“what happens when I start attending CCLF regularly?”

If you just started attending CCLF regularly regardless if you’re coming in off the street and have “zero” church experience, or you just blasted the pastor from Church A down the road and now want to see what’s happening over at here at Church B…  it won’t be long before a pastor or another leader might approach you about connecting a little deeper – maybe together over lunch, dinner or coffee etc.

Cuz really, we want to know you.

And guess what… this is not happenstance. This is an intentional approach to get to know who you are, (while you’re checking out our fellowship, you are indeed being checked out too!) We want to find out your story – what makes you come alive spiritually, to consider your strengths and weaknesses etc., and how you might fit in at CCLF. We want to discuss your recent church life experience… if any. Why? Because we do not take lightly whom God is bringing to CCLF knowing that He is working in you and He is working in us, and apparently He is trying to match us together for some reason.

We want to identify those who have been in fellowship with another local congregation within our greater community of faith to ensure that their ‘transfer’ is as healthy as possible.

We recognize every situation is different and must be addressed as such. People come to church for all kinds of reasons and we want to assess the situation as best we can. That may include checking with former church leaders/pastors for a spiritual reference as well as finding out how we can best shepherd you.

As we move along in this process, we may find that there are deep wounds you are facing, that you were treated wrongly at another church, or maybe there are some things actually that you need to “own” as well in how you left the other church.

We are being intentional in this to make every effort to maintain unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace in the greater community of faith, as well as provide a healing touch for you. You need to know that you have entered into a restorative process and that we will do all we can to ensure the name of the Lord is not sullied in any way as He said we would be known by our love one for another.

“Now whoa!” you might say. “I just started coming to CCLF with no hard feelings for anybody! Am I to be scrutinized and examined like a sheep under a shepherd’s rod for heavens sake?!”

Well, exactly.

But really, for those who are coming into CCLF in a healthy way, we simply ask that you attend consistently for a period of three months before seeking out membership in our covenant community, building relationships throughout the congregation as best as possible and really trying to be a part of the life of CCLF.  When a call for membership comes (usually two or three times a year) and you want to get on board at CCLF in an official way, talk to the pastor(s), attend a membership class and we will be blessed to move in that direction together.

Becoming a member of the covenant community will be a longer process for those coming in after having left badly from another church or without being commended by another church pastor/leader. It just will.

You gotta know this process takes time, both for your healing and the good of the community.  You need to breathe. Don’t expect to jump in and lead something at CCLF for a while or to become a member of the covenant community for a while. We’re talking 6 mos to a year.  This is a protective measure for both you and the flock. We ask that during this time, you keep a teachable, humble heart as you sit under the Word of God, develop relationships at CCLF, learn the spiritual DNA of CCLF, assimilate into the life of CCLF and live in healthy submission to godly leadership without speaking poorly of any other local evangelical churches or church leadership.

We might also recommend some good books to read such as John Bevere’s book Under Cover, or Making Peace by Jim Van Yperen.

And we will keep meeting together along the way to see how you’re doing.

Meanwhile, if you are walking into CCLF from another church and guess what, we learn you are under actual and appropriate formal church discipline for sin, or that in our estimation, hey, you should be, our first priority for CCLF leadership is to be supportive of your previous church leadership by saying “you should not be coming here until you deal with this my friend.”

And that’s just the way it is.

 

 

 

Hey I have to apologize. Last week I quoted a totally unchurched, godless, careless sinner who said the Courageous movie we are about to play again is an “eff’n good movie.” ‘Cept he didn’t say “eff’n” – he used the full extent of the word.

I thought hmm, that was a rave review from someone who didn’t know God or even call himself a churchgoer, but as soon as I said it (not the full version, of course, just “Ff’” part) in church last Sunday am service, I thought — “ah…whoops, shouldn’t have said that.”

There were many people not paying attention to what I was saying at the time, as we were just getting going on the announcements and they were looking down and shuffling papers, and talking – and then I said it. Boy, their heads popped up immediately, and I had their attention alright!

Anyway, I do apologize. Didn’t need to say it; didn’t even plan on saying it; just came out as a quote. And, it was stupid, and could’ve easily caused some offense to take place. Absolutely no one has mentioned it in any way as being offensive. But hey, they could all be “gracing” out on me. So…

Please accept my apologies.

I used an old cow bell in my sermon last Sunday to illustrate a point about how sheep follow the Shepherd.

True story, an Israeli sheepherder in the craggy Judean hills wanted to move his flock down the mountainside because a storm was coming, so he sang to them in a sing-songy voice that only the sheep knew, and he started to move on. But the sheep were enjoying themselves eating the grass so much that they paid no attention.

The shepherd was a little upset. He tried and tried but they would not pay attention. Finally, he used a different voice and called one sheep by name. This one wore a bell. It popped up its head and came toward the shepherd. Together the bell-ringing sheep and shepherd made their way down around a rock or two and out of sight. The other sheep continued to eat.

