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Sunday 24 December 2023

The (true) Joys of Christmas!

 

The emperor has no clothes

Sad it is to say, but none of the sources of Christmas joy offered by the world each December will yield true or enduring happiness. 

Indeed, the birth of Jesus shows us that solid joys and lasting treasures are found by turning the worldly ones on their head. 

True joy is being known by God
(...not known by millions)
 
With the annual rise of celebrity-hysteria at this time of the year, the subliminal message is that if you attain fame and popularity, if lots of people follow or like you, then you'll be happy.

But the nativity teaches us the very opposite: that fame does bring upon us the blessing of God. Mary was an unknown Jewish girl, Joseph a humdrum carpenter, shepherding an everyday occupation and Bethlehem a run-of-the-mill Jewish village. 

In the great reversals of the Gospel, God deliberately chooses and values the foolish things of this world to shame the wise, and the weak things of this world to shame the strong. 

Knowing we have been chosen by God - though anonymous to Google Search and to the world - is the key to true happiness.

True Joy is possessing heavenly treasure
(...not lots of money)

Classic FM, one of the UK's favourite secular radio stations has just run a "win £20k for Christmas" campaign. Thousands of people lost their £2 to the one person who collected it all. The radio Ad asked hearers to imagine what an amazing Christmas would ensue in the wake of gaining and then blowing £20K.

From the occupation of Joseph, the song of Mary and the sacrifices Joseph and Mary brought when they presented infant Jesus at the temple, we can be pretty sure that Jesus was born into an ordinary, if not poor, home.

Where did  Joseph, with an ordinary carpenter's wage, get the money to undertake the family's perilous escape to Egypt?  If I am not mistaken, it dd not from savings, but from the providential gifts of the wise men.

The God of heaven did not deem wealth a prerequisite for his Son's happiness or joy. 

Even though this God owns the cattle on a thousands of hills and so Jesus could have been born in a palace, God chose humble beginnings.

True happiness is found in possessing the Pearl of Greatest Price, it's found in storing up treasures in heaven, not in winning the lottery.

True Joy is found in belonging to God's eternal family
(...not in our transient earthly families)

Dare I mention this one? Without being misunderstood or offending? 

When crowds pressed around Jesus one day someone informed him that family members were calling for him. Remember the story?

Everyone expected Jesus to stop what he was doing and give immediate wholeherated attention to flesh and blood.

Of course he would!

Family always come first don't they?

Instead of bowing to the universal expectations of the world Jesus asked, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” Then he pointed to his followers and said, “Look, these are my mother and brothers. Anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother!” (Matthew 12).

In other words Jesus said "I have another family too, an eternal one, and I must think about them also."

We're called to value and honour our flesh and blood - indeed if we fail here Scripture tells us that we are worse than unbelievers. Jesus in the hour of his greatest need made provision for his mother.

But in a season where the brokenness of earthly families is all too evident, and where too much hope is placed in the happy families that cannot be we remember both that in heaven sits the Man Christ Jesus of whom it was true...

 In life, no house, no home
  My Lord on earth might have;
In death, no friendly tomb,
  But what a stranger gave.
    What may I say?
    Heav’n was His home;
    But mine the tomb
    Wherein He lay.

And remember too that our true and eternal family consists of the family of faith (of whom, we pray all our flesh and blood would one day belong.)

With this eternal glorious family of faith we will truly banquet with our Elder Brother at the marriage supper of the Lamb.

Here's a wonderful contemporary song which exchanges the lies of this world with truth of the Gospel:

My Worth is not found in what I own

My worth is not in what I own
Not in the strength of flesh and bone
But in the costly wounds of love
At the cross

My worth is not in skill or name
In win or lose, in pride or shame
But in the blood of Christ that flowed
At the cross

I rejoice in my Redeemer
Greatest Treasure,
Wellspring of my soul
I will trust in Him, no other.
My soul is satisfied in Him alone.

As summer flowers we fade and die
Fame, youth and beauty hurry by
But life eternal calls to us
At the cross

I will not boast in wealth or might
Or human wisdom’s fleeting light
But I will boast in knowing Christ
At the cross

Two wonders here that I confess
My worth and my unworthiness
My value fixed – my ransom paid
At the cross

AI Painting:
"Dalle paint a gaudy bright Christmas tree growing  upside down, pop art"

Thursday 14 December 2023

Reflections on the Joy of Grandparenting

 

A big surprise...

When I first heard the news that I was to become, God-willing, a grandparent for the first time, while delighted, I did not anticipate the intense feelings of affection I would feel towards our first grandchild, Charlie.

The world of literature and poetry is largely silent on this relationship and - perhaps surprisingly - so is the Bible.

The notable and charming exception in Scripture is Naomi in the book of Ruth who was so besotted with her grandson that the womenfolk around her chattered "Naomi has a son!" 

Not a grandson, but a son!

Little baby Obed had clearly made the heart of grandma Naomi sing. 

The same Naomi (whose name means pleasant) who had recently asked everyone to rechristen her Bitter! 

Fortunes of all kinds changed with the birth of baby Obed.

So I have been pondering this whole grandparenting thing... 

A mysterious love

...and the first conclusion I have come to is this: the love of grandparents is beyond rational comprehension. 

A friend who fell in love with his now wife found himself in a parallel quandary - if that's the right word - he could not 'get his head around' the supra-rational experience of falling in love. He obviously thought that he should be able to rationalize everything.

I doubt grandparent love can be explained by biological or genetic connection.

Neither do I think it has much to do with the fact that grandparents see this baby more than others.

As a church pastor I am privileged to have many wonderful little ones in our church. We marvel at every baby and find them as sweet as can be. But there's something deeper happening with grandchildren. It's a mysterious connection.

But why should we be able to understand everything with our incy wincy minds?

One of the weaknesses of the ancient Greeks was to believe that reality started with thought and that reason could even trump blatant facts. So, if by deduction a Greek thinker could work out that horses had 24 teeth in their mouths, no amount of counting them would dislodge the conviction that horses have 24 teeth. A crazy reliance on the mind.

I diverge for a moment, but it was, for example, widely believed by the philosophers, theoretically of course, that no-one could live in the tropics... "it's just too hot" their minds convinced them. That is until some despised unphilosopher types - such as mariners and explorers - proved otherwise.

There is more to life than the mind. There's the invisible heart, the unseeable soul.

Grandparents see life with different experienced eyes

The second conclusion I have come to is that grandparenting is different from parenting.

