When Dennis O’Brien complained this week that he was not getting a fair hearing in the Dial he was overlooking the fact that he owns the bulk of the reporting media in the country! What still lies beyond his control is the voice of an independent member of parliament who, in what’s left of our democracy, has posed awkward questions regarding his business affairs.

Of course O’Brien claimed his banking arrangements were private but with so much public money swilling around the system it’s hard to claim that these questions were not in the public interest.

The first question concerned the rate of interest O’Brien was paying to the IRBC (the rump of Anglo/Irish bank) in particular what was the rate he was paying on his company Siteserv? The second question concerned this company which had €119M written off its value in the bank’s books when O’Brien bought the company from the bank in 2012.

IRBC is owned by the taxpayers of Ireland. These questions should have been answered in the Dial. Instead they are to be dealt with by a Commission of Investigation, the terms of which will occupy the minds of our politicians for the best part of next week!

Of course nothing is ever simple when large sums of money are involved. There was €5M paid to Siteserv’s shareholders to get their permission to sell the company. By coincidence this is the same amount that the Irish Football Association squeezed out of FIFA on some nebulous business to do with Ireland failing to qualify in the World Cup in 2009.

It’s been an interesting week!

Honesty and transparency trump privacy and confidentiality. “Unequal weights and unequal measures are both alike an abomination to the Lord” (Proverbs Chapter 20 verse 10).

Sin is depicted in the book of Daniel as short weight. “You have been weighed in the balances and found wanting” (Chapter 5 verse 27).

In the New Testament one of the words used to describe sin is ‘short measure’. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans Chapter 3 verse 23).

Multibillionaires and corrupt global organisations make good illustrations of what should not be but when it comes to God’s standard we all fall short.

We cannot cancel sin, which is always primarily against God, by paying back what has been wrongly acquired. Restitution may be possible and is a good thing but useless to eradicate sin. St Peter puts it well “you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect” (Chapter 1 verses 18/19).

Whether we are ‘up and out’ or ‘down and out’ Jesus has made a way – trust Him.

The Latin word for ‘unconquered’ was the title given to the poem by the author’s editor. The poem was written 140 years ago, by William Ernest Henley. It runs to four stanzas and has survived because it is so quotable portraying, as it does, the indomitable human spirit. It caught my eye this week when the last two lines appeared in the press at the end of someone’s obituary.

“I am the master of my fate:

I am the captain of my soul.”

The fact that it is completely untrue does not entirely rob us of a moment of pride. We like the thought that we can take it on the chin. We can deal with whatever fortune throws at us. The idea that we are able to handle it – no matter how hard the particular ‘it’ becomes strokes our ego. It resonates with the human psyche to want to be in control, both of ourselves and of others.

There is an irony in it appearing in the obituary column. We may make all the necessary arrangements concerning our mortal remains but our eternal destiny lies in the hands of another. Perhaps it was the impenetrableness of what lies beyond the grave that made Henley pen the line in the third stanza: –

“Looms but the Horror of the shade.”

The poet had no Muse to take him beyond the darkness. He claims to be unafraid. He does not care how narrow the gate is or how long is the list of his crimes. He reckons that he is in command of his body and soul.

But his confidence does not seem to be well founded relying as it does on his record of enduring, despite his problems, and taking pride on his ability to survive on his own without help.

Perhaps Scripture would locate him as a member of the Laodicean Church! They were self-sufficient and doing fine without God.

The divine verdict was that they were wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked. They were oblivious to all this. They had to be told.

They then realised they had no resources of their own.

The remedy was to be refined like gold to remove the dross; receive the garments of righteousness and have their eyes opened to see Jesus.

Then for those who recognise their need of him comes the promise of food and fellowship on an individual basis. Those who hear Jesus words and respond will find in him the captain of their soul for time and eternity (Revelation Chapter 3 Verses 17-20).

The good ship Ireland has veered away from the convoy of nations and headed out into the choppy waters all by herself. She flies a number of flags but for now the most prominent of them is the rainbow colours of the Gay community. The crew seem to be working in pairs not couples as in former times and there appears to be complete unanimity amongst those charting the course that the direction taken is the right one.

