Saturday 24 June 2017

Revelation, 666, The Beast and Now

The Beasts of Revelation Today.

Some of you may be thinking …. Oh Revelation? The Beast, 666 and all that! That's for some time in the future isn't it?

No! (well no and yes - It has been for Christians in every age since John wrote it in the 90's AD ) 
 
How unfeeling would God have to be if He sent 'round a book dealing ONLY with events in the 2000's or 2100's or for all we know the 4100's to people suffering persecution THEN. Of course God isn't like that! Revelation was meant for them in their distress then! 
 
But, God being super clever, it has also been for Christians in times of persecution in every place and age since then, and will be for persecuted Christians everywhere until that wonderful day when without warning Jesus appears and world history is forever history! 
 
If you want a really good fiction book that is intended to give an understanding of Revelation's first recipients and what Revelation meant to them (and also an insight into modern Russia as the author was a missionary in St Petersburgh when he wrote it, I thoroughly recommend this book by a friend of mine Ben Chenoweth: “The Ephesus Scroll” ISBN: 978-0-9875792-0-1.

One does have to be both wary and confident about Revelation. I grew up in a denomination that was really into the books of Daniel and Revelation. They stole a march on other denominations who were a bit cautious and said “Well we don't really know about Revelation...” while the Adventists said “Then come and listen to us because we do know about it ...” One of their commentaries I read up for a sermon I did a few years back on the Beasts in Revelation 13 (you can hear it on : https://www.dropbox.com/s/7vh6gohiatkurbd/Revelation%2013%20Apr%2028%202013.mp3?dl=0

Last night I looked at a youtube sermon on this text which had 62,000 views! And I thought he missed the obvious point, so I actually do recommend my one!) 
 
One old Adventist commentary said it had definitely identified “the Beast” … it was the American government! … of 1850! Because they were about to legislate that Sunday was the Sabbath (not Saturday)! Similarly 40 or so years ago one Hal Lindsay thought it was all happening at that time … obviously the helicopters in Vietnam fitted the description of the locusts! I don't mean to laugh at them: just to say that a little caution is clearly called for!

Also people who make interpretations over our horizon do us a dis-service. They take our minds off looking to see if there is an immediate application!

OK that was all a bit long-winded, so on to the point. To summarise what you can hear in more detail on the recording: The Beast from the Sea is tyrannical human government when it stops governing under God and tries to govern as God. The Beast from the Earth is human religion (or ideology) which looks “good” but is really directed by the Dragon (Satan) and supports the first beast.

To the first recipients of Revelation these were the Roman Empire and the cult of emperor worship.

Since then the second beast has had many many faces. Including I suspect the Inquisition, the Crusades, and so many other times in history when we read of “the Church” doing really, really bad things.


In our day as we see the persecution of Christians in Muslim countries, it is not hard to fit their governments to the first beast, and radical Islam to the second beast! But let's move closer to home.
What did we find in our earlier posts on government. Ideally it should be by the people and for the people
 
What are the dysfunctions we see now? “By the people” even in democracies has morphed into control by oligarchies. No matter which party you vote for you get a representative whose strings are really pulled by some power groups. More and more it is becoming evident that governments have little regard for the true welfare of the people they govern. Is modern democratic government still “for the people”? We have seen a voters' reaction in electing total outsiders like Donald Trump, in voting for splinter parties in Australia, and possibly the same thing at work in the rise of votes for a frighteningly unrealistic Communistic would-be-leader in the recent UK elections. None of these are tyrannical – yet. But the increasing “nanny-state” incursions into daily life show the path to a worrying future.


But more evident is the Beast from the Earth. What do you think? Do you see a rise of human religion or of ideology held with a religious fanaticism, or even the infiltration of churches by advocates for these (Galatians 2.4 speaks of “false brothers who had infiltrated out ranks…) ? Let's look closer at this possibility next time.






Friday 16 June 2017

Are Churches up to the Challenge?

Are churches up to the Challenge?



I may come across a bit “anti-church”. Well I get angry about churches for the same reason that I get angry about bishops – not because I don't believe in them but precisely because I do !



Yes I do believe that without the institutions we call churches faith cannot be maintained andd transmitted down the generations. So I get angry when I see churches abandoning their God given role of maintaining the faith once delivered to the Apostles and becoming mere social clubs – or worse still becoming mere political activist groups! In my chosen denomination the Anglican church I get angry also when I see bishops behaving badly, again because I do believe they have a vital role to play. Naturally both these beliefs have got me into a lot of hot water!



One tragic example of the need both for churches and their continued communication with churches worldwide is that of the Japanese Christians. Christianity came to Japan in the mid 1500's. In the late 1500's the Tokugama shogunate came to power. Part of their deal with Buddhists for support was the suppression of Christianity. Then and through the 1600's there were severe persecutions aimed at eliminating Christianity altogether. Christians did manage to continue in secret, but cut off from the world and largely from each other the Christian groups the missionaries found when Japan was opened up in the late 1800's often had a quite heterodox faith which had obviously slowly morphed over the centuries.



My question today is: Is your church and denomination up to the challenge we are facing (and about to face!) ?.



