SON OF GOD

The Christmas story offers us some magnificent themes – if only we can get out of the seasonal rush and really think about them. There are two in particular: that Jesus is as human as I am (this is the essential lesson of the human baby in the manger), and that Jesus is none the less “My God”, or, as the angel described the baby to Mary, “That Holy One”.

His humanity was (and is) obvious to all – and it means that he knows where I’m coming from and what it feels like to be in this world; he is on the wave length of my fears and worries, my hopes and joys. He understands me, is deeply interested in me and can help me. He forgives and he heals. This is something millions have experienced in their lives, and need to go on experiencing.

His divinity was not so obvious, and when he lived in Galilee most missed it. How was it discerned? This is the challenging bit. John, the supremely thoughtful and discerning disciple, gives us an answer from the years he spent with the adult Jesus. Firstly he listened very carefully to what Jesus said about himself and how he identified himself with God. For example, Jesus simply was not afraid to use even the “I am” title of God for himself. John actually heard Jesus say to the Scribes and Pharisees, “Before Abraham came into being, I am”. He heard much more as Jesus made further use of the expression “I am” and said of himself, I am the Good Shepherd, the Resurrection, the Life, the Truth the Light of the World. All these descriptions blatantly and directly betokened divinity.

Secondly John watched very carefully what Jesus did. He took careful note of Jesus’ own comment that what he was doing in the way of miracles bore evidence to the truth of what he was saying. John saw the man blind from birth healed, the five thousand fed, Lazarus raised from the dead and the water turned into wine. These works that the Father was doing in him through the Spirit were a total vindication of the fact that Jesus spoke and taught the truth. “No man can do these works unless he come from God”, said Nicodemus.

All this perception was indelibly confirmed when he saw Jesus risen from the dead. Like his fellow disciple, Thomas, his own heart at that point breathed, “My Lord and My God!” It was time to worship.
In the later years of his life John's ever deepening perception was majestically underscored by two great prophetic visions of the exalted Jesus, one in which he saw the Lord in the midst of his church, the other in which he saw the glorified “Lamb” in the middle of the throne of God (recorded in The Revelation). They were out shone only by the brilliant revelation of the exalted Lord Jesus that converted Paul on the Damascus road.

Many, worldwide, even today, are finding the same exalted divine Jesus through powerful vision and prophetic revelation. This has not stopped! Many more know providentially of the miracle touch that comes into a life given over to Jesus, and so recognise the absolute validity of his recorded claims. Direct experience of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit particularly endorse the truth of what Jesus said and bring consciousness of his own presence.

May this Son of God enfold you, and may you see something of his glory this Christmas



Bob (N.B. THE NEXT “Column” WILL BE PUBLISHED ON JAN. 4th)

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SOCIAL UNREST

Lurking behind economic disaster there is always the spectre of social unrest. Economic collapses inevitably cause real distress in many people’s lives which gives rise to frustration and anger followed by unrest. We have seen this phenomenon break out in ugly fashion in the recent demonstrations by students over student fees. There is a degree of inevitability about it

It is not something new, even in Britain (remember the miners’ confrontations when the coal industry began to collapse), but it is never something to be taken lightly or with complacency. It is worth remembering that appalling things have come out of economic disaster and social unrest – the French Revolution, the rise of Hitler, the collapse of the USSR etc. Though we are not quite at that point, none the less all social unrest is ugly. The reason for that is the way in which protest seems invariably to be hijacked by vicious and extremist activists and blatant thugs (as has happened with the student protests); a little of that sort of leaven in the lump changes the whole character of protest, and simply adds chaos to chaos. It is critically important to defuse it in a right manner. Law and order has to prevail. That is the responsibility both of demonstrators and the powers that be. It is difficult when raw emotion (especially anger) displaces hard reasoning. The consequences of escalating social unrest do not bear thinking about!

Lord Rees-Mogg in a newspaper leader wrote, “Britain ought not to be where we are now, having to make decisions under the pressure of riots and huge national debt”. I always gain much from Rees-Mogg, but I think I would have to say on this issue that it was inevitable that Britain would be in the position we are in now in the light of its years of encouragement of wanton consumerism on the basis of debt and its embracing of non morality. We have reached the day of reckoning for a philosophy of living that has embraced debt and indulgence as a way of life. If one generation lives well beyond its means (as the generation from the 60s has) then the next generation will inevitably pick up the tab; this is the root cause of the present situation. It is not surprising that the generation that faces the tab is going to be angry; moreover it will be difficult for that generation to realise that it does not have a “right” to what it wants, having been brought up on an unadulterated doctrine of “my rights” and state provision.

Once again all this needs to be seen through spiritual lenses. If ever there was a contemporary demonstration of the biblical truth that “the wages of sin is death” or, put in another biblical metaphor, “as you sow, so shall you reap”, we have it at the present time. We have lived through a generation that has scorned biblical patterns for living, and is now (at least among its intelligentsia) more scornful and arrogant than ever in its dismissal of those patterns. It persists with pagan hedonism!

We must pray that distress and unrest will lead to widespread and true Holy Spirit revival.



Bob

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WIKILEAKS – A HUMILIATION

A distinguished American professor in a current newspaper article has poured scorn on the “latest barrage of Wikileaks”, a quarter of a million classified U.S. government cables now open on the Web, describing them as the “tittle-tattle” of a “juvenile Australian”. His main point is that like a smoke screen they obscure very much deeper and serious problems, military, economic and social that now face the U.S. The title of his article is, “Wake up America”. It’s a call not to get side-tracked, but to take stock of those big issues.

He is absolutely right, of course in his main point. But there still remains the phenomenon of Wikileaks. Recent disclosures may do little harm in the long run, but they are without any question an embarrassing humiliation for the U.S. with more likely to come. The most powerful nation in the world (or is it?) has once again has its tail painfully twisted.

The first feature of that humiliation is that the U.S. has had to go cap in hand to many nations apologising for the sordid nature of remarks that have been made of national leaders etc. Of course, every body knows that it is not just the Americans who make nasty, coarse remarks in private - all the nations do it, some no doubt with greater coarseness and cynicism. And it is something that has always happened, right throughout history. But, none the less, the Americans have been exposed and humiliated in an unprecedented manner. It is certainly going to make their diplomatic relations a little trickier and give others countries a bit more leverage. It’s a blow to pride in a nation that has been full of pride. They have been made to look silly; they’ve lost face.

The second feature of the humiliation is that the security of the U.S. cyber and intelligence world has been seriously called into question. This is more important. The future battles between nations will be fought in cyber space as much as anywhere. At this very moment, it seems, the Iranian progress toward nuclear weapons is being hampered more by hacking into its computer systems that by the threat of military action. Keeping ahead with security in cyber space is very much the new arms race. It is not good to be humiliated on this front.

As I wrote a number of weeks ago, ever since 9/11 this last decade has been one of deep humiliation for the U.S. Its vulnerability has been exposed even as it has vaunted its vast military arsenal. It has failed in its wars in Afghanistan and Iraq; it has failed in its economy.

It is impossible for the prophetic eye not to see in all this a “Wake up!” cry from God, not only for America but for the whole of the West, whose future is so intertwined with America’s. When God wants to warn nations (or people), he has an extraordinary way of puncturing their defences, exposing their vulnerability and tweaking their tails.

One should add, I think, that there is a positive mercy in all this. Not for one moment do I think God is unmindful of all the Christian work, and especially the prayer and missionary work, that emanates from the U.S. It may be a painful tweak, but God, in grace, is seeking to warn.


Bob

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CHALLENGE OF ADVENT

For many Christians this season of the year is celebrated as Advent, a word that simply means “The Coming”. It refers, of course, to the coming of Jesus, both his first coming to share our humanity and his second coming to gather those who have given themselves to him and have walked with him. The great prophet of his first coming was John the Baptist. John is a major Advent figure, but in these days a sadly neglected figure. I use the word “sadly” because what he had to say is so utterly pertinent to the needs of our generation.

