This week, my wife and I celebrated our 43rd wedding anniversary. We are past the cards and flowers stage, but we did go out together for lunch the following day. I am looking forward now to the next “milestone”, the 50th.
When we were married, in our 20’s, we could not imagine that length of time. But looking back, we can see some things as if they happened just yesterday- our wedding, the births of our children, places we lived and friends we have made.
Our marriage has been 99% joyful because we share the same goals and we each put the interests of the other above our own desires. The other 1% was when one or other wanted their own way; that’s where forgiveness and unconditional love get to be practised.
The Bible tells us that when a man and a woman marry, they become “one flesh.” Two people bring their individual personalities and talents into a relationship, and over time they become so close and so knowledgeable of one another that they become almost one person.
In an individualistic society like ours that is the ultimate horror story- losing your individuality, your own sense of self-direction to another. It works out to be the opposite, because we gain far more than we give up. Less a horror story than a romantic comedy!
The Bible describes the relationship of God’s people to Christ as being like a marriage. The book of Revelation describes a big party in heaven where the church, made up of all the believers throughout history, is described as a bride being united with Jesus Christ her bridegroom.
That relationship, we are told, will last not just 43 or 50 years but for all eternity.
The good news is that the wedding is open to everyone, not just invited guests. In a funny way, Jesus’ death on the cross was like a proposal. He is asking you to join Him in the wedding of the ages, to spend eternity with Him.
From the ABC, some excellent news after all the mud slinging
#222222;font-family: sans-serif">Hillsong founder Brian Houston found not guilty of concealing his father’s sexual abuse of a child
Jamie McKinnell, Heath Parkes-Hupton — 4 minutes
Hillsong founder Brian Houston has been found not guilty of concealing his father’s sexual abuse of a child.
Key points:
Brian Houston pleaded not guilty to concealing a serious indictable offence
A Magistrate concluded Brian Houston had a “reasonable excuse” for not reporting the matter
Magistrate Christophi said it was ‘the opposite of a cover-up’
The 69-year-old has previously told a Sydney court he was left “speechless” in 1999 when he first learned of Frank Houston’s abuse of a seven-year-old boy decades earlier.
But Brian Houston insisted he did not go to the police because he was respecting the wishes of the victim, Brett Sengstock, who by that time was aged in his 30s.
He pleaded not guilty to concealing a serious indictable offence.
Magistrate Gareth Christofi on Thursday found Brian Houston not guilty, after concluding he had a “reasonable excuse” for not reporting the matter.
In his judgement, Magistrate Christofi found Mr Houston knew or reasonably believed that Mr Sengstock did not want the matter reported to police.
Frank Houston was stripped of his credentials as a pastor for the Assemblies of God and died in 2004.(ABC News)
The court heard Mr Sengstock gave evidence that his abuse at the hands of Frank Houston was a “hideous secret”, and one he did not wish for others to know.
At a hearing last year, he gave evidence of feeling “betrayed” by his mother when she raised the allegations with a member of their local church in Sydney’s west.
Magistrate Christofi found it would have been consistent with all the evidence that Mr Sengstock would have expressed that sentiment to Brian Houston during a phone call about the abuse in 1999.
“There is little doubt in my view that the accused knew or believed on reasonable grounds that Brett Sengstock did not want the matter reported to police,” the magistrate said.
The Magistrate found the Hillsong founder spoke openly about his father’s crimes.(AAP: Bianca De Marchi)
He also found that a $10,000 payment arranged by Frank Houston to Mr Sengstock could not be proven to be “hush money”, or that Brian Houston had intended it to be so.
The court heard Mr Sengstock, then in his 30s, met with Frank Houston and another member of the Hills Christian Life Centre — the precursor to Hillsong — at Thornleigh McDonalds in 1999.
He signed a napkin and told the court Frank Houston said: “You’ll get your money we can keep this between ourselves.”
Mr Sengstock told the court he believed the money was to “buy his silence”, and that he did not see the money until he chased up the deal with Brian Houston.
Magistrate Christofi found, however, that the terms of the agreement were “entirely unclear” and there was insufficient evidence that it was intended to stop Mr Sengstock from going to the police.
The Crown’s case was also contradicted by Mr Sengstock’s own evidence that he had not considered going to authorities, he found.
“[Mr Sengstock] did not need to be silenced.”
‘The very opposite of a cover-up’
Magistrate Christophi rejected the Crown’s case that Brian Houston facilitated a “cover up” to protect the church’s reputation, saying the Hillsong founder spoke openly about his father’s crimes.
