Walking With Jesus

A Heart Like His

*In light of the last few days topics I thought this message from Ron Hutchcraft would be the perfect way to summarize what I’ve been trying to share. Please listen to the Spirit as your read. Blessings, Ed 😊

Some dear friends of ours lost their 19-year-old son. Because of the way it happened, his death was a sudden, gut-wrenching tragedy. With Jesus as their anchor, even through this, they made this incredible faith statement. His mom and dad said this: “God wants life to come from his death.” One way that’s happened is through their decision to donate his organs to help save and improve some other lives. Not long after their son’s death, the word came back that someone in a neighboring state had received their son’s heart. That’s been a source of comfort and encouragement to them. As they say, “Our son’s heart is giving life to someone else.”

I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “A Heart Like His.”

In a sense, Jesus wants to give you a new life by giving you a new heart spiritually – His heart. To live your life seeing what He sees in the lives around you, caring about the things He cares about. It’s part of the miracle that happens when you turn your life over to Jesus. He fulfills this promise from Ezekiel 36:26-27 – “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit in you.”

When you ask Jesus to put His heart in you, your life can never be the same. Paul talked about what a Jesus-heart does in our word for today from the Word of God. It’s in 2 Corinthians 5, beginning with verse 14. “Christ’s love compels us.” Suddenly the love Jesus has for this world is part of you, and that love drives you to touch as many lives as possible with that love. Paul goes on to describe the dramatic revolution that takes place in what, or who, you live for. “He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again.”

Look, what’s our natural bent? To live for ourselves, right? What makes us look good, what makes us comfortable, what fulfills our desires, advances our agenda. But when Jesus puts His selfless heart in you, it’s not all about you anymore. It’s all about Him and the people He died for, and your life is never the same.

A life that’s all about your needs and your agenda is a very small life. A life that’s all about Jesus, all about the needs of others, all about introducing people to Jesus – that’s a super-sized life – one with the satisfaction of knowing you are fulfilling your created destiny. But it takes a new heart, because our heart is, by itself, self-centered and earth-centered – not eternity centered.

When Jesus plants His heart in you, you finally realize who you really are and why you are where you are. Paul says, “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God was making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: be reconciled to God.”

Going to work is never the same again. Going to school, going to the club or the gym, even going home to your neighborhood, because now you see the people there through Jesus’ eyes, and He sees future inhabitants of hell unless someone helps them get to heaven by getting them to Jesus. You now know you are there on Christ’s behalf, saying what He would say to them, trying to rescue them as He would rescue them. And your everyday stuff? It’s never everyday again – it’s got eternal significance.

If your life has been very full but not very fulfilling, if you want the rest of your life to really count, if you want to live your life for something that will outlast you, then it’s time for you to open up your heart to receive the heart of your Jesus. It begins when you pray, “Go ahead, God, and break my heart for the things that break yours. Go ahead and fill my heart with the love and the burden that fills yours.” Then fasten your seatbelt for a life of spiritual greatness. With His heart in you, you will live a life you could have no other way. Don’t settle for anything less.

Sharing the Gospel

“God saved you by His grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago.” (Ephesians 2:8-10 NLT)

There are at least three things we need to understand if we’re to ever be saved. First, we must understand we’re a sinner in need of salvation, second, that we can’t save ourselves; in the sense, we can’t earn our own salvation, and thirdly, that Jesus is the only One who can forgive us and give us access to heaven. As someone who wants to be effective in sharing the message of Christ, why is it important that we understand those things?

Because before we can make a meaningful effort to invite someone to follow Jesus, we have to eliminate objections many people have. That’s why before I “present the Gospel” to anyone, I want to know as best I can where THEY think they stand with Him already. That’s why I almost always begin by asking the question I mentioned a few days ago: “If you were to die today and stand before God and He were to ask you: ‘Why should I let you into My perfect heaven?’ what would you say?”

Why that question, asked that way? Because their response will give you vital information and understanding of where they believe they are with God. There are objections that are beyond the scope of this brief article, so, understanding that some will say in a number of ways “Look, I’m not interested in hearing anything about heaven or Jesus today!” let me address those who express interest and want to have a conversation.

