You've Got Every Right to Be Angry With Us ...

I've been really impressed recently with church leaders who have the courage to stand up and apologise to people who have been wronged throughout history. One such leader was Fini de Gersigny at "Glory and Grace 2009" - I had tears running down my face as he apologised to women for the way that men have mis-treated them. That act of Fini's kind of prompted me post; "Speak Tenderly to My Bride". I may tentatively be a "complimentarian" but I am increasingly becoming a proponent of the fact that men have got no right whatsoever expecting wives to submit to them until they are loving them as Christ loved the church.

Today I want to address men and women with a homosexual orientation everywhere. You've been on my heart for ages. Two recent events in the media brought this subject to a head for me. You may have seen them and read them and "tutted" or shook your head. Hear me out - here they are for those who have missed them;

1. "Homosexual couple sue Christian hotel owners for refusing them a double room".

Essentially here's what happened. Mr and Mrs Bull run a Christian guesthouse in Cornwall and have a policy that only married couples may share a double room. Martyn Hall and Steven Preddy (who are civil partners - and therefore legally married - whatever Christians may think of gay marriage) arrived having booked in for a weekend. Mr and Mrs Bull seemed to think that Martyn Hall would be arriving with his wife and when it became clear it was two men, they were refused entry. They are suing under the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007 Act and the Christian couple are defending themselves saying that the Equality Act infringes their religious rights as Christians.

So the lines of battle are drawn again. The homosexual community are angry with the Bull's who say; "I have had people clearly involved in affairs and under-age people who have tried to book in here for sex, and I have refused them the same as I refused these gentlemen because I won’t be a party to anything which is an affront to my faith under my roof". The Christian community is angry with the homosexual community who they feel are further trying to darken the name of religion.

2. "Judge may rule on sodomy ad".

Sandown Free Presbyterian Church in Belfast in Northern Ireland are under fire from the Advertising Standards Authority. Apparantly they produced leaflets entitled "The Word of God Against Sodomy" and encouraged their members to attend the Gay Mardi Gras in Belfast and protest. I haven't been able to read the document in question but those who complained to the A.S.A felt that the church was using homophobic language suggesting homosexuals are "perverted".

The Rev David McIlveen justified himself and his church saying; "We take great exception to the council's conclusion that the advertisement implied that homosexual people were perverted and an abomination. The council clearly fails to appreciate that it was the act of sodomy in which our opposition was directed." His defence seemed to be centred around the fact that the biblical texts used (Leviticus 18:22 and Romans 1) have existed for centuries.

The church said; "They said they could not be held responsible if readers were offended by the message of the Bible".

So again the lines of battle have been drawn - the church is angry because the A.S.A upheld the complaints against their "offensive" advertisement and the homosexual community is angry because yet again religion has spoken out against their lifestyle. Who's got it right here? The church would say they do. But as Terry Virgo says; "There are no points for getting it right". The gay community would say they've got it right and they are just trying to live their lives. Why are the church interfering?

The issue to my mind is this: God said as surely as He lives - ALL the earth WILL be filled with the glory of the Lord. Therefore as commendable as it is to send missionaries to the farthest reaches of the earth, if no one is prepared to go to the gay community and take the love and passion of God to them - then we are failing in the Great Commission and not going to every part of the earth.

I got an email shortly after I shared my story from a gay guy within SGM who like me kept his struggles a secret because of fear. He felt that only gay Christians have the right to speak to the gay community because only they understand. I'm not sure I quite agree - the power of the Gospel by the Holy Spirit can come through anyone set free by grace. But I saw his point. It's quite hard to listen to someone like Al Mohler tell me what I should and should not do when he is happily married and presumably shares his bed every night. I on the other hand sleep alone and feel so utterly lonely sometimes.

So this is what I wanted to say to gay men and women everywhere;

1. You've got every right to be angry with us because we've made out that we're better than you (even if we say we're not).