All of a sudden one of the others realized it no longer heard the rhythmic sound of the bell around the neck of its cohort. It began to panic, as did the other sheep. No bell! No Shepherd! They began behaving badly and ran about in no particular direction. Then in the distance, the sound of the bell was heard. The sheep almost ran over themselves in making the effort to find the bell, and in doing so, they found the shepherd.

So I had people act this story out on Sunday, with one of them actually wearing the bell. (You can imagine what happened when I said “and then the sheep began to behave badly”). Afterwards as the story was still being brooded upon.. some pointed to the bell-ringer as being a lead sheep in a flock of sheep that the others will follow, such as the pastor. I said that maybe we all should be wearing a bell.

Are there ‘sheep’ out there (John 10:16) that Jesus wants to bring in – sheep that are not paying attention right now – but need to hear the sound of a bell? Perhaps a bell that you haven’t rung in a while?

At our homegroup Monday night the topic of the bell went to a whole ‘nother level when someone asked “what is the bell, really?” And some noted that the sheep bearer of the bell doesn’t even really realize necessarily that it’s wearing a bell; it just goes about being a good sheep and listening to the shepherd – and the bell naturally just rings. We asked questions like “what hinders the bell from ringing?” Has the bell been stolen? Broken? Lost? Have you been to the Shepherd for shearing lately or is there so much “wool over your eyes” that you can’t even see the shepherd right now? It was a great discussion. What constitutes the bell? How do you get a bell? You can’t go into a store and buy a bell. The shepherd needs to give you one; you need to receive the bell. And on and on it went. Wonderful!

Jesus made a strong statement in John 10:16 that He has “other sheep that are not in this (Jewish) fold. I HAVE them and I MUST bring them in. They will listen to my voice.”  Is Jesus still bringing in ‘other’ sheep today? How is He doing that?

Jesus said in John 20:20-21 “as the Father has sent me, so I send you. Receive the Holy Spirit.” That sounds like a bell maybe.

Jesus said in Acts 1:8 that “you shall receive power (bell?) when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses…”

In Acts 17, the apostle Paul is ringing a bell while speaking to some of “other” sheep and he says that God has “determined the exact times and places that men should live” that they might seek God. There are ‘other’ sheep out there still and the Good Shepherd has put His own sheep in places together so that when He calls them by name, they will come. Is there a bell ringing at your workplace? At your school? In your neighbourhood?

Paul also said in 2 Corinthians 5:20-21 that we are “Christ’s ambassadors as though God was making His appeal through us,” and that “on behalf of Christ, we implore you (other sheep) be reconciled to God!”

The Great Commission compels us to go out and ring a bell, a clear sound so that other sheep may hear it and respond and follow the Shepherd.

We carry and should live a confident and compelling message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We can live very purposeful and meaningful lives, even at what we call mundane jobs.

You have been given a bell to ring. So RING!

It was cold that morning, the chill in the air caused her to wrap up a little tighter. She moved her way down the path being careful of the roots and rocks.

She sighed deeply as she approached the garden. Birds were singing but their song seemed only to ring empty tunes in her head. Nothing mattered anymore; he was gone. All her hopes of what might be… dashed.

She looked up from the path, and though there was fog and though the morning sun seemed to bounce off the trees in contrasting patterns of light and dark, she noticed something out of place. At first she didn’t realize it, like when you travel down a familiar stretch of highway and notice at a difference ‘something’ different but can’t pinpoint it.

It was the stone. The stone was out of place! It had been moved! The rock was huge, about five-feet in diameter and too heavy to be just set aside without the aid of many men since it would have to be pushed up a grade. She stopped on the path, thinking the worst. Someone must have stolen his body! She looked around but saw no one, heard nothing. She went a little closer and from her vantage point she could see the burial clothes laying on the stone slab bench inside.

She bolted, running as fast as she could to the house where she knew Peter and John were. It was early. She didn’t care. BAM BAM BAM on the door. Again, BAM BAM! It cracked. John with one eye shut to the brightness of the day looked out at Mary.

“What? What do you want?”

“They have taken him.”

“Who?”

“They have taken the Lord’s body out of the tomb and we do not know where they put him…please!”

John opened the door and let her and the other women in (there were others that had gone with her to the tomb and now verified her story). She explained all that she knew, which wasn’t much.

So John and Peter who was there, decided to see for themselves. They ran to the garden tomb, Peter staying stride for stride with John for as long as he could. But John ran up ahead and reached the tomb first. Noting the stone to the side, he looked in as he caught his breath. He too saw the strips of linen lying there. But he didn’t go in.

Peter arrived and looked at John, then went right inside. There the cloths lay, including the facial cloth that had been folded up and placed nicely at the head of the ‘bed’.

John, who had followed Peter in, was quick to believe the best and began recalling what Jesus had spoken about to them in earlier days, about how the Son of Man would be killed but rise again on the third day.

Peter wasn’t there yet. Could it be? He thought… it was too amazing to be true.

