The Broadside

 "What was envisaged worked out exactly... We have moved easily through the levels of subversion, each one leaving the church deeper in cultural captivity, becoming, in effect, culturally blind (to secularisation), which neutralised her spiritual integrity. Then, this symbiosis reached the point where the church had no strength to act independently, and so became entirely culturally bound. Now, there is virtually no inclination or will to escape uncritical identification with the authority of the culture, hence the church has been terribly burned and will live with the dreadful consequences - a complete devastation of her value and significance amidst a world uprooted from any spiritual moorings".

Operation Gravedigger - The Gravedigger File Papers, Published by Os Guinness.

"If an Augustine, a Vaughan, a Treherne or a Wordsworth should be born in this modern world, the 'youth' orientated leaders of our religious organisations would soon 'cure' them".

C S Lewis - Membership.

Have you ever wondered how the world would have looked if the vast empire of Rome had never fallen (politically and socially) because of the extensive impact upon that culture of the message of the Christian church?

It's hard for us today to even imagine what it must have been like for that martyr church of the first three centuries, willingly giving themselves to lives of such constant danger and trouble because they understood it was essential not to compromise with the united political and religious imperatives of the day, but to stand resolute in their dissent to Caesar as Lord.

The ramifications of that faithfulness are staggering. Rome itself had to finally adjust to seeing a power above itself in the God who had become evident in the crucifying of a man under Roman law. It had to yield its presumed immovable power to the pierced hands and feet of the man of sorrows, and in so doing, see other powers remove it so that the greater Kingdom than its own could continue to spread throughout the nations.

It is beyond the natural tide of things, in which men always seek what is deemed best for themselves, that such a 'strength' should appear and then prevail, but this is the remarkable story of our world - that bond and free, pagan and religious, high-born and pauper, reflected the reality of the narrative of that earlier history found in the scriptures, and became a realm where, in all stations of life, the palpable reality of the depth-charge of God evidenced amongst us rippled throughout  our science and arts and into every corner of what was expressed as a 'Christian' society.

A year ago, I wrote here of how the vital cornerstone of that heaven-sent 'leaven' had been extracted from the church by the state - that this was no longer just a 'social' or 'moral' trouble, but how the very future of the faith was being drawn by making Christianity nothing more than a vassal of state might.

Many wanted to see the matter entirely as something necessitated by the health concerns of society at large, but this clearly mitigated both the content and the role of churches to "Preach the Word" in all seasons by gagging our public witness to the point, as many secular observers stated, that 'official' church contributions merely become an echo of the state's public health announcements.

The Gospel, in effect, took a back seat (or no seat at all) to our tripping over ourselves to comply with the secular requirements.

A year on, and nothing has changed. Clergy may talk about the 'sinful' or 'moral' questions of not being vaccinated, or happily nod when the political leader states at Christmas that engaging with such a program is right because "Jesus would do so", but none of this even scratches the surface of what I and others raised prior to the "jab" culture seizing the world.

The Gospel challenge in all of this remains unanswered by all of those who have so willingly closed churches, imposed the measures, encouraged jabbed congregations, and so on.

When the Apostle Paul witnessed the encroachment of a foreign (alien to the message of the faith) teaching on the early church, he recognised that this had to be countered and stopped, because the entire nature of Christianity was in jeopardy.

It's abundantly clear from Luke's writing in Acts and Paul's own epistle to the Galatians just how dangerous this became - this 'religion' (manner of behaviour) would insidiously poison the life of the believer so they came to a point, in practice, of becoming far more dependant upon "another" message than the one opened by the saving death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This would be evidenced in their adherence to rules and requirements - in their behaviour - which denied the freedom that is exclusively provided by the message which saved them.

"Powers" had arisen which sought to shut-down the liberty of the faith by directing the church into a cul-de-sac of legalism. Paul made it clear that such behaviour was anathema to God, and must not be authorised.

The history of the church over the last 2,000 years shows us only too well what happens when such 'dominion' takes control. Popes, Emperors, Kings seek to manipulate the means of the church for their own ends, and the power game of these past two years has eagerly sought to employ the opportunity of a medical crisis for those same ends, and yet, the 'leaders' of virtually every Christian emphasis have played along, allowing the congregations beneath them to become entirely defined by the immediate strictures of the hour.

This is a miserable religion!

Any congregation of faith which looses its conviction and strength to understand, define and refute evil is unfit, without repentance, to remain in the company of the saints - so the Lord Himself shows us in His words to the seven churches of Revelation.

The "comfort" that many wish to apply is that, for the present at least, the pandemic appears to be waning, but they should equally notice the response of many realms in the past weeks has not been to ease restrictions, but to tighten them! This is entirely because the intention is not merely to control a health disorder... but to gain a manner of control over society that is far more restrictive than before. This is why our nation (the UK) is currently seeing a barrage of new laws that will curtail public free speech, internet usage, press enquiries and the autonomy of the judiciary - these changes have nothing whatsoever to do with health concerns!

We should clearly have awakened far sooner, but this warning is given once again.

If we wish to see a further generation changed by the truth, we must become a faithful church before this day once again.

POSTSCRIPT:

It has, apparently, been announced today by Government scientists that the virus elements of the crisis are now OVER - that the expected large numbers of cases placing pressure on a winter-stretched health service have failed to materialise, so that, by rights, should allow life to return to normal. Let's see what unfolds next.

Tethered

 "Just as sin came into the world through one man, and then death through sin, so death passed on to all men, because all men sin". Romans 5:12.

"He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives - to release those who have been oppressed". Luke 4:18.

How shaped we are by the past.

There's the obvious ways that this is true - family, upbringing, education, experience - but that barely touches the surface of this truth.

Recently, I found myself watching a video of the last living (from a year ago) man who served as a prosecutor at the trials at Nuremberg in 1946-47. The candid interview raised several key issues, which I'll touch on in a moment, but what also struck me hard was just how much of my life had been moulded by the events that occurred at this time... decades before I was born.

This struggle brought about a shift in the world that was simply huge in respect to the entire culture that I have known for the length of my days.

Virtually all the privileges and luxuries that I have around me all of the time found their first real renditions in the years following that war. The ambitions to bring some level of social security and healthcare to every citizen grew out of this moment, and the atrocities of 'the final solution' framed a manner of law and order that sought to secure the freedom and safety of everyone.

Which brings me to the excellence of what happened at Nuremberg.

The first and vital thing to notice is that this was a trial of those who had committed "crimes against humanity". By their attempt to denigrate and then extinguish particular elements of society, they were, in truth, denying the basic humanity of those that they relentlessly preyed upon which they had deemed to be less than themselves due to some particular, vile form of classification.

The trial found such acts were deemed wholly evil and thereby entirely contrary to the ideals of civilisation - the abuse and extermination of millions of people whose only crime against this state was that they failed to fit the profile of what had been defined as purposefully and morally 'good'.

