TUPU WHAKARANGI It’s Not all the Same -- Page 2
Why do Bad Things Happen to Good People? -- Page 6
Fathers -- Page 9
The Gentle Giant -- Page 11
Hindu Girl finds true Salvation -- Page 14
Locked up and Locked in -- Page 16
E -FRE
Official magazine of Maori Postal Aotearoa
Issu
e 23
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The Swimmer -- Page 19
IT’S NOT ALL THE SAME! Ehara i te mea katoa You may have heard the wellworn saying, “All religions are similar and really all amount to the same thing. They all end up in Heaven or Paradise or some such place”. This is one of the greatest deceptions foisted upon the world, and here’s why. There are two basic truths that set the Christian Faith apart from every other religion on the planet. The first is that salvation is obtained solely by God’s grace without any human effort. The second is the bodily resurrection of the founder of Christianity, Jesus Christ Himself.
SALVATION BY GRACE ALONE We are told plainly in Ephesians 2, verses 8-9 where Paul was writing to the Christians in Ephesus, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works (our own efforts), so no one can boast” (NIV).
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Every other religion or cult advocates human effort in some form to appease or gain the favour of God (or a god). It seems to be foreign to human thinking that forgiveness of sin and a right relationship with God can be achieved without our efforts or input. True Biblical Christianity stands alone in declaring there is nothing you can do to get right with God, because God, in the Person of Christ and by His vicarious sacrifice on the cross at Calvary, has done everything necessary to deal with our sin and bring us to Himself. All we need to do is to accept what God has done, open our lives to Christ and commit ourselves to Him. Some years ago I was accused by a certain cult leader, “I know what you believe. You believe that you can be saved through Christ which makes you right for eternity, and then you can go and live how you like.” The man, of course, was partly right for Christ does indeed offer us salvation and eternal security (John 10, verses 27-29), but as for “living how you like”, this part of his accusation was not correct. The Bible also teaches that when we come to Christ we become “God’s workmanship” (Ephesians 2, verse 10). God works in us, changing us, giving us new holy desires including a desire
TUPU WHAKARANGI (Growing Heavenward)
ISSUE 232 October 2019 Editor: Graham Batson Mail: PO Box 10, Whanganui 4540 Email: info.maoripostal@gmail.com www.maoripostal.co.nz All English Bible references from the NIV unless otherwise stated.
to read and obey His Word, and a hatred of the old sinful things we used to enjoy. This is all part of His purpose to “conform us to the image or likeness of His Son” (Romans 8, verse 29). The Bible further says, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5, verse 17). And so we learn that salvation is available only through God’s saving grace, but that having received it, that same grace changes us inwardly so that we are conformed more and more to God’s will and purposes. This is what spiritual growth is all about. Have you received God’s salvation and are you growing in His grace to become more like Christ with a love for His Word and a hatred of sin? If so, it is a sure sign you have been truly converted.
JESUS IS ALIVE! The second major truth concerning the Christian Faith is that its founder has conquered death and is alive! This means that the salvation He has procured and offers to us is real! He lives to save and to keep us. The tomb of every other religious leader who has died is occupied. But the tomb of Jesus is empty! Early in the morning of His resurrection when the women came expecting to anoint His body, they were astonished to find an angel at the tomb who said to them, “Do not be afraid, for
I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. HE IS NOT HERE; He has risen, just as He said. Come and see the place where He lay” (Matthew 28, verse 6). On that great day of Pentecost, when the Church was born, Peter stood up in front of a large crowd of thousands of people in the city of Jerusalem, including the religious leaders who were responsible for Christ’s death and, referring to Christ, declared, “This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross. But God raised Him from the dead, freeing Him from the agony of death, because it was not possible for death to keep its hold on Him” (Acts 2, verses 23-24). Now, if what Peter had said regarding Christ’s resurrection was not true, it would have been a simple matter for those religious leaders to silence him for good by taking him the short distance to the tomb and displaying the body. But they couldn’t do it because His body was not there -- and they knew it!
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They had previously concocted an absurd story about the disciples stealing the body. But following Christ’s crucifixion His disciples were reduced to fear and trembling for their own lives. According to this story, in their condition the disciples were supposed to sneak past the security guards set at the tomb while they were asleep, roll back a stone weighing in excess of two tons from the tomb’s entrance, steal the body, and somehow get away with it to a hiding place somewhere. Had they been asleep the authorities would have had the heads off those guards for such dereliction of duty by lunch time. This whole scenario was not possible.
imposter to the extent that his driving passion in life was to rid the earth of every remembrance of Him, including what Paul considered were His deluded followers. His time was consumed in persecuting by imprisonment and even murder any who claimed to be His followers and he was cheered on by the religious elite of his day.
Again, quoting the Apostle Paul, his words pertaining to Christ’s resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15, are quite remarkable. He asked the question of some in the Corinthian Church, “If it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised” (verse 12). Then after showing the futility of the Christian Faith without Christ’s resurrection, he concludes in verse 20, “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead!”
In fact they had supplied him with documentation authorising him to do so and that is how he found himself on his way to the city of Damascus on this momentous day in his life. In the resurrected Person of Christ, God extended His mercy and grace to this violent, murdering persecutor of Christians. The resurrected Christ appeared to Paul and dramatically changed the whole course of his life, the account of which is recorded in Acts chapter 9.
