KwaZulu Mission

March 4, 2014

Msindisi Monthly # 114

SALVADOR & DIANNE’S MSINDISI MONTHLY

NUMBER: 114 Mar 2014

PO BOX 1481

VRYHEID 3100

KWAZULU NATAL

SOUTH AFRICA

+27 (0) 728311008

+27 (0) 815836288

Email: msindisi@gmail.com ,

salv.di@gmail.com

KwaZulu Mission Website: http://www.kwazulumission.com

Due to the amount of traveling we did over the month of Feb we have decided to put this newsletter in date form. We were truly blessed by the incredible people we got to meet with and have fellowship with. To all who we stayed with, we say a huge thank you for your hospitality. The trip was wonderful to catch up with old friends and to make new ones. Thank you all!!!!!

28- 29 Jan

We left Vryheid and headed to Secunda where we stayed with our dear friends Joshua and Veronica. That night a friend of Veronica came and Sal shared a message from the word.

30-31 Jan

We travelled to Pretoria to help with the wedding arrangements. Our friends Riaan and Debbie whose daughter Bianca was to be married on the 31st. Sal was asked to take the service and Di to do her hair. It was a wonderful day. The message was interpreted into Afrikaans by Riaan Jr. We were also able to catch up with Mark and Paula Hibberd as they attended also. Bram and Bianca, we wish you much happiness in your married life and pray the Lord would use you both.

1- 3 rd Feb

We meet up in Pretoria with the fellowship, who meet in a home church. Murjuru and his wife Joanna also came over to attend. The meeting turned into a discussion from the word about marriages. Our own assembly and theirs are facing marriage issues so it was beneficial for all. After the meeting, we were able to visit our brother Abel, as we had not seen him for some time.

We spent 3 nights with our friends Allen and Sue Wells and the family. On the Sunday, we had a church meeting in their home which Riaan and the family attended. Lizzy and Ernest lead the singing while Sal bought the message.

4-5 Feb

We travelled to Kokstad to Jed and Jenna Van Neikerk. While with them, we visited Jed’s grandmother Polly and then made an impromptu visit to a children’s home that Jed’s aunty runs, called Crossroads. This home runs a fantastic ministry looking after orphans, abandoned children and foster care. For more information, please click on the following link: http://crossroadscarecenters.co.za/crossroads.html. That night Sal spoke at the Baptist church in Kokstad where he was told that the message was timely. It was confirming what many were pursuing in their walk with the Lord. He spoke on Haggai and building up the Lords house. Please keep Jed and Jenna in your prayers as they are expecting their first child soon.

Our Friends Jed and Jenna from Kokstad

Di at Crossroads Children’s Home in Matatiele

Salvador at Crossroads Home in Matatiele

6-10 Feb

Port Elizabeth was next on our travel plans. We try to visit each year so it was a blessing to get there early in the year. We arrived just before a meeting started which they have every Thursday. This is where they break bread together and share from the word. The fellowship is so big now that they have separated into two groups to be able to cater for more people. The next morning Di went with Brenda to a prayer meeting while Sal and Alan went over business. The following morn Sal attended a men’s prayer meeting. Sunday came where we all got together and Sal shared to two messages from the word. Afterwards it was family time, playing scorer and chilling over a delicious lunch. In the early evening we went to the Chinese church were Sal spoke again. This is the second time we have visited them. While at PE we got some time to go to the beach and spend time over a meal getting to know others from the fellowship. We made some wonderful friends and had many laughs along the way.

Bayshore Assembly, Port Elizabeth

Salvador preaching at the Chinese Assembly in Port Elizabeth

Us with Alan and Brenda Mackenzie

As we headed out to Sedgefield the next day we meet up for coffee with Mike Benade and a friend. Mike leads a Moriel assembly in PE.

Catching up with Mike Benade in Port Elizabeth

11-13 Feb

The Coast road is breath taking and we stopped along the way with lots of ” WOW” comments. At Knysna heads, we stopped in for coffee and met up with Malcolm Harris, a friend of Alan’s. From there it was to Sedgefield where we stayed with Peter and Antoinette Wood and the family. We shared a lovely evening walk with them and the dogs along the beach and rose early in the morn to do it again. It is a beautiful small place with lots of character. We also attended a bible study there on our last night and discussions went into the evening. It truly was a wonderful time.

Meeting up with Malcolm Harris in Knysna

Aerial View of Sedgfield

Walking on the Beach with Peter and Antoinette Wood

13 – 17 Feb

Before heading into Cape Town we stopped in Swellendam to see the Dave and Lyn Royle and their family. We were amazed how the children had grown since we last saw them in Gauteng. Dave shared the plans they have for their Mount of Olive’s project. It was lovely to see them all again.

Us with Dave and Chris Royle with all the kids in Swellendam

We arrived in the early evening to Paul and Ronel Grobler and the kids. On friday, Sal had put aside for some “us” time and to celebrate our anniversary of 6 years. We were unable to celebrate last year so he chose this time. So we visited vineyards, swam and dined out. It was such a special day with a clear Cape day and evening.

With Paul and Ronel Grobler with their two children

Celebrating Our Anniversary

Saturday we went to visit Tom, a fellow student at Salvador’s bible college, from Durbanville. He had visited us just after the shooting at our home with his wife, Ayanda, and child. It was nice to see him in his neck of the woods. Sadly Ayanda’s father had passed away early in the year so she was away with family in Durban.

Meeting up with Thomas Farrar near Durbanville

The weather was sooo hot while there. At 8.40 pm it was still 29c so we were grateful for Paul and Ronel’s pool. We met Paul’s parents over dinner before heading to church the next day. Sunday was another pool day and a visit to the beach. It was such a special time for us and we were really blessed by staying with them. Many thanks again.

Table Mountain from Bloubergstrand

Us at Cape Town

Salvador accompanies Kaylin Grobler

17-18 Feb

The huge drive to Bloemfontein!! We turned the corner and we were now heading back across South Africa. We shared the driving and enjoyed the scenery along the way. While in Bloemfontein we stayed with Chris and Linda De Wet. A meeting had been organized for the Tuesday night so we once again got to meet lots of lovely brothers and sisters in the Lord. Sal spoke that evening and the discussion turned to the following of Hebrew Roots Movement as there are many Gentiles in the area that are apparently being deceived into thinking that they need to start acting like Jews.

Leaving the Cape to go to Bloemfontein

Sunflowers in the Karoo

The House Assembly in Bloemfontein

19-20 Feb

Back to springs and stayed with Alan, Sue and the kids once again. We were able to meet up with Lorraine who worked at Ebyown and Bernard and Mabel from Endicott. We also took a trip to visit John and Julie Leo in Kempton Park to pick up books and ended up staying most of the evening. Julie distributes the Berean Call and the Discernment Ministries Newsletters around South Africa and sells many good books and DVDs. On the 21st we drove back to Vryheid.

Visiting Mabel and Lorraine

With the Wells Family in Springs

22-23 Feb

Kids club and cell group that evening. It was great to catch up with everyone again. Kim put on an amazing meal. What a welcome back! Sunday was with the Zulu assembly.

Kid’s Club

24 Feb

Took Gogo to visit Asimbonge and Ncedo in Newcastle. While there, Di applied for her visa to be transferred into her new passport.

Di visiting Asimbonge and Ncedo

25 Feb

Di was in town helping our friend Belinda with funeral preparation as sadly she lost her mum. Salvador went to discipling with Phumlani.

26 Feb

Teaching at Care bear Creche in morn, prayer meeting and bible study with Bethany Baptist Church that night.

27 Feb

Phumlani and Salvador went out preaching with Thembi, another woman from church.

28 Feb

Salvador visited some brethren. He also went preaching with Thembi in Cibilili at a home of some people who follow Shembe. They did not want us to share with them initially but after a small chat they invited us in to share the gospel. At Louwsburg he went to visit a lady that he led to the Lord last year and found out that her husband had gotten saved. We praise the Lord for that. We had cell group by us. This year we have decided to combine the two study groups into one. Friday night was chosen, so we continue to go from house to house, share a meal, sing, pray and listen to teaching. We looked at the Jewish feast of Tu B’Shvat.

1 Mar

Attended Belinda’s Mother’s funeral where Salvador sang and played the guitar.

We would just like to wish congratulations to Jacob Meads and Raewyn Bellringer on the news of their engagement. Jacob stayed with us for a few months a couple of years ago. We are thrilled with the news. May God bless you both.

Congratulations to Jacob Meads and Raewyn Bellringer on your engagement

God bless and thank you for your prayers on our travels.

Please continue to pray for:

Gogo health, she has lost weight and not feeling so good

Thabi, that she would search her heart and do what is required

Belinda family

Marriages

Give thanks for the safe travel and the blessings of our time away.

CHAPTER 5

The Shared Dominion

Genesis 1:26-28

After the fall there came a power struggle within marriages. God said that the woman’s desire would be for the man but he would master her. Before the fall there was no power struggle. Adam was the head and Eve supported him as the helper. But in the aforementioned verses the dominion was not given to the man alone but to both of them. Both of them were to rule together. Because Adam and Eve were in a marriage situation Adam was the head but they were to rule together. In this chapter we will be examining the shared dominion between the man and the woman and what the ultimate purpose of this dominion is pointing to. In the context of Genesis the dominion was over the whole earth and things created on it. Through multiplying, and having children, eventually the dominion was to extend over the whole earth. The dominion was related to fruitfulness.

THE CALL TO DOMINION

Adam and Eve were given a call to dominion. They were given this call together. The man was commissioned with the work of tending the garden but the dominion was given to both of them. Adam and Eve had this dominion but then sin came into the world and everything was affected adversely and was subjected to futility. Humanity becomes increasingly more wicked till at the time of Noah God felt sorry that He had made man. God destroyed humanity but saved Noah and his immediate family. After the flood we find a kind of repeat of this call to dominion though it is not quite the same.

Genesis 9:1-3

1And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. 2The fear of you and the terror of you will be on every beast of the earth and on every bird of the sky; with everything that creeps on the ground, and all the fish of the sea, into your hand they are given. 3Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; I give all to you, as I gave the green plant.

In the beginning the earth was in Chaos and covered with water. Then God brought order out of chaos by His word. When the wickedness of men grew great, as they rejected God’s word, therefore God had to judge the world by flooding it. So the earth went back to a state of chaos. God saved Noah and immediate family and started anew with him. Thus the post flood situation is a type of the new heavens and earth and Noah is a type of the new Adam. God does not explicitly state that He was giving Noah dominion, but He does say that He was giving everything into Noah’s hands. God made His covenant with Noah and all creation but Noah is the focus of creation, as a type of second Adam. Thus, this is a somewhat a repeat of the original call to dominion. However this call is not quite the same as the original call because the earth is in a fallen state. But after this call, Noah drinks too much and Ham spies on his father’s nakedness and disgraces his father. Thus just as a curse comes quickly after the first call to dominion so a curse comes quickly on the scene after the call given to Noah. Humanity degenerates quickly and unites in rebellion at the time of Babel. Therefore God brings judgement and divides the people in different language groups. After more time elapses paganism has filled the earth but God picks a man called Abram. The promise of dominion is then given to Abraham.

Genesis 17:4-8

4″As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, And you will be the father of a multitude of nations.

5″No longer shall your name be called Abram, But your name shall be Abraham; For I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. 6I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will come forth from you. 7I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you. 8I will give to you and to your descendants after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”

Abraham is promised several things. Firstly Abraham is given the covenant. Secondly Abraham will become the father of a multitude of nations. This is the universal aspect or dimension of the Abrahamic Covenant. It is universal which means it covers all of humanity. There are two aspects to God’s promises to Israel. There is the universal aspect and there is the particular aspect. The particular aspect is specifically related to the nation of Israel. It is ethnocentric. Both the universal and particular dimensions of the Abrahamic Covenant are both important. Some people will emphasise the particular dimension and downplay the universal. These tend to be your Hebrew Roots crowd that focus so much on Israel that they seem to show no regard for gentile identity whatsoever. Some people emphasise the universal dimension and reject the particular dimension so that they would claim that God has no place for Israel as a nation in His purposes. The Church is now Israel and therefore God does not hold any special place or promises for Israel as a nation any more. However, these two dimensions belong together. The promises are universal, Abraham is the father of a multitude of nations.

Thirdly God promises to make Abraham fruitful and kings will come from him. With this promise lies the concept of dominion. The dominion is going to be given to Abraham and will be accomplished through Abraham. But then, fourthly, God promises to give Abraham a land, that is the land of Canaan. The land of Canaan is the particular meaning of this promise. The land of Canaan is specific to Israel. When you get these extreme right wing Afrikaaners in South Africa who claim to be the true Israel, the thing to tell them is that there is no reason as to why they should be upset that South Africa has been taken away from them as God gave the land of Canaan to Israel and not South Africa. In the Old Testament we have a lot of emphasis on the particular dimension of the Abrahamic Covenant. Though it has something to do with the universal dimension, something to do with the nations, even so it is focussed on the nation of Israel. In the New Testament we find that the apostles bring out the universal significance of the particular promises. The two dimensions belong together.

Romans 4:13-17

13For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith. 14For if those who are of the Law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise is nullified; 15for the Law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, there also is no violation. 16For this reason it is by faith, in order that it may be in accordance with grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to all the descendants, not only to those who are of the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, 17(as it is written, “A father of many nations have I made you”) in the presence of Him whom he believed,even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist.

This is the universal aspect and Paul shows us that God’s promises to Abraham are not only for the Jews but also for believing Gentiles. And Paul bases this on his treatment of scripture in Romans 4:17. Abraham would become the father of multitudes of nations. Paul sees the Gentiles in the body of Messiah as the present day fulfilment of that promise. When we recognise that the universal and particular dimensions belong together, then we come to recognise that the land of Israel is a picture of the whole earth.

Deuteronomy 5:16

16’Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, that your days may be prolonged and that it may go well with you on the land which the Lord your God gives you.

Moses speaks to Israel and this verse speaks about the land of Canaan.

Ephesians 6:2-3

2Honor your father and mother (which is the first commandment with a promise), 3so that it may be well withyou, and that you may live long on the earth.

Paul takes the scripture from Deuteronomy and applies it to the earth because obviously the land of Canaan does not apply to Christians in a physical and geographical sense. Thus Paul widens the meaning to include the whole earth. Paul can do this because the word for ‘land’ in Hebrew is ‘Aretz’ which also means ‘earth’. In the beginning, God made the Heavens and the Earth. The land of Israel is therefore a picture of the whole earth. When you look at those promises to Israel with the spectacles of Messiah you can then see what they mean for all of us. God upholds both universal and particular dimensions. Therefore, through both believing Israel, and through believing Gentiles, Abraham is going to inherit the whole earth. This is the dominion that God promised to Adam, to Noah and ultimately to Jesus. It has a specific relevance and meaning for Israel as a nation but it also has a general meaning for everybody too. This dominion finds its ultimate fulfilment, not only in Messiah, but also in what scripture terms ‘The Adoption as Sons’.

THE ADOPTION AS SONS

When most people hear the word adoption, what comes to mind is family, orphans being given a home, little abandoned African babies etc. It carries the significance of family because God has become our father through adoption but it means more than this. In the Old Testament world, when two nations went into war and one nation wins, the king of the victorious nation then rules over the defeated nation. The king of the victorious nation cannot rule all his territory by himself. Thus he may take the king of the defeated nation and adopt him as a son. This is what is called, ‘A Royal Grant’. The superior king makes a covenant with the lesser king, and refers to the lesser king as his son. This means that the inferior king rules under the superior king. Thus the phrase ‘Adoption as Sons’ signifies dominion, ruling and reigning and not only the concept of family. Our Father is not only the head of the family but is also the King of kings. Therefore we are heirs of His dominion to a certain extent. This dominion was initially promised to Abraham in Genesis 15:5.

Genesis 15:5

5And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”

God tells Abram that his offspring (literally seed) are going to be like the stars. The literal meaning behind that promise is that Abram’s descendants would become too numerous to count. But like many passages throughout scripture there is also a deeper meaning. If God simply wanted to say, “You descendants will be too numerous to count” God could have said to Abram what He said to Hagar in Genesis 16:10.

Genesis 16:10.

10Moreover, the angel of the Lord said to her, “I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be too many to count.”

When it came to the descendants of Ishmael it says plainly that her descendants will be numerous. God could have likewise said that to Abram. But instead, God picks stars and says that Abram’s descendants will be like the stars. The reason for this is that God is also trying to communicate something else about the destiny of the descendants. Consider what scripture means when it employs the symbolism of stars.

Job 38:7

7When the morning stars sang together

And all the sons of God shouted for joy?

Hebrew poetry does not rhyme with sounds because if it did it would be very boring. A lot of words have the same endings. For example, most masculine plural nouns end in ‘im’; Elohim, Katuvim, Chaim, Maim etc. So instead Hebrew poetry rhymes by ideas. This rhyming by ideas is called ‘Parallelism’. There are different types of parallelism. For example, there is antithetical parallelism, where ideas are contrasted and there is synthetic parallelism where the same idea is repeated but expressed with different words. This verse in Job 38:7 is an example of synthetic parallelism, the two ideas are the same. The ‘stars’ speak of the same thing as the ‘sons’. ‘Singing’ also communicates the same sentiment as the words ‘Shouted for joy’. They are two different ways of saying the same thing. Therefore what do the stars and the sons of God speak of in this verse? Who was shouting for joy in the creation when God laid the foundation of the earth? They were angels. You even see that in Job 1:6. Satan comes among the sons of God to present himself to God. The sons of God are angels. Therefore the stars also speak of angels.

Daniel 12:1-3

1″Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guardover the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued. 2Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt. 3Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.

So in Daniel we see a time of tribulation. After the time of tribulation there will be a time of resurrection. Those who lead the many (Israel) to righteousness will be resurrected and made like the stars forever. In this context, the stars are resurrected saints. Therefore the concept of resurrection is linked to the symbolism of the stars.

Up till now we can see some terms that are linked together: Stars, Sons of God, Angels and Resurrection. Jesus uses the three terms linked with the symbolism of stars in Luke 20:34-36.

Luke 20:34-36.

34Jesus said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, 35but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; 36for they cannot even die anymore, because they are like angels, and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.

When we are resurrected from the dead we are made like angels. We will have bodies like the bodies of angels. We will not be able to die. We will also be sons of God and this will be at the time when we are resurrected from the dead. We are sons of God, even now, but we have not yet received the adoption as sons. We have the sonship now by faith through the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of adoption by which we cry out, “Abba, Father”. But we are still awaiting the adoption as Sons. God is the King of kings but Yeshua is the main adopted son. Yeshua was always the Son of God. But the adoption in this context means being elevated to position of ruler under the supreme ruler. Yeshua received that at His resurrection. We will also receive this at our resurrected to rule with Yeshua.

Romans 8:15

15For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!”

Even now the Spirit of adoption lives within us and therefore we can call God “Abba, Father” before we have experientially received the adoption. It is a reality through the Spirit that we have received by faith. And faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. We know it is true. It is a reality now, but it is a reality now by faith. We have it in part now and we will have it fully then. God is our father now. We have been born again by His Spirit.

Romans 8:23

23And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.

So we are still awaiting eagerly for our adoption as sons. And this is why, although we are King’s kids now, we will only really experiencing the ruling at the resurrection. The adoption was demonstrated by Messiah Himself. This adoption is seen in Psalm 2:7.

Psalm 2:7.

7″I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord:

He said to Me, ‘You are My Son,

Today I have begotten You.

Here God is ultimately speaking about Messiah. God tells the world rulers that He has chosen His king. He has installed Him, chosen Him and begotten Him. This is concerning the day that the king is inaugurated as king. It speaks of his coronation. This is when the king becomes the king, it is his adoption as the son. We will also experience such coronation at the revealing of the sons of God. This adoption is what the dominion originally promised to Adam is leading up to. We are all going to share in the dominion that God originally gave to Adam but Adam messed up. We will experience this dominion through the ‘adoption as sons’, with believing Israel, and see the realisation of God’s promises to Abraham, who was to become the father of many nations.

The Future Rule of the Sons of God

Adam was given dominion over the created earth, the plants, the animals etc. What we will inherit with Messiah is bigger than the physical, created earth.

Daniel 10:13, 20-21

13But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia.

20Then he said, “Do you understand why I came to you? But I shall now return to fight against the prince of Persia; so I am going forth, and behold, the prince of Greece is about to come. 21However, I will tell you what is inscribed in the writing of truth. Yet there is no one who stands firmly with me against these forces except Michael your prince.

Michael is the archangel and he is prince over Daniel’s people, Israel. But behind the kingdom of Greece is what is known as, the prince of Greece. And behind the kingdom of Persia is what is known as, the prince of Persia. Behind every human government, and every political power in this world, there are spiritual forces in the heavenly places. Satan is the god of this world, the prince of the power of the air. So behind the physical rulers there are spiritual rulers, and there is a battle going on. Michael was fighting against the prince of Persia, and then he fought against the prince of Greece and that was followed by the prince of Rome. Finally, Satan himself will be the prince of Antichrist’s kingdom. Antichrist will be possessed by Satan himself. When Yeshua returns, these princes will all be done away with. These kingdom of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Messiah and He will reign forever and ever. So when Yeshua returns there will be no more prince of Persia, there will be no more prince of Greece. The spiritual sphere of ruling will be vacant of all those demonic forces.

1 Corinthians 6:2-3

2Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? If the world is judged by you, are you not competent to constitute the smallest law courts? 3Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more matters of this life?

The saints are going to judge the world which must concern the order that exists on this earth. The saints will also judge the angels. So when the demonic principalities are taken out of the picture we will be there. We will be part of the judging process. In the context of 1 Corinthians such judgement concerns judicial matters and making decisions between two parties. To understand the biblical concept of judging you have to read the book of judges. Judgement means that God’s rule has been instituted. The judges in the book of Judges delivered God’s people and then sort to arbitrate the issues that arose among the sons of Israel. They wielded God’s authority over the sons of Israel. When Satanic power is at its highest on this earth and Antichrist summons an army of all nations to come against Israel at Armageddon, then we will return with Yeshua to deliver the sons of Israel, judge the enemies and institute God’s rule on this earth. So these demonic princes go out and we come in with Yeshua. We will have bodies like the bodies of angels. We will be sons of God, adopted as sons.

Galatians 3:26-29

26For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.

The first dominion given to Adam was shared between him and Eve. They were to rule together. However Adam was the head in the rule. There was male primacy because Adam was created first in God’s image and Eve was taken from the man. But in the resurrection it is not going to be like that. And the reason for that is that there is no longer going to be any marriage. And that is why Paul states that in Messiah, there is no Jew nor Greek, no male nor female. It is in the context of being heirs of Abraham. The inheritance equally applies to believing men and believing women. We are co-heirs together. When a woman will be resurrected from the dead she will no longer have a husband as head over her. Messiah alone will be her head just as much as Messiah is the head of every man. It will be different. In creation there was male headship because there was, in existence, the reality of a marriage relationship. Every person is born as the product of a male and female union. But in the resurrection it will no longer be like that. And with this in view we can understand why Deborah is listed among the judges.

Judges 4:4-5

Deborah is the only woman in the whole of scripture, the only prophetess out of 8 named prophetesses in scripture, she is the only woman who exerted spiritual authority over men amongst God’s people. She does not deliver men in warfare, that was Barak’s job. Deborah’s judging was joint with Barak. Notice that scripture states that Deborah was the wife of Lappidoth. The fact that she is a wife under her husband is very important and significant concerning her judging. This shows that she accepts Lappidoth’s headship and she works alongside Barak who is responsible for delivering God’s people. Deborah accepted the position that God placed her in. But Deborah was the only woman who wielded spiritual authority over men among God’s people. Paul wrote to Timothy that he did not allow a woman to teach or have authority over men. A woman should rather learn quietly and in submission. But Deborah was different. Why does God make an exception of Deborah? Firstly we need to note that Paul wrote concerning the context of Church meetings and Church governance. Secondly, during the time of the judges there were few godly men. But thirdly note what is written in Judges 4:5. Deborah used to sit under the palm tree of Deborah. This palm would have been a date palm. The Hebrew word is Tamar and has to do with the tree being erect. The dates were dried and used in cakes. They were also boiled down to a syrup which they called ‘Davash’, (Honey). Israelites would make different articles from the leaves and the wood. They would weave the fibres to make sandals. All kinds of things. These palms were very important because their roots would run very deep which meant that they could survive in harsh conditions. If you were going through a desert and saw palms, they would be a very welcome sight. Palms symbolised fruitfulness, joy and victory.

Palm branches play a major role in the feast of Tabernacles. The feast of Tabernacles has to do with Yeshua’s return and rule on this earth. There were 2 main concepts in the feast of Tabernacles. There is the concept of God’s provision and the concept of His presence. Israel remembered how God led them through the wilderness. For forty years Israel lived in the wilderness in tents, or tabernacles. Israel were heading to the promised land and had to rely on God to give them water and food. When Israel entered the land Tabernacles took on a greater significance. Israel had to rely on God for the harvest. They needed rain for the harvest but this all revolved around God’s presence being amongst His people. Ultimately this symbolises the return and reign of Yeshua on the earth. Yeshua will reign the nations with a rod of iron and will bring about peace, prosperity and wholeness. This is because Yeshua’s presence will be on this earth in all its unveiled glory.

Leviticus 23:40

40Now on the first day you shall take for yourselves the foliage of beautiful trees, palm branches and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days.

There was to be a rest on the first and the eighth days. Israel were to feast before the Lord for seven days. Literally the foliage means the fruit of beautiful trees. The Jews decided that the fruit was a citron, which is a citrus fruit resembling the lemon but with a dry instead of a juicy pulp. Palm branches, boughs of leafy trees and willows were to be taken together and Israel was to rejoice before the Lord for seven days. The Jews took this very literally. They would take the citron, a palm branch, a myrtle branch (leafy tree), and a willow branch, and bind the branches together. They would hold together the bound branches with the citron and literally rejoice with them by waving them up and down. In the feast of Tabernacles during Yeshua’s day they would have two ceremonies. There would firstly be the water drawing ceremony. In this ceremony the high priest would go down to the pool of Siloam and he would draw water. Then the high priest would walk back, and as he walked back, silver trumpets would be blown three times. Meanwhile, the people would be waving these palms and citrons, called ‘lulavim’ and ‘ethrog’. The high priest would circle the altar once every day for six days. The high priest would then pour the water into a silver basin on the altar and everybody would cheer. At the same time somebody would pour wine into another basin. The people would recite what was known as ‘the great Hallel’. The great Hallel is also recited at Passover, but without the waving of palm branches, and it is taken from Psalm 118:25-26.

Ana, Adonai hoshiana. Ana Adonai hatzlichah na. Baruch haba bashem Adonai. Berach nuchem mibeit Adonai.

O Lord, do save, we beseech You; O Lord, we beseech You, do send prosperity! Blessed in the one who comes in the name of the Lord; we have blessed You from the house of the Lord.

When the water was drawn they would also recite Isaiah 12:3.

3Therefore you will joyously draw water from the springs of salvation.

The word for spring here is the word ‘Ayin’ and means a source. So often when you have place names in the Old Testament starting with the word ‘Ein’ or ‘En’ it is to do with a source, spring or fountain, for example ‘En Gedi’. But in Isaiah we are speaking about the springs of salvation.

But on the seventh day, when the high priest fetched water from the pool of Siloam, everybody would rip willow branches. As the high priest walked back with the water to the temple thousands of Jews would make a whooshing sound by waving willow branches. The Jews would should, “Hoshiana, Hallelujah, Baruch Ha’ba bashem Adonai.” On the seventh day the high priest would then go round the altar seven times. And the silver trumpets would be blown seven times three times before the high priest would pour the water.

On the second evening of the feast there would be a ceremony of light. Many lamps would be lit and the Jews would dance with torches in their hands. The Jews would dance, and dance and dance. It is said that one Rabbi juggled eight lighted torches. And they would dance, they would shout and they would rejoice to such an extent that the Talmud claimed that if you had never seen the feast of tabernacles, you have never seen rejoicing. These guys partied unto the Lord. They celebrated God’s provision and presence. The light symbolised His presence and glory and the water symbolised His provision in sending rain. On the seventh day, the high priest did not go round the altar once but seven times!

In Zechariah 14:16-21 we read that in the future kingdom, when God restores Israel, all nations will be required to go to Jerusalem for the feast of Tabernacles. This is the only feast that Gentiles are required to attend. Throughout the whole feast of Tabernacles Israel would sacrifice seventy bulls. Seventy is a number that represents Gentiles. This symbolism is derived from Deuteronomy 32:8.

8″When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, When He separated the sons of man, He set the boundaries of the peoples According to the number of the sons of Israel.

When did God separate the sons of men? At Babel. In Exodus 1:5 we read that all the persons who came from the loins of Jacob were seventy in number. The number, seventy, is seen in Genesis 10. The division of the nations equals seventy. In verses 1-5 there are 14 nations of Japheth. If you take Nimrod as a father of a nation and include the Canaanite tribes separately you have 30 nations from Ham in verses 6-20. And there are twenty-six nations from Shem in verses 21-32. Altogether there are seventy nations from Noah’s three sons. There is a connection of the feast of Tabernacles with the Gentiles. There is a connection with the feast to palms also.

