Contrary winds!

“Tacking is a sailing maneuver by which a sailing vessel, whose desired course is into the wind, turns its bow toward and through the wind so that the direction from which the wind blows changes from one side of the boat to the other, allowing progress in the desired direction The opposite maneuver to tacking is called ‘jibe‘, or ‘wearing’ on square-rigged ships, that is, turning the stern through the wind. No sailing vessel can move directly upwind, though that may be the desired direction, making this an essential maneuver of a sailing ship. A series of tacking moves, in a zig-zag fashion, is called beating, and allows sailing in the desired direction.”Wikipedia

SailReverso.com

Both times I went sailing were exciting and exhilarating experiences!

The first time was in a ‘minnow’ on our local lake, I was with people who knew what they were doing on a lovely summer evening. Being in a properly handled yacht was one of the best things I have ever done.

The second time was with a friend who bought an older wooden catamaran.

He was still learning how to handle it, so it was fine when the wind was behind us. We sped along. The problem was when we tried to go the other way against the wind. Not knowing how to tack meant we struggled to move in the direction we wanted to go.

After having the wind push us along and lifting us out of the water, it was a real letdown to be stalled going nowhere fast.

I do not understand fully how tacking works, though I get some principles behind it.

Until I get to sail for a while with a knowledgeable sailor, my relative ignorance will remain.

In the old days of sail, voyaging against opposing winds was difficult at best, but worse still was to be ‘becalmed’ with no wind at all. This often meant going short of food and water unbearable heat or freezing cold.

Even Scripture is not without tales of the sea and its perils.

Sailing and seafaring and waterborne pursuits are full of analogies to the Christian life.

Our Christian experience is many times like having the wind filling our sails, making good progress in our aims and being exhilarated with God’s goodness.

But as they say, things with us are not always ‘plain sailing’!

Some went down to the sea in ships,
doing business on the great waters;
they saw the deeds of the LORD,
his wondrous works in the deep.
For he commanded and raised the stormy wind,
which lifted up the waves of the sea.
They mounted up to heaven; they went down to the depths;
their courage melted away in their evil plight;
they reeled and staggered like drunken men
and were at their wits’ end.
Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress.
He made the storm be still,
and the waves of the sea were hushed.
Then they were glad that the waters were quiet,
and he brought them to their desired haven.
Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love,
for his wondrous works to the children of man!
Let them extol him in the congregation of the people,
and praise him in the assembly of the elders. Psalm 107: 23-32

More often than not we are beating against the contrary winds of earthly circumstances, sickness, and depression.

Satan throws his tempestuous temptations into the mix, and we lose our sense of direction and make little or no progress at all. Indeed, we may think we are well and truly sunk!

Other times we hit flat seas with no wind at all.

We may try to row ourselves out of it, but our progress is negligible and we soon weary ourselves out.

Life grates on us, and we find things tedious in the extreme. To be in the doldrums is a trial in itself.

The truth of the Christian life is that despite the gusts and tides that push against us, the prevailing wind is heavenward, and we have only to tack our souls to catch it and keep our forward course.

By reading and meditating on the Word and its preaching, with prayer and the fellowship of God’s people, we do what lies within us to position ourselves under the means of His grace.

The God who in His providence sends the storm also gives the calm and provides the pilot to aid us in our voyage

Therefore, we will certainly, through His power, reach our desired haven.

What would I do without you, Jeeves?

Ian Carmichael. 1975 Photograph: Duffy/Getty Images

I have always like Ian Carmichael as an actor. He was mainly cast as the well-meaning simpleton, though he did more serious roles as well. I still remember him as Bertie Wooster alongside Dennis Price as Jeeves who invariably got him out of the scrapes he got himself into.

He was in a film called ‘School for Scoundrels’ where thanks to the tuition of Alistair Sim he turns the tables on the ‘king of cads’ Terry Thomas and gets the girl.

School For Scoundrels © STUDIOCANAL ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

The film ends with Carmichael’s character realising that nothing of lasting good comes from lying and cheating, no matter what the short time gain. Though the audience got a good laugh in the process!