The judgement of the court was crucial, affirming the right of people everywhere to live in peace and with dignity - to live without the imposition of the state upon such a liberty. The vital nature of this code to our society has been key, especially in respect to realms such as those of medical ethics.

In the midst of our present crisis, the Prime Minister of Japan has so far been the only world leader who has had the courage to once again align with this essential judgement. He stated this in respect to the present global program: "Vaccines will never be administered without the recipient’s consent. We urge the public never to coerce vaccinations at the workplace or upon others around them, and never to treat those who have not received the vaccine in a discriminatory manner".

Nuremberg was the essential reversal of the atrocities which had preceded that point, and this is where there is a parallel to Christianity.

Good theology allows us to view the depth and scope of the wickedness of humanity and understand that a higher court - a higher standard than our own - must prevail in the addressing and evaluating the consequence of such matters.

We stand in the dock, clearly found wanting, but there is another time and place which answers our evil - the cross of Christ. There, amidst an offering for a full redemption, we find full resolve of our guilt and condemnation and are made free by the ransom of another.

Humanity must always be called to a 'greatness' - a truth and goodness - outside of itself, because within us there is only the poverty of sin, and, when this prevails, we encourage only what is wicked, often guised as virtue, especially upon those more vulnerable than ourselves. Genuine dignity and autonomy and worth can only be present when this is so, for we then become dependant upon a principle far richer and enduring than our own selfish ends - a genuine good for our neighbour.

That so needs to be not only the outcome, but the direction of travel we take in this present crisis if we are to truly respect the actual, heaven-sent value of each other and ascribe the genuine value God gives to each, thereby avoiding the folly of those who made some less than they actually are.

A Christmas Cornucopia!

 

The Annunciation by Waterhouse.

"Tidings of great joy!"

If you're looking for a bounty of Gospel grace this season, then just pop over to the recent radiant submissions of the splendid Mockingbird site.

First up, is a nativity that evokes truth and the need for mercy amidst some honest confessions - the 'sign' of the Angel's words is for you!

Then, there's a chance to unwrap what lies above and beyond what we must do (or think we need to achieve) in respect to a goodness that is always there.

Additionally, there's an opportunity to re-consider the manner of 'accommodation' made available that first Christmas, which seeks to explode the folly of thinking this was some 'bleak-mid winter' night by focusing upon the sheer joy that undergirds Luke's gorgeous narrative.

Just a few of the festive delights you can feast upon in a brief time on this precious site... go for it!

Zersetzung

"Many encompass and surround me, their mouths wide to devour, like ravening beasts - my strength is gone, and I am poured out, as I lay in the dust of death".

Psalm 22:13 &14.

There is a policy of decimation at work amongst us, and its methods are as follows - (we are not ignorant of our enemy's devices):

1. Induction.

If we want what is 'good' and 'safe' for the whole, then we must, of necessity, submit to what is defined by authority as "necessary" for this to be so. This process allows a very particular mindset to seep into the norms of everyday life by a process of introducing 'methods' deemed essential for the 'safety' of all. These are then continually re-imposed over time as a necessity to underpin the 'health' of all, substituting what had been for what now must be accepted as proper.

C S Lewis, in his masterful tale, That Hideous Strength, shows how this occurs in a college town, through a Government 'scientific' department imposing just such measures upon the place, and then bringing in the necessary 'strong arm' manpower to insure they are carried through. Lewis clearly understood that this narrative was an insight into what was fast approaching in our own society.

2. Abolition.

Once the pattern in the first stage of the process has been firmly established and accepted, the second stage is to entirely subvert and discredit what had been viewed as 'good' previously. The fulcrum of this process will be a shibboleth established by the authorities that cannot be questioned or challenged, which defines the insoluble power of this oversight.

The object of marvel will be underpinned by an entire ideology that  "correctly" defines what is to be acceptable and what is to be marked and reported as heresy.

Means of resistance will be removed, those marked as erroneous will be muted, and an intentional "undercurrent" will be encouraged to deter and alienate such dissenters from the mainstream, leading to their gradual ostracism, exile, and demise.

3. Conformity.

The "pressure cooker" process of the first two methods are perpetuated until a 'critical mass' is achieved amongst the majority (70-80%) of the population, who entirely conform to the new regime. Once 'hearts and minds' are so manipulated, there can be no discerning questioning of the aims and objectives of the policy (the presumption is accepted that all is for the good). It is at this point that the very 'points of reference' that once referred to very different values come to be re-defined as only speaking of what is deemed right by the new order.

4. Assimilation.

The will of the state becomes all. Individual or collective toil against this will be excised, and the belief will be held that only this single agency can bring genuine security and value.

This is the inversion currently taking hold upon the world.

We are so often ruined by what lies within our natural desires - for "peace and long life", no matter what the cost, but sometimes, the price for this is too high, and, in truth, secures no such ends.

In the face of such schemes, we must clothe one another in the armour of light, and call for an aid beyond ourselves.

Evil employs such methods because they are so effective in the natural - they pander to the longings we carry for self-deification - but the "foolishness" of God is to take what is deemed the weak and foolish things and bless these with the strength that brings light from darkness.

Christmas allows us to view the most explicit expression of this wonder. As those gathered again around the naked child, we are seeing the majesty of the ages, garbed in frail flesh, bringing a victory that no power can prevent, and there is our confidence, our comfort in this most dark hour.

The company of evil are howling and baying, believing they have the day, but there, just beyond their gaze, is a greatness that has already won the fight, and He will soon appear again.

"The only thing"...

 "And an angel of God appeared, whilst God's radiance shone all around the place, and they were all filled with a deep fear".  Luke 2:9.

Science Fiction, as with any useful genre, can give us some telling insights into the reasons for foolish human behaviour.

In the Star Trek Voyager episode entitled The Thaw, we learn of a group of people who have been connected to a program that is meant to rescue them from a global disaster. Sadly, the program fails them and its purpose long after the danger has passed, and those tied to it's failure have now become victims to an endless cycle of control, personified in a character defined as fear.

The story concludes by this avatar being outwitted by a cool, detached application of reason and cunning, leaving it with nothing to feed upon, and thereby allowing a total exhaustion of its ability to prey upon the vulnerability of others.

Fear, as this story actually notes, when applied well, can be a good thing, giving us a healthy wariness of what is unknown or uncertain, but it can also become a tyrant, ruining all that is good.

The shepherd's in the gospel narrative were rightly unsettled by the arrival of the divine presence and God's messenger, who proceeds to seek to calm them so they could receive the tidings he brought, but what use would the message had been if that calming had not occurred? Fear most certainly would have ruined the opportunity of them genuinely sharing the marvel of the message that was being delivered to them. Fear, then, is only good when it leads us to something which is far greater than the fear itself. 

