EASTER 2002

EASTER 2003

CHRISTIAN EASTER MESSAGE

News 271

ABC News Radio Easter Saturday

A new volume, Of the Earth, Earthy, or Celestial in Christ has been published
this Easter this Christian Web Site.

It is good to have something new direct us to something old, forecast for millenia,
and with forecast now since Christ, over more millenia,
herald its application and verification.

God does not speak in vain, and His only declared and written word to mankind (SMR),
the Bible,
is not an object of art, interest or mere history; though it is all of this:

its truth is divinely given
and is divinely implemented.

It rushes with wings now as the end of the Age approaches, and this with all
the disdaining rampancy of an Express Train, say on the old British Rail,
where being on time MATTERS!

His word, the Bible ? It also soars aloft, not a mere spy-plane, but imparting its dynamic
by divine grace to the approach of Christ's return. For this the world must wait;
but as it waits, its follies appear on its face, and the need of His grace is
as clear as the sun on a clear Summer morning.

An extract from the Preface to the new volume is here FOLLOWED by an important
message concerning Iraq, democracy, liberty, Islam and its totalitarian peers, and the
necessity of wisdom in the new action concerning Iraq. The people need the Gospel as
something available, not to be hindered in a new dominion of terror,
be its clothes now more religious or not.

First, however, let us consider the scope of the new book.

I Corinthians 15 has some wonderful contrasts: the first man, Adam, the ultimate man, Christ the Lord. The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven.

Now we are finding the funding of nearly everything imaginable that is earthy, worldly, carnal, rapacious, insolent and demanding; and hearing nearly everything that is raucous, obtuse and insurgent, from bin Laden to Communism, from Islamic submission requirements of those subordinated to these false lords, to the arrant yabber, deemed funny for some reason, of cartoons which reduce man to a motivated, moulded relic of a meaning no longer to be found.

The celestial is abused, its name debased whether in the slaughter of people in shopping malls because somebody called ‘Allah’ allegedly wants it, to the devising of means of allowing what destroys to become the lord of what builds. And what sort of destruction would that be ? That is what the Bible has long called Apollyon, the devil, whose varied functions include accusing the brethren (normally falsely), contesting righteousness, inducing fear of death, alienating from God, inducing to love the means of life more than life (‘Mammon’), tempting and corrupting.

That proud prelate of evil, he can come dressed in flowing white robes which do nothing for his heart, but much for those whom he dupes, surrounded with flowing verbiage, elevating himself or his false prophets to the heavens, while his ways are earthy (cf. II Corinthians 11).

These two courses, those of the bacteria and those of the body, those of the creation and those of the desecration, they continue parallel for a time, until the judgment. In biblical words, these are the wheat and the tares of Christ’s parable in Matthew13:24ff., which grow up together until the harvest, by which time … they are readily recognised.

In this work, contemporary events, biblical exposition and in all, application for
Christian Apologetics abound. In particular, thought is given to the possibility
that a freed Iraq will ostensibly with democratic power,
opt for Islam with suppression of all opposition.

It could include the too close to normal (but principially abnormal) horrors
such as amputation of hands for theft, subjugation of women
in an incredible macho-seeming riot
against part of God's creation, and the like,
as is sometimes found in Islamic settings.

Thus minority groups could be gobbled up, and the tyranny of a mere majority become,
not the essential thrust of the State, but a new dictatorship of intolerance and
arbitrary irrationalism
(cf. More Marvels ... Ch. 4),
as horrendous as that of Saddam Hussein.

News this morning, Easter Saturday, on ABC News Radio, indicates the arrival
of a Sunni Mullah, who had apparently not found it fitting to be in Baghdad earlier,
but now is returned with a message for an Islamic State, which could readily
amount to a new tyranny.

In this new volume on our site, Number 62, this possibility was raised before
the inflammatory message just heard; and it could be so because the US conception that
democracy
is liberty
is not adequate.

Democracy, unless seen in a setting of restraint, can mean
tyranny as even Plato showed in his Republic.

The protection of minority liberty of speech, and from persecution with physical power
against truth on the basis of a religious foray could make Iraq MORE dangerous,
like North Korea, than it was. Just as Islam, Communism and Romanism, as often
shown on this site, are three contestants for world rule, and there is only one world,
and none is correct in method or message, all touting omnipotence that (mercifully)
is not so, and demonstrably not the case: so apart from all else, one can expect actions
all too probable, and efforts all too perilous for many. With ONE world with VARIOUS
(non-Christian) contestants, fighting is inevitable, before you consider the sidelines.

