Christian Exodus

Thursday, 27 August 2009 20:17 - Les Riley on Government Health Care

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 04:17:59 +0100

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Wednesday, 06 May 2009 00:00 - A Republic, if you can keep it

Wed, 06 May 2009 08:00:00 +0100

On April 15, 2009, thousands of Mississippians joined millions across these united States in “T.E.A. Party” rallies. I spoke at the one in Ripley, Mississippi. The title/ theme of my speech was “A Republic, if you can keep it”. But the main focus was Christian liberty vs messianic statism.

The four videos that follow are of my remarks. ( it wasn’t that long — only about 30 min. — but the video hosting site will only let you upload 10 minute segments). The first three minutes of the first video are of Chuck Perterson introducing me & my comments begins after that. Let me know what you think :

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Wednesday, 10 December 2008 00:00 - Maddening Math, Daisy Chains & Children Falling into ...

Wed, 10 Dec 2008 08:00:00 +0100

Stating this publicly may get me kicked out of my church J , but among the six adults/ teenagers in my household, I am the least likely to be called a gushing fan of Amy Carmichael. But, despite myself, I have been drawn into a rare book of hers that our good friend HB loaned to one of my girls. The book is called Things As They Are and was one of her most controversial. It was written in response to a request that someone tell the “real story” about the work of the Gospel & Missionaries in India. Don’t read it if you don’t want to be disturbed . . .

Anyway, after several weeks away from this blog my original intention in this entry was to merely post a fairly long section from the book. Things As They Are is generally a very practical & realistic, but this particular section tells of a dream Carmichael had in a very poetic way & captures the chilling truths of the book in a couple of pages.

However, as I was thinking of this, another topic that I have been wanting to write about for sometime came to mind ( this will be a later instalment when & if I get to it again). Namely, the following question :

Why do the lefties & cultist practice true religion with more diligence than those with the Truth ?

Friday, 03 October 2008 16:00 - “Deborah” Palin, Sarah of Arc, or a Curse?

Sat, 04 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0100

“Deborah” Palin, Sarah of Arc, or merely a the curse of Isiaih 3:12 & the final triumph of feminism in the church & culture ????

The support of “big name” Christian leaders for McCain after they swore they would never do so has not surprised me at all. Their theology, their pragmatism, & their blatant partisan bias always leads them to ultimately support Republicans no matter who or what.

However, I have been very shocked and profoundly disappointed by the advocates of patriarchy & Reformed men who have come around since Sarah Palin became his running mate (many repudiating years of their own teaching in doing so).

This has split up men who have been allies & friends in the reformed world & particularly those who have taken a more Bible-based/ less modernist approach to the Christian life as it relates to family, gender, church, culture, etc. Men who have traditionally been allies have become opponents.

Friday, 19 September 2008 16:00 - Christian Adoption vs Christ’s Adoption

Sat, 20 Sep 2008 00:00:00 +0100

The last couple of weeks we crossed some major hurdles in finalizing Josiah’s adoption. I am more thankful everyday that the Lord has done this work in/ through our family. But as we cross each hurdle, and particularly as we discussed whether (how often, more accurately) we want to do this again, I was reminded of a few things I started to jot down a while back.

We have always known that we would probably adopt one or more children after God closed Christy’s womb. Our view has been that we would open our arms to all the children that the kind, just, and all-wise Sovereign chose to give us. And we knew in the back of our mind, what has become quite clear to us this last year : if we do not want to limit the number of children God brings to us, we shouldn’t seek to limit the means He uses to bring them.

Likewise, in the early days of our marriage/ walk with Christ together we got involved with pro-life activities. We used to tell Mothers that if they would not kill their babies, we would find them a home — always assuming that at some point we might transition from the people telling scared girls this to one of the homes that needed to be found.

Saturday, 30 August 2008 16:00 - Great Men Speak about Gardening

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0100

An old friend used to tell some of the men in his church -- where they are very anxious to delve deeper and deeper into theological, philosophical and historical topics -- moving from one to another as quickly as possible -- that they needed a "little less book and a little more hook". What he means is that rather than trying to get as much information as possible & read as many books as possible, they would be better served to read a book, then go sit on a creek bank and "wet a hook" (fish) and contemplate what they had read before moving on.