Exodus 15:27

27Then they came to Elim where there were twelve springs of water and seventy date palms, and they camped there beside the waters.

Israel travel through the desert. Tabernacles has to do with Israel’s time in the wilderness. There are twelve springs of water and seventy date palms. The word for spring in this passage is ‘Ayin’, just as was there in Isaiah 12:3 representing the springs of salvation. There are twelve springs because salvation will come from the Jews, and there are twelve tribes of Israel. But they are watering seventy palm trees. Therefore, through Abraham’s seed all nations will be blessed. This is what the feast of Tabernacles is about.

1 Kings 6:29

29Then he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved engravings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, inner and outer sanctuaries.

Solomon’s temple was covered with palm trees and in chapter seven they opened Solomon’s temple with the feast of Tabernacles.

Ezekiel 41:16-18

16The thresholds, the latticed windows and the galleries round about their three stories, opposite the threshold, were paneled with wood all around, and from the ground to the windows (but the windows were covered),17over the entrance, and to the inner house, and on the outside, and on all the wall all around inside and outside, by measurement. 18It was carved with cherubim and palm trees; and a palm tree was between cherub and cherub, and every cherub had two faces,

There are altogether eight chapters in Ezekiel (40-48) dedicated to describing a temple that no one has ever seen built. Ezekiel’s temple is an enormous structure. All along the panel work of this temple are carved Cherubim and in between each angel is a palm tree. The temple is the place of God’s presence and Ezekiel’s temple is specifically the temple of Messiah’s reign on the earth. In Revelation 11:15-19, at the seventh trumpet, it states that the kingdom of this world will have become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Messiah. There will be victory over the kingdoms of this world. When Israel entered the promised land, the first city they came to was Jericho. God told the people to march round once the city for six days. But on the seventh day they were to march round the city seven times, reminiscent of the water drawing ceremony at the feast of Tabernacles. When they marched round the city seven times they blow trumpets and the walls fell down. They kingdom of Canaan became the kingdom of God. And people wave palm branches in Revelation 7:9 as a symbol of victory, freedom and joy in heaven.

Satan’s Hatred of the Sons of God

But the inheritance goes beyond dominion in the kingdom. Our inheritance does not only concern our ruling and reigning with Messiah in the place of the demons. We will also be above the angels. We cannot even imagine what this is going to be like.

Isaiah 14:12-14

12″How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, You who have weakened the nations! 13″But you said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north. 14’I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’

God is speaking against Babylon. But behind Babylon are demons and the main spirit here is Satan himself. The star of the morning is the planet Venus. Yeshua is the true morning star but Satan wants to be worshipped as God. This is why this scripture gives Satan the name of the morning star. The goddess of the Babylonian empire is Ishtar and she is where we get the names, Easter, Ashtaroth and Astarte. She was the goddess of love and of war. She was known as the morning star, the planet Venus. The Roman version of this goddess was called Venus among other goddess versions of her. The Hebrew word for morning star is ‘Heylel’ and in the King James it reads, ‘Lucifer’ but Lucifer simply means, ‘Light bringer’. Satan said that he would ascend to heaven and raise his throne above the stars of God. That is Satan’s heart. He wants to be worshipped as God.

Ezekiel 28:2

2″Son of man, say to the leader of Tyre, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Because your heart is lifted up

And you have said, ‘I am a god, I sit in the seat of gods In the heart of the seas’; Yet you are a man and not God, Although you make your heart like the heart of God-

This is the human leader of Tyre, the human king, who regards himself as a god. But Ezekiel does not call him a king but rather a leader.

Ezekiel 28:11-17

11Again the word of the Lord came to me saying,12″Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “You had the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. 13″You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The ruby, the topaz and the diamond; The beryl, the onyx and the jasper; The lapis lazuli, the turquoise and the emerald; And the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets,

Was in you. On the day that you were created They were prepared. 14″You were the anointed cherub who covers, And I placed you there. You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked in the midst of the stones of fire. 15″You were blameless in your ways From the day you were created

Until unrighteousness was found in you. 16″By the abundance of your trade You were internally filled with violence, And you sinned; Therefore I have cast you as profane From the mountain of God. And I have destroyed you, O covering cherub, From the midst of the stones of fire. 17″Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor.

I cast you to the ground; I put you before kings, That they may see you.

Now God tells Ezekiel to speak to the king of Tyre. This king of Tyre is not a human king. The phrase, ‘You had the seal of perfection’ means ‘You completed the pattern/plan’. God created this world according to a pattern. And different things filled up the pattern in different ways. Animals filled it up so much. Man filled it up even more. Satan filled it up completely. He embodied the whole thing. He was full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.

Satan was the anointed angel, the cherub that covers. He was anointed and high above the other angels. Satan was as near as you could get to being God without being God. He was close and had mostly everything but he did not have everything. He was so powerful he could even chose to go against his own perfect nature. Adam and Eve had to be tempted from the outside. They could not be tempted by anything within themselves for they were perfect but they were not that powerful. Satan had to tempt them. Yeshua could not be tempted by anything within Himself. Satan had to tempt Him personally. Satan did not need anyone to tempt him, he was so powerful that he could chose contrary to his own nature. He chose to rise above the station that God ordained for him. The angels that followed Satan were not that powerful so they needed Satan to tempt them in order to rebel.

Hebrews 2:5-9

5For He did not subject to angels the world to come, concerning which we are speaking. 6But one has testified somewhere, saying, “What is man, that You remember him? Or the son of man, that You are concerned about him? 7″You have made him for a little while lower than the angels; You have crowned him with glory and honor, And have appointed him over the works of Your hands; 8You have put all things in subjection under his feet.” For in subjecting all things to him, He left nothing that is not subject to him. But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him.

9But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.

All things are going to be under man’s feet. But at this moment in time we do not see all things subjected under man’s feet. Man has been made, for a little while, lower than the angels. In other words, man will not be lower than the angels forever. One day man will be above the angels but we do not see that yet. However, we do see Yeshua, who was made for a little while lower than the angels. We do not yet see this for us, but we do see it for Yeshua. Yeshua was made, for a little while, lower than the angels. In other words, He shared in our humanity. Then, because of the suffering of death, Yeshua was crowned with glory and honour, so that by the grace of God, He might taste death for everyone. And He brings many sons to glory. So Yeshua won the inheritance that we could never win and He did so on our behalf so that we could attain to that glory. And that glory will be above angels. Now we are under angels but that will not be the case forever.

Look at how much of God’s character and attributes Satan had. He was closer to God than any other living being could have been.

1 John 3:1-3

1See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 2Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. 3And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

We will be like Him because we will see Him just as He is. If we must be like Him to see Him just as He is it means that we will have to be just like He is in His Sonship but not His deity. We will not be God, but will be under God. Yet we will be as close to God as anyone could ever be. We will be just like Yeshua. I am not saying that we will take Satan’s place as the anointed Cherub that covers. But just as Satan was so close to God, so we will be so close to God. Do you have any idea now as to why Satan hates you so much? Because you are going to take the place of communion that Satan had! That closeness to God, that wisdom, perfection, that beauty that he had is going to be yours and Satan hates it. Satan says, “My kingdom is forever, I will never allow anyone to usurp my place.”

1 Corinthians 2:9

9but just as it is written, “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, And which have not entered the heart of man, All that God has prepared for those who love Him.”

We cannot imagine what it is going to be like. But we have clues in the word of God. We cannot push further than that. We cannot say what it is going to be like. We look see it as a hazy image on the back of a bronze mirror. Yet we can know what scripture tells us and that is still amazing by itself.

So the question that we must ask is, how should we respond to this? We saw in 1 John that everyone who has this hope fixed on Yeshua purifies himself, just as Yeshua is pure. This is what He has for us. Let us therefore live the best that we can live here. Our lives have eternal consequences. When you became a believer and started to follow God’s word, everything in your life took on meaning. Before you were simply existing and trying to get through life. Now you have a purpose.

Titus 2:2-8

2Older men are to be temperate, dignified, sensible, sound in faith, in love, in perseverance. 3Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, 4so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, 5to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored. 6Likewise urge the young men to be sensible; 7in all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with purity in doctrine, dignified, 8sound in speech which is beyond reproach, so that the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us.

Older men are to be examples to younger men and older women are to teach younger women. We must perform these differing roles in the congregation and help one another grow into the image of Messiah. But in the context of the home and marriage, just as God gave Adam and Eve a shared dominion with Adam as the head, so we experience that dominion in the home. In the marriage home, with man as head, the man and the woman rule together.

1 Timothy 3:4-5

4He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity 5(but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?),

The man who would seek to be an elder must be someone who manages his household well. He presides, he governs, he superintends his home well. Paul is saying that your home is your training ground for ministry. The ruling that you exercise in your home trains you for your ruling in the assembly as an elder. But the man does not rule in the home alone.

1 Timothy 5:14

14Therefore, I want younger widows to get married, bear children, keep house, and give the enemy no occasion for reproach;

The word, ‘keep house’ in Greek is ‘oikodespotein’. ‘Oikos’ means ‘house and the word ‘despotein’ is where we get the word ‘despot’ from. A despot is someone who has ultimate authority. It often means someone who rules with great cruelty. Here Paul says that the younger widows should be married, bear children and they are to rule their house. This tells us that the man and his wife rule the home together. The man is head but the ruling is performed together just as it was in creation. In the man’s case, the dominion trains him for ministry. This teaches us that whatever we learn from ruling in the home is training us for something greater. Our dominion in the home teaches us about future dominion. If you are faithful in the little, more will be given. What we do here is our training ground for eternity. It is not just about paying the bill and feeding the kids. It is about much more than that. But we have to be faithful in these little things. A married woman, like Deborah, has to be a faithful and submissive wife. Deborah, first and foremost, was the wife of Lappidoth. If you are a married woman be proud to be the wife of your husband. Be proud that he is your head because one day you will be sitting under a palm tree yourself. You will be sitting under a palm tree, in the Messianic kingdom, giving God’s decisions to people, because He found you faithful in this life to you children and within your sphere of influence. To husbands, likewise, if God finds you faithful here, He will find you faithful there. If you are faithful now, in a weak body, prevailing over the indwelling sin, how much more faithful will God find you in a perfect body? And know that Deborah signifies to you that your wife is your fellow heir of future dominion. In the resurrection, the marriage relationship will not exist and you will not be her head any longer. Treat her with respect for in that day you may find her promoted above yourself.

February 3, 2014

Msindisi Newsletter # 113

SALVADOR & DIANNE’S MSINDISI MONTHLY

NUMBER: 113 Feb 2014

PO BOX 1481
VRYHEID 3100
KWAZULU NATAL
SOUTH AFRICA

+27 (0) 728311008
+27 (0) 815836288

Email: msindisi@gmail.com,
salv.di@gmail.com

KwaZulu Mission Website: http://www.kwazulumission.com

Dear Friends and Family,

We have currently started travelling around South and will be resuming the tour that we had to postpone in December due to the tragic happenings at our home. We started the new year house sitting in Vryheid and then returned to the homestead. Phumlani is doing much better and, though he has still a little pain, he is pretty much back to normal. Babhekile’s children have both gone to live with her mother in Newcastle. We took Asimbonge there on the 10^th January so that he would be able to get ready for his new school. Some brethren from the UK and New Zealand had contributed some generous financial assistance towards the care and schooling of Asimbonge and his sister Noluncedo. So we were able to pass that on to Babhekile’s mother when we visited.

Over the month of Jan, Di helped at Carebear for Belinda for a week. This was to help with enrolments and admin work.

We started teaching at kids club again in the month and resumed the cell group on the Monday evening and the Friday night bible study. This year we have discussed and decided to join the two groups together and meet on the Friday night only. We will continue to go from house to house and share a meal together, sing, prayer and then study the word. Salvador has been asked to preach a couple of Sundays for the Zulu congregation which he did before we went on our trip.

Phumlani and Salvador have finished preaching through one of the areas of Cibilili with the gospel. On one occasion a lady in our assembly, called Thukuzile came out to witness also. We thank the Lord for the willingness of her to be involved in spreading the gospel of Yeshua. We also have been continuing with kid’s club and Salvador has now ventured into the New Testament with the New Tribes Mission material after such a long time of working through the Old. The Lord also opened an opportunity for Salvador to preach the word at a local school in an area called Alpha Village. He spoke on the vanity of chasing riches without being rich toward God. Such riches are temporal but the condition of the soul has eternal repercussions. On one of the Saturday evenings we celebrated the Jewish feast of Tu B’Shvat with Phumlani and Gogo. It was a great opportunity to share the gospel by noting the parallels between the types of fruit and the types of hearers of the word in the parable of the sower. We urged Gogo to be soft on the outside and on the inside concerning her reception of the seed of the word.

We were asked by a family that we are good friends with to come for their daughter, Bianca’s, wedding which was to be held in Pretoria. Upon their request we arrived two days early but not before visiting Secunda and our wonderful friends, Jozua and Veronica. Salvador taught a bible study there with a friend of theirs called Debbie visiting. We are always spoiled by their love and blessed by their continued love and prayers for us. The day after we arrived in Pretoria. Bianca had already asked Di to do her hair, as Di was both a professional hairdresser and tutor in hair dressing before coming to South Africa. Salvador was asked to take the wedding. However Bianca’s family are Afrikaans and her husband’s family is from Holland and speak very little English so Salvador had to have her brother, Riaan, interpret for him. The wedding went very well and the Gospel was preached. We wish Braam and Bianca every happiness. They are a very young couple but have maintained a wonderful testimony throughout their courtship.

The day after the wedding we headed off to Pretoria north to visit our brethren in the home fellowship there. Some brethren from the Randfontein fellowship turned up. By the leading of the Holy Spirit, as some of the brethren in that assembly rose the issue, the whole meeting turned into a biblical discussion concerning marriage and how to deal with marital problems. This was a true edifying experience with us all being sharpened and challenged to support one another and to affirm marriages among the brethren. After the meeting we visited another brother who has been having a hard walk before heading off to Springs to be with Allen and Sue Wells. On the Sunday morning we had fellowship in their home with Bianca’s family visiting from Pretoria to fellowship together. Salvador shared the word while two of Allen and Sue’s children led the time of collective worship in song. We are just about to resume the trip we started in December by heading off to Kokstad in the morning to stay with Mark and Marie Anne’s son, Jed Van Niekerk and his wife. Salvador should be speaking on the Wednesday evening at their baptist church. After Kokstad we will be spending the weekend at Port Elizabeth with Alan Mackenzie and all the brethren at the two assemblies he is involved with. Salvador should be ministering there also.

The following week we stay a couple of evenings with a Jewish believer and her husband in Sedgefield before visiting Dave and Lyn Royle in Swellendam. This will be the first time for a long time since we have seen them and look forward to catching up. We go on from there to Cape Town to stay with a fellow student of Salvador’s, Paul Grobler and his wife. After this we go to Bloemfontein and visit Chris De Wet before going back to Springs to break up the trip back to Vryheid. Please pray for our trip and the people that we will be visiting that the Lord may guide all our steps.

For all who pray for and support us may the Lord lead you, bless you and keep you.

In Yeshua,

Salvador and Di

Please pray for:

Gogo’s Salvation

Phumlani’s full recovery

Thabi’s health and her walk

Our visiting of Brethren around South Africa

Phumlani as he continues to minister while we are away

CHAPTER 4

The Equal Value of the Male and Female

Gen 1:26-28

Male primacy should be acknowledged. Man is first because God created the man first. In 1 Corinthians 11, Paul takes this premise and argues that a man does not cover his head while praying or prophesying because he is the image and glory of God. Therefore this ‘imago dei’ (being made in the image of God) applies in a special way to men BUT look at what the above verses say. God says “Let us make man in our image, and let THEM rule over the fish of the sea. And God made man in His own image, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them.” It is very clear that both men and women are in the image of God. Therefore there is an equality between the man and the woman.

In this chapter we will focus on what the New Testament teaches concerning this quality. But to understand the significance of this equality it is important to understand what marriage was like in the Greek world. What was their view of marriage? E.A Judge had a group of essays published concerning the social life of the 1^st Century Greek and Roman societies.¹ His findings concerning the notion of marriage in Greek society can be summarised as follows:

Marriage, in Greek society, was the transferral of property and therefore the woman was a possession. She was transferred and had no power to transfer herself.
Men wanted wives for two main reasons: They wanted a son who would be a rightful heir and they wanted the dowry that came with the wife and this dowry would then come into the husband’s family. Thus if a wife gave birth to a newborn daughter some people would leave the child out to die in order to escape from the responsibility of having to pay a dowry later on.

Now let us scan the progression of thought concerning marriage from the fourth century BC to the time of the New Testament.

In the fourth century BC there were two main philosophers, Plato and Aristotle. Plato (Born:428BC and died:347BC) claimed that the interests of the community are more important than those of the individual. Plato wanted to create a council of women that would act as social workers. These women would supervise couples and the training of children. One of the main reasons Plato wanted to do so was that he claimed that there was too much population growth. Thus he wanted to use these women to achieve this end. Aristotle (Born:384BC and died:222BC) also agreed that there was too much population growth but he argued that the baby in the womb did not have a soul up to a certain point and therefore it was okay to abort them. But Aristotle also believed that women are dangerous. He claimed that women are inferior by nature and thus, they are destined to be subjugated. He thought that women were not intelligent enough to rule, men must keep women in the kitchen to lessen her contamination of society and that a man’s authority over his wife was to be compared to a royal authority that a man has over his children. That is the way Aristotle saw things but at least men should be faithful to their wives or they should lose their civil rights. At the same era, another philosopher called Diogenes said that Marriage was a purely human invention and therefore, as it is against nature, marriage is dangerous. You do not see dogs, frogs and cats getting married so it is unnatural. He therefore claimed that men (not women) should be sexually free and able to share their wives and children with others. Therefore there were different currents of ideas concerning women and marriage in Greek cultural thought.

In the third century (300-200BC) you had a guy called Zeno (Born:334BC and died:262BC). Zeno argued that nature allowed for polygamy. There are male animals that have many different mates. According to Zeno society invented monogamous marriage and therefore men should be free to marry more than one wife but such freedom should be restricted to those who were wise as only they could handle it. There was also another chap by the name of Chrysippus (Born:280BC and died:206BC). Chrysippus was different for he stated that marriage was important. For the sake of society, even of humanity a man should perform his duty to become a husband and a father. Then there was Epicurus (Born:341BC and died:270BC) who claimed that love and sex were dangerous and are harmful to the soul. Love and sex will contaminate a person but a wise man should marry nonetheless so as not to stand out from the crowd as this would bring greater trouble to him. Thus marriage would be the lesser of the two evils.

Then in the second century BC (200-100BC) there was another gentleman by the name of Polybius (Born: 200BC and died:118BC). By his time the ideas and policies of Plato and Aristotle, which had curbed population increase through birth control, had brought about a dangerous decrease in population. Polybius therefore stated that the fall in birthrate had weakened society. He thus claimed that marriage was important for the good of society in order to strengthen society. Polybius was not the only person to express such alarm. Antipater of Tarsus (Born: 200BC and died:130BC) was so alarmed at the fallen birthrate that he proposed that one should not hold the office of a prefect if he did not have a wife and children.

In the first century (0-100AD) society was well into the Roman Empire and saw the rise of the Apostolic era and what is commonly referred to as the Church. A contemporary of Paul, Seneca (Born: 4BC and died:65AD), spoke highly of his mother and sister because he thought their virtues were unusually high for women because they were corrupters of men. Moral degeneration is the fault of women but men are still called upon to be faithful to their wives. In contrast to Seneca’s view of women there was someone who espoused a view closer to that of the New Testament. That guy was called Musonius Rufus (Born:30AD and died:120AD). He thought that women should be educated because they have the same reasoning powers as men. There should be total commitment in marriage between both the man and woman and he grounded this in the intention of the creator which was made known through the mutual desire of men and women. He also advocated divorce if that desire was not there but apart from his view on divorce he comes closer to the teaching of the New Testament. However Musonius Rufus was not typical of Roman/Greek thought and Plutarch (born:46AD and died:120AD) thought otherwise. Plutarch stated that women must subordinate emotions and ideas to those of their husbands but a man must show more respect to his wife than anybody else.

Though there are links to the thought of New Testament teaching on women, the Greek view generally held that women are by nature inferior to men because they lack intelligence and are emotionally inferior. They also believed that the husband owns his wife and uses her to father children and with the exception of Musonius Rufus they held that Marriage is not about the wife’s pleasure but is a duty for the good of society. Thus you had all this different ideas circulating at the time of the early Messianic assemblies. Some people would claim that Greek thought is generally similar to New Testament teaching. But when you understand what the beliefs were in secular society, during the New Testament period, you can more easily see the clash of the New Testament teaching against the prevailing world-view. And even where there is apparent similarity with the Pagan world-view it has a completely different foundation. Remember that the basic reason that man has headship from a biblical viewpoint is not because of his superiority in intelligence but it is because Adam was created first. The basis is in creation. This takes the issue away from man’s intrinsic worth.

To whom more is given, more is required

God is a just God and therefore never does anything unjustly. Therefore, if God gives you more authority, or more knowledge, or more of whatever, He requires more of you.

Luke 12:42-48

42And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and sensible steward, whom his master will put in charge of his servants, to give them their rations at the proper time? 43Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. 44Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 45But if that slave says in his heart, ‘My master will be a long time in coming,’ and begins to beat the slaves, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk; 46the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces, and assign him a place with the unbelievers. 47And that slave who knew his master’s will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will receive many lashes, 48but the one who did not know it, and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.

If any Christian man is beating his wife, especially when that wife is a fellow servant, it is a VERY dangerous place to be in. But the one who knows his master’s will and does not do it will be punished with a greater punishment. Without getting into the discussion of whether there are different levels of punishment in hell the thing to note is that the principle of responsibility still stands. If God has given me more authority or more influence He is going to require an accounting of that influence or of that authority. Have I done what He called me to do? That puts the whole issue of male primacy in perspective.

Romans 1:16

16For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

Romans 9:1-4

1I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, 2that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. 3For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, 4who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises,

All these blessings belong to Israel and as such Israel has a key place. Regarding this we may understand why the gospel is to the Jew first.

Romans 2:9-11

9There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek, 10but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 11For there is no partiality with God.

Because God is a just God therefore He brings judgement to the Jew first and then to the Greek. He is not a God of favouritism. This is why God requires more of Israel than He does of the nations. Now to those of us who are saved, God requires more of us than He even does of unbelieving Israel. Thus the principle extends even to marriage.

Equality of Man and Woman in Salvation

Galatians 3:26-29

The first thing to note from these verses is that there is one way to salvation, which is Messiah. There is not a separate way for Jews than for Gentiles. The same way a man gets saved is the same way a woman gets saved. Any Jew who does not accept this way is not going to heaven, even though they have a privileged position as a Jew before God. God is exclusive. Yeshua is unique. The world tries to deny this exclusivity of the Gospel. They claim that all religions lead to the same God. That is a lie. We can only get to the Father through Yeshua.

The second thing to note from these verses is that even the women are referred to as sons. We are all sons of God. Women in Messiah are regarded as sons.

The third thing to note from these verses is that we are all heirs. In the Old Testament, which Jews call the Tenack, a woman would only be an heir if there were no sons in order to keep the inheritance in the father’s line. But women were not regarded as heirs in the normal state of affairs. But when it comes to the gospel and God’s eschatological (end times), both men and women are heirs. They both have an inheritance waiting for them.

But, of course, this equality does not mean that you stop being a man or a woman when you get saved. Neither does it mean that you stop being culturally Gentile or culturally Jewish when you get saved. God has a special purpose for you as a woman or as a man.

1 Corinthians 7:17-24

17Only, as the Lord has assigned to each one, as God has called each, in this manner let him walk. And so I direct in all the churches. 18Was any man called when he was already circumcised? He is not to become uncircumcised. Has anyone been called in uncircumcision? He is not to be circumcised.19Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but what matters is the keeping of the commandments of God.20Each man must remain in that condition in which he was called.21Were you called while a slave? Do not worry about it; but if you are able also to become free, rather do that. 22For he who was called in the Lord while a slave, is the Lord’s freedman; likewise he who was called while free, is Christ’s slave. 23You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men. 24Brethren, each one is to remain with God in that condition in which he was called.

As long as what you were doing was not unbiblical you continue in the manner of life you lived in before you were saved. If you were a slave before you got saved, stay a slave unless you can legitimately gain your freedom. If you were Jewish before you got saved remain living as a Jew. If you were Gentile before you got saved remain living as a Gentile.

We also see this emphasis on the quality between man and woman as heirs of the grace of life elsewhere in scripture.

1 Peter 3:7

7You husbands in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with someone weaker, since she is a woman; and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered.

Because we are fellow heirs scripture teaches men to honour their wives. Thus, being an heir means that believers are destined for honour. I should not dishonour any brother or sister in Messiah.

Equality of Man and Woman in our Personal Origin

We have already read that God made male and female in His image. But we see that man was still created first and the woman was taken from the man. Thus Scripture advocates male primacy on this account. But there is something else to be borne in mind that Paul teaches.

1 Corinthians 11:7-12

7For a man ought not to have his head covered, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man. 8For man does not originate from woman, but woman from man; 9for indeed man was not created for the woman’s sake, but woman for the man’s sake. 10Therefore the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels. 11However, in the Lord, neither is woman independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. 12For as the woman originates from the man, so also the man has his birth through the woman; and all things originate from God.

This is the passage that says that a man should not have his head covered, whatever that head covering was, while praying or prophesying because he is the glory and image of God. However the woman should have her head covered for she is the glory of man. This is why men have first place but then look at how Paul continues his discourse. Both men and women depend on each other for their birth. So Paul is bringing some perspective on the area of male primacy. It is true that men have primacy, but knowing what Greek society was like and how his argument would be construed Paul wants to temper his claim with another perspective. Paul does this so that men will not take his teaching and use it to propagate abuse against their wives nor think that they are any better than women. He is in effect saying, “No, wait! Before you get carried away. Remember, you need women as much as they need you.” Male headship is not because, the men alive today are made in the image of God more than women are. Men carry the significance of being the image and glory of God because Adam was made first. It goes back to creation and is not an absolute statement. This is why Paul says this about men. Eve had her origin in Adam. Eve was taken from the man. But today every man originates from a woman. Therefore there is an equality between men and women. Every man and every woman comes from a man and a woman. Therefore male headship is positional, or a role that God ordained, on the basis of creation alone. It has nothing to do with the intrinsic worth, and little to do with ability, inherent in a man or of a woman. Why do I say ‘little to do with ability’? Have you ever seen a man giving birth to a baby? Have you seen a man breast feeding a baby? Man lacks the ability to perform these motherly functions in any natural way. Often in marriages you will find that a woman is more able than the guy in intellect or in certain skills. It is not about the person’s worth. Paul is very clear, we need each other. No one is independent and no one can say that they do not need anybody else. Thus, if you need someone you had better treat them with respect. We are therefore equal in our personal origin.

Equality in Qualities and Callings.

These are things that God is desiring to cultivate equally within men and women.

1 Peter 2:13

13Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority,

So we are to submit ourselves to every human institution and authority. So there is this context of authority and submission. We are to submit ourselves to these authorities.

1 Peter 2:18

18Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable.

So we have servants that are urged to submit themselves to their earthly masters, to respect them and not only to masters who are good to them but also to those who are unreasonable. And then from verses 19 – 25 it talks about suffering unjustly but to do it as unto the Lord.

1 Peter 3:1

1In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives,

This first verse starts with the word, likewise or ‘in the same way’. The servants are to submit to their masters when the masters are not following the Lord and are unreasonable. In the same way wives are to be submissive to their husbands even when their husbands are disobedient to the Lord. Thus the theme of submission continues through out this section in comparison to what has gone on before. The word likewise, is very important.

1 Peter 3:7

This verse also starts with the word ‘likewise’. Thus, in the same way as their wives are to submit, so men are to display the same mindset of submission in the act of loving their wives even in times of suffering. But who would the submission of the man be unto? The submission here would be unto the Lord for Peter threatens them that failure to submit would result in their prayers being hindered. God is watching, God is listening, and if you do not treat your wife with respect, even if she is not doing what she is supposed to be doing, God will not hear your prayers. It is the same characteristic that God is looking to develop in the man as He is looking to develop in the woman. There is an equality here even in the sphere of the different roles that God has called the husband and wife to fulfil. God is requiring submission from all of us but in different contexts. Servants to their masters. I am not going to be a servant to that master because I am not his legal servant. But his servant is to be submission. When I was a kid, I remember I swore in front of my dad and my dad chastised me. When I protested that other kids swore all the time my dad replied that I was his son and what other parents allowed their children to do was a different matter altogether. Thus the context of a wife’s submission to her husband and the husband’s submission to God are different but they all have a common denominator and that is that they are deal with submission which applies to everyone. We are all in the same boat even in those different contexts. Thus there is an equality there.

1 Peter 3:8-9

8To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kind hearted, and humble in spirit; 9not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing.

This kind of sums it all up for everybody. These are the characteristics that apply to us all equally and we all need to foster. We are to be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kind hearted, humble in spirit and not returning evil for evil, nor insult for insult. So when your wife insults you, you bless her back. When your husband insults you, bless him back. It applies to everyone. When your employer insults you, bless them back as unto the Lord. It equally applies to everybody. You cannot say, “Because I am the man it does not apply to me.” Neither can the woman say, “Because he is a man, he has the responsibility to set the example so him first.”

