The Last Jedi

So I saw The Last Jedi and this post is obviously going to be choc full of SPOILERS so don’t read until you’ve seen the movie.

As per usual I've divided these, check the bold!

Right so wasn’t that really surprising?

I feel like Rian just looked at all the theories and questions out there and if you imagine them as a chess board, he just threw that board and all the pieces away like Luke does with the lightsaber Rey gives him.

(I mean come on Luke, 2 years we’ve been waiting to see you take the thing and you toss it aside like garbage, hilarious moment but also not on).

I think the movie made it pretty obvious that the theme of the movie is failure, Yoda even says it (he, by the way, did not fail, what an epic scene!) So we should expect pretty much everyone to fail, which makes for annoying storytelling, but Rian successfully made a frustrating movie about failure, which I guess means it was successful?

Characters in the movie, key moments and how they fail?

So Luke for most of the movie is a depressed idiot who thinks because he had a moment of weakness that inadvertently created the thing he feared (Kylo Ren) that he should go die in Ireland... Luke was always a little pathetic for a series hero, but this one took it to whole new levels. So Luke for the first 2/3s disappointed me, it’s like he didn’t grow as a person in over 30 years at all. Luke failed Ben Solo, and fails Rey and Leia for most of the movie too.

Rey is fantastic in this movie. She is a little less perfect in this one, just a little, because she mistakenly believes Ben Solo is a good guy. She fails to convert him to the Light side of the force.

I don’t know if I believe Kylo that her parents are nobodies and sold her for food, I wouldn’t trust him. I think there is still scope for JJ to add another twist and shock us again with who they are. I do love the idea of her as a sort of chosen one that is born of the light as the darkness becomes too strong which was hinted at.

Snoke fails too. He fails to kill Rey or Luke, and he fails to notice Kylo turning on him, as well as failing to notice the lightsaber turning towards him.
Since seeing this one I am convinced Snoke is Palpatine’s master. If you remember back to episode 3, Sidious is telling Anakin about a Sith who learned to stop death and create life as they watch the bubble opera thing? His master was called Darth Plageius and Palpatine said he killed him... but how exactly do you kill someone who can cheat death? Also, Snoke’s disfigurement looks an awful lot like scares from a lightsaber blow to the head and force lightning (like Palpatine after his conflict with Mace Windu his face looks sort of melted and we know Sidious’ weapon of choice was force lightning.)

If you remember, as Snoke died he bragged about knowing exactly what Kylo was thinking. Either his arrogance at his own power (which is a lot and adds to my thought that he trained Sidious, the previous strongest dark side user we’ve seen) that arrogance blinded him to Kylo’s real intentions or it was his plan. If he is Darth Plageius then he can regenerate in time. So big woop. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him in 9 and that we learn it was all part of a greater plan to cement Kylo’s dark side resolve which it seems to have achieved. I think we may learn that he spent the time from before episode 1, when Sidious “killed” him to the Force Awakens honing his power and becoming even stronger, moving beyond the Sith in the dark side, something beyond the power of ambition, hate and selfishness. 

I was very disappointed by the Finn and Rose storyline. Obviously, they both fail. Rose is a very loveable character but besides for igniting rebellion in the young broom floating boy’s heart in Dubrovnik (Canto Bight?) their story accomplished nothing and was pretty pointless. It’s like Rian needed something for Finn to do, found nothing and made up a crap side mission for him that if it were deleted from the movie would take nothing away. Even if it was cool to see the streets we walked down for Jon and Catherina's wedding on the big screen.

In that vein Captain Phasma was, again, disappointing. She has been on screen for all of 10 minutes across both movies yet she is shown as a main character all the time. Again, Rian couldn’t come up with anything for her. We were promised she would come into her own but her role was pretty much the exact same as the Force Awakens. Her absence would have taken nothing from the movie. 

Also, she was left on Star Killer base as it exploded, but survived and now she’s been left on Snoke’s SHIELD logo ship as it exploded but I bet she’ll survive. I hope she dies again in 9 it would be like how people lost an arm a lot in all the Old movies. She failed to kill Finn or Rose in this one, and maybe failed to die again too.

I also need to point out that no one lost an arm! Is it even Star Wars. Also, I currently don’t remember anyone saying “I have a bad feeling about this.” Tut tut Rian! [He says it is there, but I can't remember it, unless it is BB8 that says is to Poe at the start in beeps].

Poe is potentially the most interesting character in this one. He is rash and wants to know everything, he disobeys Leia’s orders and arrests her replacement (more on that below) Admiral Holdo(?) and almost gets everyone killed. Again, a whole lot of failure there.

The Resistance fails to not get blown up, a lot.... And though they blow up the Dreadnought (Fulminatrix, apparently), they lose so many. As Leia remarks, "many heroes, no leaders".

Leia fails to rally support to come to the aid of the Resistance, "use my personal codes," but nothing comes of it and then she loses hope.

Hux fails to win, again.

Kylo Ren fails at everything except tricking Rey and killing Snoke, his failure on Crate/Krait/Krate, the salt planet, as he takes over as Supreme Leader Emo Kid is astonishing, and we get this glimpse in Hux's eyes that he will attempt to overthrow Kylo (when he was out after Rey's lightsaber exploded Hux would have shot him had he not woken up).

The First Order fail to wipe out the Rebellion (which it is again now, it's no Resistance anymore, the First Order rules supreme, as the opening crawl informs us).

DJ fails to have morals.

Chewbacca fails to eat porgs or stop them taking over the Millennium Falcon.

C3PO fails to get his odds of surviving out without being told to shut up by Poe.

Above I said Yoda doesn't fail. The only other two characters that don't fail are R2D2, who successfully convinces Luke to come to Leia and the Resistance's aid by playing the old hologram of Leia saying "Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope", one of the most moving scenes in the movie. The other is BB-8, who is just so badass in this movie. He shoots chips in a casino, steals a space craft and a walker. It was actually great.

Things I really Loved.
Poe was annoying most of the movie, but then at the end there is a great moment where he leads people to safety instead of a war they cannot win. Everyone looks to Leia and she looks behind here, a comical and perfect moment that allows us to see Poe becoming something of a General himself for 9.

When Luke comes! Like... Wow... He gives the dice from the Falcon to Leia and she mentions about changing her hair, that was great. Then he goes out and faces the First Order alone (something he told Rey he couldn't do, and it was ridiculous of her to expect him to). Then all these guns fire on him and after that he still stands so Ben faces him alone and he just ducks and dives until he has an Obi moment and allows Kylo to strike him down, but he isn't there, he is still in Ireland! Legend.

The kid that force pulls the broom to himself at the end and swings it like a lightsaber, showing the Rebel symbol on his ring! Perfect end!

Leia's use of the Force to bring herself back aboard the Raddus. It was very interesting, she is seconds from death and almost like instinct pulls herself back on board her ship.

The Raddus being named for Admiral Raddus from Rogue One, he was the one that looked like Admiral Ackbar.

Yoda, just all of it "Page turners they were not." I want a Yoda movie!

Porgs! They are cute and funny! I love when the one screams as Chewy does in the Falcon!

The boy with the broom!

The chase scene through Canto Bight, Dubrovnik.

How much Ireland was in it!

R2 and the hologram!

When Admiral Holdo goes to hyperdrive and crashes into Snoke's ship. The scenes there are like paintings they are so beautiful as the ship is being ripped apart and there is no sound. Those shots were just beautiful, destruction can look nice, who knew?

John Williams and the music, the use of well known Star Wars themes (Imperial March, The Emperors theme, the Force theme, Leia's theme, brother and sister theme from Return of the Jedi, Rey's theme, the March of the Resistance. It was a great soundtrack!

Gareth Edwards, director of Rogue One, is the guy in the trench that is told that the planet is a salt flat by his colleague next to him. That was good!

The parts played by Carrie Fisher's dog, Gary (Canto Bight scene) and Carrie Fisher's daughter, Billie. Billie was in Force Awakens but you'd hardly notice. She had many scenes in this one and it was good to see her becoming less one dimensional and more of a character. I hope she is a leader in the Rebellion in episode 9. It's nice she went from a cameo in 7 to a role in 8.

Things I did not like:
How Admiral Ackbar dies and it's just like... whatever.

Finn and Rose's story and Finn and Rose kissing...

Poe's mutiny. The whole Poe as a wreckless and feckless idiot. I love his development and him stopping Finn from rushing to help Luke, and he notices Luke is giving them time to escape. But I don't like how we had to get there.

Phasma's lack of importance.

Luke goes and becomes one with the force after a Force projection Lightsaber battle with Kylo... I want to see him fight one more time.

The Rebellion is now the size of the Millennium Falcon.

