The Wickens

Are You Ready?

mnwickens@googlemail.com (Martin Wickens) — Wed, 16 May 2012 08:52:25 +0000

This is a really awesome story. It is a little long but well worth reading for a number of reasons. It gives a different side to the Iraq war which the media rarely show. Plus there are some amazing spiritual illustrations. The preachers among you will get many sermon illustrations out of this I am sure.

It is out of a book called “Rules of Engagement” by Tim Collins. He is a British soldier from Northern Ireland who led forces into Iraq in 2003. He made a speech which was published all over the world and is worth reading in its own right. When this particular story takes place Collins and his men have been in Iraq for several days and come to the town of Al Amarah.

It is long, but I guarantee it is worth reading:

“The British Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery is near the centre of Al Amarah, in the park beside the Chahaila Canal. Set in a shady grove of date palms, it has a sturdy iron fence around it and is split into three sections: the Islamic cemetery, which is now used as a football pitch; the Hindi cemetery which has been defaced but is still there, with a crumbling monument; and the Christian and others cemetery, which is intact and very well preserved. We entered through the gatehouse where the caretaker lived. It was a bit like entering the Secret Garden’.

“The first remarkable thing was the fact that while we were normally surrounded by crowds wherever we went in Al Amarah, when we walked through the gates of the cemetery they peeled off, as if an invisible force field prevented them from coming in. They left my side and raced off to grab a place on the fence to look in. Soon the fence was lined with faces staring in at us. Inside the ‘Chowkidar’ or caretaker, Mosun Ali, stepped forward. A small man with a welcoming expression, he was overjoyed to see us and ran in front to show me the way to the cemetery. It opened before me like an oasis. I recall it was at a time when we had just received reports that vandals had been desecrating our war graves in France and here was such a stark contrast, to stand in a recently liberated land among the graves of men who had lifted the yoke of Ottoman oppression from the people of a fledgling Iraq ninety years before and who were still accorded such respect and dignity.

“The graves as such were unmarked and lay under a hand-cut lawn the size of around three football pitches. The gravestones had been removed in 1930 because acidic elements in the soil were eating the stone. Instead, at one end of the cemetery was a long stone monument 90m long and 2m high in slate grey stone and reminiscent of the Vietnam memorial in Washington, with the names of the dead recorded on the wall in alphabetical order, by rank and regiment, with regiments arranged by seniority, each under their cap badge.

“The cemetery contained the remains of over 3,000 British and Commonwealth servicemen, including two Victoria Cross holders, a Royal Navy lieutenant and a lieutenant colonel from the North Staffordshires. At one section were the cap badges of the Connaught Rangers, Royal Irish Fusiliers and Royal Irish Rifles. As I read the names of these fallen Paddies, the majority from the wild west coast of Ireland in County Mayo, I could see names of men whose namesakes were serving in the battalion today. One of my sergeants from County Longford actually had a great-uncle buried in the cemetery. Flowers and shrubs grew in neat rows where the graves were divided into sections and date palms shaded the cool lawn. In the centre was a Portland stone monument of a cross with a sword embedded in it. Our small party moved around and looked in wonder at the tranquil surroundings, as birds sang and soft winds ruffled the palms of the date trees that shaded the precincts.

“Mosun Ali and his sons watched, their chest swollen with pride as we admired their work and diligence.

“As I stood there taking in the beauty of this peaceful garden and reading the names on the wall, Mosun Ali approached me with a large bundle. ‘Please, sidi,’ he said, ‘this for you.’ I took the bundle, which contained a book showing the layout of the cemetery and details of all the men who were buried there. It described each man, where he came from and even his parents and occupation. The VCs had their citations added, as did the holders of the DSO.

“It was a sad reflection of history that when I looked at the section with the Irish names, while the Ulstermen from the Fusiliers and Rifles had full accounts of themselves, many of the Mayo men had very few details beyond their dates of birth and death and service numbers. Many, I noted, were regular Army but the vast majority of the men of Connaught were wartime volunteers. One of the soldiers who was reading the book with me enquired as to why there were so few details of the Southern Irish casualties. Ironically the scant details were the result of a fear of terrorism, even in 1922. I explained that the book was compiled in 1921/22 when Ireland was in the grip of a civil war. To live in the west of Ireland and to admit to having a relative, even a son or husband, killed in the service of the Crown would have brought the IRA murder gangs to your door the same day. It is only very recently, the last few years, that Ireland has allowed itself to recognise this momentous sacrifice to freedom in the World Wars. In the De Valera era it was airbrushed out of history A Southern Irish soldier suggested that maybe the people didn’t think it was important. I explained that Ireland lost 49,000 men dead in the First World War. Its casualty rates across the Irish regiments were eighty-five per cent. Against the population of Ireland at the time it was a huge loss.