But not only is there an equality of characteristics that the Lord wants to instil into us. There is also an equality in characteristics or qualities that the Lord hates within us.

Romans 1:26-27

26For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, 27and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.

So it is all the women’s fault? No, it is equally men and women who gave themselves up to depravity. Unlike Aristotle, who saw women as the contaminators of society and the source of society’s ills, Paul claims that men and women are likewise in the same boat. Likewise the men did the same thing. In these first few chapters, Paul is demonstrating that there is no one righteous and all are equally under the wrath of God. All have turned aside, and all do not seek God. That is the equality of our sinful state. We have the same sinful nature. The men and the women were just the same. Men and women are equally in rebellion to God and therefore Jesus had to die for men and women equally.

Titus 2:1-8

1But as for you, speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine. 2Older men are to be temperate, dignified, sensible, sound in faith, in love, in perseverance. 3Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, 4so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, 5to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored. 6Likewise urge the young men to be sensible; 7in all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with purity in doctrine, dignified, 8sound in speech which is beyond reproach, so that the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us.

This, likewise, concerns having godly character, living up to sound doctrine in holiness, reverence and sensibility which brings honour to God’s word. In some areas these qualities apply differently to men than they do to women but the characteristics and the calling God is calling us to is the same: godliness, holiness, not being silly but rather sensible and clear minded people who are based on God’s word. The applies equally to each one of us and therefore you cannot shirk this, acting like this is God’s calling for someone else.

The Equality within Marriage.

There is an equality within marriage. What we find is that, once we have looked at all of this male primacy, we come into a situation where we now have to shift our perspective into thinking that we are in this thing together. In marriage a man and wife are seeking for the same things. They are both to help each other attain to the same Christlike characteristics so that God can fill our lives and glorify His name through us. We therefore proceed from all this and must then acknowledge that despite the different roles that the Lord has called us to, there is a sphere of equality within marriage. This is to be seen highlighted in 1 Corinthians 7:2-4, 32-34.

1 Corinthians 7:2-4.

2But because of immoralities, each man is to have his own wife, and each woman is to have her own husband. 3The husband must fulfill his duty to his wife, and likewise also the wife to her husband.4The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; and likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.

These verses deal with sexual relations within the marriage. These Corinthians were living in the worst pagan society in the world at that time. If you called someone a Corinthian, you were basically accusing them of being sexually immoral. So Paul was saying that as they lived in such a society marriage is a very good option because it is a way to exercise sexual relations within God’s boundaries and therefore to live above the immoral standards of this world. In these verses Paul claims that a husband has a duty to his wife just as the wife does to her husband. This is very different to the Greek perspective where it is for the women is to be there for the husband, to work in the kitchen and to rear his children. In biblical thought, the man also has a duty to his wife. She is not there simply to gratify his needs, he is also there to gratify her needs.

1 Corinthians 7:32-34.

32But I want you to be free from concern. One who is unmarried is concerned about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord; 33but one who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how he may please his wife,34and his interests are divided. The woman who is unmarried, and the virgin, is concerned about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and spirit; but one who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how she may please her husband.

When Paul speaks of the world in this context he is not speaking about something sinful. Rather Paul is signifying the temporal nature of marriage. The things of the world are passing away. Your marriage is not going to last forever. It is “till death do us part”. Therefore it is a temporal thing. So the one who is married is concerned about the things of this world, how he may please his wife and his interests are divided. The unmarried woman is concerned about the things of the Lord. When you are married you cannot be constantly serving in outreach, quiet time etc. especially when you have a family. You cannot just shoot off to the mission field when you feel like. You have responsibilities and you have a spouse and kids to think about. You must please your spouse and that is the way God intended it to be. Someone like Paul could serve the Lord in a way that Peter could not. Paul worked in making tents by day and ministering in the body every spare moment that he had during the week. Peter had to have time with his wife. Paul could go out, being beaten, shipwrecked, stoned etc. without the worry of “What is going to happen to my wife?” Peter would have had such a concern. A man thinks about how he may please his wife. A woman is thinking about how to please her husband. Paul deals with the considerations of both husband and wife, equally. Paul never implies that a woman has a greater responsibility to please her husband. It is an equal responsibility to care for one another’s needs and to seek each other’s gratification. Marriage is not about taking. Marriage is about giving and that is why there has to be an equality within these spheres of marriage. For there to be this giving and receiving relationship within marriage there needs to be an equal commitment to giving from both partners if a marriage is going to experience this dynamic being fostered, nurtured and fulfilled.

1Scholar, David M. [ed] (2008) Social Distinctives of the Christians in the First Century: Pivotal Essays by E.A. Judge Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers.

The House where Asimbonge and Noluncedo have gone to live at.

Babhekile’s Mother and Noluncedo.

Kid’s Club Jan 2014

New Tribes Mission material. We are now in the New Testament

Phumlani Preaching in Cibilili

The Tracts we use

Bianca and her father entering the building.

The Wedding

Braam and Bianca

The Brethren in Pretoria

The Ladies in the Pretoria assembly

Fellowship with Allen and Sue Well’s with Bianca’s family

Allen and Sue’s Kids do dishes

January 2, 2014

Msindisi Newsletter # 112

SALVADOR & DIANNE’S MSINDISI MONTHLY

NUMBER: 112 Jan 2014

PO BOX 1481
VRYHEID 3100
KWAZULU NATAL
SOUTH AFRICA

+27 (0) 728311008
+27 (0) 815836288

Email: msindisi@gmail.com,
salv.di@gmail.com

KwaZulu Mission Website: http://www.kwazulumission.com

Thank you for all who have kept us in prayer, have given financially, have corresponded with us through emails and letters. We have been truly blessed and know that the Lord has heard the prayers of His saints.

As some of you will know already, we had to cut short our trip round South Africa. We visited Stanger and had some wonderful fellowship with the brethren at Calvin Josiah’s assembly in Stanger. During that time we were able to meet up with one of the elders, Mis and his family. We sang at St Luke’s home for people with learning difficulties and we had breakfast with the pastor and his wife of an assembly called Coming King Ministries. Salvador spoke at a couple of meetings and visited pastors on the way to Kokstad to stay with Mark and Marieanne’s son and daughter in law. Salvador was due to preach at Kokstad on the Tuesday evening of the 10th December. That morning we were driving to visit Mark’s mother who still lives in the area when we received a phone call from our local farmer. She had us pull over before she told us the news that there had been a shooting at our home.

As you will know we live with Phumlani, his mother (whom we call Gogo), his brother Walter and also his niece Babhekile with her two children. Babhekile was in a relationship with an older man. He was a no good man who was married, plus had various other children by other women in the area. Against our counsel she engaged in a relationship with this man and then he started abusing her, even after she mothered his daughter, Noluncedo. She got a police order out on him and we encouraged her in saying that she had done the right thing. But against all counsel, both ours and her family’s she went to stay with him after taking her son, Asimbonge, to stay with her mother in Newcastle for his schooling (100-150kms away from us). After we left to go to Stanger we heard that she returned home to Gogo even though her boyfriend had forbidden her. That Tuesday morning the boyfriend, Ndlovu, arrived at the homestead and asked to consult with the family saying that Babhekile was not behaving herself! He was angry that Babhekile had visited Newcastle. This is even though the police order prohibited him from coming into the homestead. Babhekile went to call the police and Ndlovu pulled out a gun, shot her dead and then turned his gun on Phumlani who hit the floor. He shot Phumlani in the head but the bullet went through his scalp and ricochet off his skull and exited his scalp. It was a 38mm bullet shot from close range! Thinking Phumlani was dead he then shot Walter in the leg but the bullet didn’t touch his bone. Ndlovu drove away to another location, phoned his wife and then turned the gun on himself and killed himself. Gogo witnessed the whole event. She is presently battling with late stage cancer and we have been witnessing to her and praying for her salvation. She is a lovely lady who does not judge anyone according to their skin colour or their ethnic background. Phumlani, Walter and Gogo were taken into hospital. Gogo has lost a lot of blood and her blood pressure and blood sugar levels were affected by the ordeal.

The sad thing was that Babhekile, to our knowledge, never accepted the Lord. She knew the gospel as Salvador had taught her at kids club 10 years ago and Celani also taught her after that. We visited them at the hospital the next day. Since Phumlani has been in hospital, he has had severe headaches which have slowly improved. He visited a private doctor who says that his x-ray shows no sign of fracture but she has sent the x-ray to another doctor for a second opinion. Walter had the bullet removed and Gogo had blood given to her. What has added to the pain of this was that Phumlani’s wife, Thabi, took her clothes and ran away while we were in Stanger. At the time no one knew where she was.

The community came round to show their support. Lots of tears shed, weeping and relieving of the events through retelling memories is part of this story telling culture. The funeral arrangements all went smoothly and the funeral was held on the Sunday. Our brethren from Pretoria, Clayton, Karabo and Mujuru arrived 1:30am Saturday morning to support Phumlani at this time. Later that day there was some ancestral tradition of speaking to the dead and sacrificing chickens to the dead. Those who were committed believers refused the chicken as scripture says that the things Gentiles sacrifice to are demons and not God (1 Cor 10:20). Asimbonge was also told on this day what had happened to his mother. He was obviously distraught. One of his cousins, not understand his distress told Di that Asimbonge was hungry. Di held him in her arms and he fell asleep there. That evening the believers met in our home where we ate together and Clayton and Mujuru both shared the word.

We managed to bring some gospel influence in the funeral proceedings. Karabo would open in prayer, Mujuru would preach and Clayton would do the burial rites as they said there was no pastor there to do them. But on the morning of the funeral some Zionist pastors arrived (not part of the movement that defends the right for Jews to have a state of Israel in their land but a syncretistic religion mixing biblical things with ancestral traditions). When they wanted to lead the proceedings we decided that Clayton would step out of the way to allow them to do the burial rites so that none of us had to stand with them and give an appearance of unity. When Mujuru went forward to preach he offered comforting words and encouraged them not to take up a cycle of vengeance but to leave the vengeance to God. He also stated that our lives are such a short time on this earth from God’s perspective and that death comes to us all. He also hit hard against the ancestral traditions, which he was saved out of. One Zionist pastor had an outburst of anger but Mujuru did not get upset but rather waited to see if he should proceed or not. He finished his message, after which the Zionist pastor apologised.

Celani also gave a wonderful testimony of how God gives people opportunities to be saved. That night Salvador was able to witness to Phumlani’s other brother, Simon. Simon asked about God’s justice in the whole thing because Ndlovu killed himself. Salvador told him that God’s wrath now waits for Ndlovu for through that act of killing himself there remains no more opportunity for him to repent and be saved but God was giving Simon another opportunity with every breathe that he breathes. All during the week and throughout the funeral Di served the ladies, wept with them and worked with them. The love of Christ was manifested very clearly through her. Now Gogo has lost Babhekile who used to help her. There are few in the family able to help. Asimbonge and his baby sister will both live with Babhekile’s mother, Thembelihle. It will be a hard road as Thembelihle has five sons already and she works at a clothing factory. They live in a small three roomed township house. Thembelihle stayed till this last Monday. We do not personally celebrate Christmas but we decided to be with Phumlani and the whole family for that time. A Zulu Christmas is very unlike a western Christmas. There is no Christmas tree, no decorations, no Santa, no Christmas presents. Rather what they do is stock up on food and eat nicely over the season. In Zulu you do not ask someone if they had a nice Christmas, but rather you ask a person if they ate nicely over Christmas. We played with the kids, braaied (BBQed) steak and put all our food together.

‘The day after the funeral a colleague of Salvador’s Bible College (King’s Evangelical Bible College http://www.kingsdivinity.org), Thomas Farrar, came to visit with his wife Ayanda. Thomas is a Canadian who married a Zulu lady. He lectures at a University in Cape Town. It was wonderful for Salvador who does not get to meet other students. They were a lovely couple and it was a shame that we only got a little bit of time to spend together.

Now Thembelihle has gone back to Newcastle with 4 of her boys and has left behind Asimbonge with one of her older sons. We will take them through on the tenth of January. We found out a few days ago that Thabi has been found by her brothers in a township near Vryheid and has gone to her mother’s. She is very ill. Phumlani is prayerful about what he should do next. We are staying around for a few weeks till Phumlani is feeling better. Salvador has been asked to lead a wedding in the North West Province at the end of the month. A young lady called Bianca, who visited us a couple of years ago, is engaged to a young Dutch man. We plan to resume our trip at that time and visit the brethren around South Africa. We also have exciting news. The Lord has provided for us to visit Australia and New Zealand during May and June this year so please pray for Phumlani and the brethren this side. We have just visited Thabi today and she is ill but recovering.

On another note, Jonny (who is a member of the cell group) has just lost his mother to cancer last Saturday evening. The funeral will be on Friday afternoon. The blessing is that during her illness she called out to the Lord for forgiveness and had the desire for the word to be read to her.

May the lord bless and keep you all. Until next month !!

Shalom

Salvi and Di

Please pray for:

Complete healing for Phumlani and Walter.

Gogo and Simon’s salvation.

For Thabi’s health and her and Phumlani’s marriage.

For Jonny’s family at this time.

CHAPTER 3

MALE PRIMACY 2: THE MAN’S RESPONSIBILITY

So we have started looking at marriage and the first chapter looked at how God created marriage. It is not a human invention. There is a purpose to marriage. We have to have commitment to marriage and there are responsibilities that we need to undertake in our marriages. This was all based on Genesis 1-2, in the creation. In the last chapter we saw that the man comes first in the marriage but in another sense man and woman are equal. It sounds like a contradiction but it is not. It is very important to hold those two things together. If you only uphold male primacy without the idea of the equality between the man and wife you will have a situation where the wife is abused. But if you uphold the equality between the man and the wife without male primacy you end up with feminism. From there we see that the work of both man and woman was to have dominion on the earth. This is why it is so important to stress that a father and a mother have authority over their children together. It is not the father having authority over his wife and his children but it is father and mother together. The mother’s word is just as good as the father’s word. They both need to be obeyed equally. Then there is fruitfulness. After that we see the purpose of marriage. The primary purpose is not to be alone. God said that it is not good for the man to be alone. This is not a one way thing. Someone was asking if it was only that the man would not be alone. But the thing with loneliness is when you come out of loneliness into fellowship, sharing, communion and companionship it is a two way thing. Sharing is not to happen in a one way context. Sharing is meant to be two way.

So inevitably it has to also be for the woman not to be alone either. But in the beginning there was only the man, therefore it says that it is not good for the man to be alone. So we have companionship. This then goes into commitment. There needs to be a covenant of companionship. It is not merely a matter of coming together to share our lives together. In marriage we are committed to our marriage partners in this agreement till death do us part and that is why marriage is sacred. When we lose this, marriage becomes no big deal, is degraded and becomes common place. Is it any wonder that we see the homosexual lobby destroying the traditional concept of marriage? Is it any wonder that marriages are dissolved just as quickly as there are entered into? Is it any wonder that it is rare to see people make it to their golden wedding anniversary when people have failed to grasp the point that marriage is not a contract but it is a covenant? And because marriage is a covenant, there are obligations. In Genesis we see that the woman was given to be a helper to the man, to compliment him and she is a home maker. And the man has a responsibility to leave and to cleave to his wife. Who initiates the leaving and cleaving? The man does! The woman is to follow the man’s leading. She also leaves and cleaves but the man takes the first step. So these are the things we are working throughout these chapters. In the last chapter we looked at the first point of male primacy from the female perspective in Genesis 3 with the fall of man. We saw that the woman has a great influence in the family. She is very powerful and can exert that influence for evil, ungodliness and deception or she can influence her family for godliness. And that is why scripture does not want women to lose their power. Scripture wants women to use their power, while recognising the male authority, and to utilise her influence in the right way. And the woman will utilise her power for godliness, and will be saved from deceiving her family, if she continues in faith and love with self-control.

But this chapter will deal with the aspect of the male, or the male’s authority in the marriage. There is such a great temptation from either gender when we look at the role of our partner within the marriage. When we look at what God requires of the wife it is easy for the man to think that he is going to make sure his wife understands her role. What we should rather do is to take these things on board for ourselves. I, as a husband, need to pay attention to the issues that will be covered in this chapter. My wife should pay attention to the issues covered in the last chapter. If I look at the issues addressed in the last chapter, concerning my wife, but do not take note and apply the issues that concern my leading in love then I will not encourage my wife to fulfil her role within the marriage. I should lead by example rather than ‘heavy-shepherding’ my wife. The same works the other way round when dealing with the husband’s role. The wife should not nag her husband when he is not performing his role. We should be able to take our roles on board for ourselves.

Genesis 3:1-12.

1Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” 2The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; 3but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.'” 4The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! 5For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make onewise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. 7Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.

8They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” 10He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.” 11And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.”

Look at what verse 1 says. The serpent comes to the woman but he says, “Indeed has God not said ‘You (guys) shall not eat from any tree of the garden?’”. The word ‘You’ is plural in this verse. In the second verse the woman tells the serpent “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat.” In the fifth verse the serpent says that “God knows that in the day you (guys) eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God knowing good and evil.” And look at what it says in verse 6. “When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.” If you put all these things together it seems to indicate that as the serpent was addressing the woman, and as the woman was speaking with the serpent, Adam was standing with her. Adam was there. If that was the case then why did Adam do nothing? I can imagine that at the beginning of this scene Adam would probably desire to be silent and allow the woman to speak for herself. But why did he refuse to step in and do something about her taking the fruit and eating of it. Eve was deceived but Adam disobeyed.

The man’s accountability to God.

Eve initiated the rebellion. It is not that Eve wanted to rebel, she thought she was doing the right thing. Adam went along with Eve, knowingly. Adam is accountable to God. So we have this scenario where a man and his wife eat of the fruit, they disobey God but the question is, whose fault is it? Who’s fault is the fall?

Romans 5:12-14

12Therefore, just as through one man, sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned, 13for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.

Who let sin into the world? Adam did, not Eve. Who committed the transgression?

1 Timothy 2:12-14

12But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet. 13For it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve. 14And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being deceived fell into transgression.

Eve fell into the transgression through being deceived. Adam simply transgressed. Adam knowingly sinned and Eve thought she was doing the right thing, though she was not. God put the fault of the fall upon Adam’s shoulders. Adam was accountable to God. Adam did not step up and did nothing to correct his wife or protect her.

Genesis 3:9

9Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”

After the fall, God comes back into the garden. God knows where Adam is but he wants Adam to open up and confess it. You see the same thing happens with Cain. God asks him, “Where is your brother?” Cain replies, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” God then told Cain exactly what he did. God knows.

Genesis 3:10-12

10He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.” 11And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.”

How typical of human beings! God wants Adam to own up to what he did but instead Adam plays the blame game. According to Adam, it was the woman’s fault and God’s fault! Adam gives his excuse but then he says “And I ate”. Then God goes to the woman because is not concerned about the excuse. God did not ask why Adam ate it. God’s question was whether Adam had eaten from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. All Adam needed to do was to say that he had eaten from it. Adam therefore confessed his sin and therefore God could move on. The same thing happens with the woman. God approaches the man first because the man is accountable to God. Adam is not accountable for the fact that Eve was being deceived per se. Ahab was not accountable for the fact that Jezebel rebelled. What Adam is accountable for is for his role in it and for the effect of his role on everything else, i.e. the dominion, the creation, the family etc. Adam is responsible for himself and his role. Was it God’s fault that Israel rebelled? No. Is God at fault because His people do not listen to Him? No. God did everything that was required of Him to do to cause His people to walk in His ways. The fault did not lie with God but lay with His people. In the same way a man cannot control his wife, in the sense of a mechanical relationship. He cannot press a button and cause his wife to do the right thing. The man must perform his role and if his wife then does not respond to his loving leadership the man’s side is free from guilt. Therefore a man is accountable for himself and how he lead his wife and family. His role is in relation to his marriage, his family and whatever other sphere of stewardship he is entrusted with. The man is accountable for all that.

1 Kings 16:29-34

31It came about, as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he married Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went to serve Baal and worshiped him. 32So he erected an altar for Baal in the house of Baal which he built in Samaria. 33Ahab also made the Asherah. Thus Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel than all the kings of Israel who were before him. 34In his days Hiel the Bethelite built Jericho; he laid its foundations with the loss of Abiram his firstborn, and set up its gates with the loss of his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the Lord, which He spoke by Joshua the son of Nun.

Ahab already had a problem before he married Jezebel. He was walking in the sins of Jeroboam. Ahab already had rebellion in his heart. Jezebel was the one in the marriage who heavily worshipped Ba’al, her father was named after Ba’al, Ethbaal meaning Ba’al is alive. Jezebel worshipped Asherah. Jezebel had the priests of Ba’al and of Asherah sitting at her table. Jezebel was a huge influence. But what does scripture say? Ahab made the Asherah. Ahab erected the altar to Ba’al and provoked the Lord God more than any of the other kings. Whose fault was it? It was Ahab’s fault.

1 Kings 18:16-19

16So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him; and Ahab went to meet Elijah.

17When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is this you, you troubler of Israel?” 18He said, “I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house have, because you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and you have followed the Baals.

Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him that Elijah was coming. Then Ahab went to meet Elijah. When Elijah confronts Ahab he does not mention Jezebel’s name once. Elijah rather challenges Ahab to measure up to his responsibility. Joshua told Israel that as for him and his house they would serve the Lord. The woman does have a great influence but the man has great responsibility and accountability to the Lord.

2 Chronicles 21:5-6

5Jehoramwas thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. 6He walked in the way of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab did (for Ahab’s daughter was his wife), and he did evil in the sight of the Lord.

Here we have the influence, strong influence, of Jehoram’s wife but who is doing the evil? Jehoram is because he is responsible. He is accountable to God. As husbands we cannot say, “It is my wife’s fault!” It is not my wife’s fault, it is my fault. I need to bear responsibility because I am the head of the home. Because of male primacy I have more responsibility. This does not mean that the wife has no responsibility, it simply means that I have more. I give an account for myself and my house. I cannot make my wife and my family follow the Lord but I can lead in such a way as to ensure it as much as possible. God did everything for Israel to follow His ways. When God took Israel to court, in Hosea, He remarks, “What more could I have done for My people that I did not do?” That is what God constantly stated through the prophets. God took His people to court in order to show them that His hands were clean. That is what every husband should do, and every parent. They are to show that their hands are clean and they have performed their function and their role and they were fulfilled according to God’s ways and His word. I am accountable for that! Adam did not live up to the responsibility. He was silent when he should have made a stand. He should have said the word and forbid their eating of the fruit. Instead, he was silent and followed his wife. Ahab did not fulfil his role. It was not even in his heart to do so, he was rebellious anyway. Jehoram did not fulfil his responsibility. He rather followed his wife. God then says, “You are doing the evil!”

A Leadership of Love and Cherishing

There is another aspect of this authority that I want to address in order to demonstrate how serious it is that we treat our wives and families in a godly way.

Matthew 24:45-51

45″Who then is the faithful and sensible slave whom his master put in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time? 46Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. 47Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 48But if that evil slave says in his heart, ‘My master is not coming for a long time,’ 49and begins to beat his fellow slaves and eat and drink with drunkards; 50the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know, 51and will cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

This parable carries with it a general truth. Jesus puts certain servants in charge of other servants. When a man is married in the faith he needs to recognise a very important truth.

Romans 16:1

1I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea;

Phoebe is a servant of the Church in Cenchrea.

Romans 16:3

3Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus,

Prisca is the wife and Aquila is the husband. Paul not only regards Aquila as a fellow worker but also Prisca.

Romans 16:12

12Greet Tryphaena and Tryphosa, workers in the Lord. Greet Persis the beloved, who has worked hard in the Lord.

Tryphaena and Tryphosa were both women and both classed as Christ’s workers.

What are our Christian wives to be regarded as? Our Christian wives are servants of the living God. Therefore, when a husband treats his wife abusively, what will God do to that man? What will God do to him when he beats his fellow servant and eats and drinks with the drunkards? Jesus says that He will assign such a man a place with the hypocrites, in the place of weeping and gnashing of teeth. God takes it very seriously that a man performs his role as the head of the home with respect for his fellow servants, especially of his wife. She is a fellow servant with him. But the man is a servant set over his fellow servant. He is accountable to God. “I gave you this servant for you to be steward over, give an accounting of your stewardship!” It is a scary thing because when it comes to marriage, with our wives, our husbands and our children, it is just so familiar. We live with these people day in and day out. We can forget just how sacred this thing and these relationships actually are. It is extremely holy and our role within marriage is highly significant to God. On the other hand, when you have a person that performs his service to God, whether that be as a husband, a wife, a parent, a church worker, whatever it is, if he performs it well, God will tell such a person, “Well done you good and faithful servant.” God wants us to succeed. That is why He writes about these things in His word.

The importance of dialogue with the wife.

Even though the man is the head and ultimately his word stands in the home, man should dialogue with his wife. Dialogue implies a two way communication. A man’s role within his marriage is not that of a dictator. The man is not dictating everything to his wife. The man makes decisions based on his dialogue with his wife. There is a difference.

Genesis 3:17

17Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’;

God says that the reason He is judging Adam is because Adam listened to the voice of his wife. So what does this indicate concerning a husband’s role? What should we learn from this? It may sound like men should not listen to their wives. “Don’t ever listen to your wives.” Then you would not ever need to dialogue with your wife, just dictate. Though it is true that a man can get into big trouble by listening to the voice of his wife this is not the whole story.

Genesis 16:1-6

1Now Sarai, Abram’s wife had borne him no children, and she had an Egyptian maid whose name was Hagar. 2So Sarai said to Abram, “Now behold, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Please go in to my maid; perhaps I will obtain children through her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. 3After Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian, her maid, and gave her to her husband Abram as his wife. 4He went in to Hagar, and she conceived; and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her sight.5And Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done me be upon you. I gave my maid into your arms, but when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her sight. May the Lordjudge between you and me.” 6But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your maid is in your power; do to her what is good in your sight.” So Sarai treated her harshly, and she fled from her presence.

Remember that God promised to give Abraham a son but Sarah was barren and both she and Abraham were old and getting older. Sarah thus has a wonderfully amazing idea! Sarah makes a plan because the husband does not seem to be doing anything about it. So Sarah thinks she needs to step up and initiate a solution otherwise it will never happen. Abraham did not protest at the idea of having a son through Hagar. Just like Adam, he went along with his wife’s advice. We need to understand that this was a common practice. When a wife was barren the husband would take a concubine and she would produce a child and as she was giving birth to the child she would sit between the knees of the wife as if the wife was having a child through the concubine. Therefore, it was nothing for Sarai to offer Hagar to Abraham in light of the culture they grew up in. But after Hagar conceived she started too think that she was better than Sarai. Therefore Sarai blames Abraham for Hagar’s treatment of her. But who’s idea was it? Sarai said that it was Abraham’s fault. But Abraham then tells his wife that she can do to Hagar whatever she wants to do. Abraham was not performing his function as the head of the home. Abraham is listening to the voice of his wife.

Genesis 21:8-14

8The child grew and was weaned, and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.

9Now Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking. 10Therefore she said to Abraham, “Drive out this maid and her son, for the son of this maid shall not be an heir with my son Isaac.” 11The matter distressed Abraham greatly because of his son. 12But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed because of the lad and your maid; whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her, for through Isaac your descendants shall be named. 13And of the son of the maid I will make a nation also, because he is your descendant.” 14So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar, puttingthem on her shoulder, and gave her the boy, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered about in the wilderness of Beersheba.

For a godly husband it is not as simple as saying that he will not listen to the voice of his wife at all. Abraham and Sarah have a child together, Isaac, and Isaac is the child of promise. When Sarah wanted to throw out Hagar and Ishmael, this distressed Abraham. Even though Ishmael was not the son of promise he was still Abraham’s son. But God told Abraham to listen to Sarah in whatever she tells him. Thus it is not as simple as saying that a man should not listen to his wife. What does this teach us? It teaches us that a man needs to dialogue with his wife. When a major decision needs to be made in the family, a man needs first to talk things through with his wife. But the man needs to be careful not to listen to his wife when the thing is outside of God’s will. But when the thing is in God’s will he must listen to his wife, otherwise he is not performing his function as a man accountable to God.

When a wife gives godly advice from God’s word and the husband refuses to submit to that advice, who is he refusing to submit to? He is refusing to submit to God. The reason being is because she has not spoken from herself, but she has spoken from the Lord. That means that our role as husbands is not to either reject or accept whatever our wives say unconditionally. A wife also needs to understand that sometimes it takes a guy a little while to discern if it is the right thing to do or not. Therefore the wife needs to respect that and be patient. But the man needs to seriously consider and seek the Lord’s will on the matter. Then based on the conversation and dialogue, through discussing the issues with his wife, then he will hopefully make the decision that will most be honouring to God. This is not like parents may be with children. When you tell your kid to make their room, and he says, “No, I don’t want to” you may respond by saying, “Don’t argue with me, just make your room!” That is dictatorship. The parents’ word is law. But it is not like that with a husband and a wife. They need to talk about things together.

Ephesians 5:18-21

18And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, 19speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;20always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; 21and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.

