Late Friday afternoon is traditionally the time of the week when the workload slows down in Sydney, and thoughts turn to... well... almost anything else but work! For some years now we have regularly circulated Friday Food ‘n’ Therapy to people we have e-contact with – sometimes thought-provoking, other times topical, sometimes reflective. Our aim is not to get agreement from everyone to a particular viewpoint, but rather to stimulate serious thinking about significant matters of interest. And occasionally we circulate something humorous to lighten the journey! After receiving several requests to make past FFT's available online, we have now begun to list them by date order.
In Sydney, this year’s artistic director for our world-famous Harbour Bridge New Year fireworks extravaganza is Rhoda Roberts, who has dug into her ancestral Aboriginal spirituality and proudly announced that this year the theme for the $5m celebration would be “awakening the spirits” and people should wear something ‘blue’ to connect with the theme.
Then the highlight of the awesome midnight fireworks display was the lighting up of an enormous yin-yang (Chi) symbol on our Harbour Bridge.
This holiday season’s hottest movie is Avatar, a $A500m extravaganza produced by James Cameron, of Titanic fame. Avatar? Huh? Haven’t I seen that word before? My dictionary explains that Avatar is… “the Sanskrit word for the descent of a Hindu deity to the Earth in an incarnate form or some manifest shape; a supreme manifestation or embodiment” And yes, the movie theme is about such a descent of superior spirits and their manifestation into other animate beings receptive to their influence…
Sounds awfully like a counterfeit for what we just celebrated in THE Nativity; you know, the one when God Almighty came among us, died for us, rose from the dead, and poured out HIS HOLY Spirit so we could live transformed lives, and be empowered to serve Him – no matter what. But, it’s only entertainment, isn’t it? No harm done….. Except to deaden in churchgoers any development of Holy Spirit-sourced abilities and gifting. Disempowering them in genuine charismatic gifting, and rendering them ineffective in outworking the Great Commission.
We have posted some articles on this (with more to come too) on the resource side of our website. We plan to do more of this in 2010 to provide smaller-sized Friday Food 'n' Therapy mailouts (important for our many e-friends in the Third World where broadband is still a foreign notion), while providing hyperlinks to additional resources, humour, etc, for those who are interested in pursuing further any topic raised here.
Movie goers are experiencing feelings of depression and in some cases even suicidal tendencies after seeing "Avatar." Fans are upset at not being able to visit Pandora, the make believe planet that is nirvana for the Na'vi, the blue native humanoids that habitat Pandora. Forums on the internet have been swamped with posts by fans not being able to cope after seeing the movie and experiencing feelings of depression that they can't visit the magical world of Pandora. Avatar fan site, 'Avatar Forums' contains a thread titled 'Ways to cope with the depression of the dream of Pandora being intangible', which in itself contains nearly 1,000 posts.
Forum administrator Philippe Baghdassarian said: 'I wasn't depressed myself. In fact the movie made me happy. But I can understand why it made people depressed. The movie was so beautiful and it showed something we don't have here on Earth. I think people saw we could be living in a completely different world and that caused them to be depressed.'
Forum user 'okoi' writes: 'After I watched "Avatar" at the first time, I truly felt depressed as I "wake" up in this world again. So after a few days, I went to cinema and watched it again for the second time to relieve the depression and hopeless feeling. Now I listen to the soundtrack and share my views in this forum. It really helps.'
User Mike wrote on another fan site 'Naviblue' that he considered suicide after watching the film. Mike wrote: 'Ever since I went to see "Avatar" I have been depressed. Watching the wonderful world of Pandora and all the Na'vi made me want to be one of them. I can't stop thinking about all the things that happened in the film and all of the tears and shivers I got from it. I even contemplate suicide thinking that if I do it I will be rebirthed in a world similar to Pandora.'
The incredible visual realism of the film has caused viewers to become particularly attached. Dr. Stephan Quentzel, psychiatrist and Medical Director from the Beth Israel Medical Centre in New York told CNN: 'Virtual life is not real life and it never will be, but this is the pinnacle of what we can build in a virtual presentation so far. It has taken the best of our technology to create this virtual world and real life will never be as utopian as it seems onscreen. It makes real life seem more imperfect.'
Others are saying it's just a movie and are using the forums to cope with the depression and connect with other like minded individuals. However, perhaps they are just feeling upset about all the racist undertones, with "Avatar" being criticized that it allegedly contains racist themes – that of the white hero saving the primitive natives. Since being praised critically since the film opened and taking over $1 billion in box office receipts, hundreds of blog posts, newspaper articles, tweets and YouTube videos have said things such as the film is "a fantasy about race told from the point of view of white people" and that it reinforces "the white Messiah fable."
James Cameron, the film's writer and director however, has said the real theme is about respecting each other's differences.
condensed from http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/hit-by-the-leftie-sledgehammer-20100101-llpp.html#comments
Since holiday movie-going is one of life's great pleasures, it's tempting not to put a dampener on Avatar, the sci-fi 3D semi-animated blockbuster that's raking it in at the box office. After all, the creativity of the director, James Cameron, inventing a lush new planet peopled by hauntingly beautiful blue aliens can only be admired. But, for all its technological brilliance and the talent that went into the creation of Pandora and the Na'vi characters, the movie ruins itself with Cameron's sanctimonious hippie sensibility.
It is impossible to watch Avatar without being banged over the head with the director's ideological hammer. About the time the baddest bad guy - a US marine, of course - launches an unconscionable attack on the Na'vi with the words "Shock and awe", "pre-emptive war" and "fighting terror with terror", you realise you've been had. The snarling vipers of left-wing Hollywood have been let off the leash in a way previously unmatched in a high-priced blockbuster. In fact Avatar is reputed to be the most expensive movie ever made, with a budget of $US500 million.
Cameron has a simple formula: Humans bad. Planet (Gaia) good. Noble savages good. Flaky pagan worship good. America bad. American military very bad. Capitalism bad. Mining bad. Raping planet. The only good soldier is a traitor.
Try as you might, by the second half of the movie, having sucked you in with its rich visuals and the sweetness of the disabled US marine Jake Sully (played by the Australian Sam Worthington), it's impossible to ignore the heavy-handed jibes. One gleeful Hollywood blogger sums up by saying the conservative pro-life US politician Sarah Palin would hate the movie "because Avatar hates her and her kind".
Cameron proudly declares Avatar is some sort of allegory for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, with the capitalist, imperialist Christian West the villain. He portrays the US soldiers who arrive on Pandora in the service of some multinational corporation as moronic, sadistic and determined to wipe out the peace-loving, nature-worshipping natives just so they can mine the valuable substance under their home.
"We know what it feels like to launch the missiles," Cameron told The Times. "We don't know what it feels like for them to land on our home soil, not in America. I think there's a moral responsibility to understand that." A self -described "child of the '60s" the Canadian-born director claims he is "opening" American eyes.
The triumph at the end of the movie occurs when the Na'vi slaughter the Americans, shooting down their helicopters and gunships. It's extraordinary that, while American soldiers are dying in dangerous wars on foreign soil, a mainstream movie would show such cartoonish contempt for them. Under Jake's leadership, and with the help of a female helicopter pilot who switches sides during the battle, the Na'vi's puny bows and arrows manage to foil the superior firepower of the arrogant humans. They also get a little help from the goddess-spirit of Pandora.
