h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi there, dagesh,

You asked me to call you on hootoo. Not familiar with hootoo; will this work?

Perfect, you've reached my message centre.

Thanks for supporting me in ML, I hope you take my comments in the right way, I didn't mean to be critical but there's a really delicate balance in ML which I'm still trying to get right.

Isn't it interesting!

You mentioned my giving up theology for lent, which is right, in a way; and then when it has been buried, and has lain in the tomb 3 days, it will be resurrected. However seeing as I have the choice, I am opting to do it all on the net as free downloads. If my theology is as good as they hint it is, then it is from God, and I think it is fitting to do it completely independently of the important world of the academy.

While I'm waiting for Who let's pick up on the point I wanted to discuss.



To what extent are we able to insist that non-believers follow our moral code and complain when they don't?

I'm not saying you were wrong to say what you did, because it blessed me and was given to you by God. I'm trying to explain the rough reception you got.

I'm happy about the reception I got, because I knew what I was saying was of God. I don't normally post on Christian things, but I can't bear it when people put down believers, and I think that the reason they get away with it is often because we don't stick up for each other. You were right to say what you did about not minding for yourself because we are to expect persecution in this world, but that is not to say that we must allow other believers to be persecuted. There is another thread, in TVH, where a newbie was decimated – and I think she may have departed altogether. I did put in a spoke for her and was told that it wasn't for me to defend her because they didn't know me either – but that was because I had posted largely in political threads in TB rather than in moral or health threads. I do think we need to look out for each other, though.

I have always valued your posts, and yes, you are a man of God. He has His hand on you in a very noticeable way, so don't put yourself down.



Our moral code is not a list of 'ought's and 'should's; it is given for our blessing and health. If non-believers don't follow it, they suffer. If we care about them, we should say so. Imo. I think that part of the reason our society has gone the way it has is that *we* have not had the courage of our convictions - and *they* have. So we all reap what we/they have sown. It is said that we get the society/government the Christians deserve – on the principle that we are responsible to pray God’s will into being, and when we are prayerless and loveless the enemy has a field day. Nobody else can pray things into being; they don’t have the authority.

May you be richly blessed, brother!


PS: Sorry, I am having dreadful trouble with my internet ‘connection,’ which is dot-and-go-one. It keeps going off, so it has been really difficult to post this. I have tried countless times, but perhaps I need to save it and try again in a couple of hours. (Do you ever listen to Premier Radio? www.premierradio.org.uk/listen/live? A Nigerian brother, Tayo somebody, gives a good message at 21:15 on Saturdays, and I like the music from 8 - 9 p.m., too.) Having said all that I just want to give you a big hug. You have put yourself in the firing line, because you want to be faithful to the Lord Jesus, and He loves you for it. So do I. I guess there are lots of others, too; you probably have no idea how many. You are a real blessing, because you are honest, not just about God but about yourself, too – and we all value it. Emerald eyes isn’t all; you are a diamond in God’s crown. Wear it well.

Thank you for that!

Oh yes I remember in Kings somewhere where poor old Elijah is exhausted after standing up to Jezebel and he makes a tactical withdrawal into the desert. Sensible chap! Anyway he says something like O God this is terrible, they've killed all your prophets and now they're trying to kill me!" He thought he was the only one left. And the Lord replies (amongst other things) "I have 7,000 in Israel who have not bent the knee to Baal".

I missed that thread in TVH; I don't often go in there.



That's very interesting. Gosh.

Such a shame. Jesus must be very sad when one of his children decides to try being brave and gets it in the neck for testifying to his love and then the others just stand there and look on. Not very encouraging for the poor brave one is it? Mind you, it's not uncommon, even in the church.

Have had real trouble getting online today; this is the first time I have achieved it. Sorry!

Yes, you are right. That’s why I like to stick up for people if I can – and then they turn their guns on me! But who cares? They don’t!

’Nuther big hug, brother; I sense that you need it. You are very special to God. He has big things for you – not big in the world’s eyes necessarily, but B – I – G in real terms.

You have suffered deeply in this world. I don’t know where, I don’t know when, but I do know that God doesn’t use anybody this powerfully until He has first allowed him to be hurt at a very deep level. Witness Jacob at Peniel.

More hugs. (Never done a smiley before!)

thank you dear polyjo your words are balm to my soul. That's why I request the prayers of the saints.

Mind you in God's wisdom there's a reason for everything so maybe that's not quite right. I remember the phenomenon of the 'does' standing and looking on with doe like eyes upset me in the past, but it hadn't for ages, esp since I read in a book something that resonated with me about these situations. However something brought it back to me again.

<<… Elijah is exhausted after standing up to Jezebel and he makes a tactical withdrawal into the desert>> Not sure that it was ‘a tactical withdrawal;’ I think he was running away, in a fit of melancholia! But when you are in the desert most people leave you alone, ime. Either they think that is where you want to be, on your own, licking your wounds or, perhaps more often, they are simply too busy about their own affairs and it’s a case of ‘out of sight, out of mind.’

Will continue to pray for you, brother.

More hugs.

Are you familiar with the writings of the Desert Fathers? It was an accepted expression of faith in the early Church, in Egypt as well as in Britain - some Christians found themselves retiring to the desert and learning to enjoy the benefits so much, that they stayed there.

Richard Wurmbrand said on being released from prison "Do not think that I am any happier out of prison than I was inside. I have exchanged being with Christ in a solitary prison cell, to being with Christ with my wife and family". He wrote a book Sermons from Solitary Confinement, also published as With God in Solitary Confinement, and it's the only piece of Christian writing that I re-read.

Yes, I do read the Desert Fathers. I inherited a copy of their writings from a great-aunt some years ago, and enjoy them very much. But I think that, like being a hermit, there is something of escapism in the whole concept. Perhaps a bit like Elijah running away?

I think I have read all of Richard Wurmbrand’s books, too. I also used to read his column in Voice of the Martyrs; that was the magazine of the Christian Mission to the Communist World. I don’t know if it is still going.

Glad to have been a blessing to you.