But it was true. He had risen, just like he had said. It wasn’t long before Jesus had appeared to all of them that night, showing his wounds and saying “peace” to you all. He then “stopped in” for visits over a period of about six weeks. He would show up at the most unusual places and times, on a road, at the beach, at a house, in the street (sounds like Dr. Seuss there). He would touch them, eat with them, speak with them, teach them, hug them, laugh with them and then disappear.

I think Thomas was the first disciple to get it, I mean really get it. He was the first to cry out “MY Lord and my God!” and I think this was because he realized what was happening. He realized that Jesus knew exactly what he had said about not believing “until I see the wounds in his hands and stick my finger in his side” even though he (Jesus) had not been there eight days prior when he said it. Or.. was he?

I think Thomas began to realize that Jesus was no longer physically bound to be in one place at one time and no longer bound to their own physical senses to see him there or for him to “be” there. Jesus knew the conversation Thomas had had with the guys. Jesus demonstrated His Lordship over death. Everything he had said was proven true right there. He was who he said he was! He was the living water, the light of the world, the bread of heaven, the door for the sheep, the way, the truth, the life! He was and is the Great I am! He is just what He claimed!

“Fear not! I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore and I have the keys of Death and Hades!” Revelation 1:18

Here is a great article from Andy Bannister the Canadian Director of RZIM (Ravi Zacharias International Ministries) on the question of whether the Bible is a trustworthy book…

The Bible’s Power and Influence

In some countries today, the Bible is forbidden. Bringing a Bible into Saudi Arabia, for example, or North Korea, or China, or Libya, or Burma — along with many other countries — can result in expulsion for the westerner or arrest and torture if you’re native to the country. It wasn’t that long ago that the Bible was banned in communist Eastern Europe, too; a good friend of mine was involved in Bible smuggling into places like Romania and Hungary during the 1970s and 80s and can tell hair-raising stories of near arrests and fortunate escapes.

Banned in many countries, yet desperately sought by persecuted Christians. The best selling, most widely studied piece of literature, whose influence is unquestionable, whatever you think of the book. Much of our art, law, philosophy, music and literature have drawn upon the Bible.

Yet this potency and influence aside, many people today want to ignore, rubbish, or reject the Bible. “How can you trust the Bible?” sceptics often ask. “New Atheist” writers like Richard Dawkins regularly attack the Bible, calling those who believe in it, “died in the wool faith-heads”.

Three Initial Thoughts

So how might we answer the sceptic? How can Christians show that is rational and reasonable to trust the Bible and take seriously what it says? There are numerous ways one might approach this question but this evening, I want to focus on a historical approach, as that’s my own academic background. But before that, let me start by making three general comments.

First, when somebody says “why trust the Bible?” I sometimes respond “why not trust the Bible?” One can only really doubt something if one has something more solid to believe in. Unless you merely want to be a sceptic. Whilst that’s very fashionable, it’s hard to be a consistent sceptic. Why not be sceptical about your scepticism?

Second, lots of people have bought into popular assumptions and myths about the Bible. So if somebody suggests the Bible is unreliable, ask them to be specific. How exactly? If they claim it’s full of myths, ask them which one they had in mind? Encourage them to read the Bible for themselves before passing judgement on it.

Third, there’s a lot of chronological snobbery about these days. Just because something is old or ancient, doesn’t make it false. Indeed, ancient-icity doesn’t tell us anything about whether something is true or false. Something can be ancient and true. Likewise something can be bang up to date and false.

The Historian and the Bible

Those comments aside, why trust the Bible? Well, first, many people are not aware that most historians take the Bible, especially the New Testament, very seriously indeed. The Bible has been subjected to extremely vigorous literary and historical criticism, probably more than any other ancient work, and it’s emerged unscathed. Hans Kung put it nicely:

Lay people are usually unaware that the scrupulous scholarly work achieved by modern biblical criticism … represented by scrupulous academic work over about 300 years, belongs among the greatest intellectual achievements of the human race. Has any of the great world religions outside of the Jewish-Christian tradition investigated its own foundations and its own history so thoroughly and impartially? None of them has remotely approached this. The Bible is far and away the most studied book in world literature.

In other words, the Bible doesn’t need defending or protecting from historical criticism — Christians haven’t shut themselves off from academic questions — far from it. Indeed, as the 19th century Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon once quipped: “Defend the Bible? I’d sooner defend a lion!”

When one approaches the Bible from a historical perspective, one can approach it much as one would any other ancient work. Broadly speaking, there are three tests a historian can utilise to determine the veracity of an ancient document. The bibliographic test, the internal test, and the external test. Let’s briefly look at each of these and how they apply to the Bible.

