‘I am the light of the world; anyone who follows me will not be walking in the dark; he will have the light of life.’ – John 8.12

‘I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one can come to the Father except through me.’ – John 14.6

Welcome to the Fellowship

Welcome to my blog. Through the inspiration of Holy Scripture and the power of the Holy Spirit, my aim is to reveal the life, mission and atoning death of Jesus Christ.

The blog is conservative in ethos but it is not presented from any particular Christian tradition or church denomination. The daily readings are drawn from my own selection.

Colin Markham, Hythe, Kent, England.

Unless otherwise indicated, quotations from Scripture are from the Jerusalem Bible. Copyright 1966, 1967 and 1968 by Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd. and Doubleday & Company, Inc. By kind permission of the publisher, FSP quotations from the Jerusalem Bible render ‘Yahweh’ as ‘Lord’.

Quotations marked ‘NIV’ are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version (Anglicised), copyright 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved worldwide. ‘NIV’ is a registered trademark of Biblica Inc. UK trademark number 1448790.

*** Recommended websites for current affairs and Bible prophecy ***

Phyllis Nissila on For Such a Time as This (USA) – evangelical Christian
Dr. Steve Turley on YouTube (USA) – conservative libertarian
LifeSite News (Canada) – traditionalist Roman Catholic
Michael Matt on Remnant TV (USA) – traditionalist Roman Catholic
The James Delingpole Channel (UK) – conservative libertarian
Simon Webb on History Debunked (UK) – putting the record straight
New Culture Forum (UK) – conservative analysis of culture and politics
Moriel TV (UK) – global events in relation to Biblical prophecy
Neil Oliver’s World (UK) – history, society and culture dissected
UnHerd (UK) – alternative voice on politics and culture
John Haller on Fellowship Bible Chapel (USA) – world events and Biblical prophecy
Together Declaration (UK) – upholding fundamental rights and freedoms
Turning Point UK – promoting traditional values and personal responsibility
Political Nerds (USA) – nerdy political guide from Washington DC to Westminster
British Friends of Israel (UK) – solidarity with British Jews
Free Speech Union (UK) – defending the democratic right to free speech

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The Epiphany of the Lord

After Jesus had been born in Bethlehem in Judaea in the reign of King Herod, some wise men came to Jerusalem from the east. ‘Where is the infant king of the Jews?’ they asked. ‘We saw his star as it rose and have come to do him homage.’ – Matthew 2.1-2

The visit of the Magi

Read: Matthew 2.1-12

When King Herod heard this he was perturbed, and so was the whole of Jerusalem. He called together all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, and enquired of them where the Christ was to be born. ‘At Bethlehem in Judaea,’ they told him, for this is what the prophet wrote: ‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, you are by no means least among the leaders of Judah, for out of you will come a leader who will shepherd my people Israel.’ – Matthew 2.3-6, cf. Micah 5.1

Despite the heavenly hymn of praise, the Christmas story was a quiet manifestation of God to a few. Yet it affected not only Israel, but the entire world. This is what is celebrated in today’s solemnity: God’s manifestation in the world intended for the world as a whole, including specifically the Gentile nations who, unlike the Jews, had received no prophetic announcements, and who are now the first to arrive to pay homage.

The Gospel depicts the arrival of the Gentile astrologers who have seen the rising of the star of redemption and have followed it. Through an unusual star in the midst of customary constellations God sent a message to them that shocked them and made them ready to listen, while Israel had become so accustomed to God’s word that it had become deaf to such revelations, wishing not to be disturbed in the normal course of its dynasties. (So too it often is with the Church when a saint blindsides her with an unexpected message.) Directed at the Jews or the Church, the naive inquiry of these outsiders: “Where is the infant king of the Jews?” causes embarrassment, even fright. This results in a cleverly disguised plan of murder on the part of Herod, but, led by the star, the astrologers reach their goal: they pay homage and escape unharmed, led by God’s providence. The event is symbolic, for it prefigures the election of the Gentiles – more than once Jesus will find greater faith among them than in Israel. Often it is converts, seldom welcomed, who reveal to the Church new and fruitful paths (see Luke 7.1-10, Acts 10.1-48).

Hans Urs von Balthasar ,1905-1988. Swiss theologian.

The sight of the star filled them with delight, and going into the house they saw the child with his mother Mary, and falling to their knees, they did him homage. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts of *gold and frankincense and myrrh. – Matthew 2.10-11

*Gold represents kingship and acknowledges Jesus as King of Kings. Frankincense is used in worship and religious ceremonies. It symbolises divinity and is associated with Jesus’ role as a high priest, the supreme mediator between God and the people of faith. Myrrh symbolises mortality and foreshadows Jesus’ suffering and death as it was historically used in burial practices. Collectively, these gifts honour Jesus’ identity and mission as King, Priest and Saviour.

