Pastor John:
Damien’s Facebook article on the Archbishop of Canterbury stirred up a memory.
I remember when I lived York, and Rowan Williams was just made the Archbishop of Canterbury. I attended a Christmas service at York Minster, and I still remember looking at him and wrestling with thoughts that he was “the anti-Christ”. I say “wrestle” because I was a Christian then, and I guess I wasn’t entirely comfortable having those thoughts. But they were there. I did not like his pointy hat (whatever it’s called), or all his robes. I just did not like him, though I tried to – and excused him saying he’s just a nice old man or whatever, but I distinctly recall keeping up a wall of resistance (or something) against him. I mean to say that although he was not the anti-Christ, I guess there was just something about him that made me feel that way.
This was around the time I really began to be willing to listen to God and whatever He was telling me. But it was only the beginning.
Jenny
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Hi Jenny.
That man was, of course, following the spirit of antichrist, so you were feeling right things even if you did not yet know how to piece it all together.
The way of the Lord is the way of the Spirit; the way of man is the way of pomp and ceremony. You were feeling that, along with some other good and right things, even way back then. That’s how it is with those who are Jesus’ sheep, even before they find their way into his flock. They feel right things without understanding them, and very many times, they beat themselves up for having those right thoughts and feelings because they do not know that it is Jesus talking to them.
Pastor John