Category Archives: Culture

THE SEXUAL REVOLUTION AND THE WITNESS OF THE CHURCH

Church, Culture, Ethics August 9, 2016 Leave a comment

Abortion on demandPMT 2016-058 by Albert Mohler, Jr.

Gentry note:

The following article from Tabletalk magazine presents the challenge that is before the Church of Jesus Christ. We must pray for revival in the Church that she might arise and re-ignite the progress she promoted in years past. Postmillennialists are not naive: we recognize the downward trend we are currently experiencing. But we remain optimistic for the historical long-run: our God is in heaven and:

“He who sits in the heavens laughs, / The Lord scoffs at them. / Then He will speak to them in His anger / And terrify them in His fury, saying, /‘But as for Me, I have installed My King /Upon Zion, My holy mountain.” (Psa. 2:4–6)

However, Christians today need to be reminded: he uses his people in history to effect his will. This is why he has given us this prayer to pray publically, corporately, and believingly: “’Your kingdom come. Your will be done, / On earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10).

Continue reading →

THE CHURCH IS GROWING

Church, Culture, Optimism July 12, 2016 1 Comment

PMT 2016-050 by Krish KandiahChurch growing

Without my glasses, younger children in my household look at me as though I am a stranger they have never met before. To me, the world around feels very different. Last week my glasses were stolen and I became very aware how my myopia caused me to feel disoriented, claustrophic, nervous, and unconfident.

Something similar happens to Christians when we lose our global glasses. We fail to see what God is doing on the world stage and instead we become parochial and introverted, limited in our vision and witness. Continue reading →

DECREED BORDERS

Culture, Ethics June 10, 2016 1 Comment

Border 1PMT 2016-041 by Don Strickland

 

Acts 17:24-26 “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, (25) nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. (26) And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place.”

Recently, Secretary of State John Kerry gave a commencement speech in which he spoke approvingly of a “borderless world.” Almost a week later, Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Alabama) wrote an opinion piece for USA Today in which he stated that the coming presidential election will be a choice between nationalism and globalism. Will we remain a distinct nation, or lose our identity in the sea of the global community? Open borders, or nations without borders, is being pushed, and has been for years, throughout the countries comprising Western civilization – that is, those countries populated by the people native to Europe. Even otherwise theologically conservative Christian pastors have argued from a compassionate and/or evangelistic framework to justify the invasion crossing Europe’s and America’s borders. But what exactly does the Bible teach about national borders? Continue reading →

“MUSLIMS ARE JUST SICK OF ISLAM”

Culture, History November 11, 2015 1 Comment

Muslim convertsby Hazel Torres
in Christianity Today  (11/1/2015)

More and more Muslim refugees in UN camps in Iraq are embracing Jesus Christ and expressing repugnance of their former religion, Christian Aid Mission workers have disclosed.

“They’re just sick of Islam,” a Christian ministry leader in the Kurdish Region of Iraq recently told the Christian Aid Mission.

“People are very hungry to know about Christ, especially when they hear about miracles, healing, mercy and love,” he said, as reported in the Gospel Herald. Continue reading →

HOLLYWOOD WORLDVIEWS AND POSTMILLENNIALISM

Culture, Worldview August 26, 2015 Leave a comment

Godawa backup 2PMT 2015-102 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

Millennial views represent an important feature of a Christian worldview. How the world is developing and how it will end necessarily impact one’s worldview thinking. In our day secular humanism is the dominant worldview, crushing out all opposition. But secular humanism is built on air — literally on a chance explosion 13.7 billion years ago. Or perhaps 13.8 billion years ago, depending on who you read.

Postmillennialism is a key component of a truly biblical, and ultimately optimistic worldview. My commitment to postmillennialism is not a side venture in my thinking. It is key to what I believe to be the truth of Scripture. Unfortunately, too many evangelicals are unaware of worldviews and worldview thinking. Because of that “my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hos. 4:6). And if Christians are not self-consciously aware of the biblical worldview, they will un-self-consciously pick up on a secular worldview by osmosis from our culture. Continue reading →

CULTURE, MOVIES, AND POSTMILLENNIALISM

Culture, Worldview August 17, 2015 Comments: 6

Hollywood worldviewsPMT 2015-099 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

Postmillennialism believes in cultural engagement. In fact, it necessarily does so, and it does so as a transformationist approach to culture. That is, we believe that fallen culture must not only be challenged by the gospel and God’s word, but must be transformed by the power of God working through his people.

Modern American culture is greatly impacted by Hollywood movies and therefore by the Hollywood worldviews. Since movies are very much on people’s minds today, we as postmillennialists must recognize the power of story, the power of movies to affect our culture. And to do so, we must be able to discern, critique, and rebut the fallen worldviews presented in most movies today.

Perhaps the premiere analyst of Hollywood’s worldviews is Reformed, postmillennial, Christian apologist, screen writer, and author, Brian Godawa. His book Hollywood Worldviews: Watching Movies with Wisdom and Discernment is a must-have book for the alert Christian today. Continue reading →

POSTMILLENNIAL FAILURE TO ENGAGE CULTURE?

Culture, Optimism, Worldview August 12, 2015 Comments: 2

Christian educationPMT 2015-087 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

A PostmillennialismToday reader is concerned that he sees postmillennialists withdrawing from culture rather than engaging it. Here is his question:

J.W. writes:

“I appreciate and have enjoyed much of your work. In fact, it was largely due to Edwards, you, and a few others that I saw postmillennialism as the midst rationally biblical option. That actually drove me into one of the most liberal cities in the US, but I find many PMers to be fleeing cultural engagement and implantation as much if not more than others. Why do you suppose that is a characteristic of many PMers but that I seem to be understanding it differently?” Continue reading →