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Question 12:  Can you give me some Biblical information regarding the use of flags, banners and the meaning of colours in worship? 

 

 

Praise Him with Banners

- flags, ribbons, banners, colours -

- Liezl Niewoudt

 

Jehovah Nissi

Jehovah Nissi  means God is my banner.   This is how He introduces Himself to His people.  An example of this is the war with the Amalekites where Joshua and the Israelites kept winning while Moses interceded for them with His arms held high.  The moment he let his arms down, they would lose.  They finally won the victory when Aaron and Hur helped Moses keep his arms up.  It is because they proclaimed God's presence in their midst (Ex 17:8-16).  Therefore, every time you hold your arms up high, you are proclaiming that God is your banner!

The Holy Spirit revels in the mature, warrior bride when He describes her as "terrible, like an army with banners" (Song of Songs 6:10).

All through history, an important function of flags/banners is to proclaim victory.  The victorious army had the right to take the losing army's flag and replace it with their own.  They usually placed it on the highest possible place for all to see, declaring new leadership  (Ps 20:5).   We declare the same when we use flags and banners during spiritual warfare.  God has won the victory for us and we raise flags and banners or our hands to show everyone that Jehovah Nissi is our God.  There is meaning in what you do - there is power and salvation!

All fighting armies, including the tribes of Israel had these flags and banners.  In the same way we can take our place and raise God's standard to show whom we stand for (Num 2:2,10) and then the enemy will flee (Isa 31:9).

 

God is love

God is love and He shows it with a banner. Jesus is the banner and He in turn raises His flag over every soul that is joined to Him (Song of Songs 2:4). Jesus became the banner when He hung on the cross for all to see how much He and the Father loves you.  Therefore we also raise our flags and banners as a symbol of God's love for us.  We honour Him and make Him known as the God of love.

Flags and banners are also instruments of healing and worship.  Moses had to raise the copper snake and everyone who was bitten by a snake had to look at it to be healed.  In the same way, worshipping with flags and banners can help people focus their trust on God the Healer (Num 21:8-9; John 3:14-15).

Jesus is also a banner of truth (Ps 60:4), salvation (Isa 4:6; 31:9) and breakthrough (Isa 11:12).  We can have part of it by raising Him up as a banner to the nations (Isa 62:10).

 

A sign

God confirms His covenant with Noah by giving the sign of the rainbow in the sky (Gen 9:13-17). In the same way, flags and banners are for a sign, to communicate a message to others (Isa 30:17).

 

Use in warfare

The use of flags and banners must always draw one's attention to Jesus.  It must inspire those who see it to worship Christ and sing praises to His Name.  Jack Hayford describes two events where banners were used to achieve this purpose successfully and also unsuccessfully:

"Two of the most effective uses of banners I have ever seen in a worship service took place in recent travels of mine. Both were in well-ordered yet spiritually liberated Sunday morning gatherings ... The striking thing to me was how effectively -at once tastefully and dynamically- the biblical concept of the waving or lifting of banners was applied: ‘We will rejoice in your salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners!' (Psalm 20:5; see also Song of Solomon 6:4, 10).

 

What especially moved me was how the use of banners in both churches gloriously drew attention to Jesus Christ and moved the congregation to praise and magnify Him.

This stood in sharp contrast to several experiencesI have had that were well-intended and doubtless sincere but either unwise or ungoverned, as souls moved randomly about the front of the sanctuary, flailing banners as they danced, sometimes artlessly and always distractingly. (I hasten to contrast this with many well-trained, disciplined and effectively choreographed worship dance teams I have seen who added as much to the worship as the other artists - singers and musicians - assisting the congregation to worthily exalt the Lord.)

 

In that Methodist church, glorious banners bearing the Savior's name were borne the length of the building as the congregation stood and the orchestra played ‘All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name.' The people rose, less by any formal requirement than by the raw power of the moment that virtually drew you to your feet and caused your heart to join the anthem with high praise and uplifted hands.

 

The turning point in Florida from a marvellous choral prelude, as worshippers gathered, to the beginning of the service, was with trumpet fanfare and the leader's summons of the people to their feet. The choir broke into song: ‘I want to see Jesus lifted high - a banner that flies across the land!' As they did, a cluster of banner-bearers began to file into the sanctuary, joyously waving the golden-hued silks as they led the congregation into a pronounced declaration of an unspoken yet obvious fact: Jesus Christ is Lord in this place!"

 

Therefore, be specific in your use of flags and banners.  Clearly communicate the message in your heart.  Use it for warfare, praise and worship, intercession, processions, etc and let the Holy Spirit be your Teacher. Be sensitive and let Him lead you with regard to colour, design and shape of the flags as well as your movements (choreography).

 

Practical tips

Flags:

Choose material that is not too heavy.  Silkytex, lining, silk and lame work well.  Choose material according to the effect you want to create.

The size of the flag depends on the preference and ability of the dancer.

Make the cut cloth neat and remember to stitch a sleeve for the stick of the flag.  When it is inside the sleeve, push thumbtacks through the material into the stick so that the flag will not come off when dancing.  Use 9.5 mm dowel rods.  You can spraypaint the rods, silver and gold work well.

Practise often. Use your whole arm and wrist to move the flag.   Use your movements to interpret the words of the music.

 

Banners:

Be creative - use anything to create the message you want to communicate.  Your choice of material will also depend on how the banner will hang and where and how it will be used.

If the banners will be carried with a rod, make sure that it is not too heavy.  Use lighter material and do not make the banner too big.  Make eyelets for the rod or pole.

Banners are excellent for processions!

 

Cloth:

Cloths to dance with vary from about 1.5m to 2.5m for individual dance and 4m to 5m for pairs.  Choose material that is not to heavy, the same as for flags.  Organza and taffeta are also good options.

 

Ribbons:

Use 8-9mm dowel rods, screw in eyelets (from a hardware store) and use satin ribbons up to 5m long, depending on your ability.  Always untie knots in your ribbon immediately.  Broader, shorter ribbons can also be made from organza or lamé.

 

Colours:

These are some of the colours that are often used for clothes or banners, ribbons, flags and cloths.  These meanings are only a guideline.  Let the Holy Spirit speak to you regarding what a specific colour or colour combinations means for you in your circumstances.

Amber
God's glory, Father's provision, fiery passion, fiery throne of God, the temple of God, wisdom.

Blue
Blue represents the sky or air and often also hope or good health. Blue is symbolic of heaven as well as truth.

Bronze,Copper

Judgment, fire or testing

Brow
Brown is symbolic of earth and was used in the colour of monks' tunics, symbolising humility and God's connection to the ordinary and mundane.

Burgundy

New wine, the cup of covenant, blessings, joy, blood of Jesus, abundance, identification with Jesus' sufferings.

Yellow
It is symbolic of light and purity and youth.  It speaks of joy, love and wellbeing.  It can also be the colour of backsliding and silliness.  Yellow can have double meanings.  It can also represent godliness.

Gold
Godliness, wealth, royalty, refining fire, glory, majesty, righteousness, Godly light, grace.

Green
New life.  Green symbolises freedom from chains and slavery.  It also represents abundance, hope and victory over death.

Grey
Grey is the colour of ash and sometimes represents repentance.  As a mixture of white and black it is sometimes used to represent the mortality of the human body and the immortality of the spirit.

Orange
Symbolic of perseverance and strength.  Orange is the colour of fire.  It represents the red of passion tempered by the yellow of wisdom.  Praise and worship, warfare, harvest season, joy.

Pink

Rose of Sharon, the Father's love and pity for His children, innocence, youth, tender heart for Jesus, the Bridegroom's heart, healing.

Purple
Royalty, fasting, faith, patience and trust.

Red
Red is the colour of blood. It represents action, passion, love, spiritual awakening.  Joy of life.

Silver
Salvaiton, Word of God.  Freedom, strength, reconciliation, godliness, righteousness, faith, wisdom, purity.

Black
Some say it represents eternity, also death, fear or ignorance. 

Turquoise
Water, healing, strengthening by the Holy Spirit.

White
Purity, virginity, innocence and birth are symbolised by this colour.  White is the traditional colour of Christmas and Passover.

 

Bibliography:

1. Hauptfleish, Poppie. 2007. Kom Gou, My Liefling! Poppie Hauptfleish: Durbanville. (pp 84, 94-95)

2. Lardinais, Barbara.[Intyds] Beskikbaar: http://hannahscupboard.com/nissi.html

3. Hauptfleish, Poppie. 2007. Kom Gou, My Liefling! Poppie Hauptfleish: Durbanville. (p 37)

4. Hayford, Jack. 2006. Manifest Presence. Christian Art Publishers: Vereeniging. (pp 85-86)

5. I Lift My Eyes Ministries.[Intyds] Beskikbaar: http://psalm121.ca/dancecolor.html

 

Question 11:  Are all Christians going to heaven?

Written by: Priscilla Koegelenberg

Lets first look at what Jesus Himself said: (All underlining, italics and bold type my own):

Luke 13:23,24 & 28 - And someone asked Him, Lord, will only a few be saved?  And He said to them,

Strive to enter by the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able.

There will be weeping and grinding of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves being cast forth.

 

Now I ask the question:  the ones that will try to enter, surely consider themselves Christians and therefore saved, for non-believers will most certainly not try to enter heaven, will they?  They simply don't believe that it exists. Or they may be people who do believe in heaven, and will try to enter heaven, but believe that there are other ways of entering into heaven than through Jesus Christ alone. Also, the people He was addressing were Jews:  people who would consider themselves religious people.

Mark 11:25 - And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him and let it drop, in order that your Father Who is in heaven may also forgive you your failings and shortcomings and let them drop.

