Australia Jews for Jesus

Ambassador Ron Prosor addresses UN Security Council on the situation in the Middle East

2012-01-29T08:30:00.001+11:00

As this is the first time that I have addressed the Security Council in the New Year, let me congratulate the five new Council members on their election. I wish each of you the best of luck in navigating the sometimes stormy debates of this hall.

As we gather in this chamber, an alarm bell is ringing. Never has it been so clear that Iran is seeking to build a nuclear weapon. This is the single greatest threat to the security of the entire world.

Now is the time to act. Tomorrow is too late. The stakes are too high. The price of inaction is too great.

The latest IAEA reports prove beyond any doubt that Iran has a nuclear weapons program, which is advancing rapidly. Iran recently announced that it will enrich uranium to a 20 percent-level at its nuclear facility in Qom. There is no plausible civilian justification for this action. It blatantly violates numerous resolutions of this Council - and will bring Iran significantly closer to producing weapons-grade, highly enriched uranium.

Each and every member of the United Nations - and particularly this Council - should lie awake at night thinking about what would happen if the regime in Tehran gets ahold of the most dangerous weapon on earth.

Only the pressure of a united international community can stop Iran from continuing its march toward nuclear weapons. The political and economic price that Iran will pay must be clear. Israel commends the recent steps taken by the U.S, the EU, and others in this regard. Although these are important steps, we all must judge them based on their results. It is time for the rest of the international community - and this Council - to join these efforts.

Mr. President, We come together today after a year of turmoil in the Middle East. Great challenges stand on the horizon. People are demanding dignity and seeking liberty after generations of oppression. Extremism threatens fragile societies. Human rights continue to be trampled. Unrest has shaken the foundation of the political order from the straits of Gibraltar to the Persian Gulf to the Caspian Sea.

And what issue has this Council deemed the most pressing in its monthly debate on the Middle East? Surprise, surprise... the status of municipal building applications in the West Bank.

Israeli settlements have been discussed in this chamber time and again - but the time that this Council dedicates to candid debate about the basic challenges facing the Middle East remains scarce. In the last two monthly briefings by the Secretariat, barely a square inch of Jerusalem or the West Bank was left unexamined. Yet, entire Middle Eastern countries where people are being killed, repressed and tortured daily continue to go without mention.

This is logic turned on its head.

Let me be clear: resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is important on its own merits - so that Israelis and Palestinians alike can lead peaceful, secure and prosperous lives. But the misallocation of the Security Council's time, energy and resources erodes its credibility.

How many times have members of this Council - and many others - repeated this statement: the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict is the central conflict in the Middle East. If you solve that conflict, you solve all the other conflicts in the region.

Today one would ridicule that statement. It is obvious that Yemen, Syria, Egypt, Bahrain, and many other conflicts in the Middle East have nothing to do with Israel. The constant repetition of the statement does not make it true.

And how many times have members of this Council - and many others - repeated: settlements are the primary obstacle to peace. The repetition of the statement also does not make it true.

The primary obstacle to peace is not settlements. The primary obstacle to peace is the so-called "claim of return." Let me repeat that: the major hurdle to peace is the Palestinian'

s insistence on the so-called "claim of return".

You will never hear Palestinian leaders say "two states for two peoples". If you ever hear them say "two states for two peoples", please phone my office immediately. Call me "collect" in the event of such an unprecedented occurrence.

You won't hear them say "two states for two peoples" because today the Palestinian leadership is calling for an independent Palestinian state, but insists that its people return to the Jewish state. This would mean the destruction of Israel.

The idea that Israel will be flooded with millions of Palestinians will never be accepted. The international community knows it. The Palestinian leadership knows it. But the Palestinian people aren't hearing it. In a poll conducted by the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion last November, 90% of Palestinians said that they would not give up the "claim of return." This gap between their perception and reality is - and will remain - the major obstacle to peace.

Since the Palestinian leadership refuses to tell the Palestinian people the truth, the international community has the responsibility to tell them the truth. You have a responsibility to stand up and say that the so-called "claim of return" is a non-starter.

Yet, many around this table who never miss an opportunity to tell Israel what it has to do for peace - mumble, stutter and conveniently lose their voices when it comes time to tell the Palestinian people about the basic compromises they will have to make for peace.

Mr. President, The Palestinians' refusal to recognize Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state goes hand-in-hand with a culture of incitement in mosques, schools and media. Day after day, children are taught to pursue violence - and to hate, vilify, and dehumanize Israelis and Jews.

Let me be clear. I am not only talking about Hamas in Gaza - but also about the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, where you can't turn a corner without seeing terrorists and terrorism glorified.

This month - on January 9th - Palestinian Authority television broadcast the proceedings of an event celebrating Fatah's 47th anniversary. It featured a sermon by the PA's most senior religious leader - Mufti Muhammad Hussein - who presented the killing of Jews as a sacred goal for all Muslims.

His comments were deeply disturbing. But what was even more disturbing is that no one from the Palestinian Leadership stood up and condemned his comments, denounced his actions or dissociated themselves from his message. Their silence speaks volumes.

Mr. President, The path to peace is clear. The international community must tell the Palestinians unequivocally that unilateralism is a dead-end - and that direct negotiations are the only way forward. Recent talks in Amman are a positive step in this regard - and I would like to take this opportunity to thank King Abdullah for helping to facilitate these meetings.

Now Israelis and Palestinians must take the next step toward peace together. It's time to stop negotiating about negotiating. It's time to stop meeting about meeting. It's time to stop talking about talking.

Yet, instead taking steps toward peace with Israel, President Abbas continues to flirt with the dangers of unity with Hamas. The Quartet has long applied three principles that Hamas must adopt to become a legitimate actor in the peace process. It must renounce violence, recognize Israel and abide by prior Palestinian agreements.

The bar could not be set any lower. Yet, at no point has Hamas satisfied these conditions - or indicated any intention to do so. It says no to negotiation. It says no to recognition of Israel. And it continues to carry out violence against Israel, day after day.

Any who suggest that Hamas is a partner for peace should take a trip to the Gaza Strip. The area remains a launching ground for constant rocket attacks targeting Israeli cities and civilians. Last year, some 700 rockets were fired into Israel. That's an average of almost two rockets fired every single day.

Let me state clearly what I have said in numerous letters to the Security Council and in previous debates: the situation in Gaza is very serious. One spark could ignite a dangerous escalation. The Security Council has an obligation to act boldly and immediately. Yet, this Council still has not found the time or the will to utter a single syllable of condemnation against these attacks. The silence is deafening.

No people should be expected to live under such terror. No government should be expected to stand idle in the face of such violence.

Later this month, the Secretary-General will visit Israel - and see the threats we face with his own eyes. Let's hope that his trip brings a bit of new perspective to this organization about the real obstacles to peace and security - and the real issues of extremism, terrorism and incitement in our region.

Mr. President,

The challenges facing the Middle East are growing every day. They stand clearly before this Council. They threaten all of us. And it is on your shoulders to confront them with courage and with leadership. Tired rhetoric and misplaced focus has too often characterized this debate. It will no longer suffice. As Iran inches closer to a nuclear weapon, as extremists spread terrorism and hate, as the enemies of peace test the resolve of the international community, silence is not an option.

Confronting these fundamental threats will not be easy. It will require struggle and sacrifice. As Winston Churchill once said, "We must be united, we must be undaunted, we must be inflexible." At this critical moment, for the sake of our children and our common future, the world has no other choice.

24 January 2012

RonProsor (born 1958) is an Israelidiplomat and commentator on the Middle East.He served as Israeli Ambassador to the UnitedKingdom in 2007-2011. In February 2011, Prosor was appointed IsraeliAmbassador to the United Nations.

Asan officer in the Artillery Division of the IDF, Prosor attained the rank of Major. He holds a Mastersdegree in Political Science from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem,graduating with distinction. He is married to Hadas with whom he has threechildren.

Heis a prolific writer and commentator on the Middle East. His articles haveappeared in the Daily Telegraph, The Times,^[8]the Sun^[9]and The Guardian.He is also regularly invited to comment in Britain's Jewish press, includingthe Jewish Chronicleand Jewish News.

Hemakes regular appearances on BBC Radio 4's 'Today' programme as well as BBC News 24and Sky News.

Fromhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Prosor

Other links that may teach or interest you:
http://www.ddolan.com/
http://www.haaretz.com
http://www.mjaa.org
http://jewsforjesus.org/
http://www.jpost.com/

Time to muse

2012-01-27T10:17:00.000+11:00

Spending time in nature gives a man a different self-perspective. We stand by the seashore at Bondi or Coffs Harbour and realize how insignificant we really are. We look up into the clear skies above Uluru or even on the North Shore and sense the tiny speck that we are. That could knock some guys out with bad self-images.

Others who think of themselves as very very important have a hard time spending time in nature because we lose our place. We think we dominate in the office or in the company. We are powerful in the back of the taxi or the front of the plane. We stand tall above others in the meetings. But honestly, a bit of nature walking reminds us of who we are. Honestly. We are just grains of sand, leaves of grass blown by the gentlest of breezes.

The great American poet, Walt Whitman, wrote in Leaves of Grass,

"As I ponder'd in silence,
Returning upon my poems, considering, lingering long,
A Phantom arose before me with distrustful aspect,
Terrible in beauty, age, and power,
The genius of poets of old lands,
As to me directing like flame its eyes,
With finger pointing to many immortal songs,
And menacing voice, What singest thou? it said,"

Whitman goes on in the poem to laud the military, but I thought again of his capacity to consider. His need to self-analyze and the almost inability of today's persons to stop and muse. To think.

Nature allows us that, if we will stop along the way.

Read a poem, take a photo, give yourself to silence. It really won't hurt you today. Or any day.

Welcome to the rest of the field of grass.

Arab Spring: Failure

2012-01-27T10:10:00.002+11:00

One Year Later: The Failureof the Arab Spring

By Martin Peretz , former editor The New Republic

26 January 2012

http://www.JewishWorldReview.com

A year has passed since liberal America andthe liberal opinion class, in particular, went ecstatic over the Arab debutinto the modern world. I know that my standing in that class is suspect. So,being a bit flummoxed myself by the not altogether dissimilar developments inthe vast expanse from the Maghreb to Mesopotamia, I conquered my doubts andmade a slight stab for hope. But I quickly realized that I was wrong and leftthe celebration. The true-believers are still there, mesmerized by someideological mirage or preferring to look on the brighter side of things.

For example, Nicholas Kristof found some Muslim Brothers who promised thateven Copts and the ancient Coptic Church, among the first of history’sChristian fellowships, have no reason to fear their party’s electoral strength.“Conservative Muslims insisted that the Muslim Brotherhood isnon-discriminatory and the perfect home for pious Christians—and a terrificpartner for the West.” Yes, he actually wrote this silliness. One 24-year oldSalafist he cites went reassuringly specific: “...under Salafi rule, diplomaticrelations with Israel would continue unchanged and ties with America wouldstrengthen.” Alas, less than three weeks after Kristof published his daffyattestations, the Jerusalem Post reported on an Al-Hayat dispatch saying that thedeputy head of the Brotherhood, Rashad Bayoumi, pledged that his movement wouldnot, would never recognize Israel—“This is not an option, whatever thecircumstances, we do not recognize Israel at all. It’s an occupying criminalenemy.” What this means is that, more than three decades after Anwar Sadat andMenachem Begin signed a more-or-less successful peace treaty, the agreementnegotiated by Jimmy Carter might just be submitted to a recklesselectorate. At best! And at worst? You figure it out.

Of course, there are some coyerjournalists, commentators, and television personalities who have not dalliedtoo long (and certainly not that long) over the democratic prospect in ArabIslam or, for that matter, in the world of Islam in general. The narrative isactually repetitive and, if not repetitive, simply too grim. And if it’s reallygrim, like in Syria, no reporters are allowed to or no reporters want to riskit. Which is why every story about Syria is datelined Beirut.

A few years back there was a rush of programs by American colleges anduniversities to set up “international” outlets in Arab countries for their ownstudents and for students from other institutions, both American and foreign.The most successful were situated in the emirates. But even these never reachedtheir numerical goals. As for their intellectual aims, who really knows whatthey were? But even in the rich little kingdoms, soon to be marbled up withextensions of the Louvre and the Guggenheim, American educationalestablishments confronted serious practical and conceptual difficulties fromthe beginning. Already near the outset of these ventures Tamar Lewin wrote in the NewYork Times Feb 10, 2008 of theunavoidable (and unavoided) challenges they faced. The downward spiral of theregional economies exacerbated these problems. Syracuse, Cornell MedicalCollege, New York University, Rochester Institute of Technology, Michigan,George Mason, and Carnegie Institute of Technology were among those exposed toquestions about whether a degree from, for instance, N.Y.U. Abu Dhabi is adegree from N.Y.U. at all. The answer is obvious. Some five years ago, YaleUniversity decided to avoid the problem altogether. It has cooperative researchprograms all over China and elsewhere. Otherwise, it is an institution in NewHaven, Connecticut. Anyway, the Middle East neighborhood is now too agitatedfor schools to do long-term planning. Just a few Sundays past, an article inthe New York Times reported that a host of such programs arecanceling. Anyway, Cairo is not Florence. I don’t know which is moreinteresting. But you can get killed in Egypt—or, as three American collegestudents from Georgetown, Indiana, and Drexel have already learned, at leastget yourself arrested for doing nothing. Chalk up one success for Americandiplomacy: It was able to get the trio released.

(A side thought: Maybe this is my Zionistsmugness. But there are no such problems with standards in ties betweenAmerican institutions of higher education and Israeli ones. The ne plusultra of this reality is the intimate connection cementedlast month by Technion-Israel Institute of Technology (Haifa) and CornellUniversity (Ithaca, NY). The newinstitution to be created will be a school of engineering with a two millionsquare foot campus at a $2 billion ultimate cost on Roosevelt Island in theEast River of New York City. A very wealthy and imaginative Americanbusinessman and philanthropist put up $350 million for the project. He isn’teven Jewish but an Irish-Catholic alumnus of the Cornell School of HotelManagement, no more, no less. Betabeat explained why this development is the envy of manyother American institutions. Mayor Bloomberg explained how the undertaking would transform NewYork and went on to say that he was negotiating with other academic enterprisesto take on similar innovative responsibilities. And, yes, Max Blumenthal,self-described “cultural Marxist,” whatever that means, explained in Al-Akhbar how this venture will enhance Israeliimperialism over the Palestinians. The cornerstone for the Technion was laid inHaifa 100 years ago. It opened for classes a decade later. It has been rankedby the usually cited ratings authorities as 15th in the world in the categoryof computer sciences, 29th in engineering, and 38th among technologicaluniversities, more generally. Technion is not alone. The Hebrew University hasbeen rated 57th in the general excellence category by the authoritative surveyof Jlao Tong University in Shanghai. Just one more report: The Sciences, anotable scholarly publication, has for the third time rated the WeizmannInstitute of Science “as the best place to work” outside a few institutions inthe U.S. These are the latest results, and they help explain why no academicboycott of Israeli scholars and scholarship was ever really floated successfully.By the way, no university in an Arab land or in any Muslim country appears onany such list. In what is by now recognized as his simply silly but deeplysycophantic Cairo speech, President Obama saluted Al Azhar University forhaving “over a thousand years stood as a beacon of Islamic learning.” What itactually represents is spiritual benightedness and religiousobscurantism.)

II.

American expectations of the Arabs werealways innocent. In the case of this administration, Obama’s delusion extendsto non-Arab Muslims, that is, to the Iranians, the Pakistanis, the Afghanis. Hecannot imagine that there are fundamental differences between states. But, aseven he must have noticed, in many of these circumstances the very idea ofcompromise is blasphemous. And, given this, there may be temporary lullsbetween the really nasty confrontations. Basic differences—yes, of course,there are basic differences—persist and flare up unpredictably. Or, as Ibelieve, predictably. Sometimes they call “time out” and simmer.

Where one side governs, and governscruelly, the other side resents. I suppose this is what we call simmering.Countries that have no satisfying process of systematic mediation turn out tobe tyrannies. Despite their ethnic and ideological differences sometimes theseregimes try to cover up their weaknesses by forming a union of oppressors withother regimes. One such union was the Baghdad Pact or the Central TreatyOrganization (CENTO), mobilized by Great Britain at the initiative of theUnited States. Its real rationale was the Soviet threat. But even such a threatcould not bring Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, and Turkey together or mobilize popularsupport. It crumbled slowly through two decades of bloodshed and revolutionwithin the member countries. It seems like centuries ago but the Soviet Unionhad neutralized the pact. Iraq, a member of CENTO, was for decades an ally ofMoscow. The Red Army had divisions all over the Arab world. Iran became theheart of militant Islam against the West but retained hunky-dory relations withRussia both before the fall of Communism and after. And Pakistan? Well,Pakistan does have an army. The question is: Is Pakistan a country? Iraq stillhas too many armies. Turkey is the only real state left standing.

Another of those unifying fictions was theUnited Arab Republic or Al-Gumhuriyah al-Arabiyah al-Muttahidah, thisone being a consolidation of Egypt and Syria with failed ambitions toconsolidate Iraq within it. It did include North Yemen which no longer exists.The old question returns: Does Yemen itself exist? It may have a president…orit may not. He has resigned. Or has he? He has been given asylum in America.But he’s not taking it. He may not be the most brutal Arab leader of the age:That honor belongs to Bashar Assad. But, now that Qaddafi is dead, he is thenuttiest. If bombs go off in Yemen, someone does want it. Actually, too manyforces want it. It is in a state of perpetual war but over no resources and afractured population: Shia and Sunni and tribal loyalties that aredysfunctional and bloody. (It once had a Jewish king …15 centuries ago. Thereare no Jews now, all of them having immigrated to Israel.)

Yet the U.A.E. was the real joke. United?The pretense of “union” intensified the cross-border hatreds while it didnothing to soften antagonisms that were always festering within the countriesthat had, so to speak, signed up. At its core the staging of a pan-nationalfederation was incompatible with the deepest presence of the religion of Islam.In fact, whether it was civil Arab patriotism in the middle of the nineteenthcentury on the European model of 1848 or Arab chauvinism in the twentieth,there were always prominent Christians in the movement, many historians argue,to ward off Muslim fanaticism. In places like Baghdad, there were also Jews whoadded a certain cosmopolitanism to the idea of an Arab nation. In any case, thefounder of the anti-religious Ba’ath movement, Michel Aflaq, was GreekOrthodox. The Christians of Syria are fundamentally aligned with the relativelysecular Assad regime against the country’s Sunnis who are at the core of therevolt.

When the Palestinians were finally rousedfrom their slumber it was Christians who did much of the rousing. GreekOrthodox George Antonius’s book, The Arab Awakening,was a harbinger offalsehoods to come, both unreliable and instructive for the survival of itsunreliabilities. And it is on many college course reading lists nonetheless.Moreover, the literal founders of the Palestinian national movement and terroristsbesides, were George Habash, another Greek Orthodox from the Popular Front forthe Liberation of Palestine, and Najef Hawatmeh, a Catholic from the (Marxist)Democratic Front (also) for the Liberation of Palestine. Surely, you recall—orhave been told about—the airplane hijackings, the car bombs, and the sheerslaughter carried out by these Christian idealists against the Jews, in somegreat measure to preserve their credibility as Arabs among the Muslims. Thereis a litany of these Christians: the Roman Catholic bishop Hilarion Cappuci,Leila Khalid, and then Hanan Ashrawi, inamorata of Peter Jennings whofrom his debut at the Munich Olympics as a television evangelist for thePalestinians, for the Palestinian terrorists, really, couldn’t say a neutralword about Israel. There are no more Christian headliners in the Palestinianmovement because there are almost no Christians still in the land. No, that’snot right. Professor Ashrawi is trotted out in emergencies when smooth, heavilyaccented, English is required to disguise illogic and falsehood. Anyway, don’tbe fooled: Most of the Christians at Christmas mass in Bethlehem’s Church ofthe Nativity were diplomats, NGO staffers and journalists, foreigners, ofcourse. Mohammad Abbas also came to greet the almost unbelievably diminishednumber of those who worship at the Cross in the city where Jesus wasborn.

III.

It was always a fantasy that secularpolitics would triumph in the Arab world. Even in relatively secular Iraq underSaddam Hussein and in Syria under the Assad crime family the formula would notwork. The designated victims of the regimes’ bloodshed were the most numerousof each country’s denominations, the Shia in Iraq (where their tribunes are nowtaking revenge on the Sunnis and the Sunnis fight back with their ownunspeakable atrocities, most targeted at religious pilgrims) and, almost titfor tat, the Sunnis of Syria, who are fighting for their long suspended rightswhich, once won, they will mistake as a license for carnage. The B.B.C.reported on a slogan of the pious insurgents: “Christians to Beirut, Alawitesto the wall.” Of course. But that is too simple. Western powers including theUnited States are taking credit, some of it actually due them, for the end ofthe dominion of the certifiable nutcase in Libya. How his surviving sons,including the oh-so-learned Saif, Ph.D. from the London School of Economicsbased on a dissertation written by someone else, and intellectual companion ofat least two Harvard professors (who as far as I can tell were never askedabout their activities: you know, academic freedom and all that), will explaintheir father’s longevity is a matter of great interest to many people,especially those diplomatic fixers in Washington and London who arranged the releasefrom prison of the man responsible for the murder of 270 innocents in the PanAm 103 bombing. Oil accounts for the tyrant’s longevity as it accounts finallyfor his undoing. Alas, there is little tangible interest by the same westernpowers in the release from captivity and servitude of the peoples who are nowin struggle because those peoples will never have oil. Moreover, the choicesfor an interloper are not crystal clear.

At least, these choices are certainly notclear in Egypt or, rather, not so clear that it’s evident why Washington shouldside with the Muslim fundamentalists and the Salafists. On the other hand,neither is it obvious that the military professionals should be thebeneficiaries of American strategy. I do not envy the president his options,both of which make little sense normatively. Yes, the Islamists won theparliamentary elections hands down. Of course, the professional Arabistsforetold a result that would have had the ultra-religious negotiating with the“moderates” for power. Here is another defeated fantasy. The Islamists, withtwo-thirds of the vote, will confab with each other over how draconian theirrule will be. The military will try to restrain the parties of God and keep asmany of the economic and social privileges they’ve accumulated since thesocialist colonels overthrew poor King Farouk six decades ago.

These, so to speak, socialist colonels inEgypt, Iraq, Libya, Syria became heroes to western progressives. After all,they were “non-aligned,” non-aligned between Stalinism and democracy. With thecruel African kleptocracy giving a rhetorically anti-racist patina to the wholeThird World phantasm, with the Indian aristocrats Jawaharlal Nehru and G.K.Krishna Menon giving an Oxbridge polish to the neutralist phenomenon, theseArabs and their comrades convinced themselves that they were about to conquerthe universe. How triumphant they all seemed at the podium of the GeneralAssembly. But, if one reflects back, the regicide colonels and their successorswere far more monstrous than the monarchs themselves. OK, you don’t believe me.Choose now between those who run republics in the Arab world and the twoAbdullahs—one the king of Saudi Arabia from a family of brigands, the other theking of Jordan and descendant of the Prophet, complicated figures, eachgoverning intricate societies, not democrats at all but also not killers, notkillers by choice.

IV.

President Obama marked the first birthdayof the Arab revolutions by announcing America’s farewell to the struggle. Hecould have done it honestly if he had been willing to admit, at least tohimself, that he’d had an infatuation with the Arab world and that thisinfatuation rested on two woefully mistaken assumptions. His first delusion wasthat their political systems operated by rational calculation and expectationinstead of on coercive force, corrupt habits, and a routine of cringing by thecitizenry, a citizenry that was guaranteed none of the ordinary rights ofordinary citizens. The second delusion was that “Palestine” is at the core ofthe entire Arab grievance and that Israel had to be brought to heel—whatever“heel” may mean in the president’s head. But what if, mirabili dictu, Palestinewould suddenly be Palestine with all the Palestinians “ingathered” from their“diaspora,” even their lingo inauthentic and poached from the Zionists? Whatwould be solved in any other Arab jurisdiction? At best, this is anotherdistraction from the realities of domestic Arab life. And it is cynical towardsthe Palestinian Arabs besides. Still, we are witnessing before our eyes theinvention of a new political phenomenon which professes to believe thatextremism is a form of kindness. It is “moderate Islamists,” and the phrasewill soon issue from the president’s lips…and, of course, from the lips of hissecretary of state. Barry Rubin has posed thedemocratic pickle thus: “IfTourists Can Wear Bikinis But Local Women Must Wear Chadors Does That Prove TheMuslim Brotherhood Is Moderate?” After all, the Islamists and Salafists won theEgyptian elections by a huge margin. Rubin had made his own earlierprojection of the Brotherhood’semerging power in the Arab world as a whole which, sad to say, seems to beright on target.

To be sure, the chador is neither the leastor the most of the impositions. But it is certainly the most symbolic. Thewestern press and the entire media has gone bananas over the depredationsimposed on ultra-religious women in Israel and the attempt to widen theirscope. It is understandable why they have done so. This is a battle that the haredimare losing, one they must regret initiating. By way of contrast, thecampaign in Egypt which came in the wake of a liberalizing moment willsuffocate not only the power of women but their quotidian rights. Under therule of the ayatollahs for more than three decades already, however, Iran willstill appear and also be more modern, even futuristic than the society emergingout of Cairo. Tunisia, which seemed relatively free of the ugly shadows ofIslamic rule, is already experiencing a dusk.

In fact, there is barely a bright light inthe Arab Middle East. Face it: The glee which affected—or rather infected—theestablishment opinion makers in the U.S. and in Europe was utterly misplaced,wrong, false. Now, it is true that the administration was not quite certain howto respond to the superficially generative spirit of the streets. Nothing inits memo books had warned of the coming. So we, who had chastised it for goingslow in supporting the people from the Tahrir Squares of the region, wereourselves living in a fantasy that did not materialize. Indeed, the opposite ofwhat we imagined was the ultimate result. Of course, neither Obama nor Clintonhad the courage of their ignorance. They were trapped into doing “something,”and anything they did would have been wrong. This is the destiny of thepowerful in hard times. Forgive the analogy: Their fate with economic policyhas been similar—though no one has been murdered as a consequence.

We have stopped counting the dead in Syria.Six thousand, 7,000, who knows? (Still far, far less than Papa Assad murderedin the one-town Sunni genocide at Hama during a few days in 1982. Here’s howthe Economist depicted that mass murder: “Assad sent in the air force tobomb the rebels into oblivion, heedless of the tens of thousands of civilianshe killed in the process.” In his book, From Beirut to Jerusalem, TomFriedman depicted all fighting in the Middle East as going by “Hama rules.” Noparty to any conflict in the region has yet approached Assadian habits. Thiswas perhaps the first of the Timesman’s distorting shorthands.) And whoknows how many rabid insurgents and also various innocents remain fettered andgagged in the far-flung dungeons of the Assad regime? The Obama administrationwas intent on not being stuck sticking Bashar with the crimes of Hafez. Thiswas very bad judgment on the part of Washington, horrible judgment. Actuallycriminal judgment because the appraisal was based on no hard evidence or eveninferential leaks. The Saudis had long gotten over their infatuation with theSyrian republic when the American president was still sending missions andmissives to Damascus. Of course, the real tease was that Israel would abandonthe Golan Heights. But Jerusalem did not play…and thank God it didn’t.

