Christians don't have the monopoly on 'doing good', But ...

I'm beginning to think that people of no faith might have the monopoly on 'doing spiteful - or intolerant' as all too often I find them displaying something that denies anything of an  open-mind and indicates anything but rational thinking has been taking place.

It's been an interesting few days as I have listened to radio broadcasts explaining how 'delusional' Christians force children into acts of worship. I have heard supposedly sane people explain how there is no difference to be found between the fundamentalists acting across Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan and Christians. There have been people almost frothing at the mouth as they peddled something bordering on hate crimes and put on display their sad Christophobic utterances.

I have to be honest here and say that were any of those with whom I 'do church' to speak as many of the self-appointed, draw your own line and approve it by your own thinking and self-approved standards, folk I have been hearing of late then I would be encouraging them to think again.

The problem is that the majority of those I have heard on the radio (or read in print) seem to have many views and very little thinking at all and I'm beginning to think that rather than the old humanist/non-theistic chestnut which claims that being Christian requires us to leave our brains at the door, this now needs to be revised with the words 'humanists' replacing the word Christian:

I am so very sad at the stuff I have heard. "Perphaps," I think to myself, "They are the secular equivalent of the Westboro Baptist Church rather than displaying humanistic  mainstream thinking (but I fear not!)". The labels so many ascribe and the pure venom and spitefulness they exude: Is it any wonder that as the world adopts a more secular approach it also become a lesser place than it was in terms of justice (for all I hear these days is 'settling scores' and 'revenge') morality (for 'self' is now an acceptable focus to have) and family (let's not go there!).

I am one who believes in tolerance and yet my tolerance is apparently met by people who wish to attack and abuse and destroy as an outworking of their intolerance. If I were to try and convert people to a theist approach to life with the same vigour, venom and irrational dialogue as that demonstrated in the words and writings of some of these 'free-thinking' then 'non-theists' I'd (quite rightly) be labelled a bigot and mindless fanatic and eschewed by the majority. Cloak it in humanism or focus upon those who you consider to be nnnnnnn (choose your own cause: homophobic, racist, mysogny, misandry, etc.) and you'll soon have the morons our with their tumbrels and scythes screaming for blood. Mob rule and unthinking madness seem to be the order of the day!

I have absolutes and values and standards and these, even when I'd wish to change them, stand fir,: They guide my engagement with others around me. Others around me wish to live in a world of pseudo-scientific bunkum (odd that, isn't that what some of those claim Christians do as we supposedly oppose science?) where they worship technology and science that all too often they don't understand. They see man as the key to successful and fulfilled living but take any good idea (and I don't mean anything religious - though such a stance would fit) and watch how man will change it to meet his own ends. 

Look at all the wars that the sheep will claim were all caused by 'religion' (man's ultimate rebellion against God) and see how many were caused by non-theistic people and their thinking. 

Look at the regimes and oppressions, the greed, the corporations and tell me: Are they theistic or humanist in their attunes, values and ambitions?

I don't attack humanists, I engage with them (often agreeing at much of their thinking - if thinkers they be) and I pray for them and I respect their desire to be as they are (all too often being basically self-serving and closed minded) and refrain from ad hominem, finger-pointing, bitter recriminations and name-calling. What a shame these 'open-minded' folk can't have the grace to do the same.

So What's being a Christian all about then?

The at perennial question that chase me up and down the streets like Monty Python's perennial hedgehog, but instead of shouting out, 'Dindsale,' my assailant cries out: 'Christian? What's that then?' and you know that's is a very good question indeed. Let's hope my reply is up to the mark! Here are your three starters - more tomorrow:

First and foremost, being a Christian demands some form on belief, after all I know a few groups of people who think that mentioning the name (or sticking it about their doors) makes them Christian, but it doesn't. After all I know people who go on about alcohol all the time but they aren't alcoholics, in math they are the very opposite ob being alcoholic. The same is true for those who go on about Jesus with to without the job descriptor 'Christ' - or like to use either, or both of those words singly or in combination most assuredly doesn't make you a Christian! Saying the name is great but it's knowing the bloke that matters.

So here's the first top tip of being Christian: You need to know the bloke!

The next step is that you need to know what Jesus (the bloke) and  the job title He has (the Christ) are all about. Some people get a bit confused here and think He was a man who got zapped by God and became a super-being. I have to say if that's your stance then you've got Jesus a but mixed up with the Hulk or Spiderman, sorry. You see, Jesus is God but to get that which was necessary for us to be friends with God again all squared away, knowing that the price that needed to be paid was someone willing to exchange their life for our own, He came down as a man (Christmas? Remember Christmas - the baby? Well that was Jesus; don't let that thought go!). The person what's going to do the swapping places and saving us bit - He's called the 'Chosen one' (no not Mourhino, he's just a very naughty boy!) -That's what being 'The Christ' means.

Next tip - remember Christ is Jesus' job title and the next time you want to use Him as a swear word, have a think about how you'd feel if someone you loved had their name used like that!

Now, if someone gave up their life to save mine, I am certain I would say something twee like, 'OOOh, I'm going to try and live a better life because He died to let me live my life!' It's what they do in films; it's what they do when we think of those who gave their lives in conflict (and it is remembrancetide innit?), so if it really happened, wouldn't you try to live it out for real?

