THE GOSPEL SCRUM DOWN UNDER

The Gospel Scrum Down Under

A scrum is formed when members of opposing rugby teams, with heads down interlock arms into the circle of which the ball is dropped for them to try to back-heal to their own team to take possession. A top rugby-player lost his job for posting a message on social media that the Australian Rugby Union disagrees with. The message alleged that Jesus is the Saviour of all kinds of sinners (some of which were listed) and that Hell awaits the unrepentant. See 1 Corinthians 6:9-11.

The sacked rugby player then opened a Crowd-Fund type page so that anyone that wanted to could freely donate money toward the cause of religious freedom that was being attacked. However, the Crowd-Fund people decided also to attack the religious freedoms of the rugby player, and, by way of extension, the religious freedoms of all Australians. Thus the rugby player is ridiculed by Rugby Australia and Go Fund Me. Indeed, the issue has become one of the preservation of freedom of speech. Or, to phrase it another way, the whole thing has become an issue of Australians versus Political Correctness overkill!

The good news is that the news, talkback radio, pubs and clubs, water-fountain congregations and conversations, social media is abuzz with the Gospel! What Christian could ask for more?

Meanwhile, back the scrum. Which team is going to end up in possession of the ball? – The ball being the rule of law in the land. Christians with their free speech loving supporters? Or the other lot that wish to shut down every discussion and even every thought that opposes their political correctness religion?

I’m “barracking” for freedom of speech. And I can hear the multiplying cries of support coming from the bleachers, “Go the Freedom of Speechers!”

Some on the opposing team are not overly happy with the rugby player’s understanding of the Gospel and feel the need to try to correct him. That, and the fact that the rugby player’s past successes have boosted his financial situation substantially is also called into question. For, these object to his asking for the Crowd to help Fund his legal battle against unfair dismissal.

So, which team is going to get the first try of the game (with a possible successful conversion kick to follow)? The Freedom of Speechers or the Political Correctors?

Rules? Not Aussie Rules, because that’s a different game to rugby, but what does the Australian Constitution say? What does the Law of the Land say? Let us level the playing field as they say. Section 116:

The Commonwealth shall not make any law for establishing any religion, or for imposing any religious observance, or for prohibiting any free exercise of any religion, and no religious test shall be required as a qualification for any office or public trust under the Commonwealth.

Because it is Rugby Australia that has taken offence at the Gospel as privately published by one of its members (ie, the rugby player), then one can assume that the general principle of this statement applies also to the game of rugby in Australia, and indeed everywhere else in the Land Down Under, including ARU contracts, especially the bit about “prohibiting any free exercise of any religion”. Clearly, by prohibiting the free exercise of a rugby’s player’s religion the Australian Rugby Union is following some principle other than the Law of the Land. It has sacked him for lawfully exercising his religion, ie, his Christian religion. He merely posted his understanding of the Gospel on social media with a view to pointing fellow sinners to the Saviour of sinners, ie. Jesus Christ, who, as clearly taught in the Bible, saves sinners from going to Hell if they die unrepentant. What’s wrong with that?

Well, who would have thought? Surprise, surprise. Some people are offended by the Gospel! It says in the Bible, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:18. Okay, some people find the message of the cross, ie, the Gospel offensive. What’s new? Well, here’s what’s new.

The Gospel is being proclaimed like never before in Australia! The whole nation is abuzz with the Gospel! It’s on the news, talkback radio, social media. It’s in the workplace, the cafés, restaurants and bars. It’s on the buses, boats, trains and planes! Some are saying, ‘How dare this rugby player claim that people are going to Hell unless they repent and trust in Jesus?” “How dare a rich rugby player ask people for money to help him defend his freedom to teach this?” And so they persecute and they ridicule the rugby player.

With all this turning the whole of Australia upside down (right side up?), hopefully the rugby player will not lose his freedom and end up in prison for the Gospel, as happened to the Apostle Paul who wrote, “It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice.” Philippians 1:15-18. Paul is the same man who wrote, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.” 1 Timothy 1:15b.

Christians ought to be rejoicing at the moment. Christ is being preached in Australia! Yes, some mean it for good while others mean it for evil, supposing they can stir up trouble for the rugby player. But Christ is being preached! Rejoice!