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Friday 2nd January:
Jeremiah 3.14-22 / Psalm 106.1-5 / Ephesians 1.17-23

Saturday 3rd January:
Isaiah 12.1-6 / Psalm 63.1-5 / Ephesians 2.1-10

Daily readings for Week 2

Epiphany Sunday, 4th January:
Isaiah 60.1-11 / Psalm 98.1-end / Matthew 2.1-12

Monday 5th January:
Isaiah 40.1-8 / Psalm 96.10-13 / John 1.19-34

Tuesday 6th January:
2 Kings 2.1-15 / Psalm 108.1-5 / John 1.35-51

Wednesday 7th January:
Amos 9.11-15 / Psalm 31.19-24 / John 2.1-12

Thursday 8th January:
Haggai 2.1-9 / Psalm 48.1-2a, 9-14 / John 2.13-25

Friday 9th January:
Isaiah 65.17-25 / Psalm 145.8-13a / John 3.1-21

Saturday 10th January:
Isaiah 66.1-2, 5-10 / Psalm 102.18-22 / John 3.22-36

Light and truth

‘On these grounds is sentence pronounced: that though the light has come into the world, men have showed they prefer darkness to the light because their deeds were evil. And indeed, everybody who does wrong hates the light and avoids it, for fear his actions should be exposed; but the man who lives by the truth comes out into the light, so that it may be plainly seen that what he does is done in God.’ –
John 3.19-21

Read: John 3.1-21.

Faith in the divinity of Christ gave the apostles confidence in the truth of his teaching and the assurance that nothing could prevent them from overcoming the world (see Acts 4.23-31). Some time previously Nico-demus had proclaimed exactly the same kind of faith. “We know that you are a teacher who comes from God; for no one could perform the signs that you do unless God were with him” (v. 2). What Nicodemus lacked was the power of the Holy Spirit, which would enable him to do the same in the name of Christ. “What is born of the flesh is flesh; what is born of the Spirit is spirit” (v. 6). In a spiritual sense, the rich get richer. Faith, good works, love of God feed one another allowing the Spirit a free rein to live in us and work through us in all of our thoughts, words, and deeds. These virtues can only be had by those who have been begotten of God’s Holy Spirit. Salvation is not from man but from God. Man cannot earn holiness, as it were, by the practice of natural virtues; he must have these gifts given him from above (see Eph 3.14-21 – also Col 3.1-4; Phil 2.1-5; Jas 1.16-18; Ps 19.1-4).

Everything depends on faith. Christ is the only one who has actually seen God and we must have faith in him. The sign by which we believe is the Resurrection of Jesus. “The Son of Man must be lifted up…. so that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him” (vv. 13, 15). The key is our belief that God so loves us that his only Son gave his life on the cross for us; and the Resurrection shows that Jesus truly is God’s Son.

“The man who lives by the truth comes out into the light, so that it may be plainly seen that what he does is done in God,” Jesus told Nico-demus. And the apostles followed that very advice. It is true that, if we are guilty of sin or a crime of some kind, we see no other course of action than to hide it. Jesus came into the world, not to condemn people, but to enlighten them (v. 17). And when the light shines upon error or sin, the person stands self-condemned (v. 18). Jesus enlightened the world by manifesting how much God loved the world. He did this by his preaching and by his death on the Cross. But many of those whose guilt was exposed – for the most part, exposed only to themselves – could not bear the Truth. Instead of being attracted to him, they put him to death and ran from the Truth. It was to such people that the apostles appealed, and to such people we must preach all through the centuries.

John A. Marshall, 1928-1994. Bishop of Springfield, Mass., 1992-94.

‘Whoever believes in me believes not in me but in the one who sent me, and whoever sees me, sees the one who sent me. I, the light, have come into the world, so that whoever believes in me need not stay in the dark any more.’ – John 12.44-46

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The purpose of the Fellowship of St. Peter is to promote Christian faith and spirituality. 
The central focus is on the person and work of
Jesus Christ.

Christianity in the modern world

As the number of churchgoers dwindle in the western world, Bible-believing Christians need to overcome their differences and consider a form of unity that recognises their common purpose.  It’s time for the faithful remnant to act as a creative minority and voice a unified response. In an atmosphere that is increasingly hostile to Christianity, the goal must be to preserve the orthodoxy of the faith in the face of continuing erosion of religious liberty.

