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Evangelism in the context of Church planting from Romans 1:8-17

2012-02-13T18:00:00.002Z

A website I recently came across bears thestatement:

Apoll ran in November of 2007, asking pastors where they would put money ifstarting a church plant, revealed that websites, church marketing, and logos/designare the top necessities after staff. With 195 millionindividuals not attending churches, and with the church plant survival rate at20%, it is vital to use a church consultation company with a proven trackrecord with thousands of churches and ministries with the ability to provide anarray of media and church marketing tools.

Following this group’s logic:

A. The majority ofpastors/church planters rank websites, church marketing, logos, etc. asnecessities after staff.

B. Only 20% of churches thatare planted actually survive.

C. We are here to help youmake flash new websites and logos and to provide you with church marketingadvice.

The discerning mind will interpret their statement somewhatdifferently:

A. The majority ofpastors/church planters rank websites, church marketing, logos, etc. asnecessities.

B. The majority of churchplants fail.

C. The majority ofpastors/church planters are wrong about what is necessary.

Life in the digital age means that websites are indeedimportant, and its not a bad idea to come up with a little something that grabspeople’s attention while also faithfully summing up the identity of the churchbeing planted (and let’s face it, no logo is better than a dodgy logo). Thatsaid, while nice, these things are not ‘necessary’ to planting a local church.You can invest in one of the most amazing websites on the net and have thecleanest, freshest looking logo imaginable without actually accomplishinganything remotely in the realm of church planting. Promoting a good brand maybe the means by which a manager builds his business, but Christ builds hischurch through the Spirit-empowered preaching of the God-breathed gospel.Forget marketing: this is evangelism.

1. What is evangelism?

To ‘evangelize’ means, from Greek to English, ‘to proclaimthe good news’ or ‘to preach the gospel’. Paul writes to believers in Rome, ‘I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who arein Rome. For Iam not ashamed of the gospel…’ To evangelize, the church planter must beunashamed of the gospel’s message. The letter to the Romans relates the gospelas follows:

God created the world (1:20), including the first man, Adam(5:14) who, as all humanity after him, knew God but did not honour him as God,and claiming to be wise became a fool serving himself over the One who hadcreated him (1:21-23). By Adam, sin entered the world, and death through sin(5:12) because the wages of sin is death (6:23a). All are under the righteousand just condemnation of the immortal God for trading in the Creator’s gloryfor images of earthly things and ‘serving’ creatures rather than the Creator.Man knows the truth, but believes a lie and seeing as they have chosen aself-serving religion, God gives them up to a self-serving life. Just as infaith, what was unnatural has become the new natural, so in practice. Thegreatest example of this unnatural, God-dishonouring, self-serving, sinfullifestyle is homosexuality, but man is filled ‘with all manner ofunrighteousness’ beyond this (1:24-32). For sin, all men must stand before Godin judgement, because he is righteous. In seeking to escape this judgement, menseek out various means to get right with God. But no amount of good-behaviouror law-keeping on our part can stop his wrath, for we are still but filthysinners. What we really need is a forgiving Saviour, one who represents all whobelieve on him, lives a perfect life, dies a brutal death with God’s righteousanger poured out on him, and is resurrected so that his people might obtain theblessings and assurance of his victory and their cleansing. We have such a onein Jesus Christ, and so whoever believes in him is ‘justified by his grace as agift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as apropitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.’ In Christ, God is just(punishing our sins) and the justifier (blotting out our sins) of all who havefaith. By faith man has peace with God, is delivered from an eternity of his wrathin Hell and from the tyranny ofSatan, sin, and death. The believer has the promise of eternal life in Heaven,and now lives on earth empowered by the Holy Spirit to repent of sin and live alife of triumph over the flesh in Christ Jesus the Lord and the love of God(8).

My purpose in running through all of that is not so you canhave something to recite every time you proclaim the gospel. Please don’t do that. Nor am I saying that each time you evangelize,your conversation and gospel presentation could be sketched out in exactly thesame way. My purpose, rather, is to demonstrate how Paul was unashamed of thecontent of the gospel message, while many preachers and church planters cringeinwardly and do a little dance around plain, hard truth to avoid hurtingpeople’s feelings, and to draw and keep a crowd. Creation. Sin. Homosexuality.Righteously angry God. Man’s need of salvation. Propitiation. Resurrection.Satan. Heaven. Hell. Repentance. Are these themes that commonly appear in themajority of preaching in this land today? And yet Paul speaks of them freely,actually saying he is ‘eager’ to proclaim the message which speaks of thesethings in a world that was just as much offended by them then as now, andperhaps even more-so!

It is no good if the evangelist is unashamed of the gospelmessage and yet unable to express it in its simplicity. Romans is a letter written to believers, not to the lost. It is notan intentionally evangelistic book, but is rather meant to assure believers ofthe righteousness of God, and I believe to instil within them the same joyfuleagerness to preach Jesus that Paul had. It doesn’t take sixteen chapters toshare the gospel. Note the simplicity of the sermon Peter preached to theGentiles in Acts 10:34-43:

So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understandthat God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone whofears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. Asfor the word that he sent to Israel, preachinggood news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all), you yourselvesknow what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee afterthe baptism that John proclaimed: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with theHoly Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healingall who were oppressed by the devil, for God was withhim. And we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country ofthe Jews and in Jerusalem.They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised himon the third day and caused him to appear, not to all the people butto us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with himafter he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach to thepeople and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge ofthe living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witnessthat everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness ofsins through his name.”

All the essentials are present are they not? I think that itis very possible that the church planter can become so concentrated on the largercontent of the gospel that eventually he is no longer simply calling sinners torepentance and faith in Jesus Christ from the Scriptures but is reciting hisown systematic theology. In a display of some of the very sins he speaks aboutin the ‘Total Depravity’ chapter of his increasingly longer message, he blindlybelieves the lie that he is confronting people with their sin and gripping themwith news of the Saviour, when in reality, they are confounded and just want togo. ‘It is the hearer’s fault’ thechurch planter exclaims and misapplying Scripture, shakes the dust off his feetand gradually runs out of people to evangelize that he hasn’t already consignedto the blazes. I say that the problem is not always that of the hearers (thoughindeed they are often hard of heart, at times aggressive and at othersapathetic) but often it is that of the herald. He is unable to express thegospel in its simplicity. Put such a man in Paul’s position when the Philippianjailer asks ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ ‘Well,’ the man says, ‘Let’ssee if you have an adequate understanding of the gospel. First, ‘In thebeginning…’ and so begins not just a time of instruction in which theevangelist speaks ‘the word of the Lord’ (Acts 16:32), but a whole theological coursewhich is apparently necessary for the man to come to saving faith. Whathappened to an explanation of who Jesus is, why Jesus came, and what Jesusmeans for the world, that is ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will besaved.’?

Evangelism is the Spirit empowered proclamation of the goodnews of Jesus Christ, in order that, as Stuart Olyott in his article ‘What isEvangelism’ writes, ‘men may seek God, repent of their sins, and believe on theLord Jesus Christ and be saved; and then order the whole of their lives by hisWord.’ But why ‘do’ evangelism?

2. Why should Ievangelize?

What made Paul so eager to preach the gospel to the Romans?And why should the church planter or local church evangelist press on with hiswork?

First, evangelizebecause of what the gospel is. I am not referring here to an understanding ofthe gospel message, but an awareness of the gospel essence. It is, ‘the powerof God unto salvation’ (Rom. 1:16)! By the preaching of the good news of JesusChrist people are saved. The one who believes the gospel has experienced thispower. It is only natural that he would then want to proclaim it, through anymeans possible, using whatever gifts God has given him. In the case of churchplanters and evangelists those gifts will include preaching and the ability tohave personal conversations with individuals. Church planters and evangelistsmust recognize that the message they proclaim is not their own, possessing varyingdegrees of somewhat faulty human power, but rather it is breathed out by God,and does not merely possess God’spower, but it is his power for thesalvation of everyone who believes. Many scientific theories exist, but when ascientist discovers something which is actually true, he makes it known to theworld. The world is full of legends and myths, but when the historian digs up afact, he publishes it for all to know. Many a piece of news professing to begood has been told in the history of humanity and has in the end turned out badlike the rest, but if you believe in Jesus Christ, you know the truth and youpossess news which really and truly is good. Why cover it up? Man is perishingin the chains of sin and death and you possess that which alone can free him,but you stay home? There are people all around you, where you live, where youwork, where you go to church, that are headed for an eternity separated fromright relationship with God in Hell and the mostyou can bring yourself to do is put a leaflet through someone’s door atChristmas and Easter and perhaps a tract in some Halloween kid’sjack-o-‘lantern? It is your duty to preach Christ and voice the command of Godfor ‘all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which hewill judge the world in righteousness’ (Acts 17:31).

That reference to ‘all people everywhere’ reminds me, weshould evangelize not simply because of what the gospel is - ‘the power of God forsalvation - but we should evangelize becauseof those whom it is for – ‘to everyone who believes, to the Jew first andalso to the Greek’. Whoever they are, wherever they are from, whatever languagethey speak, whatever they have or have not done, the gospel is the power of Godfor salvation to everyone who believes. In Christ, racism is crushed, in thechurch the walls of segregation are broken down, at the cross both the wrongedand the wrong-doer meet, forgive, and reconcile. In Romans 1:14, Paul, a Jewwho had preached to the Jews and believed that one day they would be saved(Romans 9-11) says ‘I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, bothto the wise and to the foolish. So I am eager to preach the gospel to you alsowho are in Rome.’A Jew eager to see the salvation not only of his own people, but of theGentiles as well! Having proclaimed Christ in truth to the Jews and seeingothers take up the same ministry, he moves on to reach the Gentiles, so that

“Those who have never beentold of him will see,

and those who have neverheard will understand.” (Paul quoting Isaiah 15:21, in Romans 15:21)

and so that the nations may see the Lord’s continuingfaithfulness to the everlasting covenant he made with Israel, and praise himfor it (Romans 15:8-13).

It is a good thing to reach certain groups of people in a waythat they will understand, but the goal of such targeted evangelism should notbe to create ethnically based churches, or age divided church meetings. Worshipwith people of your own background can be a joyful thing and there isdefinitely a place for smaller groups designed to reach people of differentages, but on the Lord’s Day, when a local church assembles for worship Ibelieve they should meet in a spirit of oneness as fellow believers in Christ,rejoicing in the unity accomplished on the cross. Reach different people indifferent ways, but don’t forget that the gospel is the power of God tosalvation for everyone who believesand that the church sees everyone truly together in Christ.

Evangelize because ofwhat the gospel reveals. Paul writes that ‘in it the righteousness of Godis revealed from faith for faith.’ We see how God is righteously angered byman’s sin (unrighteousness). We recognize that the world is under the righteouswrath of God. We know that one day all will stand before God to be judged inrighteousness (Romans 1-3:20). This is God’s righteousness manifested in thelaw. But in the gospel we see a righteousness not which separates us from God,but which brings us to God, a righteousness which we ourselves obtain and sharein, the righteousness which is, as some versions translate Romans 1:17, ‘byfaith, from first to last.’ Chapter 3:21-26 tell us:

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apartfrom the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—therighteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. Forthere is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory ofGod, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that isin Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to bereceived by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divineforbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness atthe present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who hasfaith in Jesus.

The gospel reveals how foolish, filthy wretched ones may becleansed and enter into a joy-filled relationship with the faithful, forgiving RighteousOne. With a revelation like that, the question should cease to be ‘why should Ievangelize?’ and should become ‘why shouldn’t I evangelize?’

3. How should Ievangelize?

How should a church planter or evangelist preach the gospel? Forgetevangelistic methods and techniques in this section. I will let you thinkthrough such matters yourself in relation to the area in which you serve. WhenI ask ‘how’ I refer not so much to the church planting evangelist’s methods,which are important but may vary in the smaller details, but to theevangelist’s mentality. What should his attitude be as he evangelizes?

