Following Jesus

Terry Somerville: A New Wind Is Blowing

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A NEW WIND IS BLOWING

A New Wineskin Is Here

Mark 2:22

“And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; else the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is spilled, and the skins will be destroyed: but new wine is put into fresh wineskins.”

Dear Friends,

History demonstrates that when God awakens His people in repentance and holiness,  it often leads to remarkable social transformation. 

A revival is followed by a reformation.

What begins in the Church produces changes in the community and the marketplace.

In the Welsh Revival, for example, police forces had nothing to do, grog shops closed, and the mine horses would not obey the drivers who had stopped using profanity—they didn’t recognize clean language.

But today, we seem stuck. We experience church revival while the country perishes.

Lets look at the historic and current pattern of revival.

An Old-Time Revival

  • Prayer
  • The Spirit of God moves in a whole community
  • The Gospel is communicated in some way
  • People repent, believe, and live differently
  • The community is transformed
  • Revival transmits to another community and transforms it as well.
  • The nation is transformed — reformation

Acts 19:18–20
“Many also of those that had believed came, confessing, and declaring their deeds… So mightily grew the word of the Lord and prevailed.”

God is still moving powerfully today—but revival now seems trapped inside the four walls of the church.

That’s an OLD WINESKIN problem.
 

A Modern Western Revival

  • Prayer
  • The Spirit of God moves in a church
  • The Gospel is communicated
  • People repent, believe, and live differently
  • The local church is changed
  • The local community is largely unaffected
  • Revival mainly transmits to other churches
     

IMPLICATIONS

Modern culture is entirely different than it was even fifty years ago.

Our society is no longer formed primarily by geographical communities, though most of us live in cities. Past revival methods mostly work inside church culture.

Local revival cannot touch those who shape the conscience and conduct of a society. They now live in a different kind of “community.”

Our culture is created through copper, fiber, satellites, wireless systems, and screens.
We now live inside vast virtual communities shaped by television, the internet, mass media, the corporate marketplace, big government—and now AI-generated illusions of reality.

A global culture is saturating us.

Our new society permits a constant flow of wickedness that we often feel powerless to restrain. Most of the time, we’re just on the receiving end of a sewer pipe.

Psalm 11:3
“If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?”

Revival does not spread the way it once did. One hundred years ago, when a community shared a common culture, revival would permeate it. This still happens in some places—parts of Africa, for example—but not here.
 

 

THE NEED FOR A NEW WINESKIN

The Church needs a new wineskin to carry the new wine and bring the Kingdom of God into this culture.

That means new authority—locally and nationally—within the areas that actually create culture.

The Lord has been preparing a gigantic Gospel net that transcends national marketing systems, media platforms, and political boundaries, and can touch the heart of a nation.

It features a return to relationships, with the power of God released in the marketplace.

The shift has been a long time coming—but it will be right on time.

Habakkuk 2:14
“For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea.”


A NEW WINESKIN IS HERE


1. From Organizational to Relational

The Church is moving from an organizational way of being to a relational one.
Relationship must be recovered—even in a virtual world.

John 13:35
“By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”

2. From A Focus On Ministries to Jesus and His Bride

The focus is moving from ministries and organizations to Jesus Himself and being His Bride. Who we are is becoming as important as what we do.

Ephesians 5:27
“That he might present the church to himself a glorious church… holy and without blemish.”

3. From Superstars to Everyone Ministering

Ministry is shifting from a few platform superstars to everyone walking in power.

Ephesians 4:11–12
“…for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministering.”
Acts 1:8
“Ye shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon you…”

4. From Buildings to Relationships

The location of ministry is moving from church buildings to personal relationships in the marketplace and social networks.

Acts 8:4
“They therefore that were scattered abroad went about preaching the word.”

5. From Skill to Presence

The power of ministry is moving from skill and charisma to the presence of God Himself, anointing everyone by the Holy Spirit.

Zechariah 4:6
“Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith Jehovah of hosts.”

6. From Performance to God’s Glory

The passion of ministry is moving away from idols—platforms, positions, performance—and toward God’s glory being seen.

John 12:43
“They loved the glory that is of men more than the glory that is of God.”
1 Corinthians 10:31
“Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.”

7. From Teaching to Impartation

Preparation for ministry is moving from teaching alone to impartation, from knowledge to anointing and holiness.

