IN the previous CETF ( Vol 6.1 April 2000 ) we explained how we sold our home in Blenheim, NZ in seven days and without advertising it. That was November 1999. We sensed the hand of the Lord in these and the subsequent events some of which were detailed last issue. Now twelve months later we have moved to South Queensland where we are building a home while our goods and chattels remain in storage in New Zealand. It would be totally dishonest of me to project the idea that everything has been plain sailing or that we have always been filled with faith and hope totally devoid of fear and doubt. That is not so and I doubt that it is ever the case in any Christian person's pilgrimage. "For we walk by faith, not by sight" (2 Cor 5:7).

In our short and frail pilgrimage we have discovered that frequently divine direction and provision arrive at the midnight hour. We sensed that the Lord wanted us to return to Australia, for several reasons, even though we knew there would be pressures and difficulties that we would face in making the move across the Tasman and back to the land of our adoption. We didn't expect that Kath would fracture her foot during the first week in Queensland. You can imagine the difficulty with her having to care for a dependent mum. Fortunately our neighbours, Albert and Maureen Nihot, then owners of the property and former COC pastors are great Christians. Maureen was a marvellous help with Nana and the Baptist church folks, where Albert now performs a ministry of visitation, provided wonderful support. Notwithstanding the difficulties events indicate that it is indeed God's purpose that we be back in Australia so, like the apostle, we are able to say we "have learned ... to be content" (Philippians 4:11).

That is one of the big lessons of the Christian life and I must confess that I am a slow learner, but one of John Milton's poems has helped me a great deal. At the age of forty the famous poet became blind and initially complained about his lot, especially in the light of his desire to serve God acceptably. But gradually he came to grips with his condition as the marvellous sonnet, which he dictated to his daughters, who left it on record for the world to read and enjoy, conveys. It is entitled "On His Blindness" and concludes with that sublime couplet: "They also serve, Who only stand and wait."
Waiters are servers. In fact sometimes our anxiety drives us to a point where our action undoes more than it achieves in the service of God. For us, even though the triggering of what happened was fast and furious — a home sold in seven days with three weeks settlement, then a ministry trip to Malaysia and Singapore, followed by Christmas in New Zealand — the aftermath was protracted to the point of causing us to wonder at times whether we had in fact heard from the Lord and made the right decision. Have you ever been there? "And he said to them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consists not in the abundance of the things which he possesses" (Luke 12:15).

We have been without most of our worldly possessions for nearly twelve months, yet we have had no basic lack. It has not been quite as convenient or comfortable as it might have been but we discovered new friends and outlets of ministry and service which otherwise would not have happened. Life is not measured by what we have but by what we can do without. We all have to learn to hold onto things lightly for everything will one day be left behind. "And having food and raiment let us be therewith content" (1 Timothy 6:8).

In our case it was again at the midnight hour that things began to fall into place. We felt that the Lord wanted us to settle in the Brisbane area, but we had difficulty in locating a home in our price bracket that was suitable for our family needs with an invalided "mum" and a fourteen year old son, to care for. In addition we wanted a spare bedroom to be better able to offer hospitality. We settled on the idea of building as being the best option in our circumstances and then realised that we would need to be nearby to monitor the erection of the home. So we decided to move across to Brisbane.

My sister offered to care for Kath's mum while we came ahead to locate suitable temporary accommodation. "And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us" (Acts 16:9).

As we were planning these things we received a phone call asking if we would be willing to help the Jimboomba Baptist Church out in an interim pastorate for three to six months. These dear people found a temporary home to accommodate us all, so my sister's kind offer was not required. The congregation loaned beds and other furniture and effects to help us out. We are 20 minutes drive from where we are building, with the hope of moving in by the end of November, God Willing. "That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found to praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 1:7).

When we planned the home, the budget seemed to be well within the ambit of our modest life-savings without incurring a costly bank loan, but that was before the drop of the Australian dollar and the even worse drop of the NZ dollar. At my age there are obvious difficulties in securing a home mortgage and so again we face the "faith" trial. Just yesterday (Oct 16) I summoned enough courage to approach my bank and guess what? It appears they will agree to raise sufficient money to make the final payment so that we can occupy the completed home — Praise the Lord. He is faithful.

As we go forward we value your prayers. In addition to my part-time commitment to this rural charismatic Baptist church we have planned three monthly PRAYER and BIBLE meetings in one of the Brisbane suburbs commencing October 17 (tonight as I am writing this piece) and continuing Tuesdays November 14 and December 12. The theme of these meetings is REBUILDING THROUGH PRAYER AND THE WORD OF GOD. Then on Thursday October 19 I am scheduled to appear on a Melbourne radio talkback programme.

