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    "url": "https://billmuehlenberg.com/2026/02/28/gordon-fee-and-the-prosperity-gospel/",
    "title": "Gordon Fee and the Prosperity Gospel",
    "text": "The Health and Wealth Gospel has been around for well over half a century now. Beginning in America, it has spread throughout much of the world. I have penned over 100 articles on this movement, showing how it really is a false gospel and an unbiblical gospel.\n\nI happen to own around 22 key books which cast a careful eye over the claims and specious teachings of this movement. One of the earliest books (perhaps THE earliest) to offer a critical assessment of this ‘theology’ was a little 22-page booklet that Gordon Fee had written.\n\nI refer toThe Disease of the Health and Wealth Gospels(The Word for Today, 1979). It is an important work for several reasons: 1) As mentioned, it may have been the very first careful evaluation of the movement; 2) Fee was one of our greatest New Testament scholars; and 3) Fee was not coming from the outside on this – he was a Pentecostal and an ordained minister with the Assemblies of God.\n\nIf you are not familiar with the man and his work, I posted this piece about him four years ago when he passed away:https://billmuehlenberg.com/2022/10/28/vale-gordon-fee/\n\nEven though this is a very short booklet, it is still a vital document to be aware of. A few months ago I examined and quoted from what he had said about the ‘gospel of perfect health’. You can see that piece here:https://billmuehlenberg.com/2025/12/08/gordan-fee-on-the-health-and-wealth-gospel/\n\nIn this article I will concentrate on the first half of this booklet: the ‘prosperity gospel’. His opening words are worth repeating here: “American Christianity is rapidly being infected by an insidious disease, the so-called wealth and health Gospel—although it has very little of the character of the Gospel in it.” (p. 1)\n\nHe goes on to say that “this new ‘gospel’ seems far more to fit the American dream than it does the teaching of Him who had ‘nowhere to lay His head’.” (p. 2) He looks at some major biblical and theological matters, saying this:\n\n“The basic problem with the cult of prosperity lies right at the point which the evangelists themselves consider to be their strength—the interpretation of Scripture. Indeed, much that is said by them has a biblical ring to it, which is precisely why so many well-meaning people fall into the trap.” (p. 2)\n\nTheir claim that it is God’s will that all his children have financial prosperity flies in the face of the totality of Scripture. Fee looks at some of the usual texts they present for their views, such as 3 John 2 and John 10:10. He reminds us of what God expects of us when it comes to riches and prosperity:\n\nIn the full biblical view wealth and possessions are a zero value for the people of God. Granted that often in the Old Testament—but never in the New—possessions are frequently related to a life of obedience. But even here they are seen to have the inherent double danger of removing the eye from trusting God and of coming to possess the possessor. Poverty, however, isnotseen to be better. If God has revealed Himself as the One who pleads the cause of the poor—and He has throughout Scripture—He is not thereby blessing poverty. Rather, He is revealing His mercy and justice in behalf of those whom the wealthy regularly oppress in order to get, or maintain, their wealth.\n\nThis carefree attitude toward wealth and possessions, for whichneitherprosperitynorpoverty is a value, is thoroughgoing in the New Testament. According to Jesus, the good news of the inbreaking of the Kingdom frees us from all those pagan concerns (Matt. 6:32). With His own coming the Kingdom has been inaugurated—even though it has yet to be fully consummated; the time of God’s rule is now; the future with its new values is already at work in the present. We have been “seized” by the Kingdom; our old values, the old way of looking at things, is on the way out; we are joyously freed from the tyranny of all other lords. In the new order, brought about by Jesus, the standard is sufficiency; and surplus is called into question. The one with two tunics should share with him who has none (Luke 3:11); “possessions” are to be sold and given to the poor (Luke 12:33). Indeed, in the new age unshared wealth is contrary to the Kingdom breaking in as good news to the poor. Therefore, if one has possessions, precisely because they have no inherent value, he can freely share them with the needy. But if one does not have possessions, he is not to seek them. God cares for one’s needs; the extras are unnecessary; the rich man who seeks more and more is a fool; life does not consist in having a surplus of possessions (Luke 12:15). (pp. 7-8)\n\nHe looks at how this “careful attitude toward wealth and possessions” is so characteristic of Paul. Fee then says this of the movement:\n\n“First, despite all protests to the contrary, at its base the cult of prosperity offers a man-centered, rather than a God-centered, theology. Even though one is regularly told that it is to God’s own glory that we should prosper, the appeal is always made to our own selfishness and sense of well-being.” (p. 9)\n\nAnd he offers these two further concerns:\n\nSecond, this false gospel presents a totally false theology of giving. In the New Testament, as well as the Old, God’s love and giving are predicated on His mercy, and therefore in their every expression they are unconditional. God loves, and gives, and forgives—unconditionally no strings attached. The human response to divine grace is gratitude, which expresses itself in identical unconditional love, and giving, and forgiving. The cult of prosperity, on the other hand, tells us that we are to give in order to get. It is by giving to the Lord, and to the poor, Copeland assures us, that we are guaranteeing our own prosperity. Furthermore, he candidly admits that he will give to the poor only on the condition that he is also given an opportunity to tell them about Jesus. As noble as that end might sound, the means to the end is manipulative. It is evangelism tied to the apron-strings of the American profit-motive mentality.\n\nThird, such an Americanized perversion of the Gospel tends to reinforce a way of life and an economic system that repeatedly oppresses the poor—the very thing that the prophetic message denounces so forcefully. Seeking more prosperity in an already affluent society means to support all the political and economic programs that have made such prosperity available—but almost always at the expense of economically deprived individuals and nations.\n\nThebestantidote to this disease, therefore, is a good healthy dose of biblical theology… (pp. 10-11)\n\nA fitting biblical passage to summarise how we should look at these matters – one that Fee would have been well aware of – is Proverbs 30:7-9:\n\nTwo things I ask of you;deny them not to me before I die:Remove far from me falsehood and lying;give me neither poverty nor riches;feed me with the food that is needful for me,lest I be full and deny youand say, “Who is the Lord?”or lest I be poor and stealand profane the name of my God.",
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    "url": "https://billmuehlenberg.com/2026/03/08/on-biblical-warrior-women/",
    "title": "On Biblical Warrior Women",
    "text": "The Bible is not averse to praising heroes of the faith that many believers today would find to be quite unacceptable. Indeed, many believers today would be quite squeamish about a passage like Judges 4-5 (more on that in a moment). Worse yet, many would be quite concerned to read texts like Exodus 15:3.\n\nThe NIV puts it this way: “The LORD is a warrior; the LORD is his name.” Or as the ESV has it: “The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is his name.” Too many Christians today would shrink back at the thought that their God is a warrior, a man of war. That is because they have imbibed too much of the surrounding culture, and too little of the biblical word.\n\nBut these and other texts are fully to be embraced by those who claim to be God’s people. And since I am now again reading through the book of Judges, it is worth revisiting the stories of two powerful women that God used: Deborah and Jael.\n\nIn Judges 4 we read about Deborah and Barak, and how the Canaanite king Jabin was defeated by them. And we find recorded there how Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, ended up being killed by having a peg driven into his head by Jael (verses 17-22). Hmm, pretty hardcore stuff.\n\nWhat is really interesting is how in the very next chapter we have the Song of Deborah. There she praises God for this tremendous defeat of God’s enemies. Jael was certainly not condemned nor censored for what she had done, but was instead praised big time for her courage in striking down the enemy. As we read in verses 24-27 of chapter 5:\n\n“Most blessed of women be Jael,the wife of Heber the Kenite,of tent-dwelling women most blessed.He asked for water and she gave him milk;she brought him curds in a noble’s bowl.She sent her hand to the tent pegand her right hand to the workmen’s mallet;she struck Sisera;she crushed his head;she shattered and pierced his temple.Between her feethe sank, he fell, he lay still;between her feethe sank, he fell;where he sank,there he fell—dead.”\n\nHmm, that is my kinda gal. And the final verse of the chapter, verse 31, says this:\n\n“So may all your enemies perish, O Lord!But your friends be like the sun as he rises in his might.”And the land had rest for forty years.\n\nBut again, many of today’s rather woke wonders found in our churches would find this story to be all too much. ‘This is not how God’s people should act! My God would never approve of such activity!’ Well, sorry, but I prefer to stick with what God has said about such things, and not what worldly weaklings think.\n\nIndeed, we should keep this story in mind as we look at today’s events. We are told in Judges 4:1-3 that Jabin and Sisera, had “oppressed the people of Israel cruelly for twenty years.” Today we have similar situations, including the 47-year reign of terror by the Ayatollah and the Islamists in Iran.\n\nJust days ago the evil thugs ruling Iran were killed by American and Israeli forces. As a result, all around the world Iranians living in exile have been dancing in the streets, singing and celebrating the downfall of this evil regime. They are perfectly right to do so, just as ancient Israel was perfectly right to celebrate the death of Jabin and Sisera.\n\nIn her TOTC commentary Mary Evans reminds us of how God looked at the killing of Sisera:\n\nIn modern society Jael’s action could be seen as excessively violent, and inappropriate behaviour, particularly for a woman. However, we must beware of introducing questions that would not have been understood in their original context. In general, to kill an enemy in the course of a war would never have been seen as inappropriate. Also in this case as in many others, Scripture does not stereotype roles in the way that both ancient and modern cultures tend to do. The text has no hint of condemnation of Jael for any reason; in fact, quite the reverse. In a phrase reminiscent of Elizabeth’s Spirit-inspired greeting to Mary (Luke 1:42) Jael is considered to be worthy of particular praise.\n\nBut some will ask, ‘What about loving our enemies?’ Sure, not everything Jael and others have done in Old Testament times are what New Testament believers should fully emulate. But the desire to see justice take place and evil resisted – with God’s help – is acceptable. As K. Lawson Younger comments:\n\n“While in the present church age context we are not encouraged to beexactlylike Jael, her action nevertheless serves to give hope that justice will ultimately come on the wicked. With all the injustice in the world, some of it meted out on Christians, it is comforting to know that God has made things right in the past and will make them right in the future.”\n\nDale Ralph Davis is right to put it this way as he discusses Deborah’s song:\n\nYahweh’s deliverance is meant to be enjoyed, savored, cherished; item by item; detail by detail, blow by blow; from dish to peg to mallet to skull to feet. Someone may think that is being vicious. It is not. It is being pious. Perhaps many of us in the west cannot rejoice when God smashes oppressors because we have never been so oppressed or crushed by tyranny on a significant scale (for which we should thank God). That’s why we frequently fail to appreciate texts like this; we can’t really understand them from our study chairs, from our padded pews, or from our recliners beside our cosy fireplaces. Nevertheless, Deborah clearly votes for Jael, ‘servant of the Lord.’ Naturally, you can disagree. If so, you can claim more refinement but less faith.\n\nStill, some might consider these sorts of biblical characters to be less than desirable. I like what Barry Webb says in response:\n\nThere are lots of mavericks in Judges. Ehud was a left-handed assassin. Shamgar was probably a Canaanite. Deborah was a woman. Barak was reluctant. Jael was from a Kenite splinter group. Gideon was fearful. Jephthah was an outcast and gang leader. Samson was a womanizer. In fact, with the exception of Othniel all the judges were mavericks in one way or another. None of them were mainstream in terms of their background or social acceptability. But if those mentioned in Hebrews 11:32 can be taken as representative, all of them, at their best, accomplished great things for God by faith. None of them were too warped or tainted for God to use to save his people. And there are several important lessons for us there.\n\nFirst, something about God. God can and does at times use people with whom we don’t feel entirely comfortable. This is irritating, but we have to be humble enough to accept and respond to such people as our brothers and sisters in Christ and be open to what God has to teach us through them….\n\nSecond, there is a warning here about absolutizing our Christian culture, including our theological systems, so that what is generally true becomes the whole truth. That would leave us with no capacity to grow and no capacity to deal with exceptions to our norms. Deborah’s leadership as judge and prophet was exceptional, but right in the circumstances. If we were to condemn her for exercising headship as a woman we would be completely out of step with what Judges 4 and 5 are telling us to do. Exceptional circumstances need exceptional solutions, and God reserves to himself the freedom to act in ways that are outside the norm and confound our expectations. Communities that are unable to cope with this eventually become sects, who will always reject mavericks as enemies. The Pharisees are a classic case….\n\nFinally, there’s a warning here against confusing godliness with respectability. Deborah may have been respectable even though she broke certain norms. Jael and Shamgar certainly weren’t. Respectability has never been a reliable indicator of which side people are on, in either the Bible or in the history of Christianity. The more respectable the church becomes, the less real, the less salty (Matthew 5:13; Luke 14:34), the less authentically Christian it will be. Jesus was not respectable (Luke 7:34). Nor were his disciples (Mark 2:18; 7:2-5). In the end a church that has no place for mavericks will have no place for Jesus and no place for the gospel.\n\nAnd Tim Keller looks at this matter in his short commentary. He writes:\n\nIt’s noticeable how fierce and bloodthirsty this song is, which raises the broader issue of how often Old Testament texts (especially some of the psalms) seem to speak hatefully of enemies. How can that square with Jesus’ command to love, bless and pray for our enemies (Luke 6:27-28)?\n\nThree things are worth saying on this issue. First, God’s triumph over evil, and the fact that one day all people will stand before him and be held to account for their actions, are aspects of the gospel message which we should welcome and rejoice over (though we tremble as we do so, knowing that we will stand there as well, with Jesus alone as our advocate). The New Testament is quite clear that Jesus should be praised for his victory over sin and Satan, and for his final judgment (eg: Revelation 11:15-18).\n\nSecond, though, coming judgment frees us from needing to see justice done in this life. There will be vindication of those who have acted rightly, and punishment of wrongdoing, beyond this life. We do not need to seek them now: “Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord” (Romans 12:19, referencing Deuteronomy 32:35). We are free to get on with going out of our way to bless those who curse us (v 14, 20).\n\nHow can we know that God is a God who will “repay”? Because, thirdly, we have seen sin judged already, on the cross. The cross is not only the place where we are justified; it is the proof that God does judge and punish sin (Romans 3:25-26). And the resurrection tells us that there will be a judgment for all those whose sin has not been punished in the Lord Jesus’ death; it is the proof that God will judge and punish sin (Acts 17:31).\n\nGood words all. I will continue to affirm Deborah and Jael, and the way in which they served the purposes of God. You should too.",
