WHY WOMEN REALLY, REALLY, MATTER! AND SATAN REALLY, REALLY, HATES THEM!

 WHY WOMEN REALLY, REALLY, MATTER! AND SATAN REALLY, REALLY, HATES THEM!

One of the perennial questions asked by theologians is when did Lucifer rebel? Some scholars have suggested that Isaiah described Lucifer’s moment of rebellion in Isaiah 14 when it sounds like he thought he could take over heaven-

¶ “How you are fallen from heaven,
O Day Star, son of Dawn!
How you are cut down to the ground,
you who laid the nations low!
You said in your heart,‘
I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God
I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly
in the far reaches of the north;
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.’
Isaiah 14:12-14

But upon a closer examination of the text, it becomes apparent that Isaiah is speaking of the arrogance of the king of Babylon, not Satan. The prophesied rise of Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon is described in language that depicts his arrogance as breath-taking. It may be that the condition of Lucifer’s heart at the time of his fall was similarly arrogant to that of Nebuchadnezzar (who Yahweh had greatly humble, as described in Daniel 2), but we cannot force the text of Isaiah 14 to mean something that it was not intended to mean. If Isaiah 14 does not describe the cause and timing of Lucifer’s, then perhaps Ezekiel 28 does? After all, it describes what we might reasonably consider to be the cause of Lucifer’s rebellion –

“Because your heart is proud,
and you have said, ‘I am a god,
I sit in the seat of the gods,
in the heart of the seas,’
yet you are but a man, and no god,
though you make your heart like the heart of a god—
Ezekiel 28:2b

But again, a closer examination of the text reveals that Isaiah was dealing with the king of Tyre, not Lucifer.

¶ The word of the LORD came to me:
“Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre,
Thus says the Lord GOD:“Because your heart is proud,
and you have said, ‘I am a god,
I sit in the seat of the gods,
in the heart of the seas,’yet you are but a man, and no god,
though you make your heart like the heart of a god—
Ezekiel 28:1-2

You may have heard teaching based on these two ‘classic’ passages supposedly about the origins of Lucifer’s transition to Satan (“the Adversary”) boldly asserted and then linked with the idea that he was an archangel who rebelled and took a third of heaven’s angels with him. These ordinary angels who sided with Satan then became demons. Revelation 12 is generally cited to make this case. But there is yet another problem that we encounter in trying to make this narrative fit. Notice the chronological sequence stated in Revelation 12 – particularly addressing the perennial theological problem we are trying to solve:

¶ And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days.
¶ Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
Revelation 12:1-9

Here is the sequence of this passage:

(i) “The woman” (which is Mary representing Israel who is depicted with the metaphorical “sun, moon, and stars” first established from Joseph’s dream in Genesis 37 as being Israel. Whenever Israel turned its back on God the prophets declared that the sun no longer gives forth its light, the moon has been darkened, and the stars have fallen from the sky [Isa. 13:10; Ezek. 32:7]);

(ii) She is about to give birth (to the Messiah, Jesus);

(iii) The Dragon (Satan) musters the geo-political forces at the time — Israel (Herod) and Rome (Augustus);

(iv) The Dragon then sweeps down “a third of the stars of heaven” to the earth (presumed to be the involuntary subjection of a third of heavens angels who are then coerced to follow Satan). But this interpretation of this phrase creates two great problems: it suggests that Satan’s agenda did not commence until after the Christ was born, and secondly, it suggests that there were no demons until after Christ had been born. Both suggestions cannot be substantiated from Scripture;

(v) The Dragon then looms before the woman to devour her child when He is born. Indeed, Satan used King Herod in an attempt to kill the baby Messiah around the time of His birth, but failed;

(vi) The woman’s child grows to be the man who would accomplish redemption and the atonement of humankind’s sin and demonstrate that He is the true King of kings who will rule the nations ‘with a rod of iron’. After this phase of His redemptive plan is accomplished He ascends back to heaven;

(vii) Despite the Dragon’s 1,260 day program to wipe out the bearers of the news of the Saviour’s offer of redemption, the woman (the true Israel) is protected by God from being destroyed. [In AD64 Caesar Nero commenced a killing rampage against Christians but was unable to destroy Christianity. This rampage of martyrdom against the Church ended with Nero’s suicide in AD68, 1260 or so days later.]

