When is the Road the Ditch and the Ditch the Road?

Sanctify them [purify, consecrate, separate them for Yourself, make them holy] by the Truth; Your Word is Truth. John 17:17 (Amp. Bible)
In my days as a Police Officer I had to give evidence in court many times. The first thing that happened when you entered the ‘witness box’ was to give an ‘oath’, “I swear by Almighty God that the evidence I shall give, shall be The Truth, The Whole Truth and nothing but The Truth.” TODAY I think we need to take up that oath as people and change the wording to….“I swear by Almighty God to use, to speak, to live by,
THE WORD, THE WHOLE WORD AND NOTHING BUT THE WORD!”

BECAUSE WE DON’T SEEM TO KNOW WHAT TRUTH IS ANYMORE??????????????

I write this at the end of a week that feels like I have come off a stomach churning ride on a wild rollercoaster BUT there has been NO funfair! I just want to be sick!!!!
I want to walk away and I’ll never do that again BUT do it again I and ALL of us will.. UNLESS?

Monday in the United Kingdom saw the Government there pass the initial Bill to change the

Definition of Marriage, thus allowing same-sex couples to have recognition beyond a ‘civil partnership’. On the same day The General Assembly of The Church of Scotland passed a quite similar motion to allow the ordination and for congregations to call as their minister people who are in same sex relationships! 

Tuesday Oklahoma City was devastated by a huge Tornado that tore through buildings including Briarwood Elementary School and in its wake left grieving families who had lost loved ones among whom were children from that school!
Wednesday, back in London a young off duty soldier was savagely butchered to death in broad daylight. An act of terrorism by two Radical Islamists who believed they were doing the will of their god?

 
Friday, well you might think me insanely trivial after all of the previous but still they are connected? I find a post which I go on to share on my Facebook page. A post purportedly coming from the Prime Minister of Australia which has been applauded by many especially in the UK following the events of Wednesday!! The post was of an alleged speech given by Julia Gillard in which she basically tells anyone including Muslims, if you don’t like Australia, or its language or its laws or the fact that it is a Christian Country then leave…BUT the whole thing was a hoax! It was a compilation of speeches and statements made by Australia’s Prime Ministers over a number of years and in different contexts but most of the content was from a former PM!

I have just finished preparing the Message I will be preaching at Cristianos Community Church (www.crisitanoscommunitychurch.com)  this Sunday. Last week I began a series on the Apostle Paul’s Letter to the Philippians.. This week we are looking at Chapter 1 verses 7 to 11 and as I was studying those verses something struck me that seems so very important to us right now.

It feels to me that our world is drifting aimlessly from one tragic event to another with, it seems, NO solid, dependable, unequivocal, reference or standard to which we can look for certainty and truth and hope??? I know we kicked out absolutes like right and wrong and truth and untruth long ago in the name of post-modernism and perhaps NOW is the time when this needs to be reversed!
There is a source, a Book where we can find a reference, a standard, a basis for government, and principles that are worth living by. It is called THE BIBLE!

The Apostle Paul had a special place in his heart for the Church at Philippi and from that heart he wrote this very personal letter..


I write today from a heart that is overwhelmed and out of a sincere love I want anyone who chooses to read on, to know what Paul wanted those in Philippi to know… Philippians Chapter 1 verses 9+10
“And it is my prayer that your love may abound (grow, abound) more and more, with (will have) knowledge and all discernment (understanding, wisdom), so that you may approve what is excellent (not just to know what is the good or the bad BUT the very best), [discern/test and prove what is best] and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ” To make sure they were grounded in the Scriptures so that with that knowledge and discernment they could approve everything and in so doing strive for what was good, yes, right, yes, the best, yes, yes and yes! The Word APPROVE literally means to test, examine, to recognise as genuine after examination, prove, scrutinise (to see whether a thing is genuine or not), as metals or coins!
It’s root comes from laying something alongside another so they can be compared and is

thought to stem from the idea of placing something in pure sunlight so that any imperfections can be revealed that might otherwise be hidden.
Enough of the dictionary!!
The point is we need something that is true, absolute and upon which everything else can be tested by comparison. AND we have it, The Word of God.. I know it’s not popular to talk about such things. I know I will be labelled right wing, bigoted, narrow-minded and a whole lot more BUT there is ONLY ONE ANSWER to where we are TODAY. To get back to God’s standard; get back to GOD’S WORD. If we want to know the right, the best, the excellent, if we want to know how to make the correct decisions, if we want to avoid extremism that brings horror onto our streets then we need to understand the Whole Counsel of God’s Word..
OR ELSE WE JUST GET ANOTHER WEEK LIKE THIS ONE!!!!

The Mother of ALL Parliaments as was once the phrase coined for the United Kingdom seat of Government and as I understand was formed on the Basis of God’s Word. It passed its laws in accordance with that Book. It defined the Country it governed as a ‘Christian’ Nation yet it acts now in complete contravention to it???

The Church of Scotland had an open letter written to its Assembly after Monday in which were written these words, “Many of the members of my congregation grew up in the Church of Scotland and came to faith through its witness and work. They love its Reformed theology and worship, its biblical foundation, its long history of fighting for the truth of the eternal Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” The Church itself says it believes in the Bible, it is its sole authority, BUT then passes a motion that dismisses that Scripture altogether..

Am I missing something??? Am I wrong when I ask can either government or church call itself ‘Christian’ if neither do what Christians are commanded to do.. John 14:15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”

What about Oklahoma you ask? John Piper a well-known and well respected Bible commentator spoke with the desire to bring comfort and hope and sense to the people bearing the brunt of the horror. BUT then he was attacked by one  Rachel Held Evans in an article where she calls God an abuser and that He is not in control otherwise He would not allow such things as natural disasters to happen..in his blog Douglas Wilson wrote (http://dougwils.com/s16-theology/rachel-held-evans-denies-the-cat.html)
“John Piper lives in a universe where terrible things happen, but he knows that when we come to know the whole story, we will stop our mouths, and bow before a holy God in order to worship Him — and all manner of things shall be well. To acknowledge God’s sovereignty in such things does not keep our hearts from breaking in the midst of such devastation. The sovereignty of God is a hard shell case that carries and protects the tender heart”
I don’t suggest to you today that I have all the answers to such disasters BUT if you were to take time and as is suggested above read the WHOLE BIBLE, get to know THE WHOLE STORY then all of us might be better equipped to understand.. might just see and do things a whole lot differently and better?

Oh! One further point, why I raised the Australian connection.. For I do accept that there are those who can take a good word, even verses from the Bible and though they are true in themselves when used out of context or in some twisted interpretation they can prove to be the cause of something as dangerous and insidious as any of the events above?

SO WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
ANSWER…THE WORD, THE WHOLE WORD AND NOTHING BUT THE WORD!
I BELIEVE IT IS TIME WE GOT BACK TO THE BIBLE! AND I BELIEVE IT IS THE CHURCH THAT SHOULD BE LEADING THE WAY…SO TAKE NOTE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND!

And with that, one final word, well it is actually R Kent Hughes who quoted this one.
“To see falsely is worse than blindness. A man who is blind that he cannot distinguish the ditch from the road still may be able to feel which is which. BUT if he sees the ditch as the road and the road as the ditch, HE IS IN BIG TROUBLE!