As we share God’s word with one another, male or female, when God is speaking to us either through a man or through a woman, and if we discern that it is the Lord speaking, then we need to submit. A man needs to dialogue with his wife because the Lord may be speaking through her. The Lord may not be speaking through her but how will the husband know if he merely dictates and does not talk through the issues and listen to what she has to say. The man needs to discern for he needs to give account to the Lord. It is a big responsibility.

The husband is a provider for the family.

Genesis 3:17-19

17Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’;

Cursed is the ground because of you;

In toil you will eat of it

All the days of your life.

18″Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you;

And you will eat the plants of the field;

19By the sweat of your face

You will eat bread,

Till you return to the ground,

Because from it you were taken;

For you are dust,

And to dust you shall return.”

The curse is on the ground. God tells Adam that in toil he shall eat from the ground all the days of his life. Both thorns and thistles the ground will grow for him. By the sweat of his face, Adam will eat bread till he returns to the ground. This is the curse that God spoke in view of Adam. This shows us that the husband has a responsibility to provide for the family. This does not mean that the wife cannot contribute towards the provision of the family. In Proverbs 31 the wife is also providing for the family. In Ruth there are maidservants working in the field with the men. They are both working in the farming industry. But even though both man and woman may provide for the family, the husband has the responsibility to provide. It rests on his shoulders but the husband and wife do it together. So the man is told that he has this responsibility to provide with a cursed land to work with. By the sweat of his face he will eat his bread till he returns to the ground.

1 Timothy 5: 4

4but if any widow has children or grandchildren, they must first learn to practice piety in regard to their own family and to make some return to their parents; for this is acceptable in the sight of God.

So you have a woman who’s husband dies. Paul says that instead the assembly providing for her, her family is to provide for her. She and her husband raised their children. Now it is time for the children to return the favour. The children need to care for the parents because the widow cannot look after herself.

1 Timothy 5:8

8But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

So if the man throws his mother out onto the street and tells her to fend for herself when she has no way to provide for herself, God says that such a man is worse than an unbeliever. But this is a general rule. “If any man does not provide for his own, especially for those of his household”; that extends to his wife and to his children. Thus, generally speaking, is it not the fact that a guy tends to feel the burden of providing for his family more than his wife? He feels he needs to make ends meet, and there is a certain amount of shame when his wife is providing for the family if he is not able. In that case he feels some sort of loss of masculinity or feels that he is not fulfilling his responsibility acutely. It is because it is the way God made us. That, of course, is generally speaking for there are always exceptions. People can be very different but from what I have seen it is the way things are.

Matthew 24:45-47

Jesus is obviously using this parable to speak of something spiritual. But it works in the physical realm also. The man is God’s servant put in charge of God’s other servant, his wife, to give them food at the proper time. As spiritual men we cannot only be concerned with the physical nurture of our wives and children but also concerning their spiritual nurture. In this parable Jesus is using a physical thing to speak of a spiritual thing. The husband has a responsibility. In verses 46-47 we see that there is a reward if we fulfil this role. It obviously applies to wives in regards to their motherly care over children but in the context of this chapter we see it applies even more so to husbands because of the primary place a husband occupies within a marriage. There are going to be rewards for faithful parents, faithful husbands and faithful leaders because we have a sphere of influence and authority that God has given us. In marriage it is that of a husband over a wife. In family it is the husband and wife over their children. In business it is of partners over their employees. In the assembly it is of elders over the flock. If we exercise authority in a biblical way, properly, responsibly and obediently God will reward us with greater responsibility and influence in the kingdom.

So it is a big call to be a husband but it is a blessed calling. This is why wives need to respect their husbands, not because husbands are better than their wives. In some cases wives need to respect their husbands despite their inferiority in certain things. In light of the creation we can see that God made man first, but also in light of the call that God has called the man to, we can see that God has called the man to make righteous decisions. The man must do everything possible to prevent apostasy within his family. The man is to preserve and to protect his family from the dangers. A man must dialogue and reason with his wife, he must understand her and hear what she is saying. He must then be open to what the Lord will reveal to him to discern if her counsel was from the Lord or not. The husband also has a responsibility for provision and to maintain the health and wholeness and shalom of the family for it rests on his shoulders even though both husband and wife may provide for the family together.

Christmas Braai

Boys and Ball

Boys in the imaginary Taxi

Salvador and Boys

Boys on Car

Noluncedo

Local River

Meal with Mis’s family

Our Home

Kids Eat Ice Cream

Kids in their imaginary Taxi

Margate

On the road

Our neighbour’s baby

Phumlani doing dishes

Salvador with kid at St Luke’s

Di at St Luke’s

St Luke’s

Thomas and Ayanda Farrar visit the home stead

Salvador with Gary at St Lukes

Visiting the pastors in Durban

January 2, 2014

2013 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 2,800 times in 2013. If it were a cable car, it would take about 47 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

December 5, 2013

Msindisi Newsletter # 111

SALVADOR & DIANNE’S MSINDISI MONTHLY

NUMBER: 111 Dec 2013

PO BOX 1481

VRYHEID 3100

KWAZULU NATAL

SOUTH AFRICA

+27 (0) 728311008

+27 (0) 815836288

Email: msindisi@gmail.com,

salv.di@gmail.com

KwaZulu Mission Website: http://www.kwazulumission.com

Dear friends and family,

Nov turned out to be a wonderful month of visitors and end of the year functions.

We had our first visitor to stay in our new home on the first of the month. Sam Naicker

(Girlies daughter) came to share a night with us and join in with kids club the next day, which was held at our place. Sam loves the Lord and has always given us huge support and encouragement in the work. It was especially fitting to have her as our first visitor.

Later on in the month, we were blessed to meet up with Tony and Maria from New Tribe missions for the day. Sadly, Sikelela who was to visit also was unable to make it at the last moment. However, we had a wonderful day with them. Meeting up with Jannie from Bethany Baptist church and also Phumlani and Thabi who managed to arrive later in the afternoon. Phumlani had been part of the translation work into Zulu of their foundations material. We hope to have them back in the future for a workshop as many people are showing an interest in the material.

Sharing at the two local crèches in town continued earlier in the month. Then later in the month, we were also called upon to bring singing and the gospel message to the parents of Carebear children for their end of the year graduation. Sal comes with a message each year. This is a special time for us, as the children are very dear to our hearts. This year he was also called upon to pray at the Joyland crèche end of year function.

Saturday morning kids club has been in our new home for the month. Celani is re-roofing the rondaval (where we usually meet) with tin so the timing as been perfect. We have been going through the books of the bible so the kids are familiar with the layout. This helps them when they want to follow teaching on a Sunday. We had our end of the year party early this year as we are away over Dec. The day of the party Sam visited again bringing her brother Daniel and his girlfriend with. Thank you for the party packs you put together for the kids.

On the 23rd of the month we had a thanks giving and celebration for all those who had so graciously given towards the addition to our hut. It was a fun time of relaxing, sharing together and eating meat from the braai. We were grateful that Sue could come with 4 of the smaller children from Springs to join in. They stayed over for 3 nights. There was much laughing and long walks down to the river. Phumlani wanted little Themba to remain so he could help with the remaining building of Gogo’s house. He didn’t protest but his eyes got very wide. Phumlani is just fitting the glass in the windows and putting on the door then Gogo will return to the kraal and her new home also. She has been staying with her other son while the work has been going on.

End of the month came with final cell group meetings for the year for both groups. The last meeting on the Friday night we had the pleasure of our friend Morne and his son Joshua from Joberg joining us as they had come to stay for 3nights. Sadly the weather was wet so he was unable to go out evangelizing with Sal and Phumlani Friday afternoon. However, in the morning they could visit Mkhulu and the others at Alpha. It was lovely having them with us. They ended up taking a small part of the kraal back with them by taking 2 of the 3 kittens.

We have recently seen photos of the kittens reclining on soft beds looking very content. They have been transported to another world !!!!!!! Zulu cats do not get such treatment. They are there to serve a purpose, which is to catch the mice!!

In the last newsletter you will remember that we had mentioned about the murder of our local farmer, Willem Weites. Some good news is that the police apprehended the criminals. Sadly the murderers were from one of the local communities, Ngenitsheni, one of the communities where Salvi has preached the gospel. When the police took the criminals in people from the community started a protest outside the police station. They wanted to make sure that the police would not grant them bail! Suffice it to say, it is probably safer for the crooks to be behind bars as the community was angry at the murder of their local farmer.

Now we are hitting the road and traveling to visit brethren around South Africa. At the moment we have started the first leg of our journey in Stanger. We are going to share with the special needs home tomorrow morning and Salvador will preach at Mark and MarieAnne’s assembly on Sunday. On Monday we head over to Kokstad and Salvador will do a teaching on Tuesday evening. On Wednesday we will head over to Port Elisabeth to visit Alan Mackenzie and the brethren at Bayshore assembly and the Chinese congregation. The following week we will stay with a Jewish believer and her family in Sedgefield after which we will visit Dave Royle and his family in Swellendam before heading to Cape Town. After Cape Town we will be in Bloemfontein, then in Springs to visit Allen and Sue Wells and Salvador will take the opportunity to pick up some Zulu audio bibles. After this, we will visit Jozua and Veronica in Secunda before having a few days rest house sitting in Vryheid.

With Dec on us now we would welcome your prayers for:

Safe traveling mercies as we travel around South Africa, Salvador will be preaching in different locations .We will be meeting up with supporters and friends. Please keep us in your prayers. The roads are hectic at this time of year !

That Phumlani and Thabi will be strong in their marriage and the ministry.

That the different cell groups will fix their eyes on the Lord and will return next year to share wonderful things He has taught them.

That the messages which Salvador will be sharing will be timely words from the Lord.

Give thanks for the amazing providence from our Lord over the year and always.

For the Salvation of Gogo.

We would like to thank you all for your faithfulness, love and support you have shown to us and the on going work of sharing the good news of our Lord and Saviour.

All praise and thanks go to HIm.

Shalom, peace to you all

Salvi and Di

CHAPTER 2

MALE PRIMACY 1: THE WOMAN’S INFLUENCE

In this chapter, we will examine the first point taken from the creation narrative in Genesis. The first point concerned the fact that God made the man first. There is a male primacy in marriage. God has given the man a responsibility and placed him in a position of authority. The wonderful thing about the Bible it that the Bible supplies us with a real reason why man has that place. When you look at Greek society at the time of Paul, they did not have this Biblical view of why men occupied that position. Therefore, the Greeks invented numerous reasons. One ancient Greek philosopher called Aristotle, who lived several hundred years before Yeshua, said that the reason why men should have roles of leadership and ruling is that women are inferior. According to his view, a woman is deficient in mental and emotional capacities. In his view, women should be kept in the kitchen and stay there. Some Greeks would say that women were the biggest corrupting influence on mankind and the reason why men fall morally is women. However, the Bible does not have that view. The woman is the homebuilder and Jewish Rabbis believed that because God “built” the woman from the side of the man she was endowed with more intelligence than the man. That is because the word for build in Hebrew is very similar to the word for understanding and discernment. Just as God used intelligence to create the universe, so the woman has this intelligence for building a home. Therefore, in some way she is mimicking God in creation.

Therefore, the Bible gives us the understanding as to how men are to have the place of primacy in marriage without women losing their dignity and honour. In fact, the Bible states that because a woman is a weaker vessel the man must live with her in an understanding way and she is to have honour as a co-heir. Therefore, the Biblical view was different to the Greek view surrounding Israel at the time of the New Testament. This because the Bible finds its basis in creation. During chapters two and three “Male Primacy” will be somewhat examined in two contexts. Chapter 2 will consider women’s influence because a woman can have a great influence in the family and in the marriage. A woman is not in the corner somewhere or to be regarded as a slave, her influence is great. Chapter 4 will consider the man’s authority. In writing about these aspects of headship in the home, this is not to say that a man does not have any influence for he does. Neither am I saying that a woman has no authority in the home. As a parent, she does have authority. A father and mother both wield authority. This is not the Greek idea held by some in Biblical era that the man was to treat his wife like a daughter and he was to be her father. Rather the man and wife together rule the home. However, the man does have a special authority nonetheless within the marriage and the woman has an incredible influence. A woman can be the strength behind the greatest man and behind the wicked man. The basis for our appraisal of this issue of male primacy will lie in Genesis 3. We are looking at the female influence first because the serpent did not address Adam but came to Eve, even though Adam was with her.

Genesis 3:1-7

1Now the serpent was craftier than any beast of the field, which the Lord God had made. Moreover, he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” 2The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; 3but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.'” 4The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! 5For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. 7Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.

According to Genesis 2, when God made the man He gave him the job to tend the garden. This was before God built the woman. In fact, it says in Genesis 2:16-17:

16The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; 17but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”

God commanded the man before the woman existed so therefore who told Eve about the commandment? Presumably, Adam told Eve what God had said. Moreover, the Jewish Rabbis believed that Adam put the extra law on, concerning not touching the fruit, as a hedge around God’s law. They meant by this that just as a hedge protects a property and make it hard to transgress; therefore, Adam gave an extra law in order to stop Eve transgressing God’s law. For if Eve did not touch the fruit, neither would she be able to eat the fruit. However, the main point at this time is that God spoke to the man concerning this commandment. Satan, however, when he possesses the snake does not go to the man. He goes to the woman. This is not to say that God will not speak to the woman first today. Gabriel first went to Mary before he was sent to Joseph. However, in the beginning, God spoke to the man but Satan spoke to the woman. The word for snake in Hebrew is the word, “Nachash” and this word is very similar to two other words. The word for bronze, or copper, is “Nocheshet” as a shiny, glowing, luminous type of metal. It leads one to wonder whether this original serpent had this type of colouring and appearance, one who glowed, shone, and therefore was attractive. Yet the word “Nachash” also means ‘divination’ or ‘fortune telling’. Therefore, there is a connection with witchcraft here concerning this serpent. Moreover, the serpent is crafty. He is clever. The word crafty here is “Arum”, the same as the word “Arumim” in verse 25 when it says that the man and his wife were both naked (Arumim). So through Satan’s craftiness, the woman who wants to be wise ends up seeing that she is naked. There is this play on words that goes on. The serpent is indeed very crafty and for some reason he goes to the woman.

The first thing Satan does when addressing the woman is to portray God as being incredibly tight-fisted. He portrays God as one who would not want Adam and Eve to have any enjoyment what so ever. For Satan says to the woman, “Indeed has God said ‘You shall not eat from ANY tree in the garden?’” Literally the word for ‘any’ in Hebrew is the word “kol” meaning every. Literally saying that from every single tree in the garden they were not to eat. To paraphrase it we could say “Did God really say that you are not allowed to eat anything at all?” What did God say? “You are not allowed to eat from just that one tree. In all this garden full of trees you are not allowed to eat from just that one.” And Satan says, “God does not want you to have anything!” Is not that what Satan does? He tries to make God look like the most terrible master you could ever have. The woman tells the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat;”. Literally; “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we will eat” or “we are eating”. “but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’” There are two things to note here. Firstly, Satan hyper-exaggerates the prohibition God gave but Eve follows Satan’s lead. She also exaggerates what God stated, probably because of her husband, but nevertheless she exaggerates God’s prohibition. It is more than likely that Adam changed God’s word but Eve speaks along these lines to Satan. Now because God’s word has been changed then Satan contradicts God.

The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! 5For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Adam and Eve were going to know things they never knew before. In scripture God speaks Laban who is going after Jacob who ran away from him with his wives, Laban’s daughters. God tells Laban that he must not speak to Jacob good or evil. You cannot say anything for him or against him at all. Anything on this side and anything on that side. Not much else left for Laban to say! Jacob is not much of a good guy, pretty much a cheat and a swindler and yet Jacob is known by God and God has chosen him. God is going to change Jacob and make of him an Israel. Laban does not know this. That knowledge is only reserved for God in His eternal and omniscient nature. Some knowledge is only reserved for God alone. And in eating this fruit of the trees of the knowledge of good and evil there is this sense that they are going to know something that is only reserved for God to know. After eating this fruit we can see mankind grows in this knowledge and understanding by himself, apart from God. When mankind built the Tower of Babel God said that if mankind were to continue nothing would be impossible for them. So basically humans are becoming their own gods. Adam and Eve are going to lose their innocence and they are going to know so much more than God wanted them to know. God wanted them to know what He was going to educate them in but they wanted to know for themselves. They wanted their own eyes to be opened.

Satan said, “your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Both those things happened! We see that in verse 7 their eyes were opened and in verse 22 it says “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil”. Satan promised things that came to pass but at the heart of it was a lie! God said they would surely die on the day they ate from it and Satan said they surely would not die. But out of eating death came into the world. The woman saw that the tree was good for food, it was a delight to the eyes and the tree was desirable to make one wise. All things women like: food, things that are nice to the eye and knowledge. It seems to make sense to eat from this tree. She gives this fruit to who husband who is with her and he eats and then the eyes of both of them are open. So they see they are naked and they have lost their innocence. It is like a child who realises that he is naked. He always knew that he was naked but then it becomes different when he grows up. He knows, he is embarrassed, and he is ashamed. Adam and Eve are ashamed. Before their eyes were opened they could have this uninterrupted communion, this total openness, this total sharing and then suddenly there is a barrier. God actually wants a man and his wife to be totally naked together. In other words He wants them to share fully with one another so that they do not have to hide anything. But now Adam and Eve are covering up, they are covering up their shame. But it is the woman who gives this fruit to her husband. She was a major influence in the fall. In the next chapter we will see that the main reason that the fall happened was not because of Eve but because of Adam. Nevertheless she is the major influence in Adam’s sin.

Therefore in verse 13 God says:

“What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me,”

You see it with Eve and you see it with Adam, they are both the same. “It is somebody else’s fault!” But God is not interested in the excuse. God only wants to know, “Did you eat?” Thus she admits, “And I ate.” “That is all I need to know!” So then God speaks to the serpent and He does not ask the serpent what he did. God just curses him.

“Because you have done this, cursed are you more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field;”

Notice that all creation comes under the curse but he is cursed more than all cattle and beasts of the field. And God continues:

“on your belly you will go, and dust you will eat all the days of your life; and I will put enmity between you and the woman,”

This is speaking on two levels. On the one level, people are scared of snakes, especially women. It works on that level but it also works on the level of Satan. Satan hates women. And in fact the Antichrist does not regard the desire of women. God continues by says that there with be enmity:

“between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.”

What is the seed of the woman? The word seed in Hebrew is “Zerah” and it means descendant. When God tells Abraham, “In your seed all nations will be blessed” You can translate that also as “In your descendant (singular) all nations will be blessed” or as “In your descendants (plural) all nations will be blessed.” All these translational alternatives are derived from the Hebrew word “Zerah” in the singular. It can speak of your immediate descendants, in terms of your own children, or it can speak of their children’s children’s children’s children. It has a wide range of meaning. This seed starts with Eve’s own sons. Eve gives birth to Cain first and then to Abel. Cain is the first born but God rejects Cain and his offering. However God accepts Abel and his offering. Cain then kills Abel who is the seed. And that is why in Genesis 4:25 it says:

“Adam had relations with his wife again; and she gave birth to a son, and named him Seth, for, she said, “God has appointed me another seed in the place of Abel, for Cain killed him.””

God has given this seed and appointed this seed to Eve. Seth is her seed, the seed of the woman because Cain killed the seed who was Abel. God had chosen Abel and now God appoints the seed, Seth, in Abel’s place. Ultimately this is pointing to Yeshua who is THE seed of the woman, not only as Eve’s descendant but He was also born of a virgin too. He is the seed of the woman. Yeshua will crush the head of the serpent. So we have this concept of godly offspring, godly children, godly descendants, ultimately leading us to the Messiah Himself. But Eve was a major in Adam’s fall, bringing sin into the world and death through sin. But through Adam and Eve together they give birth to sinners. We are born sinners. The evil impulse is with us from birth. So today you are going to have those sinners either being saved and becoming godly or them being brought up in an ungodly way. A woman has a major influence in either of these outcomes but there is this hope set before Eve that there will be this godly seed coming out of the woman. So God says to the serpent “between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise you on the head and you shall bruise him on the heel.” God is going to undo what these three parties did with the fault and blame lying with Adam.

God says in verse 16:

“To the woman He said, “I will greatly multiply Your pain (literally anguish or trouble) in childbirth, in pain you will bring forth children; yet your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.””

So there is this idea that the promise of a godly seed has to come through great anguish and suffering, especially for the woman. After Yeshua came into the world the innocents were slaughtered in Bethlehem. When Yeshua died on the cross a sword pierced His mother, Miriam’s, heart. Miriam was not suffering with Yeshua but carried her own suffering as a mother. Yeshua took on the sin of the world and suffered in that context alone. But God also says that Eve’s desire will be for her husband and he would rule over her.

Your DESIRE will be for your husband and he will RULE over you.

The word ‘rule’ in Hebrew is the word “Mashal” that is used in the book of proverbs to speak of a proverb and it means a parable, a proverb, a rule or a ruler.

In Genesis 4:6-7 God says to Cain after he killed his brother:

“Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.”

The word “master” in these verses in Hebrew is “mashal”. It is the same word. Sin wants to come overcome Cain and take over. Cain, however needs to put sin in its place and overcome that sin. When we apply the understanding of God’s words to Eve we can see that God was implying a power struggle. Yet God gives the advantage to the man. God says “Your desire will be for your husband”, “You are going to want to be in charge, assert your own authority, try to impose your own will but the man is going to put you in your place.” This is the very thing that has happened throughout history in patriarchal societies. In this power struggle men, even harshly, have put women in their place. That is not the way it was in the beginning because in the beginning the man and the woman ruled together. The woman also accepted her husband’s headship but after the fall the woman does not want to accept that. She wants to have her own way and the man comes down heavy on her. This word “mashal” is used of Joseph when he becomes ruler over Egypt under Pharaoh. When his brothers arrive scripture says that Joseph is the “Mashal”. Joseph puts one of his own brothers in jail showing that, as “mashal” he has an authority to punish. This idea of “Mashal” as one who wields power to punish has been sadly replayed throughout humanities disgusting history of men abusing women. But this is a product of the fall. This is not what God wants but God predicted the power struggle and given men the advantage which has enabled men to do this.

When we have redemption is somewhat a returning to the beginning where the wife respects her husband’s position volitionally and the husband does not oppress his wife but rather lovingly leads her. The husband elevates his wife. This is the biblical way and what God requires of us. So we have this power struggle and this female influence for evil, in terms of Eve’s role in the fall, or for good, in terms of the promise that Eve would have and raise godly offspring. But how does this play out in the rest of Scripture? This chapter will not be able to look at every example but will touch on some examples of female influence for evil and for good.

The Woman’s Influence for Evil.

The woman can have a tremendous influence in leading men into sin and apostasy.

1 Kings 16:29-33.

29Now Ahab the son of Omri became king over Israel in the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years.30Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord more than all who were before him. 31It came about, as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he married Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went to serve Baal and worshiped him. 32So he erected an altar for Baal in the house of Baal which he built in Samaria. 33Ahab also made the Asherah. Thus Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel than all the kings of Israel who were before him.

We are not going to major on Ahab for he will be addressed in the following chapter but Ahab is responsible for the apostasy. Ahab already had rebellion in his heart but he marries Jezebel, from the area of Sidon today named ‘Lebanon’. In Sidon people worshipped Asherah, the mother of Ba’al. Other names for Asherah are Ashtaroth, Astarte, Ishtar, Easter, Innana, Aphrodite and Venus.) All these goddesses embody the spirit of Babylon. They are the seminal manifestations of what scripture calls, the mother of harlots. Asherah was a goddess of prostitutes and her priestesses were prostitutes. Then there was Ashtaroth’s son, Ba’al, who was the god of lighting. But throughout the land of Canaan there were many Ba’als but they all had their own priests and child sacrifice was committed. So after Ahab marries Jezebel he then he not only starts worshipping Ba’al but he startes building a house or temple for Ba’al. People were already worshipping Ba’al unofficially but Ahab makes it official. It becomes the state religion. This is the influence of Jezebel.

1 Kings 18:16-19

16So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him; and Ahab went to meet Elijah. 17When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is this you, you troubler of Israel?” 18He said, “I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house have, because you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and you have followed the Baals. 19Now then send and gather to me all Israel at Mount Carmel, together with 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of the Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.”

Ahab is the one who is troubling Israel but these prophets eat at Jezebel’s table. When you look at what Elijah says you would think that Ahab is the mind behind this apostasy but it is very apparent in Scripture that Jezebel is a very strong influence on Ahab’s life.

1 Kings 18:40-42

40Then Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal; do not let one of them escape.” So they seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there. 41Now Elijah said to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of the roar of a heavy shower.” 42So Ahab went up to eat and drink. But Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he crouched down on the earth and put his face between his knees.

The Lord through Elijah has already shown Himself to be the true God and Ba’al to be a lie. So when Ahab sees that Jehovah is the true God what does he do? Ahab does what Elijah tells him to. “Go up and eat. Celebrate, the rain is coming.” Ahab goes up and eats. He listens to Elijah. It does not mean that Ahab is now following God but he listens to Elijah.

1 Kings 18:44-45

44It came about at the seventh time, that he said, “Behold, a cloud as small as a man’s hand is coming up from the sea.” And he said, “Go up, say to Ahab, ‘Prepare your chariot and go down, so that the heavy shower does not stop you.'” 45In a little while the sky grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy shower. And Ahab rode and went to Jezreel.

Elijah tells Ahab to prepare his chariot and go down, to beat the rain. So what does Ahab do? He does what Elijah tells him to, at least eventually.

1 Kings 19:1-3

1Now Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me and even more, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.” 3And he was afraid and arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.

So who is the head of Ahab’s house? Ahab is. He is still has the responsibility to be accountable for his house but Jezebel acts like the head of the house. Jezebel is not the head of the house but she is acting like the head of the house. That is the difference. Jezebel however is a huge influence over Ahab. She is not an influence over an innocent person but over a godless person. Like attracts like. But there is this influence of the woman nonetheless.

Look at Ahab and Jezebel’s daughter.

2 Kings 8:16-18

16Now in the fifth year of Joram the son of Ahab king of Israel, Jehoshaphat being then the king of Judah, Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah became king. 17He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. 18He walked in the way of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab had done, for the daughter of Ahab became his wife; and he did evil in the sight of the Lord.

The scripture is indicating that the reason Jehoram walked in the way of Ahab is because he married the daughter of Ahab. The daughter of Ahab is spoken about in verses 25-27:

25In the twelfth year of Joram the son of Ahab king of Israel, Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah began to reign. 26Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Athaliah the granddaughter of Omri king of Israel. 27He walked in the way of the house of Ahab and did evil in the sight of the Lord, like the house of Ahab had done,because he was a son-in-law of the house of Ahab.

There is this influence of the woman again. She is highly influential. The woman is very powerful. They say that the man is the head and the woman is the neck that turns the head. That is what they say. Jezebel is brought up again in Revelation 2:20-21:

20But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. 21I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality.

So we need to put something straight before we move on. When the woman is trying to control her husband, that is not the Jezebel spirit. It is part of Jezebel but it is not the Jezebel spirit. It is the Eve spirit, it goes back to the fall. “Your desire will be for your husband.” Jezebel acts in accordance with this but she seduces her husband and she seduces God’s servants. She is out to deceive. That is Jezebel. She leads people astray and she is producing ungodly offspring. That is her influence. And she does it in a controlling way. Look at what she is doing here. She is calling herself a prophetess. She is not called by God as a prophetess, she rather takes it upon herself. Secondly she teaches and leads God’s bond-servants astray. She has not only assumed a prophetic role but also a teaching role. She is teaching them. And we will deal with that in due course but let us now look at the influence of godly women.

The Woman’s Influence for Godliness.

In the Scripture there are some very godly women, especially prophetesses. There are eight women in the bible specifically called prophetesses.

2 Kings 11:1-3.

1When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she rose and destroyed all the royal offspring. 2But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah and stole him from among the king’s sons who were being put to death, and placed him and his nurse in the bedroom. So they hid him from Athaliah, and he was not put to death. 3So he was hidden with her in the house of the Lord six years, while Athaliah was reigning over the land.

There is a woman who steps in to save the life of a young boy who will be king one day. She is preserving a godly offspring and when the boy became king he followed God’s ways as long as Jehoiada the priest was alive and teaching him. According to 2 Chronicles 22:11 Jehoiada was married to Jehosheba and therefore they both brought Jehoash up together. As long as Jehoiada was alive the king did well and followed God.

2 Kings 12:1-3

1In the seventh year of Jehu, Jehoash became king, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Zibiah of Beersheba. 2Jehoash did right in the sight of the Lord all his days in which Jehoiada the priest instructed him.3Only the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.

So there were two women having influence in that child’s life.

2 Kings 14:1-3

1In the second year of Joash son of Joahaz king of Israel, Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah became king. 2He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jehoaddin of Jerusalem. 3He did right in the sight of the Lord, yet not like David his father; he did according to all that Joash his father had done.

There is yet another woman who has a huge influence over another king’s life, Joash.

2 Kings 15:1-4

1In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Azariah son of Amaziah king of Judah became king. 2He was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. 3He did right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father Amaziah had done. 4Only the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.

