Unplanned                            Word on the Week                          5^th October 2019.

It was with considerable distress that I read this week the largest cause of death globally is not any disease but is abortion.    The film ‘Unplanned’ which was showing in a few cinemas this week has not received much publicity as ironically cinemas would fear to host it in case they incur the wrath of the pro-choice lobby.

What is this film which has caused such consternation?    It is a simple story of Abby Johnson’s ceasing to work for ‘Planned Parenthood’ and becoming an advocate for the ‘Pro-life’ movement.    This changing of sides occurred when she was invited to assist in an actual abortion and she noticed that the baby, seen on the monitor screen, was alive at 13 weeks of age.

In her job she had been told to reassure mothers that the child they were carrying was unable to feel a thing was really a lump of tissue.   One day Abby was asked to assist in the abortion procedure and while watching the progress of the catheter on the ultra sound screen she saw the child move away from the invading instrument.   As it wriggled to get away it was then she realised there was a struggle for survival going on before her eyes.

Actress Ashley Bracher, who plays the part of Abby, had often been told her by her mother that her elder sibling had been aborted.    What she didn’t know, until a phone call from her mother during the shooting of the film, was that she herself had had a narrow escape.    When mother was pregnant with Ashley she returned to the clinic and was on the table and within seconds of the procedure starting when she got up and walked out of the clinic.   She had no Idea why she did this but Ashley, who is a believer, now understands why!

Children in the Bible are looked upon as gifts from God.   Their birth is a cause of rejoicing (Genesis Chapter 4 verses 1 and 2).    Their arrival was looked upon as the Lord showing favour (Psalm 127 Verse 3).   Their absence was a matter for mourning (1 Samuel Chapter 1 verses 5 to 20).    And their growth in the womb was something planned which evoked the peoples praises Psalm 137verses 13 to 16).

When Jesus came into the world it was to destroy the works of the devil and through his death and resurrection provide a way of escape for all who believe.   The devil deals in death and these days he has many helpers (Hebrews Chapter 2 verses 14 to 17 and St John Chapter 8 verse 44).

Let us pray that this film, which is on global release, will succeed in helping to break the grip abortion has on our society.

I am stressed, you are stressed, we are all stressed!   How is it in a society that is full of labour saving devices we fall victim to stress?   Even armed with a smartphone which can contain all our personal information and access globally to data on any subject, we end up being controlled by the smartphone!    Not you?   Try leaving it at home!

It is not good to have the adrenalin pumping in your veins all day.   Productivity decreases and health deteriorates.   This catches the boss’s attention!    Plants are introduced to improve the ambiance of the workplace.   The furniture is altered so that you may alternate between standing up and sitting down to operate the computer.    A table-tennis table appears in the ‘rest’ area.   And you get two weeks leave if you buy a puppy – such is the therapeutic value of a dog!

Various wellbeing practices have sprung up to address the ‘market’ in stressed out people.    Some are wholesome exercises such as regular attendance at the local gym.   Others tap into Eastern Religions of which yoga is the most popular.    These are easily recognised as they claim to be able to detect health problems and deal with them.    Seldom do the practitioners explain the nature of the power they harness.   They attempt the empting of your mind and the control of your breathing.

They come under the category of the devil’s schemes for which St Paul provides the Christian’s armour (Ephesians Chapter 6 verses 11 to 18).    Whatever gains these practices can claim they take the user away from Christ to dependence on another god and need to be repented of (Exodus Chapter 20 verse 3).

Jesus invitation to the stressed to be linked to himself and together we will carry your load (St Matthew Chapter 11 verses 28 to 30).   He explains how this can be done in the passage (St Matthew Chapter 6 verses 25 to 34) contained in the barcode below.    The benefit of putting Christ first in your life are spelled out in verse 33.

A new dimension has been given to the debate on climate change.    Around this time last year, the Swedish school girl Greta Thunberg was a lone voice demanding greater efforts be made by the authorities to protect the environment.    This week on Friday the call was taken up by school children globally as they turned up in millions as Greta’s cause went viral!

