Are Churches up to the Challenge?

Are churches up to the Challenge?



I may come across a bit “anti-church”. Well I get angry about churches for the same reason that I get angry about bishops – not because I don't believe in them but precisely because I do !



Yes I do believe that without the institutions we call churches faith cannot be maintained andd transmitted down the generations. So I get angry when I see churches abandoning their God given role of maintaining the faith once delivered to the Apostles and becoming mere social clubs – or worse still becoming mere political activist groups! In my chosen denomination the Anglican church I get angry also when I see bishops behaving badly, again because I do believe they have a vital role to play. Naturally both these beliefs have got me into a lot of hot water!



One tragic example of the need both for churches and their continued communication with churches worldwide is that of the Japanese Christians. Christianity came to Japan in the mid 1500's. In the late 1500's the Tokugama shogunate came to power. Part of their deal with Buddhists for support was the suppression of Christianity. Then and through the 1600's there were severe persecutions aimed at eliminating Christianity altogether. Christians did manage to continue in secret, but cut off from the world and largely from each other the Christian groups the missionaries found when Japan was opened up in the late 1800's often had a quite heterodox faith which had obviously slowly morphed over the centuries.



My question today is: Is your church and denomination up to the challenge we are facing (and about to face!) ?.



Below is a link to a very short video I made over nine years ago as a promotion for a motion I was about to put to the Melbourne Anglican synod in November 2007, that we should make disciples of Jesus rather than putting our effort into political activism. (I made it very mild to reduce hostility! But even so it was greeted with boos and jeers. The Archbishop commended it and it did just pass. Needless to say nothing has changed since then.) Doe this message apply to your church?
https://youtu.be/0bAeWKIlBik
Watch it and see.

Cult of Self

Self, Self, Self

No I am not going Communist, or even communalist in my old age! The idolisation of “self” in the modern West is quite different from the stress on the “individual” of say conservative USA.



The cult of self is most strongly seen in the youth of the political left, whereas the individualism of the conservative side has produced young men and women prepared to fight and die overseas as a patriotic duty. So this new cult of self is something quite different to the doctrinaire commune – individualist divide,



Self-centredness and selfishness are pretty basic human failings, but in the recent past in our societies they have been suppressed by the moral tone of the nation. The generations who fought the World Wars did not put “self” above all else. But at some time – I am guessing the mid 1960's with the sexual revolution and the alternative culture things changed. Now the children of that generation are acting out what their parents only dabbled with.



Of course it is not universal – there are still heroes, and we still praise and admire selfless actions. But as a social sentiment “self” is at a historic high.



We live in a world, trivially of “selfies” but more seriously of “self fulfillment” in careers, lifestyle and relationships. Sex has become a matter of momentary pleasure for self rather than as an expression of the “'till death do us part” and “let's have a family” love that it was created for.



This is in reality dysfunctional and whether we like it or not, reality rules! So we have broken hearts, broken marriages and broken people. Add to this the “gender fluidity” activists infiltrating schools stealing the innocence and perverting the minds of children and the tide of destruction of genuine happiness is becoming a tsunami!



I can only see two probable ends to this. Either a secular backlash which would be a harsh and merciless puritanism, or a “real” Christian revival where people could be changed and healed from the inside in an atmosphere of forgiveness and joy of salvation.



The other major dysfunction of this cult of self is in politics. The oft quoted Alexis de Tocqueville admired democracy as he saw it in America, but made the observation that democracy would only work in a solidly Christian culture.



One effect of Christianity being deliberately expunged from our societies is that democracy is in trouble. Yet it would be tragic if the democratic form of government that has evolved over more than a millennium in the West succumbed to some new Hitler or Mussolini!



Apart from the disturbing incidence of young people voicing dissatisfaction with democracy there is a problem at the heart of democracy in our nations. Aristotle said of democracy in his day (c. 350 BC) that if there were no overarching moral constraint the majority would say “Let us plunder the rich, by the gods it is just!” True we have constitutions limiting out democratic actions, but we are losing the overarching moral constraint. This is probably what de Tocqueville had in mind saying it would only work in a Christian milieux.