During the special fixture hearing last year, Brian Houston described his father as a “serial paedophile”.
He said that in 1999 and 2000, more victims had come forward from his father’s time in New Zealand and steps were taken to remove Frank Houston from the ministry.
The court heard Brian Houston told “many people at various levels” of the church about Frank Houston’s predatory behaviour and referenced it in sermons delivered to churchgoers.
Brian Houston also discussed it during an interview with a reporter for the Sydney Morning Herald in 2002, Magistrate Christofi noted.
“That is the very opposite of a cover up,” the magistrate found.
“He spoke widely and freely about the matter in public settings.”
Brian and Bobbie Houston established Hillsong in 1983 in Sydney’s north-west. (Facebook: Hillsong )
Speaking outside court, Mr Sengstock said regardless of today’s outcome he had been handed a “life sentence” having endured a 45-year battle.
“Today I’ve received some recognition for a seven-year-old child who was brutally abused at the hands of a self-confessed child rapist and coward, Frank Houston,” he said.
“Frank Houston was no pioneer for Christianity, his legacy remains a faded memory of a paedophile.”
He thanked prosecutors, police and his family for their support, and all those who worked to give survivors of clergy child sexual abuse “a voice in this country”.
“Blaming the victim is as repulsive as the assaults themselves,” Mr Sengstock said.
“It should not be this hard.”
During last year’s hearing, he gave evidence that in one of their 1999 phone calls an “angry” Brian Houston claimed his father had been “tempted” by a young Mr Sengstock.
Mr Houston denied this while being cross-examined, saying it was “absurd” to suggest he would blame someone who was abused as a child.
“It’s nonsense. I mean, who would say that about a seven-year-old boy, or a 10-year-old boy … it’s just an absurd notion.”
Have you ever thought about why you do the things you do?
A lot of the things we do every day are habits that have built up over the years. Some habits are good, some not so good.
Psychologists call the unconscious process behind a habit the behaviour chain. The behaviour chain goes like this: A trigger causes a thought, leading to an action that leads to a consequence.
So, for example, as the time approached 10.30 at night, my body tells me to get ready for bed. That is an environmental trigger caused by the time. After that a whole train of actions follow: turn the TV off, fill the dishwasher, go to the toilet, brush my teeth, go to the bedroom, get undressed, pull back the blankets, lie in bed, close my eyes. Finally, the long-awaited consequence is going to sleep.
That’s a great behaviour chain, because I don’t have to remember all the things I need to do to go to bed.
A bad behaviour chain for me involves the arrival of 8.30 pm, when my brain tells me to go to the fridge and get chocolate, regardless of whether I am hungry or not. Then the thought is “Eat chocolate” and the consequence is an ever-expanding waistline.
Remember when you started to drive? You had to be told everything. But after a few months, the complex processes of driving become habits, and you can drive without any conscious thought.
Sometimes people tell me they can’t find time to pray or read the Bible, which are two of the most important daily habits christians need to develop. The way to start this process is to set up a behaviour chain. Program an alarm into your phone to go off at, say breakfast time. The alarm goes off and reminds you to read the Bible at breakfast time. After a while, you don’t need to be reminded that it’s time, because the smell of toast or the boiling of the kettle will be the trigger.
God has given us awesome brains, and we should use things like behaviour chains to replace bad or harmful habits with habits that draw us closer to Him.
Last Sunday, I was hit hard by a massive, full on attack of evil.
While the musicians were doing their music practice ad other people were getting things ready for church, I found a big stream of negative thoughts going through my head. I was making judgements against other people, being resentful of the least important things. Everywhere I looked, I found a reason to be frustrated. It was like this volcano of violence was stirring in my head, and it was about to erupt.
Not a nice scenario for just before church!
I closed myself in my office and began to repent of my wrong thinking. Then I rebuked satan and told him to get out of my head and out of our building. I claimed it all for Jesus and everything calmed down. The peace of God began to reign.
When we are walking with the Lord, satan is always working to trip us up. He puts thoughts into our minds that sound like our thoughts but really are not. Satan knows our weaknesses, so he will always press the buttons that get the maximum effect. It might be lust, jealousy, accusations, greed… the list is endless.
The key to overcoming these things is to keep our attention on Jesus.
In our daily activities, our busy-ness or stresses, we can find our eyes diverted from Jesus and onto other things. That is when satan will slip in the wrong thoughts, the destructive mind space.