(viii) War broke out in heaven with the archangel Michael fighting the Dragon. In AD70 the last vestiges of the Old Covenant were done away with, thus fulfilling the prophecy of Hebrews 8:13, and with the doing away with the Old Covenant (Temple, Priesthood, sacrifices) Satan’s role as the Accuser of believers was extinguished and his doom made certain (the expression “thrown down” is metaphorical language of this, and Revelation further describes his doom as being “thrown into a bottomless pit” in Rev. 20).

Do you see how this sequence does not fit the suggested narrative of the origins of Satan since we know he was already the Evil One in the Garden of Eden described in Genesis 3?

 

WHAT THE BIBLICAL DATA ACTUALLY REVEALS ABOUT THE TIMING OF THE FALL OF LUCIFER

It might be that the story of Job is the most ancient story in the Bible. That is, the oral tradition of this account was being told well before Moses and his editor/s penned the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible – Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus, Deuteronomy). But the Book of Job, which describes a character referred to as the Satan in its opening two chapters was probably not formally written down in its present form until the time of the Exile in the fifth and the fourth centuries BC – whereas we know that the Genesis account was a part of the Book of the Law written and handed down from around 1400 BC. Therefore, the account of the Devil in Genesis 3 has ancient origins. If this text was all the data we had to determine when Lucifer rebelled against Yahweh, then we might be more inclined to accept an ancient tradition that says that it was the creation of the woman that triggered Lucifer to defy God. We certainly could not argue with the data as it is presented in the opening three chapters of Genesis since it is immediately after the woman (Heb. “Ishah”) is created that the devilish serpent appears. An ancient tradition states that it was this which triggered Lucifer, one of the Watchers originally assigned to earth to assist mankind, to be incensed with what Yahweh had done when he created a special being capable of doing what no no heavenly creature could do. While the man (Heb. “Adam”) had been created in the image of God, it was only after God divested Adam of those divine traits and embodied them in the Ishah with an ability that no other creature in the universe possessed: the ability to create ‘spirit’ (when a woman conceives her offspring he or she becomes an entirely new person in her womb with a spirit or soul comprised of a substance not previously in existence, unlike each of our physical bodies which are comprised of pre-existing material) — that Lucifer’s great pride became offended with envy and he was filled with rage against the woman (Ishah).

This would certainly explain the LORD’s denouncement of the serpent and His warning to the Ishah –

¶ The LORD God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this,
cursed are you above all livestock
and above all beasts of the field;
on your belly you shall go,
and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life.
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.”
Genesis 3:14-15

If this ancient tradition is correct about the timing and cause of Satan’s origins, then it explains why his devilish strategies are almost entirely focused on the destruction of women. The evidence for this today is horrifically obvious. Satan hates women. He hates that they can do something literally divine – a woman can create a spiritual being – and he cannot. Therefore, he tricks, manipulates, deceives, and cons people into encouraging women to either abuse this divine power or to destroy its fruit (the conceived child) through abortion — and of course, sex-selective abortion. It is conservatively estimated that due to this devilish strategy there are now “one hundred million missing females” from the world’s current population! One researcher has estimated that in India alone, there have been 70,000,000 baby girls aborted due to the practice of sex-selective abortions. Added to this assault on women is Satan’s despicable scheme to have men commit sexual violence against women including the sin of rape and pornography. All the while, the father of lies manipulates even women to be spoke-persons for the euphemistically labelled “Sex Industry” to betray their own sex by advocating for “the rights of sex workers” when they of all people should be defending the dignity of women against the abuses by men! Yet, somehow, Satan’s devilish deceptions are packaged with a veneer of acceptability that results of pitiful confusion by politicians, the judiciary, the media, and the arts. This confusion reached dizzying heights when Hugh Hefner died and he was bizarrely championed as a liberator of women by complying with Satan’s schemes to have stripped of dignity and treated as objects rather than as people endowed by their Creator to be honoured, cherished, and protected from such scandalous abuses. While the media were lauding Hefner as a liberator of women despite his despicable objectifying of women, they were simultaneously promoting the “Me Too Movement” when hundreds of women began speaking up against their mistreatment by other powerful men!

