Tupu Whakarangi Magazine Issue 236

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Issue 236

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WHAKARANGI LIGHTING FIRES .............................. P 2 JIHAD TO CHRIST ................. .......... P 8 GIVE HIM HIS RIGHTFUL PLACE .. P 14 BUSH TESTIMONY ........................ P 16 MAORI KING MOVEMENT .............. P 22 www.maoripostal.co.nz

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LIGHTING FIRES Nana, e koutou katoa e tahu na i tea hi, e whitiki na i a koutou ki nga rama muramura; haere i te marama o ta koutou ahi, i nga rama muramura hoki i whakangihaia na e koutou. Tenei ta toku ringa mo koutou, ka takoto iho koutou me te tangi ano. – Ihaia 50:11 All you who light fires and provide yourselves with flaming torches, go walk in the light of your fires and of the torches you have set ablaze. This is what you shall receive of My hand: You will lie down in torment. -- Isaiah 50:11.

What is the most stupid thing you have ever done? Here’s one of mine that happened in my early teenage years.

In our backyard was a palm tree with the usual hairy trunk that some palm trees have. It grew right alongside a shed used as a storeroom and dwarfed the shed by a couple of metres. I had often wondered what would happen if someone happened to set fire to the hairs around the base of the trunk. So tempted was I by the thought that I decided to find out. I could just strike a match and light the bottom part and then put it out before it got out of control. So, believe it or not, that is just what I did.

But, to my horror, before I had a chance to put it out, the flames engulfed the base of the tree and, with an exciting crackle, shot up the trunk at unbelievable speed! I suddenly had a vision of not just the tree, but the whole shed going up in smoke and I remembered that in that shed, among the tools kept there, was a can of petrol for the lawn mower.

I was immobilized with fear as I watched the potential tragedy begin to unfold.

But then, to my enormous relief, the flames that had now reached the foliage of the tree above the shed roof began to subside as they consumed the few dry fronds that were there and then fizzled out. The rest of the fronds were too green to burn, but after the smoke had cleared, the tree itself looked as though it had been through a rotisserie. It was going to be an interesting session trying to explain to my parents how the tree got to look that way. As expected, they were not overly impressed with my stupidity nor my explanation, but they figured I had received a big enough fright to curtail any future escapades of similar nature.

I learned a lesson that day I never forgot. Part of the lesson was to use the Godgiven common sense that most of us have been endowed with and that sometimes we fail to use. The other part was that things can unexpectedly and very quickly get beyond our control and can lead to serious consequences.

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Many of us get led astray through peer pressure or various forms of deceitful advertising that drugs and alcohol can lead to an exciting lifestyle and so we turn our backs on what we know is right and “light a fire” that we think we are well able to control. Others get involved in sexual immorality, perversion and harmful relationships through evil lusts. They too “light a fire” they think can easily be controlled and extinguished when the heat gets to be too much. Gambling is another “fire” people choose to light, hoping they will strike it rich one day. Many young people get into bad company and “light a fire” of crime and violence, searching for some sort of excitement. But in all too many cases the situation gets completely beyond their control and they become enslaved to a destructive lifestyle of misery, depression, sickness, bitterness and often poverty. The flames of the “fire” we have lit engulf us and all we once knew of purity, decency and happiness is burned up.

The prophet, Isaiah, warned the people of his day of the consequences of rejecting God and going their own way. The people “lit fires” of rebellion, idolatry, corruption and evil. They left God out of their lives and walked in the light of their own wisdom, but they paid a terrible price for doing so. Thousands of them were slaughtered by their enemies and most of those left were deported from their homeland. God said to them through His servant Isaiah, “This is what you will receive from My hand: You will lie down in torment”.

There are many today who are in torment because of the lifestyle they have become involved in, but it is nothing compared to the torment they will have to suffer if they depart this life and go out into eternity without turning to God and receiving the Saviour He has provided. God says in His Word, “Do not be deceived. God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the (Holy) Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life” (Galatians 6:8).

One of the aims of this magazine is to warn people of the danger of rejecting God and His purposes for them, and “lighting their own fires” of sin and evil. Perhaps you have already gone your own way and “started your own fire” which is even now beginning to consume you. You can be delivered through the Lord Jesus Christ as many others have been.

TUPU WHAKARANGI

(Growing Heavenward) ISSUE 236 December 2020 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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False Doctrine and Rat Poison!

and appealing to the rat in order to get him to accept and eat the part that is poison.

The person who is not grounded in a balanced understanding of God’s Word, or the type of life that God wants us to live, can easily become a victim of false teaching. Why is this? Because the false and counterfeit tend to be so much like the real that only a Christian with a keen knowledge of Scripture and spiritual discernment can tell the difference.

False doctrine must have enough Biblical truth to sound Biblical in order to entice a person to accept the false part. It can be mainly accurate Biblical truth, but the small percentage of false doctrine can be enough to kill the spiritual life of the person who believes it and begins to practice it.