“Compared to the modern US population today (currently at around 240 million) it would be the equivalent of losing 3.5 million US servicemen — indeed the population of modern Ireland. It was important.

‘Where is the VC winner buried?’ I asked Mosun Ali. ‘Two.’ He held up two fingers and ran to one spot and pointed down and then to another spot near the wall about 50m away and pointed again. I had no idea how he knew that these shallow depressions held Victoria Cross holders but he seemed to.

‘So you know every grave by heart?’ I asked.

“He came to my side and with me still holding the book he leafed through to the page showing the first VC citation. He pointed to the grave number, Plot XVI, 14 L. He then turned to a diagram of the cemetery and pointed to the Portland stone cross, just to our rear, marked on it and noted XVI. He then indicated ‘J, K, L’ pointing to the row at our feet then he pointed to the diagram where the graves on these rows began at 20 and counted, ‘19, 18, 17, 16, 15,’ and stepped back, pointing at his feet, ‘14.’

“‘That’s amazing,’ I said. ‘We have cared for this place for three generations. We know every man here. I am glad to give you the book. We do not need it. We know it. It brought us much trouble too.’

“‘Trouble?’ I asked.

“‘Yes, sidi, the Ba’athists used to come when they were drunk and ask for the book. They beat us up — all of us, even the children — but we did not tell. The whole town has looked after this book. It has been moved around for its safety. I’m sorry, but no cover now. But it is safe and now we give it you.’

“This took me aback. ‘You got beaten up for this book? I’m so sorry that you suffered for this. But we are grateful. I only hope the poor pay we give you in some way compensates for what you have suffered.’

“‘Pay? We get no pay. Not for fifteen years. The last visit we had was the Australian Consul, who came in 1994 but he did not come back. Iraq was a dangerous place.’

‘So if you did not get paid, how did you live?’ I asked.

“‘I am a civil engineer and my son is engineer too. We do this in our…‘ He hesitated. ‘Free. . .‘ He corrected himself. ‘Spare time. Whole family helps.’

“‘But why do you do this thing for us if we give you no pay and never come to visit?’

“‘Because we knew you come back to save us one day. We — the whole town — know. It was a comfort. We wanted you to be pleased to see how we have kept this place for your people.’

“I was choked with emotion. As I looked around I noted that the ordinarily garrulous crowd were silent too, watching me as I surveyed the scene. I now knew why Abu Hatim wanted me to see this place. I turned to the caretaker. ‘We have come back and I want you now to accept grateful thanks of all the many nationalities who lie here. Tonight we have a party. Here is thirty dollars. Celebrate we are back.’

“At first he did not want to take the money. I insisted. The most touching thing to me was that they had not been warned that we were coming; they couldn’t have known, as I had only decided that morning towards me to go there. Yet the garden was freshly cut, the borders and lawn mature and carefully weeded, the hedges immaculate.

“I turned to a young soldier standing beside me. ‘Look at this place,’ I said. ‘It like Roselawn’, so it is,’ he noted. ‘But that’s the point,’ I emphasised. ‘When we came — it could have him been any day in the last eighteen years — they were ready. That’s dedication.’

“Then the ranger noted rather profoundly, ‘It’s like the day of judgement — you never know when you’ll be called. They were ready, all right.’ shrugged.”

The Necessity of Prayer - Prayer and the Word - Part 2 - EM Bounds

mnwickens@googlemail.com (Martin Wickens) — Fri, 11 May 2012 09:59:37 +0000

"Prayer has all to do with the success of the preaching of the Word."

"Prayer begets a church-going conscience, a church-loving heart, a church-supporting spirit. It is the praying people who make it a matter of conscience, to attend the preaching of the Word; who delight in its reading; exposition; who support it with their influence and their means. Prayer exalts the Word of God and gives it preeminence in the estimation of those who faithfully and wholeheartedly call upon the name of the Lord."

