Talked to my son in Melbourne for over one hour tonight. We started off on Skype to make the telephone appointment and then I rang him on my Telecom Talk-it-up-downunder $25 per month program. These inexpensive modes of international communication are really quite amazing.

 

In the past they would have been far more expensive and complex. I also communicate with my children and even grandchildren on MSN Messenger on a regular basis. I am more familiar with MSN Messenger.

 

My son is a good counsellor and a very committed believer. He helped me think through some issues extremely perceptively and well. It seems that this 35-year old son has now reversed the roles and was able to be of great assistance to me, his father. For this I thank the Lord.  

 

Family members help each other when there is a need. The family bonds of love cannot be broken by distance or by time.

I am currently reading again the late Arthur Wallis's 1979 book entitled Rain from heaven about revival.

 

I would not consider that there is currently a revival in Timaru in the Biblical sense, as revival is a sudden sovereign outpouring from God. A revival is not something that is planned by people. It is a special visitation of God, not only amongst His people but also one which touches the surrounding community. It is akin to what happened in Acts 2 when the Spirit of God came down as a mighty rushing wind. The most appropriate way to describe it is to say with Habakkuk3:2-4 that 'God came'.

 

We can however set the sails to catch this heavenly wind. This refers to a thorough preparation of our hearts before God. As at Pentecost, true revival is always at God's initiative. 

 

When the early church creeds were formulated  in black and white, the church of the day thought that this would deal with heresy once and for all. Such has never been the case. Most examples in the New Testament explain heresy as disunity. However, disunity soon again popped up quickly and the creeds would then be amended to deal with this new challenge. 

 

The Roman emperors, starting with Constantine, wanted unity in the Roman Empire and used Christianity as the vehicle to achieve this goal. Once the church of the day was 'favoured' with the backing of the temporal power, so-called unity was enforced by the arm of the flesh. Unfortunately, it only enforced conformity or uniformity and incredible intolerance of alternate Bible-based views resulted. The church soon began to persecute its own people It is no surprise that after the fourth century, Christianised European society quickly descended into the Dark Ages. The creeds were mostly counterproductive, especially when they began to be enforced by temporal power.

 

There are many things we might not fully agree on. For example, even today eschatological (endtime doctrinal) differences are frequently not tolerated by those who think that their particular view is the one and only Biblically based interpretation.

 

Every church denomination that I am familiar with claims that its own tradition is solidly Bible-based.  They are all probably right. About many issues, the Scriptures are not nearly so definite. It is the intolerance of differing views or ways of being the ekklesia that causes unnecessary friction in the body of Christ.

 

In 1Corinthians 15 we read of the resurrection of Jesus the Christ (the Messiah). Jesus went to the cross bodily and rose again bodily. That should be the sufficient basis of our unity and dispel misconceptions. Why then do we need complex creeds to try to say what the Scriptures have already said more than adequately?

 

When a lifesaver at the beach saves people from drowning, they do not need to know everything about this lifesaver or agree on everything about this person to be rescued. Even different understandings about this person, after the rescue has taken place,  do not negate the fact that the rescued ones were indeed saved  from drowning. In fact, the rescued certainly did nothing to deserve being rescued. All they needed to do was to put their trust in the rescuer at the time of the rescue.  

 

Many believers, when they first come to Christ Jesus, know precious little about Him. Does this retrospectively negate their salvation ? I was not saved by right believing or orthodoxy , I was saved by fully trusting the One who saved me! Now this might sound somewhat simplistic. Jesus did not just come for the intellectuals. In fact He had a special ministry to the poor and disenfranchised of His days on earth. He is no different today!

 

Why should people be cursed because, while having put their trust in their Saviour and having experienced salvation from the debt and the power of sin, they have somewhat different understandings of Him. Why should the Athanasian Creed (for example) include threats and curses? In fact, such inclusions of threats and curses only legalistically seek to create unity. Such actually enforce uniformity, but end up destroying unity. That the church has been fear-bound for those many centuries is in itself amazing. I have met too many Christians who are too fearful to think outside the traditional square. They are afraid of the church's scrutiny or other people's censure or condemnation. I prefer to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has set me free! No threats will rob me of knowing Whom I have believed, even if some of my ideas might differ from the ancient credos.

 

It is time for a total rethink by the church of our day!  The basis for our unity needs to be rethought and defined. In many respects, we should move toward more inclusiveness. I am not speaking of sinful lifestyles which are clearly disapproved in the Scriptures, I am thinking of differing understandings, all of which may be shown to be based firmly on the written Word of God.

 

The following is a passage directly quoted from Fausset's Bible Dictionary. See also the phrase which I have emphasised in bold print.

1 Cor 11:18-19. "Schisms" meant "divisions" through differences of opinion of recent standing. "Heresies" meant schisms inveterate. "Sect" (Greek "heresy" Acts 5:17; 15:5. Paul means by "there must be heresies among you," that sin must bear its natural fruit, as Christ foretold (Luke 17:1), and schisms (compare 1 Cor 12:25) must eventuate in mattered secessions or confirmed schisms. "Heresy" did not yet bear its present meaning, doctrinal error. However see its use Acts 24:14.
(from Fausset's Bible Dictionary, Electronic Database Copyright (c)1998, 2003 by Biblesoft)