Words are amazing; they teach and empower. Sometimes they gleam, fascinate and dance on the page. Alliteration and anagrams fasten thoughts to our memory. Poems and quotes distil the truth and become Proverbs for living. Words can deceive or destroy, they can help or hurt and true words can even set people free. The King and Queen that must preside over the kingdom of words are truth and love, as these common quotes explain:
Truth without love is brutality - Love without truth is hypocrisy. (W. Weisbie)
When you love someone, they deserve to know the truth. (l. Seilstad)
It can’t be true love without the truth. (A. Kontis)
Don’t lie to protect my feelings, I’d rather you speak the truth with love and respect. I’ll be fine. (I. Odiase)
But in the new world of political correctness, these proverbs that are self-evident to most, are apparently not true for some people. Indeed, some would say that telling the truth is not loving or accepting. In the world of fantasy, you can have love without truth and in the world of science we can have truth without love but in the world of humanity, in homes, hospital wards and therapy rooms, people need truth and love.

In the sixties and seventies, as family broke down through relaxed divorce laws and relaxed commitment to character and morality, the numbers of children with broken hearts multiplied. Whether it is the ache in their hearts through some deficit in a parental relationship or an occasion of abuse, something leads to a rare number of children finding affection in a person of the same sex. On the other hand, I know some people that had a “normal” upbringing in a great family and yet profess homosexuality so it would seem that a person’s upbringing and background, as well as their own choices, can have an impact on that person's sexuality.

In Jesus' day, the Pharisees held to the moral law absolutely, while the Sadducees struggled to believe at all. The religious conservatives and liberals disagreed on the cause of man’s condition. But Jesus was not so concerned why a person had a condition, He only thought that God should be glorified by a miraculous change. Today Church liberals have adopted a "theology of inclusion” to embrace LGBTs but fudge the faithful representation of the Word of God. Conservatives make a stand on the high ground of morality but are not sure quite how to love their neighbours. Both sides divorce the King and Queen of love and truth.

Jesus was the embodiment of Truth and Love and transformation happened in the lives of all those He spoke to. An encounter with Love and Truth remains the answer for us all.
First, we all need love and acceptance. Sometimes the Church has allowed a loud minority to become the face of the Church as they picket gay marches and take their protests to parliament. But people cannot be hassled or coerced and feel loved at the same time. And now we wonder why no one listens?
Jesus had scandalous people following Him and today gay people need to find amongst His disciples those who have wrestled with God on these issues and found freedom. They may have had years of rejection because of their sexuality, but unconditional love can heal their hurts and open their hearts to following Jesus in spirit and in truth. The gay community tells them "We accept you" and the Church should do no less. Homosexuals need love without blame, and without reservation. As we all do.

Secondly, everyone needs Truth: It may shock us to see a golf club used as a tomato stake, but someone who doesn’t know the designer or the purpose for the club may not think it a strange use at all. As people lose contact with the Designer or ignore His instruction manual, they can become increasingly confused as to the purpose for His design. The world of nature declares homosexuality abnormal as it takes both male and female to procreate. If rational thinking does not convince us, Gods word tells us that all people live in ways that we were never designed for and that all people can be restored.
Israel Falau’s error was not saying that 'homosexuals need to repent and be saved', but that he did not say that ALL people, whether they be doctors, straights, homosexuals, lawyers, paedophiles, rugby bosses or preachers, they all need to repent and believe in Christ in order to forgiven and cleansed.
George Carneal, who was a homosexual prostitute for decades, shares his testimony in his book 'From Queer to Christ'. He asks Christians to be accepting but never to compromise the truth that all people need to repent and receive Christ into their lives. He said that so many homosexuals eventually “want out” and they are not helped if Christians placate them in their sin. He said they all need to know there is forgiveness and hope of change.
When love and truth do reach their hearts and they chose to believe and follow Christ, we must remember that salvation is a process; some change is instant and some takes a lifetime. We cannot ask them to change completely before they receive Christ. For which of us could change without Christ in our life? All they need is faith in the One who can make them a new creation, and a desire for Him to be their Lord.
Once they are saved, they may still struggle with desires. We do not tell straight men that, once they become a Christian, all lust will be eradicated from their heart. We do not make such promises, and the Bible does not either. That logic denies the brokenness in our hearts and sets a dangerous foundation for condemnation and despair. Some people are instantly changed by an encounter with Jesus, but others are progressively restored. And He is not put off by our failures and weakness.
In John 8 the Pharisees caught a woman in the act of adultery, and they brought her to Jesus for judgment. Instead, he said to the men, “Cast the first stone, if you have no sin” After they all walked away, convicted by their own conscience, He said to her “I don’t condemn you either, go and sin no more”. The Pharisees brought her to the right person but for the wrong reason. They came to get a judgement for her sin, not help for her sin. The best thing that happened to the woman was that she was caught and brought to Jesus. So often, we want the right thing to be done, but the Father wants the right Person to be met. Her encounter with the embodiment of Truth and Love brought transformation to her life.
Like everybody else, members of the LGBT community come in with baggage, and their transformation may or may not be instantaneous. But the gospel is the same for everyone. Sin is wrong and worthy of stones, but no one is worthy to throw them. The only One who is worthy enough to throw stones laid down his life to save us, and now offers us acceptance through His love and freedom through His Truth. Let God Bless Them!

