restoring our biblical and constitutional foundations

Female Bloggers

 David Alan Black 

Some Bible scholars today are asking, “Where are the female (biblio)bloggers?” Since the prefix “biblio” is placed in parentheses, I think it appropriate for me to note that we do not have this problem in the region of the blogosphere where I tend to operate. In fact, as with our manuscripts of the New Testament, I might say we have an embarrassment of riches. Here’s a sampling of some fine female web authors who are not loath to address important topics from a biblical perspective:

• Carmon

• Izzy

• Julie

• Lora

• Gracie

• Kristen

• Cheryl

• Valerie

• Kim

• Ruthanne

• Anita

• Amy

• Meredith

• Berit

I could list many more. I might suggest that, in addition to reading “scholars” (male or female), my brethren in the academic guild have a great deal to learn from these godly women. You will notice that many of these ladies are trying to raise their children according to biblical principles and precepts. That in itself makes their sites unique. Often a deep truth will be stated in profoundly simple terms. Here’s an example from Kristin. After all, to me “obedience” is just as much a biblical topic as, say, the Synoptic Problem, if not more so.

If you enjoy wit and wisdom seasoned with a bit of Latin salsa, Izzy’s your choice. How about the thoughts of a lady who loves discussing theology – that would be Julie. Berit tackles subjects few men dare touch, while Carmon handles political and social topics with ease. Where Kim finds time to maintain her insightful blog is a mystery to me. And Amy is “humble” in a way that will throw you off guard if you’re not careful.

No apology is needed for drawing attention to these female writers. Those who suppose that only women with doctorates in biblical studies qualify to blog about the Scriptures are simply showing that, in the most literal sense, they do not know what they are talking about. J. I. Packer once said that wisdom consists in choosing the best means to the best end. What we define as “the end,” then, makes all the difference in the world. Pursuing academic scholarship is undoubtedly a worthy occupation, but we need not frustrate the wise purpose of God by neglecting the weightier matters of faith and faithfulness.

October 2, 2005

David Alan Black is the editor of www.daveblackonline.com.

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Dios no me hizo para Sufrir

Parte III

Becky Lynn Black  

Esta es la última parte de nuestra historia, consideremos la razón final del sufrimiento.

Según las Escrituras, como las entiendo, hay  cuatro motivos para el sufrimiento. El primero  es la consecuencia para la independencia hecha por el primer hombre y la primera mujer. Ya que somos parte de la familia humana, todos nosotros sufrimos la consecuencia de la caída. Entonces nuestros cuerpos envejecidos, nuestras mentes son confundidas, nuestras relaciones son complicadas, etc. Esto es toda la consecuencia natural de vivir este lado de la maldición. Pero no llevamos este sufrimiento en desesperación. El que dio la maldición ha prometido venir El mismo y hacer un nuevo cielo y  tierra sin esta maldición.  Entonces como nosotros sufrimos, tenemos un ojo abierto a los cielos, esperando pacientemente por El a guardar su promesa.

La segunda razón por que sufrimos es porque la misma raya independiente mostrada en el jardín todavía está siendo mostrada hoy. Como nosotros mismos, o aquellos con quien nosotros nos relacionamos, el acto como Adán y Eva (la declaración de independencia de Dios y su camino), luego se da un efecto a causa del pecado. Muchas personas inocentes son atrapadas en el ondulación del agua. Todo el pecado afecta más que los que cometen el pecado; no hay ningún acto aislado de desobediencia. Mucho, mucho dolor existe en el mundo a causa de nuestra rebelión  obstinada. ¡Somos, de verdad, los niños de Adán y Eva!

Pero si confesaremos la ondulación que causamos, y respondemos con el perdón a aquellas ondulaciones causadas por otros, luego un aceite que cura fluye sobre la situación. Y aunque habrá una cicatrización que dura toda la vida, podemos escoger abrazar aquella cicatriz  y dar la bienvenida al dolor residual. Ya que es a menudo que la cicatriz y el dolor residual nos ayude a considerar  nuestras opciones futuras.

Debemos considerar nuestro objetivo en la vida. Vivir sin el dolor y el sufrimiento no es un objetivo digno. Pero vivir una vida creciendo en santidad, creciendo en intimidad con nuestro Salvador, creciendo en solidaridad con su plan- ¡Esto vale cada precio! Y si el Señor puede usar el dolor residual de los actos de rebelión por nosotros o aquellos asociados con nosotros, entonces nos dejan dar la bienvenida a aquel dolor y someterlo a los resultados de purificación.

La tercera razón del sufrimiento puede ser nuestra experiencia es debida a nuestra asociación con Cristo Jesús. Ahora, obviamente, ¡aquellos cuyas vidas no tienen ninguna marca del Salvador no sufrirán por El!  Pero nosotros que le somos dedicados a Él y a su Reino, seremos odiados,  burlados, ridiculizados, despreciados y perseguidos por los que no lo aman a Él.

Jesús el mismo advirtió a sus seguidores que esto pasaría.  Y el libro de los Hechos, así como en muchas secciones de las Epístolas, dice las historias de este sufrimiento.

Hoy en día no es diferente de antes, aunque el sufrimiento podría estar en una vena ligeramente “más sofisticado” (1).  Hoy en día, aquellos que en nuestro país se identifican con el Salvador, no podrían ser promovidos en su lugar de trabajo o podrían burlarse en la cancha, o podrían ser omitidos en conversaciones. (En otros países, como Etiopia, ellos todavía son golpeados, son dejados en las calles y sus casas son quemadas, etc.).

Si no sentimos alguna oposición de parte de los no creyentes, entonces debemos examinarnos  para ver si de verdad estamos siguiendo a Jesús. Su camino va en la dirección opuesta a la sociedad. Donde la Sociedad dice “Pelear,”  el dice “Rendirse.” Donde la Sociedad dice “Guárdale.” El dice, “Déjalo.” Donde la Sociedad dice “Toma la venganza,” El dice, “Ama y perdona.”

Si realmente estamos viviendo en su camino, entonces  podríamos en cualquier momento estar en un contraste agudo para aquellos alrededor de nosotros. Y luego ellos comenzarían a odiarnos, nos despreciarían. Esto es el conflicto de dos vistas mundiales (2), dos leyes, dos caminos. ¿Cómo podemos viajar juntos por la vida con aquellos alrededor de nosotros, a no ser que nosotros estemos de acuerdo en nuestra dirección y método de viaje? Si seguimos a Jesús, y ellos no lo hacen, únicamente el resultado será conflicto. 

Y el conflicto trae sufrimiento.

Entonces ¿Cómo podremos responder a este sufrimiento? Con paciencia,  con  compasión, con bondad. No buscamos la venganza. No buscamos la justicia. No peleamos por nuestros “derechos.” Respondemos a aquellos sin Cristo con humildad, recordando que una vez nosotros éramos como ellos. Y, por la gracia de Dios que abrió nuestros ojos al Salvador, ¡si no estaríamos como ellos!

Entonces nuestro sufrimiento es mezclado con el gozo que somos “considerados dignos” para sufrir a causo de su nombre. Hay paz, radiante, sentimiento de alegría adentro que no puede ser pisoteado por las burlas, el prejuicio, las acusaciones, ni el desprecio de quienes no siguen a Jesús.

La última razón para el sufrimiento que he encontrado en las Escrituras es que muestra tan claramente en el Libro de Job, así como en otras secciones de las Epístolas. Simplemente, eso es: Hay alguien que luchara a la muerte para destruir el Reino del Señor Jesús. El tiene muchos nombres: Satanás, El Maligno, El Padre de las Mentiras, El Ángel de la Luz, El Malvado, y El Engañador.

El tiene muchos nombres, pero únicamente un solo objetivo. Su objetivo exclusivo es de destruir todo lo que el Dios el Señor ha creado—destruir cosas físicas, desgarrar relaciones, quitar gozo, y romper corazones. Por todas partes que el va y cualquier cosa que él hace, su objetivo es destruir.

Este Maligno puede traernos sufrimiento personal el anda buscándonos a nosotros y aquellos asociados con nosotros. ¡Su camino es tan malévolo, es completamente malo, tan detestable, tan engañoso! El estará al acecho en el momento que nosotros menos lo esperamos, y luego el atacara. Algunas veces el salta a nosotros después de que hemos experimentado una fantástica  victoria espiritual en el Señor. A veces el nos capturara cuando las hormonas, o la fatiga, o el dolor atormenta nuestras mentes y cuerpos. Algunas veces el pondrá su trampa cuando nosotros estamos haciendo las cosas de nuestra vida cotidiana.

Siempre, él y sus demonios sirvientes están esperando para destruir. Y su interés es sobre aquellos que están activos en el Reino. Su último odio es el Señor Jesús y su Reino. Entonces si estamos dedicados al Salvador, tenemos el interés muy especial y el odio del maligno.

¿Le asusta esto? ¿La realidad del maligno le hace querer escapar del Salvador y su camino en su vida?  ¿Usted está nervioso, intranquilo para la obediencia al Señor, sabiendo que con la obediencia vendrá el sufrimiento causado por el  maligno?

Déjeme alentarle. ! El Salvador fue ya azotado! Y todos nosotros necesitamos hacer es (1) Recordar que el Diablo existe para destruir el Reino del Salvador entonces debemos estar alertas a él, y (2) Practicar las instrucciones de las Escrituras en como “lucharlo.”

