Everyone's a Critic

It's funny... here I am, back in the saddle and I was hoping to write all about my escapades at the Maze SU Camp last week. However it didn't quite work out like that.

I've been feeling pretty low since getting back... and it hasn't been helped by some of the things people have said. I totally accept that one of my gifts (and curses) is the fact that people will always bounce off of me. They relieve their anxieties by lightheartedly mocking my eccentricities. Normally I'm fine with this... so long as I get a reasonable amount of encouragement... but I've skirted dangerously close to the limits of my toleration recently and yesterday I hit the bottom.

I knew that I had abandoned my Bible studies in favour of the passages and prayer I was involved in at the Maze. So I sat down tonight and caught up with my readings - 3 chapters of Nehemiah to be precise. It's a good book, I recommend reading it.

Whilst I was doing so, my mind was led to posting something else entirely separate to what I wanted to write and so I share it with you now.

Recently I've had a couple of hits on my blog searching for information on various missionaries in the context of them being fraudulent.

This is not a new phenomenon.

Many times I have researched preachers from the past and have been grieved by stumbling into fierce character attacks by people (maybe I should say super apostles), who are quick to denounce different preachers... and it is usually based on circumstantial argument and not spiritual discernment.

I don't for one moment assume that every preacher out there is on the level... and I don't take the word of any mere man as gospel.

However, neither will I condemn a man or woman as readily as some of the folk who are out there do.

My message is for them... and it is quite simple:

Be wary of impulsive criticism. Do not grieve the Spirit, do not anger God. Do not call what God has made holy, unholy.

When I was a boy I struggled with a passage in Matthew's gospel concerning blasphemy against the Spirit. Gradually as I grew in wisdom, I learned that this was actually about hardness of heart - namely continually attributing God's goodness to the evil works of the Devil.

I don't particularly care who you personally have taken issue with. In my experience, I have heard people denounce Brother Yun, Smith Wigglesworth and C.S. Lewis - yes that's right... even the 20th century apologist isn't safe! Who's next in line? Spurgeon? The Wesleys? Billy Graham? Names are irrelevant though - this is just as applicable to Pastor Paul or Reverend Rod as it is to the "big guns". I ask you to consider your thoughts,words and motives. Most of all I ask you to examine your hearts in the light of scripture.

Do you speak out of jealousy, a desire to be controversial.... or merely to be heard? Or are you just being sheepish and following the "critical crowd"?

I guess what I'm challenging you to do is to give serious thought to everything you hear. Why is it we so easily swallow rubbish... but when good food comes along we turn our noses up? Do not treat spiritual food in the same manner that children resist proper nourishment.

If something comes from God recognise it as such... I do not say this merely to turn you away from a dark path... but rather in the hope that you find good spiritual food.

"Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you."

Ephesians 4:29-32

An Example of the Goodness of God and People Working Together

This story is a little long, but please bear with I I think it's worth it:

A few months ago somebody recommended an autobiographical book to me. It was The Heavenly Man by a persecuted Christian evangelist in China called Brother Yun. I got round to buying this book and reading the first chapter.

Sometime after that (I'm guessing it was when I crashed my car), I lost the book.

A month or so later and it's now last weekend. An Internet friend of mine sends me a package, as a little thank you for the times I've listened and advised over problems. I opened the pack and what was inside? another copy of The Heavenly Man by Brother Yun (Thanks Charlotte).

So at this point I'm already praising God for some awesome goodness! But it's not the end yet... I'm on my way to catch a lift to work on Tuesday. In my bag I am carrying the Brother Yun book and my Bible. It's getting close to the time I need to be picked up, so I break into a jog. Little did I realise that the weight of my Bible bouncing up and down, would force the rucksack open. As I ran down the road I was completely unaware that both my Bible and the other book had fallen out. I am completely surprised at lunch time to get a call from my Mum telling me that a girl had found my Bible and dropped it into the police station... and that a police lady would drop it round later (I put my name and address in the Bible now because my last Bible went walkies at Coventry Cathedral of all places).

I was overjoyed that my Bible had been recovered... but nobody had seen the other book, neither the girl who found my Bible... nor the police lady who walked home along the same route I had taken. I set out to look for the book myself, I left no stone unturned... I looked in bushes, I looked in a skip and I even went downtown to check the charity shops in case anybody had found it and not known what to do with it. It was hopeless though... there was not even a trace of my book.

I felt really bad because not only had I lost the book again... but I had let a friend down.... a friend who out of the goodness of their heart had bought me the book as a gift. Now it happened that they were online when I got home, so I resolved to fess up! When asked if I was alright, I answered "uh uh" but it was misread and they thought I said "uh huh" meaning everything was OK.

Something deep inside me told me to take the conversation as it was and not reveal what had happened. I think I knew deep down that this tale was not over.

The following morning, I was walking to my pick up point feeling a bit pants (to put it mildly). As I passed the police station I see an old lady across the road and in her hand... is the Brother Yun book. I was astounded and overjoyed. The lady didn't appear to have great eyesight and was pretty frail looking... yet somehow, she had seen the book fly out my bag and had gone out to retrieve it. She wasn't fast enough to catch me (now that would have been impressive), so she retained the book in her safekeeping.

