Its amazing what God can do. Hardly finished that blog on evil in our streets, when saw this one on the BBC about street pastors. Where they are street crime has dropped by up to 84%. Immanuel, 'God is with us' and we can take Him to people:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/tayside_and_central/7605938.stm
Tuesday 9 September 2008
running away from evil, or standing up to it
"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armour of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." Eph 6:10-17
Today it is reported that a group of young men, on trial for allegedly attempting to blow up aeroplanes between the UK and the USA, have not been found guilty. This, according to the BBC news website (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7605583.stm) is described as being 'astonishing.'
But, is it? Isn't this as we expect from our courts in the UK? And why is this so?
Our American cousins look on with astonishment as our courts regularly take the side of the apparent or real offender against the victims and the weak. We may ridicule the Americans for their harsh legal system. But ours has a way of coming to 'astonishing' verdicts that appear to run against natural justice and the evidence presented.
As I implied above, I am not astonished. For, when you consider the powers and authorities involved in the UK the result will often go the wrong way. For evil is evil and good is good, despite what our secularist media and elites would have us believe. If there are no powers beyond this world and this life, then everything should be simply explicable. But, that is clearly not so.
Evil clearly exists, acting in horrendous inhuman ways that do not reflect what we all believe humans should be. And this goes for probably the huge majority of Muslims in this country. To them the actions and plans of islamist young British men is utterly and unpardonably evil. And yet, this evil grows and breed and acts in our country.
For those of us who have stood face-to-face with evil, it is no surprise that this is a power that is greater than that of the unspiritual masses in our country. To a jury who have been led to believe that it is all about mental decision making, when the result would say 'guilty' they find people 'innocent' as they lack the internal power to stand against the evil which drives these evil people.
I remember being told of a church prayer meeting in St Andrews where satan himself turned up. As he came into the hall every man in the room collapsed in a heap, losing all strength and courage. The women in the room stood up and drove him from the room. You see, my friend, one group had the internal strength to stand against evil, even satan himself, and the other group did not.
When evil confronts the spiritually weak, whether by pornography, drink, temptation to steal, gambling, etc., the weak have no power to stand, for they have no reason to stand and so they fall. The secularists are right in this one way: there is no reason for them to deny themselves every avarice and pleasure at the cost of others, for they have no knowledge of how to stand up against the evil that tempts them.
So, we have an ex-bishop in Scotland who denies that our Christ exists. We have priests who bugger children. We have ministers who chant Hindu mantras. We have elders who buy lottery tickets. For they have no power inside them to do otherwise and the darkness of their minds is clouded by human reasoning rather than illuminated by The Spirit of God.
On the other hand, we all fall and we all fail. St Peter denied the Christ. St Paul killed His followers. Moses murdered in God's name. King David committed murder and adultery. Before we stand and start to say, 'I thank you, O Lord, that I am not like ...', we should look at ourselves, cast dust upon ourselves and hear what God has to say about our country:
"If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." 2 Chr 7:14.
And so, we pray,
"Hasten, O God, to save me; O LORD, come quickly to help me ... I am poor and needy; come quickly to me, O God. You are my help and my deliverer; O LORD, do not delay." Ps 70:1,6.
Knowing that,
"The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not overcome it" (John 1:5)
There is darkness, there is evil, but, thanks be to God, there is a Redeemer and we know that He will stand in the last days upon this Earth, and we will see Him while we are still flesh and blood.
"Sing to the LORD, you saints of his; praise his holy name." (Ps 30:4)
Today it is reported that a group of young men, on trial for allegedly attempting to blow up aeroplanes between the UK and the USA, have not been found guilty. This, according to the BBC news website (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7605583.stm) is described as being 'astonishing.'
But, is it? Isn't this as we expect from our courts in the UK? And why is this so?
Our American cousins look on with astonishment as our courts regularly take the side of the apparent or real offender against the victims and the weak. We may ridicule the Americans for their harsh legal system. But ours has a way of coming to 'astonishing' verdicts that appear to run against natural justice and the evidence presented.
As I implied above, I am not astonished. For, when you consider the powers and authorities involved in the UK the result will often go the wrong way. For evil is evil and good is good, despite what our secularist media and elites would have us believe. If there are no powers beyond this world and this life, then everything should be simply explicable. But, that is clearly not so.
Evil clearly exists, acting in horrendous inhuman ways that do not reflect what we all believe humans should be. And this goes for probably the huge majority of Muslims in this country. To them the actions and plans of islamist young British men is utterly and unpardonably evil. And yet, this evil grows and breed and acts in our country.
For those of us who have stood face-to-face with evil, it is no surprise that this is a power that is greater than that of the unspiritual masses in our country. To a jury who have been led to believe that it is all about mental decision making, when the result would say 'guilty' they find people 'innocent' as they lack the internal power to stand against the evil which drives these evil people.
I remember being told of a church prayer meeting in St Andrews where satan himself turned up. As he came into the hall every man in the room collapsed in a heap, losing all strength and courage. The women in the room stood up and drove him from the room. You see, my friend, one group had the internal strength to stand against evil, even satan himself, and the other group did not.
When evil confronts the spiritually weak, whether by pornography, drink, temptation to steal, gambling, etc., the weak have no power to stand, for they have no reason to stand and so they fall. The secularists are right in this one way: there is no reason for them to deny themselves every avarice and pleasure at the cost of others, for they have no knowledge of how to stand up against the evil that tempts them.
So, we have an ex-bishop in Scotland who denies that our Christ exists. We have priests who bugger children. We have ministers who chant Hindu mantras. We have elders who buy lottery tickets. For they have no power inside them to do otherwise and the darkness of their minds is clouded by human reasoning rather than illuminated by The Spirit of God.