In the past few days, it is estimated that there has been around a 90% cancellation rate in all bookings of Christmas hospitality venues in the festive period, with some four a half million racing since Monday to book a booster, no doubt fuelled in part by the health secretary estimating in Parliament infection rates with the new variant are some 16 times higher than the official data would suggest. The 'seer's' of such means are truly back, stating that we could see 'up to a million' cases a day very shortly, hence, we rush towards 'stricter' "necessary" measures.

Naked fear.

It kills. It relentlessly drives. It banishes all reasonable considerations, and thereby, it leaves us locked into a cycle of increasing trial and loss, too afraid any longer to live beyond such fences.

We are most certainly caught in just such a spiral, but if anything should have been learned in the past months, it is that we lack the natural resources to break this power. We have become a people constantly pushed under by the force of what is upon us, and any suggestion that we should even try to question is deemed evil - we must all submit to a particular single order, or be shunned and banished.

When even natural affection and care becomes subservient to these ends, we must question what has become of ourselves.

Christmas affirms the God who will not be silenced by such misery.

By means of all that is deemed weak and pathetic, the Lord breaks the tyranny and shatters the conventions of the day by showing a sway over sin and death that is unmatched by anyone or anything else, but until that 'reign' becomes known to each of us, fear and wickedness will always leave us chained to the madness that 'we' can achieve what must be in our own devising (Genesis 11).

The 'war' against the current malady is merely an expression of our continual intent to make a particular construct 'king', and fear has become the optimum weapon to wield to do this, but it will all end terribly after the deaths of many.

The question we must ask ourselves is does our trust in God and His Son allow us to work through this trial with certain faith, or just the terror of fear?

D e c e p t i o n

"(Their) hands are defiled by blood - fingers dipped in iniquity with lips filled with lies, continually uttering wickedness. None of them enters just pleas or goes before the law honestly - they rely on empty appeals, filled with lies, uttering wickedness".

Isaiah 59: 3 & 4.

"If you won't go there - if you won't face the darkness and the pain, if you play games with evil and call it anything but evil, you will never experience the sufficiency of Christ". Steve Brown - The pain we avoid.

Amidst all the furore of the last few days, I finally came across a commentary last night that really commenced to get to the heart of matter of what our Government's behaviour really means in the present circumstances.

Once again, Neil Oliver pressed to the heart of the issue when he stated that the true evil being worked against us at present is that the deeds of those involved in normal behaviour last Christmas (celebrating the season together at work in Government buildings) states emphatically that they were not afraid of the nature of the virus, not only prior to any official medical remedy being made widely available, but whilst the rest of us were being told that we needed to be very afraid, and act accordingly.

Sadly, as we've learned from other incidents and enquiries this year, this wasn't, by any means, the only example of those in authority behaving this way towards those expecting what was reasonable and, more importantly, truthful in their guidance.

We know, from the example of other regions of the world, that these measures were commonly unnecessary, and had little or no effect upon the spread of the virus. We know, from the clear examples of what happened in various provinces in India, in Mexico City and Japan, that Ivermectin has provided a very effective and readily available solution to outbreaks, bringing clear and quite remarkable resolve to these, but the West still refuses to even allow such data to be raised. We know that, in spite of all the misery and horror inflicted in these past two years, our leaders continue to seek to rule and control by means which were rejected for such a situation as this for decades before they were imposed upon us.

We have been victims of an unnecessary horror, and it must end.

The poison of such deceit, notes Isaiah, is fatal (59:5). The deeds and fruits of such violence have been made clear, for there can be no justice in this course. We will continue to grope, blindly in the dark, until integrity, clothed by God steps forward to execute what is due comes to us, causing the 'coastlands to offer their due payment' in respect to righteousness (59:18).

It is indeed time for such a reckoning, for only in this manner of intervention, can genuine justice and peace flow amongst us.

P R A Y E R

"Praying at all times in the Spirit with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints". Ephesians 6:18.

So today, we clearly need to talk about viable prayer.

To set us in the right direction, I cannot do better than share with you this excellent posting from today by Rev. Jamie Franklin at the Irreverend You Tube page.

The time for uninformed and 'asking amiss' requests before God's throne is clearly past - it's time for Christians in the UK to get on their knees and get very serious before God if we want to see something vital happen in this land again.

Done Roamin'

 A little theological excellence from the M(p)astor of Blog and Mablog.

In Excelsis Deo

 One of the very best moments from The West Wing.

May we aim for, hope for, pray for, this manner of conviction, dignity and respect for every man, woman and child in this wicked day.

In the enveloping richness of this season.

Ah, yes...

 "If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring, we would have been like Sodom and become like Gomorrah".  Romans 9:29, Isaiah 1:9.

What constitutes a Christmas movie?

it's a debate that a certain news channel had this week in respect to particular films - whether they really were right to place in that category or not - and the results seem to reflect the notion that a movie can be included, if there is a redemptive aspect to the story... hence Die Hard is a Christmas film!

The events recorded in the second chapter of Matthew are somewhat 'outside' the conventional Christmas narrative. Rather than speak about the inn and the manger, the shepherds and the glorious visitation of angels, Matthew takes us to a scene quite a distance away and some length of time after the actual birth itself to introduce us to a group of strangers - aliens to Israel - who had come at great cost to themselves to find the one which certain astronomical 'signs' had pointed to (see Genesis 1:14 for the first affirmation this would be so). 

Foreigners to the realm, they had headed to the capital in search of the King that was to be born (Matthew 2:2), but when they reach the place, they find no such birth, only a shrewd power in Herod, who quickly becomes unsettled at such a potential arrival. He calls for his research group to examine the assertion, and sure enough, the words of the ancient prophet Micah (5:2) appears to correspond with what the strangers are seeking - a new ruler is expected!

So, Herod finds himself facing the possibility of the rise of a new King in the land, one he clearly deems to be an immediate threat to his own position and authority, and he clearly doesn't like the sound of that. He advises the visitors to earnestly look for and find the new child, and when they have done so, to come back and tell him where he is 'that I too may come and worship' (Matthew 2:9).

The entourage resume their journey, finally find the child (note: Child, not baby, who by this time is living in a house there - verse 11 - not a stable), presenting him and his mother with the treasures they have brought.

What happened next is telling and chilling.

The pilgrims are told by God to return home without returning to Herod, and the new royal family are instructed to now leave for another country - to effectively become refugees - because of what's about to happen... Herod's genocide of the children of Bethlehem (verses 10-18).

So, here's the question - why didn't the 'Wise Men' do what they were instructed to do by a King? Well, runs the reply, because an angel told them not to, so the reason is because they have a mandate which is superior to the orders or requirements of mere men.