That is the scrum Down Under. The Freedom of Speechers versus the Political Correctors. The Freedom of Speechers are winning the ball in the scrum…

But what is the Big Picture from above the stadium? How does the eye in the blimp see it?

The camera zooms in a mob of people trying to saw down the huge flagpole bearing the Australian National Flag. Like someone sawing the proverbial branch they are sitting on, so the mob is swinging sledgehammers at the pillars that support our nation. They are striking matches to burn our Constitution. Like the opposing side in the scrum, they are trampling the Son of God underfoot, the blood of the covenant, ie, the Gospel, and they are insulting the Spirit of grace (see eg, Hebrews 10:29).

But our God is gracious. On a personal and subjective level, how many of us, like Saul of Tarsus, kicked against the goads, the prodding of the Holy Spirit working with the Gospel? How many of us at first rejected the message of the cross? How many of us had a negative reaction to being called a sinner? But, like the Apostle Paul, with God’s patience we began to see ourselves as sinners, sinners in need of the Saviour of sinners, Jesus Christ. God granted us repentance and we believed in Christ to save us from Hell.

And then on a public and objective level, as Christians we began to see that not only does the Gospel set individuals free, but its influence sets whole communities free, even whole nations! “Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”

Yes, “Go the Freedom of Speechers!” Don’t let the Political Correctors silence the Gospel, which is the Good News to all nations.   

On our Australian Constitution: “The Constitution follows very closely the lines laid down under the leadership of the ‘Father of the Federation’ Sir Henry Parkes in 1891. Sir Henry identified himself not only with his British roots but, far more importantly, also with Christianity — and indeed also with the Christian institutions which had rooted so deeply in Britain. According to the Sydney Morning Herald for 26th August 1885, Henry Parkes then declared: “As we are a British people — are pre-eminently a Christian people — as our laws, our whole system of jurisprudence, our Constitution…are based upon and interwoven with our Christian belief, and as we are immensely in the majority, we have a fair claim to be spoken of at all times with respect and deference.” – Dr Francis Nigel Lee, The Christian Foundations of Australia  http://www.dr-fnlee.org/the-christian-foundations-of-australia/

On our Australian Flag: “It needs to be remembered that the Australian flag unites the three Christian crosses of England, Ireland and Scotland in the Union Jack — the Christian crosses of St George, St Patrick and St Andrew — with the Southern Cross. Indeed, it is hard to imagine the flag of any country with a more graphic Christian significance. For on the one hand, in the top left corner, it depicts the early Christian history of the various parts of the British Isles — as the womb which shaped the later civilization of Australia. On the other hand, in the right side of the field, it depicts the astronomical constellation so characteristic of Australia herself — the Southern Cross. This, the Christian former Astronomer-Royal Sir William Herschel (the discoverer of the planet Uranus) once claimed, has the most blood-red star in the whole sky — precisely in the head of that cross. … On the wall of one of the rooms in the Tasmanian home of Rev. Dr. David Mitchell, hangs an important poem about our flag — taken from the Stockman's Hall of Fame. I myself have updated and simplified that poem. I myself would call it THE STARS AND CROSSES OF AUSTRALIA. Let me now read it to you:

“Our flag shows the stars which do sparkle at night, in our Southern Cross so true.

In its corner, are three Christian crosses — the red and the white upon blue. 

They’re for England and Ireland and Scotland, who sent to the ends of the earth 

the rogues and the schemers and doers and dreamers who gave our Australia her birth

Yet all who detest our three crosses, just don’t want to understand 

that they show us our law and our language, and faith in the God of our land. 

For people galore will still tell you, when Europe was plunged into night — 

those crosses right there in the corner, gave hope of more freedom and light. 

So they certainly mean no allegiance, to a bygone imperial scene. 

For our stars show us where we are going — and our crosses show where we have been.”

 … That flag flutters yet. Long may it wave, as a symbol of Australia's decalogical roots in God’s Common Law — and of peace through the blood of the cross of Christ! Colossians 1:20. – Dr Francis Nigel Lee, The Christian Foundations of Australia http://www.dr-fnlee.org/the-christian-foundations-of-australia/

TOUCHING JESUS

Touching Jesus

One of the appealing things about Christianity is its historicity. It is a belief-system based on recorded facts with eyewitness accounts. Its message of good news about the anciently promised Messiah climaxes in His historic arrival. The meaning of His birth, death, and resurrection is analysed in Scripture in the light of the whole body of Scripture. Scripture interprets Scripture. The Apostle John interacted with the Messiah. In John’s first Epistle he writes, ‘That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life – the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us – that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ’ 1 John 1:1-3.