Syria is an embarrassment to the Arabs butnot because it kills and often kills without target or clear objective. It isan embarrassment because its killing has not worked. To be sure, the Arab League,being otherwise mostly made up of Sunni governments, would prefer the Sunnis togovern in Damascus. After all, there is the fact of the tyrant’s (now slippery)relationship with Iran. Yes, the League sent a huge mission of inquiry to Syriawith the supposed goal of stopping the murder. But its chief had been thegodfather of the Sudanese genocide, the patron of the Janjaweed with hundredsof thousands of dead to its credit. Why this organization of Arab states woulddelegate this job to this man is not hard to grasp. It’s doubtful that anyother government would have agreed to install one of its men into the bloodymorass. Anyway, Lieut. General Mustafa al-Dabi is adept at keeping non-Arabauthority away from criminal Arab states. Sudan, for example, his own country.He also couldn’t refuse the post: Khartoum was indebted to the other Arabs.They had insulated the Sudanese regime from the costs of their own murders. TheSyrians’ killings have not run their course. Indeed, it is just possible thatthe revolution will die before its suppression.

Obama’s attempted seduction of Assad hasbought or brought him no sway with the Syrian president. Every week or soWashington releases some lame statement imploring or demanding that Damascusstop the killing. It should be by now an embarrassment, and maybe it is. Thetruth is that the Obama administration came into power haughtily reprovingPresident Bush for distancing America from the Syrian Ba’ath. With himself aspresident, the United States would curb Assad’s relentless mischief in Lebanonand embark on a peace mission between Damascus and Jerusalem. Since, moreover,Obama was about to end the civil strife in Iraq (I wonder if he really believedthis nonsense) by ending the American presence in the country, Syria would alsoliquidate its own mischievous intervention in its eastern neighbor. Is Obama aninnocent or a cynic? A naif or a deceiver? I will give him the benefit of thedoubt. He believes what he believes. Of course, Obama wants Assad out, and so doesHillary. He is an embarrassment to them, their old pal. This morning as Iwrite, the insurgents are fighting in the suburbs of Damascus. Oops, they havejust departed. There is nothing inevitable about Assad’s departure, not eventhe half-hearted wishes that he retire issued by his fellow tyrants andautocrats in other Arab lands. The Saudis have just pulled out of the ArabLeague’s mission in Syria, an admission that Assad is winning his battle.Egypt, Algeria, and Tunisia disagree. They want the League to bring itscomplaint against Assad to the Security Council where there is a structuralpreference to do nothing, what with Assad’s allies, Russia and China,possessing the power of the veto. Al-Arabiya reports in the meantime that Hezbollah, whose assthe Council saved from Israel with Resolution 1701 in the summer of 2006, isnow supplying arms and material to its Syrian consort; meanwhile, Iran has sold36 fighter planes to Syria, according to the Russian daily Kommersant.

VI.

The great victims of Arab nationalism arethe Kurds who, after all, are mostly Sunni Muslims. Sunni shmunni, no mercy,little remorse: They are not Arabs. Kurds are the largest intact people, mostlyon what is historically their own land, without a recognized geographicalpolity. They were not invented in 1947 or 1967, God bless them, having shown upin history more than a millennium ago. The Kurdish population of Syria, Michael Weiss wrote in theJanuary 20 Atlantic Online, isestimated to be between 3.5 and 4.6 million, which is from 15% to 20% of thegross estimate of Turks in Turkey. As in other Arab countries, there has beenno recent census. In fact, the Syrian count goes back a half century. TheTurkish interest in Syria is mainly in the country’s Kurds. Hatred of the Kurdsis what ties divergent countries together on Israel’s northern salient.(That…and hatred of the Jews, of course.) The Kurds have long been (one of)Iran’s designated enemies, too. The poor Kurdish nation, and it is (in contrastwith the Palestinians, pell-mell), a real nation: but they only havecircumstantial friends. When Turkey was allied with Israel, the Jewish statesomehow lost its interest in Kurdistan. Now that the Turks have made Israel anantagonist, not simply of the Arabs but of themselves, we will see whetherJerusalem rekindles its concern for the Kurds who are spread from Turkey toIran, north into the former Soviet Union and south into Zion itself, these lastbeing 150,000 Kurdish Jews who have fine fraternal memories of their Muslimneighbors. (See my Spine, “The KurdishExample for Palestine,” May 1, 2007.) But there is now an actual Kurdistan, and it is located in Iraq fromwhich its notional independence will develop into a real state while thedominant Shia and Sunni sectarians murder each other at prayer.

This has nearly panicked Erdoganian Turkeywhich fears the specter and growing reality of Kurdish nationalism. Of course,Erdogan has one real American asset. It is the president of the United Stateswho trusts him, another Obama infatuation based on almost zero. It is clearthat Obama doesn’t worry much about freedom in countries he embraces. Afterall, Turkey has had so many judgments against it handed down by the EuropeanCourt of Human Rights that it is hard to count and more difficult to keeptrack. OK, it’s Wikipedia: But Wikipedia says that the most endangered humanrights in Turkey are “particularly the right to life and freedom from torture.”No matter. To be sure, the country would be no picnic to govern in the best oftimes. His predecessors were certainly no angels. But Erdogan has taken theroute of many besieged despots. (Note: I have not called him a tyrant … yet.)Of course, he has the advantage of a fairly prosperous economy which,nonetheless, will not project Turkey into Europe. The Europeans do not want 70million more Muslims. Anyway, Erdogan has now seen the handwriting on the wall.He will neither push nor cavil.

Still, he has brash aspirations in theIslamic orbit. The easiest foray for him was to line up against Israel, and hedid so last spring with his preposterous intervention against its blockade ofHamas. Even the United Nations inquiry on the Mavi Marmara flotilla, whilecriticizing the Netanyahu government for particulars of the ferry interdict,came down squarely on the side of Israel in the encounter. Take a look at Steven A. Cook’s scrupulousCouncil on Foreign Relations analysis of the incident. So there is just so much mileage Erdogancan get from his quarrel with Israel. (Israel’s nutsy foreign minister, AvigdorLieberman, has ambitions to make troubles for the Turks with vague designsabout stirring up the Armenians. If the Israelis have any luck, Lieberman willsoon be indicted for all kinds of serious mischief and mayhem which will endhis political career.)

So the Israelis are no longer visitingTurkey in the summertime, and soon Americans of all sorts will forego Turkeyand find other places to visit on vacation. How about Uruguay, a perfectlocale? Turkey’s historic stake is among the Muslims and among the Arabsespecially. There is where the empire of influence can be improvised or soErdogan thought. He already made his triumphal tour in mid-September. Adulationwas his reward and his inspiration to go forward. But the Arab world is in somuch trouble and travail that the designs of Turkey are hardly germane even inSyria where the khedive’s troops hover.

VII.

I am not made happy by the lapse of Arabspring. For a moment, the moment to which I alluded in my first paragraph, Iexperienced the shock of recognition, to use Edmund Wilson’s pregnant phrase.That moment has passed and apparently it is the Arabs who want it that way. Atleast, that is the case in Egypt where the ultra-pious have triumphed in theelections. We shall see what actually occurs in Tunisia and Libya where for amoment tolerant Islam seemed also to have a slight chance.

Human Rights Watch is already fronting forthe triumphant Muslim ultras, especially in Egypt. These ultras are a majority,after all, a huge majority, says its executive director. H.R.W. has a point.This is Egypt’s first free election. Conducted by the military, if I’m notmistaken. There won’t be a second free one if the religious permit any atall.

21/366 Out of focus

2012-01-22T06:40:00.001+11:00

21/366 Out of focus, a photo by bobmendo on Flickr.

Sometimes we can only see what's right in front of us. We have abundant choices, like the church, the field, the sky, the rest of life all in front of us, but we focus only on the immediate. When we do that, we miss out on what else there is. As a result, we are 'blinded' to the rest of life.

Let's make today a day to see the forest and the trees.

I tripped and fell, and the boat took me away

2012-01-19T07:34:00.001+11:00

This photo is from Indianapolis, Indiana, from in front of the ArtMuseum a few years ago. A sculpture by DK Rubins. I think he called it"Stumbling Man." It may well characterize the fate of the localfootball club the Colts this season, but something more surprising has come outin the news today, from Italy.

The report I read first came from the New York Times. GaiaPianigiani reported from Giglio, Italy, and Alan Cowell from London. DavidJolly contributed reporting from Paris and Rick Gladstone from New York."The news [is] that the captain claimed he had slipped on deck andtumbled overboard to wind up in a life boat during the panicky passenger escape— and had not abandoned ship like a coward as accused."

"CaptainSchettino was quoted by the La Repubblica newspaper as tellinginvestigators that he had not planned to leave the ship as it tilted toward thewater.

“The passengerswere pouring onto the decks, taking the lifeboats by assault,” he said,according to the newspaper. “I didn’t even have a life jacket because I hadgiven it to one of the passengers. I was trying to get people to get into theboats in an orderly fashion. Suddenly, since the ship was at a 60 to 70 degreeangle, I tripped and I ended up in one of the boats. That’s how I found myselfthere.”

The new explanationby the captain, Francesco Schettino, for why he vacated the vessel after hesmashed into the rocks last Friday night, came as the Italian press haspilloried him as a negligent coward."

Theship, Costa Concordia, remains overturned and in all likelihood willfinish deep at the bottom of the sea near the Tuscany coast.

Photo takenby Gregorio Borgia/Associated Press

This all sounds sobiblical.

Not a shipwreck,although that certainly happened in the Bible.

Not a story offootball teams failing.

No, it's a story ofAaron, the brother of Moses, and a Golden Calf.

"What?"you say. There's been no mention of a cow in the whole article so far. No, youare right, but considerthis story from the Book.

In Exodus chapter32, we read of Moses being up on Mount Sinai. He has spent about 6 weeks upthere and is supposed to return with what we later know as The TenCommandments. During his time away, Aaron is responsible to keep the crowds incontrol. The people are impatient, and begin a revolution. They demand Aarongive them a new deity. And he comes up with a plan to calm them by giving themwhat they want, an idol to construct and to worship. When Moses returns andsees the golden calf they had made, he is really upset.

Beginning inverse 21, we read, "Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you,that you have brought such great sin upon them?” Aaron said, “Donot let the anger of my lord burn; you know the people yourself, that theyare prone to evil. For they said to me, ‘Make a god for uswho will go before us; for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the landof Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ I said to them, ‘Whoeverhas any gold, let them tear it off.’ So they gave it to me,and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.”

What! Out came this calf? Come on Aaron, work harder on an excuse thanthat. But doesn’t this sound like the captain of the Italian ship? Perhapsthe stumbling really happened. Perhaps he really did just land in the lifeboatand was carried away. I don’t know at all. Time and others will tell.

But the biblical account is clear.

Don’t invent a lie and expect us to believe it.

And that goes for me in 2012 as well!

Patty blowing up balloon

2012-01-08T17:20:00.001+11:00

Patty blowing up balloon, a photo by bobmendo on Flickr.

This weekend horrible endings in New Zealand for 11 balloon riders who were killed on early Saturday morning when a hot air balloon crashed near a town on the North Island of New Zealand, police said. There were no survivors.

The accident happened at around 7:00 a.m. local time when the hot air balloon hit wires on a power line, causing the basket to catch fire before plummeting to the ground. It happened near the town of Carterton in the Wellington Region.

When I hear of such tragedies and remember our own trip in the Hunter Valley in March 2004, I'm sad for the 11 and thankful for the times God continues to give me to celebrate life.

Take no day for granted. Each day is a gift; that's why we call it the present.

6/366 Bridge at night

2012-01-06T10:54:00.001+11:00

This shot on Flickr a photo by bobmendo on Flickr.

Today is three kings' day. Epiphany. Twelfth Night. End of Christmas, they say. And day 6 of my journal for "shot of the day' for 2012.

Sydney is a beautiful city, and many will recognize this icon, the Sydney Harbour Bridge, that they see across the world every year on New Year's Eve. The fireworks are shot all along the foreshore and the bridge itself is a blaze with fireworks abundant.

I shot this photo this week, lying down on the walkway by the being-renovated Intercontinental Hotel. A great spot with such views and although my shot needs more work, and I'll have to go back to try again another night, I thought you might like this.

It's posted in "Shot of the Day", a new set of mine on Flickr. During 2012, I'm putting up one each day on that set. This allows me to be de-selective and help you enjoy walking along with me in my life, in my journey, in my daily walk.

Ponder this one. The elegance of the Coathanger (nickname for the bridge when it was built about 1936). Ponder the capacity to link separate bodies of land. Imagine life before the bridge and then just after. When people who were separated were then able to walk to each other, or ride a bike to each other, or drive a car and be there almost immediately.

Today we take transport for granted. We honk at people who are not travelling the minimum speed on the roads. (which actually is the maximum, but we digress). We scurry and hurry to appointments and look for ways to go faster. In cars, planes, and fast rivercats. But back in 1936 it was about linkage, and that was enough. Access to the 'other side' of life and that's significant.

The Bible says that both Jews and Gentiles can access God. (Ephesians 2.18). What better represents our separation as Jews and Gentiles than the harbour in Sydney?
Before the coming of Y'shua as our Messiah, only Jews could access God. Gentiles could access God if they became Jews first. But after the crucifixion and the resurrection of Messiah Jesus, access is granted now to everyone, whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Actually the bridge is a great image, but a bit weak. Both Jews and Gentiles were far from God in a way. Both of us were across the river. Both needed help to get to God. And in Y"shua, the Gesher, the Bridge, we can all access God.

Eph. 2.17 And He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near,
Eph. 2.18 for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.
Eph. 2.19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household,

Now we can all cross the bridge. We can all reach God. One person at a time. Not related to our ethnicity, but related to our faith!

1/366 Not so perfect after all

2012-01-01T08:25:00.001+11:00

1/365 Not so perfect after all, a photo by bobmendo on Flickr.

Each day during 2012 I'm going to try to share a thought or a moment or a joy or sorrow or activity that characterizes or typified that day. It may be from a previous day's shooting, but will be fairly close. Here's today's first entry.

Humility. Perfect, but not so perfect after all. We tend to overrate ourselves or those near us or underrate those we consider lesser. All the while, we are the ones standing in the need of prayer. We are the failed ones. We are the imperfect.

God loves us nonetheless and cares to make us considerable. He wants to bring His life into our lives. Wow, what an awesome consideration that is.

Y'shua said, "You are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." (Matthew 5:48) What! Me! Maybe Yshua didn't understand us, or think of us more highly than He ought to have thought.

Nope. He knew what was in us. The NIV Study Bible says this, "The Sermon on the Mount’s call to moral and ethical living is so high that some have dismissed it as being completely unrealistic or have projected its fulfillment to the future kingdom. There is no doubt, however, that Jesus (and Matthew) gave the sermon as a standard for all Christians, realizing that its demands cannot be met in our own power."

There you go. Only in trusting in Y'shua can we find fulfillment. Only in believing in His perfection and glory can we ever move towards that standard. And the closer we move, the less we care about our own measuring. The less we care about our own checklists. The more we care about Him.

Happy 2012. Think on Him today and you'll be getting it right.

Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T10:56:00.001+11:00

Today is 24 December and the rain woke me, then I had a brief time with my daughter and then a lot of time with my grandson who fell asleep eventually. I came to the Jews for Jesus book shop in Bondi Junction. It's that time of year when the shopping centres and the malls and shops are alive and bustling. People are hunting deals and hoping for a dollar or 50 dollars off. Hoping to find the best gift to give their loved ones or the lady next door. And giving is a good thing. So I'm always happy that people want to be generous at this time. I like being generous at this time. I also like it when people are generous to me, but hey, who doesn't?

We sell a lot of things at this time of year. We sell menorahs and candles and dreidels, calendars and cookbooks and biblical books and books of all kinds. CDs and DVDs and heaps of necklaces. So this time of year is good business for us, and I'm not sad to thank God for that. All surplus from our shop sales goes back into evangelistic ministry, so that's a good way to raise funds for the rest of the year.

Still I ponder the commercialism that has invaded the world, even my world. What's the holiday about anyway? What is a holiday? Does it really come from the phrase "holy day?" And if so, what's so holy about shopping?

I could be pejorative about Coca cola and the mingling of Santa Claus, the red suit and the bubbly soft drink. But that's not my usual style. I think this photo tells everything. The King of Kings, Adon Olam, Lord of all, and Creator of heaven and earth invaded His planet in the person of Y'shua, the baby Jew who grew up in wisdom and stature. The whole story is at the end of this blog, if you haven't read it (in a while). And hey, don't knock the Engish, that is, the phrase should be King-sized bed. Hyphenated and add the 'd', but can you really hear the story anyway?

What makes Christmas is that a baby was born, whose birth had been predicted back in the earliest days of the Bible, from Genesis, and Isaiah the prophet. And when He came, some recognized Him as something significant or wondrous or even miraculous, but few really understood.

Really, Christmas is a baby. And a hope for overcoming darkness. No longer would the plight of humanity be stuck in its (our) own sin but now we could have hope for deliverance. God loved us enough to send a remedy, a Saviour, a deliverer. In fact The remedy, The Saviour, The Deliverer. Y'shua is the Jewish Messiah foretold in the Bible by Jews to Jews, and anyone else who is listening. Are you?

Merry Messiah-mas 2011 and a joyful 2012 to you and yours.

From the Bible, chapter 2 of the "Good news according to Luke":

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.
(This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to his own town to register.

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.
While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Messiah the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.

When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise him, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he had been conceived.

When the time of their purification according to the Law of Moses had been completed, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord”),
and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.”

Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.
Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.”

The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

There was also a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.

When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth.
And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.

Frozen in time

2011-12-19T23:26:00.001+11:00

Sunset over Kansas, a photo by bobmendo on Flickr.

I'm in Sydney as I write this, but earlier this month I flew to Kansas City, to visit with my daughter and her family. I've often commented that 'just above' the clouds is my favorite place on the planet. And I've been in many places on the planet!

So here I was, at sunset, early December. The sky is turning those gorgeous colors. The camera takes a great shot, but nothing compared to the real colors. It's a little 'less.' Maybe that's why the Almighty said not to make an image of anything 'above, or on the earth, or of things under the earth'. When we make an image, we actually 'freeze' something at a moment, and miss motion. We miss smell. We miss the rest of its reality.

Now don't get me wrong. I love photography. I have over 15,000 photos on this Flickr site from which the "Sunset over Kansas" shot was taken.

What I'm saying is that when we shoot an image, when we make a sculpture, when we draw a painting... we are pausing time, we are stopping motion, we are saying "This is it"

And honestly, it's not it. There are other stories to tell. There are other things going on that are not recorded. For instance, what's going on on the other side of this wing? And of the other side of this plane? And inside the plane, near where I am? So many stories, but you are only looking at one image, frozen in time.

Enjoy it, and enjoy any other of my photos, but in the end, look up from the computer. Look up from your book. Look up from your own life and see what else is going on. Find the world alive and real. After all, the "earth is the Lord's and the fullness of it" (Psalm 24.1) so that our Creator could receive the praise due Him. Even from you. And from me.

Be careful where you bow

2011-12-18T15:34:00.001+11:00

Yesterday I was surprised when Katie, a young Jewish believer, told me she didn't sing certain songs at her uni, because they are sung to Isis or some other tribal deity. She sings opera, and I never really thought about all that. I'd considered activities of worship when my family went to Thailand and we were invited to play with some sticks. The tour guide told us the luck we would gain from the Buddha in front of whom we were invited to bow would be wonderful. No, I said, I'm not going to bow down there. OK, so that was fairly blatant, but Katie's comments made me ponder more about 'the season' in which we find ourselves.

My friend Phil up in Brisbane updated his Facebook account today after church with, "Must be Christmas time, the place is packed pumping and jumping." I asked him if he meant the shopping centre or the church. He replied, "It might depend on who your God is." Yes, that made perfect sense.

Tonight in Lane Cove, in the Helen Street Reserve, some singers will lead some carols. And the neighbourhood is invited along. Bring a picnic, or buy some snags there, and sing some Christmas songs. Can you do that?

Back when I was in high school I was part of the madrigal singers at Shawnee Mission East High School. We got to leave school at this time of year, a lot, and that was in itself a lot of fun. Why did we leave? To sing carols and classical pieces, dressed in white dinner jackets, at Kiwanis Club luncheons or at shopping centres or wherever our teacher had arranged us to sing. One of the songs we used to sing was "Hallelujah", the famous chorus from "Messiah" by Handel which is sung worldwide at this time of year. I had a hard time singing one section of the song, maybe like Katie here in Sydney.

The song says, "The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ." It's a direct quote from the Newer Testament, in the Book of Revelation chapter 11. "the seventh angel sounded; and there arose loud voices in heaven, saying, ¶ “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign forever and ever.” Can you hear it in your ears or in your mind, just now? I can.

Back in high school I didn't believe in Jesus, and certainly wouldn't sing to him or about him. I knew almost nothing about Jesus, but definitely didn't want to sing a song about him. And yet, Messiah was massively popular and sing-a-longs are still held in New York and Australia and South Africa... how would I avoid this?

I mouthed the words. That's what I did. I couldn't think of anything else to do. I wouldn't sing about "Christ" but I felt it ok and permissible to mouth 'Christ.' Negotiation, eh?

We all have ways of dealing with things that are 'out of bounds.' Sometimes we vote or carry placards or even Occupy somewhere. Opposition may turn into hostility or outrage. Then you might get the outrageous comments of the rabbi in the US and Tim Tebow last week. Thankfully the newspaper for which he writes pulled the rabbi's article as it was not consistent with their editorial standards. I won't cite it, but suffice it to say that the rabbi's outrage was not warranted.

Still, what do you do with commercialism which abounds in these days, the countdown days until Christmas? Do you avoid the malls altogether? Do you avoid putting up green/ red tinsel at home? Or do you join in and put up the world's largest Santa Claus in your front yard, or let the neighbour do that like "Me Ditto" did in Kansas City this December?

Everyone has a way to deal with things with which they agree or with which they disagree.

That said, I recommend you be careful where you bow. And in front of whom. I like this photo of the little girl at the mall in Bondi Junction. She's not in front of Santa. She's not in front of a shop. She's considering the truths that this little manger scene (creche) communicates. Is this really the reason for the season? Is this "born is the king of Israel?" Is he your king?

Be careful where and in front of whom you bow.

Sabbath made for man: 4th in a series on Restlessness

2011-12-04T00:55:00.001+11:00

Darlene Zschech leading worship at Hillsong Conference

This is now the 4th blog on rest and restlessness. And my theme today is rhythm.

In music, I like rhythm. I like melody, to be sure, and harmony, andall the components that make up music, but I can't get away from rhythm. Maybethat’s because the beat stays with me even if I forget words or lilt. The othernight I was playing guitar, leading the singing at the OneNewMan fellowship inWaverley (NSW) and saw everyone's feet tapping along with the rhythm of thesongs. Nice feeling. We all got onto the same rhythm and we all were together together.

God gave us rhythm, not only in music, but also through theannual cycle of events in the Jewish calendar. That calendar is most notably listed in the Bible book of Leviticus chapter 23. That chapter starts by listing a weekly Sabbath,a time to pull apart (rather than being pulled apart by) [from] regular workand let our timing get in sync with God. He rested; we should rest. That'ssensible.

I remember hearing a medical doctor discuss an issue related to menstruation. He cited studies showing that women all livingin a certain house, and though they all had different menstrual cycles atthe beginning of their living situation, as they lived together, their cycles all came into sync with oneanother. That’s a unity of rhythm that would have been notable to be sure.

But it's more than history, although it's at least historic.It's about God being with us in our lives today and throughout our days. Andwhen we get in sync with God’s rhythm, we are truly one. We think God’s thoughts;we hear God’s voice; we do God’s will.

Let's clarify this. Jewish holidays are not festivals in thestyle of Australia Day or US Independence Day. The Hebrew word for these days is mo’ed. Mo'ed is used more like an appointment than a flag-waving time. More like, "Hello Mr Mendelsohn, this is God's office ringing. You have an appointment on Saturday with the Almighty. Will you be able to keep your appointment?"

If you don't keep that appointment, according to way-too-many places in the Bible, you are sinning. Ouch. Restlessness is sin.

Get these: Exodus 20.10 "The seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates."

While the Israelites were in the desert, a man was found gathering wood on the

Sabbath day. Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and 
the whole assembly, and they kept him in custody, because it was not clear what

should be done to him. Then the LORD said to Moses, "The man must die. The whole

assembly must stone him outside the camp." So the assembly took him outside the camp

and stoned him to death, as the LORD commanded Moses.  (Numbers 15:32-36)

When the neighboring peoples bring merchandise or grain to sell on the Sabbath, we

will not buy from them on the Sabbath or on any holy day. Every seventh year we will

forgo working the land and will cancel all debts. (Nehemiah 10.31)

If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as 
you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the LORD'S 
holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not 
doing as you please or speaking idle words,then you will find your joy in the LORD,

and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the

inheritance of your father Jacob." The mouth of the LORD has spoken. (Isaiah 58.13-14)

 But if you do not obey me to keep the Sabbath day holy by not carrying 
any load as you come through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, 
then I will kindle an unquenchable fire in the gates of Jerusalem that will 
consume her fortresses.'" (Jeremiah 17.27)

And there are heaps more. It's clear. Rest is required, and remembering God as Creator and Deliverer. He wants us to remember that He made the earth in 6 days (the world has significantly forgotten that one in the last 200 years) and that He brought the Jewish people out of slavery in Egypt under Moses 3500 years ago. That's what Sabbath was about. Rest and remembrance.

How about that? Do those today and see how that works out for you.

2011-12-04T00:28:00.001+11:00

Same Sex Marriage and the Labor Party

According to Bill Muehlenberg of CultureWatch in Australia, "Federal Labor has declared itself to be aligned with the powers of darkness. It has decided that the most important thing this nation needs is homosexual marriage, and to hell with ordinary Australians and workers who dare to stand in their way."

Here is the story: “The Australian Labor Party has voted in favour of same-sex marriage. It’s also backed a motion to allow state and federal Labor MPs a conscience vote on gay marriage if a Bill comes to parliament. The motion on the conscience vote was carried 208 votes to 185.

“The motion to change the party platform on same-sex marriage was carried on the voices. When the results were announced, Senator Penny Wong hugged Prime Minister Julia Gillard. Delegates on the floor of the party’s national conference in Sydney clapped and cheered.”

Muehlenberg says, "So Labor has officially and decisively abandoned its own base, the workers, and the Australian people, and has declared that it exists solely to do the bidding of Bob Brown and the militant homosexual lobby. This is a sad day for a political party and the nation."

Muehlenberg certainly does not pull punches.

Look, gay activity has been around for a long time, certainly in variant and what some would say deviant societies in Greece and Egypt. That is not the issue in these days.
And in the modern days gay activity has even been celebrated by many. Note parades in Brazil, Sydney and even in Israel.
But what is at issue these days, if I read it right, is the institutionalizing of gay marriage.

What the Labor Party is backing is a change in the definition of marriage in a radical way. Of course the Greens (who should be concerned about environment and pollution) are driving the re-definition of marriage. That in itself is bizarre, but as Muehlenberg points out, it's contra the ALP platform of decades. Seems politically motivated, and not rooted in deep-seated convictions.

But who would accuse politicians of anything higher?

The Australian Christian Lobby said it was a sad day for Australian families.
"Sad that the Prime Minister's election promise and the party's election promise now looks set to be flagrantly set aside," the lobby's Lyle Shelton said. "The only way Labor can redeem any integrity as a result of the events of today is to ensure that it votes with the Coalition to make sure there is no amendment to the Marriage Act in this term of Parliament."

Federal Aged Care Minister Mark Butler hailed the victory, but says the fight is not over.
"We did not win the war, the law still remains, but I tell you we won a decisive battle," he said.
"Up until this morning Labor Party policy still said that marriage is the union of a man and a woman, it doesn't say that any more."

That's what seems apparent to me. The lobbyists and politicians who are 'not happy' because of the conscience vote are still happy that they are putting another chink in the armor of the Marriage Act.

Other delegates from the Labor Right, like Tasmanian Senator Helen Polley, were not so happy.
"Marriage is a term that can be used and has been used for centuries to describe a relationship between a man and a woman," she said.
Union leader Joe de Bruyn says Labor has turned its back on a core value and it will cost votes.
"Particularly in some of the traditional Labor electorates in suburban Australia," he said.

