The Wandering Heretic

When The Da Vinci Code fervor was at full crest a year or two ago, it made some inroads into the Protestant Churches. The reason may have been because the majority of Dan Brown’s targets were contained within the Roman Catholic Church—also a favorite target of fundamentalists.

Now it is the Fundamentalists’ turn. What Dan Brown did with (or to) Opus Dei, Jeff Sharlet may accomplish with (or to) the Fundamentalists/Evangelicals. The odd part is that, unlike The Da Vinci Code, it may be the marketing rather than the content of Sharlet’s “expose” that does the most damage. (Sharlet himself in interviews appears to be a very nuanced and careful writer.)

Sharlet’s book in question is The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power. The subject of the book is not the obscure sect, The Family, formerly known as the Children of God. Nor is it the more politically involved organization of James Dobson, Focus on the Family. Instead, the target is a group in Washington most known for initiating the Prayer Breakfasts attended by presidents and congressmen alike. The publisher’s description adds a sinister note to the activities of “the Family” (also known as the Foundation):

Read the rest of this entry »

The last of the Dee Dee Dance Studio Panels

Read the rest of this entry »

And don’t think I am protected since I don’t live in Canada. After all, Mark Stein is living in America and he was charged via the Canadian Human Rights Commission with publishing “hate speech” in a Canadian magazine. Also, many Canadians are being charged even if Americans post supposedly “hate filled” comments on their websites hosted on Canadian servers. Should the CHRC have their way, soon there will be a blockage of “unapproved” websites in Canada.

That’s “Canada” not “China.” It gets confusing, I know. And now the similarity is becoming even more marked than the fact that both countries begin with the letter “C.” This post may even get my name on a list someday when I cross the border on vacation or for business. I am exaggerating, but if things continue at their present pace in Canada, maybe not so much.

So, I join in with such worthies as Ezra Levant and Kathie Shaidle in their call to reprint Rev. Steven Boissoin’s “hate crime” letter to the Red Deer Advocate. This is not to say I agree with all or even the majority of what Boissoin has written. I do, however, protect my rights of free speech and press by allowing him the freedom to say or write what his conscience dictates.

The following is not intended for those who are suffering from an unwanted sexual identity crisis. For you, I have understanding, care, compassion and tolerance. I sympathize with you and offer you my love and fellowship. I prayerfully beseech you to seek help, and I assure you that your present enslavement to homosexuality can be remedied. Many outspoken, former homosexuals are free today.

Instead, this is aimed precisely at every individual that in any way supports the homosexual machine that has been mercilessly gaining ground in our society since the 1960s. I cannot pity you any longer and remain inactive. You have caused far too much damage.

Read the rest of this entry »

(For the record, the church I discuss below is not where where my daughter graduated. In case this institution wishes to punish those who homeshool within their walls based on this post, please note that I do not attend there. We merely had some friends who graduated on the day discussed and we went to support them. What we saw appalled us–and the non-believers who were with us. These are the writings of an outside observer; there is no one inside responsible for these words.)

Check out the above church sign. Nothing actually unusual here. The church here is advertising a ministry for those in the community hurting over a divorce and a program entitled “the Truth Project.”

You would never be able to tell that on that very night, a Homeschool Graduation ceremony was taking place inside. Not just a graduation out of elementary grade levels mind you, but a graduation out of high school. The Christian parents, in many cases, were completing 13 years of educating their children in the Christian Faith. They sacrifice a great deal in terms of time, funds, and lost income in order to make that faith relevant to their children in all phases of their lives.

For Homeschooling mothers, this ceremony is a close second in importance to their child’s wedding. Such is the amount of effort they put into that enterprise.

For their reward, the church hid away this activity. It was not significant enough to even be mentioned on their sign. For some reason, a Home School Graduation had to be as hushed up as the proverbial “red headed step child.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Somewhere along the path of Ohio legislative sausage-making, House Bill 333 was transformed into House Bill 545. HB545 (ne. HB333) was the legislation I wrote extensively about that limited the interest rates that could be charged by Payday Lenders in the State of Ohio. The bill was signed into Law on June 2, 2008 by Governor Strickland.

When the law takes effect in 90 days, it will put an end to the payday lending industry as it exists in Ohio, likely pushing many of Ohio’s 1,600 payday stores out of business. No longer will lenders be able to offer two-week loans with a 391 percent annualized interest rate ($15 per $100 on a two-week loan).

My pastor regarded the Bill’s passage as a great victory in providing social justice for the poor. I cannot concur with that simplistic opinion. I have written my opposition to the Bill (whatever its number) in this blog on numerous occasions. My objections were scriptural, moral, and practical. If events work out as indicated in the Columbus Dispatch, then my predictions will prove to be frighteningly accurate.

