<![CDATA[LIVINGSTONE FELLOWSHIP - Biblical Worldview]]>Sun, 10 May 2026 13:26:50 +0200Weebly<![CDATA[Hunger for Reality]]>Wed, 06 May 2026 13:30:03 GMThttps://www.livingstonefellowship.co.za/biblical-worldview/hunger-for-reality
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Do you have a hunger for reality?

In a world filled with Fake news, Fake history, fictional heroes, Hollywood make belief, Fake pandemics and fake medicines, false doctrines, false preachers, false prophets, false theologies, fake religions, false friends, fake relationships and false brethren, we are desperate for the Real and the True.

“My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.” Hosea 4:6.  
Hunger for Reality
By Dr. Peter Hammond

Seek the Lord while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near. Isaiah 55:6
 
Do you have a hunger for reality?
In a world filled with Fake news, Fake history, fictional heroes, Hollywood make belief, Fake pandemics and fake medicines, false doctrines, false preachers, false prophets, false theologies, fake religions, false friends, fake relationships and false brethren, we are desperate for the Real and the True. “My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.” Hosea 4:6.  We are deceived, Jesus is the Truth, we are lost, Jesus is the Way, we are dead in our trespasses and sins. Jesus is the Life. No one comes unto the father except through Him. (John 14:6).  “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.” John 8:32. In a world of Deep Fakes we need deep Faith and deep Reality. Instead of splashing in the shallows, we need to dive into the deep end. Reject the shallow and superficial. Don't just skim the Scriptures, Study the Scriptures. The Word of God is the solid rock foundation for ultimate success in life and for eternity (Psalm 18:31).
 
An Encounter with Reality
On the 3rd of April in 1977 I had an encounter with Reality. I wandered into a cinema and heard the Gospel powerfully presented. Despite being raised in a secular family, I experienced the reality of God and could never again question His existence. Nor could I doubt His call on my life. God is real. Jesus is alive today.  He hears our prayers. He answers prayer. He transforms lives by the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus came to give us life and Life in all its abundance (John 10:10). He invites those who hunger and thirst for reality to come unto him and he will make rivers of living water to flow from our innermost beings (John 7:37-39).
By the grace of God, I was regenerated, born again. Before that night I was spiritually deaf, spiritually blind and spiritually dead. Even though we had begun each school day in Bulawayo, Rhodesia with Scripture reading, prayer and hymn singing, before that night when I was converted to Christ, not a spiritual thought, or Spiritual concept had crossed my mind. But after my conversation, the same hymns that I had sung multiple times before over the years suddenly came Alive, I was no longer singing words on a page, but spiritual Truths that I was now experiencing. In the words of the hymn:  “And the Voice I hear falling on my ear, the Son of God discloses. and He walks with me, and He talks with me, and He tells me I am His own; and the joy we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known.”
 
The Presence, Provision and Protection of God
It was the beginning of an incredible adventure of discipleship, a spiritual pilgrimage where I experienced and encountered the awesome presence of God, the gracious provision of God, the powerful protection of God, and the incredible Providence of God. I experienced the joy and peace that passes all understanding, even in communist captivity, in prison and in chains. Even when under fire, under mortar and rocket fire, under artillery barrages and aerial bombardment, I experienced the protection of God. With hot shrapnel flying all around me, I experienced the reality of God's Presence and Protection. He was my Shield and defender. My Rock and my Fortress (Psalm 18).
 
Under Fire behind Enemy Lines
Even behind enemy lines, surrounded by communist forces, or Islamic Jihadists, the presence and protection of our Lord Jesus Christ was real. By God's grace, I have completed over 140 missions behind enemy lines, including ministering throughout the Nuba mountains of Sudan, an island of Christianity in a sea of Islam, a people under siege, in one of the most dangerous war zones, in one of the most remote and inaccessible parts of earth. Walking throughout the scorched earth devastated area under relentless aerial bombardment and devastating artillery and rocket fire, God enabled me to smuggle many tonnes of Bibles, Christian School textbooks, food and medicines to remote areas and to destitute persecuted Christians.   “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.” Isaiah 26:3
 
 
To know God and to make Him known
For over 44 years of serving the Lord in missions throughout Africa, in 38 countries, and in eight wars, I have experienced the truth that: the will of God will never lead you where the grace of God cannot keep you.
Family friend, Romanian Lutheran pastor, Richard Wurmbrand, who was incarcerated for over 14 years under the communist tyranny and who later wrote Tortured for Christ, mentioned that he was once asked which Scriptures enabled him to endure the many years of excruciating torture in communist concentration camps and prison cells in Romania. Pastor Wurmbrand's response was: It is good to know the shepherd's psalm, but it is far more important to know The Shepherd.”  Bible memorization is a great help when you are locked up in a dungeon without any access to the Scriptures, but a dynamic personal relationship with the Lord is vital.
 
Book of Acts Christianity
From the very beginning I was dissatisfied with the superficial and shallow, which seemed to predominate in the average churches and youth groups. I was determined to find Book of Acts Christianity: the real thing! In January 1987 I received an invitation to minister at the KwaSizabantu Mission station in KwaZulu. There amongst the hills of Zululand, I met The extraordinary missionary pioneer, Rev Erlo Stegen and was eyewitness to a genuine Revival. KwaSizabantu Mission is the real thing: Book of Acts Christianity. Conversions to Christ. Even witch doctors, satanists, gangsters and terrorists converted. Restitution. Fire services. Lives transformed by the grace and power of God. Bodies healed. Dramatic answers to prayer. Genuine and authentic Christian witness even in the worst of circumstances. This reality has been a phenomenal inspiration and example of excellence not only for me but for multitudes of others from around the world.
 
The Miraculous Provision of God
Where God guides, He provides. When the Lord first guided me to launch this mission to persecuted Christians across the border, I had no resources to purchase the many Bibles needed, or the film evangelism equipment to reach the multitudes of unreached people in Marxist Mozambique. However as pioneer missionary Hudson Taylor declared: “God's work done God's way will never lack God's supply.” From my first faith mission across the border, I experienced the reality of God answering prayer and providing all of our needs, in some of the most surprising and unpredictable ways. Anyone who has joined us on these behind enemy lines Bible smuggling operations into restricted access countries would see the reality of God, in how He protected us from all danger, provided all our needs, healed us from all diseases and providentially worked all things together for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose. Even out of some traumatic experiences, in the Killing Fields of Mozambique, and during the Holocaust in Rwanda, even when I have been in prison and under intense interrogation, God has brought good things out of some horrible situations. He can be trusted in all circumstances.
 
The Power of God in Answer to Prayer
When I first started praying for Mozambique in 1981, it was firmly closed to the Gospel. Operation World informed us that less than 4% of the population were Christians. Many of my friends and family thought I was Reckless and foolish to try to enter Marxist Mozambique on my motorbike, laden with a thousand Gospels and Bibles and the "Jesus" film. Yet God opened the doors time and time again and we managed to deliver tonnes of Bibles and relief aid and show Christian films throughout that war-torn country. Today Mozambique is wide open to the Gospel and 34% of the population are Protestant, Evangelical, or Independent Christians.
 
Those who Declare War on God Lose
In 1986 as Samora Machel's brutal persecution of Christians in Mozambique intensified, we published the "Mozambique Report" (since published as in the Killing Fields of Mozambique) and launched a campaign of prayer for the suffering Christians there. Although there seemed to be no hope - we continued to trust God to intervene and stop the bloodbath. Suddenly, in October 1986, the dictator's Soviet Tupelov aircraft crashed into the Lebombo Mountains of Eastern Transvaal, during a storm. A month earlier, Machel had publicly cursed Christ and challenged God to prove His existence by striking him dead. When, after 60 seconds nothing had happened, Machel declared that "God is dead! But I am alive!" Now the persecutor was dead and God was clearly alive. Although much suffering continued, Mozambique officially renounced Marxism and allowed some measure of freedom to many churches - especially in the cities. And missionaries at last managed to evangelise in Mozambique again. The atheistic persecutors of the Church had to acknowledge defeat.
 
As the persecution of Christians in Angola escalated under the Marxist dictator, Agestino Neto, we prayed for God to intervene. Shortly after Neto declared that: "Within 20 years there will not be a Bible or Christian left in Angola. I will have eradicated Christianity!" Neto died in mysterious circumstances on an operating table in Moscow. His successor, Dos Santos, showed a marked lack of enthusiasm in continuing Neto's wave of church burning. Today Angola is open to the Gospel, and our mission alone has delivered many thousands of Bibles into that country.
 
God Opens Prison doors and Sets the Captives Free!
In 1987, I was arrested and imprisoned in Lusaka central prison, yet by God's grace and in answer to prayer, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher intervened to demand from the Zambian dictator Kenneth Kaunda, that he release the missionaries being imprisoned without trial and abused by his security forces. Shortly after that the socialist dictator was overthrown by the movement for multi-party democracy and a new president was elected who called the nation to repentance and prayer and committed Zambia to becoming a Christian country. In 1989 I and an American Medical team ministering amongst the destitute tribes devastated by communist forces in northern Mozambique were arrested and imprisoned. My wife Lenora mobilized an international campaign of prayer and pressure which succeeded in persuading the Frelimo regime in Mozambique to release us after a harrowing week of abuse at the hands of their secret police.
 
The Seven-year Jericho Prayer March
Shortly after I returned from my two years National Service in the South African Infantry and had returned to Hospital Christian Fellowship, Brother Andrew (of God’s Smuggler fame) visited Hospital Christian Fellowship headquarters in Kempton Park. At the Devotions, he reported back on the success of Project Pearl smuggling a million Bibles into Red China. And he challenged us to join with Christians behind the Iron Curtain in a Seven-year Jericho Prayer March! This was not something being initiated in the West. It had already begun with the prayer meetings in Leipzig, East Germany, behind the Iron Curtain. We were challenged to a seven year prayer focus on bringing down the Iron Curtain, collapsing the Soviet Empire and opening up Eastern Europe and Russia to missionary work! This began in 1982. To me, at the time, this sounded more than a bridge too far. I had seen the Iron Curtain. There was no doubt in my mind, at that time, that the Iron Curtain was an immovable fact of 20th Century history and it would be up until Jesus returned.
 
The Fall of the Iron Curtain
As Winston Churchill had declared in a landmark speech at Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri, 5 March 1946:  “An Iron Curtain has descended across the continent.” From Stettin in the North to Trieste in the South, barbed wire and barricades, walls and machine gun towers were erected, sealing off the captive nations occupied by the Soviet Union from their neighbours in the West. The Iron Curtain divided a continent and trapped hundreds of millions of people under communism. Even Poland, for whose freedom Great Britain had ostensibly entered the war, became little more than a satellite of the Soviet Empire ruled by men chosen by Moscow. Its population was now imprisoned behind a mass of barbed wire, watchtowers and minefields, a physical iron curtain.
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Secret Police
To spy on its captive populations, Like Big Brother in George Orwell’s novel 1984, the Soviet empire set up secret police. In the Soviet Union it was the KGB, in Bulgaria it was the DS, in Czechoslovakia the StB, in Hungary the AVB, in Poland the SB, in Romania the Securitate and in East Germany it was the STASI (the Ministry of State Security). The STASI maintained a huge network of 90,000 secret police and 175,000 paid informants. They kept files on 4,000,000 East Germans, a quarter of the population.

The Korean War and other Hot parts of the Cold War
There were numerous hot fronts in the Cold War, including a full-scale military war in Korea where two million died in the three-year conflict. The Cold War almost went nuclear during the Cuban missile crisis, October 1962. The vicious conflicts in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, Rhodesia, Mozambique, Angola and South West Africa were other hot parts of the Cold War.

Protests in Berlin
After the death of Joseph Stalin (5 March 1953), over 100,000 East Berlin workers protested against the Soviet occupation. Two Soviet armoured divisions were sent into East Berlin to crush the protest in June 1953. Over 100 civilians were killed and 25,000 protesters arrested.

​Uprising in Hungary
In July 1956, a full-scale uprising in Hungary shook the Soviet Empire. Mass demonstrations demanded the withdrawal of Soviet troops and in Budapest, a massive statue of Stalin was toppled. Soviet troops poured into Hungary and over 20,000 Hungarians were killed in the repression. Tens of-thousands more were arrested and imprisoned. 250,000 Hungarians fled to the West.
 
The Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was concrete proof of the failure of “scientific socialism.” To prevent Germans in the Soviet zone from fleeing to the Western zone in Berlin, a 165 km wall was constructed to seal off West Berlin’s island of freedom from Soviet occupied communist East Germany. The Berlin Wall included 302 concrete observation posts/machine gun towers and 123 km of electric fencing.
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Death Strip
A further death strip stretching 1,393 km along the border between communist East Germany and free West Germany was constructed with: 724 observation posts/machine gun towers, 1,161 km of electric fencing, 54, 000 self-firing devices and 190 km of mine fields.
 
Kill Zone
Thousands died trying to flee across the Iron Curtain. The Iron Lady had this to say about the Berlin Wall: “The Berlin Wall stands as concrete proof that when people have a choice, they choose to be free. Freedom has its problems, but we’ve never needed to build walls to keep our people in!”

Voting With their Feet
​Yet from the founding of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in 1949, more than 4,500,000 (over one quarter of the population) voted with their feet by fleeing to West Germany. 38,515 escaped from East to West Berlin by tunnels, by improvised air machines, or hot air balloons, hidden inside vehicles travelling from East to West Berlin. 2,768 East German soldiers and officers on duty (including a Colonel) escaped to the West.

Invasion of Czechoslovakia
Those who believed that communism could be reformed from within, were shaken by the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, when Czech communist party chief, Alexander Dubcek, attempted to create “socialism with a human face.” As a result of economic reforms in Czechoslovakia, the other East European satellite states complained that their positions were being undermined by the reforms in Czechoslovakia. The Soviet response was: Leonid Brezhnev ordered a full-scale Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia to restore orthodox communism. The Prague Spring ended in August 1968 as half-a-million Warsaw Pact troops invaded Czechoslovakia and overwhelmed the courageous resistance of Czech patriots.
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Détente Deception
The Soviet Empire reached its peak during the period of Détente, as they sponsored, trained and armed revolutionaries to seize power in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam in 1975, Ethiopia in 1974, Guinea Bissau, Angola and Mozambique in 1975, Grenada and Nicaragua in 1979 and Rhodesia/ Zimbabwe in 1980. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 was a major wake up call to those in the West who still believed in Détente.
 
The Seven-year Jericho Prayer March Dramatically Turned the Tide
all of this was the prelude/background to appreciate the phenomenal impact of the seven-year Jericho prayer march mobilization initiative.
 