2 Timothy 1:6
“Stir up the gift of God which is in thee…”
Hebrews 12:14
“…the sanctification without which no man shall see the Lord.”

8. From Control to Servanthood

Leadership is shifting from organizational control to servanthood and honor.

Mark 10:42–45
“Whosoever would become great among you, shall be your minister…”

9. From Corralling to Commissioning

Vision is moving from pastors safely corralling the flock to apostles leading the flock as an army.

Joel 2:7
“They run like mighty men… they break not their ranks.”

 

THE GLOBAL “FISH NET”

God is taking us into the next GLOBAL phase, new wineskin and all.

In the 1990s, God began deep character preparation. Now the culture and practice of the Church is undergoing massive change.

1 Peter 4:17
“For the time is come for judgment to begin at the house of God.”

A great—and often unpleasant—pruning has taken place over the last decade.

  • Holiness is rising
  • Mixture is being purged
  • Intimacy with God is increasing
  • Renewal is lifting religious burdens
  • Love and relationship are becoming foundational again

The prophetic is rising with authority.
Prayer is increasing—identificational repentance, spiritual mapping, and warfare prayer.

Millions of ordinary believers are ascending alongside institutions and “super ministries.”
Less emphasis on denominations. More on the whole Body of Christ.

Apostolic authority is being released to take territory for the Kingdom of God.

2 Corinthians 10:3–5
“The weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the casting down of strongholds.”


A FINAL WORD

The Lord is judging man-made structures of church and ministry that are devoid of the life of God.

In the past, God forged sharp arrows—individual ministries—and fired them into strongholds.

Now, in a multicultural, multi-channel, multi-choice world, God is preparing a vast net—millions of believers casting together across the land.

Into this moment, God is releasing new strategies for our time.

New wine requires new wineskins.
And new wineskins are here.

The Bible- God’s Word

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1. Introduction

In 2 Timothy 3:16, we are told that all Scripture is inspired by God. In Hebrews 4:12, we are told that the word of God is like a sharp sword, that it is active and alive.

What do we mean when we say that the Scriptures are inspired by God?

At the very least it must mean that God has led the people to write what they wrote. They may or may not have been aware that the Holy Spirit was directing their thoughts, but in some way this was what happened.

Some of the Bible was contextual, such as the letters. There was a problem at some church, so Paul sent a letter to correct the community and direct them in a more helpful path.

2. Old Testament

The Old Testament consists of 39 books and is divided into 3 parts- Torah or Law, Writings and Prophets. There are about 29 authors in total, although the authorship of some books or parts of books is uncertain.

Moses lived around 1500 BC, while Micah, the last of the prophets, lived around 450 BC, and 1 & 2 Chronicles were written around 400 BC.

There were many other religious writings that were honoured by different Jewish communities. These communities were scattered all around Middle East, Europe, North Africa, even into Asia.

Eventually rules were established: the original had to be in Hebrew,it had to claim to be inspired by God, the author had to be a recognised prophet or leader, and the writing had to be consistent with the rest of Scripture.

By Jesus’ time the Old Testament as we have it was pretty much accepted.

In the days before the printing press was invented, all books had to be copied by hand. A group of educated religious leaders called “Scribes” carefully copied every word on a scroll. There were tables that listed how many times each word appeared on each scroll. On completing a scroll, the scribe had to count how many times each word occurred in his cope and compare it with the table. If he made even just one mistake he tore it up and burned it, and then started again.

3. New Testament

There are 27 books in the New Testament , written by 8 or so authors, depending on whether you think Hebrews was written by Paul, and how many people named John wrote the books of Gospel, 1,2,3, John, and Revelation

The New Testament was written in Greek, the language of commerce. Most people knew some Greek as well as their own local language, so writing the texts ni Greek assured that many people would understand it.

The New Testament consists of three parts: Gospels + Acts, Letters, Revelation.

There is a little dispute about the exact dates of composition of some of the books, but it can be argued that they were all completed by 70 AD, that is within 40 years of the death and resurrection of Jesus, and before the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple.

The rules for canonicity in the New Testament were similar to that of the old: books had to be of apostolic origin, that is written by an apostle or someone close to an apostle, they had to have orthodox teaching, and be recognised by the church as divine Scripture.

Various collections started circulating around the church very early The Canon (the recognised list of books) started developing by the end of first century and was completed by 200 AD.

