God will invade. But I wonder whether people who ask God to interfere openly and directly in our world quite realise what it will be like when He does. When that happens, it is the end of the world. When the author walks onto the stage the play is over. God is going to invade, all right, but what is the good of saying you’re on His side then, when you see the whole natural universe melting away like a dream and something else–something it never entered your head to conceive–comes crashing in; something so beautiful to us and so terrible to others that none of us will have any choice left? For this time it will be God without disguise; something so overwhelming that it will strike either irresistible love, or irresistible horror into every creature. It will be too late then to choose your side. There is no use saying you choose to lie down, when it’s become impossible to stand up. That will not be the time for choosing; it will be the time when we discover which side we really have chosen, whether we realize it or not. Now, today, in this moment, is our chance to choose the right side. God is holding back to give us that chance. It will not last forever; we must take it or leave it.
–C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, Book II, Chapter 5
Sobering words indeed. As I’ve begun reading through the prophet Isaiah, I experience the heights & depths-the promises of Gods future kingdom, as well as the terrible destruction, terror, and death that will precede it.
What I can never escape are the words of Christ concerning eternal life-“few there be that find it.” And in the final, cataclysmic days of this age, there will be relatively few who even live till the time of the “glorious appearing of our great God & Saviour, Christ Jesus.”
“Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth shall mourn over Him. Even so. Amen.” (Rev. 1:7)
The GAFCON movement and the Jerusalem Document have essentially accomplished what was attempted at GC2003 (by Rev. Dr. Harmon) and at the current CoE Synod, but has done so on a global level.
GAFCON drew a line in the sand, a request to make their position known by reaffirming the tenets of orthodox Christian faith and doctrine.
However, this time, the call to vote is either voluntary or involuntary and does not require the permission of anyone. This time the vote will be counted by how one aligns with the basic tenets of the Christian faith laid out in those documents – not by a signature or a number count.
Here’s CS Lewis speaking well to this moment in Anglican history:
“Now, today, in this moment, is our chance to choose the right side. God is holding back to give us that chance. It will not last forever; we must take it or leave it.”
(Mere Christianity, Book II, Chapter 5)
[blockquote] it will be the time when we discover which side we really have chosen, whether we realize it or not. [/blockquote]
If this doesn’t convince one of the importance of what choices are made and how life is lived day to day, I don’t know what will.
I have often thought of what Lewis has here said. We speak of knowing God’s will, and there are many who see the Holy Ghost around as often as we see a car ad. But even the most simple-minded reflection must lead to this conclusion, that we cannot know God in any sense, save as a vast power farther beyond us than the heavens are above the earth. Who can face God and live? To know this is to know that, in the vast reaches of God’s being, we are virtually invisible, save to Him. To love God is to fear Him; it cannot be otherwise. LM