‘‘Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man; we shall this day light such a candle by God’s grace in England as shall never be put out’
When It Comes to Eternity Theology Matters
A Stark Choice – Movement or Not
Early Christianity was a Movement that took on and conquered the all-powerful Roman Empire. Roman society was Pagan, largely amoral and pluralistic, everything the Christian world view was not, as well as being actively hostile to Christianity and Christians who were seen as ‘weird and depraved killjoys’. This hostility resulted in persecution, sometimes severe particularly in the reigns of Emperors Nero and Diocletian Nevertheless, by the early 4th century AD, Rome was, at least officially, a Christian Empire. So how did the Roman Empire go from being thoroughly pagan to Christianity becoming the state religion?
Consider The Humble Dandelion
As kids growing up, one of the games we used to play was blowing Dandelion seeds from the Dandelion stalk and seeing how the wind took them. Great fun we thought but not Dad who had just dug half a dozen Dandelion weed plants out of his treasured lawn. However, that blowing in the wind game, where we do not know where the wind will take the seed or which will take root and grow, can I think act as a metaphor for how God transmits the gospel.
In a Post-Truth World Justice Dies – Complete Version
Pontius Pilate famously asked Jesus the question ‘What is Truth?’, a question particularly relevant in these times when it is frequently said that we live in a ‘post-Truth’ age. A major characteristic of the socio-spiritual cultural Vacuum that has formed since the loss of the Judeo-Christian ‘Built-in-operating-system’, and its moral guidelines for western society, is … Continue reading In a Post-Truth World Justice Dies – Complete Version
Bible People with Anorexia
Recently a comment was made on an article I had posted which I couldn't remember so I decided to look it up. On doing so I saw that I had written it in 2014, a long eleven years ago! On re- reading it I realized that not much had changed in those eleven years (not … Continue reading Bible People with Anorexia
Western Values and When ‘The Main Thing’ Isn’t
There seems to be a general ignorance of, or a deliberate unwillingness to accept, that the lamented loss of ‘Western values’ is the result of the decline of Christianity and the corresponding loss of the biblical moral operating system essential to the control of western democracy. Thus, and here is the key issue, the restoration of a biblically controlled democracy and the values flowing from it, requires the re-evangelization of Australia.
Christianity-Lite and the Death of Mission
"C.T.'s life stands as some rugged Gibraltar — a sign to all succeeding generations that it is worthwhile to lose all this world can offer and stake everything on the world to come. (C.T.’s) life will be an eternal rebuke to easygoing Christianity. He has demonstrated what it means to follow Christ without counting the cost and without looking back.”
Principles – A Case Study
The cultural principle needed for our 21st century mission to local communities can be summed up with this slogan – ‘Their place, Their style, Their language, Their time’
Vacuum 5 –The Melancholy, Long, Withdrawing Roar – And the Sound of Truth Dying
Essential to the nature of God is that He is Truth, that is a singular noun, not Truths. However, to use the words of Daniel, in our society ‘Truth has been cast down’ (Daniel 8:12). Indeed, the West is now largely a people ‘who suppress the truth by their wickedness’, and being that God is Truth, the retreat from one singular Truth, is a retreat from God himself.
Easter and the Naked Emperor
As we celebrate receiving the benefits of the exquisite love-borne agony of the Cross, we should remember that the reception of that gift requires signing up as a ‘Soldier of Christ’, and soldiers must fight!
