WHICH IS BEST FOR THE CHURCH, PERSECUTION OR EASE?

"HOW SAD THE THOUGHT, THAT WHAT FAGGOT AND EXILE COULD NOT DO A CHRISTLESS FORM ACCOMPLISHED!"

Duncan Matheson The Scottish Evangelist. pp. 232.

Faggots were the bundles of combustible material used as fuel for the fires in which the Christian martyrs were burned alive.

BEST SUMMING UP OF SINGLE CURRENCY I'VE HEARD

WELL DONE DAVID CAMERON FOR HAVING THE GUTS

Well done David Cameron for having the guts to veto the horrible EU - I didn't think he had it in him. Great! Now maybe some others will also display a bit of bottle.

People need to stop worrying about likely short-term consequences and making careers out of compromise and just simply get into the habit of making a stand against bad ideas.

The European Union is one big bad idea. It's just a bloated and dishonest gravy train which seeks to impose its dictatorial will on everyone.

It is not the duty of any country to look after the interests of other countries - it is the duty of a country to look after the interests of its own people. If it was possible to turn the whole of Europe into a single state (country), then it would be fine - but it's not possible - Europe ain't America - a young country with it's various states all speaking the same language.

Interesting to see what happens next.

THE WRONG STUFF

When I heard yesterday about the jesting made of Liam Aitchison's murder on channel 5 programme The Wright Stuff I watched the clip. It was shocking. I could hardly believe that supposedly civilised human beings could laugh and joke in such a prolonged manner about such a thing.

Last night I had the intention of this morning recording the clip and posting it on this blog but they have obviously panicked and removed the offending clip - I shouldn't have procrastinated.

Anyway, it was shocking - they should certainly be punished.

This is yet another example of the effect the despising of God's truth has on people in general. The problem only grows. We must open our eyes. The Bible claims to be the truth of God. True or false. Great Britain was made great by believing in the Bible. How much sense does it make to despise it? What does that leave us with? It leaves us with nothing but utter hopelessness - if there is no God we might as well go and jump off the nearest cliff - why prolong the inevitable - and who has the right to find fault with us if we do?

If there is no God then there is no moral code - no moral law. This means that no one has the right to find fault with anything - It means Adolf Hitler was quite right, we are just pieces of meat. We haven't been created in the image of God after all - we just accidentally happen to be the "most evolved" animal. After all, Hitler was only being logical and following the path down which atheism inevitably leads - because there is no God then ultimately we answer to no one - therefore we can do as we please - total freedom to say and do as we like.

Or is it total bondage?

YOUNG MEN, YOUNG MEN

To the divinity students at the New College, Edinburgh (1867).

"YOUNG MEN, YOUNG MEN, DOWN WITH BOOKS AND UP WITH CHRIST! SOULS ARE PERISHING! UP, AND AIM AT SAVING SINNERS."

Duncan Matheson The Scottish Evangelist. PP. 220

A MAN IN THE PULPIT

"I WENT TO HEAR MR MATHESON. THE PLACE OF MEETING WAS CROWDED, AND I COULD FIND A SEAT ONLY NEAR THE PULPIT. THE STRANGER ENTERED. HIS MANNER AT ONCE ATTRACTED AND RIVETTED MY ATTENTION; IT WAS ALTOGETHER SO NOVEL TO ME. NEVER TILL THEN HAD I SEEN A MAN IN THE PULPIT, ONLY A MINISTER. IN HIS WHOLE BEARING THERE WAS A STRIKING ABSENCE OF ALL STIFFNESS AND FORMALITY. HIS PRAYER TOUCHED ME: NO INTRODUCTION, NO FORMAL CONCLUSION; IT WAS BRIEF, POINTED, DIRECT. IT WAS SO SOLEMN, YET SO TENDER. HEARING SUCH CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE LIVING GOD I WAS DEEPLY SOLEMNIZED."

Duncan Matheson The Scottish Evangelist. PP. 212.

EXPOSE THE LIE

I enjoy going to the swimming pool here in Stornoway. Part of the pool is normally sectioned off for those who wish to just swim back and fore so that kids and the like don't get in their way. The pool attendants then place a sign at the end of the pool with directional arrows on it and the words 'swim clockwise'.

This may seem like a very innocuous and even useful rule. But it isn't. This is why.

If everyone following this instruction swims at the same speed then that's OK. But what if (like me and others) some wish to swim at a faster speed? If I am alone in this part of the pool it's OK, but as soon as anyone starts following this instruction things start to go wrong. Try to imagine one man obediently swimming round and round the pool and a faster swimmer doing lengths or even swimming clockwise like the other. To put it simply: it doesn't work - you unavoidably get in each other's way.

The answer is to simply not have the silly rule in the first place - people would just naturally sort themselves into lanes and avoid each other - problem solved.

Why am I saying this? Because the principle is exactly the same with regard to ordination of ministers. There is an un-biblical rule held to which is nothing but a barrier to many good and able men. This rule is based on a lie. This is the lie:

'God only wants those who have attained to a high level of academic education to be ministers.'

All I am trying to do is expose the lie, and then, we can all agree to drop the silly rule - problem solved.