Lovefor God, love for others.

Evangelism is a work of love. You know that God loved andloves you and so you love God and therefore want to keep his commands, and solove others. The ridiculous eisogetical cop-out that tells us the GreatCommission was only applicable for those who first heard it is not worth pence.Don’t waste your thoughts on it, and please don’t ever be heard to voice it. Thinkabout it: the reason you are saved is because someone was obeying the GreatCommission. The real danger for many of my readers, however, is probably not disregardingthe Commission in theory, but more likely disregarding it in practice.

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority inheaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and makedisciples of all nations, baptizing them inthename of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teachingthem to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am withyou always, to the end of the age.” (Matt. 28:18-20)

And he said to them, “Go into all the worldand proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believesand is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe willbe condemned.” (Mark 16:15-16)

Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you.As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” (John20:21)

He said to them, “It is not for you to know times orseasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you willreceive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and youwill be my witnesses in Jerusalem and inall Judea and Samaria,and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:7-8)

If you love God, and you love your fellow man, keep God’scommands.

Certaintythat God will fulfil all his plans and keep all his promises

Gareth Crossley writes on the Great Commission in Matthew 28:

there is no uncertainty concerning the outcome of evangelismbecause there is no limit to the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ; thereforethere should be no hesitation in the obedience of the church.

Doubt before ‘evangelism’ will lead to discouragement anddespair after ‘evangelism.’ True, biblical evangelism is not done with doubt asto what will be achieved. While the church planter/evangelist has no idea whowill respond to the message, he is not particularly bothered. Rather he humblypreaches to everyone with bold assurance by the Spirit’s power the message that‘God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in himshould not perish but have eternal life’ (John 3:16). He knows that among the‘everyone’ to whom he preaches there is an ‘everyone who believes.’ He does notknow who exactly ‘whosoever’ is, but he knows that if he preaches Christ theLord, ‘whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved’ (Acts2:21). He pleads with men to repent of sin and seeks to persuade men to believethe gospel. He believes, in the words of John Frame, that "God’s sovereignpurpose is to save people through the witness of other people."

I began by mentioning a website that promises it will equipclients with the right stuff to attract people to their church plant. Itsreasons classed nice things as necessities. All you really need though is thegospel. Preach it. Avoid pragmatism, which is all about drawing a crowd andkeeping it. Flee isolationism, which is not concerned with drawing a crowd, so much as it is with drawingthe right kind of crowd. Evangelismis about reaching the crowds, going into all the world and making disciples, baptizingthem in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,teaching them to observe all things commanded by Jesus Christ and trusting inhis promise to always be with his people.

Thank the Father. Remember Christ. Walk in the Spirit. Preachthe gospel. Know that through the preaching of the gospel sinners are converted,God is glorified and Christ is exalted.

The above post is based on an address delivered by the author at the Grace Baptist Partnership's Basic Training for Church Planters Day (London), 14 January, 2012. To find out more about GBP, visit http://www.gracebaptistpartnership.org.uk/

Church Planting from 1 Corinthians 2:1-5

2011-12-20T14:50:00.001Z

Forseveral years I have had the privilege of participating in church planting and havewatched as church planting has become a major topic at Christian meetings ofall kinds. The heightened interest in the subject is indeed encouraging, butthere are dangers to this growing interest.

Boysgrowing up during the Victorian era were immersed in stories of lads likethemselves going off to war and achieving the heights of bravery with minimalsuffering. A very sanitary version of reality, of course. Imagine the shock ofthose boys when they themselves enlisted and experienced first hand the filthand gore of a soldier’s life. My point is this: As testimonies, books, models,and one-hundred other things about church planting are introduced to the Christianworld there is a very real danger that the subject becomes glamorized. Swayedby success stories, it is possible for a person to think that if one is so boldas to step out in faith and start a new church, they will automatically win agreat, sudden victory. Tracts are distributed, posters put up, and personalcontacts are made. It is then expected that on Sunday morning the Enemy willsuffer as a great congregation of new believers stands and sings. How differentthis is from a biblical understanding of church planting!

Asthe term church ‘planting’ derives from a statement Paul makes in 1 Corinthians3:6, it seems only natural to take this letter as a starting point for abiblical understanding of church planting, as it gives us some indication as tohow Paul went about it.1 Corinthians 2:1-5 reads:

AndI, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimonyof God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among youexcept Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and infear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausiblewords of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that yourfaith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

Biblicalchurch planting is not about building a message that meets felt-needs, amission not requiring real sacrifice and sanctification, or methods that draw acrowd. It is about weak men empowered by the Holy Spirit going into dark placesand persevering in three areas, at which we shall now look.

Proclaiming Christ in message

Paulsays that he clearly proclaimed God’s testimony about Jesus Christ crucified (1Cor. 2:2). In Paul’s thinking, this is not just about Christ’s death but alsohis resurrection, for without it the cross has no meaning (cf. ch.15). Thisproclamation would have sprung from the Old Testament and available accounts ofJesus’ life and ministry. Paul used Scripture, all of which bears witness to Christin some way. He knew that to do away with Christ is to do away with the gospelin Scripture. If there is no gospel there is no power of God to salvation foreveryone who believes (Rom. 1:16). If no one speaks the gospel, then no one will believe the gospel. Paul didnot simply live a Christian life since the Corinthians did not know Christ andhad no context of understanding what a Christian life is about. He proclaimedChrist, using words.

Iwas once told that if preachers talked less about Christ and more about‘relevant’ issues like ‘the credit crunch’ then churches would still be open. Idisagree. If in our message we no longer preach Christ crucified we can nolonger be properly referred to as a ‘church’ but rather an associationdedicated to the discussion of political, social, and cultural themes. So tooif we preach Christ and people find it irrelevant, then there must be somedeficiency in our communication. Church planting requires us to labourdiligently and patiently in clearly proclaiming the good news about Jesus: whohe is, why he came, what he did, and what it means for us. In church planting, there can be no confusionover what a church is as a body of believers committed to point to Christ in everything. If we are all about Jesus,should not our message be also?

Portraying Christ in mission

Churchplanting is a mission. Actually, if we properly order our thoughts and refer tocharitable work as ‘ministry’, the work of starting and strengthening churches throughevangelism becomes the mission. Atthis point note in 1 Corinthians 2 Paul’s words ‘I came to you’, ‘among you’,and ‘I was with you.’ These terms indicate a real knowledge of the people towhom he was ministering. He lived in the area where he was planting the church.He got to know the city, its history, people, culture, and spiritual condition.He communicated the gospel to them clearly, which necessitated relating to themin a way that they could understand. And he did all of this while maintainingpersonal purity and integrity in his life.

Paul’smission as a church planter was not new. In fact, it portrays, or pictures, Christ’smission. God the Son came down from heaven, entering this world as a helplessbaby. He learned the people’s language and lifestyle. He wasn’t fazed by who orwhat a person was – he was seen talking with everyone from the pious Phariseesto prostitutes. He loved people and lived among them but did not sin. He got toknow his people, he lived to serve them, and he died and rose again to savethem. Before Jesus returned to heaven, he sent his people out, even as theFather had sent him out, so that the salvation that he had accomplished wouldbe applied to all who believe the gospel. We too are commanded to go, and as weplant churches, we should portray Christ.

Pursuing Christ in methods

Whenwe start thinking of church planting methods, it is easy to fall into the trapsof pragmatism and isolationism. Pragmatism points to results and does anythingthat ‘works’ to achieve them. Isolationism proclaims truth to certain people incertain places, often emphasizing error, and results typically in eitheragreement or abuse. The one attracts the world and worldliness, the other thereligious and rigidity.

Pragmatismand isolationism pursue human agendas. The methods of biblical church plantingare all about pursuing Christ so that we may be more like him. Pursuing Christin the methods of church planting relates to what we do: evangelism -faithfully sharing the good news of salvation in Christ alone by making disciples,baptizing them, teaching them to observe all the Lord’s commands, and trustingin his promise to always be with his people. It relates even more to how we doit: humbly and faithfully persevering to preach Christ. Paul says to theCorinthians that he was with them

in weakness and in fearand much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, butin demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

Churchplanting is not about the planter. It is about Christ. Getting all theaesthetics right and building up a strong personality that attracts people hasnothing to do with it. Become an actor or politician if that’s what you areafter. It pursues Christ, but where does Christ lead? To a cross. On the crossChrist was weak, as death approached he was afraid, as he faced the mockingcrowd he trembled. His words spoken on the cross were discernable only to thosewho knew him well - to everyone else they were the pleas of a helpless lunatic.But in this human weakness, Christ was the power and wisdom of God (1 Cor.1:24), our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption (1:30). Paul believedthis and so laying human pride, power, and philosophies aside, boasted only inChrist and was empowered by the Spirit.

Biblicalchurch planters are in-and-of-themselves weak, powerless men who with prayerand fasting seek the Lord’s guidance, weep tears over the lost, and often labourin preaching for a long time diligently, faithfully, and painfully withoutseeing much fruit. But, like Christ, they endure everything for the joy that islaid before them.

Churchplanting is not a child’s game but an assault against the gates of hell. Itrequires perseverance in Christ, keeping him always at the centre of ourmessage, mission, and methods. In all the difficulties that are faced, the Lord’swords to Paul when he was planting the church at Corinth still ring true: ‘Do not be afraid, but go on speaking anddo not be silent, for I am withyou’ (Acts 18:9). We believe that he has many in this land who are his, and soby God’s grace, we plant churches.

The above post by Ryan King was originally published as 'Lessons in church planting' in The Gospel Truth (no. 75, ISSN 0263-5216, December, 2011). The photo was taken by the author in 2010, the week before the first Sunday service of a new church plant, Grace Baptist Church in Southall, London.

Reflections on a Baptism

2011-12-11T19:41:00.001Z

Today, I had the honour and privilege of obeying the commandof our Lord Jesus Christ and baptizing a new believer. A reading of theScriptures, and of church history, renders it impossible to do so without adegree of reverential thankfulness and reflective thoughtfulness. Here are someof my reflections.

First, on the Scriptures. I do not see how it is possible toobjectively read the New Testament and reject the idea of baptism of believersby immersion. It is everywhere. In the New Testament, the only candidates forbaptism are those who have repented of sin and believed in the Lord JesusChrist, and the only mode of baptism is immersion. In fact to say ‘baptism byimmersion’ is a bit odd – the Greek word for baptism, baptizo, is a word meaning ‘immerse’, ‘dip’, ‘cover with water’,and ‘drown’. Curiously, I once heard the word described by a well knownPresbyterian theologian as ‘a cataclysmic event’ – not particularly wellsymbolized by sprinkling or pouring over the head of someone who has not yetexperienced cataclysmic change. But enough of these preliminary issues. Thetext from which I preached on this occasion was Romans 6:1-14. Baptism is apicture of history, unity, and eternity.

History. God theSon became fully man, while remaining fully God. He was called Immanuel,meaning ‘God with us’ (Mt. 1:23) and named Jesus, ‘for he will save his peoplefrom their sins’ (Mt. 1:21). Tempted as we are but without sin, he wasbetrayed, tortured and finally put to death by crucifixion. Just ashistorically, death entered the world by one man who sinned, so alsohistorically life entered the world by one man who perfectly sacrificedhimself. The accomplished life belongs to all who believe (Rom. 5:12-21). Thisdeath would be empty of meaning though were it not for the resurrection ofChrist. We have no assurance that Christ achieved anything at all if he simplydied. If he is still dead we speak foolish lies about God and empty promises ofsalvation when we are actually still in our sins and without hope before God.He may provide us hope for this life, but we are doomed in the next. Such aterrifying prospect leads Paul to say ‘if in Christ we have hope in thislife only, we are of all people most to be pitied’ (1 Cor. 15:19). We cantake joy in the historical truth of the resurrection though, for he writes inthe next verse, ‘But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead…’Baptism pictures the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and bybeing baptized the baptismal candidate professes belief in these things. Withoutrecognition of these historical facts, there is no baptism, only a persongetting wet.