Las Escrituras nos ensenan muy claramente que el Diablo es ya condenado, que el Señor Jesús es el que luchara (no nosotros), y que nosotros simplemente debemos poner su armadura para estar protegidos de la destrucción por el maligno. Efesios 6 nos explica la armadura del Señor Jesús: conozca la Verdad, viva en Honradez, este ocupado en el servicio del Evangelio, responda con Fe, recuerde el camino de Salvación, obedezca al Espíritu ensenado en las Escrituras, tenga una conversación continua con el Señor acerca de su situación, manténgase diligentemente, este unido a otros soldados (del cuerpo).

Si desarrollamos un estilo de vida de “un combatiente,”  el estilo de Jesús, entonces el Maligno tendrá la dificultad de tenernos. No sé si Job conoció que sus problemas eran debido a la tentación de Satanás de discrepar la relación de amor y de honor entre Dios y Job.  Desde la perspectiva de Job, ¡su vida se había hecho un problema grande! ¡El sufrió de cada modo posible! Pero su modo de vida antes de sus problemas estuvo de humildad ante Dios, y su modo de vida después de sus problemas comenzaron a permanecer inalterables.  “Aunque El me mate, aun continuare confiando en El.”

Nuestras vidas deben de ser las mismas. Debemos totalmente rendirnos al Señor y su camino. Debemos estar sujetos a la Verdad, obedientes al Espíritu en seguir  la verdad y completamente confiando en El cuyo nombre es la ¡Verdad!

Job sufrió enormemente por que el estuvo dedicado a la gloria del Dios vivo. El perdió a sus hijos, su salud, sus riquezas. Sus amigos más cercanos y su esposa se burlaron de él. El sufrió la mayor de las desgracias. Aun el “se cubrió” en la realidad de su Dios y en la honradez fidedigna de aquel Dios.  Y al final, Job aguanto al ataque del maligno y fue restaurado en todo lo bueno. Y  hoy el está de pie como un testimonio de la fidelidad de nuestro Dios en defensa de los creyentes.

Para mí, como miro este cáncer, no conociendo el futuro, mirando la triste estadística humana, he colocado el problema. Mi vida pertenece al Señor Jesús. El puede hacer conmigo como a Él le complace. Si este cáncer es debido a la Caída y la Maldición,  miro hacia El para restaurar mi cuerpo a un sin los efectos de la maldición del pecado. A mi conocimiento, no hay ningún pecado personal en mi o en los míos que fue el resultado del cáncer; no es debido al pecado personal. Esto no es resultado de mi identidad con Cristo, causada por el odio y la persecución de quienes lo odian. Si ha surgido esto es por que el maligno me ha apuntado debido al gran trabajo de Dios, que se está haciendo en Etiopia. Quizás esto es así, probablemente no sabré hasta alcanzar el cielo.    

Pero independientemente de la razón especifica de este cáncer, se una cosa: la solución para el sufrimiento es el Hijo. Solo El, quien es llamado “El Hombre de Sufrimientos,” quien pues totalmente entiende todo el sufrimiento y puede llevarnos con su propio poder a través de la temporada del sufrimiento.

Y al final, cuando todo en la Vida está cerrado, es El que recibe la gloria, como el que redimió su creación del maligno y del pecado. ¡A Él sea toda la Alabanza!…

(Lecturas recomendadas: Job 1:1-22; Efesios 6:10-; 1 Tesalonicenses 2:17-18; 1 Pedro 1:3-16, 2:1-12 y 19-25, 3:14-4:6, 4:12-19, 5:6-11; Hebreos12:1-4; Apocalipsis 20:7-10.)

Notas:

1) Eso es una expresión idiomática usada en Ingles para describir dos cosas muy similares. 

2) Eso es otra expresión en Ingles que significa una perspectiva a pensar para el mundo. La vista mundial es la perspectiva que una persona tiene a pensar y evaluar las cosas pertenecientes al mundo.

May 9, 2010

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Assisting the Work in Ethiopia

Becky Lynn Black  

(Becky just sent this letter to a friend of ours who inquired about helping us with our Ethiopian ministry. I thought it deserved a wider audience. Dave)

Good morning, _______! Dave asked me to answer your question about assisting our Ethiopia work. Here are some current “projects” with their financial implications…..

1. Bible Distribution.  Each year we spend about $5-10,000 to purchase about 1-2,000 Bibles ($5 each) for those in the rural areas of Ethiopia who have completed the memory of 9 passages of Scripture (that we have chosen), and have recited them to their elders. These are distributed with the oversight of the Burji and Alaba church leaders, and also a national radio program through several church “outposts.”  When we are there, we often distribute these ourselves and have the joy of listening to them recite a sample passage…it is a GREAT delight to watch their enthusiasm for the Scriptures (which are simply not available in these areas).

2. Bible Teaching.  Having the Scriptures is not enough; people must be taught.  We have learned through experience that to remove key leaders and send them to a “Bible Training” program far away is more counter productive than anything, since the trained person, upon graduation, prefers to live in the city where the living is more comfortable.  So we have switched gears and are now bringing the education to the lay people and rural elders in the villages. We are doing this through technology at different levels.

             Solar systems….this is for those churches that have qualified in 3 areas: a) they have planted a “daughter church,” showing their seriousness about mission work, b) they have almost all believers owning Bibles, showing their seriousness about the Scriptures, and c) they have a testimony of love and good works in their community, showing integrity in Christian living and the foundation of love in all things. For these churches we have invested about $3,000/church to install a solar-powered loudspeaker system, along with interior lights in the church. From the loudspeaker, the church plays teaching and music for 1-2 hours every morning and evening. The loudspeaker system sounds horrible in our culture, but it is very common in Ethiopian culture. On any given morning and evening (and sometimes all night long!) in the cities where electricity is available, the Muslims and Orthodox folk are blasting teaching, prayers, chants, etc. In the villages where we are installing these solar things, there is no electricity…..so we have no competition :)….as people walk by the church, they hear the teaching/evangelism/music. The church leaders have approved 3 churches as meeting the criteria, so this summer we are hoping to install this system in 3 village churches in Burji. All of these village churches are in Muslim villages.  So that is an investment of $9,000 total.

            Hand-held MP3 or SD players….this is for the other villages in Burji or Gujiland.  Each player apparatus costs about $50, and we need about 30 of them, for a total of $1500.

           Broadcast Teaching Material.  Where do we get the teaching material?  Glad you asked. 1) We are getting material that is already being broadcast via radio, in their national language….via SIM broadcasts from South Africa and via a Lutheran church in Ethiopia that has translated Through the Bible by J. Vernon McGee. Both of these programs have already been previewed by the church leaders and are readily understood and received. The producers have transferred these broadcasts to MP3 already, and I’m getting the SD equipment for them to also transfer the teaching to SD.

            (Note: SDs are more user-friendly, smaller, more durable. And a hand-held player produced by Global Recordings is hand-wound, so is perfect for the distant nomadic Guji people.)

            I am estimating that the total cost for this teaching material produced by others, including discs, SDs, and transfer labor is about $2000. We already have on hand a CD duplicator to make backup copies in case of deterioration of the original disc.

            2) Additionally, other teaching material possible through our recordings that we intend to make this summer in their tribal languages. Most of the people understand the national language, since that is the language of the school system.  However, they prefer (naturally) their home language.  So we are recording (onto a laptop) teaching by the Burji evangelists and also health teaching by our clinic nurses. The cost for this is minimal, but you could “sponsor” the Team Member who will be doing this recording….which looks like it might be me :)….

             Administrator of Rural Teaching..  On another note in this regard, we would like to facilitate the hiring of a person for the District who will be responsible to guard/protect/oversee/facilitate this teaching system. This person would be responsible for the maintenance issues of the solar/loudspeaker systems, the distribution/rotation of the broadcast/teaching systems amongst the churches, the replication of damaged CDs/SDs, etc. and general oversight of the teaching program, making more recordings, etc.  His salary will be $70/month, $840/year.

3. Clinic. There are always financial needs for the medical clinic, which now has a “Health Center” license. Current needs are for the building of an additional building; cost $11,000. This will house an office, an overnight observation room for seriously sick patients, and a storage room. The office will also serve as a “Diagnostics Room” for EKG and Ultrasound. In addition, we need an ultrasound. One was donated to us, but it will cost us about $7,000 for a maintenance visit and air transport to Ethiopia.  It is an older machine, and if it has problems, there is absolutely no way it will get service in Ethiopia. So God has led us to a PPUPS (plug and play ultrasound probe system)…it is truly amazing technology! There are only 2 machines like this. One received FDA approval in 4/07 and the other in 5/09. The entire ultrasound machine is compressed into the probe! It is then attached to a laptop, with attending software….and voila, you have a complete ultrasound machine that will give images, do loops, generate calculations, etc. The cost is only $4,000!  And this will save us transport, as we’ll carry it in on our persons in July. And any time it needs service, we just carry it out 🙂  Isn’t God good to us???!!!!  Amazing!  It is being used currently in a bush medical work in West Africa, so it’s been proven to be durable, etc.

4. Evangelists…  We have sponsored 6 Ethiopian evangelists in northern Ethiopia (an Orthodox area). They are doing a WONDERFUL job and have planted 3 churches already. The only problem we are having is the coordinator of the work is not translating their quarterly reports. When we get the reports, they are wonderful stories of God’s care, protection, etc., and of the evangelists’ faithfulness. This is a 3-year pilot program; we are in the 3rd year. We have a salary-sharing agreement with Ethiopian Sending Churches.  Currently, we are paying 80- ($50/month), for a total of $3,600/yr.