Thus -

OPPORTUNITY
as Iraq may seem to provide for those pushing for this kind of power,
may turn readily to

IMPORTUNITY,
as they try to grab it.

It must be made clear, if the US is to use wisdom at all in this affair,
that the concept of liberty
which she embraces is not FORCE ALL TO DO WHAT MOST WANT

to the exclusion
of that liberty to think and speak otherwise

which is a barb to presumption and an arrow against the arrogance of flesh.

In principle, carelessness, against totalitarianism feasting on the success of the USA
in this war, might mean that one Iraqi generation could grab power against liberty
for future generations,
imposing ideas by force, and keeping them that way
as Saddam Hussein did.

Thus future inhabitants could lack the same determinative power.

Such is not at all democracy, but rule by junta, be it large or small at any given time.
Thus one generation in a merely human way, though of course with great fanfare,
perhaps even daring to cavort with phrases about liberty, as did the USSR notoriously
in former times, impishly acts to seize the reins to deny liberty to all others,
if it were possible, for all time.

Christ does not WANT this world on its own terms, for His kingdom is not of this world
(John 18:36). His is a kingdom of truth and of heaven.
As to the kingdom of this world and its prince, who want to force the issue with
mere violence:
He despises its pretensions and pretentiousness,
speaking of its Prince to come, as having NO PART IN HIM, be that prince

      religious,
    secular or
      equipped some synthetic arbitrariness to suit the day (John 14:30, Revelation 13).

WHEN CHRIST COMES, as He soon will (Answers to Questions Ch. 5,
Revelation 19, Matthew 24, I Thessalonians 4), the generation,
that is, the origination by GOD of the human race
will lead to the generation FOR God of the rule OF God, AS God.

God our Saviour, Christ will then rule, the Gospel having met the ears of the world,
as He said (Matthew 24:14). Last time, it was a question of what the world
would do with Him: the prophecies, Isaiah notably, had long stated the result
in advance. This time is a matter of what He will do with the world (Matthew 25:31ff.).

Not till His appearing (Titus 2:13, I John 3:1-3) and the onset of the judgment thereafter,
does the end come.

That reign of truth from its source, and over the world from its Maker,
is the only alternative in the end to the brutalities of misplaced force,
and is the only valid, viable and virtuous option. It is one which this world
has made it
most clear
for two millenia,

it does not want. (Cf. SMR pp. 99-100, 999, 65ff., 92ff.).

Sin is like that. It wants itself. It will get it: in that doom of forsaken because
forsaking personality which is appalling to conceive: because when that comes, justice,
judgment and truth will mingle without mercy on what has despised it, forsaking it in its
place to which it has come at infinite cost to the Lord (Isaiah 55, Hebrews 2:1-3).

To this poor, long-suffering and long molested people of Iraq, for whom the vultures
yet swirl,
in the love of Christ, however, we can hope for liberty to preach the Gospel.

The Gospel and Iraq ? How do they accord ?

It may seem all but contradiction to put these together, so great is the desire to force
submission with crowd fervour, arms control, armies, police, directive prelates
or whatever other
distortion of truth has been around.

However the empyrean of liberation, the finale of opportunity, is this Gospel, and
its prohibition is therefore the very acme of tyranny; for it is

    alone rational, alone scientifically confirmed by scientific method,
    alone logically viable, alone divinely authorised,
alone constantly confirmed,
    alone personally represented with divine power, in fact in Jesus the Christ, and
alone exhibited in millenia of always fulfilled prophecy, both before and after Him,
   alone meeting the logical requirements of validity... *1

It is important to preserve the liberty to preach it in Iraq, lest American lives were lost
merely to enable tyranny to bloom on the blood-caked soil, again, amid dark flowers.

If many do not want the Gospel, are they to tyrannise over those who may desire it,
becoming arbiters by force, retaining their power by the same means, once again!

This world is sick with tyrannies, some even presuming, while they recklessly kill and maim,
to use the name of God for their preoccupations (cf. John 16:2)..

NOTE

*1 See Great Execrations ... Ch. 3, with special respect to the Islamic points made,
More Marvels ... Ch. 4 with its many internal references, Trust God, Mate!... Ch. 1, TMR Ch. 5, SMR Chs. 1,3, 10, pp. 931ff., Ch. 6, Of the Earth, Earthy, or Celestial in Christ Ch. 14, Red Alert Ch. 10, and especially *4.

