BETSY&ANDREW DE THIERRY

Andrew: Where sympathy dishonours God

2012-01-26T14:05:00.001Z

I happened to stumble across a story that I haven't read for some time in Numbers: Ch 25. The story is about an incident that happened with the Israelites in the wilderness years when the people started to associate with the Moabites and involve themselves in their customs.

This practice the Israelites had been specifically warned against by God in the covenant of Sinai as it made the nation vulnerable to bringing the worship of heathen gods into the community of Israel. This certainly was a cause of Solomon's later life backsliding due to his marriage alliances, as was the main cause of the famine that happened to Israel in the times of Elijah due to Ahab's marriage to the Sidonian princess Jezebel who was a worshipper of the pagan god Ba'al.

In the story of Numbers ch. 25 the people of Israel started to worship Ba'al which provoked a command from God to Moses for the people involved in such practices to be killed in public in full view of the nation.

The reason for such a seemingly harsh response stems from the fact that as a result of the mercy of God towards a lost and rebellious world, Israel as a nation had been given the responsibility of bringing the whole world back to the knowledge of God (see Exodus ch.19 v 5 - 6)

The judgment was to be swift and none were to be spared. Verse 6 tells us that one of the sons of Israel brought a Midianite woman weeping to his relatives, in the sight of Israel, Moses and the congregation of Israel. The story implies that they were coming for mercy.

The story continues by recounting how Phineas the grandson of Aaron the priest took a spear and killed them both by thrusting it through them. The story at first glance is shocking! What about showing some sympathy for the couple you might be asking yourself?!

The fact was that Phineas' action stopped a plague that had broken out on Israel that had already claimed 24,000 lives. What is also clear is that God held Phineas' zeal in killing the couple in high esteem. As a result God makes a covenant of peace with him, and a covenant of perpetual priesthood to his descendants because 'he was jealous for his God'.

In our Westernised Church I have seen a tendency of Christians to place a higher value on sympathising with sinners that are upset rather than fearing and honouring a holy God. The mindset of the Christian who thinks that way hasn't encountered the real Jesus of the Gospels who doesn't hold back on the punches. The Jesus of the Gospels is gracious to sinners who are repentant, who reaches out to the outcasts but at the same time is willing to make a scathing public attack on the Pharisees (Matthew ch. 23), to tell his most prominent disciple to 'get behind me Satan' (Matthew ch.16) who turns away the Rich young ruler and disrupts the working of the Temple by overturning tables and driving out its tradesmen on account of his Zeal for his Father's House.

As a Church we have the same responsibility that the nation of Israel were given: to bring the World back to a knowledge of a loving and a most holy God. In the pursuit of this, the starting place is remembering that 'The fear of God is the beginning of Wisdom' (Job ch. 28 v28)

Betsy: I was recently lent a book by a South African English drummer

2012-01-24T09:38:00.000Z

I was recently lent a book by a South African English drummer in church. It is saying what I wanted to say. Don’t you love that? Under copyright law I shall quote you enough I hope to make you want more….

‘From the 1^st day I was immersed in strategies for making the church bigger and better. Authors I respect greatly would make statements such as ‘Decide how big you want your church to be and go for it…..

There I was …living out the American dream,. But I found myself becoming uneasy. For one thing, my model in ministry is a guy who spent the majority of his ministry time with 12 men. A guy who, when he left this earth, had really about 120 people who were actually sticking around and doing what he told them to do. More like a minichurch really….

I am convinced that we as Christ followers in American churches have embraced values and ideas that are not only unbiblical but that actually contradict the gospel we claim to believe. And I am convinced that we have a choice…..

Imagine all the blinds closed on the windows of a dimly lit room. Twenty leaders from different churches in the area sat in a circle on the floor with their Bibles open. Some of them had sweat on their foreheads after walking miles to get there….they had gathered in secret. They had intentionally come to this place at different times throughout the morning so as not to draw attention to the meeting that was occurring. They lived in a country in Asia where it is illegal for them to gather like this. If caught they could lose their land, their jobs, their families, or their lives.

