Won’t Get Fooled Again

 

The Chapel I attended as a teenager in Rhiwderin near Newport, South Wales boasted a rather fascinating member of the congregation. His name was Bert Entwistle. Bert had a wonderful baritone voice and sang in local choirs. But that wasn’t the thing that made him such an intriguing figure to my teenage friends and me. It was his son we were especially interested in. For John Entwistle was bass guitar player with The Who. Bert kindly arranged for us to have a signed photo of the bassist. The band have just announced their farewell tour, some sixty years since forming in the mid-1960s. Although only singer Roger Daltrey and guitarist Pete Townsend are still in the land of the living.

One of The Who’s best known songs is ‘Won't Get Fooled Again’, released in 1971. The air was full of revolution in the previous decade. Young people were busy throwing off the old order of deference and restraint. They demanded a less inhibited and more equal society. ‘Free love’ and all that. The heady idealism of that time had begun to peter out in 70s. In ‘Wont Won't Get Fooled Again’, Daltrey belts out Townsend’s disillusioned commentary, ‘Things look just the same, and history ain’t changed’. At the climax of the song he roars, ‘Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.’

That’s the trouble with revolutions. The old order may be overthrown, but the new lot aren’t necessarily a whole lot better. Which is the basic lesson of George Orwell’s novels Animal Farm and 1984. Orwell had Soviet Russia firmly in his sights. The October Revolution may have got rid of the Tsar’s corrupt regime, but you’d hardly call Stalin’s Russia a bastion of justice, equality and freedom. Similarly with the so-called ‘Woke Revolution’. The intention may have been good, to champion the cause of the oppressed and marginalised. But once the Woke Revolutionaries gained cultural power and influence, they soon became dab hands at doing a bit of oppressing themselves.  In a now notorious case, Kathleen Stock was hounded out of her professorship at the University of Sussex for daring to insist that being a woman has something to do with biology. 

Well, earlier this year the Supreme Court ruled that for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010 the terms ‘man’ and ‘woman’ refer to biological sex, not gender identity. Even senior politicians who seemed a tad confused about the details of male and female anatomy now accept this common-sense judgement.

But why is it that even the most idealistic people who believe they are on the ‘right side of history’ often end up acting in a pretty brutal way? Former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg put his finger on it when commenting on why the internet seems to spew out so much fake news and other vile stuff, “This is the awful truth: we like misinformation, we like lurid headlines, we like gossip, we like mischief, we like people saying critical things of each other.” Clegg added, “We are not nice. Human beings are not always nice and never ever have been.” What Clegg calls “not nice” the Bible calls “sin”. That is our wilful tendency to defy God and do damage to others.

That’s why revolutions fail, and the new bosses soon become as bad as the old ones they removed. Accepting the Bible’s realistic account of human nature will help ensure we won’t get fooled again by people who promise sweeping change. The problem of sin is one what we cannot resolve on our own. That is why God sent his Son Jesus into our broken world. He came to rescue us from sin by dying upon the cross in our place and being raised from the dead. By faith in Jesus we can be forgiven and receive power to live a new life. The 'Christian Revolution' is based not on human efforts to remodel the world, but the life-transforming grace of God: "if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." (2 Corinthians 5:17) 

Baptised with Heavenly Power, Philip H. Eveson

Baptised  with Heavenly Power:

The Holy Spirit in the Teaching and Experience

of D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

by Philip H. Eveson

Mentor/Christian Focus, 2025, 421pp

Last November my wife and I visited Cardiff to watch the Wales v South Africa rugby match at the Principality Stadium. It was raining quite heavily that day, so we decided to do a bit of window shopping before the game. We wandered around various departments in the John Lewis store and then headed into St. David's centre, which was thronged with Christmas shoppers. Sarah spotted some familiar faces in the crowd. It was Philip and Jenny Eveson accompanied by one of their grandchildren. 