It is my hope that every Christian man repents of their consumption of pornography and is delivered from the lie that the women portrayed in this devilish attack against women actually enjoy being treated as object rather than as persons! 

 

WHY WOMEN ARE REALLY, REALLY, IMPORTANT

When Satan entered the Garden of Eden, he did not try to directly corrupt the man. He went straight to the one upon whom the entire divine plan for mankind depended – the woman. But God immediately instigated His plan of redemption and put women right in the centre of it! As you read through Scripture you will see this pattern – Satan attacks key women, God redeems these women and uses the attack against them as an opportunity to further His plan of redemption despite Satan’s attack against them! When Satan attacked Eve with his insidious deception, God redeemed this attack by announcing that He would send the Redeemer as “seed of the woman” (Gen. 3:15; Rom. 16:20). God ordained that a young woman named Tamar would be one of the women through whom the family line of the coming Redeemer would come. When Satan had orchestrated Tamar’s husband, Er, to be sexually deviant so that this would not happen (Gen. 38:7), God orchestrated for His plan of redemption to be furthered through Tamar and her link to the tribe of Judah anyway (Matt. 1:3). When a young chosen girl, Rahab, was chosen by God to be in the family-line of the Messiah-Redeemer, she too was attacked by Satan at a very young age. She was robbed of her of dignity and purity and against all hope doomed to be childless. But God chose to rescue her out of these wicked schemes of Satan and the men Satan had manipulated to abuse her. God orchestrated a dramatic military rescue plan and brought her into the family of God as the wife of a godly Hebrew man, Boaz, and she was able to become the Great-Grandmother of King David and thereby continue the family-line of the coming Redeemer (Matt. 1:5a). Her only child, Boaz, her son, reached his senior years and had not yet married. Satan had made life difficult for Boaz and his countrymen by orchestrating a drought and a famine. Satan’s scheme looked like it would bring God’s plan of redemption to a halt. But God once again used Satan’s attack and sovereignly orchestrated it as a means to redeem both Boaz and a young Moabite girl, Ruth (Matt. 1:5b) through whom He ensured that the family-line of the Redeemer remained unbroken. And when David corrupted the heart of the LORD’s favourite servants with lust for an already married woman, God eventually orchestrated for her who had been the wife of Uriah to be the chosen woman in the line of the coming Redeemer (Matt. 1:7).

Women are really really important to God and our endowed with a divine quality that men do not possess. We have already noted the fifth woman mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus, Mary (when we looked at Revelation 12) and noted how God indeed ensured that this young woman was an important means by which the Redeemer would redeem. Therefore, men, treat all women with respect, tenderness, and honour. And do this by heeding the Apostle Paul’s injunction to men- 

¶ Do not rebuke an older man but encourage him as you would a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, in all purity.  ¶ Honor widows…
First Timothy 5:1-3

Your pastor,

Andrew

Let me know what you think below in the comment section and feel free to share this someone who might benefit from this Pastor’s Desk.

THE REAL GOOD DOCTOR

THE REAL GOOD DOCTOR

UMURAGE: Dr Denis Mukwege

Denis Mukwege was born in 1955 in a modest-sized town, Bukavu, in east ‘Congo. Little could anyone have imagined that this son of a Pentecostal pastor would grow up to be considered the most influential African of the 20th century, and one of the most influential 100 people in human history. His list of achievements, honours, and international awards, literally fills a two sheets of paper. His life is characterised by constant goodness. He is the epitome of a good man. It all began when as a young boy he accompanied his father as they visited the sick, ill, and injured people of their town where his father would pray for their healing. Young Denis was struck by the dire lack of physical resources to help these poor people, especially at the Lemera Hospital. It was then that he committed his life to God to be a doctor of goodness.

Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.
Romans 12:17

Denis developed a love for biochemistry in high school which he graduated from in 1974. Despite his desire to go to university to study medicine, the State only gave him the choice of studying engineering at the University of Kinshasa. He endured two years there until 1976, before the Swedish Pentecostal Mission funded him to attend medical school in Burundi. Six years later, 1982, he graduated and returned to Bukava to work in the Lemera Hospital as a paediatrician. But it was the plight of the mothers of the children that touched his heart. Many of them died during childbirth. More died after childbirth. Many were permanently damaged from childbirth. He wanted to help and sought to be trained as a gynaecologist (and obstetrics). He was awarded a post-graduate scholarship to study and train at University of Angers in France. During his studies in France he co-founded a charity – Association Esther Solidarité France/Kivu to help his hometown. Despite tempting offers of employment in France, he returned in 1989 to continue work at Lemera Hospital, in South Kivu, where he started a brand new gynaecological wing and later became the hospital’s director.

If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.
Romans 12:18

Everything changed though in 1996 when the Congo war erupted engulfing neighbouring Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda. The Lemera Hospital was attacked by rebels who murdered all of its patients – including pregnant women and other patients too ill to flee – and most of the medical staff. Medical supplies were looted, the buildings – medical wings and housing – burned down. Dr Denis Mukwege, who was amongst the few who miraculously survived the attack. He and his family fled the country and for refuge in Kenya.

The now 41 year old doctor with a strong commitment to Christ, now safe in Kenya, could not abandon his country, or his people. He sought support to go back to his country to care for the hundreds of victims of this war which would require building a new hospital. His national church movement and the Swedish Pentecostal Mission once again helped and a hospital was built in Bukavu, instead of Lemera, and called the Panzi Hospital (after the name of the district) in 1999. The Congolese war would continue for another 22 years!

Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”
Romans 12:19

Not longer after the opening of the hospital, Dr Mukwege was called upon to treat a woman who had been gang raped! This type of case was something Dr Mukwege had never seen before – especially on a girl so young. After that operation to save her life in September 1999, the hospital started receiving an increasing number of female victims of war crimes. He estimated that he and his team operated on 45 women just in the first three months.

“I had the impression that this was an enormous number, because I’d been in the region for a few years, and I’d never seen this before. It wasn’t until 2000 that I understood that this was normal, and I began to call on the international community.”
-Dr. Denis Mukwege

Over the next 20 years, the Panzi Hospital would treat more than 85 000 patients, most of whom were victims of sexual crimes.

He decided to specialise in the care of women victims of sexual violence. The hospital expanded its mission to provide legal and psycho-social services to their patients. While many consider rampant evil to be an argument against the existence of God, people like Dr. Mukwege demonstrate God’s heart for the victims of such evil by being His representatives in the thick of it.

¶ Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.
Romans 12:9

In 2011, the UN estimated that roughly 48 women are victim of sexual assault every hour in the Congo.

Dr Mukwege began speaking out on behalf of the abused women he met daily – trying to bring to the international community the hideous evils being committed as a result of this war against women and children.

He became known as ‘the man who repairs women’. He was soon invited to speak before the UN General Assembly first in 2006 and the second time six years later in 2012. He paid tribute to the courage of the half a million women who had been raped in Congo over the past 16 years and went on to denounce the international community, including his own government, for not putting an end to this evil.

