No there is no missing word the heading is complete! Any addition distorts. Our knowledge of the infinite can only come if the Infinite reveals it to us. That is why Christianity is a revealed religion. God’s self revelation comes to us through his word – the Bible.

This week the answer to the concluding question made by Stephen Fry in a TV interview with Gay Byrne was viewed on the internet 5 million times! The question was “What would you say if you came face to face with God?” It’s the sort of question an avowed atheist such as Fry should pass but like most atheists he became a theist and vented his spleen on the God he didn’t believe in!

What made his outburst interesting was the fact that he was not ill informed. He had read the Bible. He exhibited a brilliant literary mind. He knew what theodicy was (the vindication of God in the face of evil). He acknowledged that science could also be used for evil. So why the rage?

Was it because he knew that God has the ability to reverse the ravages of the fall – but doesn’t? Or was it the need to destroy the creditability of God in order to quieten conscience and live with self on the throne of his life?

Certainly he wouldn’t be the first to pour the acid of reason over the voice of conscience, disabling God’s ally within. Were there echoes of Felix, the governor of Judea who was the judge at St Paul’s trial? He listened to St Paul as he spoke of faith in Jesus Christ. As Paul discoursed on righteousness, self-control and the judgement to come Felix was alarmed and said “Go away for the present. When I get an opportunity I will summons you” (Acts Chapter 24 verses 24/25). We never read of Felix summonsing St Paul again!

There is little doubt in what St Paul preached regarding faith in Jesus. He tells us it was “Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom and the weakness of God stronger than man’s strength” (1 Corinthians Chapter 1 verses 23/25).

Jews and Greeks? The Jews were the religious ones and the Greeks were the intellectuals of their day. Perhaps Stephen has never seen that the cross caters for all sins. It’s the only thing we have to present to Him and it’s what we need to leave with Him at the foot of the cross and then to look to God to grant the faith in Jesus that produces new life within us.

They are getting fewer and soon there will be none left. This year was the 70^th anniversary of the Nazi Holocaust. Those who came on air to tell a little of their experiences spoke of the difficulty they had in articulating them.

For most it took them 50 years before they could speak of the atrocities they had witnessed so deep and profound was the horror they lived through.

When the survivors were liberated they were airlifted from Berlin to Tel Aviv. They were coming to their restored homeland. They came on ‘eagles’ wings’, identifying with Moses’ writing of the deliverance from Egypt when God’s people journeyed to the ‘promised land’. “I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself” Exodus Chapter 19 verse 4. They even produced a postage stamp showing them flying on the back of an eagle to mark the event!

But their arrival did not meet with universal approval. There was prosperity in their new land. The kibbutz system of land reclamation was operating and it should have been a time of sharing the good things of the land. Instead many of the survivors were called cowards who had surrendered too easily and had not put up sufficient resistance to the Nazis’! It was particularly poignant this week to hear their memories of rejection by their own kith and kin ranking alongside the trauma of the years in concentration camps.

Pictures of Auschwitz demonstrate the fanaticism of racial hatred and the astonishing oblivion of the neighbours to the atrocities going on both in the camps and ghettoes. A number of survivors remarked how hard the waiting was as they held onto the belief that the world would come to rescue them – but the world never came!

We say never again but since then we have had genocide in Ruanda and, nearer home, the Serbian slaughter. The Serbs fought not only to conquer territory but to “clear” it of all traces of their Muslim or Croat enemies; or, as the notorious Serb phrase has it, to “ethnically cleanse” what they believed to be “their” land. And this was in the early ‘90ies and we watched it happen!

After Cain killed his brother Abel at the beginning of Genesis, God called him to account.

He reacted like we do today when we see an atrocity and looked the other way – “Am I my brother’s keeper?” in other words he’s not my concern. It is always someone else’s problem even, when as in Cain’s case, he was directly responsible.

When Jesus walked the earth the same attitude prevailed. “Who is my neighbour?” (St Luke Chapter 10 verse 29) was how the lawyer tried to evade the responsibility only to find it is the whole of humanity.

There are the two main categories. Those who do the evil and those who, as my father often quoted “there are none so blind as those who will not see”. Most of us identify with the latter.

