#2 HYPOCRITES!

IOPNA shares this 2nd article in the  9-part 'Exclusive Brethren' series:

 

Man, that was a surprise!...finding that honouring Mum and Dad is unconditional….no matter what!

Yes, it took me many years of unlearning to wake up to that and I am ashamed of not having honoured my parents and grandparents properly – especially Dad.    I suggest we dig a bit deeper into God’s Word, starting with what the Lord Jesus himself said:

“...Well do ye set aside the commandment of God, that ye may observe what is delivered by yourselves to keep. For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, he who speaks ill of father or mother, let him surely die. But ye say, If a man say to his father or his mother, It is corban (that is gift), whatsoever thou mightest have profit from me by…And ye no longer suffer him to do anything for his father or his mother; making void the word of God by your traditional teaching which ye have delivered; and many such like things ye do.”                     Mark 7 & Matthew 15

Uhh!...what’s this ‘corban’ thingammy?...whatever is this all about anyway?

Apparently a tradition was upheld over the 5^th Commandment whereby a guy would be free of obligation to look after his parents if he claimed the money would go to the temple treasury, eventually –  in other words, he could talk pious while using the money for whatever in the meantime…and forget about those parents.                   

Matthew tells us what Jesus thought about that caper:



“Hypocrites! well has Esaias prophesied about you, saying, This people honour me with their lips, but their heart is far away from me; but in vain do they worship me, teaching as teachings commandments of men.”



Mister Two-face

Whoa! He’s real angry!...and I noticed He didn’t say: “only if the parents are walking rightly”.                                                                 

So aren’t we meant to learn from the Old Testament too?
(1 Cor 10:11-12)

Absolutely! A whole chapter is devoted to Jehonadab who aided Jehu in eradicating Baal worship in Israel (2 Ki 10) and set these weird rules for his family of Rechabites: no wine, no houses, no farms…

Just imagine the poor women and kids in tents with snow on the ground, while hungry lions and bears snooped around!
So what did God think of that?

"Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Because ye have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, and kept all his injunctions, and have done according unto all that he hath commanded you; therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, There shall not fail to Jonadab the son of Rechab a man to stand before me, for ever."     Jeremiah 35…and meanwhile this is what God thought of some other families in Israel:

“In thee have they made light of father and mother...”      Ezekiel 22:7

Well, the Rechabites sure took this seriously…and I found a couple more proverbs:

“Whoso curseth his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in the blackest darkness.”           Proverbs 20:20

“Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old.”                Proverbs 23:22

Notice it’s still unconditional and here is the final prophetic word to Israel waiting for Messiah to come:

“Behold, I send unto you Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and terrible day of Jehovah. And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.”      
Malachi 4:5 & Luke 1:17

So we’d better pay attention to this hey?...the great and terrible day of Jehovah is probably just around the corner. I seem to remember Paul’s final message…

“But this know, that in the last days difficult times shall be there; for men shall be........disobedient to parents...          2 Timothy 3:1-

Well, we shouldn’t be surprised by that if we Christians don’t show the world how to honour father and mother – NO MATTER WHAT! 

After all, aren’t we the most responsible people on Earth today?... the Brethren are on record laying claim to that one…

“…that ye may be harmless and simple, irreproachable children of God in the midst of a crooked and perverted generation; among whom ye appear as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life…”  Philippians 2:15

So perhaps we’d better get back to ‘The Word of Life’?

NEXT:   'I hate divorce!'
Click on: http://hotspuds.blogspot.com.au/2013/10/i-hate-divorce.html
 

Image credits:
Ids.org  
moillusions.com

    

                                                                                

                                                                                               

 

 

 

 

 

 

#1 EXCLUSIVE BRETHREN

IOPNA begins a new 9-part series on the 'Exclusive Brethren', using the J.N. Darby translation for all Scripture quotations and our typical conversational format…

 

Exclusive Brethren??...aren’t they that secret cult that features in the media over breaking up families and driving desperate people to suicide?

The Brethren deny being a cult or even a sect, but we’ll look at that later.  Their official website shows that after all the bad publicity they have now reinvented themselves as the ‘Plymouth Brethren Christian Church’, deciding now to be less secretive and involve themselves in voluntary work in the community, in an effort to demonstrate their claim to ‘charitable status’.

