A Political Journey (cont.)

May as well continue where I left off. Due to my sins, and maybe at times of those around, I have empathy for much of the struggles of modern man, of keeping it all together. I know of divorce, prolonged and failing family court action, of financial woes and humbling choices, estrangement from kin, physical and mental turmoil, career suicide, incurring the wrath of administrivia, endless moves, local national international relocations, each one extracting its own cost, occasionally seeking succour in areas I ought not, anything to numb the pain. And unlike Job, I could not claim personal righteousness, though there were friends who did counsel me so.

From memory there are elements of Gnosticism or other false teaching which suggest that to truly experience God's grace one must fully immerse themselves in hedonistic pursuit - this is godless heterodox waffle of course. But from lived experience I do have a greater understanding of what many are going through. I would never have willingly chosen such a passage, it visibly aged me in years in months, and though in a way I am still as readily inclined to judge sin in others as in myself, I will not condemn, for vengeance belongs to the Lord, only He is fit to make that call, and He will repay according to the measure we ourselves have doled out to others. It is loving thy neighbour, it is self-preservation, it is wise.

So, the paradox remains, where there is sin it does need to be called out, particularly amongst those with the capacity to influence both for good or evil, for no-one belongs to themselves, our bodies and very being are down to Him. Yet to avoid the pitfalls expressed in the parable of the Unmerciful Servant, forgiveness must be genuine, heartfelt and generous to a fault, not crimping or begrudging, if we are to have insight into just how much debt the Lord cancelled in our own name.

Remember, Jesus entered the world not to condemn, for ultimately we stood condemned already, but to save those in the world who recognise him, who are ashamed of sin, who are truly repentant, who are willing to forgive others their sins in order to receive forgiveness of our own, to long for all to receive reconciliation with Almighty God through Jesus, who is Messiah.

I have done this, I do it, and will continue to do it until the Day I appear before the throne of judgement, to be judged both for my faith in Christ and my deeds done in the body. By the grace of God I will receive the crown of life, but so too will I be held accountable for all the misdeeds I have done, every careless and spiteful action, it will be an awesome, overwhelming, heart-wrenching occasion, but I believe I will survive the encounter, and enter the gates of the kingdom of Heaven on earth, so great is His love. This opportunity is available to all who are willing, such is his reckless generousity, for remember, it came at great personal cost to the Father to witness his Son handed over temporarily to Satan to do with Him all that he intended, and the exacting cost to the Prince of Peace we know something of through the passion accounts in the gospels. It is not an offer to be rejected lightly.

So, in the aftermath of that perfect storm amid the detritus of what was left of my life, I continued to experience the love of God in the aftermath of his judgement, through my local church in the UK where I lived for years. Opportunities abounded to remarry and perhaps I should've, it took years to allow that love to die, but without sanctification I didn't fancy taking my chances twice divorced, not a good look amongst evangelicals, understandably so. How to pay for a second family, heartstrings tugging with close family the other side of the world, a number of factors meant a period of enforced celibacy was called for, a cross. And as an aside, though I am not, for those same-sex attracted it is not impossible to live the celibate life, remember Jesus was tempted in every way and endured, so too the divorced and lonely learn to cope, and this is when the fellowship of brothers and sisters in Christ is so highly valued. Some poor folk receive no physical human contact whatsoever, so for social lepers to enter a Christian community and receive a firm shake of the hand and warm smile, don't underestimate its worth. I was a tactile fellow and loved my family, there are many in this boat.

Another digression, and why not, we have all day. Served in a highstreet ministry for a few years helping lead a Street Pastor team, they're akin to say the Sally Army except the outreach is to not just the homeless but one and all of the night-time economy, clubbers, security, food venues, first responders, whoever's out and about that night into the wee hours. Not a preachy thing, very practical help, generally held in high regard by local councils and police for de-escalating, mopping up, a volunteer force for good. Any evangelism occurs due to the inquisitive asking after roles and motives and is always done so with gentleness and respect. Personally I found the timing very helpful indeed when looking to rebuild my life, learning another way of serving my wider community, complementary not contradictory to earlier public evangelism, the leading of children's then men's bible study groups, witnessing in essays and exam papers, all that. This did not require the insertion of much clanging talk, just a listening ear, a comforting word, a helping hand, often all that was needed, and I needed it too, for a city on a hill cannot be hidden.

