Why I think Norris will lose

As I write the chances of David Norris being nominated for the ballot, never mind being elected as Irish President are fading fast. It is all so far away from the "dream candidacy" that he seemed to exemplify as little as a week ago. Having weathered the storm over his interview with Helen Lucy Burke - in which he questioned the very idea of an age of consent for sexual activity, as well as seeming to approve of the pagan Greeks practice of pederasty- he appeared invincible. He may however have fallen victim to another ancient Greek idea: hubris. The irony is that for a veteran campaigner in the cause of homosexual rights he may have unwittingly exposed to public view those practices within the homosexual lifestyle that the friendly media endeavour to keep hidden. After all his former partner was merely engaging in the very practice that Senator Norris found so appealing among the ancient Greeks- a middle aged man grooming a younger teenager for sexual activity. Today we call it statutory rape. If his ill fated campaign forces into public view, and rational debate the issue of the homosexual lifestyle, then he will have inadvertently "done the state some service"

Is Wright ....right?

Let’s face it it’s not often a pastor makes front page news . If we do it is usually not for the right reason. Rev Jeremiah Wright sadly is not the exception to prove the rule. Wright who pastors an African American “Mega Church” in Chicago, is the spiritual mentor of leading Democrat candidate for the US Presidency, Senator Barak Obama. Sections of his sermons posted on the internet have raised grave and possibly fatal questions regarding the judgement of Senator Obama. As a pastor however I feel it raises more fundamental questions on the role of the ministry itself.

There is no doubt that the Christian ministry if served faithfully is not about making people comfortable. The old saying has a lot of truth to it: The ministry exists “To comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable”. Rev Wright is not to be condemned because he sought to make people feel uncomfortable. The real issue is that he made the wrong people feel uncomfortable! The easy option- which I believe he took- was to be “cheer leader” for his own community rather than God’s prophet of uncomfortable truth to them.

The issue of how as Christian we respond to those from whom we are divided is a crucial one. It is one for example we here in Ireland have had to face. It is also one which is at the heart of the New Testament. Getting it right is a defining factor in establishing the essential credibility of any christian ministry.

The issue of race relations has been and continues to be such an issue in the United States. Pastors on both sides of the divide can either pander to people’s grievances make them “feel good about themselves” or challenge them to reach for the difficult and sometimes impossible goal of being radically different. The first option only takes rhetoric. The latter takes the grace of God and a willingness to be rejected by one’s own community if necessary. Which did Jesus take? Which did Paul take? Which reaches people with a power greater than themselves to make them more than they ever thought they could be? I think we know the answer.

As an outsider looking in I think the black community in America desperately needs pastors of the latter quality. The ghetto mentality needs to be questioned and abandoned. The deadly comfort of the welfare trap needs to be exposed for what it is and rejected. Above all the gospel of Jesus Christ in which there is “ now neither Jew nor Gentile, slave or free male or female but in which all are one in christ Jesus” - needs to be powerfully preached. It needs to be preached with a willingness to pay the price of rejection and ridicule. The black community needs to be truly evangelised and pastored, not patronised. There are thankfully a growing number of black ministers who are quietly doing just that. You will not see them on You Tube or hear about them on CNN. But thank God for them. Soon maybe sooner than we think the Rev Wrights and Louis Farrakhans will be as marginalised in the black community as the Aryan Nation and the KKK are in the white community. It cannot be too soon.

The Message of Easter

It's Easter. But what does it mean? To many it is simply another welcome break from work No doubt to many of the children -and not a few adults- it is a time to indulge in lots of chocolate!
But for Christians it means remembering the very foundation of our faith. Jesus conquered death! He died for or sins but he did no stay dead. As Peter preached on the day of Pentecost
" It was impossible that death should hold Him!" Yet this very foundation is a stumbling block to many. As a former agnostic, it was coming to terms with the reality of the Resurrection that brought me to believe in Jesus and receive the forgiveness that He offers.
Do you believe in His Resurrection? The well known American pastor John Piper gives 8 good reasons why you should. Take a few minute to read them - and my God bring you to His living Son before this day is over!

