5:12 PM From the blah-gosphere:

Religion poll guru John Green and Steve Waldman of Beliefnet do the math on the exit polls and agree: "In the pivotal states, he [Bush] benefited from the strong support of evangelical Christians and, just as important, an impressive showing among regular churchgoing Catholics and mainline Protestants."

The Christian Coalition says "Christian evangelicals" are the group that put Bush over the top. The Family Research Council's Tony Perkins and former Bush opponent Gary Bauer prefer to focus on "values voters."

Concerned Women for America does a bit of dancing.

"Evangelicals voted in force in this year's election, securing the presidency for George W. Bush, granting parents in Florida the right to be notified before their minor daughter's abortion, and passing marriage protections laws in every state they were offered — even liberal Oregon," writes senior policy director Wendy Wright. "President Bush knows his strongest base, who they are and what drives them. Perhaps this is because, as many evangelicals and conservative Catholics can relate, he is one of us."

So there you have it: Christians put Bush over the top. And why shouldn't evangelicals support Bush, who (alluding to Jesus' words "He who is not with Me is against Me") once said, "Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists."

Read more. 

4:23 PM This is an important development within the Evangelical Theological Society. Inerrancy must not be left to be (re)defined by those who support open theism. 

3:56 PM Hope is rare among Iraq's Christian minority.

2:43 PM There's been a great response to our recent essays on our national sin of statism. Here's a sampling:

I've been looking through the mini-essays on your website. They are a
breath of fresh air. I'm a Reformed Baptist tutor & preacher in Britain,
currently numb with horror at what my government (along with yours) is
doing in Iraq. Although most of my Reformed friends are at one with me
in being appalled at this mass shedding of innocent blood, & the lies
that justify it, it has been impossible to hear a conservative Reformed
voice from America articulating the same moral viewpoint. I am very
glad, even relieved, to have discovered your website. Thank you!

Another reader adds:

Right on brother. We are in this world not of it. Bible believing Christians cannot fall into the trap of seeking their security and prosperity in the governments of the world. Our only security....our only prosperity comes from Jesus Christ, " if He be for us who can be against us?" We both know who was given the governments of the world.

And Doug Phillips liked what we had to say about Christmas:

Thanks for you blog entry exposing the paganism of believers introducing theologically unsound, historically inaccurate Roman Catholic/Pagan festival days into their worship. When I left Rome I also left the superstitions of Rome, but have found over the years more persecution and ridicule from other believers on this issue than any other. Men crave their idolatries.

When I hear people say “Let’s put Jesus back into Christmas, my response is this: “Let’s put the Mass back in Christmas, for Christ was never there to begin with.”

Thanks to all for taking the time to write and share your thoughts.

7:10 AM David Corn asks, Are We Winning, Yet?

7:05 AM Yesterday Eerdmans graciously sent me a complimentary copy of Howard Marshall's latest book, New Testament Theology: Many Witnesses, One Gospel, which promises to be a very good (and long) read. I am disappointed (but not surprised) that he discusses the theology of Mark before Matthew, but otherwise his canonical arrangement seems satisfying. I am determined to read the book - all 732 pages - in one sitting later this week.

7:00 AM For the first time in several weeks I spent the day on campus visiting with students and colleagues and posting my syllabus for the J-Term. It was wonderful! I was thrilled to get a phone call from my good friend Trent Butler, who recently assumed the senior editorship of Chalice Press in Saint Louis. He asked me to write several books for him, and I also notified my colleagues of his eagerness to work with our faculty on their book projects. As soon as I finish my sabbatical writing project I may take Trent up on his offer. I know the message God has put in my own heart, and which I must speak regardless of the cost. I believe most strongly that we need a different genre of textbook writing today, and to me there is no alternative but to ask for God's grace in keeping my writing simple without being simplistic. Perhaps the title of my next book will be Unleashing the Church, which I think would be a good general tag for the many thoughts I would like to hang on it. I have stayed on the writing train a long time, until its speed has become quite high, but this sabbatical has been good and has helped me regain perspective on my literary priorities. Speaking of books, last night I finally got around to reading Pat Buchanan's Where the Right Where Wrong, and my favorite quotes are the following:

We are not hated for who we are. We are hated for what we do. It is not our principles that have spawned pandemic hatred of America in the Islamic world. It is our policies.

