Do not envy the rich

Charlise Theron the Oscar winning South African actress from Benoni received a shock when she was charged for wearing the wrong wrist watch at a social event in Los Angeles! She did not wear the watch given to her from the company that is sponsoring her. It was a mistake! But she has to pay $150 million to them as a punishment! When they interviewed her she was flabberghasted and said she could not believe they would do such a thing! It would probably swallow up all her life's earnings up to date!
The Psalmist continually warns us not to envy the rich or famous. The Psalmist also warns us not to take note when wicked people prosper and wonder why God allows it. He says that he almost backslid pondering these things and envying other people's wealth. The way of escape for him was to go into the sanctuary and pray about it until he had a revelation that gave him a new perspective on life in general. A word of the Lord came to him that reminded him to, 'look at their end'.
There are many books telling you how to get rich and how to imitate self-made millionaires, but these books do not tell you how these men ended up. As a young man looking at the path of life ahead of me, I investigated many aspects of life and studied the lives of great men to learn from them. Many books told you what to do and how to go about it, but in the end I decided to take the Bible, that old black Book that has withstood the test of time, to be my Road Map in Life.
When I realised that money is not the key to happiness and wealth is not the measure of a man's success, I turned to the riches Christ had to offer and decided to sell all that I have several times, give to the poor and to follow Him in the Way!
Nola and I have lived our lives as missionaries by this adage found in Scripture: there is he who scatters abroad and yet increases; then there is he who keeps back more than is necessary and it tends to poverty.
We have not stopped travelling abroad to other lands to spread the Good News of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, namely that God was in Jesus Christ reconciling the world to Himself and if anyone would believe with their hearts that Jesus Christ died for their sins and that God raised Him from the dead, would be saved if they confess Him as Lord!
The blessing of the Lord makes rich and adds no sorrow to it! When God begins to bless you there is no turning back! If generation after generation would continue to server the Lord faithfully he will increase their blessing and eventually begin to multiply it like he did for Abraham, Isaac and Jacob!
Another verse of Scripture that guided our lives is the one where Jesus said, 'if anyone gives up houses or land, father or mother, or possessions for My sake and the Gospel's, he would receive 100 fold in this life and eternal life in the life to come, plus persecutions.'
Persecutions come when God blesses you because people are envious and jealous and begin to hate those who have found the favour of God in their lives by faitfully serving God and humanity.
I believe we need to make a decision individually, but also as a family, like Joshua and say, 'As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord our God!'
The Lord's financial operating system works in any economy of the world: Malachi prophesied and said, if you would faithfully bring in the tithes and the offerings and sacrifices to the Lord's house (the accurate church), He would pour out a blessing that there would be no room to receive it! He will even give back to you what you have lost over the years! Then the Lord invites us all to test him in this matter!
If people would realise that the best investment and the best financial business to be in is to serve the Lord with your finances, the world would turn out to be a wonderful place, because the love of money is the root of all evil.

