Tag: Mark Rushdoony

How Do We Walk by Faith?

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One Must Be Ordained

I’ve always found it difficult to understand the Bible’s instruction to us to “walk by faith and not by sight.” How do you do that?

In Walking By Faith When We See Only Problems, Mark Rushdoony tackles that hard question.

https://chalcedon.edu/magazine/walking-by-faith-when-we-see-only-problems

“Walking by faith” does not mean “be oblivious to what you see.” It means to try to understand what you see in terms of what God is doing. “Our faith in what God is doing,” Mark writes, “must give us perspective and direction.”

Walking just by sight, “we see one mess after another.” That’s for sure. You can’t even talk sports or the weather anymore without igniting a political argument. Statism, as R.J. Rushdoony so often observed, is in its death throes–which means something will have to replace it.

God’s Kingdom is forever, and will replace all worldly kingdoms.

‘Why Humanism Leads to Statism’

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An Urgent Message from Mark Rushdoony

(Good stuff at the Chalcedon website this week; I’m happy to share it with you.)

Mark Rushdoony has hit the bullseye with this one. Humanism always leads to statism.

https://chalcedon.edu/blog/why-humanism-leads-to-statism

Humanists get rid of God, leaving the state–that is, themselves–as the highest possible authority. I know it’s hard to account for what happens next without a concept of Original Sin–but as Christians we have that concept, so we can understand humanism’s inevitable drift into tyranny. The alternative, with every fat-head parading around as his own god, can only be anarchy; but they can’t keep that going for any length of time.

Mark puts it in a nutshell: “The problem is too much power.”

Build the state down, not up!

Our liberties depend on it.

 

‘Defenders of the Faith’ (2014)

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Mark Rushdoony on Charity & Welfare - YouTube

Why do we need anyone to defend the Christian faith?

And what must they defend it from?

Mark Rushdoony answered those questions in this 2014 essay.

https://chalcedon.edu/magazine/defenders-of-the-faith

Mark refutes the contention that the early church was “pure.” Good lord, no! As people throughout the Roman Empire joined the church, they brought all sorts of pagan ideas in with them. The church needed to call authoritative councils to weed out the paganism and state orthodox Christian belief as plainly as possible–which is why we have formal creeds.

We hardly need say that they’re still trying to import pagan notions, and humanist delusions, into the church (can you say “feminist theology”?). Because the church today is split into so many denominations, it’s no longer possible to hold a council that would speak with real authority. So we rely on the ancient creeds to protect us–and to keep us clear about what we believe.

Mark also provides a list of the major heresies the church had to deal with in the first centuries of its history. Most of them are still around, repackaged under new names. Well, that’s Original Sin for you. In a fallen world, we are always obliged to defend the Christian faith.

 

‘How Christians Worship False Gods’ (Chalcedon, 2009)

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Understanding R.J. Rushdoony", Mark Rushdoony - YouTube

Mark Rushdoony wrote this piece to highlight the errors of an “abstract theology.”

https://chalcedon.edu/magazine/how-christians-worship-false-gods

So what’s wrong with abstract theology? Two things: 1) God is real–not an abstraction, or a concept; and 2) God is not only real: He is a person. We are individual persons because God is a person and He created us in His image.

It’s easy to say “God is a person,” but it’s worth taking time to think about it. This is an astounding thing to realize! Nothing else we say or think about God makes any sense apart from the realization that God is a person. With all that that implies.

And if the very idea of a Person with infinite power and perfect knowledge doesn’t provoke in you a healthy sense of fear… you need to think about it longer.

‘The Path Forward’

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1960s - Wikipedia

We’ve had crazy times in our country before. When the Chalcedon Foundation was founded in 1965, we were only halfway through those crazy Sixties and it was going to get much worse before it got better.

But we, as Christian reconstructionists, take the long view.

https://chalcedon.edu/blog/the-path-forward

In Mark Rushdoony’s new essay, The Path Forward, we see there are no quick fixes, no short-term answers. We have to rebuild Christian civilization and culture even as the bad guys are doing everything they can to tear it down.