To millions of Muslims, we are the "evil empire."

Kudos to Pat for exposing the folly of the neoconservatives. But are conservatives listening?

7:25 PM Farm Update: My new Dell desktop should be here on Thursday (160 Hard drive), 3.0 Processor, 512 Memory). Should increase my productivity (and decrease my frustration level - my 10 year-old pooter has been freezing up on me at least five times a day). Way out here in the sticks there's no DSL, but, hey, we've got "high speed" internet access, and that will have to suffice. This week's big project is to finish moving the smoke house (and rebuild it on our farm). Should be fun....

Been enjoying a daily ride on my wonderful horses, getting acquainted with our farm and the neighboring farms as well. High-spirited, but under control. They're already used to the cows, goats, and hunting dogs, but still get a bit freaked by the deer. The latter are plentiful this year and just can't wait to be bagged.

7:23 PM Another reason why a pure democracy is a bad idea. (Let's not forget that the U.S. is a Republic, not a democracy.)

3:14 PM Shades of Goethe's Faust?

2:59 PM Jonathan Grubbs has started quite an interesting thread on tithing here. For more, please see our webpage, Unleashing the Church.

2:45 PM What, no category for 52-year olds?

[T]he demographics of blog authorship are somewhat disputed, but the bulk of bloggers clearly are within the under-30 demographic. According to a Perseus study, over 90 percent of blogs are authored by people between the ages of 13 and 29, with 51.5 percent between the ages of 13 and 19.

Read The "Blogosphere" is Growing Exponentially.

2:40 PM Hearty congratulations to my esteemed colleague on the New Testament faculty, Dr. Andreas Köstenberger, on the release of his latest book.

2:16 PM Farm Update: Ain't it good to be back home again.... Just finished moving two-thirds of an old smoke house from a neighboring farm. We'll rebuild it beside our garden house and use it to store our reenactment accouterments. We were able to take the roof off almost intact (minus the gable ends); the sides we will move completely intact (thankfully). We're still collecting old lumber for our new "old" horse barn, construction of which has been postponed pending completion of several more pressing farm projects. Ah, the joys of being a country boy!

Well, life on the farm is kinda laid back
Ain't much an old country boy like me can't hack
It's early to rise, early in the sack
Thank God, I'm A Country Boy

Well a simple kinda life never did me no harm
A raisin' me a family and workin' on a farm
My days are all filled with an easy country charm
Thank God I'm a country boy

When the work's all done and the sun's settin' low
I pull out my fiddle and I rosin' up the bow
The kids are asleep so I keep it kinda low
Thank God I'm a country boy

I'd play "Sally Goodin'" all day if I could
But the Lord and my wife wouldn't take it very good
So I fiddle when I can, work when I should
Thank God, I'm a country boy

7:53 AM Nairobi continues to be a very dangerous place.

7:45 AM In case you've never seen one: a bread wagon. (Mr. Gravlin had a route in Detroit prior to World War I.)

7:45 AM Homeschooling families that are considering college options might want to take a look at this essay by Mary Pride.

7:34 AM When the information highway becomes the education highway.

Internet classes are valuable tools for the homeschooling family. They provide the personal instructional opportunities that enhances the homeschool. As good as that is, we can enjoy the benefit of classroom interaction in the safety and supervision of the home. I encourage you to spend some time exploring the possibility of integrating Internet classes into your home school.

7:30 AM Here's welcoming the Thorpe Report to the blogosphere.

5:45 PM It was only a year ago that my wife and I had the privilege of singing John Rutter's "Gloria" with the Northeast Piedmont Chorale. We listened to the CD last night in the library of Bradford Hall and were reminded again of the piece's greatness. It is possibly the best modern compilation of Latin texts with its Gregorian chants and dissonant harmonies. I can almost weep whenever I hear the magnificent second movement. Unforgettable!

4:20 PM Just over a week ago I was in Gonder - just about as close to the nation of Eritrea as I am ever likely to get. Today comes word of increasing persecution in that country, and I hope you will join me in praying for those arrested last Thursday.

