The Word is in your Mouth

I have put my words in your mouth (Isa 51:16)

Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. (Jer 1:9)

I was struck again by how God gives us his word. It is not a word that he puts in our minds. It's not a word that he puts in our notebooks. Those are not the places that the word of God is meant to abide. He puts his words... into our mouths.

God's word is meant to be spoken. It is designed to be verbalised. Faith comes not just be reading, but by hearing. There is a power in the spoken word of God. I'm sure God could have created the universe at a thought, if he had chosen to, but he did not. He spoke and it came to be. It is the spoken word of God that is our daily bread [Dt 8:3].

If a word is never spoken it remains merely a thought. It is a transient and nebulous thing that can disappear without trace when our mind wanders onto something else. But the spoken word is different: it is concrete and deliberate, it cannot be retracted. In the Old Testament, once a word was spoken that was the end of the matter, regardless of the consequences [Jos 9, Jdg 11, Ps 15:4].

If God puts his words into our mouths, and if it is designed to be spoken, then there is a pretty obvious application: we need to speak it.

Paul instructed Timothy to devote himself to the public reading of scriptures [1Ti 4:13]. Reading the scriptures aloud is one obvious way to verbalise the word of God. It blesses us twice over, in the speaking and in the hearing. It is something I'm giving myself to more, not just in public, but also the private reading of scripture. So I am speaking and hearing the word of God.

Speaking in tongues is another great example. As it is literally the Spirit putting his words directly into our mouths. It's a key gift that builds us up and unlocks so much to us. It also sets us a great example, because you can't move in this gift without speaking; for the words of God to flow, they have to be spoken. God puts his words in our mouths but nothing happens unless we speak.

But the word is not just put into our mouths so we can speak to ourselves it is given so we can speak it to others. Both those who already belong to Christ, and those who don't yet know him. God gives us his word, as he gives us his Spirit, so that we can be his witnesses. Our witness comes by what we say, not just with our words, but with our deeds too. That's why Jesus commanded that we teach people, not just so that they might understand, but so that the might obey [Mt 28:19-20]. As the saying goes: actions speak louder than words.

But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it. (Dt 30:14)

I like this verse. The word is not just in our mouths so we can speak it, but so that we can do it. God's word always demands a response. He's put his word in our mouths... the rest is up to us.

The word that God puts in my mouth, that must I speak. (Nu 22:38)

If you see me, it's yours!

When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask what I shall do for you, before I am taken from you.” And Elisha said, “Please let there be a double portion of your spirit on me.” And he said, “You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it shall be so for you, but if you do not see me, it shall not be so.” (2Ki 2:9-10)

We know that Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and that he is an example for us in the area of prayer (Jas 5:17) I believe that in this passage Elisha (even though he is addressing Elijah rather than God) also sets an example in how we are to pray, and importantly, how we can pray prayers that get answered!

First, Elisha asks for a "hard thing." I like that! He doesn't make a "safe" request, but goes out on a limb to make a bold request. That's how our prayers should be: those that reach in faith beyond the boundaries of what we have currently experienced or received. If we only ask for things we already believe for, how are we exercising faith. It may seem odd to express it this way, but if we limit our prayers to our current measure of faith, we are not really operating in faith at all. Faith cannot be static; if it not expanding it is contracting. As Jesus put it: Those who have will be given more, but those who do not have, even the little they do have will be taken away. Whilst we should never pray for things that we have no faith that God will answer - those are totally pointless and hollow prayers - we should always stretch our current measure of faith to reach for more.

Next Elisha asks for the "double portion." There is plenty that could be said about this. But what strikes me in particular is that this was the portion of the first-born son. Elisha is saying, "Let me be like your first-born son." Again, I like this! This is how we should pray to our Heavenly Father, and this should be the prime motive behind our prayers: "Let me be like Jesus!" That's what we should be reaching for in faith. More of the life, character, gift and power of Jesus in our lives. That the manifestation of his wonderful nature may be displayed in us and through us.

Finally, I like the response that Elijah gives to his son in the faith: "If you see me it's yours!" I think this is the voice of God to us as a praying people too: "If you see me, it's yours." It is as we see him, and our vision of who he is and what he is like is expanded, that our faith to receive all that he is promised is increased. Abraham and Sarah believed because they considered him who had made the promises... not just the promises in isolation (Heb 11:11).

It's not just seeing what he is capable of doing either, but what he is doing. Jesus was the most anointed, most faith-filled person to ever walk the earth. Yet the secret of his success in prayer was this: He only did the things he saw his Father was doing. He saw. He prayed. He received. He saw what the Father was doing and prayed to see that same reality manifest on earth as it was in heaven. And that's how he taught his disciples to pray. Seeing the kingdom activity of the Father in heaven and praying it into reality on the earth. Praying in this way is another way we become more like him.

Let's be those who do not just pray according to what we see on the earth, but those who in faith pray into being that which we have seen in heaven.

Extraordinary Miracles

And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them. (Ac 19:11-12)

I have been thinking about this passage of scripture. I mentioned it over on Ricky's blog the other day, and it was mentioned in the word to our church on Sunday.

What got me thinking was not whether God still does extraordinary miracles through the hands of his servants. To me that's not the question. What I have read, what I have seen, what I have heard, and what I know and understand about the nature of God leaves me in no doubt. God has not run out of "miracle-juice", nor has it become watered down over the millennia. He is the same awesome miracle working God today that he was two-thousand years' ago.

