.343.
[13] Joseph Boot, Ruler of Kings: Toward a Christian Vision of Government (London: Wilberforce Publications, 2022), p. 164.
[14] Stathakopoulos, D. Famine and Pestilence in the late Roman and early Byzantine Empire (2007) p. 95.
[15] G. A. Williamson, The History of the Church, 1989, p. 237.
[16] Bonnie Henry, Be Kind, Be Calm, Be Safe: Four Weeks that Shaped a Pandemic. Allen Lane, 2021.
[17] https://theconversation.com/how-the-covid-19-pandemic-has-affected-abortion-care-in-canada
[18] https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/csj-sjc/pl/charter-charte/c7.html
[19] https://women-gender-equality.canada.ca/en/free-to-be-me/federal-2slgbtqi-plus-action-plan.html
[20] Francis Schaeffer, A Christian Manifesto. Crossway, 1981, p. 91.
[21] Abraham Kuyper, Christianity as a Life-System: The Witness of a World-View (USA: Christian Studies Centre, 1980), 27.
[22] ttps://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2020/s0522-cdc-releases-recommendations-faith.html
[23] C.S. Lewis. The Observer, July 20, 1958.
[24] Schaffer, A Christian Manifesto, p. 93.
[25] Holmes EA, et al. Multidisciplinary research priorities for the COVID-19 pandemic: a call for action for mental health science. Lancet Psychiatry. (2020) 7:54.
We continue our series in the Ten Commandments with the command against idolatry. In this episode, Joe Boot discusses the root of idolatry in the heart, and deals with some listener questions about the possibility of making work or family into an object of worship. We conclude by examining idolatry within the church itself.
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We’re officially underway with our series on the Ten Commandments. In this first episode, Joe Boot explains why this section of Scripture begins with the Lord declaring who He is, and why the commandments are ordered in the way that they are. If you’ve never thought about what our worship has to do with law, don’t miss this one.
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In this lecture, Joe Boot demonstrates the biblical attitude towards the created order, and explains the inherently religious worldview behind the contemporary environmentalism movement.
Watch the video here: https://vimeo.com/790484941
In this episode, Joe Boot explains how the opposite of law is not grace, nor love, but lawlessness, which often masquerades as love. Joe pulls illustrations from throughout Scripture to demonstrate the enduring validity of God’s law in the era of Christ’s resurrection. If Christ took the law seriously, and if we are to be imitators of Him, then it behooves us to take the law seriously as well.
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Note: This article is from Dr. Sandlin’s book, Prayer Changes Things.
IntroductionIf you’ve ever visited Christian bookstores, you likely have seen bracelets or plaques or bumper stickers with the statement, “Prayer Changes Things.” For years I thought that statement was trite. After all, lots of these bookstore statements are trite: “God is my co-pilot,” “Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven,” “Honk if you love Jesus.” But over the years, the more I pondered “Prayer changes things” the more I’ve come to believe that it is true, and not only true, but precisely and powerfully true in a sense we Christians do not often consider. The reason is that we misunderstand prayer.
Prayer is More than CommunionWe are called to commune with God. We worship Him. We think about Him, we ponder who He is and what He has done in the world. We stand in awe of the sovereign, triune God.
But this is not the same thing as prayer. Almost all prayer in the Bible is petitionary. By that I mean: in prayer, we ask God to do things in the earth. More importantly, we ask God to change things. Prayer actually is asking God to change the status quo. Things are a certain way — our hearts are cold, or a relative has cancer, or we lack money for our bills, or our children are drifting from the Lord, or we need direction for a decision, whatever — and we ask God to change the way things are. In other words, we’re not satisfied with the status quo. That is a legitimate godly dissatisfaction, and we must not shrink from this truth. Ungodly dissatisfaction is when God does good things for us (sometimes even good things we perceive as not good), and we don’t accept what He’s done. But godly dissatisfaction is when things are out of kilter, displeasing or harming us or impeding the gospel or the kingdom of God, and we ask God to change them. There’s nothing illegitimate about that kind of dissatisfaction. We need more of it, in fact.
Some people seem to have the idea that if we ask God for things, if we petition God, that’s somehow self-centered or unspiritual. Only if we’re worshiping God or telling Him how great He is are we truly glorifying Him. This is a very mistaken, and possibly even a spiritually fatal, idea.
In addressing the Lord’s Prayer, the commentator Matthew Henry notes that the devout Jews of Jesus’ time would often pray by telling God how great He is. This is a necessary, fundamental, and entirely appropriate way of approaching Him. But Henry writes that when Jesus taught His disciples to pray, He told them to utter petitions. In other words, He told them to ask His Father for things. When we ask God for things, we are not somehow less spiritual than when we tell God how great He is. Answered prayer is greatly more God-honoring than unanswered prayer.
Answered Prayer Glorifies GodWhy is this? For one thing, when we pray, and when God answers prayer, He increases our faith, and He shows the world His great might and power. Let’s take one petition in the Lord’s Prayer: thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. When God answers that prayer, when people turn to Jesus Christ for salvation, when they start living godly lives, when artists and businessmen and politicians start doing God’s will, God glorifies Himself. Unbelievers look around and say, “This God must be some kind of God to do all of this when His followers ask Him. Nobody I ask has ever been able to do something so massive!” In other words, God gets the glory when we pray and when He answers our prayers. And know this: God loves to get the glory (2 Cor. 10:17). He deserves to get the glory.
Prayer changes things. When we pray, we’re asking God to change things. And when He answers our prayer, He does change things. This brings us to a most telling fact that we don’t often consider: if we are perfectly willing always to accept the way things are as God’s unchangeable will, we will never be great people of prayer. Great prayer warriors are people who want things to change. They don’t accept the status quo, the present circumstances. Prayer changes things. Prayer changes circumstances. Prayer changes people. And prayer changes God.