 

In this verse, it is shown that our Father's forgiveness of us is dependent on our forgiveness of others. This is also upheld in other verses in Scripture, most notably in the Lord's prayer, where we pray:  "Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors." (See also Matt 6:12,14; Matt 18:21-35; Mark 11:25; Luke 6:27; Luke 17:3,4; John 20:23).  The implication is clear - if we do not forgive, we will also not be forgiven.  And if our Father does not forgive us our sins, we cannot enter heaven.

Matthew 25:1-12

Verse 12: But He replied, I solemnly declare to you, I do not know you.

 

This portion of Scripture of course paints a picture of the rapture.

All 10 virgins knew their Bridegroom, for otherwise they would not wait for Him.

All 10 had oil for their lamps, meaning that they expected Him to come.

But only 5 had extra oil, meaning that they were Spirit-filled, Spirit-led people, in an intimate relationship with their Bridegroom.

Elsewhere in Scripture we read that God knows those who truly love Him. (1 Cor 8:3)  So we can conclude that those 5 oil-less virgins did not truly love God, they did not have an intimate relationship with Him.

 

Shocked?  Thought that "once saved, always saved?" 

In Hebrews we read:

Heb 6:4-6 - For it is impossible to restore and bring again to repentance those who have been once for all enlightened, who have consciously tasted the heavenly gift and have become sharers of the Holy Spirit.

And have felt how good the Word of God is and the mighty powers of the age and world to come.

If they then deviate from the faith and turn away from their allegiance - it is impossible to bring them back to repentance, for as long as they nail upon the cross the Son of God afresh and are holding Him up to contempt and shame and public disgrace.

The underlined parts depict a saved person, filled with the Holy Spirit, working under anointing, witnessing signs and wonders done in faith.  Yet the writer of Hebrews mentions that they can deviate from the faith, by turning away.  This implies that they chose with their own free will, to turn away from God.  It is then impossible, says the writer of Hebrews, to bring them back to repentance.  And a sinner not repenting of his ways, will not enter heaven.

 

What of the Scripture that says:  Nothing can pluck you from the hand of God?  Of course nothing can do that.  But if and when you decide to crawl out of God's hand of your own free will, that is an entirely different matter.  God will never force you to do something - He respects man's free will in all situations.  He does not create puppets that He then controls by pulling all the strings.

Matthew 7:21 -  Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father Who is in heaven.

 

Now if you call Jesus your Lord, you are implying that you have chosen to follow Him, to be under His authority.  Non-believers will not make this choice. But this verse says that those who do things out of obligation, and /or religiousness, not out of intimacy, will not enter heaven.  God is looking for people with the heart of a son, not the heart of a slave.

1 Cor 10: 1-6 - For I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, that our forefathers were all under and protected by the cloud, (therefore accepted God as their Protector) and every one of them passed safely through the Red Sea.(A picture from the O.T. for us in the N.T., of being baptized under water)

And each one of them allowed himself also to be baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.

And all of them ate the same spiritual food.  And they all drank the same spiritual drink.... (A picture from the O.T. for us in the N.T., of taking Communion)  Nevertheless, God was not pleased with the great majority of them, for they were overthrown and strewn down along the ground in the wilderness (they did not go into the promised land)

Now these things are examples for us not to desire after evil and carnal things as they did.

 

We know that it was only Joshua and Caleb, and the children born out of their generation, that went into the promised land.  The Bible says that they had a different spirit.  Meaning, they had an intimate relationship with their God. Of course Moses, Miriam and Aaron also had a love-relationship with God, and were barred from entering the promised land as a consequence of sin.   So I am not implying that all those who left Egypt are not in heaven today. But the Scripture says the great majority of them will not be there, even though they partook of all the blessings that God bestowed upon them, and experienced God's wonders first-hand.

Rev 3:16 - So, because you are luke-warm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of My mouth.

The book Revelations was written for Christians - it addresses "the saints" and "his servants" throughout. So it implies that Christians can be cold, hot, or luke-warm. If God spews you out of His mouth, you are not ready to go to heaven. It is interesting that this verse implies that it is better to be cold, than luke-warm. This shows God's mercy and loving-kindness to all sinners. He knows that if you are cold (still living in your sin), you will understand His mercy (not receiving the punishment you deserve) and grace (receiving all God's gifts even though you do not deserve them) even better, because you will experience the radical difference He makes in your life!  It is His will that nobody will perish, but that all will come to Him.  (Joh 3:16)

 

Taking all of the above into account,  I have to conclude that not everyone who considers themselves Christians, will eventually go to heaven. I think that you have to be a Spirit-filled, Spirit-led, born again Christian, who has an intimate relationship with Abba Father, with Jesus Christ and with the Holy Spirit. In other words, a bride of Christ!

 

These verses are not meant to discourage you, rather to encourage you to evaluate your walk with God. 

Do you think that you have to follow "rules" and "requirements" of tradition?  Or that you have to wonder if you are at all good enough?

All God really asks of you, is to love Him, love Him, love Him!

 

 

Question 10

There are so many different religions, "lifestyles" and philosophies - why and how can I know that Christ was really the son of God? That the way through Him truly is the only way to a relationship with a living God?

Kind Regards

Tom

 

Answer 10

 

Why a Christian faith?

Written by Gerda Venter

 

Dear Tom

 

This is a question many people ask today, and I am sure one will be able to find many books that will explain and defend and try to convince you of either the one or the other side of the argument. My question to the Lord was: "How can I answer this question in the shortest possible way?" The Lord's answer was very clear. "I want you to write down the revelation that came through My Holy Spirit to your own heart."  So Tom, this is not an intellectual discussion, nor is it a theologian's attempt to an apologetic exegesis. It is a testimony of Christ's victory over all other "voices" of religions and philosophies in my own heart.

 

In December 1995, my best friend told me that he no longer believed that Jesus was the Son of God, nor that the Bible was the Word of God. This incident caused me to ask myself some hard questions, and I had to admit to myself that I did not know why I am a Christian, and that I did not have answers in my own heart - let alone have answers for others.  In the days and months that followed, I had to go back to the drawing board. I was wondering where to start, where do I go from here? Until I heard the question in my mind, "Do you believe there is a God?" (I have since then came to know that Voice as the Voice of the Holy Spirit, but then I was unaware that it was Him talking to me, I thought I was asking the question myself!)

 

I could no longer unequivocally say "yes" and I thought, "How many answers can this question have?" I came up with three answers: "Yes", "No", and "Maybe". Not prepared to commit myself either way, I settled for "Maybe"! At that time I was studying a Masters Degree in Social Sciences and was well underlaid in different world views and philosophical models. I started reading up on the different religions of the world, and before long I had drawn up a diagram putting some of the religions and philosophies into three categories.

 

This is what that diagram looked like:

  

 

Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and some African and other tribal religions all believe that there is a God and therefore fall into the "yes" category. Although there are differences, which I will later briefly comment on, Judaism, Christianity and Islam all believe in one, supreme being (in other words they are monotheistic religions), then there are Hinduism and some African and other tribal religions who have an array of deities (in some instances called ancestors) that are revered as gods (in other words they are polytheistic religions).  Atheism simply states that there is no God and Buddhism believes that everybody is part of and become part of the "godhead" and therefore does not seem to believe in God as a separate entity or person.  Agnosticisism states that, since we cannot really know whether there is a God, it is not worth thinking, or spending too much time on the question. The New Age movement mostly adheres to the notion that all religions actually believe the same thing - they just have different ways of expressing these beliefs and all the different ways ultimately will lead to the same goal. Most of the humanistic, secular, post- and integrated modern philosophies adhere to similar trails of thought.

A second question started forming in my mind. "If the answer is yes, there is a God, what would His character be like? Is God Perfect or Imperfect, and what would the implication of the answer be?" Off course no religion, no amount of reading, no book, no website could ever give me this answer. I needed to figure out what made sense to me.  In my heart an answer started to form: "If there is a God worth worshipping - He has to have a perfect character." A god with an imperfect character would not be worth worshipping, for that god will have imperfect love for me, and that would mean conditional love and is at best filled with limited grace and mercy. I decided that if I am going to believe in a God, it certainly will have to be a God with a perfect character!

 

Then I gave the "maybe" category some thought. Here I encountered the yin and yang concept in the eastern religions, that stated that in everything good there is a little evil and in every evil there is a little good....the more I thought about this the less it made sense, until I understood that there is nothing in-between perfection and imperfection - there is no gray area here! In other words, I can choose to think that maybe there is a God or maybe there is not, but when I open my eyes in eternity I am going to find either there is a God or there is none...but there is no "maybe god".  In this way the maybe category was eliminated, so I started contemplating the "no" category. If there was no God, then all of life, all this reasoning, the hunger for relationship with God which I found in my heart was all without purpose. And if there was no God, why would man have this need to have religion in his life? It made no sense to say that there is no God since all over the world every religion and philosophy at least considered at some point the existence of a God. Even atheists had to first think about the possibility and then make the choice not to believe that God existed! If there is no God, why are we not sufficient unto ourselves? The only answer I could come up with was that there has to be a God, a God that placed this question in the spirit of man, so that man would seek Him!  Since I already ruled out that I would not worship a God with imperfect character, I embarked on my journey to find the God with a perfect character and perfect unconditional love, grace and mercy for me! I decided that the polytheistic religions describe imperfect gods, simply because not one of them was "enough" - there had to be another with another purpose, etc.

 

My list of options on my diagram was now diminished to 3 religions - Judaism, Christianity and Islam. At first glance I was confused, for all three said that they believe in a loving, graceful, and merciful God that created man, all three believed simultaneously in the existence of an imperfect adversary, called satan. Many authors seem to feel that these three religions believe in the same God since they all share the same "ancestor" named Abraham, and that the differences are merely cultural in nature.  However, I discovered two huge differences. The first was that both in modern Judaism (this belief was not originally part of Judaism) and in Islam, man is seen as to be born pure and without sin (perfect), whereas Christianity said that man is born in sin (imperfect). The second difference revolved around the question "Who was Jesus?" The Christians believe that Jesus is the long promised messiah. Jews believe that he was not the messiah and that the messiah is still to come, and Islam believes that Jesus was a prophet, teacher and messenger of God.

