The logical consequences of rejecting a Christian belief system

Humanism: the fruit of a Greco-Roman worldview.

Basic assumptions of the Greek worldview

Clifford Denton introduces a new study series

Yochana Darling shares the vision of a Mediterranean safe house for God’s persecuted people.

Is God speaking through the raging fires?

No-one looking at the terrifying scenes of fire raging in Greece and reading the heart-rending accounts of people being burnt to death could fail to be deeply moved with compassion for those who suffered, and for their family members. The speed with which the fire spread, driven by powerful winds, caught whole communities by surprise and gave them no chance of escape.

Even those who managed to reach the sea were not safe from the choking thick black smoke that enveloped them. Although many were rescued by fishing boats and other craft some drowned before they could be reached, while back on land a whole village was wiped out in unbelievable scenes of devastation, which Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras described as the worst tragedy ever to befall the Greek nation in modern times.

For Bible-believing Christians who believe in the sovereignty of God, there are no easy answers to situations such as this. But we know that everything that happens in the world has either been allowed by God or is part of his will. We also know that God is a God of love who shows unbreakable love towards his people and does not wish tragedy to come upon any of them. John 3:16 is the basic teaching of Jesus about the Father’s love for all people on earth and that he himself was sent for our salvation, not for condemnation.

But tragedies still happen, caused both by human action and by acts of nature. The teaching of Jesus on this subject is found in Luke 12:54-13:5 where Jesus declares that people who suffer in such tragedies are no guiltier than anyone else. He used tragic situations to chide the crowd for not being able to perceive the wider significance of these events, saying:

You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don’t know how to interpret this present time?

God is a God of unbreakable love, but tragedies still occur and we must discern their wider significance.

Burnt-out areas of Mati. Antonis Nikolopoulos/AP/Press Association Images

Purpose in Tragedy

With this principle in mind we have to look at the Greek fires in the wider context right across Europe, where there has been virtually no rain and incredibly high temperatures for nearly two months. It is not only Greece in the far south but also Sweden in the northernmost part of Europe that is suffering incredible forest fires. Britain is similarly affected by unusual heat and dryness. Our normal temperate climate has deserted the land, which has come under the same 30°+C heatwave that is holding the whole continent in its grip, withering crops and causing fires to rage through forests and parched moorland.

Surely there has to be a reason why this is happening to the whole of Europe? Is this not a sign from the Lord about the continent’s moral and spiritual state – the continent where every country has had the Gospel for over 1,000 years and has sent its missionaries across the globe taking the good news of salvation to other lands?

But just look at the spiritual state of Europe today – the most secular humanist continent on earth, which has given birth to the European Union that openly boasts of its pagan links and even celebrates satanism.¹

The European Union has abandoned Europe’s Christian heritage and is driven by powerful anti-Semitic and anti-Christian forces. The same hatred of Jews that drove the Nazis; and the ungodly spiritual forces that have fought against the biblical basis of Protestant Christianity ever since the Reformation, have both re-surfaced in the EU and are driving the Brussels elite. We could be seeing the development of the most God-hating, anti-Semitic, satanic regime since the days of the Tower of Babel.

Understanding the Signs

If we look at what is happening in Europe in the context of biblical teaching of the 8^th Century BC Prophets of Israel, we begin to see the signs of the times in the fires and in the drought that is withholding the rain so desperately needed.

The Prophet Amos saw similar things happening in Israel in his lifetime and the word received as he spread each event before the Lord in prayer was; “Yet you have not returned to me says the Lord”. The warning signs had been ignored.

When the great tragedy of the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar took place, the writer of Lamentations grieved for the terrible suffering of the people but said, “Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness”.

He called his fellow countrymen to “examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord…For men are not cast off by the Lord for ever. Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men” (Lam 3:21-40).

The heatwave currently burning up Europe should make us stop and ask about the purposes of God, who desires the salvation of all people - not their destruction.

Need for Revelation

The heatwave that is currently burning up Europe is undoubtedly a sign that should make us all stop and ask about the purposes of God, who desires the salvation of all people - not their destruction. Is God warning us of far greater tragedies that could befall us if we continue to defy his word, despise the truth and reject Europe’s great Judeo-Christian heritage of the past 1,000 years?

Surely even the suffering of this present time would be worthwhile if we heed the warning signs that are being sent to us and turn to the Lord.

