{"id":1251,"date":"2021-07-16T09:55:23","date_gmt":"2021-07-16T08:55:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/saltshakers.com\/?p=1251"},"modified":"2021-07-16T09:57:00","modified_gmt":"2021-07-16T08:57:00","slug":"you-have-to-love-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/saltshakers.church\/?p=1251","title":{"rendered":"You have to love them!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n


Christian faith can be weak or strong, great or mustard small \u2013 God stays great!
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Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. (Romans 14:3)
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Someone who is despised is often described as \u2018a waste of space\u2019, as though they are of zero value and a mere nuisance to the rest of us; and if we \u201cpass judgment\u201d on them we are effectively placing them under condemnation. Paul counsels that those who consider themselves strong in faith are not to despise the weak as unbelieving, while those of weaker faith are not to label stronger believers as
irresponsible or reckless.
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Both parties are in the wrong; both are endangering the unity of the body. Both are failing to take responsibility for each other\u2019s welfare. Both are missing an opportunity to strengthen the spiritual family because \u201cwhen each part is working properly, [this] makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.<\/em>\u201d (Eph 4:16)<\/p>\n\n\n\n


One of the great things about our Foundations family is that, for the most part, we are a community of believers whose faith is strong \u2013 that\u2019s partly what formed our relationship in the first place. The God we gather to worship is very great \u2013 worldly measures are hopelessly inadequate to describe Him. His Word, is the unique, infallible, unchanging truth that has defied centuries of animosity and criticism and has a proven 100% reliability. This divine integrity and trustworthiness are deserving of our uncompromising trust. This all needs saying because we are living through a challenge to unity such as the true church has never faced \u2013 at least not in our lifetime.
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Modern society \u2013 aided and abetted by the media (social media, newspapers, television, the internet etc.) absorbs information primarily by means of \u2018narratives\u2019 \u2013 heavily edited stories which are skewed to promote versions of reality which best support ideologies or political and commercial agendas. The skilled practitioners behind these narratives are \u2018spin doctors\u2019 and \/ or behavioural scientists whose personal skills excel in shaping the thinking of the masses (that\u2019s the rest of us) to produce \u2013 or even to guarantee \u2013 certain types of behaviour. In short, if you want mass support for your \u2018story\u2019, you hire a spin doctor or a behavioural psychologist to advise on the best strategy that
will manipulate thinking and secure the response you want. It is critical to your success that the target group remains unaware of subtle influences from public broadcasting, news coverage, political statements or peer pressure. If the influence can be exerted through trusted channels \u2013 preferred newspapers, the BBC, websites, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter etc., and through authoritative channels \u2013 government, public health etc., you will be more confident that your narrative will be believed and will produce the crowd behaviour you hope to secure.
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There are multiple \u2018narratives\u2019 at work in our godless society. The LGBTQ+ community promotes its particular narrative, Islam has another, Black Lives Matter still another. Feminism was making good progress until it collided with the interests of the Transgender lobby and \u2018men\u2019 identifying as female began to demand access to women\u2019s domains \u2013 everything from the ladies\u2019 toilet to the female Olympic weightlifting squad! All of these communities present themselves as \u2018victims\u2019 and anyone who disagrees with them is identified as the \u2018oppressor\u2019: \u2018homophobes\u2019, \u2018infidels\u2019, \u2018white racists\u2019, \u2018men\u2019 and \u2018binaries\u2019. One thing these \u2018narrators\u2019 will never tolerate is an alternate view of reality \u2013 nor will they permit alternate views a hearing. Their perceived \u2018oppressors\u2019 are shouted down on university campuses, excluded from student debates. Alternate views are either ridiculed and vilified in the media or their videos are removed from the internet.
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It is not something we can ignore that this same \u2018cancelling\u2019 strategy has been used throughout the COVID pandemic to ensure that a one-sided narrative is relentlessly fed to the public mind. Respected professors, clinicians \u2013 even Nobel Prize-winners1 \u2013 have been \u2018de-platformed\u2019 because the scientific and medical views they hold do not conform to the authorised narrative via the World Health Organisation \u2013 which itself tracks to \u2018economy with the truth\u2019 in regard to pandemic reporting. 2 Surely it is self-evident that any view \u2013 including a government view \u2013 that expects to be treated with respect should not seek to silence or censor equally eminent but differing authorities? But this is what has happened \u2013 as if government were just another pressure group, determinedly silencing or \u2018cancelling\u2019 all contrary and unwelcome voices. This alone should give us cause to consider whether we are responding to reality or a carefully crafted version of it: \u201cWe heard about new cases, but never recoveries. Hospital admissions but not discharges were reported. We were given numbers of daily deaths, but largely without the context that about 1,600 people die every day in the UK anyway.<\/em>\u201d3
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As a Christian family, we are not supposed to be known for our opinions (which will always divide us) but for our love for each other \u2013 which brings Jesus into the public view. Allowing for the reality that only God knows which of us is truly \u2018weak\u2019 or \u2018strong\u2019 in our faith (i.e. trust) our gatherings always demonstrate that we love each other. Those who distrust the government \/ media output and comply to the bare legal minimum required are not necessarily reckless \u2013 they are trying to put their faith where their mouth has been for decades. This is the testing time. No more armchair theories, but hard \u2018rubber-on-the-road\u2019 reality that pushes the boundaries of our trust in God. Literally millions of our brothers and sisters are practising their trust in God without their government\u2019s approval. The little old lady during the wartime blitz who refused to go to the air raid shelter because \u201che who keeps Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps \u2013 and if he\u2019s staying awake I\u2019m going to bed\u201d (!!) was not reckless, she was trusting her Maker. Likewise the folks who carefully test for Covid several times a week and observe to the letter every rule of law and treat \u2018guidance\u2019 with equal weight are not necessarily unbelievers. If they truly believe that social distancing is how you love your neighbour today\u2026 all credit to them. That said Charles Spurgeon loved his neighbours by
visiting the sick during frequent cholera outbreaks\u2026.! Paul looked death squarely in the eye and demanded \u201cWhere is your sting?\u201d Does this describe us?
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As we seek to build each other up, let\u2019s be clear. Whether our faith is weak or strong has no bearing on the greatness of our God. Jesus has called us to be His disciples, not the world\u2019s patients. \u201cO magnify the Lord with me\u201d \u2013 let the world magnify Covid!
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\u201cBeloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.<\/em>\u201d (1 John 4:7)
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Grace and peace in Our Lord Jesus,
David Andrew<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n


