TUPU WHAKARANGI He Aha te Karaitiana? --
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Official magazine of Maori Postal Aotearoa
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“Oh God, Save Us!” -- P The Story of Te Paipera Tapu -- P Peace -- How Can We Find It? -- P He Tapu ia Ingoa -- P The Fallout Continues -- P What’s so Special About Christmas? -- P Check out the New App P The Man Who Stood at the Gate of the Year P Now How did that Happen? P Maui Pomare P
WHAT IS A CHRISTIAN? He aha te Karaitiana?
If you ask people this question, “What is a Christian?” you will receive a variety of answers. The only reliable authority we can turn to find the answer to the above question is the Bible. So, it’s time to do some Bible study. In the Bible the word “Christian” is mentioned only three times, but these three references help us to come to the right answer.
The third reference is 1 Peter 4:16: Here Peter tells believers in Christ not to be ashamed if they suffer as Christians but rather to praise God that they bear the Name of Christ. In his first letter, Peter was writing to persecuted Christians to encourage them to go on for the Lord and stay strong in their faith despite the hardship they were suffering. Persecution is often a reality in the life of a Christian and remaining strong shows the genuineness of their faith.
The first mention of the word is in Acts, 11:26: There we find the disciples were called Christians first at a place called Antioch. Here we have an important clue. It was the disciples of Christ Jesus who were called Christians chiefly because people saw that they were like Him and so that’s how people referred to them. They were Christ’s followers, and were committed to Him, obeyed His Word and learned from Him.
Before we go any further, to help us understand what a Christian is, let’s consider what a Christian is not – Someone who just lives “a socalled good life”. Many people are good citizens but would not consider themselves Christians.
Then in Acts 26:28: A king of Judea by the name of Agrippa, who was appointed by the Romans, learned what it meant to be a Christian after listening to Paul tell how he had become a Christian. Paul told of the tremendous change that had occurred in his life. 2
Someone who reads the Bible. By reading the Bible we may learn how to become a Christian. It is like the signpost that points the way, but just remaining at the signpost won’t get you to your destination.
Someone who is sincere in what they believe. If you want to go to a certain place, just being sincere won’t get you there. You actually have to be on the right road. In other words, sincerity must be coupled with truth.
take charge of your life (John 1:12, Romans 10:9). When you become a Christian, you are – Accepted by God in Christ (Ephesians 1:5-6) and adopted into His Family.
Someone who attends a church. Again, you may learn how to become a Christian, but it involves a personal response to the claims of Christ.
Justified by God (Romans 5:1) and is declared “not guilty” by God who is the Judge because Jesus has born the penalty for you (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Someone who gives to charitable causes. Christians should do so with discretion, but this does not qualify either.
Indwelt by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19) and his/her body is now a temple of the Holy Spirit who gives the desire and the ability to live for God.
Someone who says, “I’ve always been a Christian”. Wrong! No one is ever born a Christian; we are all born sinners.
A new person, having been born again, with new desires, a new life and a new future (2 Corinthians 5:17).
A Christian may or should do these things, but a person does not do them in order to become a Christian, but because he or she is a Christian.
A member of the true Church, the Body of Christ (Colossians 1:18, 1 Corinthians 12:13).
How then can we be sure we are a Christian? To become a true Christian you must – REALISE that you have done, said and thought wrong things and that you are therefore sinful (Romans 3:23). REPENT. Be truly sorry before God for your sin and be willing to turn from your own way. With God’s help, be willing to live the way He wants you to, as shown in the Bible (Acts 2:38). RECEIVE the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord by thanking Him for taking your punishment for your sin and inviting Him to
Eternally secure and will never come into judgment for sin but is bound for Heaven (John 10:28-29, Romans 8:1). So, in the light of all that we have learned on the subject of what a true Christian really is, what is your position? Do you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your own personal Saviour and Lord? -- Editor
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COVER PHOTO: See Page 18
“OH GOD, SAVE US!” Simon Snowden attained the rank of flight lieutenant in England during World War 2. It was while on active service with the Air Force he received the “Distinguished Flying Cross” and was the bomb aimer and radar operator in Lancaster bombers which bombed Germany. After the war and his conversion to Christ he took his place as a Maori elder in four of the Northland tribes – Te Rarawa, Te Aupouri and Ngati Kahu on his mother’s side and Ngati Whatua to which his father belonged. In 1994 he was awarded the CBE. He was also an elder of high standing in the Christian church at Ahipara and, with his wife, Dolly, full time Christian workers for many years. Throughout this time he sought to help his people come to know the Saviour who had meant so much to him. Here he shares an experience from his Air Force days during the war.