It can only be said that we all, as Christians and people in general, are often presented with a supposed easy way around or way to avoid our difficulties.

Like some electronic games, I had difficulty with, there were cheats you could put in, so you could walk through walls and give yourself infinite weapons and invulnerability.

The problem was, that you missed out on so much of the game that it was hardly worthwhile playing.

The Christian more than others is often tempted to cheat or take an easier path to avoid problems and ridicule. This usually means a departure from the path of duty and stagnation of spiritual growth.

God can indeed bring good out of and despite our failures and sins, yet this can never excuse us from departing from the straight and narrow and risking all in the bye -paths of sin and disobedience.

The Christian’s path should always be onward and upward and the path of God’s Truth!

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Our Whole Heart!

¹⁴⁵ With my whole heart I cry; answer me, O Lord!
    I will keep your statutes.
¹⁴⁶ I call to you; save me,
    that I may observe your testimonies.
¹⁴⁷ I rise before dawn and cry for help;
    I hope in your words.
¹⁴⁸ My eyes are awake before the watches of the night,
    that I may meditate on your promise.
¹⁴⁹ Hear my voice according to your steadfast love;
    O Lord, according to your justice give me life.
¹⁵⁰ They draw near who persecute me with evil purpose;
    they are far from your law.
¹⁵¹ But you are near, O Lord,
    and all your commandments are true.
¹⁵² Long have I known from your testimonies
    that you have founded them forever. Psalm 119:145 E.S.V

The modern age in Christianity has brought a great reluctance to speak about the need for Christian obedience. It has made any mention of the ‘Law’ in the life of the believer a matter of mere ‘legalism’ and an attempt to bring them back into bondage to the Law.

It has had the effect also of making the Christian’s attitude to the Old Testament rather equivocal.

We take many of the lessons taught and examples of the ‘heroes’ of the faith for our guidance and comfort but the chapters of commandments and laws we shy away from.

While it is true that many of the ceremonial laws belonged only to that dispensation, laws such as the Ten Commandments and the principles behind them are still in force.

Jesus in the ‘Sermon on the mount’ reinforced the Old Testament as being God’s Word and indeed lived in obedience to it all His’ life and gave it the only perfect obedience in mankind’s entire existence. Our Salvation would have been impossible had he not done so.

So it may be difficult for the modern professor of Christianity to rise to the depth of emotion and zeal for God’s Word and revealed commandments of the Psalmist here. Remembering that the light of the New Testament had not yet shined, and God’s way of salvation was still shown only in types and figures.

Inasmuch as this great zeal and devotion was seen to perfection in Christ himself, we may need to periodically assess our own treatment and attitude to the Word and our use of it and its constituent parts.

Whole-heartedness?

How many things do we do and see done nowadays with our ‘Whole heart’?

Sporting endeavour. Rescue of those in imminent peril. Desperate searches for a cure, etc., etc.

Christianity and long been for many a leisure time activity.

It may on occasion make us laugh and smile, it may inspire high emotion and bring a tear to our eye, but usually, the effects are temporary and we lapse into our easy-going, laid-back attitude to it all.

The sorry state of much of the Church today could be attributed to this prevalent lack of wholehearted love for God and his Word and full-throated crying after his strength to obey God’s commandments.

How many early mornings have we spent hoping in the word and night watches spent meditating on it?

If we hear God’s Word and his speaking to us, He will surely hear us, especially in times of imminent peril.

When danger draws near is the best time to know that God is near us. It is here we vividly know the faithfulness and enduring nature of the truth of God and his Word.

The more we understand and obey the Word of God, we will find more and more the lovingkindness of God through Christ, to receive the ‘quickening’ we so desperately need for today.

Lost Horizon!

My cousin on Facebook mentions his being a fan of Ronald Colman.

Ronald Colman in 1940.

He was also one of my favourites and the first picture I saw him in was ‘The Devil to pay’ with Loretta Young.