The Bibliographic Test

The bibliographic test looks at the ancient manuscripts of the Bible and asks whether the text of the Bible we have today is the same as the original? The simple answer is “yes”. There are thousands upon thousands of ancient manuscripts of the Bible, dating from the early second century down to the middle ages. When you compare what we have for the Bible with, say, what we have in terms of manuscripts for other important works of antiquity — Plato or Thucydides — it’s striking. For the Bible, we have 5,000 Greek manuscripts, hundreds of papyri, almost 350 Syriac copies (most dating to the 400s). On top of this, virtually the entire New Testament could be reproduced from quotations in the early church fathers; 32,000 such quotations exist before the Council of Nicaea in AD325, for example.

Many of these manuscripts are staggeringly early. For example, the John Rylands fragment (P52) dates to around AD120. Codex Sinaiticus dates to about 350AD and contains virtually all of the New Testament — I remember visiting the British Library a few years ago and staring at this beautiful object, just a few centimetres away from me behind a pane of glass. One felt that one was in touch with history.

Why are these manuscripts important? Because they enable us to be confident that the text of the Bible we have today is extremely accurate and close to the original. Historian and textual critic Ben Witherington has remarked that critical scholarship is about 99% certain of all of the New Testament text now — indeed, that we’re closer to the original text of the New Testament now than anytime since the first couple of centuries, so good is the scholarship.

The Internal Test

What about the historian’s second test, the internal test? This test asks whether we can determine whether the document we have before us was written by eyewitnesses. When it comes to the Bible, especially to the New Testament, things get very interesting.

First, we have multiple witnesses. Many people who are unfamiliar with the Bible tend to think of it as one book — but, of course, the Bible contains multiple books — it’s more like a library than a book. So, when we come to the New Testament, for example, we have multiple authors writing about the life of Jesus. Critical scholars would count at least six — Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul and probably also “Q”, a collection of sayings of Jesus that Matthew and Luke referred to.

Furthermore, these sources are all very early. Most scholars date the Gospels to the 60s, 70s and 80s AD, although some argue that Mark, especially, is much earlier. British New Testament scholar James Crossley — who, I’d note, is not a Christian — believes Mark was written in the late 30s or early 40s — that’s within a decade of Jesus. Another very early witness is Paul, who is writing his letters between AD48 and AD65, well within the lifetimes of the eyewitnesses. Why is this important?

Because one thing historians get very excited about is multiple attestation and early dating.
To return to the Gospels, though, for a moment. Not merely are they very early, but it’s now fairly universally accepted in critical scholarship that the Gospel writers were trying to write history; in terms of genre, the Gospels are biographies. The seminal work that demonstrated this was a book called What Are the Gospels? by Richard Burridge. Interestingly, Burridge set out to disprove that the gospels are biographies but the evidence caused him to change his mind. Historian David Aune sums up the implications of this:

[Bios, ancient biography] was firmly rooted in historical fact rather than literary fiction. Thus while the Evangelists clearly had an important theological agenda, the very fact that they chose to adapt Greco-Roman biographical conventions to tell the story of Jesus indicated that they were centrally concerned to communicate what they really thought happened.”

There’s a further point here, too. If one wants to reject the Gospels as history, then one is still left with the problem of explaining the early church. It had to come from somewhere and if Jesus’ life and career didn’t play out as the Gospels claim, one has to explain where. As German historian Martin Dibelius put it: you have to posit an X big enough to explain the Y of the early church. The best explanation remains that given in the Gospels: that Jesus existed and something very remarkable happened to him.

The External Test
Finally, there’s the external evidence for the Bible, in particular archaeology. Time and time again, archaeology has confirmed that the writers of the biblical texts knew what they were talking about. Along with the writings of non-Christian historians from the first century, men like the Jewish historian, Josephus, archaeology endorses the biblical text at many points. As Millar Burrows, former professor of archaeology at Yale wrote:

On the whole … archaeological work has unquestionably strengthened confidence in the reliability of the Scriptural record. More than one archaeologist has found his respect for the Bible increased by the experience of excavation in Palestine. Archaeology has in many cases refuted the views of modern critics.

Let me give you a few fascinating examples. First, two examples from Luke. In Acts 17:6-8, Luke uses the Greek word politarchs to describe the city officials in Thessalonica. That word doesn’t appear in classical Greek literature so for many years, critics accused Luke of making a mistake. Then archaeologists discovered a first-century arch in the town that used this very term — showing that the term was in use for government officials at the very time Luke was writing. It was a similar phenomena with Acts 18:12, where Luke uses the term “proconsul” to describe a gentleman called Gallio. That word didn’t appear either in classical literature so, again, scholars questioned Luke’s accuracy. Then an inscription was found at Delphi, dating to AD51, using the same term — and amazingly, to describe the very same official, Gallio. Once again Luke was proven to be a very accurate historian.

It’s a similar story with the other Gospel writers. For example, in John 5:1-2, the fourth Gospel writer speaks of “a pool in Jerusalem, by the Sheep Gate, called in Hebrew ‘Bethesda’, which has five porticoes”. Until the 20th century, there was no evidence outside of John’s Gospel for such a place and, again, critics questioned John’s reliability. Then in the 1930s, the pool was uncovered by archaeologists — complete with four colonnades around the edges and one across the middle.