How planets are formed

A lady stood in front of me in the church building in Brooklyn, Pretoria where Nola and I pastored the last church before we moved to Cape Town to pursue our apostolic ministry, and said, 'I have a word from the Lord for you!' She owned her own insurance company and was not one of those dilly women who constantly tried to be spiritual, so I was prepared to listen to her.
'Don't look to the stars; look to the planets!'
With that she walked away and I was left standing in limbo. What on earth could that mean? I knew we had many 'stars' in our large congregation; sport stars, business stars, music stars, acting stars and some who just thought they were stars! But I was stumped when it came to planets!
I read up on some astronomy books and discussed it with Nola and the kids, but then I left it behind me. The word just didn't make complete sense to me. But it haunted me. It stayed with me.
A long time after that, when we already lived in Milnerton, Cape Town, I revisited Pretoria and knocked on the door of a prophet who has since moved to America (it ssems that all prophets end up there in the end!)
As I walked into his office he said,'have you been studying the universe lately?' How on earth could he have known. I thought to myself.
So on my return to Cape Town we made a concerted effort to go to Sutherland, where all the nations of the world have their Observatories. It is the place in the Southern Hemisphere where the skies are the clearest. There are no industries nearby for an area of 70 kilometres.
We attended some lectures - which, I must be honest, were far too scientific for my brain that looks for scripts to act out as an actor! But at the end of a lecture the scientist opened the floor for any questions.
'I have a question,' I ventured out,'what's the difference between a star and a planet?' At first I thought everyone would laugh at my foolish question, but instead, the man commended me,'that is a good question!' I felt relieved. It felt like we were all back at school in a classroom situation. The man continued his explanation:
'A star burnes on its own gas. When the gas is burnt up it uses its last gas to become a shooting star. A planet is a group of stars that have given up their own identity and uses their energy to melt together to form a new planet. The planet has no light of its own. It relies on the sun to make it shine! Just like the moon.'
It solved my riddle...
Unity is only obtained by those who are willing to lay their lives down for a cause. C. T. Studd, the old English cricketer who gave away his entire Eaton inheritance in order to be totally reliant on the provision of God as a missionary to China and Africa, said, 'if Jesus Christ was the Son of God and gave His life for me, then the least I can do is give my life to him!'
Half hearted efforts in life, luke-warmness, hesitancy not only causes delay, but eventual defeat! Whole hearted effort brings results in every area of life. If someone is not really with you, it will show up in due time, but so much time was wasted in the interim!
When everyone has their own agenda it is difficult to create unity. Unity comes only from people willing to give up their own ambition in order to serve something far greater than themselves...the Christian martyrs serve as a prime example of people who were willing to lay down their lives for the cause of Christ.
But even in sport, Mike Hussey, Mr. Cricket, as he has become known, the Australian batsman that is second only to the great Sir Donald Bradman in test averages, tells in his biography how he made up his minde to give cricket his best shot, even though he was just an average player, with a slight build and often self-doubting person. When he had made up his mind, he gave it all he's got and he has earned the respect of those who doubted him as well as his team mates. But in on the last page of his book he says he wants to be remembered as a team man and a good bloke who also played some good cricket! He is sold out to what he chose as a profession!
If you and I can take a page out of his book, we may be able to turn the tide in our affairs of life as well!
Instead of trying to be a star, lets form planets that outlast the stars!
This has become the definition for our church and our church network; we are not looking for stars, but for faithful people who are willing to give up their own ambitions to make the dream of Jesus Christ come true: a church where He is truly the Head of the body of believers! Paul reminds Timothy to only appoint faithful men who are able to teach others also - avoid the big talkefs and the ones who only rely on their giftedness!
A plante finds its orbit around the sun...but that is another chapter altogether!
Remember, stars might shine bright for a while, but eventually become shooting stars!

The Lazarus story

My Yorkshire friend John Waller ran a bible college in Ghana for ten years and had some amazing experiences during that time. One of them was the story about a church plant in a little village where there was no electricty. He took a small generator along and showed the Jesus Film in an open space in the market.
Before he went he prayed and told the Lord, 'we need a Lazarus or something similar to start the interest in the church in that village!'
At the conclusion of the movie he gave an altar call and many people gave their lives to the Lord. One of them was the town drunk. Everybody knew him. When he came forward the people were astonished.
His name was Lazarus!
John took one of his young associates with him on the missiona and asked him to remain behind to establish the church. When he asked the crowd who had space for the young man in their home, Lazarus was the first to offer his place. It turned out to be a shack and the boy had to sleep on the ground, just like Lazarus.
But the young man was willing to rough it in order to establish the work.
Many times God chooses the most unlikely person to get a job done. He uses the foolish things, the despised and rejected ones so that no man can boast about anything in His presence!
John and his wife Trish spent ten years of their lives in Ghana and could write a book about all they had experienced. When I encouraged him about writing the book, he remarked, 'what about all the unsung heroes in Ghana that have far greater stories to tell?'
John came close to death on two or three occasions due to Malaria attacks and a brain tumour. He has recovered but his body has suffered severely. But he is full of praise to the Lord for the opportunity for adventure that they had in Ghana.
Today he is pastoring an Elim church in Barking, London. With his typical Yorkshire humour he said, 'I've been to Toronto blessing and now I'm barking!' We shared a good laugh together.
He used to be a rugged truck driver before he got saved and became a preacher. Its a hard life, but he loved it. Trish has stood by his side all these years and her dedication and discipline has been the back bone of their ministry over the years.
The genuineness of their faith and friendship has been a pillar of strength to Nola and me over the years and we honour them as a man and woman of God who remained faithful in spite of untold hardships and even when facing dangers for the Gospel's sake.
The Pentecostal Church in Ghana invited him back for the inauguration of their new president recently and he enjoyed going over the old familiar hunting ground that he knew so well.
There are many more stories I can tell about John and Trish, but today I just wanted to tell the Lazarus story! I can say, 'It is written!' now!