You say, of course: you don't bear the same responsibility for a grandchild, etc., etc. and etc.

True, but I'm thinking more of the new perspective gained by decades of life experience which means that you view grandchildren quite differently from the way you viewed your own little ones.  

Having been around the block once, we can now see what we never saw before.

On the one hand that means we are less concerned about some of the ups and downs - we know more about stages and seasons - and we know that, as a general rule, all things will pass.

But on the other hand we may be more fearful of wider dangers, for the world today's little ones will have to navigate is filled with more dangers than the perils our children were brought up in. 

I don't believe this is a rosing of the past, I think in the western world it's a simple fact. 

Grandparents get to enjoy the best parts of parenting

Without the exhausting business of childrearing, ranging from sleepless nights to dealing with illness and discipline, grandparents enjoy the best bits of parenting. 

This more hands-off perspective gives grandparents time to ponder, reflect and rejoice in every small advance of speech, in the slightest progress of agility or leap in memory.  

And in the world of smart phone videos we can enjoy these beautiful changes even from a distance.  

Grandparents can give of their Time

Someone once said that in the case of grandparents, love is spelt T.I.M.E.

Grandparents can give to their children time to be on their own and time to rest by taking on the responsibility of grandchildren - even though it only be for a short while. 

My wife and I are grateful for the time our parents gave to us. We would make it an aim to get away from town for a few days every year on our own, for example, at considerable grateful cost to our parents. 

Parenting is an exhausting season of life and marriages can come under extreme pressure on account of the demands of little ones.

Grandparents can give their time.

And discover that for every ounce of time they give, they receive a pound of joy.

(Well, perhaps not quite sixteen to one.)

Grandchildren give hope

Naomi's past had been filled with tragedy. The loss of her husband and two sons in a foregin land. The parting of ways with one of her daughters-in-law. 

In her own words, "the Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me." 

Naomi's return home had not been a hero's welcome either. She was greeted with some disbelief, "Can this be Naomi?" Perhaps her demeanour been forged in the fires of grief. And without any menfolk in her family unit of self and Ruth, she  also found herself impoverished.

Little Obed spelt not only a happier today, he spelt a better future, he spelt hope.

In the UK almost a million and a half elderly folk are lonely and one in four of the 11 million elderly folk in our land (16% of the population) suffer with mental health issues.

Gospel aside, we can but wonder if the lack of contact with children and the deprivation of grandchildren connection is a major cause of sorrow among our precious elderly.

A word to children with children 

So may I include a plea for children with children? Honour your parents by spending time with them yourselves, thus paying them back a fraction of what they once gave to you. And allow your parents the health-giving joy of loving, caring for and watching your little ones grow up.

Don't allow yourself to become so consumed (or possessive) of little ones that you minimize your ties with parents. 

Of course, you must never be bullied by grandparents who cross the line of parental responsibility (and believe me there are some meddlesome grandparents out there), but if you are wise you will seek and value their advice, even though the final responsibility will always belong to you.

A grandparents prayer

From the moment we knew a little one was on its way we prayed three things for our children. (What we pray for reveals what we value.)

I can never remember having prayed that our children would be wealthy, famous or successful in this present passing world, for not one of these things matters a jot in the world to come.

The Lord knows that we have made three frequent requests:

1. That they would come to know the Lord, whom to know is life eternal. This life is like a mist; we are here today and gone tomorrow. And since that future world is infinitely longer than this present one, preparing for it by knowing Jesus has been our number one prayer. Better a converted refuse collector than a pagan professor.

2. That if the Lord has given them the gift of marriage they would marry the right person, which always means that they would marry a believer.

3. That their lives would count in the eternal Kingdom of Jesus Christ. That they would not waste their short earthly lives. That on the last and great day when they stand before the Lord their loving Judge he will say to them "Well done good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’" (Matthew 25)

And this we will shall pray, God helping us, for every grandchild the Lord is pleased to bring into our lives.

 AI Image 
"Dalle draw me a happy grandparent with grandchild" 
(not happy with the age of the grandparent Dalle dished out)

Tuesday 28 November 2023

The natural life-cycle of a local church

 Churches are born - and churches die

Martin Luther once said:

"the Word of God is seldom retained in purity in any one place beyond a period of twenty or at best forty years. The people become accustomed to it, grow cold in their Christian love, and regard God's gift of grace with indifference."

Luther was not thinking about individual churches, but whole regions.

However, what is true about regions can also be true of local churches.

Churches are often born in fervent spiritual and Gospel zeal. But before long the thorns of laxity and tradition stiffle growth.

The plant withers and before too long, sans strength, sans zeal, sans people, sans everything, it dies. 

Any reading of church history, micro or macro reveals the same Judges-arian pattern: rise & fall, rise & fall.

This is one of the reasons churches must be planted all the time in every city, in every community and in every age. 

Even if there are many "churches" in a particular city, it is still in need of new churches because at least some of the existing ones will be in their middle age while others will be in the throes of death.

The Universal Church of Christ, "terrible as an army with banners" suffers no decline but grows, conquers and triumphs through the ages! 

But local churches come and go.  

Travel into almost any Welsh village today and there you will see the pretty conversions of church building to house or church building to shop. 

Gone forever the congregations that once met there.

Ten causes of ecclesiastical mortality

Here are ten causes that can lead to the demise of any local church (sadly the list is unlikely to be exhaustive):

1) Old leaders do not train or give way to new ones

"Old guys rule the world" reads a worldly T-shirt. If older church leaders won't either train up the next generation  - or let go of the reins of "power" (as if church leadership has anything to do with power) the church grows old with their leaders, and before long, out of touch with the contemporary world, it dies.

2) The church gets clogged-up with family relationships

In this scenario long-standing families in the church assume that due to their long-evity they should have long-authority. 

They block or frustrate the progress of every new move forward - unless, of course, it boosts their cause or if they agree with it. 

Once you hear the phrase "family block vote" you are listening to the death rattle of your local church.

3) A one-man band

In this version of the local church the senior pastor is the star attraction of the show. For one reason or another he's the reason for the "popularity" or "success" of the church. 

Sometimes he plods on till he is embarrassingly decrepit (this is especially noticable in the mega so-called churches) and then as soon as he has gone the whole edifice collapses, since it was all about him in the first place.

If the church outlives said illustrious guru, it dwells perpetually under the sad grey cloud of antecedent glory. 

(You can understand when churches that had such a supposed illustrious past make little or no mention of their evangelical champion on their websites: that's not a churlish act, it's a good and neccesary thing, for why should the church of the living be held back by glorified saints? We're not Roman Catholics are we?)

