WHY JAMES GUNN’S SUPERMAN IS NOT SO SUPER!

I was really looking forward to seeing James Gunn's Superman (2025). I bought two pre-release tickets weeks before the opening night to view it at the Hoyts, Forest Hill (the one with the Gold Class electric recliner seats). I left the launch screening on Thursday July 10th utterly disappointed — and I really didn’t want to be. 

WHAT I LIKE ABOUT THE SUPERMAN STORY

The two creators of Superman were two Jewish teenagers, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, both born in 1914. Their creation of a 'superman' was inspired by their challenging experiences as immigrants in the United States who also had to endure the harshness of the rising global antisemitism. 

Siegel and Shuster could not afford to go to college, but found financial success by creating comics (including increasingly popular newspaper comic strips). In the early 1930s they began drawing on their Jewish heritage and the aspirations of their messianic hope. By 1933, they published their first Superman comic strip - presenting to the world an ultra-immigrant (from the planet of Krypton), who came to America as a baby, who looked like any other American, but was secretly different because of His Krypton physiology. Surely if the world could accept and embrace such a character then surely Americans could open their hearts also to their Jewish immigrants. 

The creators of Superman clearly defined the world of Superman. It was our world. But like the fiction of C. S. Lewis’s mythopoeia (his Trilogy and Septet), Siegel and Shuster created a “Supposal”. That is, they framed their Superman story in an imaginative way founded on the on the idea: 

“Suppose there was a planet within our universe in which its people resembled earth’s human beings - yet had certain other supernatural powers or abilities. Suppose that for some reason this planet was about explode and the parents of a newborn child were able to send their child on a journey to our earth where he would be able to blend in but use his powers for great good.” 

Siegal and Shuster have the space-craft with the infant Kal-El crash-land on a farm near Smallville, Kansas, owned by John and Martha Kent. As it turns out, the effect of the gravity of earth is something that the young Kal-El is able to manage so that he can fly at will. The radiation of the earth's Sun has the effect of giving Kal-El extraordinary strength. This was something that his Father, Jor-El (note the Hebrew implications of these names — “El” means 'God' or 'mighty one' in Hebrew) anticipated and sent his son, Kal-El, to earth with a message embedded into a crystal telling his son that he was to be a “savior of the helpless and oppressed” to the people of earth.

SUPERMAN AS A JEWISH MESSIANIC-LIKE HERO

The original concept of Superman could be seen as an embodiment of the Jewish hope of all that the Messiah was expected to be. That is, Siegel and Shuster’s Superman was a Christological figure. He grew up respecting his earth-parents - especially his mother. He was to be an example of courage, humility, masculine strength and moral purity — without ever being a show-off or braggart. He was to look ordinary so that no one would ever imagine just how strong, powerful, or fast, he was. In this way he could just fit into society and blend in with other ordinary people. Jor-El had told him in his crystalized message that Kal-El was to use his extraordinary strength to uphold truth, justice and “the way” of the people of earth. 

I like the idea of a super-hero who selflessly helps the helpless and rescues the oppressed in virtual anonymity thanks to his Clarke Kent disguise and has hypno-glasses (which hinder people from perceiving that Clark Kent was Superman). There are many parallels between this original concept of Superman and Jesus Christ! Jesus the Christ, the True Desire and Hope of Israel, was omnipotently strong - yet looked ordinary (note Isaiah 53:1-2). Jesus was the epitome of humility, like Siegel and Shuster had imagined the Messiah to be and had their Superman exhibit. And these traits are why I was so disappointed with James Gunn's 2025 Superman. 

WHAT I DID NOT LIKE ABOUT THE 2025 GUNN SUPERMAN

The meta-narrative of James Gunn’s Superman over-looked several non-negotiables in fictional story-telling. The first of these is that fictional stories, especially mythopoeic stories, require a 'world' where there are rules. Unlike the world of Siegal and Shuster, the world in which James Gunn’s Superman is not set in this world. It is part of a multiverse - rather than our universe. In our universe there are governing physical laws. For example, “ex nihilo nihil fit” - from nothing, nothing comes. Yet in James Gunn's multiverse, Lex Luther not only creates things apparently out of nothing, he creates entire universes from out of nothing and does so in a previously non-existent dimension as well.

