Many Forsook Christ
The Gospels record many who forsook Christ: "When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth." Matthew 19:22. "From this time, many of His disciples turned back and no longer followed Him." John 6:66. "Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them." Mark 14:10. "Then all the disciples deserted Him and fled." Matthew 26:56.
 
Many Deserted Paul
In the Pastoral Epistles, which were written to instruct ministers and missionaries, the Apostle Paul wrote of those who were teaching false doctrines, devoting themselves to myths and promoting controversies rather than God's Word and of those who had "wandered away" and "turned to meaningless talk" (1 Timothy 1:3-7). Paul wrote of those who had rejected the faith and violated their conscience, having made a shipwreck of their Faith. Some had even blasphemed (1 Timothy 1:19-20). Paul warned against appointing recent converts or those who had not first been carefully tested - lest they "fall into disgrace and into the devil's trap" (1 Timothy 3:7).
 
In these Epistles, which were written to instruct missionaries and ministers, Paul warned of: "having a form of godliness but denying its power" (2 Timothy 3:5).
 
In these Pastoral Epistles, Paul names the names of those who had been co-workers of his, but who had failed and given up: "just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these men oppose the truth - men of depraved minds, who, as far as the Faith is concerned, are rejected" (2 Timothy 3:8). Paul reported that: "everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me, including Phygellus and Hermogenes." 2 Timothy 1:15. "Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone…" 2 Timothy 4:10. "Alexander, the metalworker, did me a great deal of harm. The Lord will repay him for what he has done. You too should be on your guard against him, because he strongly opposed our message. At my first defence, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me…" 2 Timothy 4: 14-16
 
Roots of Failure
Paul warns of "hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared" (1 Timothy 4:2). And against anyone who "teaches false doctrines … is conceited and understands nothing … has an unhealthy interest in controversies and arguments that result in envy, quarrelling, malicious talk, evil suspicions and constant friction between men of a corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain …who want to get rich, fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction" (1 Timothy 6:3-9).
 
Solemn Warnings
Paul warned that: "there are many rebellious people, mere talkers and deceivers… they are ruining whole households… for the sake of dishonest gain… rebuke them sharply… they claim to know God, but by their actions they deny Him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good." Titus 1:10-16
 
“But avoid foolish controversies… arguments and quarrels… these are unprofitable and useless. Warn the divisive person once and then warn him a second time. After that, have nothing to do with him. You may be sure that such a man is warped and sinful, he is self-condemned.” Titus 3:9-11. The very fact that the Holy Spirit inspired the Apostle Paul to include in these Pastoral Epistles so many warnings against divisive and disloyal co-workers, false brethren and deceivers, should be sufficient warning to wake us up to this reality. When so many of the followers of Christ Himself fell away and deserted Him, how can we expect anything less? As our Lord Jesus said: "No servant is greater than his master. If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you also. " John 15:20
 
Disloyalty and Betrayal are Normal
"For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry." 2 Timothy 4:3-5
 
Because of the depravity of man, we should expect sinful selfishness to predominate. Disloyalty is normal. It is loyalty which is unusual. Rather than flinging up our hands and asking why so many give up, we should rather fall on our knees and thank God for those few who steadfastly persevere against all odds. Such dedication is a work of God's grace.
 
William Carey in India
The father of modern missions, William Carey and his co-worker, John Marshman, had to endure vicious and unjust criticisms from young new missionaries who came “to help” at the mission base in Serampore, India. Many of these new volunteers actually split from the Serampore Mission and spent such an inordinate amount of time slandering William Carey and his co-workers (the controversy lasted 13 years) that the Baptist Missionary Society in England actually turned against William Carey for a time.
 
Writing of this, Carey said: “The evil they have done is, I fear, irreparable; and certainly the whole thing might have been prevented by a little frank conversation with either of us; and a hundredth part of that self-denial which I found necessary to exercise for the first few years of the mission, would have prevented this awful rupture… But now we are traduced and the church rent by the very men who came to be our helpers… Judge for yourselves whatever it is comely that a man, who has laboriously and disinterestedly served the mission so many years should be arraigned and condemned without a hearing by a few men just arrived, one of whom had not been a month in the country before he joined the senseless outcry.”
 
David Livingstone in Africa
On his Zambezi expedition, David Livingstone was afflicted by interpersonal conflicts amongst his team, leading to everyone abandoning him in the field, even his own brother Charles. By the time he returned to England, seven years later, Livingstone found that his disgruntled ex co-workers had so spread an ill report against him, that no one even came out to welcome him back.
 
Hudson Taylor in China
In 1865, Hudson Taylor prayed for “24 willing, skilful labourers” for his new China Inland Mission. Four of these new recruits also brought dissension and controversy. Soon these dissidents had poisoned the fellowship with their increasing bitterness and resentment. After two years of backbiting and disruption, Hudson Taylor had to dismiss the ringleader from the mission. The other troublemakers left with him.
 
Missionary Celebrities of the 19th Century
The Cambridge Seven were the most famous missionary recruits of the 19th century – all from privileged families and prestigious universities. Yet only two stayed the course in missions and only one of those remained in CIM.
 
Great Theologians and Evangelists
Jonathan Edwards, one of America’s greatest Theologians and the man most closely associated with the Great Evangelical Awakenings, was actually dismissed by his own church, for applying Biblical church discipline.
 
The greatest Baptist preacher of all time, Charles Spurgeon, was actually the target of vicious attacks by the Baptist Union of his day. (Now his books are textbooks of Baptist colleges and his statue stands outside the Baptist Union headquarters.)
 
George Whitefield, one of the greatest evangelists of all time and a key figure in the Great Evangelical Awakening, was actually excluded from the Church of England that he had served so faithfully. (Today the Church of England in South Africa have named their college after George Whitefield.)
 
Warnings from Our Lord
Church history confirms what our Lord Jesus warned about: "Many will turn away from the Faith and will betray and hate each other." Matthew 24:10
 
"Brother will betray brother to death and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. All men will hate you because of Me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved." Matthew 10:21-22. This has to be the hardest part of seeking to be faithful to the Lord. We expect opposition from the enemies of the faith, but not from fellow believers, co-workers, church elders or family members.
 
Warnings in the Psalms
"If an enemy were insulting me, I could endure it …but it is you …my companion, my close friend, with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship…" Psalm 55:12-14. "Even my close friend, whom I trusted, he who shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me." Psalm 41:9.
 
Prophetic Warnings
The prophet Micah warned of the time when one could not even trust a neighbour, or put confidence in a friend, when "a man's enemies are the members of his own household." Micah 7:5-6
 
The Scouts from the Promised Land
When Moses sent out twelve scouts to explore the land, ten returned with a negative and defeatist report and “made the whole community grumble.” Numbers 14:36. Only Joshua and Caleb, of the twelve, came back with a good report. The Lord severely judged the ten complainers and mightily blessed the faithful Joshua and Caleb (Numbers 16:38).
 
Malice, Conspiracy and Murder
King Saul, who once was anointed by the Lord, later gave in to jealousy and hatred towards David and even attempted to murder him (1 Samuel 18:8; 19:1). King David's son, Absalom, treacherously abused the trust of his father and plotted to overthrow King David, leading to a vicious civil war (2 Samuel 15). Even one of Jesus' handpicked disciples, Judas, who was trusted as the treasurer of The Twelve, took money from the high priests to betray our Lord Jesus into their hands (Luke 22:48; John 13:21).
 
Search My Heart O Lord
Looking at these Biblical examples of treachery, it is easy for us to associate these with some who may have severely disappointed us. However, it would be more constructive if we searched our own hearts before the Lord to see how steadfast and reliable we ourselves are, first to God and then to our family and friends. "Be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position" (2 Peter 3:17). It is all too common for us to see and condemn the same sin in others that we are blind to in ourselves. "Search me, O God and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23-24).
 
A Test of Character
Everything in life is a test of character. Extreme situations expose and bring out the best, or the worst, in people. A person's character is accurately measured by their reaction to unfairness or bad treatment. The measure of a person's character can be seen by the size of those things which upset him. C.H. Spurgeon said: "The anvil, the fire and the hammer are the making of us."
Martin Luther declared: "I never knew the meaning of God's Word until I came into affliction."
Spurgeon taught: "The Lord gets His best soldiers out of the highlands of affliction."
 
What Kind of Ground Are You?
In the parable of the sower (Matthew 13:3-23), our Lord Jesus taught that there are four types of people, pictured as:
the hard ground - which does not understand or respond to God's Word;
the rocky ground - which hears the Word of God with joy, "but since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the Word, he quickly falls away." (Matt. 13:21);
the thorny ground - "the man who hears the Word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful." (Matt. 13:22);
and the good soil - "the man who hears the Word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown." (Matt. 13:23).
This teaching of our Lord explains why some fall away, but why others succeed against all odds.
 
Time, Trouble and Tribulation
Time, trouble and tribulation reveal our true character. When trouble or tribulation comes, those with a shallow Christian commitment will fall away. Others will endure much longer, because their roots do go down deep, but they will also ultimately fail, because they tolerate the thorns of sin, "…as they go on their way they are choked by life's worries, riches and pleasures and they do not mature" (Luke 8:14). "But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, they hear the Word, retain it and by persevering, produce a crop." Luke 8:15
 
How Deeply Has God's Word Changed You?
Here, from the clear teachings of Jesus, we see why some fail and others succeed. It has to do with how deep our roots go into God's Word and whether we allow the thorns of "life's worries, riches and pleasures" to choke our spiritual life and prevent us from maturing. Are you responsive to the rebukes, corrections and instructions of God's Word? How deep do your roots go into God's Word? What thorns of sin are you tolerating that may be choking your spiritual life? Those who succeed, our Lord Jesus tells us, are those "with a noble and good heart, they hear the Word, retain it and by persevering produce a crop."
 
