Many years ago I “hit the wall”. In the space of one year, I lost my mentor, my assistant pastor left, my own father died, and we lost a child before it was born. One day I found myself refusing to answer the phone - I could not face another problem or loss! Whether it was emotional burnout or depression, it all felt the same to me.
Depression is now a major health problem in the world and is the leading cause of suicide. Apparently, depression is experienced more by females than males and it occurs most in the 40–55 age bracket. In saying that, anyone can feel depressed in a very stressful time of life.
Depression is an emotional state marked by feeling of sadness, worthlessness, dejection, and worry, but it is not new. The earliest book in the Bible records the acute depression of a man called Job. After losing his possessions, his children, and any understanding from friends, he exhibits all the symptoms of a depressed person. We also know that Elijah and David’s had bouts of depression.
There is a continuum of severity of depression, from situational depression, to neurotic depression to clinical depression. Clinical depression (or major depressive disorder) is more severe than situational depression; it can be caused by disturbance in neurotransmitters, organic or hormonal imbalance. People who experience this are not able to respond to teaching, advice or being told to cheer up. They will not respond positively to parties, picnics or even prayer meetings. Anyone in this situation and anyone suicidal should see a doctor and receive treatment.
However, nearly everyone at some time experiences some situational depression stemming from emotional and mental stress. Jesus, in His humanity, certainly felt emotional pain and depressed emotions in the garden, but He fought it off perfectly. Depression can stem from a severely oppressed upbringing or losing someone or something important to you. It can also be brought on by a blow to our sense of value, a virus, or wrong priorities that bring on fatigue. It can be as the result of a traumatic event such as childbirth, divorce, the death of a friend, a serious accident or retirement. Sufferers may look sad, and feel empty, pessimistic, rejected and unloved. Their eating and sleeping can be affected and if agitated, can find it hard to sit still. Sometimes they have episodes of crying and may withdraw from activities and it can be accompanied by suicidal thoughts. Most people who experience situational depression begin to have symptoms within 90 days of the triggering event.
While there are many possible causes, it is far more profitable to know how to get out of it, rather than to know what causes it. Bestselling author and psychologist Dr Minrith of Minrith clinic believes that there are things we can do to help ourselves and that there is no reason why a person, particularly a believer should fall into situational or neurotic depression. Depression is not something a person chooses but it is something that we must choose to deal with. Dr Minrith states while it is totally avoidable, we must follow the right path to avoid it. In other words, happiness is a choice. Depression is not caused so much by the initial problem, but more by our response to that problem. Doctor Minrith, after treating thousands of depressed people, says the most common root condition that predisposes people to all types of depression, is pent up anger, either toward themselves or from holding grudges toward others. He said some people come to him thinking they have endocrine deficiency or hypoglycaemia, but what they actually have is an unconscious resentment they aren’t aware of, (or they are too ashamed to admit that they have). These people he said, have found an excuse for their bitterness and call it battling depression.
Dr Minrith says three things enable any person to overcome depression and live a happy life: Having a personal sense of value, intimacy with other people and feeling right with God.

Ourselves: Make sure we are not angry at ourselves through guilt or even false guilt. True guilt is our conscience telling us that we have violated Gods law; we feel guilty because we are guilty. Thank God He forgives us when we ask Him. Guilt also should motivate us to change our behaviour - when we stop doing the wrong, we can stop some feelings of depression.
False guilt and shame on the other hand, comes from breaking some convention of man or because of the judgments of significant people in our lives (like parents or partners). E.g. feelings of not measuring up or meeting their expectations. We need to refuse guilt that does not stem from some specific disobedience to God and receive assurance that our value comes from our Creator, not from what people may think. It is good to admit to friends that you need timeout and it is important to eat healthy food and exercise. For me, a quiet week in the country helped restore my soul a lot.

