Our man in Japan

He makes intercession for the saints.. Romans 8:27 So today is the feast of St Botolph, an abbot from way back, who died around 680 AD. He had a sweet & affable disposition, which is one of the reasons he is a saint & most of us are not. Why should you care? Well, where he lived is now a town named after him: Boston, in the very East of England (much further east & you're in the North Sea, The Wash to be precise). And of course the much larger & more famous Boston in America is named after the one in Lincolnshire, in England. The reason I care about St Bo is that my parish church in Heene, West Sussex, where I lived until 1999 is named after him. Rather a nice church with really great music. 

To be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life & peace. Romans 8:6 Ms Brittney Griner was a very successful lesbian basketball player who is currently incarcerated in Russia on drugs charges. I feel sorry for her. If she did take drugs with her into the country it was very foolish, but I hope she can go home soon. Hopefully this can be a time of spiritual growth for her. But she isn't looking well in the photos in the news today- I hope there is someone there who can speak English, otherwise I am concerned about her mental health. 😔 I hope Russian Christians who work in or live near the prison can reach out to her. It is hard enough to live in a country without speaking the language: to be imprisoned somewhere without the ability to communicate is a fate I wouldn't wish on anyone, but of course hell is worse than the worst Russian prison. 

They do not know the voice of strangers.. John 10:5 Feminism is a vague ideology that is often self-contradictory. Many women who have absorbed feminist ideas cannot always tell you quite where they originated. One thing we do know is that the racist & eugenicist Margaret Sanger founded "Planned Parenthood", the leading abortion organization in America. Be sure that if feminists who do know a little about her weren't embarrassed by her you'd hear her name more often. 

Is the Law sin? Certainly not! Romans 7:7 Foolish people including Boris Johnson seem to think the new abortion ruling in the US is a 'step backwards'. They forget that God Himself in the Bible commands us not to kill as part of Old Testament Law. (Exodus 20:13) In fact, the only problem with the new law is it doesn't go far enough and allows states like New York to continue to kill infants just before birth. 

Do not be alarmed.. Mark 16:6 So much anxiety & anger on the left just now. At the end of the day, if you root your morality in relative social approval rather than in objective good, you will be disappointed. 

By the law is the knowledge of sin.. Romans 3:20 Wonderful news from America. Finally babies are getting justice. There was never a right to kill them- Roe was legal fiction. Hopefully Britain & Japan will follow suit. This is 2022. One day abortion will seem as barbaric as slavery. I support any Japanese political party that seeks to end abortion on demand in this country. 

Tend my sheep.. John 21:16 Most of us don't know much about sheep these days. Here in Japan you rarely see one, & in big cities in England the situation isn't much different. But I'm a Sussex lad. Outside the town of Worthing where I went to High school, are green hills full of sheep. Sheep is a common insult these days, thrown at anyone seen as too trusting of an authority figure, whether it be the media, a political party or the Church itself. So what did Jesus mean by it? Here, He not using it as an insult. Rather, He is encouraging St Peter to focus on caring in a pastoral way for the early Church. Which Peter does. Catholics believe the Pope is the direct successor to St Peter. Those of us in other Protestant or Orthodox churches may not be quite so trusting of Papal authority, but we still see Jesus as the Good Shepherd. Basically, my position is, if you think you aren't a sheep, and the Church are the bad guys, you are probably in Satan's pen, & he is...

Thieves & robbers.. John 10:8 The British yoga industry is worth £900 million. It is also racist, according to The Guardian. Steer clear is my advice. 

[Jesus] was raised because of our justification.. Romans 4:25 Romans is mostly a carefully thought out theological argument, so it is best to read it in its entirety. But here we have a key word & concept you really need to grasp to understand Christianity: justification. Now in ordinary English speech, to justify (from Latin justificare, do justice to) means "to show or prove to be right". (Oxford) For example, the Labour left clearly feel this rail strike is justified, & came out to support it yesterday.  However, in theology, the meaning is more technical: to justify is "to declare or make righteous in the sight of God". Some modern translations do without the word: my Catholic Bible has Romans 4:25 as "raised to life for us to receive true righteousness". The Protestant NLT has "raised to life to make us right with God". This is the central core of what Christianity is all about, & in a world of terrible bad news just about every ...

