day no. 16,902: the beginnings and ends that justify the means

"The old tyrants invoked the past; the new tyrants will invoke the future. Evolution has produced the snail and the owl; evolution can produce a workman who wants no more space than a snail, and no more light than an owl. The employer need not mind sending a Kaffir to work underground; he will soon become an underground animal, like a mole. He need not mind sending a diver to hold his breath in the deep seas; he will soon be a deep-sea animal. Men need not trouble to alter conditions, conditions will so soon alter men. The head can be beaten small enough to fit the hat. Do not knock the fetters off the slave; knock the slave until he forgets the fetters.” — G.K. Chesterton, What’s Wrong with the World

Origin stories and eschatologies are inescapable. If you presume to speak of where we all came from, why we're all here, what we all should be doing, and where it all should be headed, you must have some explanation of where you think we came from, where we are, and what we should do to go where you think we should go. The beginnings and ends must justify the means... or at least attempt to.

2 Peter 2:19

While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.

Tyrants do not want to set people free, they want to enslave people who consider their chains to be essential for safety and well-being. Tyrants typically know the end at which the aim. They consider the end before they begin, but fail to remember that in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

Anything that cannot go on forever... won't.

Philippians 3:19

Their end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.

By the grace of God, tyranny will come to an end.

day no. 16,901: assembly lines

"Well, that is a perfect parallel. 'After bread, the need of the people is knowledge,' said Danton. Knowledge is now a monopoly, and comes through to the citizens in thin and selected streams, exactly as bread might come through to a besieged city. Men must wish to know what is happening, whoever has the privilege of telling them. They must listen to the messenger, even if he is a liar. They must listen to the liar, even if he is a bore. The official journalist for some time past has been both a bore and a liar; but it was impossible until lately to neglect his sheets of news altogether. Lately the capitalist Press really has begun to be neglected; because its bad journalism was overpowering and appalling. Lately we have really begun to find out that capitalism cannot write, just as it cannot fight, or pray, or marry, or make a joke, or do any other stricken human thing. But this discovery has been quite recent. The capitalist newspaper was never actually unread until it was actually unreadable." — G.K. Chesterton, A Utopia of Usurers

Crapitalism weaponizes the market place of ideas. It sells some comfort for the price of total control. It gives away some information for the price of printing truth. It is willing to let its slaves have faster internet if it secures a faster way to control the internet/s on/off switch. It is willing to give its citizens a morsel of news in order to buy time to complete the newsfactory where the details are manufactured. Every headline is now made on an assembly line and comes hot off the press like a newly minted novelty tee.

The news is now boring because it is made by boars and the pigs are fine with slop.

day no. 16,900: without attraction, there would be no attraction

"Very few people ever state properly the strong argument in favour of marrying for love or against marrying for money. The argument is not that all lovers are heroes and heroines, nor is it that all dukes are profligates or all millionaires cads. The argument is this, that the differences between a man and a woman are at the best so obstinate and exasperating that they practically cannot be got over unless there is an atmosphere of exaggerated tenderness and mutual interest. To put the matter in one metaphor, the sexes are two stubborn pieces of iron; if they are to be welded together, it must be while they are red-hot. Every woman has to find out that her husband is a selfish beast, because every man is a selfish beast by the standard of a woman. But let her find out the beast while they are both still in the story of 'Beauty and the Beast.' Every man has to find out that his wife is cross—that is to say, sensitive to the point of madness: for every woman is mad by the masculine standard. But let him find out that she is mad while her madness is more worth considering than anyone else's sanity." — G.K. Chesterton, The Common Man

Men and women are so different that they wouldn't be attracted to each other unless they were first attracted to each other. Praise God for the blessing of being naked and unashamed in the covenant of Christian marriage.

day no. 16,899: every school a prison, every prison a school

“It matters little whether our masters stoop to state the matter in the form that every prison should be a school; or in the more candid form that every school should be a prison. They have already fulfilled their servile principle in the case of the schools. Everyone goes to the Elementary Schools except the few people who tell them to go there. I prophesy that (unless our revolt succeeds) nearly everyone will be going to Prison, with a precisely similar patience.” — G.K. Chesterton, A Utopia of Usurers

Government schools are concentration camps for kids minus the concentration. They want a high concentration of minds behind their barricades with little to no concentration of those minds once they get there. Schools no longer provide the tools of liberty — the original meaning and import of the liberal arts. Instead, the shackles of slavery are clapped onto empty heads to prevent them from developing any kind of acumen or craft competence for the fervor of freemen.

"What I want to fix your attention on is the vast, overall movement towards the discrediting, and finally the elimination, of every kind of human excellence – moral, cultural, social, or intellectual. And is it not pretty to notice how 'democracy' (in the incantatory sense) is now doing for us the work that was once done by the most ancient Dictatorships, and by the same methods?"  — C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters: Screwtape Proposes a Toast

Democracies do not want great men and the government schools produce excellent results with respect to their objectives by eliminating excellency in the populace by nipping it in the bud.

day no. 16,898: God is tenderer to His torturers than we are to our admirers

Thou wilt not break as we have broken

The towers we reared to rival Thee.

More true to England than the English

More just to freedom than the free.

O trumpet of the intolerant truth

Thou art more full of grace and truth

For the hopes of the world than the world that made them,

The world that murdered the loves of our youth.

Thou art more kind to our dreams, Our Mother,

Than the wise that wove us the dreams for shade.

God is more good to the gods that mocked Him

Than men are good to the gods they made.

Tenderer with toys than a boy grown brutal, 

Breaking the puppets with which he played.

— The Towers of Time by G. K. Chesterton

God is more kind to His accusers than men are to their flatterers. Jesus offers more forgiveness to His murderers than men do to their fan clubs.

Luke 6:35

Love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for He is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.

God is good to those who are bad to His good gifts. He provides good things to bad people despite their mistreatment of them. He sent His one and only Son to people who took Him for granted instead of taking Him with gratitude.

God is tenderer to His torturers than we are to our admirers.

God gives good things to those who confuse stewardship with ownership. We imagine ourselves the rightful owners of the gifts we've been given and presume that we merited God's grace.

"We teach them not to notice the different sense of the possessive pronoun .. . Even in the nursery a child can be taught to mean by 'my Teddy-bear' not the old imagined recipient of affection to whom it stands in a special relation (for that is what the Enemy will teach them to mean if we are not careful) but 'the bear I can pull to pieces if I like.'" — C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

God is more tender with us than we are with our toys. We make idols so that we can break them. We love to own things for the sake of doing with them as we please, but God owns everything and does what is best for it. Despite His claims to complete dominion, He leverages His power for the good of the creation. Man, however, often makes things merely to have something to rule ruthlessly.