“I would have liked to also say, ‘I have the honour of being part of the international community that you represent here,’ but I cannot say that. How can I say this to you – representatives of the international community – when the international community has shown fear and a lack of courage during these 16 years in the Democratic Republic of the Congo?”
-Dr. Denis Mukwege

In October 2012, Denis and his wife and children survived an assassination attempt at their home in Bukavu. He took his family to safety in Europe and returned to his hospital a few months later in January 2013 – more determined than ever. Traditionally, Christians have run into the fray – not away from it!

To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.”
Romans 12:20

The Congo war is said to be the longest humanitarian crisis in history and the deadliest conflict worldwide since World War II with more than 6 million deaths and countless victims of sexual crimes, including children. In his autobiography, ‘Plea for Life’ (‘Plaidoyer pour la vie’), released in 2016, he explained how distressing it is for him to have the war continue on so long as he was now operating the daughters of some of his earlier patients!

In 2008, he received the United Nations Human Rights Prize, the Daily Trust African of the Year Award, and the Olof Palme Prize of Sweden. In 2011, he received the Clinton Global Citizen Award for Leadership in Civil Society, an award created by the former US President Bill Clinton to recognize extraordinary individuals who have demonstrated visionary leadership in solving pressing global challenges. In 2013, he was awarded the Right Livelihood Award and in 2014, the prestigious European Union Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, which honours individuals and groups of people who have dedicated their lives to the defence of human rights and freedom of thought. His honorary degrees include, an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the University of Winnipeg in 2014, in recognition of his role as an international voice for victims of sexual violence and his dedication to improving the lives and status of women; an Honorary Doctorate of Science from Harvard University in 2015; and an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Medicine from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland in 2017. In 2016, he won the Seoul Peace Prize; his name was included on the list of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the world; and in 2018 was the co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. He really is the real-life good doctor! But more importantly, he continues a very long Christian tradition of running into the evil not hiding from it. 

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Romans 12:21

While we see evil growing all around us, it is my prayer that God will raise up young men and women who will enter in politics, academia, the arts, journalism, and business, to make a difference for Christ. Rather than seeking to have a  life ease and bliss, I pray that these young people will fearlessly, courageously, wisely, and winsomely, learn how to live like Daniel in Babylon – and sometimes even in the occasional lions’ den!

Your pastor,
Andrew

A CONFESSION

Our society is in trouble. It used to be that drugs were a problem in communities materially less fortunate than most. Now illicit drugs are a growing problem in materially affluent communities. People are turning to drugs and illicit sex to fill the void, numb the pain of unfulfilment, and dull their despair. The root cause of this void, pain and despair is a gross lie - that life has no meaning. But the Life-Giver has designed that our lives are meaningful when we work, worship, wonder and love. Each endeavour contributes to what defines us as human beings. Anyone who does not work is depriving themselves of the very thing that can give them dignity, satisfaction, and fulfilment. But the same is true of the dignity, satisfaction and fulfilment that comes from the worship of the One True Life-Giving God, the wonder of who God is and what God has done, but especially from loving and being loved. There is one place (that is much more than a 'place') where each of these aspects come beautifully together.

¶ I love you more than I can say.
Because I'm madly in love with you,
They blame me for everything they dislike about you.
Psalm 69:9 THE MESSAGE

Before every Sunday morning worship service, the worship and pulpit teams meet in my office for team-talk and prayer. For a couple of years I had a separate white-board sign that said-

"We work so others can worship.
Our work is our worship."

Jesus, the perfect man, the happiest man, was the greatest example of work (Jn. 4:34), worship (Mtt. 26:30), wonder (Acts 14:3), and love (Jn. 13:1). His death on the Cross was the means by which He could establish the 'place' (which is really the people) where the best work, worship, wonder and love could be done. It is impossible to overstate how hard Christ has worked to establish and extend His Church, inspire worship, create wonder and foster love. Christ's churches come in different sizes, different kinds of people, different venues, with different meeting times, music styles, and leadership structures.