Questions I still want answered:
Who is Snoke?
Who are Rey's parents really? Is Kylo lying?
What happens to Leia?
Can Poe use the Force? Is that why he is such a good pilot?
Where is Lando?
What is the extent of what a Force Ghost can do? Yoda destroyed things and hit Luke, can all ghosts do that? Just Yoda?
Can a Sith be a Force Ghost? Could Sidious or Maul return and physically interact with their environment in 9?
What does Kylo plan to happen next? Is this all part of Snoke's plan?
Is Rey now a Jedi? Will she train broom boy? Yoda says she already has all the knowledge the ancient Jedi texts contained, so...?
Are the Jedi still ending or are we back to the light-side, dark-side dynamic?
What happens with the hyper-space tracker? Can they track the Millennium Falcon? How do they survive?
What happens the Jedi Order now?
Is this a way to move past the past and have a new Jedi and Sith order? That isn't based on Eps 1-3?

Some Scholars on the King James

Some scholars opinions on the King James...

Introduction to Biblical Interpretation by Klein, Blomberg and Hubbard on the KJV:

Summary of what they say about the KJV:

Though the translators did their best for 1611, many of the Greek texts they used were from the same area. Since then, a wider spread of texts and ones closer in date to the time of the original authors have been found. It is generally accepted that things closer to the date they happened are more accurate, so having earlier manuscripts should influence how we translate the Bible.

Would they recommend the KJV/NKJV as Bible scholars?

"We really ought to be thankful, for example, that Mark did not write the KJV rendering of Mark 16:18, but readers who limit themselves to the KJV will never know this. Readers of the NKJV will know the differences among manuscripts, if they read the footnotes, but they will naturally conclude that the better readings are those of the KJV. For this reason we cannot endorse the widespread use of these versions when alternatives are available." (120)

How to Read the Bible for all its Worth, Fee and Stuart:

"The KJV for a long time was the most widely used translation in the world; it is also a classic expression of the English language. Indeed, it coined phrases that will forever be embedded in our language ("coals of fire," "the skin of my teeth," "tongues of fire,"). However, for the New Testament, the only Greek text available to the 1611 translators was based on late manuscripts, which had accumulated the mistakes of over a thousand years of copying. Few of these mistakes- and we must note that there are many of them- make any difference to us doctrinally, but they often do make a difference in the meaning of certain specific texts. Recognising the English of the KJV was no longer a living language- and thoroughly dissatisfied with its modern revision (RSV/NRSV)- it was decided by some to "update" the KJV by ridding it of its "archaic" way of speaking. But in doing so, the NKJV revisers eliminated the best feature of the KJV (its marvelous expression of the English language) and kept the worst (its flawed text).

This is why for study you should use almost any modern translation rather than the KJV or the NKJV." (40)

Grasping God's Word Duvall and Hays:

They note a prominent scholar of the day wasn't happy with the translation saying:

"Tell his majesty that I would rather be rent in pieces by wild horses, than any such translation by my consent should be urged upon poor churches. The new edition crosseth me. I require it to be burnt." (Dr. Hugh Broughton, cited 162) I know nothing more about him but he's presented in the book as being against it not on religious grounds but scholarly ones. 

"The King James Version was a good translation for the early 1600s since it was written in the English of the early 1600s. Today, however, most of us would have trouble even reading a page of the original 1611 version, since it was printed in Archaic English.

"To argue that we should still use the 1769 KJV edition (the one that is popular today) is to admit the necessity of revising a translation. This is the case since there have been thousands of changes from 1611 to 1769; they are literally two different bibles. Why not continue the process of revision by drawing on the latest in biblical scholarship and using language that today's readers can understand? Anything less seems to violate the intent of those who translated the original King James Version." (164) 

Of the four bible study/interpretation books I found in the CCBC library, only Andy Deane's (a Calvary Chapel guy) recommended the King James as one Bible to use (but even he says you need to compare any Bible translation you choose as your main translation to others to get a full understanding of Scripture)

Grace and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (RBIS)

Yeah, I know, a blog about Buffy, I'm surprised this is about Buffy too.

So, recently I have been reading about, and learning from, and realising the importance of, God's grace. And, as many of you will know, I love seeing Christianity in popular culture. I have previously written a blog on God as seen in Buffy the Vampire Slayer as being one of the reasons I really love the show. If you want to you can read that here.
In that blog I talk a little about an episode in season 4 where Faith (as Buffy) stops some vampires that are taunting God after taking a church hostage. That episode left a big impression on me (I was maybe 9 or 10 when I first saw it). I even visited the church because it's not too far from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA.

Anyway... flash back to now. I'm wondering and thinking about grace in popular culture, and my brain is finding it really hard to find any good examples. Sure, there are examples of forgiveness, thanksgiving, mercy and love in popular culture, but grace... where is grace?

I've been thinking about this for awhile but today my brain hit on something...
Buffy was a show of seven seasons (running from 1997-2003). Season six is almost universally the most hated by Buffy fans. It probably contributed for Sarah's decision to quit playing Buffy as she constantly complained that the new show runners were taking the character of Buffy in a direction that Sarah, having played Buffy for five years at that point, didn't agree with and believed she wouldn't do.

