This Little Light of Mine

One of the old songs that we still use a lot with young people is 'This little light of mine'. The words are great and the congregations know it, so it is very well accepted (even if the music is a bit dull for the kids these days!). So, imagine my delight when I was introduced to this 'modern' version.....

There is a lot of good material in those lyrics and I will certainly let kids know about this band (LZ7). One young woman I have in mind is an 11 year old who came up to me recently and asked 'Mr Barlow, I want to become a Christian... is that OK?'. 

We have been praying a lot for our young people on the island and you can imagine that I was more than a little encouraged since this young woman is known through our school work, and not from church. I have met her mum and we are planning to take some time preparing for a forthcoming baptism. Please pray for her and her friends (and me as we continue on our journey of reaching out to our young people and their parents).

Oh, and do 'let your little light shine too', and help change a generation :)

In Christ Alone

Great new song from Hillsong;

What happens when money is held up as God?

The latest revelations in the news about Barclay's Bank and executives rigging the libor rate prompts me to comment, conscious of the fact that our culture has been, and continues to trust in money as the solution to all problems.

I recently read a book which gave some interesting insights into business, whereby a group conscious of the destructive personality of big business, developed a checklist using diagnostic criteria from the World Health Organisation and the DSM-IV, the standard diagnostic tool of psychiatrists and psychologists, to determine the personality profile of a typical corporation.

They found the following: The operational principles of the corporation give it a highly anti-social "personality": It is self-interested, inherently amoral, callous and deceitful; it breaches social and legal standards to get its way; it does not suffer from guilt, yet it can mimic the human qualities of empathy, caring and altruism. Four case studies, drawn from a universe of corporate activity, clearly demonstrate harm to workers, human to health, animals and the biosphere. Concluding this point-by-point analysis, a disturbing diagnosis is delivered: the institutional embodiment of laissez-faire capitalism fully meets the diagnostic criteria of "psychopath." How about that!

In sharing this with one of my daughters she responded - I've been reading a book recently on the same subject myself re: all business leaders being psychopathic. Having worked with diagnosed psychopaths myself (we use the DSM-IV at work), it seems obvious that the traits seen as most depolorable in a social context are those actively sought by the multinational corporations (callous, lack of empathy, grandiose sense of self-worth, strong belief in predator/prey world view, charming on first contact, shallow affect, manipulative etc). If these people are running the world, we really are
in trouble!

It is into this context that Christians need to speak, because money is not the solution to all problems and our culture has lived a politically led lie for decades. Scripture says that the 'love of money is the root of all evil' and sadly many millions around the world are feeling the effects of this serious political mistake.