Finally we taxied out from dispersal points to the runway, each plane being given take-off times. As we prepared for take-off the pilot and flight engineer went through the usual cockpit drill, revving each 200 hp Merlin engine to maximum revs and checking the gauges.
TUPU WHAKARANGI
“December 29th, 1944, dawned like any other day on an operational Air Force station in war-time England. It was very cold, but there was very little cloud about and we were looking forward to good flying conditions. On the previous day we had taken off at 4 a.m., but this day we weren’t due to take off until 12.05 p.m., so there was plenty of time for preparation for this trip. There was to be early lunch, briefing, check-up on all our flying equipment, and many other things to do before take off.
(Growing Heavenward) ISSUE 233 December 2019 Editor: Graham Batson
Mail: PO Box 10, Whanganui 4500 Email: info.maoripostal@gmail.com www.maoripostal.co.nz
All English Bible references from the NIV unless otherwise stated.
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rise in my throat. There were dark reddish flashes which we all knew to be caused by the explosion of anti-aircraft shells – all exploding at our height and all in our path to the target!
Then we were away. What a thrill to feel the powerful surge of those four great engines! The Lancaster, with its bomb load of five tons of high explosives and about 2150 gallons of high octane fuel, lifted gracefully off the runway in the slipstream of another plane. We climbed to height over the drome and then set our course for our “target for today”, an important marshalling yard in Coblenz, Germany.
There was no thought of taking evasive action as we had to be on target at a certain time with only an allowance of one or two seconds each way. If I had my way I would have turned back because I could not see how anyone could survive that barrage!
As we left base we headed for the south of England, then across the English Channel, over France ad turned north-east to our target. We never took a direct route from base to target as the enemy could easily plot our course by radar and send fighter planes to intercept us. Visibility was good, as we were flying with the sun slightly behind us and to port, but there was just a little haze as we crossed the border between France and Germany.
I was familiar with fear because we had had other moments of anxiety when flying over enemy territory. It seems incredible that a plane the size of a Lancaster, with a full load of bombs, could be flicked onto its back by the explosion of anti-aircraft fire – but ours was once. I have experienced the sensation of riding along a deeply corrugated road as we flew through the bomb blasts of one of our own planes on a low-level bombing raid. This happened to us just after the Normanby landing on D Day when we flew over to bomb an enemy concentration of troops and equipment a few miles inland from the French coast. We had with us the officer commanding the 75th NZ Squadron, who was an ex-fighter pilot of the Battle of Britain – one of the few who “just came along for the ride”. As we crossed the coast we broke through cloud and could see our target dead ahead. Lancasters were zooming in from all angles, and in a matter of seconds we were dropping our bombs.
At 18,500 feet we could see a long way off and as we flew closer to our target area the sky was dotted with planes converging on target from several different points. Then dead ahead of us I noticed a black cloud forming over the target area and it seemed to grow larger every second. Our mid upper gunner and rear gunner were both scanning the skies for any sign of enemy fighters as they usually attacked our bombers as they made their run up to the target. The black cloud seemed to be getting bigger and blacker, and then I noticed something which caused a lump to
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I realized that we were safe and on our way back to England.
As I dropped mine we flew through the bomb blasts of other planes, and our plane was rocked about like an old truck driving over a badly corrugated road. The pilot called me over the intercom to see if I was alright, but I was so scared I could not speak. I just looked up to our OC who was sitting in the co-pilot’s seat and gave him the “thumbs up” to say I was alright.
As I think of that trip and my prayer to God I’ve often wondered whether He heard me above the roar of those powerful engines because at that time I had no claim on Him. I wasn’t a Christian and didn’t know the Lord Jesus Christ as my personal Friend And Saviour. That prayer was a selfish one, unlike the prayer of the Philippian jailor in Acts 16:30 who asked of Paul and Silas, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” He truly wanted to get right with God. I was only concerned about my immediate frightening and dangerous position.
And now, to fly through this barrage that the Germans were throwing up to defend themselves, it seemed impossible! So, with a lump in my throat I cried out to God, “Oh God, save us!” For the next few moments I became oblivious to all around me as we were now over the target area and I busied myself with the job of directing the plane onto the target and getting the bombs away. Then for another few seconds we had to maintain straight and level flying in order to get good photographs of the point of impact of our bombs. The navigator’s voice broke the tense silence of those few seconds as he gave the next course for the first leg home to base. Then
That all took place many years ago. But I can remember a night since then when I uttered almost the same cry. My ten month old baby had died. The tangi was held in my home and during the evening service a preacher quoted the words of King David from 2 Samuel 12:23, “I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me”.