Among his great pictures was ‘Lost Horizon ‘ directed by Frank Capra.

He had started his career in England both on the stage and in silent films and became a success when he emigrated to the U.S. after serving in the First World War.

It was only with the coming of sound in films that he could take advantage of his magnificent speaking voice. It was he that Don Adams was imitating as the prince in one of his ‘Get smart’ episodes.

In ‘Lost Horizon’ Colman plays a man at the peak of worldly honour and achievement yet still seeking something to fill the emptiness that these things can never fill.

The mythical Shangri La, (whatever its pretensions) were it real, could never fill the void that dwells in everyone.

The garden of Eden and man’s yielding to the tempters’ suggestion proved that any earthly paradise could only leave man yearning for more and any attempt made by him to achieve it without God is doomed to bitter failure.

Colman, having been persuaded to leave Shangri La , sees his error and almost maniacally fights to return. Whether he does is left to our imagination and wish for a happy ending.

Our happy ending and eternal rest and bliss depend on our seeking to Christ by repentance and faith!

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God on our side!

The Waters are divided James Tissot

A song of ascents. Of David.

Psalm 124

¹ If the Lord had not been on our side—
    let Israel say—
² if the Lord had not been on our side
    when people attacked us,
³ they would have swallowed us alive
    when their anger flared against us;
⁴ the flood would have engulfed us,
    the torrent would have swept over us,
⁵ the raging waters
    would have swept us away.

⁶ Praise be to the Lord,
    who has not let us be torn by their teeth.
⁷ We have escaped like a bird
    from the fowler’s snare;
the snare has been broken,
    and we have escaped.
⁸ Our help is in the name of the Lord,
    the Maker of heaven and earth. N.I.V

One thing the faithful Christian is to prove in the midst of suffering and trial is that God is a very present help in time of trouble (Psalm 46 :1).

To suffer as an individual is one matter but to surrounded by sufferers and empathising with them as well multiplies the effects upon ourselves.

It is in times like these when Believers are involved in the common lot of fear and the temptation to panic that we should be able to stand out as hopeful and give a reason for that hope.

Christians are subject to all the human frailties that surface when fear and panic are rife in difficult circumstances. That we are not always what we should be as believers makes our ‘witness’ less effective to those around us.

Jesus told us that in the World we would have tribulation but instead of preparing ourselves for it with storing our spiritual ‘larders’ with truth and grace we feather our beds and take our ease.

To those who understand something of the sufferings of the Apostles and those throughout the history of the Church it is astounding and humbling to realise that the unexpected fruit borne in it was joy.

To rejoice in trouble and pain is completely opposed to the common experience of humanity. Even the Christian finds the conception nigh impossible to grasp except as an article of faith, hoping we need never prove it in reality.

Nevertheless, we all come to the point like the foolish and wise virgins we resort to our store of spiritual oil, if we have any.

While we would all wish for the quiet trust that the great Saints often exhibit when worse comes to worst we may find that the experience of Job is closer to the truth.

However, the way it pans out the root of the matter is that God hears us and while he permits trials and tribulations to come upon his people He is not deaf to their cries and is ever and always their deliverer!

Our faith may be the ‘weak link’ at times, but it is its reality and the One in whom it is placed that matters most. Christ upbraided the disciples with their lack of faith after the storm, but this was after He had calmed the waves and brought them safe home.

We may not always ‘feel’ as if God is with us and think we have been deserted. Indeed, we can almost count all the reasons why God could leave us to our ‘just deserts’. May be if we had kept a clearer conscience this would not happen as much to the Christian, but again God is knows those who are His. It is not to his glory to desert those whom Christ has purchased with His’ blood.

Bush Tucker!

I have been reacquainting myself with a series from the eighties called ‘The Bush Tucker Man’! While travelling through parts of the country that I may never see he shows foods that grow in what are otherwise, to Western eyes inhospitable.

He shows that among the native foods that long sustained the indigenous people there are some far healthier than what are generally eaten by most of us today.