The cure is simple.
First;y recognise that these thoughts are not yours but from the enemy.
Secondly repent of letting satan get into your thinking.
Thirdly, dedicate yourself again to the Lord.
After that, it is just a matter of staying vigilant. When those thoughts start to come into your head, quickly turn to prayer and worship.
The funny thing is that when we do that, the devil finds his tactics are not working any more, and he will leave us alone, until another source of temptation can be found.
As I write this, the world is captivated by the fate of five people in a submersible craft that seems to have gone missing in near the wreck of the Titanic. It seems there has been some kind of mechanical failure. Even if they are on the surface, the passengers are locked inside an air tight container with limited oxygen.
To make matters worse, they are in a very remote part of the ocean, with no communications and could be up to 4 kilometres beneath the surface.
The situation is similar to the underground mining disasters that occur from time to time, where a collapse prevents people from returning to the surface unless the blockage can be removed.
It must be a terrifying situation to be aware that unless somebody intervenes, you will die in a matter of days.
Of course all of us are in a similar position, whether we realise it or not. When you are young, it feels like you will live for ever. As you grow older, you become aware that you are mortal, but t is still a theoretical knowledge.
For everyone of us there is a date set when we leave this life. It might be a few hours away or another 50 years. You will die.
For christians there is a wonderful assurance that our last breath here will be our first breath in eternity. Heaven will be a place of great joy and unmarked by any of the things that make life bitter here.
The Bible tells us that God has launched a rescue plan and everyone who wants to can be redeemed. One of the most famous sentences in the Bible is John 3:16. “ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
From God Reports:Muslim set out to disprove Bible, but a funny thing happened after he read it
By Alexia Hess –
Mubashir’s consecration to Islam was perfect.
“I was honoured to be a teacher at Koran school in India,” he told International Christian Response. “I felt so full of satisfaction in both my role and my dedication to my path.
“My dedication to Koran was all-encompassing, all-consuming.”
In his zeal to strengthen the Muslim population in India (which registers at 14%, well behind the Hindu majority of 80%), he threw himself into studying comparative religion.
Cracking open a Bible to better expose its errors (he thought), he began reading the New Testament. It was a strange sensation. What he had been told about the Bible didn’t line up with what was written in the Bible.
Muslims in India
“I was amazed by the love and acceptance and forgiveness that I found in the pages of the Christian scriptures,” he recalls. “Jesus as God-become-man captured my attention. He became one of us in order to save us.”
Inevitably, he turned his life over to Jesus and became a Christian. He lost his job at the Koran school.
“My parents didn’t want to have anything to do with me,” he adds. “I quickly went with my friends and neighbors to share the good news, but they rejected me too.”
The rejection turned violent.
“The next thing I knew, I was being dragged out of my house and beaten so severely that I had to be hospitalized for some time,” he recounts. “With no job, I had no way to pay my medical bills and was frightened for my future.”
Thankfully, International Christian Response intervened and helped him start a new, independent life.
If you want to know more about a personal relationship with God, go here
When a Kentucky-born Amish leader dared to listen to a gospel preacher on the radio (in violation of Amish rules), he was astounded by the simple message of grace and forgiveness by faith that conflicted with his ideas that “God love you, but he loved you so much he would punish you.”
“I never knew that you could know that you are going to Heaven,” Vern Yoder says on a 700 Club video. “I couldn’t wrap my head around a warm, hug-type love.”
Vern was born to a well-respected deacon of the Amish, an American East Coast religious group that have strict rules for dress and behavior, which includes not using automobiles. The Amish are considered Christian, but their application of scriptures can be seen as legalistic.
Vern struggled through his teen years to maintain the standards of his church.
His constant thought: What can I do to be a better person? What can I do to have a better shot to make it into Heaven? “It would drive me down into this pit of despair.”
The overemphasis on rules and laws weighed on his soul.
“I was so miserable,” Vern says. “I didn’t know (if I would make it to Heaven), so I would work and work and work at trying to be the best Amish.”
He married and had children, but carried the pharisaical spirit into his roles as husband and father. He went overboard as a disciplinarian and his marriage was strained, he says.
Reflecting on the frustration of his brand of Christianity, Vern pleaded with God: “God, I can’t do this any longer. You’re going to have to help me with this.”
One day he got a job as a tractor driver. That day he listened to a radio preacher expound the doctrines of the simple gospel. It challenged everything he knew about God.
