Fall Musings (10/9/2026)

Riddleblog and Blessed Hope Updates:

I am pleased to announce that I have a substantial book and an academic essay forthcoming, Lord willing. Both are under contract and should reach publication by the end of 2027 or early 2028. I am very excited about these projects and I’ll tell you more about them later (when I can)
I am hard at work on the Romans series on the Blessed Hope Podcast. I hope you are enjoying going through Romans as much as I am! There are eleven episodes posted, with about fifteen episodes written. Completing these projects may require a break in podcast releases early in the New Year. We’ll see how this all unfolds

Thinking Out Loud:

Protestia is in my “X” feed and I must say, glimpsing at it is like passing an auto accident and slowing down to gawk. One of the frequent images from progressive churches is the number of middle age and older women clergy. My guess is that in their off-hours or before they were ordained, many of them are known by their neighbors as “cat ladies,” or a vocal “Karen” who shows up to complain to their HOA board that someone is flying an American flag or wearing a Maga hat while walking their dog through the neighborhood. Those who loved quilting and arts and crafts are now finding/creating liturgical vestments adored by their congregations of a dozen or so seniors and their caregivers, who like the bright colors and attend these churches on Sundays as outings from their residential facilities. These “cleric-ettes” even wear their fuzzy slippers to work! Thanks, Protestia, for reminding us of the absolute folly and soul-risking danger of progressive theology
When my musings become fantasies, I can only wonder what life in America would be like if we are one people, united by a constitutional Republican government, where the legislative branch actually did its job. Then the fantasy goes away when I’m reminded of our two miserable political parties who rule our congress, trying to “own” each other, and not working together to get important things done at a time when important things really do need to be done
If the Reformed ever had a “blessings of the animals” ceremony, would cats be included?
As a Yankees fan I can’t help but take special delight in the fact that both the Red Sox and them cheatin’ Astros were eliminated from the playoffs on the same day. Then the Yankees self-destructed against the Rays. Ugh . . . the ups and downs of being a sports fan
The title “Heritage American” is now a big deal in some Christian nationalist circles. If anyone has reason to be a Heritage American, I have more. 3x Mayflower descendant on my maternal side (Howland, Tilley, Allerton), my paternal line (Rötlisperger) arrived in PA in 1733. Of my 32 ancestral lines, the most recent one of them to arrive in America was in 1830. So, when asked about my nationality, I am truly an American. I do affirm “Christ is king” but always along with his other two offices (prophet and priest). As to lineage—Swiss (some) and British (mostly). As to criminal record or parking tickets, faultless. But I count it all dung to know I am a member of Christ’s church and am looking forward to the realization of my heavenly citizenship. And just in case one of these “Christian” nationalists becomes president, I do keep my passport current and pray the Swiss will take me back as a refugee
We can only wonder what Trump’s presidency might have been like had he never opened a “Truth Social” account
After spending so much time working through Romans 7:14-25, I think I’ll change my personal pronoun to the “wretched man”
I don’t get the “care emoji.” It is supposed to be a “virtual hug,” but it looks like a cartoon monster, or a face in a bad dream. I’ll bet AI or the CCP will use it for nefarious purposes if not already doing so
Endnotes are still a tool of the devil. When AI takes over, there will be no footnotes, only endnotes. Let that be a warning to you

Recently Read:

Richard Bell’s recent book, The American Revolution and the Fate of the World (2025), challenges the reader not to think of the Revolutionary War as an isolated conflict between Great Britain and thirteen rebellious colonies. Rather, Bell contends, the American Revolution was an important part of a much larger global conflict, a story which Bell strives to tell.

The book is arranged as a series of vignettes, each of which covers one facet of a much larger war of which the American Revolution was but a part. Each addresses a particular aspect of the conflict in a highly personalized way, centering around a central character who plays an important role in that portion of Bell’s larger story.