On the other hand, we all fall and we all fail. St Peter denied the Christ. St Paul killed His followers. Moses murdered in God's name. King David committed murder and adultery. Before we stand and start to say, 'I thank you, O Lord, that I am not like ...', we should look at ourselves, cast dust upon ourselves and hear what God has to say about our country:
"If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." 2 Chr 7:14.
And so, we pray,
"Hasten, O God, to save me; O LORD, come quickly to help me ... I am poor and needy; come quickly to me, O God. You are my help and my deliverer; O LORD, do not delay." Ps 70:1,6.
Knowing that,
"The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not overcome it" (John 1:5)
There is darkness, there is evil, but, thanks be to God, there is a Redeemer and we know that He will stand in the last days upon this Earth, and we will see Him while we are still flesh and blood.
"Sing to the LORD, you saints of his; praise his holy name." (Ps 30:4)
Saturday 6 September 2008
on Mr Webb, the Bible and sodomy
"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your body." (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) I thought I'd state this first.
Harry Webb (Sir Cliff Richard), a leading figure in British evangelical Christian circles, has been reported as saying the Church should bless same-sex relationships, and that they are as valid as the Biblical example of one man - one wife, for life. It saddens me to see a man who was once such an example of the Christian faith reduced to such human words and thoughts. "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," declares the LORD. (Isaiah 55:8.)
There is little point in going over the well-worn ground of how the Word of God clearly puts sodomites outwith God's Kingdom. It is there, clearly and unambiguously. Well, it is, if you accept God's Word as his clear, unambiguous and unalterable stance. "Every word of God is flawless ... Do not add to his words, or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar." (Proverbs 30:5-6).
The only way a Christian can end up in a position that is not in accord with God's Word, is to have an attitude of pride, that the man knows better than God, that God did not see what the man sees, that God did not understand what the man understands, that if only God was as compassionate as the man then God would have written things differently, that God doesn't understand me and the things I am going through.
Of course, this is nonsense. "The LORD knows the thoughts of man; he knows that they are futile." (Psalm 94:11)
Our example is Christ in Luke 22:42: "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done." As The Word of God also says in Romans 13:14: "Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.".
You see, my friend, as a person you and my desires are wrong. What we wish in our humanity is wrong: wealth, pleasure, importance, property, respect, etc. This was not the way of Christ, "Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be held onto, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a slave, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!" (Phil 2:6-8).
It is clear that Christ's willingness to obey His Father was such that he turned away from all the vanities of this world and took all the hatred it could put upon him. No big house, big name, bosom buddies, wealth and the way of pleasure for the man who is willing to humble himself, follow Christ's example and stick to God's prescribed Way.
If you are tempted by sins - sexual, habitual, harmful - then Christ is the example to follow. " In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering." (Hebrews 2:10).
Mr Webb should learn, as we should all learn, that it is in suffering, not in carnal enjoyment, that the way to perfect salvation lies.
The second last word goes to St Paul, "Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders" (1 Corinthians 6:9).
The fact is that there are those who the British state calls 'Sir' who would disagree with The Word of God, and poo-poo what Jesus did for us. It was ever thus. The last word must go to The LORD Jesus Christ, "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it." (Matthew 7:13)
Be one of the few. Not one of the many,
Harry Webb (Sir Cliff Richard), a leading figure in British evangelical Christian circles, has been reported as saying the Church should bless same-sex relationships, and that they are as valid as the Biblical example of one man - one wife, for life. It saddens me to see a man who was once such an example of the Christian faith reduced to such human words and thoughts. "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," declares the LORD. (Isaiah 55:8.)
There is little point in going over the well-worn ground of how the Word of God clearly puts sodomites outwith God's Kingdom. It is there, clearly and unambiguously. Well, it is, if you accept God's Word as his clear, unambiguous and unalterable stance. "Every word of God is flawless ... Do not add to his words, or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar." (Proverbs 30:5-6).
The only way a Christian can end up in a position that is not in accord with God's Word, is to have an attitude of pride, that the man knows better than God, that God did not see what the man sees, that God did not understand what the man understands, that if only God was as compassionate as the man then God would have written things differently, that God doesn't understand me and the things I am going through.
Of course, this is nonsense. "The LORD knows the thoughts of man; he knows that they are futile." (Psalm 94:11)
Our example is Christ in Luke 22:42: "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done." As The Word of God also says in Romans 13:14: "Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.".
You see, my friend, as a person you and my desires are wrong. What we wish in our humanity is wrong: wealth, pleasure, importance, property, respect, etc. This was not the way of Christ, "Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be held onto, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a slave, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!" (Phil 2:6-8).
It is clear that Christ's willingness to obey His Father was such that he turned away from all the vanities of this world and took all the hatred it could put upon him. No big house, big name, bosom buddies, wealth and the way of pleasure for the man who is willing to humble himself, follow Christ's example and stick to God's prescribed Way.
If you are tempted by sins - sexual, habitual, harmful - then Christ is the example to follow. " In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering." (Hebrews 2:10).
Mr Webb should learn, as we should all learn, that it is in suffering, not in carnal enjoyment, that the way to perfect salvation lies.
The second last word goes to St Paul, "Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders" (1 Corinthians 6:9).