Paul’s certainty in making such a statement is that which is so remarkable. This is because a few years before in the earlier part of his life, Paul did not believe in Christ’s resurrection. In fact he believed Christ to be an
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This change was so dramatic that, although he was about to enter the city as a persecutor and murderer of Christians that within days he was in the midst of that same city proclaiming Christ as the Saviour and true Messiah! Nothing but the personal appearance of Christ Himself to Paul could have
brought about such a turnaround in his life. (Paul’s testimony is recorded in 1 Timothy 1, verses 12 to 17).
Paul would never have subjected himself to such a lifestyle if the resurrection had been a myth! The certainty of Paul’s conviction is born out by his life of absolute dedication and faithfulness to the cause of Christ and the propagation of the Gospel throughout the then known world. In the process he suffered tremendous hardship including imprisonment, flogging, exposure to death on numerous occasions, shipwreck, hunger, cold, sleeplessness besides his care and concern for the many churches he had planted. He died a martyr’s death by decapitation outside the city of Rome. Paul was a highly intelligent man and he would never have subjected himself to such a lifestyle and death if the resurrection of Christ had been a myth. Over the centuries millions of lives have been changed for the better. They have
been redirected, not only for time but also for eternity, because Jesus Christ died for guilty, Hell-deserving sinners such as you and me, and rose again as the triumphant Saviour, defeating Satan, sin and death. The Gospel of Christ has lost none of its saving power. Still quoting Paul, he declared, “I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes; first for the Jew and also for the Gentile” (Romans 1, verse 16). Today the Gospel continues to save people from the various ravages of sinful lifestyles – those caught in the grip of drug and alcohol abuse, domestic violence, gangs and prison inmates. Those who have given up and see no further purpose for living. Christ is the ultimate answer for He gives the power to break free from sinful bondage and enter a life of true purposeful meaning and satisfaction. If you have never done so, you need to be willing to turn from whatever sinful life you are leading and open your heart and life to Him today. Others may fail you; He will never fail. -- Editor
One of the Text Posters available from MPA. Send for a catalogue.
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Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People? From an article by Michael Coren We’ve all heard it numerous times: “Why would a God who is all-good, all-knowing, and all-powerful allow bad things to happen to good people?” We can also turn the question around: “Why would an all-good, all-knowing, and all-powerful God allow good things to happen to bad people?” After all, while seeing good people suffer is horrible, it’s not much fun seeing evil people having fun either. It must be said, though, that this question is sometimes asked in innocence by people with a genuine desire to understand what seems impossible to understand. Other times it’s asked by people who have suffered or whose loved ones have known grief and loss. They honestly want to know: How could God let this happen to me and to mine? Why wouldn’t God stop this pain and help me? After all, sometimes we experience devastating suffering. Just consider the Holocaust, the abduction and murder of a child, or the long and painful death of a kind and gentle person. The critic of Christianity would respond that God is either not all-knowing, not allpowerful, or not all-good. I would say that the question—and even the problem— are actually more of a difficulty and a conundrum for the non-believer than for the Christian.
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Eternity Makes the Difference The materialist and the atheist, those who would deny God, believe that at death, all is over. Life is finished, it is done and complete; we are dust, mere food for worms. To these people, pain has no meaning other than what it is -- pure, unadulterated suffering, without any redeeming purpose. To the atheist, there may be a certain formless heroism attached to the person who faces suffering with courage and without complaining. But if we are all body and flesh, and no soul and spirit, if we are mere products of a selfish gene and nothing more, one wonders why this heroism would in any way be significant. There is, though, a greater point, and that is that the atheist is convinced that these years we spend on earth—perhaps 80 or more if we’re lucky, and only a handful if we’re not—are everything we have, and constitute the total human experience. Christians, on the other hand, believe that these years on earth, while important and to be used wisely and to be enjoyed, are preparation for a far greater life to come. They are, in effect, a thin ray of light from the great sunshine that is eternity and life in Heaven with God. My end, as Mary Queen of Scots said it, is my beginning. And her end was at the sharp point of an axe, as she was beheaded on the
orders of her half-sister, Queen Elizabeth I. Queen Mary was certain that there was an existence beyond that on earth.