A further category exists, much smaller and largely unknown – except by God! They resist evil, proclaim truth and are usually martyred. The writer to the Hebrews listed the anonymous ones, ‘Others suffered mocking and flogging and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword…(Chapter 11 verses 36/40) – sounds contemporary! As St Paul wrote, “If in this life only we have hope in Christ we are of all people most to be pitied”.

Thank God for the resurrection!

The hypocrisy of our leaders in marching for free speech, riding the wave of revulsion which followed the Islamists attack on the office of the Charlie Hebdo magazine, was revealed in two ways.

They linked arms with representatives from Russia, China and even harder to believe, Saudi Arabia – where a blogger has just been sentenced to 1,000 lashes for criticising Islam!

Secondly, the “march” was simply a photo opportunity the crowd being organised to simulate a large gathering! This was revealed by a photo taken at a different angle!

What was the right they were supporting? It was called freedom of the press.

It demonstrated just how decadent we have become that the blaspheming of a religious leader by a magazine, which has scarcely any limits (although they did fire one of their journalists for being anti-semitic) becomes a cause célèbre.

In continuing to lampoon the Prophet Mohammed in their next issue Charlie Hebdo breached the boundaries of decency. They were simply provocative. Because their action was lawful does not mean it was right. This triggered a further wave of violence in various parts of the world. Boko Haram killed 2,000 people in the Nigerian city of Baga. They have now entered Cameroon. They burned many buildings in a village, killed an unknown number, and kidnapped over 80 people, mainly women and children.

Je suis Charlene became the new slogan highlighting their latest atrocity.

This was using a ten year old girl from the Nigerian city of Maiduguri as a suicide bomber. She was not even aware she had a bomb strapped to her – a bomb which would kill her and 19 others. 

We cannot support the work of Charlie Hebdo although we mourn the loss of life. St Paul wrote to the Corinthian Church that “all things are lawful but not all things are helpful” Chapter 10 verse 23. Blasphemy laws may be difficult to enforce as society loses the knowledge of the sacred but they are obviously necessary.

Ironically the same magazine mocks Jesus Christ. Muslims, for whom shame has such a high value cannot understand how Christians can tolerate this.

Perhaps it would help them to view the cross as a victory where Christ triumphed over the powers variously understood as the devil, sin, the law, and death.

Looked at from this perspective our main problem is seen not so much as guilt but that we are trapped and we need to be rescued.

“Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he (Jesus) himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery” (Chapter 2 verses 14-15) is how the writer to the Hebrews expressed it. The poet echoes His victory: –

“The cross He bore is life and health, though shame and death to Him:

His people’s hope His people’s wealth, their everlasting theme.”

The fairytale ending! Every guilty person a winner! All legal and other expenses covered by the Taxpayer! ‘Good names’ restored – there may even be grounds for compensation!

The law is an ass!

How did it come to this? What seemed a good idea in January 1999 brought the Flood Tribunal later to become the Mahon Tribunal to naught.

Flood’s ruling, that came back to haunt them, was to only circulate documents to other parties when he found them to be relevant to an issue.

Over the long life of the Tribunal the edited bits accumulated and it was only after the work was completed that lawyers for those found to be corrupt requested access to the unedited version.

When the missing bits were examined they showed the main whistleblowers had made ‘wild’ accusations against other prominent businessmen which were cut out of the evidence. Had these accusations been aired they would have raised questions regarding the truthfulness of the whistleblowers’ other evidence.

So the great Tribunal game comes to an end and all the material goes back into the box. Reputations restored, bank balances no longer under threat and a hush descends as the Taxpayers wait to see if the players will have the temerity to look for damages! So far it has cost around €159,000,000.

Perhaps someone like Christy Moore will encapsulate it all in a ballad!

None of this would take Bible readers by surprise. Sin is universal. We are born that way since the fall and, not surprisingly, sinners sin (Romans Chapter 3 verse 23).

Whether it is the telling of lies to hide unpalatable facts or the concealing of truth to mislead, we are all guilty before the bar of God.

Some try to deny God’s existence when they cannot deny sins existence and say that they do not recognise Him. Well He recognises us! There is no hiding place that man can create on earth. But God has created one in Christ as the poet so eloquently puts it: –

Rock of Ages, cleft for me,

Hide me now my refuge be;

Let the water and the blood,

From thy wounded side which flowed,

Be of sin the double cure,

Save from wrath and make me pure.