Well, you can’t rely on the media…you know, “never let the truth get in the way of a good story” but even if only a fraction of these stories are partly true, it’s a tragic saga. So what's this post about?

You would have had a mum and dad?...yes?

Sure!...everybody has – even IVF and surrogate babies!

So let’s go right to the top and see what God has to say about our mums and dads, starting with the 5^th Commandment:

"Honour thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be prolonged in the land that Jehovah thy God giveth thee."   Exodus 20:12 & Deuteronomy 5:16…backed up by:                                                                                       

"Ye shall reverence every man his mother, and his father..."      Leviticus 19:3, where reverence comes from yare: ‘fear’.                       

Well that’s reasonable, although some would say it sounds draconian. Of course if your mum or dad weren’t behaving honourably it could be very difficult.               
Okay, what was the penalty for not keeping this commandment?

“And he that curseth his father, or his mother, shall certainly be put to death.” Exodus 21:17…backed up by:

“Cursed be he that slighteth his father or his mother! And all the people shall say, Amen.”               Deuteronomy 27:16

Whoa! Obviously the Children of Israel were meant to take this seriously…but it doesn’t really apply to us does it?...I mean, we’re not Israel and we’re under grace - not law. No-one gets stoned these days for bad-mouthing their parents.

Even so, here is what the apostle Paul said to the Church:

“Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is just. Honour thy father and thy mother, which is the first commandment with a promise, that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest be long-lived on the earth.”           Ephesians 6:1-2, plus…

“Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing in the Lord.”             Colossians 3:20

Oh!...the commandment is restated hey, albeit without the death penalty.                  
It looks to me as if the only excuse you would possibly have for not obeying your parents was if it contravened your conscience before God.

Now then, notice how obedience and honour are kept separate.  Tell me…is honouring your father and mother conditional?…or unconditional?

Umm... unconditional I suppose – according to the Bible.  Like I said, it would be very difficult if they were abusive or immoral but…yes, honouring them is unconditional – no matter what!

So why do the Brethren add: “if they are walking rightly”?

How do you know that?...besides, there’s a proverb in the Bible that warns us: “Add thou not unto His words, lest He reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.”

Dad dying at 41

I grew up among the Exclusive Brethren. Not only was I never taught to honour my father who had been ex-communicated, I had been abducted as a 7 year old by the Brethren who took us out of Adelaide into hiding, without my father’s knowledge, let alone permission. 12 years later I was deliberately prevented from paying my respects to Dad on his death-bed or at his funeral and later warned against checking on his widow. Many years later I was not welcome to pay my respects at the funerals of my maternal grandparents.

Hey?? That’s not even common decency! 

Even animals get to mourn their loved ones.

NEXT:  Hypocrites!
Click on:  http://hotspuds.blogspot.com.au/2013/10/hypocrites.html

Zoe's Law

IOPNA was going to leave this 'red-hot potato' well alone, since surely abortion is not an issue among Christians who of course all uphold the sanctity of unborn life..........mmm, but on second thoughts – hey, perhaps it is an issue after all!?

Ourimbah - Christmas Day 2009

So who is Zoe?  Her mother was Brodie Donegan who was seriously injured on Christmas Day 2009 when the driver of a minivan careered into her car.  Brodie was 32 weeks pregnant and trapped for 3 hours then airlifted to Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney, where Zoe was stillborn by caesarian section 2 hours later. The other driver was charged with 'Dangerous Driving causing Grievous Bodily Harm' to Brodie, with her listed injuries including Zoe as a foetus. By law, Zoe's birth/death had to be registered and she be given a proper burial/cremation but under the Crimes Act she was not recognised as a person, having never taken a breath.

Brodie, you and your family have our heartfelt sympathy over the loss of your precious baby. However, you have gone public about this so we are now at liberty to discuss your baby and your proposal to have the laws of New South Wales changed, despite Reverend Fred Nile's introduction of the Crimes Amendment Bill 2011 Destruction of Child in Utero – Zoe’s Law, intended to exempt medical procedure.

Whatever our views on abortion might be, let's first wind the clock back and watch that miracle develop:

The ovum with only 23 chromosomes has just been fertilized, so it is now a zygote with 46 chromosomes - miraculously.                                                                     
Day 2: The single cell zygote now splits into 2 identical cells each with 46 chromosomes - by miraculous 'mitosis'.                                             
On each subsequent day the cells continue to split, forming a morula.                  
Day 5: The identical cells now in a blastocyst begin to 'differentiate' into various body organs and structures - miraculously.                                                                        
After Day 18: The embryo now has its own pulse. (Does Mum know anything yet?)
Day 28: The heart begins to pump.                                                                                 
After Week 8: All major organs and structures of the foetus have formed.            
Week 12: The sex organs are clearly discernible.                                    
Week 18: The foetus responds to stimuli and Mum feels ‘Bub’ moving.                 
Week 20: “Keep growing Bub!”…there's 18 long weeks to go.

On Brodie’s behalf, Mr. Chris Spence MP has now introduced the Crimes Amendment (Zoe’s Law) Bill 2013 (No. 2) on which debate has been deferred:

1.    Applicable criminal offences to an unborn child over 20 weeks gestation or 400 grams weight.

2.    The unborn child to be recognised as a living person.

3.    A younger foetus is not recognised.

4.    Medical procedures or actions by the mother are exempted.

Well Brodie, wasn’t your baby alive before 20 weeks?  
What if the other female driver had also lost an unborn baby? It would not be recognised as a person under amended criminal law but your baby would be. Is that fair?                     
(Oh and by the way, abortion is meant to be illegal in New South Wales unless a doctor believes on reasonable grounds it is necessary to avoid serious danger to the mother’s life or her physical and mental health.)

Now let’s see if this is about recognition of an unborn child as a living person or about the mother’s control with impunity…….                                                 

Brodie says: “She was not my injury. She was my baby. I felt her move…” - fair enough but she also tells us she and her partner Nick are ‘pro-choice’. 
In other words, Brodie thinks she should have the right to have her baby, or get rid of that thing and be exempt from prosecution. She gets to be judge, jury and executioner, choosing whether that new life inside her is a precious baby or just medical bio-waste.                                                         

Seeing she refers to the Biblical expression: ‘eye for an eye’ let’s see what God thinks about a woman hurt “with child, so that her fruit depart from her”…                                                         

“And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life…” Exodus 21:22-23

Like you said, Brodie: “It’s just about recognising the life that was taken.”             

…it’s life that’s taken.

Acknowledgements:  
sbs.com.au   
parliament.nsw.gov.au 
fpnsw.org.au                                                                      
Photo credits: Ourimbah/couriermail.com.au 
newborn/dailymail.co.uk

 

 

an-Nisa: THE WOMEN

Further to IOPNA's bonus series, ISLAM IN OZ:

 Ladies, can we interest you in becoming a Muslim?...a real Muslim, that is…not a westerner.

Wait!  Don't you think it would be a good idea to check the fine print first?                          

Here is some of what the sacred book of Islam, the Koran or Qur'an, says about women:

Sura 4:3    "And if you fear that you will not deal justly with the orphan girls, then marry those that please you of other women, two or three or four..."

            (as a wife you might have some competition)

What's the point of taking that photo?  Five hey!? 

Sura 4:11   "Allah instructs you concerning your children [inheritance] for the male, what is equal to the share of two females. But if there are only daughters, two or more, for them is two thirds of one's estate. And if there is only one, for her is half."

            (bad luck girls - your only worth half the boys' share)

 Sura 4:24   "And [also prohibited to you are all] married women except those your right hands possess...."

            (you might have to share your husband with slave girls too)

Sura 4:34    "...But those [wives] from whom you fear arrogance - [first] advise them; [then if they persist] forsake them in bed; and [finally] strike them.

            (if you get a bit uppity - look out!)

Sura 2:282   "...And if there are not two men [available], then a man and two women from those whom you accept as witnesses - so that if one of them errs, then the other can remind her."

            (in court your witness is worth only half a man's witness because you're probably not reliable anyway)

Sura 2:223   "Your wives are a place of cultivation for you, so come to your place of cultivation however you wish and put forth for yourselves..."