His prime calling was to announce to his own generation that Jesus, the “Word of God” was actually among them offering people the grace of eternal life. We desperately need that message. Alongside that announcement, however, was a very strong call to a radical change of lifestyle, a call to renounce selfishness and greed, a call to embrace generous giving and contentment. John was not a politician with a political agenda. He was prophet with a message for everyone; his call was to people as people, from the highest to the lowest. He was out for a change in the moral climate, a climate made up of the values of every individual person. If people did not have a heart for truth, integrity and justice then there would be no way in which they would be able to recognize “The Word” much less receive him.

He was not, however, simply placing a “choice” of lifestyle before people as though their behaviour was something for them to make their own decision about and was their own “private” decision. He was making absolute moral demands in the name of God. Furthermore he was emphasizing the fact that unless there was such a change for the better there would be national disaster. He graphically described the situation in the words, “The axe is laid to the tree”; the tree was the nation, and it was on the very point of being cut down on account of the rottenness of its corrupt and self-centred fruit. Like every prophet before him, he had words to say about judgement.

The call he was making was actually very plain and simple; they were to “stop getting and start giving”, they were renounce violence and threats and learn contentment, they were to avoid corruption, and they were to live within the time-honoured restraints on sexual behaviour. In other words, they were individually to get back to simple decent standards of behaviour. He was addressing, not political or economic issues (which are secondary) but moral issues (which are always primary).

This is the biggest need of our generation; it is obsessed with the economic and political and has marginalized the moral. That is to build on sand. It is also to become increasingly blind to God and his offer of life. A nation sold out to materialism will need to see materialism evaporate before it will once again seek its Creator God.



Bob

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THE STORM STILL BLOWS

Over the week-end the Irish government has had to concede the fact that it is bankrupt and that it needs bailing out to the tune of something like 100 billion Euros. As a member of the Euro Zone it is making arrangements for this bail out with the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission and the European Central Bank. One analyst immediately wrote, “Even as the details of the Irish package are being resolved, investors and economists are asking: “Who’s next?” The focus is on Portugal, Spain and even Italy. Then the questions arise of how far Europe will be able to keep on bailing out its members and what is the limit to debt. Thus the destructive financial storm rages on some two years after it began, and yet another nation is massively saddled with enormous debt.

Once upon a time a person in debt was considered the most unfortunate of creatures. Now not only are vast numbers of people in that unenviable position individually but nations are struggling desperately to find the interest payments on their vast debts. Debts are easily acquired, but are extremely difficult to get rid of. Debt is always a long term matter, and it is always a matter of very painful “doing without”. Once in debt there is never anything left for a “rainy day” and for individuals and nations alike, such days have a habit of turning up. Another “rainy day” in the current situation would wreak untold chaos, and the outlook for rainy days is distinctly unfavourable.

A leading article in a more reputable newspaper was devoted to telling the Irish that they would have fared better if they had not joined the Euro Zone. It said how much better Britain had fared because it remained independent. We had not been obliged to go cap in hand to foreign institutions for help; we apparently had been able to print out own money, and to bail ourselves out by creating our own enormous national debt. I do not see that the net result in terms of debt is really any better, and it’s hardly sensible to tell another he’s drowning quicker than you are!

I wonder if the sheer enormity of the current situation has fully registered in the western world. I doubt it. Britain’s national debt is astronomical, the very commercial and industrial recovery by which alone it will be reduced is in doubt, government attempts to cut expenditure will certainly cause social unrest and all the while the extraordinary culture of unregulated financial greed which brought all this about remains largely untouched. To add insult to injury we are told this week that house prices in Kensington and Chelsea still rise because the fabulously rich of other nations are buying up our most desirable property. Moreover, for the first time in our history more than fifty percent of offers to buy up British corporations (like Cadbury!) are coming from abroad. We are being bought up and bought out!

So the chastisement continues. It is a chastisement. We have sown to the wind and are reaping the whirlwind. Even as I write that sentence I can hear a great din of contempt and condemnation at such retrograde, obscurantist, ridiculous and even abhorrent thinking. But that is precisely the point that needs addressing – the refusal to come terms with, and the absolute rejection of anything to do with God, his standards and his judgement.

Lord, in wrath remember mercy!



Bob

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FAMILY – THE CITADEL OF SOCIETY

When God created the heavens and the earth he saw “it was good”. So, looking at Adam he saw that Adam was good, but that Adam remained incomplete; God’s verdict was, “It is not good for man to be alone. I will make him a helpmeet”. Accordingly he made Eve out of Adam’s rib. What was missing from him, became embodied in her. Later Eve bore a son, an embodiment of both herself and Adam. Here, then, was the origin of the family.

The family is, therefore, a “creational ordinance". It is the first “institution” that humanity experienced. It was the institution that every other institution was eventually built upon.It was “good”, extraordinarily good. It was of God’s devising. It is the God-given core of society.

It was extraordinarily good because we can see that family was built with bonds that are much deeper than human “contracts”, or human convenience. With Adam and Eve there was a profound sense of “belonging” to each other, which was carried into the relationship with their children. She was his helpmeet, that necessary addition to make him complete, and he rejoiced in her. Here was the birth of real committment, of respect and of love. Here, later, in a fallen world is a school for restraint and discipline, for thinking of others.

It was good because it provided for the deepest need in humanity, full orbed companionship; “it is not good for man to be alone”. Human beings need others. Man is not born to blatant selfish “individualism”, he is born to society and to relationship. “Individualism” was a phrase first coined by the astute Alexis de Tocqueville when he observed in the young America of the late 18C a new independent social attitude developing amidst the challenges of a rugged new world. The term has since come to describe the attitude whereby we think first of ourselves as individuals, and others as individuals, and act primarily on that basis. It is an attitude which has weakened social links and responsibilities. It breeds self-centredness. It is particularly evident in the Western world.

Much more, very much more, could be said about the shape God had for family, but the lesson for us today is plain; when this essential institution (as devised and shaped by God) is damaged or rejected by society, society itself in its intended and best form begins to fail. Of course, the family as we know it can be dysfunctional, extremely so at times. Nothing, however, shows more clearly the importance of true family than the effects of a dysfunctional family – and there are plenty of examples of the dysfunctional in the Old Testament. Sadly there are far more examples of the dysfunctional family today, frequently the breeding ground of pain, anger, hatred, rejection, violence and crime.

It is a primary call on the institution of government to think of and preserve the primary institution of family. For that it has to think seriously about the major factor destroying family, unbridled sexual freedom. It has to think seriously about marriage and its distinctive vows of life long caring commitment and trust. They are exactly the nettles that it is most difficult to think of government grasping. The storm against the family has reached unprecedented force.
Thus it becomes all the more paramount for the church to take a clear and firm stand. It’s a day of great challenge!


Bob

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MORAL RESTRAINT

“Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their own appetites” Edmund Burke.

Burke, a famous and very perceptive political theorist, wrote these much quoted words to a member of the French National Assembly in 1791 as he observed the growth of anarchy in the French Revolution. They may be paraphrased as saying that men will only enjoy real freedom in their society if they all show moral restraint in those areas where their own selfish desires threaten to get the better of them. If they do not, society will descend into anarchy. He was trying to make the point that real freedom is not so much built on the demands for rights, the great cry of the Revolution, as on the readiness to exercise personal responsibility and personal self-restraint in relation to others. It is a much quoted saying simply because it enshrines an essential truth.

Burke uses two words which have been marginalised in our modern thinking, the words “moral” and “restraint” (graphically pictured as “chains”). They desperately need to come back. “Restraint” means there are limits to our personal freedom; we cannot do just what we like, irrespective of consequences upon others. “Moral” means we need to recognise again the force of the words “ought to”; there is a “moral imperative”, a right and a wrong.