Unity. The mainpoint of Romans 6:1-14 is not to defend biblical baptism. It is a passage aboutunity with Christ. The apostle Paul uses baptism illustratively because it pictureslike nothing else the believer’s unity with Christ, that he is now ‘in Christ’,a member of his body. Our unity with Christ in his death, burial andresurrection is wonderfully seen as a person is lowered into the water, portrayingdeath and burial, and as they are raised up out of the water, portrayingresurrection. Paul says (Rom.6:3-4):

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized intoChrist Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried thereforewith him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raisedfrom the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walkin newness of life.

The following verses continue to expound on this idea ofbaptism as a picture of unity with Christ. Overall to be united with Christmeans five things. We share the walk of Christ, a walk characterized by deathand resurrection. We share the mind of Christ as those who ‘know’ (vv. 6, 9)and ‘believe’ (v. 8) in Christ: who he is, why he came, what he has done, andwhat it means for us. We share the death of Christ, especially his death tosin, therefore we must consider ourselves ‘dead to sin’ (v. 11) and must obeythe command of the apostle: ‘Letnot sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Donot present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness…’ (v.12-13a). We share the life of Christ, asthose who are no longer dead in trespasses and sins, but ‘alive to God inChrist Jesus’ (v. 11) and must obey again Paul’s God-breathed words: ‘presentyourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and yourmembers to God as instruments for righteousness’ (13b). Finally we share thetriumph of Christ, who when he said ‘It is finished’ was by no means concedingdefeat, but was declaring the satisfaction of God’s wrath, the accomplishmentof atonement, the defeat of the principalities and powers, Satan and thedemons, the end of sin’s reign, and the death of death. ‘It is finished’ istherefore the battle cry of the Saviour who is about to triumphantly enterParadise with the first fruits of his sacrifice, the thief on the cross, as thedemonic world trembles and shakes, completely disarmed and in disgrace beforeall. In light of our unity in this triumph Paul writes that ‘sin will haveno dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace’ (14). So asI baptized Daniel today, I expressed this unity by saying ‘You are buried withChrist in baptism, raised to walk in newness of life.’

Eternity. When wedie, it is not ‘curtains’, ‘the end’, ‘lights off’, a life all over and donewith. The text reads: ‘Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that wewill also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from thedead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him’ (vv.8-9). The resurrection of Christ was not a puny spiritual resurrection, a ‘heis still alive in our hearts’ phenomenon. It was real and physical. And oneday, we will share it. If he chooses to tarry his coming, we will die, but thismust be. We must die if we are to fully and finally experience first hand thegift of God, eternal life in the new and glorified bodies of the resurrection.As it is written in 1 Corinthians 15:50-57,

flesh and blood cannotinherit the kingdom of God, nor does theperishable inherit the imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. Weshall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in thetwinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and thedead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishablebody must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put onimmortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal putson immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
"Death is swallowed up invictory." "O death, where is your victory? O death, where isyour sting?"

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our LordJesus Christ.

In light of this eternity then, we are commanded ‘besteadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowingthat in the Lord your labour is not in vain’ (1 Cor. 15:58). The personwho is baptized proclaims eternity, the belief that one day he will die, butwill be resurrected to live forever with his Lord and Saviour.

That brings to a close for now my reflections on Scripture.A quick word on history…

The baptismal pool at GraceBaptist Churchin Wood Green where I minister is built into the ground, as are mostbaptisteries in the United Kingdom. This stems from the days whenBaptists were persecuted by Roman Catholics and Protestants alike. There beliefthat only believers should be baptised was especially offensive, as themembership of the ‘Church’ was based not on how many were actively involved inthe life of a congregation as followers of Christ, but on how many people hadbeen christened into the membership as babies. While many baptized in rivers,lakes, and the like, some early baptisteries were carved into the ground andhidden by floorboards, a rug, and perhaps a table over that. While persecutionrequiring such a system has now ceased, the practice remains, at least in thiscountry. Much has been written about the price people paid and the sacrificesthey made to practice biblical baptism. I think though for now, a quote fromone of the Anabaptist leaders, Menno Simons, will suffice.

For how many pious children of God have we not seen during the space ofa few years deprived of their homes and possessions for the testimony of Godand their conscience; their poverty and sustenance written off to the emperor’sinsatiable coffers. How many have they betrayed, driven out of city andcountry, put to the stocks and torture? How many poor orphans and children havethey turned out without a farthing? Some they have hanged, some they havepunished with inhuman tyranny and afterwards garrotted them with cords, tied toa post. Some they have roasted and burned alive. Some, holding their ownentrails in their hands, have powerfully confessed the Word of God still. Somethey beheaded and gave as food to the fowls of the air. Some they haveconsigned to the fish. They have torn down the houses of some. Some have theythrust into muddy bogs. They have cut off the feet of some, one of whom I haveseen and spoken to. Others wander aimlessly hither and yon, in want, misery,and discomfort, in the mountains, in deserts, holes, and clefts of theearth…They must take to their heels and flee away with their wives and littlechildren, from one country to another – hated by all men, abused slandered,mocked, defamed, trampled upon, styled ‘heretics.’ Their names are read frompulpits and town halls; they are kept from their livelihood, driven out intothe cold winter, bereft of bread [and] pointed at with fingers…

In light of such a statement, we should approach baptismtoday with all the greater a spirit of thankfulness and gratitude, as well asprayerfulness for those who still face similar persecution today.

Biblical baptism is quite simply a glorious thing. It wastherefore with great joy that the congregation closed the service this morningby singing the following words by Timothy Dudley-Smith:

TELLOUT, MY SOUL, THE GREATNESS OF THE LORD!

Unnumberedblessings, give my spirit voice;

tenderto me the promise of his word;

inGod my Saviour shall my heart rejoice.

Tellout, my soul, the greatness of his name!

Makeknown his might, the deeds his arm has done;

hismercy sure, from age to age the same;

hisholy name, the Lord, the mighty One.

Tellout, my soul, the greatness of his might!

Powersand dominions lay their glory by.

Proudhearts and stubborn wills are put to flight,

thehungry fed, the humble lifted high.

Tellout, my soul, the glories of his word!

Firmis his promise, and his mercy sure.

Tellout, my soul, the greatness of the Lord

tochildren’s children and for evermore!

An invitation to join "The Rebellion"

2011-11-30T08:41:00.001Z

Are you concerned by apathy, biblical illiteracy, lack of spirituality, and the immersion of many professing Christian young people in the worldly lifestyle of their peers?

If so, you are not alone.

If not, you should be.

I would like to invite both groups of people to like a new Facebook page, called "The Rebellion." By liking this page you will be joining an online community that will encourage you and challenge you in your walk with the Lord. Set up by Regan King, it describes itself as follows:

A page for Christian young people aged 13-30 to aid in fellowship and discipleship. We seek to challenge young people to rebel against the wisdom of this world and have minds and lives transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit. We seek to engender within young Christians the need to submit to a local church that professes, preaches and practises the truth of God’s Word, the Bible and instil in believers the calling to holy beliefs and actions, Christian maturity, and faithful Gospel witness no matter what the context.

So, if you are on Facebook, give the page a like. If you are not on Facebook, maybe its time that you joined the site that if it were a country, would have the third largest population in the world, after China and India (set to eclipse both of those in a few years time). Don't pass up this opportunity to be encouraged and to be an encouragement. Join the rebellion today.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Rebellion/221585484580271?sk=info

A new betting shop in Wood Green...and another on the way

2011-11-14T10:10:00.001Z

Recently I wrote another post for the website of the Parkside Malvern Residents Association on Wood Green's ongoing problem with the proliferation of gambling establishments. You can find the article at the below link:

http://www.pmra.co.uk/2011/11/09/another-betting-shop-in-wood-green/

Referenced in the article is a piece in the Evening Standard that included a statement by Shadow Culture Secretary, Harriet Harman on the issue. It can be located at the following link:

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-24007458-bookmakers-prey-on-the-poor-and-destroy-communities-says-harman.do

'Evangelicals Now!' Book Review - 'To Life: Rediscovering Biblical Church' by Steve Maltz

2011-11-03T16:15:00.000Z

Below is a link to an article I wrote for the November edition of the 'Evangelicals Now!' newspaper.

http://www.e-n.org.uk/5675-To-life.htm

No fireballs, no angels: W.A. Criswell on trusting only Jesus for salvation

2011-10-21T16:09:00.005+01:00

In a world where people continue as in the days of Paul, to 'go on in detail about visions' and reverence the angels to a degree of worship (cf. Colossians 2:18), it is important to be encouraged by saints past and present to hold fast to Christ alone for our salvation. Many put their faith and trust in supernatural experiences of some sort but only Jesus can save, as this quote from the late W.A. Criswell, preaching his last sermon from the pulpit on the eve of his 90th birthday, demonstrates.

“We had a prayer meeting before the service. The women met in a tabernacle and the men met in a grove…I never in all my life heard such testimonies as those men gave in that grove prayer meeting. One would say I was ploughing with a pair of mules, and the Lord sent a fireball from heaven and struck me to the ground and how long I lay there I don’t remember but when I came to…’ Then he’d describe how the plough looked, how the mules looked, how the field looked – all the things that had come into his heart. Again one of the men stood up and in his testimony spoke of an angel God sent from heaven to tell him the way of salvation. And sweet people, I came to the conclusion that I was not saved. I had never seen a ball of fire. I had never seen an angel who instructed me in the way of the Lord. And - you won’t believe this - for a long, long, long time I would prepare my sermons to be delivered to a little congregation, then I would cry to God ‘Oh God, help me! Please God, send a sign from heaven – an angel or a ball of fire that I may know that I am converted, that I’ve been saved, my name in the Book of Life.’ And a miracle happened.

God looked down from glory and saw me in my agony and I had an experience I could hardly ever describe. I dreamed that the saints of God were marching in and I assayed to join their number. And when I got to the pearly gates, the Lord stopped me and said ‘By what prerogative do you enter my beautiful city and walk on my golden streets?’ And I said to him ‘Dear God, I know I’m saved, I know I’m saved! I saw a ball of fire fall down from heaven and strike me to the land.’ And Satan there laughed ‘HAHAHAHA! He saw a ball of fire fall from heaven! I sent that ball of fire just to deceive him, just to fool him.’ And he drags me down to perdition and damnation in hell. What could I say, What could I say? Or, the great throng is marching into the New Jerusalem and I assay to join their number, and the Lord stops me, and says to me ‘By what prerogative, by what right, do you enter my beautiful city and walk on my golden streets? And I reply, ‘Oh God, I’ve been saved, I know I’ve been saved! I saw an angel from heaven come down to instruct me in the way of life. And Satan standing there laughed: ‘HAHAHA! He saw an angel! I transformed myself into an angel of light just to deceive him’ and drags me to damnation and perdition in hell. What could I say? Then, God spoke to me when I assayed to enter that beautiful city, and the Lord asked me ‘By what prerogative and by what right do you pass through my pearly gates and walk on my golden streets.’ And I say to him ‘Lord, when I was about 10 years of age, my sainted mother with many tears asked me to take you as my Saviour, and Lord Jesus, that day I gave my heart to thee and Lord Jesus, I’m just depending on you to keep your word that you will never leave me or forsake me, oh God!

Then I challenge Satan to laugh or to scoff. My salvation is not a matter between me and him, my salvation is a matter between me and Jesus and he will never let me down!"

The video of the whole message is below, the segment from which the above script is taken being found in clip 3.

