Next Tuesday a formal application is to be made to the United Nations Assembly to recognise Palestine as a State. Emboldened by the relative success of the Arab Spring and with both Egypt and Turkey now threatening Israel the Hamas led Palestinians see their opportunity to seize the high ground in their ongoing campaign to exterminate Israel by Jihad. The press this week has contained many articles voicing support for their application which would increase their standing in the world of Nation States. Every advance in Arab territory gives her rockets better range on Israeli cities causing the Prime Minister to say that if the boundaries were altered Israel would be indefensible.  It does not auger well for future relationships when the Arab leadership has stated publically it would not allow even one Jew to live within its borders. On the other hand Israel accepts the fact that one-fifth of its population is Arab (both Muslim and Christian). So will Palestine become the 194th UN State next week and will it make any difference? Those of us who read their Bibles will recognise the déjà vue nature of the problem. This struggle has been with us ever since God gave the “promised land” to His people Israel approaching 4,000 years ago. There was a period when Israel was in exile for 70 years in Old Testament times and again for many centuries since the sacking of Jerusalem in AD 70 her peoples have been scattered around the globe. Their ability to cling to their customs, language and help each other has enabled them to create wealth wherever they settled, usually incurring the wrath of the locals who found it hard to compete against them. Incredibly their Hebrew language has been retained as have their religious customs. At the annual Feast of the Unleavened Bread (Passover) there remains a vacant chair for Elijah who has to return before the Messiah comes. Sadly for them Elijah has already come in the form of John the Baptist (St Matthew chapter 17 verse 12) as the forerunner of the Messiah – Jesus. But just as their failure to recognise Jesus as Messiah resulted in the Good News coming to the Gentile Nations, St Paul predicts a turning of Israel to place their faith in Jesus (Romans chapter 11 verse 15) as one of the marks of the end times. Then their wailing wall of the Temple will become a praising wall! Will the UN recognition make any difference? Only if it is part of God’s plan. Will the fact of Jesus being the Messiah make a difference to you? Only if you trust Him.

As we come up to the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attack which demolished both of the iconic towers, symbols of the flourishing Manhattan society, fear and apprehension are still with us. 2,996 died and tomorrow, the 10 anniversary, will host a memorial service on the site which is now turned into a remembrance theme park. Massive security is in place as it is anticipated that an act of revenge for the killing of Osama Bin Laden – the architect of the attack – will take place. Indeed increased security and surveillance have been the noticeable effect of the attack as anyone who has had to stand in interminable queues at airport security gates while our person and possessions are examined, scanned and, when deemed illegal, confiscated all in the interests of safety. The inauguration of the “war on terror” stems from the attack and is reckoned to have killed 1,000,000 in Iraq and Afghanistan without making the world a safer place. Those standing at the memorial site tomorrow will be keeping a weather eye open for discarded packages and looking over their shoulders to see who is standing behind them. And as they mourn some will wonder how we got into this mess. Can the Bible help us here? Anyone who thinks this world is a safe place is not facing reality. In Bible times life was cheap and inflation has not altered that fact! When the Psalmist penned Psalm 121 he looked for a safe place in nature and had to remind himself that it was only in the Lord that safety is located. The metrical version puts it well: I to the hills will lift mine eyes From whence doth come mine aid? My safety cometh from the Lord Who heaven and earth hath made. Jesus brought out the truth of these words when he said “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me”. For those who believe Him St Paul’s words take on that eternal dimension as he thought of his life since he had been converted to Christ; “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me”. (Galatians chapter 2 verse 20) This life is fraught with accidents, illnesses and terrorism all of which are largely beyond our control. Faith in Christ places us in an eternal security united to Christ and able to help other fearful fellowtravellers on life’s journey to look to Him who alone can give us that peace (shalom) we are looking for.

The name may not mean much to you but Steve’s resignation as the CEO of Apple Computers this week sent shock waves through the industry. He was the great innovator. He imagined what we would like and went on the produce it. Over four decades he was the brains behind five new computing innovations. First came the Apple Mac computer which was influenced by his love of graphics to make it look good on the outside – the inside looked even better! Then came the iPod allowing the musically minded to have music wherever they go. Next the iTunes tapped into the on-line music market giving infinite choice to the listener. Perhaps the biggest advance came with the iPhone. This is the smartphone which does so many functions that the modern person cannot afford to be without it. Then Steve produced the iPad a tablet reminiscent of the 10×6 inch slate the older of my readers will remember from their schooldays. However this is no piece of slate! With its touch screen you have virtually all the computing power you will ever need at your fingertips. All this stuff came at a time when we wanted to look cool. They became “must have” products. He was the man who gave us back our toys! But Steve has terminal cancer. Has the Bible anything to say on these things? The Psalmist reminds us of the brevity of life, “Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.” (Psalm 90 verse 10) Perhaps Steve was thinking about the Psalmist’s view of the brevity of life when he named his last product iCloud. It would appear to have an infinite capacity to store and share the stuff we love. There are overtones too of the cloud in the Apostle’s writing. Using apocalyptic language St Paul writes to the church in Thessalonica about Jesus’s second coming, “Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words.” (1Thessalonians chapter 4 verses 13/18)