What lends poignancy to these protests is the assertion that the life-span of those marching will be shortened because this present generation of rulers did not take the matter seriously.    You could say the marchers had a vested interest in their cause – namely their future existence!

Whether or not this is the case is not open to discussion as the consequences, if the protesters are correct, do not bear thinking about.    The acceleration in the rise of sea-levels put many seaside communities at the risk of extinction.    This, along with our President’s expressed concern for the effects of climate change, may have inspired the placard, “Save the Sea Michael D”!

Another placard, perhaps with Donald Trump’s dismissal of global warming in mind, carried the message, “The dinosaurs also thought they had time!”   This points to the fact that the two largest users of fossil fuels, China and USA, have leaders who choose to ignore the global summit on climate change which takes place on Monday.   Trump will be there but is to take part in a meeting on religious freedom!

Those who believe the Bible can take some comfort in the fact that after the original flood came the promise that this would not happen again (Genesis Chapter 9 verses 8 to 17).  In Noah’s day the 40 days of rain was accompanied by rising tide levels as the ‘fountains of the deep’ were broken up (Genesis Chapter 7 verses 11/12).   

After the flood came the recognition that man’s evil heart had not changed but Noah’s altar of atonement created a ‘pleasing aroma’ and formed the basis of the covenant.   Now instead of the curse there would be the promises of continuity. We can be sure that the sun will rise tomorrow, not because of the ‘balance of probabilities’ but because of God’s promise “As long as the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease” (Genesis Chapter 8 verses 21/22).

St Peter predicted in the last day’s scoffers would come and cast doubt on the Lord’s return because of this continuity that exists.   They choose to forget the flood.   But heaven and earth will pass away by fire and St Peter asks in view of this, “what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness?”   He concludes, “But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Peter Chapter 3 verses 3/13).

History will have an end.  Jesus’ return will precede it.   We are to be ready.  

Bold Boris                              Word on the Week                          14^th September 2019.

Bold, not in the English sense of being confident and courageous but in the Irish sense of being a naughty boy!    Could it be that the Scottish Law Lords have called him out?    They were of one mind on the matter when they published their findings from their Court of Session on Wednesday.

They found that the Prime Minister’s advice to the Queen and the prorogation of Parliament which followed was unlawful and is thus null and of no effect; the three judges said this in a summary of their judgment.    To support their contention, the court found that internal government documents presented in evidence showed that, although the prime minister claimed that he was suspending parliament for five weeks to allow the government to prepare its legislative agenda, that was not the “true reason” for his action.

The Court found the suspension was unlawful because “it had the purpose of stymying parliament” to avoid scrutiny of the prime minister’s Brexit policy.   This was the true reason which Boris has, of course, denied.    It has been appealed to the Supreme Court which meets in London next Tuesday to decide whether or not Boris has lied to the Queen when he gave her his reason for proroguing parliament.

I have a suspicion that there may be more than one golfer among the three lawyers in the Court of Session as the word ‘stymied’ is most often used in that game.   It arises usually on the green when something or someone’s golf ball prevents or hinders one’s own ball from accessing the hole.   In this case Boris may have thought the five-week break might have got him out of a hole but it looks as if the reverse may be the case!

When St Paul was in a hole, his enemies wanted him tried in Jerusalem where they thought they would win.     As a Roman citizen St Paul appealed to be heard by Caesar.    He had already been heard by Governor Festus but lacking any specific accusation he was brought before King Agrippa to state his defence.  

Unlike Boris St Paul clearly recounted the events that led to his conversion to Jesus Christ and his commissioning by Him to “to open the people’s eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me (Acts Chapter 26 verses 17/18).

What St Paul was enabled to fulfil in the conversion of many people had been prophesied by Moses and the Prophets.    They said it would come to pass, “that the Christ must suffer and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles” (verses 22/23).

Boris needs this light if he is to lead his people out of Europe.

These birds have the delightful habit of congregating on the electricity wires which run diagonally across the field in front of our house.   The spectacle only lasts for a couple of weeks, always at this time of year.  Both are of the same species and have much in common.