I first became acquainted with the author and his wife when I was a student what was then the London Theological Seminary (now simply London Seminary), from 1988-90. Mr Eveson was not only Resident Tutor at the seminary at the time, he was also pastor of Kensit Evangelical Church, of which I became a member. The seminary was founded by D.  Martyn Lloyd-Jones in 1977. His influence still loomed large when I studied there. 

We stopped to chat and Philip mentioned he had written a book that was being prepared for publication. This book. He was kind enough to have a review copy sent to me. The author was personally acquainted with Lloyd-Jones and had heard him preach on numerous occasions. I hadn't even heard of the famous preacher until after I was converted (circa 1984), and by then he had died (1981). However, I came across some his books as a young believer and read them avidly. As I recall the first Lloyd-Jones title I read was Prove All Things, followed by Joy Unspeakable. As I was beginning to feel the first stirrings of a call to pastoral ministry a lay-pastor friend lent me a copy of Preaching and Preachers. 

By the time I arrived at seminary I had read most of Lloyd-Jones's multi-volume expositions of Romans and Ephesians. Although it wasn't until later that the final volumes in the Romans series were published. What impressed me about Lloyd-Jones's writings was his strong emphasis on biblical doctrine, wedded to a deeply experiential thrust. He defined preaching as 'theology on fire', which sounded good to me. It wasn't until I arrived at the seminary that I discovered that Lloyd-Jones's teaching on the work of the Holy Spirit was the cause of some controversy. Influential leaders such as John Stott, Donald Macleod and Peter Masters were quite critical of some of Lloyd-Jones's writings. Some detractors even accused him of being a 'crypto-Pentecostal', or 'Reformed-Charismatic'. 

It seems that there are still some misgivings about aspects of Lloyd-Jones's teaching on the work of the Holy Spirit. Eveson writes in part to correct these misapprehensions, but he goes beyond answering critics to offer a constructive account of what Lloyd-Jones had to say on key elements of the Spirit's work. He does this in the opening chapters by locating the preacher in the context of the Reformed tradition, especially that of the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists of the Evangelical Revival. As the label suggests leaders such as Daniel Rowland and William Williams were solidly Reformed in their doctrine, but they had also experienced an outpouring of the Spirit that enabled them to preach with great power. They urged their converts to seek full assurance of salvation through the witness of the Spirit. 

It wasn't unusual for an older generation of Reformed writers to understand New Testament terms such as 'baptism with the Holy Spirit' or 'sealing of the Spirit' to denote a special empowering of the Spirit to give boldness in preaching and assurance of salvation. Lloyd-Jones drew upon this aspect of the tradition in articulating his views. In fact, his exposition of the sealing of the Spirit in Ephesians 1:13 and the witness of the Spirit in Romans 8:15-16 draws heavily on the work of the Puritan Thomas Goodwin. 

Eveson gives close attention to Lloyd-Jones's handling of the biblical materials on the person and work of the Holy Spirit. Chapters are devoted to the baptism, sealing and filling of the Holy Spirit. The writer interacts with critics of Lloyd-Jones's views. He is honest enough to point out that the preacher didn't always express himself consistently. In some sermons Pentecost is seen as the 'birthday of the church' that constituted her the one body of Christ, in others he distances himself from that position. Whatever may be thought of some of the details of Lloyd-Jones's expositions, it seems evident that the New Testament holds out the promise that since Pentecost a greater fullness of the Spirit may be sought and experienced by believers. Preachers are in need of the Spirit's empowering presence in their ministries. Believers may be filled with the Spirit, granting them assurance of salvation and inexpressible joy in the Lord.  

There has been a widespread recovery of expository preaching in Evangelical Churches in the United Kingdom. That is welcome, of course, but in practice what passes for 'expository preaching' can on occasion be reduced to an explanation of the meaning of a Bible passage, with a few words of application thrown in. A sermon may even be nicely structured and well-illustrated, but the element of 'theology on fire' may be conspicuous by its absence. Eveson provides a helpful corrective to this tendency in a number of chapters devoted to Lloyd-Jones's teaching on the relationship between word and Spirit in preaching. 