She must have sat looking out of her window for a good half an hour looking out for me. So despite losing everything and despite myself, God gave me everything back in that situation.

God is great!

As I didn't have the opportunity to thank the girl who returned my Bible, I decided to buy a Body Shop voucher and have invited her to come to the new Alpha Course that is starting up tomorrow night. Maybe God still isn't finished... maybe he still has work to through all this. Please pray that if this girl needs to hear the Gospel, she will feel motivated to come out of her own free will and curiosity.

Heh heh... I love it when a plan comes together!

Expectation in Strife

I'm going through a funny time at the moment as you may well have perceived from earlier entries. I've felt largely deserted/neglected by other Christians and it's finally taken it's toll.

I am certain this has a lot to do with a season of oppression that is going round and so while my heart gets despondent sometimes, my heart of hearts tells me this will pass and to trust in God's strength and timing to help ride this out.

At church on Sunday God, while not allowing my problems to be solved with a magic wand.... did enough to reassure me that he is in this situation looking out for me. First of all I was given hope about my future role, where before there was only confusion and darkness. Nothing solid has materialised... but enough for me to realise I am valued by God and a few core people in that place.

Secondly in the service there were only six of us there... this gave us opportunity to pour our hearts out about things that were dragging us down in our faith. It was a time to be frank and honest and although I felt people were trying to answer away my issues to readily... the important thing was that I had addressed them openly.

Now onto my main reason for writing. During the service, the reading was from Mark 4:

That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, "Let us go over to the other side." Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?"

He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.

He said to his disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?"

They were terrified and asked each other, "Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!"

It occurred to me that a lot of people overlook the fact that this happened fairly early on in Jesus ministry... at a time where he'd done just a handful of miracles - the like of which had been performed by other men empowered by God. It also occurred to me that we look at Jesus in retrospect having had the truth of his nature and who he is revealed to us.

The disciples at the time didn't have that. All they had was the knowledge that they walked with a wise man who was touched by God... they had no reason to expect him to do anything amazing to sort out their predicament. I believe when they woke him up... they weren't just in fear of losing their lives... they were angry. How dare he sleep while the rest of them were desperately bailing out water with their hands in a vain attempt to save the ship and their lives? I am pretty confident that when they woke Jesus they were demanding he join them in frantically scooping out handfuls of water.

It was because of who Jesus was... and the authority given to him, that he saw the situation from a totally different angle and treated it so differently. Firstly he was at peace because he knew the waves and wind didn't have authority to kill him. Secondly, he knew that he didn't need to be a busybody and merely bail water out with his hands. He knew that his Father was in control of that situation... and had empowered Him to resolve it by divine means.

Now as Christians we need to understand what God is saying here about the way we work out our faith daily. Firstly we need to trust patiently in God's timing and not worry about bailing out the water in our own effort. These things are sent to try us and stop us from resting God and spending time in his presence, if we let them dominate our actions then they succeed in their aims.

Secondly we need to get into the habit of responding in the right way to our hunger... be that one of personal need or desire for revival. Take the attitude of the widow from this parable for example:

Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: "In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, 'Grant me justice against my adversary.'

"For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, 'Even though I don't fear God or care about men, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won't eventually wear me out with her coming!' "

And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?"

As I write these words, I am reminded of a springtime bird and her chicks. It is the young ones that cry out in their hunger and who persist in doing so that have the best chances of survival. It is they that get fed more often. We need to be like that. We need to respond to God when he feeds us... and when he seems quiet, we need to keep asking him to provide for us. When the mother bird returns to the nest to feed her young... will she find them faithfully crying out to her in their hunger? When God comes down to bless his people will he find us calling out to him... or will we be asleep?

A book I am hoping to purchase very soon is the autobiography "The Heavenly Man" by Brother Yun. This man lives under oppression in China... he has few of the things we take for granted in our faith. He did not have access to a Bible and none was forthcoming (you can't just pop to your local Christian bookshop and buy one there). He was told to pray for one.... so he did. Nothing came of it. After a while he spoke to the person who told him to pray for one... and they told him, he needed to pray with more urgency. The man went out, fasted and prayed on a rock for three months to the point where he had tears in his eyes. eventually there was a knock on the door and somebody passed him a red shopping bag in clandestine fashion... within the bag was the bible he had been praying for. Ironically the supplier had the bible ready to give from the very day Brother Yun started praying.... but had been unsure as to whether or not it was a trap... so like the prophet Daniel, it took dedication to bring the prayer's answer to fruition.

We put so much effort into achieving our Godly objectives in our own might... yet we expend our energy fruitlessly. Time and time again in scripture we see that God blesses those who let him have full involvement. Why can't we spend our energy in a more productive fashion and keep asking him with fervour?

I know in my situation that God will call people to account when the time is right, he won't let my ship go down.... sure it doesn't feel that way... but we have to keep believing and not pay attention to the odds.

I keep remembering a famous line from the Matrix:

Neo: What are you trying to tell me? That I can dodge bullets?

Morpheus: No, Neo. I'm trying to tell you that when you're ready, you won't have to.

We don't have to dance to the storms of life when we have a God who has authority over them.

We don't need to dodge bullets.

We need to redefine our understanding of the mechanics of spiritual physics.

Blessings

N