What about us? As we enter the Christmas season, have we heard the voice of the Angels in respect to what heaven calls for us to be and to do, even if it means departing from the "requirements" being made by what is happening around us?

Let's be clear - we're in the midst of the manner of horror enacted in Herod's day. People are seeing life as it was, for numerous reasons, being destroyed and taken from them - there is indeed a deep weeping in Ramah! The church is the one place where the consolation of the ages can be found, but that aid comes within the very pertinent realities of today, not distanced from them.

Christ was born into a world filled with woe and evil, and in that place 'became sin for us' to bring genuine healing.

Our solutions to troubles are always 'leaky' - as with the current MRNA materials, they leave us all vulnerable to the transmission of what can harm and kill, to the risk of believing that if we subsume what is good to the will of those who seek to constrain us to what they deem right, we can gain 'safety', but it is only the safety of the shedding of blood of Him who is singularly righteous that will prove eternally good.

We come to behold the one come amongst us - to worship the truth that there is the true home of all who are delivered and healed by unmerited mercy alone.

O come, let us adore Him!

G o o d n e s s

A little grace to ease us into the festive season. 

Laughter in Panem

"I drink in his wholeness, the soundness of his body and mind. It runs through me".

Catness Everdene - The Hunger Games.

"Someone has said that a neurotic is a person who builds fantasy houses, a psychotic is someone who builds these and lives in them, and a psychiatrist is someone who charges rent. Christians shouldn't live in fantasy houses. By looking away from the reality of pain and suffering in the world, we create a realm that doesn't exist and then try to live in it, but the last person in the world who ought to be unrealistic about anything is the Christian".

Steve Brown - A Scandalous Freedom.

Sweetness on the lips, laughter in the soul, amidst such present agony.

How is it possible?

This morning I awoke to a land plagued by a virus, not of physical ill-health (though there's plenty of that around), but of soul death, and yet, deep, rich laughter warmed my heart in the early hours amidst these trials.

How can it be?

What brought such joy was the opening pages of Doug Wilson's book, Joy at the end of the tether - the inscrutable wisdom of Ecclesiastes.

I'm going to share that opening statement of the book here, because it speaks volumes to where we as believers should be right now, so prepare for a feast in the wilderness, and then, get this delight for yourself.

Here we go: 'De Profoundus'

"Our word profound comes from the latin profundus, which means deep. Most cheerfulness in the world is quite the opposite of this - superficial and shallow. Thump it hard enough and it will be sure to make a hollow sound. Of course we must also note that much deep thinking is melancholy. From such data we might conclude that deep is doleful and everything cheerful is a superficial waste of time. The great Hebrew philosopher who wrote the book called Ecclesiastes calls us to a joy which thinks, a joy which does not shrink back from the hard questions. He calls us to meditation, but to a meditation which does not despair. And he points out repeatedly, shutting-off every avenue of escape, that only believers can enjoy the vanity which surrounds us on every side".

Wisdom in spades. The last line is replete with a truth that drips the exquisite fat of heavenly ambrosia into our bones! There is a beauty, a weight, that is behind it all that is longing to feed us now (Psalm 23:5), and when we taste even a morsel of that immeasurable goodness, our souls rise in dance and rapture.

That's why I found myself laughing hard today.

May that richness be shared by us all.

"Just"...

Just conveyers of genes... that's it. We don't really exist beyond that. You're merely a conglomeration of cells to transport genetic material from one era to another...

That's all folks!

Is it any wonder that we live at a moment when everything is becoming facile and irrelevant? If the (supposedly 'scientific') philosophy of our day is that we only hold, at best, a merely transitory value, which may or may not become fulfilled in reproduction, then where are we to find any genuine meaning or significance in our time here?

The problem is now becoming acute. Authoritarian regimes, last evidenced in Europe nearly a century ago, have begun to commence programs requiring total compliance to 'scientific' policies if a citizen desires to be deemed a full participant of society. Those who question or who choose otherwise are already daubed as social malcontents - to be shamed and blacklisted by mainstream dictat, or worse. Across the political sphere, then, from policies on abortion, to sexual identity, to medical control, to euthanasia, we are bearing witness to the rise of a panacea of eugenic control of humanity, where individual choice must be continually and entirely conformed to the will of the whole, for the biological 'good' of the species.

The day is fast approaching when any ideology that truly seeks to uphold the inherent value of the individual (beyond that of a selfish materialist 'unit') will be viewed as abominable by the masses and the powers above them. It is therefore absolutely correct that Christians are talking of the coming shut-down of churches (permanently, this time) in their conventional form and the need for new means of connection and worship to become evident, whilst a 'window of opportunity' still exists. It is not a mistake that some of the nations with the most stringent anti-christian regimes in the world (Iran, Afghanistan, China, North Korea) are believed to have some of the largest and most robust Christian communities in the world - persecution often proves to be God's trump card for massively expanding the everlasting kingdom.

We are rightly concerned about the present troubles, and, perhaps, even more troubling, the majority of the church's slowness at waking to this, but we also rejoice, because like those who have held out the truth in days before, we know this will, in the ultimate narrative, bring about an enduring good for our broken world.

We are not accidents. We are 'fearfully and wonderfully made' for a purpose far beyond mere biological survival, for we have been adopted into the life of the One who was, who is, and who is to come. Let us seek to hold fast to encouraging one another in the unassailable value of that truth in the days to come.

(In thanks for the life and ministry of the Reverend Melvin Tinker, who went to be with Christ this week).

Thanksgiving

"It's a day to give thanks - for what?

For the way wheat turns into biscuits, for the sound of a lawnmower three houses away, for the size and taste of grapes (the purple ones), for the lines of a woman's neck running up to her ear, for waves on the Oregon coast, for wood fire in late Autumn, for warm socks, for turkey and gravy and all the trimmings, for the way Intelligent Design runs through absolutely everything"....

Doug Wilson.

Happy holidays to our American Readers.

Father, unto thee we raise, this our sacrifice of praise!

S O M A

"Soma was a fermented juice drink which was believed to have been consumed by the Hindu gods and their ancient priests, the brahmanas during rituals. Thought to be an elixir its consumption not only healed illness but also brought great riches".

World History Encyclopedia.

"Be not drunk with wine, but be filled with the Spirit".

Ephesians 5:18.

So, I want to begin this entry with a big thank you to David Clay for his piece on Mockingbird this month on the nature of Christian righteousness. David does an excellent job of laying-out the broad brush strokes of what this does (and does not mean) for the believer and the church, and thereby adds some more flesh to the 'bones' provided by Dr Rod Rosenbladt in a recent 1517 taster on the same matter.