Their melodic twittering as the make their travel plans sweeten the air.   Within the next couple of weeks, they will be heading South for the exact location in sub-Sahara Africa which they left in the Spring.    The birds which travel the furthest North to these Islands and Scandinavia are the long distance fliers travelling to South Africa to enjoy their second summer of the year!   

To prepare themselves for the journey they have been indulging themselves in a feeding frenzy.    This is when the insects get blown out of the trees into the flight path of the birds.   They are at their acrobatic best zipping past each other as they scoop up the food in their widely gaping mouths.    Drinking too is done on the wing as they skin across the water, their beaks sipping the surface.

Both Swallows and Martins make their nests out of mud.   The Martin encloses his with only a small access hole.   The Swallow makes a more conventional cup nest adding bits of straw to bind the mud.    Apparently they have a preference for nesting in open-fronted sheds alongside cattle and horses.   Most Swallows try to rear two broods each summer and some succeed in raising three if there is a warm Autumn.

These birds are equipped with tiny feet making them unsuitable to land on the ground.   The writer of Proverbs uses this inability to land as an illustration.    He dismisses an undeserved curse saying it does not alight (Proverbs Chapter 26 verse 2).  

There is a curse which did alight.   We inherited it from Adam.   It was the result of the fall when the earth was cursed (Genesis Chapter 3 verse 17).     We bear the curse.   We have the weeds and thorns which are its emblems to live with.   We needed ‘the second man from heaven’ Jesus Christ to do all that Adam failed to do (1 Corinthians Chapter 15 verses 22/26).  

Looking to Christ’s finished work, the third verse of his hymn ‘Joy to the World’ Isaac Watts puts it well:

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
nor thorns infest the ground;
he comes to make his blessings flow
far as the curse is found,
far as the curse is found,
far as, far as the curse is found.

Let all who follow the work of our Redeemer sing with the Swallows as we look to forward the new heaven and new earth the home of righteousness (2 Peter Chapter 3 verse 13).

The popular RTE television programme delves into the background of its subject.   Aided by the largely excellent record keeping of church, state and military it is now possible to explore the life’s history of one’s ancestors.    The media, recognising our inherent inquisitiveness, have used the opportunity to research willing celebrity’s backgrounds.   

The usual format is to work on the history of one parent and then when the trail ends transfer to the other parent and carry out a similar exercise.    The information gleaned from the various sources produce interesting insights into the person’s past.   The results are not always flattering and in some cases well guarded family secrets are exposed for all to see.    The work is thorough and no stone is left unturned. What is it about identity that we find so fascinating?    Questions unasked in childhood can return to haunt us in later years when those who could answer them are no longer with us.   Misinformation can creep into the family understanding and, over time, a myth can become established as fact!     Add into the mix a bit of stereotyping and a category of ‘things not spoken about’ develops!

Of course you can have more than one identity.   Most of us can recognise the person who is a tyrant at work and an angel at home – or vice versa!    Another may wear a mask for church and drop the mask when back in the domestic scene!

The Bible was written to show us who God is.   He reveals himself as the creator of all and the redeemer of his people.    His personal qualities are revealed in his dealings with Israel and supremely in Jesus Christ we have the exact representation of his being (Hebrews Chapter 1 verse 3).

In Jesus we see an identity revealed.   He was with God in the beginning.   He was the living Word.   Everything God was the Word was.   He was the light of men.   And that light has a discriminating function in that it shows where everyman stands in relation to Jesus (St John Chapter 1 verses 4 to 9).  

The glory of the Christian identity is revealed in the phrase Child of God.   One who can call God his father.    One who is in the family of God and can call fellow believers his brothers and sisters.

The rebellious identity inherited from Adam and developed through countless ages, when confessed and renounced makes way for the new identity.    This comes by faith in Jesus, being born again by his Spirit and leading a new life as a Child of God (St John Chapter 1 verses 12 and 13).

Gambling god of today                     Word on the Week             24^th August 2019.