Others: Remove all resentment or grudges against others. If we do not deal with it daily, we will wake up depressed. We need to forgive people fully, finally and freely every day. To get angry is not sinful yet it can become sinful when it hurts you or others. If we have got a “thing” about a parent, a sibling or someone else we must forgive them. Refuse family feuds- do you best to resolve it and leave the rest to God. Continue daily routines regardless of your feelings and even do something good for others every day or week- it will make you feel better. Build important relationships by going out with your wife and playing with your kids. Create balance in your work life. You may need to earn a living for your family, but your family needs you, 1000 times more than they need the extra money. Spend time each week with people that leave you feeling better not worse. Do not wait for others to come to you but take the initiative to build a strong relationship with two or three friends lest one leaves town. Jesus in his darkest hours chose some close friends to be with him. He shared with them his feelings and asked for their support in prayer and proximity (Matthew 26:36-38).

God: If you need to, get back into relationship with God. Each day relate to Him as an understanding Father who runs to help you in your failures. Be thankful for your blessings and pray for patience and strength in your battles. Jesus poured out his heart in prayer “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me” but in the end He rested His soul in the wisdom of God. Then we need to intentionally reprogram our mind with God’s promises, so it does not just replay on a loop of negative depressive thinking. It is uncommon for people with a positive attitude, to succumb to depression.

Being burdened by shocks in life is inevitable but failing under their weight is not. In Gethsemane Jesus shows us a way that is not painless but also is not passive. He was delivered troubles that He never wanted but He found a way through. He shared with His trusted friends and asked them to watch and pray with Him. He poured out His soul to the Father and rested on the wisdom and love of God. Jesus looked beyond the pressures of the moment to a future before Him that was filled with joy and hope. Although difficulties in life are not avoidable, it seems that depression might be.

The film “Frozen” is a favourite with the kids of every age. I have seen it myself and my grandkids can sing the songs. What is better than a princess who can turn things into ice. Of course, hundreds of popular films are based upon superpowers, miracles, and witchcraft where people can transform themselves into other things or creatures. It is great entertainment, but I came away thinking about how closely it parallels the real world in which truth is stranger than fiction.
Last year a frightened woman asked us to come to her house where a spirit had taken up residence. The spirit appeared at nights in the adult son’s bedroom and that half of the house had become really cold, like frozen. The son had shifted his bed into the lounge to stay warm and refused to go near his bedroom. After sharing how Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil and to forgive and save us, they received Christ. We removed all the witchcraft items from the house and commanded the spirit to go. The next day they rang me, happy that the apparition had gone and the man was back in his bedroom plus the house had become warm again.
A few years back I was in Vanuatu holding a village crusade. While I was preaching there was a commotion at the back, and after the meeting, some boys came forward to explain what had happened. Apparently, a local witch doctor had morphed himself into the form of a dog and was coming out of the bushes to disturb the meeting. When the boys threw rocks at the “form,” it cried out with a man’s voice and ran back into the bushes. Three days later the witch doctor from three villages away, died. This was a bit hard to believe until a missionary acquaintance of mine told me how he was threatened on a mountain road in Mexico, by spirits appearing as mountain lions and by witchdoctors who flew through the sky like bats.
While these things are strangely fascinating, they have a more sinister message for people everywhere whether in the west or the third world. There is an unseen world just as real and more long-lasting than the one we can see with our eyes. Paranormal TV shows catch on camera, the activity of spirits but seem unaware of the origin and disposition of demons. Mostly they conclude that they are the spirits of a long-departed resident or a friendly or sometimes crotchety ghost, rather than a demonic spirit impersonating a departed person. The spirits of dead people do not stay around the house, instead evil spirits remain among us deceiving and destroying everything God wants for people: peace, happiness, freedom, relationships and health.
We know that evil spirits hate the Lord Jesus and people, not just because the Bible says so, but from experience. One night I was visiting a couple who had been involved in witchcraft. As I sat in their lounge calmly explaining from the Bible how they could be put right with God by repenting and calling on the name of the Lord Jesus, the woman suddenly leapt up from her chair and rushed at me snarling like a wolf with her hands out to grab my throat. The name of Jesus prevailed! Another lady in our church had been involved in a coven and although she had left the witches coven, they continued to torment her. On the night of the coven meeting, spirits would astral travel into her house and sprinkle the walls with blood. Also, when she initially took the Lord's supper, she would break out in welts all over her body.
After rebelling against God, Satan came to earth to deceive the people and usurp worship by standing behind idols, false religions and godless philosophy. He has continued to promote rebellion against the Creator, by convincing people to decide for themselves what is right or wrong. He blinds people spiritually, so they remain unaware of the spiritual realm (naturalism) or illuminates them to the world of the occult, witchcraft or the calling up of spirits. He fosters pride in people’s hearts to think that they can fix the world themselves (humanists) or foolishly claim they know everything about a world they cannot even see (atheists). In ancient history, he spawned numerous religions that demanded human sacrifice and sexual perversion, resulting in broken relationships, hatred and mistrust in families. Today the altars for the human sacrifices are abortion rooms, perversion spews continuously from the TV and false religions are considered part of some nations culture. One family after seeing their son set free from drugs and alcohol, came to enquire how this happened. After sharing the love and power of Jesus, the whole Hindu family committed to following Jesus Christ. At their house, we removed all the idols and altars and that night for the first time in many years, the mother was not attacked by snakes from the spirit realm as she slept and was free from what had been nightly torment and pain. Removing idols is necessary as demons inhabit or associate with any occult object or “deathly hallows,” in your house. I once told a tormented man to destroy a death mask he had in his house and a scream came from it, as we burned it.