41 We were reminded this week of the rhythms of life by the roar of the combine harvester. It may have been more challenging this year to find that weather window and when it comes along action must be swift if the crop is to be saved. The old adage “Make hay when the sun shines” is spot on for the sun does not always shine! Indeed this year many hayfields were turned into “haylage” (a cross between hay and silage) baling the crop in plastic to thwart the rain. Exam students know all about it. The date seems distant then near then inexorably it comes to pass. The blank page of the answer book confronts. There is no escape. Now is the time to act. It’s the same in many walks of life – time seems to be the enemy. But time can be a friend in disguise. The discipline of the deadline means that things get done. The approaching Sunday most effectively concentrates the Preachers mind and bends his knees as he gets down to sermon preparation. Even the blog writer desperately scanning the news media for a “main” story of the week feels the pressure of the self-imposed deadline. Filling the blank page presents both the problem and the opportunity to delight or delete as the reader decides! Is there any help from the Scriptures? The writer of Ecclesiastes prefaces his poem in chapter 3 with the words; “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens”. His poem then goes on to mention various human activities. These include our thoughts which go beyond this life leaving time and entering eternity. “He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” The Bible is God’s revelation of Himself to us who cannot otherwise work it out. He made the trip from eternity into time in order that we might be brought into His family. “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” (Galatians Chapter 4 verses 4 and 5) The law shows us how far short we come of God’s standards. When we realise this we stop trying harder and look for a redeemer. We find one in Christ who paid the penalty for sin during his time on the cross and it is faith in His work that equips us for the rest of our time here on earth and then for eternity. We are promised a harvest season and at the end of the age there will be another one which will decide where you spend eternity. Jesus spoke about it and you can read what He said in St Matthew Chapter 13 verses 36-43. Now is the time to get ready. Tomorrow may be too late.

The sight of those young people running down streets, smashing windows, taking property, looting, laughing as they go, the problem of that is a complete lack of responsibility, a lack of proper parenting, a lack of proper upbringing, a lack of proper ethics, a lack of proper morals.” So said David Cameron before a sympathetic audience consisting of MP’s, rounded up from their holidays, to hear him. So what happened? Race is not an issue – every race was involved in the rioting. It has been condemned by leaders from every ethnic background. Young males have been to the fore, but the age span has stretched from children as young as 10 to men old enough to be on pensions. The first people charged included university students, primary school workers, dental assistants as well as those who make a living from criminality. The excitement of going on the rampage, when there was little chance of being caught by an over-stretched police force, coupled with the thrill of getting “fings for free” brought people out in droves. So who is to blame? The sociologists blamed the environment. The government blamed the parents. The moralists blamed it on lazy louts. The rioters blamed it on the police. So what’s the remedy? More financial resources to improve opportunities for the rioters? Equip the police with baton rounds and water cannon like in Europe? Lock them up and throw away the key? Give us respect and the right to be listened to? What has the Bible to say? Rather discouragingly for some of us – we are no better than the rioters! We are born rebels with regard to God and unless there is a heart change its rebels we will remain. On the human level sophisticated perhaps, fiddling our expenses like most people lucky enough to have an expense account; tapping phones if you have been educated to that level of expertise, to quote a couple to recent examples. On the spiritual level sin has been removed from the vocabulary along with adultery and other unpleasant words. Judgement, if it exists is for them, not us.  The summary of the human race that is given in Romans is bleak:- “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one…..There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Chapter 3 verses 10 – 18. What would it take to transform the heart of a rioter, a member of parliament, you or me into a child of the living God? It takes the miracle of us truly repenting and acknowledging we are even as God says. It takes the further miracle of the stubborn heart yielding to the lordship of Jesus. It takes the Holy Spirit the rest of our life on earth to transform us into the likeness of his Son. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself … in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them…He made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2Corinthians Chapter 5 verses 18 – 21.