Matthew 5:45

For He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

Despite our desire to destroy His gifts, He continues to lavish His kindness upon us. Even though we use rainwater to waterboard, He continues to send Spring showers. Even when we use the warmth of the sun to cook our neighbors, He makes the sun rise in the morning.

day no. 16,897: life without lust or lust without life?

So in her house Life without Lust was born,

So in your house Lust without Life shall die.

— G.K. Chesterton, An Agreement

There are only two households. 

Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit. He inherited no sin from His Father in Heaven and committed no sin in His person. In His house is life forevermore.

Adam fell into sin by forsaking his Father in Heaven and he passes the sin he committed in his person to each succeeding generation. In his house is death as God promised.

In the house of Christ, there is love without lust.

In the house of Adam, there is lust without love.

In the house of God, babies are born and brought up in covenant.

In the house of man, babies are aborted in utero or abandoned.

In the house of God, there is adoption.

In the house of man, there are orphans.

Love leads to life.

Lust leads to death.

Love builds.

Lust consumes.

Love leaves a legacy.

Lust devours its future.

"There are two types of women to whom men are attracted.  One is ‘readily mixed with charity, readily obedient to marriage, coloured all through with that golden light of reverence and naturalness which we [the demons] detest. The other type is the ‘infernal’ Venus. One whom he desires brutally, and desires to desire brutally, a type best used to draw him away from marriage altogether but which, even within marriage, he would tend to treat as a slave, an idol, or an accomplice." — C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

Many men are not simply looking for sexual partners, they are looking for partners in crime. They aren't interested in acquaintance as much as they are interested in accomplices. They want to rob and be robbed. They want to be assailant and assailed. And they want their victim to be a villain and their violators to be victimized. They want to replace the prize with a cheap, fleeting trinket. They prefer the flavor of stolen bread (Pr. 20:17).

1 Corinthians 13:11

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.

Lust consumes. It delights only in devouring. It does not blush when it licks the plate. It happily undoes whatever good it finds in order to suck it up momentarily. It would rather consume than construct.

Love builds. It invests and sacrifices in order to see something else thrive. It goes without. It delays. It finds gratification and gain in seeing something else satisfied. It cheerfully gives away and contentedly possesses what's left.

Childbirth is life out of love. It is a fruitful bedroom, plants full grown and fruitful.

Abortion is lust without life. It is sex without children, uprooted trees without fruit.

day no. 16,896: we work six days from rest, not five days for two days of rest

Exodus 20:9

Six days you shall labor, and do all your work.

Christian, you are called to work six days and rest on the seventh.

Philippians 2:12-13

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Because Christ recreated the world in His resurrection, we begin our weeks with rest on the first day and work the rest of the week. We do not work for rest, we work from rest, just as in Him we work out our salvation, not for it.

Hebrews 4:9-10

So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from His.

Before Christ recreated the world, man worked six days for the one day of rest at the end. But we don’t live in that world. We live in a world where Christ has been raised. We live in a new world, a new creation. So, we rest first and then work six days.

All that to say, if your employer or union only requires 5 days of work, your God still demands a sixth. The labor unions don't control the calendar or the work week. Christ is King of the calendar and Lord of our labors.

Don’t be lazy.

Be a Christian. 

Get to work.

day no. 16,895: Descartes before the whores

"But, is not mental culture per se elevating? It is hard for us to give up this flattery, because hitherto education has been more or less Christian. The minister has been the American schoolmaster. But are not the educated the more elevated? Yes. For the reason just given, and for another; not that their mental culture made them seek higher morals, but their (and their parents) higher morals made them seek mental culture! We are prone to put the cart before the horse." — R.L. Dabley, On Secular Education

High mental culture does not lead to high moral culture. In fact, the inverse is often true. The more a culture clamors after the academic, the more it abandons moral absolutes. As accreditation displaces honor, conceit corrupts courage.

"The Age of Affluence silences the voice of duty. The object of the young and the ambitious is no longer fame, honour or service, but cash. Education undergoes the same gradual transformation. No longer do schools aim at producing brave patriots ready to serve their country. Parents and students alike seek the educational qualifications which will command the highest salaries." — Sir John Glubb, The Fates of Empires

If a society devolves into imagining it is its own standard of success (i.e. Cartesian conceit), instead of whatever it ought to be according to the standard of God's revealed Word, it has put Descartes before the whores. Morality cannot survive that kind of vacuum. Good taste gets sucked up by the force of the void. If you presume upon your existence, you pave the way for the presence of promiscuity. The course that follows Descartes is lined with whoredom. When we try to parody the I AM that I AM by insisting that, "We are who we are," we carry our coins in a bag full of holes.

All that to say, morals must suspend from something, or more to the point Someone, else. They cannot be hung from an imaginary sky hook. They will fall down and descend to the lowest common denominator like everything else. Bad company corrupts good morals as the Good Book warns (1 Cor 15:33) and academic conceit is as bad of a business as can be conceived.

day no. 16,894: Christian Nationalism — plain and simple

Matthew 28:18

And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

The entire controversy surrounding Christian Nationalism can be summed up by how you answer one, simple question: "Can the State be wrong?" If you answer, "Yes," then come, and welcome, to Jesus Christ — you are a Christian Nationalist.

Ephesians 1:20-23

God raised Christ from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

If there is no God above the State, then the State is god. 

If there is no absolute above the State, then the State is absolute.

Acts 4:12

Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

If the State can be wrong, then there exists Someone who can tell it that it is wrong. 

That Someone is Jesus Christ.

day no. 16,893: Christ captured captivity

Ephesians 4:8

When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts unto men.

Christ captured captivity on His cross. He bound it to His gibbet and left it there to rot.

Colossians 2:15

And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

On the Cross, Christ plundered the principalities and powers. He conquered His enemies and captured the spoils of victory. He generously distributed them among His people. He triumphed over triumph, He defeated defeat.

day no. 16,892: Christian faith can afford to be patient

"The Christian faith lives in the light of eternity, and can afford to be patient." — Christopher Dawson

Postmilliennial hope plays the long game. It can afford to be patient because it is wealthy with God's promises.

Ephesians 1:3, 7-8

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace; wherein He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence.

We have an embarrassment of riches in Jesus. We abound with "amen's" and are surrounded by the "so be it's" of God.

2 Corinthians 1:20 

For all the promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.

What has God promised?

Malachi 1:11

For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same My name shall be great among the Gentiles; And in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: For my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts.

The sun does not rise all at once, but once it is rising, it doesn't stop.

Habakkuk 2:14

For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.

