Monthly Archives: October 2017

Articles, Education, Prophecy, Teaching

Paul’s Secret to Changing the World Part 04

Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus — Philippians 3:12 (KJV)

He is one of the most impactful individuals who ever walked this planet. Two millennia after he lived, his legacy continues to grow exponentially. It would be hard to over-estimate the impact he has had on humanity.
The man in focus is none other than the Apostle Paul. Tireless church planter, apostolic father figure, and (human) author of half the New Testament, he leaves an example worthy of emulation. The secret of his world-changing success is found in the third chapter of Philippians.
So far, we have learned:
Principle One: Grace brings world-change;
Principle Two: Righteousness brings world-change – when you change into the righteous image of Christ, you are then empowered to be an agent of change to the world.
Principle Three: Knowing Christ. Christ is such a powerful, singular figure that knowing Him brings empowerment in return.
In this article, we will focus on Principle Four, which is found in the above-verse.
Katalambano –
It was enough to take your breath away.
During a trip to the USA my family and I chose to ride on the appropriately named roller coaster called ‘California Screaming,’ which is part of the California Adventure, right next to the Disneyland complex in Anaheim, California USA. Some parts of the ride go several stories upwards and, within meters, several stories downward. There is a least one part of the track that is a ‘corkscrew.’
While the car on the roller coaster was stationary, we sat calmly and peacefully. But when it began to move, it shot forth like a bolt out of the blue. Not only did it speed at 300 kph but it quickly ascended  the ramp. Then, like lightning, it started to roll around bends and curves at frightful speeds. Not only did the women scream with gusto, but so did the men. With our stomachs in our throats, it seemed like the experience was everlasting. Truth is, the whole thing lasted less than two minutes.
Question: When you go through such an experience, what do you do with you hands?
Answer: Take hold of the safety bar until your knuckles turn white! This ‘taking hold’ or ‘apprehending’ is exactly what you do when you want to change the world!
Paul was a gifted man with impeccable credentials. He was born of the stock of Israel, tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, a student of the respected rabbi Gamaliel, a Pharisee, and blameless in keeping the law. He spoke several languages, had a good profession, and carried Roman citizenship.
Question: Which of these traits helped him to change the world?
Answer: None of the above
He says, Philippians 3:7-8
7 But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ.8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss ….
Amazingly, in order to gain success in Christ, Paul had to lose everything. Not just the bad, derelict, sinful, unregenerate things, but also the good, valuable, and profitable things. Paul had to lose everything … the good, bad, and ugly … in order to gain Christ and change the world.
Like the terrified rider on the California Screaming roller coaster, Paul’s secret of changing the world is disarmingly the same: learn to let go of everything so that you can take hold of the most important thing. For the rider, it is the safety bar. For the believer, it is Jesus Christ Himself and His plan for your life..
In Philippians 3:12, the word for ‘apprehend’ is also called katalambano(Greek), which means ‘to lay hold, to possess, to seize, overtake, attain, come upon, comprehend, perceive, find, to appropriate, to obtain the prize.’ It is what a policeman does when captures a criminal.
Everybody is holding on to something: it can be a relationship, material possession, money, thought-patterns, attitudes (good, bad, and ugly) and so on. Our grip can often be tighter than a crab’s claw.
World-change comes when we learn to let go of everything so we are ‘hands-free’ to take hold of Christ and His purpose for our lives. That’s exactly what Paul did – he counted all things, including the ‘good things,’ as dung, that he may lay hold of Christ and win the prize.
TO BE CONTINUED
Articles, Education, Prophecy, Teaching