Georges testimony
https://www1.cbn.com/…/former-gay-reveals-truth-of-lgbtq-ag…

A painting was displayed in the Tate Modern gallery of art, by Do Ho Suh. In the painting, stairs came down from the ceiling toward the ground floor, but no-one could step up onto them. Postmodern art doesn’t need to be logical or rational. Postmoderns react to scientific progress or anything called objective truth. They are disenchanted with modernists who think that human reason and science can achieve global happiness. Thirty years ago, Modernists complained that Christianity was unscientific - and consequently, untrue. Today, Christianity is rejected by Postmodernists, merely because it claims to be true.

Post-Modern Relativism is the idea that truth can be different for different people. That what is true, depends upon the situation or culture of the person. They say that moral truth can be true and binding for one person, while for another it is not. Postmodern ideology declares all faiths and ideology untrue, yet strangely claims itself to be true? Even more strangely, relativism claims that two conflicting statements can both be true at the same time. For example, one may claim that Jesus is God and another claim that He is not God, and both statements could be true at the same time. If someone believes it, it is "true for them."
The idea is “It doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you are sincere.” But sincerely thinking you can leap off a building, or swim against a rip, will matter a lot, as gravity and physics inevitably work. Postmodernism, like the artwork, may be a novel way to think about life but an irrational way to live. But just believing something to be true, does not make it true. The earth is not flat. As Jesus followers, we believe there are objective truths. Truths that are always true for every person, at any time, not because we said so, but because Jesus said so. Jesus claimed to be the only way to the Father, the only Saviour. Buddha said there is no God, Mohammed said he was not God, in Hinduism we don't know which one, is god, but Jesus said he was the divine Son of God, one with the Father. And backed it up with a resurrection! It would be nice to think that every man's god, could provide them forgiveness and eternal life; that the gods of fishing, shopping, or the tribal gods of Papua New Guinea would all be equal at saving us, but Jesus says no. Jesus was not politically correct, just correct.
But before we condemn the idea of relativism completely, are we right to think that everything we believe is objective truth? The tendency for believers is to fight absolute relativism with the opposite, absolute objectivism and perhaps unnecessarily.
There is relative truth in the pages of the Bible. When Paul wrote to the new believers at Corinth about food that was offered to idols, he said that all foods were clean, so it was fine to eat ham! This is the objective truth (Rom. 14:14). But Paul also said there may be a relative situation which determined whether a person should eat ham. “But to him who thinks anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean” (14:14b). This means that if someone ate ham against their conscience, this was a sin to him. Not because God cares about food but because the new believer could not believe it was right, and God cares about faith.