I want to demonstrate these assertions most graphically in a passage from the life of Elijah the prophet, 1 Kings 17:17–24. I could’ve selected literally hundreds of passages in the Bible, but this one is especially powerful. It relates a striking account about the widow with whom Elijah lodged and for whom God provided during the great, God-unleashed drought as judgment during the reign of apostate King Ahab:
Now it happened after these things that the son of the woman who owned the house became sick. And his sickness was so serious that there was no breath left in him. So she said to Elijah, “What have I to do with you, O man of God? Have you come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to kill my son?” And he said to her, “Give me your son.” So he took him out of her arms and carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his own bed. Then he cried out to the Lord and said, “O Lord my God, have You also brought tragedy on the widow with whom I lodge, by killing her son?” And he stretched himself out on the child three times, and cried out to the Lord and said, “O Lord my God, I pray, let this child’s soul come back to him.” Then the Lord heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came back to him, and he revived. And Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper room into the house, and gave him to his mother. And Elijah said, “See, your son lives!” Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now by this I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is the truth.”
Prayer Changes CircumstancesNote, first, that prayer changes circumstances. God had sent a great drought on Israel because Elijah had prayed for it. Ahab was the king, and he and his wife Jezebel were apostates and idolaters. Elijah was God’s prophet, and he’d read God’s law, which threatens that if God’s people apostatize, He will shut up the heavens so that they will not send rain (Deut. 28:23–24). In other words, Elijah prayed, and he declared God’s actions according to God’s revealed will.
Think about this fact. Elijah didn’t need to ponder what the will of God was. He knew what the will of God was. If God’s people turn away from Him, God promised to punish them in a very specific way. Elijah prayed that God would do just that. Elijah prayed that God would act according to His word. That’s always a safe prayer to pray, praying the biblically revealed will of God.
As result of the drought, there was little food and water. God led Elijah to the home of the widow and her son, and God miraculously provided for her so that she could provide for Elijah. After awhile, this faithful woman’s son got sick and died, and you can imagine how grieved she was and, in fact, how resentful she was of Elijah, whom God had sent to invade her home (see v. 18). Elijah too was deeply shaken. Why would God unleash this tragedy?
Predestinarian prayersNow, I draw your attention to a most remarkable fact. In observing this child’s death, and in seeing the mother’s grief, Elijah did not pray a “predestinarian prayer.” He didn’t pray, “Lord, you’ve allowed this precious child to die, and obviously that’s your will, so we accept your will.” Nor did he encourage the mother simply to accept her son’s death as God’s will. Elijah apparently did not believe that it would be pious, that it would be God-honoring, to allow the child to remain dead. Elijah refused the accept the status quo as the will of God.
Elijah knew that prayer changes things. To elaborate on an assertion above: if you constantly accept the status quo as God’s predestined will (His eternal decrees), you cannot be a mighty man of prayer. Too often we are so worried about violating the secret decrees of God that we turn our backs on the revealed word of God.
Are We Better Parents than God?God is a powerful, prayer-hearing God, and He longs as a heavenly Father to do good things for His people. The Bible teaches this very plainly (Matt. 7:11). Yes, sometimes God allows “bad things to happen to good people” (Job), but that’s not the way He operates most of the time. He is a loving, heavenly Father to His children, and just as you want to do good things for your children, so He wants to do good things for His children. Unless you believe that you are a better parent than God is?
So let’s be very careful about using God’s secret councils as an excuse not to petition God. They are called God’s secret councils for a reason. We can’t know them. Let’s pray according to what we do know, and not according to what we do not know. And we do know that God is a loving, kind, Father who wishes to delight His children. Prayer changes circumstances, and it changed this widow’s circumstances.
Prayer Changes PeopleSecond, prayer changes people. This child was dead. Elijah prayed, and God raised him from the dead. This is not an example of a modern “healing ministry.” You might know about a large charismatic church in Redding, California that specializes in alleged public resurrections. There’s a huge amount of weirdness and goofiness and theological error surrounding this ministry, but one thing I want to point out is that when Elijah raised this child from the dead, there was no public fanfare. There wasn’t any fanfare at all — the prayer wasn’t answered in public. In other words, this wasn’t an example of an “answered prayer party.” These “healing ministries” that bring in hundreds or thousands of spectators and bring glory to man and bring money into the coffers are a prostitution of the biblical teaching about prayer. When God used Elijah to raise this boy, three people knew. Only three people and God needed to know.
Prayer changes people. God gives us volition and choice, and He doesn’t turn us into robots or machines. We are created in God’s image, and that image includes volition. But God can work in our and in other people’s lives in such a way as to change us. This means that we can pray that God changes people. And we should.
This is why Paul tells Timothy (1 Tim. 2:2) to teach his flock that they should pray for their political leaders, so that the people of God can live a quiet and peaceful life. In other words, we should pray that God changes the hearts of political leaders so that they leave the church and God’s people alone to do God’s work.
God is intentionally vulnerable to prayerThere are several times in the Bible (see, for example, Jer. 14:11) where God tells His prophets not to pray for His people. In other words, they had turned their back on God so much, and He didn’t want His prophets trying to persuade Him not to send judgment. This means that God recognizes that prayer to Him for people can be very effective. God knows that His own heart is vulnerable to the persevering prayer of His saints. God wants to answer prayer. God wants to be persuaded to avert His wrath.
Prayer changes people. I don’t mean by that that if we pray, the act of prayer will change us. Of course, that’s true. When we pour out our hearts to God, we get much closer to Him, by the very nature of prayer itself. Our minds and hearts are riveted to spiritual things. We gradually lose our worldliness. God changes people who pray.
I mean something else. I mean that we should pray for God to change people, and He will change them. Just as God raised this child in answer to Elijah’s prayer, so He can and will raise sinners to eternal life because of our prayer. The question for us is: do we pray for God to save sinners? And if not, why not?
If we answer, “Well, we don’t know if they are one of the elect,” we give the wrong answer. All of God’s chosen will be in the fold in the final day, but He uses prayer to get them there. God doesn’t only elect men; He elects means. And one of those means is prayer.
If our spouse or children or friends are walking away from the Lord, let’s pray that God unleashes His bloodhounds to find them and bring them back. They bear the mark of baptism. That’s the mark of discipleship. That means they’ve been given to the Lord. They have been given to Him, so let’s pray that He goes and gets them. This isn’t rocket science. This is godly prayer.
