This was our blog’s eleventh year, and as is our custom, here are our top ten posts from 2021.
Before listing them, we did want to note that this year had a lot of changes on the back end of the blog, which hopefully have given the readers a better experience. Our traffic and archives had grown too much for HostGator, so we changed our hosting service over to Mere. Also this year, Google stopped maintaining Feedburner, so we had to move our subscribers to Follow.it. That service costs money, but we are thankful that The Master’s Seminary graciously picked up the tab.
What’s that you say? You are not a subscriber? Well, before you make the jump to our top ten posts, you should go to the box that says “Get new posts by email” (either on your side bar or if you are on your phone, it is at the bottom of the page, or at this link here). Fill that out, and then you will be a bona fide subscriber to The Cripplegate.
Here are our top 10 posts (by unique IP addresses to view it) from 2021.
Tullian, Byron, and the need for repentance. This was not a fun post to write (or read) but it apparently was helpful in reminding our readers that theology has consequences, and bad theology has devastating consequences.
Sheol, Hades, and Gehenna: are there differences?. This post looked the biblical terms used for these three places associated with the afterlife. There are differences between them, and understanding those differences reminded our readers of Jesus’ ability to reorient everything–even the afterlife–around himself.
No, Jesus would not require vaccine passports. As society gradually reopened post-COVID, one Canadian church began requiring vaccine passports for those attending worship. Jordan looked at some of the implications of a church barring sick people from attending corporate worship.
Even if there was fraud. After the election of President Biden, a study found that nearly half of Americans thought “large-scale fraud” was instrumental in President Trump’s loss. Eric wrote a post for those people, reminding them of some theological realities which are true, even if there was fraud.
“I love my students too much to lie to them”. School boards around the country were roiled this year as parents and teachers began to revolt against the infiltration of CRT into educational philosophy. In Virginia, the NAACP even called the CRT curriculum “shocking and racist.” Jesse (who pastors in Virginia) wrote a post looking at one teacher who was suspended for opposing the transgender components of this curriculum.
How Simone Biles helps us understand Eric Liddell. The Olympics took place this summer, and they provided a bit of a respite from COVID dominated news. When American gymnast Simone Biles dropped out of several events she was expected to win, it had an over-sized impact. Everyone, it seemed had an opinion on the merits of her decision. Jordan wrote a post drawing a connection from that point back to Liddell–an Olympic runner who also dropped out of an event hew as favored to win.
Why Pastor James Coates’ imprisonment is actual persecution. When Canadian pastor James Coates was jailed for preaching during COVID restrictions, one of the more ludicrous responses seen in some corners of evangelicalism was to say that his arrest and imprisonment was “not actual persecution.” This is one of two posts at The Cripplegate on Coates’ arrest, and it was a response to those who felt the need to minimize what he was going through.
Cry the Beloved Country: Understanding this week’s anarchy in South Africa. Back in July, South Africa descended into anarchy. Tensions had been simmering under the surface there for sometime, but they erupted in riots and vigilantism. Clint wrote about what was happening in his beloved country, and it was our third most-read post of the year (as it was even picked up by secular sources that referred back to it).
What would Jesus say about the Rise and Fall of Mars Hill? 2021 was the year of the podcast, and it seemed like everyone was listening to Christianity Today’s Rise and Fall of Mars Hill. However, there was one obvious hole in the plot of that pod-cast: while lamenting how dull evangelicals are for embracing Mark Driscoll, the podcast essentially skipped over the fact that MacArthur had been warning about MD for years. While some want to use the Driscoll dynamic to retool the notion of Christian leadership, Jesse wrote a post encouraging Christians to simply remember who said what about Driscoll and when. What leaders were proved correct, and which were refuted? “Wisdom,” Jesus said, “is vindicated by her children.”
Master’s Seminary pastor jailed. Our most read post this year was about James Coates’ arrest and imprisonment for shepherding his church when the government had banned it. James is a graduate of Master’s Seminary, and is friends with all of us at The Cripplegate. When we started our blog, we chose the name “Cripplegate” after a location where many of the non-conformists preached when the government prohibited them from gathering with their congregations. We did not expect that only a few years later one of our friends would be similarly persecuted. Eric’s article was our most read post of the year.
Along those lines, James Coates has a book coming out soon about his ordeal Co-written with Nathan Busenitz, God vs. Government will be released in March, but can be pre-ordered here.
As always, if you have requests for something we should blog on, leave it in the comments below.
And, if you are curious, By the way, here are our lists from 2020, from 2019, from 2018, from 2017, from 2016, from 2015, from 2014, from 2013, from 2012, and from our first year, 2011.