A Burdensome Stone: Jerusalem and the Last Days Part 04

Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. 3And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it — Zechariah 12:2-3
In the first two parts, we covered the history of Jerusalem from its earliest days 4,000 years ago until the year 2000 AD. David 3000 years ago captured Jerusalem and made it his royal city and God’s holy city. The ark of the covenant and eventually Solomon’s temple resided here. A 1,000 years later Jesus of Nazareth, son of David, was enthusiastically received by the city on His triumphal entry. Yet within a week He had been betrayed, rejected, and crucified. Victoriously, Jerusalem was the site of the resurrection and ascension of Jesus. It was here that the Christian Church was born and from its walls the gospel of Christ spread throughout the world.
Since the destruction of the city by Rome in AD 70, Jerusalem had a series of foreign rulers (Roman, Byzantine, Persian, Arab, Crusader, Ayyubid, Mamluk, Ottoman, British and Jordanian). Then in June 1967, with Israel’s conquest of the Old City, Jerusalem returned to Jewish sovereignty for the first time in 1,900 years. Yet Israel annexation of the city did nothing to stop of dispute over Jerusalem’s ownership. This is called ‘The Jerusalem Question’ and we looked at it in Part 03. Once Jerusalem was put on the negotiating table in the year 2000 Camp David negotiations, it could not be taken off.
Cup of Trembling & Burdensome Stone
Zechariah prophesied that in the last days Jerusalem would become a ‘cup of trembling’ for the neighbouring nations (Zechariah 12:2). Anyone who drinks from this cup becomes senseless. There’s more: Verse 3 says Jerusalem will be a ‘burdensome stone’ for all people. Anyone who burdens themselves with it will be cut into pieces, despite the fact that all the people of the earth be gathered together against it. The implication is that those who meddle with Jerusalem are inviting injury and defeat.
Why does Jerusalem attract an inordinate amount of international attention? The reasons are not political but theological and spiritual. Jerusalem is not merely ‘David’s city;’ Jerusalem is the city where Almighty God Himself has placed His name (I Kings 11:36; II Kings 21:4, 7; 23:27; II Chronicles 6:6; 33:4, 7). Furthermore, the promise of the Davidic Covenant, that David would have a son and heir to sit on his throne forever, is also stirring up the nations (Psalm 2:1). David’s throne is in Jerusalem. This link to the Son of David and throne of David is why Jerusalem is called ‘City of the Great King’ (Psalm 48:2; Matthew 5:35). Revelation 21-22 describe the New Jerusalem as our eternal home. No wonder the forces of darkness are working overtime to thwart Jerusalem’s divine destiny. They will fail, of course, but that doesn’t stop them trying.
Will the issue of Jerusalem and its ownership morph from mere international concern to international conflict? Will the nations of the world actually go to war against Jerusalem?

The Scorecard
Consider the following:
1.      UN Resolutions: Jerusalem has been the subject of 57 resolutions from 1947 to 2006;
2.      Foreign Embassies in Tel Aviv: All countries who have diplomatic relations with Israel refuse to accord de jure recognition of Jerusalem as capital to the Jewish state. Foreign embassies are located in Tel Aviv, 64 kilometres (40 miles) away;
3.      ‘Jerusalem is Not Negotiable:’ After Israel captured and annexed the Old City in June 1967, it declared ‘Jerusalem Is Not Negotiable,’ meaning it would remain a united city under Israeli sovereignty and this would not be up for discussion in peace negotiations. This position lasted until 2000 when Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak offered Palestine Authority President Yasser Arafat most of the West Bank and part of Jerusalem for a future Palestinian state. Though Arafat rejected Barak’s offer, the ‘genie’ of a negotiable, divisible Jerusalem never returned to the bottle – it has remained on the table ever since;
4.      The Prime Minister of Israel: The PM, who is based in Jerusalem, is the most visited political in the world after the President of the United States;
5.      UNESCO Resolution October 2016: It refused to recognise the importance of the Western Wall and Temple Mount, known to the Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif, to the Jewish people. It is as if the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque were the only shrines to ever exist there. Note: UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova and UN General Secretary Antonio Guterres did make conciliatory remarks to Israel; the latter affirming there was a Jewish temple on the mount. Both the United States and Israel have withdrawn from UNESCO because of this perceived bias;
6.      UN Resolution 2334 December 23, 2016:Led by New Zealand, Senegal, and Malaysia, the Security Council passed this resolution saying all territory not in Israel’s hands on 4 June 1967 (the day before the outbreak of the Six Day War), including the Old City, is ‘occupied Palestinian territory.’ That includes the Western Wall, Jewish Quarter, and Mount of Olives Jewish cemetery. The Obama Administration abstained.
7.      Famous funerals: When former Israeli President Shimon Peres died in 2016, 70 nations were represented at his funeral. The same with the funeral of slain PM Yitzhak Rabin in 1995.
8.      Paris Peace Conference January 2017:70 countries came to discuss the fate of Israel, Palestine, and Jerusalem – 70 countries!
Yes, the world cares about Jerusalem and one day it will turn to conflict.
What’s All the Fuss?
Despite the furious opposition of the nations, the status of the holy city will be determined from heaven. According to Zechariah 14:3-4, the nations will fail and the Messiah’s feet will stand on the Mount of Olives. When that happens, it means ‘game over.’ The kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of His Lord and Christ (Revelation 11:15). Jerusalem will be His capital.
This is a day worth looking forward to.

