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By Michael Nazir Ali                                                                                THE TELEGRAPH                                                                                              18th March 2026   I remember, during the Iraq-Iran war in the 1980s, seeing teenagers and old men being given green keys to Paradise and marched off to be cannon fodder for the Iraqi guns. When they were killed (or “martyred”), their parents or children, and the whole neighbourhood, were ordered to celebrate their martyrdom with lights and religious music.   Since childhood, I have been familiar with the Shia celebrations of Muharram, when the martyrdom of Hussain, grandson of the Prophet of Islam, at the hands of a so-called usurper of the Caliphate, Yazid, is mourned with weeping, chanting, self-flagellation and ordeals of fire, as a way of identifying with the martyrdom.   Hussain’s brother, Hassan, is also thought by the Shia to have been killed by Yazid’s father, Mu’awiya, through poisoning. Thus giving to him also the title of martyr or shahid . Their father Ali, cousin and son in law of the Prophet, regarded by the Shia as their first Imam, had earlier been murdered by a fanatic, too. This makes him, in Shia eyes, another martyr – indeed the pre-eminent martyr.   The subsequent history of the various Shia sects was often of persecution, exile and death, at the hands of whichever group happened to be dominant at the time. This has evolved into an entrenched understanding of the virtue of suffering for their beliefs, which is not found in more triumphalist versions of Islam.   In the run up to, during, and following the Islamic revolution in Iran, such an understanding of suffering has been pressed into service by its leaders. Every act of repression by the Shah and his agents, every setback and every difficulty has been understood in the context of the martyrdom of the first Shia imams or leaders.   Among the Ithna Ashariyya or Twelver Shia, the dominant sect in Iran, the age-long expectation that the twelfth Imam or Mahdi, who is believed to be in hiding, will return along with Jesus and establish a rule of justice remains lively. A leading Ayatollah once asked me, “When Jesus comes again will he be with our Mahdi?”   An understanding of suffering and of striving in the way of Allah has been married to this eschatology, or theology of end time. As an Iranian government minister said to me, “Iran’s foreign policy is built on the struggle for justice for the oppressed (musta ‘dafin) everywhere.” This is because such a struggle hastens the return of the Mahdi and his rule of justice. As the Iran-Iraq war demonstrated, if this struggle results in mass martyrdom, this is thought to only hasten the coming of the Imam Mahdi.   Iran’s creating of and strengthening of its proxies, whether in Iraq, Syria, the Yemen or Gaza, is based on such an eschatology of establishing the rule of God and thus hastening the return of the Mahdi. It should not be seen as merely the creation of Iranian hegemony in the region, though, in terms of realpolitik, such an ambition cannot be excluded. When British sailors were taken captive, during Ahmadinejad’s presidency, they were released precisely at Eastertide and the reason given was that this was to acknowledge Jesus’s ascension to heaven, from where he will return to aid the Mahdi in establishing his just kingdom.   This supposed commitment to justice, of course, sits uneasily with revolutionary regime’s record of brutality to its own people. Thousands of the political opposition were martyred in the 1980s, leading to even some Ayatollahs protesting and dissociating themselves from such actions.   Religious minorities, such as the Bahai and Farsi-speaking evangelical Christians, have regularly been imprisoned, excluded from civil society and killed, either judicially or extra judicially. Members of the ancient Jewish community have had their property confiscated, as “enemy” possessions, if they had a relative in Israel.   The Zoroastrians, Iran’s native religion, have been so reduced that there are now more of them in India and Pakistan than there are in Iran. Over the years,protests led by students and women have been dealt with harshly, as have the most recent ones, demanding an end to the regime.   The populist paramilitary group known as theBasij, under the supervision of the IRGC, has been responsible for much of the harassment of women regarding “modest dress”. They have also been behind extra-judicial killings, the confiscation of property and the closing of churches and other places of worship not to the regime’s tastes.   As a movement, theBasijare heavily invested in the Iranian market and derive much of their strength from these resources. They are also the group that has supplied the IRGC with personnel for adventures in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen. Both corporately and individually, their membership has bought in heavily to Shia ideas of martyrdom and has given them an innovative twist in justifying both their domestic and their international operations.   What the West, and its allies, need to understand is that the rhetoric coming from Tehran is influenced by this martyr complex. It is not merely bluff or defiance but is deeply rooted in Shia psychology, understood in the light of contemporary circumstances.   If the regime were to fall, either as a result of aerial warfare or because of “boots on the ground”, the Islamist revolutionaries have a ready-made force for indefinite resistance to whatever takes the place of the present regime and to its allies. Withdrawal to the mountains and deserts, as well as exile, is an aspect of sharing in the sufferings of their imams, and resistance to the “ungodly” will be understood as hastening the return of Imam Mahdi and the restoration of Sharia-based rule.   Such an awareness of a martyr complex needs to be fed into the political and military calculations now being made. If the regime survives, this will be seen as a vindication by Allah of the sacrifices made by the IRGC, the Basij and the regime generally. Their programme of theocracy, or Wilayat Al Faqih (the rule of the ‘Ulama or experts in Shari’a), will be reinforced as expressing the will of the absent Imam. This means the Iranian people having to bear even more repression and denial of their basic freedoms of thought, expression and belief.   If the military action results in a change of regime, there must be preparations to prevent the Basij and other elements from being able to wage an indefinite guerrilla war, whether from within or outside Iran or both. The difficult tasks of maintaining the structures of civil society, as well as of creating new institutions, need to be planned for now rather than later, which, as Iraq has shown us, maybe too late.   There are large numbers of people in Iran – students, women, minorities, academics and even elements in the Iranian Bazaar or market – who will want to cooperate in the emergence of a new Iran. It will need to be rooted in Iran’s ancient civilisation, from which it can draw inspiration for the urgent task of reconstruction when the ayatollahs fall.   Msgr Dr Michael Nazir-Ali is President of OXTRAD: Oxford Centre for Training, Research, Advocacy & Dialogue based in Oxford, UK His website can be accessed here:   www.michaelnazirali.com

Islam's Theology Nullifies Everything Christian About a Place of Worship  COMMENTARY   By David W. Virtue, DD                                            www.virtueonline.org                                                                   March 19, 2026   Ramadan is a sacred moment for Islam. It is not so for Christians or Jews. While it is a significant religious event for Muslims, all three religions do emphasize fasting as a means of spiritual reflection and atonement. With Ramadan, we are slowly but surely seeing the encroachment and dismantling of cherished Anglican institutions as Islam is invited into once-hallowed Christian places of worship.   At Bristol Cathedral last week, a group of Muslims sat on the floor eating their Ramadan Iftar meal. For liberal-minded Anglicans, it might look like a gesture of hospitality — a moment of interfaith goodwill. But is it?   According to an observer, the call to prayer was sounded at the cathedral entrance. Here is what that prayer proclaims:   "Allah is the greatest… I testify there is no god but Allah… I testify that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah… Come to prayer."   Historically and culturally, the Adhān (Arabic: أذان) literally means the call to prayer proclaimed five times a day from a mosque. It functions as: •          A proclamation of Islamic faith •          A claim that a place has become a site of Muslim prayer •          A signal that an area belongs to the "realm of Islam" (dar al-Islam)   Do liberal and progressive Anglicans and Episcopalians understand what this means — or what it does to their churches?   At Sewanee: The University of the South — the Episcopal Church's only university, owned by 28 southern dioceses and home to an official seminary — an end-of-Ramadan feast was recently held with this welcome from the Muslim Student Association: "MSA seeks to unify both Muslims and non-Muslims at Sewanee through various cultural events and gathering opportunities, all aimed at increasing awareness and understanding of Islamic culture."   As one longtime observer of Sewanee noted, "Only a racist would ask: Why are those who didn't create this university now telling us what the university is? That is why incrementalism defeated Christianity at Sewanee — because of the anti-racism ideology."   A Canadian school banned children from eating in its cafeteria during Ramadan to avoid offending Muslim students.   In Islam, culture and religion are inseparable. Consider Gaza, Iran, and Saudi Arabia. Try being a Christian in any of those countries.   Several Episcopal churches actively celebrate Ramadan through interfaith events, typically including iftar dinners where Muslims break their fast. Notable examples include:   •          St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in San Jose, CA: Hosts interfaith iftars to support the Muslim community during Ramadan. •          St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Arlington, VA: Organized a Ramadan iftar dinner featuring a Turkish meal and discussion about the significance of Ramadan. •          Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration in Dallas, TX: Hosts an annual Ramadan dinner to promote interfaith understanding. •          Epiphany Episcopal Church in Rochester, NY: Collaborated with the American Turkish Friendship Association for an iftar dinner. This names but a few Episcopal churches.   