“He was going through a series about faith, about grace, about mercy,” Vern says. “He was telling me things I had never heard in my life. I heard that you can know now that you’re going to Heaven. You don’t have to wait until you die and live in fear.”
He prayed a sinner’s prayer at the end of the broadcast and was flooded by the grace and love of God.
With the Holy Spirit now guiding him as he read the Bible, Vern understood what had been shrouded for years by legalistic interpretations: “The Word of God just leaped out of the pages,” he says. “I would be so excited, I couldn’t contain it.”
Vern felt obliged to leave the Amish community. He shaved his Amish beard and began to dress in contemporary clothing. It was all about Jesus now, not about pleasing the religious folks who stood by and judged everything that was not right, he says.
“I knew that I would follow Jesus, come whatever,” Vern says. “I would follow Jesus (even) if it meant death.”
He’s no longer the stern disciplinarian who criticizes every slipup of his kids. He’s no longer the disapproving husband who was critical of his wife.
“The love of Jesus really softened me,” Vern says. “I don’t have to work to get to Heaven. I work because I know I’m going there and I love pleasing my Master.”
If you want to know more about a personal relationship with God, go here
The Red Heifers have arrived in Israel! So says the May 22, 2023, article “Prophetic Anticipation Builds: Unblemished Red Heifers for Temple Ceremony Soon Come of Age.” The claim is, based on Numbers 19, the heifers need to be at least 3 years old for priestly purification purposes. For that you need priests, animal sacrifices, and a physical temple, all of which passed away when the temple was destroyed by the Romans in AD 70. None of this has anything to do with Bible prophecy as I pointed out in a previous article.
Anyone making anything of this is going back to the rituals of the Old Covenant that Jesus fulfilled. When Jesus said, “It’s finished,” He meant it. I can understand why some religious Jews believe that heifers are important but not Christians, and yet many Christians get excited about red heifers and calls to rebuild the temple as if it has anything to do with Bible prophecy. Read the book of Hebrews.
But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things having come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made by hands, that is, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all time, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled, sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (9:11-14)
Jesus is the endpoint of its fulfillment. End of story. But it seems it’s never the end.
Did you know that AI, Artificial Intelligence is found in the Bible? No? Neither did I. But there it is, big as day. The city of Ai. That’s right! It’s been there all the time. Here’s how it goes:
[M]ight there be a biblical connection to AI? The answer is yes, according to a popular author known for illuminating Scriptures. “Ai is actually mentioned in the Bible,” says Joe Kovacs, author of the best-selling “Reaching God Speed: Unlocking the Secret Broadcast Revealing the Mystery of Everything.”
“No, it’s not an abbreviation for artificial intelligence. It’s a single word spelled A-i, and can be pronounced like each of its letters, as in ‘a’ and ‘i.’
“It’s the name of an ancient Canaanite city, and it packs an incredible significance for today when we examine Ai on the spirit or metaphor level. “This was a real, historical place, but it carries an additional parable meaning as well, since Jesus only spoke to people in parables, and ‘did not say anything to them without using a parable’ (Matthew 13:34). He, of course, is still speaking to everyone through every word in the Bible.”
Kovacs explains the first key to unlocking the mystery is to understand the meaning of the word ‘Ai,’ which can be translated as ‘Ruin’ or ‘a heap of ruins.’ “That’s big hint No. 1, the fact that Ai actually means ruin or a heap of ruins, coming from a Hebrew verb meaning to bend, twist, pervert and distort, all leading to ruin,” Kovacs explains.
“God says He’s ‘declaring the end from the beginning’ (Isaiah 46:10), so right from the start of something, He’s broadcasting the end result, its future conclusion.” Interestingly, the author notes, the ancient town of Ai happened to be located “beside Bethaven, on the east side of Bethel.” (Joshua 7:2)
“When we learn the meanings of these places, it provides even more clues,” says Kovacs. “Bethel means ‘house of God’ and Bethaven means ‘house of vanity (nothingness)’ or ‘house of plenty of trouble.’
“So Ai, the place of ruin, was closely associated with the house of vanity, nothingness, and plenty of trouble. That sounds a whole lot like our world today.
The article goes on to make “metaphorical” associations to what’s happening today and ends with, “God may be using this ancient event as a divine hint, a physical example of what today’s AI may bring if artificial intelligence twists, distorts and perverts the truth.”