Kakadu plum: It contains 3000mg of vitamin C per 100g of fruit – over 50 times the concentration found in oranges.

The difficulty is to find it available in the appropriate season and time of year and it is often necessary to do as the locals did and act as ‘hunter-gatherers’.

Foodstuffs if left uneaten go rotten and mouldy, they do not keep for long periods and in the days before refrigeration it was necessary to salt and smoke meats to make them last longer. Fruits were made into preserves and jams etc. but many things had to be eaten as soon as possible to avoid spoilage.

Modern man has gone a step further in adding processing and preservatives to food to extend its ‘shelf life’ Whether this is the ideal way of doing things is best answered by the health and diet statistics.

27They all wait for You

To give them their food in due season.

28You give to them, they gather it up;

You open Your hand, they are satisfied with good. Psalm 104

What is true in the physical world has its similarities in spiritual things.

God has a great store of blessings to meet His’ people’s need but He does not give it to them all at once and for what he gives it is usually required of us to gather it and ruminate on it. The children of Israel gathering the Manna in the wilderness is a picture of the daily life of the believer. Many Christians treat God like the fabled ‘cornucopia’, requiring little more of them but to put it in their mouth. The manna came day by day but the Israelites went and gathered it and then took it to their tents and prepared it.

It is true to say that the things of God seldom fall into our laps rather they are to be diligently sought considered and appreciated.

The depressed state of Christianity at the moment may be because God is indeed giving us all we need for our life and service, but we are dilatory in gathering what he has given.

The Shepherd’s Daughter!

Photo Greg Johns/Hiking Fiasco

While doing family history and general research you find that unless a grave has direct connection or significance to you personally it is easy to become impassive with regard to them and what they represent.

Yet there are instances when particular graves strike you with singular poignancy.

One such grave is not in a cemetery at all but in an isolated spot on a quiet country road!

I had forgotten quite where it was and went looking for it and after asking directions found it again.

It is known locally as ‘The Shepherd’s Daughter’.

Apparently it belongs to Mary Paterson or Patterson who died aged six.

 One story is that she and her family were droving sheep near Lal Lal in 1867 although this year is disputed. The girls contracted pneumonia in wet weather and due to flooding of the local Moorabool River Doctor’s were unable to reach her.

Her family were forced to bury her body in the bush.

This is the story generally held although there is also another version grimmer in nature about wild dogs.

The locals today maintain the grave and the story remembered.

The death of the young is especially sad. It represents a potential future lost and families’ sorrow.

To be buried in so isolated a spot adds to the feeling of sadness.

The death of a child often provokes, more than anything else the cry “Where was God when this happened?”

The old picture is of a hand- made tapestry of which we can only see one side. The stitching work that goes to make up the picture is beyond our sight but one day the tapestry will be turned over to reveal the individual stitches that make the final picture what it was to be.

What we see is only part of the picture and only eternity will reveals God’s handiwork and plan. Only by trusting in Him in the darkest times can we cope with the trials and vicissitudes of life and find his comfort as our support.

This current crisis is driving home to people their own mortality and in their blind fear they are looking to others like themselves to save them.

John 1:4 tells us the ‘in him (Christ) was life and that life was the light of all mankind.’

It is the wholesale rejection of this truth that makes this world so tragic a place. Where this light and life shines in, hope springs eternal, even in the face of death and earthly sorrow.

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² Great are the works of the Lord,
    studied by all who delight in them.
³ Full of splendour and majesty is his work,
    and his righteousness endures forever.
⁴ He has caused his wondrous works to be remembered;
    the Lord is gracious and merciful.
⁵ He provides food for those who fear him;
    he remembers his covenant forever.
⁶ He has shown his people the power of his works,
    in giving them the inheritance of the nations.
⁷ The works of his hands are faithful and just;
    all his precepts are trustworthy;
⁸ they are established forever and ever,
    to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness.
⁹ He sent redemption to his people;
    he has commanded his covenant forever.
    Holy and awesome is his name!
¹⁰ The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;
    all those who practice it have a good understanding.
    His praise endures forever! Psalm 111:2-10 E.S.V.