Preachers must proclaim the truth of Scripture faithfully and accurately, but they also need to  experience something of the wonder of that truth in their own hearts and lives. Eveson draws upon Lloyd-Jones's testimony to his own spiritual trials and experiences of God to help explain what made his preaching ministry so compelling. While it is true that the Spirit is always at work whenever the word of God is proclaimed, the Spirit's power may be more or less evident, both upon the preacher and also in the lives of those who hear the truth. Having only just been filled with the Sprit at Pentecost, the early church prayed that the Lord would 'grant your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness' (Acts 4:29). The Lord answered their prayers by filling the people afresh with the Holy Spirit (Acts 4:31). The contemporary church urgently needs a fresh outpouring of the Spirit in all his fulness and Christ-exalting power. That is what will make the 'Quiet Revival' we are hearing so much about a 'Great Awakening'. 

Well, it was good to renew fellowship with the Evesons that rainy afternoon in Cardiff. I'm grateful for the review copy of Baptised with Heavenly Power. It's a powerful reminder of some vital truths. For my summer project at the seminary I wrote a essay on 'The Sealing of the Spirit'. I drew upon the writings of D. Martyn-Lloyd Jones, Thomas Goodwin and others in seeking to understand the meaning of Paul's words in Ephesians 1:13. Graham Harrison, lecturer in Christian Doctrine at the seminary oversaw my project. In his remarks on the essay, Harrison commented, 'Remember, there is always more with God'. That, in essence, is the burden of this book.

Read the world’s bestselling book

The Times newspaper recently published an in-depth survey of the attitudes and opinions of ‘Generation Z’, people born between 1997 and 2013. Interestingly, the younger generation seems to be more attuned to the spiritual side of life. According to The Times, “62 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds identified as either ‘very’ or ‘fairly’ spiritual.”

Allied to this is a new interest in the Bible among GenZers. Publishers report that between 2019-24 there was an 87 per cent increase in Bible sales. People are evidently searching for a something that will make sense of their lives and give them hope.

So, what's the Bible all about? First and foremost it's a book about God. According to the Good Book, he's a God of sovereign purpose, boundless love, awesome power and spotless purity. The one true and living God eternally exists in three glorious Persons - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The Bible teaches that human beings are made in the image of God. But sin has ruined our relationship with God. We are made for him and nothing less than knowing God can satisfy the human heart. The Son of God, Jesus Christ became man in order to die on the cross that we might be put right with God.

But Jesus did not stay dead. God raised him from the grave and exalted him to heaven. In Jesus Christ, God offers us a relationship with himself that is real and satisfying by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Bible says that one day we will all have to give an account to God for the way we have lived our lives. Jesus died in our place of so that we might not be condemned but have everlasting life.

According to Guinness World Records, the best-selling book of all time is the Christian Bible. The 'Good Book' has something to say to people of all generations. Why not give it a read yourself? A wide variety of English translations are available for free on BibleGateway.com, or you can get a hard copy in most bookshops. The Gospel According to John in the New Testament would be a good place to start. Attending a church where the Bible is explained and applied will also help you get to grips with the message of God's Word. 

* For various local magazines 

Artificial Intelligence

My wife, our grown-up children and I once discussed which of us would soon find ourselves out of work due to the advance of Artificial Intelligence. As a pastor I was pretty confident that no AI-enabled robot could do my job. My son promptly asked ChatGPT to write a Baptist style sermon on a passage from Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians. It completed the task in seconds. The sermon took the form of a typical Baptist message and helpfully explained the text. Would have taken me hours to do that. No, I haven’t been tempted to take AI shortcuts in my sermon prep. Honest.

Apparently, many Uni students don’t have such qualms. ChatGPT and other AI platforms are being used to write essays to save budding scholars the bother. Lecturers complain that the attention span of today’s students has been addled by their use of social media. They have difficulty reading the requisite number of books and then deploy AI to write essays on A Tale of Two Cities, or whatever. The trouble is that that AI platforms sometimes make mistakes. No less a journal than the Chicago Sun-Times recently published an AI-authored summer reading list for 2025. The list helpfully included a brief blurb for each title recommended. However, alert readers quickly pointed out that some of the books were fake. Rather embarrassing for the paper.

