Taking a stand

How essential is it for a nation to know their identity, their DNA, who they are and what they stand for?  What have we been taught about our origins from the academic and scientific establishment?

God says “my people perish for lack of knowledge”, Hosea 4:6.  It’s followed by a solemn warning about the consequences of rejecting knowledge.  Again, he says “people without knowledge will come to ruin.”  In Proverbs he urges us “Whatever you do, get knowledge, get wisdom.”

I’ve just finished reading for the second time a book “After the Flood” by Bill Cooper, an English historian.  This book shows how European history can be traced right back to the flood and the descendants of Japheth, the son of Noah, through contemporary accounts and the table of nations.

The third chapter opens with a quotation from Nennius, a Welsh monk from the 9th Century;  “I Nennius, pupil of the holy Elvodug, have undertaken to write down some extracts that the stupidity of the British cast out; for the scholars of the Island of Britain had no skill … I have therefore made a heap of all that I have found …”‘

Bill Cooper suggested the word Nennius used for stupidity would have been better translated as “complacency” or “lethargy,” the mood of the Britons that followed in the wake of the massacre of the monks at Bangor.

You see, their knowledge had been taken away from them.

“The profound cultural shock of seeing their finest scholars and spiritual leaders massacred by supposedly fellow Christians at the instigation of a Roman Bishop no less, would have left a very deep wound indeed, and it is this state of mind amongst the British or Welsh that Nennius laments and which lead to the neglect and loss of many records and books.”

Christianity was already established in Britain before Rome arrived.  “That Christianity was firmly established in even remote parts of Britain at the close of the second century is shown by Tertullian stating “the Britons in parts inaccessible to the Romans, Christ has truly subdued.”

British Bishops attended the Council of Arles in 314AD, before the Roman Catholic church was formed.  When Augustine went to Britain in 601AD as a representative of Rome, he could not get them to convert.  The Welsh already had the true faith, given to them by the early church, and they did not need any new innovations from Rome.

When the monks refused to accept the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church, he instigated the Saxon army to attack the monastery at Bangor-is-y-coed, killing 1200 monks and scholars.

Much was lost, including the history of the early British kings.  To regain what was lost, I recommend you read the book “After the Flood.”

And now here we are at the end of the age.  Has Britain abandoned its Christian heritage?  Is Britain again in the grip of a culture shock following political correctness and imposed multiculturalism, with the resultant Islamic attacks in its cities?

Did you know that in World War 2 the nation, led by its King, prayed?  When Britain stood on the brink of invasion, with 330,000 men trapped on the beach at Dunkirk, King George VI called for an unprecedented week of prayer.  Throughout the country, people prayed on 26 May 1940 for a miraculous delivery.

May 29 was the day of the evacuation of Dunkirk.  We know what happened.  On the 28 May a storm of unprecedented fury grounded the German Luftwaffe – while the English channel became as still as a millpond, despite the storm in Flanders, enabling a vast armada of little ships, big ships, warships, privately owned motor-cruisers from British rivers and estuaries – in fact, almost anything that would float – to get the men off the beach.

The Queen has the title “Defender of the Faith.” Does she defend it?  In 2014 she gave into political correctness, signing into law same-sex marriage, a law that the nation never gave the government a mandate for.  Following that, Britain had a series of storms that were described by the British prime minister as “biblical.”

The flooded crypt at Winchester Cathedral, 2014

Who is going to the defend the faith now?  British people, you do have a King … the same King as the Polish people.

Here is Poland the following year.  In November of 2015 Poland marched in the streets and took a stand for Christianity. They declared boldly to the world “here, Jesus Christ is our King!”  It was the biggest march in Poland’s history.  The media were silent.

Is it time for the spirit of the nations to rise, to go to war again through intercessory prayer?

John R. Mott, Nobel Peace Prize winner, said “The Church has not yet touched the fringe of the possibilities of intercessory prayer. Her largest victories will be witnessed when individual Christians everywhere come to recognize their priesthood unto God and day by day give themselves unto prayer.”

Britain, as the sun sets in the west, may you remember who you are.

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Link

Battles in the spiritual realm
Massacre at Bangor
After the Flood

Nennius and the Table of European Nations

 

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Oorah! Salvation comes!

A time for war

Mar Mattai (St Matthews) Monastery Iraq

This week a priest visited the churches in my small community, along with the elders of the Assyrian Church of NZ.  His name was Father Fadi.  He needed an interpreter as he did not speak English, he spoke Aramaic – the language of Jesus.  He was dressed in a black hassock with a black and silver skufia (soft cloth cap).  Why was he so far away from his homeland? 