Of course you would... top tip three:  Live like you've just got your life back!

40 Acts - Do the Dirty Work

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain. 1 Corinthians 15:58 (NIV)

Five words guaranteed to change your life this year: ‘Can I help with that?’ I’m the type of person you’ll always find in the kitchen at parties, getting stuck into the washing up, collecting empty glasses or taking out the rubbish. I like helping others but to tell you the truth this is actually my coping mechanism for navigating scary social occasions. As a painfully shy child I found that having something practical to do gave me the courage to start conversations with people I wouldn’t normally speak to. Some of the most interesting people I’ve met have been elbow-deep in a washing-up bowl. In my working life, I travel the world gathering stories about how poverty and injustice affect communities, speaking to individuals and civil society groups who are working for change. I’ve often found that the quickest way to put people at ease is to help out with their chores or be willing to get stuck into some seriously dirty work. This can be a bit of a risky tactic! The learning curve for certain activities can be rather steep (cement mixing),  they certainly won’t be glamorous, and some jobs definitely require a strong stomach (clearing sewage ditches) but when you’re working alongside someone, laughing and joking together as you learn the ropes, you have the time and space to ask questions and share stories from your lives. So I ask you to think about doing things for others, not purely as acts of service but as an opportunity to learn more about our world and the people we share it with.  Be generous with your time and your comfort zone. Look for opportunities to volunteer or help out in communities that are different from your own, and do not be afraid to get some grime and life experience under your nails. Stephanie Atkins

For today's web page - Click HERE

Christmas Starts With Christ

Click here to visit the site

More and more each Christmas I engage with people who are less and less aware of the Christmas story and the fact that Jesus is not only the reason for the season but is also the person after whom it is all named. Jesus, the Christ, is the reason it's called 'CHRISTmas'.


It's a bit of a shocker for those of us who have been around a while to hear that a little over ten percent of the adults in this land know what, where and how the nativity story goes.

It's a bit of a sad thing to discover that around half of the adults reckon Jesus has no relevance to Christmas (it's up there with the woman who told me off for, 'Hijacking Easter' as we began our Good Friday 'act of witness'!)

So, whether you know nothing or everything - click on the link above to enter the 'Christmas Starts With Christ' website and discover more . . .

And take a look at this taster from the site too

Rupert Bear on the radio

I've just turned on my radio - I do from time to time,
A man was reading Christian verse, it really was a crime,
The tone of voice 'twas dripping honey, so sincere, so blinking funny!

Thought he was speaking holy writ. Like Olivier? Nah, like a twit!
And every stanza worked so well, it really was a rhyming hell!
His tomes were reaching to God aloft - I had enough, I turned it off.

Strange how many think that Church,
being a place where people come to seek God's face
Need to make the whole thing rhyme
And yet when gazing at His creation,
Ebola, ISIS, war and starving nation:

It doesn't!

'It's like you were born again!

It's an odd reality that in life there are times when the only way to progress comes through finding the ability to stand still! So often we find ourselves talking about great advances made in some area or the other. Today the news has been filled with the news that a man whose spinal cord was severed has had it repaired and is walking and driving again. Darek Fidyka, speaking of his feelings towards the treatment he had received said, "When you can't feel almost half your body, you are helpless, but when it starts coming back it's like you were born again."

Darek's words struck me because for many of us we can remember a time when we were living lives in which we were out of touch with our feelings, unable to control our bodies or regulate our thinking, and it was the coming into relationship with God, the Father, through the actions of Jesus, the Christ, that caused us also to be able to say, "We were helpless and were out of touch with ourselves and the surroundings around us until we met Jesus and, regaining our senses and right mind, it was like being born again!"

Today as we celebrate the first steps of a man for whom medicine has made so much difference I wonder how many of us can remember what it was like when were were were out of control and distant from God? Much more so I wonder how many of us have stopped to check that we're still in touch with 'all of ourselves' because I meet so many Christians who are obviously not living as believers in all departments; so many who limbs, brains and tongues most definitely function wrongly and over which they too apparently have no control!

My prayer is that those who claim to be 'Christian' (beginning with me) will take the time to see which part of their body, and their lives, they are out of touch with in terms of Christian living. How many of us are not standing tall, walking straight or thinking rightly because the connections between them and God - their intentions and realities - are severed or severely limited?

I leave us all with the words of Paul (Romans 7) where he says:

Now, which finger do you choose to use?

"I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate."
As we celebrate medical advances I pray that we will, by examining ourselves, make advances in our own lives and the way that we have control of our whole body and mind.

Pax

Israel - Not the best at marketing!

This morning BBC news reports are telling us that Israel are to take some 400 hectares (almost 1,000 acres) of Palestinian land near to Bethlehem. Having had a quick look I find the following:

The official statement
"On the instructions of the political echelon... 4,000 dunams at (the settlement of) Gevaot is declared as state land," the army department charged with administering civil affairs in occupied territory said, adding that concerned parties have 45 days to appeal."