 AI no doubt has its uses, but it can’t be left to get on with things without our involvement. Just ask the red-faced editor of the Chicago Sun-Times. There is no substitute for human ingenuity in the arts, science, and literature. We cannot delegate ethical decisions to algorithms. Besides, we will always need the human touch. Have you ever tried to sort out a customer service problem using an AI Chat facility? ‘Artificial’, certainly. ‘Intelligence’, not so much. Even exchanges with other people using texts, email, or social media can’t replicate face-to-face communication.

One of the most profound statements in the Bible is found in the opening chapter of the Gospel of John, ‘And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us’. Christians believe that in Jesus God entered our world to speak to us in person. We can read his words as recorded in the Gospel accounts of the New Testament. Jesus did more than speak to us about the love of God. He came to show us God’s love for humanity by laying down his life for our sins upon the cross. The risen Jesus in present in the lives of his people by the power of the Holy Spirit. When the Lord returns his people will see his face and share his glory.

Flaws and glitches notwithstanding, Artificial Intelligence may be able to do things that put our capabilities in the shade. But the most sophisticated computer has nothing on human beings, whom God created in his own image. Like all technological revolutions AI brings with it opportunities as well as threats. Some jobs may well be lost, but new ones will no doubt be developed. Reassuringly, members of my congregation didn't seem too enamoured at the prospect of me being replaced by a cyber-pastor. 

*For various local magazines 

On Time

 

Relax if you are given to tardiness. This isn’t a piece on the importance of punctuality. Rather, I want to reflect on our relationship to time itself. Although it has to be said that time isn’t an easy thing to define. Early Christian thinker Augustine of Hippo puzzled over the question ‘What is time?’ saying,  ‘If no one asks me, I know what it is. If I wish to explain it to him who asks me, I do not know.’ All he could say is that some events lie behind us in the past and some lie ahead of us in the future. If nothing at all existed there would be no present.

 Augustine proposed that God did not make the universe in time, but with time. God is eternal, existing outside of time. He didn’t wait around for ages before creating the world. The clock only started ticking as it were at the beginning of creation. Modern cosmology tends to agree on that point. Anyway, the thing is that we exist in time. Our lives are constantly moving from the past, through the present and into the future.

The trouble is that these days people only seem interested in the present. The past isn’t worth thinking about. People did bad stuff back then. Slavery and that. The future will have to look after itself. In 2010 Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg dismissed the idea of building more nuclear power stations as they wouldn’t be good to go for another ten years. I mean, who cares what happens in the 2020s? Maybe it’s apt that after a career in politics Clegg went to work for Facebook/Meta.

Social media tends to make us focus on the present moment, rather than the past or the future. What’s going on now captivates out attention, no matter how trivial. This is an age of momentary celebrity and throwaway fashion. Why bother with the time-consuming process of saving for major purchases? Much easier to take out instant credit to buy on a whim something that flashed before our eyes in an online ad.

There’s no escaping time, however. We are all products of our past experiences. What we decide in the present will impact on how we fare in the future. But our history need not be our destiny. God entered our world of time and space in his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He came to die on the cross that our past sins and failings may be forgiven. He rose from the dead that those who believe in him may have the hope of everlasting life. God gives us time to seek him while he may be found and call upon him while he is near. 

*For various local magazines 

'Time for Judgement: God’s judgement and ours in times of crisis' by Paul Yeulett

Day One Publications, 2024, 432pp, pbk

‘May you live in interesting times’, says the old Chinese curse. Well, we have certainly been living though ‘interesting times’. The coronavirus pandemic engulfed much of the world in 2020-21. Then in 2022 Russia invaded Ukraine. That conflict caused a global spike in utility bills, triggering a cost-of-living crisis. Added to that is a sense that having turned its back upon the Christian faith, much of Western culture is in bondage to idolatrous forces. 

