The sight of President Trump on TV celebrating his first 100 days in office, by giving assurance to this followers that their guns were safe with him in power, prompted this blog. Any legally held weapon can be lawfully retained he said, ignoring the fact that most weapons were designed to kill people.

If you are of a certain age you will recall the diet of Cowboy films which fed the appetites of youths before the digital era. It seemed, to kids of that period, inconceivable not to carry a gun! In fact replicas of the six-shooter beloved by film-stars John Wayne and Alan Ladd were the preferred weapons in many a school playground. They were usually confiscated and ended up, to the frustration of the owner, in the headmasters bin!

If this could happen in these islands how much more would they influence kids in the US where the real cowboys and Indians live. In fact the recent National Firearm Survey shows that in America 35% of the population grew up with guns in the house.
The same survey shows a concentration of privately owned guns. Apparently half the guns in the US are owned by only 3% of the population. These folk have their own private arsenal averaging 17 guns each! It becomes a bit more sinister when armour piercing weapons are included in the collection. However it is a right, jealously guarded, by our American cousins and enshrined in their Constitution.

It seems that the New Testament is opposed to the notion of bearing arms. On the first missionary expedition Jesus sent the 12 disciples into the Jewish towns with virtually no equipment but with his authority to heal the sick etc. (St Matthew Chapter 10 verse 5 to 16).
The second sending out is of the 72 again without weapons. The mission was a success. Jesus cautions them not to boast about their success but rather that their names are written in heaven (St Luke Chapter 10 verses 1 to 20).

The third time was immediately before Jesus was captured and he knew that his followers would be scattered. Here he contrasts it with the previous times and tells them to get equipped and get a sword (St Luke Chapter 22 verses 35 to 38). The disciples produce two swords and Jesus says enough – or as Moffat translates it ‘enough, enough’!

The only time the sword is used is in the garden when the high priest’s servants’ ear is cut off. Jesus heals the wound and uses the incident to drive home the maxim “he that lives by the sword will die by the sword” (St Matthew Chapter 26 verses 50 to 54).

The governing principle would seem to be found in the Sermon on the Mount.
Here we are instructed not to resist the evil one but embarrass them with love! (St Matthew Chapter 5 verses 39 to 42 see also Romans Chapter 12 verse 20).
The use of arms would appear to be left to the army or police. It is difficult to envisage a situation when the Christian could legitimately use them.

The report of the Citizen’s Assembly which was published today contains few surprises. The vote for changing the 8th Amendment (the one acknowledging the right to life of the unborn, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother) was carried by 87%.
There appear to be three suggested outcomes.
1 They could allow the status quo to remain.
2 They could opt for reform or repeal. If the latter they could pass the task to the politicians to legislate for abortion.
3 Or they could keep the amendment but amend it to allow a more liberal abortion regime.
The chairperson has stated that they cannot simply recommend that the article be amended; they must come up with alternative wording. The final wording would then be sent to government who would decide if a further referendum is required.

In coming to their conclusion the assembly viewed 13,500 submissions then randomly sampled a selection. My understanding is that these are available on U tube in an effort to be as transparent as possible to the public.
The problem of using 99 citizens picked randomly is that they themselves have no guiding light to assist them. Indeed the church, represented by the Bishop of Limerick, was attacked on its record of child abuse negating input from that quarter which might have been helpful.
It is true that experts from other countries were called upon to give an account of their experience of enacting abortion laws to give members of the assembly the broadest experience of how these laws worked. The difficulty with these experts was that they were coming from places where some form of abortion was accepted. It would have been interesting to hear from countries where it is closely monitored or banned!

As you would expect the Bible defends the child in the womb and recognised its existence as separate (but dependant) of the mother (Psalm chapter 22 verse 10 and chapter 71 verse 6). Later in Psalm 139 we read “you knitted me together in my mother’s womb (verse 13).

In the New Testament, Nicodemus, who would have been familiar with these scriptures misunderstood Jesus when he said you must be born again. He had no doubt that there was a living child in the womb but had difficulty applying a spiritual rather than a physical application to Jesus‘s illustration (St John Chapter 3 verse 3).
It was a radical change in Nicodemus that was in view not just some tips on teaching! This seems to have taken place as we next read of him confidently witnessing for Christ (chapter 7 verse 50 and chapter 19 verse 39).

