Paul Luckraft reviews ‘Has Anyone Seen My Father?’ by Marion Daniel (New Wine Press, 2008)
This is Marion Daniel’s first book and focusses on the important topic of fatherhood and other similar relationships. No-one would disagree that fathers hold a unique place in family life and that a person’s relationship with their father can have far-reaching consequences on their adult life especially in the area of emotional wholeness, so here is a book well worth investing in.
The author’s goal is not to preach or expound psychological principles but to allow God to bring healing and restoration through the truth of his Word. The book is in four parts, with each part ending in a helpful summary plus some prayers that readers can use if they have found that that particular section applies to them.
Gaining Perspective on Our Fathers
Part One explains the pattern of parenting and begins with an interesting outline of fatherhood during different phases of our national history. This is helpful as the age of each reader will determine when they were first in relationship with their father. For instance, older readers will need to know what it was like to be a father around the time of World War 2 and other periods of adversity and scarcity.
In more modern times, the emphasis may not be economic deprivation but rather that society has become more godless and time-consuming. Children today may be better provided for in material terms but starved of time and real love as the father is often absent through excessive work or other activities.
The author’s goal is not to preach or expound psychology but to allow God to heal through his Word.
The author stresses how important it is to realise what factors affected our father’s own upbringing and what traumas in his life made him the person he is. It could be “he was behaving in the only way he knew how given his own upbringing” (p22). Our dads were also children once, with their own unique experience of being parented.
Marion Daniel also makes us aware that our initial impressions of our fathers will inevitably have been childish ones, those of an immature person trying to come to terms with life and the world generally. A more adult reflection in later life is necessary to get a sense of reality and proportion into our thinking.
The Curse of Sin
At times the author is quite hard-hitting regarding the consequences of fathers who don’t know the Lord or walk in his ways. Their children will inevitably suffer in some way from such rejection or wickedness, and the effects can be disastrous.
Using Psalm 109, she states that “there is a very definite curse that comes upon the children of people who act wickedly before God” (p31). This might seem rather dramatic; however, she does continue that the power of any curse that results from the sin of our ancestors can be broken through Jesus.
It is important to realise what factors affected our father’s own upbringing.
Reconciliation and Adoption
Part Two examines Deuteronomy 6 in order to see what fathers should have done for their children in terms of direction and discipline. This is a useful section for Christians who are currently fathers or expecting to be fathers in the near future. Prevention is always better than cure!
Part Three covers the theme of reconciliation. Here the scripture to be drawn upon is the story of the prodigal son, obviously well-known to many but no doubt still able to speak powerfully into many situations. The section ends with three real life testimonies of those who have received God’s healing and restoration in this area.
Part Four is an important section in that it is intended to help those who never knew their father - either because they were adopted, or because their parents were “absent” (p75). It is to be assumed that this would include those who early in life became fatherless through death. We are reminded that God has a special concern for the fatherless and this is explained in terms of being adopted into his family.
One final point in this section is to explain how each local church needs ‘spiritual fathers’, those who can bring encouragement, consolation and direction to those who have missed out on these qualities from their natural fathers.
God has a special concern for the fatherless.
Practical and Useful Insights
Overall this is an important book that will help many people, though some may think that some of the statements made in it are rather simplistic and potentially misleading. For instance, “The emotion of anger is produced whenever a particular goal we have is blocked” (p21). It was commented to me that although anger may be a response to a blocked goal, this is not always the case. Perhaps matters are not always as straightforward as the book suggests, but certainly there are many practical and useful insights which, with God’s help, will produce healing in these areas.
One strong feature of the book is that it provides many scriptures to meditate on and refer back to once the book has been read. It would be well worth having a notebook handy to jot these down and also to note any pages of the book to re-visit at a later occasion.
Has Anyone Seen My Father (96 pages) is available for £5.99 from Sozo Books.
Is Trump a modern version of the Persian king Cyrus?
Rival petitions calling for a ban on a state visit from President Trump and supporting such a visit, have attracted sufficiently large numbers of supporters in the UK to trigger a debate in Parliament scheduled for 20 February 2017.
The outcry from the anti-Trump campaigners has been the larger and most vociferous. It rapidly attracted over 1 million petitioners in the first few days, encouraged by street demonstrations in many cities across the world.
The petitions resulted from an executive order signed by Donald Trump imposing a three-month suspension of visas for visitors from seven countries with Muslim-majority populations. The seven are Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen – all known to have connections with Islamic terrorists.
Recent anti-Trump protest, New York. See Photo Credits.Why has this caused such an outcry in Western nations? It surely cannot be that large numbers of Westerners want to encourage Middle Eastern Muslims to go to the USA. There has to be another reason. Of course, it’s an opportunity to express dislike of Trump and the many offensive things that he said during his campaign. But the spontaneous outburst also needs to be seen in the wider context of the huge backlash against the Trump inauguration both in the USA and in many other nations.
Elite Outcry
This backlash has come particularly from those within the US who support the liberal elite – the secular humanist intelligentsia who have controlled the political scene in the country for several decades. The prospect of them losing the political power and social status they have enjoyed for so many years is driving them to a frenzy of protest, using every possible means of expressing their fury - from traditional street demonstrations to celebrity endorsements and social media.
The latest move by President Trump to appoint a conservative judge to fill a vacancy in the Supreme Court underlines the social and moral revolution that is beginning to unravel decades of social engineering that has taken place in the USA.
The backlash against Trump is coming from the secular humanist intelligentsia who have controlled the political scene in the USA for decades.
One of the major reasons for Trump attracting large numbers of supporters who do not usually vote Republican and large numbers of the disillusioned and disenfranchised is because he promised "to drain the Washington sump". Americans understood this as getting rid of the cabal of professional politicians and civil servants who have imposed a far-left social ideology upon the USA for the past two or three decades.
Trump as Cyrus
Evangelical Christians in the USA have hailed Donald Trump as being in the mould of Cyrus, the 6th Century BC Persian ruler who was described by the Prophet Isaiah as being chosen by God, although he didn’t even know the name of the God of Israel (see Isa 45:4).
It is an interesting comparison because Cyrus overthrew the all-powerful Babylonian Empire that had ruled what we now know as the Middle East for 70 years. The then-current Babylonian Emperor, Nabonidus, was weak and ineffective. When Cyrus approached Babylon there was no battle and no resistance – people welcomed him and he took control of the whole Babylonian Empire without a drop of blood being shed.
Cyrus was different from any other ruler before him. He did not publicly kill Nabonidus. He arrested him but treated him kindly. Also, he signed a decree releasing all the political prisoners held by the Babylonians. This enabled all the Jews who had been enslaved by Nebuchadnezzar and used as forced labour in Babylonia, to go back to their homes in Israel and to re-build the ruined city of Jerusalem.
Cyrus’s decree also released people from other countries who had been deported to Babylon. They were allowed to go back to their countries of origin and take with them the edifices of their gods which had been brought to Babylon. The Jews did not have images of God, but they were allowed to take all the sacred vessels stolen by Nebuchadnezzar from the Temple in Jerusalem.
