A Conspiracy of Grace
The writing of 'The Truth is Out There'

(This article originally appeared in Sword Magazine)

Yes, it was God all the time! Unless you have been following my articles in the last four issues you won't have a clue what I'm saying. But the gist of it is this - I have been developing a theme of a massive conspiracy, a benign conspiracy, working behind the scenes in this World. It can be seen at work in creation, design, conscience and as a response to prayer. It can also be seen in beauty, miracles, providence, in our need to worship. It has been a conspiracy of grace, of light, of hope, not the usual intimation of dark dealings in secret chambers. And it was God all the time, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God who came to earth as Jesus the Messiah and lived and died for us 2000 years ago.

For Christians this idea of God as the divine "conspirator" is (or ought to be) truth evident, but, sadly, in a culture of competing world views, proclamation of the truth can be an uphill struggle. The rising generation does not bask in the certainties that the Gospel brings, does not speak the language of the Bible and is not founded on a bedrock of Sunday School and religious school assemblies. In short, you can quote from the Bible as much as you like, talk the 'language of Zion', of sin, redemption and salvation, but you're talking into a vacuum. You may as well be speaking Martian, because there can be no real connection without a common vocabulary. How can we expect people to turn from their sins when the whole concept of 'sin' is an alien one to a culture brought up to believe in the rights of man and the triumph of the human spirit and do not accept the validity or even the credibility of the Bible. No point quoting scriptures at them, because, as "god-breathed" as they are, the words would be dismissed as an irrelevance. This is a real barrier to our efforts of evangelism and we need to be aware of it.

Last year I wandered into a couple of Christian book shops and asked the staff what books they usually recommend to someone who has absolutely no interest or background in the faith. Bearing in mind the volume of books available, I was intrigued to find how few books there were that could be picked up by a hardened cynic and not immediately thrown down in disgust with a variation of, "Leave me alone with that religious stuff". I am not disrespecting my fellow authors, just voicing an uncomfortable reality. The Christian media in this country, whether through books, magazines, radio or TV, is very good at feeding the flock, even at showing us how to reach others with the Gospel, but very little is aimed effectively and sensitively at those outside the sheep-pen. My belief, as someone working extensively in the Christian media, is that the Christian communication industry just isn't communicating effectively to the people who need to hear the message like never before. The world is moving fast but the Christian media is still treading water at best, rather than going with the current and certainly not shooting the rapids.

Paul shows us the way forwards:

"To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings." (1 Corinthians 9:20-23)

Paul was willing to adapt his approach for the sake of the gospel and so must we. It's all about engagement with our culture without compromising the message and it ain't easy. We must find new ways of communicating our message. We are custodians of the most important message ever given to man, surely there are better ways to presenting it to a 21st century world than the methods and techniques of past centuries.

We must find effective ways of reaching a world largely either hostile or indifferent to our message. And the first thing we must realise is that, in the eyes of the World, we are not speaking from a position of strength. Instead, we have become a sub-culture, competing for attention with such as the gay rights and animal liberation lobbies. There was a TV programme on the BBC the other day, exposing the amateurism of some satellite TV stations and featured a Christian channel, along with a porn channel and shopping channel as typical of this genre. No longer a major voice in our nation, an ideology that formed the bedrock of Western civilisation is now sniggered at as fodder for low budget TV. That's how far Christianity has slipped in our nation. This is why, for all intents and purposes, God is no longer centre-stage but instead can only be seen as a "divine" conspirator, largely working in the background. God the conspirator? What a strange way of looking at it. Yet, in today's world, He has been shoved to the margins as an irrelevance.

My original hope for my book, The Truth is Out There, was that it would be published to co-incide with the release of The Da Vinci Code movie. My reasoning was that the public would be receptive to its central message of a conspiracy, having been primed by the paranoid implications of the film. What actually happened that no less than a dozen books were published in reaction to the film release, all reacting to the content of the film from a Christian viewpoint. My book would have been swallowed up and I am grateful for the delay in publishing. The point I want to make is that, ignoring the wasteful overkill, these responses were a reaction to the film. Just as those demonstrations outside the BBC were a reaction to the broadcasting of the blasphemous Jerry Springer musical.

We Christians react well, though not as thoroughly as the Muslims. But how are we viewed through these reactions? Do people respect us? Do they marvel at our zeal or do they react negatively to our perceived narrowness. Is this our best witness? I ask because, apart from the lurid accounts of the fall from grace of clergymen, this is the only coverage we are getting, this is the face of Christianity in this country. It's not the true face. There are many positive stories that could be reported, but you wouldn't expect the secular press to help us out. So it's all down to us.

I think it's time to act, not react. It's time to find new ways of touching our nation. That's why I wrote the book. Sadly it will only be found in Christian bookshops, but it has been written for those who have not yet been touched by the Gospel and it's to be hoped that Christians would buy copies for their unsaved friends. It's a book that you can safely give to the hardened sceptic. It poses uncomfortable questions and leads the reader to the possibility of a spiritual world, a benign conspiracy, with God at the heart of it all. In this new age of uncertainty it gives the possibility of some answers.

Advert over, it is time our divine conspiracy made itself known. Jesus will not tarry forever, there's one huge task for us out there. We must find a voice, a credible voice in our society. Without compromising the truth in any way, we must provide a beacon of hope to a World that is going down the pan. The BBC was founded with a Christian ethos, but look how far it has fallen. Mary Whitehouse may have been vilified in the 60s and 70s, but everyone knew where she stood and there was even grudging admiration from her enemies. A similar story with Cliff Richard, Malcolm Muggeridge, Lord Soper, Lord Longford and others.

'Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"' (Isaiah 6:8)

Where are the Isaiahs? Where are the Jeremiahs, the Elijahs? Wake up, sleeping giant, there's a job to do out there!

(This article is based on material from "Jesus, The Man of Many Names" published by Authentic)