Just as the Iowa straw-poll concluded last Saturday, with Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul taking first and second place, Texas Governor Rick Perry announced his candidacy. Happily, the kingdom of Christ is neither threatened nor furthered by the kingdoms of this age. Nevertheless, the way in which not only the media but professing Christians distort [...]
Guest-Post by Brian Lee, pastor of Christ Reformed Church in Washington, DC (which worships in Teddy Roosevelt’s church). It is amazing how quickly we forget that the confusion of Christianity with politics has happened on both sides of the political spectrum. Theodore Roosevelt broke from the Republican Party in 1912 to form a third, Progressive [...]
Already the new Alabama Governor, Robert Bentley, is embroiled in controversy over comments he made in a church service following his inauguration. At the heart of the controversy are his comments about non-Christians not being his brothers and sisters. On one hand, the reaction highlights the pervasiveness of religious pluralism. The gospel proclaims God’s forgiveness [...]
Guest post by Jason Stellman In her Newsweek article titled “One Nation Under God,” Lisa Miller reports that President Obama met with a team of moderate Christian leaders in Washington on November 30—among them Jim Wallis and Tony Campolo—for the purpose of articulating “a vision of Christianity that will counter a new—and newly powerful—religious-right rhetoric [...]
How will Christians respond to the Republican resurgence last night? Will the “culture war” rhetoric be amped up? One satirist has already posted on Twitter: “Apparently, contrary to the bumper sticker, God is a Republican.” In 1994, the last time Republicans won big in Congressional elections, Michael Horton sat down with William Bennett, Os Guinness, Jim [...]
A new documentary looking at the relationship of American evangelicals to the modern State of Israel is being screened several nights this week in southern California. With God On Our Side – Trailer 2 from Porter Speakman Jr on Vimeo. For more on problems with Christian Zionism, you can read this “Open Letter” from 2002, [...]
It used to be said that Rick Warren was “America’s pastor.” Before that, of course, Billy Graham was the pastor of presidents. Now, it’s Glenn Beck. Regardless of your political views, you have to admire how Glenn Beck–a one-time drunk, washed up comedian–has transformed himself beyond a mere conservative commentator into a public persona writ [...]
The Manhattan Declaration, released November 20, 2009, firmly yet winsomely takes the stand in defense of truths that are increasingly undermined in contemporary Western societies, including our own. Drafted by Princeton law professor Robert George and evangelical leaders Chuck Colson and Timothy George, this declaration focuses on three issues: (1) the inherent dignity and rights [...]
I started a short series of blog posts last week dealing with several common questions and objections to the Reformation doctrine of the Two Kingdoms. Here are parts 1 and 2, if you missed them. Today, I’m finishing this series by taking up the most serious objection, namely, that this view denies the presence of Christ’s [...]