The expansionist statement
The Etzion settlements council welcomed this expansion of the current Gevaot settlement as it:
"Paves the way for the new city of Gevaot."

The response from the US State Department:
 "Counterproductive to Israel's stated goal of a negotiated two-state solution with the Palestinians".

The response from Abbas:
This 'land grab' will “lead to more instability” and “inflame the situation after the war in Gaza."

Expected response from Palestinians:

The Bible assessment (Micah 2):
What sorrow awaits you who lie awake at night, thinking up evil plans.
You rise at dawn and hurry to carry them out, simply because you have the power to do so.
When you want a piece of land, you find a way to seize it.
When you want someone’s house, you take it by fraud and violence.
You cheat a man of his property, stealing his family’s inheritance.

But this is what the LORD says:
“I will reward your evil with evil; you won’t be able to pull your neck out of the noose.
  You will no longer walk around proudly, for it will be a terrible time.”

In that day your enemies will make fun of you by singing this song of despair about you:
“We are finished, completely ruined! God has confiscated our land, taking it from us.
  He has given our fields to those who betrayed us.”

Others will set your boundaries then, and the LORD’s people will have no say in how the land is divided.

For those of us who are Christians - pray for peace in Jerusalem and for right-thinking on the part of those who govern the nation state of Israel.

Pax

I'm confused Vic; they seem to think they're Christian

The title of this entry relates to something I've said regarding the Jehovah's Witnesses and the fact that I said I didn't think they were Christian, I received this challenging (and most excellent) comment:

'I'm confused Vic; they seem to think they are?'

Indeed they do, or at least they want others to think that they are, but using the name Jesus in a different context to that which is considered to be orthodox doesn't make you Christian and more than using Man U as a focus for ridicule makes you their supporter. But the 'Christian' claim adds, or at least attempts to add, some integrity and implicit value to a bunch of (albeit nice) people who are not, as I understand it actually Christian.

I used to have a number of friends who talked of the bloke who started the thing off some 150 years hence and was quite impressed by some of their stuff, it all started to go wrong when I read about him flooding 'miracle wheat' what wasn't- in fact it was a bit of a scam and, if I recall correctly, he was found guilty of being just a bit dodgy!

But let's no dwell in ad hominem but look at what they believe - and here it might help if we had a look at the Creed, for this is surely a benchmark document. Here we find that the Witnesses focus entirely on Jehovah (the name sort of gives it away) - just one God (without the other two persons of the Trinity) and I have a recollection somewhere that Jesus and the archangel Michael are viewed as being one and he same. I also recall a quite interesting conversation with a friend over the lack of a cross with Jesus (my witness friend called it a 'torture stake') because they deny it was the way Jesus died (so no crosses either).

Mind you, Christian bits aside, there is a great belief that the first 144,000 faithful Witnesses make it into heaven with Jesus (useful to include Him, helps to confirm the 'Christian' label) and after that, the rest end up on Earth doing the gardening (so that's a religion that would work for my Wife's Dad - Tony's Grandad)!

They tend to use The New World Translation (NWT) because it's a version that they translated from all the original texts; and yet oddly it is apparently at odd with the versions I have on my shelf in a number of places. I have always been most taken up with John 1 which tells me: 'In beginning was the Word, and the Word was with the God, and God was the Word.' But I find the NWT leads me to think that 'the Word was a god' and that's a big difference that supports the non-Trinitarian stance.

There's much that others point to regarding them (the Witnesses) but this (on both sides, the claims and the ridicule), stuff that is subsidiary and resides in the shadows behind the major errors - mind you they do think Jesus returned some hundred years back and this is why it's all gone Pete Tong since (was told that by a lovely bloke peddling magazines in Lichfield just after Easter - good to have no dogcollar some days!).

I guess I'll leave this short explanation as to the reasons I don't see Jehovah's Witnesses as Christian with a 'word from my sponsor' - remaining in John, this time in chapter 14:

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”
Jesus said to him,  “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip?
Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.  How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves."

I hope this provides some explanation to your question.

Daily Quiet Time or Prayer or . . .

Office or study or . . .

It doesn't matter what you call it the issue is that if you do it you do it right and this is where it gets hard (as if doing it wasn't hard enough)!

When I was a student there were a bunch of really dedicated Christians in the Christian Union(CU). They got together and did their daily study, getting together each morning and having their 'Quiet Time'. They would read their Bible study notes and the passage set for the day.

Another group were the Navigators - a disciplined bunch who would work through various themed programmes - using the Topical Memory system these guys would learn a new passage each day and would test each other on the verses that had passed. These were the storm troopers of the CU, they learned their stuff and could be found stopping students in the corridor and asking them (in various ways) what they thought of Jesus and Christianity.

Then came another group who were a bit hit and miss with their Quiet Times. They tended to start the month well and slowly slide into variable observance. This was the group I was usually part off and it was not because I didn't see the benefit of reading the Bible or didn't want to spend time reading, thinking and praying but because I had a life. I can hear some say that the life I had was probably indisciplined and you may well be right, but things got in the way and the best plans and highest intentions were binned because I'd be out all night praying with people or discussing the Bible and arguing with the atheists (always been there) or doing other stuff.

