Monday 5 June 2017

'enough is enough' ... I thought Teresa May might quote from Ephesians chapter six!

When Teresa May said ‘enough is enough’ I thought she was going on to quote from Ephesians chapter six!



‘Enough is enough’ said Teresa May on Sunday morning. She didn't quite go on to say ‘for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms’, but she came quite close:

… while the recent attacks are not connected by common networks, they are connected in one important sense. They are bound together by the single evil ideology of Islamist extremism that preaches hatred, sows division and promotes sectarianism …

We were listening to the Prime Minister’s speech, whilst travelling back from a holiday in Wales, in the aftermath of the terrorist attack in London on Saturday night. I was also thinking about Paul’s concluding words in his letter to Ephesus and ‘enough is enough’ sounded like an appropriate introduction to chapter 6:10-20.

As followers of Jesus we have been equipped with a whole array of means with which to respond to hatred and violence … truth, righteousness, faith, salvation, the word of God, love, mercy, prayer …


Once home, on Sunday we settled down to watch (along with the rest of Britain it seems) One Love Manchester. In so many ways it was akin to large worship gathering. All the exhortations from practically everyone from the centre stage were to love not hate. Everyone was encouraged to recognise God was for them  (Justin Beiber). Fingers in the air pointing heavenwards, hands raised to bless those suffering, etc. I felt all it needed was someone to stand up on stage towards the end and share a paraphrase of Acts 17: 22-28 … you are worshipping ‘love’, but do you now see this God you speak of is love and has given his life so you might live …

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