The fact is that there are those who the British state calls 'Sir' who would disagree with The Word of God, and poo-poo what Jesus did for us. It was ever thus. The last word must go to The LORD Jesus Christ, "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it." (Matthew 7:13)
Be one of the few. Not one of the many,
Thursday 4 September 2008
On finding faith as Christian
Moving from atheism to Christianity is rarely a single step. It wasn't for me. I had to lose my small world view, delimited by the horizons of my understandings and perceptions, and open out to a world much bigger, richer and more varied than that of an atheist. It all reminds me of Marvin the Paranoid Android in The Hitch Hiker's Guide to The Galaxy. He tells Arthur Dent he can read his mind, 'It amazes me how you can live in anything so small.' It is amazing, and unnecessary, that an atheist can live in such a small world.
Of course, it does involve endlessly shutting windows, curtains and doors, in case new thoughts slip in and disturb the sanctity of the empty mind. I've said it before, but just why someone should believe that their perceptions and their cogitations are everything that happens, is beyond me. Its unprovable. I just can't think that small any more.
Several months went by between losing my atheist faith to finding God in Christ. It was not a journey I wanted to set out on, and it was certainly not the destination I was going towards willingly. But, it was a journey. To mix in more metaphors, being an atheist was like being in the Truman Show. once you know the show is a tiny show and its a fake, you just want to get out and get on. But, where is out and what is on?
Out there there are a lot of people trying to make sense of the real, big world beyond the tiny confines of atheism. But, who is pointing the right way and what are they on? There is no way anyone can logically sit down and demolish or absolutely compare any two religions, even new ones. After all, all our religions are pre-history, but they aren't prehistoric.
I once asked a pagan student how he defined paganism and lived as a pagan when paganism was banished from the UK centuries ago. He said, its difficult, but I try. At least the Scottish Catholic can go to the Isle of Barra and see a fragmentary community that traces its lineage right to St Barr in the 500's.
I see no way that anyone can say one religion is better than another, for to do so is to diminish and reduce it to rationalism, which is a useful technique, but insufficient to explain people's credos and ontologies. But, having leapt away from atheism, at least I was no longer angered and driven to hatred of all religious people. That was a great relief. I wonder if other uber-atheists can ever become calm people when put face to face with someone who disagrees with them.
Every religion claims to be unique and different. This is, of course, true. Every religion can appear attractive on the surface. Every religion attracts converts, and loses adherents too. As does atheism, our state religion in the UK.
The question is partly what attracted me to Christianity over all the others I considered in those months: Islam, Hunduism, paganism and no doubt others I have forgotten about. There was, what I can only explain as a lightness and freedom in Christianity that I did not find elsewhere. I felt Hinduism was confusing. Judaism was small and restricting. Islam was mediaeval and rule-based. Paganism was dark and weird.
I could do without confusion, restrictions, rules and weirdness. What I wanted was a solid place to stand. To find somewhere where I would feel the safety that atheism had once given me. Something that felt sound, intellectually, but was not restricted by narrow 19th century European rationalist thinking.
But, this makes it sound like a rational decision. It was that, but not only that. The loss of atheism had removed this barrier. I could now embrace how I felt, perceived and responded to the call of God. This is the completeness which religion brings over atheism. Atheism is a 2D world - at best - delimited by objective thought and comprehension. Religion is that, plus it is the rest of our being too. Where atheism is body and mind, religion is body, mind, spirit and soul. Religion appeals to the entire man, not just his reasoning.
For if life is just reasoning, what of those with dementia, mental illness and born retarded. Are they unfit to live as they cannot truly perceive things as they are. If these people slip into religiosity, are they lesser beings to be persecuted, tortured and killed. And, if sane people become religious, are they necessarily now insane and unfit for office in state, university or schools? Many uber-atheists would say: yes.
No. When you embrace religiosity as attempts to understand yourself with respect to the universal and the eternal, you are seeking to make sense of the entirety of your existence and being. To do less is to want to only read comic books, listen to Radio 1 and surf the Internet when there is a vast heritage of novels, music and experiences to be had away from your bedroom.
I cannot persuade anyone to give their life to following The LORD Jesus Christ, the carpenter from Nazareth, who preached for just three years, who made such astounding claims, who was tortured to death, and who is recorded in Roman and Jewish chronicles as having risen from the death, and whose followers were all willing (as many still are) to die for him (not to be confused with 'to kill for him').
But I would wish to persuade atheists to lift their eyes from their Dawkins tomes and see the world is greater than this short-lived man perceives it to be. His every book is the same: welcome to my world, come in, mind your head, find a space, sorry the room is so small, sit down and listen to me, the guru, talk about how I am right and everyone else out there is wrong.
You see, Dawkins is a bubble. He will go pop. He will die. He will be gone. And when he does go, in the words of Mr Potato Head in Toy Story: move along, citizens, nothing to see here, nothing to see. On that, Mr Dawkins, we are all agreed.
Are you really going to put your faith in a man whose gospel is, 'there is nothing else other than you and when you are dead that is it' over a man who said 'in my Father's house there are many rooms, if it were not so I would have told you so, and I go now to prepare a place for you.' I have my place, you, potentially have yours. But you need to join me on my journey to meet The Christ who has the keys to your room.
Of course, it does involve endlessly shutting windows, curtains and doors, in case new thoughts slip in and disturb the sanctity of the empty mind. I've said it before, but just why someone should believe that their perceptions and their cogitations are everything that happens, is beyond me. Its unprovable. I just can't think that small any more.
Several months went by between losing my atheist faith to finding God in Christ. It was not a journey I wanted to set out on, and it was certainly not the destination I was going towards willingly. But, it was a journey. To mix in more metaphors, being an atheist was like being in the Truman Show. once you know the show is a tiny show and its a fake, you just want to get out and get on. But, where is out and what is on?
