Merry Christmas, Everyone.

* A lighthearted narration of a family Christmas. *

Yes, it's that time of the year again. The Christmas tree is up, decorated with glass baubles and a string of flashing coloured lights, with stacks of wrapped presents surrounding the foot of the tree. The few Christmas cards displayed on the mantlepiece over a crackling fire shows that some relatives and friends had not forgotten this family. Across the ceiling, a couple of coloured ribbons are purposely twisted to give the wave effect, adding to the festive atmosphere, while at each upper corner of the room, inflated coloured balloons of various shapes complete the seasonal festive interior.

Outside, the ideal mock Tudor home stands alone in the winter countryside. The fields are covered with a layer of glistening, brilliant white snow, along with the leafless branches of any trees near the house, and near the end of one of the branches, a robin is perched, happily twittering away. Oh, such an idyllic, picturesque Christmas scene featured on many Christmas cards, a magical scene so removed from reality that such seasonal beauty can only exist within the imaginations and dreams of the artist who design these cards.

And so, a family living in a suburban terraced house tries to bring this idyllic Christmas scene closer to reality by installing a Christmas tree, then decking it with coloured baubles and those pretty lights, and surrounding its base with wrapped presents. The obsolete twisted coloured paper ribbons are replaced with cords of glittering tinsel, but the fully-inflated balloons are still tied with string to where the wall meets the ceiling.

But here in real Britain, there is no snow. Rather, fog may linger for much of the morning before clearing to reveal an overcast sky from where a light, unsightly drizzle precipitates as it starts to get dark by three-thirty in the afternoon. On the run-up to Christmas and seeing the stacks of wrapped presents surrounding the tree, a child with a sharp mind asks Mother just when did Father Christmas call, if all the presents are already here, perhaps feeling that first jab of reality that Santa Clause may not exist after all, and the aged, bearded gentleman in a red suit he had spoken to at the department store grotto could be an imposter after all!

On Christmas morning, the kids are excited as they unwrap their presents to reveal goodies that will keep them occupied for the rest of the day. When the adults unwrap their presents, their response may or may not be so enthusiastic. After all, if you want or need something, chances that you will go out and buy it yourself - at any time of the year. As such, husbands and boyfriends have a good idea of what to give their sweethearts for Christmas. For them, jewellery always does well. But for the male recipient, I guess it's going to be clothing. And without doubt, when the wife wants to keep her gift a surprise until Christmas morning, that's when not first trying out the garment in the store's fitting room may raise problems.

Ah, Father Christmas! Apparently, he wasn't able to keep track of me, especially after flying the nest whilst in my early twenties. I was living in a bedsit apartment without an open fire, hence having no chimney. One Christmas eve, I decided to leave a mince pie on a plate just inside the kitchen window left ajar. It was a sign of hospitality shown to the bearded elderly gentleman who might be feeling a bit chilly and hungry. Then I retired to bed. The next morning, the pie was still there, untouched, and there were no presents. One theory was that Santa felt it to be unfair to feast on the pie without sharing it with Rudolf and all the other reindeer pulling the sleigh. But he could have left my presents there, even in the kitchen, nevertheless. After all, the window was ajar and was able to open fully when required. When I saw that all my presents were at my parents home, the Theory of Unfairness was discarded in favour of his inability to track properly. Heh!

Is this all real, or am I kidding? I'll leave that for you to decide. After all, why shouldn't I leave a cake out for Santa? Such a kind act during the Season of Goodwill is perfectly plausible, isn't it?

Going back to a typical home scene on Christmas day. The pre-teen children are playing with their recently-gotten toys. The younger teenager is carefully laying out his train set. And dare you to call his train set a toy! To him, it's a hobby, and he would be the first to answer that there are many adults - fully-grown men - who own layouts that took ages and serious concentration to create and function. Finally, the older teenager is in his bedroom, totally absorbed in his new PlayStation that would put his skills to a fresh challenge.

Meanwhile, the remains of the turkey now sit, as if abandoned, in the kitchen, the dining room table is littered with unwashed Christmas pudding bowls and unwashed cutlery. A half-finished bottle of wine, a fruit bowl of tangerines and another of walnuts, mixed with hazel and brazil nuts dominate the table, along with the snapped halves of crackers, cheap and naff plastic tokens and ever more dreadful cracker jokes littering the tablecloth, along with discarded nutshells, orange peelings, and chocolate wrappers.

The husband relaxes in his armchair and he fills the air with the fragrance of a Cuban cigar, making the lounge even more Christmassy than before. Oh, happy day! The wife looks into the kitchen and sees a plethora of dirty dishes and pans waiting to be washed. These days, all she has to do is stuff the mouth of the electric dishwasher, slam the door shut and turn the start knob. What a contrast from the old days when all dishes and pans had to be hand washed. This was most likely the cause of intense quarrels. The wife, the poor soul, spent all morning slaving over the cooker, ensuring that she did her best with the main dinner. Now she felt whacked and would appreciate her husband taking over the kitchen duties, even if it means just stuffing the dishwasher. He can thank his lucky stars for the handwashing had become a thing of the past.