God promised He would never again flood the world with water, but He also promised that He would someday flood the world with the knowledge of His glory.

Isaiah 9:7

Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

The government of God grows inexorably. It cannot be stopped. It will fill the world. The passion of Providence will perform this.

John 17:3

This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

The Christian faith lives in the here and now by the light of the happily ever after. Eternity holds the flashlight for us without any relational tension.

Matthew 13:33; Luke 13:20-21

Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.

The Kingdom of Heaven is likened unto leaven. It cannot remain hidden. It consumes its container. Eternal life bursts out from the grave like a grain of wheat grows out of the soil. The leaven will never get lumpy, but the lump will get leavened.

World without end. And Amen.

day no. 16,891: the privilege and the problem of picking

“And ye, O peoples, to whom God gave the liberty to choose your own magistrates, see to it, that ye do not forfeit this favor, by electing to the positions of highest honor, rascals and enemies of God.” — Abraham Kuyper, Lectures on Calvinism

The freedom to choose a husband is only a blessing if it is used to choose a man committed to keeping his vows. The freedom to choose your church officers is only a blessing if it is used to choose good men committed to the church's governing documents. The freedom to choose your magistrate is only a blessing if it used to choose men committed to keeping the terms of the constitution and covenant of the country.

Proverbs 29:2

When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice:

but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.

The wicked are defined by their breach of covenant. They rule according to another standard. They impose foreign counsel upon their domestic wards. The majority can be wrong. The minority can be right. 

Proverbs 16:25

There is a way that seemeth right unto a man,

but the end thereof are the ways of death.

A purely democratic, popular vote, winner-take-all approach to governance guarantees a standard outside of God will guide, which is to say, it will lead by misleading its people.

day no. 16,890: something or another

"Somebody is always up to something, and the rest of them are up to something else." — P.G. Wodehouse

Sinners gonna sin; heathen gonna heathe.

Romans 3:23

All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.

Everyone comes up short on the I AM exam.

Ecclesiastes 7:20

For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.

No one is exempted from God's standards. There is no bye in the first round for the best record.

"There is no criminal who is half so bad in actuality as you know yourself to be in possibility." —Oswald Chamber, My Utmost for His Highest

Everyone is up to something and anyone is capable of anything.

day no. 16,889: unbelief blames even grace

"The Scripture is what it is, and it contains both promises and imperatives. For the one who reads the Scriptures in evangelical faith, he sees all the imperatives in the context of a larger grace. For the one who reads the Scripture in unbelief, he can sound out the promises, but they are always trumped by what he thinks is the larger demand of ‘do this and live.' The former contextualizes everything as a subset of God’s grace. The latter contextualizes everything as a subset of law. For the believer, even the Ten Commandments can be understood as gracious. The preamble reminds the Jews that these words were coming from the one who brought them out of the house of bondage. For the unbeliever, even the message of the cross is foolishness, an intolerable demand. So that, in a nutshell, is what I think is going on with law and gospel.” — Douglas Wilson, The Auburn Avenue Chronicles Vol. 2, p. 529

Faith sees even the Ten Commandments as a grace of God, but unbelief sees even the Cross of Christ as a tremendous burden. 

Titus 1:15

Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled. 

Faith thanks God for His good commands, but unbelief blames grace for being too hard.

Romans 3:27

Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.

Faith receives everything from God as good; unbelief rejects everything of God as evil — even the sacrifice of Christ.

Romans 3:28

Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

Faith is justified empty-handedness; unbelief is condemned fists full of conceit.

Romans 3:31

Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.

The law is light for the faith-filled who are faithful to it; but faith is a burden too heavy for unbelief to bear up.

day no. 16,888: covenantal presumption vs. continuity

Romans 9:7-8

Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.

All men are sons of Adam.

Some are sons of Abraham.

Romans 5:19

For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

You cannot inherit election per se, but you can inherit elect parents.

Covenantal presumption kills.

Covenantal continuity saves.

To assume you are saved because your parents are or your grandparents were is to presume upon the covenant, not to put your faith in it.

To continue in the covenant in which you were raised by grace through faith in Christ alone saves you just as much as it saved your fathers.

Romans 11:18-22

Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in. Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.

Biblically speaking, everyone is a true son or daughter of Adam by genetics, but no one is a true son or daughter of Abraham but by faith.

In other words, history is not essentially a matter of blood relation, but of covenantal relation. What is your relationship to the covenant? Are you a covenant breaker or a covenant keeper?

day no. 16,887: flooded by covenant

Genesis 1:26-28

And God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion."

When God wanted a million angels, He created a million angels; when God wanted a billion people, He created two. People are the kind of creation that can make more of its own kind and God delights in it.

God made people to make more people by covenant. Covenant was to fill the earth and subdue it. People can come together outside of covenant or come together in covenant only to fail to raise their kids according to the covenant, but God designed the world to be blessed by covenant keeping. All kids come about by covenant, some by blessing, some by curse, they are all then brought up to be either a blessing or a curse according to God’s covenant.

All that to say, there are sinful ways to conceive a child and sinful ways to raise one, but God has commanded kids to be brought forth in blessing and raised up in the blessings of Christ.

Habakkuk 2:14

For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.

There is no one alive or who has ever lived who is not descended from Adam. There is no one on earth who isn't related to someone who once was on Noah's boat. Everyone has DNA drowned in covenant. God continues to flood the world with the knowledge of His Son through the recreation and regeneration of His covenant people who embrace by grace through faith the promises of His Gospel.

day no. 16,886: better to be a bit chilly with a weapon than warm without one

Luke 22:36

He said to them, “But now let the one who has a moneybag take it, and likewise a knapsack. And let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one.”

According to Christ, it is better to be a bit chilly with a weapon than to be warm without one.

The State offers you warmth in exchange for your weapons, comfort at the cost of your compliance until they have all of the weapons and no reason to comply with any of your requests. They then take back the warmth and comfort they provided because you can't defend yourself or stop them.

1 Samuel 13:19

Now there was no blacksmith to be found throughout all the land of Israel, for the Philistines said, “Lest the Hebrews make themselves swords or spears.”

Governments always seek to outgun the governed, beginning with their own before going beyond their own borders.

day no. 16,885: Christendom come

Matthew 6:9-10

Pray then like this: 

“Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name. 

Your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.”

Ephesians 1:7-10

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

Philippians 2:9-11

Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Colossians 1:15-18

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.

1 Corinthians 15:24-27

Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.”

Christendom come.

Thy will be done.

On earth as it is in Heaven.

