Tim Keller: 1950-2023. Too Unpalatable For Laodicea.

By Colby Malsbury

The Rev. Timothy Keller, Pioneering Manhattan Evangelist, Dies at 72

Shunning fire and brimstone, he became a best-selling author and founded Redeemer Presbyterian Church, which drew young New Yorkers.

So lamented the headline of that most august bastion of our Christian civilization, The New York Times. There was much, much more, but as the Paper of Record hides behind an especially obnoxious paywall, I’m not about to plunk down drachmas to read any further. Suffice it to say that a Times obit is valued among modernist cosmopolitan Presbyterian sorts like Keller every bit as much as that precious bowl of pottage was to Esau. Hope that’s a comfort to Timmy where he is now. read more

“Go Woke, Go Broke?” Nope. Here’s Why.

By Colby Malsbury

It was the Schlock Heard Round the World.

Professing themselves as competent to read the prevailing zeitgeist as an Egyptologist is to decipher hieroglyphics, the linguists at Anheuser-Busch decided it was time to pep up their most recognizable yet faltering legacy brand, Bud Light. And what better way to display relevancy than to dig through the sewer of YouTube and come across an especially egregious example of clickbait narcissism to use in an upcoming ad campaign? Behold – if you can stomach it – one Dylan Mulvaney, a repellent flaming cross-dresser who would have had to eke out a living haunting public washrooms at 4 in the morning in a better time, but who now does the whole transgenderism bit on a lark and rakes in filthy lucre by the score as a ‘social media influencer’. What better spokesthing could one hope to find for a low-grade but traditionally blue collar brew? Little wonder that the Saints have trouble getting up in the morning these days. read more

Online Monetization and the Culture Wars Work at Cross-Purposes To Each Other. Here’s Why.

By Colby Malsbury

2008 will be recorded in the annals of our Vanished Civilization as the most epochal single year of our demise, I believe. Yes, even more so than either 2001 or 2020.

Those of us who were fortunate enough to be in established career paths during that doleful year really cannot conceive of the hellscape that was awaiting the generation just emerging from the colleges and universities, fresh off the final vestige of financial optimism any of us are likely to ever witness again, enfeebled though it was. Just as Francis Fukuyama and his neocon ilk proclaimed an ‘end of history’ after the supposed demise of the Cold War, so too did the neolib proponents of unfettered global vulture capitalism begin to subtly champion a post-economic era in the hopelessly naive West, wherein jobs didn’t matter, deficits didn’t matter, the sustainability of fiat currencies didn’t matter, and so on and so forth, just as long as the entrenched managerial (((cabal))) managed to further feather their own nests. We were all relentlessly scolded to concentrate on ‘bigger’ things like global warming and racist police forces, and left to fend for ourselves to schlep together enough shekels to be able to attend a centralized Antifa happening in Portland or wherever. read more

Mass Migration Won’t Save Us: A Response to Tim Keller

By Davis Carlton

Tim Keller has decided to formally endorse the Great Replacement as a means of bringing about “revival” in American Christianity. Keller is by no means alone. Recently Joel Berry of the Babylon Bee suggested that “mass immigration could save this country” and that we could prevent them from becoming “a permanent underclass voting bloc” by simply “assimilating them.” Apparently this was not intended as satire. Keller argues that Christians must acknowledge and even embrace the demographic shift that can only accurately be described as white genocide in order to grow the American Christian church and stem the tide of secularism. Keller believes that the emerging nonwhite population of America could embrace a version of Christianity that is concerned with advocating for “social justice” as a main priority. read more

Joe Carter of The Gospel Coalition Endorses “Non-Sexual” Gay Civil Unions

By Davis Carlton

The title is unfortunately not satire. Though even I am surprised at how quickly mainstream conservative evangelicalism has become conformed to the world. Joe Carter, or Joke Harder as he is affectionately known in our circles, begins by noting the recent endorsement of gay marriage by David French. Carter admits that French’s position has received “considerable backlash” and seeks to articulate a tenable alternative while addressing French’s concern, which is that he wants “gay couples to enjoy marriage-equivalent legal protections but without changing the legal definition of marriage.” read more