The belief that must sustain us is this: Jesus Christ is Lord of heaven and earth now. Not tomorrow, not next year, not a hundred years hence–but now. He is Lord now. And as such His victory is certain.

And we want to be in that number, when the saints go marching in!

‘How Liberty is a Result of the Gospel’

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Mark Rushdoony, 'The Sweep of History' | Lee Duigon

This essay by Mark Rushdoony, “How Liberty is a Result of the Gospel,” appeared in Chalcedon’s magazine in 2013.

https://chalcedon.edu/magazine/how-liberty-is-a-result-of-the-gospel

The ungodly “seek not freedom from sin but in sin”–which we see every day–and they want freedom from the consequences of sin.

But freedom in Christ, the freedom we receive when God in His grace drops the charges against us because Christ has paid our penalty, is transformative.

“The only way to change a culture,” Mark writes, “is by changing men, and this is only possible through the transforming power of the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

‘Selective Depravity’

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How Did Moses Part the Red Sea? | The bible movie, Parting the red ...

We’re not there yet, but we seem to be getting there.

This new essay by Mark Rushdoony examines the insane turbulence of the era of history we’ve blundered into lately.

https://chalcedon.edu/blog/selective-depravity

First they leave God’s laws behind; then they decide that they might as well be God, and dream up some new “laws,” new ways of deciding who’s good and who’s totally depraved and must be punished–by the state, of course.

All the rage in the streets, the confusion of justice with vengeance–it’s all part of “the death throes of humanism.” The beast is dying. It knows it’s dying, and it lashes out to hurt whoever it can.

Stand together, brethren.

‘The Long-Term Necessity of Building the Kingdom’

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See the source image

This is a timely Chalcedon blog piece from Mark Rushdoony. Very timely!

https://chalcedon.edu/blog/the-long-term-necessity-of-building-the-kingdom

We try to solve the world’s problems with worldly solutions; but we–and our sin–are the source of all the problems. That’s why they can’t be fixed from the outside. As long as we insist on doing things our way instead of God’s, Mark writes, “everything will go wrong.” As it’s been this year, so far.

“Until we build the Kingdom, first of all in ourselves [emphasis added], nothing will go right.”

Something to think about–deeply.

‘Lurching from Crisis to Crisis’

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Understanding R.J. Rushdoony", Mark Rushdoony - YouTube

Surveying the moral chaos and economic dislocation of our time, it’s easy to lose heart. But don’t do that.

https://chalcedon.edu/resources/articles/lurching-from-crisis-to-crisis

In “Lurching from Crisis to Crisis,” Mark Rushdoony explains the pattern: “It comes from man playing god,” he says–men who “become blinded by raw power.” And yet the things they claim to be able to do–they can’t! “Our institutions, our social order itself, is a house built upon sand.”

As bad as it is, Mark writes, “It will not last.” The Holy Spirit will intervene, and bring down the curtain on this festival of apostasy.

Pray He acts soon.

‘The Lesson of the Empty Tomb’

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Empty Tomb Of Jesus Pictures | Jesus tomb, Empty tomb

Scanning the nooze this afternoon, trying to decide what stories I ought to mention on this blog, actually began to nauseate me. Is there any price the Democrats won’t make our country pay, if it gets them back into power? (Hint: I don’t think so. Do you?)

This new piece by Mark Rushdoony on the Chalcedon blog provided me with a valuable course correction.

https://chalcedon.edu/blog/the-lesson-of-the-empty-tomb

One quote pretty much says it all: “It is easy to be concerned about the events that swirl around us rather than the larger picture that we serve a victorious lord.”

That’s the point of Easter. That’s the lesson of the empty tomb. Jesus Christ is risen. Jesus Christ is Lord. And nothing sinful men can do can prevent His victory.

We have the honor to serve Him until He establishes His throne upon the earth.