What does intrigue me though is what form these extraordinary miracles take today. You see, and you can feel free to disagree with me on this, I don't believe it's about sweaty handkerchiefs!

God is a God of infinite resourcefulness and imagination. The handkerchiefs was something extraordinary he chose to do through the hands of Paul. We don't read of it happening though the hands of anyone else, not even Peter. The fact that they were classified as "extraordinary" underlines the point further. It was something special and distinct to the man and his ministry, not a new pattern that emerged relating how we are to minister to remote sick or demonised individuals.

In Acts 5:15 we read of another type of extraordinary miracle. Peter's shadow only had to fall on the sick as he passed them in the street and they were healed. This again is not something we see attributed to anyone else. It was extraordinary, distinct, different, unique.

When Jesus healed people, on occasion he would heal them with his spit! This also is not something we see anyone else do (thankfully!) I wonder if Jesus chose this method deliberately so that it wouldn't be copied as an empty ritual! Jesus healed people in so many different ways for the same reason, I believe. He wanted to leave us principles to engage our faith, not patterns to be entrenched in formulaic religion.

So Jesus healed with his spit, Peter healed with his shadow, and Paul healed with his sweat. The pattern I'd draw from these extraordinary miracles is that they were all different!

So if we are seeking to be those who move in extraordinary miracles today, we need to be looking not to what God did through somebody else at some other time. We don't have to go out to buy a new range of ministry hankies, or go looking for a sunny spot where the sick folks hang out... we need to raise our expectation of how our awesome God can transform the ordinary things in our lives into an extraordinary means of his grace.

How about someone being healed by just receiving a text message from a servant of God? That would be extraordinary! Or someone who gets healed on their way in to a meeting just because they were handed a bulletin by a man or woman stirred in the Holy Spirit. Ordinary everyday actions transformed by an infinitely creative God into something extraordinary.

How many ways can God be extraordinary?... my guess is about six and a half billion!

The King's Priestly Prayer

For there were many in the assembly who had not consecrated themselves. Therefore the Levites had to slaughter the Passover lamb for everyone who was not clean, to consecrate it to the Lord. For a majority of the people, many of them from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet they ate the Passover otherwise than as prescribed. For Hezekiah had prayed for them, saying, “May the good Lord pardon everyone who sets his heart to seek God, the Lord, the God of his fathers, even though not according to the sanctuary's rules of cleanness.” And the Lord heard Hezekiah and healed the people. (2Ch 30:17-20)

Picture the scene. A nation has forsaken God; a people have abandoned his law. But an invitation goes out... an offer from the king to come to the table of the Lord and enjoy his favour.

But there's a problem. The people are not in any state to return to God. They have not kept themselves pure or lived up to the righteous standard required to approach his table. They want to return but know that their own actions now separate them from God.

So the king himself rouses himself on their behalf and makes intercession for them. Although the people are unworthy to return, God hears the priestly prayer of his appointed king and opens up the way so that all who have a heart after God may return. They can come and sit down at the Lord's table without fear and without condemnation.

What Hezekiah did for the people of Israel is a shadow of what Jesus now does for all people.

We were separated from a holy God by our own actions with no way back. But Jesus himself makes intercession for us, and presented himself as the spotless passover lamb to be slain on our behalf. This intercession and sacrifice now holds the door to heaven open so that whoever has a heart towards God may come without guilt or condemnation.

The king's priestly prayer was heard. The way back to God is open.

He has his Father's eyes

For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him. (2Ch 16:9a)

In the middle of a prophetic word of rebuke to king Asa, Hanani the prophet gives us a great insight into the heart of the Father.

Some think of the all-seeing eyes of the Lord in a negative way. They picture a God who is on the lookout for stuff to get cross about. This scripture reveals that exactly the opposite is the case! Although God is perfect in his righteousness and is never unjust to let guilty go free; he takes no delight in the punishment of the wicked. [Eze 33:11]

Remember it was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us. The Father saw us in all our sinfulness, and his reaction was not to get out a big stick, but to send his one and only son to die in our place. That's the heart of the Father towards those who are still in their sins, just as it was towards us.

You see you don't have to look hard at this world to find the stuff that is wrong. But the Father searches this world diligently, seeking out any glimmer of goodness and godliness, and when he finds it he is swift to respond with his "strong support." And this is no ordinary strong support, this is the strong support of the Lord Almighty himself!

This got me thinking... when we look at the world how much do we reflect the Father's heart? Are we quick to see all that is wrong? Are we quick to point the finger and condemn? Are we those Christians who are only known for what they are against? Or are we like our Father, looking past the superficial and diligently searching out any trace of good, and when we find it giving it our full support?

I want it said of me... "He has his Father's eyes."

The Suffering Servant

Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53:10-12)

In my last post I stated that there didn't have to be an outbreak of God's wrath against a servant of God before there could be a breakout of God's purpose.

I'd now like to qualify that statement: The reason that there doesn't have to be another breakout against a servant of God, is because there has already been a full breakout of God's wrath on the servant of God. And this outbreak was necessary before any of the purpose of God could breakthrough into our lives or this world.

You see, Nadab and Abihu were struck down at the beginning of the priesthood, and this brought a breakthrough in the presence of God amongst his people.

Uzzah was struck down at the beginning of David's kingdom and this brought a breakthrough in the purpose of God - his rule established on earth.