What I noticed was that then, and now, that some who did their daily wotsit religiously, by which I mean, legalistically and without much enthusiasm or joy. They ticked the box and 'did their duty' and as much as I applaud their commitment (would that there were more who were committed) I was, and am, sad that some do it as drear and dread duty rather than as a place of sanity and a source of joy.

I made a promise when I was ordained that I would do my daily office - that is my morning and evening prayer - and this promise, and the keeping of if, is a commitment and a challenge. A commitment because, like feeding the cats, it is something I have to do because I need to feed the spiritual man (and I promised God and a pointyhat - not one and the same thing I'd do it) and a challenge because it requires a discipline - that's why I do it the minute I wake, getting up earlier to ensure it happens before the demands and distractions of the day conspire to distract me - and it needs to be something I want to do.

So here's a little plea to those who stumble across these words:

If you are a Christian you need to feed the spiritual person every day - lest they become emancipated and eventually starve.

If you are a Christian you need to find some joy in being so, if it is a joyless, lifeless and draining experience then slowly, but most assuredly, you're living in a time stamped existence - one that leads to being an ex-Christian!

If you don't take time out to consider the world around you and the needs nearer to you and to regard them with spiritual eyes and listen regarding them with anointed ears then how can you make sense and pray intelligently and form a world view and a rational understanding that fits your faith view and satisfies those of no faith?

So my plea is this:
Read your Bible
Understand what's happening in the world, work, home, church, elsewhere
Use your brain
Use your tongue to talk to God (and people)
Get excited
Be passionate (or as passionate as you can be)

Do this and you'll find yourself craving time where you can dialogue, reason and rejoice in being a person of faith - and you'll find people want to be doing it with you.

Happy Friday

What is being 'Christian' all about?

"Now that's a very good question," I thought to myself as I struggled to find a reasonable answer and, reasonable or not, I gave one anyway - and this is how it goes:

"In my book Christians are people who, recognising the distance between them and God, are rather grateful that Jesus popped in and did the 'cross thing' because that (the 'cross thing') plays an important part in removing the distance and reconciling us to God.

Not only that but Jesus (whose job title in this role is 'The Christ*') having died pops over to hell (which because we use the term 'descends' must, I guess, be located in a downwards direction) and kindly points out to the bloke what runs the place (hereinafter refereed to satan (not Stan as my spellchecker sometimes suggests) that the only real power he has is death because this is the penalty for his (satan's) only product 'sin' and, having died and come back as alive, means that He (Jesus) has broken the only power he (satan) had.

Then, having come back from the dead he (Jesus) points out that when he broke death He did it for everyone - not en masse but in a one-for-one, real-time, act - so all you need to do is recognise who He is and What He did and (thanking Him) take a 'get out of sin free' card from Him (Jesus) and satan is stymied."

In a shorter form it goes like this:

“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life."

John 3.16

So it's all very simple:

God and us were meant mates but became separated from each other because of sin

Jesus death on the cross breaks the power of sin (death) and restores the relationship between us and God

Accepting that Jesus, the Christ, has done all this and deciding to take the ticket from Him and live in the reality of forgiveness, eternal life and . . .

. . . Relationship with God through, for and with Him (Jesus)

That's what it's all about.

Can it get any simpler?

* Christ not being Jesus' name but a description of the role He occupies in that He, as the Son, comes to this world of ours as a man (that's a reference to His sex and to the fact that He is also human) as the 'anointed one of God' - He is God's solution to all the ills of the world basically.

Gravitational Cognisance:

Anyone who has watched cartoon will be familiar with characters walking off high places and continuing their progress in mid-air until they realise solid ground has gone as, looking down, the begin to plummet to the ground. We may find a parallel between Wile E Coyote and those who have lost the solid ground of their Christian faith. They continue walking as if they're on solid ground until something causes them to look down and then . . .  Whoosh . . .  Satan-like they plummet out our sight and are lost forever.

Some manage to never look down, they keep plodding on in the hope that they will have one of those Damascus road experiences or be hit by a bolt of lightning and so live out their lives of obedient drudgery when all it needs is for them to encounter and engage with their doubt! It is this that makes me think that doubt is one of the most excellent things we have in the arsenal of our faith.

And if doubt is one of our greatest gifts then one of the greatest curses has to be the loss of meaning that has been supposedly gifted to us by postmodernity. I say 'supposedly' because it has always been with us throughout all the ages. Those generations who have known the price of everything and the value of nothing, the many good men who have failed to act (regardless of the reason) and the valueless faith that imposes no standards to demands that we keep - this I that of which we speak.

The tension between getting all the good stuff (forgiveness, approbation, affirmation. acceptance, etc.) without having to believe 'all the ****!'* (absolutes, commandments, rules, standards, etc.) is an ever present reality. This is the bottom line for many and shapes and makes their faith life. No surprise because, when it comes down to it for we are like little children who want the sweeties but baulk at having to eat the cabbage (or whatever your dread vegetable happens to be), aren't we?

It is here that some cling to religion (rules and absolutes) whilst others turn to ritual (bells, smells and tat) and others still turn to inclusivity and freedom from restrictions (the 'God wants you to be happy' approach).