The most interesting thing about this statement of Burke is that he is not placing the task of securing civil liberty on government legislation to hold wrongdoing in check (though that has its own place and an important place), but is speaking to all individuals who make up the society and putting responsibility on them. He is making the point that it is the prevailing communal good behaviour of individual people that in the end makes real freedom in society possible. In an age which seems to have off-loaded everything onto “the government”, with the ubiquitous expression, “the government ought” (notice the ‘ought’), we sadly need this correction.

Governments are not capable of bringing freedom and security by restrictive legislation alone, no matter how well intentioned. Moral restraint must be present in the very fibre of the society itself. Otherwise the prisons simply fill up and up, and lying, cheating and corruption in all walks of life rapidly spread, and family solidarity collapses more and more under the onslaught of unrestrained sexual license. Social life becomes more and more oppressed and freedom is lost. It is this need of moral restraint in society as a whole that has to be gripped in our generation. Once we have grasped the need (and there is some way yet to go on this), we then have to answer the question of how this restraint can be re-established after so much of it has been lost.

The short answer is that it has to be taught; but from what text book? The text book of secular humanism is of little help – that is the current prevailing text book and has been found wanting. Neither is philosophy of help. As the British philosopher, Bertrand Russell once said, philosophy provides no real guidelines for moral behaviour. On the contrary modern philosophy has underpinned the removal of absolute standards. It is at this point that the great rock on which Hebrew political and social society was to be built comes to mind with staggering clarity and relevance, namely the Ten Commandments. Here are moral imperatives of extraordinary perception for the well being of a whole society, imperatives which are securely founded on the worship of a “Holy” God, whose word, “Be holy for I am holy” has immense dynamic for every human person. Political theory would do well to follow the lead of divine revelation!

Bob

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“GOD IS GREAT” – THE CRY OF TERROR

The scientific secularist makes us ask the question, “Why do you believe in God?” The religious terrorist makes us ask the question, “What sort of God do you believe in?” Both questions are crucial in the modern world, and we need an answer to both. In some ways the latter question is more important than the first, and it has been forced upon us yet again this week by indiscriminate bomb plots on aircraft in the name of God.

The suicide bomber blows himself up with the cry, “God is great”. The same cry enables a man to send his younger brother on a suicidal death mission, and, according to reports, the man responsible for the “cartridge bombs” discovered this week has perpetrated precisely that crime. Suicide and indiscriminate murder are part of the political outworking of religious “jihad” being fought in this world against the great Satan of the west. Martyrdom has been re-defined as killing one’s self in order to kill others, rather than being ready to die for one’s faith at the hands of militant persecutors.

Who is this “God” who is “great” in the midst of such terror? He is certainly a great help to the secularist cause! But the reality is that, despite the fact that the true God is indeed great, the application of that truth to such deeds is nothing more than a blasphemy against his greatness. It is a work of deception in the degenerate human mind. Unfortunately there are many such misrepresentations of God in the world, whereas in the nature of the case there is only one true God.

If one thing becomes immediately clear from all this, it is that the idea that all “faiths” or “beliefs” lead to the same God is manifest nonsense. We might safely say that humble, generous souls with a heart for righteousness and love might well find their way through the labyrinth of religious systems of the world to the one true God (cp. Cornelius). But religious systems more often block the way, or point in wrong directions.
The Judeo-Christian God of the bible rejects categorically both murder and suicide; Christianity as a religion has had its fanatics, but genuine Christianity has always rejected both murder and suicide even in its doctrine concerning war. It cannot be remotely construed as leading in the same direction as suicidal jihad, nor of coming from the same source.

Understanding who God is and what he is like is fundamental, therefore, to real and true faith. But only God himself can reveal his own nature, and the Old and New Testaments claim unequivocally to provide us with that revelation; they do not purport to be human philosophy but revelation. It is when we begin to piece this biblical revelation together and hold it alongside our own experience and living encounters with God that we begin to realise how utterly self authenticating this witness is, and that it is leading us to the truth.

The crucial encounter with God is in meeting the risen Jesus. He is the way, the truth and the life; he is the light of the world; he is the one who has revealed the “name” of God (that is to say, his nature), He has revealed it both in his person and in his teaching. Fundamentally, love totally predominates; judgement and righteousness provide an essential balance to love, are indeed an integral part of love; total provision is offered for every aspect of human need; eternal life is underlined heavily.

He sends us out to love our neighbours, to love our enemies, to do good to all people, and as far as lies within us to be at peace with all. This is self-authenticating truth!


Bob

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THE HEAVENS DECLARE …..

It is very difficult not to admire the courage of Professor Stephen Hawkins, the Cambridge astrophysicist. After wasting his prodigious intellectual talents in his ‘teens, he was stung in his early twenties into intense and diligent research into the universe by the onset of a progressive wasting illness. He has shown enormous character in the battle of life.

It is profoundly tragic, therefore, that, as yet, he has been unable to leap from the vast erudition of his studies into a grasp of the Creator God. One can only sincerely pray that he will do so. Like a supreme technician analysing exactly how a masterpiece was painted, but never standing back to see what the masterpiece is saying, so Professor Hawkins’ focus is on the "how" of creation, not the message of creation. But the “how” will never yield the “why” – that is a totally different perspective.

For Paul the Apostle the message of this masterpiece of creation was all too clear. He writes, “God has made it plain. Since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made”. The words, “plain” and “clearly seen” stand out. It seems to me three things at least demand that we see God in creation; the incomprehensibility of time and space, the sheer unspeakable beauty of it all and the meticulous order of it all. It is a most extraordinary thing that we are actually consciously aware of time and space; we know that something must lie beyond it. That very awareness points to an eternal being.

David, the psalmist, spent many a night as a shepherd contemplating the stars (something of which our city life has deprived us). He, just as plainly as Paul, saw the message of the masterpiece he was surveying; “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands” (Ps. 19). Clearly he was reading the majesty and the beauty of what he saw. He also may well have been frequently in awe of what he was seeing. Certainly he would have been in awe if he had known as much as we do about the distances and time involved in creation.
The heavens “spoke” to him; “Day after day they pour forth speech, night after night they display knowledge” – a constant reminder of our Creator. Not only the heavens spoke, but his own self as a created being spoke to him; “I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (Ps 139), not merely physically but mentally, emotionally and spiritually.

Secularism goes on battering at us and has plenty of sympathetic scope in the media, certainly more than the Christian viewpoint. Thank God, however, he has left us a witness that can never be totally obscured. The very creation, as Paul reminds us, leaves us “without excuse”. May God open the eyes of many to the obvious.



Bob

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WISDOM FROM THE CHILEAN MINE

“Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom” Ps. 90:12

An awful lot of “wisdom” came out of the mine with the rescued trapped miners in Chile. All of them were in a situation where every moment was forcing them to “number their days”, or as we might put it “recognise that their days were numbered”. Face to face with life or death there was no alternative but to take stock of life, and many “applied themselves to wisdom” (where “wisdom” in this context refers to God and his ways).

One of the miners, the grandfather miner (63), simply said on his return to the surface, “Sometimes you need something to happen in your life to really reflect and understand that we only have one life. I am a different person”. His first intent was to give his wife of thirty years standing what she had always wanted – a wedding dress and a marriage in church. He had changed – he had a new and deeper respect for life, for his loved ones and for God.

He was not the only one who felt a deeper soberness about life. Another miner was impressed in a very similar manner and on his return knelt down, crossed himself and then told his girlfriend of twenty five years “we’ll buy you a wedding dress and get married in church”. Yet another miner received a marriage proposal from his girl friend with whom he has daughters and they will get married straight away. Such painfully gained sobriety is all to the good. It is “wisdom”. It is learning the real measure of life. It contrasts vividly with the comments of the editor of the Times who in his editorial comment seems to have felt obliged (as the media generally is) to include only a somewhat sordid sexual reference to another miner’s wife.