The blissful irony, I am not the first to point out, is that Cameron has used the most advanced technology known to man to create an anti-technology movie about how much better are the ways of the noble savage. He also lets his Na'vi run rampant around Pandora, raping fauna with their ponytails before subjugating them. The flying dinosaurs seem particularly unimpressed at being leapt on and plugged into the Na'vi braid.
A minority of critics have dubbed the movie "Dances with Wolves in space", "cynical and deeply unpatriotic propaganda". That's not to deny Avatar's success. Its nature worship theme mines a rich vein. In a world suffering eco-fatigue, in which advertising clever dicks have pronounced blue the new green, Cameron has judged the zeitgeist well.
We all like to be Zen with the world. And Cameron has tapped into the religious impulse hardwired in his audience in the same way airport bookshops abound with New Age bestsellers such as The Secret. But he defeats the purpose by indulging in the rancid partisanship that characterised the anti-Bush/anti-Howard left of the last decade. The pity is Avatar's in-your-face preaching only serves to annoy people, who will soon shrug off Cameron's accomplishments and forget whatever it was he was trying to say.
Avatar takes glee in the destruction of the humans on Pandora and an I-told-you-so smugness in the humans' "dying world" back home. "They have killed their mother".
Further to our current observations on the increasing role of fantasy on people's ability to live in the real world, and under godly self-control, we dig back into the archives for a thoughtful article by John White, well-respected Christian author from the 80s and 90s. John White spend many years dealing as a psychologist with (i.a.) sexual addictions. In his book, The Race. he writes a chapter on FICTION ADDICTION. Go here to download it.
Carolyn - Hmmm...now I am wondering WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME? I saw Avatar in 3D - loved the special effects and the rainforest starring, laughed at the clichés and the anti-Bush stuff, didn't feel the need in the slightest of visiting that place. Have you seen the creatures that live there?????? And no ensuites???? Actually I am saddened if all this talk of suicide is for real - what emptiness there lies in the heart of man who has not woken up to the reason for the void within. Now if we could but glimpse Heaven...and understand the beauty and power and reality there.... now there's a place to aspire to reach - in God's time, God's way.
And a note of caution to our religious acquaintances…. Please don’t read anything too theologically deep into this fictitious story! As with any parable (to quote Fee, in How to Read the Bible For All It’s Worth), just take the basic point, as we summarise in the words of Ezekiel our wanderings through the modern world of fiction, fantasy, Avatars, awakening the spirits, and so on over the past month…. “How then shall we live?”
Two Wolves
An old Cherokee elder told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, "My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us all.
One is Evil - It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and self-centred ego.
The other is Good - It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith."
The grandson thought about it for a minute, and then asked his grandfather: "Which wolf wins?"
The old Cherokee elder simply replied, "The one you feed."
This week on SBS TV, a documentary looked again at the techniques used by (Western) global business to incorporate younger and younger people into the “adult” world… so they could be seduced “encouraged” into spending more of their disposable (and their parents’) money! A part of the technique is to turn young people inwardly to become excessively concerned about their self-esteem, looks, attractiveness, emotional state, etc.
Some two years ago, we circulated an article that focused on self-esteem and young people. Ron Robb is a regular commentator on the material we circulate, and his comments then are equally relevant now… He wrote…
Yes - and some Christian schools have been leaders of the push (towards promoting an excessive preoccupation with self-esteem). This kind of philosophy is in step with some counselling which assures a person having 'guilt' and other problems that really they don't have to accept that they have done wrong. I know one Christian psychologist (here in Sydney) who was so frustrated at this kind of nonsense that he set-up his own private practice which helps people to acknowledge guilt and moral failure, then do something about it, rather than bury it and pretend that really there is no need to exercise some self-honesty as it only makes one 'feel bad'.
The Sydney Morning Herald of 30 July (2007) recorded the obituary for Albert Ellis (1913-2007), a psychotherapist who became well known for his straight-talk approach. 'Neurosis', he said, 'is just a high class word for whining', and, 'The trouble with most therapy is that it helps you to feel better but you don't get better' You have to back it up with action'. Ellis rejected the Freudian approach and helped patients to focus on what was happening in their lives and to act to change their behaviour.
This sort of misguided philosophy is what has brought us to the place where it is now a civil offence to 'chastise' one's children and encourages recalcitrant youngsters to report 'parent emotional cruelty' to school teachers where even a paddled backside with an open palm is construed as assault.
I have no argument with intervention where children are genuinely abused and intimidated. Nor do I disagree with encouragement. Indeed, that's an essential part of growth development. But persistent failure due to laziness or rebellion, or disruption because of uncontrollable temper or rudeness is not on… I had my share of 'the strap' when I was a kid and in my early adult days in the Navy was smartly jumped on for stupid carelessness. Thank goodness I was! I honoured my Dad to his death, and Navy discipline trained me to cope with life's disasters and gave me a sense of commitment and integrity. I was not told that stupid failure was ok, or that I was better than I knew I was. But I got lots of encouragement from Dad, and the Navy rewarded me for learning to improve. I owe them both a debt.
To lighten this somewhat, Ron added this… Understanding words and commands… if you tell Navy to 'Secure a Building', they would turn off the lights and lock the doors. Army would assault the building, capture it and defend it with suppressive fire and close combat. Air Force would take out a three year lease, with an option to buy!!
Eleven Rules for Getting Ahead
Last week’s Friday Food 'n' Therapy drew some interesting, affirmative responses to the essential underlying point of the commentary. So we have continued with an (American) an excerpt from the book "Dumbing Down our Kids" by educator Charles Sykes. It is a list of eleven things you did not learn in school and was directed at high school and college graduates (someone later deliberately changed the source of this to Bill Gates – not true according to the e-rumour sites – like www.truthorfiction.com).
RULE 1 - Life is not fair; get used to it.
RULE 2 - The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.
RULE 3 - You will NOT make 40 thousand dollars a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice president with a car phone, until you earn both.
RULE 4 - If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss. He doesn't have tenure.
RULE 5 - Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping; they called it opportunity.
RULE 6 - If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.
RULE 7 - Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you are. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parents' generation, try 'delousing' the closet in your own room.
RULE 8 - Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life has not. In some schools they have abolished failing grades; they'll give you as many times as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.
RULE 9 - Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you find yourself. Do that on your own time.
RULE 10 - Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
RULE 11 - Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.
We had a large response to the FFT on “gossip” two weeks ago. Here’s a serving concerning how gossip can emerge from not understanding the context of a statement, which may not be an untruth, but may be a distortion (deliberate or otherwise) through incorrect context.
And the lasting damage of gossip, even after it is rectified…..
In March 2008, we ran a series on the potential pitfalls that can accompany cross-cultural encounters. Ron Robb relayed a classic story illustrating the problem that can arise regarding differing use of words – even where the same language is spoken (but where the context is different). He said, “when I was a young fellow I was sent by the Navy to do my engineering training with the Royal Navy in England. I was temporarily in London for a few days before joining my college and went into a stationer to get some adhesive ('scotch') tape and asked for a roll of 'Durex' (an Australian brand). I received a fairly frosty look until the shop assistant and I worked-out that what I had asked for was the then-name in England for a condom (I suppose she was puzzled as to why I wanted a roll of them!
I replied to Ron.... “My wife did exactly the same thing in 1965 in a chemist shop in Wellington, New Zealand! When, as a young missionary to the Kiwis, she asked for a roll of Durex, and received the same frosty look (in those days, condoms were “secretly” kept in chemist shops in an unmarked drawer!). The sales assistant then realised by her accent that she was an Australian and said, “In this country, dear, you should ask for Sellotape!”