If evil spirits operate on a family or personal scale and they do, then we know that they will also have a global presence and strategy to ensnare mankind. The Bible tells us there are spirits that seek to rule cities, nations and even the world itself.
Demons do not just inhabit Hogwarts and cold castles, but also the halls of powerful political and financial establishments. There is a demonic scheme to extend the devils rule on the earth through human representatives and a global government. He cares not whether people are religious or secular, Satan only needs the world to ignore Christ and for people to give in to the same three temptations which Jesus refused as a man, in the wilderness: To act independently from His Father, to distrust Gods protection, and to want something other than Gods will. Thankfully, Jesus did not want to be independent of God, He did not need God to prove Himself and Jesus did not want the world, He wanted only us.
Jesus came to warm frozen hearts, to deliver people from the icy grip of a hateful enemy, and to bring us into His kingdom and His care forever. To be on the right side of history and eternity, we too need to choose dependence upon God, believe without seeing and reject any allegiance with the “lord of the flies.”
There is only one Spirit on the earth who wills our good. He is as powerful as He is loving. The Holy Spirit is called the Helper, the Comforter and the Counselor. We do not have to call him up or draw him down with candles, bells, food offerings or altars, we only need to receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour, and the Holy Spirit will come to us. He will dwell in our homes and our hearts and warm our lives with His presence and help until at last, we dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

For the last few months, we have been given a weekly reminder that our country’s “COVID fight” is commanded by the United Nations. We are told by WHO Director Tedros that we must all obey their edicts to be saved (stay safe). Who is the WHO and how does it have the authority to command our sovereign nation? Tedros was once a member of a terrorist group in Ethiopia before he was nominated by Bill Gates to be the director of the WHO.  

The United Nations was established after Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill held a secret meeting following World War II. The U.N. is now a global diplomatic and political organization which they say is dedicated to international peace and stability. Beginning with 51 member states, today the organization has 193 members. To make the world’s population ready for its secretly growing powers, they have made issues out of overpopulation, global poverty and wealth inequality, manmade global climate change, and apparently rampant environmental destruction.  It has spawned thousands of non-elected, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in every area of life which offer (or buy) themselves influence with regional authorities, often bypassing a nation’s elected governments.  NGO’s such as the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives, which set themselves up as the world authority and expect all the earth to follow their rules. 

 https://iclei.org/en/members-search.html?region=Oceania

The UN, which is funded by the mega-rich like Bill Gates, and member nations (except USA) has goals similar to the closely linked Club of Rome. Climate problems was an idea started by a group called the Club of Rome who also state that the world is overpopulated, and numbers should be reduced. Founding member Ted Turner said China’s Mau Tse Tung’s reduction of the dissident population was a great achievement. Today they are pressuring all governments to adopt their 2020 Planetary Emergency Plan, which is the same as UN’s Agenda 21, and they are calling for governments and the UN to declare a planetary emergency and to adopt a plan of action.