	It must be made clear, if the US is to use wisdom at all in this affair, that the concept of liberty which she embraces is not *FORCE ALL TO DO WHAT MOST WANT* to the exclusion of that liberty to think and speak otherwise *which is a barb to presumption and an arrow against the arrogance of flesh. In principle, carelessness, against totalitarianism feasting on the success of the USA in this war, might mean that one Iraqi generation could grab power against liberty for future generations, imposing ideas by force, and keeping them that way as Saddam Hussein did. Thus future inhabitants could lack the same determinative power. Such is not at all democracy, but rule by junta, be it large or small at any given time. Thus one generation in a merely human way, though of course with great fanfare, perhaps even daring to cavort with phrases about liberty, as did the USSR notoriously in former times, impishly acts to seize the reins to deny liberty to all others, if it were possible, for all time. Christ does not WANT this world on its own terms, for His kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36). His is a kingdom of truth and of heaven. As to the kingdom of this world and its prince, who want to force the issue with mere violence: He despises its pretensions and pretentiousness, speaking of its Prince to come, as having NO PART IN HIM, be that prince religious,* secular or equipped some synthetic arbitrariness to suit the day (John 14:30, Revelation 13). WHEN CHRIST COMES, as He soon will (Answers to Questions Ch. 5, Revelation 19, Matthew 24, I Thessalonians 4), the generation, that is, the origination by GOD of the human race will lead to the generation FOR God of the rule OF God, AS God. God our Saviour, Christ will then rule, the Gospel having met the ears of the world, as He said (Matthew 24:14). Last time, it was a question of what the world would do with Him: the prophecies, Isaiah notably, had long stated the result in advance. This time is a matter of what He will do with the world (Matthew 25:31ff.). Not till His appearing (Titus 2:13, I John 3:1-3) and the onset of the judgment thereafter, does the end come. That reign of truth from its source, and over the world from its Maker, is the only alternative in the end to the brutalities of misplaced force, and is the only valid, viable and virtuous option. It is one which this world has made it most clear for two millenia, it does not want. (Cf. SMR pp. 99-100, 999, 65ff., 92ff.). Sin is like that. It wants itself. It will get it: in that doom of forsaken because forsaking personality which is appalling to conceive: because when that comes, justice, judgment and truth will mingle without mercy on what has despised it, forsaking it in its place to which it has come at infinite cost to the Lord (Isaiah 55, Hebrews 2:1-3).
	To this poor, long-suffering and long molested people of Iraq, for whom the vultures yet swirl, in the love of Christ, however, we can hope for liberty to preach the Gospel.
	The Gospel and Iraq ? How do they accord ? It may seem all but contradiction to put these together, so great is the desire to force submission with crowd fervour, arms control, armies, police, directive prelates or whatever other distortion of truth has been around. However the empyrean of liberation, the finale of opportunity, is this Gospel, and its prohibition is therefore the very acme of tyranny; for it is alone rational, alone scientifically confirmed by scientific method, alone logically viable, alone divinely authorised, alone constantly confirmed, alone personally represented with divine power, in fact in Jesus the Christ, and alone exhibited in millenia of always fulfilled prophecy, both before and after Him, alone meeting the logical requirements of validity... *1 It is important to preserve the liberty to preach it in Iraq, lest American lives were lost merely to enable tyranny to bloom on the blood-caked soil, again, amid dark flowers. If many do not want the Gospel, are they to tyrannise over those who may desire it, becoming arbiters by force, retaining their power by the same means, once again!
	This world is sick with tyrannies, some even presuming, while they recklessly kill and maim, to use the name of God for their preoccupations (cf. John 16:2)..

	It is good to have something new direct us to something old, forecast for millenia, and with forecast now since Christ, over more millenia, herald its application and verification.
	God does not speak in vain, and His only declared and written word to mankind (SMR), the Bible, is not an object of art, interest or mere history; though it is all of this: its truth is divinely given and is divinely implemented. It rushes with wings now as the end of the Age approaches, and this with all the disdaining rampancy of an Express Train, say on the old British Rail, where being on time MATTERS! His word, the Bible ? It also soars aloft, not a mere spy-plane, but imparting its dynamic by divine grace to the approach of Christ's return. For this the world must wait; but as it waits, its follies appear on its face, and the need of His grace is as clear as the sun on a clear Summer morning.
	An extract from the Preface to the new volume is here FOLLOWED by an important message concerning Iraq, democracy, liberty, Islam and its totalitarian peers, and the necessity of wisdom in the new action concerning Iraq. The people need the Gospel as something available, not to be hindered in a new dominion of terror, be its clothes now more religious or not.

	OPPORTUNITY as Iraq may seem to provide for those pushing for this kind of power, may turn readily to
	IMPORTUNITY, as they try to grab it.