They audibly wept before God as one leader after another prayed. After about an hour, the room drew to a silence, and they rose from the floor. Humbled by what I had just been a part of, I saw puddles of tears in a circle around the room.

Three weeks after my third trip to the underground house churches in Asia, I begun my first Sunday as the pastor of a church in America. ….Dressed in our fine clothes, we sat on cushioned chairs. To be honest there was not much at stake, many had come because this was their normal routine. Some had come just to check out the new pastor. But none had come at the risk of their lives.

That afternoon, crowds filled the parking lots of our sprawling multi-million dollar church campus. Mums, dads, and their kids jumped on inflatable games….please don’t misunderstand the scene. It was filled with wonderful, well-meaning, Bible believing Christians who wanted to welcome me and enjoy each other. People like you and me, who simply desire community, who want to be involved in church, and who believe that God is important in their lives ….

We were settling for a Christianity that revolves around catering to ourselves when the central message of Christianity Is actually about abandoning ourselves.’

Exerpt from Book called,
'Radical- taking back your faith from the american dream.'
David Platt

I guess as a missionary kid, ive never got the attraction church thing. I‘ve never got the Jesus- is –a-nice- guy- peace- love-joy message as I’ve seen the other side of the world where real risk demonstrates real faith.

I hate religion but I am beginning to hate even more- Western Christianity love me, heal me, feel me, no conflict, lets not know the real Jesus, Just the Jesus we make up who suits me, no spiritual warfare, but ‘peace’ man thing which is posing as a way of following Jesus. It is heresy and makes a mockery of Jesus death.

Either the UK church begins to get ready for cost, or the UK church is going to be divided into two. Those who are in battle and those who want to form an idol Jesus who never existed- but loves all, is peaceful, and makes life easy.

I wonder what you think?

A new blog from a 14 year old pastors son - His rap

2012-01-06T18:24:00.002Z

Written about how the Prophets where treated and how some pastor's around the world are treated and how the spirit of deception causes confusion.  

{Lyrics:}  Verse 1:  

You've been fighting for all these years,  

you've never seen a fall to so many tears,

 you feel like you've been used and came out the rear,

you’re screaming why God wasn't the protection there,

 you don't want them to elect you,  

when all they've done is reject you (or disrespect),  

spit on your shoes and just try and deck you,

But your one of the judges Gods put in place,

You’re loved by the king all day,

every day,  you don't know your own friends,

I mean that's just mean,

when any one else's life just seems like a dream,

 but your one of the judges Gods put in place,

 the road seems rough but the result is grace.

{Chorus:}  

This is the fight,

 all you've done is right,

 they act like your friends,

 they claim they were sent,

 then just leave and love the lies,  

yeah this is the fight.

{Verse 2:}

They don't see the deceit,

that they live in all week,

 and when they see you it just seems to peak,

 like their angers been building all week,

they take it on the leader that's helped them when freaked,

what's this? (whaaat) Mock of the week?  

No wander your pastor needs a retreat,

Nah, he just needs a new fleet,

 cause the way he's been treated, to God; dead meat,  

I just hope they hear this beat,

 cause this is a problem that needs tweet tweet [ Reference to twitter],

 deceit; that's its name, so pray you don't fall in it cause this ain't a game.

{Chorus.}

Andrew: The attraction and peril of Existentialist thinking

2011-12-18T14:21:00.002Z

Last night as I was trawling through the BBC News website, (something I am prone to do!) I discovered a very interesting article on Steve Jobs titled ‘Flawed Genius– Did the self belief that made Steve Jobs also kill him?’

As you are probably aware, Steve Jobs the founder of Apple and the genius behind the hugely successful company died recently of Cancer aged only 56 years.

Steve Jobs had risen during his long career to become one of the wealthiest people on Earth. It was eight years ago he contracted a rare form of pancreatic cancer that was curable and could be treated with surgery. The article on the BBC site states that “His belief system caused him to refuse conventional treatment in the critical early stages after diagnosis’. The sort of treatment he refused has a proven track record of effectively curing the cancer he suffered from. Mr Jobs started to pursue alternative therapies and undertake a special diet in his quest to rid his body of the cancer.