Freedom on the Offensive
As a result of this unprecedented Soviet advance,  in the 1980s there began to build a backlash throughout the West, epitomised by staunch anti-communist US President, Ronald Reagan, British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, West German Chancellor, Helmut Kohl and South Africa’s President P.W. Botha. South Africa confronted and defeated the Soviets and their Cuban surrogates in Angola. The West went on the offensive, directly supporting the anti-communist Solidarity trade union movement in Poland, which soon organised nationwide strikes and protests against the Soviet occupation. The USA began to arm and support anti-communist resistance movements as far afield as in Nicaragua, Afghanistan and Angola. Ronald Reagan’s policies forced the Soviets back onto the defensive and strategically undermined their economy. Spectacular re-armament programmes and the space based Strategic Defence Initiative (SDI) quickly left the Soviets far behind in the arms race and totally bankrupted the Soviet Union in their futile attempt to keep up with America.

Defeating the Communists
Brave anti-communist resistance fighters in Mozambique, Angola, Nicaragua and Afghanistan severely bled the Soviet forces, inflicting serious defeats upon them. The Rhodesian resistance throughout the 60s and 70s had set back the advance of communism in Southern Africa and the destruction of entire Cuban-mechanised divisions in Angola by South African conventional forces in the battles on the Lomba River in 1987 and 1988, convinced the Soviet Union that they would not even be able to win a conventional war against the West.
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Recognising Reality
Russian soldiers began to refer to Afghanistan as their ‘Vietnam’. As Russian casualties mounted in that conflict, the ongoing political crisis in Poland and widespread resistance to communism throughout the Soviet empire helped convince the Soviet leaders that their bankrupt system was doomed.
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The Glasnost Gulag
Even under Gorbachev’s much-acclaimed Glasnost, the Soviet Gulag imprisoned millions. When US President, Ronald Reagan, stood at the Berlin Wall and challenged: “Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” the Soviet Union operated 1,976 concentration camps, 273 prisons, 85 psychiatric prisons and 41 death camps. In this Soviet Gulag, over 5,000,000 political and religious prisoners were still incarcerated. Alexander Solzhenitsyn, author of The Gulag Archipelago, documented that between 1918 and 1953 (under Lenin and Stalin’s rule) over 50,000,000 Russians served long sentences in the Soviet concentration camps, with millions perishing.
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The Hypocrisy of Communism
It was pointed out that while the communists claimed to have liberated Russia from the oppression of the Czars, there were 5000 times more official executions under communist rule in Russia as occurred under Czarist rule in the same time period. By comparison with Russia under Czarist rule where the highest figure of political prisoners was 183,949, the communists imprisoned seventy times as many people at any one time.
Callous Disregard for Life
Vladimir Lenin famously declared that it did not matter if three quarters of the population of Russia perished, as long as the remaining quarter were communist!
Joseph Stalin observed: “The death of one person is a tragedy; whereas the death of a million is just a statistic!”
 
Prayer and Protests
As candlelit prayer vigils and protests spread from Leipzig, through Dresden, to all of East Germany, the Communist East German government was bankrupt and tottering. Gorbachev’s Soviet Union was also bankrupt and could no longer bail them out. So, Erich Honecker, the dictator of East Germany, turned to the West Germans (who in the past had always been willing to provide enough to keep East Germany going). This time, however, the West German Federal Government was not willing to bail them out. They demanded reforms.
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The Fall of the Wall
While governments negotiated, the people in both East and West Berlin rose up to breach the wall and began to dismantle it physically. The leaders were overwhelmed by events. Days after the Berlin Wall collapsed, mass demonstrations broke out in Czechoslovakia. Vaclav Havel, long-time leader of the Resistance movement and prisoner of the communists, rose to power and dismantled communism in Czechoslovakia.
 
The Christmas Revolution
Street fighting erupted in Romania to overthrow the brutal communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. Soon resistance spread to Bulgaria where the communists were overthrown in December 1989. In Hungary, the communist government was overthrown in October 1990. In Albania, the first free elections were held in March 1991. Yugoslavia split into different republics as each broke away from the communist control in Belgrade. Soon the Baltic Republics, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, were demanding and achieving their independence from the Soviet Union.
 
The End of the Soviet Union
In August 1991, a coup in the Soviet Union was frustrated in its attempt to return the country to hard-line communism. Boldly waving the white, blue and red Russian flag, Boris Yeltsin abolished the Soviet Union and pulled down the Soviet Flag. The Cold War had formally ended.
 
Victory Over Communism
“There is nothing they despise more than weakness. There is nothing they respect more than strength.” The Cold War was won by a combination of Christian courage by persecuted Christians who endured decades of brutality, steadfast resistance by brave anti-communist soldiers who fought the Soviets to a standstill, the bold strategy of Ronald Reagan, which dismantled the Evil Empire and persistent prayer and pressure from Christians.

“While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption…”
2 Peter 2:19

The Statue and the Stone
Another dramatic illustration of the reality of God and the power of the Word of God is seen in Lubyanka Square, in Moscow, about 900m North East of Red Square, a huge statue of Felix Dzerzhinsky, the founder of the Cheka, which later became the NKVD and then the KGB, was erected in 1958. This statue was directly in front of the Lubyanka, the notorious Headquarters of the KGB, wherein many Christians were interrogated, tortured and murdered. In 1991, the statue of Dzerzhinsky was torn down and removed and a simple stone from the Monastery on Solovetski Island, which had been the first prototype Concentration Camp of the Soviet Union, was placed in the square where the statue of Dzerzhinsky had once stood. The symbolism of the Victory of Christ over Communism is striking. The Lord Jesus Christ declared: “The Stone which the builders rejected has become the chief Cornerstone. Whoever falls on that Stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.” Luke 20:17-18 (Matthew 21:44)
 
The Prophecy of Daniel
“But there is a God in Heaven Who reveals secrets… This great image, whose splendour was excellent, stood… a Stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces… And the Stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth… And in the days of these kings the God of Heaven will set up a Kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the Kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms and it shall stand forever.” Daniel 2:28-44
 
God gives the very Best to those who leave the Choice to Him.
There is no doubt that God is real! He really answers prayer. He saves and heals. God transforms lives.  God intervenes even in history and changes history in answer to prayer. What a Savior! We have a reason to live! We have a reason to sing and to celebrate! What a privilege to be a child of God! What a privilege to be His servant and His soldier! We have a great Message to share! We have a world to win! The day will come when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:10-11). The Day will come when the earth shall be as full of the glory of the knowledge of the Lord as the seas are full of water now (Habakkuk 2:14).
 
“that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love,  may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height —  to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”   Ephesians 3:17-21
 
For the fulfillment of the Great Commission
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Throughout the Bible commandments and warnings against idolatry are the most repeated of all. There are more denunciations of idolatry than any other sin in the Bible.

"You shall not make for yourself a carved image... you shall not bow down to then nor serve them." Exodus 20:4-6

"Do not turn to idols, nor make for yourselves moulded gods; I am the Lord your God." Leviticus 19:4

"Thus says the Lord God: repent and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations. For everyone... which sets up his idols in his heart... I the Lord will answer him by Myself." Ezekiel 14:6-7

​"The works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissention, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries and the like... those who practice such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God." Galatians 5:19-21

The Apostle John beseeches us: "Little children, keep yourselves from idols." 1 John 5:21
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Prohibiting Polytheism
Of course, the second commandment prohibits the idolatry of polytheistic religions such as Hinduism. Idols of Kali before whom devotees used to offer human sacrifices, Shiva, Krishna, and Vishnu are all obviously idols forbidden by the second commandment.

The Apostle Paul taught:

"That the things which the gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord's Table and of the table of demons. Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?" 1 Corinthians 10:20-22

Moses wrote:
"They provoked Him to jealousy with foreign gods; with abominations they provoked Him to anger. They sacrificed to demons, not to God..." Deuteronomy 32:16-2
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 The Law of God demanded:

"But you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images (for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose Name is Jehovah, is a jealous God)" Exodus 34:13-14

Provoking the Wrath of God
The Prophet Jeremiah wrote:

"The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke Me to anger. Do they provoke Me to anger? asks the Lord. Do they not provoke themselves, to the shame of their own faces? Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, My anger and My fury will be poured out on this place... and it will burn and not be quenched." Jeremiah 7:18-2
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Destruction
When many of the Israelites turned to the sin of idolatry, God sent the Assyrians to destroy the Northern Kingdom of Israel and lead His people into captivity. The Southern Kingdom of Judah was later conquered under Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. It took the furnace of affliction and slavery in Babylon to purge the dregs of idolatry from the hearts of God's people. First under the ministry of great prophets such as Ezekiel and Daniel, and then after the return from Exile under Ezra and Nehemiah, the people resolved to never again compromise with idolatry.

Multi-Cultural Pluralism
Christianity cannot worship before the idolatrous altar of pluralism, multiculturalism and the interfaith movement. Jesus Christ is "the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father" except through Him (John 14:6).

Hatred for God
The Second Commandment is the only commandment where God implies that those who break it hate Him. To worship a false god, any sort of image, or attempt to worship God through some kind of statue or image, was defined in the second commandment as hating God.

Modern Idols
There seems to be some understanding of how this Second Commandment still applies to us today, in that the popular vocabulary identifies "sports idols", "Hollywood idols", "sex idols", and musicians who are described as "idols". There is also no doubt that people make idols of their favourite political party. The Soviet Union made a god of "The Party" and instituted idolatrous pilgrimages to Lenin's tomb
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Double Standards
Friends of mine who minister on a university campus, related how one individual was incensed that the president of South Africa had been referred to by his bare surname. "THAT'S PRESIDENT THABO MBEKI TO YOU!" he shouted. Shortly after that this same individual cursed and blasphemed - opening himself up to the response: "That's the Lord Jesus Christ to you!"

Idolatry in our Minds
What comes into our minds when we think of God, is the most important thing about us. All too often people betray the idolatry within in their minds in how they speak of God. Bishop Desmond Tutu was quoted on the front page of daily newspapers in South Africa as declaring that "my God isn't homophobic", that "I could never worship a God who is against homosexuals." Tutu even declared that if homosexuals don't go to Heaven, then he didn't want to go there!

A Figment of Your Imagination
When people talk like this, they reveal that they have fashioned a god in the factory of their mind. Of course, their god would never be harsh and judgmental, he would never condemn anyone to hell, because his/her god does not exist. It is a figment of his/her imagination. What people have done when they speak like this is to invent a god to suit their own purposes. This is the essence of idolatry.

The One True God
The fact is that the God of the Bible is not only a God of love, but a God of light. God is not only gracious and merciful, but He is holy and just. God is not only the Saviour, but He is the Eternal Judge. The God of the Bible, the one true God who made Heaven and Earth, gave us His Ten Commandments. He sent plagues upon Egypt. He destroyed the pursuing Egyptian army in the Red Sea. He sent fire and sulphur upon the wicked inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah.

You Have an Appointment with God
The Day will come when each one of us will have to stand before His Judgment Seat and give an account of our lives. "And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the Judgment."  Hebrews 9:27

What is Your Highest Priority?
What is most important to you? Anything more important to us than God is an idol. To many people the idol in their life is fame, fortune, success, their fancy car, or home, their computer, smartphone, prestige, or a certain relationship. Nothing must be more important in our lives than God.

"For the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the Truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the Creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made by corruptible man... who exchanged the Truth of God for the lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather that the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen." Romans 1:18-2
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Destroying Idols in Our Life
It is noteworthy throughout the Bible that whenever God's Word is proclaimed, the response of repentant people has been to destroy their idols. When the Apostle Paul proclaimed the Gospel in Ephesus, people brought their occultic materials and burned them.

"They were all seized with fear, and the Name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honour... in this way the Word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power." Acts 19:17-20
 

Boycott Hell - Repent!
We need to repent of idolatry in our hearts, minds and lives. Where there is a physical idol, we should break, burn or bury it.

"Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted Word, which is able to save your souls. Be doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves." ​James 1:21-22

Dr. Peter Hammond
Livingstone Fellowship
P.O. Box 74
Newlands 7725
Cape Town
South Africa
Email: mission@frontline.org.za
Email: info@ReformationSA.org

This article is adapted from part of a chapter of The Ten Commandments - God's Perfect Law of Liberty book, which is also available in Afrikaans: Die Tien Gebooie and as an E-book. The whole series of sermons is also available in an audio MP3 from: Christian Liberty Books, PO Box 358, Howard Place 7450, Cape Town, South Africa, tel: 021-689-7478, fax: 086-551-7490, email: admin@christianlibertybooks.co.za and website: www.christianlibertybooks.co.za.

See also:
Mandela Day and the Making of a New Religion
Making Idols of Modern Men and Myths
The Mandela Industry
Mandela – Long Walk to Freedom
Invictus Idolatry
Nelson Mandela is a Hero - Why Speak Critically of Him?
Over 5 Million Reasons Why I Will Not be Voting for the ANC
My Meeting with Nelson Mandela Part 1
My Meeting with Nelson Mandela Part 2
]]><![CDATA[ASCENSION DAY and its IMPLICATIONS for TODAY]]>Wed, 28 May 2025 22:00:00 GMThttps://www.livingstonefellowship.co.za/biblical-worldview/ascension-day-and-its-implications-for-todayPicture
Why are so many things going Wrong?
Recently, I was asked by a Christian leader: "Why is there so much corruption, crime and violence in our society? Why is there so much immorality, even in the church? Why are we seeing so many moral failures and scandals amongst leaders in business, in every level of government and even in the church?"

Everything has Consequences
My answer is that these are the inevitable consequences of the spirit of our age:
  • Antinomianism, the rejection of God's moral Law, inevitably leads to lawlessness, where every man does what is right in his own eyes.
  • Egalitarianism, the rejection of authority and lack of respect for elders, produces a self-centred and selfish society.​
  • Evolutionism and its denial of the Creator, and therefore of accountability to Almighty God on Judgement Day, erodes the very foundations of Christian civilisation.
​
All Ideas Have Consequences
Foundational truths have been ignored and vital pillars of Christian civilisation have been eroded. What we are seeing today are the inevitable out-workings of false doctrines being introduced, tolerated, accepted, and in many cases, even celebrated.

Full Salvation
One of the great problems of our age is the separating of Salvation from the Lordship of Jesus Christ. It is the Lord Jesus Christ alone who can save us. We cannot accept Jesus as Saviour without submitting to Him as Lord. Those who preach a cheap grace and an easy believism, betray an inadequate understanding of the problem of sin, the nature of God, Christ's Mission on earth and our purpose and calling as Christians.
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Freedom from Bondage
It would not have been sufficient for Moses to have proclaimed to the Hebrews, who were slaves, that they should accept that in Yahweh they had perfect freedom, whilst leaving them in bondage and under the whip of slavery in Egypt! Anything less than deliverance from Egypt and freedom from the bondage of slavery, would have been inadequate. God's eternal purposes required the people of Israel to survive the Passover, leave Egypt, cross through the Red Sea and be established as a free people in the Promised Land.

