Eyes fixed not on the storm but on Jesus and on him alone.
Another year is over, and we’ve enjoyed the challenge of further researching and developing gospel content that speaks into the issues of this generation. From the perspective of what has been accomplished in the past by Jesus and what remains yet to be seen as the scriptures indicate, we have significant work yet remaining. The gruesome death and literal bodily resurrection of Jesus sets the stage for all we aspire to.
Based on this, our forward-looking approach is also inspired by the distinct promises and assurances that Jesus now gives. He assures us that he will never leave or forsake us. That he will dwell with and in us. That his words will come from our mouths, and as such our testimony remains. That in this world we’ll experience hostility, adversity, suffering, trial and tribulation – realities for which we’re encouraged to rejoice and face with all alacrity! Why and how? Because it ends well. There is hope. There is reason, purpose, morality and objective identity. And so whatever 2022 holds, we’re unafraid of whatever the path ahead bodes because we’re faith filled – eyes fixed not on the storm but on Jesus and on him alone.
We’re planning another motorcycle ride from Perth to Sydney, filming along the way, sharing the gospel with fellow travellers and sojourners, as well as visiting those in Christ scattered across this great continent. Our goal is to have a freshly printed 6th edition of Resurrection HOPE which we’ll again promote along the way. Seven years ago we gave away 48 copies of this Christ-centred book. This 6th edition features a new introductory chapter. May God grant us courage, grace, favour and opportunity in sharing the best good news message we could ever hear!
Surely someone will speak up on behalf of our children! Acquiescing to a popularist, media-driven agenda is nothing less than dangerous – if not fatal.
The definition of marriage and family life is one father, one mother, married for life, providing both emotional and spiritual nurture for their children. Anything else, like homosexuality, paedophilia, adultery, fornication, incest, bestiality and the like are an aberration. In other words, these deviations are plainly sinful and wrong.
Who says so? Why, Jesus, of course! And so do His followers – or at least they should by their example.
When entire countries, supported by their judiciaries and driven by the media, begin “voting in” and incrementing what become sweeping immoral changes, then perhaps we ought to spare a thought, first, for our grandparents who would shudder to think that such immoral antics are undermining the very society they pioneered, and secondly, for our children whose minds and hearts become irreparably damaged because they’ve never known the true love and identity that only a loving father and mother in marriage can provide.
The greatest of civilisations rapidly declined when their morals also waned. Babylon, Persia, Greece and then Rome were once thought invincible. The writing is again on the wall.
Violence today is generally accepted to be on the rise, whether highlighted in other countries or in our own suburbs. Mental illness is a growing scourge, with suicide dramatically increasing. And when our children become the pawns because of our immorality (deprived of a father and mother combination), when we kill the unborn with abandoned wanton (and call it “pro-choice”), when our sophisticated, immersive entertainment becomes more violent and pornographic – then it isn’t long before the law of natural consequences catch up.
Political correctness is dangerous as it is deceitful. We label a baby in his or her mothers’ womb as an “embryo” or “foetus” as the underlying notion is that they are not human. They are. They’re our children. And yet we so easily succumb to a politically correct violence that dissects their little bodies before they gain their first breath of air. And we proudly call it “pro-choice”.
We’ve thrown “God” out of our society. “Hooray”, you say! We no longer introduce children to the Bible. “Ditto”. We no longer believe in absolutes, that right is right, and wrong is wrong. And so, if this God has anything to say about this, it’s in the law of natural consequences that He designed.
Jesus said, “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet and show my people their sins.” (Isaiah 58:1)
He said the defiantly rebellious would be “pursued with the sword, with famine, with pestilence; they’ll be delivered into trouble among all the kingdoms of the earth – to be a curse, an astonishment, a hissing, a reproach among all the nations… because they have not heeded My words…” (Jeremiah 29:18)
“The alien who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower. He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head and you shall be the tail. All these curses shall come upon you and pursue and overtake you, until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God…” (Deuteronomy 28:43-45)
And so, accordingly, history is beset to repeat itself. Nations of strange language and customs seem to assert their power as never before. The Islamic State, for example, defined by their throat-cutting brutality and an ominous black flag seem uncannily unstoppable – perhaps because our will-power and weakened response has become one of containment. Their goal is to raise the black flag of Sharia law on the entire world, and they begin by enticing our gullible youth.
Another example is the increasing Chinese influence through trade and expansionism. It isn’t all that it seems, as this economic juggernaut sponsor the construction of military bases well beyond their recognised international borders. Our policies of acquiescence, appeasement and containment will not work. No need to reiterate the details of the Ukraine crisis at the moment.
The days of western dominance and economic might are over.
Hope for a return to basic morality might seem distant. Revival and right relationships, according to history, do however return, but only it seems after a time of suffering – a time of suffering when our enemies are victors, when perhaps Sharia law displaces democracy, and when the entire world is at war. That is, in effect, what Jesus says. That’s what the Christian Bible echoes in both old and new testaments. And that’s what we need to understand.
War is coming. We have the nuclear missiles, the warships, tanks and planes, as well as the protagonists. And in this war, be it outright conflict or through years of attrition, because of our immorality, it will quickly become apparent who is the weaker side.
Now the “politically correct” might describe our embrace of Jesus’ teachings as “homophobic”. They also commonly tout the term of “marriage equality”. Such trendy buzzwords are subtle inventions designed to linguistically sound appealing to the voting public. And yet marriage historically and culturally has always been defined as the covenant lifetime relationship between one man and one woman to the exclusion of any others. Homosexuality isn’t marriage.
Followers of Jesus cannot remain silent; we’re called to shine the light in both our life example and in the things we speak out for. And as our words find momentum and authorship in the Holy Spirit, then we would have committed the greater sin by remaining silent.
So, cry aloud, spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet, and allow Jesus’ words to again echo across this country. Someone has to speak up!
Written by John Klassek
John and Rebecca have been married for 26 years and have six children. He serves in ministry in the Church of God (Seventh Day) in Australia, and works as a film producer for MessageWeek Ministries.