The Missing Piece

 "They dress the wounds of the people in a fashion that states that the wounds are not truly serious. They bring no peace"  Jeremiah 6"14.

So, yesterday, I watched a fascinating and deeply troubling speech given by Robert Kennedy on the modern history of American foreign policy and the impact this has had upon the modern world. It's striking for a number of key reasons, but it spoke again to the trouble we all so clearly face at the core of all our current woes - what happens when we seek to apply the wrong solution to a problem and what follows as a result.

Back in 2020 here in the UK, when we faced a new trouble in the form of a pandemic, the UK government chose not to look to God for aid, but to place it's confidence in the recommendations of what was defined as science, which was to be implimented and rolled out to every person in the country by the means of the state 'church' - the National Health Service. Government mandates made it essential that everyone comply with the new requirements, from not going anywhere (except for essentials), to wearing masks to taking numerous injections of the materials that were supposed to protect or cure you from the virus.

This is always how religion seeks to resolve a human crisis - follow the rules, do what you're told, and you will be defined as 'good' by those around you. It doesn't solve any of the inherent problems - it doesn't take them away - it just makes everyone the 'property' of a particular system, and from then on, they continue to conform to whatever nonsense is given for them to follow.

Jesus spoke of such evil as leaving us as people without anyone who truly cared for us - as those bereft of true and lasting hope. The only true remedy is when truth comes in such a fashion that it truly makes us free to comprehend the truth about ourselves and our world, so we can see the lies for exactly what they are.

The religion of the day is 'sciencism' - not empirical, valid science, but the hocus pocus that the likes of Neil Ferguson and co can manufacture out of thin air that then becomes the basis for the actions of an entire company of people. This is no different to the travelling snake oil salesman that tells you he has a remedy to cure your ills, when all he's interested in is fleecing you!

Jesus faces the charlatans of His day and says away with them - don't listen to their lies. There is only one truth and that will truly make you free.

The same is true in this hour as our world enters a despicable day of darkness - do not believe the lies, but rejoice in the truth, for the day is fast approaching when that truth alone will endure forever!

Getting into what's good.

 So, this week, I came across a You Tube channel that is really worth some interest.

It's called 'Strange Theology' because, whilst it seeks to discuss some very apt theological themes and subjects, it's doing so in correspondence with current discussions on issues that people are talking about.

Have a look at this video put up this week to give you an idea. There's a growing number of presentations of this kind on intriguing subjects, so see what you think.

The Adorning.

 "Only the unshackled will remain". C S Lewis The Great Divorce.

The 'magic trick' (great illusion) of our time is that "rationalism", as now defined, provides the singular means (dialectic) to total wisdom - the understanding of things as they really are (purely materialistic), thereby facilitating our 'ascension' from the phantoms of the need for God, or heaven or any required redemption.

This is the religion of the day, and all action must be taken to advance this - onward to the desired utopia!

The priest behind the curtain of this delusion is the shaman of atheistic belief (who shares far more with the likes of Marx or the Ayrian mystics than they would care to admit - the only reality is the material).

The enchantments of the cultic soothsayer is the language which converts, conditions and conjols. Such manipulation is continuously broadcast to muddle and mute free thinking - to disrupt and prevent true liberty which can only be evidenced by providing the necessary good order of what we actually are meant to inhabit.

The call is continuously to accept the new synthesis, to deny what is of eternal meaning and value.

The problem, of course, is the 'closed order' such beliefs affirm is constantly interrupted by something higher than the mundane. As Jordan Peterson discusses here, modern "enlightenment" only works when we choose to tune out the deep reality that is at work amongst us.

When we recognise the limits of the 'fashion of the day', we quickly long to be seeking to be arrayed in something far more substantial and enduring, and that allows us to travel to the far more fulfilling realm where what what we are engaging is eternal and vital - both the immediate and the etherial are brought close and together as creation and redemption marry in the revelation of the eternal Father who sustains and completes what is His handiwork.