Weak doctrines are no match for powerful trials and temptations. "Fix these Words of Mine in your hearts and minds… " (Deuteronomy 11:18); "I have hidden Your Word in my heart that I might not sin against You" (Psalm 119:11); "Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom… " (Colossians 3:16); "For I delight in Your commandments because I love them" (Psalm 119:47); "For the Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12).
 
Pioneers Who Persevered
William Wilberforce, although afflicted with ill health and targeted by the most vicious campaigns of sustained hatred and character assassination, by some of the most powerful people of his day, persisted and persevered until the slave trade and then slavery itself, was abolished.
 
Against all odds and although bankrupted by a colleague, afflicted with tropical diseases, an insane wife and the death of his son, William Carey succeeded in launching the modern missionary movement. He established a successful mission in India, despite this being illegal at the time, recovered from a devastating fire in 1812, which destroyed his print house and years of translation work, to produce and distribute over 200,000 Bibles, New Testaments or Gospels in 36 different languages.
 
America's first foreign missionary, Adoniram Judson, despite twice enduring imprisonment, both by the French and then by the Burmese, being severely tortured for 18 months in "Death Prison", losing two wives and five children to disease in the field, Adoniram persevered. He completed the translation of the Bible into Burmese and the Burmese-English Dictionary and established 63 churches, with 100,000 baptised believers, amongst the Karen people of Burma.
 
Pioneer missionary, David Livingstone, had to bury both his wife and daughter in Africa, yet he persevered in 3 marathon missions - on foot - across the length and breadth of Africa, enduring dangers and diseases which seemed more than any human being could endure. Yet he persevered and succeeded in opening up Africa for the Gospel and dealt a deathblow to the Islamic slave trade in Central Africa.
 
Affliction is the Structural Steel of Character Building
Plainly, these pioneers were dedicated Christians, whose lives were deeply rooted in God's Word. Their character was shaped by obedience to God's Word and so, with a noble and good heart, they persevered to produce a great harvest of righteousness.
 
By way of contrast, all too many Christians today live in comfortable homes, travel in comfortable cars to comfortable churches where they hear comfortable messages. A soft and sheltered religion, afraid to face the storms and brave the heights, will end up fat and foul in the cages of conformity. No wonder so few are able to stand in the day of trouble.
 
Soft, Shallow and Selfish
Many young people are indifferent to the church today, not because it demands too much of them, but because it demands too little. There is no challenge in this soft, shallow and selfish "bless me" gospel.
 
Character and Courage
General Constand Viljoen, one time head of the South African Defence Force, was confronted on SATV about the ruined lives of those psychological casualties suffering from what they called "the Angola Syndrome." General Viljoen's answer was most insightful, he noted that those who evidence character in times of peace are the same people who show courage in times of war. Those who are moral failures in civilian life are the same ones who become failures in the military. It is not the military, or the war, that ruined them. The severe stresses and crisis only revealed what was already there - either strength of character or lack of character. Those who fail in wartime would have failed in life anyway - the intensity of war just revealed it earlier.
 
Sacrifice and Service
From New Testament times commitment to missionary service has meant accepting a greater likelihood of experiencing hardships and suffering and a shorter life span. Half of all the early missionaries who came to Africa in the 19th century died within the first two years. William Borden gave first his money and then his life in missionary service to Egypt. He was dead within four months of his arrival in the field. Inside the cover of his Bible, he had written the words: "No reserve, no retreat, no regrets."
 
Amy Carmichael, the missionary to India who suffered great physical afflictions, being bedridden for many years, wrote this: "But as the Master shall the servant be and pierced are Thy feet that lead me. Can he have travelled far, who has no wound, no scar?" "To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in His steps." 1 Peter 2:21. "In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." 2 Timothy 3:12. "I tell you the truth, Jesus replied, no-one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for Me and the Gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields - and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life." Mark 10:29-30
 
The Curse of Selfishness
Interestingly enough, many would apparently rather die for Christ, than die to self. The biggest hindrance to the missionary task is self. Self that refuses to go. Self that refuses to sacrifice. Self that refuses to give. Self that refuses to die.
 
Die to Self and Live for God
The only way to bear fruit is actually to die: "I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves Me must follow Me…" John 12:24-26
 
Time, Talents and Treasure
All of our treasure, all of our time and all of our talents belong to God. We are only stewards of what really belongs to God. Yet all too often, we act as though the money we have been entrusted with, the time that is given us and our very lives are actually ours to do with as we wish, rather than to fulfil God's will. Too many Christians are mainly interested in what's good for them, not what is good for God and His Kingdom. But we are sent as servants. We need Christ's love and we need Christ's attitude (Philippians 2:4-5).
 
Steadfast and Submissive Stewards
Those involved in the Lord's service need to learn how to wrestle and persist in prayer, how to live and work in the presence of God, how to be filled with the Holy Spirit. We need to be self-disciplined, humble, teachable, patient, adaptable and submissive to authority.
 
Take Responsibility and Make a Plan
We are either those who make a plan, or those who make excuses. We either take responsibility or we pass the buck (blame). When we see a pattern of excusing our failings by saying it is somebody else's fault, or it is somebody else's job, then we must know that the sinful self is alive and dominant and we are far from the mind of Christ.
 
Why do so many fail and give up? Rather than flinging up our hands and asking why so many give up, we should rather fall on our knees and thank God for those few who steadfastly persevere against all odds. Time, trouble and tribulation reveal our true character. Those with a shallow Christian commitment will fall away. Others fail because they have allowed the thorns of sin to choke their devotional life.
 
How Can We Succeed?
The question we should rather be asking is - How do some succeed and persevere? Those who succeed, our Lord Jesus tells us, are those: "with a noble and good heart, they hear the Word, retain it and by persevering produce a crop." Let us be humble and teachable, in submission to all godly authority. Fixing the Words of God in our hearts and minds, delighting in God's commands, loving His Law, letting the Word of Christ dwell in us richly, dying to self, denying self, taking up our cross daily and following in the footsteps of our Lord Jesus Christ.
 
Hope for Those Who Have Failed
Is there any hope for those who have already failed and given up? Yes, indeed. In the book of Acts we learn of John-Mark, who was related to Barnabas (Colossians 4:10) and the son of a Godly mother, Mary, in whose home the church met for prayer when Peter was imprisoned (Acts12:12). When Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem, they brought John-Mark with them to Antioch (Acts 12:25). When Paul and Barnabas were sent off on the first great missionary journey by the Church at Antioch, John-Mark went with them. However, early on in the trip, John-Mark gave up and returned to Jerusalem. (Acts 13:13)
 
When Paul and Barnabas set off on their second missionary journey, "Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with him, but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas …" Acts 15:36-40
 
Happily, however, that is not the last we hear of John-Mark. From his unpromising beginning, John-Mark came back and reconciled with Paul, proving himself in the field to become, in later years, a faithful co-worker with Paul. "My fellow prisoner, Aristarchus, sends you his greetings, as does Mark, the cousin of Barnabas. (You have received instructions about him; if he comes to you, welcome him.)" Colossians 4:10. "Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry." 2 Timothy 4:11
 
From initially being a failure, who caused a sharp disagreement and division between his cousin Barnabas and the Apostle Paul, John-Mark went on to repent, to restore, to make restitution and to rebuild Paul's trust in him. So much so that Paul, in his pastoral letter to Timothy, describes Mark as "helpful to me in my ministry." Paul also mentions Mark as one of his co-workers in Philemon. He also later became an important co-worker under the Apostle Peter (1 Peter 5:13) and under his authority, the author of the Gospel of Mark and the Founder of the Church of Egypt – which endures under very difficult circumstances to this day.
 
Failure does not need to be final. By God's grace, our sins can be forgiven and our weakness can be turned to strength in Him. "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles us and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes upon Jesus, the Author and Perfector of our Faith." Hebrews 12:1-2
 
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
www.hmsschoolofchristianjournalism.or

Passivity in the Face of Evil is Not Love
Yet, so twisted, has this word “love” become, that today it can be used to mean anything from lust, to tolerance of evil, to cowardice, passivity, inactivity in the face of evil, even aiding and abetting evil. But, if you stand up for the right to life of pre-born babies; if you seek to rescue those being led away to death, those staggering towards slaughter; if you seek to be faithful to the Word of God; if you try to share the Gospel with a neighbour; you may be accused of being “unloving”, because you are being “intolerant!”
 
To Fail to Evangelise is Unloving
Is not withholding the Gospel, the Word of God, from people who need His Word, the most unloving thing we could be guilty of?
 
Love is the Fulfilment of the Law of God
When we look at the Word of God, we can see Biblically, what love is: “…love is the fulfilment of the Law.” Romans 13:10
 
How do You Love God?
By obeying the first tablet of the Law: Do not worship other gods. Do not bow before any idols. Do not take God's Name in vain. Honour the Lord’s Day.
 
How do You Love Your Neighbour?
By not stealing your neighbour’s life, by not stealing your neighbour’s wife, by not stealing your neighbour’s property, by not stealing his good name (not slandering his reputation and gossiping) and by not being jealous or envious of your neighbour.
 
Love is Not a Feeling – It is an Act of Your Will
Love is not soft sentimentality, nor a mushy emotion. Love is not a feeling, it is an act of your will. This is Biblical Love.
 