4. Preservation of Text

Ancient documents were not easily copied or preserved. Every document had to be copied by hand. We can imagine that over the course of hundreds of years, documents could be lost, destroyed by flood or fire, or just fall apart from age.

For example: Plato lived about 400 B.C. We have just 7 copies of his work dating to AD 900, a twelve hundred year gap from the tome of writing to the earliest existing manuscript.

Aristotle lived about 300 B.C. We have 49 copies of which the earliest dates to 1100, that’s a gap of 1400 years.

Contrast this with the abundance of biblical source documents.

Old Testament. The Dead Sea Scrolls comprise over 900 manuscripts including nearly all of the Old Testament. In Cairo a warehouse was found containing 250,000 Hebrew pieces of manuscripts dating from about 800 A.D.

New Testament. We have 9600 copies, some dating back to about 130 A.D., that is within 60-70 years. We also have 19000 copies in other languages like Latin, Aramaic

There is nothing like it in ancient literature for either the quantity of sources or for the closeness of the documents to the time the original was first written.

It is all very well having lots of copies, but are they accurate? Well from all of these sources, they are 99.5% accurate, that is they agree with each other that much. This is for both the New and the Old Testament. Not only that but no variations affect our understanding of God, salvation, heaven, hell.

From all of this we can be very confident that the versions of the Greek and Hebrew texts are very similar to the originals.

5. What does it mean?

God has spoken in many ways, through many people.

Prophets heard God’s voice, spoke it out, wrote it down.

Apostles wrote letters, accounts of life and ministry of Jesus etc. Their authority was such that their words are the Word of God.

God worked hard to make sure that this book is trustworthy as His living word to us.

The Bible is a very special book. It is God’s letter to us, carefully copied and preserved, then translated so that we can read it in our own native language.

“Mindfulness” and “Meditation” Can Be Harmful

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Christians have long warned that Eastern meditation techniques can lead to demonic oppression. Emptying your mind is an invitation for evil spirits to fill the void.

There is increasing scientific evidence that “mindfulness” can lead to mental illness such as depression and anxiety, that is letting in spirits of mourning and fear.

From “Science alerts”

Meditation And Mindfulness Have a Dark Side We Rarely Talk About

Health24 February 2026

ByMiguel Farias, The Conversation

A high contrast image showing a silhouetted human meditating by the ocean at sunset(guruXOOX/Canva Pro)

Since mindfulness is something you can practice at home for free, it often sounds like the perfect tonic for stress and mental health issues.

Mindfulness is a type of Buddhist-based meditation in which you focus on being aware of what you’re sensing, thinking, and feeling in the present moment.

The first recorded evidence for this, found in India, is over 1,500 years old. The Dharmatrāta Meditation Scripture, written by a community of Buddhists, describes various practices and includes reports of symptoms of depression and anxiety that can occur after meditation.

It also details cognitive anomalies associated with episodes of psychosis, dissociation, and depersonalisation (when people feel the world is “unreal”).

In the past eight years, there has been a surge of scientific research in this area. These studies show that adverse effects are not rare.

A 2022 study, using a sample of 953 people in the US who meditated regularly, showed that over 10 percent of participants experienced adverse effects that had a significant negative impact on their everyday life and lasted for at least one month.

A masculine person meditating on a couch
(Egoitz Bengoetxea Iguaran/Canva Pro)

According to a review of over 40 years of research that was published in 2020, the most common adverse effects are anxiety and depression. These are followed by psychotic or delusional symptoms, dissociation or depersonalisation, and fear or terror.

Research also found that adverse effects can happen to people without previous mental health problems, to those who have only had a moderate exposure to meditation and they can lead to long-lasting symptoms.

The western world has also had evidence about these adverse effects for a long time.

In 1976, Arnold Lazarus, a key figure in the cognitive-behavioural science movement, said that meditation, when used indiscriminately, could induce “serious psychiatric problems such as depression, agitation, and even schizophrenic decompensation”.

There is evidence that mindfulness can benefit people’s well-being. The problem is that mindfulness coaches, videos, apps, and books rarely warn people about the potential adverse effects.

Read the rest of the article here

What is Lent?

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What is Lent?

Lent starts each year on Ash Wednesday, which this year falls on February 18th. The season of Lent last for 40 days (excluding Sundays) from Ash Wednesday to Holy Thursday, that is the day before Good Friday.

