The people emerged from their tents all across the camp and stretched themselves in the early morning sun. The kids ran around, and mothers were poking the fire to life as the men returned from their early morning walk. To collect manna, they had to go outside, away from the hustle and bustle of the camp. The manna that fell in the wilderness was fresh every morning. It never lasted overnight so every day they had to go out to collect it. We have all found that yesterday’s “bread” is never sufficient for today. Every day has its own troubles and God has daily bread that is sufficient for the day, but we do have to collect it!

Daily Bread is the spiritual food we get from abiding for a while with Jesus. Just being with Him strengthens our souls and fills us with life. If we eat His Word and are not strengthened, it is just information. We are to eat until we are satisfied. “Now Boaz said to her (Ruth) at mealtime, "Come here, and eat of the bread, and dip your piece of bread in the vinegar. So she sat beside the reapers, and he passed parched grain to her; and she ate and was satisfied” (Ruth 2:14).  Ruth was satisfied. Many people don’t stay and eat long enough to receive what they need. Unfortunately, when we are not satisfied by His bread, we look for satisfaction in other things.  Whenever we get weak, we have not collected enough manna. When we are tempted by things we are not usually tempted by, or when we get angry and lose our temper,  we’re running on empty.

Friend, our problem is not the size of our enemies or the length of our journey, but the smallness of our time at the table. But it is still not too late today to get out of your “tent” and go and collect some manna!

We stood in the darkness in the middle of a village in Punjab waiting for the meeting to begin. There was some scurrying and voices and suddenly the lamps in the village and our sound system bust into life and light. A small girl had climbed up on the highest roof and connected a wire to the mains power line passing over the town!

Many centuries earlier, an angel entered a room with a burst of light causing Joseph to lean back with surprise and a touch of fright. As Joseph thought over what to do about his pregnant fiancée, the angel assured him, “And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins." So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: Mat 1:23  "BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD, AND BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME EMMANUEL," which is translated, "God with us"  (Mat 1:21 -23).

What, wait! Did the angel just say call him Jesus when the prophet Isaiah said He should be called Emmanuel (God with us)? Even the two meanings - he will save His people and God is with us, are different, or are they?

No! These are effectively the same thing, for God truly saves us by being with us and within us. Gods’ salvation is not just an accounting write-off of our sins but an impartation of His own divine life. Since human history began, man’s efforts to live up to his creator’s standard has flickered as a candle and failed. Jesus came to live with us and within us as our righteousness, our Life, our Light and our mighty Helper.  Emmanuel saves us by sharing His power with us. The evidence of His presence and power is not falling or shouting or jumping, but being able to live in righteousness, peace and joy. To live in righteousness rather than compromise; to live in peace in the midst of trouble and to maintain joy among difficult people. The fact that He is with us, doesn’t mean there will be no enemies; it means that we are empowered to defeat them.  It doesn’t mean there will be no troubles, but it does mean that we can overcome them and live for a purpose and a mission more important and longer lasting than our troubles.

Friend, Christmas is the celebration of the great day when our Saviour made a new way of living possible for us all. The day He connected us to the “Mains” Enjoy!

A while ago in Auckland a restaurant opened where people could eat their food in a pitch-black room. I think it would probably be a bad experience, but it is a good analogy.  A couple of years ago, the people of New Zealand influenced by promises of life saving “food”, went to a “dark restaurant” somewhere near them, to receive something which no other generation in world history had ever had. As we settled in for the meal the strains of the song “Safe in your arms” played softy. We sat in cubicles so we couldn't tell what effect the “food” was having on anybody else. If someone did get ill, it could be blamed on global warming or stress, and covered over by the restaurant media team.  Eighteen months have now passed, and it seems that there has been little review of the restaurants advertising: Safe, effective, necessary, and free.   Here’s my reflections.

Was it safe?  To be honest, I have heard of numbers who were injured by the meal and when I asked others, they knew of other people who were harmed too. True stories from just my small circle of acquaintances: My neighbour had his first course and had to visit his GP because of heart pain, and thought he was going to die.  The pop song “Safe in your arms” was now a worm in his head, so he allowed himself to go for the second course, followed by another trip the doctor who admitted it was Myocarditis.  Another friend thought the dark restaurant was a good thing and even sung the song. He had a severe heart attack after each course.  He doesn't believe the song anymore and distrusts medical and political songwriters. My wife's hairdresser’s mother-in-law quickly developed blood clots throughout her body and died with three days. One man known to me, now has epilepsy which he only got after eating.  A relative of mine knows two women, whose spouses ate and had heart attacks. Another relative’s friend ate, and his leg swelled up and now has cellulitis. A lady in another church partook of the "safe delight" and was hospitalized with paralysis and a family member has a friend’s whose daughter went blind for few days straight after. There were others I could report. Thankfully most people got through without bad side effects, but it does not appear to be safe for all. One injured friend was more adamant. “No, the Government and the doctors, have lied to us all”

Was it effective?  Having the benefit of hindsight, it is safe to say that it was not effective either. It hasn’t stopped Kiwis from getting C19 in their hundreds of thousands. In fact, every country with the highest "eating" rate like NZ, Israel, Ireland and Portugal, had rampant rates of infection regardless of people having had two, three or even four courses. It seems to have not made one blind bit of difference.