10 years ago, Frontline was a hard-hitting dark comedy about the Media. One episode concerned an American new age guru being hired by senior management to improve the show’s dwindling ratings. The TV crew all resented his intrusion. He was sacked because he allowed a line to go to air in an exposé of a corrupt politician under a cloud for “misbehaviour”. Concerning the politician’s endorsement of a supporter, the American guru ran a text overlay that the politician was “rooting for him”! Deliberately, nobody in the edit room told him the word has a very, very different connotation in Australian English than it does in American English. It was a brilliant piece of dark cross-cultural comedy!
How easy it is to make a quick judgment, then pass it on, before the whole picture is known. I had a narrow escape when writing an email to someone I did not know particularly well. I included a paragraph on seizing an opportunity, even though it was an obnoxious, difficult situation. I meant to write, “You must grasp the beast firmly with both hands and push forward”; but I accidentally hit both the (adjacent) r and e keys together - so it came out, “you must grasp the BREAST firmly with both hands and push forward”! Praise God that I had already learned to pause and proof-read before hitting that dreaded SEND button! He could have crucified my reputation if it had been sent and he was a gossiper….
A bit of church humour also makes the point of context…. The church gossip and self-appointed arbiter of the church's morals kept sticking her nose into other people's business. Several members were unappreciative of her activities, but feared her enough to maintain their silence. She made a fatal mistake, however, when she accused George, a recent convert, of being an alcoholic after she saw his bright red utility parked in front of the town's only hotel one evening. The next day at Church, she commented to George (and anyone else within earshot) that anyone seeing it there would know what he was doing, and this was a bad testimony to the Lord.
George, a man of few words, stared at her for a moment and just walked away. He didn't explain, defend, or deny anything; he said nothing. Later that evening, George quietly parked his distinctive red utility right in front of Sarah's house, walked home, and left it there all night…..
The boss of their Church put it this way; "for in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you". [Matthew 7:2].
Lastly, a well-known, very powerful anecdote about the power of thoughtless gossip to damage and destroy someone’s reputation beyond repair, goes like this.... The pastor of a church in a small Swiss village was maliciously gossiped about by a member of his parish, who was jealous of his popular influence in their community. He spread stories about him that were partly true, but slanted to put the minister in the worst possible light. This went on for some time, and ultimately seriously damaged the pastor’s credibility among his congregation and the entire village community.
Through the ministry of a visiting speaker, the gossip realised the enormity of his sin, and how damaged the pastor’s reputation had become through his influence. He gathered up his courage, humbled himself, and called on the pastor – admitting his fault and asking for forgiveness.
The minister responded by telling the man that before he would forgive him, he had to take one of his bed pillows (full of eider-down feathers), tear it open, and scatter the feathers out of the window overlooking the village below. When the man had done this, and the feathers had scattered in the breeze, the pastor said, “Now, your act of repentance is to go outside and gather each and every feather up and put them back in the pillow”.
“Pastor! That’s impossible! They have scattered too far and wide,” the man exclaimed. “Yes, you are right, “he replied, “and that is how your words have been in destroying my reputation”. Forgiveness cannot guarantee repairing the damage done… Socrates was right.... Let’s be very, very careful when it comes to passing on information about others.
We have sought to validate the source of this famous story. Whether Socrates actually said it or not, and although the language has been obviously modernised, the account is very ancient. And thought-provoking in our day still… Nothing really changes generation to generation….
In ancient Greece (469 - 399 BC), Socrates was widely lauded for his wisdom. One day, an acquaintance ran up to him excitedly and said, 'Socrates, do you know what I just heard about one of your students?'
'Wait a moment,' Socrates replied, 'Before you tell me I'd like you to pass a little test. It's called the Triple Filter Test'
'Triple filter?' asked the acquaintance.
'That's right,' Socrates continued. 'Before you talk to me about my student let's take a moment to filter what you're going to say.
The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?' 'No,' the man said, 'actually I just heard about it.' 'All right,' said Socrates. 'So you don't really know if it's true or not.
Now let's try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my student something good?' 'No, on the contrary ....'. 'So,' Socrates continued, 'you want to tell me something bad about him, even though you're not certain it's true?'. The man shrugged, a little embarrassed.
Socrates continued.' You may still pass the test though, because there is a third filter - the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my student going to be useful to me?' 'No, not really...'
'Well,' concluded Socrates, 'if what you want to tell me is neither True, nor Good, nor even Useful, why tell it to me at all?' The man was defeated and ashamed.
This is the reason Socrates was a great philosopher and held in such high esteem.
· Malicious gossip is never acceptable, for any reason. Whoever gossips to you will gossip about you - Spanish Proverb
· As empty vessels make the loudest sound, so they that have the least wit are the greatest blabbers - Plato.
From time to time, an e-friend sends back something that doesn’t get the delete button treatment! This is such an item…. The issue Ryser raises is especially relevant now that the whole world is spinning out over trade, money deals, greed (corporate and individual), etc, etc.
A number of years ago, I had the privilege of teaching at a school of ministry. My students were hungry for God, and I was constantly searching for ways to challenge them to fall more in love with Jesus and to become voices for revival in the Church. I came across a quote attributed most often to Rev Sam Pascoe. It’s a short version of the history of Christianity, and it goes like this:
Christianity started in Palestine as a fellowship; it moved to Greece and became a philosophy; it moved to Italy and became an institution; it moved to Europe and became a culture; finally it came to America and became an enterprise.
Some of the students were only 18 or 19 years old - and I wanted them to appreciate the importance of the last line, so I clarified it by adding, "An enterprise. That's a business." After a few moments the youngest student in the class, raised her hand. She asked such a simple question, "A business? But isn't it supposed to be a body?" I could not envision where this line of questioning was going, and the only response I could think of was, "Yes." She continued, "But when a body becomes a business, isn't that a prostitute?"
The room went dead silent. No one moved or spoke. We were stunned, afraid to make a sound because the presence of God had flooded into the room, and we knew we were on holy ground. All I could think in those sacred moments was, "Wow, I wish I'd thought of that."
I didn't dare express that thought aloud. But Martha's question changed my life. For six months, I thought about her question. "When a body becomes a business, isn't that a prostitute?" There is only one answer to her question. "Yes."
The American (Western) Church, tragically, is heavily populated by people who don’t love God. How can we love Him? We don't even know Him; and I mean, really know Him.
We (the American church) have made the Kingdom of God into a business, merchandising His anointing.
This should not be. We are commanded to love God, and are called to be the Bride of Christ -- that's pretty intimate stuff. Are we lovers or prostitutes?
I was pondering Martha's question again one day, and considered the question, "What's the difference between a lover and a prostitute?" I realized that both do many of the same things, but a lover does what she does because she loves. A prostitute pretends to love, but only as long as you pay.
Then I asked the question, "What would happen if God stopped paying me?" For the next several months, I allowed God to search me to uncover my motives for loving and serving Him. Was I really a true lover of God? What would happen if He stopped blessing me? What if He never did another thing for me? Would I still love Him? I still catch myself being disappointed with God and angry that He has not met some perceived need in my life. I suspect this is something which is never fully resolved, but I want more than anything else to be a true lover of God.
So what is it going to be? Which are we, lover or prostitute? There is no substitute for unconditional, intimate relationship with God. And I mean there is no palatable substitute available to us (take another look at Matthew 7:21-23 sometime). We must choose.