One more example will suffice and it’s perhaps the most intriguing — the so-called “James Ossuary”. According to the Gospels — and to the Jewish historian, Josephus, James was the brother of Jesus and was killed in AD62. In 2002, a mid-first century bone box or ossuary was discovered in Jerusalem, bearing the Aramaic inscription “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus”. There is very strong evidence that the box and its inscription are authentic. Ed Keall, of the Royal Ontario Museum here in Toronto, has said “we stand by our opinion that the James Ossuary is not a forgery”. As New Testament historian Ben Witherington put it:

If, as seems probable, the ossuary found in the vicinity of Jerusalem and dated to about AD 63 is indeed the burial box of James, the brother of Jesus, this inscription is the most important extra-biblical evidence of its kind.

If we had more time, numerous other examples could be listed. The key point is this: archaeology doesn’t prove the New Testament is true. But what it does do is endorse the narratives. It shows that the biblical writings are historical and geographical in character — and thus deserve to be weighed and treated as seriously as an other texts from antiquity.

Conclusions
In the short time available to us, we’ve only been able to scratch the surface of what is a fascinating and rich area of study. But I hope in this brief survey I’ve been able to show that there are very good reasons to trust the Bible. And thus very good reasons to approach it with an open mind, willing to take what it says seriously and weigh its claims seriously.

So why read the Bible? Because from a historian’s perspective, we have good reason to trust it. Why read the Bible? Because only by reading it can you draw your own conclusions, rather than uncritically swallow somebody else’s second-hand-scepticism. Why read the Bible? Because through the pages of the four biographies in the New Testament, the gospels, one encounters a historical figure — Jesus of Nazareth — whose powerful personality continues to resonate and impact lives two thousand years on.

Andy Bannister

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall

And all the King’s horses and all the King’s men

Couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty together again…

Famous nursery rhyme going back into the 18th century. It has been worked and re-worked a bit; it has been given over to many meanings. If you notice, nowhere does the rhyme itself say anything about an egg. That came about later. It originally started out as a riddle and many people thought it had to do with politics or corruption. It has had a recurring theme of the fall of man and that is what I want to focus on.

When you look at our fallen nature, you might consider Humpty as a good representative of humanity. We were sitting pretty pretty at one point, in the Garden of Eden, perfect environment, perfect parent, perfect situation. All of a sudden this snake comes along and whispers seductive words into Eve’s ear that give rise to doubt in her heart. She doubts God’s goodness and trustworthiness. She believes the serpent over her Father.

We think “really?! Eve, how could you?” But in reality we do the same thing often, choose sin over holiness, choose a lie over truth, choose the language of the snake over the language of God. We choose to follow Satan’s ways, or our own way over simple obedience. So don’t bash Eve too much. Anyway, she crashes and brings Adam down with her – though Adam was there all along and could have stopped the temptation in the first place but remained silent and did nothing. Mankind has a ‘big fall’ and cannot be put back together again.

No matter what we try to do, we can’t fix this. Everyone knows something has gone terribly wrong with the planet. Even Oprah knows this. The self-help industry is worth billions of dollars. (Self help authors have certainly helped themselves to some extent)… but in the end they still cannot help themselves out of the ditch we have dug for ourselves.

What was fractured? Our hearts. Our relationship with our loving, just and faithful Father. The only way it can be repaired is Perfection must enter into the picture and pay the ultimate price of sacrificial love. This Perfection, God Himself, is promised to come – back in Genesis 3:15 – the promise is given that one will come whom the serpent will bruise but Who will crush the head of the bruiser! One day He will come.

The law is given to reveal Perfection. It is given to show us our brokenness – we cannot help ourselves; there is no way. Prophets speak of Him. He is coming. Prepare your hearts; prepare the way. Out of Zion’s hill salvation will come. The Lord Himself will provide the sacrifice on the Mount of Moriah. He will come.

And come He did! Born of a virgin, lived in died a Galilean peasant mason/carpenter, taught and ministered for three years, did miracles — all pointing to the Kingdom of God breaking into the kingdom of this broken earth. Then according to the scripture and preordained from before time, He is taken and crucified, killed in our place for our sins. We are the broken; He is the healer, broken and spilled out for us, His body broken on the tree for us that we might say no to sin and yes to righteousness.

He literally lives the perfect life, fulfills the law to the letter and even goes beyond it! Because of imperfection, death comes to us all but because He was perfect, death had nothing on Him. Instead He gave up His life to death, to die in our place and pay the penalty for our sin. Then having conquered the law like that, He also conquered death when He rose again the third day! He lives now and forevermore and promises eternal life to all who will accept His free gift of life.

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall

And all the King’s horses and all the King’s men

Couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty together again.

BUT THE KING COULD! AND THE KING DOES! TO ALL WHO CALL UPON HIM, HE HEALS UP THE BROKEN, BINDS THEIR WOUNDS AND GIVES THEM REFRESHING NEW LIFE. THE KING, THE KING, HE PUTS US BACK TOGETHER AGAIN!

