Caravaggio, Salome receives the head of John the Baptist

For now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known,
1 Cor 13:12

    From the dawn of Christianity there was never a time when the truth of God's word and the faith of our fathers was easy.  Faith has always been a hard sell except to the childlike simple. All others must squint through an increasingly opaque window.   
 
    We recently returned from our second visit through Ireland and the London area and the murky  windows through which the heritage of our faith must pass seemed even darker than on our first visit a few decades earlier.  Passing through the countryside where many of the spiritual battles for the great protestant reformation were fought is much like visiting an ancient museum.  The tall spires of once solid country churches dot the landscape but the Sunday services draw few.  Much like the USA, Father McKenzie mumbles a half hearted mass to a few old folks.  Thanks to the lurid sex scandals of Catholicism and the liberal stupidity of mega church Protestantism's name-it-and- claim-it gospel, many churches sit vacant.  It's hard to imagine how even the shallowed minds of a dumbed down generation could find the way to Christ through this din.  Kudos to WestJet airlines for featuring the movie Spotlight on their inflight movie offerings. (Also available on Amazon Prime).  This well made  docudrama highlights the conspiracy of the Roman Catholic church in the attempted coverup of many thousands of cases of child sexual abuse from within the highest ranks of the institutional RC church.  No amount of cover could disguise the corruption found there. The Roman Catholic church especially in the US has created grooming culture and America in general has become grooming culture central.  Incredibly, 28% of American Gen Z (b. 1997 -2012) identify as LGBTQ. The global average is 3%.  Grooming is defined as “the practice of preparing or training someone for a particular purpose or activity. We have watched the slow, methodical process of an entire generation being groomed to embrace immorality." 

   Sunday service has dwindled in popularity by 20 per cent since 2019, despite Church of England's claims it has 'bounced back'.  The real tragedy here is the destruction of the Christian fellowship and community which once united the church and guided the way to life for millions who now turn away in disgust.

    We are loathe to leave on so sad a note.  The best news is that in spite of the wiles of pervasive evil, the Lord continues to rescue his beloved from the wrath to come.  We love the historical wisdom of Charles Haddon Spurgeon and have featured his amazing ministry many times.  On our first visit to London some 35 years ago, we found the Metropolitan Tabernacle in which this great preacher spent so much of his life run down, selling trinkets, and  a mere shadow of it's past glory.  Happily God has revitalized this historic ministry and it thrives again.
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- Bill Lami