If our brothers and sisters are sick, we need to pray that God heals them. This isn’t merely a good idea. This is what the Bible demands (Jas. 5:13–16). Think of that fact. God didn’t say that prayer for healing is a wonderful privilege, if only we choose to exercise it. He says that if someone is sick, we need to pray that God heals them, and, in fact, they should call for the elders to anoint them and pray over them.
Yes, there are certain specific illnesses that are in God’s will (2 Tim. 4:20). But in many, many cases, God sends illnesses so that we will pray and exercise faith and be healed and bring glory to God (John 11:4). Physical healing no less than spiritual healing brings glory to God.
In other words, like Elijah, when someone is sick, even to the point of death, we shouldn’t merely accept the status quo. Why? Because prayer changes people.
Prayer Changes GodFinally, prayer changes God. This statement may not ring true in our ears. The Bible says plainly that God does not change (Mal. 3:6). Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb. 13:8). Obviously, there is some sense in which God does not change. But we know that in another sense, He does change. Again and again the Bible says that God repents, or relents, or changes His mind (Gen. 6:6; Ex. 32:14; Deut. 32:36; Jer. 42:10). This isn’t a contradiction, and it’s not hard to reconcile this apparent (but only apparent) contradiction.
God’s character doesn’t change. He’s always loving, just, holy, kind, and long suffering. God isn’t capricious. God isn’t flighty. God cannot be evil. He cannot be unrighteous. He cannot be unloving. His nature cannot change.
But His stated purposes can change, and they do change. One of the most powerful proofs of this is Genesis 6, where we read that God looked on the earth in Noah’s time, and He was grieved that He had created humanity. He was excited to have created man, and it grieved Him that man had raced into depravity. He was sad that He had even created man in the first place.
In the book of Jonah we read that God says that within a few weeks, He’ll completely destroy Nineveh for their depravity (1:2; 3:1–4). He didn’t put any qualifications on that warning. He didn’t say, “If you repent, I won’t judge you.” But they did repent, and God didn’t destroy them.
God says He’s going to do something, and then people pour out their hearts before God, and then He changes His mind. This happens again and again in the Bible, so many times, in fact, that we might want to say that it’s in God’s nature to change His mind when His people, and even sincere, humble sinners, pour out their souls to Him. God delights to make Himself open to change in the face of heartfelt prayer.
A great example is in our text. We read that twice Elijah “cried” to the Lord (vv. 20, 21). This means that he spoke emotionally, in a very loud voice. This is just the opposite of a “quiet-time” prayer. And we read in verse 22 that the Lord listened to or heard this loud, passionate prayer.
This verse implies something very important. God was set on the path to take the widow’s son in death, and He did take him. That was His implied purpose. Elijah plainly says that this was God’s purpose. But his great emotional plea turned God around. God changed what He had planned to do. Elijah prayed, and his prayer changed God.
Audacity in prayerThe Bible is quite clear that prayer changes God. If this is true, then we should be much more audacious in prayer than we are. We read in Exodus 32 about how Israel turned to idolatry and fornication when Moses was on Sinai receiving from God His law. God told Moses that He was going to destroy the entire nation and then He said something very interesting. He said to Moses, “Leave me alone” (v. 10). God knew that Moses was in the habit of “disturbing” Him in prayer. God would say, “I’m going to do this,” and Moses would say, “I beg you, God, don’t do that,” and God would change His mind.
To repeat: God’s stated purposes can be changed if we pour out our hearts in prayer. This is another way of saying that God has made Himself vulnerable and susceptible to man’s pleading.
Therefore, when something bad has happened, or when someone has committed some terrible sin, don’t just sit and wait for God’s judgment. Get on your knees and beg God to avert His judgment and to lead them to repentance. God will never break His promises to us, but God is eager to change His declared purposes of judgment (and on other matters) if we pour out our hearts before Him.
Do not think that your prayer cannot affect God. Do not think that God is not emotional about and vulnerable to His people. He gets furious at them when they turn their back on Him, and He delights in them when they love and trust Him and repent and obey. Therefore, appeal to God’s mercy and honor and even His reputation (Ex. 32:11–14) when you pray.
ConclusionPrayer changes circumstances. Prayer changes people. And prayer changes God. If this is true, and it is, we should pray more, we should pray more often, we should pray more fervently, we should pray more confidently, and we should never settle for the status quo, because the whole point of prayer is for God to change the status quo.
We’re kicking off the new year with a new series, dealing with ethics and law generally, and the Ten Commandments specifically. In this episode, Joe Boot talks about the distinction between laws and norms, the fact that we live in a universe designed by God that is made to work according to His instruction, and what love has to do with fulfilling the law.
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On this episode Joe Boot and Ezra Institute Fellow Aaron Rock discuss the themes, issues, and ideologies related to the contemporary environmentalism movement. For those who didn’t get their questions answered during the conference Q&A session, we deal with several more of those questions here.
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We bring our series in Thomas Aquinas to a close by restating six significant differences between Thomistic thought and the reformation worldview that we believe is more consistent with Scripture. On the question of origins, nature and grace, ontology and anthropology, apologetics and Christian philosophy, the medieval thought of Aquinas falls short of the biblical position.
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This Christmas I have been reflecting once again on the wonder and radical implications of Christ’s coming: the harbinger of the restoration and transformation of all life, the ultimate meaning of Christ’s ‘tabernacling’ presence with us in the flesh. In our fretful times it is all too easy to neglect, underestimate and understate the immense reality of Emmanuel, God with us. Life without the incarnate Word is surely aimless and empty, breeding in fallen humanity both boredom and despair. Indeed, the human condition is, as Blaise Pascal so aptly described it, ‘inconstancy, boredom, anxiety.’
