Author: MikeBain

Once upon a time is always a good start to any story but what I am about to say won’t have a successful conclusion.

But once upon a time we would scoff at the thought of having robots looking after us like Rosie from The Jetsons cartoon show popular back in the 1960s.

But over the years I have seen robotics used in all sorts of fields.

Rosie today has been replaced in our lives today with the friendly voices of Siri Alexa and Bixby.

Funny these days I find myself having to couch a lot of things I talk about with “Without sounding like a conspiracy theorist.” But like you I would scoff at people who would tell me that one day robots would control the world.

But the advancement of AI intelligence is marching on and we, you and I are not noticing it because it’s a gradual change.

Today we are hearing about labour shortages in many areas, with the largest being in the harvesting of summer fruit.

The response was obvious, someone has invented a machine which will go through a Kiwifruit orchard, and pick.

Okay solution for the grower, but the picking of summer fruit was something we all experienced when we were young bright eyed and bushy tailed students wanting to pay for our university fees.

Back then it was these sorts of jobs which gave us a good lesson in life. Work was hard and money did not grow on trees.

But back to AI.

It is conceivable to think about other professions conducted by AI intelligence or a Rosie type robot.

WE are desperately short of aged care workers, teachers, nurses, doctors, and the list go on.

I find it quite strange we have the biggest number of people to ever live on this planet, yet we are facing so many labour shortages.

What are all these people doing?

But think about that for a moment, in the areas of health, education, and soon bureaucracy which will see some huge changes.

The latest WEF conference in Dubai is proposing, AI will make the government “invisible”.

 Now I know what your thinking is no more pics of politicians, today that is a benefit, but designed to lead to a world of no accountability for government and politicians.

Already we see accountability is a commodity no one seems to want.

Imagine a classroom of children taught by Robotic Rosie. programmed by a left-wing liberal state. Guarantee, if you object, you will lose.

There will be no grey areas here, no compassion for the child who has an accident and no humanity.

I’m not going down the track of health as its already happening even for some surgery.

However, all I will say about it is having had knee surgery, AI will not have the same bedside manner and the ability to make me laugh like my surgeon did.

How far is AI going to go?

It will never replace you, think again.

My Twitter feed is full of adverts for an app for a thing called Replica.

The manufacturers of the app describe Replica as your personal AI friend that’s always there for you!

You can create your Replica & get to know yourself better today!

Well, if the advertisements are anything to go by you can replace your nearest and dearest with something that can build your self-esteem and satisfy your desires.

It’s a bit like the guy who wanted to marry his laptop a few years back. He said he got more satisfaction watching porn than he did in a real relationship.

Artificial Intelligence can be helpful, but we have all seen the movies, we know how its all going to turn out.

And yet we have already accepted Artificial Intelligence into our daily lives, just ask Siri, or Alexa, or Bixby.

But the takeaway from this is that we humans, men, and women were created in the image of God.

I want you to just think about that for a moment- God, created us in his own image, which makes us special.

We know God is always there for us, we know how we can live our lives based on his word and we know we can walk and talk and get answers to questions.

We can get satisfaction knowing him and understanding his love for you and me.

So why should we lean towards a bot to give us what humans desire the most.

A replica is a duplicate, an imitation, a model, a copy, not the genuine deal. Sorry Siri, sorry, Alexa, sorry Bixby, and sorry Rosie, you all sound wonderful, but I am going to find love, compassion, and security from the one in whose image I am created and created a real life, breathing companion for me.

When Elvis Presley finished his concert, the announcement was made. Elvis has left the building.

But I want to know who makes the announcement when GOD has left the building.

Upfront, I am not and never have been a fan of the rock style pastor driven megachurch.

In the news we are reading and hearing about megachurches, not for the work of God but more for the self-interest of individuals.

The well known Hillsong Church, Bethel Church, good grief even Joel Osteen’s church, and let’s not forget about the Catholic Church have been in the news because of self-indulgence on the part of individuals.

In New Zealand we have often heard the media attacks on Brian Tamaki’s Destiny Church and recently we see Arise Church in the spotlight.

What we are seeing now is nothing new.

You only must read the Bible and you’ll find many times where self-indulgence has seen the fall of Gods People.

One that stands out to me was the actions of Achan who against the orders of Joshua took some of the plunder from the city of Jericho.

It wasn’t until the next battle that Joshua realised GOD had left the building because of Achan’s indiscretion.

If you are familiar with the story, you know Achan’s sin was uncovered and he was punished severely for his crime.