So, at the end of this awful season is the best picture of grace I have seen in popular culture. I hadn't even considered it, because it's a bad season!

Previously on Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
Willow, Buffy's best friend, has become addicted to magic. She attempts to give it up earlier in the season, but then her girlfriend is shot and killed in an attempt to kill Buffy. Willow's grief consumes her and she gives in to her addiction, finding all the magic she can in order to kill the three people responsible (or partially responsible by association) for Tara's death. She is basically Evil Willow (or Dark Witch Willow as the toy of her is called).

Where sin abounds?
So, Willow has gone dark. She has killed Warren, the guy who shot the gun, and she is after the other two. Buffy tries to stop her, and she beats Buffy up, turning against those she loves and who love her in order to get what she wants, in order to fulfil her desire for revenge.

Enter Jesus character No. 1
Giles, Buffy's former mentor, returns imbued with the magic of love (not really called this in the show, but hinted at when it states Willow's power is from a place of grief, pain and vengeance, while Giles' power is from 'the true source of magic'). Giles faces off against Willow, weakening her. He convinces her that she needs to steal his power to be the most powerful, so she does.
Taking Giles' powers weakens him, and he knows he is going to die. His plan was to sacrifice his own life in order to give Willow the good magic, that it might just spark something inside her.

However, Giles' plan doesn't exactly work out. (Unlike actual Jesus who saved us by His finished work on the cross). Willow now has more power than any other mortal has ever had, and she has this added compassion to all her grief power. She feels the grief and pain of the entire world and decides to end the world.

Enter Jesus character No. 2
Willow traps Buffy and her sister Dawn in a bit facing what are sort of like tiny Ents from Lord of the Rings. Root-Ents. So Buffy cannot help.
Instead, Xander, the powerless one of the group, the only one without magic, or teleportation, or enhanced strength etc. comes to face Willow.

Willow has raised this Satanic Temple and is channelling the essence of the earth (I'm guessing) through her and into it. Xander steps in the way and the line is broken.
Willow blasts him out of the way, but he gets back up, breaking the line again.

Xander tells Willow that she is his best friend, and if the world is about to end there is nowhere he would rather be than by the side of his best friend.
She strikes him with her power again. He tells her a story of how she broke a yellow crayon on their first day of school, and how he loved her then, and loves her now in all her black magic power.

She blasts him again, causing gashes to appear in his shirt and on his body.

He tells her he loves her and begins to take steps towards her, repeating that he loves her with every step and every strike.

By the time he is within arms reach she cannot use her powers anymore and is in tears, she hits him, not like a powerful witch but like a scared young girl in her twenties dealing with grief. She collapses into his arms and her hair, which was black as she was evil, becomes its natural red again.

Giles' sacrifice to implant love in Willow, and Xander standing in the way, taking a beating to show how much he loves her, saves the day... and saves Willow too who becomes a full member of the group after some time in England rehabilitating in season seven.

Comparisons to God's grace:
It's hard not to see the parallels with God and His grace there. I cannot believe I missed it for so long.
Giles is willing to die to give the one committing evil a chance at love and to reenter relationship.
Xander is punished for Willow, in order to keep telling her he loves her.
Finally, relationship is restored and Willow joins the team and her friends forgiven, accepted and loved. In the end, the power from love proves to be more powerful than the power of grief and pain, as Willow will be one of the key players that helps save and change the world in the next season.

"Where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more."

The episode even has a song as Willow falls into Xander's arm, that as I rewatched I noticed was very Christian. It is the Prayer of St. Francis, sung by Sarah McLachlan.

And, if you want to see the best example of grace I've seen in popular culture, you can see it here.

Dublin and Palestine

This is old news, and I'm sorry if you already don't care, but I've been meaning to stick up a blog on this, so here it is.

On the 11th of May 2017 an approved motion of Dublin City Council was put into effect. The motion was to fly the Palestinian flag above Dublin City Hall for one month to mark the fifty-year anniversary of the occupation of the West Bank by Israeli forces.

Ireland has a long tradition of supporting countries like us, countries dominated and oppressed by a larger, more powerful, neighbouring nation.
The suffering and death of innocent lives is never good, no one denies that. However, Ireland has no right to do anything like this.

That's because Ireland is a NEUTRAL country.

Neutrality, by its very nature, means not taking a side in an international conflict.

Palestine-Israel is the definition of an international conflict.

Dublin City Council's decision to fly the Palestinian flag for the monty of May, and into June, indirectly violates the Irish principal of neutrality.