¶ Husbands, love your wives,
as Christ loved the church and
gave himself up for her
Ephesians 5:25

The New Covenant House-of-the-Lord, the Church, is one of the greatest sources of blessings that God offers to the world. While not technically correct, Bill Hybles often quoted statement - "The local church is the hope of the world" (the local church declares that Christ is the hope of the world) has a powerful sentiment behind it. I have seen, felt and heard of Christ's supreme passion for His church time and time again. The Word of God promises that those who are planted in the House of the Lord will "flourish" (be abundantly blessed). I was very recently reminded of this powerful truth when two of our church family who had been looking for work in the field of their professional training volunteered at our church. Within a week or so of volunteering they both had secured employment. They are both now flourishing just as Psalm 92 promised.

They are planted in the house of the LORD;
they flourish in the courts of our God.
Psalm 92:13

It is in the community of believers that Christ has established to foster work, worship, wonder and love, that Christ calls us to learn these fundamentally human aspects. From this growing broad community of the church, men lead their own families as 'micro-churches' and foster in their children what work, worship, wonder and love should look like. Fathers especially carry this ministry of the church to their sons by showing them what work looks like and that work necessarily involves doing things you don't want to do. (We need a generation of young men who understand and exhibit the qualities of self-discipline and self-motivation undergirded by a willingness to accept responsibility.) The family home becomes the seed-bed for fostering worship (adoration of God, attention to Scripture, audible praying). Parents promote, rather than hinder, a deep wonder of the natural world which God has created for us to enjoy which is why school work has far to do with worship than it does with textbooks and exams.

And it is in the family home where children are trained in the art of love.

We have now almost returned to some Ancient Roman values of marriage, family and sexuality where women are viewed as objects, children as accessories, and sex as a recreational sport. Today the "Pornography Industry" is the largest 'industry' in the world! Conservative estimates place it at several hundred billion dollars in annual turnover, but it is almost certainly closer to a trillion dollars a year! Economist Doug French reports that at least 28,000 internet users view online porn every second! Is it any wonder then that young men view women as objects of their gratification rather than as people who need a man to commit exclusively to them for life and truly love them for better or for worse?!

"The foremost danger to marriage in our time is the wholesale degradation of women in the popular culture," Shmuley Boteach, The Jerusalem Post

It is from the family home that children learn to love. They witness their Mum and Dad hugging. They hear their Dad talking respectfully to his wife and their Mother. They experience the stern rebuke of their father when they have been impolite to their Mother or sibling - because a loving father is a father who disciplines his children (Heb. 12:9). They feel the loving comfort of their mother when only a mother's caress will soothe. And ultimately they learn that true love comes from God and is gladly expressed toward Him by meeting together with other God-lovers in the House of the Lord each week. The result is that children get the idea that love is not merely a feeling but a willing commitment to another for their highest good which produces these feelings.

¶ O LORD, I love the habitation of your house
and the place where your glory dwells.
Psalm 26:8

I'm concerned. I'm deeply concerned. We have a generation that does not work, wonder, worship or love, as it should. Instead, it works to avoid work, senselessly amuses itself 24/7 (rather than engaging in the holy art of scientific wonder), worships the created rather than the Creator, and gladly buys the delusion that love is something you make rather than something you give. These things are utterly destructive to the human soul - in fact, destructive to the core of what it means to be "human". Is it any wonder then, that the world's second largest global industry is now alcohol and illicit drugs. And in what must be an ironic metaphor of our day, the affect of heroine is best felt the first time it is used and creates a craving for more and with each subsequent hit of heroine or cocaine the 'high' is nowhere near the same. In fact, in a recent Ross Kemp documentary, where he interviewed crack addicts in Chicago, he was repeatedly told by them that they had never re-achieved the initial high they felt when first trying the drug that would soon master their lives. These addicts all said they were addicted to these drugs after just three days of use and that each hit to satisfy their craving was merely to help them feel "normal" (not to get 'high'). And this is the illusion of what the world offers when it cons people into thinking that right work, wonder, worship and love will not satisfy the human soul.

