How it seems...

Thinking back fifty years in the Western World the majority of folks were Christian. It’s been mostly accepted in the past that Christianity functions on a three generation cycle where generation one are cleanly converted from non Christian families and know what they have been saved from so are serious minded and evangelistic. Generation two are brought up in a Christian setting so are well educated in the basic theology but often don’t have the solid basis in their faith that their parents had. Generation three are drifting away from the faith and often become carnal natured semi Christians. Generation four drift away and often start the process again about seventy five years after generation one.

Today though, Christianity is really struggling as scientific atheism and secular socialism have entered into our schools and universities and convinced the students that everything started from nothing and that there is no evidence for the existence of God. Which they are sadly believing on mass. This is not unexpected though. Jesus said in Matthew chapter twenty four that there would be a great falling away at the end of the Age of Grace and that is what seems to be happening now.

So it seems that the people of the world have discovered that things only exist if they can be proven by reason and logic. That Christianity is not sound and can’t be believed or trusted. That religion in general is not trustworthy although some ancient religions have a certain seductive reasoning that make them more acceptable than Christianity. You know religions like Buddhism, Hinduism, some of the other pagan religions like Shintoism, the worship of the ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman Gods. Along with the Sumerian and Babylonian Gods like Nimrod and Semiramis. In fact, as long as it’s not Christianity it may not be as good as science if you’re a atheist or secular socialist but it seems it will get a pass from society in general.

It seems as the balance has shifted in the last fifty years we’ve reached a place in society where we think that the sooner we can get rid of intolerant and boring Christianity the better. No one wants to hear the repentance from sin message today. We need to get free of that stuffy and controlling form of religion and create a framework which is more liberal and which will tolerate the lifestyles that Christianity labels as sin. We need to be able to do this because of the damage that this type of intolerant thinking causes which is harming vulnerable people in our society. This despite the damage that is done to people by continuing to walk in sin.

There is a scripture, Proverbs chapter 16 verse 25 which says this “There is a way which seems right to a person, But its end is the way of death.” This is why I entitled this article “How it seems...” To the Christian in this time it seems as if the battle is lost and the devil has won. Everyone has rejected God and only believes what can be proven by science. Perhaps we’ve been mistaken and the bible is only myth and legend. Perhaps it really is only dinosaurs and big bangs?

But no the reality is that God is Creator of the Heavens and the Earth and the reason people have turned away from God at this time is that as Jesus Christ said there would be a falling away at the End of the Age. Matthew chapter 24 verses 9 - 14 puts it this way “Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. “Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold. “But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then  the end will come.”

Just looking at the current events of today does any of this scripture seem to you to be talking about 2022? Christians in the West are beginning to experience persecution by secular groups and the state. People's love for each other is growing cold. When I was a child everyone knew their neighbours and were friends with most of them. Today, most don’t know even their next door neighbours. The Church is in decline and people are falling away in droves while you have only to watch Christian television programming to find false teachers on a global scale.

Now I know that many people don’t want to know about prophecy and doomsday conspiracy theory but even that attitude merely underlines the control that the proponents of the New World Order have over media and the dominant discourse in society. You daren’t sound the trumpet for fear of being labeled a nut. Once again this really only reinforces the feeling that “It is what it is.” It seems comfortable to believe that there is no God and no End Times and that this opinion is the only logical reasonable way of looking at life.

However, it may seem that way but the reality is quite different. Yahweh is the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth. He is the Lord of All. He controls all things and the End of the Age and time of judgment is upon us. You only have to look at the war in Ukraine and the escalation on each side as they prepare for World War III. Russia are bringing ICBM’s online that can reach the UK in three minutes and their hypersonic missiles can reach the USA in fifteen minutes. NATO are moving troops and stationing units across the bordering nations of the Ukraine and Russia. Climate Change is ramping up and fifty year storms are now almost yearly occurrences. There is an airy feeling that government are planning events to deal with these issues in ways that signal a farewell to the life that we have known. So it may seem that Christianity is dying and that the New Age is about to dawn but this is not the reality.