Ananias and Sapphira were struck down at the beginning of the church, and this brought a breakthrough in the people of God - a holy people set apart for the glory of God alone.

But Jesus is the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world! It is because he was stricken for our sakes that we can be joined to his people, called to his purpose and filled with his presence! The full outbreak of God's wrath upon his servant Jesus now releases a full breakthrough of the power of heaven to earth.

It is Jesus who is the Lord of the breakthrough.

If wisdom and the fear of the Lord are foundational to every established work of God, then we must also acknowledge that these cannot come through any other means than through our union with Christ himself. The foundation of the church is not a practice or a doctrine or an attitude but a person, and that person is none other than Christ.

For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. (1Co 3:11)

The Breakout and the Breakthrough

And when they came to the threshing floor of Chidon, Uzzah put out his hand to take hold of the ark, for the oxen stumbled. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and he struck him down because he put out his hand to the ark, and he died there before God. And David was angry because the Lord had broken out against Uzzah. And that place is called Perez-uzza [the breaking out against Uzzah] to this day. And David was afraid of God that day, and he said, “How can I bring the ark of God home to me?” (1Ch 13:9-12)

And David inquired of God, “Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will you give them into my hand?” And the Lord said to him, “Go up, and I will give them into your hand.” And he went up to Baal-perazim, and David struck them down there. And David said, “God has broken through my enemies by my hand, like a bursting flood.” Therefore the name of that place is called Baal-perazim [the Lord of breakthrough]. And they left their gods there, and David gave command, and they were burned... And the fame of David went out into all lands, and the Lord brought the fear of him upon all nations. (1Ch 14:10-12,17)

I spotted a connection last night that I had not seen before; a link between 1Chronicles 13 and 14. A progression and a contrast between the breakout at Perez-uzza and the breakthrough at Baal-perazim. In the first the Lord breaks out against Uzzah because of his presumptuous outstretched hand and brings the fear of God to the house of God. In the latter the Lord brings a breakthrough by David's (obedient) hand that brings the fear of God to the nations.

Now I don't believe that there has to be a breakout against a servant of God before there can be a breakthrough in God's purpose in the nations. I thank God that in his mercy and grace that doesn't have to be the way! But there is a progression. Before the fear of God can extend out to the nations it first has to be re-established amongst the people of God. Nadab and Abihu, Uzzah, Saul, Ananias and Sapphira - these warnings are recorded in the scriptures so we can learn from their mistakes and learn to fear God right and remember that to obey is better than sacrifice. God does not need our sacrifices, but he does expect our obedience.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight. (Pr 9:10)

By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; (Pr 24:3)

Wisdom, and thus the fear of the Lord, are foundational for every established work of God.

Caption Fun

As the credit crunch hits household spending, some pets take matters into their own hands

Angels and Demons

Here are some word usage statistics from the book of Acts (ESV):

Angel(s)	22	:	0	Demon(s)
(Holy) Spirit	56	:	7	(evil/unclean/divination) spirit

One of the things that always gets my alarm bells ringing theologically is an over-emphasis on demons and the demonic. It is so out of step with the emphasis in the New Testament. And yet it is not uncommon to hear Christians talk about being "under spiritual attack", or to hear of spiritual warfare in terms of "discerning the demonic forces over an area." When you listen to some people talking you would think there were demons round every corner, and demons responsible for every little niggle of life!

Now I don't deny that demons are real, or that our battle is against spiritual forces in the heavenly realms; it's just that I don't see a lot of emphasis or talk about demons in the New Testament. When they are mentioned it is usually in the context of Jesus driving them out with a word or having authority over them. When Paul drove out evil spirits in the book of Acts, he didn't even bother to turn up in person, but just sent along a handkerchief. On another occasion (with the spirit of divination) it seemed he would much rather ignore the spirit than even condescend to give it his attention (until his patience was finally exhausted). And when the apostles returned to Jesus full of excitement that the demons submitted to them in his name, he was quick to refocus them upon the good news of the Gospel - that their names were written in heaven.

It is important, therefore, to keep a sense of perspective when talking about demons. Here are some facts to bear in mind.

Demons are a distraction
Satan's rebellion arose when he tried to divert the worship and focus that belonged to God towards himself. Nothing has changed. The main purpose of demonic activity is still to divert people away from giving their worship and attention to God. When we give them too much attention we play right into their hand.

It does not require much discernment to recognise demonic possession
You never read in the gospel accounts of people puzzling over what was the matter with a person who was possessed by demons. Everyone recognised; everyone knew. It didn't require a specialist or someone with a gift of discernment to come in and tell them that was the problem. When Jesus drove out demons, although many questioned how he did it, no one questioned what he had done. Demonic doctrine (distortion of true Christian teaching) is another matter, but direct demonic activity is not subtle or hidden - it's obvious.

