To the Cross

'The vision for Hope 08 is that the whole church goes to the whole nation for a year and beyond and that we tell our country about Jesus, with our words, because we believe in preaching the gospel of the cross of Jesus Christ, but with our lives, because we want to say that believing in Jesus changes our lives - we can't if our lives don't look different!' (Mike Pilavachi: founder of Soul Survivor)

I know many wouldn't believe I am old enough, but on Saturday evening I became a grandfather for the second time. Yesterday I went to hospital to see Sophie. It was a God moment and I confess that as I held her in my arms I shed a couple of tears at the emotion of it all - she is absolutely beautiful! How can anyone look at a new born baby (her complex design, her amazing form, her her staggering beauty) and deny that God exists or not want to praise him? Oh yes, you shaped me first inside and then out; you formed me in my mother's womb, I thank you, High God - you're breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration - what a creation! You know me inside out, you know every bone in my body; you know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculptured from nothing into something. Like an open book you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, The days of my life all prepared before I'...

Well what do you think? Try and put aside the fact that the evangelist is American. What (if anything) is good? what (if anything) is not so good about this evangelist's style? How is the student reacting to what is going on here? What do you think the outcome of this conversation will be?

I’ve been thinking today about the people in the Old Testament. There are many people in our churches today who question the inerrancy or infallibility of the Bible. We are too often told that the great people of the Bible such as Adam and Eve, Noah, Jonah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, David, the Prophets etc are not people of history. This certainly wasn’t the view of Jesus. His use of language when referring to Scripture can only conclude that Jesus believed that Scripture was the authoritative Word of God and that these people were historical figures. Jesus points out that it was the Holy Spirit that spoke the word of God through the writers of the Old Testament. Quoting Psalm 110:1 in Matthew 22.43 for example, Jesus said ‘‘How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls (Jesus) ‘Lord’? ’’ Abraham: Jesus said about Abraham: ‘ Before Abraham was born I am’ (John 8:56 -58) The crowd wanted to kill Jesus for saying these words – if Abraham was thought to be imaginary...

An MP will this week seek to bring an end to Britain's controversial blasphemy laws - as a broad cross- section of believers, humanists and civil rights campaigners continue to argue that they are unnecessary, repressive and outdated. Today British Humanist Association (BHA) and the comedian Stewart Lee urged MPs to vote for the abolition of the offences of blasphemy and blasphemous libel when it is considered by the Commons at the instigation of Liberal Democrat MP Dr Evan Harris. Report from Ekklesia: http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/ Question: To abolish or not to abolish? (please feel free to comment (and or vote in the poll at the bottom of this we...

This video is part of 'Hope 08's ' initiative. If you never view anything else on this blog I urge you to watch this!

Bishop Alan’s Blog: Spy vs Spy? When it comes to spy cameras, we scorn when it seems to be intruding on our lives, but when it results in a prevention of terrorist activity we tend to breathe a sigh of relief. That said, people may be (consciously or otherwise) anxious of a future power misusing spy cams to the point that "It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a telescreen. The smallest thing could give you away. A nervous tic, an unconscious look of anxiety, a habit of muttering to yourself--anything that carried with it the suggestion of abnormality, of having something to hide." (1984)

AN IMPRISONED COMMUNITY 'L ook around you', the Lord was saying, 'Look around you, what do you see?' I looked and I saw BARS. Lots and lots of bars. Horizontal bars, vertical bars, everywhere! The first sets of bars were on houses and shops AND THE LORD SPOKE TO ME OF THE PRISON OF MISTRUST The next two set of bars were more subtle, in order to hide their call to incarceration: The first vertical lines on a window that made up the shape of two nude ladies (not pictured). It was an erotic bar. The second behind the bars that formed this shop window - a cool looking dummy complete with shades and a casual top that portrayed casual sex as a means to love and peace and joy. God reminded me of a bar chart in the papers the previous day that dispelled these lies - it was a chart showing 500% increase in sexually transmitted diseases. But still that dummy screamed out at me: 'I want to make you into my own image!' But God showed me that that image was as plastic an...