William Branham’s Message as an example: “Message” preachers (those proclaiming Branham’s teaching) may seem to teach the same as orthodox evangelicals. But they add false teaching -- such as that William Branham is the messenger to “the last church age” and that this belief is essential for being in the “Bride of Christ” (the Church). After following this doctrine for a while, believers of William Branham’s message think that William Branham is their guarantee

Jesus Himself warned of false christs and false prophets arising and deceiving many (Matthew 24:24). Paul warned the elders of the Ephesian Church about false teachers, referring to them as “savage wolves who would not spare the flock” (Acts 20:29). The main theme of Peter’s second letter was to warn believers of false teachers who “will bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them” (2 Peter 2:1).

Characteristics of False Doctrine: Consider the ingredients in rat poison. The label on a package of rat poison, reveals that only a small percentage is poison, and the rest is tasty, nutritious food for the rat. However that small percentage is enough poison to kill the rat if he eats it. Most of the rat killing bait must be real food

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of Heaven instead of what the Bible actually teaches.

Jesus no longer is the central truth for salvation for them.

Jesus told His disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. The apostles understood that Jesus was talking about their doctrine (Matthew 16:6-12). Jesus used the illustration of leaven (yeast) to show how one false doctrine can affect the whole spiritual life of a person, a local church or denomination. It only takes a very small amount of yeast to permeate an entire loaf of bread.

There are many other cults that use the Bible, but who take verses out of context and add their own teaching.

“The Church of Latter-day Saints” (Mormons) and “Jehovah’s Witnesses” are two of the most common. They have departed from the plain, historical teaching of Scripture and added their own doctrines, some of which are quite bizarre. (In the case of Mormonism, Jesus is the older brother of Lucifer, and for “Jehovah Witnesses” He is Michael the Archangel).

The Apostle Paul wrote to the Galatian Christians about a doctrine that some were introducing into their midst that would put them back under the Old Testament Law and cause them to “fall from the grace of God” thereby affecting their entire Christianity – “a little leaven (yeast) leavens the whole lump” (Galatians 5:9).

Some say that it can’t be too serious.

After all, it’s only one teaching that is questionable, or one person living a sinful lifestyle. One doctrine that is contrary to God’s truth, nature, and character or one person living a sinful lifestyle can have a devastating effect on any local church.

False teachings can also be compared to counterfeit money. It has to look and feel like the real government printed money in order for people to accept it as real money. The counterfeit is made up of the same things as the real—a certain type of paper, colours and designs, etc. It looks and feels so much like the real thing that it takes those trained to recognize the counterfeit to realize that it is not genuine.

There can be no counterfeit unless there is the real in existence: For example, no one would accept a thirteendollar bill because there is no government produced thirteen-dollar bills. There cannot be false Christs unless there is a real Christ, false prophets unless there are real prophets. How many errors does it take on a counterfeit bill to make a bill fake? How many non-biblical doctrines have to be added to the Bible to make its adherents a cult?

Listen to Paul’s admonition to the Corinthian Church: “Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough?”

(1 Corinthians 5:6).

One sinful lifestyle or one false doctrine is no small thing to the Lord.

We see from this Scripture that one sin or one false doctrine can affect the whole assembly or church just as Achan’s one sin affected the whole nation of Israel (Joshua 7).

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The spirit of error in a church is like the very small amount of poison that kills the rat, or the small amount of yeast that invades the dough for the loaf of bread.

It is like the cancer cell undetected and unchecked that brings death to the rest of the members of the body.

All the cults claim divine revelation for their beliefs and some claim supernatural visitations of Jesus or Heavenly angels.

The founders of such come across as wholly dedicated to God with a sincere desire to get answers and to know the truth. But many of these people were evil men who were morally corrupt and had Characteristics of Cults: “Cultish very little care for the truth. Thousands teaching” is a distortion of Biblical of people have been led astray by them.

Christianity and/or a rejection of the historic teachings of the historic Hence, in conclusion, we need to take Christian church. A cult, then, is a group notice of the warning given by Paul in of people polarized around someone’s Galatians 1:8-9: “Even if we or an angel interpretation of the Bible and is from Heaven should preach a gospel characterized by major deviations from other than the one we preached to orthodox Christianity relative to the you, let him be eternally condemned! basic doctrines of the Christian faith, As we have already said, so now I particularly concerning the nature of say again: If anybody is preaching God, the fact that God became man in to you a gospel other than what the Person of Jesus Christ and that Jesus you accepted, let him be eternally is Deity. condemned”.

(If you would like further information on any of the cults, please contact the editor of this magazine).