4) Living traditions petrify

Moving away from people to traditions, "We've always done things this way!" is the fourth reason churches die. It does not take long before traditions die hard and a church is simply unable to move with the times, even though it is geared to the Rock.

Even worse than traditions per se - which are not always of themselves bad: every church has traditions - are human traditions that are staunchly defended or justified. We can't change the songs we sing or the music we use because of sound reasons a, b and c. 

Where these traditions are merely the (even good) wisdom of man they spell stockade disaster for the future of that local church.

5) Clinging to a romantic past (that never actually was)

One problem with advancing years, ecclessiastical or not, is a romanticizing of the past. Since the the future is bleak, ageing saints tend to look backwards rather than forwards.

The problem is this: nostalgia plays tricks on us all: that past age was never really as golden as it is made out to be. There were just as many challenges back then, as there are today, just as many setbacks.

Were there really 100 children in the Sunday school in 1983? 

Really? 

Are you sure?

Perhaps on just that one occasion? 

Otherwise, normally, about 30?

This rosing of the past leads to a misguided dictim which accelerates demise: "If God blessed the church in them ol' halcyon days, why should we change the way we do things today?"

6) Clutching at straws

Some churches refuse to acknowledge the patent-inevitable by clutching at every straw the wind happens to blow through the draughty rafters. 

The slightest 'encouragement' is reason to dig the heels of tradition in and plod on - no matter what. A new face, an unexpected gift or a positive comment is all that is needed to perk up the drooping spirit.

The determination is admirable, the outcome largely unchanged.

7) Inward looking

This is often the ultimate reason churches die. Instead of reaching out to the lost, they have become consumed with internal matters.

Like the church building in London that only has windows in the ceiling, none facing the surrounding district, these folks have become heavenly - or perhaps inwardly - minded, but of little earthly good.

8) Confusion between church building and the church

Owning a "church" building is one of the greatest hindrances to acknowledging that a church has, in fact, already died. 

If for example, the same congregation had been meeting in a rented hall, they would have given up the ghost moons ago. 

But through the subtle confusion between "church" and "building" that takes place when a congregation owns property it is possible to imagine that the "church" is alive, "after all lots of bricks and mortar are still here" even though the church itself has long died.

9) Doctrinal error

As soon as the cancer of error blights a church the end is nigh - unless repentance follows heresy. 

We are witnessing this all around us as many of the historical denominations depart from the Gospel - and naturally plummet in attendance.

10) Stuck in a  single-issue doctrinal groove

The final item on my list is more common than many care to admit. A church train gets shunted onto the sidings of some secondary doctrine.

Perhaps it will be a particular view of Israel, a view of Bible translations, an unhealthy over-emphasis on signs of the times.

Satan cares not the name of the siding -  he's just happy that the train stays put and then rusts away.

Over the years, as these churches orbit their alien suns, they either blow themselves up into a thousand discordant smithereens, or die a natural death because no-one but doctrine-clones will - or can - join them.

There's a time to (gracefully) die

As harsh - and difficult - as this verdict may be, there is a time for a church to close, just as there is a time for each of us to die. Not one of the local churches of the New Testament are alive today - that should surprise us not one jot.

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:  a time to be born and a time to die..." (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2)

Straight up.

So entrenched do traditions or power structures become that attempt to revitalise or renew the church may only lead to wasted energy directed towards needless strife - and crucially - away from Gospel endeavours.

It's no shame for a church to acknowledge that their lane, perhaps once a mighty highway, has narrowed into a cul-de-sac. 

Let them rejoice that Jehovah has a hundred other brand new motorways down which his Kingdom Coach will triumph for sure.

Is it not preferable for a church to close nobly and purposefully, rather than to die by prolonged and agonizing attrition?

Sometimes revitalization works, but often, only when the dwindling congregation has reached the state of utter desperation which prises their fingers from all the levers of future decision making.

Churches must be planted - all the time

And, as I have suggested above, because churches naturally die, they must constantly be renewed.

There is never a time in any city or town when it can be said "there are enough churches here."

Plant, plant, and plant again.

AI Image:
"Dalle paint the lifecycle of a church building from birth to death"

Wednesday 22 November 2023

"Help, I always feel unworthy at Communion"

 

A Common Lament

A surprising number of believers feel emotions of unworthiness when communion comes around, and especially when these words of Scripture are read outloud:

"Whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord." (1 Corinthians 11:27)

There are more than one cause of communion sorrow, but we begin with good mourning.

It's good to bewail our sins

The "penitential psalms" - the psalms which focus on our shortcomings (e.g. 32, 38 & 51) - are replete with sorrow. Because of his sin the psalmist "wastes away" and "groans all day long." His guilt "overwhelms" him "like a burden too heavy to bear." 

There is everything proper about godly sorrow for our shortcomings and failures. 

Probably not enough of it our churches today.

It's good to meditate on the sorrows of the Lord Jesus

Furthermore, it is good to mournfully contemplate the sufferings of the Lord Jesus. 

A friend of mine would weep visibly and audibly at every communion. As he meditated on the cross he could not keep back the tears. "See from his head, his hands and feet, sorrow and love flow mingled down. Did e'er such love and sorrow meet or thorns compose so rich a crown?"

But other forms of sorrow may be borne of misunderstanding. 

For example, we may think that God is angry or disappointed with us because of our failures and sins.

Wrong Sorrows

The central doctrine of the Gospel is that we are put right with God by faith alone, made right in his sight, "justified."

It's one of the most liberating - and most dangerous - doctrines in Scripture. Liberating because it means that God views us as perfect and sinless the moment we believe, for "that moment from Jesus a pardon receives." Dangerous because in careless hands it could be twisted to mean "my sin does not matter."

If we are sorrowful because we think that God views us according to our spiritual performance (which is always below par) then our sorrow needs questioning and correcting in the light of the Gospel.

We need to realise afresh that by faith alone we have been made righteous in the eyes of God forever - without a single thought word or deed of ours either contributing to or detracting from that justified status.

And there is more good news.

A double transaction takes place when we are united to Christ by faith. All our sin is placed on him, and he pays for it in full upon the cross, and all of his righteousness is 'imputed' or deposited into our account.

From the moment we taste the gift of faith God views us "in Christ," having all our sins washed away and possessing the perfect life that Jesus lived.

In banking terms, before Christ we were "in the red," bearing an enormous debt of our sin. In Christ not only has our debt been wiped away, God has deposited into the account of our 'righteousness' the perfect obedience of Jesus Christ!