So how do we know whether things are objectively true or only true in some situations (relatively true)?
Let us imagine that Biblical truth is revealed on a continuum from completely objective on the left, to completely relative on the right, with non-essential objective truth and situationally relative, in between.
On the left hand, we have Essential Objective Truth. These are objective truths that are true regardless of time, culture or whether one believes it. Everything here is either right or wrong and everything essential for salvation and orthodoxy. Such as adultery is always wrong, and Jesus alone is saviour and Lord.
The next step toward the right is Non-Essential Objective truth. This category contains both doctrinal and nondoctrinal issues, which are not necessary for orthodoxy or salvation. A good example might be whether one should have communion each week, or if we should always lift up our hands when praying.
Going right again, the next step we will call Situational Relativity. Women not wearing a head covering is a good example. (1 Cor. 11:5). In that day, women who did not wear a head covering were likely to cause great offence. Today it is not right or wrong so wearing a head covering is relative to time and culture.
And finally, on the far right is Complete Relativity. These are matters for which there is no right or wrong answer. For instance, what are the best worship songs, or what are the best gifts? (1 Corinthians 13).

During the Diocletian persecutions, the Romans were arresting and killing Christians for possessing Scriptures. The Church determined the Canon of Scripture because believers needed to know which parts of Scripture, were dying for. In the postmodern age, we also need to define what truths are worth “dying for” and distinguish between what is essential in the Christian faith and what is non-essential.
We may still be persecuted in some way but let us be persecuted for the right thing. What “hill” is worth dying for? When I was first saved, I was taken by my pastor to visit people in their homes. He said “Agree with people as much as you can. We will save our guns for the “battle’s” worth fighting. When someone says that truth is relative, we will agree but explain only some truth is relative. We will not argue over whether the earth was created in 7 days or millions of years and not get to tell them about Christ. There is nothing wrong with discussing non-essentials, but no one is saved by owning the right translation of the Bible. We must get to the Gospel in every witnessing opportunity we have.” Great advice.

Maybe this Sunday at Church, there will be three new believers in Christ. All have begun their journey to discover Truth as they follow Jesus. Perhaps one will come with her Jerusalem Bible, one may come as a vegan who hates to even drink milk, one may come with his live-in partner of fifteen years and one may be a young postmodern who felt the real touch of a living Saviour. They won’t know what the difference is between relative and objective truth, and they won’t even be sure what they believe. What they do believe will probably change in the weeks ahead, but this Sunday, I will just be glad they believe one objective and essential truth: Jesus is both Saviour and Lord.

Several years ago, we went with my parents in law back to their homeland, the Netherlands. One day we went for a drive to Germany and my father-in-law visibly stiffened as we crossed the border. It had been 60 years since the Germans invaded Holland and took over their farm, stole their food, commandeered their house and shot some of his young friends but he still felt the pain. Of course, since then German politicians have apologised many times for the atrocities of the Nazis, and so they should. However, it is not clear how apologies from current politicians can release the pain of individuals who suffered years before. In other lands, African Americans feel pain from their history of slavery and the Jim Crow laws, and the Maori people feel grieved by the injustices committed by the Government, through the Land Acts in the late 19th century.
In war or in peace human rights are often neglected. Currently, it is estimated that around 7,000 Christians are killed for their faith every year and 260 million Christians face persecution. Open Doors reports that if North Korean Christians are discovered, the government either sends them to labour camps as political criminals or kills them on the spot. Other persecuting nations are Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya, Pakistan, Eritrea, Sudan, Yemen, Iran, and India. In these countries, Christians risk imprisonment, loss of home and assets, torture, rape, and even death because of their faith. Muslims also are not immune from persecution. The UN reports that more than three million Uighurs are in detention in “counter-extremism centres" or “re-education” camps in China, and many Muslims are not safe from other Muslims in their own nations.
Recently the world has been distressed seeing Floyd asphyxiated on the street in Minneapolis and the protests and riots that followed. It has always been true that Black lives matter, Christian lives matter, and Muslim lives matter.

Human rights are about the illegitimate exercise of power upon individuals or groups of people, whether by force or by legislation. In ancient Greece, the birthplace of democracy, only men had rights, and in America 100 years ago, some laws recognized the rights of the few; perhaps only men, perhaps only white men, perhaps only landowners.
For a Christian, human rights for everyone is a given. God instituted civil government to protect citizens. Every authority He instituted, whether parent, employer, government or church, have a responsibly to protect those in their care, from abuse and even from other institutions that overreach their God-given limits of authority. For this reason, the rights of people should be protected by law. Unfortunately, human rights abuses have sometimes been sanctioned by the law. This was the case when Dr. Martin Luther King was jailed in Birmingham, Alabama. He couldn’t ask the crowd or the courts for justice; so he appealed to a law which supersedes secular authority, the Word of God.