People, whose souls are being destroyed by these lies, need to see and hear an alternative. It is possible for God to set someone free from the destructive lifestyles of crime, drugs, idleness, and promiscuity. God does this regularly. The Giver-of-Life has sent His Son to pay the price of our guilt and shame and to set us all free and give our lves hope and meaning. This hope is now proclaimed through the local church. Are you in bondage to despair, idleness, drugs or sexual addictions? Jesus Christ can save and deliver you. You are one prayer away from beginning your journey to freedom. This is the kind of prayer that confesses failure and mistakes. It is the kind of prayer that confesses our need for forgiveness by and reconciliation with God. It is the kind of prayer that asks God for help to live the way we should. Will you pray this kind of heart-prayer?

 It is in the House of God that we learn the true value of working, how to wonder, the inspiration to worship as we should, and how to love others. It is from the local church that draw the principles for raising our families. This is why society needs strong, vibrant, local churches to help foster strong, healthy marriages which produce strong, happy, fulfilling families. This is why, as Bill Hybels puts it, the local church is the hope of the world. In this sense, I believe it. And, I must confess, I love my church for being it.

Ps. Andrew

SAFE, LEGAL, AND RARE IS MORALLY INDEFENSIBLE

By Dr. Andrew Corbett, September 7th 2013 It's reported that President Bill Clinton was the first to coin the phrase, "Abortion should be safe, legal and rare." This clever sounding phrase was designed to be a politically safe appeasement for both the 'Pro-Life' and the 'Pro-Choice' camps. Due to the political success of this phrase it has been picked up by other politicians around the world who are also seeking to avoid polarising their electorate. But I consider this phrase absolutely non-sensical and utterly morally indefensible. Here's why. WHAT WE'RE ACTUALLY TALKING ABOUT And during Barack Obama's 2008 Presidential race, he reiterated President Bill Clinton's rhetorical quip about safe, legal, and rarebut added the very amusing preface- "That question is above my pay-grade!" This week I was privileged to moderate a public political forum in Launceston, Tasmania, where both major party candidates repeated the mantra about Abortion should be safe, legal and rare. It was neither appropriate nor allowable for me to interrogate the candidates on their glib answer about abortion. But I did wonder how many people in the audience thought, as they thought when Bill Clinton said it and then Barack Obama reiterated it, whether this answer was as equally coherent as it was applaudable? Here's what we're talking about. I have a conviction that- The unjust taking of an innocent human life is wrong. Therefore, the random assassination of a person is morally wrong. And the killing of an unborn child is wrong for exactly the same reason. Because the two forms of killing are morally equal (that is, they are both immoral), should the mantra- Random assassinations of people should be safe, legal and rare similarly apply? When we discuss abortion, we are necessarily talking about the unjust taking of an innocent person's life. Das Recht auf Leben ist die einfachste und grundlegende universelles Menschenrecht - The right to live is the most basic and fundamental universal human right. It is utterly false, incoherent, delusional, and deceptive to claim that an unborn baby is not a human being deserving of this most basic Menschenrecht - human right! Abortion is most commonly initially justified by asserting that it is "an embryo". Here is a picture of embryo, with some accompanying details- A human embryo at 50 days. It is between 13 - 18 millimeters long. The flexure of the head is gradually reduced and the neck is somewhat lengthened. The upper lip is completed and the nose is more prominent. The nostrils are directed forward and the palate is not completely developed. The eyelids are present in the shape of folds above and below the eye, and the different parts of the auricula are distinguishable. It is then justified as morally defensible because it is not a human being yet. In this instance it is most commonly described as a foetus. Here is a picture of a foetus with accompanying details- The body is covered by fine hairs (lanugo) and the deposit of vernix caseosa is considerable. The papillæ of the skin are developed and the free border of the nail projects from the corium of the dermis. Measured from vertex to heels, the total length of the fetus at the end of this month is from 30 to 32 cm. WHAT DETERMINES SOMEONE'S HUMANITY For the sake of all those on lower "pay-grades", here is what the rest of us can tell you about what constitutes a human being. This won't take long. I say this because often politicians wave their hands at the question and laugh it off with a, "Boy! How much time have we got??!" This doesn't require the making of convoluted or technical arguments. A human being is biologically the offspring of a man and a woman which necessarily means they have (human) DNA (unique to them) which is traceable to their parents. This definition is not subject to a person's: [Read Full Article]