Pain Awakens Us to God While it’s neurotic rather than Christian to welcome suffering, and no intelligent and comprehending person would welcome suffering for its own sake, the Bible makes it quite clear that faith in Jesus Christ does not guarantee a perfect life, but a perfect eternity. Indeed, there is more prediction in Scripture of a struggle on earth for the believer than there is of gain and success. There may be Christian sects that promise material wealth and all sorts of triumphs in exchange for faith, but this is a nonChristian, even an anti-Christian bargain, and has never been something that orthodox Christianity affirms. Christians believe that this life on earth is only the land of shadows and that real life hasn’t yet begun. So yes, bad things happen to good people. This oft-repeated question says nothing about God, but everything about human beings. Some might argue that Christian belief is merely an excuse to escape the harshness of reality, but that’s no more reasonable than arguing that atheism is a mere excuse to escape the harsh reality of judgment and the thought of eternal punishment. The more important point, though, is that the oftrepeated criticism that bad things happen to good people says nothing at all about God, but everything about human beings. Pain may not be desirable. Yet pain is not mere suffering, but also a warning sign and a way to protect us against danger. That something may hurt is undeniable, and that we will all feel some sort of pain at some point is inevitable, but whether this pain is our doing or God’s is something entirely
different. The all-knowing, all-powerful, all-good God allows us to suffer, just as He allows us all sorts of things, because we have the freedom to behave as we will. But He has also provided a place with the greatest contentment we can imagine if only we listen to Him. As to the specific issue of pain and suffering, C. S. Lewis, who watched his beloved wife die of cancer, put it this way: “But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” God’s plan is for us to return to Him, and to lead the best possible life on earth. Sometimes we need to be reminded of our purpose. Pain is a sharp, clear tool to achieve that purpose. A needle may be necessary to prevent disease or infection; nobody welcomes or enjoys the injection, but it prevents a far greater suffering, just as what may seem like even intolerable pain now will lead to far greater happiness later. Lewis also wrote: “By the goodness of God we mean nowadays almost exclusively His lovingness. By love, in this context, most of us mean kindness— the desire to see others happy; not happy in this way or in that, but just happy. What would really satisfy us would be a God who said of anything we happened to like doing, ‘What does it matter, so long as they are contented?’ We want, in fact, not so much a Father in Heaven as a grandfather in Heaven—a senile benevolence who, as they say, ‘liked to see young people enjoying themselves’ and whose plan for the universe was simply that it might be truly said at the end of each day, ‘a good time was had by all’.” Today this applies far more obviously than when Lewis was writing. He died in 1963. If I want something, runs the modern idiom,
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I need something; and if I need something, I must have it. But God knows our needs better than we do, and also knows that our wants and our needs are distinctly different. Which leads to the challenge of why God would allow us to do wrong, or why He allows us to want something that’s not necessarily to our eternal advantage, or even to our immediate good.
Freedom to Choose We have free will. We have that free will because God is love, and no lover would allow anything else. I always remember when our first child, a son, was around 12 years old and attended a school a few miles from where we lived. We had driven him to school each day, but it was now time for him to take public transit. We worried about letting him go off alone in the crowded and, frankly, sometimes dangerous big city. But it was time, it was the right time. Off he went. And there was me, waiting at the end of the day, sitting by the door, anxious to see him come home. When he did—totally ignoring me beyond a perfunctory grunt of acknowledgement—I was so incredibly happy and relieved. My wife and I had to let him go, but we were so relieved when he returned. Imagine, then, how God feels when we return home to Him. He lets us go, He sets us free, He acts as a loving father does, but he so much wants us home again. That God allows us freedom, and sometimes a freedom to disobey, says everything about God’s love for us. Yet while He wants us to return to Him, He doesn’t force us to take this course of action, and if we choose an eternity without Him, what we have chosen is Hell. This is important, because a lot of people purposely or accidentally misunderstand the concept. Hell
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is not just a place of punishment, but a place where we are permanently separated from God. We are creatures made in His image, made to love Him and to be loved by Him, and our vocation after this sojourn on earth is to be united with our Maker in Heaven. But we have a choice. We have freedom, we have the right to choose, even the right to choose to do the wrong thing. God in his ultimate love even gives us the right to choose not to return to Him, and to choose to spend eternity without Him, in Hell. So, atheists scream at God in whom they do not believe, for allowing them to reject Him, and for allowing them to spend the rest of eternity in a place without Him. It’s all a little odd and contradictory. The pain that must occur in Heaven when we reject God and choose to live in a Godless place is beyond our comprehension, but this freedom of choice proves God’s love and not his indifference.
God Is Not Impossible to Find Nor is it the case that He makes Himself difficult to find, which leads to the accusation that a truly good God would make it easier, even inevitable and unavoidable, that we would all follow Him and find our way to Heaven. But this reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of God’s involvement and intervention in history, and—again—of what choice is all about, and how enmeshed love and choice always must be. On the one hand, if He made Himself entirely obvious, only a fool would purposely reject Him, and He would effectively be giving us no choice at all. Intimidating as it may seem, we are also being tested, and judged—and judgment is the last thing that modern, western humanity is willing to be subjected to. But remember that that same modern, western person often complains
about fairness, or lack of it. It would be horribly unfair if anybody and everybody, irrespective of their choices, spent eternity in joy and completeness with God in Heaven. It’s likely that the same people who complain about bad things happening to good people now would then loudly protest that it was wrong that such good things— actually the best things possible—should happen to bad people, some of them the worst people possible. On the other hand, if He made Himself
Russell Hohneck
almost impossible to find, God would be playing cruel games with us and would be loveless, possessing power but showing no affection and without any responsibility. So, He makes himself entirely recognizable and attainable, if we have the slightest inclination to find Him. He sent us prophets, martyrs, signs, miracles, and finally his Son, to die in agony for us and then through the Resurrection prove God’s love, power, and being. Not a bad set of clues when you think about it. If you think about it.
FATHERS Father’s Day has come and gone once again, and I am reminded that another year has passed and not a lot has changed in regard to the plight of the families of our nation. I believe that one of the greatest plights of the family, is that so many fathers are not at home being a father -- and when they are home, they lack the self-sacrificing heart that the father role requires of them.