"We find, furthermore, the power of prayer to create a real love for the Scriptures, and to put within men a nature which will take pleasure in the Word."

"Would we have a relish for God's Word? Then let us give ourselves continually to prayer. He who would have a heart for the reading of the Bible must not-dare not-forget to pray."

J.C. Ryle On Preaching

mnwickens@googlemail.com (Martin Wickens) — Sun, 06 May 2012 14:37:54 +0000

"By preaching, the Church of Christ was first gathered together and founded, and by preaching, it has ever been maintained in health and prosperity." By preaching, sinners are awakened. By preaching, inquirers are led on. By preaching, saints are built up. By preaching, Christianity is being carried to the heathen world. - There are many now who sneer at missionaries, and mock at those who go out into the highways of our own land, to preach to crowds in the open air. But such persons would do well to pause, and to consider calmly what they are doing. The very work which they ridicule is the work which Christ Hismself undertook. The King of kings and Lord of lords Himself was once a preacher. For three long years He went to and fro proclaiming the Gospel. Sometimes we see Him in a house, sometimes on the mountain side, sometimes in a Jewish synagogue, sometimes in a boat on the sea. But the great work He took up was always one and the same. He came always preaching and teaching. "Therefore," He says, "came I forth".

"Let us leave the passage with a solemn resolution never to "despise prophesying." (1 Thessalonians 5:20.) The minister we hear may not be highly gifted. The sermons we listen to may be weak and poor. But after all, preaching is God's grand ordinance for converting and saving souls. The faithful preacher of the Gospel is handling the very weapon which the Son of God was not ashamed to employ. This is the work of which Christ has sais, "Therefore, came I forth".

The Necessity of Prayer - Prayer and the Word - Part 1 - EM Bounds

mnwickens@googlemail.com (Martin Wickens) — Fri, 04 May 2012 09:28:11 +0000

"The Word of God is a great help in prayer. It if be lodged and written in our hearts, it will form an outflowing current of prayer, full and irresistible. "

"When we consult God's Word, we find that no duty is more binding, more exacting, that that of prayer. On the other hand, we discover that no privilege is more exalted, no habit more richly owned of God."

"To know God's will in prayer, we must be filled with God's Spirit, who makes intercession for the saints, and in the saints, according to the will of God. To be filled with God's Spirit, to be filled with God's Word, is to know God's will."

The Necessity of Prayer - Prayer and Vigilance - EM Bounds

mnwickens@googlemail.com (Martin Wickens) — Thu, 03 May 2012 14:56:00 +0000

"The life to which the Holy Scriptures calls men is no picnic, or holiday junketing. It is no pastime, no pleasure jaunt. It entails effort, wrestling, struggling; it demands the putting forth of the full energy of the spirit in order to frustrate the foe and to come off, at the last, more than conqueror. It is no primrose path, no rose-scented dalliance. From start to finish it is war."

"How can the brave warrior for Christ be made braver still? How can the strong soldier be made stronger still? How can the victorious battler be made still more victorious? Here are Paul's explicit directions to that end: "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;"

"The soldier-prayer must reflect its profound concern for the success and well-being of the whole army. The battle is not altogether a personal matter, victory cannot be achieved for self, alone. There is a sense, in which the entire army of Christ is involved. The cause of God, his saints, their woes and trials, their duties and crosses, all should find a voice and a pleasder in the Christian soldier, when he prays. He dare not limit his praying to himself. Nothing dries up spiritual secretions so certainly and completely; nothing poisons the fountain of spiritual life so effectively; nothing acts in such a deadly fashion, as selfish praying."

"The Christian soldier must needs be always fighting. He should, of sheer necessity, be always praying."

"Without prayer the Christian graces will wither and die. Without prayer, we may add, preaching is edgeless and a vain thing, and the Gospel loses its wings..."

Spurgeon on the Voice (and BEARDS!)

mnwickens@googlemail.com (Martin Wickens) — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 07:55:39 +0000

A persistent problem I am facing is losing my voice. As a preacher this is something of an issue. At the weekend Pastor Micky Schrimshire mentioned Spurgeon's recommendation of regularly taking "a good share of cayenne pepper". Before that Spurgeon makes this comment,

"If any brother wants to die of influenza let him wear a warm scarf round his neck, and then one of these nights he will forget it, and catch such a cold as will last him the rest of his natural life.