Secondly, James Gunn's Superman was not a model of moral excellence. Perhaps we could overlook the foul language that he used (although this is the first time that anyone playing Superman has used expletives). This is the first time a Superman has killed human beings. This is the first-time that a Superman has spouted ontological nonsense about what a human-being is - and virtually renounced his own ontological identity (this happens in the final exchange between Kal-El and Lex Luther. 

Thirdly, then there is the introduction of Kal-El’s cousin, Kara-Zor-El. She is the epitome of a wild-child who is unable to get drunk on earth and is now forced to travel to a planet with a red-sun which is the only place in the multi-verse where she can get drunk! It seems to me that James Gunn’s Superman, and his Supergirl cousin, are a far cry from what Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster had envisaged for their concept of Superman — especially their Jewish messianic hope. 

CONCLUSION

Superman is my favourite superhero. As a Christian thinker who has an appreciation for the redemptive use fictional literature and especially mythopoeia, I would like Hollywood to give more consideration to superheroes who reflect Jesus Christ - especially since Christ was the Ultimate Superhero! I would also like to encourage other preachers to consider how culture's ache for a virtuous hero is actually an intuitive ache to be reconciled to God the Father through the work of the eternal divine son of God. 

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

PHILIPPIANS 2:5-11

Amen.

FORMING A TRUE MAN

 

Domestic violence, sexual assault, date-rape, sexual trafficking of minors, marital infidelity, street-gang violence, illicit drug abuse, high rates of suicide, increased ‘deaths of despair’, homelessness, are each the major problems confronting our culture right now. Governments regard these issues as matters of justice (punishing offenders) while agencies regard these issues as matters of social justice (helping victims). Both are valuable but neither are equipped or positioned unilaterally to solve the causes of these growing problems, and many in both of these sectors believe that it can never be solved. But I believe they can be. And I need your help. To achieve this, I propose two outrageous, yea – ridiculous – strategies. They are outrageous because they are simple (although not easy); and, they are ridiculous to materialists because they regard them as just fanciful, idealistic and supernatural nonsense. However, I have history on my side. It will involve men and women, young and old. But I particularly need all men to read what I am about to propose and for them to share this with other men and together with everyone else help to bring about the biggest social and cultural revolution our country has ever seen.  

 

WHY TRUE MEN ARE THE SOLUTION AND ARE THE KEY TO THE REVOLUTION

For this much needed revolution to happen it requires the formation of true men.

You don’t need to be a sociologist to see that there is at least one common thread to most of these societal problems – men behaving badly. We have a crisis of manhood in our society. Prof. Nancy Pearcey’s 2023 book, The Toxic War on Masculinity details why it is reasonable to describe the lack of true men as a crisis. She gives reasons why men are becoming afraid, unsure, and reluctant to be who God created them to be. She draws on good social research to show that men have been duped into being believing that if they act like true men they will be guilty of being “toxic”. Of course this raises the question, what is a true man? Consider this list of traits of a true man which I will contrast with another list of traits of a false man. A True Man is:

* Powerful, using his physical strength to be productive and for the benefit of others;

* Courageous, he faces up to difficult circumstances and conversations that have to be had;

* Fearless, he will take calculated risks and is not afraid to fail when trying something new;

* Learning, he may not ‘schooled’ but he has learned how to learn (especially how to communicate);

* Problem-solving, he doesn’t give up easily but seeks out solutions to life’s problems;

* Committed, he is a man of his word and will finish what he committed to do;

* Thoughtful, he values the ideas of the others and seeks out wisdom;

* Protective, he is a guardian of the vulnerable; 

* Gentle, he is polite and tender in speech, especially toward women and children;

* Considerate, he has learned from the natural strengths of women to think empathetically of others;

* God-fearing, he has said “I will” to God and is not ashamed to publicly worship God;

* Truthful, he is honest and fair in his dealings and conversations with others, and will not comply with the lies of culture.

So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!”
John 19:5

Jesus is the man — the true man. This is why I propose that all men make Jesus the Christ their model of the true man (Matt. 4:19; 16:24). While the Bible presents several men who were impeccably close to emulating each of the traits, most especially Enoch and Daniel, only the Lord Jesus epitomised each of these twelve qualities of a true man. And since I do not, and neither does or has any other man on the planet, I have to add a thirteenth trait for myself and for all members of our universal brotherhood who would seek to become a true man. This is the trait that God lauded in King David.