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I realized right then that I could not go to my son because I believed he had gone to
Heaven. I had heard the Gospel message many times before, but had taken no notice of the claims of the Lord Jesus Christ as I did not feel the need to be saved and become a real Christian. But now I knew I desperately needed to be saved, so there and then in my own sitting room I cried to God and He heard my cry. Again I asked God to save me, but this time not from a fiery death in an aircraft over Germany, but from my sin which I now knew was against God and would eventually take me to Hell. His peace and joy flooded into my heart and my burden of sin was taken away.
with the Open Brethren Assemblies. For my work among my Maori people I was honoured by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, with both the CBE and QSM. I would like to conclude with the words of a very good friend of mine which he spoke at a dinner held in my honour at the Headquarters of Te Kohanga Reo Trust in Wellington, after he heard my citation being read at Government House during my investiture. Sir John Mokonuiarangi Bennet, who was chairman of the Trust, said that “despite all that I did in my community and war service, I was not complete and that I only became a complete man after I became a Christian and began serving the Lord”. To me this
From that time on my life changed and I began helping my Maori people in community work. I joined the Open Brethren Maori Assembly in Ahipara and eventually became a full-time Maori missionary worker
was a higher honour than receiving the CBE.
Simon Snowden passed on to be with the Lord at his home in Ahipara on October 10th, 1998, at the age of 84. His tangi was held at the Ahaki Marae. Among the many tributes given at his tangi was that of Mr Ron Toi who said that “Mr Snowden was a great leader who commanded respect from everyone who knew him. His standing in Maoridom was tremendous, not only in the Far North, but throughout the country”.
THAT’S WORTH THINKING ABOUT! “Lot looked up and saw that the whole plain of Jordan was well watered, . . . like the land of Egypt. So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of Jordan . . . and pitched his tents near Sodom” (Genesis 13:10-11). Lot was a worldly, materialistic man who made some bad decisions that affected his family for years to come. Because of their likeness to Egypt, he chose the plains of Jordan as a place to live and settle his family. There is a grave lesson here. Where was it that Lot had seen “the garden of Egypt?” Sadly it was his uncle Abraham who had taken him down to Egypt in a time of backsliding. Whereas Abraham recovered and went on for God, the experience fostered appetites in Lot that never left him. How careful, we who are older, need to be before the younger generation, lest when we lapse spiritually, we might stumble others who might never recover, even if we do. – (From an article by W. H. Burnett).
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The story of Te Paipera Tapu The Holy Bible in Māori began with the Rev. Samuel Marsden in Sydney. As chaplain to the colony, Marsden met many Māori who had arrived in Sydney on whaling and sealing vessels. In 1807 the London-based Church Missionary Society (CMS) agreed that Marsden could start a mission to New Zealand. At the invitation of Māori Chief Ruatara, Marsden arrived in the Bay of Islands on December 22, 1814. Three days later, on Christmas Day, he introduced more than 300 Māori to the message of the Bible at New Zealand’s first church service. He preached from Luke chapter two verse 10, “Behold, I bring you glad tidings of great joy.” “In this manner, the Gospel has been introduced into New Zealand, and I fervently pray that the glory of it may never depart from its inhabitants, till time shall be no more.” (Extract from Marsden’s diary). In the decade that followed, missionaries began the difficult task of taking the oral Māori language and putting it into written form. With the help of brothers Henry and William Williams, the first Scriptures in Māori were published in Sydney in 1827. This little book included passages from Genesis, Exodus, Matthew and John. Eventually, to speed up the publication process, William Colenso arrived at Paihia in 1834 with a large and very heavy Stanhope printing press. That following year, the first book ever published in New Zealand rolled off the press – a 16-page edition of Ephesians and Philippians in Māori. Then from 1836 through to late 1837, the press was fully engaged printing 5,000 copies of the first New Testament in Māori. The New Testament was very popular among Māori with many chiefs sending messengers to Paihia to obtain a copy of the book. Māori became very familiar with the book to the point where missionaries complained 8
they were finding it difficult to find something new in the Bible to talk about. Te Paipera Tapu (the full Māori Bible) was first published in 1868. Since then, three further editions of Te Paipera Tapu have been published, in 1889, 1925 and 1952. The 1952 edition is the version that most Māori communities and speakers have used for over half a century. In 2012, Bible Society published a reformatted edition of the 1952 text featuring paragraphs, macrons and punctuation to help readers understand the text. In 2014, exactly 200 hundred years after Samuel Marsden first brought the Bible to New Zealand, Bible Society published the first new sample translations of Te Rongopai a Ruka (The Gospel of Luke) as part of the project to produce a new edition of Te Paipera Tapu in contemporary Māori.
The Bible The most read book in the world is the Bible. Writer James Chapman created a list of the most read books in the world based on the number of copies each book sold over the last 50 years. He found that the Bible far outsold any other book, with a whopping 3.9 billion copies sold over the last 50 years.
FAIRY TALES?
