FREE Issue 240
TUPU
See Page 10
WHAKARANGI CONTENTS
Decisions Page 2 “It is Well with my Soul” Page 5 Honouring God Page 6 What is a Christian? Page 8 Rubal’s Story Page 12 Naboth Murdered Page 16 From Mob Member to Pastor Page 20
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DECISIONS! WHAKATAU! We cannot get through life without making decisions. Every day we make them – from the time we get up in the morning to the time we go to bed at night. When you stop and think about it, everything we do depends on making decisions – and success in whatever sphere of life we are involved in, depends on making the right decisions. Many of the decisions we make not only involve ourselves, but also our families, our friends, our workmates – either for good or for bad. Some decisions affect us for the rest of our lives. The right decision can bring joy and happiness for years; the wrong decision can bring tragedy. The young guy with his brain burned out and his health shattered at the age of 19 because of drugs, got that way through a process of decision-making. But his decisions were wrong. He got in with the wrong company and listened to the wrong people. The young teenage mother who finds herself in over her head, with little family support and deserted by the father of her child, also made some decisions that led to her predicament. Those decisions were also wrong. The alcoholic wasting away with serious liver disease did not get that way over night. It all began with a bad decision years before which led to further bad decisions. And we will never know the number of other people affected along the way. One wrong decision leads to another and on it goes. What went wrong with the decision-making of the young woman found dead in her car after taping the windows, feeding in a rubber hose from the exhaust and starting the motor? How many wrong decisions did it take to arrive at such a tragedy? Some years ago a young man sat in front of me and told me something of the mess his life was in and that he didn’t know what to do next. He too had made his decisions. Most of them were bad and some were just plain stupid. The saddest part of it all was that he was not prepared to make the all important decision which would have brought the resources and strength into his life to enable him to start making the right decisions.
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I pointed out to him that when you get down in one of life’s dark holes because of wrong decisions, every next wrong decision takes you further into the darkness. Every right decision is a step nearer the light. His decision-making had also affected other people for the worse. We are all in positions where not only ourselves, but others also, are affected in some way by the decisions we make. For example, as parents, when we go wrong our children suffer, and they may suffer for years to come or even for the rest of their lives. What is my point? Simply this: Making the right decisions in life is extremely important. What sort of decisions are you making? Are you caught in a wrong decision-making process which is leading to further chaos in your life? You do not need to continue this trend. Through Christian service including prison ministry I have met plenty of people who have made wrong decisions. (In fact, we all do from time to time to a lesser or greater degree). But many of these same people are now living successful, contented lives because they made that all important decision. In order to explain, let me refer you to a verse in the Bible. It’s found in Revelation 3:20. Jesus Himself is speaking and He says, “Behold I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him and he with Me” (NKJV). Here He is pictured standing outside the door of a church that is spiritually dead, calling for individuals to allow Him into their lives. He is calling to you as you read this magazine. Unless you are a true Christian, you have never let Him in. He is calling you despite the mess your life may be in, and He has the resources to enable you to get things sorted out and make the decisions necessary to get your life on track. Each one of us is affected by the spiritual disease the Bible calls sin. It is the bias we have to do what is wrong rather than what is right. This produces wrong thinking, wrong decisions and wrong actions. But more than this, our sin is a serious affront to God who is our Creator. He has made it plain in His Word, the Bible, that all sin
TUPU WHAKAR WHAKARANGI ANGI (Growing Heavenward)
ISSUE 240, SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2021 Editor and designer: Graham Batson
Mail: PO Box 10, Whanganui 4540. Email: info.maoripostal@gmail.com www.maoripostal.co.nz
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must be dealt with. As unforgiven sinners we are under God’s judgment, awaiting the sentence to be carried out. But as well as being completely righteous and holy, God is also loving and compassionate. Jesus Christ, sometimes referred to as the Second Person of the Godhead (God the Son), took upon Himself humanity and entered this world as the little Baby of Bethlehem, born to the Virgin Mary. He grew to perfect sinless manhood, and by all that He was, did and said, revealed the very nature of God to us. But He did not come into this world just to live a sinless life. The Bible says, “Christ died for our sins” (1 Corinthians 15:3). In His death on the cross at Calvary He became answerable for our sin. He took our place. He loves you that much! Not only did He bear the penalty for our sin, but He also defeated death which, the Bible says, is the result of sin. His resurrection is a glorious fact of history, and because He lives He wants to share His life with us. Only He can bring us into a right relationship with God. Now can you see the picture? Jesus is standing outside the door to your life. Maybe He has been there for many years, just waiting for your decision. It is the most important decision you will ever make because it will affect you, not only for this life, but for all eternity. He will not force His way in; the decision is yours entirely. You may reject Him, or you may open the door and invite Him in. But be sure, if you reject Him you will pay the price for your own sin. The Bible makes it clear that Hell is a reality – not just a swear word. It is prepared as eternal punishment for Satan and all who choose to follow him by rejecting Christ. If you receive Him, He will come into your life with His resources – His forgiveness, cleansing, strength and wisdom. He will never leave you; He will be there throughout your life. And when this life is over you will go to be with Him for eternity. There are two good reasons why you should make this decision now. First, none of us knows how long we have in this life and death will end your opportunity. Then, secondly, Jesus Christ has promised to return. There are many great signs in the world today that the Bible speaks of which are indications of His coming. When that happens, it will be too late. This is why the Bible also says, “Behold NOW is the accepted time; behold NOW is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2 NKJV). --Editor
“Na, tenei Ahau te tu nei i te tatau, te patukituki nei; ki te whakarongo tetahi ki toku reo, a, ka uaki i te tatau, ka tomo atu Ahau ki a ia, hei hoa kai mona, ko ia hoki hei hoa kai moku” (Whakakitenga 3:20). 4
“IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL” In 1874 a large French steamer, the “Ville de Havre,” was on her homeward voyage from America, when in mid-ocean a collision with a sailing vessel took place, the steamer sinking in half an hour with the loss of almost all on board. Mrs Spafford, the wife of a lawyer in Chicago, was a passenger, accompanied by her four children. On being told that the vessel was rapidly foundering, she knelt with her children in prayer, asking God that if possible they might be saved, or be made willing to die, if such was His will. A few minutes later the ship went down and the children were lost. Mrs Spafford, however, was rescued by a sailor who, rowing over the spot where the vessel had disappeared, found her floating in the water, and ten days later she was landed at Cardiff. From there she cabled her husband the message, “Saved alone”, a message which Mr Spafford, himself an earnest Christian, had framed and hung in his office. Two years later Messrs Moody and Sankey were staying with the Spaffords for some weeks. During that visit Mr Spafford wrote, in commemoration of the death of his children, the well known hymn with its triumphant chorus, which became a favourite the world over. There are several verses to this hymn and we quote three here: -When peace like a river attendeth my way When sorrows like sea billows roll Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say It is well, it is well with my soul It is well (it is well) With my soul (with my soul) It is well, it is well with my soul My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought My sin, not in part, but the whole Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul! And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight The clouds be rolled back as a scroll The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend Even so, it is well with my soul! Can you say, with Mr and Mrs Spafford that, whatever may happen in this life, “It is well with my soul?” You can if you repent of your sin and receive Jesus Christ into your life.