Evangelical Christians in the USA have hailed Donald Trump as being in the mould of Cyrus, the 6th Century BC Persian ruler.
Helping God’s People
Cyrus not only allowed the Jewish people to go back to Jerusalem; he also gave a large sum of money to the Jews for the re-building of the Temple, on the understanding that they would regularly pray for him and his family. The ‘Cyrus Cylinder’ which is held in the British Museum in London gives details of this arrangement, which is hailed by many historians as the first ‘Charter of Human Rights’ in world history.
Cyrus was the first Emperor to rule his empire by ‘consensus’ and not by force. He believed that if the people felt gratitude towards him and he showed generosity rather than cruelty; they would accept him and not oppose his authority. History shows a period of peace throughout the region during his lifetime and those of his immediate successors.
Today’s Changes
So, are American Christians justified in comparing Trump with Cyrus?
First, look at the situation in Washington: a revolutionary period of change has begun in the USA – not through violent revolution (even though there have been protests) but via a peaceful transition of power, like Cyrus’s takeover of Babylon. The man leading today’s revolution is very different from all those who have gone before; he has no entrenched political ideology. He has no experience of government or diplomacy; but that was probably what was needed to effect fundamental change (although he is likely to make some clumsy mistakes until he gains experience).
Now look at the nature of the changes that are taking place. The secular humanist liberal elite that has ruled Washington for decades is being replaced by a much more conservative administration who wish to emphasise traditional, biblically-based social and moral values. Of course, there are many in America who hate what is happening and they are very vocal in protest. But that doesn’t mean that the changes taking place are necessarily bad.
Cyrus overthrew the Babylonian Empire in a peaceful revolution, and was different from any other ruler before him.
Battling for the Soul of the West
Meanwhile, the same battle is going on in Europe: it is a battle for the soul of the Western nations in a largely post-Christian era. In Britain, the battle has become focused around Brexit, with secular humanists on both the left and the right, such as Nick Clegg and Ken Clarke, still fighting to keep Britain within the European Union.
Listening to the debate in the House of Commons this week, it was clear that the division between supporters of Brexit and Remainers is no longer political and economic - it is about social values and the ethos of our national identity: at root, it is a spiritual battle.
It is essential that Christians understand the nature of this battle that is taking place in our lifetime – for it is a battle where prayer and Christian witness are of vital significance for the outcome.
Is Trump a Modern Cyrus?
So, back to the original question: could Trump be a modern Cyrus? Cyrus the Persian was a great leader: he was wise and compassionate. Do we see the same characteristics in Trump? Probably not at the moment, but can he change? Only time will tell.
The same battle is going on in Europe – it is a battle for the soul of the Western nations in a post-Christian era.
But one thing is certain – God has allowed his election to happen and I firmly believe in the sovereignty of God and that with God nothing is impossible. So, I’m prepared to wait and see and to join American Christians in surrounding the man with prayer, in the hope that he may grow in wisdom and grace for the sake of the peace and prosperity of the world.
Helen Belton concludes our series on the letters to the churches of Revelation 2-3.
“To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm – neither hot nor cold – I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, “I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.” But you do not realise that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so that you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so that you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so that you can see.
Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.
To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
(Revelation 3:14-22)
The seventh and final letter to the churches in Revelation 3 is to Laodicea, a city known for its wool industry, situated 11 miles west of Colossae and with a large Jewish community. It was in an area prone to earthquakes – but its prosperity was such that when an earthquake struck in 60 AD, the population were able to refuse financial help from Rome for the rebuild.1
Blazing Forth Light
As with the previous letters, it is addressed to the “angel of the church”, perhaps suggesting that each church is represented in heaven by an angel. There are seven angels and seven churches. Seven is the divine number indicating completeness: “The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches” (Rev 1:20).
The lampstand imagery is derived from the seven-branched golden lampstand that stood in the Temple in Jerusalem, in Hebrew the menorah. Its light was a symbol of God’s Spirit shining in a dark world. The symbol of the seven churches as lampstands (menorot pl.) suggests that now the Temple is gone they are the ones meant to blaze forth God’s light into the darkness of their pagan surroundings to bring God glory: “In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matt 5:16).
In Scripture, seven is the divine number indicating completeness.
True, Faithful and Over All
In verse 14, the Lord Jesus is referred to as the “Amen”, which may echo Isaiah 65:16 where “the God of truth” is literally ‘the God of Amen’ (Heb. belohe amen).2 The Hebrew word ‘Amen’ means to confirm or verify. The divine origin of the message is therefore being emphasised and we are also being reminded that the Lord Jesus speaks with the authority of ‘the God of Amen’ - the Lord God himself.
Jesus also has two further titles: the “faithful and true witness” and “the ruler of God’s creation”. In Scripture, a threefold emphasis can indicate completion and finality.3 So the threefold assertion of his truthfulness, faithfulness and rule puts beyond doubt his unimpeachable authority. His truth and faithfulness as God’s witness also contrast with the Laodicean church’s tepid witness to the faith.
The third title, “the ruler of God’s creation”, also takes us to Isaiah 65, verse 17 this time: “See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.”4 Jesus is the ruler of this new creation, whose astounding revelation overshadows all that has gone before.
The threefold assertion of Jesus’ truthfulness, faithfulness and rule puts beyond doubt his unimpeachable authority.
Pure Rebuke
Western theatre, Laodicea. See Photo Credits.
This letter differs from the letters to the other churches because the Laodiceans receive no praise, only rebuke. It is not as though they had been neglected in instruction. They would have known the letter to their nearby sister church in Colossae which we know from this verse in Colossians: “After this letter has been read to you, see that it is also read in the church of the Laodiceans and that you in turn read the letter from Laodicea” (Col 4:16) (the 'letter from Laodicea' has been lost, but some speculate that it is the same as the letter Paul wrote to the Ephesians).
However, they are being reminded that Jesus is “ruler of God’s creation” as though it was a teaching they had neglected, despite the letter to the Colossians’ emphasis on Jesus’ overarching authority over creation and over the Church:
The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. (Col 1:15-18)
It seems that the Laodiceans had lost sight of Jesus’ authority. They thought they were wealthy and lacking nothing; however, they were “wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked” (v17). Their smug complacency was entirely misplaced because any riches they had were received from the One who is the Ruler and Source of all Creation, as Colossians teaches.
However, it is also possible they had absorbed Gnostic teaching, which was prevalent in Colossae, that denigrated Jesus’ role as Creator of the material world.5 ‘Arche’, the Greek word for ‘ruler’ in verse 14 means not only ‘ruler’ but also ‘beginning’ or ‘cause’, confirming that Jesus is the one through whom “all things were created” (Col 1:15), a teaching rejected in Gnosticism.6
The Laodiceans had lost sight of Jesus’ authority.