Amen.

day no. 16,884: seeing the battle is only half the battle

"We as Bible-believing evangelical Christians are locked in a battle. This is not a friendly gentleman's discussion. It is a life and death conflict between the spiritual hosts of wickedness and those who claim the name of Christ. It is a conflict on the level of ideas between two fundamentally opposed views of truth and reality. It is a conflict on the level of actions between a complete moral perversion and chaos and God's absolutes. But do we really believe that we are in a life and death battle? Do we really believe that the part we play in the battle has consequences for whether or not men and women will spend eternity in hell? Or whether or not in this life people will live with meaning or meaninglessness? Or whether or not those who do live will live in a climate of moral perversion and degradation? Sadly, we must say that very few in the evangelical world have acted as if these things are true. Rather than trumpet our accomplishments and revel in our growing numbers, it would be closer to the truth to admit that our response has been a disaster." — Francis Schaeffer, The Great Evangelical Disaster (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 1984), pp. 31-32

Christians are called to more than merely acknowledging the battle. It is not enough to recognize the war or calculate the stakes; it requires a fight. It would be a win for most Christians to simply see and acknowledge the extent of the insurrection of Satan, but that alone won't end the siege. Seeing the battle is only half the battle.

Enmity is hard-wired into the battle for Heaven and Earth. Michael was charged by God to evict Satan from Heaven. The Church is now charged with stamping out his presence on earth. 

There can be no peace with evil without making war with sin. Where sin is permitted to exist, the war wages on. Evil will not quit until it is stopped. It will war against goodness, truth, and beauty as long as it's ugly head can siphon gas. 

Romans 16:20

And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.

It is the honor and privilege of the saints to hear the death rattle of the rattlesnake as they wash the snake venom off their boots.

day no. 16,883: the dead man who haunted Hitler

"Hitler was obsessed with Kuyper, a man who had been dead for twenty years when Hitler launched his attack on the Netherlands. What high praise for this man whose chief desire was to bring true praise and honor to the Lord Jesus." — George Grant, The Kuyperian Vision of Christ's Lordship

Kuyper was a dead man who haunted Hitler. Kuperian categorical distinction, commonly referred to as sphere sovereignty, and the kingdom of Christ were the bane of Hitler's existence. Kuyper brought the Name of Jesus to bear everywhere and that meant that anyone hellbent on treading anywhere in Christendom would break their own ankles.

"Why did Hitler fear a man that had been dead for twenty years? Hitler feared Kuyper’s view on the role of God in everyday life. For Kuyper believed that God continually influenced the life of believers, and daily events could show his workings. As Kuyper famously said, 'Oh, no single piece of our mental world is to be hermetically sealed off from the rest, and there is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: ‘Mine!''” — George Grant, The Kuyperian Vision of Christ's Lordship

All of Christ for all of life is a tough nut to crack and people who live that way are not easy to bribe or battle. A people who push Christ to the corner of everything will have a place that is defended from top to bottom, side to side, front to back by the Word of God. A pillar of fire by night and a cloud of smoke by daybreak makes for timid neighbors.

"Kuyper lived out this notion and helped create a culture completely juxtaposed to the world order that Hitler had hoped to impose." — George Grant, The Kuyperian Vision of Christ's Lordship

A culture consumed by Christ is ordered according to His Word. Chaos cannot stand against Christ. Tyranny preys upon disordered people, but well-ordered, free-spirited slaves of Christ cannot be bought or beaten.

"One desire has been the ruling passion of my life. One high motive has acted like a spur upon my mind and soul. and sooner than that I should seek escape from the sacred necessity that is laid upon me, let the breath of life fail me. It is this: That in spite of all worldly opposition, God's holy ordinances shall be established again in the home, in the school and in the State for the good of the people; to carve as it were into the conscience of the nation the ordinances of the Lord, to which Bible and Creation bear witness, until the nation pays homage again to God." — Abraham Kuyper

day no. 16,882: faith in doubt is the reigning orthodoxy

"There is a poisonous snake which seeks to enter the hearts of us all; it sucks the last drop of lifeblood from our veins.That monster has wrapped itself around our age and crept into its breast — addiction to doubt. I have seen its victims, have seen the enervated souls, the weak of heart who float along with the crowd, powerless to resist the tide, people who know only the momentary flush of excitement but are inwardly dying so that only a dissembling life can, for the moment, conceal their spiritual death... Modernism is a fata morgana in the Christian domain." — Abraham Kuyper, 1871

The modern mind takes pride in not knowing. So much so, it attempts to doubt everything other than itself. The only thing which can be known is what the knower wants to retain or finds useful at any particular moment. It takes advantage of what others continue to know while claiming the advantage of being free from their restraints. It claims intellectual superiority in the form of intellectual fluidity. It can know whatever it likes whenever it likes and not be constrained by what others continue to have to know. Modernism is a fairy castle erected by witchcraft. It is wish fulfillment incarnate. It is insidious and serpentine.

In short, faith in doubt is the reigning orthodoxy of the spirit of the age and its acolytes are legion.

day no. 16,881: Christ or Christless?

"When a comprehensive Christian worldview is applied to the whole of life even those who protest the claims of the Gospel must live in accordance with its categories." — George Grant

When a person condemns Christianity for stirring up strife, causing wars, supporting slavery, reinforcing racism, sustaining sexism, or cultural conquest, they can only do so using Christian categories of sin. They can only condemn Christianity under the authority of Christ. Without Christendom, there is no foundation from which to declare any of those things to be wrong. Why should a Christian be ashamed of racism? Because Christ is Lord. If Christ is not Lord, why is racism wrong? Says who?

The fact that warmongering, kidnapping, race baiting, misogyny, and brutality are considered wrong (i.e. sinful) is because Christendom has come to bear heavily upon the individual and collective conscience of the world. Because Christ is King, His categories are codified throughout His Kingdom; and that is an everlasting kingdom without earthen borders.

Daniel 7:14

And to Him was given dominion

and glory and a kingdom,

that all peoples, nations, and languages

should serve Him;

His dominion is an everlasting dominion,

which shall not pass away,

and His kingdom one

that shall not be destroyed.

Deplorable acts are only considered to be so because they are Christless. There is no other standard that can be consistently brought to bear upon any thought, word, or deed.

day no. 16,880: the pen and the playground

"The beginning of freedom is knowing where the lines are drawn." — Abraham Kuyper 

A picture without a frame is not free from borders, but enslaved to the undefined. 

"Art, like morality, consists of drawing the line somewhere." — G.K. Chesterton

Lines will be drawn by someone somewhere. There is no land without lines or lines without lords over them.

John 10:9

I am the door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. 