Sadly there is a huge fallout of people all over Australia as a result of the false teaching and bizarre practices, much of which has emanated from my former colleagues who remain part of the hierarchy of Assemblies of God in Australia. The new generation of ministers, many of them the sons of the old generation of ministers, have taken all of this to the next level down, though they think it is up. Please pray with us that the Lord will continue to expose the false and help us to gather those who are disillusioned with the spiritual abuse that has occurred. Believe me there are thousands of them all over the world. One of our great burdens is for the third world countries which are opening up to the gospel and where the false faith and prosperity teaching is beginning to make inroads. Much of this is now emanating, not from America but from Australia and sadly there is a basic dishonesty connected to it, which will spread like cancer through the body.

For example we were shocked and distraught to learn that the central AoG church where I attended as a bible college student, recently distributed an invitation headed Creative Ministries Barbecue/party which stated:
"After extensive research, our surveys indicate that you have qualified to do the work of ministry within the life of Glad Tidings City Church. It is with great joy that we cordially invite you to a barbecue to honour your past involvement and to present you with the new Creative Ministries vision and functional structure for Glad Tidings City Church. TIME: 7:00pm. Date: Friday 29th September. PLACE … etc. RSVP to the church by Thursday the 28th September."

The person through whom we discovered this information was one who received an invitation and who had only recently returned to the church. There was no possible way that the implied research could have been carried out in her case. Bad as that is, the deception was even worse in that the invitation was folded inside the church bulletin, which was handed to everyone who came through the doors. This is a marketing ploy based on flattery designed to manipulate people. Sadly the humanistic psychology of men like Norman Vincent Peale and Dale Carnegie has influenced the one-time honest ministry emphasis of an erstwhile godly movement that is fast denying the faith and plunging into apostasy. Of course it didn't happen overnight. Back in the 80s I openly criticised the "how to win friends and influence people" teaching of the two above mentioned gentlemen at a family camp in Adelaide. The convenor of the camp told me that he in fact advocated the principles taught by Carnegie and Peale. Flattery, within the kingdom, is wrong, but when you add dishonesty and modern marketing you create a fatal poisonous mix. It is high time that all honest people within the ranks of this decadent one-time revival movement heeded the call of Revelation 18:4 — "Come out of her, my people, that you be not partakers of her sins, and that you receive not of her plagues".
"Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part you will make me to know wisdom" (Psalms 51:6).

On arrival in Brisbane we heard a thrilling story, which could prove to be the forerunner of something quite unique in missionary endeavour in Asia. We are watching developments with keen interest and retain our judgment pending those developments. Basically it concerns a couple, who along with their church, stood against their denomination in regard to the funny stuff. As a result they were black-balled to the point of high level attempts being made to prevent them getting visas to carry out their missionary mandate. In a most remarkable way the door was opened and now they are installed with a free commission to go anywhere and stay well beyond the normal visa period, issued by a high ranking official in that country. This and other developments give us confidence to go forward notwithstanding the opposition and difficulty. Our God reigns — hallelujah.

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28).

CWM from its inception has operated on a financial shoestring budget. While recognising that money is needed we have sensed a restraint from the Lord to make it a major issue. "You cannot serve God and mammon" (Matthew 6:24); "Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding" (Proverbs 23:23) are two very important truths on which we seek to operate. We don't charge for either of our publications, but send them out freely to all who request them. In addition we offer other good resource material as a service and part of the ministry. The financial help from this is minimal. Largely CWM operates on a donation basis. No one is paid a salary. We all operate on a voluntary basis — all over the world.

On leaving New Zealand we had to relinquish any form of control of what had been the base. In line with the Lord's promise to me back in the early 90s wonderful volunteers came forward to accept responsibility for "managing" the day-to-day function of the ministry but more than that, just before leaving for Australia friends from Wellington invited me to do a series of meetings in their city, which were marvellously owned of the Lord. We met new supporters. Later a team was formed to advise and promote the Christian websites of CWM and the Wellington Christian Apologetics Society (WCAS). One of the members of that team is an accountant, who has kindly accepted an invitation to help with the CWM accounts. He will prepare a statement of accounts, which will be published, God willing in the March 2001 CETF.