I believe the same could be said, even more strongly about getting your fingernails dirty. Consider that many of the great men / minds of the past, who have contributed so much to the body of knowledge we now have did not have a fraction of the information that we all have available to us now. They probably never saw, nor could they imagine, in their lifetimes the number of books we can obtain with ease (much less the immeasurable volume of information available electronically). . . yet they had something we sorely lack -- a slow and quiet enough lifestyle to THINK ("Be STILL and know that I am God."; " Come, let us reason together, saith the Lord" etc.). Let us put our hands in the dirt and set our minds & hearts on contemplating the Glory of our great Creator and Redeemer.

In hopes of getting some of y'all out into your gardens, yards, patios, vacant lots or window boxes, I ask you to consider where our original Patriarch (Adam) was placed and what work he was given to do -- the perfect environment and the ideal work.
Also, for your contemplation consider what some great men of the past and present have said about the garden :

"When all is said and done, is there any more wonderful sight, any moment when man's reason is nearer to some sort of contact with the nature of the world than the sowing of seeds, the planting of cuttings, the transplanting of shrubs or the grafting of slips."
- St. Augustine

"No race can prosper until it learns there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem."
- Booker T. Washington

"Nothing is more the child of art than a garden."
-Sir Walter Scott 1828

"There is not a sprig of grass that shoots uninteresting to me."- Thomas Jefferson, 1790

"No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, no culture comparable to that of the garden ... But though an old man, I am but a young gardener. "
- Thomas Jefferson, Garden Book, 1811

"Agriculture... is the first in utility, and ought to be the first in respect." --Thomas Jefferson to David Williams, 1803. ME 10:429

"I think our governments will remain virtuous for many centuries as long as they are chiefly agricultural; and this will be as long as there shall be vacant lands in any part of America. When they get piled upon one another in large cities as in Europe, they will become corrupt as in Europe." --Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1787. Papers 12:442

"What this country needs is dirtier fingernails and cleaner minds."
- Will Rogers

"There can be no other occupation like gardening in which, if you were to creep up behind someone at their work, you would find them smiling."
- Mirabel Osler (I know this is not a "great man" -- but it's a pretty good quote anyway)

"If you grow a garden you are going to shed some sweat, and you are going to spend some time bent over; you will experience some aches and pains. But it is in the willingness to accept this discomfort that we strike the most telling blow against the power plants and what they represent." - Wendell Berry

"One of the most important resources that a garden makes available for use, is the gardener's own body. A garden gives the body the dignity of working in its own support. It is a way of rejoining the human race." - Wendell Berry

Thursday, 31 July 2008 16:00 - Alternative Ag Moralist?

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0100

I have been an "Agrarian" -- philosophically & practically since long before I ever heard the word. In addition to living as an Agrarian for almost my whole life -- and having an Agrarian philosophy before I ever heard of "I'll Take my Stand" or other such literature -- I have drunk deeply from the writings & wisdom of Agrarians past and present for over ten years.

I earnestly believe that the Christian Agrarian Movement is one of the bright spots in our dimming hopes of restoring our once great / godly civilization.

However, I have some serious concerns about the so-called "Agrarian Movement". I have voiced these concerns privately to a few folks and even had a good series of correspondences with a some Agrarian friends five years ago. I hope to help us chart a course and avoid what I see as poison to the movement, our families, and our culture.

I am on the mailing list of several "Agrarian", "Alternative Agriculture", and Conventional Ag groups. For several years I have been receiving a pretty good e-mail newsletter from "The New Farm". This is a work of the Rodale Institute, publishers of Organic Gardening & Prevention magazines and pioneers in organic agriculture.

An article, "Pro Choice AND Pro Life" was in a recent mailing. It is the text of a speech given to an "Eco Farm" Conference recently. In it, we are lectured about the dangers of evil farm chemicals by a murderous whore who openly brags about hiring a "doctor" to have her own unborn child tortured to death. She says that she and "every woman in her family" had done the same. After this, she decries the hypocrisy of an uncle who has the nerve to be a pro-life activist then use pesticides. This child-murdering whore -- totally devoid of natural affection (Romans 1) --then proceeds to moralize to her audience about using pesticides.

There are several things that we who are Christian Agrarians need to take pause over, among them: why would we be listening to anything a child murderer had to say about the dangers of pesticides to children ? who are we aligning ourselves with / who are we trusting?

The reason I ask this is I often hear / read things my Agrarian friends / compatriots say & write about "corporate ag", "factory farming", pesticides, contract / confinement livestock production and the like that sounds like it came straight from the Mother Earth News & PETA.

I know and have seen first hand the rotten fruit of corporate / government agriculture & despise what it has wrought. I & my family have been personally effected. However, I think we have to be careful accepting the criticism & solutions of those who in word & deed hate our God & everything we stand for.