Eicc Podcast For Cultural Reformation

In this episode we examine and define totalitarianism- its meaning, origins, and some historic examples. We look at the ancient roots of this ideology as expressed by Aristotle and implicitly adopted by Thomas Aquinas and the Roman Catholic church. As we witness the continued push toward totalitarianism in Canada in particular, what were the assumptions and commitments that brought us to this point?

Aaron Rock, Ezra Institute Fellow and Pastor of Harvest Windsor, joins us on this episode to talk about how to understand Christian unity, and what our view on unity and division say about the gospel. Disunity is rooted in differing theological understandings of what it means for Christ to be Lord. We also touch on the Great Schism, marriage and sex, eschatology, the church, and the current state of emergency in Canada.

John Cooper of Skillet joins us to talk about their recent album, Dominion, about the experience of writing music in a dark and confused cultural moment, and about the importance of Christians participating in civil life.

The dispute over the meaning and extent of rights and freedoms is on display in the Canadian truckers' ongoing protest in Ottawa, and the response to it from media and elected officials. But this dispute is also rooted in an older and deeper philosophical system known as Critical Theory. As ever, the solution is ultimately and only found at the cross of Jesus Christ.

What a man avoids saying is often more telling than what he does say. As a 70-kilometer-long truck convoy approaches Ottawa in opposition to mandatory vaccinations, we have an opportunity to reflect on some of the reasons that evangelicals have seemed hesitant to publicly and clearly declare, from a scriptural foundation, what they oppose.

In a Christian worldview, every area of life and experience is to be brought under the lordship of Jesus the King. Another way to say this is that as God's vice-gerents, human beings are called to exercise God-honouring dominion over the earth. Special guest Allie-Beth Stuckey joins us to talk about the Christian calling to faithfulness in the sphere of politics and media.

As Canada faces a legal context that is increasingly hostile to Christian belief and practice, the church has an opportunity and an obligation to speak prophetically to our civil authorities, reminding them that they are ministers under authority of Jesus Christ, the Ruler of the kings of the earth.

Jesus Christ is gathering His inheritance from all the nations of the earth, reconciling and restoring what had been handed over to the devil. Christians have graciously been given a role to play in this restoration process.

From the creation of the very first people in the garden of Eden, human beings were called to develop the earth to create all kinds of wealth and riches that lay hidden and undeveloped in creation. This development was not and is not easy. There are three ways by which wealth can be built: hard work, inheritance, or theft.

For this Christmas week episode, we examine a recent tweet from Tim Keller submitted by a listener on the nature of the cross and of power. To understand what Christ was accomplishing and demonstrating on the cross, we need to consider why He came to earth as a baby in the first place, and what He has called His people to in the time before His incarnation as well as after His ascension to the Father.

This week's episode deals with the recent hustle of Bill C4 through the Canadian senate, to become law early in the new year, describing how Christian counselling has effectively and explicitly been made a criminal offense. We also get a chance to respond to some listener questions on the relationship between law and gospel.

Today Canada passed Bill C4, asserting that the basis of human dignity consists in radical autonomy from any tradition or authority. Such legislation should leave no doubt whether politics is a moral issue - it is something that Scripture speaks about, and something that ministers ought to speak on both in public and in the pulpit.

The issue of theonomy has been a perennial question - how do we understand, interpret, and apply the law of God in its original context, as well as the present day? Beginning with the basics, Joe Boot examines the origins and assumptions of the theonomic perspective, explaining that at its root, theonomy is a view of Christian ethics that seeks to take the whole Word of God seriously.

Pastor Tim Stephens of Fairview Baptist Church, Calgary, joins us to talk about his experience with Alberta Health Services and the reason he persisted in gathering his church together. Andre Schutten considers some of the legal implications and precedents surrounding Tim's case, and the nature of the relationship between the church and the civil magistrate.

Tracking the development of Western thought from the Reformation and forward into today, we notice that several contemporary dominant ideas that have their root in self-conscious opposition to God and His Word, and to the idea of man as the image-bearer of God. Chief among these in our own time is the modern green movement. What does a biblical approach to climate stewardship look like?

As we reflect on the anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, Joe Boot addresses the common perception that the Reformation was a movement limited to the church. Rather, the recovery of biblical authority had and continues to have implications to every area of our life and work.

We revisit two of our favourite themes - Sphere Sovereignty and Modal Aspects - and explore how these two models emerged from the Reformation and how they identify and give expression to the way the world is necessarily organized.

The biblical starting point for all human activity - including academic reflection - is the character of God as revealed in the Bible, the incarnate Son, and the created world. For man to begin with anything else is necessarily to respond in an idolatrous fashion.

Contrary to unbelieving philosophy which places some aspect of human experience on the throne of the universe, and contrary to earlier Christian philosophy which seeks to elevate theology above all other spheres of science, is the Reformational view. On this view, the self-attesting revealed Word of God is the basis for every subsequent theory about the universe.

This episode introduces the idea that aspects of reality hang together like pearls on a thread, and explains how philosophical assumptions inform and direct our everyday activities.