Differences between East and West, cultural diversity and some bigger questions.
Monthly Archives: January 2021
Letter regarding Victorian Anti-Conversion Bill
The Ethos Board has signed onto a letter to Premier Andrews from various church leaders, protesting the proposed Change or Suppression Practices (Conversion) Prohibition Bill 2020 to be debated in the Upper House of the Victorian Parliament on Tuesday 2nd February 2021.
Under Pressure Conference Booklet 2021
Your essential guide to the Under Pressure 2021 Conference
Christian resignation in the face of a pandemic?
Does the church have anything to offer in a time of crisis such as the pandemic? What do the major biblical themes of healing, reconciliation, community, care for the poor, the work of justice and prophetic witness mean for us and the world today?
Comment on The Nature of The Prophetic by Andrea Belmore
The Nature of the Prophetic is such an easy and quick read because l couldn’t put it down. I was hungry to feed on the information Sally has so clearly explained, page after page. Very clear instructions to absorb and understand. Not only has it challenged me in some areas but it has also freed me from some limiting beliefs and fine tuned my ability to tune into God even more. It has renewed a greater hunger to press in to God and deepen my relationship with him and go after the spiritual gifts.
Education Matters
Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it — Proverbs 22:6
When people are polled, the majority say that education is a top priority for them. Indeed, it should: education helps set people on the path of life. Yet, pouring more government money into education does not necessarily translate into greater outcomes or solid citizens. If we are going to see an improvement in educational standards, we need to look at the basics.
Education Defined: The word apparently comes from the Latin term educo, which means to ‘train, educate, and to lead forward.’ Education is more than merely informing a student; it ultimately is about formation. Classical and Judaeo-Christian education helped to mould students into responsible citizens with a worldview that appreciates thinking, ethics, morality, rule of law, democratic governance, human rights, and more. Ultimately, education means enculturation.
Misperceptions
Number One – Teachers Only: There is a perception that education only happens by trained career teachers in the classroom. Not so. The first school is the home and parents are the first teachers.
Deuteronomy 4:9b (Regarding the righteous statues and judgements of God’s Law): “… Make them known to your children and your children’s children.’
Much training for a lifetime happens in the home. It is of the utmost importance that people take seriously their responsibility to train their children. Schools couldn’t possibly teach everything anyway but bear in mind that parental training is a Biblical command.
Ephesians 6:4: And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
Number Two – Formal Education Only: There is the idea that formal education, where there are classes, lectures, assignments, examined, and awards, is the only education we get. Not so. Only a fraction of our life is spent in the classroom; the rest of the time we should imbibe the concept of informal education or life-long learning. It can be more powerful than any classroom. The church is another source of education, formal and informal, as its been for centuries.
Number Three – Value-Free: With the notion of separating ‘church and state,’ public schools are considered to be values-neutral. Not so. Public education, like so many things in life, has a worldview. Worldview is defined as ‘The overall perspective from which one sees and interprets the world; a collection of beliefs about life and the universe held by a person or group.’ Western education once embraced the dominant Judaeo-Christian worldview, but has gradually replaced it by progressivism, cultural Marxism, secular humanism and postmodernism.
Reformers (or revolutionaries) like John Dewey (1859-1952) helped institute ‘the long march of the ideologies’ through the educational system. The reason that these worldview are so dominant in our culture today – in the media, judiciary, politics, law, the entertainment industry, and the like – is because they were introduced in the school system many decades ago. If you hold on to traditional Judaeo- Christian values and your children or grandchildren are in a public school, don’t be surprised if they come home espousing positions and worldview very different to your own.
Secularism and progressivism are very much the worldview of western public education today. In the United States, such organisations as the National Education Association and Federation of Teachers very much push for these values. For example, such education demands the teaching of evolution and rejects the notion that we were created by God in His image. If God is our creator, then we are under His rule and ultimately accountable to Him. This is something that the secularists don’t want (Psalm 2:3).
