Thank you for your support in standing with us both in prayer and financially.
Name of Account: Reformation Harvest Fire Ministries Inc.
Bank: ANZ
BSB Number: 013 289
Account Number: 250384334
Thank you for your support in standing with us both in prayer and financially.
Name of Account: Reformation Harvest Fire Ministries Inc.
Bank: ANZ
BSB Number: 013 289
Account Number: 250384334
The upcoming federal election on Saturday 21 st May 2022, is perhaps the most important in the history of our nation. It may well decide if the Australia we know, and love so much remains a sovereign nation or gets swallowed up in ‘woke’ ideology. The choice is in our hands.
It is therefore very important to vote with insight and wisdom. We urge you to vote for political parties and candidates who stand for and support freedom and have committed themselves to safeguarding the sovereignty of our nation.
Rise Up Australia has put together how to vote recommendations for the up coming election. Please click on the link to view these how to vote recommendations:
https://riseupaustralia.com.au/federal-candidates-2022/
Please share this information with your family and friends. Above all, please uphold our nation, ‘The Great South land of the Holy Spirit in prayer.
This book is a welcome contribution to the sparse field of faith and work in Australia. Yet it presents a benign view of work, and there is scope to explore the role of God’s judgement as a transforming mercy as we confront the daily challenges of exploitation in a sinful world.
Thank you for your support in standing with us both in prayer and financially.
Name of Account: Reformation Harvest Fire Ministries Inc.
Bank: ANZ
BSB Number: 013 289
Account Number: 250384334
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, has renewed interest in the Gog and Magog prophecy of Ezekiel 38-39. In short, it is a spontaneous, knee-jerk, massive invasion of end-time Israel by a massive coalition of troops, led by Gog. We continue to examine this prophecy in light of current events. (Please note: We are not condoning the war in Ukraine, nor taking a political position – we simply are examining prophecy, which has renewed interest because of this war).
Reason for the Invasion against Israel?: Spoil will be seized, plunder carried off, livestock and goods confiscated (38:12). Will Israel’s natural gas reserves in the Mediterranean Sea be part of the booty?
God’s Response: God goes against Gog and his allies, sends fire from heaven and destroys the coalition (39:1-6); it takes seven months to bury the dead (39:12). Ultimately, it is God Who draws out Gog and company to battle and ultimately destroys them. When this happens, the nations will hallow and glorify the name of the Lord (38:16).
Israel’s aftermath: Instead of being destroyed, Israel will experience the final ingathering of the exiles (39:27-28). Furthermore, the Holy Spirit will be poured out upon them (37:14; 39:29).
Who is Gog?
This is the million dollar question: we need to identify the key player. Magog, in all probability, means ‘from the land of Gog.’ So let’s focus on Gog himself, the main character. Who is he? The normal interpretation is Russia. Why? Because it is a great power from the North (38:15). Russia’s long thousand year history, which reputedly began in Kiev before gravitating towards Moscow, has incorporated an empire larger than any except the Mongols and Muslims.
The old Soviet Union was a tailor-made villain that fit the spirit of Gog — until it collapsed on Christmas Day 1991. Also, some teachers say ‘Mesech’ equals Moscow and ‘Tubal’ is Tobolsk.
But is this the case?
This author is not completely convinced that Russia equals Gog. The main verse, Ezekiel 38:15: says Gog comes from tzafone yereka. Tzafone is ‘north’ so the adjective YEREKA is a key word. In Strong’s Concordance H3411 is translated YEREKA as side (21x), coasts (3x), parts (2x), border (1x), quarters (1x). ESV translates tzaphone yereka as ‘uttermost parts of the north” (implying Russia, since it is the furthest north of Israel). But KJV translates it ‘north parts.’ Other modern translations speak of ‘far north.’ In any case, the notion that Ezekiel is saying the furthest north is debatable and leaves open other possibilities for the identity of God from nations that are also ‘north of Israel.’
While Russia has been an imperialistic power in the past, it has also been a Christian nation for a thousand years. Vladimir, Prince of Kievan Rus, led his nation into Eastern Orthodoxy in the year 988 AD. The seventy-four years of atheist communist rule during the Soviet times (1917-1991) was an aberration in Russian history; the rest of the millennium it has been influenced by Orthodox Christianity. Furthermore, Russia may have a positive prophetic role to play in the last days.
Hudson Taylor (1832-1905) was the great British missionary to China and founder of the China Inland Mission. Yet his most memorable prophecy was not about China at all – it was about Russia. Sometime in the latter nineteenth century, Taylor received the following vision.
I have seen a vision. I saw in this vision a great war that encompasses the world. I saw this war recess and then start again, actually being two wars. After this I saw much unrest and revolts that will affect many nations. I saw in some places spiritual awakenings. In Russia, I saw there will come a general all-encompassing, national SPIRITUAL AWAKENING so great that there could never be another like it. From Russia, I saw the awakening spread to many European countries. Then I saw an all-out awakening, followed by the coming of Christ.