John has touched the Messiah. Therefore Jesus is not a philosophy, or an idea, or a figment of the imagination. Jesus is real. He is solid. He is tangible. He is human. But He is also divine. One woman had heard that Jesus was in town. She knew who He was and therefore she knew that He could heal her. She had had a flow of blood for twelve years that no doctor could heal. Matthew and Luke tell of the incident. ‘She said to herself, “If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well”’ Matthew 9:21. So she ‘came from behind and touched the border of His garment. And immediately her flow of blood stopped. And Jesus said, “Who touched Me?” When all denied it, Peter and those with Him said, “Master, the multitudes throng and press You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’” But Jesus said, “Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out of Me”’ Luke 8:44-46.

A crowd is bumping and jostling Jesus and only one lady owned up to having touched Him! She knew what Jesus had meant when He had asked, ‘Who touched Me?’ And there’s no doubt that Jesus knew who had touched Him, but He was going to glorify God. So He healed the lady and had her make her profession of faith in front of the congregated crowd.

Shortly after the birth of the Messiah (or Christ) there was a man who held the baby Jesus in his arms. ‘It had been revealed to Simeon by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. So he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents had brought the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law, he took Him up in his arms and said: “Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word; for my eyes have seen Your salvation which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel”’ Luke 2:26-32.

Perhaps the most famous record of someone touching Jesus is that of Thomas after the Lord had been raised from the dead. After reports of Jesus’ resurrection had started doing the rounds Thomas, like a modern day sceptic, said, ‘Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe’ John 20:25b. Jesus met with His disciples again after eight days, this time Thomas was with them. ‘Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”’ John 20:27-28. To confirm that it was His self-same body that had been raised from the dead, and to strengthen His disciples’ faith, Jesus said to them, ‘Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have’ Luke 24:38-39.

Scripture refers to our great God as a ‘consuming fire’ (Deut. 4:24; Heb. 12:29), and that ‘He touches the hills, and they smoke’ Psalm 104:32b. Yet He can be so tender and gentle to those He loves. A young girl had died and God the Son, the Word who became flesh – picture it! – ‘took the child by the hand, and said to her, “Talitha, cumi,” which translated is, “Little girl, I say to you arise.” Immediately the girl arose and walked, for she was twelve years of age. And they were overcome with great amazement’ Mark 5:41-42.

We cannot touch the Lord because He has bodily ascended to Heaven. But, the question is, has the Lord touched you?

TO ERR IS INHUMANE

(My brother Stuart is an educated wit. He wrote the following in response to me complaining to him that I had found a couple of annoying typos upon rereading my recently published paperback.)

To Err is Inhumane… Neil’s Corrs To Jesus for the Layman

“To the confusion of our enemies” – J Robert Oppenheimer, father of the atomic bomb.

Neil,

To the Confusion of our Enemas

I see you report with rueful exasperation finding more typographical infelicities in Jesus for the Layman. “As usual,” you say, “spotted another couple of minuscule typos.” I agree the indefinite article is definitely missing in “nailed to wooden cross”, and if I might quote you accurately: “Aaaargh!”

Well, at least you got away with “minuscule” here free of mishap, an unusual deliverance from “minisucle” in the hazardous field of slyly confused homophones and the insistent incursions of vile geekery through predictive text. There is, I concur, a great inhibitor of essaying thoughts in this constant fight for righting wrongs, what with the anagrammatic inversions of touch-typing, a raw war of attrition, indeed. There appears to be no satisfactory word for this cognitive inhibition, and “Aaaargh!” is about as good as it gets.

I mean ter say, amateur proof reading, the meticulous detective work of the pedant and perfectionist, is a sore test for the untrained eye and practised penman alike. A thing of beauty is rarely a joy for ever: there’s always something else, but we can find solace in others – even that old literary windbag Scott, that auld North Briton Tory bore who couldn’t write to save himself, love him dearly though we might, got most of his words right despite his fondness for the word “rebuke” as though anticipating error, a moral imperative of language, it seems, in his day of idiot compositors and his own crap handwriting. So, ‘twas ever thus.