4:18 PM Took advantage of the absolutely gorgeous weather today to introduce my Arabian gelding to the farm - not quite all 123 acres of it, but a good chunk nonetheless. Tomorrow it's Traveler's turn. Felt a bit like George Washington, who mounted one of his steeds every morning and surveyed his farms - some 10,000 acres at one point. Felt good to be on horseback again after five weeks in Ethiopia (where I did, however, ride mules!). (Below: Bradford Hall and, below it, Maple Ridge.)

1:06 PM To use the serial comma or not - I do - and various and sundry other questions about comma usage.

12:58 PM A new reader sent me this kind email:

Wow! I've only read a couple of your essays and articles, but this is some of the most thoughtful, exhaustive, engaging, biblically based commentary I've ever read.... I strongly agree in your stand on "limited government and constitutionally guaranteed liberty."

12:40 PM Theo Sommer thinks George W. Bush is a "sobered man." He also thinks the Europeans can work with this embattled president. Read Never Waste a Crisis from Die Zeit.

11:50 AM Tom DiLorenzo on THE problem with the federal government.

11:30 AM In his latest blog entry, Darrell Dow exposes the weaknesses of the so-called Just War Theory as applied to the Iraq War. Certainly it is more important to lead a soul to Christ than to debate the virtues of war, but the sound evaluation of a faulty theory can be as holy an act as the winning of a soul. Kudos to Darrell for his bold and insightful treatment.

9:23 AM The evangelical church in America is now in a free fall and continues to be deceived by so-called openness theology and its proponents. Please read this essay by David Wells, who rightly notes:

The truth of the matter is that the fraying at the edges of the evangelical world has now turned into an unraveling at its center. First came the new definitions about who evangelicals were. Then the boundaries were shifted. Then they were crossed. And now the reality of God is redefined and made altogether more accommodating to our postmodern culture. It is for these reasons that I believe Evangelicalism is now in a free fall. I therefore hope that my writing will play an important role in bringing the Church back to more cogent, biblical understanding, a more serious mind, a greater love of truth and righteousness, and a closer walk with God.

9:20 AM We are fast approaching December’s orgy of materialism, a celebration dating not from an unbroken tradition about Jesus’ birth—which would make it reliable—but from a festival of sun worship that a seeker-sensitive church took over in order to “win pagans” in a compromised form of evangelism. Jesus constantly spoke out against the Pharisees for adding their own traditions to God’s Law, and ecclesiastical traditions are no less susceptible to curb Christian freedom in the same way. Perhaps that's why Paul referred to “special days and months and seasons and years” without specifically calling them Jewish observances as a general warning, in which case we have largely ignored it today. So before falling for the commercialization of Christmas, which (if we're honest) can only be described as a crassly selfish holiday, please consider the wisdom of Charles Haddon Spurgeon on this subject:

We have no superstitious regard for times and seasons. Certainly we do not believe in the present ecclesiastical arrangement called Christmas. First because we do not believe in any mass at all, but abhor it, whether it be sung in Latin or in English: Secondly, because we find no scriptural warrant whatever for observing any day as the birthday of the Savior; and consequently, its observance is a superstition, because not of divine authority. Superstition has fixed most positively the day of our Savior's birth, although there in no possibility of discovering when it occurred. It was not till the middle of the third century that any part of the Church celebrated the birth of our Lord; and it was not till long after the western Church had set the example, that the eastern adopted it. Because the day in not known. Probably the fact is that the "holy" days were arranged to fit in with the heathen festivals. We venture to assert that if there be any day in the year of which we may be pretty sure that it was not the day on which our Savior was born it is the 25th of December. Regarding not the day, let us give God thanks for the gift of His dear Son. 

How absurd to think we could do it in the spirit of the world, with a Jack Frost clown, a deceptive worldly Santa Claus, and a mixed program of sacred truth with fun, deception and fiction. If it be possible to honor Christ in the giving of gifts, I cannot see how while the gift, giver, and recipient are all in the spirit of the world. The Catholics and high Church Episcopalians may have their Christmas one day in 365 but we have a Christ gift the entire year.

Upright men strove to stem the tide, but in spite of all their efforts, the apostasy went on, till the Church, with the exception of a small remnant was submerged under pagan superstition. That Christmas is a pagan festival is beyond all doubt. The time of the year, and the ceremonies with which it in celebrated, prove its origin.