A close friend of Mr Jobs said that ‘he was the kind of person who could convince himself of things that weren’t necessarily true’.

Steve Jobs belief system has strong existentialist overtones, in that he seemed to see truth as a relative concept rather than something that can be absolute. Existentialism arguably has its origin in Hindu thinking whose belief system is based upon the concept ‘That many paths lead to God’

People in our society are existentialist in their thinking without even realising it. What people find attractive about existentialist thinking is that it takes you out of the zone of being accused of right or wrong, as truth is a purely subjective concept. All of us love being proved right and many of us thoroughly dislike being proved wrong!

If truth becomes purely subjective, then we can all be right and never have to face the inconvenience / humiliation of being wrong: so all of us can be happy.

The obvious downfall of existentialism thinking lies in facts such as 2+2 =4, we all die, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. Such things cant be changed by wanting to believe something different, because no matter how sincere we are in believing something else reality will eventually tell us we are wrong!

Existentialism is a problem in Churches when people who claim to follow Jesus, start to see some clear Biblical teaching as subjective truth rather than absolute truth. For example the bible clearly warns us about engaging in gossip (Proverbs 20:19, 2 Corinthians 12:20, 2 Timothy 3:2 – 4). When you possess an existentialist thought process it becomes easy for your own gossip to become in your own mind acceptable.

The problem is that gossip is a sin! It has always been a sin and always will be – that is what the Bible says! Sin always has consequences! (Romans 6v23).

It is sad that Steve Jobs died at the age of 56, because he refused treatment that could have cured him. His own reading on reality became a hindrance that arguably became his undoing.

I pray that we strive to be people of God’s reality as found in the Bible, allowing our minds to be transformed by the truth. Jesus said ‘you will know the truth and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31)

Betsy: Casseroles in the pig sty

2011-12-06T13:46:00.003Z

I told Andrew I was going to blog about love and he burst into song! I love that the word ‘LOVE’ brings so many understandings and emotions and thoughts immediately into our minds. We make so many assumptions as to what true love is and what the actions of someone who loves should look like that we miss out on the depth of the word and the consequences that this has on our daily life.

People enjoy saying that Jesus was loving, kind, merciful, gracious and gentle. In fact isn’t that hymn correct when it says, ‘little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay- no crying he makes- meek and mild…?’

The person who wrote that didn’t study any child development books or the Bible. Crying in a baby can be healthy and Jesus was not mild. He threw over tables, called people a brood of vipers and called a woman a dog. He made a guy who owned a farm lose all his pigs and he wiped the dust off is shoes in some towns. But that is loving. He is love. He was loving. Sometimes love can be a harsh but true word. Sometimes love can feel really uncomfortable. Sometimes we have to challenge in love, fight in love and discipline in love.

As a parent if I ask my younger children what they would like for tea, I am usually bombarded with ideas such as ice cream, chocolate, cake, sweets, biscuits and crisps. Whilst I would agree with their choice on many levels, I have a maturity to understand the long- term health problems that these choices may cause.

As we do life together as a church community, sometimes we need to be firm and not give people whatever they think they need. Sometimes we need to be firm and explain the long term health consequences of their desires. Sometimes we have to be challenging. Sometimes God asks us to point our friends and companions on life’s journey to Jesus and not get in the way of that by meeting their needs.

Think about the prodigal son. If loving Christians had visited this rebellious runaway in the pig sty, they would have told Jesus off for being harsh and instead they would have got involved and made casseroles and put blankets on the floor to protect the poor sons feet. The prodigal son would have had a different name. The proud son. He would never have gone back home. He would have been very comfortable but yet missed out on the reunion with his father which was life changing. Sometimes we need to leave people in their pig stys until they cry out for God. We are not God.

Our main job is to point people to Jesus. That’s loving. That’s the most loving we can get

Betsy: Fear our enemy and our friend

2011-11-29T09:43:00.002Z

Fear is our enemy. Fear conflicts with faith. Fear drives us into doubt. Fear stops us having faith and trusting God. Fear must be defeated. The power of fear can be broken by the love of God. His love is so powerful and strong that even in the face of tragedy and disaster His love can be the comfort, the song, and the peace that passes all understanding.