So when we sit at communion we are viewed by God perfected "in Christ" no matter what our own personal shortcomings or failings may be.

The Gospel truly is astounding!

It's important, also, to note the reason Paul included the solemn exhortation to self-examination. 

Unforgiveness and Thoughtlessness

The first letter to the Corinthians was written to a messed-up church. All sorts of divisions abounded in the fellowship. This is situation Paul writes his warning about eating and drinking in an unworthy manner to.

Some Corinthians, for example, gorged themselves at the fellowship meals while others - sitting in their very presence - went hungry!

How could these believers be so uncaring and unforgiving towards their brothers and sisters who were members of The Body of Christ, but then think they could go on and honour The Head of the body by taking the elements?

They despised The Body, but came to the table wanting to honour The Head! Something seriously amiss there!

Eating the bread and drinking the cup with such wrong attitudes towards brothers and sisters is eating and drinking in an unworthy manner.

How to Examine Ourselves

We should never take communion in a casual way, that's the big take away from 1 Corinthians 11. We ought to examine ourselves, and do so before we eat the bread and drink the cup.  

Examine what?

Our relationships with brothers and sisters. Are we harbouring unforgiveness? Then we should freely forgive - even those who may have made themselves our enemies and won't be reconciled with us.

We should examine our beseting sins. We all sin, but to take the elements of forgiveness while we harbour deliberate, unrepentant sin is to make a mockery of the Cross. Godly and sincere repentance is what we need to excercise every day.

We ought to confess all our sins, clinging to the promise of complete forgiveness when we do so. 

We need to feed on Christ by faith. The regular visible reminders of his love and forgiveness which the table represent are one of the basic necessities of our spiritual lives. We must not allow the Accuser of the saints keep us from the table.

Once self-examination is done, our hearts should rejoice. Communion should be a place, not only of godly sorrow, but of delight in a salvation so rich and free.

Examination and introspection may be the first steps of our communion journey, but gladness, joy and thanksgiving should be the destination.

AI Drawing:
"Dalle draw a picture of a person taking communion with a sad face"

Tuesday 14 November 2023

Do theologians exist?

  

 The "t" word

Of set purpose, I do my best to avoid using the word theology.

I never use it in sermons except perchance by accident.

By contrast I love the word doctrine.

At the moment we are exploring Christian doctrine - its uses and dangers, primary and secondary doctrines, the creeds and councils and so on - in monthly talks for everyone at our small little local church. 

My do I love doctrine!

My shelves bow with doctrine books. 

Unfortunately most of them are mistitled:

"Systematic Theology" by Mr Grudem should read "Christian Doctrines" 

"Systematic Theology" by that Berkhof chap should also read "Christian Doctrines"

Misprint "Manual of Theology" by Dagg should read "Christian Doctrines"

(Not going to drag the other heavy chaps off the shelves to emphasize the point.)

Surely, someone protests, this is a debate about semantics, and in particular the interchangeability - or otherwise - of two English words - doctrine and theology.

I wish it was, but it isn't.

It really isn't.

Here are ten reasons we should abandon the word theology and its human cognate,  theologian, and limit ourselves to the words doctrine and teacher.

#1  The t word is not in the Bible

The t word is not in the Bible - that on its own is reason enough to shun it. The Bible uses words like "truth", "doctrine" and "teaching," but never theology.

"But we happily use the word Trinity which is not in the Bible?"

There's a world of difference between the use of the word Trinity and the other t word. 

The word "Trinity" is our attempt to describe in brief what the whole Scriptures teach about the character of God. We needn't use the word Trinity. We could say instead "There is only One God. Nevertheless there are Three who are God. But there are not three Gods, for the Three are One." But that would be clumsy. 

Trinity is shorthand for a wonderful inscrutable Bible truth, a truth we can state but not understand.

But in the case of imposter t, we have good Bible words such as teachings, truths and doctrine; there is no need to introduce a new one. 

#2  The t word is a worldly word

Theology belongs to the large class of secular "ologies", biology, anthropology, biotechnology, etc.

In the same way that biology is the human attempt to understand the living world, and anthropology the human attempt to comprehend mankind, so theology is the human attempt to understand God.

Theology is a part of the vast human enterprise to understand the "other."

Where man is the subject and the "other" is the object.

Doctrine by contrast is different. It does not stand over God assuming that human reason can whip its object into some kind of logical shape, it stands under God wondering if it can fathom anything at all, given the vast disparity between minds and beings; and marvels worshipfully at crumbs of divine truth from Scripture.

Theology stands over God, doctrine bows at his feet.  

Of course someone will reply "theology doesn't have to stand over God." Well then why not dissociate from all other global ologies which do? 

Why not revert to the simple word doctrine?

#3  The t word is a university word

Theology has a dry, scholastic, academic and university feel about it. 

(Not to mention a lifeless air: just ask the man on the street what he thinks about the t words).

But the church is a very different entity to the university. In the church there are no professors, no faculties, no research papers, no degrees, no experts, no festschrifts (see how clever I am? You can google it, but I wouldn't bother), nothing like that in the church of the New Testament. 

Why confuse the ordinary person trying to understand the Gospel with scholastic claptrap?

The Gospel is for everyone, not just for those who have been 'headucated'. Cooks, carpenters and cleaners shouldn't have to learn additional difficult words when they already have to master glorious great Bible words such as justification and redemption.

And most seriously, why pander to one tiny portion of society and create a stumbling block to the majority? (Only a third of brits have degrees, the majority don't).

#4  The t word makes people proud

Apart from our thoughtless use of the word, this is the main reason the word and its cognates are used in the evangelical church: it's all about boasting. 

Chests puff up at the thought of being referred to as a theologian. Highfalutin language comes out, irrelevant to spiritual growth, but invaluable to status formation.

Knees bow to those who have letters after their name.

Why not be called a "teacher" rather than a "theologian?" The answer is obvious the instant the question is asked.

The whole purpose of using the t word is to boost one's worldly position. 

Prestige is the name of the game.

"That fellow over there is a mere run-of-the-mill pastor, poor soul. And see her over there? - just a Bible teacher, wee lass.  But I am a Theologian - and capital T while you're at it."

Since Christmas is around the corner, here's the humble birth of Jesus in theological terms: "The uncontrollable mystery on the bestial floor." 

Put that one on your outreach cards!

And since pride and arguing are inseparable twins, where the one is found, so too is the other.  