The outrage here is not simply that Christianity and Islam are different religions competing for converts. It is that Islam is a conquering religion that would destroy Christianity if given the opportunity.   Theologically naive Episcopal priests — some of whom may have studied only one book of the Bible in seminary — warmly welcome Muslims into their churches without grasping that, by doing so, they effectively nullify those buildings as Christian places of worship.   The Middle East tells the story plainly. Christianity in the region has fallen from roughly 13–20% of the population in the early 20th century to around 3–4% today, due to persecution, conflict, and emigration. Christianity originated in the Middle East, with some of the earliest communities established in the 1st century AD. Over the centuries those communities have faced systemic persecution — particularly during the Ottoman Empire — and more recently the rise of extremist groups like ISIS, compounded by political instability, civil wars, and economic crises in Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon.   Christians today make up just 2% of Israel's adult population and roughly 4% of the broader Middle East–North Africa region. Most are of Arab and Palestinian descent; while their relationship with the Israeli state is uneasy, they are free to worship without fear. The region still contains some of Christianity's holiest sites — the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the Church of St. Anne, and the Church of All Nations, among others.   There are roughly 10–12 million Arab Christians living in the Middle East today. That number is an estimate because population data varies by country and is affected by migration, war, and low birth rates.   Best current research estimates suggest there are between 500,000 and 1,000,000 Christians from a Muslim background (MBBs) across the Middle East today, most affiliated with Protestant churches. Were Iran ever to overrun Israel — a near-impossibility — those Christians would have almost no place at all.   The foolishness of American Episcopal churches cannot be overstated. The prevailing doctrine of niceness is a recipe for spiritual and theological disaster and cultural capitulation.   According to The Stream, Muslims are buying and converting American churches into mosques — and Americans are angry. But is their anger directed at the right source? A year-old video of Muslim cleric Muhammad Musri, president of American Islam and chairman of the board of the Islamic Society of Central Florida, recently went viral on X. In it, he argued that Christianity is dying in America, preparing the way for Islam:   "A lot of Christians are leaving their faith, especially the young generation. The churches are emptying out. The Pew Research Center has shown that in the last 10 years, 28% of people have left the church and become atheists or agnostics. They are not impressed anymore by the dogma that someone 2,000 years ago was crucified for their sins. They are searching for something more meaningful, consistent with science and with the principles we know today. Islam is the answer for them, and we are jumping on the opportunities."   He continued: "As these churches empty out… we are buying them. We bought three churches so far and converted them into mosques, and now we have one we are buying with a school… The people who are part of that community one day will be Muslims. So we will make it into a mosque and an Islamic school for our children and their children, inshallah [Allah willing]… I ask Allah to give Islam victory in this country."   This is what happens when progressive Christians dilute their faith. In the end, nothing is left — and when nothing is left, a stronger force moves in.   END

By Ted Schroder Jesus said, "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and the Father are one." (John 10:27-30) Sheep are helpless creatures. They are not able to protect themselves. They have no weapons, no protective armor, no ability to strategize or to outwit their enemies, no speed to outrun them. Predators have a field day with sheep. Evolution doesn't work for sheep. It is not a question of the survival of the fittest. Having been bred for human convenience the wooly animals are completely dependent on their shepherd. This is the analogy Jesus uses to remind us that we are helpless in the face of those things that prey upon us, those things which threaten our security, those things which frighten us and destroy our peace, those things that seek to snatch us out of the hand of God and destroy our faith, hope and love. Our natural predators are doubt and despair, anxiety and fear, bitterness and resentment. We are vulnerable to financial setbacks, to unexpected health problems, to relationships that disappoint us, to accidents and tragedies. It is possible for us to do something about protecting ourselves from known dangers. We try to secure ourselves against disaster - we would be irresponsible and shortsighted if we didn't. But no one can completely control all the circumstances surrounding them. We cannot dictate the conditions of the economy, or the actions of other people. We cannot force other people to fulfill our expectations. We are interdependent. If we place our total and complete trust in what other people may or may not do, in the reliability of companies or politicians, and they prove unable to protect us, we panic. We can't altogether trust in continued, increasing prosperity, in continued good health, in continued peace in the world. Faith in God cannot prevent bad things happening to us. "God causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous." (Matthew 5:45) Life can be full of suffering. How we handle it is the test of our faith. Lil Holley was a short, buxom lady who reigned over our kitchen. As a child I spent a great deal of my time in that kitchen with the staff. They were part of my extended family. Lil was given to strong language at times when she was exasperated. One lunch-time, I was home from high school, when, with her head in the oven, she started cussing me out for no apparent reason. I was standing on the other side of the kitchen, minding my own business, and could not understand why she should light into me in such a fashion. She thought I was standing behind her and pushing her into the oven! When she realized that I was on the other side of the room, she started to wonder whether she had suffered a fainting spell. Then we all felt it. It was an earthquake tremor. My mother was sick in her bedroom upstairs at the time. I thought she might be frightened, so I ran out the door and up the back staircase, which kept moving on me, in a strange way. When I arrived at the bedroom I found my mother half out of the bed to unplug an electric heater so that a fire might not be caused. We had all heard about fires following earthquakes and devastating badly damaged towns. I went back down the front staircase, and saw the unmistakable sign of an earthquake - the light fixtures were swaying to and fro. Bottles had crashed down from the shelves, making an awful mess on the floors. Then the quake stopped, to be succeeded by a quiet, as everyone caught their breath, and wondered what damage had been caused. For several days aftershocks would occur, but none as violent as the first. The chief question on people's minds was, "Where was the epicenter?" for we knew that the damage would be greatest there. On this occasion the epicenter was found to be offshore in the Tasman Sea. In Florida, a different kind of earthquake can happen. As underground streams dry up in droughts, the limestone aquifer will contract, and a sinkhole suddenly can form. The earth caves in, taking anything that sits upon the surface. Houses, roads, automobiles, can disappear into the sinkhole. Earthquakes are the result of the expansion and contraction of the earth, the shifting of the tectonic plates that make up the surface of the earth. They are completely outside human control. No one can forecast when an earthquake or a sinkhole will happen. It could happen tomorrow, or not for ten years. It could happen where we live, or somewhere else. Jesus tells us that ultimate protection and peace of mind is to be found only in the Lord. We are truly helpless apart from Christ. It is he who gives us the security of eternal life, the guarantee that we will not be snatched from the protective power of God. When Jesus said, "I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand", he is telling us that he will give us a life that is full of the splendor and magnificence of the life of God. He is telling us that he will give us a life that none can ultimately destroy, or diminish, or degrade; a life that is everlasting, that endures into the glory that is heaven. He is telling us that he will give us a life that is secure, in which there is no deprivation of the presence and the power of God, a life that will know the serenity of God even if the world collapses around us. How can this be so? Jesus says: "My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and the Father are one." We can be confident in the power of God to protect us because he is greater than all the problems that could prey upon us, and that he has given us into the care of Christ, who is one with him in this care and concern. "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ... For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:35,38,39) There are two errors we tend to fall into. First, we tend to over-estimate our own ability to protect ourselves. We think that we have the personal strength to be self-sufficient. There are many people who think that they can survive in their own strength, and beat the system by themselves. The image Jesus uses is telling - we are sheep, and ultimately, when trouble looms in our lives, we are helpless on our own. We just don't have the ability to fend off the predatory elements. We are fragile creatures, vulnerable to attack. We are not made to survive on our own. Secondly, we under-estimate the ability and desire of God to protect us. Jesus said, "I know my sheep." God knows everything about us, even to counting the numbers of hairs on our heads. Not a sparrow falls to the ground without him knowing it. Jesus promises us protection. We need not fear. Yet we are often unwilling to admit our need, and to acknowledge that God can take care of us and will if we let him. The message of the Scriptures is, "If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31) "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:13) What is it that is preying upon you, upon your mind? What is it that seeks to snatch you out of the hand of God? What is it that seeks to destroy your peace and assurance of God's love? Jesus said, "My sheep hear my voice and follow me." Listen to the promises of Jesus rather than the voice of your fears. Follow him in faith to the way of safety.

