And flowing from all that angst is an ever-growing stream of frustration, stress and anger. Each day more encroachment is fuel for that fire. All kinds of “forced errors” are being made by people who would never otherwise contemplate such behaviour or choices. In some of these scenarios irreparable damage is being done to souls and relationships – our nation. What do the people of God do in such a world…
I am deeply concerned that the proposed legislation will be weaponised by postmodern wokeists , educationists and social engineers who will scream loudly against Christian views on a whole range of issues. Church websites, social media pages and so on are clearly being targeted here. Why do I think this? I simply observe the current behaviour of…
Out there in the world everyone is busy creating their own reality in which to live. Well, that’s what people think they’re doing a lot of the time, whether consciously or unconsciously … We build our little worlds and live in them comfortably. This is reality, so we think. But then a life storm hits us and the little world we have created collapses and, suddenly, a bigger, much more real reality imposes itself on us, if I can phrase it is clumsily as that …
When Jesus makes claim to the areas of our lives we have not yet surrendered to Him, it is because at that very place we are incredibly vulnerable to a worsening of our condition, and eventually demonic bondage. Right there we can plead with Jesus to away, or we can plead with Him in genuine repentance to set us free.
A lot of apocalyptic narrative and prophecy in Scripture is difficult to understand. Descriptions of things seen in prophetic visions by the likes of Daniel, Ezekiel and the Apostle John are so fantastic and overawing that they defy proper and precise description. But one of the things I have come to learn…
Remembering is intrinsic to who we are … because no one wants to be forgotten. To be forgotten is to lose something of our very humanity, to lose our sense of significance as a person made in the image of God. And so, we remember while we can remember, because at some point we, too, want to be remembered. I find it incredibly moving that…
The extremism label is now the weapon of choice for many media commentators. Why? Because it is so effective. It instils fear – the fear of association, the fear of reputational damage, the fear of being marginalised. The extremism label is being used as the blunt instrument to control the parameters of public debate and polite discourse – who is allowed to say what, and be properly and respectfully heard.
It is the word from the ancient Greek language which is translated “fellowship” in English. That word, “fellowship” has some kind of currency these days, but mostly in church circles or amongst Christians. You rarely, if ever, hear that word used anywhere else in society. To me, that makes it a special word.
Recently a visitor to one of our worship services enquired of me afterwards during morning tea why we placed our hands on people when we prayed. He had never seen this occur in his Baptist Church heritage. Come to think of it, I never once saw the laying on of hands when I was growing up in Churches of Christ, either. So, what is this “laying on of hands” thing we do in prayer?
So, a canary in the coal mine. Something, or someone, whose sensitivity to dangerous conditions makes it a useful early indicator of such conditions before anyone else has realised; something which warns of the coming of greater danger or trouble by a deterioration in its health or welfare. But here’s my point. We have “canaries” for a reason. What sane person, or board, or government, ignores what the canaries are signalling?
There is today, I believe, the unprecedented challenge of postmodernity cynicism which mocks and tears down most forms of traditional truth and reason – especially biblical truth. The church is experiencing big challenges as a result. So, my question to the promo question is, exactly what do we have to do to “adapt” to the situation? What does “adapt” even mean here?