In the United States, the right-leaning Republican party favours ‘choice-based, parent-driven accountability’ at all ages. The left-leaning Democratic Party opposes school choice and vouchers, saying money should be spent in supporting the public schools.
There has been an increasing trend to nationalise education. Traditionally, school boards were local and this allowed parents to have needful input. This is no longer possible with nationalisation, where decisions affecting students are made by nameless, faceless bureaucrats 100s and 1000s of kilometres away.
Cease, my son, to hear the instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge — Proverbs 19:27
It is said that education is expensive but ignorance even more. To this, we add wrong education is the most costly of all. Bad education can morph into indoctrination into false ideologies.
A Christian mother approached this author after a public meeting and told her story. She lived in a rural area and she and her husband sent their 18 year old son to the big city to learn computer science. Though raised in the church all his life, in only six weeks he came home as an arrogant, opinionated ‘social justice warrior.’ Both parents were university graduates, but this fact did not stop their newly ‘woke’ son from lecturing them about how the mother was ‘oppressed’ by the patriarchy, ‘her husband.’ He also wagged his finger on other progressive causes. Needless to say, the young man also stopped going to church.
How should you handle education?
And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise — Deuteronomy 6:6-7
First, recognise that the family and church are top sources of (informal) education, and need to be utilised more and more.
Second, make the acquisition of truth the highest priority. God is the ultimate source of truth (John 1:17; 16:13). It sets us free (John 8:32), brings hope (Psalm 25:5), a cause for rejoicing (1 Corinthians 13:6), and a valued part of the whole armour of God (Ephesians 6:14). With so much falsehood, lies, spin, gaslighting, doublespeak, smoke and mirrors – indeed, a spirit of deception, we need truth and discernment to come out on top. Truth also helps us avoid false teachers (1 Timothy 1; 2 Peter 2) and keep us on God’s path.
Third, education involves thinking and reflection. Foster such a skill: after all, we have a God-given reasoning capacity and with the right education it can bring great good.
Philippians 4:8:Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
Yes, education matters because you matter to God.
Reset or Revival: You Decide – Quickly
It is the big ‘buzz word’ of the moment; called the ‘Great Global Reset.’ The World Economic Forum is meeting in Lucerne, Switzerland in May 2021. In light of the Covid-19 pandemic, the participants want to restructure the world economy and people management as we adjust to a ‘new normal.’ While refraining from using the word ‘socialism,’ their stated goals include:
• The changes we have already seen in response to COVID-19 prove that a reset of our economic and social foundations is possible.
• This is our best chance to instigate stakeholder capitalism – and here’s how it can be achieved.
• https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/06/now-is-the-time-for-a-great-reset/
While their aims sound noble, there could be major implications (and alterations) for free market capitalism, individual freedoms, and rule of law. In recent years, climate change was used to push the globalist agenda but Covid-19 has given new impetus. The reset enjoys the support of the United Nations, International Monetary Fund, Prince Charles (at least regarding the climate) and the Vatican.
Let’s face it: In 2020 we saw things that were unimaginable even a year before.
• People were ordered to stay in their homes;
• Small businesses, the backbone of the economy, were closed;
• Children were kept home from schools;
• Social distancing and face masks were mandated;
• And, perhaps for the first time in UK and US history, church doors were order to be closed for worship.
In a reset, family, church, small businesses could be in the line of fire.
Is this the ‘new normal’ that’s being talked about?
Individuals at the WEF may or may not be sincerely and innocently motivated, but history teaches that humanistic (and theocratic) utopias, with peace and prosperity, never came to pass. Instead, the world got tyranny, oppression, war and genocide (think Stalin, Hitler, or Mao).
New World Order?
The globalist socialist dream is nothing new. Merging with secular progressivism, it has been around for at least a century. Here are some quotes from famous men:
• George HW Bush: What is at stake is more than one small country, it is a big idea—a new world order, where diverse nations are drawn together in common cause to achieve the universal aspirations of mankind: peace and security, freedom, and the rule of law. Such is a world worthy of our struggle, and worthy of our children’s future (1991).