1 https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/wptronTalkR
2 https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/whocu2017
3 Dodsworth, Laura. A State of Fear: How the UK government weaponised fear during the Covid-19 pandemic
(p. 5). Pinter & Martin. Kindle Edition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christian faith can be weak or strong, great or mustard small \u2013 God stays great! Let not the one who eats despise the one who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nYou have to love them! - SALTSHAKERS creativity in action<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/saltshakers.church\/?p=1251\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"You have to love them! - SALTSHAKERS creativity in action\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Christian faith can be weak or strong, great or mustard small \u2013 God stays great! Let not the one who eats despise the one who [...]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/saltshakers.church\/?p=1251\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SALTSHAKERS creativity in action\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/saltshakerscommunity\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-07-16T08:55:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-07-16T08:57:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@yeshuaexplored\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@yeshuaexplored\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Estimated reading time\">\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"6 minutes\">\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/saltshakers.church\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/saltshakers.church\/\",\"name\":\"SALTSHAKERS creativity in action\",\"description\":\"A web family and a place for those looking for a clear Biblical voice in a confused conflicted world\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"https:\/\/saltshakers.church\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/saltshakers.church\/?p=1251#webpage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/saltshakers.church\/?p=1251\",\"name\":\"You have to love them! - SALTSHAKERS creativity in action\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/saltshakers.church\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-07-16T08:55:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-07-16T08:57:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/saltshakers.church\/#\/schema\/person\/94ab6b5249499c0172988403e33da27d\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/saltshakers.church\/?p=1251\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/saltshakers.church\/#\/schema\/person\/94ab6b5249499c0172988403e33da27d\",\"name\":\"Steve Maltz\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/saltshakers.church\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/1.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4887f86994c7f4385901f9e36c1d584e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Steve Maltz\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.saltshakers.com\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/saltshakers.church\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1251"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/saltshakers.church\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/saltshakers.church\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/saltshakers.church\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/saltshakers.church\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1251"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/saltshakers.church\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1251\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1252,"href":"http:\/\/saltshakers.church\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1251\/revisions\/1252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/saltshakers.church\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/saltshakers.church\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/saltshakers.church\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}