Kingdom building

I keep seeming to bump into these today. Here's a good one:

"For I know the plans I have for you" declares our Lord Jesus Christ, "they are plans to prosper you, to give you a hope and a future and not to destroy you."

That's from the Book of Jeremiah Chapter 29, verse 11.

According to Wikipedia, Jeremiah had a happy early life, but has come to be known by scholars as the "weeping prophet" due to his rather touching Book of Lamentations, one of the four he wrote in the present day Bible canon. His spiritual role as a prophet was to point out where people were going wrong in their relationship with God and to bring the bad news of God's anger and frustration to the communities who ignored God.

Paul my vicar has been blogging again, this time about Renewing our Vow and Covenant, and he mentioned a prayer that I hadn't heard of, but it might just be the scariest, most challenging prayer I've ever heard. It's called the Methodist Covenant prayer. I got shivers when I read it.

I am no longer my own but yours.
Put me to what you will,
rank me with whom you will;
put me to doing,
put me to suffering;
let me be employed for you,
or laid aside for you,
exalted for you,
or brought low for you;
let me be full,
let me be empty,
let me have all things,
let me have nothing:
I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things
to your pleasure and disposal.
And now, glorious and blessed God,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
you are mine and I am yours. Amen

There is no clever language here, nothing I can't understand, just the most pure expression of supplication, submission and admission to God that I've ever read. Even though the first line is simply a recognition that we didn't make ourselves and that God's creating Spirit is responsible for our existence, it puts it in a new light. It recognises that God is the God of the Old Testament as well as the new: isn't it tempting to think of God only as a benign, gentle, useful, protecting watcher when it is so much more than that. God is love, and love happens in pretty explosive, cruel-to-be-kind, hands-on, forthright way sometimes, and that's just with humans. Why don't we treat God as capable of that same kind of tough love?

Great stuff.

I believe there are such things as natural laws. Aristotle could be said to have discovered the concept, St. Thomas Aquinas to put them in a Christian context. These are rules that apply to everything, define our relationship with the universe/God/The Creator/Gaia, and are self-evident: things are how they are! We can use our knowledge of how these laws work in our personal development, particularly in that most crucial element: our relationships with others.

So, maybe you doubt me? Here are some simple examples of "like begets like": an important natural law. Dogs beget dogs. Chestnut trees beget chestnut trees. Now, in the context of ourselves and our nature, kindness begets kindness, sharing begets more sharing, Hatred begets more hatred.

If you aren't comfortable with this idea, give some thought to the issue. If I hate someone, this all-pervasive attitude will be evident in my direct relations with them, of course. But hatred would also drag down my state of mind. It takes energy to have emotions of any sort! My boiling hatred is exhausting and worthless! Nevertheless, natural law applies. Hatred begets more hatred: children see us hate, and learn to hate in turn. Others note our hate and may hate us for it. The object of our hatred hates us in return, maybe.

Would that the destruction of "like begets like" reach only into our direct relationships! But no: the damage stretches well beyond our little world. Hatred begets hatred through the lives of those we meet. It influences the decisions of others in a negative way. Hatred begets hatred.

"Like begets like" is of course a route to a more positive way of thinking. Kindness begets kindness, afterall. Positivity in your thoughts and actions will cause the same in others. Why not try to use "like begets like" in analysing people's reactions to you? Why not use it to further your relationships with others? Honesty begets honesty: you will never be punished for telling the truth, because that humility you display will be returned to you in the future. Trust begets trust: to win the trust of another, you must trust them. Love begets love: who could expect love from someone when no love is given?

God gave us free will, because, although He could have created humans to be a crowd of automatic God-worshippers, He chose not to, because a person who chooses to worship Him is something very special to Him. For example, I could cause my computer here to tell me that I'm wonderful, on the hour, every hour. I can assure you that even if I had a huge ego, I wouldn't find these constant reminders from a dumb machine particularly satisfying.

So, free will is God-given. So what does that tell us? That systems of government that supress it are wrong, even if the ultimate goal of these systems is well-meaning.

That's not to say that free will is an excuse to be reckless. On the contrary, we are holders of huge responsibility. God knows that we could do ourselves harm with it. Humanity has the power to destroy itself with free will. But, in the same way that a parent would never prevent a fit child from learning to swim because of the chance of drowning, God doesn't take free will away, even from those of us who abuse it. What he does do, is have an attendant there by the poolside. He is our Saviour, Jesus Christ! Now, if I, with my free will throw myself into the pool in a reckless manner, and harm myself, I could thrash for a few moments and stay afloat, maybe for minutes. Jesus would through me a lifeline, which I might foolishly, or proudly refuse to accept but eventually, I'd tire myself out. Then I would surely drown. But if I take that line and show willing, he will pull me to the edge and then out of the pool.

Why then, regulate? Why must the government dabble in the excercise of our free will? Because greed and other sin stifles our good nature, and we then misuse our free will. We stop working socially, and start to work for ourselves alone. We isolate ourselves in the pursuit of personal wealth, then become apathetic and shallow and community crumbles.

I'm going to try and see what I can do to make sure everyone gains from what I do, first locally, then in the wider community. Now there's good use of free will! Pray for me, will you? And join me if you like.

Since the events of Tuesday night, I've been looking for a way to look at the 'modern' approach to sexual relations (read: sexual immorality) to see what chain of consequences would arise from ignoring it. Then I found this, which, whilst rather, um, fatalistic, does seem it ring true. It's from an editorial on the Preterist Archive website, entitled, "Chicken Little Goes to Church" and was written by Rev. Andrew Sandlin.

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What a concept. Managed chaos. The idea, pushed by educated and trustworthy men (as far as I can deduce) is that governments create instabilities like 9/11 and in the health and welfare of certain populations (notably African Americans - Ebola, and the US homosexual sector - AIDS) to the advantage of globalists. Never come across the term before. Quite frightening, really. Have a look at Antipas Ministries, especially articles by Dr Horowitz.

What do you think?

I know it sounds negative, but sometimes it's bad experiences that make you want to blog/write more. I mean, look at Byron [poem], and he's by no means the best example! I tend to write long e-mails to Christian friends. Some excerpts end up on the net, like this one. I don't change places, names, etc. I don't have that much time. I trust my readers, though. Love one another like Jesus loves you. Think long and hard before you flame me for anything I say here, but if you want to get in touch, then do. Read More