That said, it's not good when such an institutionalization is on its way. Buckle your seat belts Aussies. This does not appear to be good for our country.

From the ABC newsroom: Watch and listen to the charges and the almost electrical charge here as ACT Deputy Chief Minister Andrew Barr, Finance Minister Penny Wong and trade union secretary Joe de Bruyn speak on the issue of gay marriage on the second day of the ALP Conference: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-12-03/conscience-vote/3710872 (and the use of 'equality' and 'dignity' and 'discrimination')

www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/cheers-as-alp-backs-gay-marriage/story-e6freuy9-1226212928302
www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/opinion/single-issue-with-many-consequences/story-e6frgd0x-1226212740909
The whole article is here: Bill Muehlenberg on the Same Sex Marriage issue

Drive-thru vs Family time

2011-11-30T13:58:00.000+11:00

Australia Jews for Jesus: This is the 3rd in a series of blogs on Rest and R...: This is the 3rd in a series of blogs on Rest and Restlessness. What triggered it was a series of thoughts and readings beginning with T...

2011-11-29T21:42:00.001+11:00

This is the 3rd in a series of blogs on Rest and Restlessness.

What triggered it was a series of thoughts and readings beginning with Tim Chester's book entitled The Busy Christian's Guide to Busyness. But I guess what prompted my reading that was considerable bother about not having time myself to do the things I like or want to do. I used to journal most days. Now almost never into the journal (book). I used to exercise very regularly in a gym. Now almost never. I used to read books regularly, and again that has dropped off to minimal reading. What is or was happening?

Chester lays out six main reasons why people tend to be busy, that is, too busy for me. They are 1) to prove themselves, 2) to meet other people's expectations, 3) to maintain control, 4) due to a preference of business/ pressure, 5) to provide capital by earning more and more, and finally 6) to make the most out of life.

He captivated me with his opening chapter. In regards to rest Chester said, "even our time off can be hard work... leisure has become a thing you 'do' or 'buy.' We relax by going to the gym, driving across town to a late enight movie or spending an afternoon shopping- and nothing is more tiring than shopping! We no longer stroll or ramble; now we hike with walking poles to propel us along. Leisure is no longer rest; leisure is consumption." (page 11) Wow, did that nail me. I play 18 holes of golf a week, and have to work hard to fit that into my schedule. I usually rock up just in time to hit off, while most of the guys I play with average arriving 30 minutes early. I tend to put an appointment on the back end of the round also, thus maximizing my day, but not ever really relaxing. And often will answer the phone while on the course.

We as humanity used to be regulated in work by the daytime and by the seasons. As the industrial revolution hit, we became regulated by the clock. Now we are self-regulated, or not, and thus day is night and winter is summer, and a man I met in Singapore works the graveyard shift in IT servicing the people in his work group who live in the UK and some in the US, on their time zones, not on his.

When I was a kid, in some restaurants, where a family would eat out together, they created a 'drive in' style. This involved the family getting into the family car, and driving to the car park, sit in the car, order a family meal, and then sit in the car to eat it, while a roller-skating server brought things to you on a tray which you affixed to your driver's window.

But now the drive-in has become the drive-thru, and we cannot even spell through correctly. We are in too much of a hurry. We call it drive-thru and don't sit to eat, we rush to eat. We have to get to soccer or violin practice. We don't have time to relax together. Everyone has commitments. And thus we continue being time-poor.

God said to take the sabbath day off. Literally. Not a figure of speech. To seriously take your watch off, and chill.

It's a faith matter, not a 'works' matter. If I trust God to provide for me in 6 days instead of in 7, then I'm giving 14% of my energy/ time/ money-earning potential away. That's a lot of cash!

We rest, not out of exhaustion, but out of satisfaction. We are finished with the work; we take time to enjoy what we did.

More to come...

Texting

2011-11-29T21:28:00.001+11:00

Texting, a photo by Rick Rock Radio on Flickr.

The series on Restlessness continues

This is now Blog #2 on the Sin of Restlessness.
The high speed collision in China reported here

OK, maybe you don't have time to read it. Maybe you are doing a multi-tasking job of reading your emails, SMSing your mates, and pretending to be among the thousands of fans at the game. Honestly you can't do it all; why not admit that?

The expression is 'time poor.' We ran out of time to do everything, so we multi-task. By definition we try to do more than one thing at a time. I'm a male, so that can never happen anyway. But for some females, honestly, you simply cannot be both a fan and an SMSer. Not at the same moment. Really.

Why are we so 'time poor?' We have more conveniences and more things which do more stuff for us. We don't have to hand wash all our clothing anymore. We have a washing machine for that. All we do is toss the dirty clothes and some detergent into a box, and in an hour, the clothes and soap have teamed up for a cleansing. Voilá, all done.

We used to write letters which would take half an hour to compose and script with our free hand, but now we type with lightning speed the same letter, or shorten the whole thing into a blog or SMS or email of similar 'length.' Visiting a friend took time; now we ring or text. Want to find out about an historical event or personage, and you had to ring the librarian or investigate at the encyclopedia. Now you 'google it.'

All that convenience and still no time. Why? We don't extend to ourselves the privilege of silence and the freedom of doing nothing. 'Don't have time, sorry.' but really we just don't take time.

If you don't answer the phone, (so says my new friend Lewis in Singapore), they tend to stop ringing. I like that. The phone is a good tool, but a lousy master. It's a noose for many; it should be a servant. Answer it when you can; let the voice mail answer it otherwise.

Learn to relax. It's another world out there. Just watch the game, girl in the blue cap. It's restful. (OK, some say 'boring') But a bit of rest is good for us now and then, you know?

BLURRED... the world passes us by

2011-11-29T21:10:00.001+11:00

BLURRED, a photo by Lauren Withrow on Flickr.

Today I'm going to begin a series of blogs on the sin of restlessness. It's about rushing. The blur of the crowd. The keeping up with the Joneses. I've just returned from Singapore and over and over I saw this. The crowds are one thing, but I'm talking about an inability for an individual to rest.

You know the Bible says "Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the 7th day is a day of rest in honor of the Lord your God. You shall do no work in it."

That seems so quaint, so out-of-date, so not with the times. The shops stay open 24/7. The people work less 'official' hours in some countries, but they take their laptop with them, and are ever connected with smart phones and such.

I sat in a meeting last week, speaking to a group of men. They were very enthusiastic to my message, but each man, at one time or another, answered his phone, replied to an SMS or email, and was distracted by the phone. I said, "The phones will wait. None of you is so needed that you cannot take an hour off, you know?" Wow, I saw the restlessness, not only with a day off, but even with an hour off.

The Chinese call this 'kaisu' a sort of 'don't let anyone pass you.' It's a driver, something which they use to keep themselves going and going. Like the Energizer bunny. If they stop, someone might take their place. It's a fear and an inordinate fear for a believer, to be sure.

If you live in fear, you are not living in faith. If you live in restlessness, you are not living in faith, in rest. More on that in the next blog.

Lauren Withrow on Flickr wrote: Via Flickr:
"This life I'm in,
moves by way too fast.
Blurring the edges until nothing is clear.
Someday things should just slow down."

Went to the mall with a couple friends and saw Push. It was pretty good.
Don't know how much I like this but oh well.

feb 8, 2009]
83/365

Strange bedfellows and reality

2011-11-25T13:22:00.001+11:00

Read the whole article here: NY Times
Pictured are Hamas and Fatah leaders, smiling, but are they really smiling?

The NY Times today published an in-depth article about the strife between Mahmoud Abbas (pictured on the right), Fatah leader since 2004, president of the Palestinian Authority and his rival, Khaled Meshal, the political leader of Hamas. They met in Cairo, Egypt, agreeing to go ahead with elections in the Palestinian territories next year, even though they failed to resolve differences over an interim unity government to prepare for the vote.

This is not a new reality. Hamas, the terrorist organization, supported by Syria and Iran, refuses three things: 1) to acknowledge the reality of the state of Israel, 2) to denounce violence in pursuit of its goals, and 3) to agree with past Palestinian-Israeli peace agreements. Those three conditions are required if there will ever be peace in the Middle East, and certainly if Hamas wants to be recognized as legitimate by the US, the UN, or the EU.

Fatah, the party of Yasser Arafat, the former leader of the Palestinian Authority, and ever dressed in military garb, is not the gentlest in the conversation either. They control the West Bank. A bit of nomenclature: Its name is the reverse acronym of Harakat al-Tahrir al-Watani al-Falastini, meaning the 'Palestinian National Liberation Movement.' The name also means Conquest or Victory in Arabic.

In May this year, the rivals signed a historic reconciliation accord in Cairo, vowing common cause against Israeli occupation, a product of shifting regional power relations and disillusionment with American peace efforts. But how that plays out, and who leads the conversation in the next decade, that remains to be determined. Declarations are one thing, reality of living it out, that's quite another.The Times reported, "Israeli officials have withheld the transfer of about $100 million a month in taxes and customs duties that Israel collects on behalf of the Palestinians, in part waiting to see the outcome of the latest unity talks. Meanwhile, for Hamas, the Arab Spring has buoyed hopes of new opportunities for Islamist parties across the region."

So what is reality, as we have watched what they call "The Arab Spring?" Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and now Syria. What government will be there in a year, and what uprising will produce good and calm and happy citizens? The almost-nightly drama unfolds on our television sets as another country is riveted by unrest and hope for 'spring.' Spring, when everything comes to life and blooms. Spring when a man's thoughts turn to cricket and love.

But the victory in Egypt was short-lived, and democracy is not an easy concept in which to live. It's easy to applaud, but hard to live.

Hosni Mubarak was ousted after 18 daysof demonstrations this year on 11 February. After 30 years in office (He took over after Anwar Sadat was assassinated in 1981.) Vice President Omar Suleimanannounced that Mubarak had resigned as president and transferred authority tothe Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. But who will run the country is still in doubt. Just today CNN reports, "Kamal Ganzouri has agreed to become Egypt's prime minister and will form a new government, an Egyptian army spokesman said."

This development -- announced by Lt. Col. Amr Imam -- comes days after former Prime Minister Essam Sharaf and his government quit en masse, and days before Monday's parliamentary elections that Egypt's military rulers vowed Thursday would go on despite ongoing unrest.

Apparently strange bedfellows don't always produce reality. WWII had Mussolini in bed with Hitler, and the result was madness and chaos and destruction. Although the phrase, "strange bedfellows" originally had to do with Shakespeare's character in The Tempest, shipwrecked Trinculo, the jester, who happens upon the fallen Caliban, a deformed native on an uncharted island. Trinculo takes the garment of Caliban, and lies with him, thus 'strange bedfellows.' However we take the phrase to mean a partnering of unusual pairs. Charles Dudley Warner said, "Politics makes strange bedfellows" And by that he meant that opposing forces often have to agree on one item, even though they might be at great distance on others. (That said, Groucho Marx said, "Politics doesn't make strange bedfellows - marriage does.")

God wants to be in relationship with us. He finds us deformed on our native and uncharted islands of life, and takes our nature on Himself, exchanges His life for ours, and dies in our place. That's the message of the Crucifixion and of eternity. Reality may be remote to you just now, in Spring or Autumn, on Thanksgiving or late in celebrating the Festival of Lights, Deepavali. But God's reality is worth all investigation. He loves you and wants you to know Him. He sent Jesus to die, to bring you back to Himself. It's not strange, really; it's love.

Cheap tippers

2011-11-24T12:17:00.000+11:00

Here's a report (at the end of the blog) from the USA ...on Thanksgiving no less.

Seems that some folks are being cheap and leaving Gospel information for restaurant servers instead of a gratuity (tip). Read the end first, if you must.

End of the day we should all be generous, happy to share with others, and especially with those who share with us.

Look I've been guilty of trying to get away with giving less, and admit it, but I don't think I ever left a Gospel tract IN PLACE OF a tip, only along with it. In fact, I would feel bad being known as a believer if I was not being generous.

Why is that? God loved the world so much that he gave his only son. That's generosity. And that's the spirit of heaven, and not the spirit of this age.

I'm writing today from Singapore, and one thing I find is that Singaporeans are very generous to those of us who are preachers and especially those who are preaching to the Jewish people. That generosity makes me want to be even more generous in response. So I find myself giving to others happily.

Last night I watched a TV episode on Channel NewsAsia in my flat. The host and the panel of 4 were unpacking the issue of graciousness and kindness. I was surprised that this was a topic of concern and of a tv special during prime time. Each panelist was asked at the end, 'What is one thing people watching can do to demonstrate graciousness right away?' The man had already talked about giving up one's seat on the MRT (subway system) for older and handicapped people, but gave another tip. The woman next to him mentioned asking her colleagues if 'they have had their lunch already." (that sounded like she was saying to invite them to lunch, but could be taken wrongly). The next woman, a school official, mentioned smiling. The final woman, a young government official, talked about having a good attitude and forgiving people who fall short of expectations.

All that said, I thought, come on, people, talk about giving money. Talk about giving clothing like people do daily at the Salvation Army where I am staying in town. Talk about giving food to hungry people. Graciousness is about visible kindness. And it's a function of Grace.

Mercy is not getting what you deserve.
Grace is getting what you do not deserve.

Mercy keeps you from hell.
Grace gives you heaven.

So in light of what God has done for you, in loving you, in sending Jesus His son to die for you and to give you the opportunity to know him personally, what kind of person ought you to be?

Let's be generous.
Gratuity, by the way, comes from 'grace' and that makes me more gracious to others, don't you reckon?
______________

Here's the story that prompted this blog:

Waiter's Phony $10 Tip Includes Religious Lesson
By Claire Gordon Posted 12:35PM 11/23/11 Personal Finance

A $10 bill is a joyful sight for a server. But when one waiter went to retrieve such a note out from under a diner's plate recently, he reportedly noticed something curious. The tip it provided wasn't monetary, but took the form of advice. "SOME THINGS ARE BETTER THAN MONEY," it said on the back, "like your eternal salvation, that was brought and paid for by Jesus going to the cross."

The waiter, who makes $2.65 base pay an hour, didn't take well to getting so self-righteously stiffed. He posted photographs of the scene to the social newspaper Reddit, and wrote: "P.S. I have never been more atheist." "That's not very christian like behavior..." wrote one commentator.

But while that behavior certainly isn't the rule among Christians, it also isn't necessarily an exception. One waiter complained about the proffering of fake scripture-laden bills as tips on the "Friendly Atheist" blog in January 2009.

These phony bills appeared at least as far back as the summer of 2006, at the Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting in Greensboro, N.C. One blogger tells of going to a restaurant then and speaking to a waitress who was on the verge of tears. The convention attendees had been atrocious with their tipping, she said, but very generous with Bible verses and phony money.

"She asked us if we knew what it felt like to pick up what you thought was a great tip, only to find out that it was not real, and that the patron had actually been a cheapskate, after she served them well?"

Study: Christians More Likely to Stiff Their Server

The idea that Christians are poor tippers apparently has been whispered in service circles for a long time. Many waiters try not work Sunday brunch, so as to avoid notoriously stingy churchgoers, claims Justin Wise, the director of a Lutheran ministry in Des Moines, Iowa.

"Christians don't tip very well," he wrote for The Lutheran magazine in January 2009. "As a matter of fact, we're pretty cheap. What makes this worse is that we paint 'cheap' with a religious-sounding veneer and call it 'being a good steward.' Nothing like hiding behind the Bible to camouflage your stinginess."

One woman wrote back: "It was almost 100 percent true that the worst tips were on a check with a Bible verse or fish symbol."

This is a particularly uncomfortable phenomenon to face for a community that values generosity, justice and service.
"By leaving tracts and not tips, that person is saying to their waiter or waitress, 'You are not a person, but rather just a notch on my belt of evangelistic pride,' " explains Daniel Readle, a pastor at a Baptist church in Cleveland, on his blog "Christ and Culture."

An empirical study on this topic was conducted recently by Michael Lynn of Cornell University. He found that Christians are not in fact bad tippers; they gave an average of 17.3% for good service, well inside the 15% to 20% norm.

Only 13% of Christians left less than 15% for good service. That's a small minority of Christians, but still almost double the percentage of unaffiliated diners who left that amount, and more than six times the percentage of Jewish diners who under-tipped.

So while it is statistically false to say that Christians are bad tippers, it is true that Christians are more likely to stiff their servers than people of other religious (or non-religious) bents.

Because of these penny-pinchers, waiters are more likely to give bad service to anyone who appears outwardly Christian, Lynn suggests, or to call in sick for the Sunday shift.

Some things may be better than money, like trust, fairness, and tolerance. But a decent tip to your server can go a long way toward those goals.

On, off, on...what to do with cancellations

2011-10-30T09:12:00.000+11:00

After labor talks between US National Basketball Association (NBA) players and owners ended Friday with no deal in place, the league cancelled games through Nov. 30. "It's not practical, possible or prudent to have a full season now," commissioner David Stern, who added that the amount of money lost by both sides is "extraordinary," said after the meeting. The issue of how to split revenue remains the largest obstacle to ending the lockout.

"We made a lot of concessions, but unfortunately at this time it's not enough, and we're not prepared or unable at this time to move any further," union executive director Billy Hunter said.

Here at home Qantas has shocked the flying world and the business world and maybe your world, with the announcement that they grounded their entire fleet in light of the continuing union strikes. This happened while seventeen world leaders attending a Commonwealth summit in Perth were booked on Qantas flights and were trying to get home. (The queen was here for the summit, but has her own plane)

The Australian prime minister, Julia Gillard, said her government would help the Commonwealth leaders fly home. My guess is she is less concerned about the non-global leaders. And so far the strike is estimated to cost the Australian airline AUD20 million a day. And 68,000 people per day will not be able to fly (except those Miss Gillard organizes personally).

The Australian government called for an emergency arbitration hearing, which was adjourned at 2 this morning, after hearing evidence from the airline and unions, who are protesting planned job cuts. It will resume later today when the government will argue that the airline be ordered to fly in Australia's economic interests and in light of its being iconic.

The Australian and International Pilots Association said that Qantas CEO Alan Joyce’s decision to ground the entire Qantas fleet is “nothing short of a maniacal overreaction.” AIPA Vice President Richard Woodward said the move was pre-meditated, unnecessary and grossly irresponsible. “Alan Joyce is holding a knife to the nation’s throat,” Qantas Captain Woodward said.

Full stop.

When plans change, what do you do? Cancellations are annoying for kings and queens, CEOs and little guys, and you and me. Cancellations cause us to adjust, and most of us don’t want to do that. I'm not even sure if the Melbourne Cup will be on.
On Tuesday this week in Melbourne, at Flemington Raceway, the horse race that stops the nation, the Melbourne Cup, is on. At least we think it will be. Now Qantas has stopped the nation, and who knows who will make it to Melbourne to watch, to show off their new spring carnival costumes and punt on the biggest sporting event in Australia in November every year.

What do you do when things don’t happen the way you happen to want them to happen? Do you easily adjust? (Blessed are the flexible; they do not break.) Or do you live in frustration and anger and hostility?

God wants us to learn His ways and to find His path, even when no one else is travelling that direction. Set your face like flint towards the end you know to be right, and even if things bump into us, or knock us or delay us, we can and must find the continuity to reach the goals we have.

The Bible says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and don’t lean on your own understanding. In all your ways (cancelled or not) acknowledge him, and he will direct your paths.” (Proverbs 3.5-6)

5772 and welcomes!

2011-10-23T16:24:00.000+11:00

This month we celebrated the Jewish New Year 5772. And we welcomed it with trumpets and festivities and holy crying and seeking forgiveness. And last week in Israel, Gilad Shalit, after over five years in a Hamas prison, was released to his family and waiting country. The welcomes pictured were overwhelming. And the exchange for over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners leaves much by way of controversy. Then this week we also welcomed Queen Elizabeth II, the monarch of England and the Commonwealth. She went to church today to a welcoming crowd and our comments are prompted by all these welcomes.

Hamas had demanded the release of about 1,000 prisoners held in Israel in exchange for Shalit's return, including some whom Israel considers "heavyweight terrorists," who were directly – and sometimes personally –involved in the planning and execution of dozens of deadly terror attacks against Israelis.

Finally last week Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Hamas had agreed to a prisoner-exchange deal that would secure Shalit's safe return. As part of the deal, Israel agreed to release 1,027 Palestinian security prisoners, in two stages.

The deal was welcomed by 80% of the Israeli public, but several High Court petitions were filed by families of terror victims in an attempt to suspend it. The court rejected the petitions, stating that since the prisoner exchange deal was a matter of State in which the government had full authority, the court had no room to intervene in its execution.

Thus after nearly five-and-a-half years in Hamas captivity, Shalit was finally reunited with his family. Welcome home, Gilad!

Back in Canberra, and decked out in their Sunday best and brandishing flags and flowers, an enthusiastic crowd cheered as the monarch arrived at St John the Baptist Anglican church with Prince Philip for Sunday worship.

The queen, 85, is in Australia for a 10-day tour -her 16th and possibly last here- which will culminate in her opening the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Perth on Friday.

Queues began building outside the sandstone church shortly after sunrise and they finally saw her, wearing a primrose-yellow dress and hat with white gloves.

St John's was consecrated in 1845, some 70 years before Canberra was named Australia's capital, and Sunday was the queen's sixth visit to the lakeside parish, which is regularly attended by ex-prime minister Kevin Rudd. Now the foreign minister, Rudd and his family were among 100 regular parishioners selected to join the royal couple for the invitation-only service.

The queen and Prince Philip returned to Government House after church for a lunch with 50 prominent Australians including Oscar-winning actor Geoffrey Rush and champion paralympian Kurt Fearnley.

Welcome is a key word in life. In Hebrew, "baruch haba." And whether wilkommen or welcome, or aloha, God says that to us as well! Jesus said this [recorded in John 6.37] “All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. He welcomes us. And I encourage you to welcome Him to your life.

He's more alive and more real and more significant than a visit to the Oscars or an Oscar winner. He's more royal than any Queen of England or a royal flush in Las Vegas. He's more heroic than the most devoted soldier in the IDF or any army. And He wants to welcome you into His family.

Say baruch haba. Say welcome to the Messiah. Y'shua said this, too, related to welcoming Him. “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.
Behold, your house is being left to you desolate! For I say to you, from now on you shall not see Me until you say, ‘BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES (welcome) IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!’” (Recorded in the Bible in Matthew chapter 23. Verses 37-39)

Start a new life in 5772. Start it today. He's worth all the rejection and the considerations. He's worth all the pain and suffering. He's God's Messiah, foretold in the Jewish Bible by Jewish prophets. Welcome Him and He will welcome you into His forever family.

Beauty on beauty

2011-10-20T21:02:00.001+11:00

patty.flowers.jpg, a photo by bobmendo on Flickr.

The British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II is in Canberra today and went along to the Floriade, the great display of thousands and thousands of flowers across the nation's capital.

A few years ago my wife and I went there to enjoy the same scenery the queen saw today. And I shot this photo to show beauty on beauty. Hope you like it.

And I hope you find things to give you a reminder of God's eternal love and his sense of beauty, too. We say 'our God is an awesome God' and we mean it. In nature and in life, we learn of him.

Prostitution back on the agenda in South Australia

2011-10-12T08:41:00.000+11:00

South Australian Labor Backbencher Steph Key has stated her intention to introduce a private member's bill on the 20th of October to decriminalise prostitution. The bill aims to legalise street walking and the establishment of small brothels in suburban areas. However, under the model, no sex business can be carried out within 200m of any child-related centre such as a school or child-care centre, no people under the age of 18 are to be employed as sex workers and any conviction of a person for an offence relating to prostitution will be immediately "spent" and not retained on a person's record.

This will be the seventh attempt to change the state's prostitution laws in recent years. The latest attempt was defeated in the Legislative Council several years ago, where MLCs voted 12-7 to defeat the proposal. Since then, no one has been keen to tackle what is considered an issue which should be put in the "too hard" basket. All parties will allow a conscience vote on the issue of legalising, or decriminalising prostitution. This makes it hard to gauge what support there will be for Ms Key's Bill. Certainly, in the Lower House, there will be a hard core of Labor MPs from the Right who will oppose it, as there will be from the conservative wing of the Liberal Party.

While there is a chance the Bill could pass through the Lower House, passage in the Upper House - the chamber where it was defeated last time - is very problematical. It will face strong opposition from Family First and MPs from both sides. Family First's Robert Brokenshire says his party cannot support decriminalisation and favours strong powers for the police to combat criminal elements controlling the sex industry. "It's not only prostitution but also the drug dealing that goes with it," Brokenshire says. "In Victoria, where they have licensing of brothels, a lot of backyard brothels have sprung up and there is no protection for the girls who work in them."

Port Adelaide Mayor Gary Johanson, an independent candidate in the forthcoming Port Adelaide by-election, shares Mr Brokenshire's misgivings, especially in relation to streetwalkers. He says the council has had many complaints from young females walking down Hanson Rd or going to the shops at Arndale who had been approached by men seeking sexual favours. He believes legalising street prostitution will only make this situation worse. Other critics of the legislation believe that prostitutes should be provided with support and assistance to leave the harmful and exploitative industry.

The Australian Christian Lobby has issued a statement saying it believes decriminalisation or legalisation of prostitution promotes a culture of acceptance among men as well as in the wider community. Prostitution becomes something which is legally acceptable and therefore socially acceptable; it is just another "job" for the women who "choose" it and provides a necessary "service" to the men who "need" it. It makes it easier for vulnerable women and girls to be drawn into the industry and fosters degrading attitudes among men towards women, including the view that women's bodies are products which can be purchased and used for sexual pleasure.

Decriminalisation and regulation of prostitution are invariably put in place with the objectives of controlling prostitution and creating a safer and more open environment for sex workers. However, these aims are generally not met and in most cases the very opposite outcomes occur. In particular, legalisation of prostitution creates an environment in which human trafficking is more likely to occur. Further, it also creates an environment in which underage prostitution is more likely to occur. Above all else, prostitution is degrading and destructive for women and girls. It is a form of abuse and violence against women by the men who purchase them.

In 1999, Sweden passed the Act Prohibiting the Purchase of Sexual Services. Sweden recognises prostitution as a "serious form of male violence against women and children" and, in keeping with the country's commitment to gender equality, sought ways to protect women from prostitution by focusing on the core cause - the demand for women to provide sexual pleasure, without which prostitution would not be able to flourish and expand. The women's movement played a pivotal role in the country introducing the laws, highlighting the fact that prostitution is at its core an issue of respect for women and gender equality.

Under the Swedish law, prostituted women are not criminally liable; it is the purchaser of sex who is committing the crime. It covers all forms of sexual services purchased in any circumstances. Although the law was initially met with criticism by police and judicial authorities, they are now supportive of the legislation. As can be seen by the situation in Sweden, society can reduce the amount of prostitution by addressing the core cause of prostitution: the demand from men who purchase women for sex. Other Nordic countries are now following Sweden's lead, and South Korea has had a similar system since 2004. Maybe South Australia could follow suit.

Source: Compiled by Australian Prayer Network from information supplied by the media

Philip Jensen on 2 pastors and 1 silence

2011-10-09T21:58:00.000+11:00

Philip Jensen is an Anglican minister in Sydney. He wrote this piece on his own blog. I liked it enough to share it with you today. Let's see to whom else we can pass this on.

What The Media Does Not Report

A regular article written by Phillip Jensen in his role as Dean of Sydney at St Andrew's Cathedral.

Originally Published: 7th October 2011 Tagged: censorship media

In the last year, two pastors have caused sufficient international concern that the White House has spoken about them. But only one has been mentioned in the Sydney media.

Both pastors profess to lead Bible believing churches. Both have come into conflict with Islam. Both have been criticised by their own governments.

Yet, in many respects, they are very different. One operates freely in an open society while the other is imprisoned by an Islamic regime. One is proud of the actions he is accused of, while the other suffers from trumped up accusations. One is an embarrassment to the Christian cause; the other is a hero whose stand for the gospel gladdens the heart of all who love the truth.