You must have heard about the Third Law of Theology? For every theologian there is an equal and opposite theologian! 

#5  Theology is left-brain

Theology is an intellectual pursuit that appeals to a narrow group of believers, especially those who tend to be so-called left-brain. 

Logical

Analytical

Orderly

Cerebral types love to use this word and enjoy the torrent of enigmatic terms that flow from it. 

Doctrine is for everyone. Theology for just a few. 

We all want spiritual depth but not when nomenclature excludes whole groups of people. 

We're all encouraged to leave elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, but nowhere are we encouraged to go to university to attain it.

#6  "I've got a good t, I am safe."

The 20th century prophet (small p) AW Tozer, complained that his generation of evangelicals were asleep beside the highway of good theology. 

That is a real danger today: it is easy to take security in having the right theological books on our shelves and the right big-shot theologians in our circles, but be stone dead in our hearts.

"I've got Berkhof and Grudem on my shelves, I'm OK."

#7  Theology gives the impression that truth is specialist

Every believer should be keen on truth, and most believers identify with the desire to know Christ better. But the t word gives the impression that one needs to be a specialist to grasp truth.

I've not been trained in psychology so I can't help my troubled fellow man.

I don't have a degree in geology, so I shan't bother trying to appreciate beautiful gems. 

I've not studied theology, so I can't possibly know anything about God.

#8  Theology gives the impression that knowledge of God is intellectual knowledge

While we need truth and doctrine to grow in our walk with the Lord, we must never confuse knowledge of God with knowledge of truth.

Knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ comes about through walking with him through trial, joy, temptation, disappointment, success and failure. 

It's as much - or more - relational than it is rational. Heart more than head.

Nicodemus-like, we can know Berkhof back to front and still be a total stranger to Christ.

#9  The t word sends the wrong message about our great task

The great task of the church is to make disciples of all nations. That task is not accomplished by filling heads with knowledge in a classroom-like setting. 

It's accomplished Jesus-like by spending much time with new converts so that they can see Christ in our lives as much as hear truth from our lips. 

The command of the Lord is to make disciples how? By "teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." 

A teaching that leads to obedience, to a changed life, not a learning that leads to the mere acquisition of knowledge.

#10  Error often enters the Church through academic institutions

It is sobering to discover that many of the most liberal institutions in the USA (and elsewhere) began on sound biblical foundations.

It's no surpise at all.

For an institution that apes the world is bound to end up like the world.

How do errors most often - and most easily - enter the church? Through clever chappies whose writings - at the time - seem unassailable.

In our day NT Wright is a tragic example of this  tendency to be swayed by brains (see here for my analysis). Why do people respect Mr Tom, oops Dr Tom? Because he's written three inscrutable tomes, which no-one has or can read but everyone thinks "wow he must be the real deal with all that foxey language" and here's the corollary, "therefore what he says must be right." 

(These three tomes sit on my shelves; I began one of them years ago and gave up a few pages in, not because they were difficult but because they were paint-dryingly boring).

On some doctrines Wright is Right.

On many others Wright is Wrong. 

Ah - but he's clever.

So he must be right. 

Our approach to clever chaps who like to be looked up to as Theologians should be this: don't fuss about them; put them on the shelf and let the next generation judge them. 

Sometimes it takes a while for clever errors to be unpicked. Besides, remember, most of one age's celebrity books are charity shop fodder in the age that follows.

Certainly, don't bow or be overawed by them. Just keep on preaching the same old same old Gospel.

 "Teachings" "Truths" and "Doctrines" are all we need

The inspired words "teachings",  "truths" and "doctrines" are all we need in our great task to make disciples, to build up the saints, and to present everyone perfect in Christ.

These words are Bible words, simple words, universal words - and most of all - humble words.

So away with the t words!

So Do Theologians Exist?

So what shall we do with the vast machinery of "theology" that infects - pollutes? - the evangelical world today?

Pride resolutely prevents it being abandoned, at least not in our age of ease.

We need to stop calling anyone a "theologian." There are no theologians in the New Testament Church of Jesus Christ. There are teachers, and preachers, but no theologians. 

Theologian is an imposter office in the church of Jesus Christ.

Someone has to say it.

We need to stop giving any special weight or authority to those who wish to self-identify as T men. Just because a man (or woman) calls themselves a theologian does not mean we should treat their words pope-like ex-cathedra. 

Remember - the local Christian butcher may know more of God than them Ts. Acquaint thyself  with true greats.

I have little doubt that a true reformation of the church today would dismantle the whole proud apparatus of this wretched system and return us to the purer church of the New Testament.

But that's unlikely to happen until persecution knocks on, or probably, knocks down, our door.

AI Image:
Dalle draw a theologian in the style of cubism

Friday 3 November 2023

Is the Old Testament God the same as the New Testament One?

 

 A Common Objection

One of the most common objections to the Bible is that the God of the Old Testament seems to be a harsh unyielding God compared to the kinder God the New Testament.

Moses is punitive, Jesus compassionate.

Sounds persuasive - and on the surface conclusive.

A grain of truth is found in most objections, including this one.

Let's see if we can unpack it.

(Beforehand, we should note in passing, that there is more judgement in Jesus than sceptics are willing to acknowledge; and more compassion in the Old Testament than they care to find. See comments at the end of this blog).

God speaks through two Books

According to the Bible, God reveals himself in two Books. 

First, through the Book of Creation, which is God's word to every child of Adam. From its ingenious and beautiful pages we read of a God who is Power, Innovation, Goodness and much more. 

All can read this Book for there is no speech or language where its words are not heard.

The Book of Scripture

The second way God reveals himself is through words on pages: The Book of Scripture; the words of the Old Testament plus the words of the New Testament.

This Book is our concern here.

Unlike the book of Creation, the book of Scripture was given progressively over time.

This is an important point.

Little by little, through the story of Old Testament Israel and the writings that emerged from their prophets, God disclosed more and more of his character.

By the time the Old Testament closes we know God better than we did in the days of Genesis and Abraham - but by no means completely. 

The Old Testament is constantly looking forward to Someone, a Messiah, who will  reveal God more fully.

So if we base our understanding of God on the Old Testament alone, we won't have the full picture. 

We're not meant to.

In a dramatic change from this progressive approach, God suddenly and fully revealed himself in the Person of Jesus Christ, born in Bethlehem, crucified outside of Jerusalem and triumphantly raised from the dead on the third day.

In a flash of 33 short years, through a brief ministry of 3 years, in one blink of time's eye, the full revelation of God was given.