By Ted Schroder The Lord's Prayer is a prayer of liberation. It is the cry of an oppressed people for deliverance from a cruel tyranny. It is the yearning of an enslaved people for freedom. It is the desperate desire of a victim of abuse for safety. It is the plea of the sick for healing, and the rejected for acceptance. It is the longing of the exile for home. All these things Israel experienced as it awaited the coming of the Messiah. That was why Isaiah prophesied, "How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, 'Your God reigns.'" (Isaiah 52:7) So when Jesus first began his ministry in Galilee he proclaimed the good news of God: "The time has come. The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!" (Mark 1:15) The kingdom of God came with Jesus. In his life and ministry the kingdom of God arrived. Jesus is the king of the whole earth through whom God will rule. God had arrived to deliver his people from bondage, to liberate them, not from foreign oppressors as they thought, but from evil, guilt, fear of death and rebellion against his rule. Therefore the proper response was to repent, to turn one's life around, and accept the freedom God was offering in Christ's salvation and service. This inner turning or process of being turned, accompanied a deep change at the core of one's being. The kingdom of God was ushered in by Jesus in his first sermon in Nazareth: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." (Luke 4:18) When we pray, "your kingdom come", we are praying that what Jesus proclaimed, taught, and accomplished through his death and resurrection, would become a reality in our lives. We are praying that he would reign in our lives, and give us the victory over anything that would prevent us from living in the fullness of God's life. What does the coming of God's kingdom in our lives through Jesus as Victor, Liberator and Lord mean for us? St. Paul tells us that the "kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." (Romans 14:17) When we pray for the coming of God's kingdom into our lives, we are praying for these three gifts of grace. Righteousness is the gift of being made right with God through the atoning death of Christ. Peace is the gift of access to God by Christ's sacrificial act of reconciliation. Joy is the gift of resurrection hope, as the work of the Christ's Spirit is made a present reality. But despite these gifts of salvation we still experience spiritual poverty and real personal pain. Liberation from a cruel tyranny doesn't eliminate or banish the effects of a long occupation or exile. There is much rebuilding to be accomplished. Recovery takes a long time - a life time. That is why we need to pray continually, "Your kingdom come." The kingdom of God comes incrementally throughout our lives. There are stages of recovery we must go through. Our liberation takes a lifetime. We have work to do in our personalities, in our desires, and in our relationships. We continue to be held in bondage by those aspects of our lives that prevent the kingdom of God coming into fruition. Let me list some of them. There are our personality defects: our introversion, our defensiveness, our quirks, our temptation to criticize others, to look at the bad not the good, to tear down people rather than build them up, to be quick to judge before we know all the facts, to blame others or circumstances for our own failings, to excuse ourselves, and be full of self-pity; to be so wrapped up in what we want to say that we don't listen or take an interest in others; to be self-righteous, convinced we know all the answers, that we are better, smarter, richer, prettier, and can therefore look down on others; our proneness to exaggeration, and to say what is not true, to be boastful of our achievements; our disorganization, our unpunctuality and rudeness; our inability to relax, and our need always to be doing something; our lack of imagination and spontaneity, fear of taking risks or leaving our comfort zone; our tendency of wanting to be in control, our gullibility or our skepticism; and our ingratitude. Our personality defects continue to cause us and others pain rather than afford us and them pleasure. There are our desires: we want to accomplish a number of worthwhile goals but we are frustrated by the conflicting demands on our resources of time, money, and health. We complain, and get depressed by our seeming inability to do what we want to do. Our emotions enslave us rather than release us. There are our relationships with others who disappoint us, or who oppose us. We seem at odds with people we expected better from. Instead of being encouraged by them we feel used by them. They do not seem to be interested in us but only in how we can entertain them. These relationships are oppressive rather than liberating. When we pray "Your kingdom come" we are praying that Jesus would liberate us from these so that we can become whole: better, purer people. What are we acknowledging each time we pray, "Your Kingdom come"? We are responding to God's invitation to enter his kingdom. Jesus said we must accept God's invitation when it is given. He told the parable of the man who prepared a great banquet and invited many guests. He sent his servant to those he had invited, "Come, for everything is now ready." But they made excuses, and said they couldn't come. When the servant reported their excuses the master became angry and ordered his servant to invite the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame. He sent him to go to the roads and country lane and invite more people so that his house would be full. "I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet." (Luke 14:15-24) We must not put off the invitation to feast at God's table, to fellowship with him now, if we want to feast with him in heaven. Jesus is telling us to respond to God's call now to become part of his kingdom. If we want God's liberating kingdom to come into our lives we must respond to the invitation. If we don't we will regret it. When we pray, "Your kingdom come" we are desiring that we will put it first. Jesus said, "Seek first God's kingdom and his righteousness." (Matthew 6:33) We have to get our priorities right. Those who were invited had other worthy and important things to do, but they were not as important as responding to God's call. We can miss out on God's kingdom if we don't respond immediately. We all have many things to do in life, but we need to put this first. Results at first will seem infinitesimal. Jesus said that God's kingdom starts small and unnoticed. He told the parable of the mustard seed (Matthew 13:31,32) to illustrate that the kingdom of God begins minutely in a person's life. It begins with tiny acts of unselfish love and gratitude. It begins with humility. It doesn't require grand acts or magnificent gestures. The kingdom of God grows in us secretly and almost imperceptibly when we apply ourselves to prayer and following Jesus. "This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain - first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest is come." (Mark 4:26-29) No one would have thought that the life of a Jewish carpenter in an obscure part of the Roman Empire would attract much notice. Yet that seed of God's kingdom grew into the most powerful spiritual movement this world and history has ever seen. The coming of God's kingdom in Jesus has affected more people than we can count. Yet it all starts in the life of one person at a time, beginning with the seed of God's Word. It is hard for us to see the results of our prayers. Jesus reminds us that there is a secret work of God going on in our souls which we cannot see. Just because the farmer cannot see the growth of the seed, doesn't mean that it isn't growing. The kingdom of God grows within us. We facilitate the coming of God's kingdom when we nurture the interior life, and work on our inward attitudes through reflection. It is not what is going on around us that is important but what is going on inside us. Jesus said, "The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is within you." (Luke 17:20,21) This can also be translated that the kingdom is "among you" even when you cannot see it, just as it was present on earth in the Person and ministry of Jesus. People could not see the kingdom in Jesus when he came. When we pray, "Your kingdom come" we are committing ourselves to doing whatever it takes to give us the victory over anything that is not of God. This involves waging war against the enemy. If we want the kingdom of God to come in our lives we must be prepared to pay the price, to win this battle in the power of Christ. We have to choose sides in this spiritual war. We cannot serve two masters. We must choose between God and mammon, between serving in God's kingdom by following Jesus, or by being a slave to Self's kingdom by following our selfish pride. Jesus said, "The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it." (Matthew 13:44-46) We are recognizing the value of what we are fighting for with Christ. We are investing our life, and our future in this conflict. That is why Jesus said: "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." (Matthew 19:23,24) Praying, "Your kingdom come" is acknowledging that everything we have is on loan from God, to be used in his service. When his kingdom slowly comes into our lives we will be gradually liberated, free to enjoy the love he longs for us to experience.

By the Rev. Whitey Haugan God in His wisdom has presented us with the two most important questions that have ever been asked, "Where are you?" and "Who do you say I am?" The first was to Adam after he had disobeyed God in the Garden and found himself and his wife in a state of separation, aloneness, confusion and fear. The second was to Peter so that Peter would recognize Jesus was God in the flesh. The first had to do with spiritual location--separation and loss of intimacy with God. The second had to do with spiritual relocation---recovery of relationship and intimacy with God. The Old Testament is built around the first question and the New Testament Gospel is built around the second question. Both questions are always there for every person in every generation. Both are prophetic questions calling for every heart to question where it is and where it needs to be. Most especially are they questions for those who know Christ and find themselves in the Episcopal Church. The national leadership has chosen to doubt God's Word and substitute human thinking and experience to define faith and morals thus placing itself outside God's Word. This is what happened in Genesis and it's what's happening now. As a result those of us who have been recovered in Christ recognize the spiritual peril the leadership has placed us in. Gen 6:5 records that peril, "The Lord saw how great man's wickedness had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time." "Every, only, all" is descriptive of where we are. Isaiah notes the subtlety that slowly erodes our spirit to where we see our leadership living out his prophetic words (5:20) "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter." Isaiah sums up the condition, the location, of the people of God in 5:30 "...And if one looks at the land, he will see darkness and distress; even the light will be darkened by the clouds." And we hear the Word of God, "Where are you?" Then an amazing thing happens to Isaiah. He sees the Lord, high and exalted, seated with the angels and his only response is to recognize his own sinfulness. "I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty." It is this response God honors and sends an angel with a live coal to touch Isaiah's lips with the words, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for." It is the recognition of God's presence and the need for repentance that God honors. It is here that God asks "Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?" Isaiah responds, "Here am I. Send me." Isaiah knows where he is and opens himself to do whatever God wants. God sends him to the people to tell them where they are and to keep on telling them "...until the cities lie ruined...until the houses are deserted...until the Lord has sent everyone far away...and the land is utterly forsaken (6:11-12). Apply this prophecy to the Episcopal Church. People leaving, churches leaving, not in droves but in a here-and-there way over a period of time. Ask how many have left in the last several decades - hundreds of thousands, dioceses dwindling, bishops with their heads in the sand, falling back on the old secular methods of intimidation and legal manipulation, hoping to keep their lands, titles, money and power. Malachi recognized the depravity of clerical leadership when he wrote, "For the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge, and from his mouth men should seek instruction---because he is a messenger of the Lord Almighty. But you have turned from the way and by your teaching have caused many to stumble...So I have caused you to be despised and humiliated before all the people, because you have not followed my ways but have shown partiality in matters of the law (2:7-9). It is all written in the Scripture. "Where are you?" God is asking. This is where we are. But more. God is calling believers, who know their heritage is a holy and faithful one, to be willing to be sent and to respond, "Here am I. Send me." It is not just bishops and clergy He is calling but everyone who bears the name of Jesus in their heart. It is the remnant faithful. Now we come to the second question, "Who do you say I am?" Recovery time is at hand but how will God do it? It is all wrapped up in Jesus and whether or not we trust Him and who He claims to be. Thomas wasn't sure until Jesus told him to touch Him. When he did he said, "My Lord and my God." If Jesus is Lord and God, His Word is our authority. What does His authority say to us? There is a pattern He gives us which contains principles of action that depend totally on Him. If we really answered the first question of location we have said that repentance is our attitudinal position wherever and whenever and we are ready to do whatever He wants. Acts 1 and 2 is a great place to go for that pattern and its principles because that is exactly where we are in relationship to what is happening in the Body of Christ right now. We are waiting for the promise of God to act in His Spirit for His people who have seen their heritage lying in waste and ruins. Let's unpack a few of its passages. 