 https://clubofrome.org/impact-hubs/climate-emergency/

Another powerful group in league with the UN is the World Economic Forum. Since COVID, the World Economic Forum has kicked off the Great Reset initiative. Their idea is that the governments of the world should spend $10 trillion per year and create 37 million nature-positive jobs by 2030. Resetting the environment should not be seen as a cost, but rather an investment that will generate economic activity and employment opportunities.

https://www.weforum.org/great-reset

Affecting every nation today, is the slowly becoming known Agenda 21; or the UNs global blueprint for Sustainable Development. This was signed on your behalf by NZ leaders and 178 other world leaders at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992. Sustainable Development is the code word they now use for a global New World Order. Agenda 21 calls for a complete re-orientation of the world system of governance in every area in which humans have an impact on the environment.

https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/outcomedocuments/agenda21

Agenda 21 promotes socialist goals that will erode our freedoms and liberties. Most of its vague, lofty sounding phrases cause the average person’s eyes to glaze over, making it easier to accept by tuned out citizens. In order to keep total control of the world and its people, the UN leaders involved are constantly thinking of euphemism and nice-sounding terms for their intentions. J. Gary Lawrence - Bill Clinton’s Advisor for Sustainable Development said “Participating in a UN advocated planning process would very likely bring out many... right-wing conspiracy groups... who would actively work to defeat any elected official...undertaking Local Agenda 21. So we call our process something else, such as “Comprehensive Planning”, “Growth Management” or “Smart Growth.” SDG is often promoted with the environmental message of “going green”, or “being a good steward” but in reality, it has (like Communism or Fascism) a doctrine or philosophy complete with its own agenda, beliefs, and goals. Its three pillars are Ecological Integrity, Economic Prosperity and Social Equity. While these sound-like reasonable goals, their methods are not reasonable. All activity which fails to achieve this perfect balance is considered unsustainable, meaning that traditional western capitalism is an inequitable system that must be replaced with a new financial and governance system. Already many Universities and young people have become indoctrinated with this radical, collectivist philosophy. Agenda 21 goes well beyond environmentalism! Other broad goals include, combating poverty, changing consumption patterns, promoting health, and reducing private property ownership, single-family homes, private car ownership, and privately owned farms. It seeks to cram people into small liveable areas and institute population control. What they call “social justice” is the forced redistribution of wealth. People will be required to surrender individual rights and, in some cases, private ownership of land for the good of the collective.  The ‘environment’ will be used simply as the means to promote a political agenda. A restructuring of the governmental systems of the world’s nations will be made so that every person in the world will become a subject of a global collective where food, water, medicines, travel, and the way children may be raised are all controlled. If it seems to you that there is a lot of migration being encouraged around the world, along with laws to encourage the breakup of families on a global scale, consider this quote from the UN.  “To achieve world government, it is necessary to remove from the minds of men their individualism, loyalty to family traditions, national patriotism, and religious dogmas.” Brock Adams the Director of the United Nations World Health Organization, SCP Journal, 1991. According to the UN’s special expert on freedom of religion, the views of UN human rights bodies must take precedence over the mainstream beliefs of many leading world religions, when it comes to law and policy.

https://c-fam.org/friday_fax/un-expert-world-religions-should-defer-to-the-authority-of-un-experts

 The United Nations, due to their deceptive use of euphemisms in speeches and on their flashy websites, can make a global commitment to totalitarian world government sound like something we would all want. Certainly, the Gen X,Y and Z’s will think it sounds beautiful. Twenty years ago, all this was hidden because it would be unacceptable to the masses, but now they are quite brazen about their goals due to increased acceptance in people’s minds (particularly young people) and every year have a celebration called “Goalkeepers” hosted by Bill Gates to talk about progress toward the global goals. 

https://www.gatesfoundation.org/goalkeepers/

Now if this sounds bad, it gets worse when our Prime Minister Jacinda proudly promised Bill Gates and the rest of the “Goalkeepers” that New Zealand will be the first nation in the world to fully implement Agenda 21. There are two big players in the world at the moment.

One is W.H.O. of which the Bible may well describe.  “Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Job 38:2. Their plan is to crush and control the people of the world…...and then there is another “WHO” that loves us and wants us free. “Who is like You, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, Fearful in praises, doing wonders? (Exodus 15:11.)

