We are 9 days into Ramadan and my Jordanian barber reckoned he was over the worst part. The first 3 days were, in his view, the hardest. The long hours of daylight that come with the mid-summer Ramadan (it’s a movable fast) made each day a struggle and that hour before sunset when the smells of cooking filled the air added to the agony!

Eating and drinking are banned from sunrise to sunset and, for those who can bear it, swallowing saliva is not permitted. As if this was not hardship enough we are heading into a heatwave! So spare a thought for the Muslim neighbour over the next 3 weeks.

The Islamic State has been particularly busy this week. Presumably the work of Jihad in their eyes is nearer Allah’s heart than observing Ramadan.

Perhaps they manage to put the two together as they launched attacks in France, Tunisia, Somalia and Kuwait yesterday. In the case of the latter a Shia Mosque packed for Friday prayers was the suicide bomber’s target. Like the other attacks it was chosen to create maximum divisions between the different communities.

Meanwhile there was no letup in their normal battles in Syria where this week’s offensives were against Kobane which had been liberated by Kurdish fighters in January and directly against government forces in Hassakeh.

Their use of the social media and Utube has introduces a new dimension to the conflict enabling Islamic State to win supporters globally and gain new recruits, estimated at the rate of 1,000 per month.

Perhaps there will be a change as we approach the last 10 days of Ramadan. These include “The Night of Power” although which night it falls on is a matter of dispute. The favoured nights are the odd days i.e. 21, 23, 25, 27 and 29^th of the month.

Being a religion where merit has to be accumulated, praying through the Night of Prayer is the one to go for. It is reckoned to equal praying for 1,000 months – 83 years – in other words a lifetime.

Whilst it is easy to see the contradictions in Muslim behaviour I don’t know of any Christians who have prayer through the night!

I do know of many who have prayed and are praying for their Muslim friends to come to faith in Christ. God has answered these prayers many times. There are accounts of Muslims receiving dreams and visions of the risen Jesus coming to them in the night. This has led them to seek out Jesus for themselves. Ramadan seems to be a particularly fruitful time for this to happen.

My Jordanian barber’s longing was currently towards his fiancée back home and his marriage next year. This is as good an illustration you can get of putting your faith in Christ. In both marriage and conversion you commit yourself 100% to another in a lifelong relationship, covenanting to serve the other faithfully in the bonds of love till parted in death. Which is where the illustration breaks down as death opens the door into Christ’s neared presence forever. Trust Him.

There has only been one story this week and that has been the death of the 6 students in Berkeley. They had gone out on J-1 student visas which allowed them to work during their vacation and experience something of the American dream. Sadly it all turned into a nightmare.

It was a 21^st birthday party and 13 of the guests, including the birthday girl were on the 3^rd floor balcony when it gave way catapulting them to the ground 12 metres below. That seven miraculously survived, albeit with some horrendous injuries, is a testimony to the efficiency of the ambulance service and hospitals in the locality.

Many who sympathised had family members of a similar age and could identify with the loss being suffered by the student’s parents and friends.

It seems such a waste of young lives at their peak with all the potential they represented. Death always seems to be an intrusion into life and never more so when it comes to young people in their prime.

In Jesus time on earth, and perhaps even today, there was a presumption that people got what they deserved so when a tower fell killing 18 the question arose, “were they bad people?” The answer given by Charles Spurgeon the preacher, “No, they were bad builders!” chimes with the Lord’s reply which took the attention off the deceased and onto the enquirers. In saying the dead were no worse than the living he underlined the need of repentance if they were not to come to a sticky end (St Luke Chapter 13 verses 4/5).

There can be a false grief as well as a genuine grief. The national mourning in the UK that followed the death of Princess Diane was an example of the former. It is much easier to contemplate another’s death than consider your own!

On the other side of the US 9 people were gunned down in church while they were at prayer. Dylann Roof had been welcomed into the meeting before he opened fire. The local Senator called it a hate crime and claimed that they were killed because they were black.

The only survivor (she had pretended to be dead) along with relatives of the deceased in an emotional confrontation in Charleston offered Dylann forgiveness in the hope that he would confess and repent.

Of course he cannot confess what he hasn’t grieved over and he cannot grieve over what he has not seen – namely his sins – and he cannot repent of what he has not confessed. It is one of the most important operations of God’s grace to give us eyes to see our sin and hearts that are willing to confess it; then we can truly repent.

When this happens we can sing with Charles Wesley: –

Accepted in the Well-beloved, And clothed in righteousness divine,

I see the bar to heaven removed; And all Thy merits, lord, are mine.

Death, hell, and sin are now subdued; All grace is now to sinners given;

And lo, I plead the atoning blood, And in Thy right I claim Thy Heaven.

I suppose it could be said that the backpackers who created a breach of the peace in Malaysia had a mountain top experience! However this was very different from the type experienced by our charismatic friends in their more ecstatic forms of worship – in fact more of a pagan party!

With global holidays becoming more accessible it pays to learn some rudimentary things about the country, its customs and religion before visiting it if you want to avoid giving offence to the locals.

Mt. Kinabalu in East Malaysia is sacred to some of the Dusun peoples. At 13,435 feet it is the highest peak in the national park which is a world heritage site, a place of rare beauty and unique habitats of flora and fauna.

Last week, near the summit, 10 backpackers from the West ignored their guide’s protestations and decided to strip off. As is the custom they photographed themselves and the results were posted on social media and so came into the public domain.

The escapade was followed by an earthquake measuring 5.9 in which 18 people were killed.

For those who worshipped the mountain its desecration by the backpackers and the earthquake are linked. In their mind the mountain gods were angry and the earthquake is evidence of their anger. The local judiciary also were none too pleased and when 4 of the backpackers were caught they spent 3 days in prison and were fined £1,000 each.

The Bible tells us that God clothed our first parents. Stripping off in public is simply one of the signs of our rebellion against God disguised as a lewd prank.

This one may have started as a dare, something risqué done away from the gaze of others. There was the added incentive at making fun of the guide’s sensitivity by urinating on his holy mountain. Perhaps there was the belief that this was being done in private and the thought “who would see?” or “who would tell?” (Isaiah Chapter 29 verse 15).

Any hopes of it going undetected were blown away by “that half-witted Canadian guy who stirred up a media storm” as the father of the British student put it! Presumably this referred to the cameraman whose actions seem to have been planned – why else would the other 6 have given false names to the guide? He unwittingly fulfilled the Proverb “A man’s ways are in full view of the Lord” (Chapter 5 verse 21).

Thankfully the Lord is more discreet and keeps his counsel till the day of judgement (St Matthew Chapter 12 verse 36).

On that day and indeed every day we need the forgiveness that comes to the repentant believer in Jesus. God does not need a cameraman to see what we are like but to the believer comes the promise that our record that stood against us has been cancelled by being nailed to the cross and cancelled forever. (Colossians chapter 2 verses 13-15).

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).