Love in Action
“Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honour giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion. Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord. Therefore, ‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Romans 12:9-21
 
Love is Measured by Sacrifice
To love is to overcome evil. Love hates evil. Love obeys God's Law. Love is the fulfilment of the Law. Be humble and gracious and serve one another. Think of others better than yourself. Love is diligence in our work, fervency in spirit. True love is seen in service and measured by sacrifice. Love is steadfast, patient, rejoicing and hopeful. Love is seen in hospitality, in giving to the needs of others. Love is not responding to an offense offensively. If someone curses, respond with blessings. Do not fight over an insult, or trivialities. Those who love God hate evil. Love is the opposite of tolerance of evil.
 
The Greatest Commandment
God's Ten Commandments sums up all the Laws of God. Jesus summed up the Ten Commandments in the greatest Commandment, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength and you shall love your neighbour as yourself.” Therefore, love is the fulfilment of the Law.
 
The Golden Rule
You obey the Law by loving one another and doing unto others as you want others to do to you. Obey the Commandments. Do not murder. Do not even vote for those who commit murder through legalised abortion. Do not commit adultery. Do not even look with lust by supporting the pornography industry. Nor support political parties that legalise pornography, which leads to prostitution, as they are two sides of the same coin. Pornography is a manual for rape.
 
God Resists the Proud – He Gives Grace to the Humble
But, the mentality of much of today’s generation is that it is “loving” to tolerate all these things and say nothing against it. No! Love is the fulfilment of the Law. “Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion. Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. Romans 12:15-17. To love is to think less of yourself and more of others.
 
What About Self-Defence?
How can it be loving to shoot at someone? There are six words for kill in the Bible. Do not commit murder means do not take an innocent life. Murderers are to be executed. Executing a criminal who has gone through due process of law and has been sentenced by the courts is not murder. Nor is killing someone in self-defence forbidden. In Exodus 22:2, we read: if the thief is found breaking in and he is struck so that he dies, there shall be no guilt for his bloodshed. With a thief at night time, you cannot see whether he has a weapon or not. It is dark and you do not know what his intentions are. So you may strike out in the dark and when it is light, you may see that it was just a thief. What a great difference it is in the case of a terrorist coming into a church wanting to murder people? There is another different Hebrew word for killing in battle. King David was not considered a blood-thirsty man for having killed Goliath and a whole lot of other Philistines in war, but the moment he sent a letter which placed Uriah the Hittite in the frontline and then abandoning him, having him killed by others, this was condemned. God said David now had blood on his hands and was no longer qualified to build God's Temple. The Bible distinguishes between murder, execution, self-defence, killing in war, manslaughter (accidental death) and killing an animal for sacrifice, or for food.
 
Four Different Hebrew Words for Love
Also, there are four different words for love in the Bible: Phileo, Brotherly love; Storge, Family love; Eros sexual love and Agape – God's Love – a sacrificial, self-giving love. We are commanded to Agape, to love as God loves. To hate evil, love good and be hospitable, to be patient, diligent, steadfast, giving, rejoicing with those who rejoice, weeping with those who weep, not associating with the proud, associating with the humble and not being wise in your own eyes.
 
It Is Impossible to be at Peace With All Men
“If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.” Romans 12:18. It is understood that there are some people that you cannot live peaceably with. By definition, one cannot live peaceably with all people, but in as far as it is in your power, if it be possible, you should live at peace with all men. But it also cannot be all men, for example, Islamic Jihadists and aggressive atheists, like Richard Dawkins.
 
Overcome Evil with Good
“Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord. Therefore ‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good’.” Romans 12:19.
 
Who Are We to Love?
Here, we can see Biblical love. We are commanded to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. We are commanded to love our parents. We are commanded to love our brothers and sisters. We are commanded to love our neighbours and we are even commanded to love our enemies. In the above order, preferably.
 
Love Your Enemy
Loving your enemy needs to be logical. Do what you can to stop the threat. Once the threat is neutralised, show compassion and mercy to the defeated enemy who is now a prisoner of war, or convicted criminal. Love does no harm to a neighbour; therefore, love is the fulfilment of the Law. Jesus made clear that to love God is to hate evil. When I mentioned the Biblical definition of love, you may have thought I would turn to 1 Corinthians 13, but instead I turned to Romans 13. We should now read 1 Corinthians 13, the most famous passage on love.
 
What is Love?
“Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7. This is light years away from the Hollywood definition of love, which is more akin to lust, or soppy sentimentality. The only person’s opinion that really matters is God’s opinion. God defines love as: “the fulfilment of the Law.”
 
Resist UnBiblical Distortions and Hijacking of the Word: Love
What the world’s media has tried to do is to redefine love and many Christians have been seduced into accepting this new definition. To disarm Christians, this attitude is promoted: to think that you cannot speak out against evil, you cannot protest against abortion, you cannot make a stand for truth in a public square, because it may hurt someone’s feelings and then you will be accused of being “unloving.”
 
Love Rejoices in the Truth
Truth does not fear investigation. If something can be destroyed by truth, it deserves to be destroyed. Truth is truth even if no one believes it. A lie is a lie even if everyone believes it. Truth is not determined by majority vote, truth is determined by God. Truth is defined in His Word and we as Christians must stand for truth. There is no such thing as “a harmless lie.” Lies bind, they bring bondage. Lies destroy. Love stands up for God. Love stands against evil.
 
Biblical Love is Built on Truth
The Biblical definition of love is so different from what is taught today. Let deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. “And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you.” 1 Thessalonians 3:12. “Let brotherly love continue.” Hebrews 13:1. “If you really fulfill the royal Law according to the Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself,’ you do well.” James 2:8. “Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart.” 1 Peter 1:22. Love comes from studying the Truth of God's Word, obeying the Truth and it needs to come from a pure heart with fervency. This is not compatible with apathy, passivity, neutrality, or tolerance of evil.
 
God is Love and Light
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.” 1 John 4:7. God is love, but love is not God. God is light. God is just. He is a God of wrath, a God who hates evil. Today people play a word game, saying: God is love, therefore love is God. “It cannot be bad if it feels so good.” Many justify anything that their emotions feel good about, in that moment, because they want to be “true to their hearts.”
 
Perverting Love
Much of the world media twists and distorts “love”, to embrace homosexuals who want to get “married.” Apostate ministers are saying: how can you deny them marriage equality, saying, love is of God and those who oppose homosexual marriage are unloving. It is not love, it is lust and defiling and disobedient to Scripture. It is against God, that is why there is a lot of hostility towards Christianity. They are not after marriage equality, they are after marriage destruction and the destruction of the family. The family is the basic building block of the family and many are trying to break it down.
 
True Love is Measured by Sacrifice
Jesus gave us the definition of true love. True love is measured by sacrifice. “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” John 15:13, is on many a war memorial and tombstone. To give your life for someone is the greatest act of love. Jesus is our ultimate Example of the supreme Sacrifice.
 
What Can Separate us From the Love of Christ?
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” Romans 8:35. Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus who loved us. We are called to be conquerors, not to be passive, inactive, neutral, silent and tolerant of evil. Greater is He who is in us than him who is in the world. God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
 
The Love of Christ Compels Us to Evangelise
“For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died.” 2 Corinthians 5:14. When we recognise that all those that Christ died for, are worthy of our energy and effort to reach, evangelise and disciple.
 
We Belong to God
“…the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20. We belong to God because He created us. We belong to Christ because He gave His life for us. He bought us with a price. God made us and He redeemed us. We are twice bought over.
 
Christ Suffered for Us
“And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.” Ephesians 5:2. The love of Christ is especially seen in His willingness to suffer injustice, abuse, rejection, illegal trial, flogging, scourging, crucifixion and death, becoming sin for us and suffering the punishment we deserved. That is love in action. True love is measured by sacrifice. That is our example.
 
Sacrificial Love
“By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” 1 John 3:16. A life of sacrificial service to others and to God is love in action. Love is seen in service. Love is seen in action. Love is seen in sacrifice.
 
Steadfast Love
“Hold fast the pattern of sound Words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.” 2 Timothy 1:13. Love is holding fast to the Word of God, against any opinions and assertions of men. God demonstrates his own love towards us and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). We can see it, it was demonstrated in action, by sacrifice.
 
To Love God is to Obey His Commandments
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength.” Deuteronomy 6:5. “…what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” Deuteronomy 10:12. Love is linked with obedience and service. If you love Me, Jesus says, you will obey My Commandments.
 
The Degradation of Love Today
How far has the concept of love fallen in the minds of many Christians and the church in general, to now equate tolerating what God calls an abomination and accepting that which God says He hates?
 
God Hates Evil
“These six things the Lord hates, yes, seven are an abomination to Him: A proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood...” Proverbs 6:16-17. People have criticised us for marching in our pro-life march to parliament, with a banner which says: “God hates the hands that shed innocent blood.” Proverbs 6:16 They say God does not hate anything. But there is a vast amount of Scripture in the Bible that tell us that God hates evil. God hates pride. Love must be completely sincere.
 
To Love God is to Hate Evil
“The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate.” Proverbs 8:13. To love the Lord is to hate evil. How much clearer can that be? Some people have said, “I do not care what the Bible says, God does not hate evil!” What do they know about God that they can say a thing like that? They are idolaters. They have formed an unworthy idea of God and associated something to God that he is not. The only reliable source of information on God is Special Revelation in Scripture. We would not know anything about the nature of God without the Scripture. Some people have said: ‘My God would never condemn anyone to hell.’ My answer is, “Of course not, because your god does not exist. The God of the Bible does condemn evil.” So many people today have a distorted view of God and of love. It is not Biblical love if it tolerates evil.
 
Do You Hate Evil?
The Law is summarised in Psalm 119. Psalms is the prayer book of the Bible and the Hymnbook of the Bible, also the biggest and most quoted part of the Bible in the Gospels by our Lord Jesus. David is called, “A man after God's own heart.” David said: when I see the wicked, I am filled with anger. “Through Your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way.” Psalm 119:104. “…cursed, who stray from Your commandments.” Psalm 119:21. “Indignation has taken hold of me because of the wicked, who forsake Your Law.” Psalm 119:53. “I hate the double-minded, but I love Your Law.” Psalm 119:113. Those who do not hate evil demonstrate that they do not love God that much, nor do they love truth, nor their neighbour. If they did, they would hate that which blasphemes God, which murders the innocent and which is harming their neighbours. That is why we are told: “Who will rise up for Me against the evildoers? Who will stand up for Me against the workers of iniquity?” Psalm 94:16. Jesus said: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul and with all your strength.” We are continually told in the Scriptures to love God and to hate evil. “Oh, love the Lord, all you His saints! For the Lord preserves the faithful and fully repays the proud person.” Psalm 31:23
 
The Blessings of Obedience and the Curses of Disobedience
This is the theme of the Bible. God’s blessings are on those who are faithful to Him and God's curses are on those who rebel against Him. This is part of the Gospel. We need to teach that “the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life.” It is a balance. You cannot appreciate the Good News, if you do not understand the bad news. You cannot appreciate the Love the God until you understand the Light and the Justice of God. Until people understand the severity of God's Judgement on the wicked, they are not going to accept grace and mercy. They do not even think they need it, because they think that they are “a good person.”
 
Spiritual Warfare
It is vital for us, as Christians, to get back to emphasising what Biblical love is. Love is not a feeling; it is an act of our will. Love is attitude and action; it is seen in sacrificial service. It is not soppy and soft sentimentality. Love has its feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel. In Romans, we read about putting on the breastplate of faith and love. A breastplate, or shield, is something strong, metal and able to withstand the assaults of the enemy, the fiery darts of the wicked one, arrows and spears and swords. Faith and love are a solid shield, a weapon in our warfare.
 
Love is Obedience to the Law of God
As Christians, let us not tolerate those perverting love and trying to get us to accept tolerance of evil, compromise of the Scriptures and lust as love. The only definition of love that counts is the Biblical definition and it is clear that God's love is never willing to tolerate evil, but rejoices in truth. True love is seen in the fulfilment of the Law (Romans 13:10).
 
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
www.hmsschoolofchristianjournalism.org

“If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small. Deliver those who are drawn toward death and hold back those stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, ‘Surely we did not know this,’ does not He who weighs the hearts consider it? He who keeps your soul, does He not know it? And will He not render to each man according to his deeds?” Proverbs 24:10-12
 
Be Strong in the Day of Adversity
Our strength is revealed in times of crisis. You know the flavour of a tea bag when it gets into hot water. If we faint in the day of adversity, our strength is small. It is in the time of crisis that we must stand firm and be deeply rooted in the Word of God.
 
Rescue Those Being Led Away to Death
Psalm 1:3 reads “He shall be like a tree planted by steams of water…” rooted in the Word of God. We are commanded to love our neighbour. To do to others, as we want to be done unto. To be just and fair towards those in need and to rescue those being drawn towards slaughter. We should warn, we should interpose, intervene to save life. These are principles you see throughout the Scripture.

God Will Render to Each According to His Actions
“If you say, ‘Surely we did not know this,’ does not He who weighs the hearts consider it?” God knows our thoughts and our motives. “He who keeps your soul, does He not know it?” This is something of a threat. God is our Creator and our Eternal Judge and He is the Sovereign God of the universe. He is the One who determines whether you live or die and when and how you die. If you turn your heart and eyes away from those in need, you are being like the Levite and the priest walking by on the other side of the road. We need to be like the Good Samaritan, doing what needs to be done. To rescue those lying bleeding in the gutter. The parable of the Good Samaritan concludes, “Go and do likewise” (Luke 10:26-37). “And will He not render to each man according to his deeds?” ​

The Crisis that Confronts Us
When you tell people that blasphemy is in Cinemas and on computers; that there is crime and violence in the city and farmers are being subjected to terror attacks; there are drugs at schools; pornography on smart phones; legalised abortion; that many government schools are promoting secular humanism, evolution, situation ethics, hedonism, sex education programmes, the interfaith movement, gender confusion, the gay agenda, witchcraft and occultism; yet what is the average person’s reaction? “Just preach the Gospel!” “All you can do is pray!” But are they even preaching the full Gospel of God? Are they earnestly travailing in prayer?
 
What Would God Have You Do?
Do we really believe that our Lord Jesus would have us stand passively by while God-hating pagans are exploiting women, made in the image of God, degrading what God has meant to be holy, making public what God has meant to be private, making common what God has meant to be special, corrupting young minds, morals and defiling marriages? This seems like a convenient excuse for disobedience to the Word of God and doing nothing.
 
Justifying Laziness and Cowardice
“Just preach the Gospel” is often an excuse to justify laziness or cowardice. Would God have us stand idly by while a murderer rips the arms and legs off a baby and crushes its head? This is what abortion is. God is a Holy God. God hates sin. We have violated His Law. Christ came, lived a perfect life, and died a sinless death. He died and shed His Blood for our sins. We need to repent of our sins and trust in Christ alone for our eternal Salvation. We need to take up our Cross, deny the world, forsake ourselves and follow Christ.
 
“Just Preach the Gospel” Is an UnBiblical Position
Which servant of God in the Bible limited himself to “just preaching the Gospel?” Was Elijah wrong to confront and expose the pornographic, child-sacrificing prophets of Baal? (1 Kings 18). Was John the Baptist wrong to have publicly confronted the immorality of King Herod (Matthew 14:3-4)? Could our Lord have been in error when he confronted the corruption in the temple - overturning the tables and driving out the moneychangers? (Mark 1 1:15-16). Why did He not just preach the Gospel?
 
The Great Commission Must Be Our Supreme Ambition
A careful reading of the Great Commission in Matthew 28: 18-20 makes it clear that we are called to do far, far more than “just preach the Gospel.”
 
“All authority in Heaven and on earth has been given to Me.” The Lordship of Christ in every area of life must be proclaimed and it must be practised. There is no area of life that should not be in submission to Christ.
 
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations.” We are not just called to make decisions. We are not just to make converts; we are called to make disciples, not only of individuals but of congregations, which is the foundation, but also of communities, countries and of all nations.
 
“…baptising them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…” Complete submission to Almighty God is essential.
 
“…and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” Education is an essential part of the Great Commission. We are not just to teach a few of our favourite things, like Faith and tithing, we are commanded to teach obedience to everything the Lord has commanded us, the whole counsel of God.
 
The Whole Church Should be Taking the Whole Gospel to the Whole World
The Great Commission is great! It contains:
A great Truth - Jesus is Lord over all areas of life.
A Great Commission - Disciple all nations.
A great Command - Teach obedience to everything the Lord has commanded.
A great Promise - The Lord Himself will be with us forever, to the end of time.
 
Sins of Omission
The coming Day of Judgement is mostly on the basis on the good that we fail to do, rather than the bad that we did. The Lord does not speak in terms of: you smoked, you drank alcohol, you did drugs, you stole and all other evil things. But, He says, you did not visit the prisoners, you not care for the sick, you did not feed the hungry, you did not give drink to the thirsty, you did not give clothes to the naked and welcome strangers, you did not care. (Matthew 25:31-46). To them the Lord says, Depart from Me you accursed into the Lake of Fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For whatever you did not do unto the one of the least of these my brethren, you did not do it to me. Whatever you did unto one of the least of My brethren, you did to Me. The Lord described the Day of Judgement in terms of the good things that we should do, sins of omission, rather than sins of commission.
 
Limiting the Scope and Impact of God's Word
“Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.” James 4:17. To know the good you ought to do and to fail to do it is sin. The Biblical definition of true religion before God, “To look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” James1:27. All these and many other passages of Scripture expose the “just preach the Gospel” philosophy as an attempt to limit the impact of the Gospel on earth.
 
The Word of God, the Will of God, the Kingdom of God
We are called to be “The salt of the earth” Matthew 5: 13. “The light of the world” Matthew 5:14.
We have been taught to pray “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
 
Devaluing and Censoring the Bible
When people say, “just preach the Gospel”, they are devaluing, censoring and dismissing the vast majority of the Bible.
 
Obey the Government - No Matter What
When we try to suggest, the March for Life to parliament, for the rights to life of pre-born babies, or Sanctity Life Sunday, some people say “You must obey the government - no matter what!” submit to the government (Romans 13). The response of all too many Christians is: “You must obey the government - no matter what!”
 
What is the Ultimate Authority?
What about Muslim and Communist governments who forbid Bibles, Evangelism and missionaries? Do they have higher authority than Christ? What about the Great Commission of our Lord Jesus Christ?
 
Bible Smuggling in Restricted Access Areas
25 Years ago we lost one of our missionaries in the field, Anthony Duncan. He was part of a mission team who successfully smuggled a tonne of medicine and Bibles into Angola, in breach of “international law” of the United Nations. We had Job’s comforters phoning us from as far as England saying: this is God's judgement on you, because you broke the law “If God wanted Bibles and medicines to be brought into Angola, He would not have placed a government there that forbids it.” So because the communist government forbid us to cross the border and help people fleeing persecution with things that they desperately needed and what they were praying for, we were in breach of God's Law? When the Lord has given the Great Commission, who has the right to stop it? It is neither logical nor Biblical.
 
Freedom is a Fruit of Christian Missions
Missions is always illegal until the Gospel succeeds. Before the Protestant Reformation, there was no religious freedom, or freedom of conscience anywhere in the world. If you were in Buddhist country, you had to be Buddhist. If you were in a Muslim country, you had to be Muslim. If you were in a Hindu country, you had to Hindu. If you were in a Roman Catholic country, you had to be Roman Catholic. The Father of the modern missionary age, William Carey, was illegal. The work he did in India was illegal for decades, even according to the laws of Great Britain. Britain’s parliament had forbidden missionaries to go to India unless they had the permission of the British East India Company, which they were not going to give. The BEIC expressly declared that they would not because they did not want missions “interfering” with their trade and businesses in Hindu India. William Carey had to carry out his work with ingenuity, basing himself in the Danish enclave of Serampore; illegally working into British controlled India. Religious freedom is a fruit of Christianity, especially the Protestant Faith. How can anyone countermand the Great Commission of our Lord Jesus Christ? How can any law be higher than the sovereign Law of Almighty God? Who has greater authority than the Creator of the universe, the eternal Judge?
 
“Obey the Government – Not Matter What”
Forcible abortion has been mandated by the Red Chinese government. Their one-child policy required forcible sterilisations and abortions. Yet the response from all too many Christians is: “you must obey the government no matter what!” This is idolatry, cowardice and disobedience to God.
 
God has Instituted Four Spheres of Government:
Self-government - symbolised by our conscience. We are meant to be self-disciplined and the more self-controlled we are, the less external government we need. A parent does not need to drag a child out of bed onto the floor if they get up on their own. A parent does not have to forcibly brush their child’s teeth, if they brushed their own teeth. A parent does not have to tie a child’s shoelaces, if the child can do it on their own. The more reliable and self-disciplined the child is, the less family-government they will need to experience. (Proverbs 16:32; 1 Timothy 3:4-5; 2 Peter 1:6.)
 
Family government - symbolised by the rod of discipline. It is not the only way of discipline, but it is one of the disciplines by parents. (Deuteronomy 6:1-7; Ephesians. 6:1-4; 1 Timothy. 3:4-5.)
 
Church government – symbolised by the keys of church discipline, the keys to the Kingdom. It means church leaders can excommunicate those members who refuse Biblical discipleship and discipline. (Acts 6: 1-6; 1 Timothy 3: 1-13; Titus 1:5-9.)
 
Civil government – symbolised the sword of Justice. (Genesis 9:5-7; Romans 13:1-4; 1 Peter 2:13-14.)
 
Sincerity is No Guarantee
Is it possible for you to make a sincere mistake? Could your conscience be misled? Yes, it is all too possible to be sincerely wrong. There are many people who are wholeheartedly and enthusiastically sincere, but they are probably wrong. Many of the Jihadists believe that being a suicide bomber, murdering and beheading infidels, is in keeping with the will of their Allah. Many of them, their conscience is probably telling them they are doing something good. Of course, they are dead wrong! “There is a way that seems right unto man but the end thereof is the way of death. “
 
Is Your Conscience Captive to the Word of God?
We must obey our conscience as long as it is captive to the Word of God. Otherwise, it could be wrong. Like a magnet can interfere with a compass so that it can no longer give an accurate reading, so our conscience can be affected by our thoughts and feelings. We can be brainwashed by the world and indoctrinated by the world’s media and the world’s secular humanism education system.
 
Indoctrinated and Deceived
We may be in the same position as the abortionists in the Unplanned movie, thinking they were “doing God's work.” Abby Johnson, who came from a Christian, pro-life family said she believed that, in serving in Planned Parenthood, she was actually helping the girls and doing God's will! Her conscience may have told her she is doing a good thing, but it was distorted. That is why Martin Luther declared: “Conscience must be captive to the Word of God.”
 
Abuse is Possible in Families
Even in families: is it possible for some parents to abuse their children? Sadly it is. The Bible says: “Can a mother forget her nursing child?” Yes, there are many mothers who do, they abort their children. Other mothers have enthusiastically strapped on “suicide bomb vests” and sent out their children to be homicide bombers. Some encourage their children to grow up to become Jihadists. Some abuse their children for drug trafficking and human trafficking. Some sell their children into the sex slave trade. Family government can be abused. I must obey my parents in the Lord. As with all authority, parental authority is limited by Scripture; child abuse and murder of children is forbidden.
 
What About Church Government?
Is it possible to have false shepherds, false teachers, and false prophets in the church? Yes, sadly it is possible. We are not to submit to false teachers and false shepherds. Teaching false doctrine, gross immorality and misappropriation of funds would all disqualify church leaders. I must obey the church elders in the Lord. However, church leaders are answerable to God in all matters of faith and conduct. We are not to submit to false teachers or false shepherds. False doctrine, immorality and misappropriation of funds would disqualify any leaders.
 
Is Civil Government Free to Do As they Want?
I must obey civil authorities in the Lord. As in all other spheres of government, civil authorities are not permitted to be a law unto themselves. Civil government officials are to be “God's servant to do you good… he is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.” Romans 13:4. Just as parents and church leaders disqualify themselves by gross sin, so civil authorities disqualify themselves by corruption, immorality and abuse. We are not to submit to false ministers who are in apostasy to God. As the Church is to be a minister of Grace, so the state is to be a minister of Justice. When governments are unjust, they are false ministers, no longer a legitimate authority.
 
Why Would Civil Government Be Given a Blank Cheque?
So why do many Christians, when it comes to civil government, think that politicians get a blank cheque? Self-government must have our conscience captive to the Word of God. Family government must be in the Lord and in accordance to the Word of God. Church government is disqualified if they violate God's Laws and do not preach God’s Word faithfully. Yet, when it comes to civil government, even an Atheist, God-hating, persecuting-the-Church type of government has the authority of God?!!!
 
All Authority is Delegated, Limited and Answerable to God
As in all other spheres of government, civil authorities are not permitted to be a law unto themselves. Our Lord Jesus said to Pontius Pilate: you would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given to you from above. All authority is limited authority. All authority is delegated by God. All authority is answerable to God. No authority is absolute, except God’s authority. Human authority is delegated by God and is answerable to God. Human authority cannot countermand God's commands. To be lawful, authorities need to be in submission to God's Law.
 
Magna Carta and Lex Rex
In a free country, there should be laws making it possible to impeach a president. In Britain, parliament placed King Charles I on trial for treason, because he had violated his coronation oath, he violated Magna Carta. Charles was a tyrant who abused his people, he interfered with religious freedom. He had been torturing his citizens and executing them for religious reasons. He had them branded on their faces with SS – Sower of Sedition. Christians had their ears and noses slit. Charles was executed, showing that even the king is under the law. It is not Rex Lex, it is Lex Rex. The Law is king. The king is under the Law. It is important for us to recognise that no authority is absolute. All authority is delegated by God. All authority is answerable to God.
 
Resistance to Tyrants is Obedience to God
When people say: you must obey the government no matter what, does this mean that a family in Red China must have an abortion for having gone over the one-child policy, in order to obey the Communist government? Would it be wrong for them to do what the mother of Moses did? Which was to hide her child, which was meant to be executed, by order of Pharaoh. In Hebrews 11, we see that the midwives who disobeyed Pharaoh and rescued the babies from death are commended by God. It is not obedience to God to submit to evil anti-Christ authorities, which are in opposition to His Law. This should be obvious.
 
The Last Temptation
In 1992, I was invited to the University of Witwatersrand for a debate on Blasphemy. It just so happened that somebody had informed me that WITS University had sought and obtained from the De Klerk government, permission to show The Last Temptation of Christ, which is one of the most blasphemous, evil films ever produced and which was banned in South Africa. WITS University had applied and received permission from the Publications Control Board, the Censorship Board, to screen The Last Temptation of Christ on a specific day, in an academic setting, at WITS University, for the purposes of debate, on the condition that they had a debate where at least one of the people on the panel was against The Last Temptation of Christ. In order that there might be a debate on the merits and demerits of this film.
 
Forewarned is Forearmed
They must have tried a few people and failed to get anyone willing, so they phoned me. They did not tell me that this was about The Last Temptation of Christ, but I knew. So, the Dutch Reformed Dominee who was running Kruis en Kroniek on SATV would be chairing the debate. I knew he was a blasphemous, anti-Christ person, who did not believe the Bible, because of the evil things Kruis en Kroniek had been showing on SATV. So I understood I was walking into a trap. But, forewarned is forearmed. I called Rev. Kjell Olsen at KwaSizabantu Mission and Rev. Fano Sibisi of Christians for Truth and asked if they could rally some support for me, knowing that the audience would obviously be overwhelmingly pro-blasphemy and pro-Last Temptation of Christ. So they bussed up a whole busload of Zulu Christians and others to come and support me. It is good to have friends like that.
 
A Higher Law
Fano, Kjell and I were determined not to let them show this blasphemy. We were effectively going against the government and “the law”, but we were convinced that there is a Higher Law, God's Law. “You shall not take the Name of the Lord your God in vain. God will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses His Name.”
 
“Censoring Blasphemy is Blasphemy!”
This debate was so unbalanced. The wicked Dominee came out and said, that as everything is made in the image of God, to censor anything is blasphemy! So, the only blasphemy he recognised was that which tries to censor pornography and blasphemy! The apostate claimed that I was the real blasphemer, because I was trying to censor the image of God and that even blasphemy and pornography can be the image of God, because it is out there and the moment it is out there, then it is part of what God has created. This was very illogical.
 
Standing Up For Jesus
We had quite a rip-roaring debate in this theatre at WITS University. At a certain point, after an hour, the organisers said: “We are now going to screen The Last Temptation of Christ film.” I stood up and said, “We cannot allow that, because it is blasphemous.” They said that they had “government permission.” So, Fano Sibisi, Kjell Olsen and many others stood up, declaring that this is unacceptable. We stood in front of the screen to obscure the film. We started to sing hymns.
 
Steadfast Resistance
The organisers came to us and warned: “We are going to unleash The Angry Youth of Soweto on you!” So I said: “Go ahead.” In came these Angry Youth of Soweto dancing and toi toing to try and intimidate us. But when they saw the Zulus and Afrikaaners standing firm with folded arms, they turned and ran. There was pandemonium and we just continued singing hymns. They ordered us to clear the Theatre, then called the Police. We carried on singing until midnight.
 
The Police Join In
Finally, after midnight, the police arrived and the captain came up to me and politely requested: “Excuse me sir, would you please be willing to vacate the building?” I said, “certainly.” The policeman informed us that as the permit was only to screen the film on the day, the permit expired at midnight. So, we have accomplished our purpose. We then had a prayer meeting and singing on the stairs outside the auditorium with the police joining in. They had deliberately delayed their response long enough for us to achieve our objective. So the government made an unjust law, they allowed an exception to the banning of this blasphemous, pornographic film, The Last Temptation of Christ. We interposed as concerned Christian citizens, what is called civil disobedience. We refused to allow the screening of this blasphemous film. The police also delayed responding to the call, in order to make sure that the permit would expire.
 
Complaints Against Christian Action
Some people said that was wrong. We should have “just preached the Gospel.” We should not be involved in pro-life demos. We should not march to parliament. We should not stand at the gates of parliament calling the government to repent. We need to ask the following questions:
 
Questions to Evaluate Which Law is Eternally Valid
Whose law is eternal – God’s Law, or man's law?
Does anyone think the South African Constitution will be the basis on the Day of Judgment?
Can God's Law be rescinded, revised or improved?
Is it possible for anyone to improve on the Law of God?
Considering that God is eternal, all knowing, all-powerful, perfect, the Creator and Eternal Judge, no one can improve on the Law of God.
Does God want His people to obey His Law, or man's law, when the two are in conflict?
For example, if you are a Christian in China and the government’s law is the one-child policy and any others must be aborted. Whose law do you obey? God's Law? Or Red China’s law?
“We must obey God rather than men.” Acts 5:29
 
Does The Law of God only Apply to God's People?
Does God hold all rulers in all nations, including non-Christians, to be accountable to His Law, or are the lost free to do what they want? There are Christians who say that God's Law only applies to God's people. Some have said that we should not be protesting against blasphemy, because it is only blasphemy if believers take God Name in vain, but not for those who do not submit to God! So a person, who does not call himself a Christian, does not need to obey the command against blasphemy!? But what does the Third Commandment say? “You shall not take the Name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who takes His Name in vain.” Exodus 20:7. It does not matter whether you recognise God, or not, God’s Law still applies. You may not take God's Name in vain. Every blasphemer, or atheist, who takes God's Name in vain, is obviously culpable and invites judgment from God.
 
By What Standard?
If the lost are free to do as they please, to what standard will God hold them accountable?
By what standard will He judge them? God will not judge people by the United Nations Bill of Rights!
He will judge the people by His Law, as summarised in the Ten Commandments. How can the Holy Spirit convict people of sin, if the measure of sin, the Law of God, is taken away and removed? The Apostle Peter stood before the Sanhedrin who had crucified Christ and who had commanded Peter not to speak in the Name of our Lord Jesus. Peter said, “We must obey God rather than man.” (Acts 5:29)
 
No One May Abrogate the Great Commission of our Lord Jesus Christ
For this reason, we smuggle Bibles into Muslim and Communist countries. No one can countermand the Great Commission of our Lord Jesus Christ! We are not to stop at the Iron Curtain, the Bamboo Curtain, the Islamic curtain, the barbed wire fence, the minefield, the river, or whichever boundary, because Christ’s authority supersedes all man’s delegated and limited authority.
 
Rescue the Perishing
“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves. Protect the rights of all who are helpless.” Proverbs 31:8. The verse we began with: “If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small. Deliver those who are drawn toward death and hold back those stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, ‘Surely we did not know this,’ does not He who weighs the hearts consider it? He who keeps your soul, does He not know it? And will He not render to each man according to his deeds?” Proverbs 24:10-12. This is God's Command and what we are called to do.
 
No Excuses – Get Involved
We are not to be those kind of people who find excuses, including super-spiritual excuses, for disobedience, laziness and cowardice, saying: “I need to pray about this” or “I believe all we can do is just pray”, “just preach the Gospel”, or “we must obey the government, no matter what.” These are excuses for passivity, inactivity, or cowardice in the face of the enemy. We need to stand for God, to be those who will March for Life coming up on the 30 January in Cape Town. We march on the day closest to the day when Nelson Mandela legalised abortion on 1 February 1997. Since then, officially over 1.7 million South African babies have been killed, legally, with taxpayer’s money, in this country.
 
Opening Pandora’s Box and Unleashing the Forces of Hell on the Country
It is interesting that president F.W. de Klerk, in his Red Friday speech on 2 February 1990, along with unbanning the ANC and the South African Communist Party, suspending the different laws dealing with The Suppression of Communism Act and Inland Security Act, De Klerk also mentioned liberalising the abortion laws and relaxing the censorship laws. He was talking about allowing pornography and abortion in our country.
 
When Innocent Blood is Shed
That is why Africa Christian Action was launched, to counter such wicked legislation. We organise Life Chains to stand for life. Closest to the date when abortion was legalised, we have a placard prayer protest outside the gates of parliament and observe a National Day of Repentance. The Scripture teaches that when innocent blood is shed and the guilty murderer cannot be brought to justice, the elders of the city are to gather at the gates of the city (where the laws were made). So, the gates of parliament is quite appropriate. At the crossroads of the city, at the gateways, wisdom must shout aloud. We march to parliament in accordance with the Law of God to make clear that this innocent blood is not on our hands. We disassociate ourselves publically with abortion. If we do not, we may share the judgement of God on the whole nation. When innocent blood is shed, a curse comes on the land. No atonement can be made for innocent blood, except the blood of the one who shed it. Only capital punishment can remove the guilt of an entire society for innocent blood being shed. We have had a lot of innocent blood shed in this country, something in the region of 25,000 murders a year and when it comes to abortion, it is in the region of 80,000 a year.
 
Unplanned Film Coming to South Africa
Praise God! The Unplanned film is coming to the big screens in South Africa, after a lot of pressure on Ster Kinekor and Nu Metro, who were saying that there is no market here, Ster Kinekor now plans to release Unplanned on the big screen on 28 February. We need to encourage people to go and see this film, which is probably the most effective exposé on the abortion industry yet. It is based on the true story of Abby Johnson, who was involved in Planned Parenthood for 8 years and received their Employee of the Year Award. Abby was the youngest director of a Planned Parenthood Abortion Clinic in America. “Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.” Ephesians 5:11
 
Sanctity Life Sunday
This 2nd February, we are calling on churches to observe Sanctity Life Sunday, the closest Sunday to the legalisation of abortion anniversary in this country. We are calling people to stand for life and to preach on what the Bible teaches on when life begins and to rescue the perishing, to speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves.
 
Make a Stand for Life
"Who will rise up for Me against the wicked, who will take a stand for Me against the evil doers? Those who condemn the innocent to death." Psalm 94:16
 
Dr. Peter Hammond
Livingstone Fellowship
P.O. Box 74 Newlands 7725
Cape Town South Africa
Tel: 021-689-4480
mission@frontline.org.za
www.LivingstoneFellowship.co.za
www.ChristianAction.org.za
www.hmsschoolofchristianjournalism.org

See also:
Unplanned Indictment
20 Years of Abortion in South Africa
Do Christians Care?
Abortion is Murder

To listen to the audio of this message, click here.
 
Encouraging Victims of Persecution
To those of us involved in ministering to Christians suffering persecution the imprecatory Psalms are a tremendous source of comfort. Those of us who are fighting for the right to life of the preborn, or battling social evils such as pornography, or violent crime, need to appreciate what an important weapon God has entrusted to us in the imprecatory Psalms. This study will help inspire and guide your prayers and the prayers of your family and congregation:
 
The Imprecatory Psalms
When I first encountered the prayers for judgement in the Psalms, I was quite as loss to know how to respond to them. Prayers such as:
"Break the arm of the wicked and evil man; call him to account for his wickedness..." Psalm 10:15 did not seem consistent with the gospel of love which I had accepted. Yet Psalm 10:15 was clearly motivated by love for God ("The Lord is King forever and ever; the nations will perish from His land" 10:16 and "Why does the wicked man revile God?" 10:13) and by love for the innocent who suffer ("You hear, O Lord, the desire of the afflicted; You encourage them and You listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed, in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more." 10:17-18.)

The Wrath of God
Nevertheless, I grew increasingly uncomfortable reading such graphic prayers for God to judge the wicked as: "Pour out Your wrath on them; let Your fierce anger overtake them" 69:24; "O Lord, the God who avenges, O God who avenges, shine forth. Rise up, O Judge of the earth, pay back to the proud what they deserve." 95:1-2; "Break the teeth in their mouths, O God... let them vanish like water... let their arrows be blunted... The righteous will be glad when they are avenged, when they bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked. Then men will say, 'Surely the righteous still are rewarded; surely there is a God who judges the earth.'" 58:6-11. Certainly I wanted God to be honoured and yes, I was deeply distressed by the prevalence of evil - but could I actually pray for God to pour out His wrath on the wicked?
 
How are these Prayers to be Prayed?
The Scriptures make it clear that these prayers are not to be prayed for our own selfish motives, nor against our personal enemies. Rather they are to be prayed in Christ, for His glory and against His enemies. The psalmist describes the targets of these imprecations as: those who devise injustice in their heart and whose hands mete out violence (58:2); those who "boast of evil" and "are a disgrace in the eyes of God. Your tongue plots destruction, it is like a sharpened razor, you who practice deceit. You love evil rather than good, falsehood rather than speaking the truth." 52:1-3; "They crush Your people... They slay the widow and the alien; they murder the fatherless." 94:5-6; "With cunning they conspire against Your people; they plot against those You cherish." 83:3; "You hate all who do wrong. You destroy those who tell lies; bloodthirsty and deceitful men the Lord abhors." 5:5-6.
 
To those unrepentant enemies of God, the psalmist declares: "Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin" 52:5; "Surely God will crush the heads of His enemies... of those who go on in their sins" 68:21.
 
The Purpose of these Prayers
And the purpose of these prayers for justice is declared: "Then it will be known to the ends of the earth that God rules..." 59:13; "to proclaim the power of God" 68:34; "All kings will bow down to Him and all nations will serve Him" 72:11; "Who knows the power of Your anger? For Your wrath is as great as the fear that is due You." 90:11
 
The Mystery of the Missing Psalms
Yet despite the fact that 90 of the 150 Psalms include imprecations (prayers invoking God's righteous judgement upon the wicked) such prayers are rare in the average Western church. However, amongst the persecuted churches these prayers are much more common.
 
Praying Against the Persecutors
Amidst the burned out churches and devastation of Marxist Angola I found survivors of communist persecution - including the crippled and maimed and widows and orphans praying for God to strike down the wicked and remove the persecutors of the Church. I was initially shocked - yet it was Biblical (Even the martyrs in Heaven pray "How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until You judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?" Revelation 6:10).
 
Avenging Angola’s Agony
The initiator of the communist persecution in Angola was Agostinho Neto. Described as a “drunken, psychotic, Marxist poet”, Neto had been installed by Cuban troops as the first dictator of Angola. He boasted that: “Within 20 years there won't be a Bible or a church left in Angola. I will have eradicated Christianity”. Yet despite the vicious wave of church burning and massacres, it is not Christianity that was eradicated in Angola but Agostinho Neto. Neto died in mysterious circumstances on an operating table in Moscow.
 
Persecutors Judged in Romania
In Romania, I learned of a series of remarkable incidents recorded of God judging the persecutors of the Church in answer to prayer:
A communist official ordered a certain pastor to be arrested. Soon after that the official died of a heart attack.
Another communist party official ordered that all the Bibles in his district were to be collected and pulped, to be turned into toilet paper. This blasphemous project was in fact carried out. But shortly after that when the official was medically examined, he was informed that he had terminal cancer. He died shortly afterwards.
On another occasion, a communist official who had ordered a Baptist church to be demolished by bulldozers died in a car crash.
When an order was given to dismantle a place of worship on the mountainside in a forest, the workmen flatly refused to carry out the order. At gunpoint, a group of conscripted gypsies also refused to touch the church. In desperation, the communist police forced prisoners at bayonet-point to dismantle the structure. Yet the officer in charge pleaded with the local Christians to pray for him, that God would not judge him. He emphasised that he had nothing against Christians and was only obeying strict orders. The building was in fact reconstructed later and again used for worship. "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
 
Persecutor Executed
Nicolae Ceausescu the dictator who ordered much of the persecution in Romania was overthrown by his own army and executed on Christmas day, 1989, to joyous shouts of "anti-Christ is dead!" in the streets. Many testified that this was in answer to the fervent prayers on the longsuffering people of Romania.
 

Communist Persecution in Mozambique
Another persecutor of the Church who challenged God was Samora Machel, the first dictator of Marxist Mozambique. Samora Machel was a cannibal who ate human flesh in witchcraft ceremonies in the 1960s. He pledged his soul to satan and vowed that he would destroy the Church and turn Mozambique into “the first truly Marxist-Leninist state in Africa”. Thousands of churches in Mozambique were closed, confiscated, nationalised, chained and padlocked, burned down, or boarded up. Missionaries were expelled, some being imprisoned first. Evangelism was forbidden. Bibles were ceremonially burnt and tens of thousands of Christians, including many pastors and elders, were shipped off to concentration camps - most were never seen again.
 
Challenging God
A month before his sudden death Samora Machel cursed God publicly and challenged Him to prove His existence by striking him (Machel) dead. On 19 October 1986, while several churches were specifically praying for God to stop persecution in Mozambique, Machel's Soviet Tupelov aircraft crashed in a violent thunderstorm. The plane crashed 200 metres within South Africa's boundary with Mozambique. Amidst the wreckage, the Marxist plans for overthrowing the government of Malawi were discovered and published. Not only had God judged a blasphemer and a persecutor, but He had also saved a country from persecution.
 
The Seven-Year Jericho Prayer March to Bring Down the Iron Curtain
Launched in 1982, the Seven-Year Jericho Prayer Campaign to see the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe led to the collapse of the Iron Curtain and opening up of the Berlin Wall and unprecedented freedom of movement, worship and ministry throughout the former Warsaw Pact Soviet satellites of Eastern Europe in 1989.
 
The Power of Prayer
In the months leading up to the first multi-party elections in Zambia many churches fasted and prayed for God to remove the 27 year socialist dictatorship of Kenneth Kaunda. This was done on 31 October 1991, when Fredrick Chiluba (a man converted to Christ whilst imprisoned for opposing Kaunda) was elected president of Zambia and covenanted to make Zambia a Christian country.
 
The Imprecatory Psalms are the Prayers of Christ
In His ministry, Christ foretells what He will say as the Judge on the Day of Judgement and He quotes the Psalms in doing so! Matthew 7:23 "Then I will tell them plainly, `I never knew you. Away from me, you evil doers'." Psalm 6:8. In history, the Psalms, especially the Imprecatory Psalms, have been understood to be the prayers of Christ by: St Augustine, Jerome, Ambrose, Tertullian, Luther and many other Church fathers. All the Psalms are the voice of Christ. Christ is praying these prayers of vengeance. It is only right for the righteous King of Peace to ask God to destroy His enemies. These prayers signal an alarm to all who are still enemies of King Jesus. His prayers will be answered! God's Word is revealed upon all who oppose Christ. Anyone who rejects God's way of forgiveness in the Cross of Christ will bear the dreadful curses of God.
 
King of Kings and Lord of Lords
He who prays Psalm 69:23-28 will one day make this prayer a reality when He declares to those on His left: "Depart from Me you who are cursed into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels." Matthew 25:41. All the enemies of the Lord need to hear these Psalms. God's Kingdom is at War! The powers of evil will fall and God alone will reign forever! "With Justice He judges and makes war...out of His mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. `He will rule them with an iron sceptre; He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty...King of Kings and Lord of Lords." Revelation 19:11-15
 
What About Loving our Enemies?
But, what about Jesus' command to love our enemies and to bless those who curse us? (Matthew 5:44). Christ is the loving and merciful Saviour who forgives the sins of His people; but He is also the awesome Judge who is coming in Judgement on those who disobey His Gospel. "God is just. He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled... This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from Heaven in blazing fire with His powerful angels. He will punish those who do not obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of His power on the Day He comes to be glorified in His holy people and to be marvelled at among all those who have believed." 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10
 
Jesus Will Judge His Enemies
Jesus has power to forgive sins and He has power to execute judgement upon His enemies. In the Psalms, we see both the vengeance and the love of God. Even in the New Testament and in the Gospels we see imprecations! "Woe to you... hypocrites... blind guides... blind fools... full of greed and self-indulgence... whitewashed tombs... you snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to Hell?" Matthew 23. In Matthew 26:23-24, Christ quotes from Psalm 69 and 109 to refer to His betrayal by Judas.
 
Those Who Reject God’s Grace Will Face His Justice
We also need to acknowledge that Christ's prayers of blessing are not for all. In John 17:6-9 it is clear that Christ is only praying for the elect of God - those who have: "obeyed Your Word"... "accepted" God's Word... and have "believed". (see Luke 10:8-16. Those who reject the message of God's Kingdom will be judged.)

"Do To Them As You Did to Sisera"
Note Psalm 83 where the Psalmist prays against those who "plot together" against God and His people: "Cover their faces with shame so that men will seek your Name O Lord...Do to them as You did to Median, as you did to Sisera and Jabin at the river Kishon, who perished at Endor and became like refuse on the ground."
 
Defeating the Enemies of God
The story of Sisera in the book of Judges (Chapter 4 and 5) provides a vivid example of God's judgement on the wicked. Sisera "cruelly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years" and they "cried to the Lord for help" Judges 4:3. In response to those prayers: "The Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and army by the sword and Sisera abandoned his chariot and fled on foot...All the troops of Sisera fell by the sword; not a man was left." Judges 4:15-16
 
Biblical Body Piercing
The account then goes on to describe how Sisera escaped to the tent of Jael, where she lulled him into a false sense of safety and then drove a tent peg through his temple with a hammer. The song of victory by Deborah and Barak celebrated the crushing of the head of Sisera in graphic detail (Judges 5:25-27). It is this that Psalm 83 implores God to again do to His enemies..."As You did to Sisera..."
 
The Prayers of John Knox
It is recorded in history that the wicked Mary, Queen of Scots, declared, trembling and in tears: “I am more afraid of John Knox's prayers than of an army of ten thousand.”
 