How it is. God is about to bring an end to the sinful world that mankind lives in. Judgement day is nearly here and it is time to consider your eternal destiny. Yahweh is your creator and he loves you so much that He gave His only Son, Jesus Christ for you. Such that, if you believe on Him you will not perish but will inherit eternal life. This is the question that sits before you. Will you ask Christ Jesus to be your Saviour or will you continue to reject Him and wallow in your sins as doomsday unfolds before you. Your decision?

Mindfulness, Inner Peace, Eastern Mysticism and Our Children in 2022...

So what is happening to our children in modern society? Well I think it is fair to say that a raft of changes have happened over the last fifty years. Christianity has tended to be pushed aside as being an intolerant, judgmental religion that is out dated and needs to be dispensed with ASAP. A religion that harms people in our society by misunderstanding how beautiful people are at heart and imposing a moral code that is destructive. A code which restrains their inner calm and the natural godliness of human kind.

 Can we argue that a New World Order is being forged which embraces all sectors of society except Christianity. It is being touted as a something that has recently been rediscovered from the ancient religions and that is, spiritually and scientifically, far superior to the monotheism of Christianity. An order which will reveal old world truths such as mindfulness, inner peace and the inner God that apparently exists in the hearts of all mankind. At the same time it will bring about a New Age and an evolutionary jump forward that will leave the Christians behind because they are not spiritually ready to travel to the new order and to accept the returning Maitreya (Christ).

This explains what has been happening in our schools and to our children for the last twenty plus years. For instance, corporal punishment was removed thirty years ago and in recent times any interaction with students should only be excessively positive. You literally can’t even speak to them in a loud voice any more. The result of this is youngsters with an over developed sense of self importance who are more often than not rude and disrespectful. They are also completely mismatched with society in general as you start at the bottom not at the top when you leave school to begin your working life so some people skills are a prerequisite.

So, we are told all of this modern positivity is good educational pedagogy and state of the art science but what it is really about is preparing our children for the occult and the coming Maitreya. Teaching them to love themselves and to seek the inner God. To delve into mindfulness and clear their minds, to seek inner calm and clear their minds to find the inner God. Yes this mindfulness is even taught in our public schools and often by Christians who should know better.

Those who train in Eastern Mysticism or the Marshall Arts would know what I’m alluding to here as this they use the same techniques for the same reason. To clear the mind and seek inner calm. They seek the God within. The point that I’m making here is that through the odd restructuring of education and through their enchantment with smart devices our children are being trained in a variety of occult teachings and other New Age dogma. They are also teaching arts like soldiery and thievery through games like FortNite and Grand Theft Auto. I imagine that these games are also full of illusions to the coming New Age but they will doubtless be useful in war as well.

I have to admit I have been wondering for years what the Ministry of Education have been up to? I mean it seems that given education used to be of a very good standard in New Zealand and that we seem to have been falling in our place in the World in recent years. Surely, it is just a matter of time before they wake up and revert to the winning educational formula of yesteryear. Yet they only seem to implement new changes that make the situation worse. Could this be intentional and not accidental at all?

So to spell it out is the evolving change in education actually part of a New Age and New World Order. Preparing world citizens that fit into the coming Age of Enlightenment. Is this all an agenda that doesn’t make sense at a practical and common sense level because the result will be irrational citizens who behave with out morals or compunction to achieve whatever they perceive is in their own best interests. Worse that will enslave them to the coming Maitreya who is the inner God they seek and who will be able to control them because of the mind control techniques that they are immersed in on line and the lack of discipline and basic education that they should have received at school but which were deliberately withheld from them to lead them in a totally different direction?

