Impaired?

"Yes I think I'm OK... I walked into the door again

If you ask that's what I'll say, 

And it's not your business anyway.

I guess I'd like to be alone, with nothing broken, nothing thrown

Just don't ask me how I am..."

Luca by Susan Vega.

"For if someone were to come to you with another Jesus, or if you received a different spirit, or a different message from the one we brought, you would put up with it readily enough".

2 Corinthians 11:4.

"For God has not given us over to a spirit of fear, but to one of power and love and self control" 

2 Timothy 1:7.

Imagine the scene. 

Someone visits your church and in a special event meeting, proceeds to inform you that they have been visited by the Lord Himself, who has gifted them with a 'new' and astonishing translation of the scriptures, which will 'bypass your mind' and speak directly 'to your spirit', unlocking truths that have been hidden or neglected by Christians for centuries. 

What would you think? 

Would you rush to the back at the end of the meeting to eagerly buy your copy, or would you want to be more cautious, going home to learn more about this 'anointed' person and to seek a wider analysis of his 'revelation' from others who were qualified in the field of biblical scholarship?

Another consideration... what would it say about the church that allowed such behaviour freely and openly to occur among its congregation? Would this be something just to winsomely accept, or would it justifiably raise alarm bells about the nature of what was being accepted as good for your spiritual well-being?

This isn't a hypothetical situation for many. 2020 saw the release of something entitled the 'passion' translation (apparently, that was the name of the 'angel' that dictated it) by one Brian Simmons.

Simmons has spent much of the year visiting churches to speak on his revelation and to encourage Christians to use this book as the 'best' translation of scripture. The problem is that when it is placed alongside accurate and painstakingly produced translations provided by the formal equivalence process over decades of careful preparation, it fails miserably and provides numerous very dubious and dangerous statements which argue with the straightforward translation of the original Hebrew and Greek texts (see here for a few examples on the issue).

I touch on this because it's a good example of how we should be incredibly weary of someone seeking to bring something 'new' into the church that will detach us from Christ and the Gospel and lead us woefully astray... just like the impositions we have found ourselves placed under by our government this year. I know that many who read that last statement will no doubt want to argue or dispute it - it's for our safety, they'll cry, but before you settle on that, have a listen to this sermon from a minister in Ireland on the current situation - five brief points that need to be addressed by all of us. If you're happy that everything's fine in respect to what's happening in our churches after listening to this, then perhaps you need to consider afresh the verse from Paul in 2 Corinthians I've quoted above.

The sad truth, of course, is that everything is far from good as a consequence of the capitulation by church to state. Both Douglas Murray and Giles Fraser have written again this week of the continuing, nay escalating closures of churches across the country, a number of them permanently, as ministers continue to bow to the 'safety' demands not to fellowship in person and most certainly not to worship if you do. It is a blight upon us and the nation that we have so demeaned the life in which God wishes and requires us all to share. As Giles Fraser notes, God Himself has placed 'skin in this game' - even to the death on a cross, so can we really afford as His disciples to do less?

2021 is already shaping up to be an even more restrictive and miserable state of affairs than these past 9 months, whatever the 'virus' does, so we need to seriously ask ourselves are we merely going to continue to go with what's required (and then demanded), or are we going to begin to seek new and fresh ways of allowing church life to breathe again? Let's hope we can indeed become renewed in a spirit of power and love, and boldness (Acts 4:29) to do something effective for God's kingdom in the days to come.