Hard Talk

Our behaviour, actions and decisions all have consequences. This is true both at a personal and national level. We all know this – it’s not rocket science. But I have been struck forcefully by this principal again in recent days as I have considered the life and times of the ancient Jewish prophet Jeremiah.

Jeremiah lived at a time when time was up – literally. God had had enough of the hypocrisy, lies, cheating, manipulation and injustice, to name but a few sins, of the nation that claimed to represent him – the people who had covenanted to be faithful to him. And they were about to be plunged in to disaster as a result. Continue Reading

In January this year 20 leading figures in the prophetic movement in the USA recorded what they declared God had shown them of the coming year. Many of their predictions are vague and hard to quantify but among the things they claimed God had shown them were the following – Continue Reading

I have often wondered why certain communities, churches and groups are so resistant to betterment, progress and change. Why is it that while some communities flourish with fresh ideas, are progressive, innovative and work together for the good of their areas, others seem totally moribund – incapable of implementing even the slightest improvement or advance. Continue Reading

Can a true Christian be a member of the Church of Scotland – given that, in recently years, droves of evangelicals have left a denomination they no longer consider to stand for biblical truth? Continue Reading

Is there any point in praying? ‘Of course there is’ most will answer – and to doubt it would lead to calls of ‘heretic’ – at least in most evangelical and charismatic circles! But I am not so sure. Not sure in this sense – that the relevance of prayer, never mind its effectiveness in not unconditional. Hold on to that for a moment and we will come back to it.

Some years ago a revivalist from another culture visited a village on the Isle of Skye where I live. He whipped up the local christians to meet in the early hours of the morning for revival prayer meetings. Most of those attending went to work after these early morning vigils – while the revivalist returned to his bed. Eventually the man moved on with no visibly change having taken place. I remember asking a close christian friend and working man who had attended, what the meetings had done for him. He replied – “Made me very tired”. Continue Reading