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Jihad to Christ A Muslim comes to Christ

PART ONE

first battle was the Six Day War when the Jews captured old Jerusalem and the rest I was born in Bethlehem, Israel, on one of Palestine. This was a great disappointof the holiest days to Islam -- the birthday ment to Arabs and Muslims worldwide. of the Muslim prophet Mohammad (AlMauled Al-Nabawi). This was an honor to The American Council in Jerusalem my father, for that he named me “Walid” came just before the war to evacuate all which relates to the Arabic word “Mauled” the Americans in the area since my mothin English “The Birth”, to always remember er was an American, but my father refused the birthday of the Muslim prophet. My faand turned them down because he loved ther was a Palestinian Muslim who taught his country. I still remember many things English and Islamic studies in the Holy Land, and my mother was an American during the war; the noise of the bombing who married my father during his studies and shelling that went on day and night for six days, the looting of stores and houses in the United States in 1956. by the Arabs in Jericho and people running While my mother was pregnant with to cross the Jordan River from fear of the me, my parents left to live in Israel in 1960 Israelis. which was called Jordan at that time, and The war was called the six-day war when they arrived in Bethlehem I was born.

As my father changed jobs we moved to because it was won in six days and on Saudi Arabia then back to the Holy Land the seventh day a Rabbi by the name of this time to the lowest place on earth, Jeri- Goren blew the ram’s horn on the Wailing cho. I did not forget the first song I learned Wall in Jerusalem declaring the victory. in school just before the six-day war titled Many Jews claim that this was a parallel to “Arabs our beloved and Jews our dogs.” I Joshua when he went around the walls of used to wonder at that time who the Jews Jericho six times, then on the seventh day were, but repeated with the rest of the kids seven times, and on that day the priests the words without any knowledge of the blew the trumpets and everyone shouted meaning. with one voice and took the city. To my faAs I grew up I lived through several bat- ther in Jericho it seemed that the walls had tles between the Arabs and the Jews, the crumbled on him (Joshua ch 6).

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Later on we moved back to Bethlehem and my father enrolled us in an AnglicanLutheran school as they had a better English course. My brother, sister and I were the only Muslims in the school and being half Americans teachers would beat us and students would laugh at us.

When the Bible class started I would leave the class and remain outside. One day I walked in the Bible class and the class ‘bully’ stood up to fight. He shouted, “We don’t want this half American Muslim to be here”. I refused to get out and the lady who was teaching the class asked me to sit down. For the first time the school allowed a Muslim to study the Bible, and for the next three years I studied it despite all the mocking.

During school riots against what we called the Israeli occupation I would prepare speeches, slogans, and write anti-Israel graffiti in an effort to provoke students to throw rocks at the armed Israeli soldiers. We shouted, “No peace or negotiations with the enemy”, “Our blood and our souls we sacrifice to Arafat”, “Our blood and our souls we sacrifice to Palestine”, “Death to the Zionists” etc.

I vowed to fight my Jewish enemy believing that I was doing God’s will on earth, and was true to my word as I participated in many riots against the Israeli army, always trying to inflict harm to them and by all means and methods I could come up with. I would start and participate in any riot I could make, in schools, streets, and even on the holiest place (the Temple mount site) in Jerusalem called by Arabs (Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa), and all through high school I would always be one of the first to provoke a riot. Many others got involved in terror tactics against the Jews using bombs and armed assaults on Jews to force them to leave Israel, but they never could pluck them out.

Later my father transferred me to the Government school where I grew in the faith of Islam, in which I was fed the idea that one day a fulfillment of an ancient prophecy by the Muslim prophet Mohammed will come to pass. This prophecy foretold a battle in which the Holy Land would be recaptured and the elimination of the Jews would take place in a massive slaughter. It is documented in Mohammed’s Book of Traditions which states the following: “The day of judgment shall not come to pass until a tribe of Muslims defeat a tribe of Jews”. When Mohammed was asked of the place this will take place he said: “In Jerusalem and the surrounding nations”.

Nothing could change my heart, I could either die or a miracle needed to happen.

I was one of those seen on CNN throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails in the days of the Intifada or ‘The Uprising’. The interesting thing was that I was not only terrorizing but I was terrorized by my beliefs. I had to gain enough merit and good deeds to go to heaven but never was sure if my good deeds would outweigh my bad deeds when I came to be judged by God. Of course, to die fighting the Jews would ease Allah’s anger towards my sin and I would be secured a good spot in heaven with beautiful wide-eyed women to fulfill my most intimate desires.

During my youth, like my father, I was always tuned to Islam and what our Muslim teachers taught. Believing in Mohammed’s prophecy I offered my life to ‘Jihad’ or ‘Holy War’ as the only means to obtain either victory or martyrdom. In Islam martyrdom is the only way you can ensure salvation and entry to heaven especially since Allah and his prophet Mohammed promised it, as the Koran states it: “Do not I remember one time in Bethlehem all think of whom are killed for the cause of viewers clapped their hands with joy in a Allah (in a Holy War), to be dead but living jam-packed theater watching the movie with their lord receiving his blessing”.

