God’s still in heaven and busy building His kingdom

We have to laugh, don't we? If we
didn't, we'd be in tears. Now women - lesbian women anyway - are
going to be able to call themselves fathers. As if we needed any
more evidence that the nation has gone as mad as a gumdigger's
dog.

And this comes from intellectuals
like Helen Clark and Margaret Wilson, both of whom, you would
think, would have a nodding acquaintance with logic.

It seems not, because the first
law of logic is the law of non-contradiction. Aristotle expressed
it thus: "The same attribute cannot at the same time belong and
not belong to the same subject and in the same respect."

The Concise Oxford Dictionary
defines father as "a man in relation to a child or children born
from his fertilisation of an ovum".

So to call a woman a father is
nonsense not only for its illogic but because, for all that some
of them insist that women can do anything, I've yet to hear of
one who has produced sperm with which to fertilise an ovum.

But I suppose this giant step for
womankind was to be expected. After all, mainly at the urging of
the homosexual lobby - which, like rust, never sleeps - we are
being coerced by lawmakers who are devoted to social engineering
into allowing them to redefine the meaning of the word "family",
with "marriage" next on the list.

If I didn't know better, I'd be in
despair. But I'm not and nor should any Christian be. Those of us
who in the face of political correctness and floor-to-ceiling
immorality fear for the future of the Church need not.

I have always known that no matter
how things look on the surface, the Church - by which I mean
those who, irrespective of denomination, are committed body, mind
and spirit to trusting and obeying Jesus Christ - is alive and
well and getting on with the job.

And it was nice to have that
confirmed in the cover story of last week's Time magazine, which
asked the question: "Where did God go?"

(The answer to that, of course, is
that God hasn't gone anywhere. The creator and sustainer of the
universe is still in his heaven and the world is unfolding as it
should. It's mankind that has moved, not our heavenly
father.)

The seven-page Time article is
concerned only with Europe, but much of what is going on there is
going on here in New Zealand, too.

"It may sound strange to say,"
reports Time, "but in some ways Europe's faith has survived the
church ...”

Same here. What were once known as
the mainline churches - Catholic, Anglican, Presbyterian,
Methodist, Baptist - have seen their adherents walk away in
droves, yet there will be many thousands more Kiwis in churches
next Sunday than there ever were before the mainline rot set
in.

Says Time: "While the Continent
may be more secular than ever, God hasn't gone away for everyone.
Many Europeans, able to distinguish between the message and its
flawed human messengers, still find him where they always have -
in church."

Same here. Kiwis are doing what
Europeans are doing - quitting the churches whose leaders have
lost the plot and finding new ones in which to exercise and grow
in their faith.

And flawed messengers abound - as
witness the sad and sordid tale told by Tapu Misa in this space
yesterday (NZ Herald 18th June 2003) in which she quite
properly pointed out that blackmail, rip-offs and thievery are
not confined to Pacific Island churches.

You have to wonder, don't you, how
people who confess to being Christians - particularly those who
obtain for themselves leadership roles - can ignore the most
tenets of Christianity as laid down by the Founder.

"Foxes have holes and birds of the
air have nests," said Jesus, without the slightest hint of
dejection, "but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." And:
"I tell you the truth, whatever [selfless deed] you did for one
of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."

But we need take no account of
these people and others whose pronouncements or behaviour bring
disgrace or opprobrium upon Christianity, because for every one
of them there are scores who are obeying the word of their Lord:
"Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.
Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves."

They are faithfully, often
sacrificially, beavering away quietly and effectively being salt
(against moral corruption) and light (against spiritual darkness)
and contributing hugely to the growing needs in our
communities.

They are making converts,
encouraging disciples and getting on with the eternal task of
building God's kingdom on Earth.

And each and every one of them
would go along with Godfried Cardinal Daniels, Archbishop of
Brussels and Mechelen, whom Time reports thus: "The church needs
to enter modern culture and to get to know modern culture. But
it's a mistake to think that we should try to attract more people
by diluting our message."

Amen to that.

Used by permission, NZ
Herald