Preaching with a purpose

This morning whilst shopping I saw Quakers in a silent vigil declaring on posters that what happened to Hiroshima and Nagasaki seventy years ago must never happen again.   Whilst applauding the sentiment I realize that this is a gesture that is likely to fall on deaf ears.   For the heart of man “ is desperately wicked.” We tend to remember Hitler but forget Pol Pot.   We deplore the African slave trade of the nineteenth century, but forget people are in slavery making our clothes. If we look full on at the world we see evil on every hand and in order to cope with this reality we put on blinkers and hide in denial. How often do we hear, “This must never happen again.   I wouldn’t want anyone to go through this?”   But until man turns back to God in repentance we will hear this phrase over and over again.

A couple of nights’ ago I watched a programme on T.V. about the terracotta army discovered some time ago in China.   Each soldier is amazing and individually crafted.   One man was measuring their ears to see how unique each one is, just as if they were portraits of different people, and I guess that is so.   They were buried with weapons which proved to be excellent and accurate.   The commentator said they were, “well ahead of their time.” Often when speaking of “primitive” peoples there is amazement at their technology.   We do not know how Stonehenge could possibly have been positioned as it is.   We marvel at the precision of the pyramids.   Why is it that we are amazed at these things?   If we read our Bibles we see that Adam and Eve were created perfect and this would have included their intellect.   They were far more clever than anyone on earth today and it was only after the fall when they rebelled against God that e...