Even in the brutal world of warfare and, worse, of entertainment, sleight of hand and bluff diversion often settle the balance of profit and doom – purposeful distraction is a tool of generals and conjurors alike; The minute detail spells fate as an unchancy four-letter word of duty or dust, of deliverance or severity. Just ask, if you could, Napoleon. Or, even better, Robert the Bruce.

So you worry about a typo, the typographical solecism in the sleekit service of imperfection, the stuff of ire and irony, a barb, a reproof, a rebuke (thank you, Sir Walter, enough) and a ruddy pain in the neck. Perhaps you have forgotten the late Harry Lorayne and his book, one of Dad’s inexaustible [sic] improving works, How to Develop a Super-Power Memory? (A. Thomas & Co. Preston). This most popular book was in its ninth printing in August 1961 (alas, I had to look that up, of course), and his Contents commence with “How Keen Is Your Observation? Does what you see register in your mind?”

You might recall he advocated a system of ludicrous association to aid recall, the more absurd, the better – a real face or event united in the imagination to an exaggerated, nonsensical or grotesque image and thus easily brought to mind. He offered other systems of numerical and sequential retention, peg-words and the like, but it would take a Super-Power Memory to adopt them. The common factor, though, is having an active curiosity, an interest, in the first instance.

I digress, but: observation is the key. Lorayne, a popular stage entertainer in America, gives an example:

PARIS

IN

THE THE

SPRING

X

“Have you looked at the phrase [in the box on the top of this page]?” asks this presumptuous pest. “If you have, read it again to make sure you know what it says.... Does it say “Paris in the spring”?

Point is, we see often what we expect rather than what is there, and that, I reckon is the universal bugbear that befouls our pursuit of perfection in print (Enough alliteration! – Sir Walter). It is the enabling vehicle of swift comprehension at the price of missing detail. We repent at leisure. Rebuked, aye, rebuked. The veritable victim of prestidigitation in print again, as if by magic. A conjuring trick is to blame, alas and alack. Just ask, if you could, Paul Daniels.

Yet, worse things happen at sea. The confusion of comprehension among friends, never mind to enemies is salutary. Consider, at least if the anecdotal evidence of the Reader’s Digest is to be believed, the case of a fraternal naval manoeuvre [maneuver, to you, mate] which involved the following exchange. Royal Navy Admiral’s signal to American Admiral: Sail Forthwith. American Admiral’s signal to Royal Navy Admiral: Sail Forth With What. Or the lack of a single space that cost The South China Morning Post business section money and reputation, “Bloggsco shares worthless” instead of “Bloggsco shares worth less”. Kingdoms have foundered for less. Just ask, if you could, Wm Shakespeare, or whatever his name was.

So you fret about elusive typos emerging to betray and mock the meticulous author? It is the very printer’s devil of a job. To err is humid. We all stand to be corrected. Just ask, if you could, my pal Sir Walter. Or, even better, Tom Weir, whom as a Chief Sub-editor, I phoned to ask what a “wol” might be.

“An owl,” he said.

Stuart

PS. I think I managed to slam the phone down on its nervous cradle before Tom answered my call. I’m unsure. I recall chatting to him about this and other inconsequential things at a presentation later, but he merely looked at me as though he were trapped.

NEW START

New Start

Gone are the days when poets and other writers tried to lob crumpled sheets of paper into waste-paper baskets with basket-baller precision! What masterpieces might perhaps have Burns, Shakespeare or Paterson thrown away in moments of frustration! Nowadays bards simply delete offending pieces from their computer screens! No damage done. A button is pushed and a clean sheet appears, but, once the delete button is pressed there’s no way of retrieval; there’s no un-crumpling of paper fished out of the bin when of a calmer disposition. Gone means gone in the computer age!

What if God were to fetch from the waste-paper bin the crumpled up story of your life? Our lives have no delete button. What kind of mistakes would God see if He un-crumpled and read your life’s record? In the beginning He made mankind perfect, male and female. He wrote His perfect Law on our heart. But who can look back over their life and say that they lived it exactly as God designed? And, who can blame God for any wrong-doing they’ve done? Unkind angry thoughts? Rash and harsh words? Things we’ve done of which we’re now embarrassed? I am but a quill dipped in sin, inking my own death warrant!