The Fellowship extends a hand of friendship to those who have withdrawn from churches which have aligned themselves with secularism and liberal values, thus fatally compromising the integrity of a faith that is essentially counter-cultural.

We must read the signs of the times.  The era is drawing to a close.  It is time to stand up and be counted as the people of God.  Do not be afraid.  The gathering darkness will not enshroud the light of faith nor quench the flame of truth.  These will remain, along with all those whose steadfast faith shields them in the coming storm.

And Jesus said, ‘behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’ (Matthew 28.20).

The word of God

The word of God is a powerful force for enlightenment, a necessary counterweight to secular humanism.  The Fellowship seeks to recapture something of the simplicity and vitality of the church in apostolic times, before the purity of the Christian message was corrupted by spurious doctrines.  The emphasis is on spirituality that supports the life and ministry of Christians everywhere who believe in the power and dynamism of the word of God.

The Bible speaks to the world.  All Christians have something of interest and value to share through their witness.  The aim of the Fellowship is to promote prayer, Bible study and spiritual reflection which will bear fruit in daily lives.  These disciplines can form the basis of a way of life that requires a strategic withdrawal from the mainstream.

Let the word of God fill your hearts and minds, let it guide and inspire you and refresh you like a clear mountain stream.  Be still with God in prayer.  Be an instrument of his loving purposes, a purveyor of peace, and let your peace rest on all those you encounter. For those in need of compassion and healing, heed their cares and bind their wounds.  Live in uprightness and modesty and exercise restraint in your material needs.  Guard your tongue, practise discernment, speak only words of counsel and encouragement, the words of Christ.

Your eyes, hands and impulses should be those of Christ.  Pray always for strength and enlightenment.  Praise and thank God and place into his care your needs and those of others.

Bible.  Prayer.  Witness.  These are the three principles on which the Fellowship is founded.

By his divine power, he has given us all the things that we need for life and for true devotion, bringing us to know God himself, who has called us by his own glory and goodness. In making these gifts, he has given us the guarantee of something very great and wonderful to come: through them you will be able to share the divine nature and to escape corruption in a world that is sunk in vice. But to attain this, you will have to do your utmost yourselves, adding goodness to the faith that you have, understanding to your goodness, self-control to your understanding, patience to your self-control, true devotion to your patience, kindness towards your fellow men to your devotion, and, to this kindness, love. If you have a generous supply of these, they will not leave you ineffectual or unproductive: they will bring you to a real knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But without them a man is blind or else short-sighted; he has forgotten how his past sins were washed away. Brothers, you have been called and chosen: work all the harder to justify it. If you do all these things there is no danger that you will ever fall away. In this way you will be granted admittance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ.  (2 Peter 1.3-11).

Why Peter?

Peter represents Everyman in all his frailty, vulnerability and confusion.  He was headstrong yet inspired, well-meaning but impetuous.  His heart was in the right place but he didn’t always live up to his own rhetoric.  He triumphed over his weaknesses by the grace of God and saw the perfect vision of Christ and what that vision meant for the church and the world.

Peter was a leading figure during Christ’s walk on earth.  He occupied a position of seniority amongst the disciples.  He was there at all the major events during Christ’s ministry and in the final days leading up to the crucifixion, resurrection and ascension into heaven.  It was to Peter and his fellow apostles that Jesus entrusted the legacy of truth enshrined in his teachings, the keys of the kingdom.  After Pentecost Peter and his companions went out to the world to proclaim the Gospel.

Acts of the Apostles.  Peter became a leading light in the early days of the church, the apostle to the Jews living in the diaspora.  His authority in the nascent Christian community has to be viewed against the ascendancy of Paul as apostle to the Gentiles, a position that gave Paul equal authority in the direction of missionary work.

In terms of Peter’s primacy of leadership, however, “….one should not look in Peter or in the primitive church for the developed conception of the primacy which appears no earlier than the third century.  The development of power possessed by the church and by Peter into monarchical leadership lies outside of biblical theology.” (John McKenzie, Dictionary of the Bible)

The Gospel of Mark.  The church historian Eusebius (d. ca. 339) wrote: “Mark, who became Peter’s interpreter, wrote accurately, though not in order, all that he remembered of the things said and done by the Lord.  For he had neither heard the Lord nor been one of his followers, but afterwards followed Peter, who used to compose his discourses with a view to the needs of his hearers.”

1 and 2 Peter.  Of the two letters that bear Peter’s name, the first seeks to encourage and strengthen early Christian communities suffering persecution, reminding them of their heritage.  The second has more to do with the dangers of heresy and how Christians can have confidence in the truth of Scripture.  These encouragements and warnings resonate with us living in times of moral decline and religious indifference.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 
(1 Peter 1.3-5).