The ironic loneliness of ‘mass man’ in our spiritually uprooted era leads to a striving for fellowship and community by a radical leveling, a revolt and emancipation from authority in a collectivized society. An unlikely and awkward cultural prophet of the modern age, the Danish melancholic, Søren Kierkegaard predicted many changes that would occur in Western society as a result of a life without God; his solution was appealingly simple:
When the generation which in fact has sought to level everyone and everything, has wanted to be emancipated and to revolt, has wanted to demolish authority, has eliminated individualities and all that is organic and concrete and has substituted such concepts as humanity and numerical equality among men … then it will be said: “Look, everything is ready; look, the cruelty of these abstractions exposes the illusions of the finite; look the abyss of the infinite is opening up … look, God is waiting! Leap, then, leap into the arms of God.
Kierkegaard, in Malcolm Muggeridge, A Third Testament: A Modern Pilgrim Explores the Spiritual Wanderings of Augustine, Blake, Pascal, Tolstoy, Bonhoeffer, Kierkegaard, and Dostoevsky. (Little, Brown, 1976).
Only the presence of God in his glory, the personal manifest reality of Emmanuel, is sufficient to our troubled times and all our needs, for underneath us are the everlasting arms.
At the remarkable close of Exodus 40, when Moses had finished building the tabernacle according the to the Lord’s instruction – a mysterious kind of model of Eden where the first kingly priests were to rule and subdue in fellowship with God – we are told that the Lord God Almighty moved in to dwell with the people and the Lord’s glory filled the tent. He was now with them in that fiery glory cloud throughout their journey in the wilderness, through all the struggles, conflicts and difficulties. God resided with them fulfilling His purposes, despite their doubts, troubles and fears.
This Christmas we are again reminded that “The Word became flesh and dwelt (lit. tabernacled) amongst us … and we beheld his glory” (John 1:14). Because of the incarnation, this very day, Christ is with us, living among us, manifesting His glory. Since the wonderful day of Pentecost, as the body of Christ, we Christians are the temple of the living God where His glory dwells and He fills His holy temple throughout all the nations, “Don’t you yourselves know that you are God’s sanctuary and that the Spirit of God lives in you?” (1 Cor. 3:16). The living God has become tangible in the lives of those in whom His Spirit dwells, being made manifest in their kingdom life, testimony and service.
It is true of course that when the glory of God came so close and visible to the people of Israel on their sojourn, their response was not always what we might expect having had so powerful and immediate an experience of God – reverence, awe and obedience. Instead, they were frequently rebellious and disobedient on their journey, despite God’s throne room being present amongst them. The same is true today, even though the Lord Jesus Christ, the glory of God and exact representation of His being, has come so close, tabernacling in the flesh and abiding with us in the person of the Holy Spirit. On the journey of His people, we see apostasy and backsliding and are easily discouraged. We are frequently surrounded by unbelief and disobedience to the gospel. More shocking still, like the older covenant people, the newer covenant people can be equally presumptuous, careless and disobedient to His Word. And just like Israel, we are faced, even in our church culture, with cowardice, compromise and unbelief. This makes for a poor witness to a despairing and lonely world.
Yet, because of the marvel of the incarnation, we cannot and must not lose heart. Moses was easily depressed by the people’s behavior, as was the prophet Elijah, a mocked and persecuted man – faithful cultural prophecy in terms of Word of God has never won popularity contests. Yet God always works with a remnant, with those who choose to stand on the Lord’s side in the face of a generation in revolt against maturity and authority. As such, history has never been dominated by majorities, but only by faithful minorities who stand unconditionally upon their faith.
Whatever the tests, challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for you and your family in the coming year, be mindful that we have the unfathomable privilege of beholding daily His glory with unveiled faces, being transformed from one degree of glory to another because Emmanuel, God is with us! His glory truly dwells with us as His people and so whatever battles, triumphs and suffering are in store, be assured God almighty is with us, “And if God be for us, who can be against us?” Let our only response to his tabernacling presence again this Christmas be awe, reverence and joyful obedience. The glory cloud must be allowed to fill our hearts and His Spirit overtake us so that when our anxious thought is exhausted, our faith sees through to the other side. As Kierkegaard confessed:
I once contemplated the possibility of not letting myself be taken over by Christianity, to do nothing else but expound and interpret it, myself not a Christian in the final and most decisive sense of the word … And only now, with the help of heavy sufferings and the bitterness of repentance, have I perhaps learned enough about dying away from the world that I can rightly speak of finding my whole life and my salvation through faith in the forgiveness of sins.
Kierkegaard, in Muggeridge, A Third Testament.
As we look both behind and ahead this Christmas season, let us do so in hope, gratitude and faith in Christ’s forgiveness of our sins, finding joy even as we emerge from the bitterness of repentance.
Despite appearances to the contrary, Christ our glory is bringing all things into subjection to Himself, first our own hearts and then all of His creation. It has been rightly said that the story of Scripture is that of the constant victories of God’s kingdom, often cleverly disguised as defeats. The glory cloud that once covered the little tabernacle in the wilderness, which now fills our hearts and dwells among God’s kingdom people among the nations, shall one day cover the whole earth. “For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the see.” Take heart, the increase of the government and peace of Christ our newborn king, shall know no end!
This Christmas season, Joe Boot reflects on the staggering reality of God’s glory revealed to His people as he takes up residence, or tabernacles, among us. This fact ought to be a great source of strength for Christians, greater than any hardship we could ever experience.
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This Christmas season, we talk about the question of public, national worship, and the state in direct relation to God.
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Start off 2023 with daily readings and meditations from the Heidelberg Catechism
In this episode Joe describes the influence that Thomas Aquinas has had on the field of Christian apologetics, and discusses the areas where the Thomistic approach falls short of vindicating the full Christian doctrine of God.
Joe’s classic apologetics work, A Time to Search, is available at Ezra Press.
For the first time in hundreds of years we are facing ignorant masses in our own nations who have no idea of Christ or the beauty of the gospel and they are wandering aimless, confused, and lost, unable to look to national leaders for any kind of example.
Ezra Institute Fellow Dr. James White joins us this week to talk about the Protestant fascination with Aquinas, and the path that leads from Thomism to Roman Catholicism. Dr. White explains some of the reasons why Protestants are induced to follow Thomas, the fundamental issue of authority that is at stake, and what Thomas would have thought of the current Pope.