Those who follow the custom of observing Christmas, follow not the Bible, but pagan ceremonies. 

9:00 AM I hope you had a great day yesterday. The highlight of our Thanksgiving as a family was singing for the shut-ins at the local nursing home, going from room to room, taking requests, and even having the patients sing along on occasion. In the world of men we find nothing as blessed as serving others in the name of Christ. We are a rich people indeed.

2:04 PM The latest from the able pen of Paul Proctor:

I find the similarities between our country’s currency and “Christianity” curious. Both are widely accepted parodies of the past that now drift on a sea of relativism with values that have depreciated dramatically over the years along with the culture and its cravings. But because the deterioration has spanned several decades, few can really appreciate what has been lost.

2:00 PM This just in from a good friend and long time DBO reader. It is the nicest Thanksgiving present I could receive.

Just wanted to say Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family.  We didn't get the election results we wanted but it was not from lacking of trying.  At the end of the day I can honestly say that [we] did our best to get Michael Peroutka elected president.  His message marches on, because his message is the message of righteousness and truthfulness.  We will continue to pray for this nation.  Like Lee said so many years ago, "everything is in God's hands".  Thanks for the wonderful work you are doing spreading His word all over the globe.  You are one of a kind and always in our thoughts and prayers. 

7:33 AM It's pretty obvious that ours is not a website for the idealistic, Utopian liberal humanist, but neither it is intended to make pom-pom waving New Righters feel very comfortable. Does anyone listen? Very few, likely. When was the last time you saw a quote from DBO in the Washington Post or even World Magazine for that matter? How pleasant to know that most American evangelicals will be eating their turkey suppers today without the slightest pang of conscience about all the contempt for human life, the avarice, the theological compromise. Yet the issue of our biblical and constitutional foundations is not some abstract national debate to be dabbled in, but a life and death struggle with the forces of evil. Anyone who chooses to see through the benign appearances to the cancerous reality would, I think, be EXTREMELY grateful to the Almighty for His mercy upon our undeserving nation this Thanksgiving. I wanted you to know that the editor of DBO does not take your readership lightly, nor is he ungrateful to God or to you for your encouragement these past two years. The fact that we mortals are inclined to treat our pets with more concern than aborted innocents is no excuse to revert to the crudest and most archaic of all solutions to solve our problems: hubris. Thus it is with deepest gratitude that I tender to all of you my sincerest thanks for your support and my very best wishes for a happy and healthy - and Christ-centered - Thanksgiving Day, 2004.

5:45 PM This just in:

Dave,

I wanted to pass along two links for another great family-integrated
ministry and church that I have found.

http://www.fofc.org/

http://www.homediscipleship.org/

God Bless,
Jonathan Grubbs
Sanford, Fla.

Excellent! Thank you, brother. 

5:30 PM The Swiss are now seeking nominations for the "word of the year." Last year's winner? Konkordanz.

4:35 PM Seeking a degree over an education? Beware the Degree Disease!

4:23 PM Kim considers herself uniquely blessed this Thanksgiving - she's finally learned to accept her husband's personality:

I am so, so blessed!

I can be bossy. I can be domineering. It's in my genes. The women in my family are generally of the take-charge nature. By today's standards that is considered an asset. But by God's eternal standard it is a liability, especially in marriage.

My husband, like my father, is an easy-going man. Stable, steady, loyal. He can be counted on. And I, too often, take him for granted.

I realized ... that I have been resentful of my husband's nature. Instead of accepting his God-given personality, which is quite commendable, by the way, I've been looking down at him. He's not the take-charge type. He's the steady, loyal, faithful type. Instead of seeing the positive things about him, I usually only see the negative. I should've been thankful for who God made him to be. And I am now.

Is your husband Mr. Command Man, Mr. Visionary, or Mr. Steady? Find out here. 

10:55 AM No need to reinvent the wheel, friends, when it comes to establishing family-integrated churches. Here's another great success story.

10:45 AM The Episcopal Church continues to self-destruct:

"We serve the Episcopal Church, but welcome Christians of every label. We are a Christian community, welcoming people of any faith, or none. Our community is diverse in terms of age, race, gender and orientation. Jesus is our Way, but not to the exclusion of all other paths to God."