And there are other examples where God had left the building so to speak, with the likes of David, and the entire nation of Judah.

But here’s the thing while God may not be in the house, he is still with his people, let’s not forget that.

There’s an old saying that’s so true, one bad apple can spoil the rest, but then they say one good apple in a bunch of bad apples won’t make them good.

True, but we know how effective just one good Christian can have on a workplace, or school.

But back to our modern-day church.

The mega church model is flawed in many ways, and we can see just how flawed that is.

But the question is in my mind, does that make the faith and belief of those who attend flawed as well?

I think not but it’s a fine line they walk.

You see God will always reveal wrongdoing and wrong doers.

Which makes me kind of surprised when I hear of Pastors who fail to live by the words they preach.

I said it was a fine line e.g., in the case of Arise Church in New Zealand or any other business model.

Businesses will always take advantage of those who are willing.

And those who are willing need to take some form of responsibility for the work, time, and effort they put into a job.

Even in the broadcasting industry which I came out of, I still recall young interns willing to work for nothing, to get experience, to get a foothold in the industry.

I accept every business has a Duty of Care to all, but I cannot but help think that those who volunteer need to also have a duty of care towards themselves.

Regardless of whether its business, church, or even a community project you will find someone who is prepared to go to the extreme to serve others.

To those who work voluntary in the name of GOD, I ask you to stop and examine your hearts and ask who am I, doing this for, is it my church, for God, or is it for my own self-indulgence.

Take heed of how God worked with creation, six days, and then he took a day off.

No one expects you to give more than you can, just give what is acceptable in Gods eyes.

Heed the example of the Widows giving found in the gospels.

There is so much wrong in the megachurch model, but then there is no perfect church.

ATM Machines in the foyer of Arise? Really? Name one church which doesn’t have a donation box.

We see and hear of many things these days, but the question always is still, why do, these things happen.

In the case of Destiny, its because their Pastor challenges the culture, in the case of Arise. Well perhaps it’s because they along with some other churches recently took a stand on Government Policy.

Has God left the building? possibly he may have never even been in your building, but we do know one thing is for sure, he will never forsake his church? 

Come on, let’s play the blame game.

Part of my day now is to watch Parliament’s question time not because it’s riveting, educational or even entertaining.

Like all television shows you get sucked into the plot and want to see what happens next?

Parliament’s question time is a bit like that.

On one side you have the government being questioned by the bad guys on the other side of the house about policies and comments.

The minister in charge will face a barrage of questions, and every time will deflect their response to the earlier government’s inadequacies.

Surely, after five years of governing, you would think the Labour government would accept and take responsibility for its own shortcomings and to be honest their mishandling of the economy.

Oh, but they are quick to trot out the opinions of the IMF, the United Nations, and point to where New Zealand sits in the OECD.

All very well. But when the polls show less confidence by the constituency at large in their ability to fix things, like housing, food shortages, health, and welfare, it doesn’t matter because someone from outside says their doing great.

This thing about blaming others is not new.

You must go back to the Garden of Eden because this is where it started.

That is, if you believe the bible account, but even if you are one of those people who believe in fairy tales, you must admit there is no other story like it.

The devil deceived eve. No one will ever dispute that fact.

The account in Genesis 3 reads ⁶ When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

Please note the conversation was between the devil and Eve, Adam was just a bystander.

⁷ Then the eyes of both were opened, and they realized they were naked; so, they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

⁸ Then the man and his wife heard the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. ⁹ But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”

Now Adam was a chap who walked and talked to God daily but this day, he knew, he had done wrong.

And uh, uh, he wasn’t going down for this

¹⁰ He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so, I hid.”

¹¹ And he said, “who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

¹² The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

There it is right there, the start of the “BLAME GAME”

In life how many times have we played this game,

How many times have we not taken responsibility for our own actions?

Eve accepted she had been deceived by the greatest con artist ever.

She accepted responsibility for her actions but not Adam.

Sad to say but since then men have used that lame excuse for years, “Blame the wife”

So, you see what happens in our house of representatives is no different.

Throughout time mankind refuses to accept responsibility for the things which go wrong in life, it’s always someone else’s fault, It’s the weather, it’s the referee, it’s the rules or in the Labour Party’s case, Its nine long years of neglect.

We can all blame someone else for who and the way we are, but you know, no matter where we came from or whoever our parents are, they are not responsible for the person you see standing in the mirror.