The evidence of our problem is cited in newspapers as “populism”. But really the rise of “populist” leaders (excluding the use of “populist” pejoratively by news media of leaders they simply don't like who win elections!) is only possible when voters are ruled by self interest rather than the good of the nation. Thus the cult of self has, is and will give us populist government – and this will destroy us!



There has recently been a snap general election in the UK. The ruling conservative party had a big majority and three years to run. They called the election thinking the opposition labour party, with its new almost Communist leader would be routed and they would have an even bigger majority. They very nearly lost the election all together – having to form a coalition with a minor party to even have enough seats to form a government! Why? A million young people registered to vote. The socialist leader promised to fling money at everyone – especially university students. (he was also going to nationalise a number of industries, but voters did not look past the money) Had he won and actually done these things the nation would have been brought to ruin, but voters looked at their short tern gain, not the state of the national economy (and their own long term gain!).



In many countries, the government is heavily in debt but increasing spending. Someone sometime is going to have to face the pain of repaying all this money – at interest! Yet all sides know that a party who offers “blood, sweat and tears” to get the country solvent again will never be voted in. So they all keep spending more than they can raise by taxes. This is madness - reality can't be put off indefinitely.



My preference is for a Christian revival that changes enough voters' hearts to put everyone's future well-being above the selfish desires of the moment – what's yours?

the Mark of the Beast

Coming to a church near you …

The Mark of the Beast

Actually I hope not! But the possibility of churches becoming infiltrated so that “even the elect” are led astray to worship the beast is becoming disturbingly high. Here is a link to a sermon expounding Revelation 13 which I gave four years ago – I came across it again recently and was amazed (besides thinking “Oh dear, do I really sound like that!”) how relevant it is today! (well, OK, I missed militant Islam as one example of the beasts, but the example I picked there is coming to pass in Australia before our eyes)



https://www.dropbox.com/sh/2m3pata6x270e3i/f_mwl13i9j?m=&preview=Sermon+280413+Revelation+13(After+normalize).mp3



The first beast is human government which has ceased governing under God and started governing as god. The second beast is the human “religion” that looks OK – even looks like Christianity – but is not. For instance ideology which is no longer under God but has started to be god and make its own rules as to what is “good” and “evil”. What is that today?

Globalism and the Tower of Babel

Babel and Globalism

There may not seem to be a logical connection between the Biblical account of the Tower of Babel and modern progressivism but let's take a closer look.


Part of the progressive agenda is Globalism. Maybe this partly originates in the Communist “Internationalism” partly perhaps in a utopian dream of a “world government” bringing peace and prosperity to all. We certainly see this globalism in the veneration of the United Nations and projects such as the European Union. It is also notable that progressives are strongly supportive of both these institutions and that both of these are dominated by non-elected bureaucracies!


It is also notable that conservatives are more sceptical of these projects – witness the “Brexit” vote to take Britain out of the EU and Donald Trump on the UN. To my mind the fact that the UN Human Rights Commission was at one time chaired by the brutal dictator Colonel Gaddafi says it all!


The other significant commonality in Progressives' thinking is the passionate desire to exclude God. In the West this has two particular symptoms.


First the pulling down and forcefully expunging the “old” Christian morality, and most particularly those elements more closely linked to God's character. For instance the “sexual revolution” promoting adultery: God used adultery this as an analogy for societies forsaking him. And the otherwise illogical push for not just recognition but sacred cow status for same sex marriage. Paul said marriage between a man and a woman was a metaphor for Christ's relationship to the Church. (“the Church” meaning all God's people collectively not any institution!) Or again the fostering of the cult of “self” when God's character translates into human as love and consideration for others.