What really spoke to me, aside from the excellence of the points being made here, was the argument touches on whilst Christians themselves may well be morally disappointing, faith is, in its most fundamental nature, not about that - it stands or falls entirely in respect to the truth which delivers redemption (the touchstone of Christ's life, death, burial, resurrection and ascension - 1 Corinthians 15), so the horror that cannot be revoked in Christianity, as scripture shows, is not particular sins (which will indeed plague us - see Romans 7 - but can indeed be forgiven - see 1 John 1) but prostituting the faith by espousing/practicing particular heresies, which in truth seek to discard the work of God in His Son (Galatians 1: 8 & 9).

This is crucial distinction. - and we're far from scott-free here.

In his piece, David brings up the historical example of Augustine seeking to make clear that grace must always trump any claims in respect to individual piety, but this also speaks to the key trouble - the church perilously errs when its 'teaching' is believed to encapsulate what is sound, but in truth, like strong wine, inebriates and intoxicates believers in such a fashion that they are no longer understanding what is taking place around them and are thereby almost entirely oblivious to the ramifications and the immediate dangers such a condition has generated.

Mike Horton and associates show this tellingly well in the book The Agony of Deceit, which examines (in respect to today's long history with them) various pernicious doctrines that guised themselves as 'spiritual' in the late 70s and 80s, but far more murderous 'beliefs' are now being sheltered in the very bosom of the mainstream church.

When we reach a point where established churches believe they are entirely right to practice their faith only within the bounds prescribed by state, then that, at the very least, should set a measure of alarm in our thinking.

Imagine if the early church had sought to adhere to only this - what would have happened when the secular powers required them to 'tone it down' and to confine themselves to, perhaps, quiet little gatherings away from public view where their "beliefs" could have been tolerated as just another one of those 'fringe' practices so common in the Roman world?

We don't have to trouble ourselves very long with such a 'what if', because the answer is simple. Such adherences and the practices associated with them by various religions indeed remained fringe and irrelevant to mainstream culture. Christianity became paramount because the church continually put its life front and centre before the empire, and would not leave those in power untroubled by its uncompromising message.

In the final analysis, secular power is given and constrained by God (Romans 13), and that constraint is particular in respect to the 'increase of His dominion, of which there will be no end' (Isaiah 9:7), so "magistrates" and the like can fall into line with that truth or be swept away by it on the day of reckoning (Psalm 2).The problem really comes back, then, to the ministers of the lively oracles of God. Are they encouraging a faith which is tuned to such truth, especially in respect to these days and times, or are they in truth providing a muted, obscured noise in their instruction to the saints, and, in effect, leading the saints into a condition where they can longer be effective?

This is not in any respect a merely theoretical question. Those placed in these roles most earnestly need to pay attention to Paul's warnings in respect to those who teach God's flock (see 1 Corinthians 3:10-17).

The night is almost over, writes the Apostle, the day is much closer, so we must be ready. Arm yourselves, enter the fray, and look up, for redemption is close.

The Ruling

A Jewish Court sat in the US this past week to rule on the safety of the current MRNA materials used in the present jabs against the virus. 

The Hasidic Court ruling of New York makes for telling reading. 

The court ruling stated: "It is best to err on the side of caution and abstain from taking these injections, rather than endangering one’s life by performing an action that can engender immediate and direct harm, especially since there are other medical treatments that work . . . and that are not harmful".

It went on to say: "It is an explicit obligation to protest against this mandate, and anyone who can prevent the injection from being forced upon our youth must do so, forthrightly and emphatically".

And: "Much harm appears to be caused to pregnant women as a result of the injection, possibly due to the antibodies that the body develops against the protein called Syncytin‐1, or from the SM102, or from the micro blood clots caused by the injection….For older adults and the elderly, further clarification is needed (but as mentioned above, there are efforts to obscure the data, and it is presently difficult to attain accurate clarification). However, practically we have seen breakthrough cases, indicating that there is no substantial difference between those who received the mRNA and those who did not. The number of Covid patients are about the same, comparatively, in both demographics". 

The judges explained: "We also heard from doctors who invented and manufactured the mRNA, who testified as to its function (most doctors in medical practice are not experts in these matters at all, and from our experience and as is well‐known, they merely relate the information provided to them by the NIH, CDC, etc). They illustrated to us the profound danger and harm inherent in this new technology. They showed us how the governmental agencies and the pharmaceutical companies deny this fact, and how they conceal the data, making it so difficult for the public to realize the severe adverse reactions and mortalities that have befallen so many people who received the injection. We were also made privy to how they withhold the said information through various means, preventing the injuries and deaths from being publicised by the media or on the internet, as known". 

This decree on the Covid-19 vaccine should be binding to the Hasidic communities expand far beyond these communities. The judges ruled that mandatory Covid-19 vaccines transgress Jewish law, which means it could be anti-Semitic to enforce it on religious Jews who have no wish to take it. Other rabbinical courts might disagree with the interpretation but given that it is based on expert testimonies and evidence, and centred on ‘halachah’, it will be hard to dismiss.

Erroneous Ecclesiology

The Church (2020-21):

Destination Unknown

 "Oh, Superman, where are you now? When everything's gone wrong somehow, The men of steel, the men of power, are loosing control, by the hour".

Genesis - Land of Confusion.

Imagine you're driving on a freeway across some wide, open country. The sun is up and the day looks bright, and there's enough gas in the tank, and all your papers, procedures and protocols are in place to keep you rolling for a fair while to come... but there is a problem.

Way up ahead, the 'off' ramp (exit) you're intending to eventually use, which was promised when you started this trip so you could reach your destination, hasn't been built yet, because you're in fact travelling along on unfinished mega-project, so the moment is coming when it will become overwhelmingly true that this road is, in effect, a road to no where.

That's an apt analogy of where we are right now with so many of the world's most arrogant and ignorant 'global' policies.

Most people in the UK, for example, were unaware this week that after all the hot-air generated in Glasgow on climate change, our emergency energy facilities had to be brought on-line as - get this - there had been no strong winds across most of the country for the last ten days, so coal-fired generators had to be fired up!

Then there's the 'pandemic'. The island of Gibraltar has had 140% take-up on the jabs, but this has done nothing to stop rising infections or another total lockdown being ordered. For what? If that level of cover has proved ineffective, what on earth do they think this step is going to do? Scare the virus?

Then there's the "law" rhetoric of the church. Evangelicals are now actively discriminating in some major churches against allowing the un-jabbed to fellowship with the 'protected'.... but on what basis? Certainly not one derived from faith in the Gospel, and that is the most telling truth about what we're seeing right now.

If the church is going to be well again, it must do so in its relationship to the fact that Christ's death is for all men everywhere, and that any digression from that glorious truth is erroneous. To develop from there, if there is to be a reconciliation between believers who have become divided by responses to the past few years, it has to be by being brought together by the redemptive bedrock of the Gospel, allowing God's peace to foster genuine fellowship once again. If we are, in effect, implementing policies (like Durham Cathedral this week) which prevent such union, we are actively engaged in a process which dismembers God's people.

