In “Abominations”, Rushdoony explains that Scripture’s strong language about sin reflects God’s holiness and justice, not vulgarity or excess, and that the biblical term abomination consistently denotes what God finds utterly abhorrent because it is idolatrous, lawless, and spiritually corrupt. Drawing on Hebrew and Greek usage, he shows that abominations are actions and attitudes that despise God’s law while often masquerading as faith—ranging from sexual immorality and idolatry to dishonest worship, lying, and false weights—revealing the unity of moral, spiritual, and physical corruption. What God calls an abomination is not culturally relative or emotionally offensive but objectively repulsive to Him, marked by filth, stench, and rebellion, and barred from His kingdom. Because God does not change, what He abhors must also be abhorrent to His people; therefore, encountering this word in Scripture is a warning that demands clear obedience, moral clarity, and submission to God’s law rather than accommodation to cultural standards.

This passage argues that a new form of bigotry is emerging in the foster-care system, where devout Christians though responsible and moral are being rejected as foster parents. The author cites a tragic case in Pomona, California, where a child was sexually abused and killed in foster care, suggesting that prejudice against Christian foster parents may contribute to such failures. The broader concern is that this humanistic bias against a morally upright segment of society undermines the welfare system and endangers children, reflecting an insidious form of societal bigotry.

#FosterCare #ReligiousBigotry #ChildSafety #MoralDiscrimination #HumanisticBias

One of history’s recurring problems is the stubborn survival of false ideas, and among the most destructive is the Jeffersonian belief that evil is a product of the environment rather than of the human heart. As Daniel J. Boorstin notes, Jefferson treated moral corruption as no more blameworthy than catching yellow fever. Scripture, however, insists that man is morally responsible, and that evil flows from within: “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts… ” (Matt. 15:19). A society that denies this cannot long maintain any law order. Our age has inherited Jefferson’s mistake, trading the Biblical concept of duty for an obsessive focus on rights. The result is a population trained to excuse itself and others, even though such excuses carry no weight before God. Strength will return only when we again stress responsibility, beginning with ourselves our duty to God, to family, to neighbor, and to our land.

This session presents Abraham and Sarah as Scripture’s model—or “normative”—marriage, not because it was easy or sentimental, but because it was forged through responsibility, obedience, and costly decision-making under God. Sarah, whose very name signifies authority, was no passive figure; she commanded decisively when right and submitted faithfully when obedience to God required it, even in terrifying circumstances like Egypt. Abraham’s much-criticized decision is reframed as an act of covenant responsibility, not cowardice—choosing life, calling, and the messianic promise over suicidal idealism. The lesson cuts against modern chivalric myths and romanticized marriage: biblical manhood is not self-destruction for emotion’s sake, but burden-bearing leadership accountable to God, while biblical womanhood is neither silence nor domination, but faithful alignment with God’s order. Together, Abraham and Sarah show that marriage is refined through trial, discipline, and maturity, revealing that true authority is never abdicated, never autonomous, and never separated from obedience to God’s redemptive purposes.

#AbrahamAndSarah #NormativeMarriage #BiblicalMarriage #AuthorityAndResponsibility #CovenantLife #HeadshipUnderGod #SarahAsModel #BiblicalManhood #BiblicalWomanhood #FaithUnderFire #ResponsibilityMatters #MarriageAndCalling

Rationalism fails because it ignores the Fall. Scripture teaches that man’s original sin was the desire to be his own god, and as a result every part of his being including his mind is corrupted by sin. The Bible is explicit: “the carnal mind is enmity against God” (Rom. 8:7). Fallen reason is not neutral, nor capable of judging God rightly, because it refuses to submit to God’s law.

Rationalism assumes that human reason can stand above God and evaluate His revelation, but this simply repeats the rebellion of Genesis 3:5. All thinking is shaped by moral presuppositions: either man begins with God in submission, or he begins with himself in defiance. There is no “pure” or autonomous reason.

Today, rationalism has largely faded from secular philosophy but survives within the church, where Enlightenment assumptions still linger. By placing reason before revelation, it undermines biblical faith and denies the noetic effects of sin, turning theology into a subtle form of unbelief.