Whenever I encounter this area, personally or in others, I find myself coming back to Matthew 21.44 and the words that 'Whoever falls upon this rock will be broken and those upon whom it falls will be crushed.' Doubt needs to be be broken by recognising the thin air upon which the doubter is standing and, having acknowledged it, addressing and remedying it. Denial of doubt is death (spiritual and sometime physical too) and has no place in the Christian faith - we need to encourage doubt, for otherwise we push it underground to creep, cancer-like, behind the scenes just before we notice the weight-loss (and there are many emaciated Christians out there) that heralds the slide into being departed. Early prevention comes through checking for the signs and responding when they are found.

Have a look at your feet and see whether they are are solid ground or about to lead you into the plummet that is terminal decline.

Remember: Christianity demands that you do not leave your brain at the door! 


*A quote from one of those trendy clerics with which we are so blessed with these days!

What We Owe Beheaded Children

Posted on August 8, 2014 by Lori Stanley Roeleveld

What unspeakable horror of which we must now speak.

So many headlines have bombarded my vision, my senses, my soul through my fifty plus years but this one, this one grabs my heart and tears it open like a gorilla at a bag of chips.

ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria) is reportedly slaughtering Christians and doing it with the intent to horrify others into converting to Islam before they find their own necks touched by a callous blade. They film their barbaric acts, televised terrorism, which includes ravaging women and beheading children.

I won’t go on. But it begs the question – what do we owe beheaded children, crucified men, and tortured women?

We can’t unknow what is being reported. We can’t jump in planes and gather the children, their parents, their broken bodies in our arms. We also cannot allow the darkness to cripple us with fear, sadness, or hatred. These are the weapons of darkness, not light, and if we yield to them, we kneel before the same idol as the terrorists. So, what do we owe those who fall?

First, we owe them to bear witness to the crimes against them. As horrible as it is to know that children are being beheaded, we dishonor them by hiding our faces in the sand. This is part of the pain of the end times, bearing witness to the horror. Still, the suffering of hearing these unpleasant truths pales in comparison to the suffering of those who must live it but this is our pain, the pain of being witnesses who refuse to turn away.

If we turn away and refuse to know, we aid the enemy in their efforts, we tell the victims they die alone, unnoticed, we say to the world we are cowed by evil. Only by the strength available in Christ can our eyes remain open but open they shall remain. We won’t blindfold ourselves.

Second, we owe them to live lives worthy of Jesus Christ. Every five-year-old who falls by the sword should be a reminder to us that God has shown us grace simply by choosing the land in which we were born. That might have been our child. It might have been us. It should magnify our gratitude. It should galvanize our desire to live life to the fullest. In the name of these babies slaughtered, we can refuse to take our own lives in Christ for granted. We can live out the freedom granted us by the eternal lives blazing within us like a thousand suns. We owe these ones who have been robbed of life to not waste a moment of ours.

Third, we can refuse to pick up the weapons of darkness – fear, hatred, bloodshed, rage, and violence – but instead, wield the weapons at our disposal in Jesus Christ. We will learn to battle on our knees, moving the forces of heaven with our prayers. We will force back the darkness by aiming our light in its direction. We will refuse to remain ignorant, blind, and silent. We will not stand idly by but neither will we engage them on the field of their choosing. We will force them to fight where they are destined to lose – in the realm of the kingdom of God. Do you know prayer warriors? Apprentice with them. Ask them to teach you to battle in prayer. Build up your endurance for the long siege to come.

Fourth and finally, we can prepare for the time to come. Those who have fallen in the name of Jesus will wake to see His face. If they could speak to us from beyond, they would say “Be ready. Strengthen your hearts, your minds, your souls in Christ Jesus for the day they paint the mark on your door, for the day they aim the sword at your throat, for the day they come to slay your children.”

Know the One in whose name you pray and for whose name they were cut down. For even as the soil of Iraq and Syria absorbs their shed blood, their spirits are entering the kingdom of Christ where pain and suffering are no more. Those who struck them down have no hope unless they repent and call on the name of Christ to be saved. Those who struck them down are already dead, but we are alive forever. Know God’s word. Rid your life of sin and fear. Listen to God and move forward in faith when He speaks.

I know that some of you, loved ones, are more sensitive and tenderhearted than others. I know this is hard. It’s painful to bear witness and awful to hear of these atrocities. Jesus Christ will make us strong. He will make us able to bear up – those who face the sword and those left to wrestle with the knowledge of their violent deaths. He is with us all.

Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.  For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.” Hebrews 10:35-39 (ESV)

What do we owe beheaded children? We owe them to live for the One in whose name they died.

This is a time to share our courage and strength. How else can we battle for those who have fallen? What scripture passages shall we pray? What news outlets are most reliable? Let’s share what we know here in the comments so we can act when we can, pray with wisdom, and support those who still live in the path of the blade.

We need to encourage one another, loved ones. Are you in for company along the narrow road? Click on the bar above that says “I’m in” and learn how to be a part of our little band of followers or Click Here to subscribe or contact me. Mercy and grace, Lori

Thank you Lori for not only giving permission to share this but also for encouraging people to share

At the cross where I first saw the dark!