Oh Lord, open our minds to understand your ways and your word. Give us clear revelation!

Notes

1 E.g. at the official opening of the Gotthard Tunnel between Switzerland and Italy.

Diana's death was a merciful release for an undeserving nation.

Near my home there is a bridge on a bend of the road where a young man lost his life in an accident. Friends and relatives decorated the bridge with bunches of flowers in plastic covers which have remained for more than a year.

Little shrines like this are now to be seen throughout the land in towns as well as the countryside in what appears to be a new form of religion as Christianity declines in Britain.

With Bible-believing Christians becoming an endangered species, an agnostic population is developing its own religion. Grieving relatives who have little hope of seeing their loved ones in the life hereafter worship at these plastic altars to the dead, creating a kind of necropolis.

Flowers marking the spot of a fatal road accident. See Photo Credits.The Areopagus

It reminds me of the Apostle Paul arriving in Athens and seeing the vast array of shrines to Greek gods. He began telling people about the resurrection of Jesus and some of the local philosophers who loved to debate new ideas invited him to address the Areopagus, an outcrop of rock known as the hill of Mars, which served as the seat of the ancient and venerable supreme court of Athens (Acts 17:19-34).

Paul saw the opportunity to tell them about Jesus but wisely began by referring to an altar he had seen dedicated ‘To an unknown god’. In their polytheistic society, the Greeks were keen not to offend any of the gods by missing one of them, hence this shrine which Paul used to begin his message. His objective was to introduce them to the true God of Creation.

Death of Diana

The plastic altars that are spreading across Britain are symbols of the ‘unknown god’ that have become widespread in the past 20 years since the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, when a vast mountain of flowers in plastic bags was built up outside Kensington Palace and Buckingham Palace.

With Bible-believing Christians becoming an endangered species, our agnostic population is developing its own religion.

The 20^th anniversary of Diana’s tragic accident was recognised in August this year with more flowers in London and the two princes paying homage to their late mother.

The People’s Princess

The vast outpouring of grief 20 years ago was something never before witnessed in this nation and it took most people by surprise, including the Queen and our political leaders. Newly appointed Prime Minister Tony Blair described Diana as the ‘people’s princess’ which neatly encapsulated the public mood.

Diana was seen as a tragic figure – a beautiful woman deserted by her husband – millions of women in Britain could identify with her. Her TV interview about her divorce in which she had said that there were always three in her marriage touched a chord in millions of hearts. She was the lonely girl deserted by a heartless husband. In crying for her, millions were crying for themselves in socially acceptable grief.

An Orphan Spirit

Diana epitomised the ‘orphan spirit’ that is prevalent in Britain today as family life continues to crumble under the relentless attacks of those who wish to destroy the whole structure of our civilisation by attacking its Judeo-Christian foundations.

Her dispute with 'The Firm' – Prince Philip's nickname for the monarchy into which she had married - became the driving force in her life. She cleverly manipulated public opinion so that she was seen as the helpless victim of a cruel, all-powerful Establishment.

Diana epitomised the ‘orphan spirit’ that is prevalent in Britain today as family life continues to crumble.

Destroying the Monarchy

Her desire for revenge became far more than a personal dispute with her husband. It took on the character of a demonic force determined to destroy the monarchy, bringing chaos and confusion to the nation and tearing down all its major institutions that have held the United Kingdom together for centuries.

In taking as a lover the Muslim son of Mohamed Al Fayed, a man who hated Britain and who had acquired ownership of Harrods by disputed business dealings, Diana struck a blow, not only at the House of Windsor but at the Christian heritage of the nation.

If she had married him the consequences for the future of the nation were incalculable. This is why many people suspected that her death had been engineered by the Establishment to preserve the nation, but Christians saw it as the hand of God and his mercy towards an undeserving nation.

The plastic altar in The Mall in the heart of London at the funeral of the people’s princess represented the new religion of the British people – a nation grieving for its lost soul, deserted by the God of our fathers – now worshipping at the altar of ‘the unknown god’. Our condition is like that described by the faithful remnant of Israel after the destruction of Jerusalem who cried out to God for his forgiveness:

Our offences are many in your sight, and our sins testify against us. Our offences are ever with us, and we acknowledge our iniquities: rebellion and treachery against the Lord, turning our backs on our God, fomenting oppression and revolt, uttering lies our hearts have conceived. So justice is driven back, and righteousness stands at a distance; truth has stumbled on the streets, honesty cannot enter. Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey. (Isaiah 59:12-15)

Our nation is grieving for its lost soul.