Lent is traditionally a time to prepare our hearts to commemorate the death of Jesus on the cross on Good Friday. It is usually marked by fasting of various forms, whether abstaining from meat, or sweet things, or complete fasts for part of the time, for example a weekly 24 hour fast.

It is our sins that required Jesus to die on the cross, so we are all complicit in His suffering. Lent is a time to humble ourselves and to examine our lives to see what sins we still need to conquer.

In the time leading up to Ash Wednesday, it is a good idea to ask God what He would like you to do to mark Lent. Perhaps it will involve fasting from food, or technology, or perhaps more prayer time.

Communist China still fears Christianity

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From lifestienews.com

Communist China still fears Christianity, and Jimmy Lai’s sentence proves it

Sentencing a frail 78-year-old Catholic to 20 years in prison is no act of justice. It is a calculated death sentence meant to terrorize Hong Kong and crush Christian resistance.

Featured ImageJimmy Lai, Apple Daily founder, arrives at the Court of Final Appeal ahead a bail hearing on February 9, 2021, in Hong Kong, ChinaPhoto by Anthony Kwan/Getty Images

(LifeSiteNews) — For Chinese Catholics, communist rule has often run red with the blood of martyrs. Now, in sentencing Hong Kong businessman and Catholic convert Jimmy Lai to 20 years in prison on fabricated crimes, the communists have created another one.

Make no mistake: sentencing a 78-year-old man in poor health to two decades behind bars is a death sentence. You know it, I know it, and the three black-robed stooges who yesterday handed down the sentence at yesterday’s Hong Kong court hearing – a sentence undoubtedly crafted by their masters in Beijing – know it.

We needn’t waste much time on the clearly fabricated charges that led to this sentencing. Lai, a newspaperman, was convicted of “colluding with foreign forces” for talking to people outside Hong Kong about the erosion of freedom under Red China’s increasingly oppressive rule. He also supported peaceful marches in favor of the self-rule that Hong Kong had been promised. Now you might think that talking to people is a newspaperman’s job, and peacefully demonstrating is a human right, but for this he was accused of “sedition.”

Jimmy Lai’s son, Sebastien, said the sentence against his father “signifies the total destruction of the Hong Kong legal system and the end of justice.”

It is that and more.

Jimmy Lai’s “trial” was a public spectacle designed by the totalitarian state that now rules China to control opinion, intimidate, and repress dissent in the once great city of Hong Kong.

It is proof positive that what the Catholic Catechism calls “the plague of totalitarian states” has now fatally infected the one-time British colony. Like China itself, the authorities in Hong Kong now “systematically falsify the truth, exercise political control of opinion through the media, manipulate defendants and witnesses at public trials, and imagine that they secure their tyranny by strangling and repressing everything they consider ‘thought crimes.’” (Para. 2499)

Everyone in Hong Kong understands that the Beijing-controlled authorities have imposed a de facto death sentence on Jimmy Lai. Not by immediate execution, of course, but by long and harsh incarceration. They intend to “kill without shedding blood” – a Chinese saying that means intentionally imprisoning someone for such a long period of time and in such harsh conditions that they do not survive.

Everyone also understands that they could easily suffer the same fate, if they openly criticise the regime. In sentencing Jimmy Lai to a slow death, the communists have, as another Chinese saying goes, “killed the one to terrorise the hundred.”

Catholics from the time of the Roman persecutions have long understood martyrdom as extending beyond the literal shedding of blood.

While many Chinese priests and laymen have been summarily executed for refusing to bow to the communist “god,” many other martyrs have been made in China’s gulags. They died from prolonged imprisonment under harsh conditions, ranging from torture and forced labour, to starvation and medical neglect. And their deaths are widely recognized as a form of red martyrdom.

While Lai has not been tortured or subjected to forced labor, he has been kept in solitary confinement for almost five years, which in itself is considered to be cruel and unusual punishment, and was intended to break his will to resist. (It failed.)

Lai is also suffering from medical neglect. He is a diabetic and has recently developed an irregular heartbeat, both conditions that have not been adequately treated during his confinement and may well hasten his death.

And now he faces two decades more of such harsh treatment.

There is no doubt that he would not be in prison today were it not for his Catholic faith and his passion for the truth, which are closely intertwined. His articles criticizing the atheistic Chinese Communist Party and its leaders dating back decades put a target on this back.

And the courage to confront the biggest killing machine on the planet – the Chinese Communist Party – came directly from his Catholic faith.