If we value neutrality as much as we attest to, if we want to avoid entering into international conflicts, we need to be wise about what we do. Whether people personally feel they should support Palestine or Israel is up to them, but Ireland and her political entities should never enter into taking a side in this conflict.

The principle of neutrality should mean we fly an Israeli flag as well.

I was heartened to see that the former Justice Minister, Alan Shatter, condemned the move.

Sadly I must criticise President Higgins, the protector of the constitution in which Irish neutrality is legally defined and enshrined, should have vetoed this move as it was not in the best interest of the country and paints a bad light on Ireland, and certainly on Dublin!

Seriously England

So, for those of you who do not follow English politics let me give you a brief history before my rant about the sorts of images appearing in English newspapers recently. Scroll to the image if you know the background.

Brexit happened, you probably remember that. It was when the UK voted to leave the European Union. The Prime Minister (PM) at the time was David Cameron, the leader of the conservative (Tory) party. He stepped down as he was not pro-Brexit and Theresa May took his place, becoming the UKs second female PM.
As part of Brexit, Britain need to enter into negotiations with the other 27 member states of the European Union to flesh out with a post-EU relationship will look like for Britain.
May wanted a clearer mandate and called a snap general election, hoping to return a strong majority for her Tory party. She was returned as PM, but she did not get that clear majority, and so clear mandate, she hoped the election would provide.

In order to form a government, May needed the support of a smaller party. Enter Northern Ireland.
The North, for those who don't know, is still controlled by the UK (and because they cannot come to agreements with their parliament in Stormont, they could go to being directly ruled by Westminster in London again, which would not be good for the Good Friday Agreement and peace in the region between pro-British factions and pro-Republic of Ireland factions.

Anyway, the DUP, a Unionist or pro-British party, won ten seats in the election in the North. Sinn Féin, the pro-Republic party, won 7 but they abstain from taking them as they don't recognise the authority of Westminster in Irish affairs.

So, to stay PM and form a government that could work, May formed an alliance with the DUP, a party on pretty much no Englishman's radar. So newspaper political cartoons came out, and they have been ridiculously racist.

Here is one example published in the Daily Mail and I want to discuss why it is wrong, not helpful and should be retracted.

Here's the image:

This really offends me. I have grown up in a good period of history and camaraderie between the UK and Ireland, with our two states officially recognising the existence and validity of the other, with Queen Elizabeth IIs state visit to Ireland, followed by Michael D.'s state visit to the UK (that moment the Irish national anthem played out in Windsor Castle will never leave my memory). Everything was so hopeful, and then this.

800 years of dominion and oppression. 800 years of being treated as less than human. The British Government enslaved Irish people, deported them to work in their colonies in the Americas and Australia. They watched us die in the famine as they exported food that could have saved lives. They depicted us as monkeys, apes and drunks. Finally things were beginning to heal. But then this.

This image, and images like it appearing in papers in the UK right now, show the old Irish stereotypes are still strong in the UK, because this image shows zero understanding of Northern Ireland and uses the stereotypical image of the Republic instead.

The DUP are a Protestant, pro-British, largely Evangelical group. This means that:

1. Large numbers of them do not drink alcohol due to their Christian beliefs.

2. They do not consider themselves Irish and therefore would not choose an Irish beverage to be the thing they agree to government to get.

3. They do not lie around drunk when they should be helping govern their country.

It's a sad step in the wrong direction at such a volatile time in Anglo-Irish relations, and when the issue of Northern Ireland is a key one in Brexit negotiations as the border between the Republic and the North will be the only land border into the European Union affected by Brexit.

Britain, we have forgiven a lot in Ireland (we remind you guys of all you did a lot, because your history books teach you that you had a great civilising Empire that admittedly made some mistakes but was generally celebrated), but we look to a future of friendship, not to a past of hate; it's time to grow up and stop dehumanizing the people you probably share the most in common with on earth.

PS: we drink more tea than you!

The Room of Your Deepest Dreams

So I was reading a book recently and in it the author discussed this old movie. The movie is set in a bleak, dystopian future where hope is dying. However, there is a place where there is a room. This room fulfils/grants the deepest desires of anyone who walks into it.

Three friends, a writer, a professor and a stalker (I have no idea if that is a job, or if this character has a creepy desire to get the person they have been stalking from the room) set off in search of the room of deepest desires.

They each have an idea of what that room will give them when they get there, it is these they set out after, and it is these desires they are pursuing.