If the Bible is only a collection of fairy tales, how come it’s banned in 52 countries? No one ever went to prison for reading Cinderella! 9
PEACE! – how can we find it? By the late F. H. Fox, former superintendent MPSS, 1970 to 1982 OUR NEWSPAPERS are filled with the accounts of peace marches, which have been held in major cities throughout the world. Millions of protestors have taken to the streets to make known their antipathy towards war in general, with particular focus being on the situation in Hongkong. Strangely a lot of the demonstrations for peace have been punctuated with acts of violence, terror and destruction of property. As we read the various accounts we have to wonder just what is our concept of peace. Is it merely the absence of war? If so, then what about the different aid agencies who appeal to our love and compassion as they show pictures of those who are in dire need, some indeed dying for want of even a subsistence diet. There is no war, but do they have peace? As I thought about this I remembered a verse in the Bible. Speaking of the false prophets in the days of Jeremiah, it says that they cried, “Peace, peace . . . when there is no peace” (Jeremiah 8:11). I thought too of what the Bible says about peace. It is not just the absence of war, but of an inner peace and tranquility even when things are difficult. Geoffrey Bull, well-known missionary to Tibet, in his book, “When Iron Gates Yield”, tells the story of the three years he spent as a prisoner of the Chinese Communists. Stripped of all his possessions, in solitary confinement, cut off from friends and the outside world, totally alone, subjected to the brutality of the prison guards, and even his Bible taken from him. Yet, in spite of all this, he could say that he rejoiced in the nearness of God as he experienced “the peace of God, which passes all understanding”. This was possible because he knew the One the Bible describes as “the Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6), the Lord Jesus Christ – the One who offers peace to all. We are living in difficult and uncertain times – a time when global conflict is a real possibility. Yet in the midst of all the uncertainty we can take comfort in the fact that the invitation given many years ago is still valid today. The Lord Jesus still invites all to “Come to Me, and I will give you rest”. And to those who come the promise is, “My peace I give unto you”. Then, like Geoffrey Bull, we will find that “the peace of God which passes all understanding, will guard our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7). Although this does not remove the uncertainties of the world situation, it does give us the courage to face them, knowing that “greater is He that is in us, than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4).
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HE TAPU IA INGOA -HIS NAME IS HOLY
“You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses His name” (Exodus 20:7). There is a very concerning trend in our society
And that person places himself in a category for special judgment for God has said that He “will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses His name”. Jesus Himself said, “But I tell you that men will have to give account on the Day of Judgment for every careless word they have spoken” (Matthew 12:36).
at the present time and we need to be made aware of it. It is the increasing trend to use God’s name or the name of the Lord Jesus Christ as swear words. This wicked practice has existed for many years, but recently it has become alarmingly worse. In the Ten Commandments God warns against doing so, and there is special judgment for those who disobey. Today, through literature, videos and Tv it is common place, and in some Tv programmes it is staggering to see how prevalent it has become, where it is presented as though it is just a normal part of everyday speech. But it is a serious evil, and a terrible insult to God Himself.
What does the name of God or the Lord Jesus Christ mean to you? To the true Christian who has received Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord they are wonderful names – far too precious to be used in the unholy way many people do. The name of God reminds us of the almighty supreme One who created all things by the word of His power and who showed His love for sinful people like you and me by giving His eternal Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to die in our place. Jesus Christ loved us to the extent of giving Himself as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins and how dare we use His name as a swear word! He now occupies the place of highest authority in Heaven and is able to save you from the penalty and power of your sin.
Why do people do this? Why do they pick on God’s name? You never hear people use the name of Mohammed or Buddha, or even Stalin or Hitler for that matter. It is always the name of God or Jesus Christ that is used in this degrading way and sometimes it is combined with other filthy and vile words. The fact that people pick on the name of God rather than that of someone else is not only evidence of the existence of Satan, but that He hates anything to do with God. He especially hates the name of God because it represents all that He is: It represents all that is pure, holy and good, and if he can use God’s creatures to degrade His name he will indeed do so. When you hear someone use God’s name or the name of the Lord Jesus as a swear word, that person is being directly used by Satan to insult God.
Perhaps you have been careless in the way you have used His name, and maybe you have not realised the seriousness of doing so. You need to be willing to turn from all your sin and receive the Lord Jesus into your heart and life. Then, you too, will love His name and value it in the way that you should. Allow Him to break the evil habit of profaning His holy name and don’t be Satan’s tool in this way any longer. – Editor.
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THE FALLOUT CONTINUES . . . Adapted from an article by Trish Mackie
AUGUST 6th, 1945, began as a fairly ordinary day as an American plane flew high over a Japanese city. Suddenly, without warning, a monstrous fireball erupted, obliterating buildings and people in a matter of seconds and raining deadly dust and ash over the city of Hiroshima. Over 90,000 people died or went missing that day. Thousands more died later from the fallout of radiation. radiation surely as a nuclear bomb brought Hiroshima to ruin.