Out there there are a lot of people trying to make sense of the real, big world beyond the tiny confines of atheism. But, who is pointing the right way and what are they on? There is no way anyone can logically sit down and demolish or absolutely compare any two religions, even new ones. After all, all our religions are pre-history, but they aren't prehistoric.
I once asked a pagan student how he defined paganism and lived as a pagan when paganism was banished from the UK centuries ago. He said, its difficult, but I try. At least the Scottish Catholic can go to the Isle of Barra and see a fragmentary community that traces its lineage right to St Barr in the 500's.
I see no way that anyone can say one religion is better than another, for to do so is to diminish and reduce it to rationalism, which is a useful technique, but insufficient to explain people's credos and ontologies. But, having leapt away from atheism, at least I was no longer angered and driven to hatred of all religious people. That was a great relief. I wonder if other uber-atheists can ever become calm people when put face to face with someone who disagrees with them.
Every religion claims to be unique and different. This is, of course, true. Every religion can appear attractive on the surface. Every religion attracts converts, and loses adherents too. As does atheism, our state religion in the UK.
The question is partly what attracted me to Christianity over all the others I considered in those months: Islam, Hunduism, paganism and no doubt others I have forgotten about. There was, what I can only explain as a lightness and freedom in Christianity that I did not find elsewhere. I felt Hinduism was confusing. Judaism was small and restricting. Islam was mediaeval and rule-based. Paganism was dark and weird.
I could do without confusion, restrictions, rules and weirdness. What I wanted was a solid place to stand. To find somewhere where I would feel the safety that atheism had once given me. Something that felt sound, intellectually, but was not restricted by narrow 19th century European rationalist thinking.
But, this makes it sound like a rational decision. It was that, but not only that. The loss of atheism had removed this barrier. I could now embrace how I felt, perceived and responded to the call of God. This is the completeness which religion brings over atheism. Atheism is a 2D world - at best - delimited by objective thought and comprehension. Religion is that, plus it is the rest of our being too. Where atheism is body and mind, religion is body, mind, spirit and soul. Religion appeals to the entire man, not just his reasoning.
For if life is just reasoning, what of those with dementia, mental illness and born retarded. Are they unfit to live as they cannot truly perceive things as they are. If these people slip into religiosity, are they lesser beings to be persecuted, tortured and killed. And, if sane people become religious, are they necessarily now insane and unfit for office in state, university or schools? Many uber-atheists would say: yes.
No. When you embrace religiosity as attempts to understand yourself with respect to the universal and the eternal, you are seeking to make sense of the entirety of your existence and being. To do less is to want to only read comic books, listen to Radio 1 and surf the Internet when there is a vast heritage of novels, music and experiences to be had away from your bedroom.
I cannot persuade anyone to give their life to following The LORD Jesus Christ, the carpenter from Nazareth, who preached for just three years, who made such astounding claims, who was tortured to death, and who is recorded in Roman and Jewish chronicles as having risen from the death, and whose followers were all willing (as many still are) to die for him (not to be confused with 'to kill for him').
But I would wish to persuade atheists to lift their eyes from their Dawkins tomes and see the world is greater than this short-lived man perceives it to be. His every book is the same: welcome to my world, come in, mind your head, find a space, sorry the room is so small, sit down and listen to me, the guru, talk about how I am right and everyone else out there is wrong.
You see, Dawkins is a bubble. He will go pop. He will die. He will be gone. And when he does go, in the words of Mr Potato Head in Toy Story: move along, citizens, nothing to see here, nothing to see. On that, Mr Dawkins, we are all agreed.
Are you really going to put your faith in a man whose gospel is, 'there is nothing else other than you and when you are dead that is it' over a man who said 'in my Father's house there are many rooms, if it were not so I would have told you so, and I go now to prepare a place for you.' I have my place, you, potentially have yours. But you need to join me on my journey to meet The Christ who has the keys to your room.
The lost faith of an atheist
I was an atheist, brought up in a family of atheists, a pure/natural scientist through and through. Then I stopped being an atheist and became a Christian. This is not that unusual a trip, but it one that continues to baffle atheists. How can you move from no-belief to belief?
Firstly, scientists are facts-based people so: (i) I used to be an atheist and now I am a Christian. Fact. You can discuss as you will the change, its reasons, etc., but not the fact of the change. You can also sling mud at me, but saying I am plain daft won't stick. I've got too many science degrees for those to stick.
Why did I stop being an atheist? Like every Christian I have a tale to tell. My one is not so unusual, but its in the underlying structure of the tale that the person of John-the-was-atheist and God-in-Jesus begin to appear more clearly. So, what is this tale?
Back in the 80's I was a highly sucessful IT consultant based in London, earning more than I could spend. Happy in my non-belief (though that is not a term I'd have recognised then.) Life was going forward in a yuppie-ish Thatcher's-in government sort of way. I was a great coder and enjoying it. Bacon rolls, kit-kat bars, beer, burgers and fries were my life. And my waistband was beginning to go through that early male phase of expansion I've been fighting ever since.
I was sitting eating in my hotel room one night when a bombshell hit me. It was what Thomas Kuhn would call a paradigm collapse. The thought was: I am not in control of my life. You see, the next stage was wife down here with me, with two babies, kids to posh school, divorce, old age, etc. This was the drift of life for so many of my contemporaries in London consultancy. It was as if London was a non-real parallel world that was OK until that Matrix moment. (But this was way, way before that movie came out. OK?!)
On that hotel bed I was dumfounded. If I was not in charge of my life, then, who, or what, was. I had a foreboding that all was not as neat, clean and easy as my atheism stated. There were forces over and above me and my computer programs. Forces that pushed me along in a sociological kind of way, but also in a harmful and personal kind of way. I hit a wall and was off the boat and into the water.