The Lord is the line. The Lord is the door. Pasture is only possible if there is a door. A place without borders cannot be free because it is no longer a place. It is undefined and unrefined. Doors and walls make place possible and only a divine door makes peace and quiet possible.

"And the more I considered Christianity, the more I found that while it had established a rule and order, the chief aim of that order was to give room for good things to run wild." — G.K. Chesterton

Pasture is the place where friends of the good frolic.

Malachi 4:2

But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.

The good Shepherd provides both the pen and the playground.

day no. 16,879: God's coffee tables

Proverbs 4:19

The way of the wicked is like deep darkness;

they do not know over what they stumble. 

Wherever the wicked go, they go in God's world and since they walk in darkness, they are constantly banging their shins on God's coffee tables. Reality is a stubborn thing and does not give a fig for 4 in the morning. Just because you can't see, doesn't mean it can't. 

The godless always bang into God's truth, and it leaves bruises. 

Matthew 6:22-23

The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!

Closing your eyes does not make God's world go away. You only make it harder for yourself to make your way around. The coffee table's corners don't get less pointy for your convenience. They still kick back when you kick them.

day no. 16,878: strange days

Leviticus 10:1-3

And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from the Lord, and devoured them, and they died before the Lord.

The practice of participating in strange fire will be incinerated.

Jude 1:7

Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

The practice of partaking of strange flesh will be utterly estranged.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11

Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

Such were some of us.

We too were once strangers in a strange land, but now we are known at home in the Lord.

May these strange days and their strange ways be washed away by the grace of God and the flood of His Spirit as the knowledge of the Lord covers the earth and its inhabitants as the waters cover the seas.

Habakkuk 2:14

For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.

day no. 16,877: wark and workship

Exodus 17:10-13

So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek: and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.

Joshua went to the work of war while Moses stayed to the work of praying. Both required work. Joshua's hands grew sore under the weight of his sword while Moses' hands grew weary under the work of praying. 

All good and godly work is worship and warfare. It is glorifying to God and it gives the darkness the fits.

2 Corinthians 10:3-5

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Chris.

Our work is warfare. It is wark! When we walk with the Lord, war is waged.

Our worship is warfare. It is warship! When we lift the name of the Lord on high, the high-minded come crashing down. 

Our worship is work. It is workship! It takes effort. A man rises to his fullest height when he falls to his knees before Christ.

day no. 16,876: it's never too late to plant an apple tree

"Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree." — Martin Luther

Do your part.

Man your post.

1 Corinthians 15:54-58

When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: 

    “Death is swallowed up in victory.” 

    “O death, where is your victory?

        O death, where is your sting?”

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

Until the end, we work. 

We hit the finish line with our chests.

Matthew 28:18-20

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Until the end, He is with us.

1 Corinthians 10:31

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

While we wait, we work for the Lord in the Lord.

Colossians 3:23-24

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.

Don’t bounce out early. Don’t hang up your jersey before the final buzzer. Give yourself no quarter for four quarters! 

Colossians 3:17

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

There is plenty of good, hard work yet to be done.

It is never too late to plant an apple tree.

Thanks be to God!

day no. 16,875: differences > diversity

Genesis 1:31

And God saw every thing that He had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

The Trinity looked down on diversity and called it, "Good!"

Diversity looks around at purity and calls it, "Evil!"

God looked down on differences and said, "Things are looking up!"

HR looks around at differences and says, "Something's wrong!"

The Lord loves disparity.

The Left loves conformity.

Mark 10:9

What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

Do not divorce the differences God has married and do not marry the similarities God has separated.

In the beginning, God separated light from darkness, evening from day, waters above from waters below, water from land, kinds from other kinds, seasons from other seasons, and man from woman.

God likes differences. He made these all in a perfect world and called them all, "Very good!"

If I set the sun beside the moon,

And if I set the land beside the sea,

And if I set the town beside the country,

And if I set the man beside the woman,

I suppose some fool would talk about one being better.

— G. K. Chesterton, Comparisons

Artificially imposed diversity is casual indifference to uniqueness.

Divine differences are the liberated harmony of unified distinction.

Isaiah 5:20-21

Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil;

that put darkness for light, and light for darkness;

that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!

day no. 16,874: postmilitant: postmillennial, church militant

1 Corinthians 9:10

For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: "That he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope."

The postmillennial church militant plows in hope.

Militant tilling turns tables of earth and postmillennial seed is sown in hope of future fruit. 

We tear the earth by tilling in order to call it to increasing glory and fruitfulness. 

The breaking of the bread and the blessing go hand in hand.

Consider Adam.

Adam was torn in order to make Eve and when they came back together, they made men... but only after they made music.

If we are not militant, we won't be willing to be torn.

If we are not postmillennial, we won't be willing to wait.

But when we're both, we, like leaven, spread through the loaf and see the Kingdom come, just as Christ taught us to pray and work for.

Ora et labora.

The Church Militant et Postmillennial.

day no. 16,873: alphabetical areas of interest January 2025

"There are no uninteresting things, only uninterested people."

— G.K. Chesterton

Interested people are interesting people.

Be interested... stay interesting.

AI (haven't gotten into yet. not sure if I will or when, but content to abstain for now)

Atticus driving (learning more and more every time he gets the chance)

Avatar: The Last Airbender (watched movie and them through animated series)

Bedtime (with twins, had a weird stretch of going to bed at different time than Paige)

Butters and Beans (nicknames for the twins: Knox and Eulalie respectively)

Calvin Robinson (started following me on IG)

Campaign (glad election season is over and that texts/commercials to that end are done)

Cigar Page (enjoying good deals through Babylon Bee - 10 cigars for $20, free s&h)

Communion (Atticus has been intermittently serving communion on Lord's Days)\

Cuban Cigars (had my first at the Reformation Day party = game changer)

Deadpool (kids like his Nsync dance)

Demolition Ranch (watching with the kids during TV time)

Dishwaser (new part installed fixed leak)

Dissection (helped big kids with first dissection lab)

Driving (trying to help Atticus and Penelope learn to drive)

Dryer (Atticus installed new part using YouTube video)

Drywall (redid girls' new room after pipe busted)

Elder (asked to consider possibility of joining session of elders at CCL)

Epoch Times (started getting weekly)

Eye itches (this is a new thing that has become increasingly more common lately)

Field trip (completed my first trip to TN for UW)

GI Joes (Finn and Rock are having a blast doing "set ups" with these)

Guns (need to grow familiarity, comfort, and acumen)

GunTubers (having fun watching KY Ballistics, Demo Ranch, and WPS w/ kids)

Haircut (gave Paige a haircut for the first time)

Headaches (I've had a really god stretch without many)

Ian Smith (started following me on IG)