Summary

Bibles: $5-10,000 needed by June

Solar/loudspeaker/light Systems: $9,000 (total for 3 churches)

MP3/SD players: $1500 (for 30)

Teaching material on disc/SD: $2000

Sponsor July Team member who is doing recordings: $2500

Sponsor Ethiopian overseer of solar/teaching ministry: $840/yr

Clinic building: $11,000

Clinic ultrasound machine probe: $4,000

Sponsor Ethiopian evangelists: $3,600/yr or $600/yr per evangelist

Please write if you have any questions, or want more information about any of these items. Thank you for considering the Ethiopian work that God has appointed to us! 

Rejoicing in His care and your prayers,

BeckyLynn

As a matter of logistics, all checks should be sent to us at 2691 White House Rd., Nelson, VA 24580.  Tax-deductible gifts (minimum $500) can be made payable to Bethel Hill Baptist Church. All other gifts should be made payable to BeckyLynn Black.

November 13, 2009

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Bush Compromises On Abortion While Peroutka Stands Firm

 David Alan Black

One of Satan’s greatest lies is that abortion is permissible as long as society condones it. Worse still, “conservative” Christians stand behind and support this compromise. “Let no man deceive you,” says the Word of God. We are to love the sinner but abhor the evil of abortion and have no part in it.

Constitution Party of Virginia chairman Howard Phillips has stated his position on abortion as follows (from a speech he gave on September 4, 1999 at the Presidential Nominating Convention of the Constitution Party in St. Louis, Missouri):

In plain English, the Constitution of the United States stipulates that “No person shall…be deprived of life … without due process of law.” Every one of us is a living, human person, endowed by Almighty God with an immortal soul, from the moment of fertilization until the moment of death.  That is why we vigorously oppose euthanasia as well as abortion.
 
We will end government-approved abortion and stop subsidies to organizations which promote abortion.  We will do this – not simply because this course is required by our platform, but more significantly because it is required by the laws of God and the Constitution of the United States.

2004 Constitution Party presidential candidate Michael Peroutka is just as clear in his opposition to abortion:

Abortion is also a part of the attack on the family.  Our current President has failed to lead on this premier moral issue of our time – which is the systematic slaughter of innocent, defenseless, unborn children in the womb.

For example, he has approved legislation to send additional scores of millions of tax dollars to Planned Parenthood and other groups which promote additional infanticide.

He has failed to stop the Food and Drug Administration from authorizing the distribution of RU 486, the abortion pill which has already been used to snuff out the lives of thousands of unborn children, even as it has placed at risk the lives and health of mothers who have decided to kill their own children.

I was present just weeks ago at the 31st annual March for Life in Washington DC when the President, by telephone, told the marchers that theirs was a noble cause.  He said we must remind our fellow citizens that all human life is sacred and worthy of protection.

But in his State of the Union Speech – just two days before – a speech watched by millions of our fellow citizens – Mr. Bush reminded us of no such thing.  The word “abortion” did not pass his lips.  He said nothing about the sacredness of human life – though he did take time to demand that athletes stop taking steroids.

As President, I would do everything in my power to end the national disgrace of abortion.  Starting with a formal acknowledgment of the person-hood of every child from the moment of conception – and the appointment of U.S. Attorneys, by recess appointment if necessary, who will enforce the Fifth Amendment requirement that no person be deprived of life without due process of law.

As President, I would advocate a total ban on all abortions and a total ban on any federal funding of abortions, here or abroad.

Phillips and Peroutka are right. Instead of becoming tolerant and indulgent toward abortion, we need a holy hatred and abhorrence of it—and government policies that represent our convictions.

Tragically, our “pro-life” president has been publicly advocating and raising money for the re-election of pro-abortion, pro-sodomy Republicans. The most recent example is his stumping for Republican Senator Arlen Specter, who narrowly defeated his staunchly pro-life opponent, Pat Toomey, in the Pennsylvania Republican primaries this week. I find it disturbing that the same president who delights in denouncing activist courts has rallied behind a man who wholeheartedly supports the most activist court decision in our nation’s history, namely the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion and has destroyed the lives of 43 million innocent unborn children in America.

My friends, this election I believe we are confronted with a real choice. We can choose a politician who will compromise his convictions in order to gain political advantage, or we can choose a man who will use every legal means in his power to end once and for all the national scourge of abortion. We need not join the compromising multitude, wringing our hands and wondering what we should do. God has told us what He expects of us, and we are not left without chart or compass.

Now is the time to obey our consciences and elect the only candidate who is 100- pro-life, Michael Anthony Peroutka.

April 30, 2004

David Alan Black is the editor of www.daveblackonline.com. His latest book, Why I Stopped Listening to Rush: Confessions of a Recovering Neocon, will be released this year.

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Dabney on Government

 David Alan Black 

As you probably know, I am unapologetically pro-South. I have always believed that the Southern cause and the American cause are one and the same: limited government and constitutionally guaranteed liberty, where politicians are “bound by the chains of the Constitution” (Thomas Jefferson).

When I say that I love the South, I mean that I love the nation that the Founding Fathers envisioned – a republic of sovereign states. I am ashamed of the Leviathan the federal government has become, and I am determined to do what I can to call our leaders back to the Constitution they swore an oath to protect and defend.

The South’s lost political legacy is perhaps best described by R. L. Dabney, a Presbyterian minister and Stonewall Jackson’s chief of staff:

Government is not the creator but the creature of human society. The Government has no mission from God to make the community; on the contrary the community is determined by Providence, where it is happily determined for us by far other causes than the meddling of governments – by historical causes in the distant past, by vital ideas propagated by great individual minds – specially by the church and its doctrines. The only communities which have had their characters manufactured for them by governments have had a villainously bad character.

Then he added: “Noble races make their government. Ignoble ones are made by them.”

Like the Southerners of old, I seek to “make my government.” If I am politically active, it’s not because I want to “fix” government. It’s because I want to dismantle its oppressive and unconstitutional nature. If you feel offended by this, I apologize, but there is nothing compassionate about big government. As Congressman Ron Paul of Texas once put it:

If we stuck to the Constitution as written, we would have: no federal meddling in our schools; no Federal Reserve; no U.S. membership in the UN; no gun control; and no foreign aid. We would have no welfare for big corporations, or the “poor”; no American troops in 100 foreign countries; no NAFTA, GATT, or “fast-track”; no arrogant federal judges usurping states rights; no attacks on private property; no income tax. We could get rid of most of the cabinet departments, most of the agencies, and most of the budget. The government would be small, frugal, and limited.

Congressman Paul is describing the government our Founders “made.” However, instead of “sticking to the Constitution as written,” most Americans have embraced the state as their Savior. They have forsaken the primacy of the cross of Christ. They naively follow the example of the churches in Nazi Germany by placing their faith in broken-down human hierarchies. They forget that such edifices are mere man-made Towers of Babel, be they liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican.

As I noted in my book Why I Stopped Listening to Rush, politicians of both parties are working tirelessly to undermine the fundamental principles of religious liberty guaranteed to “We the People” in the founding documents of our nation, obsessed by the foolish notion that what they deem to be evil can be cured by the federal government. Indeed, the culture of political correctness has become so institutionalized that most Americans have stopped opposing it.

I believe it is time to stop seeking God in the misguided and erroneous teachings of government do-goodism, whether the source is liberalism or conservatism. Jesus Christ is the only answer to the malaise plaguing our families, our churches, and our society. You can idolize man-made institutions with the hope that they will solve the societal ills of our day if you like, but I prefer to stand by the Bible and the life-changing power of the cross.

As Dabney put it, we would do well to follow those “vital ideas propagated by great individual minds – specially by the church and its doctrines.” The way forward is by the cross of Christ and we travel it with our Lord, bidding farewell to the way of the world.

January 5, 2005

David Alan Black is the editor of www.daveblackonline.com. He is the author of Why I Stopped Listening to Rush and numerous other books.

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The Banality of the American Electorate

Bob Strodtbeck 

In the coming years Americans face a plethora of potential hazards. As oil supplies continue to dwindle and energy prices continue to rise, we will be asked to either endure the difficulties of converting from energy drawn from petroleum driven engines to alternative sources, or devote our sons and daughters to fighting in foreign countries so oil conglomerates can control global oil distribution.

The stability of the dollar will be eradicated by years of deficit spending and reliance on foreign servicing of the debt – which begins to dwindle as countries that have been buying American bonds devote their revenues to supporting their own infrastructures. The federal government will be forced to print up money to fund its programs will and, consequently, add to the oversupply of currency backed by private debt to fuel an inflationary cycle similar to that of Germany’s during the aftermath of WWI.

The resultant economic collapse will hasten the disappearance of the working middle class that has had its wages eroded by a glutted employee market featuring competition with cheap foreign labor. The desperation of the working class will be welcomed by transnational corporations that abandon any obligations to American employees to pursue expanded profits offered by conscripted labor provided by oppressive regimes.

Along with the collapsing economy will come turmoil, unrest, and even revolution. The violence will be intensified by the widespread inability of individuals to restrain their emotions, motivations or actions. Among the insurrections against social order will be that of millions of illegal Mexican immigrants that embrace the Reconquista of their homeland. That is an agenda to reclaim lands Mexico lost to America during the middle 1800s. These lands include almost the entire Western seaboard from California through Oregon, east to Oklahoma and south to the Rio Grande River at the Texas border.