10:33 AM October's Jeb Stuart reenactment in beautiful Laurel Hill, Virginia, was a real blast. Here's a pic of some of the men from our unit (30th North Carolina Troops) during weapons inspection, including my son Nathan (far left), our brigade bugler:

10:15 AM Students of Koine Greek often think they can use what they learn in class to get around in Athens. Modern Greek is, of course, very much different from what they are learning in school. Here's an exercise for those who desire a familiarity with Modern Greek. While there are significant differences, there are also many similarities!

Χαίρετε!

9:40 AM For you wordsmiths: Thanksgiving Day word origins, such as:

Cornucopia is a Latin form evolved from two words cornu copiae, "horn of plenty." The horn of plenty was fabled to be the horn of the goat nymph Amalthaea, whose milk was fed to the baby Zeus in Greek mythology. The cornucopia is a goat's horn filled with corn and other grains, flowers, and fruit. It has long been a symbol of fruitfulness and abundance and at Thanksgiving, baskets shaped like cornucopia are filled and put on display.

9:14 AM Blogs for Peroutka has a new name and face (faces, that is - I love the portrait, Pieter!). Check it out.

4:22 PM I won't be missing these two, as I get all my news from the www.

8:45 AM This just in:

8:14 AM The diversity of the Ethiopian landscape is amazing. One writer has called the country a land "in which the past lies heavy, very remote, actual and indecipherable." I used to tell my students to go to the Holy Land if they wanted to see what it was like to live in the First Century. Now I will tell them to go to Ethiopia. The capital, Addis Ababa, is modern (at least parts of it), but outside of Addis life goes on much as it has for centuries - slowly, ponderously, gracefully even - with the mass of the people hardly even aware of their own existence as part of a larger and more unified whole. Even the poorest peasant has a dignity and self-sufficiency that is impressive. I have truly grown to love these people. (Pics soon!)

8:12 AM The truth about the blue and the red.

7:59 AM Jim Rudd's Covenant News is one the finest sites on the web for up-to-date posts on politics, culture, and commentary. Here's a sampling:

Politics
How many injured and ill soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines are left off the Pentagon’s casualty count? Would you believe 15,000? "More than 15,000 troops with so-called 'non-battle' injuries and diseases have been evacuated from Iraq."

• Hiding the Casualty Count
• Battlegroups First Step Towards Euro Army
• U.S. Tanks from North Korea sent to Iraq
• Republicans Derail 9/11 Reform
• Bush Vows to Fight For Intelligence Bill
• Generals Want More Troops in Iraq
• McCain: Up to 50,000 more US troops needed
• Fallujah Assault Set to Music

3:20 PM Who's got the post-election blues? Not Mark Dankof!

(Mark: I too am inclined to adopt the "church-world" polarization found in Gaudium et Spes. I am also sometimes inclined to think that our movement has produced no devotional literature or serious study toward a devotional frame of mind. Then I read your works and am rebuked. Gratia et pax, my friend.)

3:14 PM Here's a problem they don't have in Ethiopia.

12:59 PM Temptation - the key to George Bush's thinking and actions?

12:45 PM History of U.S. complicity with Saddam: "Now we condemn civilian casualties, now we don't."

12:12 PM Dr. Lyman asks:

(Professor, did you catch this pronouncement made by the Reverend Falwell? Está loco, verdad?)

Did you have to remind me, Izzy? 

11:17 AM Why the nine healed lepers never returned to thank Jesus:

One waited to see if the cure was real.
One waited to see if it would last.
One said he would see Jesus later.
One decided that he had never had leprosy.
One said he would have gotten well anyway.
One gave the glory to the priests.
One said, "O, well, Jesus didn't really do anything."
One said, "Any rabbi could have done it."
One said, "I was already much improved."

11:15 AM Heard about the lady who was asking God to help her find a parking place in a crowded shopping mall? Just then a car pulled out, leaving her a place to park.  "You can forget it, God," she said. "I just found one."

11:12 AM John MacArthur with five reasons to give thanks this Thanksgiving. I especially like the fifth one.