At Freedom we have been preaching about fear and how fear can conflict with our culture of faith. We have been talking about how as a church we have the highest value for faith for the impossible, faith for miracles, faith for salvation, faith for prayers to be answered, faith for protection, faith in the face of disaster. We know that many of the miracles we have seen have been because of our desire for faith to be one of the highest values in our church community.

As we parent we want our children to know this faith too and believe in the impossible because of the power of God. We are privileged to see our little ones praying and seeing answers to these prayers and their faith then rising in further expectation.

It does lead us to a dilemma though. What about when common sense or intelligence is not adhered to at the same time? Is it right that I because I am full of faith and have no fear I can walk onto a motorway? No, that’s stupid! Is it right that we teach our children to so trust Jesus that He will lead them into their futures, so they should not waste their time with work? No, of course not.

We trust and don’t fear but we also use our common sense to know when fear can be a healthy reaction. Fear is a normal reaction that is teaching us to respect something, which either we don’t know enough about, or that is more powerful than us. I think it’s good for our kids to have a healthy respect for a lot of things that are more powerful than they realize and which they don’t fully understand. When kids get relaxed and arrogant, they can get into terrible situations. That’s not faith, its stupidity.

It’s the same with us as Christians. We live in faith, we exercise faith in our prayer life and grow faith in God’s power and love and our ability to walk in His authority as his children. But we mustn’t be stupid. We mustn’t think that all fear is bad. Sometimes we need to understand that the world is a big place and more complex than we would like to think and God is bigger than we think and so we will never understand Him but can trust Him. We need to have a healthy respect for the spiritual realm and the powers and principalities that are working against us. We must never be fearful, but most Christians are ignorant, unprepared and quite frankly stupid about the devil’s tactics and fall straight for his plans to trip them up because they refuse to have a healthy fear, or respect for that which they don’t know enough about.

Sometimes healthy fear can lead us to trusting God and leaning on Him even more because it’s based on a healthy respect for the huge universe which He holds in His hand and we know little about. Sometimes healthy fear can ensure that we fight only the fights we know that we are called to fight rather than everything that comes our way in a naïve enthusiasm. Sometimes to have healthy fear can keep us safe, trusting and not so stupid. Sometimes healthy fear can make us study more, ask people who do know more and actually study their Bible in context….and sometimes we as parents and leaders have to try and protect people from their own stupidity by explaining things so that they have a healthy fear of that which they don’t know that much about….to keep them safe. That’s real love.

Betsy: Fighting for an atmosphere for miracles

2011-11-23T18:28:00.000Z

We are in exciting times here at Freedom Bath and Bristol. Having been through a fight against some assignments of the enemy, we have pressed in, got through that valley and begun to see the most amazing miracles and stories of God’s goodness in increasingly exciting ways!

As an 11 year old church we are blessed to have seen over 500 people meet Jesus and most of those go on to have a life where they are trying to put Jesus in the centre. We have always been able to see the fruit of our labours in the community projects that we run and collect countless stories of people being so grateful for food hampers, the CAP help that we offer and other services we provide such as clothing, presents, counselling and prison work. We love to see the fruit of our work; of lives that were filled with hopelessness beginning to be touched with hope.

Something we have always prayed for though, is to see more of God’s supernatural powers working miracles in our communities. We have seen miracles and some healings, including people being healed from cancer and we are privileged to see some very precious moments of lives being restored. We have always been a people who sought after an increase of supernatural, obviously God moving, extraordinary, beyond reasoning type experiences which bring breakthrough to those in need. That’s what we are seeing….

Here are a few stories from the last month in church.

A man in church wrote to say that he had been struggling with things for many years which were holding him back and weighing him down. He explained in a letter that during the worship and ministry he said he experienced the presence of God change his life. He explains,’ it felt like the greatest, most happiest moments of my life all rolled into one, tears of joy were running down my cheeks and my heart beating fast. I felt the weight had gone, the chains had been broken and I felt free…I just wish everyone in the world could just feel an ounce of what I felt and still feel…’

We had another woman healed of a back problem which she had had for 10 years which had hindered her ability to work full time overseas. She said she felt God move her back right back into place just this last Sunday morning!