Of course the words of the Isaac Watts hymn are, 'First saw the light,' and yet it is surely the darkness, the fruit of sin harvested and made obvious in the separation that Father and Son experience, that illuminates! How odd to think that the darkness is the source of the light that dispels the darkness within us - a real conundrum.

William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, said:

'Most Christians would like to send their recruits to Bible college for five years. I would like to send them to Hell for five minutes. That would do more than anything else to prepare them for a lifetime of compassionate ministry.'

Many years ago I tried this by taking some Christians to Soho's red-light district and found, to my surprise, that the experience did not raise their blood pressure and enlist them to stand against the darkness against which we are called to contend. I tried it with Amsterdam's red-light district (a notch lower still and sure that this place where self-respect and cheapening of life combine to surely make us draw a line and determine to make a stand. And yet, even though distaste was found, there was no inflamed passion and no taking up of the King's shilling!

The news coming in from Iraq at the destruction of Christian communities has raised among many Christians a hearty, 'Oh dear!' I've seen more passionate responses from Christians over their football club's cup run or league place than I have over Iraq. Change the scenery and I can honestly say that I've seen more enraged, and engaged, passions from Christians over the right to be, or have, or do, than I have over the conflict between us and the result of sin.

It is at the cross where the pain of separation is made manifest. The problem is that the promise of eternal life overwhelms us and causes us to deviate from the real issue - that moment when the distance is made obvious - and rather than contend with sin (in us, in others) we look merely to the blessing that we 'deserve', that healing which 'by divine right' should be ours for the taking. We retreat into our own self-serving world and cling to the salvation Jesus (being the Christ) wins for us without ever being touched by the darkness of it.

Would that those around me who claim the label 'Christian' might find in the darkness of the cross the passion to live as befits the life we claim to live rather than the self-serving and hollow deceptions so often found.

The darkness is apparent and yet many Christians are more concerned with their own  blessings than the scene at the cross and the import of what happened there. They are blinded by the promises so much that they cannot see the road they take is wrong. The light dazzles and confuses rather than renders the darkness impotent and broken.

We look to Grace and forget discipline (but who liked the cabbage when they were young?); we look to eternal life and live each day unable to fly on God's breath. We hear the words of life and live by their sound and not the voice that spoke them.

Would that for one brief second we would understand that darkness that Jesus experienced for us on the cross - that we would, glimpsing hell, take up for ourselves a 'lifetime of compassionate ministry' rather than the self-serving religion we have made for ourselves as a parody of that which Jesus died to give us.

Lord, help me to live in the reality of the cross;

To look into the eyes of Jesus and to walk in His footsteps,

To walk in the light rather than be blinded by the promises.

To live a life of truly compassionate ministry.

Amen.

Canon Andrew White: "The governments and media of the world may have forgotten us . . . "

It is a tedious seasonal metaphor, now clichéd to the point of political hollowness, but these "Arab springs", once hailed as the founts of liberty and democratic dreams, have become long, cold winters of turmoil, suffering, persecution and mass slaughter.

Egypt is economically unstable; Syria is is meltdown; Iraq is disintegrating; Libya has become the very bloodbath we tried to avert; Saudi Arabia is struggling with internal discord; and Iran is fomenting regional conflict. The Arab world is collapsing in painful spasms and convulsing in a series of existential catastrophes. The disintegration has been swift and inexorable.

The ensuing humanitarian tragedy is epic - one might almost say 'biblical'. Tens of millions across the Arab world are in need of urgent aid as they displaced, made homeless and hunger for their daily bread. Hundreds of thousands have lost their lives through civil war and sectarian strife. Now that the regional strongmen have fallen one by one, the vacuum is being filled by the Salafist-Jihadist Islamic State, and they have brought hell on earth.

Where is the Arab League in all this?

How are they responding to the Caliphate?

What are they saying about the apocalyptic death and destruction?

Where are the declarations opposing Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi or uniting in their condemnation of his 'robust' interpretation of Islam?

Silence! 

There are, however, a few causes of optimism. God's people are not mute; nor are they turning a blind eye. Here is the latest update from the Vicar of Baghdad, Canon Andrew White: 

I can’t express how immensely encouraged I am by the huge amount of support we have received here for the persecuted Christians here in Iraq. People have prayed and sacrificially given. They have enabled us to at least begin to meet the crucial needs of the people. Dr Sarah and I have been working flat out on meeting these needs but we have to have more help and I pray that today we will find the help we need. Today I will head North to Kurdistan where Sarah is at the moment.

Helping Through The Iraqi ChurchesThe main way we are helping the massive numbers of internally displaced people is through the various indigenous churches. The different denominations know which of their people need help, and who they have who have fled Mosul and Nineveh. The money is received through our Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East (FRRME) and given through our one Anglican Church in Iraq. So the help is given from Church to Church. The Foundation is a 501C3 in the US and a registered charity in the UK. So people can give in tax beneficial ways.

http://frrme.org/get-involved/donate/
www.frrmeamerica.org

Daily InformationDaily information is provided through Face Book and on less regular email updates sent about twice a week. My personal face book page is full as I have 5000 friends and am thus not allowed anymore. I do however have a popular figure page that you can like and get regular updates there.

