Category: Articles

‘Biblical Archaeology: An Interview with Hershel Shanks’ (2005)

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Hershel Shanks - Wikipedia

Hershel Shanks (d. 2021)

One of the percs of my job with the Chalcedon Foundation is the opportunity to interview noteworthy people–like Hershel Shanks, founder of the Biblical Archaeological Society and long-time editor of Biblical Archaeology Review. I interviewed him in 2005 .

https://chalcedon.edu/resources/articles/biblical-archaeology-an-interview-with-hershel-shanks

“Archaeology brings the Bible to life in a special way,” Shanks said. “It’s a theological document, but it’s also a very human document, set in a time and place and peopled by real human beings.”

It was a long and very interesting discussion. Don’t look to archaeology, he warned, to “prove” the Bible. “If you need archaeology to prove your faith, you must have a pretty weak faith.”

Shanks didn’t mind discussing some of the hottest controversies in the field; but I couldn’t pin him down to making a faith statement of his own. All I can say to that is, his body of work brought a stronger faith in God’s Word to a multitude of readers.

The interview is long, but give it a whirl. I’m sure you’ll find it interesting.

 

‘So Much for Our Civilization’ (My Newswithviews Column, April 11)

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President Joe Biden delivers his third State of the Union address in the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on March 7, 2024.

Who’s gonna wreck America?

How do civilizations die? How do they come to lose belief in themselves; how do they come to lose their faith?

Proud owners of the world’s first global civilization, we have invented a brand-new way to destroy that civilization. Honk if you’re surprised!

So Much for Our Civilization

And here’s a thought to keep you up all night: apart from natural disasters like earthquakes, volcanoes, and floods, every catastrophe that has ever afflicted the human race… has been let loose by the current ruling class.

Lesson from history–

Q: Who destroyed Nazism?

A: Adolf Hitler and his cronies destroyed Nazism.

Q: Who destroyed the Soviet Union?

A: The Communist Party destroyed the Soviet Union.

Something about the blind leading the blind…

 

‘Millipedes as an Everyday Food Source’

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Millipede vs Centipede!

Finger-lickin’ good!

Ahah, aha! Thought Violet Crepuscular was just whistlin’ Dixie, didn’tcha? Like, who ever heard of eating millipedes? Why write about that?

Well fan my brow, Violet’s a mile ahead of us! The National Library of Medicine, an arm of the National Institute of Health–an official U.S. government agency–has reported on “Millipedes as Food for Humans” (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3945075/).

They admit that millipedes generate some stinking chemicals and that these “offensive secretions present a severe challenge for the spread of millipedes as an everyday food source.” Even if they cutesy it up by referring to them as “minilivestock.”

Yeahbut, yeahbut! The Bobo people of Burkina Faso, they eat millipedes! Well, hell, why didn’tcha say so up front? Hey, if it’s good enough for the Bobo people, what are we waiting for? I mean, if that doesn’t sell you on scarfing down millipedes, what will?

Anyway, all sorts of Real Smart People think us common people ought to eat more bugs–to Save The Planet, of course. Real Smart People don’t have to do it.

The day we see John Kerry chowing down on a bowl of millipedes… well, let’s just see if that ever happens.

‘Wikipedia: Not Honest’ (2007)

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Nearly 30 Years Later, Masterpiece 'The Exorcist III' is Finally Getting Its Due - Bloody Disgusting

I don’t watch CNN, so I don’t know which “reporter” this is, interview George C. Scott as she crawls across the ceiling.

When you need to get the facts, steer clear of Wikipedia.

Wikipedia: Not Honest

Really now. Wikipedia describes every conservative nooze commentary as “far right.” Have you ever seen Wikipedia identify anyone as “far left”? I’d really like to know what it would take to wring those words out of Wikipedia. I don’t think it can be done.

Granted, Wikipedia is reasonably reliable if you want to find out how many eggs a painted turtle will lay in one year. But to help you tell the good guys from the bad guys… well, they are the bad guys.

 

‘The Folly of Men Trying to Control the Future’ (Mark Rushdoony)

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Mark Rushdoony on Charity & Welfare

Mark Rushdoony

Can we control the future?

Well, if the way we’re handling the present is any indication… No.

https://chalcedon.edu/blog/the-folly-of-men-trying-to-control-the-future

Whether it was China’s blow-up-in-your-face “one child only” policy, or the diseased sociology of the West, all over the world, recessions are looming. The old “boom & bust” cycles aren’t work anymore. Populations are aging, shrinking… and “Workers are getting hard to find.”

Mark Rushdoony’s essay can be easily summed up:

Trust not in the statists who have made this mess! They did it and we’re paying for it.

Only God can fix this. Why not put our trust  in Him?