In a conversation this week a friend described an outing to Laydown Races.   He was in the company of a businessman who knew his way around race courses.  His method was to select one race and bet on the favourite.    This he duly did and won – his stake was £2,000.00!   

It is easy to see the attraction gambling affords.   The temptation of the big win.    The allure of something for nothing.    There is a corruption of the value system involved, summarised in Ecclesiastes Chapter 5 verse 10.

“He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is meaningless.”    When the American millionaire, Rockefeller, was asked when would he have enough money his reply was, “After the next $1,000,000.”  

Money exercises a godlike influence over people.   It exaggerates its importance and upsets one’s equilibrium.     It encourages greed.   It can become an object of worship, never far from one’s thoughts and never able to satisfy the desires of the heart.    Perhaps the antidote is to be found in St Paul’s advice to Timothy.  

“But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world.  But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.  But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.  For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs” (1 Timothy Chapter 6 verses 6 to 10).

In a newspaper report this week it was estimated there are 30,000 problem gamblers in the State.     How can they and we gain this contentment St Paul speaks about?    Although they will not look at it this way there 30,000 have dedicated their lives to gambling.   It comes first.   It is always the next bet that will win and solve everything.    Their addiction is helped by small wins engineered by the gambling operator to encourage faithfulness from his punter.

Only ‘Christ can break the power of cancelled sin and set the prisoner free’ as the hymn-writer put it.   Cancelled sin?   Cancelled by being borne on Christ’s cross and the penalty it incurred paid in full.

Deliverance from gambling (or any other sin) does not come through will-power or good intentions but by confessing the sin and turning from it to receiving the new life that comes from putting ones trust in Christ.  It was Christ who, on the cross, substituted his perfect life for our sinful lives to bear our guilt and give us a fresh start (2 Corinthians Chapter 5 verse 17).    Trust yourself to Jesus and his Spirit will empower you with that new life (Ezekiel Chapter 37 verses 1 to 14).

Nora Quoirin Deceased             Word on the Week                17^th August 2019.

It was on the 10^th day after her disappearance that Nora’s body was found in a forest ravine by a stream.    It brought to a halt a search which had involved a large search and rescue team, which included local people familiar with the forest in that area. The location was around 60km from Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.

The Quoirin’s were on a family holiday at the Dusun resort when her father, on their first morning, discovered Nora’s bedroom window open and no evidence of his daughter.   They searched the immediate vicinity but found no trace.   As she had special needs and was not an independent 15-year-old, the family took the view that someone else must have been involved in her disappearance.

Previously Nora had visited many countries and never got lost or wandered off by herself.   It was completely out of character for her to do things on her own.   Describing her condition her father said, “Nora can read like a young child, but she cannot write more than a few words.   She has a good memory but she cannot understand anything conceptual.   She is unable to do maths so things like money are impossible to manage.”

Her naked body was found by some hikers who reckoned the body would have been found by the searchers had it been there earlier.   According to the post mortem death took place 2 to 3 perhaps 4 days before.    The cause of death was internal bleeding.   There was no evidence of rape of abduction.     A reward of £10K was made the day before Nora was found and has not been paid.

There is a Shamanic tradition in South-East Asia and during the search the suggestion was made to enlist the aid of the ‘spirits’.    The thinking is that with many trees felled the ‘spirits’ have lost their resting places and become malevolent.    Their ‘normal’ activities are to induce fear and hysteria in people such as schoolgirls.  These things are dealt with within the Muslim religion or by spirit possessed priests.

The Bible is explicit on these matters; – “Do not turn to mediums or necromancers; do not seek them out, and so make yourselves unclean by them: I am the Lord your God” (Leviticus Chapter 19 verse 31).       The Prophet Isaiah warns his followers not to be drawn into occult gibberish when God speaks clearly from his Word (Chapter 8 verses 19 to 20).

Jesus met death of a loved one with tears of compassion.   He restored life to the dead undoing the effects of illness and fulfilling the spoken Word.   Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life.  Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (St John Chapter 11 verses 25 to 26).     The question remains valid today!

