Ben Merkle

Glad to see this new book out by Robert Bortins. Forward is from yours truly. Robert is sounding an important alarm. robertbortins.com/woke-and-weapo…

IFPC Legal Center supports @TheBabylonBee with an amicus brief filed in the Ninth Circuit! The Babylon Bee and our national partners at @ADFLegal sued California challenging a law that gives authority to California government officials to arbitrarily censor speech—particularly memes. But the First Amendment protects such speech. Our legal team—including @calebforidaho, @isaachelland, and @RealTheoWold—filed a brief on behalf of Dr. Jordan Dorney (@Verge_of_Jordan), Professor and Head of Humanities at @NewSaintAndrews, explaining the rich American political tradition of hyperbolic speech. Learn more at our website—link in comments.

Michael Knowles interviews Douglas Wilson A Catholic and a Protestant discuss Christianity and Nationalism : youtu.be/JzRMVCUppZo?si…

New Herdcraft post on cultivating excellence in your people. open.substack.com/pub/benmerkle/…

Please join us for dinner and a short talk from Dr. Ben Merkle on what Proverbs has to say about friendship. The event will be held at Venue 9, March 29th at 6 PM. No RSVP necessary!

Hmmm. I have a hunch on who might be responsible here.

There are a number of unfortunate (and ironic) things about Dr. Bradley's continued vitriol against Pastor Wilson. For one, in this most recent post, he insists on reducing Wilson to a one-dimensional figure who co-wrote a pamphlet on southern slavery in the 1990s. Even a cursory look at Wilson's writings show that race issues are quite a tertiary thing for him, that he mostly holds what can only be described as normie views, and his most out-there claim is that some White slaveholders were genuinely kind and cared for their Black slaves, which the good and bad range of human character would have already suggested is the case. Why does Dr. Bradley, in this particular writeup, focus on and limit his assessment of Wilson to a single co-authored pamphlet from the 90s? Why not discuss classical education, reformed public worship, psalmody, eschatology, culture, marriage, counseling, practical Christianity, story-writing, Bible commentaries, etc., let alone his later writings concerning the South, which offer numerous clarifications and several retractions from that pamphlet? More recently, Wilson has taken very public positions against anti-Semitism. Why no credit for that in a write-up on the purported issues of Wilson on race? Well, then there's the spectre of "theonomy," a term that Pastor Wilson embraces as part of his view which he calls "general equity theonomy," which ends up amounting to the political theology of the Westminster Assembly. This is pretty clear in his recent politics-adjacent publications as anyone can find on Youtube or his book Mere Christendom. Dr. Bradley seems to summarize the Theonomist view as holding that "biblical law ought to serve as the normative foundation for civil society." To put it mildly, I would say there is no reason to run folks out of Reformed and Evangelical circles for holding to that general view -- a view held by Baptists of various stripes, the late Francis Schaeffer, and most Christian worldview materials. No, I'm not being coy about the Theonomist controversy of the past two generations. I'm pointing out that Wilson simply does not hold to the more extreme versions of that view (which seek to make all civil laws of the Old Testament directly enforced on nations today) and that the milder version which he does hold is well within the pale of Reformed and Evangelical thought on these issues. Some folks might want Wilson to be some kind of monster. However, he's not. He's a faithful minister doing good work. John Piper was right. Disclaimer: I worked with Tony for 12 years at The King's College, NYC, during which time we had warm relations (but weren't close friends or anything) and I now teach at New Saint Andrews College, which Wilson founded and is still involved with.

@bigredmatt1011 @GMRench See. That was easy.

@PresidentNSA @GMRench It’s not about winning elections. It’s about the proper pursuit of policy. Even trump is terrible in that aspect. Republicans are horrible at legislating and even when they do pass good legislation, they’re terrible at following through on the enforcement of that legislation.

Why We Have So Many Losers One of the conservative right’s biggest problems currently is that so many of our talking heads ascended to prominence during periods of liberal supremacy. Basically, they know how to get an audience on X when the liberals are in power. They know how to gain traction and build a following by being a minority position critiquing the established power. They know how to punch up. But what they are completely unprepared for is for the tables to turn and to suddenly be in a position where they are aligned with the ruling power. Once they are in that position, they lose the traction that they once had because they only know how to punch up (and punching up is a lot easier). I think that is why see so many voices, who supported Trump on the way up, now pivoting to become detractors. They literally only know how to lose. They don’t know how to win. If we want to have multiple terms of conservative presidency, we need a conservative base that knows how to win and enjoys winning.

This is really good and worth a read.

I've been hearing rave reviews of this and hope to make it either Thursday or Friday. If you are in the Moscow area, you should give this a look. zeffy.com/en-US/ticketin…

Great piece on the silent contribution made to the state by families shouldering the costs of their children's education. idahoednews.org/voices/how-hom…

I notice an unhelpful trend on social media of men creating lists of “preparedness.” “To be a man, you must be ready to . . .” Then you get a list of expectations. like shoot at a certain proficiency, lift a certain amount, be able to change out an engine, or whatever. I think these are unhelpful because the focus on preparedness takes your mind off of accomplishment. And preparedness is hypothetical, while accomplishment is actual. I don’t want to think about being ready for something. I want to think about getting things done. I don’t want to take advice from men who are ready to . . . I want to take advice from men who have done . . .

We have gathered at the Pentagon for our monthly worship service. We are One Nation Under God.

A Seminary that has: ✅Reformed Confessionalism ✅Evangelical Zeal ✅Eyes Open About our Cultural Moment ✅More Fun Together than a Barrel of Monkeys That's us: greyfriarshall.com

Don’t bother. Other dude looks more interesting.

Earlier this week on Doug Wilson and Friends, we discussed the great need for more pastors and ministers to meet the opportunities before us. The harvest is plentiful, the laborers are few, and we're praying for God to raise up the right men for the moment. If you think you might be such a man, shoot me a DM. Maybe you're already in ministry but looking to make a change. Maybe you're in the midst of some theological shifts and trying to discern what's next. Maybe you're considering going to seminary. If that sounds like you, drop me a note. I'd love to talk about it.

New Saint Andrews College was pleased to welcome @scottyenor as a guest speaker at Disputatio to address faculty and students. Scott Yenor, Ph.D. is the Director of the Kenneth B. Simon Center for American Studies at the Heritage Foundation, a Washington Fellow at The Claremont Institute’s Center for the American Way of Life, and a professor of political science at Boise State University. To watch this FULL lecture and all of our other disputatio lectures, visit: nsapatrons.com and subscribe for just $10/month.

I recently had the opportunity to speak at @NewSaintAndrews disputatio on the topic of political involvement at the federal level. Personnel is policy, and the Right desperately needs good personnel to support President Trump in his efforts to pursue his America First agenda. If you are a young conservative and want to play a part in charting a new direction for this country, then I encourage you to apply for an American Moment program at americanmoment.org/programs Thank you again to the good folks at New Saint Andrews for hosting me and providing this recording.

As a previous speaker at CALLED, I can attest that it’s one of the finest and enjoyable camps in the country. The interaction with students, the quality of discussion, the games, and exploring the food downtown makes the week unforgettable! I highly recommend it!