You see, atheism has no answers to anything. It is a faith that revolves around denying the existence of questions. If the question is allowed to be asked, then atheism can only survive as long as eyes are shut, fingers are in ears and you are lah-lah-ing along. Stop, squint, pull a finger out, and suddenly there is more to the world than a simplistic atheist belief would allow for.
When asked the question: is there more than this? Atheism says 'no'. Ask atheism why and it has no answer. You see, to be an atheist is to disengage from human debate and to deny the biggest questions in life, the universe and everything. To put forward notions that are so simplistic as to be, well, plain stupid at times. To deny the entire history of mankind and the bases of social and national structures across the world since the year dot.
Once the atheist asks, truly, 'Is there a God?' his belief system is in collapse. For, if he were to allow that the default answer is not a 100% definitive 'No', then he is no longer an atheist. The only way to remain the atheist, from my readings on atheist thinking, is to decide that every smarter person who lives or has ever lived, and that, for the record includes a certain Charles Darwin, is clearly deluded, stupid or mad. Which is clearly not provable. It is a statement of faith.
Once my atheism wobbled, and I allowed the brain to engage with the bigger questions, atheism was gone. Its a bit like a wee boy who believes girls are smelly and you get warts from touching them, being kissed for the first time in a playground game around 14 years old. The world rocks and reels. What is thing 'a girl?' He cannot hold onto his girls-are-horrible stance. Because girls taste so much better than no-girls ...
As God says, come and taste that The LORD is good. If you are denying yourself God, you are denying the most taste-bud tingling experience in your whole world ever ever. Come out of the shadows of atheism and explore the meaning of life beyond little you.
Firstly, scientists are facts-based people so: (i) I used to be an atheist and now I am a Christian. Fact. You can discuss as you will the change, its reasons, etc., but not the fact of the change. You can also sling mud at me, but saying I am plain daft won't stick. I've got too many science degrees for those to stick.
Why did I stop being an atheist? Like every Christian I have a tale to tell. My one is not so unusual, but its in the underlying structure of the tale that the person of John-the-was-atheist and God-in-Jesus begin to appear more clearly. So, what is this tale?
Back in the 80's I was a highly sucessful IT consultant based in London, earning more than I could spend. Happy in my non-belief (though that is not a term I'd have recognised then.) Life was going forward in a yuppie-ish Thatcher's-in government sort of way. I was a great coder and enjoying it. Bacon rolls, kit-kat bars, beer, burgers and fries were my life. And my waistband was beginning to go through that early male phase of expansion I've been fighting ever since.
I was sitting eating in my hotel room one night when a bombshell hit me. It was what Thomas Kuhn would call a paradigm collapse. The thought was: I am not in control of my life. You see, the next stage was wife down here with me, with two babies, kids to posh school, divorce, old age, etc. This was the drift of life for so many of my contemporaries in London consultancy. It was as if London was a non-real parallel world that was OK until that Matrix moment. (But this was way, way before that movie came out. OK?!)
On that hotel bed I was dumfounded. If I was not in charge of my life, then, who, or what, was. I had a foreboding that all was not as neat, clean and easy as my atheism stated. There were forces over and above me and my computer programs. Forces that pushed me along in a sociological kind of way, but also in a harmful and personal kind of way. I hit a wall and was off the boat and into the water.
You see, atheism has no answers to anything. It is a faith that revolves around denying the existence of questions. If the question is allowed to be asked, then atheism can only survive as long as eyes are shut, fingers are in ears and you are lah-lah-ing along. Stop, squint, pull a finger out, and suddenly there is more to the world than a simplistic atheist belief would allow for.
When asked the question: is there more than this? Atheism says 'no'. Ask atheism why and it has no answer. You see, to be an atheist is to disengage from human debate and to deny the biggest questions in life, the universe and everything. To put forward notions that are so simplistic as to be, well, plain stupid at times. To deny the entire history of mankind and the bases of social and national structures across the world since the year dot.
Once the atheist asks, truly, 'Is there a God?' his belief system is in collapse. For, if he were to allow that the default answer is not a 100% definitive 'No', then he is no longer an atheist. The only way to remain the atheist, from my readings on atheist thinking, is to decide that every smarter person who lives or has ever lived, and that, for the record includes a certain Charles Darwin, is clearly deluded, stupid or mad. Which is clearly not provable. It is a statement of faith.
Once my atheism wobbled, and I allowed the brain to engage with the bigger questions, atheism was gone. Its a bit like a wee boy who believes girls are smelly and you get warts from touching them, being kissed for the first time in a playground game around 14 years old. The world rocks and reels. What is thing 'a girl?' He cannot hold onto his girls-are-horrible stance. Because girls taste so much better than no-girls ...
As God says, come and taste that The LORD is good. If you are denying yourself God, you are denying the most taste-bud tingling experience in your whole world ever ever. Come out of the shadows of atheism and explore the meaning of life beyond little you.
On demons
In talking of demons, the fallen angels who rose up against Almighty God, it is too easy to be seen to admire them, as John Milton's Paradise Lost does. let's make something utterly clear, and from my own experiences, there is absolutely and utterly nothing to be admired about demons. They stink, they are deformed, they are utterly terrified of one small saint of God. The entire coterie of satan flees before a single small bent-over saintly Mother Theresa. She had more power in her tired old body until the moment she was taken home, than the entire fallen kingdom of hell.
I speak from experience, not from bookish theology. Demons run from saints and fear us. But - and this is an important if - only if we are standing in God's power and washed pure in the blood of the Lamb, The LORD Jesus Christ.