“Other ships will follow our lead” they say.

Some indeed have already set their course in our direction and only lost a few conscience-stricken crew members overboard. They were the religious ones who had only an old manual to guide them. How could they expect to cope with modern methods of sailing? They would never get close enough to the wind!

A queue had formed on board. They were paired up in their brightest and best clothes. It was their wedding day. But not only that! The ships charter had been altered and there would be a marriage certificate for everyone to mark the occasion. ‘Equality trumps difference’ was the new motto, so let the party begin!

Some rocks lay ahead but they were on the far horizon. There was a new dawn breaking, although a few thought it might be the twilight!

Whatever, no need to change course, there would be plenty of time for that later on.

These were the same rocks that St Paul showed Felix. He called them “righteousness, self-control and the coming judgement” (Acts Chapter 24 verse 25). Felix couldn’t navigate his way around them any more than any of us can. They lie on our pathway. They reveal our need of a relationship to Jesus so that (“in him we live and move and have our being” as St Paul quoted) we are eternally secure.

The picture of the Christian life in Christ is further fleshed out in Ephesians (where Christ is seen as the groom Chapter 5 verse 25/32) by the illustration of the Church as Christ’s bride won, not by referendum, but by the blood of the cross (Chapter 1 verse 7).

There will, by God’s grace, be same-sex couples in heaven alongside opposite-sex ones all of whom are guilty of immorality. But none will be there who have not repented, drawn from their sins by the love of Jesus, to join him as his bride in that glorious marriage feast of the Lamb of which our weddings are but a poor reflection.

It’s not only the bluebells that are coming out this Spring but the covert ‘Gay’s’ who are publishing their stories. The repetitive nature of these accounts does nothing to dull their poignancy. They are increasing in number in this latter phase of the Referendum campaign.

Emotions are running high as the abnormal sees its goal of creating the new normal approaching. Of course it is not simply same-sex marriage that is in view. That is only the next step towards the genderless society. In it your sexuality becomes your identity. It takes precedence over all other factors.

With the advent of two daddies or two mummies comes the child of confusion. This manifests in an increase in bisexual behaviour as schools encourage sexual exploration from an early age.

No consideration has been given to the Christian youngster striving to keep himself or herself pure. The struggle to maintain celibacy through the teenage years was never easy. On top of the problem of pimples and the need to be liked, there is now the temptation to “try before you buy” which has to be resisted.

The 20/30ies age group, who treat sex as recreation, present the Christian with a challenge equal to if not greater than that of the secret homosexual.

In today’s sex-sodden society those who haven’t yet ‘come out’ certainly do not have a monopoly of battling with temptation.

Setting aside the publicity stunts of the timing of ‘coming out’ to gain traction for the ‘yes’ vote there is a genuine relief to be gained from sharing these struggles with trusted friends. For the Christian this should be possible within the Church family where encouragement to stay pure can be given and good friendships formed where we are accountable to one another in a long-term community setting. These are all things the local church is best placed to provide.

What we are in danger of doing next Friday is legislating for sin! Historically laws have followed Biblical teachings. For example adultery rendered marriage voidable. If the Referendum is passed we will not simply have destroyed the meaning of marriage but included in it that which the Bible forbids.

Great play has been made on the ‘love’ which same-sex people have for each other. But a greater love is the tough love of the wounds of a friend (Proverbs Chapter 27 verse 6).

That love dares to speak its name and in the terms of 1 Corinthians Chapter 6 verses 9-11 warns adulterers and ‘Gays’ of judgement both now and to come.

God’s justice is tempered with mercy for those who turn to Him and we read that “you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God”.

Jesus did not die in vain. There will be those who hear the gospel and respond to the agape love of the Saviour.

St John Chapter 10 verse 27 “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.”

Election in a real democracy is a wonderful thing. In it bullet points, rather than bullets fly at the opposing parties. Even when rhetoric outstrips reason in the speeches opportunities for public engagement abound and no one is immune from a verbal drubbing.

