Chapter 7

 

There is a War on: Be sure you have on your

Protective Clothing!

 

News 251

ABC TV January 1, 2003

 

Washington Post,  Dec. 24, 2002

 

 

SOMETHING ? BUT WHAT ?

 

There is something about a soldier …goes the old song, that is fine, fine, fine!

 

Certainly, a sense of ordered might, enthusiasm (where present), mission and assemblage for  fell or perhaps  even defensive purposes can be impressive! The other side is there too,  and some armies seek  to guard against the easily accessible excesses in this domain.  Armies can be sites for oppression, bullying, sadism, towards one’s own or the enemy, irrational hatred, determined obfuscation and visionless arousal, likewise.

 

The Edinburgh Tattoo seen on ABC TV on January 1, 2003 was highly organised, wonderfully photographed and must have cost exceedingly exacting preparations. But what was its message ? The presence of people dressed in tribal outfits (relatively rare in this setting, of course), the perhaps deliciously intense humour of having people of other nations dressed in highly dignified British costumes, of armed gravity type, act first with military discipline, and then make display in the innate fun and wild enthusiasm of another clime: these things were  excellent theatre.

 

When it went further, and presented us with materials related to the treatment of various gods, or their imaginary treatment of others, however, it was apparent that this was something more than entertainment, or the impressive martialling of the clothing at least, of might.

 

The vision seemed to appear as the lights disappeared. Was this not the Commonwealth with its new look, its new direction (somewhere from the multiplicitous past into the unified future?), and was not the roll of the droll  something of an admission that the ship  was sailing in the 8^th sea, the unknown one; but, that with all good feeling, together it would be pleasant, even profitable,  and intensely human.

 

Quo vadis Britain ? Where does your destiny lie ?

 

To make the trend even more obvious, there were American elements, from Georgia, and indeed many teams performed to a marvel. One can only congratulate the management on the performance.

 

However, the direction symbolised ?

 

Is it not,

v          with al  Qaeda seeking to chomp and chastise;

v          with a world in disarray; 

v          with the past  vision that Britain at least formally adopted, of spiritual faith in the living  God through  Jesus  Christ,  with no papacy added to help Him, just ONE  Mediator from the ONE God with ONE message in  ONE library of His own, the Bible, fading nationally:

v          that this was a new look  ?

 

Was it also a beginning of symbolisation of one world with one human cargo which, however it was sourced, is now coursing into a pleasant  future with, to be sure, no maps,  but still, a coming place for man, by man, from man, and to man.

 

It rather reminds one of Romans  11:33, except that they would perhaps write, instead of “God”, “mankind”: no small substitute, though one of small wisdom, and no realism. It is then as in Babel (Genesis 11), LET US BUILD!

 

God was not pleased then;  He has not changed (Malachi 3:6, Psalm102, Hebrews 13:8, Micah 5:2, Habakkuk 3:6). How would this verse in Romans 11 read then, with this infinite change ? “For of mankind, and through mankind and to mankind are all things, to which be glory forever.” One has omitted the Amen, since there can be no Amen to this, but only avast and avaunt, for the smoke is acrid, the folly is perennial and the future is not unknown for any such thing as that, or any adaptation to the confusion of pseudo-unified religions, which embracing stark opposites, mean nothing except that the one or the body which adopts the result, is itself playing ‘God’.

 

England became great on another way, one based in sublimity if divinity: “For of Him, and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.” It was God, reliably reached through His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, whose was this first and last, eternal site and facility. Since this is basically a news matter, and the issue was dealt with in depth in the earlier chapter, and is merely symbolical of what was shown in detail concerning British trends in other places (see also The Other News 13, News 113, Wake Up World! … Ch. 3) , we now pass simply on to China, not noticeable at Edinburgh as yet.

 

It was noticed in the last chapter that China^*1, on the other hand, coming from an atheistic past in its governing echelons - and in fact, it is living rather well in the present through the funds being imported for commercial projects just now, from nations of a very different complexion - is experiencing much of what troubled Russia in the late twentieth century (cf. loc. cit., *1 and *3). What is there being offered is by no means all that is wanted.

 

The unrest in China is however often taking, by report, a more desirable course. There appears, especially in certain areas, to be a huge increase in specifically evangelical Protestantism, way beyond any Romanistic parallel. Perhaps they are grown rather weary, as doubtless soon will be the world’s coming power structure and its players, of stark authority, based in man, but parading as if God (cf. Revelation 17:15-17, SMR pp. 1032-1088H, 912ff., 846ff., 950ff.).

 

The stress on the individual that is arising in China, is reportedly intense, indeed it appears also to be on meaning: it is not fitting to many in China to be ants in an anthill, pitilessly beaten by the sun of a deceased Mao, or Marx, whose ways are anything but divine, either in theory or practice (cf. SMR pp. 925ff., 127ff., Highway to Hell, and Indexes). Even Saddam Hussein is now having HIS little book, filled with such pearls as adorn a dictatorship, though the book is not red this time!

 

The world loves itself, but is not lovely (James 4:4). God is needed. God IS love (I John 4:7-8). HE made sacrifice for His love; HE took the penalties of caring for the loved; and it is HE who being who He is, makes His atonement available, in love, and not something else (Galatians 1).