Peace-protestor Brian Haw: a man at war with everything

2011-06-22T11:49:00.006+01:00

On Monday I was unable to check the latest news stories as I generally do in the morning. In fact, the first glimpse of any news that I got was from a copy of The Independent lying around at a local grocery store Monday night. On the front page were the words ‘Peace at Last’ and below them the black and white picture of a somewhat grizzly, leather-skinned man wearing a hat covered in pins and badges. A smaller headline announced the death of the Parliament Square peace protester Brian Haw, who in 2001 left his wife and seven children, and his job as a carpenter to protest across the street from the House of Commons British and American policy in Afghanistan and later, Iraq. For 10 years he slept rough, surrounded by placards and pictures detailing his opposition to the War on Terror. And then Sunday night, June 19, he died in his sleep from lung cancer.

From the first time I had come to London, as a 10 year-old boy tourist with his family, Brian Haw had been camping out in Parliament Square. Our political ideologies could not have been more different. Our views on justice and war in general, and the War on Terror in particular, were miles apart. For these very reasons, I wanted to speak with him, to try and understand where he was coming from and to be better able to formulate and articulate my own thoughts on social issues and matters of foreign policy.

Nearing a year ago I had talked with this man, the thoughtful and somewhat pained expression of the face on the newspaper almost identical to that in a photo I had taken. As I approached his encampment, he did not so much as glance up at me. Wishing to be as subtle as possible I surveyed a board covered in a large collection of disturbing photographs, mainly of the dead and disfigured, hoping that Mr. Haw would approach me and our conversation would start. He continued to sit in his camping chair, jaw set, hard eyes staring out into nothingness. Finally I decided to ask him if I could take a seat next to him. He gestured to his side and nodded. I sat down and he began to roll a cigarette.

“Are you Brian Haw?” I said, asking the obvious. Again he simply nodded, as if playing the silent strong man in a motion picture.

“How long have you been out here?” I’m not sure that he heard me, as he had reached for a tin with slips of paper and was now handing me one of those slips – ‘Brian Haw and Company’ and then a slogan about love, peace, and justice for all. It was clear that I wasn’t getting anywhere.

I was surrounded by the answer to my next question, but still I asked “What do you think about the War on Terror and war itself? Is it not at times necessary to in showing love for people to declare war on others? And must there not be war at times, in order for peace to be established? What is justice, if it is not the governing authorities rewarding that which is good, punishing that which is evil, and indeed being a terror to those who are evil?” That is when he finally got started. For 30 minutes or so he gave a rambling survey of the history of warfare, talked me through the statistics of the War on Terror, and explained the pictures which covered most every placard in his display. Such was the detail he gave, and the language he used in giving it, that I for a moment assumed he had himself once been a soldier. Perhaps I could respect him more if he was speaking from first hand experience.

He was just wrapping up a graphic account of the Killing Fields of Cambodia and how the West was more to blame than Pol Pot, when I asked him: “Have you been to war, yourself?”

His gruff voice was by now shaking with emotion as he said with a dark tone: “I have been to places of war.” Classic Clintonian rhetoric. Add one word and most people won’t notice.

“But have you fought in a war yourself?”

“Son, there’s one thing you ought to know about war…” and he led me to more photographs.

He referenced at some stage Jesus Christ, and I recalled that Mr Haw professed to be a Christian. I therefore asked him his thoughts on passages like Romans 13, where Paul speaks of the government the authority to inflict justice. Apparently, though my understanding of “They bear not the sword in vain” was not worth considering. He saw this as an opportunity to rail against Augustine and C.S. Lewis and others who have believed in the idea of a ‘Just War’ as well as police brutality. Instead he gestured to a lady sitting nearby whom he said had days earlier been assaulted by police for no reason. She now entered the conversation, and quickly began to blur the lines between good and evil. According to her, if we could just get along with people everything would be OK.

“I agree that so much as it depends on us we should be at peace with all men, but we have been attacked and our citizens have been victims of terrorism. Should our government not act justly against our enemies and bring justice to the oppressed of other nations?”

“But if we could just get along with others…” I must have heard her say that twenty times in my interview.

It had become apparent to me that Brian Haw and Company were not just against the current War on Terror. They were against war. I wanted to make sure that I was understanding them correctly.

“Were Britain and America wrong to declare war on Hitler?” I asked.

“We created Hitler. Besides, Hitler was doing with the Jews what Churchill wanted to do with Africans.”

“You are saying that Winston Churchill, to many the greatest leader this country has known, was an advocate of genocide?”

He sought to provide verbal evidence for his claims that Churchill called for the Africans to be exterminated, but soon returned to the theme of World War 2. I agreed with him that the treaties signed at the end of the First World War had a role to play in creating the hostile, nationalistic spirit of Nazi Germany. But when a toxic environment is created, those who may well be in some way responsible must clean it up.

“But if only we could get along with people…” the lady (I think her name was Rose) said again.

However much he called for peace, Brian Haw was perhaps one of the most bitter men I have ever spoken too: at war with the government, at war with his family (from whom he had now been estranged for several years), at war with the United Kingdom and the United States – the people those entities represent and the forces that defend them… While Mr. Haw professed to be a Christian, that name seemed to be sapped of all meaning as I spoke with him. He seemed to believe in universalism, or at least an eternal destiny based on who is good and who is bad – although those terms were butchered before my eyes by what he said. His language was often extremely profane and always vitriolic. At one stage he decided to quote a poem penned by a 17 year-old American girl whom he had recently met. Her soldier boyfriend had been killed and this was a tribute to his memory. At first I thought I might go two minutes without a four letter word, but whether they were original or added by Brian Haw, this piece was filled with them.

He seemed to be at war with everyone and everything except terror and terrorism. For him the terrorist of 9/11 was George W. Bush. The terrorist of 7/7 was Tony Blair. His hatred was so violent that it is only by the grace of God that he was not more radical in his behavior.

“If only we could just get along with people…” If only indeed…But this is a fallen world and in a fallen world there exists both good and evil, the one to be rewarded the other to be punished. The only love, peace, and justice “for all” that can truly be had in this life is for all who repent and believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. In him these three things meet. If we experience these graces in Christ by faith, our understanding of social issues should not go the way of Brian Haw’s philosophy, where good and bad are blurred and aggressive, physical justice on the evildoer is sinful. These truths were not diminished, but reinforced, as I walked away from Parliament Square.

The above photograph was taken by Ryan King on Saturday, 24 July, 2010.

BookSneeze Book Review: 'Illegals: the Unacceptable Cost of America's Failure to Control its Borders' by Darrell Ankarlo

2011-01-06T17:02:00.005Z

Toward the end of 2010, I was able to read a copy of Darrell Ankarlo’s book Illegals: the Unacceptable Cost of America’s Failure to Control its Borders, freely provided through Thomas Nelson’s book review programme, BookSneeze. Several factors influenced me to select this book for review.

1. I am a Christian and a leader in a local church therefore it is critically important that I am familiar with current affairs, whether they take place in the religious, political, or cultural etc. arenas.

2. I am an American, and more particularly a southern American. Although the United States is no longer my home, it is my homeland, and as a United States citizen I should and do have a concern for the affairs of my nation and an interest in the events of that ever-changing country. One area in which I felt I needed to do further reading, was the problem of the United States/Mexico border.

3. I like politics.

With these thoughts in mind, and, not put off by the Glenn Beck endorsement (conservative politics, done properly, are great; Mormonism and civil religion aren’t so), I began to read Ankarlo’s work. The purpose of the book is stated in the prologue:

I dare you to read this book - the whole thing. It will touch your heart in surprising ways. It will make you feel outraged and compassionate and frustrated and hopeful. But most of all, it will ask you to join me and millions of fellow Americans to force the federal government to do its job, especially in a humanitarian, fair, and equal manner – and in fewer than twenty years! (p. xix.).

Illegals is a call to action. What action? Secure the border.

The book is divided into two parts: ‘Sección Uno: Estados Unidos Mexicanos’ and ‘Sección Dos: To Kill a Country (AKA Sovereignty Terrorists).’ The first section is largely anecdotal, while the second section is primarily empirical, drawing on a range of interviews, government documents, statistics, and charts. This structure is perfect. The stories and accounts of Ankarlo’s own experiences in Mexico and on the border, told with both humour and gravity, draw the reader into the subject so that when he comes to the statistical data, it is really quite difficult to quit. Some of what he relates is exciting such as his personal experience of car chases, contact with corrupt officials and organized criminals. Most of it is disturbing: the long treks by illegals through the desert, the stories of those who didn’t survive the journey, hostage situations, ‘drop-houses’, the trails of belongings illegals leave through the desert, the amount and kind of crimes committed by illegals…and the sheer scale of the problem.

Two thousand fellow humans have been found in all stages of death in the Arizona deserts, and another fifteen to twenty thousand are wandering through the cacti, thorns, and small trees at any given time. (p. 131)

How should America respond? Some would say by opening the borders and loosening America’s immigration laws. In doing so, they say the problem is solved. This is the same logic that has been used in various places to legalize the use of dangerous drugs and prostitution. According to Ankarlo, illegal immigration amounts to sovereignty terrorism. Unlike the United Kingdom, America is currently independent and free from external control with the right of self-government. You don’t solve the problem of terrorism by making it legal. To make what was illegal immigration legal in some way is to shirk the responsibility of dealing with the issue.

Ankarlo fears that the United States is looking more and more like Europe, and I see it particularly looking more and more like the United Kingdom, both spiritually and politically. The European Union prevents us from making our own laws and imposes laws that we don’t want. It holds us responsible for bailing other nations out even while we have barely recovered from the 2008 recession ourselves. It makes it possible for criminals to freely enter our land and take up residence, and for able-bodied yet lazy people from other EU nations to live off of benefits provided for by our ever-increasing taxation. This is not the American way of life, but it is becoming so, and Ankarlo fears that such a system, involving Canada, Mexico, and the U.S.A., is already in the works and will succeed if the borders are not secured.

Due to illegal immigration, crime is soaring and corruption flourishes. What can be done? How is the U.S.A. to secure its borders? Ankarlo concludes by giving thirty reasons plus two bonus solutions. These bonus solutions are so out-of-the box, they are almost crazy: Lease the entire nation of Mexico, and Annex Mexico. Yet, upon reading this book, one wonders if there is really any other effective option.

Ankarlo is clear throughout the book: immigration is not the problem. Those who go through the rigorous process of becoming legal citizens of the United States are to be commended. Such people aren’t Mexicans or Latinos or Hispanics. They are Americans. The problem is illegal immigration, the process by which people subvert the laws of the land, shirk responsibility, and sacrifice any principles they have for false visions of pleasure in ‘a better place.’

I would recommend this book for anyone with an interest in the subject, but I think that those who are uninformed or confused about the problem of illegal immigration in the United States and who misunderstand immigration laws like Arizona’s highly publicized SB1070 (http://www.azleg.gov/legtext/49leg/2r/bills/sb1070s.pdf), would especially do well to read this book.

I Will Sing of the Lamb: A Song By Stuart Townend

2010-10-03T20:16:00.004+01:00

I will sing of the Lamb, of the price that was paid for me

purchased by God, giving all he could give!

Here now I stand in the garments of righteousness;

death has no hold, for in Jesus I live.

I will sing of his blood that flows for my wretchedness,

wounds that are bared that I may be healed;

power and compassion, the marks of his ministry:

may they be mine as I harvest his field.

O, I will sing of the Lamb.

My heart fills with wonder

my mouth fills with praise!

Hallelujah, hallelujah.

Once I was blind, yet believed I saw everything,

proud in my ways, yet a fool in my part;

lost and alone in the company of multitudes,

life in my body, yet death in my heart.

O, I will sing of the Lamb .

O, I will sing of the Lamb.

O, why should the King

save a sinner like me?

Hallelujah, hallelujah.

What shall I give to the man who gave everything,

humbling himself before all he had made?