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“THOSE WHO HONOUR ME I WILL HONOUR” God is true to His word and does honour our obedience. On return to the village on the island of ---- to continue with health-care, we saw this evident in many situations that without God’s intervention we could have ended up in a lot of trouble! The call came at 3.15 am. It was dark and raining with strong winds. ‘Grandad’ appeared with a flaming torch yelling out for help. A woman was giving birth. Imee, the Filipina nurse, my Vietnamese room-mate and I rushed out the door with our small ‘birth equipment’ bag. We had to fend off barking dogs, slosh our way through the mud and cross three rivers to get to the small bamboo hut on the hill. On arrival, we noticed a ‘birthing attendant’ at the scene. Smoke was so thick from the incense burning that we could hardly see. We heard this was to keep ‘evil spirits at bay.’ One small candle served as lighting. The ‘birth attendant’ had tied a thick rope around the mother’s abdomen, had sprinkled on ash and had the father push down with all his strength supposedly to help the baby. With urgency and more interest in saving the baby’s life than offending, we screamed “NO!” and Imee explained the damage they were doing. The atmosphere was thick, not only of smoke but of feeling. Clearly it was a battle between the forces of light and darkness, life and death. So much so, it was almost tangible. The local woman began to shave down a bullet with a knife. Before we realized what was happening, the bullet was given to the mother to swallow to ‘strengthen her blood.’ Prayer was needed urgently. The baby was in a breech position and things were serious. We did everything we had been taught with no results. The answer to prayer came through elderly ‘Tatay.’ Although he was experienced in deliveries and had delivered all his own seven children, he was 6
hesitant to offer his service. One of the babies he had helped deliver just a few weeks earlier had died of Tetanus due to the cutting of the umbilical cord with a rusty knife and the community had turned against him. Understandably, he was very reluctant to help. After much persuasion, he agreed and began to explain each procedure he undertook. Tatay seized the opportunity when we offered gloves, soap and sterilized equipment for him to use. The local ‘birth attendant’ when offered gloves took them, wiped her bloody hands on them then threw them to the floor in disgust. After realizing her services were no longer required, she took her leave in haste! After spreading ash on the mother’s abdomen, Tatay re-positioned the baby externally, as if he were kneading bread! Exactly 5 hours later after our arrival, at 8.15 am a beautiful healthy baby was born. I like to think of him as the ‘miracle baby’ and know in my heart that day in the battle between life and death, thanks be to God, life won. The whole village was aware of what was happening and awaited for the outcome. If mother or baby had died, there is no doubt we would have encountered serious consequences. Instead, on the next Sunday there were not enough seats in Church! Times of trouble are times of trust.
“If the Lord is God, follow Him, but if Baal is God, follow Him.” -- Angela Crichton
This was the prophet Elijah’s challenge to the people of Israel who were wavering between two different systems of worship. They discovered without doubt that the Lord is the only true God. Read the story for yourself in 1 Kings 18. 7
WHAT IS A CHRISTIAN? Did you know that there are only three places in the Bible where the word “Christian” is mentioned? But they help us to understand what a Christian really is. Here they are --
ACTS 11:26: “The disciples were
first called Christians at Antioch”. Here we have an important clue: It was “the disciples” who were called “Christians”: Those who had turned to the Lord and were committed to following or obeying Him.
ACTS 26:28: A king called Agrippa said to Paul after hearing Paul tell of how he became a Christian: “Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?” It is not enough just to hear or to know how to become a Christian, but to receive Christ personally. 1 PETER 4:16: “If you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that Name”. True joy and peace are part of the Christian life, but sometimes so too are suffering and persecution. These show the reality of saving faith in a person’s life. There are many ideas at large as to what a Christian is. But first, let’s consider what a Christian is not – Someone who just lives “a good moral life”. Many people are good citizens, living respectable lives, but would not consider themselves Christians. Someone who reads the Bible and/or prays. By reading the Bible we may learn how to become a Christian. It is the signpost pointing us to Christ. But just remaining at the sign post won’t get you to your destination. Someone who attends a place of worship. Again, you may learn how to become a Christian, but hearing is not enough: It involves your personal response. Someone who gives to charitable causes. Christians should do so wisely, but this does not make you a Christian either. It is sometimes said, “I’ve always been a Christian”. No one is ever born a Christian; we are all born sinners needing a Saviour.