            (you're fair game for your husband any way and any time he feels like it)

Sura 2:230   "And if he has divorced her [for the third time], then she is not lawful to him afterward until [after ]she marries a husband other than him. And if he [latter husband] divorces her, there is no blame upon them for returning to each other if they think that they can keep the limits of Allah..."

            (the only way to patch up after he's shouted divorce at you 3 times is for you to briefly marry and divorce some other guy)

Hello? Hello?...........................................are you still there?

(By the way, the authority of Shariah law is now recognised in Britain.)



Smiles all round - for the camera

 

NEXT: 'Our Aussie mosque' - click on:
http://hotspuds.blogspot.com.au/2013/12/our-aussie-mosque.html



Acknowledgements: 
Smith J, Ghossain R, worldsapart@cmtv.com.au 
Saheeh International, The Qur'an, Abulqasim Publishing House, 1997

Photo credits:
emmitsburg.net                       
demotix.com

PEEP AROUND THE CORNER

Okay, the survival of the Jews is miraculous and the here and now is reasonably peaceful…for how long?

 

This temple the Jews want to build on Temple Mount – that’ll never see the light of day….will it?

You’ve heard of The Revelation? If we take a close look at that much argued-over book, we find chapters 4 thru 20 very Jewish. Even this temple that is yet to be built in Jerusalem is definitely up and in use by chapter 11…so yes, it will get out of the ground to see the light of day.

Then Israel’s peace and prosperity is not so certain after all?  

There’s a little verse in Ezekiel 21 that conveniently gets overlooked:

“I will overturn, overturn, overturn: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him.”

Oh...so there won’t be lasting peace until the Messiah is recognised?                              
I wonder when the Jews will start to wake up to who Jesus Christ really is?

This what He said: “Then two shall be in the field, one is taken and one is left; two women grinding at the mill, one is taken (paralambano: receive near) and one is left (aphiemi: forsaken).”                        Matthew 24

Man, that sounds like that Rapture business!   
Meanwhile the Muslims aren’t going to take too kindly to a Jewish temple back on Temple Mount are they?                                                 

Remember we found that the return of the Jews to Palestine was actually a fulfillment in our lifetime of Ezekiel 36…so let’s read on…                             

Not only will the nation of Israel revive as it has, the divided tribes will be re-united and the kingdom will be re-established.                                        
However, we find there will be an invasion!...and no, this is not Armageddon.

Who will be the invaders? 

Persia (Iran), Ethiopia (Sudan) and Libya get a mention…

…that figures!...Muslim countries in the south, east and west!                            

Will anybody else be involved?...what about from the north?

How about a big player?...Russia!...maybe reluctantly.

Whoa! this is going to be a big shindig!...anyone else?

Togarmah - probably Turkey, and Gomer.

Gomer??  Whoever is that?

I’ll leave you to check that one out – take a look at Genesis 10 where you will find Noah had a grandson Gomer who then had 3 sons: Ashkenaz, Riphath and Togarmah. Jews living in Germany or Poland have been known as Ashkenazi Jews. Will Germany, who has long had association with Turkey and is increasingly dependent on Russian gas, be dragged into this too?

So it will finally happen, hey?...the Muslims will invade Israel from every direction with the backing of Russia. You can even see this shaping up today!

Well it’s all there in Ezekiel and Joel, in incredible detail. Perhaps World War II was a dress rehearsal and it’s time to be reminded of this guy –

Here is Mohammed Effendi Amin el-Husseini, appointed by the British in 1921 as Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, giving the Nazi salute as he inspects a parade of German troops in his honour. This is what he said on Berlin Radio in 1942: “Kill the Jews – kill them with your hands, kill them with your teeth – this is well pleasing to Allah.”

It sure sounds like God is going to let the screws be put on Israel.

Yes, you’ll find this called ‘a time of trouble’ in Daniel 12, ‘the time of Jacob’s trouble’ in Jeremiah 30, and ‘the Tribulation’ in Matthew 24 and Mark 13.                             

All life on Earth would be wiped out if it wasn’t for the Jewish Messiah our Lord Jesus Christ returning in glory to establish His kingdom.

Acknowledgements: Wilkinson P. ‘For Zion’s Sake’, Paternoster 2007

Photo credits: allmanbrothersband.com