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.

Paul walked with his bags up the gang plank onto the ship but the chorus of sea birds drowned out the sound of his steps. The ship smelt of salt-soaked hemp ropes and tar. Beyond the ship, the green sea twinkled but Paul never noticed; he was thinking of the people he knew and those he had never met waiting at his destination. Most of Paul’s missionary life, he was on a boat somewhere on the Mediterranean. These sea journeys were not the only voyages he took, for He took an internal voyage as well. Our live journey is a voyage, and therefore, we must know our destination and negotiate the storms that come the rocks of intimation and even the shallow waters of small vision and low goals. This is true of individuals and of churches. Every person is born for a purpose and our voyage is to fulfil our “pre-destiny.”

Hundreds of years ago, men were press ganged into the Navy to fight for King and country.  They were captured as they walked home from the pub and they woke up below decks out at sea. Our Captain only captures our hearts, gives us a vision of reality and we follow Him. But one thing is still true; we are called to a battle campaign, not to a jazz cruise. Jesus looks for men and women who will enlist for life. We can’t be a soldier for the summer and there are no reserves. Our voyage begins when we discover who God has made us and we decide to become it; when we understand the reason for our birth and we pursue it in spite of all opposition. Every job and ministry is about recreating the world God that intended. He assigns us to fix something that has fallen in people, education, business, church or society. The way we do church is changed for the moment and parts of its expression, will never be the same again. But may be that’s the point. Maybe we weren’t meant to do it down there on a Sunday. Maybe we were just meant to be the Church in our closet and in our street, in our place of ministry at work. Our new goal is not to get the Church back to normal but to take life to the city. May be our lockdown learning is that our problem is not that don’t have enough, the problem is that we haven’t given what we have. Could it be that we don’t need more buildings, more power, or more love, just more courage and more involvement with the people. There is a greater anointing but maybe it is in the field. Jesus seemed to think that the 99 in the fold didn’t need as much attention as the one that was still lost in the field.

Near the end of his life Paul said   “… the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. (2 Timothy 4:6-7).  The word “course” was used in regard to plotting the course of a ship. Non of it was completed tied to the wharf but driven by storms to find the sick and the needy.

Friend, if it seems there is are many hindrances right now to the future we planned, there is no hindrance to the Church, God has planned, Jesus guarantees victory in the conflict.  The apostle Paul said “…I kept the faith”.  Keeping the faith is not just “remaining a believer” till Jesus takes you home; but doing our part to make the earth a home for Jesus now. That won’t happen unless we all fight the good fight and finish our course.  Lets march forth into the cursed world to release our Captains “blessings”. Lets not think that the kingdom will come, by filling the Sunday grandstand and cheering on the “full-timers “ or by waving a handkerchief of token appreciation, for those saints that are going into the battel field, but lets join the ranks as well. The Church is not defined by how much life we have inside on a Sunday, but how much life we release outside in the city each week.

Once when visiting friends in Tanzania, we were taken to a snake zoo, where graphic photographs hung on the walls of men being swallowed whole by pythons. Guards had been attacked while sleeping and then swallowed by the big snakes. Apparently, pythons are attracted by the breath of their victims and when they have coiled themselves around the victim they squeeze the breath out of them till they are dead.
Many years ago I went through a time of real confusion in my life. I did everything I knew to do to break out of it but in the end, I knew I needed help from friends I trusted. I had had the breath squeezed out of me.
When the Apostle Paul was breaking new ground in Philippi, he once found himself opposed by the devil, though a woman with a spirit of divination. She spoke the truth but with a spirt that brought death. The Greek word for divination translates to python in English.

In the spiritual realm the “python spirit” smells people with breath and life and creeps up on them to squeeze the breath and vision out of them. It might wait till you are feeling low mentally or spiritually but it will slither your way. The python spirit wants to crush you and destroy your spiritual life. What God put in you, the devil will seek to take out of you. Sometimes it works through people like Jezebel, who squeezed the life out of Elijah and shut down the prophet in the land. Watch out who you let into your life and find some one who can bring you life.
Friend, it’s an old device. It began in the garden when the serpent turned up to squeeze the breath and life out of Adam. We may be in lockdown but we are not to be knocked down. We are told to stay at home but we choose to stay in Him. Don’t let him squeeze the life out of you. Get annoyed like Paul; rise up and cast it out. It didn’t solve all of Pauls challenges; he was locked up but because his spirit was now free, he was ready for revival, prison couldn’t hold him and even the prison keeper was set free. Come on; someone needs you to be ready too!