Footnote - (John 2:14-16) In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, "Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father's house into a market!" [KJV - house of merchandise (lit = emporium, a (wholesale) market)]. (Mark 11:17. Jesus was fulfilling God's prophetic promise to Ezekiel of a new kind of priesthood that would teach the people the difference between the ‘holy and the common’) [Eze 22:26 42:20 44:23].
Some ten years ago, an Australian comedy series ran for several seasons, called Frontline. It majored on the sham and hypocrisy of much Current Affairs Australian TV media. One episode had the title, Big Fish, Little Fish. The story centred on the TV host and team pursuing a dishonest washing machine repairman, who had ripped off some gullible housewives of a few dollars, until they obtained video footage of their own TV station’s owners being involved in a corrupt deal worth millions of dollars (and that was Australian dollars, not Zimbabwean!). The ironic humour focused on the host (who could forget “Mike Moore”?), and his protestations that he acted without fear or favour – that is, until he realised just who it was he was being called upon to expose for corruption, and his hilarious attempts to get out of going to air with the damning video footage (it was eventually accidentally trashed by the studio man, much to the host’s relief – all the while acting like he was so upset because the expose was ruined….).
In 1970, as a much-younger minister, I read a book called “the Heretics”. It was an examination of the treatment of “heretics” down through millennia. The author’s final conclusion was that the treatment of heretics can best be understood after one considers the primary purpose of all organisations (with few exceptions) – in a word - SURVIVAL!.... self preservation, and self-perpetuation.
While on Earth, Jesus lived a truly fearless life! and it cost Him – in every way. He stunned the Jerusalem community, including its leaders, when He demonstrated his power over the ultimate enemy of mankind – death itself – by raising Lazarus four days after they buried him, and He did it in a very public manner.
He knew this would put His life in danger with the Organisation running the religious (and political) affairs of the Jewish people.
But, He went ahead and did it anyway. Yes, He acted out of love for Lazarus - the shortest verse in the whole Bible is found here, “Jesus wept”. And he was crying because He so loved his kind friend.
And sure enough, it spelt the end of His life…
(John 11:41-53) So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that You sent me." When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go." Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. "What are we accomplishing?" they asked. "Here is this man performing many miraculous signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation." Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, "You know nothing at all! You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish." He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. So from that day on they plotted to take his life.
Jesus took on the “big fish”…. How I admire Him. Most of my life has been embalmed (and becalmed) in mediocrity. Tilting at “washing machine repairmen” windmills…. God give me, give us, the courage to so truly believe in what we say we believe that we will act on it, REGARDLESS of the consequences. I once heard Hal Oxley quote a definition of apathy (something Australians are well-known for), “Some men die by shrapnel, some go down in flames; but most pass on inch by inch, playing at little games….”
Some (scary!) extracts from the Heretics are posted on the ministry side of Brian and Elizabeth Rensfords’ website in "under the Microscope"
The response we received from the previous mailout on this subject was varied and instructive. Here's a powerful testimony sent in by one of our (white) African friends in Zimbabwe.... Hi Brian, you may be interested to know that as a minor I was brought up in a spiritualist home. Both my parents were mediums and held regular séances; once old enough I was asked to record them. Many people were supposedly brought up from the dead including relatives and the uncanny familiarity especially in their voices with a few people we knew including my grandmother was mind boggling.
I knew from a very young age that what we were doing was not right, but did not know how to deal with it which eventually led to some pretty serious rebellion on my part and caused me to leave home at 17. My relationship with my mother from then onwards was pretty rocky.
I noted during the years of spiritualism that spiritualists did not like born-again Christians and definitely my parents did not like the BA's! I became born again in 1990 (at 32) and God turned me around 180 degrees; I repented of my old life (including spiritualism) although I was not a spiritualist, but had been involved with it. This was another nail in the coffin for my mother even though our relationship was still a bit rocky, but had improved due to my maturing slightly!!
I came to learn that the 'dead' that we were supposedly talking to in the early years were actually familiar spirits in the form of the fallen angels (demons) that fell with Satan, when he was cast out of heaven, and I have to say that their familiarity was uncanny.
My mom was on her death bed about 10 years ago, and my friend Bill Walmisley and I wanted to pray for her and lead her to the Lord - when we experienced a demonic representation and a face on my mother's face that was not hers and a nastiness that was not her (she was very considerate and loving). She cackled and laughed at us and asked us, 'Who is this Jesus you are talking about?', and would not let us pray for her. We did anyway and went home very disturbed but were led to pray and get down to some spiritual warfare. It was the longest I had ever prayed - nearly the whole night....
We went back the following day to try again to lead my mom to the Lord and just to show her the love of Christ. I took her hand and she opened her eyes; there was not a wrinkle on her face (she was 70). I said I have come to pray for you - that God would give you peace and also, if you want, to lead you to the Lord, so that you can become saved.
She said clearly (I must just tell you she was pretty much unable to talk prior to this), "Simon it is gone, I have been set free!" God, during our absence and prayer time, had done something in my mother's life (the oppressing demon or demonic possession was gone) and we were able to lead her to the Lord Jesus.
She died peacefully in her sleep that same night in hospital - set free - with her name in the Lamb's book of life, and I give God all the glory.
You are welcome to use this testimony to the Glory of God if you feel led to at any time - if it would help others to understand some things. Much blessings, Simon
Last Easter, Peter Jensen (Sydney Anglican archbishop) publicly warned of an observable growth in the numbers of people attempting to make contact with dead people. At the time he was greeted with a fair amount of cynicism and some downright hostility. Among other things, he pointed out that the Western world is becoming obsessed with maintaining a strong sense of connection between the living and the dead.
Here are some of the ways it has cropped up in the secular side of our community….
Recently, we have personally heard people speak of how their loved one has become an “angel” after death – so they can still be “with us”, helping, caring, warning, protecting… And we are not talking about 10 year-old little girls here; it’s being declared by adults, and they are not using symbolic language.
This is how a cynical reporter related popular Australian singer, Kylie Minogue’s ongoing relationship with her former lover, Michael Hutchence – who had killed himself some years earlier….
Strewth March 2004 report – the view from the other side - That evergreen popette Kylie Minogue has given a remarkable interview to an American magazine in which she claims former INXS frontman Michael Hutchence, who was found dead in a Sydney hotel in 1997, regularly communicates with her - popping in from beyond the grave to say g'day. Minogue and Hutchence were lovers in the late 1980s. She told Blender magazine she has a stronger bond with him now than she did then. "I've had one particularly intense experience that let me know Michael was still around. Like he had come to say hello." It just leaves Strewth wondering if there are side effects to Botox….
We attended the ANZAC war memorial dawn service at Parramatta in April 2008 – it was mostly very Christian in orientation (including hymns and prayers “through Jesus Christ our Lord” – which is pretty unusual nowadays). That is, until the Army chaplain explained that "the spirits of those we remember are here with us this morning"…. and he wasn’t being symbolic or referring to our memory of them either…. This shift in perception away from separation at death from all forms of communication, and ongoing “presence”, to a more intimate, spiritually “real” encounter with the supernatural is what Jensen was concerned enough about to speak out.
As we prepared this tonight, the Friday night football match preview came on. The big news a week ago in Sydney was the death of the “Supercoach of the century, Jack Gibson”. Gibson had coached both teams playing tonight at some time in his very successful career. One commentator said, “he’s here tonight watching his teams play”, and again, he plainly meant it literally!