Yet, there he was, in full relaxation in his cosy armchair, somehow managing to puff away at his cigar and snooze at the same time. Suddenly, one of the balloons burst with a loud pop. Both husband and wife were startled by the loud instantaneous noise shattering the peace, and he looks up to see a limp piece of thin rubber suspended next to its fully-inflated companion. The loud pop had also irritated his wife to a point of losing her temper, accusing him of laziness when there is a pile of dirty dishes to be seen to. After all, wasn't she in the kitchen all morning? All the ingredients for a massive quarrel are now in place, much to the consternation of the children, who are all quite used to it, and well expected too, on Christmas Day.  

After a war with words, he finally arises and makes his way to the kitchen. All the ceramics he arranges neatly inside the dishwasher and gets it going. With the pans, giving them a good scrub with a Brillo pad, or better still, a coarser scourer will burn up that excess energy generated by his wordy altercation. At the sink, he thinks about the balloon. Why did that damned thing burst, just like that? This was not the first time either. He had seen balloons burst spontaneously before, and the sudden loud noise cannot only be startling but it can jar the nerves, even resulting in a painful back muscle strain. Who was the brainless, air-headed idiot who invented the balloon?

One thing is certain: This will be the last Christmas spent at home. From next year on, he'll book a place for the family to have Christmas dinner at a pub restaurant. There, they can enjoy all the trimmings of the festive holiday, perhaps with an even livelier atmosphere as well, and not worry at all about the washing up afterwards. And as for the balloons, they were the wishes of the youngest son, James. No more balloons next year! He had enough of them!

  

Ah, with the dishes done, it's the traditional Christmas afternoon family game of Monopoly. Dad calls his sons to the table to play the game. However, the youngest, eight-year-old James was exempt, as he was still considered too young to fully understand the fabric of the game. He then calls down his eldest son, 17-year old Peter. But, being fully immersed in his video game, no way would he stop to play that capitalistic evil, that epitome of greed, the dog-eat-dog, rat-race love for profit at the expense of another's suffering and loss. The nation's economy was one of the current A-Level subjects of his school curriculum, and the more he learned, the more the idea of socialism had an appeal.

Again Dad called, and again Peter answered with a loud and distinct "NO!" Eventually, the parent allowed to let his son have his own way, just to keep the peace. The four sat at the table, husband, wife, who herself held down a career in marketing, so she knew quite a bit about profit and loss, and their other two sons, twelve-year-old Richard and 14-year old Mark.

During the game, the throws of the two dice allowed Mark to buy all four London terminus stations - Kings Cross, Liverpool Street, Fenchurch Street, and Marylebone. The teenager would have wished to have purchased St Pancras instead of Marylebone, as the former had a direct Eurostar route to Paris and Bruxelles respectively, such a facility would have a much greater value. However, with the other three players unwillingly landing on all four stations as determined by the luck of the dice rather than market research, not only Mark was able to make a killing but with his four stations, managed to bankrupt his three opponents.

At last, evening television. As Dad checked the programme schedule, he was disappointed at the rubbish and repeats that will be aired, including a puppet rat, or whatever, prancing around and taking up a peak viewing slot. He sat back at his armchair and grinned. He recalls tales of televisions thrown into the dustbin outside on Boxing Day, as well as TV screens smashed by driving a fist into it. Surely, not true tales, but the kind of stuff shown on Christmas Day does rouse the temptation to do either, perhaps both. He checked the list. On one of the commercial channels, the movie, Towering Inferno is shown, and although repeated several times since it was released on the Big Screen as far back as 1974, he decided to settle for another repeated oldie, Harrison Ford and his Raiders of the Lost Ark, purely on how he likes the bit towards the end when spirits from the golden box swallow up all the nasty members of Hitler's Nazi Party.

Oh well, that's another Christmas Day over for another year, a mighty anticlimax of all the build-up and the preparations that led up to it. Santa Clause seems far gone, forgotten, along with the church carols of Christmas eve tradition. Somehow, there seems to be a general forgetfulness on what Christmas is all about, to celebrate someone's birthday.

A Monopoly Board Game.

Although this blog light-heartedly follows the goings-on of a typical British suburban family at Christmas, I just wish to remind the reader of the greatest gift God had ever given - the birth of His Son Jesus Christ. Having taken place in a small insignificant village on the hills of Judah, this baby was born specifically to die, and to die a cruel, painful death on the cross, buried, and on that Sunday morning three days later, to rise physically from the dead - the only human being ever to be resurrected in the whole of human history, and therefore, He can, and is now willing to give eternal life as a free gift to all believers.