It was the dawning of a fairly ordinary decade across the western world. The 1960’s had arrived and the various catch phrases began to echo across our land, “Make love not war”, “Peace, brother, peace”. The young people cried, “All you need is love”. The old standards were out and it was in with the new. Of course, the dropping of moral standards was not new, just as bombs were not new to Japan. The sexual revolution propelled by the media exploded over our society like a bomb. Almost six decades later the radiation level is still high and continues its widespread devastation: Shattered families, fatherless children, abortion, rape, incest, pornography, venereal disease, suicide and AIDS. The explosion of sexual freedom without responsibility has created fallout that has eroded the foundations of our society just as
Seventy-five years ago there was a nominal spirit of belief and trust in God. The war had ended and people set out to make for themselves and their families a better life. Exhilarated with the prospect of freedom there was a great drive in the hearts of millions to get more education, scientific knowledge, financial security and anything else the good life could offer. The need for spiritual strength and truth was forgotten. Families laid aside their Bibles and stopped their church going in the quest for materialism. Today there is more money, technology and possessions in society than any generation before us. But money provides us with everything but happiness and a passport to anywhere but Heaven. 12
The age-old faith that brought satisfaction and met the need of our forefathers is simply stated: “Christ is the only answer. By taking upon Himself the burden and penalty of our sin, He declared, “I have come that you might have life, and have it to the full”. Christ is the only one who can truly satisfy the businessman who treks across town to yet another cocktail party. He is the only answer to the single mother who sits and swoons over another episode of “Days of Our Lives”, longing for a love that doesn’t betray, or the person who has given up looking for a job and sits on the back steps, thinking, “There has to be more to life than this”. Jesus Christ is the only one who has the answer for each one of us.
The quest for peace and freedom is renewed with every generation, yet it is the same old search that man has been pursuing down through the ages. More drugs, more sex, more perverted music, more, more, more of something, more of anything. Still the utopia continues to elude us, causing further failure and deeper despondency. Or yet another devastated family finds their loved one on the end of a rope because the only way out of their futility was to wrap it around their neck. After dedicating his life to science and aviation, Charles Lindberg came to this conclusion: He said, “I saw the aircraft I love destroying the civilisation I expected it to save. Now I understand that spiritual truth is more essential to a nation than the mortar in its city walls. For when the actions of a people are undergirded by spiritual truth, there is safety. But when spiritual truths are rejected it is only a matter of time before civilisation will collapse”. The big question is, how long will it be before this happens?
How many of us would drive out of the car sales yard in a new car, throw the manual into the nearest rubbish bin and then expect to maintain the car effectively? Yet we travel down the highway of life and seldom if ever consult the Bible, which is the manual our Creator has provided us with. Is it any wonder that our lives and society is in the mess that it is?
Today’s generation basically has no knowledge of the one true God. They have been allowed to grow up ignorant of spiritual reality and experience, ignorant of the knowledge of peace with their Creator and consequentially, of true freedom. “There is no God” is the underlying philosophy of our society and we are constantly reminded of it through the media. For many life has become void of any real meaning or purpose.
Ka mea a Ihu, “Ko Ahau te huarahi, te pono, te ora; e kore rawa tetahi tangata e haere ake kit e Matua, ki te kahore Ahau.” (Hoani 14:6). Jesus said, “I am the way the truth and the life: No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). 13
What’s So Special About Christmas? When man landed on the moon, that was big news. In fact, virtually the whole world stopped to
watch Neil Armstrong’s “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”. But it is nothing compared to the news that God landed on the earth. Jesus Christ is God, and His birth is when God came to Earth.
Christmas is so special because God Came to Earth! Jesus was “in very nature God” (Philippians 2:6 NIV) and he came to live among us for a while (John 1:14). That is the relevance of Christmas. Jesus didn’t start in the stable. He existed even before Creation. The pre-eminence of Christ is explained in Colossians, where we are told He is the exact likeness of the unseen God, he existed before anything else, and, in truth, he is the Creator who made everything in Heaven and on Earth (Colossians 1:15-16). We may have a hard time relating to a vague being in the sky, but Jesus is God in the flesh. The Bible says that to see Jesus is to see God (John 1:18). If Jesus really is God and God came to Earth, then Christmas is the most relevant event of all history.
Christmas is so special because God Became Man The reality of Christmas was that Jesus Christ was a real Man, flesh and blood, bones and hair. He was a real person — not a myth, not a fable, not just a nice story. The Bible says Jesus “made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness” (Philippians 2:7). Why would Jesus come as a human being? Consider this: If God had wanted to communicate with dogs, he would have become a dog. If he wanted to communicate with birds, he would have become a bird. But God wanted to communicate with people, so he became a person. How is Jesus like us?