Why is this tendency growing?
Possibly the Western World’s post-modern obsession with youth, life, anti-aging (“60 is the new 50” mentality), and even the denial of aging, increasing ill-health, and finally death itself, has made it much more difficult to objectively cope with the certainty of death, and loss of relationship (in this life at least) that death brings - especially where we have enjoyed a close bond with the one who has died.
In Christian ministry, it is not uncommon to become involved in situations where someone has very consciously “experienced the presence” of a dead loved one. For many, inductive guesswork follows a “proof” that it has to be Aunty Flo whose presence has returned – because only Aunty Flo knew the answer to such-and-such a question.
Two years after my own father died, his estate was settled, and a very private family counsel was held several kms away from the family farm property at my brother’s home. It was led by my mother, and she had decided on her own that he would be given Dad’s prized slate billiard table, as a recognition for the hard work he had put in on behalf of the family after Dad died (many of us were already living far away in Australia when Dad’s death occurred in New Zealand).
There was NO communication outside that family circle overnight. The next morning, we all went back to the farmhouse to find my foster sisters had conducted a séance with “Dad”. They had left on the kitchen table sheets of paper they had used in a séance to talk over with “Dad” the events of the family estate settlement. The automatic writing they conducted was in my father’s very distinctive, quite uncopiable script! Moreover, they had asked “him” if he was happy how things had worked out. The automatic séance writing line said “No! Barry got the billiard table!" My brother got a real shock! How did “Dad” know???
Just who or what was the presence they had made contact with “on the other side” that could divine this information with no human contact made? Peter Jensen knows. And we will look at that in another Friday Food ‘n’ Therapy….
Our local Ministry Development College (Holroyd Ministry Development College's website ) is in its seventh year of operation. We run 6-week blocks, and our next Unit commences on Thursday, May 8,on the subject of COMMUNICATION – developing a biblical basis in one session, followed by a practical how-to (and how-not-to!) second session every night.
Being by “nature” a talker and not a listener, teaching such a subject scares me. Because mere “talking” isn’t necessarily “communicating”! You know what I mean….
I have been an admirer of Charles Kraft for some years, ever since I read his material on the failure of his (Western World) model of evangelism in Nigeria during his time there attempting to be a good “missionary”. And how he subsequently did a serious rework of his view of a proper cosmology (the balance in full reality between the “seen” and “unseen” realms). His material has been very helpful in our own attempts to be relevant and helpful in Zimbabwe and Mozambique. His simple but effective outlines are worked into the biblical basis material we will be using.
Here’s an extract – two of six preliminary observations he makes about the art of effective communication. With a couple of our own comments. How relevant to our modern way of life and doing church is this???
God, of course, is impressive. He is, of course, to be admired. But there is a sense in which, if we focus on merely admiring God, His ultimate purpose in interacting with human beings is thwarted. Some would seem to give the impression that God has an enormous ego that demands that people sit around admiring Him at all times. This seems to be the way in which many define worship. Without denying the value for us of contemplating God's greatness and of worshipping Him, however, I would like to suggest that His greater desire is that we understand and obey Him. Though not infrequently what God says and does is difficult for us to understand, God's ultimate purpose is not to mystify the truth but to reveal it, not to hide verities behind historical accounts, but to face man with the truth in any and all literary forms which they can understand (to quote Nida).
This is a corollary to God's desire to communicate and to be understood. Communication implies response. When God commands people he expects them to respond. God's promises to people typically require a response on their part. Proper response in turn, elicits further interaction between God and human beings. Indeed, God's interactions with human beings are characteristically in the form of dialogue, rather than monologue. The Bible, from beginning to end, represents God as seeking conversation with people. And such conversation demands responsiveness on the part of human beings. We are not simply to sit like bumps on logs listening to God without responding to him. To quote Nida again… The entire concept of the covenant of God with man is predicated upon two-way communication, even though it is God who proposes and man who accepts. Of course, in Jesus Christ the "dialogue" of God with man is evident in all of its fullness, but the divine human conversation is eternal, for the end of man is for fellowship and communion with God himself, and for this the communication of "dialogue" is an indispensable and focal element.
In our seminars in Zimbabwe and Mozambique we make sure there are times of dialogue, whereas the common model there mainly seems to be to sit and respectfully listen. We have found the pastors and leaders (and Lifeline students) are very receptive to this. We always include a “free-for-all” session to finish up each day.
Reading Kraft’s booklet has made me reconsider the modern church’s evolved style of public praise and worship; how much of it is now focused on admiring God - to use Kraft’s word – rather than helping us to understand Him, and so, deepening our ability to communicate with Him. Perhaps this is a reason so many we have asked can sing long and loud with a band, yet know little of a daily prayer and meditation life… True intimacy with God is where THAT kind of communication takes us. God help us to truly communicate with Him more and more!
It’s 3am on Friday, April 25. ANZAC Day (Australian New Zealand Army Corps). Our national day when we pause and remember the sacrifices so many have made in our past that helped build the nation, and shape its character, particularly in times of war.
Some of those characteristics are embodied in the very Australian (and Kiwi) notions of “a fair go”, “helping your mates”, and not respecting authority just because it’s wearing a uniform with lots of medals on it, but respecting it when it leads by example and lays its own reputation and life on the line…..
Elizabeth has already gone with many of our church people to catch the 2.30am train into the city to participate in the Dawn Parade and ANZAC commemoration service (which starts exactly at 4.15am in the dark). At 4.15am on April 25, 1915, the first ANZAC troops waded ashore on a tiny strip of beach now known as ANZAC Cove, on the Gallipoli peninsula, which guards the Mediterranean entrance to the Dardanelles in Turkey…. and many got shot before they could get away from the water’s edge.
We have posted on our website (go to NON AFRICAN TRIPS) a range of comment and photos of that powerful place – Gallipoli – and the staggering respect to this day that the Turkish people give to ALL the combatants who fought there.
In 1934 Kemal Atatürk, Prime Minister of the new post-Ottoman Turkey, wrote a tribute to the ANZAC’s killed at Gallipoli, “Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives... You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mahomet's to us where they lie side by side now here in this country of ours... you, the mothers, who sent their sons from faraway countries - wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land, they have become our sons as well.”
Another great soldier, the Father of another kind of nation, once said... "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another... My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends (John 13:34-35 15:12-13). We willingly follow such a great leader - One who not only gave clear commands, and built the ultimate mateship among His followers, but who went ahead and led by example, laying down his life for others! LEST WE FORGET....
It’s the week after the earliest Easter Sunday in some 100 years. Resurrection comes early sometimes! A few years ago, we circulated Tony Campolo’s widely-known message, “It’s Friday, but Sunday’s a comin’!” His point was that no matter what you may be currently facing, hang in with faith in the One who conquered the ultimate enemy of humanity (death), and your current circumstances will ultimately give way to a resurrection!
Many years ago, Elizabeth and I went into a time of severe trial – during which we lost many relationships that had been very much an embedded part of our lives. Some said this; some said that. We got religious, prophetic, and caring advice from many. But now, nearly 30 years later, the one piece of advice I distinctly remember was one line that came from my unregenerate father-in-law! He was a classics scholar, and said, “there is an old Arab proverb that says, ‘this too will pass’…." And he was right!
No matter what pressure may be on us right now (our “FRIDAY”), there is a resurrection experience on the way for those who persevere in faith (our “SUNDAY”)!