Look around the world at the countries that have religions based on this type of paganism. Countries that embrace polytheism tend to have large populations where lawlessness is as common as poverty. Those seeking inner peace and using mindfulness are easily manipulated and enslaved. There is very little care for the poor. Quite the reverse actually as discrimination built into those societies by caste. The philosophy of the New Age is not to give freedom and enlightenment but to bring darkness and enslavement and to have humanity worship at the feet of Satan.

This is where our children and even the ordinary people of our lands are being educated in New Age dogma to prepare us to accept the coming New Age and the Maitreya, the much touted Christ of the New World Order. Even Christians need to be vigilant and to compare everything they hear with what they read in the Bible. The message of the New Age is very seductive and sounds like it may be the truth.

It is not the truth though and in actual fact there is only one name by which you must be saved. Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of God. Who so loved you that he lay down His life on the Cross and shed His blood to pay your debt of sin. That you may have eternal life. Yahweh is a righteous God who created the Heavens and the Earth and created you. He so loved you that He gave His only Son, Jesus Christ, for you that he might buy you back from sin and give you everlasting life. Open your eyes my friends and listen to the sound doctrine of the Word of God before it is too late.

A Perfect Storm

As a teacher, I've commented from time to time on the gradual decline in the ability of schools in New Zealand to prepare our students for the challenges that they will face in society. It has almost seemed as though schools have been deliberately hindered from making the decisions that are needed to get education to happen in the way that used to be expected in past decades.

Educators have labored under the premise that this is a much more sophisticated world than the past that other generations grew up in. As a result they have included more and more into the curriculum. Instead of the three R’s its now reading, writing in genre, speech writing and delivery, performance art, music, physical activity, computer basics, coding etc., etc.. The focus is so diverse that learners are failing to master the basic 3 R’s.

The result is that teachers don’t have time to cover all of the curriculum areas effectively. So that basic literacy and numeracy are suffering. This is a major factor in the decline of the education sector in New Zealand. At the same time changes have been made to the way education is administered in New Zealand that have been largely ineffective in practice. An example would be the roll out of the numeracy project which rather than remediating falling standards of numeracy has largely only served to make the situation worse.

Now education is not rocket science. It's a simple matter of “Get the basics right and you can't go wrong.” It used to be understood that children at school would learn to read, write and perform basic math by the time they reached Year Nine. It was also understood that if they achieved an understanding of those basics they could go on to advance to higher qualifications at high school or leave to join the work force and continue study at a later date if they so desired. Simple enough right?.

So why is the education system in New Zealand failing so badly with imparting even a basic level of education to so many of today’s children?  Things like wrote learning, times tables and essential word lists were crucial to success in the past so wouldn’t you think that  they’d be useful again in a time of crisis? Back to basics and the 3 R’s would at least impart a basic and useful education to most children by the time they reach High School.

Of course teaching pedagogy and the curriculum are not the only issues at play here. Society has changed vastly in the last fifty years. In 1970 one of the fundamentals of society was the nuclear family of Mum, Dad and the Kids. The stability that this family structure afforded underpinned our education system. Children were well cared for and loved and well disciplined and so prepared to learn and participate in society. Parents supported the schools and their children’s teachers but the strong departmental structure of Schools stopped interference with classrooms by parents at the same time. A necessary safe guard.

In 2022 the nuclear family is in the minority in most schools. Many children live with a parent, a grand parent, a relation or even with no relation. The pool of previous support, education and expertise of the nuclear family is lost to the current education system. Poverty, gang culture and the drug and alcohol pandemic lay waste to the lives of many. Among them many of the students of our schools.

Another factor that is a large part of the issue here is the impact of the Smart Phone. The children who arrived at High School to Year Nine in 2022. Have had access to smart digital devices for at least the last ten years. For the last five years it has been a constant battle to control their use in the classroom and in the school environment as a whole. Phones are out in the classroom at the drop of a hat and social media causes disputes, bullying and recorded fights on a daily basis.

