"Church Society" Polarisation

There is growing polarisation between the communities in Northern Ireland, according to research carried out by Dr Peter Shirlow, UU, c.2000.  His research suggests that the communities in Northern Ireland are further polarised now than they were before the signing of the Belfast Agreement in 1998.  Social polarisation is a current reality forthis part of the world.

Yet, what is happening in society is but a reflection of what is going on within the Christian church here.  The main, that is, larger denominations are theologically liberal and ecumenical, while smaller one have been imbibing the attitudes of liberalism for many years.  Then, when the biblical Gospel arrives in these churches, they do not know what has hit them.  At first, the congregations tolerate this new message, but as the impact of the gospel begins to register on their minds, there is an antagonism welling up within a section of the membership, which eventually spills out into outright opposition to the minister and his message.  Polarisation within the congregation is created, and this infiltrates into the wider denomination, forcing ministers to take sides either with the gospel or against it. 

This is happening within the churches at this time.  What we see in the country is a true reflection of what is happening in wider society.  Hence, there should be no great surprise at what is happening within Northern Ireland's divided society.  It is a case of "like church, like people."  A hopelessly divided evangelical church can but create an equally hopelessly divided society.

Northern Ireland knows what this is like, for the contexts are similar.  But, it must be qualified to a degree because our nearest international neighbour, the Irish Republic, acted as a bad neighbour when in the early seventies and under Jack Lynch’s premiership, it supported, financed and trained republican terrorists (the IRA) to engage in acts of international terrorism against the UK.  Over the years, other premiers gave their support to IRA terrorism, and to its allegedly political counterpart, Sinn Fein.  

In like manner, it is neighbours who are involved in opposing the Gospel of God (Rom.1:1).  These people belong to a different kingdom, serve a different master, and march to a different drum beat.  the Gospel people belong to the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ, whereas their enemies belong to the Prince of darkness, Satan.  Their aspirations are fundamentally different, the one excluding the other, and their methods are also fundamentally different.  The very existence of these two kingdoms means that there will be strife and conflict and outright war between them.  There will be casualties on either side, and the capacity of Christ's kingdom will grow and increase, being strengthened by the power of God's might (Eph.6:10).  The other kingdom has already been defeated, but its master has not yet informed his servants; but time, and eternity, will tell.

In the Northern Ireland situation, those attackers were from our own towns and countryside, our neighbours; they spoke the same language, or at least used the same vocabulary.  It was neighbour who set up neighbour for attack and assassination and it was neighbour who passed on information to terrorists about the movements of neighbours who were security forces personnel.  Most of the terrorist attacks came from within Northern Ireland, but they found the proximity of the Irish Republic most convenient to escape to after completing their dastardly deeds.  

The context of the church tells the same sorry tale.  The people who are setting up the minister for attack probably live on the same street or road, or in the neighbouring farm or district; they have been friends for years. They, too, speak the same language and use the same vocabulary, but the difference is that they mean totally different things by the words they use.  They talk amongst themselves, passing on the latest information that is opposed to the best interests of the minister and of the Gospel he preaches.  Sometimes they operate in small numbers so as not to draw attention to themselves, while on others they will only work in larger numbers, where they have the numerical strength to intimidate those "Christians."  Like wolves, they meet in packs and come together when they consider it safe to do so - they do this without realising that there is nowhere safe for the enemies of the Gospel to be.  Their purpose? To tear the minister and his supporters in the Gospel to pieces, if they possibly can.  After their foray is over, they return to the safe haven of their Irish Republic - their homes and into their familiar communities.

This is church life in Northern Ireland - not unlike societal life in Northern Ireland.  And in common with both, there will be and can be no coming together unless and until God sovereignly and graciously changes hearts and gives to all a completely new disposition - one of love to Christ and his Gospel.

What do you think of this analysis?  Are the parallels between the two situations acceptable?  Do you see them? In fact, this is not just a parable about life in NI; this can be taken to any place on earth, and you will find that the Kingdom of Light is being opposed and attacked relentlessly by the kingdom of darkness.  But GOD MUST WIN!

Can You Really Blame Christians...!

It is a fact that those Christians who associate with the everlasting Gospel of salvation have possibly never felt so excluded from the church as they now do with the current ecclesiastical processes that have been initiated by church leaders.  Their feeling of estrangement and alienation from the entire church process is palpable.  They feel excluded from the very ministries that were established to help them recover, make spiritual progress, to claim back their lives again, and to give them a better future.  Many see no point in getting actively in their local church, for, to them, it is nothing but a battlefield where in-fighting is the order of the day.  And sadly, this growing apathy will create further detachment from and disenchantment with church life in Northern Ireland. Apathy does not serve the purposes of Christian service and evangelism; on the contrary...