Zechariah’s scenario is quickly coming into focus. That is why people of faith are called to ‘pray for the peace of Jerusalem’ (Psalm 122:6).
Articles, Education, Prophecy, Teaching

The Culture War Part 01: Introduction

No sooner had the votes been counted and the winner announced than all hell broke loose. The date was November 8, 2016, and Donald Trump won an upset victory for the Presidency of the United States over front-runner Hillary Clinton. Violent protests broke out in Portland, Oregon and elsewhere; Trump supporters were viciously attacked; calls for ‘impeachment’ and ‘resistance’ were heard across the country, and ‘sanctuary cities’ pledged defiance against the new administration’s immigration policies. Stephen Scalise, House Republican Whip, was shot and nearly killed by a disgruntled Bernie Sander’s supporter.
What’s going on?
The best explanation is that we are experiencing an intensification of what is called the great cultural civil war, the most strident and divisive social conflict since the American civil war of the 1860s. Donald Trump’s election did not cause the conflict – it was more like poking a stick into an already agitated hornet’s nest – but it accentuated a trend that has been happening for decades.
The term ‘culture war’ was coined in the 1991 book Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America by James Davison Hunter, the year before the election of Bill Clinton as US President. On one side are the left-wing ‘progressives’ (sometimes referred to as ‘liberals,’ but best to stick with ‘progressive’) versus conservatives or traditional values conservatives (don’t confuse them with professed conservatives who support smaller government and capitalism but are libertarian in their moral views).
‘Progressives’ include the American Democratic party, Australia’s ALP, the Greens, yes, even some from the Liberal Party like Malcolm Turnbull, mainstream media (including Time Magazine, CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, and Australia’s ABC & SBS), academia, Hollywood, and, to some extent, the judiciary. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and Nancy Pelosi, are some notable progressives. Millennials who want ‘safe-space,’ ‘triggered,’ ‘social justice warriors’ and are easily ‘triggered’ are the vanguard of progressivism.
Traditional-values ‘Conservatives’ include some in the American Republican party, some in the Australian Liberal party, some of the minor political parties in Australia (definitely not the Sex Party), some in Fox News. America’s Ronald Reagan, Britain’s Margaret Thatcher, and commentators like Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity are considered prominent conservatives. In Australia John Howard, Tony Abbott, Barnaby Joyce, Andrew Hastie are conservatives, and also Cory Bernardi who started the Australian Conservative Party. Andrew Bolt is a conservative culture warrior journalist – the most ‘Christian-friendly’ non-Christian journalist in the nation. Let’s not forget a Australian-based Christian culture warrior named Bill Muehlenberg who heads up a blog called ‘Culture Watch’ (https://billmuehlenberg.com).
Key Issues
Some of the key issues at stake in the culture war include:
•    Abortion,
•    Climate change-global warming,
•    Privacy,
•    Homosexuality,
•    Same-sex marriage,
•    Transgenderism,
•    Separation of church and state,
•    Gun laws (a big issue in the United States),
•    An Australian republic,
•    Recreational drug use,
•    Censorship, and
•    Immigration.
Ultimately, what is at stake is nothing less than the survival of western civilisation as we know it. Extreme progressives want to put the west out of business and replace it with a big government, egalitarian, multicultural, globalist utopia (note: the other group that has declared war on the west are the jihadists).
In Australia, the biggest issue in the 1990s was the call for an Australian republic, which led to a failed constitutional referendum in 1999. The so-called ‘debate’ during this time leading up to the referendum, had all the trademarks of the culture war: elitist support, including big business, the Australian media, academia, sports and entertainment industry versus the average Australian. It was a top-down rather than grass roots endeavour. Instead of civil discourse, insults and charges of being ‘un-Australian’ were levelled at those who wanted to retain the status quo. In light of the vitriol we are seeing today, the republic campaign of the 1990s seems tame in comparison.
Earlier manifestations of the culture war began around the time of World War I. There was the rise of Marxism, cultural-marxism, later on the Frankfurt School, the globalist internationalist agenda (one-world government). Political correctness and an overriding narrative also became a factor. Truth and facts were not, under no circumstance, to get in the way of a good story.
The culture war got another big nudge during the 1960s with the advent of the birth control pill, the Port Huron Declaration, sexual revolution, the US Supreme Court banning prayer in public schools, the University of California – Berkley ‘free speech movement,’ the anti-Vietnam war protests that became violent, and the US Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade ruling (1973) which gave American women a constitutional right to an abortion. All these things, and more, laid the groundwork to what we now see today.