Second, an atheism with all the passion of a religious zealotry. To treat religious people as harmless eccentrics would be the logical choice for a mere atheist. But that is not what we see in progressives, they are so fanatical in their opposition to Christianity and in their efforts to expunge it from society that they must really believe in, but be trying to sideline, God! One worldwide progressive streak is their partiality for Islam. Terror attacks are carried out by Islamic State sympathisers, but progressives, particularly those in authority deny any connection to Islam. Feminists who vehemently decry misogyny they identify in Christianity wilfully turn a blind eye to the really serious mistreatment of women in Muslim culture! Then in immigration, progressives readily allow Muslim immigration into the “Christian” West whilst opposing taking persecuted Christians from these same Muslim trouble spots. It seems that anything goes in their desire to stamp out Christianity in the West.

In short Progressive ideology wants to build a worldwide utopia not just pushing God aside, but actually in human defiance against God.


Go back to the story of Babel. Post flood, humans decided to band together to “make a name for themselves” and build a huge watchtower to keep an eye on God! (I know some think of their tower as a Babylonian ziggurat – but as my Old Testament professor Bill Dumbrell pointed out, not only was this a long time before Babylon and its religious practices, but the word used is that for a watchtower, and moreover this fits the context beautifully: where did they see danger coming from? Heaven.)


So modern progressives are not so modern after all! They are infected with just the same madness as those ancients. They think: “Let us get rid of God and show what pride in human power can do!” I really do hope God brings their enterprise tumbling down!

Sow the Wind: reap the whirlwind

Sow the wind: reap the whirlwind

This post's topic is out of sequence, but it is prompted by an article in The Australian Newspaper's “Weekend Magazine” I read this morning – and which I have reproduced below.

I have been introducing the premise that the old idolatrous religions are back with a vengeance in today's Western societies but all the more insidious for having dispensed with the graven images. Come to think of it who needs them when you have TV, glossy magazines and internet pornography! This post jumps ahead somewhat to look at what our re-imagined pagan religions are producing in the new generation of young adults.

Nikki Gemmel's article below draws on one incident, and I find myself agreeing with her sentiments throughout. However I think there are answers – starting with the uncomfortable recognition that as a society we have “sown the wind” and are starting to “reap the whirlwind” and even we can see that is a bad outcome. But there are solutions – if we are brave enough to go back and tackle the root causes.

Here is the article: ….

A crime we need to talk about

Where was the sense of morality, of compassion?

The Weekend Australian Magazine, May 20-21, 2017
Opinion: Nikki Gemmell
Imagine you’re a 15-year-old girl, with all the attendant insecurities and anxieties, especially about your body. You’re at a teenage party after Sydney’s Mardi Gras, which a lot of teenagers celebrate most gloriously now, loudly and proudly, straight and gay. But you drink yourself to oblivion; kids seem to be starting on this path earlier and more destructively than my generation ever did (and that’s saying a lot). And because you’re physically smaller, you cannot hold your alcohol like the boys can.
You have no recollection of what went on but the next day you’re texted about a video doing the rounds on Facebook. A mortifying, deeply humiliating video; and this is where I just want to wrap my arms around you. It’s a clip of you. Unconscious. Allegedly being raped by a 15-year-old boy, and filmed by another boy. Your alleged attacker goes to one of the nation’s most prestigious independent boys’ schools; you go to one of the nation’s most prestigious independent girls’ schools. The party was held at the house of a girl who goes to another prestigious girls’ school. God knows where any parents were, to help you, protect you.
This is Sydney now. The matter is wending its sorry way through the courts. We need to talk about this. Parents. Educators. Teenage girls. Teenage boys. When the story broke, I sat my 16-year-old son down and went through the issues concerning this desperate tale of now; talked through what he’d do if ever he saw a young woman in such a situation. Friend, stranger, whoever she was – he would help her, of course. Would recognise that someone was in a situation of extreme vulnerability and would not take advantage of that – he would assist her. It’s about integrity and dignity and responsibility.
He would also talk to the boys around him. Tell them to think about the repercussions for their schools and families – but most of all for themselves. Their future career prospects. And if convicted, their liberty, too.
Why would any young men see a situation like this as an opportunity? Why would they think they could so callously and easily and brutally exploit this girl’s sorry state? She made a mistake involving alcohol; haven’t we all at some point? She needed help. Where was the sense of morality here; of old-fashioned compassion for a fellow human being in an intensely vulnerable situation?
The principal of the girl’s school, Jenny Allum, has called for a national response to misogynistic attitudes fuelling violence against women. “I’m deeply outraged and angered for all of the young women who’ve had to fight off (sometimes unsuccessfully) unwanted advances, some becoming the victims of sexual assaults and other harrowing behaviours. It’s a gross violation of a person’s dignity and personhood. And, above all, it’s a crime.” And I say, let’s not blame the victim here. Please. As our society so often, inexplicably, does.
“Sexual assault is not a story of alcohol consumption or revealing fashions,” Allum says. “Nor is it a story of bravado. It is a story of violence and crime and must be afforded its due gravity.” She points to the old adage “It takes a village to raise a child” and ponders whether we’ve forgotten this in our fast-paced modern world. A world of accelerated adult-like behaviour at an increasingly young age; a world of recording devices at our fingertips.
To the young girl – I hope you’re OK. I hope you can find a way to move on from all this with courage and strength. And to the teenage school boys: well, you see a girl your age unconscious on the ground. What do you do? You help her. Just as you would a mate. Why is that so hard to comprehend?