11:10 AM William Einwechter on the rule of  law. In examining the whole of Scripture, I believe that the answer Bill gives is the correct one, and the only possible biblical one - that is, that all law derives from the ultimate Lawgiver, Jesus Christ. Hence civil magistrates are never autonomous - though they often act that way.

As men cast off the rule of God, they tend to substitute the rule of the state in its place. The vacuum in regard to law and order that is left in society when God's rule and law are set aside is inevitably filled by the state. The state assumes the role of supreme lawgiver over all men and institutions. Legislators become known as "lawmakers" who create law on the basis of human reason and political expediency. Judges become known as "activist judges" who decree what the law shall mean and how it shall be applied according to their own notions of "social justice" and of right and wrong. Divine law does not bind magistrates like these; they deny and despise the concept of a divine higher law that they must take into account and submit to in their legislation. The theory of legal positivism--that law finds its existence and sanction in the pronouncement of the state; that justice is upholding whatever the state says is law--is the explicit repudiation of the scriptural principle that "there is one lawgiver."

But civil magistrates are not autonomous; they are servants of God who are required to govern according to His law (Rom. 13:1-6). Their role is illuminated for us in Deuteronomy 17:11. They are not the creators of law or justice. True law and true justice are determined by the Creator. The civil magistrate's duty is to interpret and apply the law of God to his jurisdiction. All human legislation is to flow from the principles of law and justice revealed in Scripture by the foremost lawgiver.

11:07 AM Urban jungle.

11:05 AM If you live near Mecklenburg County Virginia you are cordially invited to hear my wife and me as we report on our Abyssinian Adventure at our home congregation, Averett Baptist Church, Sunday, December 5, at 7:00 pm. I praise the Lord for the phenomenal time we had in Ethiopia teaching, preaching, and doing medical work (during my wife's first night at the clinic in Langano she delivered a baby!). I've seen the Holy Spirit work in ways like I've never seen before. The infinite, finished work of Christ on the cross not only opens the gates of heaven but also provides, in the present life, many wonderful opportunities for service. Come and share these blessings with us!

(Below: Wall paintings in an Orthodox monastery on an island we visited in Lake Tana. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church is strongest in the north, but even here the Gospel is being proclaimed - and believed.)

10:59 AM From the "Farewell Sermon" of Jonathan Edwards, leader of the Great Awakening in New England, comes this wise counsel on the family (The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. I, p. ccvi.):

We have had great disputes [about] how the church ought to be regulated; and indeed the subject of these disputes was of great importance: but the due regulation of your families is of no less, and, in some respects, of much greater importance. Every Christian family ought to be as it were a little church, consecrated to Christ, and wholly influenced and governed by his rules. And family education and order are some of the chief means of grace. If these fail, all other means are likely to prove in effectual. If these are duly maintained, all the means of grace will be likely to prosper and be successful.

Let me now therefore, once more, before I finally cease to speak to this congregation, repeat, and earnestly press the counsel which I have often urged on the heads of families, while I was their pastor, to great painfulness in teaching, warning, and directing their children; bringing them up in the training and admonition of the Lord; beginning early, where there is yet opportunity, and maintaining constant diligence in labors of this kind.

Remember that, as you would not have all your instructions and counsels ineffectual, there must be government as well as instructions, which must be maintained with an even hand, and steady resolution, as a guard to the religion and morals of your family, and the support of its good order. Take heed that it not be with any of you as it was with Eli of old, who reproved his children, but restrained them not; and that, by this means, you do not bring the like curse on your families as he did on his.

10:46 AM Draft Update:

When Christians send their women to work and put their children in daycare, they have announced to the world that mamma is replaceable. If just anyone can train up a child, why bother having mamma at home? Indeed, if daycare centers can feed and clothe our children and teach them what they need to know, who needs families at all? We may as well all go off in our own separate directions and make money so we can buy all the stuff that the "American dream" is made of. And if mothers do not have a special, God-given role in the lives of their children, then why should it matter if mamma wears combat boots or takes a bullet?

Read When Mamma Wears Combat Boots. 

8:46 PM We saw "Lucy" in an Addis Ababa museum. Give me a break, folks.

6:37 PM The prayer meeting.

5:59 PM Bill and Hillary Update:

Here's the new Clinton Library.