Interestingly in the background to the Chilean story we hear of Jose Henriquez who was the drill master and became the spiritual leader of the trapped group; he led prayers and boosted spirits. We hear also that among the “liberty kit” sent down to the trapped men was a T-shirt with the slogan “Thank you Lord, because nothing is impossible with God”. These were sent down by the “Jesus Film Project”, along with a copy of the film of the Life of Jesus for the men to watch. The second miner out, wearing his Jesus T-shirt said, “I never doubted I would get out alive. God and the Devil fought for me, and God decided to save me”. He also said he had “buried 40 years of my life in the cavern”, which one hopes was a remark indicating a new kind of wiser life.

Catastrophe, therefore, does not always end in disaster and death. It can create a focus we too often lack. It can end in powerful and positive amendment of life. When we look at impending catastrophes on a wider scale, in national affairs and in the economy in particular, we can only pray that for a great many people some wisdom, sobriety and renewal will emerge even from them. That is God’s intent and desire.

Bob

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A NEW SONG

I hope you’ll forgive an illustration from Greek mythology. I heard it used very aptly recently by a bishop. It featured the sirens, fabulous nymphs who lured sailors to destruction by their irresistible sweet singing. The Greek hero, Odysseus, having to pass close by their abode ordered his sailors to fill their ears with wax and tie him to the mast so he could hear but not go after the sirens; the seafarers all escaped, but with huge agony for Odysseus. Another Greek hero passing the same way, Orpheus, simply played even sweeter music and drowned out the sirens; he and his companions also escaped, but in much better manner. The dictionary defines the word sirens as “charming temptresses”.

What a picture of the world in which we live! In our own generation it is full of sirens, sounding out their compelling songs, calling us to follow pathways that are destructive. We have featured them often enough in this column by way of warning; profiteering, unrestrained sex, material possessions, unlimited feasting and pleasure etc. They are not, however, just at one small part of our life’s journey; unfortunately they accompany us every day, and much of the time. The media make sure of that, being the trumpet for such alluring “songs”. And there is no question of the fact that they are alluring, very alluring to the unwary.

We cannot keep wax in our ears all the time, neither can we be so tied down that we can’t physically respond. What we need is, like Orpheus, a better, a sweeter song. Like him we need to keep the better song in our minds all the time. When something better than temptation is sounding in our ears, temptation loses its attraction, and even becomes a matter of distaste.

We’ve actually been given such a song; that is the astonishing thing about our faith in Jesus. This new song is a song about “the beauty of holiness”. In coming to Him we are awakened to the sheer beauty of a godly and righteous life, a “pearl of great price” and something to really sing about. There are a lot of things in the world that are beautiful but never appreciated, and an upright character is one of them. True conversion is to have a clear perception of that and to have an eager personal desire to share in such beauty.

The true follower of Jesus has an eagerness to live as He lived because it is so wholesome, so good to see and so releasing of joy and peace in the innermost being. Those who follow will spend a great deal of their time looking in the mirror, but at their heart, not just their outward appearance that takes precedence in the modern world. They will spend much time thinking on “whatsoever is beautiful and whatsoever is of good report”.
In this way we have a much more powerful music that the sirens of the world; we move much more safely through the world; we are aware of the world’s music, but it is so distasteful in comparison that we recoil from it.


Bob

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BETRAYED BY OUR LANGUAGE

There are two windows that quickly reveal the inner person. One is the face, especially the eyes; the other is the language that comes out of the mouth. I don’t necessarily mean the content of the language (though that, of course, is always revealing), but rather the very language in which the content is conveyed. So, on the one hand, a look at the many faces that make up a society or community will tell you an awful lot about that community, whether it’s happy, fearful, neglected, oppressed etc. And, on the other hand, listening to the language of those people will be equally revealing of their heart. What does the general language of our society sound like these days? What does it betray about our society?

I was fascinated by a newspaper columnist (a woman) actually challenging today’s public language. She described it as vulgar, hostile and selfish. I was fascinated that she was giving vent to her dismay (and it was genuine dismay) in a newspaper column, a place where we have seen an alarming increase in decadence and vulgarity of expression over the last few years (not to mention content!). It is the media in fact that has underlined and taught our generation to speak with incredible coarseness.

I was also fascinated by the fact that the writer was a woman; it was as though she were taking on the forgotten historic feminine cultural role of trying to keep decency in our language. She would probably recoil from such a notion. But the fact is that culturally womenfolk have held the barrier against vulgarity and obscenity in language. I was reminded of the rather outdated expression, “Mind your language, there a lady present!”

I was encouraged even more by her role because I have noted that in the newspaper column writing of the present time the womenfolk seem to go out of their way to outdo their men folk in vulgarity and obscenity. She was a very welcome exception, even if it looked as if occasionally she had to quote some modern examples of vulgarity in order to gain a hearing!

She spoke of our language as having a “cruel and bullying tone”, “an abandonment of taste and restraint”, and “trying to gain attention by always going a little bit further” (a classic newspaper activity!) This tells us where we have got to as people – coarse, hostile, obscene, aggressive, unrestrained etc. Our language is us! The real tragedy is that most would defend such unrestrained verbal abuse in such terms as “I have a perfect right to say what I want in whatever way I want, and I am going to do so”.

The columnist noted, “Not long ago that kind of language would not be printed in a national newspaper. It would have denied (a person) the company of any people except the foolish and the depraved”. Our lips tell us are a society adrift of our moorings, dangerously moving in an ever quickening current of decadency.


Bob

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THE POISON OF GREED

There has always been violence and there has always been greed in the world. They are containable when law and good government act effectively against them. They become utterly devastating, however, when they take over the reins of power, override law and invade the national culture. The culture of violence underlay the Nazi party in Germany and brought it to power in 1933. From there it went on to infect the whole German nation and bring world-wide destruction. It found a true bedfellow in the equally strong Japanese culture of violence which devastated the Far East and gave us “world” war.
In our generation the culture of greed has captured the economic high places of Western Society; it is not something that appears in a few hidden places, it is endemic. It is highly toxic, it is virulently poisonous and it has already brought widespread economic devastation – in the U.S. alone a national debt of $13 trillion. It was precisely this culture of greed among the rich, the influential and the rulers that Amos and his fellow prophets exposed in the society of their day. Their call was a call back to a forgotten morality and to the fear of God. Ridiculed and ignored they none the less continued to call.
The new Western systemic culture of greed can be illustrated in the story of the U.S. Long-Term Capital Management fund of the 1990s. A group of extremely able professors and economists from Ivy League Universities thought they had devised an infallible mathematical scheme for forcasting long term movements in financial capital. This meant they could invest large sums of money with inevitable and large profits. It was the ultimate gamblers’ dream. Disdaining their distinguished academic roles, their sole aim was now to make as much money as possible, and their status was in proportion to their pay and their profits. They gambled with borrowed money, in billions of dollars, borrowed from significant and leading investors, and charged those who invested with them enormous fees. They typified the new kind of ruthless shark swimming in the waters of the financial world. They made no useful contribution at all to world economy but made “kills” simply by moving money assets around the table. Finally in 1998 the “infallible” scheme was caught out and the fund collapsed with losses of $billions. A bail out by banks had to be arranged very quickly to stop the shock waves destroying the economy. But many paid bitterly for the fiasco.
This high level culture of greed, however, did not die with LTCM. On the contrary it was growing everywhere, rapidly. It had crossed the Atlantic (and other oceans!) and infected the whole banking system in Britain. The sense of responsibility of banking toward industry and the small customer was lost in the fever of making quick and large profit. Corruption became endemic. The rewards attracted the best brains in Britain to the City and the “bonus” became the essential target. We know where it has all led – to a bail out that dwarfs the LCTM bail out, and to the massive time bomb of unprecedented debt.
But, unbelievingly, the culture still remains, lurking in banks which, despite all that has happened, still stonewall any real restraint being placed on them. They are determined to pursue their “Casino” activities and give them precedence over the really productive banking that gives less profit but undergirds the economy and jobs. If they cannot be restrained then inevitably further disaster, and further collapse, probably complete collapse, will follow.This is a desperate lesson in the need of society for moral restraint.