Faith which our father Abraham had.. Romans 4:12 Muslims, Jews, & Christians all respect the Patriarch Abraham, whose true story is in Genesis. Buddhists & Hindus are connected by a shared belief in reincarnation, which is mere superstition. The belief in karma may seem harmless but actually the effects on society of karmic belief are insidious. Western Christian societies are more meritocratic whilst entrenched elites rule India & Japan. Priti Patel & Rishi Sunak, of Indian background, have made it by their own efforts into the elite of British society. I don't see outsiders having quite the same opportunities in Japan or India.

They have practiced deceit.. Romans 3:13 Finally some good news. Trans men are banned from women's swimming, thank God. 

Jesus came & spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to me in Heaven & on earth.." Matthew 28:18 In the Meiji era, a very shrewd but ultimately very foolish Japanese said to himself: let's get all of this Christian technology but none of this Christian theology. And even today atheists will claim without any evidence that a man's beliefs have nothing to do with his scientific work. They have to say that because there are 99 atheist scientists who have done nothing quite as important as the Christian one who founded genetics, for example. Atheists & Buddhists want nothing to do with the authority Jesus has. They deny His authority in fact. Does denying something make it go away? 🤔 In fact there are some places on earth where it seems easy to ignore Christ's authority. Japan is one of them. Why is this? Because the Buddhists killed or tortured all the Christians about 500 years ago. Otherwise Japan would be majority Christian by now, like m...

Beloved of God, called to be saints.. Romans 1:7 Most churches emphasize one or the other. Liberal inclusive churches emphasize that we are beloved of God. This is true. God is the Father of us all & He loves us deeply. Conservative or traditional churches emphasize the call. We are not called to stay as we are, sinful & prideful. We are called to be saints. Spiritual growth is required. Just as a Father loves his child but will not accept second best, in a very similar way, God loves us. Most of us struggle to get a balance here. Some of us have a deep sense of entitlement & do not fear God at all. Some fear God too much & are paralyzed by it. We need to ask for a healthy sense of belovedness & the call to sainthood. 

Praise is not from men but from God.. Romans 2:29 I see a Zen priest has just won a fiction award. I always said Buddhism was fiction! 

The righteous judgment of God.. Romans 2:5 No one can escape God's righteous wrath except those who rely on His wonderful mercy through our Saviour, Jesus Christ, who died to save us from our sins. May God have mercy on us all.  The Orthodox pray: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner."  This is a good place to start. Don't wait until it is too late! 

Men with men committing what is shameful.. Romans 1:27 God doesn't support pride month, so neither should Christians or anyone else. All of this promotion of perversity is quite simply satanic. 

I am a debtor both to Greeks & barbarians, to the wise & the unwise.. St Paul to the Romans 1:14 When was the high point of civilization? Is it now, as some "progressives" might argue? It's true in 2022 in many technical fields we may be at the cutting edge, still. But my specialty is literature. I can assure you that in the humanities, progress has been mixed at best for some time. Take modernism, for example. Is Joyce (died 1941) really better than Tolstoy (died 1910)? Some Irish Professors at Trinity College may argue the case for Finnegan's Wake, but I would venture to suggest the general public made their mind up a while back: I suspect the number of movies & TV dramas based on Tolstoy's War & Peace, say, far outweighs those based on Wake, as do sales, probably. And even if you have a copy of Wake, did you actually finish it? Did you finish Pound's (died 1972) Cantos? Obscurity is not bad in itself, but clearly to affect the zeitgeist one ...

Speaking to one another in psalms.. Ephesians 5:19 The Book of Psalms is a great book, one of my favourite books of the Old Testament, one which Christians rely on. My dad, who wasn't particularly religious for most of his life, found comfort in the Psalms when mum died. I myself credit the book for helping me get off anti depressants. Whatever your issues are, the Psalms can help. Try it & see! 