 Psalm 130 says I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful; I know that full well.

You may have your flaws, but hey we all have them, but let’s move on and look for the real beauty that is in us.

Each one of us can blame something because of the way we look, the way we feel or the circumstances we are in.

I love this quote from Elenore Roosevelt No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.

But take the lesson from the strength of Job, he accepted his inflictions and refused to blame anyone else.

Our leaders may blame the earlier government for their own inadequacies, but they are the ones in office and rather than looking forward, like the wife of Lot who kept looking behind and turned into a pillar of salt, and like this government, unable to move on.

Last word for ourselves and our government from Elenore Roosevelt

We can often change our circumstances by changing our attitude.

In 2016 while working as a journalist, I spent some time interviewing a Man of Māori descent.

He was the facilitator of a seminar about suicide prevention.

As we talked, I could hear his soft voice resonate with anguish about the number of young people who had met with no hope and unfortunately took their own lives.

We talked for ages about life, about heartache, about death and we talked about statistics.

But then I heard the voice of wisdom come through when he mentioned there was one simple thing we could do.

Talk to our young people, talk to them about history, talk about life, especially how to celebrate and how to manage grief.

He suggested young people need to have relationship training, so often he said marriages today sometimes do not last beyond the first disagreement.

The best place they are going to learn about how to conduct a relationship is from their parents.

If they see mum and dad showing each other respect, then children are likely to follow your example.

One of the concerns he mentioned revolved around communication or should it be the lack of it.

Oddly in today’s overloaded communication age we have stopped speaking to one another.

Young people sit in the same room and communicate using their phones using abbreviated language.

I had a friend who told me he was considering who he could invite around to his place to look at their phones.

Our kids no longer know how to conduct a conversation.

He made the point using this example

Boy meets girl online, they agree to meet, they run out of conversation within 5-7 minutes and so what’s next?

They have sex and then that’s it.

Then they break up.

I know that may sound simplistic but it’s true and kids don’t know or have never experienced a relationship breakdown

And this is one of the biggest contributors to the NZ suicide rate.

If you’re a parent think back and remember how devastated, you felt when your boy or girlfriend dumped you.

Some children may just shrug their shoulders and can say: Whatever” and move on.

But what of those who can’t, what happens to them and more, the question of who helps them with their feelings of rejection.

We in New Zealand never teach our children this part of relationships.

Personally, I was told that there were plenty of other fish in the sea.

But that wasn’t the answer I was looking for when I had such feelings of rejection.

Can you see what this wise man was saying was “we need to teach our children not just about love, but also how to deal with the fall out.”

Alongside rejection, our children and some adults need to learn about forgiveness.

Forgiveness is not easy; we all need to be taught what forgiveness is.

I asked him who he would suggest would undertake relationship training, preparation for a co-existence with a member of the other sex.

He suggested the schools should add it to their curriculum.

I asked what about parental responsibility?

He agreed this is where it should happen, but like everything else, parental responsibility is left up to someone else.

He says it’s difficult for parents to instruct their children on anything, simply because the children follow the parents’ lead.

“Most parents today and kids all have their heads down, not because they have the weight of the world on their shoulders.

“No, it’s because they are busy looking at their electronic devices.”

It is not the responsibility of the state or anyone else to bring up your children – it is you.

I found this man-to be very intuitive, one suspects he may have some insights to what is written in the Bible.

Exodus 18:20

(Show your children) the way they are to live and how they are to behave.

Deuteronomy 4:9

Only be careful and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live.

 Teach them to your children and to their children after them

Deuteronomy 11:19

Teach (Gods laws, but also life skills) to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

“I am convinced that every effort must be made in childhood to teach the young to use their own minds. For one thing is sure: If they don’t make up their minds, someone will do it for them.”

Yes, it’s your responsibility to ensure your children are equipped for life. Do not wait for this government to teach them about life.

I had this conversation six years ago and have looked at this caring openly and transparent government response.

It has been to change the name of what it is, suicide to self-harm.

Then, like a lot of other things, they no longer report them.

They bury their heads in the sand along with their growing suicide statistics while we bury our children.

Many times, I have spoken about the deafening silence of the spiritual leaders in this nation.

Oh yes, we do occasionally hear them speak about the housing shortage, the rising cost of living, climate change, but not the moral issues facing the generation of today.

Churches today are consumed by numbers, whether it be those falling on Sunday, or if yours is a traditional church.

Pentecostal and Charismatic churches on the other hand. are concerned about the rising numbers of attendance and then baptisms.