Ballot boxes are sealed and each vote is cast in secret. Polling booths are policed and those recording voting papers are people of the highest integrity. The invitation to check the voting register in the weeks before the election is widely advertised and all citizens eligible to vote have an opportunity to check that they are listed.

This week we have been treated to a masterclass in the UK election with all votes counted and results announced in something like 17 hours.

The polls, which bombarded the voters with statistics purporting to show how the Parties’ fortunes swing, come to their moment of truth when their figures are matched against the actual results. During this period of high drama I have known many people who have stayed up all night fascinated by the fluctuating fortunes of their Party.

Another feature, almost uniquely British, is the resignation of party leaders when the number of seats gained failed to match expectations. I think this time four leaders have done the honourable thing and stepped aside to let another pick up the reigns.

The nature of election is that there are winners and losers. Everyone cannot win. Some will be disappointed. Some may lose their job. Some may have to get out of their home. Some may find that life will never be the same.

When it comes to ‘election’ in the Bible you would understand that God would not leave it to chance. There would be certainty to the whole thing. His purposes cannot be thwarted. What he starts in a life he will finish. He knows what he is about. It was planned before the foundation of the world, carried out in time and completed in heaven (Ephesians Chapters 1 & 2).

The amazing thing about God’s election is that we are the ones who are canvassed. He works on us the most unlikely of material, utterly without merit, to make us useful to him. This usefulness comes from being ‘in Christ’. Our candidate is our redeemer. The election results are not celebrated much in this world the rejoicing is in heaven (St Luke Chapter 15 verse 10).

St Peter’s check-list can give us confidence in our election; “Make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective … confirm your calling and election for if you practice these qualities you will never fail”.

(2 Peter Chapter 1 verse 5-10).

This week the finishing touches were put to a statement from our Leinster Pastors on the controversial subject of same-sex ‘marriage’. It will be distributed this coming week, in good time for the planned Referendum on the 22^nd May.

With SSM now legal in the UK (but not N Ireland) and gay unions being recognised in 37 US States the pressure to conform, to what the “big boys” are doing, is considerable.

If you add in the fact that the normal democratic channels for debate have evaporated before the passion of the Gays there are not many opportunities to express dissent.

In the US some members of the Supreme Court, where there is a move afoot to legalise SSM nationwide, have expressed disquiet at the speed with which this has been introduced with little time to examine the consequences surrounding its introduction.

In calling for a NO vote our Statement makes plain that this is not to discriminate against Gays but to preserve the God-given meaning to marriage.

The statement.

We believe that every human is made in the image of God and is equal in value and dignity.  We are firmly against any sort of discrimination or oppression of any person because of their sexual orientation.  The love which we have received from God enables us to love and serve all our neighbours.  We therefore respect the right of same-sex couples to have their relationship recognised in legislation.   However we do not agree with redefining the term ‘marriage’ to include same-sex partnerships.  This is not discrimination on our part, but a recognition that marriage is a unique institution.

We believe marriage is God’s gift for a man and a woman. ‘Jesus said, “Haven’t you read that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”’ Matthew chapter 19 verses 4/5. 

We celebrate marriage as set out in the Bible; it is the permanent and lifelong union, of one man with one woman. God designed marriage to be the context for children to flourish.   Therefore we believe it is best for the wellbeing of children, our society and for our nation to leave the definition of marriage unchanged.  This is about the uniqueness of marriage, it is not about the discrimination of same-sex couples.  In fact we believe that to redefine marriage would be an act of discrimination against children who may be denied the blessing of having either a Mother or Father.

While we recognise it is possible to have a real marriage without children, and we recognise that many children are brought up in single-parent families, we believe society will flourish best where children develop under the care of both a mother and father.

In our churches we pray regularly for the government of the day believing that God has ordained them to legislate for all citizens.  We believe the government has an interest in human flourishing and the stability of society so therefore, we wish to uphold the Constitution’s definition of marriage as it is and would advise a ‘No’ vote as it is wrong to redefine the term ‘marriage’.

