David Westerfield

Matt Drudge at the National Press Club in 1998

On June 9, 2010

Matt Drudge makes great points on journalism in this speech he gave to the National Press Club in DC on June 2, 1998. Just think of what the main-stream media has become the 12 years that has passed since this was recorded: a pure marketing outlet for governments and corporations to spin things however which way they deem necessary to suit their agenda. And it’s no wonder the new media, the very thing he envisioned in this speech, is taking off. And it’s no wonder the Federal government (FTC/FCC) wants to squelch it. All his points still apply, and then some.

GM Soy Linked to Sterility, Infant Mortality … DuPont Just Approved to Begin Distributing New Type

By David Westerfield

On June 8, 2010

In Business, Health, Science, Society, Technology

This kind of makes me sick at my stomach. Just as a study is released within the past several months indicating genetically modified soy has been linked to sterility and infant mortality in hamsters (and thus likely humans as well), DuPont has been approved by the USDA to begin production of soy with yet another genetic modification.

Seeing how inept the government is at managing, well, anything these days, you can imagine my concern for what this means when the USDA claims to have vetted genetically modified food that we all will consume at some point in the near future. Read on and be prepared …

In of Honor of the 30th Birthday of Pacman …

By David Westerfield

On May 21, 2010

In Entertainment

Play a game!

On Conversations About the Future of the Church

By David Westerfield

On May 19, 2010

In Christian Culture, Theology

I keep seeing an ad on the right column of Facebook talking about the need “for a new conversation about the future of the church” … and my question is when did the existing “conversation” end, and better yet, why does it have to keep going on and on as if there is no definition laid out for us in Scripture?

In our gatherings on Sunday we need 1) Biblical worship that incorporates Scripture and solid doctrine, 2) Gospel-centered, exegetical preaching of the Word and sacrament (Michael Horton), which 3) the Holy Spirit uses to supernaturally transform His people more and more into the likeness of Christ, who 4) then take the Gospel out to the world through word and deed in their daily lives.

Lofty Utopian Healthcare Dreams Meet Reality

By David Westerfield

On May 18, 2010

In Politics

Health reform threatens to cram already overwhelmed emergency rooms – TheHill.com

The new healthcare law will pack 32 million newly insured people into emergency rooms already crammed beyond capacity, according to experts on healthcare facilities.

A chief aim of the new healthcare law was to take the pressure off emergency rooms by mandating that people either have insurance coverage. The idea was that if people have insurance, they will go to a doctor rather than putting off care until they faced an emergency.

Letter from Kay Granger on Health Care – HouseNews.net (HT: Bill Alexy)

Four major U.S. employers (AT&T, Verizon, Deere and Caterpillar) are considering dumping the health care coverage they provide to their workers in exchange for paying penalty fees to the government. These companies currently offer health benefits to over 2.3 million employees. That is like cutting off health care for the entire city of Houston.

The reality of budgets, economics, sociology, incentive, and plain common sense about what would have worked were thrown to the wind in favor of futuristic visions of everyone getting the best health care available for free. It sounds good on paper and many of the people were well-meaning (though grossly misinformed).

European History Repeats Itself

By David Westerfield

On May 14, 2010

In Business, Economics, News, Politics

“Europe’s fiscal Fascism brings British withdrawal ever closer” – Ambrose Evans-Pritchard – Telegraph

“Just when you thought the EU could not go any further down the road towards authoritarian excess, it gets worse.” – Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

Things are spinning out of control in Europe, economically, fiscally and socially. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said today that “Europe is in a ‘very, very serious’ situation and that success is not yet guaranteed.” And no amount of money thrown at the situation can fix the structural cracks that are now emerging in the very fabric of the continent.

And what do these things have to do with the US? We face a very similar situation in the near future when compared in parallel to Europe with states versus the federal government. The only difference is the federal government is well established. Certainly there are differences that cannot be overlooked. Yet the situation sounds all too familiar with the federal government over-stepping its reach on several different fronts since Obama took office.

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard from the Telegraph hits on the historical nature of what is happening (history repeating and history being made) as well as the tyrannical nature of what the EU is proposing to alleviate problems. As one commenter said in response to the article, “I’m getting a very bad feeling about how matters economic and social are going to pan out over the next 3 – 5 years. There’s trouble blowing in the wind.”