Charged with Being Lukewarm
Jesus warns the Laodiceans that he knew their deeds, which were neither hot nor cold (v15). Note that their faith is not mentioned - only what they have done. Evangelicals tend to focus on the John 6:29 sense of works: “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” However, James’ Hebraic emphasis on actions teaches that our faith only lives through our works: “faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead” (James 2:17).
Were the Laodiceans’ deeds evil or simply ‘lukewarm’, going through the motions? Did they perform a meagre or carefully measured amount of good deeds, perhaps giving a careful amount of their wealth away, but ultimately remaining ungenerous and certainly not self-sacrificial? We do not know, but we can speculate.
In the Wisdom literature of the Hebrew Bible (or Old Testament), heat and cold relate to a person’s self-control. In Proverbs 15:18, “A hot-tempered person stirs up conflict”, but Proverbs 17:27b, “…whoever has understanding is even-tempered” (literally is cool or has a cool spirit). Heat is associated with lack of self-control and coolness with self-control. It has been suggested that this imagery may have been inspired by the water supply in Laodicea, which was lukewarm in contrast to the hot springs of Hierapolis and the cooling waters of Colossae.7
In the Wisdom literature of the Bible, heat and cold relate to a person’s self-control.
Being lukewarm suggests they were ineffectual and unproductive; their ‘deeds’ were futile, useless. The lukewarm metaphor carries an echo of Matthew 5:13, “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.”
The Laodicean believers were on shaky ground, but thought they were safe. The remedy was to purify themselves, verse 18: “I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so that you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so that you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so that you can see.” They were to pursue purity and holiness so they could obtain the true riches that are only available through Jesus.
The refiner imagery echoes Malachi 3:3 where it is the Lord God himself who refines, reminding us that Jesus is inextricably identified with the Lord God, “He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness.”
The Laodiceans were to put on purity (white clothes) and seek healing for their spiritual sight (salve) so they could truly understand the revelation of Jesus.
The Laodiceans were to put on purity and seek healing for their spiritual sight.
‘Lord, is it I?’
Many have identified the Laodicean church with today’s Western Church – rich and self-satisfied. It has also been suggested that the seven letters correspond to seven church ages, with the Laodiceans typifying the current and last age. However, as David Pawson points out, the seven churches of Revelation are types of the Church in all ages, rather than a progression. He counsels against attempting to categorise various churches, but to look to our own church and to check our own hearts: “As we read these seven letters, let us ask: ‘Lord, is it I?’”8
The Laodiceans were counselled “to be earnest and repent” (v19). We need a new seriousness in the UK Church today. We, too, are smug, complacent, self-satisfied and self-indulgent. We are stuffed full of tepid, convenient, gospel-lite messages and yet starved of the full fiery counsel of God’s Word. Pastors and leaders are plate-spinning, running to stand still, preaching about reaching out with the Gospel on Sundays, their flock in turn talking about reaching out with the Gospel in their mid-week small groups, yet very few actually doing any meaningful outreach.
Many are churchgoers rather than disciples - tourists and passengers cheering from the side-lines rather than dedicated Gospel workers. Our lifestyles are remarkably similar to our non-Christian neighbours and many of us dip in and out of the Christian life and worship, only serving the Lord when convenient. Most Christians have never led a non-believer to faith, let alone discipled someone, yet this is the one task Jesus asked us to do.
We need a new seriousness in the UK Church today - we, too, are smug, complacent, self-satisfied and self-indulgent.
Jesus is at the Door
Ultimately, would Jesus feel at home in our churches? Is Jesus a stranger tapping on the door, hoping we will hear his gentle but insistent knocking (Rev 3:20)? We talk about him all the time, but do we know him and are we doing what he asked us to do?
In the material world, we have insurance for every danger we may encounter. Perhaps ‘faith’ for many of us is just eternity insurance. Mistakenly, we think our mental assent to some doctrines is the same as biblical faith. We are pathetically poor in terms of true riches - like the Laodicean church. We are starving but unaware of our plight.
However, if we will heed the warning we have this glorious promise: “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me” (Rev 3:20).
“So be earnest and repent” (v19).
References
1 Aune, DE, 1997. Revelation 1-5, Word Biblical Commentary, Vol 52, p249.
2 Osborne, GR, 2002. Revelation, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the NT. Grand Rapids, Michigan, p203.
3 Patterson, RD. The Use of Three in the Bible, 26 February 2008.
4 Osborne, p204.
5 Osborne, p205.
6 Aune, p256.
7 Aune, p257.
8 Pawson, D, 2008. A Commentary on the Book of Revelation. Anchor, Ashford, pp45-46.
“…hallowed by Thy Name.” That’s the way as a young boy I learnt to recite this part of The Lord’s Prayer from Matthew 6:9 of the King James Bible, but I never thought it more than a statement that my Father God’s name is hallowed or holy.
However, I have recently been using David Stern’s Complete Jewish Bible, which translates the phrase as “May Your Name be kept holy”. It also translates word for word the same in Luke 11:2. This starts to sound to me more a prayer and less like the recitation I have often made it.
David Stern, in his New Testament commentary, notes that the first words of the prayer “Our Father in Heaven” open many Hebrew prayers. “May your Name be kept holy” recalls the first portion of the synagogue prayer known as Kaddish, which says “Magnified and sanctified be his great name throughout the world…”. This prayer guide that Jesus gave his disciples would therefore probably have contained much that was already familiar to them.
God’s Name/Names
So what does it mean to keep “holy” in contemporary English? A quick look at my dictionary… “Keep morally and spiritually perfect; of high moral excellence; set apart; sacred; pure; free from sin.”
The Old Testament is where I look to understand the holiness of God’s name. In Exodus 3:13-15, when Moses wanted to be able to explain to the Israelites the God who had sent him, God gave His unique name: “Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh" (I am / will be what I am / will be). Also Yud-Heh-Vav-Heh (as Clifford Denton intimated last week, this is generally spoken by Jews as Adonai, ‘My Lord’, or Hashem, ‘The Name’, because Yud-Heh-Vav-Heh or YHWH is considered too holy to be spoken by sinful lips).
Other names of God appear when humans give God a name reflecting an aspect of His character, such as in Genesis 16:13, where Hagar named Adonai, El Ro’i (‘God who sees’). This and others tend to be man’s best attempts at naming God - through personal experience of his attributes.
Throughout the scriptures names are rarely just a random combination of sounds. A name conveys the nature and essence of who or what is named. The story of David with Nabal and Abigail in 1 Samuel 25 springs to mind. Nabal means ‘fool’ and Abigail looks to mean ‘father's joy’ / ‘gives joy’ / ‘intelligent, beautiful’. Both become clearly evident as the story unfolds.
Keeping God’s Name Holy
All this is very interesting but how does it lead me to a heartfelt prayer of understanding?
Let’s consider that everything I do, ever, will either honour or dishonour God. When I am walking yoked with our Lord Jesus, yoked to him and learning of him, I will more likely keep God’s name holy. When I stray from our Lord, ignore or re-interpret parts of his teachings that don’t suit me, this shows that I don’t really believe that God is Adonai or El Ro’i ('God of seeing').
