Marriage confirmed!

Last Sunday, 65% of Croatians voted in favour of a referendum officially amending their constitution to define marriage as being only between a man and a woman.  This is probably the reason why David Cameron refused a referendum to the people of England and Wales, and why Alex Salmond continues to refuse a referendum to the people of Scotland!  They knew, and know, that a similar result would be likely to be produced.

A petition campaign has been created to thank the Croatian voters for their stand.  Please join in solidarity by signing this petition at:
 
http://www.citizengo.org/en/1051-thank-you-croatia

Soon after the historic vote a media assault began. News outlets around the world were headlining phrases calling them "anti-gay” and "homophobic,” Hollywood celebrities made statements against Croatians, and lobby groups began to mobilise.

Those of us who support marriage, as instituted by Almighty God, must stand in solidarity with the Croatians, thanking them for defending the family and protecting the definition of marriage. We must let them know that the voices of Hollywood celebrities, news media, and powerful rich lobby groups do not speak for the rest of the world.

It is surely the hope, and prayer, of many of us that this would be the beginning of a 'fight-back' in support of the moral standards that have underpinned our society since the beginning of time.    

Please take a moment to sign the petition, and thus encourage the people of Croatia at this time.

Who is your master?

Juxtaposition is a lovely word!  It means the act of positioning close together (or side by side), usually in order to make an emphasis.  Yesterday, I experienced an unusual juxtaposition.  Well, an 'almost one'!

At the morning worship service in Wishaw Baptist Church the pastor is leading us through that passage in the Gospel according to Matthew that is generally referred to as The Sermon on the Mount.  Yesterday, we reached 6:24 - "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon."  In the version that was being read, that Aramaic word 'mammon' is usually translated as 'money'.

I don't wish to rehearse the full message, but one of the key points that was made is that what is being referred to here is mastery.  The original hearers would have known that, in their culture (and we must always be careful to consider the original culture!), in which a slave was the absolute property of his master, serving two would have been impossible!  So, Jesus is saying, if we allow money to be our master - and in our materialistic, consumer-orientated, society, that is not difficult - then we cannot be whole-heartedly following Him!

Then, last evening, my wife and I were at the Sunday Fellowship Meeting of Preshal.  The speaker was someone whose name, at least, is known to many people.  It was a certain Brian Souter, a man who is, financially, much wealthier than I am ever likely to be!  However, no-one who didn't know about him would ever have guessed it!  He is, as I already knew, as 'common', and down-to-earth as it is possible to be.  He is, to me, the living proof that it is possible to have a great deal of money in one's bank account - and still be a slave of Jesus.

So, the importance of money is not how we gain it; how much of it we give away; or how we garner it (sorry - that's the best I can do for alliteration!!).  It's the place it holds in our lives.   I am currently working on vol.2 of my book series (this one is on Foundations of the Faith).  This evening, I have started looking at the Ten Commandments.  The first of those reads: "I am YHWH your God, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.  You shall have no other gods before Me." (Ex.20:2-3).  It is when money - or anything else - takes His place, that we find ourselves losing touch with Him!

Paul wrote "... I have learned, in whatever state I am, to be content." (Phil 4:11).  As we commence the inevitable count-down to Christmas, may our eyes be fixed, not on the commercial advertisements that would happily see all of us drown in a sea of financial debt, but on "... Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith Who, for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." (Heb 12:2).

That is how we will find true peace, true contentment, and true joy. 

Egypt – Political developments, but continued persecution.

Political developments in Egypt have raised hopes for the future of the Christian community. The committee tasked with re-writing the Egyptian constitution has voted in favour of articles that would grant religious freedom to all citizens. It also adopted a transitional article cancelling the existing requirement that Christians must obtain a special presidential permit before building or renovating a church.

These positive moves come as Egypt’s Christians continue to suffer at the hands of Islamists. For example, on 1st November a group of Islamists marched on a church in Cairo, shouting anti-Christian slogans, immediately after leaving Friday prayers at a nearby mosque. The attackers tore down a banner in front of the building and daubed the façade with graffiti insulting Christians.

The Christian community has also been beset by a spike in kidnappings since demonstrations by Islamic hardliners were broken up on 14th August. One Christian man, Hany Sedhom, endured a horrific ordeal in late September. His captors dragged him out of his car, slashed his face with a knife, hit him on the head with a rifle butt and drove him into the desert. For 48 hours he was beaten, threatened and denied food and clean water. But Hany remained steadfast; he said, “… every step of the way, every moment of pain, I could feel God there with me, telling me, ‘I’m going to save you.’”

Let those of us who also claim to be disciples of Jesus give thanks for Hany’s faith under pressure, which is typical of the trusting and non-retaliatory response of Egypt’s Christians to their recent persecutions.

Give thanks too, for the planned moves towards full religious freedom. The draft of the new Egyptian constitution is due to be completed at the end of November and will then be put to a referendum.

Pray that the final version will guarantee true freedom to Egyptian believers, and relieve them of crippling restrictions on their ministry and mission.