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    "url": "https://billmuehlenberg.com/2026/03/08/on-biblical-warrior-women/#comments",
    "title": "On Biblical Warrior Women",
    "text": "The Bible is not averse to praising heroes of the faith that many believers today would find to be quite unacceptable. Indeed, many believers today would be quite squeamish about a passage like Judges 4-5 (more on that in a moment). Worse yet, many would be quite concerned to read texts like Exodus 15:3.\n\nThe NIV puts it this way: “The LORD is a warrior; the LORD is his name.” Or as the ESV has it: “The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is his name.” Too many Christians today would shrink back at the thought that their God is a warrior, a man of war. That is because they have imbibed too much of the surrounding culture, and too little of the biblical word.\n\nBut these and other texts are fully to be embraced by those who claim to be God’s people. And since I am now again reading through the book of Judges, it is worth revisiting the stories of two powerful women that God used: Deborah and Jael.\n\nIn Judges 4 we read about Deborah and Barak, and how the Canaanite king Jabin was defeated by them. And we find recorded there how Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, ended up being killed by having a peg driven into his head by Jael (verses 17-22). Hmm, pretty hardcore stuff.\n\nWhat is really interesting is how in the very next chapter we have the Song of Deborah. There she praises God for this tremendous defeat of God’s enemies. Jael was certainly not condemned nor censored for what she had done, but was instead praised big time for her courage in striking down the enemy. As we read in verses 24-27 of chapter 5:\n\n“Most blessed of women be Jael,the wife of Heber the Kenite,of tent-dwelling women most blessed.He asked for water and she gave him milk;she brought him curds in a noble’s bowl.She sent her hand to the tent pegand her right hand to the workmen’s mallet;she struck Sisera;she crushed his head;she shattered and pierced his temple.Between her feethe sank, he fell, he lay still;between her feethe sank, he fell;where he sank,there he fell—dead.”\n\nHmm, that is my kinda gal. And the final verse of the chapter, verse 31, says this:\n\n“So may all your enemies perish, O Lord!But your friends be like the sun as he rises in his might.”And the land had rest for forty years.\n\nBut again, many of today’s rather woke wonders found in our churches would find this story to be all too much. ‘This is not how God’s people should act! My God would never approve of such activity!’ Well, sorry, but I prefer to stick with what God has said about such things, and not what worldly weaklings think.\n\nIndeed, we should keep this story in mind as we look at today’s events. We are told in Judges 4:1-3 that Jabin and Sisera, had “oppressed the people of Israel cruelly for twenty years.” Today we have similar situations, including the 47-year reign of terror by the Ayatollah and the Islamists in Iran.\n\nJust days ago the evil thugs ruling Iran were killed by American and Israeli forces. As a result, all around the world Iranians living in exile have been dancing in the streets, singing and celebrating the downfall of this evil regime. They are perfectly right to do so, just as ancient Israel was perfectly right to celebrate the death of Jabin and Sisera.\n\nIn her TOTC commentary Mary Evans reminds us of how God looked at the killing of Sisera:\n\nIn modern society Jael’s action could be seen as excessively violent, and inappropriate behaviour, particularly for a woman. However, we must beware of introducing questions that would not have been understood in their original context. In general, to kill an enemy in the course of a war would never have been seen as inappropriate. Also in this case as in many others, Scripture does not stereotype roles in the way that both ancient and modern cultures tend to do. The text has no hint of condemnation of Jael for any reason; in fact, quite the reverse. In a phrase reminiscent of Elizabeth’s Spirit-inspired greeting to Mary (Luke 1:42) Jael is considered to be worthy of particular praise.\n\nBut some will ask, ‘What about loving our enemies?’ Sure, not everything Jael and others have done in Old Testament times are what New Testament believers should fully emulate. But the desire to see justice take place and evil resisted – with God’s help – is acceptable. As K. Lawson Younger comments:\n\n“While in the present church age context we are not encouraged to beexactlylike Jael, her action nevertheless serves to give hope that justice will ultimately come on the wicked. With all the injustice in the world, some of it meted out on Christians, it is comforting to know that God has made things right in the past and will make them right in the future.”\n\nDale Ralph Davis is right to put it this way as he discusses Deborah’s song:\n\nYahweh’s deliverance is meant to be enjoyed, savored, cherished; item by item; detail by detail, blow by blow; from dish to peg to mallet to skull to feet. Someone may think that is being vicious. It is not. It is being pious. Perhaps many of us in the west cannot rejoice when God smashes oppressors because we have never been so oppressed or crushed by tyranny on a significant scale (for which we should thank God). That’s why we frequently fail to appreciate texts like this; we can’t really understand them from our study chairs, from our padded pews, or from our recliners beside our cosy fireplaces. Nevertheless, Deborah clearly votes for Jael, ‘servant of the Lord.’ Naturally, you can disagree. If so, you can claim more refinement but less faith.\n\nStill, some might consider these sorts of biblical characters to be less than desirable. I like what Barry Webb says in response:\n\nThere are lots of mavericks in Judges. Ehud was a left-handed assassin. Shamgar was probably a Canaanite. Deborah was a woman. Barak was reluctant. Jael was from a Kenite splinter group. Gideon was fearful. Jephthah was an outcast and gang leader. Samson was a womanizer. In fact, with the exception of Othniel all the judges were mavericks in one way or another. None of them were mainstream in terms of their background or social acceptability. But if those mentioned in Hebrews 11:32 can be taken as representative, all of them, at their best, accomplished great things for God by faith. None of them were too warped or tainted for God to use to save his people. And there are several important lessons for us there.\n\nFirst, something about God. God can and does at times use people with whom we don’t feel entirely comfortable. This is irritating, but we have to be humble enough to accept and respond to such people as our brothers and sisters in Christ and be open to what God has to teach us through them….\n\nSecond, there is a warning here about absolutizing our Christian culture, including our theological systems, so that what is generally true becomes the whole truth. That would leave us with no capacity to grow and no capacity to deal with exceptions to our norms. Deborah’s leadership as judge and prophet was exceptional, but right in the circumstances. If we were to condemn her for exercising headship as a woman we would be completely out of step with what Judges 4 and 5 are telling us to do. Exceptional circumstances need exceptional solutions, and God reserves to himself the freedom to act in ways that are outside the norm and confound our expectations. Communities that are unable to cope with this eventually become sects, who will always reject mavericks as enemies. The Pharisees are a classic case….\n\nFinally, there’s a warning here against confusing godliness with respectability. Deborah may have been respectable even though she broke certain norms. Jael and Shamgar certainly weren’t. Respectability has never been a reliable indicator of which side people are on, in either the Bible or in the history of Christianity. The more respectable the church becomes, the less real, the less salty (Matthew 5:13; Luke 14:34), the less authentically Christian it will be. Jesus was not respectable (Luke 7:34). Nor were his disciples (Mark 2:18; 7:2-5). In the end a church that has no place for mavericks will have no place for Jesus and no place for the gospel.\n\nAnd Tim Keller looks at this matter in his short commentary. He writes:\n\nIt’s noticeable how fierce and bloodthirsty this song is, which raises the broader issue of how often Old Testament texts (especially some of the psalms) seem to speak hatefully of enemies. How can that square with Jesus’ command to love, bless and pray for our enemies (Luke 6:27-28)?\n\nThree things are worth saying on this issue. First, God’s triumph over evil, and the fact that one day all people will stand before him and be held to account for their actions, are aspects of the gospel message which we should welcome and rejoice over (though we tremble as we do so, knowing that we will stand there as well, with Jesus alone as our advocate). The New Testament is quite clear that Jesus should be praised for his victory over sin and Satan, and for his final judgment (eg: Revelation 11:15-18).\n\nSecond, though, coming judgment frees us from needing to see justice done in this life. There will be vindication of those who have acted rightly, and punishment of wrongdoing, beyond this life. We do not need to seek them now: “Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord” (Romans 12:19, referencing Deuteronomy 32:35). We are free to get on with going out of our way to bless those who curse us (v 14, 20).\n\nHow can we know that God is a God who will “repay”? Because, thirdly, we have seen sin judged already, on the cross. The cross is not only the place where we are justified; it is the proof that God does judge and punish sin (Romans 3:25-26). And the resurrection tells us that there will be a judgment for all those whose sin has not been punished in the Lord Jesus’ death; it is the proof that God will judge and punish sin (Acts 17:31).\n\nGood words all. I will continue to affirm Deborah and Jael, and the way in which they served the purposes of God. You should too.",
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    "url": "https://billmuehlenberg.com/2026/03/13/more-islamic-terror-in-america/",
    "title": "More Islamic Terror in America",
    "text": "A day does not go by when you do not read about yet another Islamist terror attack somewhere in the West. In America we have seen four terrorist attacks in just 12 days. The perpetrators were not Christians nor whites. They were Muslim immigrants and this is all-out war. Liz Wheeler offers this listing of the latest:\n\n-Austin shooter Ndiaga Diagne – Muslim, from Senegal. Wore “property of Allah” t-shirt.\n\n-NYC bomber Emir Balat – Muslim, parents from Turkey. Shouted “allahu Ackbar” after arrest. Pledged allegiance to ISIS. Said Islam is religion of “action.”\n\n-Old Dominion shooter Mohamed Jalloh – Muslim, from Sierra Leone. Convicted for supporting ISIS in 2016. Released from prison by Biden in 2024.\n\n-MI synagogue shooter Ayman Mohamad Ghazali – Muslim, from Lebanon. Early reports suggest his two brothers were members of Hezbollah.\n\nAll Islamists imported via mass migration. THIS is why we demand mass deportations. Get these murderous Jihadis out of our country.\n\nYet Democrats and the left blame “Islamophobia” and the like. How about putting the blame where it belongs? This is about failed multi-culti policies of past administrations, and open borders allowing millions of unvetted immigrants to pour into America, many of them totally opposed to the values of the United States.\n\nThe latest Islamic attack was on a synagogue in Michigan. A truck rammed into it, just missing a preschool that was part of it. The jihadist, Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, was killed by security at the synagogue. President Trump said this about the attack:\n\n“I want to send our love to the Michigan Jewish community and all of the people in the Detroit area following the attack on the Jewish synagogue earlier today. I’ve been fully briefed — and it’s a terrible thing… We’re going to be right down to the bottom of it.”\n\nA few tweets on X can be shared about this ongoing situation:\n\n“Churches and synagogues all over the world require police protection. Mosques do not. Islamophobia is not real. Islamic terrorism is.” Dr. Maalouf\n\n“If you see something unusual, say something. It could save lives! The Islamists want us dead.” Brigitte Gabriel\n\n“Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens both said everyone needs to know where their local Chabad is. I said their hatred would lead to people shooting up Jews in synagogues. It will likely end up being a Muslim. The Trump administration must start deporting these Islamic savages from our country and we must start holding people accountable for inciting violence. This is very sad.” Laura Loomer\n\n“These terrorists are the result of an insane open-door policy that has welcomed into our national hearth those who hate us and what we stand for. This isn’t about antisemitism. It’s about what unites the Jews and America—the values that weave us into the fabric of this nation…. We’re not just fighting terrorists. We’re fighting those who cannot understand the danger posed by opening your door to people who hate you. People who refuse to accept the danger posed by a fraying national fabric, who fail to recognize what makes us unique, cohesive, and great.” Batya Ungar-Sargon\n\n“Terrorists they imported keep shouting Allahu Akbar and the Left still lectures us on Islamophobia and blames white supremacy. It’s clear: democrats want these people here, they want them here forever, they want them on the streets, they want to import infinity more. They also want them voting. And they aren’t quiet about it either. They are happy to admit it and yet, some of you keep voting for them because you hate Trump. Liberalism is a disease.” Tomi Lahren\n\n“The Holocaust did not begin with gas chambers, mass graves, and firing squads. The Holocaust began with targeting synagogues, obsessively attacking Jews the way Real Candace O, Ana Kasparian, and Tucker Carlson do, and more than anything—the silence of the masses. The time for being silent is over. You are either against this or you are part of the problem. Speak out against hate today.” Rabbi Poupko\n\nBut let me share from a vital piece just penned by Josh Hammer titled “We the People Never Voted for Mass Islamic Immigration: Societal transformation without representation”. He begins by making this observation:\n\n“Islam is largely alien to American history—it certainly didn’t come into the United States on theMayflower,” freshman Rep. Brandon Gill (R-Tex.) observed last month. Gill continued: “It’s something that we deliberately imported as a matter of immigration policy into our country.”\n\nQuite right. But who, exactly, is the “we” who implemented such a reckless—indeed, suicidal—act of mass cultural importation?\n\nSuffice it to say that America’s grand, decades-long experiment in welcoming in all peoples and all cultures is not going well. And it is going particularly poorly when it comes to those followers of the Religion of Peaceä. It turns out that Islam and Americanism go together about as well as the Hatfields and the McCoys—or Bill Clinton and chastity.