The Bible uses the term marriage to describe God’s relationship with his people in the Old Testament. He looks for purity and faithfulness and finds adultery and faithlessness (Hosea). Again in the New Testament the marriage illustration is used. Jesus is the groom and the church is his bride.

In her he looks for purity and faithfulness. He finds the opposite. By God’s grace the bride is made pure and holy derived from Christ’s consecrating sacrifice on the cross.

(Ephesians Chapter 5 verses 25/33).

As a result of God’s grace the redeemed adulterer and the redeemed homosexual can find forgiveness and acceptance kneeling together at the foot of the cross.

In this decade of remembering anniversaries the Armenian one, which was commemorated this week, almost escaped our attention. Indeed it is not an easy task to find Armenia on the map, tucked in between Turkey on the West and Kurdistan on the East and having Russia and Syria as neighbours on the other borders.

It was on the 24^th April one hundred years ago that the Ottoman government seized 250 Armenian leaders and intellectuals in Constantinople, put them in prison and later had them slaughtered.

While this was happening the Allied forces were embarking on their fateful attempt to take Constantinople via Gallipoli, on the West side of Turkey, after unsuccessful attempts to break through the Dardanelles by sea.

Commemorations of both these events took place this week with our President taking part on behalf of the 3,000 Irish who died there.

We first came across the Armenian genocide when we met Roger Carswell’s mother in Leeds. She had been a girl at the time of the massacre and wrote a first hand account of it.

Under the pretence of deportation whole populations from the Arminian provinces were driven from their homes to perish in the sands of the Syrian Desert. At the time Winston Churchill described the massacres as “an administrative holocaust”. The land was emptied of its people and the effects are seen to this day.

Those who escaped formed Armenian communities overseas and today the diaspora numbers 5 million whereas the population at home is about half that number.

So this was a First World War genocide, one that invented the word. It preceded the Hitler genocide of the Jews in the Second World War. This week the German government President said his country was in no position the judge Turkey but could offer assistance in dealing with past crimes.

To this day Turkey has not been able to acknowledge that they were involved in genocide.

This desire to wipe out a whole population has occurred more than once to the Jewish nation. It also arose in miniature when King Herod, in an endeavour to kill the infant Christ, had all the male children under the age of two put to the sword (St Matthew Chapter 2 verse 16). This was one of a number of attempts Satan made on the life of Christ. The final time was when He was invited to come down from the cross (St Matthew Chapter 27 verse 42) and ostensibly save his life but at the cost of our salvation. Jesus went through with his holocaust for sinners taking their place and making a way for the repentant guilty ones to go free.

In remembering the Armenians don’t forget the one whom they followed and because of whom death was not the end but the entry to heaven (St Matthew Chapter 10 verse 28).

Once upon a time you could tell when the tourist season started by the queue of Wallace Arnold busses that blocked Nassau Street! Nowadays its different tourist’s fly and motor in at a great rate. Thanks to the allure of our advertisers many come bound for the “Wild Atlantic Way”.

Ireland has been slow to get off the ground with walkways and is only trotting behind the European walking trails with Switzerland’s ‘Wanderwegs’ being some of the best established.

However none of them can boast of a walk covering 2,000kms of coastline! Some have no coastline at all. Part of the Wild Atlantic Way – called the Great Western Greenway – runs from Galway to Westport from whence it takes the line of the old railway track to Achill Island. On it weary hikers can hire bicycles and even trailers for those too young to pedal. Fortunately the sleepers have been removed from the line and the absence of gradient makes it easy cycling.

Of course for those who disdain the idea of bikes they can hike off to the Camino De Santiago and step it out on the path of St James in North West Spain. There they meet a sort of metropolis of walkers converging on Santiago from a number of well defined routes across Europe. It is a moot point whether or not St James was ever there but recent films and feature articles have provided the walk with the oxygen of publicity to establish it on the map. The local tourist board must be wondering what happened as their numbers have grown from 25,000 to 250,000 over the last 20 years.

Nearer home, in West Cork, David Ross along with members of his extended family developed some walking trails around Drimoleague.