Just last night, I read a passage from a novel that shows - in an extreme measure - what happens when we Christians don’t ourselves become the answer to this prayer. It’s from The Auschwitz Escape, a well-researched novel by Joel C Rosenberg. Two young Jewish prisoners in Auschwitz, Jacob and Max, together with most of the camp, are given the day off on Sunday:
This particular Sunday – April 25, 1943 – was no ordinary Sunday. It was Easter, and to Jacob’s astonishment, he watched as no small number of guards and officers and block seniors went to church. In fact, at just before ten that morning, while he and Max were out for a long walk, Jacob was flabbergasted to see Gehard Gruder, Fat Louie, and several others heading to the camp chapel, dressed in their Sunday finest. Soon he could actually hear an organ playing and their torturers singing hymns and reading Scriptures and then ringing the bells when the service was over.
Who were these people? What God were they praying to? How could they beat and slaughter and burn human beings six days a week and then read the Bible and pray on Sundays? Though Jacob hadn’t been raised religious, he certainly hadn’t been raised to hate religious people either. He’d always thought of himself as tolerant not only of Orthodox Jews but also of Catholic and protestant Christians. He’d been taught to respect every man and every faith, but how could he do so now? If this was what it meant to be a Christian, Jacob hoped all Christians would rot in hell, and the sooner the better.
Just like an ambassador to a foreign country whose actions will give his nation either a good or a bad name, so it is with me. If I call myself a Christian and identify with all of Christianity’s good ideals, but when it really matters I live in just the same way as unbelievers, I can add hypocrisy to my misdemeanours and I become just as bad as those who do not believe – in fact, even worse. What sort of God would condone that behaviour?
Therefore, this simple prayer – “Hallowed be Thy Name”, “May your Name be kept holy” - becomes for me a personal prayer that my life today in thought, word and deed will, in every way, convey to all who are watching the excellent, holy, good Name of my Heavenly Father.
Author: John Quinlan
Negotiating an age of ‘fake news’ and ‘alternative facts'.
Why do politicians find it so hard to tell the truth – the plain, simple and unvarnished truth? I was sad to see our Prime Minister refuse to answer a simple question this week as to whether or not she knew about the failure of the test firing of an unarmed rocket from the Trident submarine when the issue of renewing the weapon system was being debated in the Commons last summer.
Four times she was asked and four times she made little speeches, but dodged the question. She did not tell a direct lie; she simply refused to tell the truth.
It sometimes seems as though politicians have a different definition of ‘truth’. Donald Trump, during his first week in office, has striven to convince the public that he is more popular than Hillary Clinton who gained 3 million more votes than he did. He said this week that he didn’t try to win the ‘popular vote’ but he could have won it if he had tried! Trump also claimed that Clinton’s vote was inflated by fraudulent voting, for which there is no evidence – but that doesn’t seem to matter to him.
Aerial photographs of crowds at the Obama (top) and Trump (bottom) inaugurations. Crowd sizes have been disputed by Trump.‘Alternative Facts’
Trump’s spin doctor lambasted the press for reporting that the crowd attending the inauguration was not as great as the one attending Obama’s inauguration, despite the evidence of TV pictures and photographs, which Trump said were doctored.
Trump’s team also contested the truth of the vast crowd that demonstrated against his inauguration last Sunday. They invented a new term for truth – ‘alternative facts’! Just think of that as a definition of ‘truth’ – surely facts are facts and ‘alternative facts’ are lies! It’s as simple as that: you either have facts or lies.
May Vs. Trump
Donald Trump and Theresa May are meeting today for the first time in an historic encounter. Trump has already likened Mrs May to Margaret Thatcher, saying that he expects her to be his ‘Maggie’. He is the kind of man who prides himself on his female conquests and this meeting will be a particular challenge that he will be desperate to win. He will be wanting our PM to like him! But how will she respond?
Perhaps an even bigger question is – can Theresa May tell the truth to Donald Trump? He has announced that he is quite happy for American security services to use torture to obtain information from men suspected of being involved in terrorism. But this is directly against our national values.
It sometimes seems as though politicians have a different definition of 'truth'.
Moreover, our legal system would not allow the use of information in a trial that had been obtained under torture. It could mean that US and UK security services would be unable to share information on security issues affecting our nations. So, should Theresa May, on her first visit to the new President, jeopardise their relationship by not telling him the truth about British values?
These are difficult areas of moral responsibility for politicians to handle and our PM is going to require a great deal of wisdom. So much depends upon the importance the respective leaders put upon handling truth.
Great Battle Raging
What we’re seeing here is indicative of a great battle for truth raging right across the Western world. Another example of this is fake news deliberately being injected into the media. There is nothing new in the attempt to deceive the public with false information and by twisting the truth. It was the technique used by Joseph Goebbels who masterminded the Nazi brainwashing of the German public to make the murder of Jews socially acceptable.
Today is Holocaust Memorial Day, when we remember the greatest act of mass murder in the history of the world, which happened in the lifetime of many still living. Many in the older generation will remember the sense of bewilderment as well as horror when the first pictures were published of the survivors in Auschwitz when Germany was defeated. It seemed beyond belief that such incredible mass murder and cruelty could have been carried out by human beings in our lifetime. Gradually it emerged that it was not only Germans who were involved; most of Europe was complicit in trying to exterminate the Jews.
There is a great battle for truth raging right across the Western world.
The rise of anti-Semitism today in Europe and across the world, which includes the increasing denial of the Holocaust, is part of the battle for truth. It is part of humanity’s self-delusion about our own goodness and popularity which millions of young people are seduced into worshipping through social media. It’s like Donald Trump trying to convince himself that he is the most popular President the USA has ever had! Why are we human beings so reluctant to face the truth about ourselves?
Defining Truth?
To answer this question, we must first ask: where do we get our definition of ‘truth’? In countries such as Britain with a long history of Christianity, our social and moral values are rooted in the Bible where truth, integrity, faithfulness and loyalty are seen to be attributes of God. These define the standard of ‘absolutes’, or fundament values, which we aim to follow.
In his conversation with Nicodemus, Jesus made a seminal statement regarding truth. He said:
Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God. (John 3:19)
This applies to nations as well as to individuals. There is really only one standard of truth and that is the one established by the God of Creation which is part of his own nature. When ‘alternative facts’ are peddled as ‘truth’ in a nation; that nation is in dire trouble because nobody can trust the word of their neighbours, friends, family, colleagues, or government any longer. So, the whole basis of our human relationships begins to break down. This is what we face once we abandon truth.
Holocaust Memorial Day is an opportunity to face the reality of our unredeemed human nature and admit that we really need what only God can do for us – to bring about a basic change in our human nature through responding to his love and what he has done for us through Jesus.
There is a really only one standard of truth and that is the one established by the God of Creation.
The story of a remarkable Christian soldier who risked his life for Jewish men.