A common claim made by many atheists is that religion causes evil, suffering, division and war. For example, at the Munk Debate in Toronto last November, Christopher Hitchens argued this very point against Tony Blair. Religion, Hitchens claimed, causes sectarianism, division, strife, disagreement, war, poverty and a host of societal evils. In his best-selling book, God is Not Great, Hitchens even wrote that “religion poisons everything”.

How might a Christian respond? Well, first, I’d point out there’s a major problem with Hitchens’ argument. You could remove the word “religion” from his statement “religion poisons everything” and replace it with many other words. Politics, for example. Politics causes division, bloodshed, argument, and war. Politics poisons everything. Or what about money? Money causes crime, resentment, bloodshed, division and poverty. Money poisons everything.

You see the problem is that those like Christopher Hitchens have built their worldview on the idea that human beings are essentially good and that the world is getting better — a kind of naïve utopianism. But the world isn’t like that. Rather it seems to be the case that whatever human beings lay hold off, they use to cause damage. That applies to money, politics, government, science — and religion. The problem is not with religion or politics, the problem is not out there somewhere, the problem lies in us. In the human heart. As Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, the Russian novelist and political commentator, who survived the Russian gulags and wrote with amazing insight into the human condition, once famously put it: “The dividing line between good and evil runs right through the middle of every human heart”.

What the world needs, as an answer to violence and injustice, poverty and pain, is not a clever philosophy, not a religious system, not a new politic, not more money, more education — none will fundamentally change anything. Rather it needs individual transformation — a radical transformation of the human heart. Only Jesus Christ offers that possibility if we’re willing to surrender our lives to him.

I often find it interesting to point out to my atheist friends that Jesus himself was also anti-religion. He regularly clashed with the religious leaders of his day, the Pharisees, because he saw empty religion as powerless, damaging and enslaving. Ultimately that stance led to his crucifixion. And Christians, of course, cannot talk about suffering and evil, pain and violence, without talking about the example of Jesus, one to whom violence was done. His example has inspired millions if not billions of Christians to give sacrificially, love their neighbour, to engage in peace making. One of the most powerful recent examples was the Amish School Shooting in 2006. Not only did the families of the victims publically forgive the perpetrator and offer pastoral support to his family, but set up a trust fund to help the wife of the shooter, who’d killed himself too. Only Jesus Christ offers the transformative power that makes that kind of choice possible.

Andy Bannister

Canadian Director and Lead Apologist for RZIM Canada

Dan Bremnes, outstanding worship leader and song writer will be hosting a worship concert at Cariboo Christian Life Fellowship (CCLF) on Friday April 27 at 7 p.m. The concert is free though a love offering may be taken to bless his travel.

I took notes as Daniel Juster spoke at Tents of Mercy in Israel. They are not quite verbatim but near as I could type during the Hebrew translation. He speaks of us living in a “Pregnant Moment” of time. Read carefully. This is an important message.

Tents of Mercy 2

Daniel Juster speaking

Moshe Morrison — Torah reading: Ex 33 – 12-17 happened after the golden calf and Moses pleaded with God on the basis of the covenant of Abraham Isaac and Jacob. Moses said if your presence is not with us, don’t bother to lead us up out of here.

Key verse (16) for how shall it be known that I have found grace in your eyes if you don’t come with us before all the peoples of the earth.

I noticed this morning, a number of cowboys… makes me think about something. If western writers can be believed, in old west there was a problem – everyone wanted to be the fastest gun in the west. Someone would be fast in getting his gun out but he could never rest because there was always some one coming along to try to prove himself to be faster. He either retired early, or he was retired early.

What have to do with the Torah? If I forget at this point, you’re really in trouble.

There is always someone a little more clever, a little more faster. If God could be proven by a lecture, someone could always come along and lecture you out of it. Everyone has convincing arguments. But Moses says the thing that distinguishes us from every one else on the planet is your presence with us. We need great apologists like Dan Juster but even Dan will agree we need the presence of God more.

Dan Juster:

March 10, 2012

Little history: Eitan Shiskoff, Asher Intrater and Dan were part of eldership in Washington, DC. Marc Chopinsky was a worship leader with Paul Wilbur and we learned together in 1980s. In 1991, we established Tikkun Ministries to send and establish Eitan and Asher in Israel. Tikkun means restoration and our newsletter was Tikkun Israel. There is a very left wing organization called Tikkun in Israel and you’ll see it on google if you look it up. Don’t confuse us with the other! They took us to court for using the name on the newsletter so we made an agreement that we would be on the bottom of the newsletter but not the top. Since the sending of Eitan and Asher there have been other developments.

Other ministries have developed, Tents of Mercy, Revive Israel and their related ministries which now stand on their own stability, while we still remain the service agent for them in the US. But also so we were called to Israel, Patty and I, Tikkun International is also the support base for what we do.