2. You've got every right to be angry with us because we've made out your sins are worse than others (mainly ours).

3. You've got every right to be angry with us because we've not told you the full truth and glory and wonder of what Jesus Christ accomplished at the Cross.

4. You've got every right to be angry with us because we've made out that you must get saved and commit to a life of miserable celibacy and all you've got to look forward to is heaven when you die.

5. You've got every right to be angry with us because we've told you the only thing that matters is that you become "straight" if you get saved - not that the only thing that matters is you building a relationship of intimacy and love with the One that loved you so much He died for you.

6. You've got every right to be angry with us because we haven't come out to you and told you this message. We've sat behind passages in Leviticus and Romans and pointed the finger from afar - because we're afraid of what we don't know.

7. You've got every right to be angry with us because we've behaved utterly un-Christlike in our attitudes to you. We've stood at the side of gay Mardi Gras marches tutting or worse screaming "Sodom and Gomorrah!" while Jesus Christ would be walking and marching with you dispensing signs and wonders and miracles - healing you of AIDS or any other disorder that you may be suffering with.

There are many other things I could say - and could expand on each of the points above. But I hope it conveys my heart. Until we start owning up to our mistakes and where we have allowed prejudice and biogtry to cloud "what Jesus would do" - then we're never truly going to see the lost coming in. No matter how missional we may be. And I should point out that my friend Ursula and I discussed how the gay community is just one of many the church has problems accepting. What about prostitutes? What about pagans and witches? What about paedophiles?

Jesus went and sat in the homes and ate and fellowshipped with such people in Israel (tax collectors and prostitutes were a Jewish equivalent). What are we doing? I think people such as Dave Bish and others who work with students have an utterly key role in reaching and taking the Gospel to those who need it before they leave university and get swallowed up into normal working life. I can't help but wonder what would happen if there was a revival among the gay community. Where would they go? What churches would lovingly welcome them and accept them with open arms?

Something's got to CHANGE!

By the way - as always all comments are allowed and welcome - but comments from legalists that even smack of homophobia will be deleted. You've had your say - for 2000 years. It's grace's turn!

Answer to Counterfeit? Intimacy!!

I was going to write quite an empassioned post about something that's been on my heart for some time. And that will come - maybe tomorrow.

But I have come back from the most amazing lunch with Ursula - a fellow blogger I met for the first time today. Whooooo ... what to say about Ursula?! We hit it off straight away - as soon as we hugged I felt the fire vibrating through this anointed servant of God. It certainly didn't feel like a first meeting in person! I felt completely at one in spirit and felt like she's going to be someone I'm seeing a lot of! We didn't stop talking from start to finish and I loved the fact that she did most of the talking. That was mainly at my design - I was there to learn and hear all about "Grace and Glory 2009" and more importantly about her encounters with God.

As I was driving home listening to the new City Church International worship album that Ursula had kindly brought for me (I LOVE souvenirs from Hong Kong!!) a lot of thoughts were flying round in my head. The first was a longing for encounters and experiences with God like she had. The second was a weary tiredness with "fear of the counterfeit" and getting it "right" that has been drummed into me since childhood. What has such fear produced? I mean really? Has such an obsession with right theology produced increased conversions or increased signs, wonders and miracles?

I was reminded of something that Rob Rufus said at "Glory and Grace" in 2007 when I was there;

"Paul said in Galatians, 'I am shocked that you are so quickly leaving the true gospel and going after another gospel that is no gospel at all' ... it is a false gospel and a legalistic gospel ... I want to say, Rob Rufus wants to say, I am astonished at the fear and paranoia amongst Christians about being deceived by false signs and wonders. I want to say - you either need to get saved (because you can't be saved if you are that frightened) or as a Christian realise that every counterfeit is easy to discern.

