PERVERSE AND BEYOND LAWLESS

In the last Letter from London we focussed on the subject of lawlessness and how lawless this world is today. It is probably true to say that it is beyond being lawless! In fact the Oxford dictionary defines lawless as being “without law.” Every nation in the western world, and by western world we include nations like Australia and New Zealand have a system of law. That system is largely based upon the ten commandments which God specifically gave to Moses to be used as the basic system of law for the people of the 12 tribes, or nations, which generated from Jacob, or Israel as he was renamed by God. People who, with one or two exceptions, became the western nations we have today. By extension the commandments were to become the basic system of law for the entire world, which has happened, but perhaps to a lesser degree in some nations. Although it is probably true to say that there is not a single nation without an apparent system of law. But there are some rogue nations where the power is held by the most ruthless individual and has most of the weapons.

Law in the western nations is held to be essential to the proper ordering of society. Practising law is a major industry today and so is the teaching of it. Most universities have a law faculty with an attached school or college of law. Many books have been written on the law and it consequently has gained a complexity which was never intended originally. So now we have a major profession dedicated to the practise of law, its explanation, the application of it in a thousand and one different ways and totally beyond the ability of the average individual to ever explain or understand. One would suppose we would, as a result, have a very law-abiding society. In fact, crime must, in the world today, be at an all-time high! One wonders which came first, the huge increase in crime or the legal complexities! For years in the western world it has been accepted that, so often, the decision goes to the individual who can afford the best lawyers, regardless of the rights or wrongs!

In Britain over the last few months there has been the scandal concerning the expense accounts of a large number of members of Parliament and, at the moment, two members of the House of Lords, the upper chamber, are subject to police enquiry regarding their accounts. For many years it would have been unthinkable that any member of parliament, whether the Commons or the Lords and especially not the Lords, would behave in such an illegal and unethical manner. Don’t people know what they are doing? Yes, they do! They just don’t believe they would be found out! A number of people have found out to their dismay that they can be! In the end everything that people do is going to be known. Jesus Christ in the gospel of Luke chapter 8 and verse 17 said “For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither anything hid, that shall not be known and come abroad.”

This is repeated a number of times throughout the bible. People just don’t seem to understand that the words of God the Father, Jesus Christ and the apostles, recorded and made available to us, do mean us! It’s not speaking of someone living on another planet, who doesn’t exist anyway! The bible has a lot to say about mankind, especially those who, as the apostle Paul said in 1Thessalonians chapter 4, “are alive and remain to the coming of the Lord…” That’s all of us living today in this 21st century. A lot of the bible is directed to all of mankind throughout the centuries, but a great deal specifically to those of our generation, to us living in this present world. In Matthew 17 Jesus Christ called the people then a “perverse generation” - Paul is even more direct and refers to Israel at that time as a “crooked and perverse nation” How much more accurate is it a description of our world today. Especially is it true of today’s Britain.

The bible uses the term “perverse” a number of times when speaking of the world and of people. In Proverbs 28 it says that it is better to be poor and upright than rich and perverse. Might almost be speaking of the British Houses of Parliament! Another place in Proverbs, in fact it is chapter 4, says that we should put perverse lips far from us. A number of other passages also refer to a perverse and crooked generation. What is it to be “perverse?” The dictionary has an excellent definition! It says this: “Turned away from what is right;

obstinate or persistent in what is wrong, self-willed or stubborn (in error) Disposed to be obstinately contrary to what is true or good or to go counter to what is reasonable or required.”

So we who live in the western world, and especially the United States and Britain, are we, or are we not, perverse nations? Our two nations have led the world in the dissemination of the knowledge of Jesus Christ, the word of God the bible, and all that that entails. It is these two nations which established Bible Societies which were, and still are, dedicated to making the word of God available in every part of the world and in every language whether widely spoken or not! Britain led the world in translations of the scriptures with the King James translation one of the most widely used versions in the world today.

Missionaries went out from the British Isles to all parts of the world to take the word of God to the inhabitants of the whole planet. They endeavoured to stop practices which were contrary to that word and pagan in both origin and in fact. Practices such as suttee which involved a Hindu woman immolating herself upon the funeral pyre of her dead husband.

Just before the missionaries began to travel worldwide, the industrial revolution was taking place in Britain. With its products being exported everywhere across the planet and the missionaries right behind. The Indian sub continent with a railway system designed and built by Britain reaching every part of India. A system which operates still today. British industry and military power reached into every part of the planet. The desire, intent and enthusiasm could not be faulted, however Britain was, and still is, a perverse nation. We, who took the word of God to the world, who, ostensibly, tried to rid the world of paganism, succeeded only in foisting a different paganism upon the planet. A paganism which is with us yet today, in which we are joined by the United States.

Perversely, we, together with America, who know better, have constructed an entirely different religion and have taken that to the entire world instead. We have perversely turned away from what is right and true and we have gone contrary to what we know is true . We have turned from the truth of God’s word which would reveal the reason for the planet, the creation of life and the future of mankind and have embraced all kinds of pagan beliefs and given them an aura of Christianity when there is nothing Christian about them at all. Nowhere in the bible do you find a mention of Easter, apart from one mistranslation in Acts chapter 12, just one verse earlier it refers to the Days of Unleavened Bread. The word perversely translated Easter should in fact read Passover and in a number of translations this is correctly rendered.

A whole system of holy days of pagan origin was imposed upon professing Christianity, holy days which have no biblical support, and which have no meaning for the world. Some have said that it’s fine to celebrate Christmas as it is Christ’s birthday! But the bible says “… better the day of death than the day of one’s birth.” When a person is born they have, at that point, achieved nothing; but at the point of their death people can hopefully look at a lifetime of achievement that can be celebrated and remember them for what they achieved. There is also the point that Jesus Christ was born nowhere near the end of the year. If the bible account is read honestly and with a desire for truth instead of fables, this fact can be easily seen. First of all at the time of Christ’s birth the shepherds were still in the fields looking after their flocks through the night. If it was winter, at the time of Christmas, this would not be the case. The sheep would have all been brought in.

Then there is the fact that Caesar Augustus instituted a taxation of the citizens. This would have been in early autumn just after the harvest to maximise the income from the taxes. It would explain why so many people were staying at the inn that there was no more room and so, Joseph and Mary were given space in the area where sheep were housed. A little book I have in my library is called “4,000 years of Christmas” It was written by Professor of Anthropology Earl W. Count who shows conclusively the pagan origins of Christmas. He writes this: “When was Jesus born? No one knows. December 25th is no more the historical date of his birth than is any other.” He continues: “It happened that the date did fall in the midst of the Saturnalia. …. “the birthday of Christ ran the danger of being swallowed up in a pagan merry-making. The (Church) Fathers tried strenuously to keep Christmas strictly a churchly celebration. It was part of their unremitting struggle to break the grip of the pagan gods upon the people. ….” He then shows us how the pagan Romans became (apparent) “Christians” – but the Saturnalia remained.”

The religious leaders knew what was happening but perversely allowed the professing Christian church to be completely corrupted and accepted a whole system of days from pagan religions to replace holy days God had instituted which in their succession show the totality and completeness of God’s plan. Will you obey God and keep the days He gave us, days which have meaning. Proverbs chapter 28 verse 6 “Better is the poor that walks in his uprightness, than he that is perverse in his ways, though he be rich.” Today, professing Christianity does not obey God’s word but follows fables. Isaiah in chapter 8 says to us all “If they speak not according to this word it is because there is no light in them.” No wonder we live in such a darkened world