" A man with leprosy came and knelt before Him and said,
" Lord if you are willing, you can make me clean
".
Jesus reached out his hand and touched him "
( Matt 8 : 2-3 )
To touch a leper in Jesus’ day rendered you both ritually unclean and barred
from the temple for a period of time. It was also medically perilous and what
we would most likely term foolhardy. Why didn’t Jesus just speak a word of
healing over the man? Why take the risk? Well, perhaps therein lies a clue
to Jesus’ ministry on earth-He was not infected by the disease or sinful
state of this wretched man but instead the holiness and purity of God flowed
out into the man to cleanse him. Christ absorbs the human impurity and remains
unmarked by it.
What is there in your life that you have not asked God to touch? Dare we too ask
" if you are willing " of Him? Be it re sickness, secret sin, grief,
broken relationships / dreams, - our rubbish is lost without trace in Him. If
we can come like the leper and ask if you are willing, the answer is still yes
and He will touch us. The next time you feel so shut off / outside of the love
of God because of sin or circumstances please remember these words.
And on the subject of risk taking-speaking out etc, the recent failure of UCB’s
court action to get access to the bidding process for national Christian radio
has brought the following request for help from UCB:
" After all our thousands of letters, petitions and lobbying, the Government
White Paper has promised nothing when it comes to removing the ban against UCB
and national religious broadcasting.
They do however ask for views about the ban on religious ownership but express
their own views saying, ' religious content has a particular capacity to offend
those with different views and opinions, or sometimes to exploit the
susceptibilities of the vulnerable. Religious issues may also shade into matters
of political controversy. ' "
It is important that we as Christians do send our views and we ask that you
would email or write to the address below. If you believe - contrary to the
opinion of the Government - that Christian radio, such as UCB, can bring good
news, good values, good music and hope to our nation please write and ask your
friends and family to write. This is a very important opportunity for the church
to be heard.
Please write or e-mail asking for freedom for National Christian Radio,
to:
Communications White Paper Consultation,
C/o CII, DTI, 151 Buckingham Palace Road,
London SW1W 9SS
or e-mail
consultation
@communicationswhitepaper.gov.uk.
The following is a release from UCB
Please contact UCB direct for a fuller document / background.
Brief History
After trying every option, 10 years of lobbying MPs,
petitions to Parliament and thousands of letters to the Government
( thanks to their supporters ) UCB took their case to the European
Court of Human Rights. In UCB's view the Court was led by the UK
Government to think that the UK had only 1 national digital radio station.
It now transpires that this now represents 10 independent national digital
radio stations PLUS 5 existing BBC (plus a further 5 BBC) national digital
radio stations. UCB is banned from all this!
The Court was also led to believe that that there is no ban over UCB applying
for a local digital radio licence. Not true. UCB has just been banned from
applying for local digital radio licence in Northern Ireland. This in spite
of unanimous all party support for UCB at Stormont! The government's response
to complaints about violence and pornography is the " off button ".
Their answer to Christian broadcasting is that it is politically incorrect
and must be banned!
We live in a " Christian " country with a Christian Queen. Everyone
who listened to her Christmas speech will be in no doubt of that......
Our country is built on Christian traditions, values, freedom of speech -
even our law is based on the Bible! Yet the UK Government has justified
discrimination against national Christian Radio with this extraordinary
new term " Enforcement of Pluralism "
The government believes that this nation is now multi-faith and it is
unacceptable to have an exclusively Christian radio station. In order
to get a licence we have to be multi-faith.
Can you see the outcome of this? Churches being forced to include other
faiths in their services, despite the words of Jesus that say "
I am the way, the truth, the life. No one comes to the Father except
by me " Enforcement of Pluralism by a State to remove choice
and ban or censor the Press or media is a violation of democracy.
Enforcement of pluralism excludes Christian Media from any national
voice in a modern society.
What next? I suspect a ban on Marches for Jesus ( not enough police manpower ),
a ban on open air preaching ( offensive to other faiths ) a continual watering
down of Songs of Praise ( did anyone see the one from Salford hosted by Dierdre? )
This government has put the " problem of enforcement of plurality " on the
agenda. It will not tolerate Christian broadcasting. In the future it may not
tolerate Christianity in any part of public life. This is the time for the
church to wake up and fight."
" EACH OF US WILL GIVE AN ACCOUNT OF HIMSELF TO GOD. "
ROMANS 14"2 NIV
( This is one of the daily readings out of UCB’s THE WORD FOR TODAY
(Feb 2nd) a free devotional available by writing to United Christian
Broadcasters Ltd., PO Box 255, Stoke-on-Trent, ST4 8YY. It works ( in our
humble opinion! ) at both the personal faith level and also as a great
evangelistic tool amongst family and friends. )
Have you noticed how often " they " decide what’s important for us
and what’s not? For example they say the chairman of the board is important
but the cleaning lady's not. What utter rubbish! If you buy into that
nonsense you’ll become inferior " insecure " resentful "
and " competitive You’ll also strive to become what " they "
approve of and miss your true calling. Or worse, you’ll actually do what
God has called you to do, but never get any joy or fulfilment from it
because " they " planted so much self doubt in your mind. Refuse
to live that way another day!
It takes courage to be led by God's Spirit. It’s not easy to break
the mould in your family or step outside the boundaries others have set
for you. When you do, you’ll face disapproval and rejection. Jesus did!
When they said " Is not this the carpenters Son? " ( Mat 13:55 )
What they were really saying was " He should stay in His place!
" Look out, because they’ll say that about you too!
" Listen Each of us will give an account of himself to God
" ( Rom 14:12 NIV ). In the end, you’ll answer to God alone. In that
day, you’ll discover that not only is it wrong to be judgmental; it’s
equally wrong to permit the opinions of others to control you and cause
you to disobey or miss your destiny! Think about it!
Please feel free to contact the
Webmaster who welcomes your comments and suggestions.
A Message from April 2001