Dare I withhold my own life from his sovereignty?

I shall give all for the sake of his name!

O, I will sing of the Lamb.

I’ll sing of his love for the rest of my days!

Hallelujah, hallelujah.

"You can force people to be baptised, but you cannot force them to believe"

2010-09-29T19:30:00.004+01:00

I had never found, until just last week, any inkling of the biblical concept of universal religious liberty in the history of the Holy Roman Empire, let alone the period during the reign of Charlemagne. Then I found the following extract in Nick Needham’s excellent book, 2000 Years of Christ’s Power, Part Two: The Middle Ages (p. 52):

Charlemagne’s longest war was against the pagan Saxons, which required 18 savage campaigns and occupied over 30 years of his reign. He eventually crushed Saxon resistance through a policy of forcibly resettling large groups of Saxons in other parts of the Carolingian kingdom, and compelling them to choose between accepting Christian baptism and being put to death. This forced conversion of the Saxons aroused protests from some leading Christians, e.g. Charlemagne’s chief religious advisor, Alcuin of York (730-804). Alcuin said: “Faith is a free act of the will, not a forced act. We must appeal to the conscience, not compel it by violence. You can force people to be baptised, but you cannot force them to believe.”

Although Charlemagne did not follow through with all the implications of Alcuin’s statement, this early plea for religious liberty of conscience resulted ultimately in the death penalty for pagans in the empire being dropped in 797.

Framework: Know the Truth

2010-09-09T11:11:00.032+01:00

Tomorrow night I will begin to lead a Bible Study for young adults aged 18-29 at Grace Baptist Church (Wood Green). We will be making use of an introductory systematic theology by Bruce Milne entitled Know the Truth: A Handbook of Christian Belief. The back of the second edition of the book sums things up better than I could. It says:

Christians have already begun to know God and his truth. This handbook will help us grow in that liberating knowledge, as it opens up the great themes of God's Word and shows us how they fit together.

Each chapter looks at one facet of biblical truth and encourages further study with Scripture references to look up, questions for discussion and books for additional reading. The main sections all close with practical reflection on how the Bible's teaching challenges us and moves us to adore the living God.

As well as offering updated bibliographies, this new edition responds to recent developements in secular and Christian thinking. It ensures that "Know the Truth" will remain an excellent introduction to doctrine.

Although he now travels to different places around the world, Dr. Bruce Milne was at one time a lecturer at Spurgeon's College, London and was later the pastor of First Baptist Church, Vancouver, Canada. He is also the author of another book I would highly recommend, Dynamic Diversity: Bridging Class, Age, Race, and Gender in the Church.

As helpful as Milne's book will be to our study, we should bring all things under the scrutiny of God's word, the Bible, and it will take center stage in our studies and discussions. It alone is inspired by God, inerrant and infallible. Remember that "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work" (2 Timothy 3:16).

If you are aged 18-29, in or around London, and want to know what Christians believe, you are most welcome to attend. We will begin at 8:30 and go to 10:30, Friday evenings, and will meet at Grace Baptist Church (Wood Green), 48-50 Park Ridings, London, N8 0LD. Hope to see you there!

A Martyr, Condemned by Two Future Martyrs

2010-08-04T21:05:00.010+01:00

I am currently writing a research paper on Baptist origins and the fight for religious liberty. The fore-runners of the Baptists, pre-Reformation and Reformation sectarian groups who either observed believer's baptism or were anti-paedobaptists, faced persecution by Roman Catholics and Protestants alike. An interesting quote I came across in my reading, found on page 20 of Erroll Hulse's An Introduction to the Baptists, tells us of the martyrdom of a Baptist woman under the authorization of Thomas Cranmer and Nicholas Ridley.

"Spurgeon, in his colourful way, tells the story of one of the early Baptist martyrs:

Jane Bouchier, our glorious Baptist martyr, the maid of Kent, when she was brought before Cranmer and Ridley, was able to nonplus them entirely; of course we believe part of her power lay in the goodness of the subject, for if there be a possibility of proving infant baptism by any text in the Bible, I am sure I am not aware of the existence of it; Popish tradition might confirm the innovation, but the Bible knows no more of it than the baptism of bells and the consecration of horses. But, however, she answered them all with a singular power - far beyond what could have been expected of a countrywoman. It was a singular instance of God's providential judgement that Cranmer and Ridley, two bishops of the church who condemned this Baptist to die, said when they signed the death-warrant, that burning was an easy death, and they had themselves to try it in after days; and that maid told them so. She said, "I am as true a servant of Christ as any of you; and if you put your poor sister to death, take care lest God should let loose the wolf of Rome on you, and you have to suffer for God too."

[From New Park Street, 1860, p. 481]

Protestants Cranmer and Ridley would both be burned at the stake under the Roman Catholic government of Mary Tudor: Ridley in 1555, and Cranmer in 1556.

Lamentations 3: God is Faithful Bible Study Notes

2010-06-10T19:37:00.003+01:00

I recently had the opportunity to lead a study from Lamentations 3 on the faithfulness of God at one of the church plants connected to our ministry, the notes for which you may find at http://www.thatimayknowhim.co.uk/2010/06/08/part-20-the-only-true-god-%e2%80%93-god-is-faithful/

Parkside Malvern Residents Association Website Post

2010-05-26T21:51:00.003+01:00

As a resident of the Hornsey Park area of Hornsey/Wood Green in Noel Park Ward, the London Borough of Haringey, as a committee member of the Parkside Malvern Residents Association, and most importantly as a Christian living in a dark society, I have commented on my area's problem with gambling establishments at http://www.pmra.co.uk/?p=296. More will be forthcoming.

Interview on Walking Worthy Blog

2010-04-22T16:06:00.003+01:00

I recently did an interview for a group of young people in the United Kingdom, who run a blog called 'Walking Worthy.' You can read this interview at http://walkingworthy110.blogspot.com/2010/04/ww-interview.html

Thanks to the team at Walking Worthy for inviting me to do this.

Flags of Our Fathers: Book Review

2010-04-20T15:35:00.006+01:00

Flags of Our Fathers is what it claims to be: ‘A penetrating, epic look at a generation at war, this is history told with keen insight, enormous honesty, and the passion of a son paying homage to his father. It is the story of the difference between truth and myth, the meaning of being a hero, and the essence of the human experience of war.’ The book has been around for a decade now, and although I had heard of it before, only recently did I take the time to read it. It is the vivid and stirring account of the six men pictured raising the American flag on Mt. Suribachi, Iwo Jima. Author James Bradley, son of one of the flag raisers, takes readers on a trip spanning the lives of the six men in that photograph: six men, from six states, united in a moment proclaimed by the world as heroic.

The difference between the truth and the myth is this: the myth tells us that these were extraordinary men exhibiting uncommon valour. The truth tells us that these were ordinary men for whom uncommon valour was a common virtue. The myth says the flag was raised as bullets and grenades were flying all around. The truth says the flag was raised to replace the actual first flag put up, so that it could be kept for historic reasons. The myth acts as if the image in the photograph was the climactic moment at the end of a bloody fight. The truth says that the photograph was taken on day four of almost forty days of fire and blood on the black, volcanic sands of Iwo Jima. Three of the men in the photograph would not leave the island alive. Two would walk off the island. One would be carried off. The real heroes were those who died on Iwo, as Corpsman John Bradley would later say. The war was just, but the price was high. These men were willing to pay it. They fought for their country, but all they had to remind them of their country was their buddies, and it was for them that they died.

The book follows the six men through their boyhood, training as United States Marines, and of course, Iwo Jima. However, Flags of Our Fathers goes beyond Iwo to show how the three surviving flag raisers aided the government in turning a country in which there was by now much anti-war sentiment, back to the justness of the cause and the needs of the troops. After that, the enduring legacy of the photograph is traced until the last flag raiser dies.

Flags of Our Fathers is a story of gung-ho comraderie, and the undefeatable esprit de corps. It takes readers into the action, and presents real heroes, men who didn’t know they were doing anything special, but who just did their job, some to the death. These were men who were simper fidelis, always faithful, to both their country and each other.

Additional note: as far as content is concerned, this book does not try to glorify warfare nor does it gloss over the horrors of the battlefield. It is therefore not for sensitive readers. There is also some swearing (when quoting the words of those involved in Iwo Jima) but this is very occasional (the author makes reference to his father’s clean speech, a reflection of his desire to move past the terrors of Iwo, not wallowing in the bitterness of some of his fellow soldiers).

The Donkey is the Incarnation?

2010-02-25T22:26:00.002Z

My studies of recent have taken me to the parables of the Gospel according to Luke. Important in these studies is the observation of varying hermeneutics employed in the interpretation of the parables. One of the most common methods has been to allegorize the parables so that each individual detail is not without meaning. For instance, Augustine, one of the Early Church Fathers, gives the following analysis of the parable of the Good Samaritan from Luke 10:25-37.

A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho: Adam himself is meant; Jerusalem is the heavenly city of peace, from whose blessedness Adam fell; Jericho means "the moon," and signifies our mortality, because it is born, waxes, wanes, and dies. Thieves are the devil and his angels. Who stripped him, namely, of his immortality; and beat him, by persuading him to sin; and left him half dead, because in so far as man can understand and know God, he lives, but in so far as he is wasted and oppressed by sin, he is dead-he is therefore called half dead. The Priest and Levite who saw him and passed by signify the priesthood and ministry of the Old Testament, which could profit nothing for salvation, Samaritan means "guardian," and therefore the Lord Himself is signified by this name. The binding of the wounds is the restraint of sin. Oil is the comfort of good hope; wine the exhortation to work with fervent spirit. The beast is the flesh in which he deigned to come to us. The being set upon the beast is belief in the incarnation of Christ. The inn is the Church, where travelers are refreshed on their return from pilgrimage to their heavenly country. The morrow is after the resurrection of the Lord. The two pence are either the two precepts of love, or the promise of this life and of that which is to come. The innkeeper is the Apostle. The supererogatory payment is either his counsel of celibacy, or the fact that he worked with his own hands lest he should be a burden to any of the weaker brethren when the Gospel was new, though it was lawful for him "to live by the Gospel."

Bold… Thorough…Deep…and I believe inaccurate. I greatly respect Augustine and his contribution to the church but at the same time he was at this point, I believe, guilty of committing that error of which we all are guilty: putting our views into Scripture instead of getting our views from Scripture. This is eisegesis not exegesis. While Augustine is initially convincing and is certainly evangelistic, I don’t believe that Jesus intended the donkey on which the half-dead Jerusalemite is set to represent his incarnation and I doubt that the innkeeper was meant to be representative of the Apostle (Paul). Parables are what Klyne Snodgrass has called ‘stories with intent’ and in Stories with Intent: A Comprehensive Guide to the Parables of Jesus, he states his belief, which I would agree with at this point, that Augustine’s allegorization does not fit Jesus’ intent. Furthermore, while not denying allegorical content in the parables, Snodgrass firmly says ‘…allegorizing is not a legitimate means of interpretation. It obfuscates the message of Jesus and replaces it with the teaching of the church or some ideology. Such an interpretive procedure assumes one knows the truth before reading the text and finds truth paralleled by the text being read, even if the text is about another subject.’

While Augustine has every detail worked out, he ignores the context in which the parable was written. Jesus has just said that if a man loves the Lord God with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength, and if he loves his neighbour as himself, then he will live. The scribe who is arguing with Jesus at this point asks, ‘Who is my neighbour’. Jesus answers him with a story of showing love and compassion to those with whom you would typically have no relationship. Instead of supporting the scribe’s attempt to justify himself, Jesus does not tell him to examine people as to whether they are his neighbours or not, but to be a neighbour, one who shows mercy, to those whom others would simply pass by. I would therefore say that the Good Samaritan is not an allegory of the Gospel, but it is rather an application of it.