1:4-5 Jesus has been resurrected and for forty days He has been teaching about the Kingdom of God but Luke quotes only two things Jesus said so these must be of extreme importance. They must have been filled with great expectation about what it will look like and what it will do. They want it quickly. But Jesus says "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit." PRINCIPLE ONE: DON'T LEAVE JERUSALEM Jerusalem is the heart community of the heartland, Israel, in which is the symbol of the presence of God's heart, the Temple. When Jesus wept over Jerusalem He wasn't weeping for the buildings or the geography. As the Son of Man He was weeping on behalf of the people to His Father. As the Son of God He was weeping for what would have to be done for their salvation. He was weeping for where they were and where He would have to go for them (Lk.13:34-35). We need to see the body of believing brothers and sisters as Jesus sees them, His Jerusalem. Our emotions are stirred in so many ways for the 'where.' Jerusalem is not bricks and mortar but the family. Jesus says that we are not leave our family. The institution may fall away but the Body is to stay together. Keep your Jerusalem, the believers, together. PRINCIPLE TWO: STAY IN THE WORD AND WAIT When negative events overwhelm us we want immediate action. Again Jesus provides us with wisdom here. He is in charge and wants us to rely on Him and His action. He knows our human condition, instant gratification and right away. He knows we tend to leave God and define His Kingdom in our terms. That is what the national leadership has done and where are they? Sitting at the gates of hell. It's too warm there. So Jesus in His inimitable way says, "Wait..." Important word here. Wait on what God will do in His time and way. But "wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about." Don't run ahead of God. Remember Abraham and Isaac, Joshua on his way to Jericho, Gideon and the 300. They waited on God, listened for His instructions and He delivered for each and to each exactly what was necessary in their situation. Stay in the Word for instruction and wait for the leading of the Spirit. PRINCIPLE THREE: TRUST THE FATHER'S TIMING Waiting is important for us spiritually. We live in an instant gratification culture. The disciples were plagued by the same problem. They asked Jesus, vs.6, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" It sounds like they had it all figured out. It would be a visible kingdom and Israel would have supreme power to replace Rome. Its all about land, titles, property and financial security, just like the errant bishops. And is it going to be right now so we can enjoy it? Jesus has already told them that the Kingdom of God is within, internal not external. It is a kingdom of the heart where Jesus rules and it is eternal. It has nothing to do with times or dates. So in our present situation where we fret over how soon the American church will be realigned and how long we should hold out and we begin to set God's schedule for Him Jesus says, "Don't leave Jerusalem...wait...it is not for you to know times and dates which the Father has set by His own authority..." Remember how we pray 'Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in Heaven?' The kingdom already exists and we are part of it. It is here already. Trust the Father's timing and His authority. PRINCIPLE FOUR: RELY ON THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT There is a wonderful observation that is critical for us now, "We are not human beings having a spiritual experience but spiritual beings having a human experience." It's important to see everything in spiritual context. Vs.8 You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you. If the Kingdom is within then we will be given spiritual direction, insight and the kind of nudging that can only come through the Word as He leads. But it will be an activity of the Spirit in the heart and confirmed by the larger Body. Rely on the power of the Holy Spirit in the heart and in the Body. PRINCIPLE FIVE: JESUS HAS CALLED US TO BE WITNESSES A new lifestyle is given to us. It is a spiritual lifestyle. Vs.8 You will be my witnesses. Instead of the world's witness which is the exaltation and furthering of the self we are called to live a life that reflects the life of Jesus, His ideas, His actions, His teachings and His attitude. Especially His attitude, "I only do what my Father wills.. I and the Father are One." A witness of Jesus is one who does only what Jesus wills because with Him in our hearts we are one. He prayed for that on the night He was betrayed, that we would be one as He and the Father were one and that we and our brothers and sisters would be one as well. PRINCIPLE SIX: THE LORD HAS GIVEN US A MISSION The secular world is lost. Its goals and aspirations are from the evil one. They lead to separation from God, self-idolatry, false religion and eternal aloneness. People are lost in the secular society so, vs.8, You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth. Here Jerusalem is our family, our brothers and sisters in the Body. Judea is our community, where we are in our neighborhood, friends and social circles and also other churches where Jesus is only a name but not a reality. Samaria may be where our job is, the people we work with and the casual acquaintances we meet and across town. The ends of the earth are where we go on vacation, on the job or are transferred and move to. On each level we are called to be witnesses to Jesus. The Lord has given us a mission to be a witness to Him wherever we go and where He may lead us. It will be to say, "Here am I, send me." PRINCIPLE SEVEN: MEET TOGETHER CONSTANTLY AND IN PRAYER In the secular world there is no real home for the heart. No matter what club, church, company or organization we join there is no spiritual home for the heart. The Body of Christ is the only true family where the heart can be reconciled to God and to other hearts. The shadow of the Cross covers the Body and is the means by which we are saved and is the lifestyle of the Body. It is interesting that the word translated into our word witness is the Greek word marturion, martyr. One who lays down his life and lets the Lord live through him. We are witnesses together. Vs.14 They all joined together constantly in prayer. They were vulnerable to the work of the Spirit in each other's presence, each heart given to God together. Meet together constantly and in prayer. So we have had seven principles that we are called to practice while we wait. But there is another leading in His Word and that is about the kind of structure that the Spirit led the early Body of Christ to form. It enabled the believers to measure their effectiveness to keep the Body strong and growing. This structure is an essential one for us to consider as we move forward. One of the caveats we must face is that if we are simply changing names and places and not open to what God is leading us into we can miss the very thing we need to be a vital Body of Christ. If we are just interested in promoting Anglicanism and not what Anglicanism is all about we will miss the boat. A former Presiding Bishop is quoted as having said that his life regret as a clergyman was that he loved the church more than he did the Lord. We can be so enamored with Prayer Books, formal liturgies and heritage that we lose the essence of why they are there. And we have to ask the hard question. What is more important, being an Anglican or being a disciple of Jesus? Here we have the issue of Jesus' teaching about wineskins. Are we pouring new wine into old wineskins or are we willing to let Him shape the skins to hold His new wine as He pours it? In Genesis Adam and Eve fumbled around and tried to make clothes out of leaves. It was God who made clothes for them and we need to remember that. Jesus also gave us a cryptic statement in regard to what needs preserving, "Remember Lot's wife." So how do we let the Lord dress the Body of Christ? The Lord has provided us a pattern in Acts 2:42-48. The Apostles were led to use have four basic spiritual materials to guide them as they clothed and formed the Body. If one of them is missing you don't have the Body of Christ. Especially now while are waiting for God to not only reform us but also re-form us, this passage is our assurance that we are on the right path. Vs.42 They devoted themselves to the apostle's teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. First, apostle's teaching. Here they did as they did with Jesus, studied the Word and His words. They also gave personal testimony as we saw in Peter's sermons and in Paul's travels. They were not only teachers but evangelists as well and lived their witness by example. Vs.43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. Second, fellowship. They operated in small groups, in house churches, prayer groups and shared their lives with one another practicing the gifts of the Spirit as they ministered to one another. Vs.44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. It is this personal home prayer and sharing group that builds the heart of the Body. This is a very special need in most of our present churches. Too much reliance on Sunday and church services breeds an unhealthy institutionalism which is part of our present problem. When hearts are vulnerable to one another in the Spirit then the Body is strengthened. Third, breaking of bread. This was the Lord's Supper in the first century. They remembered His Cross, His death and His Resurrection and listened to His Word. This was how they worshiped. Vs.46 Everyday they continued to meet together in the Temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. Fourth, prayer. Prayer was multifaceted. There was personal and private prayer, shared prayer for one another as they met, extemporaneous prayer, intercessory prayer and liturgical prayer. Vs.47 And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. If these four elements are the measuring rod they will honor God's Word and His Spirit will be the source of incredible blessings. They will always guarantee a healthy Body of Christ. This is the structure by which the remnant of God builds His Kingdom in this world. It is the vehicle for His Spirit to work. It is the structure that will keep us honest as we wait for God to form and re-form us. So the two questions are still there and we need to hear God's voice in them. "Where are you?" and "Who do you say I am?" We need to take stock of where we are as the Word gives us the its principles of analysis. Then when He speaks to us are we willing to say "Jesus is Lord, I trust Him and I will wait on Him." But I will also work on building the Body while His reforming is taking place. The summary statement may well be what the kingdom in this world is all about: Acts 4:32-35 All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. There were no needy persons among them. From time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need. The Rev. Harold "Whitey" Haugan is a retired Episcopal cardinal rector living in Jacksonville, Florida and is a leading voice for orthodoxy in the Episcopal Church. He is the author of a book on marriage.