Either way numbers do count for many reasons and mostly financial.

Being a realist, I know the equation of bums on seats relates to dollars in banks, but that is not what church should be about.

 Now I don’t want to be negative towards the churches in New Zealand, as many do a fantastic job being the “hands and feet of Jesus” with their social ministries in food banks, shelter, and social services.

There are a number who are running their social services as “big business,” capitalising on the needs of others.

They compete in areas like healthcare and social services with other non-governmental organisations.

But being the hands and feet of Jesus is one thing, but can I suggest that the churches in New Zealand remove their hands from the pockets of others and takes the foot out of their mouths and return to their core business of adding salt to the culture and providing the light in an immoral world.

The churches in New Zealand refuse to teach on the key moral and spiritual matters afflicting its people today

They have given up being the shepherds, the watchmen on the walls, the moral and spiritual teachers.

Recently I read a post which asked the question of why it is the church is worried about Homosexuality rather than adultery which is listed in the Ten Commandments?

I pondered the question for some time and came to the same conclusion about both, they aren’t worried about either as they have accepted both.

You don’t have to look far to find an openly gay minister or stories about the shepherds of God who have strayed in some form or another.

There was a recent article about the abuse of power in one large charismatic church.

Coming back to the silence from church leaders.

Why is it they can openly have opinions in the media about social services, social justice, and housing?

But you never ever hear church leaders speak out about abortion, adultery already mentioned, blasphemy, the lack of integrity, the lack of community, and the general state of moral leadership.

If you are a member of any church in New Zealand I ask, could you explain your position on such matters and I believe you would be able to respond.

But if I asked the question in another way e.g., explain your churches position would both opinions align with each other, then take both opinions and see if they align to Gods Word.

Silence from the church is not all about speaking out about issues.

If it were, they would be in the news every day, but they’re not.

Silence from the church sad to say goes even deeper than that.

Silence in the church also comes from within as church leadership looks at what is relevant to them, and it comes back to what I mentioned at the beginning, bums on seats.

So, what happens is Church leaders shy away from teaching the Bible,

They don’t want to talk about morals, integrity, sin, or judgement.

They want to talk about how you are owed an inheritance,

They want to tell you that Grace will be afforded to you in these last days.

They want to baptise you to be a part of their family of God.

They do, however, forget to tell you this all comes with a price.

1Peter 4:16 says as a Christian you will suffer but not to be ashamed.

Luke 9:23 Jesus said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.

For some this may be news to them but unfortunately churches are silent on these things.

 Churches are more concerned with baptism but not catechesis evangelism but not discipleship, seeker sensitivity but not the teachings of scripture, claiming that God’s moral law might put people off.

They make a lot of noise, flash a lot of light, have very enthusiastic congregations but are they doing the job they were delegated to do.

You see we can all bop and bounce all over the place but when it comes to really teaching the word of the bible, they remain silent.

These hypocrites who stand on the pulpit of truth today but deny their calling.

It is they who should be the ones with sight, leading the blind so we do not fall into a pit.

The Reformation (rightly) sought to put Bibles into the hands of laypeople, to get them to read scripture themselves and study it together.

But with this, they also delegated the responsibility of thinking and the job of theology to the ordinary person. Somewhere along the line, the Church stopped teaching complex doctrine, history, and ethics, and instead it became our responsibility as individuals to do it all.

 No wonder we are divided, and often feel overwhelmed in the modern world.

It is a beautiful thing for the Church to wrap its arms around the average person, to shepherd them and lift the heavy burdens from their minds; to teach them and to shield them.

But what happens when the teachers stay silent?

Well, the issue is no longer that I am Catholic, Baptist, Presbyterian, Methodist or Pentecostal or any other denomination

Now the issue is me.

I must be against abortion because I have internalized misogyny or some other personal bigotry that I’m using my religion to justify.

The Church stays silent, protecting itself from attack, and yet, I am expected to absorb the blows of culture.

That is a heavy burden to place on one soul.

I want the Church to shield me, but instead it uses me as a human shield.

You tell me that I don’t understand the complexity of Synod. But it is you who are called to teach God’s people.

You tell your people that it is the job of the elders and pastoral team to set out the Christian position on key matters. 

Let me ask you what your job is when they fail to do so.

You tell me that I don’t understand the importance of Church unity. But unity is not a cover for moral compromise.

You tell me you need time. But you had plenty of time. What have you done with it?

