After one of my radio broadcasts in the 1980's my phone rang.
I had been speaking on the "Many faces of Fear"
The lady who spoke wanted to see me. She told me that she had never been out of her house in five years. She said she was suffering from agoraphobia.
She finally agreed to meet me as long as she was swathed in a long cloak with a large hat to hide her face.
We won't go into the interview, sufficient to say she was one of the surging number of phobics that our society is discovering, on an almost daily basis.
Anachraphobia, xenophobia, claustrophobia, umbra phobia, homophobia the list is endless.
Without being over simplistic, the Gospel message is the cure for all things phobic.
One of the most oft repeated phrases of Christ is "Fear Not".
There happen to be 365 of them in the Bible. And by the way they are not suggestions; they are commands.
Pick one for every morning you get up. They will last you for the whole year.
What about the leap year?
Stay in the house with our agoraphobic friend.
Enjoy your day.
Ian
When I was growing up sinners were a breed quite common upon the earth. They inhabited major cities in their millions, they were found at every level of society and in every conceivable country on the planet.
Nowadays they are almost on the endangered species list.
It is increasingly hard to find to find a genuine specimen. Like the DoDo bird and the plains bison they are becoming extinct.
Taking their place we have a whole brave new race of seekers, time travellers, rolfers, channelers, emissaries of divine light, yogi flyers, pilgrims in space and innumerable others in planetary motion but no sinners.
The mission statement of Christ is given in one verse:
"I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance." Luke 5.
We have total confidence in the cure of Christ's immaculate crucifixion and of His precious redeeming blood for the chronic condition of sinners.
But oh if we could only find one to administer the remedy!
Ian
Not everything is to be found on the Johnson and Johnson shelf at the drug store.
There is no pill that can cure the sense of guilt that millions of people carry with them everyday.
Guilt for things done or not done; guilt for words spoken or unspoken; guilt for past failures and present situations.
Computed it comes to a level of self-accusation that needs nobody else to add to it.
I read of a prominent psychiatrist who said:
"Most of my clients wrestle daily with the voice of unforgiven guilt."
I have great news if you are one of those people.
It is a liberating verse in the book of Colossians which says:
"Jesus took the indictment and charges laid against us, nailed them to the cross and pronounced us acquitted."
Believe that today and you will get a good night's sleep without the help of Johnson and Johnson.
Ian
The problem with Medi-care, as has been pointed out in the latest hand-wringing over balancing the U.S. budget, is that the money is not there.
Not to worry folks, the cures of the Gospel are free.
The oil and the wine of the Good Samaritan did the trick on his patient (and he even paid the hospital bill).
To the lonely, Christ has given the most amazing promise:
"Lo I am with you even unto the end of the world"
The population of the earth passed 7 billion this week. In the midst of the crush, the endless "Twitter", Face-book, Emails, mobiles and the rest of the gizmos, people live lonely lives and, sadly, die alone.
For years, David Livingstone laboured for God in the heart of Africa, the only white man for a thousand miles.
He was found dead upon his knees. His Bible was open and underlined was the verse "Lo I am with you unto the end of the World."
In the margin Livingstone had penned:
'THE WORDS OF A GENTLEMAN'.
A promise that was good to the last breath ..... for him and for all of us.
Ian