Again, let us not forget the stark reality of his birth rather than the perfect Christmas card image of a mother holding a sleeping baby. At birth, he cried, like any other newborn. This was to fill his lungs with air for the first time. In other words, taking his first breath. After that, the mother had to cope with breastfeeding, followed by his need to pee and defecate. Indeed, he may be wrapped in swaddling clothes, but his need to meet the needs of nature was the same for him as any other child.

And then on the eighth day after birth, he had to be physically circumcised to fulfil the Jewish law for all boys. As the knife severed his foreskin, he let out a scream, just as all babies do. That is what it means for God to incarnate as a man to atone for us. He emptied himself, taking a form of a servant, and dying for us, even death on a cross.

Hence, this is a true saying: that Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners. That means Christmas is about Easter. The death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, a condemned Jew glorified as a saving, and eventually as a reigning Messiah, as foretold by the prophets hundreds, even thousands of years earlier.

My next blog will be in two weeks from now, that is, written on New Years Day, God permitting. In the meantime, I wish you all a very merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year. And I say this despite the current pandemic problem. I thank and praise God for giving us the ability to produce vaccines to help combat the virus. Wonderful mercy from God.

Indeed, just as the Nativity was an act of God's mercy for us.

The Other Five Fruits Of The Spirit

Last week we looked at the first three fruits of the Holy Spirit - Joy, Peace and Patience, together with Love, making up our emotional and spiritual relationship with God. These virtues could be viewed as passive, our direct standing with God as a result of being controlled by the infilling Holy Spirit. This week we look at the last five virtues, which are practical - how we treat other people around us, especially our Christian brothers and sisters.

Also in my last blog, I gave illustrations of two real life experiences - delays at an airport departure lounge, and being stuck in a supermarket checkout line by a fickle customer who was trying to redeem a few pence from a voucher. On both occasions I did not respond well. Take the airport delay incident. I was due to fly to Israel in 1993 to backpack the Holy Land for a couple of weeks when our airplane was found to have a technical fault - the hydraulic piping had sprung a leak, and had to be replaced with a new one before the plane can take off. This caused a six-hour delay which activated my panic button and I became very fidgety. Then I prayed for God to help me, and I became much calmer, felt peace and had patience. Nearby, some Orthodox Jews who were to share my flight were very serene and took the situation so calmly, that a couple of them slept through the ordeal. How come? Why as a Christian I had to pray while those Jews were naturally calm?

I think it was Jesus himself who gave an answer to this one. He said that it was not the righteous who needed a physician, but the sick. (See Mark 2:17.) I guess as an Italian, I panic very easily at the slightest threat or mishap, therefore I need the Holy Spirit far more than one who is naturally calm or have that British stoicism!

Now, supposing that during this long wait at the airport, someone cried out in despair, thinking that his vacation is already ruined. After all, that happened in 1978, but from someone sent back to the departure lounge as a result of an industrial dispute. Do I tease or mock this desperate person? Or more realistically, tell him to grow up? No, it's none of these things. The fruit of the Spirit is love, so I would do my best to make that person feel better. I talk to him, assuring him that we will take off soon and once we had arrived there, our delay will be quickly forgotten. One fruit of the Spirit here becomes manifest, kindness.

Then I offer to buy him a cup of coffee and perhaps a bar of chocolate or a cake at the nearby cafe, and he accepts, the fruit of goodness shines through. He opens up and we start talking, and he tells me why he is flying to Israel. He had suffered a bitter divorce and also having lost the custody of his children to their mother, he decided to visit Israel to see Masada, a hill fortress where a number of Jews in AD 70 decided on mass suicide rather than submit to their Roman oppressors, after reading so much about it in a novel. I respond with gentleness, refusing to pass any judgement, and when he begs me that the talk does not leave the table, faithfulness is the fruit of the spirit which would command loyalty.

By then I would feel love, joy, peace and patience, in fact I would have almost forgotten about the delay. He then asks me why I'm visiting Israel, and I answer that as a backpacker, I love the ancient archaeological sites and I feel a special affinity for the City of Jerusalem. Then, if the circumstance is right, I might explain that Jesus Christ was crucified at Jerusalem for the forgiveness of my sins.

The delay at the airport in 1993 was real, but of course the rest of the story was fabrication, but I have given it to point out that the fruit of the Spirit becomes manifest at certain, normally unfavourable situations. In the last blog, I gave the example of Peter, Paul and Silas, all three in prison. Peter was so secure in the love of Christ that his peace allowed him to sleep. Paul and Silas, being in each other's company manifested joy which caused them to sing praises to God, which convicted and saved the jailer and his family.

So taking a brief look at the remaining virtues:

Kindness. A lack of any form of cruelty, especially verbal. This includes teasing or mocking someone when they are in a difficult or adverse situation, or even to say that they don't have time or to declare that they have more important things to do. It also means showing a favour when others are opposed, or not have the time for. A good example of this is found in Mark 10:13-14 when some mothers came up to Jesus to ask to have their children blessed. The disciples scorned at what looked like a time-wasting request, but Jesus had the kindness to bless those children, despite what the disciples thought.