 You are late, like the virgins who waited until the very last minute to purchase their oil.

You tell me that not every issue needs to be spoken about. I would agree.

 But staying silent to attract as many as possible is a politician’s compromise, not a spiritual communion.

Your silence does not serve the sinner who enters your doors believing it is a safe space and then gets a nasty shock when they share. 

Your silence does not serve the druggie, the gay person, the thief, the alcoholic, who makes the daily sacrifice of abstinence, which you ignore or reduce to a ‘personal choice’.

 At most you champion them in private, calling them courageous and prophetic, but you do not stand by them in public; you simply watch while they are thrown to the wolves.

Your silence does not serve God. Your silence serves only yourself.

I am not asking you to constantly beat people over the head with controversial positions.

I am simply asking you to teach the congregation

The church is silent and true believers are no longer prepared to spend my life serving your fractured house, so please – will the teachers of the Church stand up?

At the beginning of the year, the speaker of New Zealand’s Parliament Trevor Mallard for once was right on the money when he suggested New Zealanders needed to stock up on food essentials.

Now Mallard – a man who likes to play his music loud and water the lawn while doing it was referring to an overseas trend which seen food shortages and supply chains being disrupted because of the outbreak of Omicron.

In New Zealand today we see lots of empty shelves at the supermarket and think oh yeah, it’s because of Omicron or the war in the Ukraine or as this government will have you believe, it was because of the nine years of neglect from the previous National Government.

But that’s not the real reason.

When I mentioned in an earlier podcast warning of an emerging global food crisis several months ago, many assumed that I was exaggerating things. 

Sadly, I was not exaggerating one bit. 

As I mentioned last year China is stockpiling grain and so is Israel who have learned from the lessons of the past when Egypt under the direction of Joseph spent seven years stockpiling food for the following seven years of famine,

Today we see the price of fertilizer soaring, extreme global weather patterns, shocking crop failures and an epic global supply chain crisis had combined to create a “perfect storm” even before the war in Ukraine began.  

Of course, the war has made things far worse because Russia and Ukraine collectively account for about 30 percent of all worldwide wheat exports under normal conditions. 

For a while, the mainstream media and our leaders in Wellington were in denial about what was happening, but now everyone is finally admitting the truth. 

 In fact, at this point shortages causing rising prices and an opinion poll drop has seen the Ardern Government acknowledge that troubled times are on their way but have fallen short to conceding that a global food crisis is here… But don’t worry, they will catch up.

The White House recently confirmed they expect certain parts of the world to suffer a food shortage as an effect of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Speaking at the daily White House press conference recently, Press Secretary Jen Psaki said “the Biden administration anticipate that higher energy fertilizer, wheat, and corn prices could impact the price of growing and purchasing critical food supplies for countries around the world,”

I wish our politicians were talking about this.

It might get a lot more people to understand the seriousness of the crisis that we are now facing.

According to Psaki, the poorest parts of the planet are expected to be affected the most…

She said food shortages were not expected to hit the United States, but rather countries in Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia.

This is what I have always said.  Those at the bottom of the economic food chain will be hit the hardest at first.

But New Zealand, a food producing nation is already feeling the pain too.

One of the primary factors that is causing this new global food crisis is the price of fertilizer which has doubled in the past 18 months.

“Now, the bigger problems are fertilizer and energy.

WE saw in the news of NZ farmer speaking about having to pay as much as three times the amount a year ago to fill his harvester,

And it’s just not the energy price to run the tractors, but to run the trucks, to run everything else.

And the price of phosphorus, potassium, and nitrogen. Those are the three major things we use to make fertilizer … this is causing so much stress on the farmers that farmers all around the world are not planting their fields.

How long will it be before we see New Zealand farmers doing the same.

At this point, we are still eating food that was grown last year.

By the end of the year, we will primarily be eating food that was grown this year, and this year a lot less food will be grown than originally anticipated.

David M. Beasley, the executive director of the World Food Program, the United Nations agency that feeds 125 million people a day

“Ukraine has only compounded a catastrophe on top of a catastrophe,” said. “There is no precedent even close to this since World War II.”

Beasley has no idea how we are going to be able to feed everyone.

But here in New Zealand, most will not start paying attention until it starts to affect them personally.

The good news is that nobody in this country is currently facing starvation, but without a doubt the cost of food is going up, and you can see it for yourself at the supermarket.  $9 for a Cabbage $7 for cauliflower. $3 plus a litre for petrol.

Needless to say, this is just the beginning.

