“Americans may need to get used to this kind of syncretism, which is not at all unusual among United Methodists, other mainline Protestants, and liberal Catholics. Because now that progressives are in political power and evangelicalism is discredited for its alliance with Donald Trump, liberal Christianity might be coming back into vogue.” - Veith

“…many Christian theologians have come to believe that ‘Americanism’ is the world’s fourth great monotheistic religion. But that religion would be/is idolatrous. America is a great idea; I celebrate it and want to see it thrive. I’m a patriot, but not a nationalist. Christian nationalism in any country is wrong.” - Roger Olsen

“Pro-abortionists claim abortifacients were legal centuries ago. The historical record proves otherwise” - WORLD

Even at our best, we humans often botch the job of identifying what’s true and right. The important thing is to recognize what went wrong, learn the lessons, and aim to do better.

If I could gather every American who self-identifies as conservative and deliver one message to them right now, that would probably be the bottom line: Face the facts of January 6 and start identifying how to do better and be better.

Facing Up

There’s much we still don’t know about what went wrong leading up to, and on, January 6, 2021. But many points are already known. Here’s a baker’s dozen.

“As a new biography shows, the Dutch Reformed theologian was adept at navigating perennial tensions of Christ and culture.” - CToday

“Since my previous post was on doing less and thereby getting enough sleep, I suppose I should balance it to keep folks out of the ditch on the other side of the road.” - Olinger

“A part of recreation is rest. God demonstrates a pattern of rest at the end of the creation account, when he ‘rested from all his work that he had done in creation’ (Gen. 2:3). The God who does not tire stopped and rested.” - IFWE

“By way of an introduction to the Gulag Archipelago, readers would profit from reading Daniel J. Mahoney’s essay titled ‘Judging Communism and All Its Works’ in the Solzhenitsyn and American Culture collection.” - Acton

“ ‘Father, those that have lied, those that have stolen this election, those that have cheated, I place the curse of God upon them,’ Rev. Bob Rodgers of Evangel World Prayer Center in Louisville, which claims 9,000 members, said in a video clip from the service shared online.” - CPost

“The Capitol insurrection was horrifying enough as a spectacle of foolishness and symbol of civilizational decay. But another horrifying exhibit of foolishness has been the reactions to the event on social media. Namely, the widespread deployment of one of the laziest tactics to hit rhetoric since the ad hominem: whataboutism.” - TGC

Sermon no. 3109, delivered Lord’s Day evening, August 16, 1874, by C. H. Spurgeon at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” –Galatians 6:7

“The COVID-19 vaccine, so far, has been shown to be 94–95 percent effective, with side effects that go away within a few days. Still, 50 percent of white evangelicals and 59 percent of black Protestants say they won’t get it, while the majority of the US population overall (60%) says they will, according to the latest Pew Research Center survey.” - CToday

“Stone, a member of the steering council of the recently formed Conservative Baptist Network…. is the second announced nominee for SBC president, joining Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President R. Albert Mohler Jr.” - BPNews

“I was struck by how well [The Federalist No. 10] anticipated and addressed issues and problems we are having to deal with today: polarization, conflicting ideologies, political involvement of religion, diversity. And his insights also have application to smaller questions, such as whether a president can pardon himself.” - Cranach

Jonathan Edward: “Holiness is a most beautiful and lovely thing. We drink in strange notions of holiness from our childhood, as if it were a melancholy, morose, sour and unpleasant thing; but there is nothing in it but what is sweet and ravishingly lovely.” - TGC

Video: “You don’t need to have had a dramatic conversion experience like the Apostle Paul on the Damascus Road. From his teaching series Assurance of Faith, Joel Beeke reminds us of the wonderful, “ordinary” way in which God brings His people to Christ.” - Ligonier

Some diversities should be cultivated and celebrated, some tolerated, and some repudiated.

An interesting phenomenon in regard to the reading of the Old Testament and the New is the respective chronologies of the authorship of the canons. Whereas the Old Testament was written over a period of approximately 1,300 years – taking Job as the earliest book (c.1750 B.C.) and Malachi as the last book (c. 450 B.C.), the New Testament was written within one average human lifetime. This represents a vast difference which ought to be given more consideration than it has.

The Writing of the OT

If we consider the span of years for the writing of the Old Testament we get something like this (citing representative examples):

“Latest report on Christian persecution finds 3 in 4 martyrs are in Nigeria, ranked among 10 worst persecutors for first time. Sudan finally exits top 10 and India remains, while Mozambique and DRC added to Open Doors watch list.” - CToday

“Here are seven individuals, some of whom have high public profiles, who predicted that Donald Trump would win reelection. They include a Polish psychic, a controversial televangelist, and a self-described prophet.” - CPost

“We probably have three times more people participating now than before,’ said Parsley, who in addition to preaching each Sunday hosts a noon devotional on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.” - BPNews

“SETI experiment suggests non-natural radio signal coming from the vicinity of Proxima Centauri, but seems to be another failed attempt to find alien life” - AiG

“ ‘This is not about politics. This is about our country, about the rule of law and about the sanctity of human life,’ Moore, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, wrote in a Jan. 11 op-ed posted on his website.” - CPost

“When an administration changes… we have the chance to show a watching world that we remain committed to following the instructions of our Lord through His apostles, regardless of party affiliation or what we had hoped for an election’s outcome.” - F&T

“…a prosecutor with the Department of Justice, Ken Kohl, said in a call with reporters Friday that the agency had ‘no indication’ that antifa had any role in the violence. An assistant FBI director said the same. Federal authorities have instead identified and charged several Republicans and longtime Trump rallygoers who in most cases broadcast their actions themselves.” - WORLD

“For too long many Christian leaders have remained silent, fearing the repercussions of calling out those who are obsessed with political fantasies that are leading them away from Jesus.” - TGC

“Some years ago I decided to adopt a lifestyle that prioritized getting enough sleep. Decades later, I’m more confident every day that it was the right choice.” - Olinger

“Most pastors will not be pastoring growing churches. Admit it. We think success is a growing church and failure is a shrinking church. Sometimes those are true. More often not, I believe.” - Thornton

“According to a Lifeway Research study, 74% of pastors agree their congregation would welcome a sermon on racial reconciliation, with 32% strongly agreeing. In 2016, however, 90% of pastors believed their congregation would be open to a sermon on the topic, with 57% strongly agreeing.” - F&T

For those who hoped that our experience of living in times of crisis might end with 2020, I do not need to tell you that your hopes have already been dashed.

We might consider the string of crises that date back to last March as separate events, or we might think of them as one multi-faceted whole. We might also discuss those who appear to have engineered them, manipulated them or benefited from them.

But one thing is for sure: We are living in a time of national crisis, and our way of life has been altered—likely forever—in ways that we could not have imagined 12 months ago.