I don’t know what fancy flag it will sail under. But, doubtless, it will get one—possibly one that sounds intriguing so as to dupe unsuspecting conservative preachers into its ranks. That part I make no predictions about.

But, if I am anywhere near correct, the new liberalism will come. At the moment, it is growing rather impressively among many “scholars” who, it would seem, want to impress one another, and the liberals, with their wide range of thought—often so wide as to include many liberal tenets and exegetical processes within their ever-widening tent.

I have had the misfortune to read, review, skim over and/or devour a number of commentaries and other similar works by those who (at the moment) would call themselves evangelicals. They strongly avow their belief in the inspiration (even inerrancy) of the Scriptures. This sounds good.

But what do they say was inerrantly inspired?

The answer-all sorts of things that clearly deny the position. Babylonian creation myths, Egyptian proverbs, ANE treaty policies—you name it. The wise men didn’t actually come; they were written into the story for a more subtle purpose than that which lies on the surface. Mark juggled around passages of the Scriptures irresponsibly to fit his scheme. Redaction criticism? You betcha’! The prophecies of Daniel can’t be understood with any clarity—we can’t even come down hard on what the four would-be world-kingdoms that constituted the metallic image were.

You name it—and you will find it severely tainted!

I want to say no more now, but if someone off in that distant future picks up this post he will see that it was prophetic.

The present danger is this—what the seminaries teach today (and this is top drawer stuff in seminaries right now) and what preachers read in commentaries today, is what they will be preaching tomorrow.
You are duly warned. Watch out; don’t get suckered in! Prediction ended.

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Who would have thought it—pirates today taking over huge ships out on the briney deep?

It’s certainly a different world from that in which some of us grew up singing, “From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli”—Tripoli being the place where our marines finished off the pirates of the past. Seems like time to call out the marines again rather than simply surrounding the pirates on the high seas! But who am I to know?

At any rate, it seems that what goes around comes around—here we are in 2009 confronted with pirates of all things!

But other things have cropped up again that we thought were put to rest—depressions, diseases we believed to be eliminated, a new liberalism brewing on the back burner in evangelical kitchens, a resurgence of unbelief, the uprising of Islam—you name it.

There is no peace, no rest in this world; one must always be on the alert lest he be caught up in something that is emerging in his backyard. New doctrines, new ways of worship, new approaches to evangelizing—some good, some bad—all needing careful biblical scrutiny.

How important for churches to continue to preach solid doctrine, to teach—not merely exhort, to explain—not only whip up emotion.

How crucial to learn to use the Scriptures to mine the principles and practices of counseling, business, home life and every other area of life in depth. Enough of superficial story-telling and the relating of experience instead.

This is a time of great transition. Much was kicked up into the air by a succession of wars, by the hippie movement. and by other such revolutionary activities, that has not yet come down. Where it will land, and in what configurations, no one but God knows. But when it comes down, Bible-believing Christians must be ready to deal with it. And we will be able to do so only if and when we spend the time and energy expounding and carefully applying Scripture to each as it settles in place.

There are pirates-and always will be until the coming of the new heavens and the new earth—not only on the seas, but everywhere-ready to steal the truth from you. Watch out!

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