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He was born like us. He gave up all He had and came into the world like billions of other babies. Yet, the whole history of the world rested in that one fragile infant. There was no flashy entrance that could be seen by everyone in the world. Jesus came in the middle of the night in a stable in Bethlehem. Jesus was God in human form, born like us (Luke 2:5-7). He grew like us. Jesus grew and developed and had growth spurts (Luke 2:52). Can you imagine what it would have been like to be in school with Jesus? You would know that He was a little different, but would you believe that He was God? He did not parade the fact that He was God. He was a human being and grew like us. He looked every inch a Jew from Palestine. He was a real man who worked as a carpenter — that’s the reality of Christmas. He was tempted like us. The Bible says Jesus was tempted, just like us, yet He was without sin (Hebrews 4:14-16). Jesus experienced the same pressures that you and I do, the same temptations and desires, but He never gave into them. This is important because it means Jesus can relate to you when you’re struggling with temptations. He suffered like us. Jesus felt pain and disappointment. He became tired and lonely. He grieved, He cried, He displayed human emotion. In Gethsemane’s Garden Jesus said, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death” (Matthew 26:38). Jesus knew what it was like to feel pain and to be under pressure. Jesus became what we are, so we can become what He is. That is the reality of Christmas.
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Christmas is so special because Jesus Came to Die Jesus didn’t stay in the manger, He grew up, became a Man and showed who He was by what He did (John 20:3031). Finally He went to a cross and voluntarily laid down His life for us. The Bible says, “Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death – even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8). Nobody put him there without His permission. Why did he allow Himself to go to the cross? The Bible says He did it for two reasons: To demonstrate God’s love: The Bible says, “God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). His motivation was love. If you want to know how much God loves you, look at the cross. Jesus said, “Greater love has no-one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). The Bible says that Jesus gave His life for us when we rejected Him, before we even knew Him. To pay for our sins: When you break a law, you have to pay a penalty. When you break man’s laws, you pay man’s penalties. When you break God’s laws, you pay God’s penalties. The Bible tells us that “the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life” (Romans 6:23). “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness” (1 Peter 2:24). What Jesus did over 2,000 years ago can make a difference in our lives right now. We can be completely forgiven for everything we’ve ever done wrong or will ever do wrong. That’s the reason for Christmas. At His birth the angels said, “Today, in the town of David, a Saviour has been born to you: He is Christ the Lord!” (Luke 2:11) Jesus came to be your Saviour. If you didn’t need a Saviour, God wouldn’t have wasted all the effort to send Him. The very fact that Jesus Christ did come to Earth, gave up all the glory of Heaven, became a human being, was born as a little baby, grew up to be a man with pressures and temptations like our own, and then died on a cross and was raised from the dead, means you definitely need what God has to offer. Otherwise, He wouldn’t have wasted all that energy. Salvation through Jesus means freedom — freedom from guilt, worry, fear, hopelessness in life. You are free to live the way God meant for you to live, and you can rest in the freedom of knowing Jesus has given you eternal life. So the Cross of Christ is not the end. He is alive, and He came on a mission to bring you home to the Father. That’s the reason for Christmas.
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Christmas is special because Jesus Is Lord The Bible says that because Jesus was willing to walk in humility, “God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him THE NAME that is above every name, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, in Heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11). But God already knew Jesus would succeed at his mission because, when He was born, the angels proclaimed Him Lord: “Today, in the town of David, a Saviour has been born to you: He is Christ the Lord!” (Luke 2:11). What does it mean to be a Christian, to be a believer, to be saved? It means to say, “Jesus is my Lord. I acknowledge the fact that He is God, I believe that He has everything under control, and I commit everything I have to Him.” What does it mean to say, “Jesus is Lord”? (a) I acknowledge that Jesus really is God. He’s more than a man or a prophet. He is the Lord over my life, meaning I will do what He tells me to do. Obedience to His Word is the test of true commitment to Him. (b) I believe that Jesus has everything under control. To say “Jesus is Lord” is a statement of comfort and encouragement. Even if everything looks bleak, Jesus is Lord, and I know He’s got everything under control. I may not see the pattern or exactly what is happening, but Jesus is Lord, and I recognize the truth that He has everything under control. Nothing escapes His care or concern because He is Lord. To say “Jesus is Lord” is to say that I don’t know what the New Year holds, but I know who holds the future. (c) I commit all of my life to Jesus. He has the right to determine what’s right in my life and to direct me. I seek to live according to His plans. The Bible says that one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. It will happen. All of the arrogance in this world that puts itself up against Christ and all the arguments that deny Jesus is Lord will fall by the wayside, and every knee will bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. That is the result of Christmas: Jesus is Lord. We need to rediscover this phrase that has been used for centuries as the test of a believer: JESUS IS LORD. It’s what it means to be a believer: “If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from death, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9). You may think evil is winning, but Jesus is Lord. You may think you can’t go on because circumstances are piled up against you, but Jesus is Lord. You may think your problems are too big for anyone to handle, but Jesus is Lord. When you’re discouraged, say, “Jesus is Lord.” When you’re tired, when you’re worried, when you’re afraid, when you’re lonely say, “Jesus is Lord.” Say it when you’re grieving, and you don’t understand why someone you love just died. Say it when you don’t think you can go another mile. Say it this Christmas and make it the theme of your life: JESUS IS LORD!.