For a good part of this period the reviewer was preaching though the Book of Jeremiah. The prophet’s warning of the Lord’s judgements upon Israel and the nations seemed uncannily up-to-date. Jeremiah spoke repeatedly of, ‘pestilence, sword, famine and captivity’ (Jermiah 15:2). But is it appropriate to apply the words of Old Testament prophets to the church and wider world today?

We are certainly not in the same position as Jeremiah whose writings were inspired by Spirit. He could say, ‘Thus says the Lord… I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon.’ (Jeremiah 20:4).  We need to be a little more circumspect as we seek to pronounce on what the Lord is doing in our day. None the less, God has given us the Holy Scriptures which bear witness to the judgements of the Lord in history. Mindful of that, Paul Yeulett helps us to understand recent upheavals in the light of God’s Word.  

Like the men of Issachar, we need to be people who have ‘understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do’ (2 Chronicles 12:32). The writer’s analysis of the period through which we are living may not command the reader’s agreement in every respect, but his work helps us discern the hand of the Lord in contemporary events. He also endeavours to show how the church should respond to the challenges of the hour. In an age of ‘pestilence, sword, famine and captivity’ we are called to authentic godly living and passionate gospel preaching. 

Love so amazing

 

The crucifixion of Jesus was the supreme manifestation of human malice and hatred. Those who plotted his demise knew he hadn’t done anything to deserve being executed upon a cross. Jesus proclaimed a message of love and showed that love in action by healing the sick and feeding the hungry. The ordinary people flocked to hear Jesus’ preaching. That was the problem. The Jewish religious establishment were afraid that if this Jesus movement took off, they would lose their position in society. Innocent though he was, Jesus had to go.

 

There was only room for one king in the Roman Empire. It was on that basis the religious leaders manipulated the governor of Judea, Pontus Pilate into having Jesus put to death. “If you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend.” They cried, “Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.” Sure enough, Pilate handed over Jesus to be crucified. It was customary to attach a charge sheet to the cross of a crucified man. Jesus’ read, ‘The King of the Jews’.

 

We could see this simply as one of countless miscarriages of justice that have happened over the course of history to this day. What makes the crucifixion of Jesus unique is that this condemned man was the Son of God. The miracles he performed were signposts to his divine power. Why did Christ not use the power by which he healed the sick and raised the dead to extricate himself from being crucified? Jesus described his God-given mission to his followers in these words: “Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

 

Jesus died for our sins that we may be forgiven and be put right with God. Yes, the cross of Jesus was an act of vile hatred on the part of his enemies. But more profoundly, it was a stunning revelation of the love of God. Paul could reflect, “I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

 

Isaac Watts’s hymn When I survey the wondrous cross is often sung in church services at Eastertime. The hymn concludes on a note of wonder at the love of Jesus for his people:

 

Love so amazing, so divine,

demands my soul, my life, my all.

*For Easter edition of various local parish magazines  

 

Snowdrops

Snowdrops, Mells 

A galanthophile is a person who loves snowdrops. Apparently, there are around 500 different varieties of delicate white petalled plant. A true galanthophile will be able to tell a ‘Ding Dong’ from a ‘Heffalump’. Don’t ask me, though. I just like the things. It’s always a joy to see multitudes of them in bloom along the banks of the B3098 on the way to West Lavington. 

A favourite winter walk for the wife and me is through the Somerset village of Mells. You can pick up a path alongside the Mells Stream that will take you past the ruins of Fussell’s Iron Works. Around this time of year, you will find snowdrops a-plenty springing up in front of the old furnaces that loom high over the path.

Snowdrops are an early promise that the arid deadness of winter will pass. Soon there will be daffodils and tulips. Spring will have sprung. In the meantime, the humble snowdrop is a little reminder of the beauty of creation. We don’t simply live in a world that provides us with the bare necessities of life (as Baloo might put it), but a world that fills us with delight. After all, you can’t eat snowdrops, which are poisonous to human beings. But who would be without them?

The Christian faith teaches us that God created our world to display his wisdom, power and goodness. The snowdrop is a wonderful example of his handywork. Yes, we live in a fallen world that is twisted and broken, but there is still much that is beautiful for us to behold. The purity of the snowdrop stands in contrast with the grubbiness of human greed, hatred and cruelty. 