And when He had removed Him, He raised up David to be their king, of whom He testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after My heart, who will do all My will.’
Acts 13:22

But David was a sinful, fallen man, just like each of us. But he learned the thirteenth trait that qualified him as a man after God’s own heart: how to repent.

¶ Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your steadfast love; according to Your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! ¶ For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.  Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You may be justified in your words and blameless in Your judgment.
Psalm 51:1-4

David learned how to repent by confessing his sin to God and to those he sinned against (Psalm 51) and then discovered the answer to the very thing he sought God for – the cleansing of forgiveness.

¶ Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. ¶ For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah  ¶ I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah
Psalm 32:1-5

Repentance, and all that it involves (including learning how to apologise to the one/s he has injured with his words), is what every man must learn how to do. When a man sins by yelling in anger at his wife, he should repent. When a man mis-uses his strength to physically harm another person. He should repent. This is the only possible means for a man to become a true man.

¶ Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.
First Corinthians 16:13

Can you imagine what our society would look like if more men aspired to become a true man? Can imagine how this would cause women and children to flourish if the men of their lives — their husbands, their fathers, their brothers, their uncles, their beaus – were each striving to be a true man? Can you imagine what homes, marriages, and families would like emotionally, economically, psychologically? Could you dare to imagine what public school classrooms could like? Could you possibly believe what a revolution of true manhood would do to our judicial system including prison populations?

 

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF A FALSE MAN

In contrast to a true man, a false man is:

• Harmful, he harms people with his words and actions;
  .
• Selfish, he takes care of “Number One” and expects others to also regard him as their “Number One”;
  .
• Uncaring, he fails to empathise or sympathise;
  .
• Angry, he blames everyone else for his troubles;
  .
• Bitter, he is unforgiving and resentful;
  .
• Childish, he is irresponsible and unreliable and subject to unpredictable tantrums;
  .
• Untrustworthy, he will lie, exaggerate, deceive, and misrepresent;
  .
• Lazy, he will procrastinate, waste time on trivialities, and not clean up after himself;
  .
• Ignorant, he cannot be taught, and has little desire to learn.
•  

The good news, though, is that it is possible for a false man to be transformed into a becoming-a-true-man. And if I am right, our society has a chance of undergoing one of the biggest cultural revolutions in our nation’s history!

 

THE STRATEGY FOR REVOLUTION

Shortly after arriving in Legana and being invited by the 17 members left in the church to be their pastor, I began to share what God had put on my heart. It seemed ridiculous. I was describing a church of hundreds of people that would grow to have 300 men following Christ and worshiping together each Sunday and filling key roles within out State and Nation. While we have made progress, I thought that I had still years of ministry and work ahead of me to see it all finally fulfilled. But with my diagnosis and the need to step down next year, it seems that I may not live to see this happen. However, as restricted as I am by this incurable condition that is progressing without any way of halting it, I am still committed to getting as close to seeing this vision for our society as fulfilled as I can. If you haven’t already guessed, here is the strategy that I am continuing to employ in order to see more men in our State get a vision of what a true man is and how to strive toward reflecting it:

 Firstly, let’s ensure that our house is in order. I want to be an example of the very thing I am urging all other men to strive toward (1Cor. 11:1; 2Tim. 1:13). I want to make sure that I am the husband, father, uncle, and Grandfather that my family needs me to be. I want to be an example to our church of a man striving to be a true man, and to do all I can to inspire the men of our church to strive toward true manhood.

 Secondly, let’s start young! Let’s raise of generation of boys who are in a community of true men who model the humility required to repent when they fail. Let’s begin to treat 13-year-old boys as young men and expect great things of them and to become increasingly responsible for their words and actions – especially as it relates to their interactions with young ladies.

 Thirdly, let’s welcome broken false men into our community and introduce them to Him who changes hearts, minds and lives, from falsity to truthfulness. This requires having pathways for such men to be introduced to the outskirts of our church community through fishing trips, sporting events, men’s breakfasts, and dinners (especially BBQs) together.

 Fourthly, let’s be a prophetic church that exemplifies the qualities of truthfulness and is prepared to boldly declare the truth of God’s Word about sexuality, sex, marriage, fathering, mothering, and discipling. (I encourage you to check out the Bible Study series our Young Adults are doing at the moment, 5 Cultural Lies about Sex.)

