I’ve read a lot recently from other bloggers, “christian” writers and magazines about Christianity and what it’s about.

The overwhelming feeling I get is that many people are diluting Jesus’s message to make it “relevant” or “acceptable” to young people, old people, “hip” people, or any other group of people they can think of.

Now I’ve been in churches where in forty years nobody had taught on the Second Coming. I can deal with that, although I believe we need to get back to the sense of urgency the original 12 had.

But aspects of the core of the message Jesus taught are being omitted.

Parts essential to being able to ask for forgiveness of sin – such as the definition of sin – have been eroded to the point that if they were the foundations of a physical building any structural engineer would condemn the place.

But not only do we (and yes, I include myself in this as an offender) dilute the message, we try to make out that under the circumstances where we were it was the “right” thing to do.

I have a good friend from childhood with whom I differ on several things, including the nature of sin with regard to sexuality. I have spent, I realised when I started writing this blog, 30 years or more avoiding certain topics from my Faith to avoid making people uncomfortable. Greed, sexuality, idolatry, self-righteousness and more get swept out of the way as an embarrassing faux-pas on the part of the church now we are in a more “enlightened” time.

But God’s wisdom is foolishness to men, and God laughs at man’s wisdom. While we swallow camels and strain gnats in our conversations and outreach we can never make true disciples. We may make socially acceptable ones. Disciples who don’t make waves, whose primary drive is social conscience and equal rights. Disciples whose version of christianity bears a terrifying similarity to marxism in its pure form (as opposed to Soviet, Chinese and Korean interpretations).

Jesus did say we were all equal. All of us are equal in that we have Sinned and fallen short of God’s Glory.

We have forgotten that we, the Church, are the ones through whom the World will see True Righteousness.

That unnerves me. I don’t feel righteous. I certainly don’t feel like an example to be held up as a way to do things. Possibly as a cautionary tale…

But Christ in me allows me to be an example.

The problem is that in our haste to make converts we forget that Jesus gave us a Commission to make Disciples of all Nations. So we tend to present a socially acceptable version of the christian faith, playing down the concepts of sin, Hell and Judgement – all of which are warned of in Revelation, just so anyone has any doubt can remember that. Jesus will return to Judge the living and the dead.

Makes a sudden difference to the urgency of the message, doesn’t it?

I knew a biker a few years ago who had a great badge. It said “If you meet me today, and forget me tomorrow, who cares? But if you meet Christ today and forget Him tomorrow, you will.”

The message had punch and was simple. It invited people to ask him questions about his Faith, and if you are called to talk to bikers, you really need boldness and, often but not always, an invitation. Questions are an invitation.

I’ve never seen a placard waving, condemning and screaming person protesting on the news or in the street being approached by someone broken considering an abortion, or hurting because their entire earthly family has rejected them because of their orientation, or shattered because of physical, psychological or sexual abuse drawn to one of those people. And I’m certain Jesus would ignore these people too. They don’t offer Love. They push people away.

Don’t get me wrong, I believe in calling sin a sin. It’s essential to Salvation and Relationship. If you were to try to be my friend and every time you saw me you kicked me in the crotch, I’m not sure I’d be convinced of the sincerity of your friendship if I’d told you not to. The relationship would not be sincere, and your continued assault would be proof that you didn’t want it anyway.

So why do we treat Jesus any differently?

Sin is sin. Yes, Jesus forgives us. He paid the price at Calvary. There’s an excellent line in a Don Francisco song called “It Ain’t no Sin to Get The Blues” from the late 1990s that says “Jesus paid your lifetime membership, But you still gotta pay some dues”. Take what you like from that, but what I found in it was the realisation that – Like St Paul – I often find myself doing what my Spirit tells me, and I know to be opposed to what Jesus would do. I am absolutely certain that Jesus would not have responded the way I do to my neighbour shouting at my dogs. I battle daily to find just one thing that the surgeon whose mis-management of my wife post-operatively almost resulted in her death so I can find a place in my heart to forgive him. So far the list is not long, but every day it gets easier. He was a gentleman who never made her feel judged, ridiculed or inferior. Yes he made a mistake in the after-care, but he actually did care about her recovery – he just got blinkered and didn’t put the collection of symptoms together.

But I’m not trying to forgive him for his sake. I’m trying for mine.

I don’t subscribe to a Jesus “Lite” version of Christianity. Cutting bits out to make it easier to accept results in death. Jesus was hard with people. Read the Gospels and you can see it. But the way He was hard drew people to Him.

He didn’t condemn the woman caught in adultery, but He told her to stop sinning. He didn’t condemn the Samaritan woman living with her boyfriend, but He told her to stop sinning. He healed the cripple, but warned him to stop sinning so nothing worse would happen to him! (see John 5:14)

The people flocked to Jesus. Zaccheus, a tax collector who was the most despised man in his town, climbed a tree, allowed Jesus to invite Himself to dinner and repented, giving back more than he had cheated people out of – and Jesus didn’t tell him that was a condition of Salvation. Infact, Jesus declared it to be a sign of Salvation. This fits with the idea of signs and wonders following the believer. First believe – wholly and completely – then act.

And enough of Jesus Lite.

Don’t trim the uncomfortable bits to trick people into the Kingdom.

It won’t be the Kingdom of Heaven they end up in.

If the path is broad and easy, and there’s no discomfort involved, there’s a good chance it’s the wrong path. Look for a narrow way, a steep climb, and hardship along it.

If you don’t run into opposition from the devil and his cohorts, you’re probably moving in their direction.