72 years after the liberation of Auschwitz by the Red Army on 27 January 1945, Britain and other nations are acknowledging Holocaust Memorial Day at a time when anti-Semitism is once more on the rise.
Israel itself, which has since risen from the ashes of that dreadful scourge that wiped out six million European Jews, is under dire threat from enemies on all sides while attacks on synagogues and other Jewish centres are still being carried out in the ‘civilised’ West. Only this last weekend in north-west London, a swastika-daubed brick was hurled through a Jewish family’s window while others were pelted with eggs.1
The fragile borders to which the United Nations expect Israel to agree (just nine miles wide in places) have for good reason been described by politicians as ‘Auschwitz lines’, because they leave the Jewish state highly vulnerable to attack from neighbouring states who have repeatedly threatened to wipe them off the map.
It was also in January 1945 that one of the most heroic accounts of the war took place. But the incredible story has only just surfaced because the hero concerned never spoke about it.
The truth was finally unearthed by his granddaughter when asked to focus on a family member as part of a college assignment. Her widowed grandmother gave her the diary kept by her husband during his time in a prisoner-of-war camp which revealed the astonishing fact that, by standing up to the German commandant, Master Sgt Roddie Edmonds, of Knoxville, Tennessee, had saved the lives of 200 American Jews.
Israel is under dire threat from enemies on all sides, whilst Jews in the ‘civilised’ West are increasingly under attack.
‘We Are All Jews Here’
As the highest-ranking officer there, Edmonds was made responsible for the camp’s 1,292 American GIs, 200 of whom were Jewish. Then one day the Germans ordered all Jewish POWs to report outside their barracks the following morning. Knowing what awaited them – being moved to a slave labour camp at the very least – he decided to resist the directive, ordering all his men to fall out the following morning.
The commandant, Major Siegmann, duly ordered Edmonds to identify the Jewish soldiers, to which the sergeant responded: “We are all Jews here.”
Holding his pistol to Edmonds’ head, the commandant repeated the order. But the sergeant – a devout Christian – refused.
“According to the Geneva Convention, we only have to give our name, rank and serial number. If you shoot me, you will have to shoot all of us, and after the war you will be tried for war crimes,” Edmonds had said, according to one of the men saved that day.
Edmonds’ pastor son Chris regards all of them as heroes as they could easily have identified the Jews among them to save their skin. But they all stood together.
Neutrality Not an Option
Late last year, Roddie Edmonds was posthumously awarded the Yehi Or (‘Let there be light’) Award by the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous. He has also been honoured by Jerusalem’s Holocaust Museum Yad Vashem as ‘Righteous Among the Nations’.2
But as Jews were herded into cattle trucks for transporting to death camps, there weren’t many Roddies about who dared to speak up and stand up on their behalf. These days, where controversial issues are concerned, leaders still prefer to keep their heads below the proverbial parapet while remaining ‘impartial’. But there is a time when we must take sides. We must choose between life and death, between God and evil. If we claim to be Christian, we have no option.
“Neutrality is only an illusion,” writes Robert Stearns. “Those who are not for God are against Him. (Matthew 12.30a) The German public’s unfortunate legacy during World War II lies not in what they did in response to their despotic leader and his horrendous practices, but in what they did not do.”3
These days, where controversial issues are concerned, it seems easier to remain ‘impartial’. But there is a time when we must take sides.
Righteous Among the Nations
This did not apply, however, to Hans Scholl and his sister Sophie, young Christians who led the White Rose leaflet campaign of resistance - for which they paid with their lives. Prophetically, they asked the question: “Who among us has any conception of the dimensions of shame that will befall us and our children when one day the veil has fallen from our eyes and the most horrible of crimes…reach the light of day?”4
Garden of the Righteous, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem.
Stearns also points out that, when the Nazis invaded European nations, many monarchs vacated their thrones and fled. But King Christian X stayed in Denmark as he defied the bullies. And thanks to his example, most Danish Jews survived the war.5
Princess Alice, the Queen’s mother-in-law, has also been recognised by Jerusalem’s Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum as ‘Righteous Among the Nations’ for saving a Jewish family during the war, and is buried on the Mount of Olives.
As Princess of Greece, she hid Jewish widow Rachel Cohen and two of her five children in her home. Rachel’s husband had in 1913 helped King George I of Greece, in return for which the king offered him any service he could perform, should he ever need it. When the Nazi threat emerged, his son recalled this promise and appealed to the Princess, who duly honoured her father’s pledge. Prince Charles last year fulfilled a longstanding wish to visit his grandmother’s grave.6
It’s interesting in this respect that Prince Charles has compared the dangers facing minority faith groups across the world today with the “dark days of the 1930s”.7
Are we courageous enough to tell the entire world that we are followers of Jesus and, as such, willing to do all we can to stand up to evil?
I Am One of Them…
The Queen herself is a wonderful example of someone who is prepared to make an uncompromising stand for faith and truth, declaring in her latest Christmas message to the nation: “Jesus Christ lived in obscurity for much of his life and was maligned and rejected by many, though he had done no wrong. Millions now follow his teaching and find in him the guiding light of their lives. I am one of them…”
Are we, like the Queen, courageous enough to tell the entire world that we are followers of Jesus and, as such, will do all we can to stand up to the evil that lurks in every dark corner of our land?
Roddie Edmonds was prepared to die for 200 Jewish men. Abraham was prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac. But the greatest sacrifice of all was when Yeshua (Hebrew for Jesus), “though he had done no wrong”, laid down his life for both Jews and Gentiles on a stake outside the walls of Jerusalem’s Old City, after being “led like a lamb to the slaughter” during the Passover feast (Isa 53:7). He bought our pardon; he paid the price.
Notes
1 Jerusalem News Network, 24 January 2017, quoting Algemeiner.
2 Gateway News (South Africa), 1 December 2016, originally published by The Times of Israel.
3 The Cry of Mordecai by Robert Stearns (Destiny Image).
4 Ibid.
5 Ibid.
6 Torch magazine, Christians United for Israel – UK, Dec 2016-Feb 2017.
7 Saltshakers, 24 December 2016, quoting Premier.org.uk.
Philadelphian believers were weak but faithful.
“To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write:
These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars—I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you. Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth.
I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on them my new name. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
Although Philadelphia was the least distinguished of all the cities visited by John and reported in Revelation 3, the name is now better known as that of a leading city in the USA.
Philadelphia in the USA played a significant role in the American Revolution as a meeting place for the Founding Fathers of the United States, who signed the Declaration of Independence there in 1776 and the Constitution in 1787.
It served as the temporary capital of the United States (1790–1800) while the Federal City, Washington, was under construction in the District of Columbia. Its foundation had strong Quaker origins, having been built on land granted by Charles II in repayment of a debt to William Penn. Friendly negotiations with the Indian tribes living there gave rise to the name, which is Greek for brotherly love (from philos, ‘love’ or ‘friendship’, and adelphos, ‘brother’), which links it with its less spectacular biblical counterpart.