When God walked in the Garden of Eden to fellowship with Adam and Eve and did not find them, He called out, “Adam where are you”? Adam’s response was, “Oh God I was afraid and naked, so I hid myself.” He ran from God and hid himself instead of running to God to find grace and mercy, forgiveness and restoration with God. If God were to walk in the garden of the world and certainly in the garden of New Zealand today, his call would be similar -- “Fathers, where are you?” And fathers would be answering, “We are afraid so we have hidden ourselves!” -- Continued on following page
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We are hiding in the world of selfish freedom. We are hiding in the fog of irresponsibility. We are hiding in the arms of another man’s wife! We are hiding in the world of electronic relationships and the darkness of pornography. We are hiding in the illusionary state of drugs and alcohol. We are hiding in the world of hate and violence! Many fathers of this nation still have not changed from Adam’s day to this day. They still refuse to run to God for refuge, help and forgiveness. Instead, they run and hide themselves in their modern-day fig tree in an endeavour to cover their shame. As a result they are not at home leading their families, not being a father to their children -Or A husband to their wife, Or A leader in the home, Or A provider for the family, Or A security for their children and their children’s future. While our Heavenly Father has not given us a specific father in scripture as an example of a model father, God himself is our exemplary Heavenly Father. He is the only true father, who loves without conditions -Who cares without partiality, Who longs for his children without tiring, Who forgives without judgment, Who provides without restrictions, Who protects and blesses without holding back, Who strengthens, encourages and listens without ever being distracted. God showed his heart toward us in the Garden of Eden. He took off Adam’s covering and supplied a covering of animal skin for them both. God was pointing to the ultimate sacrifice He would provide for all mankind who run to Him to have their sin covered. Jesus reveals the Father to us as the ultimate father when he says “Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).
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FRED PAIRAMA
The Gentle Giant (1961 – 2004)
A remarkable and dramatic conversion took place in Mangakino in 1992. FRED PAIRAMA had grown up in Mangakino and by his senior high school year in 1977, some of his classmates had affectionately named him the Gentle Giant. Upon leaving school he worked for the timber industry in the local forest and then for a period in Northland. Fred loved sport – initially it was rowing and then his interest was transferred to rugby, even joining a support party for the Maori All Blacks in their tour of Wales and other European countries. During those years certain habits formed a dominant influence in his life – alcohol, drugs and dealing. In the course of time he returned to Mangakino where his mother, Rose, had become a Christian, and his lifestyle was now her constant concern. At the Mangakino Gospel Chapel prayer and Bible study meetings she often requested that the Christians pray for her family. One Tuesday night in particular Rose made a special request for Fred as she had challenged him about his way of life, his addictions, his mates and in particular, the disturbances in the home at all hours of the night.
God doesn’t always answer quite the way we might expect, as just four nights later after a day of boozing and smoking dope with his mates, followed by a visit to a disco at the local rugby club, one of Fred’s mates got into a fight and Fred decided they should leave before there was more trouble. In walking along the road about 50 metres from the Gospel Chapel Fred had a confrontation with a car. His mate managed to jump clear but Fred’s drunken attempt to leap over the car didn’t work and he ended up in a badly injured state with both knees dislocated. The trip to Waikato Hospital (some 130km away) was traumatic – not only for Fred but also for the attendants and, after arriving, there was an eighteen hour delay before the surgeons could operate because of the alcohol content in Fred’s blood.
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On being returned to the ward after the operation Fred recalls that his mother and other family members and friends were waiting for him. His mother then put her Bible on the dresser and said, “I think it’s about time you started reading this.” Normally, Fred said, he would have told her what to do with it, but he agreed and instead he said, “I think you are right, Mum.” In the days that followed, Fred began reading from the beginning of the Bible, but was struggling with the relevance of it to his life. A few days later Fred had a visit from Tom* who recommended that he should try reading from the Gospel of John. Fred took this advice and in the weeks that followed he came to the realisation of his need to take Jesus to be his Lord and Saviour. A promise that he found in the Bible that was a great help to him was Ezekiel chapter 36, verses 26-27: -“I will give you a new heart and a new mind. I will take away your stubborn
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heart of stone and will give you an obedient heart. I will put my Spirit in you and will see to it that you follow my laws and keep all the commandments that I have given you.” In Fred’s own words, “I wheeled myself out of the room into a nearby lobby to somewhere quiet and there asked Jesus Christ to come into my life to be my Lord and Saviour.” When he was finally dis-charged from hospital Fred was still a long way from being properly mobile and he found the arm supports supplied to him most unsatisfactory. However, on the first Sunday he was observed slowly walking the 1km journey from his place to the Gospel Chapel with the aid of two padded upside down brooms. It was another couple of weeks before Fred started telling others of his commitment, but it wasn’t long before his transformed life was the talk of the town and district. The words of 2 Corinthians 5:17 were true of him, “When anyone becomes a Christian they are a brand new person inside, they are not the same anymore, a new life has begun.” Fred now had a love for Jesus Christ, a love for the Bible and a love for the fellowship of other Christians. He also had a desire to be better equipped to serve the community and his new Lord and Master, attending a leadership training camp, a Christian training school and various Maori courses to be better able to witness to his own people. He began helping with Bible teaching in the schools, children’s holiday camps, Boys and Girls Rallies, Sunday School, Maori Postal Sunday
School, on the local marae and took a variety of responsibilities at the Gospel Chapel. Eventually Fred was able to rejoin the work force. However, while undergoing a hernia operation it was discovered that he had an inoperable tumor. He maintained a good and strong witness for his Lord until the Lord took him home.