Sin is Serious
Sin is serious. We are all far too tolerant of sin. Yet, sin is more defiling than dirt, more dangerous than an unexploded bomb. Even more life threatening than a deadly disease and more insidious than a virus.

"Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. 'For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways', says the Lord. 'For as the Heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts'." 
Isaiah 55:6-9

Catastrophic Consequences of Compromise and Cowardice
Compromise and cowardice have catastrophic consequences. We can recognise the out-workings of the classic tactics of "corrupt and conquer" and "confuse, divide and conquer." All too many have been deceived, distracted, divided and disarmed. There are those who are openly advocating the destruction of Christian civilisation. Yet, in the face of these disastrous developments, the response of all too many Christian leaders has been compromise and cowardice!

The Ascension Deal with Authority
Ascension Day points us to the solution to all these problems. Ascension Day deals with Authority.

"Christ has gone into Heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him." 
1 Peter 3:22

The Nature of God
The trouble is that today, most Christians just want to stop with Christmas. Christmas celebrates the greatest Gift of all - the Advent of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Incarnation of Christ, when God took on human form and was born in Bethlehem, is very important, but many would prefer to think of Christ as the Babe in a manger, rather than as the Risen, Ascended, Sovereign Lord reigning on High. Yet the classic Christmas verse declares:

"For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the Government will be upon His shoulder. "And His Name will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His Government and peace there will be no end."
Isaiah 9:6-7

Trying to Evade Reality
Many like the idea of "a Child is born", but they would like to stop there and edit out "the Government will be upon His shoulder… Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His Government and peace there will be no end. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this." That is too intimidating. Too threatening. Too intrusive. It has implications for every area of life. We like a God of love and mercy who answers our prayers, and provides all our needs. However, we are not too comfortable with a Holy God who sees everything, even the thoughts of our hearts, and who is the Eternal Judge we must give an account to
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The Government
We live in a society where God's Government is de-capitalised and man's civil government is capitalised! Many people who will put a small "g" for Gospel, will put a capital "G" for their civil government. When we refer to "the Government." we should only be referring to God, who is the One who determines whether we live, and when we die. He is the One who governs the universe and determines the seasons. God alone is all-knowing, everywhere present and all powerful.

Delegated and Limited
All human authority is limited, it is delegated by God and is answerable to Almighty God. We will all have to bow before Christ and give an account of our lives, and of every word ever spoken, on that last, dreadful Day of Judgement. Each one of us have an appointment.

"It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the Judgement." Hebrews 9:27

Christ Has Died
The second most important holiday in the Christian calendar is Good Friday - when we solemnly remember the Atonement of our Lord Jesus Christ, His great sacrifice on the Cross of Calvary. He suffered, bled and died for our sins. He endured the punishment we deserve - so that we could enjoy the reward that only He deserves. This should inspire us afresh to repentance, thanksgiving, and consecration. In view of God's mercies, we should

"present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God…" 
Romans 12:
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Who Do You Worship?
However, many Christians stop there. They worship Jesus as the suffering Saviour. Roman Catholics have crucifixes depicting Christ suffering on the Cross. Protestants have tended to reject crucifixes. To us Christ is no longer suffering on the Cross. We have a simple, plain, rugged Cross, because Christ is no longer on the Cross. He is the Risen, Ascended, victorious, King of kings and Lord of lords, reigning on High.

Christ Is Risen!
The third great Christian holiday event is Resurrection Sunday. This is a joyous celebration of the victory of Christ over death, hell and the grave. Christ Jesus is Risen from the dead! He is alive forevermore! Death is defeated. Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life. Our Lord and Saviour has been

"Declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of Holiness, by the Resurrection from the dead." 
Romans 1:4

Chose Life!
All the founders of religions are dead. You can visit the graves of Muhammad, Buddha, Confucius, Marx and Lenin. But in Jerusalem there is an empty tomb.

"He is not here; He is Risen!" 
Luke 24:6.

"…raised for our justification." 
Romans 4:2
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The Missing Pillars of the Faith
It is absolutely vital that we include Ascension Day and Pentecost Sunday also into our Christian calendar. This is what is all too often missing. 40 Days after Resurrection Sunday, we celebrate the Ascension of Christ into Heaven. He is alive forevermore and He is exalted and enthroned at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. He is above every other name and authority in Heaven and on earth. Jesus Christ is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. We have an Advocate in Heaven. He hears our prayers. He will crush all His enemies. He will come again. Therefore we must go and make disciples of all nations.

Rejecting the Authority of Christ
It is most significant that some governments have seen fit to abolish the long-established Ascension Day as a public holiday. Ascension Day deals with authority.

"All authority in Heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations… teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you…" 
Matthew 28:18-20

Jesus Christ is Lord
The Ascension proclaims the Lordship of Christ in all areas of life. Jesus has all authority. Jesus Christ is Lord over the world of business, sports, entertainment and government. Jesus Christ is Lord over the schools, shops, cinemas, factories, hospitals, law courts and parliament. There is no area of life that is outside of His authority. Every doctor, teacher, policeman, businessman, parliamentarian, factory worker, farmer, mother, father, magistrate and supreme court judge will have to individually stand before Almighty God on the Day of Judgment and give an account of our lives.

Vindication and Victory
The Ascension celebrates the vindication and victory of Christ. No doubt the high priest, Caiaphas, King Herod and the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, thought that they were very important and powerful people. Yet these religious and political leaders are only remembered today because they arrogantly dismissed, and unjustly condemned, Christ Jesus. They did not recognise that they were condemning to death the Creator, the Giver of life, the Eternal Judge, before Whom each one of them must stand.

"You have ascended on high, You have led captivity captive…" 
Psalm 68:18

The Eternal Judge
The emperor Augustus, who issued the decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world, requiring everyone to return to their town of birth, could not have realised at that time that the Baby born to third class subjects in faraway Judea would one day Judge him.

"The Lord said to My Lord, 'Sit at My right hand till I make Your enemies Your footstool'." 
Psalm 110:1.

Is Jesus Your Salvation or Your Judge?
The Ascension proclaims the ultimate victory of Christ. Those that refused to bow to Christ as Saviour and Lord today, in the day of Grace, when forgiveness is freely available, will one day be forced to bow to Christ as the Eternal Judge - when the day of Grace will be ended, when they will be condemned to hell forever.

"He shall execute kings in the day of His wrath. He shall judge among the nations, He shall fill the places with dead bodies. He shall execute the heads of many countries." 
Psalm 110:5-6

When Will You Bow to Christ?
The question is not: Will you bow to Christ? But When will you bow to Christ? Will you bow to Christ as Saviour and Lord today, or will you only bow to Christ as your Judge on the Day of Judgment
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Every Knee Will Bow

"Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the Name which is above every name, that at that Name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in Heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the Glory of God the Father."
Philippians 2:9-11

Every Tongue Will Confess
There is no authority above that of our Lord Jesus Christ. Every knee will bow before Him. Compared to Christ the kings and presidents of this world are as nothing. Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the Glory of God the Father. This includes king Herod, Caiaphas and Pontius Pilate. This includes Caesar Augustus and Nero. This includes Muhammad, Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin.

What Does Muhammad Believe?
On several occasions while witnessing to Muslims, I have heard a Muslim declare: "I believe as Muhammad believes!" At this I normally reply: "Then you must become a Christian."

"But Muhammad did not believe in Jesus." they will reply.

"No, he did not then. But he does believe now!" I reply
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We Have an Advocate
The Ascension is a great comfort to believers who suffer persecution.

"Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the Heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathise with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the Throne of Grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need."
Hebrews 4:14-16

We have an Advocate in Heaven. He hears our prayers. He ever lives to make intercession for us. He will come again. He will crush all His enemies. Therefore we should not fear governments, popes or councils. We must not bow before idols, nor may we compromise the essential principles of our Faith.

A Vision of Victory
Though Christ is physically absent from the earth, yet, through His Holy Spirit, He is spiritually present. He is all-knowing, everywhere-present and all-powerful.

"For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet."
1 Corinthians 15:25

The Ascension is a wonderful reminder and assurance to us that:

"The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea."
Habakkuk 2:14

The Ascension proclaims Christ's glorious triumph and His future return on the Day of Judgement. Therefore, we as Christians should return to observing Ascension Day as a Holy Day to our Faith and applying its implications into every area of life.

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." 
Romans 12:1-2

Committed Discipleship
Ascension Day calls us to committed discipleship and consistent obedience. We need to take up our cross, forsake the world and follow Christ. Israel could not fulfil its calling by remaining in bondage in Egypt. Neither can we effectively serve God today, if we remain conformed to this world, in bondage to its sins and idolatries. Attempting to accept the benefits of Jesus as Saviour, while denying His authority as Lord over all areas of our lives, is futile. That is why we need to go beyond celebrating Christmas, worshipping the Babe in the manger. We need to go beyond accepting the Atonement for our sins and recognise that Jesus Christ is Risen, Ascended, reigning on High, King of kings and Lord of lords. He will come again to Judge the living and the dead.

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." Do you fear God?
Have you surrendered to Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour?
Are you studying His Word and seeking to faithfully apply Biblical principles to all areas of life?
Let us go back to the Bible for Reformation and Revival.
Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the Glory of God the Father!

Dr. Peter Hammond

Livingstone Fellowship
P.O. Box 74
Newlands 7725
Cape Town
South Africa
Tel: 021-689-4480
Email: mission@frontline.org.za
Email: info@ReformationSA.org

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]]><![CDATA[Honour the Lord’s Name]]>Fri, 02 Aug 2024 10:06:07 GMThttps://www.livingstonefellowship.co.za/biblical-worldview/honour-the-lords-name

Honour the Lord’s Name

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“You shall not take the Name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His Name in vain.” Exodus 20:7

Honour the Lord’s Name

“…a tree is known by its fruit. Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give an account of it in the Day of Judgment. For by your words you will be justified and by your words you will be condemned.”
Matthew 12:33-37
Words are very important.
​“In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.”
John 1:1
The first petition of the Lord’s Prayer is:
“Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be Your Name.”
Matthew 6:9
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Writing God's Name Worthily
 
God’s people in the Old Testament understood what it meant to show reverence to God by honouring His Name. The scribes who copied the Scriptures by hand had many complex rules that enabled them to copy the Scriptures very carefully and accurately. They had word counts and letter counts at the end of each page to ensure that they had not added or left out anything that they were responsible to copy. Whenever a scribe came to one of the secondary Names of God such as Elohim, or El-Shaddai, they stopped and put down their pens. They took up new pens and carefully wrote that Name. However, when they came to the principal Name that God had used to reveal Himself in the Burning Bush to Moses, Jehovah or Yahweh, for which they used the four letters JHWH, they were to rise from their seats, go and wash themselves and clothe themselves with new, clean garments, dedicated for this purpose. Then they were to pray and confess their sins, take up a new pen and fresh ink, in order to write those four letters JHWH – for Yahweh.
 
We do not do that today. However, in our mission, it has always been one of our principles to ensure that every word referring to the Lord is capitalised, including the personal pronoun Him or His and when referring to the Lord, Saviour, Scripture, Gospel, Bible, or His Word.
 
It is disturbing how today so many ministries, even some Bible societies, are decapitalising references to the Lord and His Word. It is even more disturbing when we notice that many of those same publications and writers will capitalise the government and the state!
 
Failing to Fear God is Foolish
 
The Bible teaches that “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” (Psalm 111:10). Evidently many people lack wisdom. What was once illegal and unthinkable is now broadcast on television, on the radio, in films, printed in news media and magazines. We are being literally bombarded by profanity. “…the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His Name in vain.” Exodus 20:7
 
Blasphemers in the Barracks
 
I was shocked when I was called up for my military service at how many would brazenly take the Lord’s Name in vain. However, I noticed that many would feel awkward when having done so in the presence of a Christian. They would turn and apologise to me. It does hurt and offend a Christian to hear God’s Name taken in vain. However, as I often had to remind these individuals: “It is not to me that you need to apologise. It is Almighty God, our Creator and your Eternal Judge that you will have to stand before and give an account for every idle word ever spoken.”
 
I was so distressed over this abuse of God’s Name, particularly by non-commissioned officers that I requested to see the Officer Commanding. As I was marched into the Commandant’s office he asked me: “Well, rifleman, what is on your mind?”
 
“Sir,” I asked, “Is it against the law to blaspheme the Name of the Lord our God?”
 
“Yes, son, it most certainly is,” he answered, “Why do you ask? Is the Lord’s Name being blasphemed in this unit?”
 
“Yes, sir. I am sorry to have to report to you that many corporals and sergeants are blaspheming the Lord’s Name daily.”
 
The Commandant’s face darkened. “I’m sorry to hear that, son. I will deal with this.” He dismissed me.
 
Dealing with Blasphemy
 
Sure enough, at the very next Battalion Parade on Friday, the Commandant addressed the unit: “The Lord Jesus Christ is the Commander-in-Chief of this Army. He is the One who determines whether we live or die. Victory or defeat is in His hands. Your lives are in His hands. Any man that takes the Name of the Lord our God in vain is a traitor and he will be treated as such. I will not tolerate blasphemy in this unit!”
 
Indeed, he did not. Some NCOs were charged for taking the Lord’s Name in vain and some lost their rank.
 
Every Idle Word
 
We also saw the Lord deal with blasphemers in the ranks. On one occasion a new convert rebuked a notorious blasphemer for taking the Lord’s Name in vain: “The Lord will judge you!” he warned.
 
The blasphemer cursed again, picked up his coke tin and was stung on his tongue by a bee that he had not noticed sitting on the tin. As his tongue swelled up, the rest of the platoon could not help but burst into laughter. This foul - mouthed blasphemer was not able to speak a word for days.
 
The Stiff-Necked
 
Another foul-mouthed pagan in our unit was warned by one of our Bible study fellowships that “God will judge the stiff-necked!” Shortly after this, this lance corporal injured his neck so severely in an obstacle course that he had to wear a neck brace for several weeks thereafter. Wherever he went other pagans were laughing at him, pointing and repeating those words that God had judged the “stiff- necked!”
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Divine Wrath
 
In the Book of Acts we read how God struck Ananias and Sapphira dead for lying to the Holy Spirit and dishonouring God’s Name. “So great fear came upon all the Church and upon all who heard these things.” Acts 5:1-11
 
The Blasphemous ‘Last Temptation’
 
When plans were made to bring the blasphemous Last Temptation of Christ to South Africa, our mission mobilised nationwide protest against this film. We were later informed by the Publications Control Board that literally mail sacks of protest letters were received. South Africa was one of the few countries in the world that had the integrity to outlaw this blasphemous film.
 
