Warhorn Blog Posts

Excerpt: It’s good never to respond to criticism by email or letter if you can do so in person (or, if they live at a distance from you, by a phone call). It’s also important never to respond without waiting at least a couple days to cool off and get your wife or your trusted elder’s advice. Let me reiterate this: never but never send a text, email, or letter responding to criticism or dealing wit...

Excerpt: Five centuries ago, the Protestant reformers surveyed what we today call "Christendom," and they mourned over the harassed and helpless sheep being milked by the Pope and his minions. Rome sold her spiritual wares so the Pope would have the money to continue paying those constructing St. Peter's Basilica (as well as Michelangelo painting the Pope's Sistine Chapel). Surveying this idolatry...

Excerpt: Wheaton's Trustees also limited their Task Force's "historical review" to Wheaton's history "with respect to race relations." Not injustice, oppression, or bloodshed. Just "race relations." This assumes a common understanding of "race," but what is the definition of this politically charged word? Cambridge Dictionary defines "race" as "the idea that people can be divided into different gr...

Excerpt: Here's a list and frequency of some of their hedge or weasel words/roots and phrases: may ; " may suggest," "such documentation may have existed," "subsequent research may nuance some of the following findings," etc. would ; " would be hard-pressed to prove," would be expected," would be an oversimplification," " would be natural to assume," etc. might; "Buswell might well have made good...

Excerpt: Back to Anthony Bradley. One year before Wheaton's trustees and president tried to appease their students by appointing their task force to denounce President Buswell, Bradley posted a series of tweets containing a number of exclamation marks. What excited him so much? Here's the first in the series, dated July 15, 2020 (over three years ago): Bradley was terribly excited to have discover...

Excerpt: The question I had to face is what part of my pride I was willing to relinquish for the sake of helping my men to humble themselves under my preaching? Helping them lower themselves to receive God's Word from this weakling's mouth? * * * Support Warhorn here . Music is Rise Up, O Lord, a recording of Psalm 10 by My Soul Among Lions .

Excerpt: Soon after their move, believing in Christian education, Dad and Mother joined a few couples to start Delaware County Christian School in 1949. Writing the founding documents, Dad pushed through the adoption of a policy that Blacks would be free to enroll their children. Note this was back in 1949, a mere nine years after President Buswell was fired by Wheaton's trustees on January 20, 19...

Excerpt: For the testimony of J. Oliver Buswell's biological son, James Oliver Buswell III,  we turn to an article he contributed to Eternity published in 1962, two years after Barnhouse's death. Why did Ryken and his trustees not present Buswell the Son's published commitments as evidence of President Buswell's theological and moral opposition to racism? When they hired Phil as Wheaton's presiden...

Excerpt: This Report has no credibility and should have been repudiated by the Trustees. The fact that it was embraced and spread far and wide reflects very poorly on these women and men. As the Task Force admits in their Report, the evidence they have based their denunciation on is scarce and their generalizations and conclusions unsupported. They had a fourteen-year span of time to base their re...

Excerpt: In certain theological circles, we place great emphasis on the importance of “artistic excellence” for God. But artistic excellence in our worship without faithful devotion to God means very little. There are many trained singers who get paid to stand in gorgeous cathedrals and sing beautiful songs written about the one true God. But when such a performance is just that—a mere performance...

Excerpt:  President Ryken and the Wheaton Trustees delegated the prosecutorial task to their Task Force of fifteen members and three research assistants, for a total of eighteen. Of those eighteen, ten are paid employees working at Wheaton and directly under Phil Ryken’s authority. Of the remaining eight, three are students at Wheaton and directly under Phil Ryken’s authority. These three are also...

Excerpt:  Who, specifically, was “perpetuating racism” at Wheaton? J. Oliver Buswell, Jr. Wheaton’s library is named “Buswell Library,” and thus the headline, “Historical Race Review announces library name change.” From the task force document: The Trustees will instruct the administration to remove President James Oliver Buswell, Jr’s name from the Wheaton College Library. And: As a public acknow...

Excerpt:  Driving out to the address, I noted the stark white farmhouse surrounded by stark white outbuildings. What struck me was the yard displayed no concessions to any human weakness for beauty. Unlike most farmhouses of the area, this one was not prettied up with shrubs or flowers. Instead, it sat alone in all its stateliness. Parking outside the back door, I walked across the grass and knock...