Peter was martyred in Rome during the Neronian persecutions, probably in the year 64.

Jerusalem Cross

There are various interpretations of the symbolism.  The four smaller crosses are thought to denote either the four gospels or the way the Gospel spread to the four corners of the earth.  In terms of God’s revelation and world history, the city of Jerusalem is of huge political, religious and symbolic importance.  The focus is highlighted in the gospels and in the emergence of the first Christian communities described in the Acts of the Apostles.  It was from Jerusalem that the apostles scattered to proclaim Christ.

The spiritual life

We must keep the Bible open before us.  It is our enlightenment, our source of consolation, our prayer book.  It contains the revelation of God’s purposes in salvation history.  It is the well-spring of all the truth, goodness and wisdom that God wishes to transmit to human beings who he ordained to administer the complexities of the natural world and to carry forward knowledge of salvation history with its outcome in the incarnation of Christ.

The Lord guides and strengthens us, keeping us firmly rooted in the faith. Throughout all the trials we endure in this troubled world, Christ is with us.  The word of God inspires us in various ways, and through the Holy Spirit we gain knowledge, wisdom and discernment, maturing in the faith as citizens of the Kingdom of God.

Remain within the confines of God’s kingdom.  Stay on the straight and narrow path that leads to salvation.  Do not look with longing towards the sunlit hills at every temptation. Too many have trodden the path to destruction, too many have fallen by the wayside.

The Christian life is about being transformed by Christ, being absorbed by him so that his teachings and his very presence guide our every motivation and action.  Christ’s love is mediated through us in the power of the Holy Spirit.  We follow the leadings of the Spirit in order to renew and deepen our faith.

There is a wonderful symmetry involved in the divine-human relationship.  Christ, the sinless one, is the embodiment of human perfection.  Through his very nature as Son of God he brought mankind nearer to the Father.  Through Christ, God shared in our humanity and he also made it possible for us to share in his divinity.  Christ underwent the ultimate sacrifice to reconcile man to his creator, making it possible for God’s plan of salvation to be brought to completion, inaugurating a New Covenant with mankind.  We need to keep before us the astounding truth of his victory over evil on the Cross, through which mankind gained forgiveness and the freedom to live the gospel life infused with selfless love (cf 1 Corinthians 13.1-13).

Christ established a new reality, that to be justified by faith is a sacred identity.  We are identified as Christians when we accept and appropriate the fullness of Christ.  This requires a heroic response from human beings because it runs counter to human pride, the instinct for autonomy.  The response must be underpinned by contrition and humility and it is brought to perfection by obedience.  Once we take hold of Christ we become his disciples.  Discipleship is a life-long commitment, a transforming friendship with Jesus. (Luke 9.23-26; John 15.14-17).

Christ’s death and resurrection brings to mankind redemption and salvation to eternal life.  Christ has opened the way for us to follow him to the perfect vision, far superior to the limitations and imperfections of our earthly existence.  To consolidate the New Covenant with man, the Father has sent us the power to sustain us on our journey through the snares and pitfalls of this troubled world.  This power is the Holy Spirit (John 14.16, 26).  Christ’s presence is manifested in the Holy Spirit.  The Spirit reminds us of his teachings, works in our conscience when we fail, grants us perception when we read Holy Scripture, inspires us in our prayers and meditations, whispers to us in our silent spaces, strengthens us in times of adversity and provides us with prophetic speech.  The Spirit empowers us in our various ministries and impels us to rise above the banalities and temptations of a world that is hostile to our sacred calling.  (Mark 13.5-13; Romans 12.3-9; 1 Corinthians 12.4-11; Ephesians 4.7-13; James 1.16-18, 3.13-18; 1 Peter 3.13-17, 4.7-19).

The worldwide community of faith

Christians across the world have a common purpose: striving to live the Gospel life in the face of both widespread indifference and open hostility to the teachings of Christ.  The Christian faith is essentially counter-cultural yet many churches are now aligned with secular humanism, thus inflicting upon themselves the fatal wound of apostasy. The enemy is no longer at the gates, he is within the citadel.

For our Spirit-filled life to succeed we are to distance ourselves from the corrupt influences of modern culture (1 John 2.15-17, 5.18-20).  There are to be no half measures, no compromise with evil in any of its forms, no accommodation with other religions.  This detachment is crucially important to safeguard the integrity of the Christian faith.  These are perilous times.  Christianity is under assault from atheistic humanism, the dominant force in social and political culture.  Faced with this threat there is to be no weakening on our part.  We are to profess the faith and demonstrate in our lives the true destiny of humankind, the freedom to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind and with all our strength, and to love our neighbour as ourselves.  There is no higher ideal for man to attain (cf Mark 12.28-34; Romans 13.8-10).