This new and personal disclosure of God builds on but eclipses all previous ones and is recorded in the pages of the New Testament. 

Jesus Christ is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being. When we read his life, character and words, we're reading what God is actually like.

Not approximately, but precisely, because Jesus Christ is God come in human flesh.

What about the Old Testament then?

Where does that leave us? 

Is the God of the Old Testament different from the God of the New?

The question is wrong headed because the presumed dichotomy between Old and New is false. There is only one revelation of God - the combined Old and New Testaments.

The Old Testament was never meant to be a full revelation of God, only an introduction to Him and a signpost to Jesus Christ who would reveal God fully.

They say first impressions matter most, but how many times have we discovered  that someone we have grown to admire and love over time did not yield up their whole spirits to us straight away? We would have been wrong to judge their character by first draft.

That's how to understand the Old Testament, an introductory and partial revelation of God.

In the same way that a handshake does not say much about a new friend - and is not meant to - so the Old Testament does not reveal the whole character of God and was never meant to.

We need the Old which points forward to the coming of God to earth, and the New which points backwards to explain that Astounding Life to get the Full Picture. 

Read the Gospel of Mark (Matthew, John or Luke)

So, to everyone stumbled by the objection "the Old Testament God is severe" we would say read the Gospel of Mark (or Matthew, or Luke or John). For there you will read what God is really, fully and gloriously like.

And there you will discover a God who is filled with grace and truth.

 
AI Image:
"Draw a fiery mountain of Sinai in the style of Van Gogh"

 -------------------------------oOo----------------------------

Additional Note about Compassion and Judgement

Yes, there is more judgement in Jesus than the sceptics would care to acknowledge; and more compassion in the Old Testament than they are prepared to find.

Old Testament law was compassionate to three universally needy categories, the orphan, the widow, the alien (outsider). Their safety and well-being was ring-fenced by numerous laws. Old Testament laws were also kinder when compared to the laws of the surrounding nations. We see this when we compare the Code of Hammurabi, for example, with the laws found in the Old Testament. 

Contrawise, Jesus said some of the most striking things about judgement found anywhere in the Bible. To towns who rejected his truth he said, "Truly I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town." (Matthew 10:15). To someone who stumbles young faith Jesus said, "It would be better for them to have a large millstone rung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea." (Matthew 18:6)

Thursday 26 October 2023

Why does God Hide his Face?

 


Why doesn't God reveal himself to the World?

A common objection to Christian faith runs something like this: If God really does exist why doesn't he prove his existence in some dramatic and obvious five-senses way? 

Why must Christians appeal either to history (the incarnation, the miracles, the resurrection of Jesus) or to the future (the day of judgement), or to sixth-sense  'faith' in order to believe?

Why not some dazzling appearance, or other tangible, convincing proof?

It's a very good question.

"God has signed all of his masterpieces"

It could be argued - and Christians do - that evidence of God's existence is everywhere we look. We would reason that "time + chance + natural law" are simply insufficient to explain the beauty and complexity of this amazing world. 

(And now that scientists have pinned the age of the earth to around 5 billion years, the probabilistic reservoir this provides is defined and small: insufficient to generate the simplest gene by chance, let alone the simplest cell). 

One song writer in the Bible put it this way, "The heavens declare the glory of God," by which he meant that the universe reveals the existence of an incredibly wise designer. 

In our day, we should include fine-tuning as evidence pointing to Design. A great number of factors must combine to enable the universe to sustain life: a small change in any one of these factors would result in a sterile universe. Looks like Someone tweaked all the numbers.

The argument is this: God has made himself known, if we will only look forensically at the natural world. Every creature, planet and star has his signature engraved upon it. 

Or so the Christian argument runs.

"The problem may be with us, not God"

Suppose for a moment, that this argument is true, that God shouts to us through the created order. 

How come, then do some people not hear that voice? 

Could the problem be in the listener rather than the speaker?

Could our ears be closed?  Our eyes be blind?

Suppose there is something about us that resists acknowledging the existence of a God? 

Suppose, recognition of his reality might demand a change in my life? 

After all, if there is a God, he's surely our Master, is he not?

And presumably, if he is our Boss, we should ask him how he wants us to live?

Yes?

And this we do not want to do! We prefer to be masters of our own lives, captain of our own fates; we desire none to rule over us. 

We want to do what we want to do.

And so we suppress the knowledge of God, though it screams from every flower, star and planet.

We can all suppress truth, after all. 

We don't need historical illustrations or contemporary examples of truth-blindness. Our lives are full of personal examples.

So perhaps God has spoken, but the real problem is that our ears are stopped up?

"Perhaps we are asking for the wrong kind of proof"

Or perhaps we're asking for the wrong variety of proof. We're looking for some  manifestation which employs our five senses, evidence that would presumably overwhelmingly convince us.

Would that not be boring? After a while? Some dazzling shrine or flaming mountain to which doubters could travel and be blown away by divine manifestations of power?

And if the moral problem persisted in any case - we don't want to accept the existence of a God who may want to change our life-choices - what good would such an apparition be? 

Either we would not believe what we had just seen, or we'd believe but continue without amending life or lip.

(Assuming that is, we weren't annihilated in the encounter, for can anyone see God and live?)

Someone retorts "If I saw God I know I would believe in him!" 

Are you sure? Thousands saw the miracles of Jesus and did not believe him. 

The evidence problem may be far more entrenched than we care to admit.

"Are we looking for the wrong kind of God?"

And then, as I wind up, are we looking for the wrong kind of God? A power-god, who dwells in a Bara-dur or Burj Kahlifa kind of sanctuary which would overwhelm the physical senses?

Perhaps we've got the character of God all wrong.

Perhaps he is not a Shock and Awe kind of God.

"A Humble Servant God"

Suppose the God who made the universe, as powerful and mighty as he must be, is actually gentle and humble and loving. 

Suppose that for love's sake he hides his glory, so that we can see him and live.

And suppose that he has revealed himself most fully, not in the violent energy of supernovae or the power of hurricanes, but in a still quiet voice.

Suppose that Jesus of Nazareth was God come to earth, a humble, ordinary, we-can-relate-to real human being.

Suppose his life of compassion (oh and power), of meekness (yes, and majesty) reveals the true heart of God.

Not some power-hungry, in your face kind of deity, but a God who loves to serve those he created. 

Perhaps the servant-hearted humility of God explains why he does not submit to our foolish and childlike demands for showy power proofs. 

This is why we need Faith

The reason we need divine faith is not the absence of evidence.