This time last year the media was full of Pastor Terry Jones - the Florida Charismatic who threatened to publicly burn a Quran. At that time he was talked out of it – even President Obama called upon him to desist. However, earlier this year he went ahead with his plan in front of a congregation of fifty members, gaining yet more worldwide media attention.

While acknowledging the right of free expression, Christians were embarrassed and critical of this pastor’s actions. It was offensive and unnecessarily provocative. It led to riots and deaths in Islamic countries. It didn’t accord with the teaching of the scriptures that “if possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all” (Romans 12:18). Idolatry is always wrong but destroying idols doesn’t remove them from peoples’ hearts. Burning a Quran may show that you don’t fear it or even respect it, but it doesn’t convince anybody of its errors. Paul eschewed worldly methods of warfare in his attempt to “take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:3f).

Now the world’s attention has shifted to another Pastor, Yousef Nadarkhani. His problem was attempting to register his church in Iran. He became a Christian when he was 19. Now in his early thirties, he is married with two small children and is the pastor of an evangelical church with about 400 members.

According to international media reports, Pastor Nadarkhani, was imprisoned in 2009 and in late in 2010, was condemned to death for apostasy. He is accused of evangelizing and baptizing people. On appeal he has been given three chances to renounce his apostasy and return to Islam. On each occasion, he has resolutely refused to renounce Christ or to acknowledge Muhammad as the prophet of God.

Unfortunately, confusion reigns over the details of the legal process. The Sharia law and the Constitutional law seem at odds over the issue. International pressure seems to have reduced the threat of an imminent execution. The charges have suddenly changed and though the court records only mention apostasy, he is now accused of being a Zionist traitor, a rapist, an extortionist and a brothel owner.

Western governments haven’t been duped by this confusion but have denounced the proceedings. The British Foreign Secretary, William Hague, is reported as saying:

"I deplore reports that Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, an Iranian Church leader, could be executed imminently after refusing an order by the Supreme Court of Iran to recant his faith."

This demonstrates the Iranian regime's continued unwillingness to abide by its constitutional and international obligations to respect religious freedom.

"I pay tribute to the courage shown by Pastor Nadarkhani who has no case to answer and call on the Iranian authorities to overturn his sentence."

And a White House spokesman has condemned the conviction:

“Pastor Nadarkhani has done nothing more than maintain his devout faith, which is a universal right for all people. That the Iranian authorities would try to force him to renounce that faith violates the religious values they claim to defend, crosses all bounds of decency, and breaches Iran’s own international obligations.”

As yet, I cannot find any reference to Pastor Nadarkhani’s plight in the Australian public media. Searching the ABC and SMH websites gives no results. Even the SBS website, supposedly concerned not just for Australian but world news, has no reference to this case. Australia is being kept in the dark about this appalling attack on religious freedom and life threatening attack on an Evangelical pastor.

Why is this story not being told? It’s a story of the land from which many of our refugees and boat people are fleeing. It’s a story of great interest to the Australian public – not the least to Australian Christians. It’s a story of enormous drama as a man, standing by his principles, fights for his life. It’s a human interest story of personal pathos as a man is called to put his principles before the safety of his wife and young children. It’s a tale of great courage where a man repeatedly refuses to recant in the face of imminent execution. It’s an example of a man of principle all too rare in our world today. Why is it not being told in the Australian media?

Our media is interested in Iran. It recently reported about the young American hikers who had crossed over the border of Iran and were released from prison. Their carelessness, capture and eventual release were headline stories. But the much more morally important story of Pastor Nadarkhani is ignored. Why?

The media were quick to tell the tale of the lunatic fringe, of an American backwoods Christian pastor burning a Quran. It caused a stir all around the world - in part because the media went to such lengths to report it. But somehow, in Australia, they don’t tell of the Christian pastor who refuses to recant his beliefs on pain of death, in front of one of the most tyrannical and oppressive regimes of the world – surely that is a story worth telling. Does this illustrate our media’s incompetence, or bias, or political correctness or just plain censorship?

Please pray for Yousef, his wife Fatemah, and their sons Daniel (9) and Joel (7).

How many times?

2011-10-07T22:21:00.002+11:00

Bob addressing the crowd, a photo by bobmendo on Flickr.

How many times?

Given at Yom Kippur 5772
9 October 2011
Sydney Australia

INTRODUCTION
We’ve been here before, haven’t we? We’ve been together for Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur. We’ve celebrated Passover and eaten lamb and drunk four cups of wine. We’ve read the Al Chet and repented of our sins, year after year. We’ve sung the Avinu Malkenu (which is usually not sung on Yom Kippur when it falls on Shabbat until the Neilah service), and asked God to be gracious to us. We have done this before. And you have to wonder… did it work then? Will it work this year? When the shofar sounds at the end of our services, will we be forgiven? Will the sounds be muffled and repetitious like the voice of Charlie Brown’s teacher in the television show or will we actually hear steadfast declarations of hope from the Almighty?
How many more times do we have to do this?
When I first pondered the title, “How many times?” I flashed on "How Many More Times,” the song on English rock band Led Zeppelin's 1969 debut self-titled album. I used to listen to that with great frequency back in the day. Then I thought of Bob Dylan’s song, Blowin’ in the Wind to which I gave myself even more often back then and throughout the decades. His anti-war ballad of the 1960s Flower Children was almost our neo-national anthem. “How many times must a man look up before he can see the sky? Yes and how many deaths does it take till…”
Bob Marley sang, “How many times have I told you I love you,” but his disappointment of her departure is very evident.
You might however be younger than Dylan, Marley or Page and for you the Pussycat Dolls wrote, “How many times? How many lies? How long you been sneaking? How long you been creeping around?” Their lament of faithfulness in the bold-faced unashamed-ness of her boyfriend’s sneakiness made her to “ go[ne] and thrown out all the records. All the ones that ever reminded me of you
I've gone and tore up all the pictures 'Cause there was not one shred of truth”
So when I hear “how many times?” used to introduce a song, I would need to ready myself for a song from the past decades and more importantly one of disappointment. I’m sure to hear that although I’ve been good, and brought good things to a relationship or to a job or to someone else’s life, that it was not met with good, in fact, it was mocked and ridiculed. I’m going to be shown to be ignorant of their unfaithfulness and disappointed.
However, I hope you aren’t readying for disappointment just now as you read the title of the message in the program or here online. In fact, I want you to hear something very different, in fact, a message of hope and one of outreach from heaven to you. A message of tireless fidelity and awesome love. That’s what’s in store for you for the next few minutes. See if this makes sense to you.

DOES REPENTANCE WORK?
This season called the Ten Days of Awe are all about reconciliation. We get right with neighbours. We get right with God. We get right with anything and everything we can. Or at least we are charged to do so. And once a year, this is a very good thing to do, you know? We have already chanted Kol Nidre. We have already confessed in Avinu Malkenu that we have no good works of our own. We have admitted with our souls painfully exposed the sins of our lives the last year if not the last few days. Is that enough?
I imagine if we asked after services tomorrow in synagogues around the city, around the country, around the world, that we would find most Jewish people not very confident about our reconciliation. We would wonder, “Did it work?”

I remember my grandmother passed away in 1995 just hours before Rosh Hashanah. My mother rang me to tell me of Bessie’s passing away, and told me, “I guess her prayers last Yom Kippur didn’t work.” Wow, the popular interpretation, at least in our worldview, was that the prayers we offered during the Holidays were intended to renew our contract for another year with the Almighty. This annually-renewable contract is a very limited view of the Bible and of the covenant God has with us Jewish people, but it’s one held by many. No wonder we scratch our heads and wonder, “Did our prayers work this year?”

FORGIVEN AND FORGIVING
That’s why this story we read tonight in Matthew chapter 18 (text at the end, if you don't have a Bible) is so significant. Within the story is the assurance of the love and forgiveness of the Lord to all people, good guys and bad guys, grandmothers and rabbis, crooks and neighbours. This is a story of good news for all people. And please, notice with me the beginning, the story line, the question that began Y’shua’s reply.
Matt. 18.21 Then Peter came and said to Him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?”

By this, Peter is being very generous. Jewish tradition limited forgiveness to three times, perhaps based on Amos 1:3, 6, 9 and Job 33:29-30 (also Luke 17:4). Peter thought his willingness to forgive seven times was much more generous than the rabbis required and thus surpassing the righteousness of Pharisees and teachers of the law (Matthew 5:20).
Maybe Peter was aggravated by his brothers, the other disciples. Maybe he had forgiven them before and was done with it all. And sometimes, don’t you feel like that also? Don’t you feel like you’ve given enough… forgiven enough… dropped your expectations so low that they are in the basement already and yet people still disappoint you? So maybe Peter is generous; maybe he’s weary. Either way, he’s confronted by a challenging answer of great disproportion. Y’shua tells him 70 times 7 times (or 490 times) he needs to forgive.

What that says is that Peter needs to quit keeping score of how generous he is. Peter needs to stop thinking of himself in social situations. Peter is being told that generosity goes well beyond human comforts and human calculations. What is says to me is that God, who is well represented in the story as the king, does not want us to keep score.

This expression of 70 x 7 may be a deliberate allusion to Lamech's revengeful and bitter words in Gen 4:24: "If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech seventy-seven times." Now in Y’shua there is the possibility of a radical reversal from seventy-sevenfold vengeance to seventy-sevenfold forgiveness.

We look at this story on so many levels. First we see the Forgiving King. And we see the awesome debt the first servant owes; it’s 10,000 talents. This amount is so large that it cannot possibly be a personal loan. Even as taxes from a province it is an incredibly huge amount. Ten thousand was the largest number in the first century. The value of a talent varied from six to ten thousand denarii. A denarius was a common laborer's daily wage. A minimum daily wage here in Australia would be approximately $100. Ten thousand denarii, or one talent, would be the equivalent of $1,000,000 in today's economy. Ten thousand talents would be 10 billion dollars. Needless to say, Y’shua used ten thousand talents as a ridiculously exaggerated sum of money that the servant owed the king.
How long would it have taken the servant to have paid the loan back? Eternity! He never would have been able to pay it off, so what did he do? He begged for mercy. He cried out with a deep longing, and the king was merciful. The king forgave the debt to his own praise and glory. What a king!

That would have been a great story right there, you know? The story would be: SERVANT OWES A GREAT DEBT, KING FORGIVES THE SERVANT-- end of story. That would make the news to be sure.
But the story goes on. We see the servant as someone who is unforgiving. He finds a fellow slave who owes him one millionth of the first servant's forgiven debt. That’s nothing. OK, it’s something for a slave/ servant in those days, even as a person who lives on Centrelink gifts might view it, but it’s nothing by comparison. The 2nd servant owed .000001 the amount of the first servant, approx. 3 months’ wages. That was much more payable. That debt was manageable and was probably personal.

And you want the 1st servant to proclaim what he had heard. You want the 1st servant to share the forgiveness of the debt which he had received, but that’s not what happens. He is told to get ready for debtor’s prison and the 1st tosses the 2nd into jail. Yipes, nothing like you would imagine. It’s unthinkable! It’s unconscionable. It’s just…wrong!

The 2nd servant thinks to himself, ‘How many times….” And there seems no answer. The story ends with the fate of the 1st servant, but nothing is told us of the 2nd. At least, nothing more than the debtor’s prison sentence. Something aches in you when you hear this, doesn’t it?

O, JERUSALEM, JERUSALEM
I have another story, taken from Matthew’s gospel also. It’s near the end of Y’shua’s earthly ministry and he’s trying to get the attention of the Jewish leadership. He wants them to listen to him, all the while knowing they are not listening. The lines are taken from Matthew 23. We read, ““O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. (Matthew 23.37)

Here we have another tale of longing, and aching. We hear another Bible character saying, “How long?” or “How often” or “How many times?” And again it’s an aching for relationship. That’s what seems to drive the biblical writers, and certainly The Biblical author, Y’shua in this case. He wants us to know Him. He wants us to stop living away from Him and to gather as chicks gather to their mother hen. I can tell you as a father and a brand-new grandfather that nothing satisfies me more than being with my family, and being in a good relationship with each one.

What bothers the Almighty, what saddens him, what makes him say, “How long?” or “How many times?” is the reluctance of the people of God to approach Him.

WHAT PREVENTS OUR APPROACHING GOD
Two things prevent our approaching God. One, our thinking that we don’t need Him. We’re doing fine, thanks. No need for God. No need for spirituality. No need for forgiveness. I’m doing fine. A Jewish man told me this week that he didn’t need to pray tonight because he had not sinned this year. Oops, that’s his first one, then.

The second reason we don’t approach God is that we think Him unapproachable. Or we don’t believe He exists. Or we think he’s harsh and unwilling to be kind. Both of these stories in tonight’s sermon highlight the longing and personal desire of the Almighty in fantastic opposition to this view.
Both of these are wrong. In the first case, we don’t know ourselves. In the 2nd, we don’t know God well enough.

Dear friends, be honest about you, and be honest about God. You are a sinner needing God’s forgiveness. God is loving, and longs to extend that forgiveness to you.
Y’shua didn’t only teach about this. He went to a Roman cross and died for us. God raised Him from the dead on the 3rd day to usher in a new Kingdom with Y’shua as our King.

Receive Him as Lord and Saviour in your life. Start 5772 with a new beginning. It’s better than apples in honey. It’s better than 10 billion dollars in lottery savings or forgiveness. It’s eternity with God and it starts as soon as you say ‘Yes, sir.” Don't leave him wondering “how long?” Say “Yes” and it will be eternity with God for you. That’s good news, to be sure!

___________________

Other uses of “How often” or “How many times” in the Bible:

1Kings 22.16 Then the king said to him, “How many times must I adjure you to speak to me nothing but the truth in the name of the LORD?”
2Chr. 18.15 Then the king said to him, “How many times must I adjure you to speak to me nothing but the truth in the name of the LORD?”
Job 21.17 “How often is the lamp of the wicked put out, Or does their calamity fall on them? Does God apportion destruction in His anger?
Psa. 78.40 How often they rebelled against Him in the wilderness, And grieved Him in the desert!

____________________

The story:
Matt. 18.21 ¶ Then Peter came and said to Him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?”
Matt. 18.22 Jesus *said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.
Matt. 18.23 “For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a certain king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves.
Matt. 18.24 “And when he had begun to settle them, there was brought to him one who owed him ten thousand talents.
Matt. 18.25 “But since he did not have the means to repay, his lord commanded him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all that he had, and repayment to be made.
Matt. 18.26 “The slave therefore falling down, prostrated himself before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will repay you everything.’
Matt. 18.27 “And the lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and forgave him the debt.
Matt. 18.28 “But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and he seized him and began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe.’
Matt. 18.29 “So his fellow slave fell down and began to entreat him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you.’
Matt. 18.30 “He was unwilling however, but went and threw him in prison until he should pay back what was owed.
Matt. 18.31 “So when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported to their lord all that had happened.
Matt. 18.32 “Then summoning him, his lord *said to him, ‘You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you entreated me.
Matt. 18.33 ‘Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, even as I had mercy on you?’
Matt. 18.34 “And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him.
Matt. 18.35 “So shall My heavenly Father also do to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart.”

Hooray for sales

2011-10-07T08:53:00.001+11:00

Hooray for sales, a photo by bobmendo on Flickr.

Sunday and Monday at our Jews for Jesus Book shop in Bondi Junction, is our annual Spring Sale. 9 a.m. to 5 pm both days. 9/10 October.

Everything is 20% off, and all music is 30% off!

I'm guessing that a lot of people will be in the shop both days and you might just see someone else you know, and wouldn't that be great?

Stock up on gifts for the holidays and pop on in for a visit at the very nice Jews for Jesus book shop. 576 Oxford Street, 100 metres from Westfield, (Beach end). Two little blocks from the bus and train interchange. Bondi Junction.

A fairly ornate synagogue

2011-10-01T08:41:00.001+10:00

A fairly ornate synagogue, a photo by bobmendo on Flickr.

I visited Marseilles France in 2009, and went to this synagogue. The levels of beauty struck me, The generations of history were evident. Even though there are tens of thousands of Israel's enemies within a few kilometers outside, I felt safe. All told, this is good stuff. It was ornate and yet, something said, 'empty.'

Today is Shabbat Shuva, the Sabbath between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, a day of solemn introspection. Or so it is for many. For others neither of those marker holidays has any meaning. For others it's that time of year when Jews get to have their 'day in the sun' but otherwise it's insignificant. For many, this is a holy time of year.

And this synagogue and so many like it around the world, where I've visited and where I haven't... all say to me in measure 'empty.' Where does that come from?

Jesus is recorded in the book of St Matthew: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. Behold, your house is being left to you desolate! For I say to you, from now on you shall not see Me until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’” (Matthew 23.37-39)

This was spoken 40 years before the Temple ('our house') was destroyed by Titus and the Roman invaders/ conquerors. (which occurred in 70 AD). Y'shua (the Hebrew way to say Jesus) is predicting a couple significant things.

1) He's saying that we will not have 'our house' much longer and that what we do have after that will be empty and desolate. and
2) He's saying that His return is based on a particular response by "Jerusalem" (usually meaning "Jewish leadership"). That response is in modern Hebrew: "welcome." Y'shua is saying that He will remain reserved in the heavens until enough of the Jewish leadership says 'welcome' to Him. That day is coming.

All that said, to say that although Jewish synagogues this week are filled with congregants and although ornate in measure, they are given the appellation "desolate." And I can understand why.

It's not the numbers of people that makes a place empty or filled. It's the presence of the Almighty. For that I long for my people. For that Y'shua longed. "Oh Jerusalem" he lamented. He longed to gather Jewish people to Himself. He longed to care for them like a mother hen gathers her chicks. But she was unwilling.

Friend, don't be unwilling. Welcome Him who wants to welcome you. Whether you meet Him in a shack or a full synagogue, welcome Y'shua. There (and there alone) is life abundant.

Lshana Tova

2011-09-28T11:37:00.001+10:00

LshanaTovaeCard, a photo by bobmendo on Flickr.

5772 begins tonight. May you have a blessed and sweet new year, full of hope and joy. May G-d Himself reveal Himself to each of you in clarity and delight. Shana tovah um'tuka.

Jews, Gentiles, and Israel

2011-09-21T11:26:00.000+10:00

Back in the 1970s I ministered at a place in Lawrence, Kansas called The Mustard Seed. The church grew out of a Bible study group I started in 1972. I was the founding pastor but in 1977 left leadership and eventually left town in 1979. But I've returned every now and then and find it a wonderful place for the Gospel. A woman who was part of our group then was Valerie. And over the decades we have kept up and certainly so in the world of Facebook.

Today she and I wrote because her church in Oklahoma is asking her to bring some teaching about Israel. She's not Jewish, but her love for the Jewish people is clear and her desire for God's glory is sincere.

So Val and I messages what she might teach and I thought I'd share it with you, if you are in such a circumstance at your church.

Maybe have a three-part series. Each would have plenty of biblical references and modern day examples. 1) God's plan for Israel (to be saved and to teach others about him) and 2) what God is doing with Jews today (sort of a collection of God stories in testimonies of today) and 3) God's plan for the Jewish people at the end of times.
For 1) Use the Biblical Theology of Mission link on Sermons. 2) For Testimonies, why not use some of the Videos here or the life stories of others (for text) Life Stories. For 3) Israel, see God's plan for Israel

Of course, most of you reading this are not in a place where there are significant numbers of Jewish people. So you might wonder, then, what does this three-part series have to do with Gentiles?

How about an application for Gentiles? That is, how about the role of Gentiles viz this three-part teaching on Jewish people. ( I guess this is the 4th part)
"For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem. Yes, they were pleased to do so, and they are indebted to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual things, they are indebted to minister to them also in material things." (Romans 15.26-27)
so 1) Gentiles have a role to play in financial support of Jewish believers

and "But I am speaking to you who are Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle of Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, if somehow I might move to jealousy my fellow countrymen and save some of them." (Romans 11.13-14)
2) Gentiles have a 'jealousy' thing to do for unsaved Jews, to compel them to come in.

Hope that helps if you are asked to (or ask your pastor yourself!) bring such a series. Even if you don't do this officially, you might want to study this on your own. What do you think?

Hollow, void, and empty space

2011-09-19T14:12:00.000+10:00

I'm often amazed at natural phenomena. The way a bird soars above me near the cliffs of the sea, the erosion of massive rocks by gentle creeks, and such things as this hollowed-out tree. Thanks to SArcher for the photo. She lives in Arkansas in the USA.

What makes me look twice at this is the injured tree looks beautiful, but it's really harmed. That injury is what causes the tree to hollow. For much useful information about trees, especially for those considering buying a home with shade trees, see Tree Damage and get a pencil to take notes.

It's Spring here in Sydney, and throughout Australia, one of everyone's favourite times of the year. And back in the USA where SArcher lives it's almost fall. That's a time when things go into hibernation and slow down ...a lot! Many from Australia are traveling to the US now, to the Northeast where the autumnal colors are increasing and the yellows, reds, and browns all will highlight this slow down.

Eventually, of course, all things slow down completely and die.

I took this photo outside Bryan, Texas in Sleepy Hollow. Yup, that's the name of the town. And this is a real gravestone. No photoshop performed.

For some, death and dying are boring or decay-ridden. For others it's a beautiful experience. One thing is sure. It will happen to us and to all we love. And to all about whom we don't care. Life happens. Death happens.

That said, Y'shua said, "I am come than you might have life, and have it abundantly." (quoted in John chapter 10) God does not want our lives to be boring, or broken, but rather healed and restored. That's one of those good news messages of this time of (Jewish) year. We start over soon. The year is 5772. And God wants you to have full life, and full of life with Him.

Don't go through life hollow, decayed, broken, or void. Repent of your sins. Let Y'shua give you eternal life and get every hindrance out of the way until you can receive Him.

Shame...does it even exist?

2011-09-19T01:22:00.000+10:00

Here are some definitions to help, if you need them. These are from this website: Shame "Shame is closely related to, but distinct from guilt. While shame is a failure to meet your own standards of behavior, guilt is a failure to meet other's standards of behavior. Shame tell us “you have not done your best” guilt tell us “you have harmed another, you have not been compassionate, you have ignored the golden rule.” Shame is personal, while guilt is public. Shame reflects on the “human being”, and guilt reflects on the “human doing”.

Many words in our vocabulary describe forms of shame. They often differ in the intensity of the shame they express, but the basic archetype is the same. Here is a partial list, in approximate order from the most mild to the most intense: uncomfortable, uneasy, embarrassment, chagrin, self-blame, feeling guilty, humiliation, dishonored, feeling ridiculous, self-condemnation, self-reproach, mortified and “toxic shame”. Honor is the absence of shame."

What prompts this tonight? I spoke with Pastor Ruth at the Revival Life Centre in Penshurst tonight. I preached there about Jesus and the Jewish Day of Atonement. The teaching was well received. I'm sure there is a podcast of it on their website. Or there might be one. OK, I'm not sure.

That said, what Ps Ruth and I spoke of was a line in the Bible she found about dressing like a prostitute. I don't know the reference, but she had just read it. The discussion that followed involved conversation about manufacturers and women's necklines, cleavage, and embarrassment about a wedding dress she had seen.

I get it.

Earlier today, a warm sunny spring day in Sydney, I was in a Maccah's in Sutherland to use the wi-fi. Every 10 minutes or so another group of teenagers came into the cafe and wore even less clothing than the group before them. It was more and more unnerving.

Shame. They didn't have it at all. Young boys and girls were very comfortable scratching in private areas in public, exposing themselves in inordinate ways, and even as I say this, I wonder when I became my father or grandfather. Maybe I've always been so, but lately I'm more attuned to this. And the level of comfort in bad behaviour might be owing to 2 and a half men or the media in general or to lazy principals at school or to 100 little reasons, but end of the day, it has to stop.

Daniel the prophet said as much, 2500 years ago: quoted in chapter 9 verse number 8 “Open shame belongs to us, O Lord, to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against Thee."

But shame is not necessarily the end of our emotions and conclusions. It is reparable. If we are honest and repent. Then God looks with kindness on us, as His word declares.

Shame was dumped on Y'shua, like all our sins and failures. He took our sins on himself. "He became sin who knew no sin, that we might become the righteousness of God in him." That's a great exchange! And again, "fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."

Let's get it right. Let's live in humility and modesty and not in shamelessness. But even if we do feel ashamed; if we do fall short of God's standards, let's honestly repent and receive the forgiveness that is offered us in the Beloved. Amen?

Going through motions

2011-09-17T11:20:00.000+10:00

This is known as 'air guitar.' For those who don't know this is a practice of appearing like one is playing a guitar, even with commensurate sound tracks in the background, but without a real musical instrument.

Today I'm thinking about going through the motions without real connection. The story is told of a new cocky hot-shot trying to make his way in New York City. He takes an office, barely bigger than a broom closet, on the 48th floor of the Empire State Building. He brings in his boxes of important papers and his university degree freshly mounted and framed. He's ready to go. He puts his phone on the desk. He mounts the degree. He affixes his name on the outside of his office door. Then it happens. A knock at his door.

He grabs the phone, and quickly sits behind the shiny desk. He yells, "Come on in." The door knocker enters. The executive 'continues' his conversation on the phone..."Yes, please, like I told you. $200,000 into the shares in off-shore drilling. Look, I've got to go. Someone's here to see me. Ciao."

"Yes, may I help you," the young executive quickly says in welcome.

"I'm here to hook up your phone," says the knocker.

All too true. We often are more interested in being noticed or being important or being something we are not, than attending to reality. We often go through the motions of life, without engaging life at all!

Last night my wife and I had a nice dinner and came home early. She was tired and retired. I wanted to watch the Sydney Swans in their footy elimination contest against the Hawthorn Hawks I had recorded earlier. It was a disappointing result, but there were flashes of glory. As the game ended, I hit the wrong button on the wrong remote control. I turned off the television.

But I still wanted to watch the news. I changed the channel. But nothing happened. Of course not. I was changing the remote that was not engaged. It was the remote for the Foxtel and not for the TV itself. I was clicking and wondering what was going wrong, but the tv wasn't working. I thought..."Oh no, the tv is out. And I wanted to see the news." But it wasn't the television's problem at all. It was mine.

Going through the motions is a waste of time and effort. But we often resort to this and then blame the motion instead of ourselves for its failure.

Back in the 70s I used to paint houses to put myself through university. And one day I had failed to reload my paintbrush and wondered why the few boards on the house were a different color than the others. Why? I had gone through the motions, but had not really painted the section later observed.

Today, on this Shabbat, please, do what you need to do and/ or want to do, and do things well and fully. Don't be an air guitarist. Play a real guitar. Make beautiful sounds. Paint well. With brush full of real paint. Love your wife. Do real things. Really.

And you will be glad for your commitments. At least I hope so.

________________ from Wikipedia: other references:
Going Through the Motions, a 1982 novel by Katherine Govier
Going Through the Motions, a 1979 album by Hot Chocolate
"Goin' Through the Motions", a song by Blue Öyster Cult from their 1977 album Spectres
"Going Through the Motions", a song by Kansas from their 1983 album Drastic Measures
"Goin' Through the Motions", a song by Diana Ross from her 1989 album Workin' Overtime
"Goin' Through the Motions", a song by Robbie Nevil from his 1991 album Day 1
"Going Through the Motions", a song by Aimee Mann from her 2005 album The Forgotten Arm
"Going Through the Motions", a song sung by Buffy in the Buffy episode Once More, with Feeling
"I Sweat (Going Through the Motions)," a song by Nona Hendryx from the soundtrack to the 1985 film Perfect

More Max Brenner

2011-09-16T17:31:00.000+10:00

Back in July I wrote about the boycotts on Max Brenner chocolate shops. It's outrageous that this activity continues in a free society. To read my blog then, see it Brenner here

Back in August the Australian ran a piece about this. They wrote, "MAX Brenner says he is a man of peace who hates all forms of violence. So how has this chocolate maker become the target of anti-Israeli protesters in Australia who accuse him of being complicit with the Israeli military?