“21 Days in Munich”. The moment we saw

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the Palestinians throwing grenades in the helicopter, killing the Israeli athletes, hundreds of viewers yelled “Allahu akbar” (Allah is the greatest). This is the slogan of joy used by Muslims for victorious events.

I remember students used to ask the teacher during our Islamic studies in Bethlehem High School, if it was permitted for Muslims to rape the Jewish women after we defeated them. His response was, “The women captured in battle have no choice in this matter; they are concubines and they need to obey their masters.

Having sex with slave captives is not a matter of choice for slaves. This in fact is written in the Koran, for it says: “Forbidden to you also are married women, except those who are in your hand as slaves. This is the law of Allah for you.” -- Sura: The Women (al-Nisa, verse 20).

In an attempt to change the hearts of Palestinians the Israeli Tv station would show Holocaust documentary on Tv. I would sit and watch cheering the Germans while I chewed on food. They took our school once to a Jewish camp on the coast of Eshdod for a week to mingle us with other Jewish schools. That didn’t work. On the contrary, every teacher who spoke to a Jew was mocked.

My mother, on the other hand, tried to teach me a different idea at home she called God’s plan. She spoke to me about Bible prophecy; she said that the return of the Jews was pre-planned by God and was fulfilled. This to her was God’s miracle in our generation, for the world to see that “His will shall be done.” She also told me about many future events to be fulfilled in our generation which are surfacing every day now. She told me of false Messiahs and counterfeits; but all that had little effect, for my heart was set on fighting against the Jews.

she would take me on trips to several museums in Israel. I fell in love with archeology and was fascinated with it. In many arguments with her I would bluntly tell her that the Jews and Christians corrupted the Bible. She responded by taking me to the scroll museum in Jerusalem and showed me the scroll of Isaiah, still intact but there was no one taking pictures of any Bible errors to prove any corruption and I had no suitable reply for her.

I would persecute my mother, calling her an “infidel” and an American Imperialist who claimed that Jesus is the Son of God. I’d show her the pictures in the newspaper of all the teenagers supposedly martyred as a result of violence demanding answers from her. I hated her and often asked my father to divorce her and re-marry a good Muslim woman.

I would even pose with a grim and sad face for the school picture as if I knew that my turn to be in the paper as a martyr would be next, as many times I risked being killed during youth protests and clashes with the Israeli Army. I lived in Israel during the Six Day War, the P.L.O. resistance, the Jordanian black September civil war, the bloody wars in Lebanon, and the war of Yom Kippur -- all these losses and we still hoped for that one victory to destroy Israel.

My parents worried a lot about me as I got thrown in prison by the Israeli Army.

My mother went to the American Council in Jerusalem to try to get me out. She was so stressed her hair started to fall. In jail I learned more about the art of terrorism and when I got out I was more fanatic than before.

When I graduated from high school they sent me to the United States to seek a higher education, and of course I got involved with many anti-Israeli social and political events. I still remember my favorite sick joke I used to like to tell my friends, that I hated Hitler very much because he My mother was influenced by an never got the job done -- he never finished American Missionary couple. Many times the Jewish problem “once and for all”.

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With Hitler being my idol, and Mohammed my prophet, I went on with my life with little regard for Jews, Christians, or anyone who was not a Muslim. I believed that one day the whole world would submit to Islam. I also believed that Jews were prophet-killers and that they corrupted the Scriptures to serve their evil desires. This is what Muslims teach; they also teach that Mohammed is our only redeemer and God’s favored prophet.

As I lived in America I could not forget the hundreds of thousands of Muslims who died in the previous 20 years in Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Afghanistan, and in every single Muslim nation. I had to get revenge for them, and someone had to pay the price, and of course there is no question in my mind that the Jews had to pay the penalty. Somehow we always managed to twist things and make it their fault. One day I fought with a man and struck his eye blind; I was so happy to learn that the man was a Jew.

deeds, and I was sure that at the end, my sins would outweigh my good deeds. I always wondered about my destiny, lost in my fears and doubts. I really hated the idea of killing for my salvation, and in reality I never had the heart to kill a rat! How then could I kill a Jew!!!

Sometime in 1992 I was fascinated when I read a book entitled “Armageddon, Appointment with Destiny”, by Grant Jeffrey. Some of the things explained in this book had many detailed prophecies about Jesus: His birth, life, death and resurrection; and the re-creation of the state of Israel. Many of these prophecies came to pass just as God put them down in the Bible! What also amazed me was to find out that the chances for a man to predict hundreds of historic events written hundreds and thousands of years before their occurrence are one in zillions! What was more fascinating was that the margin of error had to be zero, especially when the fulfillment of many of these prophecies is happening in my generation. This kind of evidence had to come from a divine origin and that origin had to be God Almighty.