Since the American military will be over stretched with assignments in over 150 countries, including occupations in Iraq, Iran, and Syria, there will be insufficient National Guard units on our shores to quell the uprising. Sensing the opportunity offered by our domestic troubles, the emerging global superpower, Communist China, will sponsor insurrection against American sponsored regimes in Afghanistan and Pakistan, provide support for Islamic revolutionaries opposing American occupation throughout the Middle East and make public alliances with Russia, Turkey and Egypt.

The Chinese will also begin coalescing socialistic political movements throughout the Balkans that will “encourage” the European Union, surrounded by Chinese satellites, to become economic allies of China. The subsequent economic isolation of America will motivate transnational corporations to move existing operations out of this country and relocate to the new economic powerhouses in Europe and Asia.

During this national descent that will make the ash heap of history look like an upscale neighborhood, will anyone contemplate what John Kerry or George Bush did during the Vietnam War?

The above scenario is conjecture, but it is built from some very real conditions. All of those conditions have been created by America’s two party political system that has abandoned the republican principles that set the foundation of American government for the sake of concentrating wealth, power, and prestige. That political system that is compounding the peril it is bringing this country by solidifying support through campaigns that vilify presidential opponents rather than organizing its activists toward public service and sustaining the nation.

American electoral politics reflect the banality, ignorance, arrogance, and stupification of the American public. American voters have lost their curiosity in public affairs outside of the (D) or (R) next to a candidate’s name. Fashion, image and labels dictate whether voters believe taxes should be cut or the federal government should provide their parents free prescription drugs.

Between the various attack ads that are intended to mortify voters from abandoning support for the two-party system will come warm and appealing portrayals of candidates that offer utopian solutions that will provide everything for everyone into perpetuity. At no time will anyone hear of the potential consequences of the bad decisions that have been followed by bad decisions that have defied constitutional limits on government.

Instead, the greatest majority of the voters who bother to go to the polls will be convinced that the republic is going to crumble if the candidate they support loses an election. At some point in the foreseeable future, nearly half the voters will be right.

August 25, 2004

Since 1993 Bob Strodtbeck has been writing commentaries for The Apopka Chief, a news weekly circulated in a community ten miles north of Orlando. His analyses investigate a wide range of topics from what he calls a “Christian pragmatic” view – that is to say, he considers that human interactions are largely driven by the human instinct toward self-service, which is traditionally known as sin. This perspective has given Bob great liberty to criticize governmental officials from both parties upon the standards of constitutional laws they swear to uphold and review cultural and economic phenomena from moral standards defined in the Bible. Bob currently lives in Orlando with his bride Pam and children Charlotte and Richard. He may be reached for comment here.

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April 2012 Blog Archives

Monday, April 30

11:22 AM I am on my way to make two trash runs today. An update before I leave:

1) This Wednesday my colleague Keith Harper (an expert in American history) will be speaking in my NT class on an interesting question of Baptist history, namely, how did we get from a non-stipend role for pastors to the highly clericalist state of affairs we see today in our churches? All are welcome to join us, but be forewarned: the good doctor has a giant funny bone.

2) The deadline for the Peláez Festschrift has been postponed until the end of May, but never fear — I will still get my essay in by the old deadline (tomorrow). In case you were wondering, the 37 contributors include  A. Piñero, C. B. Amphoux, F. Camacho, J. Trebolle, J. K. Elliott, S. E. Porter, C. Stenschke, J. Lee, and R. Rueter.

3) Did I tell you that I am thinking about holding another major New Testament conference on campus? The theme this time around will be the pericope de adulterae (John 7:53-8:11). We are fortunate to have a resident expert on the subject here at SEBTS. But the fact remains that this is a highly disputed passage. If I can, I’d like to involve as many textual critics and Johannine scholars as possible, while trying (of course) to avoid all the petty vanities, egotisms, and shortcomings that sometimes characterize conferences such as this. Even now, after more than a half century, I have vivid memories of hearing about this controversy from my pastor in Hawaii. What position he took on the matter I do not remember. No doubt many pastors today could use a refresher course on the topic.

4) Talk aboutbias!

5) SEBTS Ph.D. graduate Matt Emerson shunts us to an old siding:the use of the Old Testament in the New. He is full of fertile ideas on the subject. When one uses the word “convoluted” you know something’s afoot.

6) I am still working feverishly on farm projects. To me it was immensely gratifying that so many students and friends were willing to help us on Saturday. Thanks again to all who came and served. I think I can honestly claim that we have never had a more enjoyable Student Day.

7) Becky and Nigusse just went to South Boston to have her blood work done. Pending a good outcome we are scheduled for another chemo treatment at UNC this afternoon. As always, your prayers are appreciated. By the way, we are not the only ones at UNC today: Please say a prayer forlittle Miss Abigail, the daughter of one of my former students, who is having surgery there this morning.

We’ll, all this junk isn’t just going to walk to the trash dump, so I had best boogie.

Sunday, April 29

7:14 PM Wikipedia now has an entry ontextual variants in the New Testament. Looks pretty good. One notable gap: no mention of the significant variant in John 3:13. (I have defendedthe longer reading.)

7:07 PM Becky’s rose garden has really taken off. The following pictures don’t do it justice, but I thought you might like to see it. Pink, orange, and red. Gorgeous.

6:12 PM Alan Knox shares with us his latest “Scripture, As We Live It“:

But some of you have been anointed by the Holy One, and some of you all have knowledge. (1 John 2:20 re-mix)

Wow! The tragic truth is that American Christians have become spiritually codependent. We cannot seem to make up our minds about anything until we first consult Dr. So-and-So to see what he says. This is the day of the “expert,” and we listen to fallible men more than the infallible Scriptures. The Good News is that through the New Covenant Jesus has set us free and we are His. We need no pope or prelate to tell us what course we are to set. We may legitimately make use of all the avenues of sound biblical teaching available to us today, but unless we have the mind of Christ and a clear conviction based on personal study of the Bible we will make no real progress. Finite Bible scholars cannot provide this conviction. Indeed, they need it as much as anyone else.

5:58 PM Last Sunday, while driving in Dallas, I noticed time and again several Catholic churches that had the word “community” in their marques. Good for them. That is precisely the way I would translate the Greek word ekklesia. How can the church be the church? A good place to start is by paring away all the non-essentials and the verbiage that clutters and confuses. The basic meaning of ekklesia is a group of people that come together and have something in common, as opposed to a group of people that have come together and have nothing permanently in common (this latter idea is usually behind the Greek word ochlos, which is translated “crowd”). The great danger in most of our churches is that we confuse the physical plant with the church. The church is a people! So let the church be the church! What is the basis of this kind of human relationship? The New Testament teaches that the church is Christ’s very own Body. Amazing but true: Because we are united with Him, we are united with everyone who follows Him in obedience and love. What a high view of the “church” we must have and teach! The  church, this Christian “community,” is God’s laboratory in which we work out our functions as members of His Body. The Bible doesn’t say we are to create this community. Jesus has already made it. But we are maintain it, we are to express it, and we are to extend it. This is such a unique concept that I wish our churches could express this concept better in our names. “Wake Forest Community Church” would be redundant: Wake Forest Community Community! Oh, may our churches become the communities of faith God intends for them to be!

3:20 PM Salutations, cyber friends! My failure to blog yesterday was due to a hectic but delightful schedule. I’m grateful for the opportunity to have spoken 4 times in Cary, NC over the weekend. Thank you, RCCC, for your gracious reception. Another incident of the weekend that I must not neglect to mention is our Student Work Day yesterday. A now exhausted army of workers descended on the farm to perform various projects that needed doing. The work was accompanied by much jollity and wit. It was also Nigusse’s birthday, which meant cake, candles, and gifts of course. Our time together with all the students and their families was great and I’ve never enjoyed anything more. The final weeks of the semester are upon us, so it was an amazing thing that so many would turn out to volunteer their precious time and energy to help Becky and me. A thousand thanks to everyone who helped. It was especially thrilling to watch Nigusse Skype with his family in faraway Alaba. It was something Becky arranged and it took Nigu by complete surprise.

This afternoon Becky and Nigusse are traveling. Nigu is speaking twice at Clement Baptist Church in North Carolina. As for me, I will spend the rest of the day in concentrated loafing, which I am very good at.

Pix (of course):

Friday, April 27

8:31 AM Odds and ends …

1) Reflecting on the state of today’s church reminds me of this recent post about theAnabaptists. I have long followed the ministries of the Anabaptists and their work in Switzerland, Germany, and Holland. A braver movement in church history is not to be found. You will not be comfortable with what you find in the Anabaptist Movement, but that’s a good thing.

2) So what’s the difference between “Jesus Christ” and “Christ Jesus” in the New Testament? The answer ishere.

3) My alma mater announces animportant conference in May:

• May Conference: “Christian Scholarship in the 21st Century: Prospects and Perils”

• May 18–19, 2012, Biola University, Calvary Chapel

Note: Calvary Chapel is not a church but the building on campus by that name where I taught many of my New Testament survey courses.

4) Check out Danny Akin’s new book on missions called Ten Who Changed the World. The publisher writes:

Ten Who Changed the World is seminary president Daniel Akin’s powerful tribute to the transformational work done by some truly inspiring Christian missionaries. With each profile, he journeys into the heart of that gospel servant’s mission-minded story and makes a compelling connection to a similar account from the Bible.

The Bible constantly talks about the power of personal example. Christ is the greatest example of all, but we Christians are to be good examples as well. Paul frequently urges his audiences to emulate him as he emulates Christ. You can’t argue with a good example – it’s simply too real! I’m so grateful for godly examples of men and women who have lived for something bigger than themselves. Thank you, Danny, for reminding us that they still speak to our generation of believers.