• Nelson Rockefeller: [there is] A fever of nationalism… [but] the nation-state is becoming less and less competent to perform its international political tasks… These are some of the reasons pressing us to lead vigorously toward the true building of a new world order… Sooner perhaps than we may realize… there will evolve the bases for a federal structure of the free world (1962)
• Harry S. Truman: “It will be just as easy for nations to get along in a republic of the world as it is for us to get along in a republic of the United States” (1945).
• Mikhail Gorbachev: World progress is only possible through a search for universal human consensus as we move forward to a new world order (1988).
One of the key drivers of progressivism and globalism was US President Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921), who led America during the Great War. He desired, yet failed, to get the United States to join the League of Nations. He created the Federal Reserve Bank (FRB), a privately owned central bank. He also instituted the federal income tax under the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). One source commented that the IRS forced Americans to pay for the loans bankers made through the FRB – ‘a brilliant piece of fund-raising.’
Wilson’s successors outlawed war in 1928 through the Kellogg-Briand Pact, no doubt mindful of the terrible cost of World War I. It was a well-meaning attempt at world peace, though from a humanistic view. Unfortunately, it failed miserably, as World War II attests.
Whether malevolent or benevolent, man-made solutions will not work and for good reason: they are based on the false premise that human nature is basically good and that we don’t need God. We can solve all our problems ourselves. Often it has unaccountable leadership, which is always a disaster waiting to happen, even in the church life.
Furthermore, these ideologies have zero power when dealing with the sin-issue in the human heart. Neither motivation, education, religion, welfare, nor human effort can overcome the power of sin. Only the cross-centred gospel of Christ can do that.
Despite past failures of controlled economic systems, globalist socialism keeps trying again. If we are passive, apathetic, or indifferent, then other people will decide our future for us. Yet God has a better and higher way.
Revival
There is another solution. It is a form of reset, too. Yet, its effects are vastly different.
It is called revival. It means to ‘come alive again.’
Revival applies to believers and the run-off can positively affect non-believers and pre-believers.
There are many ways to describe it but it includes a renewed ‘first love’ for the Lord, fear of the Lord, and a passion for His kingdom.
Revival means going back to the organic Christian faith, the basic building blocks are: Repentance, confession of faith, the cross of Christ, discipleship, the Word of God, the Great Commission and the fellowship of the saints.
Revival has unswerving commitment to God and His truth.
Revival can be transformational on society. For example, the Wesleyan Revival of the 18th Century was credited for saving Britain from the same sort of blood-filled revolution that plagued France in 1789-1793. Azusa Street in Los Angeles, 1906, ushered in the Pentecostal revival that swept the world and continues to this day. America’s Great Awakening prepared the colonies for independence based solidly on Christian foundations. Since that time, America had a second great awakening.
What will it be: reset or revival? And awakening?
Let’s make up our mind to humble ourselves and seek God’s face for a Third Great Awakening for America and the world.
BEYOND COVID-19 Part 08: God’s Word – An Excellent Spirit
As if we hadn’t had enough of a roller coaster ride: Covid-19, lockdown, recession, riots, and electoral challenges in the US. Now there are more lockdowns imposed on key nations. As often said, when crisis hits, there can be two different responses: 1) It’s the end of the world OR 2) It’s the womb of opportunity.
The good news is this: the choice is yours.
The Word of the Lord
To cross the divide from the end of the world to opportunity, it is not a matter of talent, resources, or connections. Your ultimate weapon, for better or worse, is attitude.
The late Bob Gass had two wonderful quotes on this subject:
‘Circumstances will not hold you back; but your attitude will.’
‘A bad attitude is like a flat tyre (tire); until you change it, you aren’t going anywhere.’
Your attitude can make the difference between being stranded in the valley bottom or standing on the mountaintop. Again, the choice is yours.
In order to learn of the benefits of the right attitude, let’s turn to one of the great heroes of the Bible: Daniel.
Daniel 6:3a (KJV): Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king thought to set him over the whole realm.
An excellent spirit is a gold star attitude. While others crawl, plod, or freeze, it runs, sails and soars. The excellent spirit flies high while many are stranded on the runway.