I was fascinated with Islamic history as I learned that the Islamic prophet Mohammed extradited a Jewish tribe from Saudi Arabia and ordered the be-heading of all The struggle began. I was puzzled: How the men from another tribe; the women could the Bible be a fake and corrupted were taken as concubines. I used to beby the Jews if the land I grew in spoke lieve as Islam taught, only a Caliph (Islamand cried out, as thousands of pieces of ic ruler) can rule the world. archeological evidence surfaced from the Islam is not a religion for one’s personal land of Israel? This only confirmed the and moral life, but a system of law and Bible. The book of Isaiah was discovered government to the whole world, and if not in the Qumran caves by a Muslim by the achieved through peaceful means would name of Muhammad Deib from the next have to wage war against all who do not town to Bethlehem when he was looking submit to Islam. With one billion Muslims for a lost sheep. From that discovery living today I believed that it could happen. they found the rest of the Old Testament All my life I was terrified every time I read the Koran, because after every other verse there are threats of hell fire for this sin and that. All I wanted was to reach out to my Maker to say I am sorry, forgive me, and give me another chance. But I failed to keep count of all my sins and my good

which confirmed its authenticity in the Bible we have in our hands today. I had to read the Bible to know who Jesus really was to find out for myself, and God finally led me to begin understanding the truth.

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– To be continued next issue

BEHIND THE SMOKE SCREEN THE USE OF MARIJUANA is not only harmful to the pot smoker himself.

He/she can also become a risk to society.

Research clearly shows that marijuana has the potential to cause problems in daily life. A study of 129 college students found that, among those who smoked the drug at least 27 of the 30 days before being surveyed, critical skills related to attention, memory, and learning were seriously diminished. A study of postal workers found that employees who tested positive for marijuana had 55% more accidents, 85% more injuries and a 75% increase in being absent from work.

In Australia, a study found that cannabis intoxication was responsible for 4.3% of driver fatalities.

It is almost impossible to grow up in America, or any country, and not be exposed to drugs. Peer pressure to do drugs is high and honest information about the dangers of drugs is not always available.

Many people will tell you marijuana is not dangerous. Consider who is telling you that. Are these the same people who are trying to sell you some pot?

Marijuana can harm a person’s memory—and this impact can last for days or weeks after the immediate effects of the drug wear off. In one study, a group of heavy marijuana users was asked to recall words from a list. Their ability to correctly remember the words did not return to normal until as long as four weeks after they stopped smoking.

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Students who use marijuana have lower grades and are less likely to get into college than non-smokers. They simply do not have the same abilities to remember and organize information compared to those who do not use these substances.

“The teacher in the school I went to would smoke three or four joints a day. He got lots of students to start smoking, me included.

His dealer then pushed me to start using heroin, which I did without resisting. By that time, it was as if my conscience was already dead.” — Veronique

WHAT DEALERS WILL TELL YOU When teens were surveyed to find out why they started using drugs in the first place, 55% replied that it was due to pressure from their friends. They wanted to be cool and popular. Dealers know this.

They will approach you as a friend and offer to “help you out” with “something to bring you up.” The drug will “help you fit in” or “make you cool.”

Drug dealers, motivated by the profits they make, will say anything to get you to buy their drugs. They will tell you that “weed won’t lead you to harder drugs.”

They don’t care if the drugs ruin your life as long as they are getting paid. All they care about is money. Former dealers have admitted they saw their buyers as “pawns in a chess game.”

Get the facts about drugs. Make wise decisions based on those facts. If you have a drug problem or have a loved one with a problem, contact --

Drug and Alcohol Support, 0800 787 797 13

GIVE HIM HIS RIGHTFUL PLACE A Christmas Bible Study Colossians 1:18: “. . . that in everything He (Christ) might have the supremacy”.

Galatians 4:4: “When the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full right of sons”.

Another Christmas is almost upon us. But in the midst of it all, when the world has almost forgotten whose birthday we celebrate, may we give Him His rightful place in our lives and remember the significance of His first coming. Our sin has brought about bondage and corruption and our efforts are useless in rectifying the situation. But here we have the intervention of God’s wonderful love and grace. There are four short phrases in this verse that concern Christ’s sacrificial death – which is the only means of our salvation.

1. The appointed time or “the fullness of the time”.

God has an eternal programme which is completely unalterable, and everything on His programme has been and will continue to be fulfilled exactly at the right time. The appointed time referred to here was the moment that completed the period of the Old Covenant. It was the time determined by God and foreshadowed by the Law and the prophets in the Old Testament, and when that exact time arrived, God acted in Divine grace.

2. “God sent His Son”.

There could be no greater expression of God’s love and grace than this. God did not send an angel or even an archangel — He “sent His Son” (Romans 8:32, 1 John 4:14). No one else could accomplish the work of redemption and fully deal with our sin. Two important things are implied here: They are (1) the supreme cost of our redemption, and (2) the deity of Christ – the fact that He is God (John 1:1).

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3. “Born of a woman”.