Turning the Nation

Do we have to wait until ultimate tragedy and social disintegration strike Britain before we cry out to God for forgiveness, as the faithful remnant did after the destruction of Jerusalem? Those who understand the times and can see the destruction looming over Britain if the social anarchists continue their divisive and destructive ways must break their timid silence and proclaim truth into the nation!

The plastic altars to unknown gods will not save us! There is no other hope than confessing our sins before the Lord and asking him to heal our land. The loving promise of God is:

If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. (Jer 18:7-8)

Originally written for HEART of Sussex, October 2017 issue.

How rediscovering the Hebraic roots of our faith can help protect us.

Over the next few weeks we are pleased to feature the work of Steve Maltz. This week, Paul Luckraft reviews Maltz's 'How the Church Lost The Way...And How it Can Find it Again' (2009, Saffron Planet)

In this engaging and entertaining book, the author is very clear about his agenda: "to restore the understanding of the Hebraic roots of Christianity that has been lost, since the early days of the Church" (p43). Equally clear is that in this book he has succeeded in making a considerable contribution towards what is an immense but vital task.

Maltz's style is chatty, but not trite. He pulls no punches – he admits he may not just be upsetting the occasional sacred cow but disturbing the whole herd – but his aim is analysis, rather than attack. Certainly at every point he makes you think, and feel, and search for a proper response.

His title is apt in two ways, suggesting a straying from a correct path, but also reminding us that the early Christians were originally called The Way (Acts 9:2, 24:14), rather than the Church. Maltz points out that there has been a process of stripping out every trace of Jewishness from the established Church, starting early in its history and developing over time. The Body of Christ was meant to be One New Man (Eph 2:15) with both Jewish and Gentile elements in balance, and without this it is greatly diminished and largely unfulfilled.

How We Wandered

In Part One, the author tells 'a tale of two summits', taking us to two important councils: Jerusalem in AD 49 and Nicaea in AD 325. In an entertaining fly-on-the-wall (or rather peering-round-the-pillar) account, Maltz contrasts these two occasions, the former advocating the inclusion of Gentiles into the Church, the other the exclusion of Jews.

The most telling quote is from Constantine's letter circulated to churches throughout the Christian world concerning the timing of Easter: "Let us then have nothing in common with the most hostile rabble of the Jews" (p48).

In chapter 2, Maltz provides a fascinating potted history of the main Greek thinkers: Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, highlighting their 'big ideas' and the equally big consequences of those ideas on Church history. He demonstrates how the early Church fathers reconstructed Christianity in Platonic terms, mixing the Bible with Platonic thinking.

Maltz provides a potted history of the main Greek thinkers – Socrates, Plato and Aristotle – and the influence their ideas have had on Christian thinking.

As we are shown the long slide away from our Jewish roots into Greek dualism we are given excellent summaries - neither too long nor too short - of Philo (and allegory), Origen, Augustine, and Aquinas. In each case there is just enough detail to convince us that "the great doctrines of Christianity had become a philosopher's playground" (p42).

This may only be an introduction to a very large topic, but the main point comes across clearly. The Church is "far more Greek in its outlook than people could ever imagine and this is not a side issue, but very much a key battleground for the truth" (p60).

Reclaiming Our Heritage

Part Two is largely comprised of a series of vignettes highlighting different aspects of the Hebraic worldview that we need to reclaim.

Maltz starts by looking at the Bible itself and how it should be interpreted from a Hebraic perspective, and then goes on to examine the Hebrew language, family life and marriage, the Sabbath and especially the Jewish festivals and calendar. This latter section is the longest and most informative. The Jewish biblical festivals are "so instructional, so rich in meaning, so bursting in Jesus, that it can do us nothing but good to be aware of them" (p106).

Part Three revisits the idea, mentioned earlier in the book, that the body of Christ is meant to be One New Man. Here is a fascinating discussion on what this should entail, namely a balance between the two distinctive elements of Jew and Gentile. Not a blurring into one but a partnership, and a preparation for heaven!

Maltz's discussion is fascinating, looking at the balance that should exist between the two distinctive elements – Jew and Gentile.