However, after president F.W. De Klerk’s infamous “Red Friday” when he announced the government’s intention to “liberalise” the abortion laws and publications control, along with unbanning the ANC, releasing terrorists from prison, etc. the University of Witwatersrand organised for an “academic” screening of The Last Temptation of Christ. Not that they made any mention of this when they invited me to come and debate “censorship” on the university campus. However, contacts of ours informed us that the Publications Control Board had granted a temporary provisional exemption for Wits University to screen The Last Temptation of Christ in an academic environment, on condition that they first had a public debate on the merits and demerits of the film - including a minister who would oppose the film. So when the invitation came, we knew the circumstances.
 
Battle at the University
 
I immediately phoned Rev. Kjell Olsen of Christians for Truth who mobilised members of CFT from KwaZulu/Natal and from the Transvaal to support me in the debate. I flew up to Johannesburg and, with many CFT and ACA members in the audience supporting my position, articulated the case against blasphemy and pornography and particularly against the “Last Temptation of Christ” in honour of the Lord’s Name.
 
Mental Gymnastics
 
Opposing me was a so-called “dominee” who was at that time running the SATV programme Kruis en Kroniek. His position was incredible: “The only thing that should be censored is censorship itself! All censorship censors the image of God! As God has made the world in His image, anything that censors that image is blasphemy!” Just in case I had misunderstood his position, I questioned him and he reiterated that all forms of pornography and profanity should be allowed as free speech, but that the only thing that should be outlawed was censorship! While blasphemy should not be illegal, censorship should!

“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil; who put darkness for light and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes …”
Isaiah 5:20-21
 
After the debate, which evidently these blasphemers were only enduring because of the legal requirement to do so, they sneeringly announced that they would now screen the film. “Woe to you, scribes and pharisees, hypocrites! …therefore you will receive greater condemnation.” Matthew 23:14
 
Confrontation
 
Rev. Fano Sibisi of Christians for Truth came up in front of the stage and announced to everyone in the auditorium that this was not acceptable and as Christians we intended to stand for the honour of the Lord’s Name by blocking the screen and refusing to move. The smirks and sneers of our hosts quickly disappeared, and a look of panic came over their faces. They threatened to mobilise “the angry youth of Soweto” against us! We looked on with amusement as a group of toi-toying youngsters danced into the theatre in an aggressive manner shouting and singing threats against us. However, as they saw us with the determined Afrikaners and Zulus, standing resolute shoulder to shoulder, they fled.
 
Stand Up for Jesus
 
There was more confusion. Then our hosts came back and threatened to call the police to have us removed by force. “Go ahead,” Rev. Sibisi challenged them. We sang Hymns of Faith and prayed, and every pagan fled the auditorium.
 
Fight the Good Fight
 
The police did not rush to get there. It was after midnight when they came and politely asked us if we would be kind enough to leave. The officer in charge told us that he fully agreed with our position and that is why they had ensured that they arrived after midnight. The exemption for Wits University to screen the Last Temptation expired at midnight! The police joined us in prayer as we gathered outside on the steps of the auditorium.
 
Taking God's Name in Vain
 
The president of South Africa at that time, F.W. De Klerk, had created much excitement when on being sworn into office, he had chosen to alter the traditional Oath of Office, swearing “in the Name of the Triune God” to uphold all the laws of this land. However, it soon appeared that he was taking the Lord’s Name in vain. For, far from upholding the Constitution and all the laws of the land, F.W. De Klerk instructed the police not to enforce many of the laws of the land, including the Lord’s Day ordinances, the suppression of Communism Act and the Internal Security Act.
 
Social and Political Revolution
 
Soon shops and cinemas were open on Sundays, violent revolutionaries were released from prison and previously banned terrorist organisations, like the ANC and the South African Communist Party were freely organising public meetings and riots throughout the country. Previously outlawed pornography was now tolerated, and every week Scope magazine seemed to push the boundaries even further. In one particular week, while the Publications Control Board banned 65 publications, the Appeal Board unbanned 62 of them!
 
Blatant Rebellion Towards Almighty God
 
The National Party, which had always portrayed itself as a Christian Party, hired witchdoctors to design a new corporate image for the NP. The General Secretary of the National Party, Roelf Meyer, was photographed at a witchcraft ceremony in Soweto where witchdoctors, employed by the National Party, “dedicated” the new NP offices in Soweto to the ancestral spirits! A goat was sacrificed, and blood and entrails were sprinkled over this General Secretary of the NP, who apparently was a church member. The fact that the once powerful National Party disappeared into oblivion shortly after this, again illustrated the point that “…the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His Name in vain.”
 
God's Garbage Dump
 
The Westminster Catechism teaches us that “the chief end of man is to glorify God.” If we profane His Name, we are violating the very purpose of our existence. If some electronic item fails to work, where does it end up? On the trash heap! The Lord Jesus described eternal hell as Gehenna, the burning rubbish heap of Jerusalem. Just as the smoke continually ascended from the ongoing fire burning the rubbish of the city, the Lord described Eternal Judgement as God’s garbage dump. Those who do not glorify God will not enjoy Him forever. They will end up separated from Him forever on the burning rubbish heap of hell.
 
When the existence of the Life-Giver is held in contempt, then the lives of God’s creatures are also held in contempt. If God is degraded, we, His creatures, become worthless.
 
Discriminating Profanity
 
Dr. Billy Graham was horrified when the Oval Office tapes of President Richard Nixon were released. The transcripts which were quoted from and printed in newspapers worldwide revealed that every second sentence included some blasphemy or profanity. Billy Graham, who had known Richard Nixon for almost 30 years, declared that he had never once heard any profane or blasphemous word come out of Nixon’s mouth. This disproves a common excuse that many blasphemers claim: “Oh, I’m sorry, I did not even realise I was doing it.” How then could a blasphemer like Richard Nixon be so discriminating as never to have blasphemed in public and yet continually blasphemed in private? The Oval Office tapes revealed that he knew exactly what he was doing, when he was doing it and who was around when he did it.
 
Worship and the Workplace
 
When the great architect Sir Christopher Wren was building St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, he ordered signs to be placed throughout the construction site declaring: “Due to the heinous custom of labourers taking the Name of the Lord God in vain, each person is hereby placed on notice that it shall be sufficient cause for immediate dismissal if the Name of God is heard taken in vain in this place.”
 
Duties Required
 
The Westminster Larger Catechism teaches that the Third Commandment requires “That the Name of God, His titles, attributes, ordinances, Word, sacraments, prayer, oaths, vows, lots, His works and whatsoever else there is whereby He makes Himself known, be holily and reverently used in thought, meditation, word and writing; by an holy profession and answerable conversation, to the glory of God and the good of ourselves and of others.” (Question 112).
 
Under the Duties Required the Westminster Larger Catechism includes:
The duty to use God’s Name holily and reverently in thought and meditation
(“For those who fear the Lord and who meditate on His Name” Malachi 3:16 “How excellent is Your Name in all the earth!” Psalm 8:9)
 
In Word (“And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” Colossians 3:17)
 
In writing (“This will be written for the generations to come, that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord.” Psalm 102:18)
 
In holy profession and conversation (“But sanctify the Lord God in your heart and be ready to give a defence to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear.” 1 Peter 3:15
 
“We will walk in the Name of the Lord our God for ever and ever.”
Micah 4:5
 
“Only let your conduct be worthy of the Gospel of Christ…stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the Faith of the Gospel.”
Philippians 1:27.
 
Sins Forbidden
 
Under the Sins Forbidden in the Third Commandment the Westminster Larger Catechism includes:
 
The sin of using God’s Name in an ignorant way
 
The sin of using God’s Name in a vain, irreverent or profane way
 
The sin of using God’s Name in a superstitious and presumptuous way (1 Samuel 4:3-5)
 
The sin of mentioning His titles, attributes or ordinances blasphemously (“For they speak against You wickedly; Your enemies take Your Name in vain” Psalm 139:20 “But to the wicked God says: ‘What right have you to declare My statutes or take My Covenant in your mouth, seeing you hate instruction and cast My Words behind you?’” Psalm 50:16-17)
 
The sin of wicked cursing, vows and oaths (“How shall I pardon you for this? Your children have forsaken Me and sworn by those that are not gods.” Jeremiah 5:7); the sin of misapplying God’s decrees and providences (Ecclesiastes 8:11; 9:3)
 
The sin of misinterpreting, misapplying, or in any way perverting, the Word of God (“Because with lies you have made the hearts of the righteous sad…and you have strengthened the hands of the wicked, so that he does turn from his wicked way to save his life” Ezekiel 13:22; “…untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do the rest of the Scriptures” 2 Peter 3:16; Matthew 22:24-30)

The sin of making profession of religion in hypocrisy, or for underhand ends (“Having a form of godliness but denying its power…” 2 Timothy 3:5
 
“Woe to you, scribes and pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widow’s houses and for a pretence make long prayers. Therefore, you will receive greater condemnation.”
Matthew 23:14
 
“For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward…” Matthew 6:5).
 
Praying and Singing in Vain
 
Perhaps you may never consider breaking the Third Commandment directly, but do you sometimes pray prayers, or sing Hymns, using the Name of God in a thoughtless or mechanical way? When we fall into cold and indifferent worship, we are actually breaking the Third Commandment.
 
Through His Name we may approach God in worship, love and prayer. We dare not use such a great Name lightly. We dare not pray to or praise Him, or sing to Him, in such a way that His Name registers no meaning to our souls. In all our singing, praying and preaching we must be sincere, wholehearted and enthusiastic. “Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: ‘these people draw near to Me with their mouths and honour Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’” Matthew 15:7-9
 
Worldly Worship
 
Meaningless worship is the inevitable result of a worldly spirit. In many church buildings people can be seen lounging in a lazy manner, peering around, sizing up other people, whispering to one another and making no apparent effort to focus heart and mind on worshipping the Lord.
 
There are some who do not even attempt to try to sing the Hymns.
 
Many ministers encourage this half-hearted entertainment mentality by their over-casual dress and use of flippant, shallow language and inappropriate jokes. None of this helps encourage a sense of awe and reverence in worshipping the Lord in the beauty of holiness.
 
“So they come to you as people do, they sit before you as My people and they hear Your Words, but they do not do them, for with their mouth they show much love, but their hearts pursue their own gain. Indeed You are to them as a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument; for they hear Your Words, but they do not do them.”
Ezekiel 33:31-32
 
Hypocrisy in worship is frequently the result of refusing to obey the Lord’s commands.

“But why do you call Me Lord, Lord and not do the things which I say?”
Luke 6:46
 
Wholehearted Worship
 
To say the Name of the Lord with real meaning and sincerity must include wholehearted love and obedience. Those who spurn the Bible and the foundational doctrines of Christianity cannot possibly be serious when they use the Lord’s Name, for they have no respect for God’s authority. Such are laws unto themselves, picking and choosing what portions of God’s Word they will accept and mingling them with the philosophies and politics of men. “In vain do they worship Me…”
 
The Third Commandment forbids all insincerity, thoughtlessness and shallowness in our worship. It condemns hypocrisy, rebellion and disobedience by those who claim to serve the Lord.
 
The positive virtues required by the Third Commandment are thoughtfulness, sincerity and wholehearted devotion to the attributes of our Lord and Saviour, the eternal, all mighty, all knowing and ever-present Creator and Eternal Judge.
 
The chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.
 
“Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”
Matthew 12:34
 
“His Name shall endure forever; His Name shall continue as long as the sun. And men shall be blessed in Him; all nations shall call Him blessed. Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, Who only does wondrous things! And blessed be His glorious Name forever! And let the whole earth be filled with His glory. Amen and Amen.” Psalm 72:17-19
 
“Our Father, which art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name…”
 
The full message on which this study is based, as presented to Livingstone Fellowship, is available as part of the audio MP3 - The Ten Commandments.
 
It is also a chapter of the book, The Ten Commandments – God’s Perfect Law of Liberty.

GET THE E-BOOK HERE
​
The Afrikaans book Die Tien Gebooie –God se Volmaakte Wet van Vryheid and English book are available from:

Christian Liberty Books
Email: admin@christianlibertybooks.co.za
Website: www.christianlibertybooks.co.za
]]><![CDATA[WAR AGAINST FATHERS]]>Sat, 15 Jun 2024 22:00:00 GMThttps://www.livingstonefellowship.co.za/biblical-worldview/war-against-fathersPicture
“And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.” Malachi 4:6
 
Warning
The Book of Malachi begins with a blessing and ends with this warning of a curse. Repentance and Faith in Christ will be seen in the restoration of family relationships. Certainly that was my experience.
 
Restoration
Shamefully, I clashed with my Father frequently. I argued over many issues. However, my conversion to Christ brought conviction of sin. The first sin I repented of was lack of gratitude. The second, disrespect for my parents, particularly seen in my argumentative relationship to my Father. Regeneration led to a radical transformation of my relationship with my parents. In time this led to both my parents turning to Christ. Although, in my Father’s case, it took eight long years. By God's grace my Father experienced the life transformation that comes with repentance and Faith in Christ. God turned my heart to truly love, honour and respect my Father and God graciously turned my Father’s heart to me. Before he died on Christmas Eve, 1986, I heard my Father say, for the first time in my life: “Son, I am proud of you.”
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As Goes the Home So Goes the Nation
Much of the world today is under a severe curse. The Old Testament ends with the warning of a curse. Families are the basic building block of civilisation. As goes the home, so goes the nation. “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honour your father and mother,’ which is the first commandment with promise: ‘that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.’ And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.’” Ephesians 6:1-4
 
Hollywood’s Most Despised Villain
Considering how foundational fathers are to Christian civilisation, it should not surprise us that fathers have been singled out for ridicule and vicious attack. How many Hollywood films vilify and demonize fathers. Geoffrey Botkin produced an important presentation on: “Hollywood’s Most Despised Villain”: the Father.

​Paternalism is No Longer a Positive Word
Patriarchy is hated. Paternalism is now a swear word to the liberal left. Fatherly used to be a most positive term, but not anymore.
 
Hate Men
Robin Morgan, editor of MS magazine wrote: “I feel that being man hating is an honourable and viable political act.”
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Destroy the Family
Linda Gordon wrote: “Families must be destroyed and people must find better ways of living together. The breakup of families is an objectively revolutionary process.”
 