In the process of protecting the poor from the “pirate ships” of the Payday Lenders, the governor in association with the State’s pastors, have thrown them overboard into shark infested waters. Probably Loan shark-infested waters.

Read the rest of this entry »

Though I have been inactive for a couple of weeks, I have not given up blogging. It is one of my few remaining passions in life. However another passion took precedence for the last few weeks. My daughter graduated out if High School Homeschooling last week. About 11 mothers, headed up by the formidable Susan Gulachek (Thanks, Sue!), put together a wonderful ceremony at Cornerstone Church. Even the local newspaper took notice. The graduates made the cover page of the May 31st issue, complete with the photograph shown below.

My daughter is one of those esteemed eleven. She is also our last home schooled child, so it was as much a milestone for us as parents—my wife especially—as it was for her. A definite era has passed for us. As my wife always says, “The days were long, but the years flew by.” I don’t think she would trade the experience for anything. I must say, if the results are any indicator, she did brilliantly. Both children are strong in the faith, and true to the family genes, strong in their opinions.

Read the rest of this entry »

Solid Gold? Read below if you are too young to get the joke.

Read the rest of this entry »

In my mental exercise or excursus into the benefits of the Christian/Enlightenment dichotomic dance that buttresses the American Experience, I listed several witnesses of the dangers a divorce between the two influences engenders. My first draft of that post had six instances; the final version—if for nothing other than length—had four. I now present the other two.

I list these examples and consider them in more detail because they both expound upon the benefits that society has reaped when Christian virtue is linked with Enlightenment “human rights” and the dangers that occur should those two necessary facets be separated. In short, when “Enlightenment rights” become clubs used to beat to death Christian witness in society, the end result is death. First comes the death of freedom; then comes cultural death; then that of the nation as a whole. America and Canada are on that first stage, though the latter may be further down the slope. Europe is well within the second stage. If Mark Stein is correct, within 100 years, Europe will be Muslim rather than Christian. As the Asian Time columnist, Spengler notes, “In 200 years, German and French will only be spoken in Hell.”

So this warning or witness is no small matter. It is a Jeremiad from a man who prefers the company of the writer of the Song of Solomon to that of the author of Lamentations. For those with ears to hear..

Read the rest of this entry »

In September of 2007, the internet columnist Kathie Shaidle changed the name of her blog from Relapsed Catholic to Five Feet of Fury. At that time, I posted an article basically expressing my fears the Shaidle had started on the slope downward toward compromise. I assumed eventually that formally cutting her ties to the Catholic faith would be reflected in her politics.

I publically repent of that article. Or to put it in an even more accurate way, I was an idiot.

If anything, Kathie is more pointed and even more explicitly Christian—after all, “traditional Catholic” was probably never a moniker she possessed in any case—than ever before. Kathie says that she never made the claim to being a “good Christian” but that would be accurate for any of us. None of us are good Christians by the common definition. Jesus himself had said some things to the Pharisees that would be considered “unchristian” by many in our society. Even Kathie hasn’t called anyone “whitewashed gravestones” or “dens of snakes” yet…. Yet.

Kathie’s latest posts show that compromise is not a word she understands. Her foundation in personal ethics is rock solid. Her writing style would probably make Ezekiel wince, but that is what makes her worth reading.

Read the rest of this entry »

I am going to make a historic/philosophical proposition that is generalized beyond the bounds of forgiveness. That scope will not make it less true, however. Freedom as a political reality was brought about by the turbulent marriage of Reformation Christianity and the Enlightenment. On its own, Christianity made a great deal of progress in granting freedom to individuals under God rather than the emperor as God. It also proposed a rule of law that subjected kings and well as peasant under its yoke. Yet it still fell short. Christianity has its bastard children as well: the inquisition and apartheid, to name two.

Yet, using the dignity granted the person under Christianity, the Enlightenment brought freedom to another level. Under this dual influence, Western Culture was born, culminating—for all of its flaws—in the United States of America. No one can study the history of that country without noting the intertwining of Evangelical faith and Enlightenment values. I submit that the level of freedom experienced in America, and Western culture as a whole, cannot be maintained without the intertwining of those two viewpoints.

Yet we are now at a crisis point, for the Enlightenment is now seeking to cast off the rule of its older brother, as did Jacob under Esau (Gen 25:23). In previous generations, the wild liberty of the Enlightenment was contained by acknowledgment of, if not obedience to, the moral limitations and respect given to Christianity. Now we see evidence that the Enlightenment seeks to go it alone and throw off the Yoke of specifically Christian influence. By demeaning and devaluing, if not demonizing Christianity, modern Enlightenment society believes it will finally bring man to a millennial kingdom of liberty. Like the mad husband thinking a divorce will free him up for a life of debauchery and orgies, our modern era believes that once Christianity is gone it will go the same route to happiness and pleasure for all.

Read the rest of this entry »