Not only is the deity of Christ shown in this verse, but also His humanity (John 1:14, Philippians 2:7-8). He came from eternity into the realm of time and took upon Himself true manhood – sinless manhood. Only as such could He become our sin-bearer and pay the price of sin.

4. “Born under law”.

Although He was the very personification of God’s holy standard (as revealed in the Law) He was born in subjection to the Law. This phrase has reference not only to His human birth, but also to His Jewish birth.

He began His earthly existence in subjection, not only to the moral aspect of the Law, but also to its various ordinances. But, in Him, all the physical ordinances were to have their fulfillment and thus become redundant, giving way to the “new and living way” (Hebrews 10:20).

Verse 5: The Purpose: “To redeem those under Law” — from its dominion, curse and condemnation — “that we might receive the full rights of sons”. God’s redemptive plan includes setting us free from the condemnation of His holy Law, the power of sin and Satan, and conferring on us the full rights and privileges of sonship in the family of God. Christ’s first coming necessitates His second coming – to bring us into the full benefit of all He has accomplished on our behalf. Not only should we give Him the first place at Christmas time, but throughout our lives (Romans 12:1-2).

--Editor

The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a Son, and they will call Him Immanuel -- which means ‘God with us’.

-- Matthew 1:23

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BUSH TESTIMONY From the Australian Outback

I was riding along one of the stock routes That cut through the vast Outback, When I noticed a small group of people In the shade of a tree on the track.

So I rode up to see what was happening, And was greeted with smiles and a “Good-day”!

It seemed I was in time for a meeting By a bush preacher travelling that way.

For his collar wasn’t worn backwards And he spoke much like me, come to that.

He wore on his head like the rest of us A battered old cow cocky’s hat.

But as he started the meeting with prayer And asked the Lord for knowledge and proof, I’ll swear, though my eyes couldn’t see it, That he started to glow, that’s the truth!

Then I got this queer sort of feeling That I just can’t explain, can you see?

I doubted the wisdom of staying, Although he preached to the group of us For I had met preachers before on the run, His words were meant only for me.

And I had come to just one conclusion – He didn’t seem to think we were hopeless, They were against all life’s pleasures and fun. Said “All men had a chance to be blessed”, That if we believed in the Son of God, I remember the last one quite clearly, Then in Him, we’d find peace and rest.

As our spirits he tried to inspire; He preached against singing and He told us why Jesus suffered, dancing, Of the terrible price that He paid, And threatened us all with Hell’s fire.

And then without feeling it happened, We all knelt on the ground as he prayed.

But I wasn’t in much of a hurry; The meeting appeared to be over, I could see the billy was boiling for tea, Though to me it had hardly begun, And they looked such a nice bunch of But I rose with a feeling quite new to me people, For the people that I was among.

So I sat down in the shade of a tree.

As I sat there I talked to a fellow, And I realised the way to salvation – By his dress, a bushman I’d say, The eternal life that is part of God’s plan, Was not to stop singing and dancing, And it shocked me when I discovered But belief – and a love for your fellow man.

He was the bloke preaching that day.

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BEWARE OF QUICK FIXES Psalm 106:13 Do you have a “quick fix” mentality? Do you pray only in a crisis? Many people see God mainly as a problem solver. When He graciously solves a problem He may or may not be thanked, but He is more or less forgotten until the next crisis.

The story is told of a rich young girl who often had the assistance of servants. One night she was afraid to climb the dark stairway alone. Her mother suggested that she overcome her fear by asking Jesus to go with her up the stairs. When the child reached the top she was overheard saying, “Thank you Jesus. You may go now”.

We smile, but Psalm 106 contains a serious warning against dismissing God from our lives: “They soon forgot what He had done and did not wait for His counsel”.

The Psalm refers to the nation of Israel who had a tendency to take God’s mercies for granted and leave Him out of their lives. God called that attitude rebellion. They ended up with social chaos and malnourished souls because they chose to ignore Him. Surely an appropriate lesson for us.

Many of us get ourselves into a mess through wrong decisions and wrong behaviour.

Then we call on God to rescue us and fix the mess we have created. But this is not repentance; it too is rebellion. All too often it is not so that we can turn our lives over to God and serve Him. But so that we can carry on with our sinful lifestyle and gratify our lustful desires.

We can rightly expect great things from God, but we should not expect Him to be at our beck and call. Rather, the true Christian acknowledges his/her need of God and God’s claim upon his/her life -- and is at His beck and call, eager to fulfil His will.

The first thing God requires of us is to receive the Saviour, Jesus Christ, whom He has provided.

Like the little girl, let us ask God to accompany us through life’s dark passageways. But instead of dismissing Him when our special needs are met, let us give ourselves wholly to Him, realising that our lives depend upon it.

--Editor.

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Kidnapped by Terrorists in Syria As Abdu locked the door to his shop and turned to leave, a group of gun-toting Islamists with scarves covering their faces confronted him.