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A Christian may or should do these things, but he/she does not do them in order to become a Christian, but because he/she is a Christian.
How can you be sure you are a Christian? A Christian is someone who has – REALISED he/she is a sinner needing to be saved. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). REPENTED of his/her sin. “God now commands all people everywhere to repent. For He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the Man He has appointed. He has given proof of this by raising Him from the dead” (Acts 17:30-31). RECEIVED Christ as Saviour and Lord. “To all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12). Because of repentance and personal commitment to Christ a Christian is – Accepted by God in Christ (Ephesians 1:5-6) and adopted into His Family. Justified by God (Romans 5:1) and has been declared “not guilty” by God (the Judge) because Christ has born the penalty (2 Corinthians 5:21). 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 capacity to live for God. A new person, having been born again. There is a new desire to live for God and a new hatred of sin that did not exist before (2 Corinthians 5:17). A member of the true Church, the Body of Christ which consists of all true born again believers (Colossians 1:18, 1 Corinthians 12:13). Eternally secure. Jesus Himself says, “I give to them eternal life and they shall never perish. No one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father who has given them to Me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand” (John 10:28-29). Are you a real Christian?
-- Editor
“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come” -- 2 Corinthians 5:17 9
COVER PHOTO
Tūī are unique to Aotearoa and belong to the honeyeater family, which means they feed mainly on nectar from flowers of native plants. They are medium size birds, found throughout the North, South and Stewart Islands. From a distance they look black, but in good light tui have a blue, green and bronze iridescent sheen, and distinctive white throat tufts (poi). They are usually very vocal, with a complicated mix of tuneful notes interspersed with coughs, grunts and wheezes. In flight, their bodies slant with the head higher than the tail, and their noisy whirring flight is interspersed with short glides.
THE BOMBARDIER BEETLE A Problem for the Evolutionist Bombardier beetles can be found on the continents of North America, South America, Europe, Africa, and Australia. They thrive in temperate woodlands and grasslands where there is ground cover for them to hide under, and feed mainly on small insects. Each has blue elytra (wing coverings) and a reddish head and limbs. They are considered remarkable because of their ability to shoot a boiling, corrosive substance at predators. An amazing feature of these beetles is the presence of two chambers within their abdomen that keep the critical explosive reactants apart until they are ready to be discharged. When the beetle feels threatened, the contents of these two chambers are combined and fired through the abdominal tip. The abdominal tip through which their defensive chemical is sprayed can be rotated 270 degrees so they can more easily fire at predators. We have to wonder how these beetles managed to “evolve”. How many of them blew themselves to bits before they got the mixture and timing right? Sounds more like intelligent design involving a Creator.
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Miharo Te Anau Kerehoma CONGRATULATIONS! At seven years of age, Miharo personally chose to do the Maori Postal Aotearoa Bible lessons to gain his 4th-Year Diploma. He achieved this four years later with excellent marks between 92% and 100%. A great record! In 2020 he began attending Te Aute College near Hastings and has been given an excellent report on his willingness and positive attitude.
Miharo’s first day at his new home. Pictured with his happy Great Nan, Te Uira Kerehoma.
Scan the Bar Code with your phone to see the MPA App. 10 11
RUBAL’S STORY Āpotoro 9:15 - ‘Heoi ka mea te Ariki ki a ia, haere: nō te mea he kaupapa whiriwhiri ia nāku, hei mau i tōku ingoa ki te aroaro o ngā Tauiwi, o ngā kingi, o ngā tama hoki a Iharaira.’ Acts 9:15: ‘But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel.’
Rubal and his wife, Taumoana
This is my Chosen Instrument
David Rewi Rapana was born at Owairaka Marae, Ngāti Raukawa iwi on the 24 September, 1933. He was brought up largely by his grandparents, but after they had passed away he spent a considerable amount of time with different whanau. He attended Parawera Native school. At a young age, whilst playing ‘Cowboys and Indians’, he met with an accident which resulted in him spending a long period of time in hospital. Rubal and his friend had found a gun whilst exploring in a whanau barn. Rubal had a wooden gun and his friend had the real gun which they thought was empty. When his friend returned Rubal’s ‘fire’, he shot Rubal who, luckily, had made a slight movement which ended in him being shot in the chin and shoulder. It could have been fatal, but God certainly was watching over him. Rather than returning home after he was discharged from hospital he decided to go looking for his brother who lived in Tauwhare, and that is where he spent the rest of his life. As a teenager and a young man Rubal had a variety of jobs - driving for Davies Trucking firm, the Matangi dairy factory, various farming jobs and finally working for the Hamilton City Council as foreman laying cables. He also did a stint in the army. Rubal married Taumoana Aramete and had twelve children although, sadly, three of them died at a young age and two were adopted into close whanau.
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He loved and participated in all kinds of sports: Athletics, as a long distance runner, as a member of the Matangi tennis club, a rugby representative for Cambridge and then Tauwhare. He was so passionate about his rugby that his wife Taumoana would try by all means to stop him from playing. She would cut up his boots so that he couldn’t play, but his friends would have a spare pair waiting at the field. On another occasion he couldn’t go anywhere until he had chopped a large pile of wood outside the house that was needed for the fire, so a whole bus load of his team mates disembarked to help him out because he was regarded as a very valuable player. Even when he got older he continued to be involved in the sport he loved by coaching both the local rugby and netball teams. It was his love of sport which indirectly introduced him to the Lord Jesus. As a young man Rubal wasn’t interested in Christian things but he couldn’t resist an invitation to attend a sports camp at Blockhouse Bay. In the evenings the participants were invited to listen to a guest preacher, but Rubal decided not to attend and went back to the dormitory, but little did he know that the dormitories had speakers in them so whether he liked it or not he couldn’t get away from the Gospel message. On the final night Rubal was convicted in his heart that he needed to receive Jesus Christ as his Saviour and he gave his heart to the Lord as the people sang the hymn “Coming home”: “Coming home, coming home, Never more to roam. Open wide Thine arms of love, Lord, I’m coming home.”
