Category Archives: Kingdom of God

How to pray when threatened

Posted on 21/12/2017 | Leave a comment

We were reading that early passage in the NT book Acts where the authorities–the high priests and religious elites of Jerusalem–interrogated and threatened Peter and John not to proclaim Jesus any longer and the two leaders being let go, joined a house full of other believers and they all prayed . . . .

Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed.  They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.  Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.  Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

The authorities were conspiring, but not against Peter and John or the believers in the resurrected Christ but conspiring against the Lord’s anointed one.

But there are enormous consequences for their attitude, their opposition, their actions.

We can see that Jesus and his people who obey him, are one. Jesus taught that to act against his servants is to act against the King and the Rule of God. We who truly act in his name in obedience to his word are in an indissoluble union with him.

Acting against his people is to act against him. Not very wise.

The disciples could see clearly and proclaimed that these authorities were actually doing “what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.” What confidence in the living God! They knew, prayed and lived out Psalm 2!

We realize we can live in that reality. He knows what he is doing.

“All things are working together for those who love God, who are the called according to his purpose”!

The living God cannot be defeated. He may be mocked but it is all in his stride. He will turn men’s plans to suit himself and he will have the glory.

Authorities today are making laws and threats of prosecutions against us who are led by the Holy Spirit. They seek to change the unchangeable, what IS and act as if they are gods. They are calling good evil and evil good.

They are acting against the Lord’s anointed, the Christ.

The living God is not taken by surprise! Politicians think they are in control. But they do not realize that God has decided beforehand what should take place. And at the same time they have chosen to act improperly and without the counsel of the Almighty.

If God is for us who can be against us, the apostle Paul excitedly and emphatically stated.

We looked and marveled at how these early believers prayed.

They asked for power and boldness in proclaiming the truth that saves. And at the same time, for God to stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders . . .

Both are necessary — us together boldly making the saving word known, emboldened by the Holy Spirit, and powerful signs following the words of life by the hand of God. Truly an exciting partnership!

After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

And that scenario has never been withdrawn.  Is there is any sensible alternative for us, for you, for me? But to pray like that and expect the Mighty Presence with us.

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Posted in Assembling, church, Bible Study, Discipleship, Good versus evil, Kingdom of God, miracles

Taslan

Posted on 17/12/2017 | 1 comment

By Disciple — see http://www.nobrokenreed.org/taslan/

Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared – 1 Tim 4

In CS Lewis’ book, The Last Battle, a rather shrewd ape (called Shift) sews a lion skin around a rather dumb donkey (Puzzle) and uses him to control Narnia. Shift the ape, parades the look-alike lion before the Narnians only during twilight, and the innocent Narnians are left speechless at what they perceive the remarkable and legendary Aslan has become. How could one so majestic and powerful, have become so revolting and pernicious.

The ape then joins forces with the arch enemy of Narnia, the Calormenes, who have a god called Tash. Tash is an evil spirit, a vulture with 2 feet and 4 arms, and eats children who are given to him in child sacrifice. In a masterstroke of brilliance, the ape and Calormenes declare that Tash and Aslan are one and the same, and Aslan becomes Taslan. Everyone is utterly confused.

In the saddest twist that eventually destroys Narnia forever, even when the truth is finally revealed, when Tash is banished and the donkey exposed, Narnians are too dismayed to put their faith in anything other than themselves. A once beautiful country has now become worthless and fit only for destruction.

The Last Battle mirrors our own society so closely, that it would seem Lewis was writing while reading today’s news. Our society is so confused about the truth and who is really in charge, that the only person they feel safe putting their faith in, is themselves. The West it seems, has finally caught up with the world inhabited by Paul.

Paul’s final letters are replete with warnings on false teachings, spirits and deception within the fledgling church. While he specifically addresses what was happening in the church, it seems that if his society was anything like ours, that confusion was just absorbed from the world. Both the world and the church appear very mystified about Jesus Christ.

I met with a disciple maker this week, and we had a wonderful time sharing times of prayer, elation and trials. Our conclusions were remarkably similar, and that is, it is extremely difficult to engage Western culture in anything that resembles the demands of Jesus Christ. Jesus, Mohammed or even faith in yourself, is it really such a big deal? Sometimes sadly, the church appears just as jumbled.

