John D. Bennett

@scottrswain @BrandonCorley99 Excellent article. Thank you for sharing and writing this piece. Love American Reformer and the work they are doing to publish a biblical understanding of nature, grace, and reformed christian political thought.

The relationship between nature and grace touches almost every topic in theology and ethics. In the article below, @BrandonCorley99 provides a remarkably clear treatment of this intrinsically complex question.

On Easter morning, April 5, nearly 20 protesters gathered in the green space on Summit Avenue in front of the entrance to Cities Church. They held signs with obscenities and yelled harassing comments at families and individual worshippers. Among them was a speaker blasting music and amplified sound, and at least one protester who used a voice-amplifying device to harass people. After the St. Paul Police Department issued several warnings related to the noise, they arrested one individual. I am grateful for SPPD’s measured response and their efforts to protect the congregation’s ability to gather and worship peacefully. While similar protests have continued in recent weeks, the people of Cities Church have sought to respond with patience and kindness.  I am disheartened that the charges against the individual arrested yesterday have been dropped. State law protects the right of people of faith to worship in peace, and I call on state and local officials to enforce the law. But the most important thing is that the gospel remains unchanged: God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. That invitation is open to all.

😂

Being a parent is a lot of work. Some years we just tell the kids, “Like the tomb, the Easter baskets are empty.”

20 years ago, a man screamed his own name into a microphone and ruined everything. It became one of the most famous moments in internet history.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ A group of players in an online game called World of Warcraft had spent several minutes planning a complicated raid. Timing, positioning, survival odds. One player calculated their chances of success at 32.33 percent, repeating. The whole time, one of their teammates wasn’t listening. He’d stepped away from his computer to reheat some chicken. When he came back, he ignored everything, screamed his character’s name at the top of his lungs, and charged straight into the fight alone. Everyone followed him in. They all died in seconds. “Leeroy, you are just stupid as hell.” “At least I have chicken.” The clip spread across the internet before “going viral” was even a phrase. It was referenced in South Park, How I Met Your Mother, and an article in a military journal. The game’s developer added the character as an official figure inside the game. His name became shorthand for anyone who ruins a plan by doing something reckless. The whole thing was staged. The group admitted years later it was a scripted re-enactment of something that had actually happened. The cameraman said: “We didn’t think anyone would believe it was real. We thought it was so obviously satire.” The player behind Leeroy Jenkins is a guy named Ben Schulz. He repairs industrial lighting for a living.

This is a great step forward in stabilizing Saving College Sports. I deeply appreciate @realDonaldTrump’s interest in and focus on saving this great American institution. Now it is incumbent on Congress to continue work on this issue and ensure durability of the system for generations to come, preservation of women’s and Olympic spots, and make sure that this unparalleled American leadership development asset remains intact. Thank you, Mr. President! whitehouse.gov/presidential-a…

Join us for worship this week at Providence PCA Lubbock, TX.

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:10

Give them a follow.

Correct!

Incredible that it was only 66 years from the first controlled, powered flight to landing on the Moon!

Chuck Norris knew who wrote Hebrews

OMG KENTUCKY THIS IS MARCH 🤯🤯🤯

Let me explain exactly why every new subdivision in America looks like the top photo, because the math is wild. A mature tree increases a home's value by 7 to 19 percent. On a $400,000 house, that's $28,000 to $76,000. A single shade tree produces the cooling equivalent of ten room-size air conditioners running 20 hours a day. One tree on the west side of a house cuts energy bills by 12 percent within 15 years. The bottom photo is worth more, costs less to live in, and sells faster. This has been documented by the University of Washington, Clemson, Michigan State, and the USDA. The data is not in dispute. Removing those trees saves the builder roughly $5,000 per lot. Concrete trucks need twice the dripline radius of every standing tree. Utility trenches need flat ground. A bulldozer flattens 200 lots in an afternoon. Preserving trees adds weeks and thousands per home. So the developer pockets $5,000 in savings and the buyer eats $50,000 in lost value for the next two decades. The person making the decision and the person paying for it have never been in the same room. The Woodlands, Texas is the proof of what happens when they are. George Mitchell bought 28,000 acres of Houston timberland in 1974 and preserved 28% as permanent green space. He forced McDonald's to build behind the tree canopy. That McDonald's became one of the highest-volume locations in Texas. The first office building, designed to reflect the surrounding forest so you couldn't see it from the street, leased completely. The Woodlands median home price today: $615,000. Katy, a comparable Houston suburb that clear-cut: $375,000. Named #1 community to live in America two years running. Fifty years of data. The trees are worth more than removing them saves. Developers clear-cut anyway because they sell the house once and leave. You live in it for 30 years.

Pre-Order Now: Welcome to Negative World : How to Read the Times You're In Essays in pushing Aaron Renn's three-world thesis into the corners. Renn. Wilson. Rigney. Cline. Humphrey. Peter. Longshore. Merkle. Visconti.

@stephenspin @JeremyDalton3

Put me in the “I think it’s weird that we’re treating Bibles like designer handbags now” camp.

WE DISTINGUISH between the magistrate compelling the people to believe and practice the teachings of one Christian denomination AND the magistrate suppressing false worship and idolatry the first is denied by 1788; the second is affirmed

The term "theological liberalism" is thrown around a lot. When push comes to shove though, it still boils down to Richard Niebuhr's summation of what theological liberalism truly is: "A God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross" (Kingdom of God in America, 193). Liberal/progressive Christianity is more than that but it is no less than that, and it will always come down to it. Niebuhr's words 89 years ago are just as applicable in 1937 as they are today.

In 1967, the two largest denominations in the United States were: The Southern Baptist Convention The United Methodist Church They each had about 11M members. Today: The SBC is 12.7M The UMC is 3.98M

Wes Huff has now shared the gospel with Joe Rogan, Shawn Ryan, Andrew Shulz (Flagrant), Steven Bartlett. Who should have Wes on their platform next?