Tony Campolo put it this way, "don't give up! Keep your eyes on Jesus, the Resurrection and the life; persevere! Keep going! Your day of resurrection is at hand!"
I belong to a black church in West Philadelphia. I've been a member of that church for decades, and for me Mt Carmel Baptist Church is the closest thing to heaven this side of the pearly gates. I preach to a lot of congregations, but I have to say that no other group of people leaves me with excitement like the congregation of my home church. People in my congregation always let me know how I'm doing. Whether I am good or bad, they let me know what they are feeling about my message.
One time when I was preaching, I sensed that nothing was happening. There seemed to be no movement of the dynamism of God. I was struggling, as you have seen ministers struggle, and seemed to be getting nowhere. I had got about three-quarters of the way through my sermon when a lady on the back row yelled, 'Help him, Jesus! Help him, Jesus!" That was all the evidence I needed that things were not going well that day.
On the other hand, when the preacher is really 'on' in my church, they let him know. The deacons sit right under the pulpit, and whenever the preacher says something especially good, they cheer him on by yelling, 'Preach, brother! Preach, brother! Preach, man, preach!" And I want to tell you that when they do that to me, it makes me want to preach!
The women in my church have a special way of responding when the preacher is 'doing good.' They usually wave one hand in the air and call out to the preacher, 'Well, well.' Whenever they do that to me, my hormones bubble…
But that's not all. When I really get going, the men in my congregation shout encouragement by saying, 'Keep going, brother! Keep going! Keep going!' I assure you that a preacher never gets that kind of reaction from a white congregation. White people never yell, 'Keep going!' White audiences are more likely to check their watches and mumble, 'Stop! Stop!'"
One Good Friday, there were seven of us preaching one after the other. When it was my turn to preach, I rolled into high gear, and I want to tell you, l was good. The more l preached, the more the people in that congregation got 'turned on,' And the more they were 'turned on', the better I got. I got better and better and better. I got so good that I wanted to take notes on me! At the end of my message, the congregation broke loose. I was absolutely thrilled to hear the hallelujahs and the cries of joy that broke loose throughout the place. I sat down next to my pastor and he looked at me with a smile. He reached down with his hand and squeezed my knee. 'You did all right, boy!' he said. (I must admit that I hate it when he calls me 'boy'!)
I turned to him and asked, 'Pastor, are you going to be able to top that?' The old man smiled at me and he said, 'Son, you just sit back, 'cause, this old man is going to do you in!' I didn't figure that anybody could have beaten me that day. I had been so good.. But the old man got up, and I have to admit, he did. The amazing thing was that he did it with the use of one line. For an hour and a half he preached one line over and over again. For an hour and a half, he stood that crowd on its ear with just one line. That line was 'It's Friday, but Sunday's comin'!' That statement may not blow you away, but you should have heard him do it. He started his sermon real softly by saying, 'It was Friday; it was Friday and my Jesus was dead on the tree. But that was Friday, and Sunday's comin'!'
One of the deacons yelled, 'Preach, brother! Preach!' It was all the encouragement that he needed. He came on louder as he said, 'It was Friday and Mary was cryin' her eyes out. The disciples were runnin' in every direction, like sheep without a shepherd, but that was Friday, and Sunday's comin'!' People in the congregation were beginning to pick up the message. Women were waving their hands in the air and calling softly, 'Well, well.' Some of the men were yelling, 'Keep going! Keep going!' The preacher kept 'going. He picked up the volume still more and shouted, 'It was Friday. The cynics were lookin' at the world and sayin', "As things have been so they shall be. You can't change anything in this world. you can't change anything." But those cynics didn't know that it was only Friday; Sunday's comin'!
It was Friday! And on Friday, those forces that oppress the poor and make the poor to suffer were in control. But that was Friday! Sunday's comin! It was Friday, and on Friday, Pilate thought he had washed his hands of a lot of trouble. The Pharisees were struttin' around, laughin' and pokin' each other in the ribs. They thought they were back in charge of things, but they didn't know that it was only Friday! Sunday's comin'!'
He kept on working that one phrase for a half hour, then an hour, then an hour and a quarter, then an hour and a half. Over and over he came at us, 'It's Friday, but Sunday's comin'! It's Friday, but Sunday's comin'!'
By the time he had come to the end of the message, I was exhausted. He had me and everybody else so worked up that I don't think any of us could have stood it much longer. At the end of his message he just yelled at the top of his lungs, 'IT'S FRIDAY!' and all five hundred of us in that church yelled back with one accord, 'SUNDAY'S COMIN'!'
That's the Good News. That is the word that the world is waiting to hear. That's what we have got to go out there and tell the world's people. When they are psychologically depressed, we have to tell them that Sunday's coming. When they feel that they can never know love again, we have got to tell them that Sunday's coming. When they have lost their belief in the miraculous so that they no longer expect great things from God, we must tell them that Sunday's coming.
We must go to a world that is suffering economic injustice and political oppression and tell them that Sunday's coming. The world may be filled with five million hungry. Half of the planet may be under the tyranny of communist domination. Dictators may rule in Latin America. People may find their rights denied and their hopes under attack. But I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, because to all of those who are on the brink of despair, I can yell at the top of my lungs, 'IT'S FRIDAY, BUT SUNDAY'S COMIN'!'
Last week we circulated some practical tips on proof-reading and email etiquette. That generated a wide and interesting range of replies… This week, we follow through to a zone of potential trouble, offence, and embarrassment that can occur when your “English” idiom differs from the one your correspondent has grown up with… Mostly, we are aware of what we said / wrote, but sometimes unaware of how they heard it! A lot of gender humour is generated off this area of mystery between the way the male and female minds work…. And if you are married, you know that’s not even funny...
The language changes between cultures must be considered if we are to be effective communicators across cultural boundaries. Some instances follow…
1] Before we were married, Elizabeth spent several months in the USA. She was a guest in a gathering in which a baby began to cry and disrupt the adult conversation. She asked the mother (in front of the other guests) if she could take the baby off her hands and take it outside and “nurse” it! A shocked look went around the room! How come a single woman, and a relative stranger at that, was offering to breastfeed the child (American idiom where she was staying)?!?! In Aussie, the verb “nurse” regarding children simply means to look after, care for, maybe rock them to sleep, etc…. (The American English-based NIV translates Jesus’s call to Jerusalem in Luke 23:29 in terms of nursing as breastfeeding
2] Some coarse-language and /or swear words are treated quite differently in other cultures (no examples here though to avoid possibly offending some of our e-correspondents!).
3] Years ago, a friend of ours worked for one of the big American computer companies who flew him to Philadelphia for a refresher course. While there, he was involved in a group session devising a flow chart, using a pencil to draft it out. He made a mistake and called out, “somebody please give me a “rubber”. I need a rubber here”. He related how shocked silent the whole room went (presumably, there were men and women present). Then the man at the next desk leaned over and whispered loudly, “In this country we use the word “ERASER”! (He quickly realised that what Australians call a condom, Americans call a rubber!!
