Always Hope

Today, courtesy of the perennially marvellous Ship of Fools , Always Hope brings you the curious case of wecanknow.com and the Latter Rain. This seems so incredible that I can't decide whether it is really what it seems, or some kind of elaborate hoax, so judge for yourselves by looking at this website , or this one , where you will find everything you never knew (and probably didn't want to) about the imminent judgement day. Of course, confident predictions of the end of the world are nothing new - the Jehovah's witnesses have predicted it many times, with zero percent success so far, but usually the door is at least left ajar for the possibility that God may have alternative plans. "We Can Know", however, takes apocalyptic certainty to new levels. So many things about this are bizarre, that it's difficult to know where to start. What I find most perplexing, though, is that this comes out of the stable of "Bible-based" Christianity, that we know ov...

Today I want to clarify something I wrote yesterday. I firmly believe that, with God, there is always a future for the church. But I didn't say anything about the Church of England. I don't think God holds a brief for any particular denomination more than another. The letter to the Ephesian church in Revelation has something to say here - a church that was once thriving can have the candle taken away. The Church of England, that curious 16th century innovation, has proved satisfyingly durable. It has survived purges, political interference, nominalism, vigorous nonconformity, the excesses of establishment and theological malaise. Throughout all this, its survival has been a remarkable testimony to God's ability to revive his church from the ashes. Yet this cannot be taken for granted in perpetuity. Over the last few years big cracks have opened in the edifice. This in itself is nothing new, but at the same time, the foundations have been eroding fast. If it's true tha...

Today, as we celebrate the resurrection, a lot of people will have been slightly distracted by rumours of something which, if it is true, will cause a huge meltdown of already strained relationships within the church of England. It's at times like these that those of us who care about the church might be tempted to wonder why we bother. What possible future is there for the Christian presence in this country when this kind of thing is always coming back to haunt us? Yesterday I was at the ordination of Deacons in Truro Cathedral (which, I am happy to report, is safely shored up by scaffolding and showed no signs of falling down during the proceedings). The ordination service is always uplifting and moving, especially for the ordinands and their friends and families. But actually it's not about them. It's about the whole church, and the work of God. In particular the service celebrates the work of the Holy Spirit in calling people to serve Christ in his church. It rem...