S. Murphy


Eight Reasons Why I Believe That Jesus Rose from the Dead

John Piper


1. Jesus himself testified to his coming resurrection from the dead.

Jesus spoke openly about what would happen to him: crucifixion and then resurrection from the dead. “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again” (Mark 8:31; see also Matthew 17:22; Luke 9:22). Those who consider the resurrection of Christ unbelievable will probably say that Jesus was deluded or (more likely) that the early church put these statements in his mouth to make him teach the falsehood that they themselves conceived. But those who read the Gospels and come to the considered conviction that the one who speaks so compellingly through these witnesses is not the figment of foolish imagination will be unsatisfied with this effort to explain away Jesus’ own testimony to his resurrection from the dead.

This is especially true in view of the fact that the words which predict the resurrection are not only the simple straightforward words quoted above, but also the very oblique and indirect words which are far less likely to be the simple invention of deluded disciples. For example, two separate witnesses testify in two very different ways to Jesus’ statement during his lifetime that if his enemies destroyed the temple (of his body), he would build it again in three days (John 2:19; Mark 14:58; cf. Matthew 26:61). He also spoke illusively of the “sign of Jonah” — three days in the heart of the earth (Matthew 12:39; 16:4). And he hinted at it again in Matthew 21:42 — “The very stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner.” On top of his own witness to the coming resurrection, his accusers said that this was part of Jesus’ claim: “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise’” (Matthew 27:63).

Our first evidence of the resurrection, therefore, is that Jesus himself spoke of it. The breadth and nature of the sayings make it unlikely that a deluded church made these up. And the character of Jesus himself, revealed in these witnesses, has not been judged by most people to be a lunatic or a deceiver.



2. The tomb was empty on Easter.

The earliest documents claim this: “When they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus” (Luke 24:3). And the enemies of Jesus confirmed it by claiming that the disciples had stolen the body (Matthew 28:13). The dead body of Jesus could not be found. There are four possible ways to account for this.

2.1 His foes stole the body. If they did (and they never claimed to have done so), they surely would have produced the body to stop the successful spread of the Christian faith in the very city where the crucifixion occurred. But they could not produce it.

2.2 His friends stole the body. This was an early rumor (Matthew 28:11-15). Is it probable? Could they have overcome the guards at the tomb? More important, would they have begun to preach with such authority that Jesus was raised, knowing that he was not? Would they have risked their lives and accepted beatings for something they knew was a fraud?

2.3 Jesus was not dead, but only unconscious when they laid him in the tomb. He awoke, removed the stone, overcame the soldiers, and vanished from history after a few meetings with his disciples in which he convinced them he was risen from the dead. Even the foes of Jesus did not try this line. He was obviously dead. The Romans saw to that. The stone could not be moved by one man from within who had just been stabbed in the side by a spear and spent six hours nailed to a cross.

2.4 God raised Jesus from the dead. This is what he said would happen. It is what the disciples said did happen. But as long as there is a remote possibility of explaining the resurrection naturalistically, modern people say we should not jump to a supernatural explanation. Is this reasonable? I don’t think so. Of course, we don’t want to be gullible. But neither do we want to reject the truth just because it’s strange. We need to be aware that our commitments at this point are much affected by our preferences — either for the state of affairs that would arise from the truth of the resurrection, or for the state of affairs that would arise from the falsehood of the resurrection. If the message of Jesus has opened you to the reality of God and the need of forgiveness, for example, then anti-supernatural dogma might lose its power over your mind. Could it be that this openness is not prejudice for the resurrection, but freedom from prejudice against it?


3. The disciples were almost immediately transformed from men who were hopeless and fearful after the crucifixion (Luke 24:21, John 20:19) into men who were confident and bold witnesses of the resurrection (Acts 2:24, 3:15, 4:2).

