The Rise of Christianaphobia

In our society a trend of ‘christianaphobia’is rising. Christianity is accused of some amazing things and to such an extent that it turns the values of Christianity on its head. In a large circulation Regional Newspaper in England Christianity was recently accused of being the source of the 'tide of disrespect engulfing us'. On a very basic level the principles of Christianity (if practiced) would ensure that peace and harmony ruled on earth as all people would act in the way Jesus Christ described (forgiving, loving etc). It is obvious however that all people have not accepted the salvation that Jesus Christ offers and that sin in the heart of humanity (as also established by Judaism) still results in evil and hurt for all concerned.

The writer chose to focus on one part of the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Other records in the Gospels state that the Lord Jesus did not come to 'destroy the law' as received under Judaism but to 'fulfill it'. This means that the individual who loves the Lord God expresses this in respect of others and respect for authority. The Lord Jesus never undermined the authorities of the day and indeed he encouraged his disciples to 'render to Caesar' the things that belong to Caesar i.e. revenue, tax, civil obedience etc.

The rest of the New Testament (see Romans 13) supports the principal that Christians are expected to obey the authorities and that political powers have been ordered by God and have executive powers from God to rule (with all that that implies). I would suggest kindly that should one choose to take a closer look at the Bible (and in particular the books of Isaiah and Revelation) they would discover that the Lord Jesus Christ has promised to return to planet earth one day and that he himself will dispense summary and immediate judgment on wrongdoing and evil (Revelation 21:8). Sadly unbelief in him is one of the crimes that will qualify for his judgment. This may seem harsh but essentially unbelief is the worst crime of all because of what it leads to. God is light therefore unbelief leaves you in moral darkness. God is truth therefore unbelief leaves you with all that is false. God is life therefore unbelief leaves you with death. God is holy therefore unbelief leaves you with sin, imperfection and that is wicked. Ultimately unbelief leads to all the grosser wicked sins that we readily accept are wrong and harmful. Thankfully today we all have the opportunity to 'believe in the Lord Jesus Christ' to be saved. In that day it will be too late.

So in closing I want to pass on to the readers of this blog a ‘Global Warning’ (excuse the pun). This is not about the effect of the mismanagement of our planet and its resources (important though that is) but about a longer lasting issue. This planet will come to the end of its life cycle one day (see the Bible – 2 Peter 3). However your and my spiritual life will never end. The warning is that if we do not actively get back to God then we will find that we are, on death, forever at a distance from God (and all that God is, love, justice, peace etc). How can we come to God? The answer is in honestly seeking the truth, obeying his command in the word of God. This is to repent of our sin (turn away from it) and place our personal faith in Jesus Christ.

Dare to be different

In the last week I have met a lot of people who are not prepared to think for themselves. They are following the current trend in our society to 'rubbish' belief in God and to ridicule the idea that there might be some validity to faith. If you are reading this blog you are probably not one of these people but you may come across them on a daily basis. Just remember that faith is only as good as the one in whom you trust. This is why it is so important to understand the integrity of the Bible and the historical basis of the facts stated therein.

The Bible states in Psalm 118:8 'It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man'. (incidentally this is the central verse to the whole Bible when you divide it up by the number of chapters and verses - interesting and significant!). The Bible also states that it is better that your faith 'should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God'.

Will you dare to be different? Read the word of God today (The Bible). Start in the New Testament and read the four gospels. Discover the truth concerning the Son of God (Jesus) becoming man and dying 'for the ungodly' (that's all of us, as we did not know God by nature and were disobedient to Him). He (the Lord Jesus) is worthy of your trust and he died to be your Saviour. Pray to him today, search for him in prayer and in reading the Bible. Admit your guilt before God and 'call upon the name of the Lord' and you will be saved. Email me at stephen.baker1@virgin.net and I will be delighted to try to help you.

I'm dying to sit down and have a break

Ever been so busy and in such chaos that you wondered if you would ever make sense of things again. We have been like that in our house this week. We moved into a new house in July and had an extremely busy summer which resulted in us not being in the house much for seven weeks. Then we hit September and chaos reigned. Joiners, plasterers, carpet layers, tilers, plumbers, electricians; you name it - if they had a trade we invited them in to see if they could help. We are nearly at the end now but I thought that we would never get there. Some days you couldn't find the floor never mind a bed.

Maybe your life is a bit like my house. You feel that there is not a lot of order in it. You wouldn't be surprised if you never got it straightened out. In fact it seems impossible to make any sense out of it. Well I have news for you. God can straighten out your life. A man called John is recorded in the Bible as preaching that the Lord Jesus came to make crooked lives straight (the Bible calls it salvation).

But to get it you have to want it!
And to want it you need to understand why you need it.
If you understand what is wrong (our sin and disobedience to God) then you will quickly gather why only God and His Son, Jesus can help you.

The Bible puts it like this. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

Do you know that you are wrong?
Do you want to be forgiven?
Do you accept that you cannot obtain forgiveness anywhere else except from God who you have offended?

Then rest on what the Lord Jesus did for you when he took the punishment for sin upon the cross and know his great salvation today.

Reunions - It's nice to meet up again

I love reunions. At the time of writing this blog I was off to a reunion. Thankfully we all saw each other in the summer when we ran a youth camp together but often reunions mean coming together again after long times of separation.

Not seeing someone can be heart wrenching and difficult!

In the Bible we are told about lots of reunions. The lost son, also called the prodigal son, is welcomed home after a disasterous time away from home. Sin and hurt were the result of a wrong decision he had made. However the Father welcomed the lost son back with open arms when he returned acknowledging that he had been wrong. This story is in the Gospel of Luke chapter 15.

God is like this with us.

We went our own way.
We sinned.
We did our own thing.
We got hurt.
We cannot get it back together without Him.
We need to admit that we are wrong.

When we come he receives us. Why - because the Lord Jesus has taken the punishment for us by dying for our sins. God can forgive us on this basis.

Why not confess your sin and ask God to forgive you - HE WILL.