We have had people visiting for the first time who have made commitments to follow Jesus and baptized 5 people this month of which 4 were saved in the last year at church!

Let’s be thankful and expectant that this is just the beginning!

Betsy: The Church as a family

2011-08-30T13:16:00.000+01:00

The church is the family of God. We know that the church is precious to Jesus and the church is where Jesus is the complete centre. The church meets to experience Jesus, think about Jesus, thank Jesus, learn about Jesus, help others find Jesus and for all who come to become more like Jesus. We don’t want to meet if we are not pleasing to Jesus. We don’t want to meet to have good ideas that help others. We want ideas from Jesus that bring Him praise and fulfil His mandate for us on this earth.

The church worldwide is a collection of families focused on Jesus, knowing that living as He purposed could not be achieved on our own. The life that He created for us is one of community. So churches meet across the world. Small ones and big ones. All families. A place to belong and to do community life together.

Sometimes the church family meets with other families and celebrates Jesus as the extended family of believers. The extended family is mind-blowing. Meeting together as people from different families, but with the same focus and mission, can be extraordinary. Together as the extended family we can see all the different traditions, skills, vision and leadership that are then represented in the different nuclear families.

In our city there are dozens of families that meet together and experience community and love for each other, through the ups and downs of life. The families share births, deaths, disasters, successes and sacred times of worship of Jesus. In each city, across the world - in the villages and towns, church families meet and do life together. These families are such amazing places which are the envy of the world, but where the cost is high to belong and know community. Not everyone wants to pay the cost.

In Psalm 94 we are told that when we root in a church we experience community life like nothing else. To be in a family and celebrate the births, weddings and birthdays can be shallow and meaningless unless its accompanied by an intimacy of shared troubles walked through together. When we have journeyed together and experienced the tough times in the valley, the celebrations become sacred times to reflect on the faithfulness and goodness of God. So many people worldwide miss the feeling of being rooted and belonging because they are confused by the tough times. Yet these experiences are meant to give us a substance in our spirit like sacred pearls that can never be replaced by just attending Sunday meetings. It can only come when a person roots, believes, hangs in there, waits for the storm and the valley to pass as God reveals His plans and purposes. Faithfulness and trust are the characteristics of community life which make love become a reality and have a voice that demonstrates to the world the power of a community life focused on Jesus.

Betsy: Time to stand, look and be thankful!

2011-08-20T18:51:00.002+01:00

I think that we are in a place in the church where we need to be celebrating the journey that God has taken us on, and be reflective on the fruits of that journey. It’s so easy for us to keep looking at the needs in our communities and nation and feel overwhelmed that we haven’t managed to ‘fix’ the obvious underlying chaos. However, we need to be grateful that God has used us to bring His message of hope and life and healing to so many people over the last decade, since we began Freedom Bath+Bristol.

I’m aware of how when God created the world He stopped each day and looked at what He made and said , "It is good". I believe we need to do the same today. Enjoy the fruits of our labour and the results of our hard work and battles.

I look back at the first meeting of the church not that long ago. I was playing the guitar (badly!) and there were about 8 people looking a little unsure and suspicious as Andrew and I spoke of our vision for a church; which was that it would be large, influential, bringing tangible hope and healing to the local area, with an arts college and fantastic music which spoke of God’s love and power. We spoke with such confidence and not a shadow of doubt that it wouldn’t happen, which I now look back on and laugh at that spirit of faith or naivety of our certainty!

Eleven years later we have a church that owns a building where people come to find hope at the darkest times of trauma. Children come to Freedom House and are given the gift back of a childhood, families are restored, parents are taught skills, people are saved from the chains of debt, families are given food hampers and support and the youth are given mentoring in arts. We really are reaching into the community and seeing people set free.

We have small groups where people feel like they belong, teams where people serve the practical running of the services and are therefore empowered to worship God in the place which is called His house, His bride. We have parties, conferences, weekends away, which all serve to connect us all as a family and where laughter is the hallmark of our time together. We celebrate when someone finds God or joins a group whilst searching for Him, and we celebrate when prayers are answered and miracles happen. There are stories after stories of transformed lives, supernatural miracles that have happened as we have connected together as a church.