Father Fadi was forced to leave Iraq.  His wife and children are still there.

St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church at Matakana coming home

I had never before seen a member of the persecuted church, and we all listened to him very carefully.  He carried the hurt of his people.

Realising we were in the presence of an ancient church, one that had been persecuted for centuries, a reverential hush came over us.  It reminded me of the hush I witnessed when a church was moved on a barge from Snells Beach back to Matakana, it’s original community.  The waiting crowd had gone silent when the little church appeared around the final bend of the Matakana river.

This is also a church on the move, but there is no home for it.  Mosul (Ninevah) is a Christian area, always has been.  Father Fadi said things got progressively worse for them in Iraq after Sadam Hussein was deposed, especially since 2010.  He said that every day his heart had pain.

There were over 100,000 Christians living on the plains of Ninevah.  Isis forced the people out.  They had to leave their homes overnight and and have nowhere to go.  Some of them are sheltering under highway underpasses and the temperature has got up to 50 degrees C.

Father Fadi said that he wanted us to know that there was a church in Iraq.  St Matthews was his monastery.  It was founded in the 3rd century.  Its 20kms from Mosul, ancient Ninevah.  Now there are only two elderly monks left at St Matthews who did not want to abandon the monastery.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/10916613/Iraqs-beleaguered-Christians-make-final-stand-on-the-Mosul-frontline.html

Please pray for them.  What does God think of their plight?  Why has He been silent in the face of the slander, abuse and murder of His people?

For the past two weeks, I’ve been getting a verse from Amos;

The lion has roared—
    who will not fear?
The Sovereign Lord has spoken—
    who can but prophesy? Amos 3:8.

I’ve been praying for a context.  Today He told me the Lord is a God who avenges, and one of His names is “The avenger of blood.”

We’re not used to that concept.  All we know is a God who has taught us forgiveness 70 x 7.  We know the Lamb, not the Lion.

It’s time for the church to rise up and pray.  There is a time for peace, and a time for war.  The church couldn’t stand by and turn the other cheek while Hitler was rampaging through Europe and North Africa.  In that time, God raised up intercessors like Rees Howells.  We need to intercede like that again.

What can we pray?

It can be hard to pray about the enemy.  I mean, I’d love to ask God to slaughter the Jihadists and leave their dead bodies strewn across the desert.  It would be justice, but then I’d be praying for them to go to hell.  A better prayer would be for God to thwart them, or make Himself known to them in dreams.  If you don’t know what to pray, pray the word.  Psalms are good for this purpose.  God delights in us addressing Him using His word, and it never returns void.  The devil can’t stop prayer from the word.  God gave me Psalm 94 to pray for His persecuted people;

Assyrian Christian Father Adda prays at St. Matthew monastery on Mount Maqloub, northeast of Mosul in Northern Iraq, Jan 12 2004

 O God who avenges, shine forth.
Rise up, Judge of the earth;
    pay back to the proud what they deserve.
How long, Lord, will the wicked,
    how long will the wicked be jubilant?

 They pour out arrogant words;
    all the evildoers are full of boasting.
They crush your people, Lord;
    they oppress your inheritance.
 They slay the widow and the foreigner;
    they murder the fatherless.
 They say, “The Lord does not see;
    the God of Jacob takes no notice.”

The wicked band together against the righteous
and condemn the innocent to death.

Lord let the enemy know you do see,
Let the enemy see you are taking notice.
Let them see the futility of their arrogant words and empty boasts,
That they may come to fear you.

Lord protect the widow, the foreigner, the fatherless.
Become the fortress of your persecuted people,
the rock in whom they can take refuge.  Amen.

There’s a lot more to the Psalm than I’ve prayed here.  I recommend you read the whole Psalm.  I will write more about the Lion of God in the next post.

The Gate Keeper

We’re in a war, and it involves our homes.  I should know.  I come from four generations of broken homes on my mother’s side.  I never knew my own grandmother.

The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down.  Proverbs 14:1

I repeated the broken home pattern myself, but unlike my maternal grandmother I refused to abandon my children.

My children did not have an ideal home as the father was missing, but unlike the previous generations, I turned to God and he turned this family around.  He gave me strength, self worth, boundaries and a lot of practical help.  When the children reached their teenage years I was given a second chance at marriage.  The man I married is a good man who loves my children like they are his own.

I put two things on hold while I was raising the children on my own – dating and a career.

Did I earn as much money?  No. Did I have any romance?  No, just temptation.

Was it worth it?  Yes!  I still got to where I wanted to go, my children have safely reached adulthood,  happy and well adjusted.  They are navigating life for themselves now.  I pray to God that the unhappy pattern of divorces has been broken, to be replaced with happy marriages.