While our God is holy and ‘dwells in the midst of unapproachable light‘ (1 Timothy 6:16) His mighty works and great mercy are clearly displayed to all who have eyes to see them.

The splendour of His creation and the wonders of his providence are obvious to the Spirit opened eye. This alone is cause to praise Him forever.

He has added to this His eternal covenant of Salvation and Adoption entirely founded on His grace.

All this undeserved mercy to the unrighteous was given in all holiness and justice to ill deserving sinners. This was by the Son of God taking upon Himself our deserved punishment upon the Cross and bestowing his own righteousness and bestowing newness of life through his resurrection and the Spirit’s work within us.

Where true wisdom is found!

Many have sought wisdom through the Millennia, they failed because they looked only to themselves and their own experience and that of others.

Not knowing or acknowledging the true God the wisdom they found, while it had its uses fell short and left them when they needed it most.

The darkness within them could not comprehend that it was through the fear of the Lord that true wisdom was to be found and still is.

While saved by free grace without our own works the believer’s grateful response is to live in obedience and praise to our God and saviour even if it is often imperfect and uneven.

Even this response comes from the fruit of the Holy Spirit’s work in our hearts ‘For all things come from you and of your own have we given you.” 1Chronicles 29:14b

Many of us look but do not see!

May The Lord who has bestowed so much upon us and sent his Son to save us open our eyes to see the truth and things as they truly are!

Due deference?

Science has contributed greatly to the sort of life we live today.

We eat better, live longer and travel faster. It has helped mankind in myriad ways.

Within its sphere science is an indispensable part of our existence.

Its impact on us has not been wholly one of pervading good. The side effects and consequences of some scientific discoveries and inventions are still causing problems today.

While Science seeks to establish facts much of it remains a matter of theories which may be accepted as facts are still lacking convincing proof.

There have been those within the church in the last few centuries who have sought to reconcile the discoveries of Science with the factuality and historicity of the Bible. There are others still who will discard or reduce to myth or allegory those portions of Scripture that modern discovery and theory seem to make ludicrous or the product of primitive thought and scientific ignorance.

This conflict is felt by many Christians seeking to reconcile the Word of Scripture with what they see and hear about them.

While it is true that we as believers must ultimately resolve this dichotomy of thought into a matter of faith we are not left to this alone.

Science which once discounted and scoffed and at the Bible’s veracity has often by further discovery found that the Bible was right and factual in what it taught.

The fact is the speculation and debunking tendency of science has far outstripped the actual revelation of fact. Scientific theory has sought to replace God’s Truth only to find itself deficient in every way.

This is not to say we as Christians should ignore science but rather subordinate it to the Word of God which has in the past and will stand the test of time and tide.

Rise up O God!

²² Rise up, O God, and defend your cause;
    remember how fools mock you all day long.
²³ Do not ignore the clamor of your adversaries,
    the uproar of your enemies, which rises continually .Psalm 74:22-23 N.I.V.

The Cause of God’s truth in the World is forever in seeming peril or under attack. This is because it invariably runs counter to man’s purposes and desires and provokes his sin fuelled rage and resentment.

The hostility the World feels toward God and His people is more open at certain times than at others but it simmers away until it flames into open hatred and persecution.

The faithful people of God are identified with His Cause and suffer accordingly. They become targets because the holy God is far above the spite of rebellious sinners and beyond the reach of their best arrows.

The besieged people of God look to Him as their Deliverer and call on him to come to their rescue and to vindicate His cause and glorify His Name!

Yet God ofttimes seems to tarry far beyond the expectations of his people.

How can the holy God stay his hand so long against the barrage of blasphemy and contempt that spews from a mankind in open rebellion against their Maker? How can God stand by and allow His beloved Children to suffer so much and so long without baring His mighty arm to smite their abusers?

The Psalms and Old Testament resound with this struggle between faith and fear, between hope and impatience.

