No more Namby Pamby Christianity

• Too long have we been waiting for one another to begin! The time of waiting is past! The hour of God has struck! War is declared! In God's Holy Name let us arise and build! 'The God of Heaven, He will fight for us', as we for Him. We will not build on the sand, but on the bedrock of the sayings of Christ, and the gates and minions of hell shall not prevail against us. Should such men as we fear? Before the world, aye, before the sleepy, lukewarm, faithless, namby-pamby Christian world, we will dare to trust our God, we will venture our all for Him, we will live and we will die for Him, and we will do it with His joy unspeakable singing aloud in our hearts. We will a thousand times sooner die trusting only our God, than live trusting in man. And when we come to this position the battle is already won, and the end of the glorious campaign in sight. We will have the real Holiness of God, not the sickly stuff of talk and dainty words and pretty thoughts; we will have a Masculine Holiness, one of daring faith and works for Jesus Christ.

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Britain has no obligation to help Syrian refugees

WITH the French riot police standing near there is a palpable sense of tension in the air.

By: Leo McKinstry

Published: Mon, October 7, 2013

24Comments

On their way: Asylum seekers currently stuck in Calais are trying to come to this country [REUTERS]

Some of the protesters have gone on hunger strike; others have blocked a passenger walkway; a few threaten to kill themselves. This is the scene unfolding at the ferry terminal in Calais where a large group of Syrians are mounting a demonstration to demand entry to Britain as refugees.

Some might say that this protest shows the tragic impact of the civil war in Syria. But that is to draw entirely the wrong lesson. For what the Calais stand-off really shows is how Britain is viewed as a soft-touch right across the globe. Thanks to lax borders, the human rights industry, the state's obsession with multiculturalism and our obscenely generous welfare system, our country has become the world's capital for freeloaders. The group at Calais is a symbol, not of Syria's inhumanity but of Britain's utterly chaotic, self-destructive immigration policy. The protesters' demand for asylum could hardly be less convincing. If they were really just fleeing persecution they would have sought sanctuary anywhere outside Syria.

Indeed, under the laws of both the UN and the EU, refugees are not entitled to claim asylum except in the first safe country they reach. But these Syrians have travelled across Europe, through a host of stable nations, because they only want to come to Britain.

They are not interested in settling anywhere else. One admitted that he had gone through Jordan, Egypt, Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Italy before arriving at Calais. It shows how it is the lure of Britain that drives them. "Once there, we will be well treated and can bring our families too," says another.

Britain's reputation as an easy, subsidy-rich haven has been created through years of mismanagement and misguided ideology. The Syrian asylum seekers are absolutely right to think that once they make it to Britain they will never have to leave, no matter how bogus their claims.

The administration of the asylum system remains a shambles, with a backlog of more than 350,000 cases. The 1998 Human Rights Act has made it excessively difficult to deport illegal immigrants, even when they have committed serious crimes.

Nor are the Syrian protesters wrong to think that they will be supported by the British state on a scale far beyond anything that could be experienced in the Middle East.

In most European countries, welfare handouts are based on past contributions through taxes and insurance. But here social security is based largely on need so even foreigners who may have given nothing to our society are entitled to lavish claims. That is why our benefits system has become such a honeypot for parasites.

The idea that all immigrants come here to work is a myth cultivated by the Left. In fact, according to the latest figures, there are 407,000 foreign nationals here living on benefits, while more than 10 per cent of the entire social housing stock goes to foreigners.

Apart from money, the other great attraction for asylum seekers and other migrants is that there is no pressure on them to integrate into our society.

Thanks to the pernicious doctrine of multi-culturalism the impulse to uphold our British identity and heritage is treated as a form of racism. So new arrivals are encouraged to cling to the customs, superstition, and even language of their homeland, while developing their own enclaves in our urban areas.

Benefits system has become a honeypot

Much of this cultural baggage is deeply misogynistic, as we see in the current controversies over the Islamic veil, sharia law, female genital mutilation and forced marriages. But then misogyny is all too apparent in the hordes of asylum seekers that have continually gathered at Calais in recent years. Tough young men predominate, a complete inversion of the traditional civilised doctrine that, in any bid for safety, women and children should come first. If the persecution these men are fleeing is so terrible, why did they leave their wives and families behind?

It would be absurd to cave in to the emotive blackmail from the Syrian protesters. We have no responsibility towards them, just as we had no duty to become involved in their country's civil war. We should be neither the world's moral policeman nor its social worker. If we tolerated such a step it would only open us up to a new tidal wave of asylum claims at the very moment when we face a vast influx of migrants from Bulgaria and Romania.

Britain has always been renowned for tolerance.

But that open spirit has been grievously exploited in recent years leading to profound public disillusion with the process of asylum and immigration. The overwhelming majority of so-called "refugees" have turned out to be economic migrants with no right to be here. As a result, the very term "asylum-seeker" has been badly tarnished.

That despair has been exacerbated by an extraordinary catalogue of crimes perpetrated by asylum seekers, most notoriously in the killing of police officer Sharon Beshenivsky in 2005 by two Somalians. On a wider level police figures for 2011 show that one-fifth of all people charged with rape or murder were immigrants.