The agony of the present is the poison of the lie it provides. Atheists caricature Christianity as a 'cult of human sacrifice' because of the unique work of Jesus whilst they perpetually offering up the current generation to death via the dogmas of the age (abortion is merely 'healthy care', nothing else, and mutilation the minds and bodies of children because they must be allowed to be re-defined sexually to be entirely healthy). Evil masquerades behind a presumed 'good' to grotesquely conjure a world drunk on selfish, destructive ends.

The true health is something so much deeper, richer and enduring.

Come to the place where the honey runs, and the sweet goodness never ends!

Stepping Out

 "What if I knew I couldn't loose this time".

Cages - We The Kingdom.

"Now, when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your head, because your redemption is drawing close".  Jesus - Luke 21:28.

It's been a brutal week.

There's been the news that A I is rushing forward at what appears to be increasing speed, and the cultural ramifications of where this may go are chilling to say the least (take a look here at one possible track that may arise soon).

Then the middle of the week brought the news via the Wall Street Journal that the Instagram network has been furnishing one of the biggest pedophile networks in the world, almost certainly behind the trafficking of thousands of children.

This was followed by the news that The World Health Organisation is about to establish a monitoring system via iPhone technology devised by the EU during the pandemic which will allow them to restrict global movement of anyone who is not sufficiently vaccinated accoutring to their records with the failed mRNA materials employed during the Covid outbreak. Just how pernicious this program is can be appreciated when we unpack the latest scientific data on the development of the man-made virus itself, as shown here.

So, with all this in mind, look afresh at Jesus' words to His disciples in respect to the days which were about to open up in front of them. They were about to face an empire that would hate them for their testimony to what happened but Jesus tells them the solution is to look beyond all of that - to be truly in tune to what happens, and what really counts, asking for the strength to walk through it all, because He has promised to be with them.

This world is going to stand before the King, and what makes us ready for that moment is what has already been done by the King, so look above the waves - see the grace that pours down upon us because of the Cross and the empty tomb.

We're never ready for what life breaks upon us - whatever the challenge may be. Some days we just collapse under the weight of it, but the GOOD NEWS is, You're on your way home! Underneath all these troubles, there are everlasting arms, and they will carry you to that place where war will end and troubles will be purified into precious treasures.

The answer to right now isn't panic or over confidence in what we can achieve - it's to look into the amazing provision of Jesus - that's what will keep us going, even when we fail. His all sufficient work at Calvary is what will hold us in our troubled times today and in our final breath - it will take us home.

Beyond our woes, or worries, there is a well that never runs dry, and table always provisioned with over abundant goodness.

The future is set, and it's entirely defined for us by an unfathomable Lord of mercy.

So, let the world froth with all its folly.

Jesus is on the throne of grace, and He will bring us to the splendour of His reign.

You are not up to the challenge - none of us actually are.

The one who was is YOUR SAVIOUR!

He is on the throne, and HE RIGHNS - FOREVER MORE!

That is the true source of our peace and our joy.

Jesus is Lord.

Respite

 "Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her, and there I will giver her a vineyard. The Valley of Achor, is a door of hope. And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth. And in that day says, the Lord, you shall me your husband, and I will make you lye down in safety, and I will betroth you to me for ever... I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice and in steadfast love, and in my mercy, I will betroth you to me in my faithfulness... And you shall know the Lord".  

The Valley of Achor by A Door of Hope.

So, yesterday, after a very hectic work day on Thursday, I managed to grab a lunch break and head out for a short walk down to the city's barbican, which was swimming in people out enjoying the good weather and each others company amidst the pleasant surroundings. I walked around amongst this for a short time, but then found what I was looking for - a small corner where two large horse chestnut trees provided a gorgeously calm and refreshing spot where I could step out of the heat and fully appreciate the lustre of the numerous flower arrangements near by and the voluptuous feel of the calming breeze for a few moments before heading back to the office.

