The 'Phoney Peace' and the now-and-not-yet Kingdom

Here's my article for May:

This month we commemorate the 80th anniversary of VE Day, which is viewed by many as the end of the Second World War. But of course it only marked Victory in Europe; the end of hostilities between the European powers, it wouldn't be until VJ Day in August 1945 that the Second World War would end, with Victory over Japan. Just as the start of the war was dubbed 'the Phoney War' because of a lack of fighting, so we could call the period between VE Day and VJ Day, 'the Phoney Peace'. Peace had started and was more-or-less guaranteed but the war was not yet over.

This sense of 'now-and-not-yet' is also characteristic of the Christian faith. Last month we celebrated Jesus' death and resurrection and at the end of this month we'll be celebrating his ascension. Behind these historical events lie spiritual events. The apostle Paul tells us that on the cross Jesus triumphed over the rulers and authorities in the spiritual realm, taking away their power (Colossians 2:15) and that after his ascension Jesus was given the position of ultimate authority, ruling over all forces, authorities, powers, and rulers (Ephesians 1:20-21). However, we still see evil forces active in the world and we still pray to God “your kingdom come: your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” so where is the triumph and rule of Jesus?

The answer is in the now-and-not-yet nature of the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God has been inaugurated by Jesus' death and resurrection but it won't be fully consummated until Jesus returns to judge the living and the dead. As John Piper says

The decisive battle against sin and Satan and sickness and death has been fought and won by the King in his death and resurrection, but the war is not over. Sin must be fought, Satan must be resisted, sickness must be prayed over and groaned under (Romans 8:23), and death must be endured until the second coming of the King and the consummation of the kingdom.

So we can see signs of the Kingdom even now: as people come to a personal relationship with God through Jesus; as people are healed or find in God the courage to cope with tragedy; as those whose lives were dominated by sin or addiction are freed through repentance and the work of the Holy Spirit within them. Yet we also see the continuing effects of a world broken by sin.

As we live in this 'in-between' time we can both rejoice as we see the signs of the Kingdom coming as well as long for the certain future when “There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Revelation 21:4). And on a personal level those who have Jesus as their King can be certain that, although they won't be perfected until Jesus comes again, as the Spirit works in their lives they will become more and more like Jesus, battle by battle, because the war has been won.

Chickens, Earworms and the Good Life

Here's my article for August:

In my article for August 2013 I wrote about holidays saying “it's very hard not to hear that word without thinking of the song by Madonna (and 'The Chicken Song' by Spitting Image – but that's a different article!)”  Well, it's almost ten years on and so I suppose the article on “The Chicken Song” is well overdue!

“The Chicken Song” is a novelty song that topped the charts in 1986.  It is a parody of the summer hits with actions like “Agadoo” and “Do the Conga”, and though the lyrics are mostly nonsensical, they do talk about the all-pervading nature of these types of songs.  Not only will you hear them wherever you go (even Mars!) but as the last chorus says “Now you've heard it once, your brain will spring a leak, and though you hate this song you'll be humming it for weeks.”

This is a trivial example of the ways our 'nature' can be at odds with our 'wills'.  The Apostle Paul wrote “When I want to do good, I don’t; and when I try not to do wrong, I do it anyway” (Romans 7:19 The Living Bible), or as Jesus put it “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41).  As Paul thought about this paradox he saw that no matter how hard we try “there is something else deep within me, in my lower nature, that is at war with my mind and wins the fight and makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me” (Romans 7:23 TLB.)  Try as we might we can never live the good life that we want to and that we know we should.

This leaves us with two options.  We could just shrug our shoulders and say that as failure is inevitable we might as well give up and just do the best we can.  We can then absolve ourselves of blame, saying “it may be wrong but it's just the way I am”, or we could even turn the fault into a virtue or source of pride or part of our identity:“I am a short-tempered person, and if you don't like it, that's your problem!”  But this option is ultimately unsatisfactory because it involves constantly suppressing that inner voice of conscience, the voice of God within us, that is telling us what we ought to be doing.

Paul has an alternative option: cry out “Oh, what a terrible predicament I’m in! Who will free me from my slavery to this deadly lower nature?” (Romans 7:24 TLB).  But this is not a cry of despair, because Paul already knows the answer - “Thank God! It has been done by Jesus Christ our Lord. He has set me free” (Romans 7:25 TLB) and “destroyed sin’s control over us by giving himself as a sacrifice for our sins. So now we can obey God’s laws if we follow after the Holy Spirit and no longer obey the old evil nature within us.” Romans 8:3-4 TLB.)  That doesn't mean that we will never sin again, but that by belonging to Jesus “the power of the life-giving Spirit...has freed me from the vicious circle of sin and death” (Romans 8:2 TLB).

So if, like an annoying but catchy tune, you seem to be stuck in a loop of bad choices and actions call out to Jesus for freedom and life.

Dabble, dabble, game or trouble?

Here's my article for the October parish magazine:

There's a fine line between vigilance and paranoia and between caution and hysteria and it's a line that I'm going to attempt to tread in this article.

This summer's gaming sensation has been Pokemon Go – a smartphone game where imaginary creatures and accessories are looked for and captured in real life locations.  Some have praised it for getting coach-potato gamers out of their houses and walking around, whilst others have pointed out the dangers of people walking onto roads or into streams; causing accidents or making themselves vulnerable to crime by playing the game.  A few people are warning of the spiritual damage that Pokemon can do.

This latter group look at the 'worldview' of the game. Pokemon is short for 'pocket monsters' and the Pokemon have different abilities, for example reading of minds, use of poison, mimicry, taunting, teleportation and hypnosis. The concept of the original game of Pokemon is that you capture these Pokemon, 'train' them and then 'summon' them to fight against other people's Pokemon.  This, they say, is very similar to the practices of summoning and trying to control spiritual beings and forces that are found in witchcraft, Wicca, shamanism and spiritism, all of which the Bible warns against.  They also point to the testimony of former witchdoctors such as Bautista who, with no prior knowledge of the game, identified some Pokemon with demons they had encountered.

However, whilst some of the underlying themes and concepts of Pokemon are based on unChristian and potentially dangerous worldviews, it is after all just a game.  The same can't be said, on the other hand for those who 'dabble' in witchcraft, Wicca, mediums, psychics, spiritism etc.  These are very real attempts to summon and control very real spiritual beings and forces.  The problem with these practices, apart from the dubious techniques used by some of the practitioners, is that although the spiritual forces are real, only demonic forces would use these means.  This is because God has forbidden these practices so no force for good would use them, despite them seeming to be harmless or even caring.  St Paul warns us the “Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness.” (2 Corinthians 11:14-15).

There is no such thing as good magic, the dead cannot be communicated with and spiritual forces are beyond the command of humans.  What will respond if you call on these things are evil spirits that we are unable to control.  However, the Bible records loads of occasions where Jesus demonstrated his power over evil forces, and ultimately “God defeated the spiritual rulers and powers. With the cross God won the victory and defeated them. He showed the world that they were powerless” (Colossians 2:15). If you have opened the door of your life to evil influences, the good news is that through Jesus that door can be shut and you can be set free from every evil force that wants to control you.