Like I said, we are still eating what has been previously harvested.

By this time next year, things are going to look completely different.

If you want to be ahead of the curve, I back Trevor Mallards recommendation about stocking up at your local supermarket while you still can.

I know that food prices may seem high now, but the truth is that they are never going to be lower than this ever again.

So, take advantage of these food prices while they are still reasonable.

There has not been a global famine in any of our lifetimes, and so we don’t know what that would look like.

But here I am warning that if the situation does not turn around “hundreds of New Zealanders will experience famine like conditions by the end of the year”.

Hopefully I am wrong.

But what if I’m not?

Many years ago, I walked into a menswear store in Porirua and was set upon by a member of staff asking me “Did I know who the Beatles were?”

The reason she asked was, as it turned out, she and her junior assistant were having a conversation and she had mentioned The Beatles and the reaction was who?

Years later Paul McCartney was paying by cheque for a purchase and the assistant asked him for ID.

She recognized his name and responded; ooh my gran just loves you.

And there’s the story of McCartney being refused entry to a party on the night of the 2020 Grammys because the door staff didn’t recognize him.

Apart from feeling for Paul McCartney, I pondered why people no longer recognise one of the greatest music composers of modern times.

And dare I say it, I have grown older, but remember the halcyon days, when young fans screamed at the Beatles Concerts, laid siege outside of their hotels and young men grew their hair so they could look like the Fab Four.

While I lament those days it worries me that Jesus Christ is suffering the same fate.

Kids today may remember the music of The Beatles because while my generation is still around because we may talk about them or play their music.

Same thing with Jesus although I don’t believe he released a record, but the record of his life still exists.

You see if we as grandparents, and parents don’t talk about the Greatest Man whoever walked on the earth, how will our children recognize him when they find him.

Imagine someone saying to Jesus Ooh my Gran just loves you.

The thing that makes me saddest of all is when Jesus does return, how many children regardless of age at the time will turn to their parents and ask why you didn’t tell me about this guy.

Not a Beatles song but Boney M recorded the words to Psalm 137 which started with the words, “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept
When we remembered Zion.”

That was a lament from the Jewish nation who had been taken into captivity by the Babylonians for 70 years.

They lamented what they had lost as they became strangers in a foreign land.

Like today’s generation the children of those captive grew up in a different land or time as their parents.

The boomer generation well remembers the Beatles, just as the Israelites knew of the treasured days at the Temple in Jerusalem.

As future generations grew it was up to the previous generation to teach them about God, about the temple and to teach them about the Messiah.

After 70 years of captivity in this strange land, the Jews were allowed to return to Jerusalem.

Work had begun to restore the temple in Jerusalem and when they returned there were many different emotions from people weeping, others rejoicing while some just thought meh.

You see the older people who had been in captivity for 70 years knew what the Temple meant to their people, the next generation who was born in Babylon, would only have heard of its significance from their forebears, But the children of that generation would still be young and were oblivious.

But here is the point I want to make, given New Zealand’s history is to be told, I think it’s timely we sit down with our own children and grandchildren and tell them our family history.

The onus is on you to tell your family history because it’s important they know where they came from, and the reasons your family does this or thinks that.

While this generation or the previous one doesn’t think God is all that important, I think if you search back to your grandparent’s day you will find your family’s morals and values are biblically set.

Your grandparents would have the commandments of God on their hearts and would have passed them down to you.

Deuteronomy 6:7-8 says we should impress them on our children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ⁸ Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.

It was important the captured generation of Israelites learned and it’s just as important for our families to know their history and about how the family at onetime served God.

Many parents of the boomer generation felt like those in Babylon and lament, how can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land.

You know Paul McCartney was right when he wrote the words.

Yesterday
All my trouble seemed so far away
Now it looks as though they’re here to stay
Oh, I believe in yesterday

And yes, we need to be instructing our children about yesterday.

The redefinition of right and wrong in New Zealand

At the end of the Bible book of Judges there are three chapters on the state of Israel which is summed up in chapter 17 :6 “when Israel had no king, everyone did as they saw fit in their own eyes”

It gives you a preview into how crazy things were in ancient Israel

If there ever is a time a verse like that can apply to our own days, it is right now

Some people say the Bible is an ancient book, a lot of ancient stories how is that relevant to my life today, I think you haven’t really read it.

Because when you read it and you read a verse like that you start to understand some of the craziness that’s happening in the world today.

When God is not the standard.