\n\nWhich brings us back to our earlier questions: Who voted for this? Who did this? And how did this happen? And make no mistake: Islamic immigration and the insidious Islamization of American society, more generally,ishappening. We do not merely know that from the myriad anecdotal stories about the adhan (call to prayer) being blasted from minarets at obnoxiously early times in cities like Minneapolis and Brooklyn. We have some numbers to back it up too.\n\nAt the time of the landmark Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, there were an estimated 100,000 to 150,000 Muslims living in the United States. At the time of the 2020 United States Religion Census, there were an estimated 4.5 million Muslims in the country. By the year 2050, that number is estimated to nearly double to 8.1 million. Huge swaths of the American Muslim community, unsurprisingly, are immigrants—those, in theory (!), who We the People through our duly elected representatives chose to bring here because we believed they would have a positive impact on the common good. Instead, we got D.C.-area mosque vigils for a despotic monster who sought “Death to America,” a staggering 54% food stamp rate and 73% Medicaid rate for Minnesota Somalis, campus activism on behalf of numerous U.S. State Department-recognized Foreign Terrorist Organizations, Ivy League calls for the “total eradication” of Western civilization, and more.\n\nNot exactly a smashing success, it it?\n\nIn the early decades of the republic, Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison waged the First and Second Barbary Wars against radical Muslim pirates—the Houthis of their day—off the northern African coast. To this day, The Marines’ Hymn famously makes reference to “fight[ing] our country’s battles” off “the shores of Tripoli.” In fact, those wars were highly instrumental in the initial building up of the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps into the world-renowned fighting forces they are today. Now, Americans seem to be letting Muslims—millions of them—into the country through a very wide front door. Far from fighting them or recognizing their comprehensive religio-political worldview as antithetical to the American way life, we are rolling out the red carpet (and doling out fraudulent welfare benefits).\n\nThe patriots of 1776 fought a long and bloody war, among other reasons, because of the soft tyranny of Mother Britain’s taxation of the colonists without representation. But in the post-1965 Immigration and Nationality Act paradigm of mass Muslim immigration to America, we are dealing with something considerably more serious: societal transformation without representation. This particular problem is, of course, in accord with decades of unlawful accumulation and solidification of power in the administrative state, and away from our duly elected representatives in Congress, more generally. But in this case, the problem is even worse because it directly implicates the most foundational question in all of politics, going back at least as far as Aristotle two-plus millennia ago:Who are weas a polity, as a nation?\n\nTo deprive the American people of any meaningful say in this matter is a scandal of historic proportions. And it’s a scandal, as we’ve already seen, with positively disastrous results. Even worse, we are now only at the very beginning of this grand experiment in Islamization. Who knows what things might look like a few decades from now? (I’ll hazard a guess: not great!)\n\nTo deprive the American people of any meaningful say in this matter is a scandal of historic proportions. And it’s a scandal, as we’ve already seen, with positively disastrous results. Even worse, we are now only at the very beginning of this grand experiment in Islamization. Who knows what things might look like a few decades from now? (I’ll hazard a guess: not great!)https://www.frontpagemag.com/we-the-people-never-voted-for-mass-islamic-immigration/\n\nDo NOT think this is just America’s problem. Everything Hammer says here can be applied to the situation we find in Australia, England, Europe and elsewhere. The Trojan Horse of mass Islamic immigration has worked a treat. We are now being slowly taken over from within. For more detail on this reality, see my 2019 article:https://billmuehlenberg.com/2009/08/27/western-immigration-and-global-jihad/\n\nIn it I focused on the important volume by Sam Solomon and E Al Maqdisi,Modern Day Trojan Horse: The Islamic Doctrine of Immigration(ANM, 2009). As I wrote in that article:\n\nThe pair examine how a small presence of Muslims in a Western nation eventually builds to a critical mass, with the eventual aim of implementing sharia law, and taking over the host culture. Even seemingly benign measures, such as the building of mosques, can be used for these greater purposes.\n\nIndeed, an earlier volume by the same two authors argued how important the mosque in Western nations is to this overall process. InThe Mosque Exposed, they highlight how the Islamists use the mosque to teach, foment and recruit for violent jihad.\n\nIn their newer book they document how Western immigration policies are being exploited by these radicals, and how they use such things astaquiya, or deception, to achieve these aims. They seek to hide behind religious devotion and practice as they attempt to wrest control of lands belonging to thekuffar(non-Muslim).\n\nIf people in the West do now wake up real fast as to the war they are in, our fate will be certain, and it will not be pretty.",
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    "url": "https://billmuehlenberg.com/2026/02/21/the-deceivers-are-out-in-force/",
    "title": "The Deceivers Are Out in Force",
    "text": "Some Christians are surprised to learn about out-right deception, false prophets, and gross evil found throughout Western Christendom. But they should not be, given that Jesus himself warned about this constantly. And the New Testament as a whole speaks to this repeatedly.\n\nJust a few obvious texts – out of many – come to mind here. In Matthew 7:15 we find these words of Jesus: “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.” Or as Paul put it in Acts 20:29-32: “I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be alert.”\n\nNote that these warnings are aimed at God’s people. We expect the world to thrive on lies and deceit, but these alerts are telling believers that so many who claim to be Christ-followers will fully be promoting such deception. Two key areas are especially under attack by Satan and his minions today: life and sexuality.\n\nThe first has to do with the life issues, including abortion, euthanasia, and infanticide. Just two recent examples can be mentioned here. The first concerns an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA) who is a professor of religious studies at Elon University: Rev. Dr. Rebecca Todd Peters. This is part of what she said in a sermon:\n\nIf Jesus were here today, he would be a clinic escort, distracting women from the hatred of the protesters. Or an abortion doula, holding women’s hands and offering support and love as they end their pregnancies. And I expect he would have a stern word for self-righteous legislators who use abortion as a political issue…\n\nI have been pregnant four times. I have had two abortions… I can also attest that I felt God’s presence with me as I made the decision to end two pregnancies and I felt no guilt, no shame, no sin….\n\nBlessed are those who end pregnancies, for they will be known for their loving kindness. Reimagining our theological understanding of abortion is essential to addressing the violence that is being done to people across the country in the name of Christianity. In the face of the rampant, reproductive injustice in our society, what does God require of us?https://mercercountyoutlook.net/2026/02/16/religion-rev-dr-rebecca-todd-peters-i-can-also-attest-that-i-felt-gods-presence-with-me-as-i-made-the-decision-to-end-two-pregnancies-and-i-felt-no-guilt-no-shame-no-sin/\n\nAnd she said this while wearing a pink stole featuring the Planned Parenthood logo. Wow. Talk about wolves in sheep’s clothing. Of course if abortion is a sacrament and a blessing, then if Mary had decided to have baby Jesus killed in her womb, that would have been just peachy.\n\nNot to be outdone, another PCUSA minister who works as a volunteer chaplain inside a Planned Parenthood clinic has said that women can abort their babies as an act of love to them. I kid you not. Rev. Marvin Ellison a retired professor of Christian ethics at Bangor Theological Seminary said this in a sermon at the First Congregational Church in South Portland, Maine:\n\n[S]ome confided in me that they had never expected to find a Christian minister inside Planned Parenthood. Maybe outside the clinic protesting, but they hadn’t imagined that they would meet a Christian minister inside the clinic, much less offering care and support.\n\nFrom these women, I’ve also learned something else about the ‘who.’ They’re not two groups of women – women who love children and women who have abortions. Only one group of women exists.\n\nWomen terminate pregnancies for the very same reason that under other circumstances, they carry pregnancies to term and give birth. Because of love, because of love and out of their high regard for the value of new life. Love sometimes requires saying ‘no’ to life rather than ‘yes.’https://www.lifenews.com/2026/02/17/presbyterian-pastor-claims-women-have-abortions-out-of-love/\n\nSo murdering babies is an act of love. Can Orwellian double-speak get any worse? Satan is alive and well in some of our churches and seminaries.\n\nThe second major area of satanic deception has to do with marriage and family, and God’s expressed purposes for human sexuality. Examples of this seem endless but here I offer just two recent cases of those claiming to represent God and his word who tell us we can ignore the divine counsel on this.\n\nFirst consider a UK Methodist Church story about Grace, a queer non-binary performance artist. A few quotes from an article are quite revealing:\n\n“I grew up feeling like Church wasn’t a place for someone like me,” they said, “I didn’t feel welcome and I didn’t feel safe.” Today, that story looks very different. Grace now worships regularly at Union Methodist/URC Church in Margate, often accompanied by their beloved pet rats, creating art for others who fear stepping into a church to encounter faith without judgement….\n\nGrace’s work is grounded in their Christian faith, a faith that has been renewed and strengthened by the welcome found at Union Methodist/URC Church. “My Christian faith guides my art,” Grace says. “I want to show that not all Christians are scary or against you. I want people to know thereisa place for them. There is a church where they will not be judged. There is a community waiting to love them.”https://www.methodist.org.uk/about/our-stories/faith-art-and-home-in-a-methodist-community/\n\nGood grief! Why do I think that those pet rats have a far greater sense of reality and morality than this ‘artist’ and ‘church’ do? And “faith without judgment”? That perfectly sums up counterfeit Christianity – the religion of self, where we justify ourselves and our sin and reject God’s just judgments. Even Satan would love to attend a “church” like that!\n\nA second example of this does not involve a pastor or Christian leader, but a politician who claims to be presenting Christian truth. Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear used the Bible to justify homosexual activism when he recently appeared on the hard-left showThe View. He said he was guided by the Golden Rule and the parable of the Good Samaritan as he pushed his activism.https://nypost.com/2026/02/11/media/ky-gov-andy-beshear-blasted-for-citing-the-bible-to-defend-transgender-treatments-for-kids/\n\nHe does the same as he pushes abortion. Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Al Mohler was quite right to call him out: “You are looking here at two different rival religions. You have historic, orthodox, biblical Christianity, and you have theological liberalism and whatever it produces next.”\n\nQuite so. As J. Gresham Machen said over 100 years ago inChristianity and Liberalism:\n\nIn the sphere of religion, in particular, the present time is a time of conflict; the great redemptive religion which has always been known as Christianity is battling against a totally diverse type of religious belief, which is only the more destructive of the Christian faith because it makes use of traditional Christian terminology. This modern non-redemptive religion is called “modernism” or “liberalism”.\n\nAnd Satan’s greatest works of deceit and deception today are in the areas of social ethics as he uses apostates and false prophets to undermine the clear teachings of Scripture and to call God a liar. Their fate will not be a pleasant one. As Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to the false prophet Elymas:\n\n“You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord?” (Acts 13:9-10)",
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    "url": "https://billmuehlenberg.com/2026/03/03/brief-thoughts-on-regime-change/",
    "title": "Brief Thoughts on Regime Change",
    "text": "With America and Israel – along with some Western allies and even some Arab/Muslim states – moving full steam ahead to rid the beleaguered Iranian population of the hated tyrannical Islamist regime, there is again a lot of discussion about notions of ‘regime change’ and the like.\n\nThere are many ways to assess this issue: politically, historically, legally, militarily, morally, philosophically, even theologically. Writing as a Christian primarily to other Christians, what might be said about this – at least in part from a biblical perspective?\n\nWell, the first thing to be said is this: there is plenty of regime change to be found in the Bible – certainly in the Old Testament. First and foremost, there is the case of ancient Israel taking the Promised Land. Obviously other peoples were living there before this took place.\n\nBut this conquest was all part of the good plan of God. Indeed, a full 400 years before the taking of Canaan, God had told Abram in Genesis 15:13-16 why and when it was going to happen:\n\nKnow for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age.In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.\n\nThe wickedness of the Canaanite people would get to a place where Yahweh would finally judge them, using the Israelites as his chosen means. And other nations would be toppled as well over the centuries, all to fulfil the plans and purposes of God. So whether it was Assyria or Babylon or other nations, regime change happened plenty of times.\n\nOf course just because God has done something does not necessarily mean that we should go and do the same. But the point is this: such regime change is not inherently evil and immoral if God is willing to do it. Sure, we might engage in this action for wrong reasons or with wrong motives or with wrong means, and so on. But it CAN be a morally licit thing to do at times.\n\nAnd since we are speaking now primarily of America under Trump, we can say that some past cases of regime change have been very good things indeed – despite what a few nutter isolationists and characters like Tucker Carlson now say. Getting rid of Hitler and the Nazis and the barbaric Japanese tyrants was certainly a good thing.\n\nAnd that was indeed real regime change. Both nations not only had their previous ruling regimes toppled, but new governments were installed and even new constitutions were put in place. I – and millions of others – much prefer the Germany and Japan of today than what they were like before this regime change occurred.\n\nDo all nations have a right to exist and to self-defence?\n\nPlenty more questions arise here. One might better rephrase the question I just asked like this: Are all governments and rulers legitimate? Even that question needs careful answering. Obviously, God thought the wicked Canaanites HAD lost their right to rule and defend themselves. So God ousted them by means of his own people – even though they were not morally pristine.