‘How then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone telling them?’
Easter and the Strange Case of the Cheshire Cat
The Forgetting of Light
The Church’s reason for existence is to shine the light of God in the deepening spiritual darkness, to exude the fragrance of heaven that will drive away the stench of hell on the nostrils, which permeates the lives of those stumbling in that darkness. It cannot do this however when it hides behind its walls, whether bespoke building or house, it is the same
An Iconic Year?
The purpose of being in the Image of God, our King, is to use our lives in ways that are a Kingdom presence such that we represent God to others
That Ancient Serpent, That Ancient Poison
‘The LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the LORD, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.’
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 there has been a theft!
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!