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CHECK OUT THE NEW MPA APP!
As we prepare this issue of “Tupu Whakarangi” we are in the process of entering further into the digital age with the current development of our own app -- “Maori Postal Aotearoa”. It can be downloaded from the Google App Store, so please check it out.
A NEW PROJECT LAUNCHED We are also working with the publishers of the Kingstone Bible, a version of the Bible presented in graphic pictorial form. At present it is being translated into Maori and both Maori and English versions will be available in a series of about 80 separate sections. Eventually the whole version will be available both in hard copy as well as digital through the MPA app. It will be in addition to the present material available from MPA. The photos show Tamati Cassidy who is working on the Maori translation and Bob Arend, CEO of Wandering Sheep Productions a division of HCJB Global NZ Trust, who had the vision to bring Kingstone Bible to New Zealand. They are inspecting the first copies coming off the MPA laser printer. (The link below will take you to a utube video giving a background to this project). Tamati Cassidy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFiN95hRKZQ 18
Bob Arend
The Man Who Stood at the Gate of the Year When King George 6th made his first wartime Christmas radio broadcast on December 25th, 1939, the nation and its Empire were in the middle of the “Phoney War” (the name given to the period of time in World War Two from September 1939 to April 1940 when, after the blitzkrieg attack on Poland by Germany in September 1939, seemingly nothing happened). The expected air onslaught on Britain hadn’t come and many of the children who had been evacuated out of the cities had returned home. Although the German Navy was already harassing Atlantic convoys and on October 13th had managed to penetrate the defences at Scapa Flow and sink the battleship “Royal Oak” with the loss of over 830 lives, the general mood in the country was of apathy and complacency. Recognising the need to change that mood to one of confidence and determination, the King finished his speech - a gruelling experience for a man who suffered from a debilitating stutter – with a poem called “God Knows” written by Minnie Louise Haskins and first published in 1908.
I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year: “Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.” And he replied: “Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.” The speech was very well received around the free world and the poem became one of the most widely reproduced of the 20th century. The Queen was particularly taken by it and had it engraved on a plaque on the gates of the King George VI Memorial Chapel at Windsor when the King was interred in 1952. The poem was also read out at the Queen’s own state funeral in April 2002. One hundred and eleven years after it was originally written Minnie Louise Haskins’ poem still retains its power to inspire and encourage us forward into the future with hope and confidence. 19
NOW, HOW DID THAT HAPPEN? Some time ago I happened to tune in to the news on TV 1 in time to hear one of the latest evolutionary triumphs. Wouldn’t you know it, they have discovered the footprint of the first sea creature to develop legs from its fins and walk on land! From this one footprint they have conjured up what this creature must have looked like and depicted it as something resembling a cross between a half-witted crocodile and a rather obese snake. Now I am not a scientist and I do not even lay claim to being particularly intelligent, but it seems to me there are a few things these evolutionists have overlooked. For instance, I wondered what would cause a creature that is perfectly suited to live in the sea to begin to develop legs in place of fins in order to live in a totally different dimension. But let’s suppose that this did actually happen. And so now we have a creature with its fins beginning to change to become legs. Before it gets too far down this track it makes the disturbing discovery that its fins no longer work as they should and neither are they any good as legs. It can neither swim nor walk properly! Why does it not occur to these people that at this stage such a creature just could not survive? Either it would die from not being able to gather its natural food supply or it would be eaten by predators. If it did manage to survive how in the world would it manage to propagate itself? If it was a male do they imagine that somewhere in this whole far-fetched scenario a female was also undergoing a similar remarkable modification and that finally they managed to meet up with each other? All this says nothing about the impossibility of the vast amount of necessary information being “accidentally” added to the genetic code to enable the creature to make the enormous transition from being a sea-dwelling to a land-dwelling animal. Another question, do these people ever 20
stop to think? Apparently not, judging by the way they can make such outlandish pronouncements while managing to keep a straight face. I sincerely believe that the best answer for the proliferation of such unmitigated nonsense is found in the Bible. The god of this age (Satan) has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ (2 Corinthians 4:4). It is truly astounding what some people will do in order to side-step their Creator in an effort to avoid accountability to Him when the most clear-cut answer is found in the very first verses of the Bible, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1). The Bible further declares that God said, And let the land produce living creatures, according to their kinds: Livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind. And it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds (Genesis 1:24-25). Did you notice that? According to their kinds! There is no evidence alive today or in the fossil record that shows one species developing into another. If it did happen the evidence should be prolific, but it is simply not there. There is facility within the genetic code for changes within a species so that we get, for example, different breeds of dogs and cats in various sizes, but never from one species to another. Wherever we look in creation we see evidence of special creation and design. The Bible says plainly, Since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – His eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made so that men are without excuse (Romans 1:20). Despite evolutionary assumptions that pervade much of our world today, evidence of God’s creative handiwork is all around us if we care to look and therefore we have no excuse for ignoring Him. -- Editor.