Why cannot the church authorities see this?  Why is there no one with spiritual maturity who can recognise what is really going on within church life today? Have church leaders, on the basis of the Peter Principle (a principle known within management circles), been "promoted to the level of their incompetence"?  The situation is becoming increasingly worse by the day.  When you see godly ministers being hounded to within an inch of their lives by church members and elders, with the majority of people being best categorised as 'on-lookers' and 'bystanders,' people who simply could not care less about what is going on so long as it doesn't happen them or in their church, then genuine support for such godly pastors is not a given.  

This is exactly the situation in Bosnia today.  The majority of the people feel desperately cut-off from mainline society, a situation that creates feelings of hopelessness and worthlessness and alienation.  This is not just in the former Yugoslavia and among the Bosnian people - this is happening to Christian ministers and pastors in our country!  In Bosnia, you could generally well who your enemy is; but in Northern ireland, the enemy operates from the shadows, skulks around corners, uses others for cover, and generally wrecks havoc in the church of Christ.  A godly minister cannot always or readily tell who the enemy is!  

Further, what disillusions God's people there is the fact that in some cases, leadership positions within the churches are held by unscrupulous people.  In Bosnia, what hurts the people very deeply is that war-lords now hold very senior position within the government, men who are well known for their human rights violations, and who are war criminals.  Sadly, a growing number of Christian people view their leaders in a similar way - they just do not trust them to do the right thing, namely, to defend and promote the Gospel witness of the church.  


In light of all this, can you really blame Christians for not wanting to get involved in their churches?  What can you say to real Christians who adopt this position?  What biblical counsel can you give them?

Churches Are Dangerous Places for Christians!

This is an utter shame within the Christian church.  There are many ministers and manse families that are being persecuted by the church members and elders and fellow ministers.  The absence of empathy shown to them by their colleagues and other church members is appalling. They are hounded, stalked, hated, set-up to fall, entrapped, wrong-footed, etc, all in an attempt to bring the servant of the Lord down.

What is more hurtful is that when these people, when they fail to get at the minister, re-focus their attention and attacks on his wife.  She is most vulnerable, is the homemaker, and feels for her husband when he is being attacked and hurt.  She carries burdens as wife and mother and homemaker that no one else knows anything about.  On top of all, she does not always know everything about what's is going on, and that exasperates her anxiety.  When her husband is attacked, she is attacked; and so are her/their children.  And all this happens within the church of Jesus Christ, the caring profession par excellence.  If that is care for each other, then dear help the church members.  From another perspective, church members often receive more care than does the minister's wife.  But that's for another day/post.

Often, the enemies of the Gospel, whether they are Christians or not, will turn their depraved attention to the manse children and use them to get at their father.  Oh how utterly inexcusable such a policy is.  And this happens.  not only did I find myself the focus and target of Gospel enemies within the church, so also did my wife and our children. I now of other manse families where exactly the same had been done.  And it's very hurtful.

It is evident that where loyalty to the firm supercedes loyalty to Christ and the Gospel, those whose orientation is the opposite of that are deemed to be expendable.  These 'firm's men' see that manse family as being expendable, unwelcome, surplus to requirements.

This reminds me of the experiences of the Bosnian people at the hands of their enemies, where they became an unwanted population in their own land.  The terrifying message: "You do not belong in our society.  You should be isolated, humiliated and extinguished" is not unknown to both communities in Northern Ireland, and in church life in Northern Ireland.  We have had the "Brits out" call from nationalist republicans for many years, and despite their attempts to limit this mantra to the British Army and British institutions, they have not convinced the pro-British community that they are exempted from this call.  Church-based opposers of the Gospel are making precisely the same call concerning those who stand for the Gospel.  They want these Gospel people out at all costs.  The "ethnic cleansing" and genocide that was enacted against the pro-British community along the border region is proof of that nationalist republican policy.  In many church denominations in Ulster, there is the ecclesiastical form of ethnic cleansing and genocide, but few are able to recognise it as such.  People from this grouping have been excluded from their local towns for shopping purposes, excluded from many of the normal social activities of any normal society, and ministers and their families are likewise being made to feel most unwelcome in many places. 


