Reversing the Divine Sentence Upon Us All

Meditation From Hosea

In the second chapter of Hosea we read:

And I will sow her for myself in the land.  And I will have mercy on No Mercy, and I will say to Not My People, "You are my people" and he shall say, "You are my God."  [Hosea 2:23]

E. B. Pusey writes:

So God's mercies again overflow His threatenings.  He had threatened to Israel, that he (Israel) would be unpitied, and no more His people.  In reversing His sentence, He embraces in the arms of His mercy all who were not His people, and says of them all, that they should be my people and beloved.  At one and the same time, was Israel to be thus multiplied, and pity was to be shown to those not pitied, and those who were not God's people were to become His people.

At one and the same time were those promises fulfilled in Christ; the one through the other; Israel was not multiplied by itself, but through the bringing-in of the Gentiles.  Nor was Israel alone, or chiefly, brought into a new relation with God.  The same words promised the same mercy to both Jew and Gentile, that all should be one in Christ, all one Jezreel, one Spouse to Himself, one Israel of God, one Beloved; and that all, with one voice of jubilee should cry to Him, "my Lord and my God."

. . . . when God thus anew called them His people, they by His grace would obey His call, and surrender themselves wholly to Him.  For to say "my God" is to own an exclusive relation to God alone.  It is to say, my Beginning and my End, my Hope and My Salvation, my Whole and only God in Whom Alone I will hope, Whom Alone I will fear, love, worship, trust in, obey and serve, with all my heart, mind, soul and strength; by God and my All."  [The Minor Prophets: A Commentary.  Volume 1: p.41.]

A Modern Hirsute Prophet Confronts UK Pagans

Not Bending To Prevailing Fashions

Victoria Friedman
Breitbart London

U.S. evangelist Frankin Graham has hit back at lawmakers who want to ban him from entering the UK on grounds that his preaching allegedly breaks British hate speech laws.  “I’m coming to preach what the Bible says, what God says – I’m not coming with my own message,” Reverand Graham told Premier Christian Radio ahead of his appearance at the Lancashire Festival of Hope in Blackpool in September.



MPs, including Conservative MP Paul Maynard, far-left Corbynite MP Cat Smith, and Labour MP Afzal Khan are amongst lawmakers calling for Home Secretary Amber Rudd to prohibit the evangelist’s entry.

Activists object to his statements on Islam, such as that politicians should stop calling Islam a “religion of peace” and his recent comments to the Daily Mail that “the war we have been in since 9/11 has been with Islam, whether it’s ISIS or Al Qaeda or whatever you want to call it. And that war continues. And that’s just a fact.”

 Franklin Graham

✔@Franklin_Graham

Politicians should stop saying “Islam is a religion of peace.” #Barcelona https://www.facebook.com/FranklinGraham/posts/1617420994980742 …

3:10 PM - Aug 20, 2017

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Rev. Graham, who gave a reading at U.S. President Donald J. Trump’s inauguration, has also been criticised for his rejection of the LGBT agenda – notably, for preaching that marriage is between a man and a woman.

Taking Temperatures

Of Prophets and Kingdoms

The Otago Daily Times recently published a thoughtful editorial on the "state" of the Church and churches in New Zealand.  There are few media which could have penned such a piece: Otago is probably the last geographic location where something like this could be found.

These are difficult times for mainstream Christian churches.  Many congregations are dwindling and ageing and the stark divisions between liberals and conservatives continue to manifest themselves, particularly on the issue of same-sex marriages. Parishes in many places cannot afford full-time clergy, and rural and urban churches close regularly.

Most Christians in New Zealand will be aware of these stark realities.  We are now one of the most secular nations upon earth.