And here's the Counter Clinton Library.

5:45 PM Covenant News introduces a new columnist. 

5:30 PM Quote of the day:

Politics as usual. But if people didn't vote for Bush, a pro-abortion candidate might have won.

Oh wait... one did.

1:10 PM You CNN fans will enjoy (?) this exchange between Bruce Morton and John Lofton of the Peroutka Campaign. While you're laughing you'll need to excuse me: I need to go out and feed the horses.

As Michael’s director of communications, I got a call from CNN saying they wanted to do a report about our campaign on their program “Inside Politics.” The reporter would be former CBS News correspondent Bruce Morton.

When Morton and I talk to set something up, he says he’s been looking at our Web page. He wants to know if Michael is elected, “will he repeal the First Amendment which separates church and state?” I tell him that there is nothing in this Amendment calling for such a separation.

Morton: “Well, it says you can’t have an established religion and your guy sounds as if he wants one….He wants a Christian country and that sounds like establishment to me. But, I am no Constitutional scholar.”

Indeed he is not. I patiently explain to Morton that what our Founders did not want was a national religion established by the Federal Government. I say Michael doesn’t want this either but he does not believe --- like our Founders --- that you should separate God and government. Referring to our campaign themes --- God, family, republic --- I note that the Declaration Of Independence speaks of unalienable rights, from God, that it is the purpose of government to protect.

Morton: “Yes, I’ve read it, thank you.”

But, Morton persists: “So, you would leave the First Amendment alone?”

I tell him I’m trying to take his question seriously but I can’t. I ask him what have we said that indicates we would not leave the First Amendment alone?

Morton: “Well, you appear to want a specifically Christian country.”

I reply: “Well, no, we actually want a Christian world. But, again, we do not want a Federally-established national religion. And, again, we believe what our Founders believed, that our unalienable rights come from God and it is the role of the civil government to protect these God-given rights.”

Morton: “Good enough.”

I reply: “God bless you.” He hangs up.

12:54 PM My friend (and Southeastern grad) Voddie Baucham has published a tome exposing the need for modern evangelicalism to penetrate and transform culture:

Here's an excerpt from chapter 1:

There was a time when American culture looked favorably upon Christianity. In fact, Chief Justice John Jay once referred to America as a Christian nation. There is no doubt that the founders of this great nation built it upon biblical principles. But things have changed.

We now live in what has commonly been referred to as “post-Christian” America. In fact, there are many who wish to purge America of any Christian influence. It sometimes seems as though someone in power woke up one day and said, “Christianity was useful once, even important and comfortable for a while, but it doesn’t fit our needs anymore. It’s fine to practice your faith at church, but keep it out of the marketplace of ideas.” Some go further than wanting Christianity to be less visible; they are openly antagonistic. Christians in America are finding themselves in an increasingly hostile environment.

This state of affairs is nothing new for the church. Throughout history Christians have been the targets of ridicule and persecution. While there are lessons to be learned from the suffering and endurance of our contemporaries, it is always best to begin with believers who have gone before us—those who are a part of the historical record and whose stories have been provided, protected, and preserved in the Bible.

Voddie is also working on two other books that I can't wait to read: Family-Driven Faith and The Family-Friendly Church. Here's his website.

12:13 PM Speaking of the Islands, here's a sampling of my first language:

'Ol King Kam
He one funny 'ol man
One funny 'ol man he waz
He like fo kau kau
At his bruddah's luau
An kanikapila awl night
Wit his kuz

If you can understand this jibberish, you one akamai kanaka, bro!

12:10 PM Izzy Lyman linked to this story on Hawaii's abysmal government schools (of which I am, unfortunately, a product). Note the misspelling in the first sentence.

11:59 AM You should care about this.

11:50 AM OK, youse MPs have done gone too far!