\n\nThe examples I just mentioned from WWII are also pretty clear cases of evil regimes that have lost their legitimacy to exist. The principles of just war theory and the like came into play there. Stopping murderous, imperialist regimes from raping and pillaging entire peoples and killing millions of innocent civilians was a morally legitimate war aim – a legitimate case of regime change.\n\nSure, that does not mean that the ‘good guys’ always get it right. Again, sticking with America, not all their actions in this regard have always been good and helpful. The two usual cases brought up by the critics are Iraq and Afghanistan. In reply, I think it can be said that a case could be made as to why those regimes there had to go.\n\nBut HOW this was done and the follow-up to it certainly can be questioned and criticised. Mistakes were certainly made, and many outcomes were far from ideal. But Trump was not part of either one! So in this sense, we can point out some clear differences with the operations in Iran today. This nation has been terrorising its own people, its neighbours, and the world for 47 years.\n\nWhen the evil rulers there said year in and year out that they wanted to destroy America and the West, it was worth taking them seriously. When the Iranian leadership repeatedly swore to annihilate the ‘Little Satan’ Israel and the ‘Great Satan’ America, ignoring such talk was NOT a wise way to proceed.\n\nAnd given how furiously they were working on their plans to develop nuclear weapons to carry out their dire threats, there was a very real case indeed to take action against Iran – especially since 8 months of attempts by the Trump administration to negotiate with them proved to be futile.\n\nSo to seek to neutralise this rogue state and the world’s worst state sponsor of global terrorism was a legitimate and worthwhile goal. Whether this military operation lasts a few more weeks or even a month is a moot point. We hope and pray that American, Israeli and civilian casualties are kept to a minimum. But in war, sadly, some people will always get hurt.\n\nAnd as Trump has been clearly stating, once these military objectives are reached, then the Iranians can decide for themselves how things should pan out. There is no intention of having US soldiers on the ground there, or to have a protracted process of democratisation or ‘Americanisation’. As JD Vance just recently told Jesse Watters on Fox News, there will be no “forever war”. He said this:\n\nThe president has CLEARLY defined what he wants to accomplish, and there’s just no way … that Donald Trump is going to allow this country to get into a multi-year conflict with no clear end in sight and no clear objective. What is different about President Trump – and its frankly different about both Republicans and Democrats of the past – is that he’s not going to let his country go to war unless there’s a clearly defined objective. He’s defined that objective as Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and has to commit long-term to never trying to rebuild a nuclear capability. It’s pretty clear, it’s pretty simple, and I think that means that we’re not getting into the problems that we have had with Iraq and Afghanistan.\n\nAnd as Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, “The bottom line is no matter who governs that country a year from now, they’re not going to have these ballistic missiles and they’re not going to have these drones to threaten us. That’s the objective of this mission.”\n\nThe Iranian people can decide for themselves how their nation will be governed and by whom. America and Israel are simply taking out the trash, so that a newly liberated Iranian populace can go back to a much better life, one like before the 1979 Islamist Revolution.\n\nPray for this conflict with the Islamist enemy to come to a swift end, and pray for the poor longsuffering Iranians that they can once again can enjoy a free, democratic and prosperous life, in whatever way they choose to proceed with it.\n\nNot all regime change is desirable or moral. However, I believe the regime change we are now witnessing in Iran is both.\n\nI just came upon this very helpful and incisive 40-minute video on regime change and the current situation in Iran by Dinesh D’Souza. It is well worth watching:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMPTUgZBSp4",
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    "url": "https://billmuehlenberg.com/2026/03/10/key-quotes-on-cultural-relativism/#comments",
    "title": "Key Quotes on Cultural Relativism",
    "text": "Relativism is almost always poisonous. And it is self-refuting. If everything is relative, then there is no objective standard by which to judge and assess anything. Epistemological Relativism is the idea that there is no absolute truth. Moral Relativism is the view that morality is subjective, based on individual preferences. Cultural Relativism is the belief that one cannot judge other cultures; each one is right in its own way.\n\nThis article will look at that last form, especially in relation to things like multiculturalism, immigration, and public policy. What I offer here are 27 quotes by 20 thinkers on this matter, arranged alphabetically by author:\n\n“Culture is more than cuisine or clothes. It’s also customs which may be at odds with British values. We cannot be naïve and assume immigrants will automatically abandon ancestral ethnic hostilities at the border, or that all cultures are equally valid. They are not.” Kemi Badenoch\n\n“Multiculturalism is based on the lie that all cultures are morally equal.” Michael Barone\n\n“There are objective differences between cultures which mandate barbaric mutilation of women and ones that neither permit nor wish it; between cultures which permit freedom of speech and open discussion of religious and other values, and ones that do not; between cultures of economic freedom and ones of economic unfreedom. People who deny these differences cannot usually be argued with. As G. K. Chesterton said, if you argue with a mad person you will very likely get the worst of it, for your opponent’s mind is unhampered by humour or proportion or common sense. A ‘multiculturalism’ which seriously holds all cultures are equal, that all cultures should be welcomed holus-bolus into our so far exceptionally unified continent is mad.” Hal G. P. Colebatch\n\n“Multiculturalism is only in the West. We are absorbing a large number of Muslims in the west and at the same time the Christians and the Jews and other minorities are fleeing the Middle East, churches are being burnt, nobody is talking about it. Where are the religious freedoms of the minorities.” Mark Durie\n\n“Multiculturalism is a good reminder that when standards are relative, there are no standards at all.” Victor Davis Hanson\n\n“In Holland I have seen well-meaning, principled people blinded by multiculturalism, overwhelmed by the imperative to be sensitive and respectful of immigrant culture, while ignoring criminal abuse of women and girls.” Ayaan Hirsi Ali\n\n“What was it that they wanted to replace the nation state with? The radical pursuit of heterogeneity in the name of multiculturalism and diversity. International and supranational entities designed to transcend or sidestep the nation states, such as the United Nations or the European Union. Some even dreamt of world government—the globalists. There were other alternatives to the nation states too. For example, Islamists argued, and continue to do so, that the caliphate should be restored and Sharia law imposed. But these visions of a post-national world are delusional. The international and supranational bodies turned out to be dysfunctional—tyrannical rule of bureaucracy and wasteful, chronically prone to fraud and abuse. The experiment based on the vaunted theory of multiculturalism to bring about heterogeneous societies in Europe has, in large measure, failed.” Ayaan Hirsi Ali\n\n“All human beings are equal, but all cultures and religions are not. A culture that celebrates femininity and considers women to be the masters of their own lives is better than a culture that mutilates girls’ genitals and confines them behind walls and veils or flogs or stones them for falling in love. A culture that protects women’s rights by law is better than a culture in which a man can lawfully have four wives at once and women are denied alimony and half their inheritance. A culture that appoints women to its supreme court is better than a culture that declares that the testimony of a woman is worth half that of a man. It is part of Muslim culture to oppress women and part of all tribal cultures to institutionalize patronage, nepotism, and corruption. The culture of the Western Enlightenment is better. In the real world, equal respect for all cultures doesn’t translate into a rich mosaic of colorful and proud peoples interacting peacefully while maintaining a delightful diversity of food and craftwork. It translates into closed pockets of oppression, ignorance, and abuse. Many people genuinely feel pain at the thought of the death of whole cultures. I see this all the time. They ask, “Is there nothing beautiful in these cultures? Is there nothing beautiful in Islam?” There is beautiful architecture, yes, and encouragement of charity, yes, but Islam is built on sexual inequality and on the surrender of individual responsibility and choice. This is not just ugly; it is monstrous.” Ayaan Hirsi Ali\n\n“Why doesn’t multiculturalism work? The answer is that multiculturalism is essentially a form of relativism in which morality is relative to culture. The corresponding belief is that the members of one culture have no right to make judgments about the rightness or wrongness of another culture’s traditions or practices. . . . Because of its inherent divisiveness, the multiculturalist model would eventually fail in any society. But it is particularly fatal to a society that has in its midst an aggressive cultural group that refuses to subscribe to relativism. By neglecting to stand up for their own values, traditions, and religious heritage – indeed, by denigrating them – European countries left themselves almost defenceless against a resurgent Islam. Islam’s success in Europe has been built in large part on European self-doubt.” William Kilpatrick\n\n“If truth is contingent upon the society in which we live…there is nothing intuitive or universally or absolutely true about freedom from torture or freedom from slavery; our society just happens to have come up with these values over time.” Stephen McAndrew\n\n“While we all may have a sense of what is evil and what is good under the philosophy of cultural tolerance, evil and good can only be relative ideals. Without an objective truth—a set of universal moral values—good and evil are defined by the individual, community, or society. Therefore we have no moral basis by which to judge another person, community, or nation for what they do or don’t do.” Josh McDowell and Sean McDowell\n\n“The most dangerous lie of the 21st century was that all cultures are interchangeable. Sweden is the irrefutable proof that they are not. As an Iranian who watched my own country fall to extremism, the tragedy unfolding in Scandinavia feels like a recurring nightmare. I have seen a civilization commit suicide before, and the symptoms are always the same: a fatal tolerance for those who explicitly wish to dismantle your way of life. We are witnessing the total collapse of a utopian fantasy. Sweden now rivals nations like Mexico in bombing frequency for a country not officially at war. This is not merely a crime wave. It is the sound of a society fracturing under the weight of imported conflict. It echoes the silence that eventually fell over my own homeland when the vibrancy of culture was traded for the rigidity of dogma. Sweden is the canary in the coal mine. It demonstrates that tolerance cannot extend to the intolerant.” Armin Navabi\n\n“Many journalists are influenced by a myopic multiculturalism that is suspicious of anything Western, while giving the benefit of the doubt to non-Western societies.” Nancy Pearcey\n\n“The West must very soon recognize that: 1) All immigrants are not equally likely to assimilate; 2) All immigrants are not equally likely to be a net benefit to the host society; 3) All immigrants are not equally likely to be a net existential danger to the host society; 4) All cultures are not equal; 5) All religions are not equal; 6) A religion that seeks to destroy your society, civilization, religious heritage, and freedoms should not receive protection under the First Amendment; 7) You don’t owe it to said religion to capitulate in the name of tolerance, compassion, and suicidal empathy; 8) Our freedoms and liberties are being used to erase our existence. It is time to wake up. Every day that passes without the necessary auto-corrections is ensuring that our children and their children will live in a world that is astoundingly darker than anything that the West has ever known. Have a great week.” Gad Saad\n\n“The view that all cultures are equally valuable is called ‘cultural relativism.’ For this, anthropologists must take much responsibility. What began as a research effort to see other cultures without bias and through the eyes of their members, became an extremist moral and ethical relativism, the view that someone from one culture cannot judge what happens in another culture. In this view, no criteria may be applied from one culture to assess other cultures; above all, no judgments may be made indicating that some are better than others.” Philip Carl Salzman\n\n“So what happens when people whose identity is fixed by creed or kinship immigrate into places settled by Western culture? The multiculturalists say that we must make room for them, and that we do this by relinquishing the space in whichtheirculture can flourish. Our political class has at last recognized that this is a recipe for disaster, and that we can welcome immigrants only if we welcome themintoour culture, and not beside and against it. But that means telling them to accept rules, customs, and procedures that may be alien to their old way of life. Is this an injustice? Surely not. If immigrants come it is because they gain by doing so. It is therefore reasonable to remind them that there is also a cost. Only now, however, is our political class prepared to say so, and to insist that the cost be paid. And it may be that this change of heart comes too late.” Roger Scruton\n\n“When you import people, you import cultures. Those cultures no longer give way to the American culture when ‘multiculturalism’ is a dogma and its apostles and activists make it necessary for American laws, language, and culture to give way, or at least accommodate growing alien enclaves in our midst. A nation is more than a collection of whatever population happens to reside within its borders. Something has to unite those people if the country is not to degenerate into the kind of unending internal strife brought on by Balkanization in many countries around the world, not just in the Balkans. Unity and patriotism are not luxuries. Survival in an international jungle depends on them. What are dangerous luxuries are the open borders which erode national solidarity. The fact that we are already at each other’s throats over the immigration issue is an ominous sign.” Thomas Sowell\n\n“[Multiculturalism] is a cult of tolerance in which you demonstrate your sensitivity to other cultures by being almost totally insensitive to your own.” Mark Steyn\n\n“At the heart of multiculturalism is a lie: that all cultures are equally ‘valid.’ To accept that proposition means denying reality—the reality of any objective measure of human freedom, societal health, and global population movement. Multiculturalism is not the first ideology founded on the denial of truth.” Mark Steyn\n\n“[D]iscussing cultural relativism with cultural relativists is like playing tennis with some guy who says, ‘Your ace is just a social construct’.” Mark Steyn\n\n“If all cultures are equal, then cannibalism is just a matter of culinary taste.” Leo Strauss\n\n“The list of people sacrificed on the altar of multiculturalism or diversity is endless, and you’d never hear about it in the media, they’d like to cover it up.” Eva Vlaardingerbroek\n\n“This time we live in will go down in history as the time in which Western nations no longer had to get invaded by hostile armies in order to be conquered, the invader was actively invited in by a corrupt elite.” Eva Vlaardingerbroek\n\n“I just want to say that the multiculturalism – and especially the cultural relativism which is even worse than multiculturalism, the concept that all cultures are equal – is the worst recipe for any society.” Geert Wilders\n\n“Europe’s greatest problem is cultural relativism. This has led to a situation where Europeans no longer know what they should be proud of and who they really are because a so-called liberal and leftist-imposed concept says that all cultures are the same.” Geert Wilders\n\n“Cultural relativism dictates that all cultures are equally moral and valuable—though in practice, Western culture is often presented as inferior to all others, stained as it supposedly is by racism and imperialism.” Geert Wilders\n\n“[Cultural relativism] licenses the envy of the untalented, giving rise to what has been called the revenge of failure: Those who cannot paint destroy the canons of painting; those who cannot write reject canonical literature.” George Will",