All basic human rights laws stem from the Bible which teaches that we do not have rights because of our ethnicity or because we deserve them, but because each of us is made in the image of God and therefore we have inherent equal worth and dignity. This was the abolitionists’ argument for the dissolution of slavery and for equal pay and voting rights for women. This is the argument against child labour and the abortion of unborn children. The Bible reveals that God is just, condemns evil, and has compassion for victims, therefore, we cannot accept any type of slavery, torture, or discrimination nor be silent when it is within our power to help. The rights of others are as safe as our responsiveness to Gods laws.

Jesus spoke more about human responsibilities than human rights and almost assumed that some human rights may be denied us, by the godless. All of our rights come from the One to whom we are responsible. As our Creator, God has the ultimate right to our lives. He has the first right to be loved, worshipped, and obeyed. Do believers have human rights? Of course. Not rights to our physical needs being met by the government or equal outcomes in life, or a right to a universal wage, but like all people, the right to be protected from injustice, evil, and violence.
In a marriage, or a nation conflicts between parties occur because of a lack of honour. In the history of engineering, medicine, exploration and national expansion, great mistakes have been made. But the future of that marriage or nation will never be healed if one party seizes every opportunity to promote bitterness or the other party ignores the issue. Instead, by acknowledging error and harm and asking for, and truly offering forgiveness both parties may be able to move on together to a better future. Restitution may be attempted if possible, but, because absolute justice is an unachievable goal, justice will need to be subordinate to humility and forgiveness. Corrie ten Boom found that the only way for her to find freedom from bitterness toward her Nazi captors was to forgive them.

The way back for those trapped in offence and bitterness is in three parts: Reconciliation must be based upon truth-telling, so we need to listen to the stories of the offended. They should be allowed to breathe and be heard. Then we need to own our part as a group or institution and ask for/or offer forgiveness. Then we all need to sow a different attitude of honour and inclusion, to reap a different future. If the whole world, heaving in unrest, seems too big a problem to change or help, we can all choose one oppressed person or one needy family and help them. We need to “know the story, own the story and change the story”, (Josh Clemons)
The Universal Declaration of human rights says, “That no one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, degrading punishment or an unfair trial and everyone should be presumed innocent until proved guilty.” When Jesus was arrested and crucified, every one of His rights was trampled. This implies that the abuse of human rights is a manifestation of sin and part of the curse He came to free us from. It also means that His healing love can heal our hearts from the pain of Human rights abuses.
Justice in this world may never be satisfactorily enjoyed by all or even many. For many the pain of offence and abuse of their rights may be so deep it can only be removed by Jesus, who brought our healing on the cross. When injustice makes it hard to breathe, we can come to the only One who can give us breath.

Many years ago, two prostitutes came with a dispute before king Solomon. Both women lived in the same house and gave birth to a baby about the same time. One woman’s child died so she stole the other women’s baby in the night. When the true mother woke her baby was gone and a dead baby had been placed in her arms. She knew she had stolen from and lied to, so they both came to Israel’s wisest king to settle the dispute. After each woman had presented her case to the King of why the child was hers, the king said, “Cut the living child in two, and give half to one and half to the other!” The real mother spoke up to the king, for her motherly instincts were aroused. She said, “My master, give her the living child! Whatever you do, don’t kill him!” But the other woman said, “Neither one of us will have him! Let them cut him in two!” The king responded, “Give the first woman the living child; don’t kill him. She is the mother.” (1 Kings 3: 25-27)

Today there is a dispute over the ownership and the safety of the children of the world. Vaccines for our children, are being offered by some and opposed by others. Both sides say they are right and both sides say they want to keep young people safe. Both sides of the arguments are linked below.