By Ted Schroder "The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples made by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else." (Acts 17:24,25) God, who made and supervises everything in the universe, cannot be captured in human shrines which human beings have built. Any attempt to limit or localize the Creator God, to imprison him within the confines of manmade buildings, structures or concepts is ludicrous. God sustains our lives, we are dependent on him for everything. We do not make God. God makes us. God makes us to bear his image, and to be his dwelling place on earth. "You are God's building. Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you." (1 Corinthians 3:9,16) The tabernacle, and later the temple, was central to Israel's worship. Even Jesus when on earth upheld the temple as the father's house. The woman of Samaria, raised the age-old question of the correct location for worship. Jesus primarily answered by saying that the time was coming - and it did come on the day of Pentecost, after he ascended to heaven - when even the temple would have no real relevance to worship. Instead, the true worshippers would worship in spirit and in truth. (John 4:7-24) We must worship, not simply outwardly by being in the right place and taking up the right attitude, but in our spirit. Jesus is pointing to the need for complete sincerity and complete reality in our approach to God. God is seeking such to be his worshippers. He is actively seeking us out to worship him in this way. This new kind of worship would mean that we would no longer need holy buildings in order to worship the holy God. Instead we ourselves would be made holy by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. The sacrifices which were made in the Old Testament tabernacle and temple would no longer need to be made, since Christ had made the supreme and final sacrifice, and since Christian believers would be offering their daily lives as living sacrifices. (Romans 12:1) The offering of ourselves is holy and pleasing to God because it is our spiritual act of worship. Who we are, what we do, how we relate to God and one another, is part of our worship. A building is no longer the temple or house of God: it is God's people who are now so called. A building is not to be a holy place; rather God's people are called to be a holy people. Wherever God's people gather, that place is holy. Certainly, from a purely practical point of view, buildings are necessary for a meeting place of God's people, but they do not replace them. When we look at the Old Testament, it seems that God deliberately chose a tabernacle as the symbol of his presence among his people because of its mobility. For forty years God's people moved when God moved, and the tabernacle was carried easily with them. From the very start, God intended that his dwelling should be in the midst of his people (Exodus 25:8); but because of the sin and rebellion in their hearts, his habitation had to be symbolically expressed in the tabernacle. Therefore the design of the tabernacle was given in great detail by God to Moses. Even the ark of the covenant, the special symbol for God himself, was essentially mobile: "You shall put the poles into the rings on the side of the ark, to carry the ark by them." (Exodus 25:14) This emphasized the fact that everything about their lives was temporary. Every time they moved they had to put up their tents and then take them down again. Every time they wanted to worship they had to set up and take down again. This mortal life is a time of change, of moving from one day to another. Nothing is permanent. Change and decay in all around I see; O Thou who changest not, abide with me. (Henry F. Lyte) In his book, People-Centered Evangelism, John Havlik summed it up like this: "The church is never a place, but always a people; never a fold but always a flock; never a sacred building but always a believing assembly. The church is you who pray, not where you pray. A structure of brick or marble can no more be a church than your clothes of serge or satin can be you. There is in this world nothing sacred but man, no sanctuary of man but the soul." (p.47) For the first two centuries, the church met in small groups in the homes of its members, apart from special gatherings in public lecture halls or market places, where people could come together in much larger numbers. Significantly these two centuries mark the most powerful and vigorous advance of the church, which perhaps has never since been equaled. The lack of church buildings was no hindrance to the rapid expansion of the church; instead, in comparison to the situation after AD 200, it seemed a positive help. Argentinian pastor Juan Carlos Ortiz closed his church building for a month to see if the church could survive under times of persecution. It continued to flourish in the numerous small cell groups within the congregation, and more money came in during that month than ever before. When a congregation goes through times of dislocation due to a building program it can be the opportunity for growth. We discover whether we are truly excited about the Gospel rather than the building. Do we invite people to visit our worship because we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, or do we say to them to wait and come when we are in our newly renovated quarters? Is the focus on the content of our faith, or on the external meeting place? Christ is both the architect and builder of his church (Matthew 16:18). Each church therefore needs to come humbly to Christ to ask his guidance and direction, and not just to copy the developments of another place. Although the basic principles should be the same, the detailed outworking of those principles will naturally vary. In particular, Christ's timing is all-important. What does Christ want us to be and to become at this stage of our lives, and the life of our congregation? Christ is described as the cornerstone, on which the whole building depends (1 Peter 2:4f.). The Church rests on the total unique Event of which Christ is the center. As soon as a church moves away from the centrality of Christ, it at once ceases to be God's dwelling place. It is Paul who made it quite clear to the Corinthians that he was 'resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.' (1 Corinthians 2:2) All true believers are being built into a holy temple, "for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit." (Ephesians 2:22) The presence and activity of the Spirit is indispensable before the church can ever be a place where God himself dwells. This is one of the greatest needs in the church today. A failure to see this will lead to constant frustration. We may adopt new structures, introduce new services, work hard on new plans and construct new buildings; but unless we are constantly experiencing the new wine of the Spirit, all will be in vain. The first Christians did not start to share their goods in a free and full manner till after the bomb of the Spirit exploded in their souls at Pentecost. Before then, they would be morally incapable of this free and joyful sharing. You quickly lose interest in the church if you have nothing invested in it. It may be helpful to remember that most buildings under construction look a terrible mess, at least to the untrained eye, until the last stage is reached. When our kitchen was recently renovated it seemed almost impossible that we would be eating and cooking there again. The same is true of the church. The dust and dirt, chaos and confusion, of church life may make it hard to believe that a congregation could really be the temple of God. Yet if we have faith and patience, the architect and builder is hard at work, and knows very well what he is doing. On this earth we can never claim to have 'arrived'. The apostle Paul was well aware of this in his own personal life. 'Not that I am already perfect... but one thing I do... I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.' (Philippians 1:12-14) As a community of believers we can never afford to stand still. We can never be complacent. We recognize that the present is temporary, and serves as a preparation for what lies ahead of us. Our mortal bodies are dwelling places of God, yet they are impermanent. We are nomads on a journey. We are here today and gone tomorrow. What keeps us going and making life worthwhile is the knowledge that what we do matters eternally, and that we are going somewhere important. There is a purpose in our journey. We have a clear destination and a compelling reason for traveling. Paul, the tent-maker, puts it this way: "Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come." (2 Corinthians 5:1-5) To our minds this present existence is solid and real, whereas our coming existence seems shadowy and insubstantial. Paul teaches us that the reverse is true. The life which is to come - our destination - is strong, permanent and real; the present life is lived among the shadows. To assure us that this is so, we have been given the Spirit, to dwell within us. The presence of the Spirit within us is signified by our longing to arrive in our permanent home, where we can unpack for the last time and enjoy what God has planned for us in his presence. The Spirit is the down-payment of what is to come, like an engagement ring, pledging and guaranteeing the wedding day. Abraham, who lived in a tent, once 'looked forward to the city which had foundations, whose builder and maker is God.' He and others 'all died in faith, not having received what was promised, but having seen it and greeted it from afar... Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.' (Hebrews 11:10,13,16) (I acknowledge use of material from I BELIEVE IN THE CHURCH, chapter 8, The Building of God, by David Watson, Eerdmans, 1978)

By Ted Schroder August 8, 2004 DuPont Company manufactures Kevlar, a bullet-proof material used in bullet-resistant vests. It is rated to stop most 9 mm or .357 caliber bullets. On their website they claim that personal body armor saves lives. And the people whose lives have been saved have powerful stories to tell. Their stories are listed on the DuPont Kevlar Survivors' Club. More than 2,800 law enforcement and corrections officers have survived potentially fatal or disabling injuries because they were wearing their personal body armor. In 1987 the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) and DuPont formed a partnership club whose goals are: To reduce death and disability by encouraging increased wearing of personal body armor. To recognize and honor those who, because of wearing body armor, survived life-threatening or life-disabling incidents. To serve the law enforcement community by collecting and sharing this important information. The wearing of a vest often means the difference between life and death. Injuries to our armed forces in Iraq have been reduced by the wearing of body armor. Injuries to our spirit, soul and body would be reduced by the wearing of, what St. Paul calls, "the breastplate of righteousness." "Stand firm then ... with the breastplate of righteousness in place." (Ephesians 6:14) The breastplate worn by the Roman soldier covered the upper part of the body from the base of the neck to the thighs: the thorax and the abdomen. Like a bullet-proof vest it protected the essential organs of the body: the heart and the lungs, the kidneys, liver and intestinal system. People in premodern times often believed that these organs were the seat of the feelings and the affections, the conscience, the desires, and the will. Splagchna is the Greek word for the viscera: the heart, the lungs, the liver and the intestines. The Greeks held these to be the center of the emotions, especially of anger, of anxiety, of fear, and even of love. So then in classical Greek the splagchna means the inner parts of man, which are the seat of the deepest emotions. The verb formed from this word means to be moved with compassion and affection - the emotion which moves a person from the depths of his being. In the King James Version of the Bible it is translated as "bowels", e.g. "I long after you in all the bowels of Jesus Christ." (Philippians 1:8), or "Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies." (Colossians 3:12) In the NIV it is translated "affection" and "compassion" respectively. St. Paul is asserting that our inner emotions need to be protected from potentially disabling or lethal attacks. Most of us have either experienced such attacks ourselves or have seen the effects of those attacks on people we know. The world is full of people who have become disabled emotionally through being the victims of abuse. They did not know how to protect themselves, and as a result have become casualties, emotional basket-cases. Instead of being healthy and whole people who can enjoy relating to others they are fearful, timid, and phobic, living very restricted lives. Or, at the other extreme they have so hardened themselves against vulnerability that they ride rough-shod over others, and leave behind them a multitude of bruised and wounded sensitivities. The breastplate of which St. Paul speaks, is meant to give a general sense of security and confidence as we enter the marketplace of life. Most of us are aware of how vulnerable we are to being emotionally wounded by the attacks of others or the circumstances of life. The breastplate is meant to protect our conscience, our feelings, our affections, our desires, and our wills. How does it do that? St. Paul explains how it works from his own experience. He contrasts how he formerly protected himself, with how he protects himself as a Christian believer. His former confidence, was in the flesh - i.e. his self-confidence, or his self-righteousness. You could say that he used to wear the breastplate of self-righteousness. "If anyone else thinks that he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: [look at my pedigree, my family background, education, religious training, professional qualifications and attainments, my track record, my citations for meritorious service, etc.] But