Most will give one of a few responses:

“Because Jesus is Lord of my life and I’ve walked with Him for _______.” (however long they’ve walked with Him). Thank them for their time, maybe pray with them and go on.
“Because I’m a good person. I love my family, I’m honest, go to church, etc.” (we are never saved BY our good works, we are saved FOR good works. See verse above)
“I’m not sure. I’ve never thought about that before.”

From there, thank them for their response and with a firm Biblical foundation explain to them that salvation isn’t based on our goodness, but on the goodness and perfection of Jesus (see verses above). I would say something like: “I appreciate your honesty, I felt very much like that.“ (if you did, or) “I can certainly understand why you might feel that way; however, the Bible clearly teaches that we’re not saved by any effort on our part. Forgiveness of our sins is why Jesus died on the Cross. Jesus said from the Cross ‘It is finished!’ and by that He meant that the penalty for our sin, a debt we could never pay in all eternity, was paid in full by the shedding of His blood.” Explain why that matters in your own words, then move on.

Obviously, the words you choose, and the use of Scripture needs to be in line with their understanding. That’s why I often use Ron Hutchcraft’s The Bridge to God illustration. As long as you have internet access on your phone you can google hutchcraft.com and use the Bridge illustration wherever you are. Another valuable resource that is literally filled with helpful information for sharing your faith is Ray Comfort’s website. He has dozens of videos and “how-to’s” for sharing your faith.

Avail yourself of these and many other resources to learn a way that makes sense to you and allows you to “flow” in your presentation of the Gospel in an easy to follow, relatable way for someone the Lord puts in front of you to lead to Him.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed

P.S. If you have specific questions I could address, please contact me at walkingwithjesus09@gmail.com

Some Nuts and Bolts!

“After preaching the Good News in Derbe and making many disciples, Paul and Barnabas returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch of Pisidia, where they strengthened the believers. They encouraged them to continue in the faith, reminding them that we must suffer many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God.” (Acts 14:21-22 NLT)

The last couple of days we’ve looked at our need to be concerned about the vast number of lost people the Lord has “assigned” us to reach, but today I’d like to share a few ideas as to how we can reach them. But before we go there, I must first address the reason I used the term “assigned.” When the Lord called Paul, He allowed him insight into how He would use him. Verse 15 gives us our first clue: “But the Lord said, ‘Go, for Saul is My chosen instrument to take My message to the Gentiles and to kings, as well as to the people of Israel.’”

Why did Paul travel so much in his ministry? Because that’s where the Lord led him to reach his chosen audiences. Why will the Lord lead you into your school, vocation, area of interest, place of employment, person to marry, where to live and on and on it goes? We all travel; it’s just a matter of how large a radius the Lord wants us to reach. So, once He “plants” us, where do we go from there?

As I review the process in my own life, though I realize it could be quite different than the way you came to the Lord, hopefully, we’ll see some commonalities and discover some helpful tools in reaching those who are lost in our spheres of influence. My journey began in West Virginia, but led me to Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Florida, Texas, and now Nevada.

What have I found in all those locations? Lost people! Some hungry and ready to receive the Lord and some angry, hurt, discouraged, disillusioned, in short, not ready to receive the Lord, but still very much on my radar and in my “mission field.” So, how did I reach out to them?

What did Paul do? He went into an area and made friends. How did he do that? He went to where the people were – the Synagogues because he was Jewish (they didn’t have any churches until Paul started them) and to the cities where people gathered. He spent time building relationships and, as with all of us, some people liked him and responded to his message and ministry, and some didn’t.

With whom in your church, neighborhood, workplace, school, gym, club, can you meet and build a relationship? Do you know what nearly every person you meet has in common? They know other people! We want to reach a city, a nation, a world, which well we should, but do you know how we will do that? One saved person at a time.

The first step in building an effective evangelistic outreach is making a difference in one person’s life. Who will it be for you? Maybe you already know a lot of lost people, but you’re likely not going to be able to reach them all at the same time. Can you focus on one or two and get them engaged in spiritual conversations? Do you know how to lead them to the Lord through a simple straightforward Gospel presentation?