Their explanation of this change was that they had seen the risen Christ and had been authorized to be his witnesses (Acts 2:32). The most popular competing explanation is that their confidence was owing to hallucinations. There are numerous problems with such a notion. The disciples were not gullible, but level-headed skeptics both before and after the resurrection (Mark 9:32, Luke 24:11, John 20:8-9, 25). Moreover, is the deep and noble teaching of those who witnessed the risen Christ the stuff of which hallucinations are made? What about Paul’s great letter to the Romans? I personally find it hard to think of this giant intellect and deeply transparent soul as deluded or deceptive, and he claimed to have seen the risen Christ.

4. Paul claimed that, not only had he seen the risen Christ, but that 500 others had seen him also, and many were still alive when he made this public claim.

“Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:6). What makes this so relevant is that this was written to Greeks who were skeptical of such claims when many of these witnesses were still alive. So it was a risky claim if it could be disproved by a little firsthand research.

5. The sheer existence of a thriving, empire-conquering early Christian church supports the truth of the resurrection claim.

The church spread on the power of the testimony that Jesus was raised from the dead and that God had thus made him both Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36). The Lordship of Christ over all nations is based on his victory over death. This is the message that spread all over the world. Its power to cross cultures and create one new people of God was a strong testimony of its truth.

6. The Apostle Paul’s conversion supports the truth of the resurrection.

He argues to a partially unsympathetic audience in Galatians 1:11-17 that his gospel comes from the risen Jesus Christ, not from men. His argument is that before his Damascus Road experience when he saw the risen Jesus, he was violently opposed to the Christian faith (Acts 9:1). But now, to everyone’s astonishment, he is risking his life for the gospel (Acts 9:24-25). His explanation: The risen Jesus appeared to him and authorized him to spearhead the Gentile mission (Acts 26:15-18). Can we credit such a testimony? This leads to the next argument.

7. The New Testament witnesses do not bear the stamp of dupes or deceivers.

How do you credit a witness? How do you decide whether to believe a person’s testimony? The decision to give credence to a person’s testimony is not the same as completing a mathematical equation. The certainty is of a different kind, yet can be just as firm (I trust my wife’s testimony that she is faithful). When a witness is dead, we can base our judgment of him only on the content of his writings and the testimonies of others about him. How do Peter and John and Matthew and Paul stack up?

In my judgment (and at this point we can live authentically only by our own judgment—Luke 12:57), these men’s writings do not read like the works of gullible, easily deceived or deceiving men. Their insights into human nature are profound. Their personal commitment is sober and carefully stated. Their teachings are coherent and do not look like the invention of unstable men. The moral and spiritual standard is high. And the lives of these men are totally devoted to the truth and to the honor of God.

8. There is a self-authenticating glory in the gospel of Christ’s death and resurrection as narrated by the biblical witnesses.

The New Testament teaches that God sent the Holy Spirit to glorify Jesus as the Son of God. Jesus said, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth.... He will glorify me” (John 16:13). The Holy Spirit does not do this by telling us that Jesus rose from the dead. He does it by opening our eyes to see the self-authenticating glory of Christ in the narrative of his life and death and resurrection. He enables us to see Jesus as he really was, so that he is irresistibly true and beautiful. The apostle stated the problem of our blindness and the solution like this: “The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.... For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:4, 6).

A saving knowledge of Christ crucified and risen is not the mere result of right reasoning about historical facts. It is the result of spiritual illumination to see those facts for what they really are: a revelation of the truth and glory of God in the face of Christ — who is the same yesterday today and forever.

Do I trust Him?

There are some things that we simply assume are so. If I call myself a Christian I assume I believe. Of course one cannot be a Christian without believing certain things -the deity of Jesus, His sole sufficiency as Saviour - the reality of His resurrection. We also have a basic real trust in Christ personally as Saviour. But do we grow in faith? Is it the everyday reality of our relationship with God? You see trust - which is what faith is- is a great measure for any relationship. If we don't really trust someone it is a poor relationship indeed.
In today's Reading CH Spurgeon challenges us as believers if we are indeed living by faith.