Abortion always means death. It is always a tragedy. Unlike the new birth which is always a blessing! “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter Chapter 1 verse 3).
Let us make sure of the first birth and call upon the Lord to deal with the second!

This blog starts with Easter Greetings in the shape of a little known paraphrase which captures an amazing amount of truth in its first stanza: –
The Saviour died, and rose again
triumphant o’er the grave;
and pleads our cause at God’s right hand,
omnipotent to save.

Jesus had done just that, healing physically and spiritually the crippled beggar, working through St Peter who evoked the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. The event, recorded in Acts Chapters 3 and 4, culminate in the authoritative assertion that “there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Chapter 4 verse 12).
St Peter was at pains to point out as he addressed the people that the power and authority did not come from him but he was simply the mouthpiece for the risen Jesus.
When he was arrested by the Authorities the same question was on their minds, “By what power or in what name did you do this?” (Chapter 3 verse 12).
They wanted to put a stop to the preaching of Jesus. They feared his power when he walked amongst them and they feared his authority exercised through his followers.

Not much has changed. In many parts of the world you can be arrested for preaching the Name of Jesus. Of course the name which means Saviour makes no sense in our ‘sinless’ society. They say if truth is different for each of us and there is no recognition of an overarching set of rules, what is there to be saved from? Yet today sin reigns – the proof is in the daily papers!

If we are to be faithful to scripture we need to mention the exclusivity of this salvation. The “No other Name” gives the sacrifice of Jesus infinite worth. “There was no other good enough to pay the price of sin” was how Dubliner, Cecil F Alexander put it in her hymn.
It wasn’t as if there were no other heroes of the faith. Their religion had a litany of them from Abraham onwards. None came close to Jesus.

Of course the uniqueness of Jesus is what makes the Gospel ring true. It is a theme which appears not only in Acts but the Gospels and St John’s letter. Those who hear the call and respond come by seeing their sins laid on Jesus their Saviour. There is no back door to heaven (St John Chapter 14 verse 6).

This week saw the satisfactorily conclusion of our building transactions which stretched back over the last couple of years and we give God thanks for his enabling grace to see us through the various contacts. We were also assisted by our lawyers who appear to have done a good job.

My first involvement with lawyers was at around the age of 7 or 8. The house which we lived in at that time was owned by a couple who were living and working in India and who, we thought, were planning to spend the rest of their lives there.
However WW2 had ended and they decided to return to Scotland and wished to repossess their house. As tenants we had a legal agreement enabling us to remain but the case went to law.
My mother had been looking after my grandparents but my grandfather had just died so there were four of us in the semi-detached house which had six rooms. The Judge decreed, rather like King Solomon, that we divide the house giving two rooms to the owners retaining four rooms for our use.
However good it might have looked on paper the verdict would have been unworkable in practice and, providentially, we were able to solve our housing crisis thanks to the assistance of other members of our extended family.
Why am I writing all this? It is to show that we were in the hands of our advocate. If he had been good we may have been able to see out the remainder of our lease. I remember him remarking, “I don’t think you are very pleased with me”, perhaps something of an understatement!

The point is that you are at the mercy of your lawyer. If he is good then you benefit. If he is bad then you suffer the consequences.

The Bible reveals salvation as a forensic matter. We are prone to sin and sin must be judged. We will have our day in court whether we like it or not! It is of crucial importance that we have a good advocate. Out eternal destiny depends on it.

In St John’s first letter he first proclaims that the light of the Gospel shows up our sins and then goes on to commend Jesus’s death as the remedy. John realises that in reality believers are not immune from sin. He then takes up the courtroom theme and tells us that we have Jesus as our Advocate to plead our case before the Father.
In fact Jesus work of atonement is offered and is made available to cover the sins of the whole world not just St John and his readers.

“If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us…I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.” 1 John Chapter 1 verses 7 to Chapter 2 verses 1 – 2.

Trust Jesus as your saviour and your advocate.

The letter has been sent. The preliminary arrangements have been outlined. Sorrows have been expressed but the vehicle has no brakes and no reverse gear. The UK floats adrift from its EC moorings and divorce proceedings begin.