So continuing the “Lent” theme, if you want something else to give up: give up cutting corners to fit in. Give up making Jesus in your image. Be Transformed by the renewing of your mind.

I’m trying. I’ll be honest, since I started my life has been so much harder it’s not funny. I lost a business, my wife and my mother are both seriously ill – both potentially terminally should treatment fail, I lost a job as well, and I find myself unemployable in my location (South Africa). There’s a temptation to quit.

Every day I find a reason not to. Every day it’s the same one.

Jesus didn’t quit on me. He’ll give me strength for today. I’ll deal with tomorrow when it arrives.

No more Jesus “Lite”. It doesn’t taste right.

I’ve been mulling over some thoughts recently about what to write during the season of Lent.

Tonight I found myself with a simple question: Where’s the Line?

We need to embrace Holiness to draw close to God. As John Eldredge points out in his book”The Utter Relief of Holiness”, it’s a place we need to seek to find relief. But this destination means drawing a line between the Holy and the unholy in our lives.

I have a dear friend I care a great deal about – probably more than she realises in fact. She’s a good 15 years my junior, and I was delighted a while ago to hear she’d been baptised and committed her life to Jesus.

My question, however, concerns a part of a career choice.

She is a very attractive girl, and has some tattoos on her arms and body. I don’t have a problem with that as we live under Grace not Law, and she has excellent taste in graphics (what I’ve seen on her arms, anyway).

My problem is more where the line gets drawn.

She’s a model, and has a bright future ahead of her in that field if she chooses to pursue it, however having stumbled on some pictures of her online from a recent shoot I find myself questioning where the line is between displaying “art” and “titillation”.

The old adage sprung to my mind about knowing pornography when you see it. It alarmed me.

I don’t know if she follows my page, I don’t know if she reads this blog. The issue – although it has been brought home to me by the pictures of her – is not actually about her.

And I can’t stress that enough.

The issue is where we draw the line. Knowing her, I am certain her heart is not to cause someone else to fall into a sinful pattern. She’s an honest and sincere person. She sees the good in people and forgives past wrongs.

But there is a line.

Like I said, I have no problem with tattoos. If my wife didn’t object, I’d probably have one or two myself. That’s not the issue.

My thought is what Paul wrote about causing our brothers and sisters to stumble. An innocent action can still cause a stumbling-block to others. This article may turn into one of them.

I’ll try to move to more general issues.

I attended a church very briefly where the minister – his only income being the church’s pay packet apparently – arrived to the Sunday service in a brand new Mercedes “C” class. Beautiful car. Had it been a gift I would have rejoiced with him. A teacher I respect immensely, Dave Duell, was given a brand new Cadillac by a dealership that God inspired. Affluence is not inherently sinful. But the congregation had an average income of about $200 per month. To buy that car was insensitive at the very least.

Contrast that with my old pastor in the UK who drives (last time I saw him) a Porsche and has a large motorcycle (not sure, but may have been a Harley). Before he was a pastor he was a financial advisor – and an extremely good one. He didn’t use the income from the gifts to the “ministry” to line his pockets.

Like I said, a very different situation.

Affluence is not a sin. Modelling is not a sin.

But where does affluence become greed? Where does a shoot to show off body-art cease to be about the art and become about the body?

The pastor with the Mercedes lined his pockets. The church was evicted for not paying its rent. It was a good thing it ceased to exist. The pastor with the Porsche lives a humble existence. He only portrays himself as how God created him, and does what God has anointed him to do – nothing more, nothing less. After some time off, I recently heard he’s now leading worship in a new church, and I’m delighted. His gift for worship and his heart for Jesus are unmissable in conversation with him – even when he’s talking about his car!

I’ve met models and actors who struggle with the pressure the job puts on them to provide a photo-set that will sell. And these days “sell” often means “sexually arouse”.

So where’s the line?

For each of us it’s different.

I love bacon, but I don’t eat it around my Jewish (or muslim for that matter) friends. Oddly, one of them encouraged me to have a bacon sandwich last time we met up for breakfast as it’s not something he has an issue with. But where’s the line?

The line is where our behaviour causes – or may cause – another person to fall into sin, to impede their walk with God.

Ouch.

How many times today have I done that?

How many times in this article?

But I must be true to what my Spirit in my Heart tells me God is saying. I don’t “follow” the professional page of my friend the model as it is a stumbling block to me. I hate summertime in Africa – I simply don’t know where to look! “Women’s Right’s” groups regularly lambast men and use the argument that women should be able to dress and behave however they wish. I agree, but just as there are consequences to wearing nothing but a bathing suit when it’s -5 degrees outside, there are consequences to provocative clothing and images in the media. In a newsagent today I could not find a single magazine that didn’t have a set of photos on the cover of the “ideal” body (male or female), and why your “natural” shape wasn’t good enough.

Garbage.

I don’t have a visible six-pack. I was a dancer for 16 years, so my legs are well developed but I have a bit of a tummy above them, and more chins than I should have that I hide with a goatee. But I have muscle strength. It just doesn’t look like it.

I have beautiful friends who don’t fit the “fashionable” appearance (thankfully).

But where’s the line between healthy and “sexy”? Look at images in paintings from the renaissance. The women in the pictures had curves! Today they’d be considered “plus-size” models.

Where’s the line?

We cross it too easily. We envy, lust and covet, and the World disguises it as aspiration, attractiveness and desirability.

But the line is crossed. And we never saw it.

So have the tattoo. Buy the sports car. Or the luxury motorcycle.

Heck, I rode a Harley myself for three years. The look of horror on the salesman’s face when I traded it in, telling him that at the end of the day it was just a lump of steel with a wheel at each end was priceless!