No Apology Needed

At one point towards the end the author seems to apologise that he has meandered all over the place (though he adds hopefully, not randomly). In fact, there is no sense of meandering as you read through this book. It can be taken as a whole, or in parts. Although there is no index, there is an appendix of recommended further reading, helpfully arranged to coincide with the chapters of this book.

It covers its main themes well, and also ends with a plea for each Christian believer to take personal responsibility to examine the Bible through the eyes and experiences of the early Jewish believers, rather than the contact lens of Greek philosophy.

If we all individually re-evaluate our image of God and attitude to worship and fellowship then, as the subtitle suggests, the Church can find The Way again.

'How the Church Lost The Way' (190 pages, paperback) is the first of three books by Steve Maltz on the state of the Western church. Steve's website, Saltshakers, can be found here. It is available from Saffron Planet Publishing for £10.

Is the Greek banking crisis really over, or have they just kicked the can down the street? Does the new bailout bring real hope or just delay the day of reckoning? Clifford Hill believes biblical principles hold the answer...

The problems facing Greece raise much wider issues that affect all of Europe because there are biblical principles that should have been applied: and if they had been applied the whole situation would have been very different.

All the nations in Europe have a Christian heritage. Their shared belief system based upon the Bible should have enabled a common approach to financial dealings. It is because the European nations have abandoned their Christian foundations and lost their biblical heritage that they are in such trouble today."

Lending and Borrowing in Scripture

The Bible sets out clear rules for lending money. "If one of your countrymen becomes poor and is unable to support himself among you, help him as you would an alien or temporary resident, so that he can continue to live among you. Do not take interest of any kind from him, but fear your God so that your countryman may continue to live among you. You must not lend him money at interest or sell him food at a profit. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God" (Lev 25:35).

Surely that could not be clearer? Within the family of Israel, despite all the differences of tribes and clans, there had to be just one rule for everyone. If anyone became in need of help, through illness, accident, or a bad harvest, or even through mismanagement of resources, he and his family had to be helped by the rest of the community. There were no exceptions to this. They were one family of people with a shared belief in God and a shared covenant relationship with God, which created a shared relationship with each other. Therefore they had mutual obligations within the family of Israel.

Those who had resources were to help those who were in need. If they cared for one another in this way they would all prosper and they would enjoy a healthy society where no one was exploited and the whole nation benefited. Indeed, the exploitation of the poor and needy by the rich and powerful was forbidden.

No Blame

The regulation given to Israel in Leviticus 25 does not lay blame on how someone became poor. It simply states "If one of your countrymen becomes poor and is unable to support himself" then he must be helped. That becomes a sacred obligation because it is an out-working of the covenant relationship within the nation of Israel, because of her relationship with God.

Our biblical heritage should guide Europe's thinking, so that when one nation becomes poor that nation should be lent money by the other nations of Europe without interest. There would, of course, be an obligation to repay the amount loaned. The biblical principle is stated in Psalm 37:21 "The wicked borrow and do not repay, but the righteous give generously".

The bailout that was reached last month was the worst possible solution for the people of Greece and only makes them poorer. Already they have 60% unemployment among their young people. This deal, with its increased austerity, will make things worse, driving people into hopelessness and despair. It is a cruel exercise of power of which Germany and France are the chief perpetrators.

Historically both these nations have a record of trying to dominate Europe and rule their neighbours.

• Napoleon was defeated 200 years ago at the 1815 Battle of Waterloo
• Bismarck tried and failed to conquer Europe by force of arms in 1870
• The Kaiser tried the same tactic in 1914 with the resultant deaths of millions of men
• Hitler tried to enslave the rest of Europe in 1939 with disastrous results

Have the Germans and the French really learned that power should be used to promote the common good; not to oppress others, especially their brothers and sisters in the Christian faith? However, we live in post-Christian Europe where biblical values have been abandoned and even the Church relies on interest on its investments!

Different Theological Interpretations

Ironically, although usury (money-lending at interest) was forbidden among the Jewish community, the Bible does not forbid lending to those outside that community. The teaching of Jesus was "And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked" (Luke 6:34-35).

The Catholic Church interpreted this to mean that those who lend should not expect anything in return – not even the original loan. This discouraged any lending. Consequently, the Jews became the money lenders for the Christian community across Europe in the Middle Ages. The Protestant Church similarly forbade usury, but Calvin argued that lending at low interest should be allowed and that the prohibition should be against 'extortionate' interest.