What happened in national Bosnia between 1993 and 1996, has been happening under the cover of "church" for many years in Northern Ireland.  Faithful evangelicals are no more welcome within these denominations today than the Bosniacs were in Bosnia-Herzegovina.  The message they too are hearing is, "You are not welcome in our church.  We are not used to that kind of preaching.  We are not heathens, so go and take your 'born again' message to those outside the church and who lives on the streets.  We are respectable people who want to live comfortable lives, lives of ease, so don't bring that message to our church!  We hope the church will isolate you and remove you from our church altogether."  


The lessons from Bosnia are clear, and most disturbing.  The only ones who recognise them are those who are being targeted for 'the treatment.'  The perpetrators of 'the treatment' believe they are doing God a service, just as Paul did in his pre-conversion days!

Have a Most Blessed 2012.

Since time of God's creation and His gift to the world, may I wish all my readers and visitors God's richest blessing in 2012.  Some of you will have already entered 2012, and the rest of us have to wait a short time longer to do so.  But our God is the God of time and space, and He has His sovereign hands firmly at the controls, and whatever 2012 brings for us, we can be assured that He is the Master of time and history.

Put your trust in Him for your future and for the future. God bless you all.

Paul Preaches the Cross.

What did Paul preach that brought down Holy Spirit?  “Jesus Christ and Him crucified,” (1 Cor.2:2).  He preached the Cross.  He preached the death of Christ for lost mankind. “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”  “There is none righteous, no, not one.” “There is none that does good, no, not one.”  All are sinners, therefore all need the Saviour.  Jn.3:16 tells us that sent One Who was to be that very Saviour the world needs so badly.  Only at the Cross is there salvation for anyone.  Christ died for you, my friend.  God does not want anyone, not even you, to perish, but to come to repentance, (2 Pet.3:9).  And all means all.  There are no exceptions, no exclusions but those who exclude themselves.  Paul  preached this mess “in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.”  

Oh for Spirit-filled preachers in our churches today! Pray for men who will be so surrendered to Christ and so filled with His Spirit this 2012, that we will see great advances for the Kingdom of God.  Pray for a mighty revival in, and reformation of, the Church.  For preaching will be totally useless without this.  Plead with God to give Him in great measure.  Pray to God to bring preachers back to the Cross, and to declare it without fear or favour, and regardless of the smiles or frowns of those who listen to them.   This was Paul's message – it must also be ours.

Preaching the Cross!

I think that evangelical preachers need to be very careful when preaching about, or better, preaching, the Cross, and not be lulled into the old bankrupt liberalism that distorted and even denied the Bible's own teaching on this vitally important doctrine.

What was achieved at the Cross was more than expiation, more than the dealing with man's sin and guilt.  Man's sin was not not the only that confronted God ( and I do not intend to be irreverent here); there was the greater problem of God's wrath to be considered and dealt with, a fact that is often missed by evangelical preachers.  The problem is not only on man's side - there is a problem on God's side that has to be addressed, namely, His wrath, His holiness, righteousness and justice.

Let us all be careful to maintain the Bible's own perfect balance.

No Fear of God.

Do you know what's wrong with many of us?  I will tell you: we have no fear of God.  If only we feared God more, we’d worship and serve Him better.  If you and I knew what it was to fall prostrate before His awful majesty and His blinding purity, then we’d be much better Christians.  But alas, that is not the case. And do you know what the consequence of that is?  We have no fear of treating God and things of God with utter contempt.  We have no genuine concern for God’s people – anything goes and anything will do; nor have we any great concern for God’s prophets.  We despise His people and His prophets. And why? Because we do not fear God. The fear of God is not in our hearts.  We treat Him as a religious commodity, as a kind of spiritual insurance policy, as a nice thing to believe in.  But no more.

That’s why God gave us His Word, and especially the Psalms – they teach us Who and what He is.  They teach us His ways; they show to us the wonder of His grace;  and they show us how much He really loves us.  He wants us to kn Him really well; He wants our knowledge of Him to increase daily.  When we truly know God, we will fear Him.  We will stand in awe of His awful Majesty. We will shut our mouths at very thought of His dreadful power and  might.  And we’ll wonder at His marvellous providence in the world and in our lives.

Our problem is that we talk too much, not only about God but. to God. We do not know what it is to stand in dreadful silence before Him. We rush in and babble away, as if we were speaking to our best mate.  We have no idea of the fear of God in our hearts.