Because of Jesus restoration is possible. All debts cancelled and our good name re-established (Isaiah Chapter 1 verse 18). Trust Him.

France, the most Muslim of European countries, suffered a number of Jihadist attacks this week which left 21 people dead and many more wounded.

Trained by Al Qaeda the gunmen came from the Muslim controlled neighbourhoods which now exist in Paris and other French cities. They were cool and calm as one would expect them to be when on a missionary task to kill those who were perceived to have blasphemed their Prophet.

Their text, Allahu Akbar (God is Greatest), shouted repeatedly, proclaimed who they were serving.

In the case of Amedy Coulibaly, who had chosen a kosher (Jewish) supermarket as his target, his zeal for Allah was his undoing. Having killed four and wounded others on his way in he phoned his fellow Jihadists, who were besieged some miles outside the city and accidentally left the phone off the hook.

It must have been that time of day as Coulibaly then got down to saying his prayers. These were relayed over the phone line, which was being monitored, and gave the police the cue to attack! He probably would not have wished it otherwise. Indeed it may have been his plan!

Meanwhile the massive manhunt had caught up with the other two Jihadists and surrounded the small printing works where they had sought refuge. The Owner was inside and around 09.00 a client, unaware of the danger, arrived for an appointment. One of the Jihadist’s, after they had shaken hands and exchanged pleasantries, told him to leave as “We don’t kill civilians”! He left!

True to their word the Owner was unharmed and their two, guns blazing, they ran out of the premises into the gunfire of the forces of the State.

They got the martyrdom they wished for.

There is an intimate connection between witness and martyrdom in the New Testament. The martyrdom however is not desired! The witness is by word and deed. Indeed it comes from following Jesus in a world that has largely rejected Him and His Word.

Jesus said this would happen, “A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.  If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also” (St John Chapter 15 verse 20).

Jesus death was not martyrdom. It procured salvation and was planned according to St Peter from before time began (1 Peter Chapter 1 verses 18/21).

“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. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.”

Equality – what a wonderful word to start the year with! “My resolution for 2015 is that all citizens of Ireland will be equal” You can hear the politicians sing it out as they garner the votes for whatever cause they attach the word to.

Who in their right mind would not want to vote for equality? Was it not one of the three watchwords the French fought for and enshrined in their motto “Liberty Equality Fraternity”?

The inspiration for it is said to have emerged from the American Revolution which in turn can be traced back to the English Bill of Rights of 1689.

Here in Ireland we live in a society which could never be accused of being equal! However that does not prevent our politicians from hijacking the word and applying it to the coming referendum on same-sex marriage. The argument is that the same-sex union is the equivalent of heterosexual marriage!

Now it is clear that some things are equal. I am blessed with two legs and it could be truthfully said that I have an equal number of legs to everyone else. I am also blessed with a wife and it could again be said truthfully that I am the same as every other married man. What could not be said truthfully is that I am the same as two men or two women living together in a civil union.

However “civil union” the term which the GLBT lobby recently gained is not the term which they wish to attach to their arrangement. They want it to be called “marriage” to be like everyone else. The trouble is that they are not like everyone else. They are not equal they are different.

It was the Mad Hatter in Alice in wonderland who said, “Words mean what I want them to mean, no more or no less. The point is, who is the master”?

It took Gerry Adams to describe their use of the word ‘equality’ as a ‘Trojan Horse’ to allow the GLBT entry to the bulwark of the time honoured institution of marriage. ‘Equality’ has become a device to manipulate people into thinking that two unions, that can never be equal, are equal!

The Bible places a high value on words. Indeed it is called the Word of God. It also says that God’s word is truth.

We are to use words truthfully as there is the principle of accountability we will have to contend with. Matthew records Jesus saying “I tell you, on the day of judgement people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified and by your words you will be condemned” Chapter 12 verses 36/7.

The Good News of the Gospel is that Jesus has borne the condemnation of every repentant sinner who turns from his sin and trusts in Jesus.

Of those who trust in Him St Paul was able to write “There is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” Romans Chapter 8 verse 1.

It is fraudulent to use words inaccurately to manipulate people. But the Gospel gives hope to those who confess their sin, turn from it and embrace the truth as it is in Christ Jesus.