As the UN and the CDC progressively lowers the age at which children are to be given the synthetic shot, (from 30 years old, then 16 years, then 5 years old, to now experimenting on new-borns), they tell us it is safe for all. However, on the other side there is a growing number the world’s top medical scientists who are not engaged by the UN or national governments and are warning of the consequences of taking the shot, for any person, but particularly young people. They cite a growing number of vaccinated 30-year-olds who have resulting heart inflammation, which can cause irreversible damage. They state that because the shot is experimental and long-term studies have not been completed, it should never be given to people younger than 30, due to the unknown long-term side effects on their neurology, fertility and their future children. Early in the rollout, WHO scientists assured the world that the spike will never get into the blood, but they were plainly wrong. It now seems that rather than staying at the injection site, the spike proteins travel to every part of the body including reproductive organs. The serious ramification of this is explained in one of the links below.

So, in this battle of opposing voices, for the young people and the children of the world, who do we believe and do children even need the shot? Statistics show that people below 30 years old and certainly children, are not at risk from the virus. They don't need a shot to be safe and they don’t need to be “vaccinated” for old peoples sakes either, as the shot doesn’t fully stop transmission.

In New Zealand we are ready give the shot to 12 to15-year-olds and eyeing the 11 year olds. In the tests, how many 12-year-olds have had time to grow up, be married and produce children, to see if there are any long-term effects? None. How amazing that Med safe has apparently become omniscient and omnipotent, guaranteeing the safety of all in their future!

As we decide who to believe, perhaps Solomon’s wisdom is instructive. He found out which woman wanted the child’s long-term welfare in spite of any personal cost, versus the one who sought to gain personally yet showed disregard for the child?

In our current global drama, it appears to me that the people showing the greatest concern for the children and paying the greatest price are the courageous scientists who have nothing to gain by opposing the WHO narrative but who are slandered and renounced by the servant media and fact checkers. The people who show less concern for the children but who will gain personally both financially and through medical control of the world’s population, are the global powers and the makers of the vaccine.

To be honest both sides sound convincing and both have their research qualifications to back it up. Only only time will prove which side is right but I think caution is wisdom while the jury is out on the long-term effects.

As a preacher I thought hard about this post because some may think I'm meddling in politics (like telling people to vote for a capitalist or socialist society) but this is not politics; this is Christianity 101. I think Jesus said, “Love your neighbour as yourself,” and while the unknown risks remains, part of loving a neighbour might be suggesting to neighbours to at least investigate both sides before you hand yourself or your children over to the medical authorities. Our government requires us to give informed consent, so we are responsible to research this thoroughly. (Consent presumably means accepting of any subsequent injury.) Because the scientific and chemistry jargon is difficult to understand; because long term tests have not been completed and because most of the opposing views are censored, it is technically impossible for people to be "fully informed" before agreeing to the shot.

Let us all ask for wisdom from above and may the Great King keep the welfare of the world's children in the hands of Him who cares the most.

1. https://academic.oup.com/cid/advance-article/doi/10.1093/cid/ciab465/6279075

2. https://voicesforfreedom.co.nz/new-study-shows-potential-for-serious-harm/

3. https://omny.fm/shows/on-point-with-alex-pierson/new-peer-reviewed-study-on-covid-19-vaccines-sugge?fbclid=IwAR2RMoNKhyluGuTgNwvDh2vLUDMYtoh0HCzD1iHkfAojZ_yrjA8_HylGudQ#description

4. https://www.bitchute.com/video/PaJqTVve8hso/

5. https://thebl.com/opinion/autopsy-of-vaccinated-patient-shows-spike-protein-in-his-organs-as-possible-cause-of-death.html

6. https://thebl.com/us-news/heart-inflammation-in-adolescents-following-covid-19-vaccines-cdc-calls-emergency-meeting.html

7. https://www.bitchute.com/video/ilWq4miJA5U/

8. https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.121.318902

9. https://www.teaomaori.news/whole-truth-prescription-drugs-flu-jabs-and-covid-19-vaccine

10. https://www.medsafe.govt.nz/COVID-19/safety-report-11.asp

11. https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/2021/05/coronavirus-covid-19-uses-spikes-to-damage-blood-vessels-study-finds-sparking-new-vaccine-conspiracy-theories.html

In lockdown I had time to reflect on places that we can no longer visit. I thought about the motorways in Kazakhstan with missing manhole covers, all stolen and sold for scrap metal. I thought about the meals we enjoyed in Thailand, Slovenia and Croatia. I miss the order of the Netherlands and flash of colours of the trucks and saris of India. In short, I missed the different cultures and I missed the smiling faces of the believers in each place.