My sense is, many reading these articles are well equipped to lead someone to the Lord, but for the benefit of maybe even the few who don’t, tomorrow I will run down some basic Scriptures and thoughts to guide someone to a decision for the Lord, realizing some will respond positively and open their heart to the Lord and some will not. We’ll say more about this in tomorrow’s article.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

What if? (Part 2)

“As he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting Me?’ ‘Who are you, Lord?’ Saul asked. And the voice replied, ‘I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting! Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.’”

If you are a believer today, why did God save you? Yes, of course, because you were a worthless mess like we all were without Him, but more specifically – why YOU! Our minds may gravitate to the Apostle Paul who had a special encounter with God on the road to Damascus when God appointed him for his specific assignment, but my sense is God appoints EACH OF US to a special assignment when He transforms our lives and sets us apart for His sacred service.

Does that mean each of us will have a special, life-changing encounter with God? Yes, I believe that’s exactly what we’ll have. It may not look like Paul’s but nonetheless the Lord will invite us to see Him in a special way and accept His call to special service to His honor and fame. For me it was Pastoral ministry, but I’ve since learned that we have many encounters with the Lord throughout our lives when He refines and, in some cases, redefines our original “call.”

What might that look like? While I believe the Bible teaches that we get all of God at salvation, my sense is He doesn’t get all of us. How so? At conversion, when we first open our lives to the Lord and invite Him to save us from sin, deliver us from ourselves and free us from the death grip Satan has on our heart and soul, we’re so relieved and filled with joy at being infused with new life, all we want to do is celebrate.

But over time we realize that celebration must translate into a lifetime commitment to serve, not only our needs, but the needs of others. What is the primary need of every human being? To know Jesus! No one goes to heaven unless they know, love, and serve Him. But how will they know that? We must tell them!

In much the same way Paul had a specific encounter with God where the Lord defined His calling on Paul’s life, I believe, sometimes incrementally, as our heart opens wider to the Lord’s empowering presence, the Spirit invites us to give more of ourselves to Him. It’s not that we’re being “refilled” with the Spirit, it’s that we intentionally invest more of ourselves to the Spirit’s control. It’s in those moments the Lord entrusts us with a greater mission, a clearer vision of our specific field of service.

What might that look like? If we’re all – every believer – called to carry out the Great Commission in our spheres of influence, then how do we define where and what that is? Paul was called to be a missionary and as he went the Lord sharpened his focus and defined his audiences. I believe the Lord does that same thing for us.

My “audience” was different when I was a Pastor than it is now that I’m retired. What’s your “audience?” Are you in school? Do you work? Are you a housewife? Single? Married? Are you athletic? Love to cook? Are you more “artsie”, creative, love to work with your hands? Do you love to fix things or are you better at tearing them apart? However the Lord has wired you, He’s given you an audience! He’s put you in touch with lost people who need a Savior.

Let’s look at this more closely tomorrow.

Blessings, Ed 😊

What If?

“Then the righteous will shine like the sun in their Father’s Kingdom. Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand!” (Matthew 13:43 NLT)

Who are the “righteous”? Are they not those who have heard the message of the Gospel of Jesus and responded by faith? But what if no one had told them? What if they’d never heard?

We’ve all likely seen or heard about the end times stories, of the fear of wild animals, but more frightening are those who, like animals, have band together to take whatever they can find from anyone who comes across their path. The movie The Book of Eli with Denzel Washington comes to mind.

You may recall that Denzel’s character in the movie had memorized the entire Bible, yet he was blind or nearly blind. The Bible from which he memorized was in braille, which in and of itself is amazing, but the gifts the Lord gave him to fight and protect what He’d entrusted to him were equally amazing. What’s my point?

Just as the Lord entrusted a message and mission to Denzel’s character in that movie, so He has entrusted to us a message and mission as well. What is it in your life worth fighting to keep, making sure it gets to those with whom He has appointed you to share? What if we’re the only one on whose heart the Lord has laid that specific person? What if the message of Truth the Lord has entrusted to us to share doesn’t get delivered? What if they miss heaven because of our negligence?

“Yeh, but the Lord hasn’t ever told me to share my faith with anyone!” Have you never heard of the Great Commission found in Matthew 28:18-20 that applies to EVERY BORN-AGAIN BELIEVER! “I thought that’s what Pastors and Missionaries and those kinds of people are supposed to do.” Yes, of course they participate in the process, but their main responsibility is to equip us to do that work. How do I know that? Because Ephesians 4:11-12 says: “Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do His work and build up the church, the body of Christ.”