Protestant Work Ethic

His influence extended to German sociologist Max Weber – one of the fathers of Sociology - who noted the distinction between the culture of northern European and southern European nations. In his analysis he noted that the most powerful influence was religion – the differences between Protestantism on the one hand and Roman Catholicism and Greek Orthodoxy on the other. He noted that Catholic and Orthodox beliefs were largely controlled by priests who had great influence over the people.

By contrast, the Protestant nations followed the teaching of the Apostle Paul that each individual believer should work out their own salvation by seeking a personal relationship with God, to whom they are primarily responsible for the stewardship of the spiritual gifts and physical resources they have been given. Weber believed that it was this fundamental difference in religious belief within Christianity that accounted for the difference in national culture between Europe's northern and southern nations.

German sociologist Max Weber argued that religion has powerfully shaped European culture, creating a divide between the northern Protestant nations on the one hand, and the southern Catholic and Orthodox nations on the other."

He noted that the northern nations were driven by what he called the "Protestant Work Ethic" which promoted industrialisation and the maximisation of resources, and included an aesthetic element which prevented them from simply consuming the profits of their labour. They ploughed the surplus back into their business enterprises which became increasingly profitable; whereas people in the southern nations of Europe were not driven by such ambition and were simply content to live life from day-to-day.

This cultural difference still exists in Europe today, particularly among the older generation. Many Greeks remember the Nazis' brutal treatment during the Second World War and that legacy sours the relationship between Greece and Germanythe two countries. Young people are much more influenced by the secular humanist ideology that is circulating freely across Europe and the Western nations. They do not share the faith of their parents or grandparents so they live with a different world-view which is less nationalistic. They accept a different set of values and are not even aware of the biblical values that laid the foundations of all the nation-states of Europe.

Road to Financial Bondage

The traditional north-south European religious divide, as Weber showed, still underpins the Greek crisis as German efficiency is contrasted with perceived Greek fecklessness.
The Germans look upon the Greeks as inferior and lazy people who should be treated harshly and made to conform to northern European standards. The German press day after day vilifies the Greeks. They are determined to impose their Protestant Work Ethic culture upon the people whom they once physically enslaved.

Angela Merkel and her fellow politicians have certainly learned that military might is not the best way of achieving their objectives, but the principle of oppression and the brutal exercise of power leading to enslavement (in this case financial bondage) is the same.

The traditional north-south divide still underpins the Greek crisis, as German efficiency is contrasted with perceived Greek fecklessness."

Biblical principles governing finance show that to profit from the enslavement of others is the worst of crimes! But this is what the euro nations are doing to Greece – they are virtually enslaving them! What they don't realise is that they are creating a situation that will bring disaster, not just upon Greece, but upon the whole of Europe. Unrighteousness has a day of reckoning! Europe is stoking up a mountain of debt in Greece that will become a volcano which will eventually erupt and pour its lava across Europe because the whole system is built upon unrighteousness, exploitation, and enslavement.

Justice in Right Relationships

God has built into his Creation principles of justice. When they are ignored they bring disaster upon those who defy the truth that it is right relationships which bring prosperity and well-being. Michael Schluter in his book After Capitalism – Rethinking Economic Relationships says that the current financial crisis is a result of a sustained culture of debt which is based upon 'reward without responsibilities', 'investment without involvement' and 'profit without participation'.¹

In all our dealings, whether of a financial or social nature, the most important thing is our relationship with others. Ezekiel, the Prophet of the exile in Babylon, taught the people about the importance of right relationships with God and with each other. Ezekiel 18:16-18 says that the righteous man: "does not oppress anyone or require a pledge for a loan. He does not commit robbery but gives his food to the hungry and provides clothing for the naked. He withholds his hand from mistreating the poor and takes no interest or profit from them. He keeps God's laws and follows his decrees."

These are the biblical principles which establish righteous financial policies based upon just and merciful relationships which the nations of Europe should be following. This would ensure justice for the poor in times of hardship and shared prosperity. These biblical principles are already there in the Christian heritage of Europe which has been largely abandoned in the age of secularism that has swept the Continent. The only real hope for the future prosperity of Europe is to reassert the principles of righteousness in our biblical heritage.

References

1 Jubilee Centre, Cambridge, 2012, p24.