Goodness. The ability to give from the heart especially to someone who does not deserve it. The Italian word for good is bene, from which we have the English words benefit, benevolent, etc. Generally it the giving of good things which blesses the recipient. A good instruction of this is given by Paul, when he teaches: When your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he's thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head. Romans 12:20. Again, Jesus demonstrated this fruit of the Spirit when he miraculously fed the five thousand, some of them could well have bayed for his crucifixion later when Jesus was tried by Pilate.

Faithfulness. Believing what the other person or group of people has to say and staying loyal to them. This is quite opposite to deserting, gossipping, telling other of one's faults and as such, bringing that person to ridicule or to let him down, or to leave him in his dire situation. Moses remained faithful to the children of Israel, despite on many occasions the nation complained, moaned and were ready to desert him and flee back to Egypt. When Korah and his allies had persuaded the nation to question the leadership of Moses and Aaron, they then fell on their faces to plead for the whole nation, and punish only the conspirators (See Numbers 16:20-24.) Luke too, was faithful to Paul when he was in prison, after everyone else deserted him (2 Timothy 4:10-11).

Gentleness. I remember one house-group when we discussed this fruit of the Spirit, the general opinion of the leader was that many believed that gentleness was a lack of rugged masculinity. Having played rugby, the "he-man's game" we knew where he was coming from. We British have a history in loving to think of ourselves as a nation of conquerers, out to establish an Empire, to rule over others with force where necessary. And there are newspaper journalists even today lamenting over loss of Empire. Yet if there was a person with such gentleness, it was Jesus Christ himself, who the British say they follow as a national religion. He was particularly gentle with women, the woman at the well was one of them. He did not upbraid her for her sins, but rather, his gentleness won her heart to the point when she decided that this man must be a prophet. And he was gentle to the woman caught in the act of adultery. While the Pharisees were ready to stone her for her crime, all he said to her was, "Go, and sin no more." (John 8:11.) Yet no one could have been more masculine in human history as the Lord Jesus Christ. Another fine example of gentleness was with Peter, after delivery from prison, kept on knocking while those inside, who were praying for his release, were debating whether it was him or not. Peter's natural character was to have upbraided them for their slowness to believe and answer the door. Instead, when the door opened, Peter simply beckoned them to hold their peace, with the explanation of his deliverance (Acts 12:12-17.)

Self Control. The final virtue, this is the fruit of the Spirit which prevents a believer erupting into anger or other emotional turmoil, especially where self is directly involved. For example, if someone abuses you, how would you react? If by natural means, you retaliate or seek revenge, or even smack him in the mouth. But this fruit of the Spirit gives you the ability to return the insult with either a gentle reply or with nothing at all. One good example of this was when Jesus was slapped across the face by the soldiers just before the crucifixion, the mocking and the pressing of a crown of thorns on to his head. Jesus could have lashed out physically. He could have protested his innocence to Pilate. He could have even called down a legion of angels to slay them. Instead self control, allowed him to go to the cross without a fuss, most likely enough to convict many of their sins, and to declare, "Surely, this is the Son of God!" And I believe that self control is more than stoicism, the stiff upper lip or the bottling up of emotions. Self control involves returning evil with goodness, kindness and gentleness. It involves making sure that your enemy or adversity is fed and well looked after, a virtue that can only come from the Holy Spirit.

These are all the nine virtues which makes up the fruit of the Spirit. Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self Control, to which there is no law. (N.I.V.) Each of these virtues is a strength to meet every need in one's walk with God and alongside others. I believe that the first four are connected vertically with our standing with God, the other five, horizontally with our relationship with other people. Therefore not only do I liken the Fruit of the Spirit as an orange with eight segments within a rind, but also to a cross, the Cross of Christ.

Galatians 5:16 (KJV) says, Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh This is the key verse for all three articles in this mini-series.

Finally, God is willing for every believer to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I actually go further and say it is a command from God. But it is for believers only - those who have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. All he has to do is to ask, and God will fulfill his request.

The Fruit Of The Spirit Is Joy, Peace, Patience...

Last week I wrote an article titled, "The Fruit Of The Spirit Is Love.." In it I likened the singular word "Fruit" Paul uses as one orange, within are eight segments, each segment representing a virtue - Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self Control, all eight tightly protected with a rind which forms the one fruit - love, I believe to be symbolised by the one orange fruit.

Love is the most important of virtues, because it is the very character of God himself. We have seen that God is love, the interaction between Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and his wish to share this interactive love with the pinnacle of all creation, mankind. The way of allowing this love to flow in us and through us to others is for the believer to be filled with the Holy Spirit, in other words, to be filled with God himself. With the Holy Spirit living within us, eight characteristics becomes manifest, the first one after love is Joy.