Nikki is right: where was the sense of morality and compassion? Not just the (alleged) rapist, but next the boy who videoed it but did nothing to stop the attack, but there are more … this was a party were there not other boys and girls around? … why did none of them intervene? Nikki is also right in saying these were 15 and 16 year olds … where were the parents? Why were they drinking alcohol at all – let alone unsupervised!



But Nikki does overlook one thing: they were celebrating the Sydney Gay Mardigras. Not to put too fine (or homophobic) a point on it: a lauding of sexual excess, licentiousness and self absorption. When our society not only tolerates but approves and positively parades these things we are certainly sowing seeds that will produce bitter fruit in the next generation. Societally we have attacked and dragged down the “old” Christian morality (and even the aspects of our former morality that pagans also adhered to!)



But not only have we demolished the old morality, we have tried to replace it with a new “Politically Correct” morality, which is no morality at all. Or rather is not a set of principles that can produce a happy, functional society. Some of these false morals are paraded in the words of the girl's school principal – and I heartily dis-agree with her sentiments!



a) “ Sexual assault is not a story of alcohol consumption or revealing fashions” Really? You have got to be kidding! One cannot be blind to the fact that historically alcohol and debauchery have been portrayed as closely linked. This one was clearly a story of alcohol consumption! And likely the boy – though this is no excuse – was very drunk as well. Revealing fashions, may have played no part here, but none the less this argument is part of a feminist humbug that does a great disservice to women!



Part of the feminist streak of the new morality is that women can be as provocative as they like and expect there to be no unwanted consequences. This is just dogma denying reality!



We live in a fallen world. We are all sinners. Of course the anti-Christian new religion wants to deny this …. Once we admit we are all sinners, we need a Saviour – someone who can blot out our sins and reconcile us to God … someone just like … well, Jesus! But denying fallen human nature leads to trouble.



In the physical world there are predictable cause & effect couples. For instance we train our children not to speed up fire-lighting by pouring petrol on the glowing coals – it is almost certain to blow up in their faces. Now of course we say that humans have “choice”. True, but fallen human nature often gives in to temptation and makes a bad – sinful or even criminal - choices. So there are things it is unwise to do – for our safety and unkind to do – for the weak-willed who may give in to temptation and suffer the consequences.



So the feminist cry: “I can wear whatever I like” reminds of that of the Corinthians quoted – and answered by Paul “'Everything is permissible' you say – but not everything is beneficial … everyone should seek not their own good but the good of others.”



Teenage girls in particular I suspect have little notion what effect revealing clothing or sexualised actions can have of hormone super-charged teenage boys! It is up to parents and other more mature heads to help keep them safe. The feminist assertion that they should wear anything is a cruel and wicked lie!