Daniel was highly-educated, especially gifted, very effective at his work, with a wealth of first-hand experience. He was a great asset to the Babylonian bureaucracy. Now the Persians had taken over and he was an older man. Yet, they wanted to utilise him even more than his former masters. While his aptitude and experience were invaluable, the thing that made him Number One was his excellent spirit. The Persian king wanted to set him over the entire realm.
What is the Excellent Spirit
How can we describe this wonderful character quality? Please consider what an excellent spirit is:
1. Good attitude: This is the starting point. Have you noticed how unpleasant, even toxic, it can be when someone has a bad attitude? They are not nice to be around. Yet, those with a good attitude are a delight. This is only the beginning.
2. Understanding: The Book of Proverbs encourages the acquisition of wisdom and understanding as the Number One priority (4:7). When attained, you get all the things the world seeks after: acclaim, riches, and longevity. In Proverbs 17:27: He that hath knowledge spareth his words: and a man of understanding is of an excellent spirit. The excellent spirit controls the tongue and speaks wise things. Also, it excels in understanding, which is invaluable. When you know what is happening and why, the insights God gives you will open doors that no one can shut.
3. Gratitude: This list would be incomplete without gratitude. An excellent spirit is a grateful spirit: to God and people. And gratitude is so wonderful because it is so rare. One glaring example was the ten lepers in Luke 17:11-19. They begged Jesus to heal them. His response? Go and show yourselves to the priest. According to Leviticus 13:2, only healed lepers could appear before the priest and give the prescribed offering. So by obeying Jesus and heading off to the priest while still in a leprous condition these men demonstrated obedience and faith. Because of this, all ten lepers were completely healed: That’s the good news. The bad news was that only one of them went back to say, ‘Thank you.’ And he even wasn’t even an Israelite, but a Samaritan. Jesus made public note of this scandalous display of ingratitude by the other nine lepers. It was only a 10% gratitude rate and, unfortunately, it may not have a risen much since then. For this reason an excellent spirit will heed the advice of 1 Thessalonians 5:18: In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Please note, thanking God for everything means ‘everything.’ Just putting this simple verse into practice will set you far above the rest.
Practical Advice
While these are the main pillars of an excellent spirit, there are other things to consider. Exercising the fruit of the Spirit of self-control (Galatians 5:22-23) shows great strength, more than someone who conquers a city (Proverbs 16:32). The potency of an excellent spirit is as such that even when you are ill, it will carry you until you are well (Proverbs 18:14a). Furthermore, the excellent spirit is like a spotlight to the inner person, for yourself and also others (Proverbs 20:27). After all, with a lot of fake and false in our world, we need the discernment that comes from an excellent spirit.
Finally, the excellent spirit will cause you to go places while others are marooned on the sidelines. Habakkuk 3:17-19 gives outstanding advice, especially when everything goes wrong. Rejoice in God no matter what, God is your strength, He will give you hind’s feet (like a deer) and you will walk on the high places. Like the beloved in Song of Solomon 2:8, you will be ‘leaping over the mountains and skipping over the hills.’
On a practical side, for victorious living, imbibe the exhortations from 1 Thessalonians 5:15-23. On top of all that, if there is ‘sludge’ in your spirit, try fasting (see Isaiah 58 and make sure you are healthy enough to do so). It can do wonders.
In Daniel’s experience, his excellent spirit was put to the test continually: The unkosher diet (Chapter 1), Capital punishment for Babylon’s wisemen (Chapter 2), the fiery furnace (Chapter 3), and the lion’s den (Chapter 6). Daniel and his friends prevailed against it all. You can too.
Put God First: Why Study the Book of Haggai – Part 02 of 02
INTRODUCTION TO HAGGAI
The Book of Haggai is only 38 verses, the second shortest prophecy after Obadiah, and one of three post-exilic prophetic books, along with Zechariah and Malachi. It was probably the first time Judah had a prophetic word since the exile to Babylon decades before. Yet, within its verses are powerful promises and prophetic insights.