Carry my Name before the people of Israel When he got back to Tauwhare Rubal joined the Church of Christ in Hamilton, but when his wife Taumoana also received Christ months later they fellowshipped at Hanatoria which was situated on the Wheki whanau’s property in Tauwhare. It was the strong Bible teaching that led him to fellowship there with his wife. Under the teaching of Jack Booth Rubal grew in his faith and his own ability to share the Word of God. He also taught himself Te Reo from the Paipera Tapu, and he used to spend his lunchtime in his truck (with the windows up in case passers-by heard him) practising his preaching in the Maori language. He grew in confidence in Bible teaching which led him and his wife to travel around New Zealand preaching and ministering the Word of God in homes, churches, marae and prisons. As a leader in the church Rubal was strong because he always lived
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to please the Lord, even when it cost him, and he always encouraged his people to seek the Lord’s will in everything and to do what was right. He knew what it was like to be an outsider and he and his wife always made a special effort with those that were not from Ngāti Hauā. He felt keenly his responsibility as a shepherd of the flock and encouraged them to live by the Word of God, and one of his favourite sayings was “Go on, go on, go on.” In time he went all over Aotearoa speaking at Christian conferences.
Carry my Name before the Gentiles He had three godly kuia who instructed him in Ngāti Hauā tikanga. They would accompany him tohui and tangihanga and with their support helped him get started in becoming a speaker on the local marae. Acts 9:15 was the verse the Lord had given him when asked for guidance in becoming a full time Maori worker and he saw that his work on the marae was a God-given opportunity to bring the Gospel to his people. He was chairman of the Te Iti o Hauā marae committee and was also invited to be kaumātua of the University of Waikato and Hillcrest High School. He played an instrumental part in Te Kura o Ngāti Hauā too (as chairman of the then PTA committee and then as their life-long kaumātua).
Carry my Name before Kings Rubal was approached to work as an announcer at the Koroneihana in the office and then eventually was appointed as a representative speaker for the King Maker (Tumuaki) on the paepae at Turangawaewae. He spent quite a few years in this role. He had plenty of experiences sitting and talking with both Te Arikinui Te Atairangikaahu and King Tuheitia in his Kingitanga journey. Both Rubal and Taumoana were avid supporters of their mokopuna and would travel all over the country to watch them play their sport or kapa haka. They even watched one of them in a band performing at the Smokefree Battle of the Bands in Rotorua and at a performance in Ruatahuna, not realising that they were a heavy metal band (which would have been so loud for them). When asked afterwards what they thought of the performance, Taumoana loyally said “It was very nice.” Rubal also became an active supportive kaumātua sharing the Word of God with three of the local senior Kapa Haka teams - Te Kāheru Matarau a Hauā, Mōtai Tangata Rau and Te Iti Kahurangi .(He had mokopuna in all 3 teams). Towards the end of his life he spent time in hospital and he would sing his favourite “Coming Home” and then move on to the Country and Western
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“Take me home, country road to the place I belong” which amused the nurses. Rubal passed away on 1st August, 2019 after enjoying an evening of hymns and encouragement from the Bible with his church. Rubal lived as the Lord directed him, fulfilling the Word of God (just as God had said of Paul in Acts 9:15), taking the Gospel to his people wherever and whenever the opportunity was given. He will be remembered as a pillar of the church and the Ngāti Hauā iwi, and will be greatly missed, but he is now home where he belongs.
TOP LEFT: Hongi with mokopuna, Rongo. TOP RIGHT: Speaking on Te Iti o Haua Marae. LEFT: A whanau gathering.
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“NABOTH MURDERED!” (Read in your Bible 1 Kings 21:1-25) Ahab was an evil king who reigned for 22 years over the northern kingdom of Israel. There had been some bad kings before him, but Ahab was the worst, going out of his way to disobey and rebel against God. We are told about him, “Ahab, son of Omri, did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him” (1 Kings 16:30). He further rebelled against God by marrying a woman who was even more evil than he was – Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians. Together they made a dangerously corrupt pair as, among other evils, they introduced the immoral, heathenistic false religious system of Baal worship into the nation.
A man called Naboth owned a vineyard (a garden for growing grapes) close to the palace of King Ahab. For some time Ahab had been thinking about Naboth’s property and one day he decided to do a deal with Naboth, so he went to see him. “Let me have your vineyard to use for a vegetable garden since it is close to my palace. In exchange I will give you a better vineyard or, if you prefer, I will pay you whatever it’s worth”. It sounded a pretty fair deal, but there was one outstanding difference between Ahab and Naboth: Naboth feared and honoured God. The Hebrew people were strictly forbidden by God to sell their land permanently outside the whanau (Leviticus 25:23, Numbers 36:7). Naboth’s reply to Ahab was, “The Lord forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my fathers”. Naboth chose to obey God rather than to please the king. Honouring God was far more important to him.