The shallow-minded read Augustine’s interpretation of the parable of the Good Samaritan and they say ‘It’s so deep. The way he breaks it down is amazing.’ Its deep, yes. Too deep, in fact. So deep is it, I don’t believe it is there. The scribe would have walked away in a complete muddle. I doubt that when thinking the parable over later, it occurred to him that the innkeeper was actually young Saul, the violent-minded youth being tutored by Gamaliel, and that he would later be known as Paul the Apostle.

The interpretive technique of allegorizing used by Augustine is not unusual. It persists today. People have firm beliefs and seek to shape the Scriptures according to their beliefs. If we are to be faithful preachers and teachers of the Word, we should cease imposing our views upon Scripture and start genuinely inquiring from God’s word so that we may understand it in truth. We must stop trying to mold our Bibles to fit our theology and start molding our theology to fit our Bibles.

A Tale of Two Bookstores

2010-01-25T18:37:00.009Z

I went into two bookshops one day two weeks ago, and if we are to apply labels, one is ‘Christian’ and the other ‘secular’. The former was Holborn’s CLC; the latter was my local W.H. Smith. Upon exiting one of these, I felt particularly disheartened. Leaving another, I felt relatively normal.

Surely it was W H Smith that disturbed me… I had gone there to find a book for my younger brother. The children’s section was filled with cheap and shallow paperbacks. Particularly prominent was a very large display of vampire fiction [apparently vampires are a species of monster very much in vogue today. What zombies were to the past decade, vampires threaten to be to this decade.] above which was a poster of a blood-sucking chap with a chilling un-dead gaze. Beneath this picture was inscribed the fellow’s name- ‘Edward’ (not my first choice for a vampire name, but I guess it is scary because it is tame to the extreme). Smith’s range extended beyond vampires though, including fascinating titles like Killer Mushrooms Ate My Grandma, and stimulating literature such as Captain Underpants (underpants are apparently a subject as popular as vampires, other titles including Horrid Henry’s Underpants; Dinosaurs love Underpants!; Aliens love Underpants! and so on, plus ominous sounding literature such as Who’s in the loo?).

It was upon moving out of this section that I encountered the ‘religious’ books. A bummed-up book on justification by faith that had been on the shelf so long it was yellowed, as well as a few other titles with similar appearance, were outnumbered by Christopher Hitchens’ God is not Great and a host of horoscopes. Really though, it is obvious what the dominant religion is: a whole aisle contains the life-stories of twenty-year-old footballers.

I confess that as I left W. H. Smith I did not feel particularly down. In fact, if anything, I felt better than when I went in, as I had finally found a good book. I have no doubts that the Victorian founders of ‘W. H. Smith and Son’ would be very disappointed in light of their ‘determination to sell only the most respectable of literature’ (Nick Rennison, The London Blue Plaque Guide). However, today they have no such policy, and they certainly make no claims to Christianity. If they are not Christian, why should we expect their range to indicate otherwise? My disappointment was actually with the ‘Christian’ bookshop. Why?

I enter the bookstore and a sign informing me of the stores bestsellers for January 2010 greets me. At number one on the list was William P. Young’s The Shack, a volume that personifies the Trinity as three physical, individual beings. The Father is ‘a large beaming African-American woman’ (p. 82) named ‘Papa’, the Son is a working-class Middle Eastern man, while the Holy Spirit is an Asian woman who floats in the air and is called ‘Sarayu.’ The writing is bad enough, but bad theology including inappropriate and twisted speculation concerning the Trinity and an unbiblical view of God’s dealings with humanity, make this off-limits to mature believers and render it off for the discerning Christian bookstore. That, however, is the problem, for CLC Holborn is no discerning bookstore. Neither apparently are its customers.

In the DVD section, the first thing that caught my eye was a series of health and wealth teacher Joel Osteen recordings with titles like See Yourself Successful, Living a Life of Excellence, Be Excited About Life, and Achieving God’s Best For You. I mean, I don’t know, but it seems that for Osteen it is all about us, our life, and our comfort: an advocacy of selfishness that is at odds with the call of the Christian to deny self, to take up a cross and follow Christ. “To deny oneself is to be aware only of Christ and no more of self, to see only Him who goes before and no more the road which is too hard for us” says Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a principle Osteen and his followers appear to ignore.

After observing that the rest of the DVD section was over-preoccupied with speculative, largely Dispensationalist end-times movies, I bid a hasty retreat. I didn’t waste time picking up a volume promoting the new eco-theology and fled upon reading a few excerpts of Eric Seibert’s Disturbing Divine Behaviour (which claims that the God revealed by Jesus differs from the God of the Old Testament, and does so because Scripture is not fully but only generally inspired and is therefore fallible and errant, particularly in its portrayal of God). Exploration continued and as I walked around the shop it hit me that this was no general Christian bookshop. It was more of a flagship for everything T. D. Jakes. My problem with Jakes is not only his prosperity teaching. He does not even hold to an orthodox view of the Trinity. From a Oneness Pentecostal background, Jakes preaches that there is one God and that this one God has revealed himself in different ‘manifestations’: Father in creation, Son in redemption, and Holy Spirit in regeneration. CLC Holborn carries his DVDs (alongside those pillars of the Christian faith, Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber, and that excellent eschatological exegesis that is Left Behind). They carry CDs of him preaching and singing (next to such Christian classics as ‘I Believe I can Fly’). They carry his books. Anything Jakes they already have or they are happy to get.

Beside the large display of Jakes’ books was John Bunyan. Behind the Jakes section was Banner of Truth publications. If the books had any personality, they would feel quite ill at ease in each other’s presence. I also wonder how the Charles Spurgeon and John Piper books felt about being next to Joyce Meyer’s literature. What did the John MacArthur volume lurking around the corner think about being surrounded by a company of heretics? Imagine the debates that would ensue if all of the authors represented in the store were gathered even as their books are, into one room. ’Twould be a sight to behold.

I could not help but think of the staff as well. One lady seemed simply to be doing her job, while another appeared to be doing little else than speaking condescendingly to colleagues and customers. At one stage, a man who appeared to have some leadership capacity was hurriedly doing something of importance when the phone began to ring. The man cried out in despair ‘Oh My God… Please help me someone’ as other staff stood passively nearby. Perhaps he would say he was praying, or calling out for divine aid. It did not sound like it.

CLC’s purpose statement is ‘to bring glory to God by making evangelical Christian literature available so that people may come to faith and maturity in the Lord Jesus Christ.’ I fear that they have failed. They do nothing to present literature of stable, sound quality. The potpourri of materials available does not represent those of an establishment seeking to bring people to mature man-hood in Christ. Much of the literature in reality prevents such maturity. For those who are already mature, or who at least are maturing, I see no real danger. Stones can sharpen swords. I am concerned however, about the seekers and the children in the faith. When a person becomes a Christian, it is likely that he will find a nearby Christian bookstore. All too often, when entering the bookstore, he will immediately drop his guard, because after all, it is a ‘Christian’ bookstore. That means there is nothing to be afraid of, right? Wrong. Which wolf is more dangerous: the mangy, flea-ridden creature with one ear that it so hungry its ribs show who walks up to the sheep and says, ‘Hey there, I am a mangy, flea-ridden creature with one ear that is so hungry my ribs show, and I just can’t wait to tear your throat out and gorge myself on your bloody flesh’; or the one who walks up to the sheep dressed in the skin of another sheep and says with a smile ‘Hello. Could I be your friend?’? CLC chooses their books not based on what they think their customers need but rather on what they know their customers want. That puts them in the category of business, not ministry.

As long as CLC’s customers feed on the polluted grass of the false teachers represented in their bookstore, they will remain ‘children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes’ (Ephesians 4:14). I expect a store like W. H. Smith to choose indiscriminately what they put on their shelves, even if the book is not worth the recycled toilet paper it is written on. A Christian bookshop, however, should have the highest degree of discretion. If not, then they will disillusion seekers searching for the truth, and they will seriously harm and impede the growth of believers.

Note: I have used CLC as an example for this blog post. I could have given similar treatment to other ‘Christian’ bookstores. So as not to leave CLC bearing the brunt of my attack while other offenders go unscathed, I would point out that even The Protestant Truth Society carries works by such people as John Hagee (who denies that Jesus was the Messiah). One wonders what John Kensit would think.

'He gives snow...'

2010-01-07T14:23:00.027Z

I have now lost all faith in the truth of weather predictions coming from the Met Office. Last spring, as Britain emerged from the winter of 2008-09, the hopes of the nation were aroused by the announcement that the coming summer was ‘odds on for a barbecue summer’ and that a repeat of the wet summers of 07 and 08 was unlikely. May turned to June and although weather wasn’t great, spirits were hopeful. As the heat wave began in June, carrying over into July, people began to think about pulling out their grills. Then the rains came. July turned into one of the wettest months on record and people’s barbecue grills saw minimum use. August saw what was left of Hurricane Bill cross the country, and finally things dried up for a bit (emphasis on a bit).

Even in the midst of the deluge the officials at the Met were full of hope, chasing a fleeting dream of warm and dry weather (the realization of which would 1. vindicate them in the eyes of those sad people holding umbrellas over their barbecues in a last ditch effort to grill some burgers, and 2. give them the perfect opportunity to whinge about the unseasonable heat thus giving them great satisfaction). Accordingly they predicted a relatively warm winter. The Daily Telegraph’s main weather headline as of 14:01, 07/01/2010 is ‘Ice danger for Britain as -17C freezes snow.’ Further comment is not necessary.

As I had enjoyed the rainy summer so too was I determined to enjoy yesterday's snowfall, setting forth with my brother Regan to get the most out of the cold, icy, and very refreshing snow (cf. Proverbs 25:13 if in doubt as to the latter). After some silliness involving building a two foot snow man in five minutes, and taking pictures that made it look gigantic, we proceeded to march uphill to Alexandra Palace. The usually splendid panorama of the city was now shrouded in the thick-falling snow; the only distinguishable paths were those created by footprints. After exploring the grounds for a while we decided to head for home. It was upon leaving a thin stretch of woods that we came across a group putting the finishing touches to a huge snow sculpture of a gorilla.

My thoughts went back to the previous winter when Regan and I saw two bitter and profane middle-aged drunks take ten minutes to kick a ten foot snow man to pieces in an apparent attempt to display to all passers-by what great guys they really were. Surely they would respect this work of art! If not they may end up in hospital with dislocated hips and shattered feet. This thing will not come down easily.

It is true that snow disrupts plans. The time Regan and I spent walking at Alexandra Palace Park we had intended to spend doing church-planting work in Halstead, Essex. It is also true that the snow has now turned to ice, making all forms of transportation, including walking, difficult. But though it may be disruptive, and may cause difficulty, I believe we should enjoy it and rejoice in the One that it reveals, that is God. Psalm 147:16 tells us 'He gives snow like wool...' So listen to profane drunks curse giant snow men, let the Evening Standard placards scream 'Traffic Chaos' and let the radio presenters shout 'Treacherous Conditions', but let us rejoice and take joy in the God of our salvation... and the God of the snow.

Closed Churches and a Call to Return to the Preaching of the Gospel

2009-09-03T20:23:00.016+01:00

This summer, I was able to spend a great week in Talybont, Wales where my father was preaching at a camp for Holbrooks Evangelical Church, Coventry. Clean air, the sound of the river flowing a stones-throw from my tent, the walk up into the mountains, the cold refreshing water flowing down toward a waterfall, the pattering of the rain on the canvas of my tent every morning, and the clear sky filled with stars were all pleasant extras. Then it was time to leave. After a long train journey, we were home. The underground service was disrupted. Crowds of people were everywhere (including a group in short curly black wigs with moustaches to match, and another group in Wild West attire). We boarded the tube and were met by drunk and profane fans returning from a sporting event. To my side was a guy in a 1960's style Batman suit (apparently a fan as well). Wood Green looked and sounded much the same, lots of people on the walks, lots of buses and cars on the street, and the noise of emergency services sirens in the distance.

