Walking by faith and not by sight isn’t easy. These days, pessimism about the future seems to come natural–at least to me. Heck, I just wrote about some “famous” person teaching small children that abortion is “part of God’s plan.”
Chalcedon President Mark Rushdoony has addressed the problem of pessimism: his words are a much-appreciated tonic.
https://chalcedon.edu/resources/articles/are-you-pessimistic-about-the-future
Who wants to be in Miss Abortion’s shoes on Judgment Day?
Pagan “gods” are not supposed to do this!
“Hereby know you the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God…” (1 John 4:2-3)
We tend to forget how truly revolutionary the Christian message was and is, in the apostles’ time and also in ours, to this day.
Mark Rushdoony offers us this reminder:
https://chalcedon.edu/blog/a-perpetual-reminder
Jesus is the golden stairway that unites life on earth with its Creator and sustainer in heaven. This was very, very hard for First Century intellectuals to swallow! And still is. But the doctrine that Christ, the Second Person of the Trinity, was born in the flesh as we are, to live and work in our world, winning our salvation, is absolutely necessary to the Christian faith
Mark Rushdoony wrote this for the Chalcedon magazine in 2001, and it will serve us well today. It’s a little long, but stick with it: given the fallen world’s growing hostility to Christian faith, we want to hang on to Christmas–and reclaim it for Our Lord and for His people.
https://chalcedon.edu/magazine/the-christian-christmas-tree
Simply put, it’s okay for us to have a Christmas tree. Throughout the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, the tree symbolizes the Tree of Life: and the Tree of Life is also Jesus Christ. That trees have been misused by pagans, unbelievers, and secularists does not invalidate it as a Christian symbol. It’s ours, God gave it to us, and we ought to keep it.
Mark Rushdoony wrote this last year for our Chalcedon blog.
https://chalcedon.edu/blog/standing-on-the-shoulders-of-others
It’s good to be reminded of what our fellow servants in Christ’s Kingdom have achieved, and how their work has benefited us in so many ways. It’s good to be reminded that we are not alone: among the wonderful gifts that God has given us, we must include… each other.
I’m thankful for all of you who come here, daily, to read and comment. We are a valuable resource for one another. Thank you all, so much, for your prayers and your encouragement.
This is a recent Chalcedon blog post by our president, Mark Rushdoony, and it would be hard to say it better than he does: “Evil will self-destruct, not triumph, and the Kingdom of God will fill the earth.”
https://chalcedon.edu/blog/underestimating-the-power-of-god
Don’t you love the way the Sadducees, in Luke 20:28-33, tried to trap Christ with a smart-aleck Charlie High School question about seven brothers who each in turn had the same wife: and which of them would have her in the resurrection? But Jesus taught them that their question was only made possible by their altogether faulty notion of God.
This is why we have to walk by faith and not by sight.
And no one ever said it would be easy.
Mark Rushdoony wrote this post last year for the Chalcedon blog. It grows more relevant with every passing day.
https://chalcedon.edu/blog/great-gains-for-the-kingdom-of-god
Christianity is the world’s fastest-growing religion–and that by the purposeful act of conversion, not by birth rate. And meanwhile, the institutions of secular humanism, throughout the Western world, are crumbling. When it comes to Darwinism, atheism, Climbit Change, and all the rest, they just can’t seal the deal: there’s more skepticism of their de luxe fun-pack now than there’s ever been.
So this is a cheer-up piece–enjoy it!
My books are somewhere on that table
This heartening essay by Mark Rushdoony, Chalcedon’s president, comes from the new front page on our website, http://www.chalcedon.edu/.
https://chalcedon.edu/blog/the-impact-of-our-work
It’s true: we don’t always get to see the impact of our work. Sometimes a seed we plant doesn’t sprout for twenty or thirty years. My Bell Mountain books, for instance, would not have been written but for certain conversations and exchanges of letters that R.J. Rushdoony had, some forty years ago.
It can be hard to keep on working when we don’t see the results; so we have to walk by faith, and not by sight. My books are on those display tables Mark talks about: and only God knows what fruit they might bear in future generations.
David and Bathsheba
I’ve read a lot of ancient history written by people who lived in ancient times–Livy, Plutarch, Herodotus, Thucydides, Polybius, and others. These were the men who invented the discipline of history, and are deserving of praise.
But they all fell short of the standard of truth set by the Bible.
Mark Rushdoony wrote this essay in 2017:
https://chalcedon.edu/blog/the-purposes-of-god-stand
Unlike the secular historians mentioned above, the Bible never fails to confront the sins and failures of its greatest figures. If you really think about some of the terrible–or terribly foolish!–things done by men like David and Solomon, Jacob, Moses, and even Abraham, the truth that God can use such men to accomplish His good purpose is nothing short of overwhelming. Our God truly is an awesome God!
This short essay by Mark Rushdoony appeared last year in Chalcedon’s blog.
https://chalcedon.edu/blog/seeing-the-conflict-for-what-it-is
Prophecy that has come true has always been a problem for materialists, and they always try to refute it the same way–by claiming that the prophecy wasn’t written until after the events foretold actually occurred. They buttress this with a presupposition, on their part, that predictive prophecy is by its very nature impossible: that is, it doesn’t fit into their worldview at all. Then they demand “proof,” and whatever evidence we might provide, they reject.
This is why the whole enterprise called “education” must be reclaimed by Christ’s people…
If they only realized it.
This article is a little long, but stay with it: because Mark Rushdoony nails it.
“Babylon is the kingdom of man,” opposed to the Kingdom of God. It is human beings trying to be gods.
https://chalcedon.edu/magazine/dont-pray-for-the-peace-of-babylon
If your Bible reading has brought you around to Revelation, this essay will be illuminating. It’s a “big picture” view of Revelation–speaking for myself, at least, something which I’m always in danger of losing in the details.