There are more angels than demons
By my reconning there are at least two angels for every demon (if we take some prophetic imagery as literal) If we take the emphasis in the book of acts as representative then it is more like 3:1. So if we take the Bible as our guide for what should be normative in our Christian life we should expect at least three angelic visitations for every demonic manifestation! One question I always want to ask those who see demons everywhere is, "How many angels have you seen!?" If like Elisha's servant we have our eyes opened to the heavenly realities around us, we will see it is not the demons that surround us, but the host of heaven! [2Ki 6:17]

Demons fear Christians
Did you ever hear it said of some creepy-crawly or slippery reptile: "It's more afraid of you than you are of it"? Well, the same is certainly true of the demons. You don't need to have some special ministry of exorcism to drive them out - Christ himself is in you - and he is more than enough every time. Acts 19 shows that even the mention of his name is often enough (it took a brave demon to finally call the sons of Sceva's bluff). If Christ is within you you have nothing to fear from any power of evil. He who is within you is greater. [1Jn 4:4]

Don't give your attention to the darkness, look to the light. Live in the light, walk in the light, let the light of God shine on you and in you and through you. You'll find that the darkness beats a retreat by itself! Focus on the realities of heaven and laying a hold of them; focus on the good news of the gospel of the kingdom and you will find that as heaven invades earth it drives out the shadows as a direct consequence.

Don't go looking for demons, there are much better manifestations to pursue!

God speaks; God heals - part 3

About three or four weeks ago, I had my last [to date - I trust there will be more!] experience in moving in a word of knowledge.

It was in one of our Sunday-morning meetings again. I got a similar stirring as the previous two times - and this time I recognised it for what it was! So I was pretty confident that I had heard from God. What I sensed was that someone had a pain in their throat and down the sides of their neck. I could almost feel the pain, and it felt like when you have a sore throat and swollen glands.

While I was waiting for an opportune moment to share the word, I looked around the room. I couldn't help but wonder who it was. I saw some of the ladies with scarves round their necks, and someone else blowing into a hanky. Maybe it was one of these that the Lord wanted to heal. I also wondered why God would chose to heal a virus that is usually short-lived anyway - but I figured that it was to show us that he wanted us to live in perfect health and that nothing is too big or small for him.

The opportunity came, as it did the previous times, when the preacher had finished his message and there was a time of ministry. I went forward and shared that there was someone with a pain in their throat and sides of their neck, and even though it was caused by a virus that would go away in due course, God wanted to heal them now to demonstrate his abundant goodness and grace.

I waited at the front, during the whole ministry time. [Prayed for someone else then went back to waiting for the person to come forward.] The ministry time ended; the meeting concluded, but still no one came. Now I wasn't phased by this - I was still confident I had heard God, and I knew that people can be reluctant to come forward, especially if they are visitors, when everyone is watching. So I stayed my ground, and hung around at the front.

Sure enough, as soon as people started getting out of their chairs and milling around, a young girl, one of the visiting students that morning, made a path straight towards me. She explained that it wasn't caused by a virus, but she had the same pain in her throat and sides of her neck that I had described, but caused by strain. I prayed for her, and asked if the pain had gone. She said, "Yes, it's better."

Now this may not seem like a dramatic healing. And I don't have any follow up information like with the other two cases to confirm that a lasting healing took place, but I'm confident that God did a work. And again, what really struck me, is that he did it. I messed up! I confused and muddled up what God had told me with what I deduced must be the case as a result. I got the bit about the virus completely wrong... yet God still moved. Despite my failings and my mistakes, he still spoke and he still healed. Thank you, Jesus. He is so full of grace.

Some people are of the opinion that to move in the Holy Spirit you have to be 100% right 100% of the time. Some may be of the opinion that this makes me a false prophet who should have been dragged out of the room and stoned for daring to speak presumptuous words on behalf of the Lord. Some may see this as further evidence that modern day manifestations are not up to the apostolic standard in the New Testament.

But do you know what? When I read the New Testament, I've noticed something: the apostles got it wrong all the time! In fact the apostle who seemed to make the most mistakes (Peter) also seemed to be the one who was most used by God in the supernatural. What it shows to me is this: God is bigger than our mistakes! If you want to step out in the Holy Spirit you have to be prepared to make mistakes and to look foolish. God is not concerned with our reputation but with his. The gifts of the Spirit are there to make him look good not us. They are there to prove what a gracious heavenly father we have, not to demonstrate how accurately we can hear God.

I made a decision some time ago, that I would rather get it wrong and look foolish than to miss an opportunity to see God move in power. What this event showed me is that, in the abundant grace of God, getting it wrong an seeing God move are not incompatible!

God speaks; God heals - part 2

A few months after the events of my previous post, and a few months ago, I took another baby-step in the gift of the word of knowledge.

It was in another Sunday-morning meeting. During the time of worship I got an impression that someone had a pain in their back. You would have thought after the previous incident I would have had more faith to move in this gift and more confidence in recognising it - but I have to confess, I struggled again. I thought back pain has got to be one of the most common complaints. It's likely someone in the room has some kind of back pain just by statistics! People will think I'm just making it up... maybe I am making it up.

Then I felt a pain in my back, right at the base of the spine. Not general back pain, but a very specific and localised pain. I still struggled: on the one hand maybe this was God telling me the specifics of the person's pain, but on the other hand maybe I just thought someone else had back-pain when really it was just my own pain. I wasn't sure enough to step out during the time of worship, so again I did nothing.

Then the preacher began his message. He spoke about how you have to take risks if you want to step out in the supernatural, and he finished with the story of Peter and John and the beggar who was healed. The exact same scriptures that had convinced me to step out in the word of knowledge the fist time! [God is so gracious!] I must be better at hearing God though the preached word, because I finally got the message!

So after the preacher finished, I stood up and shared that there was someone in the room with a back pain at the base of their spine, and that I believed God wanted to heal them. I waited around at the front of the meeting, but no one came forward. But afterwards, as I made my way to the back of the hall to get a much-needed coffee I saw one of the visitors trying to catch my eye. I walked over to him and discovered that he was the father of one of the students attending our congregation. He told me that he thought he might be the one I was talking about as he had a back pain in exactly the place I had described.