One week before his passing he led the worship at the Gospel Chapel with a reading from Psam 73, verses 25-26, which he said had been special to him in the week before. It says, “Whom have I in Heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
“It was my privilege to share his testimony to the hundreds who gathered at the marae for his funeral.” -- (Tom). *Tom Lind went to be with the Lord in April, 2015, at the age of 83.
DARGAVILLE MARKET DAY STALL As the time for Matariki came along, Warwick and Paula Savage from Dargaville decided to have a special stall at the local Market Day. As you can see from the photos they did a great job of setting up their stall to make it attractive – both in the day and at night! They had a wide selection of MPA materials to give away. Paula reported, “The Matariki stall was an encouraging time. There were lots of opportunities to speak to folk about the resources and also to share with some about knowing the Great Creator personally. The children especially were thrilled to receive the booklets and a few kept coming back for the star-shaped shortbread we were offering! As it became dark, Warwick did a great job providing lights both inside and out. Also heating when it became colder as the evening approached. Probably the most popular material was that for children”. They were able to have many conversations with people and made some contacts to follow up. Afterwards they gave some of the material to another church in town that has quite a few Maori people attending.
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A Hindu Girl finds True Salvation in Jesus Christ From Asian and Indian Testimonies
Greetings from Calcutta . My name is Shobana. My father is a drunkard, my mother, poor and humble. My parents have got two daughters only -- me and my sister. I am aged 17. I am studying in the Science group of the +2 class of the Hindu Higher Secondary School, Calcutta (West). My younger sister is studying in standard 10th of the same school. Our whole family believes in Hinduism. My father is an auto-rickshaw driver, though a drunkard. As he spends all his income for liquor, he neither helps mother nor supports us in our education. Therefore, to educate us and to maintain household, my mother has to do hard sundry work. She goes about door to door cleaning vessels and washing clothes. On holidays, I used to go with my mother to rich families to help her in her work. On such goings, a young man of a rich family snared me saying that he was in love with me. Promising to marry me, he ruined my virginity. With the thought of alleviating poverty, I succumbed myself to all his desires. He was an addict of the dangerous drug cocaine. Several occasions he gave me too the injection of the drug and made me float in intoxication. As a result, I became a slave to the drug. I could not but inject the drug into my body to remain alive. I felt like committing suicide. Days went on. In the meantime, he began love-affairs with a rich woman and completely cut off all his relations with me. I wept bitterly, to forget it, I favoured drugs. My mother being poor, I could not purchase drugs. But I could not live without drugs. Therefore I went out to commit
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suicide by laying my head on the railway track. My mother comes to know all about me with all my problems. She got my letter, which I left at home, mentioning my final plan. Knowing it, my mother and sister searched for me in vain. They sighed and sobbed, and drenched in tears being severely grief-stricken. With broken hearts mother prayed, “If there is a living God, Shobana should be saved.” It was on a Sunday morning 10 ‘o’ clock I had laid my head on the rail and was waiting for the Bombay-Calcutta, Howrah Express Train to run over me. Under the rainy clouds, under the rails, I spied a tract of 4 pages in white paper entitled “Deliverance” .In the same posture, I read its first page “Jesus delivers every sinner from all sinful evil habits”. This instilled the hope in my heart that this Jesus Christ would deliver me and save me. With the paper in hand, I came out of the rail way track. Within seconds the train went by. In a forlorn condition, I read the tract soberly again and again. Having acknowledged the Saving Power of Jesus Christ as I read the prayer, in ten lines. At the end of the tract, I cried aloud, wept bitterly and I was saved. Instantly, a perfect peace reigned my heart. I went ahead to end my life since our faith in Hinduism never said that there was salvation for a wretched sinner like me. Jesus delivers! All my thanks due to Him. HE is the Living God! By the tract ‘Deliverance’ by India Bible Mission, Christ entered into my heart and saved me. The joy Jesus gave my heart knew no bounds. I went home and told my mother about the tidings of my salvation. My mother burst into joyful tears and uttered that the real living God had heard her prayers and answered it; “if there is a living God, my daughter Shobana should be saved”. Through a printed paper, I was saved. Further, the whole family happily accepted Jesus Christ as the living God and Saviour. They committed their lives unto Him. I prayed for my father for his salvation. Wonderful! Within a couple of days, Lord Jesus delivered my father from drunkenness and saved him. As a whole family we worship Jesus with this one tract of ‘Deliverance’. Jesus is giving daily boundless joy to our family. There are very many youths in Calcutta, like me, destroying their lives in sinful acts not having heard, at least once, the love and delivering power of Savior Jesus Christ. To declare this Jesus to them, please send tracts in thousands. Loving Sister, Shobana