It is no wonder that there is a profound feeling of social dislocation in Britain. We should not add to it by opening our doors even more widely.

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Then, turning toward the man who had been the shepherd of his soul during his incarceration—the man who had been his confessor, his preacher, and the one from whose hand he had received the body and blood of Jesus in the Lord's Supper, he said, "I'll see you again." Then noosed, hooded in black, and legs tied, he dropped out of this world into another.

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I can illustrate the relationship between the theories with a cake. Christus Victor is the cake itself—the thing that Jesus was doing on the cross. Penal substitution supplies the ingredients, the flour and sugar. And moral influence and example are the frosting, the lingering sweetness of our great salvation. The cross assures us that we are loved, and it motivates us to love others as God has loved us.

Christus Victor explains why Jesus died, penal substitution explains how his death worked, and the double-sided moral influence and example theories explain what we should do in response.

WHAT I WISH I’D KNOWN ABOUT JESUS, PRAYER, MISSION, AND LOVING PEOPLE Judah Smith »

View the What I Wish I Had Known about ______ series

Judah Smith talks about timing his prayers, saving the world, and what he wishes he had known about Jesus, prayer, mission, and loving people. Pastor Judah is the exclusive live speaker at theResurgence Conference broadcast location in Bellevue, WA.

WHAT I WISH I’D KNOWN ABOUT JESUS

I wish I had known that Jesus is first, and Jesus is enough.

When I was a youth pastor, I remember talking with a lot of young men about issues they were going through. My stock answers to their problems were prayer, Bible reading, and sheer grit: “You’re struggling with purity issues? How much are you praying every day? Ok, pray twice that much, read your Bible—three times in the Old and two in the New—and I’ll see you next week.”

My intentions were good, but my advice missed the point. I thought that if I focused on righteousness and behavior, people would grow closer to Jesus. In reality, it’s when people grow closer to Jesus that true change happens.

We don’t expect good things because we are good—but because Jesus is good

Matthew 11:29–30 says, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” As I’ve come to know who Jesus is and what he has done for me, my focus has shifted from my sin to his grace and from my works to his perfect, finished work. Now I understand: Jesus is enough.

WHAT I WISH I’D KNOWN ABOUT PRAYER

I wish I would have known that prayer is about intimacy, not about impressing God.

I remember asking a new believer years ago how much he prayed every day. He looked at me blankly. “I don’t know—I’ve never timed it. Do you time your prayers?” It was an honest question, and I was embarrassed to realize I did time my prayers, and that that number was actually pretty important to me. For me, my prayer time represented my spirituality and therefore my right to expect good things from God.  

It’s when people grow closer to Jesus that true change happens

But I was wrong. We don’t expect good things because we are good. What a depressing, dead-end way to live! We expect good things from God because Jesus is good, and he is our righteousness.

One of my dad’s favorite passages was Matthew 7:11, and the longer I pastor (and the longer I parent my three kids) the more profound it becomes: “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”

WHAT I WISH I’D KNOWN ABOUT MISSION

I wish I had known that our mission as individuals and as a church isn’t complicated: it’s simply to show people who Jesus is. I love the simple way Philip tells Nathanael about Jesus (John 1:45–46). To paraphrase: “Hey Nathanael, we found the Messiah. Come and see for yourself!”

Our “mission” doesn’t have to be a ten-letter acronym, a three-part alliterated statement, or a doctrinal thesis. We just show people Jesus. It’s a privilege, it’s fun, and it’s way less pressure than carrying the weight of the world on our shoulders.

When Jesus looked at people, he didn’t see them through the filter of their sin

Don’t get me wrong—I’m not criticizing detailed mission statements or well-thought-out strategy. I believe God gives each church and ministry a specific calling and he reveals to us in detail what he wants us to accomplish.

But the bottom line is that our mission is more about Jesus than about us. I’m not smart enough to figure out how to save the world, my country, or even my city. The very idea is exhausting. But I can show people who Jesus is: one day at a time and one person at a time.

WHAT I WISH I’D KNOWN ABOUT LOVING PEOPLE

I wish I had known that it’s okay to love people even though they are still sinning. That sounds like a no-brainer, so let me explain.

I know I’m supposed to love everyone. I’m a Christian, and besides that I’m a pastor, so it’s pretty much in my job description. But in the past, especially when it came to people with blatant problems such as addictions or sexual sins, I felt like the relationships had to be filtered by their sin. I couldn’t enjoy their friendship or celebrate their successes without qualifying everything with, “Hey, that’s great and all, but you know, God wants you to change in this area.”

Our mission isn’t complicated: it’s simply to show people who Jesus is

But Jesus was actually famous for enjoying the company of sinners. Just look at the story of Zacchaeus in Luke 19. Jesus clearly cared more about this man’s salvation than about his sin. He wanted his heart first, not his behavior.

When Jesus looked at people, he didn’t see them through the filter of their sin. He saw them through the filter of his grace. He knew he was the answer for their sin, and that freed him to love them right where they were. Sooner or later their behavior would catch up to the relationship.

I know we need to help each other grow in Christ, and I know there are times to confront sin. But that is not our first priority. We are called to love like Jesus: an ongoing, unconditional, extravagant, and even scandalous love toward those who deserve it least.