Godly offspring. The woman a major role in raising godly offspring, godly seed. Even though Eve led Adam into sin, even though she was a huge influence for sin, Eve was promised that she would rear godly offspring and therefore the woman also has the potential to raise godly children.

Listing the Prophetesses.

The Bible also records godly women who are specifically referred to as prophetesses. You have Miriam, the sister of Moses, who leads the women in praising God when God granted Israel deliverance. Then there is Deborah who we will read about as she is the only female judge in scripture. She is the only prophetess in scripture who has a leading role in the society. This is highly irregular and unusual. Judges in scripture did two major things. They gave God’s decision on certain matters or contentions. They rendered God’s judgement but they also delivered God’s people. Deborah, as a female judge, is not directly involved in delivering God’s people. She works alongside Barak, a man who is to lead the armies and bring deliverance. So she works in partnership. All the other judges both judge and deliver. Deborah is different.

Judges 4:4-7

4Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time. 5She used to sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the sons of Israel came up to her for judgment. 6Now she sent and summoned Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh-naphtali, and said to him, “Behold, the Lord, the God of Israel, has commanded, ‘Go and march to Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men from the sons of Naphtali and from the sons of Zebulun. 7I will draw out to you Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his many troops to the river Kishon, and I will give him into your hand.'”

Deborah is under a palm tree and palms are a major symbol connected with Yeshua’s return and this we will look at in chapter 4 of this book. But when Yeshua returns men and women in Christ today will be redeemed and glorified and will together rule and reign with Messiah. But how does Barak reply?

Judges 4:8

8Then Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go.”

What is Barak doing? He is failing to live up to his role as head of the army and deliverer. He says, “I will go if you go.” So what does Deborah say in verse 9?

9She said, “I will surely go with you; nevertheless, the honor shall not be yours on the journey that you are about to take, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hands of a woman.” Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh.

And the woman was called Yael and she killed Sisera in a very sneaky way. She took Sisera into the tent and said, “Turn aside to me, do not be afraid.” He asks her for water but she gave him milk. Nice glass of milk to refresh, sooth and relax him. She covers him with a rug, sends him to sleep and then she got a tent peg and drove it through his head. That is the way she dealt with Sisera. She did not fight on the battle field but she got the glory because the man failed to perform his role the way that he was called to do it!

So there is Miriam, Deborah and there is another prophetess called Huldah in 2 Kings 22:10-20. The king, Josiah, sends a group including the high priest Hilkiah and scribes to enquire of the Lord. And they come to this woman called Huldah. She does not wield spiritual authority as Deborah did. She merely pronounces the words of the Lord in prophetic utterance. These are the three prophetesses in the Tenack, commonly referred to as the Old Testament. But then in the New Testament you have a lady called Hannah in the Temple, Luke 2:36. The wonderful thing about Yeshua’s birth is this: when Yeshua was born there are two witnesses to His Messiahship in the temple who prophesied in the temple. One is Simeon and the other is Hannah. Then the last four prophetesses are the four virgin daughters of the evangelist Philip, the one who witnessed to the Ethiopian eunuch. You read about them in Acts 21:9. You do not read their prophecies, therefore not all prophecy was equal to scripture. Therefore there is a validity to prophecy being manifested today without thinking that it somehow undermines the authority of scripture, or somehow denies that the canon of Scripture is a closed canon. Prophecy should never override scripture. So from this we learn that women can prophesy. God accepts women prophesying. Prophecy is a form of preaching and carries with it some level of authority when it is judged to be from the Lord. When a person prophesies there are saying that the Holy Spirit is saying this. How does this square with the idea of male primacy? Even Deborah was judging though she was a prophetess.

1 Timothy 2:8.

8Therefore I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and dissension.

When the men prayed they would lift up their hands. So what Paul is saying is that when the men lifted up their hands he wanted their hands to be holy, without wrath and dissension. He did not want bickering, backstabbing or fighting in the assembly. He wanted the men to lift up their hands in holiness.

1 Timothy 2:9-15

9Likewise, I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly garments, 10but rather by means of good works, as is proper for women making a claim to godliness. 11A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness. 12But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet. 13For it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve. 14And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression. 15But women will be preserved through the bearing of children if they continue in faith and love and sanctity with self-restraint.

Verse starts with the word “likewise” which means that Paul was looking at establishing peace among the assemblies, without wrath and dissension. Paul did not want the women drawing attention to themselves. However this is not only about propriety and modesty in clothing. Certainly women should not be dressed immodestly but a woman can dress modestly and still glory in the hat she wears to church or the kind of clothes she has. The thing a woman should pay the most attention to is the heart. Fifteen centuries ago there was a preacher called Chrysostom. The called him the golden mouth because of how he preached. Chrysostom said concerning women’s attire to the assembly something to the effect of; “Do not come to the assembly as if you are going to a night club. You have met up to pray, not to go to a dance. Come to pray, dress to pray.” Do not draw attention to yourself. Do not try to show how good you look. Rather show by means of good works your godly characteristics. Do not elevate yourself in the way you look externally, rather do good works in godliness. You claim to be godly, show it! But Paul continues by saying that a woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness. Women are not allowed to teach or have authority over a man. It does not say a woman is not allowed to teach in any context whatsoever. It concerns her teaching over a man. Bible teaching in expounding scripture carries with it a high level of authority. Rendering decisions in the assembly concerning discernment, discipline, spiritual direction is spiritually authoritative. A woman may prophesy but teaching and authority over the assembly belongs to men. And the basis of Paul’s stance is two fold. Firstly it goes back to the order of creation. This was before the fall when there was no sin to distort the roles, Adam was made first and therefore headship belongs to the man and not to the woman. Secondly, the woman was deceived and fell into transgression whereas Adam flatly disobeyed.

What does it mean that a woman must receive instruction quietly? How can a woman prophesy if she is to be quiet? And there are bible teachers who would say that women should not be allowed to pray, prophesy or speak in a meeting at all. I believe it comes down to this:

If you look at Jesus, in Luke 10:38-42, Yeshua does something very radical. Miriam sits at Yeshua’s feet. Sitting at the feet of a Rabbi was the posture of a disciple. Jewish rabbis said that the man of a house should invite Jewish sages or Rabbis to come into his house and he should sit in the dust to drink in the sages’ words. Then his house would be blessed. The disciple would sit at the feet of his rabbi but rabbis never took female disciples! But what is Yeshua doing? He is breaking that convention. In the synagogue men were downstairs, involved in the teaching but women and children were upstairs. They could listen in but they were not involved in the teaching process. They were on the outside. It was the men who discussed Torah. The men would do the teaching. With Yeshua and in the early Jewish assemblies, women came in to learn as disciples. And the teaching that a rabbi would give to his disciples or in the synagogues was not in the style of a lecture.

Acts 19:8

8And he entered the synagogue and continued speaking out boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God.

The word “reasoning” in Greek is the word “dialegomai” and it means to dialogue, discuss, argue or dispute. It means that as Paul was persuading them of the Kingdom of God they could take issue with him and debate. It is an interactive teaching method. This is a very different way than people preach in churches today. If someone yelled out an objection from the back of the pews it would be frowned upon. But not so in the assemblies and synagogues of the apostolic era. They would be debating and reasoning together. In verse 9 it shows us that this was not only Paul’s teaching style in the synagogue in reaching unsaved Jews. He continues teaching the disciples in this manner for two years in the school of Tyrannus. Presumably Paul would assert something, someone else may shout out and ask how could that be right in view of certain scriptures and Paul would hit back. Those in the discussion were all teaching for they were asserting and interpreting scripture with a tone of authority and affecting the teaching coming out of the rabbi. So when the messianic assembly is established in Acts the believers find themselves in a new situation where women are downstairs with the men. Women are in the assembly learning with the men because women are accounted as disciples. Therefore the issue that Paul confronts is “How should a woman learn?” A woman must learn quietly. A woman must not get into the debate and assert her own authority. It would be unbecoming for a woman to shout out, “That cannot be right, how can you say this because the scripture clearly teaches…?! The woman is not to be in the debate.

1 Corinthians 11:2-10

2Now I praise you because you remember me in everything and hold firmly to the traditions, just as I delivered them to you. 3But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ. 4Every man who has something on his head while praying or prophesying disgraces his head.5But every woman who has her head uncovered while praying or prophesying disgraces her head, for she is one and the same as the woman whose head is shaved. 6For if a woman does not cover her head, let her also have her hair cut off; but if it is disgraceful for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, let her cover her head. 7For a man ought not to have his head covered, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man. 8For man does not originate from woman, but woman from man; 9for indeed man was not created for the woman’s sake, but woman for the man’s sake. 10Therefore the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels. 11However, in the Lord, neither is woman independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. 12For as the woman originates from the man, so also the man has his birth through the woman; and all things originate from God.

Scripture states that women should wear head coverings in a particular context in the assembly. Some people say that the covering is long hair, others a hat or a veil but what ever it is, Paul says that a woman should wear a covering at the time that she prays or prophesies in the meeting. It is in the assembly for Paul later states that if anyone is likely to be contentious they have no other practice nor did the assemblies of God. So women may prophesy in the meeting with their head covered as an authority on their head. Then in 1 Corinthians 14 Paul then looks at how the assembly should judge prophecy.

1 Corinthians 14:31-35

31For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all may be exhorted; 32and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets; 33for God is not a God of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints. 34The women are to keep silent in the churches; for they are not permitted to speak, but are to subject themselves, just as the Law also says. 35If they desire to learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is improper for a woman to speak in church.

We have already established that a woman may prophecy in the assembly. This is not teaching but giving a specific word by the Spirit to the assembly, saying “I believe the Spirit is telling us this.” The spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. Therefore no one may turn round and say that they could not control it but had to speak. Paul already stated in verse 29 that two or three prophets were to speak in the assembly and the others were to pass judgement. So the above verses lie in the context of judging prophecy. This is why it says in verse 34 that the women were to keep silent in the assemblies, for they were not permitted to speak but were to subject themselves. If they desired to learn anything they were to ask their own husbands at home. What is Paul saying? When a prophecy is given it should be tested and judged. But when a prophecy is being tested and judged a woman is to keep silent in the assembly. If she has a question, such as “how can this be true in light of this verse…?” she is to ask her husband at home. The woman is not permitted to be part of this debate but rather to be silent. A woman can share, a woman can prophesy, a woman can pray and lead prayers, a woman can minister but authoritative ministry over the rest of the assembly belongs to spiritual and godly men.

So what do we have here? We have female influence respecting male primacy. A woman is permitted to be a huge influence, to hear from the Lord and to relay that to the assembly but she is not to be part of the discernment process of the local assembly other than to raise questions at home. And the fact that she is asking her questions at home shows that her involvement in debating doctrine is becoming her in the context of the family. She can and must debate her husband concerning doctrinal issues, still respecting his headship. The husband is to reason with her. The man and his wife are therefore to have their own interactive bible study. They must work these issues out. God has put his order in the assembly and in marriage. In the assembly women had this great freedom to be disciples in the assemblies learning with the men. The question was not, “were women allowed to be instructed with the men?” The question concerned how they were to be instructed. Paul did not want this new freedom for women to consist of a rejection of male primacy.

In conclusion, a woman is highly influential. A man should want to please his wife but the man must be the head, lovingly leading his wife. So how is the woman going to be a godly influence? Scripture indicates that a woman is to teach her children (Proverbs 1:8 “Hear, my son, your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching”. The word “teaching” here is law, so she is teaching her children the Law of God). She is going to be an influence. The question is, “What kind of influence is she going to be?” She cannot teach men but she is teaching her own children and debating with her husband so she can influence her own husband.

1 Timothy 2:13-15

13For it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve. 14And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression. 15But women will be preserved through the bearing of children if they continue in faith and love and sanctity with self-restraint.

Paul preserves male primacy, so what happens when women influence their husbands in their reasoning things out or in the teaching of her children? Paul does not want the men to lord it over their wives, putting them in subjugation. What he wants is the woman to put herself in submission. This is different. A woman has the ability to be deceived and to deceive. A man has that also but it is accentuated with the woman. A woman is very sensitive. The woman was created sensitive and man was created to give protection but with the fall women became over sensitive and men became insensitive. A woman can hear from God first and this is seen in scripture numerous times. Abigail was much more sensitive than Nabal. But women can also hear from deceiving spirits first also. A man’s antenna can be too short, picking up a few channels but a woman’s antenna can be too long and pick up the whole lot.

Paul is not saying that a man cannot be deceived but is saying that the woman was deceived and because of this made his second argument of why women do not have authority in the assembly. If this is the case then what about her discussions with her husband or her teaching of children? How can she stop herself from being like Eve in the fall or from being another Jezebel or a Athaliah? How can she make sure she will be like Eve in producing godly seed? How can she be saved from going down that path? A woman will be preserved through the bearing of children; in having children they will be preserved and saved from being this influence of evil, IF they continue in faith (or faithfulness to God), in love (putting her children, family and ultimately God first) and sanctity (holiness, decency and respect in a sanctified life to God) with self-restraint. Not with the husband’s restraint over her. Not with self will. But with her own self-restraint. God is not calling the man to put his wife in submission. Neither is God calling the woman to manipulate or force her husband to love her. God is calling the man to love his wife and God is calling the woman to submit to her husband. It is something you give, it is not something you take. If the woman does this and focuses on the inward more than the outward, does not elevate herself but elevates God and her husband, then she will raise godly offspring, like Judah’s godly kings referred to earlier in the chapter.

Kid’s club meets in our house

Meeting with Tony and Maria from New Tribes Mission

Kid’s club

Picking kids up

Care bear creche

Thanks giving braai

Educational trip at the river

The river

Precious with kittens

Sue and kids

Phumlani, with Morne and Joshua

November 7, 2013

Msindisi Newsletter #110

SALVADOR & DIANNE’S MSINDISI MONTHLY

NUMBER: 110 Nov 2013

PO BOX 1481

VRYHEID 3100

KWAZULU NATAL

SOUTH AFRICA

+27 (0) 728311008

+27 (0) 815836288

Email: msindisi@gmail.com, msindisiung@icloud.com,

salv.di@gmail.com,

KwaZulu Mission Website: http://www.kwazulumission.com

End of October

When I look back over this month I can only say ” where did that go !!!! ” .

And wow !!!! the changes that have taken place are incredible. We are so thankful and grateful.

Our hut can no longer be called a hut ….. It’s a 3 room house. Sal has moved everything into his office area now. He is surrounded by books and spread out over his lovely large desk. This is one happy man !!!!! and of course this means Di now has a kitchen table. She is in the process of arranging stuff into kitchen cupboards which in itself is soooooo amazing. Kitchen cupboards mounted on the wall. Check out the pic’s at the end of newsletter.

The outside was under coated white before the final coat of paint went on. Over that time we felt like the “white house” you could see the place for miles. We think it glowed in the dark. It is now a natural dune and we blend in much better.

The difference in our home is incredible !!!

The amount of work that John and Girlie Dely and the team of workers have put into the additions is amazing. We are so grateful. To all the people who have helped and given furniture, curtains, desks, wardrobes, cupboards, blocks, cement, door frames, window frames, free labour, jojo tank, beds, paint, bunks, bookcases and much much more. A HUGE thank you !!!!!!!!!!

This month also had it’s heart aches however with the attack on our neighbor’s farm property. The daughter and the wife were beaten badly after the owner Willem Weites was murdered. The criminals were not from the area and the community is upset. This attack will and has already had huge effects on many people. The local workers will now lose their jobs, the community will lose their access to milk, mealie and vegetables as the farmer had a milk run in the surrounding areas that he supplied to. Also the local shop was run by one of the daughters who will be moving away now. Farm attacks are heinous here in south Africa. Many suffer with torturing, rapes and then brutal murders. I have yet to see what the government thinks about these attacks and see no sign of anything being addressed or done about them. All farmers are vulnerable !! As Phumlani used to work for Willem he is now helping out with the selling of milk etc for 3 days a week until the farm is sold and the girls move. Please keep the family in your prayers.

The family asked if Sal and Phumlani would like to have a memorable service for Mr Weites for the local community as the funeral would be held in town at the Afrikaans church on the Monday. We were already booked to visit Stanger to pick up some furniture and Sal was asked to preach at “Coming King Ministries” in Ballito, so Phumlani arranged the service. This service was to be held in the old Auction yard where Caleb and Sophie and Sal first lived. Apparently the place was full full. Phumlani was able to share the gospel to over 200 people. We thank the Lord, His desire is no man should perish but desires all to be saved.

We left for Stanger on the Thursday and drove straight to Durban to the bible society. Due to the generous gift from Emanuel in New Zealand who had given for Zulu bibles we were able to pick up several books. We have already given many out This month we were able to give to each of the kids at kids club. Di taught from Genesis and the kids read and followed in their bibles.

On the Friday in Stanger we had the opportunity to visit St Luke’s, a home for the physically and mentally disabled. MarieAnne Van Niekerk ministers there each Friday, so we try to meet up each time we visit. The people are very dear to our heart and bless us in so many ways. On the Saturday morn we meet up with Leslie Crickmay briefly to sort out picking up of furniture which had been generously given. Then early afternoon we were able to share a meal with Gracie and Calvin before we headed to a Zulu community where Sal had preached once before in a tent crusade that Calvin had organized . We met in the home of a dear sister in the Lord. Calvin has been meeting with the believers there on a Tuesday and going through the word with them. It was a special meeting.

Sunday was enjoying a wonderful time of fellowship together at ” Coming King Ministries” at Ballito. Sal preached on fruit bearing trees. We were also blessed to see our friends Jozua and Veronica as they were holidaying at the time at Umhlanga Rocks. We shared a meal with Leslie and Angie, along with Kevin and Michelle after the service.

Due to heavy rain, the afternoon which was planned for evangelism with Mis and others from the Stanger church was was put off for another time.

This meant however we could return and spend some time with Jed and Jenna, Dean and Taryn, and Christy Van Niekerk, Mark and MarieAnne’s sons and daughters in law, as they were all down. Sadly we left our laptop behind so Salvi’s teaching won’t be included on this newsletter.

Monday we returned for the funeral service for Willem Weites and then bible study with us that evening.

On a positive note, evangelism has progressed well into the Cibilili area with people seemingly receptive to hearing the message there. We look forward to seeing how the Lord works.

Health issues:

Gogo is very unwell with cancer throughout her whole body. She has seen doctors but treatment has not been encouraged. She is currently staying at her oldest son place as Phumulani is adding another room to her hut.

Celani’s (Phumulani sister) daughter , Zanele had several headaches after her first major collapse. This was a concern for us all, however after a doctors visit, we were told it was Migraines, this could be bought on by eating certain foods. She was advices to stay away from orange coated flavoured snacks and flavoured juice. We are happy to say she seems to be back to her old self.

Prayer request :

Give all praise and thanks for the opportunity the Lord opens to share.

That visitors over the month of November will have safe travels and be encouraged and blessed by their visit with us.

That the Lord will direct and lead our plans for the month of Dec.

Thank the lord for the Huge blessing of our home and bibles.

That the discipling, bible studies, and meetings will continue, strengthen, encourage and equip the brethren as they apply God’s word to their lives.

: Gogo’s house extension.

: Kids reading their bibles.

: Kids recieving Bibles

: Our new kitchen. Praise the Lord.

: John and Girlie Dely with Girlie’s daughter, Samara.

: One of the residents of St Luke’s

: Stunning Sunset

October 3, 2013

Msindisi Newsletter # 109

SALVADOR & DIANNE’S MSINDISI MONTHLY

NUMBER: 109 Oct 2013

PO BOX 1481

VRYHEID 3100

KWAZULU NATAL

SOUTH AFRICA

+27 (0) 728311008

+27 (0) 815836288

Email: msindisi@gmail.com , msindisiung@icloud.com, salv.di@gmail.com

KwaZulu Mission Website: http://www.kwazulumission.com

After a month of staying with friends and housesitting we have moved back into our former hut !!

At present we have moved our bed and wardrobe and a few kitchen supplies to cook with until the rest of the hut is completed. The space is amazing !!!! We can move around the bed on all sides and what an absolute pleasure it is to have a wardrobe. No more suitcases and boxes under the bed. Progress is happening very fast with the other two rooms. It is now only a matter of getting the glass fitted in the windows, veranda erected, the floor polished, and the rooms undercoated and painted and also some dry wall put in. Then we can start to move bookcases and kitchen benches etc in.

Much of our spare time has been preparing the hut so we could move back in. This meant sugar soaping walls, undercoating and filling cracks before the final 2 coats could go on. Then the floor was polished and furniture brought from town that people had so kindly given to us. Much water was needed to be fetched for plastering. The builders stayed in our old hut over this time so they could rise early and continue their job.

Ministry has continued with bible studies on Monday night at Kim and Johnny’s. We are going through the teaching of church and what it means biblically. Friday 13th evening we meet up at Gert and Hanlies to celebrate Kim’s birthday and we all watched a teaching on psalm 23 by Randall Smith. The kids at kids club have been looking at the characteristics of God, while Sal continue to go through the New Tribes Missions material with the older kids. Celani continues to take the kids when are unable to and this last week another member of the church, called Thukuzile, volunteered to teach the kids when she is at home. It is wonderful to see new people wanting to be involved and reaching out.

While staying in town, Di was able to help Belinda out for a week in the mornings working at the Carebear crèche. Earlier in the month Sal and Di had been in teaching the kids about King Uzziah.

Discipling on a Tuesday afternoons continued with the Alpha group but there have been a couple of weeks where there has been lack of attendance with a wedding in the area, people away and just this week someone’s relative just passed away. On Thursday and Friday afternoons Salvi and Phumulani finished preaching through the area of Khambi and started preaching in the area of Cibilili. This is the last area to be preached through before the Lord must direct us what to do next. We plan to visit the older areas in due course at homes where people showed some interest in the gospel. Last Friday, Salvi had to give the preaching a miss as he needed to help with the painting of the house. But Thukuzile had stated that she wanted to go out with the gospel so Phumlani picked her up for evangelism. We praise the Lord for her desire to serve the Lord.

Health updates:

Gogo is sadly struggling with her health as she no longer wants hospital help. She is getting weaker and finding life difficult.
Thabi has 4th stage kidney disease so needs to be eating well. She has good days and bad.
Di’ s shoulder is good it only aches if she over does it.

Prayer requests:

Please keep Zanele Sibiya in prayer. She collapsed this morning and was unable to speak or walk. She is in hospital presently getting tests. Zanele is Celani’s ( Phumlani’s sister ) daughter. She is 18 years old and attends the older kids club and church. She is a beautiful young woman. Please hold the family in prayer also.
Continued thanks to the Lord and all those involved with the extension of the hut to become a house.
The health of Thabi and Gogo .

The Lord bless you

Shalom

Salvi and Di

MARRIAGE 1

Introduction

I decided to do a series of studies on marriage, because a couple of months back Di and I were talking about the British vote on redefining marriage, which they agreed they could do. They could say that now it is okay for two gay people or two lesbians to marry. And in Paris there were riots of French people protesting that France was planning to change the definition of Marriage too. The people did not want that. They wanted to keep marriage traditional. They protested that it is more important to have jobs than to change marriage for homosexuals. They did not want it, they did not want marriage to be redefined. But the leaders of France want it. Just like the leaders of the UK, the leaders of New Zealand; it is an issue that has just come up. And what you are going to find is that, as homosexual marriage is legalised, you are going to see gay people “married” together and it will look like their so called “marriage” is so good. But then they will look at the Christians, highlighting the Christian marriages that are under attack and struggling, and they are going to turn round and ask, “So what is your issue about gay marriage?” That is one of the things that are going to crop up.

Also when we look at Genesis we are going to see that marriage is the most basic institution. So basic, it is more basic than government, than Church. It comes first. When we read in the New Testament that “husbands must honour their wives or else their prayers will be hindered”, I ask myself, “how can I pray to God to move in this area, and how do I expect God to hear my prayers if I do not honour Di?” I cannot! There are many other reasons why marriage is so important. And we have seen marriages all over, here and in other places in South Africa and abroad where there are Christian marriages that are struggling. So for that reason I started teaching a series on marriage for the people who attend the cell group, a series well received by those inside and outside the cell. This book is the outcome of that series. And in this chapter we are going to see the very beginning of marriage; the basis of marriage. We are going to examine its origin and purpose. We are going to explore its nature; that it is a covenant. And we are going to see that marriage comes with obligations. This introductory chapter gives the overview of what will be discussed in the following chapters.

The Origin of Marriage

We start our exploration from two passages in the Old Testament, in the book of Genesis.

Genesis 1:26-30

26Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.28God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; 30and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so.

Genesis 2:15-25.

15Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. 16The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; 17but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.” 18Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.” 19Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. 20The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him. 21So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. 22The Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. 23The man said, “This is now bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.” 24For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. 25And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

The first thing to note with marriage is that its origin lies in God. God created marriage. And marriage was there before the fall. Marriage was blessed by God. It was meant to be a happy state. It was meant to be a blessed state. To be married is a good thing. In fact, from a Jewish perspective (not from a New Testament perspective), there is something wrong with singleness. Marriage is so important from a Jewish perspective. In the New Testament we see that we have an eternal eyesight so that there are people who are blessed to have singleness. They will be able to serve the Lord with more devotion and for this they have an eternal reward. But marriage is still a blessing. Marriage is also in the order of creation. It is a part of creation. In fact Genesis 2:18 says “Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone”.” This was before the fall when God made everything and made it well as it also says in Genesis 1:31 “God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good.” God consistently made good things. But this is the first thing in scripture that was not good; it was not good for the man to be alone. So marriage belongs to the order of creation.

Male Primacy

Look firstly at the place of the man and the woman in marriage. From creation, before sin came in and distorted everything, Genesis 1:26 reads “Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”” So man and woman are both portrayed as having been made in the image of God. Both man and woman. It says “Let us make man in Our image; and let them rule”. So man and woman are both, in a sense, made in the image of God.

However, look at verse 27. “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” There are two clauses, or sections, to this sentence. The first clause says that God made man in His image, in the image of God He created him. And then the second clause says that male and female God created them. Now we know why this one sentence supplies both clauses. If you look at Genesis 2:7 we read “Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” And then later God created the woman out of the man. Now this is very important because the implication, in the marriage context, is that the man is first just like Adam was first. It goes back to creation. And Paul makes a very similar argument in 1 Corinthians 11. In that chapter Paul is referring to head coverings that women, if they are going to pray or prophesy in the assembly, must have their head covered. Some people understand the head covering to be long hair, women must have long hair if they are going to pray or prophesy. Some people believe it is a hat or a veil. But whatever it is, or whatever you understand it to be, Paul says this covering must be worn, not in order “to go to Church”, but to pray or prophesy in the meeting. And what Paul says in verse 7 is as follows: “For a man ought not to have his head covered, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man.” There is a sense here that a woman is to have her head covered, when she prays or prophesies in a meeting (whatever that covering is), because she is the glory of man. Only God should have the glory in the meeting. If she is the glory of man then she is bringing glory to man. So she has her head covered so that the glory goes to God. That is one of the ways of looking at this verse.

Nevertheless, Paul is making this distinction between men and women and what is the distinction? That the man is the image and glory of God but the woman is the glory of man. So there is a sense that the man is the image and glory of God in a way that the woman is not. Otherwise, what Paul is saying here does not make sense. If the woman is equally the image and glory of God, if she is completely equal to the man in this regard, then the man should also wear a head covering. Why is this? It is because, when God made Adam, He made him male. When Adam was made he was not made as a man/woman after which God separated the female side from the male side. No he was a man. And that is why in scripture you will never see God appearing as a woman. He will always appear male. That is why, one of the many reasons why, that book “The Shack” is misleading because it portrays God as a woman. But Paul is saying that the man is the image and glory of God. But the woman was not made from anything other than the man. The man was made from the dust of the ground. That is why the New Testament says that the first man is “earthy” and the second man is “heavenly”. Yeshua came from heaven, the first man came from the earth. But the woman comes from the man. She comes from the one made in the image of God, therefore she also is in the image of God. But it is derived from the man.

So that is why God says “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness and let them rule.” Both the man and the woman are in the image of God. But the woman is the glory of man. She is made in the image of God because she was taken from the man. So here is the thing. This means that man is first. So when you have the body of Messiah, or you have the leadership of Israel in the Old Testament, you have occasions when there is a queen, but that queen who rules is ungodly. Godly kings in scripture were always male. You had many ungodly men as kings but never a godly queen without the male headship over her. And even when you have someone like a prophetess, she always has a male figure with her. And when you have the New Testament Assembly (or Church), Paul stated that he does not allow a woman to teach or to have authority over a man. So therefore there is no such thing as a woman elder. Why? Because man is first. Now in the world it is different. We see a queen from the pagans visit King Solomon. It is different. It is a different rule and a different set up. But in God’s set up, man is first because man was made first.

Male and Female Equality

But there is also equal value between both man and woman. They are both rulers. The traditional idea that the woman must be tied to the kitchen sink, barefoot and pregnant is not biblical. There is equal value in both male and female and, even though the woman is in second position when it comes to these roles and when it comes to authority, scripture says that the man must award his wife, in the weaker position, honour. And they are both heirs together. They are both inheriting creation. They are both given to rule creation. So the idea is this: in the marriage it is “Man first, and then woman.” But when it comes to parenting, they both rule together. When it comes to creation, they both rule together. Marriage is about sharing.