Joe Boot addresses the realm of medicine and healing, and demonstrates how much of the contemporary thinking surrounding medicine has been reduced to mere biology. In contrast, the Christian should think of health in terms of wholeness - both wholeness of the created reality, and wholeness in the sense of health.
In this episode Joe Boot discusses the thought of Thomas Aquinas as it relates to the Christian understanding of history. To speak of history is inescapably to speak about God's relation to and activity within His creation.
This week in the thought of Thomas Aquinas, we examine the idea of natural law, and conclude that, as articulated by Aquinas, it is an idea that gives unwarranted scope to human reason, and effectively makes God equal with His law. In contrast, Scripture teaches that God is the source of all definition, and that human law must be positivized in an historical context.
We could have also titled this episode How the Reformation delivered us from ecclesiocracy. Here we discuss Aquinas' political philosophy, the problem with his adoption of Aristotle's teaching that man is a political animal, and the need for an utterly transcendent authority.
There is a common assumption in Christianity that at the fall, man lost a supernatural gift of grace, but retained his natural faculties intact and unscathed - including the faculty of reason. In this episode, Joe Boot explains that the biblical distinction is not nature and grace, but wrath and grace: those who belong to Christ and those who war against Him.
Ezra Institute Fellow Andre Schutten talks about Canada's newest Federal Action Plan to spend $100 million to advance a postmodern, secular worldview in the area of sexuality. He reinforces how Christians must stand firm on God's eternal Word and not be taken captive to contemporary godless rhetoric and talking points like 'love is love.'
As we continue this short series on Thomas Aquinas, it's important to consider his dominant influences; chief among these is the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle. This episode considers Aristotle's contributions to the field of philosophy, and dwells on his ideas about the nature of man.
God instructs, guides, disciplines and at times punishes us as a righteous and holy father because He loves us. Our acceptance or rejection of God’s discipline determines the destiny of families, churches, and nations.
We have new music and a new theme as we get rolling in Season 6. In this episode we begin a short series on the life, thought, and influence of Thomas Aquinas, the medieval scholastic philosopher and theologian, introducing his person and major works, and considering why there seems to be a recent revival of…
Aaron Rock joins the podcast this week to discuss the scheduled expiry of Canadian border restrictions and the ArriveCan app. We also discuss Canada's latest Federal Action Plan to advance LGBTQ rights, and the inescapability of religious commitments.
In this episode Joe Boot reflects on the funeral ceremonies of Queen Elizabeth II, the historic role of the English monarch as "Defender of the Faith," and the error of contemporary Two Kingdoms thinking.
There is no understanding Elizabeth II without getting to the religious root of her service as Queen – her oath to serve Christ and submit to His Word and universal Empire.
In this episode we reflect on the legacy of Elizabeth II, the role she played in influencing culture, and the Christian virtue she exhibited as a monarch who was self-consciously under the authority of God. Scripture has much to say about thrones and kingdoms, and Joe Boot discusses some of the major passages for how a king is to rule.
We're back with a brand-new season of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation! Joe, Nate, and Ryan discuss the recently published Frankfurt Declaration of Christian and Civil Liberties, and the relationship of the Cultural Mandate and Great Commission. In its most basic formulation, we tend to see Christians desiring to conform to culture or to escape culture, though the biblical calling is for God's saints to transform and build culture.
Ezra Institute Fellow Andrew Sandlin responds to listener questions on prayer: why it is difficult to develop a habit of prayerfulness, how to pray boldly and faithfully, and what happens when we pray.
A distinctly Christian way of thinking means returning to the Word of God as the source of all true knowledge and insight, and building an understanding of the world from that foundation. It is our starting point that makes all the difference. Register for the Christianity and Culture Colloquium, October 18-21. This episode originally aired…
Jacob Reaume, pastor of Trinity Bible Chapel, joins us to talk about an upcoming documentary he is producing, Antichrist and His Ruin, dealing with the life and witness of John Bunyan, the biblical teaching on the doctrine of antichrist, and the call to the church for courage and faithfulness.
This episode started out with John Cooper asking Joe Boot about pacifism, and became a wide-ranging dialogue on what it means to be an image-bearer of God, and the implications that reality has for war, self-defense, and living in a state that is hostile to God. We also discuss the descriptions of God in Scripture as a warrior and the fact that the obligation to give honour and obedience is always qualified except when it is due to God.
In this episode, we discuss Edmund Burke and the origins of modern conservative ideology; we consider the validity of the sentiment that there is a crisis in conservatism, as well as the historic connection between conservatism and Christianity. Joe Boot explains how the contemporary attempt to distinguish between fiscal and social conservatism is a practical impossibility.
On this week's episode we consider the biblical conditions necessary for human flourishing, which always manifests in economic prosperity. Jonathan Wellum, CEO of Rocklinc Investment Partners, shares how a biblical approach to economics handles inflation and private property, and how contemporary theories and policies cause the greatest harm to the world's poorest people.
Dale Partridge joins us as a guest this week to discuss how his organization is working to fulfill the Great Commission on a national and international scale. We also discuss the masculinity of Jesus, and the eschatological hope that motivates our evangelistic efforts.
What does the recent Dobbs decision of the US Supreme Court mean for the practice of abortion? We discuss why it's fitting for Christians to loudly celebrate this ruling, as well as the reason we must approach issues related to life in terms of God's standard, for any other standard is ultimately arbitrary and subject to change.
Andrew Sandlin joins us from the Runner Academy to talk about the nature of God's covenant with man, how the new covenant relates to earlier covenants, and what the covenant has to do with our responsibilities as citizens of the kingdom of God.
At the conclusion of the 2022 Runner Academy, Joe Boot explains why the Ezra Institute exists and why we run training programs. We explore what it means for man to be made in the image of God, and how we are to steward creation and build culture for the sake of the kingdom of God.
Andre Schutten, Ezra Institute Fellow for Law and Civil Discourse, joins us to talk about how the idea of constitutional government arose, and how societies have benefited from it. He also illustrates recent cases where our constitutional heritage has been threatened, and some ways we can work to involve ourselves in our society as Christians and citizens, for the good of the nation.