When God is not the moral standard for what is right and what is wrong

The standard for what is true and what is false

The standard for what is good and what is evil

If you lose God as that standard and everyone starts doing what is right in his or her own eyes you’ve have chaos.

You have anarchy on the street

You have a redefinition of things that used to be universally understood as something that was right suddenly are wrong

The things that wee universally understood that were wrong suddenly  are tright

Why does that happen?

It happens when people no longer do whats right in Gods eyes and they do whats right in their own eyes

New Zealanders have been doing what is right in their own eyes for many years now.

 Interestingly opposition to God as sovereign in the nation has been going on for many years but at the turn of the 21^st century we statistics show a huge shift in the population move their allegiance from a belief.

What was it about the turn of the century and subsequent years which brought about the change?

Was it the lead into the year 2000 when everyone started in all earnestly believing the world was going to end on New Years Eve brought about by the Y2k bug?

Could it have been the increase in terror we saw with the attack on the World Trade Centre, or might it have been the buoyant financial times we were living in.

Certainly, all these things happening would’ve made people sit up and think about what’s happening.

The attitude seemed to change to their own mortality, if we were only going to be here for a short time then let’s live to the fullest, Live for today for tomorrow we die.

You may recall the positive motivation Live like you have never lived before, sing like no one can hear you dance like no one is watching.

Inwardly the people moved from a position of responsibility towards others and themselves to doing and living what and how they saw fit in their own eyes.

Issues which had been bubbling under the surface came to full fruition like a voracious hunger

Spilling out from the closets came the gay community,

Their sexualisation of everything ignited a lust for everything physical.

We saw the sexualisation of the entertainment industry, we lost sight of things natural and attempted to turn them on their heads.

Expoding theories of past wrongs had to be addressed and the equilibrium of life was changed peacefully, other times not,  as history started to be written from a base of emotion rather than fact

And who could forget the shift in entertainment where people and friendships didn’t matter and where the winner takes all.

There was a lot happening, but people had come out of some tough financial times and life was good.

But here’s the thing.

While all this was happening the love for God was falling, just as the apostle Paul predicted.

No one cared about sovereignty and poo pooed the idea of God, about his church and his authority.

You see they had no king in their eyes and have subsequently even tried to rewrite history today.

Israel had no physical king for about 400 years from the time of the last Judge of Israel before captivity descended upon them.

They did everything and decided what was right in their eyes. Just like the people of New Zealand are doing.

So how should we as Christians respond?

First up, we must be, and seen doing what is right in Gods eye

Philippian’s: 2:15 read it with me where Jesus can empower us to… “Be blameless and innocent children of God, without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among you who shine as lights in the world.”

We may stand alone in a sea of disbelief, but like the prophets of old, let us remain faithful and bring the light of the words of the Bible to our fellow New Zealanders.

Like Israel, we are a blessed nation.

Like Israel we have become complacent.

Like Israel stands in judgement.

Like Israel, we are a nation who has forgotten God.

The nation needs to hear what a “just” God is saying.

In this day of testing, we are not called to be discouraged, throw in the towel, and go into hiding.

Instead, we are called to be salt.

We are called to be light.

We are called to carry forth the truth because Jesus said it “is the truth that will make you free.”

This nation needs to be born again.

We as New Zealanders need to put Christ back on the throne.

How do we do that

We put Christ back on the throne of our hearts and our conscience.

We put Christ back on the throne of our families as much depends on us.

We get back in our right biblical place.

We put Christ on the throne of law and order and political order, as much depends on us.

As much as we can, we must push back against the darkness.

We Put God back on the throne.

Testify to your king’s goodness.

Testify to your king’s grace.

Testify to your king’s glory.

Testify to your king’s gospel.

Be willing to have the conversation.

And we need to be taking that truth to world who is in bondage to darkness.

George Orwell depicted a mind-control technique employed by his fictional party called “doublethink,” which “describes the act of simultaneously accepting two mutually contradictory beliefs as correct, often in distinct social contexts.. Mike Bain from Christian Voice New Zealand attempts to look at the question, are we living in the pages of George Orwell’s mind controlling book, “1984”

You know here we are in 2022 and there are so, so many things we are not allowed to talk about, have an opinion about for fear we might hurt someone’s feelings.

Now if you have been a follower of Christian Voice New Zealand we don’t shrink away from the big issues in life.

Our mission is not to tickle ears or tip toe around issues.

I am going to state something which I think is obvious, I am a Christian.