We often emphasize that it’s the responsibility of “the pastors and teachers… to equip God’s people to do His work and build up the church, the body of Christ”, and, of course, it is, but my sense is that it’s the responsibility of each child of God, regardless of how we’re gifted, to pass on what we know to others in the body of Christ. But why?

Because the Lord has gifted and equipped EVERY BELEIVER with special gifts and abilities through which His Spirit in us draws lost people to Himself, engages their heart and restores their life, but He won’t do that without us. That’s why He fills US with HIMSELF! Some believers remind me of mint condition old cars, filled with gas, but that are never driven. What’s the point? Yes, they look good, but they’re not going anywhere, they’re of no eternal value!

Don’t you want your life to count for the Lord? Don’t you want the balconies of heaven to be lined with people who are there because of the witness of your life and words? I sure do and I can’t help but believe you do too, or you wouldn’t be reading this. What if each of us who know and love Jesus committed time each day to laying ourselves before the Lord, allowing Him to bring to our minds and hearts the names and faces of people whose lives we could touch for Him?

Then we could listen intently as to how He would guide us in reaching out to them – via phone, text, email, cards, or perhaps even a personal visit with the specific goal of presenting to them a life and death message of salvation in Christ alone by faith alone. Let’s look at this more closely tomorrow.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

The Fragrance of Our Lives

“Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of His wonderful grace? Of Course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? (Romans 6:1 NLT)

Has it ever occurred to you that your life in Christ has an aroma, a scent of purity, holiness, gentleness, and wholesomeness that doesn’t originate with you, but from Him? And if the “scent” of His presence doesn’t exist, what might that indicate?

Many years ago my wife and I, our two children, ages 3 and about 8 months, and my in-laws decided to go to lunch after church one Sunday. The restaurant was crowded and it seemed a long time before we got served, but when the meals finally came, as we prepared to pray, I looked across the long table and at the end opposite me sat our 8 month old boy in his highchair, jaws puffed out, face red as a beat, and diaper full to the brim. The odor suggested he might need immediate attention, and the enjoyment of our meal would be postponed.

Did we reprimand him? Punish him for the awful thing he did? Of course not, so why do I bring it up? Because filling your diaper when you’re 8 months old is perfectly normal and acceptable but if an adult has a similar accident, it can be cause for serious alarm and immediate medical attention.

Similarly, if a new believer in Christ commits a sin, often in ignorance because they simply don’t know better, it doesn’t create an environment of God’s anger or a need for punishment, only correction; however, if a child of God of many months, even years, continues in habitual sin, that creates a major problem. Why? Because John writes in 1 John 2:1: “My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin.”

The use of the word in the original language carries with it the idea of “continuing in the same sin – sinning habitually!” Why is that a problem? Because sin separates us from God! How can we build communion and intimacy with our heavenly Father if we choose sin over Him? Foul odors are for those who aren’t clean, not only in appearance, but language, attitude, demeanor, countenance, and openness to others. That’s for spiritual “children”, not adults! We can laugh it off or do something about the serious issue.

So, what are we to do if our sinful behavior is continuing? According to 1 John 1:9: “But if we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.” Did you catch that? “…to cleanse us from all wickedness.” We want to treat our sin as if it’s no big deal, but it IS a big deal to God. It’s the wickedness that nailed His sinless Son to the Cross. To believe we can say a prayer of confession and go on living in sin is to misunderstand the will and purposes of God.

The only way we are useful to God is if we’re holy and that can’t occur except by the presence and power of His Holy Spirit who will not live in an unclean vessel. How do I know that? Because Peter tells us in 1 Peter 1:16: “For the Scriptures say, ‘You must be holy because I am holy.’” And please don’t misunderstand, holiness isn’t human perfection, that’s impossible, holiness means being willing to submit to the Lordship of Jesus and allow Him to live His life out through us. That can only be accomplished by our willingness to learn to consistently say “yes” to Him and “no” to sin in whatever form it rears its ugly head.