His interest in Catholicism was originally inspired by the faith of his wife, a devout Catholic, and by the faith of those Catholics he met in the course of his pro-democracy activities beginning in the 1990s, such as Cardinal Joseph Zen, then-archbishop of Hong Kong, and Martin Lee.

So it was that in 1997, within days of the communist takeover of Hong Kong, he entered the Church, baptized and confirmed by the great Chinese cardinal. As his wife noted at the time, “He knows that a fight is coming and that he will need God’s help for this fight.”

Lai continued his fight for freedom for the next 23 years, under increasingly difficult circumstances. While hundreds of thousands fled Hong Kong for the safer environs of America, Canada, and Australia, he stayed and fought and prayed.

Since his arrest in 2020, Lai has spent his time in confinement uniting his own suffering with that of Christ, mediating on His Passion, crucifixion, and incarnation. He has also produced a large number of religious sketches based on these themes, using the only drawing materials he is allowed: colored pencils and lined notebook papers.

His best-known work is a large depiction of Christ on the Cross, with blood streaming from his wounds, casting an agonized look directly at the viewer. The Cross itself is flanked by eight orange flowers, an intimation of the new life that follows Christ’s suffering and death. It was smuggled out of prison and is on display at the Catholic University of America.

The communist authorities were reportedly infuriated by the “power” of his art. They have since made certain that no additional sketches are smuggled out.

Of course, the true “power” of Lai’s art is that it is a depiction of Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross. The CCP has always found Christianity, and especially Catholicism, threatening, and sought to silence its followers.

As his art shows, Lai views his own imprisonment as a prolonged cross that he is bearing for the sake of Christ.

Those who have imprisoned him are also acting, at least in part, ob odium fidei, out of hatred for faith. That is, after all, the nature of communism. It is a grim and relentless foe of God and religion. Those who die in prison, persecuted for their faith, are honored as martyrs.

In the meantime, I was heartened to see that in October, Pope Leo XIV personally greeted Lai’s wife and daughter after the general audience in St. Peter’s Square. I pray that the Pope speaks out strongly against the unjust sentencing of not only our fellow Catholic, Jimmy Lai, but of all Christians in China.

I believe that Jimmy Lai is, day by day, offering up his life for the faith.

To date, that faith has remained strong. He asked for God’s help in this fight when he came into the Church, and that prayer has been answered.

When the three communist stooges asked him at his trial if he had anything to say for himself, he replied: “(A)t the end of the day, the truth will come out in the kingdom of heaven, in the kingdom of God, and that’s good enough for me.”

Say a prayer for Jimmy Lai, that the Holy Spirit may console him during his long years in cruel captivity to come.

Steven W. Mosher is the President of the Population Research Institute and the author of The Underground Church (forthcoming, Sophia Institute Press).

Joseph Mattera: 12 Negative Consequences of Divorcing the Cross From the Kingdom

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Joseph Matters writes:

One of the most serious theological crises in the contemporary church is the growing separation between the message of the kingdom and the way of the cross. Whenever these two are divorced, the kingdom becomes distorted, and the church loses its prophetic witness. Scripture reveals that the kingdom Jesus preached is inseparable from the cruciform life He modeled. The cross is not only the entry point into salvation—it is the shape of Christian leadership, influence, and spiritual authority. When we remove the cross, we remove the very character of Christ from the mission of the church. What follows are twelve negative consequences that arise when believers pursue the kingdom without embracing the cross.

  1. The Kingdom Becomes a Human Empire

When the cross is removed from kingdom theology, the kingdom becomes a tool for building personal brands, expanding organizations, and consolidating influence. Leaders begin constructing towers instead of washing feet. The movement of Jesus becomes an enterprise run by human strategy rather than a spiritual family shaped by sacrifice. Empire-building replaces servant leadership, and ministry becomes more about the greatness of the leader than the greatness of Christ.

  1. Ego and Ambition Replace Humility and Brokenness

A kingdom taught without the cross inflates human ego. Calling becomes confused with status; influence becomes a competition; ministry becomes a platform for gifted but unbroken leaders. Instead of dying to self, people pursue the kingdom as a path to personal fulfillment, visibility, and significance. The cross confronts ambition, but without it, ambition runs wild under the disguise of “taking mountains” and “walking in destiny.”