In this episode, we investigate the worldview and origins of proto-feminism as well as first-wave feminism. This movement often gets tacit approval from Christians because of things like universal suffrage, but at its root, this movement, led by figures like Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Stanton, and Margaret Sanger, is a self-centred, resentful ideology that opposes the family and fosters a bigger state.
In this week's episode, we dive into a few recent news stories as we work to discover meaning in a world that has increasingly abandoned truth and reason. We consider some of the causes and responses to the recent Texas school shooting, as well as the growing realization that the biggest victims of the Sexual Revolution have been women.
By criminalizing Christian witness of the gospel in the important sphere of sexuality and gender identity, the amendment to Canadian law by Bill C4 harm numerous vulnerable groups that it purports to defend.
We conclude our introduction to Critical Theory by identifying some of the key personalities responsible for this school of thought and their major ideas. You may have heard of some of these men: Georg Lukacs, Antonio Gramsci, Herbert Marcuse, Wilhelm Reich, and Erich Fromm. From their own writing, it is clear that Critical Theory is more than an analytical tool, but is in fact a self-consciously religious worldview, complete with doctrines of sin, justice, and salvation.
Many Christians have heard of Critical Theory, but are unclear what it is and what it entails. In this first episode of a short series, we introduce the nature of Critical Theory, its Marxist origins in the Frankfurt School, and how it uses language to set itself up in opposition to the Christian worldview of the Bible.
Man is king of creation, under God‘s authority, and He wants man to enjoy that creation. The problem with creation-worship is not creation, but the sinful human heart.
Our newest Fellow, Dr. Ben Merkle, joins us on this week's episode. Dr. Merkle is President of New Saint Andrews College, and we talk about the current state of higher education, the need for foundational worldview formation in critical thinking, and the fact that half the students in universities don't need to be there.
On this episode we conclude our overview of Joe Boot's newest book, Ruler of Kings, and explain how the concept of heresy applies to political and social life outside of the church. We also lay out the difference between theocracy and ecclesiocracy, and describe how every society, from revolutionary France to modern North America, has a god-concept that demands ultimate allegiance.
On this episode we discuss Joe's newest book, Ruler of Kings. Joe explains why he felt compelled to write such a book at this time, and what the reign of King Jesus means for the way we understand and relate to civil government.
Our cultural treatment of everything once sacred as common, unimportant and profane is a mark of our apostasy and disrespect for God and the places in which He is worshipped and adored. Instead, we require honor and respect for human courts, government buildings and state property, but not the Lord. We live in a context where the Canadian Prime Minister will fence off Parliament as sacred space for democracy (people power) and to protect himself from peaceful political dissent and yet will do nothing when over 50 churches are burned to the ground.
Reflecting on the Easter season we've just come through, Joe Boot discusses the significance of the garden theme throughout Scripture, pointing to Christ as both the gardener and the king, and to the calling of his people to live in submission to him, holding forth dominion over the created world to tend and keep it. And if you've ever been unsure what Joe means by vice-gerent, we clarify it today!
On this week's episode we're joined by Ezra Institute Fellow for Biblical Economics, Graeme Leach. Graeme explains why the realm of economics is frequently neglected or misunderstood by Christians, how a biblical vision for economic life, that emphasizes property rights, proportional taxation, and voluntary welfare, leads to a more free and prosperous society, and how Christians can take action to order our economic lives to the
As we wrap up the third chapter of a discussion on theonomy, law, and the Kingdom of God, we look at some historical cases where biblical law was applied to and positivized in the laws of the nations other than Israel, including Britain, the United States, and Canada. Because law is an inescapable condition of life, if we will not be governed by God's law, we must necessarily be governed by some other law. Which one do we want for our nation?
We resume the conversation from last week on the place of God's law in society, and interact with listener questions. We also examine the New Testament teaching on the law of God, and address the reality that all law is coercive, by its very nature.
The literal meaning of theonomy is simply the law of God. However, it has come to be used as a pejorative term by many who have not interacted with or understood the work on the subject. Pastor Norm Millar of Redemption Bible Chapel in London raised some common objections to theonomy in a recent sermon, and we respond to some of them in this episode.
Ezra Institute Fellow Andrew Sandlin joins us on the show this week to talk about the current state of the West, demonstrating how we have become an anti-Christian culture. Andrew then explains the Christian calling to transform, rather than abandon, culture, and finally exhorts God's people to exercise godly dominion in building Christian culture.
After a stretch of current events commentary, we return to the main themes of this season: worldview and informational thinking. As the world around us seems to devolve at an accelerating pace, it's important to think and act from a principled and self-consciously Christian perspective.
Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.
Last week we talked about the nature, origins, and features of totalitarian states, and ended with a promise to discuss practical tactics for Christians to use in response. This episode highlights some of those responses, beginning with the often overlooked and undervalued weapon of prayer.
In this episode we examine and define totalitarianism- its meaning, origins, and some historic examples. We look at the ancient roots of this ideology as expressed by Aristotle and implicitly adopted by Thomas Aquinas and the Roman Catholic church. As we witness the continued push toward totalitarianism in Canada in particular, what were the assumptions and commitments that brought us to this point?
Neither the cosmos as a whole, nor any particular part of it, is self-sufficient. Nothing exists by itself or for itself – including man – but consists in an unbreakable coherence with all other things by virtue of creation in Jesus Christ.
Aaron Rock, Ezra Institute Fellow and Pastor of Harvest Windsor, joins us on this episode to talk about how to understand Christian unity, and what our view on unity and division say about the gospel. Disunity is rooted in differing theological understandings of what it means for Christ to be Lord. We also touch on the Great Schism, marriage and sex, eschatology, the church, and the current state of emergency in Canada.
John Cooper of Skillet joins us to talk about their recent album, Dominion, about the experience of writing music in a dark and confused cultural moment, and about the importance of Christians participating in civil life.
The following article was written in December 2020 and initially published at Rebel Alliance Media in January 2021. Over a year later, unlawful freedom-denying mandates continue to be enforced in Ontario and Canada, and the population is receiving daily developments on the Canadian truckers’ Freedom Convoy in Ottawa. Numerous Christians in Canada have begun examining and rehearsing many of these same issues - scores for the first time.
Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord, saying, “I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea."
The dispute over the meaning and extent of rights and freedoms is on display in the Canadian truckers' ongoing protest in Ottawa, and the response to it from media and elected officials. But this dispute is also rooted in an older and deeper philosophical system known as Critical Theory. As ever, the solution is ultimately and only found at the cross of Jesus Christ.
In our contemporary cultural moment, righteousness is modified to mean an egalitarian order of social justice where the new great sins are homophobia, whiteness, possessing hard-earned wealth, emitting carbon, and any form of judgment rooted in the law of God.
What a man avoids saying is often more telling than what he does say. As a 70-kilometer-long truck convoy approaches Ottawa in opposition to mandatory vaccinations, we have an opportunity to reflect on some of the reasons that evangelicals have seemed hesitant to publicly and clearly declare, from a scriptural foundation, what they oppose.
In a Christian worldview, every area of life and experience is to be brought under the lordship of Jesus the King. Another way to say this is that as God's vice-gerents, human beings are called to exercise God-honouring dominion over the earth. Special guest Allie-Beth Stuckey joins us to talk about the Christian calling to faithfulness in the sphere of politics and media.
As Canada faces a legal context that is increasingly hostile to Christian belief and practice, the church has an opportunity and an obligation to speak prophetically to our civil authorities, reminding them that they are ministers under authority of Jesus Christ, the Ruler of the kings of the earth.
Jesus Christ is gathering His inheritance from all the nations of the earth, reconciling and restoring what had been handed over to the devil. Christians have graciously been given a role to play in this restoration process.
At the center of the COVID crisis is a worldview conflict, and it is this conflict that has birthed the contentious vaccine mandate and effectively divided the church, as well as our country, culture, workplaces, social circles, and even families.
From the creation of the very first people in the garden of Eden, human beings were called to develop the earth to create all kinds of wealth and riches that lay hidden and undeveloped in creation. This development was not and is not easy. There are three ways by which wealth can be built: hard work, inheritance, or theft.
For this Christmas week episode, we examine a recent tweet from Tim Keller submitted by a listener on the nature of the cross and of power. To understand what Christ was accomplishing and demonstrating on the cross, we need to consider why He came to earth as a baby in the first place, and what He has called His people to in the time before His incarnation as well as after His ascension to the Father.
This week's episode deals with the recent hustle of Bill C4 through the Canadian senate, to become law early in the new year, describing how Christian counselling has effectively and explicitly been made a criminal offense. We also get a chance to respond to some listener questions on the relationship between law and gospel.
The non-Christian, secular-pagan worldview offers no reason to obey the state except that the state has a monopoly on the means of force.
Today Canada passed Bill C4, asserting that the basis of human dignity consists in radical autonomy from any tradition or authority. Such legislation should leave no doubt whether politics is a moral issue - it is something that Scripture speaks about, and something that ministers ought to speak on both in public and in the pulpit.
Where do we locate the starting point for human thinking? Descartes famously identified human nature with thought: "I think, therefore I am." However, the "I" who thinks must find its foundation in something prior to thought. The Christian perspective locates the root of thinking in the heart, which makes a religious choice about the origin of all things.
In Christ we are freed from the power of sin and death to serve God and His kingdom purposes and as such are delivered from the tyranny of man playing God.
The issue of theonomy has been a perennial question - how do we understand, interpret, and apply the law of God in its original context, as well as the present day? Beginning with the basics, Joe Boot examines the origins and assumptions of the theonomic perspective, explaining that at its root, theonomy is a view of Christian ethics that seeks to take the whole Word of God seriously.
Pastor Tim Stephens of Fairview Baptist Church, Calgary, joins us to talk about his experience with Alberta Health Services and the reason he persisted in gathering his church together. Andre Schutten considers some of the legal implications and precedents surrounding Tim's case, and the nature of the relationship between the church and the civil magistrate.
Tracking the development of Western thought from the Reformation and forward into today, we notice that several contemporary dominant ideas that have their root in self-conscious opposition to God and His Word, and to the idea of man as the image-bearer of God. Chief among these in our own time is the modern green movement. What does a biblical approach to climate stewardship look like?
As we reflect on the anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, Joe Boot addresses the common perception that the Reformation was a movement limited to the church. Rather, the recovery of biblical authority had and continues to have implications to every area of our life and work.
By any reckoning, the events of 2020 and 2021 have been at once tragic, deeply disturbing, and far-reaching in scope and implication. A kind of paradigm shift has taken place while millions of us were ordered to stay in our homes. What was once unthinkable in the West can never be made unthinkable again.
We revisit two of our favourite themes - Sphere Sovereignty and Modal Aspects - and explore how these two models emerged from the Reformation and how they identify and give expression to the way the world is necessarily organized.
For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
The biblical starting point for all human activity - including academic reflection - is the character of God as revealed in the Bible, the incarnate Son, and the created world. For man to begin with anything else is necessarily to respond in an idolatrous fashion.
At the 2021 Runner Academy, Joe Boot explains how there is a distinctly Christian way to view political life, and that it is a view that subordinates politics under the rule of Jesus the King.
Contrary to unbelieving philosophy which places some aspect of human experience on the throne of the universe, and contrary to earlier Christian philosophy which seeks to elevate theology above all other spheres of science, is the Reformational view. On this view, the self-attesting revealed Word of God is the basis for every subsequent theory about the universe.
Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us.”
This episode introduces the idea that aspects of reality hang together like pearls on a thread, and explains how philosophical assumptions inform and direct our everyday activities.
The law of the Lord is perfect,reviving the soul;the testimony of the Lord is sure,making wise the simple;
A distinctly Christian way of thinking means returning to the Word of God as the source of all true knowledge and insight, and building an understanding of the world from that foundation. It is our starting point that makes all the difference.
When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.”
Season Five of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation kicks off with a brief review of the Canadian Federal election and begins a discussion that we will develop throughout this season on how and why a fully formed Christian worldview accounts for reality, even in the midst of tumultuous cultural circumstances.