Throughout the course of the movie, I'm totally assuming, the trio encounter things that expend their knowledge of themselves. It's one of those movies, they reach the room but then they hesitate, they don't go in. Why not? Perhaps the things they set off in search of are not the things they actually deeply desire. Perhaps the things they thought they knew about themselves as they set out on their quest are not the things they know about themselves at the end. Perhaps those deepest desires they set out in search of are not actually their deepest desires at all.

This got me thinking, and I think it is a good question to ask, what do you think the room would give you if you arrived there?

Now, the last blog I wrote I was told was good because of how honest I am in my blogs. I am sorry to disappoint you in this one, I will not be telling you about what I think the room would grant me.
In my head, however, I divided these thoughts into two: things I hope the room would give me, which I have no problem sharing, and things I fear the room would give me, which I will not share!

The things I hope the room would give me, the things I hope are my deepest desires, are a church group, building and finances to pastor and tell about the love and grace and work of Christ for them; a wife; the success of the books I write; and, eventually, the Presidency of Ireland because I am an idealist and have ideas that I think could make our little patch of land a nicer place to live.

I hope those desires and motives are my deepest, but I certainly wondered on hearing the story of the three friends and their room. You don't need to tell me, but what do you hope and fear the room would give you if you went in?

I'm gonna be praying that the things I hope, and not the things I fear are actually, or would become, my deepest desires!

Calvary Chapel Pastor's Conference

So this past week I was at the majority of the Calvary Chapel Pastor's Conference in Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa. Here is a bit of what I experienced and what I thought of the conference.

Monday:
I arrived at the conference and came to the registration line where Brian Brodersen was standing.

Brian Brodersen, for those of you who do not know, is the lead pastor of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, the successor of Chuck Smith, the founder of the Calvary Chapel movement of churches. As such, Brian is also the head of the entire Calvary Chapel movement (or the half that identify with the Calvary Global Network at least). So it was certainly a blessing to meet him, let him know who I was and finally meet him and speak to one another in person.

The first session of the conference was led by Brian. He spoke of the Calvary Movement and what he loved and what he saw going forward. It was a great session and very encouraging to hear the direction Pastor Brian sees the Calvary movement going in, that is a theme for the conference, the future of our little movement of churches is certainly looking bright, even with the recent hardships within it.

After the first couple of sessions I found Mike Neglia, who was going to skip on dinner to study for his workshop the next day. I decided I should try the shop across the street for something Mike could eat whenever he had time. On my way, a car pulled up and Clay (formerly pastor of Calvary Waterford, and now Calvary Tri Valley in NorCal) asked me if I wanted to join them for food. After a couple of seconds of humming and hawing I decided to go and got into the car to see Brian Brodersen was the driver and his son, Char was there too. So I got to go have dinner with Brian the first day of meeting him. I'm not like the Quinity is Father, Son, Spirit, Chuck Smith and Brian Brodersen here or anything, it was just cool.

So with the guys we talked about Ireland, my future there, Clay's time there, Brian used to pastor in Westminster, so we talked about the differences between Europe and America in how people think and in ministry. It was just a blessing. Plus, they were already on a mission to get Mike food! So it worked out very well!

After all the conference activities were done I went back to stay with a lady, called Donna, who works in the church there. She lives with someone who works in the school of worship at Costa Mesa too. So, Donna and I shared some of our life stories and it was just such a blessing to get to know her and the life God has walked with her through.

Tuesday:
On Tuesday the stand out moment was certainly Christopher Yuan's workshop on how Christians should approach speaking to homosexual people. Christopher is himself someone who gay and now isn't living that life anymore. What an amazing time listening to how he has thought about how to talk to people and how clearly he presented it. What a blessing to the church!!

The other stand out moment was Paul David Tripp speaking in the main session. Knowing he would be there inspired me to read some of his books. We had one Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands in the CCBC library, so I read that first, then I bought Dangerous Calling from the CCBC bookstore, because it deals specifically with pastoral ministry. It was some of the content of this book that Tripp spoke on and it was so good!

Wednesday:
Wednesday is the crazy day. Wednesday morning at around 7:20am the police in Costa Mesa found Mike Neglia after he had been hit by a car. The car was travelling 45 mph and he was thrown 30 feet. It is a miracle he is alive.
Thus began one of the longest, most tense days of my life. Clay and Char were with Mike, and later Joy (from Calvary Cork) joined them. They relayed news to us, which Brian relayed to the conference at large. We waited for hours to learn that Mike was not paralysed. Then we waited hours more to hear his bones were okay, having previously heard he had a broken neck and two spinal fractures. God really had his hand on Mike, but it was certainly a tense day.