Below are some of the summary quotes from the article above.

“Fonctionnaires and EU finance ministers will pass judgement on the British (or Dutch, or Danish, or French) budgets before the elected bodies of these ancient and sovereign nations have seen the proposals. Did we not we not fight the English Civil War and kill a king over such a prerogative?”

“Yet again we are discovering the trick played on our democracies by Europe’s insiders when they charged ahead with EMU [European Monetary Union], brushing aside warnings by their own staff economists that monetary union was unworkable without fiscal union. Jacques Delors knew perfectly well that this would lead inevitably to a crisis, but it would be the ‘beneficial crisis’ that would force sovereign parliaments to submit to demands that they would never otherwise accept.”

Read More

Sunday’s Coming – Modern Media and Trendiness Replacing Word and Sacrament

By David Westerfield

On May 11, 2010

In Audio, Theology, Video

R. Scott Clark says of this video (at the bottom) on his blog, “Who Says the Evangelicals Don’t Have a Liturgy?” As much as we Evangelicals have tried to eschew the “traditional” styles of church, it seems we’ve merely replaced it with newer styles that are 3 inches deep. This is one of many reasons why so many are leaving these kinds of churches for 1) nothing, 2) the Roman Catholic church, or 3) other traditional-style Protestant churches (Reformed and otherwise) that don’t take the worship service so casually, as if they weren’t approaching the throne of God.

I believe there needs to be reverential awe when we come together before God’s throne corporately (and privately), knowing Him to be the very God Isaiah, Ezekiel, Job and John (Revelation 1) approached, and at the same time, the gentle Shepherd who saves His people mercifully through the cross and resurrection. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” (Proverbs 1:7) In many of these churches, you don’t get the feeling the people are in awe of God, just emotionally jazzed up, the same way you are at a concert of your choosing.

The Legacy of Charles Finney

By David Westerfield

On April 30, 2010

In Church History, Theology

I still have yet to understand why so many leading evangelical pastors (Billy Graham and the late Jerry Falwell to name two) and others in the movement uphold this man as someone who championed the faith once for all delivered to the saints. If there is one person that can be blamed for so many of the current theological and ecclesiological problems we find in the evangelical movement (though there are many causes to be sure), it is Charles Finney. These articles deal with the content of what Finney taught and how it was anything but evangelical, in the historical, Gospel sense of the word.

After reading these, you will see a little bit clearer how much of his influence is still felt in the church today and how much damage it continues to cause. Even much of the pragmatic, mega, seeker movement in the church owes its pragmatic thought process about how to “get people in the door” to the teaching of Finney, which he himself rooted in the error of Pelgius, the fifth century heretic. Very insightful.

Meticulous Sovereignty in the First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians

By David Westerfield

On April 29, 2010

In Church History, Theology

As this makes clear, Clement’s view of God’s involvement in His creation is not the one the Deists have set forth (the view many of our Founding Fathers in America held including Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin), that God is a watchmaker who created the universe, sat back and let things take their course. No, rather, God is intimately involved in all that takes place. Clement’s main point here is the peace and harmony with which God created and sustains His universe, not so much a discussion about God’s control over the negative things that take place. That’s for another discussion. What is clear here is Clement’s assumption of God’s meticulous, providential involvement in creation, from the largest thing to the smallest, including and especially with people, and even more importantly, His own people.

Debt Contagion Picking Up Steam

By David Westerfield

On April 28, 2010

In Business, Economics, Politics

And so the contagion spreads … first, Latvia’s economy (and government) collapses not that long ago, then Greece and Portugal’s ratings were cut by S&P yesterday, and now today, Spain was cut. And the question is, how much longer before we realize we’re a lot closer than we think to the same situation? Even more importantly is when will we realize that all the trillions in bailouts and stimulus bringing us to our knees in debt currently has done nothing to actually stimulate the economy (73% of economists agree to this effect, CNN Money)? And how much longer before politicians start feeling the effects of their poor decisions in the polls, as if the Scott Brown victory wasn’t enough of an indication? I wonder what this summer’s Town Hall’s are going to look like. To follow developments pertaining to this from a respected global economist, read Ambrose Evans-Pritchard at the Telegraph. History is in the making here.