The Myth of Equality (And The Tyranny of Progress)

The mantra on everyone's lips nowadays is that of equality. In everything there must be equality. Even where it is clear that equality has nothing to do with it, equality is used as a yardstick. The crazy notion of equality has also crept into the church. Last year, the Anglican Church in England held it's General Synod and voted against the ordination of women bishops. Comments that I read before and after the vote baffled me. In the end I had to come to the conclusion that the Anglican Church is seen as something of a club both by the media and even its members. I asked myself, whatever happened to having a calling? What happened to being led by God through the Holy Spirit? I am extremely baffled by the people who think that any change in culture automatically equals to some sort of progress.

Equality is a myth and when you chase a myth you end up creating confusion. What people should be looking at is what is just and fair. However in a world where everyone has the wrong idea of what should be and equality is the new fad, trouble is inevitable. I love sport, especially tennis. Thanks to people like Serena Williams and the world media, all the major tennis organisations now give equal prize money. The myth is that the men and the women do the same work. I disagree. If I were to randomly pick a hundred men and women, and ask them which match-up they would prefer to watch, a Roger Federer/Rafael Nadal contest or a Serena Williams/Caroline Wozniacki contest, I'm sure over 90 per cent of the people would want to watch the Federer/Nadal contest. The only people who might want to watch the female match-up would be Americans because of some strange sense of patriotism. That tells me that they are not equal. Especially when the men play five sets and the women three.

If you really want to push the idea of equality, you would find out that the women would be the losers. If all the tennis grand slams deecided that the women should also play five sets, or the army decided that women had to do the same number of push ups and run the same number of miles as the men, the women would find it extremely hard to cope. We only push for "equality" when it suits us. We all heard about how Navy SEAL Team 6 found Osama Bin Laden and assassinated him. How many women were part of the team?

The world has been gripped by the equality fever but the Church must stand firm. We are followers of Christ and we must not be ashamed to admit that we play by a different set of rules. It may offend people, even some who say they are Christians, but Christians but Christianity is not about equality. I have looked through my Bible and the God I love and who loves me is not a God of equality. He is a God of justice. Justice is different from equality. Equality is about what you want. Justice is about what you deserve. And not just because of you or what you've done. God's justice is based on who he is and his love for us.

 

Happy New Year (And Wait On God)

Happy New Year everyone. It is my earnest prayer that this year, we will come to know God, and his power, in a more intimate way. I pray that the Spirit and life behind the Word and the Spirit of prayer and intercession will move us greatly this year.

There might be the temptation for a lot of us to look back at the year that has just ended and conclude that there is nothing to be grateful for. There were probably quite a lot of things we were believing God for (or one important thing) and we didn’t get to see it and so some of us are probably disappointed. You’re not alone. I also thought last year was the year in which I would get a literary agent who would agree to represent me and would offer me a representation contract (is that what they are called?). I thought that after a little while, the major Christian publishing houses would be breaking down my door in order to get my signature on a publishing contract. Did any of that happen? No. I wrote a lot of book proposals and I got a lot of rejection letters. There were even more literary agents who didn’t even bother replying so all I got was silence. Am I disappointed? Yes. Am I giving up? No. Why? Because I know what I believe about what God has said to me. What the whole thing has taught me is patience.

The Bible says in Ecclesiastes chapter 9, verse 4 that “a living dog is better than a dead lion.” As long as there is breath in our lungs, we should live in hope. Especially if we believe that we know what God has said about the particular situation we are trusting him for. I have told myself that I am going to send a book proposal to every literary agent under the sun who represents Christian writers until I find one who will represent me. I believe that I have a good story (at least one of the agents has told me she likes certain aspects of it. I have been waiting for word from her superior) so I believe that there must be someone out there who will like it and will be ready to represent me. And I believe this is the year.

So if you are thinking of quitting, thinking of giving up, let it not be today my friends. We need to keep on going because tomorrow just might be the day. We should have it always in our thoughts that God has our best interests at heart. We might not always get the things we want but he will give us the things we need. And as the Kutless song says, Even If we don’t get the things we think we should have, we should still praise and worship Him because he is worthy. Let’s stick close to Him this year. I believe there are a lot things He wants to say to us. We should not let our circumstances or situations drown out his voice.

What are things we are believing for this year?