Having looked at key features of this prophetic book, we now focus on a summary and outline.
SUMMARY OF HAGGAI
After 70 years of Babylonian captivity, it was time for Judah to go home and the temple to be rebuilt. This was not just a wonderful gesture but a fulfilment of prophecy (Isaiah 45:1-3; Jeremiah 25:11-12; 29:10-14). Daniel’s great intercession of Chapter 9 was on this very theme of the return, though he himself did not go back home but remained in exile.
Haggai and Zerubbabel were part of the very first of three returns in 536 BC. The foundation of the second temple was laid. Opposition from the Samaritans and other neighbours was furious, even irrational. This greatly discouraged the Judeans and the rebuilding ceased due to a royal decree. They began to focus on building their own homes and forgot about God’s house. The temple remained untouched until 520 BC, a period of 16 years.
Within a four month period in 520 BC, Haggai delivered four simple but powerful prophetic messages. Addressed to Zerubbabel the governor and Joshua the high priest, they were called to get the people working again on God’s temple. In addition, they needed to reorder their attitudes so that holiness and consecration returned to the house of Israel.
First Things First: The first message was a rebuke to the returnees for focusing on the building of their own homes but leaving God’s in ruins. For this reason, the blessings of God did not flow and thus brought a disheartened attitude.
Be Encouraged – A Greater Glory is Coming: The second message was to fight off another bout of discouragement. As they rebuilt the temple, there were some older Israelites who remembered the glory of Solomon’s temple, which was destroyed in 586 BC. The contrast between the two temples was like comparing a plain basic building with the Taj Mahal. Haggai had a potent response: Just you wait, the glory of the latter house will be greater than the former, and there will be peace in that place. This came to pass: the Son of God and His glory visited this latter-day temple.
From signet to significance: Haggai gives another message about obedience with holiness attracts great blessing. His fourth and final message was given on the same day and the third: it had a promise to Zerubbabel that he was a signet ring in the hand of the Lord. This means he was like an official seal. He ended up in both genealogies of Jesus (Matthew 1:12-13; Luke 3:27). He was a chain link and common denominator in the line of Joseph and Mary. Thus Zerubbabel played a key role in the lineage of Jesus the Messiah.
End-Time prophecy: Haggai’s prophecy is not just for Judah in the sixth century BC. It packs a powerful prophetic punch today. Haggai speaks of the great last days universal shaking (2:6), which is echoed and elaborated in Hebrews 12:25-29. When it speaks of a greater glory coming to the latter temple, Christians believe it a reference to the glory of Messiah visiting the temple of Herod, which was a continuation of Zerubbabel’s temple.
Modern Application: Jesus exhorts His followers to put God’s kingdom and righteousness as their Number One priority and all their needs, temporal, spiritual, and eternal, will be granted to them (Matthew 6:33). Furthermore, we will have the bright light of a more sure word of prophecy – like the universal shaking (Haggai 2:6) – and it will be filled with glory. Isaiah the prophet … saw his glory, and spake of him (John 12:41b). Provision, a well-lit path, and God’s glory are priceless rewards for putting God first.
OUTLINE OF HAGGAI
I. The First Prophecy: Finish the Temple (1:1-15)
A. Exact date: 1st of Elul, year 520 BC (1:1)
B. Blessings withheld because temple in complete (1:2-11)
C. The people response (1:12-15)
II. The Second Prophecy: Greater Glory is on the Way (2:1-9)
A. Date: 21 Tishri, 520 BC (6 weeks later – 2:1)
B. Comparing the new temple with the old (2:2-4)
C. Humble exterior but greater glory (2:5-9)
III. The Third Prophecy: God’s blessing is on the Way (2:10-19)
A. Date 24th Kislev, 520 BC (2 months later – 2:10)
B. Sin corrupts everything (2:11-14)
C. Obedience attracts blessing (2:15-19)
IV. The Fourth Prophecy: Promise to Zerubbabel
A. Date: 24th Kislev, 520 BC (same as III A. – 2:20)
B. Nations will be overthrown (2:21-22)
C. God and Zerubbabel (2:23)
The Sixth Commandment: You Shall Not Murder – Part 02 of 02
Thou shalt not Kill
In Part 01, we were introduced to the Sixth Commandment, which forbids murder. Having looked at it from different angles, the bedrock is that we are made in the image of God and that life is sacred. Now we continue to look at the commandment from a New Testament perspective.