Attack Marriage and Promote Witchcraft
The Organisation of Women in America declared: “Marriage constitutes slavery. We must concentrate on attacking this institution. Freedom for women cannot be won without the abolition of marriage. It is important for us to encourage women to leave their husbands and not to live with men. All of history must be rewritten in terms of oppression of women. We must go back to ancient female religions like witchcraft.”
 
“Kill Them!”
Margaret Sanger, the Founder of Planned Parenthood declared that the best thing you can do with a baby boy is “kill it!”

Unnecessary
Radical feminists declare: “A man’s role is uncertain, undefined and unnecessary.”
“Maleness is an accidental, recessive mutation. It is abnormal. It bodes no good for the human race.”
“Putting a man on the moon was a good start. We should put all the men on the moon and then turn off the oxygen!”
 
Useless
Gloria Steinem declared: “Women need a man like a fish needs a bicycle!”
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Rejected and Despised
There was a time that “Father Knows Best” was a popular TV programme. That was a very long time ago. Now most films portray fathers as knowing nothing at all. Even the dog in Beethoven is more intelligent and perceptive than the Dad!
 
Catastrophic Social Consequences
Yet social scientists have proven that this long war against fathers has actually produced catastrophic social consequences. The vast majority of prison inmates come from fatherless homes. Children brought up in broken homes, with abusive or absent fathers, or born out of wedlock and raised by single mothers, are much more at risk of failure at school, involvement in drugs and drunkenness, depression, sexual promiscuity, gender confusion, gangs, crime and violence.
 
Financial Incentives to Single Parent Homes
The social engineering disaster of government programmes subsidising sin and funding unwed mothers, has led to social disintegration. Whatever a government subsidises, you have more of. By the socialist state usurping the role of fathers, paying young girls for falling pregnant out of wedlock, we now have many millions of single parent homes with all the juvenile delinquency that goes along with that. Children brought up in single parent homes are more at risk for every criminal behaviour and on average they live shorter lives, four years less on average than those raised in intact families with both parents at home. While some exemplary mothers have succeeded in raising children on their own, the odds are heavily against them. Dr. Ben Carson, who was raised in a single-parent home, says that the best thing you can do for anyone on Welfare is: “Get them off it!”
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Redefining Marriage and Removing Fathers
Socialism seeks to usurp God and refashion society by redefining marriage and removing Fathers from the equation. Hostility to the Fatherhood of God is behind the continual attack on fathers by the secular humanist media and by socialist governments.
 
The Disaster of Dads Deserting Duty
Tragically many men have given up and drifted away from their God-given duties and responsibilities. Social studies confirm that the more involved a father is in the life of his children, the more successful that child is, in every area of life. The longer they also will live. Personal relationships of duty and parental responsibility are the bedrock of civilisation.
 
Turning the Children Against the Fathers
Karl Marx declared that to make a country communist, one needs to turn the children against their fathers! The denigration of dads has wreaked havoc on families and society. The war against masculinity in the West, since the 1960’s, has resulted in a catastrophic decline of marriages, plummeting birth rates and more singles than ever before.
 
Feminism’s War Against Femininity
Ti-Grace Atkinson: “Feminism is the theory. Lesbianism is the practise.” “Women must become disgusted with every aspect of femininity.” “You must become a lesbian to be fully feminist!”
Charlotte Gilman: “Housewives are parasites with the aspirations of a guinea pig.” 
Kate Lombardi: “Mother’s Day is sexist.”
Vivian Gornick: “Being a housewife is an illegitimate profession!”
Louis Farrakhan: “All white men go to hell!” “Termites! Insects to be exterminated!” ​

Multi-Generational Vision
God is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. We are to think multi-generationally. We must leave a legacy for our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. We need to leave them with a better standard, a better purpose, a better vision, a better mission, a better work ethic and a better world.
 
The Fatherhood of God
You have one Father in Heaven. Our Lord Jesus Christ taught: When we pray, we are to say:
“Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be Your Name. Your Kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven...” Matthew 6:9-10. In the Apostles Creed, we declare: “I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of Heaven and earth…”
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I Dared to Call Him Father
One of the great biographies of a convert from Islam is: “I Dared to Call Him Father.” Begum Bilquis Sheikh was a Pakistani woman who wrote of her conversion to Christ in the classic book: I Dared to Call Him Father, published in 1978. This best-selling autobiography has remained one of the most popular Muslim to Christianity conversion books of the 20th century, translated into numerous languages. As she explained, there are 99 names for God in the Quran, but Father is not one of them. Indeed, it is unique to Christianity that God is revealed as a loving Father who teaches, disciples, provides for and protects us.
 
A Father’s Duty
Fathers are called to love, teach, disciple, provide for and protect their wives and children. In 1 Timothy 5:8, we read: “But if anyone does not provide for his own and especially for those of his household, he has denied the Faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”
 
Parenthood is the Best School of Discipleship
Reformer Martin Luther taught that parenthood is the true school of discipleship and there is no love so unselfish and sacrificial as that of a parent. Professor Luther also taught that no man can remain single without sin. A man who refuses to marry is as if he had shed innocent blood, taught Luther.
 
Abortion Kills Future Descendants
The abortion holocaust has not only killed millions of babies, but many more of their potential descendants.
 
War Against God
The war against men, masculinity and fathers is only part of a broader war against the family, against Christian civilisation and ultimately it is a war against God.
War Against Fathers, Families and the Future
Feminism and pornography are part of the war against men, fathers, families, the Faith and the future. Fathers are foundational to civilisation. It is faithful husbands and fathers who are the producers, providers and protectors who pay the bills and the bonds, providing the backbone of any economy and society. By discouraging lifelong marriage partnerships, all of society is unravelled. Civilisation is not built by wild geese, bachelors riding off into the sunset, leaving a trail of broken relationships in their wake. Anchoring men into loving marriage partnerships, committed to raising the next generation in stable households, is what makes stable communities and productive economies work.
 
Distraction from Duty and Destiny
However, as communist revolutionary Karl Marx declared: “To make a country communist, you need to turn the children against their fathers!” By seducing men and distracting them with pornography, rejecting them through feminism, replacing them with socialism, women have less respect and protection than ever before. Children are denied the security and stability an intact family can produce.
 
Hostile Schooling Against Masculinity
The modern secular humanist schooling system is also a war against masculinity. The entire system is rigged and it does not take boys long to realise that the whole system is biased against masculinity. Many respond in frustration and rebellion, dropping out and turning to video games, drugs, drink and gangs.
 
Violent and Volatile
Consider how much safer, cleaner and better the world was under Christian leadership and a Protestant Work Ethic. Secular humanism, situation ethics, radical feminism, pornography, abortion, the LGBTQ gender politics, Affirmative Action and other social engineering, has made all of life less safe, less stable and more violent and volatile.
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REFORMING OUR FAMILIES
 
Also Available as an E-book HERE
​
 The family is the basic building block of society. The battle for the family is in the very frontline of the World War of Worldviews.


This powerful resource for families is packed with positive and practical insights and strategies that fathers and mothers can use to raise God-fearing children.
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Revolutionary Goals are Cloaked by Distractions and Disinformation
The issue is never the real issue. The real issue is the revolution! Marxist revolutionaries use many ploys, but whether they are turning the classes against one another, or employers vs. employees, young vs. old, men vs. women, black vs. white, gay vs. straight, these issue are never the real issue. The real issue is Marxist revolution. Once Marxists gain control, everyone suffers. The pretexts they use may differ from revolution to revolution, but their goals remain the same: Destruction of the family, destruction of the economy, destruction of the culture, creating poor and hungry masses who are easy to control and subjugate.
 
Hope for Those Who Are Faithful
“But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him and His righteousness to children’s children, to such as keep His covenant and to those who remember His commandments to do them.” Psalm 103:17-18. When God established his Covenant with Abraham, he said: “And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant… you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations.” Genesis 17:7-9
 
A Father’s Priority
The Bible tells us that God seeks “Godly offspring…” Malachi 2:15. A Fathers priority is to bring up his children “in the training and instruction of the Lord.” Ephesians 6:4. We are to: “train a child in the way he should go…” Proverbs 22:6
 
Education for Transformation
We are to: “… telling to the generation to come the praises of the Lord and His strength and His wonderful works that He has done…  that the generation to come might know them, the children who would be born, that they may arise and declare them to their children, that they may set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep His Commandments; and may not be… a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that did not set its heart aright and whose spirit was not faithful to God.” Psalm 78:4-8
 
We Are Called to Be Faithful
“Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His Commandments.” Deuteronomy 7:9
 
Dr. Peter Hammond
Livingstone Fellowship
P.O. Box 74 Newlands 7725
Cape Town South Africa
Tel: 021-689-4480
Email: mission@frontline.org.za
www.livingstonefellowship.co.za
www.frontlinemissionsa.org
]]><![CDATA[The KINGDOM of GOD]]>Thu, 30 Mar 2023 08:17:34 GMThttps://www.livingstonefellowship.co.za/biblical-worldview/the-kingdom-of-god5131741Picture
To listen to an audio presentation of this message, click here
To see a video presentation of this message, click here

“…Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the Gospel.’” Mark 1:14-15

Jesus Preached the Gospel of the Kingdom
The word Church occurs only three times in the Gospels. Yet the terms Kingdom and Kingdom of God occur over 120 times in the Gospels. The overwhelming emphasis of the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ was a Kingdom message. We read that our Lord Jesus Christ preached the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, yet today it is generally the Gospel of Salvation which is preached.

The Therapeutic Gospel
The Gospel of Salvation, as preached in all too many churches and through much of the mainstream Christian media is mostly about me and how I can be blessed, healed, prospered, enriched, improved, saved from all the negative consequences of my bad choices and ultimately end up in Heaven. The way the gospel is preached by all too many today, is something of a therapeutic self-help message where the emphasis is on me, with God playing a supporting role in how I can fulfill my dreams and attain my desires.
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The Message of the Kingdom of God
However, the Gospel of the Kingdom of God is all about the King of kings and the Lord of lords. His Crown, His Coming, His Cross, His Great Commission, His plan and purpose for the nations and what we can do to be faithful subjects, servants and soldiers of His eternal Kingdom.

Christ-Centered
Our Lord Jesus Christ personified the Kingdom He proclaimed. He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. He is the living embodiment of all that He enunciated. The person and proclamations of our King are inseparable. His life and His lips are always in unison. His counsels must determine our conduct. His person and His proclamations were as seamless as the robe He wore. The Words He declared were confirmed by His deeds, bringing sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, speech to the mute, cleansing the lepers, making the crippled to walk and raising the dead to life. “But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the Kingdom of God has come upon you.” Matthew 12:28
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Behold Your King
Our Lord Jesus was born King (Matthew 2:2), acclaimed King by God the Father (Psalm 2:6) and He affirmed His Kingship before the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate (Luke 23:3). In Luke 17:20-21, we read our Lord’s answer to the pharisees, where He said: “The Kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the Kingdom of God is within you.” The word within you should read in the midst of you. Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ was in the midst of the pharisees and He, the King, is the epitome of the Kingdom.

Humbled for a Season
He had a humble entry into this world, born in a stable, but the angels sang. In time, His Kingdom has been displayed with outward Glory. But in the person of the King, walking the dusty paths of Galilee, the Kingdom of God was present. The kingdom does not make the king. The king makes the kingdom. The nature of the king determines the character of his kingdom. The fact that the Jewish religious leaders failed to recognise the fulfilment of all Old Testament Messianic prophecies in our Lord Jesus Christ, is to their eternal shame, but it does not, in any way, negate His sovereign power. The fickle mob in Jerusalem went from crying: “Hosanna!” to “Crucify Him!” within less than a week.
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The Kingdom of God Requires Repentance, Discipleship and Evangelism
Jesus said: “…Follow Me and I will make you become fishers of men.” Mark 1:17

The Kingdom of God is a Mystery to Most
“And He said to them, ‘To you it has been given to know the mystery of the Kingdom of God’…” Mark 4:11

The Parables of the Kingdom
Five of our Lord’s parables describe the beginnings of His Kingdom, whose value justifies any sacrifice. In five parables, the growth and principles of His Kingdom are outlined. Seven of the parables of Christ forecast the consummation of His Kingdom. Other parables emphasise the personal experience of the subjects of the Kingdom.
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The Kingdom Grows by the Word of God
“And He said, ‘The Kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground… and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how… It is like a mustard seed which, when it is sown… is smaller than all the seeds on earth; but when it is sown, it grows up and becomes greater than all herbs and shoots out large branches…’” Mark 4:26-32

Humility and Faith
“…Let the little children come to Me and do not forbid them; for of such is the Kingdom of God. Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.” Mark 10:14-15

A Miraculous Work
Jesus said to His disciples: “…How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the Kingdom of God!... With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible.” Mark 10:23,27
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The Kingdom of God Destroys the Enemies of God
When Jesus taught the parable of the Wicked Vinedressers in the Temple, the Jewish scribes and pharisees: “…knew He had spoken the parable against them…” Mark 12:12. “So they took him and killed him and cast him out of the vineyard. ‘Therefore what will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the vinedressers and give the vineyard to others. Have you not even read this Scripture: ‘The stone which the builders rejected has become the Chief Cornerstone’.” Mark 12:8-10

Jesus Introduced the Kingdom of God on Earth
John the Baptist began his ministry declaring: “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!”
Our Lord Jesus began His earthly ministry with the message: “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” Matthew 4:17. The Sermon on the Mount details the required conduct of subjects of the Kingdom of God. “But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added to you.” Matthew 6:33

The Lord’s Prayer is Centered on the Kingdom of Heaven
“Our Father in Heaven, Hallowed be Your Name. Your Kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven…. For Yours is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever.” Matthew 6:9-13. For God's Kingdom to come, satan’s kingdoms must be defeated. For God's will to be done, satan’s plans and schemes must be exposed and defeated.
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Jesus Christ is the King Over the Kingdom of God
“Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His Kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.” Isaiah 9:7 “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David.” Luke 1:32

The Kingdom of God Requires Obedience
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in Heaven.” Matthew 7:21. A simple profession of faith is not enough. Practical obedience, applying the Lordship of Christ to all areas of life is essential. What you say is not as important as what you do. “For the Kingdom of God is not in word but in power.” 1 Corinthians 4:20

Regeneration is Essential
Jesus said: “…Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.” John 3:3
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Perseverance is Required
Jesus said: “No one, having put his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of God.” Luke 9:62. Lot’s wife was warned not to look back as the angels rescued her family from Sodom. God had condemned that wicked city to destruction. Yet Lot’s wife still desired Sodom. Her disobedience to a clear command brought severe judgment. Many of the Hebrews, having been delivered from slavery in Egypt, yet wanted to go back to Egypt. They were condemned to wander in the wilderness and all die there before God raised up a new generation, a faithful generation, to enter and take the Promised Land.