One terrorist shoved a gun into Abdu’s ribs while another slid a black cloth bag over his head and forced him into a nearby car.

After passing out, Abdu woke up in a cramped, dirty cell with his hands and feet tied behind him, and pain searing across his body. “Why didn’t you kill this Nasara [Christian]?” the militants’ leader screamed, before beating Abdu with a stick. The following days were the most terrifying of Abdu’s life.

The Islamists kicked him repeatedly, calling him a “Nasara pig.” They made him call his family while they assaulted him and demanded a $270,000 ransom. The evening of his 10th day in captivity, a guard who had been kind approached him. “It is over,” he said. “They will execute you.”

They blindfolded Abdu and drove him to a dry creek bed, where they ordered him to kneel in the sand. He prayed they would execute him with bullets instead of a knife.

Abdu began counting to 50, expecting the sound of gunfire. Instead, he heard the sound of the truck driving away. He waited cautiously for as long as he could before lifting his blindfold. He saw he was alone … and free!

Shortly after, Abdu and his father made a harrowing journey out of ISIS territory, arriving safely in a neighbouring country. There, through the ministry of a local church, Abdu came to forgive and even love his kidnappers.

His family’s property and possessions in Syria are a total loss, but Abdu says he has gained something far more precious. “Yes, you can lose everything,” he said. “But life in the Lord cannot be lost, whatever happens.”

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IN THE MORNING “I met God in the morning When the day was at its best; And His presence came like sunshine, Like a glory in my breast.

All day long His presence lingered, All day long He stayed with me, And we sailed in perfect calmness O’er a very troubled sea.

So I think I know the secret Learned from many a troubled way; You must seek Him in the morning If you want Him through the day.

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The Christmas Monster Will you be content with what you have this year?

Travis Barnes

It was Christmas day, and I was staying with friends and their two young children. “Get up, get up!” came the voices of the seven year old and five year old girls, as I stumbled out to a lounge room full of presents and surprises. My eyes exploded as I saw the gifts: It was a smorgasbord of children’s entertainment.

I saw brat dolls, texta sets, hair brushes, DVDs, an ipod, clothes and chocolate.

There were enough presents for three Christmases and birthday parties combined. Did I mention the swing set? These girls had everything anyone could ever want for Christmas.

It was over the top, but at least the girls would be happy, right?

Wrong! It had only been 20 minutes since the wrapping came off the Wiggles DVD collection when the girls broke into a fight. Apparently, one of the girls received one less present than the other. It was hard to tell, I lost count at 14 each. Even if it was mathematically accurate and she had received one less gift, perhaps her gifts equalled the same amount of money. It didn’t matter, her sister was crying. It was worse than crying it was a crying-bawling-tantrum-throwing-hissy-fit! “It’s not fair,” she wailed. “She has more than me; I want more stuff, I WANT MORE STUFF!”. If she could see the happy children in other houses with just two gifts maybe she wouldn’t feel so cheated.

Jesus and the monster That’s the problem with wanting more; it’s a monster. The monster of wanting more is never happy and always needs one more computer game, one new app and one more accessory. Jesus knows about the dangers of wanting more. He told us a parable about it in Luke 12:13-21.

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The story is about a farmer who was rich and successful. His crops were so big that he couldn’t fit them into his sheds. He could have given away some of his crops, since he was already rich but the farmer wanted more. So he tore down his large sheds and built monster-sized sheds. He said, “Once I store my crops, I can retire and enjoy life”. But he wasn’t happy at the beginning of this story when he was already rich.

Who thinks he’s really going to be happy now?

The farmer says he’ll retire, but he’ll probably build an even bigger shed next year. He wants more stuff, and he won’t ever be happy because he’s feeding a monster that wants more. We’ll never know if the farmer decided to retire because he died. He died before he got to be happy.

If he could hit the rewind button and go back a week, a month or even a year would he live differently? Would he have built the monster sheds?

Would he have shared his stuff with others? Would he have chosen to live for God instead of himself?

Jesus said “Be careful and guard against all kinds of greed. Life is not measured by how much one owns” (Luke 12:15).

The monster is coming This Christmas, the Monster is coming to your place. You’ll be tempted to want more stuff and you’ll be tempted to be jealous of what others have. You have a choice: You can store up treasure on earth, or you can store up treasure in Heaven. When you’re standing before Jesus, your stuff will be more obsolete than you could ever imagine. So instead of collecting things that will be old school by the time you’re out of school, invest in making a difference for all eternity.

Jesus tells us to store up treasure in Heaven instead of treasure on earth because that’s the treasure you can keep forever (Matthew 6:19-21).

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THE MAORI KING MOVEMENT This article, by the late E. H. Edwards, appeared in “Tupu Whakarangi” in the May-June issue, 1968, by permission of the “Morrinsville Star”.

About the middle of the 1800s, Te Rauparaha, a Maori chief from the Otaki area, visited England.