Remember to always serve the Lord your God, for it is greater to give than receive, and even then, in giving, you will receive. Truly, I can bear witness to this.

Let's fast forward again shall we, now back in the sun drenched land. Another missed opportunity was establishing Street Pastors in Adelaide, networking is important, pre-existing relationships had withered over time and distance, and as some married and divorced can testify the dynamics of other relationship change as do the the reasons for social interaction. I was essentially still withdrawing, not putting myself forward, and the UK parent organisation require broad support from a number of denominations before considering investing in a new launch, hence without me driving it nothing would happen. Thankfully years later a youth oriented street ministry did develop, still, it showed me just how important a team lift is, collaboration amongst the body of Christ, how ecumenical movement of the Spirit will overcome our individual and solitary inertia. Timely.

Seeing how I arrived back on these fateful shores penniless then quickly indebted to the bank of Mum and Dad, and failing to seriously look for or find love, I fell back to a comfortable monotony of earning just a bit more than I spent, having exchanged the rural idyll of Devon for rolling Hills east of Adelaide. The hillbilly life suits, of fresh air, close country or open ranges, disinterested livestock, curling redgum smoke, the changing seasons, produce to market, you know the drill, for me I'd rather live poor in such surrounds than listening to my neighbour fart, for such is life. But such choice is luxury to those who by necessity have to deal in pragmatics, and this I understand too. I'm just saying, being solo has some advantages, though far from ideal.

A combination of boring spiritual continuity, still no growth and maturity in my walk with Christ, leaning as heavily on Him as my first day as ever, and the impossibility of moving the government university debt incurred in a previous life, left me open to wanderlust chasing the coin, for want of a better thing to do. And so began the next phase, a series of employers and minesites, above one state below another, flying in and out of here and there, rosters on and off, industrial tourism, some hard hard yakka and some incredibly cruisy times, plans again for home and land, raised hopes, hopes won and lost, time killed, for which I'm thankful. I cannot say it ended in tears, for that well dried years ago, and no we are not quite yet back at square one, a little wiser perchance with a few more k's on the clock.

What did happen of interest though in that time was a political awakening, and I'll describe to you the logistics. Most miners typically receive Foxtel in camp (accommodation not drag) and whilst dossing down and enjoying a sherbet at the Qantas club. Some will then pay for it at home to listen to the Sky AfterDark crowd for what was then but perhaps less so now at least marginally more conservative comment than that provided by MSM and certainly the ABC.

I also began subscribing to the journal Quadrant. My roster for a couple of Pilbara years was 4:1. Starved of reading material I'd read the thing cover to cover, even the poetry, sigh. Alongside I would buy that week's Spectator at the airport. This was before getting fully kitted out with smartphone and tablet and all the jazz, normally internet connectivity isn't an issue in camp, and of course as IT literacy improves so too does the ability to read offline stored articles either high above or way below.

Just a word Generation ZZZ, some of us poor old fellas have lived through tremendous technological change, there is a world of difference in entering the adult workforce when your younger brother is just getting a Commodore64, at my rough high school Computer Studies was a soft option nerd topic, and IT was either not invented, available or yet needed in the industries in which I worked. Others my age have coped better due to training and necessity in white collar environments later blue, collegiate aid from peers and children, geographical social and financial stability, and yes through developing intellectual assets rather than squandering them with soma. Sin has consequences.

So, I'm now starting to match what I know of the world through Scripture and a carefully curated tertiary education in the Humanities, with an alternative worldview to the daily diet fed to us by the national broadcaster. Let me say, til now I certainly knew in Australia Labour was of the Left and perhaps the Liberal-National Coalition of the Right, but beyond that anybody's guess. I'd read a little of John Pilger and Noam Chomsky in my twenties never realising where they were on the political spectrum, so apart from that slight and naive dabble I was tabula rasa.