Thank God there are people still in high places who can see the need for restraint, even if they don’t like the word “moral”. But whether they like the word “moral” or not the fact is that humanity cannot survive without moral restraints. In the long history of political thought, those restraints have never been articulated better than in the Ten Commandments.


Bob

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PROPHETIC POPE?

The general understanding of the word “prophetic” is that it describes a perceptive and incisive statement concerning the world in which we live, a statement that warns of danger and points to a safe way forward. It refers to something of consequence, something that has the perspective of a broad historical picture, and something that stands back and interprets crucial movements in society. It generally bucks the trend and requires a degree of courage for its expression.
The Pope began his recent visit by saying in the Queen’s presence, “Today, the United Kingdom strives to be a modern and multicultural society. In this challenging enterprise, may it always maintain its respect for those traditional values and cultural expressions that the more aggressive forms of secularism no longer value or even tolerate. Let it not obscure the Christian foundation that underpins its freedoms”.
This simple statement put its finger on a crucial national spiritual issue, and warned of the national danger of abandoning its Christian heritage. It can rightly be called prophetic. It can be called prophetic all the more so because this was being said at the very highest level of government in the person of the monarch, who is also the Head of the Established Church, and with the national media in eager attendance, eager to hear what this man had to say. It was a godly statement, given to a nation in a way that all could hear. It was not given “in a corner”.
This prophetic statement, it soon became obvious, was not to be a mere starter, it was to be the main course of the whole visit. Later in the day the Pope said, “The evangelisation of culture is all the more important in our times when a “dictatorship of relativism” threatens to obscure the unchanging truth about man’s nature, his destiny and his ultimate good. There are now some who seek to exclude religious belief from public discourse, to privatise it or even to paint it as a threat to quality and liberty. Yet religion is in fact a guarantee of authentic liberty and respect …” Not only did he here again point out the danger but went on to exhort, “For this reason I appeal to you, the faithful. in accordance with your baptismal calling and mission, not only to be examples of faith in public, but also to put the case for the promotion of faith’s wisdom and vision in the public forum.” This warning and rallying call came into focus every time he spoke.
We should be profoundly grateful that such a challenge has been laid down in such high places against the rapid descent of our nation into godlessness, a descent which has been the work of so many of the intelligentsia, intellectuals and libertine opinion formers of our nation. Small wonder the Catholic Archbishop of Westminster said this Pope’s visit could be more significant than Pope John Paul’s great visit.

I have appended below a Post Script of further significant points of the Pope's visit for any who might wish to read further.


Bob

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POST SCRIPT

Further brief comments.

1. The Pope in his capacity as head of the Vatican was speaking to England as a nation, not simply to the Catholic Church as its pastor, though, of course he did do that at the same time. Hence there was a great weight to his addresses.

2. The prophetic message he brought was part of his wider vision for the challenging of secularism across European society as a whole. In fact he touches an issue that affects all western society, European or otherwise. That is a significant perspective we need in our prophetic thinking.

3. The sheer width of the reach of his message during his visit was astonishing. This is because he came as a head of state. He not only spoke to the Queen and, but he spoke to a very distinguished audience of politicians, diplomats, academics and business leaders at Westminster Hall. He spoke in Westminster Abbey to the dignitaries of the Anglican Church. He went on to speak to speak to representatives of other religions, to teachers in the presence of the Secretary of State for Education, to youth and to children. And, of course, he spoke to large crowds of Catholics. This huge reach solidifies the prophetic nature of his visit.

4. The language of his message was such as enabled it to be received seriously. It was very simple and never pretentious; it was direct; one knew exactly what he was saying. It was on the one hand spiritual and on the other hand intellectually of a high order; he knew the issues. There was no religious jargon that might cause an immediate “turn off”.

5. Alongside his wider message he clearly had an agenda as a Roman Catholic. His visit to Westminster Abbey was considered a pilgrimage to the tomb of Edward the Confessor, his discussion of the relationship between politics and religion at Westminster Hall featured Thomas More who was a Catholic martyr, and the beatification of Cardinal Newman who left Anglicanism for Rome became the central piece of his final statement about the importance of the spiritual in human life. We should not begrudge him that stance; after all he is the Pope. It was never arrogant, and it was taken in the context of genuine goodwill and genuine desire for spiritual co-operation on an issue where co-operation could be possible.

6. Seeing a prophetic aspect to this visit in no way implies a compromise concerning purely Christian theological issues. For us the “elevation to the altar” of Cardinal Newman as a figure to be invoked in prayer will always remain a step much too far, as will the central doctrine of trans-substantiation in the Mass. And there are many other issues where we may judge that Rome has strayed. However, if you have a kipper for tea, you would be wise not to throw away the flesh with the bones; we do not have to swallow all, but we certainly have to take on board what is edifying. There was a powerful prophetic stance here that we throw away at our peril.

9/11 - A FADING MEMORY?

The anniversary of 9/11 has just gone by this week-end with very little mention – at least in Britain! The U.S.A.’s most famous opera singer made mention of it publically in between her songs at the last night of the Proms (which was the actual anniversary date) but it received a muted response.

Of course, in life we need to move on and get over things, bad things especially. But there are some things that really need to be remembered, and 9/11 is one of them. The primary reason for that is that it came with a massive prophetic edge (whatever your definition of the prophetic may be). Right at the beginning of the new century it seemed like a great sign post, a great pointer to the future, a warning sign.

Thinking of the event in retrospect, and retrospective thinking is generally more valuable than immediate response thinking, a particular pattern or interpretation has been in my mind. It comes from the fact that in what was a three-pronged attack the twin towers were completely destroyed, the Pentagon was partially destroyed and the White House escaped.
The twin towers were the epitome of the financial/business world; floor after floor was involved in wheeling and dealing. It was a world in which greed and profit were the motivators. Then the unthinkable, the unimaginable happened – both towers completely collapsed. Such a total catastrophe beggared belief. It is the totality of the collapse that needs to be remembered. When we see what has happened to the financial world in the nine years that have elapsed since 9/11 the startling prophetic nature of the event itself becomes starker than ever. For the financial world has almost hit ground zero; one more collapse and it will. It’s as though the towers symbolised the reality, and the reality itself has now virtually collapsed, propped up in a very shaky and uncertain manner. Many fear a ground zero scenario.

On 9/11 the Pentagon, the symbol and seat of U.S. military power, took a severe knock. Once again the last nine years have seen a further playing out of that event; the American military has taken a severe and very expensive knock in its exploits in Iraq and Afghanistan. It was 9/11 that drew the might of the U.S. unwisely into those wars, exposed the severe limitations of “overwhelming power”, and gave a severe dent to overweening pride.

But the White House escaped. I am not sure what that really points to. However, I must admit that it makes me breathe a sigh of relief; some real political horror was not permitted to happen. I can only hope that if the White House is the symbol of a political system based on freedom and the rule of law then somehow in the years that lie ahead this huge (if imperfect) blessing we have of a free society may be allowed to continue.
We remain totally at the mercy of God. He is knocking very severely at the doors of our western society.

Bob

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"GOD GAVE THEM OVER"

These four words, “He gave them over” are repeated three times in the opening chapter of Romans. They refer to God’s action toward human beings when they deliberately turn their backs on a Creator God whom they instinctively know to be righteous.

What does he give them over to? First, “He gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another" 1:24; second, “He gave them over to shameful lusts. Even the women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones" 1:26; third, “He gave them over to a depraved mind to do what ought not to be done … filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity”1:28-29.

The consequences outlined so clearly by Paul are the result of a basic denial of God and his restraints in favour of an unfettered pursuit of personal desires. In allowing such consequences God also allows man’s own choices to be his judgement.

Perhaps the most astonishing feature about this analysis of Paul is the marked emphasis of being “given over” to sexual depravity. When humanity turns its back on God there is an explosion of sexual chaos. It is not the only consequence, as verses 29ff make plain, but it is a first and very pronounced consequence. It is an explosion which goes beyond loose and indiscriminate sexual relations and goes into “unnatural relations”. Once the sexual urge is off the lease it goes deeper and deeper into all kinds of aberrations.