While pluralistic, democratic societies can have healthy differences of political philosophy, what makes the ‘culture war’ different is the ‘winner take all,’ ‘leave no prisoners,’ ‘scorched earth’ approach, particularly from the far left. Rational, civil debate has been replaced by screeching, insulting, and intimidating talk – a veritable ‘call of the jackals.’ Social justice warriors don’t want to hear the other side and have resorted to all kinds of tactics, including ‘shout-down, shut-downs’ and violence, to keep people of a different persuasion from speaking on campus or in public. Even legendary feminist icon Germaine Greer has her speeches targeted because she does not embrace the current transgender agenda. Freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, freedom of religion, and parental rights are under threat. Extreme political correctness, and actual violence, are becoming more normal. It looks, smells, and tastes just like a war and is as strident and divisiveness as the American civil war. TO BE CONTINUED.
Baptist, News

Australian Baptist Churches to Stop

It’s the biggest humanitarian crisis of our time – more than 25 million people are at risk of starving to death – but two thirds of Australians remain unaware that it is even happening, according to a recent survey.

Every day the Hunger Crisis in East Africa and Yemen draws on in relative silence.
On Sunday 15 October 2017, Baptist World Aid Australia is asking Baptist churches around the country to stop.

“How can an individual even begin responding to a crisis of such magnitude?” asks CEO of Baptist World Aid, John Hickey. “It’s a question I’m sure every one of us has wrestled with at one stage or another.

“But, as Christians, we also know that we’re not called to find solutions to crises like this in our own strength.”

Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still and know that I am God”. And Baptist World Aid is encouraging your church family to do just that.

“We’re asking churches to make a decision to stop during their regular Sunday service; to set aside 10 minutes to reflect, as a community, on the current Hunger Crisis,” says Mr Hickey.

“It is our prayer that this will lead to a powerful moment for churches across the country. And serve to bring God’s heart to transform lives in East Africa and Yemen into sharper focus.”

To help facilitate this moment of reflection, Baptist World Aid has been developing a pack of resources, for use on Sunday 15 October.

“One of the resources is a devotional that can be undertaken on World Food Day, Monday 16 October, so that individuals can continue this journey of reflection in their personal lives,” reveals Mr Hickey.

“We’re encouraging all other supporters and individuals who are not planted in a Baptist church to make time to be still on World Food Day.

“It is my prayer that Australian Baptists would lead the way for other Australians in responding to this crisis.”

Stand with Baptist Churches around the country and the Baptist World Aid community as they pledge to stop and be still this October. Go to: baptistworldaid.org.au/be-still/