I prayed for him. I can't remember what I prayed, but I remember I wasn't too impressed with myself. I thought, come on Chris, you can pray better than that! I was just about to offer to pray for him again, when he arched his back, rotated his arms and said, "I think... yes... the pain is gone!" I was taken aback! [Keri recently shared on the importance of having faith during a miracle, not just before - that men can give away thier lack of faith by how they respond when God actually does what they asked of him! I think this was one of those moments!]

This happened just before the students left for their summer holiday. This student and his father were from the Netherlands. He returned about three months later, and told me that his father had been trying to get hold of my email address. Apparently he used to suffer a lot with that back pain, but for the past three months he had been completely free of pain!

Thank you, Jesus! God is so good.

Again, I could have so easily missed this opportunity. Again, it showed me that it had nothing to do with me. It wasn't my faith that healed him - the way I reacted showed I had very little! Jesus healed this man out of the abundance of his grace and by his mighty power. The gifts of the Spirit are just that - gifts - we don't earn them, we don't deserve them, they don't communicate how spiritual the one who uses them is - they are unmerited expressions of the grace of God poured out on his church. We just need to learn to use them!

God speaks; God heals

I want to write this post to give Jesus thanks and honour for his faithfulness and goodness. He still speaks and he still heals. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. The things we read about him doing in the gospels are the same things he longs to do today through his people if they will obey the promptings of his Spirit.

Recently I have taken my first few baby-steps in the word of knowledge. This is a gift of the Spirit where God reveals a piece of information (knowledge) about a person or situation. Good examples of this gift would be where Jesus says to Nathaniel that he saw him under the tree, or when he tells the Samarian woman about her marital history. In both cases a little piece of knowledge has a dramatic impact.

Now, I had tried to move in this gift before. I remember a prayer meeting where I got a strong impression that the name "Tom" was significant. I shared it, but as far as I'm aware, to this day, there was no significance. No one had a friend or colleague called Tom; no one met a Tom; no Tom turned up to our meetings; nothing. I guess I got it wrong!

So you can imagine my reluctance when during a Sunday-morning meeting I got the same kind of impression about someone who had pain in their joints. I thought, I've had this kind of impression before and it was wrong, so it's likely to be wrong again. So I did nothing. However as the meeting went on, the preacher was talking about how God wanted to heal. He spoke about Peter and John who had no money to offer, but had something better to give, and Jesus brought a complete healing to the beggar through their obedience. At this point I felt a nudge in my spirit; I had forgotten my cheque book that morning, so had not been able to give my normal offering - so silver or gold I did not have, but I did have something, and as unsure about it as I was, I knew I needed to share it.

So sure enough, the preacher gave a call forward for those who were sick to be prayed for, and I knew that was the moment. As soon as I stepped forward to bring the word I felt a confidence that I had not felt before. [Isn't that often the way? I believe the hardest part of moving in a gift of the Spirit is the decision to get out of your chair!] What's more, I got more information. It was a pain the the elbows and wrists and the person who had it had had it for a long time and just got used to it. I believed that God wanted to confirm the word of the preacher by bringing a complete healing.

So I shared this word and joined the preacher and some others in praying for those who came forward. As I came to one man, a visitor that Sunday, I asked him what I could pray for. He said that since I had shared his joints felt like they were on fire, and that he had had a long standing condition in his elbows and wrists that gave him a low level of pain that he had just got used to. I was astonished and thrilled! I prayed for him, and straight away he said that the symptoms had cleared. This man has a manual job, so he said the real test would be when he went back to work. He came back again the next Sunday, and his first words to me were: "I'm healed!"

Thank you, Jesus! It was all of him and nothing of me. He used me despite my doubts and reluctance and brought relief from suffering to one of his precious children.

I have two other examples that I want to give thanks for, but I'll share them in separate posts.

The Truth about the Codex Sinaiticus

The BBC have published today an article about an ancient manuscript of the Bible that is shortly to be digitised and put online. Rather than focusing on the importance of a complete New Testament (all twenty-seven books plus two early Christain writings) or the significance of the Septuagint portion (the translation of the Old Testament Hebrew into Greek) the BBC decided to lead with this headline....

The rival to the Bible

The author of this article has obviously read too much Dan Brown, as he takes innocent details and misrepresents them, weaving them together into a conspiracy theory against the accuracy of the Bible and thus the validity of Christianity. The difference is Dan Brown was an author of fiction, and this is a news article on the BBC website! The ignorance of church history and doctrine in the article is shocking.

Here are some of the errors:

1)It shows there have been thousands of alterations to today's bible.
This not true. There are thousands of variations to the Codex Vaticanus, but this is not the same thing! Check the Wikipedia article. Although there are around three thousand alterations compared to the Codex Vaticanus, most of these are due to transliterations of Hebrew names into Greek. The others are variations that are common to other Alexandrian manuscripts. The Bible translators do not rely on just one manuscript but compare all these variations, and where they cannot be reconciled there is a footnote to explain the differences.

The only two unique variations not found in other manuscripts are:

Mt 13:54 and coming to his hometown [patrida]... -> and coming to Antipatris [antipatrida]

Act 8:5 Philip went down to the city of Samaria -> Philip went down to the city of Caesarea

These are obviously scribal errors, and even if they were not they hardly represent a shocking alternative to Christian doctrine!