Who can stand the fact that God records every idle (or is it ‘idol’?) word we speak? Would it help us to enjoy life better if we dumped everything we know about God? Then we could start anew with the proverbial clean sheet! This type of thinking can be shrunk down to the size of a bumper sticker, which may then be blown up in size and graffiti-ed onto the side of an English double-decker bus, thus: ‘There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.’ That word ‘probably’ signals that it’s all right to continue to worry. Therefore, there must be a better way!

Job wanted to chisel his words into rock and fill them with lead forever! But he wasn’t writing the story of his own life. His words reduced to a bumper sticker might read, ‘I know that my Redeemer lives!’ Put that on the side of your corporation bus! So what is it then? Ought we to throw God under the bus or acknowledge that He lives and that He is the Redeemer? I opt for the latter! It’s solidly historical and so well documented. In fact there is a whole Book written on the subject! The teaching of the Bible shrunk onto a bumper-sticker might read, ‘The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.’ This is how we enjoy life: we stop rejecting God by hoping that He ‘probably’ is not watching us. Rather we glorify Him and enjoy Him forever in everything we do.

God is the poet and the writer. He didn’t crumple up anything He wrote because He makes no mistakes! The message of His Book says, ‘For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life’ John 3:16. Does a believer have anything to worry about? No? Then surely it’s more reasonable simply to acknowledge that the Redeemer truly lives and put your trust in Him instead of believing in a mere probability?

God’s Law is what shows us up as sinners in need of redemption. Writing anti-Christian slogans on the sides of buses is clear evidence that we are sinners. Indeed, the subtlety of the ‘There’s probably no God’ message is that it completely misses what God’s message is all about! We are not reconciled to God by our own feeble attempts at good works, for this is slavery! Rather, we are set free from our bondage to sin and its ultimate penalty through belief in our God and Saviour Jesus Christ. ‘For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast’ Ephesians 2:8-9.

God gives a new start to anyone willing to believe in Christ alone for salvation. With this new start comes liberty. On the one hand there’s emancipation from hoping in probabilities as you work hard to reject God, and on the other there’s freedom from the slavery of always wondering if you’ve done enough to please God. As the Son of God says, ‘Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed’ John 8:36. And as He says through His Apostle, ‘It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery’ Galatians 5:1.

Enjoy yourself as you sit on the bus with ‘I know that my Redeemer lives!’ on its sides. Forget your trail of ink-blobs. Look to Jesus. Believe in Him as your God and Saviour. For only then will you truly be able to stop worrying and truly enjoy yourself.

‘Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to God our Saviour, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen’ Jude 1:24-25.

SUPERNATURAL

Supernatural

Mention the word ‘supernatural’ and people start thinking of floating bedsheets and things that go bump in the night. Books and movies are legion capitalising on mankind’s inherent fear of the unknown. Naturalism starts with the belief that only ‘natural’ laws and ‘natural’ forces exist. Armed with this presupposition, naturalism works overtime to explain away anything vaguely supernatural.

What happens when a naturalist looks at the Bible for example? Does he/she approach God’s Word with the following in mind? ‘He who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him’ Hebrews 11:6. No! The naturalist’s mind is already made up. Therefore, he/she must work hard to explain away any supernatural events in the Bible. Indeed, he/she must do away with God Himself, if he/she wishes to remain a naturalist. So, from the word go, some people refuse, no matter how clear the evidence, to believe in anything even remotely supernatural. Where did nature and the ‘natural’ come from? We don’t know, says the Naturalist. Okay, if you don’t know, let us explain it to you, says the Christian. I fear Hell will be full of people who won’t believe they’re actually in Hell, just as they don’t believe they’re actually in God’s creation now! Sad, but I digress.

Almighty God, Creator of the Heavens and the Earth and all that is in them is the biggie when it comes to things supernatural. (Though, technically, God transcends even the supernatural!) Then, there are angels and demons, including the head demon, Satan, a.k.a. the Devil. Floating bedsheets and things that go bump in the night need not apply. However, we need to be careful here not to too quickly rule out angelic or demonic activity. ‘Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels’ Hebrews 13:1. Also, ‘The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved’ 2 Thessalonians 2:9-10. Note that Satan works powers, signs, and lying wonders. Floating bedsheets and things that go bump in the night? Probably not. But note also that there are people who do not ‘love the truth, that they might be saved.’ What is truth? God’s Word is truth (John 17:17), and Jesus is ‘the Truth’ (John 14:6).