Over the years its been such a privilege to watch so many people going on a journey to explore who God made them to be and what gifts, passions and dreams are in their heart. We love our arts college and the community of artists that are in the church and it’s an honour to partner with an arts college in Bethlehem. We have seen people discover their skills in art, music, preaching, leading and recently have been able to see 14 people train in play therapy. Theres a music CD about to be birthed and many more arts projects brewing! There’s nothing like hearing people say, "I know this is why I am here…for such a time as this", because their eyes are lit up with excitement about their gifts being used to help others.

We have built a home in Romania called Freedom House to serve the needs of the poorest people in Dobrovat. We have adopted orphans in Africa, prayed for addicts, prayed for people in the Middle East from all walks of life.

We have birthed a children’s counselling and training centre, TRC-UK. We have been able to help over 250 families with their debt problems through CAP.

We, Freedom Bath+Bristol have seen 1000’s of lives changed and hope restored for 1000’s more. What a privilege to serve the vision of this place and be committed to fulfilling the plans that God has for us in Bath, Bristol and the UK. As we keep serving, giving and helping others, let's not look only at the enormity of the needs, but also look at the fruits of our labour and celebrate that God would use us for His purposes.

Andrew: The Issue of Maturity

2011-07-12T11:23:00.002+01:00

It has now been nearly thirty three years since I decided to become a disciple of Jesus and in that time I have met many people who have viewed themselves as ‘mature Christians’.

I used to think (as does much of western Christendom) that maturity was the product of longevity as a disciple, like the process of time fine wine is given by being laid down in a cellar over many years in order for its flavours to develop. I have met many Christians who have followed Jesus for many years, who have been bought up in Christian households who see themselves as mature but with whom I have serious reservations as to their real level of maturity.

So if maturity as a Christian isn’t necessarily linked to the time spent as a Christian, what then defines maturity?

For some maturity is a matter of how well they know their Bible, the amount of scripture they can quote, but that leaves me feeling uneasy as well, for the simple reason that Satan is very well versed in quoting the Bible and nobody would ever conceive of calling him a mature Christian!

For others maturity is a matter of what offices an individual has held in a church structure;

but Judas was the Jesus’ treasurer, Henry 8th was the Head of the Church of England, Demas was a missionary companion of the mighty Apostle Paul. With hindsight nobody would consider them to be mature!

So what then makes a follower of Jesus become mature?

Maturity must have something to do with not just being a hearer of the words of Jesus i.e. someone who has attended plenty of meetings or been a long term church attendee, but living as a doer of the works of Jesus. The letter of James tells us that – actions always speaks louder than words.
Maturity will manifest itself in being poor in spirit/teachable/humble. There seems to be a culture amongst some who have been Christians for sometime to think that they have most of the answers and thus be inherently good people. Out of such a position a subtle self righteousness is often manifest. When Paul spoke of us attaining our righteousness in Christ by the court room analogy he was using in the book of Romans, he was referring to our acquittal rather than an act of merit on our part! Paul the Apostle, who arguably had a better grasp on reality than most of us may possess, had more of a growing revelation of his sinfulness through his life, rather than a growing sense of self righteousness.
Maturity must have something to do with learning to gain authority over the enemy in your life. In the letter of 1 John, Chapter 2, John commends the young men for getting Satan under their feet. Maturity is being able to live in the authority that Jesus achieved for us through his death and resurrection.
Maturity has something to do with the character of Jesus being manifest in our lives. The character of Jesus is often defined by the fruit of the spirit (love, joy, peace, patience etc). A problem that we face in our middle class western Churches, is that there is an underlying expectation to ‘look the part/keep up appearances’ in church. Because of this many people have become good at faking fruits to look the part whilst at the same time indulging in gossip and being prone to be judgemental of others. The Pharisees were the social group in Jesus’ time that seems to have behaved in this way!
Maturity must have something to do with faith. When I talk about faith I am not talking about the faith to get better whilst taking medication, or the faith to get a job, but an ability to trust God in areas for things that the world perceives as impossible. The Bible teaches that ‘the just shall live by faith’. Growing in maturity is a growing revelation that God is who He says He is, and He does what he says He will do irrespective of how circumstances try and present reality.