For fear of the Jews.. John 20:19 Fear of difference is at the heart of much conflict. The disciples here are not behaving in an unreasonable way. The Jewish establishment has already killed Jesus. Yet if we see things from a merely rational point of view, we miss what God is doing through His Holy Spirit. The girls stood behind me at the level crossing today were saying "ヤバイ，ヤバイ"  which is one of those Japanese words which has so many meanings it is not easy to translate: it can mean dangerous, awful, cool or crazy depending on context. If they were talking about jumping the gates risking a train, then yes, too dangerous to be sensible, though many people think they can beat the warning system. If however they were talking about me as that crazy dangerous white man, I find it amusing that they thought they could say that stuff without me knowing. But also I find it deeply sad that young kids have been sufficiently brainwashed by their parents, teachers, peers, the media ...

We went towards Rome.. Acts 28:14 Have you visited Italy? You really should if you get the chance! I loved it, & would love to go again.

They let go the anchors.. Acts 27:40 The anchors that have held Christian civilization steady for centuries are being cut loose. In Norway, the war of words between "TERF" feminists & trans activists has gotten so bad, a feminist is now facing prison for openly stating men cannot be mothers. This is common sense. Why are we suggesting prison as a remedy for common sense? 

I am gentle.. St Matthew 11:29 The pro abortion feminist left are resorting to terrorism to achieve their political ends. Christian pregnancy centers serving women in need in America are being fire bombed and vandalized, & yesterday a man with a gun was arrested outside a Supreme Court Judge's family home; the gunman confessed to planning an assassination. Clearly this diabolical violence needs to stop. 

The assembly was divided.. Acts 23:7 Boris is facing problems with both the left & right of the Tory party. I don't criticise him for trying to help the north. What I have a problem with is schools where teachers join in with the bullying of students who criticise the trans movement. Boris has put in as Education Secretary a man who doesn't support the trans extremists, but more needs to be done to protect kids from trans brainwashing. 

He who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.. Luke 7:28 Boris survives again. Kier is worse. Meanwhile, I'm sick of Russia being on the news everyday while this gets a free pass:

The will of the Lord be done. Acts 21:14 WALES ARE THROUGH TO THE WORLD CUP FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 64 YEARS! 

He was raised from the dead. John 21:14 The Muslims are quite simply wrong about Jesus. 

The Lord is near: do not be anxious about anything. In everything resort to prayer.. Philippians 4:5-6 Boris read this lesson at St Paul's yesterday. I hope he found it helpful, he has a tough job. 

Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary.. Luke 1:41 Unlike most of Her subjects, the Queen cannot convert to Catholicism without losing her job. So it does make me wonder: is she missing the Thanksgiving service today at St Pauls in her honour due to ill heath, (the stated reason) or is she skipping it because a particularly woke person is preaching? Or maybe she feels attending it in her place will do Charles good? 

He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven demons.. Mark 16:9 I feel sorry for Amber. The jury found her guilty of defamation. I hope she finds her way back to God. This is not to say I dislike Mr Depp. I don't. It seems they both have their demons. 

Come to me, all you who labour & are heavy laden, & I will give you rest. St Matthew 11:28 So last night I was watching this 77 year old Japanese dude on TV climb his fruit trees to harvest fruit. This does not seem like a decent retirement plan. On the one hand, we could be thankful that God has given him the great health that enables him to perform these impressive feats. Credit to the man too for probably avoiding many excesses that kill younger folk. On the other, it does show just how desperate things are in rural Japan. This was a tiny island south of Honshu. The population ages, & the youth have mostly gone to Tokyo. Rural Japan is still deeply Shinto, more than the secularised urban centres, so I can't help but feel they have partly brought this upon themselves. With food security becoming an issue, even here in suburbia I watch as over the last 20 years fields disappear to become car parks or light industry. This is not sustainable in the long term. Do I need t...