The message to those who want to be friends:I would very much love to have you as a friend but I am afraid I have reached the limit of 5000 friends on my page there are two public figure pages that you can join that get my same updates. You can also sign up for my regular updates at www.frrme.org .Please do join one of these pages. These pages are:

https://www.facebook.com/CanonAndrewWhite
https://www.facebook.com/FRRME

Together We Have HopeEverything maybe awful but we have such hope. HOPE because we are not alone the support from our friends around the world has simply been phenomenal. The governments and media of the world may have forgotten us but the people of G-d are with us Jews, Christians and Muslims the people who know that the Lord is here and His Spirit is with us.

With love thanks and blessings,

Andrew White

Vain Philosophies - Dodgy Teachers

Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high- sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ.
Col 2.8

Here we have a passage from Paul, a bloke what gave the world - especially the Christian world - a rather large collection of stuff that some would claim are naught but a bunch of philosophies! And this is where, if we are to try and live as Christians, that our problems begin!

Problem? What problem (I hear some ask)?

The minute we try to live as Christian we are saying that we want to live 'like Jesus' - this is the time when someone will pop up and say, 'All you need is Jesus to do that. He is God's living word. There's no need of the Bible, or of rules, or trying to be what you're not for God's Grace is sufficient and because Grace is always sufficient you just need to be free and live within it.'

And you know what? They are right!

There's no need of rules and regulations, for these merely tie you down and condemn. Yes indeedy folks: There's no need to do anything other than live in the freedom that being 'Christian' brings because, at the end of the day, 'God just wants you to happy' and doesn't it say that, 'God so loved the world that He gave His only son (nothing about things Sophia-like or female here I'm afraid) to set it free - not tell it that it is wrong (AKA condemn).'

So let's write that down:
1. There's no need to write anything down you just need Jesus and to love and be loved and live in God's Grace and be happy!

Oh! perhaps we need to scrub that out as we've just broken our first rule - which of course we shouldn't have anyway because there are no rules, regulations or philosophies (are there?).

And this is where the problems all begin, for everyone I have encountered starts off by telling me that Rule One applies and then they break it by telling me that this applies to everyone else's Rule One, not theirs! we don't need anything but Grace and we can't out sin Grace so why try to keep Paul's philosophical scribbles and rules? Be free and happy and live in the knowledge that that's enough (and buy my books, sermon videos, CD and other merchandising because 'a workmen is worthy of his wage' and of course you mustn't criticise me because you must never act against the Lord's anointed either!

This is the root of all the error in the Church today. The feeble-minded, seeking blessing that should come from the labour of their own hands, instead seek God's anointing and blessing and prosperity and health and status and positions of authority ('I want to be up the front and be applauded and feted') and power and everything that Jesus died to bring us.

But that's where it goes wrong, isn't it?

Jesus came to take on the role of Christ. To reconcile each of us, by name, to God the Father by that one atoning act of dying (in our place) upon the cross. His words, which we need to read and learn and learn to live by, are important and valid and lively - you cannot be a Christian without the Bible (Old and New Testament) and you need to look at the words written and ask yourself how you might live by them.

And this is where the error is to be found. For taking the truth and adding just a little deviation from that which Jesus calls us to be; to write off paul as 'vain philosophy' or to call Christians to live without the Bible is akin to telling Vegetarians that eating meat doesn't deny your vegetarian beliefs.

You cannot live as a Christian without love or Jesus
BUT
You cannot live as a Christian without writing things down, reading the Bible, and seeking to live by them.

The laws and written codes that stood (and continue to stand to this day) opposed to God's solution for the world's ills (Jesus), the condemnations and accusations, the powers and authorities (Col 2) have been trampled underfoot: They are a laughing stock.

And this we know because Jesus (God's living Word - Logos) lives in our hearts by faith supported by the written word (logos) and the ways in which we are shown how to respond to this amazing act of love.

It is so very simple - it isn't rocket science now, is it?

So let's turn off the TV and stop going to the Christian cabarets; let's toss the CDs, DVDs in he bin; let's stop pouring money into all the miraculous ministries (because the only miracle to be seen is the fact that you spend what you don't have to fund someone who already has more than is right or proper).

Go to your local church and celebrate being Church.

Get yourself a job and earn your living and pay your tithes and make sure that none who are without because they cannot work or because life has dealt them a bit of a blow can survive.

Read your Bible and meet with the other Christians and discuss what you have read - write what you have learned down and share it - weep with the proven, pray for the sick, rejoice with the joyful and herald in the Kingdom of Jesus, God made man, saviour, healer, redeemer, teacher and coming King.

And now I've put the world to rights I'm off to a Scottish Episcopal church service to rejoice at being Church and celebrate the fact that Jesus

HE IS RISEN :-)

Christian Bookshops - A Vic the Vicar mention (1)

A shameless plug for Measham's  bookshop 'Books and Bibles' as one of the few remaining places to buy stuff now Wesley Owen and the like have gone.