[Update 13/10/08 - For more accurate details of the differences between the manuscripts, please refer to james snapp, jr.'s comments in the comments section]

This manuscript has been available to biblical translators and scholars for over a century, so the idea that it suddenly reveals a rival text is ridiculous! On the contrary, the significance of this codex is the the fact that there is such an early and complete version of the Bible text with relatively little variation to our modern Bibles in terms of its content.

2) This version has no references to the resurrection
Not true! No idea what gave him this idea. The last section of Mark is missing (as it is in some other early manuscripts), but the resurrection is mentioned in all the Gospels, the book of Acts and the epistles. Plus the extra Christian writing that are included along with the new testament books... also mention the resurrection! This is just blatant poor factual research, and / or jumping to conclusions.

[Update 13/10/08 - For more accurate details of the missing sections, please refer to james snapp, jr.'s comments in the comments section]

3) This version of the Bible contains anti-Semitic writings
The text he is referring to is the Epistle of Barnabas, and along with the Shepherd of Hermas were two early Christian writings that frequently accompanied the scriptures in the early centuries. There is nothing new or shocking here - they were considered useful for teaching by the early fathers but there was never really much controversy over the decision that they did not carry the inspiration of the canonical books.

As for it being anti-Semitic, this is really clutching at straws/(headlines?). But why don't you read it online and decide for yourself.

Epistle of Barnabas

4) The evidence of scribal errors undermines the Christian belief in the infallibility of scripture
This is just an ignorance of Christian theology. Differences between ancient manuscripts are nothing new, and hardly represent a shock revelation. Indeed, ironically, they are needed to establish the accuracy of an ancient text. By comparing texts it is possible to see where these errors came in. The more copies, and the closer the oldest copy is to the original the more confidence can be placed on the contents of the original text.

For example for the account of Julius Caesar (the Gallic wars) there are 10 ancient manuscripts in existence the oldest of which was written 1,000 years after the original. From these historians can make correlations and have sufficient confidence in the manuscripts of Julius Caesar's life.

Compare this to the New Testament: there are 24,000 ancient manuscripts available the oldest dating from 130AD, only 30 years after the original document was written. This makes copping errors extremely easy to spot making the Bible the most accurate ancient document bar none.

The infallibility of scripture refers to the original manuscripts not some magical ability of anyone who picks up a pen to make a copy. I could make a mistake copying out a formula from a physics text book, but this would in no way invalidate the theories of Newton or Einstein!

In fact, the only thing this article has cast any doubt on is the credibility of BBC journalism!

Persecution in Orissa

The most sobering moment of the recent World Watch conference was the account of the persecution that is going on in the Indian state of Orissa at this moment. Although it has barely been reported in the western media, Christians are having their houses burned and are being attacked by unrestrained mobs. Thousands have been forced to flee and are living in the forests.

We heard harrowing accounts from the ground of pastors being pulled from their houses, and then being beaten to death, sometimes while their helpless wives and children looked on. There were twenty-five such accounts of pastors and church leaders who had been killed in this way.

India is a country where the gospel is spreading and accelerating at an unprecedented rate, accompanied by signs and wonders and miracles that could come straight from the book of Acts. This backlash of evil against our brothers in Orissa is something that we must stand against. They need our prayers.

Reuters UK: India authorities impose curfew, Christians attacked

The Lord of Glory

You cannot separate the glory of the Lord from the Lord of Glory. When God comes to make his manifest presence known amongst his people he does not come as an entertainer or a warm-up act, he comes as the king; he comes to rule. When the presence of God comes into a meeting, there is no item two on the agenda; there is no more important thing we need to do, nor any more important place we need to be. He comes to fit us into his plan, not to be slotted neatly into ours! If we are really hungry for the presence of the Lord, we will not be hasty to move on when the Lord grants us what we have been calling out for.

And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, a cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord. (1Ki 8:10-11)

Often the tragedy is not that the presence of God prevents us from ministering the way we had planned... but that it does not... and so we do... and the glory moves on by.

World Watch

I had the great privilege of attending the recent World Watch Conference. Speakers from the UK, Cuba, India, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Philippines spoke about how the kingdom of God is advancing in this world. Despite the crises; despite persecutions; despite natural disasters - God's church is growing and his people are a voice to their nations.

There is so much that inspired and stirred; it would be impossible to summarise it all. I hope at some point the video from the DRC will be made available online, as that was one of the highlights - as soon as it is, I'll post a link to it. It was a great example of the church not just growing but transforming the nation. Not only have 200 new churches been planted, but thousands of children who would otherwise have had no education are being schooled by the church. People from the church have also gone on to obtain high positions in local and national government. It truly is a church that is bringing the kingdom to that nation. What makes it all the more remarkable is that all of this work has been led by a man who started his walk with God as a boy in an English class taught by a man from our churches in the UK. Dave Emmett sowed his time into this boy - teaching him English, then leading him to the Lord, and discipling him in his ways - and as a result a whole nation is being reached.