I recall 1978. That was the year I was about to take off from London Gatwick Airport for New York to spend a whole month backpacking the USA. But at the time of take off, at the start of August, there was a strike among French Air Traffic Controllers. That meant all flights into Europe from the British Isles were severely disrupted, delayed or cancelled. Therefore it was natural for me back then to feel apprehension on what to expect on arrival to the airport. This apprehension tempered my excitement of the coming adventure. Would I board the flight at all, let alone on time? Would I end up sleeping at the airport departure lounge? And with the knowledge that the Travel Insurance Policy which I carried did not cover industrial disputes in those days.

When I arrived at the airport to check in, the teller informed me that my flight was on schedule with take off on time. So at the boarding gate we were just about to file through to board the plane, when an announcement came through the speakers - addressed to the crowd of waiting passengers preparing to board at the very next gate. After spending the whole night at the departure lounge, they were told to return to the lounge from the gate. One young man about my age at the time, vented his frustration after seeing that his dream trip to Spain was ruined, after working so hard to save up for it throughout the year. As they filed back to the lounge, we boarded the plane. My spirits were up, despite feeling sorry for the frustrated young man who should have been at the Spanish Costa by then, after what had meant to be his first night at his hotel.

Suppose the tables had been turned, with the American Air Traffic Controllers being on strike instead of the French? Would I had been any better in handling the situation than the frustrated young man on the other flight? This was why I shared this story. It highlights that there is a difference between happiness and joy.

Happiness is a feelgood factor based on the current circumstance. Even though I was a Christian in 1978, I knew full well that I would not have been mature enough to handle the situation any better than the other guy. What I felt was happiness, because the plane I was on was about to take off on time. But joy is based on the knowledge and trust that God is in the situation, and being held up by an industrial dispute was foreseen by God, with the plan that all things work out for the good for those who love him, and are called according to his purpose. But to be joyful in such a frustrating situation is not natural. Let me emphasise this here: It is impossible to feel naturally joyful when your vacation is ruined or even spoiled by some body's idea of what looks to be greed and spitefulness. Let's be realistic. This sort of situation would make anyone feel like tearing at their hair in frustration!

But it is also a test on one's Christian maturity, on whether he is filled and controlled by the Holy Spirit within. Because the basis of joy is its partner-virtue, Peace which, I believe, that it was no accident that Paul lists Peace right after Joy, as the two go together. Then the third characteristic, Patience also provides the third strength for the other two to be manifest. So in this article we are looking at a group of three virtues that looks to be directly linked to the inner man, his spiritual state. If this is true, then the other five are to do on how one re-acts with others, and we shall look on those in the next blog. In all, one can conclude that the first three after love - joy, peace and patience are to do with our relationship with God. Kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control seems to be all to do with our relationship with other people. Therefore we can conclude that the fruit of the Spirit also resembles the Cross, our vertical relationship with God together with our horizontal relationship with other people.

It would be impossible to nurture joy naturally while stuck at an airport. But I can relate a similar incident in 1993, also at London Gatwick, concerning my flight to Israel to do a little backpacking there for two weeks. Our flight was delayed for six hours due to a technical fault on the plane, and the replacement part was at the principal airport of London - Heathrow - a good few miles away, hence such a long delay. At first I panicked, but after silent prayer I felt at peace which was backed by being patient.

Yet close by, there was a group of Orthodox Jews who were also to board the same flight. Their dress mode stood them out in contrast to everybody else in the lounge. Yet among them there was not a ruffle of emotion. They looked serene, one or two even took the opportunity for a nap. So was my sense of peace supernatural? Indeed it was. Otherwise my reaction to the delay would have been similar to that of the young man back in 1978. After all, it was 1978 since I last disembarked from a plane, the intervening fifteen years were spent building up my window cleaning business.

Joy - the feelgood or happiness felt despite adverse circumstances. The best example of this found in the Bible is recorded in Acts 16:25. Here Paul and Silas were shackled in prison, without any guilty cause. Therefore not only were they locked in a cell but they were unable to walk around. In a situation like this one could be in near panic, or protesting his innocence. Instead they were singing their praise to God, within earshot of other prisoners. In fact so infectious were their joy, that the jailer and his family were saved.

Being two together in the same cell seemed to have enhanced their joy to the point of singing praises to God. Earlier, Peter too was locked up in a cell (Acts 12:1-10). Being alone, chained to two guards, one on each side together with two more at the door, Peter did not express his joy outwardly as Paul and Silas had done. But the fruit of peace and patience took his mind off the circumstance, and enjoyed a good sleep. A person in the throes of panic usually cannot rest, let alone sleep.

Peace - A feeling of contentment which is free from worry, anxiety, fear, stress or any other turbulent emotion. It can be likened to a very calm sea, with not a breath of wind to stir up the waves. This kind of peace can only be achieved with the full reassurance that one is forever secure in the love and sovereignty of God. That is one of the reasons why I believe in Once Saved Always Saved, and therefore a true believer is forever a child of God, redeemed. This kind of reassurance brings peace to the soul even in the most unjust and hostile circumstance. It was this sense of peace which allowed Peter to sleep. He knew that the worse Herod could have done to him was destroy the body and allow the apostle to go home to Heaven.

