‘The Revelation to John’ (NRSV) is a remarkable, troubling, and profound piece of apocalyptic literature. There is only one other book in the biblical canon like it: the Old Testament book of Daniel. And remember Daniel was as overcome and terrified by what he saw as John was. (Dan 4.19; 7.15, 28. Rev 1.17; 22.8-9) In other words, tread carefully, ye who would interpret.
Read MoreLike a good fast this won’t take long, but unlike a good meal it may not go down well. It is fasting season for many churches right now. The beginning of a New Year is often a reset time for churches: refreshed vision, goals for prayer, lives reconsecrated – all good….
Read MoreThe apostle John is the only New Testament author to identify the woman Jezebel, or her spirit. Not that this stops some preachers calling out people for having the spirit of Jezebel. If I was given a dollar for every time ... Clearly, she was a none-too pleasant person – her awful death summing up her equally awful reign over the people of God, to whom she was a stumbling block and pariah.
Read MoreRecently we considered approaching the apostle Paul, yes, the Mediterranean maverick, to speak at a Leaders Conference…
Read MoreWhat is remarkable about Joel’s prophecy is that God’s Spirit would be poured out on all flesh, and not as it had been, upon prophets, priests and Kings only - upon specific individuals who represented the community of God’s people and represented God to the same. Joel speaks to the democratisation of the Spirit – something virtually unheard of, and as was the case in Acts 2, not easily accepted, especially by those in authority.
Read MoreIn Matthew 16 Peter was given the keys of the Kingdom, a staggering authority. He was told by Jesus, “whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Little has been less understood…
Read MoreThe Uber driver had an FM station playing love songs. I guess he was anticipating that his passenger would appreciate the selection. Whether he guessed correctly or otherwise (he didn’t) the songs piqued my curiosity about the content of love songs.
Read MoreWe live in a neighbourhood that is mostly orthodox Jewish. Come Friday afternoon, many of them are doing last minute shopping in preparation for the sabbath, or, more properly, ‘shabbat.’ Families gather in homes before sundown, as it delineates the beginning of shabbat. On Saturday many walk to one of the two local synagogues. Jewish shops and businesses owned by the observant are shut for the day.
Read MoreIt would seem (Mar 2022) that the worst of Covid is over, or is it? I am not referring to Covid itself; that I know little about. I refer to the aftermath of fatigue. The enforced isolation we faced has had a significant impact on our health, wellbeing and relationships - on just about everything human. People have adjusted (even if poorly) to isolation and are finding physically reconnecting tiring and emotional. (It’s plain hard work.) This will pass, but it would be churlish to dismiss the impact it has and is having.
Read MoreWe went to a great church recently and heard an excellent message on the hot topic of anxiety – mental health. It was well delivered, employed scripture, and hit the spot with many people struggling post covid. Whether we really are post covid is another matter, but that thought is only likely to cause more anxiety.
Read MoreHave we made the art of communication of more value than what is communicated? Marshall McLuhan famously quipped, “the medium is the message.” Is that where we have ended? If so then we are in line for the same adjustment Paul meted out to the Corinthians, some of whom placed great store in the rhetorical art of persuasion.
Read MoreTwo alternatives, that further explicate this theme are: “Let your name be kept holy,” and, “Let your name be treated with reverence.”
It would be a poor theology that thought God kept his name holy by dint of our prayers. God is, in his triune and essential being, majestically holy, separate, and other. No proofs required, no case to state – “I Am who I Am.” What is being said in the Lord’s Prayer is we are to treat God’s name with reverence and fear; we are to make his name holy in our demeanour, intentions and behaviour.
Read MoreRaised in a Pentecostal church, I have benefitted enormously with an experience of the dynamic of the Holy Spirit – the third person of the trinity. I mean, what’s not to like - no intention of converting sideways nor deconstructing.
Like everyone, we have our strengths that are our weaknesses, extemporaneous prayer being one of them. We have no need to write them down, repeat someone else’s, or feel bound to formatted prayer - it’s spontaneity all the way, and therefore more spiritual. Sounds good and sounds freeing, except it isn’t either necessarily.
Read MoreThe church the apostle Paul saw, the church he lived and died for, was often, if not largely, a church situated around the table. It was formed around prayer, scripture, song, the Lord’s Supper, and a meal – all at the table. Some theologians believe that the Lords Supper is the meeting that gives the church her true gathered identity; it was what marked God’s people out.
Read MoreExclusion, like discrimination, is a term worth revisiting. This is because of the narrow political focus these words have been forced into adopting, so that to exclude or discriminate is now seen as a social evil, a denial of human rights. In keeping with the great British moral essayist and writer Theodore Dalrymple, when he comments about both the necessity and value of genuine discrimination, (the faculty that discriminates between what is good, of value, and what is not good, of little value), exclusion is normal and necessary.
Read MoreI can think of no better book to evaluate the effect psychology has had on the western mind than Theodore Dalrymple’s masterful little tome, Admirable Evasions: How Psychology Undermines Morality. He is a retired physician, psychiatrist, and author of prophetically inclined books on the moral and social trajectories of the West. Dalrymple plots the course that psychologising has had on morality, and his conclusions aren’t cause for much joy.
Read MoreI don’t visit hairdressers as I have no hair to dress. I go to a local barber, and in my area of London they are often of North African, Middle Eastern or Turkish descent. They all have one thing in common aside from my custom – they are family businesses.
Read MoreThe prophet of the Lord, Jeremiah, gives false prophets a thorough lambasting. To some, he declares their days will be shortened, to others exile and loss, but to all stern reproof for not speaking in God’s name when claiming they were – “they have spoken in my name lying words that I did not command them.”
Read MoreHindsight is so helpful when it comes to prognostication; we can prophesy with unerring accuracy something that has happened. Which is all a way of saying that we aren’t very good at prediction, and maybe a little better at interpretation.
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