The longest of these starts there at the ‘Top of the Rock’ and makes its way to Gougane Barra. The walk follows the route taken by St Finbarr in the 6^th century. There is a contemplative aspect build into this walk where walkers stop along the route at places frequented by the Saint and reflect on his message of saving grace.

One can only imagine the impact Finbarr would have had as he spoke of a God who made all things and, in a world gone astray, sent his son to redeem the lost. Did they respond to the Saviour’s invitation (St Matthew Chapter 11 verse 28). Did they hang back or did they grasp by faith the call to walk in the Jesus’s footsteps? Will you?

Hullo, this is supposed to be a blog not a session on the psychiatrist couch! But the papers are full of this stuff. The gender-benders are out in force.

“Your identity”, they say, “is a social construct”! By which they mean you can choose to be male or female.

It’s not as if we hadn’t enough problems already. Growing up is a life-long process! It’s just that we are in the middle of a campaign to change the Constitution to permit same-sex ‘marriage’ and the media is feeding us with mind bending material to condition us for a Yes vote.

Long ago our identity was wrapped up in family. The question was who do you ‘belonged’ to and who are you related to? The answers gave you your roots. This provision of ancestry anchored you in an ever changing world. You knew who you were and you knew where you came from.

Later on secondary things were added. One was your job another, if you were good at exams, was your career. These became part of you. “What’s your name, what do you do?” These starter questions help others to identify you.

Changing social conditions, Celtic Tiger (long since dead) may bring materialism and you become known by what you possess. These sadly often end up by possessing you and clothing, food and drink take on an ever increasing role in who you have become.

Conversion to Christ disrupts the natural order by introducing a primary allegiance which overarches all others. St Paul argues that in “a dead man’s cross and a live man’s empty tomb” which the world sees as utter foolishness, is a gospel of the wisest of wisdom (1Corinthians Chapter 1 verses 18/25). It is the only lens through which you can see life accurately.

It is a wisdom which can satisfactorily answer the fundamental questions of life, enabling us to see our identity in terms of eternity and belonging to a new family with Christ as its head (Ephesians Chapter 5 verse 23).

At the centre of this message of wisdom is not a set of ideas but the person of Jesus Christ who offers not only answers but every grace you need to be what you were created to be and to do what you have been called to do.

This week the milk quotas were finally lifted. To mark the event the Dairy Board coined a new name – Ornua – new gold. At least that’s what the dairymen hope!

Taking a leaf out of the successful marketing of our butter as Kerry Gold and giving it a bit of mystique by dipping into the Irish language the marketing men have done their best. Pity the product is white but when shoppers in a supermarket in Singapore are looking for powdered milk, the hope is that Ornua will trip off the tongue like they came from Killarney!!

There is also the small problem of competition from our friends in New Zealand who have been milking it over the last 20 years while we were stuck in our quotas. Their production is around four times ours so the dairy cows have some catching up to do.

Its launch in Ireland on the 1^st of April had news-readers interviewing suited men from the Ministry of Agriculture while standing in the feed passage of a cow shed. Their audience of Friesian cows, chewing their cud, provided a background of disinterested spectators. It was one of those interviews that I suspect the news-reader would like to forget!

Modern milking parlours are high tech affairs. Gone are the days of the three legged stool with the milkmaid’s hands coaxing the milk into the bucket. Her replacement has to be computer savvy to control the programs that allocate the quantities of food each cow gets and, crucially, record its performance in terms of litres of output. Factory farming is now a reality.

The Bible has a healthy association with milk. Such was the fertility of the Promised Land which God’s people inhabited in Joshua’s day that it was described as a land flowing with milk and honey (Joshua Chapter 5 verse 6).

In the settled church situation at the time of St Peter’s writing his first letter he compares believers to newborn babies whose desire for milk is like newborn believers desire for God’s word (chapter 2 verse 2). Both are nourished. The baby is satisfied with milk the believer is satisfied with the milk of the Word.

He concludes the chapter by referring to the unique substitutionary sinbearing death of Jesus where by his wounds we have been healed from the scars of sin (verse 24).

We have gone from new gold of Ornua to the new life in Christ. May it be the milk of the Word that feeds you this Easter.