Hello again. I have had my intellectual palate cleansed by getting off the blog for a few days. Believe it or not, there are some very good things to read that you cannot find on the web.

I have been tasting the classic Personal Knowledge by Michael Polanyi. It is not light reading and I read a chapter or two at a sitting, interspersed with readings in my three volume set on the Crusades, along with other delicacies like Charles Hodge's Commentary on Second Corinthians and J. I. Good's History of the Reformed Church in the United States. It sure beats political commentary.

My son Matthew was ordained to the ministry of the Reformed Church in the U.S. this morning and installed as pastor of the joint charge of Providence Reformed Chapel of Limon, Colorado, and Blue Cliff RCUS of Karval, Colorado. It was a proud moment in my life. I have three sons in the gospel ministry, two in the RCUS and one in an independent church. I am proud of them, as well as proud of my sons who are not in the ministry, for I believe that the kingdom of God is very broad.

But the day will come in the next few years where America will once more appreciate the sacrifice and learning of faithful Christian pastors. That is not here yet, but radical Islam will not be defeated on the battle field. They will be defeated because Christ rose from the dead and His throne cannot be overthrown, but their defeat will come by weapons that are not understood by those who do not believe the Gospel.

The Apostle Paul spoke of these weapons in 2 Corinthians 10:4-6 "(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled."

This does not mean that weapons of warfare like stealth bombers, Apache Helicopters, and strong men are not necessary for the ultimate triumph of truth, but men will not use them or prevail if they are not motivated by a strong sense of truth and righteousness.

If the philosophy of effete and feminized and sodomite Europe prevails in the America the conflict will be lost in spite of our weapons. It is ultimately ideas that triumph, and the most blessed of these ideas, the heritage of the Christian West is the liberty of the Christian man, who under God is his own king and priest, the ruler of his own actions, and the master of the domain that God has given him, be it only a humble log cabin or a single patch of tillible land.

This liberty of the Christian man is based firmly upon the certainty that sins are forgiven by the righteousness and obedience of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. No one who attack these spiritual truths is the true friend of liberty or the friend of the free man. Any pot that does not contain this wonderful bread of life is poison to all who dine thereof. Those who mix these pots are enemies of America, the Christian faith, and every free man in Jesus Christ. They cannot win and they need to know that they cannot win. The war with radical Islam has been a long one with ups and downs for over 1400 years. This phase in the war might be a long slog [to borrow a phrase], but their defeat is certain. Christ himself declared it, "The gates of hell will not prevail."