CHURCH NEXT! A church where you don’t have to believe in God – a marketing strategy for Sweden?

Imagine yourself a church building looking like a theater, without any sacred symbols, the community inside it embraces atheists and others who might want to maintain their religious orientation but do not necessarily believe there is a god.

There Sunday meetings (often held at “church hours”) are no “masses” but platforms where there are similarities to traditional religious services including music, community sharing and a sense of aesthetics. After a concert, conversations, songs and a discussion, a collection is taken up to support humanitarian causes…, this last week for victims of the earthquake in China!

No kidding! You have just entered the Society for Ethical Culture, in New York across Manhattan’s Central Park. Families bring their children to learn how to live in a world of diversity, respecting differences and finding common ground with others, being motivated to make a difference in the world.

This group whose motto is “Deed before Creed,” is, along with other US non-theist, atheist, agnostic and independent groups gaining ground in the United States. 16 % of the Americans see their spiritual dimension as “unaffiliated”, thus becoming the fastest-growing segment of the very complicated patchwork of American spiritual life!

Realizing this, it is not strange that books such as Christopher Hitchens’s “God is not Great,” Sam Harris’s “The End of Faith” and Richard Dawkins’s “The God Delusion” have all become US best sellers in the past three years.

Daniel Dennett, a philosopher who teaches at Tufts University says: “God is not exploding — which is what Nietzsche supposed — God is slowly evaporating before our eyes.”

Two observations…

1. This is the kind of church we are forming in Sweden when we take God and His absolute truth out of the picture. Take God away, the uniqueness of Jesus Christ, His redeeming work on the cross and His purpose for our lives and the only thing left is an association. A group of well-willing individuals who take their life serious but are removed from their very roots. God is slowly evaporating before our eyes. I cannot refrain thinking about the Church in Sweden where tolerance, political correctness and Christendom have suffocated the life within it as it through a step by step approach has lost its lifeline and dependency on the Head of the Church, Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

2. Another “loud thought” I have relates to the tremendous commitment this group of people show as they consciously try to bridge the gaps between the many cultures, between the reality of life in New York and the rest of the (broken) world around them (all the way to China), raising their children as global, respectable citizens and trying to build a consciousness for their place in the world.

How many of us are doing that in our churches where so many of our so-called members have ample time to visit (! – I did not say minister) and hardly show any commitment to be part of the world changing overwhelming minority which was called out from the world and sent back into that world by Jesus Christ Himself?!

“Don’t ask me for the answers I’ve only got one; that a man leaves his darkness when he follows the Son!” (Larry Norman, “the great American novel” on “only visiting this planet”)

Let us in dependency upon Jesus Christ follow His example and His commands to be a blessing to all nations. People, that’s the way I see it at the moment…

John

Let’s secularize the Muslims! – Another way to meet the challenges of multi-cultural Sweden

Dagen and Svenska Dagbladet report about the new initiative of Lars Leijenborg, the minister responsible for college and university education in Sweden. The challenges in regard to integration of the Muslim citizens are growing and obviously there is a tremendous need to deal with these aspects of society as segregation continues grows in our nation.

The imams which are employed by the Muslim community are often schooled and supported by more traditional wings of Muslim believers, and are not always good examples of integration as they lack the ability to communicate in Swedish and show little interest in Sweden as a potential “home country”.

From a perspective of a practicing Muslim this is rather understandable; the far gone secularization within our society and the (in their eyes) normless and valueless way of life are truly a threat to the way of life as taught by them.

“The goal is not to have a reform of Islam” says Leijenborg, but let’s be honest, one way to steer away these groups from the feared radicalization of Islam is to secularize them! In the same way as our theological education has been influenced and adjusted to a politically correct perspective, so also will a state led imam education lead to a secularization of Islam.

Don’t get me wrong; I am not a supporter of Islam and its spread in our nation! But, we have to be realistic as we are a multi-cultural society; we have to give room for people and their beliefs as a consequence of their presence here.

If I were to name one of the strongest aspects of Swedish today’s society it is its ability to secularize everything and everyone! That’s not so strange… Some time ago I wrote a blog on a world values survey where Sweden ranked highest in these aspects. READ>

For now, I will not be fighting against the secularization of Islam, but will do everything in my power to remove the entanglements of secularization on the Church, the Body of Christ!

That’s the Way I see it!

John

Lessons from history; Todd Bentley, Peter, Sadducees and Gamaliel in the Florida revival.