The Shared Dominion and Fruitfulness

The third thing is their work. The work of man and woman is to have dominion and fourthly fruitfulness. They are to be fruitful together. You cannot be fruitful by yourself. They are to fill the earth and to subdue it. They are to have dominion also through their fruitfulness, through having children and they having children they are going to subdue the earth. That word subdue is like you are a dictator. It is absolute authority. That is what God gave to Adam and Eve. This is implied in the fact that God made man in the image of God. That word “image” does not mean that man is an exact duplicate of God. It does not mean that God is about five or six foot tall. It is not a physical representation of God. He is made in the image of God in order to rule. In other words it is like saying that man is God’s vice president. God is the president and man is the vice president. It is not that we look like God. We obviously look like Jesus. But here is the thing, in Exodus 13:21, God appears like a pillar of fire. And I have not seen anyone outside the “fantastic four” looking like a pillar of fire. You look at God on the throne in Revelation and it says that He looks like a Sardius stone and He has features that do not resemble us. So in a sense we are physically like Jesus. He had two arms, two legs, but in another sense it has nothing to do with physicality. It is to do with the fact that we can relate to God in a way that other things cannot, in a way that fish cannot. We have certain characteristics, certain faculties that we share with God. So therefore God can communicate with us and therefore we have the ability to rule under God.

In the ancient near eastern world they would call someone “The Image of God” when he was in a place of great importance; like a high ranking official would be given this title. This relates to us. A king would be known as a god or a son of god. It relates to us. We rule under God with God’s authority. That is what God was giving to Adam and Eve. Remember what God said to Moses. He said “I will make you as God to Pharaoh and Aaron will be as your prophet.” It is not saying that Moses is God or a god. It is saying that Moses was going to be like God. He was going to carry God’s authority to tell God’s word to Pharaoh and to bring the plagues God was bringing on Egypt. So Moses raises his staff and things happen. But it is authority derived from God while being under God. It is someone ruling under God as God’s vice president.

In creation, everything is good. Why? Because there is no sin. As soon as sin comes into the picture man’s first place becomes tyranny; ruling his wife with an iron fist and says something like “Get back in the kitchen.” That is sin. Sin will turn the woman’s value around and says that woman should be equal to man in everything. In fact, there was a guy I worked with and was saying that he would be so glad when his baby could be bottle fed because him and his wife could share that role equally in feeding the child. And I was saying to him “But does that not show you that you are not equal, because without that bottle you cannot feed the child?” That is the role of the mother and that is how the mother was made. Man and woman are different. They are equal in value but they are different. But sin turns that around and says “No. A woman should be equal to a man in everything, not only in value but also in role.” Sin turns around this dominion of the earth to abuse of the earth. I find it very interesting that among the Zulus there is a respect of the donkey among many people. A member of the Zulu assembly asked if it was wrong to hit a donkey. I asked her why she asked this question and she said that Yeshua rode on a donkey. I told her that before Yeshua rode on a donkey He walked the face of this earth and I see a lot of people throwing litter on the earth. So before a person wants to respect the donkey, they should start by respecting the earth. We are made stewards of this earth. But sin turns it around. We are made to be fruitful but sins turns it around in different ways. One way is that people think they can be fruitful without marriage. But fruitfulness is placed in the context of marriage. Some people think that fruitfulness does not count. They think that we should not be having children but rather enjoying our life rather using money to have the nice holidays and so children are too expensive to have. Sin has also turned things around so that living in a fallen world and sometimes we cannot be fruitful. Someone’s womb might be closed up or the man may be infertile. We live in a fallen world. But before the fall these things were perfect.

You could have dominion in the land. Genesis 2:15 “Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.” Before the fall, as long as man continued to follow God’s ways everything would go well. Even in Israel, when God made the covenant with Israel, if Israel followed God’s ways it would go well. But we do not live in godly societies. We do not live among people who follow God’s ways. We cannot necessarily expect things to go well like they did then. But we still should try.

The Purpose of Marriage: Companionship.

Genesis 2:18 “Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.”” Notice that what motivates God to make a woman is this: loneliness. God never suffered from loneliness. Before there were angels, before Satan existed, before He made man God was never lonely. Why would God never be lonely if He was just by Himself? Because God is a triune being and therefore was always in relationship. Father with Son, Son with Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit with Father. But man is not three in one in terms of personality. He is only three in one in terms of body, soul and spirit. Adam did not have another Adam to speak to. So Adam was alone, he was lonely. So God gives Adam a companion. So what is the purpose of marriage? Companionship. Yes, God makes marriage to fulfil the plan of dominion and fruitfulness. Yes. But that was not the thing that motivated God to make the woman. The thing that motivated God to make the woman was that the man was alone. This factor comes before the idea of children, it comes before the work that we do together, it comes before everything. So when I am in a marriage my marriage is complete, without a work and without children. My marriage is fully complete because God made marriage to meet this need of aloneness, or loneliness. God gave companionship. And this idea of companionship is linked to the word for fellowship or sharing. It is the idea of sharing. So the couple will share in each others’ lives, they will share in the work, and they will share in the fruitfulness. These things will be done together. Notice that, as they are sharing in a work and they both have this equal value and ruling we must always remember that the woman was made to help the man. They are sharing in the man’s work. It is the man’s work but because Adam was to share it with Eve, it became both their work. But it lies primarily with the man. In one sense it is like the man is just above the woman and in another sense they are both on the same level. It is the man’s work, she is given to help him. He is not given to help her. She is given to support him. But they do it together. Of course we are not talking about spiritual authority. We are talking about having dominion over the earth, to cultivate the earth, to keep the earth, to help things grow and to have children together. They do it all together.

This companionship is demonstrated in a couple of verse we need to look at.

Proverbs 2:16-17

16To deliver you from the strange woman, From the adulteress who flatters with her words; 17That leaves the companion of her youth And forgets the covenant of her God;

The word companion in verse 17 means intimate friend or husband. Intimate friend. That is why a husband or a wife is. So what you have there is friendship. My wife, Di, is my friend and she is my best friend. She is not just a friend because just look at David and Jonathan. Jonathan was David’s best friend and he loved him with a love greater than the love of women. They had a very close bond. But a wife is a friend and even more than a friend with whom a man has a marriage covenant.

Malachi 2:14

14Yet you say, ‘For what reason?’ Because the Lord has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.

So we have the word companion again. But the word companion here comes from another word which means, “united” or “joined together”. She or he is your companion to whom you have been united into one. You have been joined together. In the context of marriage this means that you are no longer two but you are one. And notice that the above verse associates the word “companion” with the word “covenant” again.

Marriage is a Covenant.

Marriage is not two people shacking up together. Marriage is not two people having a sexual union. Marriage is a commitment within the context of a covenant or a binding agreement. In the Bible you do not make a covenant. In the Old Testament a person would “cut” a covenant. And it goes back to the idea contained within the narrative of God’s covenant making with Abraham. God told Abraham to cut the animals in half and Abraham put half of the animals on one side and half facing opposite. And the covenant making ceremony was that the people making the covenant would pass between the animal pieces and they would make the covenant. (Genesis 15). In the covenant with Abraham only God went through the animal pieces signifying that only God was taking on the obligation of keeping the covenant. But the idea of passing between the animal pieces was this. “If I break my covenant with you, if I disregard my covenant with you may what happened to these animals happen to me!” So as a person went through these animal pieces, he would look and see the blood, the torn flesh, the guts and everything and would think “If I break this, this is what will happen to me.” And that is a serious thing. Marriage therefore entails commitment. Without the vowing of that commitment you do not have a marriage. And the vowing of such a commitment is made in the context of a covenant. When you make a business contract and you sign it you have committed yourself. You cannot turn round and say, “I did not mean it.” That person will take you to court and that piece of paper with your signatures and those of the witnesses is going to incriminate you. It is the same with a marriage.

We met a lady who is getting married this year and she originally stated that her relationship with her man is as good as a marriage. But when it came down to it she said that she was scared to make the commitment of marriage which proves that her relationship with the man was not a marriage because that level of commitment was not there. That commitment is made in front of witnesses. That commitment is binding. And that is why when you are married it is like you are in slavery. You are bound, you are not free. And that is why we make that oath, “To you only will I keep myself as long as we both shall live.” “Forsaking all other considerations it is just me and you.” In the creation account Adam makes his own vows and his vows are very simple.

Genesis 2:23

23The man said, “This is now bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.”

In other words, “Whatever is happening to her, is happening to me. We are one now! Because she is my very body.” Is this not what Yeshua said about us in His body? We are the body of Messiah? It is like saying, “Whatever you do to the least of these My brothers you do to Me.” That is why Yeshua said to Saul on the road to Damascus, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” Saul was not killing Yeshua or putting Yeshua in jail. He was putting Christians in jail. “But you touch them, you touch Me, they are my body!” That is exactly what it was like with Adam and Eve. “She is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called Woman because she was taken out of Man.” What is very interesting here is; the word “Woman” in Hebrew is “Ishshah” and the word man is “Ish”. Ishshah is the feminine way of saying Ish. If you put the suffix ‘ah’ at the end you make the word feminine. So in other words, she got her name from him. And that is why I think that a man should not take his wife’s maiden name. The wife takes the husband’s name, in our culture at least. There is this sense that the woman’s identity is in her husband. She is taken out of man so she is called woman. So it is a covenant or a binding agreement.

The Obligations of Marriage.

We start with the obligations concerning the woman. These are not all the obligations. These are just the obligations we can take from this passage.

Genesis 2:18

18Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.”

That word helper means that she is engaging in his work with him. Obviously this does not apply to the role of a bible teacher. Di will not teach the bible to the congregation or cell group but in whatever Di does in our marriage she is supporting this work of teaching and whatever other work we do in the ministry. Whatever Di contributes she is upholding and helping in this ministry. This ministry cannot happen in the way it does without her. And whatever we do, whether farming, or working in the bakery, or whatever we do there is a sense that whatever the wife contributes is helping with everything. Happy home, happy work. Happy home, happy ministry. But I know that when we are not right, or when there is something disturbing our marriage, or when something is disturbing Di it is disturbing me. I feel what she feels. When she is frustrated I feel frustrated. It is hard not to let it impact our work. Whatever the wife does, whether contributes in a positive or negative way it is likely to impact the guy, the work, the ministry and the things you do together.

The word helper can also signify that she is a strength. She adds a strength. Though the scripture says that the wife is a weaker vessel woman contribute a strength that the man does not have. One of the strengths she can contribute is the ability to sympathize. One of the strengths is intuition. She is supplying something that she is lacking. I am a much richer and more well-rounded individual with Di in my life than without her. Di brings qualities into my life that I do not have in myself. That is the way marriage is to be. She is a helper but she is suitable to the husband. That word ‘suitable’ means ‘corresponding to him’. She is at his side, partnering in the work and she is compatible. Obviously, in marriage that is the way it is supposed to be. There is meant to be a compatibility. But because of sin or ignorance or a number of different factors we can end up lacking compatibility with our marriage partner or lacking compatibility in a host of different areas. But, it says in scripture, “As iron sharpens iron so a man sharpens his brother’s countenance.” When you come together and you are rubbing each other, even if you were not compatible before you can start to become compatible. Because you are rubbing those edges off each other. You start to learn how to work together. You start to learn how to fit together and how to harmonise together. You have to learn those things. The is this sense, that even if you are not compatible to start with you can become compatible if we do things God’s way. She is suitable for him.

Genesis 2:22

22The Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man.

The literal word that the Hebrew text uses, translated as fashioned in the NASB, actually means ‘built’. Like you build a house, God built the rib into the woman. Why would Moses use the word build? Why did he not simply state that God made the woman as it says He did with the man?

Proverbs 14:1

The wise woman builds her house, But the foolish tears it down with her own hands.

So the wise woman builds her house. Now the man builds the house literally but though a man builds the house it is generally the woman that makes it into a home.

Proverbs 9:1-2

Wisdom has built her house, She has hewn out her seven pillars; She has prepared her food, she has mixed her wine; She has also set her table;

The wise woman builds her house, just as wisdom (personified as a woman) also has built her house. But wisdom has not simply built a house but has made it into an inviting home. And the woman must build with wisdom.

Proverbs 3:19-20

The Lord by wisdom founded the earth, By understanding He established the heavens. By His knowledge the deeps were broken up. And the skies drip with dew.

What is really interesting is that the Hebrew word for ‘he built’ is ‘Yiven’. It has the two letter ‘beit’ and ‘nun’ (b and n). These are the same two letters that are in the word ‘binah’ meaning discernment or understanding. The same two letters. Build and understanding. And because of this, the Jewish Rabbis picked up on this and said because God built the woman it means that God endowed the woman with more intelligence than the man. That is the way they understood it. Because of the word ‘build’ in proverbs is performed by understanding we see that there is validity in the connection that the Rabbis made between the two words. You cannot build without understanding. So the woman is given an intelligence for making a home. Now there will always be guys with a flair for decoration and making the house into a home. Speaking about myself though, before I got married I did not not care so much for what my place looked like. I did not really have an impulse to make it into a home. I had an impulse for a home, I wanted a home and marriage but the place where I stayed was the place where I stayed. But Di has a much greater appreciation for the art of home making than I do. And this goes back to creation. And in fact, when the woman is building with this naturally endowed intelligence and wisdom in building her home what she is doing is she in a sense is copying God when He created the world. God, in making a place for man to live, is the basis of the woman making a home for her family to live. This impulse comes from the act of creation itself. Though there are exceptions, normally you will find that it is the woman who is the home maker. She has that impulse. Why is that normally the case? It is because God built her from Adam’s side. She is building the home.

The man is made from the dust. The woman was built from the side. So we have this obligation from the woman’s side to support her husband in the work God has called him to do. They must do that work together but that does not mean that the woman does not have her own ministry on top of that or beside that. Deborah was a prophetess. There were female prophets in the New Testament. There are ministries for women to do outside of the marriage context but her first port of call before her ministry is her own home. She is called to support her husband because the man is first but they are equal in value. She is also called to build her home.

The man’s obligation

Genesis 2:24

For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.

The man has a responsibility to bring the marriage about. It says that the man shall leave his father and mother. He will be joined to his wife and the two will become one flesh. Here the man takes the initiative. He leaves his father and mother. This leaving is a forsaking and what it means is this: If you are going to have a marriage your obligation to your parents then takes second place. Your obligation to your wife takes first place. She is number one in your life after God more than anybody else. He leaves his father and mother. Some people would state it this way. ‘A male is a son until he gets himself a wife. A female is a daughter all of her life.’ A soon as the man pays his bridal price he is then a man. In Jewish culture you become a man when you are thirteenth and bar-mitzvahed, a son of the commandment, and able to read and discuss the law. But you become recognised as your own man in your own right when you have a wife because you become the head of your own home. So it is unbiblical when you get married that you are still under your father. You can have huge problems in a marriage when your in laws get overly involved in the marriage or when the in laws get in between the man and his wife. It should not be like that. The ‘in-laws’ are on the outside. The man and his wife are together therefore when the man and his wife need to sort out their problems they should not be running to mummy and daddy to sort those problems out. They should first of all try and work out these problems together.

He leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife. That word joined or cleave is like bone to skin, scales to fish, a man when he fights with a sword clasped to his hand and he does not let go all the way through the fight. It is that close. It is a deliberate choice, you cleave, you join, you become one and out of that the two become one flesh. So here is the thing. He leaves his father and mother, he pays the bridal price and becomes his own man. He is joined to his wife in a ceremony. The couple make vows. And by joining to his wife he is putting her above every other human relationship. And that is why this joining together, bringing together of two into one is going to do several things. Firstly it will bring problems. This is because in the one space, in the one squashed space, you have two different wills, two different opinions, two different ways of doing things. Suddenly you have to squash all that together. It brings problems. Secondly it brings problems because, whatever problems you have at work you can leave your work behind. But you cannot leave your home behind really. You always have to come back to your home. You can change your job but you cannot change your wife and be obedient to the Lord. You have to keep coming back because you are joined together. Thirdly we have a commitment here to please our wives.

1 Corinthians 7:32-34

When I am married I have a responsibility to please my wife. And my wife has a responsibility to please her husband. Why? Because we are joined together. We are one and therefore we are in the right context to become one flesh, that is the sexual union. The sexual union belongs to context of a covenant. In Jewish culture you paid the bridal price first. Then the man went away and prepared a place for his wife. Then he came and took his wife to himself and they would have the ceremony and after the ceremony where they say “I wed you according to the laws of Moses and Israel”, you would then consummate the marriage and after the consummation there would be seven days feasting. So there is legal action in the paying of the bridal price, the ceremonial (in western culture the legal and ceremonial are generally done at the same time) and the sexual consummation. Without the legal, ceremonial and the consummation you do not have a marriage. The marriage starts with the legal but is completed with consummation. As soon as a Jewish man paid the bridal price he was legally married but his marriage still needed to be completed.

Conclusion

So here is the thing about the nature of marriage:

It starts with God and creation. It is not a human invention.
The man comes first.
But even though the man comes first there is equal value between the man and the woman.
They are both given the commission of dominion and fruitfulness.
Marriage is there to combat loneliness, to give people companionship and intimate friendship.
But this is given in the context of a covenant or binding agreement. There needs to be commitment. If you are going to have this deep, intimate, meaningful companionship it can only happen in the sphere of commitment in a covenant.
Because it is a covenant marriage comes with obligations. There is an obligation for the woman to support her husband and to make a home. And the obligation for the man to uphold the interests of his wife, to put his wife before every other human commitment so that together they may do the work that God has called the man to do.

Di with Noluncedo. Noluncedo is Asimbonge’s Sister

Undercoated our bedroom

People listening to Phumlani preach in Cibilili

Phumlani preaches in Cibilili

Guys plastering the house

We had to pull down the mud hut

Our temporary kitchen till the rest of the house is finished.

We have a wardrobe now after 4 years of living out of a suitcase. Praise the Lord.

September 11, 2013

Msindisi # 108

SALVADOR & DIANNE’S MSINDISI MONTHLY

NUMBER: 108 September 2013

PO BOX 1481
VRYHEID 3100
KWAZULU NATAL
SOUTH AFRICA

+27 (0) 728311008
+27 (0) 815836288

Email: msindisi@gmail.com ,
salv.di@gmail.com

KwaZulu Mission Website: http://www.kwazulumission.com

We are late getting this months newsletter out but hope you enjoy it never the less.

Just for a quick over view:

We had Joe Rumley from the UK with us for the first few days of the month. Asimbonge made good friends with Joe and it was hard to say goodbye to his new friend. In fact Asimbonge, for some reason, thought that Joe was the same age as him. It was fantastic having him with us and we look forward to seeing Gemma with him next time.

Salvador visited Zimbabwe for the negotiation of Labola for our good friend Mujuru and then had the pleasure of being one of the grooms men for Mujuru and his new wife Joanne’s wedding. He traveled up by car which was a dueling !!!!! 10 hour wait at the boarder in melting conditions with no shade and very little sleep. However the time there with his family and friends was incredible. He returned with many interesting stories. It is wonderful to see how many Zimbabweans have rejected the ancestral aspects of the culture and mostly due to a biblical influence on the culture. That is not to say it means that most of them are saved but simply that the Bible has had an influence non the less. Di stayed with Sue and Allen and the kids while Sal was in Zimbabwe. She was able to help Sue out with some painting.

The builders started on the addition of our hut. With incredibly fast progress !!! Thanks to John and Girlie Dely. They have been amazing with organizing and fetching and supervising over this project. We have had nothing to do with it, they have taken it on as their project and we are truly blessed and grateful. We know many friends, business, and fellow believers have contributed. It has blown us away !!!!

By the end of the month we had moved everything from our hut, it is stored at Girlie’s and in Phumlani and Thabi’s spare bedroom. While we were still there it was a very social time with cooking for the builders, friends coming for coffee to check on the progress and discussions about the next move of action. Salvi did well to continue to study for his assignment while all this was going on. Ministry also continued with bible studies, preaching, kids club, discipling. When the roof was removed to be sorted we had to move out ……You can check out all the progress of the hut below in the photos.

We started our homeless travels at the end of the month by visiting our friend Marieanne Van Niekerk at Rorke’s Drift. She was spending time with her eldest son Shane and his wife Chrissy who run an amazing self catering get away. Marieanne was visiting while Mark was away in Israel. We were truly treated to 2 nights of wonderful accommodation while having a great catch up with them all. Please check out their website at http://www.rorkesdriftlodge.com

We are now currently staying at our dear friends, Craig and Magda Boardman who have opened there home so graciously while the roof gets sorted on the hut. While we are in town Di has been helping Belinda at Care bear from 7-12 and Sal has been making good use of the Internet for his assignment. He also returns out to go preaching with Phumlani and discipling. By the end of this month they should have finished preaching throughout the whole area of Khambi and will be starting an area called, Cibilili, the last area that Salvi had envisaged to evangelise when he first moved with Di in 2009. We must seek the Lord as to what to do after Cibilili has been saturated with the Gospel. Bible study has continued on the Monday and Friday evening at Johnny and Kim’s. At home cell on monday we have started a series looking at the Church, its identity, its manifestation, calling and getting a heart for God’s house. On fridays we have been going through Proverbs but are now taking a break to watch some DVD teachings. We will not do kids club this coming weekend as we will housesit for Hendrik and Belinda. Then the following weekend we should be back in our old hut while they continue to finish the rest of the addition.

We would also like to draw your attention to the missionary work of Salvi’s Chinese grandmother, Wu Yanping, who is reaching out to the poor and sharing the gospel with them in China. Truly a phenomenal story and testimony. We are sure it will be a blessing to you. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLu1YMugZ4I&feature=youtube_gdata_player

That’s the quick overview !!

Please continue to prayer for Gogo’s salvation. ( Phumulani’s mother)

The continuation of the additions to the hut. We give thanks to the Lord and all involved.

For friends in Australia and New Zealand who are struggling with health issues at this time.

Give thanks for our gearbox problems on the truck being fixed. Many thanks to Genrod and everyone at Bayshore Assembly.

Give thanks for touching Emmanuel Congregational Church, Palmerston North, NZ for enabling us to get bibles for kids club, for the church and others. This has already blessed many.

Please keep kids club children in prayer.

Once again we give thanks for you all, we hope our newsletter will encourage you all.
Peace and love in the name of our precious Saviour.

Shalom

Salvi and Di

For those who are interested, Salvi has submitted the petition to Lausanne members to take a stand and distance themselves from ecumenism. For the latest updates please check the following website, http://www.lausannecje.wordpress.com . Thank you to all who have signed the petition, especially leaders of various ministries.

OATHS

Is it wrong for Believers in Jesus to make any kind of oath?

In Matthew 5: 33 – 37 Jesus instructs his hearers not to make oaths ‘at all’, and that they should not be made by heaven, or by the earth, or by one’s own head but one’s statement should be ‘yes, yes’ or ‘no, no’. Note the repetition of the words yes and no. In Jewish speech if something needs to be emphasised, it is said twice. If you wanted to say that it is really hot outside you would say ‘it is hot, hot’. If freezing you would say ‘cold, cold’. Jesus, when drawing his hearers’ attention to a statement that was very important repeated the word ‘true’, ‘Verily, verily’, or literally ‘Amen, amen I say unto you.’ (Jn 3: 3, 5; 5: 19, 24; 6: 32; 12: 24 – to name just a few examples) Thus the act of repeating yes means that you agree to do or say whatever is asked of you and you utterly mean what you say. It is not a flippant response.

In life all kinds of vows and oaths are made. There are solemn vows and there are light ones. Marriage, business deals, employment contracts, membership procedures, promises to friends are all different types of oaths and have different levels of severity. There is also the act of swearing to tell the truth in a court of law. Now here lies the important question; when Jesus commanded his listeners not to make an oath what did he mean? Did he mean that all of the above types of oaths should never be made under any circumstance? From a cursory glance of these few verses, without reference to the rest of scripture, it would seem so. There are two ways to deal with this dilemma then. One is to bury our head in the sand, not worry about it. The trouble with this approach is at least twofold.

Firstly it belittles the teaching of the bible as something not important and not to be concerned over. It is true that as human beings we cannot understand everything but I do not think Jesus is being ambiguous here. Secondly, this attitude does not seem to regard the bible as that relevant to everyday life, and so we put on our religious hat when we go to church, when we read the bible and when we go to other meetings, but we take it off whenever we do secular activities. If the bible is truth, and if we have surrendered our lives unto Jesus Christ, as Lord (master) and saviour, then the bible instructs us in every area of our lives. It instructs us as to the type of films we watch, the music we listen to, the thoughts we think, the words we say. This is not to say that the Christian becomes a perfected soul who does not stumble. It is to say that believers should be seeking to see God transform them into Christ likeness, that this change is not just a verbal profession but is something radical and visible in the things we do, what we get involved in and the way we do things. Although the believer has not been fully perfected, he wants to be perfected regardless of his background, social status, former religious profession, gender, previous knowledge of scripture and ethnic origin. The truth of scripture brings change into all our lives.

Therefore I think that it is most appropriate to tackle this subject and pray that the Lord would convict, challenge and change us in love.

Before continuing to look at scripture first it would be helpful to actually define what an oath is so that we are all thinking along the same lines when the word oath is mentioned. There are various words in the old and new testaments that signify oaths or the act of swearing. These I will list now;

HEBREW WORDS (OT)

Alah – (Strong’s number 422) a primary root; to adjure, i.e. (usually in a bad sense) imprecate: – curse, adjure, swear. (This is a verb)

Alah – (Strong’s number 423) from 422, an imprecation: – curse, cursing, execration, oath, swearing. (Noun)

Nacah – (Strong’s number 5375) a primary root; to lift, in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively, absolutely and relatively as follows; accept, advance, arise, bear, bring, burn, carry, cast, contain, desire, ease, exact, exalt, extol, fetch, forgive, furnish, further, give, go on, help, high, hold up

Al – (Strong’s number 5920) (from 5927 – to ascend) properly the top; specially the Highest (God); also (adverb) aloft, to Jehovah: – above, high, most high

Shebuwah – (Strong’s number 7621) feminine passive participle of 7650; properly something sworn i.e. an oath: – curse, oath, sworn

Shaba – (Strong’s number 7650) a primary root; prop. To be complete, but used only as a denomative from 7651; to seven oneself i.e. swear (as if by repeating a declaration seven times): – adjure, charge, (by an oath, with an oath) feed to the full.

The next three form a unit to communicate the idea of an oath.

Ba’al – (Strong’s number 1167) (from 1166 – to be master) a master, hence a husband, or (fig.) owner (often used with another noun in modifications of this latter sense): – + sworn, they of.
Yad – (Strong’s number 3027) a primary word; a hand (the open one indicating power, means, direction) used in a variety of applications
Kec – (Strong’s number 3676) apparently a contraction from 3678 (covered/ throne) but probably by error transcription for 5251 (a flag staff – generally a signal, figuratively a token) sworn

GREEK WORDS (NT)

(332 – anathematizo) (from 331 – to ban/excommunicate/accursal) to declare or vow under penalty of execration (bid under a curse, bind with an oath)

(3660 – omnuo) a prolonged form of a primitive but obsolete for which another prolonged form (omo’o) is used in certain tenses; to swear, i.e. take (or declare on) oath: – swear.

(3727 – orkos) (from erkos) a fence; a limit; i.e. (sacred) restraint (specially oath) oath.

(3728 – orkomosia) a comparative of 3727 and a derivative of 3660; asseveration on oath.

Now these words have different meanings, but just because they have different meanings does not mean that they mean different types of oaths. They may be used to describe different ways of looking at the same oath; i.e. two different words may not necessarily refer to two different types of oath but to two different perspectives. This is exemplified in the passage where Abraham sent his servant to find a wife for his son Isaac from among his relatives in Mesopotamia. (Genesis 24: 1 – 41.) In verses 2 – 4 we see that Abraham makes his servant swear. The word for the verb ‘swear’ here is the word shaba, which means to seven oneself. The word shaba in Hebrew is related to the word sheva, which is the number seven.

Seven in Hebrew speaks of being complete; hence it is highly important that the creation took place over 7 days because God is showing that what he made was perfect and complete. This aspect of completeness in regards to an oath is expounded in the NT letter to the Hebrews 6: 13 – 16 where it says, ‘For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself saying, “I will surely bless you and I will surely multiply you.” And so, having patiently waited, he obtained the promise. For men swear by one greater then themselves, and with them an oath given as confirmation is an end of every dispute.” Basically the teaching being expounded is that the promise here is not just about the people involved, but it is about something far greater. There is someone far greater who listens to our promises and even when we forget, he does not.

More will be elaborated about this when we look at various treaties. But this word ‘shaba’ is used by both Abraham in verse 3 of Genesis 24, and by his servant in recounting these details in verse 37 – that is in relation to the act of swearing. However when we look at the word for the noun ‘Oath’ that they both use we see a difference. Abraham refers to it, in verse 3, with the word Shebuwah, relating to the word for completeness, where as his servant relates to it in verse 41 with the word, Alah. This word Alah is slightly different as it has a negative connotation. The connotation is one of calling down a curse on oneself. This word speaks of punishment and it shows the anxiety that this servant was undergoing to carry out his masters task.