Responding To Neil Shenvi’s Objections To Christian Nationalism

By Davis Carlton

Neil Shenvi has written a multi-part review of Stephen Wolfe’s Defense of Christian Nationalism. I found a link to Shenvi’s review from an article by Kevin DeYoung on The Gospel Coalition denouncing “right-wing wokeism.” There is much in DeYoung’s article that needs to be addressed, but for now I wanted to address Shenvi’s objections to Christian nationalism because many within the evangelical mainstream admire DeYoung. Shenvi offers three objections to Christian nationalism as it is presented by Stephen Wolfe. Wolfe is ambiguous about the meaning of a nation. Wolfe is also ambiguous about the meaning and application of ethnicity. Finally, Wolfe wrongly assumes that national identity would have developed irrespective of the Fall. I don’t intend to speak on Stephen Wolfe’s behalf. He is more than capable of responding to his own critics, but I do think that I can provide a Kinist perspective on these issues. read more

The Cost of True Faithfulness: Comments on the Persecution of Thomas Achord

By Davis Carlton

“And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake” – Matthew 10:22

“Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.” – Matthew 16:24-25

“If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.” – John 15:18

I don’t know Thomas Achord personally but I wish that I did. I know of Thomas through social media, through his commentary with Stephen Wolfe on the Ars Politica podcast, and through his co-authorship with Darrell Dow of the masterpiece Who is My Neighbor? An Anthology of Natural Relations. I always find his posts and comments on Facebook to be wise, insightful, and articulate. Thomas is able to speak to controversial topics without rendering needless offense in a concerted effort to maintain peace. I have found Thomas to be a true “man’s man” who combines his considerable learning with practical knowledge that he is able to use as a provider and protector of his family. It’s without exaggeration that I can say that Thomas Achord provides an excellent example for other men to follow. I often feel challenged in a good way by Thomas’s posts to better myself. read more

Lamb’s Reign Jumps On the Anti-Christian Nationalism Bandwagon, And It’s Anything But Beautiful

Being Slaves in the Land of Egypt Was SO Unfair | Steven Greenberg | The Blogs

By Colby Malsbury

That which is old sure becomes new again in a flash, doesn’t it?

How long have we Kinists been arguing the merits of theonomic race-based nationhood on social media? Fifteen years, minimum? We blew up the message boards. We got the 30 day exiles on Facebook. We became nonentities via the tender mercies of the Twitter algorithm. And yet, ever since the days of Trump the response from Team Church has been to declare the science is settled and ignore us, hoping that we’ll go away and they can get back to holding coffee klatches at important conferences and discuss exclusive psalmody to death. read more

Dracula, the Wandering ((( ))), and ‘Blood Libel’

By Ehud Would

A large portion of this essay could be written from either end of the spectrum, Right or Left. Were I a Leftist, however, it would be a “call-out” and cancellation of Bram Stoker and the entirety of the Vampire genre. Even the Vampire archetype, itself.

But as a Christian, I necessarily approach the matter from the Right. Which means I can embrace the DRACULA story for the sociopolitical analogy the author meant it to be. Something which bears intrinsically on our contemporary political scene. read more

Why Not Both? Doug Wilson Asks Whether National Identity Should be Determined By Covenant or Race

By Davis Carlton

Doug Wilson has posted a couple of articles on Blog & Mablog (or as Pastor Bret cleverly refers to it; Blog and Mehblog). Wilson attempts to develop an alternative in his blog posts addressing national identity in which he asks if identity should be determined by “covenant or color” (see Part 1 and Part 2). Wilson’s covenant vs. color argument depends upon the tired and vapid equation of race with mere superficial color differences. More problematic is that Wilson has posed a false dichotomy. Covenants are central to Christianity, but there is nothing about the nature or existence of covenants that is remotely opposed to ethno-nationalism. read more