what was to my profit I now consider a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Jesus Christ my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ - the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith." (Philippians 3:4-9) Peterson puts it this way: "I didn't want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ - God's righteousness." St. Paul found, that religious, and successful as he was, he had, over the years, constructed a straight-jacket of self righteousness. Scott Peck in The People of the Lie, calls such people evil. He says that they project their evil onto others through scapegoating. They feel themselves to be faultless, and that all the evil in the world is the fault of others. "As life often threatens their image of perfection, they are often busily engaged in hating and destroying that life - usually in the name of righteousness... Utterly dedicated to preserving their self-image of perfection, they are unceasingly engaged in the effort to maintain the appearance of moral purity. They worry about this a great deal. They are acutely sensitive to social norms and what others might think of them... The words 'image,' 'appearance,' and 'outwardly,' are crucial.. they intensely desire to appear good. Their 'goodness' is all on a level of pretense. It is, in effect, a lie... They cannot or will not tolerate the pain of self-reproach. The decorum with which they lead their lives is maintained as a mirror in which they see themselves reflected righteously." Peck says that such people hide from themselves. "We see the smile which hides the hatred, the smooth and oily manner that masks the fury, the velvet glove that covers the fist." One of the places such people are most likely to be found is within the church. I will never forget meeting with a prominent lady in one of my former congregations who was always charming to me in public, always smiling, and apparently happy. But in a private meeting she tore into me, accusing me of all sorts of ridiculous behavior and motivations. I was stunned by unexpectedness and the ferocity of her attack. Looking back on it I could see how demonic it was. She was a terribly unhappy woman who was looking for a scapegoat for her own problems. Peck writes that, "the evil hate the light - the light of goodness that shows them up, the light of scrutiny that exposes them, the light of truth that penetrates their deception." Apparently the Holy Spirit, through some biblical teaching I had been doing, had convicted her of her condition, but the devil persuaded her that I was the problem. Peck maintains that healthy adults submit themselves, one way or another, to something higher than themselves, be it God, or truth, or love, or some other ideal - they have a conscience and they follow it. The people of the lie are those who have a strong will, are determined to have their own way, and need to control others. They refuse to submit to anything outside of themselves. Once I was summoned to a meeting with a former church member who asked me, "You don't think that you have come here to teach us anything, do you?" In his arrogance and unteachable spirit he thought that he did not need to learn anything from my ministry of the Word, and that, to the contrary, I needed to submit myself to his direction. Scott Peck calls this attitude, "malignant narcissism." St. Paul calls it "confidence in the flesh." It is a straight-jacket of self-righteousness. If we want to stand in the battle of life, and protect our inner life, we cannot trust in our own righteousness, our own good works, our own pedigree, our own family name, our own success, our own moral goodness, or our own attempts at justifying ourselves in the eyes of God. "All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags." (Isaiah 64:6) We are sinners, and because of that vulnerable to the attacks of the forces of evil. We are vulnerable to being condemned by our guilty consciences, being swept away by our wounded feelings and affections, being trapped by our excessive desires, being slaves to our weak self-centered wills. If we rely on these things we are lost, because we trust in ourselves as our own savior. The only way we can stand confidently before God is by being clothed in the righteousness of Christ. We put on the breastplate of righteousness when we, by faith, accept that Christ took our sins upon himself, and replaces our sins with his righteousness. God imputes Christ's righteousness to us. Christ puts to my account in his ledger, imputes to me, the righteousness of His Son. He clothes me with it. So God sees only the righteousness of His Son covering me, clothing me completely. That is the beginning, what makes me acceptable in God's sight. After imputing to me Christ's righteousness, he imparts to me, as I live into that standing before God, the righteous character of Christ. Sometimes that is called infused righteousness. It is comparable to a blood transfusion, where the blood from one person is put into the circulation and the blood of another. As Christ's righteous character becomes more and more a part of us, we grow stronger and more confident in the face of conflict in our lives. When we put on the breastplate of righteousness in this way, and suffer an assault on our conscience, our feelings, our desires, and our values, and we experience depression, sadness and injury, we call upon the righteousness, the purity, the love of Christ to protect us. Nothing else can. Nothing else can stop the bullet of temptation to defend ourselves, to retaliate, to strike back, and to despair. But by putting on the breastplate of the righteousness of Christ we are safe. We can then join the survivors' club, and have a powerful story to tell to the world, which desperately needs to hear it.

BBC News UK 8/7/2004 A Gloucestershire vicar is to launch a nude calendar in his church after a group of 13 women posed naked to raise money for rape victims in Rwanda. The Rev Stephen Earley of St Martin's Church in Horsley said: "As Christians we are taught to help widows and orphans, so I didn't hesitate." The calendar will help Surf, an organisation working for survivors of the genocide and those with HIV. It will be launched at an evening service at the church on 26 September. "Many of the atrocities in Rwanda took place in churches where people had sought sanctuary, so it seems fitting to try and redress the balance," said the Rev Earley. EMPOWERING WOMEN Jo Hofman, 50, who posed for the calendar said: "We wanted to celebrate womanhood to heal a little of the pain suffered by our sisters in Rwanda." A sentiment echoed by Sarah Clifford who also posed for the calendar when she explained her reasons for taking part. "It seemed unbelievable that 10 years after one of the worst genocides in history, the survivors were now having to deal with even more suffering - Aids as a result of rape and children being orphaned for the second time - and we felt we had to act," she said. The vicar also said he was expecting a few complaints about his decision. "Undoubtedly some people will complain but it is important to see it before making any criticisms. A lot of thought has gone into this and it is about empowering Rwandan women who have been so debased. It is about reasserting women's essential female selves," he said. The calendar has been produced to mark the 10th anniversary of the genocide.

By Ted Schroder I have found that I have needed a renewed encounter with God at different stages in my life. The days and years can roll along without change for some time and then there is the need for a renewed vision. There is a tendency for our energy to run down and our batteries need to be recharged. A crisis can occur which gets us reaching out for help with a new urgency. There are new demands upon us to which we have to respond. New situations arise in which we don't have all the answers. The former responses don't satisfy and we get discouraged. We need a shot in the arm - something to get us going again in the right direction, with renewed vigor. Such was the case with a young nobleman named Isaiah. His beloved king had died, and he was in mourning. He went to his church (the Temple) and there experienced a life-changing encounter with God. (Isaiah 6:1-8) What can we learn from his experience to renew us? 1. FOCUS ON THE PRESENCE OF GOD Isaiah saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted. Above the Lord were the seraphs, heavenly creatures who guarded the throne and led the worship by singing of the transcendent holiness and universal presence of God's glory. The vision was one of sovereignty, power, authority, purity, and omnipresence: "the whole earth is full of his glory." Worship is meant to help us focus on the Presence of God. God is present in worship. God is present in all creation. The whole earth is full of his glory. That is our belief. We need to pray that it will be also our experience when we gather for worship. 2. GET IN TOUCH WITH YOUR NEED, AND THE NEEDS OF OTHERS Isaiah was convicted of his own unworthiness and the problems of those among whom he lived. "For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty." His vision of the presence of God had awakened him to his own impurity, and the plight of others in his community. While we keep ourselves away from God we can fool ourselves about our own goodness, but when we get near to God, we get a clearer glimpse of our own problems. Self-examination under the bright light of God's gaze can be devastating. There is no way we can hide, excuse, or cover up our shortcomings. But accurate diagnosis or evaluation is necessary before a cure can be applied. 3. WELCOME THE BURNING LOVE OF GOD The seraph touched Isaiah's mouth with a live coal from the altar: "See this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for." A sacrifice on the altar had been offered in his place to atone for his sins. God in his compassion and mercy had acted to cleanse him of guilt, to pay the penalty, and to restore him to fellowship. The love of God came down to us in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus, so that we might be made new, given a new start, and totally purified. The fire of God's Spirit brings the presence of God into our hearts to dwell there with us. 4. HEAR AND RESPOND TO GOD'S CALL God advertises for volunteers to represent him in the world: "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" The Holy Trinity seeks willing individuals to commission as ambassadors for the Gospel. The world has fallen away from God, it exists against his will, and he wishes to have it back. Isaiah finds his vocation as prophet when he responds to the call: "Here am I. Send me!" In order to get this world back again, and in his compassion, God wants the Gospel proclaimed. God is continually calling his people to reach out to others with the Good News of his love. Just as the live coal from the altar touched Isaiah's lips and he became a prophet, God seeks to touch us to become his messengers. We are his lips, his voice to the community. In Silence by Shusaku Endo, which Graham Greene described as "one of the finest novels of our time" the author tells the story of a Portuguese Catholic priest who goes to Japan to spread the Gospel. It is a time of terrible persecution when thousands of Christians, and all the missionary priests, have been tortured and executed. The novel takes its title from the priest's concern that God is not speaking to him and his people to defend and strengthen them. There is a silence of God in a pagan land which is terrifying. But at the end, despite his weakness, and the betrayal of others, the author writes from the point of view of the priest: "He loved him [his Lord] in a different way from before. Everything that had taken place until now had been necessary to bring him to this love. 'Even now I am the last priest in this land. But Our Lord was not silent. Even if he had been silent, my life until this day would have spoken of him.'" This is a powerful truth. God speaks to the world through us. Leighton Ford said, "Jesus was born in a borrowed manger. He preached from a borrowed boat. He entered Jerusalem on a borrowed donkey, he ate the Last Supper in a borrowed upper room, and he was buried in a borrowed tomb. Now he asks to borrow the lives of Christians to reach the rest of the world. If we do not speak, then he is dumb and silent." Who are the people to whom God is calling us to go? The Ignostics: those with no Christian background and no experience or memory to relate to Christianity. The Notional Christians: those who have some memory or notion of what Christianity is, but it is not impacting their lives. The Nominal Christians: those who claim to be Christians but are not active in any church. What are the characteristics of the unchurched? They may not be in a church, but they believe in God. They have legitimate questions about spiritual matters. They want to experience God, not just know something about him. They may be morally adrift but they want an anchor. They are looking for a practical application of faith. They are not loyal to a denomination but want to find a community where their needs are met. What can you do? Make sure that your vision of God is fresh - experiential and not just intellectual. Seek that vision in your Sunday and daily worship. Get in touch with your own needs and the needs of others by transparent evaluation. If need be seek counseling, and pray that the Spirit would reveal to you what you need to know about yourself and others. Let God love you with his forgiveness and cleansing. Thank Christ for his sacrifice on the Cross to heal you. Deepen your appreciation of the Cross and the gift of the Spirit. Seek daily to be filled to overflowing with the Spirit of the love of God. Listen to what God is calling you to do for others. Reach out to the people God is putting in your path. Get to know them. Ask them questions about their lives. Earn the right to share with them your faith. Invite them to join you for worship so that they too might experience a vision of God.

