The Perspectivalist

The ACTS 29 Network, once the undeniable powerhouse in the Church Planting universe, has significantly declined in the last ten years. Pastors Chase Davis and Matt Patrick speak openly in this American Reformer piece about the root causes of this abysmal failure among the leadership and what eventually led them to leave the Network.

Chase and Matt exposed the video interaction where they were officially disfellowshipped from the network. Since then, God has blessed their labors in Boulder, CO, and the Network continues declining significantly and turning the leadership over to woke ideologues. As Chase observes in the article:

You can follow Chase on Twitter.

Read his book on discipleship

Adam McIntosh, the pastor of St. David's Reformed, published a great article at Theopolis with a provocative title, "Christians Should Baptize Their Children, but Not Because of Circumcision." Adam builds on the biblical theology of the Old Testament and argues that the infant baptism argument, which equates circumcision and baptism, can be confusing and unhelpful at times. Instead, Rev. McIntosh says that the case for infant baptism is infant baptism all throughout the Bible. A baptismal theology must begin in creation.

We also touch on the mode of baptism at the end of the conversation.

In light of Trinity Sunday, I wanted to describe the Trinitarian union as a paradigm for historical relations. This episode was designed for those new to covenant theology. I am hoping to offer a few more episodes on the topic.

Also, my gratitude to those who read my short essay on History and Headcovering. It's now the second-most-read substack in 2023.

Resources:

On Biblical Theology by James B. Jordan

The Christ of the Covenants by O. Palmer Robertson

Getting Joffree on the podcast is always a blast of fresh insights. This giant Brazilian has just published a gem of a work! It's brief, but its brevity encompasses the longevity of the human experience. Poetry on pipes and martyrdom, food and manly churchmen.

I think this is just in time for Father's Day. Ladies get two joys in purchasing this for their husbands/sons:

a) Men fully in touch with their masculine whole.

b) Men who think poetically about life.

Made In The Image: Plain Poems by Joffre Swait

To wield a world, to work a deed,

To speak it soft or stern, at need,

Whether with much chanting, or cheering with delight,

Or thundering strength forth from the height,

This is to gods only given, and getting should be dear.

But the Lord of love, who allows no peer,

Has untwisted our tongues and tooled us new,

To wield our words and whole worlds hew.

We are quite pleased to see this work available for purchase. The book is entitled "The Devil's Diet: The Seven Deadly Sins Revisited." I speak with my friend and editor, Rev. Jack Phelps, about the nature of the book. We especially talk about the two contributions from the late R.J. Rushdoony. These are unpublished works, and we are honored to see these essays published for the first time. And we also delve into the applicability of these seven deadly sins to the political and religious world of the 21st century.

Here's an overview of the book:

Introduction.......................................................................................Jack E. Phelps

Pride.....................................................................................................Jack E. Phelps

Envy....................................................................................................Otto Scott

Anger..................................................................................................Dennis R. Tuuri

Sloth....................................................................................................Rousas J. Rushdoony

Avarice................................................................................................Marcus Van Eichrodt

Gluttony............................................................................................Jack E Phelps

Lust....................................................................................................Ben House

Appendix A: Docilitas.....................................................................Rousas J. Rushdoony

Appendix B: Pharisaism..................................................................Jack E. Phelps

I sat down with Mr. Jordan Bush, a contributor to Thank God for Bitcoin: The Creation, Corruption, and Redemption of Money.

We had a good conversation on the nature of Bitcoin and why it offers a dramatic shift in how to think about money in our day. We discuss the favorability of it among missionaries and its future among evangelical ministries. In an age of devaluation of values and morals by our political legislators, is it time to begin thinking about a currency that cannot be devalued by central banking?

We hope you will join the conversation.

Follow Jordan on Twitter

Music by George Reed

In this subscriber-only episode, we continue our conversation with Dr. Samuel Frost on full preterism. We delve into the Gary Demar controversy and offer our continued concerns with his trajectory, especially his affiliation with notable Hyper-Preterist thinkers. Gary's language today reflects much of the language used by full-preterists at the height of their movement, which is even more troubling.

Sam and I also discuss the universalist and syncretistic appeal of hyper-preterism and offer examples of how full-preterism has ended in cultish places. Once you re-consider classic Christian categories, you begin to re-consider everything else

Welcome to this new season of The Perspectivalist!

Episode 1 of Season 4 begins with an interview with one of the world's foremost scholars on full-preterism, Dr. Samuel Frost. This movement has gained some notoriety recently due to controversies that erupted on social media. Sam was deeply invested in the movement speaking at their main conferences and engaging their main leaders. Still, he recognized that the movement lacked biblical ground and sought to re-invent central doctrines of the Christian faith. He wrote a book to tell his story. You can purchase his book here.

We discussed many things, including the history, appeal, and esoteric nature of the movement, questions concerning infinity, Christology, and a look at the central Ascension text in Acts 1.

In addition, we will provide tomorrow another 30-minute conversation for our paid subscribers, where we discuss the Gary Demar controversy and a few pertinent biblical passages in this present discussion.

Our music for this season is from Mr. George Reed.

In our last episode of the season, I argue that the devil is finally vanquished at the end of history, which is at the end of 1,000 years. His death is narrated in three themes:

a) The Devil Descends from Misery to Misery: His life is a history of failures and head-crushing.

b) The Devil Cannot Keep the Gospel From Going to the Ends of the Earth: While he had much liberty in deceiving the nations in the Old Covenant, he is bound and, therefore, cannot prevent the Gospel from reaching the world.

c) The Devil is released at the end of history for his final humiliation: He will be destroyed, but prior he will be maximally humiliated. The triumph of Jesus will lead to his mockery before all the nations.

Intro and Outro Music by George Reed

Resources:

See Season 3, Episode 7, for the first part of this short series

Subscribe for $1 a month as we prepare to launch season 4

The letter sent to Gary DeMar a few weeks ago carries immense repercussions for the life of the Church. Anyone who cherishes the ecclesia for whom Christ died must find refuge in the hope of the resurrection. To deviate from such hope is to lose hope.

If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.

In this episode, I offer a brief sketch of Satan's progressive defeat in history, showing that such a final defeat could not have happened in the first century but is dependent on a longer historical model that accentuates the defeat of the devil and progressively builds on his humiliation.

Resources:

Letter to Gary DeMar

Ecclesiastical Dogma and Practice

Douglas Wilson on Preterism

What is Preterism?

Intro & outro music by George Reed