Our Foreign Service is changing the rules: The Foreign Service – the US Department of State’s on-ramp for career diplomats – is watering down its application process with a change that critics say could have troubling implications for national security.“I worry that we’ll be sending good community activists over to Baghdad and Beirut who don’t …
The Southern Baptists: A Reckoning Without a Way to Count
Albert Mohler is in sackcloth these days: Fourth, the world will be watching how Southern Baptists handle this report and the moral burden of sexual abuse as they gather in Anaheim. If there are factual corrections to be made, let them be made. But the weight of truth calls for repentance, broken-hearted concern, and a …
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Why They Should only Hate a Few Old White Men — Gavin Ashenden
On Saturday mornings my youngest daughter (who was at Beaulieu as a teenager) and I have taken to having zoom calls with coffee, so we… … 13 more wordsWhy They Should only Hate a Few Old White Men — Gavin Ashenden
The Wetland Way, Week 4, Sunday: Making a Run for the Halls of the King — Chet Aero Marine
They shoved off about midnight. They first made sure the coast was clear on the beach, which it was; Andy’s predictions about the Verecundans’ patterns were correct. They hauled the boat over the rise and down the beach towards the water. It took about seven people to do this. Once at the water’s edge, they […]The …
The Smelliest Cigars of Them All — vulcanhammer.info
In many ways, the world we live in is a different place from when Vulcan went offshore fifty to sixty years ago. Some of the issues remain, such as energy independence and security. But others, in the U.S. at least, have been banished from the public square. One of those issues is smoking. I duly […]The …
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The Fast and Temptation of Jesus Christ
In this series of elevations Bossuet explores Jesus’ time in the wilderness, his fast and his encounter with Satan, who tempted him. It includes his …The Fast and Temptation of Jesus Christ
The Canonisation of Charles de Foucauld, and Bossuet’s Elevations on the Mysteries
Today Charles de Foucauld is being canonised. The Frenchman who turned away from God and then back toward him in a way that led to his martyrdom in Algeria in 1916 will now be known as St. Charles de Foucauld. I've noted my own contact with Muslims over the years, but in the case of …
The Wetland Way, Week 2, Saturday: Some Get to Shop, Some Get Stuck Meeting with an Ambassador — Chet Aero Marine
George found it quite a challenge in getting Darlene up and going the next day, which in turn had the same problem with Terry. They barely made their appointment with the Vidameran embassy to try to finalise a visit with King Francis. Once they got there, though, they found their hurry unjustified, as the Vidameran […]The …
How the Church attacks its own — UnHerd
When Anthony Trollope submitted the manuscript of Barchester Towers, the publishers rejected it as over-the-top. They thought the Church of England couldn’t possibly behave in this kind of way. 1,495 more wordsHow the Church attacks its own — UnHerd
Why the Ukrainians Didn’t Evangelise
In 1988 my church aided (that's an understatement) the resettlement of twenty-four Ukrainian Pentecostal refugees. For me it was part of the experience of a lifetime: I had my first contact with the Soviets on a commercial level the previous year, and visited Moscow and what was then Leningrad in April. Getting to know the …
Positive Infinity 