Fifthly, let’s encourage the other pastors and church leaders of our city and our State, to join with us in being the kind of salt and light that Jesus referred to:

¶ “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. ¶ “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 5:13-16

It is my hope, that as we see many of the men of our church take their positions in our city, our State, and our nation, as “gate keepers” (Note the use of this term in 2Sam. 19:8) in business, politics, sport, the arts, and Christian ministry, that each of the key indicators referred to in my opening sentence of this article will become measurably and dramatically improved. As I said in my opening paragraph, the reason I have great confidence that it can is derived from my study of history. I read about it in the Book of Acts. I read about it in the annuls of ancient Christian history. And I recently read about it happening in Prof. Stuart Piggin’s two volume masterpiece, The Fountain of Public History, where Australia’s leading historian documents example after example where Australia has previously experienced such glimpses of the type of socio-cultural revolution I have been referring to. And this is where we all need to play a part. Prof. Piggin has convincingly demonstrated that it was when God’s people united in prayer and action that God has most often moved in ‘revival’. And perhaps the most obvious and inspirational aspect of this account of Australia’s history is that nearly three chapters of his great tome has been spent on how Tasmania was particularly blessed by such glimpses of revival. Now the time for revival glimpses is over! Now it’s time for a sacred revolution that will transform our culture over the course of the next 40 years and sow the seeds for prolonged revival glimpses for centuries to come! 

“I am about to go the way of all the earth. Be strong, and show yourself a man, and keep the charge of the LORD your God, walking in His ways and keeping His statutes, His commandments, His rules, and His testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn
First Kings 2:2-3

Your Pastor,

Andrew

Let me know what you think below in the comment section and feel free to share this someone who might benefit from this Pastor’s Desk.

The Interstellar Fifth Dimension

THE FIFTH DIMENSION

In the 2014 Hollywood blockbuster movie, Interstellar, touches on some deeply profound themes about what it means to be human. Set in the not too distant future, the earth's soil is fast becoming sterile and the ability to produce sufficient quantities of food is drastically and dangerously reduced. Dust storms now sweep across the earth creating respiratory disorders which is compounded by a fungal disease known as blight is fast consuming all the oxygen in the atmosphere. NASA has been commissioned to investigate evacuating Earth. What transpires in the movie appears to be a showcase of the best Sci-fi Hollywood can deliver - but these initial appearances can distract the viewer from the powerful messages about God, human uniqueness, and the nature of family. These themes coalesce when we are taken into "the Fifth Dimension." 

¶ Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant First Corinthians 13:4

The Fifth Dimension transcends time and distance. When the NASA crew discover it, it becomes another piece of evidence for the invisible guiding hand of the Supreme Being whom the NASA scientists tamely refer to as "they". When Captain Cooper, played by Matthew McConaughey, asks who "they" are, he is told that the evidence shows that it is an intelligent personal being. Perhaps they mean what Astrophysicist, Professor Brian Green, identified as the Grand Organising Designer or G.O.D. for short. At each stage of their mission, just when they needed it, something phenomenal would occur or appear that saved them. "They must have put it there" they conclude. And when Captain Cooper enters the Fifth Dimension he enters a realm that transcends natural physical limits, distance and time and discovers that he has a connection with his daughter on Earth when in this dimension. "Love!" he declares. "Love is the bond!" he discovers. 

(Love is not) rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth."
First Corinthians 13:5-6

In a world of robots with artificial intelligence and personality-programs, the movie explores what it means to be human. Humans thrive best when connected in families is one of the powerful themes of the movie. This theme is highlighted several times throughout Interstellar. From the outset we are introduced to a family. Initially it appears that we are intruding on three generations of the one family living together, but by the time we get to the end of the Movie we realise that we were introduced to at least four generations of this family (this is not at all obvious when first watching the movie). Multi-generational families living harmoniously together is not Hollywood's usual depiction of "family"! The bond between Joseph Cooper ('Cooper') and his daughter, Murphy, is very strong. Cooper knows his children, Tom and Murph. He treats them differently (boys and girls are different). When Cooper arrives in a distant galaxy where Dr. Mann (played by Matt Damon) has already scouted as possible earth-like substitute, the contrast between a man who cares for his family (Cooper) and a man who has desired no family ties is painfully stark. It is after this disastrous rendezvous that Dr Brand was vindicated in her choice of going to her friend on a different planet rather than going to Dr Mann, despite how irrational her choice was. Love made sense after all. 