You seldom see a sailor wrap his neck up. No, he always keeps it bare and exposed, and has a turn-down collar, and if he has a tie at all, it is but a small one loosely tied, so that the wind can blow all round his neck. In this philosophy I am a firm believer, having never deviated from it for these fourteen years, and having before that time been frequently troubled with colds, but very seldom since.

If you feel that you want something else, why, then grow your beards! A habit most natural, scriptural, manly, and beneficial. One of our brethren, now present, has for years found this of great service. He was compelled to leave England on account of the loss of his voice, but he has become as strong as Samson now that his locks are unshorn."

The Necessity of Prayer - Prayer and Obedience 2 - EM Bounds

mnwickens@googlemail.com (Martin Wickens) — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 09:21:14 +0000

"A righteous man is an obedient man, and he it is, who can pray effectually, who can accomplish great things when he betakes himself to his knees."

"If the will of God does not master the life, the prauing will be nothing but sickly sentiment."

"Obedience to God makes it easy to believe and trust God."

"The will must be surrendered to God as a primary condition of all successful praying."

NOTE: Obedience to laws and commands cannot win salvation or favour with God, that is not what EM Bounds is teaching here. If we harbour sin in the port of our hearts then that will bring a barrier in our fellowship with God and it will hinder our prayers. When we confess our sin God will forgive and we will be in a position once again to bring our petitions to God. Too, to pray in Jesus' name is to pray according to His will. If we pray against the will of God then we are in active disobedience and our prayers cannot be answered in the positive.

"He made the stars also."

mnwickens@googlemail.com (Martin Wickens) — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 08:17:25 +0000

"he made the stars also." - Genesis 1:16

Nancy is a 93 year old lady who attends Bethesda Free Church in Sunderland, England. On Sunday evening the Lord led me to preach from Job 9 and I spent a few minutes on the verses that mention the constellations of Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades.

After the service Nancy came to me and shared something a former pastor of the church had mentioned to her. Nancy was full of excitement, an excitement rarely found in a 93 year old, because God had brought to her in a fresh way how awesome our God is. She said to me,

"Isn't it amazing that when we consider how vast the universe is, that creating them was, to God, an easy thing. The Bible simply says, 'He made the stars also'".

Consider the number of stars, they are in their multiplied billions - "He made the stars also."

Consider their size. VY Canis Majoris is about 2,100 times larger than our Sun. That would mean 9,261,000,000 of our Suns would fit inside. - "He made the stars also."

Consider how great our God is that creating the universe was such an easy thing.

But here is something truly precious, because it scales it right down to where you are today. At 93 years old Nancy still received a personal blessing from the Lord! I've often thought how a 93 year old believer is just getting started - they have the whole of eternity ahead of them! Knowing Christ is to have life! Real life! The best life! God so easily "made the stars also", and yet He would stoop down so low to put Himself on our level.

"He made the stars also"... but He also made you and me and He wants to know us. Do you know God? Do you know your sins are forgiven and that one day Heaven will be your home?

"The People Stood Beholding"

mnwickens@googlemail.com (Martin Wickens) — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 07:26:57 +0000

We read in Luke's account of the earthly ministry of Christ that when they crucified Christ the crowds just stood and watched. As the Roman soldiers nailed Christ to the cross, as they lifted that instrument of death and dropped it into the hole that would keep it upright, the crowds just watched. It says that they stood, beholding the scene before them.

At the worst they looked on with indifference. But the word also implies a consideration of what they were seeing. We can probably imagine what they thought.

Without our benefit of hindsight all they could see was this Jesus of Nazareth, the supposed son of a carpenter hanging in defeat, powerless, condemned and abandoned by God. The truth could not be further from their perceptions.

Defeated? No. As Christ hung on the cross He won the greatest victory in Heaven and earth from eternity to eternity.

Powerless? No. As Christ hung on the cross He was the most powerful man alive! He had the hosts of Heaven at His command, His own spirit was under His command, the forces of Hell were being defeated, the sin of humanity endured and the the requirements of the Father met!

A Convicted man? Well, in a sense, yes, but not for His own sins, for He was sinless. Paul tells us, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that "he (God the Father) hath made him (God the Son) to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." (2 Corinthians 5:21).