I now respect the home maker profession more than any other.  Although I’ve had two careers and now I’m a self employed business woman, I realise it is the most important job you ever get to do.

Satan targets women as they run the most important place – the home.   Mothers have the most influence on children – if a mother is broken and can’t raise her sons and daughters, he wins.

He will look for where you are most vulnerable, and tempt you there.  Be careful what you let into your home.

There are lots of sharks swimming in the sea of life, and you don’t always see their fins.

2 Timothy 3:1-9 gives you a list of them.

Here are some I encountered;

1) The narcissist who wormed his way into my home with charm, and destroyed it.

2) Religious wolves dressed as sheep – having a form of godliness but denying its power.  The ones that are easy to spot are the ones who turn up on your doorstep holding Bibles.  Not so easy to spot are the “apostles” who want a percentage of your income as “tithes”.

3) A friend of my daughter who was disobedient to her parents, unholy, and ungrateful.  She tried to get my daughter to shop lift.

4) A gossip who slandered a loved one.  Covered in an earlier post.

1) I invited in, 2) I did not invite in 3) My daughter invited her in 4) Got invited in with a group of people

Have nothing to do with them.

In 2 Timothy 3:1-9 they are described as “the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires …”

Ouch, ouch ouch.  I asked myself some tough questions in the next chapter of my story.

Weak willed?  If they gain control, you have been weak willed.

Loaded down with sins?  Is there stuff in your life or family of origin stuff that hasn’t been dealt with?

Evil desires?  Just look at what is on your TV that may sway you, or your child.

So watch yourself.   If you are a mother, you are the gate keeper of the home.  Its dangerous times we’re living in.

Psalm 101 is a great piece of scripture for a gate keeper.  My advice is make it intentional.  Learn it, memorise it, and use it.  If you put it into effect, it will save you a lot of grief.

Also, Gate Keepers need discernment.  You can ask God for this gift.

 

Battles in the spiritual realm

When I was a child, Sundays were spent having a midday roast and watching WW2 war movies on our only TV station.  My father was a 4th generation New Zealander of mixed German and English descent (half and half), so I’d ask him which half was winning.  He didn’t think it was funny.  No-one of his generation with German blood did after WW1 or WW2. 

Not all Australians or Kiwis are descended from the British, and there were ANZAC soldiers who fought against their own relatives.  It was a bad time under the Nazi jackboots where the devil rampaged through Hitler, and Christians in Europe were swept up in the conflict.  Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Ephesians 6:12.

The war movies never showed us the battles that went on behind the scenes in the Kingdom of God.  The King raised up intercessors in that time to carry out His will and fight against the enemy in the spirit realm.

One of the intercessors was a man called Rees Howell, a convert from Wales. He was caught up in the power of the Welsh revival that swept throughout Wales in 1904, transforming communities as thousands joined the body of Christ. The powers of darkness were forced back as the Kingdom of God advanced forcefully.  He realised there was a great need to be able to intercede for the new converts to be true disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Rees and his wife Elizabeth Howells were commissioned to build and sustain the largest Bible College in Wales by prayer and faith alone. At that time, the founders had only two shillings, (NZ 20 cents).

During World War II, he would lead his Bible College in intercession to defeat the Nazis.   He and 120 intercessors vowed to give their lives over “to fight the battles of the Kingdom, as really as if called to fight on the Western Front.”  As the Nazis poured through Europe, the College stood daily before God.  Rees Howell said “We are going up to the battle, and I am as sure of victory as of the dawn. If you know you have faith for something, would you not go on until you got it? I would like this to ring out to the world: ‘The Lord, He is the God!'”

After Holland fell Britain stood on the brink of invasion, and the advancing German Army had trapped the British and French armies on the beaches around Dunkirk, 330,000 men, and they were a sitting target for the Germans. The beach at Dunkirk was on a shallow slope so no large boat could get near to the actual beaches where the men were. Due to war-time censorship and the desire to keep up the morale of the nation, the full extent of the unfolding “disaster” around Dunkirk was not publicised.

However, the grave plight of the troops led King George VI to call for an unprecedented week of prayer. Throughout the country, people prayed on 26 May for a miraculous delivery.  May 29 was the day of the evacuation of Dunkirk. Mr. Howells said, “Let us be dear in our prayer that the intercession is gained. The battle is the Holy Spirit’s. See Him outside of yourselves tonight. He is there on the battlefield with His drawn sword.”

Hitler’s first mistake.

Hitler overruled his generals and his armoured columns at the very point when they could have proceeded to the British army’s annihilation.  Churchill believed this was because Hitler undoubtedly believed that his air superiority would be sufficient to prevent a large-scale evacuation by sea.

