Ignoring the Rule of Law: The Obama Version

  

To me, the most dangerous idea coming out of Washington right now is not any particular law like Obamacare; it’s the attitude behind it, the belief that our constitutional form of government is not to be respected. President Obama has brought to the forefront this attitude with his recent declaration that he’s not going to wait for Congress to act, that he will do whatever he can to advance his political agenda, even if Congress disagrees. His latest iteration of… Read more »

Income Inequality, Faulty Reasoning, & Bad Policy

  

We’re hearing a lot of talk again lately about income inequality. President Obama, in what I believe is an attempt to take the focus off the failure of his signature healthcare law, has come out swinging against those who succeed too much. The impression he wishes to leave is that the reason some are doing poorly is because others are too successful. This is an old ploy. It goes back to Karl Marx, at least, who theorized that the rich… Read more »

Finney: Allow God to Search Our Hearts

  

We’re very good at wanting other people to know about their sins, but not quite as enthusiastic about hearing of our own. Charles Finney nails it in his Revival Lectures: Perhaps you have resisted the Spirit of God. Perhaps you are in the habit of resisting the Spirit. You resist conviction. In preaching, when something has been said that reached your case, your heart has risen up against it. Many are willing to hear plain and searching preaching, so long… Read more »

Lewis: Hell’s Operating Principles

  

For many, their first encounter with C. S. Lewis’s marvelous works is The Screwtape Letters. This witty little book, which consists of letters from a superior devil, Screwtape, to a junior devil, Wormwood, continues to be a bestseller. Why? I think it’s because it captures so well the essence of the sinful heart as it displays not only Screwtape’s advice on how to lead a person into hell, but also the manner in which the inhabitants of hell treat one… Read more »

Three Branches, Not One

  

Most political commentators, whether liberal or conservative, have formed a consensus about the latest State of the Union Address: it was too long and it is not going to go down in history as memorable. What we heard is what I anticipated—the same old thing we’ve heard for five years, topped off with a hubris that leaves one shaking one’s head over how anyone can come across as that arrogant. Amidst all the foolish and/or dangerous comments and ideas in… Read more »

Movie Review: Gimme Shelter

  

Gimme Shelter almost didn’t make it into theaters. It was too high budget, well made, and powerful in its message for many Hollywood types. You may ask, “Why wouldn’t Hollywood want to release a movie of such high quality?” It all had to do with the theme: it has a strong pro-life message. The director, Ron Krauss, who has a solid reputation in Tinseltown, was stunned at the resistance to the film. In his words, It’s a miracle that this… Read more »

Finney: The Ultimate Intention of Our Choices

  

I’ve often heard people say—and ministers of the Gospel teach—that the motives for our actions can be mixed; that is to say, when we choose to do something, we might do so both for God and for us simultaneously. In other words, our actions are partly holy in intention and partly selfish. Charles Finney disagreed with this formulation. In his Systematic Theology, he explained why: Whenever a moral being prefers or chooses his own gratification, or his own interest, in… Read more »