By Ted Schroder July 4, 2004 "Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover up for evil; live as servants of God." (1 Peter 2:16) John Witherspoon (1723-1794) was the sixth President of Princeton (the College of New Jersey), a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and from 1776 to 1782 a leading member of the Continental Congress. Garry Wills has called him "probably the most influential teacher in the history of America education," and Princeton under his tutelage produced a bumper crop of politician alumni: a U.S. president, twenty-one senators, twenty-nine congressmen, and twelve state governors. (Wills, Explaining America, 15) The following epitaph is inscribed on his grave: Beneath this marble lie interred the mortal remains of JOHN WITHERSPOON, D.D. LL.D. a venerable and beloved President of the College of New Jersey. He was born in the parish of Yester, in Scotland, on the 5th of February, 1722, O.S. And was liberally educated in the University of Edinburgh, invested with holy orders in the year 1743, he faithfully performed the duties of his pastoral charge during five and twenty years, first at Beith, and then at Paisley. Elected president of Nassau Hall, he assumed the duties of that office on the 13th of August, 1768, with the elevated expectations of the public. Excelling in every mental gift, he was a man of pre-eminent piety and virtue and deeply versed in the various branches of literature and the liberal arts. A grave and solemn preacher, his sermons abounded in the most excellent doctrines and precepts, and in lucid expositions of the Holy Scriptures. Affable, pleasant, and courteous in familiar conversation, he was eminently distinguished in concerns and deliberations of the church, and endowed with the greatest prudence in the management and instruction of youth. He exalted the reputation of the college amongst foreigners, and greatly promoted the advancement of its literary character and taste. He was, for a long time, conspicuous among the most brilliant luminaries of learning and of the Church. At length, universally venerated, beloved, and lamented, he departed this life on the fifteenth of November, 1794, aged 73 years. William Safire in his anthology Lend Me Your Ears: Great Speeches in History, includes Witherspoon's sermon: The Dominion of Providence over the Passions of Men, preached at Princeton on May 17, 1776. Witherspoon is famous for his response to a member of the Continental Congress who said that the colonies were not ripe for independence. "In my judgment, sir, we are not only ripe but rotting!" Witherspoon was reluctant to speak about politics from the pulpit. But by 1775 he was ready to speak out on the events at the start of the Revolutionary War, in terms of how he saw the hand of God directing current events. His sermon on May 17, 1776 was occasioned by the General Fast that was appointed by the Congress throughout the United colonies. His text was Psalm 76:10 "Surely the wrath of men shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain." "Hostilities had begun a year earlier, and a consensus for independence was mounting. Clearly it was time for a political sermon... Witherspoon's main point is a familiar one: God's power is absolute and human passions are ultimately under the control of divine providence. Witherspoon states his intention before developing the announced text: 'That all the disorderly passions of men whether exposing the innocent to private injury, or whether they are the arrows of divine judgment in public calamity, shall, in the end, be to the praise of God: Or, to apply it more particularly to the present state of the American Colonies, and the plague of war, - the ambition of mistaken princes, the cunning and cruelty of oppressive and corrupt ministers, and even the inhumanity of brutal soldiers, however dreadful, shall finally promote the glory of God, and in the meantime, while the storm continues, his mercy and kindness shall appear in prescribing bounds to their rage and fury.' (The Piety of John Witherspoon, L. Gordon Tait, 156) Witherspoon spells out the many ways in which human wrath praises God. He gives thanks for the ways in which providence has intervened on behalf of the Colonies. He assures the patriots of a happy outcome as long as three conditions are met: "If your cause is just, - if your principles are pure, - and if your conduct is prudent, you need not fear the multitude of opposing hosts." Witherspoon felt that a sermon touching on political matters was only suitable for a national day of fasting or thanksgiving, not for regular Sunday worship. "You are my witnesses," he declared, "That this is the first time of my introducing any political subject into the pulpit. At this season, however, it is not only lawful but necessary, and I willingly embrace the opportunity of declaring my opinion without any hesitation, that the cause in which America is now in arms, is the cause of justice, of liberty, and of human nature... The confederacy of the colonies, has not been the effect of pride, resentment, or sedition, but of deep and general conviction, that our civil and religious liberties, and consequently in great measure the temporal and eternal happiness of us and our posterity depended on the issue. The knowledge of God and his truths have from the beginning of the world been chiefly, if not entirely, confined to these parts of the earth, where some degree of liberty and political justice were to be seen... [In truth] there is not a single instance in history in which civil liberty was lost, and religious liberty preserved entire. If therefore we yield up our temporal property, we at the same time deliver the conscience into bondage." For Witherspoon, this is the real reason why Americans must take up arms and why their cause is just: if civil liberty is lost, religious liberty would follow. This is how he ends his sermon: "What follows from this? That he is the best friend to American liberty who is most sincere and active in promoting true and undefiled religion, and who sets himself with the greatest firmness to bear down profanity and immorality of every kind. Whoever is an avowed enemy to God, I scruple not to call him an enemy to his country. Do not suppose, my brethren, that I mean to recommend a furious and angry zeal for the circumstantials of religion, or the contentions of one sect with another about their peculiar distinctions. I do not wish to oppose anybody's religion, but everybody's wickedness. Perhaps there are few surer of the reality of religion than when a man feels himself more joined in spirit to a true holy person of a different denomination than to an irregular liver of his own. It is therefore your duty in this important and critical season to exert yourselves, everyone in his proper sphere, to stem the tide of prevailing vice, to promote the knowledge of God, the reverence of his name and worship, and obedience to his laws.... God grant that in America true religion and civil liberty may be inseparable, and the unjust attempts to destroy one may in the issue tend to the support and establishment of both." Witherspoon's legacy to us is the reminder the civil liberty and personal virtue in the nation go together. A healthy and free society requires faith and virtue of its citizens. The Scriptures admonish us to "live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God." Followers of Christ know that in the world they are free from all forms of enslavement, even enslavement to one's passions. We are free to do our duty, free to work for a more virtuous society, and free to be political when we must. We are free to take history seriously, and to try to see our place in it. In times of peace, Witherspoon said, as well as in those difficulty and trial, "it is in the person of piety and inward principle that we may expect to find the uncorrupted patriot, the useful citizen and the invincible soldier."