 

I decided to tackle the question about man's perfect or imperfect nature first.  A perfect God would not create imperfect beings. So obviously man was created perfect. All 3 these religions believe in creation and that Adam and Eve fell into sin by choice. Adam and Eve became imperfect when they sinned. It made no sense to me that an imperfect set of parents could give life to perfect children. And so I concluded that after Adam and Eve sinned, man could no longer be born with a perfect nature.

 

Now the question "Who was Jesus?" Here I had to consider the following: "If God existed, why would he have to come to earth, to do such a "ridiculous" thing as die for imperfect humans' sins?" I could not understand why God, who is supposed to be perfect and all powerful, would find it necessary to do such a thing?  I found the answer in the whole discussion about God's character and man's character. If man was imperfect after Adam and Eve sinned, and God was still perfect, then God would never be able to allow man into heaven again. Man's imperfection would bring sin into heaven. That would mean that God would enter into a relationship and become one with an imperfect being, meaning that a perfect God would no longer exist!

 

Another important point was that if God's character was perfect, it meant that He had perfect love for man but it also meant that He was perfectly righteous and has to judge and punish sin. So what was God to do with man after he sinned? Was he supposed to forgive or was he supposed to judge and punish? It was clear that Adam and Eve were warned that they would die if they sinned, but why did God not just forgive them?  Does forgiveness mean that God can just forget that Adam and Eve sinned, ignore this fact and continue to be in relationship with them? The answer seemed to be no, simply because they became imperfect, and that rendered relationship between God and man an impossibility. Besides that, if God just keeps forgiving without enforcing punishment or consequences, it means that man would be able to sin today get forgiven tomorrow, sin today get forgiven tomorrow....etc. This would be going on for all of eternity! It would mean that God is not perfectly righteous, judging and punishing sin. If this relationship were to be restored it meant that man's imperfection needed to be addressed, man needed to become perfect again. What provision is made for this in the 3 religions that were left on my diagram?

 

Both Judaism and Islam suggest that man keep to certain rules and regulations, make "good" choices and live a good life. Ultimately judgment will then be passed on grounds of how good your life has been on earth. If man can prove that he has been basically good he can earn his forgiveness from God. But if man is imperfect then the best good deed man can do is still an imperfect good deed, so even if I would do my best I would never be able to make myself perfect through good deeds. When would enough imperfect good deeds become enough to earn a perfect God's forgiveness? Neither Judaism nor Islam had an answer, only Christianity was left, for the Christian God had an answer not only for forgiveness of sin - but ultimately for the restoration of man's perfection!

 

And how does the "Christian God" plan to do this? He was going to have to be perfectly gracious and perfectly righteous - at the same time! He was going to have to carry the punishment or consequences of sin Himself! In doing so He was being perfectly righteous - sin was being punished with death, but He was also being perfectly graceful and loving - by forgiving man for his imperfection. Then I asked: but people still die, and I realized that death was the most loving, graceful and merciful punishment God could have came up with. For death means that humans have a second chance to get their perfection back. It meant that if I by faith accept that Jesus carried the consequences of my imperfection on the cross, my spirit is made perfect and the relationship with God is restored. My body is the thing that connects me to this earth and its imperfection and therefore it means that when my body dies, I die off the last evidence of my imperfection. One day, when the time comes, even my body will be recreated into a glorified perfect body! When my earthly body dies my then already perfect spirit can return to its eternal abode without defiling God or heaven with imperfection and sin. Perfect forgiveness is only possible if the consequence for those transgressions is paid in full. Jesus Christ carried the punishment; the price for my forgiveness has been paid in full! (Please read the article on how to be born again, that was published earlier on this page)

 

In addition to the above, I had another experience. One morning while listening to music in my lounge; I saw a picture in my mind's eye. The picture was of Jesus turning and walking away from me. I realized that neither the questions nor the answers were my own. The questions were too specific, too ordered in a sequence, too logical, to have been my own. I have been guided in a certain direction both by asking a specific question and then by finding the answer. Jesus now revealed to me that He was there all the time and His mission was complete. It was time for me to choose - He was walking away from me, indicating that if I choose Him I need to follow Him. It meant that I have to follow Him with all of my spirit, soul (mind) and body! For the first time there were two questions that Jesus Himself could not provide the answer to. Only I, with my mind, with my spirit with my body could. The first question was "Who do you say I am?" I answered: "You are the messiah, the Son of God!" The second question was "Will you follow Me?" Following Him meant that I had to give up a lot of things that did not honour Him, it meant that I had to lay down things that were important to me, things that I thought had value in my life, but none of it had more value than living in a relationship with the living God.

On the 10th of October 1996 I was baptized. I made the choice to follow Him wherever He leads.....During the past 14 years the questions did not stop, neither did the answers. He's still there guiding and revealing himself to me day by day!

Dear Tom, I pray that you will not be afraid to ask the questions and that you will constantly listen to the answers! Ask Him to reveal Himself to you - He will!

 

Love in Jesus Christ
Gerda Venter

 

 

Question 9

Could you explain to me how strongholds form and what it means when you say that Jesus came to set us free from them?

 

Answer 9

Strongholds

Written by Anel Rademeyer

© Copyright 2010/5/24 Anel Rademeyer. 

And what God, by His grace, has taught me in the darkest seasons of my life.
I have come to understand that nothing is beyond His redemption,
No hurt is too big for Him to heal and
No one is excluded from His Love!
Jesus came that we may have and enjoy life. John 10:10
He said that we will know the Truth, and the Truth will set us free.
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. John 8:32, 36
Jesus died so that you could be free.

Introduction:

Created in the Image of God
The Bible tells us that man is created in the Image of a Triune God. God is Father, Son Jesus Christ and Holy Spirit. Likewise man is created with a Spirit, a Soul and a Body - also a trinity.

Gen 1:26 "God said, Let Us, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, make mankind in Our image, after Our likeness."
1Th 5:23 "may your spirit and soul and body be preserved sound and complete and found blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ the Messiah."

At our salvation our spirits are instantaneously born again into a new life with Christ and we receive a new identity as children of God. But the soul area still needs to be transformed into Christlikeness through a process called sanctification. (Rom 12:2 "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.") When dealing with strongholds we are dealing with areas of our souls that are not yet completely healed, delivered or under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

 

What is a Stronghold?
A Stronghold is an area of some one's soul that is held in bondage or prison due to a certain way of thinking or a subconscious set of beliefs. The person feels hopeless to change his/her sinful thought processes, emotions, attitudes and patterns of behaviour that are contrary to the Will of God.

 

Causes of Strongholds:
Strongholds start forming in our souls from conception and early childhood onwards.

 

 This can happen through:
• Other people that hurt or wound us, like being rejected or overly criticized by a parent, not being loved unconditionally as a child, being judged unfairly or through abuse. This can be a purposeful deliberate sin against us, but it can also happen when our basic spiritual, emotional or physical needs are not met.
• a traumatic event such as a car accident or surviving a flood or other disaster
• An emotional or personal crises, during which we become bitter or resentful towards God or people, e.g. ‘Why me Lord??"
• Inherited iniquities or sin or weaknesses that come through our bloodline, like addictions
• Or as a result of our own uncontrolled thoughts or sinful actions, like rebelling against authority or making wrong choices as a teenager

 

Not all people who experience these things get strongholds in their lives. BUT: it can give Satan an opening or foothold in our lives, from where he can start to create a stronghold, like a fort, in our souls.
Eph 4:27 ‘Leave no such room or foothold for the devil, give no opportunity to him.'
When the door is open, the devil will come in and take possession of any area that is ‘available'. Having negative emotions after painful experiences are not sinful in itself, but often the reactions and the set of beliefs that forms are misbeliefs (beliefs based on lies) and therefore they are sinful. And if there is sin, it gives Satan legal ground in our lives to work from.

 

The process of developing a stronghold

1. After the initial traumatic event or crises, we have feelings of rejection, fear, worthlessness and abandonment.

 

2. If the child is comforted and loved, it helps him/her to grow out of his/her pain and move unscathed into maturity. BUT: When   these hurt and fearful feelings are not heard or validated, a wound forms in the soul.

 

3. As our minds try to make sense of what happened and of the painful feelings, Satan deceives us by offering an explanation or reason for the painful experience that is not true. Because of our incomplete or childlike understanding, these lies seem acceptable to us. We then draw wrong conclusions about life, others and ourselves. A child might start to think that he/she ‘does not matter as a person' and that what he/she experiences ‘does not matter to God'. The child thinks that his/her emotions are ‘abnormal' and ‘not legitimately painful' and that he ‘should not feel this way'. These wrong conclusions become convictions which are not based on truth. As the child grows up, the pattern is repeated over and over and confirms his/her false convictions.

 

4. Satan's purpose is to deceive us into making many false agreements with him. Because of our incomplete or childlike understanding or our lack of knowledge of God's truth about ourselves and the original situation, we make false agreements with Satan e.g. ‘People can't be trusted. I am not worth loving. This sin cannot be forgiven. I have to look out for myself in life, no one else will, nobody cares about me, I am not worth protecting.'

 

5. And we make inner vows, e.g. ‘I will never be used by others or let others close to me ever again. I will never show my true feelings. I must always be strong or know everything.'

 

6. And we judge ourselves and others, e.g. ‘This thing is unforgivable. I am guilty or useless. He/she is so pathetic.' Or ‘Ek sal ook nooit regkom nie.'

 

7. Misbeliefs form as these lies are repeated over and over in our minds and we start believing them as though they are true. Although the initial traumatic event has often been forgotten or suppressed, the untrue thoughts are kept alive in the subconscious mind by the pain and hurt in the wound that has not been dealt with.