It started out with my inability to remember the items in the “12 days of Christmas” song! Failure in this matter ensures embarrassment when the inevitable quiz question comes along.

I consulted Google to see if there were any theological labels that could be attached to the 12 rather ridiculous items as an aide-memoire. Alas Google didn’t deliver the goods. We tried to rectify the matter ourselves (3 wise men 4 gospels etc) but this left a few blanks.

By this time we were caught up with the various religious traditions most of which terminate their nativity festivities with the “Feast of the Epiphany” on the 12^th night counting from the 25^th December.

My own recollection centred on the taking down of the decorations and removing the Christmas Cards on 6^th January or “old Christmas Day” as it was known. The house looked very bare! We could have done with a “Feast of the Epiphany” to cheer us up!

This Feast marks the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles as represented by the Magi – the wise men were Gentiles not Jews – (St Matthew Chapter 2 verses 1-12).

Dates in Scripture are notoriously hard to pin down and the use of the Julian and Gregorian calendars adds to the difficulties.

In many countries Epiphany (the word means appearing) is celebrated the 1^st Sunday after the 1^st January.

However the crux of the matter is that Christ appeared.

The dates in which the shepherds and wise men came is of no great importance. What is of importance to us now was encapsulated by St Paul in his letter to Titus in Chapter 2 verses 11- 14.

It reads, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works”.

We are living in the period between the two ‘appearings’. The first was the ultimate demonstration of grace in God giving the gift of his son to a people who deserved the opposite. The second will be when Christ comes for those who have “fallen asleep in Him” as 1Thessalonians chapter 4 verses 13-18 puts it.

In the meantime we are “to make our calling and election sure” (2 Peter chapter 1 verses 3-11) and be ready for His epiphany.

“He became what he was not without ever ceasing to be what he always was.” Something of a tongue twister but Athanasius (297 – 373) put it in a nutshell when he said it. There never was a time when Jesus was not.

“Older than the world itself, he became younger in age than many of his servants in the world” was how Augustine (354 – 430) described the amazing fact of Jesus’ pre existence. Jesus brought this out in his “High Priestly Prayer” when he expresses his desire to have his followers with him in the glory and share with them the Father’s love for him stemming from before the creation of the world (St John Chapter 17 verse 24-26).

This makes his entry into the world the more miraculous. He took our flesh, the enfleshment of Jesus, so that we could see him. He was “veiled in flesh” as Wesley wrote in his popular carol “Hark the herald Angels sing”.

“God, who made man, was made man” and “He was given existence by a mother whom he brought into existence” Augustine is grappling here with the concept of God getting into his skin via a virgin’s womb.

Then there is the Virgin. God chose the peasant stock of Judah – the royal tribe reduced to living in the backwoods of Galilee in an insignificant town called Nazareth! God’s electing love fell upon Mary. She responds from fear to faith upon hearing the full text of the angelic message culminating in her commitment to the unique task of being the bearer of the Son of God (St Luke Chapter 1 verses 29-38). How well did she know her Isaiah? Did she spot herself as the fulfilment of Chapter 7 verse 14? Questions to ask on another day!

Perhaps on reading further Mary may have thought that this Jesus (the word means Saviour) would be the answer to Isaiah’s plight with Israel in need of a rescuer, “For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given” (Chapter 9 verse 6). The child was to be the new thing – the gift of the son was from everlasting. The second person of the trinity to become God’s love gift to his fallen race, so eloquently summarised in St John’s Gospel chapter 3 verse 16.

So what was it for? The prophesies, the angels and the Virgin?

Speaking of the turmoil in the banking world caused by the various world crisis a banker announced recently “We will not know what to make of Christmas until we get to Easter!”

He was referring to calendar dates but he spoke words wiser than he knew. The reason Jesus came was “to save his people from their sins”. This he did by becoming for them a sin-offering on the cross. His death brings new life to all who see their sins laid on him, taken into the tomb and never more to be held against them.

May you know the liberty of the children of God through faith in the work of the child of Bethlehem and the man of Calvary. Soli Deo Gloria.

In former times spying was confined to listening to other people’s conversation from behind the door. Alternatively reading someone else’s mail was a way to elicit private information.

In fact my father, having served in WW1 was reckoned to be too old to fight in WW2 but was assigned to a UK government unit in charge of censorship.