Below is a link to a very short video I made over nine years ago as a promotion for a motion I was about to put to the Melbourne Anglican synod in November 2007, that we should make disciples of Jesus rather than putting our effort into political activism. (I made it very mild to reduce hostility! But even so it was greeted with boos and jeers. The Archbishop commended it and it did just pass. Needless to say nothing has changed since then.) Doe this message apply to your church?
https://youtu.be/0bAeWKIlBik
Watch it and see.






Saturday 10 June 2017

Cult of Self

Self, Self, Self



No I am not going Communist, or even communalist in my old age! The idolisation of “self” in the modern West is quite different from the stress on the “individual” of say conservative USA.



The cult of self is most strongly seen in the youth of the political left, whereas the individualism of the conservative side has produced young men and women prepared to fight and die overseas as a patriotic duty. So this new cult of self is something quite different to the doctrinaire commune – individualist divide,



Self-centredness and selfishness are pretty basic human failings, but in the recent past in our societies they have been suppressed by the moral tone of the nation. The generations who fought the World Wars did not put “self” above all else. But at some time – I am guessing the mid 1960's with the sexual revolution and the alternative culture things changed. Now the children of that generation are acting out what their parents only dabbled with.



Of course it is not universal – there are still heroes, and we still praise and admire selfless actions. But as a social sentiment “self” is at a historic high.



We live in a world, trivially of “selfies” but more seriously of “self fulfillment” in careers, lifestyle and relationships. Sex has become a matter of momentary pleasure for self rather than as an expression of the “'till death do us part” and “let's have a family” love that it was created for.



This is in reality dysfunctional and whether we like it or not, reality rules! So we have broken hearts, broken marriages and broken people. Add to this the “gender fluidity” activists infiltrating schools stealing the innocence and perverting the minds of children and the tide of destruction of genuine happiness is becoming a tsunami!



I can only see two probable ends to this. Either a secular backlash which would be a harsh and merciless puritanism, or a “real” Christian revival where people could be changed and healed from the inside in an atmosphere of forgiveness and joy of salvation.



The other major dysfunction of this cult of self is in politics. The oft quoted Alexis de Tocqueville admired democracy as he saw it in America, but made the observation that democracy would only work in a solidly Christian culture.



One effect of Christianity being deliberately expunged from our societies is that democracy is in trouble. Yet it would be tragic if the democratic form of government that has evolved over more than a millennium in the West succumbed to some new Hitler or Mussolini!



Apart from the disturbing incidence of young people voicing dissatisfaction with democracy there is a problem at the heart of democracy in our nations. Aristotle said of democracy in his day (c. 350 BC) that if there were no overarching moral constraint the majority would say “Let us plunder the rich, by the gods it is just!” True we have constitutions limiting out democratic actions, but we are losing the overarching moral constraint. This is probably what de Tocqueville had in mind saying it would only work in a Christian milieux.



The evidence of our problem is cited in newspapers as “populism”. But really the rise of “populist” leaders (excluding the use of “populist” pejoratively by news media of leaders they simply don't like who win elections!) is only possible when voters are ruled by self interest rather than the good of the nation. Thus the cult of self has, is and will give us populist government – and this will destroy us!



There has recently been a snap general election in the UK. The ruling conservative party had a big majority and three years to run. They called the election thinking the opposition labour party, with its new almost Communist leader would be routed and they would have an even bigger majority. They very nearly lost the election all together – having to form a coalition with a minor party to even have enough seats to form a government! Why? A million young people registered to vote. The socialist leader promised to fling money at everyone – especially university students. (he was also going to nationalise a number of industries, but voters did not look past the money) Had he won and actually done these things the nation would have been brought to ruin, but voters looked at their short tern gain, not the state of the national economy (and their own long term gain!).



In many countries, the government is heavily in debt but increasing spending. Someone sometime is going to have to face the pain of repaying all this money – at interest! Yet all sides know that a party who offers “blood, sweat and tears” to get the country solvent again will never be voted in. So they all keep spending more than they can raise by taxes. This is madness - reality can't be put off indefinitely.



My preference is for a Christian revival that changes enough voters' hearts to put everyone's future well-being above the selfish desires of the moment – what's yours?




Sunday 4 June 2017

the Mark of the Beast

Coming to a church near you …
The Mark of the Beast
Actually I hope not! But the possibility of churches becoming infiltrated so that “even the elect” are led astray to worship the beast is becoming disturbingly high. Here is a link to a sermon expounding Revelation 13 which I gave four years ago – I came across it again recently and was amazed (besides thinking “Oh dear, do I really sound like that!”) how relevant it is today! (well, OK, I missed militant Islam as one example of the beasts, but the example I picked there is coming to pass in Australia before our eyes)



https://www.dropbox.com/sh/2m3pata6x270e3i/f_mwl13i9j?m=&preview=Sermon+280413+Revelation+13(After+normalize).mp3



The first beast is human government which has ceased governing under God and started governing as god. The second beast is the human “religion” that looks OK – even looks like Christianity – but is not. For instance ideology which is no longer under God but has started to be god and make its own rules as to what is “good” and “evil”. What is that today?