Tag: Mark Rushdoony

Victory in Jesus, Not In Us

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

The bad news is, we don’t wield the means of victory. It’s just not in us–look at all the mistakes.

But the good news is that the victory’s in Jesus Christ Our Lord. “So Christ is moving His church forward,” Mark Rushdoony writes, “but we’re also learning the hard way that sin doesn’t work…”

https://chalcedon.edu/magazine/investing-in-the-kingdom-as-humanism-collapses

Here’s more: “So there is no man, no nation, no movement in history that can be given real credit for the continuity of the Kingdom of God. It’s the work of Christ and the Holy Spirit.”

God knows, the constant drumbeat of really bad news, the degeneration of our culture for everyone to see–one might easily feel overwhelmed.

But we don’t have to. Read on, read on.

(Andrea Schwartz conducted the interview from which this text is taken.)

 

‘Our First Duty: To Build’ (Mark Rushdoony)

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

When Nehemiah came to Jerusalem, he found it pretty much the mess the Babylonians had left it seventy years before.

Before anything else could be done, the first need was to build. The walls, the gates, the homes built into the thick walls. Build it.

https://chalcedon.edu/blog/our-first-duty-to-build

This short message by Mark Rushdoony is a reminder that our first duty, too, is to “arise and build.” Look at all that’s been trashed! The Church–and that means all of us–needs to build families, neighborhoods, schools, businesses, and voluntary associations: all have been weakened in my own lifetime. Government by people who don’t much like us has sought to replace all these institutions.

We need to clean up the mess and rebuild.

‘No Weapon Formed Against Thee Shall Prosper’ (2019)

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

See the source image

Esther and the King of Persia

If we walk by sight and not by faith, it’s easy to lose hope: God knows this fallen world is falling farther by the day.

God respects our free will that He gave us; but He has not surrendered His sovereign lordship over all of His creation. If He did, how long do you suppose the human race would last?

“No Weapon Formed Against Thee Shall Prosper”

Remember I Corinthians, Chapter 1: God’s foolishness is wiser than men, God’s weakness is stronger than men; and He uses foolish things of this world to confound the wise, weak things to confound the strong, things that are despise–and things which don’t exist, to bring to nothing t

Mark Rushdoony: ‘Shouldn’t We Be Seeing Progress?’

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

Joshua and the Promised Land | Children's Bible Lessons

Passing over the Jordan in flood

How come it always looks like the ungodly are advancing and God’s people aren’t?

But this is why the Lord commands us, “Walk by faith and not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:7). Here, “walk” means whatever we say and do and think.

https://chalcedon.edu/magazine/shouldnt-we-be-seeing-progress

In his essay, Mark Rushdoony reminds us, surveying the Old Testament, that God has always saved His people in unexpected ways. But He doesn’t like it when we doubt His promises!

“Every generation” Mark writes, “has some very real fearful events and our perhaps more than any in the West for some time, but our comportment should be in terms of our faith, not doubt and fear.”

The villains in the story come and go–Assyrians, Babylonians, Mongol invasions, Third Reich, Soviet Union, etc., etc.–but Christ’s Church is always growing.

They should be more demoralized than we are!

‘The Problem IS Sin’ (Mark Rushdoony)

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

The Evolution of Finger-Pointing: Part One, Forgiveness | Dizzy On a Tightrope

“Politics will never solve man’s basic problem of sin,” writes Mark Rushdoony.

https://chalcedon.edu/blog/the-problem-is-sin

He got that one right, didn’t he?

Look, I’m a political scientist, got the papers to prove it. An all-purpose definition of “politics” is “the authoritative allocation of value.” But our politics seeks an authoritative allocation of blame. “We attack other men, not sin,” Rushdoony says. And some new scapegoat always comes along–or else is chosen arbitrarily by the newest battalion of blame-givers.

We “falsely limit evil to a group” until the next group is chosen: the sin itself is always passed on to whoever’s next in line.