It takes you away from Jesus but true signs and wonders take you closer to Jesus. How can you NOT discern the difference?! How can you be so dumb and still breathe? I know Him! I know His secret ways! I know His smell! I know His voice and tone! Nothing could counterfeit Glenda to me - unless I didn't know her very well! Nothing can counterfeit the Holy Spirit to me! I have known Him for 30 years and you can be one day old in the Lord and a one day convert and you can meet the Holy Spirit - any other spirit will dishonour Jesus and point to man! It will exalt man and flesh!

This fear - "Oh in the last days we are going to be deceived!". No - those who don't know their God will be deceived but Daniel says those that know their God will do mighty signs and wonders! I am convinced there are Christians that don't know God - they are strangers to God! They have got head knowledge and full of theology about God but have never met Him! They don't know Him! When He turns up in a meeting and is moving by His power - they stand there looking around saying "What is this?". This is THAT which was the prophet Joel spoke about; "I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh! Your sons and daughters will prophesy!".

These are not days to be wondering "Is this God or not?". You should know within seconds. When banktellers are trained how to recognise the counterfeit notes, they don't spend ages handling counterfeit to recognise counterfeit currency. They give them hours of training just passing the genuine through their fingers. They become so familiar with the genuine that the moment a counterfeit passes through - they recognise it immediately! Don't worry about the counterfeit - get so close to the genuine Holy Spirit and then you will know immediately a demon spirit or a new age spirit!".

You may have felt that I was banging my drum about the Song of Solomon unnecessarily. I've written quite a few posts about it now I just realised!

It all started with "If It's New it Probably Isn't True" - A Response to C J Mahaney's View on the Song of Solomon". It had never even entered my head that people could and would believe that a book of the sacred Word of God could be simply a glorified sex manual for married couples. I didn't appreciate C J Mahaney mocking that view very much!

When last month a series of posts on the Song of Songs was prompted by a chat with my Dad.

What Song of Solomon Has to Teach Us!! - It's no good just being negative about the view you don't like.

When John MacArthur Gets It Right!! - MacArthur takes toilet-mouth Mark Driscoll to task (even though they have the same views on Song of Songs).

When Rob Rufus Gets It Right!! - Rob Rufus addressed Song of Songs and made his views clear in a prayer at "Grace and Glory".

Dr Peter Masters is Right!! - Another uber-conservative, Reformed scholar and cessationist teaches accurately and powerfully on what the Song of Solomon has to say to us.

So why? What's the connection?

Well if the Song of Solomon is an accurate representation of the passionate, intimate love that God has for us and the response that can evoke in us then here is the clue to not having to fear deception and the counterfeit. Learn about the true intimacy we can find in Jesus Christ and we will never mistake Him for a demon! Ever! I don't think the answer is to be found in endless theology textbook after textbook anymore. I used to. But I suddenly saw the Bible warns clearly against this too;

"Holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these".

Avoid them! So as an expression of such intimacy I want to post Ursula's wonderful encounter and journey into heaven and her meeting with Jesus Himself (during the Sydney Glory and Grace Conference). In the past I might have probably tutted and headed for the theology textbooks to check out if it was "right". Now I hunger after such encounters. I long to know His manifest love!;

"I was in the middle of this huge field and Jesus was standing next to me. We went for a walk – and I was just telling Him how much I love Him – we only got about 5 steps – and He turned and hugged me. My arms were around His neck and His arms were around my middle and He was holding me tight. He swung me around and around and I could only bury my neck in His neck and revel in this love He had for me.

Eventually, Jesus put me down and still with our arms around each other we walked on. But we only got about 3 steps and suddenly it was like He couldn’t contain Himself and I was in His arms again swinging. He was laughing and crying and there was just so much love for me and I was totally undone by it. My heart felt like it was expanding till it was going to burst. The more we swung the deeper His love was, the deeper we fell in love and I was just whispering “I love you, I love you, I love you…I just want to fall in love more and more with you…” I was just totally overwhelmed by His incredible, totally indescribable love for me".