Was it necessary? When the Ruby Princess sailed into Sydney with one elderly person dead out of 4000 passengers and crew, it was clear what the worst-case scenario would be about 0.01 % fatality.  At the start when we didn’t know how severe it might be, we accepted that we should protect the elderly and sick. Now we know that almost 100% recover and whether we had our “dinner in the dark” or not, it only took a few days to recover, even for those of us over 60. The data was also clear that the younger you are, the less C19 affects you.

Was it free? The government had to bribe and manipulate people with BBQs and “big macs” to get some to eat for free, but the true cost to people’s health particularly young people’s cardiac health and fertility, has yet to be seen. Over 15000 scientists and doctors are now saying that the meals were not safe at all and that each course damages our natural immune system, making it less effective against flues and other diseases and may even be the cause of dormant diseases, re-activating in people bodies.[1] Part of the true cost is seen on the official U.S. registers of deaths , VAERS, which shows 30000 people died after eating and millions were injured.[2] Even the CDC, the FDA and the Government quietly admits it has caused myocarditis, pericarditis, and blood clotting! Now sadly, SADS is an everyday event terminating thousands of people lives, even athletes.

I admit it has been hard to know who to believe, but instinctively we all knew that TV One news, Google or the PM, cannot be the single source of truth.  A lot of Kiwis were using Duckduckgo, Odysee and Bitchute, to hear what some of the world’s top doctors were saying, like cardiologist Dr P. McCulloch, the brilliant Dr Richard Fleming,[3] Dr Malone and Dr Geert van den Bossche. These men are hard to find on Google and YouTube perhaps because they disagree with UN and “Fizzer”. Dr Robert Malone inventor of mRNA begs parents not to inject their children.[4] Dr Peter McCullough the most published cardiologist in history, says, “Under no circumstance should anyone younger than 30 take the shots.[5] It has been shown that the spike protein (produced by the millions in our bodies after “eating the food”), rather than being the answer, become toxins that damage our bodies. Geert Van den Bossche, who is one of the world's foremost vaccinologist and epidemiologists says, injecting people during pandemic is a mistake and that “Children’s immune systems must be allowed to be educated by exposure to the virus.”[6]

Most adults were free to choose as it should be with experimental drugs, but I am annoyed that some people were forced to eat against their will, when its long-term safety was not known. For the same reason, I don’t think anyone should risk their children. To me it is just common sense; if it didn’t stop adults getting C19, it won't help children. If it injures some adults, it will injure some children. There are zero benefits for children and there are unacceptable risks. I don’t know why this was not talked about openly in the nations press, to enable people to give a true informed consent. I can only guess it has been muzzled in some way.

I still drive past the “restaurants.” and it seems there is a new song playing “Killing me softly”, and the people still hum along.  However there seems to be fewer people going inside, probably because they have figured out that it is not working and also that they also risk food poisoning. Or maybe it’s because the elephant in the room and a few monkeys are taking up all the space.

Friends, many of you will agree with me but some may not and are thinking that I should stay in my “Bible” lane.  I feel a responsibility to say something and believe that “Loving my neighbour" is still my lane. If I can stir up some neighbours or parents to do their own thinking and reading beyond the “restaurants” own write-up, I’ll be happy.

Here is some Bible by the way; “The simple believes every word, But the prudent considers well his steps” Proverbs 14:15.