It was also a conference of great teaching. Here are a few sound-bites [these are taken from my notes so word-for-word accuracy is not guaranteed!]:

Keri Jones
* One thing that will damage the people of God is smallness of vision.
* You need to go to the watchtower, not to see the world, but to see what the God of this world will say.
* Men of God are not echoes of the past, but voices for the present.
* All idols have clay feet; make God not preachers central.
* We live in covenant. When someone falls we are not to be like sharks circling to take a bite, but brothers there to pick them up.
* Our prayers must be based on what we know the will of God is.
* The cry from the cross, "Why have you forsaken me," was so that no child of God would ever have to say that again!
* You don't have to understand a miracle!
* Nations are shaking because a kingdom is emerging.
* Don't get ready - be ready. It's not coming - I'm living in it.

Tony Ling
* Most of a nations problems come down to a wrong relationship with God.
* Be very careful upon whom you lean.
* There is a rise of militant atheism.
* There is hope, because there is a prophet in the city!
* What good is a prophet in a cave?
* Hold the door against everything that does not bear the truth of Jesus.
* What we need are words, not just about the future, but about tomorrow. Now words.

Dr. Lemon
* If there is revelation there will be things said that you have not heard before.
* We need anointed brothers not just good brothers
* We have kept God locked up in the church!
* The Kingdom of God is a kingdom of excellence.
* Never rob anyone of their ministry [re. tendency of leaders to do too much]
* When the Spirit moves - participate don't spectate.

Miguel [from Cuba]
* If you think you are defeated - you are!
* Key to destruction: try to be fine with everyone.
* "Here comes the dreamer" - what God has put inside you comes out.
* You do not have to run after the blessings of God - they will follow you.
* In the darkest moment, is when the light shines the brightest [re. the church in Cuba distributing food and clothing immediately the hurricane ceased]

[Bullet points don't do the passion and vision of the speakers any justice, but may jog a few memories for those of us who were there.]

A true champion

I watched the Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday, and like many Brits, I'm very pleased at how well Lewis Hamilton is doing in the championship. However, it wasn't Lewis who impressed me the most...

Many will have seen the images of Felipe Massa driving away from the pit lane trailing his fuel line, which was not detached before he was given the green light to drive off. It was a mistake by one man that dropped him from pole position in the race and an almost certain victory to last place and going home empty handed. Not only this but from being only one point shy of championship rival Hamilton, he is now 7 points behind; with only three races left, this mistake has probably cost him not just the race, but the championship.

What not so many may be aware of is how Massa reacted to this man after the race. Read this article, and especially Massa's quote and the last paragraph. He went to comfort this man, then public spoke of how every member of the team, this individual included, was valued and needed.

Some measure greatness purely by what someone is seen to have achieved. And so to them, no doubt, Massa's greatness will have slumped along with his standing in the championship. But true greatness is not just defined by what you achieve, but who you are: your integrity and character as an individual.

No-one who has watched this season of Formula 1 can doubt that Massa is a great driver. But by offering comfort and forgiveness in the face of such disappointment, this incident has revealed is that he also has true greatness.

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Photograph by Mark McArdle licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.0

The truth about the LHC

The LHC (Large Hadron Collider) is a giant particle accelerator, the largest in the world; a 17 mile long circular tube buried about 100m underneath the French/Swiss border designed to fire subatomic particles at each other very fast and detect what comes out of the wreckage.

Bottom line is that it is a big physics experiment, pure and simple. A very important one, for sure, but that is all it is. However there has been much misinformation and nonsense circulating the internet about the LHC and some unhelpful misrepresentation in the media which as probably fuelled it. Here are a list of some of the claims circulating about the LHC and why they are not true.

1 - The LHC is the "Big Bang Experiment"
This is a misrepresentation in the media, particularly it has to be said, the BBC! The implications, whether intended or otherwise, are that the LHC proves or will prove the Big Bang Theory - this is not true. What they actually mean is that the conditions generated in the LHC collisions may be a close approximation to the theoretical conditions very soon after the Big Bang as predicted by that theory.

However even this is a misrepresentation, because the LHC is all about experimental particle physics, whereas the Big Bang theory is a speculative theory of cosmology. The link is very tenuous, and is about the amount of energy created. The logic is as follows - In the Big Bang (if it happened!) all the energy in the universe was in a very small place at one time - the LHC will create a very large amount of enery in a very small space at one time - therefore the LHC is like the Big Bang! It is silly and unhelpful journalism. It would be like me running a bath and hailing it as the "Atlantis Experiment" because it will recreate the conditions immediately below the surface of the waters above the lost city of Atlantis!

2 - The LHC is looking for God
This is not true. The LHC is not trying to prove or disprove God. It's a science experiment. It's main purpose is to try and establish one of the predictions of the Standard Model of particle physics. This model predicts a hitherto undiscovered particle that is needed to give other elementary particles mass: the Higgs Boson.

Although this particle is sometimes referred to as the "God particle" proof of its existence or non existence says nothing about the existence of God himself. In fact the name has nothing to do with theology or divinity, but is a contraction and a euphemism of the "Godd*mn particle" - because it has proven so hard to track down.

3 - The LHC is wasting money to find something that can be discovered by reading Genesis 1
I do wish Christians wouldn't say things like this. Science is science - faith is faith. They tell us different things about different subjects in different ways. I believe Genesis chapter one, but I don't read anything in there about the Higgs Boson. The LHC is an important and valuable science experiment, and since points 1 and 2 above are not true there is absolutely no reason for Christians to give this kind of knee-jerk reaction to it.