Some optimism has been expressed at the introduction in the UK parliament of the Repeal Bill which will repeal the EC Act of 1972 and transfer the 12,000 EC Regulations and 7,900 statutory instruments into UK Law. However the bonfire will be delayed as EC laws are valid until the divorce settlement is complete.
In the meantime the children of the divorce – Scotland and Ireland – have made their wants known. In the latter case the draft document recognises our concerns to continue the work of the ‘Peace Process’, the Common Travel Area (allowing free movement of citizens between these islands) and an imaginative handling of Border Controls.

The UK wants to proceed simultaneously with clearing the financial obligations to which they are already committed (estimated around £50 Billion), the rights of EC citizens to move in and out of the UK (and UK citizens likewise) and the thorny matter of future trade agreements. Not unnaturally the EC want substantial progress to be made on the first two before trade deals are made!

It was thought that the UK letter’s emphasis on security might have been a bargaining point in view of the sophisticated UK system. However it has been confirmed that full sharing of security information will continue.
It is an interesting time for Spain whose eyes are on the annexing of Gibraltar but, at the same time, not wishing to grant independence to Catalonia. And, on the subject of independence, Scotland may yet provide them with a model!

Most divorce cases start out optimistically believing that it would be mutually beneficial to live apart. However there is the messy business of the redistribution of assets. It is a settlement which is problematical. Then there are the children! Some harbour the idea of remaining good friends but if it was difficult before the division it certainly will not be any easier afterwards.

God puts his distaste for divorce simply in Malachi chapter 2 verse 16. It puts a legal framework around separation. It sucks any spiritual life there was out of the proceedings and focuses on the material.
In the EC context, “fortress Europe” potentially had it all. The surrounding nations were wanting to get in. Scores of individuals were staking their lives on the journey to its shore.
Internally there was large imbalances between the well managed countries and those less well managed. Also an unwillingness to share with the refugee be he an economic migrant from afar or simply a worker from a poorer part of the EC.

God puts his finger on the problem. His verdict – sin separates (Isaiah chapter 59 verse 2).
It separates us from God and from one another. There is a way back for the repentant individual or nation. And that is at the cross of Calvary. Jesus dealt with sin by taking it.
Thus he restores the relationship for time and eternity (Hebrews chapter 10 verses 16 to 23)

The burial of Martin McGuinness this week brought to a premature end his working towards political stability in Northern Ireland. The rare illness which removed him so swiftly was unforeseen. The reconfiguring of his Party continues.
McGuinness died at the age of 66 having spent the last 50 plus years bound up with what is euphemistically known as ‘the troubles’. The earlier part of his life he was a ‘freedom fighter’ or ‘terrorist’, (depending on your viewpoint), which provided the platform for his political authority over the last 20 years.

He was recognised as a good negotiator who kept his word and could be relied upon to bring his party with him even in difficult decisions. His working friendship with his previous arch-enemy Rev Ian Paisley provided an example of two leaders who recognised and shared qualities with the other.

McGuinness’s loyalty to his friends in the Bogside of Derry and those who supported ‘the cause’ was reflected in his ongoing refusal to denounce the IRA’s campaign. It also meant that many dark deeds go to the grave with him.

At the funeral and subsequently many have spoken words of forgiveness while others have been unable to forgive and ascribed to themselves God’s task of judge. Others have laid on some imaginary scales the bad and the good parts of his life and concluded that the good outweigh the bad. Some maintain it’s how one ends ones days that matters and conclude he was all right in the end.

For the Christian, that is one who has been forgiven by God his own massive debt, to forgive is the reflex action extended to the person who acknowledges his guilt and asks for forgiveness. Jesus sharpens the focus by his parable which illustrated what happens then this forgiveness is withheld (St Matthew Chapter 18 verses 23 – 35).

Where the guilty one does not acknowledge he is in the wrong forgiveness cannot flow but we can pray for them as Jesus did (St Matthew Chapter 23 verse 34). All sin is ultimately against God (Psalm 51 verse 4) and only God can forgive (St Mark Chapter 2 verse 7).

There must be a willingness in us to forgive the one who has sinned against us. Jesus showed us this in his model prayer in which he said his forgiveness to us (when we confess our sins to him) is conditional on our forgiving the one who has wronged us (St Matthew Chapter 6 verses 12 -15).