Patience - The ability to wait for something even during a long or unreasonable delay. This is a fruit of the Spirit which took a very long time to come to maturity in my soul. One of my besetting sins is at a supermarket checkout line. You perhaps are familiar with the story. You stand there waiting and waiting to be served, while the customer in front keeps on quibbling at the teller over a 10p (or say, a 15 cent) voucher. Eventually the teller calls on the store manager as arbiter, only to find that his delay in arrival is due to a more important discussion over the phone. In my case, it was the perfect opportunity for my emotions to rise to a full-blown rage. If there is an area in my life where the Holy Spirit needs to do a lot of work, it is at the supermarket checkout line. Wouldn't had been much better, say had I offered the customer some loose change and gently plead with that person to accept the money and move on? Not only would this diffuse the situation, but it would have been highly likely to have received thanks from those queuing behind me!

The circumstances of Peter, Paul and Silas were much worse than being stuck in a supermarket checkout line or airport departure lounge. Their very lives were at stake. But their peace and joy which enabled them to sleep or sing praises were interlinked with their patience. None of the three were fidgeting or watching the clock, wishing that whatever they were waiting for would be over and done quick.

Moses, was to my opinion, the greatest example of demonstrating patience. After leading the children of Israel out of Egypt by means of such miracles of God, Moses had to put up with forty years of baying from a whinging and complaining nation. Yet rather than taking vengeance at such ungratefulness, he always interceded when God himself came down to discipline and punish them for their unbelief.

Love, along with joy, peace and patience are fruits of the Holy Spirit which adds strength to every situation in one's walk with God. Jesus said to all believing on him only to ask their Father in Heaven for the Holy Spirit, and God is willing to fulfill their request. In other words, God is saying,
"You wish to be filled with my Spirit? Well, there you are, he is yours!"
(See Luke 11:13.)

He is the best gift anyone can receive.

Royal Wedding, Stoicism And The Great Wedding In Heaven

How I enjoyed watching on television the wedding between Prince William and Catherine Middleton!

The sight of thousands of people lining the route from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey raised my emotions, and the cheers as first the Groom, then the rest of the Royal Family, then the Bride, at that stage still considered a commoner, made their short car journey to the Abbey.
And as the Groom placed his ring on her finger, the Bride's status changed from a commoner to the Duchess of Cambridge and a Royal.
Endless commentaries were given for Catherine's dress, comments like "fantastic!" and "Spectacular!" Everyone loved it. Catherine herself grew up to be startlingly beautiful, and little wonder that she was the perfect fit for the Groom who will one day become King of England.
Equally impressive were the crowds who attended the pageantry. Estimates reckon around two million spectators gathered in Central London for the occasion, a small proportion of the two billion who watched it on television globally.
What I loved about the whole spectacle was how the crowds lining the route cheered vocally and allowed their emotions to show amidst the sea of Union Jack flags waving in the mild air.
I believe too that the prayers of many were answered when not a drop of rain fell throughout the whole occasion. During the last three of four days preceding the Wedding, the Met Office warned that a scattering of heavy showers, in places even accompanied by thunder, would attempt to put a damper on the celebrations. But even if that had been the case, I doubt that it would have spoiled much, with the exception that the journey from the Abbey to the Palace would have had the newlyweds in a closed-in coach instead of the open-top one which made the couple clearly visible to the bystanders and TV audience alike.
And how the spectators cheered as the newly married Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were driven back to the Palace!

High emotions! Does this make Britain less stoic? No, I believe it does not. Stoicism is a reaction, in contrast to panic, in the face of a crisis, whether it's an airline in distress or financial difficulties. Stoicism is about getting to grips in solving the problem instead of running away, flustering or getting tied in knots with panic. The 33 Colombian miners who were trapped for six weeks in a sealed chamber underground were a good example of stoicism. They prayed daily and waited patiently for rescue to begin. The South American disaster was also proof that stoicism is not uniquely British.
As stoicism being uniquely British is the opinion of some newspaper journalists which at times really ruffle my feathers!
Amanda Platell and Melanie Phillips, both Daily Mail columnists, have written articles about "the decline of stoicism in Britain" since the death of Princess Diana in 1997. According to Platell and Phillips, the British have become a sentimental, mawkish, weepy and emotional society, with Phillips adding of the decline of masculinity.
To them, that's bad. Is It? Does it really weaken masculinity?
If so, then the Lord Jesus Christ was a wimp. He wept in public on two separate, recorded occasions. The first was over the fate of Jerusalem, the second over the death of Lazarus.
But it would also mean that today's pageantry would have been different if Platell and Phillips had their way.
Instead of cheering crowds, the route would have been lined with an orderly crowd of stiffly dressed men and women, gently clapping without a single voice heard as the Royal procession passed by. The Queen would have looked ahead sternly instead of waving to the crowds and the newly weds would have also been concealed inside a coach, almost oblivious to the sound of clapping outside. In short, the day's event would have resembled more like Remembrance Sunday than a wedding.
As it was the crowds expressed their emotions of excitement and joy without reserve, as it should be. A wedding is a joyous occasion, a cause for celebration.
Having been to a wedding reception in the Middle East myself, I can assure that the Bible indeed sees a wedding as a joyous occasion. The wedding at Cana was attended by Jesus Christ himself, who turned water into wine, not wine into water as these columnists believe should have been done.
In the Book of Revelation, John gives us a glimpse of the unrestrained emotions of rapturous joy as the Bride is presented to the Groom.

Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang:
"Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and
wisdom and strength
and honour and glory and praise!"
Then I heard every creature in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing:
"To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be praise and honour and glory and power,
for ever and ever."
The four living creatures said, "Amen",
and the elders fell down and worshipped.
Revelation 5:11-14.

And also this:

Then what I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like a roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting:
Hallelujah!
For the our Lord God Almighty reigns.
Let us rejoice and be glad
and give him glory!
For the wedding of the Lamb has come,
and the bride has made herself ready.
Fine linen, bright and clean,
was given her to wear."
(Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.)
Then the angel said to me, "Write:
'Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!'" And he added, "These are the true words of God."
Revelation 19:6-9.

The heavenly Bride of Christ is the Church. We are the Bride of Jesus Christ if we trust in him to save us. On that wedding day in heaven emotions will run high. No British stiff upper lip then!
The wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton was a joyous occasion. Everyone there had the right to shout with joy!
After all, in heaven, it would be impossible to hold under restraint any emotion then!
Wishing the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge a happy future together.
HOORAY!!!

Once Saved Always Saved - Part 2 - Holiness is Fun!

Holiness is fun!
This is the follow up of the last blog about the Calvinism/Arminian debate. If you wish to refresh on my last post, just click on the "Older Post" prompt at the foot of this page.
It was a typical Sunday morning at Ascot Baptist Church, my home church where I attend regularly. During the sermon, Phil Rogers, our Elder, came out with these words:-
Holiness is Fun!
I was somewhat stunned. To me, "Holiness" had always conjured up in my mind of a group of monks chanting in the monastery, way out in the countryside, separate and away from the hustle and bustle of life in the secular world.

Or I imagine a "holy person" so pious, that whenever he looks at me he could see into my soul and mentally judges me, and I turn away to avoid that look.
Holiness is nothing like that.
Jesus himself said that holiness is fun. In John 15:10-11, he says:
If you keep my commandments (that is, to love one another) ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
Jesus also said:-
Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels in heaven over one sinner that repents. Luke 15:10.
Just imagine it. Our God is a happy God! Because somewhere in the world somebody had just got saved, and received the free gift of eternal life. And here and there someone is saved all the time. So the heavenly party never ceases. The believer is a gift from the Father to the Son for dying for his sins on the cross. So I can imagine a Heavenly Christmas morning that never ends. Gift after gift is received by Jesus Christ from God the Father, the myriad of angels shout for joy and everyone is having fun. The party is enhanced further by millions of saints (Christian believers) who have already died and entered glory. Their thunderous shouts of praise are twofold: first at a conversion of a sinner to saint on Earth, and the death of a Christian as he then enters the glories of Heaven, very much like the winner of an athletic foot race crossing the finishing line and breaks the tape.
Exhilarating!
God is a happy God. He loves us immensely. We are a gift to the Son from the Father, and there are no unwanted presents either. God does not make mistakes. That's why I firmly believe in Once Saved always Saved.
If there is such a doctrine so strongly debated, it is this one. Once Saved Always Saved seems too good to be true. In fact, all it says that there is absolutely no way a sinner can do anything to merit grace. Instead, the Good News of God's Grace is proclaimed, and the hearer believes, his faith resulting in salvation. Another name for "Good News" is the Gospel.
Once Saved Always Saved has been the cause of this Big Debate for nearly half a millennium and which shows no sign of slowing down.
In this article we shall look into further into the debate and what is it about Calvinism which Arminians and other non-Calvinists so dislike about it.
When one talks or reads about this debate, the issue is almost entirely about Once Saved Always Saved. This issue being: Are we as believers eternally secure in the hope of entry into Heaven after death? Or can we fall away, lose our salvation and end up in Hell? In other words, in this case the believer, rather than receiving a free gift from God through grace, he is on probation, to see if he is worthy enough to be saved.
But eternal security is only a part of what Calvin advocated. His whole treatise involved five points with which each initial letter spell the acronym TULIP.