Clash of Cultures

I Kings 18:27 "And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till blood gushed out upon them." KJV

I have always been wary of any type of culture projected by the world and its systems. What surprises me is the fact that most Christians are not. In fact, Christians are the most enthusiastic adopters of new things the world brings in, forgetting that they are not of this world. The Bible says we are not to love the world or the things in the world but a lot of Christians don't seem to understand that.

I have always wondered what people see in tattoos. Before people think that I'm an elderly person who doesn't understand young people's fads, let me say that I am an adult male in my thirties. My wariness and lack of understanding has to with the fact that in the process of obtaining a tattoo, blood is spilt. The Bible says that the life of a person is in the blood. Hence any procedure that means my blood is going to be spilt or dealt with any way is something I don't want to go through. Especially when the procedure is not one that is necessary or life saving. A point I have made before which I will continue to make is that I have looked at my Bible and I see nothing about conservative or liberal there. The only definition I see from the Bible is that of Christian. And that is what I am. A Christian who believes wholly in the Bible as the infallible word of God.

The story is told in I Kings 18 about the prophet Elijah's contest with the prophets of the Canaanite god of fertility, rain and harvest, Baal. Elijah had previously prayed to God and no rain had fallen for the past three and a half years. He had disappeared out of sight and God has used raven and a widow to feed him while the whole land was experiencing a famine. At the three and a half years, Elijah showed up in Israel and challenged the prophets of Baal to contest to see whose god would answer the cries of his prophet. When the prophets of Baal prayed and he did not answer, Elijah taunted them by asking them to pray harder as perhaps Baal was sleeping or had gone on a journey. Now agitated, the Bible says "And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till blood gushed out upon them."

For me, the whole tattoo thing looks too much like what the prophets of Baal did, cutting themselves deliberately. It even seems worse to me when I think of what it’s supposed to be all about. A tattoo is supposed to be cool, hip and all about aesthetics. In short, it’s all about vanity. Which makes it even worse. People are cutting themselves to a new god, the god of cool. The god of vanity.

The Bible says we should test all spirits whether they are of God. Spirits not only exist in people, they exist as the force behind movements and waves and cultural phenomenon. Most of what is taken as culturally normal today does not align with the Bible. Yet we adopt them unthinkingly. As a result, Christian culture is being subsumed in secular culture and its getting hard to know who is a Christian and who is not because we are all so alike. And that is sad.


JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO published by WestBow Press (www.westbowpress.com), a division of Thomas Nelson Publishers.

DECEPTIO (Excerpt)

“Maxwell, what are we doing here? Why are we stopping?” he asked, his tone rising. “I thought I said that I wanted to go home?”

“Let’s just say that you’re not going home yet. At least not until you answer some questions. And then, maybe not ever.”

“Who are you? You’re not Maxwell,” Rankin shouted.

“You’re very perceptive aren’t you? Somebody give the man a prize.”

“If what you’re after is money, I don’t have any on me so you’ve made a mistake.” Rankin said even as he tried to open the door. The door refused to open.

“Don’t bother trying. It’s locked from here. And that’s a very wrong this to tell someone who wants money. He might think you have no value for your life.”

The mention of his life stopped Rankin cold. “Are you here to kill me? I can assure you that if you kill me, the FBI will track you down and you’ll burn for murder. You can’t kill a United States senator and expect to get away with it.”

“Well someone killed Robert Partridge and he’s still at large. The FBI haven’t caught him and I don’t think they will.”

The mention of Robert Partridge’s name made Rankin break out in a cold sweat. Either the guy knew something or he was fishing. “Who are you? What do you know about Robert Partridge?”  

Morton turned and pointed a gun at Rankin making the other man cringe. “George sends his greetings. He would have loved to be here but he couldn’t make it.”

“You killed him didn’t you?”

“Let’s just say it was a case of him or me. And like I said, I need some questions answered or you just might join him.”

“What do you want to know?”

“Why do you people want to kill Susan Partridge?”

Rankin was taken aback. “Wherever did you get that idea from?”

“It’s quite obvious that someone or a group of people are behind her sudden rise. It seems to me like some people are building her up so that they can make a statement with her death. Why do you want to kill her?”

“I don’t know where you got that idea from but nothing could be further from the truth,” Rankin said. It was quite obvious that the man knew nothing and he was only fishing.