IG (crossed 50k followers; have 9 reels with over 1 million views)

IG ban (was in jail for 90 days over summer)

IG ban (new ban initiated 12/10/24 for "misinformation/altered content")

January (interested to see how the transition of power goes in DC)

Kamala (supplanted Biden, but still lost election)

KY Ballistics (watch during Dad time)

Laptop (got a new laptop for remote work)

Less Than Jake (been listening to this with the kids)

Merch (probs could try to pitch Postmillitant merch, but not sure of best way)

Metallica (enjoyed both of their newer albums on drive to TN for field trip)

Nosebleeds (anytime I blow my nose, my left nostril bleeds)

Now That's What I Call Music 45 (free from Goodwill w/ CD players)

OFAD (have gotten behind on getting ahead on blogs)

Postmillitia (functionally dissolved with everyone pursuing individual interests)

Postmillitant (still plugging away, posting on the hour, M-F, 7a-12a)

Preaching (preached for the first time in a long time back in September at CCL)

Q-anon (remember that whole ordeal? i barely do)

Quantastic (YouTube videos the little kids like)

Raise (industry increase of 8.66% effective Jan. 1)

Reel Big Fish (been enjoyng them with the kids - clean versions of albums I have on cd)

Shayne Smith (started following me on IG)

Sinus infection (had some sort of odd swelling. pain behind nose above teeth 12/7-12/16)

Skillet (new album has been fun to enjoy with kids)

Sticker Mule (began ordering shirts and stickers)

Stories (stopped reposting everything to stories on IG recently)

Studio C (discovered on YouTube, fun, family-friendly sketch comedy)

Substack (began reposting OFAD to substack)

Swamp Sniper (YouTube channel kids like)

Third Friday (began movie night with the bigger kids every third Friday)

Tooth/nasal? pain (just started Saturday evening, December 7)

Trump won! (so glad the Harris/Walz ticket failed to captivate my neighbors)

Twins (still getting used to reality that we have twin babies)

Us v. Them (not a fan of the Moscow / Ogden divide that's happening)

Van (switched out seats, removed middle, added rear: till running, needs oil changed)

Walks (still walk before work, 30 minutses, and over lunch, 60 minutes, M-F)

Weight (would like to lose 5-10 pounds and get back to 175-180)

X (still not on Twitter, not sure I could keep up)

Xtra (not much margin on most days)

YouTube (had first postmillitant vid get over 10k views)

Zzz (adjusted sleep time to earlier in order to get to bed at same time as Paige)