It is good to remind ourselves of where the Christian’s sins have ended up and be grateful.
‘And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the un-circumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by cancelling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.’ Colossians Chapter 2 verses 13 -14).

She has stayed in the background for a long time but this year Saint Patrick’s wife, Sheelah (or Sile) has decided to turn up! Like a dutiful wife she has deferred to the Saint and not intruded on his Day but accepted the 18th March as her day!

Not that you would notice as the good lady doesn’t even have a parade to advertise her presence. Her husband is feted globally. The green of Ireland bathes many a fine building in floodlight – but only on his day!

You have to go to Australia to find any recognition of her ladyship. There she has had less than illustrious treatment probably arriving with the 18th century exiles. Perhaps the anonymity is better than the endless disputes over which of the two (or were there more?) Patricks was the real Saint Patrick.

We know Rome sent Palladius in 431 AD to minister to the “Irish who believed in Christ”. Who preached Christ to them? There must have been a large body of believers before Rome sent a Bishop. After six years he went to deal with the “apostate Picts” possibly in Whithorn Abbey near Dumfries in the Scottish borders. Has he been confused with Patrick?

The question remains, if Patrick returned to Ireland as a Missionary in 432 AD, who converted the Irish to Christianity? To add to the confusion the word Patrick could refer to a community – particularly the community of Armagh. Then there was the heretic Pelagius who was in Ireland at that time. He said that man was born innocent and, contrary to Scripture, that he did not inherit Adam’s sin (Psalm 51 verse 5 & Romans Chapter 5 verse 12).

Fortunately we have Patrick’s “Confession” along with his letter to Coroticus.
These show the Saint to have converted to Christ while shepherding sheep on the hills of Antrim. “It was in my teenage years, as a captive from my native land. I was sold into slavery in Ireland where God showed me my own sinfulness and I turned wholeheartedly to “the Lord my God”.

Patrick baptised those professing faith in Christ and leaves “a legacy of many thousands of people” who demonstrated their faith in baptism. It must have been like Acts where St Luke records 3,000 were baptised in one day (Acts 2 verse 42). May that day come again.
By the way Sheelah got a mention in today’s parade!

Amidst the many tales of woe regarding Ireland’s treatment of children that were reported this week was an account of one who has done rather nicely.
This was the Chief Executive of Cement Roadstone Holdings, Albert Manifold, whose pay, it was disclosed, reached €10 million last year.

Just what do you have to do to earn such an astronomical amount? Well CRH is among the big companies globally. It is now rated at number 24 on the scale of giant companies having moved up from number 42 in the last year. Much of this dramatic increase has been due to Manifold’s leadership.

Two European building material companies wished to merge but in order to meet the anti-competition laws they had to divest themselves of some of their plumb assets. The competition for them was intense and a team from CRH camped in a Paris Hotel for the duration of the negotiations. In fact, at its conclusion, Manifold is reputed to have been awake for 96 hours to get the deal of €6.5 billion over the line.

CRH have grown largely be acquisition as it went from a humble sand and gravel quarry in 1948 into the major supplier of cement in Ireland.
The US market opened up in 1978 and later in 1995 CRH went unto Eastern Europe. In 2006 they set up in China and in 2008 in India. The recently concluded deal in Paris gives access to the rest of Europe.

Their progress has not been entirely without difficulties. There has been accusation of price-fixing with would be competitors. In Eastern Europe the company had to face the allegation of bribery and in the US the well known anti-trust laws have been applied. The company went through a difficult time when in 1969 they sold some land to the former Taoiseach, C J Haughey whose accountant ran a clandestine bank when he was chairman of CRH.

When you are head of accompany employing 87,000 people you can expect a fair salary. It is the bonus culture (in this case Manifold was awarded 590% of salary) which makes it grotesque. The Scriptures say “Take care and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does nor consist in the abundance of his possessions” (St Luke chapter 12 verse 15 & 22 -34).
Jesus follows this up with an appeal to not be anxious and drawing lessons from nature gives the assurance that God will look after the things we consider important. The proviso is that we put first the things He thinks important, namely His Kingdom where King Jesus reigns (1 Corinthians Chapter 15 24-26).