He was the son of the famous Maori warrior, Te Rauparaha, who was well known for making war on the South Island tribes. However, many of the fighting warriors’ sons were turning to Christianity, and were determined not to follow the examples set by their fathers, in slaughter, bloodshed and cannibalism.

The dignity, power and unity of the British people under Queen Victoria’s rule, so impressed the younger Te Rauparaha that he decided to return to New Zealand and to endeavour to establish a king for the Maori people. His object was to unite the tribes, and thus end the bloodshed which was slowly destroying a noble race.

Te Rauparaha was welcomed home by a large gathering of chiefs and tribesmen at Otaki, where immediately he put his plan to the people.

Queen Victoria, he said, had advised him to establish a Maori king. Te Rauparaha himself offered to become king, but he was rejected because his own ancestral home and birthplace on Kapiti Island was in enemy hands. This was considered a disgrace, and for this reason he could not be honoured with kingship.

At this stage Te Rauparaha dropped the whole idea, but a cousin, Matene Te Whiwhi, who had listened to the discussion, became so enthusiastic that he travelled from tribe to tribe trying to persuade the various paramount chiefs to support the election of a king for the Maori people. He went first to Waitotara, in southern Taranaki, where chief Whitikau refused to become king. Returning to Whanganui, Matene met refusal from Opia, a paramount chief, on the grounds that, because of poor fishing in the Whanganui River and on the nearby coastline, he would be unable to feed the crowds. Plenty of kai was considered essential to kingship.

Determined to find a king, Matene travelled to Taupo, where Heu Heu also bemoaned the shortage of fish in the lake. Then he went into Hawkes Bay where refusal came again, this time from Karauria, the Ngati Kahungungu chief, and continued on to the East Coast where his proposition was put to the chief Kani. Refusal this time was based on the fact that the East Coast was too far removed from the centre of the island. The king, according to Kani, should live at a central point, convenient for all tribes.

Returning to Taupo, Matene was advised by Heu Heu to approach the well known and powerful Waikato chief, Potatau and, accompanied by Heu Heu, he journey north.

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To Heu Heu Potatau said, “I’m not the right man. It’s you who should be king”. But Heu Heu replied, “No it’s you, because you are chief of many chiefs. Your Waikato proverb says, ‘He piko, he taniwha’,” which meant that every bend of the Waikato River was the home of a Maori chief, all of whom recognised Potatau as the paramount chief of them all.

Finally Potatau agreed and preparations were made for notifying the tribes that a Maori king was set up in the Waikato.

However, living in the Matamata area of the Waikato was another powerful tribe, The Ngati Haua, whose paramount chief was Tarapipipi, the son of Te Waharoa a ruthless fighter. But Tarapipipi, who had come under the Gospel’s influence, turned to Christianity and gave up following in his father’s footsteps. He desired peace, and expressed regret for an early life of slaughter and warfare.

Tarapipipi welcomed the idea of a Maori king, and immediately gave it support. But before adopting Christianity he had been the leader of a Ngati Haua war party which killed Potatau’s grandmother, and he was not quite sure how Potatau would receive his friendship and support.

Nevertheless, he offered his support and, ultimately, Potatau was crowned by Tarapipipi, who placed a Bible on the new king’s head, saying, “I now create you as king of the Maori people. You and Queen Victoria shall be bound together as one.

The Gospel of Christ shall be your mantle, and the law shall be a mat for your feet for ever and ever”.

It was at this point that Potatau made the historic statement so often quoted by Maori orators since: “Kotahi te kohau o te ngira e kuhuna ai te miro ma, miro, pango, miro whero” (The needle has only one eye through which may pass white, black and red thread).

With these words he expressed a desire for the Maori tribes to unite, not only among themselves, but with the Pakeha and with all other people of goodwill. Scripture from the Book of Deuteronomy and the Gospel of Matthew were quoted at the coronation, and a well known hymn, “Mahue Ihipi”, was sung.

Potatau’s death occurred in 1860, his son Tawhiao being crowned

by Tarapipipi, and the former in turn was succeeded by Mahuta, Te Rata and finally Koroki. All were crowned with the Bible and the singing of the coronation hymn, and all by members of the Tarapipipi family.

Queen Atairangikaahu was the daughter of Koroki and was the first queen to be crowned by the Maori people. Once again the crowning ceremony was the responsibility of the Tarapipipi family.

[The current king, Te Arikinui Tūheitia Paki, is the seventh Māori monarch. He was crowned on 21 August 2006, following the death on 15 August of his mother, Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu.]

The first Tarapipipi became known as Kingmaker and Peacemaker, and was renamed Wiremu Tamehana at his baptism, and this name, in conjunction with Tarapipipi, became well known and famous in the Waikato. A monument was erected on the road to Matamata, at the very spot where Tarapipipi (Wiremu Tamehana) died while on his last journey.

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Tena Koutou Katoa

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