  1. Leadership Defaults to Top-Down Control

Jesus explicitly rejected the power structures of the Gentiles, yet when kingdom teaching loses its cruciform core, leaders unconsciously imitate worldly models of control. Authority becomes positional instead of relational. Leaders command from above rather than serve from below. Hierarchy replaces humility, and people become managed instead of discipled. Without the cross, leadership becomes about exerting power rather than empowering people.

  1. The Spirit of Narcissism Rises in the Church

When the cross is absent, leaders become image-driven, platform-centered, and hypersensitive to criticism. Ministry becomes a stage upon which leaders perform rather than an altar upon which they die. Narcissism masquerades as vision, and spiritual language is used to project ego and reputation. The cruciform life forms “decreasing” leaders; a crossless kingdom forms entitled leaders who must constantly “increase” and be the center of attention. 

  1. Ministry Takes on Colonial Tendencies

A kingdom divorced from the cross often becomes coercive, imposing culture, preferences, and systems onto others. Instead of practicing incarnational mission in the way of Christ-leaders solely adopt conquest mentalities—seeking to “take over” rather than influencing through serving.” The cross breaks superiority and produces servants; a crossless kingdom produces conquerors who mistake domination for discipleship.

  1. The Church Sends Ambitious People Into Civic Leadership

The kingdom does speak to culture and government, but when the cross is removed, believers pursue civic roles without cruciform formation. Ambitious personalities, lacking spiritual depth, enter arenas of power and are quickly discipled by the systems they hoped to influence. They may speak kingdom language but operate in worldly spirit. Without the cross, we raise influencers instead of Daniels.

  1. Immature Leaders Rise Too Quickly

A crossless kingdom elevates gifting over character and charisma over spiritual depth. People who have never endured the refining fire of the cross ascend into leadership prematurely. This results in emotional instability, shallow discipleship, and wounded congregations. Without the cross, leadership formation becomes about speed, not depth; visibility, not maturity.

  1. Promotion Becomes Human-Driven, Not God-Given

Jesus taught that only the humble will be exalted. The cross is God’s means of preparing leaders for sustainable influence. When the cross is removed, leaders grasp for roles, titles, and opportunities instead of waiting for God’s timing. Ministry becomes a competition of self-promotion, and influence becomes disconnected from intimacy with God. Without the cross, crowns are seized by men rather than bestowed by Jesus. 

  1. The Kingdom Collapses Into Moralism

Remove the cross, and Christianity becomes a program of moral improvement rather than spiritual regeneration. Sermons focus on ethical principles without resurrection power. People are taught how to behave but not how to die and rise with Christ. The kingdom becomes a list of virtues rather than a transformed life empowered by grace. The cross alone enables the Spirit’s work of new creation.

  1. Ministry Is Powered by Human Strength Instead of the Spirit

A crossless kingdom leads to churches built on talent, marketing, systems, and strategy—yet lacking the anointing. Leaders become exhausted because they are trying to accomplish spiritually impossible tasks through human effort. Prayer becomes optional. The gifts of the Spirit go dormant. Without the cross, there is no Pentecost; without surrender, there is no power.

  1. Spiritual Authority Is Misunderstood and Abused

When the cross is absent, authority becomes confused with control, intimidation, and positional dominance. Leaders wield authority instead of embodying it. Biblical authority is cruciform—it flows through brokenness, sacrifice, and love. A crossless leader may hold a hierarchical title but lacks spiritual traction. Without the cross, authority becomes a weapon rather than a stewardship.

  1. The Church Loses the Revelation of the Lamb

Perhaps the greatest consequence of divorcing the cross from the kingdom is that the church loses sight of Jesus as the Lamb at the center of the throne (Rev. 5:6). The Lamb reveals the nature of kingdom power—self-giving love, sacrifice, humility, and forgiveness. When the Lamb is eclipsed, the church becomes political, anxious, aggressive, and triumphalist. Without the cross, we imitate worldly kings instead of the Crucified King.

The kingdom without the cross produces gifted people without godliness, influence without integrity, and movements without the presence of God. But the kingdom shaped by the cross produces leaders who look like Jesus—humble, sacrificial, Spirit-filled, and faithful.

The future belongs to the cruciform church.

The Lamb still reigns.

And His kingdom still advances through the cross.

Christian Community

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Last week I had the joyful experience of meeting up with a group of christian migrants mainly from Pakistan who now live in the western suburbs of Sydney, around Liverpool. I was asked to preach at their Sunday service as well as lead a Bible study and do some other things.