At the same stage Dad and brother are slightly ahead of the secular conservative curve on this my political journey, though I have more research time, so altogether we are enjoying better informed views at family get togethers whilst on R&R. I've remembered news as a construct from media studies, am comparing reporting now, observing radically different interpretation of events, and trying to reconcile this to how one holds to the truth. Whatever your interpretation as to what Pilate meant when he asked the question, the Q&A remains every bit as relevant today as it did that day.

The Trump years only exacerbated this divide, and gradually I found myself being weaned off legacy media, their complete and unashamed lack of objectivity coupled with wholesale commitment to Marxist activism filled me with disgust, still does. What I warm to are those outlets and individuals who knowingly or unknowingly still demonstrate commitment to Truth through their journalism, academic career, public service, whatever circumstances compelled them to write and speak, or through generating interest found themselves asked after for guidance and informative opinion.

Here's my summary of where we're at now..

As a civilisation we have turned our back on the living God, we have become apostate, losing our essential character as a peoples chosen by God to bear his Name. Don't get me wrong, never in the history of the West at any given time has society been wholly Christian. However most of the hallmarks of our governance and law, through monarchy transitioning to parliamentary democracy, stem from a people heavily influenced by the Word, Scripture. Right speech and conduct emanated from biblical norms, no matter how far a society strayed.

Yet now we are experiencing the full coming together, a perfect storm, of societal stress inducers, to be sure only in their infancy, but quickly developing. If this world were to be handed over to Satan, if the war, disease and famine of Revelation were to be enacted upon the peoples of this earth, it would indeed be horrific. The historically illiterate invoke the barb of scare-mongering, but truly, look at the fruits of Communism in history and contemporaneously. We now have those openly calling for Socialism again, it being merely embryonic Communism, or plain old idolatry from a biblical sense. A godless people look to the State to become their god, and with that concomitant, destruction of sound thinking then sanity, the sense of right and wrong common to all, society economy law and order deteriorate, chaos ensues, only the most powerful and ruthless oligarchs insulated by their rapacious greed endure as the very base whose name was scurrilously invoked to legitimate their sordid claims is enslaved, upon the neck of these does it fall the hardest.

There is no political solution to a spiritual problem, a relearning from an older variant for this journeyman. Israel had to learn the hard way, numerous times, and I look at Revelation, and to a hardhearted peoples does God's punishment go out again and again. It is foolish to defy the Lord, but we live amongst fools, so I guess it's a given then.

Still, we may not yet be at the point of no return for society as a whole, in truth I do not know. My strongest advice is for Christians to carefully consider before God the way forward from here, having been given over to our enemies, in prayer reading the Word, outwardly fasting as a sign of inward sorrow and grief, then act. Join your political party of choice, investigate their doctrines history and practice, and choose which most closely fits your understanding of being able to support and be in alignment with openly living life as a Christian, certainly not in subservience to a party manifesto where hatred for God and his people is both transparent and imminent.

In Australia this is the Liberal Party, smaller parties lack the clout. Historically they would be regarded as centre-right I guess, small government, individual responsibility, sound management in necessary administration, economically liberal, socially conservative. They are now divided between a leftist culturally Marxist strain identifying ironically as Moderate, a lie, or Progressive, closer to the truth, and for the well informed we know where they'd have us progress. The right are referred to pejoratively as hard or platinum level ultra with variants of Genghis Kahn for all I know, otherwise common or garden variety Conservative to you and me. Yet, conservative is a misnomer, for who amongst this grouping wants to conserve the legislative and unelected bureaucratic excesses and indulgences that have enabled the steady deterioration of community, economy and State.

I know full well that no there is no utopia, no dominant Kingdom of Heaven on earth this side of His return, no outward compulsion through legislation and punishment, no inward coercion through electoral bribery with other people's money. The way forward has to come from within each and every individual, from a trustworthy source, the clarity of sound thinking with the power of sufficient motivation to act upon it. The tide will only turn when we turn en masse to Him, asking for wisdom to govern both ourselves and by extension the country.