Be Counted Worthy of the Kingdom of God by Being Willing to Suffer for Christ
“…that you may be counted worthy of the Kingdom of God, for which you also suffer.” 2 Thessalonians 1:5. John has promised the Kingdom of God “…to those who love Him.” James 2:5. True love is measured by sacrifice. Jesus said that those who love Him obey His commandments. “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” Matthew 5:10. “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God and if children, then heirs - heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.” Romans 8:16-17. “For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps.” 1 Peter 2:21
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Endurance is Essential
“…We must through many tribulations enter the Kingdom of God.” Acts 14:22. “Yes and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” 2 Timothy 3:12.
Jesus said: “…In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

Babylon, the Beast and the Harlot Wage War Against the Kingdom of God
In Revelation 17, we read that Babylon and the Beast, the false church, the great harlot and the rulers and inhabitants of the earth who “…were made drunk with the wine of her fornication.” Revelation 17:2; the blasphemous religious leaders “…arrayed in purple and scarlet and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication…. MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH…. drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus… These will make war with the Lamb and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen and faithful.” Revelation 17:4-14
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War Against God
We see all the evidences of this hostility to God and hatred of the Kingdom of God in the blasphemy industry of Hollywood; the Christophobia of the mainstream mass media; the apostasy of the World Council of Churches; the Roman papacy; the anti-Christian agenda of the United Nations and the violent persecution of Christians by so many member states of the UN, including members of their so-called “Human Rights Commission,” which includes Red China and Sudan.

The Inevitable Ultimate Victory of Christ
The Lamb of God will utterly defeat the Beast and his apostate, blasphemous religious leaders, the arrogant political leaders, Babylon, the harlot, those guilty of abominations and drunk with the blood of the saints, guilty of murdering babies in the womb and massacring the martyrs of Christ. Our Lord Jesus Christ came into this world to destroy the works of the devil. Our Lord Jesus Christ is “…the Faithful Witness, the Firstborn from the dead and the Ruler over the kings of the earth…” Revelation 1:5; “…He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords.” 1 Timothy 6:15. “…on His robe… a Name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.” Revelation 19:16

The Statue and the Stone
Sin in a single soul had brought the entire human race and all societies to collective ruin. The promised Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ, came to destroy the empire of sin as described by the Prophet Daniel. The prophetic vision given to King Nebuchadnezzar and revealed to Daniel, was of a great statue with a head of gold, the chest and arms of silver, the stomach of bronze, the legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. Then a stone struck the statue and broke it in pieces (Daniel 2:28-35).
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The Vision of Daniel
“And in the days of these kings the God of Heaven will set up a Kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the Kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these Kingdoms and it shall stand forever.” Daniel 2:44. “Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a Kingdom, that all peoples, nations and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away and His Kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed.” Daniel 7:14

The Everlasting Kingdom
“How great are His signs and how mighty His wonders! His Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom and His dominion is from generation to generation…. For His dominion is an everlasting dominion and His Kingdom is from generation to generation.” Daniel 4:3,34. “I make a decree that in every dominion of my kingdom men must tremble and fear before the God of Daniel. For He is the Living God and steadfast forever; His Kingdom is the one which shall not be destroyed and His dominion shall endure to the end.” Daniel 6:26

The People of God Must Serve and Obey God
“Then the Kingdom and dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole Heaven, shall be given to the people, the saints of the Most High. His Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom and all dominions shall serve and obey Him.’” Daniel 7:27
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The Glorious Fruit of the Kingdom
The Kingdom of God is seen where men and women submit to our Lord Jesus Christ as King of kings. The fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control are seen in the lives of subjects of the Kingdom. Excellence is seen in the art, architecture and music of the Kingdom of God. The great cathedrals proclaim the Kingdom of God. Great musical compositions such as Handel’s Messiah, proclaim the Kingdom of God.

Stand Up! Stand Up! For Jesus
When King George II stood during the Hallelujah chorus, he initiated a tradition that endures to this day. Even to the ends of the earth, in Cape Town, at the southernmost tip of the African continent, every time Handel’s Messiah is performed, we all stand to our feet at attention for the Hallelujah chorus. As King George II declared: “It is impossible to remain seated for the anthem of the King of kings!”

Kings and Queens Bow to Christ
When Queen Victoria was very old and attending a performance of Handel’s Messiah, she was informed by the organisers, that in view of her great age, she should please remain seated and everyone else would stand for the duration of the Hallelujah chorus. When the Hallelujah chorus began, Queen Victoria, Empress of the greatest Empire the world had ever known, stood and bowed, with tears in her eyes, her lips trembling and her body shaking.
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To Establish Justice in the Earth
When Queen Victoria was asked by a visiting African prince: “What is the secret of Britain’s greatness?” she handed him a Bible and stated: “The Bible is the source of Britain’s greatness.” “He will not fail nor be discouraged, till He has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands shall wait for His Law.” Isaiah 42:4

The Duty and Destiny of Queen Victoria
Dean Farrar reported that Queen Victoria declared to her that she wished that the Lord would return while she was alive, “Because nothing would give me more joy than to pass on the crown of Great Britain and India to Him with my own hands.” Queen Victoria recognised her duty and destiny to rule and reign His Kingdom, faithful to the Scriptures and to the Laws of God in order to hand on the crown and sceptre to the King of kings and Lord of lords.

The Servant Queen and the King She Serves
In 2016, in celebration of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II’s 90th birthday, the Bible Society published the book: The Servant Queen and the King She Serves, using the Queen’s own words to draw out the central role of her Christian Faith and the Bible.
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The Coronation Oath
In the Coronation ceremony of 2 June 1953, one of the highlights was when Queen Elizabeth II made the Coronation Oath. The Archbishop asked: “Will you to the utmost of your power maintain the Laws of God with true profession of the Gospel? Will you to the utmost of your power maintain in the United Kingdom, a Protestant Reformed Religion established by Law? Will you maintain and preserve the settlement of the Church of England and the Doctrine, worship, discipline and government thereof, as by Law established in England?” To this, the Queen responded: “All this I promise to do.” The Archbishop asked: “Will you to your power cause Law and Justice, in mercy, to be executed in all your judgements?” The Queen responded: “I will.”

The Great Bible
With the sword of State carried before her, the Queen rose from her chair, went to the altar, made the solemn oath in the sight of all the people, laying her right hand on the Holy Gospel in the Great Bible and declaring: “The things which I have heretofore promised, I will perform and keep. So help me God.” The Queen then kissed the Bible and signed the Oath.

“Thine is the Kingdom”
Historically most of the kings and queens of Europe have recognised that the Kingdom belongs to God and is under the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords. The throne is His throne and the realm is His realm. As we declare in the Lord’s Prayer: “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven… for Thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever, Amen.”
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To the Ends of the Earth
The Kingdom, instituted by Christ, almost 2,000 years ago, has led to the greatest creativity and the noblest expressions of duty, honour, charity, mercy, art, architecture and music. It pioneered hospitals, schools and churches, ministering to body, mind and spirit throughout the world, to the remotest shores, converting cannibals in the Pacific, bringing respect for life, liberty and law to the wildness regions. It ended the slave trade, ended widow burning in India, cannibalism in the Pacific Isles, inter-tribal genocide, incessant warfare and Islamic slavery throughout Africa. It lifted industry, arts and sciences to the pinnacles of human achievement. “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” Habakkuk 2:14

We Must Return to the Kingdom Message
It is only by returning to the Kingdom message that the nations can be saved from the disastrous consequences of violating God’s Laws, forgetting our covenants and allowing those who hate God to hijack so much of the culture through secular humanist “education” indoctrination and defilement of debased, blasphemous and vile “entertainment” from Hollywood.

Ultimate Victory for the Kingdom of God is Inevitable
“Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in Heaven, saying, “The kingdoms of this world have become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ and He shall reign forever and ever!” Revelation 11:15. Every knee will bow. Every tongue confess. The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord.
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The Devil Shall be Defeated
“Then I heard a loud voice saying in Heaven, ‘Now salvation and strength and the Kingdom of our God and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.’” Revelation 12:10

We Must Proclaim the Rule and Reign of God Above All
“And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, ‘Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns!’” Revelation 19:6

Every Knee Will Bow
The question is not: Will you bow to Christ? But: When will you bow to Christ as your rightful King of kings and Lord of lords? Each one of us may bow to Him now, in the day of grace, while forgiveness is freely offered; or we will be forced to bow on the Day of Judgement. When the day of grace has ended. When the door to Heaven is firmly closed. The fact is that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:9-11).

Subject, Servant and Soldier of the Kingdom
Do you understand what the Bible teaches on the Kingdom of God?
Do you acknowledge your responsibility to be a faithful subject, servant and soldier in the Kingdom of God? What a privilege to be one of the called, chosen and faithful of the greatest King and Kingdom in all Eternity (Revelation 17:14).
​
Dr. Peter Hammond                                             

COMING SOON

The Kingdom of God Booklet
By
Dr. Peter Hammond
]]><![CDATA[IMAGINE IF]]>Tue, 25 Jan 2022 09:15:37 GMThttps://www.livingstonefellowship.co.za/biblical-worldview/imagine-ifPicture
​Comparison or Contrast
Imagine if churches were as energetic in Evangelism and as observant of the Great Commission as they are in repeating the Covid narrative and in observing the WHO Covid protocol!
 
Sidelined, Silenced and Shut Down
Even as churches worldwide were sidelined, silenced and shut down, in the name of fighting a virus, many church leaders became vocal and visible promoters of the sanitise your hands, take your temperature, practice social distancing, wear your mask protocols demanded by the World Health Organisation.
 
A New Gospel
More recently, many ministers have demanded that it is “a Christian duty” to “get vaccinated now!” Many equated it with “loving your neighbour.” Some pastors were photographed in their clerical collar, for billboards proclaiming: “This vaccine will save your life!”
 
Blasphemous Banner
The Methodist Church in downtown Cape Town, off Greenmarket Square, unfurled a large banner from their tower declaring: “The blood of Jesus will not save you from Covid-19 – get vaccinated now!” Quite aside from the fact that over 99% of those who contract Covid-19 recover, that statement is blasphemous.
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Extraordinary Dedication
However, imagine if churches worldwide showed as much dedication to the fulfilment of the Great Commission of our Lord Jesus Christ as they do to promoting the mask, sanitise, social distance, temperature taking, salvation by vaccination message of the WHO?
 
Vigilant
Have you ever seen these congregations as vigilant in challenging visitors as to their relationship to the Lord Jesus, as they are in parroting the propaganda of the Covid Cult?
 
Emphasis
Imagine if churches put as much emphasis on sanctifying your hearts as they do to sanitising your hands?
 
Separation
Imagine if they emphasised the importance of separation from the world, not being conformed to the world, as they do to social distancing?
 
Temperature?
Imagine if they urged every member and adherent of their congregation to test themselves in the light of the Word of God and evaluate their spiritual temperature as often as they diligently record 36.1 ad nauseum on these wasted reams of paper which no-one is ever going to read!
 
Time Commitment
Imagine if they spent as much time proclaiming the Gospel message as they do the Covid message?
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Faith or Fear?
Imagine if they promoted Faith as vigorously as they have promoted fear of this virus? Imagine if they lived by the Scripture: “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, of love and of a sound mind.” 2 Timothy 1:7
 
Mobilise to Evangelise
Imagine if they mobilised to evangelise with the same dedication as they have adhered to the lockdown lunacy?
 
Open Up
Imagine if churches opened up as vigorously as they shut down?
 
Go Into the Highways and Byways
Imagine if churches obeyed the Words of our Lord Jesus Christ to go into the highways and byways as much as they parroted the stay at home and avoid crowds message?
 
Get Out of Your Comfort Zone
Imagine if church leaders urged their members to get out of their comfort zones as insistently as they have demanded that their congregants shelter in place?
 
Go Into all the World and Preach the Gospel
Imagine if they proclaimed the need to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature as often as they urged their people to stay at home because somebody had a cold?
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Worship God
Imagine if they insisted that their people worship God with the same emphasis as they demand that their congregant’s wear a mask?
 
Fellowship
Imagine if they encouraged believers to greet one another with a holy kiss as the Bible tells them to as often as they insist that their congregants don’t greet anyone?
 
Trust in God
Imagine if they urged their people to trust in God as completely as they expect us all to trust the government?
 
Fear God Alone
Imagine if they insisted that we fear God alone as much as they have expected everyone to fear the virus?
 
Let the Church Be Salt and Light
Imagine if they convened meetings as often as they have cancelled meetings in the last 20 months?
 
Back to the Bible
Imagine if they urged their members to study and obey the Bible as vigorously as they have expected their members to trust the WHO?
 
Obey God Wholeheartedly
Imagine if they insisted that their members obey God as wholeheartedly as they have insisted, they obey the government?
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Sin is Serious
Imagine if they taught their people to be as concerned about sin as they are afraid of Covid?
 
Proclaim the Gospel of Salvation
Imagine if they proclaimed the Gospel of Salvation as enthusiastically as they have proclaimed the need for vaccination?
 
Jesus is The Way, The Truth and The Life
Imagine if they taught that Jesus is the only way with the same insistence that they proclaim that this vaccination is the only way?
 
The Rise of the Covid Cult
The fact is that, over these last two years, we have witnessed the birth of a new religious cult, the lockdown lunacy, masquerade madness, salvation by vaccination Covid Cult.
 
The Masquerade
According to this new religious cult, Covid is original sin. Medical doctors (at least those who toe the WHO line) are the priests of this new religion. Fauci is the high priest or pope. The WHO are like the council of cardinals in a new kind of Vaccination Vatican. Wearing the mask is the outward and visible symbol of adhering to this Covid cult.
 
Salvation by Vaccination
Salvation is by vaccination. It is the equivalent of baptism. Although once is definitely not enough! This is an Anabaptist, actually multi-Baptist, cult who demands booster shot after booster shot for the veracity of the vaccination.
 
Arminian Vaccination Cult
However, you are never really saved. You can lose your salvation within months, or even weeks, after getting the so-called vaccine. And you still need to fear the virus, even after getting the vaccine! As the vaccinated can still contract the virus and spread the virus, they still need to wear a mask (or two or three), socially distance and be tested again and again. And of course, have a second shot and a booster shot and another booster shot and so on.
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A Vision of Vaccination
Imagine if churches have a Biblical Vision of Victory with the same intensity and energy as they have been gripped by the pandemic panic?
 