Nationally (and generally in the West), since the 1960s we have been witnessing a profound and agonising vindication of this analysis of Paul. Over those last 50 years (a half-century!) we have seen an ever increasing rejection of the Righteous God, an increasing pursuit of personal pleasure, and an ever increasing explosion of sexual chaos (the limits of which, one suspects, have not yet been reached!). If, as the secularists are always reminding us, we need evidence to support Christian analysis, then here is very hard evidence.

For us the challenge is clear – “You are light in the Lord. Live as children of light” Eph 5:8. God in Christ is alone able to keep us from corruption.


Bob

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JUDGEMENT AND JOY

I will not be posting a column during August, and the next column will be on Tuesday 7th September. It seems good to end the current series on a positive note, despite the seriousness of things happening around us. I am prompted to this by Habakkuk who struggled and grappled with the decadent state of his nation, and quivered at the threats God was making to it, and yet whose collected prophecies end on a note of joy. His words have resounded over many centuries now: “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vine(marks of devastation and destruction)yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Saviour....He enables me to go on the heights”. It’s much more than a “grin and bear it” attitude to trouble; it’s an embracing of the antidote of joy.

Habakkuk had come to a point where the sources of human joy had dried up. Humanly there was very little to look forward to in the nation; quite the contrary. Pessimism and depression seemed the inevitable response to the natural situation. But there in front of him was the “joy of the Lord”. Like Nehemiah he found that the joy of the Lord was his strength.

What is the joy of the Lord? It is joy that springs from that assured knowledge that God is a living God, and that despite difficult present circumstances he offers a future, a hope and a present strength. It is a joy that comes from knowing that nothing can separate us from the love of God. There is a great deal of this sentiment in the prophetic writings: God’s love for his people, God’s love for the nations, God’s purposes of redemption, God’s present help and care.

It’s a joy, therefore, that is anchored in our faith in the love of God.
Perhaps one of the greatest expressions of this is to be found in another prophet, Zephaniah: “The lord your God is with you; he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing”. Zeph. 3:17

May God fill you with such joy! Refresh yourself in Him!


Bob

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CULTURE AND CORRUPTION

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We might define “culture” as the artistic expression of the way in which a society or nation or civilisation thinks, believes and does things. It is a mixture of artistic ability (writing, composing, painting etc.) working on compelling contemporary interests and desires. I grew up thinking it to be also inherently allied to what was noble; culture stood for standards. I’ve had to learn how utterly wide of the mark that early thinking was. I’ve had to learn that no matter how intriguing the artistic element might be, the interests and desires to which it gives expression can be utterly debased; culture can be thoroughly corrupt. Our world does not seem to make that distinction. The Christian must.

The Times “Saturday Review” is typical of numerous places where the intelligentsia unwittingly (or quite deliberately!) reveal just how corrupt our culture is, and take delight in it. Characteristically the large front page headlines this week cried out, “We drank, we smoked, we slept around”. The article which followed featured a group of men engaged in the advertising business, one of who wrote a memoir of their life and behaviour. The memoir inspired a multi award-winning drama “Mad Men” of which the author of the memoir said, “I became an advisor on the show. Audiences were shocked by all the sex and alcohol and outrageous behaviour on the screen. But let me tell you, the reality was so much worse”. The Times article appeared because the memoir has just been republished. The Times felt it was worth a complete front page spread, followed by a second page spread, along with a 14 x 19inch photograph of the author. The article is an extraordinary mixture of obscenity, which provides the real show case for the article, and shrewdness of observation on the advertising world.

What it is really saying is, “Look! This is our culture; this is what we value; this is real living; this is life; let it titillate us!” This sort of article is by no means a “one off”; it is common place. Our culture is as clever and as decadent as ever the “Renaissance” and “Baroque” culture was at its worst, and, it ought to be said, as decadent as great areas of Greek and Roman “Classical” culture.

We should not be snared by the tempting word “culture”, still less by its modern obscenity. The latter is something for profound regret. Music, art, drama should express beauty, something it can never achieve if its subjects are lasciviousness and uncontrolled indulgence, which are the very antithesis of beauty.
Heaven is full of music and poetry, song, drama and endless creativity, but uncorrupted. Things there are “noble and of good report”.


Bob

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THE “UNIVERSAL WOUND”

The author of a recent newspaper article discussing how music can help a sick mind made the following statement; “To speak to us, artists must connect their private wounds with the fundamental, universal wound that comes from the human condition: that of having been born for insufficient reason and consequently fated to die after a lifetime of incomplete meaning”. Here is an intellectual voicing the deep malaise of our times, a pessimism that says that there is no meaning in our birth and no meaning in our lives. It springs directly from a complete denial of the person of a living God. That is where the denial of God always leads to - a blank wall of hopelessness. The elegance of his words does nothing to help his deep pessimism. Perhaps music might be made to echo that pessimism and perhaps that may be therapeutic to a point, but it can, of course never be a cure for pessimism – it may actually deepen it!
The modern intellectual world, and especially those intellectuals whose voice is heard in the media, is rife with such unbelief. Such unbelief does not simply affect their outlook, it affects behaviour. It is only a revelation of a God who in his very essence is holy and righteous that can keep humanity from falling lower and lower in both its understanding and its observance of moral obligation. Man without God is infinitely more adrift in this world than the intellectuals can conceive: he is blind and on course for disaster.
The denial of God, or the form it mostly takes in our society, the attitude that God is simply irrelevant to modern living, is the great curse of our times. The last fifty years have seen this attitude grow enormously (despite some real Christian growth), not only among the intellectuals but in society at large. The pessimism is felt deeply but for many is buried by the consumerism of “eat, drink and be merry …” and the moral collapse is blatantly obvious. That is why society is also blind and on course for disaster.
We have to be faithful to the uttermost in our witness that “the fundamental wound that comes with the human condition” is the wound of sin, but that God has the cure and the healing balm in the life and sacrifice of Jesus. There is simply no healing, no optimism, no hope, no future, no eternity outside of God, but with him there is an abundance of all these things.


Bob

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ASSESSING THE LAST DECADE

I can scarcely believe that a full decade has gone by since I first heard God speaking from Amos through the word “I will spare them no longer”. The summary of what I heard is in audio form on the home page of the website, and in printed form in the website articles. It was a word for the nation, it was stark and its fulfilment was just a matter of time – “I will spare them no longer”. I might add that the word seemed equally addressed to all the western nations, not just our own.
In reading further around Amos I became aware that the fulfilment of that word of judgement in his own generation took 25 years or so, and so I became very interested in what those 25 intermittent years looked like. It seemed to me they would hold very significant pointers to the path we were likely to follow as a nation. They would be years in which the withdrawal of God’s favour in certain areas would become more and more obvious. So I attempted to analyse them from the historical and prophetic writings. The analysis emerged as a paper with the title “Countdown to Chaos” (on the website).
After ten years it’s time to appraise that analysis and see if it is indeed relevant. That is what I hope to do in the next few weeks, and hopefully publish the conclusions. Maybe, however, some reading this column might have insights you’d like to offer? Please do!
My first and immediate thought is that the title “Countdown to Chaos” has certainly not been wide of the mark. “Chaos” is a word used with great frequency in newspaper columns in connection with the nation, but it is also used frequently by others who are accustomed to more sober judgements. At the very least “chaos” is no exaggerated term for the current financial affairs of the nation.
The main points of the "Countdown" analysis of the road to judgement under Amos were 1) Political Disintegration, 2) Political Incompetence, 3) Political Corruption, and 4) Devastating Foreign Intervention. It was these that brought about major national collapse. Perhaps I should have made more of economic and social collapse as a specific issue, for it was certainly part of the “Countdown” in Amos’ day. It has equally been part of our journey in the last decade.
In the column last week I pointed to the bleeding sore of Middle Eastern war that followed the 9/11 attack. Political incompetence and corruption has completely surrounded that saga during this last decade, both here and in the USA. More needs to be said on that, and on all the other characteristics of the “Countdown”. It may be that a revision and a more precise analysis need to be made of those crucial characteristics.
It is not a pleasant task but has got to be done. We need to monitor where things are going.