Our future as a globe and as people will depend upon which WHO we follow.

New Zealand now has the shameful distinction of having the most liberal abortion laws in the whole world. In the shadow of the approaching pandemic, the left pushed through laws allowing unborn babies from 20 weeks to full term to be killed. How will they do this? Surely not the grotesque partial-birth procedure method, in which the baby is spiked in the head and killed in the process of delivery. Even the American courts call that infanticide or murder. And now in New Zealand, if a baby survives an intended abortion, it can be allowed to die by neglecting its needs. This is intolerable.
Justice Minister Andrew Little said, "Abortion is the only medical procedure that is still a crime in New Zealand.” His rhetoric treats children like a cancerous growth to be removed. He continues, "A woman has the right to choose what happens to her body,” ignoring the fact that it is not the mother’s body that is being terminated. Surely before the mother becomes pregnant, is the right time to choose what happens to her body. Under the new amendments, unborn and new-born children with defects, can also be killed. This is the law of the jungle-the survival of the fittest!
Sixty-one votes to fifty-seven votes, makes it clear that the left block, pushed the outcome of their evolutionary ideology, onto the nation. Their conclusion is based on their belief that people are mere animals with no unique value and that the more powerful of the species have the right to exterminate the weak. Any ministers of Government who conceitedly say they know for sure God doesn’t exist, should at least thank their evolutionary stars, that they are were allowed to live, because no government or parent would ever have passed this law during the era that they were born.
While Muslims and transgender people are us, it is clear that unborn children, are not! It is sadly ironic that the socialist left, who say they promote the rights of women and the vulnerable, have removed the most basic right of every human being: the right t0 be born.
In contrast, our Great Creator values every child and has destiny for each unborn child. (Genesis 25:22). God told Jeremiah, that he was planned and had a divine purpose even before he was conceived. (Jeremiah 1:5). God makes specific mention that He detests the sacrifice of children. (Jeremiah 32:35 and Psalm 106: 37-38),
Jesus didn’t specifically mention abortion but neither did He mention methamphetamines, atomic bombs and other modern instruments of crime and harm, but His perfect Divine nature is always against everything that destroys the dignity and health of people.
Jesus was only conceived less than a month, when Elizabeth called Mary the Mother of the Lord. So, Jesus was Lord from conception, not just from birth! (Luke 1.45). Jesus knew that He himself, His cousin John, and by extension all people, are valuable and have a unique purpose from God, well before they are born.
I admit life can be complex. I probably can’t fully understand the pressure some woman feel due to an unplanned pregnancy, and we should do all we can to help them. I’m glad mothers that have had abortion for any reason, can find complete forgiveness and peace with God through Christ. I’m glad unborn children will go to heaven. I’m glad that Jesus died to save all types of sinners, whether abortion doctors, politicians, teachers, preachers or popes.
Jesus who had the right to ignore us, valued people so much that He even gave up His life to save us. So, I can’t understand how any human being, can believe they have the right to decide that another human doesn’t even deserve to be born?