We need faith because of the hardness of our hearts. 

Faith opens our eyes to reality. 

All of a sudden heaven above is softer blue, earth around a sweeter green, something lives in every hue that Christless eyes have never seen. Birds with gladder songs o’erflow, and flowers with deeper beauties shine...

All this glory was there before we were given the gift of faith.  

But faith, along with a changed heart gives sight.

AI Image:
"Dalle draw someone hiding  in the style of van gogh"

Tuesday 17 October 2023

God, the Holocaust and Hope

 

"Let's watch this series together"

In the year 2005, the BBC produced a documentary series, "Auschwitz: The Nazis and the Final Solution." I insisted that all my sons (except for the youngest) sit and watch the series with me.

I hadn't done that sort of thing before, nor since.

I wanted to give my sons firsthand proof of what the Bible says about the wickedness of the human heart. And evidence of the existence of an invisible wicked personal evil called the devil.

My sons still talk about the series today...

I have long wanted to visit Auschwitz myself, to see with my own eyes testimony of the holocaust. A desire inspired, in part, by a book written by German-American historian Hannah Arendt with a title that contains the memorable phrase "the banality of evil." Meaning: the men who committed these atrocities seemed to be run of the mill regular guys.

Two weeks ago I went to Auschwitz....

The experience itself

The tour began with a sombre walk through a sort of concrete tunnel from whose bleak walls loudspeakers speak out the names of victims. 

No visitor says a word, of course: the purpose is to remove frivolity from visitors.

We were taken into some of the brick barracks (the wooden versions are all gone except for a few reconstructed ones) and then we were shown one display of evidence after another...

...a mountain of shoes, thousands of them - with one small pair of dainty ballet shoes near the front

...a case filled with a sea of human locks of hair.

...a pile of spectacles

...mounds of suitcases in all shapes and sizes. 

...the infamous three-tiered sleeping arrangements for the prisoner-workers (and the superior accommodation given to the vicious guards.)

Then on to the gas chambers disguised as shower rooms; once locked they were filled with poisonous gas which took anything up to 20 minutes to asphyxiate every single soul.

And then - how very close by, for the design was highly efficient - the crematoria. 

Relentless wearying depravity.

And then to fields where the ashes were thrown; at times the powder was cast into the beautiful Vistula river nearby. 

And then to the death wall where some prisoners were shot rather than gassed; and lastly to gallows where one of the commandants, Rudolf Hoss was returned to be hanged. 

(The house where Hoss and his wife and kids lived a normal life was pointed out by the guide. "The one with the orangey roof through the trees, just over there?" Every evening Rudolf went home, spent the evening with his kids and wife like a million other dads - oh the banality of evil -  and then when he woke the next day...)

Who lives there now? I naively asked. "Oh, the Nazis stole it from a Polish family before the war and it was returned to the plundered family afterwards; they live there happily today." 

Purge the evil with amnestic normality.

Two deep impressions

Auschwitz-Birkenau is a harrowing experience. 

You would need a heart of granite not to be deeply moved.

We left with two impressions. 

One, which we expected, was the sheer wickedness of Hitler and his regime. 

And although we know that human beings can stoop to great depths of depravity, one could not but ask what demonic influences were added to the brutal mix.

The other impression, unexpected, was the inexplicable collusion of Jews in the Holocaust. So many Jews were involved in the killing machine as operatives in the gassing and crematoria processes. They knew what was happening and they knew they would eventually be killed to rid the world of evidence. But so strong is the power of self-preservation and the ability to squash human conscience that for the sake of a few more months of life, some were prepared to work against their fellows. We dare not judge.

Only Christian doctrine can explain the Holocaust

I came away asking how the world might go about explaining this terrifying killing machine. Just what one would expect from a universe of pitiless indifference?

Only Christian doctrine has the guts and the hope we need to cope with such a place.

Fallenness and the Devil

Explanation. The falleness of human beings, made in the image of God, now marred and twisted, accounts for the depths to which those men sank. But we must add to human depravity the influence of the evil one whose only desire is to steal, kill and destroy; only with Satan in the mix do you have the abysmal plenitude of wickedness required to design and carry out the final solution.

Judgement to come

Grit. Hitler escaped judgement in this world, but he won't escape it in the world to come. This truth, this fact, is a great comfort as well as a restraint to revenge, for we can leave judgement to the Judge of all the earth.

Only the Gospel Gives Hope in the face of evil

The Americans sent a Christian chaplain (who spoke German) by the name Henry Gerecke to Nuremberg to talk to the evil men who planned and carried out the Holocaust. (For a review of the book, see HERE). 

Week after week padre Gerecke spoke to these notgodforsaken men.

Out of the fifteen men in his pastoral care, Henry was convinced that at least 4 of them eventually responded to the Gospel, repenting of their terrible crimes and confessing their sins to God.

Of course these men were all duly punished for their evils, but if their confession, repentance and faith was sincere, then like the thief on the cross next to Jesus,  today they are in paradise!

Only the Gospel can give glorious hope in deepest pits men dig for themselves. 

Only the Gospel of Jesus Christ gives hope to sinners.

To sinners like Hitler, and sinners like us.

“This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.”
 1 Timothy 1:15.

AI image:
"Dalle Draw the entrance to Birkenau"
(A remarkable image which catches the grim bleakness of the place)

Tuesday 10 October 2023

In Honour of Godly Ministers

Surprised by This Fad

I cannot possibly be the only church minister who has been saddened and surprised by the recent spate of pastor-bashing taking place in parts of the evangelical Christian press. At least in the UK.

Every tribe has its bandwagons on which everyone is obliged to jump, and at the moment this is a fad we're all expected to lamely and throughtlessly embrace and promote.

Mary had a little lamb...

But it's essential to question every fad, evangelical or not.

 I have never met a dodgy Pastor

I have been in full time ministry for over 30 years and before that lived in a missionary-Pastor's home from birth, so let's call that around 50 years of observation. My parental home was like a railway station, with numerous evangelists, missionaries and pastors flowing through it every year. 

In those fifty years I have never once come across a dodgy pastor. I have never met a pastor who was unkind to his sheep or who lived for himself rather than for those the Chief Shepherd called him to care for.

Not one.

Zilch.

None.

I have come across pastors who have weaknesses (every one of them). Pastors who are sinners (that's all of them). I have come across pastors who have made mistakes (who hasn't?) 

Let me tell you what I have come across: pastors who have been mistreated by church leaders. Pastors who were slandered by wolves. And churches that are little more than pastor-eating machines.