Excerpt:  It’s always volatile to discuss sinful motives in condemning sinful actions, but how could a pastor place himself in any greater danger of causing resentment and conflict than speaking of the reasons a mother pays another woman to nurse her child? The pastor of any modern reformed congregation will do well to avoid even the slightest statement concerning mothers’ duties to their infants...

Excerpt: So the point is, start a Christian school; and then, don’t get wrapped around the axle if it goes bust. The doctrine of Original Sin needs to make a comeback in the Reformed church today—especially in our aspirations concerning the education of our children. * * * Music is Rise Up, O Lord, a recording of Psalm 10 by My Soul Among Lions . Support Warhorn here . Check out New Geneva Academy...

Excerpt: This is what I mean by pastors apologizing for God’s Word and truth. To proclaim “God hath said” followed by “I wish God hadn’t said” undercuts God’s authority and Words. Yet this is the habit of even the most conservative pastors today. They do it unconsciously, I think, but they do it relentlessly. Usually it is not as direct as what my friend said above. More typically the pastor will...

Excerpt: In the gatherings of our Lord’s flock, God’s truth must always possess the seat of honor. Without it the church dies. But the church has often betrayed the preeminence in worship of the proclamation of God’s truth, and has often trimmed it. Concerning the preeminence of the preaching of God’s Word in the gathering of the church corporately for worship, this has been done most frequently b...

Excerpt: Pastor Keller claims “nothing is more subversive and prophetic” than proclaiming Jesus as “the truth.” How subversive and prophetic would it be to proclaim God’s hatred for the bloodshed of innocents? Keep in mind Manhattan leads the nation in this slaughter of our Lord’s little ones: 41% of all New York City pregnancies end in abortion…. New York City’s 2019 abortion rate was 27.2 aborti...

Excerpt: Fr. Bill again: Starting with egalitarianism, the founders of CBMW sought to distance themselves from egalitarianism only by the absolute minimal amount, a minimal distance which they could (supposedly) defend by reference to a handful of verses in the New Testament. And: What will “follow” complementarianism? The only valid possibility is a full-throated, unapologetic, comprehensively Bi...

Excerpt: How do we evaluate the sincerity of our prayers? Is sincerity just a feeling we have while we pray? And does God simply assess that feeling by gazing into our hearts and judging our prayers accordingly? What criteria does He use for gauging whether or not our hearts are in our prayers? Scripture has a prominent answer to this question, and it’s not just that God looks into our hearts and...

Excerpt: This is my account of one mother in Israel, and no one reading this will wonder at my public confession that I was strengthened in my work and ministry by Sharon Dykstra. Is it too much to ask that pastors in other conservative reformed and presbyterian denominations will be as faithful as this dear woman? Must she suffer male intimidation and its attendant discouragement while celebrity...

Excerpt: Here’s an excerpt from the fifth volume of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s magnum opus, a lengthy history of the Russian Revolution titled The Red Wheel. Note the revolutionaries’ utter disdain for the peasants, and thus the soldiers they were depending upon to keep fighting in their defense during World War I. Then too, remember Stalin’s slaughter of the kulaks, years later. Those who love and...

Excerpt: The Gospel Blimp continued to resonate, though. It sold and sold and sold. Eventually another publisher even deigned to republish it. Soon it was even being made into a movie, with Shorty Yeaworth, best known today for his cult classic The Blob, directing... * * * Intro and outro music is Rise Up, O Lord, a recording of Psalm 10 by My Soul Among Lions . Support Warhorn here . Check out  N...

Excerpt: I must confess that my heart was filled with reverence and awe as I walked into that stunning cathedral. It made me want to be a part of whatever goes on there. I wanted to stay for hours and gape at the galaxy of artistic detail that enveloped me as I sat in the beautiful oak pews. But there was one catch: the entire sanctuary was filled with idols.  * * * Intro and outro music is Rise U...

Excerpt: Understand why I’ve always had a love for men who are hated for righteousness’ sake—particularly pastors. Dear reader, do you know how many of them are punished for their faithful pastoral care and preaching each and every week? Do you know and grieve how many of them are fired every month by evil men who hate God and His Word. Do you know how many of their wives are intensely frustrated...