There is a reason for it… There is a reason for it that news about revival in Florida travels so fast all over the world. The tremendously intense TV covering by the God Channel watched by millions of people directly in their homes through TV channels and computers fills a void in the lives of Christians (and hopefully non-Christians) throughout the world. The fact that we can watch it “first-hand”, “live” brings reality closer to us. However, even that live connection is not close enough and droves of people from all nations of the world travel there to “get it” to hopefully “bring it home”.

The fact that we live in a global world and that those of us in the West live in tremendous affluence makes it possible to experience matters in person. We can travel about anywhere we want and distance is only in your mind. This is one of the reasons why news about it spreads like fire across our planet.

The tremendous voids

There is another reason too for the quick spread of this phenomenon; the sheer absence of the super-natural, the power and the ever present need for EXPERIENCE (a main factor to be reckoned with in our Post-modern, Post-Christian Western world) in our churches has created a tremendous void. So when something supernatural happens we are overly focused on it because we are destitute for it.

As soon as things like this pop up (don’t forget that we have had the faith teaching, inner healing, the prophetic movement, Toronto, Pensacola etc.), the advocates/ambassadors get all excited trying to tell us why “this is it what God wants to do” and as a response to the (often) enthusiastic approach of them we set off the alarms so many other who approach these matters from totally different (often non-emotional) perspectives. They are seen as they pleasure killers of the Body of Christ and any question they might ask is considered criticism.

Fighting against God?

In the time of Jesus and the first church we all know that the Sadducees and Pharisees because of their religious and political power were threatened by the expressions and works of the Kingdom of God. (Acts 5:17 states that the Sadducees were filled with jealousy!) When the disciples were taken captive and brought before the Sanhedrin where they were asked to defend their case the Sanhedrin was so upset that some of their members wanted to kill the disciples (5:33). It was at that moment that a wise Pharisee took the word, NIV 5:34-39

But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, who was honored by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside for a little while. 35 Then he addressed the Sanhedrin: “Men of Israel, consider carefully what you intend to do to these men. 36 Some time ago Theudas appeared, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men rallied to him. He was killed, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing. 37 After him, Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and led a band of people in revolt. He too was killed, and all his followers were scattered. 38 Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. 39 But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”

Our history – let’s get our homework done!

I know we hate homework! But there is an important lesson to be learned from the history of the Early Church and even of our recent history in Sweden. The last 25 years have been characterized by people and churches taking standpoints for and against different phenomenon in the Body of Christ. (By the way, if the matters involve whether we are to preach God’s Word as absolute Truth, you will find me on the barricades too!)

But in most cases it had nothing to do with truth; it had to do with style, emphasis, and sometimes over-emphasis. People who had been touched by renewal, revival or the (re)discovery of old truths and ways of God have not always been wise and mature in passing on a blessing; instead the blessing became a curse as it divided the Body of Christ and brought hurts and rejection.

Do the experiences become the norm of church life?

If experiences of special touches and (re)discovered principles become the norm for church life in our time and Christian walk we will automatically build in the inability to be a church, or to be a trustworthy and relevant body of believers. If what we read in the Acts of the Apostles is to be the norm of church life for us today why is it that so few people die in the church in spite of their greed, or so few sell everything they have and give it to the church and the poor? Or why is there so little accountability and little openness and confession? Why are so few new people reached… the list can go on…

If we believe that God is doing something new, let us in humility and in accountability live out what God is teaching and giving us in such ways that we seek for opportunities to wisely implement what He is giving us. After all, if it is from God it will prevail and grow!

Let us with humility towards God, each other and the tradition to which we belong approach the works of God realizing that we here at this time and age “…see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known”. (1 Cor 13:12)

That’s the Way I see it!

John

PS Accountability and openess is what it is all about!” Read> DS

Trust in Lust – the new approach to relationships! Sex sells, sell sex, xxx

Apoteket AB (drugstore, or pharmacy) has since 1970 a national monopoly position in Sweden. Until now, rubbers (condoms) and chewing gum (some kind of rubber) can be found located on the same shelf (NO! There is logic behind it!).

Soon however, to be precise on June 23, our national health store will with the help of RFSU present the “Trust in Lust” line of design of sex toys and change their image to a kind of kinky Afrodites pharmacy. The Afrodites pharmacy under leadership of erotic educationalist Ylva Franzén has continued to evolve and might have become the role model in the transformation of our national pride as they already offer products like: orgasm classes, orgasm coaching and designer dildos.