It's a claim which has outraged many who see the campaign against the 24-store Max Brenner chocolate chain in this country as an ugly echo of the anti-Semitism of 1930s Germany when Jewish businesses were targeted...In 2001, the Max Brenner chain became part of the much larger Strauss Group, Israel's second-largest food and beverage company. But Strauss also provides food and care packages to Israeli soldiers. This, in the eyes of anti-Israeli activists, justifies a boycott.

Ms Bullimore, the co-ordinator of the protest campaign in Australia, denies that activists are simply targeting an innocent chocolate-maker. "We are trying to highlight Israel's human rights abuses,' she told The Weekend Australian."

After heated debate today in NSW Parliament, Fred Nile reported to his people as follows: "The NSW Green Party has attempted to defend its support for the Anti-Jewish BDS in a heated Parliamentary exchange that lasted over 2 ¼ hours.

The BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) is a campaign which targets Jewish businesses, academia, arts and culture around the world in order to damage the international image and the financial position of the Democratic State of Israel, as stated by the Palestinian manifesto issued in 2005. That manifesto also states the ultimate objective of the BDS is to end the Jewish "occupation and colonization of all Arab lands", echoing the Hamas rally call for the complete destruction of Israel "from the river to the sea". In Australia, the BDS has been championed by the NSW Green Party and the Socialist Alliance.

The Rev Hon Fred Nile MLC, Leader of the Christian Democratic Party, joined a multilateral condemnation of the BDS and the Green Party in the NSW Upper House yesterday. The Hon Shaoquett Moselmane MLC, Parliament's only elected Muslim Member, was the only non-Green individual to defend the BDS." (For Media Interviews contact:
Rev Fred Nile (02) 9230 2478 or 0418 619 731 Research Assistant: David Copeland (02) 9230 2978)

Fred had already written his people earlier: "I wish to speak on a serious development: the boycott of Jewish businesses, particularly of the Max Brenner chocolate and coffee shop in Melbourne's QV Centre. In July members of the Socialist Alternative organisation demonstrated at the Max Brenner coffee and chocolate store because they said the Jewish-owned franchise company had aided the Israeli army, a claim that I reject totally", said Rev Fred Nile.

"Thirteen men and six women were taken into custody after an altercation with police, and sixteen were charged and bailed. The charges included assaulting police, riotous behaviour, besetting the premises and trespass. Jewish Labor member of Parliament Michael Danby called the protest "stupid"."

I recommend you read Jeff Sparrow of the ABC on his blog from last week (9/9) The Drum Opinion He does his bit of evaluation and ranting about ranters. Always a good exercise. And it's all prompted by the Max Brenner situation. He does say, "Australia's fascists are tiny and ineffective. Yes, they have sent people to the Brenner rallies in Brisbane and Sydney but they're incapable of mobilising serious numbers."

Of course, not everyone likes Nile or Sparrow. Note the anonymous commenter on the blog WhiteLawTowers. Anony takes the blade out against the Jews and Sparrow together. Not very kindly, either, I might add.

All that said, please, please let's all go to Max's and get a hot choco. Let's continue to stand for honesty and openness. Let's stand for free trade and freedoms of religion and speech. And leave Max alone. Protest a cafe? Puh-leazzzze.

Rafael Nadal and others on 9/11

2011-09-12T08:53:00.000+10:00

Rafael Nadal on September 11: "It's a hard day for all the people here in New York, all the people in America. But I think for all the people around the world, too, no? Because this kind of tragedy for everybody is hard to accept, hard to understand. I am not an exception. I felt much pain and I suffered, too."

That's a key for us in Australia to understand. ‎9/11 changed the way we wait in travel, changed the way the West looks at the Arabs of the world... it's massive. It's not only the 2,900 who died in NYC, in DC and in the crash in Pennsylvania. Bali bombings, London trains, Madrid.. the West is different after 9/11.

A couple more things to ponder before I get on to 9/12 (or as we Aussies say 12/9). 2900 people dying is horrible. It was murder. It was not a tragedy. My friend Glenn Harris said, "9-11 wasn't a 'tragedy' and don't call it that. It was a MASSACRE perpetrated with malice aforethought; not by insane madmen, but by devout Muslims who sincerely believed they were advancing Islam and thus helping mankind. This is what their book teaches, and it is the end result of any system that teaches that 'the end justifies the means.' Jesus told us to persuade. Mohammed told them to wage war."

Final thought: 2900 people dying and the resultant shame, wars, discomfort, mistrust, etc... that's all bad. Very bad. And watching the reading of the names at the World Trade Center late last night was compelling and brought a tear to my eyes. Yesterday I preached at a church in Sydney about the death of Jesus. I know, only one fellow. And so long ago. Should it still have impact?

I say wholeheartedly, yes!

The apostle Paul said so. Here in full is a quote from Paul's letter to the Roman believers, recorded in chapter 5.
"God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Messiah died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus the Messiah, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned — for until the Law sin was in the world; but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.
But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus the Messiah, abound to the many. And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification.
For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Messiah Jesus. So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men." (verses 8-18)

Jesus' death brings all of God's judgment into Himself.
Jesus' death accomplished the justification of all people, including you and me.
And all the Muslims and Jews and Buddhists and everyone...whoever will receive Jesus as Lord and Saviour. The salvation of God is available for all people. How great is our God!!!

Receive Jesus as your Lord.
Receive eternal life.
Receive forgiveness of your sins.

You will be born again.
You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.

9/11+10

2011-09-10T09:47:00.000+10:00

Dateline 11 September
Where were you 10 years ago?

History buffs and those with good memory will tell you their thinking, their location, their conversations. Others will have a general idea. If you told the story to others at the time, you will likely have a better memory. If you blogged or journaled about your thoughts then, it's even more sure that you recall.

I took this photo of the Twin Towers in about 1983, off the ferry coming back from the Statue of Liberty. And when I think about the loss of those two buildings, and the resultant aftershocks, I still sit with sadness.

The night of 9/11/01 my wife and I were at home in Sydney. We watched the episode of the tv show "West Wing." Wikipedia reports about "18th and Potomac": In a brief conversation with Mrs. Landingham, directly before she goes to collect her new car, the President says he'd like to have a word with her on her return. Later in the show we find out that she was killed in a car crash that occurred at 18th and Potomac - adjacent the main entrance to the Congressional Cemetery. The title of the episode references this pivotal event. The President is thus never able to tell her this news.

It ended about 1040 pm.

Moments later, at 10:46 pm (our time, 8:46 am in NYC), five hijackers crashed American Airlines Flight 11 into the World Trade Center's North Tower (1 WTC) and at 9:03 a.m. another five hijackers crashed United Airlines Flight 175 into the South Tower (2 WTC).

The television in Sydney showed the replay, again and again.
The shock.
The horror.
The video, the confusion.
The shock.
We sat silently.

Immediately I sent an email to our then New York City leader Mitch Forman in case he didn't know. He lived at our operations centre in Manhattan on 31st Street. Watching the morning news was not part of his usual routine at The Center. I rang. Told them to watch the news...quickly. And suggested they might do some particular things.

I went back to my lounge room with my wife and daughter. She was 11. We sat silently. News was splashing and forthcoming. Disarray and disquiet. The scenes were anything but comfortable.

At about midnight a friend from the US rang. She also lived in Sydney and had been watching the television. We commiserated. We couldn't believe what we were watching. Shock. Horror. Dismay. We wondered what was next. Who knew there would be more with the Pentagon and the United airlines flight that landed into the fields of Pennsylvania?

Lessons:
1) America is resilient and no matter what terrorists or the axis of evil or its own corrupt corporate executives throw at it, America seems to buoy itself and survive. And thrive! And fly the Stars and Stripes.

2) Patriotism is rife and only increased after 9/11. The number of American flags proliferated throughout 2001 and ever since. Not since the late 1960s when "America: Love it or Leave it" bumper stickers abounded had we seen so many patriotic attestations. Songs of national heritage like "God bless America" have now become standard fare at the 7th Inning stretch in baseball games, before the singing of "Take me out to the ballgame." Americans love their country. They are not embarrassed about proclaiming that.

3) Evil knows no earthly bounds. And ruthless observation is required to check evil at every checkpoint. That's why the US has spent hundreds of billions of dollars not only on US soil, but wherever planes are exiting to enter the USA. The upgrades for security, the combining of 22 other government agencies into the Homeland Security department, all of it... designed to watch, and to catch evil have been somewhat successful.

4) Only God rules the worlds. People might strive for their versions of justice or recompense or retaliation, but at the end of the day, all man's efforts fail. The Bible makes it clear that the Lord has compassion for the lowly, the downtrodden, the afflicted. And He ever works to make His way known. Sadly governments of men and plots of evil men might thwart His kingdom for a time, but in the end He has His way.

America, we from Down Under wish you success in the continued rebuilding of faith and confidence after the 9/11 attacks. It's not easy.

Place your confidence in the Almighty.
That faith will not disappoint.
That will succeed, and although it might appear to delay or be delayed, wait for it.

His going forth is certain as the dawn. He will come to us like the rain, like the spring rains watering the earth.

Rugby World Cup

2011-09-09T17:58:00.000+10:00

You don't want to miss any of the action as tonight the Rugby World Cup launches in Auckland. The crowds of 50,000 have thronged around the city square and the harbour all day today. The hype is meeting the challenge. The noise is meeting the anticipation. Will the All Blacks get up and finally win, which although they've been the favourite most every tournament, have not done since the very first World Cup back in 1987? That was the year my adopted country Australia lost to France in a stunning upset, and allowed the Kiwis to triumph handily in the final over the French.

Some of you reading this will remember the movie from 2010, Invictus, starring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon. That brought the excitement of the every-four-year battle to many in the Americas who didn't know much about it. This photo of the real characters that Freeman and Damon played might strike your memory. It's Nelson Mandela and Francois Pienaar in 1995. South Africa dominated in those days.

Then came John Eales and the Aussies. And that's when I moved to Sydney. Great excitement. And I went to a match at Olympic Park. Here's my wife celebrating a try by the Waratahs, our state side.

Many folks have seen the haka, the tribal dance and battle cry of the New Zealand warriors.

Many of the NZ sports teams do that before a contest, but if it works in any sport, it very much works in rugby. You've never seen it? You must!

It's a good sport, quick, fast, with its own rules, and very different to what might seem similar sports. Enjoy it Americans. And hey, you never know, the USA team might just get up, even though US is playing in the same pool (read: division) as the Aussies. Good luck to all 20 teams.

Ned Kelly and the Missing Skull

2011-09-07T14:51:00.001+10:00

Big Ned Kelly, a photo by bobmendo on Flickr.

Australia has many "Big" tourist things, like Merinos, Pineapples and Prawns, but this statue of Ned Kelly caught my eye at the servo named "Neds." Sensible.

I grew up in the US and had never heard of Ned Kelly before I moved here. We had our own with Jesse James and Al Capone and other lesser known bad-guys-we-want-to-know. For those outside of Aus, or at least outside of the awareness, Kelly's skull is the topic of late in science.

Born about 1854 to an Irish convict exiled to Australia, Kelly became a folk hero as a very young man. He took up arms against a corrupt British constabulary, robbed banks and wrote an explosive manifesto. He was shot and arrested in a final shootout in which he wore homemade metal armor (Hence the get up in the photo), and in 1880 he was hanged by the Anglo-Irish establishment he despised.

Legends, especially of anti-heroes, make for great stories, but most parents don't want their children emulating these folks. And Kelly would have gone into oblivion in the early part of the last century, except a mistake was made at the grave site.

Seems the men who dug graves in those days of the 19th Century used to use a certain lime to stimulate the grave's decomposition. As fate would have it, though, the gravediggers used the wrong lime which actually prevented decomposition, or at least stalled it big time.

So imagine, decades later as men were digging in 1929, moving earth to make room outside the Melbourne Gaol (jail, it's what it's called outside the US...) they found what appeared to be a site full of skeletons. And as juveniles did in those days, some grave robbers came upon the scene and took several bones and even a couple skulls. The one belonging to Kelly was one of those.

Or was it?

Truth is made clear in the real evidence of science and other methods of forensics. The search disappointed on so many levels, until 3 years ago when another digging excavation brought more bones and more hope to the surface.

The scientists found relatives in the direct line of Kelly's mother. They found clothing which might allow for DNA research. They queried everything as a good scientist does.

At the end on Wednesday, the forensic institute announced the disappointing results of their analysis. It appears that after all this time, after being abducted more than once, placed on display for the world to see, hidden for decades, cherished, handled, sought after and tested, the skull is not Ned Kelly’s. So said Fiona Leahy, a historian and legal adviser at the institute.

All that hope. All that hype. All that disappointment. All we have left is memories of the legend and iron masks on Halloween. Alas.

Sometimes we depend on science, but science can only tell us what it knows. It cannot tell us what it doesn't know. That's fair enough. The word, "science" is from the Latin word for 'knowledge.' And if there is knowledge, then we shall find it, and if there is not, then by definition, science has to be silent.

I speak often to people about religion and science. About Bible and God and controversy related to atheists and scientific debate. Let's be clear. No one has to dismiss honest science and facts to believe in God. No one has to dismiss God to welcome science and information. If God is True, then truth can handle being near other truth. That's sensible, too.

I found a set of YouTube videos which you might like on this subject and its implications. Check one here Debate . And you will find heaps more as you investigate.

I'm not afraid to investigate. I taught high school mathematics back in the 70s. My major in university was maths like Dr Lennox and my minor was in biology. I ask you to join me in this query as well. Don't lose your skull. Don't feel a need to check your mind at the door of honest inquiry.

Come on, let's reason together. Though your sins be as scarlet, they will be white as snow. (Isaiah chapter 1)

Confined space

2011-09-06T00:54:00.001+10:00

Confined...really?, a photo by bobmendo on Flickr.

I'm not sure what the city of Sydney was thinking when a law was passed that requires the labelling of this grate or this sewer cover with the words, "Confined Space." It seemed pretty obvious to me, but I've seen that kind of notification in the Sydney Harbour Tunnel where the 'north' and the 'south' directions are each labelled with dozens of arrows. Not really needed, but some legislator thought it a good idea also.

Confined space. I don't usually like those. I've walked on submarines in Virginia and in New York City and am amazed at the configuation of the bunks. I thought it was bad to sleep on bunk beds in Scotland last month, but for different reasons. There was a snorer in each hostel where I stayed, and that was terribly off-putting. Very noisy.

But the bunks on subs are crammed tighter than a drum. They are seriously confining. The sailors have to sleep in a stack of bunks in very little vertical room. I don't know the dimensions, but trust me, it's confining. No room to twist and turn.

I found the word 'confine' in my Bible today. Exodus 21.29 talks about a man whose ox has a bad habit of goring others. And if the man has been warned about this problem, and 'does not confine' the ox, and then "it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned and its owner also shall be put to death."

Yup, that's the rule.

So, wait a minute. Why is 'confine' only used once in the Good Book? Actually the Hebrew word is 'shamar' meaning 'guard' or 'keep' and it means a lot more than a leash. It means the owner has to keep a guard like a shepherd guards, or like a watchman who has the responsibility of maintenance of a jewelry store or a delivery of Armaguard moneys.

That same word is used of God who 'watches' over Israel. Not to confine us at all, but to care for us, to love us, to make sure nothing evil happens to us. I'm ever grateful for the Shamar of Israel. (Psalm 121 says he never slumbers nor sleeps, but He keeps Israel.) Awesome.

So if you are feeling confined by religion or by religious activity, maybe it's time to look up and see your God who is keeping you in all circumstances. If you want to be wayward, I guess that's confining, but really, it's a joy!

Old photo: New Father's Day 2011

2011-09-04T07:41:00.002+10:00

Mendelsohns1984.JPG, a photo by bobmendo on Flickr.

27 years ago we took a family photo in Kansas City. Things are different today as Mom and Dad both passed away a few years ago, Michael's family dissolved a bit, and we added Anne in 1990, and Booker joined in the fun a couple months ago.

It's Father's Day in Australia today. Over here we don't keep to the same dates as the US and some other countries. Guess it took longer for the Hallmark cards to make their way over.

So I'm reflecting on my dad and the impact he made in my life. Some of the characteristics and ways of my life that are most visibly owing to him. And I'm glad. Honestly I am. And proud to be called a Mendelsohn. And a son of Elic Mendelsohn.

Thanks, Dad, for 53 good years together. May I be a good dad in as many ways as you were. And may your memory continue to be a blessing to many.

Oxygen gathering

2011-09-03T20:13:00.001+10:00

Singing, a photo by bobmendo on Flickr.

This week I spent two and a half days at the Australian Technology Park. Next door is Channel 7. And the reason I was there had nothing to do with technology or television. It was a conference convened by the Katoomba Christian Convention folks.

The speakers included two major folks: John Piper from the USA and John Lennox from Oxford in the UK. Piper is a pastor and has been for over 30 years. He lives in Minnesota. Lennox is best known for his debates with Richard Dawkins. He challenges the New Atheists.

The program included major speeches, great coffee breaks, time for lunch and dinner with encouragement for mixing with others, and electives that covered heaps of topics including family relations, discussion with other generations, and the Q and A session with Dr Lennox. BTW, he's a professor of mathematics at Oxford University.

For many the highlight was not the teaching, nor the fellowship, although they were both wonderful. The highlight might have been 2,000 folks singing together.

I enjoyed the music, the mix of old and new songs, the solid and sympathetic band, and the sound of the multitudes as one.

The Bible says, "And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy art Thou to take the book, and to break its seals; for Thou wast slain, and didst purchase for God with Thy blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. “And Thou hast made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will breign upon the earth.”
And I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels aaround the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice,
“Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.”
And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying,
“To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.”
And the four living creatures kept saying, “Amen.” And the elders fell down and worshiped." (Revelation 5.9-14)

Join us, won't you? Let's sing!

Earthquakes...a great shaking!

2011-08-25T09:41:00.000+10:00

I wrote this for Shvuot this year. It's still very very true in light of the Virginia and Peruvian earthquakes. Look up, your redemption draws near.

A great big shaking is going on

A sermon by Bob Mendelsohn
Given at AustralAsian Church
Adelaide SA
19 June 2011

Greetings
Introduction
Christchurch February 2011 and the will to live. Devastation. Earthquake. And tremors that continued and continue to this day Another hit last week in the same place. Six months after the larger but not fatal earthquake had hit the same place. This though was the most expensive natural disaster in our sense of history in New Zealand at 15 billion dollars. In total, 183 people were killed in the earthquake, making the earthquake the second-deadliest natural disaster recorded in New Zealand (after the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake), and fourth-deadliest disaster of any kind recorded in New Zealand.
Only weeks later, in April this year, Fukishima Japan. Earthquake and tsunami. And then weeks later, another earthquake as tremors continue. The nuclear reactor is in danger. The people of Tokyo are only 170 kilometres south and often worried of the situation.
I don’t have to remind us here in Australia of the devastating floods in Queensland beginning in December last year, primarily in the state of Queensland including Brisbane. The floods forced the evacuation of thousands of people from towns and cities. At least seventy towns and over 200,000 people were affected. Damage initially was estimated at around A$1 billion. The estimated reduction in Australia's GDP is about A$30 billion. Three-quarters of the state of Queensland was declared a disaster zone.
For most of us, the will to live is a driving force, keeping and getting life, almost whatever the cost. That’s a prime driver for humanity and for us as humans, amen?
Two weeks ago in Bondi and in Jerusalem and in New York City Jews celebrated Sh'vuot (Pentecost) and ate blintzes and cottage cheese. They stayed up all night reading and praying and learning Bible, including the Book of Ruth.
What is their motivation and what can we learn from their busy-ness and their thinking? And what does God have to say to us as 21st century people about what gives us life?

Images of Mount Sinai
For that, we have to return 3,500 years to the point in Jewish and really world history, where God gave the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) to mankind, specifically to the Jews, then that the Jews might pass on the information to the rest of humanity. Pentecost is called the ‘Time of the Giving of the Torah.” Why ‘giving’ and not ‘receiving?’ Because every time we listen to the Bible read here at church or in our private devotions, on Christian radio, or wherever, we ‘receive’ the Bible’s truths. One time, God gave it, but each time we can receive it again.
The scene in Sinai was raucous to say the least. The book of Exodus unveils the scene as one of chaos. What’s there? Look, there is fire and wind and a voice. Ezekiel 1 is read on Shavuot and it’s designed to link with and show us the exaggerated activity of a storm, a wild storm, uncharacteristic storms of high energy and God’s voice coming from within it.
Ezekiel says, “And as I looked, behold, a storm wind was coming from the north, a great cloud with fire flashing forth continually and a bright light around it, and in its midst something like glowing metal in the midst of the fire.”(Ezek. 1.4)
Later on in the Bible, the writer of Hebrews shows us even more of that scene and contrasts it with our Mt of Revelation.
“For you have not come to a mountain that may be touched and to a blazing fire, and to darkness and gloom and whirlwind, and to the blast of a trumpet and the sound of words which sound was such that those who heard begged that no further word should be spoken to them. For they could not bear the command, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it will be stoned.” And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, “I am full of fear and trembling.”
But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the first-born who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel. … For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less shall we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven. And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven… Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire.” (Heb 12.18-29)
What a scene of awe and fear. This is stuff Spielberg would love to create. This is massive cyclone like we have seen thundering across the plains in the US of late, even in my state of origin, Missouri, where the tornadoes came through and so far more than 130 are dead.
“And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount. And Mount Sinai was altogether on a Smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in Fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long (Tekiah Gedolah), and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake and God answered him by a voice. And the LORD came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and the LORD called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up.” (Exodus 19) You get it.

With all of Israel standing, quaking, and basically traumatized after 400 years of slavery, terror at the Red Sea, a narrow escape, and a month and a half of wandering in the wilderness, building the Golden Calf and thinking it’s all lost, then they saw the lightning and thunder and great wind, and wondered if it was all over. I would have been afraid, and I imagine I’m not alone in this auditorium.
Fear was on them. Moses returned and brought 2 tablets of stone. On them were 10 phrases. And God used those 10 things to define a constitution for the former slaves.
Listen, fire shakes things up. Earthquakes shake things up. We all need a good shake up now and then, don’t we? I even heard some commentator reviewing why the tornadoes are going on in the US…he refered to Global Warming.
I believe that Sinai was one of the first places of Global Warming ever recorded. And God was heating things up for Israel and on Israel that we as Jews might take a renewed, invigorated, ‘on fire’ religion and go to the nations.
The Spirit came on the church as a fire; he came onto Jesus as a dove. Jesus needed no cleansing; we are desperate for it.
Go to the Nations with God’s Tongue
The story is told about who got offered the Torah. “God offered the Word to 70 nations, but each said no. He came to the Jewish people and offered us the Torah. Moses said, “How much for the 5 commandments?” God said, ‘they are free.” Moses replied, “I’ll take 10.” By the way, I can say that joke; I get worried if you do.

Luke tells us at beginning of Acts 2 that there were people from every nation. This would reflect the 70 nations believed to exist. And sometimes they were called 70 tongues, since a nation usually is defined not by geographic borders, but by its language.
70 nations were offered the Torah; they refused. As a result of Pentecost, the 70 nations will hear the Gospel.
It is significant to note that a Jewish commentary on Exodus, recalling chapter 10 of Genesis, which sketches a map of the 70 nations which were then thought to comprise humanity as a whole, leads them back to Sinai to hear the word of God: "At Sinai the Lord's voice was divided into 70 languages, so that all the nations could understand" (Exodus Rabbah 5, 9). So too in the Lucan Pentecost, the Word of God is addressed to humanity through the Apostles, in order to proclaim "the mighty works of God" (Acts 2:11) to all peoples even with their differences. A clear overcoming not only of national differences, but of the Tower of Babel problem resident on humanity, the inability to speak at peace with one another.

You might think I have an accent, but I’ve lived and worked in Sydney for 13 years having moved from New York City. And last month I sat and passed my citizenship exam. So this is now officially an Australian accent.

A few years ago I was in Melbourne, and upon arrival at the airport I rang a Jewish woman I’d met on the phone a year before. She is a Mendelsohn and when our team was cold calling Jewish surnames, I rang her and dozens of others. She seemed interested and I marked her name as such on our computer. So on arrival I wanted to meet up with her. She was open and had a friend, Alice, come by from next door. Alice is a Baptist, and wanted to know how Jews, Jesus and Jews for Jesus went together.
Now my new Jewish contact is originally from Scotland, and although I’ve traveled the world, I had a very difficult time understanding her accent. Sure, her words were English words, but they were foreign sounding to me. It was her dialect (a Greek word meaning ‘tongue’ and used in Acts 2 of what the disciples received that day) that threw me off.

Long story short, Jane prayed with me to accept Jesus that afternoon. She is reading her Bible now and Alice is helping her. She is being looked after by a church which meets just around the corner from their flats. God is good!
What the Tower of Babel evidences, the inability of people to speak with each other, Pentecost overcomes as people from 70 nations can hear the same words in their own language and respond in faith, amen?
Tongues divided the world in Babel; tongues unite the world in the Holy Spirit’s anointing in Pentecost.

And remember what the 120 did when they got the Holy Spirit that Pentecost day? They went downstairs and outside and preached so that the 3,000 could find eternal life. We hear the Gospel; we respond and believe and we go to preach it.
What is in our hearts comes out our mouths. Jesus said, “For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart.“ (Matthew 12.34) In fact 15 times in the Newer Testament, people are filled or the phrase is used “filled (or baptized) with the Spirit” and each time what follows is speaking. If you believe in Jesus and have a relationship with him you will speak about him to others. And they will hear and learn and some will come to faith in Jesus.

Conversion and Pentecost
One point to mention about this holiday is the uniqueness in relation to sin. At every festival the Torah informs us that one has to bring a sin offering. Only on the festival of Shavuot is the word 'sin' not mentioned. Why? “For on the festival of Shavuot, the day of the receiving of the Torah, all Jews are like the convert "newborn", and so free of all sin.” (R Levi Yitschak of Berditchev)
What R Levi Yitschak means and what we mean may be different. Let’s be clear. We all need to be cleansed of sin. We all need shaking up. And in Pentecost we have God calling us to listen, to hear his words in whatever languages, and to be born from above. He wants to fulfill His words of Jeremiah 31. There God predicts through the ancient prophet,
“Behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them, “declares the LORD. “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD, “I will put My law within them, and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
“And they shall not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the LORD, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” (31.31-34)

This new covenant is God’s promise. This new covenant was enacted on Passover, 7 weeks before Pentecost when Y’shua took up the 3rd cup during the seder and initiated it. And in his dying and rising from the dead, we can all be forgiven of our sins, we can all be converted, we can all know God. It’s a new covenant, not like the covenant of Moses (the Old covenant). This is conversion in the best sense of the word.
And why do we read the Book of Ruth? The rabbis say we read Ruth because King David, her descendant, died on Shavuot and because Ruth was a convert and at Sinai we were like converts. God transformed us from ordinary people to a special nation.
And why do we eat dairy products? In exilic Judaism the word of God is likened to “milk and honey” and we eat to remind ourselves of the sweetness and refreshment found in the Word of God.

Conversion brings life, not death
In Exodus 32 we read of the return of Moses with the 2 Tablets of the Law. And the Jewish populace was behaving riotously and the brother of Moses, Aaron, lied about how the Golden Calf incident happened. He said, “I put the gold in and look what came out!” Moses was angry and invited the people to join him. The sons of Levi did (Moses’ tribe too) and that day the text tells us, “So the sons of Levi did as Moses instructed, and about three thousand men of the people fell that day.” (Exodus 32.28)
Now if you know much about Bible, you know the precision of biblical numbers is a worthy study itself. For instance, exactly how many men came out of Egypt from each family and each tribe? No round numbers here; no approximations. Even after the Resurrection, Peter goes fishing and catches 153 fish. (John 21.11)
So it’s very surprising to read the phrase “about 3,000 men” in Exodus. Is it random? Not at all.

