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THE

RECORD

MONTHLY MAGAZINE OF THE FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND MARCH 2018 • £1.50

We continue our series of extracts from Murdo Murchison’s autobiography. “One Good Owner”.

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IN HIS HANDS

THE RECORD

MARCH

his is being written on a dull mid-december day. To be

remain there for a while yet. In the fourteen weeks of this new journey, a remarkable number of people have told me stories of miraculous total healings which defy cuttingedge medicine and, even though my natural tendency is to sceptism, I believe most of them...please keep praying. In the meantime, what can I do to promote the great news of salvation? Mid-September, a little bit bored but previously having been a total mocker of social media, I let my daughter Sarah set me up on Facebook and I started posting photos and experiences. When you have the glorious gospel to share, a Facebook page is simply not enough, so I graduated to blogging, and 1,000 people a day have been following my posts from as far and wide as Azerbaijan, Australia, Canada, Mexico and Europe (to name a few). I was never even remotely interested in writing articles pre-seizure, but God has given me an unexpected but seemingly effective new ministry. Supposing you had told me as recently as this past summer that I would be Facebooking and blogging by autumn, believe me, I would have LOL’d (similarly, if you’d told me I’d be using the acronym LOL, I would have laughed out loud at you!). What about that impending day of departure then? Leaving earthly goods behind, making wills, changing business directors, selling stuff and the responsible passing down of assets has been a nightmare as well as a huge emotional roller-coaster. My advice to you is, while keeping the comparative limited value of material blessings in perspective, sort out your earthly affairs now and give your dear family less stress should a crisis occur. My family have been great and I could not have wished for better. The business is now leased out and, for now, trades under the previous name. Both Margaret and the children have rallied round and given me the very best of help and comfort in terms of this world. There is, however, the thought of departure and that strong conviction that the place of many mansions beckons. We think of heaven as a shadow-land far more real than this lower world. I always remember C.S. Lewis in one of his books, The Great Divorce, talking of the grass of heaven cutting the feet of new arrivals. No fear then? Well, certainly there was no fear on the 5th of December when I had the surgery: God gave sufficient strength. However, I have to confess that with a degree of recovery, some trepidation reappears. What if all I have is a crutch or placebo effect? The foil to such gloomy thoughts is the logic of an inspired, God-breathed Book and a Saviour who went through the horror of death to make it painless for me. That great statement in The Shorter Catechism, ‘The souls of believers are at their death made perfect in holiness and pass immediately into glory’, resonates now in an extremely powerful manner. However close your dear family are, you go to the grave without them, but you do have a friend who sticks closer than any brother – Jesus Christ, the righteous one. See you on the other side, then, in a world where the last enemy will have been conquered...FOREVER.•

perfectly frank with you, I am a long way removed from that great assurance of Psalm 91, ‘With long life will I satisfy him’, or the blessing to the servant of God in Psalm 128:6 (NIV):‘May you live to see your children’s children.’ Growing up witnessing the long, productive lives of my forebears it was always observed and indeed acknowledged that God had given me an excellent set of genes. Was ninety years possible? Or in the brave new world of 21st-century medical science, would it be cheeky to look forward to 100 years of life? Hopes, dreams, illusions, and even common-sense plans were totally shattered on the 30th of August when I took a massive seizure, so bad that the family thought I had died. Life is now defined and talked of in terms of my pre- and post-seizure lifestyle. Following the seizure I was diagnosed with a low-grade brain tumour. Eight weeks later, following further scans, the tumour had leap-frogged to being a grade 4, aggressive, cancerous one and I was given three months to live. Desire to remain active had previously been very strong and I was always thankful to God that both resilience and a good level of fitness had stayed with me over the decades. Born in 1958, I looked ahead just a couple of years to sixty years of blessed and varied life. Fast forward again into my sixties and who knows what great business deals I could have done! Having been blessed materially, a number of exciting future adventures could even be planned. Then there was church work. Having been involved with setting up a new church in Stirling, even more skills could have been developed and others could have been motivated. So, the burning question has to be, ‘Why, God? Why cut this off? Seriously, and with submissive respect, GOD, WHY?’ The psalmist prays, ‘My God, in mid time of my days take thou me not away (Psalm 102:24).This reminds me I am not the only one struggling. People of faith down the millennia have questioned the providence, and indeed the will of God, for them. When peace of mind goes we struggle, and it is then that the words of David resonate, ‘Amid the multitude of thoughts which in my heart do fight, my soul lest it be overcharg’d thy comforts do delight (Psalm 94:19).’ The surgeon, Imran Liaquat, thanked me for willingly allowing him to push boundaries with risk of losing motor movement in an uncommon operation called an ‘awake craniotomy’. Of course, I am the one indebted to him as there was not much to lose, knowing that the tumour had both doubled and changed course in just six weeks. Mr Liaquat reckons that with the correct combination of chemo and radiotherapy, a year of reasonable quality life may be possible. God, of course, knows. As the psalmist said, ‘My times are in thy hand’ (Psalm 31:15). I will not depart one second before his summons. So, is there any hope of a cure? YES, the God I trust could, in an instant, cure me. He is sovereign; his control is absolute; he is bringing human history to a climax and my life has played only a very tiny part. Yes, I do want to be cured and, having enjoyed working in the vineyard,