A storm of unprecedented fury broke over Flanders on Tuesday, 28 May, (1940) grounding the German Luftwaffe squadrons.  Despite the storm in Flanders, a great calm settled over the English Channel during the days which followed, and its waters became as still as a mill pond.  It was this extraordinary calm which enabled a vast armada of little ships, big ships, warships, privately owned motor-cruisers from British rivers and estuaries – in fact, almost anything that would float – to ply back and forth in a desperate bid to rescue as many of the men as possible.

General Haider, Chief of the German General Staff, three days after the High Command had so proudly boasted that the British Army was about to be annihilated, recorded in his diary on 30 May that ‘Bad weather has grounded the Luftwaffe, and now we must stand by and watch countless thousands of the enemy getting away to England right under our noses.’

Hitler’s second mistake.

The next battle of intercession was over the air-raids, and the crisis of the “Battle of Britain.  Churchill tells how he visited the Operations Room of the R.A.F. On September 15.  He watched as the enemy squadrons poured over and the R.A.F went up to meet them, until the moment came when he asked the Air Marshal, “What other reserves have we?” “There are none,” he was told.  Churchill looked grave.  The Luftwaffe were about to win the battle.

Then another five minutes passed, and the Luftwaffe turned for home. The shifting of the discs on the table showed a continuous eastward movement of German bombers and fighters. No new attack appeared. In another ten minutes the action was ended.”  There seemed no reason why the Luftwaffe should have turned for home, just at the moment when victory was in their grasp. But we know why.

1941 January 28, Rees Howell’s journal stated, “Believed for the protection of the country.” This was followed by the remarkable petition: “Lord, turn the enemy down to the Mediterranean”, and thus relieve the pressure on Britain, by turning Hitler’s attention in another direction. Just over two months later, war was declared by Hitler on Yugoslavia and Greece, and this was followed by the invasion of Crete and North Africa.

Hitler’s third mistake.

The next prayer was greater still.  “Lord, bring Russia into the war and deal with Communism.”  Six weeks later, without a word of warning, Hitler swung round and invaded Russia. If anything was seen to be an intervention of God to help the Allies, it was that.   The secular papers spoke of it in the words of the pagan proverb, “Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad.”

The enemy had made two attempts to occupy the Bible lands, the first via Crete, which brought the prayer from the Spirit that the Nazi hordes should be turned against Russia; and the second via. North Africa, which had resulted in the divine intervention in answer to believing prayer at El Alamein.

“Unless God will intervene on behalf of Palestine,” said Mr. Howells on July 4,1942, “there will be no safety there for the Jews. These Bible Lands must be protected, because it is to these lands the Saviour will come back. If I had the choice today, I would say to God, ‘Take all I have, but preserve Palestine.’ We want to say to God today, ‘unless there is a special reason for Egypt to fall, don’t let Alexandria be taken, but give Rommel a setback.’

Between Rommel’s men and Alexandria were the remnants of a British army, fifty tanks, a few score field guns, and about 5,000 soldiers. The sides were equally matched, with the Germans holding the advantage, because of their superior 88 mm. guns, until the Afrika Korps surrendered.  1,100 men of the 90th Light Panzer Division, the elite of the Afrika Korps, came stumbling across the barren sand with their hands in the air.

Cracked and black with coagulated blood, their swollen tongues protruding from their mouths, they crazily tore water bottles from the necks of the British and poured life-giving swallows between their parched lips. The Germans had been twenty-four hours without water, when they overran the British defenses and found a 6-inch water pipe. They shot holes in it and drank deeply. Only when they had taken great gulps, did they realize that it was sea water.  The pipe had only just been laid, and the British had just started to test it. Fresh water was never used for tests on pipes, it was too precious. “The day before, it would have been empty.  Two days later it would have been full of fresh water…” (Source Major P. W. Rainer, Pipeline to Battle.)

I have extracted much of this from the book “Rees Howell Intercessor by Norman Grubb, which can be read or downloaded here: http://www.inspirationalchristians.org/biography/rees-howells/

John R. Mott, Nobel Peace Prize winner, said” The Church has not yet touched the fringe of the possibilities of intercessory prayer. Her largest victories will be witnessed when individual Christians everywhere come to recognize their priesthood unto God and day by day give themselves unto prayer.

The unseen war

Even as a child I became aware there is a spiritual war raging all around us.  Earth is a battleground, and the children of men are the ones being fought over.  The soul is the command seat of the person.  That’s where Hell attacks.  The good news is there is a King who restores souls and leads us to the right road.