Do you speak Yiddish?

The Pope and the Rabbi had a religious debate but the only problem was they Pope spoke Italian and the Rabbi Jewish. They agreed that it would be a private, silent debate. The Pope raised three fingers and the Rabbi raised one. Then the Pope waved his finger around his head and the Rabbi pointed to the ground. After some thought the Pope brought out the Holy Communion wafers and a chalice of wine. the Rabbi took out an apple from his pocket and gave it a bite.

Later the Cardinals (not the American sports team!) met with the Pope to satisfy their curiousity about the discussion. The Pope explained his version of the silent debate as follows:

'It was very enlightening! I said we believe in The Holy Trinity and the old Jew said there is only one God! Then I told him that God was omnipresent, all around us and he said God is right here with us now. When I explained Holy Communion with him to tell him that Christ died to forgive our sins he clearly understood all that and took out an apple and gave it a bite to remind us of the original sin in the garden of Eden! We communicated so well it was amazing!'

The Jewish community enquired of the old Rabbi how the meeting with the Pope went. He made some rude signals with his hand and stuck three fingers in the air, so I warned him not to waste my time by pointing my finger at him. Then he told me to leave by waving his hand about his head and I said, I'm staying right here! I wasn't going anywhere until I found out what this meeting was about! After that he relaxed a bit and took out his lunch and I took out my lunch!

I really have no clue what the debate was about!'

Bruce Rudnick told me this story many years ago and recently a lady in the church reminded me of it. It's one of those classic tales that is hard to remember. It has to be told accurately or it looses its punch.

Today Bruce has changed his name to Baruch and he lives in Israel, near the Negev, the last I heard. We used to have great times together. He is a sculptor and an artist and a whole lot of fun - as Jewish people can be.

I just found out recently that my ancestry might have been Jews from Holland! Pelser is a well known Jewish family name in the Netherlands! No wonder I have always enjoyed Jewish humour so much! And I've always had Jewish friends wherever I lived. Maybe it is a natural attraction! After all, Jesus was a Jew too!

Paul writes in his epistles and says a true Jew is not necessarily one that is circumcised in the flesh but one who is circumcised in the heart, by turning to Christ Jesus for salvation and leaving the Jewish laws and ceremonies behind.

Anyway, here are two more Jewish jokes that Jonathan Rael told me: Abe and Hymie meet up in the street and Abe says: 'so Hymie, how is it that you don't ask me how's business?' Hymie replies, 'ok, Abe, so how's business?' and Abe responds, ' Ag. better you don't ask!'

A Jewish lady travelling in a train compartment sat opposite a young man who was reading a newspaper. She was a bit bored with the long journey and wanted to make some conversation.

Jewish lady: 'Young man, are you Jewish?'

Young man: 'Excuse me, Ma'am? No, I'm not Jewish!'

After a short pause she asks him the same question three times.