Culture is what we live. We wake up in it, we walk in it and we work in it. And all the time were creating culture and consuming culture. How we act and treat people, contributes to a workplace culture. Parents that order family traditions and set a pattern of living, are creating culture. When we logon to twitter or watch television, we are consuming someone else’s culture, and when we post on Facebook, we are creating a small piece of the culture for our readers. The greatest impact on modern global culture, comes through TV, media, and movies. While we are made to feel emotion at movies or the laugh at sitcoms, our values are slightly, sometime imperceptibly changed, but changed they are.

When the culture of a group or individual changes, due to contact with a different culture, it’s called acculturation. Like the way American culture has changed New Zealand culture. Think coke and Mac Ds. Culture shift happens. Just as well, or we would still be cooking on fires and living in Raupo huts. Technologically advanced cultures affecting more agricultural or primitive cultures, is inevitable and, in a few cases, unfortunate. Historic global exploration and modern migration has impacted every culture in varying degrees, changing values, technology, language and food choices. We all love a good curry!

The Bible covers 6000 years of human history, including primitive Aramaic, Egyptian, Israelite, Babylonian, Greek and Roman cultures. Each culture reflected what they understood about the natural world and what they believed about the spiritual world. Their tools, clothes and the food they ate, was determined by the technology of the day, their climate, geography and resources. What was good, evil or moral was determined by their nature of their gods and any contact they had with the spirit realm. Some cultures saw spirits as forces of good and some were fearful of their powers. In Nigeria the Yoruba people once saw twins as an evil occurrence, believing the only way a woman could give birth to twins was for the woman to have had been with two men at the same time. This often resulted in infanticide to cleanse the community. Whereas now we know that twins are caused by the egg being fertilised and then dividing. Ancient cultures often suffered from their lack of scientific knowledge or beliefs in gods that were cruel.

My ancient ancestors were the indigenous inhabitants of Scotland before the Romans invaded. Apparently, they used to run around in skins their faces painted blue and white, and sacrificing children to appease ancient Celtic gods. While it is interesting to know how my ancient forebears lived, I don't want to live like them. I prefer a car to horse, and an insulated house to a pile of rocks. My Scottish ancestors’ ancient beliefs were not helpful or true. It is great that the Scots are trying to keep our ancient language alive and it is important to acknowledge our ancient culture, but to encourage a return to the ancient spiritual beliefs, would be backward step into a world of myths and fear.

Culture is not sacred; people are sacred. Some cultures are repressive, violent and oppress women. Some cultures perpetuate prejudices against others and have attitudes that keep them in poverty. All people deserve to be freed from cultures that don’t lead to actual personal and societal freedom.

Ten years ago, I met a man in Punjab who was an alcoholic. When he was drunk, he terrified his family and abused his neighbours. One day he met Christ and his life was changed. Was he still Indian? Yes. Did he still eat rice and roti? Yes. Did he still speak Punjabi? Yes, but his heart was changed. Was his culture changed completely? No. Was it changed at all? Yes. The way he acted, the way he spoke to people, the way he treated his family, his mental state, was all changed for the better.

Augustine said that culture is not a reflection of a people's ethnicity, politics, language, or heritage but it is an outworking of people's creed. In other words, culture is the manifestation of people’s faith and values. In fact, the word culture comes from the Latin word for reverence “Cultus.” Culture then is formed by what people revere, value, or worship.

When Jesus came to earth, the Roman culture existed alongside the Jewish culture. In Roman culture, the husband had absolute power over his wife and his children; he could punish them at will, abuse them, sell them as slaves, or even put them to death. The culture reflected their beliefs about their gods (which were violent and immoral), and the things they valued - or not. Greek homes had a “gynaecium,” rooms where Greek women were kept secluded from men and visitors to the house. The Jewish culture at the time of Christ, also treated women poorly. Men could have more than one wife and divorce them on most trifling grounds. Jesus teaching of the Kingdom of heaven, was in direct opposition to the culture of the day. Women and children were to be included, valued and given a voice. After modelling heaven’s culture of love and sacrifice for others, He left the Church the task of continuing to reveal heavens culture, to an antagonistic society. Like Jesus, they had no sword, only a servant’s robe. They had no authority to force change; they could only influence. And they did. Over the next three hundred years, by their loving sacrifice, courage under persecution and care for the poor and weak, they influenced the godless, hate filled, sordid culture of Rome for good. Patricide (the killing of new-born babies) was outlawed, hospitals and schools were started. Women were respected, slave were treated justly, and even emperors became believers. It is interesting to visit the Roman ruins but thank God we have moved on from its culture.