The congregation there ranges from fairly recent arrivals who have little knowledge of English to the children and grandchildren who have spent most or all of their life in Australia and are more Australian than Pakistani. The cultural generation gap becomes visceral when the national cricket teams play each other.

The people in this community mainly speak Urdu amongst themselves, and the services are conducted in Urdu. I spent much of the weekend not having any idea about what people were saying. That would be the situation of course faced by many of these people when they first came to the country.

The younger people speak English, and Urdu is a secondary language. Over time this congregation will become more English based but always keeping its unique cultural background.

What impressed me in all of this is how similar these people are to the people of my own church. Both groups love God and they care for each other. You can see this in the depth of relationships they enjoy with one another.

There is something very special, even unique, about christian communities. Whether we are true blue Aussies in a small town, or immigrants in a big city, the love of Christ binds us together. The apostle Paul used the analogy of a body to make the point that although we look different and have different gifts, we all belong together.

As our society becomes increasingly fragmented, christians will stand out as people who care for one another.

Former Sceptic Who Studied 1,500 Near-Death Experiences Says Evidence Points to Jesus

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From Faithwire.com

A pastor and author who has investigated more than 1,000 near-death experiences (NDEs) believes there’s definitive evidence that many of these experiences are authentic.

John Burke, co-author of “Imagine the God of Heaven Devotional: 60 Reflections on the Heart of God from the Bible and Near-Death Experiences” with his wife, Kathy, told CBN News he was once a sceptic.

“Not only did I not believe in near-death experiences, I didn’t believe in Jesus or God,” he said. “Many … decades ago, my dad was dying of cancer and someone gave him the very first research that coined the term near-death experience.”

Burke said this came in the form of a book, which he ended up reading. At the time, Burke wanted evidence — and the book provided just that: stories of people who were clinically dead and resuscitated. Among the stories, he noticed many of those experiencing NDEs claimed to have seen Jesus.

“That really began my whole faith journey, because so many saw Jesus,” he said. “I was like, ‘I better be open to the Bible.’ So I started reading, and studying the Bible, came to faith.”

That was the start not only of Burke’s faith journey, but also his foray into NDEs. Over time, his intrigue bloomed into an investigation of 1,500 real-life cases. His previous book, “Imagine the God of Heaven,” was a hit and sparked much conversation about these important stories.

“What I write about is how the commonalities really do relate to the Bible and what the Bible’s expectation of heaven, of hell, of God,” Burke said.

His wife, Kathy, told CBN News she had a very different faith trajectory and can’t remember a time when she wasn’t a believer.

“Scriptural truths have always been a big part of my life, and I’ve enjoyed being able to stand on them,” she said. “And I know they’re solid.”

NDE’s left her deeply intrigued, with Kathy explaining that, though she believes the truth of Scripture is enough, these stories offer a fresh perspective and have revitalised her faith.

“It just has really given me a fresh perspective and revitalised my faith, and the the power of my faith, and the power of God in really amazing ways,” she said.

John expressed some of the most fascinating reflections he has had after exploring these stories — particularly the types of people who claim to have experienced NDEs.

“The thing that I like to point out is that many of these people that I’ve interviewed and write about, they were CEOs, they were spine surgeons, commercial airline pilots, bank presidents, lawyers,” he said. “They don’t need money, and they have nothing to gain by making up crazy, wild stories about dying and going to heaven and seeing Jesus, and yet, they consistently say it was the most real thing that ever happened to them.”

John said these stories inspire people all over the world, and he believes God is using these journeys to help illuminate Scripture and point people back to Him. Kathy mirrored these reflections.

“I also think that it reminds us that things are not hopeless,” she said. “God has not changed, and He’s the same yesterday, today, and forever, and so we have to keep our focus on Him, and we can still find that peace, and joy, and love, and goodness radiated because we’re His image bearers.”

It should be noted, though, NDEs aren’t embraced as legitimate experiences by the secular world and even some Christians. In fact, critics are often vocal about their opposition to these stories.

“God operates in more mystery than I think sometimes we’re willing to allow in the church and in our box of theology,” John said. “And God doesn’t feel any need or constraint to the box we try to put him in.”

He continued, “What we’re trying to do … in these books is help people see, ‘No, it’s not against what God’s been saying in Scripture all along — it actually aligns.’”