The devil uses strategy and deceit in his warfare against us. He uses our insecurities, weaknesses and fears and lies to us, little by little, over many years through numerous incidents that are linked together to confirm the misbelief. But: these misbeliefs are buried in the subconscious mind of the person and mostly not known to the person as something he/she believes specifically or consciously. In other words: He/she does not know that he believes a lie! It is as though the person is like a computer with a fixed lie-based programming, unable to change by him/herself.

8. A stronghold is created, based on the distorted belief system, and kept in place by ‘strongmen' or demons. Their job is to prevent discovery of the lies on which the stronghold is dependant and to keep reinforcing the stronghold with more lies that confirm the existing lies. Because the original wound and pain associated with it has not been healed, demons have legal right to harass a person. The misbeliefs that follow the wound are false agreements with Satan and it gives him further open doors into a person's life. If these misbeliefs or agreements with Satan are never challenged, they stay put and create havoc in someone's life and relationships.  The sad thing is, that many sincere God fearing Christians who are on their way to heaven, do not find freedom of the strongholds in their lives.

 

This is due to:

• a lack of knowledge of God's complete redemptive plan with broken and hurt people,
Hosea 4:6 "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge;"
• no available counsellors or
• pride and an unwillingness to let God deal with their hurts and sins.

These Christians never experience the ‘life in abundance' that Christ promised His followers in John 10:10 "The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance, to the full, till it overflows."

They ‘limp‘ towards heaven, weighed down by ‘stuff' that has never been dealt with, instead of ‘soaring' into heaven.

 

Effects of Strongholds:

A person with a stronghold(s) can struggle with anger, fear, shame, rejection, tension, embarrassment, guilt, depression, loneliness, bitterness or other negative emotions for what seems to be for most of his/her life. Often the person thinks that it is just 'who I am' or ‘how my personality is'. In other words they often accept these emotions as part of their identity, even after becoming a Christian and knowing that it should probably not be part of their identity in Christ.  Although someone can have insight (in his/her mind) about the problem and the effect it has, no amount of self effort or will power seems to bring long term change about. The person experiences it as though he/she ‘goes in automatic' when certain situations arise and feels more and more helpless or hopeless to change. Strongholds cause alienation and destruction in relationships. Problems with boundaries are common and consistent victorious Christian living seems unattainable.

 

Strongholds cause an inability to control thoughts, and therefore an inability to control emotions and the resulting actions; We know that ‘as I think, so I feel, and so I act' - always in this sequence; BUT, when dealing with strongholds, it must be understood that the thoughts, feelings and outward behaviour are only the ‘symptoms' and result of the brokenness, bondage and woundedness in the inner life!!   By the time of adulthood, so many strongholds can be formed that, even if a person becomes a Christian with a new identity and a living spirit, he/she struggles to grow up and mature in that area of his life. Emotions are either suppressed, or extreme and over the top and shames the person.  The person just don't know how to overcome this, have tried numerous things (reading the Bible more, praying harder, medication, exorcism), but nothing seems to help to get rid of these seemingly fixed ungodly characteristics, behaviour or emotions.  The person falls into a state of trying to solve this problem with good works, but even though the works seem godly, he/she experiences ongoing defeat and guilt for not ‘trying hard enough to overcome sin'. The result is a feeling of failure and condemnation in addition to the hurtful emotions that is already experienced.   Often he/she would apply rigorous spiritual discipline and try to ‘captivate their negative thoughts and feelings' (2 Cor 10:5) or try to "die to the self" in an effort to get rid of the sin in that area of their life. But to no avail....

 

The problem is that it is the wrong remedy for the dilemma!  A wound cannot be disciplined, but needs care and healing.
And: One cannot ‘discipline' demons who have legal right to be there!

 

What the Bible says about Satan and Strongholds:

John 10:10 "The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy" - my sound mind with optimistic thoughts; my emotional stability, hope and joy; my wisdom, good judgement, discernment and self control.

 

2Co 10:3-5 "For though we walk/live in the flesh, we are not carrying on our warfare according to the flesh and using mere human weapons. For the weapons of our warfare are not physical weapons of flesh and blood, but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds, Inasmuch as we refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the true knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ the Messiah, the Anointed One."

 

Eph 6:12 " For we are not wrestling with flesh and blood contending only with physical opponents, but against the despotisms, against the powers, against the master spirits who are the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly supernatural sphere."

 

Jms 4:7 "So be subject to God. Resist the devil stand firm against him, and he will flee from you."

 

Matt 12:29 "For who is powerful enough to enter the house of a strong man like Satan and plunder his goods? Only someone even stronger-someone who could tie him up and then plunder his house. " 

Only Christians can permanently get rid of strongholds in their life. If you haven't made a commitment and given your life to God it is dangerous to get rid of strongholds, as the demons have legal right to your life and will come back with more in tow!

 

Mat 12:44, 45 "Then it says, I will go back to my house from which I came out. And when it arrives, it finds the place unoccupied, swept, put in order, and decorated. Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and make their home there. And the last condition of that man becomes worse than the first."

 

The Importance of a Witness
There are mainly 6 reasons why it is wise to have a wise and mature Christian witness to walk alongside you when you deal with strongholds in your life.

 

1. God's word recommends a witness when dealing with hurts. Although Ps 32:5 says that God forgives when you repent before Him, James 5:16 says that you are healed when you repent before a witness!

 

2. God wants to be Lord of your life, but it can only happen if you surrender your pride and humble yourself before Him. There is no better way to do this than to tell your story of sin and struggle in front of a witness who is a healed-by-grace-too fellow believer. When you come in brokenness to God, stripped of self preservation and self importance and all pretence of well-being, it is as though He can't wait to do His complete restoration in your life!

 

3. It is seldom easy to get rid of a stronghold ‘privately‘. When you are on your own, the enemy brings confusion and deception and it is not easy to keep going and ‘complete the job' - so to speak. A witness will pray with you, listen, help to keep you focused, see to it that nothing important is missed out, take notes, help you along with appropriate questions and encourage you.

 

4. Because the enemy is a liar, destroyer and murderer of man, he would not want my or your freedom and losing his legal territory. When someone has repented privately numerous times of a sin stronghold, but can't ‘hold onto' freedom, it is because the devil condemns the struggler and convinces him/her that ‘this sin cannot be forgiven' or that ‘he will never overcome this habit.' Or that ‘it does not help to pray about this' A witness acts as Jesus' proxy or in His stead to confirm in the end that you are truly free from this bondage. Whenever the devil comes with the same accusations in future, the witness can bear testimony of Jesus' complete work in that area of your life.

 

5. To see God set someone free from bondages is an amazing experience. As this gift is shared, it blesses and brings joy to both.

 

6. Praying with a witness brings the work of Satan, namely the stronghold, into the light in the natural as well as in the spirit. As the witness declares God's forgiveness and freedom over the person Satan looses his power over that person. Satan's power is retained in the secrecy surrounding the stronghold and therefore when the secrecy is given up his power is lost.

 

How do you deal with a stronghold?

The only way to get rid of a stronghold is to allow God to deal with it. As mentioned above, it is most helpful if a counsellor/witness is part of the process and praying with you.

 

You have to come with honesty and not justifying or defending yourself.  The Holy Spirit working with and in one's spirit brings truth and reveals the original event that triggered the hurt and the emotions that followed. You have to ask God to heal the hurt. You can ask Him to show you His truth about what happened. Sometimes He gives a new picture or meaning to the old hurtful memory. As this happens, healing starts.

You have to repent of the false agreements with Satan, the inner vows, the judgements and lies you have believed.

You have to forgive the sins that others did against you and forgive yourself as well.  Then the demon(s) can be cast out, easy as a breath! Their legal ground has been removed and your soul (mind, emotions, will) is freed to heal, grow and mature.  Only when healing of the hurts has taken place and strongholds have been demolished, can the person start the process of reprogramming in that area of his/her mind. Spiritual discipline, renewing of the mind and discipleship training is now the appropriate remedy for the sinful nature.

 

BUT: a wound needs healing and restoration first of all. Because the right ‘treatment' is applied for the particular problem, there is great success and joy!

 

 

Question 8

Could you please provide me with your statement of faith?

 

Answer 8

Statement of faith

We believe:

• In a triune God that reveals himself in 3 persons namely God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Spirit
  2 Cor 13:14 "The Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God and the Communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all" (NKJ)
• The Bible is the inspired Word of God
  2 Peter 1:20,21 "...for no prophecy ever originated, because some man willed it to do so it never came by human impulse but men spoke from God who were borne along, moved and impelled by the Holy Spirit" (Amplified Bible)
• God created all things that exist, and Jesus Himself is the Living Word
  John 1:1,4 "In the beginning before all time was the Word (Christ) and the Word was with God and the Word was God Himself, He was present originally with God. All things were made and came into existence through Him and without Him was not even one thing made that has come into being. In Him was Life and the Life was the Light of men..." (Amplified Bible)
• That Jesus Christ of Nazareth who came in the flesh is the Son of God
  1 John 4:2 "By this you may know perceive and recognise, the Spirit of God, every spirit which acknowledges and confesses the fact that Jesus Christ the Messiah actually has become man and has come in the flesh is of God has God for its source." (Amplified Bible)
• In the virgin birth of Jesus
  Matt 1:23 " "Behold the virgin shall become pregnant, and give birth to a Son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel which when translated means God with us." (Amplified Bible)
• That Jesus died on the cross of Calvary and shed His blood as atonement for the sin of every human being
  1 John 1:7 "...But if we really are living and walking in the light as He, Himself, is in the light, we have true unbroken fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses, removes us from all sin and guilt, keeps us cleansed from sin in all its forms and manifestations..." (Amplified Bible)
• In the resurrection of Christ and His victory over satan
  Rom 8:34 "Who is there to condemn us? Will Christ Jesus the Messiah, who died or rather who was raised from the dead. Who is at the right hand of God actually pleading as He intercedes for us?" (Amplified Bible)
• That every person has to make a faith-based choice to accept that Jesus died for their sins on the cross of Calvary and through His death and subsequent resurrection the believer can be saved from eternal death (hell) into eternal life with Christ (heaven)
  John 3:16 "For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He even gave up His only begotten unique Son, so that whoever believes in, trusts in, clings to, relies on Him, shall not perish, come to destruction, be lost, but have eternal, everlasting life." (Amplified Bible)
• In repentance of sin
  1 John 1 8-10 "If we say we have no sin [refusing to admit that we are sinners], we delude and lead ourselves astray, and the Truth [which the Gospel presents] is not in us [does not dwell in our hearts]. If we [freely] admit that we have sinned and confess our sins, He is faithful and just (true to His own nature and promises) and will forgive our sins [dismiss our lawlessness] and [continuously] cleanse us from all unrighteousness [everything not in conformity to His will in purpose, thought, and action]. If we say (claim) we have not sinned, we contradict His Word and make Him out to be false and a liar, and His Word is not in us [the divine message of the Gospel is not in our hearts]. (Amplified Bible)
• In believers' baptism
  Rom 6:4 "We were buried therefore with Him by the baptism into death so that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father so we too might habitually live and behave in newness of life..." (Amplified Bible)
• That Jesus baptises with the Holy Spirit and with fire
  Matt 3:11 "I indeed baptise you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me, is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire." (NKJ)
• In the rapture of the bride of Christ
  1 Thess. 4:16, 17 "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud cry of summons, with the shout of an archangel, and with the blast of the trumpet of God. And those who have departed this life in Christ will rise first, then we, the living ones who remain on the earth shall simultaneously be caught up along with the resurrected dead in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so always through the eternity of the eternities we shall be with the Lord! Also, see Matt 25:1-13. (Amplified Bible)
• In the second coming of Christ in bodily form to rule and reign as King on earth for 1000 years
  Rev 1:7 "Behold He is coming with the clouds and every eye will see Him even those who pierced Him and all the tribes of the earth...." (Amplified Bible). Rev 19 and 20 describes His second coming and the 1000 years of rule on earth. (Amplified Bible)
• In final judgment over all
  Rev 3:20 "He who overcomes, is victorious, I will make him a pillar in the sanctuary of My God; he shall never be put out of it or go out of it, and I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God the new Jerusalem, which descends from My God out of heaven and My own new name. Rev 20:15 "And if anyone's name was not found recorded in the Book of Life he was hurled into the lake of fire." (Amplified Bible)
• In a new earth and a new heaven
  Rev 21:1 "Then I saw a new sky, heaven and a new earth for the former sky and former earth had passed away, vanished and there no longer existed any sea...." (Amplified Bible)

 

Question 7

You mention having an intimate relationship with Jesus - your heavenly bridegroom a lot on this website - how do I enter into this relationship?

Written by Gerda Venter

 

Answer 7

In John 3 Jesus spoke to Nicodemus a Pharisee that came to him at night with the same question. Jesus explained to him that he has to be born of the Spirit of God. However, when Jesus referred to being born-again He did not mean being born again in the flesh but being born of the Sprit of God. Before we explain how we can be born of the Spirit of God let, we first have a look at where it all began.

In the beginning, God told Adam and Eve that if they would sin that they would die. (Gen2:16-17) Now we know that they sinned, when they ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, but they did not immediately die a physical death, this only happened some years later. What did happen was that there was ‘n spiritual death that took effect immediately.

Before they fell into sin - God would come and commune with them in the evening wind (Please read Gen 3) but after they sinned, When God came to walk with them in die cool of the evening - He had to ask - Adam where are you? Adam and Eve were hiding from God! Although God knew where they were hiding, He called out to them so that they would present themselves to Him from their hiding place and confess their sin. This gives us and indication that the relationship God had with mankind were broken, it lost intimacy - there were immediate spiritual death, this resulted in Adam and Eve having to leave the garden of Eden. The fact that God refused them further abode in the Garden of Eden is a further indication that mortality now became part of their lives. The Garden of Eden contained the Tree of Life. For as long as Adam and Eve were to live in Eden they would have access to the Tree of Life - God wanted to prevent them from living forever in a fallen state of sin, and spiritual death. It was His Grace that allowed death to become part of their physical life - for it allowed them the opportunity to become spiritually born-again, experience a physical death and through this process - have a second chance on eternal life!

Since Adam and Eve now became imperfect human beings they could no longer give birth to perfect human beings, this meant that their entire offspring became part of the sinful fallen race of man (Gen 3 and 1 John 1:8-10).
God is perfect, that means that He is in character both perfect righteousness and perfect grace - at the same time. His perfect righteousness would require punishment for sin, and His perfect grace would require perfect forgiveness.

This therefore required that sin have to be punished, if not, forgiveness would be reduced to allowing sin to occur repeatedly without any consequences. This would mean that sin would multiply without restraint. On the other hand, there had to be grace - a way to forgiveness and reconciliation. (Rom 6:23)

God knew that man - now a fallen, sinful creature could not save himself. Fallen into sin, implied that even the best good deed would be an imperfect good deed. There was no way that man through his own imperfect works and efforts would be able to recreate himself into perfectness.

God therefore created a way to forgiveness and reconciliation through His Son Jesus Christ. He send His Son Jesus Christ to come and live as a human being on earth - to live a perfect life and to overcome the enemy that Adam failed to overcome.

Let us take an example - if you owe a clothing store some money but cannot return it, you will be subjected to some form of punishment - either prison or some other means of punishment until your debt have been paid, or until the court decides that, you have been adequately punished for the fact that you never paid the store. This is what Jesus did for us on Calvary, He knew that we cannot pay our own debt to God and can never make ourselves perfect through our own sinful works and efforts. He paid our debt - in our place. He carried the punishment for sin called death! He overcame death for us. Now, in His victorious state He comes and offers us the gift of everlasting life. However, for us to receive this gift we have to take it, accept it from Him. We accept this gift through repentance of our own sin and a realisation that there is noting we can do to make ourselves perfect in the eyes of God! Repentance is not saying "sorry I did something wrong..." and then continue to sin and afterwards saying sorry again! Repentance means to agree with God that you have not lived up to God's standard, that you have missed the bull's eye on the target of the archer and to turn away from that sin, purposefully.

We have to make a choice to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, who died in our place and carried the punishment of death for us, so that we can have eternal life. We have to put our faith in Jesus for carrying our sin on the cross. Without this choice, we decline His offer of salvation and choose to continue to try to find a way to make ourselves perfect, to try to earn a way into the presence of a perfect God!

When we make this choice to put our faith in Jesus as our only way to salvation - our sins are forgiven - because it has already been punished in Christ! (Eph 2:8) We are born-again of the Spirit of God. (John 3) We instantly move from the Kingdom of darkness to the Kingdom of Light! Our spirits are made perfect and the relationship with God is restored.

This born-again experience is only the beginning of our relationship with God, after this follows a life-long journey of relationship with a Living God that is dynamic and it grows continually in intimacy. The result of this restored relationship is that we display the fruit of the Holy Sprit increasingly (Gal 5). Our lives change constantly to become lives that honour Him.

Does that mean that we never sin again? No, unfortunately, there will be times that we will still sin after our born-again experience. We have to confess our sins continually (those we did in the past, the ones we commit today, and the ones we will do in future!) as soon as the Holy Spirit convicts us, for repentance is a JOY FILLED LIFE! We have to be prepared to allow the Holy Spirit to change our hearts continually, so that there is evidence of a positive spiritual growth in our lives that continuously cause us to grow away from sin (Rom 8 and 12),

 

Question 6 

If, as the Bible says, I receive the Holy Spirit at my conversion, why do I need baptism with the Holy Spirit?

Written by Priscilla Koegelenberg and Gerda Venter

 

 

Answer 6

The Holy Spirit and being born-again

Indeed, you do receive the Holy Spirit at your conversion, as Gal 3:2 states very clearly:  "Did you receive the Holy Spirit as the result of obeying the Law and doing its works, or was it by hearing the message of the Gospel and believing it?"

Thus we can conclude that at the point when we choose to believe in Jesus Christ as our saviour, the Holy Spirit gives birth to our spirit to become alive unto God, it becomes a new creation, a new spiritual life in Christ is imparted - this makes us children of God.  Every believer in Jesus Christ therefore has the Holy Spirit in them otherwise you would not be born again!

(Please read:  John 3:1-8, Rom. 8:16, 1 Cor 12:3,13, 2 Cor 5:17 and Titus 3:5)  

 

Baptism with the Holy Spirit after conversion:  The example of Jesus and His disciples

The fact that there is a further step after this is illustrated beautifully in two passages in John, and also in Acts.  While attending the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus said in John 7:38  "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, From his innermost being shall flow springs and rivers of living water."  John explains what Jesus meant in verse 39: "But He was speaking here of the Spirit,  Whom those who believed were afterward to receive, For the Holy Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified" (my italics). In fact, Jesus filled His disciples with the Holy Spirit on a special occasion, as we read in John 20:22:  "And having said this, He breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit!"  This happened after His resurrection, on the same day when Mary brought the news of the empty tomb. (This infilling of the Spirit was for their own benefit and comfort, as they had to face severe opposition, persecution, fear and doubt after He had risen!).   After quite a number of days had passed, Jesus then ascended into heaven, leaving them with the promise of a further infilling of the Holy Spirit - Luke 24:49  "And behold, I will send forth upon you what My Father has promised: but remain in the city until you are clothed with power from on high".  This is recorded in Acts 2:1-4  "And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit kept giving them clear and loud expression." The result of this outpouring was dynamic!  People were utterly amazed to hear the disciples witnessing to them in their own mother tongues, and Peter delivered a Spirit-filled sermon that resulted in 3000 people accepting Jesus Christ as Saviour and Messiah!