This is an important aspect of treaty making. This bears much similarity to the depiction of the American court of law. The witness before entering the box swears on the Bible ‘I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help me God.’ What is the person really saying? The person is saying that the judge is a person, the jury are people, the lawyers and everybody present are people. People are fallible. People make mistakes, get it wrong and can be deceived. In this imperfect world justice gets twisted and the innocent can be condemned and the guilty are able to go off Scott free. When the person swears this oath he is saying that he might be able to fool people but he cannot fool God. If he misleads the people and perverts the cause of justice, then God have mercy on his soul because he will have to give an account to God. In this sense the witness is calling down a curse on himself and the danger is very real.

Thus the validity of the oath is dependent upon the reality of God. If God is not real then the oath is worthless because a make believe ‘god’ cannot pose any threat whatsoever on someone who breaks an oath sworn in his name. There are many oaths that have been made in the bible. Some have been honourable, such as the treaty between David and Jonathan (1 Sam 20: 16 – 17). Some have been dishonourable, such as where King Ahab made the kingdom of Israel swear that they had not seen Elijah because he was trying to track Elijah down to kill him. (1 Kings 18: 9 – 10)

There are different types of oaths in the Old Testament. The majority of oaths seem to have been treaties for protection. Much like the old treaty between England and Portugal where both agreed that they would never attack each other. These treaties may not look important to us who live within ‘the democratic west’ but the act of swearing here was of utmost importance. It gave security that the nation, people or family you have sworn with will not attack you. In a time of tribal conflict, where the preservation of the family unit and property were always at risk, treaty making was a form of insurance policy. Breaking such a covenant would cause the offended party to retaliate and would be deception on the side of the treaty breaker. We see this in the case of Zedekiah who made an alliance with Babylon and then broke it in Ezekiel 17: 11 – 24. God would judge Zedekiah for doing so and Nebuchadnezzar would make him pay for it by slaughtering his sons before his eyes, then gouging his eyes out and then taking him bound to Babylon to die there. (2 Kings 25: 6 – 10)

Breaking covenant was a serious affair. The word covenant in Ezekiel 17: 13 means ‘a cutting’. It is the act of swearing that is signified by cutting and separating pieces of flesh so that the people making the oath can pass through the middle of them. It is a ritual. We see this demonstrated by God to Abraham in Genesis 15: 7 – 21. Abraham put out the animal carcasses and God passed through the middle of it, he made the covenant. Charles Ryrie, a bible teacher who compiled the ‘Ryrie Study Bibles’ comments concerning this “The idea is this: May the same be done to the one who breaks this covenant (see Jer. 32: 18 – 19)”. So all types of covenants are forms of oaths, or at the least oaths are integral to the forming a covenant.

Vows were not only made concerning treaties but they were also used in worship. In Numbers 5: 19 – 31 there is the use of oath to ascertain whether a woman was guilty of adultery. As the method seems very sexist to the ears of a twenty-first century hearer, it must be remembered that it was God who commanded this from the Israelites and this God is the same God of the New Testament. It must also be remembered that it would be highly foolish to separate this passage from the rest of the bible, which though putting the responsibility of headship on the husband and commanding the woman to respect him, also commands the husband to love his wife, to be understanding to his wife, to care for his wife, even going as far to say that the husband should be willing to give his life for his wife. (Eph 5: 22 – 32).

The practice of oath making also contains the act of swearing as a witness in the court of Law (Lev 5: 1), the last will of someone who is dying (1 Kin 1: 13), oaths to restrain potential offenders (1 Kin 2: 8, 9 & 36 – 46), to follow a ruler (Ecc 8: 2 – 3). The idea of making the oath is an act of binding someone to an agreement, it is a restraint, to put a limit on ones actions. Even marriage would come under the category of oath making, as one person makes a contract with another, entering the holy bonds of matrimony.

So when Jesus states ‘Do not swear at all’, is it therefore a sin to make an oath. If it is a sin and unchristian then surely all who have ever made oaths in the bible have sinned against God. Indeed, God himself must have sinned because not only did God make oaths (Such as GEN 22: 16, GEN 26: 3) but he also commanded people to make oaths. (EX 22: 11, DEUT 6: 13, DEUT 10: 20, PS 63: 11, IS 65: 16, JER 12: 16)

Therefore there are only 3 possible explanations for the verse. Either Jesus was ignorant of the Old Testament teaching, or he was contradicting the Old Testament teaching or he meant something other than what we have asserted. As for the possibility that Jesus was ignorant of Old Testament teaching, or even that he was contradicting the scriptures, it is evident that this is not the case. Some people may argue that even though Jesus was God, He was still a man and therefore had to learn the scripture progressively. Alternatively people may argue that Jesus came to do away with the Old Testament, so the commands in the Old Testament do not count and can therefore be contradicted by the New Testament. Even though it is partly true that the Old Testament does not have jurisdiction over the Believer in Christ, being born into the New Covenant, it is not true that the New Testament can contradict the Old. In fact Jesus in the very same chapter 5 of Matthew, verse 17 said ‘Do not think that I came to abolish the Law and the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.’ Thus, in this passage Jesus is not taking away the Law in the Old Testament, rather He is affirming it. Verse 18 and 19 further confirm that Jesus upheld the Law in the Old Testament where Jesus said, ‘For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.’

Neither can it be claimed that Jesus was ignorant of the LORD’s commands in the Old Testament to swear oaths in His name because in verse 33 of Matthew chapter 5 Jesus quotes from the Old Testament (Numbers 30: 2) when he said ‘You shall not make false vows, but shall fulfill your vows to the LORD.’ Therefore Jesus must not have been claiming that swearing oaths was sinful or that a person should not swear in any circumstance or situation. So what was Jesus talking about when He said that one should not swear and that anything beyond ‘yes yes’ and ‘no no’ is of evil?

In order to understand this statement we must look at it in the context of the surrounding teaching which Jesus gave. From Matthew chapters 5 – 7: 29 Jesus is teaching the Sermon on the Mount. The key verses to understanding what Jesus was saying are the ones that we have already read from 5 v 17 – 20, especially verse 20: ‘For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not the kingdom of heaven.’ The Pharisees were a sect of devout teachers who prided themselves on their pious observance of the Law. They, on the whole, believed that they were righteous for doing so and saw themselves as an example for others to follow. (Lk 18: 10 – 14) What Jesus does in the following verses is not to contradict the Law in the Old Testament but to present it in its purest form. Another key verse to understanding these following verses lie in Matthew 23: 27 – 28. ‘Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.’ Basically, they seemed, outwardly, to keep the Law but inwardly they were law breakers.

What Jesus does in the following verses is to show how this is so. Jesus acknowledges that the Law says not to murder or commit adultery but if we even think or dream of doing these things, we have sinned in our hearts and so we are law breakers. What Jesus was requesting of His hearers in verse 20 was impossible. It would have sounded incredible to the ears of the hearers. If even the Pharisees were not good enough to go to heaven then what chance did anyone else have! Jesus was not getting rid of the Law but instead He was making it harder to keep.

The reality is that no one can possibly keep the Law perfectly and therefore no one deserves to go to heaven. And the sooner we can face up to that in our own lives, the nearer we will be to getting in the kingdom for ‘Blessed are the poor in Spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven’. This links also to John 3: 19 – 21. Thus in verses 33 – 37 of Matthew 5 Jesus was not contradicting the Old Testament but he was making it harder. God does not only expect us to keep our oaths but also He wants us to be people of our words, so that a promise is a promise.

Also you will notice that in the Old Testament God commanded that oaths be made in His name. Hence Jesus in verses 34 and 35 does not mention oaths made in God’s name but oaths made by heaven and by earth and by Jerusalem. Why would people who have been commanded to swear by God’s name turn to swear in the name of something else? In Jesus’ critique of the self righteous attitude of the Pharisees and scribes (Mt 23: 16 – 22) we can see that the Pharisees were making these oaths so that they did not have to keep their promises. If they were criticized for not keeping their promises they would say, ‘Well you see, that oath did not count because I only swore by the temple but it is the gold that is in the temple that has the real value!’ etc. Hence, through their swearing, they were making their yes into a no and their no into a yes. This is the type of swearing Jesus was referring to.

The third reason Jesus commanded against swearing in this context can be understood from the letter of James 5: 12. ‘But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath; but your yes is to be yes, and your no, no, so that you may not fall under judgement.’ Again James is teaching us not to make oaths, not because it is wrong to make them but he is speaking against us making our yes into a no and our no into a yes. Some one who is always rash to swear on everything in order to make you believe their testimony must do so continually if he is the sort of person who is not trustworthy. James is teaching this in order to protect his readers from judgement. He is against rash oaths.

Therefore Jesus must not have been referring to oaths such as marriage and oaths in the context of being in a court of law. Even Jesus was put under oath to answer the high priest during his trial in Matthew 26: 63 & 64. Jesus was not against business contracts or any other official and solemn oath. Jesus was against the use of the oath to turn a yes into a no and a no into a yes. In an everyday situation we should not have to swear to convince those around us that our words and promises are true but ideally we should have a reputation that our word is our bond. As Jesus said in Matthew 5: 48; ‘Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.’

Khethiwe gets her bible

Mkhulu gets his large print bible

Slabs laid for House extension.

Windows up

Getting there

Walls built up

Tin is off

Move all stuff out for having tin taken off.

Tin is on

Phumlani with his car

August 14, 2013

Msindisi Newsletter #107

SALVADOR & DIANNE’S MSINDISI MONTHLY

NUMBER: 107 Aug 2013

PO BOX 1481

VRYHEID 3100

KWAZULU NATAL

SOUTH AFRICA

+27 (0) 728311008

+27 (0) 815836288

Email: msindisi@gmail.com ,

salv.di@gmail.com

KwaZulu Mission Website: http://www.kwazulumission.com

We have been away lot this month, early in the month we went down to visit our friends Mark and Marianne Van Niekerk before Mark headed over to Israel for another mission trip. This gave us time to also catch up with the Stanger Fellowship. While there Sal was asked to lead the Monday night prayer meeting and the Tuesday night cottage meeting where everyone goes from house to house sharing a meal and a teaching is shared. We met in a home where a HUGE pot of briyani had been made for supper. We love Indian food !!!! It was lovely on the Wednesday night also to have a meal with Miss, Jenny and the family along with Calvin. We had such a lovely time with you all.

Whenever we are in Stanger we also like to visit Saint Luke’s, a home for the disabled, with Marianne. Marianne ministers each Friday and has made some lovely friends. Sal takes the guitar so we sing and share a short bible message. This time he shared about Zaccheus the tax collector. Luke 19. It was also great to dine out with Dean and Taryn and catch up on their news. We continue to keep you both in pray.

Come Sunday, Sal was preaching at “The church” . Calvin has now combined the two church’s so there was only the one meeting. Sal spoke on Ezekiel 34 concerning the necessity to listen to the good shepherd.

We arrived back home in time for cell on the Monday night, this month Sal has finished going through the 10 part series on marriage. Several people have asked for copies of the series, which we are praying will encourage and assist couples who maybe going through difficulties or for those just wanting to get a clearer biblical understanding of marriage.

We have all been challenged and have found the teaching to be instrumental in clearing misguided worldly views that we all carry from different cultures. The question being what does God require from us.

After a day at home, we were back on the road heading to the Drakenbergs for the Congress on Revival with Jannie and his wife Glenda from the baptist church. This congress is set up to encourage and feed leaders and pastors. The setting alone immediately made you sit in awe at the wonder of God and His creation. Psalm 121 v 1 and 2 !!! This was over a period of 4 days, we came away with many thoughts buzzing through our minds.

This month we took Gogo through to New Castle to see the doctor. She has been diagnosed with cancer. She has decided she will not have the radiation treatment as she believers you end up dying from the treatment. Please keep her in pray.. Our heart is that she will come to know Jesus as her personal Lord and Saviour.

This week we have the arrival of Sal’s good friend from the UK. Joe Rumley !! Gemma his wife sadly cannot come this time as she is helping with her sister’s wedding preparation. He will be staying with us for 4 nights. We will take him back to Joberg when Sal prepares to go through to Zimbabwe, with Mark Hibberd, Murjuru and others. To help negotiate with labola, (a marriage payment) given to the bride to be’s family. (Due to Salvi being in Zim we have been late in sending out this newsletter but we will write about Salvi’s experience in the next newsletter.)

Over this month we received the news of the loss of Caleb’s dad, Ken Massey. Caleb Massey and his wife first led the Mission here. Also the loss of Lyn Royle’s dad. We would like to express our heart felt sympathy to you both and to your families at this time.

Please can you pray:

For the Salvation of Gogo.

For our dear friends Lindsay and Eril Shotton who run a Christian radio station in New Zealand called True Light FM. Lindsay has been diagnosed with septicemia after a visit to the hospital when he had a mild stroke. Eril was also in hospital but is home now in a very weak and frail condition.

Health of our dear friends overseas in Aussie and NZ.

Peace and love to you all, in the name of our precious Saviour.

Shalom

Salvi and Di

PREPARING FOR PERSECUTION.

Exodus 1 v 1 – 21

Introduction

The bible indicates that there is a persecution coming and a global one. Whether it will be blatant or in secret, I don not know. When it will happen, I do not know. There are many brethren at this moment in time being secretly persecuted for the faith. No publicity and no international concern. After the September 11th bombing of the World Trade Centre we saw Pakistan speaking out to condemn these “terrorist attacks”, demonstrating their support of America and the democratic west. Yet Pakistan are persecutors of Christians in their own country. Just check out Release International’s magazine or Open Doors and they will show you. Whether the coming persecution will be blatant or in secret, I do not know, but I do know it is coming. The signs are all pointing to it. The moving of religion and society to become one syncretistic global entity is leading up to it. It may be as, in the days of the Caesars, that we can worship whomever we want just so long as we declare Caesar to be a god for 5 minutes every year. Under such a regime, any sign of religious fundamentalism will be seen as fanaticism and so true Christians will be branded as terrorists or something similar. The future persecution is predicted in Revelation 13 v 7 – 10. And even if we never live to see this global persecution we do well to remember the words of 2 Timothy 3 v 12, “Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” Whether we see the global persecution or not, persecution is still an issue for every believer.

So continuing with the subject at hand let us ask, where is this persecution going to come from? The source of the persecution will be from both outside and inside the church. Now we expect the persecution from outside the church as Jesus in John 15 v 19 tells us, “If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, for this reason the world hates you.” The halls of history bear witness to this fact. We have had the Romans, the Roman Catholics, Nazis, Communists and now the Extreme Islamic States all persecute the true body of Christ. But how can it be that global persecution comes from within the evangelical church? We have had atrocities against anabaptists committed by the reformers but persecution on a global scale and from every denomination? How can this be?

Could it be that, like the Hebrews in Exodus chapter 1, the church has made its home in the world? Could it be that the church has got so comfortable in its lifestyle that it would rather have the world than forsake it? We see it so much in so called evangelicalism. Kingdom Now Theology touting the doctrines of, “We are going to set God’s kingdom here on this earth. We are not waiting for our heavenly mansion, our home is here!” But I do not think the persecution will come because the church has made its home in the world. If we look at the Hebrews of Exodus 1 we see a people who got comfortable in Egypt. They might have made Egypt their home but they were not Egyptians were they? In fact, a new King comes on the scene, not knowing Joseph, not knowing the Hebrews’ history, but he knew that they were Hebrews and he persecuted them for fear of them. So I do not believe the persecution will come because the church has made its home in the world. I believe that through letting so much of the world into the church the church has actually become the world, or at the very least it is well on the way. Jesus said that the world would persecute us. The church will persecute us because the church is the world too!

Now it is easy to point out and criticize the church in general, and I am not saying that such criticism is wrong. Paul states in 1 Corinthians 5 v 12 that we are to judge those inside the church. Nevertheless, it is still easy to claim to be detached from all that, because we are not part of the establishment and not party to these organizations. We can tear down Benny Hinn, and Kenneth Copeland for preaching a false gospel of greed, for taking the widow’s mite and making blasphemous statements. Yes we can point the finger at all these groups and people but such a great pressing question awaits us that we must ask ourselves. How much of the world is in our lives? How much of the world do we emulate? How separated unto God are we in the way we live, the way we act and in our attitudes? See, if there is no separation between the world and us then we are just as guilty as the mainstream church we are contesting against.

Some may ask, “What has my life to do with it? I am not preaching false doctrine. I am not against sound teaching and I stand for truth!” 1 Timothy 1 v 9 – 11 says “law is not laid down for a righteous one, but for lawless and undisciplined ones, for ungodly and sinful ones, for unholy and profane ones, for slayers of fathers and slayers of mothers, for murderers, for fornicators, for homosexuals, for slave-traders, for liars, for perjurers, and if any other thing opposes sound doctrine, according to the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I was entrusted.” Is our life style in accordance with sound doctrine? If not we are contrary to sound doctrine and we are easy pray for the Devil in the coming persecution. Are we ready to brace the flames of this coming trial or will we fall into compromise as our convictions become empty professions and preferential in a practical sense? And with this in view we will at long last begin.

Verses 1 – 6

For the first 6 verses we are faced with a genealogy, or family tree. In the Torah, the history books and 2 of the gospels we have these family trees. Most people tend to skip over these sections, as they are boring. I myself, plough through them for I desire to read the whole word of God. So what do these six verses tell us and why are they important? Remember 2 Timothy 3: 16 says, “Every Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,” If we are honest some of us may think these “boring parts of the bible” are not very inspired. So why are they here? First they prove Jesus’ Messiah ship as being the son of David and the son of Judah. Just for this one point the family lines recorded have to be inspired. But how do these relate to us in ‘training us in righteousness’? Isaiah 51 v 1 reads, “Look to the rock from which you were cut, and to the hollow of the pit from which you were dug.” God was reminding the Israelites that their whole existence was a miracle. Abraham and Sarah, both half dead and Sarah being barren should parent a whole nation, as numerous as the stars. The catchword here then, is ‘remember’. The first preparation to make in terms of persecution is to remember what Christ Jesus has saved you out of. Never take your salvation for granted. I have to be reminded of my sinful conversations, deeds and attitudes. I have to know that in my flesh there dwells no good thing. The fact that there is any change in us is not our doing but God’s grace. Never let us presume upon our own goodness but put our trust on Christ Jesus. ‘Remember the rock from which you were hewn.’ Since remembrance renews our gratefulness, and we know how gracious God is, we do not have to have false humility because we know the reality of our sin and God’s goodness.

Another reason we must remember is so that we may learn from our mistakes and the mistakes of others. 1 Corinthians 10 v 11 says “And all these things happened to those as examples, and it was written for our warning, on whom the ends of the ages have come.” The Old Testament was written to give us examples to follow and not to follow. It is the heroine addict is coming off the heroine, craving for a fix, who forgets about the hellish situation he was in. He forgets the stealing from his family to pay for the habit, he forgets the paranoia of thinking he has to be careful of everyone he meets and only remembers the relief of getting his last shot. If we forget the bitterness of life before Christ, then we will fall when persecution comes. If we forget God’s holiness and his judgement of unrighteousness, then we will walk in disobedience when times gets hard and we are under pressure. There was a song by a band I used to follow that had the line, “I heard somewhere to learn is to remember, but I learned we all forgot”. If lessons are not learned concerning mistakes that have been made then history will keep repeating itself again and again.

Thirdly, we must remember our heritage. The Jews always remembered they were from the loins of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. What is our heritage? It is the doctrine of the apostles. Remember, Jesus prayed for all who would come to believe through the apostles’ word. It is funny that in a chapter that deals with a persecution of God’s people we start off by remembering the ancestors. Satan is trying to strip the church of the apostle’s doctrines. The apostle Paul taught that those who suppose that godliness is a means of gain are of corrupt and depraved minds and that we should withdraw from such persons. But in our modern day church, we invite them into our pulpits. They reason why the church is being driven away from the apostles’ teachings is that they are then open to false doctrines. As Proverbs 7 v 2 and 3 points out, we should have God’s word at the very centre of our being, bound to our fingers and engraved on our hearts.

Verse 7

The sons of Israel were fruitful. They grew from seventy to about over 600,000 by the time of the exodus. This verse also says that they filled the land. Israel was in a land that was not their home but they already had a real presence there. This really strikes me as a parallel of the church. At first the church was a group of sold out people who had sold their homes to live near each other. They were expecting the return of Jesus any day. ‘This world is not my home, I’m just a passing through’. As far as they were concerned they had found the ultimate reality and everything else was vanity. They were pilgrims of the straight and narrow path on the way to the celestial city. Their attitude would have been, ‘Why do I need to strive to get up the career ladder? Why do I need to store up earthly possessions? They are going to get broken, stolen and will just fade. If I make an achievement, everyone will just forget over time. I want my heavenly reward that will last forever.’ This was the real Christian attitude of the early church. But now instead of being nomads in the world, the church has become fully-fledged citizens. Is this how the church is supposed to be? The Greek word for church is EKKLESSIA. The word simply means an assembly of people for any purpose but the etymology of EKKLESIA provides an excellent picture of we what as the church are supposed to be. EK means ‘out of’ and KLESSIA comes from KESIS, meaning ‘invitation or calling’. We are supposed to come out of Babylon and be separate, but too often we like so much of what Babylon has to offer that we only want to be separated in our profession. Anything that demands a sacrifice of some of these pleasures is seen as too radical, over the top and overboard.

None of us are perfect or even have it together. We are all growing by grace. We need to encourage one another to flee the world and its lusts. A modern paraphrase of John Owen says, “Jesus says, ‘watch and pray’. Acting upon this call of Jesus is the only way that God has given to preserve you from entering temptation and falling into sin. Neglect this and you certainly will fall. Do not flatter yourself that this could not happen to you. Maybe you are a long established disciple with a holy hatred of sin and think it is impossible that you would ever be seduced into a certain sin. Nevertheless, never forget, ‘if you (whoever you may be) think you are standing, be careful that you do not fall.”

Let’s be overboard and radical. The writer of Hebrews 12 v 1 tells us to ‘throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. To RUN with endurance the race set before us’. We are sinners saved by grace. None of us can point the finger without a hundred pointing back. But we have been set free from sin so that we can live our lives pleasing to God. Why should we desire to get back entangled in sin again? Why do we make it hard on ourselves by putting so many temptations before our eyes and playing about with our lusts? You might think that you can marry the WORLD and the WORD, but there is one ‘L’ of a difference. The world is not worth it. It does not truly satisfy. You may get pleasure out of the world but it will not last forever. The world may give you life but it will not save you from death. It may fill you with pleasure but indulging in it only serves as a distraction to keep us from dealing with our sin. Sober mindedness is a gift from God; clear thinking is as refreshing to the soul as cool rain after a hot busy day. Like the Hebrews in this chapter, we have got too comfortable and it is time to ““Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light.” Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”

Verses 8 – 11

When the gospel starts to take effect in the world we will find persecution is not far behind. There are so many songs composed for worship saying, ‘there is going to be a revival’. People are visualizing and proclaiming revival in the world. We all claim that we would truly love to see revival but at what cost? How much are we willing to pay for revival? Biblically, revival seems to mostly come along with persecution. Looking at Acts we see this relationship starting after Peter preached at Pentecost. Paul underwent beatings, and imprisonments. But the most beautiful example I have read of this relationship is found in Acts 7 v 54 – 8 v 4. Here we see the same working of the Spirit as we find in Peter’s preaching at Pentecost. There was the same conviction of the Holy Spirit cutting to the quick. Stephen was also preaching in Jerusalem and both to Jews but here we have a totally different result. Instead of 3,000 people coming to Christ, Stephen ends up being martyred. A great persecution is then unleashed upon the church. Does not seem like much of a revival does it? And yet we see that this persecution scattered the believers all over Israel and thus the proclamation of the gospel spread too. There seem so many programs and events promising revival and yet they all seem to fail. If we want to see revival, are we willing to endure persecution without compromising message or lifestyle?

Verse 9

As Pharaoh was concerned over the amount of Israelites, so other religious groups and churches will be worried about their own empires falling down. They will be scared that numbers will decline from their churches and start to fill other ones that will not advocate their doctrines. In fact a pastor would be scared and would start to act wisely. He may start to warn his congregation that so and so’s church is dangerous, they are a cult, but without having the evidence to make such assertions. Now looking at the text again we see that Pharaoh was not telling the Egyptians that the Israelites were numerous and mighty. He was not merely relaying information. The word ‘say’ here is the word ‘AMAR’ which means, ‘to say, command, challenge, appoint, avouch, bid, certify, publish, report, require and promise.’ Pharaoh was in fact giving an authoritative address. He was giving orders. There are people with experiences of being in cults or cult like groups where the leaders have been heavy handed and abused their authority. I am not talking about church discipline but about an ethos of ‘I am the pastor and you do what I say or get out.’ They do not use scripture as their authority but their position as a pastor.

And so we find Pharaoh telling the Egyptians to act wisely with the Israelites. Now when I first read this, I looked up the word ‘wisely’ and it means ‘to be wise (in word, mind or act) teach wisdom, make wiser.’ I thought how could such good wisdom be commanded of Pharaoh. I was expecting deviousness, cunning and deceit. The wisdom he talked of was godly type wisdom and that puzzled me. But the truth is that bad people will use good things for bad purposes. They will use apparently good reasons and excuses to carry out their unbiblical ends. They will use such convincing and logical arguments as to why biblical Christianity should be illegal. This might seem far-fetched and contrived but just look at the example of Pharaoh here. It shows that it only takes the opinion of one dictator to amass such a persecution. It happened with Hitler and Stalin and will happen again with the Anti-Christ.

So what does Pharaoh do to the Israelites? He puts them to work building storage cities. Now according to Charles Ryrie, these storage cities housed weapons and supplies to be used in the case of attack. In other words, the Egyptians were forcing the sons of Israel to work in building up Egypt’s ammunition. The world is getting its ammunition from the church. How does it do this? There was a doctor who lost his job because he would not perform abortions. Only when a mother’s life was in danger would he perform an abortion. Now it only takes one operation, one foetus killed and the hospital would say, “You have performed an abortion as a Christian before, why can you not do it again?” The Church of England has started marrying Homosexual couples. There even exist homosexual priests. All this is as ammunition against the true message spoken by the true church to render it ineffectual in making disciples of men. “I can have sex before marriage… the church round the corner has unmarried couples living together.” “I don’t have to repent of practicing my homosexuality… My boyfriend is the vicar of my church.” “God will not mind me getting drunk and partying, all my friends at church do it.” The church’s apostasy and compromise will only seek to harden the hearts of people against the true gospel and the true church.

Verse 12

The persecution of the church will be used to suppress Christianity, but as with many things that are suppressed it actually grows. However the Church not only overcomes but it thrives in persecution. No other group, maybe save the Jews, has endured such hostility in such a glorious and godly manner. Miracles happen in a persecuted church. In Acts 14 v 19 we see Paul bricked to death and dragged out of the city to be left for dead, only to see that he got up, and went back into the city. God’s power is displayed in difficult and trying circumstances, not for our entertainment or amusement. There is a relationship between God’s power being manifest and suffering. Paul in Philippians 3 v 10 writes: “to know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, having been conformed to His death, if somehow I may attain to a resurrection out of the dead.” It is when we are out of our depth that God manifests his power so that we can in no way claim the glory, so that all the glory may go to him.

The endure persecution in Christ’s name and for His sake is the highest form of worship we can give. Our spiritual act of worship is to ‘present our bodies as a living sacrifice.’ There are some beautiful stories of Christians that have gone all the way for their saviour. ‘Tortured for Christ’ by Richard Wurmbrandt gives some incredible examples. (P36, 39, 46 & 96) Such stories are incredible to our ears. Our minds cannot conceive such an attitude to suffering. If one of us acted in such a way we would be deemed lunatics and super spiritual. Could it be that through living after the world, we have left our first love?

Verses 13 – 14

So the Israelites thrived under persecution to such an extent that the Egyptians were in dread of them. Being in dread did not lead to ease up the persecution but rather led to a more intense persecution. Revival will not necessarily stop persecution but may actually intensify it. Labouring rigorously infers cruelty and severity. They were not only made to work harder but they were beaten to keep on top of the workload. Their lives were made bitter. The word ‘To live’ in Hebrew is the word ‘Chay’ and it can contain the connotations of, ‘Life, sing, appetite, company, congregation and merry.’ Life is a gift of God and something to be enjoyed. Pharaoh was turning a gift of God, something to be enjoyed into a bitter, terrible, and heavy burden.

Persecution is intended to make the gift of salvation into a heavy and bitter burden in order to make believers wish that they had never become Christians in the first place. And when Christians stand firm in the face of opposition, the Devil turns the heat up. What do you think? If you stand strong against Satan’s schemes in your life, do you think Satan is going to give up saying; “Oh well, I tried my best, never mind about this one.” No, he will never give up on us until the day we die or until Christ Jesus comes back. He is ruthless, but Christ will preserve His church. ‘Tortured for Christ’ also gives examples of how Christians have shone in the midst of the most terrible of tortures. (P52) It is only the love of God and a strong love for God that will preserve us in the midst of persecution.