When we look at society at large, what is obvious is at the heart of many troubles resides institutions which, like our freeway, may seem impressive, but are in reality so unwieldy they are unfit for purpose - the likes of the NHS or the BBC - bloated mega-projects that leave us stranded. The same is often painfully true of the church.

The problem is that our investment into such things is often so great, we cannot imagine them failing, but they, like us, do so constantly, because they are filled with the likes of us - men full of sin, always in need of grace. That, of course, is why Christianity matters!

We're now entering a time when men are indeed 'loosing control', and they are responding the way such creatures always do - by doubling-down on what they're demanding in respect to compliance, but this won't end well. Christianity cannot afford to take that freeway, because it is a road to hell (however 'noble' the espoused intentions). We must show another way.

Beyond all of this misery is a cross made empty of its power of tyranny, torture and execution by one who bore its demands - became our sin - and buried all such evil in His grave, rising whole and holy, to take us through to eternal care. That's the health, the fellowship, each of us so deeply needs in this trying day.

Life, and health, and peace...

"Luther discovered that the very highest goal of human desires is to be righteous according to the Law, fulfilling this in ourselves - but this desire is NOT spiritual - it is the worst of the flesh"... Flesh always has a goal, but it is not from God.

Dr Stephen Paulson - Lutheran theology.

Most certainly, this is the "religion" of the hour! 

Obscured

 "In 1500, and for almost a thousand years before that, the Western world was completely enmeshed with God for everything it saw. That meant that the industry of religion had both a huge influence and market. It meant that Jesus could only be accessed through that industry". The Reformation of the Internet - Duo Dickinson.

"Christ and His Cross stands between us!". Michelangelo - The Agony and the Ecstasy. 

"Before whose eyes Christ was displayed as Crucified" Paul - Galatians 3:1.

A recent posting here (The Depths of it All) gained an interesting response from someone I've enjoyed discussing issues with a great deal this past year. I was, apparently, being somewhat transparent in my passionate appeal to call to those who read the piece to be pastoral in their approach to people in the particular light of the present troubles.

Friends will know that one of my all time favourite movie moments is from the film of Irving Stone's 'The Agony and Ecstasy', quoted above, in which the renascence artist faces the clerics of his day concerning their charge that his work on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel amounted to nothing more than obscenity. Michelangelo's response not only drips with righteous anger, but is informed by a theology that the poison of the religious machinery of his day couldn't begin to comprehend.

This wasn't a minor aberration, as Duo Dickinson shows in his essay, but a road-block that made Luther and the Reformation essential for the health of Christianity.

The problem - a serious error in thinking - had been continual in Roman Catholicism for some ten centuries, and it was most commonly expressed in Art.

In the opening of his work, Vicars of Christ - The Dark side of the Papacy, ex-jesuit Peter De Rosa shows how the apparent 'kindness' of modesty had insured that any religious depiction of Jesus upon the cross never showed Him entirely naked. Christ's genitalia were always covered, thereby ensuring that something as cruel as this execution could be venerated by the faithful, but this omission allowed a far worse cruelty to fester.

The cloth hid the fact that this Jesus was a circumcised Jew, and with this mark veiled from the public, the lie became easy to perpetuate that it was the "unbelieving Jews" who had been solely responsible for Christ's death. Centuries of pogroms, ghettos and badges of disgrace followed, finally allowing a particular anti-semite to profess that his 'struggle' against the Jews was identical to that pursued by the church.

Lies are most pernicious when they are embroidered with what makes the eye and then the heart desire them. The lie here allowed the Papacy free-reign to practice terrible things.

Evil always follows when we seek to hide the true nature of Christ and our faith to one another, and replace this with a contrivance of what is deemed 'expedient'.

When Paul addressed the church at Galatia, it was because they were adopting an approach to God which masked that naked, exposed raw truth of what the Gospel was, and what was entailed for each of us to trust in it - the negation of lies.

The Good News of God revealed in Christ has to, once again, break through the present 'religious' architecture of this moment and end our adherence to the presumed myths of the day. Vital Christianity makes that untainted manner of connection entirely viable.

Incrementalism

 Give an inch... they'll take a mile.

There is no fellowship twixt darkness and light. 2 Corinthians 6:14.

Scripture leaves us in little doubt when God shows up. Whether it's a burning bush, the abrupt termination of a storm, dry land amidst rivers, or global floods, people are somewhat struck by what unfolds when these moments happen.

It's common today for people to presume that such moments are mythological in nature, but I suspect many could still testify of encountering something that suspended the norm for them, and made them very aware of the intervention of a care and mercy beyond everyday means.

The point here is that God's will and domain, whether we see it or not, always has an "immediatism" in respect to its bounds, its absolute ends, and its manner of establishing these. Compromising such ends is shown continually in Scripture as bad, causing peril and usually the first step into the mire.

So, why is it that today, so many believers are incrementalists?

Usually, this is evident when you look at something like the pro-life movement, especially in America. The notion is you 'push' towards the ending of abortion whilst you accept any legal amendments that take 'along a direction of travel' that will hopefully, finally, get you there. Trouble is, of course, is such amendments usually just "adjust" the pro-choice policies already in place, and they don't stop the deaths, so you're not moving very far... if at all.

What's clearly required here is a national repentance for such a sin, and the only way you see that is if there's a spiritual awakening that causes people to open themselves to truth.

I was fortunate enough in the seventies to catch the cusp of something that could have become that before it was swallowed whole by charismatic excess, so I've 'tasted' the distinct difference between such an hour and what we have now, and there is a very real difference.

Sadly, it's now evident that such thinking isn't exclusive in the church in respect to an issue like the death of the unborn.

Incrementalism is in play when it comes to accepting aborted cell-line medications, obeying non-faith based 'health' policies, accommodating mass media 'news' as our standard measurement of current affairs, to name but a few of the most pertinent realms in which God's actual take on a matter is given a backseat.

There's no problem with us engaging with this culture, but what that needs to bring is a clear, untarnished voice, not merely a stuttering to echo the 'stars quo' of the moment. God has revealed, down the line, what is good and just Himself, so it's up to us make sure we're standing on the right side of that line when His hour of reckoning descends.

The mirage of the moment is that we can, in effect, plant our feet in both realms - secular and spiritual - at the same time, and all will be well, because we're looking for incremental change. The fact is that once such compromise is in play, the only accommodation is on the side of what is genuinely required - men's hearts will always de-fault to what is wicked.

Time to wake up and stand firm or be lost in the roar that builds to judgement.

The Landing Strip

 The Late Richard Feynman produced a very telling paper which highlighted the plight of the South sea islander "Cargo" cult.

Here's the essential facts...

During the second world war build-up of American Pacific Forces in the operation to rout the Japanese, a group of islands were annexed that were inhabited by people that had never seen an aircraft before.