Sex!

Given my contention of a few posts ago, that the names/words in the 'label list' seem to determine the number of visitors to the blog, and readers of individual posts, it will be interesting to note if there is a significant increase on this occasion!

Anyone who has accessed the blog on the strength of the heading to this post, expecting some salacious snippets of sexual shenanigans, is going to be very disappointed!  However, I hope that you will read on, and even check out some of the previous posts!

Sex, as I was growing up, was a taboo topic.  'Nice' people didn't discuss it; children knew nothing about it.  How things have changed!   On this morning's Today programme, on BBC Radio 4, was the disturbing news that, according to a report by the Office of the Children's Commissioner for England (although it is reckoned that the situation is similar throughout the U.K.), children as young as 12 are carrying out sexual violence against each other!

According to the report, gang rape is not uncommon; almost 40% of the young people who responded to the survey said they knew of cases of youngsters exchanging sex for drugs, alcohol or to pay off a debt; and more than 30% gave examples of girls being used as bait to attract and “set up” male members from rival gangs. 

A separate survey, the National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles, shows that women have caught up with men in the 'sexual revolution' - and have even overtaken them in the case of same-sex relationships - but they are still the ones who pay the biggest price in terms of sexually transmitted infections and unplanned pregnancies.   Four times as many women now report same-sex experiences with other women compared to 20 years ago. They are also starting to have sex earlier in the lives and are having more sexual partners over their lifetime than a generation ago.  However, 10% claim to have been forced to have sex against their will - which I would have classed as 'rape'!

Sex was designed by Almighty God.  Within the confines of marriage, as He ordained it (i.e. between one man and one woman) it is a good activity, free from guilt or shame.  It is the means of procreating the human race, and the family is still the bedrock of society - even although, in certain parts of the world, we seem to be determined to undermine it!

It was, it could be argued, the 'sexual revolution' of the '60s that brought sex 'into the open'.  Since then, we have witnessed a persistent pushing out of the boundaries.  Homosexuality, once considered to be a crime, was decriminalised, then accepted, and is now, by some, viewed as being the equivalent of heterosexuality!

The World-Wide-Web (Internet) has been, and is, a vehicle for much that is good.  Just last evening, I was commenting to a friend that I find it invaluable for research for the writing of books; the preparation of sermons (no scratching my head for hours trying to remember an appropriate illustration/quotation!); the expansion of my general knowledge.  However, it is also the disseminator of pornographic images such as are blamed in the report on the sexual activity of children.  It is little wonder that children act as they do when such images of violent sexual activity is available to be viewed in their own bedrooms.  It is there, it is claimed, that even young boys are 'learning' that females are there to be used for the boy's own sexual gratification. Parents, too, have abrogated much of the responsibility for the rearing of their children to 'professionals' - who are not with them in the home.

The basic problem, then, is in the mind.  When I started taking an interest in computing, I was taught the acronym GIGO - Garbage in; Garbage out.  If I feed my computer rubbish, that is all that it will regurgitate.  The same is true of that most specialised, and powerful, 'computer' - the human mind.  If I constantly fill my mind with garbage, then garbage is what will result in my words, and in my behaviour.  That is the great wisdom of the words of Paul: "Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." (Rom 12:2; emphasis added).

Is there an answer?  Of course there is - although, sadly, those who are the 'trend-setters' and the 'elite' of our society are unlikely to espouse it.  Paul, under the inspiration of God the Holy Spirit, also wrote: "...  whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." (Phil. 4:8).

If more of us were to respond, positively, to such a challenge, what a difference it would make to our personal lives; to the lives of our families; and to the very society in which we live.

It's a matter of pre-eminence!

A.N.Onymous may well be one of the most prolific writers of all time.  The name (in its more familiar form of, simply, "Anonymous"!) crops up all over the place.

I recently came across this poem, penned by the aforementioned author:

Not merely in the words you say;
not only in the deeds confessed;
but in the most unconscious way
is Christ expressed.

Is it, perhaps, that saintly smile?
Maybe the light upon your brow?
Oh no!  I felt His presence when
you laughed, just now.

For me, it's not the truth you teach - 
to you, so clear; to me, so dim -
but, when you're near, you always bring
a sense of Him.

So, from your life, He beckons me;
and, from your heart, His love is shed.
'Til I lose sight of you, and see
the Christ instead.

For those of us who claim to be disciples of Jesus, those are challenging words - well, certainly to this particular disciple!  How often do others, who do not claim to have a personal relationship with Him, sense His presence when I am around?  Or is it the case that they see no more of Him in me than they do in anyone else?

John the Baptiser expressed what should be the desire of every believer, when he said, concerning the Saviour: "He must increase, but I must decrease." (John 3:30).  The old preachers would often say -that there are three 'classes' of Christian: third-class, in whom Christ is present; second-class, in whom Christ is prominent; and first-class, in whom Christ is pre-eminent!

May all of us who own His name seek to be 'first-class' disciples - not that we might be more highly thought of, but that all of the glory might go to Him.