The first thing to note is they run from us and hide from us. I was walking past a shop in Dundee and my flesh rose in a flame of righteous anger. I knew there was a demon in the store beside me. I stepped in, and found myself quietly and determinedly seeking it out. It hid everywhere it could. It feared being seen by me, one small saint of God.
At another time, during a meeting I found myself filled with the same fire and sitting very, very quietly. I looked around the room, again slowly and deliberately and then saw it. It was sitting so close behind a man it was almost - but not - in him. It was the little beady red eyes I saw. And it saw me staring at it. Our eyes locked and I was all aflame with the same power that the angels that visit me have. Then something bounced off my chest. I felt a blow and it fled. I was uninjured, but it was - I know - utterly and completely terrified of my presence and of the great power of God that was glowing within me.
On another occasion people were complaining of a terrible smell in an upper room. It was like dog shite and as if a corpse was stuck below the floor boards. Sometimes it was strong, at other times it was absent. It was a terrible, foul smell indeed. I was downstairs in the loo and saw it. The demon had squeezed itself into a very small cupboard immediately below the floor above. It had done this in terror as the power of God was there with me. I used the words of Jesus and bound it (Matt 16:18) using words The LORD had recently led me to believe were for me and for my ministry.
The poor beast - yes, I felt some pity - was stuck there for months before The LORD arranged for its removal. On another occasion I was in conversation with a friend, in my living room, and he said, 'Look over there'. Beside the curtain was a red-eyed demon. It was standing transfixed by our stares, utterly terrified and trembling. The LORD told me this thing was a spy sent by the enemy to find out what we were saying.
Remember this: satan is only a created being. He is not omnipresent or omniscient. He only knows what we say and do as is reported to him. He is not God. He is not a god.
Anyhoo, I went over to this being, stood almost nose-to-nose with it, and bound it. It stood in the corner of my dining room for months before The LORD arranged for its removal. I again felt a tiny bit of pity, but that was all.
The biggest demonic encounter I had was with a friend. We were in charge of the renovation of a remarkably falling-down house. It was only 50 years old, but everything was falling apart: windows, floors, woodwork, etc. What was the problem? My friend, another Christian, said the house made him feel very cold. It was a remarkably damp and cold house.
We were standing outside one day, and opened the door. We found ourselves doing this with great care and precision. He went to step in and I put my arm in front of him. We both began to pray out loud, myself in English and my friend in a tongue of The Spirit. As we did so, demons rushed past us out of the house. They were running in a terrified melee, even bumping into and brushing us as they fled.
At last there was only one left, and he was one, I knew in my spirit, of the enemy's generals. For this was a Christian minister's house, and several ministers work had come to grief here in recent years. I saw him as the blackest blackness in a spare room at the back of the house. I prayed over it for some time, binding it in Christ's name.
The binding isolated it to that room. On subsequent visits I could move around the room. It moved away from me, enraged, a powerful general of the enemy of God, trapped and imprisoned by a simple saint of God. I eventually asked God what would happen to it and he said, 'I will take it away.' And He did.
My friend and I, on another occasion were talking and he said, 'There was a spirit of anger here.' He said he felt anger and violence. Later, we found in the garage a punch-ball and boxing gloves. Strange things for a pastor to have. In The Spirit we knew that a pastor here had been a man of violence. It was this weakness that had invited the demons in. And they came. And they came. Until the family and the house rotted and fell apart.
Demons and the enemy are corrupt. Everything they touch corrupts: families, lives, governments, etc. But, they are as nothing before one drop of the redeeming blood of the LORD Jesus Christ. Just one silly saint of God can turn aside an army of demons. More than that, they flee from us.
But, here's the rub, without the redemption of Christ there is only corruption, illness and death. As we stand with God, purified by Christ every day and hour, using the gifts he gives us in the spiritual realms (Eph 1:3), we will overcome the enemy and he will run from us.
But, it's a battle. Which side are you on: redemption or corruption.
I speak from experience, not from bookish theology. Demons run from saints and fear us. But - and this is an important if - only if we are standing in God's power and washed pure in the blood of the Lamb, The LORD Jesus Christ.
The first thing to note is they run from us and hide from us. I was walking past a shop in Dundee and my flesh rose in a flame of righteous anger. I knew there was a demon in the store beside me. I stepped in, and found myself quietly and determinedly seeking it out. It hid everywhere it could. It feared being seen by me, one small saint of God.
At another time, during a meeting I found myself filled with the same fire and sitting very, very quietly. I looked around the room, again slowly and deliberately and then saw it. It was sitting so close behind a man it was almost - but not - in him. It was the little beady red eyes I saw. And it saw me staring at it. Our eyes locked and I was all aflame with the same power that the angels that visit me have. Then something bounced off my chest. I felt a blow and it fled. I was uninjured, but it was - I know - utterly and completely terrified of my presence and of the great power of God that was glowing within me.
On another occasion people were complaining of a terrible smell in an upper room. It was like dog shite and as if a corpse was stuck below the floor boards. Sometimes it was strong, at other times it was absent. It was a terrible, foul smell indeed. I was downstairs in the loo and saw it. The demon had squeezed itself into a very small cupboard immediately below the floor above. It had done this in terror as the power of God was there with me. I used the words of Jesus and bound it (Matt 16:18) using words The LORD had recently led me to believe were for me and for my ministry.
The poor beast - yes, I felt some pity - was stuck there for months before The LORD arranged for its removal. On another occasion I was in conversation with a friend, in my living room, and he said, 'Look over there'. Beside the curtain was a red-eyed demon. It was standing transfixed by our stares, utterly terrified and trembling. The LORD told me this thing was a spy sent by the enemy to find out what we were saying.