It’s about the heart. I bought the Harley because they’re strong, hard-wearing and reliable. Yes, I like the style, but it wasn’t my primary reason. I wasn’t part of a club. I wasn’t looking to join a group. I just wanted a bike that was good quality. I’d actually seen a Yamaha for the same price and the salesman showed me the Harley as well, pointing out the practical benefits.

My friend the model may have the heart to show the artwork of her tattoos, but I’m uessing from the photos and poses that most of the viewers haven’t even noticed the tattoos.

My old pastor doesn’t make a big deal about his car other than to be grateful that God has provided it for him.

The heart will tell you where the line is for your own motives.

But we need to be mindful of what our actions will bring for others.

Will we make them stumble?

Will we cause them to cross the line in their heart?

If there’s even a possibility, perhaps we should consider other people’s lines and struggles before we act. I for one don’t want to inadvertantly push someone away from God.

Attitudes have alienated people from acceptance as individuals because they have a particular issue that is the current “fashionable” issue. Now it’s often homosexuality. Forty years ago it was divorce. Being rich, being poor, skin clour (as in tan, not ethnicity – that’s a different issue) have all been used to push people away.

Sex is a big one. Mental illness is another, but I’ll look at that later in Lent.

Find the line – but find where your line becomes a trip-wire for others. That’s the line to avoid.

I don’t want to offend people, but I’ll let my “yes” be “Yes” and my “no”, “No!” from here on.

Draw the line.

Ok, the topic is hardly original writing for Ash Wednesday. But I’ve been thinking on it for a while.

I don’t know where the tradition started. Maybe it was an “homage” to Christ’s 40 days in the Wilderness. Maybe it was just an arbitrary decision made by the Nicean council. I don’t know – and frankly I don’t care.

Wait a second… “I don’t care“?

Yep. Doesn’t matter to me where or why it began.

The Spirit of it is what matters.

It’s a build up to the celebration of the most significant event of the Christian Year, a time when Jesus went out and his chocolate eggs all over Israel for the children to find…

Erm, no.

Ah yes: The time when Jesus commissioned a small rabbit to go… nope.

Oh yes, I remember.

The Son of God handed Himself over to be executed in our place to allow us to have relationship with God once more.

No eggs. No bunnies. A brutal and savage execution of an innocent man.

Aslan goes to the Stone Table. Jesus goes to the Cross. Narnia is released from Winter and death. Our Hearts are freed from captivity, death and torment.

40 days build-up to the biggest Victory of Christianity.

So we have pancakes. We give up sugar, or chocolate, or whatever we give up.

But Lent should be something in our heart.

So what if I give up chocolate but keep fighting with my neighbour? It’s returning to the letter of the event, not the Spirit of it.

Jesus was all about the Spirit of the Law. He declared He hadn’t come to abolish the Law, but to fulfil it. His mission was to reconcile man and God, and the Law could only bring Death. He needed something radical – perfection in God’s sight, and sacrifice in our stead.

So that’s what He did.

I read a book recently called “The Year of Living Biblically”. It’s an exceptional book as the author actually did try to fulfil the letter of the Law as set out in the Bible. It’s supposed – I think – to be satirical, but it shows the futility of even trying to be righteous by following the letter of the law. He didn’t shave for a year. Wore only natural cloth with no mixed fibres and ate only what the Bible (Old Testament) said was acceptable. The result is a hilarious book which completely missed the point Jesus tried to make, but at the same time emphasised the point the author had missed completely.

I gave up trying to follow the Letter of the law years ago. Long before any teacher told me the difference between letter and spirit. It was a relief when I was finally taught that obeying the spirit of the law is what gives relationship.

Yes, I still try not to shoot my neighbour for shouting at my dogs. But I’ve learned to appreciate he may be going through a rough time like I am, and so if they make a noise I try (mostly) to bring them in or shut their barking up so they don’t disturb him. (But I’ve not met him face-to-face and have no immediate desire to). For now that is as far as my carnal nature will allow my Spirit to work.

I’m a work in progress.

My Grandfather was 80 when he died, having been a Christian for 64 (ish) years. Just a week or two before he went Home he called me and we spoke for over an hour about God, and the changes he was experiencing as he walked the path Jesus set before him. It was an amazing conversation with my Brother in the Faith, talking as equals not as Grandfather to Grandson, but one Brother in Christ to another, encouraging each other and learning from one another. The Spirit led our conversation – the last one I would have with him – and it is one of my most precious memories.

We spoke about “head knowledge” and “heart knowledge”. That’s the difference. Grandad didn’t care about intellectual knowledge. He was all about relationship. His Love for Jesus beamed out of him (as long as he was smiling due to an “unfortunate” cast of features) and he was as at home talking to children as he was talking to pensioners. He identified with them where they were, never tried to tell them a list of “do’s” and “don’ts” to get right with God, simply “Look to Jesus and let Him make you right”

So a short thought for the beginning of Lent.

Over the next 40 days, forget quitting sugar or chocolate. Quit relying on your own effort instead, and let Jesus carry the load. Quit trying to be seen to be perfect – you aren’t.

It’s my challenge to myself.

Your move.

If a conference were to be organised, would you come? What would you want to hear? How would you want it to be arranged? Tents and Big-Tops in a camp-site or Hotels near a brick-venue?

Would you come if there were a cover charge? Would you bring your friends – Christian or not?

It’s something EWM would like to be able to arrange in the future. But in partnership with our friends and followers, to meet the needs they have.

