Christ is risen

Matthew 28 - "1 Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 4 And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. 5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here, for he has risen, as he said."

Christ is risen, and the gospel is preached. Results?

• The trained elite of the world's mightiest empire, dedicated to keeping him in the tomb, are utterly powerless.
  
•  Two women, two "nobodies", who simply were seeking to honour Jesus, hear the glorious announcement, meet the risen Saviour, and begin the multi-millenia, triumphant process of taking that great news to the nations, beginning with his apostles.

There's the history of the world since, in miniature. To some, those great in the world, focussed upon this world, seeking to suppress the truth of a new Lord of Lords and King of Kings, his resurrection of the stench of death leading to death. To others, those who in the world's eyes are nothing, he is the beautiful savour of life, bringing life, and they form part of the great chain of life: those whom death can never touch. Jesus is risen: hallelujah!

"Fast, pain-free divorces? They are slow agony for our children"

Peter Hitchens has, for at least the last couple of decades, been in the painful position of being right about a lot of important things, but continually been treated as not even worth listening to (most recently: before June 2016, he was telling us that "Leave" would win the EU referendum, and that a massive constitutional crisis would result because the promises begin given that the result would be implemented were incredible). He was no-platformed before his time, largely for his conservative social views.

A lot more people are now becoming used to this concept, i.e. of counter-arguments to the prevailing "progressive" orthodoxy, especially on social matters, simply being ignored or treated as unsayable, instead of debated. The culture has now been shifted to the extent that idea of "no platform for bigots" (where "bigot" means "person who doesn't agree with us") is being mainstreamed, promoted as virtuous and, yes, anyone who disagrees with it is probably a bigot who shouldn't be listened to (see what they did there?). There should, it is being said throughout our universities and beyond, be "no platform" for anyone whose ideas aren't part of revolutionary left-wing politics. Society should belong only to left-wing revolutionaries; anyone else must become an UnPerson, and their existence should disappear down the Memory Hole, never to be referred to by any civilised person.

Peter Hitchens was, as I say, no-platformed before his time, from at least 1997 onwards, as he valiantly sought to ask (among many other things) why it was of absolutely no apparent interest to the British media how many prominent "New Labour" figures had been, as he was before recanting and openly detailing his errors, members of revolutionary Trotskyist organisations.

Well, here he is, telling us what the consequences of further divorce liberalisation will be: https://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2019/04/fast-pain-free-divorces-they-are-slow-agony-for-our-children.html. He poses a question: why is marriage a unique area in which, if you break the contract, the law sides with you, instead of against you? This is the fast road to accelerating our societal ruin - but where are the voices rising in opposition against it?

The compulsory grooming of children - will you be signing up?

From a Christian point of view, the new "Relationships and Sex Education (RSE)" regulations amount to compulsory, immoral grooming of an entire nation's children. Children will be indoctrinated in the teachings of the sexual revolution, encouraged to experiment, taught about sexuality in an amoral context, and in some items taught definite immorality and that it is wrong not to be open to all kinds of harmful, damaging at extreme ideas (the ideas themselves, not just kind to the people misled by them). And, for some of this (and all of it for some), opting out will be forbidden. And this teaching will go on at their most vulnerable ages, throughout the whole process of turning from an infant into an adult: drip-feed indoctrination from infancy, offering of perversion and confusion as live options as they go through adolescence, puberty and sexual awakening, etcetera.

Again I ask, what are Christians planning to do about this? The crunch comes. Are we going to voluntarily send along our children to be groomed week by week? Do we intend just to turn a blind eye, or trust in a cunning plan to undo this out of hours? We're going to immerse vulnerable young minds throughout the day, throughout the working week, in a context in which they're continually bombarded with messages (carefully crafted, with large amounts of funding behind them) that we're wrong, that and then tell them it's wrong, and hope for the best? Is that our idea of what it means to "bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord" (Ephesians 6:4), and to surround them with discussion and encouragement in the good law of God throughout their childhood (Deuteronomy 6:4-9)?

The hour is late. But it's never too late to do the right thing, and entrust ourselves to God. For churches and church leaderships, that means coming together to make sure that there is full support available - including, if there are none available, Christian schools - for the Christian education of our children. Their raising in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, rather than grooming in the doctrines of depravity. (Those two things really are different, and the difference matters). For parents, that means not sending your children along to compulsory grooming. If not sending them is against the rules, then break the rules. We must obey God rather than men. You'll get invited to speak to the headmaster, you'll get fined for truancy: pay the fines, or don't pay them, but don't send your children for compulsory grooming. If they escalate it, withdraw your children (or withdraw them first before giving them an (unfair) stick to beat you with). Educate them in a school, a co-op, or a home (or a combination of all three) where there's no compulsory grooming, and where there is godly teaching.

Will you have to pay a cost? Of course you will, you will have to take up your cross daily, and follow Christ. Are you signed up for that, or not?

$1 eBook sale from Ligonier

On for a week:

https://www.ligonier.org/store/collection/reformation-trust-ebooks/