This Pregnant Moment

The time we are living in this nation is pregnant with meaning. In Isaiah 26 it says Israel is Pregnant but we were not able to bring the nations to birth. Isaiah knows that the mission of Israel is to bring the whole of the nations into the kingdom of God.

He sees the failure of Israel and predicts that Israel will go into exile and the whole plan of God is lost, and then as we continue to study the book of Isaiah, we read about one who will come the Messiah, and we read in 49 is it too small a thing for you to restore the tribes of Israel? But you will bring the nations into the light of God that through the messiah will yet fulfill her identity of bringing the nations into the kingdom of God.

The later chapters connect us to coming to the end of the exile that the Jewish people will come back to this land. I am excited because all of my children have citizenship now and I said to Patty it’s an amazing thing that we are excited about coming to live in the land that all the missiles of the Middle East are pointed at us. What is wrong with us!? We should be excited about citizenship in New Zealand!

Right now we are looking at a remarkable fact, this is the first time in 2700 years where we are near to a majority of Jewish people living in this land. After the Assyrians took the northern tribes into captivity, we have been the minority of the people of Israel. In the first century time of Yeshua the general consensus of scholars is that two thirds of the people lived in the dispersion and only one third in Israel.

The understanding of first century Judaism is that the exile had not yet come to an end, that both because of the majority of our people are outside the land and that we are under Roman occupation, that we are still a people in exile. But now we are in our own land and we only need about 500 000 more to be the majority in the land.

This is one of the most remarkable facts of history. How can anyone believe that this has no meaning (if they believe in God) that a people who were scattered to the nations, who were devastated in wars and persecution, and experienced a holocaust where 6 million of their numbers were killed, how can anyone think if they believe that God is sovereign that this return to the land means nothing.

Text after text after text, God says that God will bring us back to the land, that the exile will be over and will lead to the mass conversion of the nations.

And yet there are many who doubt this.

I was torn about missing the beginning of this gathering. I missed it because I was at a conference at Bethlehem Bible conference in Bethlehem. It’s called Christ at the Checkpoint.

It has a reputation for being an anti-Israel anti-Zion conference sponsored by a evangelical bible college among Arab Christians – three friends of mine were given speaking spots. They and some Arab Christian friends begged that I go.

I had opportunity for hours of dialogue with public leaders of the west who are against Israel.

We developed a relationship and they had so many misconceptions about Jewish believers and it was very good that we were there. Many of the Arab believers do believe there is an election of the Jewish people but have tremendous struggle with Israel because of their own pain.

Their pain of what it meant to lose homes and business and sons is very great. Two reasons were given at that conference to doubt the present state of Israel as a prophetic statement.

Lev. 26 for them is the beginning of their doubt.

“Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not spurn them, neither will I abhor them so as to destroy them utterly and break my covenant with them, for I am the LORD their God. But I will for their sake remember the covenant with their forefathers, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God: I am the LORD.””

(Leviticus 26:44–45 ESV)

So some of them will say yes there is a continuing covenant with the Jewish people but this return to the land is premature.  Because of verse 40, that IF they repent of their sins, then when they pay for their sins, I will remember my covenant and remember their land.

In other words (according to them) Leviticus says the return will be after the Jewish people repent for their sins. Always being preserved as a people, but inheriting the land only when we repent.

So they will say to Jews – you haven’t repented and especially looked at in terms of belief in Jesus. Since he has come, you can’t come back to this land without repenting before him. But here we are! Have we repented? Not much.

And then secondly, the Arab Christians point to the injustices done against them and they are real. Israel does stupid unnecessary-for-security things that enrage Arabs. Those that need to go through checkpoints have to wait for hours because of lack of staff. They have legit work permits to come into Israel to work but it’s a hardship everyday, not to mention how we are treated (messianic Jews) with a soft harassment. When Messianic Jews go to get passport renewed, the Interior Department gives everybody 10 years on their passport, but some Messianic Jews only get one year. They make you go through bureaucracy every year, controlled by the Orthodox. They are saying get “we don’t want you here! Get out of here, leave!”

Report: Head of Defence and the head of army were doing dirty things against each other. Here we have missiles from Iran aimed at us, and these guys are having power struggles. It’s bizarre.

People who don’t believe in Israel have major welfare payments given to them and it’s bankrupting the state. They don’t believe in the state of Israel because messiah hasn’t come yet. It’s an amazing thing, and the homosexuals want to march in Jerusalem. Tel Aviv not good enough – bring it to where the temple was. Government says yes, orthodox enraged. The leading Zionist Rabbi has all his conversions nullified by the leading anti-Zionist rabbi. We are a traumatized nation of such pain of historical memory.

One time I was pulling out of a parking lot – a lady hits me in the back of the car. I get out of the car. She say sorry? She says why did you stop? Because there is a road we are pulling out into!

Patty is watering the garden in front of the house. The lady doesn’t square her turn into her parking space, hits the car. Patty is fully in the right lines of our space. Patty looks over the fence and our dear neighbor says, “why did you park there?”