4 - The LHC could create a black hole that will destroy the world
This is scaremongering at its worst. Scientists know that collisions of similar energy to the LHC happen all the time in the Earth's upper atmosphere as cosmic rays collide with the particles there. (Incidentally this also rubbishes the BBC's claim that the LHC will recreate conditions not in existence since the Big Bang)

Even if a black hole did form, it would not be the all consuming monster we know from astronomy. These would be subatomic in size, and so governed primarily by quantum theory. This predicts (in a theory put forward by Steven Hawkins) that the particle-antiparticle fluctuations around the event horizon of the black hole would lead to a net flow of anti-matter into the black hole and a net flow of matter away from it. The result being it would "evaporate" - very fast. If you don't understand any of that, don't worry, just rest assured that the LHC is not going to cause the world to end!

The "Conan Doyle" Principle

When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.
~ The Sign of Four, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The creator of the greatest fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes, came up with this great observation on deductive reasoning: examine all the explanations, then eliminate those which could not have happened until only one remains.

There is nothing wrong with the logic in this statement. Detectives still talk about eliminating people from their enquiries, and my son even has a game "Guess Who?" which works on the same principle.

However there is more to this statement, and it is very telling. It shows people will be prepared to believe something that is totally improbable and full of inconsistencies if they consider it to be the only option on the table. It also shows that what people end up believing goes hand in hand with what they are not prepared to believe. Although some explanations will be eliminated through observation and reasoning - some are never even considered because they are deemed impossible from the outset.

Your assumptions on what is possible determines your worldview, and your worldview determines your belief. It doesn't matter how much evidence to the contrary you are presented with, if you filter that evidence though you presuppositions you will never be presented with anything that challenges your belief.

Take the darwinian theory of evolution. It doesn't matter how improbable it is, or how many unexplained stages it involves, to those who have written of anything supernatural as impossible, the fact that we are here is the only proof they need to claim that it must be true.

It is said "seeing is believing" but the "Conan Doyle" principle shows that this is often not the case. You might think that all that is required to convince someone who disbelieves in the miraculous is for them to witness a miracle, but in practice it doesn't work like that. If someone holds firm to their belief that the supernatural is impossible they will reinterpret the evidence to an alternative explanation no matter how improbable that might be. In the Gospel accounts, when Jesus presented a man born blind who could now see, there were many who preferred to believe that Jesus had found another healthy man who looked identical to the blind man, than accept that a miracle had occurred.

You see in cases like these seeing is not believing. Compelling evidence alone is not enough to persuade. What is required is a change of worldview that allows people to reach a correct conclusion from the evidence. Without this they will go away just as sceptical as when they arrived.

The ancient Greeks had a word for this change of worldview: metaknoia. It means literally to change your mind. Not to change you mind about something, but as if you had exchanged your mind - radically changing the way you think about something.

Interestingly, this is the word that gets translated as "repent" in the Bible, and was the first word used by both Jesus and John the Baptist in their message about the coming kingdom of God. "Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand." Change your assumptions about what is possible, because if you don't you will not be able to receive anything that follows.

Science and the supernatural

Let's examine the claim: Any valid explanation of the universe must be scientific.

This is an increasingly common argument, and is at the root of the evolution vs. creation debate. The proponents of darwinian evolution seem to think that all they need to do is point out that any account of creation is not scientific and thus can be dismissed out of hand. (There are those who try to dress up the creation account with science - but that's another matter). The root of the issue is, is it valid to say that there are not, nor have their ever been any miracluous/supernatural events and so everything in the universe can be explained by science alone?

It could obviously be pointed out that such a statement is intrinsicly atheistic, and so is at odds with the beliefs of many of the greatest scientists of all time: Newton, Maxwell, Einstein... but let's examine this statement with logic alone...

Let's assume for the moment that they are right. And that there is nothing supernatural - not now - not ever. This means that, as they claim, everything that happens must happen for a well defined scientific reason. It may be a reason that scientists do not yet understand, it may be for reasons that are so complicated that they cannot in practice be unravelled, but they are all natural, and within the remit of scientific investigation. Every physical effect has a physical cause and nothing outside of the universe itself is needed by way of an explanation. It sounds like athiestm... because it is - and it has become a very prevalent world view in modern science. But is it consistent?

If every physical effect has a physical cause, then those causes themselves must be effects of prior physical causes - as we are not permitted to entertain any other source of influence. We can think of all the events in the universe like chains of dominoes streching back in time. Each domino falls over because another domino topples into it - cause, effect, cause, effect. Although in practice dominoes may fall over without another domino, this would be caused by gravity and possibly floor vibrations and thus in our analogy would represent another well defined domino/cause. What we are not allowed now, nor at any point in the past, is a domino that falls over without a prior domino - as this would represent an effect without a cause - an event that is not explainable by science - a supernatural event.

Such a world view makes sense, if like Einstein, you believe that the Universe is eternally pre-existent. But no-one believes that any more - even Einstein was convinced by the evidence that the Universe had a beginning.

If the Universe had a beginning, then we run into problems with our domino chains - we can extrapolate them back further and further into the past and so defer the problem, but sooner or later we have to face the inevitable. There must have been a first domino! This is exactly what we have said cannot happen: a cause that does not depend on anything prior for its existence. Something that is outwith the remit of science!

So if believing that "everything can be explained by science" leads you inescapably to acknowledge that there is at least one event that cannot be explained by science then it proves that the original assumption is untenable. There are some things about the universe that cannot be explained by science. The Universe itself is proof of the supernatural.

Those who try to dismiss men of faith as irrational are themselves holding to an irrational worldview!