Do you know what I realised? The Song of Solomon teaches us that while marriage is indeed wonderful, we don't have to wait for it to encounter this wonderful intimate love. It doesn't begin at marriage! Sure Ursula is right;

"When both of our eyes are on His eyes, on Him, when He is our first love, the intensity of the love for Him actually multiplies because the two of us become one…and our love for Him together is stronger than just one of our loves…and that in the spiritual realm, that doesn’t just double, but multiplies over and over and over".

But Paul said it is BETTER that some remain single for a reason! And why would it be better if single celibate people missed out on this joyful intimate love? The answer is that we can experience this here and now with Jesus Christ - the risen and exalted Lord Himself. Here! Now! And that is the best defence against the counterfeit.

Open Door!!

I have had the phrase "Open Door" in my head for a few days now. I think it's thanks to my wonderful friend Ursula. Does anyone else live in the kind of Christian community where certain phrases are quite "fashionable"? I mentioned the other day that when I spent my 2 years in SGM a popular phrase was; "I am the worst sinner I know". Another preaching cliche was; "We will never move past the old rugged Cross". Well going slightly further back to my 20 or so years at New Covenant Church in Dunstable - it was quite fashionable to talk about "doors".

Here's an example of how it could be used for those unfamiliar with it;

"The Lord closed that particular door to me ... I am praying for a door to open so that I may ... why won't this door open?! It just seems totally shut! ... The door seems to be shutting so I may have to give up on that particular idea".

And so on! But last night I was having a rare night at home sleeping in my own bed and I kept dreaming about "open doors". In all sorts of shapes and forms and sizes. From the domestic house door to the massive gates on a medieval castle. They were all open! Open! And when I woke up a verse from Revelation (3:8) was going through my mind;

"'I know your deeds. Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut, because you have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name".

I don't know if that's where Ursula got her blog name inspiration from but I must admit to getting slightly delirious when I let the implications of that Scripture sink into my mind. That surely is one of the New Covenant promises that Rob was addressing in his sermon - that become ours if we realise;

"Every promise God has made is yes and amen in Christ! So every promise - it's His absolute will for you to live in the benefits and fullness of New Covenant promises! Yet most Christians hardly live in any of them. What's the reason? The condition for all the promises to work is not you being more obedient or more holy or fasting or coming back under the law. The way you are going to come into every promise being fulfilled is that you get established in righteousness as a gift".

So when we realise that we are in the same situation as Abraham - if we will simply realise that God WANTS to bless us then that will be credited to us as righteousness and that's it then this "open door" truth becomes one for us all! I know I can write honestly that I've experienced the frustration of what feels like a "shut door". But if a door is open in heaven that NO MAN can shut then surely any door or gate on earth stands NO HOPE!

Ern Baxter used to comment on something Jesus said and it was ever so funny. He recalled the words of Jesus; "The gates of hell shall not prevail" and he said that Christians everywhere interpret that verse wrongly and speak of it as how we will retreat into our Christian strongholds and be safe from hell's gates. But Ern said;

"I have not ever been attacked by a gate! I have never seen a gate jump off it's hinges and chase me down the street!".

No rather what Jesus meant was that in the power of the New Covenant we will advance through the world with the advancing flame of the Gospel of grace and even the darkest, most strongest gates cannot withstand the marching New Covenant church! Even hell itself - the gates must burst open! Jesus Himself said that the gates of hell cannot prevail against the Church! That sounds pretty triumphant to me! When is the Church going to wake up and realise the power and glory of these truths!?

When He bares His teeth - Winter meets it's Death!

Many know of my love of the Chronicles of Narnia - I think my great new friend Jon Sidnell referred to it last year. I adore the books (and have done since I was a child) and also love the two films that have been brought out. Me being me - I must buck the trend - I don't like the favourite evangelical phrase that is over-used ("He's not a tame lion" ... yawn - yes we know!). I do indeed love the quote from the Silver Chair that Jon mentioned ("There is no other stream"). Time for another. This one is from the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Here it is;

"This is no thaw' said the dwarf stopping suddenly. 'This is SPRING. What are we to do? Your winter has been destroyed, I tell you! This is Aslan's doing'".