This is Israel, folks, the promised land, the end of the exile. It’s crazy here! How we survive every day is a miracle. What is our economy like? Lower unemployment but I can’t understand how anyone survives!

Here’s how to understand – the prices are a third more than the States, the salaries are half and the taxes are double. The train runs between the strikes, the roads are being built; the hospital runs between the strikes. We’re here and we’re growing. How does it happen? Maybe there’s another way to understand the return to the land.

The bible pictures two realities. Many texts picture a joyful return from exile with the nations supporting us and helping us go back and everyone is celebrating and everyone is rejoicing. There is so many that I have to believe that there is a return to the land after Yeshua returns. I don’t think we will all be back here.

I think before he returns we will have a majority of those self-described Jews but there still be a large minority to return after he returns, along with many people who are not counted as Jews by the Jewish community who have a grandparent or parent who is a Jew.

We have another picture in the prophets that more fits today, picture of us being in the land in a time of great trial. And I think that the return from exile in a time of trial is what this time is about. We haven’t repented yet, we aren’t united as a people yet. We are doing many things that are unjust and unnecessary and yet its necessary to defend ourselves for survival.

Ezekial 38:8

“After many days you will be mustered. In the latter years you will go against the land that is restored from war, the land whose people were gathered from many peoples upon the mountains of Israel, which had been a continual waste. Its people were brought out from the peoples and now dwell securely, all of them. You will advance, coming on like a storm. You will be like a cloud covering the land, you and all your hordes, and many peoples with you.”

(Ezekiel 38:8–9 ESV)

These are about the gog magog wars AFTER Israel has returned to the land. We first spoke about the return from exile but here we read about war and trials. If our people had repented, why would there be a war?

Why would we be in trial? Why such difficulty?

In the Ezekiel text about the war, they are built on a geographical central point – looking out from the land at the nations surrounding us and the emphasis is on those nations invading us. So it just doesn’t seem like we have back here for a celebration alone. In Ezekiel 36:24 God says he’ll take us out of the nations and there is no description of us having repented and coming to Yeshua. As a matter of fact, God says He is going to bring us back despite the fact that we haven’t repented.

In verse 32 He says its not for your sake, but he brings us back and after the return, I will sprinkle clean water on you and you’ll be clean and give you a new heart, a heart of flesh for a heart of stone.

I will put my spirit in you and you’ll be careful to live for me… talking to the Jewish people.

Then you’ll repent.

This produced a great division among the early Christians who supported the return to the land years ago. Some said no they must repent first, others say no they go to the land first, then repent. Both texts are here.

The valley of dry bones supports the picture of coming back first and then repenting. It speaks first about the bones coming together, and then receiving the flesh on the bones, and then breath of life (picture after the holocaust).

Zechariah 12 – last days wars – focuses on Jerusalem. Ezekiel focuses on the mountains of Israel. We read where God says I will send a cup that makes the surrounding people reeling. On that day, when nations gathered against her, all who try to move it will injure themselves.

This is happening today. When we try to solve the problem of Jerusalem we are injured. It’s only after this war that we read that they shall look upon Him who they pierced and mourn for Him. After the nations are defeated. They are anointed to fight. It’s amazing. But can you see that this would be a trial?

In Zech 14 the nations surround Jerusalem and some of the people have to escape but then the Lord fights for them. Why all this war if we repented? – There must be a return to the land first before we return to Yeshua.

Here’s the key: Romans 11 teaches before all of Israel is saved, part of Israel has to be saved and then it is the two-pronged witness of Jew and Gentile that produces more believers. Only the two together make Israel jealous so all Israel will be saved.

In Rev 7, we read of 144,000 Jewish believers in the land and then in verse 9 we read of those from all nations and peoples.

A new commentary says the writer is showing Jewish followers of Jesus in the first part and the followers of Yeshua from all over the world. Almost no one mentions Revelation 11 – (Zech 14 earthquake when nations surround Jerusalem) – the two witnesses are killed but now we are talking about an earthquake in Jerusalem and a tenth of the city collapsed, many die, and survivors gave glory to the God of heaven.

In all the judgments of God in Revelation the nations resist but here the population of Jerusalem gives glory to God and this leads to the rapture of the saints in the blowing of the trumpet.

We can have confidence that the (current) return to the land is from God and that it is not because we have deserved or repented, or that the government acts with great justice, though it’s more just than many nations. This is all preparation for us to come to know Yeshua and this pregnant moment is about raising up the messianic Jewish movement – its about the 144,000; its about preparing the nation for the trials ahead.

It’s easy to get all excited about prophecy scriptures but this is going to be real pain, real trial, real martyrdom, real times of difficulty, to bring our traumatized people into the kingdom of God. Because when Israel is born again she will see her Messiah and fulfill her destiny to bring the nations of the earth into the kingdom.

The most important thing about the return to the land today is the messianic movement. Those of you who are partners with us have great purpose. You are part of the two-pronged witness that will see all Israel saved and will bring the nations into the kingdom of God.