The words of the Psalmist regarding finding himself in such restoring places comes easily to mind in such a moment, and I'm reminded that amongst often harried or demanding conditions, it's these moments that are provided to 'speak tenderly' that however troubling the times, the Lord who has come to dwell with us is the one who can cause the very aridness of the most demanding realms to be transformed into a refuge bursting with beauty and refreshment, purely because He delights in showing His goodness to us.

The days are indeed fraught with the foolishness of men - their empty wars and broken promises littler the barren realms they make everywhere, but the Lord is so good, and wants us to look afresh as His unceasing care in all these places - where men find nothing in themselves but empty ruin, God comes and renews through the precious life that He so often provides, and we find our souls enlivened afresh by the wealth of love that He showers upon us.

May these days allow us to look with such a gaze afresh, and see the beloved who sands us such care so entirely!

A true reckoning

 One of the most telling things that rings so true about the Gospels of the New Testament is the way in which they narrate the various characteristics of the people who followed Jesus most closely.

They were ordinary people who were wrestling with the impact of the unmistakable work of God amongst them, and it is that which allows us to draw so closely to the 'taste and tone' of what Jesus conveys as He brings heaven amongst them.

One of the key lessons to learn from this manner of unpacking the good news is in respect to the true nature what's good - what actually amounts to holiness.

In Mark 7, Jesus sits to eat with His disciples after a typical day amidst the heat and the dust ministering to so many... and the religious folk present are mortified.

There was no ceremonial washing, not lengthy actions of purification; the disciples just reclined at the table and tucked in, enjoying the food and each other's company, in a state viewed as entirely impure to some others present.

They were not only unwashed - they were unsanctified, unworthy, in effect, to participate without purifying themselves.

Surely, they reasoned, Jesus, a rabbi and a follower of God would have no part of this outrage. The requirements of "the law", they ranted, must be adhered to!

Before we unpack what happens next, how do we evaluate such obviously earthy behaviour? Is it acceptable, or troublesome to us? How would we respond to such men as these, given their cultures taboos? Do we see ourselves in their enjoyment of this moment, or, are we like those present who were standing in judgement of such obscenity?

Religion cannot abide something so unhindered by what it deems essential to be godly. The adherents of this case express their shock to Jesus - why would something so 'unclean' be allowed amongst his closest group? Surely, this must be admonished and ended quickly in the most stringent manner!

Notice what Jesus says in response to their cries of disgust.

There is a realm of difference between those who 'play' at being godly, and those that are (the reference He draws from Isaiah is telling them just this).

What God commands, and what they couldn't begin to comprehend, was something far more costly and total than they could ever achieve. The disciples of Jesus knew they were just straightforward men, fallen and deep in need, which is why they were with Jesus.  Religiosity merely hides such truth behind a veneer of arrogant deceit (that we can comply to our own definition of goodness and that will suffice). The true evil of this is that it rises in us because we are afraid to partake of what God is really offering, and think our side-stepping can provide an alternative, acceptable to Him whilst stroking our own egos.

So, what are we to do? What, as Christians today, is required of us?

In this superb little presentation, Chad Bird lays it out beautifully. Enjoy.

Troubling the Waters

"There must be someway out of here" 

All along the Watchtower.

In a recent interview on the nature of the troubles currently whirling through our society, Atheist and academic Peter Boghossian informed the Spectator that one of the key reasons that we have such dreadful ideology at work everywhere right now is the impact of New Atheism on our times. It has been a movement, he notes (around the 43 minute mark), which has demolished confidence in faith systems, especially here in the west in Christianity, and replaced it with a gaping hole which has been filled with the utter nightmare we now face of totalitarian identity movements and the abyss this brings with it.

Whilst the likes of Sam Harris revel in the stupidity of this, others are beginning to seriously ask what can be done to rectify the horror. Is there any solution to an age falling to a morass of meaninglessness?

I also came across this superb piece today which shows how someone who was a third generation atheist came to genuine and life changing faith in God - it really hits the spot :)

Enjoy!