Eventually he explodes with agitation and firmly denies the association: 'Lady, I'm telling you, my mother is not Jewish, my father is not a Jew and I'm not Jewish at all, ok?'

The Jewish lady lets the matter rest for a while and then picks up the thread of the conversation again: 'Excuse me, young man, but are you sure you are not Jewish?'

In utter desperation the young man surrenders to her pressure and admits, 'ok, lady, I'm Jewish, ok?' He hopes that this is the end of the endless reparteee, but alas, the Jewish lady pulls his newspaper down and points her finger to his face and concludes, 'but you don't look Jewish!'

Time for Spring Cleaning

They call it Spring Cleaning. It's that time of year when the garden and the garage get cleaned up. Without trying we gather boxes of worthless goods and the garden develops its own undergrowth of weeds. We ask ourselves the same question every year: how did we manage to gather such a lot of rubbish! Trailer loads of stuff is carted away to the garbage dump and suddenly we seem to have a bit more space in the garage, things look a bit more organized and the garden has a fresh look about it. We even plant a few new plants to decorate and beautify the place. And then we tackle the office...our cupboards and our mail!
Life's like that. You stay busy with things and little unnoticed details creep into your life and eventually squeeze important things out of your schedule by demanding urgent attention. We tend to feel guilty about it and wonder why we allow it. But really. if we think about it honestly, none of us necessarily choose the unnoticed things.
I read a scripture in Proverbs that said, spiders are even in the palaces of kings! Think about that: how on earth did they get in? Who invited them in? Who opened the door or the crack in the wall? Did they jump on someone's clothes to carry them into the palace? Did the wind blow them in? Before you know it you have to have tall feather dusters to clean the corners of the ceiling from cobwebs!
They say that little foxes spoil the vine. The problem is that you cannot always spot the little foxes until they have caused some damage. Then you hunt them down. By the way, have you notices how the foxes are increasing in London since they banned the age old tradition of fox hunting? You see them everywhere, in the parks and in the streets, crossing the road into someone else's backyard to scavange the duts bins for some left over Macdonalds!
In the parable about the sower, Jesus explained how good soil produces the best harvest. He describes the problems with the other kinds of soils by saying the roadside allows the birds of the air to eat the seeds sown, the rocky soil has no depth and the plants wither in the heat of the sun, and thorns choke the soil that is not properly prepared for the sowing season. He goes on to describe the things he defines as thorns: being anxious about life, the deceitfulness of riches and the desire for other things creeping in. There we have it again, those creeping things! Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression according to King Solomon. So it is useless to try and treat depression, it is merely the fruit of all the things that make you anxious. We have to deal with the things that cause anxiety, one by one, and depression will disappear like mist before the sun!

Riches in itself cannot satisfy althoug it can make life much easier. But the love of money is the root of all evil. One cannot serve Mammon the money god and God, our Heavenly Father, at the same time. You either hate the one and love the other or vice versa. Mammon is a hard slave driver, but our Heavenly Father desires that we prosper and be in good health, even as our souls prosper. There is a balance in the divine order of things.

The most important Spring cleaning we have to do from time to time is in our thoughts and in our attitudes. Wrong thinking leads to wrong speaking and wrong actions. Paul the apostle tells us to renew our minds so that we may know the good, acceptable and perfect will of God for our lives. This we do by paying careful attention to the Word of God allowing it to address issues in our personal life that need to change - to remove the cobwebs in our hearts and minds. Things do creep in, sometimes creepy things!

Repentance is a wonderful way to Spring Clean our souls! The Greek word for repentance means to turn around one hundred and eighty degrees! About Face!- as they used to give orders in the army. (Yes, I did my stint in the army, for almost ten years, every year for about a month, in the Commando's! Just thought you might like to know!)

Asking God to forgive our sins, for Christ's sake, not because we deserve it, is a wonderful antedote for the spirit that needs Spring Cleaning! John the apostle wrote in his first epistle if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If all unrighteousness is dealt with all that is left is righteousness!