Verse 15

Pharaoh’s new tac-tic is to get the midwives to kill the baby Hebrew boys. As midwives the women would be there at the birth and they helped to deliver the babies. So what does a midwife mean to us as Christian believers? Just as the midwife would assist in the birth of a child so the evangelist is God’s worker in the event of the spiritual birth of his children. Let us look at the names of the midwives mentioned. Shiphrah and Puah. Shiphrah means ‘brightness and garnish’ coming from a root which means, ‘beauty’. Puah means, ‘brilliancy’. In terms of beauty, we know that Isaiah 52 v 7 says “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him bringing good news, making peace heard, bringing good news, proclaiming salvation; saying to Zion, Your God reigns!” More importantly the words, ‘brightness, brilliancy and glitter, are to do with the shining and reflection of light. The gospel is described in 2 Corinthians 4 v 4 & 6 as the light, which shines in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. The gospel is a light that shows up our sin for what it is and gives us the solution in Christ, that through Him we can find salvation. Spiritually speaking midwives are evangelists. God uses them for the spiritual birth of an individual through the proclamation of the gospel. So why should Pharaoh get hold of evangelists.

As Bill Randles warns, we have a pandemic in Christendom of false gospel, false evangelism and false conversion. If the gospel is not true then neither is the conversion. A gospel is now preached that says, ‘God has a wonderful plan for your life and if you need fulfillment in your life come to Jesus. He will make it all better, your life will never be the same.’ All the side issues are addressed but the modern gospel never gets to the heart of the issue. OUR SIN. The whole reason we need saving is because our trespasses have cut us off from God and so we deserve judgement and there is nothing you or I can do about it. We are headed for eternal damnation. Hell is a reality, not just a metaphor but real and it is our destination. But wait! God does not want you there, He wants you and me to be with Him for eternity, so He sent His only Son to take our punishment on a cross where he bled and died, taking on the sin of the world on Him. Three days later He rose again as proof that through Him we may have eternal life. Jesus will come back to complete our salvation and to right all the wrongs, eradicating sin, sickness and corruption and the Christian lives in active anticipation of the hope of Jesus’ return. Do you believe this with your heart? We must believe and repent. Stop following your own ambitions, desires and living for what you want and start going God’s way. Be ready to obey his commandments and lastly be baptized. Now I do not believe that water baptism is essential to salvation. The thief on the cross is the proof of that. However, he was not baptized because he could not be. Please do not get me wrong, baptism is a command and to be practiced in accordance with receiving the gospel message but baptism is more than being dunked under water. It is a symbol of dying to the old life and rising to a new life with Christ Jesus. We must as Paul says ‘reckon ourselves dead to sin, in other words, sin is no option for us now. As David Hamilton says, “Christ does not offer a new start in life, but a new life to start.” This is the gospel. A gospel that neglects or changes these facts is not the true gospel and so if I am claiming to be in salvation without coming to a place of acceptance and obedience to all these points of the message then I have to doubt my own salvation. Personally, I made a decision for Jesus as a child and I was then baptized but I had to make a decision in my early adult years that was in accordance with a full understanding of the basic gospel message. I had to know that I was lost before I could be truly born again. This experience of realizing the sinfulness of one’s heart is not a pleasant one. Thank God that He is merciful and gracious.

Verse 16

So how does the gospel get compromised? Here we see that Pharaoh kills the baby boys and lets the girls live. Apart from the obvious messianic reference to Herod killing the baby boys at the birth of Christ, Pharaoh does not want the Israelites to mount an army against him and so he takes out the potential brute force of the Hebrews. And so what is it that the world and indeed a portion of the church doing? “You can not say Jesus is the Son of God, Moslems will be offended!” “You can not say that Jesus is unique, that’s too narrow. What about all the other religions? They can not all be wrong!” “You can not say that Jesus is the only mediator between God and man because that will offend Catholics!” They tell us that we can not preach God’s wrath, judgement or hell. The world is trying to take out the defensive out of Christianity and outlaw the offensive in the bible.

But why let the girls live then? Because girls could marry the Egyptians, and then be assimilated into the culture. What does this tell us? It says without uncompromisingly holding onto the full gospel; without holding onto the offensive we are then prey to ecumenism and multifaith. It is interesting to see that in an age where multifaith and ecumenism is on an all time high, that it is the ministries dealing with miracles, signs, wonders, visions and sensual experience that are the most popular but we hardly hear of the apologetics and polemics ministries, and these are even heavily opposed by some quarters of the church. If we get rid of the watchmen, they enemy will seize the opportunity, attack and assimilate us. This is not to say our ministries should be focussed on discernment and neglect other vital aspects of the faith. There is a problem with ministries when their fundamental concern is exposing error in the church. However, discernment is still a vital aspect of our faith and one that will leave us open to the enemy’s attacks.

Verse 17

So what example do the midwives set? Was it compromise or faithfulness? We know that it was faithfulness and what kept them from compromise? It was the fear of God. We do not tend to hear that phrase in many churches. I believe that the Devil is trying to downplay the fear of God and the churches are falling for it. We hear sermons saying that the fear of God is not fear but just a sense of awe. Well the word used in this passage is ‘Yare’ and it means ‘to fear, to revere, to frighten, affright, be made afraid.’ In Matthew 10 v 28 Jesus uses the word ‘phobeo’ to tell us to fear the father. This word means ‘to frighten, be alarmed, be in awe of, revere, be afraid, fear.’ The bible does not make a difference between fear, awe and reverence. “But God is a God of love, how can it be that we should be frightened of Him? How can He make us feel afraid?” That is a fair question and yet it takes us off the main issue. God is a God of justice. He is holy, He absolutely hates sin and if we would come into His presence in our sinful state we would drop dead.

He is awesome and yet when we hear people describe the fear of God as an awe it seems that they are inferring that they are looking longingly into the Beauty of God’s splendour and are lost in some mind numbing state. They have taken the fear out of fear and put the ‘ahh’ into awe. Just having this type of awe that they describe will not save any one in a time of tribulation and persecution. There must be a fear of God because if I fear God I will be wary to compromise His word and my lifestyle in Him. I know it is far better to enjoy God’s love and favour and to suffer at the hands of men, then to be in the favour of men and suffer the wrath of God.

The reason that we do not quake with fear when we meet together in His presence or when we approach Him in prayer is that we know, being in His favour we do not have to fear His wrath. God has saved us and by walking in His ways we can receive the blessings of His love. And perfect love casts out all fear.

Verses 18 – 19

So now the king of Egypt has cottoned on to the fact that they Hebrew boys are still alive. So of course he does not let the midwives off the hook and he calls them in to demand an explanation from them. Just as Pharaoh commanded the death of Hebrew babies and forced the Hebrews to slave labour, so he could have also command the death of the midwives. In this fix, where their lives are in danger and the danger of being forced to kill the babies, what do they do? They lie. This is not to say it is therefore Ok to lie. We all know that God can not lie. This is not what the passage is telling us. What the nurses are doing is putting themselves in a position where they will not be made by force to kill the babies. By saying that they can not get to the mothers before they give birth they are saying that they are incompetent and it is impossible for them to carry out this task. Of course we should tell the truth but what is worse, lying to prevent the persecution of your brethren or telling the truth and handing over their names to their persecutors? At Cornerstone church in England we had a missionary give a talk in our home cell. He shared about how he had been in China and seen God do miracles and healings. Unashamedly he then told us that upon being detained in his hotel room for his illegal activities he then gave them all the information about his activities and the names of the Chinese brethren.

In extreme circumstances of persecution it is far better to lie about your knowledge of the brethren than to betray them. Look at the examples of the midwives. God blessed them in spite of their lying because they had preserved the lives of God’s people. Of course that does not give us license to start lying in our context. The situation of persecuted Christians cannot be extrapolated to our situation in the comfortable west.

Verses 20 & 21

Because they feared God, He rewarded them. How? Firstly we see that the Israelites multiplied. By faithfully serving God in obedience He will cause fruit to be produced from that work. An example: Jim Elliott and 4 other missionaries went to share the gospel in Ecuador in the 1950’s. They forsook career prospects, ambitions, a comfortable lifestyle and what Jim called, ‘the trivialities of life’ in order to minister to the Aucas who were notorious for killing whites. They sent presents to the Aucas for about half a year and then went to meet them in order to share the gospel. Sadly a few days after making human contact, in 1956 all 5 of them were killed by a group of Auca Indians, without having shared the gospel with them. Some of us may think, ‘why would God lead 5 young men’ to be killed in a waste of a situation? But ten years later God added the increase to their work when 2 of their killers repented and submitted to Christ Jesus, through the work of one of the missionary’s sisters.

Because of a holy fear of God and of faithfulness in obedience to him, God will reward the efforts of His servants. In Luke 18 v 29 & 30 Jesus says “Truly I say to you, There is no one who has left house, or parents, or brothers, or wife, or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who shall not receive many times more in this time, and in the age that is coming, everlasting life.” We see that God did this for the midwives; He gave them more families and homes. When we leave our old life of sin, we enter a massive family called the church and we gain so much more. It is the same with all of us. Because we are in Christ we are all family and through our sharing of lives we all become so much richer than had ever been.

Conclusion

At the start of this message I began by questioning is all about how much of the world is in our lives, and in the message I gave a proposal saying, ‘let’s be overboard and radical’. I believe that the only way we will endure any type of persecution without compromising is to be dead to the world and sold out for Christ. To die to our dreams, visions, desires and all that we most live for and to have Jesus as our dream, vision, desire and the one who we most live for in the station of life that we either find ourselves in or that doors have opened up to us. At the age of 22, Jim Elliott wrote, “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose’. What is it that has a hold on us? If we had to choose between Christ and the Christian life, and these things of the world, which would we honestly choose? Any worldly thing, we cannot take with us, but anything of God will last for eternity.

Foundation for the extension on hut

Salvador and Joe

Beautiful Rainbow

Internation Congress on Revival, Drakensburgs, 2013

Beautiful scenery outside of our house

Phumlani preaching the gospel in Khambi community

Slabs laid for House extension.

July 6, 2013

Msindisi Newsletter # 106

SALVADOR & DIANNE’S MSINDISI MONTHLY

NUMBER: 106 Jun 2013

PO BOX 1481
VRYHEID 3100
KWAZULU NATAL
SOUTH AFRICA

+27 (0) 728311008
+27 (0) 815836288

Email: msindisi@gmail.com ,
salv.di@gmail.com

KwaZulu Mission Website: http://www.kwazulumission.com

June has been hectic ………but full of many blessings!!!!

As you know at the beginning of June we said our farewells to Caleb after his 2 week stay with us. While returning from Joberg our truck had problems with the fifth gear so we ended staying on in Vryheid for a few days. Di was to be sharing with some ladies in Louwsburg on the morning of the 6th but thanks to friends who lent their son’s bakkie she was able to get there. She spoke on the importance of knowing God and abiding with Him.

When leaving Joberg Di got a sinus infection and, although the infection has cleared up, it has left her with blocked ears over the whole month. Sal ended up doing the care bear teaching and kids club on the Saturday by himself for that week.

On the Tuesday 18th Jannie Viljoen from the Bethany Baptist church came and shared with the bible study. This was a special meeting as he shared on sanctification. Everyone was able to attend that week and along with Sam, Girlie’s daughter.

The rest of the month was preparing, fetching, and organizing for when our visitors from Lyndhurst baptist church arrived on the 22nd. Tshepiso the youth leader had organized a group of 19 to come but on the day 13 came. We had been praying for fine weather as we thought they would have to tent it due to lack of accommodation available. However our neighbour very kindly offered her round hut for the guys to sleep in while Thabi had some girls in their hut and Di had some girls in theirs. The only 2 people who needed tents was Robert, the pastor, and Sal. They arrived on the Saturday 22nd and left Wednesday 26th.

After settling in on the Saturday it was time for supper and an evening devotion lead by Sal. Sunday arrived, bright and early for some of us, then everyone walked over to the church at Celani’s home. We had a lovely time of singing and sharing then Phumlani preached a wonderful message on the world’s wisdom and Gods wisdom with a special challenge to be witnessing for Christ. This was translated into English. After returning some of the brethren back to Alpha, and fetching more water, we headed back home for lunch. The afternoon was a time of sharing and relaxing, playing games, lighting the braai for toasties to be cooked on that night and for singing around. That night Rob shared the devotion.
Monday had been set aside for helping Tholakele and her 4 children. She had already started work on a mud hut and we thought as a group we could help this move on quicker for her. Sadly on the Thursday 20th we heard that her husband had passed away. He had been absent from the family since mid last year as he had gone to find work. Everyone set to work with Phumlani being ” the boss ” for the day. Sand was fetched from a small river close by. Sadly that day there was no water available in Alpha from their community tap so it had to be fetched from East mine, about 10 kms away. We had collected cement earlier in the week. Everyone set to work with some of the other church members also arriving to help from the area. It proved to be a very hot day. By 2.30 the work was finished for the day. So it was back to the kraal to get toiletries and head into town for showers, good food, and a bible study with other young ones from the baptist church. Jannie shared about ” knowing the will of God for your life.”

Tuesday was teaching kids club in the morning where 40 kids eagerly arrived. In the afternoon some who understood Zulu went with Phumlani for discipling in Alpha, while others went with Di to give out tracks with jumpers, hats and toys. Once back we all headed up to Johnny and Kim’s for our normal Tuesday night study which Sal was teaching through a series on marriage. Thinking that after our return home they would be exhausted, we were proven wrong. Apparently any last night they must stay up till after midnight!!! As you can imagine us older ones and the drivers went to bed earlier.

Wednesday 26th they left about 9 am, many laughs and friendships had been made. Many had been encouraged in the word. It was a blessing having them with us. Clean up, pack up and returning everything took place over the next few days, with prayer meeting on the Wednesday evening in town at 5.30.

Sal had to drive Tholakele through to Nongoma on the Friday morning leaving home at 6 so she could attend the funeral of her late husband, that evening it was bible study at Johnny and Kim’s. Come Saturday we were both grateful for a day of rest. We house sat at Belinda’s as Sal was preaching at the Baptist church on the Sunday morning.

In the last newsletter we wrote about Salvi’s visit of Zandile and her acceptance of the Gospel and repentance. Salvi called her acouple of weeks ago and she confessed that she had gotten rid of all her ancestral and witchcraft things and had experienced great peace and joy since the time of her commitment. Salvi went to visit her today during her lunch break, and given her some teaching. They talked about home life and some of the implications of following the Lord as the only believer in the home and they have committed to praying for her husband. Please pray that Zandile will have opportunity to witness to her husband and that Salvi may also be able to visit him in the future. Please pray for his salvation.

Please enjoy the photos displayed at the end of the newsletter.

The month of July we hope to have a slower month, however ……. The addition to our hut is now starting. Foundation has been poured. We will be going to Stanger for a week, for some relaxation and ministry work before Mark Van Niekerk heads away to Israel for a prolonged mission trip. A Congress on Revival, with old style revivalist preaching, is later in the month and we will be going with Jannie and his wife Glenda.

Please can you pray for:

Tholakele that she will press into the Lord over this difficult time of loss. She would stand firm in her faith if pressure comes on to do ancestor worship.

Give thanks for a gift towards Zulu bibles.

That Girlie and John who have felt lead by the Lord to undertake the addition of two rooms to our hut will be blessed with wisdom.

Give thanks for kids at kids club, may the lord bless His word to them.

That the members of the church and cell groups would continue to press into the Lord.

For Zandile in her new faith and for the salvation of her husband.

Many thanks again for your constant support in prayer. May the lord strengthen us as we all labour on together.

May the lord bless and keep you all. Until next month !!

Shalom

PSALM 23

THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD.

This psalm is probably one of the most well known portions of scripture, along with Lord’s prayer and John 3: 16. It is recited at funerals and added to cups, bookmarks and all kinds of merchandise to be sold as gifts. It is poetic, it is lyrical. We sing it, we recite it and we pray it. But I want to ask, do we know it? Do we understand the imagery? Do we grasp it’s message? Have we experienced the reality, the leading of the Great Shepherd of our lives? Is Salvador Ung Hayworth acting as a sheep in Christ’s flock? Is the Lord really the shepherd in Salvador’s life? Or is this psalm just a nice poem to be recited on special occasions?

I asked these questions because in this psalm we are dealing with the very character of God. The living God is a shepherd, and as such He has every right and privilege to interrupt our schedule. He can interfere with our ideas and can redirect our plans to fall into accord with His own will. This psalm is deeply personal because it says “The Lord is MY shepherd”. Let’s open our hearts before the Lord in sincerity, honesty and truth. That shepherd knows your condition so don’t lie to Him. As a shepherd He is to lead us and we are to follow Him. In this psalm we see His provision, His care, His leading, His discipline, His equipping, His perseverance and His destination. David wrote this psalm out of his own experience of being a shepherd, looking after his father’s sheep. He would take them from place to place, from oasis to oasis, looking for good pasture and where there was water. He would fight off the wolves and lions and then in the end he would present them back to his father. And he would have to give an account for every single sheep. As David looked at his situation, I imagine that he said, “Hang on, that is how God is with me. He provides, He protects, He preserves and He knows me by name.” As Jesus said in John 10: 14 “I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me.” Jesus looks after His Father’s sheep. And that is the first point I want to bring out. “The Lord is MY shepherd.” You can’t live off another person’s faith. You can’t hide behind a church, or a parent, or a preacher, or a pastor. Jesus knows His sheep by name and they know Him. Do you know Jesus? Is He leading you? Is He in control of your life?

And what else do we know of God’s shepherding nature? In the first verse we read that it is the Lord who is my shepherd. The word Shepherd here is the same word as pastor. It means the same thing, i.e someone who tends and feeds sheep. Now we know that the scripture dictates that God gives pastors and teachers to the church, (Ephesians 4: 11) so it is imperative that we have pastors in the church. But whether we have one, two or three pastors or we don’t have any, let us never forget “The Lord is my shepherd.” What comfort this is when we lack that person to whom we can turn, to whom we can take our lead from. Let us be content in the fact that the Lord is my shepherd. And He is the Lord. That name in Hebrew is the tetragram, the Holy name of God. We know it as Yahweh. We commonly pronounce it as Jehovah. It is the name of which God said “You shall not take the name of Yahweh, your God in vain.” If you have a literal translation of the Bible, such as NASB or the New King James you will have the word LORD printed with every letter capitalized and that indicates that it is referring to the name Yahweh. Yahweh or Jehovah comes from the Hebrew word ‘Hayah’ which means ‘to be’. God is the ‘I am that I am’, or the ‘I will be that which I will be’. He is self sufficient. He doesn’t need anything or anyone in order to exist. When He made us it wasn’t because He had to fulfill a need for relationship or for family. As Francis Schaeffer put it, God could never have been lonely because he is a Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and therefore He already had perfect communion. And because he is the ‘I am’ then the next phrase makes perfect sense.

The one who doesn’t need anything, the all sufficient one is my shepherd. Therefore I shall not want. I shall not lack. He’s still providing everything that I need. That I need. You can never stop needing more in this life. The rich can still get richer. I may have a lot of money and possessions but that doesn’t make me rich in God’s eyes. If My heart is set on these things than I am the poorest man alive. Didn’t James say that the brother of humble means, (the Christian that lives in the tin shack on the squatter camp), is to glory in his high position, and the rich man, (the one with the million Rand mansion), is to glory in his humiliation? All these things will fade away. The Rich man will fade away. (James 1: 9 – 11) Paul said that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil and some by longing for it had wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. But what does Paul say in 1 Timothy 6: 6? Godliness with contentment is great gain. Jesus said “seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you”. What are the ‘these things’ that Jesus was referring to? Our food and our clothes. Matthew 6: 19 – 34 is not speaking about the addition of perceived needs or concerning luxuries, but about bare necessities. Just because God is liberal and gives us more than we ask many times should not cause us to misread Jesus words in Matthew 6. God is not promising the luxuries but the bare necessities which would have been a pressing concern for the people to whom Jesus was speaking who did not know if they would have enough food tomorrow. It was so natural to worry and yet Jesus told them not to. “The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want.” Do we believe that this? Do we trust Him implicitly to bring us what we need when and as He sees fit? Do we keep praying with that trust with patience or do we give up, or get frustrated with God? I know that I have struggled in this area. And so now, do I think I know better than God? Is my agenda more important than His? What is on His agenda? Let us read.

He makes me lie down in green pastures. He makes me lie down there. It wasn’t my idea. God has given us the Word of God to feed us, to strengthen us and to sanctify us. He helps us, humbles us and challenges us to get into the Word. May be this message is one of the ways by which He will do that. Maybe you have been out of the Word for a while, living on other people’s sermons and therefore there is an emptiness in this area. You’ve got to chew the cud yourself. He can make you lie down there but you got to chew it yourself. And the grass is green, it is pure. God’s doctrine, His teaching, is right and therefore we must test the words of our preachers against the plumb-line of scripture itself. We must always get back to the gospel of what Christ did in securing our salvation, the price that He paid and of the resurrection. Pure milk and fresh meat. But not just the Word but also the still waters.

Water is representative of two things in scripture. Firstly in the context of living, or flowing, waters it is representative of the Holy Spirit. John 7: 37 – 39. Secondly it is representative of the Word of God. Ephesians 5: 25 & 26. The Spirit and the Word go together. The Holy Spirit will always confirm the Word of God. That is why we need to come to the Word with an honest and open heart because the Holy Spirit will try to tell us something and as Hebrews 3: 7 – 9 says “Today if you hear His voice do not harden your hearts.” Don’t harden your hearts, don’t be deceived by the deceitfulness of sin. Let us encourage one another, day after day, as long as it is still called ‘today’. And what else does it say about these waters? They are still, they are quiet. They are not raging, dangerous torrents that will suddenly sweep away the sheep. When Paul gave instructions to the Corinthian Church concerning the meetings, he wrote 1 Corinthians 14: 26 – 33. The church of Corinth was like a charismatic church but with a sound understanding of the gospel message. Yet they were very carnal, very fleshly and their meetings we’re just pandemonium. They were full of self love and self promotion and lacked the love to build one another up. So Paul had to sort it out. Many of them would speak in different languages all at the same time, presumably to show off. But Paul said ‘No, this is not on.’ Two or at the most three should speak in a language, each in turn and not without an interpreter’. And why Paul give this command? Because God is not a God of confusion. The Holy Spirit isn’t going to barge in and stir us all up into a complete frenzy and leave us dazed. He often speaks in a still small voice. The waters are still and they are in connection with the green pastures, the Word of God. And maybe we haven’t heeded Him. Maybe we have blown it. Even though we might be saved we still have got our hands back onto the steering wheels of our lives. If you are in this category let this next verse bless you.

He restores my soul. That word ‘to restore’ means that He brings you back to repentance. And note this word is in the present tense. It always is in the present tense. It doesn’t say that once upon a time he restored my soul. No matter where I have been before He can still restore my soul. And when I repent I’m not just turning away from sin but I am also turning towards something else. Read on, He leads me in the paths of righteousness. And this is for His name’s sake. We sing the song ‘Jesus take me as I am’, beautiful and truthful as that is. We say ‘Jesus accepts you as you are’. But we get duped into thinking that Jesus is happy with the way we are. But the truth is that Jesus is not happy with the way we are. If He was happy with the way we are then He wouldn’t have gone to the cross to satisfy God’s anger against our sin and take our punishment. He accepts us as we are on the basis of His own sacrifice, His own righteousness and goodness and He means to change us. This is the path He has chosen for us. There is no other option. We can’t ‘hop scotch’ our way to heaven, and throw our coin to avoid certain squares we don’t want to touch. If we want Salvation we must go by His ordained way. He is Holy, separate from sinners, in His own league, high above everything else and He says ‘be holy for I am holy’. However we don’t strive to be holy in order to be saved but we strive to be holy because He is our shepherd. We are not holy so that we can be called Christians but rather living a life holiness is part of what we signed up to when we became Christians. As Paul said, ‘Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?’ The point of grace is not to make us sin more but to deliver us from a life of sin.

But what does the next verse say? We go through the valley of the shadow of death. The shadow of death speaks of death itself. It is to do with being in a place of utter darkness where there is no light. It is a place of terror. In Job 28:1-4 Job speaks of it in connection with a mine deep in the earth, a place away from the light, away from life, away from warmth. It is a terrifyingly profound place. In Jeremiah 13: 16 Jeremiah speaks of it as a judgment from God. A place where people are brought to stumbling. And sometimes we go through these situations where everything is upside down, where we are stumbling in our walk, where there is no light and we can’t perceive the Lord. Sometimes it is because of our sin that we go through it and other times it is just like Job’s situation, a result of the spiritual battle in the heavenlies. We don’t understand it and we cry out “Where are you Lord?” But don’t be afraid. He is with you. Maybe he has to bring out His rod. He can be harsh. Hebrews 12: 4 – 11. He must discipline us at times and it isn’t pleasurable. That is why it says in verse 7 that you ‘endure’. If it wanted to imply pleasure it would have used the word ‘enjoy’. But remember that love is the basis of His chastisement. And remember that He comforts us. A good shepherd will use his rod to protect the sheep and fight the wolves, the false teachers who try to make merchandise of the flock, who bring another gospel. And sometimes He guides us with His staff. Randall Smith taught that when a lamb is growing up it lacks the sense to stay away from danger. It runs off and may lead others astray, so therefore the shepherd must come up the lamb and he takes the rod and guess what he does? He breaks the lamb’s legs. It seems so cruel and yet after the break the legs he then sets the lamb upon his shoulders and carries the lamb until the legs are mended. And after the legs are restored the lamb knows not to run away. And I bet you something, I bet that the lamb did not understand what was going on while its legs were bruised. The bruising sure does hurt but when the shepherd has broken the little lambs leg He has taught him to stay near Him and away from danger. Then the shepherd can strengthen and guide His flock with more gentleness. He tells us ‘this is the way, now walk in it.’ His grace is there in the good times and in the bad. Even when there are wolves around, the sheep still sit down to eat. The table is set in the midst of our enemies.

Yes, we are to be aware because Satan is roaming around. But we trust our shepherd. Even in the midst of our enemies the Holy Spirit can give us the words to say. Didn’t Jesus say to his disciples not to worry beforehand what they would say when they are brought before rule is because of Jesus’ sake. But the Holy Spirit would give them the words they would have to say in that hour. We have an anointing from the holy One who teaches us all things. This psalm says that my cup runs over. It overflows. Be being filled with the Holy Spirit. Be controlled by Him. As C H Spurgeon said “Every Christian is a priest, but he cannot execute his priestly office without unction.” Because God has more on His agenda than just having us do a specific task, or to be involved in a certain ministry. As Dave Hunt wrote, ‘what God can do in us is just as important as what He can do through us’. He can do abundantly far more than we can even ask, think or imagine. God has more on His agenda. He intends to make us like Jesus. The Spirit of God is working in us to produce his fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness faithfulness and self control, to sum it up in a word Christ-likeness. And if this is what we desire, if we would go home and submit to the Shepherd, to His Word and His Spirit, then look at what this psalm promises us. That goodness and loving kindness will follow us all the days of our life. That word, ‘loving kindness’ i Hebrew is the word ‘Chesed’. It means grace, mercy, favor. In means faithfulness to His covenantal promises. Not a compromising loyalty that refuses to offend or take a stand in order to please the person concerned but a loyalty to His promises and His covenant. God is a God of His word. Isn’t this the goodness of God? People ask, ‘what has God ever done for me?’ But He has done more than we could ever deserve. ‘But that was 2,000 years ago, what has that to do with me today?’ But Jesus died on the cross because our sins. Is there sin in our cities or towns today? Is there sin in your life and in my life today? Are you not a sinner? Then how can you ask, what has that to do with me today? It has everything to do with you. His goodness and lovingkindness will follow us, literally will chase after us all the days of this pilgrimage through this wilderness of the World. And what is our life? It is just a breath, a passing vapour. Here today and gone tomorrow. When I lived in KwaZulu Natal the first time, outside our property and just down the road there was a man fixing his lorry. He worked for Mondi forests and he drove lorries hauling big logs. And as he was fixing the Lorry, I don’t know how, but he was crushed by the falling logs and he died. A friend of mine, Joe Rumley, who was visiting me at that time stated “I bet when that guy woke up this morning he didn’t think that today he would meet his Maker.” Our lives are short.

Guess what? This life is not it. We must be heavenly minded. We must keep looking for that heavenly city built without human hands. We should be looking for the things that remain for eternity. God is going to shake not only the earth but the heavens and all the temporal things are going to be destroyed. If our lives are built upon the passing pleasures of this life they also will fall apart. Look at Psalm 46. ‘There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God. She shall not be moved’. There is a house, a home forever and this house is called the house of the Lord. Do you want that security, that sense of the belonging? Do you want to share in something that will last? I know I do. Then let us keep looking to the Lord for our provision, for our care, for our discipline, for our protection, and let us keep heading in that direction that he leads us in. And for you who are looking for a pastor. Look for someone who will emulate these qualities. Someone who will know the sheep by name and not stand aloof from the congregation. Someone who will give good food from the Word and who is sensitive to the leading of the Spirit. Someone who is concerned With holiness and righteousness. Someone who will bring correction if there needs to be discipline but is always ready to carry and bind the broken with a tender heart. Someone who will chase away the wolves who tried to fleece the sheep and who bring another gospel. Someone who is willing to go through the hard times with his flock and to be there for them. Someone who will promote the good of his congregation. And lastly, someone who will promote and encourage an eternal mindset to the people so that they may look forward to living in the house of the Lord forever.