Bob

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AMERICA UNDER SIEGE

The British Empire lasted at most three centuries. In the 18thC it was “accumulated”, in the 19thC it was extended and “enjoyed”, and in the 20thC it was lost. Such is the pattern of empire that world history presents without exception: empires come and go, no matter how big and powerful. The USA has never had an empire of the British kind, but it has had vast global influence for about a century, the 20thC. Its climax has already been passed, however, and decline has set in. Though, like Britain, its influence will still be significant to a degree, it will no longer dominate the world. The proud title “Greatest Power in the World” is rapidly being washed away. That title is extremely unlikely to survive with any reality even the first half of the 21stC.
The first decade of the 21stC has already clearly demonstrated that. The USA has become embattled with militant Islam and as a consequence ventured into two crippling wars, in Iraq and Afghanistan, with little success, draining its economy on a huge, unsustainable and daily basis. Those wars are the real and significant outcome of the twin towers bombing – a bleeding and poisonous sore. On the economic front the US has been plunged into an enormous and unprecedented national debt by persistent high level reckless financial gambling, with the prospect of more debt to come, and with much of its industrial heartland now wasteland. In a mere fifty years it has travelled from enormous wealth to enormous liabilities.

And then there is China, with a much, much greater population and a much greater wealth and military potential moving ahead very rapidly and highlighting the American decline even more.
If one looked at Europe as an entity, one would have to draw a similar conclusion of great decline.
Those who make a study of the decline and fall of empires constantly point to the fact of moral and social collapse (especially, though not exclusively, among the ruling classes) as a powerful contributing factor to decline. Empires collapse when powerful exterior pressure is exerted on them at the same time that their own social strength and cohesion has been sapped by indolent, selfish and pleasure loving lifestyles. It certainly happened to biblical Israel and Judah, to Assyria and Babylon and to Rome. We can see it very clearly in our own times among the powerful and over-proud major nations.
The biblical prophetic message provides the clearest statement of this repetitive historical process; that’s why it is so relevant. That’s why its constant call to come back to God and his ways is so important. The human tragedy lies in its blind and proud rejection of God.


Bob

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VERY DARK CLOUDS PERSIST

It has been a pleasure in the last two or three columns to have written about the great things God has been doing in our world, and to reflect on the even greater things he has yet in mind. But the prime reason for this site was to bring to mind the less palatable truth that God’s judgements are in the world, and threaten to increase. Paul put the basic issue very simply: “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness” (Rom. 1:18). Our age has certainly suppressed the truth about God: we cannot watch the consequences of that disdain of God with complacency. Its that more than anything that bring the dark clouds of judgement.
Man without God sows the seeds of his own destruction through his own godless behaviour. In other words, his behaviour itself brings judgement and disaster. The most obvious example of this truth at the moment is the extreme fragility and danger of the economic chaos in which we live. Few would or could deny that the vast debt and the threat of further collapse can only be placed at the feet of gross human self interest, not least amongst those who in positions of responsibility have simply had an eye to personal gain. Even the chaos of trillions of debt has not brought about any real repentance. Every human effort to find a way through comes to grief on the hard rock of our human nature. This debt is an extremely threatening cloud – another crash (much feared by economists) and the situation would be utterly catastrophic for society.
“Utterly catastrophic” – That’s the scenario God seems to be pointing to. The same sort of scenario has been conjured up by both the B.P. oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the volcanic ash. Superimposed on England the spill would stretch from Cornwall to the North Sea – much the greatest of such disasters yet seen - a disaster part human, part natural, but catastrophic. The volcanic ash (conveniently out of the news and forgotten) also gave us a glimpse of the real possibilities of the utterly catastrophic to our modern world.
None of these threats have gone away: a second crash is all too possible; the spill will continue until August at the earliest, and a greater volcano waits to erupt with vastly more ash. They lurk around. The clouds hover. Men do not read them; they have no fear of God before their eyes. The signs are of a massive and destructive storm.


Bob

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ITS DEEPER THAN YOU THINK!

I published a pamphlet on this website about two weeks ago which was called “A Sign of the Times – the Gentiles”. Its purpose was to demonstrate the astonishing spread of the preaching of the gospel over the last three centuries, and especially during the twentieth century, and to relate that fact to Jesus words, “This gospel will be preached in among all nations and then the end will come”. By the end of the twentieth century virtually every nation had heard the gospel preached. What remained for the fulfilment of Jesus’ prophecy was not so much a question of extension as a question of deepening. How deep was spread of the gospel to be within each nation?
Over the last twenty years much focus has been laid on the expression used in the book of Revelation that people would be found among the multitude gathered to Jesus who came from “every people and every tongue” (Rev. 7:9). This has led to a great deal of research into “people groups” within nations, groups which are distinguished very often by their own dialects or languages. The research has been undertaken not simply for interest sake but in order to focus evangelistic work on such groups where apparently the gospel has not been preached. This is seen as “in depth” work for the proper accomplishment of the work that Jesus prophesied would take place.
This has brought an awareness of the fact that much work remains to be done. Many attempts have been made, therefore, to plant churches within these national “sub groups”, and there has been much prayer for these groups. This has been a very important feature of the spread of the gospel in the last two decades.
However, (and this has sparked this blog) I have just heard of one of these sub groups in China where plans were being made plant a church, only to find that it had already been done by the Chinese themselves. It reminded me instantly of how frequently God is ahead of us. Certainly we in the West are by no means the only (or even main) force for the gospel. The words of the title of this column came immediately to mind with regard to the extent of the penetration of the gospel – “It is deeper than you think”. Jesus is massively at work right across the world. Every day is a day nearer to the fulfilment of his prophecy. It really is a time to look up!


Bob

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REVIVAL IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY

Having looked in some detail at the numerous and large outpourings of the Spirit which characterised the 20th Century (and to which reference is made in the new pamphlet “A Sign of the Times – The Gentiles), I am left musing on the enormous possibilities for the spread of the gospel in the 21st Century. I cannot believe it will be a century when we shall see a pause in the outpourings of the Spirit, but very much the opposite.
God’s purposes come “in the fullness of time”. It’s easy to see that Jesus came at a time that was very appropriate in purely human terms. At his birth the Roman Empire spanned much of the known world, communications were extremely good across the Empire, and the stage was set for the spread of the gospel right across the Empire. That duly happened over a number of centuries and the gospel was firmly embedded in the Western world.

Likewise in the 18thC new Western empires were about to dominate the world, and global communications were about develop on an unprecedented scale. As a consequence, over the last three centuries the gospel has become embedded in most nations across the world. Global communication now, however, in the 21stC has reached an unbelievable peak with the technological revolution. If, in the Reformation age, the printing of books had such an impact on the spread of the gospel and on the process of making disciples how much more the web age! The stage is set for an advance that could easily eclipse the 20thC.
Important and relevant as this human scenario of communication may be, the dynamic of revival remains crucial. A church full of spiritual life and vigour, impelled by the Spirit has to make use of the opportunities of communicating. Even when opportunities are not favourable for communication, as was the case in China in the 1950s-70s a Spirit-filled church will insist on communicating with extraordinary fruitful effect.
What can we see of revival in the first decade of the 21stC? One comment might be made: something very powerful is happening in the Muslim world. Communication with the Muslim world is at a level much higher than ever before, and there are many manifestations of the Holy Spirit at work right across those nations. Supernatural witness and witness from believers are combining to produce an extraordinary leavening. Pray God it may be a precursor to an ingathering of Moslems which outnumber even the continuing gathering of the Chinese. We may not have had our 21stC Welsh revival or Azusa St. revival in the West, but we must watch for outpourings on a greater scale from other continents and nations.

Bob

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SIGNS OF THE TIMES

At some point this coming week two new pamphlets will be published on the site. I will put a note to that effect on the home page when it happens. This column is by way of an introduction to those new articles.