My father once picked up a Jewish man rushing to get to the synagogue.
'Why are you in such a hurry?'
'Today is an important day. It is the day of atonement. Today all our sins will be forgiven.'
My dad posed a difficult question: 'You don' t have to answer me, but what is your greatest sin?'
'It is easy to answer that: keeping my shop open on Saturdays which is the Sabbath!'
My dad thought about it and then said, 'tomorrow is Saturday. Will you open your shop again?'
The Jewish man hesitated and then raised his shoulders and opened his hands in a typical Jewish gesture: 'What can I do? Business is business!'

Spring Cleaning, comes once a year, in any race!

But it is good to be reminded that we have the opportunity to clean things out. It is fantastic to know that Jesus Christ died for our sins and that He is able to forgive them and also cleanse our consciences! What a privilege to have such a Friend! And to know Him and God who sent Him is the true definition of Eternal Life, according to Jesus' own description. To know Him is to have permanent Spring Cleaning going on in one's life! Wow!

Holiday in Cancun

The liquid turquoise water of the Atlantic... in the bay of Cancun...The picture is indelibly printed on our memory sticks! Never will we forget the warmth of the water, the 9 different hues of turquoise as your eyes scan the horizons! The waves lifted you up, ever so gently, and put you down again, with ease.
I took my family on a holiday of a life time. Unforgettable. Much needed. Full of surprises. Most relaxing. A bonding experience - the enjoyment will bond us together. Just say the words, Cancun, and we all swoon...under the spell of the Mayan Mediterranian holiday resort.
Nola loved it so much. She could live there. Yvette took all the pictures we need to prod our animated conversations about the holiday. Hilton remembers the day a life saver offered him his surf board to surf the waves: 'I surfed in Mexico, man!' Yve took the pic to prove it!
And the food! Exquisite cuisine, Mexican style, even for breakfast, spicy and fresh.
But when one returns from Paradise the real world hits you in the face: our home was broken into, all Nola's jewelry stolen! Bills needed to be paid - immediately! Attacks on you personally from family members that do not understand you. An old dispute about a third party car insurance payment that was never paid and now summoned to court! Book keeper wants to see you! Applications for next years studies! Computer malfunction when you need it most! An investment that you have to cancel due to certain complications! Plants died because they were not watered! Bird cage has not been cleaned for ages!
Then you close your eyes, my baby, and think of Cancun, a place where there is tranquility and rest and all the meals are included, all the drinks paid for, and all you have to concentrate on is enjoying yourself to the hilt!
Heaven on earth? Yea, for a while. But that is what holidays are meant to be. We decided that we would not talk shop or church or business or school or anything that would detract us from pure, unadulterated enjoyment! Our brains rested, our bodies were bronzed and our souls purged! We slept late, we hardly knew what was going on in the world - our cell phones were switched off and we did not watch the news, no news from our part of the world anyway - we did not know the rugby score, nor the cricket - everything was just Cancun, Mexico.
Yvette and I drove three hours by bus to get to Chichen Iza, the great monument of the Mayan Indians that is now the 8th Wonder of the World. Think about El Dorado, the cartoon, with Kennet Brannagh and Kevin Klines incredible voices, or the movie, The man who would be king, with Sean Connery and Michael Caine in the lead roles and you will know what I am referring to. The place of gold where they made human sacrifices. They played a strange ball game and the player of the match was sacrificed to their pagan gods. (On that day you tell your son, 'don't play so well, my son, let the other guy win!') It was interesting, yet horrifying to learn about these ancient cultures.
Nola and Hilton went horse riding on three estates and ate a scrumptuous meal outside under a grass umbrella. That night we swopped stories about our day - like we did every day.
What a day. Shall we ever forget it? Nor will we forget the other days. It was a treat to the senses and a rest for the spirit.
We came back refreshed - able to face the necessities, the routines, the challenges and lets call a spade a spade, the problems we had to face and we faced them one by one, by the grace of God!
Hilton was chosen for the provincial hockey team for Primary Schools and had to play a tournament in the first week! But he was so well rested, he scored all the goals for his team and helped them to win the tournament! Bravo! He did not ever practice anything during the holiday.
Sometimes all we need, is not more motivation, more energy drinks, more analysis, more guts - all we need is a fantastic holiday - a Cancun of our own somewhere, out there, away from it all, where we don't know anyone and where we can't speak the language and where all we have to do is rest and relax.
It is called a Sabbath's rest - even our Creator rested on the 7th day. We'll I'm sure he did it in Cancun!