Betsy: Children’s emotional and spiritual intelligence

2011-06-28T11:29:00.001+01:00

Children today are being taught academic subjects with extraordinary precision thanks to the National Curriculum. Standards are rising as goals and attainment targets are being set and strived for. Children are aware of their own academic targets and are exposed to SATs from 7 years old. Exams and assessments are a part of childhood. However, play is often lost and devalued.

Many children have lost the art of play and yet it is essential for healthy emotional development. Children expect fast moving, multi media stimulation and often behave bored outside of these environments. Nature walks, exploring their surroundings, and playing imagination games often have to be initiated by a parent.

As children play less, they are emotionally less mature. We see a national rise of academic standards alongside a national drop in emotional intelligence. Young people are less mature emotionally and more physically and academically mature. This is causing national problems, which we are only just beginning to notice as a society.

Alongside a national plummet in children’s emotional intelligence, schools have also cut spiritual education. It’s no longer seen as important in the lives of children, but an optional extra. Schools fear being seen as non-inclusive and many children are growing up unaware of the existence of Jesus except as a swear world. Yet the reality of the spiritual world is a more vital and powerful reality than anything we see with our natural eyes. Having an eternal perspective is essential to see life as it really is!

As a church we know that to invest in our nations children is essential. To teach them emotional intelligence, a wider context of reality, personal responsibility and emotional freedom is a privilege and an essential tool for emotional maturity.

Teaching children about the reality of the spiritual world is even more vital for them to become all that they are meant to be. For a child to know that they are planned, have a purpose, and have a heavenly father whose love is constant, powerful and healing is life changing.

This is a mission we have been given. For such a time as this…

Andrew: A window into the Spiritual World - The Pilgrims Progress

2011-06-23T17:27:00.001+01:00

I have always found it interesting how blind to the spiritual world many western Christians are.

From my understanding, the problem of ignorance in the West to the realities of the spiritual world partly stem from a general uneasiness people have with those who profess everything to be a spiritual attack. (I once heard someone say that they blamed stumbling on a paving stone as a spiritual attack). A fairer interpretation of the event is that they probably weren’t looking where they were going!

A more profound reason for the relative ignorance of western Christians to the spiritual world is that we have a tendency to see reality as being defined by the five senses only (Aristotle). Aristotle’s assertions have been a cornerstone of Western thinking for over two thousand years. The effect has been that as the unseen spiritual world hasn’t fitted into western intellectual reason comfortably it has resulted in a poor understanding of the spiritual world amongst western Christians.

The gospel stories are full of narratives of angelic intervention, demonic opposition and supernatural encounters. The reason for that is that God who is Spirit has sent his Son in human form to manifest the nature of God to a spiritually blind world. He purposed through Jesus to restore to man lost authority over the demonic spiritual world which has been wreaking havoc on earth since the time of Adam and Eve.

Many of the gospel narratives involve Jesus casting out demons or telling demons to be quiet. In Matthew 16 Jesus says to Peter, ‘Get behind me satan’. This reveals that satan is able to work through peoples reasoning and be used by them for his purposes of destruction, even if their destiny is to be the rock on which the church is built. In Mark 16 it states that casting out of demons is one of the signs that will accompany those who believe.

If the spiritual world was taken seriously by Jesus and the early church, then we have to take it seriously and undertake a journey out of ignorance into knowledge and understanding.

Recently I re-read the Pilgrim’s progress: the allegory of the life of the Christian which John Bunyan received in a dream whilst in prison between 1660 and 1675. In The story ‘Christian’ the main character embarks on a journey from the city of destruction in search of the celestial city. As he embarks on his life journey he is met by many interesting people. What struck me as I re-read the book is that ALL the characters he met represented types of people who were being used wittingly or unwittingly by spiritual world either to help him stay on the journey or to try and lead him astray. What is clear from the book and from the pages of the Bible is that the spiritual world is involved in all our lives whether we believe it or not!