Thursday, April 26

8:38 PM Hello virtual friends on the internet super-highway! They say that life goes through periods. Well, this week was an exclamation point. Danny Akin has called SEBTS a Great Commission Seminary. He is so right about this! We who are pledged to follow Jesus have pledged to do one thing: Make disciples in His name. So I am very glad to announce to you not only that my student Alex Stewart passed his dissertation oral defense yesterday (with flying colors, I might add!), he is on his way to serve Jesus in Holland, where he will teach New Testament and Greek at Tyndale Theological Seminary. Here he is after The Great Tribulation (with his persecutors-in-chief Black and Köstenberger):

Alex’s dissertation on the theme of overcoming in the book of Revelation is certainly meant to be published. A couple of my other doctoral students decided to sit in as observers during Alex’s defense, and I just had to take the lot out for Chinese food afterwards at Wake Forest’s excellent Hong Kong Restaurant. Both Paul and Mike (below background) are in the dissertation phase of their program, and I expect mighty good things from them.

Of course, yesterday Dan Heimbach didn’t miss a beat in our NT class as he did his best to convince us of his views about divorce and remarriage from the Scriptures. He sacrificed three hours of his precious to spend with us. Greatly appreciated, Dan.

Then today, my Th.M. student Michael Stover gracefully defended his master’s thesis on the dating of the book of 1 Clement. I am so proud of you Michael!

What is more (can you handle any more?), this week Thomas Hudgins and I finished the first draft of our essay for the Peláez Festschrift. It’s called “Jesus on Anger (Matt. 5:22a): A History of Recent Scholarship.” I think we covered the bases (including essays and commentaries in French, German, Dutch, Italian, and Spanish). Here’s Thomas in the “hot seat” in my office.

Finally, today’s chapel service was the highlight of my week. We were blessed to hear a message from none other than M. O. Owens of Parkwood Baptist Church in Gastonia, NC. Dr. Owens is no less than 98 years young and still going strong. Hat’s off to him for hanging in there! I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed his message over 2 Thess. 3:1-6. I turn 60 in June and am asking God to pleeeease give me just half the energy that M. O. has at the age of 98.

The bottom line is that this week was one of the greatest I’ve ever experienced, and this weekend should be just as much fun as we have Student Work Day on Saturday and I preach three times in Cary, NC.

B-Blessed!

Dave

Tuesday, April 24

7:16 AM Good for Stan Porter. He’s had the courage tosay a few things about modern commentaries that others would never dare to mention. It’s time we stopped making excuses for repetition and mediocrity. If you’re going to say something, say something new and important. People don’t read commentaries critically nowadays it seems. No matter how shallow or mundane, we extol every new commentary that comes off the press. After all, how dare we criticize Dr. So-and-So’s latest work? We almost worship commentators, like we do war heroes. Just try criticizing U. S. Grant for messing up his early assignment in the Western Theater. Someone is likely to fire back, “How can you blame him? He was drunk at the time.” Porter is right. America has produced few really great commentaries in the past three decades. It’s a little presumptuous of publishers to fawn all over their latest works. Most of us who have reached middle age have discovered that there’s not much new under the sun. Today’s sensational new commentary is very much like the sensation of 30 years ago.

7:03 AM This weekend Becky and I enjoyed a few Aprillian days in Texas with Becky’s parents. One advantage of visiting Dallas is the fact that theVocal Majority group is based there. Them boys got what it takes to put on a GOOD show. In an instant you realize that you haven’t enjoyed music so much in years. They have reached the ultimate in good old-fashioned barbershop music. Uplift  — that’s there job, and they succeed most admirably. As for food, the Big D boasts several Ethiopian restaurants, but none as wonderful asSheba’s Ethiopian Kitchen. Few things in life are as enjoyable as a mouthful of doro wat. Ethiopian cuisine is a marvel of human ingenuity.

Meanwhile, one of the minor catastrophes hanging over the head of a writer is the chance that he or she may not meet a publishing deadline. This may happen to me this month. With the help of my assistant Thomas Hudgins I have been working on an essay in honor of Jesús Peláez, who teaches Greek at the University of Córdoba, Spain. (Obviously anybody named “Jesús ” deserves a Festschrift in his honor.) Ordinary life has come crashing to a halt. The “essay” now controls my life. In part, I blame my natural optimism for my personal plight. “Can you get it to me by May 1?” “Of course I can. Never missed a deadline in my life.” More than most people know, scholars leave things to the last minute. We are the ultimate procrastinators. That’s because we work better under pressure. The one thing to do if you have a publishing deadline is stop making excuses and just get the job done. You will find that the experience in punctuality is well worth the effort. Within a few days you can tell a big difference in yourself. For one thing, you can cross another project off your list. Then too, your reputation remains intact. “Good old dependable Dave,” they’ll call you.

I can think of a lot worse things to be called.

Friday, April 20

5:10 AM Becky’s latest Ethiopia vignette tells the story of persecution and grace, of victory and defeat. I know you will be blessed by it.

5:04 AM Good morning, fellow bloggers! Sorry for the delay in posting but I’ve been crazy busy. To bring you up to date on what’s been going through my little pee brain this week:

1) In Tuesday’s chapel I met a whole bunch of wonderful kingdom people. They are our students who are being deployed this year to some foreign country in order to “reach out and touch someone” with the love of Christ. As we laid hands on them and prayed over them, I was haunted by the idea that God is not so much commissioning them as He is commissioning all of us to be fulltime missionaries in this world.

Cook a meal and take it to an unsaved neighbor and you have just gone on a “mission trip.” Can you rake leaves? Use that “talent” to draw others to the Savior. Jesus wants to use all of us in evangelism. Don’t get me wrong. I am grateful for each and every one of these students and their commitment to global evangelization. I just wish more of us were like them. Rumor has it that people with the most toys win. Don’t believe it. No amount of things can satisfy. The American Dream is a huge downer. Much better to live for Jesus by serving others. Plug in wherever God has put you. Do it now. The time is short. The night is coming. Isn’t it about time we got back to the Bible’s way of loving people toward the cross? Let’s all step up the plate.

2) How well do you know the content of the Gospels? Well, yesterday in my NT 1 class (Gospels) I gave an objective exam over our bookThe New Testament: Its Background and Message. I’ve been teaching New Testament Introduction for 35 years now and each time I face the same challenge: How to cover so much material without wasting class time? My solution? A content exam covering all the little facts that a seminary graduate is expected to know. I’m not sure if this is best solution, but for now I think I’ll stick with it. The exam, by the way, was preceded by a set of very thorough study questions so that it was not a guessing game with the prof about what to expect. A thousand thanks to my assistantMatthew Myers for putting these questions together for me.

3) Last night I gave the final talk in my series on the life of Christ at Red Bud Baptist Church in Castalia. I focused on issues that are central to the Christian faith such as obedience, selflessness, and scandalous love. Sometimes I think we preachers forget the need to help young believers really understand the basics. I have prayed a lot of prayers in my life, but I think I’ve never prayed harder than for these meetings. I want to say thank you to the great people at Red Bud and especially to those families who went out of their way to serve me such wonderful home-cooked meals every night. I am thanking God ahead of time for the way He will stretch the congregation as they continue to look to Him.

4) My good friend Alvin Reid has published an excellent reminder of why mentoring is so important. His essay is calledThe Potency of Proximity. There is nothing new under the sun. The author of Proverbs knew about mentoring 3,000 years ago (Prov. 27:17).

5) Yet another Bible translation? Yes indeed, and this one is calledThe Voice.

6) I am pleased to announce a new Greek parsing app called ParseGreek.

7) Looking ahead to next week: My Ph.D. student Alex Stewart has his oral defense, I’m preaching a “revival” at the Raleigh Chinese Christian Church, Student Work Day is Saturday at Rosewood Farm, and Nigusse is speaking at Clement Baptist Church. Lots to do for the kingdom.

Stay centered in Jesus.

Dave

Monday, April 16

11:50 AM Still left on my list of things to do today: Spray these cattails. Unless you keep them under control they will take over the entire pond.

Interesting fact: Cattails in a pond grow faster than corn in a field.  

11:41 AM Can’t tell you how many former Ph.D. students I’ve run across who have completely forgotten their German. Despicable 🙂 If you’re a guilty party, check out Andy Bowden’s guide tokeeping up with your German.

And all the people said, Yawohl!

10:52 AM Farm work day here at Rosewood. I was able to fix a light fixture and re-caulk a bathroom sink. Then klutzdom took over and I messed up the pull cord on my pressure washer. I don’t dare try and repair it on my own because I know the spring will jump out and bite me. Now it’s time to check the chain saws and get them ready for Student Day on the 28th. Yes, Student Day this time around will be a work day. What fun!

8:54 AM So, Dave, what have you been reading lately? Well, for starters there’s thenew biography of F. F. Bruce that our school library just happened to have sitting on its recent acquisitions shelf.

I knew I had to read it. Here’s a few takeaways:

1) Bruce began writing his famous commentary on Acts in an air-raid shelter in Leeds while he was on air-warden duty during World War II (p. 33). Talk about killing two stones with one bird. I well recall teaching myself Dutch during the horrendous gas lines we had in Southern California in 1979. At 2:00 am I would park my car next to the gas pump (so that I could be first in line when the gas station opened at 6:00) and then go next door to an all-night diner, where I sipped coffee and studied Dutch. After three months I could read practically anything in the language. Time well spent.