The Church is still called to engage with culture, defend culture, and to create culture.

We engage with the culture and people by works, words, wonders, wisdom and worship. With good works, we can model the culture of heaven by serving the city. With words we can tell how Jesus has changed our life. By wonders, as the sick and demonised are delivered by His power. By wisdom like Daniel displayed, through divine insights in the workplace and ultimately by our worship. Worship needs to change us first, for the character of people in any culture, never rises above their view of God.

We are to defend the culture of heaven. As “preserving salt,” in a pre-Post Christian era, we have a prophetic task to call people back to God and his ways. Salt does not just act to preserve but it emphasises the good flavours too, so we affirm culture where we can. With wisdom we honour Christ and seek to change what needs to change, while loving those who think differently.

We are to create culture. At work, in school, in our relationships we are to create culture. Some will have the opportunity to creature culture through music, movies, and business. Christians are not the only people on the planet that are creating good culture. Others go to work to serve others, build bridges, paint art, etc, and all this creates good culture too, and we honour them.

In the final analysis, culture is not something that should be protected from change or critique. Neither is culture mostly a matter of clothes, tools or food but a matter of creed. Dr. Martin Luther King said “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin, but by the content of their character”. To judge our culture, we must do more that look at the contents of our cupboards and wardrobes and look at the content of our hearts. We should act to preserve cultures in respect of their unique language, clothes, food and customs, but more importantly, we should also ask which beliefs and which character values do we want to preserve? People’s lives and people’s culture will only be a free as their beliefs and values allow them to be. Faith in Jesus, and His power to change hearts, brought liberty to the ancient Roman and Jewish people who believed in Him. Jesus freed my friend from addiction in Punjab and has changed the hearts and values, of a few billion others around the globe. So, He will continue to liberate all those that make him King.

In my late teens I spent time hunting in the bush around lake Waikaremoana. Off the forest tracks, I stood in places that I was sure no man had ever stood before. Often when people walk into unspoiled bush, there is a sense of peace and quietness so tangible, that they often catch themselves speaking in whispers, just as they would entering an ancient church. It seems like the presence of God hangs in the air with the sweet smell of the bush. I never saw any environmentalists there 8 hours off the road, but I did meet some people that loved the bush and took only what they needed. 
I once saw a bumper sticker saying, “save the planet, drive a horse!”  Do they forget in the late 1800s, there were 150,000 horses in New York city alone? At a rate of 22 pounds per horse per day, horse manure added up to over a 100,000 tons per year (not to mention around 10 million gallons of urine). If a horse travelled 22 miles per day, that is 450 gm per mile. By comparison, in the uneconomical 1970’s, the average car emitted
6 gram of pollution per mile. [1]

So, are environmental concerns rubbish?  No, but some of the facts such as pollution by natural phenomena are overlooked. Since the start of the Industrial Revolution, humans have produced far less air pollution than that produced by just three volcanic eruptions: Krakatoa in Indonesia (1883), Katmai in Alaska (1912), and Hekla in Iceland (1947).  More recently Mt. St. Helens (1980) poured 910,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and El Chicon erupted in 1982, it released 100,000,000 tons of sulfur.[2] We are also not told that termites produce 150 million tons of methane gas each year.[3] Which is ten times as much as all the fossil fuels in the world each year. Just as well people don’t farm them, or they would be taxed for sure.

We don’t know if current climate change, is part of cycle, past predictions have been flawed and often alarmist. It was only back in 1974 that Time magazine warned of a global ice age, reporting, “the atmosphere has been growing gradually cooler for the past three decades. The cooling trend shows no indication of reversing,” [4]  But only 4 years later in 1979, the New York Times reported, “There is a real possibility that infants will live to see the North Pole melted.” In 1989, United Nations predicted that “entire nations could be wiped off the face of the Earth” if global warming is not stopped by 2000. We’re still here and it now looks like that the islands of the pacific around Vanuatu are sinking more due to subduction of tectonic plates, than the seas rising)[5]. Climate change is hard to judge and if true, is even harder to fix.