The ancient Philadelphia was established in 189 BC by King Eumenes II of Pergamon (197-160 BC) and was named in the love of his brother, who would be his successor, Attalus II (159-138 BC).
‘Philadelphia’ is Greek for brotherly love, from ‘philos’ (love or friendship) and ‘adelphos’ (brother).
Background: Philadelphia Then and Now
Ancient Philadelphia is now called Alesihir in modern-day Turkey. It was never to attain greatness in worldly terms as it was off the normal trade routes, although it was on a pass to the Eastern cities of Asia Minor. Thus it was often seen as an outpost of the Empire of the time - being dubbed a ‘missionary city’ with “open doors that would never be shut”.
At the time of the writing of the letters in Revelation there would have been around 500 Christian churches or fellowships in the whole area – but the Gospel had not spread far beyond Philadelphia so there was still great potential there.
The city was in the centre of an earthquake region and had suffered many quakes, including the great ones of AD 17 and AD 23 after which it was re-built with a grant from Rome. The main buildings were built to survive and the City Hall, with the remains of four of its great pillars, had become a centre of Christianity by the 4th Century – in fact it still is intact; the city is a strong centre of Orthodox Christianity and remains a titular see of the Roman Catholic Church.
When we have been to this city on a tour of the ‘Seven Churches’, visitors could see the four massive pillars that remain on this site and experience the friendly nature of the current inhabitants. Children crowd around the tourist coaches eager to display their newly learned English from school, to share details of their lives and their desire to become penfriends. Even today there is an ‘open door’!
The Message!
The words from Jesus’ message to the Philadelphians can have great meaning for us today.
Some historians have tried to liken the seven different messages to the Revelation churches to seven eras in the Church’s overall development. They have equated the letter to Philadelphia with the great European missionary movements of the 18th and 19th Centuries, as they saw it as having a special message for those in this era who were fulfilling the Great Commission of Matthew 28:19-20:
All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.
The message, though, can have continuing significance today to ensure that the Church continues to have this Commission at the centre of its outreach.
Philadelphia, now modern Alesihir, was never to attain greatness in worldly terms – but was and remains a strong centre of Christianity.
The opening salutation in the letter differs from the others – as it does not come using words from John’s opening chapter of Revelation with its powerful description of God. It comes instead from 1 John 5:20 where Jesus is described as the One who is true and who also has the ‘key of David’ (Isa 22:22). Keys are symbolic in opening up hidden secrets in our understanding - whether they are mysteries of God (Job 11:7), or mysteries that have been entrusted to us as servants of Christ (1 Cor 4:1), or mysteries requiring further revelation, as in the deep truths of the Kingdom taught by Jesus.
This message, along with the message to Smyrna, are the only two in which there are no rebukes and there does not seem to be anything that is not pleasing to God. But there are warnings: this small community would not be immune from the time of persecution coming on Christians throughout the Roman Empire. But members of this little fellowship were not to be fearful as they would be kept through these days – they would not be spared the trials and times of suffering and persecution, but would be given the strength to hold firm – no-one would be able to take the crown of life away from them.
Weak but Faithful
There are many other gems and words of encouragement in this letter that can help us in today’s world. Unusually, the words “I know your deeds” are followed by a list of commendable factors but which also includes the recognition that “you have little strength”. In fact, an understanding of our dependence on God’s strength and not on our own, could be an essential part of any strategy for real growth to take place.
The message is not promising untroubled times: obviously, just as the Philadelphians experienced unexpected (and unwarranted?) persecution from those who were nearest to them in beliefs (the Jews), so we too can expect opposition – but if we stay firm and endure patiently, our future is assured.
Though this little fellowship would not be spared trials and times of suffering, they would be given the strength to hold firm.
We are to hold on to the faith that we have, so that we will become pillars that survive the test of time and will be a support to others. We are told that “I will write on them the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem…and I will also write on them my new name” (Rev 3:13). We will indeed become ‘Ambassadors’ for Christ!
Even those who have been against us will in the last days recognise the truth of God’s word. “They will acknowledge that I have loved you” – they will see God’s love for themselves.
The message to the ‘overcomers’ in each of the letters is significant. The Messiah is coming soon; if we hold onto our faith we will not lose the crown waiting for us and we will be established so firmly that we will be like pillars in the Kingdom of God.
Timeless Truths
The message to the church in Philadelphia is timeless. God has not changed. He is as powerful today as he was in the 1st Century AD and the mission he gave to his Church then is unchanged today. As we noted in our guidebook Ephesus to Laodicea, written with our prayer partners some 12 years ago: “It is still the Great Commission to take his Word to the world, to turn darkness into light, to release the captives, to set the prisoner free and to release his love into a war-torn world that believes it is only the might of human arms can solve the problems of our humanity" (p93).
The message to each one of us continues to be that God empowers the weak, and he takes the things that seem foolish in the eyes of the world and uses them to work out his purposes.
Even though we may be weak, may we be faithful – and live up to the Philadelphian slogan ‘Open All Hours - we are never closed’.
Click here to read the rest of the articles in this series.
Paul Luckraft interviews the author of ‘Signs: The Significance of Biblical Prophecy’.
How does a retired Brigadier come to write a book about the signs of the end times? To find out, I went to visit Neil in his home and learn about his background, calling and how this particular book emerged.
God’s Guiding Hand
Neil would not describe his early life as particularly ‘Christian’, certainly not in the sense of being born again. At boarding school, he experienced the typical way in which ‘church’ was part of school life but there was no personal commitment.
In 1965 he joined the Royal Signals and began a career in the Army, travelling the world and soon rising to the rank of Major. Then in 1987 he decided to leave to enter the world of finance, but this was a bad time for such a move. This was the year of the ‘great crash’ and it was soon apparent there was no future for him there. Looking back, Neil can sense God’s hand in this, directing him back into the Army where God’s plans could more easily be fulfilled.
Amazingly he was not only accepted back with his old rank but was quite quickly promoted to Brigadier, taking on various roles in the Royal Army Pay Corps and the Adjutant General’s Corps. This was the time when the army was downsizing and one of Neil’s tasks was to help army personnel with redundancy packages and pensions. In that sense he was in both finance and military service. God always knows what he is doing!
Breakdown and Breakthrough
However, some aspects of his new role disturbed him, especially when he was asked to teach a certain course that he found difficult and ill-prepared to deliver. His self-confidence, developed and strengthened through his time at school as well as his army days, was being undermined and challenged. A significant change was about to happen. Neil describes this time as one of “breakdown and breakthrough”.
No longer able to cope with life in the way he was used to, he felt desperate - even slightly frightened. He could no longer sleep properly and became ill as a result. One night he knelt by the bed and cried out to God, that if he was really there to reveal himself and help him. After just two hours sleep he woke up feeling refreshed and clear-headed. A change had begun.
During a time of ‘breakdown and breakthrough’, Neil became desperate and cried out to God.