It is clear that Taylor, who died in 1905, saw the two world wars. That’s the bad news. Yet the good news was he saw Russia as the epicentre of a great spiritual awakening that would spread westward to Europe and herald the Lord’s return. Taylor is not the only one who prophesied an end-time role for Russia.
Think about it: in Russia today, Christianity, once shunned and persecuted by the godless communist comrades of the defunct Soviet Union, has returned to a prominent place. Not only is the Russian Orthodox Church having a renaissance, but the Baptists and Pentecostals are growing, too. Yes, there is ‘anti-missionary’ and ‘anti-sect’ legislation from the Russian Duma (parliament) in recent years, but there is no mistaking that the atheist days have given way to a conspicuous multi-flavoured Christian presence in Russia.
While Russia is regularly nominated as the Gog of Ezekiel 38, some perhaps many, Russian Christians, reject this interpretation. How could a Christian-influenced country, in coalition with a few Muslim-majority countries, try to destroy Israel?
Another consideration: could Gog be Turkey, which is also north of Israel? The key is the places names written in Scripture, like Gomer and Togarmah could be in Turkey. Likewise, ‘Mesech’ and ‘Tubal’ may not ‘Moscow’ and ‘Tobolsk’ after all.
Finally, the fact is Russia, Iran, and Turkey are currently based in Syria, and Syria is next door to Israel. Could this military arrangement, under certain conditions, trigger the Gog attack? To answer that question, remember to take note the specific details of the prophecy. “For we know in part, and we prophesy in part” (1 Corinthians 13:9), we need to follow the Lord’s simple injunction – watch, be sober, and pray (Matthew 26:41; Ephesians 6:18; 1 Thessalonians 5:6). Not only will we not be caught off guard – we will be part of the solution.
He championed ‘clean, green’ electric cars, helped the Ukrainian underdogs in the war with Russia, and even dabbled in outer space. Sounds like someone the political and cultural left would love. But, no, they are incensed. Why? Because Elon Musk, the multi-billionaire and the world’s richest man, has bought the social media giant Twitter for $44 billion.
What’s Twitter? It is a microblogging and social networking service based in San Francisco, which allows users to communicate and respond to short messages called ‘tweets.’ It has around 300 million users and is one of the top ten utilised websites in the world today. Its influence is incalculable.
Other billionaires purchase media outlets like Jeff Bezos and The Washington Post and Lisa Jobs The Atlantic and few complained. So what’s wrong if Musk, who is not a conservative, owns Twitter? Because he has made it clear that Twitter would be become a platform of free speech. He refers to himself as a ‘free-speech absolutist.’ His announcement:
“Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated.”
The Democratic Party and the cultural elite, are greatly alarmed. They claim that ‘free speech’ will morph into ‘hate speech’ and ‘endanger our democracy.’ Some claim that ‘lives will be at risk.’ The Biden Administration’s response was to appoint a ‘disinformation tsar’ in the Department of Homeland Security (some call it George Orwell’s Ministry of Truth from the best-selling novel, 1984). The European Union has warned Musk about his plan for ‘free speech,’ saying ‘We have rules.’
Why all this hysteria over ‘free speech’? Isn’t it as American as ‘apple pie,’ and synonymous with democratic freedom?
Primacy of Free Speech: First of all, the United States Constitution enshrined ‘free speech’ as a fundamental right: Here is the text of the First Amendment:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances (emphases mine).
The American experiment in self-government was based on the fact that our rights come from God, not by government fiat, and that the role of government is to protect those God-given rights. The primary freedom of them all is speech. When you are free to speak your mind without fear or intimidation, you can discuss and debate your thoughts in the marketplace of ideas. Interactive exchange is a dynamic learning and growth process which, under the right conditions and coupled with faith in Almighty God, produces a community consensus, which is a positive outcome for all.
When freedom of speech is denied, other freedoms are jeopardised, too. We may not like everything we hear but better it is heard, vented, responded, even rebuked, than to suppress speech and spawn a violent reaction. A famous quote on the subject, erroneously attributed to Voltaire, says this:
I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it — English Author Evelyn Beatrice Hall (1906)
That’s a mature attitude on free speech. Yet today, maturity seems to be in short supply.
Even in the freest of speech arenas, there are limitations. Free speech is not permitted in cases of evidence-based defamation, liable, perjury, and/or incitement to violence. These are common sense restrictions that any reasonable person can accept. What we have seen, however, is not sensible restrictions but outright and one-sided censorship of mainstream views. This is something that totalitarian regimes practice routinely.
The war against free speech – part of the larger culture war – and the rise of censorship, has been brewing for years. Two culprits have to do with political correctness, where failure to used approved speech can result in censure, ridicule, or even-cancel culture. Another impediment to free speech is ‘hate speech laws,’ which are prominent in Canada and the European Union.