2018

“ONE GOOD OWNER” IS PUBLISHED BY CHRISTIAN FOCUS PUBLICATIONS

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for a while which mocked the smart and clever kid. It was cool to be dumb. Anyone who loved learning or books was a ‘geek’ to be despised as unhip and uncool. That fashion seems to be spreading in much of our culture. What do we need learning for? Why do we need wisdom? Why bother with philosophy when you can study something useful? This dumbing down of culture is not new — it’s happened before. But in the age of the internet, perhaps it is happening quicker and deeper than ever before. Not many people are aware of this, but our education system in the West was derived from and based upon Christian principles. Our major universities, from Oxford/Cambridge and Edinburgh to Harvard and Yale, were founded upon Christianity. As they are now rejecting the rock on which they were built, one wonders if they will be able to survive as ‘universities’ — places where a variety of views are studied and discussed and where people come to learn what they do not know, rather than display what they do. But what’s the point of learning? Maybe the teenage boys who think it’s smart to be dumb are not far off the mark? After all, this week’s passage from Ecclesiastes (2:12-16) seems to suggest that there really isn’t much point in considering wisdom; after all, the wise, like the foolish, die. If death were the

end, that might be a valid point. But if this life is only a journey towards an ultimate eternal destination of heaven or hell, then we need to reconsider. It’s important to realise that when the ‘wisdom’ literature in the Bible speaks of wisdom, it is not referring to passing exams or having a good head for remembering facts. Wisdom is the application of knowledge. The psychoanalyst and friend of Freud, Otto Rank, wrote, ‘For the time being I gave up writing – there is already too much truth in the world – an overproduction which apparently cannot be consumed.’ If that was true in the pre-Wiki, pre-Google 1930s, how much more is it so today? We are swamped with knowledge but we lack wisdom. Solomon recognises that wisdom is the supreme need of the king because he has to govern. ‘Counsel and sound judgment are mine; I have understanding and power. By me kings reign and rulers make laws that are just; by me princes govern, and all nobles who rule on earth (Proverbs 8:14-16, NIV).’ Future kings will have the same issues to face. Would that our politicians realised their need for such wisdom! We might be spared the dumbed-down, know-it-all, tribalistic political sound-bite culture that has developed. Solomon finds out that wisdom is better than folly. Wisdom is needed to give strength, success, and prosperity. Wise people walk around with their heads clear and they get on. Stupid people live

here was a fashion amongst teenage boys

THE

GOSPEL FOR TODAY’S SOCIETY

ECCLESIASTES: THE RECORD

MARCH

in secret is delicious!’ But little do they know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of the grave. (Proverbs 9:13-18) But so what if foolishness leads to ‘the depths of the grave’ (sheol/hell)? After all, as AC/DC also sang, ‘Hell ain’t a bad place to be…’. That’s because they saw hell as the ultimate pleasure party where 70 non-virgins would meet their every need. But hell isn’t ‘welcome to the pleasure dome’. Hell is Auschwitz. We need wisdom to avoid both hell on earth and hell hereafter. To put it simply — wisdom is ultimately not a theology degree, or a lifetime’s experience, or an ecclesiastical Wiki…that wisdom is Christ. As Paul tells the Colossians: My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. (Colossians 2:2-3)

dumbed-down lives in a dumbed-down culture. But the same fate overtakes them both. Neither can avoid death. So what is the point? If Solomon, with all his knowledge and wisdom could not find meaning, then what chance do the rest of us have? Maybe it is better just to enjoy the meaningless pleasures of the moment and not spend too much time thinking about what it all means. That is certainly a prevalent attitude in our culture. Another one of our cultural icons, Malcolm Young of the great rock band AC/DC, died last year. One of their most famous songs is the rock anthem ‘Highway to Hell’. Millions have enthusiastically sung along as they proclaimed they were on their way to hell. Don’t need reason, don’t need rhyme Ain’t nothing I would rather do Going down, party time My friends are gonna be there too. The Bible would argue that the lack of wisdom, the inability to apply knowledge, is a highway to hell. The woman Folly is loud; she is undisciplined and without knowledge. She sits at the door of her house, on a seat at the highest point of the city, calling out to those who pass by, who go straight on their way. ‘Let all who are simple come in here!’ she says to those who lack judgement. ‘Stolen water is sweet; food eaten

There are two ways: the way of foolishness which is a highway to hell, or the Christ who is the Way to the Father’s House with many mansions. • This series on Ecclesiastes was first published on the Christianity Today website.

WISDOM,

FOLLY. 2018

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MADNESS,