There are some obvious differences. But is there any spiritual difference between Snowdonia, Wales and London, England? I would say that there is not. True, there have in years gone by been major outpourings of revival upon the country of Wales, more-so than elsewhere in Great Britain. The revivals led to churches sprouting up all over the land. Now, for the most part, only the buildings remain, monuments to a time that is past, testimonies to the truly dark days that we live in, and evidence of the spiritual death that pervades our nation. The pictures below, taken on a foray from the camp into the nearby coastal town of Barmouth, illustrate my point, in fact, a picture being worth a thousand words, they are the point.

This building, once home to a large church, is now a bargain centre.

Inside, the original features of the building are still preserved, towels and T-shirts hanging from the galleries, umbrellas from the ceiling, and swimsuits beneath the pipe organ and above the pulpit.

Where the preacher used to stand and open his Bible to preach the word of God, the staff open bags into which they place merchandise.

The ground level pews are gone but the pews in the gallery apparently make for good storage space.

The church building turned into a bargain centre is a common sight...

...as are advertisements for tarot card readings and other such vain superstitions.

There was a time when you could not enter a church building because it was full and overflowing with people. Now you can't go in because the doors are locked- and remain so.

The saddest of all these spectacles is that of the small chapel sitting solitarily outside the town. The only thing that grows here now is the tree in the doorway.

These are not the only churches like this. There are hundreds more just like them, not just in Wales, but in England and Scotland and even Northern Ireland. There may be several reasons for this, but before we blame the hardened hearts, blinded eyes, deaf ears, and scoffing tongues of the unregenerate masses, and before we piously declare that it is "the Sovereignty of God" whilst we remain sitting on our backsides, we must look within, at our churches and ourselves. Some churches have descended into liberalism and have rejected the inerrancy and thus authority of God's word. But others remain firmly evangelical and reject in action the words of Paul in Romans 1 "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes..." For so long the power of the cross has been replaced by the practice of creativity, churches leaving the all-sufficient Word of God to adopt the popular methodologies of the experts. Mum's and toddlers groups, youth clubs, and the like have replaced Bible studies. The church has become little more than a social club. When the gospel sounds forth with power people will hear, they will respond, and churches will be planted and replanted. But until then, the sound of mums and toddlers singing "Humpty Dumpty" and the sound of pool balls clanking at the youth club will continue to go unheard and unheeded by the world and there will be more churches with trees growing in the doorway.

Beowulf: a Tale of Honour and Heroism, Service and Sacrifice

2008-05-27T13:02:00.000+01:00

Many are familiar with the epics of the ancient world. The Epic of Gilgamesh, The Iliad, and The Odyssey are all well known. The Epic of Gilgamesh tells the story of a king who, upon losing his best friend to an illness, flees his kingdom, fearing death and seeking a way to find immortality on Earth. He braves all in his quest but fails in the end; the only way he can live forever is in the hearts and minds of his people. In The Iliad we see Achilles, the greatest of the Greeks besieging Troy, yet refusing to fight because of a disagreement with King Agamemnon. He finally re-joins the combat, slaughtering all in his path and even felling the Trojan leader and hero, Hector. Despite such triumph he knows that he too must be killed, and soon. The Odyssey follows the siege of Troy, telling the adventures of the Greek hero Odysseus on his journey home from the war. Out of all his army, he alone survives the dangers they face and triumphs over the suitors of his wife Penelope in battle.

Well known the names of Gilgamesh, Achilles, and Odysseus may be, but there is little honour in their lives. All three are wonderful examples of selfishness. Gilgamesh is terrified of dying and so leaves his kingdom so he can look for immortality for himself. Achilles sits fuming in his tent, refusing to help his comrades as Hector and the Trojans swarm over the camp and begin to set fire to the ships. While Penelope waits patiently for her husband’s return, Odysseus is living the life of luxury with a goddess on an exotic island, having to be reminded by his men after a number of years that they should return home.

Maybe all epics are about the sinful and the selfish, or maybe not. One epic, probably less well known than those concerning Gilgamesh, Achilles, and Odysseus, is about a man who hears a call for help from abroad, and not for material gain but for honour, answers that call and succeeds in his mission. In the end he becomes king and selflessly lays down his own life to protect his people. The name of this allegorical epic takes the name of the hero: Beowulf.

In the land of Denmark, the mid-sixth century, King Hrothgar builds a great mead hall on a hill and gives it the name of Heorot. The hall is one of the greatest buildings on Earth, the perfect monument to an aging king. One morning after a night of feasting, drinking, and revelry, the people in Heorot awake to find pools of blood on the floor, pieces of flesh here and there, and thirty Danes missing. The perpetrator of this heinous deed is one Grendel, a monster from the moors. He heard music and revelry from the hall, and when all were asleep had entered it and gorged himself on whomever he could find, dragging off the bodies of the slain to his lair to feast himself on their remains. For twelve years Hrothgar bears continuations of this atrocity without acting against them. Finally, the once great hall of Heorot lies empty, no one venturing near it, for fear of death. Songs were sung near and far of the terrorization of Heorot and its lord, Hrothgar. Some went to aid the king and his crumbling kingdom, but they too were slaughtered. The people of the land turned to worshiping heathen gods, offering prayers and sacrifices so that Grendel would be slain. No change takes place. The poet points to their ignorance of the One True God and shows the wages of this ignorance but that it is in contrast “…well for him/that after death-day may draw to his Lord,/and friendship find in the Father’s arms.”

Away in Geatland, a nation of modern Sweden, is a warrior who seems to know, not just about, but personally, the true God, proclaiming many times throughout the book that he could not succeed without God’s help and guidance*. He hears of Hrothgar’s harassment, selects the finest of the Geat warriors, and sets sail for Denmark. His name is Beowulf.

He is well received by Hrothgar and the people of the land, but a small obstacle occurs when Unferth, a noble in Hrothgar’s court recognises him as being the object of defeat and humiliation in a swimming contest. Unferth believes that if he failed in a mere contest for pride, how would he fair in a more difficult fight to the death? Beowulf tells the unknown part of the story. The sea was infested with sea monsters and these were constantly trying to make Beowulf into a meal. Beowulf tells the court that he sacrificed victory in the race to kill the monsters, ending their threat to seafarers. The people once more see Beowulf as a hero and attribute Unferth’s doubt to drunkenness. He may not have been the best at swimming, but monster-slaying was his specialty.

It is good that Hrothgar and the rest of the court did not follow Unferth’s thinking. That night Grendel enters the hall. Wasting no time, he quickly kills one of the Geat warriors, glutting himself on human flesh and drinking blood in streams. Not satisfied, he reaches out for another defenceless warrior. However as he reaches out with his arm, he is the one who is grabbed- by the warrior he thought was asleep. Unfortunately for Grendel, this proves to be Beowulf. They wrestle and fight, Grendel and Beowulf both putting forth all the effort they can muster. Warriors come at Grendel with their swords, but they prove unable to pierce the skin of the monster, only weakening his concentration and energy. As Beowulf strengthens his grip on the monster, Grendel’s arm finally tears from its socket, leaving a mortal wound. Grendel runs off to his lair to die, leaving Beowulf to triumph in his victory, his service complete and his mission accomplished…Or is it?

The hall has been repaired after the struggle of the night before. The celebration of Beowulf’s victory has ended. The court has retired and Beowulf is asleep in another house, hoping to return to Geatland in the coming days. The door to the hall opens, all the warriors are asleep: no one notices the figure that walks into Heorot. The intruder is Grendel’s mother, come to avenge her son who had been killed. Making haste, she kills one of Hrothgar’s most trusted men, a noble warrior named Aeschere, dragging his body off as she leaves.

The court is in an uproar, Beowulf is sent for, not to return home so soon after all. Hrothgar, Beowulf, and a party of warriors set out to hunt down this latest threat to the peace. They follow the blood of Aeschere through a woeful woodland and finally come to a lake tinted by the colour of blood. There the Geats and Danes find the sign that they had reached the trail’s end, for on the shore lies the head of Aeschere. Beowulf arms himself, preparing to dive into the murky waters. As he is about to go, a Dane walks up and offers him his sword. It is Unferth, whose doubt has turned to faith. Beowulf speaks his parting words and then goes beneath the water, in all probability, never to return.

It is a very long time before Beowulf feels the lake’s floor. He is swiftly detected by Grendel’s mother, who tries to kill him but fails, the hero’s armour protecting him. She succeeds in dragging Beowulf down toward her lair where he is swarmed upon by sea monsters. The attempts of these reptilian beasts to kill Beowulf also fail, the fight actually working out the other way around, with Beowulf killing the monsters. His fight with the sea monsters finished, he continues his search for Grendel’s mother who had apparently left Beowulf to the sea monsters thinking that they might finish him off. Beowulf soon finds a hall protected from the water where a fire is burning. He quickly is aware of the presence of Grendel’s mother, who springs upon him as he defends himself with Hrunting, the sword of Unferth. He notices that it is not effective against the monstrous woman and discards it in disgust. He spots a great sword, forged by giants, one which few could bear, and with it strikes her so hard that it crushes her spine at the neck. The monster falls to the floor, dead; the sword of the giants melts like ice, her blood is so hot.

Beowulf picks Hrunting off of the floor and looks around the hall. He sees the body of Grendel lying on the floor, dead. He severs his head to prove once and for all that he really had killed Grendel in the mead hall. He then starts his journey to the surface of the lake.
Meanwhile, it is three o’clock in the afternoon on shore and the Danes are in doubt as to the hero’s fate. The blood of the sea monsters, Grendel’s mother, and Grendel’s now decapitated body, begins to make its way to the surface. Fearing the worst has indeed come to pass and Beowulf has been killed, the Danes leave, only Beowulf’s men remaining.

A while later, when the Danes are preparing for their evening meal, the door of Heorot is pushed open and a somewhat wet and bloodstained Beowulf enters, his men bearing the great head of Grendel behind him. The hero is justly rewarded for his services and following the night’s feasting, there is no murderous intruder. Beowulf returns home to his king, Hygelac, who is killed in battle, and Beowulf is eventually made king. All ends peacefully and everyone lives happily ever after. Right? Wrong. Beowulf does not take a Disneyan viewpoint. It is not just a tale of service but also of sacrifice.

Years later and Beowulf is now an old man but is still strong. He has established stability in Geatland; the enemies of his people will not dare attack while their king is living. All is well. Then a dragon begins to ravage the land. It is found that a slave on the run had found the creature’s lair, and had seen the vast treasure that was there. Taking a golden goblet, he returned to his master and offered him the goblet, in return for being spared and forgiven. The act of this slave stealing from the lair awoke the dragon, which sensed something missing. Unable to find the goblet, it waits till night, and then takes flight, burning the homes and villages of the Geats. His people on the run, his homeland going up in flames, Beowulf fears that he has incurred the wrath of God. Knowing that his responsibility is to save his people from this evil, he, not fearing death, gives orders for a special shield to be made. The shield will be iron because a standard one made of wood would be consumed by the dragon’s flames. At this point in the poem, it is obvious that he intends to face the dragon, even if it costs him his life.