Whether this initiative is a strategic effort to raise the stocks of our nationally renowned pharmacy as it will be put up for sale latest by January 1, 2009 or, if this is yet another tasteless and un-thoughtful Big Brother State attempt trying to educate and support its citizens sex lives beyond the threshold of privacy – we might never know! Honestly I don’t want to know!

According to different articles and press releases, on many sites and publications it has become time —-“to welcome sex toys out in the open into the daylight”! “The Trust in Lust” product line has been developed through much research and evaluation by the RFSU and all the personnel of Apoteket has been trained by RFSU! “OH MY G…!” (Read how much I trust the RFSU in “Guidelines for teenagers who want sex – RFSU hands off”).

Let’s be honest, the catchy product line “Trust in Lust” says it all, trust your animal like instincts and uncontrolled lingering volcano-like lust boiling within your limbs: that will set you free! Right!

How different is the approach by God as He through Jesus and the apostle John addresses the deeper motives and pitfalls of humankind leading to distortion and de-humanized approaches of the same and/or opposite sex through lust. (Some might call this yet another “underlivs” (genital area) theology… I don’t care what you think, I do care what God thinks of this:

Matthew 5: 27-28 ”You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.” 28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart”.

1 John 2: 16 “For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world”.

We don’t need yet another effort to make overtly public that which belongs to the privacy of people. Big Brother hands off! (I totally agree with Per Gudmunsson ” Sell Apoteket fast so that we won’t have to explain these (awkward) matters for our international guests!)

That’s the Way I see it!

John

PS. How does this approach and unwanted public product placement in the stores affect our multi-cultural (orthodoxmuslimcatholicjewishchristianbuddhistshintoistetc) citizens as this is shoved down their throats?! Culturally sensitive BS? DS (I mean)

Accountability in leadership… transparancy, protection and trustworthiness!

Some preachers have still issues with financial transparency according to Dagen (here, here and here) and Världen Idag… The request from US senator Charles Grassley to get information on the financial dealings of a number of influential and thus often financially well-off spiritual leaders and their ministries have caused many and long discussions and hesitancy on the part of some of the ministries involved. Bennie Hinn only recently submitted his financial records to be scrutinized (because that will happen!), others, among them Kenneth Copeland and Dollar ministries (what a name!) are opposed to the requests of the senator.

With the number of financial abuses in mind both in Sweden as throughout the world we should be more than willing to go beyond the required formal accountability due to national or organizational guidelines. Those involved in ministry should be wiling to walk an extra mile in regard of these matters to even remove the shadow of doubt over our economic dealings. Honestly speaking we need that accountability not only on financial matters but others too. The fact that some continue to argue against such openness make me more or less suspicious, there is no reason to withhold anything from public scrutiny… that’s part of the deal of being Christians!

Jack Hayford, a senior pastor of Church on the Way and presently acting as leader of the Four Square denomination has for years tried to build accountability into ministry. He strongly suggested already in 2004 for all ministries to become part of an International Council for Ethical Accountability.

Another interesting initiative is the national “ministry watch” in the US which tries to give update information on the financial dealings of the different ministries, they even give recommendations on financially accountable organizations, Interesting is that fact that quite some of the organizations refuse to inform this organization about their financial records!

Based on the initiative from Jack Hayford, a number of charismatic leaders got together in Orlanda and developed the following document (here). As we see there is nothing new under the sun and we can only hope that we will voluntarily submit ourselves to accountability and openness, not only within networks with friends, but even organized networks. (Let’s be honest, the loose informal networks don’t always do the job!)

That’s it for now…my appeal: let’s be more open, transparent and accountable! That’s the Way I see it!

John

The path to diversity is rarely smooth! – News and views on immigration

I have been writing in my blogs about integration, immigration, assimilation and many other issues which have to do with the multi-cultural aspects of life in Sweden and the reality of the Church in Sweden.