An uncle of mine who never married, took over the family farm after his siblings left. He farmed well for 20 years but after my grandmother died, he began to experiment with alcohol. A few years later, he was addicted. Whenever we drove up to the farm, my uncle was standing in his tractor shed bottle in hand. Beer bottle lids littered the ground and empty cases were stacked up behind the tractor. He seemed happy enough and no doubt would have said that he felt free, but everybody else could see that he was losing touch with life and reality. A few years later he became ill and died with liver disease. My uncle never imagined that something he enjoyed initially, would kill him in the end.
NZer’s will be asked to vote soon, in a referendum on the Cannabis Legalisation and Control Bill. Marijuana is called by all, a psychoactive drug, which means it has the same mind-altering effects as alcohol.
My mother’s advice to me when I was a teenager was simple. " Don’t waste your money on beer or tobacco" Like a lot of teens, I tried them both. She went on to say “ but if you going to choose one, make it smoking because you will only kill yourself, but if you drink you could kill someone else as well”, referring to drinking then driving. If my Mum had thought I would encounter marijuana, it would have been on the list too!
In my teens, I had a friend who was a rich kid. We took his father's 24-foot Mason clipper out for the weekend to Mansion house. As he puffed his joints (I didn't partake because I heard my mother's voice in my head. Good on ya Mum) We arrived too late at night and drove too fast amongst the anchored boats, causing a lot of shouting from the other boats. Enjoying his high, he then got out his spear gun and shot it into the water amongst the boats. Really sensible behaviour! That was in the 70s but the new laws will proudly limit the THC content for smoking, at 15%, initially. Which is 5 times higher than it used to be in the 70s (Think Woodstock).
Under the proposed new laws, every person can grow 4 plants at home, which is enough for 33 joints per day, every day of the year. Plenty for all the family and maybe something new for family night! I don’t think this will help our poorer children break out of the poverty addiction cycle.
There may well be some beneficial use of THC for medical pain relief (This is a separate issue), but in countries where cannabis has been legalised like Canada, edible marijuana flooded the markets encouraging new users, especially young people. Great! A pillar of sickly smoke going up in the playground would be obvious but a lolly party under the jungle gym, not so much. Teens won’t need to worry about stained teeth or bad breath, they can have a lolly!
The Greens and those hoping to make money from the legalisation will tell us the benefits of making it normal, but I prefer to read what medical doctors say that have no vested interest. Web MD says smoking will give you a high relaxed feeling but also may leave you panicked, depressed and eventually even paranoid. (seeing and hearing things that aren't there).
One in six teenage users will become addicted and even more frightening, imaging tests on adolescents, show that marijuana can physically change the brain and reduce the number of neural connections. This makes it hard for them to think, remember and concentrate. Why would we even think about making that normal? Years ago, one drug-taking relative had a
meltdown - I led him to the Lord but in the morning he remembered nothing of it.
Doctors say it can heighten your senses, but it can damage your motor skills and impair your judgment when driving or working. And edible MJ lasts up to 6 hours in the body’s system. I would want to know that my dentist, pilot and co-road users, have not been on the weed. People may be given the right to mass-produce and consume dope, but as my long-gone Mum said, it will end up hurting others.
But doesn’t everybody want to experience some sort of transcendency? To be more; to feel like their life is bigger than themselves. Yes! Alcohol and substances that alter states of consciousness can do that. So can sports, hobbies, bungee jumping and being in love. They result in powerful hormones, like adrenaline, dopamine, and beta-endorphins. But true transcendence (experience beyond the physical level) must be a spiritual experience.
Jesus spoke to a woman from Samaria who was looking for some transcendence in her life. She tried to find it by filling the emptiness of her life, with men. And Jesus understood. Jesus has no problem with people looking for “more”, but with the places or things in which people look for it.
Like the woman at the well, some people don’t know how to find Life in all its fullness, so they look for “more” in all the wrong places. When the Samaritan woman had the spiritual understanding that Jesus was the Messiah, she left her vessel and left her men, because she finally had met the More!