But don’t we have to sin “more or less every day?” That nonsense is not found in the Bible and simply is not true. Sin is a willful transgression against a clear directive of God and as an adult believer we can choose to not sin. But how? By learning to love God more than we love our sin!

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

It’s Even Better Than You Thought

“All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip His people to do every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16 NLT)

As a rule, the people who dislike, distrust, and have the most negative things to say about the Bible have never read it. Yes, of course, they may have “cherry picked” a few easily misunderstood passages, taken them out of context and made them say what they were never intended to say, then contented themselves to believe they have done their “due diligence.” But to disregard the Bible is an eternally fatal mistake.

Why would I say that? Because the Bible is God’s Words to a lost world, but especially to His redeemed people. We as human beings are so inclined to trust our own judgment, to believe what we believe is the best way, perhaps the only way to believe, when we have no real frame of reference with which to compare it. It’s our opinions, largely gathered from what our parents told us, plus what we’ve gathered from other people we trusted or on whom we’ve relied.

For the most part, we rarely verify what we hear, we just assume it’s “truth” and follow it blindly until we finally find someone to help us understand what Truth is, or we die. But here’s the Truth, the whole Truth and nothing but the Truth – God is real, Jesus is alive, and the Bible is completely, from cover to cover His Words and they are TRUE.

How can I make such a bold statement? Because I know the Bible’s Author personally, and can vouch for His character. He is the definition of true love and He never lies. He doesn’t have the capacity, it’s not in His nature to tell anything but the Truth. Not only that, He poured Himself into human flesh in the person of His only Son, the Lord Jesus, the Christ, who was born perfect, lived a perfect, sinless life, and died a sacrificial death in our place to prove He was God and had the authority to forgive sin.

Why is that important? Because sin is what separates us from God and robs us of a correct understanding of His Holy Word, the Bible. Glen Scrivener had it right when he wrote: “The Bible is so colossal and world-shaping, even the reasons you might object to the Bible have been given to you by the Bible.” We have nothing to lose by reading, studying, memorizing and following the teachings of the Bible, but we have everything to lose if we don’t.

Why would I say that? Because we learn of Jesus, about whom a prominent figure in the New Testament, Peter, said: “Lord, (in reference to Jesus) to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life.” Why is that so important? Because every human being is going to live for all eternity – somewhere, either in heaven or hell! Don’t you think it’s important to know where you’re headed and why?

“Yeh, but I don’t trust the Bible.” How can you not trust a book that stated hundreds of years before the events of Jesus’ birth the exact details of who would be His mother (a virgin peasant girl), where He would be born (Bethlehem) and even how He would die (700 years before crucifixion was invented). If you’ll do your own research the only thing you’ll find about the Bible is that it’s more accurate and better than you ever imagined it would be.

When you open your life to its main character, the Lord Jesus, you’ll discover life as it was always intended to be lived and find hope, peace, and joy that you never imagined could exist. It’s all in the Bible, read it for yourself, starting in the Gospel of John in the New Testament. You will be eternally grateful. Please click on this link to learn more.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Is Jesus Your Lord?

“Therefore, God elevated Him to the place of highest honor and gave Him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:9-11 NLT)

If we follow the teaching of Scripture from both the Old and New Testaments, it’s clear that Jesus is God poured into human flesh who lived among us, died willingly on our behalf, and reigns today as King of kings and Lord of lords. The question isn’t “Is He Lord?” it’s “Is He YOUR Lord?” If He’s Lord over all creation doesn’t that include me? You?

Yes, of course it does, but just as the Sun shines on the just and the unjust, Jesus’ reign over mankind includes every person who has or will ever live whether they acknowledge His Lordship or not. While ultimately EVERY knee will bow, only those who willingly bow their knee in submission to His Lordship NOW will be prepared for heaven and an eternity with the Lord.

Jesus’ Lordship has at least three dimensions – past, present and future. In some ways it’s like salvation in the sense that those of us who have committed our lives to the Lordship of Jesus have been saved (past tense). There is a point in time when we opened our heart to the Lord and professed Him as Savior and Lord of our life. But there is also a sense in which we are being saved. Salvation, like life, is a growing process of maturing and developing as a child of God.

