What is white on the outside, grey on the inside and...

very hot in sunshine?
-A wolf in sheep's clothing!

www.flickr.com/photos/edgeplot/

There are such things false religious leaders, and they can have got all their religious credentials right! On the outside they look like the real thing -that's the whole point; it's on the inside that things are all wrong. Hardly surprising then that from time to time major religious scandals happen!

So you need to listen to John the friend and apostle of Jesus. In his letter he wrote: "do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are of God".

But some people, of course, have simply gone astray for a while. For example, if you look in the New Testament Paul warns against choosing novices as leaders of the church; it may go to their head. We can see parallels to this among successful young Christian musicians. They sometimes get burdened with an authority they do not have, and before long they open their mouths too wide and end up putting their foot in it! Hardly surprising: Since when did writing or singing a good and popular song make anyone a Ph.D? or being a successful T.V. host make anyone an infallible fount of wisdom?

There is an important difference between the wolf and the sheep who has gone astray, however, and it's important to respond to them differently. The wolf is a predator, so watch out! they are there to feed upon the flock; in practice, either by enriching themselves or by bolstering up their ego and self-importance.

The sheep astray may wander into the same pattern of behaviour because as long as the Spirit of God is not fuelling them, they are as weak as any one else. Our response should be to gently point them back to the path they have wandered from - which is not achieved by sweeping the truth under the carpet to save our collective reputation.

The Three-Headed Dragon

IN Dubioza Kolektiv - Strajk on YouTube they have a funny parody of the MGM lion: a three-headed dragon pops up instead! Later on we see the dragon attacking but getting shot down in flames. 

In the background of some of the rap the map of Bosnia appears, with the different districts and we realise that the dragon is not so funny after all. It is deadly serious. The three heads are the three different so-called "ethnic" divisions of Bosnia. The map changes to show different areas being held by the different warring parties during the horrible Civil War and goes on to show the situation, with Republika Srpska on the edge, coloured red.

But Duboiza Kolektiv ends on a more positive note: The map ends with one colour only for all of Bosnia, and it is not the colour of any of the warring parties.

Republika Srpska is one third of Bosnia, and a very important part. But the blessing God has ready for the Balkans is for all of Bosnia.

Get ready to be a blessing to your neighbours: -this is the most important political agenda for all. Then all the three groups will have one colour, but with the dragon of civil war and division laid low Bosnia will have one coat-of-arms, but it will have corners to it, just as there are three different communities, - and rightly so.

"love your neighbour as yourself" - that is not an option, its a command!

Easter

Jeg vet at Han lever

When your parents die

When your parents die, many people enter into a subtle kind of identity crisis.
Up till now, your parents have been a given factor in your existence. Though you may be far away from them and have only intermittent contact, they are still there: - a starting place you can return to; people with a known, (and for better, for worse, sometimes immutable) attitude to you.You may pretend (at worst) not to care about their feelings, but really you do, and deep down you feel their attitude to be also your reference point.

Death changes this. You no longer can go back to them and be at the receiving end of their love and concern. Nor are they any longer an emotional resource or refuge. In the same way you can never set right things that have been wrong, nor ever get that recognition and love from them that maybe was withheld or hidden from you when you were younger.

So now you are forced to look at yourself as you are in isolation, without them in the picture. You have to consider who and what you are, and define yourself on your own terms. Even the choice to see yourself as they did when alive, is a choice you are now making, not one they are forcing upon you by that certain tone of voice on the telephone, that question they ask, that smile or raised eyebrow. However, even with our parents gone, we still have a future, we still have an identity, we still have a hope. We cannot mourn them forever, we can only take up what they have left us and move on. That way, all their work becomes justified by the way we use our inheritance, by the future we have yet to build.

It is the same way with Serbia. With every day that passes the rearguard action to retain Kosovo as part of the country is being beaten back. There have even been suggestions to change the preamble to the Constitution. With Kosovo gone, what then is Serbia? As when our parents die, Serbia has to redefine itself. And there is a future, there is an identity and there is hope ahead: God's plan to bless this people and make you a blessing to all the nations around you.

"How to be somewhere you can't be"

After 10 years I have at last been able to visit the country I have prayed for all this time.

Thanks to B92, Google Earth, and other internet tools I had a certain idea of what it might be like. All the same these are only surrogates...

"Do not forget us" wrote one of my friends afterwards. -How can I? My body might be back in Norway, but I think my soul missed the plane! Still, there is another way to visit!:

So Near, yet so far Away

So yet again I have been able to go somewhere I didn't aim to: Budapest! So now I have seen the Danube for myself, but Serbia still eludes me. I had hoped to maybe go over to Beograd and take my return journey from there. But was it possible? No, on the contrary I got the impression something like a cold front between the two lands.

Although I have not blogged for some time now, though, that doesn't mean I have been idle or forgotten Serbia... I have been busy praying for her, using GoogleEarth to help me find suitable things to pray for

How to visit when you can't

With Paul, I can say "I want you to be ..aware, brothers and sisters, that I planned many times to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now)".

Ironically, I have had the chance to go to places I did not even particularly want to got to: Rome - England - Israel, while the place I really want to go - Srbija- eludes me.
What I can do in these internet days, though, is visit by proxy: Google Earth. First time I tried it made my laptop crash! So I had to get a new one.
But there are some real benefits to using Google, all in all. How else could I get to Beograd once a week, looking at the places and all the photos people have uploaded, following up YouTube connections, -but above all, praying my clockwise round the city. In fact I have learned much I could never have found out on a flying visit.
As use Google, (mainly on Fridays,) I find myself learning so much about this people so far off, seeking their welfare and praying as my imagination, empathy and, I trust, the Spirit of the Lord shows me how.