‘We’re Gonna Need a Bigger Hell’ (My Newswithviews Column, March 28)

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Satan Hell Images – Browse 133,601 Stock Photos, Vectors ...

There are people trying very hard to wipe out our civilization. And a lot of them are comfortably dug in to positions in the U.S. government.

We’re Gonna Need a Bigger Hell

I can’t decide whether these people are just off their rockers or know exactly what they want and are working like mad to get it. Why do they want our country’s borders erased? Why do they want “trans” children as lifelong medical patients who will never be able to beget children of their own? It doesn’t seem sane to want such things,

It’s got to be a delusion. Right?

These are the bombs they’ve dropped on our species: wiping out our nations by nullifying the borders, and wiping out our families by nullifying the sexes.

Be honest, now: do you feel safe with these people calling the shots?

‘Early Attempts to Discredit the Gospel’ (Rushdoony)

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Quotes - Rushdoony Radio

As we head into Holy Week, heading toward Easter, bear in mind that the Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ has survived countless attempts to discredit it. R.J. Rushdoony discusses those here, in this short video.

https://chalcedon.edu/resources/videos/early-attempts-to-discredit-the-gospel

This could not be done, although it was certainly attempted, while thousands of eyewitnesses to Jesus’ ministry, His miracles, and His Resurrection still lived. But some hundred years later, it turned into a virtual industry which continues to this day.

How could so much effort, by so many people, over so long a time… fail?

Quite simply, because the Gospel, and the eyewitness accounts, are true.

This truth has been under siege for going on two thousand years–and they still can’t stuff it back into the box.

Onward to the Resurrection!

‘America 2.0’ (My Newswithviews Column, March 21)

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Destroying the Bill of Rights http://dieterspears.com/istock/links/button_election.jpg constitution ripped stock pictures, royalty-free photos & images

When does the First Amendment stop protecting our right to free speech?

Well, heck! Whenever there’s an “emergency”–right?

And that would be whenever the government decides there’s an emergency.

America 2.0

T’other day Supreme Court “Justice” Kitanji Whatsit complained that that pesky First Amendment “hamstrings” the government. Guess what, sunshine: That’s what it’s for! To limit the power of government. That’s what the whole Constitution itself is for!

Someone sign her up for a high school physics class. If we can find one.

‘Christian Nationalism’ (Eh?)

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Martin Selbrede | heroinamerica

Martin’s essay goes deeper than mine.

Lately we’ve been hearing a lot about “Christian Nationalism.” See Martin Selbrede’s essay in Arise and Build.

https://chalcedon.edu/resources/articles/a-stone-cut-without-hands

I would like to present, for what it’s worth, my opinion.

*When He confounded the builders of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11: 1-9), God gave us nations to protect us from any global government set up in emulation of, or in outright opposition, to Him.

*God’s laws, as given in Scripture, are binding on all nations.

*All too often we get nationalism without God’s laws.

*I believe that Our Lord Jesus Christ will return, as promised, and give us the only rightful world government that is possible: His.

*Until He does, His Kingdom is among us, spiritually–as He said (Luke 17: 20-21). We are waiting for it, all the while trying to live according to God’s Word.

I’m a little uncomfortable with the concept of “Christian Nationalism.” Christianity, after all, is a universal standard, certainly not particular to any nation. This fallen world has many nations which are not Christian. “One nation, under God” is not an easy thing to find, anywhere on earth.

But that doesn’t mean we should stop looking for it.

 

Disney’s Next Bomb

Posted By: leeduigonPosted On:

mr-toad-wild-ride-devil

“A Satanic love story”–they actually expect it to succeed.

[Thanks to Susan for the nooze tip]

Hey! How about this for a story! Teenage girl falls in love with Satan and he, like, knocks her up! I mean, how about that for Adult Entertainment for an adult audience?

That’s what Disney Corp. is working on now, for Disney-Plus (https://insidethemagic.net/2023/04/disney-plus-new-satanic-love-story-pauline-jh1/). It’ll be “a new exciting direction” for the schlockmeisters: a real “coming of age movie.” Blah-blah-blah.

It’s not even original. It’s a knockoff of a German TV show. Pregnant with the Devil’s baby! (Ira Levin, wherever you are–are you hearing this?)

The movie will be called Pauline. The lass finds Climbit Change “weighing on her mind” (presuming she has one), so naturally she strikes up a romance with Satan.

Poor Old Scratch: he went from Paradise Lost to… this. He’ll wind up as an attraction on the Jersey boardwalk if he doesn’t watch out.

Disney, Disney! They just don’t learn, do they? Box office bomb after box office bomb, each one woker than the last–how the devil (if you’ll excuse the expression) do they stay in business?

Inquiring minds want to know!