No News is Good News

No editor of a British Christian newspaper can be accused of being too light-hearted or jovial. The climate in which we live is increasingly hostile to Christian truth. In one particular publication, I noted that a woman has been arrested by West Midlands Police for ‘silently praying’ within 100 yards of an abortion clinic. Still on page 1, some liberal Anglican cleric is whining about evangelical Anglicans’ objections to same sex blessings and the damage this will do to the worldwide communion.

On page 2, there is an account of a White British family who reside in West Yorkshire being pressured to attend a trial at a Mosque, to calm down community tensions for their teenage son’s alleged scuffing a copy of the Qur’an in a school corridor.

On page 3, an Indian Bishop has been arrested on the pretext of forcing a man to convert to Christianity. The complainant and the bishop have never met.

On page 4, a Canadian pastor is arrested for sedition for complaining about lockdowns and vaccines.

Page 5 details the England and Wales Cricket Board’s decision to allow a man who identifies as a woman to join a women’s cricket team, who will face female opponents as young as 12.

No news is good news, not even in Christian publications. Thank God for the good news of the gospel, a bright and radiant contrast to the dark, shadowy affairs of this world. When the matters of earth get you down, look to Christ, the Author and Finisher of your faith. He turns darkness to light, sorrow to joy, death to life. 

“The joy of the Lord is your strength.” Neh. 8. 10

Joy is a fruit that will not grow
 In nature’s barren soil;
 All we can boast, till Christ we know,
 Is vanity and toil.

But where the Lord has planted grace,
 And made his glories known,
 There fruits of heavenly joy and peace
 Are found, and there alone.

A bleeding Saviour seen by faith,
 A sense of pardoning love,
 A hope that triumphs over death,
 Give joys like those above.

To take a glimpse within the veil,
 To know that God is mine;
 Are springs of joy that never fail,
 Unspeakable! divine!

-John Newton

Image by PDPics from Pixabay