Take, for example, the Boston Tea Party—the tea which ended up in Boston Harbor came from China as a consequence of on-going trade wars and colonial aspirations in the Far East between the British, Dutch, and the Portuguese. Bell then takes up the role of the Hessians, who, as paid mercenaries from Prussia, fought for the British in America and elsewhere, with many staying behind in America once the war ended. Their descendants form a significant portion of the modern American populace.

Bell addresses an all-too often overlooked fact that the largest theater of the war was not the Atlantic Seaboard and Britain’s American colonies, but the Western frontier—everything west of the Berkshires and Appalachians. This Western territory amounted to a 3,000 mile long front, which had recently been controlled by the French (who were defeated in the French and Indian Wars), and now with the Spanish claiming a significant portion of Florida and the Mississippi valley (including New Orleans and territory as far north as Illinois). The Spanish, at war with Britain and allied with France, supplied much in the way of arms and gunpowder to the Patriots through all sorts of back channel means. There were numerous long forgotten battles and skirmishes in this Western region, which was filled with many unhappy native Americans betrayed by endless broken promises from the French, British, and the fledgling Americans.

Bell directs the reader’s attention to the French efforts to oust the British from their Caribbean holdings, which were far more important and lucrative to the British (sugar, rum, molasses, and tobacco), than goods imported to and from the colonies (lumber, cotton, tobacco). A massive French fleet under deGrasse fought the British navy to a draw at the hugely important but largely forgotten naval Battle of the Capes (or the Battle of the Chesapeake) and successfully deposited Rochambeau and his soldiers in Virginia. This was in preparation to trap Cornwallis at Yorktown. But that same French fleet was thoroughly defeated shortly after by His Majesty’s superior navy in the Caribbean. England lost America, but retained its vital interests elsewhere. And while all of that was going on, Spain made an all-out effort to take the fortress of Gibraltar back from the British, but failed miserably. During this same period, England struggled to retain the crown jewel of its colonial empire, India, overcoming Dutch and French efforts to ally themselves with indigenous groups seeking to throw off their British overlords. And, lest we forget, the British were establishing yet another new colonial entity while war was raging globally—the vast penal colony of Australia.

In the end, England lost its thirteen American colonies to independence and Florida to Spain—a huge set back. Yet, at the same time, King George retained Canada, the British holdings in the Caribbean, the fortress of Gibraltar which controlled the entrance to the Mediterranean, its crown jewel of India, and its trade routes to and from China, while at the same time decimating the French and Spanish navies and thereby defeating its two principle European foes. This was indeed a time of global warfare.

Bell’s book is an interesting read on an important but overlooked topic. You’ll enjoy it, as I did.

Recommended Links:

Recovering the Presbyterian Prayer Book

All of B. B. Warfield’s works now downloadable at Monergism, in an updated version

Here are a couple of important on-line resources to check out: Reformed Faith and Practice and Themelios

This is going to become an important issue across the country—doctrinal discrimination and church building permits

Ever wonder why things in the Middle East are the way they are? Then listen to this School of War episode: Simon Sebag Montefiore on the Middle East. Outstanding!

Fulton Sheen—A papal showman and the first TV evangelist

Just for Fun:

My favorite new sport

Fake AI pictures of dangerous animals terrorizing your community is now a thing. Fake crocs and vipers are the latest

My childhood suspicions about vegetables are confirmed

Speaking of crocs, what could possibly go wrong here?

Didn’t ZZ Top write a song about this? Arrested for Driving While Blind?

Now this is really creepy

Legionnaires disease at Yankee Stadium? Must be a CCP or a Red Sox plot

Speaking of bacterial disease, are these things not incubators for all kinds of the bad stuff?

That renowned expert on eschatology, J. D. Vance, says “the Antichrist is among us!” Hmmm . . . I’ll leave it at that . . .

Putin may not be able to push “wafer thin” Mr. Creosote out a window, so he better get a bucket