But not just an ordinary Christian, I am openly Christian.

The reason I am stating the obvious was because I was recently referred to as being transphobic after I posted a comedy video which I thought was funny.

The video was about a motorbike racer who didn’t make it and then decided he would “identify” as a cyclist but still rode his motorbike and won all the races.

Silly I know but the reaction I received was amazing.

Being called Transphobic/Homophobic didn’t worry me because according to Wikipedia to be transphobic would need me to have a fear, and aversion, show violence and anger or discomfort towards people who do not conform to certain constituencies in society regarding gender.

But here’s the thing, I am Christian and as such I have opinions based on God’s word The Bible.

Dare I say it, I am allowed to have an opinion as a man.

Some people already see this as an issue because it wasn’t that long ago the opinions of old white-haired men was worthless.

So anyway, I shared this comedy skit because I have a sense of humour.

While most of the audience could see the humour and there were comments from some females regarding the absurdity of sportsmen competing as women, there was comment from within the Gay community.

Now I believe everyone is entitled to comment on things they like and dislike.

But I find it intriguing that when the Gay community calls me out for being negative towards homosexuality and things related, they in turn make negative comments about my God and sometimes are just plainly -not nice.

If you are a gay person I say to you, “Your triggers are your responsibility- It is not the worlds obligation to tip toe around you.”

Now here’s the thing 24 hours another post appeared encouraging cycle riders who were Gay Bi Trans Intersex and a few other tags to join two groups, one in Auckland and the other in Wellington especially for them. It went onto say that both groups are safe spaces for Queer cyclists.

Obviously, they’re not going to ride on the roads.

If I were a road cyclist in competition or even on a group ride, would I be aware that Harry riding next to me was Gay and feeling unsafe, or for that matter whether Harry had been circumcised or whether Harry had just come through a marriage break up, or come to that Harry used to be Mary?

A question was asked in the comments section to the author, “define a safe space,” another “how do you spot a gay cyclist.”

The Gay community chooses to be who they are, they are proud to be different, only happy to receive support, yet unwilling to accept comment, opinion, or condemnation from other members of the community, who do not support their lifestyle and believe me, there are many groups in this country whose lifestyles are open for comment.

Here’s a few, Gangs, Gloria vale, beneficiaries, Māori, Pacific Islanders, Christians. And many ethnicities.

You know it wasn’t that long ago ,we as New Zealanders were allowed to laugh at ourselves.

Bring back Billy T James I say.

Billy showed us that we can be different and not to be too serious about life and to laugh at ourselves.

But with the changes in society which allows a victim mentality, everyone and I mean everyone is walking on tiptoe in case they say the wrong thing.

There may well be an acceptance from a proportion of the community towards the Gay community, but I have found the moment you ram anything down one’s throat, and dare I say Christianity is not immune, but if it’s rammed down your throat then there is resistance.

Which brings me to the point.

I am an openly a Christian.

With that brings certain obligations.

Why would I want to be seen to accept something that the Bible calls an abomination to GOD?

The Gay community can dress up their lifestyle but at the root of it all is they act and perform against what is natural.

Genesis1 So God created mankind in his own image,
    in the image of God he created them;
    male and female he created them.

Now I don’t know of any other historical documentation to suggest anything different.

The Bible account of the creation of man and woman is undisputed, unless you accept Charles Darwin’s evolution theory that man evolved from the Apes.

Which is preposterous as I see no evidence of man evolving into something else.

Maybe that’s why there is so much emphasis on homosexuality?

Honestly I’m exasperated by the whole thing.

If the Gay community wants the worlds acceptance, then they in turn need to learn to live in the world.

Like being a Christian I accept not everyone accepts God and his standards.

Sometimes being a Christian, we find it hard and sometimes we fail.

But we don’t get upset to the point where we show the level of aggression, as shown by the Homosexual community towards others who find their lifestyle unnatural and the act of sodomy as an abomination.

I stand by my right to have and share humour, just as much as I stand by my right to defend my belief as a Christian.

Because of this I am also aware the homosexual community has a right to be who they are, but like everything it comes with a cost.

Just the same as being a Christian may cost me, I know what my reward will be.

I wonder if those who engage in this unnatural behaviour fully understand the cost to themselves.

Bearing this in mind, if you are as is the norm feel trapped in another body or feel you want to get closer to God, then I invite you to reach out to a bible believing church near you.

Let them show you the way to Jesus, who really is kind and loving.

The best thing is- he’s waiting for you.