I was struggling to find a way to convey the emotions of my heart over the past few days. I've been absolutely blown away by the kindness and the compassion of the comments in response to my post; "Grace Demands Radical Change ... !". I was fearing the worst. But through you I encountered the passion and the kindness and the love of God and I can't thank you all enough. Depression is quite frequently described as "the winter of the soul" and having experienced depression it's something I can identify with. So why do I take a step of faith to suggest that this is no thaw but spring has broken, not only in my heart and life but also in the world?

Firstly I am thrilled to be able to say that I've finally left my place of work at Acorns Childrens Hospice. I will always be grateful for the experience I had working there for a year. To see children facing death with the bravery they do is a life-changing experience. What is tragic is when they do not receive the care and the love that they are entitled to because there is more of an obsession with rules, policies and outward appearance. I handed in my notice on Tuesday and I cannot describe the feeling of relief that swept over me when it was done! Truly a cloud of darkness was lifting!

I then went out to town and indulged in some retail therapy to celebrate. Now for some people their idea of retail therapy may involve couture and labels! Mine tends to involve Christian books (I confess I did indulge in some underwear - but hey saves washing!) I brought three - one was called "A Radical Encounter with God" by Greg Haslam (a hero of mine). The second was called "The Gift of Prophetic Preaching" by Michael Eaton and the last was by Joseph Prince and was called; "Destined to Reign". I haven't read any of Joseph Prince before but I can tell he's going to become a hero - a true grace preacher in the shape of Rob Rufus. I haven't read Eaton's book yet but both Greg Haslam and Joseph Prince brought resounding messages into my life that I need to hear right NOW!! (I've posted a selection of quotes over on the "Post-it Notes" blog).

The second "event" was the sharing of a prophetic word from another really amazing individual I am proud to call friend - Ursula from Sydney. She read my post and had a prophetic insight into exactly how wonderful (NOT!) "fear" is! Here essentially is what fear is and what it does to the believer;

"During worship, one Sunday morning, I looked around and on about half of the church were these black demons. I'm going to try to describe it here. They were almost tar like, sticky, and they held onto the upper half of the peoples bodies. They clung with their legs around the bodies of their victims, their faces plastered over thier victims faces, covering their faces with black tar like goo, and their hands were plastered over their ears. I was so confused, and really concerned. I cried out to Jesus, "Jesus, what is this!!" I closed my eyes and tried to block it out, it was so disturbing, and spiritually the entire atmosphere was killing me! Everytime I opened my eyes I was confronted with these creatures.

Then the Holy Spirit answered me, in His beautiful voice of rushing waters He said to me, "Ursula, that is fear". I was like, "WHAT?". He explained to me that the demon I was seeing was fear. It clung like sticky tar, and stuck to everything that touched it. It was contagious. Transferable and imprisoning His people. He showed me that fear covered the faces of the people for various reasons. It covered their mouths and shut them. It covered their nose's and suffocated them. It covered their eyes, and closed them to things of the spirit, as well as ensuring that the people could not see past their fear. And it covered their ears, shutting them from hearing the truth and His voice. People that touched these people, were infected by this same fear, because it was so sticky, it just stuck to them! It was terrible, but showed me the truth of fear".

But she ends so biblically by reminding us that we are told simply not to fear! Simply this;

"The Holy Spirit reminded me, there is a reason He tells us not to fear. This demon imprisons people, and they can't see past the lie of fear itself. They can't see truth".

And the truth of the matter? Well let Joseph Prince answer what the TRUTH really is!