Add to that the concept that a student can now live a virtual, digital life which has real life interaction, virtual entertainment and instantaneous communication to organise events at a moments notice. I have had children contacted on their devices about a fight that involved a friend. They jumped out of their seats and fled the room to rush to the assistance of the other student and as group ended up in offices and classrooms around the school. This doesn’t happen often but shows that the students can easily be greatly distracted by their smart device.  Also, if you already have a virtual life that seems to be working for you on your smart device. Why would you want to stay at school?

In that vein, the Covid Pandemic seems to have been the catalyst for entry into this brave new world of virtual living through smart devices. Now we’re seeing students ceasing to attend school. During the pandemic they found that life didn’t end with the closure of schools and they began to question whether they needed to attend school. At the same time, the powers that be seemed unable to find the right controls to return the education system back to some form of normality.

What it seems to come back to is that the reason the powers that be aren't prepared to adopt the tried and true strategies of the past. Is simply that they have an agenda and that agenda involves restyling society in a way that will not benefit the majority of people. An agenda where the poorly educated and impoverished masses will we easier to control and therefore easier to lead toward goals that are not in their best interests.

The reason that I say this is because despite the apparent best efforts of successive governments. The education system in New Zealand has be increasingly less able to impart a good standard of education to all of our children. The children of the elite continue to do well but it is more often the case that the middle class group of society is joining the poor in not achieving a good education. This has been easy to predict for decades but it is still a shock to see that we have finally reached a time in which there are only the rich and the poor. A time of those who have and those who have not.

So what started with Neo-liberal Economics thirty years ago ushering in a system which transferred the wealth of the middle class into the hands of a few wealthy elite persons. Has with the advent of smart devices, social media and the Covid Pandemic brought us into a brave new socialist world. Set to deal with climate change and to usher in a New World Order of centralised global government. It will be interesting to see what the world looks like in 2030.

The Pendulum Swings

I was watching the news and saw the article which featured the Academy apologising to Sacheem Littlefeather for the reception she got when she appeared on behalf of Marlon Brando to turn down his Oscar. I don’t remember how I felt at the time but those were conservative times and it’s likely that the general feeling in New Zealand at the time was not supportive.

Then I was watching the rainbow folk on the news because they are now able to get support from the Human Rights Commission for their experiences with conversion therapy. This was all put forward in a very scientific manner, No morals discussed here only the psychological damage caused by this bizarre practice.

I guess now I know how it feels when the pendulum swings. As a youngster in conservative New Zealand where there was casual racism and homosexuality was driven underground. I was on the side of the majority at that time. Liberals were shunned and the papers supported the conservative dominant discourse.

However, today the conservatives are decidedly in the minority and progressive liberalism is the dominant discourse in a decidedly left wing social political environment. From a social conservative and even a centrist perspective it seems as though the world has gone to hell in a hand cart. I guess that’s how the liberals felt fifty years ago?        

From a Christian point of view it is hard not to want to take this all personally and get vocal on social media or other forums. The issue being that hate speech is a distinct possibility in this time so there is a need to weigh carefully what is said and the likely outcomes of speaking out against other sects in secular society.

I think there is a tendency with Christians to get a little self righteous and to condemn other people from the perspective that we are morally superior to them. I actual fact we are all sinners and sins are of equal weight in God’s eyes. So judging others is not a good idea. It is better to point out that we all fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), and there is none righteous not even one (Romans 3:10). So all are in need of salvation in Christ Jesus if we are to attain eternal life.

In the current environment people are becoming so sensitive to any form of criticism that Christians almost need to resort to our default position. That of sharing the gospel only even on peril of imprisonment or death. There will come a time when the world will be so harsh that people will once again realise that Christ Jesus is the only saviour and once again turn toward Him. Our job is to follow the Great Commission and go to the nations baptising them in the name of the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit.