In the Mesopotamian account of the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11 the Lord sees what man intends, united in thought through a common language they are extremely vulnerable to the influence of evil intent, for the world and men had already fallen then, and Satan cast from Heaven to be, for a time, Prince of this World. Just as a road tanker has baffles to stop the rapid surge of fluid and hence instability accident and catastrophe, or a submarine or ship sections off compartments in case the hull is breached, or a building its firedoors for same, so I believe the Lord instituted the division of languages for our own good, or at least lesser evil. Satan and the demonic are regional in scope and though potentially widespread in influence are still limited by place, for they are not God, not omnipresent, nor omniscient nor omnipotent. We know this from such apocalyptic passages as found in Daniel 10 and Revelation 2. The confusion of man through being unable to converse without a lingua franca was for the benefit of the blessed, to impede the flow of wickedness.

This precedent continued in ancient Israel being forbidden to intermarry racially for rightful fear of introducing the worship of foreign gods, and the Church the same spiritually, becoming as one body only with a believer.

What is happening now, the world has rapidly become largely united in communication once more through the spread of English as the anglosphere emerged victorious from the conflict of world wars, newspaper radio and television spreading first through the British empire, then via American content throughout their cultural domain.

Next, bracket creep in the tertiary sector as numbers increase in the Humanities, the middle class laps it up, rivulets of false teachings springing from the tainted well of militant feminism, Marxism, an aggressive queer lobby and every other outlet setting itself up in diabolical opposition, spreading like gangrene through society. Ideas and beliefs once peripheral and abhorrent gradually become mainstream, then the internet, lightning quick calculations, transmission of thought, Google translate, globalisation and the mass movement of economic migrants across multiple borders to the welfare states of the West, bringing with them unfortunately the worship of foreign gods.

In summary, the free flow of information is a hubristic quantitative argument devoid of qualitative assessment, the originators knew from human experience potential can work both ways. Abuse of information for nefarious means by the intelligence communities entrusted to protect nation states a case in point, and very much of the moment.

I know a Christian is called to show compassion to the suffering and outcast, and to this I concur fully. As a rule those proven as refugees from war and genocidal persecution are best settled in surrounding nations where culture most closely matches place of origin. As an exception or variant first and foremost, and not left to total annihilation, should have been the Christian communities destroyed by violent Islam throughout the middle East. Genuine refugees, persecuted wherever the Caliphate exists, yet the door shut in their face by our own governments. Very 21C. Genocide through racial slaughter amongst the farm communities of South Africa. To the politicians and bureaucrats who enabled this on your watch, you are a disgrace, you know who you are, your day will come. How can you expect mercy when you showed none yourself. Even so, mercy triumphs over judgement.

To come to the West once meant settling in to a broadly Christian culture, where at different points in time Judaism has largely been permitted albeit between bouts of antisemitism, and I hope I speak the truth in saying I would have had no part in that. Mohammedans could live at times, Hindu and Buddhist from far flung parts of empires past. The difference of course is that they were absorbed into a culture strongly resistant and averse to the more obvious and obnoxious forms of idolatry, and the worship of foreign gods is obvious under such conditions. Now, it's like the bar scene from Star Wars. It's not exotic clothing, appearance, food or speech, but the cultural beliefs and practice where directly opposed to Scripture, and despite what you're told, if you know your way around a New Testament, there's a lot in opposition to the work of the Holy Spirit.

In their defence, most of the idolatries in the West have emerged from within our society, but now we are being assailed both within and from without, with a severely weakened spiritual immune system. It is indeed the time of the activist judges, where everyone does as he sees fit.

In the early developing days of the Church, Israel mid first century absorbed into the province of Judea with the Roman occupation forces headquartered in coastal Caesarea, a centurion from the Italian Regiment, Cornelius his name, sends for the Apostle Peter, having received a vision from God. Peter responds, he'd seen a corresponding vision affirming the invite which was, from a Gentile to a Jew, culturally forbidden, but he goes in obedience, for who is Peter to question God having been given such affirmation.

Long story short, the outcome is momentous, without hyperbole one of the defining moments in history. God is now making it crystal clear what has really always been the case, that he seeks those who worship him in spirit, not legalistically. The promise to bless a people ostensibly defined racially as Jews with the Lord as their God, is now extended to all through the Lord Jesus. Under the influence of the Holy Spirit Peter put it as such,

Then Peter began to speak: 'I now realise how true it is that God does not show favouritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right. You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, telling the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.' (Acts 10;34-36)

He goes on, you should read it, all of it, never know what might happen.

