Here it is, my first blog! In fact I must confess that this blog is the first I have ever read, which at least enables me to claim naivety if what I write is not what a 'typical blog', if there is such a thing, should contain. After seeing how effective Facebook has been in enabling me to connect with so many people, I concluded that a blog would be a good way to go. You never know, I may even manage my first 'tweet' soon ; )
Now comes the obvious question: why am I writing a blog? I can safely say that it's not a product of boredom or having an abundance of free time on my hands. Rather, I would like to write a book! Well, I was asked some time ago to start putting into written word some of my material, and having read literally hundreds and hundreds of books over the past 3 years whilst doing my MA, I thought to myself why not. So, I have started to write a book about the creation of the EU and its place in biblical prophecy.
However, that book is not the problem, although it might be if no-one buys it! The challenge is the book I would like to write, and hence the blog. When a team member (and good friend of mine) thought that our church was, in some areas, verging on entering deception and allowing spirits other than the Holy Spirit to operate, I was totally shocked, in fact speechless. Not only because I know how earnestly the leadership team I serve in seeks the Lord and his holiness, but also because in many ways the church seemed to be healthier, purer and more Christ like than I have ever known it. When I finally managed to clear my throat and ask why they thought this was the case, it soon became apparent that they had been researching various churches and ministries on the internet that we were loosely connected with.
The good news is that this precious individual has remained at the church and is fully on board with our journey. Yet the whole experience for me was reminiscent of my wife's personal struggle over a fear of being deceived, which had derived from various teachings she had received. However, her story is not really mine to tell - it will feature in a blog coming up very soon. So I decided to look at what teaching is out there on the world wide web that could cause people to struggle with fairly ordinary churches like ours.
My curiosity was soon satisfied, albeit grievously by literally hundreds of websites and ministries whose goal and purpose is to find fault with every other ministry, apart from their own, and fill innocent readers with fear of being deceived and led away from the true faith. Not only were wonderful men of God such as Colin Urquhart deemed as dangerous, but even the Alpha Course was made out by some to be a work of the enemy. I mean seriously, if the devil invented Alpha, it was certainly an epic failure, for I have led numerous people to Lord through the course and know that worldwide, scores of people have come to Christ.
On the other hand, I am fully aware of the bibles teaching on the danger of deception, particularly in the last days, in which I believe we are living. Yet in the material I have looked at, there seems to be a lack of balance between the deception Christ and the Apostles spoke of, and that which is being labelled by many as deception today. My book intends to present a balanced approach to the topic and hopefully liberate many from fear of deception, which often leads people to isolation far beyond the safety of the local church.
So getting back to the reason for writing the blog, I thought I would write come of the key areas of the book in this format to allow others to contribute, share their views and watch the conclusions unfold.
If that is of any interest to you, please follow!
Peace and Grace