As an example, many years ago one of our daughters was in that young teenage group. She came out of her room one time to go to a party dressed in one of her younger sister's outfits which on her was most unsuitable! Her mother's admonitions were rebuffed, but her older brother won the day with: “So who are you going to have sex with tonight?” which produced a furious denial to which he answered: “Well if you are not going to have sex with anyone, don't get their hopes up by dressing like that!” She emerged from her room a little later much more suitably attired.



b) Making men act like whimps. There is a concerted push to de-masculinise boys. No toy guns. No books on heroic sacrifice in war, or what used to be termed chivalry. Now it is quite right to try to prevent domestic violence. They are just going about it the wrong way! It is not men's natural strength or propensity for aggression that is the problem – indeed they have evolved that way for good reason! It is turning this aggression against the very people they should be using it to protect that is wicked – and wicked it certainly is! I will not pursue that further here except to say – as Nikki did to her son – that a real man would come to the defence of a woman – yes possibly utilising all his strength and aggressive tendencies!



c) Nikki is right about the absence of compassion too. But this is a virtue encouraged by Christianity, but diminished by the idolisation of “self” and the primacy of “what I want” that has been relentlessly pushed by the new religion and which resonates with fallen human nature. I am glad Nikki hates the result when she sees it, but we need to go back to the root causes.



This has made for a rather long post – my apologies for that – but this article is just one warning of how socially dysfunctional the destruction of Christian faith and values is.

Idolatry: a Definition

Idolatry: a Definition

I was pondering how to take the next step in my project of showing that “progressivism” is idolatry. So I brought it up in family discussion as we were all sitting round this morning with a very pleasant late autumn sun pouring in the windows, dogs asleep at our feet, reading and sipping our tea / coffee. 

 

The first reaction I got was: “Define your terms! What is idolatry.” This was embarrassingly basic. Every school debater is taught to first define their terms, or dispute the opposition’s definition. So I really should have worked out a definition at the start – but better late than never as they say!

 

I brought up some of the things I had written which bordered on defining what I meant. This lead to a “Google-off” of those with i-pad or phone checking the internet for definitions, and a general discussion of the relative merits of these.

 

There was, as one might guess, a range of ideas. Certainly most had an area of overlap, but some cast their net so wide that we thought they had included many things – like covetousness, self-centredness, and lust for possessions that seemed to be better put into the category of “vices”. ('though I haven't overlooked the scripture that says “… that greed which is idolatry”)

 

One of the most erudite websites put idolatry as that internally generated set of thoughts and ways of thinking which shaped a society. Others took the line that an idol was a thing venerated or worshiped. (this led to the question “what does 'worshiped'” mean - which led to the elimination of this word because we thought it had lost its meaning for many people). Some sites also said it was putting anything in the place of God.

 

A definition one of us came up with was that an idol was a thing (other than God naturally) in which you put your hope. Particularly with the idea that this “hope” was in a utopia you longed for and believed achievable. A utopia brought about by human wisdom and endeavor. A utopia you were prepared to commit your energies and lifestyle to bringing to fruition.

 

Drawing on these I decided on a definition for this project, where we are looking at current Western society:

 

Idolatry is: Committing one's hope, trust and obedience to human ideas and ideals rather than the person and revealed purposes of God.

Human Sacrifice Today

Human Sacrifice Today

Last post I said that “progressivism” I all its forms was today's idolatry. In olden times idols were easy to identify – they were real, visible carved or cast images, usually of human or animal forms. Today we are more sophisticated – we have dispensed with the material images on the whole. This makes it much easier for us to fool ourselves that idolatry was just a thing of the primitive past. But we are just fooling ourselves if we think that.

I want to look at features of the old idolatry and to show that the new an-iconic forms have otherwise all the same features. Starting with human sacrifice.

Back in the days of ancient Israel, Yahwism conspicuously did not have human sacrifice, abut all the surrounding pagan nations did. The prophets time and again denounced the Israelites for importing this awful practice along with their idolatry, and even trying to combine it with worship of Yahweh.