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But not so Ahab. He should have been pleased to have had God-honouring people like Naboth in his kingdom. In fact, had Ahab been a God-fearing man himself he would not have made such a request for he would have known God’s law concerning the sale of property. But to Ahab such things as obeying God were regarded as trivial. His reaction was to go home angry and sullen, go into his bedroom and lay on his bed refusing to eat and sulked! Here was Ahab, the king of Israel, sulking because he could not get his own way! With such a display of childish immaturity Ahab revealed his complete unworthiness to occupy the position of king. He was a man of weak character and of very little conviction or principles. It didn’t concern him whether the nation served Baal or Jehovah (the true God), just so long as things went his way and he got what he wanted. His wife, however, was quite different. She had plenty of principle and convictions, but they were all bad! She was full of unbridled evil and treachery and, as a servant of Satan, she was totally opposed to the true God. She was the driving force behind Ahab’s rebellious ways, stopping at nothing to achieve her ambitions. When she learned the reason for Ahab’s sullenness, she responded, “What’s the matter with you? Stop this nonsense and get up and eat. Aren’t you the king around here? I’ll get Naboth’s vineyard for you!” And with that she went to Ahab’s writing desk and wrote some letters in Ahab’s name and sent them to the leaders of the city where Naboth lived. In those letters she wrote: “Proclaim a day of fasting and seat Naboth in a prominent place among the people. But seat two scoundrels opposite him and have them testify that he has cursed both God and the king. Then take him out and stone him to death”. And that is just what happened. Naboth was falsely accused and put to death because of an evil, treacherous woman. It reminds us of what happened to the Lord Jesus when the religious leaders actually looked for false witnesses so that they could put Him to death (Matthew 26:59). But His death was not just an ordinary death, and He was not just an ordinary man. He was God the Son who had taken on human form in order to become our substitute. In His death He took our place and paid the price for our sin. The Bible tells us that “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). As soon as the evil Jezebel heard that Naboth was dead she said to Ahab, “Go and take possession of that vineyard you want because Naboth is no longer alive. He’s dead!”
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Perhaps we could have expected Ahab to have been somewhat shocked by the deceitful, murderous way his wife had procured the vineyard, but it didn’t faze him at all. It didn’t concern him in the least that an innocent man had died so that he could get what he wanted. He just went right on down to take possession of the dead man’s property. But he had forgotten one all important factor. The evil deed perpetrated by Ahab and his conniving wife had not escaped the attention of the true God. Elijah was a prophet and had been a faithful, courageous and obedient servant of God for many years. He had a close relationship with God, honoured His Word and was uncompromising in his faith. And God sent him with a message to Ahab. Meanwhile Ahab was enjoying his illegally acquired property, no doubt planning its new layout as a vegetable garden. What vegetables would he plant and where? Would he have a water fountain over there? What should he put in this corner? But suddenly, in the midst of his deliberations, his face turned white for coming in through the gate was the man he feared most and wanted to avoid – Elijah himself. “So, you have found me, my enemy!” he exclaimed. Ahab still had a vestige of a conscience. He knew that what he had done was wrong. But, like so many people in our day, he thought he could get away with it. “Yes, I have found you,” answered Elijah, “because you have sold yourself to do evil in the eyes of the Lord.” Beside the crime committed in the murder of Naboth, Ahab and Jezebel had turned the nation away from God and provoked Him to anger. Then Elijah delivered a message of judgment. Ahab would have no male descendants. Those already living in the city would finish up being eaten by dogs and the birds of the air would devour the dead bodies of those who died in the country. As for Ahab, God was about to bring disaster upon him as well. Jezebel would end her days on earth by also being eaten by dogs. And so the lives of Ahab and Jezebel and those associated with their evil deeds did not end well in this world. (1 Kings chapter 22 is the record of a battle in which Ahab was killed, despite disguising himself so that he would not be recognised. 2 Kings 9:30-37 is the record of Jezebel’s sad end just as Elijah prophesied it would be). But as bad as their end in this world may have been, it was nothing compared to the eternal judgment awaiting them afterwards in the life to come. God has decreed that He “will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden/secret thing, whether it is good or evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:14). Jesus has taken the judgment for all who turn to Him in genuine repentance and receive Him as Lord and Saviour. But if we reject Him we will suffer the judgment our sins deserve. Jesus is the ONLY way we can be saved. He has plainly said, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). -- Editor
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From Mob member to National Youth Worker and Pastor
Wayne Poutoa I was born in Aotearoa (New Zealand), my parents having migrated from Samoa to give us kids a better education and a better lifestyle. But sometimes things don’t go according to plan. My father was very militant. He was a “wharfie”, who worked for years on the wharf in Wellington. He used to come home and all of us kids would be sitting at the front door, by the hallway, seated cross legged with arms folded, waiting for him to arrive home. I remember looking underneath the front door and seeing the shadow of his feet. He would creak the steps and open the front door. We would still stay there when he walked in. Then he would go through every room and wipe the windowsills to check for dust to make sure that the whole house was clean and that everything was spick and span. And if it wasn’t, we got a hiding. So, we lived in fear quite a lot. My sister and I come from a blended family. When my mother first met him he already had four kids, so there were eight of us. Anyway, things didn’t go really well for us. I remember one time that my stepbrother and I went to the dairy. In those days you could buy a bottle of Coke and could take the empty bottles back and get some money for them. We used to build trolleys out of pram wheels and load up and do a bottle run then go to the dairy and cash in for the money. But what we started doing was we would go to the front and cash the bottles and then go to the back of the dairy, steal more, and put them back in the trolley and go to the front again for another cash in.