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.First Corinthians 13:7

After several years in far flung space, Captain Cooper's desire to be reunited with his children is as intense as ever. In a world which seems treat the institution family as "an oppressive, patriarchal institution designed to suppress women", the strong family themes of Interstellar are almost counter-cultural. Not that they should be. But when countries like the U.S.A. and most of Western Europe campaigned against last week's UN Human Rights Council resolution, The Protection of the Family, which called for support of the family unit comprising of Dad, Mum and their kids, you have to wonder if the 'blight' of Interstellar might have been more accurately depicted as an orchestrated attack on the family unit? Eric Metaxas writes-

The resolution, approved by a vote of 27 to 14, urges member states to adopt laws and policies that support the family—yes, the family—definite article. It calls the family, "the natural environment for the growth and well-being of all its members and particularly children."
It goes on to insist that while governments have a place in protecting the human rights of all, "the family has primary responsibility for the nurturing and protection of children."
While our country was splashing rainbows on government buildings to celebrate our un-defining of marriage and family, the global community was reaffirming God's created definition. It's an important moment that shows why, in the long run, federal judges cannot change the truth.

From the very beginning of human history some 60,000 years ago, our Creator established the human beings should flourish best in families (Genesis 2). The foundation of a family was also established by God when He provided Adam with a bride. Marriage, as designed by our Creator, is the foundation for human flourishing, the only legitimate context for sexual intimacy, the ideal for a family nucleus, and the profound analogy for the identity, nature, and character of God Himself. This is why marriage and family should not be trifled with. It is also why the Enemy knows that if our understanding of marriage and family can be perverted, our understanding of God, our identity, and right and wrong, will also be perverted. Despite the disproportionate mainstream media support in favour of those who seek to dismantle what family means and the stigmatising of those who defend what marriage and family actually is, the social research data continues to show that the vast majority of Australians believe that marriage is uniquely between a man and a woman, and that children always fair best when raised in a loving household by their married parents. This was yet again borne out by research conducted by Melbourne University of 17,000 people which showed that people who are married are far more likely to be happy - especially men.

Men get more of a kick if you like to their happiness from being married, and they also tend to be more satisfied with their partner than women do, which is not to say that women get nothing out of relationships, but certainly not as much as men it seems. Also, in terms of their health too; there's quite a significant health benefit it seems in marriage for men but not women.
H.I.L.D.A.

But alarmingly for some the research also showed that the saddest people in our society are those who identify as Gay, Lesbian or Bisexual.

(Prof.) Roger Wilkins says the survey shows that people who identify as gay, lesbian or bisexual on average have poorer health and are less happy. "It's a very concerning finding because there's no reason to think that one's sexuality identity should have any implications directly for your health and wellbeing, and it does suggest that there are social forces at work here that are responsible for that." 
Household, Income, Labour, Dynamics, Survey (HILDA) Melbourne University, July 15th 2015

The response from the LGBTQ Lobby is the usual one: blame society's attitudes. Even those in the media once sympathetic to this 'explanation' now have to admit that despite the continual concessions made to the LGBTQ Lobby have not had the predicted outcomes of their proponents - in fact, there is growing evidence to show that it is making matters worse (physical health, mental health, psychological well-being, happiness levels, and suicide rates). Journalists like Paul Kelly have largely been sympathetic to this appeal from the LGBTQ that if they can get legislative endorsement for their lifestyles and relationships their overall health outcomes will readily improve. Yet as the social data disproving this theory keeps mounting (verifying that anything other than God's design for sexuality and family deprives people of their potential flourishing) journalists such as Paul Kelly are waking up to the fact that something else is actually going on. 

The omens are not good. As the years advance there has been ­virtually no debate about the real issues surrounding same-sex ­marriage. The campaign for change is strong and tactically brilliant based on the ideological slogan "marriage equality", one of the most effective slogans in many decades....Yet the majority media reaction to this situation — "let's get on with the change" — is ignorant and irresponsible. The real debate is probably just starting. It poses an unprecedented challenge for our law-makers. There has never been an issue like this, as the US ­Supreme Court decision made clear.
Paul Kelly, The Australian, July 11th 2015

The movie, Interstellar, also makes continual reference to Darwinian Evolution and how humanity has largely failed to adapt to the Darwinian model for human evolution. Family structures and irrational emotions of 'love', 'family bonds', 'guilt' need to give way to the more important goal of Darwinian Evolution. But time and again throughout the movie the characters are confronted with the reality of their world that does not comport to this view of human origins, identity, or destiny.