Again the tools employed were pretty basic. They consisted of random sampling of post and listening to telephone conversations. The censoring operated when any comments written or spoken occurred regarding troop movements etc. Letters were marked with black ink blotting out the passages deemed to be of use to the enemy and the envelope stamped with the insignia of the Unit. Telephone conversations were interrupted and the callers left in no doubt that the slogan “loose talk costs lives” applied to them.

With the advent of the digital age, data, written or spoken, is easily stored and the parts thought to be interesting can be retrieved with the appropriate computer programs. We discovered from Edward Snowden, the US Government whistleblower just how extensively this was being done in the US and now how similar operations are being carried out in other developed countries.

Last week we learned from a German newspaper that the UK spy agency CGHQ had for years been tapping our cables under the Irish Sea. This was being done without the knowledge of the owners of the cables and may have triggered the passing of a Bill in the Dail outlining the circumstances when calls can be legally tapped. There is also, for the first time in Ireland, provision for secret courts which could be used to pressurise telecommunications companies to disclose confidential information.

We have come a long way from listening behind the door!

What has the Bible to say about this legalised skulduggery?

When something is done in secret there is usually a betrayal of loyalties involved. And so it was when Judas left the Last Supper. The other disciples thought he had been sent to buy food for the Feast or, because he was in charge of the money, to give to the poor (St John Chapter 13 verses 28/30).

It was in the garden of Gethsemane when Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss that what had been planned in secret with the chief priests and elders was revealed.

But a greater plan had already been worked out in the councils of eternity. This plan not only foretold Judas’ betrayal (Psalm 41 verse 9) but predicted Jesus’ work of salvation from before creation (Genesis 3 verse 15 and Ephesians 1 verse 4).

This puts man’s spying in the halfpenny place. The divine will of our triune God will accomplish all that He purposes in bringing “many sons to glory” (Hebrews 2 verse 10).

Our task is to examine ourselves to ensure that we are part of that plan and not be behind the door but openly confess Jesus as Saviour and Lord (2Corinthians 13 verse 5).

In a week where we were treated to politicians behaving badly in the Dail the RTE graphically depicted the serious outcomes of teenage girls behaving badly on the internet. Unlike the antics in the Dail which were deliberate and planned the posting of sexy photographs of themselves on the social media ending up on global porn sites, was totally unplanned, causing great distress to the girls concerned.

This harvesting of images is the first step in this disgusting industry and can lead to online grooming with the predator using sexually explicit language and possibly a fictitious identity. These photos cannot be recalled or deleted however much the victim tries. Furthermore when access is given to an unknown person, however attractively they may portray themselves, that person has access to all her face book friends as well.

The vulnerability of young people is exposed further when they give expression to their teenage tantrums to their friends. “I hate my family, I hate my friends, I want to run away, my life is miserable.” For the predator who is out hunting the networks these comments are seized upon like wolves stalking a wounded animal.

RTE created a fictitious identity on the internet and called her Amy. She went live in October. Before the end of the month she had accumulated 1,000 friends. These were people who could not possibly have known Amy as she did not exist! Within a week she received messages from teenage boys encouraging her to engage in conversations of a sexual nature. This was quickly followed by adults from Ireland and abroad with the conversations becoming progressively more explicit. These texting conversations may lead to clandestine meetings of an even more sinister nature.

In the North there has been legislation to address these matters for the last 6 years. In the South the Sexual Offences Bill has been written but not yet enacted.

However no amount of legislation or software programs can change the will of a person who is determined to dabble in this stuff. It’s an area where all too often parental advice and teacher guidance falls on deaf ears. An iPad in the bedroom can so easily lead to the bondage of a lifelong addiction.

It needs the bottle of a Daniel (at age 12) who stood against the prevailing culture and did not get mixed up with the idolatry of the land of his captivity (Daniel Chapter 1 verses 8-16). This inauspicious start led to a lifelong obedience to God.

During the days of Jesus’ life on earth…the Bible records…he learned obedience through what he suffered and being made perfect he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him (Hebrews Chapter 5 verses 7-9.

We need to turn from self indulgence, listen to Jesus’ call to follow him, resist the wicked cultural influences and bad role models and to continue to follow him through the suffering recognising the he procured our salvation through the cross.