They both appear under a new section headed "SIGNS OF THE TIMES". The first one deals with the Gentiles and the second one with the Jews. I've worked on these articles because I feel that the twentieth century has created an historical landmark which no other has since Jesus made his prophetic comments about the future. Two unprecedented historical facts have emerged in the century: first the gospel is now being preached right across the globe, and virtually to all nations; second there has been a return of the Jews from all nations to their own land. These facts are there for all to see.

Jesus made an unequivocal statement about the Gentiles: "This gospel will be preached in all the world and then the end will come" Matt. 24:14 We have no way of knowing exactly what the expression, "the fulness of the Gentiles" means and just how wide or deep the response to the gospel will be before the "end comes". But unquestionably we have reached an unmistakeable milestone in the gobal spread of the gospel. The first pamphlet deals in more detail with this and its implications.

I have a great deal of time exploring the historical facts of the Jewish return to Israel during the twentieth century. In the pamphlet on the Jews as a Sign I have made the point that the real decider of prophetic interpretation concerning the Jews will be the facts of history rather than more theological wrangling. We shall know prophecy is being fulfilled when we see it actually happening in fact. The pamphlet therefore considers a number of evident historical facts about the Jews in the last century with the suggestion that they point powerfully to an end time sign. They seem to find great resonance with Jesus' words, "Jerusalem will be trampled by the Gentiles until the time of the Gentiles (fullness of the Gentiles) has come" Lk 21:24

I would particularly like to hear comment on this latter pamphlet. For me it represents an exploration on a critically important issue, and is not set in concrete. We are all straining to see what God is doing and to some extent "looking through a glass darkly", but in the twenty first century we are undoubtedly going to see some extraordinary things in prophetic fulfilment.

If you can take the time to read it and care to comment, I'd be most grateful.

Bob

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THE BOTTOM LINE OF PENTECOST

So good to see Pentecost so widely remembered last Sunday! It is so crucial that we never forget the paramount need of an outpouring of the Spirit for the growth of the Kingdom and the church of Jesus. It needs something more than just celebrating, however, if we are to see new Pentecosts in our midst. The 20th century began with two amazing outpourings of the Spirit in the shape of what we now call the Welsh Revival and the Azusa St. Pentecostal Revival. Akin to each other and feeding off each other they set the scene for a remarkable century of Pentecosts. Our sights must be firmly fixed on new Pentecosts bursting out in the 21st century.
The bottom line, the real starting point for such Pentecosts is always the same: a deep sense of spiritual need and a deep hunger for God to act in power. Pentecosts do not come to complacent churches. They come where people are genuinely grappling with their own spiritual limitations and inadequacies, where they are deeply concerned to see something more of the reality of Jesus and his power. When this is turned into prayer and intercession and where this prayer is persisted in then we find Pentecost returns.
No matter where you turn in revival history (and there is a lot of it now!) this is always the testimony. It was certainly the case with the Welsh Revival and the Azusa St Revival. Jesse Penn-Lewis (a contemporary of the Welsh revival) wrote about the “Hidden Springs of the Revival”, pointing to widespread meetings for prayer for several years before revival broke out; it was hungry prayer and prayer focussed of the need for God to manifest his presence. The same sort of hungry prayer was a feature of many Holiness churches before the events at Azusa St.
That it should be like this should be no surprise. The Day of Pentecost itself was preceded by ten days of earnest prayer by people who had heard Jesus make his promise about sending the Spirit and who were determined to “make a business of prayer” until the promise was fulfilled. The pattern was set then: it has never changed.
Equally important is the fact that Pentecosts are sustained by the same sort of hungry prayer. When the apostles felt they were in danger of losing their boldness they went straight to prayer (Acts 4:23ff). Revivals bring a great impetus to prayer, but if the Spirit is grieved or quenched by some kind of sin (particularly pride or quarrelling) then the flow dries up. So there's a need to watch and pray.
A most important moment in revival history is that moment when the Spirit stirs up in God’s people a deep spiritual hunger for Jesus. Incidentally there is nothing like reading revival accounts to create a spiritual hunger.


Bob


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THE POWER OF PENTECOST

Ten days after his ascension Jesus made his presence felt on the earth by baptising a small group of believers with the Holy Spirit. That was in effect a phenomenal release of power, of enabling. It transformed that group and gave it such an impetus in witness that within a week it had grown from 120 persons to thousands. No wonder that baptism was signified by a gale-like wind! Thank God this is not just history, but the first example of a ministry of Jesus which is still very much with us. It is released today, as it was in the apostle’s time, by taking hold of the promise of the Spirit (which is timeless) through prayer. The history of the church bears abundant testimony to the reality of that ongoing ministry.
Without that impetus the church would never have got off the ground. The 3,000 that were converted on the Day of Pentecost were first brought together by the extraordinary manifestations of the Spirit and then brought under devastating conviction of sin by the anointed preaching of Peter. The book of Acts goes on from there to relate the history of some thirty years of Holy Spirit empowered activity among the first generation of Christians. That activity spread the gospel all around the Mediterranean world, raised many powerful churches in Gentile lands and saw the emergence of very strong leadership in those churches. It was a witness carried out with great boldness in the face of constant persecution. It was a witness of powerful preaching, miraculous signs, visions, dreams, healings, angelic visitations and much moral restoration among Jew and Gentile alike. It was a Holy Spirit ministry.
Whatever else may come in the 21st century we can be sure of one thing: Jesus will continue to pour out his Spirit on his people in this fashion. He will continue to build up his church, he will work until the fulness of the Gentiles is brought in, until the gospel is preached throughout the whole world and then he will bring in the “end”. The call on the church is to continue to believe the “promise of the Spirit” and to wait on the Lord for its constant fulfilment. This coming Pentecost Sunday is marked as a “Global Day of Prayer” when the church world-wide will look for renewed “Pentecosts”. What a wonderful prospect!


Bob


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THE SEAT OF POWER

At the moment it’s all talk about who will get the place of political power in the nation. No one knows which way it will go, a real cliff-hanger! Perhaps that is a good moment to reflect on the fact that Ascension Day falls this week.
What is the connection? Well, Ascension Day is essentially about Jesus taking up a place of “all power and authority, in heaven and on earth”, about Jesus being received “at the right hand of the Father”, about the King receiving his rightful position on the throne of God. Ascension is all about the rule and government of Jesus. And there is a very human side to it, for the ascension was very much a human ascension. It was not a vision or a symbolic idea, but a real ascension by a fully human Jesus, albeit in a resurrection body, to a position of the utmost authority.
If you ask anyone about the “ministry” of Jesus they are almost certain to think of him walking about Galilee. That was the time when he was active in the world. Ask about his ascension and the more likely reaction is that that was the time when he retired from the scene, his ministry having finished. It is that response that cries out to be radically changed. The fact is that he is as active in ministry from his throne as ever he was on earth. The ascension, in fact, compels us to examine his present ministry. There is a desperate need for us to do that and to recognise Jesus is very much at work in our modern world.
One aspect of that present ministry is clearly conveyed by the book of Revelation. There we see him as the Lamb in the midst of the Throne (Rev. 5). There we see the purposes of God symbolised by a book of writing in the hand of God, and there we see that only one person has the authority to open that book and bring about those purposes – that is the Lamb. And that is precisely what revelation portrays: Jesus, the Lamb, unlocking the seals which kept the book closed. In other words he is unfolding the future history of the world; he brings about his Father’s will. That is his present ministry (or part of it).
The resultant scenarios are anything but pleasant; war, famine, death, persecution and natural catastrophe. One could hardly quarrel with such an incredibly accurate picture of the world’s progress! But he’s in control and conquering evil. We should not quarrel with that either. He will fulfil all prophecy, he will bring in his kingdom, he will restore peace and redeem humanity and its world. He will not default!

All this is a very necessary corrective to the earthly power scrambles we are obliged to witness. Stability is in Jesus.

Bob


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