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    "url": "https://billmuehlenberg.com/2026/02/24/yes-god-can-use-even-you-and-me/",
    "title": "Yes, God Can Use Even You and Me",
    "text": "One of the most comforting truths about being a follower of Christ is that God does not consider nor rely upon our great abilities or talents or intelligence or good looks or charm or humour or whatever. Yes, some of these qualities can be of use (certainly a bit of intelligence is a good thing for example), but when God called us, it was not because he thought we were the greatest folks around.\n\nWe see this truth clearly spelled out in the case of God’s calling of Israel. I just read Deuteronomy again recently, and there we see at least three main passages where God tells the people that he did NOT call them because they were greater or more numerous than others. Check out Deuteronomy 7:6-8; 8:17-20; and 9:4-7.\n\nSeveral old quotes come to mind in this regard. One is this: “God has a tendency of picking a nobody, to become a somebody, in front of everybody, without asking anybody.” Another classic is this: “When God put a calling on your life, He already factored in your stupidity. Most comforting thing I’ve ever heard.”\n\nI don’t know about you, but knowing that God’s calling is not based on how terrific and qualified I am is a real relief. It is all of grace, and he gets all the glory as a result. Indeed, another old Christian quote springs to mind here: “God does not call the qualified, He qualifies the called.”\n\nAll these biblical truths are something I need to constantly keep in mind. So often I feel totally unfit for the work of the Lord. So often I feel that if I were God, I would be the last one to be called. At the very least, God must have had a sense of humour in calling me.\n\nI say all this because others feel the same way – even notable biblical characters. We all know about Gideon, and the mighty exploits he did for the Lord. We read about this mighty man of God in Judges 6-8. But recall what he told the angel of the Lord when he appeared to him in Judges 6:15: “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.”\n\nThankfully in the very next verse we read what the Lord said to him in reply, “But I will be with you…” Yes Gideon was still hesitant and wanted some signs from God first. But the fact that God is with those that he calls is all that any of us will ever need. ‘Of course you are not qualified for the job Bill, and on your own you will fail miserably and repeatedly. BUT, I will be with you!’\n\nThat is the sort of thing we all need to hear and bear in mind. I sure do. The good news is, God is with us, and even though we are weak and faithless and wayward and doubtful, his presence means we can indeed do great things for him.\n\nBut a few more steps were needed to get Gideon fully onside. In addition to making cheap excuses, at first Gideon was angry with God. But he made a meal for his visitor and soon enough came to see just who it is he was dealing with. In all this it is interesting to compare his divine calling with that of Moses.\n\nIn his NIVAC commentary K. Lawson Younger says this:\n\nWhile the theophany is especially reminiscent of the call of Moses (Ex. 3:7-10), Gideon is no Moses. Like Moses, there is a problem with the will. But in the case of Gideon, there are additional problems of perception (of the presence of the Lord and the reason for Israel’s distress) and faith (Gideon will have a much harder time with trust in Yahweh than Moses, as the narrative will show). Indeed, the contrast of characterizations introduced in 6:11-24 between Yahweh’s patience and Gideon’s impetuosity form the background to Gideon’s compensatory ruthlessness portrayed toward those who, like himself, doubted his ability to capture Yahweh’s opponents (cf. 8:5-9, 13-17).\n\nSignificantly, Gideon’s commission comes not by the prophet (contrast Barak), nor by any human agency, but by Yahweh himself through a theophany. Yahweh and Gideon will be in almost constant dialogue with one another in the sequence of events leading up to the battle (6:25, 36, 39; 7:2, 4, 7, 9). This will prove ironic in light of the final outcome of the Gideon cycle.\n\nBarry Webb in his PTW commentary offers these comments about how Gideon responded to his visitor once he understood who he was:\n\nHow foolish all his anger seems now, and how dangerous. If only he could retract his outburst about everything being God’s fault (v. 13). But it’s too late for that now. All he can do is blurt out his fear, like a condemned man. And then somehow Gideon hears the God he fears, who is still strangely present, speak his pardon: “Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die” (v. 23). Now God is everything and Gideon is nothing—except a profoundly grateful human being. In the midst of war and devastation, anger, frustration, self-doubt, and the threatening future—which is still there—he has peace. So he builds an altar and calls it Yahweh Shalom, “the LORD Is Peace” (v. 24). It’s his first act of faith, a kind of concrete testimony to what he has learned from his encounter with God: God himself is his peace.\n\nAnd in his NICOT commentary Webb writes more about his encounter:\n\nBut the superior person in this case will not take No for an answer! The promised “presence” of God, in the sense of divine enablement, makes all pleas of inadequacy irrelevant (v. 16). The statement, “Surely I will be with you” is exactly the same as was spoken to Moses in Exodus 3:12, where it was soon followed by the self-disclosure of Yahweh as the great I AM (Exod. 3:14). Here it is an unsubtle way of forcing into Gideon’s consciousness the awareness that he is having an encounter with God himself, and is being given a commission he cannot refuse.\n\nThe double lesson to be learned here is this: When God calls someone, he promises to be with them and equip them. So we have no excuses to not heed the call. And when he does put a calling on someone’s life, the way NOT to respond is to try to say ‘no’. That is never a wise path to follow – simply consider the first half of Jonah’s career!\n\nAs I say so often, if God can call someone like me and use me a little bit for his purposes, then he can call and use anyone.\n\nAs I was typing this piece, a friend sent me a live link to the funeral service of the Melbourne pro-life champion Margaret Tighe. Watching that tied in nicely with what I was writing. In a photo tribute we were reminded that the 94-year-old had been arrested for her tireless work, her office had been firebombed, and she had received plenty of flak over the years. But she kept the course and did the work God had called her to.\n\nWe all must do the same. Yes, we might feel unqualified, weak, fragile and unable. But God is with us, and that is enough.",
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    "url": "https://billmuehlenberg.com/2026/03/06/can-we-restore-the-west/#comments",
    "title": "Can We Restore the West?",
    "text": "It was Churchill who once quipped that ‘Democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried’. One might say similar things about the West. It is of course far from perfect, but compared to so much of the rest of the world, the West has been one of the great and long-standing experiments in life, liberty, prosperity and goodness.\n\nBut the West is under attack today perhaps more so than it has ever been. Its enemies are many, and sadly it is not just those from without who are working overtime to bring it down, but there are far too many working from within to see it destroyed and remade into their own sordid image.\n\nTough times call for tough measures, as the saying goes. When we see the West being attacked in this way, action is required. When we see moral and mental decline all around us, then resistance is needed. When we see corrupt governments, activist judges, rogue and biased media outlets, and woke wonders declaring war on all that we hold near and dear, then new leadership and new movements are required.\n\nMany are doing their bit to make America and the West great again. We can applaud their efforts, and we can hope that others will join in with this life and death struggle over Westen civilisation. It is well worth fighting for, warts and all. It is worth preserving, championing and defending.\n\nOne new player who surely believes all this is Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Many of you know about this former Muslim, former atheist, and now Christian commentator and activist. Those needing a bit more information about her can check out what I recently said about her and her husband, historian Niall Ferguson:https://billmuehlenberg.com/2026/01/25/on-ayaan-and-niall/\n\nJust today she has launched a new initiative called “Restoring the West”. And she has shared with us the “Restoring the West Manifesto”. She says she is ‘fighting for the restoration of what made the West great’. The entire document is worth presenting to you here. She begins with these introductory remarks:\n\nI spent the first part of my life living under oppression. I know what it means to be silenced, to have your freedom stolen, to watch a civilization reject the very values that make human flourishing possible. I also know what it means to be free. And I know thatfreedom is not inevitable— it must be defended, understood, and taught anew to every generation. The West is at risk of losing that fight. And too many people who should be leading the defense have no idea how to do so.That’s why we’re launching Restoring the West.\n\nShe then speaks about “The Crisis We Face”:\n\nThe civilization that gave the world individual liberty, the rule of law, scientific inquiry, and human dignity is under siege — not primarily from external enemies, but from internal collapse.\n\nMany of our institutions have been captured. Too many of our universities teach students to despise their own inheritance of broad thought and discourse. Our media amplifies every grievance to leftist ideology, while ignoring threats from intolerant ideologies and forces. Our leaders lack the moral vocabulary and fortitude to defend what we’ve built.\n\nMeanwhile, illiberal ideologies — from political Islamism to postmodern identity politics — advance unchecked, demanding submission to group identity over individual conscience, censorship over free speech, and tribal loyalty over universal human rights.\n\nClassical liberals and conservatives? Too often, we’re losing. We win elections but lose the culture. We defend policies but surrender the principles. We react to provocations but fail to plant ideas that endure. We even wage wars to liberate oppressed people in other nations, yet we fail to explain—both to outsiders and to our own citizens—the moral absolutes that demand we use our power against evil, such as the death cult that served as the operating system of Iran’s Islamist regime.\n\nThe West will not be restored by winning news cycles. It will be restored by winning the argument for why the West is worth preserving.\n\nShe next discusses “Our Guiding Principles”:\n\nDEFEND JUDEO-CHRISTIAN VALUES, UNAPOLOGETICALLY\n\nThe features that have uniquely made our civilization a place where all can flourish are rooted in the Judeo-Christian tradition: individual liberty, equality before the law, freedom of conscience and expression, and the dignity of every human being. These values built free societies. These values are now under attack. We will defend them without apology or equivocation.\n\nFIGHT ILLIBERALISM IN ALL ITS FORMS\n\nWhether cloaked in religious orthodoxy or academic jargon, illiberalism seeks the same end: the suppression of individual freedom in service of collective control. We oppose political Islam, which seeks to impose religious law on free societies. We oppose postmodern ideologies that replace individual rights with identity hierarchies. We refuse to choose between these threats. We recognize them both as enemies of Western civilization.\n\nThis publication is not about outrage or affirmation. It’s about intellectual ammunition. Every piece we publish will advance a clear argument, address serious objections, and connect to the project of civilizational renewal. We write for people who need to be persuaded, not just people who already agree. Our goal is to shape minds, change debates, and arm veterans and new generations for the work ahead.\n\nI did not escape one form of oppression to tolerate another. I will not pretend that all cultures are equal, that all ideas are equally valid, or that we can restore the West through euphemism and evasion. Moral clarity is not extremism — it’s the precondition for moral action. We will say what is true, even when the truth is uncomfortable.\n\nThen we learn about “FIVE PILLARS, ONE MISSION”\n\nEverything we publish connects to the civilizational foundations we must restore:\n\nThese aren’t talking points. These are the fronts in a war for civilization itself.\n\nThe document concludes with these words:\n\nBusy people need clear arguments, not bloated essays. We respect your time by making every word count. But efficiency serves substance, not the other way around. We will never sacrifice intellectual rigor for algorithmic reach or dumb down complex arguments for easier consumption. Excellence is the standard we want restored in our civilization — it’s the standard we hold ourselves to here.\n\nI have seen what happens when civilizations abandon their principles. I have lived under the thuggish sandal of illiberalism. I know the price of freedom because I know what life costs without it.\n\nToo many of the institutions that once defended Western civilization have failed or been captured. The task of restoration falls to us — to those who understand what’s at stake and refuse to surrender what generations before us built and bled for.\n\nThis is not pessimism. This is realism coupled with resolve.\n\nThe West can be saved. But only if we’re willing to make the argument for why it deserves to be saved — and then do the work required to save it.\n\nThis is found here:https://www.restoringthewest.com/p/the-restoring-the-west-manifesto\n\nI for one have been very encouraged to see this Manifesto and to know that people like Ayaan Hirsi Ali are throwing themselves fully into such a project. It is sorely needed, and it is hoped that many will get on board with it.\n\nNeedless to say, I understand that manifestoes and politics and culture wars and so on will not be able to fully save the West and cure what really ails it. At bottom the problems of the West are spiritual in nature, and only a full-hearted return to God and his word will really fix the West.\n\nBut she would know this as well, and so we can support the Restore the West project while also praying that God might bless this and similar efforts and use them for his purposes. Without God, the West IS toast. But in his grace he might give it a reprieve, and an initiative like this might well be part of how we can turn things around – at least to some extent.",
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    "url": "https://billmuehlenberg.com/2026/03/10/key-quotes-on-cultural-relativism/",
    "title": "Key Quotes on Cultural Relativism",