Another reason for some skepticism, is that the greens who are concerned with the spread of socialism as much as climate change, use environmentalism as a Trojan horse into governments.  Even more extreme is PETA, which makes animals not just equal to man but more important than a man. These are the deep ecologists (pantheists) who ram ships filled with people to save a whale. To them, drinking cow’s milk is abusing the cow and fish should never be caught. Of course, there is no reason for cruelty toward animals, and in fact man’s superiority means that we have priority as well as responsibility for other creatures. However, we note that Jesus, sent his disciples down to the lake to catch a fish not to save the fish and He never stooped down to give the donkey a ride into Jerusalem.

Not everyone that wishes for sustainability, works for MacPac or wear Bob Marley tee-shirts, most are good people educated by media or university, to worry about the earth.  They may not be believers, but like Cyrus of old, are doing the will of God in some way, as they care for Gods green planet. Still, while their devotion to the earth is noble, they miss the point. Devotion to the earth alone, is like honoring a Rembrandt painting without honoring Rembrandt himself.  People, trees, cats and even wetas are works of art, by a Creator that deserves awe and worship.

It is just as inconceivable, to honor Rembrandt and despise his paintings, so believers honor the Creator and honour His work.  Christians are to be “environmentalists”, not because the earth is mother god (gaia) or that the trees are god (pantheism), But because “the earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof.”  This is our home and we are not just a passing through! Our bodies are temporal till immortalised, but we still take care of our appearance and health.  So, in the same way, we take care of His planet. Picking up our rubbish is Christian!  Some believers feel that preserving the earth is like painting the deck chairs on the Titanic, and on the other hand, there are a few believers, that are more worried about emissions than missions. Regardless, no thoughtful Christian can support contempt for God’s creation. As far back as 1554, John Calvin interpreted dominion to mean a responsible care and keeping that does not neglect, injure, degrade, corrupt, or ruin the earth.[6] God’s Word tells us that having dominion means to keep, give rest to, and sustain His creation so that it can multiply and be fruitful. We are to exercise dominion without being destructive. Oil spills, pesticides, toxic chemicals, need to be eliminated or managed. Wanton deforestation of rainforest is tragic. Dominion means we[JS1]  are to cull as well as conserve. Pruning the branches makes the vine more productive, so trimming back numbers of plants of animals may be necessary.

Creation matters to the Creator. Jesus said His Father cared about each sparrow. And the fact that animals in Old Testament times were used to atone for man sins, is not a sign of Gods lack of care for animals but even His greater love for mankind.   Jesus looked at plants, trees and animals as provision from His father. God hid minerals, oil and wealth in the ground for us, not from us. Jesus no doubt took trees to build furniture and houses and we don’t know that he ever planted new ones to replace them. The last tree he used, was the cross on which he died. He was prepared for a tree give up its life and He was prepared to give up His own life, to save the souls of mankind. When the Creator died to pay the price that our sin deserved, the sun refused to shine and the whole earth shuddered in revulsion, but as His blood flowed down, both men and the rest of creation, were  redeemed. We care for earth, but we are not afraid for its future. Jesus said this earth and any new earth, will be inherited by the meek, not the greens. He promises its survival, as He promises eternal life to those that believe on Him. Let’s walk with Him in His great global garden.  Let ‘s enjoy and care for the works of His hands.

1] https://99percentinvisible.org/article/cities-paved-dung-urban-design-great-horse-manure-crisis-1894/

2] https://www.equip.org/article/christians-and-the-environment-how-should-christians-think-about-the-environment/

3] https://www.iceagenow.info/termites-produce-co2-year-living-combined/

4] Arguing with socialists: Glenn Beck  

5] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3156165/

6] John Calvin, commentary on Genesis 2:15 in Commentaries on the
First Book of Moses Called Genesis (Grand Rapids: 1948). This teaching is
strongly re-enforced by Revelation 11:18: “The time has come...for destroying
those who destroy the earth.”

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.