The Open Door

Dr. Cornelius Van Til

Cornelius Van Til is presented as a watershed figure whose thought confronts every thinker with an unavoidable ultimatum: begin and end with the triune God of Scripture, or inevitably with man, reason, or some created substitute; this clarity echoing Joshua’s call to choose whom we will serve made him deeply offensive to those seeking theological or philosophical respectability, yet profoundly liberating to those who grasped its implications. Rushdoony emphasizes that Van Til was not merely a difficult philosopher but a powerful, lucid preacher, whose exposition of 1 Corinthians 1 revealed the gospel as God’s wisdom against human pride. Despite neglect by institutions and hostility from church leaders, Van Til’s influence continued to spread through seminal works like The Defense of the Faith and Christian Theistic Ethics, laying foundations for Christian Reconstruction. His refusal to profit from his books underscored his humility, while the continued demand for his writings even in photocopied form testified to their enduring power. The unresolved question remains whether the church will be judged for neglecting Van Til or renewed by finally embracing his God-centered vision. #CorneliusVanTil #ChristianReconstruction #PresuppositionalApologetics #GodCenteredThinking #Theonomy #FaithAndReason #BiblicalWorldview #Chalcedon #Rushdoony

The Lord's Judgment

When Scripture says “the judgment is God’s,” it means justice must be measured by God’s law, not human opinion. Courts, commerce, and daily life are all called to reflect His righteousness, because justice and righteousness are one and the same in the Bible. Our crisis today is that man’s word has been enthroned above God’s Word, turning opinion into law and preference into policy. We can debate and amend human legislation, but God’s Word stands unaltered and if it does not stand with us, we will not stand before Him.

Do We Have a Dynasty of Wealth in the United States?

This passage argues that the United States does not have a permanent dynasty of wealth. While some inherited fortunes exist, the majority of the richest Americans earned their wealth independently, and new industries such as microelectronics and emerging energy technologies continuously create fresh fortunes. Economic change ensures that wealth shifts over time, discouraging stagnation. Historically, few families have maintained great wealth across generations, and the most successful societies remain those where opportunity allows individuals to rise regardless of their birth. Overall, the passage emphasizes that America’s economic mobility fosters prosperity, innovation, and a continually improving standard of living. #EconomicMobility #WealthCreation #AmericanOpportunity #InnovationAndProsperity

Examples of Apostasy (Enemies in the Church)

Jude 4–7 warns the church to earnestly contend for the faith once delivered by setting before us three stark examples of apostasy: Israel after the Exodus, the fallen angels, and Sodom and Gomorrah, all of whom were richly privileged yet judged for unbelief, rebellion, and moral corruption. Jude makes clear that apostasy is not an intellectual failure but a moral revolt, a refusal to live gratefully and obediently under God’s authority, a temptation heightened when false teachers cloak unbelief in the prestige of philosophy, science, or cultural sophistication, as the Gnostics did then and as modern ideologies do now. Israel presumed upon grace, the angels abandoned their appointed calling in pursuit of autonomy, and Sodom turned prosperity into arrogance and sexual perversion, each illustrating that privilege increases responsibility rather than excuses disobedience. Jude’s message is therefore timeless: the church must not reinterpret God’s revelation to fit the “wisdom” of the age but must defend its priority against every rival worldview, recognizing that the city of man always exalts its own word above God’s Word. The call is not to accommodation but to faithfulness, gratitude, and holy resistance, lest the church repeat the sins of those who believed themselves advanced yet fell under judgment. #Jude #ContendForTheFaith #Apostasy #BiblicalWarning #FaithOnceDelivered #CityOfMan #WorldlyWisdom #MoralRebellion #FalseTeaching #AuthorityOfScripture

The Changed Meaning of Liberty

Historically, liberty meant a religious privilege or immunity freedom from state control because God alone is Lord. Churches, families, and professions possessed protected spheres of life grounded in Christian faith, where the state had no jurisdiction. This understanding survived into early American constitutional thought as “privileges and immunities.” With the Enlightenment and the French Revolution, liberty was redefined. It no longer meant immunity under God’s law, but autonomous self-expression: the right to do whatever one pleases so long as others are not “hurt.” Once God was removed as the definer of man and morality, man and ultimately the state became the new authority deciding what liberty means, who counts as a person, and whose freedoms matter. This new, humanistic liberty led not to freedom but to tyranny. When liberty is detached from God’s law, it becomes license, violence, and finally state control. True liberty, Scripture teaches, comes only from Christ and is grounded in God’s sovereignty, law, and order not in autonomous human will.