¶ Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.First Corinthians 13:8-10

A final word about the Fifth Dimension to all the men. The happiness research referred to earlier showed that while men deeply appreciate being married, many women did not. It also showed that the longer a marriage lasted, the more likely this disparity grows. As followers and representatives of Christ, men need to pick up their game as husbands and fathers. It is a disgraceful thing for a man who claims to be a Christian to be sexually active before or outside of marriage. As a Roman Catholic priest once said, "Any man who sleep with his fiancé before they are married is teaching her that being sexually intimate with a man you are not married to is perfectly OK!" This has dangerous and very detrimental effects later on in a marriage. I wonder how many men realise that Jesus gave the strongest possible warnings against formication (sex without marriage) in Matthew 15:19, which was later re-declared by His apostles in Acts 15:20, Romans 13:13; First Corinthians 6:18; 10:8; Galatians 5:19; and Colossians 3:5. This is not a trivial matter. Men who claim to follow Christ need to rise up and getting down on their knees and repenting. We men need to be strong guardians of our women and children. We need to treat our wives as people worthy of our our attention, devotion, and respect. We need to treat our children as gifts and treasures from God who deserve not to be the centre of our lives (otherwise they will be devilishly fooled into thinking that they are the centre of the Universe) but to be shown how to adore the One who is the Centre of the Universe. This is living in the Fifth Dimension. It is the Dimension where God dwells. It is the Dimension where love is the currency. It the Dimension where marriage is the foundation of human flourishing and children are the fruit of that flourishing. It is the Dimension that the Church operates in and we each dial into when we enter into our appointed places each Sunday when we assemble together. It is a realm, the Bible declares, where principalities and powers marvel at how the Church can display and be re-energised by the love of God (Eph. 3:10). This is why the Enemy does all he can to destroy in the minds of the watching world what marriage and family really is and why we all need to assemble together each Sunday for the ordinances of the Worship, the Word, and the Lord's Table. Welcome to the Fifth Dimension. Faith in God and the love He shows us and we share with each other ... it really is interstellar.

Ps. Andrew

AFTER ALL THE EFFORTS TO GET RID OF IT, WHY IS THE CHURCH STILL HERE?

5 REASONS THE CHURCH IS STILL AROUND

It's actually remarkable. Considering the virulent, persistent, aggressive attacks on the Church over the past 1,985 years, it's remarkable that not only has the Church survived, but it has flourished and spread around the world. The fact that you attend a church today, in the twenty-first century, is due to five profound reasons that should lead the reader to wonder.

...I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.JESUS OF NAZARETH (later of Capernaum) Matthew 16:18b 

The Church has survived through to the present day because it has been an agent of good and progress in the world. From its outset, the Church began to care for those the world deemed outcasts. This included, widows, orphans, lepers, and the aged.

"Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world."James 1:27 

This became the foundation for the establishment of hospitals, welfare agencies, and schools. The Christian worldview values each human being as bearing the image of God (imago dei) and therefore possessing inherent dignity. This means that a person who is newborn or even preborn is worthy of our care and support, as is a person with a highly contagious incurable disease, or a person at the end of their life.

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another."
John 13:34

An atheist was once decrying the missionary activity of Christians among Pacific Islanders - in particular, how Christians had "destroyed the existing native culture of the islanders." As chance would have it, there happened to be a person at that public meeting who was a native of one of the islands which the atheist had referred to. During the Q&A he asked the Professor whether he realised that his native ancestors had been cannibals? His question to the atheist professor continued, "Do you know what my ancestors would have done to you if you had arrived on our island before the Gospel came?" The audience instantly recognised that the Pacific Islander had shown the atheist's case to be ill-informed. Ravi Zacharias makes a similar point to atheists when he asks them how they might feel, if on a dark late night inner city street four pierced and tattooed large black men came out of a dimly lit alley carrying objects in their hands and were approaching you - if it would make any difference to how you felt if you learned that they were Christians who were just leaving their weekly BIble Sudy meeting? Yes, the Church has been a positive agent for good and progress in the world.