But in half a century I have not known a single dicey pastor.

Instead I have known dozens of humble, faithful, hard-working, self-sacrificing and diligent pastors of whom the world is not worthy.

Let's thank God for godly Pastors. 

A discrepancy that needs Explaining

The enormous dissonance between my personal experience and the current fad needs explaining.

It is possible that my experience is not wide enough. 

It is possible that I have worked among an unusual band of godly ministers.

We know that there must be dubious characters out there because the Scriptures warn against false teachers and wolves who dress up in the clothing of sheep, false leaders who appear as angels of light. No-one disputes that.

But none of these facts explain the discrepancy adequately.

I believe there is a deeper problem that evangelicals simply do not want to face up to and here's the tell-tale clue...

The reason for the fad

...nearly every fallen pastor of recent notoriety has belonged to one of the mega-churches, or in some cases to a mega-para-church outfit. 

I could list the names, but that would be unkind, and for all I know they may have repented. (Moreover, we are not The Judge.)

As a result of these mega falls, ordinary pastors are tarred with the same fallen big-shot preacher brush. 

The underlying problem no-one wants to face is that the evangelical church is plagued by idolatry.

We now all worship at the shrine of B.I.G.

Perhaps mega-churches should not exist. Perhaps they are a twisted caricature of New Testament churches (which were all small, we must assume, since they met in homes).

Perhaps the existence of a mega-church, designed to be a temple of worldly fame, power and prestige "I go to Lakewood," "I belong to the Village Church," "I go to Saddleback," "I attend the Potter's House," "I'm a member of Grace Community," "I used to go to Westminster Chapel," is the real problem.

Why are large churches a big problem?

Because no human being, absolutely no-one, can be trusted with power. The story of the Old Testament kings teach us that lesson. So does the New Testament where no hierarchal church structures exist with some human pope at the top.

Numbers go to the head, and not one person in this world or in the church is immune to the temptations of power. Not one. And its from these large "churches" that most if not all of the recent ministerial falls have come. 

Could the real problem have nothing to do with the ranks of ordinary pastors and everything to do with big churches and the notion of a big-shot preacher? 

Our idolatry of Numbers?

Perhaps every church should be of such a size that the undershepherd can actually care for them.

By producing and exalting big churches we set up ministers for their falls.

And when the big shots fall they tar thousands of ordinary pastors with the same wretched brush.

Could this not be the underlying reason for the present pastor-bashing fad?

I believe it is.

The Cure

The cure is not to go on a witch hunt, as some evangelical papers are presently doing, but to take the following steps:

1) Break up big churches

Acknowledge that with increased number and finances comes increased temptation. So let big churches disappear from the face of the earth and be replaced by real local churches where the pastor knows every member of his flock. 

(I have no doubt that the cause of the Gospel across the world would flourish exponentially if every mega church broke down into dozens; members would be free to serve in new ways and among new groups). 

Let pastors pursue care for their flocks rather than chasing power, influence and fame.

2) Exercise Biblical justice

If we can't break up large churches, let's stop honouring their leaders above the pastors of small churches. Every pastor, in God's eyes, stands on equal ground, and as much can be learnt from the one as from the other. By relentlessly honouring the big-shots and their churches (a mistake I have made in a recent blog) we despise the ordinary pastor and set the scene for the fall of the former.

3) Avoid heirarchy structures in church denominations / affiliations

Church denominations are notorious for advancing the cause of their large churches - because those larger churches pay them the most dosh; they have no choice but to treat the big shots preferentially. Denominations must act equitably among their church constituents, treating all pastors equally; if anything, with a Christ-like bias to the poor. But of course they don't, and won't.

Why Pastor-Bashing Matters

There are five reasons we should all be concerned by this present fad.

1) Ministerial discouragement. I cannot be the only pastor who has been profoundly discouraged by writers in the evangelical press in recent years, who rather than being critical of this fad, have embraced and even enlarged it. Some papers have gone on witch-hunts across land and sea to pursue who they regard as dodgy in a programme reminiscent of the inquisition. Fancy that, an evangelical inquisition!

When pastors who work extraordinary hours in difficult labours read article after article either of the fall of the latest big-shot or the need to set up "OfPast" their already difficult work becomes even more burdensome.

2) Profound Imbalance. Add to this the imbalance of reporting. Most Tesla cars do not burst into flames but the reported few give exaggerated negative press to the company. If the number of articles was in proportion to the problem found among ordinary pastors, that would be OK; and if for every negative article there were three positive ones, that would also be OK.

3) Pastors now fear Biblical rebuking. One part of a pastor's work is to rebuke the flock, lovingly and gently, but firmly if needed. I know of no pastor who enjoys this, or wants to do it. Most pastors run a mile from confrontation. It's the nature of a true and loving under-shepherd. But my guess is that in the present climate, they will be tempted to run a mile from any sort of loving rebuke, to the spiritual detriment of the saints. Because they may report him to OfPast.

4) Churches may distrust their pastors. A fourth effect of this fad is the rise of distrust towards goldy loving and upright church pastors. Why should we trust our pastor if most, or so it would appear from parts of the evangelical press, are dodgy?

5) A confusion between personality and character. If churches buy into this false fad they could easily confuse personality with character. Godly character can be found in a wide range of personalities, from shocking pink to boring magnolia. From the Elijahs and John the Baptists of the church to the apostle John's. But, as a consequence of this fad, we are seeing a dramatic rise in magnolia. 

Vanilla is OK - but so is Carolina Reaper.

Where among the evangelical leaders of today are there any interesting personalities? Luthers? Grebels? Spurgeons? Wesleys? Tozers? We look in vain!

6) Future pastors discouraged. If, as a young man, I was thinking and praying about ministry today, I would think not twice but three times. Anyone who needs encouragement should stay clear. Only magnolia men should apply. 

Prophets stay in your caves. 

In Honour of Godly Pastors

Someone needs to say these things, remembering that the approval of Christ is infinitely more precious than the acceptance of men. 

October is called "Clergy Appreciation Month." (A new one on me). We should not need a formal month to thank God for our pastors, who do not seek the approval of men in the first place.

But we need to start a new tradition. One in which the tens of thousands of ordinary godly pastors around the world are honoured, loved and cared for, not bashed, bruised and tarred with all those big-shot failures.

AI Image above:
Dalle: "draw a group of five male shepherds looking after a
 flock of sheep in the style of van gogh."
(clearly Dalle can't count, because it has painted only one shepherd!)