My brain didn't focus too much on the conference that day, until the news of Mike being well came in. Instead of sitting in sessions I hung out with Kellen and George, who are friends of Mike's and certainly have become friends of mine. They work for Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, and they as well as Britt, Josh, Matthew and some others were doing the live streaming of the conference, recording it and filming interviews and things. Seeing as film is a big interest in mine it was so great to be able to sit and observe and sometimes adjust cameras and little things like that, with them.
Wednesday we ate ribs together and it was great!

On Wednesday I also met John Henry. Back in the 80s John used to get Chuck's sermons sent to him in Tipperary. After some communication with Papa Chuck, Chuck invited him to Costa Mesa for a year. John never left. It was so good to get to sit with him and talk with him. He stayed in America because of his love for Chuck, and that was beautiful. I was talking to him about Mike and the possibility of my returning to Ireland to help Calvary Cork for a bit until Mike recovers, and he told me about how he did similar things with Chuck. I later learned that Chuck has circulation problems with his legs and John Henry used to massage them, often and for a long time, and if he hadn't done this Pastor Chuck could have died a number of years before he did. What a beautiful servant of God, helping Chuck to succeed in ministry by taking care of his physical and some administrative needs! We spoke about me planting a church, and the feeling I have of where the Lord is leading and the journey that I was on in coming to that place where, with confidence I can say exactly where it is (the middle of a blog post is not the place to announce that if you don't already know from personal conversations with me).
We also spoke of his time in Ireland and the joy he has in seeing the continuing of the Calvary movement there. All in all it was just such a great conversation!

At the last session, just before Christopher Yuan spoke, Brian announced the results of Mike's tests, there is a video on my instagram (@WaveyCowpar) if you want to see it. There are also pictures of some of the speakers and a paraphrase of a quote they said, because I often cannot remember the exact quotes!

Thursday:
Thursday I went straight to the live streaming area. I hung out with George mostly, and prayed for Kellen's stress levels. Then, at lunch time, some of those guys were heading to film three episodes (again there is a picture on my instagram). So I got to see the Calvary TV studios and the equipment they use to film. My goal is to have a Calvary Church that undertakes similar projects, because film is such a big part of my life!
It was great to see the studio and listen to Brian interviewing three wonderful people, Efram, who is a pastor in London and once a member of Brian's own church there; David Guzik, who's just a genius and a very gracious and humble man, and Lu Wing, who is writing one of the most interesting titles I've heard, but it sounds like it will be so good!

All in all, the conference was so good, and speakers really inspired the pastors present to look to the future by being informed of our past and the work of Pastor Chuck. Especially blessing was Johnathan Domingo talking about the example of how Chuck delegated ministry responsibility allowed Calvary to fail at times, but ultimately to grow and be the influence it was in the early days and is now in Mexico. It was also great to meet lots of different people, and to finally meet Brian and see the human behind the image!

Please continue to pray for Brian Brodersen as he leads and directs the Calvary movement and is pastor at Costa Mesa, there were times my heart went out to him, its a lot of weight to carry especially with all that's happening in the Calvary movement today!
Pray also for Mike's recovery, and for Rachel, Eoin and Rosie, and for Calvary Cork as they function without Mike!

ToTD: Altar Calls.

Hey all, grace and peace to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ!

So, I've been reading James recently as I and a friend are studying through it throughout the summer, and it has had me doing some serious thinking (which is awesome), you may have seen some of these thoughts pop up on Facebook. Anyway, I've been having issues with James 2 and the ideas in the latter half specifically, and how those marry with Paul's ideas in Romans. I have not conclusively decided anything, we aren't there in my study yet, but here are some thoughts on faith.

James 2:14-26:

"What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?

Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead." (ESV) 



In this section we see James speaking of three types of faith, with only one leading to life.
The first is dead faith. This faith (seen in the first paragraph above) is an intellectual faith. It knows all the right words, it knows what to say and it can sound good, but it only goes brain deep!

The second faith, in the second paragraph, is demonic faith. Demonic faith is intellectual, the demons know all the things, and it is also emotional, they shudder in their knowledge, but they aren't saved.

Only the third paragraph describes living faith, dynamic faith is faith that actually impacts the whole person. It's not just intellectual and emotional, it's holistic and begins to change the person's life. That's, I guess, what James is saying in his confusing example about Abraham and Rahab being justified by works.

So, this second type of faith got me thinking... A lot of what we do in evangelical circles, regarding evangelism, is hoping for a dynamic faith, using methods for a demonic faith. I am talking, as the title has betrayed, of the altar call.
Perhaps you have never been to an event with an altar call, and if so I applaud the ministry for which you have been part! But these things come after an emotion filled story, where the Gospel is laid out, usually through someone's testimony. Then a musician plays softly in the background as the speaker asks everyone to close their eyes. Then, with no one looking and with his voice full of emotion and the strings of your heart being plucked at the same time as the guitar, he asks people who want to receive Jesus to raise their hands. And hands go up.