"Strong in faith."
-- Romans 4:20

Christian, take good care of thy faith; for recollect faith is the only
way whereby thou canst obtain blessings. If we want blessings from God,
nothing can fetch them down but faith. Prayer cannot draw down answers
from God's throne except it be the earnest prayer of the man who
believes. Faith is the angelic messenger between the soul and the Lord
Jesus in glory. Let that angel be withdrawn, we can neither send up
prayer, nor receive the answers. Faith is the telegraphic wire which
links earth and heaven-on which God's messages of love fly so fast,
that before we call he answers, and while we are yet speaking he hears
us.

But if that telegraphic wire of faith be snapped, how can we receive
the promise? Am I in trouble?-I can obtain help for trouble by faith.
Am I beaten about by the enemy?-my soul on her dear Refuge leans by
faith. But take faith away-in vain I call to God. There is no road
betwixt my soul and heaven. In the deepest wintertime faith is a road
on which the horses of prayer may travel-aye, and all the better for
the biting frost; but blockade the road, and how can we communicate
with the Great King?

Faith links me with divinity. Faith clothes me with the power of God.
Faith engages on my side the omnipotence of Jehovah. Faith ensures
every attribute of God in my defence. It helps me to defy the hosts of
hell. It makes me march triumphant over the necks of my enemies. But
without faith how can I receive anything of the Lord? Let not him that
wavereth-who is like a wave of the Sea-expect that he will receive
anything of God!

O, then, Christian, watch well thy faith; for with it thou canst win
all things, however poor thou art, but without it thou canst obtain
nothing. "If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that
believeth."

Who was the real “St. Patrick”?

Given the "day that is in it" I thought a little reflection on who Patrick really was, would be appropriate. The following is a condensation from Richard Bennett's excellent account of the real Patrick. You can find his account on Christian answers.net
www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/patrick.html

FACTS ABOUT PATRICK

He was a real, historical person born in 373 A.D. in Roman Britain.

Neither Patrick's date of death or birth are known with certainty. Tradition says that March 17 (St. Patrick's Day) is one of those dates, but there is no documentation to prove it.

Patrick was himself descended from a family that had been, for two generations at least, believers in Christ Jesus. His father, he tells us was "the deacon Calpurnius, son of the late Potitus, a presbyter, of the settlement of Bannaven Taburniae."

He was not Irish, but a British Celt.

He was not a member of the Roman Catholic Church. His writings do not mention the Roman Catholic Church's doctrines about the Pope, Purgatory, Masses, or the virgin Mary.

In his time, church leaders were allowed to marry.

He brought the true Gospel of Christ to the Irish as a Christian missionary-evangelist in or about 405 A.D.

These facts are recorded in Patricks own testimony of faith. "Confession of Patrick" from which his accounts are quoted.

This authentic document is preserved in five manuscripts: one in the Book of Armagh of the seventh century, the second in the Cotton Library of the tenth century, a third in the French monastery of St. Vedastus, and two more in the Cathedral Library of Salisbury. This authenticated document is the main source of both the person and the mission of Patrick, and also his clear statement of the Gospel of grace.

THE STORY

Patrick was born in the year 373 in a town on the River Clyde- “ Bannaven Taburniae." in Roman Britain, now a part of Scotland.

When he was sixteen years old, Patrick was captured by a band of pirates who sold him to a chieftain in what is now county Antrim in Northern Ireland. For six years he tended flocks. at Slemish mountain
In his testimony he tells us,

"I was taken captive before I knew what I should desire and what I should shun."