It’s not “one-and-done” in the sense that salvation is a commitment to the Lord that demands investment on our part. Yes, of course, we’re saved solely on the merit of Jesus and will never in eternity make any contribution to His sacrifice on our behalf, but as in any meaningful relationship, there is give and take, growth, maturity, failure, success, highs, lows.

Lordship implies subjects of His Lordship, Master and servant, Leader and follower, Teacher and student. And yes, I realize that rubs some the wrong way but having been the Lord’s “slave” for more than 60 years, I highly recommend His Lordship. He’s strong, courageous, loving, kind, and will daily do battle on our behalf. I think of the Lord Jesus in much the same way I thought of my dad, in the sense, when He spoke, I listened and obeyed (most of the time 😊), but I also knew nobody messed with me without having to answer to my dad.

Lordship implies a relationship rooted in love. The Lord’s love for us is never stagnant or stale, but ever-developing, growing, expanding, and illuminating new ways to be intentional in our relationship with Him. Similarly, our love and devotion to the Lord should be ever-growing, causing our hearts to love more effectively as we listen to Him more intently and obey Him more enthusiastically.

Submitting to the Lordship of Jesus is a privilege we won’t fully understand until we kneel at His feet in eternity. My mind pauses to consider the joy on Mary’s face and the peace and excitement in her heart as she savored her time at the feet of Jesus. Most of us today can’t appreciate that until we take time to do it – just sit and listen to His voice and sense His loving heart in ways we’ll miss if we don’t take the time to let it happen.

Let me close today with the words of Ray Majoran’s moving and very personal prayer: “Teach us to examine our lives with humility and clarity. Where fruit is lacking, draw us nearer to Christ, the true vine, that our lives may reflect genuine trust and growing obedience (Matthew 7:17-20). Shape us into people who do not merely speak Your name, but who walk in step with Your will, resting fully in the grace that both saves and transforms us.”

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Robin Hood and Britain’s Future

By: John Stonestreet and Dr. Timothy D. Padgett

*Enjoy this informative and insightful article from the Colson Center. Blessings, Ed 😊

A new Robin Hood adaptation for TV is more fanciful than the older Disney cartoon version that featured talking animals. At least that one got the history right. The new series, which will air on MGM+, pretends that Christianity was an alien religion to England in the late 1100s. Part of the plot is that villainous Normans attempted to force Christianity down the throats of noble, pagan Anglo-Saxons.

This is nonsense. Though the Normans were not the nicest people, forcing Christianity on the Saxons was not on their agenda. The Saxons were already Christians and had been for a long time.

According to legend, Joseph of Arimathea brought Christianity to what is now England in the first century. Even if that is just legend, there is evidence of believers in Britannia in the second century. It’s likely that merchants brought the Faith there well before Constantine. By the time the Romans left in the 400s, Britain was Christian. St. Patrick, after all, was British, not Irish.

Starting in the fifth century, Anglo-Saxon tribes overran southern and eastern Britain, calling it Angle-land and naming the days of the week after their gods, Tiw, Woden, and Thor. Celtic Christian culture was suppressed, though it remained on the fringes in Ireland and Scotland. At the end of the sixth century, missionaries reintroduced Christianity, some from Europe and others from the Celtic areas to the north and west.

By the end of the seventh century, the Anglo-Saxons were thoroughly Christian. Beowulf, one of the earliest Anglo-Saxon books, has Christian elements. Christian saints like the Venerable Bede, Boniface, and Alcuin of York worked as Christian missionaries and scholars long before the Normans.

In fact, they’d been Christian longer than the Normans were. Normans is a contraction of “Northman,” as in the Vikings. They became Christian in the tenth century, just a few decades before they came to England. By the time Robin Hood supposedly lived in the late twelfth century, the Saxons had been Christians for nearly 600 years, more than twice as long as America has been a country.

Given this history, why was the show written this way? Certainly, those responsible for the script must know it is full of easily disprovable falsehoods. So, why do it?

The reversal of history in popular culture is not due to a dispute among historians. Rather, it is a symptom of the Critical Theory mood that has captured the West. According to the intersectional hierarchy, Christianity is an oppressive religion that was imposed by force wherever it spread. It is because of the same framework that Islam is often portrayed as being indigenous to places in which it post-dates Christianity by centuries.

