Bright New World - 2 Last week we were thinking about the sad brokenness of western society, but this week I have been taken back with a jolt to Africa and the misery and hopelessness that condemn hundreds of millions to live in perpetual fear; which is nothing short of terror. I was reminded, in a book I was reading, of the way men ruthlessly lord it over women and children. A wife can be thrown out the home as worthless for no reason at all, and it is a probability if she cannot bear him a son. Second, third and even fourth wives can be taken which creates a ‘home’ where there is only envy, fear, hostility, bitterness, limitless distrust and anger. Boys have to bribe their headmasters to obtain their high school certificates; the girls have to give him other favours. Children lose about a third of the schooling to go to the fields to assist their mothers with the family farming; they would otherwise starve. Family life is non-existent and the words ‘father’ and ‘mother’ have not the same meaning as in the west. Communication is almost non-existent as endless taboos and protocols limit relationships to a frozen silence for the women and children. I have seen young men squat on their haunches 1 metre away from an elder and for 5 minutes, engage in a meaningless ‘greeting’ where they never look at each, but stare in opposite directions for the duration of their theatrics. Forenames are never used in a family, even in the village where a mother is known by her eldest son’s name; my mother’s name would be - ‘Graham’s mother’ to everyone who would speak to her. Cross gender communication is very rare. . For many millions, slavery is as real as it was in the c18. This is how a billion people in our world ‘live’ and die in hopelessness. All over Africa and Asia, even parts of Europe, babies, girls, young women are stolen and forced into slavery, prostitution and forced ‘marriages’. Parents will sell unwanted children, just for a sack of rice. Unwanted 4 year old boys in Africa are taken to a city 50 miles from their home and abandoned as ‘the learners’ to the local Imam where they have to beg to pay him for his rather limited services. It is an educated guess, but about 2 billion people live in these kinds of horror, while we in the west complain about immigration! Think about the immigration here for a just a moment, it’s not surprising is it? Most of our immigration problem is caused by the twisted foreign policy of our own western governments. We might give millions in aide, but most of that only props up the existing corrupt dictators, whose only objective is to help themselves to as much as of it as possible. If it wasn’t for Christian missions most of Africa would not have changed at all. But even what has been achieved in the past is being rapidly lost as the old paganism returns with vengeance. More, in some countries it is pure occult, Satan worship, as various ‘Orders’ spread rapidly; even within evangelical churches. I know that in Nigeria, human sacrifice is common! Under the concrete foundations of quite a lot of African ‘churches’, lie human bodies! The 21st century? I thought the Bible says that the gospel is the power of God to SALVATION! Rom 1;16. The societal protocols and taboos are so very powerful, even for ‘Christians’ who have been exposed to western ways and Bible teaching for over a century. They say it is a mark of respect and honour, but I know otherwise. They go through those meaningless greetings yet there actually is no respect, merely fear. Bondage is an awful thing, to be slaves to cultures that are so dehumanising and degrading, it maintains billions in hopelessness. Satan has been so clever! He laughs as he sees this misery and suffering, and he is delighted at the complacency of the western church. I am reminded of the Chinaman who after being told of the gospel, asked Hudson Taylor – how long in England have you known about this gospel? Taylor told him it was many centuries. Astonished, the man said – and it has taken you this long to come and tell us! Yes, I am trying to shock you! The complacency in the western church could hardly be greater! I have wept again as I read this book, and I must write these things to try to make myself do something about these poor people who suffer so greatly; the problem is so massive that all I can do is expose what I know, and I am sure there’s much more to it. If Satan laughs, then God weeps as he sees the suffering of so many, He knows how it could be, how it should be, so very different. It is 60 years since the power of the gospel has been seen in those African countries that were first evangelised. Powerful revivals happened in Angola, Nigeria and other parts, but today, no one remembers that and they need to be reminded. Much the same as at home, we have lost the message of the ‘Stones’. What mean these stones? We ignore our history and are condemned to make the same mistakes as those who have gone before! Go to sermonindex and sermonaudio and listen to the sermons and lectures on revival by Dr J Edwin Orr; he starts at 1727 and traces the wonderful moves of God in revival and awakening right up to Wales 1905. Dr Brian Green also has some great sermons on revival in Wales. Listen to Duncan Campbell on the Lewis revival of 1959. These accounts should thrill us and make us hungry to see God do it again. I believe that Africa and Asia would respond hugely to the gospel if we in the west were to see revival. Oh I know about the huge church in China, an amazing story, but they are seriously hindered by their terrible poverty and the many restrictions under communism. If the west were to see the power of the gospel then real aide would go out across the world and help indigenous Christians immensely. Not just financial, but moral and spiritual support too; communism will crumble one day soon and then a properly supported Chinese church would see an immense change within China and in their mission – Back to Jerusalem! [see web site by that name] However, until we see revival ourselves, the status quo will be maintained and billions all over our world will be drowned in their helplessness. How much longer do they have to wait for freedom, before we find the answers for ourselves? A strong western church would facilitate great blessings in Africa, Asia and South America. Pray that our church leaders would humble themselves and beg for mercy from our God who is waiting and wanting to bless so greatly. 2Chron 7;14. Pray for our young people who just need to understand what great things our Jesus can do; they need to be inspired by the love of Jesus in us older folk. It will have to be the great power of agape love that inspires us all, as nothing else is capable of withstanding the persecution that will come when we get serious about the things of God. Pray and Act!
Posted on: Sun, 03 Nov 2013 06:45:59 +0000
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