CONVICTION & CONVERSION

It was during the time of his captivity that he turned from his careless ways and came to a saving knowledge of Christ Jesus. He was convicted that he was a sinner. In his own words,

"before I was humbled I was like a stone lying in deep mire, and He that is mighty came and in His mercy raised me up and, indeed, lifted me high up and placed me on top of the wall. And from there I ought to shout out in gratitude to the Lord for His great favours in this world and for ever, that the mind of man cannot measure."

Patrick, like so many of the godly men of history, found God's favor in the riches of the grace of Christ. This was the theme echoing throughout the testimony of Patrick, in his own words "I am greatly God's debtor, because he granted me so much grace."
He then grew in the grace of God. Having believed on "the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth," [6] he directly received "of his fullness--grace for grace." In his own words,

EVIDENCE OF A NEW HEART

"More and more did the love of God, and my fear of Him and faith increase, and my spirit was moved so that in a day [I said] from one up to a hundred prayers, and in the night a like number; besides I used to stay out in the forests and on the mountain and I would wake up before daylight to pray in the snow, in icy coldness, in rain, and I used to feel neither ill nor any slothfulness, because, as I now see, the Spirit was burning in me at that time."

ESCAPE TO HOME

Patrick relates how, after six years, he escaped and after a difficult journey on land and sea returned to his people in Scotland. In his own words,

"I was again in Britain with my family [kinsfolk], and they welcomed me as a son, and asked me, in faith, that after the great tribulations I had endured I should not go any where else away from them."

HIS DIRECT MISSION FROM THE LORD

Like the Apostle Paul, he received a clear and personal call from the Lord to preach the Gospel in the land of his former captivity. He described his call in these words,

"I saw a man whose name was Victoricus coming as if from Ireland with innumerable letters, and he gave me one of them, and I read the beginning of the letter: The Voice of the Irish, and as I was reading the beginning of the letter I seemed at that moment to hear the voice of those who were beside the forest of Foclut which is near the western sea, and they were crying as if with one voice: We beg you, holy youth, that you shall come and shall walk again among us. And I was stung intensely in my heart so that I could read no more, and thus I awoke. Thanks be to God, because after so many years the Lord bestowed on them according to their cry"

He speaks of being called again in dream another night, but makes it clear how he interpreted what was happening by the Scriptures. He wrote, "Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we know not how to pray as we ought. But the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for utterance." And again, "The Lord our advocate intercedes for us."

Thus, Patrick relies on Scripture to understand his experience and to see that it was the Lord Himself who was calling him. In his own words, "He who gave his life for you, He it is who speaks within you."
He understood that Christ Jesus, who had died for his sins, was the One who was calling him to work as an evangelist in the very island where he had been held captive.

A second historical document from Patricks own hand is his letter to Coroticus. In it he explains his assignment from God to a foreign nation for the glory of eternal life that is in Christ Jesus. His own words are the following,

"Thus I am a servant in Christ to a foreign nation for the unspeakable glory of life everlasting which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This is a major factor in understanding Patrick. He knew himself as a sinner and found salvation where only sinners find it, "in Christ Jesus our Lord."[13] The first words of his testimony read,

"I, Patrick, a sinner, a most simple countryman, the least of all the faithful and most contemptible to many."

Likewise, in the beginning of his letter to Coroticus he states,

"I, Patrick, a sinner, unlearned, resident in Ireland".

Quite clearly, Patrick saw himself as a sinner. He did not look to some spark of life from within himself or to some ritual; rather, he looked unto Christ Jesus. Patricks words, "unspeakable glory of life everlasting which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" shows his distinct and personal comfort and courage in Christ.

HIS MISSION BEGINS

Patrick, the Christian Evangelist, being about 30 years old and together with some brothers in the Lord, set out for Ireland. He arrived in or about the year 405. This fact of history is authentic and verified. For example, Marcus, an Irish Bishop, who lived at the beginning of the ninth century, states that Patrick came to Ireland in the year 405 AD and Nennius, who lived about the same time, repeats the statement.
This date is of great importance because many centuries later there was an attempt made to confuse Patrick with Palladius, who had been sent out by Pope Celestine as a missionary to Ireland.