Of course, we don’t want with true hate speech at all, but the problem with these kind of laws are that the word ‘hate’ is elastically interpreted and the bar lowered. To merely disagree with political correctness has been labeled ‘hate.’ Some have even gone as far as to declare the Bible is hate speech.
Furthermore, to think we can ‘legislate’ love and hate is ludicrous (human nature cannot be altered by law; only by the cross of Christ, God’s Word in the heart, and power of the Holy Spirit). Innocent people will be harmed while real haters continue to freely spout off. It’s like catching dolphins in the tuna net.
Is the Elon Musk the catalyst of helping the world turn a corner on its current cultural conflict? Will free speech prevail? How shall we respond? We will look at these issues in Part 02.
As soon as the word was out, three metre high fencing was erected around the United States Supreme Court (SCOTUS) building. Church services were disrupted by protesters, pro-lifers and there facilities attacked. On cue, Democratic politicians lined up to denounce the news, some with great fanfare, anger and militancy. On top of it all, angry protesters stood outside the private homes of SCOTUS justices, which, according to former Attorney- General William Barr, is a crime (18 US Code Section 1507). And the reaction was not limited to the United States – there was signage in Brisbane, Australia, about a meeting to ‘save Roe.
’What is the cause of all this turmoil?
In an unprecedented move, an anonymous clerk at SCOTUS leaked a draft major opinion on the Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organisation (Mississippi) abortion case. In this draft a majority of five justices agreed, in principle, to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade SCOTUS decision. With the possible demise of Roe, the American left is on an even greater war path.
What is Roe? On 22 January 1973, the very day former US President Lyndon Baines Johnson died, in a seven to two majority, the all-male SCOTUS of that day voted to legalise abortion in all fifty states. Until that date, a few states already had legal abortion – after the decision all states had to allow it, at least in the first trimester. In other words, seven justices mandated abortion for all fifty American states, whether they liked it or not. The ruling was called Roe v. Wade and America has not been the same since.
Since the US Constitution is virtually silent on the issue of abortion, how did seven justices justify the constitutionality of this sweeping ruling? Using a process called ‘substantive due process,’ they ‘discovered’ an implicit ‘right to privacy’ in the 14th Amendment of the Constitution. This amendment was ratified right after the Civil War and guaranteed all Americans, include black Americans, the right to life, liberty and property. No where is a right to privacy even mentioned, there or anywhere else.
The 9th Amendment says you have rights beyond the Constitution, the 10th Amendment says that where there is no explicit constitutional right, then it is up to the individual states to determine what rights to affirm or deny. That’s why abortion had been decided by the states, until 1973
Who gets to decide these ‘implicit rights?’ Americans at the ballot box or unelected jurists in black robes? Which is more democratic? Which affirms freedom and which nibbles away at it?
SCOTUS is meant to adjudicate as per the US Constitution. They have no authority to create a ‘right to privacy’ out of thin air, or conduct de facto legislation from the bench.
Results of Roe:
The 1973 justices believed Roe v. Wade was a ‘compromise,’ giving something to both pro-life and pro-abortion advocates. To the abortion lobby, the practice would be allow unhindered in the first trimester; to the pro-lifers, there would be more state restrictions as the trimesters went from first to second, second to third. The hope was that Roe would ‘settle the abortion issue.’
Roe did not settle the issue at all; it inflamed it instead. The trimester formula was abandoned. Abortion could be obtained in all trimesters, including late-term abortion. Roe v. Wade was like the 1861 firing of Fort Sumner in South Carolina, which commenced the Civil War – Roe was the first shots of the protracted cultural civil war, that continues to this day. Even the late pro-abortion SCOTUS Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was credited of saying about Roe: “(It) halted a political process that was moving in a reform direction and thereby, I believed, prolonged divisiveness and deferred stable settlement of the issue”.
Has America become a better country because of Roe? For starters, a staggering sixty-three million abortions have been performed since 1973; these represent lives, not mere statistics. The culture war Roe kickstarted continues to tear America apart. Abortion is as emotive and divisive today as slavery was in the 19th Century. In both cases, the personhood of the slave and foetus was denied. Cultural Marxism, which undergirds radical feminism, has destroyed lives and families in the process.
When it comes to the US Constitution, culture warrior leftists deny rights that are clearly written in it, like ‘free speech’ and ‘gun ownership’ clauses. Yet at the same time they declare implied or non-existent rights, like of privacy, are part of the document.
What happens if Roe ends up being overturned? What is the bigger picture? What does the future hold? We will explore these things in part 02
What is required to produce an improbable minor prophet? Dave Andrews reflects candidly on his life and vocation, the danger of putting people on pedestals (as we’ve seen so often recently), and above all the source of his strength – the knowledge that he is ‘much loved’.