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LOCKED UP and LOCKED IN The story of one man’s search for freedom. I couldn’t believe it! Here I was sitting at the table with this kindly man whom I worked with. His wife seemed much the same as he was – genuinely sincere and caring. Here they were inviting me – an ex-crim and a potential menace to society – into their home for a meal! They had ten children and some of the girls were giggling nervously. I had never known a family like this one. I was born of a troubled second marriage of both parents. My mother was in her forties, and it was clear she didn’t want me. My father was in his mid-fifties; he died when I was eight. By that time, I was out of control. My mother contacted the local Anglican vicar and through him I was sent to a church school for underprivileged boys. The spartan nature of the school, they thought, would do me good. So, at the age of nine years and nine months I was thrust from home into that difficult and regimental school environment. So, the warm, welcoming home of this man was far from the stunted family life I had known. All of a sudden, my thoughts were interrupted when my kind friend announced, “Shall we thank God for our meal?” This was almost too much,
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yet I kept quiet. This man seemed to hold a certain respect about him – a sense of awe almost. He was unlike anyone I’d ever met, and his family made me feel so welcome. I didn’t feel intimidated. Then after tea, as if the prayer wasn’t enough, he read some teaching of Jesus from the Bible. Well, by that time I was starting to feel more comfortable and I figured that a bit more “religious stuff” wouldn’t hurt me! I had been to a church school where we had a lot of religion. We learned all the right words and sang in the choir, but it meant nothing to us, nothing at all. I rebelled against life – the death of my father, the school. As a means of discipline, I was often shut up in a classroom for weeks, being let out only for meals and the toilet. The cane was used continually. Then I started to steal. Our clothes were hand-me-downs and sixth or seventh-hand footwear, so I stole from the clothes store. My punishment was three months in the classroom, with no sport and no home visits on Sunday. After a couple of months in the classroom, I broke into the kitchen area with another boy to “raid” the pantry. The results were harsh. Just days before my School Certificate examinations, and after six agonising years, I was expelled. And all this at the hands of a “Christian” school. But as I analysed this loving family, I quickly sensed that they were different: considerate, not selfish; they spoke in terms of love, not hatred. They started me thinking. I reviewed the past in
my mind, and the many scars of rejection and insecurity I was living with. After I had been expelled from school I was sent to a relative’s farm. There was a lot of friction there too. I used to take my stock whip and vent my anger on animals or anyone I was “agro” with. I would go out on my motorbike with my mates – other misfits like myself. We would go to the country dance hall on Friday nights and take out the outside lights with my stock whip. I got into all sorts of law-breaking and activities that I won’t mention as they are not a badge of honour. Inevitably I came before the court when I was 18. The Magistrate said, “We can’t send this boy to Borstal, he will corrupt the others.” So, I got three years in Mt Eden prison. Being the youngest prisoner, I was beaten and abused in various ways, some of which are unspeakable. I learned what it was to be among hardened criminals. After a while I was sent to what is now Rimutaka Prison, in Upper Hutt. Swearing at officers and fighting earned me some trips to the “digger” – solitary confinement with bread and milk and one decent meal every third day. Finally, I was released on parole and got a job with General Motors. But my days and nights seemed to be tedious and of little meaning. There at General Motors I met this wonderful man and later his family. He kept inviting me back and I would listen to him for hours. He was so wise and along with his wife, filled that home with real love and kindness – her fresh muffins and jam were also a constant bonus for me! They encouraged me to play their
piano. They introduced me to a God who cares about me personally and could forgive my sins. Jesus Christ was often the centre of conversation. Only then, when this friend and his wife showed God’s love to me, did I begin to comprehend that I too could have the peace that he had. I really wanted that. I didn’t think God would even look at me after the depths to which I had sunk, and now I heard that God was available to me even in that prison cell! He could’ve been my Friend had I let Him, instead of continuing down the road to nowhere. Such thoughts occupied my mind intensely. These good people really cared about me and my future. They invited me to stay with them and they were very patient. Opening the Bible -- the Word of God – they explained its truths and answered my questions. Eventually I saw for myself all they had been explaining. Then I logically thought things through: I knew that my life needed to change, and I wanted to be free from my sin and guilt. I also wanted to experience peace and love through knowing Jesus Christ. I thought about the desperate times of crouching in the gutter sniffing the whiskey bottle. It had seemed to be my
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only friend. Now I realised that I could have a new friend in Jesus, a new life and a new hope in this life and the next. My sin became increasingly ugly to me. Having been formally locked up as a prisoner, I knew that I was still locked in by my own sinful and selfish desires. The first part of my journey ended. After many talks late into the night, in January 1965 I gave my heart to Jesus Christ. Being sorry for my shameful life, I thanked Him for dying on the cross for my sins and I accepted God’s free gift of forgiveness and everlasting life (Romans chapter 6 verse 23). Then, on the authority of God’s Word I knew I was saved from Hell, and better still I was saved into God’s family and eventually was going to Heaven to be with the one who was now my Lord. The overwhelming sense of peace that filled me that day was indescribable. I have never regretted taking the step which put me on the new way of life with Jesus, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life (John chapter 14 verse 6). As for my kindly and wise friend, he has now gone to Heaven to be with the One he represented so faithfully on earth.
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But the story doesn’t end there. I married Pamela, one of his daughters. I became a part of his family as well as being a part of God’s family. Pamela and I have had our own family since then and I have tried to carry on the heritage of Pamela’s father. Life has not always been easy -- far from it. Some trials have been deep and painful -but I have always known the presence and generosity of God. I have sought to serve Him with everything I have, and to introduce others to the relationship and peace I have found in Him. Can I ask you? Where do you stand? Do you have an assurance of eternal life in Christ Jesus? Do you feel locked up in the emptiness of life and the uncertainty of death? The answer can be as simple as ABC –
Accept sinner.
before God that you are a
Believe that Jesus died to save you from the punishment and power of sin.
Commit your life to Him, and live out of these convictions a life of love and gratitude that pleases God. -- Paul
THE SWIMMER How Te Rau-o-te-Rangi crossed the Strait of Kapiti From “Hero Stories of New Zealand” by James Cowan IT was from Aperahama, of the Ngatitoa — the great Rauparaha’s tribe — that I first heard mention of the young chieftainess Te Rau-o-te-Rangi and her heroic swim from Kapiti Island to the mainland with her little daughter on her back. In the Twenties of last century the young chieftainess, Kahe Te Rau-o-teRangi, lived with some of her tribespeople at Waiorua, a large stockaded village at the north of Kapiti, in a rocky bay facing the mainland, with bird swarming forests climbing the steep hills at the back. She was perhaps twenty-three or twenty-four years old. She had a tiny daughter, a child whom in later days a missionary baptised as Rebecca, which the Maoris pronounce Ripeka. Te Rau was accounted a very fine and handsome young woman, for she was straight and tall, beautifully and generously proportioned and strong of limb—a woman well fitted to mother warriors. She excelled in swimming and diving. No one in Kapiti, man or woman,
was a more strenuous and successful diver for shellfish; no one could swim with a bigger basket-load or remain under water longer; and in every swimming race she defeated all her rivals. With her fighting father, Te Matoha, she had marched in Rauparaha’s great military migration from Kawhia Harbour through Taranaki down to Horowhenua and Otaki and Waikanae. Early one morning in the year 1826 Te Rau-o-te-Rangi’s man-slave, one Patetere, came to her in much agitation to say that he had dreamed a dream of evil omen, a warning from the spirit-world. In his vision of the night he beheld a great ope, or army of foemen from the northern mainland assembling and advancing on the island in their war-canoes. Kapiti would surely fall, and Ngati-Toa, who were not a numerous tribe, would go into the cannibal ovens of their foes. The slave urged his mistress to fly from the island while there was yet time. “Wait a while,” said Te Rau calmly. “Wait until they appear; then we shall see.”
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They had but a few days to wait. Patetere had implicit faith in that warning from the land of dreams, and he kept vigilant watch each night on the rocky horn of land which forms the northern end of Waiorua Bay. One quiet midnight his dream came true. In the moon-light he saw far away on the sea, in the direction of Otaki, a number of black dots, which gradually grew larger. They were canoes, a whole flotilla of them, apparently paddling slowly so as not to reach their destination too soon. The slave ran into Te Rau’s whare and roused her. Her husband and her father, and many of the tribe, were away on the mainland, and she was in the care of the faithful old bond-servant. Te Rau hurried out to the point, where the rocks of Kuru-Kohatu dip down to the surf, and satisfied herself that a great fleet of canoes was indeed approaching. “They are dipping their paddles gently,” she said; “they will lie off until just before dawn and then dash in when the kaka parrot cries its first call to the day.” Bidding Patetere quietly arouse the chiefs of the village, Te Rau went to the tohunga, the medicine-man of the tribe, whose name was Te Whataupoko, and requested him to karakia her, for she had resolved upon a great and perilous deed. “I shall go to the mainland,” she said, “but I shall not take a canoe, for it would be seen, even the smallest canoe. I shall swim the Strait—I shall take my little daughter with me; and I shall rouse the people to save Kapiti.” Leading his relative to the sacred place of Waiorua, on the brink of the waterside, the tohunga karakia’d her for the great task, to avert from the swimmer danger by taniwha and shark and overwhelming wave.
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Then, returning to the hut, Te Rau threw off her garments and stood there naked, and her slave-woman, RauHuihui (Patetere’s wife) anointed her from head to foot with oil, and rubbed her strong, beautiful young body all over with kokowai, or red ochre, to protect her from chill. And on her shoulders Rau-huihui securely fastened the bewildered little child, supported on a thick mat or pad of the buoyant dried leaves of the rauporeed, so that the tiny girl might rest high and safe. And then wading into the sea, the brave woman struck out for the Ao-marama, the land of light and life. First Te Rau swam southward along the coast of Kapiti, keeping in the shadow of the hills, lest she and the child be seen by some long-sighted warrior in the canoes. Then, when she judged it was time to make toward the Waikanae shore, she changed her course boldly across channel. She swam with long, powerful, but easy strokes, turning her head now and again to speak a petting word to her frightened little daughter. After a while she tired and lay there floating quietly; she could not turn on her back to rest because of the child. She murmured a little nursery-song, an oriori, to her infant; and presently on she swam again. The sea-swell grew heavier; and now Te Rau could hear the long roar of the surf on the mainland beach. A haze had come down over the sea with the setting of the moon; and she would have lost her direction but for the roll of the breakers. She reached the shore a long distance south of the Waikanae mouth; she rode easily in on the top of the seas she saw in the dawning. Now she touched bottom, and another breaker threw her up on the sands. Struggling up the beach, she sank down on the firm white sand, and unfastening her
poor little half-perished baby from her stiff and weary shoulders, she clasped it to her thankful breast. Kapiti did not fall. Its garrison, fighting with the utmost fierceness and desperation, beat off the invaders and took many prisoners, and there were many killed for the cannibal cooking ovens. The reinforcements summoned by Te Rau-o-te-Rangi only came over in time to share in the triumphant wardances of Ngati-Toa. The brave swimmer was a woman of importance in after years; she and her relative Topeora were two of the
three women who signed the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. She was prolific to a degree unknown in these degenerate days, for she had twenty or twentyone children—her daughter Heni te Rau was not sure of the exact number! Three or four of the children were to her Maori husband; the others to a Scottish trader, John Nicoll, whom she married at Paekakariki about 1830. One of these was Mere Naera, who became the mother of Sir Maui Pomare. And the daughter Ripeka lived to tell children of her own the story of how she was borne to safety across the sea on her mother’s toiling shoulders that perilous night of long ago.
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ROMANS 1 CORINTHIANS 2 CORINTHIANS GALATIANS EPHESIANS PHILIPPIANS & JAMES COLOSSIANS 1 & 2 TIMOTHY HEBREWS 1st PETER 2nd PETER & JUDE TITUS & JAMES JONAH BASIC BIBLE SUBJECTS Tract -- THE UNIQUENESS OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH (per 100)
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Ngahere Remembers ... I remember doing MPSS lessons in my hometown of Mangakino. I am blessed to have two loving parents who wanted me to learn about our Lord. My mother enrolled me at a young age and helped me with the lessons until I was able to do so on my own. I also attended our local Sunday school led by our pastor, Mr Tom Lind, a lovely gentleman with a voice that boomed with happiness and joy throughout our humble little Bible chapel. Every year or so we would receive a visit at our home from one of our dear Maori Postal Sunday School leaders based in Whanganui and then later Waitara, Mr Les Reeve and his lovely wife. We would have great talks, prayer and songs of praise. I was very honoured to be baptized as a Christian by him at age 9. We eventually moved to Hamilton. As Mr and Mrs Reeve lived so far away, they weren’t able to travel as often to visit, so we only got to see them whenever possible. When I turned 16 it was the last time I got to visit with this wonderful couple, and I was gifted with my last plaque (an award for completing more than ten years’ lessons). I stopped doing lessons afterward and started to lose my way. I have survived many struggles in my life but I am now 46 years of age and in a happy place with my four grown children, my two beautiful grandchildren whom I adore and a good man that I love to bits. I am now ready to return to my Bible studies as an adult. It has been about 30 years but I am so happy to have made this decision to reconnect with Our Lord and my faith. In the good times and the bad, when I lost my way our Lord was always with me and has always guided me back to him. For this I am truly grateful. Thank you so very much to the above-mentioned people and to MPSS for continuing to provide us with these great resources to learn from and live by. -- Ngahere Phillips
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BE WARNED! I destroy homes, I tear families apart I take your children, and that’s just a start I’m more costly than diamonds, more precious than gold The sorrow I bring is a sight to behold I’m made in a lab, but not like you think I can be made under the kitchen sink In your child’s closet, and even in the woods If this scares you to death, it certainly should I have many names, but there’s one you know best I’m sure you’ve heard of me, my name is Crystal Meth My power is awesome, try me, you’ll see But if you do, you’ll never be free The crimes you’ll commit, for my narcotic charms Won’t be worth the pleasure you’ll feel in your arms You’ll lie to your mother, you’ll steal from your dad When you see their tears, you should feel sad But you’ll forget your morals and how you were raised I’ll be your conscience, I’ll teach you my ways I take kids from parents, and parents from kids I turn people from God and separate friends I’ll take everything from you, your looks and your pride I’ll be with you always, right by your side. You’ll give up everything, your family, your home Your friends, your money, then you’ll be alone
I’ll take and I’ll take till you have nothing more to give When I’ve finished with you, you’ll be lucky to live If you try me, be warned, this is no game If given the chance, I’ll drive you insane I’ll ravish your body, I’ll control your mind I’ll own you completely, your soul will be mine The nightmares I’ll give you while you’re lying in bed The voices you’ll hear from inside your head The sweats, the shakes, the visions you’ll see I want you to know, these are your gifts from me But then it’s too late, and you’ll know in your heart, That you are mine, and we shall not part You’ll regret that you tried me, they always do But you came to me, not I to you You knew this would happen, many times were you told But you challenged my power, and I chose to be bold You could have said no and just walked away If you could live that day over, now what would you say? I’ll be your master, you’ll be my slave I’ll even go with you, when you go to your grave Now that you’ve met me, what will you do? Will you try me or not? It’s all up to you I can bring you more misery, than words can tell Come, take my hand, let me lead you to hell
Cover: The famous Huka Falls near Taupo
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Tena Koutou Katoa
Anei Nga Korero Pai
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