4] Last year in Zimbabwe, while taking at a pastors and leadership seminar, I was talking about the biblical admonition to settle differences / conflicts quickly, and not to carry grudges. I used the illustration of our marriage and said something like, “Elizabeth and I ‘fight’ sometimes, but we both work hard at resolving our differences before the day is over, etc, etc." In Aussie English “fight” includes the meaning of “argue” (i.e.. a verbal disagreement). There were puzzled looks around the conference room, and finally one pastor asked me to explain how I could “fight” with my wife as a Christian leader. He then explained that in Zimbabwean English (which generally uses a much more literal rather than idiomatic form of English) I was telling them we hit each other in conflict! I was so glad the seminars we run are interactive and we encourage attendees to speak up if they have a question or a comment!
If you have a (publishable) example of this kind of unintentional blooper, feel free to send it back. We can publish a further list of instances later on
G’day from Sydney. We have been looking at the old dictum that a little knowledge is dangerous. Our modern western lifestyle is awash with information! The Internet has banished ignorance! Well, sort of… For knowledge to be useful, the information has to have a relevant context. Otherwise, it can become irrelevant and useless, or worse, counter-productive. For instance, Andrew from Perth sent us this classic recently in response to an earlier Friday Food ‘n’ Therapy….
I must tell you about yesterday morning’s sermon at (our church). The preacher is a very godly pastor and he delivered a searching address on making the most of every opportunity (redeeming the time). During the sermon he related how a doctor friend of his was thoroughly castigated by an 80 y/o female patient who’d been powerfully affected by all the media warnings about health and the need for checkups. She said (seriously), “I’ve been seeing you for 30 years and you have not once checked my prostate!” The preacher used the story in dealing with the difference between wisdom and knowledge….
In a similar manner, we have used for many years the reference in 2 Tim 2:15 (Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth) as a kick-off point to highlight the need for every believer to be basically competent in biblical exegesis [and hermeneutics] – establishing context as a sound start to arrive at a valid interpretation, and application, of biblical texts
In a secular sense, when people lose (or are unaware) of their external reference points, and go to an interior, self-informed-only knowledge base, one lacking external reference points, then gradually the whole of a society ends up losing its way. No wonder dictatorships continually attempt to limit the people under their control from accessing external information. And spin doctors work overtime in the so-called democratic countries to spin an apparent context to information, especially that which is emanating from the political sphere.
Truth and reality doesn’t move for anyone. No matter how important we may think we are to the broad scheme of things. Let’s widen our view angle to ensure we always keep the object of our attention in its proper setting!
This is an alleged transcript of the actual radio conversation of a US Navy ship with the Canadian Authorities one night off the coast of Newfoundland in Oct 1995. Radio conversation released by Chief of Naval Operations.
Canadians - Please divert your course 15 degrees to south to avoid a collision.
Americans - Recommend you divert your course 15 degrees north to avoid collision.
Canadians - Negative. You will have to divert your course 15 degrees south to avoid a collision.
Americans - This is the Captain of a US Navy ship. I say again divert your course.
Canadians - No. I say again. You divert your course.
Americans - This is the Aircraft Carrier USS Lincoln, the second largest ship in the US Atlantic Fleet. We are accompanied by 3 destroyers, 3 cruisers and numerous support vessels. I demand that you change your course 15 degrees north or counter measures will be undertaken to ensure the safety of this ship.
Canadians – And we are a lighthouse -- Your call….
(It never really happened; it's an Internet myth, but it sure makes for a good point!).
G’day from Sydney. Every year on January 26, we celebrate the birth of the modern Australian nation. It was the day in 1788 that the First Fleet arrived in Sydney Cove from England with its complement of convicts, soldiers, officials, and a few freemen (and even less freewomen!). It was another 113 years later (Jan 1, 1901) when most of the British colonies in the Australasian region confederated to form the Commonwealth of Australia (New Zealand and Fiji opted not to join).
Since the Bi-centennial in 1988, a much greater awareness of our nationhood, and what it stands for, and how it coheres, has arisen. This has partly been driven by the increasing waves of immigration into the Australian community of people coming from parts of the globe that have not had a Westminster system of democratic governance, nor a Christian values basis for law and individual codes of conduct, who quite often have brought with them different religious persuasions from the Christian one that marked (at least nominally) the great majority of the settlers from 1788 right up till the 1970’s.
Communities – be they nations, local communities, or even families or churches – hold together principally through, and have their corporate identity emerge by, a common core of shared values they adhere to. Not just ones perceived to be noble or just, but also ignoble. Common views on racism (defined as the inherent superiority of one ethnic group over all others), money and wealth accumulation, conduct of business and trade, truth-telling and oath-making, sexual and gender issues, caste systems (workers, landed gentry, etc), etc, all contribute too.
For some years, my wife and I have had the privilege of participating in our local municipality’s Australia Day celebrations. They are so indicative of the changing nature of our society, and we enjoy them immensely. Many new arrivals take their citizenship oaths (interestingly, the vast majority still swear allegiance under God, rather than make an affirmation). And then awards are made recognising the achievements of “young ambassadors” and the “Holroyd Citizen of the Year”. This inevitably goes to someone who has served the local community in a voluntary capacity, without seeking for public recognition or reward (a truly great Australian cultural value – originally straight out of the New Testament!!).
What kind of core values do our corporate environments (family, club, community, church, nation, etc) function by and cohere through? We do need to pause and seriously consider this. If we don’t, values will emerge from other philosophies (including Hollywood and the vast Entertainment culture) and become established as part of the basis of the ever-changing, ever-emerging culture surrounding us at every level. As the Psalmist said 3,000 years ago, “Selah” (= stop and think about it!”).
We expanded some of these sentiments in our Australia Day address just gone - posted under “Augustine and our Emerging Australia – differentiating between essentials and preferences – keys to harmony”.
This Friday Food ‘n’ Therapy follows on “the Test of Ministry” that we circulated three weeks ago. It drew the widest range of responses of any article we have ever circulated over the years.
We were in the USA on a three-month sabbatical in late 1989 when the Berlin wall came down and communism collapsed. The media was full of analysis on the significance and basic causes of the upheaval. But the article that stood out to me was a simple one in the LA Times, which in essence said, “communism has collapsed because the leaders chose to ignore the one immutable law of human nature – Lord Acton’s dictum – POWER CORRUPTS, AND ABSOLUTE POWER CORRUPTS ABSOLUTELY”.
How true that was then, is now, and will remain so, until the day when Lord Jesus Christ returns to reset the social / political / tribal structures according to the values of the Kingdom of God. When you read His commands to His emerging leaders (such as Luke 22:24-26: Also a dispute arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest. Jesus said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. That’s Christ’s safety valve for wannabe religious leaders – to keep their feet on the ground, if and when “influence” comes.
Keeping one’s word (“was that a core promise, Jesus, or a non-core one?”), recognising our own limitations (and the flow-on from it – recognition of our need for others to make up for our areas of inadequacy), being careful of “self-declarations” (Prov 27:2: Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; someone else, and not your own lips. (Prov 27:21) The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but man is tested by the praise he receives) – these are some of the critical areas for anyone daring to seek public influence.
In Friday Food ‘n’ Therapy, we normally refrain from public comment on political matters. The sudden resignation of Steve Bracks, Premier of the State of Victoria, and one of Australia’s most successful (and younger) politicians, caught the public by surprise. The public reason for his resignation has been to regain and strengthen his family life, some of which has been aired in detail in public (and some which reportedly, hasn’t).
This in turn moved the media spotlight this week to the broader issue of leaders transitioning, sooner or later, out of the hot seat of power, and into other roles – when should one go, or should they stay, etc? We have included some extracts from an article on the effects of addiction to power…. So, this article is forwarded, not to comment on any of our own Australian politicians, but rather to inspect the dynamics of the effects of ‘influence’….
