# Series (Page 99)

Religion is powerful and full of resources. Tragically, clever men work hard to exploit its riches. If there is an angle to be milked, someone somewhere is selling books, CDs, T-shirts and seminars for all its worth. Even the most genuine of souls can get caught up in religion’s money-go-round. It is very concerning when high profile Christian writers, entertainers or public figures leave the faith. It is to our shame that we do not warn each other that the…

All of Jacob’s troubles melted away when he saw the sweet face of his long-lost son. Pharaoh’s second in command was greeted with tears of joy by his once broken-hearted dad. In Stephen’s historical-recap-sermon he recounts: “Then Joseph sent word and invited Jacob his father and all his relatives to come to him, seventy-five persons in all” (Acts 7:14). 430 years later that 75 left Egypt having become a nation of a few millions. The enslavement of God’s people caused…

Back in the early 90s a group of 74 self-proclaimed Biblical ‘intellectuals’ came together to decide which of Jesus’ sayings were actually attributable to him. They chose 5 gospels to work from. Yes, 5. They had decided that ‘The Gospel of Thomas’ was as canonical as Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. To cut a very long story short, here are some of the conclusions: 1. They decided that only 20% of Jesus’ sayings were authentic to him (with a good…

The ‘short-term thinking’ trap has a hair-trigger. The believer sees the happy, healthy, and prosperous unbeliever and wonders if the struggles of faith are worth it. Asaph wrote Psalm 73 as a ‘Them and Me’ song that lays out the details of this struggle. From the outset he acknowledges that THEY (the prosperous unbelievers) nearly got HIM (the believer) to lose his firm-faith-footing. The callous pride that made the wicked rich, started to look good to him. It was obvious…

“I want to stop smoking, but I’m not ready yet,” “I just wish I had the guts to get a divorce,” or “This job is killing me – I’ve got to get out of this place.” These were posed in a 2013 Psychology Today Magazine article as examples of dreams that can be attained through a 72 hour transformative programme. You can, according to the article, overcome ‘emotional inertia’—the gap between the idea of change and the action, if you…

In 2005 Ellen MacArthur sailed around the world singlehandedly in 71 days. That’s about 51,000 kilometres of ocean travelled. And, yes, she took out the world record. On her arrival home to England she became the youngest recipient of the title: Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE), and was also granted the rank of Honorary Lieutenant Commander, Royal Naval Reserve. No mean feat. All this started as a child. Her aunt took her sailing and she…

Those ‘Door-knocking Campaigns’ were hard work. When approaching a door, you could usually expect a polite rejection in the form of a ‘I got me own religion,’ and though disappointed, it was far better than being detained by someone who had nothing better to do than waste your time. The seasoned campaigners that I had the privilege to work with were amongst the most dedicated soul seekers I ever met—Heaven will be a fuller place because of them. Jesus sent…

To an 8-year-old boy in Whakatane, New Zealand, Woodstock meant nothing. I had seen men walking down King Street with their girlfriends, sporting the Neill Young look—long hair, dirty jeans, leather jacket, and swagger, to boot. But the Beatles had already left their clean-cut look (much to my mother’s disgust), so nothing was new. Every Sociologist and Historian pegs the August 1969 music concert at Woodstock, New York, as either a sign of a social change, or the cause of…

When I became a Christian in 1977, I would hear brethren talk about the various congregations around the country. It became evident that (in Auckland) the ‘Gladstone,’ ‘Balmoral,’ and ‘Brixton Road’ churches of Christ were actually one and the same congregation.** In the early 1980s the congregation had purchased the current Leslie Ave property and has been known as Morningside since. I met the (back then, ‘Brixton Road) preachers and young people at the Ngaruawahia Christian Camp in the late…

My three children grew up with the internet, computers and cell phones and knew nothing of the world before then. However, they do remember the dark days of ‘Dial-up’ and the stone-age which preceded Smartphones, but that was centuries ago. I saw a survey that stated that sixty-seven percent of those born after 1997 “are likely to rate free wi-fi as their top accommodation amenity, when on holiday.” No wonder people don’t take statistics seriously. As if the other 23…