We have followers in Africa and Europe. Would you travel? Would you travel to the other end of the world to hear the Truth in an uncompromising way?

Please let us know. This kind of event is something we’d like to arrange, and we need input to get it right.

What teachers would you want to hear? What subjects?

Talk to us. Let us make this grow in God’s way.

There’s a growing movement in what puts itself forward a a kind of “new and improved” christianity towards adjusting core beliefs and teachings held for thousands of years that men and women have been martyred for being deemed “irrelevant” to 21st century society.

Science bombards us with facts daily. Miracles of restored sight, replaced hearts, cures for ailments that just a generation ago were killers.

But what is the cost?

We breed a watered down, luke-warm church. I find it repugnant that any Christian can consider reversing the scriptural concept of sexual immorality – and please not, not limited to homosexuality issues here – as irrelevant, or at best of “lesser importance” than the slaughter of dolphins by Japan. Social equality is the latest buzz-word, and over-liberal people who bear a resemblenace more to Rehoboam than to Jesus become vocal.

Like “free love” in decades past, and the latest LBGT “pride” parades here in Cape Town, the people making the most noise are largely a minority. The majority stay silent, embarrassed to speak up for the black-&-white of the bile. It gets watered down and becomes grey.

Somewhere along the line, Jesus as the sole route to God and restoration becomes a side-line instead of the crux – literally – of the matter, replaced with socially acceptable whitewashed tombs.

Sin is a dirty word. It drives people away apparently.

But Jesus sought out sinners and made no attempt to hide it. He came for them. He came for us.

Paul writes that we have All fallen short of God’s standards. The nature of the sin is not the point. Every single human being on the face of the earth falls short of God’s standards.

So how can we have confidence, boldness and clarity in our walk?

It’s actually far simpler than we are led to believe.

Jesus.

Simple faith as a child has. Accept His promises at face value. He doesn’t hide what is on offer to any who genuinely seek.

Like a vinyard, it’s hard to hide what’s on option. Hundreds of vines can only mean grapes. In the same way, a Faith truly rooted and grafted to Christ can only produce His fruit. We cannot produce anything else. If we do, we need to check our root-stock.

Jesus spoke with a cold clarity. He backed up John the Baptist’s message and added hope to it. Yes, John taught baptism for the forgiveness of Sin – again, no differation. Baptised into Christ is a rebirth. We get a second try.

But habits, and exposure lend us to the point where we believe certin things are simply “how we’re made” rather than an external influence.

DNA can only show so much. Hypothetically it would be possible to clone Hitler and Ghandi, and through exposure to certain formulative experiences reverse their personality traits. They both wanted the same thing.

What if Ghandi, or Nelson Mandela had advocated a blood-bath? A billion people will likely not stay silent as they die in poverty which our lifestyle underscores. The delivery method of the message is the core issue.

The IRA wanted independant representation in the 1970’s, 80’s and 90’s. Their solution made the British Government more and more hard-line. Terrorist force was met with highly trained elite soldiers who fought fire with fire – with deadly results.

The ANC fought for freedom from the white minority in South Africa with a cry of freedom for all. It was achieved, like the IRA objectives, when violence behan to be withdrawn from the table. Ironically, the organisation has not managed to change from a party of revoloution to a party of Government. The potential for great loss is right there. Racist policies abound under the guise of “redressing” the past imbalances, but with few previously oppressed people having access to the level of education required to manage business or govern the country, the result is a steady decline into chaos.

Am I off topic? No, although it could easily be seen tbat way.

Jesus was a man with a single focus: Save mankind.

He spoke simple truth boldly. He didn’t regard the inconvenience of His own arrest, show-trial and execution to be a bother in the long run. With His eyes fixed, He entered Jerusalem with a solid message: God Loves you – no matter what. I’m dying in your place. Walk my path – it’s not easy, but it’s the only way.

Simple. Bold. Confident.

The certainty in His message gets watered down today. We hear Jesus described as a single well point drawing water from the same aquifer by “progressive” leaders. Translation? One size fits all, and your comfort is what matters.

Christianity is not a comfortable Faith.

The Salvation Army, so loved for their wonderful music at Christmas and Easter, were at first assaulted, beaten and sometimes left for dead when they began. The taught against the acceptable climate of the day and the society tried to shut them down and slaughter them.

The Methodist movement was thrown out of the Anglican church for much the same reason – unwavering belief that doctrine – what we believe – is more important than works. The works will flow naturally from a right belief.

Every major denomination has had it’s radical leaders who have pushed against conforming to the pattern of the society of the day. The result is a rich diversity of angles focussed on by Luther, Wesley, Whitfield, Newton, St Paul. On a contemporary level parallels can be drawn with some of the leaders of New Frontiers, who stuck to their understanding and founded a growing family of churches.

Boldness raises Lazarus from the dead. Confidence walks towards the people ready to kill you on the spot and pass through unharmed. Certainty allows the storms of this world and pressure from society to run off like nothing.

Compromise leads to death. Half a story leads to death. Uncertainty leads to death. Spiritually.

We become the rich man from the parable who dies and goes to hell. Our fate is to watch our loved ones heading down the same path and being unable to stop them.

We must stop watering down the Gospel. A return to teaching Black is Black, however you cut it. Sin is Sin. Jesus didn’t practice situational ethics. He simply Loved from a place of Love.

Uncompromising, unwavering Love.

He didn’t judge the woman caught in adultery. They both knew she was guilty. It was irrelevant because she repented. But He warned her to leave the life of Sin.

Somewhere we’ve lost the certainty, and hesitancy has become a virtue.