HOW TO TREAT A WOMAN

The Gospel of Jesus Christ has revolutionised how women are treated. Jesus Christ was a radical in the way He treated women. He honoured women. He gave them respect. Women's sense of worth took on new bounds of pure dignity. Rather than being relegated to menial tasks to serve unappreciative men, Jesus Christ shocked everyone by entrusting His mission to women as well as to men. Indeed, the first people to witness then proclaim His resurrection were women. So deep has the Gospel permeated the Western World, that we now take it for granted the inherent dignity that women deserve. And above all, the Gospel of Jesus Christ has dramatically reinstated God's intention for marriage for women. 

At the time of Christ's earthly mission, women were treated, excuse me, mistreated, as little more than objects. They were frequently physically, sexually, and financially abused. They were generally not equal partners in marriage. Outside of Israel, women entered marriage for various reasons but rarely for anything noble. In fact, study Roman history around the time of Caesar Tiberius and you'll be horrified to discover that women were  "subservientem" (utterly subordinate ones). This is why Christ's statements about marriage in Matthew 19, for example, were utterly shocking to His original audience. We sometimes think that marriage today has become a relatively disposable commodity, but back in the First Century, divorce was rife! 

Matt. 19:3 ¶ And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?” 

Matt. 19:4 He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female,

Matt. 19:5 and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?

Matt. 19:6 So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”

Marriage from the beginning, said Jesus, was designed by God to be between a male and a female (Mat. 19:4) so that a woman would be "held" (provided for, protected, cherished, and loved) "fast" (permanently close) by her husband (Mat. 19:5). When Jesus declared that God had joined a man and a woman together, He was making a powerful statement about the abuse of women through unjustifiable divorce.

This Gospel teaching about the indispensable role of women and the purpose of marriage to ensure that  they can flourish is expounded by Christ's apostles in their epistles. The concept of love in a marriage (which we now take for granted) is taught by Paul in Ephesians 5. He charges husbands to love their wives as Christ loves the Church. If husbands do nothing more than strive to fulfil this charge, they will  go a long way to ensuring that their wife reaches her potential happiness! The Apostle Peter similarly charges husbands to honour their wives, strive to understand them, and treat them with gentleness - so that their prayers may not be hindered! (1Peter 3:7). So highly does God consider His female image bearers that He warns husbands about spiritual barrenness if they don't honour (to treat and value as most important) their wives.

This elevation of womanhood by Christ and His Gospel doesn't start with the redemption of marriage though. It goes back to how a woman is to be treated before she's married. A very important part of nearly every wedding vow is to live together after the holy ordinance of marriage. That is, before marriage a man is not to treat the woman he will marry as if they are married. In fact, the Apostle commands men to treat women they are not married to as either their mother or their sister!

1Tim. 5:1 ¶ Do not rebuke an older man but encourage him as you would a father, younger men as brothers,

 older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, in all purity.

Young men, just because you're engaged to a young lady doesn't mean you can treat her as if she is your wife! You are commanded by the Gospel of Jesus Christ to treat her as a "sister". Until you marry, your fiancé is your sister not your wife! Don't do anything with her that you wouldn't do with your sister. This level of man to woman respect is desperately needed today and sorely lacking. Every time a man sleeps with his fiancé he is teaching her that it's OK to sleep with someone you're not married to! 

The Gospel instructs for women to be with tenderness, respect, honour and dignity. Showing common courtesies such as opening doors, stepping aside, assisting with arduous physical tasks is not old fashioned - rather, if more men understand the Gospel in this matter, it should be fashionable.

Andrew Corbett