Jesus makes it clear that He did not come to earth in order to destroy the law or prophets. On the contrary, His purpose was to fulfil them – Matthew 5:17. A few verses later, He addresses the sixth commandment. While the penalty of murdering is to be ‘in danger of the judgement (verse 21), the Lord goes even deeper. Even if you never pick up a deadly weapon, or assault anyone, you will also be subject to the judgement if you are angry at your brother ‘without a cause.’ Please note this phrase because it qualifies everything. Jesus goes further: If you call your brother raca, a slur on his intelligence by calling him empty-headed and senseless, you will stand before the council (the Sanhedrin). Now listen to this: if you insult your brother by calling him a fool, you will be in danger of hell fire (verse 22). Wow!
Generally speaking, anger, especially righteous anger, is not in the same league as murder. Yet anger, which stews and fumes, refuses to forgive, and plans revenge to harm or destroy, is put as equivalent to murder. What people seem to forget: if you nurse hatred in the heart long enough, and it only increases, then the temptation to finished off with our hands the emotions of the heart, only increases. How many times have people who nursed the wrong attitude for awhile go all the way and murder when they had the tools to do so?
… for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart — 1 Samuel 16:7b
The above points are from the most famous sermon in the world – The Sermon on the Mount – should cause us to pause and assess our attitude. The teachers of the law focused on the outward actions – like overt murder – but Jesus zeroes in on the heart. The Lord goes on to say that it is more important to reconcile with an estranged brother than to make an offering at the altar. Fix the relationship and then have a clear conscience to worship God.
If you find yourself in a chronic attitude of bitterness, resentment, and unforgiveness, due yourself a big favour and reject these things. And there is good news: The door of mercy is still open. If you are not yet a Christian, then repent, believe the gospel (1 Corinthians 15:3-5), and receive Christ. If you already are a believer, repent, confess your sin and be cleansed by the blood of Jesus (1 John 1:7-9).
Suicide, Euthanasia, Just War, Good Samaritan
We need to compassionately and courageously look at issues of suicide and euthanasia. Western prohibition of both has been squarely based on the sixth commandment. With the eroding of Judaeo-Christian ethics and morality in western society, it has opened up the possibility of legalising what was once unthinkable. US President John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) had Addison’s disease and suffered pain for 25 years; yet, the author of Profiles in Courage never considered ending his career and life by suicide.
In like manner, we oppose euthanasia and assisted suicide: It is God who gives life and God who takes away. By all means, do what you can to alleviate pain and utilise palliative care, but leave the rest to God. He will be waiting on the other side. Besides, the ‘safeguards’ that no one will be killed against their will are not sufficient. Years ago in Europe, a woman complained about being lonely; all she needed was a cat to keep her company but they euthanised her instead.
In church history, the theologians like Augustine came up with the theory of ‘Just War.’ Taking the sixth commandment seriously and repudiating offensive war, what about fighting and killing in self-defence? It seemed good ‘to the Holy Spirit’ and them that in the event of an unprovoked attack against a nation, it was permissible to fight back, even though it could result in deaths.
On a positive note, remember the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37. This man faithfully fulfilled the sixth commandment vis a vis an anonymous stranger who fell victim to the thieves and left for dead on the Jerusalem-Jericho road. His heart carried compassion, love, and mercy, in short, loving his neighbour as himself. This heart attitude led to noble outward actions: he bound up his wounds, poured in the oil and wine; carried him on his donkey to the inn; paid his expenses; and left extra money in case there was more expenditure.
In fulfilling the sixth commandment, Jesus gives us a simple command of His own: Go and do likewise.