day no. 16,872: a year in books, 2024 edition

2024

1.   The Last Battle - C.S. Lewis

2.   Ember Rising - S.D. Smith

3.   Papa Don’t Pope - Douglas Wilson

4.   The Wreck and Rise of Whitson Mariner (Tales of Old Natalia II)  - S.D. Smith

5.   Ref Toons: Collection 1 - Ray Cox

6.   The Apple and the Arrow - Mary and Conrad Buff

7.   Intellectual Schizophrenia - R.J. Rushdoony

8.   The First Fowler: Green Ember Archer II  - S.D. Smith

9.   Defending Constantine - Peter J. Leithart

10. Skeeter Wars 11: Skeeter Peace: Christmas Special- Atticus Van Voorst

11. Blackthorn Winter - Douglas Wilson

12. Ember’s End - S.D. Smith

13. Godly Social Order - R.J. Rushdoony

14. The Archer’s Cup: Green Ember Archer III  - S.D. Smith

15. Enemies in the Church - R.J. Rushdoony

16. Susan Creek - Douglas Wilson

17. Prince Lander and the Dragon War (Tales of Old Natalia III)  - S.D. Smith

18. Is Christianity Good for the World? - Douglas Wilson & Christopher Hitchens

19. The Roar on the Other Side - Suzanne U. Clark

20. The Nazarite Head-Crusher - Uri Brito

January

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

21. Green Paganism - R.J. Rushdoony

22. Two Williams - Douglas Wilson

23. Christian Nationalism - Andrew Torba and Andrew Isker

24. Ode to Sea Monsters and Such - Gregg Strawbridge

25. The Protestant Exodus to America - Steve Wilkins

26. Fight by Flight - Joel Webbon

27. J. Gresham Machen and His Times - Gary North

28. Bartleby the Scrivener - Herman Melville

29. Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Wish Dream - Virgl Hurt

30. Inerrancy: A Place to Live - John Frame

31. Bonhoeffer: Why He is an Evangelical and Why We Need Him - Stephen Nichols

32. Alfred the Great - George Grant

33. Barbary Jihad - Douglas Wilson

34. Augustine’s Theology of Wonder - George Grant

35. Education and the Commonwealth - George Grant

36. Plowing in Hope - David Bruce Hegeman

37. Abraham Kuyper: Prophet to Modern Man - Robert Godfrey

38. The Kuyperian Vision of Christ’s Lordship - George Grant

39. The White Horse King - Benjamin Merkle

40. Spheres of Reformation - Ben House

41. The Marrow Controversy - Sincliar Ferguson

42. Parenting Young People - Douglas Wilson

43. The Church as the Apologetic of God - Uri Brito

44. Growing Up Christian - Douglas Wilson

45. A Theology of Head-Crushing - Uri Brito

46. The Glory of it All - Steve Wilkins

47. Mere Fundamentalism - Douglas Wilson

February

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

48. Israel and the Nations - Steve Wilkins

49. Empire Vs. The World - George Grant

50. Hatchet - Gary Paulsen

51. Trial and Triumph - Richard Hannula

52. Homoerotic and Tribal, National and Empire - Richard Bledsoe

53. Faith of our Fathers - L. Charles Jackson

54. CREC Presbytery Exam of Douglas Wilson - Douglas Wilson

55. St. Patrick: His Confession and Other Works - Neil Xavier O’Donogue

56. Men and Marriage - George Gilder

57. Did Plato Read Moses? - Peter Leithart

58. On Secular Education - R.L. Dabney

59. First Chronicles - Peter Leithart

60. Dealing With Musical Culture - Douglas Wilson

61. Who Discovered America First and Why? - R.J. Rushdoony

62. The Holy Bible: New Testament (NKJV) - Holy Spirit, read by Johnny Cash

63. Wise Words - Peter Leithart

64. The Necessity of Chivalry - C.S. Lewis

65. Introduction to Athanasius’ On the Incarnation - C.S. Lewis

66. BFG - Rolad Dahl

67. The Four Loves - C.S. Lewis

68. The Holy Bible: (NLT) - The Holy Spirit

69. The Abolition of Man - C.S. Lewis

March

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

70. The Screwtape Letters - C.S. Lewis

71. A Grief Observed - C.S. Lewis

72. The Weight of Glory - C.S. Lewis

73. Wine, Water, and Song - G.K. Chesterton

74. What I learned in Narnia - Douglas Wilson

75. The Queen of the Seven Swords - G.K. Chesterton

76. The Ballad of the White Horse - G.K. Chesterton

77. Magic - G.K. Chesterton

78. The Ballad of St. Barbara & Other Verses – G.K. Chesterton

79. Introduction to the Book of Job - G.K. Chesterton

80. Miscellaneous Essays - G.K. Chesterton

81. Newspaper Columns: The New Witness 1921 - G.K. Chesterton

82. Wit and Wisdom - G.K. Chesterton

83. Lord Kitchener - G.K. Chesterton

84. The Superstition of Divorce – G.K. Chesterton

85. A Utopia of Usurers - G.K. Chesterton

86. The Hammer of God - G.K. Chesterton

87. The Third Claw - Penelope Page Van Voorst

88. The Secret Garden - G.K. Chesterton

89. The Blue Cross - G.K. Chesterton

April

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

90. The Oracle of the Dog - G.K. Chesterton

91. The Invisible Man - G.K. Chesterton

92. The Queer Feet - G.K. Chesterton

93. Magic - G.K. Chesterton

94. What’s Wrong with the World - G.K. Cheserton

95. Ascensional - Todd Henry Van Voorst

96. The Great Divorce - C.S. Lewis

97. The Raven - Edgar Allan Poe

98. The Black Cat - Edgar Allan Poe

99. The Cask of Amontillado - Edgar Allan Poe

100. The Masque of the Red Death - Edgar Allan Poe

101. The Purloined Letter - Edgar Allan Poe

102. The Pit and the Pendulum - Edgar Allan Poe

103. The Fall of the House of Usher - Edgar Allan Poe

104. Falling Up - Shel Silverstein

105. Some Aspects of the Grotesque in Southern Fiction - Flannery O'Connor 

106. A Good Man is Hard to Find - Flannery O’Connor

107. The Life You Save May Be Your Own - Flannery O’Connor

108. A Temple of the Holy Ghost - Flannery O’Connor

109. Everything That Rises Must Converge - Flannery O’Connor

110. The Barber - Flannery O’Connor

111. The Geranium - Flannery O’Connor

112. Parker’s Back - Flannery O’Connor

113. Good Country People - Flannery O’Connor

114. The River - Flannery O’Connor

115. Revelation - Flannery O’Connor

116. Wildcat - Flannery O’Connor

117. Revolting Rhymes - Roald Dahl

118. Why Do the Heathen Rage? - Flannery O’Connor

119. Enoch and the Gorilla - Flannery O’Connor

120. The Crop - Flannery O’Connor

121. The Turkey - Flannery O’Connor

122. Cautionary Tales for Children - Hilaire Belloc

May

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

123. The Lame Shall Enter First - Flannery O’Connor

124. The Zeal of Thy House - Dorothy L. Sayers

125. Kill the Dragon, Get the Girl - Cheston Hervey & Darren Doane

126. The Lost Tools of Learning - Dorothy L. Sayers

127. The Fates of Empires - Sir John Glubb

128. The Search for Survival - Sir John Glubb

129. The Declaration of Independence - Thomas Jefferson, Committee of Five

130. War Is A Racket - Smedley D. Butler

131. Dulce Et Decorum Est and Other Poems  - Wilfred Owen, Various Authors 

132. The Law - Frederic Bastiat

133. What Is Seen and What Is Not Seen - Frederic Bastiat

134. You Have the Right To Remain Innocent – James Duane

135. The Art of War - Sun Tzu

136. On the Shortness of Life - Seneca

137. Fantastic Mr. Fox - Roald Dahl

138. Persuasions - Douglas Wilson

139. Beowulf - translated by Seamus Heaney

140. The Battle of Brunanburh - Alfred, Lord Tennyson

141. The Battle of Maldon - Anonymous

142. Life of King Alfred - Asser

143. The Song of Roland - Anonymous

June

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

144. Samson Agonistes - John Milton

145. Spirits in Bondage - Clive Hamilton (aka C.S. Lewis(=)

146. Reflections on Psalms - C.S. Lewis

147. The 4th of July Story - Alice Dalgleish

148. Dangerous Journey - John Bunyan

149. The Abolition of Man - C.S. Lewis

150. Introduction to Athanasius’ On the Incarnation - C.S. Lewis

151. The Necessity of Chivalry - C.S. Lewis

152. The Little Mermaid - Hans Christian Andersen

153. The Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemingway

154. A Damned Thing - Ambrose Bierce

155. The Dragon and the Garden - N.D. Wilson

156. Chickamauga - Ambrose Bierce

157. The Moonlit Road - Ambrose Bierce

158. The Death of Halpin Frayer - Ambrose Bierce

159. An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge - Ambrose Bierce 

160. In The Time of Noah - N.D. Wilson

161. On Secular Education - R.L. Dabney

162. Womens Rights Women - R.L. Dabney

163. Cousin Companions - Douglas Wilson

164. The Five Points of Calvinism- R.L. Dabney

165. Preachers and Politics - R.L. Dabney

166. The Public Preaching of Women - R.L. Dabney

167. More Laugh Out Loud Jokes For Kids - Rob Elliot 

168. Introduction to a Great American Christian Theologian - R.L. Dabney

169. The Sword of Abram - N.D. Wilson

170. The Problem of Pain - C.S. Lewis

171. Lord of the Flies - William Golding

172. Mere Christianity - C.S. Lewis

173. Till We Have Faces - C.S. Lewis

174. My 1st Book of Questions and Answers - Carine MacKenzie

175. Going Solo - Roald Dahl

176. Lucky Break - Roald Dahl

177. The Landlady  - Roald Dahl

178. Revolting Rhymes - Roald Dahl

July

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

179. The Witches - Roald Dahl

180. Danny the Champion of the World - Roald Dahl

181. The Holy Bible: New Testament (Modernized Geneva Bible) - Holy Spirit

182. The BFG - Roald Dahl

183. Andrew and the Firedrake - Douglas Wilson

184. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar - Roald Dahl

185. Billy and the Minpins - Roald Dahl

186. Royal Jelly - Roald Dahl

187. The Boy Who Talked with Animals - Roald Dahl

188. The Hitch-hiker - Roald Dahl

189. The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me - Roald Dahl

190. Edward the Conqueror - Roald Dahl

191, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs - Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

192. Jack and the Beanstalk - J. Roberts

193, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - L. Frank Baum

194. Beowulf - translated by Seamus Heaney

195. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll

196. My 1st Book of Prayers - Carine MacKenzie

August

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197. Radical Chic - Tom Wolfe