Despite the fabricated history of the new Robin Hood, the British Isles enjoys one of the richest histories of Christian thought, work, and devotion in the world. Divorced from that history, as Rod Dreher’s Substack has recently documented, British culture is turning into a nightmare. Konstantin Kisin recently noted how, in a single year, 400 people were arrested for social media posts in Russia. In that same year, 3,300 were arrested for the same “crime” in Britain. Last year, that number spiked to nearly 10,000. Protestors are allowed to march for approved causes, but prolifers and gender realists get jail time. And most recently, the British government moved ahead with plans to scrap juries from all but the most extreme trials.

As a member of Parliament argued to a mostly empty room just a few months ago:

[T]o repudiate Christianity is not only to sever ourselves from our past, but to cut off the source of all the things we value now and that we need in the future, such as freedom, tolerance, individual dignity and human rights. 

It remains to be seen whether Britain’s future will be that of a nation severed from its roots, or that of a nation renewed. It will depend on the path chosen by those in the present, including how they remember their past and what they do with the Faith at the center of it.

Additional Resources

Beliefs shape lives. Learn how to shape beliefs well.

Join Stefan Wilson to explore what a worldview is and how to form a biblical worldview in students. This course equips believers to grow in their thinking so they can grow in their living.

Have You Made the Switch?

“We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments.” (2 Corinthians 10:3-4 NLT)

In a recent devotion by Ron Hutchcraft he told this story: “My friend, Ed, thought he had the perfect hiding place, and he told me about it. Now, Ed’s not really his name, but it is a true story. The incident happened this way. Some years ago when he was a teenager, and he came from a nice Christian family – nice Christian boy, except for some of his reading material. Now, it was before Internet days but there was a magazine called Playboy. He had a habit of going out and buying Playboy and some other magazines like it, and he hid them in an old, unused icebox where no one ever went. And he was sure no one knew the place. Well, when he went to get his dirty magazines one day, they were gone. But that’s only part of it. In their place there was a Bible. He knew his dad had to leave it there. There was never any yelling, his dad never talked to him about it, but he bought no more magazines because of that little switch his dad had made.

Our minds are the devil’s playground, and they’re subject to the old adage – “garbage in, garbage out!” As I’ve shared often, what we think about comes about, so, when we feed our mind on things of this world, we’ll never reap a spiritual harvest. If our goal and ambition is to model Christ-like behavior, we must feed our mind on the truths of God’s Holy Word, the Bible.

Too often our attitude is to skimp on Bible reading and flood our minds with what’s on the news or burning up our text or other electronic feeds, but nothing – NOTHING – will nourish our spirits like Scripture. Filling our minds with God’s words coupled with believing, expectant prayer prepares our heart, mind, soul, and body for whatever Satan throws at us.

Another avenue of healthy mental nourishment is the reading of God-exalting books. There are many very useful books by many godly authors, but if you haven’t yet begun to build your resource library of helpful volumes begin with notable authors like: C. S. Lewis, Major W. Ian Thomas, John Piper, Tim Keller, John MacArthur, Lee Strobel, Andrew Murray, Henry Blackaby, J. Edwin Orr, Erwin W. Lutzer, Rick Warren, Jim Cymbala, John Eldridge and many others. Ask your Pastor or Christian friends to make recommendations.

The point is, make the switch to quality, God-honoring words and themes to feed your mind and build your spirit up in the Lord. Another avenue of nourishing words is conversations with godly friends. If you’re not a part of a small group of hungry believers and you can’t find a good one, start one. There is ample audio-video material in addition to printed materials to use for starting a group.

When my wife and I move to a new community one of the first things we do is send a note to 10-20 of our new neighbors inviting them to come to an “open house” at our house so we can get to know our neighbors. Out of that group we send follow-up invitations to come to a study of some sort. We’ve had great success using Rick Warren’s “Purpose Driven Life”, but there’s other quality material available as well.

The point is, feed you mind on the Scriptures which will equip you to become more invested and involved in the lives of those in your spheres of influence. The “switch” to walking in and under God’s authority, brought about by feeding your mind and heart a more spiritually healthy diet will change your life in positive ways you can’t begin to imagine.

Make the “switch”! You’ll be eternally grateful you did!

Blessings, Ed 😊