Finally I would simply say that events are moving rapidly and we are heading for what I believe to be the day of apocalypse spoken of by Jesus Christ in the book of Matthew at chapter twenty four. It seems that from the time the current government took office there has been the feel of an increasingly turbulent roller coaster ride to daily life. Mass shooting, the pandemic, the implementation of a controversial new social agenda, monthly weather events and with global events to match. Almost daily violent gun attacks in the United States, the Trump and anti Trump diatribe and of course the pre-cursor to world war in the Ukraine. The question is what will life look like in 2025 or in 2030? Food for thought.

Christians and Secularism

Secularism in the Socialist Society is founded on a rights based discourse. Groups within society compete for a position within the secular framework. Advocates of feminism, gay rights, race relations, abortion, euthanasia, Islam and a plethora of other groups including Christianity battle against each other for a share of the governments attention and the media limelight.

When the government focuses on socialist dogma then they begin the work of social engineering using the media to control the dominant discourse. Over time they begin to make progress and here in New Zealand we can now clearly see how over the last decades societal attitudes have indeed changed drastically. From a nominally Christian society in 1970 we are now becoming a strongly pagan society.

The incredible thing is that most people don't realise that women's rights, homosexuality and abortion are all strongly connected to the naturalistic religions like Baal worship, the worship of Diana of Ephesus and the worship of the pantheon in general. In fact, most people would not identify with pagan worship at all preferring to hold to some version of atheism. All the while they are being gradually duped into paganism by stealth.

Christianity is sadly not immune to this process of social engineering with liberal Christianity delving deeply into Buddhism and Yoga and even the Martial Arts. Conservative Christianity is adopting the rights based dialogue and complaining about the moral decline of society in general while demanding that their rights be respected.

Of course, the media is the perfect tool to portray Conservatives as bigots who are intolerant of other people in society. Science of course is the perfect scourge to beat Conservatives with saying the Gay folk can't help but be gay as that's how they are wired. Women need abortions for their mental health and so on. Fundamentalist Christians are just backward folks with a negative mindset. I've heard that there is research which even backs that argument which says conservatives have a mental mindset that predisposes them genetically to be negative and intolerant. This would tie into the New Age mantra that there is going to be a great jump forward which will leave the backward people who are mentally unprepared for next evolutionary leap behind.

So what should Christians do in the face of a changing reality? The Church is not as numerous as it was and society is now almost post secular as it becomes more and more pagan in nature. A world where from a Christian perspective the pervasive attitude is rapidly becoming the embodiment of Isaiah chapter 5 verse 20. "Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!" From <https://biblehub.com/isaiah/5-20.htm> NASB

I think that Christians should take a watching brief as many of the prophets of the Old Testament did. Though rather than whine about our downtrodden rights and the wickedness of the wicked. I think we focus on being salt and light in the rapidly falling darkness. We be Christians and shine like a bright light on the horizon. We walk the righteousness of God and the love, joy and peace of the Holy Spirit. We share our Christ centred wisdom but not our self-centred condemnation.

We focus on the Great Commission. Matthew chapter 28 verses 18 to 20 "And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to follow all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” From <https://biblehub.com/nasb_/matthew/28.htm> NASB

We follow the example of John Wesley and George Whitfield and ignore the sin of a fallen British nation given over to alcoholism and social evils of much the same ilk as we find our world descending into right now. As they did we kneel before a willing Saviour and Lord, Yahweh Elohim, and take every step to share the gospel with all and sundry, all that will hear, in the certain hope that God will prevail. Our nation can be redeemed.

This is the Day

I guess from a Christian point of view today is fraught with peril. Even in the Western World being a Protestant Christian is not the peaceful existence that it was fifty years ago. With the passing of the Great Generation and the general falling away from Christianity many Churches have closed their doors. Liberalism has spread through what is left and repentance is no longer proclaimed as a part of the gospel as it once was.

 

I don't know if you're familiar with the account in the book of Kings in the Bible of the time when the prophet Elijah stood against the prophets of Baal and their queen Jezebel (1 Kings 18). The wicked queen Jezebel had murdered the prophets of the Lord except for one hundred that Obadiah, the kings servant, had hidden away fifty to a cave and fed there.
 