When news of Patricks Christian success had reached Rome, Pope Celestine then sent Palladius as a bishop to bring the churches under the control of the Papacy. It was in 432, at least 27 years after Patricks commission from God, that Palladius from Rome came on the scene.

When Palladius did come to Ireland, it was to an Ireland that had many Christian churches and that did not accept his message of subservience to the Bishop of Rome. In actual fact, Palladius was greatly discouraged by his lack of success.
To quote from the church historian Philip Schaff,

"Palladius was so discouraged that he soon abandoned the field, with his assistants, for north Britain, where he died among the Picts… The Roman mission of Palladius failed; the independent mission of Patrick succeeded. He is the true Apostle of Ireland, and has impressed his memory in indelible characters upon the Irish race at home and abroad."

GOD’S GRACE OVER THE COURSE OF 60 YEARS

The work of Patrick and his associates in Ireland was extremely difficult. He came up against the old pagan religion of the Druids. The people believed in the Druids as pagan priests who mediated for them in the things of the spirit. When Patrick preached Christ Jesus in his own words he said,

"I am greatly God's debtor, because he granted me so much grace, that through me many people would be reborn in God, and soon after confirmed, that clergy would be ordained everywhere for them, and the masses lately come to belief, whom the Lord drew from the ends of the earth.

As He once promised through His prophets: To you shall the nations come from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Our fathers have inherited naught but lies, worthless things in which there is no profit. And again, I have set you to be a light for the Gentiles that you may bring salvation to the uttermost ends of the earth. And I wish to wait then for His promise which is never unfulfilled, just as it is promised in the Gospel."
He wrote of baptizing many thousands of believers after they had professed faith.

He also wrote about anxious journeys, difficulties, and disappointments. He combated the powers of darkness in the priesthood of the Druids.

He relied on Christ Jesus and the glorious Holy Spirit given to convict people of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. He understood grace to be entirely from God when he declared,

"I, alone, can do nothing unless He Himself vouchsafes it to me. But let Him search my heart and [my] nature, for I crave enough for it, even too much, and I am ready for Him to grant me that I drink of His chalice, as He has granted to others who love him. Therefore may it never befall me to be separated by my God from His people whom He has won in this most remote land. I pray God that He gives me perseverance, and that He will deign that I should be a faithful witness for His sake right up to the time of my passing."

Over the course of 60 years, Patrick went the length and breadth of Ireland preaching the Gospel and, like Timothy and Titus before him, he ordained elders and established churches. It is reckoned that at the end of his days there were 365 churches across the island. These were established, as were the churches in Biblical times, with the people served by a pastor or elder. The authority of the pastor was one of service, rather than lording it over the people. It was like that which was established in the pages of Scripture.

Likewise, the monasteries set up by Patrick, were totally unlike the monasteries that were established under the Church of Rome. These monasteries were quite like those of the Vaudois and other early Christian churches of northern Italy and southern France, whereby men came aside for some years to be trained in the Scriptures and to learn how to evangelize and to bring the Gospel to others. They were in fact more like seminaries or Bible colleges

Later in their lives these men married and had families. These men were not forsaking the world for some retreat of inner holiness; rather, they were men who saw light and life in Christ Jesus and wished to evangelize others with the true Gospel. Because of these monasteries and the churches that Patrick founded in Ireland, Ireland became known as the "Island of Saints and Scholars".