Acts chapter two, our principle text today, shows us that as a result of the preaching of Peter, Jewish people interrupted his sermon and said, “What shall we do?” (Acts 2.37) and Peter told them to repent and get baptized and get filled with the Holy Spirit, for the ‘promise is for you, and your children, and all who are far off” (This means the Jews, the Jewish families, and Gentiles). And who responded? “So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and there were added that day about three thousand souls.” (Acts 2.41)
No coincidence here. What brought death in Moses’ day brought life in Peter’s day. And to the exact number of people.

And Paul made a point of this in 2 Corinthians 3.
“Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. But if the ministry of death, in letters engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was, how shall the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory?” (3.5-8)
So the Spirit brings life and the Law brings death. But let’s be too simple here. What we mean by Spirit always contains Scripture. What we mean by Law contains more than Scripture. Here’s what I mean.

Paul’s use of the term, The Law may better for us be described as a checklist system, with requirements, and guilt for failure and pride for satisfaction. It starts in the Scripture, but goes past its intent. The Spirit (as Paul used the term) is God’s word enabled in our lives. It’s the requirements of the Law put into our hearts of flesh. (Jer. 31).

Spirit without the Word is Emotionalism; Word without Spirit is legalism.

But together, they are what Paul calls “Spirit” and we could say “The Spirit and the Word bring Life.” Jesus said “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” (John 6.63)
That’s it…that’s how we win in this transitory life. We trust the Spirit and God’s Words, they bring us life. Fukishima plant technicians and US tornado survivors, and Christchurch earthquake survivors all share victories of still breathing, but what you and I can count on is that those who trust Jesus and are anointed with his fire and word, enter into life and live it to the fullest.

About 3000 folks can live; 5,000 the next day (Acts 4) and who knows how many in Adelaide or in Sydney or around Australia will hear God’s word and live, even today?
Pentecost is not Passover. For believers in Jesus on Passover we are forgiven. On Pentecost we are empowered to proclaim the Gospel. Let’s be out sharing this message. Let’s go out and tell.
_____________________________________
For more information, contact bob@jewsforjesus.org.au or in Australia ring 02.9388.0559.

Getting it wrong... and fixing things

2011-08-25T00:33:00.002+10:00

Wrong way, a photo by bobmendo on my Flickr site.

It happens to me, and I wonder what you do when you experience it. You are supposed to be at the event at 7, but things don't work the way they are supposed to work. The alarm didn't go off; the battery on the car...dead. The kids or grandkids are more demanding than you wish and well, the margin you gave yourself...it's gone.

The signs for 'wrong way' were visible to others, but you disregarded them. Alas.

She'll be right, mate, we say in Australia. Everything's going to be all right, so says Hollywood and most love songs of the 60s. But is that enough?

What do you do when you are convinced you are right, you go about it in the way you think is correct, only to be met with disappointment and rejection? Where is God on this one? What about your faith?

When you plan, decide, get a bunch of helpers and things don't work out... do you think God isn't listening?

Welcome to God's world, where He chooses you, and makes you part of His program. And you bungle it up, and you re-organize His assignments, and ...

I like reading the Bible, and seeing others getting into the same predicaments. Tonight at the #OneNewMan meeting I asked the folks about 'favorite' get-it-wrong people in the Bible. You would guess Moses, King David, the woman at the well (John 4), and some others. Moses struck a rock in anger and tossed the 10 Commandments down in the same rage. David committed sexual sin and lying and murder. Yipes, bad day to be on his bad side.

Consider Job whose friends told him he had messed up.
Consider the Apostle Peter who three times denied Y'shua and yet, God returned, and among other fixes, cleaned up that mess.
Consider a modern woman whose husband died, and she believed for a miracle, but had to bury him instead. She got it wrong.

Look at Daniel 3.16-18 (3 men, "Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”

That's it. The three Jewish men were convinced that God would save them. and be delivered from the fiery furnace. But their hedging was not based on lack of faith, but on genuine faith.

When we think wrong, when we live wrong, when we even believe some things wrong... God allows us to get it right, if we trust Him in the depths of our soul. And that's real faith. That's honest faith. That's faith that gives us access to the King of the Universe.

And understand this. God is the One who gets to fix things. All He wants is for us to present ourselves, honestly, forthrightly, trusting Him.

That's the way to do the right way, and turn around from the wrong way. For Shadrach, Meshach, Abed-nego, and you, dear reader.

Bennett Arron: Jewelsh

2011-08-22T19:31:00.003+10:00

Bennett Arron, a photo by bobmendo on Flickr.

This Jewish comedian is from Wales and performed at the Canon's Gate pub in Edinburgh during the Fringe Festival. I went to hear him on his first night, the 18th. He'll continue until the 29th.

Part of his shtick is that he's both Jewish and Welsh. And he talked about the underlying effects of being each. I laughed out loud at times. The 10 year old blended Benromach helped me get in the mood. Fact: It's 10 Years Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky (43% ABV)

Back to Bennett. Early on in his monologue he mentioned "Jews for Jesus." Yup, out of nowhere he said something like, "One thing we know about Jews is...we don't believe in Jesus." That in light of his saying that we aren't exactly sure what we do believe as Jews. OK, same old, same old, and no offense taken by me.

He mentioned that Jews for Jesus tries to make converts to their point of view and that this is something Jews don't do. Again, a minor mistake historically as there are times in Jewish history when some have taken the phrase of being a "Light to the nations" so seriously that proselytism is the natural result. But again, not the main point of this blog.

He went on to other subjects and kept me laughing along with the other 35 or so in the pub's cellar.

A few minutes later, Bennett mentioned that he personally believed in God and wondered if there were any other religious people in the crowd. (Hard to call 35 people a crowd, but hey, it's tough competition at the Festival. Hundreds of gigs and performers. All of his gigs are listed here

So Bennett asks if anyone is religious. A lady near me half-raises her hand, and I lift mine with relative ease. He sees the motion in my arm and calls on me. I'm in the 3rd row.

"What religion are you?" he queries.

I pause the pregnant comic pause. I replied, "You won't believe this." I increase the volume of my reply. And bounce it off the already-low cellar ceiling.

"I am the director of Jews for Jesus in Sydney Australia."

The crowd must have thought Jewelsh was now a two-man show. What else could explain this sudden segue? But of more consequence (with apologies to the crowd) was the non-response of Bennett. He was seriously taken aback.

"You're serious?"
"Yup."
"That's awkward," he continued.

He came back to it another one or two times, but the impact was made.

After he finished his set, about 40 minutes later, with more continued funny bits and stories, he took his orange pail for donations and stood at the back of the room. Everyone was asked to put in some coins or better, a 5-pound note.

I happily took out a fiver and my business card and after turning in my emptied Benromach glass, approached the comic.

He put out his hand from under the pail and we had a real moment of mutual appreciation. It was great. After the last of the others left, we chatted for another 5 minutes, as I had to get to another show, about 8 minutes away. We traded business cards officially, as you do. We asked the bar maid to shoot us in this photo.

I tweated that people should go see Jewelsh. I am now blogging that people should go see Jewelsh.

And I"m hopeful that Bennett, the father of two wonderful kids, and husband of one good wife, he says, will continue to consider what God might be saying to him, about this encounter and how Jesus wants to have a personal relationship with him.

And with you, dear reader.

Purple Haze and Amy Winehouse

2011-07-24T05:08:00.000+10:00

After recording on the evening of the 3rd October 1970, Janis Joplin and band member Ken Pearson had a couple of drinks at Barney's Beanery. Just after midnight, they drove back to the Landmark Hotel, at 7047 Franklin. Inside room 105, she shot up her last fix of heroin. She returned to the hotel lobby to get change for a five dollar bill, for cigarettes. She chatted casually with the hotel clerk, who later said she seemed perfectly natural (and he didn't know who she was). When she returned to her room, she collapsed beside the bed, almost breaking her nose. She was wedged against a bedside table, with a cigarette in her hand.

John Cook, one of her band members, became alarmed when she didn't show up for the recording session the next morning, and after unsuccessfully trying to reach her by telephone, he went to the hotel, broke down the door and found her dead. She was 27 years old.

How similar will the story be when it's all told of Amy Winehouse, who died today at 27 years of age. CBS News (USA) reported, "Police confirmed that a 27-year-old female was pronounced dead at the home in Camden Square northern London; the cause of death was not immediately known. London Ambulance Services said Winehouse had died before the two ambulance crews it sent arrived at the scene.

"I didn't go out looking to be famous," Winehouse told the Associated Press when "Back to Black" was released. "I'm just a musician."

But in the end, the music was overshadowed by fame, and by Winehouse's demons. Tabloids lapped up the erratic stage appearances, drunken fights, stints in hospital and rehab clinics. Performances became shambling, stumbling train wrecks, watched around the world on the Internet."

Think of Jim Morrison. This report from his Wiki page: "Morrison flew to Paris in March 1971, took up residence in a rented apartment on the rue Beautreillis on the Right Bank, and went for long walks through the city, admiring the city's architecture. During that time, Morrison shaved his beard and lost some of the weight he had gained in the previous months. The last studio recording was with two American street musicians — a session dismissed by Manzarek as "drunken gibberish". The session included a version of a song-in-progress, "Orange County Suite", which can be heard on the bootleg The Lost Paris Tapes.

Morrison died on July 3, 1971. In the official account of his death, he was found in a Paris apartment bathtub by Courson. Pursuant to French law, no autopsy was performed because the medical examiner claimed to have found no evidence of foul play. The absence of an official autopsy has left many questions regarding Morrison's cause of death."

Who else died in their 28th year? Brian Jones, Rolling Stones founder and guitarist/multi-instrumentalist. July 3, 1969. Drowned in a swimming pool. The coroner's report stated "death by misadventure."

Jimi Hendrix. September 18, 1970. Autopsy showed he asphyxiated on vomit after combining sleeping pills with wine. Pioneering electric guitarist, singer and songwriter for The Jimi Hendrix Experience and Band of Gypsys.

Kurt Cobain, April 5, 1994. Ruled as suicide by shotgun. Founding member, lead singer, guitarist and songwriter for Nirvana.

Other famous, but not musical people, who died at 27 include: Andrés Escobar Saldarriaga (13 March 1967 – 2 July 1994). Colombian soccer player.

Shot outside a bar in a suburb of Medellín, Colombia, possibly in retaliation for scoring an own goal in a world cup match.

Ghazi bin Faisal (21 March 1912 – 4 April 1939). King of Iraq 1933 – 1939.

Ghazi was born in Mecca (now Saudi Arabia) to King Faisal of Iraq. He became king on his father’s death in 1933. He opposed British interests in his country, was rumored to harbor sympathies for Nazi Germany and put forth a claim for Kuwait to be annexed to Iraq. His reign was characterised by tensions between civilians and the army, which sought control of the government. He died in 1939 in a mysterious accident involving a sports car he was driving.

"Bobby" Robert Gerard Sands (9 March 1954 – 5 May 1981). Irish Republican Army volunteer, prison hunger striker and member of the UK parliament.

Died of self-imposed starvation in HM Prison Maze, also known as Long Kesh.

Jesus died at the age of 33, dying on a Roman execution cross. And although his life's ending was tragic, that was not the entire story. The Bible reports that he rose from the dead and lives forever. That's better than any Nirvana or any Nirvana song. It's eternity with the Father, God Himself, and that's a permanent rehab, that you should not say "no, no, no, no" to. Life with God is better than any Doors or Stones hits. You will have eternal satisfaction if you give your life, at 27, at 2, at 7 at 72, whenever... to the One who gave His life for you.

Then you will rest in peace. RIP... eternal peace.

Mendelsohns at the bris 2

2011-07-23T23:15:00.001+10:00

Mendelsohns at the bris 2, a photo by bobmendo on Flickr.

I'm a twice-born child of Abraham. Those words begin the song "Abraham" by Stuart Dauermann. It's a classic. It's online in many places. Try this one: http://new.music.yahoo.com/liberated-wailing-wall/tracks/abraham--56480721

And the song is about covenant, and God making covenant with us, in circumcision and in the circumcision of our hearts. So here we have our family, a covenant family to be sure, celebrating the day of my new (and first) grandson's circumcision. It's in Kansas City and took place in the messianic congregation building at Or Haolam on Metcalf.

We have so much to celebrate in life. It's right to pause and memorialize those things. The Bible is actually a memorializing of God's intersections with mankind, over and over. And his loyal love is exposed on every page.

I'm grateful being a twice-born child of Abraham. Thanks be to God for His choosing us and His keeping us. For Himself.

What did Rupert know?

2011-07-19T21:59:00.000+10:00

Today in Parliament, Rupert Murdoch will face the members and discuss his complicity or awareness of the scandal of the month. What did Rupert know? Also questioned will be his son James, and R Brooks, pictured.

The scandal has spread from Murdoch's media empire to the top ranks of the British police force and even into the prime minister's office.

The scandal, which began over the phone hacking of celebrities and a royal aide, sparked international outrage amid allegations that the voice mail of a 13-year-old girl who was abducted and murdered was hacked. Since then, the scandal has spread into charges of corruption, with the tabloid paying police for news tips, and further hacking cases involving the family of British soldiers killed in action.

Among the resignations: The commissioner of Scotland Yard and his second-in-command; Rebekah Brooks who is pictured above, who was editor of the News of the World at the time of the hacking and later became CEO of News International, the British arm of the Murdoch empire, and Les Hinton, publisher of The Wall Street Journal, another Murdoch property.

In addition, Brooks has been arrested as has another former News of the World editor, Andy Coulson, who was forced to resign as Prime Minister David Cameron's director of communications.

In a further twist, a former News of the World reporter Sean Hoare who helped blow the whistle on the scandal was found dead Monday in his home, the Associated Press reports. Police said the death was "unexplained" but is not being treated as suspicious. A post-mortem was being conducted Tuesday. Hoare was in his late forties.

Brooks' spokesman, David Wilson, said police had been handed a bag containing a laptop and papers that belong to her husband, former racehorse trainer Charlie Brooks. Wilson said the bag did not contain anything related to the phone hacking scandal and he expected police to return it soon.

The bag was found dumped in an underground parking lot near the couple's home on Monday, but it was unclear how exactly it got there. Wilson said Tuesday that a friend of Charlie Brooks had meant to drop the bag off, but he would say only he left it in the "wrong place."

This is stuff we in Australia saw in Underbelly, and regularly watch on NCIS or CSI, but in real life? Maybe a Grisham novel or the latest Johnny Depp or Matt Damon movie, but come on, real life?

Yup, this is not to be missed. Who else will fall? Who else will stay standing?

Listen, the best thing if I can recommend anything is for you and for me to be honest. Let's tell the truth as early as possible in every situation and live in the consequences of that. It's safer there. It's holy there. It's often lonely there. But it's right.

Detained by Israel

2011-07-15T09:05:00.000+10:00

The news this week included the detainment of two significant Australian women by the Israeli government. What's with that?

The pro-Palestinian activists, former Greens NSW MP Sylvia Hale and spokesperson for Jews against the Occupation – Sydney, Vivienne Porzsolt, were arrested upon arrival by immigration personnel. They were scheduled to be flown back to Athens after their detainment. The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) confirmed that the pair has been visited by a consular officer who “advised they were being treated well by Israeli authorities”.

Hale and Porzsolt had reportedly planned to travel on a flotilla attempting to break the naval blockade in Gaza, but when Greek authorities stopped their ship from leaving Crete, they instead boarded a flight along with dozens of other activists on the “Welcome to Palestine” initiative. The two were said to be attempting “to draw attention to Israel’s policy of denying Palestinians the basic human right to receive visitors from abroad”.

Hale was going to 'bring greetings' from Marrickville (NSW), a sister city to Gaza. Porzsolt is a self-described secular Jew originally from New Zealand.

On Wednesday, an Israeli court overturned their deportation orders and as soon as the paperwork is translated into English, the duo will be released. Maybe by this morning that's done.

Their attempted fly-tilla is another embarrassment to Australians. These two are trying to bring global attention to 'the situation' and the plight of the Palestinians who are without basic human rights. I'm gobsmacked. And embarrassed. The floatilla is a sham. The attacks last year and the attempted missile-of-a-ship again this month is simply not on.

Weapons, security, those are the issues, dear ladies. It's not about aid and relief. If bleeding hearts really want to fix things, send supplies like food and clothing and travel to help people build infrastructure in walled areas. Stop being used as pawns in the bigger game of global media assault on Israel. Don't let ships carry weapons to untitled soldiers in Gaza. Send food, help the poor, no one will bother you. It's when guns and military weaponry are conveyed...that's when Israel prevents ships from entering. It's simple... you want to help. Send stuff that helps.

After and apparent age

2011-07-13T23:48:00.002+10:00

After, a photo by bobmendo on Flickr.

The other photo below is the look of my tooth after an encounter with my tennis racquet last weekend. This is the photo after the dentist repaired me today. Fantastic work!
BEFORE

Maybe if you need some dental work, you should see Dr Phillip Zoldan, whom I would count a friend and one who does great work. Maybe he'll give you a discount, if you mention me. Maybe not. BTW, he's in Edgecliff in Sydney's inner eastern suburbs.

Dr Z and I speak every time we meet about Y'shua. And today was no different. We spoke about the creationist movement for a moment. Of course we also talked about davening and the birth of my new grandson, but we'll get to that on another blog.

Creationism is the belief that what God said in the Bible is true, that He created the world in 6 days, and that it was about 6,000 years ago.

One of the 'proofs' of that theory is the notion of apparent age. By that I mean that when God made the world, He made it to look a certain age. It was not 'brand new' although in years, it was. Maybe an example would help.

The first miracle that Y'shua performed according to his friend John, was turning water into wine at a wedding in Cana of Galilee. Pretty amazing, eh? OK, so how old is good wine? However long you answer, it's aged, to be sure. Yet, when Y'shua made it technically it was 0. It was brand new. So it had 'apparent' age.

Consider the 'birth' of Adam and Eve. How old were they? If I remember right, the rabbis teach that Adam was 20 when he was created. So, how old was he? He was 0, but he appeared to be 20. See how this works?

So today my new resin and whatever else Dr Z put on my tooth made my tooth look 60, you know, rather old in the tooth. But that's how long I've had my teeth, and that's a good match. But in reality it was 0; brand new!

I wonder if you've ever thought about this type of answer to a biblical question before. And thankfully the good dentist was able to well fix me before my travels next week to the US to see my grandchild. More later.

Lady Gaga in Sydney... new citizen!

2011-07-12T19:20:00.000+10:00

There she is, in all her splendor. The 'born this way' singer, more on fire than Madonna they say, strutting her stuff. Lady Gaga visiting Australia, and here being presented an honorary citizenship from the honorable, Lady Mayor Clover Moore. It's about advocacy, she said, for the rights of the gay and lesbians.

Wow, the world is a mess, with global financial crises, threatening Greece, Portugal, the EU, the USA with its deficit ceiling looming, but no dramas, we have Gaga. And she fights for equal rights for everyone.

Don't worry about the floatilla aimed at Israel from Greece or the smoky cloud above Chile, or the Japanese still climbing out of the earthquake, the tsunami and the holes in their lives these caused months ago. Phew, we have Gaga.

And how does she rate citizenship? OK, to be fair, she's playing a part, right? She doesn't really believe all this self-hype, does she?

The article in today's Sydney Morning Herald reported, "Yesterday (after a wait that would make Godot blush) Lady Gaga finally turned up to take receipt from Clover Moore of a framed honorary citizenship of Sydney. The document commended La Gaga-rina for her advocacy on gay and lesbian issues, as did the lord mayor, who offered tribute in recognising Gaga's ''unwavering support for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities around the world''. ''Lady Gaga has been a powerful force for the gay and lesbian community in Sydney and we have a rare honour for people whose achievements embrace the ideals and spirit of our city - the title of 'honorary citizen of Sydney' - and today I am extending that honour to Lady Gaga," Moore said.

"As to what caused her Ladyship to tarry can only be a subject for speculation but we're game! Just possibly the news had reached her that she (and Beyonce) had been overtaken in the charts by (go on, guess!) Australia's Hillsong Church. Yup, according to an AAP report yesterday, Hillsong's latest album, God Is Able, released to coincide with the annual Hillsong conference, debuted at No. 3 this week, entering ahead of Beyonce's 4 and Lady Gaga's Born This Way, which stand at fourth and fifth respectively. It is the 10th Christian record to reach the top 10 since 2002."

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/the-diary/big-day-for-lady-gaga-20110711-1haqu.html#ixzz1RsQvxKYE

Wow, Hillsong should be given citizenship. Oh, wait, they are. The Sydney-based church, founded by the Houstons, Frank and later his son Brian, are a dynasty and an institution here in Australia. They bring in millions of dollars each year and spend as much on all kinds of helpful centres to assist people in various situations. They have worship gatherings in Bondi, in Crows Nest, Brisbane, even New York City, where Brian's son Joel is the leader. People from all over the world came together last week for their 25th Hillsong Conference at the Olympic Park and at their home facilities in Waterloo and out in Baulkham Hills (Hills campus). Controversial to be sure, but isn't anyone in the public eye?

Going ga-ga over Lady Gaga makes sense for tweens and teens who want to emulate the latest, the greatest, the noisiest, the splash of the moment. But for the Lady Mayor to reward this one...it's just not on.

The state of Queensland can give out keys to the cities for their Reds (Victors in the Super12 rugby championship) or their Maroons (victors in the State of Origin for the 6th year in a row), but hold off on citizenship. It's an entirely different matter, you know?

That said, I'm glad God extended His citizenship to me. The Good Book says, "For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus the Messiah." (Philippians chapter 3, verse 20). It's good to be home, and to have a home, and even a home away from home. All the while, our real home is in heaven with Messiah. I can't wait for that day when we'll be with him, and he gives me the keys and my official citizenship papers and the welcome that is out of this world.

Bolt and Picketing Max Brenner

2011-07-10T19:59:00.000+10:00

Andrew Bolt has long said things that others only thought. He is a strong voice for decency and has considerable weight in the journalism world of Australia today. And yet, he stops short in his article last week, on the 6th of July (2011) in the Herald Sun.

His full piece is online, and at the end of this blog.

I appreciate Bolt in a lot of little ways and some seriously big ones. He's not Jewish, but always seems to have a sensible view of our people. And of the situation with Jews in Melbourne where he lives and around the globe. You don't often get that from journos.

That said, the picketing of the Max Brenner Chocolate shops in Melbourne and Sydney by anti-Jewish people, well, that's certainly their right. But what's it about? Max Brenner. Who is he, after all? The company, Max Brenner was founded in 1996 in Ra'anana, Israel, by Max Fichtman and Oded Brenner using a conjunction of their names. Max Fichtmann is no longer associated with the company. Since 2001, the company has become a part of Strauss Group. Their chocolate pizza was featured on a February 2011 segment of Food Network's The Best Thing I Ever Ate/Pizza.

They have 20 stores in Australia (ACT, NSW, QLD and VIC) and a few others in Israel, the US, Singapore and the Philippines.

Picketing a Jewish business because of alleged ties to the land, because of anti-Jewish rhetoric and hatred... that's just not on. As Bolt addresses in his article. The article of venom back in 2009 by the leftist group which incited this picketing action is here: Greenies target Brenner

The problem is that our (mis)understandings of others' situations are often amplified by distance and by the clogged mechanisms of journalists who want to vent their own ideas rather than report what is 'news.' Maybe that's why I appreciate Bolt so much. He does his homework. He does his research and he calls spades 'spades.' That's refreshing.

Maybe you will enjoy his piece as well. And feel free to write him or the Herald Sun and tell him so.

And maybe we should all go get a Euphoria Banana Split Waffle Sundae. Just to celebrate freedom of speech. And freedom to overeat.

______________________________________________________

An ill wind of change in Australia

By Andrew Bolt, Herald Sun

Here are some things I never thought I’d see in this country I love.

I never thought I’d see people picketing shops because their owners were Jews.

But in Melbourne last Friday, 19 protesters were arrested as they tried to stop people from shopping at the Max Brenner chocolate and coffee store in Melbourne’s QV.

In Sydney last month, Leftist and Muslim protesters did the same to a Max Brenner shop in Sydney, claiming the Jewish-owned franchise company supported the Israeli Army.

I’ve seen pictures of Jewish shops being attacked before, of course, but they were in black and white, in another country at another ghastly time.

But this is Australia. Today.

Here’s another thing I never thought I’d see in this country I’ve loved for its fair go. I never thought I’d see academics sign a petition demanding someone be stopped from simply arguing.

But in Western Australia last week, that’s just what was done by 50 academics, from professors to a PhD candidate specialising in the representation of the Salvation Army in Finnish cinema, who demanded the University of Notre Dame stop warming sceptic Christopher Monckton from speaking there.

I’ve seen pictures of people being silenced for heresy before, of course, but they were in history books, drawn from inquisitions centuries ago, in another continent.

But this is Australia. Today.

Oh, and I never thought I’d see people getting doctorates in Australia on how Finnish films depicted the Salvation Army. But they do in the University of Western Australia, and, to be honest, that’s a first anywhere.

Here’s another thing I never thought I’d see in this country, which I’ve loved for those great home-making suburbs that artists once mocked for being boring.

I never thought I’d see parents killed after telling off naughty teenagers, or great masses of people brawling in our streets.

Yet this week, a Melbourne mum, with her 11-year-old daughter beside her, was stabbed to death after confronting youths who’d egged her house. Yet this week, 300 youths fought each other and police in a Melbourne suburb. Oh, I’d heard of such stuff about the meanest streets of the United States, years ago.

But this is Australia. Today.

Here’s another thing I thought I’d never see in Australia, a land I’ve long loved for its peaceful ways. I never thought I’d see clan members shoot at each other in road chases or kneecap each other, while their more glamorous members smiled for snaps in the society pages.

I never thought I’d see a man with a criminal record and links to the underworld given the honour of having his whitewashed memoirs published by a university.

Yet that’s what I have seen in Melbourne just last week, and in Sydney’s western suburbs for years. That what I have seen with Melbourne University Publishing, the preferred publisher of Mick Gatto. Sure, I saw such things in Hollywood movies about wild Chicago, and heard of them in the bloodier parts of the Middle East.

But this is Australia. Today.

Here’s another thing I thought I’d never see in Australia, a land I’d long loved for is sturdy good sense.

I never thought I’d see a government-funded arts festival treat a terrorist supporter as a hero and a former prime minister as a terrorist.

Yet at the Sydney Writers Festival last month, the audience cheered al-Qaida trained David Hicks and heckled John Howard. I’d heard of such insanities in Latin-American tyrannies, many years ago.

But this is Australia. Today.

Here’s yet another thing I never thought I’d see in Australia, where we have long loved to smell the air of careless freedom.

I never thought I’d see academics and activists agitate against democracy, while respectable journalists look away, too polite to protest.

Yet this week, 1000 Muslims met at a hall in Sydney last weekend, to hear a speaker tell them to reject democracy. Yet I’ve heard a former Greens candidate, Professor Clive Hamilton, suggest a “suspension of the democratic processes”, in case global warming got too bad.

I’ve read another professor, this time Emeritus Professor David Shearman, of Doctors for the Environment Australia, propose the world be run by “an authoritarian government” of environmental “guardians”. And last week I watched in amazement as Greens leader Bob Brown suggested we give up our sovereignty to a “global people’s assembly”.

I’d heard of such things in pre-Nazi Germany or the more oppressive Muslim theocracies, or read them in the pages of the wildest-eyed dreamers of a century ago.

But this is Australia. Today.

And one last thing I thought – hoped – we would not see in this country, which I’ve loved for insisting that we see each other as individuals, not marked off by birthplace, ancestry, wealth and, in particular, the absurdly trivial distinctions of “race”.

But stop. On legal advice, I must not comment one word further on this issue.