    "text": "Relativism is almost always poisonous. And it is self-refuting. If everything is relative, then there is no objective standard by which to judge and assess anything. Epistemological Relativism is the idea that there is no absolute truth. Moral Relativism is the view that morality is subjective, based on individual preferences. Cultural Relativism is the belief that one cannot judge other cultures; each one is right in its own way.\n\nThis article will look at that last form, especially in relation to things like multiculturalism, immigration, and public policy. What I offer here are 27 quotes by 20 thinkers on this matter, arranged alphabetically by author:\n\n“Culture is more than cuisine or clothes. It’s also customs which may be at odds with British values. We cannot be naïve and assume immigrants will automatically abandon ancestral ethnic hostilities at the border, or that all cultures are equally valid. They are not.” Kemi Badenoch\n\n“Multiculturalism is based on the lie that all cultures are morally equal.” Michael Barone\n\n“There are objective differences between cultures which mandate barbaric mutilation of women and ones that neither permit nor wish it; between cultures which permit freedom of speech and open discussion of religious and other values, and ones that do not; between cultures of economic freedom and ones of economic unfreedom. People who deny these differences cannot usually be argued with. As G. K. Chesterton said, if you argue with a mad person you will very likely get the worst of it, for your opponent’s mind is unhampered by humour or proportion or common sense. A ‘multiculturalism’ which seriously holds all cultures are equal, that all cultures should be welcomed holus-bolus into our so far exceptionally unified continent is mad.” Hal G. P. Colebatch\n\n“Multiculturalism is only in the West. We are absorbing a large number of Muslims in the west and at the same time the Christians and the Jews and other minorities are fleeing the Middle East, churches are being burnt, nobody is talking about it. Where are the religious freedoms of the minorities.” Mark Durie\n\n“Multiculturalism is a good reminder that when standards are relative, there are no standards at all.” Victor Davis Hanson\n\n“In Holland I have seen well-meaning, principled people blinded by multiculturalism, overwhelmed by the imperative to be sensitive and respectful of immigrant culture, while ignoring criminal abuse of women and girls.” Ayaan Hirsi Ali\n\n“What was it that they wanted to replace the nation state with? The radical pursuit of heterogeneity in the name of multiculturalism and diversity. International and supranational entities designed to transcend or sidestep the nation states, such as the United Nations or the European Union. Some even dreamt of world government—the globalists. There were other alternatives to the nation states too. For example, Islamists argued, and continue to do so, that the caliphate should be restored and Sharia law imposed. But these visions of a post-national world are delusional. The international and supranational bodies turned out to be dysfunctional—tyrannical rule of bureaucracy and wasteful, chronically prone to fraud and abuse. The experiment based on the vaunted theory of multiculturalism to bring about heterogeneous societies in Europe has, in large measure, failed.” Ayaan Hirsi Ali\n\n“All human beings are equal, but all cultures and religions are not. A culture that celebrates femininity and considers women to be the masters of their own lives is better than a culture that mutilates girls’ genitals and confines them behind walls and veils or flogs or stones them for falling in love. A culture that protects women’s rights by law is better than a culture in which a man can lawfully have four wives at once and women are denied alimony and half their inheritance. A culture that appoints women to its supreme court is better than a culture that declares that the testimony of a woman is worth half that of a man. It is part of Muslim culture to oppress women and part of all tribal cultures to institutionalize patronage, nepotism, and corruption. The culture of the Western Enlightenment is better. In the real world, equal respect for all cultures doesn’t translate into a rich mosaic of colorful and proud peoples interacting peacefully while maintaining a delightful diversity of food and craftwork. It translates into closed pockets of oppression, ignorance, and abuse. Many people genuinely feel pain at the thought of the death of whole cultures. I see this all the time. They ask, “Is there nothing beautiful in these cultures? Is there nothing beautiful in Islam?” There is beautiful architecture, yes, and encouragement of charity, yes, but Islam is built on sexual inequality and on the surrender of individual responsibility and choice. This is not just ugly; it is monstrous.” Ayaan Hirsi Ali\n\n“Why doesn’t multiculturalism work? The answer is that multiculturalism is essentially a form of relativism in which morality is relative to culture. The corresponding belief is that the members of one culture have no right to make judgments about the rightness or wrongness of another culture’s traditions or practices. . . . Because of its inherent divisiveness, the multiculturalist model would eventually fail in any society. But it is particularly fatal to a society that has in its midst an aggressive cultural group that refuses to subscribe to relativism. By neglecting to stand up for their own values, traditions, and religious heritage – indeed, by denigrating them – European countries left themselves almost defenceless against a resurgent Islam. Islam’s success in Europe has been built in large part on European self-doubt.” William Kilpatrick\n\n“If truth is contingent upon the society in which we live…there is nothing intuitive or universally or absolutely true about freedom from torture or freedom from slavery; our society just happens to have come up with these values over time.” Stephen McAndrew\n\n“While we all may have a sense of what is evil and what is good under the philosophy of cultural tolerance, evil and good can only be relative ideals. Without an objective truth—a set of universal moral values—good and evil are defined by the individual, community, or society. Therefore we have no moral basis by which to judge another person, community, or nation for what they do or don’t do.” Josh McDowell and Sean McDowell\n\n“The most dangerous lie of the 21st century was that all cultures are interchangeable. Sweden is the irrefutable proof that they are not. As an Iranian who watched my own country fall to extremism, the tragedy unfolding in Scandinavia feels like a recurring nightmare. I have seen a civilization commit suicide before, and the symptoms are always the same: a fatal tolerance for those who explicitly wish to dismantle your way of life. We are witnessing the total collapse of a utopian fantasy. Sweden now rivals nations like Mexico in bombing frequency for a country not officially at war. This is not merely a crime wave. It is the sound of a society fracturing under the weight of imported conflict. It echoes the silence that eventually fell over my own homeland when the vibrancy of culture was traded for the rigidity of dogma. Sweden is the canary in the coal mine. It demonstrates that tolerance cannot extend to the intolerant.” Armin Navabi\n\n“Many journalists are influenced by a myopic multiculturalism that is suspicious of anything Western, while giving the benefit of the doubt to non-Western societies.” Nancy Pearcey\n\n“The West must very soon recognize that: 1) All immigrants are not equally likely to assimilate; 2) All immigrants are not equally likely to be a net benefit to the host society; 3) All immigrants are not equally likely to be a net existential danger to the host society; 4) All cultures are not equal; 5) All religions are not equal; 6) A religion that seeks to destroy your society, civilization, religious heritage, and freedoms should not receive protection under the First Amendment; 7) You don’t owe it to said religion to capitulate in the name of tolerance, compassion, and suicidal empathy; 8) Our freedoms and liberties are being used to erase our existence. It is time to wake up. Every day that passes without the necessary auto-corrections is ensuring that our children and their children will live in a world that is astoundingly darker than anything that the West has ever known. Have a great week.” Gad Saad\n\n“The view that all cultures are equally valuable is called ‘cultural relativism.’ For this, anthropologists must take much responsibility. What began as a research effort to see other cultures without bias and through the eyes of their members, became an extremist moral and ethical relativism, the view that someone from one culture cannot judge what happens in another culture. In this view, no criteria may be applied from one culture to assess other cultures; above all, no judgments may be made indicating that some are better than others.” Philip Carl Salzman\n\n“So what happens when people whose identity is fixed by creed or kinship immigrate into places settled by Western culture? The multiculturalists say that we must make room for them, and that we do this by relinquishing the space in whichtheirculture can flourish. Our political class has at last recognized that this is a recipe for disaster, and that we can welcome immigrants only if we welcome themintoour culture, and not beside and against it. But that means telling them to accept rules, customs, and procedures that may be alien to their old way of life. Is this an injustice? Surely not. If immigrants come it is because they gain by doing so. It is therefore reasonable to remind them that there is also a cost. Only now, however, is our political class prepared to say so, and to insist that the cost be paid. And it may be that this change of heart comes too late.” Roger Scruton\n\n“When you import people, you import cultures. Those cultures no longer give way to the American culture when ‘multiculturalism’ is a dogma and its apostles and activists make it necessary for American laws, language, and culture to give way, or at least accommodate growing alien enclaves in our midst. A nation is more than a collection of whatever population happens to reside within its borders. Something has to unite those people if the country is not to degenerate into the kind of unending internal strife brought on by Balkanization in many countries around the world, not just in the Balkans. Unity and patriotism are not luxuries. Survival in an international jungle depends on them. What are dangerous luxuries are the open borders which erode national solidarity. The fact that we are already at each other’s throats over the immigration issue is an ominous sign.” Thomas Sowell\n\n“[Multiculturalism] is a cult of tolerance in which you demonstrate your sensitivity to other cultures by being almost totally insensitive to your own.” Mark Steyn\n\n“At the heart of multiculturalism is a lie: that all cultures are equally ‘valid.’ To accept that proposition means denying reality—the reality of any objective measure of human freedom, societal health, and global population movement. Multiculturalism is not the first ideology founded on the denial of truth.” Mark Steyn\n\n“[D]iscussing cultural relativism with cultural relativists is like playing tennis with some guy who says, ‘Your ace is just a social construct’.” Mark Steyn\n\n“If all cultures are equal, then cannibalism is just a matter of culinary taste.” Leo Strauss\n\n“The list of people sacrificed on the altar of multiculturalism or diversity is endless, and you’d never hear about it in the media, they’d like to cover it up.” Eva Vlaardingerbroek\n\n“This time we live in will go down in history as the time in which Western nations no longer had to get invaded by hostile armies in order to be conquered, the invader was actively invited in by a corrupt elite.” Eva Vlaardingerbroek\n\n“I just want to say that the multiculturalism – and especially the cultural relativism which is even worse than multiculturalism, the concept that all cultures are equal – is the worst recipe for any society.” Geert Wilders\n\n“Europe’s greatest problem is cultural relativism. This has led to a situation where Europeans no longer know what they should be proud of and who they really are because a so-called liberal and leftist-imposed concept says that all cultures are the same.” Geert Wilders\n\n“Cultural relativism dictates that all cultures are equally moral and valuable—though in practice, Western culture is often presented as inferior to all others, stained as it supposedly is by racism and imperialism.” Geert Wilders\n\n“[Cultural relativism] licenses the envy of the untalented, giving rise to what has been called the revenge of failure: Those who cannot paint destroy the canons of painting; those who cannot write reject canonical literature.” George Will",
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    "url": "https://billmuehlenberg.com/2026/03/02/when-things-start-to-shake-us/#comments",
    "title": "When Things Start to Shake Us",
    "text": "With so many people now closely following the situation in Iran, considering the possible fallout and aftermath of it, many might be feeling all rather shaken at the moment. Add to this all the other worries and trials of life, and lots of people – including Christians – can feel very fearful and quite concerned.\n\nBut the believer knows that the unshakeable and unchangeable God can use ‘a whole lotta shaking going on’ to achieve his purposes. They would include: to wean his people away from things that offer false security; to strip away our false gods and idols; and to get our focus, trust and attention fully on him.\n\nSo there are good purposes indeed in all this shaking that God allows or brings upon us. In his bookMere Christendom, Douglas Wilson had a useful thing to say about this:\n\nWe cannot pray for the purification of the silver, and then despair when we begin to approach the furnace that removes the dross. The church in America is shot through with corruptions. If we want that corruption removed, then we must also want God’s appointed instruments for removing it. When God wants to reveal what cannot be shaken, He does so byshaking. That is where we are right now, and it should be a great encouragement to us. That is, it should be a great encouragement for those whose ministries are not chaff, dross, or loose unmortared stones.\n\nSuch divine shaking can come in many forms to individuals, but there is also a bigger picture here. Scripture often speaks of the shaking of God which also includes the heavens and the earth. There is the ongoing work of God’s judgment and/or discipline now, but there is also an eschatological shaking that God has promised. Consider a few of these passages.\n\nIn Isaiah 2:19-21 we read this:\n\nPeople will flee to caves in the rocksand to holes in the groundfrom the fearful presence of the Lordand the splendor of his majesty,when he rises to shake the earth.In that day people will throw awayto the moles and batstheir idols of silver and idols of gold,which they made to worship.They will flee to caverns in the rocksand to the overhanging cragsfrom the fearful presence of the Lordand the splendor of his majesty,when he rises to shake the earth.\n\nLater in Isaiah (13:13) there is found this strong word:\n\nTherefore I will make the heavens tremble,and the earth will be shaken out of its place,at the wrath of the Lord of hostsin the day of his fierce anger.\n\nHaggai 2:6-7 says similar things:\n\nFor thus says the Lord of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts.\n\nAnd in Hebrews 12:18-29 we read about a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Here is what it says in verses 25-29:\n\nSee that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.\n\nPlenty of helpful commentary can be appealed to here, but one writer I have quoted before on this is R. Kent Hughes. He titles his 2015 expository commentaryAn Anchor for the Soul. In a world that is shaking and quaking, we certainly do need a solid anchor.\n\nHughes offers these helpful words:\n\nThe initial historical event where God’s voice shook the earth was at Mt Sinai when he verbally spelled out the Ten Commandments with a thunderous voice. Imagine how terrifying it was to have the ground under one’s feet tremble in response to God’s audible word. There were no sleepers in the congregation at Sinai!