To deciphering this acronym, we get this result:
T Total depravity of the sinner
U Unconditional Election
L Limited Atonement
I Irresistible Grace
P Perseverance of the Saints

It's the P in the last article which the debate really is centered on, which we get the modern terminology, Once Saved Always Saved.
But for anyone who sees Limited Atonement as something akin to blasphemy or grossly unfair, it simply means that Christ died for the Church. This means that the power of the Atonement is effective to everyone who has faith in Jesus Christ as Saviour. Each believer who has this faith becomes a member of the Church, which is the family of God, with God himself as his Heavenly Father. But the power of the atonement is for each person who believes, or trust in Jesus Christ to save him. To those who refuse to believe, the Atonement has no effect on them.
Thus Jesus himself said while at the Temple in Jerusalem:
And (Jesus) said, Therefore I say unto you, that no man can come unto me, except that it was given unto him of my Father
John 6:65.
He also said, in John 10 that the Jews did not believe because they were not of his sheep. His sheep hear his voice and follows him (because they are his sheep already, apparently not because they have just decided to follow him) and he gives them eternal life (free gift of grace) and they shall never perish (eternal security) - my Father, who gave those sheep to me (as a reward for his coming Crucifixion) is greater than all, and no one is able to pluck them from his hand (so God can't be beaten by human will).
In John 17 we see Jesus praying for first his immediate disciples, than for all believers to come. On more than one occasion Jesus emphasised that each disciple was given to him by God, indicating that they were already his from eternity past. He also says that all that are his belongs to the Father as well, indicating that very believer belonged to God from eternity past, for there is absolutely nothing that could happen without God knowing about it beforehand. In plain English, God knew every single work, thought, feeling, speech and action you would ever say, think, feel and do before you were even conceived!
Thus where TULIP is explained: Total depravity, is where it would be impossible for anyone to come to God in his own power. Yes, many people are good to others, kind, compassionate and generous to each other, but because of our fallen natures, these virtues are of no use to God.
It can be likened to a glass of clean water to a thirsty person, it is desirable. But just one tiny drop of ink, and the thirsty person would not touch it, even if there is only a very slight discolouration.
All this seems to indicate the U in Tulip for Unconditional Election, and I, for Irresistible Grace. If God foreknew the believer from eternity past and has predestined you to conform unto the likeness of his Son, then he also knew that he will not resist his grace. As Jesus himself said,
Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father. John 6:65.
And also:
No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up on the last day. John 6:44. And,
All that the Father gives to me shall come to me; and he who comes to me I will in no wise cast out. John 6:37.
Therefore the P in Perseverance can only make sense if we are to believe that God the Father has given you to his beloved Son as a gift, and God does not makes mistakes! Especially if God knew that the believer was chosen right up until the believer falls away and loses his salvation. Some "gift" for his Son!
So then, what about Free will, human choice? Does the Bible teach it? Yes, it does. Does it contradict Divine Sovereignty? Yes, apparently it does!
Look at John chapter 1. in verse 9 John wrote that the Light of Christ shines into the soul of every man born into the world, and the most famous verse in the Bible, John 3:16, says, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him, should not perish, but have eternal life."
Jesus also said, He who heareth my word, and believes on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. John 5:24.
Later, Jesus called out to the crowds, If anyone thirst, let him come to me and drink. John 7:37.
He also said, Except that you believe that I am he, you shall die in your sins. John 8:24.
Paul also said,
And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth that all men everywhere should repent. Acts 17:30.
And also Peter stated:
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise...but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that anyone should perish, but all should come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9.
Do these verses indicate free will and human choice? Yes they do.
So here is the apparent contradiction between God's Sovereignty and free will. Both are true.
So what do we do? Accept them both equally. The Bible is God's Word to mankind. How one becomes a believer through hearing the Word preached was the result of God's Sovereign choice and at the same time a choice the person himself had made, cannot be explained. But it is taught. Rather than fight it about in a debate lasting centuries, why not just accept what the Bible says?
And it says that Christ died to reconcile us to God.

So in this final part I wish to discuss why believing in Once Saved Always Saved is the key to Holiness.
It is the assurance we need when the chips are down, when feeling lonely, a loser, struggling with a problem or as in the the days the New Testament was written, under intense persecution. Back then every Roman citizen must confess by law that Caesar is Lord. They must accept that the Emperor was divine. To say Jesus Christ is Lord instead of Caesar added up to treason, and the offender was imprisoned or executed. That is why Paul writes to the church in Rome that no one can confess that Jesus Christ is Lord except by the Holy Spirit in him. In other words, confessing that Jesus Christ is Lord is of God's grace, not human merit. The same applies to perseverance. It is a grace from God, not a human strength. Many times in his letters Paul admonish his readers to "stand firm in the faith". That is to allow God's power to work unrestrained in the midst of tribulation without allowing the human weakness of fear and doubt get in the way.
It has nothing to do with loss of salvation.
To all those who trusts in Jesus Christ to save them:
God is a happy God. You are a gift to the Son for dying for your sins.
He had chosen you from eternity past, to enjoy the privilege of holiness.
Would he let you go? I can't see the sense in that.