And of all the things I thought I’d never see in Australia, today, it would be this: that even I have been made too scared to speak.

In other places, maybe. In desperate times, long regretted.

But this is Australia. Today.

Another testimony and replacements

2011-07-10T18:09:00.001+10:00

The testimony of Henry John Marks

Hugh Stowell says, "The redemption of the Jews is the hinge on which revolve the destinies of the human race." Wow, that's a massive statement, and Marks quotes this as part of why he wants to share his own story with us.

The language is archaic, and proper and formal. And yet it speaks to us today, if we have ears to hear. The entire testimony is free as a Google Book, and if you are in the US you can add Google Books for free to your iPad. We cannot do so here in Australia, but the web site Marks book here allows us to read it on our computer.

165 pages. Originally published by Thomas Printer, Eastgate Street, Chester. (UK) Written in December 1837.

OK, it's old, but let's not forget, we didn't start this messianic movement, and we probably won't be the last in it. We stand on the shoulders of many, thousands of others, who went on before us, and who made the way easier for us. Who prayed for us, even as we pray for those who will take up the mantle long after us.

Or are you praying for your replacements? I am! God, give them a heart of compassion for the Jewish people. God, give them grace and strength to share relentlessly and passionately the truths of the Truth. And make them pray-ers, who will pray for those who follow them in this work, as well.

Street Conversation

2011-07-09T08:10:00.001+10:00

StreetEvangelism, a photo by bobmendo on Flickr.

Actually this is several conversations, all going on at once. The man in the blue shirt of course, is sharing his opinions with the man in the Jews for Jesus t-shirt on the streets of Manhattan, New York City.

The man in the gray shirt is overhearing what the two are saying, and he's an active listener to the goings-on.

The man in the kippah walking past has been seeing/hearing it as well, and has to return to work. But he was 'involved' in the chat.

And everyone who notices the green t-shirt, is being invited to consider the message. Who is Jesus? That's the underlying theme of this July outreach in NYC. And if we had to choose one, it's the ever-underlying theme of everything that goes on in Jews for Jesus.

We meet up with enquirers to invite them to consider that theme. Who do you think Jesus is? We meet with believers to encourage them to continue in that consideration. We preach in churches and bring back to mind the reality of the Jewish Jesus, and His Lordship and salvation.

At staff meetings we pray, reminding ourselves of the One who bought us with His blood and brings us back into relationship with the Father.

Who is He? Who is Jesus? That may be the single most important question you ever have to answer.

Answer well.

Under bridge, Brisbane

2011-07-03T08:34:00.002+10:00

Under bridge, Brisbane, a photo by bobmendo on Flickr.

It's not what is seen that makes a bridge. Most of the folks who travel this bridge coming into or out of Brisbane Queensland are simply looking at the signs, determining their lane of choice, and hurrying to their destination.

But deep below and years before, before this mindless driver makes up his mind, engineers, politicians, shop keepers, and thousands of others make up their minds about the project of funding and placing a bridge here.

The impact is not momentary, although the vote might be. The effect is not temporary, although the discomfort might be. All done, the bridge accomplishes its intent. It allows drivers and pedestrians and cyclists to make their way easily and smoothly to their destination.

Those of you who read my blogs know that I'm keenly involved in the continuing explanation to Jewish people of the Messiahship of Jesus. And some describe what I do as bridging the gap between Jews and Christians. That's not a term I use, but some use it.

If they are right, then the depths of explosive ground preparation, the years of approval gathering, the organizing of the cement and other materials...all play into the final situation...the crossing of the bridge itself.

Below bridges...not a usual view, not a pretty view, certainly not compared to the beauty or fame of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the George Washington Bridge, the Brooklyn Bridge, the invisible one of Indiana Jones, the one over the River Kwai, Alcántara Bridge, Pont du Gard, Pont d'Avignon, The Chapel Bridge.

I like this one: The Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge, also known as the Pearl Bridge, is the longest suspension bridge at 1,991 meters (6,532 feet) in the world. It spans the Akashi Strait in Japan connecting Kobe on the mainland and Iwaya on Awayi Island. The bridge took almost 12 years to build and was opened for traffic in 1998. The central span was originally only 1,990 meter but the Kobe earthquake on January 17, 1995, moved the two towers so that it had to be increased by 1 meter.

All that said, bridges are intended to get things from one side to the other. So let's be honest about 1) what it takes to build, and 2) the intentions of our actions.

I invite any Jewish person to discuss with me the issue of Y'shua, the Messiah, Jesus Christ, and to determine what we will do with this bridge that is in our way.

United voices, but not unity

2011-06-15T07:58:00.000+10:00

This is from some blog or news service; I can't tell the difference anymore. Seems the only Jewish radio station in all of Australia, with a community license, has lost its license. They stopped broadcasting on Monday at midnight. Shalom Lion FM, and shalom MJR (Melbourne Jewish Radio).

The Australian Communications and Media Authority also announced that they do not intend to issue any further community broadcasting licences in Melbourne.

The Jewish Community Council of Victoria’s President, John Searle said “the loss of the licence is very unfortunate”. He added, “It is devastating news for our community for whom the benefits of the licence were enormous. It provided not only a means of communication within our community, but also a wonderful window through which information could flow to the wider community.”

That makes sense. So many people learn about Jewish things from peering inside the sights and sounds of Jewish life. They visit the local synagogue. They attend Jewish film festivals and watch "The Nanny" and "Seinfeld."

Why would ACMA nix the station then? Searle: “...because Melbourne had too many Community Radio Stations...and at least two other groups had been formed (in addition to “Lion FM”), each with a view to either applying for the community broadcasting licence or being involved in community broadcasting. It would appear that the “fight for the licence” might have been a contributing factor in the ACMA decision, as clearly, ACMA did not see a unified community”.

That also makes sense. From the outside, all Jews are ...well Jews. So, I can imagine an ACMA staff meeting, And if they can't become one voice, then why should we give two or three different licences, when so many others are putting up their hands to get a voice?

I hear Rodney King saying, "Can't we all just get along?" or Michael Jackson singing, "We are the world" or even a campfire ablaze and we are singing along with the strumming guitar to some 60s folk song.

Unity doesn't necessarily come because we are all alike in some measure. Put four 6-year-olds together at a multi-family gathering because they are...well, they are the same age, and see if they 'just get along.'Why if we put 20 'not perfect' adults into the same room do we think they will get along perfectly? It's illogical. The problem is not with the wishes or desires of people to contract niceness or good harmony or peace, but with our own self-consumption and selfishness.

Dare I say it, the problem is sin.

The answer is not harmony singing or contracts, but in repentance and forgiveness. That's God's answer to the human dilemma and it's logical and reasonable. And right.

If you want unity, you have to know and be known by the Living God who makes all things His, under His lordship and when that happens, we submit to His will and life gets good. Or at least better.

Y'shua's prayer was "the glory which Thou hast given Me I have given to them; that they may be one, just as We are one." (John 17.22) Good prayer. And it will be answered, in due course. And the answer will come when we seek God's glory and not our own. May it be, even today.

Grounded and flying high

2011-06-14T08:13:00.000+10:00

Yesterday I flew back early from Brisbane to Sydney. Early because I had heard that there was a massive cloud of ash coming from Chile and the Chilean volcano was still spewing. I heard that as the airplanes were grounded in Europe from the Iceland volcano, so this one would hit Australia. I wasn't nervous, but thought it best to leave early. I got back in plenty of time, as nothing to/from Sydney was affected, immediately. But the news today is awash with the troubles of the thousands being made visible.

The Age (from Melbourne) reports this morning, "Thousands of air passengers remain stranded in Melbourne despite the ash cloud from the Chilean volcano beginning to dissipate and airlines resuming flights out of Tullamarine and Avalon airports yesterday." The Age article

The AAP reported, "The air force was called in yesterday to fly Tasmanian federal politicians to Canberra after they could not travel on commercial flights."

Disruption is never convenient nor pleasant. I'm sorry for the dis-ease of the politicians and the thousands yet left without travel as they planned. Thanks to Dee and Dean for rising early yesterday to make my life easier by driving me to the Brisbane airport. And thanks to God for His allowing us to change plans. I always say, "Blessed are the flexible; they do not break."

What will come to you today, to upset you or to thwart you? What will come your way to knock you off course, or to give you an opportunity to amend your way or your ways? If you keep your eyes on Messiah, you will do well. Then no matter the cloud or the sunshine, you'll be able to handle it.

G Giffords and Jewish identity

2011-06-14T06:20:00.000+10:00

The news is good today about Gabrielle Giffords. The media is running the photo (below)showing her alive and well. The shooting in Arizona on 8 January left many dead, some in shock, and Giffords fighting for her life. Who is she? And what is this about her being Jewish?

Giffords was born in Tucson, Arizona, to Gloria Kay (née Fraser) and Spencer J. Giffords. She was raised in a mixed religious home by her Jewish father and Christian Science-practicing mother. She has identified herself solely with Judaism since 2001, belonging to Congregation Chaverim, a Reform synagogue, in Tucson. She is Arizona's first Jewish congresswoman. Would the Orthodox Jewish people count her as a Jew? Not really. But Arizona does. And certainly Congregation Chaverim does.

And I do. And the Bible would, too. Abraham begat Isaac. Not Sarah. (Of course, Sarah did, but the Bible's use of patrilineal genealogy is well noted) Isaac begat Jacob. You get the idea. So Giffords' father's Jewish identity is enough for her to be a true claimant of the Jewish religion.

The Reform Jewish world established this as an appropriate marker for someone claiming their identity. See Resolution on Patrilineal Descent from March, 1983. This is a break from what they site in the resolution, "According to the Halacha as interpreted by traditional Jews over many centuries, the offspring of a Jewish mother and a non-Jewish father is recognized as a Jew, while the offspring of a non-Jewish mother and a Jewish father is considered a non-Jew."

And yet, the document goes on "Both the Biblical and the Rabbinical traditions take for granted that ordinarily the paternal line is decisive in the tracing of descent within the Jewish people."

So there seems to be discussion about parenthood and Jewish identity. And it has only increased since 1983. In 1979, my son was born and had to be 'converted' to Judaism by the rabbi in Kansas City, before they would allow his circumcision, but by 1983, when my older daughter was born, the reform movement had concluded that she would be Jewish due to my identity. Something we already knew and believed, but now it was official.

And Ms Giffords already was living it long before 1983. Too good.

The discussion can be seen in the thousands of webpages dedicated to the subject. For a quick look, see Jewish Gentile Couples and have a wander there. Or if that website appears too big, try this one article about Stephen and Laura Katz Katz article

Mazel tov to Gabby Giffords on her recovery.
Mazel tov to Stephen and Laura on their lives together.
Mazel tov to you, if you find the One whose identity can seriously shape your own.

Animal rights

2011-06-10T18:04:00.000+10:00

It’s all over the news. Look what’s happening with Indonesian abattoirs and the traumas of slaughtering formerly-Australian cattle. The RSPCA and Animals Australia are taking out adverts on television. They are organizing a national day of protest against animal cruelty on 18 June.

121,000 Australians work for the beef industry. The value of live cattle exports in the year 2010 was $678 million. There are 10,000 jobs directly related in Australia to the live cattle export trade. So it’s no small matter that the federal government under Prime Minister Julia Gillard (actually Agriculture Minister, Joe Ludwig) has ordered a suspension of the exporting of live cattle to Indonesia until the government over there can guarantee the humane treatment of the animals before they are slaughtered.

Wait, did I say ‘humane’? That means human, and thus, I’m a little confused. Shall we treat animals like we treat humans? Or better than humans? We don’t sell humans to other countries for a profit, or even at a loss!

The Australian Agricultural Coshares is a conglomerate of the largest beef producers in country. And they are lowering their expectations of beef futures down from $60 million to $50 million as a result of the government interference. Or rather protectionism. Or involvement.

Most Australians had never heard the word abattoirs until the ABC ran an expose 12 days ago.

Right now there are 100,000 Australian live cattle awaiting slaughter.Did the beef industry know about the abuses of the animals in Indonesia? When did they learn about it? Are they responsible for the actions of the people to whom they sell the cattle? What about industrialists in Western Australia who sell mining materials to China. Are we going to require China to ‘live up to our standards’ viz these materials? Or in anything? The farmers, ranchers, and the industry has to have some warning from government or else their futures predictions are false, and their hopes for sales are false. I’m questioning the rights of government and I’m not the only one.

In regards to slaughtering, I think about Jewish people and slaughtering animals. We have rules and the shochet, the ritual slaughterer, who is well trained. Among other features, shechita slaughter severs the jugular vein, carotid artery, esophagus and trachea in a single continuous cutting movement with an non-serrated, sharp knife, which is intended to avoid unnecessary pain to the animal as consciousness is lost quickly due to loss of cerebral blood pressure. Is that humane? Or kind enough RSPCA?

Back in the days of the Bible and the Temple, God required sacrifices, even daily, for various reasons, but the number one reason that I can figure, is to remind the Jewish people each day of our sins, and the desperate condition in which we find ourselves. The cost of repairing our relationship was large, and involved bloody sacrifices.

Some wonder if that will be reinstated if the Temple will ever be rebuilt in Jerusalem. IF it is, and I’m not sure it will be, then sacrifices will probably be reinstated. But the sacrifices will be unnecessary as we now have seen the repair accomplished with the death of The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.

That’s right, the inhumane treatment of Jesus, Y’shua the Messiah, by Roman soldiers which ended in the ultimate crucifixion of the Nazarene, left him dead. And buried. And then on the 3rd day God raised him from the dead. Never again to die. Thanks be to God for his loving gift.

Shavuot, Pentecost, some shaking and Jesus

2011-06-08T04:54:00.000+10:00

Christchurch 2011. Devastation. Earthquake. And tremors that continued. Six months after the larger but not fatal earthquake had hit the same place. This though was the most expensive natural disaster in our sense of history in New Zealand at 15 billion dollars. In total, 183 people were killed in the earthquake, making the earthquake the second-deadliest natural disaster recorded in New Zealand (after the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake), and fourth-deadliest disaster of any kind recorded in New Zealand.
Months later, in April this year, Fukishima Japan. Earthquake and tsunami. And then weeks later, another earthquake as tremors continue. The nuclear reactor is in danger. The people of Tokyo are only 170 kilometres south and often worried of the situation.
For most of us, life is a driving force, keeping and getting life, almost whatever the cost. That’s a prime driver for humanity and for us as humans, amen?

Tonight in Bondi and in Jerusalem and in New York City Jews are celebrating Pentecost and are eating blintzes and cottage cheese. They will stay up all night reading and praying and learning the Book of Ruth.
What is their motivation and what can we learn from their busy-ness and their thinking? And what does God have to say to us as 21st century people about what gives us life?

Images of Mount Sinai
For that, we have to return 3,500 years to the point in Jewish and really world history, where God gave the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) to mankind, specifically to the Jews, then that the Jews might pass on the information to the rest of humanity. Pentecost is called the ‘Time of the Giving of the Torah.” Why ‘giving’ and not ‘receiving?’ Because every time we listen to the Bible read here at church or in our private devotions, on Christian radio, or wherever, we ‘receive’ the Bible’s truths. One time, God gave it, but each time we can receive it again.
The scene in Sinai was raucous to say the least. The book of Exodus unveils the scene as one of chaos. What’s there? Look, there is fire and wind and a voice. Ezekiel 1 is read on Shavuot and it’s designed to link with and show us the exaggerated activity of a storm, a wild storm, uncharacteristic storms of high energy and God’s voice coming from within it.

Ezekiel says, “And as I looked, behold, a storm wind was coming from the north, a great cloud with fire flashing forth continually and a bright light around it, and in its midst something like glowing metal in the midst of the fire.”(Ezek. 1.4)
Later on in the Bible, the writer of Hebrews shows us even more of that scene and contrasts it with our Mt of Revelation.

“For you have not come to a mountain that may be touched and to a blazing fire, and to darkness and gloom and whirlwind, and to the blast of a trumpet and the sound of words which sound was such that those who heard begged that no further word should be spoken to them. For they could not bear the command, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it will be stoned.” And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, “I am full of fear and trembling.”
But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the first-born who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel. … For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less shall we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven. And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven… Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire.” (Heb 12.18-29)

What a scene of awe and fear. This is stuff Spielberg would love to create. This is massive cyclone like we have seen thundering across the plains in the US of late, even in my state of origin, Missouri, where the tornadoes came through and so far more than 130 are dead.

“And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount. And Mount Sinai was altogether on a Smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in Fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long.” (Exodus 19) You get it.

With all of Israel standing, quaking, and basically traumatized after 400 years of slavery, terror at the Red Sea, a narrow escape, and a month and a half of wandering in the wilderness, building the Golden Calf and thinking it’s all lost, then they saw the lightning and thunder and great wind, and wondered if it was all over. I would have been afraid, and I imagine I’m not alone.

Fear was on them. Moses returned and brought two tablets of stone. On them were 10 phrases. And God used those 10 words to define a constitution for the former slaves.
Listen, fire shakes things up. Earthquakes shake things up. We all need a good shake up now and then, don’t we? I even heard some commentator reviewing why the tornadoes are going on in the US… he referred to Global Warming.

I believe that Sinai was one of the first places of Global Warming ever recorded. And God was heating things up for Israel and on Israel that we as Jews might take a renewed, invigorated, ‘on fire’ religion and go to the nations.
The Spirit came on the church as a fire; he came onto Jesus as a dove. Jesus needed no cleansing; we are desperate for it.

Go to the Nations with God’s Tongue
The story is told: God offered the Word to 70 nations, but each said no. He came to the Jewish people and offered us the Torah. Moses said, “How much for the 5 commandments?” God said, ‘they are free.” Moses replied, “I’ll take 10.” By the way, I can say that joke; I get worried if some others do.

Luke tells us at beginning of Acts 2 that there were people from every nation. This would reflect the 70 nations believed to exist. And sometimes they were called 70 tongues, since a nation usually is defined not by geographic borders, but by its language.

70 nations were offered the Torah; they refused. As a result of Pentecost, the 70 nations will hear the Gospel.

It is significant to note that a Jewish commentary on Exodus, recalling chapter 10 of Genesis, which sketches a map of the 70 nations which were then thought to comprise humanity as a whole, leads them back to Sinai to hear the word of God: "At Sinai the Lord's voice was divided into 70 languages, so that all the nations could understand" (Exodus Rabbah 5, 9). So too in the Lucan Pentecost, the Word of God is addressed to humanity through the Apostles, in order to proclaim "the mighty works of God" (Acts 2:11) to all peoples even with their differences. A clear overcoming not only of national differences, but of the Tower of Babel problem resident on humanity, the inability to speak at peace with one another.

A few years ago I was in Melbourne, and upon arrival at the airport I rang a Jewish woman I’d met on the phone a year before. She is a Mendelsohn and when our team was cold calling Jewish surnames, I rang her and dozens of others. She seemed interested and I marked her name as such on our computer. So on arrival I wanted to meet up with her. She was open and had a friend, Alice, come by from next door. Alice is a Baptist, and wanted to know how Jews, Jesus and Jews for Jesus went together.
Now my new Jewish contact is originally from Scotland, and although I’ve traveled the world, I had a very difficult time understanding her accent. Sure, her words were English words, but they were foreign sounding to me. It was her dialect (a Greek word meaning ‘tongue’ and used in Acts 2 of what the disciples received that day) that threw me off.

Long story short, this woman prayed with me to accept Jesus that afternoon. She is reading her Bible now and Alice is helping her. She is being looked after by a church which meets just around the corner from their flats. God is good!
What Babel evidences, the inability of people to speak with each other, Pentecost overcomes as people from 70 nations can hear the same words in their own language and respond in faith, amen?

Tongues divided the world in Babel; tongues unite the world in Pentecost.

And remember what the 120 did when they got the Holy Spirit that Pentecost day? They went downstairs and outside and preached so that the 3,000 could find eternal life. We hear the Gospel; we respond and believe and we go to preach it.

What is in our hearts comes out our mouths. Jesus said, “For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart.“ (Matthew 12.34) In fact 15 times in the Newer Testament, people are filled or the phrase is used “filled (or baptized) with the Spirit” and each time what follows is speaking. If you believe in Jesus and have a relationship with him you will speak about him to others. And they will hear and learn and some will come to faith in Jesus.

Conversion and Pentecost
One point to mention about this holiday is the uniqueness in relation to sin. At every festival the Torah informs us that one has to bring a sin offering. Only on the festival of Shavuot is the word 'sin' not mentioned. Why? “For on the festival of Shavuot, the day of the receiving of the Torah, all Jews are like the convert "newborn", and so free of all sin.” (R Levi Yitschak of Berditchev)

What R Levi Yitschak means and what we mean may be different. Let’s be clear. We all need to be cleansed of sin. We all need shaking up. And in Pentecost we have God calling us to listen, to hear his words in whatever languages, and to be born from above. He wants to fulfill His words of Jeremiah 31. There God predicts through the ancient prophet,
“Behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them, “declares the LORD. “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD, “I will put My law within them, and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
“And they shall not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the LORD, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” (31.31-34)

This new covenant is God’s promise. This new covenant is enacted on Passover, 7 weeks before Pentecost when Y’shua took up the 3rd cup during the seder and initiated it. And in his dying and rising from the dead, we can all be forgiven of our sins, we can all be converted, we can all know God. It’s a new covenant, not like the covenant of Moses (the Old covenant). This is conversion in the best sense of the word.

And why do we read the Book of Ruth? The rabbis say we read Ruth because King David, her descendant, died on Shavuot and because Ruth was a convert and at Sinai we were like converts. God transformed us from ordinary people to a special nation.
And why do we eat dairy products? The word of God is likened to “milk and honey” and we eat to remind ourselves of the sweetness and refreshment found in the Word of God.

Conversion brings life, not death
In Exodus 32 we read of the return of Moses with the 2 Tablets of the Law. And the Jewish populace was behaving riotously and the brother of Moses, Aaron, lied about how the Golden Calf incident happened. Moses was angry and invited the people to join him. The sons of Levi did (Moses’ tribe too) and that day the text tells us, “So the sons of Levi did as Moses instructed, and about three thousand men of the people fell that day.” (Exodus 32.28)

Now if you know much about Bible, you know the precision of biblical numbers is a worthy study itself. For instance, exactly how many men came out of Egypt from each family and each tribe? No round numbers here; no approximations. Even after the Resurrection, Peter goes fishing and catches 153 fish. (John 21.11)

So it’s very surprising to read the phrase “about 3,000 men” in Exodus. Is it random? Not at all.

Acts chapter two shows us that as a result of the preaching of Peter, Jewish people interrupted his sermon and said, “What shall we do?” (Acts 2.37) and Peter told them to repent and get baptized and get filled with the Holy Spirit, for the ‘promise is for you, and your children, and all who are far off” (This means the Jews, the Jewish families, and Gentiles). And who responded? “So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and there were added that day about three thousand souls.” (Acts 2.41)

No coincidence here. What brought death in Moses’ day brought life in Peter’s day. And to the exact number of people.

And Paul made a point of this in 2 Corinthians 3.

“Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. But if the ministry of death, in letters engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was, how shall the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory?” (3.5-8)

So the Spirit brings life and the Law brings death. But let’s be too simple here. What we mean by Spirit always contains Scripture. What we mean by Law contains more than Scripture. Here’s what I mean.

'The Law' is a checklist system, with requirements and guilt for failure and pride for satisfaction. It starts in the Scripture, but goes past its intent. 'The Spirit' (as Paul used the term) is God’s word enabled in our lives. It’s the requirements of the Law put into our hearts of flesh. (Jer. 31).

Spirit without the Word is Emotionalism; Word without Spirit is legalism.

But together, they are what Paul calls “Spirit” and we could say“ The Spirit and the Word bring Life.” Jesus said “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” (John 6.63)

That’s it…that’s how we win in this transitory life. We trust the Spirit and God’s Words, they bring us life. Fukishima plant technicians and US tornado survivors, and Christchurch earthquake survivors all share victories of still breathing, but what you and I can count on is that those who trust Jesus and are anointed with his fire and word, enter into life and live it to the fullest.

About 3000 folks can live; 5,000 the next day (Acts 4) and who knows how many in Penrith or in Sydney or Melbourne or around Australia will hear God’s word and live, even today?

Pentecost is not Passover. On Passover we are forgiven. On Pentecost we are empowered to proclaim the Gospel. Let’s be out sharing this message. Let’s go out and tell.

Calendar

2011-06-04T19:28:00.000+10:00

It's advertising time for the new calendar for 2011-2012, which really is the calendar for 5772. You can order it here

Why should anyone order a $22 calendar when the life insurance company or the funeral home or the butcher might give you one for free? The artwork by Amy Sheetreet, an Israeli artist, is worth the price by itself. And each page is able to be framed, after the year is over. Each month has the information about what portions of Bible are read in synagogues worldwide. You can know about holidays like Passover and Hanukkah and when they happen, since Jewish holidays rotate according to the moon and not the sun, like Aussie holidays like Anzac Day.

Each month has information which will be useful for you to understand the Scripture and the promises God has given each of us.

Of course, if you live in the USA, you can order from the Jews for Jesus website there, but here in Australia, we are the only ones who will have this edition. Get it early. Last year we sold out by October!

Same story...different location

2011-06-02T12:57:00.000+10:00

I'm putting up the link to the Vimeo broadcast from Michigan of my testimony and some tips on Jewish people and what we think and how to witness to Jewish people. Should be good, if you have an hour. Here it is

I guess telling the story is a biblical thing to do. The Apostle Paul told his story and it's recorded three times in the book of Acts. I wonder how many times he really told it. Probably hundreds. And every time I share what God did for me, back in 1971 and beyond, I remember that God still is, that He loves to bring people to Himself, and that He is alive. He's not only the God of the Bible, but He's alive and well and wanting relationship with us all.

Even you.
If you'll listen.

May you have a story to tell as well.

Where will you be buried?

2011-05-27T12:16:00.000+10:00

I read this reply today. A reform rabbi is answering a question online about a Jewish person being buried in a Christian cemetery. He says, "Jewish tradition does not permit the burial of Jews and non-Jews together, as in a common cemetery. However, Jewish law is concerned with the sanctity of individual graves, not the sanctity of cemeteries (which are really just a collection of individual graves, as far as Jewish law is concerned). Therefore, a Jew could be buried in a non-Jewish cemetery according to Jewish law if there was sufficient space -- one grave width -- separating the Jewish grave from those of non-Jews. In this case, the Jewish grave legally could be considered a separate cemetery, even if it contained only one grave." The entire article is here, Burial

Of course, Moishe Rosen's yahrtzeit is this weekend, which prompted a lot of my thinking. Moishe Rosen's headstone

I worked on my funeral service, may it be decades away, this morning. And then I began reading more about the composer Felix Mendelssohn. His uncle was a banker, as was his father. Turns out that Joseph, the uncle, founded the powerful Mendelssohn Bank. He abandoned Judaism, but was still boycotted by the Nazis decades after his passing in 1848. And yet, Joseph was buried in Berlin at the famous Jüdischer Friedhof Prenzlauer Berg (Jewish cemetery). The Nazis also boycotted Felix's music and issued laws against listening or performing any Mendelssohn music.

Where will you be buried? Where will I be buried? I'd like to be buried in a Jewish place. I'd like this symbol to be put on my grave/headstone.

And yet, I want to be buried with my wife and children. Not in a crematorium. Jews died in such in the Holocaust; we shouldn't choose that for ourselves. A proper burial; a proper funeral. Where will that be?

I urge the leaders of the messianic world to join together in each continent, and find a suitable venue for the creation of a Jewish believer burial location. We need our own cemeteries.

What do you think?

Oops: A 4-letter word God has never used

2011-05-24T16:53:00.000+10:00

Just when you thought it was safe to listen to family radio again, today Harold Camping has done it again. The Australian reported this arvo, "The US preacher who predicted the end of the world would occur on Saturday says he was off by five months - Judgment Day will now come in October.