The Bible records the claims of Jesus and the supernatural events that surrounded His birth, death, and resurrection. It records as history, e.g., angels appearing to announce His birth (Luke 2:8-18), Jesus turning water into wine (John 2:1-11), feeding five thousand (Matthew 14:13-21), restoring a man’s withered hand (Mark 3:1-6), calming a storm (Mark 4:35-41), walking on the sea (Mark 6:45-52), raising a widow’s dead son (Luke 7:11-17), and raising Himself from the dead (Luke 24:36-43).

‘Doubting Thomas’, sounding very much like a naturalist, said to those who were telling him that Jesus had been resurrected, ‘Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my fingers into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe’ John 20:25. Subsequently, the resurrected Jesus invited Thomas to do just that, saying to him, ‘Do not be unbelieving, but believing’ John 20:27b.

Not believing in supernaturalism is not believing in God. Jesus used supernaturalism to prove that He is God (the Son) in the flesh.   

"BATTLE OF THE QUILLS"

The following brilliant piece of tongue-in-cheek humour was penned by my brother Stuart upon hearing that Loch Lomond Craft Centre may stock my Jesus For the Layman paperback.

“Battle of the Quills”

Stuart McKinlay: Thanks for the guidance on Lomondcrafts. I was in last year after I was told a quaint tale of genteel village skulduggery as charming as Clochemerle in underhand, unscrupulous

rivalry. The work of jealous hands darkened the sylvan Vale, not here the work of Priest and Communist embattled over the placing of a public pissoir, but a battle of quills over the placing of books on the uneasy, fragmentary shelves of the arts and crafts sole and amateur outlet. The works of local authors Billy Scoble, whose poetry evoked memories of the valley's ages of change, and Alan Wilson's children's fiction of Iron Age fort and magic in the heathered hills, were gripped in an internecine contest for display. Hands unseen brought first the name of the poet to the fore only for this to be dislodged to the floor and superseded by the other, and then invisible forces reversed the supremacy of prominence in a battle for the title. Some say one won and some say the other won and some say nane won at a' man. But one thing's for sure, beneath Carman's muir, the Vale saw a battle for heehaw, man.


Neil McKinlay: Stuart, this is classic you! The “Battle of Quills … beneath Carman’s muir”! Like showers of rain on picture perfect pavement screevings, it would be such a shame to watch your witty classicisms and classy witticisms get washed down the stanks of cyberspace.

Link to Loch Lomond Craft Centre: 
https://www.facebook.com/lomondcraft/

EMPTY

Empty

You know that feeling you get when you’re running on empty? You keep on looking at the fuel gauge and keep on hoping there’s somewhere to fill-up just ahead. Well, I had that feeling when I was trying to run three kilometres on a running track. Due to ailments and afflictions I haven’t been able to run much of late. But with teeth gritted and a renewed determination as I toddled round the track I could hear the old Jackson Browne song start to play in my head, “Running on Empty”! Yes, I was feeling physically empty. I was feeling emotionally empty. Flat tires and I was flat-lining. There was nothing left in my tank. Empty. Quit? Stop? Never! ‘And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus’ Hebrews 12:1b-2a. It was three kilometres or bust! One kilometre down. Two to go.

‘I’ve lost my song. Where’s my song gone?’ I thought as I now breathed in time to the rhythm of my footfalls thudding on the rubberised track. Check the fuel gauge? Still empty, even less than empty. Lord, where are You? Then, so deep in thought I hardly noticed that I’d covered another kilometre. Two down, one too go.

I was thinking that the Bible teaches us something about Jesus that is so hard for us to understand, and if we do grasp it, it’s so hard to fully comprehend. A car that has run out of fuel is still able to roll down a hill, even when its engine has stopped. So it is for human beings. The Bible says we’re all dead. We need to be reminded of this lest we be deluded enough to think we have enough fuel to make it to Paradise. But, we are dead. We are just rolling down hills, sliding down the slippery slope even! ‘And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins’ Ephesians 2:1. Jesus is that kind person who sees your demise when you are stopped at the side of the road and pulls up to help you. ‘And you He made alive’! Jesus fills your empty tank for you. He puts the song back into your soul, the spring back into your step, the breath back into your lungs, the beat back into your heart, and the wind back into your hair. Two and half down. Half a kilometre to go.