Neil realised that any semblance of Christianity in his life up to that moment (his 50th year!) had been nominal and self-serving. He had been living a self-centred life and expecting God to be part of that. But in a few short weeks, with the help of a house church leader that Neil knew, a spiritual transformation occurred, involving conviction, repentance and being baptised in the Spirit. No longer would God have to serve Neil - Neil would serve God!
Neil's book Signs, reviewed on Prophecy Today earlier this month.‘Active Service’ in Retirement
His new joy led to a renewed confidence, no longer in himself but in God, who told him to stay in the army as a witness. In his remaining years there, God honoured him with more promotions. Becoming a Brigadier actually gave Neil more opportunities to share his faith and even pray for people.
Once he retired in 1998, God found more ‘active service’ for Neil. After two years as a school bursar in the Lake District, he moved to Edinburgh, the home of his late wife. Sadly, she died of cancer shortly after their arrival. Neil stayed in Scotland for a few years, becoming an elder in the Church of Scotland. After remarrying, he ran a Healing Room before returning to Hampshire and joining the Winchester Vineyard Christian Fellowship.
He has served at ‘WinVin’ for some years, including as a trustee, and it is there he started to teach and preach. So how did writing a book become part of his life?
Discovering Bible Prophecy
Neil offered to teach on the end times at WinVin but was initially turned down. However, six months later the leaders changed their mind and approached him to put on a course. This he did willingly, not because he knew all about it but because he was intrigued by the topic and wanted to find out more. Prophecy was a key part of Scripture, so why was it either ignored or badly understood?
Neil already knew the Bible was God’s truth and his regularly study in the Word (with the help of Grudem’s Systematic Theology, among other aids) had given him the grounding to tackle something as daunting as the end times.
Neil’s new joy led to renewed confidence – no longer in himself but in God.
Neil also already had a significant advantage, namely a clear understanding of the Jewishness of Jesus and the importance of Israel and the Jews. He had no need to repent of Replacement Theology or re-adjust his thinking in this respect. God’s word had spoken to him and Neil knew what had to be taught.
After 18 months of teaching through the various topics on the end times, Neil realised he now had a wealth of material, both on his computer and in handouts. What to do next with all this? Why not write a book? He had written articles before for a military magazine, so he had some experience in this field, but this was a new venture altogether. However, he believed this was what God wanted, so in 2012 he started turning what he knew into book form. Focussing on writing for just one day each week meant it took him 18 months to produce the first draft. But then what?
Completing the Journey
God had it all in hand, and led Neil to the right people to help him, from editing the first draft through to the final process of publishing. After being rejected by one publisher, he decided to go down the road of self-publishing, choosing Kingdom Writing Solutions as the means of doing this, and Amazon for the sales side via print-on-demand and an e-book. This all worked out smoothly, which was a great blessing.
Would he write another book? Perhaps, but only if it was clearly what God wanted. Meanwhile, Neil does continue to teach his course, or a revised shorter version of it, on a regular basis. His story is a further example of someone being led by God through life and finding new fruitfulness in the latter years, an encouragement to us all.
Find out more about Neil’s book ‘Signs’ by clicking here.
Paul Luckraft reviews ‘God’s Chaos Candidate’ by Dr Lance Wallnau (2016).
One of the big questions of 2016 was, ‘How did Donald Trump get elected to the highest office in the USA, if not the world?’ As his inauguration happens today many will be repeating that question and wondering how it will all work out. Here is a fascinating book that provides insights into the personal journey of the new President and the state of the country he is about to lead.
The title itself is an interesting one, based upon Jeb Bush’s description of Donald Trump as “the chaos candidate”. Lance Wallnau has taken this and given it a prophetic twist, advocating that Trump, rather than being the candidate of chaos, is the right man to lead America through and out of the chaos that has descended upon the nation in recent decades. Hence the phrase in the subtitle, the American Unraveling, to which he devotes a whole chapter towards the end of the book.
A Wrecking Ball?
The first chapter is available as a free download on the author’s website and I would recommend reading this as a taster for the book as a whole. In sum, Dr Wallnau believes that God has chosen Trump to be a “wrecking ball to the spirit of political correctness” (p7) and that he is God’s anointed leader for the coming years in the same way that the Lord chose Cyrus in the past (Isa 45).
The author is clear that Trump’s personal faith is not the main issue here, though he does argue that while Trump is far from being an evangelical Christian, he does support many Christian values and offers a new opportunity for America’s Christian heritage to flourish again.
Wallnau advocates that Trump, rather than being the candidate of chaos, is the right man to lead America out of the chaos that has descended upon it in recent decades.
A New Cyrus?
The author’s thesis is that God can use those who are not specifically ‘one of his own’, just as he has in the past (as well as Cyrus, Wallnau cites, among others, Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill). In emergency situations (especially those of a chaotic nature), what is required is a different kind of leader, someone with a transformational agenda and the capability of putting it into practice - rather than one committed to maintaining the status quo with all its self-interest and propagation of political power.
Trump’s emergence as a “rugged wilderness voice” has created a “destabilizing threat to the vast deal making machinery” (p8) that permeates the Washington scene in both political parties. And this, the author believes, is exactly what is needed at this time.
Warning - Dominionism
Quite a bit of the book is devoted to the US political scene, which may be of more interest to some readers than others, but it does not prevent the book being a readable account of how the USA has been affected by the strategists of the Progressive Left. The author argues that the ‘seven mountains of culture’ (Religion, Family, Education, Government, News Media, Entertainment, Business/Economics) have been hijacked to reduce the impact of Christianity in the nation and to attack Christian values.
As such, Wallnau suggests, the USA is now facing its ‘Fourth Crucible’, a defining moment on a similar plane to events like the founding Revolution, the Civil War, the Great Depression and WW2. Another four or eight years of the same kind of government, from either party, could lead to a permanent unravelling and even ultimate collapse.
There are many interesting insights in this part of the book, but it is also important to note at this point the author’s clear and problematic devotion to dominion theology, specifically the ‘Seven Mountains’ branch. Dominion theology involves dangerous and deceptive interpretations of Scripture that this magazine does not endorse – neither can we endorse the highly influential ‘New Apostolic Reformation’ (NAR) group in the USA, out of which many of these teachings emanate.
Nevertheless, despite Wallnau’s clear connections here, this book provides a valid perspective on Trump and his entry into modern American politics that is worth weighing and holding in the context of a broader understanding of God’s word and purposes.
The author's thesis is that God can use those who are not specifically 'one of his own' - he cites Cyrus, Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill, among others.
Trump the Man
Furthermore, Wallnau is not writing from a distance. He has met Trump personally and had regular access to him as part of a group of Christian pastors and leaders with whom Trump has had several meetings in recent years.
Wallnau has also researched Trump’s past and gained an understanding of what makes him tick as a businessman and family man, and how he thinks and operates today. These sections of the book provide revealing insights into the man who is about to become one of the world’s most powerful leaders. If our view of Trump so far is based on mainstream media output, then here is a welcome balance. The author has sought to put the record straight - or at least to straighten it out a bit.