Jesus loves giving us examples from the Bible.  We can see here that although the disciples had already received the Holy Spirit through Jesus breathing on them, they still had to wait several days for the Spirit to come upon them, in order to start ministering with power!

 

Other examples from scripture

In Acts 19:1-6 we read about the believers in Ephesus "Paul ....came to Ephesus and finding some disciples he said to them "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? So they said to him, "We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit."  These people were believers already - they were baptised with John's baptism.  Paul baptised them again in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and then in verse 6 "Paul laid hands on them and the Holy Spirit came upon them and they spoke with tongues and prophesied."

In Acts 8:12-17 we read about some Samaritans that were saved under Philip's ministry but they were only baptised in the Holy Spirit after Peter and John laid hands on them and prayed for them.

Another example is Paul who was born-again on the road to Damascus but only baptised in the Holy Spirit after Ananias laid hands on him, he was baptized in water after he was baptised in the Holy Spirit.  (Acts 9:17-18) 

 

Baptism with the Holy Spirit is for all believers of all times

In Acts 2:38,39 "Peter said to them, repent, be baptised and let everyone of you be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit for the promise is to you and to your children and to all who are afar off as many as the Lord our God will call."

 

In Summary

There are three distinct ways in which the Holy Spirit works in us:

1. Firstly He is with you, while He convicts you of sin:

    John 16:8 - "And when He (referring to the Holy Spirit) comes, He will convict and convince the world about sin"

2. Secondly He is in you, starting at conversion, for your own benefit, when He starts cleansing your soul, a lifelong process:

    Titus 3:5 - "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy He saved us, by the washing of    

    regeneration,  and renewing of the Holy Ghost."

3. Thirdly He comes upon you, for the benefit of others, when He empowers you with His gifts and power to do His work.

     Acts 1:8 - "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses in

    Jerusalem  and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth."    This is commonly referred to as the baptism of the Holy

    Spirit, and can happen at your water baptism, although the order can  sometimes be reversed. (Also see Luke 24:49 and

    John 14:12)

 

How can I receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit?

You receive it by faith - as you received your salvation by faith.

Pray to the Lord Jesus Christ - and ask Him to baptise you with the Holy Spirit

Ask someone who already experienced the Baptism of the Holy Spirit to lay hands on you and pray with you.

 

Ouestion 5 

Jesus did  not say in the New Testament that He would actually return on two separate occasions, so why do people believe in the rapture?

Written by Priscilla Koegelenberg

 

Answer 5

Did you know that nowhere in the Old Testament also is it written that Messiah would come to earth on two separate occasions?  This is the reason why most of the Jews (who REALLY knew their Scripture) did not recognize Jesus as Messiah, because we can only deduce from the Old Testament writings that He would be coming twice, it does not say so anywhere - take a look for yourself:

Is 53 is Scripture about Messiah's coming to earth, and the whole first part writes about His suffering, punishment, and that He would be put to death. (verses 1-10).  But in verse 10  we read that He shall live a long life and verse 12 speaks about the dividing of spoil with great kings and rulers.

Is 9 says of Jesus that His government will increase, that He will be established upon the throne of David forevermore.

So on the one hand He will die a horrible death, but on the other hand He will reign forever in great glory - how on earth is this possible?

 

Can you see that these two accounts only make sense if we conclude that He  will be coming twice (first as man, to be crucified, and then later again as King to reign), and most of the Jews could not discern this, therefore they kept asking Jesus when He would be establishing His kingdom, because they only expected Him for His second coming as King?  And so they missed His first appearance!

Likewise we can only conclude that there will be a rapture, because certain Scriptures about Christ's Appearing only make sense if you can see that there actually will be two different appearances at the end of time.

 

Let us compare  1Thess 4:16,17 with Matt 25:31,32:

1.  1Thess 4:16,17 "....Then we the living ones who remain shall simultaneously be caught up along with the resurrected dead in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air..."

Jesus hangs in the air, and we meet Him there.

As opposed to Matt 25:31,32....."When the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the holy angels with Him, then He sill sit on the throne of His glory .....and He will separate them from one another......"

He comes to stay and to reign.  See  Zech 14:4:  "...And His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives...".- He lands on earth.

 

2. Jesus comes to gather His own in 1Thess 4.

As opposed to Matt 13:41:  "The Son of Man shall send forth His angels and they will gather out  of His kingdom all causes of offense and all who do iniquity and act wickedly."

His angels come to gather.  Also Mark 13: 27

 

3. 1Thess5:1-11:  "...the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night.  When people are saying, All is well and secure, and, There is peace and safety."  Nobody sees a thief going about his business, one generally only finds out what he did when he is long gone.

Peace and safety does not sound like the situation on earth when Jesus comes with Armageddon, where all nations are gathered around Israel for war, and where the earth has just been through 7 years of catastrophies! (Revelations)!

 

4. Luk 17:26 - and further:  "...As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the time of the Son of Man. People ate, they drank, they married, they were given in marriage....." It sounds like business as usual, a normal, peaceful life.

But Revelations speaks about catastrophic conditions just before Jesus returns, and for sure nobody on earth will be living normal lives under the reign of the antichrist! Matt 24: 27 - " For just as the lightning flashes from the east and shines and is seen as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man be." This  is radically different from "like a thief in the night", who nobody sees coming -  here everybody will see Him come!

 

5. Compare Rev 19:8 with Rev 19:14 - In verse 8 John tells us that the bride alone has been permitted to dress in fine radiant linen, dazzling and white..  In verse 14 the troops of heaven are described as they follow Jesus out of heaven and they are clothed in fine linen, dazzling and clean - therefore they are the bride! Now I ask the question - how did they get there? With the rapture, of course!

 

6. 1Kor 15:51-57 :  "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.....the dead in Christ will be raised...and we shall be changed.  For this perishable must put on the imperishable...."

Believers will in the twinkling of an eye be transformed and receive imperishable bodies (glorified bodies).

As opposed to Zech 14:16 - "And everyone who is left of all the nations which come against Jerusalem (after Armageddon) shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles."

And Is 65: 17 - 25 -"there shall no more be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who dies prematurely; for the child shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner who dies when only a hundred years old shall be thought only a child..."

People who are not raptured and who survive the end time catastrophies, stay on the new earth in their natural bodies and live on for 1000 years!

 

7.  And then  Paul sums it up so beautifully in  1Kor 15:23,24 -

"But each in his own rank and turn:

Christ is the firstfruits,

Then those who are Christ's at His coming.

Then comes the end when He delivers over the kingdom to God the Father.

 

8.  In the parable of the 10 virgins (Matt 25) - why were only 5 permitted to enter the wedding feast? When all were waiting for the Bridegroom, all had lamps and at least some oil? Could it be that some will be raptured, spend 7 years with the Bridegroom before returning again for the others?

 

9.  Consider the symbolism of a Jewish wedding - why is there a 7 day honeymoon before the groom and his bride join the other wedding guests? Could it be that the bride of Christ will be raptured, to spend 7 years with the Bridegroom before returning again to earth?

 

Question 4

Would you please explain to me the significance of the believers' baptism?

 

Answer 4

To answer this question let us look at what the Bible says about baptism.

Written by Priscilla Koegelenberg

 

Imagine for a moment that you grew up without any knowledge of the Bible at all.  You never attended Sunday school, your parents never gave you any Bible instruction, and you never put your foot inside a church.  You therefore also never heard any teaching about something called baptism.

So there you are, walking along the road one day, and you suddenly see a Bible lying on the sidewalk.  Curious, you pick it up, open it, and start reading  (in amazement, no doubt!)

What would you read about baptism?

You would read that the Bible is not written in such a way that you would not be able to understand it (2 Cor 1:13 - For we write you nothing else but simply what you can read and understand [there is no double meaning to what we say]).

If you happened to read the Bible in Greek, you would see that the word used for baptism is BAPTIZO, which means immersion, plunge in, submerge.

You would read that Jesus set an example for us, that He was baptized Himself, even though John the Baptist tried to discourage Him to do this (Matt 3:15 - But Jesus replied to him, Permit it just now; for this is the fitting way for us to fulfill all righteousness.  Then he permitted Him.  And when Jesus was baptized, He went up at once out of the water...)

You would read that we have to follow Jesus's example (1John 2:6 - Whoever says he abides in Him ought to walk and conduct himself in the same way in which He walked and conducted Himself)

You would read that there is a certain order to the whole baptism process:

-  First conversion, then baptism (Acts 2:38 - And Peter answered them, Repent and be baptized)

-  First become a disciple, then baptism (Matt 28:19 - Go then and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit)

-  First believe, then baptism (Acts 2:41 - therefore, those who accepted his message were baptized)

You would read that baptism is a symbolic prophetic action, that means that it is an outward natural sign of something spiritual that has already taken place inside you. (Rom 6:4 - We were buried therefore with Him by the baptism into death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, so we too might live and behave in newness of life.)  I draw a line in the sand:  up to here the old me had his being, but now I am a new creation!  Going under the water symbolizes the old me being nailed to the cross, dying with Jesus, and coming out of the water shows the new cleansed self that now arises in Christ!

You would read what happened after Jesus was baptized: (Matt 3:16)

-  The heavens were opened

-  The Holy Spirit descended upon Him

-  His Father spoke to Him

The same happens to us at our baptism (Acts 2:38)  We normally would also receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit.  This means that the Holy Spirit now takes over control of your life.

You would read that the Holy Spirit also then gives us His gifts:  (The gifts of the Spirit is given to us supernaturally as opposed to the fruit of the Spisrit which we begin to produce in our lives by ourselves)  1Cor 12.

