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Music and Cultural Freefall
CGG Weekly by Richard T. RitenbaughThe music of a period mirrors the spirit of its time, revealing the morals, moods, and desires of those who create and consume it. Today's popular songs among young Americans often glorify sex, rebellion, violence, and feelings of exclusion or marginalization, signaling a continued societal decline since the 1960s. This trend is evident even in Christian circles, where contemporary services feature rock music instead of traditional hymns, and missionaries abroad use such music in their efforts, often to the dismay of older generations who find the combination inappropriate. In biblical examples, music is often melodic, uplifting, and instructive, with songs like those in the Psalms praising God and His works, family life, and godliness while denouncing evil. Amos criticizes Israel's chants as being influenced by alcohol, overindulgence, violence, and lax standards during times of abundance, suggesting a divine preference for music that reflects God's character and standards of quality.
Cultural Paradigms in Scripture
Sermon by Richard T. RitenbaughIsraelitish culture forms the foundation of Western civilization, which dominates North America, Europe, Australia, and similar regions because these areas were colonized largely by Israelitish peoples whose habits shaped local societies. Most who inhabit these nations were born into them and therefore remain culturally insulated, experiencing other cultures only superficially through brief travel or media. This produces a strong bias that favors the Israelitish pattern of highly individualistic, free, independent, structured, and technologically advanced life while regarding it as superior. Earlier Hebrew culture placed heavy emphasis on honor and shame together with tribal, national, and conventional loyalties, yet by the first century Jewish practice had shifted toward an increasing focus on the minutiae of law and command, introducing a pronounced guilt-and-innocence orientation. Biblical cultures therefore appear strange to modern Israelitish readers, who would feel like fish out of water if transported into patriarchal clan life under Abraham, tent-dwelling under Moses, the unsettled period of the judges, the mixed monarchy, post-exilic imperial rule, or the Judeo-Hellenistic-Roman setting of the first century. The same three cultural paradigms visible in Scripture persist today, but Israelitish readers are intimate only with their own guilt-and-innocence lens and merely familiar with the other two, causing Scripture to be read somewhat myopically. God nevertheless embedded language and narratives that address all three paradigms so that anyone, regardless of cultural background, can grasp His Word.
America's Imminent Perfect Storm
CGG Weekly by Richard T. RitenbaughIs there a leader in the wings who will have the fortitude to face the coming crisis? Perhaps there is, though it appears that he has not shown his face in public.
Immigration and the Kingdom of God
'Prophecy Watch' by David C. GrabbeUnlike Europe and the United States, God ensures that all His potential citizens will conform to His culture.
Ich Bin Heide
'WorldWatch' by Charles WhitakerWorld news, events, and trends from the standpoint of biblical prophecy for November 2004.
The Whole World is Writhing
Commentary by John W. Ritenbaugh (1932-2023)Wherever secularism has gained ascendancy, it has attempted to bully and harass the religious elements of society by the tyranny of political correctness.
Learning the Right Things (Part One)
Commentary by John W. Ritenbaugh (1932-2023)The harmful things people learn thoroughly in their youth will sabotage any helpful steps to correct this earlier enslaving conditioning.
Learning the Right Things (Part Two)
Commentary by John W. Ritenbaugh (1932-2023)If parents are not gatekeepers of their children's culture, other philosophies will capture their attention and warp their perception of reality.
The Gospel of Freedom and Democracy
CGG Weekly by David C. GrabbeFor good or ill, John Winthrop's 'city on a hill' imagery has come to pass in the United States — but the light it is emitting is feeble at best.
Standing With God (Part Two)
CGG Weekly by Charles WhitakerWisdom counsels God's people not to rely on worldly conservatives to fight their battles for them. True Christians will find themselves using untempered mortar.
The Handwriting Is on the Wall (2002)
Feast of Tabernacles Sermon by John W. RitenbaughThe Israelitish nations (the United States, Britain, Canada, France, and others) hold a culture that is different from the cultures of the Gentile peoples now streaming into them. That difference is real but not a matter of innate superiority. Israel is holy, meaning different and a cut above, only because God has given it His Word, which shapes how Israelites think, imperfectly though they follow it. Religion is the most powerful influence shaping a nation's culture, and what a people worships, it becomes. Language communicates culture, so the many tongues now heard within Israelitish borders signal the arrival of foreign cultures, which work like leaven in dough. Deuteronomy 28:43-49 treats the rise of the stranger within the gates as a curse for disobedience. God does not want cultures mixed, because diverse cultures cannot be put together and expected to get along. Mixing leads Israelites, who are fascinated by what others do, into idolatry and further sin. The 1965 Immigration Reform Act opened the door, and the results include economic burdens, higher crime, and a loss of pride in national heritage, replaced by political correctness. Islamic culture, sharing almost nothing with Israelitish culture, poses the greatest threat. God's people must not be unequally yoked with unbelievers, but must live separate from the world, because their citizenship is in heaven.
The Will of the People
CGG Weekly by David C. GrabbeDoes the public truly care about this death knell—the fact that a civilization cannot survive if the basic building block, the family, is destroyed?
Israel's Immigration Problem
Sermon by John W. Ritenbaugh (1932-2023)Economically, the alien has enslaved modern Israel by becoming the lender, putting an iron yoke around the necks of the people in the host nations.
America's Cosmopolitan Elites
CGG Weekly by Charles WhitakerThe profile of a "cosmocrat" includes his open-armed embrace of tolerance, diversity, inclusiveness, and universalism. He seeks to be all things to all people.
America the Great
CGG Weekly by David C. GrabbeWith our wealth, our power, our resources, and our technology, we have become a great nation. But it is all for naught unless we also become a good nation.
Sodom and Egypt
Sermonette by John W. Ritenbaugh'Sodom and Egypt' in Revelation 11:8 identifies Jerusalem, but stands for all the inhabitants of modern Israel, including the US, Canada, and England.
A Quick Survey of American Christianity
Commentary by John W. Ritenbaugh (1932-2023)A nation's religions generally determine the moral standards of a nation. The United States is currently afflicted with biblical illiteracy.
9-11 and American Decadence
CGG Weekly by Richard T. RitenbaughThis morning marked the eighth anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center buildings in New York City by Islamic fundamentalists. ...
The Beast and Babylon (Part Two)
'Personal' from John W. RitenbaughCurrently, Europe is not looking very Beastly. Babylon is the world's anti-God system, and Roman institutions inspire Israelite culture even today.
Conspiracy Theory (Part Fifteen)
Commentary by John W. Ritenbaugh (1932-2023)Satan has been working in the educational system, recognizing that the educator (secular or religious) can do more lasting damage than any other leader.
Remember Lot's Wife
'Prophecy Watch' by Ted E. BowlingLot's wife is best known for locking back and becoming a pillar of salt. What was so important that she yearned for Sodom? The same pull can draw us away.