Camping said the apocalypse or the so-called global "Rapture" will come five months after May 21, the original date he predicted. Camping says he felt so terrible when his doomsday prediction did not come true on Saturday that he left home and took refuge in a motel with his wife.

The 89-year-old retired civil engineer appeared publicly on Monday night. Rather than give his normal daily broadcast, Camping made a special statement before the press at the Oakland headquarters of the media empire that has broadcast his message.

Last week he had predicted the global "Rapture" would begin with powerful earthquakes at 6pm local time in each of the world's regions, after which the good would be taken into Heaven." Australian

Oops. I made a mistake. I was wrong. Tough words, to be sure. And we have each said them. Or have we? Camping needs to say them. He was wrong. And one more thing...he needs to stop saying when Jesus is returning. Come on, someone, someone who lives near Camping or who can speak into his life. Tell him to preach what IS clear in the Bible, and to quit announcing (wrongly) when the Rapture or the Final Judgment will take place. Jesus clearly said, "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone."(Matthew 24.36)

Oops. That's a word God has never used. Why? He never made a mistake. Remember William Shakespeare, "to err is human, to forgive divine." It's a human reality-- we are going to make mistakes. We shouldn't excuse ourselves with "I'm only human," but we need to know others will disappoint us and fail us and say wrong things.

But God won't disappoint us. He won't lie to us. He will never leave us or forsake us. "The Lord our God will not abandon us, He will never forsake His people."(Psalm 94) He does not lie. "the Glory of Israel will not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind.” (1 Sam 15.29) He will not say, 'oops.' Thanks be to God. He is faithful and reliable and believable.

0 for 2: A rapture predicter's record

2011-05-23T09:02:00.000+10:00

Now that wasn't even close. 21 May, Judgment Day came and left, not with a bang but a fairly energetic whisper. The 89-year-old former civil engineer Harold Camping made his predictions based on mathematical calculations and they were wrong. This wasn't the first time he erred. In 1994 he said something similar, although I don't know if he took out as many billboards then. A former colleague of his wrote last week on the blogosphere, "In 1994 he wrote a book claiming that the Rapture would take place on September 6, 1994. It did not, and neither did he repent of his false teaching nor apologize to the masses that he deceived." Now the end blog

In reply to the original:

The Christian Science Monitor (one day I'll write about how Christian Science is neither Science nor Christian) reported in a whimsical manner under the banner of "Apocalypse Not: Harold Camping wrong – again – about 'The Rapture" CS Monitor

In baseball terms Camping is 0 for 2, a whopping .000 percentage batting average. Not exactly the kind of record you want for a prophet, even one who works for a non-profit organization like Family Radio.

Now it's easy to pick on him after the (non) event. But that's not the point of this blog. The point is that he was right about something. Wrong about date and time, to be sure, but right about the reality ...Jesus is returning!

One of the things my Orthodox Jewish rabbi (Maurice D. Solomon of @KehilathIsraelSynagogue in @KansasCity) taught me back in 1971 was that the Tenach, the Jewish Bible, pictures two messiahs. One is the Messiah son of Joseph, and the other is named Messiah son of David. He told me that we as Jews have a choice. We can live godlessly and when the time comes God would have to send Messiah as a suffering one to die for us (humble riding on a donkey, Zechariah 9) or we could live godly and the Messiah would come on the clouds, and bring his kingdom to earth (Zechariah 9!).

Rabbi Solomon's ideas, which are historically very Jewish, helped me understand how Jesus could be the Messiah. The reality of Israel's sinfulness is something which most every prophet, real ones, like Bible prophets, taught. 19 times in the books of 1 and 2 Kings we read phrases like, "Jehu was not careful to walk in the law of the LORD, the God of Israel, with all his heart; he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam, which he made Israel sin." The prophet Micah said, "On the other hand I am filled with power — With the Spirit of the LORD — And with justice and courage to make known to Jacob his rebellious act, even to Israel his sin." (3.8) Even King Solomon admitted to God, "When they sin against Thee (afor there is no man who does not sin) and Thou art angry with them and dost deliver them to an enemy, so that they take them away captive to a land far off or near..." (2 Chr. 6.36)

In other words, there is not an Israel that isn't sinful and doesn't need repair. Therefore, the humble, donkey-rider Messiah is not only an option, but God's only option to help us.

That's one of the many reasons why I believe Y'shua is the #Messiah of Israel, and our only Saviour. But that's not the end of the story.

What Rabbi Solomon missed was that Messiah would not be one OR the other, but he would come twice. And it's the 2nd coming, the apocalypse that Camping and so many address.

The Bible IS true, and Messiah would come on a donkey to save us, by dying on the Roman cross and healing our souls. Then he would come again, after time, to restore all things as he desired. To vanquish, to do final repairs, to make the world the place he originally designed.

So although H Camping got the date wrong, the real story is that there will be a final date, the return of Jesus, when all wrong is righted, and when all the believers will live with God forever. On that you can bet. I'll get 1 for 1 on that one. 1.000-- nice batting average.

When? I have no clue. But the issue is to be ready. My long-time friend @ErnieGruen used to say, "Jesus didn't say, 'Occupy about when I'm coming.' He said, 'Occupy until I come.'(Luke 19.13)" God wants us to believe in Him, to trust Him with our lives, to share His love with others, and help others find peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, until Jesus returns.

It's already 23 May here in Sydney. It could be today. Or tomorrow. Or in 90 years. I really don't know. But I DO know that Jesus will return. That's worth bannering and putting up a billboard, to be sure.

Judgment Day...before the time

2011-05-21T23:45:00.000+10:00

Is this really the end of the world? Is the rapture upon us? What in the world are those things anyway? And...what's wrong with Harold Camping? What's right with Harold Camping? Quick, there are only a few hours left before his prophecy is to come to pass. And the internet is abuzz, my goodness, even Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon mentioned the end of the world in their PTI program earlier. So let's unpack it for now, and then tomorrow or the next day I'll write further about this.

"In the last week, variations of “End of the World May 21st” and “Harold Camping” have remained among the top search terms on Google. On Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control released a mock guide to the “Zombie Apocalypse” on its web site that quickly went viral.

But "it’s no laughing matter," Camping told The Huffington Post. “It is not something where it's a tiny, tiny, tiny chance it may happen. It is going to happen.”

He and his fringe group of churchless followers believe that at 6 p.m. on Saturday, May 21, a massive earthquake will make its way around the earth, beginning in Fiji and New Zealand. Graves will open and two hundred million 'saved' individuals will float up to heaven. The doomed remainder will live on an unruly earth for five months before God annihilates it five months later." Huffington Post article

Is that the way the world will end? And what did Y'shua say about that day? Recorded in the Bible, in the biography written by Luke, a physician, we read, “I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”(chapter 18, verse 8) Wow, the thing, the #1 thing the Messiah Y'shua will be hunting when he does return, whether on 21 May or any other date, is faith. Not faith in Harold Camping. Not faith in the church, not faith in one's own religion and religious observances. But faith in Y'shua. Believe in Jesus; that's what He wants.

Another time Jesus was teaching about the last days, about His return, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone." (recorded in Matthew 24, verse 36) That's fantastic. The Messiah then didn't know when he was scheduled to return. How then would Camping know if Jesus didn't know?

It's late here in Sydney. Almost midnight. Almost 22 May. I know, it's only 941 a.m. in the East Coast of the USA. So you might have a few more hours to ponder your life and get yourself right with God if this prophecy is true. Or you might have days or weeks or months or decades. I don't know.

But what I do know is that Jesus will return.
And when he returns, he will establish his kingdom. Kings do that, you know?
So humble yourself before Y'shua, the real Jesus, the one who died for you and who was raised from the dead on your behalf. OK?

Peace, peace, when there is no peace

2011-05-20T10:47:00.000+10:00

President Barack Obama has weighed in again in the Middle East. It's not enough that he sent war planes into Libya, and continues the war against terror in Afghanistan and Iraq. Today's video speech about capitalism and democracy again highlights the American's views on his involvement in that troubled region. Watch the speech here If that takes too long, here's the full speech here.

I'm glad people are weighing in on the issue of peace and the Middle East. Last Sunday the Muslim terrorists vowed a 3rd intifada. Elior Levy reported last week (13 May) on YNet news, "The Palestinians are preparing for "Nakba Day" – text messages were sent to tens of thousands of cellular subscribers in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, calling them to take part in the events marking the Palestinian day of mourning over Israel's inception and to ignite a third Intifada.

Police intelligence suggests that the Palestinians intend on holding several prequel events on Friday and Saturday; and though the police believe chances of events escalating into riots are low, reinforced police and Border Guard forces will deploy in east Jerusalem, the Old City and Temple Mount plaza, to maintain order.

Security forces on high alert ahead of 'Nakba Day' / Omri Efraim
Defense establishment reinforces troops deployment in Jerusalem, West Bank ahead of weekend preceding Palestinian day of mourning over Israel's inception.
The main concern is that local protests will prompt violent clashes and mass rioting. As part of security measures ahead of Sunday the police announced that it will restrict the entrance to Temple Mount on Friday to male worshippers over the age of 45, carrying Israeli IDs." Full story here.

Our own Aussie media covered this stirring by Palestinian 'fans' of the intifada movement, which we should call intifadism. The full article came out at the end of March this year. Read it here Good on Facebook for trying to be peace makers. The article said,"Attempts by Facebook to shut down a "Third Intifada" page backfired on Tuesday. More than 7,000 Palestinians immediately signed up for three new copycat pages.

The original "Third Intifada" page, which had acquired almost half a million "fans", was closed down earlier on Tuesday just days after Israel contacted Facebook to complain over comments on it which it said called for "the killing of Israelis and Jews"."

On 17 May, we read on JPost written by Khaled Abu Toameh, "The great majority of Palestinians expect a third intifada to erupt if Israeli- Palestinian peace talks reach an impasse, according to a poll published on Tuesday.

The survey also showed that nearly 80 percent of Palestinians supported the recent reconciliation agreement between Hamas and Fatah." Whole article

Abu Toameh also said, "With regards to peace with Israel, respondents seemed to be equally divided.

Asked, “Do you think that Israelis are interested in making peace with Palestinians?” 44% said no, while 45% replied yes, to a degree. The poll also showed that 40% of Palestinians support the resumption of peace talks with Israel, as opposed to 32% who have a mixed feeling and 25% who are opposed.
Only a tiny minority of 5% is for “military operations” as a way to end Israeli occupation."

So is there hope for peace in the Middle East?

Not if Wikipedia continues its kind of nonsense. Note this page so far still on their site, "The third intifada (May 15 2011) is the third Palestinian uprising against the Israeli occupation in the Palestinian territories. The uprising began after failed negotiations between the Palestinian Authority and Israel which ended with the Israeli refusal to halt the construction of settlements in the West bank. This intifada was organized by a Facebook group which was banned for advocating violence after attracting 350,000 followers. The intifada was launched during Nakba day, which commemorates the founding of Israel in 1948. Refugees from the Arab World gather around Israels borders in Lebanon and at the Golan Heights in Syria." Wiki page

But there is no intifada. The people of peace seem to have gained some sense for a while. I'm sure some terrorist and evil-inspired person will jump in with both arms waving and flag media attention by suiciding himself and maybe homiciding a few others.

The Jewish Chronicle reported today, "The three "days of rage" planned by various Palestinian groups failed to materialise in the largest Palestinian concentration, the West Bank. In Hebron and Ramallah, Palestinian police prevented thousands of marchers from leaving the city centres and taking on Israeli forces. Despite the unity agreement signed three weeks ago between Fatah and Hamas, the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority's policemen beat up Hamas supporters in Hebron when they refused to disperse.

"The co-ordination with the Palestinians is going as smoothly as before the agreement," said one IDF officer with satisfaction on Sunday. A handful of demonstrations at smaller villages took place with little violence, a few ended in stone-throwing but were dispersed by tear-gas with only light casualties."
See whole article here

Real people with real hearts of passion and compassion want peace. And yet, we have to know what peace we are addressing. Listen to these words from the prophet of Israel.

"From the prophet even to the priest everyone practices deceit...saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ but there is no peace." (so said the prophet Jeremiah in chapter 8, verse 11)

Real peace comes from knowing the Prince of Peace. Real peace is deep within a person; it's rarely the result of a bullet. Remember Mahatma Gandhi's teaching, "What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty and democracy?"

I remember the words of Messiah, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid." (quoted in the biography of Jesus written by his follower John 14:27) Knowing Messiah Y'shua gives us peace, inside, and that's where it all begins.

I have watched and re-watched the DVD named "Forbidden Peace." It's a series of stories, real stories between real people, Palestinians and Israelis, who have found peace in the midst of terror and in the midst of trouble. You can order a copy online here

But even if you don't order it, know that real peace CAN happen, if we know the Messiah Y'shua, have repented of our own abundant sins, and lay them all at his feet. He trades those in for his righteousness and peace.

And that's worth making a speech about!

Chaplaincy: When the news is not new at all

2011-05-14T11:07:00.000+10:00

News this week comes from Washington DC and from Melbourne. And both carry stories about chaplains on active duty. In DC it is a military story, and historic, and in Victoria it’s about schools and conversions. But they are both relevant.

The DC story is actually a revelation of 13 Jewish chaplains who served with other chaplains and with military units over the decades and who died on active service. The story from CNN Religion Blogger Eric Marrapodi, tells about 4 chaplains who died together, giving their lives so their charges could live.

The sentiment is thick as thieves in this section of Marrapodi’s article. “On February 2, 1943, the USS Dorchester was transporting 902 U.S. servicemen to war. Only one torpedo hit, but it struck a deathblow - killing scores instantly and resetting the ship's course to the bottom of the ocean.

Amid the chaos four U.S. Army chaplains fought to bring calm and comfort, praying for the dead and encouraging the living to fight for survival. They helped frightened servicemen find life jackets and head to rescue craft. Each of the four chaplains gave up his life jacket to save the life of another.

All four stayed on the ship's new course to the bottom of the ocean and gave their lives so others might live. The last thing survivors saw of the four chaplains, they were huddled together praying.”

One of those was a Jewish rabbi, Lt. Alexander D. Goode. He has not been ceremonially honored as yet. The others were given burial in Arlington National Cemetery, in either the Catholic or the Protestant sections. There is (as yet) no Jewish section there. Some folks are trying to make that happen. Hence the story.

The other story comes from the Melbourne Age today. Seems the authorities have discovered something at the bottom of their piles. It’s not really news, and is more historic than the sinking of the Dorchester. It’s about Christianity.

The Age reported about chaplains considering their work a mission. Yes, that’s the word: mission. Like missionary. Like the Blues Brothers “on a mission.” On 24 April Michael Bachelard reported “The Christian organisation that provides chaplains and religious instruction teachers in state schools has advertised its services as a ''mission'' in an area of Melbourne with a large Muslim population.

An Access Ministries advertising feature shows a Christian chaplain at multicultural Glenroy Primary School talking to two Muslim children wearing hijabs. The headline is: ''Your Community Our Mission''.

In the accompanying article, published last year, Access Ministries' chief executive Evonne Paddison wrote that: ''My prayer is that each child in Victoria, with your help will experience the transforming love of God and his son Jesus.''
More of this story in Age on Mission

Then today Jewel Topsfield reported in The Age, that there are some who want the schools chaplaincy program, begun under the (John) Howard government, scrapped. [“Australian Education Union president Angelo Gavrielatos said the comments highlighted the dangers of the program, which should be scrapped.”]
Why? Seems a 2008 audio recording of Ms Paddison, demonstrated the chief executive telling a conference: ''We need to go and make disciples.''

The remarks appear to breach guidelines governing school religious programs, which ban trying to convert students to any one religion.

This story is here in today’s Age

Here’s my surprise. Did the government just now find out that the Christian church has a mission? Did the words of Jesus quoted by Ms Paddison in 2008, “Go and make disciples” just come up on Google for the Age reporters? Or for the government? The church has always been about going and always about helping and always about making disciples. That’s a natural and supernatural result of the real discipleship of believers in Jesus.

After all, He was on a mission. The Bible says “God loved the world so much that He gave His only begotten son so that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3.16). The Apostle Paul, a rabbi named Saul of Tarsus said this of the mission of Jesus, “It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.” (recorded in Paul’s first letter to Timothy, chapter 1, verse 15)

No hidden agenda. No surprise revelation after the fact. The angel Gabriel told the stepfather Joseph to “call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins.” Yes, He taught. Yes, He did miracles. And yet, the reason He came was to restore us to relationship with the Father, to whom we had turned our back. That’s what sin does. And how was Jesus going to restore us? By dying for us, and thus saving us from our sins.

The Church has for 2 millenia been about doing good, healing, helping, and proclaiming this Good News message.

How fitting that this should come into the news as Billy Graham, the 92-year-old American evangelist, is fighting for his life suffering pneumonia. It was when Rev Graham came to Australia that the Melbourne Cricket Ground saw its largest crowd ever. This from Wikipedia, “Until the 1970s, more than 120,000 people sometimes crammed into the venue – the record crowd standing at around 130,000 for a Billy Graham evangelistic crusade in 1959, followed by 121,696 for the 1970 VFL Grand Final. Redevelopments have now limited the maximum seating capacity to just over 100,000. This makes it the tenth largest stadium in the world.”

If anything is clear from Rev Graham both in 1959 and to this day, he is on a mission. He wants everyone everywhere to believe in Jesus. And the Melbourne crowds were well aware of that. No one should be surprised at that.

And an evangelical Protestant mission like Access Ministries or Billy Graham Evangelistic Association or the Anglican church or the Hillsong folks…everyone wants people to find the joy and peace and life and eternal life that’s found in Jesus. This is not new news, but it is Good News.

Even for Peter Garrett. Even for Julia Gillard. And even for you.

Baby it's cold outside

2011-05-11T22:02:00.000+10:00

The top temperature today in Sydney didn't even reach 20 C (68F). It was chilly to the bone. The wind was up, the clouds were thick, the sky grey. It really felt wintry, even though we're only barely into autumn. I wore a jumper, hat and jacket. And still felt the chill.

Chill is in the air after last night's Budget 2011 was announced by Treasurer Wayne Swan of the Labor Party. The Liberal/ Coalition opposition was quick to deride the programs nixed by Labor and to label as wrong so many of the benefits extended, mostly to rural Australia. The cold reception by Tony Abbott, Joe Hockey and others was not a surprise, however.

Also in the air is the chilly revelation that another Qantas aircraft was forced to turn back after being struck by lightning near Auckland today. The incident comes less than 48 hours after one of the airline's Boeing 747s experienced engine problems in the air near Singapore.

Trouble in the air, and no one to bring relief.

Pictured is the famous painting by Thomas Blackshear who also designed illustrations for numerous postage stamps issued by the United States Postal Service (USPS), including four in the Black Heritage stamp series. Blackshear is an African-American. The painting is named 'Forgiven' and depicts a man, caught in trouble, caught by regret, and full of doubt and pain. It shows Y'shua, behind and strong, able and powerful. The title says it all. It's in being forgiven that we find grace and help in time of need. It's being forgiven that allows us to face the results of our sins and face the music. Chill might be in the air, but Y'shua brings us the warmth of his grace and love.

When I read online the many many many views on the painting, I'm struck by how many are struck by the painting. The impact is great. People, as with all good art, see different things in the characters. They see different results and different situations. But everyone who writes sees something. And that's something to be sure, to commend Blackshear.

And maybe you will have a perspective as well. Maybe you are in the kind of pain that this man in the purple shirt is in. Maybe you have done some damage with the hammer like he did. Maybe you are guilty, racked with the reality of that guilt. Maybe you see the holes in the hands of Y'shua and imagine that you were the one who nailed him to the cross. After all, someone did that. And what would be this man's response? What is your response to the awareness that you have, that you are responsible for the death of Y'shua?

After all, the crowd was agitated.
Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Messiah?” They all said, “Let Him be crucified!” And he said, “Why, what evil has He done?” But they kept shouting all the more, saying, “Let Him be crucified!” (Matthew 27.22-23)

The Roman soldiers after weaving a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand; and they kneeled down before Him and mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they spat on Him, and took the reed and began to beat Him on the head. And after they had mocked Him, they took His robe off and put His garments on Him, and led Him away to crucify Him (Matt. 27.29-31)

It was a chilly reality when the sky overhead turned dark for 3 hours. "Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour."(Matthew 27.45)
A Nisan day, and yet chill in the air. Distrust, mistrust, pain, suffering, anxiety. It was like a day at the Kentucky Derby races, with everything on the line. But it was a real day, like no other. Everything was on the line.

And just before Y'shua gave up his spirit (B'yado afkid ruchi), we read in Luke 23.34 Y'shua was saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” Wow, forgiveness. The missing ingredient in our lives. The reality most required. That which the purple shirt man needed. That which you and I need. Forgiveness. It's found in one place, and extended by One Person-- Y'shua.

Warms your heart, doesn't it? Gives you strength and courage, you know?

Swimwear and Multiculturalism. A study

2011-05-10T11:55:00.000+10:00

This is an age of multiculturalism and sensitivity. It’s not always so easy. That’s what Lisa Burke found out over the last few days. She is an Aussie, living in Byron Bay. She is also a swimsuit designer. She is not on Project Runway.

Seems Ms Burke is the focus of protests by both the Indian government and people. Why? She designed a swimming costume with the likeness of the Hindu goddess Lakshmi, which was shown at Australian Fashion Week last week.

Georgina Robinson wrote the article in today’s (Melbourne) Age: “Demonstrators in Amritsar burned the Australian flag and waved placards on Sunday in protest at a skimpy swimsuit... shows Lakshmi - the goddess of wealth and beauty - on the front and back of the cutaway design.”

Australia already had a weakened relationship with India after the cricket World Cup last summer where the sub-continent eventual winners India, took out the formerly unbeaten Aussie side with relative ease.

Ms Burke issued an apology on Facebook and Twitter, even mentioning the people, "We apologize to the Hindu community and take this matter very seriously."

Now the latest news may only aggravate the relationship. We may need our PM, Julia Gillard to help. Seems during the weekend the Bharatiya Janata Partya party called for an apology from the Australian government, according to London's Telegraph newspaper.

Sensitivity. Relationships. Not easy in this multi-cultural world and especially with commercialism and marketing to various other cultures within each country. Globalization makes us want to get our goods to others, but being sensitive is required.

The wedding of Kate Middleton and Prince William had us all over the world watching the ceremony, the pomp, and the dress. Yes, clothing can be multi-national to be sure. Consider the Nike swoosh and the impact of Michael Jordan’s Air Nike label.

And Ms Burke was hoping to make her label available and visible to the Hindu market. I guess making a Hindu goddess available may not have made the swimsuit marketable. Let’s hope Ms Gillard can weigh in and help.

Taxes and charities

2011-05-08T20:13:00.000+10:00

The Brisbane Times reported today that the new Federal Budget to be reported by Wayne Swan on Tuesday night this week will feature a change in the taxation of churches and specifically of charities. I read the report about this after seeing a tweat by Pastor Brian Houston from Hillsong Church in Sydney.

He wrote in three tweats on Twitter today, "I hope a charities commission protects Hillsong from agenda driven journalism, such as on page 4 of Saturday's Sydney Morning Herald! All activities of Hillsong Church contribute to our non profit objectives. The Sydney Morning Herald HAVE all the info needed to know that! Phillip Coorey & Peter Hartcher know or should know that the only link between Hillsong & Gloria Jeans, is the owners belong to the church!"

Authors Phillip Coorey and Peter Hartcher reported, "The federal budget will put a lid on the practice of so-called charities using their tax-free status to generate business income for no charitable purpose whatsoever. In changes to be announced in the federal budget on Tuesday, not-for-profit organisations will have to pay tax on profits that are kept for commercial purposes and not redirected towards the organisation's altruistic purpose.

The government and the charity sector have grown concerned at the proliferation of groups which qualify as a not-for-profit entity and then launch profitable businesses."

Did Coorey and Hartcher ring Hillsong to verify the relationship with Gloria Jeans? Did they ring Gloria Jeans owners Nabi Saleh and Peter Irvine? Yes, they are members of Hillsong church. Wikipedia says "in mid-2009, Gloria Jean's Coffees International formed a charity, the GJCI "With Heart" Foundation, to support various international charities, including Compassion and Opportunity International."

This new report from Brisbane combined with Swan's budget will have little impact on groups like Jews for Jesus. Here in Australia we operate a book shop in Bondi Junction, the recognized centre of the Jewish community. The report says, "The changes will not affect simple activities such as cake stalls or lamington drives, nor such ventures as op-shops or church hall hire, where the profits are put back into the charity. But not-for-profit entities will have to pay income tax on profits that are not directed towards their altruistic purpose and they will not be able to use input tax concessions, such as fringe benefits tax and GST, for the unrelated commercial activities."

All profits from our book shop go back into the ministry/ organization. So we will not be hampered from our use of profits back into the organization, at least this year.

Feel free to buy things from our catalog (or not), but the products are all useful to understand more about Y'shua, more about the Jewish people, more about the love of God. Catalog

We hope that all churches, all organizations, live within the laws of our country, and that all courts and tax departments live within their requirements and laws as well. No witch-hunting, no 'agenda-driven journalism' as Pastor Brian said. Large churches are often targets of some 'tall poppy' haters. May our Labor Government not be party to such. Let's live honestly and fairly. That's what God would want. Don't you agree?

Holy man or fraud. Whom can we trust?

2011-05-07T08:28:00.000+10:00

Reported in the UK Telegraph by Bonnie Malkin, Sydney

A self-styled Greek Orthodox "holy man" was jailed in Australia for 15 years after he was found guilty of tricking two women into having sex with him by claiming it would lift black magic curses placed on their families. Tony Golossian went to trial last year in Sydney. The court heard that he used his respected position in the Greek community to "brainwash" two women, repeatedly raping them during "prayer sessions" over the course of seven years and telling them that if they resisted one of their family members would fall ill or die.

During the rapes, which his co-accused Arthur Psichogios also took part, he would blindfold the women and tell them that they were dreaming.

Despite maintaining his innocence throughout the trial, Golossian, 63, was found guilty of 24 charges relating to rape of the two women in December and was yesterday sentenced to a minimum of 15 years. Psichogios, 41, was jailed for at least 12 years and his wife Frances Psichogios, 38, who was convicted over the drugging and assault of one victim, was sent to prison for five years.

Judge Penelope Hock said the men had carried out a calculated plan to take advantage of the women's vulnerability, causing them both "substantial" harm, the Australian Associated Press reported.

VICTIMS reported: "I am continually haunted by what has happened and what seems like a never-ending nightmare," one of the women said in her victim impact statement.
Another said: "Bit by bit, day by day, month by month, year by year, they chipped away at my soul and broke me down."

Wow, shame upon shame. Shame because of the hoax. Shame because it was done in the name of religion and an alleged Christian situation. You have to look back at the original version, at the Founder of the religion, to see how it was done.

This from the Apostle Paul, a Turkish born Jew, from Tarsus, who studied under a famous rabbi Gamaliel, and became a follower of Y’shua: “Messiah redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree” in order that in Y’shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” (in his letter to the Galatians chapter 3, verses 13 and 14)

This matches the activities of the Messiah in his public ministry. “A woman who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years, came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His cloak; for she was saying to herself, “If I only touch His garment, I shall get well.” But Y’shua turning and seeing her said, “Daughter, take courage; your faith has made you well.” And at once the woman was made well.” (recorded by the biographer Matthew, a former tax collector, and follower of Y’shua, in his book, chapter 9, verses 20-22)

This sounds like Y’shua cares about people, wants to break the curse for them and didn’t need drugs to coax them into a brainwash, no need for false prayers, no need for trickery and lies.

Whom can we trust? A phony holy man (Golossian) and his accomplices or a former carpenter (Y’shua) turned preacher who ended up dying for our sins and rising from the dead. The choice is ever yours.