Elijah told Obadiah to  tell King Ahab that he would meet with him. He instructed the King to bring all of the prophets of Baal and Asherah to Mount Carmel. He had them prepare a sacrifice of a bull and place it on an alter to Baal and put no fire under it. Baal was to light the fire to make the sacrifice. The prophets of Baal cried out to their God until the evening and no one heard their pleas nor took notice of them.

Elijah had the people rebuild the alter to the Lord and placed the sacrifice of a bull on the alter and at his instruction dig trenches around the alter and pour water over the sacrifice three times. He prayed that the God of Abraham and Isaac would show that he was the God of Israel that day. Fire came down and consumed the offering and alter and lapped at the water. Elijah told the people to capture the prophets of Baal and Asherah and they were all executed then and there.

 

He then prayed for rain upon the land as there had been a drought for three and a half years as Elijah had asked God to hold back the rain at the beginning of that time. God answered Elijah and he sent rain upon the land. Immediately following this huge victory given by God against the forces of evil. Jezebel threatened Elijah's life and in a very human way he panicked and ran away to hide.

And here we are in the present day again. So what can we take from this recount of Elijah's works on behalf of the Living God - Yahweh and apply to our lives? Well God was with Elijah throughout this three and one half year battle for the hearts and minds of the people of Israel. He protected him and at the end gave him a resounding victory over Baal and Asherah. Baal worshippers sacrificed their babies to a brass image of Baal by laying them on the heated arms of the image which were heated until they glowed red or placed in an oven within the image.

 We live in a time when evil is on the rise and we are as a population being seduced to abandon God and to do the bidding of governments that claim to be scientific and godless but who in reality are bringing into being a Satanic World Empire. We are being dupped into being citizens of that empire who will worship a coming world king who will claim to be the Christ.

 

As Christians we will have to stand for Jesus Christ in this time just as Elijah stood for Yahweh Elohim in his time. He was human and fallible and we are human and fallible but God was with him just as Christ Jesus is with us and we are indwelt with the Holy Spirit. It will be a hard road and it may well come to believers dying for their faith. But remember when we are brought to account for our Lord the Holy Spirit will give us the words to speak (Luke 12:12). That he will give a crown to those who overcome (Revelation 2:10).

 

A parting thought, take up the Full Armour of God  (Ephesians 6: 11-13). "Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of [c]the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. From <https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians+6&version=NKJV>

Salvation: What You Need to Know...

Biblical salvation can be a difficult thing to grasp but it can also be very simple. There is one verse in the bible that you need to understand before any of the others. That verse is found in the book of the Acts of the Apostles in chapter two and is verse thirty eight "Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." From <https://biblehub.com/acts/2-38.htm> If you realise that you have sin issue and repent in Jesus name making sure that you receive the sacrament of Baptism. You are saved once and for all.

 

As the apostle John puts it in chapter three verse sixteen “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life." From <https://biblehub.com/john/3-16.htm> So, if you believe on the only begotten son of God, Jesus Christ, you will not perish but have eternal life.

 

Now, there are a handful of other verses that can be helpful in gaining a understanding of the sin problem that we all have as members of humanity. For instance Romans chapter three verse ten "…as it is written: “THERE IS NO RIGHTEOUS PERSON, NOT EVEN ONE…"From <https://biblehub.com/romans/3-10.htm>  Romans chapter three verse twenty three

"…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…" From <https://biblehub.com/romans/3-23.htm> Romans chapter six verse twenty three "For the wages of sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." From <https://biblehub.com/romans/6-23.htm>

So in short you are not the only sinner in this world in need of the Blood of the Lamb to justify you and cleanse you of sin. In fact every human being is a sinner and needs to access the redemptive work of Christ Jesus on the Cross. None but Christ is righteous and all are guilty and deserving of death except Christ. But God is  gracious and merciful and His freely given gift is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. So what about it?