Below you will find articles and links that will help you get some understanding from a secular perspective as I browsed through many articles of “The Local” which is an English edition of Swedish news. As you will notice, the path to diversity is rarely smooth! So here we go:

It’s as if we immigrants stink of rotten fish” When deciding where in the world to study and work, Nabeel Shehzad, an engineer from Pakistan, thought Sweden seemed like the perfect place. But that was before he began to encounter discrimination on a regular basis. READ »

Parents to face jail for child marriages. Parents who allow children under the age of 16 to get married in another country could face up to two years in jail. READ »

Sweden shutting door on refugees: critics. Recent decisions by Sweden to send refugees back to Baghdad and other war-ravaged areas have tarnished its reputation for welcoming victims of conflict, critics say. READ »

Immigration agreement for Greens and government. The Swedish government and the Green Party are to present a joint proposal on Thursday for new rules governing labour force immigration. READ »

Asylum system ‘stuck in Stone Age’. The Swedish Migration Board has proposed changing the “stone age” regulations for asylum seekers who have started families with Swedish nationals. READ »

The path to Swedish asylum: A smuggler speaks. Rami Abdelrahman travels to Jordan and tracks down the first link in the chain of an underground operation involved in the smuggling of Iraqi refugees to Sweden. READ »

UNHCR criticizes Sweden’s Iraqi refugee policy. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees has criticized Sweden’s policy of deporting rejected Iraqi asylum seekers to the southern and central regions of their home country. READ »

Dutch ditching dykes for Dalarna. Hundreds of Dutch want to move to Dalarna and the county is using some innovative methods to assist in the process. READ »

Liberals call for compulsory citizenship classes. The Liberal Party has said it wants to introduce a mandatory course for all immigrants seeking Swedish citizenship. READ »

Immigrant girls and sex education – who knows best? Parents, students, or the state: who knows best? David Landes looks at the thorny issue of sex education and editorial reactions to a Liberal Party proposal aiming to bar parents from exempting their children, particularly girls, from classes. READ »

My views on sex and laws: READ

Foreigners can’t bank on Swedish ID. Foreign students continue to feel marginalized by Swedish society as a result of confusion regarding the issuing of Swedish identity cards. READ »

Synergy evening on film and human relationships!

The next Synergy Evening is scheduled for this coming Friday, 16 May with an emphasis on film.

Lars Johansson, teacher in Philosophy and Religion at Örebro Theological Seminary, will speak about films that help us understand human relationships. You and your friends are invited for discussion and mingling!

Lars also serves as the Director of “Forum for Faith, Culture, and Society,” which publishes the cultural magazine Nod and also facilitates the Nod Academy, which specializes in distance-learning dealing with contemporary issues and Christian faith. Lars teaches on films in lectures and courses and has also assisted in publishing the book, Film and Religion (Cordia, 2005).

Entrance is free, and fika is for sale in our café.

Note: The seminar will be held in Swedish!

The café opens at 7 pm with the seminar starting at 7.30. Time will be allotted for questions, discussion, and mingling afterwards.

//The Synergy Team – Organized by New Life Church and Powerplay

The next Synergy conference will take place 14 -16 November 2008, watch the Synergy “teaser” for the coming conference here!

Guidelines for teenagers who want sex – RFSU hands off!

According to Svenska Dagbladet has the RFSU (the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education) taken the initiative to exhort the Swedish government to form common guidelines for sexuality which are to be applied in the advice and counseling which is given in the 225 centers in the nation where youth can come to receive help and support.

Now up till here I am in agreement with the RFSU (which I seldom am!), I do agree that we need common guidelines in services which we provide on a national level. However, what these guidelines need to address and contain I have many questions about.

The RFSU addresses the fact that the personnel in the different centers implement the constitution which was accepted in 2005 and meant to protect young people from sexual abuse. The law addressed among other things that more situations could be considered rape and that those who had sex with a person under the age of 15 should be more easily convicted for rape. The RFSU tries to bring the application of the law down to questions like: Is it illegal for a 14 and 16 year old to have sex? At the moment parents have the right to know what their children under the age of 18 get for advice / treatment.

My conviction is (based upon their own description of their programs and values) that RFSU is trying to loosen up the principles applied in our legal system and thus breaking down many of the values that might be needed to have a healthy society and family life. One of the convictions they have is the right teenagers have to decide whether and with whom they want sex.

Now, while addressing the inconsequence of praxis in the 225 centers which need common guidelines, I am sure that they have already prepared (as they use to) a set of advices and guidelines which will allow a greater sexual freedom lower in age to facilitate (as they surely will tell us) the needs and wishes that young people today have in regards to their sexuality.