I will be putting places of merit on this blog (merit being in no small measure down to the fact that they still exist) and thought this warranted a mention as they are helpful and friendly (and let me in!).

Books & Bibles

Annfield Place, Leicester Rd

Measham, Swadlincote, Derbyshire DE12 7JG

Tel: 01530 515041

Click here for web

God's Not Dead - a Curate's Egg of a film

Two days on and I'm still very much engaged with some internal dialogue over the film 'God's not dead! for (sadly) like the Curate's egg - not all of it is good!

Now I know this view might draw some fire from those who loved it unreservedly but I cannot excuse nor applaud some of the elements within it even though it was one of the better examples of this this genre of film (which perhaps also indicates how awful much of it is). Here's some of the current struggles:

There were some valid sections but the sharp apologetic was in stark contrast to some of the poor dialogue and the film might have been greatly improved by a pair of electronic scissors! Why they had to include the Islamic convert sub plot I have no idea - as an apologetic it was already sorted - this was tacky and unwarranted (and yes I know it goes on - but if the issue is to be raised, do it in coherent and contextually secure manner for Pete's sake).

The end was simply amazing (and not, I'm afraid, in a good way) but at least it cut the bluebirds singing and the Rebecca of Sunnybrook farm conclusion that I feared was becoming inevitable. Mind you complex medical diagnosis at a glance and a street death conversion of epic length and amazingly extensive dialogue (did it really take an hour or was that merely my perception?) all conspired to cloud over, and out, the positives and leave me with an unwieldy and unpalatable scene that provided if the the final, then it was the penultimate, nail in the coffin.

But I loved the apologetics, the analogy of sin as a cell was outstanding and the call to not only 'give an answer to all who ask' but to stand up for our faith regardless of the opposition  - but especially when it comes from within.

Waiting for the DVD now so I can cut out the dross and celebrate the good (it's called gleaning - something it seems that many Christians seem to have lost) - Happy Friday

Bl**dy Bankers - deserve all they get

So went a conversation this morning as the news that almost 20,000 Barclays staff were to lose their jobs over the coming months - around half coming from the UK - hit the news.

I take a look at the news ticker and what do I see:

• Barclays cuts 14,000 jobs this year 
• Morrisons sales fall 8.2% 

So it's definitely not a rosy morning (actually it's raining as I type this) is it?

But of the 'bankers' - the reality is that when people want to lash out at the fat cats in the banking world, those people who drove the world's economies onto the rocks (with loads of help from the rest of the world who never stop to ask where profits, dividends and cheap prices on what should be more costly goods have their roots and realities) are cheering the wrong things. Those who lose their jobs will be the ordinary folk who live up your street and sit next to you on the train and shop at Aldi and Lidl rather than Fortnums and Horrids, drive flashy cars and live exorbitant lifestyles (thanks in some way - to us).

Not the most rational thought around!

Worse still those who claim to be Christian and are cheering are taking pleasure from the distress of others. The Bible tells us that love is what Christians are supposed to be about. That said, we do a great job of masking it behind our outrages and righteous indignation and our petty hatreds.

In 1 Corinthians 13 (RVV) the Apostle Paul tells us that:

Love never gives up, regardless.

Love is concerned with caring more for others than it does for ourselves.

Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have but takes joy in what it does!

Love doesn’t strut, posture, boast, brag or pose.

Love doesn’t force itself on others but respects private space and the dignity of of others.

Love isn’t concerned with a 'me first' culture or mindset but prefers and serves others.

Love doesn’t fly off the handle, or get the punch in first, even when we think it is justified.

Love doesn’t keep score of the sins of others but is concerned with our own sins first.

Love takes no pleasure when others are reduced to tears, pulled down or humiliated.

Love takes pleasure in truth, in all its aspects, regardless of how that might make us look or feel.

Love puts up with stuff because, all things considered, look at the model Jesus left us!

Love trusts God and always looks for the best in others.

Love is forward looking, it doesn't keep a record of what has been, only of what can be and it keeps on looking even when experience might lead others to stop.

So - pray and seek to help those who might just be losing their jobs (regardless of where they work).

Pax

Oh Vicar - all you do is work (2)

Yeah, of course I do!

Just because I don't take days off here and there doesn't mean I'm not energised by stuff other than Church (although theology  and faith - the two F's - are one of my biggest hobbies) and another of these has to be the area of Gospel Magic.

Last year, in the run up to Christmas I found myself doing four 'shows' (AKA assemblies, Lunch Clubs and the like) during which I performed 37 different tricks). Here's some of them (many are too large to fit in the photo'):

I love doing magic and the opportunity that services, assemblies and the like provide do mean that 'doing magic' is often part of my work life too - but it's fun and I enjoy the time required in the study (often in the early hours) practicing handling and methods, patter and misdirections.

But it's fun I tell you, fun, fun FUN!

(And Yes I do also have a straitjacket routine :-)  )

How Christians SHOULD be living

I saw this and thought it was one of those 'spot on' things to remind me and anyone else who happens to pass by about the way in which Christians should be living:

Don't copy the attitudes, behaviours and customs of this world - BUT let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. 

Romans 12 (Revised Vic Version)