But we eventually got caught and the police took us home. I remember saying to the police clearly, “Please don’t take us home”. But they did and I remember my father talking to them. We were in total fear. The cops knew the situation, but they couldn’t do anything. They walked away. And then we walked into the house and my father tied our hands behind our backs.. Then he just smashed us. He belted us with everything he had. That’s how we grew up. So it wasn’t rocket science as to why my mother wanted to leave him. Sometimes she would make the attempt to leave. My brothers and sisters would hide me under the bed. Although all this violence was going on, I did not want to
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leave. They were my family. But finally my That’s where the Polynesian Panthers mum and partner did separate, and my mum came from. And so we got caught up with went to Auckland. them also. I became the flat mate of one of these guys. His name was Tigilau Ness I was left in Wellington to attend the who worked with a Polynesian band, and Newtown primary school. When I was about so we as street kids lived with him and got 11 Dad said, “I want you to go to Auckland, to know stuff about activism and causes and spend the holidays with your sister”. around that sort of thing. That sounded great and I went there for One day, at 16 years old, I was drunk on two weeks. But then my mother hit me with Ponsonby Road, and I assaulted a constable. I the words, “You’re not going home, you’re was sent to a youth prison. But first, I had to go staying here now.” So I lived with wanting to to Mount Eden Prison for a week on remand for go back home to my brothers and sisters and medical, so that they could assess my physical not wanting to be in Auckland permanently. capability to attend this youth prison. It was sort Anyway, I stayed with my mum and went to of like an army style run base camp for young school. But I missed everyone in Wellington. people – a boot camp. Walking into north block Then one day I got the news. My mum came with three grey blankets and a red stripe down to me in the sleep-out and she said, “Your the middle I was panicking. I was just totally in sister’s gone”. She had died giving birth to fear of my life; I’d never been to prison before. my niece. That struck me really bad and I wanted to go home. But in those days, Wellington and Auckland were like from here to Timbuktu. Eventually I left home at about aged 15 and joined a gang called the King Cobras in Ponsonby. They occupied a three-storey industrial building in the neighbourhood. It was a rough building, but there was a boxing ring in it. And so we’d all jump in the ring, and spar with each other. At that time, Ponsonby wasn’t what it is today. It was a low socioeconomic environment, housing Pacific Islanders and those who came over as part of the labour workforce.
I walked into that receiving office. They checked me out, did everything that they do, and they walked me up the staircase. The staircase had bars on the side and bars over the top of it. Then I walked into this wing, and then into a cell. It was lock up time -- after four o’clock. There was another guy in the cell called Sam. He looked like something out of a movie, with long hair and a missing front tooth. Like I said, right then at that time, I was panicking. And he just said to me, “Do you know how to fight? Because when you go out into the yard, they’re gonna smash you. So you better know how to fight!”
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I never slept that night. As soon as I heard the key turn for unlock in the morning I thought, “Man, this is it!” When I walked out onto the landing, and was standing there, I looked to my left and to my right. I saw some of the most meanest, ugliest men I’d ever seen in my life. It was easy to see why they were in prison. So again I thought, “This is it, I’m gone.” Then they told us to move left and go to the yard. As we were going to the yard I kept thinking about my life, my family, and that this was my last day. As I walked out into the yard I heard a call I recognised because it was a Pacific Island call. I responded to that call. There was a Nuian boy in the corner of the yard. So I made a beeline for him. And he assured me that everything was going to be alright. Because we were young, we weren’t in the game -- we were in a gang, but not in a big gang. The guys that came behind me were less fortunate. They got smashed. These guys just walked up to them and asked, “Are you Black Power?” Before they could answer, “Boom! Boom!” They were on the ground. Black Power wasn’t accepted. I was there for a week just watching these guys getting smashed while the guards did nothing; they just looked on. When I left after that week I went to court. Then I was taken to a youth prison. The first youth prison I went to was Waikeria where we had to stay a couple of nights. I remember walking into that wing and it was spotless, really clean. There were young people my age scrubbing the floor. I sat there getting a haircut because they shave all your hair off. I could see into an office and through the office to the adjacent wing. Some guys had white stripes down the sides of their trousers. I said to one of the boys, “What does that mean?” I was told, “Those guys are doing two years in Borstal, because they tried to escape”. I thought to myself, “I ain’t doin’ two years in this dump!”
I was then transferred to Tongariro Prison Farm where the boot camp was. When I got there, it was like a real military facility. You go to work with slashers cutting down trees. And then after that, you come back, you do an obstacle course, and you have a methylated spirits bath, which comprises a tank with methylated spirits. You put your hands in, take your hands out, put your feet in, and take your feet out. It makes your hands tougher and your feet tougher to wear the steel cap boots that you have to wear every day and to hold the slasher you have to hold every day. On release, I went down to Porirua. Dad had remarried and things weren’t going too well. All my brothers and sisters left and when I went to see them they had made their own lives. They said, “We love you, but we can’t take care of you”. So to make a long story short, I found myself with the Porirua Mongrel Mob for quite some time, and just kept going in and out of prison. When I was in prison, I thought to myself, “Man, things need to change”. A couple of years later I was in my car (a Valiant Hemi 265) in Papakura and I pulled into a gas station. All of a sudden, a motorbike turned up, and there was a guy with a different patch on. We looked at each other, started fighting and I smashed him against the pump. The cops came and I got arrested again and booked for
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assault with intent to injure. I went before the judge and got 15 months. So I went to prison again. But while I was there, I kept watching people come back, leave and come back. I thought, “It has to be more to this, man! Is this the pinnacle of gang life? Is this all I’m gonna do?” Where I was in Wing 3, there was a library. It took me six months to walk in there, but I finally walked in and found a book written by a criminologist, Greg Newbold. I read this book and it showed me another way. So I kept reading. And I started getting a whole lot of books just wanting to read. Finally I thought, “I’ve got to get out of here. I’ve got to leave the Mob. It’s not doing anything for me. I’m going nowhere fast. And I’ve got kids, I’ve got a daughter. Now I’ve got to think about her.” So when I left prison, my boys came to pick me up and we had a party and all that sort of stuff, as you do. Then I went to get my daughter and we went to stay at an emergency housing space. The guy there was a Christian. He welcomed us, sat us down and we had a meal. And then he was talking, and we got to know him a bit more. Eventually he said, “We go to church”, and I said, “I get it that you guys do, seeing all these Bibles”. He said, “Yeah, we go to church”, and he said, “Would you like to come?” I thought, “I’m just gonna keep up this con”, because I was already borrowing this guy’s car and living cheap. So I said, “Okay, cool. I’ll come”. So we went to church. It was like a lecture theatre, and we sat in the middle row. At the end of the service the pastor gave an altar call: “Does anybody here want to know Jesus?” In making this call he asked us to stand. My heart was beating. The Holy Spirit was coming upon me. But there was another voice saying, “What are you doing here?