A different song is playing in my head now. Jesus knows all our aches and pains, all our ailments and afflictions, all our mournings and griefs. He even collects our tears in His bottle (Psalm 56:8). He has promised to wipe away every tear from our eyes (Revelation 21:4). I’m fixing my teary eyes on Jesus. He’s waiting for me at the finish line. I’m almost there. I can do this. Lord, I’m empty, but You fill me. I’m flat, but You inflate me. I’m burnt-out to a cinder, but You renew me. ‘He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, but those who wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint’ Isaiah 40:29-31. Only a few metres left to run.

My pace quickens as my burden is lifted. ‘Come to Me all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light’ Matthew 11:28-30. Lord, I come singing a different song, ‘Nothing in my hand I bring / Simply to Thy cross I cling’ (Augustus Toplady).        

THE FACE OF GOD

The Face of God

A headwind is a wind blowing against the course of an aircraft or a ship. It also slows us down when we are walking. A headwind can be a formidable foe. We much prefer to show the wind our back than our face. A headwind may even cause us to break bones by bowling us over. Though we cannot see the wind, we see its effect. Jesus likens God the Holy Spirit to the wind, ‘The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit’ John 3:8. Under inspiration of the same Spirit Solomon says, ‘As you do not know what is the way of the wind, or how the bones grow in the womb of her who is with child, so you do not know the works of God who makes everything’ Ecclesiastes 11:5. If a headwind is a formidable foe, then how much more God who makes everything?

Walking on the hills above Loch Lomond as a boy I used to wonder why all the grazing sheep (like sheep!) faced the same way. Then I saw that they all had their backs to the prevailing wind. According to the Bible all of us, in some way, shape and form, have turned a cold shoulder toward God. Like sheep we have followed Adam our forefather joining with the devil in the great rebellion against God. Denial is a big aspect of this rebellion, denial that we are rebelling against God, even God-denial. Of this Scripture says, ‘There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death’ Proverbs 16:25, and, ‘All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way’ Isaiah 53:6a. Also, ‘The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God”’ Psalm 14:1.

How many in their unconverted and rebellious state have tested God by demanding that He prove His existence to them by appearing before them! However, it is not God who is to appear before us. Rather it is we who have an appointment with Him. For Scripture says, ‘It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment’ Hebrews 9:27. In His Parable of the Rich Fool – about a man who wanted to build bigger barns to store his accumulated goods – Jesus said, ‘But God said to him, “Fool! This night your soul will be required of you!”’ Luke 12:20a.

Baby’s breathing is momentarily interrupted simply by his big brother blowing on his face! None of us know the exact moment when God will take away our last breath. What kind of effect will you as a mere puff of breath have on the face of the Almighty? Will your spirit cause His Spirit to stall? As a disembodied soul will you take His breath away momentarily? My friend, ‘The grass withers, the flower fades, because the breath of the LORD blows upon it; surely the people are as grass’ Isaiah 40:7.

Good news? ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God’ Matthew 5:8. What does God look like? ‘God is Spirit, and therefore does not have a material face. So Christ’s saints will never see the Triune God from face to face. For they are creatures, and He is the Creator. But they will, from time to time, indeed see the creaturely face of the fully-divine Lord Jesus Christ (according to His created human nature). For “we know that, when He shall appear – we shall be like Him. For we shall see Him as He is.”’ Francis Nigel Lee in his John’s Revelation Unveiled.

There are those that want to see the face of God and those that don’t. But either way, all will get to see Him. For, ‘God has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead’ Acts 17:31. Regardless of all the images and movie portrayals, no one living on earth today knows what Jesus really looks like. However, everyone will see Him from face to face on Judgment Day. For Jesus says, ‘Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth – those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation’ John 5:28-29.

God makes the headwind. Sometimes gentle, sometimes strong. He forms the babe in the womb. Though there is travail for the mother, some babes are born gently and others roughly. Likewise, for those born of the Spirit, some births are gentle and others rough. However, it is the same God the Spirit that forms you in the womb that also gives you new birth. And you know that you have been born again when you believe in Jesus Christ and His work. For Jesus says, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent’ John 6:29.

‘What is your life? It is even a vapour that appears for a little time and then vanishes away’ James 4:14. Are you ready then to see the face of God in Jesus Christ?