I thought it might help to mention some of the people Christian met on his journey. Here are some of the characters:

Mr Worldly Wiseman, a resident of a place called Carnal Policy, who persuades Christian go out of his way to be helped by a Mr Legality and the move to the city of Morality.
Adam the First ‘the old man’ (representing carnality) who tries to persuade Faithful (a companion of Christian) to leave his journey and come and live with his three daughters: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the Pride of life.
Talkative, a hypocrite known to Christian from the city of Destruction, who lived on Prating Row. He talks fervently of religion, but has no evident works as a result of true salvation.
Mr By-Ends a hypocritical pilgrim who perishes in the hill Lucre silver mine with three of his friends. A ‘by –end’ is a pursuit that is achieved indirectly. In the case of the By-Ends and his companions, it is pursuing financial gain through religion.
Help, Christian’s rescuer from the Slough of Despond
Formalist, one of the two travellers on the King’s highway, who do not come in by the wicket gate, but climb over the wall that encloses it, at least from the hill Difficulty. He and his companion Hypocrisy come from the land of Vainglory. He takes one of the two bypaths that avoid the hill Difficulty, but is lost.
Timorous, one of the two who try to persuade Christian to go back for fear of the chained lions near the House Beautiful.

I recommend that you read this book (or even a children’s version if you are not a ‘reader’) to gain further clarity on the spiritual world.

Betsy: The Spiritual Realm

2011-06-23T17:26:00.001+01:00

I come from Africa where people understand the spiritual realm because it’s so obvious. It’s normal to see witch doctors shouting curses out to churches and their leaders. It’s normal to see little images made of church leaders and pins stuck in them as rituals are done to try and stop the manifestation of God’s power in the cities and the villages.

In the Western world we can be blind and cynical about the spiritual realm, and yet it’s clear that we live in a more hardened spiritual atmosphere with hedonism and egocentric living as the norm. There are increasingly fewer people in the UK who have even set foot in a church. Yet the church often forgets that we are primarily a spiritual organism that is engaged in a battle not against flesh and blood but against spiritual principalities and powers. These battles are not fought in ways that we in the West are comfortable. Our arguments and reasoning don’t change the spiritual atmosphere or situation. We have to engage our spirits and hearing God is essential - not an optional extra, and pressing into being in His presence becomes a total necessity as we depend on Him for our journey of faith. We walk by faith and not by sight so we won’t and can’t understand everything.

It’s exciting as we see churches beginning to grasp the urgency of our times and the need for the army of God to be ready, with spirits awake and armour on and weapons of warfare used and familiar. We are here for such a time as this; to see people saved, set free, healed and restored!

The biggest battle we face is in our mind. Our mind affects our actions more than we believe. We have to fight the desire for reasoning, simplicity and comfort which naturally dominate our minds in the West. Yet when we live with our spirit awake and the eyes of our heart seeing, then we are on the right track. The eyes of our heart see life differently from the eyes of our carnal flesh. None of us naturally find denying ourselves easy, yet when we are in the presence of God, we find ourselves able to surrender.

Let’s keep our spirits awake as we see ourselves take new territory that He has given us to take! God is giving us the opportunity to develop muscles that we otherwise would never get an opportunity to grow, develop and practise!

“Now these are the nations which the Lord left, to test Israel by them (that is those who had not experienced any of the wars in Canaan); only in order that the generations of the sons of Israel might be taught war, those who had not experienced it formerly.” Judges 3 : 1-2

Welcome to our blog!

2011-06-23T17:23:00.001+01:00

Hi! Welcome to our blog! We have decided to start this forum so we can share with you some of our thoughts and the key values which are in the foundation of Freedom Bath+Bristol.

We are committed to serving people and seeing them reached for Jesus, connected to Him and the Church, set free from hindrances and empowered to live their best life with Jesus at the centre.

We are quite content being the people that God made us. Both of us are deep thinkers who have spent the last 20 years leading churches, analysing (Betsy) and exegeting (Andrew) in order to evaluate our beliefs, actions and teaching.

We hope you enjoy our blog, and find it helpful in your journey with Jesus. Remember to always put Him first!

With love from Betsy & Andrew