You’re wasting your time. Mob members don’t go to church. Sit down, you idiot.” But even though that voice was coming, it was the overwhelming calmness of the Spirit that was overtaking me. It was great. And I just felt the Spirit of God like a heater. The pastor kept calling for those who wanted to come. And then I turned to my right and made my way out onto the staircase. As I started walking down the stairs, the voice got louder. “Don’t do it! Don’t do it!” So halfway down I ran to the front really fast. And this guy said to me, “Are you here to give your life to Jesus?” I replied, “Yeah, hurry up. Hurry up. Let’s do it right now”. And he had this big smile on his face. He knew I was wrestling with this. So he led me through the sinner’s prayer. After I had prayed, he hugged me. This was a big shock because I’d never been hugged by a pakeha man before. I thought, “Why is he hugging me?” But at the end of the day, it was so overwhelming, I just began to cry. After that this elderly lady came up to me and said, “You are going to be a Paul”. I said to myself, “Whose Paul?” After that it was really cool. But although I had given my life to Jesus, I still had other consequences to deal with. I went back to the house and I kept wrestling with this and wondering what was going to happen to me and my daughter. But the church people came and they all rallied around me and started praying for me. They prayed, and we prayed. And so, with their prayer coverage, I went to the Mob president’s house, and I also had a prayer warrior in the car. I walked into that house, and he was doing the dishes. I said to him, “There’s no other way to say this. But I’ve come to say, I’m out. And the reason I’m leaving is because I found Jesus Christ.” You should have seen the shock on his face! He couldn’t believe it. He just looked at me with like,
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“What’s wrong with you?” Then he said to me, “Well, you know, you’ve got to go with what you believe”. But then he added, “If we ever find out that it’s not the case, we’re going to take you out.” I said, “Yeah, sure.”
A guy who knew me when I was in the Mob, also a good friend and a prayer warrior with other members of the church, were praying for me. He asked me, “When are you coming back? God loves you”. I replied, “Yeah, but I’m just fighting with where people used me. I’m still recovering from that”. And he said, “Fair enough”. And so I got a job in furniture as a truck driver, and then operations dispatch. But soon I found out it was getting to my knees that weren’t good enough for the job. My body was wearing out.
With that, I left his place. When I left, it wasn’t easy because I went to the woman that we had my daughter with, and I said to her, “Are you coming with me?” She said, “Nah, I’m not coming.” I said, “Well, I’m taking my baby”. So I took my daughter with me. As time went on, she went back to her mum and came back to me and back to her mum and At that time another Christian brother back to me. But she’s doing really well. knocked on my door. And he said to me, When I left the Mob, I still had court “Wayne, have you seen this ad in the paper? criminal assault charges that I had to This is what I’m going to do”. He was going to do a social work course. And so I said, answer to. I hadn’t done burglaries, but I had “Oh, yeah, I think I can do that”. So I went assaulted cops and smashed other gang to this course and stayed for four years members. As I went to court I thought, “I’m getting a degree in social work. After that I going to go to jail for this”. I said to the judge, went to Victoria University, and entered into “I could plead not guilty. (I had previously a Master’s for a social science researcher. threatened and silenced witnesses). But I am All this time I was working with youth gangs guilty. Because I now follow Jesus I’m telling in Porirua and creating initiatives, doing you the truth. So it’s up to you what you want work on placements while I was getting this to do with me.” He asked, “Who did you come degree. with?” I said, “I came with this guy”. And so Because of what we were doing with the pastor from the church stood up, and he youth in the streets some people advised me spoke on my behalf. He explained, “This is to apply for “Vodafone World of Difference a true conversion”. At the end of it, the judge Award” in which I was successful. Five of gave me periodic detention for something that I us out of about 255 people were selected should have been in jail for. for this award. And so I went there with Billy And then I started getting into church Graham, the boxer who started the Naenae and finding out what it was all about. But Boxing Academy that I knew from my boxing before you know it, I got invited to different days, Frank Bunce from the All Blacks and a places to share my testimony. And then all of few women from different women’s initiatives. a sudden, it became all about my testimony From there, they paid me a salary to and not so much about God. I wondered, actually start running the program called “Am I now a trophy of this church? Is this all “Brothers not Colours”. It was about taking about me? Where is God in all this?” I felt kids out of gangs and giving them a better hurt and left the church and decided to do choice and a better option. This was in something different. my own neighbourhood. So you need to
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initiative, running throughout the nation. Through the second largest energy provider in the country, we were given the ability and scope to develop, with the capital to do so. Our managing director was really into the youth work to see it expand. “We can do this”, he said. And so we did. understand the impact of this, because I had left the gang in this neighbourhood, but was still in there. Not many gang members who have left gangs stay in the same neighbourhood. So I was running a program that was against gang life, turning kids away from joining the gang that I had come out of. Not only that, I also became a city councilor in Porirua, representing the Eastern Ward and so became a community leader, lecturing here and there with Te Wananga o Aotearoa. As a result of working with Mongrel Mob members, some of them hated me. But some of them came to me saying, “It’s too late for me. Can you work with my son?” or “Can you work with my daughter?” I said, “Yes, sure”. So I started working with them. Then all of a sudden the funding dried up, so we decided to do something different. Accordingly we spent five years working with Te Wananga o Aotearoa, doing “Youth Guarantee” programs. After that 5 years’ funding, we then drew up an official name – “Youth Guarantee” (https://youthguarantee.education.govt.nz/) -- that would ensure it was a government