Discipleship

The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) appears to portray Christ as the new Moses, but he far exceeds all the prophets and patriarchs of old by his uniquely divine provenance and his destiny as Saviour of the world.  He is not only the promised Messiah, he is also Priest, Prophet and King.  His teachings lead us into the Kingdom of God, into a realm of love, creating a priesthood of believers (1 Peter 2.1-10).  We yearn for the promised homeland above where our labours will be rewarded by eternal peace (2 Peter 3.8-14).

The Beatitudes (Matthew 5.1-12) are a concise presentation of the Christian ethos, describing the blessed virtues essential to life in the Spirit.  They are the supreme ethical and moral guide to Christian life and discipleship, illuminating our path in the human maze.  They set out the Christian way of life, lived in response to Christ through faith.  We strive to uphold values intrinsic to human dignity, stable family life and the maintenance of social order: humility, gentleness, compassion, justice, peace, integrity, courage and witness.  All the blessings of the kingdom are encapsulated in the Beatitudes.

Christ came to fulfil the Law and the Prophets (Matthew 5.17-19).  The validity of the Ten Commandments remains (Exodus 20.1-17) and in the Beatitudes Christ describes the spirit in which the Commandments are to be lived out in both church and society.  They exemplify Christian discipleship.  They are echoes of the divine, revealing Christ in his perfection.  They define the inward motivations of integrity and love that characterise discipleship, as well as the blessed rewards of faithful service in Christ’s name.  Our acts of charity and mercy spring from a heart filled with selfless love founded on the teachings of Christ and energised by the Holy Spirit.

The teachings of Christ are uncompromisingly radical.  They are employed to combat philosophies that erode the dignity of man: consumerism (money and possessions bring happiness); relativism (there is no absolute truth); secularism (a world view without God); existentialism (life has no purpose).  In the midst of these evils the Gospel shines like a beacon of truth.  And through it all we persevere in the name of Christ, despite the difficulties we encounter on our journey of faith (1 Peter 4.12-19).  God will restore, confirm, strengthen and establish us in times of adversity (1 Peter 5.10-11).

Our faith is a wonderful gift to possess and convey to others, and discipleship places on us a sacred responsibility.  It is a joy and a holy privilege to walk with Jesus, to be in his loving presence in a life of Christian service (Luke 10.23-24; John 15.1-17; Ephesians 4.7-16).

Further reading

Dale C. Allison
The Sermon on the Mount: inspiring the moral imagination. Herder & Herder, 1999.

Frederick Christian Bauerschmidt
The love that is God: an invitation to Christian faith. Eerdmans, 2020.

Carl E. Braaten and Christopher R. Seitz
I am the Lord your God: Christian reflections on the Ten Commandments. Eerdmans, 2005.

Walter Brueggemann
The Bible makes sense. Westminster John Knox Press, revised edition, 2001.

Rod Dreher  
The Benedict option: a strategy for Christians in a post-Christian nation. Sentinel, 2017.
Live not by lies: a manual for Christian dissidents. Sentinel, 2020.

James P. Eckman
Biblical ethics: choosing right in a world gone wrong. Crossway, 2004.

Mark Hitchcock
The prophecy collection: three works in one – The end times survival guide; The coming apostasy; Russia rising. Tyndale Momentum, 2021.

Gerard W. Hughes
God of surprises. Darton, Longman & Todd, Third edition, 2007.

Howard Clark Kee and Franklin W. Young
The living world of the New Testament. Darton, Longman & Todd, 1960.

Cameron Lee   
Unexpected blessing: living the countercultural reality of the Beatitudes. IVP, 2004.

Eric Liddell
The disciplines of the Christian life. SPCK, 1985.

Hal Lindsey
The late great planet earth. Zondervan, 1970.
There’s a new world coming: a prophetic odyssey. Coverdale House, 1973.

Roger Mohrlang
Paul and his life-transforming theology: a concise introduction. Wipf & Stock, 2013.

Glen H. Stassen and David P. Gushee
Kingdom ethics: following Jesus in contemporary context. IVP, 2003.

Teresa Turner Vining
Making your faith your own: a guidebook for believers with questions. IVP, 2001.

Christopher J. H. Wright
Knowing Jesus through the Old Testament. Monarch, 1992.

Brother Yun (Liu Zhenying)
Living water. Edited by Paul Hattaway. Zondervan, 2008.