Yeah, I know, I do it, too. We’re always advised to separate the sin from the sinner; but in too many cases that’s like separating the head from the body.

‘Jumping Off a Cliff’ (Mark Rushdoony)

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

Will you jump off that cliff? -

God doesn’t have to punish every sin; a lot of them punish themselves. Hence the title of Mark Rushdoony’s essay, Jumping Off a Cliff. The consequences of a sin, or a folly, provide the punishment.

https://chalcedon.edu/blog/jumping-off-a-cliff

We have pursued “a foolhardy course for several generations,” Mark writes, and by now the degradation of our culture has grown painfully obvious. It’ll take more than just elections to fix it. Whole-hearted Christian reconstruction is our only hope to repair the damage.

Even as breaking God’s laws brings on its own punishment, so does keeping them bring on its own blessing.

And we are very much in need of blessing!

‘Our True Citizenship’

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

Empty Tomb Wallpapers - Top Free Empty Tomb Backgrounds - WallpaperAccess

Mark Rushdoony’s essay today, “Our True Citizenship,” reminds us that we have a higher citizenship in Christ’s Kingdom, above and beyond our earthly citizenship in the United States of America.

https://chalcedon.edu/blog/our-true-citizenship

And if we were good citizens of both, the two would not conflict!

One line stands out: “[N]o matter what men do, the cause of Christ will move forward.”

Can we have an “Amen!” to that? It is, after all, the message of the Resurrection.

‘We Must Move the Ideas Forward’ (Mark Rushdoony)

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

Mark R. Rushdoony | Christian Reconstructionist

Leaders die, followers die. Donors die, too. But the ideas must live on. We depend on the Holy Spirit for that.

https://chalcedon.edu/blog/we-must-move-the-ideas-forward

The first generation of the movement we call Christian Reconstruction–winning back the world and dedicating it to Christ–has mostly died out. We reprint their books and articles, write new books and articles ourselves; the work goes on. We look to the next generation to continue in our place.

You’d never know it, judging by North America and Western Europe, but conversions to the Christian faith are burgeoning, world-wide. At the same time, humanism is dying: there will be upheavals when it goes.

We serve Jesus Christ, the King of kings. His kingdom is eternal, encompassing both Heaven and the earth. We are part of an ongoing work of great magnificence, a temple made without hands, that will last forever.

Faith moves us; and we move the ideas forward.

‘When God Hits the “Delete” Button on Man’s Pretensions’

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

An Urgent Message from Mark Rushdoony

There are many of us who believe in “the end times.” Some think it’s already begun.

But what if there were many “endings”? What if God intervenes in history, at certain points, to say “This stops now”?

Mark Rushdoony’s essay, based firmly on the Bible, might give you a new way of viewing “end times.”

https://chalcedon.edu/magazine/when-god-hits-the-delete-button-on-mans-pretensions

Think about it. In the Old Testament alone, how many times did God act to put a stop to what was happening? How many times did He apply the rod of correction to His people, Israel? How many times did He put down Israel’s enemies–even great empires, like Assyrian and Babylon?

We are not left here on our own. It’s not nice to imagine where we’d be if God did not intervene in history.

Yes, we long for Christ’s return! Yes, we wonder what’s taking it so long. But in the meantime the Lord has not forgotten us.

‘Joy to the World Because Our King Reigns’

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

Joy to the World inspired this wonderful essay by Mark Rushdoony.

https://chalcedon.edu/blog/joy-to-the-world-because-our-king-reigns

Yes, as Mark points out, our world is in a heap of trouble just now. Our culture is polluted with a deep spiritual pollution. Our “leaders” push self-destructive, even suicidal, policies. Rebelling against God, they are in rebellion against reality itself. That’s what “transgender” is all about.

But the Christmas hymn presents the truth in all its power: Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords, reigning both in heaven and on the earth; and He has already lifted the curse. Evil will play itself out.

Thank you, Mark, for reminding us.