2) Bruce once said, “I am thinking of no better foundation than a classical education for the professional cultivation of biblical studies” (p. 50). I couldn’t agree more; and it is for this very reason that I now rue my undergraduate biblical studies major. I now wish I had studied English or history or classics before going on to seminary.

3) I love this quote about the great scholar: “For him there was no tension between critical study and Bible exposition; indeed, the former fed the latter” (p. 62). I am sometimes asked about my “personal devotions.” I have none. I cannot separate critical study of the Scriptures from devotional study.

4) At Manchester Bruce “maintained a full teaching load” (p. 103). Still, he was able to write prodigiously. I can identify with this statement, not the part about being prodigious but the part about teaching fulltime and also writing. I have never enjoyed “release time” for writing. At SEBTS we do not have “research scholars.” We are classroom teachers, first and foremost, and any writing we do must be done “above and beyond.” Yet it can still be done.

5) Three fifths of Bruce’s doctoral students at Manchester came from oversees, especially from the U.S., leading him to quip that “the PhD was invented so that Americans could take an advanced degree with them when they came to the UK for further studies” (p. 106). How true. Yet who has not benefited from this arrangement (think of Hagner or Silva)?

6) The author writes, “He was able to distinguish between academic disagreement and personal antagonism in a way that scholars have not always done” (p. 112). In other words, Bruce was a gentleman. It is what someone once called “the silent preaching of a lovely life.” It is a virtue we can all aim to emulate.

7) Finally, on pp. 175-76 we read these words by Bruce: “The chief obstacle is Christian reluctance to advance, to leave the comfortable security of the familiar and traditional for the security of the revolutionary and unknown. If Christians showed half the resolution and dedication in the interests of the Kingdom of God that communists exhibit in the promotion of their cause, the scale of Christian advance would be transformed out of recognition.” Let that one sink in!

Bruce died on September 11, 1990. Just before he entered the presence of the Lord he wrote an essay for me. Actually, the essay was tohonor a dear colleague of ours, Harold Greenlee.

It was one of the last essays Bruce ever wrote. I still have the type-written manuscript in my files. I will always treasure it.

Thanks be to God for the life and legacy of F. F. Bruce.

8:17 AM For some reason, and I guess it’s quite an obvious one, I always feel rather sad and dejected after preaching. Trying to communicate God’s Word in a way that is both simple and practical has always been a challenge for me. Nevertheless, I had a delightful time with the folks at Red Bud Baptist Church in Castalia yesterday, speaking in their morning and evening services and being treated like royalty by their pastor Cory and his dear wife Jasmine.

Cory is a graduate of our seminary who went on to earn a Ph.D. from Reformed Theological Seminary. Their community is the kind I love — pre-Mayberry. Tonight Nigusse will join me as I share about the glory of the Lord in Ethiopia. Although I am not generally enthusiastic about “revivals,” I do think the Lord is blessing our meetings.

Sunday, April 15

7:45 AM Been a great weekend so far. At the Marriage Conference on campus Danny Akin introduced us to the most common havoc-wreakers in marriage. Danny spoke with great candor. His 6 one-hour talks were non-technical, believable, realistic, positive, and free from legalistic demands.

He frequently mentioned his own marriage (warts and all) and showed us how he and Charlotte managed to survive and thrive through 33 years of marriage. His talks were accompanied by amazing stories and moving devotional thoughts. I give him an A+. As for me, I came home battered and bleeding. My only claim is God’s amazing grace that enables men like me to change almost every day into the image of Christ. Above all, we were immersed in the Word. Marriage is God’s plan, not ours. He holds the patent on it, and all is in vain unless we seek His counsel first and foremost. If nothing else, the conference engendered a lot of biblical discussion about marriage among the 7 couples that went from Bethel Hill. Thank you, Danny, for blowing the dust off of God’s original blueprint for marriage and reminding us that He can restore and indeed improve any marriage.

Then it was off to Ed and Dolores Johnson’s for a delicious chicken barbeque dinner in Roxboro. We were joined by their daughter Leanna and our Nigusse. So thankful their partnership in the Gospel!

This morning I’m kicking off a five day Bible conference at a church near Louisburg, NC. Grateful to minister with a former student.

Enjoy your Lord’s Day, and remember that every one of us is a “fulltime minister of the Gospel”!

Friday, April 13

3:25 PM Off to campus for some excellent Bible teaching on marriage and the family with Danny Akin.

3:22 PM The Lord blessed us with a new baby goat yesterday. We’ve named her Beriberi. Ask Nigusse what it means. She’s the little white lump in the picture below.

3:13 PM Some people will do anything to visit the farm. The latest excuse for the Jon Glass family? Leaving their Sheltie Galana here for us to dog sit while they are on vacation. They came to pick her up today. Thanks so much for the visit!

10:55 AM Becky’s latest Ethiopia vignette is calledLife and Death in Burji. It tells the story of two precious women whose lives were anything but easy but whose faith sustained them through every trial.

8:36 AM A little of this and that …

1) Lee Harmonreviews my colleague Ant Greenham’s new book The Questioning God.

2) Need encouragement?

3) Andrew Rozalowsky, of McMaster Divinity School, has begun a series of interviews. He’s up to three:

• Stanley Porter

• Ian Clary

• And the mystery guest!

4) Hendrickson Publishers was so very kind to send me a gratis copy of my colleague Maurice Robinson’s latest book,Analytical Lexicon of New Testament Greek.

Maurice (aka Hort Redivivus) and I had a long talk today about getting Harry Sturz’sThe Byzantine Text-Type and New Testament Textual Criticism back into print. To some of us dabblers in textual criticism, Sturz’s book went a long way to disabuse our minds of Hort’s claim that the Byzantine text was edited and therefore secondary. Of course, there is absolutely no historical evidence for a Lucianic recession of the Byzantine text, nor does the absence of pre-fourth century fathers who quote this text mean anything. Hort never applied his so-called “genealogical method” to actual manuscripts. Want a more complete picture? Read Sturz’s book. Alas, you can’t unless it is re-published. I have rarely read a book that is more profound, thought-provoking, and well-researched (it is based on Sturz’s doctoral dissertation at Grace Seminary). Sturz’s arguments show clearly why the Westcott-Hort theory needs to be rejected or at least completely re-thought. Robinson, on the other hand, is willing to apply Hort’s genealogical method consistently – hence his new moniker, Hort Redivivus. It is impossible for me to get excited about New Testament textual criticism today. Discussions always seem to have an utterly predictable Hollywood ending. Maybe a reprinting of Sturz’s book (with its numerous typos corrected) would shake things up again a bit.

5) Yesterday my good friend Josef Solc spoke to my NT students. It was awesome! He encouraged them to adopt an intentional missional lifestyle.

Being from the Czech Republic, his heart is broken over the lostness in Europe. He noted that in any European nation the average of evangelicals is about 2.4 percent. Europe is adrift. It needs the Gospel. Are you willing to make disciples among the nations of Europe? Here are two essays of mine that might help you to make up your mind:

• The Dark Continent

• Europe Is Still a Mission Field

6) Speaking of missions, I’ve been thinking about the team that is going with us to Ethiopia this summer. I love you guys so much! Thank you for risking much in coming with us. Are any of you a bit anxious? Join the club! Missions is not easy. So, let me share a brief word of encouragement to all of my fellow members on the Ethiopia 2012 Team.

Often our spiritual enthusiasm outstrips our actual readiness to do the hard thing for Christ. Jesus said, “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matt. 26:41). I like Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of this verse in The Message: “There is a part of you that is eager, ready for anything in God. But there’s another part that’s as lazy as an old dog sleeping by the fire.” Peterson is certainly on the mark! The unspoken message is clear: Let your walk match your talk. Unfortunately, even a passionate pursuer of God can crumble in the face of obstacles and weaknesses. Why is this so? Because we are aligning our values more with the world (pleasure, comfort, ease) than with Christ. His demands prove to be far more daunting than we thought when we signed up for this gig.

As I said, I’m familiar with this worldly value system. On my recent trip abroad, I often sought out the comfortable, the easy whenever I could. I grew up in Hawaii as a getter and not a giver. Living sacrificially for others doesn’t come naturally for me – believe me! Following Jesus is just plain tough. Shouldering Jesus’ yoke of other-centeredness means doing the impossible – in our flesh. I speak the truth: the flesh is weak. My flesh.

But I find solace in two truths:

1) Jesus understands. He knew what it meant to be weak. He knew firsthand what a struggle it is to crucify self. By taking on flesh, He became vulnerable. Peterson’s translation of John 1:14 captures this thought brilliantly: “The Word became flesh and moved into the neighborhood.” Yes, Jesus is “one of us.” He “knows our every weakness,” as the old hymn puts it. Amen!

2) More than just understanding our weaknesses, however, Jesus can actually do something about them. He assures us that when we place our minds, bodies, and wills at His disposal, He will never leave us or forsake us but instead fill us with the Holy Spirit. Our part is to surrender, letting go of our pride and allowing God to cripple it. I know this will sound cheesy, but the truth is that His presence is never absent from us. His presence, however, is not enough. We must learn to practice His presence. No props. No gimmicks. No cheap solutions to our problems. No short cuts. Just the presence of the One worth trusting when all we feel is His absence. The presence of the One who understands what alienation and heartache feel like. The presence of the One who knows that some wounds are never going to heal in this life.