As Peter spoke to the Gentile assembly which was Cornelius' relatives and close friends gathered in his home, the Holy Spirit came upon them, vindicating the earnest desire of men and women of good will to be reconciled with their Creator, and so subsequently they were baptised in the Name, Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of sins. In hindsight Peter understood God had taken the initiative in bringing a representative from Israel in Peter to meet a representative of the Gentiles in Cornelius, and in reciprocation a massive outpouring of Spirit poured and pored through those once far off and excluded from the promises of God. This was far more than a revival.

Only a revival of simple belief and trust in Jesus being exactly who He says He is, Sovereign Lord and God, will bring blessing again to a civilisation on the historical cusp of destruction. Don't kid yourself, doing whatever you want whenever you want isn't just a recipe for disaster, it's the endgame for democracy, and what comes next will make us long for the twentieth century, wars and all. You don't have to obey the commentariat, your government or their law and enforcers, when those people insist in placing themselves between you and your God. It's your salvation remember. And someone has to be the adult in the room, said the elephant. Once our governments transition from maintaining responsible sane society in which we can continue freely worshiping God inwardly and out, to that which is now occurring, we have come to a turning, a pivot, a point of inflexion, the blind navigate as subtly ancient boundary markers move, and we enter territory foreign and hostile to our species.

The guards at Nuremberg said they were just doing their job, following orders. The Nazis came to power in Weimar Germany through legal means. The Communists of the USSR put a veneer of legality on their directives. And Republican Rome tried it on a few times.

When the Jewish political-dynastic-religious-legal nexus that was establishment felt threatened by Jesus' robust teaching they made plans to entrap Him, fearing in part how their Roman overlords might react if they too perceived another Jewish rebellion brewing. Ironically this ultimately happened a generation or so later when Rome destroyed Jerusalem and the temple, the Establishment having refused to listen to and then obey the Prince of Peace.

When asked should they pay taxes to Caesar or not, they were testing Jesus so as to incriminate Him one way or the other - paying Roman taxes under subjection infuriated the zealots and nationalists, and refusing to pay would dismay those who were prepared to live under the duress of Roman rule, and of course as an act of illegality incur the dismantling of Establishment privileges currently permitted under the watchful gaze of Rome. Some might be familiar with His reply,

'Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's.' (Mark 12:17)

The Lord in part disappointed both parties whilst revealing His wisdom, yet His reply was not a dealbreaker to either group but a moral challenge. The ardent nationalists were in effect taught that the paying of Roman taxation was in no way an impediment to worshiping the Almighty God of Israel. God orders right society for the peace of man and subsequently the message for Christians is that we have a powerful role in modelling this through living in obedience to the law of the land.

And the Establishment were in effect rebuked for not being devoted to doing this very thing, giving the Lord of Israel the worship and tribute rightfully belonging to Him alone, the true source of their security and peace. On the denarius, the coin handed to Jesus by request when considering His response, He noted the 'divine' inscription attributed to the Emperor, flat out false, a marketing exercise. The religious authorities were far too comfortable accepting such an outrageous claim, thereby forfeiting whatever moral authority by way of public office.

Or if you want the update, where our obligations to Church and State coincide peacefully we can experience harmonious society. Throughout history, when these obligations conflict, you can bet the Lord is bringing judgement upon His people, testing them due to unrepentant sin, for persecution always has a refining effect. Ultimately it pays dividends though the trials can last years, decades, more. We as a civilisation are now clearly at such a juncture, and the rightful legitimate response for a Christian vis-a-vis the latest CRT diktat, the next hideous encroachment of the executive, the judiciary, the legislators and their panoply of media academic enablers, well, it is now being openly discussed, though to be sure, you can expect the priestly caste to be leading from behind on this one as all matters cultural, as is their want.

Your approach ought to be how to get the Gospel back in the public square, and that can come from a range of strategies and tactics. I'll give that some thought for the next installment, the Lord bless all those who read this with a longheld desire to know the Truth, for the truth is a person, and He most certainly can be known the same as any other person. I remain open to any help in this matter, for I don't claim a mandate on how to go about it, so I welcome like minded giving this prayerful consideration with a view to acting upon a clear conscience.

Now would be a good time.