It was about this time fifty years ago that the Apprentice Boy’s Parade took place in Derry.   It provided the outlet for protest that was to occupy the North of Ireland for the next quarter of a century.    The official ending of what euphemistically was called “The Troubles” took place with the signing of the Good Friday Agreement on 10^th April 1998.

Every country has a “past”.   Few countries bring the past into the present as frequently as we do in Ireland.    Annual commemorations are mixed other significant periods which fill up the calendar.   Learning from the past has produced elements of justice for past wrongs and apologies have been given where opportunities for forgiveness were evident.    Whether or not these apologies amount to repentance (a change of heart) will be revealed over time.

What is certain is there should be no going back to the tit for tat behaviour where retaliation ensured there would be no end to the matter.    It is not easy to live with feelings of injustice.   Whether these feelings are real or imaginary is irrelevant – they are always real to the one who has them!  

Anniversaries of atrocities bring testing times for those attempting to avoiding them and for those celebrating them.    They create the temptation to return to the past, especially if the expression of regret by the other is non-existent or is not being lived out.   It requires the supernatural power of Jesus to break the mould and commit to a lifestyle which lives in the new way of loving your enemy (St Matthew Chapter 5 verses 43 to 45).

It is perhaps worth reminding ourselves that the labelling ‘Catholic’ and ‘Protestant’ are not to be found in the Bible.    Both systems of religion acknowledge the centrality of Christ’s teaching and example.   The names themselves have been largely inherited and are often used to perpetrate division.    Those who follow these traditions have these verses in their Bibles: – “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (St John Chapter 13 verses 34 to 35).

We need to learn from the past as present times are uncertain.   The North of Ireland is without a government.    England has a Prime Minister who seems focussed on exiting Europe on 31^st October with scant regard to its consequences for Ireland.   To have confidence for the future we need to turn from past deeds and present uncertainties and trust in Jesus who loves his own “to the very end of the age” (St Matthew Chapter 28 verse 20).

Harvest Days                                 Word on the Week                        3^rd August 2019.

Harvest days are here again!   The fields are golden with ripened grain.   The combine harvesters are slowly clanking their way through the crops.   The grain trailers driving alongside the combine pick-up the grain as it is funnelled over their tall sides then off they go to the mill.

Precision sowing of the seed at the end of last year produced rows of oats, barley or wheat according to what was sown.    The dry weather means it ripened slightly earlier than usual but the crops will probably weigh out lighter.   The stalks or straw are gathered up by a baler, packed tightly into a cylindrical shape and secured with a membrane.    These bales are gathered into sheds and provide winter bedding for cattle or augment their feed.

In Jesus parable the seed is likened to the Word of God (St Luke Chapter 8 verse 11).

The seed falls into four types of soil.   Each soil represents a type of person.   The first is hard ground and the seed doesn’t root but is food for the birds.   Jesus said that the birds were like the devil who takes away the Word so that people with hard hearts will not believe it and be saved.

The second is stony ground.   The seed grows fast but does not last as it has no root system.   These represent those who receive the Word with joy but when testing times come they fall away.

The third soil grew thorns which choked the seed of the Word.   Jesus said the thorns that did this were worries, riches and pleasures.    

The forth soil was good for growth and the seed by persevering produced a crop (St Luke Chapter verses 11 to 15).

Just as the farmer does not stand idly by watching the seed grow but weeds and nourishes it to get the best crop.   So Jesus, at first, is seen by sinners as a threat disrupting our way of life.    This is why we hide from Him or oppose Him.   We resist the witness of other Christians and in various ways defend ourselves.    It takes time for the seed of the Word to grow – sometimes it seems a lifetime!

In quoting Jesus on the fourth type of soil – the one sustaining Christian life St Luke puts it “They are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience”.   The last word ‘patience’ could be translated

‘perseverance’ which is “persisting in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success”.     

Coming to faith in Christ is similar to farming.   It is the seed of the Word that has life.

It has many enemies but none that can withstand Jesus – the Lord of the harvest (St Matthew Chapter 13 verses 36 to 43).   He who has ears, let him hear.