Those with eyes to see will see this though – this is only the beginning, soon it is going to get much worse.

A happy Christmas message you might ask?

Well, I think so. To me and those who are committed to growing in Jesus Christ, this time reminds us of the sheer extraordinariness of God. We have a lofty, majestic King, God’s own Son, who is far above all else, and yet, and yet, this Christ still will condescend himself to accept us, heal us, forgive us, grant us total amnesty if only we would accept him. His lightness is more brilliant than the darkest of our dark, and he alone has the power to rescue humanity. He works in the lives of individuals dealing with each of us so perfectly and exactly where we are. Above all though, my Jesus is alive. Two thousand years after we nailed him to a cross, he continues to reign in heaven.

The world and the church will continue to grow cold in their devotion to Jesus Christ, and one day in this country we will be forbidden from celebrating him publicly. I am certain that will be the case. But it is worth reminding ourselves at this time of year, that such a fact does not alter one iota who the person of Jesus Christ is. World systems, politicians and those who are so full of hatred towards him, can no more make him go away than they can blot out the sun.

In The Last Battle, Aslan comes back when he is least expected. When all have dismissed his presence as no more than a mythical legend, Aslan returns. But by then it is all too late, for he has come for but one purpose, to wind Narnia up and only those who have remained faithful will be saved. So it is with our King, this Jesus that the world has largely dismissed. He is coming back.

My question to you, as it has been to those who I have met out on the streets all year is this though, why would you not embrace him with everything you have? A God who by rights should be at war with us, instead offers himself so willingly, so humbly, to each of us through his Son. Come to me he says, all who are weary and I will give you rest, freedom and life, both here and ever after.

Embrace it, embrace him with your all. He will never disappoint.

Merry Christmas, thanks for reading. May he be your rest and your peace this season.

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Posted in Bible Study, Discipleship, Kingdom of God, Make disciples

OH, THAT WRETCHED WORD ‘CHURCH’

Posted on 09/02/2017 | 14 comments

English translators of the scriptures saw the New Testament with religious (catholic) lenses. So these obeyed the politico-religious powers and consistently translated the Greek word ekklesia into a current religious word, ‘church’ which everyone already knew, being taught and accepted as truth, instead of the real meaning of the Greek word, which is assembly or gathering—a word in the Ancient World which had no religious or institutional connotations at all. None.

This is clearly shown by the translators’ inconsistency in translating the same Greek word by assembly or gathering three times in Acts 19—the story of Paul’s gospel stirring up the silversmiths in Ephesus—instead of the c… word! Check me out. I kid you not.

Ekklesia always meant assembly or gathering in the Ancient World of the New Testament period. When Paul wrote to those gatherings of Jesus’ people in the New Testament period, he qualified the word ekklesia by e.g., the ekklesia in God the Father and His son at . . . . (wherever—Corinth, etc) or similar language. It had to be distinguished from all the other local gatherings—religious, political or commercial which abounded in great numbers.  Get it?

And if Paul was talking about more than one gathering of believers, he used the plural, ekklesiai, gatherings. So we read about the “assemblies or gatherings of Judea” and not “the gathering of Judea”. John does not address any “assembly of or in Asia” in the Book of Revelation but as “the seven gatherings in Asia”. Seven! And that’s because they are assemblies not denominations or institutional religious organisations.

In fact, a strong case can be made that ekklesia originally meant “a gathering actually gathered” so that when the assembly broke up there was no longer a gathering. For example the riotous assembly, Acts 19:41. Naturally for a group of believers meeting regularly it would continue in their minds as a spiritual gathering, a virtual one, which had a (hopeful) continuity while not meeting—though could never be guaranteed that it would gather again exactly the same as it did the previous time.

So it’s like our parliaments which sit for a period but then when not sitting, there is no parliament. And a city council is really only a council when it is meeting. The employees are not the actual council, are they?

William Tyndale in his groundbreaking 16th Century English New Testament translation, rendered ekklesia as ‘congregation’ which then had no traditional religious connotation. This led to his being persecuted and strangulated by the religious establishment—that’s 1534 English history.