600 YEARS OF FRUITFULNESS & EVENTUAL DECLINE

The clarity of the Gospel message cherished by Patrick and those who worked with him was to live on for many years after him. There were many famous missionaries like Patrick such as Columba and his companions who set out for Scotland in 563. Then there was Columbanus with his companions that went to evangelize France and Germany in 612. Kilian and the brothers that accompanied him went as missionaries to Franconia and Wurzburg in 680. Forannan and twelve brothers with him set out to bring the Gospel to the Belgian frontier in 970.[20]
Copyrighted

For more than six hundred years, Irish missionaries carried the Gospel with the same truthfulness as Patricks to Britain, Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy and beyond. Darkness covered Europe in the ninth and tenth centuries. The Dark Ages had begun and the Roman Church, having gained rulership through intrigue and persecution, now held most of Europe in her iron grip. Even so, in those dark centuries, the Irish missionaries continued to spread the true Gospel, seed which for centuries to come would bear much good fruit all across Europe.

THE STOLEN LEGACY OF PATRICK

Papal Rome began to unleash military power to bring Ireland under her control. This began with the decree of Pope Adrian IV issued to King Henry II of England in 1155. The Pope authorized the invasion of Ireland and sent the king a ring of investiture as Lord of Ireland, calling upon the monarch to,

"to extirpate the vices that have there taken root, [in Ireland]…saving to St. Peter and the holy Roman Church the annual pension of one penny from each house.
(This Papal Bull of Pope Adrian IV that empowered king Henry II to conquer and subdue Christian churches to Rome )

King Henry carried out the designs of the Papacy in 1171 and with a strong military force subdued the whole Irish nation. He received from every Archbishop and Bishop, at the Synod of Cashel in 1172 charters whereby they confirmed the Kingdom of Ireland to him and his heirs. The King sent a transcript of these charters to Pope Alexander III, who, according to the letters of the Archbishops and Bishops, was extremely gratified by the extension of his dominion, and in 1172 issued a bull confirming the Papal decree of Pope Adrian.

Further rulings were sent from Rome to Henry II and to the princes and nobles of Ireland, and to the bishops of Ireland to establish the hierarchy over the people and pastors and enjoin obedience of both Ireland and England to the Papal throne.

THE HERITAGE OF PATRICK LIVES ON!

The heartbeat and the soul of Patrick was the Gospel of Christ. He wrote in his testimony,

"I am imperfect in many things, nevertheless, I want my brethren and kinsfolk to know my nature so that they may be able to perceive my souls desire. I am not ignorant of what is said of my Lord in the Psalm: You destroy those who speak a lie and a lying mouth deals death to the soul. Likewise the Lord says in the Gospel, In the day of judgment, men shall render an account for every idle word they utter.

So it is that I should fear mightily, with terror and trembling, this judgment on the day when no one shall be able to steal away or hide, but each one shall render account for even our smallest sins before the judgment seat of Christ."

These words of Patrick are as a prophetic trumpet of the Lord. It is most serious to steal the legacy from the people of the nation, particularly when that heritage was life and light in Christ Jesus!

Many Irish have grown up engrossed in the rites and rituals of Roman Catholicism. Many of us, turning from those dead things and having tasted of the Biblical grace of God that is in Christ Jesus, now want to stand on Patricks words,

"no one shall be able to steal away or hide, but each one shall render account for even our smallest sins before the judgment seat of Christ."

The wonder of Patricks life was simply God's grace in Christ Jesus. The divine call to the true Gospel went forth from Ireland for more than 600 years.

Just as Patrick expected the power of God's grace to overcome the priesthood of the Druids, we now stand for the same Biblical Gospel that he preached to evangelize even those in the Catholic priesthood and hierarchy. The battle is the Lords and the victory will be His. "Fear not, little flock; for it is your Fathers good pleasure to give you the kingdom." Luke 12:32

In the legacy of Patrick, we pray Christ words, "Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am." John 17:24

The frightening words of the Lord ring in the ears of those who spend their lives in man-made religion, "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” Matthew 7:21

As Christ Jesus Gospel stands, so also is His call on your life.