By Ted Schroder Many people have been affected in life by an erroneous diagnosis of their problems. Ailments that have been wrongly diagnosed and treated accordingly have produced more problems than they have solved. That is why getting a second opinion is almost standard before any drastic and irreversible procedures are authorized. While this is routine in the medical field it is not always customary in the spiritual realm. Too many sincere seekers are all too ready to accept diagnoses of their condition that are questionable. The devil uses gullibility and trust in popular preachers, church leaders and authors to sow discouragement and despair. This is often done by confusing the physical, psychological and the spiritual realms. Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones, a medical doctor who, at one point was assistant to Lord Moran, the personal physician to Winston Churchill, became a celebrated preacher and was assistant to, and then succeeded, G. Campbell Morgan as Minister at the famous Westminster Chapel, next to Buckingham Palace in London from 1938-1968. He was especially skilled at distinguishing between the spiritual, the physical, and the psychological. He wrote: "We are strange creatures, made up of body, mind, and spirit; these are interrelated and react upon one another. Many of our troubles in life are due to this fact, and to our failure to realize the place, function, and sphere of each of these realms. The devil, of course, takes full advantage of this, and attacks us along this line." He once preached 52 sermons on Ephesians 6:10-20, which have been published in two volumes: The Christian Warfare and The Christian Soldier. He points out that when Paul tells us that "our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms," (Eph.6:12) we must make sure of the correct spiritual diagnosis. Dr Lloyd-Jones lists three incorrect diagnoses. WRONG DIAGNOSIS #1 Confusing the physical with the spiritual. We are sick, overworked, or simply aging, and the tempter suggests that we are slipping spiritually in our walk with God because we don't feel as good as we used to. We confuse our physical well-being with our spiritual relationship with God. The prescription is not more prayer or trust in God, but treatment for our physical condition. We need a proper medical diagnosis, adequate rest, and adjustment to our expectations rather than pressure to conform to increased spiritual exercises. As we age our abilities change. We may begin to feel guilty because we cannot do all that we used to do. That is a physical problem not a spiritual problem. Paul encouraged Timothy to look after his physical health by prescribing a physical remedy: "Stop drinking only water and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses." (1 Tim.5:23) The Bible takes sickness seriously and encourages caring for the body, which is the temple of the Holy Spirit. That is one of the reasons why Christian Science is believed to deviate from orthodox Christianity. Mary Baker Eddy teaches, in her Science and Health, With a Key to the Scriptures, that sickness is an illusion, and to be ignored. Christian Science does not believe in medical science, and discourages its adherents from seeking medical help. The wife of my congressman in Texas, Mrs Lamar Smith, a strict Christian Scientist, died unnecessarily because she would not take her illness seriously. That is an example of the forces of evil blinding the understanding and deceiving a gullible soul. Mary Baker Eddy has a lot to answer for in being such an ally of deception. WRONG DIAGNOSIS #2 Confusing the psychological with the spiritual. There is a popular conception that when a person becomes a Christian his personality changes. That is not so. Christians are not expected to become Brand X or Type B personalities through sanctification! How dull that would be! There is no one kind of personality that qualifies for a superior spiritual rating. Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones again, "Certain people by birth, by nature, and by temperament, belong to a depressed type; some are mercurial; others are phlegmatic. Some people are lively and animated, some are very slow...It is simply a fact that some people are born with a depressed and melancholic temperament." There are also cultural temperaments. Scandinavians are different from Hispanics; Yankees are different from Southerners. The difference is psychological not spiritual. The condition of our soul is not subject to our biological or psychological inheritance. Saul of Tarsus did not become a different personality when he became Paul the Apostle. We have to get to know ourselves so that we do not get accused by the devil, or other spiritual people, who accuse us of not being what they want us to be. That does not mean that we should not attempt to control our temperament. But we must not allow the devil to come in and make us think that our psychological problems are always purely spiritual. Some people who suffer from psychological disorders benefit from medical treatment, but that does not mean that they are deficient spiritually. Mental illness is a disease that needs compassionate counseling and medication not criticism and intolerance. William Cowper, the poet and hymn writer, was subject to severe bouts of depression, and tried to take his own life several times. He asked in one of his hymns, "Where is the blessedness I knew when first I saw the Lord?" He thought his problem was spiritual. He was in agony of soul, and felt at times that God had deserted him. It was entirely due to the diseased condition of his mind. Another version of this wrong diagnosis is to attribute all problems to ourselves. We become so psychological in our thinking that we fail to remember that the devil tempts us to blame ourselves or someone else for our problems. The devil uses false guilt to distress us when we are simply being ourselves. We become depressed and discouraged because we feel that we are failures and we do not know what to do. We look for psychological answers when we need to recognize the temptations of the devil. Jesus himself was tempted. He did not go into an emotional funk and blame himself or his parents for the disturbance in his soul. The temptation came from the outside, not from his personality, or his upbringing. We must learn to draw a distinction between what we are in our personality and what the devil is doing to us. We must refuse to be condemned and resist the devil's insinuations about our character. We can become too introspective and depressed by comparing ourselves with other people and being anxious to be something we are not. We stand against this wrong diagnosis by saying: "I am myself, and I am meant to be myself; and all God asks of me is that I do my best as I am." A person who does not seek the help of God may be controlled by his temperament. That is why, so often, others find it difficult to live with him. He cannot control his temper. A believer in Christ has the same temperament, but he is given the power of the Spirit to control his temperament. He recognizes what his temptation is and is on guard against it. He does not allow the devil to come in and make him think that his problems are always purely spiritual. So you must not be a victim of your temperament, and must be careful of the wiles of the devil. I have had to learn the limits of my patience, and to recognize the danger signals before I give in to the temptation to unload on someone when the stress gets too much for me. I have also had to learn to value who I am and not beat up on myself for not being perfect, or not being someone else. Some people have tried to make me over into their image of what I should be, and it didn't work. They would have been better employed befriending me and affirming my strengths rather than alienating themselves by constant criticism. Paul writes, "think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you." (Romans 12:3) Accept the personality and the gifts God has given you, and stand against the schemes of the devil to try to make you something different. WRONG DIAGNOSIS #3 Confusing the spiritual with the physical and the psychological. This is the tendency to evade spiritual problems by explaining them away in terms of the physical or the psychological. This happens when we are out of the will of God in our lives and feel miserable. We seek help to relieve our distress. We end up seeking medication or psychological counseling to help us adjust to the guilt of our rebellion against God, our disobedience to his purpose for our lives. The devil is saying to us that our problem is not with God but with our coming to terms with our life style or our lack of self control. This is especially so with respect to relational sins, sexual sins, sins of anger or greed. What we need is to stand against the sin in our lives, not seek permission and support to make us feel good about our sin. Just because something may legal does not make it moral. There is the tendency to explain away sin altogether by excusing immoral behavior as being due to diminished responsibility. Everything is explained away in terms of diseased conditions or psychological states. Immoral behavior is justified on the grounds that a person is biologically determined, and therefore made by God to live that way. What was previously considered sin is now considered to be natural, and therefore to be accepted by society. The forces of evil have confused young people growing up in this environment so that they believe that what they see on television, and in the movies, is acceptable behavior, despite it being condemned by Scripture and a recipe for an unhealthy and tragic lifestyle. Many conflicts and problems in life would be prevented by a more thorough understanding of the truth. Regular Bible reading and prayer, the reading of Christian books, and participation in worship and Christian community promote a healthy lifestyle that can prevent undue physical and psychological illness. Fears and phobias are not merely psychological problems. St. Paul talks about "conflicts on the outside, fears within", which he had to deal with in his life. (2 Cor.7:5) The devil will try to get you to think that this is a purely psychological matter, and that you need psychological treatment. Instead learn to say, "I am a child of God, and whatever happens to me, I am in God's hands, and God will allow no harm to come to me ultimately. He has said, 'I will never leave you, nor forsake you', so I must not give way to these fears." We have to stand against fears by putting on the armor of God and not give way to them. We must apply our faith and see that fears are of the devil, and resist them, standing on the rock who is Christ. How do we make sure that we have the correct spiritual diagnosis of our condition? We are fortunate to have the Great Physician to help us. Read the Scriptures, seek counsel from godly people whom you respect, pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit. O God, by whom the meek are guided in judgment, and light rises up in the darkness for the godly: Grant us, in all our doubts and uncertainties, the grace to ask what you would have us to do, that the Spirit of wisdom may save us from false choices, and that in your light we may see light, and in your straight path may not stumble; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP p.832)

By Greg Roberts The Australian, 28 July 2004 The Anglican bishop at the centre of the child sex abuse controversy that forced the resignation of Peter Hollingworth as governor-general is to be formally stripped of his holy orders. A church tribunal headed by Queensland Supreme Court judge Debra Mullins has unanimously resolved that Donald Shearman, 77, be defrocked for seducing a teenage schoolgirl boarding at an Anglican hostel at Forbes in western NSW in the mid-1950s. Church sources said the unprecedented defrocking will be performed by Brisbane Archbishop Phillip Aspinall in the Darnell Room of St Martin's House - part of the St John's Cathedral complex in central Brisbane - on August 25. In a parallel development, NSW police have begun investigating the first formal complaint against Mr Shearman by his victim. Religious historian and head of religious studies at the University of Queensland, Philip Almond, said he had not heard of a bishop being defrocked in comparable circumstances anywhere. "This is indeed exceptional," Professor Almond said yesterday. "This is clearly being done to emphasise how seriously the diocese intends to deal with behaviour of this kind." Archbishop Aspinall confirmed yesterday that he had received the six-member tribunal's findings, but said it would be inappropriate for him to comment until the process had concluded. A suggestion by Dr Hollingworth in 2002 that the underage victim had initiated the sexual relationship with Mr Shearman sparked a national outcry, and a church inquiry into his handling of sex abuse complaints while archbishop of Brisbane. The inquiry's report was highly critical of Dr Hollingworth and led to his resignation last year as governor-general. Mr Shearman, who failed to respond to the so-called Articles of Association served on him by the tribunal and refused to attend its hearings, has previously admitted the relationship with his student but said he was unsure how old she was at the time. The victim has claimed the then priest began sexually interfering with her when she was 14, and this progressed to sexual intercourse when she was 15 before he expelled her from the hostel. In the complaint now being investigated by police, the woman claims Mr Shearman told her at the time she was not too young to have sex because the teenage Juliet, in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, was a partner in "one of the great romances of history". Mr Shearman could not be reached for comment yesterday at his Deception Bay home north of Brisbane. As Brisbane archbishop, Dr Hollingworth was present at a 1995 meeting attended by the woman and Mr Shearman. Mr Shearman later offered to relinquish his holy orders, but Dr Hollingworth rejected the offer. Instead, Dr Hollingworth wrote to the woman suggesting that her allegations had caused great distress to Mr Shearman and his wife, Fay.