On the National program this week, Siouxsie Wiles was talking about misinformation around coronavirus. Apparently, YouTube decided to research the most popular searches about Covid-19 and found 67 YouTube videos that contained misinformation. They had been viewed 250 million times and Facebook and You-tube decided to delete some of this "misinformation".
Siouxsie, a spokesperson for our government, went on to define misinformation, as all information that is contrary to the World Health Organisation. So, currently, any different perspective, given by even qualified experts and doctors, on any matters of health, viruses or vaccines, are classified as misinformation.
In the UK recently, David Icke a man who questions the global narrative, had his YouTube channel deleted. A vaccine specialist Dr Judy Mikovits has her million-view video deleted by You tube. A businessman in the UK, Brian Rose, had the biggest YouTube livestream in history, (over a million people) but with prospect of being deleted by Google, has had to form his own channel called LondonReal.tv. So, what Facebook and YouTube do not agree with, they delete.
Alternative viewpoints are not necessarily right, but if we only have access to the permitted viewpoints, we may never know the full truth about anything. Without free access to information, someone else decides what is true and what is false for us. This is the thin edge of the wedge, for freedom of speech on those platforms. Eventually they may decide that the message of salvation through Christ alone, is misinformation or harmful speech.
As private companies, YouTube and Google are free to ban everything they don’t like but the Church does not need them, to get the job done - Paul and the Apostles didn’t.
With or without You Tube, the freedom to share ideas, ideals, and ideology, is critical to human progress and social good. Society can only progress in technology and understandings generally, by the free flow of information. If Copernicus ideas had been successfully shut down by the rulers of the day, we would still believe that the earth is the centre of the universe. If Wilberforce had been silenced by the godless masses, who knows how much longer, black people would have been taken as slaves from Africa.
Free speech is necessary to challenge the dominant culture (political or religious), which often assumes its own correctness. As people did in Poland in the late 80s. Without it, we have only the beliefs of past teachers, parents, or governments to follow. Muslims must be free to share their religious thoughts and Christians must be free to share theirs as well.
Even the United Nations say that every person has the right to investigate religions and philosophies and convert. If there's a God more amazing than Jesus, (who fulfilled the prophecies of the Old Testament, who walked on water, raised the dead and then rose from the dead himself, declaring that he had defeated death and reconciled us to God), I would want to be able to hear about it.
Thankfully in New Zealand, we have the Bill of Rights guaranteeing freedom of thought, conscience and religion. Of course we do not need the government to give us the right to speak - we have a divinely given right and responsibility to speak. Our heavenly Bill of Rights is Mark 16, where Jesus told us to go into all the world, preach the gospel, cast out devils, heal the sick, and tell everybody that the Kingdom of Heaven (His loving rule) is available.
Jesus assumed free and responsible speech. For Him, free speech means speech free from lies and unkindness. It also means freely sharing the good news with the world, in a manner that represents Him and His kingdom. Jesus spoke freely of His kingdom and exposed false kingdoms and He risked offending people to tell them the truth. As the God of Truth, He wants no person to suffer from false hopes, based on false gods and false beliefs.
We are blessed in NZ however one threat looms: To protect minorities from feeling offended, the Human Rights Commission is soon to introduce a new bill to criminalise disharmonious speech against minority religions. Although the Hon. Andrew Little said recently, “We already have laws to protect against "hate speech," …he thinks sanctions against the incitement of disharmony should now be extended to the area of religious faith.” While we all agree no one should be intentionally harmed by words, the law could easily morph into criminalising any comparison of Christ with Muhammad, Buddha or Moses, yet comparison of religions should be encouraged for all thinking people. It also could mean that a person could be criminalised just for making a person of another faith, feel bad. That the harm of ones speech is determined only by the subjective feelings of another. This could easily be abused.
People even took offense at Jesus' wise and perfect speech. Sometimes when we are told we are wrong in our beliefs or actions; we may take offense. Being made aware of the truth may be embarrassing but it is not harmful and always better in the end. I once drove up a one-way street in France the wrong way and had the locals shout at me. It was embarrassing to me, but I was grateful in the end. The truth sets us free!
Let us be clear-Jesus came as King of the universe, not to be King and Saviour of the Jews or the Christians but of all people, whether Christians, Muslim, Buddhist, Jews, or atheists. Therefore, all people deserve to hear that there is life beyond the grave, and that they can receive His gift of eternal life. All people need to know that Jesus died to gain their forgiveness and all people deserve the dignity, of being allowed to decide for themselves, whether they will accept Him or reject Him.

Years ago there was a haunting song that became quite popular, “I want to know what love is ... I want to you show me..”  That is the cry of every man and women, and even every Christian.   Even people that know the Lord, can still be desperate to feel love.  Bono from the band U2 sung “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for” yet he was a believer.   There are some believers who know the Lord but still never found what they were looking for in the church, among Gods people.   Everyone is looking for love; believers come to church expecting to find it not just from God, but from His people too.   Bonding is something that happens in families and it is a powerful bond that usually lasts for a lifetime. If a child is able to attach to others and begin to trust others like parents, they develop normally. Every emotional problem from addiction to depression has alienation or isolation as its root.   Even church-going will not fix it.  If all we get is religious exercises and not life, we don’t get better.   Life comes from our relationship with our Father and from life-giving relationships with people. What is not found in natural families is meant to be experienced in our new family the church.  The Bible calls it, the bond of perfection.  (Col 3.14)  It is a special kind of love; its Gods love found in and among Gods family. As we develop relationships with others in the body of Christ we are built up and built together by the joints or the bonds between us.