Believe on Him alone for,

"this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." 1 John 5:11-12

Many people struggle with conversion. Maybe you are at that point too. You know all the arguments. You have heard countless sermons. Friend after friend has witnessed to you and told you what Jesus will do for you. Yet you hold back.
Perhaps you are wondering if God would save you? CH Spurgeon applies the story of the two lepers to those who are seeking salvation. His message is simple : What do you have to lose? Maybe you are held back by fears and doubts. The only thing you can do with fears and doubts is to face them. Will you? That is what the lepers in today's reading did. Will you come to Jesus ? If you do you will find that all you will lose is what you desperately need to lose - your guilt and condemnation. What will you gain? God, heaven, peace of mind; a reason to live and a hope beyond death! Why wait!

"Why sit we here until we die?" 2 Kings 7:3

Dear reader, this little book was mainly intended for the edification of believers, but if you are yet unsaved, our heart yearns over you: and we would fain say a word which may be blessed to you. Open your Bible, and read the story of the lepers, and mark their position, which was much the same as yours. If you remain where you are you must perish; if you go to Jesus you can but die. "Nothing venture, nothing win", is the old proverb, and in your case the venture is no great one. If you sit still in sullen despair, no one can pity you when your ruin comes; but if you die with mercy sought, if such a thing were possible, you would be the object of universal sympathy. None escape who refuse to look to Jesus; but you know that, at any rate, some are saved who believe in him, for certain of your own acquaintances have received mercy: then why not you? The Ninevites said, "Who can tell?" Act upon the same hope, and try the Lord's mercy. To perish is so awful, that if there were but a straw to catch at, the instinct of self-preservation should lead you to stretch out your hand. We have thus been talking to you on your own unbelieving ground, we would now assure you, as from the Lord, that if you seek him he will be found of you. Jesus casts out none who come unto him. You shall not perish if you trust him; on the contrary, you shall find treasure far richer than the poor lepers gathered in Syria's deserted camp. May the Holy Spirit embolden you to go at once, and you shall not believe in vain. When you are saved yourself, publish the good news to others. Hold not your peace; tell the King's household first, and unite with them in fellowship; let the porter of the city, the minister, be informed of your discovery, and then proclaim the good news in every place. The Lord save thee ere the sun goes down this day.

Blessings in Difficulties

This morning I turned to my usual devotional reading- Spurgeon's "Morning & Evening" It is challenging to say the least! We so often pray for the things and the circumstances we think we need. God knows better. As you look at what's happening in your life today don't ask "How do I feel about it" but instead ask "What is God doing through it." Every blessing.

S Murphy


"In my prosperity I said I shall never be moved."
-- Psalms 30:6

"Moab settled on his lees, he hath not been emptied from vessel to
vessel." Give a man wealth; let his ships bring home continually rich
freights; let the winds and waves appear to be his servants to bear his
vessels across the bosom of the mighty deep; let his lands yield
abundantly: let the weather be propitious to his crops; let
uninterrupted success attend him; let him stand among men as a
successful merchant; let him enjoy continued health; allow him with
braced nerve and brilliant eye to march through the world, and live
happily; give him the buoyant spirit; let him have the song perpetually
on his lips; let his eye be ever sparkling with joy-and the natural
consequence of such an easy state to any man, let him be the best
Christian who ever breathed, will be presumption; even David said, "I
shall never be moved;" and we are not better than David, nor half so
good. Brother, beware of the smooth places of the way; if you are
treading them, or if the way be rough, thank God for it. If God should
always rock us in the cradle of prosperity; if we were always dandled
on the knees of fortune; if we had not some stain on the alabaster
pillar; if there were not a few clouds in the sky; if we had not some
bitter drops in the wine of this life, we should become intoxicated
with pleasure, we should dream "we stand;" and stand we should, but it
would be upon a pinnacle; like the man asleep upon the mast, each
moment we should be in jeopardy.

We bless God, then, for our afflictions; we thank him for our changes;
we extol his name for losses of property; for we feel that had he not
chastened us thus, we might have become too secure. Continued worldly
prosperity is a fiery trial.

"Afflictions, though they seem severe,
In mercy oft are sent."