Bob Goudzwaard, a Dutch Christian economist, wrote a brilliant, short book Idols of our Time back in the 1980s. It really is a superb resource for any thinking Christian. He begins the book with these words: We live in a world possessed and we know it. When we focus upon the recent Read more
Let’s focus for a moment upon a key idea – ideology. Ideology is the way in which idolatry affects people today and this includes the soldiers and supporters of IS. The term ‘ideology’ was coined by French intellectuals just before the French Revolution. The word means far more than merely a Read more
A key text for understanding idolatry in the New Testament is a passage in the book of Romans. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator. Romans 1:25, NIV Here we should notice that idolatry does not merely refer Read more
In the light of the recent gruesome activities of the Islamic State (IS) it is timely to re-examine biblical teaching about idolatry and connect this to ideologies, secularism and IS. In this first post we will look at idolatry in the Old Testament. Idol worship is something which no follower Read more
Why is talking about faith often awkward and filled with clichés? Why do our conversations about faith rarely grip people and intrigue them? Mark Roques has spent his life tackling this issue and is convinced that our evangelism can be transformed if we ‘do an Apostle Paul’ and learn to understand and engage with Read more
Films seduce and indoctrinate us in the same way as soap operas, but there is greater variety and the opportunity to discern the difference between the real and unreal worlds. Consider this sequence of films: The films based on CS Lewis’s Narnia stories (2005 and ongoing), and The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-2003) Read more
Soap operas (soaps for short) are radio or television drama series following people’s daily lives. They were so named because they were first sponsored in the US in the 1930s by soap manufacturers. In the UK, of course, I mean Coronation Street, EastEnders, Emmerdale, Hollyoaks, Doctors, and the Australian-produced Neighbours and Home and Away. And of course the Read more
We live in an age when the Western world is dominated by secularist worldviews, secularist big stories. The dominant secularist big stories are those of materialism in both senses of that key word: that physical nature is all there is, and that enjoying material possessions is all that matters. However, Read more
Men pay upwards of £1000 to listen to the ‘wisdom’ and ‘insight’ of ‘pick-up’ artist Julien Blanc. His worldview boils down to this: objectify women and use them for your pleasure. Videos of Blanc preaching and ranting can be found online under the hashtag #ChokingGirlsAroundtheWorld. This is, of course, shocking but it is Read more
In my last blog I explored the impact of astrology upon the emperor Tiberius. Consider this contemporary story of a president who followed the stars! In 1981 the astrologer Joan Quigley made Nancy Reagan a believer in astrology by showing how astrological charts could have foretold and prevented the attempted Read more