"Did Jesus die on the Cross to free us from committing sinful actions or harbouring sinful thoughts? If He did then allow me to conclude with reverence that He failed ... When David described the blessed man as one to whom the Lord will not impute sin, he meant that even when this man sins, God will not count his sin against him nor punish him for his iniquity. Too good to be true? That is why David defined this man as a blessed man! And this blessed man is you and me!".

And if "God is for us then WHO ... WHO .... WHO ... WHO ... WHO can be against us!?!?". No one! Not any man - not any church pastor or elder - not any work boss - not any demon of fear - not even Satan himself. God is for us! And He never will be against us because His Son died to ensure that we are adopted into the royal family of heaven! And once we are adopted - what cruel parent would "disfellowship" their child? It just wouldn't happen!

So back to why spring has brought an eternal, permament end to the winter of depression in my life! The third reason is that many of you may have noticed that my transcribing of Rob Rufus's sermons has slowed in the last few months. I couldn't explain why - other than my levels of concentration had totally gone. It was all I could do to sit and focus on the sermon for more than 5 minutes - and that is bearing in mind how utterly glorious Rob's sermons are! Since I handed in my notice at Acorns Hospice - it is like that dark cloud has vanished and my concentration is back and with a vengance! I spent the last couple of evenings glued to my IPOD and just soaking in the wonderful teaching of grace!

The sermon in particular that I've got to thank for this acceleration of spring's arrival is the first sermon that Rob preached in 2009 - "Being Established In The Gift Of Righteousness". This sermon is just ... incredible! Here's a quote that is so similar in theme and glory to Joseph Prince's book;

"If the main reason for Jesus dying on the Cross was to stop us sinning then He failed but if the main reason for Him dying on the Cross was so that your sins will never be imputed to you again because they have already been charged to Him - if the main reason He died was so that your sinning and sin can never again seperate you from the love of God then Jesus utterly succeeded in what He did".

I just love it. I can't hear it enough. "Who shall seperate us from the love of God?". No-one! It can't be done! Calvary was sufficient! God the Just was satisfied to look on Him and pardon me! I just have to re-post the clip of the most beautiful rendition of "Before the Throne of God" at Stoneleigh Bible Week - and the verse in particular that says;



"When Satan tempts me to despair and tells me of the guilt within upward I look and see Him there who made an END to ALL my sin!".

The question is - son or daughter (I did write "Christian" and then I had to come back and change it!) - do we really believe that "ALL" means all? Or are we content to almost blaspheme the Cross and suggest that Jesus gave us a good head-start but then we have to contribute and help finish off His mighty work with our works? That Paul by the way calls; "Dung!" or as Rob Rufus rather politely translates it; "POO!".

Let me finish - because I am finding I could really talk all day! Why has Spring come and brought an end to the eternal 1000 year winter of depression in my life, and in your life if you know something of what I am going through? Because of where we can look! "Upward". That heavenly song finishes with the verse;

"Behold Him there the risen Lamb - MY perfect SPOTLESS RIGHTEOUSNESS!
The great unchangable I AM - the King of glory and of grace!
One with Himself I cannot die! My soul is purchased with His blood!
My life is hid with Christ on high! With Christ my Saviour and my God!".

I have to say it's amazing - once you start to "get" the true gospel of grace it is like everything just "adjusts" into focus. I've sung and loved that song since 1998 when I first heard it on a Stoneleigh CD (and I didn't even know what Stoneleigh was or who Lou Fellingham was at that point!). But I am seeing these words clearly only just recently! My perfect spotless righteousness! Purchased with His blood! I know that while in heaven He stands - no tongue - no tongue - no tongue - no tongue - NO TONGUE (No one! Not any man - not any church pastor or elder - not any work boss - not any demon of fear - not even Satan himself) can bid me thence depart! Safe forever! NO FEAR!! With all of these glorious truths - what chance does winter have? I know it's not going to be long before I go to my G.P and he says there is no need for me to be on anti-depressants anymore. And I know once I am off them - I won't ever need to go back on them again!