So why did the English Bible translators three times translate ekklesia as ‘assembly’ in the story in Acts (Acts 19:32, 39, 41)? The word church clearly wouldn’t fit these three meeting contexts. But wearing their religious glasses, they consistently translated the Greek word in other contexts as ‘church’ as if this Roman Catholic term was its equivalent and not as the word was understood in the Ancient World.

A century later, the translators of the King James Version (KJV)  were commanded by James the King of England to abide by about 14 conditions one of which the Greek word ekklesia had to be translated as church. They had no option but to do what James wanted so he could maintain his political agenda. They did translate the word as assembly in the Acts 19 story.

You may be interested to know that now we can use a recent scholarly translation called World English Bible (WEB) which translates the Greek word ekklesia with the English word assembly in the New Testament. In this version, the word ‘church’ cannot be found.

What has kept English translators so long to correct this?

Tradition! which obscures the word of God.

We may ask: why did the apostles use the Greek word ekklesia (gathering) and not other words which had a similar meaning? They did not use the word synagogue for the obvious reason that their gatherings were distinguished from those of the Jews.

Now, the Hebrew word qahal (=gathering, assembly) had been used in the Old Testament over 100 times and in the Greek translation of the OT (called the Septuagint or “LXX”) this Hebrew word was translated ekklesia (gathering). The early New Testament writers widely used the LXX and so probably chose this word which was also used by Jesus (see Matthew 16:18 and 18:17—the only places in the 4 gospels).

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Posted in Assembling, church, Bible Study, Discipleship, Kingdom of God

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Being One before a Watching World

Posted on 28/05/2016 | Leave a comment

Last two posts, I wrote about how Jesus prayed specifically and most pointedly for you and me, as if it were the most important request ever That they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You (John 17:21a)

Jesus’ oneness with the Father is the pattern we are called to emulate. We know we are called to do so because of Jesus’ prayer. It is a clear insight into what God’s will is. We must obey. It is critical.

This is echoed in His great command to “immerse them [new disciples] into the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit”. Immersion or enveloping, submerging, absorbed into can be a legitimate translation. It expresses the idea of becoming completely occupied with something, giving as much as possible of your time, energy, or concentration to it.

But Jesus goes even further . . . . .

That they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. (John 17:21b)

How critical ONENESS is, according to Jesus! Unless this oneness with “Us”—the Father and the Son—is a reality here with us on earth, the watching world will not believe Jesus was sent by the Father, the Only true Living God who spoke all into existence!

We appear so weak before the watching world because of our lack of oneness, our divisions, our quarrels, our hardheartedness with fellow believers, let alone our often dislike and even hatred of others.

His wonderful ekklesia which He alone is building is HIS Body and He is its head and we are each joined with one another into him, the head. Unity is found in His Body. That is inescapable. This is serious . . . .

You know that you are God’s sanctuary and that God’s Spirit lives in you, don’t you? If anyone destroys God’s sanctuary, God will destroy him, for God’s sanctuary is holy. And you are that sanctuary! 1 Cor 3:16-17

Oneness of God was the foundation statement of the Israelites. In Paul, God is revealed as Father, Son and Holy Spirit—yet is one, as Paul who was Hebrew to the core, was at pains to teach his Corinthian hearers :

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit, and there are varieties of ministries, but the same Lord. There are varieties of results, but it is the same God who produces all the results in everyone. (1 Cor 12:4-6)

I urge all of you to be in agreement and not to have divisions among you, so that you may be perfectly united in your understanding and opinions. (1 Cor 1:10).

Paul reminded the Ephesians to be diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling;  one Lord, one faith, one baptism,  one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. (4:3-6)

The apostle implored his hearers to stand firm in one spirit, struggling with one mind for the faith of the gospel (Phil 1:27) and having the same attitude, sharing the same love, being united in spirit, and keeping one purpose in mind. (Phil 2:2)

Agreement and being of one mind and spirit is not an option. It is a serious command. And it is possible!

It is perfectly possible when we are joined organically to the Head as branches are in the Vine; when we are found in Jesus. We must put to death this terrible earthly, fleshly thing in us. Become alive in the Spirit, cooperating freely with the Lord and with one another, abounding in His work, abounding in His work and abandoning all else. One together in Him.

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Posted in Assembling, church, Bible Study, Discipleship, Kingdom of God