Friend, no alcoholic recovers on his own and if you allow your heart to be cut off from people and from relationships where there is real love, it will develop a hunger for a deceitful lust or desire in your life. Maybe for substances, sex, food or other addictions.  The empty-ness must be filled and it is designed to be filled with a relationship with God and others who are filled with God.

The sun was setting as Gideon returned from spying out the Midianites.   He found enough trumpets among the people to put one in every soldier’s hand. The Shofar was the trumpet used for sounding the alarm for war. Every man needed a trumpet for the battle. “Then he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet into every man’s hand, with empty pitchers, and torches inside the pitchers” ( Jdg 7:16 ) Have you got a “Shofar” to make the sound of war? Have you a trumpet set to your mouth?  Can others hear it when you talk?   When Moses came down from the mountaintop, he thought he heard the sound of war but as he got closer, he realized it was the sound of partying.   What sound we are making?

If there is no Shofar in our mouth there be no victory in our life.  The sound of the Shofar means you’ve seen the enemy and you are ready for the battle.  You have seen the attack coming or noticed the inroads of the enemy into your thinking and your behavior and you’re not happy.  There needs to be a battle cry in our heart. David said “I come in the name of the Lord. Caleb said “Let’s go up and take the country, they are bread for us”.   Enemies are bread when our appetite is right.

I know you want victory. But my question is how badly do you want it?  Because if you don’t hate your habit or while you’re still enjoy your enemy – you’ll never beat your foe.  I personally have not been able to break free of things until I made up my mind and saw it as the enemy to my destiny. Right now think of your enemy and ask God to give you a hatred for it.   Decide you will not let a small enemy ruin a great future.  The stronghold of the strongman will be broken by the Stronger One. It is ours to decide -it is His to do.  Your enemy could be smoking, greed, insecurity, fear, or lust but if you decide to beat it – you can.  Repentance starts with a quality decision.

Friend, the minute you absolutely decide NO, the thing that has a hold you, has to let you go.  Grab your Shofar and let’s go to war. Both your Father and the enemy know you can win.

The Camino de Santiago, known in English as the Way of Saint James is a walk in the northwest of Spain, leading to where tradition has it, the shrine of the apostle Saint James in the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. It’s a long walk of possibly 800 kms. Retirees and walking enthusiasts tackle it after much
planning. My friends John and Julie have walked much of it over a few weeks.  It makes me think of the Apostle Paul and Timothy.

As Paul leaned back on the walls of the prison, somehow smooth from the large number of prisoners that had rubbed their back along the wall, he thought about the people in the church at Philippi.  Were they still following Christ and strong enough to resist the social pressure exerted by Roman loyalists?  Paul wrote a concerned but encouraging letter from a Roman jail to his friends at Philippi telling them that he would try to send Timothy to see them in person.

Paul said that the proof of timothy’s character was that he gave himself to Paul as a son would to a father. In ancient times a son had no purpose or expectations independent of his father and indeed lived to fulfil the wishes and will of his father. Timothy had chosen to be as a son to his spiritual leader. He would do whatever was needed.  He was available to Paul. He was able to be sent to Philippi.

Now if the Pastor told me to visit a life group across town or the city it would be only a half hour or at most a two-hour return journey by car but Timothy was going to have to walk.  If I had to walk 20 kilometres it would 4 hours walking one way. If I left at 10:00pm I would be home by 2:00 am.  I’m not sure I’d be too excited; or likeminded or available. But we’re not talking 20 miles were talking 1000 km on foot.  Timothy had to cross the Italian countryside then the Ionian Sea between Italy and Croatia then traverse the mountains and walk the whole country down to Turkey. That’s a whole new level of availability!

And it was not to pick up a large million drachma missions offering or represent at a global conference of apostles but just to bring back news that would encourage the heart of his older father in the faith. For the simple reason that Paul his father, would be encouraged.

Sons have a deep availability and willingness towards the father in ways that church attendees or even servants could never understand. Sons have a passion in their hearts towards the house of God, the people of the house and particularly towards the father of the house.

Friend how is the proof of your character going? Are you a son or daughter to your local church leadership, or still just a member?