Christmas is Stolen and It is Not Harmless – Worth a Retelling
Standing in the shopping mall, those tomb-side words on that chill first Easter morning came to me, “They have stolen Him away and we don’t know where they have put Him”, words true for most contemporary Australians. But worse, society’s degraded state of spiritual desiccation is now so far advanced that most don’t even know…
How the West Was Shaped – The Bible-
Today there is a widespread embarrassment about confronting the role of the Christian church in the formation of the Western world… Yet there is a strong case to be made that our conception of society and of a just legal system cannot be fully understood apart from that debt. When we ignore it, we fail…
When It Comes to Eternity Theology Matters
‘‘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’
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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!
Tears Falling on Beautiful Feet
Easter is a certainly is a time to laugh and dance with joy in what Jesus did for us, but it is also a time to weep Jesus’ tears for people like Jack, our family, friends, colleagues who have rejected Him.
It’s Time to give ‘Hot Fish Buns’ a Run Again
The Hot Cross Bun is so common all year round nowadays that for most in the West it has largely lost its meaning. So here is a Flyer that (together with a Bun!) can draw people back to the real meaning of Easter. *** In the first centuries A.D, society was hostile to Christians, so…
Christianity Without the King
To rebuild western civilization we need to go back to what made western civilization such a powerful force for good and prosperity and that is the Judeo-Christian world view. This is complex as many want the values without the Saviour.’
The Road to Heaven is Strewn with Missional Roadblocks
The Road to Heaven is Strewn with Missional Roadblocks
A New Year’s Choice
And he replied: “Go out into the darkness and put your hand in the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”
Painting God’s Picture
How many are there in the church today, who have been members for fifteen or twenty years, but have never done a solitary thing for Jesus Christ? . . . . they cannot point today to one single person who has ever been lifted up (to heaven) by them.’
A Cultural Insight
Pondering on this cultural collage, it occurred to me that it was a perfect reminder of the West’s descent into the neo pagan Vacuum formed by the retreat of Christianity from 21st century society.
Christmas is Stolen and It is Not Harmless – Worth a Retelling
Standing in the shopping mall, those tomb-side words on that chill first Easter morning came to me, “They have stolen Him away and we don’t know where they have put Him”, words true for most contemporary Australians. But worse, society’s degraded state of spiritual desiccation is now so far advanced that most don’t even know…
Vacuum 4 – The Enemy, That Hideous Strength
‘This ‘Hideous Strength’ is far more fearsome and all-embracing than Lewis envisaged over 70 years ago. The technology available is far more potent and far reaching in its ability to capture imaginations and minds than at any point in the world’s history. The political will of the opponents of Christianity is strong and unrelenting. The…
Collapse – We’ve Seen this Movie Before
‘The former long-serving Australian foreign minister, Alexander Downer, recently asked a very important question.
‘Could western civilization finally collapse?’
What would be your answer to that question I wonder?
Common Illusions and the Sound of the Cuckoo
In this time of catastrophic and ongoing decline in Christianity in Australia, and the western world generally, simplistic assessments of church vitality will only compound our missional failure. What is actually needed is a forensic critical analysis of churches and the reasons for their long-term failure to make Disciples of Jesus in anything like the…
A Third Elephant – Don’t Mention the War (With apologies to the TV series Fawlty Towers)
“the culturally compliant strain of Christianity promoted in Australia does not oblige (people) to embrace lifestyle choices that might involve discomfort.”
Vacuum 2 – Compassion
The retreat of Christianity in western countries has left a Vacuum, that has been filled with a whole range of fundamentally demonic influences that are tearing the fabric of society. While it is a spiritual vacuum, there are material consequences. One of these is the loss of the God-reflecting exercise of Compassion flowing from a…
Another Elephant – The ‘Success Illusion’
“Hear this Word, this lament I have concerning you.
I hate! I despise your religious gatherings; your church services are a stench to me.
Even though you give money in the offering plate, or on-line, I will not accept it. Though you give offerings for special causes and occasions, I will have no regard for…