In a few year old study done in the US we can read: Sexually Active Teenagers Are More Likely to Be Depressed and to Attempt Suicide. The present study exam­ines the linkage between teenage sexual activity and emotional health. The findings show that:

When compared to teens who are not sexually active, teenage boys and girls who are sexually active are significantly less likely to be happy and more likely to feel depressed.

When compared to teens who are not sexually active, teenage boys and girls who are sexually active are significantly more likely to attempt suicide.

The fact is that when asked about the timeing of their sexual debut, the teenagers answered the following way:

The survey was funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and 17 other federal agencies.

What do I want to say with this observation? I do not trust our children in the hands of the RFSU! If we condone or legalize sex between a 14 and 16 year old… what happens if the 14 year old decides to have sex with a 23 year old? Will we suddenly apply other measures, other measuring tools for other ages? Most probably we will see the growth of situations as described in Dagen and Göteborgsposten. The removal of limits (laws, principles, values) will overtime completely destroy the very young people that we as adults are called to protect, develop and support! We will educate our children, as they will have to make their own decisions as time comes. But for now: RFSU – hands off from our kids! That’s the Way I see it!

John

Is Europe becoming a fortress of luxury protected by a silver curtain instead of an iron curtain?”

Years ago Lech Walesa former president of Poland and the winner of the 1983 Nobel Prize in Peace said “Europe could become a fortress of luxury protected by a silver curtain in place of an iron curtain.” Now many years later his prediction (prophecy) might come to pass as we start to see a sharpening of the immigration laws in the EU.

The public opinion in Sweden is slowly turning; the Sverige Demokraterna a party bringing together the people dissatisfied with the way things go in our nation and who are focusing on the closing of our borders for immigrants and to give support to those immigrants who want to leave, have for the first time in the polls passed the 4% vote barrier to be able to enter the national political scene.

As the statistics below show, for the first time we are approaching the 50% level where we conclude that it is better to have fewer immigrants in our nation!

In the proposals for immigration we are willing to open the borders for well educated people who are able to make themselves a living as they are offered a job. Notice that we say well educated people!

Sweden has in an agreement with the United Nations declared to be willing to receive a number of the most exposed and needy refugees in the world (1700 individuals’ theses are figures of 2005). However, in those days only 1200 of these were welcomed by Migrationsverket. (I cannot find the figures of the agreement of Sweden and the UNHCR for this year). Hundreds of families and individuals who have been proposed by UNHCR (UN’s refugee organization) have been declined. Notice that these people have gone through a screening process by workers of UNHCR who live on site!
Sweden has however increased its 2008 pledge to SEK 564,000,000 or approximately USD 89 million to support the work among refugees through the UNHCR, which is a 6% increase from last year.

My question however is: “Are we trying to buy off our responsibility by sending more funds to the UNHCR to take care of the unwanted, (read uneducated) refugees, while we as nation will welcome “the cream” of the crop?!

Integration potential…
Back to the most needy and exposed refugees….hundreds of the ones who were proposed by the NHCR were left behind because of tough Swedish requirements which are criticized by the UN and Amnesty. What are these tough requirements?

The whole idea of the UN is to have quotes in different countries to welcome those and give help to those who are in the greatest needs. Instead of looking at the greatest needs and follow the direction of the experts in the camp (who after all work with these refugees day after day), we find that some representatives evaluate people on basis of education, cultural adjustment, language ability, family circumstances and other unclear criteria. It is almost like a recruitment tour where the best potential refugees are picked out from the masses…

Who are the ones whom will be the greatest assets to us? Who will be able to integrate friction-free? Who will be able to be least of a burden to society? It is the survival of the fittest!

We show how inhuman our approach is to human life and human potential… Can human potential only be measured in economics? Can human potential only be measured in terms of strength and abilities and perspectives of integration potential?

We, together with the other countries in Europe are quick in developing our silver curtain to control and hinder the arrival of “Unwanted subjects”… Sad to say that we are rather advanced in our efforts to reduce the painful process of facilitating hurting people.

That’s the Way I see it!

John

The Swedish people’s attitude towards immigrants and racism 1993 – 2007 (percentage)

I agree completely or mostly with the statement below:	1993	1997	1999	2004	2007
There are too many immigrants in Sweden	52	48	40	42	39
Immigrants in Sweden should be able to freely practice their faith in this nation	41	39	41	40	37
I can think of being part of an organization which works against racism and enmity against immigrants	40	44	49	47	39
I would not like an immigrant from another part of the world to become married to one of our children	25	18	17	15	14

Another question was asked in the survey done among 3400 people, “Is it good to receive fewer refugees in Sweden?” 40% said it was good to have fewer, 29% thought this was a bad idea.

