Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God. To the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.’ (Eph. 1:1-2)

The Church of Jesus Christ is beyond question God’s greatest idea. The entrance of sin into the world disordered everything. It warped humanity, strained relationships, fragmented community, and robbed mankind of hope. The Gospel is the remedy. The Church is God’s shop-front window display of what he offers freely to all. His ultimate vision is ‘…to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, Jesus Christ.’ (Eph. 1:10) Everything will eventually be under Christ’s benevolent rule again.

Most of mankind believes salvation is a human achievement, or at least a joint effort with God in which we play the major part. Actually, we contribute nothing to our salvation but the sin we need to be saved from. Paul credits our rescue entirely to God – the Triune God of the Bible. Jesus is central to this recovery so we make much of him. Deliverance was achieved in full by his faithful life and saving death on the cross, vindicated by his resurrection and exaltation. One who owed nothing settled debts we could not pay. The result is a new humanity, intimately related and reconciled to God and one another then empowered by his Holy Spirit.

Read more »

BBC 1′s Breakfast News on 14th June 2011 discussed Sir Terry Pratchett’s controversial documentary Choosing to Die broadcast the previous night, with its strong promotion of assisted suicide/euthanasia. It featured businessman Peter Smedley, a sufferer with Motor Neurone Disease who died before cameras in the Dignitas clinic, Switzerland. Pratchett, an Alzheimer’s sufferer, eagerly promotes the legalisation of the sufferer’s right to choose when and how they should die. I found his conversation and selected scenes from the program disturbing and sickening. Death holds many fears – What will happen? Who will be there? Will I suffer? Will it involve pain or distress? What lies beyond it? Smedley chose to die prematurely, and others assisted him to do this.

Human life needs care and protection, not premature disposal in what appeared to be callous cold-blooded killing with a cocktail of barbiturates. The conversation included reports of the patient’s request for water near his final end. It was calmly reported that this request could not be granted as the poison administered to him orally might be diluted, with the risk of survival or lasting brain damage should he live. This sinister agenda deeply offended me. The Bible says, “Even the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel.” (Prov. 12:10)

Read more »

It’s been a month of great surprises. We’ve eagerly anticipated the start of a new series of Sunday evening sermons on the Gospel of Mark – ‘What if God was one of Us?’ –  for quite a while now (see my introduction to the series on this website). Reading this stunning Gospel has excited me greatly and given me a huge ‘faith’ lift. We meet Jesus again for the very first time, as Mark writes to ensure that Jesus walks off the printed page and straight into the 21^st century. Mark’s theology of Christ’s miracles is that they (1) can create openness to true faith (2) don’t always result in saving faith (3) are hindered by lack of faith (4) can  strengthen a believer’s faith (5) are only a part of Jesus’ total ministry and (6) can often confirm our message to others. Among other things, these truths have led to the experience of three remarkable miracle healings among us this month.

In late April, a new baby daughter called Ruth was born to one of our young couples – Ezekiel and Sydillia. She was named after Ruth, my wife, so naturally we were thrilled with her arrival. But news soon broke while we were on holiday that serious problems had developed. Baby Ruth had severe liver damage leading to kidney problems, serious infection, a suspected brain tumor, possible liver cancer, severe dehydration, coma-threatening low blood-sugar levels, and possibly blindness. Medics on the Intensive Care ward were trying to keep her alive until a liver transplant became available. Many babies don’t last that long and the chances for Ruth’s survival were slim.

Upon our return my wife and I were keen to minister God’s help. We raced to the hospital. Baby Ruth was like a limp rag doll – weak, non-responsive, helpless and seriously ill with her liver INR levels at an alarming 4.9 (the norm is 0.8 to 1.2). Her parents were distressed, but trusting God. I gently took their child from them and held her close, feeling the stress of this sore trial along with them. But the Lord had earlier said quietly to my spirit as I approached the Intensive Care ward, ‘It is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these my little ones should perish.’ Faith comes by hearing!

Read more »

The Labour Party’s recent proposed amendments to the Equality Bill, already rejected by the Lords, are a matter of heated controversy. The Pope has just strongly denounced them as against natural law and an attack on religious freedom, so this gives us all pause for thought. Labour MP Harriet Harman has crafted these new clauses fired by what we hope were sincere motives to advance justice, human dignity, and fair-minded treatment of others. It will inevitably produce the very opposite for some. All faith communities, and particularly evangelical Christians, would be forced to violate ethical standards taught in scripture. They would be compelled to employ church leaders and staff members who openly engage in fornication and immoral sexual activities as well as others who hold religious beliefs contradictory to their own. Conscientious objectors could face expensive lawsuits and heavy fines if they do not comply.

Some beliefs are totally destructive to Christian faith and culture for they are denials of it. Christ charges us to change the world for the better, not bed-down with its shallow-rooted ideas! This legislation is akin to enforcing the freedom of British National Party members to join the Labour Party and hold office, or a radical Socialist revolutionary’s right to work as an adviser to David Cameron and the Conservative Party since we’re all ‘equal’. Thankfully, this ain’t going to happen, for reasons fairly obvious to people of common sense! Sadly, this highly valuable commodity – common sense – once thought essential in decision making and public discourse in Britain, is increasingly hard to find.

I recently re-read a very old letter from a wise and highly respected thinker, who voiced uncommon wisdom on some very important issues that relate to this legislation and should concern everyone who’s worried about the erosion of the foundations within our culture. He urges us to embrace uncomfortable truths and make a stand for them, due to their importance to us all. Here’s an extract:

“I feel very strongly about this huge obligation to tell the truth to all kinds of people across the whole spectrum of human ethnicity and beliefs, even if I’m mocked as a fool for this. The fact is I’m not remotely embarrassed about the life-changing truths I feel compelled to pass on. I’ve already seen their power to transform countless human lives for the better. God can fix anything and anybody up. He plans to rectify everyone who believes this, and then everything else around them.

Read more »

Last Sunday evening, 24th January 2010, Channel 4 launched its new series of seven attractively produced documentaries on the Bible, each hosted by a well-known public figure. Howard Jacobson, the best-selling Jewish novelist and humourist, tackled the awesome subject of ‘Creation’ for the pilot show – truly the foundation for all that’s to follow – and rightly so. The result must have left most viewers confirmed in their suspicions that this foundation is a pretty shaky one, for if Genesis is telling us lies how can we trust the other sixty-five books of the Bible? When does God start telling us the truth?

Back in September 2009, I was invited to participate in this programme by preaching a sermon on Genesis 1 at Westminster Chapel, then being interviewed for 90 minutes by Howard Jacobson. Both would be filmed as material to be included in this hot debate about creation. Howard wanted to find out how ‘fundamentalist’ creationists explain and defend the theology of Genesis. Most ‘fundamentalists’ usually appear not much ‘fun’, slightly ‘dumb’, and occasionally ‘mental’ to me, but I was willing to take the risk and participate.

I found Howard Jacobson to be charming, witty and incisive in his questions. A Mancunian Jew who drifted away from the faith of his fathers and lived a secular lifestyle, he now hovers indecisively somewhere between wistful longings and strong scepticism on the God-question. This was reflected in the whole tenor of the programme.

Read more »