What do you see today as you look at Christ? Your Saviour? Your friend? A stranger? A mystery?

Please let this Easter weekend be more to you than a 4 day weekend. Understand it for all of its eternal significance! Stop, and consider Christ!

Not All the Blood of Beasts

mnwickens@googlemail.com (Martin Wickens) — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 10:58:33 +0000

One of my biggest failings has been in not staying in touch with some of the people who have been very near and dear to me in the past. It's partly the difficulty of having moved several times and coming into contact with numerous people. It's inexcusable in many ways.

In Northern Ireland several families become very special too us and we hope to visit with them all one day. We pray the Lord works this out. This morning I am thinking about one of the men in particular, and of a hymn he would often quote. He never got over the foundational truth that God saved Him. Quite often in prayer he would ask "Why God would stoop so low, to pick up so little". The hymn he would quote begins with the declaration,

"Not all the blood of beasts
On Jewish altars slain
Could give the guilty conscience peace
Or wash away the stain."

In time a couple of the other men in the church quoted the hymn also, though I'm not sure that we ever sang it there. This morning I was looking through some hymns and stumbled across the full text of the hymn and wanted to share it here:

"But Christ, the heav’nly Lamb,
Takes all our sins away;
A sacrifice of nobler name
And richer blood than they.

"My faith would lay her hand
On that dear head of Thine,
While, like a penitent, I stand,
And there confess my sin.

"My soul looks back to see
The burdens Thou didst bear
When hanging on the cursèd tree,
And hopes her guilt was there.

"Believing, we rejoice
To see the curse remove;
We bless the Lamb with cheerful voice,
And sing His bleeding love."

I thank God for precious friends, friends I hope to see soon, at the very least to see in Heaven. But most of all I thank the Lord for His precious gift of salvation through the vicarious death of Jesus Christ!

The Necessity of Prayer - Prayer and Conduct and Character - EM Bounds

mnwickens@googlemail.com (Martin Wickens) — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 08:08:08 +0000

"Prayer governs conduct, and conduct makes character. Conduct is what we do; character is what we are."

"The very end and purpose of the atoning work of Christ is to create religious character and to make Christian conduct."

In Christ's teaching, it is not simply works of charity and deeds of mercy upon which he insists, but inward spiritual character. This miuch is demanded, and nothing short of it at all will suffice."

"It is the condition of the human heart and the blamelessness of the personal life, which form the burden of the writings of Paul."

"For the change from badness to goodness is not wrought "by works of righteousness which we have done" but according to God's mercy which saves us "by the washing of regeneration".

"Any alleged form of Christianity which does not effect this change in the hearts of men is a delusion and a snare."

"The office of prayer is to change the character and conduct of men."

"The church is God's manufactory on earth, and its primary duty is to create and foster righteousness of character. This is its very first business. Primarily, its work is not to acquire members, nor amass numbers, nor aim at money-getting, nor engage in deeds of charity and works of mercy, but to produce righteousness of character and purity of outward life."

"Unrighteous conduct is born of prayerlessness; the two go hand-in-hand. Prayer and sinning cannot keep company with each other."

"Bad living means bad praying and, in the end, no praying at all. We pray feebly because we live feebly."

The Necessity of Prayer - Prayer and Importunity - EM Bounds

mnwickens@googlemail.com (Martin Wickens) — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 09:38:30 +0000

"Importunate prayer is a mighty movement of the soul toward God. "

"This wrestling in prayer may not be boisterous nor vehement, but quiet, tenacious, and urgent. Silent, it may be, when there are no visible outlets for its mighty forces."

"Prayer has everything to do with molding the soul into the image of God, and has everything to do with enhancing and enlarging the measure of divine grace."

"...Christ teaches that importunity conquers all untoward circumstances and gets to itself a victory over a whole host of hindrances."

"Importunate praying never faints nor grows weary; it is never discouraged: it never yields to cowardice, but is buoyed up and sustained by a hope that knows no despair, and a faith which will not let go."

"Importunity is made up of intensity, perseverance, patience, and persistence. The seeming delay in answering prayer is the ground and the demand of importunity."

"Love of ease, spiritual indolence, religious slothfulness, all operate against this type of petitioning."

"We have need, too, to give thought to that mysterious fact of prayer-the certainty that there will be delays, denials, and seeming failures, in connection with its exercise."