We value your prayers as we move ahead and we give thanks to God for His faithfulness. I have learned that God is never in a hurry, but He always arrives on time. Recently things were more tenuous than usual, especially with the NZ finances. Quite unexpectedly Bill Verrent received the following note from Maureen O'Brien, manager of our Australian CWM office: "I have received an anonymous donation for $2348.00 Aus, asking me to forward to CWM NZ office. Will post a cheque to you tomorrow (Monday 02/10/2000)."
At the time CWM NZ owed CWM OZ just over $1,000 for goods provided, which was settled from this donation with the balance being transferred. This is just one incident, which recounts God's faithfulness. Just before going to press I received the following note from our office in NZ: "We `snail mailed' to you yesterday, 20th October copies of the current accounts for NZ post and Stanton Print, for the Vanguard publication. They were sent to more people than previous (increasing numbers on data base) and the total was more than $5,000 (NZ dollars). We were able to pay on time, but the bank account is almost empty now. Is this how it has always been?"

Yes, CWM has always existed on a "hand to mouth basis. As George Verwer, director of OM, used to quip "from God's hand to our mouth". God is never in a hurry, BUT He always arrives on time. Another token of His faithfulness a bit earlier was when our web master desperately needed help to purchase a computer programme and extra funds to expand the website. Again the need was met through God's people. Jehovah-jireh — thank you Lord.

We are now receiving commendations and thanks from all over the world for the blessing and help received by those who visit our web site at www.christian-witness.org

PUBLISHING POLICY:
During the year 2001 we plan to publish two Vanguards and two CETFs, with linked NEWS UPDATES on our website at christian-witness.org/archives/arcdex.html

Here is an example of what we put on our website between issues:
The following paragraph was gleaned from UK Newspapers during June and July 2000 — In particular The Telegraph, The Sunday Times, The Times, and The Independent. By S.W. Cope
Too radical for the Vatican — so where does he go? The greatest Catholic theologian of the 20th century is Hans Küng 72-year-old son of a Catholic Swiss provincial family who was once acclaimed by the Vatican as one of the most brilliant thinkers of his generation. His work "Justification: the Doctrine of Karl Bath and a Catholic Reflection" was a basis for the resolving declaration in 1999 between the Lutherans and the Roman Catholic Church. Hans Küng was made an expert adviser to the Vatican Council in the 1960s. However his 1967 book "The Church" which declared that the people of God were more important than the Pope saw the beginning of a campaign against him by the Vatican conservatives. About 2 years later came the publication "Infallible? An Enquiry", which made a heavy attack on the papal exercise of authority. This increased the pressure against him. When John Paul II was elected Pope, Küng had his licence to teach in a Catholic university withdrawn. Küng responded by claiming, "Authority in the church does not lie in a monarch, but in the church itself of which the Pope is the servant not the master".

Küng has since shifted to a Protestant university in Tübingen to become the director of Ecumenical Research. Here he has written a book in conjunction with the former German Chancellor, Helmut Schmidt, entitled "A Global Ethic and Global Responsibilities". Into this picture comes Tony Blair, present Prime Minister of the UK, who is particularly interested in this work. Both Hans Küng and Tony Blair talk of the "Third Way"; both talk of the need to have globalisation of economy, technology, and media, along with the global-isation of ethics. And here lies the danger. An influential theologian and a current head of state talking of the "equal worth of all" together with "globalisation of ethics" can quite easily slip into globalisation of religious faith which is not far removed from us ALL being asked to believe that ALL paths lead to the same destination. Isn't that close to the present position of the Roman Catholic Church?

TARES AMONG THE WHEAT

CWM has stated several times that as the final harvest approaches those who are false teachers and false prophets will reveal themselves by their actions and statements. Last night (Nov 6, 2000) I watched an amazing video recording of an earlier session of Dr Robert Schuller's "Hour of Power" programme. Schuller spoke of his prior acceptance of an invitation from the 89 year old "Most Pre-eminent Grand Mufti of Syria and Damascus" to preach a sermon in a mosque in his country. He referred to the "Mufti" as a "most impressive spiritual giant of the century" and "the closest to a pope that you can find" in Islam. During the service at the Crystal Cathedral Mr Schuller welcomed a number of prominent Muslims whom he named and identified. He then introduced the son of the Grand Mufti of Syria and Damascus as one of the two voices who would make a spiritual difference in the new century, Schuller's son being the other. The young Arab sheik addressed the congregation with a Muslim blessing in his native language, which was translated. Throughout Allah was identified as God. Jesus, Moses and Mohammed were referred to as prophets in equal standing with Mohammed being the final voice linking all three.
We were told that all 13 million citizens in Syria are "Christians" because they "believe in the sacredness of the message of Jesus Christ." "All good Muslims are Christians and all good Christians are Muslims." Schuller apologised to the Sheik and to his father for the crusade started "by Christians" against the Muslims in 1065 then appealed for a new crusade of friendship through his son and the son of the Grand Mufti, because "we're in the same camp". We were told that the Koran teaches that true Muslims believe in Jesus Christ and true Christians believe in the message of Mohamed.

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Appeared in Issue CETF 602 December 2000