The stories of times past when God mightily delivered His people which before encouraged our perseverance are now examples of how far we have fallen. They are glorious events but now belong only to the legendary past.

It is easy to read Scripture and comparing them to today say to ourselves ‘Where is the Lord God of Elijah?’

The question we should be asking is where is our faith?

No matter how many times we are reminded by Christ that in the world we will have tribulation we are forever looking for ease and a ‘primrose path’. Like the man in Pilgrim’s Progress we busily rake in the world’s ‘dunghills’ for a crown and a happiness that isn’t there.

Whole sections of the ‘Church’ are indeed catering to this desire. They promise all life’s good things to those who have enough faith to speak them into existence and that lingering trouble and poverty are the results of a deficient faith.

Nothing in Scripture supports this spurious promise. Rather tribulation is inevitably the lot of those who will walk in the way of the Cross but with it comes the joy that only God can give.!

In all our trials and tribulations we must remember that God’s cause will not miscarry; however much it seems to our eyes to be faltering.

God’s plan and purpose are from all eternity and the malice of man and the adverse winds of time and tide will not hinder or prevent their fulfilment.

We may fear for our future and for the witness of the Church in the World but one day we will, if we remain faithful see that many of our fears were groundless. The Christian has the full assurance that all the ills which come upon us will prove to be for our eternal good. Thy will compel us to trust in God and replying on his supply will prove them more than sufficient!

Though troubles assail,
And dangers affright;
Though friends should all fail,
And foes all unite,
Yet one thing secures us,
Whatever betide:
The Scripture assures us,
“The Lord will provide.” John Newton

Seizing the throne!

Henry the Seventh had a somewhat tenuous claim to the throne of England through his mother. His illegitimate birth did not help his case because there were others who had far closer claim to the succession than he.

With French, Scottish and Welsh support Henry raise an army and met the forces of Richard the third and defeated them on Bosworth field, Richard being killed. Henry’s forces were outnumbered but crucially some of Richard’s allies change sides and gave victory and the crown to Henry.

Winning the battle of Bosworth was only the beginning of Henry’s work to secure his grip on the throne.

England had for many years been torn by the ‘Wars of the Roses’ as the strife between the houses of Lancaster to which Henry belonged and York was called.

Henry’s marriage to Elizabeth of York was seen as a unification of the houses. He chose as one of his emblems what became known as the ‘Tudor Rose’ a symbol of unity between both houses.

Although there were several rebellions against him during his reign he showed remarkable clemency to the rebels although some were executed.

The picture of Henry that has come down in history is one of a cold and austere man with an obsession with money. The fact was while he was wily and cunning in making it he could also spend it lavishly when it served his purpose and the need arose.

He understood the need to project himself and the image of Kingship and was lavish and grandiose in displays during public celebrations and events. In this way he impressed his subjects and visiting foreigners with his right to be king.

He caused resentment by the ways he ruthlessly raised money from his subjects through new taxes and duties brought in without due process but did at least put the finances of the Crown on a stable footing.

Ironically much of the money he had accumulated was largely squandered by his son and successor Henry the eighth.

To his credit Henry the seventh was a man who sought to maintain peace and his countries prosperity.

He remains however a shadowy figure in history and is largely overshadow by his two great descendants

Henry the eighth and Elizabeth the first.

The Kings of the Earth can never rival the King of glory!

Christ’s throne was founded in eternity past and will endure to all eternity future! It is founded on righteousness and holiness and is one of grace.

His throne is unassailable by its enemies and ever approachable to those who by faith seek its mercy and favour.

It belongs to the One who, for a while left its glory and dwelt for a time among the meanest and poorest of men and went to the shame of the Cross for their Salvation.

The wealth of this glorious throne is such that the treasures of men will pass worthless in comparison.

Yet they are freely given to all who seek by faith supply for every need!

Here is no usurper to the throne but Christ Jesus the son of God whose by right it truly belongs!