Usually, though recently there has been a move away from this, the speaker will lead those with their hands raised in the sinner's prayer. Once he says amen, he declares the raised hand people saved.

Really?
Because I've been with people who stand up, raise their hands and go forward at these events and then the next day there is no interest in God, there is no desire to follow Him, there is no change in their life or their eternal standing before God.
What your altar call has produced is not a dynamic, saving faith but a faith that is similar to that of the demons mentioned here in James 2. You wanted dynamic faith and you created demonic faith.

Satan loves that! Warren Wiersbe said: “Satan is the great deceiver; one of his devices is imitation. If he can convince a person that counterfeit faith is true faith, he has that person in his power.”

Now, don't get me wrong, I am not saying that everybody who has come to know Jesus via an altar call does not have a genuine, dynamic and saving faith. Heaven forbid, but what I am saying is that we put a lot of emphasis in methods that aren't returning the proper results, but giving people a false sense of eternal security. Those reading this who were saved via an altar call, we can know your salvation is genuine by the perseverance you have in the Lord, by the changed life we see, but there are many who make professions of faith at altar calls (and other emotionally charged events and times in their life) and their confession is just demonic faith, they know God is there and they fear Him.

So how can we know faith is genuine?
Here's some questions to ask yourself, to help the Holy Spirit search you and know you!

1. Was there a time when I honestly realised I was a sinner and admitted this to myself and to God?
2. Was there a time when my heart stirred me to flee from the wrath to come? Have I ever seriously been alarmed over my sin?
3. Do I truly understand the Gospel, that Christ died for my sins and He arose again? Do I understand and confess that I cannot save myself?
4. Did I sincerely repent of my sin and turn from them? Or do I secretly love sin and want to continue to enjoy it?
5. Have I trusted Christ and Christ alone for my salvation? Do I enjoy a living relationship with Him through the Word and in the Spirit?
6. Has there been a change in my life? Do I maintain good works, or are those good works more occasional, or weak? Do I seek growth in Christ? Can others tell I have been impacted by Jesus?
7. Do I have a desire to share Christ with others? Or am I ashamed to talk about Him?
8. Do I enjoy the fellowship of God’s people? Is worship a delight to my soul?
9. Am I ready for the Lord’s return? Or will I be ashamed, or even left behind, when He comes back?

in A ainm agus A chuid seirbhís.

TotD: God's Justice, Limited Atonement and Salvation

Someone once said to me that God is just and doesn't punish sin twice. He wouldn't punish Jesus and the person who sinned. Therefore, the conclusion was, Jesus only died for certain people, choosing certain people (the elect) and saving them from among the multitudes. Therefore, Jesus' atoning death was only valid for those who are members of the elect and will certainly come to trust Christ as Saviour and be forgiven.

This has troubled me for years. It doesn't sit right, but God is just and He wouldn't punish someone twice.

For a long time I assumed a God's level limited atonement, He knew who would come to Him so He died for those who He foreknew would come, but I have been led on a path to a different and better explanation.

Christ died for sins, once for all. That's what the Bible says and I can finally say I whole-heartedly agree and confess that statement.

This does not lead us to universalism, where we say everyone is saved due to Christ's atoning death on the cross. No because of another couple of verses.

Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. - Mark 16:16

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. - John 3:18

This same sin of unbelief is often equated with the unforgivable sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit (in Matthew 12). So unbelief is that unforgivable sin, pretty much the only thing that actually separates you from God.

So, Jesus died and atoned for all your sin, He was punished for it, you can have the assurance that you will not pay for every lie you said, bad thought you've had etc. Many people argue those should only have limited time punishments, a bit like the concept of purgatory. Maybe... However, though Jesus paid for all those sins there is one left on all our accounts. The sin of unbelief. We in no way pay for this ourselves either but the sin of unbelief, if we continue in it, justifiably punishes us for all eternity. This is just as we would have rejected our loving Creator God, who became Incarnate and died on the cross for us, atoning for our sins to bring us into His family. This affront to God and who He made us to be, restless until we rest in Him, would be a (the only) justifiable grounds to punish someone eternally.

So, Jesus died for everyone's sins, there is no such thing as limited atonement. Praise God as this opens membership of the elect to all people God created, if they have faith in Jesus Christ, and all this without us ever having to accuse God of punishing two people for the one sin, or of being unjust.