I set up “Youth Guarantee” programs as part of a team, setting up programs from New Plymouth to Invercargill and different satellite groups all over the country. And that went really well. So we’ve been working with all sorts of youth all over the place. After the five years we were still at the Hosanna Baptist Church in Cannons Creek, Porirua, for 11 years, looking after life groups preaching, doing all those sorts of things. And then my pastor said, “Look, Wayne, I’m, stuck. I’ve double booked myself. I’m meant to be in Carterton. Can you go and cover for me?” I thought, “Carterton? Where’s Carterton?” I found it was in the Wairarapa. So I went there to preach. Because we come from a church with about 300 people I thought this must be a huge church. I can’t wait to get over there and have a look and meet the people and see what God is doing in their lives. I walked into a church with five people! But I just preached like there were 500 or 5000. Afterwards, as my wife and I were walking out, an elderly lady came up to us and she asked, “Are you going to be our new pastor?” I said, “Just keep praying. He will send you the right one. God bless you and have a great day!” I was thinking, “No way”. But the Lord’s way is not our way. That was our introduction to Carterton. So we’ve come here and I went from where I was to becoming a pastor. What happened was, they needed a pastor here. They had a range of people who would come and speak
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and help. But they said, “We think Wayne is Because I was opening up all the satellite groups, I hired the church hall out and began the one to come and be our pastor”. a program in here. I felt it was also a time to leave what we About six months before I came they were doing, having done all we could. But I thought it would be Auckland or somewhere, had begun saving for the salary for the next not Carterton. The Lord, however, had pastor to come. So when I came, we were been pressing this on our hearts. And so able to open up a group in Masterton as well. we decided, let’s keep praying. So we kept And then we had about 30 to 40 students. praying about it. And then the church in Jennifer gave them all a piece of paper and Carterton had a vote and the vote passed said to them, “Write your stories, write who 100%. So, with that confirmation we said, you are, and tell us who you are”. “Let’s go”. Eighty percent of those stories that came Hence we came to Carterton. I remember back from those young people were things the first day that we came here and they gave around suicide ideation, domestic violence, us the keys. I walked up to the church and gang life, crime, sexual abuse. Jennifer and unlocked the doors. I sat in the middle of the I took the first five that we thought were an church and started crying to myself, “I don’t important priority, and we made them come think I can do this. Why have you brought and live with us in the manse for two years. It me here, Lord? Look at this place. There’s was then we realised we were running out of nothing here. I can’t do anything here”. And space and needed to create something like then I felt like almost the “Samoan slap”. The a village. We needed more accommodation. Lord seemed to be saying, “What is wrong We had our friend and helper, Henry, here at with you? This is the agenda. Have I not the time. He suggested that we use freight sent you? Start doing what I sent you to containers for the purpose. do.” It wasn’t until we opened that course that So, I went back to Jennifer after wiping we understood what it was we needed to my eyes. I told her what had happened. And do. Because we had always been working she said, “Good job. Now what are we going with youth we thought, “There’s no youth in to do next?” And so we started praying. I the church to work with youth. That’s what thought, OK, so the church needs income. God wants us to do. This is the future of the
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church”. And then all of a sudden we found But our interests are primarily eternal. So there was too much “red tape”. So I went to what we are looking for in these “Bro Towns” the council and said, “Don’t tell me what we is that they are headed by Christians. I also can’t do. Tell me what we can do”. would like churches to come to the party, especially in the context of how a country Christine Dugdale from the Dugdale Trust deals with housing, in providing spaces like found out what we were intending to do with this. We need to concentrate on personal, these containers. So she came to visit us and professional, and spiritual development. And she said, “I will put the first cabin up”. And I I believe that’s what the aim needs to be. outlined what was necessary. She bought the first one. Then someone else bought the In the last three years, we’ve had 40 second one, and another the third. So we young people come through here with a eventually had about $160,000 to $200,000 range of different outcomes. I would say worth of work done here. None of it has our success rate is probably in the vicinity been government funded. It’s all church and of 80%. And I’m happy with that. That’s a lot community. Rotary did the plumbing, Lions better than prison. in Masterton paid for the concrete for the paving from Allied Concrete. I had a meeting with the Reformed Church and they brought their people in to work on the painting. They have builders on the staff to build and guide to get the ceilings done to keep the running costs down. So from here, we want to create villages in other places. At the time of writing, Nelson has eight cabins, Christchurch was looking at what they wanted to do. I had a meeting with Palmerston North, covering the creation of a village there. And I want one in Auckland as well. The reason is we want to create “Bro Towns”. What that actually means is that if there’s a kid who wants to have a new start, they can travel from the Auckland village to a Wellington one with a totally different environment where we can put them in their cooking class or their budgeting class or job recruitment for employment, etc. But, aside from all of that, if you look at “Maslow’s hierachy of the peoples’ needs*”, it’s food and shelter first, and then self-actualization at the end.
This place is an outreach post where we plant spiritual seed all day, every day. And then we water the seed and then they move to the next stage where someone else furthers their progress. But then churches need to “cross pollinate” and start making some headway towards this. The days of being denominational and worrying about competing with one another need to be gone. Let’s be the “Body of Christ” and get it done. Right now the churches are limping and not actually walking. We all need a spiritual heart transplant. That’s the space I want to move in.
*Maslow’s Hierachy of Needs: A theory of motivation which states that five categories of human need dictate an individual’s behaviour. Those needs are phsyiological, safety, love and belonging, esteem and self-actualization.
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