This week ‘Snapchat’ was launched on the New York Stock Exchange raising $3.4 billion for the two inventors. It is an enormous sum of money. The timing was fortuitous. The Market is optimistic. Its three years since ‘Twitter’ was floated. The time was right.
The attraction of Snapchat lies in the deletion of the communication in up to 10 seconds after it was sent! Last week we were thinking that some things said would have been better un-said. Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy have presented us with a possible answer!

It is over 30 years since Neil Postman wrote his ground breaking book on the TV culture. He entitled it “Amusing Yourself to Death”. In it he foresaw how advances in technology would develop. Here is an extract: –

“Together, this new ensemble of electronic techniques called into being a new world – a peek-a-boo world, where now this event, now that, pops into view for a moment, then vanishes again. It is a world without much coherence or sense; a world that does not ask us, indeed, does not permit us to do anything; a world that is, like the child’s game of peek-a-boo, entirely self-contained. But like peek-a-boo, it is also endlessly entertaining.” Now we can create this world from our smartphone!

This producer of sound bites or visual snaps has the ability to contact up to 16 users at a time. In its short life Snapchat has accumulated 156 million users globally who send 10 billion video views per day. It’s this prenominal usage that attracts investors. Although the company has not yet made any money on its trading the advertising potential is very big. With such swift viewing advertisers may be looking to subliminal communication!

There is a child’s version – ‘Snapkidz’ to start them young! A storage system called ‘Memories’ has been added with a private ‘For my eyes only’ which is password protected.

The authors reckon Snapchat is the answer to the embarrassing longevity of personal information on social media, evidenced by de-tagging of Facebook photos before job interviews and removing blemishes out of candid shots before they hit the internet.

It is into this brave new world that Neil Postman predicted that we are tasked with bringing the Gospel of redemption to the broken people who use technology. It starts with Jesus inviting us into fellowship with himself, “Come to me, all 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” (St Matthew Chapter 11 verse 28-30).

Jesus is both our author and redeemer. He calls us to do what we were created for – being yoked to Himself. The burden he gives us is to follow him. It is light because he has already paid the price at the cross so when you fail you can be forgiven. You don’t have the burdens others have – no striving to earn your own salvation. No legacy of past guilt having to be deleted or shame for past failures. No burden of having to prove yourself worthy of love. Jesus has gone on before and we are to follow.

Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews Chapter 12 verse 2).

Bats and Boxes Word on the Week 18th February 2017.
In a week when the newspapers were going batty over who said ‘what’ and ‘when’ we were finding out how to help conserve the real bats. These little creatures do not cause any harm and do a power of good in eating their own weight in insects daily. At present they are hibernating so now is the time to make the boxes which will (hopefully) house them through the summer months.
Bats are the only truly flying mammals. They suckle their young and can delay birth until the most opportune time. There are around 1,240 species globally of which we have 10 resident in Ireland.
The old UK name of Flittermouse recognises the mouse looking nature of bats. The Dutch word Vieermuis or the German word Fledermaus translate as winged mouse which is a better description.

It is inaccurate to call someone “as blind as a bat” as bats can see! Their sight is best in dim lighting so the modern practice of floodlighting buildings, either for security or to bring out their beauty, tends to drive the bats from their old roosts. Likewise the bat box should be located away from the bright lights but on the warm south side of the building or tree as they like to be in a warm draft-proof place.
Bat boxes differ from bird boxes which are now being fixed in appropriate locations. Instead of a hole on the front of the box the bats enter via a slot across the bottom. They require to be located at least twice as high as the typical bird box which is around 3 metres. It is important that they are made of untreated wood i.e. no chemicals or toxic paint as these poison the bats.

But it is the bats radar that most people find fascinating. Bats echo-location emits ultrasonic sounds to produce echoes. These returning sounds produce detailed images of the bats surroundings and allow it to identify its prey. At 130 decibels it is a powerful sound which would deafen the bat if it were not for a muscle which contracts and closes the middle ear as the sound goes out relaxing to hear the returning echo. It is not only humans that are wonderfully made!
The Bible mentions bats among the birds which are not to be eaten Leviticus (Chapter 11 verse 19).
God’s care for creation is only exceeded in his marvellous provision for our redemption. To think that God has provided a way for humans to find their way to him (without echo-location) but through prayer and the influence of the Holy Spirit is truly amazing. Jeremiah Chapter 33 verse 3 says “Call to me and I will answer you”. That answer will be faster that a bats returning echo!