 [1] New Zealand Doctors speak out  https://odysee.com/@FreeNZ:d/alanna-ratna:5

[2] https://vaersanalysis.info/2022/08/05/vaers-summary-for-covid-19-vaccines-through-7-29-2022/

[3] Here are hundreds of peer reviewed articles on Dr Flemings website.  https://www.flemingmethod.com/documentation

[4] Dr Robert Malone inventor of mRNA begs parents not to inject their children.   https://rumble.com/vqq7gc-dr.-robert-malone-before-you-inject-your-child.html

[5] Dr Peter McCullough (The most published doctor in his field in the world.)"IT'S UNEQUIVOCAL, THE VACCINES ARE CAUSING LARGE NUMBERS OF DEATHS." - Dr Peter McCullough (odysee.com)

[6] Here Geert Van den Boss talks about the effects of the "restaurant". (Around 22min mark for children)  https://www.voiceforscienceandsolidarity.org/videos-and-interviews/these-are-extremely-dangerous-for-children

Sometimes we think of the Pharisee and the bad guys, but they were the good guys in Jewish society. They were like us: they were the committed ones. They weren’t fulltime ministers, they had jobs, but they were devoted to God. All day they tried to please God in order to enjoy Gods blessing. So, they prayed often, they fasted often, and brought a tenth of the parsley plant to the priest. They studied and memorised the Law and they tried to do it. Hower tey found it difficult to receive Jesus because the Pharisees didn’t think God would be like Jesus. The truth they had in the law, never fully revealed what God was like. The law was a divine list of instructions and as for them and their house, they were going to follow the List!

Sometimes when parents go away for a week, they leave a list of things for their teenage children to do and not do:

You shall not have you wild mates around. You shall not make noise that will annoy the neighbours

You shall not leave home without locking the house. You shalt eat properly and don’t be late for work, and you shall put out the rubbish.

 It not the parent, it is just a list.  It tells people a little about the parent: they value tidiness, they think of their neighbours etc. The list reflects in part the nature of the parents, but it is not the parent.

Perhaps just before the parents come home, the children make sure the list is done. They put out the rubbish and vacuum the house. They might have lived badly all week, but the list is done, and the boxes are all ticked.  They hope the parents who are not all knowing, will be happy.  Regardless, when the parents come back home, they screw up the list because now the person who wrote the list has come.

The Pharisees problem was, when the Author of the law came, they still preferred the list. When Jesus came to earth, the Pharisees found it easier to manage a list than a new concept of God. Their forefathers were the same. They told Moses to go up the mountain and get the list; meeting the requirements of an unchanging list had to be easier than living with an awesome and dynamic God.

Friend, the law was a revelation of a portion of truth, but the fulness of Grace and Truth is fully present and revealed in the person of Christ. God did not give us the law or even the whole Bible to reveal the Bible to us, but to reveal Jesus to us!   How do we see God...? Because Jesus was different to what they thought.

In the castle at Jerusalem, there hung an atmosphere of suspense and uncertainty. King David was growing old and weaker by the day, and he had not made it clear who was to succeed him. This lack of clarity exposed the secret designs within the hearts of his servants and his sons. 

God sometimes allows people to get into a position of weakness, to expose the hearts of those around them.  David was now old with family troubles and while the king was at low ebb in his life, his son Absalom arose in rebellion. (2 Sam 15). In contrast, when Saul was weak and vulnerable, David had stopped himself and others rising up against Saul, saying “not to touch the Lords anointed”.

Centuries before, when Moses made decisions that were unacceptable to some, Korah’s corrupt heart was exposed.

When Paul was shipwrecked, his men collected sticks for a fire. As they began to warm themselves by the fire, a snake came out from inside the pile of sticks on fire. It took the fire to reveal the snake amongst the sticks. Pressure and crisis don’t make character flaws, they just reveal them. Friction, heat and differences in opinion between people, never cause character weaknesses either, they just reveal them.

The circumstances of our world and nation, haven’t made people hateful, cruel or intolerant of people with views differing from their own.  The troubles have only exposed the shallowness of our love and the limits of our acceptance.

We support every persons right to their own opinion and defend their right to hold it. We are not those that can only tolerate people that agree with us. Society and civilization can only improve when there is fair and open exchange of ideas.

Friend, our relationships are as good as the test to which it they have been put. Troubles show whether our fruit is real, fire reveals the snakes, and it is the severe scouring of the pot that shows whether the vessel is truly gold or only gilded.

The lepers shuffled slowly toward the outside of the camp, in order to meet the priest who could declare them clean. The lepers in Israel were to live in isolation.

“Then the priest shall examine it; and indeed if the swelling of the sore is reddish-white on his bald head or on his bald forehead, as the appearance of leprosy on the skin of the body, he is a leprous man. He is unclean. The priest shall surely pronounce him unclean; his sore is on his head. “Now the leper on whom the sore is, his clothes shall be torn and his head bare; and he shall cover his moustache, and cry, ‘Unclean! Unclean!”’ (Leviticus 13:43-45)

Leprosy is a picture of sin and pride and some believers today end up in isolation with the mark of leprosy on their foreheads, because of pride. Perhaps they couldn’t get their way or took offense in the local church as they became bitter the leprosy of pride broke out in their soul.