Richard the Third

The picture we have of Henry’s predecessor Richard the third is to a large extent distorted by those seeking favours from the ‘Tudors’.

Shakespeare in seeking to curry favour with Henry’s granddaughter Elizabeth the first paints a somewhat distorted caricature of the man.

According to my edition of Encyclopedia Britannica, Richard was widely regarded as a usurper of the throne and guilty of the murder of the princes in the tower. Some historians have sought to exonerate him of this crime, but his complicity was widely believed at the time.

He did have some good qualities both as a man and ruler such as an understanding of the political needs of the country!(ibid)

They say history is written by the victors. It is human nature to press our understanding and perceptions on to the people and events of the past. Indeed, in our time it has become almost a national pass time.

Many have left a name for good or ill to posterity.

The Christian is one who by rights should live for eternity! Our name may be mud to the ungodly but will be written in God’s book of life if we are indeed what we profess to be.

Big Words!

I am currently reading a book called ‘The England of Elizabeth’by A.L. Rowse.

It is one of the most interesting books I have read in some time!

It goes into the people and places as well as the city and country life. It describes the government and judicial structure as well as the structure of society.

While he is a lucid and interesting writer he does have the habit of using words from the time and technical ie. farming, legal and obsolete words which may not be understood by the general reader without providing definitions.

To stumble over a word or two may be an inconvenience but to tripping over them every few pages is rather a trial especially when most dictionaries do not even carry them!

If you are writing for people with the same technical expertise you are quite justified in using using the words which are current in the profession. however if you are writing for the general public it is surely mere courtesy to provide some definition of the rarer words you are using.

That is not to say that you are required to simply your language to the point of a ‘Janet and John’ book!

In any communication we make allowance for a certain amount of understanding and intelligence! To some degree also we hope that for those things others do not understand they will make the effort to eventually come to an accurate understanding of what we are trying to say.

We live in a time more than ever where definitions are changing and words commonly used before are now falling out of fashion or dropped because they supposedly give offense to some, rightly or wrongly

Peter in his second letter says of Paul’s writings that…

“Some parts of his letters are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.” 2Peter 3:16

To find some parts of Scripture difficult to understand is to be expected but when we come to them with hostility and an unwillingness to learn we are on the road to destruction.

Too many wrest the Scriptures to there own purposes while failing to understand and obey the purposes of God!

For this reason we must be ever realizing the Majesty and Wisdom of the one who inspired and breathed his Word to us!

Camden’s Brittania!

Was one of the many surveys and ‘travel guides which appeared in the Elizabethan period.

It was a time of rediscovery and taking stock of the land and people.

It was matched by the wonderful hand drawn maps which illustrated many aspects of English life and places.

Some of you may have seen a television program of ‘Great british railway journeys’. These ‘surveys were the post medieval eqivalent.

The reader would be able to get an understanding of what they would see and find if they actually went to the places described and some information on the history ,famous personages and goods and produce available etc.

While the works would not be as good as going to the places themselves they would certainly whet the appetite for travel and serve as a guide to what to see and what expect!

Of course in some ways these ‘guides’ would quickly become obsolete in a time of great change and prospect. Even then they would continue as a testimony to how things once were!

Without a stretch of the imagination the Bible serves as a guide to the ‘Heavenly ‘ country!

It charts the way there and gives a glimpse of what we can expect when we get there!

Sadly too few take advantage of it and those who do often go astray but for those who persevere will find that the half was not told them of the glory of ‘Immanuel’s land!’

The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. A Jew, speaking in the presence of Jews, said, “To him give all the prophets witness that through his name whosoever believeth on him shall receive remission of sins,” Being the Christ he was officially pre-eminent and
not merely as respects the excellence of his teaching, the purity of his example, or the strength of his love to humanity. In these he was indeed pre-eminent ; but more than this was implied in the language of Daniel, five centuries earlier, “ One like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought
him near before them, and there was given him dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all people, nations and languages should serve him.”‘Is Christianity of God, did Christ rise again’ George Bowen ,missionary to Bombay 1881