Luke-warm theology. Inducing vomit in Christ for 2000 years.

I’d rather lose friends and maybe by demonstrating a solid resolute stand recover them through loving them in spite of our differences as they see that what they do is not the sum of who they are to God. Their behaviours, like mine, are not necessarily their own.

I often hear the statement “I can’t believe in a god who makes me this way and then condemns me for it”. I heard it today from a friend of over 30 years. A man I respect and would entrust my physical life to without a second thought. A man of principle and integrity in his ways. A man I pray for to see the Love of Christ available to him in the same way it is to me. Different issues, the same result – separated from God because of it, but reconciled by the Blood of Jesus.

But first he needs to find someone who can gently show him that God isn’t a transcendental Shylock demanding his pound of flesh, but a loving Father who longs to have His Family in relationship primarily – and we can deal with our shortfalls later because of Jesus.

I hope this will reach some ears that have been closed.

Christians should not be beating people down with a big stick. The opposite is true.

We should be building a pen for the lost sheep to find shelter, safety and comfort in.

And all the walls are cross shaped. Clear, Bold and certain.

CS Lewis said it best. Jesus was one of three things: insane, the devil himself or exactly what He claimed to be – God in the flesh.

I spend a lot of time thinking about the possibilities.

It’s a simple concept. Which was He?

Lewis spent some time debating the question with himself before he came to his conclusion.

So what is Jesus to you?

It’s straighforward to a Christian – or it should be.

There’s a growing “inclusive” movement – in addition to the so-called “Progressives” I’ve mentioned before, there’s a growing “liberal” move that sees  Jesus as “a” way to God, not “The” way to God. It’s alarming. Jesus is presented by many people claiming “Christian” as their belief that He was nothing more than a moral teacher. Guidelines to holiness, not a single path.

A “moral” teacher? Seriously?

Jesus was constantly in trouble with the authorities. He didn’t toe the line the society of His day put as “acceptable”. He stood His ground – and they killed Him for it. He lambasted the leaders who were trying to trip Him up. His “Woe to you” messages about the cities were aimed at both the people and the leaders of the religious wing. They hit out at Him with everything they had. They struck Him with anger, hate and envy. He responded by clearing out the Temple, taking time to braid a whip and turn over tables, but pausing to gently free the doves. He caused constant upset.

He was concerned with social injustice. He did speak out for the poor and oppressed.

But He didn’t accept their hypocrisy. He didn’t capitulate to their insistence on the letter of the Law any more than we should accept the situational ethics of today’s society.

So what IS Jesus to you?

He can’t simply be a “good man” with a “moral” message. So what is He to you?

Is He a madman? No sane person could seriously claim what He claimed. But would an insane person have been so influential? Would the leaders of the day have been so intimidated by Him?

A former goalkeeper, David Icke, went off the rails while I was in my late teens. He went around wearing a turquoise tracksuit and declaring he was the incarnation of god. Nobody was threatened by him, and not many took him seriously. He had been a celebrity before, which is probably the only reason anyone ever heard about him.

Was Jesus like that? Was He a madman?

Clearly not. He was a threat to the institutes of the time because He backed up His words with actions. He cemented  His words with action. His speeches were not self-serving and did not make Him central other than as the hub of the wheel. He had no airs and graces that needed Him to be the centre of attention. He sent out the disciples to do the work He began even before His resurrection.

Charlatans and madmen generally seek the attention for themselves. They desire the acclamation of the masses.

So what was He?

Was He the devil incarnate? Did He work miracles and speak out under a demonic influence? Did He undermine the devil’s kingdom with the devil’s power?

Of course not.

He said Himself no divided kingdom would stand. Satan’s power would no more be used by Satan to drive himself out than anything else. His teachings were divisve and stunning. He undermined the power of the Spirit of Death that had the people in it’s grip. He released people from bondage that was clearly dragging them away from God. He pointed to God with everything He did. That doesn’t track with the devil incarnate.

So what was he?

If He was who He said He was, then He is a truly Dangerous person to know. He was a danger to the establishment. He was a danger to anyone who was wilfully trying to separate His family from His Father. He was radically honest, openly forgiving and welcoming to all. He never once turned someone who came to Him away to “learn more” or “it’s not the right time”. Nobody was rejected because of their past. Nobody rejected because of their gender, colour or any other reason except their rejection of Him.

That danger is one that we need to embrace. It’s something we long for – a dangerous companion who will fight for us, guide us and, yes, lovingly correct us. He will challenge us to pursue Holiness. He will invite us to become dangerous as He is dangerous.

But it’s a choice we need to make. Accept Him for who He said He was, or disregard Him as insane or demonic.

But we can’t just accept Him as a “moral” leader.

Mad, Bad or Dangerous.

If I were to write the story of my life – 41 years and counting – I’ve been advised that nobody would buy it to publish simply because nobody would believe a single person could encounter so much heartache and loss in such a short space of time.

A brief summary of the major stuff would be my favourite aunt dying in a house fire, my brother killed in a road accident before his 10th birthday, both my mum’s parents dying young (ish) of cancer, my dad beating one type of cancer, then dying of a totally unrelated cancer a few years later, both his parents dying of age-related heart issues in the form of ruptured vessels, assorted major injuries to myself including torn cartiliedge in my sternum, ribs and knees; back injuries and required surgery on my knees to keep walking. My wife is seriously ill with an incurable illness that will eventually probably be what kills her barring a miracle of healing, and my mum has just been diagnosed with cancer.

And in between times there have been more funerals than I can count and other more minor issues which have affected me profoundly. It’s been relentless. For 40 years.