You would not read that children (babies) of believers are saved automatically.  They must make a personal choice for Jesus to be saved.  Therefore we cannot make a decision on how someone must be baptized based on whether he/she has believing or unbelieving parents.

So where does infant baptism fit into all of this?

 

Is the baptism a covenant? Are we included in the covenant with Abraham by our baptism?  (Definition of covenant: an agreement to cut a covenant by the shedding of blood and walking between two pieces of flesh)

 

Gal 3:7 - Know that it is the people who live by faith who are the true sons of Abraham. Also Gal 3:9, and Gal 3:29 - And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring and spiritual heirs according to promise.

We therefore have to believe to be included in the covenant with Abraham.

Even  Abraham had to believe first before God credited him as righteous. (Gal 3:6 - Thus Abraham believed on God, and it was reckoned to his account and credited as righteousness).

As soon as a child can make his own choices, it rests on his shoulders to choose Christ as his Saviour, and no form of baptism can make him part of the covenant with  Abraham.  Only his belief in Christ can do this - so the question arises, can a baby believe?

The sign of a covenant was always blood. Therefore the holy communion is a covenant  (symbolic of the blood of Jesus), marriage is a covenant (the blood from tearing of the hymen is the sign).  But baptism is with water -  no blood, no covenant.  According to Luke 22:20  the  communion is the sign of the new covenant.

 

Does a baby receive the Holy Spirit at his baptism?

Gal 3: 14-  ...so that we through faith might receive the  promise of the Holy Spirit.

We receive the Holy Spirit at our conversion.

 

Does infant baptism replace circumcision?

Firstly, Gal 4:3 says that "we Jewish Christians also, when we were minors, were kept like slaves under the elementary teachings of a system of external observations and regulations."

But God sent His Son, so that

Verse  5:  To purchase the freedom of those who were subject to the Law

Verse 7:  you are no longer a slave, but a son

You no longer have to be bound by external observations and (church) laws!

Now replace the words infant baptism with the word circumcision in the following verses (surely you can interchange words if they have the same meaning):

Gal 5:2 - ...if you receive "infant baptism", Christ will be of no profit to you.  Gal 5:3 -I once more testify to every man who receives "infant baptism" that he is under obligation to practice the whole of the Law and its ordinances.

If infant baptism therefore has replaced circumcision, these verses serve as a grave warning!

But the very moment you receive Christ ,

Verse 6 - in Christ neither circumcision (read infant baptism)  nor uncircumcision counts for anything but only faith activated through love!

Infant baptism has, therefore, NO importance after your conversion.  According to the Bible, you are still not baptized.....

 

Ef 4:5 says very clearly: There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism - you will have to make a choice.  I choose the baptism of the believer written about so clearly in the Bible.

 

Question 3

The Bible says that nobody knows when Jesus will return, if the rapture takes place everybody will know that Jesus will return exactly 7 years later – how can that be?

 

Answer 3

It is correct that Jesus says that nobody will know exactly when He will come but in the same scripture He says to His disciples that you will not be left in the dark to the extent that you will not be able to discern the signs of the times.  I believe the time that nobody knows when He will come, is the time until He comes to fetch His bride.  There will be a day in heaven that God the Father will turn to His Son and say:  “Son it is time to fetch your bride!”  Just like we know that the rapture is near but we do not know the day and the hour, likewise the people will know that the 7 year period is nearing it’s end – but they will not know the day and the hour of Jesus’ public appearance!

 

Question 2

If there is a rapture then the people that are left behind are granted a second chance to accept Christ as their Saviour.  Why are others not granted this second chance?

 

Answer 2

Many people ask this question about the second chance.  It’s not true that they are the only ones that will get a second chance – you are granted many second chances in your lifetime – otherwise it would mean that you will be permanently lost if you miss your first and only chance!  In the Bible there are also several examples of people corporately being granted second chances.  Consider the following examples:  Before the flood – after God sealed the ark’s door, there was a 7 day period of grace before it started to rain – God was giving the unrepentant person a second chance - before His judgment started.  If they repented during this time, they may still have lost their natural lives – but their spirits would have been saved.  Another example is the people who did not believe that Jesus was the saviour were granted a second chance after His resurrection before His ascension to heaven 40 day’s later.

 

Vraag 1

Hoekom sê julle dat Hooglied geinterpreteer kan word op verskillende vlakke - en dan wel ook op die Profetiese vlak wat beteken dat Hooglied Profeties geskryf is vir Jesus (die Bruidegom) en sy bruid (die gelowige)?

 

Antwoord 1

Wat sê die Bybelvertalers en Kommentaarskrywers van Hooglied?

Saamgestel deur Jean Kok

 

Kom ons kyk eers gou wat van die internasionale kommentaarskrywers volgens E-Sword sê. 

 

Die Ou Afrikaanse Vertaling en Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

Ek haal net Hoofstuk 1:1 en Hoofstuk 8 die laaste vers aan.

 

Son 1:1 AOV

(1)  Die hooglied van Salomo.

 

(MHCC)   This is "the Song of songs," excellent above any others, for it is wholly taken up with describing the excellences of Christ, and the love between him and his redeemed people.

 

Son 8:14 AOV

(14)  Vlug, my beminde, en maak soos die gemsbok of die jong takbok op die balsemberge.

 

(MHCC)   These verses close the conference between Christ and his church. He first addresses her as dwelling in the gardens, the assemblies and ordinances of his saints. He exhorts her to be constant and frequent in prayers, supplications, and praises, in which he delights. She replies, craving his speedy return to take her to be wholly with Him. The heavens, those high mountains of sweet spices, must contain Christ, till the times come, when every eye shall see him, in all the glory of the better world. True believers as they are looking for, so they are hastening to the coming of that day of the Lord. Let every Christian endeavour to perform the duties of his station, that men may see his good works, and glorify his heavenly Father. Continuing earnest in prayer for what we want, our thanksgivings will abound, and our joy will be full; our souls will be enriched, and our labours prospered. We shall be enabled to look forward to death and judgment without fear. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

 

Die Ou Afrikaanse Vertaling en John Wesley's Explanatary Notes

 

Son 1:1 AOV

(1)  Die hooglied van Salomo.

 

(Wesley)  The song - The most excellent of all songs. And so this might well be called, whether you consider the author of it, who was a great prince, and the wisest of all mortal men; or the subject of it, which is not Solomon, but a greater than Solomon, even Christ, and his marriage with the church; or the matter of it, which is most lofty, containing in it the noblest of all the mysteries contained either in the Old or the New Testament; most pious and pathetical, breathing forth the hottest flames of love between Christ and his people, most sweet and comfortable, and useful to all that read it with serious and Christian eyes.

 

Son 8:14 AOV

(14)  Vlug, my beminde, en maak soos die gemsbok of die jong takbok op die balsemberge.

 

(Wesley)  Make haste - Seeing we must part for a time, make haste, O my beloved bridegroom, and speedily finish the work which thou hast to do in the world, that so thou mayest take me to thyself, that I may live in thine everlasting embraces.

 

En wat sê van die ander bekende Engelse bybels? 

 

The Amplified Bible - Extracts from the Introduction to Song of Solomon

 

Traditionally the Christian Church has recognised Solomon as the author. The Hebrew title above is the normal way of expressing authorship in Hebrew literature. The numerous references to natural history and geography fit into the context of the Solomonic period.

 

The three main theories of interpretaion are the allegorical. the literal, and the typical. In the allegorical approach history is of little importance - Solomon is identified with God, and the Shulammite with Israel. Thus, in this view the Song is an allegory of the love relationship between God and Israel. In the literal perspective the experience of Solomon is the basis of this poem and provides God's teaching on marriage and sexual relationships. The typical interpretation takes the poem as reflecting Solomon's actual experience and stressing the major themes of warm human emotions of love and devotion. In the Old Testment context it typifies God's love for Israel. In the New testament this is paralleled by Jesus's relationship with the church.

 

The Message - Extracts from the Introduction to Song of Songs

 

We don't read very far in the Song of Songs before we realise two things: one, it contains exquisite love lyrics, and two, it is very explicit sexually. The Song, in other words, makes a connection between conjural love and sex - a very important and very biblical connection to make. There are some who would eliminate sex when they speak of love, supposing that they are making it more holy. Others, when they think of sex, never think of love. The Song proclaims an intrigated wholeness that is the centre of Christian teaching on committed, wedded love for a world that seems to specialise in loveless sex.

 

Christians read the Song on many levels: as the intimacy of marital love between man and woman, God's deep love for His people, Christ's Bridegroom love for His church, the Christian's love for his or her Lord. It is a prism in which all the love of God in all the world, and all the responses of those who love and whom God loves, gathers and then seperates into individual colors.

 

 

In bogenoemde word dit duidelik gestel dat daar drie (of vier) hoofstrome van interpretasie van Hooglied is - waarvan een, (die belangrikste vir Chistene), die interpretasie is dat hierdie die Lied is wat Christus, as Koning Bruidegom, vir Sy bruid, die kerk, sing.

 

Dit is dan so hartseer en tragies dat die vertalers en kommentaarskrywers vanuit my eie ou volkie, so blind is vir die Heilige Gees se werk, Hom so afdruk en afmaak as onbelangrik. Hom net een keer ‘n jaar met pinkster ‘n bietjie uit die donker kas  haal en af stof om die saai gemeente so ‘n bietjie op te helder - vir ‘n tydjie - en dan word Hy weer weggepak en toegesluit waar Hy (volgens hulle) hoort. Dan bly hulle (hierdie geleerde vertalers en kommentaarskrywers vanuit my eie ou volkie) ook nog steeds hardkoppig vasklou aan die geloof dat net hulle die waarheid ken en het. Presies net soos wat hierdie geleerde doktore, professore en kokkedore ons al die jare mislei het met die ‘waarheid' dat apartheid reg en bybels en die wil van God is - net so mislei hulle ons volk nou weg van ‘n intieme verhouding met Jesus ons Verlosser, Koning en Bruidegom, soos wat die Heilige Gees dit aan ons wil openbaar. Gaan hulle ook, wanneer hulle oë oopgemaak word, vir ewig en altyd en nog ‘n klomp jare verskoning vra en voete was oor hulle ‘misgissing' van die Woord - soos die geval is oor apartheid?