There’s nothing wrong with comparing events in Scripture to what’s taking place in our day but linking the city of Ai to Artificial Intelligence in anyway is Scripture Twisting like the way the Hebrew word rosh in Ezekiel 38-39 is said to refer to modern-day Russia. There are no linguistic, etymological, or historical correlations. It’s fulfilled prophecy.
This week, we celebrate Pentecost, the event found in the book of Acts in which Jesus’s followers received the Holy Spirit.
Luke tells us, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you” (Acts 1:8). This is not a quake, an emotion, a feeling, an opinion or even a religion. Let’s set the record straight: Jesus said you will receive power.
Holy Spirit people believe. They do not beg. As Holy Spirit people, we should be known for our appointments, not our opinions. The Holy Spirit is the most significant empowering force in the universe. I’m not talking about just any power. I’m not talking about corrupt, coercive or controlling power. I’m not talking about temporary, tantalizing or transitional power. I am talking about the power that Jesus said will flow like rivers of living water (John 7:38).
In this passage, Jesus was prophesying about the Holy Spirit—the same power that descended upon Jesus when he was baptized in the Jordan, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead on the third day. Christ-followers have the same ability to speak into the storm and say, “‘Peace, be still’” (Mark 4:39b).
Because the Holy Spirit dwells within us, we have the power to speak life to ourselves, strangers and friends. With conviction, we can say, “Go, and sin no more” (John 8:11b). The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives inside you (Romans 8:11). Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit, came out of the tomb. In his power, you can come out of anything. You can come out of addiction, anxiety, fear, confusion, bondage, depression, discouragement, shame and sin.
You cannot rightfully claim powerlessness and the Holy Spirit. You can’t have the Spirit and be defeated. Holy Spirit people are people of supernatural power to overcome this world.
Back in the Old Testament, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit was only temporary. It would come and go as it pleased. The Holy Spirit would visit and partially fill, but never wholly and never permanently. Now, because of the atoning work of Jesus, the power that you and I have is not temporary. It’s final.
No longer must we rely on the Holy Spirit falling upon us. We depend on Him filling us to overflowing. The third person of the holy Trinity now permanently resides in you. He is your comforter and advocate forever and always.
When the people of God lean into this reality, we will see an unprecedented outpouring of his power. COVID is not more powerful than the Spirit of God inside of us. No cancer, no depression, no political power, no religious ideology can outsmart or outmaneuver the strength and will of God inside of you. Nothing hell can conjure is more powerful than the Holy Spirit of God inside of you. Because of God’s indwelling Spirit, you can confidently say, “Greater is the one living inside of me than he who is in the world” (see 1 John 4:4).
When we as the church choose to embrace this truth, we will experience a revival like we’ve never seen before. Entire cities are about to experience an awakening; more people will come to Jesus than ever before. We’re about to see not just a revival within a building but entire cities and nations.
Get ready—because nothing can stop the Spirit of God from moving if we believe. This Pentecost, join me in praying for holy dynamite, an undeniable explosion of power in every nation. In Jesus’ name, do away with every single vestige of darkness, that each person would be washed afresh with the Holy Spirit—every family, every church, every ministry, every city, every community, every nation, baptized anew with the precious Holy Spirit, in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
A few months ago the Shire Council did some resealing work along our street. The newly applied asphalt covered the line markings, so a few weeks later, the contractors came along and applied the appropriate lines.
This was all very well, except the line markers made a mistake. They extended a double line by a few metres to make it join up with a traffic island.
The gap in the lines had been there ever since we moved into the house 25 years ago. It provided a handy place to do a U-turn to get to our driveway. You might be thinking, “They could just drive a bit further”, and you would be right. Except that it is actually more dangerous to do a U-turn where the lines end.
Transport NSW told us that the gap should be there, as the correct line markings are in the NSW Government Gazette and have the force of the law.
So, as I understand it, the double lines are actually there illegally. If I get caught crossing these illegal lines would I be fined?
Many religions and philosophies are based on rules. Do this and God will be happy; do that and God will be unhappy with you.
The trouble with laws (apart form the fact that they can become self-contradictory) is that they tell you what to do, make no attempt to help you, and then condemn you when you fail.
In contrast, Jesus comes to us with grace and love. Love motivates us to do the right thing because we want to, it empowers us to life right, and it forgives us when we fall.
The invitation of Jesus is this: “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30).
If you are frustrated by trying to be good, connect yourself to Jesus who brings love not law.
New Life Narrabri 