 

Thus as one nation begins to move towards Europe with its passé Romanism, and the WCC with its irrational inclusivist proposals, another finds new life where life first stirred Britain to its own greatness: in Christ.

 

The Washington Post report on China, noted above (and detailed in … Immovable Faith, Ch. 6, *2), is thus of major interest, and worthy of pursuit on the Web; for it appears to incorporate considerable research in China; and detail is not lacking.

 

 

SOMEWHERE,

THE DESTINY THAT IS THE DESIDERATUM,

BUT HOW ?

Not in millions, of dollars or of men, does the answer lie, but in One

Known, and Displayed, Tattooed on His very Face

 

There are really only two places to go: to destiny with God or to rebellion without Him. If the former, then He needs to be identified – just as you do not go to SOME COUNTRY OR OTHER when going abroad, but identify clearly what it is, name it and ensure that you are to be accepted when you get there. One well remembers going to Canada when some decades younger, to perform a needed ministry in a beautiful Island (PEI), and on being found to have some past breakage in some fingers of one’s left hand, being told that THIS, it was NOT in the medical report presented.  YOU COULD, the official advised this author, have been refused entrance; but since you are professional, all is well.

 

On the same flight, from memory, one recalls some people at Hawaii, wanting to enter America, and the long gangway on which they had to walk back, apparently rejected and having to return to base!  The lesson then is good. If you are going with God, do not just wave the hand, make out your own passport or visa, and incline your heart to consider your vast intrinsic worth. It is not you who constitute the assessor! YOU do not hold the examination. It is up to the country, a far better country than any here, where you go, to consider your  … case.

 

It is therefore wise to think: in times past the Roman Empire slew Christians with zestful enthusiasms, enjoying the spectacle, then Romanism testifying how it glorified God just as Christ predicted (John 16:2), and now Islam is pursuing its ancient techniques, slaughter and more slaughter the specialty of its martial fame. It is not for nothing that they have slaughtered; nor for that matter, that Communism became so profoundly competent a learner in the human abattoirs game, leaving a trail for eternity to ponder, in Cambodia, and even more in China, not to mention Russia, or the arctic rigours that led to so many rigors, in Siberia. These were the dastardly dynamics: they bite, they tear, they snarl, they lie, they parade, they cling to death like crows to carrion.

 

There is a war on! (cf. Ch. 6, … Immovable Faith). Some fight as they will.

 

Ø     But for the Christian: You fight with grace, kindness and compassion but especially with understanding, wisdom and the courage of Christ, who died that men should live and not die in inescapable exclusion from the very presence of God. You cannot force it; God does not force it: but in His all-knowing, never deceived beauty of holiness, He misses none, just as Christ found His sheep (John 10).

Ø     The restraint of His love, never merely possessive, the purity of His heart, always ready to forgive, the amplitude of His opportunity, never merely jaded, and again, the sheer openness, not to change by man, but to the overthrow of the sins of man on that blessed application to which all are invited, sometimes even urged (Matthew 22:8-10), and many come: this is the joy of those who cry,  “Glory to the righteous!” just as God predicted would be the case, yes even  as here, down in the “isles” (cf. Isaiah 24:14-16, 42:6, 49:6, 50-55), who “receive the water of life freely”! (Isaiah 55:-13, 54:6, Revelation 21:6, 22:17).

Ø     It is Christ, not England, not Anglicanism, not denominationalism, not independence, not nationalism, not internationalism, not Gnosticism: it is HE who is the “desire of all nations” (as predicted in Haggai 2:7, Isaiah 49:6, 54-5). Whether the old depart, or the new come, for one and for all, it is HE!

 

Ø     Never does anyone have to lament, saying – Oh let me come to the One who shed HIS blood, and does not live by murder, but in grace! If only the door were open. The invitation is there: Come!

 

Ø     To be with the Prince of Peace, and acceptable to Him (as in Ephesians 1:1-6, 2:1-10), you need to ask for His GRACE (not money, not fame is needed, but kindness and compassion given as He will). You need to ACCEPT His PLACE (and this means first, not the celestial destiny with Him, but His place for you, on the Cross as a cancellation of sin, receivable ONLY by faith as shown in Romans 3, Eph. 2, Galatians 3, 5), and ADDING nothing to the document, not credits, no merits (for BY GRACE you are a having been saved person, says Paul, through faith), you enter in HIS NAME. The HE clothes you with HIS righteousness which is the mark of the Master (Isaiah 61:10, Psalm 71:16, Romans 3:22ff., 5:15, Ephesians 2:1-10, Matthew 22:11ff. – and notice the fate of the man ‘undressed’ who dared to enter the presence of the king!).

 

Ø     That then is in your visa; for that is the COUNTRY OF ORIGIN which makes the destiny, under the same management, assured. Come by faith to Him as He is and as He has proclaimed Himself to be, you are already accepted in the beloved (Ephesians 1:6); and when so, then already you HAVE “an inheritance” (Ephesians 1:11), and God has known you from the first (Ephesians 1:4), yes this, even when YOU do not know HIM till the last: and this, when the time is ripe and your life on this earth is complete, then it is merely … coming home!

 

 

NOTE

 

*1 The URL of the Report on Protestant Growth in China is this:  

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A31459-2002Dec23.htmlTE

 

See News 253 or more on China, and … Immovable Faith Ch. 6, *2 and in the chapter text for further on the Report.