So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.”
So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.”
On this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Marcus Pittman describes the present state of Christian representation in mainstream arts and entertainment, and what he is doing to improve it. We discuss the Christian calling to be the best storytellers, because the Christian story is the greatest story in the world.
On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
Christian orthodoxy is antithetical to utopian illusions. Since God governs history, the Christian, in faith, obedience, and confidence, moves toward God’s predestined future. The triune, sovereign Lord, who by His providence and power sustains all things at every moment, is the one in whom the Christian trusts.
ible depicts the family as God’s basic institution for a peaceful and orderly social order. It is no exaggeration to say that if we try to redefine the nature of the family, we redefine society itself.
Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
In order to achieve the visions of liberation and environmental justice it is necessary to shape the hearts and minds of the rising generation. One of the main planks in the radical environmentalist platform is to ensure the children have been indoctrinated regarding the ‘facts’ about climate change and understand their own negative impact on the earth as analogous to a virus infecting a host.
But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water.
But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water.
Throughout the green movement, many are promoting a culture of death in the name of life, health and eco-justice. Whereas the God of Scripture says, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it”, and tells us that children are a heritage and reward from Him, this new religion tells us that children are a threat to planetary life and large families a disease.
Ezra Institute Fellow Danie Strauss sits with Joe Boot in a series of interviews explaining the nature and origins of Reformational philosophy. In this segment Dr. Strauss introduces the impact that the Reformation had on the history of philosophy and the development of academic freedom.
A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.”
A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
The liberating identity of those in the covenant of grace transcends skin color and ethnic origin and refuses to look at the world in terms of us and them, oppressors versus oppressed, but grasps all reality in light of our Creation, Fall, and Redemption as a human race.
When Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples across the Kidron Valley, where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered. Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, for Jesus often met there with his disciples.
The idea of structural oppression and the need to be liberated from it is not new. It is a religious motive, with its own doctrine of God, man, sin, and redemption. It has taken specific aim at the evisceration of Christianized culture, and it has recurred again and again, especially since the French Revolution.
When it comes to human culture, the question is not whether we will shape culture, but what kind of culture will we cultivate. That is to say, as image-bearers of God, we are inescapably cultural creatures. We have been placed in this world as in a garden, to tend, develop and care for it.
I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
At the 2021 Colombian Association for Christian Schools Conference Joe Boot explains how Christian Education is vital for Christians, especially in light of the current cultural climate.
Joe Boot explains how intellectuals are informed by one worldview or another, which always underlies their efforts to account for either physical or social phenomena, informing the solutions they offer.
When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
As image-bearers of God, human beings occupy a privileged place within creation. The wonder of man is that he occupies a kingly position as the religious center of the temporal cosmos. Christ Jesus emphasized the central place of man not only by His own incarnation, but by the relative value he placed on human beings and the responsibility we have to care for and cultivate other parts of creation.
If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
At the 2021 Runner Academy, Joe Boot and faculty introduce the work and reformational vision of Evan Runner, and respond to delegates' live questions on law, politics, theology, and the Canadian justice system.
I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
Scripture clearly connects the activities of creation and redemption as a unified totality in Jesus Christ, pointing to the ultimate destiny of redeemed humanity in resurrection life. In Colossians 1:15-20, Paul affirms that all things in the entire cosmos, visible and invisible, including all powers and authorities, both heavenly and earthly, were created through and for Christ. Nothing exists by itself or for itself – including man – but consists in an unbreakable coherence with all other things by virtue of creation.
These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
The biblical command to love our neighbour is one of the most frequently repeated sentiments, used by both believers and unbelievers. But it is important to understand the command to love in its proper context of the law of God, otherwise we risk reducing love to an elastic term that we can fill with whatever content we want.
Music graciously provided by Jacob Moon.
Read Peter Leithart’s article here.
For a sample of articles and studies related to face masks, see here, here, and here.
In the first of a new series produced in partnership with Answers in Genesis, Joe Boot discusses how Scripture clearly connects the activities of creation and redemption as a unified totality in Jesus Christ, pointing to the ultimate destiny of redeemed humanity in resurrection life. In Colossians 1:15-20, Paul affirms that all things in the entire cosmos, visible and invisible, including all powers and authorities, both heavenly and earthly, were created through and for Christ. Nothing exists by itself or for itself – including man – but consists in an unbreakable coherence with all other things by virtue of creation.
Watch the video here: https://vimeo.com/569516551
Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
The good news of the gospel message has profound consequences beyond personal salvation. The gospel is the power of God to extend His Kingdom rule over residential schools, closed churches, and godless legislation.
Music graciously provided by Jacob Moon.
Get Gospel Culture, Joe Boot’s book on the transformative power of the gospel over all of life and culture.
Read Dr. Scott Hamilton’s paper on residential schools.
After saying these things, Jesus was troubled in his spirit, and testified, “Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.”
In this workshop session originally delivered to Christian medical professionals, Joe Boot explains the full scope of the meaning of health, and what the gospel of Jesus Christ means for the health of society.
Music graciously provided by Jacob Moon.
Get Ezra Institute Fellow Ted Fenske’s book, Keeping Faith in Medicine, here.
If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.
If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.
Joe Boot explains the importance for culture of a uniquely Christian approach to education, and the role of education in planning for and shaping the future.
Music graciously provided by Jacob Moon.
When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them. Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him, so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled…
At the 2021 Colombian Association for Christian Schools Conference Joe Boot explains how Christian Education is a vital for Christians, especially in light of the current cultural climate.
Watch the video here: https://vimeo.com/559998988
At the 2021 Colombian Association for Christian Schools Conference Joe Boot introduces what it means to transform the culture through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, especially as it relates to the field of Education. Watch the video here: https://vimeo.com/559996340
In this episode we discuss Bill C10, along with some of the foundational cultural assumptions and commitments that brought us to this point. Joe Boot explains why freedom of communication is a gospel issue.
Music graciously provided by Jacob Moon.
Learn more about Bill C-10 from Ezra Institute Fellow Andre Schutten.
So Jesus said to them, “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.”