Adam Reece ☩

Now in the Devotus library! Thomas Watson's A Body of Divinity and The Ten Commandments. His sermons on the Westminster Shorter Catechism, in the words of the first edition (1692).

Dear James Lindsay - You stand before the living God as a man still dead in trespasses and sins. The light of nature and the light of Scripture both condemn you. You have known enough of the moral law written on the heart to be without excuse, yet you have not bowed the knee to the Lord of glory. Every day you continue in unbelief is a day of added guilt. The wrath of God abides on you. You know nothing of true liberty. Repent, and believe the gospel. Jesus Christ, the eternal Son, took flesh, fulfilled all righteousness, bore the curse of the law in the place of sinners, and rose again the third day. He is Lord. There is no other name under heaven given among men by which you must be saved. Your learning, your critique of false religion, and your defense of liberty will not plead for you in the day of judgment. Only the blood of Christ can cover sin. Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead. This is the way of salvation. To withhold that confession is to reject the only mediator between God and man. The heart that will not own Christ as Lord remains in rebellion, and rebellion is the essence of sin. Your life will remain truly empty. Many talk of liberty while remaining slaves to their own sin. So it is with you. You have not been born again. You have not been delivered from the power of darkness. Turn from every false refuge. Flee to Christ. The door of mercy will not stand open forever. Do not harden your heart. Repent. Believe. Confess Jesus Christ as Lord. There is no other course that leads to true life and liberty.

That's it, we're adding Thomas Goodwin to the Library. teapawt.net/MattSmethurst/status/2…

Ohio votes for governor next Tuesday, and the choice is Vivek Ramaswamy or Amy Acton. I live in Cincinnati so I'll be voting in this election (my church is in KY, just across the river). Some men in my church have been having a lively discussion about it. I’ve had friends around the country reach out to ask who I plan to vote for, and I’ve been on the fence. But I've thought it through and come to a decision. There are four options. Option 1: Don’t vote in the governor’s race. That’s childish and irresponsible. We live in a country where we have a voice and should steward it wisely. Grown ups don’t always like the choices we’re given, but we don’t pout like babies as a result. Grow up, make a choice, and stand by it. Option 2: Vote for Amy Acton. Hard pass. I haven’t voted for a Democrat in my life and I’m not about to start now. That leaves us with two remaining options to consider. Option 3: Vote for the third party candidate, Don Kissick. I call this the “Principled Option.” This one is more intriguing. One man in my church suggested that we should regard Vivek’s candidacy for governor as a resume builder as he positions himself for another presidential run. If he wins this race, that legitimizes him as a serious contender for the Presidency and minimizes his perceived negatives as a Hindu. Voting third party sends a message that we don’t want either Acton or Vivek. If Acton wins, she’ll be a hamstrung governor with limited ability to get much done because the statehouse is run by Republicans who will stop her. Option 4: Hold our noses and Vote for Vivek. And do this despite the fact that he’s a Hindu who would use political power to remake Ohio in his image. I call this the “Practical Option.” Frankly, I don’t like any of these options. But the hard reality is this: either Acton or Vivek will be the next governor of Ohio. Take your pick. The Principled Option is appealing because I’m not supporting someone who worships pagan gods and wants to import millions of people into Ohio using H-1B visas. Vivek doesn’t see Ohio as a particular people but as an economic zone. The Principled Option would be playing the long game, taking an “L” this cycle to send a message that men like Vivek are unelectable. The Practical Option is appealing for no other reason than to prevent Acton from gaining power. As Ohio health director she closed businesses, schools, and other activities that caused a lot of harm, especially to kids. It was especially infuriating to see how these decisions harmed kids. We’ve all seen how the Democratic Party has been pulled hard left the last few years, and we can’t afford even four years of an ineffective Democrat governorship. It’s an ugly choice but I believe I’ll vote for Vivek Ramaswamy. Here’s why. I believe playing the “long game” is a luxury we cannot afford. We aren’t playing with action figures here. Whoever is governor will actually govern and enact policies that affect people’s lives. And I believe Acton’s policies will be worse than Vivek’s. I’d rather oppose a Hindu who wants to appeal to conservatives than a liberal Democrat who despises my existence. And don’t believe the line that a Republican statehouse will keep Acton in check. We’ve seen what she did with executive power when she had it. The lockdowns didn’t come from the legislature. A governor appoints the people who run state agencies, sets their priorities, and holds the veto pen. Hamstrung is not the same as harmless. The days of peace-time elections are over. Every election is now a war-time election. The results of elections are not mere matters of policy, but matters of survival. Amy Acton is a leftist, and the left has increasingly demonstrated their willingness to crush anything that stands in their way. Democrats have gotten increasingly unhinged, irrational, and draconian. The Democratic Party is running open socialists and Islamists around the country. They cannot be reasoned with, only defeated. The best time to take the Principled Option is in the primaries. That’s when you send a message. Vote for what you love in the primary. Vote for what you can tolerate in the general. November is the time to live in reality and take the Practical Option. So I’m going to vote for Vivek next Tuesday, despite my misgivings about him, and despite the advantages a victory might give him in future elections. We’ll cross that bridge when we get there. In the meantime, the most important electoral calculation is stopping the left. My kids and future grandkids deserve that.

No earthly authority may coerce anyone to faith. Civil magistracy is an earthly authority. Therefore, no civil magistrate may coerce anyone to faith.

Every anti-abortion person should watch this video. 0:00 Context 3:33 The video 6:58 Parting Thoughts I went to Kristan Hawkins' (@KristanHawkins) "Prove Me Wrong" event at GVSU with the goal of having a respectful conversation with her about whether the majority of women who have abortions are "second-victims" and whether that rhetoric is helpful to the anti-abortion movement. ㅤ She refused to speak with me, and when I went to the mic when there was no one there and no line, she instructed her staffers "Don't talk to him. Ignore him." ㅤ After someone tried to talk to her (they were not even with me), there were two minutes where no one was at the mic. She preferred sitting in silence under the "Prove Me Wrong" tent to actually engaging with me, someone who has done anti-abortion activism on that campus multiple days this year, and who was seeking a good-faith dialogue. ㅤ The only thing that broke the silence was when one of her (presumably) staffers went to the mic to ask her a question. ㅤ She also said, "I don't talk with Westboro Baptists" to the first student who tried to respectfully talk with her. That student did not deserve to be spoken to that way. ㅤ He showed no signs of malice whatsoever, and she shut down her conversation with him in under a minute, even though there was no line behind him. I cannot speak for that student, but my understanding is he agrees that incremental legislation is not necessarily sinful. ㅤ Calling people who disagree with her about the second victim narrative "Westboro Baptist types" is slanderous and only pushes more people to become abolitionists. I disagree with abolitionists about incrementalism and have made lengthy, well-researched videos arguing against their opposition to incremental restrictions on abortion. She destroys all that work when she shuts down sincere conversations about the second-victim narrative. Doing so only drives people to become abolitionists whose main appeal is that they rightfully call out the second-victim narrative as bogus. ㅤ Maybe Kristan should consider learning from Charlie Kirk, who spoke with me about this very issue at MSU last year in a very respectful 5-minute conversation, where I immediately left when he said the conversation was over. ㅤ Refusing to talk with anyone who is not in lock-step with her exact pro-life rhetoric only pushes people away from the pro-life moment. Perhaps she could have used today to model the open-mindedness that she desires pro-choicers to have. ㅤ While I consider it unlikely she will ever model the open-mindedness we should want in political debate, if she has a change of heart, she can DM me, and we can set up a good-faith discussion on this in the future.

Keep plodding. Keep refining.