Over the build-up period for the campaign, flights would regularly arrive into their world to bring all manner of items that they could barely comprehend, all apparently 'gifted' to them by these astonishing wonders from the sky, which descended upon the "field" these other men had constructed for them. Their lives were changed entirely.

Then, one morning, just as suddenly as it had commenced, it was over.

The strangers had gone. The 'sky birds' stopped coming, and so did the benefits.

Years later, other visitors arrived by sea and were amazed at what was discovered - the islanders had reconstructed the entire airstrip from bamboo and other materials, clearly thinking that if they did so well enough, the prior conditions could be renewed, and they could once again benefit from this.

It's a scenario that is often employed today in situations where people want to provoke with respect to a moral dilemma - think the ever present "non-interference" policy (hardly ever followed, of course) in Star Trek.

The reason I raise it is because it suddenly dawned on me this week that we're equally living in such a 'cargo-cult' culture. Our 'airstrips' may be virtual, and our oft-insatiable needs far more extensive than coca-cola and chocolate, but the consequences and impact upon each of us is almost identical to those islanders. We expect the infrastructure of our day to quite literally 'drop' into our laps the solutions we need, as and when we need them, and when they apparently do, we merely imbibe these 'goodies' with very few questions asked.

Some of us, of course, are old enough to recall some of those dystopian movies of the seventies that sought to show that this wasn't necessarily a good thing. Movies the likes of Soylent Green, Rollerball, and Demon seed asked if there were very real dangers to giving people what they want, when they want it.

The answer in such scenarios, and today, of course, is yes.

The health secretary 'lost it' on camera on Wednesday when a reporter rattled him with the fact that there was a known 37% chance of passing along the virus after full vaccination. A few days ago, the PM of New Zealand terminated a press event when a reporter dared to try and ask her about the disturbing data from Israel regarding falling vaccine efficacy. The head of the NHS lied on camera about the actual numbers of hospital admissions this month. All of this happened in "mainstream" media coverage.

The mask has slipped. The 'deliveries' may have been packaged to look satisfactory, but the contents are clearly below standard, and some of the 'islanders' are aware that things were actually better before all this became the only imperative.

It's rare for most us, even when things get a little 'tight', to really have to struggle, at least until something takes hold that won't be denied, and we discover our confidence in 'the norm' (whatever form that may currently take) was misplaced or even very misguided. The day is going to arrive when everything around us will begin to fail, and we're left facing a far greater truth about what we are.

Laying any resources here has to be temporary at best. The treasure we should be genuinely focused upon, Jesus shows, is going to endure for so very much longer.

The depths of it all...

"Truth is swept under the rug. If you’ve never known truth, then you’ve never known love”.

The Black Eyed Peas - Where is the love. 

 I want to speak pastorally (Galatians 6:2) today, so let me begin with this. 

 Just yesterday, author Laura Dodsworth spoke on a UK national radio channel about an NHS nurse (who wished to remain anonymous at present) - a lady who has dedicated her entire working life of many decades to the care of others. Laura comments on just how wise this lady is in respect to the issues involved (and how others who have read her full story quickly wanted to step in and help). 

After almost two years of service amidst the present crisis, this nurse faces a point of true trial. She has very sincere reservations about being jabbed, because of very clear convictions. She has already had the virus, and has confirmed anti-bodies against it. She understands that the current vaccination treatments cannot provide immunity, or even prevent transmission to others.

Clearly, a moment is approaching when, like UK care workers this week, she is going to have to take her leave… and that raises another major issue.

How can we allow a situation to develop where we, in effect, create a two-tier society? 

Interestingly, Laura notes how one of the very first people to contact her in response to this story was a minister, asking if he could meet with the nurse to offer support.

So, my question to each of us is how do we, as church, step into this gap? 

How do we seek to aid the weak, those now being made powerless by others?And how should such an intervention be shaped by our fundamental thinking about what we are - what role we are meant to be taking right now?

It’s as we keep these key things in mind that I want to set down these following, painful yet essential truths about what has ‘overtaken’ us - not simply to rebuke, but, as is so often the case in the history of God’s people, to bruise and break in order to bind and to heal, so please accept this admonition in that intent.

"In almost every place where the reformation flourished there was not only religious noncompliance; there was civil disobedience as well".

Francis Schaeffer - A Christian Manifesto.

"Professing Christians who set aside the Lordship of Christ", notes Dr Joe Boot, "instead following tempered pietistic patterns of thinking are, unsurprisingly, "sheep-like" in their behaviour and, most telling, in their response toward the state". And there is, sadly, no limit to the foolishnes of those who follow men rather than Christ the Lord when this ensues, because there no reigning-in of such abuse of power – they are indeed, like sheep before a butcher, noted William Tyndale,to be sheared and torn by others. 

The issues may have become coloured by the contemporary, but the focus has not actually changed at all. 

As Dr Boot continues - "False piety and virtue signalling manifest in a pharisaic insistence and compliance with mask mandates, social distancing, self-imprisonment and a quasi-religious hope in experimental vaccines, lockdowns, and various other restrictions".

To be seen openly complying with and strongly supporting all these self-denying and self-sacrificing measures is regarded as a form of social righteousness. 

If particular action(s) were simply to aid and assist in a tried and trusted fashion - like safety belts in cars - employing them would indeed be useful, even imperative in particular circumstances, but when we are dealing with materials where the reality is far from sure and certain, it is clearly dangerous for us to simply condone what is being stated to be ‘good’ (how many “teachers" have worked evil inside the faith on that premise!) 

Dr Boot continues - "In short, there is an atmosphere of societal ‘atonement’ about the whole enterprise. A culture in the grip of guilt and shame that rejects the atonement of Jesus Christ will be quick to leap at various forms of self-atonement in the hope of expiating their burdens by such individual sacrifice". The church, tied to such ends, effectively  becomes an extension of the secular will, which, by various means, incubates a belief in self vindication through external actions, deemed ‘righteous’ and crossed in the mainstream at great peril. 

All of this is possible because Christians loose sight of the fact that the source and authority for all key activity in life is not the various institutions devised to assist and enhance the well-being of daily life, but the manifold gifts and blessings given to us exclusively by God Himself (Ephesians 4:8), which society, in reality, has no right to take away. 

Adhering to some required social or medical advice for a specified period of time and may indeed be prudent, but this should in no manner open a means whereby our lives then become solely and entirely directed by such. 

Good medicine has to be about so much more than ‘influencing’ or even curing a disease - the genuine well-being of the patient should be paramount. 