None of us is free from the taint of sin. The goodness of God hinted at in Ding Dongs and Heffalumps is revealed most wonderfully in that he sent his Son, Jesus Christ to die in our place to cleanse us from sin. As Isaiah the prophet almost said,

“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord:

though your sins are like scarlet,

    they shall be as white as [a] snow[drop]."

* For various local parish magazines

‘Emmanuel: God with us’

Joseph, a carpenter from Nazareth was considering breaking off his engagement to Mary. She was pregnant. And he wasn’t the father. According to Matthew’s Gospel, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream to convince him to go through with the marriage. The heavenly visitor told the carpenter, ‘do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.’ As the Lord had spoken by Isaiah the prophet, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel.” The name given to Jesus by ancient prophecy tells us something about his unique identity and mission.

 

God with us

Matthew explains that Emmanuel means, ‘God with us’. Christians believe that the baby boy who was born in Bethlehem and laid in a manger was God in human form. Now, that’s an awesome claim. We might perhaps expect that God would do God-like stuff, like create the universe to display his wisdom, power and goodness. But would the Creator of heaven and earth stoop to enter our world as man? The New Testament insists that he did. Jesus is the Son of God, fully divine in every way. Yet he became human. He is Emmanuel, God with us as one of us.

 

God for us

The angel of the Lord also instructed Jospeh that Mary’s son was to be named Jesus. Once more, a word of explanation is given, “for he will save his people from their sins”. Jesus is the Greek version of the Hebrew name Joshua, which means ‘the Lord saves’. That is the reason why God became man, to rescue us from sin and death. Christ, who was without sin, died in our place on the cross that we may be forgiven. As Paul affirms, ‘God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.’

 

God in us

Matthew concludes his Gospel by telling us that Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to his disciples. The final words of the risen Lord to his followers in Mathew’s account are, “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’ Jesus ascended to heaven, having completed the work of salvation. He then poured out the Holy Spirit upon the church on the Day of Pentecost. Christ dwells in his people by the power of the Spirit. His presence in the lives of his followers now is the pledge of greater things to come, ‘Christ in you, the hope of glory’. Jesus became Emmanuel, God with us so that those who believe in him may be with God for ever. 

See here for Providence Baptist Church Christmas Services 

* Article for various local parish mags 

Shared Life The Trinity and the Fellowship of God’s People, by Donald Macleod

Christian Focus, 2024, 30^th anniversary edition, 129pp, hbk 

The doctrine of the Trinity can sometimes seem just that, a doctrine we are called to believe and defend, and that’s about it. Nothing can be further from the truth, as is demonstrated by the author in these pages. Of course, he discusses the biblical evidence for the claim that the one God eternally exists in three persons; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The theologian also covers what the first Christian thinkers made of the Bible’s teaching, as set out at the Council of Nicea. Macleod’s handling of matters biblical and historical is admirably clear and concise. But that is just the beginning.

The doctrine of the Trinity is of deep practical relevance. It speaks to us of the God we have been called to understand, worship and serve. The fact that the God who made is ‘in his image’ exists in three Persons tells us something very important about human equality and our need for community. Macleod cautions, however, that Bible’s teaching on male headship should not lead us to think that the Son’s relation to the Father is one of eternal submission to his authority.

Father, Son and Holy Spirit indwell each other in the fullness of the divine being.  Jesus prayed that his people may share in the fellowship of the persons of the Trinity (John 17:21). With that in mind, the unity of the church is not a drab uniformity, but unity in diversity. The doctrine of the Trinity has profound implications for the Christian life. We have become children of the Father though his Son and by the Spirit of Adoption. The indwelling presence of the Triune God secures our final salvation. In our evangelism we have been commissioned to ‘make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit’ (Matthew 28:19).

Shared Life is an ideal introduction to the Trinity for believers wishing to read up on the subject. It will also be of help to pastors in equipping them to tease out the practical implications of this most glorious of doctrines.