Steve Bracks has done the most wrenching thing any political leader can do - resigned at the peak of his powers, a jangling counterpoint to the Prime Minister's pickle. The reason that it's so hard to do is the same reason that it's so very rare, the reason that 25 nations have legal limits on their leaders' terms.
After studying all 1941 national leaders in the 20th century, an American professor of psychiatry, Arnold Ludwig, wrote that when leaders taste power: "It seems as if some as-yet-undiscovered chemical, the human equivalent of catnip, gets released in their brains and begins to affect their judgment. They typically come to believe that they are smarter than their predecessors and can handle any personal threats that come their way … They ignore all the lessons from the past." Pursuing power is a thrill; attaining it an intoxication; holding it an obsession!
Bracks led Labor to three election victories in Victoria, ran a high-class policy shop, has an approval rating around 50 per cent and stands down at the relatively youthful age of 52. He goes out with honour, at a high point, leaving his successor three years to establish himself before facing the next election.
Of Australia's 24 past prime ministers, only three managed to retire of their own accord, at a time of their own choosing, and none in the past 40 years. John Howard is increasingly unlikely to become the fourth. He may yet get away with another victory, but, after flirting with the idea of retiring under various scenarios, he very likely stayed beyond his peak, the stunning 2004 election triumph in both houses of Parliament. Howard is far from finished: his approval rating is still around 50 per cent - remarkably strong after 11 years in power. But he turned 68 on Thursday and now faces the bleakest poll outlook of his long career - "annihilation" on the current poll figures, to use his own word.
Does the Bracks experience hold lessons for Howard? "It could be, but it doesn't look like he's taking any," observes the former head of Newspoll, Sol Lebovic. Howard has been clear-eyed about the best retirement age for his subordinates. After winning the 1996 election, he told one of his closest allies, Michael Baume, that he couldn't make him a minister in the new government because he was too old. "Howard asked him to think it over, citing Baume's age, over 65, as a reason to move on from the cut and thrust of politics," according to John Winston Howard: The Biography. Howard offered him a fine consolation prize, the post of consul-general in New York. Yet Howard, so insistent in Baume's case, has not been able to stamp an expiry date on his own political career.
Of course, Howard's situation is different to Bracks's. The Victorian Premier stood down after his 20-year-old son's drink-driving accident. He seems to have decided that his family needs him more than his party does. "We're glad to have him back," was his wife Terry's comment. He is young enough to have a long and fulfilling post-political career. Howard's family is considerably older. None of his children lives at home and his wife, Janette, is at least as devoted to Howard's political career as Howard himself. "The whole mindset is different," offers a Howard confidant. "Howard crawled over broken glass to get there and it took him 21 years. The sheer emotional investment makes it much harder to walk away." And at Howard's age, he has fewer post-politics options. It is likely that Howard reached his peak in 2004, when he won a second consecutive election with an enlarged majority in the House of Representatives, plus control of the Senate. It had been a generation since a government controlled both chambers.
Australia's first Prime Minister, Sir Edmund Barton, retired of his own accord, and so did the fifth, Andrew Fisher, in 1915. The third and last to do so was Sir Robert Menzies, on Australia Day, 1966. Some premiers have, like Bracks, been able to choose their terms and timing, with Neville Wran setting the benchmark. Bob Carr did likewise, but only in the face of electoral doom. These are the rare cases where calm judgment has triumphed over addiction of power.
(November appendix – our Prime Minister failed to follow the warning raised in this article and led his party to a disastrous defeat, one that included for only the second time in the history of our Federation, the defeat of an incumbent PM in his own electorate!)
Any of our e-correspondents interested in further material on the ascent and inevitable decline of men in positions of influence can dig into Roland Croucher’s extensive website - http://jmm.aaa.net.au ) and type in “Rohr” in the search engine. Richard Rohr’s material is challenging to any middle-aged / older male (including myself!).
A couple of recent events caused us to reflect back to something that happened 32 years ago – to when we were, ahem, much younger, and much more ambitious. Elizabeth and I were caretaking for two years a small congregation in Sydney in the movement we belonged to at that time. It was a very dysfunctional church with every kind of pastoral nightmare you could imagine! Unhealed, broken, abused, and abusive situations proliferated. Dear God, get me outa here stuff!
Two years before, in a moment of fantasy about my own calling’s potential, I had shared with the movement’s chief apostle (He who must be obeyed…) that I felt a call to go one day to live in the US of A (don’t laugh, I was only in my late 20’s and you know what that’s like when you’re young, fit, ambitious, and ready to be revealed as God’s gift to ????).
Well, in 1975, the great Apostle rang from interstate and shouted down the line, “pack your bags and get your passports ready; you’re going to LA to be the assistant minister in one of our sister churches!” I knew it was a well-heeled church! All expenses would be covered! An answer to every ambitious wannabe minister’s dream. Let’s get outa here!
Then, we did something very risky… We went to prayer about it…. And the vibes from Heaven were not encouraging…. No angels or trumpets were seen or heard. Just the Holy Spirit’s voice asking from John 10 if we really loved His sheep – dysfunctional as they were… And would we lay down our lives (read – ministry ambitions) for them. I did not want to hear this!! But, the Spirit’s voice was persistent… “Are you a shepherd or a hireling? Are you in this to please the Chief Shepherd (who laid down everything for broken, dysfunctional, unthankful people), or are you in it for da career, da money, da recognition?”
After much wrestling, we knew what HE would be pleased with (and what the Chief Apostle / messenger of God’s wrath would not be pleased with…). In true cowardly fashion, I avoided answering the phone for some days, but finally was pinned down. No question was asked about whether we felt to go; it was “Pack your bags now!” I know I had stupidly opened the door for his approach a couple of years previously, but every time my pathetic little voice said, “Broer (the movement’s moniker for him), we don’t feel to go”, he didn’t seem to be listening. Then it sunk in. The phone went dead quick smart. And I knew my promotional path in the Move (as we called it) had suddenly been, ahem, put on hold (read - terminated). I had failed to please the Chief Apostle… And our Movement believed he was one of the last 12 in the Earth…. Yes, it makes me cringe with embarrassment now, but when you are isolated under this kind of wacky teaching, you believe such things quite uncritically.
So, back we went to our little flock. That was 1975///And all these years later, we are essentially still here! Married happily for nearly 40 years. Surrounded by people who love us and we love them. Still seeing smashed lives given fresh hope through God’s kindly grace. Going regularly into Zimbabwe and Mozambique (about to return for the 12th time) – including teaching now many pastors and leaders and wannabe trainee students the essential nature of John 10 - to keep all religious workers free from the snare of seduction (of gold, girls, and glory). And yes, we are actively part of a broad community of Christians in our district from many, varied backgrounds – who commonly love our Lord Jesus Christ, and respect His lordship over their lives and ministry. We are (Senior’s cards and all) fit, well, and contented… Sometimes, for a brief moment, I wonder where would we be now if we had made that move to LA???? AAAggghhhhhh!!!
Is there a moral to this? Maybe it’s this – what you decide today in some seemingly trivial or unrelated part of your life and service may have repercussions on your wholistic being, health, relationships, indeed, your future – in ways we could never have imagined at the time we were struggling through to a place of peace with God. But, struggle we must. That way, we can move from being a hireling to being a true shepherd…. If you have something to contribute along this vein of reflection, send it in and we will circulate it.