May we Pray the Imprecatory Psalms?
Professor Martin Luther pointed out that when one prays: "Hallowed be Thy Name, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done" then “he must put all the opposition to this in one pile and say: Curses, maledictions and disgrace upon every other name and every other kingdom. May they be ruined and torn apart and may all their schemes and wisdom and plans run aground.”
 
Kingdoms in Conflict
To pray for the extension of God's Kingdom is to seek the destruction of all other kingdoms, e.g. Daniel 2:44: "The God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed... It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever." Advance and victory for the Church means defeat and retreat for the kingdom of darkness.
 
The Glory of God Demands the Destruction of Evil
There is a life and death struggle between two kingdoms. The Church cannot exclude hatred for satan's kingdom from its love for God's Kingdom. God's Kingdom cannot come without satan's kingdom being destroyed. God's will cannot be done on earth without the destruction of evil. The glory of God demands the destruction of evil. Instead of being influenced by a sickly sentimentalism which insists upon the assumed, but really non-existent, rights of man - we should focus instead upon the rights of God, the Law of God, the Word of God, the glory of God.
 
The Blessings of Obedience and the Curses of Disobedience
The imprecatory Psalms are fully consistent with the Law of God:
"If you do not carefully follow all the Words of this Law, which are written in this Book and do not revere this glorious and awesome Name - the Lord your God - the Lord will send fearful plagues on you and your decedents. He will bring upon you all the diseases of Egypt that you dreaded and they will cling to you. The Lord will also bring on you every kind of sickness and disaster not recorded in this Book of the Law until you are destroyed... because you did not obey the Lord your God... so it will please Him to ruin and destroy you. You will be uprooted from the land you are entering to possess." Deuteronomy 28:58-63
 
Covenant Curses Upon Covenant Breakers
The Covenant God made with His people included curses for disobedience as well as blessings for obedience. Deuteronomy 27 records the formal giving and receiving of the Covenant terms in an awesome account: "The Levites shall recite to all the people of Israel in a loud voice:
"Cursed is the man who carves an image or casts an idol - a thing detestable to the Lord, the work of the craftsman's hands - and sets it up in secret.
Then all the people shall say, 'Amen!'
"Cursed is the man who dishonours his father or his mother...
"Cursed is the man who moves his neighbour's boundary stone...
"Cursed is the man who leads the blind astray on the roads...
"Cursed is the man who withholds justice from the alien, the fatherless or the widow...
"Cursed is the man who kills his neighbour secretly...
"Cursed is the man who accepts a bribe to kill an innocent person.
"Cursed is the man who does not uphold the Words of this Law by carrying them out.
Then all the people shall say, 'Amen'." Deuteronomy 27:14-26
 
The New Testament confirms that the inevitable consequences of rejecting Christ, is the curse: "If anyone does not love the Lord - a curse be on him." 1 Corinthians 16:22 (See also: Romans 12:19-21; Hebrews 1:1-3; 3:7-12; 3:15-19; 10:26-31; 12:14-29.)
 
How Can We Preach these Prayers?
The Church of Jesus Christ is an army under orders.
Scripture constitutes the official dispatches from the Commander-in-Chief. But we have a problem: those who are called to pass on those orders are refusing to do so. How then can we expect to be a united, effective army? Is it any wonder that the troops have lost sight of their commission to demolish the strongholds of the kingdom of darkness? If the Church does not hear the battle cries of her Captain, how will she follow Him onto the battlefield?
 

We Have No Right to Censor the Word of God
Pastors are commissioned to pass on the orders of the Church's Commander, never withholding or changing His Words. One whose job is to carry dispatches to troops in wartime would face certain and severe punishment if he dared to amend the general's orders. The pastor's charge is of greater importance than that of a courier in any earthly army. There is no place for the dispatcher to decide he does not agree with his Commander's strategy.
 
Rejection of the Word of God Brings Severe Condemnation
When Jesus Christ sent seventy-two disciples on a preaching mission, He told them to proclaim the coming of God's Kingdom (Luke 10:9) - that is, to announce that people must submit to God's rule in their lives. Jesus instructed them to pray for peace on any house they approach, assuring them that if anyone rejected it, the peace would return on the disciples (verse 5). But we must consider what He said they should do if their message were rejected - that is, if the hearers persisted in rebellion against God's rule - "But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, 'Even the dust of your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off against you. Yet be sure of this: The Kingdom of God is near'" Luke 10:11.
 
Those Who Reject the Word of God Will Be Destroyed
What would be the result of that denunciation? I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom (on which God sent fire from heaven in judgement for its wickedness) than for that town (verse 12). Immediately Jesus added curses on Korazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum for their rejection of His message (verse 13:15).
 
A Rejection of the Word of God is a Rejection of God Himself
He then explained to the disciples the great authority He had given them: "He who listens to you listens to Me; he who rejects you rejects Me; but he who rejects Me rejects him who sent Me" (verse 16). This is the fundamental basis for calling down God's curses on anyone: his persistent rebellion against God's authority expressed in His Law and the ministry of His servants.
 
Battle Cries to Awaken a Slumbering Church
We need to clearly and forcefully proclaim the war cries of the Prince of Peace. Only then, will the Church awake from its lethargy and once again enter the battle. If we fail to pass on the battle cry then a lack of urgency and confusion in the ranks will be inevitable.
 
God Cannot Be Mocked
Like Psalm 1, our preaching needs to clearly show the blessings of obedience and the curse of disobedience. The eternal truth is that God cannot be mocked. Whatever a man sows - that shall he reap (Galatians 6:7). The curses pronounced on disobedience in Deuteronomy 28:47-53 were fulfilled in detail in Samaria (2 Kings 6:28-29) and in Judea (AD 70). The wrath of God upon covenant breakers is real.
 
Our Lord Jesus Christ is Prophet, Priest and King
The ‘I’ of the Psalms is Jesus Christ. The ‘we’ of the Psalms includes those of us in the Lord Jesus. The enemies are not our own, individually, but those of the Lord and of His Church. The Psalms are of Christ as Prophet, Priest and King. They record Christ's march in victory against the kingdom of darkness. As Christ is the Author of the Psalms, so, too, is He the final fulfilment of the Covenant on which they are based. God will answer the psalmist's prayers completely in Jesus Christ on the final Day of Judgement. While on earth Jesus foretold the day when He will say: "But those enemies of Mine who did not want Me to be King over them - bring them here and kill them in front of Me" Luke 19:27.
 
God's Kingdom is at War
A fatal end awaits everyone who refuses to acknowledge and to obey Jesus as King and Lord. Hearing expositions of these war psalms of the Prince of Peace will remind His people that God's Kingdom is at war! The Kingdom of darkness is being overcome by the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, a war in which each local congregation of believers plays a vital part. You must rally your battalion to put on the whole armour of God, including "the sword of the spirit, which is the Word of God" Ephesians 6:17. That battle-readiness also involves "pray(ing) in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests" Ephesians 6:18.
 
Pray for the Persecuted
To deal with the very real hurts and injustices, destruction, defilement, devastation and depravity in this world, it is necessary for us to pray for God's justice. Those who are persecuted need the comfort of these prayers. "Let the saints rejoice in His honour and sing for joy... May the praise of God be in their mouths and a double-edged sword in their hands, to inflict vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples, to bind their kings with fetters, their nobles with shackles of iron, to carry out the sentences written against them. This is the glory of all His saints. Praise the Lord." Psalm149:5-9
 
Spiritual Warfare
Prayer is, in fact, spiritual warfare. One weapon is prayer for conversion of spiritual enemies; another is prayer for judgement on those who finally refuse to be converted. We handicap the army of God when we refuse to use both of these great weapons that He has given us. It is at all times a part of the task of the people of God to destroy evil. Christ teaches His army to pray for the utter destruction of the enemies of God as the Psalmist did: "Pour our Your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge You, on the Kingdoms that do not call on Your Name" Psalm 79:6.
 
Sharpen Your Sword
If you have been guilty of dulling your sword, by neglecting or undermining these Psalms, repent of that sin, sharpen your sword anew and go forth to do battle in the Name and for the Glory of Jesus - until "the knowledge of the Lord will cover the earth as the water cover the sea" Habakkuk 2:14.
 
Dr. Peter Hammond
Frontline Fellowship
P.O. Box 74 Newlands 7725
Cape Town South Africa
Tel: 021-689-4480
Email: mission@frontline.org.za
www.FrontlineMissionSA.org
www.idop-africa.org
 
To listen to the audio of this sermon, click here. 
  
 
Dr. Peter Hammond has served the persecuted Church for over 38 years. He is the author of Faith Under Fire in Sudan; Holocaust in Rwanda; In the Killing Fields of Mozambique and Slavery, Terrorism and Islam - The Historical Roots and Contemporary Threat.
 
 
Dr. Peter Hammonds books and an audio CD of the full message, that this article was adapted from and other resources for the persecuted, are available from: Christian Liberty Books, P.O. Box 358, Howard Place, 7450, Cape Town, South Africa, Tel: 021-689-7478, Fax: 086-551-7490, Email: admin@christianlibertybooks.co.za, Website: www.christianlibertybooks.co.za
 
See also:
Invitation to Join the Largest Prayer Movement for the Persecuted
Persecution in the Bible
Persecution in History
Learning from the Persecuted
Serving the Persecuted
Sudan in Crisis at a Crossroads
Bibles for the Nuba Mountains
The Nuba Mountains for Christ
Mission to Sudan’s Nuba Mountains
Zimbabwe Celebrates as Mugabe Falls
 
Click here for more articles on the Persecuted.