Remember this: satan is only a created being. He is not omnipresent or omniscient. He only knows what we say and do as is reported to him. He is not God. He is not a god.
Anyhoo, I went over to this being, stood almost nose-to-nose with it, and bound it. It stood in the corner of my dining room for months before The LORD arranged for its removal. I again felt a tiny bit of pity, but that was all.
The biggest demonic encounter I had was with a friend. We were in charge of the renovation of a remarkably falling-down house. It was only 50 years old, but everything was falling apart: windows, floors, woodwork, etc. What was the problem? My friend, another Christian, said the house made him feel very cold. It was a remarkably damp and cold house.
We were standing outside one day, and opened the door. We found ourselves doing this with great care and precision. He went to step in and I put my arm in front of him. We both began to pray out loud, myself in English and my friend in a tongue of The Spirit. As we did so, demons rushed past us out of the house. They were running in a terrified melee, even bumping into and brushing us as they fled.
At last there was only one left, and he was one, I knew in my spirit, of the enemy's generals. For this was a Christian minister's house, and several ministers work had come to grief here in recent years. I saw him as the blackest blackness in a spare room at the back of the house. I prayed over it for some time, binding it in Christ's name.
The binding isolated it to that room. On subsequent visits I could move around the room. It moved away from me, enraged, a powerful general of the enemy of God, trapped and imprisoned by a simple saint of God. I eventually asked God what would happen to it and he said, 'I will take it away.' And He did.
My friend and I, on another occasion were talking and he said, 'There was a spirit of anger here.' He said he felt anger and violence. Later, we found in the garage a punch-ball and boxing gloves. Strange things for a pastor to have. In The Spirit we knew that a pastor here had been a man of violence. It was this weakness that had invited the demons in. And they came. And they came. Until the family and the house rotted and fell apart.
Demons and the enemy are corrupt. Everything they touch corrupts: families, lives, governments, etc. But, they are as nothing before one drop of the redeeming blood of the LORD Jesus Christ. Just one silly saint of God can turn aside an army of demons. More than that, they flee from us.
But, here's the rub, without the redemption of Christ there is only corruption, illness and death. As we stand with God, purified by Christ every day and hour, using the gifts he gives us in the spiritual realms (Eph 1:3), we will overcome the enemy and he will run from us.
But, it's a battle. Which side are you on: redemption or corruption.
On angels
Its a strange gift, perceiving angels. I gave a talk at St Andrews Baptist Church last year on my encounters with angels. One church member was disappointed that I could not give a clear visual description of God's holy army. We live in such a seen-it-believe-it society that so much of our created humanity is discarded by dawkins-esque reductionism.
I've taken him apart elsewhere, so let's not dig up his corpse to beat and hang him again. However, the echo of his rationalism is in danger of squeezing us into the world's mould (Romans 12:12). Step into God's reality; it is bigger and better than ours here and now.
A few years back, a friend invited me to spend the night at his house. He had, he said, an angel who came every dusk and stayed till dawn. This visitor had done this for years now. I wasn't sceptical, just curious, as I'd never seen an angel, so agreed to stay the evening and night chez him.
We had a pleasant meal in his Edinburgh Regency house. Followed by a particularly pleasant malt whisky. Suddenly, it's the only word, this being stepped from behind a curtain, well a curtain between our reality and God's, a stood himself at my left side, about a foot away.
I was rigid with shock. The glow of power from the angel was like standing next to a street electricity transformer. 'Do you see him?', my friend asked. 'Yes', was all I could reply, timidly. I sat rigid for several minutes, not even willing to look sideways. My friend, being more used to the presence, chuntered on, while I sat, whisky glass in hand, unable to move.
As the evening wore on, the angel moved across the room and took up position beside the curtains. I could only say I followed him with my eyes, but did not see anything in the electro-magnetic spectrum. However, occasionally his garment would move, and I did see this as a flash of almost white silk.
'I used to have a dog', my friend continued, 'he could see the angel.' Since then I've noticed that my cat sees where the angels are standing. Ever seen a cat pull its head up and stare into space - well, my experience is that he is watching something, but you can't see it.
Eventually, we went upstairs for the night. I got the spare room and slept well. Then I awoke in the middle of the night to find the angel in my room, looking intently at me. It was literally hair-raising. The power of this mighty being was making my every nerve tingle. He then went away and I could sleep again.
In the morning my friend said, 'That was strange last night. The angel is always there in the room. He never goes away. But, last night I got up to go to the loo, and he wasn't there.' I knew why and said, 'He came to my room.'
Since then I've had a whole lot more encounters with God's angels. They are sent from God, with a purpose, and are totally obedient to him, unlike their demonic fallen former brothers (I'll say more on them and my encounters with these at a later stage.) They step out of heaven, from the courts of Almighty God, sometimes directly from His presence, by His command, from behind the curtain which seperates us as the one in the ancient Temple did, and stand before us.
In my previous house I had an angel who stood at the top of the stairs. He allowed me, a couple of times, to put my hand out and touch him. It was an amazing experience of power and light. Everything glowed, vibrated and tingled in an astonishing way. He was huge, and he was there to guard my upstairs as my family slept. But, he did not like me doing this to him.
I once wandered off with my son to talk of things of God and a huge angel, an arch-angel I still believe, stood immediately behind us and dogged our steps so closely he was almost touching us. There was an explosion on the beach that night as we walked past. I ducked as I knew this was a spiritual attack, not least by the cackling that followed it, and was glad the angel was there. When we stopped at a bench for a chat, the angel went and stood in front of us, about 6ft away, and faced us, back to the beach. When we walked home he again dogged behind us, and disappeared when we arrived home.