198. On Secular Education - R.L. Dabney

199. Womens Rights Women - R.L. Dabney

200, The Five Points of Calvinism- R.L. Dabney

201. Preachers and Politics - R.L. Dabney

202. The Public Preaching of Women - R.L. Dabney

203. Introduction to a Great American Christian Theologian - R.L. Dabney

204. God’s Plan for Victory - R.J. Rushdoony

205. Sovereignty - R.J. Rushdoony

206. A Christian View of War - Greg Bahnsen

207. Chronology of the End - Greg Bahnsen

208. Adam Raccoon and the Mighty Giant - Glen Keane

209. When Justice is Aborted - Gary North

210.  Out of the Silent Planet - Douglas Wilson

211.  Perelandra - Douglas Wilson

212.  Wise Words - Peter J. Leithart

213, That Hideous Strength - Douglas Wilson

214. Father Fox’s Pennyrhymes - Clyde Watson

215. A Brief History of the French Revolution - Penelope Page Van Voorst

216. Modesty: A Theology - Douglas Wilson

217. Ploductivity: Lecture - Doug Wilson

218. Hearing the Voice of God - James B. Jordan

219. Nero’s Overwhelming Presence - Francis Gumerlock

220. George Washington and the Constitution - Peter Lillback

221. The Integrated Life - Douglas Wilson

222. For a Glory and a Covering - Douglas Wilson

223. My 1st Book of Christian Values - Carine Mackenzie

224. Metaphors and Numbers - Michael Ward

225. Fruitfulness in Marriage - Nancy Wilson

226. A Theology of Christmas Presents - Douglas Wilson

227. Christmas: The Song of Mary, The Magnificat - Douglas Wislon

September

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228. Brave Ollie Possum - Ethan Nicolle

229. What Submission Is - Douglas Wilson

230. Hot Providence - Rachel Jankovic

231. Who Was John Calvin? - Douglas Wilson

232. Assuming the Center - Douglas Wilson

233. Dealing with Opposition to Reformation - Douglas Wilson

234. The Romance of Protestantism - Douglas Wilson

235. Hinds’ Feet on High Places - Hannah Hurnard

236. Biblical Law and Sharia  - Douglas Wilson

237. Theocractic Libertarianism - Douglas Wilson

238. Covenantal Cause and Effect - Douglas Wilson

239. Should Religion and Government Be Separate? - Douglas Wilson

240. Reformation Era Women - Elise Crapuchettes

241. Loving Your Teenager - Douglas Wilson

242. A Discussion on Natural Law - Douglas Wilson, J. Budziszewski

243. Apologetics Without Apology - Douglas Wilson

244. Godlust - Ben Merkle

245. The Art of the Essay - Walter Kirn

246. Anti-Fragile Mothering - Rachel Jankovic

247. The New Heavens and the New Earth - Douglas Wilson

248. A Light in the Attic - Shel Silverstein

249. The End of Protestantism or Protestantism Forever? - Douglas Wilson

250. Chesterton vs. Calvinism - N.D. Wilson

251. Be Doers of the Word - Joe Rigney

252. Authority in Narnia - Douglas Wilson

253. Strategic Hospitality - Rebekah Merkle

254. Slavery, Culture Wars, and Scripture in America - Douglas Wilson

255. Typology and Structure of 1-2 Kings - Peter J. Leithart

256. Is Calvinism Biblical? - Douglas Wilson

257. Dragons and Dragonslayers - Tim Chester

258. Male Idols: Indolence and Passivity -  - Douglas Wilson

259. End Times in 2 Peter - Peter Leithart

260. Ecochondriacs - Douglas Wilson

261. The Duties of Grandmas - Nancy Wilson

262. Here We Stand: A 31-Day Journey with Heroes of the Reformation - Desiring God

October

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263. Trouble Makers - N.D Wilson

264. Jonathan Edwads - Joe Rigney

265. God, Jesus, Bible - John Piper, Douglas Wilson

266. A Christian View of War - Douglas Wilson

267. Holy War - N.D. Wilson

268. The Coming Death of Darwinism - Phil Johnson

269. Dangerous Woman as Wife - Rebekah Merkle

270. Worship As Warfare - Douglas Wilson

271. Desire Runs Deep - Douglas Wilson

272. Does the Triune God Exist? - Douglas Wilson

273. Sabbath Dinners - Nancy Wilson

274.The Lost Virtue of Sexism - Douglas Wilson

275. The Federal Family - Douglas Wilson

276. Future Men - Douglas Wilson

277. Vocational Homemaking - Nancy Wlson

278. From Silence to Song - Peter Leithart

279. The Thanksgiving Story - Alice Dalgliesh

280. A Crisis in Masculinity - Douglas Wilson

281. The 2016 Election - Douglas Wilson, Walter Kirn, Peter Hitchens

282. Where the Sidewalk Ends - Shel Silverstein

283. The Apple and the Arrow - Mary and Conrad Buff

November

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284. A Dutch Christmas -  Nelis’ Dutch Village

285. The Narnian - Douglas Wilson, N.D. Wilson

285. Poetic Knowledge - Douglas Wilson

286. Mothers Teaching Daughter - Nancy Wilson

287. Christianity and Islam - Douglas Wilson

288. Fit to Burst - Rachel Jankovic

289. Old Testament as Story - Peter Leithart

290. Building Beauty - Rebekah Merkle

291. Rules for Reformers - Douglas Wilson

292. Reading Life - N.D. Wilson

293. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens

294. Wine and Bread - Douglas Wilson

295. Popes and Feminists - Elise Crapuchettes

296. Saying Well as a Way of Seeing Wonder - John Piper

297. The Happy Clappy Church in Crisis - Douglas Wilson

298. The Household and the War for the Cosmos - C.R. Wiley

299. Jesus Christ, Forgiver of Our Sins: The Advent of Christmas - Penelope Van Voorst

300. Do You Gotta Be Presbyterian? - Douglas Wilson

301. Apologists in the Early Church - Chris Lex

302. Eve in Exile - Rebekah Merkle

303. Sentimentalism and the Feminine Ethos - Ben Merkle

304. Wealth and the Christian Household - Douglas Wilson

305. Psalms for Trials - Lindsay Tollefson

306. The Foresight of the Fathers - Douglas Wilson

307. My Utmost for His Highest - Oswald Chambers

308. Morning and Evening - Charles Haddon Spurgeon

309. Decluttering Your Marriage - Douglas Wilson

310. Communication in Marriage - Nancy Wilson

December

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