Beowulf sets out with his warriors to fight the dragon. He leaves his men at the forest edge and goes alone into the lair. When he entered the hall at Heorot and waited for Grendel, it was feared that he would not live to exit it. When Beowulf disappeared beneath the murky waters to face Grendel’s mother, he himself doubted that he would return to the surface. Now as he faced the fiery wrath of the dragon, he does not just think or fear, but knows that this will be his final battle. In the ensuing fight to the death, Beowulf and the dragon appear to be equally matched. Then Beowulf’s sword breaks. Covering himself with his shield as flames and smoke encompass him, he waits for help. Outside, his warriors know that they should help their aged king. But bringing to memory the verse in Proverbs, Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a broken tooth and a foot out of joint, his men retreat to the woods, afraid to face the fiery dragon. One, however, does go to his king’s aid: Wiglaf, a young Geat warrior. Wiglaf and Beowulf join together to finish the dragon off, thrusting their weapons into the monster. The dragon manages to get around behind the iron shield and sinks its fangs into Beowulf’s neck. As the hero is dying, he plunges his broken sword into the monster, which falls to the ground, dead. As the king dies - Wiglaf kneeling beside him - he is triumphant, having made the ultimate sacrifice for the safety of his people. O grave, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?
On a hill in the land of the Geats, the wailing of the people is heard. The pyre is lit, flames encircling the body of the king and the treasure he has earned through his service and sacrifice. But an unseen treasure is also to be had, not one earned, but one given. Heaven was always the treasure in the mind of Beowulf according to the poet. Beowulf has now received it. His people bemoan his death and the resulting demise of his country. The Swedes are arming in the north, preparing to invade Geatland, but maybe the memory of the hero will live on, maybe Wiglaf will lead his people well as their new king, and always will the burial mound stand on that hill to show that peace in Geatland has been bought at a price.

*This is interesting because mid-sixth century Sweden was pagan. Ansgar, the so-called “Apostle of the North”, did not come until the ninth century, and even then, when he died, Christianity in Sweden fell apart. The epic itself dates from between the eighth and eleventh centuries. The likelihood is that the author of the poet was a Christian, and took poetic liberties at this point. This report follows the poet and assumes that Beowulf was a Christian. At one point, the author speaks of the Danes as worshipping God, but when trouble comes, by instinct they turn to their old gods. Beowulf communicates quite well the difficulties endured by a nation facing change. The people of Denmark struggle to turn from their pagan idols to God. The people of Geatland struggle to come to grips with the fact that Beowulf is dead and when they do, they realize the terrible things that will happen without his leadership.

The Re-writing of History Part Three: The Humorists

2006-04-07T10:53:00.000+01:00

The last kind of "historian" is the humorist. The humorists are basically people who try to make history look funny so it will be more "enjoyable" for the kids. They put a funny cover on a book and fill it with occasional bathroom humor, goofy comic strips to tell stories, catchy titles, and refer to people of great importance with informal and on the whole disrespectful names. I will use the following examples.

I. The Horrible Histories books by Terry Deary feature all of the above. Book names include The Groovy Greeks, Rotten Romans, Cut-throat Celts, Measly Middle Ages, Terrible Tudors, Gorgeous Georgians, Vile Victorians, and Blitzed Brits. Pictures of goofy looking characters with bulging eyes adorn the front. Two books show an execution about to take place, the first has the lady being executed saying "Just a little off the top" whereas the second shows an executioner saying "Time to Head off." On the book called The Slimy Stuarts, a silly looking character meant to resemble Guy Fawkes is shown about to light the fuse that will blow up Parliament. He is surrounded by guards and all he can say is "Er... Penny for the Guy?" The book about the Saxons shows two invaders bearing sacks full of treasure. Two beaten-up monks lie on the ground and one raises his head to say "Sacks on invaders." Horrible Histories France in telling about a man who was murdered, says something like "He was stabbed 80 times. He died." Below these words a man is shown pinned to the ground by plenty of swords, axes, and daggers. The man raises his head and says "No kidding."

II. The series Dead Famous is similar although probably not as popular. The opening words of the book Oliver Cromwell and His Warts speak of pigeons using his statue outside of Parliament for target practice, refer to him disrespectfully as Ollie, and on the comic strip timeline it says "Good Queen Bess (Liz I) kicks the bucket. King James the VI of Scotland adds to his crown collection." On the back the book makes it sound as if it were wrong for Cromwell to ban swearing! The series motto is "Dead Funny, Dead Gripping, Dead Famous."

All of this raises these questions:
I. What is becoming of history today?
II. Why do the cynics waist their time feeding us trash about great people?
III. Why do the revisionists dream up ideas such as Napoleon, Shakespeare, and Offa II being Muslim? Is it just because they are trying to be tolerant or is there another reason?

And from today's post:
IV. Why can history not be presented in a serious manner?
V. Is not all of the glory, the occasional gore, and the excitement of true history, good enough to be left well enough alone without the Terry Dearys of the world coming in and spoiling it with jokes and silly comics?
VI. Is today's younger generation not content with true history?
VII. Don't people think that children might enjoy true history better instead of a silly presentation of great events?
VIII. Yes, Horrible Histories can be used as a joke book, but somehow on the back of the series' covers it says that these books are in concordance with the National Curriculum. This is used in all public schools in the UK. How did such a series win such an honour ( if you can call it that)?

There are many questions and few answers. The only hope for history today is to attack the wrong methods being used and to pray that there are others out there who believe that this subject is to be presented to the glory of God.

The Re-writing of History Part Two: The Revisionists

2006-04-05T09:16:00.000+01:00

Upon looking up the word revision in the Collins Essential English Thesaurus, I found a number of words that fit these so-called "historians." The word revision means change, alteration, re-examination, and re-writing; thus my definition for the revisionists is "someone whose goal is to re-examine and then alter history by means of re-writing it. "

As I did with the cynics,I will refer to another source for more information. The Evangelicals Now! newspaper, found in the United Kingdom, is sold at Christian bookstores. The newspaper contains information about evangelicals and churches throughout the world, testimonies, book and movie reviews, and details about Christian seminaries and foundations in the UK. I found this in the Febuary 2006 issue in reference to the establishment of the Christian and Spiritual History Foundation.

We see around us the erosion of Christian values, contempt for the Christian faith, and post-colonial guilt. Christianity, Christians and the Church are widely blamed for many of the ills of the world, past and present. This analysis is promoted by both Christians and non-Christians in the West. It is also promoted in some parts of the non-Western world ( especially in the Muslim world). Deliberate efforts are being made in some quarters to re-write history so as to vilify and negate Christianity and to glorify Islam. For example, there are theories circulating that Napoleon converted to Islam, that Shakespeare followed a sect like Sufism, and that the eight-century Saxon King of Mercia, Offa II, was a Muslim."

In my veiw, these revisionists have too much time on their hands! They seem to have nothing better to do with their time but sit around speculating about great figures in history. This may sound a lot like the cynics but these people, the revisionists, are actually being positive. In their minds tolerance is the greatest virtue and thus they take a religion, choose a person, and say that person believed or followed such and such. I agree with the author G.K. Chesterton on this tolerance thing. Chesterton said,"Tolerance is the virtue of a man without conviction." This is true.

For starters Napoleon did say that he would gladly become Muslim if he could rule the country of Egypt. However, he was busy trying to take the same country with his army and was undoubtedly under great stress. He also was very prideful and most likely would not humble himself to such a position. Even then, had he converted to Islam in Egypt, he may have been recognised there but certainly not in Europe. His new-found faith in Allah would have incurred the wrath of Great Britain, his long-time rival, and he would also have been looked upon spitefully in his own country. Basic history tells us nothing about Napoleon actually converting to Islam.

Shakespeare: playwright of mystery, a man about which very little is known. Yet somehow,
someone, somewhere thinks he or she can get away with saying that Shakespeare followed Sufism! What is Sufism? Sufism, according to the Millennium Edition of Pears Cyclopaedia, is"A mystical movement within Islam...seeking to establish a more personal relationship with Allah..."

If we know so little about Shakespeare himself, including information that many see as key if they are writing a report or biography of a person, then where did someone dig up this information about Shakespeare being a follower of Sufism? Perhaps there is more from where this story came? The whole point is that there is no source where this idea can be found. Thus this story regarding the Bard is false!

Last, but not least, comes Offa, the man who built up much of what is present day England into his Mercian kingdom creating a Saxon empire. He also ordered "Offa's Dyke" to be built, a great earthwork that runs roughly along the Welsh border. The story that Offa was a Muslim derives from a coin with his name on it in the British Museum. The coin happens to have Islamic inscriptions on one side. A report that I read on the Internet entitled Did King Offa Become a Muslim? disclaims the rumour by stating:

"Copying the coins of other kingdoms is a well known practice and was done for several reasons, not necessarily forgery. For purposes of international trade, it was necessary for coins to be accepted in the country to which they were going. Copying the established currency of that country would be the logical way to ensure that coins were accepted in trade."

As it turns out Offa was the first English king to have his son annointed in a Christian ceremony as his heir; he built many churches, and made several donations to the church. Not a single mosque is recorded among the things that he built. He was definitely not Muslim.

The revisionists portray history in an inappropriate manner. But what about the last kind of historian? Find out in the next post: the Humorists.

The Re-writing of History: A Look at How History is Currently Being Presented

2006-04-01T11:15:00.000+01:00

Today history is being presented and taught to a certain extent. However, it is not being presented and taught in a proper way. Instead of “historians,” we are forced to divide people into different kinds of “historian.” I have found there are four different kinds of historian (excluding counterfactualists who portray what didn’t happen so as to throw light on what did). Before we look at these let me verify what history really is.

History, found in the dictionary, means “A branch of knowledge that records and explains past events.” However, I prefer to dissect the word and reveal the simple yet true definition. His Story. The proper definition for history is His Story. I capitalize the H in His because I am referring to God. “What does God have to do with history?” you may ask. He has everything in the world to do with it. He created the earth on which great and important events take place on. He created man- the ones who signed the Declaration of Independence in America, the ones who have fought wars ever since the beginning of time, the ones who have risked their lives to do certain things. History is the story of the world from the beginning to the end that God ordained, that He predestined before the foundation of the world. Because it is His Story, it should be perfect in the way that it is presented. I’m sorry to say that there are those who are purposefully re-writing history. Let us now look at the four different kinds of historian.

Of the four different kinds of historian, only one tries his hardest to be accurate in what he says. This is the true historian. The three remaining are presenting history in an inappropriate manner. Below are the three different kinds of “historian” and their views.

I. Cynics
The cynic finds fault with everything, that is, everything but himself and his own ideas and opinions. He finds fault with history and people that many see as heroes and heroines. It is hard to put the light on the cynical historian as well as Jeff Shaara, a novelist of historical fiction. Shaara is a New York Times best selling author and has written many books including The Glorious Cause, Gone for Soldiers, Gods and Generals, and The Last Full Measure. Gods and Generals has been made into a film while one based on The Last Full Measure is said to be in preparation. In the first book in his set about the American Revolution, Rise To Rebellion, Shaara writes in his preface about the cynics:

“It has become fashionable in our modern, more cynical time to re-examine our history, to throw a supposedly new light on those who are famous for their accomplishments, to instead expose their faults, to topple the statue of the hero, to replace the honor and respect with the sensational and the shameful, as though it were the only way these characters can be relevant to today’s world. I most adamantly disagree…”

Several years ago I was reading a book that belonged to my grandpa. Although I cannot remember the title and author, it was about some of history’s mysteries. Chapters featured subjects such as the kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh’s son, the Watergate Scandal, Pearl Harbor, and Benedict Arnold. I was reading a chapter about Davy Crockett and the Alamo. The author seemed to doubt the fact that Davy Crockett actually fought at the Battle of the Alamo but that he got scared and fled. I did not take much stock in this tale because I had read other accounts of the battle, the life of Davy Crockett, and had seen The Alamo starring John Wayne several times. I must say that the facts concerning the battle are jumbled up and different stories and myths surrounding it, such as the Yellow Rose of Texas, have little backing, but I have yet to read any other account that is just like this one.

This book also indicated that Pearl Harbor was planned so that America could have an excuse to join the Allies in WWII. Cynics also speculate on the idea that the sinking of the Lusitania, an event that would lead to America joining WWI, was part of a plot by Winston Churchill, then the First Lord of the Admiralty, to force the US out of neutrality. However, this, as all of the other stories will, proved to be wrong.

Next Post: The Revisionists