“They built high places for Baal in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to sacrifice their sons and daughters to Molek, though I never commanded—nor did it enter my mind—that they should do such a detestable thing” . Jeremiah 32:35

“They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire. They practised divination and sought omens and sold themselves to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, arousing his anger.” 2Kings 17:17

(King Manasseh) “did evil in the eyes of the Lord … He sacrificed his sons in the fire in the Valley of Ben Hinnom,”

The apparent reason for sacrificing their children in these foul idols was to gain (as they supposed) some material gain from the idol.`

Readers may be saying “how revolting, but we don't do such things today!” Don't we? Think again.

In the United States last year there were 900,000 human lives sacrificed to “prosperity” in abortion. If you jibe at describing abortion this way just look at the facts. In states – both in the U.S. and Australia where abortion is legal but a reason is required to be recorded, there is a consistent picture about the reasons given. Significantly, sort of reasons used in the progressive feminist campaigns of the '60s for legalisation of abortion hardly figure.

If lumped together, rape, incest, large number of existing children, and medical complications threatening the life of the mother or indicating severe deformation or non survivability of the baby generally come to less that 5%. Put the other way round: in reality at least 95% of abortions are because it is inconvenient for the mother to carry her baby to birth! Given the demand by childless couples for babies to adopt one cannot even make much excuse that rearing the baby would be inconvenient.

This may be a very inconvenient truth for feminists but it is the truth. So we are sacrificing these human lives to gain a supposed prosperity. For the married couples, a third child would marginally reduce their living standard. So we murder for money. To the younger single woman it would mean interrupting education and or diminish career prospects. For the twenties single woman – well she's just not ready to settle down and raise children – though she wants to someday. So we murder for our lifestyle.

For readers who are growing purple with rage that I dare say such things and think a new word needs to be coined for people like me, you are wrong: I am not in the least an anti-woman monster; quite the opposite. For a start did you note my use of “we”: it is a societal problem for which we all bear guilt, not a “female” thing. Let me explain.

There is a fascinating passage in the prophet Hosea, where in denouncing the rampant immorality God says he will not blame the women because the men bear the guilt for the social malaise.

“Therefore your daughters turn to prostitution and your daughters-in-law to adultery.14 “I will not punish your daughters when they turn to prostitution, nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery, because the men themselves consort with harlots and sacrifice with shrine prostitutes— a people without understanding will come to ruin!” Hosea 4:14

Jesus said a similarly interesting thing: “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.” These are strong words! And how have we caused all these little ones to stumble? We (corporately) have created and made a feature of our modern Western “world view” the fallacy that abortion is not a sin – and especially that abortion is not the sin of murder!

Our churches likewise have been part of this idolatry and human sacrifice. Some have fought against the tide, but most (non Catholic) denominations have been guilty of supporting it – hideous as this is when you say it plainly.

In 1988 at my then diocese's annual synod, I felt God was prompting me to put a motion condemning “abortion on demand”. The reaction of the hundred or so delegates at this synod was bomb-like in its ferocity. There was complete uproar. There was unrestrained anger and outrage that anyone would dare to question the 'sacred cow' of abortion rights!

Another interesting incident I experienced is this: In the early 1990's I preached – for the one and only time – against abortion in the supposedly “alive” evangelical cum charismatic church I was pastoring. Three things happened: A woman sought me out for prayer afterwards (we had prayer ministry available after services); She said that she had had an abortion many years previously for economic reasons. After confession (to God) and absolution she went away feeling released from a burden she had carried for years. Second a woman who considered herself one of the social and spiritual elite accosted me in a meeting during the week. Saying how she had in her youth had an abortion for medical reasons (which I had painstakingly exempted from blame in my sermon) and she raged against me daring to preach such things. Thirdly there were a spate of letters complaining about me to the archbishop!

So, our nations are practising a terrible evil in God's eyes, yet the very institutions which should be warning us not to sin have become collaborators in this idol worship. Also the very intensity of passion against any who dare question the practice is I feel further demonstration that like pagan idol worship everywhere it has a demonic source and stronghold.