And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.
Second Timothy 2:24-26 

The Church has given expression for mankind's most natural purpose: to worship God through singing, poetry, music, art, drama, and literature. The question for any person is never Do you worship? But, What or Who do you worship? Every person worships. Just as ducks are designed and created to paddle across water, fly closer toward the Equator in Winter, quack, and waddle - so every human being is designed and created to meet with other humans and worship the Creator who is the Kings of Kings and Lord of Lords.

All the earth worships you
and sings praises to you;
they sing praises to your name." Selah.Psalm 66:4

Jesus said that if people didn't declare the praises of God, "the stones would cry out" (Luke 19:40). It should be every person's priority to be in the House of God with other worshipers worshiping The Lord of The Universe. Wise Christian parents know that their children learn more about devotion to God by what they see their parents do than what they hear their parents tell them they should do.

The Church's ministers have been agents of comfort, consolation, reconciliation, and guidance to people - often in their darkest days. Jesus described Himself as the "Good Shepherd' (John 10)and all who minister on His behalf follow in His blood-stained footprints and are to be His underShepherds. They are called to care, lead, guide, feed, tend to, watch over, the community given to them by Christ. Down through the past two millennia, literallly hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of men and women have done just that. Most of these ministers have gone unnoticed by the world, unknown to those outside of their charge, and often unappreciated by most in their charge - yet they have gladly laid down their lives for their community because of the deep love of Christ for God in their lives. 

In my own city of Launceston, ministers of The Christ played a tremendously important role in the establishment and ongoing welfare of our city. I think of Pastor John West, a Congregational Minister, who worked to abolish the convict colony and promote free speech by establishing The Examiner Newspaper. We could also reminisce about some of the more well now ministers of the Gospel who worked as agents of peace and inspiration - not just to their churches, but to their communities and nation. I think of Pastor Charles Simeon who served as the Pastor of Kings Church, Cambridge England for 53 years and contributed not just to the religious life of Cambridge, but its educational and social life as well. In the United States we think fondly of Pastor Martin Luther King Jnr and the amazing impact he led for the cause of Civil Rights there. In Australia, ministers such as F.W. Boreham and Gordon Moyes have contributed to the welfare of our nation and played a positive role in sport, business and politics.

The Church's establishment, spread, and sustainance is due to the decree of Jesus Christ and His abiding Word. Jesus Christ is the omnipotent (all-powerful), omnipresent (all-present), omniscient (all-knowing), eternal, risen Lord. The Church is His "Plan A". He not only decreed that it should it be established (Matthew 16:18), He has decreed that it should spread throughout the world - 

And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
Matthew 28:18-20

Jesus Christ not only sustains the Church "unto the end of the age", He sustains every molecule in the cosmos!

For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Colossians 1:16-17 

The Church is the visible expression of the Kingdom of Christ now and a portend of its ultimate expression after all evil is vanquished from the Universe. It is a majestic sign and wonder to the limitless power and majesty of The Christ. It was prophesied of in Daniel 2:44 as a stone that struck the feet of Nebuchadnezzar's statue and then grew into a great mountain which filled the earth (Dan. 2:34-35). This speaks of Christ and His Body - the Church. 

The Church's existence has been enabled by the presence of the Holy Spirit Who has empowered Christ's followers as well as filling them Christ's presence and gifts, and has led and guided the Church througout the ages and world. The Church was conceived in the heart of Christ and born on the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was poured out. The Church is comprised of Spirit regenerated, Spirit empowered, Spirit filled, Spirit baptised, Spirit enabled, Spirit led, followers of Christ. He is the "oil" in our "lamps" (Matthew 25) and He is the One that the Apostle Paul exhorted all believers should continually seek and be filled with (Eph. 4). 

The Church is no accident. The Church is no mere institutional legacy. The Church is not merely an organisation - it is an organism - the living body of Christ on earth. If you are a believer, you have the utter privilege of being a part of the Church of Jesus Christ! Sundays now are not for homework, time-to-yourself, time-with-the-family, but a day we dedicate to the One who declared - I am building!

to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.
Amen.
Ephesians 3:21

See you Sunday.

Ps. Andrew