Deception and Idolatry
Statism is idolatry. The salvation by vaccination Covid cult is a deception operation.
 
Unbelievable
Imagine a virus so deadly that you need to be tested to know that you have it. And a vaccine so safe that you need to be threatened to take it!
 
An Age of Apostacy
We are living in an age of deception, cowardice and apostasy. It is time to stand up, speak out and fight the good fight of Faith.
 
Freedom is at Risk
Our religious freedoms are at risk. Not even Soviet dictator, Joseph Stalin and communist mass murderer Mao Tse-Tung succeeded in closing as many churches during the Cold War as the WHO organisation has succeeded in shutting, silencing and side-lining over the last 20 months!
Our Conscience on the Word of God
This is a freedom of conscience issue. No government has the authority to violate the Bill of Rights, Magna Carta and the Freedoms that come from God. We need to respond in the words of the Apostle Peter: “We must obey God rather than man!” Acts 5:29
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Safe Vaccines do not need Indemnity From Liability
Vaccines that are safe and effective do not need to be promoted by marketing propaganda, bribes, threats, coercion, mandates and compulsion. Why are vaccine producers indemnified against liability for any and all ill-effects caused by their products?
 
Freedoms are Foundational to Civilisation
No government has the authority to interfere with Freedom of Conscience, Freedom of Opinion, Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Religion, Freedom of the Press, Freedom of Assembly, Freedom of Association, Freedom of Worship, Freedom of Movement, or any of the other essential freedoms which are the foundation of civilisation.
 
Truth Does Not Fear Investigation
Health does not require fear-mongering, guilt manipulation, incessant propaganda, coercion, compulsion and censorship of opposing views. Those telling the truth do not mind being questioned. Those propagating a lie always resent being questioned and seek to suppress alternative opinions. Facts are not afraid of investigation. Our Lord Jesus Christ declared: “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.” John 8:32
 
This is Not About Your Health
The lockdowns have been used to advance a communist agenda through state interference and controls. The Covid crisis has clearly been used as a smokescreen for colossal corruption, that has looted many Billions of dollars of solidarity funds meant for the relief of businesses forcibly closed and workers prevented from earning a living. “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free and do not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” Galatians 5:1
 
Peter Hammond
Livingstone Fellowship
]]><![CDATA[STEADFAST in SUFFERING]]>Thu, 25 Nov 2021 09:08:20 GMThttps://www.livingstonefellowship.co.za/biblical-worldview/steadfast-in-sufferingPicture
  • To see a video of the Funeral service Sermon for Lenora Dawn Hammond,  Click Here
  • To see a Livestream of the Funeral service Sermon for Lenora Dawn Hammond,  Click Here
  • To listen to an audio of the Funeral service Sermon for Lenora Dawn Hammond, Click Here
  • To view or download the Order of Service Click Here
​
​“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.” Romans 5:1-9
 
Strong Faith for Hard Times
What makes a strong person able to withstand hard times? How can one remain steadfast in spite of suffering? How was it possible that Lenora could evidence peace in the midst of pain? Eleven years fighting the curse of cancer, yet, Lenora was an example of rejoicing in spite of suffering. Victorious faith. Overcoming faith. Steadfast faith.
 
An Example of Excellence
Lenora was an example of excellence in hospitality, service, creativity and industry. Lenora was an example of joyful sacrificial service, energetic sports, wholehearted worship and enthusiastic encouragement of others. She strove to live life to the full. To fill her time with productivity, service and creativity.
 
Firm, Faithful and Fruitful
Lenora was a loyal friend. A faithful family member, especially to her parents. She felt deeply and was hurt by cancer, by cowards and by compromise. Despite being deeply hurt by friends and family who deserted us in times of difficulty, Lenora was fiercely loyal and was offended by disloyalty. Lenora was a faithful friend and grieved by betrayal and backstabbing from people we had poured heart and soul into helping. This passage in Romans 5 gives us some insights as to how it was that Lenora was able to remain firm, faithful and fruitful, in spite of fearful suffering, pain and failing health.
 
Perseverance, Character and Hope
Lenora knew what it was to be justified by faith. She had peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Suffering can produce perseverance. Perseverance develops character. Character produces hope.
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Source of Steadfastness
It was obvious that the love of God was poured out into her heart by the Holy Spirit. Even when she was physically weak, Lenora was spiritually and emotionally strong. The secret of Lenora’s steadfastness, despite suffering, is that she had a real, vibrant relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ, who transformed her life in her early twenties.

Two Foundations
In the Sermon on the Mount, our Lord Jesus Christ speaks of two types of people, the wise and the foolish, who build on two different foundations, the wise on the Rock and the foolish on the sand. It describes two buildings, which may outwardly not appear too different, but when the rain fell, when the wind blew, when the floods rise and the storm rages, the house that is built on sand will collapse, but the house built on the Rock will stand firm.
 
Steadfast in the Storm
During recent months and years, Lenora has been steadfast in the storm caused by cancer. She not only survived for 11 years, she thrived and was an enthusiastic, elegant and eloquent encourager of friends and family around her.
 
Two Roads
In the Sermon on the Mount, our Lord speaks of two roads: The Broad Road, which is smooth, safe, easy and therefore popular. And The Narrow Road, which is narrow, steep, rocky and difficult. Even a dead fish can float downstream. It takes courage, tenacity and strength to go upstream, against the flow. Lenora chose the narrow, steep, rocky and difficult road, because the broad road leads to destruction and the narrow road leads to life eternal. Ultimately, there are two destinations. As Lenora said: “I know where I am going!”
 
Fruitful
In the Sermon on the Mount, we read about two different trees, the good tree and the bad tree. You can discern a tree by its fruit. The fruit of Lenora’s life was good, because her roots were firmly in the Word of God, the Bible. Lenora knew what she believed, why she believed it and Who she was trusting. Therefore, she was firm, faithful and fruitful.
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Not a Fair-Weather Paddler
Lenora was not a fair-weather paddler! Even in cold, rainy and stormy weather, she was game for paddling, running or hiking. Lenora was a tough PT instructor, demanding, courageous, tenacious, inspiring and dependable. She was someone who seized the day: Carpe Diem! She did not take life for granted and sought to make the most of opportunities.
 
Heaven
"Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him." 1 Corinthians 2:9
 
God has created us for eternity. Heaven is mentioned 550 times in the Bible, by that name alone. Heaven in also referred to by many other names. It is described as "the better country" that the prophets sought after. It is described as "the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God." Hebrews 11:10
 
Our Lord Jesus Christ said: "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you." John 14:1-2

​Heaven is a real place. Jesus said He goes to prepare a place for us. The Greek word for place is Topos from which we get topography and typology, the writing and study of places. The Bible distinguishes between three different heavens (2 Corinthians 12:2): air, where the birds fly (Matthew 6:26); space, where the stars shine (Acts 7:42); and paradise, which is God's home (Matthew 6:9-10). “Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise” (Psalm 100).

Communist Cosmonaut's Campaign Against Heaven
Atheists have always campaigned vigorously against the concept of Heaven (because it would imply a Creator and require accountability as to our ethics). After the Russians sent their first cosmonaut into space, they used him for propaganda purposes on his return. The cosmonaut was sent on speaking tours throughout the schools in the Soviet Union to inform the teachers and students that he had been into space and he could assure everyone that he had not seen God nor Heaven.
 
At one school a young girl stood up and replied: "But comrade, the Bible tells us that ‘only the pure in heart will see God!'"
 
Recently this cosmonaut undertook a far more significant journey than his space voyage. They lowered his body into the grave. By now he knows that there is a God, although he may not get much time to see Heaven. We do not know if he turned to God before the end of his life, but we do know that the premise of his propaganda looks more and more laughable as we discover more about our universe. Our solar system is only one of millions, there are millions of suns in countless other galaxies from which our sun and earth would barely be visible. Considering the extremely small section of space between the earth and the moon that this cosmonaut was able to travel through, his confident assertion of atheism is ludicrous.
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An Appointment
There is one appointment none of us will miss. In fact, none of us will even be able to be late for this appointment. "It is appointed unto man once to die and after this to face Judgment." Hebrews 9:27. There is nothing more certain than death and nothing as uncertain as the time of dying. We should therefore be ready at all times for that which may come at any time.
 
The Rich Fool
Someone in the crowd urged the Lord Jesus to help him obtain from his brother a better share of the inheritance. The Lord responded with a warning: "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed. A man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." Luke 12:13-15
 
And Jesus told them this parable: There was a rich man, a productive man who had plenty. He had power and prosperity and possessions and he could live for pleasure, "Take your ease; eat, drink and be merry."
 
But God said to him: "Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?" Luke 12:20. This is how it will be for anyone who stores up things for himself, but is not rich towards God.
 
This rich man was productive. He had plenty of possessions. He had power and prosperity and could live for pleasure. But he was unprepared for Eternity. He had no greater purpose than accumulating wealth and living for pleasure. The Lord calls him a fool. It is a foolish thing to fail to prepare for Eternity. We plan and prepare for even the shortest journey. If we fail to prepare for Eternity then we are foolish.
 
Psalm 14:1 declares that "The fool says in his heart, there is no God. They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good." This rich man was living like a practical atheist – as if God did not exist.

The Beginning of Wisdom
"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." Proverbs 9:10
 
The Complacency of Fools
But this man did not fear God, he did not even seem to think about God. That is foolish. Proverbs teaches that those who do not choose to fear the Lord, "the waywardness of the simple will kill them and the complacency of fools will destroy them." Proverbs 1:29-32
 
The rich man was a fool because he was unprepared for Eternity. Each of us should constantly be ready to die and face God's judgment – because death can strike any one of us at any moment.
 
The rich man in this parable was a self-centred fool. Eleven times in these three verses the man says: "Me", "Myself" and "I." He was a self-centred fool. A godless fool. Purposeless. Unprepared for Eternity. Therefore he was a doomed fool.
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Lay Up Treasure in Heaven
Jesus warned us: "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Matthew 6:19-21

Prepared for Eternity
C.S. Lewis wrote: "If you read history you will find that the Christians who did the most for the present world were precisely those who had thought most of the next."
 
C.S. Lewis also observed: "Aim at Heaven and you will get earth thrown in; aim at earth and you will get neither."
 
E.M. Bounds wrote in his book Heaven: a Place, a City, a Home: "Earth is but a pilgrim stay, a pilgrim's journey, a pilgrim's tent. Heaven is a city, permanent, God-planned, God-built, whose foundations are as stable as God's Throne."
 
Chrysostom, the pastor of St. Sophia in Constantinople, declared: "If one man should suffer all the sorrows of all the saints in the world, yet they are not worth one hour's glory in Heaven."
 
John Newton, the author of Amazing Grace, observed: "When I get to Heaven, I shall see three wonders there – the first wonder will be to see many people there whom I did not expect to see; the second wonder will be to miss many people whom I did expect to see; and the third and greatest wonder of all will be to find myself there."
 
In his book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis observed that: "Creatures are not born with desire unless satisfaction of those desires exist. A baby feels hunger; well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim; well, there is such a thing as water." He noted that although many of our desires can be satisfied on earth, there are many deep and fundamental desires which cannot be fulfilled on earth and which point to the reality of Heaven. "I must make it the main object of life to press on to that other country and to help others to do the same," he concluded.
 
C.S. Lewis wrote that: "Joy is the serious business of Heaven."
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Are You Prepared?
The real question is not, has a place been prepared for us? The question is: are we prepared for that place? Will your name be called? Is your name written in the Lamb's Book of Life in Heaven? Jesus said: "I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but by Me." John 14:6
 
What is Heaven Like?
What will Heaven be like? We are told that there will be no more hunger or thirst (Revelation 7:16); no more sorrow, crying, pain or death (Revelation 21:4); and no more night (Revelation 22:5).
 
The Apostle Paul wrote: “For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the Heavens.” 2 Corinthians 5:1
 
In Heaven we will enjoy reunion with loved ones who have gone ahead (Genesis 25:8, 17; 35:29; 37:35; 49:33; Numbers 31:2; Deuteronomy 32:50).
 
We will experience glory (Psalm 73:23-24); the presence of God (Ecclesiastes 12:5-7); Divine comfort (Luke 16:25); the Tree of Life (Luke 23:43; 2 Corinthians 12:4; Revelation 2:7); Communion with God ( Matthew 22:32); coming into possession of the treasures we sent to Heaven while on earth ( Matthew 6:19-21; Luke 12:21; 33-34; 1 Timothy 6:17-19); opportunities to please God (2 Cor. 5:9); gain (Philippians 1:21); being with Christ which is far better (Philippians 1:23); perfection (Hebrews 12:23); safety from the second death (Revelation 2:11); authority over the nations and The Morning Star (Revelation 2:26-28); Christ will confess your name before the Father and His holy angels (Revelation 3:5;  Matthew 10:32-33); the waters of life (Revelation 7:16); and opportunities for worship (Heb. 12:22-24; Revelation 4:9-11; 5:8-14; 7:9-12; 11; 16-18; 19:1-7).
 
We will have glorified bodies. Our senses will be enlarged greatly in their capacities. We already know that, compared to some other creatures in this world, we are almost deaf and blind. What will it be like when we are released from the bondage of sin? If we can hear beautiful music which causes our hearts to thrill now, when we are limited to such a small range and scale, imagine when we have perfect hearing on every level.
 
Compared to the eagles, when you consider the telescopic, microscopic, ultraviolet and infrared sight capabilities of these magnificent birds, we are almost blind. What will it be like in Heaven when our vision is enlarged in perfected resurrected bodies?
 
Imagine the incredible intellectual stimulation of inhabiting a sinless universe. Our fallen human minds can barely contemplate what tremendous intellectual adventures we will enjoy in Heaven. Even the greatest geniuses barely use 4% of their mental potential on earth. Imagine when all sorrow and aches, and pains, and grief, and selfishness, and anger, and temper, and pride, and deceit, and darkness, and malice is removed. If we can enjoy so much beauty, even in this fallen world and under the burden of sin imagine what indescribable beauty will be enjoyed in the Paradise of God?
"And God will wipe away every tear from our eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor sighing. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away." Revelation 21:4
 
“You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace.” Isaiah 55:6-13
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We Will Stand Before Our Creator
We do not know when, or under what circumstances, our lives will come to an end. But we do know that when we die we will stand before Almighty God, our Creator and Eternal Judge, and we will have to give an account of our lives to Him.
 
"Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear His voice and come out – those who have done good will rise to live and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned." John 5:28-29
 
In the Light of Eternity
If you are prepared to die then you are ready for anything. Until you are free to die, you are not free to live. It ought to be our business of everyday to prepare for our last day. If we take care of our life, then God will take care of our death.
 