One of the great heresies of our age is the notion that “being spiritual” is the same as being Christian, when Scripture never calls us to pursue spirituality as such, but to be filled with the Holy Ghost. Greek philosophy prized spirituality over materiality and condemned Biblical faith as too earthly, but Scripture teaches that holiness not abstract spirituality is God’s command. Holiness means obedience to God’s law from the heart. Thus Paul writes, “This is the will of God, even your sanctification,” and then defines it in very practical terms: sexual purity, marital fidelity, honesty in work and business, brotherly love, quiet industry, minding one’s own affairs, and integrity toward unbelievers (1 Thess. 4:3–12). Sanctification is not emotional display or mystical airs but a life of disciplined, godly obedience. Whenever spirituality is emphasized instead of holiness, occultism, deception, and mental confusion flourish Satan, being purely spiritual, gladly encourages such distortions. True faith is practical because God redeems the whole man, body and soul, and speaks to the whole man in His Word. The devil is “spiritual,” but he is not holy; and Scripture declares that without holiness, no man shall see the Lord (Heb. 12:14).

A great deal of nonsense is written about the supposed last days of California or the imminent end of the world, as though fear should drive us into the arms of whatever theory the writer is selling, despite our Lord’s plain declaration that no man knows the day or hour (Matt. 24:36). Scripture is not secretive about the true “last days”: the new creation began when Christ rose from the dead as the “firstfruits” (1 Cor. 15:20), and all who are in Him are already part of that new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). The “first days” of God’s renewed world are behind us, and we are called to live by its power rather than by the despair of a dying order. This is why Paul, despite suffering and imprisonment, commanded, “Rejoice in the Lord always” (Phil. 4:4). So in which world are you living in the fear of a fading age, or in the joy of the new creation? It is unbelief to act as though the old world’s power outweighs Christ’s resurrection. Let fools speculate about doom; our duty is to serve God with joy, confidence, and thanksgiving in these early days of His renewing work. Every day men are reborn into this kingdom, and all things are moving toward their appointed renewal. In Christ, the world is ours, for we are heirs with Him, the meek whom God harnesses and disciplines to inherit the earth and delight in His peace (Matt. 5:5; Ps. 37:11).

A young prince once demanded that economics be explained to him in ten words, until a courtier answered with nine: “There is no such thing as a free lunch.” That principle lies behind many of our modern problems, because someone always pays through work, money, or taxes. The same truth applies to salvation: Scripture never teaches that it was “free” in the modern sense of “without cost,” but that it was free of obligation on Christ’s part, who voluntarily freed us from the slavery of sin (Gal. 5:1). Our redemption was purchased “with a price” the priceless blood of Christ (1 Cor. 6:20; 1 Pet. 1:19) making it the most costly salvation imaginable. Because we have been bought, our bodies and spirits belong to God, and He rightly commands us to take up our cross and follow Him (Matt. 16:24). There is no costless salvation, and no costless response; having freely received grace at such a price, we are bound to glorify God with our whole lives and to give freely in turn (Matt. 10:8).

Man’s recurring temptation is to claim infallibility for himself or his institutions whether in government, church, or popular opinion but such claims are dangerous and false, because fallen, sinful man is by nature erring and finite. History shows that whenever men declare their laws, leaders, councils, or collective will to be infallible, they inevitably diminish or deny the sole true standard: God’s infallible Word. Only God is infallible, and only Scripture can serve as the final authority for faith and obedience, for human reason, emotion, and will are all corrupted by sin and incapable of generating ultimate authority. Councils and institutions may help, but they may err; therefore, they must always stand under the judgment of Scripture, which alone bears God’s authority and is confirmed in the hearts of believers by the witness of the Holy Spirit.

Power and authority are inseparable from God’s law: power is mere force, but authority is the lawful right to rule, and only where both are grounded in God’s word can true order exist. Scripture teaches that the saints are called to govern the world not through humanistic coercion, miracles designed to compel belief, or institutional dominance but through obedience to Christ’s law and faithful self-government under Him. Humanism offers only two outcomes, anarchism or totalitarianism, because it lacks a transcendent law; biblical authority alone restrains both chaos and tyranny. Christ possesses all power and perfectly embodies authority, and the church grows strong only as it submits its power to His commands rather than pursuing peace, security, or success on human terms. When power divorces itself from godly authority it becomes destructive, but when authority rests firmly on God’s law, power rightly serves the advance of His Kingdom even when that purpose overturns human empires rather than preserving them.

#PowerAndAuthority #BiblicalLaw #KingdomOfGod #ChristTheKing #ChurchAndCulture #GodlyGovernment #ChristianDominion #AuthorityUnderGod