We have been discussing the three tools God has given mankind to fulfill the purpose for which He created us—ruling over His earth. They are the family, the church, and the civil government, and each of them has its own unique and indispensable role to play to accomplish our task. Years ago, when I was first hearing and just beginning to learn these ideas, Jill and I were fully involved in raising three children, so our natural inclination was to focus on the family.…

As we saw last week, for the first time God’s eternal purpose for the earth was realized at the Ascension, forty days after Jesus’ death and resurrection. There God delegated the authority to rule over the earth to a Man, His returned-to-Heaven, triumphant Son, Jesus (Daniel 7:13, 14)!  We saw how this is pictured in the “Ship of the Kingdom” diagram by the first vertical line from God the Father to that Man Jesus, who now rules while remaining seated at His Father’s right…

The stage is set. Over the past few weeks, we have reviewed both the necessity and the reality of the Sword of the Word of God having two edges. In order to ultimately be effective, the Sword must swing both ways—1.) as the LAW, cutting us open to expose our sin, and 2.) as the GOSPEL, cutting out that sin to free us of it! Do you remember my “Ship of the Kingdom” diagram? You may, as “a picture is worth a thousand words,”…

We are constantly aware of the fact that the sword of the Word of God has two edges,  Kingdom and Gospel, and we want them both to be sharp as we wield that sword in these postings.  We sharpened the Kingdom edge for several weeks as we looked at Donald Trump, his election, his initial successes, and how civil government functions biblically. Then in the last posting, we worked on sharpening the Gospel edge as we reminded ourselves again that our relationship with God,…

All who grew up in traditional, evangelical churches are undoubtedly familiar with the old hymn, Trust and Obey, one of the regular staples in the cupboard of old hymns. It teaches the standard “old time religion” of faith and obedience as the two things we must do to “be happy in Jesus:” “Trust and Obey, for there’s no other way, to be happy in Jesus – but to Trust and Obey.” When I was singing in the Glee Club Choir in Jr. High as…

Last week in our blog posting, we looked at what standard we will use in evaluating our civil government. We saw that, according to E.W. Wines’ book Roots of the American Republic, much of our Constitution springs from the Hebrew Republic in the Bible.  However, as we look at Wines’ very first two items on his list of Hebrew Republic characteristics (religious unity of both God and the people) they would seem to be directly antithetical to a statement in our Constitution! Article 6,…

Here is the full text of my book on civil government and theocracy. I hope it compels you to serious thought! Let Earth Receive Her King

On Donald Trump’s week-one report card in last week’s blog posting, I gave him straight A’s. I think we were all shocked at both the volume and the quality of his actions in those first seven days in office. However, anti-Trump democrats would not agree with this evaluation. The wild-eyed, frantic, ranting from a majority of their spokespersons tells us that they feel he flunked miserably.   But the issue is always “By what standard?” What are the behavioral rules by which we are measuring…

After just ONE WEEK of a second Trump presidency here is what our president had done, as enumerated by columnist Pamela Geller. It would appear that the old phrase used for politicians, who make promises they never keep, as being “All hat and no cattle” definitely does not describe Donald Trump! Are Trump’s first week results an indication that God still has plans for America to be again a Shining City on a Hill? Will we again be a beacon to the world, leading…

Last week, we investigated Martin Luther’s teaching on the Law-Gospel (Grace) distinction as presented by Dr. Hans Wiersma, a Lutheran theologian. Wiersma followed up their comments with what he called “guidelines” to understanding them. Here they are, word-for-word: “1. Keep in mind that the Word of God is (a) very sharp and (b) is stickin’ it to you.  Yeah, that’s in the Bible:  ‘The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints…