FIFTY NOT OUT!
I've hit a half century and I'm still batting! The great thing about being fifty years old is knowing that I'm half way through my race and I'm beginning to get an idea of what life is about! I believe that a guy should know what he is going to do with his life by the time he is fifty! Besides having a bit of maturity in life's university I'm also (reasonably) still fit and healthy; and that is a double blessing! Of course I've made some dreadful mistakes in life and hurt people in the process - I often wish I could make amends but the passage of time makes that inappropriate if not impossible; afterall who wants a bad penny turning up after a decade or two only to salve their own conscience - for whose benefit is that really?
Others may have hurt me or circumstances thwarted my ambitions - but I wouldn't exchange those reverses. These events are the very things which help shape us and make us who we are. And actually none of them are unique to us. The chief thing is knowing how God has had a hand on my life particularly at those times I felt most bereft. Again there is nothing uncommon in this. I want to emphasise how faithful the "enscripturated Word" has proved over the years. I see my story written there in all its ghastly detail, it holds a mirror up to my face and has faithfully shown me who I am; the face I show no one else! That's how I know it speaks the truth.
The usual format of a Christian "testimony" like this is to spell out what worldly depths I had sunk to - but that isn't the case with me. I was raised in a highly moral family (and that isn't a bad thing) so when I subsequently became a Christian my problem was not the usual suspects of sex, drugs or money but something altogether more insidious; the problem of pharisaiism! (Or moral rule keeping). Yes, the Gospel is not about moralism!. The trouble with this particular sin is that it is one which can pass unnoticed within evangelicalism. And if people thought highly of me in those early years it was because they didn't perceive this trait in me, but then nor did I. They had much too high an opinion of me - as I did! I hasten to add that the Gospel does not therefore give us licence to sin - Jesus said that 'our righteouness must exceed that of the Pharisees' in Matthew 5 v20; what it does mean is that righteouness is not a substitute for Grace. And if I've learnt anything in the last fifty years is that it's all about Grace!
Monday, August 27, 2007
Monday, August 20, 2007
CONFESSIONS OF AN ARMCHAIR ASTRONAUT!
Thirty years ago today in 1977 the Voyager space programme blasted off to explore the outer solar system. As an avid fan of all things spatial I followed all such exploration. Paradoxically it was Voyager 2 which lifted off first to travel to the outer solar system. Voyager 1 was launched on 5th September 1977 on a fast track to Jupiter and Saturn only. Thinking back to my books on astronomy written in the 1970's my recollection is just how sketchy they were about all these planets and the moons of these worlds were a complete mystery. The Voyagers revolutionised our understanding of our planetary neighbours. Jupiter's moons were no longer mere dots of light but worlds in their own right. And even worlds as far flung as Neptune had active cryo-volcanic features! These probes are even now moving out into interstellar space and looking back they can give us an astonishing view of our solar family from the outside.
I was first enthralled by the early manned space flights, and as an "armchair astronaut" I absolutely loved the Apollo Moon Shots. I vividly remember watching Neil Armstrong's first step on the Moon; to those of us on this side of the Atlantic Ocean that occured on 21st July 1969 - 38 years ago. As an excited eleven year old I got up in the early hours of the morning to watch that 'one small step'... I was entranced by the whole adventure of space flight and followed each moon shot closely. I laid out charts and maps and models as each mission unfolded.
Apollo 15, July/August 1971, though stands out in my mind to this day as the most visually exciting mission of them all. This mission launched in July of 1971 was the first to take a 'lunar rover' with its own freely operated TV camera. It was like sharing in this whole fantastic adventure, nothing will ever recapture the sheer delight of following those particular Moon walks. encompassing Hadley Rille. All the later Apollo missions were similarly equipped and I charted the progress of Apollos 16 and 17 just as avidly.
The Hubble Space Telescope was launched in 1990 and opened up the wider universe to us with some of the most breathtaking photographs imaginable. It is an amazing time to be alive to witness such things - I hope that future generations will have the opportunity to marvel as I did at the Universe we inhabit and that they will never grow blase about such
wonders.
Thirty years ago today in 1977 the Voyager space programme blasted off to explore the outer solar system. As an avid fan of all things spatial I followed all such exploration. Paradoxically it was Voyager 2 which lifted off first to travel to the outer solar system. Voyager 1 was launched on 5th September 1977 on a fast track to Jupiter and Saturn only. Thinking back to my books on astronomy written in the 1970's my recollection is just how sketchy they were about all these planets and the moons of these worlds were a complete mystery. The Voyagers revolutionised our understanding of our planetary neighbours. Jupiter's moons were no longer mere dots of light but worlds in their own right. And even worlds as far flung as Neptune had active cryo-volcanic features! These probes are even now moving out into interstellar space and looking back they can give us an astonishing view of our solar family from the outside.
I was first enthralled by the early manned space flights, and as an "armchair astronaut" I absolutely loved the Apollo Moon Shots. I vividly remember watching Neil Armstrong's first step on the Moon; to those of us on this side of the Atlantic Ocean that occured on 21st July 1969 - 38 years ago. As an excited eleven year old I got up in the early hours of the morning to watch that 'one small step'... I was entranced by the whole adventure of space flight and followed each moon shot closely. I laid out charts and maps and models as each mission unfolded.
Apollo 15, July/August 1971, though stands out in my mind to this day as the most visually exciting mission of them all. This mission launched in July of 1971 was the first to take a 'lunar rover' with its own freely operated TV camera. It was like sharing in this whole fantastic adventure, nothing will ever recapture the sheer delight of following those particular Moon walks. encompassing Hadley Rille. All the later Apollo missions were similarly equipped and I charted the progress of Apollos 16 and 17 just as avidly.
The Hubble Space Telescope was launched in 1990 and opened up the wider universe to us with some of the most breathtaking photographs imaginable. It is an amazing time to be alive to witness such things - I hope that future generations will have the opportunity to marvel as I did at the Universe we inhabit and that they will never grow blase about such
wonders.
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
DEMONS WERE IN FASHION
THAT YEAR!
In YWAM in the mid 1980's Demonology was
all the rage. I had innocently signed up to do
a "DTS" residential course with the charismatic
missionary organisation "Youth with a
Mission". YWAM, pronounced 'why-wham', was
founded in the 1960's by an American called
Loren Cunningham in order to mobilise young
people into short term missionary work.
By way of preamble: If you feel that this article
is unduly critical of YWAM please bear in mind
that I will be posting another blog in Septem-
ber which will be more positive.
YWAM operates a course called a "Discipleship
Training School" which is the portal through
which people enter its work. DTSs have been
established all over the world and in 1985, aged
27 years, I went to the one at Holmsted Manor
in West Sussex in the UK. At the time I consid-
ered myself a Charismatic Christian. I had an
inflated view of my own importance and
wanted to develop my own "ministry" - a not
uncommon conceit among young men like
myself - and the DTS seemed like a good idea at
the time. And in God's providence it was a very
useful four months though not in the way I had
expected.
The church - or so it seems to me - goes
through phases; and various fads and fashions
sweep through from time to time and capture
the imagination.
Demonology was very much in fashion that
year in YWAM and no end of people's personal
difficulties were attributed to malevolent
spirits. Some individuals took to these sorts of
teachings with an unhealthy enthusiasm. The
biblical basis for much of their practice was at
best tenuous and usually what I would call
"derivative theology", that is founded upon
'extrapolations' based on their 'interpretation'
of their 'supposed' experiences in dealing with
troubled individuals together with some
wishful thinking.
I recall two of my contemporaries intently
discussing where "cat spirits" fall in the grand
scheme of things. (Apparently they are among
the most vindictive of demons - or so I was
reliably informed).
I am not denying the reality of malevolent
spirits in this blog, what I am denying is the
basis upon which they were given such
prominence. I believe there is a truly Biblical
spiritual warfare described in 1 Corinthians
10 that I am prepared to defend against
this "derivative" teaching which I believe
is 'dualistic' theology and barely (if that)
recognisable as 'Christian': the DTS implied
that the evil forces were, in effect, perfectly
balanced by the good and only we could tip
that balance! The effect on one such
officially recognised, "intercessor" was to
make her quite bitter about all those who
did not support her ministry fulsomely
enough; in her eyes only her constant,
possibly "obsessive", prayers were holding
back the demon hordes; (the "only I am left"
syndrome!)..... and she made it perfectly clear
that she thought that I was one of the
freeloaders. I don't believe she had singled
me out particularly for her ire, I think she
was merely doing the rounds. There was a
stark contrast between the image she projected
on the public platform to the one I experienced
in privacy!
The reality was that this poor woman was
being 'run ragged' by a theology which had
little room for Christ's victory at The Cross....
I am grateful that Satan has far more to fear
from those who are in Christ than we ever
have to fear from him! For her though it was
all about self effort and so it is no surprise that
that made her hard. The fact remains there
wasn't much 'grace' in evidence that year,
either doctrinally or relationally! And that
was the real spiritual battle that everyone
seemed oblivious to.
Demonology, aka "spiritual warfare", required
the identification of the controlling spirit in
order to directly confront it. A spirit may
control a geographical area, or a profession,
or a church, or an individual or a trait of an
individual. Some rather fanciful "research"
would be be done to this end, eg the city of
Coventry in England, was said to be a centre
of evil because of its connection with a witch's
coven - in reality the origin of the city's name
has an utterly innocent genesis. Anyway once
the demon could be named it could be defeated
by being ranted at or by endless singing, some-
times for hours into the night. But as those
who did the discerning also did the exorcism,
there was no objective way of knowing what
was actually being accomplished by the
exercise: "The spirit of unbelief has lifted
from China!" one intercessor declared.
Hmmm... My old dad used to say 'Don't ask a
barber if you need a haircut!'
The most troubling enthusiast was a mother
who was convinced her three year old
daughter's behavioural problems were due
to demonisation. I made it quite clear that I
thought this was nonsense. The fact is this
young child had been brought to a strange
country to live in this abnormal community
among people who spoke a strange language.
She needed to feel loved and secure I said.
I think most people took that to heart. But
some marked me down as not being one of
the cognoscenti.
On one occasion I was teamed up with a
young woman in order to approach likely
converts in Leicester Square in London to
tell them the Gospel. I think I made a reason-
able Gospel presentation about God creating
the world, how that we all have rejected
God's rule as something evil and made
gods of ourselves; God will not endure
this lie to stand forever but before He
judges the world he has set up a rescue
plan; God Himself came as a man and
graciously paid the penalty on The Cross
for all those who put their trust in Him -
and that man was Jesus. I made a call for
them to turn to Christ, which effectively
means turning around their lives and
living for God instead.
But the lady I was teamed up with
understood the Gospel to be about how
(and I quote) "everyone has demons which
mess up our lives and Jesus came to free us
from them". In her view everyone was a victim
and no-one was ultimately responsible for
their own actions - my jaw hit the floor!
Unsurprisingly she scored more "responses"
than I ever dreamed of! Until this point in
time I had naively assumed that all Christians
had the same view on sin, faith and redempt-
ion by Jesus. I had just discovered just how
naive I was. The worrying thing was how many
of these enthusiasts were keen to make a
"ministry" out of this and sought financial
support from their home churches to this end.
The reality was they had found a niche for
themselves and a "sprituality" which could
only ever exist in a greenhouse of a likeminded
community. The young woman I mentioned
"went on staff" permanently after our DTS.
The trouble is that in a charismatic hot house
like this what is wacky is by that very reason
presumed to be "spiritual"; the stranger the
better. During that time at Holmsted Manor
we had a preview of the "Toronto Blessing":
the phenomena made famous in the mid 1990s
by The Vineyard Church in Canada. The same
things happened on my DTS - "slaying in the
spirit", uncontrollable laughter, people
acting oddly like animals etc.
Too much was uncritically accepted as
originating with the Holy Spirit. Sometimes
people would have these seemingly remark-
able experiences and yet remain utterly
unchanged by them. I remember two guys in
our dorm having a stand up argument (and I
mean they were really having a go at each
other) about which of them had "the best"
testimony of how they got saved: each in turn
trumping the sins of the other in a catalogue
of misdemeanours. I didn't know whether to
laugh or cry!
The other fad that year was John Wimber's
book "Power Evangelism".The big idea was
that a dramatic healing will take a non-
believer from unbelief to faith in one fell
swoop without all that tedious evangelism
business. So naturally a number of my fellow
DTSers enthused about this short cut to faith
which dispensed with the need for any other
discussion. The thing is, even then, I knew
enough Bible to know that this was wrong
headed because of what Jesus himself said
in Luke 16 v31. What Jesus said is very stark
- the real miracle is that anyone comes to
faith at all!
I vividly recall one of the small group leaders
challenging me - he couldn't see how I
could reconcile being a Christian and being
a health care worker. I responded by saying
that "I am on the side of health!" To him
anything to do with healthcare was bound up
in unbelief! (In fairness I should add that
YWAM operate a couple of hospital ships, so
this leader was certainly talking out the back
of his head!)
Yet this whole 'super-spiritual' way of thinking
was being given way too much prominence -
I could see that, why couldn't anyone else?
And that was the problem; the flimsiest
"biblical" justification would be proffered for
these sorts of teachings. These fads offered
quick fix solutions - and they never worked....
not long term once the wishful thinking
faltered and reality kicked in again.
The thing I learnt most forcibly during
those months was how disastrous it is to
cut loose from the anchor of God's Word.
I sincerely hope that those people I met
that year have come to a better mind on
all these issues.
In case someone says I am merely being
cynical about these things; in my defence I
will respond that I did not quit my job and
leave my flat and take four months out of
my life and pay good money with the
sole intention of merely scoffing at it all
twenty years later! The fact is, at the time
I wanted to be part of what was going on.
It seemed to me that everyone else was
getting "blessed" but me. Others would
be crashing to the floor around me as some
ranter would lay hands on them - but the
ranters always passed me by. "They could
sense that the spirit had not come to rest
on me" one said. At the time I felt crushed
and rejected by God but now I'm glad it
passed me by. Whatever was going on that
time it was nothing to do with God -
Jesus is not capricious!
The reality is this; all Christians struggle
with the drawing power of the world, the flesh
and the devil and yet we feel that such a
struggle should be alien to anyone born again
of the Holy Spirit. Different churches and
groups will couch their ideal of 'the normal
christian life' in different ways and
(presumably) whichever suits the fad of the
time.
The most crass fad being the "gospel" of
'health and wealth'. But other groups will
stress the 'victory' of the believer in other
more subtle ways; the victory over all known
sin for example which spawned 'the holiness
movement'. Others stress the charismatic
gifts and "The Baptism of the Holy Spirit"
or even "The Baptism of the Shekinah Glory"
(don't ask). What they all have in common is
the unreality of the 'quick fix' - it is all
fantasyland "christianity". The Bible faithfully
describes the believers actual experience - one
of struggle to live out the life of the world to
come in this present age. There are no quick
fixes!
Check out the bookstall of any given church...
are the books self-help guides to a holier,
healthier, wealthier, spirit-filled, more
glorious, sanctified and fulfilled life?
The proliferation of these sorts of books is
testimony to their failure to deliver. These
books are selling a dream which the authors
callously know chimes with the desires of
believers to live a glorified life. The trouble
is that is not where we are at in "The Bible
Timeline" -we are in the fourth act of a five
part play and the reality of the fourth act is
struggle not ease. The glory we desire lies in
the future when Jesus finally comes to rescue
His people - only He can ultimately cleanse
us and restore us. We need to treat the
panacea merchants as shrewd students of
human nature and who know how to tell us
what we want to hear...and know how to
market it!
The true preacher tells us as it is - no fantasy
land - he tells us what we need to hear whether
we want it or not....and invariably it is an
unflattering message. God's function in life
is not to soothe our precious egos rather our
function in life is to rejoice in the sheer grace
of our Saviour God who rescues us from our
own self destructive hubris.The Christian life
starts by waking up to reality not by living in
fantasy.
After my stint on the DTS I returned home to
Yorkshire, but in 1987 I did revisit YWAM
to do another course - the "School of Biblical
Studies" (SBS) at The King's Lodge in
Warwickshire, England, and that experience
was of a totally different order as I will explain
in a few weeks time. I'll conclude for now by
saying that for a few months back then in the
Summer of 1985 I lived in the "church at
Corinth".
No, that's not fair, it would be better to say that
I realised how "Corinthian" we all are!
THAT YEAR!
In YWAM in the mid 1980's Demonology was
all the rage. I had innocently signed up to do
a "DTS" residential course with the charismatic
missionary organisation "Youth with a
Mission". YWAM, pronounced 'why-wham', was
founded in the 1960's by an American called
Loren Cunningham in order to mobilise young
people into short term missionary work.
By way of preamble: If you feel that this article
is unduly critical of YWAM please bear in mind
that I will be posting another blog in Septem-
ber which will be more positive.
YWAM operates a course called a "Discipleship
Training School" which is the portal through
which people enter its work. DTSs have been
established all over the world and in 1985, aged
27 years, I went to the one at Holmsted Manor
in West Sussex in the UK. At the time I consid-
ered myself a Charismatic Christian. I had an
inflated view of my own importance and
wanted to develop my own "ministry" - a not
uncommon conceit among young men like
myself - and the DTS seemed like a good idea at
the time. And in God's providence it was a very
useful four months though not in the way I had
expected.
The church - or so it seems to me - goes
through phases; and various fads and fashions
sweep through from time to time and capture
the imagination.
Demonology was very much in fashion that
year in YWAM and no end of people's personal
difficulties were attributed to malevolent
spirits. Some individuals took to these sorts of
teachings with an unhealthy enthusiasm. The
biblical basis for much of their practice was at
best tenuous and usually what I would call
"derivative theology", that is founded upon
'extrapolations' based on their 'interpretation'
of their 'supposed' experiences in dealing with
troubled individuals together with some
wishful thinking.
I recall two of my contemporaries intently
discussing where "cat spirits" fall in the grand
scheme of things. (Apparently they are among
the most vindictive of demons - or so I was
reliably informed).
I am not denying the reality of malevolent
spirits in this blog, what I am denying is the
basis upon which they were given such
prominence. I believe there is a truly Biblical
spiritual warfare described in 1 Corinthians
10 that I am prepared to defend against
this "derivative" teaching which I believe
is 'dualistic' theology and barely (if that)
recognisable as 'Christian': the DTS implied
that the evil forces were, in effect, perfectly
balanced by the good and only we could tip
that balance! The effect on one such
officially recognised, "intercessor" was to
make her quite bitter about all those who
did not support her ministry fulsomely
enough; in her eyes only her constant,
possibly "obsessive", prayers were holding
back the demon hordes; (the "only I am left"
syndrome!)..... and she made it perfectly clear
that she thought that I was one of the
freeloaders. I don't believe she had singled
me out particularly for her ire, I think she
was merely doing the rounds. There was a
stark contrast between the image she projected
on the public platform to the one I experienced
in privacy!
The reality was that this poor woman was
being 'run ragged' by a theology which had
little room for Christ's victory at The Cross....
I am grateful that Satan has far more to fear
from those who are in Christ than we ever
have to fear from him! For her though it was
all about self effort and so it is no surprise that
that made her hard. The fact remains there
wasn't much 'grace' in evidence that year,
either doctrinally or relationally! And that
was the real spiritual battle that everyone
seemed oblivious to.
Demonology, aka "spiritual warfare", required
the identification of the controlling spirit in
order to directly confront it. A spirit may
control a geographical area, or a profession,
or a church, or an individual or a trait of an
individual. Some rather fanciful "research"
would be be done to this end, eg the city of
Coventry in England, was said to be a centre
of evil because of its connection with a witch's
coven - in reality the origin of the city's name
has an utterly innocent genesis. Anyway once
the demon could be named it could be defeated
by being ranted at or by endless singing, some-
times for hours into the night. But as those
who did the discerning also did the exorcism,
there was no objective way of knowing what
was actually being accomplished by the
exercise: "The spirit of unbelief has lifted
from China!" one intercessor declared.
Hmmm... My old dad used to say 'Don't ask a
barber if you need a haircut!'
The most troubling enthusiast was a mother
who was convinced her three year old
daughter's behavioural problems were due
to demonisation. I made it quite clear that I
thought this was nonsense. The fact is this
young child had been brought to a strange
country to live in this abnormal community
among people who spoke a strange language.
She needed to feel loved and secure I said.
I think most people took that to heart. But
some marked me down as not being one of
the cognoscenti.
On one occasion I was teamed up with a
young woman in order to approach likely
converts in Leicester Square in London to
tell them the Gospel. I think I made a reason-
able Gospel presentation about God creating
the world, how that we all have rejected
God's rule as something evil and made
gods of ourselves; God will not endure
this lie to stand forever but before He
judges the world he has set up a rescue
plan; God Himself came as a man and
graciously paid the penalty on The Cross
for all those who put their trust in Him -
and that man was Jesus. I made a call for
them to turn to Christ, which effectively
means turning around their lives and
living for God instead.
But the lady I was teamed up with
understood the Gospel to be about how
(and I quote) "everyone has demons which
mess up our lives and Jesus came to free us
from them". In her view everyone was a victim
and no-one was ultimately responsible for
their own actions - my jaw hit the floor!
Unsurprisingly she scored more "responses"
than I ever dreamed of! Until this point in
time I had naively assumed that all Christians
had the same view on sin, faith and redempt-
ion by Jesus. I had just discovered just how
naive I was. The worrying thing was how many
of these enthusiasts were keen to make a
"ministry" out of this and sought financial
support from their home churches to this end.
The reality was they had found a niche for
themselves and a "sprituality" which could
only ever exist in a greenhouse of a likeminded
community. The young woman I mentioned
"went on staff" permanently after our DTS.
The trouble is that in a charismatic hot house
like this what is wacky is by that very reason
presumed to be "spiritual"; the stranger the
better. During that time at Holmsted Manor
we had a preview of the "Toronto Blessing":
the phenomena made famous in the mid 1990s
by The Vineyard Church in Canada. The same
things happened on my DTS - "slaying in the
spirit", uncontrollable laughter, people
acting oddly like animals etc.
Too much was uncritically accepted as
originating with the Holy Spirit. Sometimes
people would have these seemingly remark-
able experiences and yet remain utterly
unchanged by them. I remember two guys in
our dorm having a stand up argument (and I
mean they were really having a go at each
other) about which of them had "the best"
testimony of how they got saved: each in turn
trumping the sins of the other in a catalogue
of misdemeanours. I didn't know whether to
laugh or cry!
The other fad that year was John Wimber's
book "Power Evangelism".The big idea was
that a dramatic healing will take a non-
believer from unbelief to faith in one fell
swoop without all that tedious evangelism
business. So naturally a number of my fellow
DTSers enthused about this short cut to faith
which dispensed with the need for any other
discussion. The thing is, even then, I knew
enough Bible to know that this was wrong
headed because of what Jesus himself said
in Luke 16 v31. What Jesus said is very stark
- the real miracle is that anyone comes to
faith at all!
I vividly recall one of the small group leaders
challenging me - he couldn't see how I
could reconcile being a Christian and being
a health care worker. I responded by saying
that "I am on the side of health!" To him
anything to do with healthcare was bound up
in unbelief! (In fairness I should add that
YWAM operate a couple of hospital ships, so
this leader was certainly talking out the back
of his head!)
Yet this whole 'super-spiritual' way of thinking
was being given way too much prominence -
I could see that, why couldn't anyone else?
And that was the problem; the flimsiest
"biblical" justification would be proffered for
these sorts of teachings. These fads offered
quick fix solutions - and they never worked....
not long term once the wishful thinking
faltered and reality kicked in again.
The thing I learnt most forcibly during
those months was how disastrous it is to
cut loose from the anchor of God's Word.
I sincerely hope that those people I met
that year have come to a better mind on
all these issues.
In case someone says I am merely being
cynical about these things; in my defence I
will respond that I did not quit my job and
leave my flat and take four months out of
my life and pay good money with the
sole intention of merely scoffing at it all
twenty years later! The fact is, at the time
I wanted to be part of what was going on.
It seemed to me that everyone else was
getting "blessed" but me. Others would
be crashing to the floor around me as some
ranter would lay hands on them - but the
ranters always passed me by. "They could
sense that the spirit had not come to rest
on me" one said. At the time I felt crushed
and rejected by God but now I'm glad it
passed me by. Whatever was going on that
time it was nothing to do with God -
Jesus is not capricious!
The reality is this; all Christians struggle
with the drawing power of the world, the flesh
and the devil and yet we feel that such a
struggle should be alien to anyone born again
of the Holy Spirit. Different churches and
groups will couch their ideal of 'the normal
christian life' in different ways and
(presumably) whichever suits the fad of the
time.
The most crass fad being the "gospel" of
'health and wealth'. But other groups will
stress the 'victory' of the believer in other
more subtle ways; the victory over all known
sin for example which spawned 'the holiness
movement'. Others stress the charismatic
gifts and "The Baptism of the Holy Spirit"
or even "The Baptism of the Shekinah Glory"
(don't ask). What they all have in common is
the unreality of the 'quick fix' - it is all
fantasyland "christianity". The Bible faithfully
describes the believers actual experience - one
of struggle to live out the life of the world to
come in this present age. There are no quick
fixes!
Check out the bookstall of any given church...
are the books self-help guides to a holier,
healthier, wealthier, spirit-filled, more
glorious, sanctified and fulfilled life?
The proliferation of these sorts of books is
testimony to their failure to deliver. These
books are selling a dream which the authors
callously know chimes with the desires of
believers to live a glorified life. The trouble
is that is not where we are at in "The Bible
Timeline" -we are in the fourth act of a five
part play and the reality of the fourth act is
struggle not ease. The glory we desire lies in
the future when Jesus finally comes to rescue
His people - only He can ultimately cleanse
us and restore us. We need to treat the
panacea merchants as shrewd students of
human nature and who know how to tell us
what we want to hear...and know how to
market it!
The true preacher tells us as it is - no fantasy
land - he tells us what we need to hear whether
we want it or not....and invariably it is an
unflattering message. God's function in life
is not to soothe our precious egos rather our
function in life is to rejoice in the sheer grace
of our Saviour God who rescues us from our
own self destructive hubris.The Christian life
starts by waking up to reality not by living in
fantasy.
After my stint on the DTS I returned home to
Yorkshire, but in 1987 I did revisit YWAM
to do another course - the "School of Biblical
Studies" (SBS) at The King's Lodge in
Warwickshire, England, and that experience
was of a totally different order as I will explain
in a few weeks time. I'll conclude for now by
saying that for a few months back then in the
Summer of 1985 I lived in the "church at
Corinth".
No, that's not fair, it would be better to say that
I realised how "Corinthian" we all are!
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
STATE RUSH VOMIT HEALER
SERVICE!
As a specialist centre the Paediatric Intensive
Care Unit at the 'Saline Nerve Child Hospital'
operates a "retrieval service"; which means
that when a critically ill child is admitted to
a District General Hospital a team is sent out
from SNC to stabilise the patient and transfer
them safely back to our unit. To this end we now
have a dedicated ambulance with a specialist
driver and a senior doctor and nurse on standby.
This is not how things were 15 years ago when
"paediatric intensive care" was a novel concept
in this country; and the idea of a "retrieval
service" was totally alien.... the accepted
practice at the time was that the referring
hospital would transfer the patient to our unit
for specialist care.
In the early days when we pioneered this service
I remember that our team would go out in a taxi
with as much gear as we could carry between us.
We would stabilise the patient and then arrange
a transfer back to SNC with a regular ambulance.
In order to train up doctors and nurses in these
skills we might take along a junior to shadow us.
As a senior nurse in children's intensive care
I would often go "out on retrieval"! On one
particular occasion I went out on a call with
Gavin M who was one of our senior medical
team (he is now a consultant paediatric
intensivist at St Elsewhere in the Midlands)
and a nurse called "Caz" who was learning
the ropes.
On this particular call we had to get from
central London to Worthing on the south coast
of England. In those days we did not have a
specialist ambulance but by this time we had
just enough kudos to blag a ride on a "Rapid
Response Unit" vehicle belonging to the London
Ambulance Service. We stowed our gear
and piled in to the Renault Espace and took off
to Worthing.
Now the crucial thing to bear in mind is that
there are two ways to get to get to Worthing
after leaving the motorway from London;
continue on the 'A'road to Brighton and then
follow the south coast road or cut across
country. On this trip the driver went across
country.
Travelling under blue lights I generally find
exciting - cutting through red lights and
shooting down the wrong side of the road...
no problem. What I had a problem with on
this trip were the sudden accelerations and
decelerations! And the journey to Worthing
is a long one - and felt interminable as I
started to feel queasy. I wound down the
window and took some sips of water, but
as the relentless stopping and starting took
its toll on my stomach I knew that I wouldn't
be able to hold onto the contents much
longer. As soon as I admitted that thought
I started chucking up.
Cramped in the back of the vehicle I just
managed to grab a 'sharps bin' in the nick
of time to receive my stomach contents.
And the journey went on and on and on....
with me heaving into this receptacle the
rest of the way. Eventually I had nothing
left to vomit but I was still retching.
After an eternity we pulled up at the
hospital in Worthing and got out of the
car. As soon as I stood up my legs buckled
under me and I felt faint and clammy.
"Pete, are you alright?"
"I'll be fine. I'm okay", I said wanly as I slumped
back into the car.
"You look awful!"
"I'm okay, I'm okay", I said bravely.
"Well you don't look it - go lie down somewhere
and join us when you feel better."
"Okay."
Then Gavin and Caz continued on their 'mercy
dash' while I stumbled into the Accident &
Emergency Department of Worthing Hospital.
I found some chairs and lay down on them among
all the drunks and other casualties of 'chucking
out time'; it was around midnight by now.
I lay there for some time and realised that
the nausea wasn't going to go away, so
I hobbled over to casualty reception and booked
myself in!
The staff took pity on me - I was in uniform
remember - I got seen quickly and was
prescribled an anti-emetic... which I had as an
injection in my bum!
Eventually Gavin & Caz retrieved me from
A&E and we made the journey back to
London. They kindly sat me in the front
of the ambulance so I never even saw
the patient we had gone for until we
arrived back at SNC; for all the use I
was on this retrieval I needn't have gone!
Fortunately the child Gavin & Caz collected
was absolutely fine without my ministrations
- which only goes to prove that none of us
are indispensable!
SERVICE!
As a specialist centre the Paediatric Intensive
Care Unit at the 'Saline Nerve Child Hospital'
operates a "retrieval service"; which means
that when a critically ill child is admitted to
a District General Hospital a team is sent out
from SNC to stabilise the patient and transfer
them safely back to our unit. To this end we now
have a dedicated ambulance with a specialist
driver and a senior doctor and nurse on standby.
This is not how things were 15 years ago when
"paediatric intensive care" was a novel concept
in this country; and the idea of a "retrieval
service" was totally alien.... the accepted
practice at the time was that the referring
hospital would transfer the patient to our unit
for specialist care.
In the early days when we pioneered this service
I remember that our team would go out in a taxi
with as much gear as we could carry between us.
We would stabilise the patient and then arrange
a transfer back to SNC with a regular ambulance.
In order to train up doctors and nurses in these
skills we might take along a junior to shadow us.
As a senior nurse in children's intensive care
I would often go "out on retrieval"! On one
particular occasion I went out on a call with
Gavin M who was one of our senior medical
team (he is now a consultant paediatric
intensivist at St Elsewhere in the Midlands)
and a nurse called "Caz" who was learning
the ropes.
On this particular call we had to get from
central London to Worthing on the south coast
of England. In those days we did not have a
specialist ambulance but by this time we had
just enough kudos to blag a ride on a "Rapid
Response Unit" vehicle belonging to the London
Ambulance Service. We stowed our gear
and piled in to the Renault Espace and took off
to Worthing.
Now the crucial thing to bear in mind is that
there are two ways to get to get to Worthing
after leaving the motorway from London;
continue on the 'A'road to Brighton and then
follow the south coast road or cut across
country. On this trip the driver went across
country.
Travelling under blue lights I generally find
exciting - cutting through red lights and
shooting down the wrong side of the road...
no problem. What I had a problem with on
this trip were the sudden accelerations and
decelerations! And the journey to Worthing
is a long one - and felt interminable as I
started to feel queasy. I wound down the
window and took some sips of water, but
as the relentless stopping and starting took
its toll on my stomach I knew that I wouldn't
be able to hold onto the contents much
longer. As soon as I admitted that thought
I started chucking up.
Cramped in the back of the vehicle I just
managed to grab a 'sharps bin' in the nick
of time to receive my stomach contents.
And the journey went on and on and on....
with me heaving into this receptacle the
rest of the way. Eventually I had nothing
left to vomit but I was still retching.
After an eternity we pulled up at the
hospital in Worthing and got out of the
car. As soon as I stood up my legs buckled
under me and I felt faint and clammy.
"Pete, are you alright?"
"I'll be fine. I'm okay", I said wanly as I slumped
back into the car.
"You look awful!"
"I'm okay, I'm okay", I said bravely.
"Well you don't look it - go lie down somewhere
and join us when you feel better."
"Okay."
Then Gavin and Caz continued on their 'mercy
dash' while I stumbled into the Accident &
Emergency Department of Worthing Hospital.
I found some chairs and lay down on them among
all the drunks and other casualties of 'chucking
out time'; it was around midnight by now.
I lay there for some time and realised that
the nausea wasn't going to go away, so
I hobbled over to casualty reception and booked
myself in!
The staff took pity on me - I was in uniform
remember - I got seen quickly and was
prescribled an anti-emetic... which I had as an
injection in my bum!
Eventually Gavin & Caz retrieved me from
A&E and we made the journey back to
London. They kindly sat me in the front
of the ambulance so I never even saw
the patient we had gone for until we
arrived back at SNC; for all the use I
was on this retrieval I needn't have gone!
Fortunately the child Gavin & Caz collected
was absolutely fine without my ministrations
- which only goes to prove that none of us
are indispensable!
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