The video I’m attaching here was sent to me by my mother-in-law this morning to encourage me, but I wanted to share it. I don’t know who the speaker is, but I’d love to, so please PLEASE comment and tell me. I’d love to add a link to him if all his stuff is this profound.

Please watch to the end, and whatever you’re going through remember you – like me – have a “But God” moment coming.

There’s some debate going on about what the facts are about some major issues in the World today. Leaders from all sides have called for a more “realistic” view to be taken by church leaders, from the Pope to the independant church pastors, all church leaders need to address certain issues.

The big one over the last few months has been same-gender relationships, although the Catholic church has struggled with accusations of paedophilia which seems to finally be being addressed by Francis – albeit slowly.

It’s a hard truth that things are not what they once were. Many societies have changed drastically in the last 100 years. Two world wars, many acts of genocide and torture have rocked and changed the planet. Assassinations, coups, oustings and civil wars have shaped the last century in many ways. Israel was recreated. Palestine was oppressed. Wars and Cold War, “armed neutrality” and divided nations.

The world has changed.

God has not.

Society has changed.

God has not.

In terms of society, our Western morals have become alarmingly similar to the ones widespread in the Roman Empire 2000 years ago. The rich get richer at the expense of the poorest in society. Self-interest is more acceptable than group support. Policies and interests of individuals lead to increasingly corrupt behaviours by the “leaders” of our nations. Just like the Caesars.

The church is under pressure to get behind the social “improvements” made by liberty organisations.

In fairness, it probably should. The Church should welcome all comers to their places. It should insist they are met with Love as Jesus would have done.

But there’s something else the Church needs to do.

Not compromise.

I’ve mentioned “progressive christianity” in previous entries, so I’m not going charging down that road again. What I’m referring to is more insidious than an obvious “movement” like the progressives.

There’s a gradual erosion of core values in the Body of Christ in many Western societies. And it’s subtle. So subtle we didn’t notice it.

We were challenged by the immorality of the wealthy landowners and their greed through the first 1900 years after Jesus, and the Church – aside from some errors regarding pre-destination – fought the corrupt influences. But something happened around 100 years ago we didn’t notice.

The move towards the lower reaches of society having money began. Suddenly anyone could be a millionaire. Cattle-barons in America sprang out of nowhere. In Europe the sudden vacation to the former colonies and the tragic loss of a generation in the Great War from 1914-1918 meant the lower echelons of the upper classes lost their servant base. They essentially became the upper-middle class, and the lower classes who were left were able to begin to demand higher incomes. So poverty began to be reduced, but there was still a gap and probably always will be.

What has this got to do with God?

Wealth and prosperity became synonyms. Where before the poorest had understood there was a difference between money and prosperity, now it got lost. Ambition and desire were used as words to replace the previous concept of greed and covetousness. Coveting what your neighbour had became a way of life that was so subtle we as the Church missed it. A society of “keeping up with the neighbours” grew. “Surface” wealth appeared – 2 cars on the drive but nothing in the pantry to eat. The trappings of the enemy dug in their claws.and society drifted a little away from God’s way of doing things.

Then the Second World War eliminated another generation of men and fathers and those children began growing up in a world where there was significantly less moral guidance from previous generations than ever in history. The result? the “Free Love” movement of the 1960s and 1970s.

“Love” and sex became synonyms. By the time Generation X (my people) came along, there was a social acceptance of pre-marital sex in the West. Divorce instead of reconciliation became the norm, and now that has become pre-nuptual contracts deciding who gets what when not if the divorce happens. I have even heard it suggested that a standard marriage contract be for a fixed period to reduce the divorce rate. The lunacy of the concept is that it didn’t seem odd to suggest it. “Do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife until this time five years from now, at which point the contract can be renegotiated” just doesn’t have the same sound to it. Marriage became a concept outmoded and irrelevant to “modern” Westerners.

Until the last five years.

The erosion firmly in place on the concept of marriage being God’s creation and gift to Mankind allowed the claws to tighten their grip more. So now the recognition of “civil unions” between same-sex couples has become an issue. And the society has been so eroded and drawn away from God’s standards that it can’t see the downfall it has made for itself. The West believes it is “evolving” into a better society. Equality for all under the law of the land. “Unity” between races and genders. And all of it dragging the bewildered church with it.

The church makes an effort to become relevant now by cloning itself to the patterns of society. It fights for “social justice” and “equality”. That sounds like something Jesus would do, right?

Well, yes – to a point. Jesus would speak to them about where they were. He’d come and talk stocks and bonds to the bankers. He’d talk bricks to the builder and contractors. He’d extend Love to the prostitutes and forgiveness to all.

Just like last time.

But He’d also tell them to stop their life of Sin.

Just like last time.

He didn’t say to a single person “God will be ok if you carry on as you were”. He didn’t tell people to keep going. He invited them to stop. To be transformed into what He was.

Paul puts it “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” (Romans 12:2) We can only “prove” or discern or understand depending on the translation the will of God through a transformation of our mind away from the pattern of the World. 

We conform and we die.

We transform and we move into His Life.

Yes, social justice is important. A secular society should have equal rights for all its citizens.

But Church isn’t a secular society. It needs to acknowledge Sin as Sin. Otherwise there’s nothing to make it distinct from society. Jesus didn’t abolish the concept of Sin. He stood in our place and took the penalty for it. If we redefine behaviour and fail to recognise the sinful nature of it we remove any possibility of those people seeking redemption for those behaviours. The result is that those behaviours stay with us, and we die to them instead of to Christ.