My first encounter with John Stott, who died this week, was back in 1963. I had put my trust in Jesus and in order to help me work out the implications of what I had done I was given the ‘Islington Booklets’. These were written by Stott to help people like me find their way around the Bible and see the great truths of Jesus love for sinners leading to His death in their (and my) place. Stott’s own testimony was characteristically clear; “I was aware of two things about myself. First, if there was a God, I was estranged from him. I tried to find him, but he seemed to be enveloped in a fog I could not penetrate. Secondly, I was defeated. I knew the kind of person I was, and also the kind of person I longed to be. I had high ideals but a weak will… What brought me to Christ was this sense of defeat and of estrangement, and the astonishing news that the historic Christ offered to meet the very needs of which I was conscious.” The day Stott was converted he heard a sermon on Pilate’s question: “What then shall I do with Jesus, who is called the Christ?” “That I needed to do anything with Jesus was an entirely novel idea to me, for I had imagined that somehow he had done whatever needed to be done, and that my part was only to acquiesce. The preacher, however, was quietly but powerfully insisting that everybody had to do something about Jesus, and that nobody could remain neutral. Either we copy Pilate and weakly reject him, or we accept him personally and follow him.” “That night at my bedside I made the experiment of faith, and “opened the door” to Christ. I saw no flash of lightning …in fact I had no emotional experience at all. I just crept into bed and went to sleep. For weeks afterwards, even months, I was unsure what had happened to me. But gradually I grew, as the diary I was writing at the time makes clear, into a clearer understanding and a firmer assurance of the salvation and lordship of Jesus Christ.” During his life he shaped the Lausanne Conference which draws evangelicals together from around the world and set up the Langham Partnership to supply Christian material to pastors in the majority world. He started the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity which encourages believers to introduce others to Christ. He exercised a global preaching ministry from All Souls, Langham Place, London and his books and commentaries have been the foundation of many a pastors library. I last heard John Stott preach 10 years ago on the theme of ‘double listening’, hearing what God says from His Word and listening to what the World is saying. In relating the one to the other he would bear in mind the primacy of salvation encapsulated in St John’s great text; “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” And that life started for John Stott at age 17 and continues today in the glory. Hallelujah!

The old cry “Watch out thieves about” is not much help in this day and age. Thieves have got a lot more sophisticated. Holiday-makers are especially vulnerable. With language difficulties you cannot be sure of the terms of the deal but you can be sure if it’s too good to be true – it usually is too good to be true! Smartphones produce smart thieves who can spot the latest versions at 100 metres. But the latest breed of ‘tecky’ thieves come from the orient. They are very plausible on the phone offering to make your computer work faster.  The treatment I got last week involved the use of the RUN facility on the Start menu of my computer climaxing in the entering of www.logmein123.com in the command line. The final task is for them to allocate you with a 6 digit code which when entered gives them access to your data files. It’s like giving away the keys of the safe! Challenging the person on the line that he is scamming initiates a dialogue which rapidly becomes vindictive as the scammer realised his prey is escaping from his trap!  In a week when the news has been full of phone tapping by journalists in search of salacious material to sell their newspapers we have all become perhaps a little more circumspect in the way we store information. The age of ‘Big Brother is watching you’ has moved to ‘reading your text messages’ and ‘searching for your bank account numbers’! What has the Bible to comment on all this? So what have we got that a thief might want and what have we hidden that a scammer might get his hands on? The prophet Isaiah looked at it from God’s perspective when he wrote about what went on in our minds. “Ah, you who hide deep from the LORD your counsel, whose deeds are in the dark, and who say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?” (Chapter 29 verse 15). When St Paul was being cross-examined in front of the Roman Governor he answered with what could have been his life’s motto. “I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man.” (Acts Chapter 24 verse 16) The Governor could see his conscience was clear before men but we have to go to the Book of Hebrews to find the secret of his clear conscience before God. “ How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!” The scammers would have found nothing incriminating or of value in St Paul’s computer and the hackers could find his texts in the Bible! Perhaps that’s how we too should live?

There are two States in Ireland. One with its headquarters in Dail Eireann and the other in the Vatican in Rome. Most of the time this dichotomy is invisible but with the publication of the Cloyne Report into Clerical Sexual Abuse this week it surfaced. The Religious are appointed by Rome and have their primary duty to Canon law. The laity are largely citizens of Ireland and are subject to State law. Under Canon Law the protection of the Church seems paramount whereas under State law every citizen is held to be equal. When the Taoiseach was asked if Government legislation would override the secrecy of the confessional, with priests being obliged to pass on evidence of child abuse obtained in that context, Mr Kenny said: “The law of the land should not be stopped by a crozier or by a collar….bishops who were caught up in a situation where guilt applies here should be subject to the law of the land.” Pity the Bishops caught in this bind. One way out was to write two different reports on clerical abuse sending the true account to Rome and the false one to his Priests enabling them to ignore the Irish Church’s own guidelines. Astonishingly these guidelines have never received Vatican approval leaving the Bishops, with the one exception of Diarmuid Martin, in a ship without a rudder. What does the Bible have to say to all this? Jesus said His Kingdom was not of this world (St John Chapter 18 verse 36) – so we have separation of church from state. Rome’s answer to this is to create a Vatican State! Scripture says we are to confess our sins to one another. (James chapter 5 verse 16). Rome sets up the confessional and takes upon herself the notion that God dispenses forgiveness through her priesthood. The Bible says God only can forgive sins. (St Mark chapter 2 verse 5) Pity the penitent who wishes to confess clerical abuse. The “seal of the confessional” designed to protect the sinner, works against the victim as the many cases of continuing abuse demonstrates. The abused has nowhere to go, no one to turn to. Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” St Matthew Chapter 11 verse 28. It is only in Christ that forgiveness is to be found. He has the authority (St Matthew chapter 9 verse 6). That authority was delegated to all the disciples (St John 20 verse 23) and then to all believers in Jesus (1 John chapter 2 verse 1) who simply point the repentant sinner to the Saviour. The simplicity of the Gospel is hard to find in an institution or a State but by God’s grace it can be passed on by believers who themselves have received from Jesus, “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”