More mundanely, I too have an angel who stands in my bedroom at night. He has to find a place to stand as the room is, well, a bit of a mess. He has tried beside the window, but gets in the road of my wife when she goes loo-hunting at night. He has tried standing near my stuff in the corner of the room, but keeps having to move as its near the door. Just the once I saw him move as my wife got out of bed. He moved in a flash from the door to the wardrobes. His speed of movement was almost instantaneous, but it did take place in real-time.
I had a bad day recently, sin had got the better of me and I'd forgotten to say sorry to God. During the night I awoke to find the angel closing in, then standing directly over me, his face about 18 inches from mine. They seem to have a 'power' button they can turn up and down. He was on 'high' and I was terrified. The fear of The LORD is the beginning of all wisdom indeed.
I pleaded with him to back off and then spent some time bringing my sins before The LORD Jesus Christ for his cleansing and forgiveness. The angel was still there last night, but on 'low', in front of the wardrobe as usual.
One thing you would not know without meeting God's angels, is that they are different from each other. I have encountered big ones, small ones, and wiry-powerful ones. Each one of them is different.
If you are a Christian, the best news is: they are on our side! If you are not, the bad news is: they are not on your side. Come over to God's side and gain some powerful companions.
I've taken him apart elsewhere, so let's not dig up his corpse to beat and hang him again. However, the echo of his rationalism is in danger of squeezing us into the world's mould (Romans 12:12). Step into God's reality; it is bigger and better than ours here and now.
A few years back, a friend invited me to spend the night at his house. He had, he said, an angel who came every dusk and stayed till dawn. This visitor had done this for years now. I wasn't sceptical, just curious, as I'd never seen an angel, so agreed to stay the evening and night chez him.
We had a pleasant meal in his Edinburgh Regency house. Followed by a particularly pleasant malt whisky. Suddenly, it's the only word, this being stepped from behind a curtain, well a curtain between our reality and God's, a stood himself at my left side, about a foot away.
I was rigid with shock. The glow of power from the angel was like standing next to a street electricity transformer. 'Do you see him?', my friend asked. 'Yes', was all I could reply, timidly. I sat rigid for several minutes, not even willing to look sideways. My friend, being more used to the presence, chuntered on, while I sat, whisky glass in hand, unable to move.
As the evening wore on, the angel moved across the room and took up position beside the curtains. I could only say I followed him with my eyes, but did not see anything in the electro-magnetic spectrum. However, occasionally his garment would move, and I did see this as a flash of almost white silk.
'I used to have a dog', my friend continued, 'he could see the angel.' Since then I've noticed that my cat sees where the angels are standing. Ever seen a cat pull its head up and stare into space - well, my experience is that he is watching something, but you can't see it.
Eventually, we went upstairs for the night. I got the spare room and slept well. Then I awoke in the middle of the night to find the angel in my room, looking intently at me. It was literally hair-raising. The power of this mighty being was making my every nerve tingle. He then went away and I could sleep again.
In the morning my friend said, 'That was strange last night. The angel is always there in the room. He never goes away. But, last night I got up to go to the loo, and he wasn't there.' I knew why and said, 'He came to my room.'
Since then I've had a whole lot more encounters with God's angels. They are sent from God, with a purpose, and are totally obedient to him, unlike their demonic fallen former brothers (I'll say more on them and my encounters with these at a later stage.) They step out of heaven, from the courts of Almighty God, sometimes directly from His presence, by His command, from behind the curtain which seperates us as the one in the ancient Temple did, and stand before us.
In my previous house I had an angel who stood at the top of the stairs. He allowed me, a couple of times, to put my hand out and touch him. It was an amazing experience of power and light. Everything glowed, vibrated and tingled in an astonishing way. He was huge, and he was there to guard my upstairs as my family slept. But, he did not like me doing this to him.
I once wandered off with my son to talk of things of God and a huge angel, an arch-angel I still believe, stood immediately behind us and dogged our steps so closely he was almost touching us. There was an explosion on the beach that night as we walked past. I ducked as I knew this was a spiritual attack, not least by the cackling that followed it, and was glad the angel was there. When we stopped at a bench for a chat, the angel went and stood in front of us, about 6ft away, and faced us, back to the beach. When we walked home he again dogged behind us, and disappeared when we arrived home.
More mundanely, I too have an angel who stands in my bedroom at night. He has to find a place to stand as the room is, well, a bit of a mess. He has tried beside the window, but gets in the road of my wife when she goes loo-hunting at night. He has tried standing near my stuff in the corner of the room, but keeps having to move as its near the door. Just the once I saw him move as my wife got out of bed. He moved in a flash from the door to the wardrobes. His speed of movement was almost instantaneous, but it did take place in real-time.
I had a bad day recently, sin had got the better of me and I'd forgotten to say sorry to God. During the night I awoke to find the angel closing in, then standing directly over me, his face about 18 inches from mine. They seem to have a 'power' button they can turn up and down. He was on 'high' and I was terrified. The fear of The LORD is the beginning of all wisdom indeed.
I pleaded with him to back off and then spent some time bringing my sins before The LORD Jesus Christ for his cleansing and forgiveness. The angel was still there last night, but on 'low', in front of the wardrobe as usual.
One thing you would not know without meeting God's angels, is that they are different from each other. I have encountered big ones, small ones, and wiry-powerful ones. Each one of them is different.
If you are a Christian, the best news is: they are on our side! If you are not, the bad news is: they are not on your side. Come over to God's side and gain some powerful companions.
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