All because we conformed instead of allowing Him to Transform us.

It rained here yesterday evening.

Only a few minutes, but a welcome relief after weeks of blistering heat. It took the heat out of the house and cooled the air inside, making it fresh and bearable – if not completely comfortable. Such is life in Cape Town this year.

I don’t do well in the heat. I used to wear short sleeves in the snow in England, so 30+ degrees in Africa isn’t pleasant for me.

It’s been raining here for some time spiritually. In a very negative way, there’s been a flood as damaging as the storms beating the Devon coastline in England for the last few days going on for several years.

For a guy who believes with his whole heart that the price Jesus paid at Calvary includes more than just life after death, much more in fact, it’s been difficult.

I believe that as Christians bought by Christ’s blood on the Cross that He gave us certain rights through that sacrifice – and I’m basing on witnessed experience as well as Scripture here.

1) Eternal Life: Eternal means “unending”, not “after this one”. It starts here. It starts now. Jesus says (John 17:3) that Eternal Life is to know the one True God, and Jesus Christ who was sent by Him. Ergo; Relationship with God restored is the first fruit of being Born-Again, and that can only come by Faith in Jesus.

2) Salvation from Hell: Along with Eternal Life comes Salvation. The term has been so badly abused in just my adult life (20-23 years depending on if you take 18 or 21 as “adult”) that it almost makes me want to cringe. Almost. When I’m talking to myself or people who think the way I do, I still use the word as there’s a common understanding of the use. Outside that circle, I try to avoid it. But I struggle to find a more accurate word in modern parlance that fits the concept. Mike Yaconelli at Greenbelt in 1991 suggested “Captured” – a concept I liked, but it has a connotation of something against one’s own will. Whatever the word we use, not going to spend eternal existence seperate from God (Truly Hell) is a big plus.

3) Physical & Emotional Health: Whoa there, David… You mean healed after we die, surely? NOPE! In this life. Of any illness. I don’t care what the doctors say (bearing in mind I’m married to one!). In Christ there’s no such thing as “incurable” illness. OK, maybe that should be “unheal-able” illness. Illness is part of the curse. The Law insisted on it. The Law has been fulfilled. Our command was to lay hands on the sick and see them recover. Heal the sick. Not pray for them. Heal them. Cancer? AIDS? Diabetes? Yep. All of them and more. But it’s harder to live this than Eternal Life and Salvation. There’s no physical manifestation of those in this life. But people can see if you don’t get better.

4) Prosperity: OK, too far now… That just means Spiritually, surely?. Not from the context Jesus teaches. He talks about trusting for the least when He talks about money. If we can’t even trust for our daily bread – or the cash to buy it – how can we possible trust for Health or miracles? Yes, financial wealth can be a manifestation of the Spiritual state. Not the only one, but the most straighforward to see.

5) Persecution: Hang on… that’s a blessing? Yep. It keeps you honest. If you don’t ever come under fire from the enemy, maybe you’re movong in his direction.

Point 5 makes sense of the other 4. It keeps us in perspective.

I hate it. But it’s real.

In the last few weeks most of my life has turned upside down. But not on me directly.

I really don’t care about my physical being. Live or die is easy for me. But I get bugged when things happen to the ones I care about.

For a long time I kept people at arm’s length. It cost me my engagement in 1999 – but that was a good thing for both of us. I’ve lost much because of that. Now I hold the ones I love close, but that means getting hurt when my Faith takes a pounding as they suffer.

My wife has been unwell. Seriously unwell for some time now. We lost our business in December and moved in with my mum so we could get our house repaired enough to put it up for sale for as much as we owe on it. We still will probably be short now, but a lot closer than we were then. The stress has been very hard on her and exacerbated her condition. Financially, we’re broke. Spiritually we’re prosperous. The two terms are not synonyms. But “broke” is a state of bank balance. “Poor” is a state of mind.

Yesterday my mum was diagnosed with breast cancer. My wife took the news hard – she seems to almost be closer to mum than I am right now. The stress of it meant we didn’t sleep last night. I’m currently running on one hour’s sleep in the last 38. I expect to pass out before I finish writing.

My mum, however, has no fear. Not showing any anxiety. Got up today and did her normal stuff. The only mention of the diagnosis is her irritation that in this heat, because of the wound where they took the biopsy not fully closed yet, she can’t cool off in the pool! Well, that and her maltese dog, Scallywag (a name that fits him) keeps jumping onto her lap and bouncing off the bruising around the wound.

I always thought of my dad as the “spiritual” one of the two. He died of cancer in 1999, but we shared many conversations and revelations of our walk as Brothers, as well as father and son, over the years. Getting mum to talk about anything meaningful to me has always been difficult. I think my wife actually knows her better than I do – not because we haven’t tried to communicate but because we don’t speak the same language. Not even remotely.

So I’m encouraged by my mum. It’s an odd feeling.

But she’s reminded me of something.

When persecution causes rain to fall in our lives, whether it’s persecution in the form of discrimination, illness, financial ruin, death threats or anything else that by withdrawing from Christ could alleviate the issue through unethical or corrupt behaviour, the key to survival isn’t staying dry.

It’s dancing in the Rain.

In my last few entries I’ve mentioned the “Progressive Christianity” movement. My intent is that this will be the last entry – at least for now – on this subject.

The Gospel is not complicated at it’s core. Accept the sacrifice of Jesus, allow Him to bridge the gap between us and God, and be reconciled with our Heavenly Father through Him. And only Him.

Straightforward.

