As I read the news, I am increasingly drawn to the purchase of a coat of camel hair and a rope around my middle and reduced to a diet of wild honey!

The abandonment of belief in God by the world at large is surely reaping the foreseeable consequences. A disbelief in God leaves one with a ‘the survival of the fittest’ attitude and the soaring gap between rich and poor bears testimony to this.

A concentration on self-interest and ‘our rights’ has reduced us to a dis-spirited collection of individuals who see ‘our neighbour’ as ‘our best interest’.

An abandonment of responsibility in favour of ‘outsourcing’ to government, schools and any one who will take it, means that we are isolated in our own little world and exposed to the views of the ‘majority’, which often proves to be the self-interest of the few.

Where are the prophets, the ordinary men and women, who will speak out in words and life of what they have seen and heard? Where is the conscience that will speak of God’s wonderful kingdom as opposed to the mindless empire of self-interest?

Where is the voice of truth that will point to the abundant life offered now, with an added bonus that it’s worth is eternal?

No wonder that we increasingly hear of young people passing by thoughts of marriage and bringing up children because they fear the world values we are passing on. The voice of prophecy is as relevant today as ever, perhaps even more so.

We have been given a great commission ,a satisfying vocation, a stupendous privilege to tell what we have seen and heard and rescue our fellow humanity from the ‘godless world’ that is being presented to them.

James Watson, Dunbar, East Lothian