“The disciples were glad,” John reports, “when they saw the Lord” (John 20:20). This is what makes missions possible. This is why I can keep on going even though I am rapidly turning into an ancient fossil. Missions springs from the presence of the risen Jesus. Which means that we have much to celebrate, and not just at Easter or Christmas!

8:18 AM Good morning, fellow cybergeeks!

Today I was thinking: The Internet is an amazing place, isn’t it? I’m told that more people will log onto Facebook and Twitter this Sunday than will go to church. More people will meet their future spouse online than at a church potluck. In the online world you’ll find flamers (people who love to incite arguments), trolls (people who do nothing but post negative comments on other people’s blogs), de-frienders (people who get even by hitting the “de-friend” button), and scabs (people who know nothing but have an opinion about everything and scour the Internet for the salacious and controversial). It takes absolute diligence to guard our hearts against these online seedpickers. I thought about this on Tuesday during our chapel service when I heard a very convicting message about praying for others – the way Epaphras had prayed for the Colossians (4:12-13):

Epaphras, a member of your own fellowship and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends you his greetings. He always prays earnestly for you, asking God to make you strong and perfect, fully confident that you are following the whole will of God. I can assure you that he prays hard for you and also for the believers in Laodicea and Hierapolis.

The speaker said it’s amazing how even a short blog post saying “I’m praying for you” can work a miracle in someone’s life. Immediately the Lord convicted me that I needed to do more of this in my own blog. To me, blogging is a unique gift from God for our generation. My mission in life is to live with single-minded determination to see the church around the globe grow for the glory of God, so blogging is a natural extension of that passion. It’s neat how blogging allows me to connect to God’s forever family around the world, from China to Chapel Hill. It’s always humbling to receive an email like this one:

Hello Mr. Black,

I came across your blog by accident yesterday, and decided today I would send you a message letting you know that a little over a year ago I started going though your beginner’s textbook on Learning New Testament Greek. I loved it. I wanted to learn to read Greek and found your book on Amazon for a price I could afford. Now I am beginning to read the New Testament, and sometimes the LXX, in Greek…. Now I’m learning more languages.

Don’t you just love sharing Jesus’ goodness in this digital ocean? “Because I believe, I blog” may well become my motto! I especially love blogs that are conversational and writers who talk to you as though we were friends. Maybe we are….

So this is it, fellow bloggers: We can either use our blogs to promote our own pride and agenda, or we can link arms and light up the online space for the sake of Jesus. I don’t know about you, but I want to do the latter.

Blessings,

Your faithful fellow-blogger.

Tuesday, April 10

5:18 AM Excited to have the following guest lecturers in my NT 1 class this semester:

• April 11: Josef Solz on Evangelism and the Gospels

• April 25: Dan Heimbach on Jesus on Divorce and Remarriage

• May 2: Keith Harper on The Professionalization of Pastoral Ministry

• May 9: Michael Travers on The Gospels As Literature.

All classes are held on Wednesday at 12:30 pm. You are always welcome to join us. Email me for more details.

4:45 AM Becky and I both up early, enjoying the fireplace and a cup of coffee together. Life is good. 

Monday, April 9

4:51 PM Looking forward to getting caught up this week with my colleague Alvin Reid, who just returned from a short term mission trip to Ukraine over the break. Alvin is a firm believer in the value of short term mission trips, and so I am. Check out his latest essays on the subject atwww.alvinreid.com. An outtake:

We go on mission trips not because we are the American heroes who come to rescue poor folks in other lands, but because Jesus is the hero, period; we simply want to join other believers in making Him famous. Plan your trip, raise the funds, gather the people, and bring along young people. As you go, go to serve in the partnership we share in the gospel.

4:47 PM Hong Kong Baptist University (there really is such a thing!) announces an opening in Religious Studies or Theology.

4:38 PM Only in North Carolina?

People all across the country started their day in church — singing, praying and remembering the reason for the holiday.

But in Whiteville, North Carolina, hundreds started the day on their hands and knees — not reading the word of God — but writing it.

Congregants of 30 different churches wrote the entire New Testament on the sidewalk in chalk.

That’s 27 books, 260 chapters, almost 8-thousand verses and close to 140,000 words.

No mention aboutwhich version was used.

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4:28 PM Did I mention that Becky and I, along with several other married couples from Bethel Hill, are planning on attending Danny Akin’s Marriage Conference this Friday and Saturday in Wake Forest? After 35 years of marriage I feel I still have a lot to learn about being a good husband. Marriage is great, but it takes hard work. I’m looking forward to Danny’s clear explanation from the Word about God’s plan to keep our marriages strong, healthy, and kingdom-focused. Charlie Shedd was right: “Marriage … is not so much finding the right person and being the right person” (Letters to Karen, p. 13). So I’m ready to grab a deep breath and take the plunge. It may hurt!

For more information about the conference, gohere.

9:59 AM While I was gone, Andrew Rozalowsky was kind enough toreview my book Why Four Gospels? (Or republish an earlier review.) Thank you, Andrew!  

P.S. Andrew has switched to the NIV. Check out his reasonshere.

9:42 AM Odds and ends …

1) As usual, I’m feeling tired, achy, and worn out — par for the course after such an intensive trip as the one I just took. Please tell me life gets easier the older you get, will you? I do hope to be back to normal in a couple of days.

2) I arrived home to find this stack of clothes in our breakfast room.

Somehow Becky will pack them into 19 ministry suitcases for the July trip to Ethiopia. The evangelists and their families sorely need them.

3) Becky’s white count took a huge jump upward while I was gone, so we’re off to UNC for another round of chemo this afternoon. My father-in-law emailed me yesterday with words to this effect: “So, you go away for a while and Becky starts feeling better. Do you think there might be a connection between the two?” Everyone’s a comedian.

4) Tomorrow it’s back to school again. I get tired just looking at my calendar.

5) I think I told you that I’m taking Becky to Dallas this month to visit her parents. Seems the older we (and they) get, the more we see the need to do this.

Enjoy your day!

Sunday, April 8

9:06 AM Quote of the day:

In my “Lifegroup” at Apex Baptist, we have employees that work all across the workplace spectrum. We have everyone from computer/software engineers to painters. We have a deck installer. We have a nurse and we have a dentist. We have a warehouse employee. In the midst of all of this, we have a husband and wife team getting ready to head across the globe with the IMB (the mission agency of the Southern Baptist Convention). My litmus test for whether or not we have changed how we think about the workplace the right way would be this: When the question is asked, “Who is a missionary?,” everyone will say, “I am.”

Are you afulltime missionary in the workplace, wherever that might be?

8:46 AM Happy Resurrection Sunday, one and all. I’m home! God richly blessed our trip. Those of you who are on our private email list will receive an update shortly. In the meantime I’ve publishedAn Easter Meditation on Freedom. I wrote it while flying home yesterday. Whom the Son of Man sets free is free indeed!

Thankful for your prayers for Becky and me during my travels,

Dave

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   restoring our biblical and constitutional foundations

Brethren, Let Us Return to New Testament Practices

 David Alan Black 

This has already turned out to be a blessed year for me in many ways. I have been given such a strong burden to stand for the historical Christian position and the purity of the visible church. I am beginning to realize just how profoundly wrong counterfeit Christianity is as well as our “heresy of practice,” as Francis Schaeffer used to call it. In my spiritual pilgrimage, which is now in its 44th year (I was born again at the age of eight), I am realizing that the only thing that really matters is to have one’s life grounded in the reality of Him who has conquered sin and death. This means that we must come to terms with spiritual deadness and spiritual pride; that we must learn how to bring everything under the blood of Christ; that we must seek to live moment by moment in the presence of the Lord; and that we must step out in faith under impossible circumstances so that we might see a little of the blazing of the glory of God.

It is interesting to me, looking back over my writings through the years, that I see a shift in emphasis as my activities have embraced wider and wider circles of life and culture and, at the same time, as I have became more and more aware that everything must be founded upon an unchanging spiritual reality at the center of life. This change has not been a dramatic thing, like Paul’s road to Damascus experience. I have just stumbled upon it, like Bunyan’s Pilgrim, falling into the Slough of Despond, locked up in Doubting Castle; then, from time to time, by God’s mercy, I am relieved of my burden of apathy, only, alas, too soon to acquire it again. All the while I have gradually become a participant in the “remnant movement”— those who have always been theologically conservative but who are seeking to forsake the heteropraxy and traditionalism that stands in contrast to the pure teaching of the Word of God. I have become convinced that far too many of our congregations that claim to be New Testament churches in reality follow very little of what the New Testament Scriptures have patterned for local assemblies. So we must seek the Lord’s way for our lives, our families, and our churches day by day, living carefully within the bonds of Scripture and in constant fellowship with Him so that He would show us our path. And I have the freedom of knowing that if I honestly miss the way somewhere, God will still stand by me and deal with me gently.

None of our ministries is perfect, but I really do believe that one of the things the Lord uses at Dave Black Online are the links on the New Testament church. I am convinced that if standards are raised that are not really Scriptural, and especially if these are put forward as the spiritual standard for which we should strive, it can and will only lead to sorrow. I have do doubt that we have inherited many traditions and practices that simply have no basis in the New Testament and that we have never bothered to question or investigate in the pure light of God’s truth.

For over a year now I have been calling for reform in American society. But the healing of America is not dependent primarily on reaching the lost for Jesus Christ, as important as that is. In 2 Chronicles 7:14 we are told that God’s condition for His healing of our land is that we His people repent and turn from our wicked ways! As the family and the church go, so goes the nation (please read Deuteronomy 28).

