The sermon at Bala Evangelical Church on Sunday evening was a real pleasure. The preacher was Alex Collins (I think I have the name right!), who ministers in Cardiff but this week was chaplain at one of the EMW Camps being held at Bryn-y-Groes. He took the story of Jepthah, reading from Judges 10:6 through to 12:7. Quite a chunk, but it was well read and the sermon was faithful to the text, dodged none of the issues and was wonderfully Christ-centred in the best possible way.

It was a ‘three-pointer’ sermon and the title of the second point is the title of this post. In Judges 11 Jepthah - an outcast from his own family because his mother was a prostitute and the natural sons did not want him to share the inheritance - is recalled to lead Israel against the Ammonites. Having agreed to do so and having made his promises before the Lord Jepthah makes contact with the Ammonite king:

Then Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites and said, “What do you have against me, that you have come to me to fight against my land?” And the king of the Ammonites answered the messengers of Jephthah, “Because Israel on coming up from Egypt took away my land, from the Arnon to the Jabbok and to the Jordan; now therefore restore it peaceably.” [Judges 11:12-13 ESV].

As the preacher pointed out, the Ammonite version of history was not true. It was an attempt to rewrite the history of the people of God, to make a false claim for land that had never been theirs. Rewriting the story of the church is a favourite occupation of the world, which would like to not only rewrite the story but also, if it could, write the Lord and his people completely out of the story for all time. Jepthah rightly challenged the Ammonites with the truth and at the same time made it plain he was willing to stand in battle for the truth. The Ammonites had had three hundred years to make their claims; previous greater kings had made no such attempt to dislodge Israel. Jepthah determined that the truth could not be allowed to vanish, whatever the cost.

Walking my parents dog this morning up on to the Berwyn mountains above Llandrillo I reflected on what had been preached in the light of the history of Wales. In this area the twenty-first century seems to slip away. The hills seem as they must always have, there are sheep, very few homes, mainly just farms which have perhaps worked the same land for many years. There is a quietness about the land: one cannot hear the roar of any motorway or noise of industry. It is a beautiful land, even during a wet August. Many people love this land, and the Welsh are justifiably proud of it and jealous of the influences which might shape it. This is an area where the Welsh language retains its influence and where there is a strong movement to retain Welsh culture. All of that would have my support, but the truth must not vanish.

‘What truth?’ would be a good question in our post-modern age. Truth is what you make it, history can be rewritten. The Ammonites would have had a fine time with ‘truth’ in our time! The modern Ammonites have surveyed Wales, and the story they have written is one that contains a great deal of truth. It is a story of a western Celtic stronghold on an island where for the most part other influences came in and drove out the Celtic language and traditions. Wales is different, it is not England and it should never have been treated as a kind of appendage to England. But the modern Ammonites do not want to stop there. In their rewriting of the story, there is an enemy that comes in and undermines the real Celtic culture, takes away the ancient beliefs and imposes a kind of captivity, which the modern Ammonites now see is losing (or has lost) its grip. Time, they say, for the real Wales to return, the Wales of the bards and the druids and the ways that are in harmony with the earth and the land. The enemy is the Christian faith, a faith imposed on the real Wales for far too long.

Ammonites certainly don’t change, even though the period of the Judges and Jepthah was some three thousand, three hundred years ago. The Ammonites of Jepthah’s day and the Ammonites of the twenty-first century would recognise one another, at least by their shared tendency to rewrite history so that the people of God have no real part. Sadly for the Ammonites, there is such a thing as objective truth. Objectively, Wales was one of the earliest parts of the British Isles to come under Christian influence. Almost certainly the limited Roman contact brought with it some news of the message of the Lord Jesus Christ, but certainly other Celts, most likely from Ireland, made sure that Wales heard the gospel. In common with the rest of Britain a foreign faith was eventually imposed, a corruption of truth called Romanism. Still, truth never really died out and the Reformation reached Wales as surely as it reached the rest of Britain.

There was more, much more, and something the Ammonites certainly do not want to be reminded of. The light of the Reformation was not so strong in Wales, and imposed episcopal Christianity from England did not bring great benefit. For a long time the people of Wales found little in the churches, the Bible was a dark book and the ministers who themselves knew little of the Lord Jesus Christ offered no help. God had not forgotten Wales, however. Great men of Wales were raised up. George Whitefield from England came and offered his help. The light began to shine from the pages of the Book. The work of the Holy Spirit became known in the land, and the faithful men God raised up preached a saving message that saw thousands swept into the kingdom of God. They did not lose their Welshness; indeed many hymns were written in the language. It has been said that from the early part of the eighteenth century through to the end of the nineteenth century there was scarcely a day when there was not a revival somewhere in the land. On Sunday’s the people flocked to hear the message not just once or even twice, but often three times. There were communion seasons, when thousands would gather to hear four or five preachers. Daniel Rowland once watched the crowds coming over the hill sides to Llangeitho, and said that ‘here they come, bringing heaven with them.’ In those days the hills were quiet as they are now, and yet alive with something that we have lost. But it was real, it affected tens of thousands, it was a great work of God and it was a special time for Wales. The Ammonites lie when they forget it, deny it or distort it. The people of God, like Jephthah, must be valiant for truth even when that truth is in the past.

And what the Ammonites never imagine, never think of, is also true: the Lord who came before in this way can come again. And one day, he will come again in glory. On that day, the Ammonites will bow before the Lord of truth and they wil know that never again can they rewrite the story.

Not an easy journey home: it would have been over twenty-four hours from leaving Amano in any case, but Ethiopian airlines kindly stepped in and extended the delight with a three hour plus delay at Addis Ababa airport. The least said the better might be a wise rule, but it is at least worth a note that Addis airport is not the most exciting place in the world at anytime. Between about 2100hrs and 0300 it certsinly does not improve!

The time ahead is going to be busy. There are already some important appointments to be met over the coming days. There is the pleasure of seeing friends, albeit all too briefly. There are things to do for Amano - I have orders to place for computer equipment and also the need to make sure all the delivery schedules are able to be met.

Then there are special cases, including John and Joyce Blanchard who are suffering so much but standing in the Lord, and my own parents who are greatly loved but not yet the Lord’s.

Your prayers will be appreciated.