“What do you have to gain by killing her? What are you people after?”

“Really,” Rankin said smiling, “I don’t know where you got all your ideas from. We have nothing whatsoever to gain from Susan Partridge’s death. I don’t know what you intend to gain by all this but don’t you think that you should let me go before the police catch you?”

“What about if I tortured you? I’m sure I have enough time to break a few of your fingers or your jaw. That should get you talking.”

Rankin blanched. “You wouldn’t.”

“So if you’re not trying to kill her and there’s no plot to kill her, why don’t you tell me what connection there is between you and George.”

“Because of my work, I know a lot of people, some of whom I can’t remember where I met them,” Rankin said smiling. “I really can’t remember where I met George or put a face with the name.”

“Isn’t it quite interesting that the same person whom you can’t remember had your number as the only number on his phone? And it shows that he called you when he arrived in Washington.”

Rankin shrugged. “He called me but I didn’t remember him. He wanted us to meet up so that we could catch up on old times but we never met. Because you killed him.”

Morton had a strong desire to do something to wipe the smirk off Rankin’s face. He released the safety catch of the gun and leaned forward to press the gun into his temple. “Since you know that I killed George, then you should be aware that I won’t have any compunction about putting a bullet through your skull.”

“But the question is “Will you”? Let me give you a piece of advice. You’re way in over your head here whoever you are. The best thing would be for you to stop pushing your nose into areas where you have no business. That kind of thing is what gets people killed.”

It was Morton’s turn to smile. “So now you’re threatening me?”

“I wouldn’t put it that way,” Rankin said. “Like I said, it’s advice. You either take it or leave it.”

Morton looked at him intently. “I’ll leave it. Could you pass a message to your people for me? Rankin continued staring at him without acknowledging that he heard or understood the question. “Tell them it’s not over. I’m watching.”

With that, he opened the door and stepped out of the car into the dark night.

JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO. The book is published by WestBow Press (www.westbowpress.com) , a division of Thomas Nelson Publishers.

Only Jesus Saves (Really, It's True You Know)

The elections in America have come and gone and we have a winner. President Barack Obama has been elected for another four years. However, even though the elections are over, we understand that the nation itself is more divided than ever. The campaign in the run-up to the elections was said to be extremely divisive and negative and now that a winner has been announced, both of sides of the ideological divide are experiencing differing emotions. While the liberals on the left are basking in the euphoria of victory, the conservatives on the right are licking their wounds and smarting as they wallow in what is described as "the agony of defeat". From the differing emotions experienced by both sides and the violence of those emotions, one would think that the people thought the candidates they supported were some kind of saviour. It would seem that the people had invested their candidates with some kind of supernatural power to solve all their problems. You would be forgiven for thinking that the two candidates were some kind of supernatural human beings with the cure for all of the worlds problems, instead of human beings like you and I with their own problems, insecurities and the inherent ability to make mistakes. (Yes, you read that right. They make mistakes). And the fact that they think that their ideological leanings and their particular "vision" is the solution to all the problems in the world is the first mistake.

The Oxford Advanced Leaners Dictionary defines the word save as "to keep somebody/something safe from death, harm, loss, etc." In the end, only Jesus can save both spiritually and physically. There must however be a saving spiritually before there can be a saving physically. 3 John 1 v 2 makes us understand that a man's soul must first prosper before his life can prosper. And before a person can prosper spiritually, he must put his trust in God. The Bible makes it clear that putting our trust in man, instead of God is a futile thing. Especially in these times that money has failed, thinking that one man is going to solve all the problems afflicting us or the world is funny.

Now that the elections are over, I believe that the time has come for Americans to refocus. Regardless of whether you think you "won" or "lost", the time has come for everyone to let go of whatever bitterness, dissappointment or anger they feel and for the country to focus on what's important. I believe it is extremely important at this time that everyone comes together to support the man elected to lead the country. And by support, I mean praying for him because the task is enormous and the journey is long. If you not agree with his ideologies or policies then you need to pray for wisdom for him. He needs it. Like I earlier said, men make mistakes. To draw an analogy, America is like a bus and the president is like a driver. If the driver of the bus makes a mistake in his driving, everyone on board is in trouble. It is not in anyone's interest that the bus derails or that America fails.

JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO published by WestBow Press, a division of Thomas Nelson Publishers. (www.westbowpress.com)

Abortion: Murder, the American Way (Part 2)

So, the question then is what is abortion?

I believe that in a society where government distrubutes contraceptives free of charge to girls as young as eleven or twelve and children as young as 15 or less can get abortions,  there is a fundamental problem. One of the fundamental problems with western society is the issue of identity. Thanks to the curriculum being taught in schools, children grow up being taught that they are nothing more than slightly more intelligent chimpanzees. As they grow older, Hollywood then passes across its own message that we are nothing more than dogs with urges. Urges that need to be acted upon. When you couple that with the overriding message of freedom, you have a distressing situation. Government is busy gleefully handing out contraceptives and can't be bothered to tell people that there is another way. Parents on the other hand don't have the moral authority ro tell their children what to do because when they were that age they did the same thing although they are now older and wiser. Which is why more teenage girls are getting pregnant at a younger age because no one tells them there is another way. The only message they are getting is that that they are free to do as they please.

Thanks to the pill, American women seem to no longer think that pregnancies are caused by sex. I really don't know whether they have gone back to the idea that storks bring babies, but thanks to the advance of science, American women now get shocked when nature asserts itself and they get pregant after sleeping with a man. They seem not to realise or want to accept that getting pregnant is a time tested consequence of sleeping with a man.

So back to the question. What then is abortion? If getting pregnant is a consequence of sleeping with someone, then abortion is a reaction to that reality. What liberals say is that abortion is a choice. That is disingenious and quite a blatant lie. When a woman meets a man, she has different choices. She can choose to wait before sleeping with him to find out if they are both ready for commitment so that she is not left holding the baby. Even if a woman were to decide to sleep with a man without knowing if either of them was ready for a commitment, either to themselves or a child, there is still a choice as to what contraceptive to use (of which abortion is not one as explained in my last post). However, from the moment a child is concieved, there can no longer be talk of "choice". Or at least not in the way it is used. The Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary defines choice "as an act of choosing between two or more possibilities". When a child has been concieved, there can no longer be talk of choice with regard to contraception because life has already been concieved. There is an inevitability about the situation. The choice that arises at that moment is whether to allow the child to live or to kill it. To dispose of the life created like so much unwated baggage. Just because the parents who unthinkingly decided to create life no longer want the life created because it would cramp their style.

In that case, abortion is no longer about choice. Abortion then is a result of the fact that one person or the two people involved in creating life did not think through their choices before hand before creating life and the consequences of such choices. We live in a society where people nowadays are always trying to evade the consequences of their actions. Abortion is one way women have been evading the consequences of the actions they take. However it is quite sad that the millions of unborn children aborted over the years are the ones who have to pay the price of the fact that their parents didn't think.

Abortion: Murder, the American Way

As the election in America approaches, I have been struck by the genuine hostility between the two major camps in the election, especially the seeming hostility between the two major players. I have also been struck by how much lies are being peddled by the liberal wing in American politics over the issue of abortion.

I have come to understand that the issue of abortion is arguably the single most divisive issue in this election and the liberals are using all kinds of scare tactics to get women voters on their side. Like George Bush’s “War on Terror”, anyone who speaks out against abortion is automatically labelled a misogynist and someone who is waging a “War on Women”. I understand that writing about the issue of abortion might not be too popular but I believe the truth needs to be told.

Abortion: What it is not.

Supporters of a woman’s right to control the reproductive process and the right to determine when she gets pregnant or whether she even gets pregnant or not will tell you that abortion is a form of contraception. This is a lie.

Dictionary.com defines the word contraception as the “deliberate prevention of conception by any of various drugs, techniques or devices.” The etymology of the word contraception tells you that the word itself is made up of two words, “contra” and “conception”. The word contra in the sense in which it is used means “against” while conception in defined as the “act of conceiving”. So in the full sense of the word, contraception, or a contraceptive, is used to stop conception. It is against conception. I’m sure that even the most fanatical supporters of abortion will agree that abortion does not stop conception. The most prominent fact about abortion is the fact that it takes life after the life has been conceived. It is quite clear that abortion is not a method of contraception.

If abortion is then not a method of contraception, what is it?

That is a question we shall seek to answer in subsequent posts.