My word to you today is this: Are you willing to “test everything and hold fast to that which is true,” as the Scripture requires (1 Thess 5:21)? This year, may God give us the grace and joy of obeying Him not only in our theology but also in our practice.

January 9, 2004

David Alan Black is the editor of www.daveblackonline.com.

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   restoring our biblical and constitutional foundations

Clueless Crybabies

 David Alan Black 

Even as the Bush administration acted Monday to allow religious organizations to receive federal funding for a wide range of social welfare programs and awarded $30.5 million in grants to encourage religious groups to do more to help the needy, the citizens of Alabama are reeling from the effects of their politicians’ mismanagement of taxpayer funds. They have had to deal with three questions simultaneously:

Is Alabama’s tax system fair to all taxpayers? Because taxes are compulsory (i.e., coercive) payments for government services, nothing is more important to good government than the fair and equitable distribution of tax burdens.

Does Alabama’s tax system provide an efficient distribution of tax dollars? Taxpayers expect efficiency in the management of their tax dollars so that they can be used to the greatest effect. Clearly the Alabama state government has failed to convince taxpayers that they are wisely spending the largess of their constituents.

Does Alabama’s tax system provide adequate funding for essential public services? The tax system must adequately fund the public services that are important to a state’s development. However, what is and what isn’t important is a very subjective question. I read this morning that parents in Alabama are complaining that they might have to pay for their children to ride the school bus. Goodness, has it come to this?

According to a recent Parca Report, “Alabama’s tax structure is characterized by extremes which, taken together, create an environment that makes efficient management of tax dollars almost impossible. Not only are there fewer tax dollars available than in any other state, but the sources are unbalanced in a way that leads to fiscal instability. Flexibility at the state level is missing because of extensive earmarking. Schools and county governments lack a stable base of local funding that would enable them to be more effective.”

The bottom line is that the good people of Alabama are realizing for the first time in a very long time that there is no such thing as a free lunch. They have also had to ask themselves the question: Where does government money come from? They’ve learned the hard way that it doesn’t come from the Tooth Fairy or Santa Claus. They might benefit from reading Economics for Real People: An Introduction to the Austrian School by Gene Callahan, who explains that economics is the study of how real people act to relieve dissatisfaction.

Apparently Gov. Bob Riley is waking up and smelling the coffee. He thought that by using the “You’re a Christian, and therefore you should do what I, a devout Christian, tell you to do” argument, his appeal for the largest tax increase in Alabama history would play out, but the fine work of opponents like the Tax Accountability Coalition, South Alabamians for Real Reform, and the Alabama Christian Coalition kept voters from being misled. With Riley’s $1.2 billion tax increase soundly relegated to the trash heap of history, the only question now is where the state government will cut services. Riley is philosophically against these steps, calling them political suicide. Others would call them sound economics.

Having government pay for your children to ride the school bus is not a constitutional right. Nor are the many other government programs designed to assist people avoid poverty that actually perpetuate poverty. Perhaps the recent referendum in Alabama is a call for government checks to be replaced by church and community “welfare” in the sense of Acts 2:42-47.

September 24, 2003

David Alan Black is the editor of www.daveblackonline.com. He is currently finishing his latest book, Why I Stopped Listening to Rush: Confessions of a Recovering Neocon.

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   restoring our biblical and constitutional foundations

The Conservative Democrat

Pieter Friedrich

Oddly enough, Democrat Senator Zell Miller of Georgia was a keynote speaker at the Republican National Convention (RNC). Even odder is that despite the venue in which he gave his speech, he remains a member of the Democratic Party.

Senator Miller’s September 1st speech was largely lacking in substance. The only apparent reason he gave for supporting President Bush’s reelection was Bush’s position on defense spending, and the only apparent reason he gave for opposing Kerry, who “wants to be the leader of the free world” (and here I thought Kerry was running for President of the United States) was that Kerry “voted to weaken our military” and demanded we seek U.N. support for the war. (1)

Despite the lackluster content of Miller’s speech, over the next few days the Republican cheerleaders exploded in a firestorm of loud and vocal support for the Senator. Jerry Falwell said Miller “pulled no punches in identifying the absolute surrender of his party to leftist special-interest groups.” (2) Columnist Kyle Williams said, “[Miller] really pounded on Sen. Kerry, but he mixed his criticisms with thoughts about family, the future and hope.” (3) Larry Kudlow of the National Review called Miller a “conservative-leaning Democrat.” (4) An acquaintance of mine said of Miller’s rebuke of the Democratic Party (and I paraphrase), “FDR and Kennedy would be rolling in their graves if they knew how far off-course the Democratic Party has gone.”

I’m not sure if Miller successfully pulled the wool over the eyes of the above Republicans, if they have no concept of what “conservatism” is, or if they’re simply stupid. Perhaps the answer is that a little bit of all three is true.

Miller is, admittedly, conservative for a Democrat. I believe he would fit right into what the Republican Party has become, but he is by no stretch of the imagination objectively conservative. His personal platform (or, at least, the unsavory bits) is as follows:

Senator Miller is pro-life, yet he supports life-destroying embryonic stem-cell research. (5) And merely two years ago, Miller voted yes on a bill that would include “sexual orientation” in a list of hate crimes the federal government is allowed to “help” the individual states prosecute (even if the crime committed was not a federal offense). Also, in 1996 Miller chaired the Platform Committee and so presided over the writing of the following language from the Democratic National Platform:

We support continued efforts, like the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, to end discrimination against gay men and lesbians and further their full inclusion in the life of the nation. (6)

And while Miller is on record as opposing abortion, the fact is he still remains in the party whose current platform reads: “Because we believe in the privacy and equality of women, we stand proudly for a woman’s right to choose, consistent with Roe v. Wade, and regardless of her ability to pay. We stand firmly against Republican efforts to undermine that right.” (7)

Not only is Miller soft on the Second Amendment, but in a 1993 speech he said he supports banning “the possession of handguns by those under age 18, and [making] it a felony for anyone to furnish them with a handgun.” (8)

He supported the “Children’s Health Insurance Program” in Georgia which “could provide health coverage for as many as 228,000 Georgia children. He also voted to make up to $300 billion available for a Medicare prescription drug benefit for 2002 – 2011, and promised to use the national budget surplus to fund prescription drug plans for seniors.

In 2001, Miller spoke unfavorably of Bush’s “Freedom to Farm” subsidies bill, not because he objected to the $190 billion in subsidies the final bill gave farmers, but because it “failed to deliver.” (9) Although Miller’s meaning was not completely clear when he said that, one presumes what the bill failed to deliver was adequate subsidies.

Furthermore, the free trade supporting (and thus anti-American business) Miller voted in 2000 to give permanent “Normal Trade Relations” status to China. The same China, that is, which crushed students beneath tank tracks only 15 years ago, continues to force abortions upon Chinese women through its “One-Child” policy, and to this day imprisons Christians for practicing their faith and sends political and religious dissidents to reeducation camps.

Finally, in his RNC speech Miller asked, “What has happened to the party I’ve spent my life working in?” While Republicans have praised Miller for “recognizing,” as Falwell put it, that his party has surrendered to “leftist-leaning special interests,” a sensible person might question what Miller is talking about. For instance, Paul Begala, the speechwriter for Zell Miller’s 1992 address to the Democratic National Convention, says, “Zell was the Democratic keynote speaker in 1992. He was the Platform Committee Chairman in 1996. He co-chaired Al Gore’s leadership PAC in 2000. And now, all of a sudden, in 2004 he’s decided the party’s too liberal? What’s changed?” (10)

Miller supported Clinton, who has remained consistent in his anti-family and socialistic positions. Likewise, Miller supported (and, as Begala points out, chaired the leadership PAC for) Al Gore. Gore has remained pro-abortion, pro-sodomy, pro-free trade, pro-big government, anti-firearms, and pro-socialization of education and health care. With only the partial exception of the first two issues, Miller seems to still agree with all of Gore’s political positions.

So one would echo Begala in asking “what’s changed?” When all is considered, it seems that Miller’s “what happened to my party?” was nothing more than manipulative rhetoric designed to tickle the ears of GOP party members.

In the end, yes, Miller may be conservative for a Democrat, but that doesn’t change the fact that he’s still a dyed-in-the-wool socialist.

References
1. Senator Zell Miller (D-GA) in a speech delivered at the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City, NY.
2. Falwell, Jerry. 2004. “Zell’s Fire And Brimstone.” WorldNetDaily.com, September 4.
3. Williams, Kyle. 2004. “GOP Convention: Hope Over Hatred.” WorldNetDaily.com, September 4.
4. Kudlow, Larry. 2004. “The Zell Factor.” National Review, September 2.
5. Koukl, Gregory. 2002. “Embryonic Stem Cell Research: Means and Ends.” Stand To Reason Commentary (STR.org).
6. Democratic National Platform. 1996.
7. Democratic National Platform. 2004.
8. Miller, Zell. 1993. “Youth Violence.” Said in a speech delivered in Augusta, Georgia, October 25. The italics are my own.
9. Miller, Zell. 2001. “Miller Meets With Agriculture Secretary-Designate.” Press Release from the office of Senator Zell Miller, January 3.
10. Paul Begala in an interview with Teddy Davis. 2004. “Questions For Paul Begala.” ABC News, August 26.

September 8, 2004

Pieter Friedrich lives in a small town in the California Sierra Foothills. He is an amateur political analyst, a writer, a classical liberal, a juris naturalist, a paleo-conservative, a strict constitutionalist, and, foremost, a Christian. He may be reached for comment here.

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