Many say that the church let them down; they felt the church didn’t give them a fair go or they felt they should have been given a ministry and now they have taken offense in the wilderness. It’s fair to say that one of the most common reasons people leave church is offense stemming from their own pride, but then something else kicks in – Divine resistance. Would God do that? Absolutely. God is very likely to take his own advice. Cut off one member for the sake to the body? If you find a believer who can’t find a church they can fit in with (tells you straight away they have a problem), it may well be because God is protecting the body from them, till they repent and can fit into a church again. Progress in Gods kingdom is up to God.

Friend, if things are difficult, we might think it is the devil or just a bad year economically, but if you’re in pride, it could be that you are being resisted by God.

It was hard for Gods people to sing the songs of Zion by the rivers of Babylon. But after years of captivity in a strange land, God encourages them that they would soon return to their beloved Jerusalem.  The prophet brought them hope from heaven in the midst of their trials. “Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction” (Isaiah 48:10).

They were selected and chosen in their troubles. Their new destiny was to be established though the fire - it always is.  God’s people are prepared and refined in the furnace. After the dross was removed, they returned to Jerusalem with Ezra.

Years later, three Hebrew boys told the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, they would not bow down and worship his image.  A one hundred percent gold statement, but it was the furnace that proved their words to be genuine and their faith to be truly golden. The king rejected them and the furnace raged, but the Forth Man was attracted to their faith. Through the fiery trial, God was testing heart attitudes, and bringing about their destiny. He always is.

We only have the character that we demonstrate under pressure.  We all make declarations in a time of peace that must be tested in a time of war. We declare allegiance but it is only displayed in crisis.  We only truly have the faith and the love that we hold through the fire.  

Friend, you too are chosen to become a vessel of honor and glory to Him, in these days.  But golden vessels in His temple, in which He can see His reflection, are not common nor easily made.  Hold on to Him in the midst of your furnace of affliction, for God is beginning to see His reflection in the gold!

Grace is Gods power or His enabling, which is given freely to those who humbly ask for it. It is not just favored where God changes His attitude toward us though He has, grace is how He free helping us with divine strength. The word grace is not used much in the Old Testament but three people asked for it and got it. Solomon asked for and received wisdom by Gods grace. David desired a special relationship with God and received it by grace and Abraham received faith by the grace of God. Grace is the strength we get from God our Father right into our life. Maybe the easiest way of thinking about grace is Help from God. So let us draw near to the throne of grace that we might obtain mercy and find grace to help in a time of need. Grace brings you into the mercy of God and brings help to you from God s throne. Grace is so powerful Paul said, “By the grace of God I am what I am.” Meaning his power and grace enabled me. I labored more than them all but it was the work of grace in me.

Friend, if you have grace in your possession you have more than enough personal resources. If you face circumstances that seem beyond you, by grace we can still reign as kings in life.

Noah and his family went out of the city each day to build the Ark, and for a start, interested spectators and curious relatives gathered. They doubted that their son, nephew or neighbor had heard from God. The family worked for many decades until the huge boat was finished. The crowds had long gone before the sky grew darker. Things were about to change. Noah had been warned by God of things coming on the earth that had never been seen or experienced before. He was moved with fear and built the ark with his own hands, finally covering it inside and out with pitch. God then invited Noah to come inside and dwell with Him in the Ark. 

Today before the global threats arrive, God has provided an Ark for the world, built without hands. The Lord Jesus Christ. We need only to look to Him and enter in by faith. Once inside we can adore and worship the One who presence comes close to comfort and to strengthen. We can lift up our voices and hands to Him each day in our homes and hearts in prayer, praise and obedience. As we enter the “ark of His promises” and declare the protection of His atoning covering over us and our family, we dwell in the secret place of the Most High. As we abide under the shadow of the Almighty, we experience dwelling in Him and Him dwelling with us. If we build it, He will come.

But this Ark is not just for us, but for all. The blind, the mockers, the careless and the ready; all in the city that will call upon the Lord. As we declare His power to save and proclaim His greatness, we point the community toward the Ark. Let the vessel of salvation (the Lord Jesus Christ) be raised higher than all other names in the city.  As we brag on Him and pray for the people of the city, the Ark rises higher as a beacon of hope and deliverance, in the midst of the growing darkness.

As Jesus, The Door lowered Himself to earth to save us, let the gospel door of salvation be opened and lowered to welcome all.  Not all will come, many will not “see” it and some may mock us. But we ignore the crowds and look for the approval of One. Noah and his family weren't the majority, but He was only considered an idiot until it began to rain.

Friends, two things bring joy to our Father: When He can find a dwelling place in us and when people find their dwelling place in Him.