The Old Evangelist

A friend that has recently gone through a traumatic divorce in ministry wrote an email and told me about the secret of a great evangelist, Smith Wigglesworth, who had a heart of compassion: he said to someone, 'I am a broken hearted person: I miss my wife so much, but it keeps my heart soft towards God and people.'
Then I thought of a song my parents used to sing in church, 'He died of a broken heart for me'. As a kid the song had sad tones, but I did not have the savvy to grasp the intent.
I often got full marks for writing essays in Afrikaans. In fact, when the teacher wrote the topics on the board I used to write essays on all topics and often even suggest some topics to the teachers! I wrote note books full of essays, and sometimes when I read them to my willing mother, I used to cry while reading to her! Sentimental? Romantic? Perhaps, but I have learned that a soft heart can touch other hearts...
The Question is, how do I keep my heart soft? A hard heart is unbearable...to have and to live with. Bitterness of heart, unforgiveness, unbelief, hatred...all these things make a heart hard. Such a hard heart cannot produce a good crop. It spoils the seed of the word of God and when persecution comes for the word's sake it has no depth and the plant withers and dies in the heat of the sun...
Well, the seed of the word of Life can also be choked by the deceitfulness of riches, the anxieties of life and the desire for other things creeping into a heart. The good soil is the soul that is soft towards God, that understands, and it produces 30, 60 and 100 fold harvests!
That's from the parable of the sower.
Back to Smith Wigglesworth. He was a rasping bully of a man who treated his wife so badly that he often locked her out of the house because she went to church. When he woke up to get the daily newspaper and bottle of milk on the porch she would get up and greet him kindly. Her prayers and soft heart eventually broke his hard heart and he converted and became a preacher - a great preacher! He raised 22 people from the dead, apparently!
But his wife died not to long after that and obviously he missed her - he must have had memories of how he treated her! Obviously he wanted to make up for his foul behaviour and somehow he translated this into good deeds for others.
It was a known fact that he often wept when he asked people how their spouses or children were.
He had some things that softened his heart. He knew who he was and what he had done. He had received forgiveness, but the memory of the one who remained kind and patient with him, kept his heart soft throughout his lonely ministry years.
Don't we all have some things that could make our hearts soft? Or do we persist in having hard hearts? All of us have things that we wished we had not done, and things we hated when others did it to us. But we can turn these memories into our favour and let them soften instead of harden our hearts, by forgiveness. Sometimes we have to forgive ourselves...often!
How frail we mortals be!
But my friend shared his broken heartedness with me and I throught about it - if it softens our hearts, then a broken heart is a good thing...
Then again, Jesus is anointed to heal the broken hearted and set the captives free! But the memory of his kindness and patience towards us all makes me weep, at times, and keeps my heart soft! Patience and kindness are after all the first two qualities of divine love as defined in I Corinthians 13:4-9 (Its worth reading!)
So, what has broken your heart, my dear? What has caused you grief? Are you going to let it make you bitter and twisted and harden your heart or are you going to use it to soften your heart so that you can have compassion on others - like the old evangelist?
Those who sow in tears, shall reap in joy!
One day the Lord will wipe away our tears and say, 'well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the Joy of the Lord!' What a day that will be!

What a transporting moment of joy it will be
When we meet face to face
The One we have known heart to heart
All these years!