Whilst the public focus of the secular in this crisis has been almost entirely upon keeping some “alive”, the church has, in effect, mis-placed the vital truth that The Lord, is indeed, “Lord over all” -“God has made Him both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2 2:36). This, as Schaeffer and others has noted, has blighted mainstream evangelical thinking for decades, allowing for either a ‘hyper-spirituality’ or a social pietism to become the mainstream forms of religious expression in the Western church, both consequences of a lack of trust in the Biblical faith to be pivotally relevant to the entire sphere of existence. 

The consequences of this have become truly evident in this crisis, where a ‘sanitised secularism’ has dominated the ‘spiritual’ response to the troubles, and where any kind of deeper examination of this naive approach, as required, indeed commanded, by scripture, (1 Peter 4:7), has been almost entirely judged as unnecessary, and out of place. This has allowed an immersion into an ideology of what can only be defined as cultural eugenics, via a “informed” media cycle which has fed comprehensive devastation. 

The justification by church ministers for such an approach is their employment of their own modified version of the official policy’s “precautionary principle” - that it is wise to assume the very best will result from your ‘careful’ actions - and that the very worse would arise if you sought to stray from such a golden rule. The ‘soul’, indeed, along with the body, is only made well when the ‘care' of the faith is vitally married to the insatiable requirements of the NHS! 

This would, perhaps, be at least credible in some measure if numerous impositions burdened upon the people at large had not proved so callous and wicked in their consequences. Christ’s Lordship, therefore, is practically defined as subservient (and thereby irrelevant) before the authority of such controls. 

The “leaven” (Luke 12:1) has indeed, left so many 'attending church' poor, blind, wretched and naked. Bared by the state. 

So, nearly two years on, what has come about from this woeful murdering? 

Douglas Wilson summarised it neatly in a current podcast: "It’s the case that ‘big-box’ evangelicalism, inculcating that “niceness” vibe, has been refusing to teach its people anything that might remotely equip them for what they are now facing. The (church’s)‘immune system’has not been working at all. Some have recalled that they are meant to be fighting off something, so, (and here’s where ‘the few’ come in), it has often rounded on those it was supposed to be protecting 

There are those who have sought to stand up to all this madness, to fight off this leviathan with entirely inadequate means… 

So, we (the church), had our trained ‘elite units’, well-stocked armouries, state of the art weapons, monetary backing and more, and, after this stalwart company just up’ed and quit the field, a rag-tag assemblage showed up instead with wooden swords and trash cans for shields, having no choice - somebody had to stand and face the great dragon, and as soon as they took to the field, they found themselves being attacked - by the church’s elite units!"

The way back from here is not an easy one. The uneasy alliance with the ‘Philistines’may be breakable for some, at cost, but only if the Prophetic voice and direction of the David-like motley crew rejects the call to be encased in Saul’s over-sized armour (1 Samuel 17:38-40….‘Weapons’that have proved so ineffective so far)! and takes to the field, naked, beside the armour of God. 

These denounced warriors will not flinch to call it like it is -‘who is this uncircumcised pagan, that he should defy the army of the living God?’. Evil will be called out and cast down. 

Such an hour is most certainly close.

Thomas Cranmer, the architect of so much of English Protestantism, found a recovery of his faith and courage, and so clothed, was taken to the flames. 

William Tyndale, the furnisher of the English scriptures, prayed with his last breath for an opening of blind eyes. 

Martin Luther, after a fretful night before the crucible, stood firm before princes and powers on the immovable truth of Christ and His unchanging, eternal authority over all. Such is the validity of the faith. 

 So, dear ones, for whom Christ has given all, I would beseech you to see, to know, and to do, as the Apostle charges us, so that we might indeed be presented on that day as pure and chaste, that we unmask the beguiling of the hour, and lead one another back into the sincere and good union with Christ, escaping that ‘other’ Jesus garbed in the medical coat of state, insidiously seeding a very different spirit amongst us that leads us to hope and trust in an escape the gospel does not offer. Let us remind ourselves how readily we can entertain such violence because of the religiousness of our own souls (2 Corinthians 11: 3 and 4). 

In the surety of that truth, let us earnestly stand in this most trying hour.

Scammed

 "Through the insincerity of liars, some will devote themselves to diabolical teachings and practices, severing themselves from the goodness of the things which God had created and established for us". 1 Timothy 4:1 &2.

It's pretty rare these days that I hear anything exciting on a company health and safety training Course - there's only so many times that someone can 'remind' you how to move a box or to wear PPE - but this week brought just such a rare occasion.

I was working through a course on on-line safety when the issue of 'phishing' (getting bogus e-mails that intend to do you and/or your company harm) came up. The subject material sought to impress upon me the key reasons that such scams work so much of the time, and they most certainly bear repeating.

These are:

A sense of urgency (the materials often require a speedy response).

A need to please (they are framed in such a manner that you'll want to assist).

Greed (making you an offer you can't refuse).

Fear or Complacency (A sense of foreboding if you don't act, and that everything will be good if you do).

The opening chapter of Laura Dodsworth's excellent 'State of Fear', which I also started this week, shows how the government 'stay at home' announcement last March employed all of the above to 'freeze us in the headlights' of the moment and thereby to entirely accept the scam - that a disease as troublesome for most of us as seasonal flu entirely condoned the wholesale removal of our basic rights.

We're all now only too aware of the general social ills that have followed this, which, even if we snapped back to pre-2020 'norms' tomorrow (and there's currently no evidence that we will), would continue creating huge swathes of damage for decades to come, but there's another side to this coin.

If political and social leaders have, in effect, murdered the good norms of society, what of the church which has, aside from a few rare exceptions, chosen to side with this madness? Where are the vast body of believers in respect to this continuing crisis?

The reality is found in Paul's words above concerning the great apostasy of the last days. Notice what he says brings this about - men who become liars by searing their conscience (in respect to becoming obedient to men first) and in consequence marry themselves to teachings and practices that are 'diabolical' (demonic) in nature, for they sever the Christian church from its proper role - assembling and continuing to serve, particularly amidst a crisis. 

To conform to an edict in a nation that terminates church on the basis of it being 'of no importance' (Government statement) in the pandemic validates exactly what the Apostle is stating, and the sad truth is that in spite what has transpired since that dreadful day, nothing has changed in respect to the view of most church-goers concerning how to behave at such a moment - even though the entire history of the church, until 2020, speaks against this!

Yielding so readily to the perpetrators of this scam will leave a very real and deep stain- a perpetual wound - upon the church for decades to come - indeed, it may not ever be removed, as most believe there is no need for any manner of repentance about this - they were merely doing 'what they were told'.

This is exactly the manner of error made in Germany the 1920s and 30s by the church, which willingly yielded itself, in the main, to the decrees of the nazis, who also stripped the country of all rights and freedoms.

What is simply astonishing is that ministers and their congregations cannot see the parallels, and where this manner of 'obedience' ends.

The church must be called back to the genuine soundness and rightness of what the Lord has established. Only then can we be healthy.