Two weeks after she broke her knee cap, my wife still sits in a straight leg brace and my housekeeping skills have grown exponentially!   I love this verse. It explains a lot to me.

“Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivers them out of them all.”  Psalms 34.19. 

We live in a world that is broken because of the bad decisions and actions of ourselves and others.   God doesn’t keep us from every affliction but He will help us out of the troubles, or through those troubles when we ask Him.

 We sometimes wonder, why God doesn’t stop pain from happening, but here’s the thing – He doesn’t even keep himself from suffering.  Only beings that feel and love, can suffer.  If we want the possibility of feeling love in the world, we also have to have the possibility of suffering.   Whoever loves the most, suffers the most and God suffers greatly to see the choices His children make but loves them enough to give us the freedom to make them.

He never stopped Adam from disobeying but when Adam realised his error, God quickly forgave and redeemed him.  God always warns people of consequences but doesn’t force anyone to obey.  He doesn’t stop people from disobeying either.   For God to stop every sin, crime or conflict that creates pain like an argument between husband and wife, he would have to override free will every day. He is not a controlling demigod, who takes away our personal freedom and personality but He gives us the dignity and responsibility of our own lives.  In the midst or our afflictions, he draws near to reveal himself and restore the broken, by empowering us with the strength and grace to overcome in this life.

Friend, if you were kept from every issue you could neither see more of God or know your need.  God does not keep us from every affliction but through the window of pain reveals Himself as the Comforter and wonderful Deliverer out of it all.  Today He is drawing near to you and wants to reveal Himself. Take time to look through the window.

David sat among the sheep grazing all around him, unaware that back at the house, he’d been excluded from an important meeting with the Prophet. The actions of the family showed that they did not believe that God could or would use David. Their exclusion showed that he was considered by them, to be insignificant to the real work of God but God thought differently. (1 Sam.16)
One thing that shapes our values is our family. Maybe you can see how your family has written a message on our minds that affects how we see God and ourselves. Sometimes the people in our life or past are not the best people to tell us who we are!
Thankfully, when we are saved, God begins to write upon our heart and mind a new story by giving us new experiences of His love, care and power in our lives and the best place now, to find out who we are is from God Himself.
Moses was a sheep farmer but he didn’t know who he really was, till God spoke to him. Peter thought he was a fisherman until he heard from Jesus. Gideon found out he was a deliverer and Elisha a prophet was not just the farmer’s son. God showed them all that they were loved, significant and called and capable.
Friend, you’ll never know who you really are, till you hear God tell you - Get away from the sheep for a moment and listen at the burning bush. He will tell you.

The 12 spies went up to see the Promised Land and found it full of beautiful fruit in the Valley of Eschol. The land was full of opportunity and possibilities but there were giants in the valley. God wanted the spies to see both grapes and giants but not to be discouraged; nor for them to discourage others by giving a negative report. "For when they went up to the Valley of Eshcol and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the children of Israel, so that they did not go into the land which the LORD had given them" (Num 32:9).   The valley was Gods opportunity for the twelve spies to manifest a spirit of faith.  We are to see the problems and the giants but still live in faith. God is looking for a people with a spirit like Caleb and Joshua who will cause Gods people, to enter into their promised land.  Moaners are a dime a dozen and people who can see problems, abound; people with the gift of doubt are legion, but people with a different spirit and a faith-filled confession, are two in a million.

These are the type of people God is looking for and it is only in valleys inhabited by giants that they and their faith, stand out!  When David went down into the valley it was clear that Goliath was huge and his weapons large, but the biggest thing on the field of battle was David’s faith in God.  It is in the moments when people face giants, that the men and women who will become leaders, shine.  Our faith and trust is proven in the presence of giants and in the presence of 10 others who are negative about life's future. (1Cor 11.19)

Friend, don’t let others discourage you with a negative report about your future or Gods ability to help you, but place your confidence in God, who said: “I have given it to you.”