\n\nBut there is an infinitely greater shaking coming, an eschatological cosmic shaking of the whole universe, and it too will be triggered by God’s word. Here the writer has quoted God’s promise from Haggai 2:6 – “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens” (v. 26b) – indicating that every created thing will be shaken to utter disintegration. This is in accord with what the Scriptures teach us about the power of God’s Word. Genesis says that he created everything by his Word as He spoke the universe into existence. Therefore, one “little word” from him can and will fell creation!\n\nThe Psalmist tells us that creation is transitory. “Of old you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment” (Psalm 102:25, 26; cf. Hebrews 1:10-12). Isaiah says of the future, “Therefore I will make the heavens tremble; and the earth will be shaken out of its place, at the wrath of the Lord of hosts in the day of his fierce anger” (Isaiah 13:13). And Peter identifies it with the day of the Lord: “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will disappear with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed” (2 Peter 3:10). Think of it! All one hundred thousand million galaxies—each containing at least that many stars—each galaxy one hundred light-years across—will hear the word and shake out of existence! Just a little word from God, and it is done.\n\nThe reason for this is clearly spelled out: “in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain” (v. 27b). The people of God, as a part of the order of things which are unshakable, will survive. But everything else in the universe will be shaken and therefore purged. Everything that is wrong will be eradicated. No sin, no imperfection will remain. Then there will be a blessed reconstruction— “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away” (Revelation 21:1).\n\nTo those who are obedient this is good news. And the preacher means it to be a powerful encouragement to the beleaguered little church to which he writes, in which some feel as though their lives are being shaken to pieces by Rome. “Stand firm amidst the Roman tremors,” he seems to be saying, “because the ultimate shaking is coming when Rome and indeed the entire present evil order, will shake to oblivion. And you, as part of the new order, will survive. Take heart!” On the other hand, to those who are ignoring God’s Word and drifting further away, this was a disquieting revelation and challenge to obedience.\n\nQuite so. In Revelation 3:2 where Christ speaks to the church in Sardis, he says this: “Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain”. Bob Dylan famously picked up this phrase in his song “When You Gonna Wake Up” from his 1979 album,Slow Train Coming. The song begins:\n\nGod don’t make promises that He don’t keepYou got some big dreams baby, but in order to dream you gotta still be asleep.\n\nWhen you gonna wake up, when you gonna wake upWhen you gonna wake up strengthen the things that remain?\n\nCounterfeited philosophies have polluted all of your thoughtsKarl Marx has got ya by the throat, Henry Kissinger’s got you tied up in knots.\n\nWhen you gonna wake up, when you gonna wake upWhen you gonna wake up strengthen the things that remain?\n\nYou can’t take it with you and you know that it’s too worthless to be soldThey tell you, “Time is money,” as if your life was worth its weight in gold\n\nWhen you gonna wake up, when you gonna wake upWhen you gonna wake up and strengthen the things that remain?\n\nThere’s a Man up on a cross and He’s been crucifiedDo you have any idea why or for who He died?\n\nWhen you gonna wake up, when you gonna wake upWhen you gonna wake up and strengthen the things that remain?\n\nIn this world very little that exists will remain. That is why we must cling to that which will forever remain, to that which can NOT be shaken. As we do that, we can handle all the shaking that we see happening all around us, be it wars in the Middle East or any other worrying events and circumstances.",
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    "title": "CultureWatch",
    "text": "Bill Muehlenberg’s commentary on issues of the day…\n\nThe jihadist attacks in the US and the West are ramping up: A day does not go by when you do not read about yet…\n\nWhat the great novels tell us about the great truths: If the number of books I have by an author tells you what I think…\n\nThese two works of fiction have stood the test of time: I discuss here two of the greatest novels ever written, but I must begin…\n\nOf course all cultures are not the same: Relativism is almost always poisonous. And it is self-refuting. If everything is relative, then there is no…\n\nChristians must not forget or ignore the parable of the Good Samaritan: If there is one theme that arises in my writings so very often…\n\nThese biblical women are not for the faint-hearted: The Bible is not averse to praising heroes of the faith that many believers today would find…\n\nAn important new article on a contentious topic: “Them’s fightin’ words!” That is one typical reaction folks can get if they start talking about Christian…\n\nThis new initiative is well worth getting behind: It was Churchill who once quipped that ‘Democracy is the worst form of government except for all…\n\nWe must put the needs of children first: Well over 60 years of social science data have told us what we know – or should…\n\nMoral and mental clarity on the conflict in Iran: With America and Israel – along with some Western allies and even some Arab/Muslim states –…\n\nChrist and our changing contemporary culture: The renowned theologian Karl Barth famously spoke of the need of the believer to hold a Bible in one…\n\nDivine shaking is a good thing: With so many people now closely following the situation in Iran, considering the possible fallout and aftermath of it,…\n\nIt is early days, but there is now real hope for the people of Iran: After nearly 50 years of diabolical Islamist terror and tyranny,…\n\nCommon sense and biblical clarity on this problematic movement: The Health and Wealth Gospel has been around for well over half a century now. Beginning…\n\nOn God, government and freedom: The American Christian pastor and author Douglas Wilson is not afraid to speak his mind. That results in some believers…\n\nMore assaults from the evil social media empire: Here is something you can bank on: If you meet these two conditions, you can be certain…\n\nThe empty promises of utopianism: In our very messed-up world the longing for something much better is to be expected, but in a fallen world…\n\nWe are without excuse when God calls us to do his work: One of the most comforting truths about being a follower of Christ is…\n\nMore on the Candace Cult: (I penned this piece a few months ago, but I thought I should stop giving the nutty deceiver Candace Owens…\n\nDeception in the churches is never far away: Some Christians are surprised to learn about out-right deception, false prophets, and gross evil found throughout Western…\n\nCultureWatch is a faith ministry and I get no salary. If you want to contribute financially, here are two methods:\n\nFor those wishing to contribute to this ministry by direct debit, here are our banking details:\n\nWestpac Banking CorporationRingwood Central, Vic.BSB #: 733349Account #: 613094Name: W J and A A Muehlenberg\n\nMany thanks for helping to make this ministry possible and helping it to continue.\n\nWe live in an age where we see evidence of cultural decline, the erosion of values, the decline of civility, the denial of truth and the elevation of unreason. Many people are asking, “Where is our culture heading?” This website is devoted to exploring the major cultural, social and political issues of the day. It offers reflection and commentary drawing upon the wealth of wisdom found in the Judeo-Christian tradition. It offers reflective and incisive commentary on a wide range of issues, helping to sort through the maze of competing opinions, worldviews, ideologies and value systems. It will discuss critically and soberly where our culture is heading.Happy reading!\n\nReaders are welcome to post comments on the material posted here, but some simple rules apply:\n\nIf you are happy to abide by these rules, then by all means, send in your comments.Happy writing!\n\nPurchase from Bill MuehlenbergPurchase at Amazon.com\n\nPurchase from Bill MuehlenbergPurchase at Amazon.com\n\nPurchase from Bill MuehlenbergPurchase at Amazon.com\n\nPurchase from Bill MuehlenbergPurchase at Amazon.com",
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    "url": "https://billmuehlenberg.com/2026/03/05/kids-need-mom-and-dad/#respond",
    "title": "Kids Need Mom and Dad",
    "text": "Well over 60 years of social science data have told us what we know – or should know – instinctively: children do best when raised by their own mother and father. The mountain of evidence on this is conclusive: overwhelmingly children raised in a two-parent home cemented by heterosexual marriage fare the best and have the best chances of succeeding in life.\n\nChildren do not need several male role models, or a couple of female adults, or bureaucrats, or a committee, or some other brave new world combination – what they overwhelmingly need is their own biological mother and father. I have been documenting all this for decades now.\n\nSome of the earliest articles on my website have to do with this. Here are snippets from a few of them. In1991I reviewed a volume looking at the impact of mother absence. I said this:\n\nA child’s self-esteem, security and sense of worth are all negatively affected as a result of separation from its mother, especially in infancy. Moreover, one’s view of motherhood and family is strongly shaped by the treatment one receives as a young child.\n\nTo illustrate this point, Hunter studies the early years of three leading feminist thinkers: Gloria Steinem, Germaine Greer and Betty Friedan. Not surprisingly, all three woman were products of dysfunctional families. Hunter argues that their perverse views of motherhood, children and the family were in part formed by the poor nurturing they received as children.https://billmuehlenberg.com/1991/03/10/a-review-of-home-by-choice-facing-the-effects-of-mothers-absence-by-brenda-hunter/\n\nIn the light of the above, Dan Quayle’s comments sound very sensible indeed. In fact, his words are worth repeating:\n\n“Bearing babies irresponsibly is, simply, wrong. Failing to support children one has fathered is wrong…. When families fail, society fails. The anarchy and lack of structure in our inner cities are testament to how quickly civilisation falls apart when the family foundation cracks.\n\n“Children need love and discipline. They need mothers and fathers. A welfare check is not a husband. The state is not a father. It is from parents that children learn how to behave in society; it is from parents above all that children come to understand values and themselves as men and women, mothers and fathers.”https://billmuehlenberg.com/1992/06/13/dan-quayle-vs-murphy-brown/\n\nIn1993I reviewed a book released a year earlier looking at the economic costs of divorce:\n\nIn this volume 26 authors examine the social and economic consequences of divorce in a number of Western nations and in some Third World countries. Despite the differences which exist between these countries, the results of the studies undertaken show striking uniformity.\n\n“Our collective research suggests that no society can continue to see divorce as a private matter between individual husbands and wives, or between individual parents and children. Instead, we must ask about its impact on the larger society and on the public purse. Indeed, we must ask about the costs of divorce for the society as a whole – and how those tremendous costs can be borne without destroying the fabric of either the family or the society.”https://billmuehlenberg.com/1993/02/01/a-review-of-economic-consequences-of-divorce-the-international-perspective-edited-by-lenore-j-weitzman-and-mavis-maclean/\n\nBy the mid-1980s most Western countries had radically liberalised their divorce laws. In hisRoad to Divorce, the historian Lawrence Stone describes this transformation of Western societies from “largely non-separating and non-divorcing” ones to “separating and divorcing” ones as “perhaps the most profound and far-reaching social change to have occurred in the last five hundred years.” Consider the numbers. In the United States in 1960, there were thirty-five divorced persons for every 1,000 married persons. In 1990 there were 140 — a 400 percent increase in thirty years.\n\nDuring that same period, the proportion of children living with only one parent jumped from 9 percent to 25 percent. Between 1960 and 1985, the percent of all childbirths occurring outside of marriage increased from 5 to 22; the percent of teenage mothers who are unmarried increased from 15 to 58; and the overall proportion of American adult life spent in residence with both a spouse and at least one child dropped from 62 percent, the highest in America’s history, to 43 percent, the lowest in its history.https://billmuehlenberg.com/1994/03/03/the-divorce-revolution/\n\nA1995article I wrote on the impact of fatherlessness said this in part:\n\nHalsey summarises the findings: “The children of parents who do not follow the traditional norm (i.e. taking on personal, active and long-term responsibility for the social upbringing of the children they generate) are thereby disadvantaged in many major aspects of their chances of living a successful life. On the evidence available such children tend to die earlier, to have more mental illness, to do less well at school, to exist at a lower level of nutrition, comfort and conviviality, to suffer more unemployment, to be more prone to deviance and crime, and finally to repeat the cycle of unstable parenting from which they themselves have suffered.”https://billmuehlenberg.com/1995/07/01/a-review-of-families-without-fatherhood-by-norman-dennis-and-george-erdos/\n\nIn another piece from1995I said the following:\n\nPatricia Morgan, an English sociologist, here examines the social condition of the family in Britain and the US. She contends that government policy has directly and indirectly contributed to the growth of the mother/child household. While looking to the needs of sole parent families, governments have overlooked or ignored the needs of intact families.\n\nMorgan states that the arrival of feminist advisers into governments has radically changed the way government benefits are distributed. The burden of taxation has increasingly been shifted onto married parents to the benefit of the single and the childless. As a result, lone parents can end up with higher final incomes from any given wage than two-parent families. Also, more mothers are tempted into the workplace, and more children are pushed into day care, in order for traditional families to stay afloat economically.https://billmuehlenberg.com/1995/09/12/a-review-of-farewell-to-the-family-by-patricia-morgan/\n\nOver several decades I sought to collect all the data on this that I could find, filling large filing cabinets with studies and reports. I summarised that evidence in “The Case for the Two-Parent Family.” One early edition of this with 65 footnotes can be found here:https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/lcdocs/other/7344/Answer%20to%20supplementary%20questions%20-%20Famie%20Australia%20-%20paper%20-%20The%20Case%20for%20Two%20Parent%20Families%20-%20received%2011%20April%202013.pdf\n\nBack then there were not too many seeking to champion marriage and family. Thankfully today there are many individuals and organisations doing this. Just one of many can be mentioned: Katy Faust and Them Before Us. They state their purpose in these terms:\n\nThem Before Us protects every child’s right to their mother and father by educating lawmakers, media influencers, and concerned citizens about the harm children suffer when those rights are violated. We center the child in every conversation about marriage and family including divorce, same-sex parenting, reproductive technologies, surrogacy, adoption, cohabitation. We take this child-centric message into the culture and courtroom and insist that all adults do hard things on behalf of children.https://thembeforeus.com/\n\nBut as important as the facts and the research are on this matter, simply seeking to put a human face on all this is vital. The simple truth is, children suffer when they are raised without mom and dad. Sure, there can be exceptions, but exceptions do not make the rule. Real people are hurt when families fail, marriages disintegrate, and radical social experiments become the norm.\n\nThe human face of this can be presented in so many ways. Let me offer just one. I am not necessarily a huge fan of country music, but a song I recently learned about nicely makes my case. Merle Haggard passed away a decade ago, but the lyrics of his 1974 song “Holding Things Together” are well worth closing with here:\n\nHolding things together ain’t no easy thing to doWhen it comes to raisin’ children, it’s a job meant for twoAlice, please believe me, I can’t go on and onHolding things together with you gone\n\nToday was Angie’s birthday, I guess it slipped your mindI tried twice to call you, with no answer either timeBut the postman brought a present I mailed some days agoI just signed it “Love, from Mama” so Angie wouldn’t know\n\nHolding things together ain’t no easy thing to doWhen it comes to raisin’ children, it’s a job meant for twoAlice, please believe me, I can’t go on and onHolding things together with you gone\n\nAlice please believe me, I can’t go on and onHolding things together with you gone\n\nYou can listen to the song here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbMtYj0swc0\n\nChildren need their mother and father, and dads and moms need each other as they raise those children.",