The phone hacking of celebrities mobile phones brought an end to the tabloid paper, News of the World, this week. What had been suspected for some time was uncovered by the police investigating the disappearance of a young girl. At the murder trial it was discovered that she appeared to have used her phone after she had been killed misleading the investigation and giving false hope to the victim’s parents. The hunger for the scoop drove journalists to tap the phones of those mourning the death of their loved ones in the Afghanistan war. The potential threat of massive compensation awards to celebrities whose private lives had been exposed in the past by the paper is a colossal problem. But it was the cancellation of advertising contracts by large corporations who no longer wished to risk being associated with the sleaze that made the paper’s termination a good option for its owners. There has been a media chorus of condemnation of such journalistic methods which sounds a bit like the pot calling the kettle black! The attraction of 2.6 million readers without their usual Sunday paper must seem like a windfall unless Murdoch launches a Sunday version of his Sun to regain this market. No doubt in this battle the real victim will continue to be journalistic ethics. What has the Bible to say to all this? The fact is that reporting people’s bad behaviour sells newspapers! Reading of how others have fallen introduces gossip by the back door as the reader is drawn into the mire of others broken lives. It may be that the News of the World had reached new depths to dredge for information but its readership was not buying it for its moral principles! We are culpable. The Bible says we don’t need a lecture on morals but a power to overcome temptation. This does not come naturally but comes when the temptation is brought to the cross and the tempted receives the forgiveness and deliverance from a gracious God.  St Paul wrote about this in his second letter to the church at Corinth, “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.” (Chapter 5 verse 19) The work of the Holy Spirit in the repentant sinner’s heart displaces the love for sleaze by a stronger affection – the love for the Saviour. This starts when, in faith, we take our temptations to the Lord in prayer.

As the Arab Spring gives way to the Arab Summer the momentum for change has slowed to a resolute resistance in most Middle-East countries. In Cairo the spectacle of the once all-powerful dictator Mubarak being wheeled into the courtroom on a hospital trolley, which was then parked in a steel cage, sent a potent message of people power throughout the region. The sight may have stiffened the resolve of Syrian’s President Assad whose family have dominated the country for the last 41 years, to fight on. Like Libya’s Col. Gadafy he has not many friends in neighbouring countries where he could go for refuge. So the Syrian slaughter continues; tanks and snipers against peaceful protest. Meanwhile in the Yemen tens of thousands gathered for protests both for and against President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s three-decade rule as the country slides ever nearer civil war. The fast of Ramadan commenced last Monday in which Muslims abstain from food and drinks from morning until after sunset. Many believe by observing this, it will help them to get closer to God and perhaps earn a place in heaven. One might have hoped this would have created a cooling off period but there has been no discernable lessening of the fighting. Has the Bible anything to say to this situation? The transition from dictatorship to democracy has never been easy and can take many years to complete. Freedoms are not easily won nor do those in authority find it easy to relinquish their grasp on power. Frequently internal wars cause people to regroup along ethnic and religious lines as they look around for security which is the first victim of the conflict. Friends who once trusted one another become fearful. Reconciliation seems impossible. What is the way back? Ramadan or repentance? The Bible says first there has to be reconciliation with God before we can look for His aid in being reconciled with each other. This happens when we admit we have sinned against God and recognise that Christ died in our place – “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us”. He was the perfect substitute – “our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation”. Romans Chapter 5 Verses 8-11. Secondly Jesus said that religious duties will not restore the friendship –“Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.” St Matthew Chapter 5 verses 23/4. We need to go to the estranged one in the same way we went to God – recognising the sin and the need of forgiveness – “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.” St Matthew Chapter 18 verse 15. So whether or not the fault lies with us the way of forgiveness is the same.