In the Bible we are told that it is better to go to a funeral than to a party, because the living should always be reminded that death waits for us all (Ecclesiastes 7:2).
 
"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under Heaven; a time to be born and a time to die…" Ecclesiastes 3:1-2
 
Being mindful of death should make us serious, industrious and conscientious.
 
"Only one life, it will soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ will last."
 
We need to work out our priorities in the light of Eternity. We need to invest our time and talents and treasure into those things which are going to last for Eternity: the people of God, the creatures of God, the Word of God and the Kingdom of God. These are what are ultimately important
 
“I know that my Redeemer lives and that on the last Day He shall stand on the earth.” Job 19:23-27
 
In the light of Eternity, and knowing that you are going to die and stand before the Creator and Eternal Judge, you need to review your life's work, your family relationships, your habits and your activities.
 
One day you will be standing before the Judgment Seat of Christ where "God will judge men's secrets…" Romans 2:16; "All the harsh words…" Jude 15 and "Judge each man's work impartially…" 1 Peter 1:17
 
Jesus said: "But I tell you that men will have to give account on the Day of Judgment for every careless word they have ever spoken." Matthew 12:36
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"So then, each of us will have to give an account of themselves to God." Romans 14:12
In Eternity: will any of us regret praying too much? Studying the Bible too intently? Sacrificing too much for God's Kingdom? Being too forgiving? Being too generous? Too evangelistic? Too sacrificial or too unselfish? “Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy.” Psalm 126:5

​Are You Ready?
If you knew that you were to die next year, what would you do differently this year?
 
Work out your priorities in the light of Eternity.
 
You must be ready at all times for that which can happen at any time. As Lenora as Helm would enthuse her dragon boating friends:  Are You Ready!
 
Can you say with Lenora: "For me to live is Christ and to die is gain!" Philippians 1:21
 

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Dr. Peter Hammond
Livingstone Fellowship
P.O. Box 74 Newlands 7725
Cape Town South Africa
Tel: 021-689-4480
Email: mission@frontline.org.za
Website: www.livingstonefellowship.co.za
]]><![CDATA[GODLY ZEAL vs. FANATICISM]]>Tue, 08 Jun 2021 09:23:17 GMThttps://www.livingstonefellowship.co.za/biblical-worldview/godly-zeal-vs-fanaticismPicture
To listen to an audio of this message, click here.
 
“For the grace of God that brings Salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ, Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.” Titus 2:11-14
 
Salvation, Service and Sanctification
We leave the old life to live the new life. Looking forward to the glorious return of the King of kings and Lord of lords. God’s grace leads to godliness. We are saved to serve. Hope should lead to holiness. Salvation is by the grace of God alone. Christ alone is the Head of the Church. Salvation is by the sacrificial Atonement of our Lord Jesus Christ. He saved us, redeemed us and purified us to be His peculiar people, zealous for good works.
 
Wholehearted Zealous Enthusiasm
Our Lord deserves our very best. Nothing less than wholeheartedness is acceptable in the service of the Lord. In Revelation 3, we read that lukewarm Christians make God sick. The Lord requires us to be zealous, enthusiastic and wholehearted.
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We Need to be More Zealous
It is better to be divided by truth than united in error. We need to be zealous for good works, for generous giving, for worship, zealous for the grace of God, for the truth and for holiness. We need to be zealous in our service for God.
 
More Zeal would Solve More Problems
Many of our problems would be solved with more zeal. Productivity, effectiveness, punctuality, consideration for others, attendance at prayer meetings, volunteers for missionary outreaches, all of these and many other problems, would be effectively resolved with more zeal.
 
Distraction and Distortion Leads to Defeat
However, there is a misguided zeal, a fanaticism and extremism that distorts the grace of God. If the devil cannot keep us from being converted, he works on having us diverted, distracted and even defeated by divisive, destructive and dangerous distortions. Food should be cooked, but not cremated. A hammer can be used to build up or to break down.
 
Beware of Deception and Divisiveness
Titus 3:2-3 warns us: “to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men. For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.” There is a need to warn church leaders and church members of foolishness, deception, malice, envy and hatred, even within the church.
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Avoid the Argumentative
“But avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions and strivings about the Law; for they are unprofitable and useless. Reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition, knowing that such a person is warped and sinning, being self-condemned.” Titus 3:9-11
 
Foolish, Fractious, Fruitless and Fatal
There are, sadly, many unreasonable and misguided people who generate foolish disputes and unprofitable and useless arguments. We need to beware of being drawn into foolish and fractious arguments which are fruitless and fatal. Bickering and back biting is often incited by self-centred and stubborn people.
 
Be a Blessing Not a Burden
Beware of bondage. Instead of being a blessing, many become a burden. Some freeze in formalism, others fry in fanaticism. Both legalism and extremism are destructive.
 
Seek to be Positive and Productive
We are commanded to “be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men.” We are to be careful to maintain good works. We are not to waste our time arguing about things that are not ultimately important. We need to focus on what is Biblical, relevant and edifying and what is actually going to extend the Kingdom of God.
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Focus on Eternal Priorities
The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. Our highest priority is to love, worship and obey God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. We are to love our neighbour as ourselves. We are to seek first the Kingdom of God. We are to make disciples of all nations, teach obedience to things that God has commanded.
 
Separation from Sin – Not Isolation from Those Who We are Called to Minister To
To do this, we cannot isolate ourselves from the world. We are to separate ourselves from the defilement and deception of the world, but separation should not be isolation. Our Lord Jesus Christ was “a friend of sinners and tax collectors.”
 
Fanatics and False Teachers
We need to beware of those fanatics who lose their direction and double their speed. False teachers are almost always hypocrites. They tend to condemn in others what they excuse in themselves. The devious and divisive have double standards.
 
Distinguish Between Constructive and Destructive Criticism
It is good to receive constructive criticism from a friend who is trying to help you to be better and to succeed. Destructive criticism comes from an enemy who wants you to fail.
 
The Wicked
In the Book of Titus, the wicked are described as: defiled in mind and conscience, unbelieving, liars, lazy gluttons, giving heed to Jewish fables, they profess to know God but, in their works, they deny Him. They are abominable, disobedient, disqualified, pilfering, slanderers, greedy, living in sin and malice, envious, hateful, divisive and warped.
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The Disqualified
The Book of Titus describes those who are disqualified for church leadership, those who are self-willed, quick tempered, drunkards, violent, greedy, insubordinate, idle talkers, deceivers, subverters, lazy, liars and gluttons.
 
Be Zealous for Good Works
“And let our people also learn to maintain good works, to meet urgent needs, that they may not be unfruitful.” Titus 3:14. We need to take initiative, work hard and be productive. The Lord commands us to be zealous and fruitful, not foolish, fractious and fruitless, which fanatics inevitably are. Fanaticism can be fatal.
 
An Extreme Reaction to Rejection
In Luke 9:51-56, we read of two of the Lord’s disciples who responded to rejection in a Samaritan village by asking: “Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from Heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?” But the Lord turned and rebuked them and said, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” Luke 9:54-56. In Acts, we read of Revival fire falling upon Samaria, not a destructive fire of condemnation, but a refining fire of spiritual empowerment for Evangelism.
 
Misguided Zeal
In Luke 22:47-53, we read of the Apostle Peter’s misguided zeal as he used the wrong weapon with wrong energy and a wrong attitude, to cut the ear off the wrong enemy, the servant Malcus. Peter was certainly zealous, but this was misguided, unfruitful zeal. By God’s grace, our Lord healed the servant whose ear has been severed.
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Failure to Watch and Pray Can Have Disastrous Consequences
On this occasion Peter had been asleep when he should have been praying, he was talking when he should have been listening and he directed his sword at the wrong person and at the wrong time. He was interfering in the Lord’s plan of Salvation. As Jesus said, “no one takes My life from Me, I lay it down of My own free will.” He had the power to call on ten legions of angels. With a single Word, the Lord could have destroyed all His enemies and Jerusalem as well. Peter was commanded to put his sword back in its sheath. This was not the time, nor the place.
 
Extremism Hurts the Very Cause it Seeks to Serve
Extremism can hurt the cause of Christ even more than the enemies of the Gospel can. We need to choose our battles wisely. We need to choose our weapons carefully. We need to examine our attitudes in the light of Scripture.
 
Fervent Zeal Builds Up – Fanaticism Breaks Down
Godly zeal advances the cause of the Gospel and works for the fulfilment of the Great Commission to the glory of God. Fanaticism is foolish, fractious, fruitless and often even fatal.
 
Biblical, Balanced and Bold
Self-denial can be taken to an extreme. The Lord gives us richly all things to enjoy. There is a time and a need for sacrifice, but we are to be joyful always, praying continually, giving thanks in all circumstances. There is a time for every season under Heaven. Let us be sure that we are Biblical, balanced and bold in our zeal and never allow ourselves to descend into fanaticism. “Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.” Titus 2:13-14
Dr. Peter Hammond
Livingstone Fellowship
P.O. Box 74 Newlands 7725
Cape Town South Africa
mission@frontline.org.za
www.LivingstoneFellowship.co.za
www.ReformationSA.org
www.FrontlineMissionSA.org
]]><![CDATA[GIVING THANKS in ALL CIRCUMSTANCES]]>Thu, 26 Nov 2020 14:10:48 GMThttps://www.livingstonefellowship.co.za/biblical-worldview/giving-thanks-in-all-circumstancesPicture
​To listen to a From the Frontline radio podcast on Thanksgiving, click here.
 
"Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:18.
 
Taking God's Blessings for Granted
Dr. Martin Luther observed that we exhibit a degree of thankfulness in life in reverse proportion to the amount of blessing we have received. In Tabletalk, Dr. Martin Luther wrote: "The greater God's gifts and works, the less they are regarded." The blessings of life, health, freedom and food are not really appreciated unless they are lost, or threatened. Because sunrises and sunsets occur daily, they are taken for granted.
 
Consider the Stars
Ralph Waldo Emerson observed that "If the constellations appeared only once in a thousand years, imagine what an exciting event it would be. But because they are there every night, we barely give them a look."
 
The Blessings of Being Hungry and Lonely
Similarly, the blessings of rain are barely appreciated unless one has been through a drought. A hungry man is more thankful for his morsel than a rich man for his heavily laden table. A lonely woman in a nursing home will appreciate a visit more than a popular person who has a party thrown in their honour. A Christian who has suffered under persecution for decades and receives his first copy of the Holy Scriptures will be more thankful for this one book than we are for all the Christian books, Bible translations and magazines that overflow our shelves.
You Should Experience Blindness for a Few Days
Helen Keller said: "I have often thought that it would be a blessing if each human being were stricken blind and deaf for a few days for some time during his early adult life. It would make him more appreciative of sight and of the joys of sound."
 
A Biblical Command
There are at least 138 passages of Scripture that deal with the subject of thanksgiving. We are commanded: "Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His Name." Psalm 100:4.
 
"Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men!" Psalm 107:8.
 
"Give thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the Kingdom of light." Colossians 1:12.
 
"Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful." Colossians 3:15.
 
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7.
 
Joyful, Prayerful and Thankful
"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18. Plainly it is God's will for us to be joyful, prayerful and thankful.
 
A Sacrifice of Praise
"Therefore, by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God that is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His Name." Hebrews 13:15.
Our Duty
"No duty is more urgent than that of returning thanks." Ambrose
 
A Good Habit
"It ought to be as habitual for us to thank as to ask." C. H. Spurgeon
 
The Parent of All Virtues
It has been said that a thankful heart is the parent of all virtues.
 
The Root Sin
It is also true that a lack of gratitude is a root sin: 
"The wrath of God is being revealed from Heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness... for although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened." Romans 1:18-21. Here, failure to give thanks to God is the root sin that leads to futile thinking and foolish, darkened hearts.
 
The Sin of Ingratitude
In Luke 17:7-19, we read of the ten lepers that were healed by the Lord Jesus. When one of them, a Samaritan, threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked Him, the Lord Jesus asked: "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" In our missions' experience we have also found that barely 10% of those we help, or sponsor, will bother to express their gratitude either verbally, or in a letter, or card. Evidently, gratitude is something of a rarity.
 
One of the Worst Sins
In 1 Timothy 3:1-5 the apostle Paul gives a list of some of the most terrible sins including: "People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, traitorous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God - having a form of godliness but denying its power." Here ungratefulness is listed in the middle of a litany of horrible sins.
A Fruit of Character
One of the first lessons good parents seek to teach their children is to say "Thank You". It takes character and courage to admit being in debt to others. It is humbling. However, those who cannot admit their indebtedness to others cannot learn, nor can they seek forgiveness.
 
Maturity
Failure to express gratitude is more than immaturity and rudeness, it is ungodly. We are commanded to honour our parents, our elders and our leaders. It is a sign of maturity to acknowledge indebtedness. Anyone who has learned anything is in debt to somebody else. We are all in debt, firstly and mostly, to God Himself, for our life, health, food, talents, family, friends, opportunities and for our salvation itself. We are also in debt to past generations who have sacrificed for the freedoms we now enjoy: Reformers, martyrs, pioneers, missionaries, soldiers, parents, teachers, pastors and so many others have sacrificed for our benefit.
 
Pride, Ingratitude and Unteachability
Those who do not take advice do not think they have anything to learn. They are often the same people who have a problem expressing genuine heartfelt gratitude to others. It is a sign of pride to be ungrateful - it reveals an unwillingness to acknowledge a debt to others.
An Attitude of Entitlement
Instead of the Christian character of gratitude, our present culture prefers to promote an attitude of entitlement. This is the very opposite of gratitude. It builds on pride and covetousness. It is fuelled by bitterness, greed and envy. All too many in the present humanistic society take things for granted, demand to get, rather than seeking to give.
 
"One man gives freely, yet gains even more, another withholds unduly but comes to poverty." Proverbs 11:24.
 
An Attitude of Gratitude
A grateful mind is a great mind. "Be thankful, therefore, for the least benefit and thou shalt be worthy to receive greater." Thomas a Kempis.
 
"It is good to give thanks to the Lord and to sing praises to Your Name, O Most High; to declare Your loving kindness in the morning and Your faithfulness every night." Psalm 92:1-2.
 
"Give thanks to the Lord, call on His Name; make known among the nations what He has done... Give thanks to the Lord for He is good; His love endures forever." 1 Chronicles 16:8,34.
 
Dr. Peter Hammond
Gospel Defence League
P.O. Box 36129
Glosderry 7702
Cape Town South Africa
info@gospeldefenceleague.org
www.GospelDefenceLeague.org
www.FrontlineMissionSA.org
www.ReformationSA.org

Click here to see the latest Gospel Defence League Newsletter, online.
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