Treasure In Clay Jars

The Holy Spirit – three words that send the Christian world into an apoplectic confusion. Ask five Christians a question about the Holy Spirit and you are likely to get up to five different answers. Why would this be given that the Holy Spirit is a very relevant figure throughout the Bible and particularly so in the New Testament? The reason for the schism is varied, but generally comes down to a) a lack of serious study of the Bible by the average Christian b) a general avoidance of teaching by Church leaders on the realities of the Holy Spirit c) an over-emphasis of the surreal manifestation of the Holy Spirit as taught in the Bible (particularly by the Charismatic Christian movement) or d) all of the above. All of this has combined to create much confusion and outright dissension among Christian groups with the result being an unfortunate lack of power displayed by the modern church in the face of a relentless spiritual battle with the secular non-believing world. Power is the key w...

It appears that the "War on Christmas" controversy that has captured the attention of many in the US is not limited to our shores and may in fact be even more pronounced in England. An article by Simon Heffer published in the Daily Telegraph newspaper in London indicates that over there, political correctness is such that up until recently not even Church leaders were willing to stand up and demand that Christ not be taken out of Christmas. There is an irony in this article however given that it's author is a self-professed non-believer in God or that Jesus Christ is the Son of God (thus the reason for the season). This however has not stopped him from acknowledging quite forcefully, the merits of Christianity's influence on the greater society, and the perversion which fuels those people who are aligned against it. People he adds who are far fewer in numbers and power than their rhetoric would suggest. The author's reason for non-belief is quite common; he write...

"Intelligent Design" (ID) - a rather peculiar term that somehow fits with the contemporary times in which we live. It is a term that has risen to the forefront of the current American culture wars, as proponents push for it to be taught in school science classes while their opponents vehemently resist. But what is Intelligent Design anyway? Well simply put, it is a modern day way of saying God is the creator of life, and is to be presented as an alternative ‘theory’ to the theory of evolution. But since the word God is such a 'hot button' word in today's society, some of the presumably smarter of us who happen to believe in creationism decided that perhaps we can 'sneak' God into the schools by calling Him something else. Well, predictably, their 'smart' counterparts in the secular movement weren’t buying the argument. As far as they were concerned, God or however you choose to refer to Him has no place being taught as science next to their revered...

This month marks the one year anniversary of the horrific Tsunami that devastated the Indian Ocean countries on December 26th, 2004, and since that time, scientists have undertaken many steps to try and understand the immense geological forces that combined to unleash the destructive waves that killed almost 300,000 people. In 2005, a scientific team was brought together to study the ocean floor off the coast of Indonesia with a hope of learning how the gigantic waves were spawned after an undersea earthquake measuring 9.2 on the Richter Scale. Upon visiting the devastated islands in the region, the team reported being overcome by the still remaining scenes of destruction and trying to imagine the horror that faced the poor souls who experienced the coming waves that morning. During a documentary of their visit that is being broadcast on the Discovery Channel, one scientist remarked with incredible feeling that “the people died because they didn’t know the signs!” They didn’t know not ...

I was watching a recent program on TV where the issue of the cultural effort to reduce the term Christmas and replace it with the term “holiday” was the primary topic. The focus of the moderator was on the public position or lack thereof of the Roman Catholic Church in the debate. The moderator who himself was a Catholic had two Roman Catholic priests on as guests to get their perspective on the silence of the Catholic church on this issue. It was an interesting exchange as I thought the interviews revealed far more about the apparent position of the Catholic Church than just their views on whether Christmas was indeed being subverted by influential secularists, atheists and corporations. First of all, both priests agreed that the Catholic church have indeed been silent on the issue, with the consensus for this being that they had not been given any guidance from the Vatican on how or whether to address the issue. However, just as revealing was the priests’ assertion that the Protestan...

The state of California executed convicted killer Stanley ‘Tookie’ Williams shortly after midnight on Tuesday December 13th, 2005. The notoriety of his case has once again fanned the flames of discord between supporters for and against the death penalty. In the run up to Mr. Williams’ execution all of his supporters cited time and again his changed life as evidenced by his authorship of children’s books advocating the perils of the gang lifestyle which ultimately led to his death. In the religious community there is also another debate around this topic: that being whether or not God ‘approves’ of a legal ruling of death by any governing authority. The passions being what they are on this subject, you will likely hear from both sides that there is absolute proof in the Bible as to either position. Death penalty Christians may point to Old Testament scriptures such as Leviticus 24:17 which reads: “If anyone takes the life of a human being, he must be put to death.” Those opposing the d...

There has been much talk in the culture recently regarding the desire on the part of certain elements of society to use the issue of a separation of church and state to essentially force all references to Christianity out of the public arena. Some examples include judicial attempts to remove Christian symbols and images from courthouses, state flags, public parks or other federally controlled land etc. Forty years ago the push began in earnest with the removal of prayer from school grounds. The official position by sponsors of this type of activity such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other secularists is that these symbols impose an ‘undue burden’ on the members of society who do not share a belief in the Christian religion. The fact that over 70% of the population views themselves as Christian and so are in favor of these symbols is irrelevant as far as passing the ‘undue burden’ test. Apparently it would not be an undue burden to them to have these images removed. ...

You’ve seen the cycle many times: a major event takes place either in the US or somewhere in the world (Sept. 11, the Asian Tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, Earthquakes) and the media anxious to get a ‘religious’ take on the events rushes to the usual religious headliners to get God’s view on the matter at hand. To be certain, many times the media gives no real credibility to God’s perspective, but the need for such an angle fits their storytelling template. Many times though not always, the religious spokesperson provides feedback and analysis of the event by emphasizing: “what I think” or “what I believe” or “my faith teaches me” and then invariably, a skeptical media and audience is then allowed reasonably to take the position of “why is your opinion any better than mine?” or “you people are just a bunch of hypocrites” (I know I used to use that one a lot). This oftentimes has the effect of rendering the words of the spokesman to be of no more value than anyone else. The most effective r...

This Christmas season there has been a lot of talk about the attempts on the part of secularists to systematically remove all signs of God out of the public arena. The extent of this phenomenon may be debatable, but taken to the extreme it could amount to a form of persecution of the faith of those who believe in God. As we consider our opinions on this issue however, a word of caution. In modern western cultures, how far are Christians really willing to go to stand up for what they believe? Consider the following as an object lesson of true persecution: “…Nine years ago in South Pyongan province, a unit of the North Korean army was assigned the job of widening a highway connecting Pyongyang to the nearest seaport. Demolition of a house standing in the way revealed, hidden between two bricks, a Bible and a list of 25 names: a Christian pastor, two assistant pastors, two elders and 20 parishioners. The 25 were all detained and, later that month, brought to the road construction site, wh...