One of 20 different Bible Text Posters available from MPA. Send for a catalogue.
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MĀUI PŌMARE Māui Pōmare, of Ngāti Mutunga and Ngāti Toa, was born in 1875 or 1876. His mother, Mere Hautonga Nicoll, was the daughter of Kahe Te Rauo-te-rangi, one of the few women to sign the Treaty of Waitangi. His parents were followers of the pacifist prophets Te Whiti o Rongomai and Tohu Kākahi, and sometimes resided at their Parihaka settlement. Pōmare was present at Parihaka when it was invaded and destroyed by the Armed Constabulary in 1881. He was educated at Te Aute College, where he was taught about modern theories of hygiene, promoted by James Pope, the Inspector of Native Schools. He came to believe that many aspects of Māori culture conflicted with health and hygiene. This view did not appeal to traditional Māori leaders.
After 1907 the government lost interest in health reform and cut back funding for the Māori Councils. As a result the Councils stopped much of their work, and Pōmare was transferred to the Native Department.
In 1893 Pōmare left to study in the United States. He attended the American Medical Missionary College in Chicago, and graduated MD in 1899, returning to New Zealand the following year.
In 1911 he was elected to Parliament representing Western Māori. When Massey’s Reform government came to power in 1912 he was made a member of the Executive Council representing Māori. He was unable to win major health reforms, although he tried hard to settle Taranaki land claims. He was knighted in 1922.
In 1900 there were fears of a bubonic plague, and the government addressed the problem of substandard hygiene and housing in the main centres and rural Māori settlements. Pōmare became Māori Medical Officer in 1901. District Māori Councils were also set up to prepare regulations on sanitation and hygiene. Pōmare travelled widely, inspecting water supplies and sanitary arrangements, and advising the Māori Councils. He became a skilled speaker when visiting Māori communities, which helped him break through the conservative attitudes of many older tribal leaders. He actively sought to remove the influence of tohunga (traditional healers), and supported the Tohunga Suppression Act of 1907. He believed assimilation into Pākehā society presented the best hope for the Māori people.
In 1923 he became Minister of Health. As Minister he introduced maternity hospitals and new medical techniques. This significantly reduced infant and maternal mortality among both Māori and Europeans. Working with Āpirana Ngata and others he was instrumental in setting up the Sim Commission, which inquired into land confiscations (raupatu) in 1927. The Commission, although working with limited terms of reference, upheld many longstanding grievances arising from the raupatu. Pōmare died in 1930. -- Adapted from the DNZB biography by Graham Butterworth
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HOW? . . . . There is a little phrase in Psalm 143 that’s worth taking notice of. It is found in verse 10 and it is a request King David made of God. He prayed, “Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God”. One of the signs that you are a true Christian is that you will want to do God’s will. You may not always do it the way you should, but there will be a desire in your heart to want to live to please Him. David had that desire, but he realised that pleasing God did not come naturally, and that he needed to be taught to do so. How can we best do this? Using the word “HOW” we could put it this way: --
H
– stands for HONESTY. Before we can truly do the will of God we need to be honest with Him. He already knows all about us, but He likes us to front up with things in our lives that need dealing with. Things that are hindering us from doing His will and that need to be put right.
O
– stands for OPENNESS. We need to be open to God’s Word and what He is saying to us through it. If we do not have a good knowledge of God’s Word and we do not know what He is saying to us we will never be able to do His will.
W
– stands for WILLINGNESS. When God reveals His will to us in any situation or course of action, we need to be willing to obey. Obedience to God is a crucial factor in the successful Christian life. Sometimes God may ask us to do things that appear to be difficult. But we should remember that when He asks us to do something He always supplies the ability to do it. 23
Tena Koutou Katoa
Anei Nga Korero Pai
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