11:30 AM Harry Seabrook hits the nail on the head:

The Queen of England feels no need to apologize for Dresden. "Dresden was a legitimate strategic target in a total war that had to be brought to an end as quickly as possible." W.T. Sherman couldn’t have said it better himself. Likewise, the men who flew the Enola Gay were convinced that by incinerating civilians (along with the 200-year-old Christian community in Nagasaki) they were saving lives by shortening the war with Japan. Churchill understood the Bush Doctrine of pre-emptive war. The British declared war on Germany at a time when Germany had not threatened England at all (just like the US and Iraq). Two days after declaring war, the Royal Air Force began attacking civilian targets, beginning with Cuxhaven and Wilhelmshaven. The first German attacks against England were 15 days later, and only against military targets. The death toll in Hamburg in three nights of bombing in 1943 was 46,000. In Dresden, in one week, it was 250-300,000. The British and US fighters then strafed the streets with their machine guns to kill the dangerous women, children, and pensioners. More bombs were dropped on Berlin in one day than were dropped by the German Air Force on Great Britain during the whole war. But no! Why should the Queen apologize for spreading freedom? As a more sensible Thomas Fleming once said, "when a government targets the civilians of Dresden, Hiroshima, Novi Sad, or Baghdad, it is criminal in the eyes of all believing Christians. To believe otherwise is to ignore 2,000 years of Christian teaching and to reject Christ himself. Killing the innocent - whether it is done by Herod, an abortion doctor, or a government authorizing the terror-bombing of cities - is a grave moral evil."

Alas, the "Just War Doctrine" goes awry - again.  (Below: Civilian casualties in Dresden.)

10:58 AM From the mailbag:

I'm a 17 year old home-schooled student ....  I have recently found myself appalled at the so-called conservatives and their blindness to the lies and half-truths from the republican party.  How can they miss this!  I have been very frustrated.  I was raised in a die-hard conservative family and was taught to believe that Bush was the best thing since sliced bread.  Well, I recently found this not to be true when I visited your site.  It all came together.  Now, when I register to vote, it sure will not be as a republican.  Now I am trying to convince my father and others to look into the Constitution Party.  They simply say, "Why waste a vote?  Why take votes from Bush?" I say why vote for the lesser of two evils?  I could not simply vote for either Bush or Kerry with a clear conscience. 

10:45 AM Students: My spring 2005 schedule is now in place:

• T-W 11:30-12:50 Advanced Greek

• T-W 1:00-2:20 Intermediate Greek

• R-F 11:30-12:50 Beginning Greek

• R 1:00-3:30 Seminar in Greek Linguistics (Ph.D. level)

I will also be teaching the J-term Beginning Greek class that meets January 10-28 daily from 9:00-12:00 noon. Looking forward to seeing you in the classroom!!

10:40 AM The first student I met on campus yesterday said I looked like I lost weight on my trip. Actually, I never ate so good - or so much. Injera/wat - the traditional Ethiopian cuisine - is both healthy and filling. And at SIM headquarters in Addis we were treated to huge amounts of "ferengy" (foreigner) food. Apparently all this eating isn't showing in my waistline (thankfully). Health-wise we did great except for a sunburn I got while on a 7 hour outing by mule to visit my wife's former mission station (now deserted). I used it as an excuse to tell people I was now a real Ethiopian (the word "Ethiopians" means, of course, "people with burnt faces"). At any rate, many thanks for your prayers for health and strength during out travels. The Lord certainly heard them.

10:33 AM I just knowed it! Six Southern states rank among the top ten in the Generosity Index. No surprises here, yall.

10:29 AM The tension between church-in-Christ and church-in-society is inevitable. The important thing is to acknowledge the tension and to use it as fruitfully as we can. The tension between the church-in-Christ and the church-of-the-nation is another matter altogether, as pointed out in an excellent essay by William Shearer titled Election 2004. An insightful read!

10:32 AM From the monasteries of Lake Tana to the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela to the Castles of Gonder to the tropical forests of Dilla to the mission stations of Hadiya and Burji to the cacophonous streets of Addis Ababa to the front porch of Bradford Hall, Virginia, a hearty GOOD MORNING. My first priority since completing our Abyssinian Adventure is to respond to your emails, then update the website. To tell the story of the church in Ethiopia demands more time and skill than I possess, but I shall try, in the coming days, to give you a glimpse of the Christian valor and devotion of our brothers and sisters in the Horn of Africa. Meanwhile, welcome back to DBO, and sincerest thanks for your prayers during our sojourn. I really missed you. Dave

October 2004 Blog Archives

September 2004 Blog Archives