Paul mentions things leading us away in 2 Corinthians 11. He talks about us needing to be cautious if someone comes teaching something other than the Gospel we first received. That thought is my basis for my concerns over the “Progressive” movement. It dilutes the Gospel I first received and mixes it with other religious systems. It denies things the Bible calls Sin and deems that we “enlightened” people of the 21st Century know better than the Apostles and Prophets.

At it’s core, Christianity is a very simple Faith. Living a Christian life is harder when bombarded by the constant list of rules and regulations men have added to Jesus’ teachings. The trick is to go beneath the 2000 years of rubble and dogma that have been piled on the core message of the Gospel.

Firstly, the Gospel is Good News. Literally. The word has been transliterated to English, but actually means “Good News”. Jesus spoke simple truths to the people of His day. He didn’t come in Judgement – that will only come on the Last Day according to the Bible. He came for a mission. He told us what it was in Luke 4:18-21

Next, the Mission of Jesus was not to do away with the Law. What was sin in the Old Testament is still sinful in the new. It’s just paid for. 

Your $20,000 car or $100,000 house doesn’t become worth nothing once you’ve made the last payment. It’s still worth $20,000 if you pay cash on the day. A Stradivarius Violin isn’t worthless because it was paid for. Sin’s price has been paid, but it’s still sin. Jesus forgave the woman caught in adultery (notice it doesn’t specify the gender of the other person), but rather “Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.””

“Leave your life of sin”. The phrase speaks through the ages. She’s not condemed, but forgiven. Yet Jesus tells her to stop living a sinful life. Whether the  co-adulterer not brought out was a man or another woman, Jesus doesn’t ask because it doesn’t matter. The fact is that sin is sin, irrespective of who you sin with. He says stop.

He doesn’t say “I forgive you, go and continue as you were.”

He says “Leave your life of sin”

No ambiguity. No details asked or offered. What He effectively is saying is “You know what you’re doing is wrong. I know what you’re doing is wrong. Stop doing it!”

We mustn’t reclassify behaviour as no longer a sin because of modern “wisdom”, specifically because God’s wisdom is foolishness to men. If God is the same yesterday, today and for ever, then surely His definition of sin is as well. And we don’t have the right to try to change that.

And I’m not only talking about sex here.

Greed, selfishness, idolatry and all the others in Genesis to Revelation are more rampant today than ever in history. But we ignore most of them. “Greed” gets relabelled as “Success”, “Selfishness” as “ambition”, “Idolatry” as “Respect” and then ignored.

Be not deceived, God is not to be mocked. Or taken lightly.

But we do. We recreate God in the sanitised version we’d like. Remove all hints of true Justice and as Dorothy L Sayers put it “Pare the claws of the Lion of Judah”. Pull His teeth. Make Him less so He fits in the box we want for Him. Then tell everyone He’s not in a box (unless it’s ours, then it’s ok).

We do this at our peril. If we try to change God to fit our wants, we shatter who and what He truly is. Present tense. We are not qualified to judge God’s opinion of what is and is not sinful. He is a Righteous God, and any unrighteousness is abhorrent to Him now, just as it was 2000BC. Just as it will be in 2000 years if He waits that long.

The fact that one known “Progressive Christian” describes the movement as taking “the Bible seriously but not necessarily literally, embracing a more interpretive, metaphorical understanding; emphasizes orthopraxy instead of orthodoxy (right actions over right beliefs); embraces reason as well as paradox and mystery — instead of blind allegiance to rigid doctrines and dogmas; does not consider homosexuality to be sinful; and does not claim that Christianity is the only valid or viable way to connect to God (is non-exclusive)” (Kissing Fish: Roger Wolsey) demonstrates a clear deviation from what Paul wrote and Jesus taught in the New Testament. It also deviates from what the Law taught in the Old Testament. If Christianity through Judaism were not the only valid or viable way to connect with God, why then was the slaughter of anyone who worshipped Baal necessary? Why eliminate the entire population of what became the territories of Israel? Why not just move in and coexist?

Why destroy Sodom and Gomorrah? I’m sure a “progressive” response would indicate this was a metaphor or a myth or a moralistic fiction, but then why mention it at all if their behaviour was not sinful and didn’t block relationship or right standing with God? 

The “Progressive Christianity” concept of (as Wolsey puts it) leaning towards panentheism and inclusiveness with an emphasis more on right actions than right beliefs is dangerous ground. It promotes salvation by works rather than Grace, universalism not Christ as the one way to God and condemns people who call a sin a sin, especially if that sin is homosexual behaviour. Right actions come from a place of right beliefs, they don’t lead to it.

True Christianity by comparison teaches Salvation by Grace through Jesus, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:8-10) The social justice, environmentalism and non-violence these “progressive” beliefs claim as their own should flow naturally from True Christianity. John 14:15 says “If you [really] love me you will keep (obey) my commands” (Amplified). The inferrence is that keeping Jesus’ commands flows out of loving Him. The concept of signs and wonders following the believer confirms this. First comes the relationship, and the works are borne out from there. Faith produces action. Without works, Faith is dead as James puts it. But Faith will produce action – action will not produce Faith.

So finally I’ll try to leave the concept of “Progressive” changes to Christianity alone. Anything other than the Gospel we received when we first were saved should be discounted and rejected. So says St Paul. The social stance may be admirable, but the “evolution” of what this sect teaches moves away from the Jesus of the Gospels and the God of the Bible. They are welcome to the term “progressive” while it means “conforming to the pattern of the world”, which every explanation of their beliefs indicates.

Personally, I’ll look to the renewing of my mind, and the Godly Transformation the Bible promises with it.