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    "url": "https://billmuehlenberg.com/2026/03/12/peter-kreeft-on-god-and-man-good-and-evil/#respond",
    "title": "Peter Kreeft on God and Man, Good and Evil",
    "text": "If the number of books I have by an author tells you what I think of the writer, then Peter Kreeft must be greatly liked by me. And he is. I happen to have 26 books by the Catholic philosopher who has taught at Boston College for so many years now.\n\nHe is 88 years old and is still writing. And given that he has penned over 80 books, I still have a long way to go in reading all his material. Yesterday I wrote an article on his newest book:The Two Greatest Novels Ever Written: The Wisdom of The Lord of the Rings and The BrothersKaramazov(Word On Fire, 2025):https://billmuehlenberg.com/2026/03/11/the-worlds-greatest-novels/\n\nHere I want to look a bit further at this short but important book, offering some key quotes along the way. After a lengthy Introduction he has two main sections: Part 1 is on Evil and Part 2 is on Good. In the introductory remarks to Part 1 he says this:\n\nAll stories are about some kind of evil. There were no stories in the Garden of Eden until evil snaked in.\n\nSome literary critic once reduced all plots to twelve. Another reduced them to seven. I reduced them to one. All stories have a single plot: the tension, or war, or struggle, between some kind of good and evil.\n\nWithout evil, there are no stories, no “news,” either “bad news” or “good news” (“gospel,” “God spell”). The two always go together, for the “good news” is always the war against, and the conquest of, the bad news. The Good News isnotthat “everything is okay.” First of all, that is a Big Lie (and thus a very popular one), and second, it’s not evenfakenews because it’s notnews. It’s not a story….\n\nThe “Good News” of the Bible is that “God whupped the devil.” The Good News is not a philosophy, an eternal truth, a state of being. It is a contingent, fragile, dramatic, and perilous event. That’s what makes it interesting. Even if the Gospel is a lie, it is the world’s most interesting line. It’s not a platitude; it’s a headline. It’s about war. In fact, it’s aboutthewar, the war behind and under all wars, private and public. (p. 37)\n\nKreeft begins Chapter 3, “Evil and the Ring inLOTR,” by looking at technology:\n\nWe, too, have put our power into our rings: our technology. We have disappeared into our screens like the girl in the moviePoltergeist. We do not see Sauron because he is too close; he is ourselves. And paradoxically, that is why no one identifies with him. It is no accident that we cannot see our own face as we can see the faces of others.\n\nOf course, technology as such is not evil; in fact, it is proper to human nature. But its power is addictive….\n\nWe have put our most fundamental identity, and our faith and hope and love, into the things we have made, our idols, our Rings of Power: our technology and its apparent control. We are controlled by our control. This (power, control) is our new answer to the question of what is thesummum bonumor “greatest good,” the meaning of human life on earth…. (pp.57-58)\n\nControversial issues today are not theological, but anthropological, psychological, and moral. Most disastrously, we have lost the innate, intuitive, inner, instinctive sense of objective, real, authoritative, non-negotiable moral good (and evil as its lack), especially the previously universal consensus of a “natural moral law” known by conscience, God’s universal prophet in the soul. That loss is what C.S. Lewis called “the abolition of man” and what Pope Benedict XVI called the “dictatorship of moral relativism.” The world ofLOTRis a premodern world before this “death of God”; the world ofBKis a Nietzschean modern world where God is beginning to die; both fictions tell us more about the difference God makes than most religious instruction does. (pp.59-60)\n\nIn the Conclusion, “The Issue of the nature of Man” Kreeft ties these themes together:\n\nThe fundamental philosophical issue of our time, and of these two books that are so relevant to our time, is not the nature of God, but the nature of man.\n\nWhat are the consequences of the biblical definition of man as being made in the image of God? What does the denial of that definition entail in practical life? (p. 160)\n\nHe teases this out, in part by appealing toThe Abolition of Manby Lewis, which he calls the “most prophetic book of the twentieth century”. He then says this:\n\nAs man is dependent on God, anthropology is dependent on ontology, or metaphysics. What we are depends on what is. If matter does not exist, the body is an illusion. If spirit does not exist, the soul is an illusion. If both do not exist, both are illusions.\n\nAnd the two divisions of philosophy that study the two distinctively human powers of knowing and choosing, or reason and conscience – namely, epistemology and ethics – also depend on metaphysics, which is the philosophical science of the real, of being, of what is; for what we can know depends on what is, and what we should choose depends on both what is and on what we can know. If truth and goodness are subjective illusions or feelings, and not objective realities, all our questioning and questing, all our inquiry and desire, and all our curiosity and longing are as meaningless as sexual desire in a sexless species or hunger for meat on the part of a robot.\n\nThe fact that man is the image of God in his mind and will is the reason why truth and love are the two supreme values, why love is the absolute truth (it is, after all, the essential nature of God) and why truth must be loved, and loved absolutely. Man’s primary need is reality, being. His deepest thirst is ontological. Even a thinking that is a thinking of everything else but not of reality is worthless. And even a love that is a love of everything else but not of reality is worthless. (pp. 160-161)\n\nHe closes the book with these remarks:\n\nInLOTR, man is only one of the species, but Tolkien’s anthropology is also evident in hobbits, elves, orcs, dwarves, wizards, and even ents, because these are personifications, or species-ifications, of our own inner hobbit, elf, orc, dwarf, wizard, and ent….\n\nAll species are corruptible, and “corruptio optimi pessima” (corruption of the best is the worst). The corruption of the best and greatest species (Maiar) is the worst (Sauron, who is like a snake who has grown wings and become a great, proud dragon), while the corruption of the least and humblest species (hobbits) is the most miserable and pitiable (Gollum, who is like a dragon who has lost his wings and become a little, low, sneaky snake). Yet the highest species is defeated by the lowest: Sauron, one of the Maiar or angelic gods, is defeated by the lowest of all hobbits, Gollum, aided by Frodo and Sam – or by Frodo and Sam, aided by Gollum.\n\nIn the bleakest of times there is hope, and usually from the most unlikely sources. The light of the single star that Sam saw gleaming through the murk and mists of Mordor, in the passage ofLOTRthat has struck the heart of many a reader “like a shaft,” has not been extinguished and never can be. No matter how dark the days ahead, there is “light and I beauty for ever beyond its reach.” Even if we fall, even if our civilization falls (as all civilizations, like all individuals, do), God never falls. He is beyond the reach of evil, but evil is not beyond his reach.\n\nThe issue is, ultimately, one of metaphysics. Being cannot be defeated by nonbeing, but nonbeing can be defeated by Being. As C.S. Lewis wrote inSurprised by Joy, discovering the primacy of the ontological thirst, “It is more important that Heaven should exist than that any of us should reach it.” This discovery made him surprised by its joy. Like Sam seeing the star in Mordor. Like Alyosha seen the “threads” of sobornost after Father’s Zossima’s death. Like you, reading these two books. It’s not fiction or fantasy; it’s reality. (pp. 163-164)\n\nThose are comforting words to end on indeed.",
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    "url": "https://billmuehlenberg.com/2026/02/27/doug-wilson-on-christian-liberty/",
    "title": "Doug Wilson on Christian Liberty",
    "text": "The American Christian pastor and author Douglas Wilson is not afraid to speak his mind. That results in some believers strongly disliking him, and others strongly liking him. I more or less tend to be in the latter group. Needless to say, one need not agree with everything he says to appreciate his sharp mind and his commitment to Christ and the gospel.\n\nI happen to have quite a few of his books, but one volume that I have been looking at a number of times of late isMere Christendom(Canon Press, 2023). One good thing about this book is that it is primarily a collection of his various writings and podcasts from over a number of years. It is nice to have so many of them gathered together in one place.\n\nPrevious articles of mine have examined various themes he makes in the book. Here I want to discuss and quote from Chapter 9: “All Liberty Is Founded in Christ”. It raises a number of important points, so it is worth drawing to your attention. The chapter begins this way:\n\nChrist is the foundation of every true form of liberty. Civic liberty is an impossibility for a people who are enslaved to their lusts. For such a people, constitutional liberties—the kind of thin surety that tends to satisfy slaves who need to be flattered by their masters. My argument is not just that mere Christendom is consistent with true forms of personal liberty. The argument is that some sort of mere Christendom is the only place where it is possible to gain and maintain true liberty. It is the foundation upon which liberty itself is built. (p. 113)\n\nHe quotes some American Founding Fathers on these matters and then looks at how the work of the Holy Spirit is essential in all this. He goes on to say this:\n\n“Liberty cannot be locked up in a cage, whether that cage is a party platform, a national constitution, a bill of rights, or a campaign slogan. Liberty exists, or does not exist, in the hearts of the people. If the people are free, then civic freedom for the people becomes a possibility.” (p. 115)\n\nWilson develops this thought as follows:\n\n“The battle for liberty never ceases, and it never ceases anywhere. Tyrants are always waiting in the wings, looking for an opportunity. When the people become complacent, drifting into sloth and lust, they have that opportunity—and theyalwaystake it. What do you have to do in order to have a garden full of weeds? The answer to this trick question isnothing.” (p. 115)\n\nAnd this extended quote is quite useful:\n\nWe live in a generation that is totalitarian in principle, having accepted all the basic totalitarian premises. Denying the Lordship of Jesus Christ drives you to those premises—for if Jesus is not Lord, then there is a vacancy that men will always want to fill….\n\nSecularism is simply not capable of sustaining limited government. It cannot be done, and this is a problem. Because men are sinners, they require governance. Because men are sinners, they cannot be trusted with governance. Limited government is therefore the first and foundational problem to be solved in any exercise of practical theology.\n\nThat said, it is a problem that cannot be solved apart from the widespread dissemination of the gospel among the people.\n\nIncidentally, if you solve the problem of limited government by denying any real need for limited government, this is not an exercise in creative problem-solving, but rather an example of going over to the adversary. The Spirit of God is the spirit of liberty. The Holy Spirit is not the spirit of coercion. The impulse to control everything is the machinery of Isengard, and those who want to be a cog in that machinery have all their aspirations pointed in the wrong direction.\n\nIf the gospel runs freely, enough people are converted to enable them to understand the problem. If that happens, enough people are converted to enable them to begin to execute a biblical solution—a sample of which we can see in the form of government our nation had at the founding (checks and balances, separation of powers, etc.). That form of government really was a glorious achievement, and it should be no surprise that it is routinely disparaged by our generation ofsoi-disantpolitical theorists,a.k.a.fiddlers and fussers. “You can’t put banana peels inthatcan! What are you, evil?”\n\nThe gospel, pure and unadulterated, is there for the thing that Christians must emphasize, and that the adversary will always attack…. (pp. 117-119)\n\nWilson then discusses what a godly form of government might look like:\n\nA government appointed by God to be a ministering servant is not a government appointed by God to be a swaggering bully. Divinely established authorities can also be put under severe restrictions — and in Scripture, the authorities have been.\n\nSo if we withhold divine sanction from government in order to keep them from claiming too much authority, we discover that we have simply opened the door to allow them to claimallauthority. If there is no recognized God over the state, then who has now become god? Who is now the highest authority in the lives of those governed? (p. 121)\n\nIf there is a court of appeal past our human government, then in principle I have admitted theocracy. If there is no court of appeal past them, then I have just madethemgod. Having made them god, I discover that I am still in a theocracy, but instead of a loving Father, thetheosof this system is corrupt and grasping, mendacious and low, and full of flatulent hubris. Requiring government to remain modest and within the bounds of sanity is therefore one of the most profound ethical requirements that has ever been promulgated among men. (p. 122)\n\nAnd he finishes by noting that we should dismiss any form of Christian anarchy:\n\nWhat governmental power exists must be fixed, defined, nailed down, watched very carefully, even though it is swathed in the duct tape of multiple Bible verses about man’s depravity. To take government down to zero is simply to create manifold opportunities forad hocwarlords. Theocratic libertarianism suspects the heart of all men, all the time, while anarchy, eternally suspicious of the current rulers, fails to suspect the hearts of those forming hypothetical militias on the fly. (p. 123)\n\nAs I keep saying, reading the full chapter, and the full book, will give you a much clearer sense of the argument he is seeking to make here. So I recommend that you get a copy of this thought-provoking volume.",
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