Does evil make us human?

Paul W. Kahn’s first sentence in his book “Out of Eden” says: “Evil makes us Human”… writing such a statement surely calls for attention! Göran Skytte’s article in SVD “Personal evil is a reality” already releases responses of people who do not believe in the personal character of evil and declare it to be metaphysics.

Every single day all of our moral sensitivities are challenged by the depth of human depravity and the tremendous scenes of deep traumatic human suffering. What kinds of world are we living in where predators go after the most vulnerable and exposed people; the children, the suffering, the young and the poor? Ethnic cleansing, suicide bombers and people in power in Burma who allow the same people they are called to lead and protect, to expose to a potential genocide?

Even the places once thought safe, like school, home, church, and small towns, have all been penetrated by an evil presence that has created a culture of fear, hatred, and blame. We are left to make sense of it all and often look for someone to blame.

There the question might come in: How does God draw near to deal with the problem of evil?

I don’t try to say that there are easy short-cut answers to be found on all aspects of human suffering as we experience it. Questions like, “why was I raped and abused as a child?”, “why did my parents have to die in a tsunami?”, or “why do the rulers in Burma allow their people to die by not allowing help to flood in?”, make it clear that there are no easy answers resolving all “why” questions. Yet as a Christian I can speak in general terms about living within the remnants of a fallen creation which is marked by chaos and disorder, and deeply disfigurement by the horrendous effects of sin’s deformation of God’s original intention (Genesis 3).

Depths of human wickedness may take various forms, “the line between good and evil is never between ‘us’ and ‘them’, the ‘poor’ and the ‘rich’ , the ‘criminal’ and the ‘saint’, or the ‘left’ and the ‘right’, but runs through the heart of every individual and every society”.

The most sensitive, the most moral and the most religious persons among us are not immune from the influence of evil. The apostle Paul acknowledges that though he “wants to do good”, evil continually to take over the best of his intentions (Romans 7:14-24). There is a constant battle for those who wish to do good, and we should never play down personal evil as if it were the problem of a few, while the rest of us are immune (Romans 3:23). There are simply no easy answers that effectively tackle the way of evil in our world.

The fact is (and we are all aware of it ): evil is not limited to the personal level: it has possessed the corporate world through greed, the political world through power and ambition, and the institutional church through preserving the appearances at the expense of people. It takes the form of social injustice that promotes racism, poverty and the marginalization of various groups.

Evil sometimes wears a suit, lives in luxurious apartments in the inner-city districts of Kungsholmen and Östermalm in Stockholm while driving their BMW, but it is also dominant in the high-rising apartment buildings in Tensta, Botkyrka or Rinkeby where new Swedes try to make themselves a living and home.

Evil can also hide behind a success driven, consumer friendly, image conscious, program based church that exists for its own sake. And, we ought not to be surprised because “even Satan can disguise himself as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14).

So what can we learn from the Bible about God’s way of addressing the problem of evil and shattering its horrible effects? Through Jesus, God’s justice takes on human flesh as Jesus came down to the earth and encounters the effects of evil with a holiness that produces cleansing, a power that breaks down the very strongholds of evil, and a Kingdom that provided a vision of an alternative way.

His presence exposed institutional corruption, and challenged the Roman Empire with an alternative Kingdom. The climatic exhibition of Jesus’ victory over personal, cosmic and global evil comes at the cross, when dark forces come together in personal betrayal and denial, institutional terrorism and threats, and political power-games and violence.

This is the way evil works in the world, and Jesus seems to be no match before these dark and accusing forces. But when taunted to use his powers for personal deliverance he refuses to play their power-games. When he is insulted and mocked, he refuses to allow tensions by hitting back in the same spirit. Instead, he answes their evil intentions with a real call for forgiveness, that has the potential of crushing evil’s deadly grip. Yes, in the darkness of the occasion even Jesus felt somehow abandoned by God – “My God, my God why have you forsaken me” Mark 15:34. In the end it was Jesus who was in control and calling the shots. Evil had taken its best shot, but even a Roman centurion had to admit, “Surely this man was the Son of God”.

Could it be that a sign of God, a sign of change has come down in the person Jesus Christ as he broke down the personal and corporate evil in our time and age?

I believe so and that’s the Way I see it!

John