 

Kyk ‘n bietjie wat sê hulle oor Hooglied:

 

Die Bybel in Praktyk (Uitgegee deur CUM) - Uittreksels uit die Belangrike Gegewens, Oorsig en Verklaringswyses Van Die Boek.

 

Hierdie is eintlik maar net ‘n vertaling van die Life Application Study Bible - wat onder andere die volgende sê oor Hooglied:

 

Extracts from the introduction to Song of Songs.

 

Purpose: To tell of the love between a bridegroom (King Solomon) and his bride, to affirm the sanctity of marriage, and to picture God's love for his people.

 

Author: Solomon

 

Maar kyk hoe verskil Die Bybel in Praktyk as die skrywer sê:

 

Die boek handel nie soseer oor die godsdiens van Israel nie. Die naam van God word selfs nêrens in die boek gebruik nie. Die inhoud handel doodeenvoudig oor die liefde tussen ‘n man en ‘n vrou.

 

Dit is byna seker dat Salomo nie die skrywer van die boek is nie.

 

In die Oorsig - wat ‘n vertaling van die oorsig in die Life Application Bible is - praat die skrywer paragraaf na paragraaf oor onsedelikheid, buite-egtelike seks, wellus, hoe die Skrif riglyne bevat ten opsigte van seksuele gedrag, dat dit ‘n dramatiese verhaal is wat die liefde tussen die Shulammietiese meisie en haar geliefde uitbeeld. Eers teen die einde is die volgende weggesteek:

 

Sommige mense beskou dit as ‘n allegorie wat betrekking het op God se liefde vir Israel en/of die kerk.

 

Dan gaan hy weer doodgewoon aan met die  ‘seks en huwelik tussen man en vrou' storie, en die algemene liefde van God en Sy riglyne vir ons.

 

Ander glo weer dat dit letterlik verstaan moet word en die verhaal van twee mense se liefde vir mekaar is. Die boek kan op albei vlakke geïnterpreteer word. Op een vlak leer ons meer omtrent liefde, die huwelik en seks, en op die ander vlak sien ons hoe groot die Here se liefde vir Sy volk is. As jy Hooglied lees, moet jy weet en onthou dat die Here jou liefhet. Neem jou voor om die huwelik en seks - die hele lewe - voortaan vanuit sy perspektief te sien en te geniet.

 

In die Verklaringswyses op die tweede bladsy - na die begin van die teks self - is die die volgende sin weggesteek:

 

Een van die oudste en een van die mees populêre verklaringswyses is die sogenaamde allegoriese verklaring. Hiervolgens handel Hooglied nie oor gewone menslike liefde nie, maar het dit ‘n dieper betekenis, ‘n geestelike betekenis. Dit versinnebeeld die verhouding tussen God en sy volk, of tussen Christus en sy gemeente. Dit is vanweë hierdie wyse van verklaring dat Hooglied ‘n plek in die Bybel gekry het.

 

Dit is baie interressant dat hy dit wel hier noem dat dit "een van die mees populêre verklaringswyses" is en "Dit is vanweë hierdie wyse van verklaring dat Hooglied ‘n plek in die Bybel gekry het.", nadat sy openingswoorde "die inhoud handel doodeenvoudig oor die liefde tussen ‘n man en ‘n vrou" met soveel alwetende sekerheid gestel is.  Maar dan gaan hy tog maar net weer paragraaf na paragraaf aan om hierdie "een van die mees populêre verklaringswyses" en "Dit is vanweë hierdie wyse van verklaring dat Hooglied ‘n plek in die Bybel gekry het." wat hy nou-net gesê het, af te maak as niks en praat hy weer oor die gewone menslike liefde en verhouding tussen man en vrou.

 

Die Boodskap sê onder andere die volgende oor Hooglied:

 

In hierdie boek gaan dit om die liefde tussen ‘n man en ‘n vrou. Deur die eeue was hierdie boek vir baie Jode en Christene ‘n verleentheid. Daar is gepoog om die eksplisiete liggaamlike liefde te vergeestelik. Vir die Jode het hierdie liefdesgedigte eerder op die verhouding tussen God en die gelowige Jood gedui en vir Christene op die verhouding tussen Christus en die siel. (Siel? Dit gaan tog sekerlik nie oor net my siel nie - is ek dan nie gees met ‘n siel in ‘n liggaam nie?)

 

Dit is egter nie nodig om alles te vergeestelik nie.

 

(Met hierdie sin hierbo, maak die skrywer die Jode en Christene "deur die eeue" af as onnosel en met geen insig van die Bybel en van God se openbaring van Sy liefde vir ons nie. Die baie belangrike verklaring van Hooglied as die Koning Bruidegom (Jesus) se lied vir Sy bruid - die kerk, word gladnie veronderstel nie. Die res van die Inleiding word gewy aan oppervlakkige beskrywings van hoe die Lied slegs die natuurlike menslike begeertes, drange en liefde tussen man en vrou besing.

 

Dit is so verskriklik jammer dat hierdie mense se groot teologiese geleerdheid, hulle oë so verblind en hulle harte so verhard teen die Waarheid wat die Heilige Gees in ons (wil) verkondig.

 

Dit is dan ook gladnie eienaardig dat sommige predikante wat deur hierdie (selfde) teoloë geleer is, dieselfde onvolledige woord vanaf die kansels af verkondig, en selfs direk teen die ‘geestelike' interpretasie van Hooglied preek nie.

 

So jammer dat diesulkes nog steeds vasgevang is in hulle geleerdheid en die kweekskool-teologie, wat myns insiens niks anders ‘kweek' as oorgawe aan die gees van godsdiens en pligpleging (religeosity) nie. So verskriklik jammer dat "my volk verlore gaan as gevolg van 'n gebrek aan kennis" want dié wat hulle moet leer, leer hulle verkeerd en daar word  soveel belangrike dinge van hulle weerhou!

 

Vader het my een oggend om drie-uur wakker gemaak om by ons Meester en Koning Bruidegom te kom sit en Sy teenwoordigheid en inspraak in my lewe te ervaar. Hierdie keer het ek geluister en met my beker koffie in die hand het ek vir Hom so teen 03:15 hier by my lessenaar môre gesê.

 

Ek begin toe lees wat my Amplified Bybel alles sê in die aanloop tot Hooglied. Daar wys die Here toe vir my "In the Old Testament context it typifies God's love for Israel. In the New Testament it is paralleled by Jesus's relationship with the church. For Scripture context of Solomon as a type of Christ see II Sam 7:12-17, 23:1-7; Ps 72; and Matt 12:42."

 

In Matteus gee Hy toe vir my hierdie verskriklike woord: 

Matt 12 Verse 25: And knowing their thoughts, He said to them, Any kingdom that is divided against itself is being brought to desolation and laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will last or continue to stand. 

Verse 30-37: He who is not with Me [definitely on my side] is against Me, and he who does not [definitely] gather with Me and for My side scatters. Therefore I tell you, every sin or blasphemy (every evil, abusive, injurious speaking, or indignity against sacred things) can be forgiven men, but blasphemy against the [Holy] Spirit shall not and cannot be forgiven. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Spirit, the Holy One, will not be forgiven, either in this world and age or in the world and age to come. Either make the tree sound (healthy and good), and its fruit sound (healthy and good), or make the tree rotten (diseased and bad), and its fruit rotten (diseased and bad); for the tree is known and recognised and judged by its fruit. 

You offspring of vipers! How can you speak good things when you are evil (wicked)? For out of the fullness (the overflow, the superabundance) of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man from his inner good treasure flings forth good things, and the evil man out of his inner evil storehouse flings forth evil things. But I tell you, on the day of judgment men will have to give account for every idle (inoperative, nonworking) word they speak. For by your words you will be justified and acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned and sentenced. 

Mat 18 Verse 6: But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in and acknowledge and cleave to Me to stumble and sin [that is, who entices him or hinders him in right conduct or thought], it would be better (more expedient and profitable or advantageous) for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be sunk in the depth of the sea. 

Ek voel die Here wil hierdeur vir my sê om nie te oordeel en af te kraak nie, maar om aan te hou bid (te volhard in gebed) vir die betrokke predikante en gemeentes - en vir die ‘geleerdes'. Maar, om self ook onbeskaamd die waarheid te verkondig, waar en wanneer Hy die geleentheid gee.

 

Die Here bevestig deur hierdie verskriklike woord dat die "goeie boom die goeie vrug dra" en "dat jy aan jou vrug geken sal word" - die troos is dus daarin: die wonderlike vrug wat spruit uit Hooglied en Openbaring en die besonderse intieme ontmoetings en eenwees met Jesus, wat by BLM se kampe en kursusse gefasiliteer word, kan net van die Here self wees!

 

Maar! Ek voel ook dat die Here vir my (en moontlik deur my vir ander), waarsku om versigtig te wees om Hom te verkondig, en nie myself en my idees nie. Om te hoor en te luister na wat die Heilige Gees sê - te onderskei dat dit wel Hy is en nie my eie siel of die bose nie - en te doen wat en soos Hy vra.

 

Verder sê dit vir my: Om te "teach" dra 'n verskriklike verantwoordelikheid. Nie een van ons durf dit doen sonder die ondeurdringbare kombers van Jesus se kosbare Bloed, die konstante intieme verhouding met Hom en die aanhoudende gebedswolk van medegelowiges nie!

 

 

Amen.