Trump may be an unpolished performer politically, and he will make mistakes, but he is someone who tells the truth as he sees it and who will shake things up where necessary. As a very successful businessman and CEO his approach to the American economy will be to treat it as one big enterprise, a company that needs to pay its way rather than get deeper and deeper into debt.
God’s Common Grace
Inevitably the author faces questions along the lines of 'Is Trump a Christian?' He admits that Trump is no choir boy but believes that he does pray and is genuine in seeking God and re-establishing Christian principles which he does understand. His declaration to church leaders that they “have gotten soft” (p49-50) is most revealing! He has had personal moments of soul-seeking and spiritual transformation, and many encounters with anointed preachers (mainly African-American clergy who remain a key influence).
The author firmly believes that God’s ‘common grace’ is upon him, which he explains more fully in chapter 5. He asserts that “It has gradually dawned on evangelicals that having the right person in the Oval Office may be more important than voting their favorite Christian” (p68). Perhaps that answers the question posed earlier of how Donald Trump did get elected.
There are many interesting insights in the book, but it is also important to note the author's clear and problematic devotion to 'dominion theology'.
Seeing a Different Future
If we believe that God really does control nations and their destinies, then a critical consideration of Dr Wallnau’s book is important – whether or not you agree with the rest of his theology.
Perhaps, as the author suggests, Trump has been able to see a different future and is not afraid to go there. And if he has offered himself to the task of guiding America there, then at least he deserves our prayers. Perhaps he will find the Presidential office a transformational one for himself. If God has called him, then he will want to equip him.
God’s Chaos Candidate (156 pages, Killer Sheep Media Inc.) is available from Amazon for £10 (less on Kindle). For more information about the book and to read its first chapter, visit the official website.
What underlies the BBC's efforts to re-shape British culture?
Last week we commented on the BBC’s deliberate promotion of the transgender element of the LGBT agenda. This week, Dr Clifford Hill offers a biblical-sociological framework for understanding just why the BBC is trying to reshape society to fit these values.
*****
The Apostle Paul was way ahead of his time in teaching principles that are in accord with the modern discipline of Sociology, whose founding fathers (such as Durkheim and Weber) were early 20th Century scholars. Paul perceptively outlined a five-stage theory of social change in his letter to the Romans, written from prison in Caesarea, around the year AD 60.
Paul had travelled widely across the Roman Empire and was a keen observer of human nature. He had lived for several years in the city of Ephesus with its fertility cults and sex symbols in full view of the public – the relics of which can still be seen by visitors today. He had experienced an incredible amount of hardship and suffering through pursuing his missionary zeal. He described some of his travel experiences:
I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea…I have laboured and toiled and often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. (2 Cor 11:23-27)
But whilst being an intrepid traveller, Paul was also no mean scholar who ably debated with the Greek philosophers in Athen’s famous Areopagus. Paul brought his vast resources of knowledge and experience to focus upon the forces of social change that he perceived to be at work in the Roman Empire, that would inevitably lead to the decline and fall of that great empire.
He wrote about this in the opening chapter of his weighty theological treatise to the Christians in Rome. Luther, when a professor in the University of Wittenberg, declared Romans to be the greatest book in the Bible. It sets out Paul’s mature thinking about the current condition of humanity in the context of God’s eternal purposes.
Romans 1 sets out Paul’s mature thinking about the condition of humanity in the context of God’s eternal purposes.
Paul’s Analysis of the Forces of Social Change (Romans 1:18-32)
Stage 1 (verses 18-21): Paul begins with a statement that human beings in rebellion against God deliberately become involved in the leading of society astray from fundamental truth rooted in God’s principles and good design. Paul says that when people suppress the truth about Creation, they are at beginning of a slippery slope towards the degradation of hearts and minds. In other words, once you deny the central truth of the existence of the God of Creation (which can be understood clearly by all human beings), you open the way to the whole gamut of forces of social and moral corruption. Every true perspective on life becomes warped. Paul’s teaching is that once you reject the truth you automatically come under the sway of the forces of darkness.
Stage 2 (verses 22-23, 25): The second stage in the degradation of society comes when human beings pass from the denial of the God of Creation into idolatry. Paul recognises that all human beings have an innate tendency to worship something or someone. Once the basic truths of Creation are denied, people seek alternatives and find them in bits of wood and stone or anything created by human hands – which they worship.
Modern forms of this idolatry include worship of wealth and property (just consider the preponderance of TV programmes about finding the perfect house – e.g. seeking A Place in the Sun or Location, Location, Location - plus our worship of cars which we fondly clean and polish, the jewellery we wear, the fashions we parade and the wealth we own). They also include worship of people – including celebrity cults or the adoration of self. In our era, the individual is now god.
Stage 3 (verse 24): The third stage in this social change is the relaxation of personal and corporate morality, when we begin to cheat on our partners. In Romans 1 the emphasis is on sexual desire, but cheating can extend to every area of life (e.g. finances, relationships, legal responsibilities). We abandon standards of truth and integrity and we worship our bodies and our “sinful desires”.
Stage 4 (verses 26-27): The fourth stage is where human beings are no longer content with simply indulging their God-given sexual desires but “[exchange] natural relations for unnatural ones”. Paul describes this delicately: “men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another”.
Stage 5 (verses 28-32): The fifth and final stage in the corruption of society, Paul says, is God giving people over to “a depraved mind”. This is a vital stage and a tipping point – a point at which society has deliberately refused and rejected God’s efforts to rescue them to such an extent that God gives them over to their chosen course of rebellion, allowing them to become completely enslaved and deceived by it. He does not necessarily abandon them to this forever – but it is by far the more painful road for humans to walk, and many can be lost forever as a result.
Human beings in rebellion against God deliberately become involved in the leading of society astray from fundamental truth.
Brainwashing and Reversal of Truth
In national terms, this means the whole mindset of society becoming warped through being brainwashed with false teaching. This includes the deliberate injection of false values into our children – the calculated, strategic changing of society by social engineering to make everyone conform to a false ideology. This is what happened in Germany in the 1930s, when the majority of the population accepted the Nazis’ ideology of a super race, and acquiesced to the murder of 6 million Jews.
Social engineering produces human minds so corrupted that they completely abandon the whole concept of ‘truth’– in fact they reverse truth. In the words of the Prophet Isaiah:
Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. (Isa 5:20)
Paul says that at this stage in the corruption of society, the mindset of humanity is so degraded that people can no longer recognise the truth and are no longer aware of the forces of evil that are driving them towards destruction. He says:
They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice…They invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.
Paul sees this as the final degradation of humanity leading to what we would describe today as a ‘dysfunctional society’ – or the end of civilisation.
Paul’s analysis is sociologically sound, though written c.2000 years ago. It is a timeless way of understanding any society – no matter what culture, geographical location or place in history. It would be interesting to take a poll of a cross-section of the population in Britain today asking which stage in this framework of social change we have reached.
What is your assessment?
Author: Dr Clifford Hill
Photo Credits: Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.0