The founder of the Salvation Army, William Booth made this mission statement: “MAKING HEAVEN ON EARTH IS OUR BUSINESS”.
“When we consider that the only prayer Jesus taught us to pray includes up-front “Your Kingdom come, your will be done on Earth as it is done in heaven”Matthew 6:8-10, Booth got it right, and look what he achieved. Making disciples who were totally committed to praying and doing as Jesus commanded.
Sadly, now, like most institutions the Salvation Army has watered down God’s command and has compromised with the world. What is the lead statement on their website?
At the Salvos, we believe in good.
What does good mean to The Salvation Army? “Good is a unique word — a simple yet profound term that takes on different faces and meanings for all of us.
For the Salvos, it is more than a word – it’s a belief. It is helping someone at their point of need, walking alongside a community through and after a crisis, and lending a kind and caring space for someone feeling isolated. And a whole lot more.
At the Salvos, we believe in good for everyone. It is this belief that drives us to find new ways and places where we can make a difference. From times of personal crisis to moments of national grief, we are at work each day, providing support, safety, community, and opportunity.”
God does not get a mention up front and this mission statement is not Booth’s mission statement: MAKING HEAVEN ON EARTH IS OUR BUSINESS but the Mission Statement does get to God.
Why good?
“The meaning of good has been diluted over the years. But at the Salvos, we’ve always believed in the power of good. It reflects our belief in our good God and our calling to share the goodness of God with others. Through our decades of work, we know people can find themselves in hardship anywhere, at any time — be it homelessness or housing stress, drug or alcohol addiction, family and domestic violence, unemployment, financial stress, natural disaster, or another crisis.“
Sydney, Australia church spokesman Major Bruce Harmer says the Salvos offer services to all who are in need, regardless of sexual orientation. “The Salvation Army has worked for many years with gay and lesbian people through their treatment centres and welfare agencies, we have employees who are gay and members of our church who are gay,” he said. “So it’s easy to take one phrase and run with it, but in reality, the Salvation Army is not homophobic.“
In the end times, Jesus told us there would be a great falling away in the church, apostasy, and the love of many will grow cold. Christians need to be prepared for the coming tribulation and be totally committed to God’s agenda for their lives.
“Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day (The Day of the Lord) shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;” 2 Thessalonians 2:3
“Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and you shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” Matthew 24:9-12
Biblical prophecy gives us a picture of the church which God raptures to heaven before pouring out His wrath upon an unrepentant world.
To the Church in Philadelphia (Philadelphus the “love for a brother” What remains of the faithful Church will be bound in brotherly love by the persecution of earth-shaking proportions.
“‘I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name… Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth. I am coming soon. Hold fast to what you have, so that no one may seize your crown.” Revelation 3:8,10-11
Biblical prophecy also gives us a picture of the church that will be left behind to face the coming judgement.
To the Church in Laodicea(Laodicea is a combination of two Greek words (LAO, meaning “God’s people”; and DIKE, meaning “justice or judgment”)Judgement of God’s people
“‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.” Revelation 3:15-19
“Jesus answered them. Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him, God the Father has set his seal.”John 6:26-27
When Jesus talked to the crowd about desiring “food which endures to eternal life,” the people only thought about sustenance to fill their famished bodies. The men and women listening that day could not believe that Jesus was who He said He was — the Bread of Life, the One doing the Father’s will, from Heaven. They sought after Jesus to fulfill their temporal problems.
The crowd wrongly believed that they had to do “the works of God” for this bread that Jesus was promising them. Even though the people still could not grasp His spiritual meaning, Jesus reversed their flawed theology by telling the multitudes that they, being mere sinful humans, could not do God’s work to obtain the bread that He was offering them. These people thought they could earn God’s favor and provision based on their legalistic obedience to the Mosaic Law, and Jesus used this interaction to expose their pride and self-righteousness.
The crowd in this narrative displayed the very position of many unbelievers who claim that they would believe if Jesus would just do “this” or “that.” These unbelievers fail to realize they do not have the power to change their own hearts. Unbelievers cannot believe based on external signs. They need an internal transformation; they require the work of God in their hearts. Men and women, boys and girls, must realize that until they put down their own dreams of self-righteousness, autonomy, and authority — and until they are willing to come to Jesus solely on His terms (not theirs), they will never believe. That willingness comes from God alone.
Jesus emphasized that their unbelief, which they conditioned on the appearance of a sign, was irrelevant to the plan of salvation. No matter how the crowd responded to Him, Jesus would not lose a single person given to Him by the Father that day. Jesus was on a divine mission — not to do His own will, but the will of the Father.
While the unbelieving crowd could not comprehend the meaning of Jesus’ words to them, these statements from our Lord should bring tremendous joy and peace in the hearts of all believers. The logic of this passage first demonstrates that every one the Father gives Jesus will come to Him. Not a single person will resist, reject, or refuse to come — at least not determinatively. All those given to the Son by the Father will come.
The passage also shows that all who come to Jesus will be received by Him. Jesus never rejects anyone who comes to Him because believers are a gift from the Father to the Son. As such, Jesus will raise every believer to eternal life on the last day. No one given by the Father will be lost. Jesus will remember all believers forever. This understanding should comfort every believer, that on their deathbeds, they can fade from this world in perfect peace, knowing with full assurance that Jesus will not abandon them in eternity.
When Jesus finished His discourse with these multitudes, He was left with 12 around Him — and one was a devil (Judas). Peter’s response to Jesus signified the heart of a true disciple: one who leaves everything behind, placing all hope and trust in their Savior and Lord. The response from Peter and 10 others highlights how true disciples respond to the Gospel.
Believers have been given an understanding of Jesus’ words — something that Peter proved with his response to Jesus. The crowd never accepted that Jesus was pointing to Himself as the true bread that came from Heaven; they kept thinking about physical bread to feed their growling stomachs, and that they needed to bring something to the table to manipulate Him into giving them what they wanted.
For believers, John 6 is such a beautiful and sobering picture of how we could never have obtained salvation of our own volition. When we were unbelievers, we were more concerned with our earthly needs, and we focused on what our works could do to gain us our temporal desires. We thought it was our plan that might move God to do what we wanted, when and how we wanted Him to act.
Only through Jesus, the Bread of life, can anyone come to a right understanding of who He is and receive the full and free forgiveness He alone offers through the eternal plan of salvation, what He accomplished on The Cross, salvation by His grace through faith in His name.
Adapted from the article “Earthly Concerns Will Blind You to Heavenly Realities” By Robb Brunansky, Op-ed contributor to Christian Post, Saturday, January 27, 2024
Great teaching from Reggie Kelly of Mystery of Israel (www.mysteryofisrael.org) on the end times. What a great opportunity Christians will have to witness for Jesus, God the Father, and the Holy Spirit (Trinity). As all of the end times prophecies unfold we will be able to show many people the truth of God and His Word. We need to be able to use all of the end-time prophecies for evangelism. Hence we need great teachers like Reggie Kelly, Nelson Walters, Matthew Bryce Ervin, Travis Snow, and Joel Richardson to name a few. God has equipped these men to preach on the end times Scriptures.
My job is as a connector of people to ministries that God is using at this important time in history when end times prophecies are being fulfilled. In 2014, God did prompt me to write Living Eternal Now – Ready for Jesus’ Return. It is available on Amazon and from me: ron.careshare@gmail.com. If you are in ministry I will give you a copy as long as you pay the freight.
How many churches today are preparing their congregations for Jesus’ second coming? There are many more prophecies about Jesus’ second coming than His first. The Pharisees and Sadducees totally rejected the Scriptures of Jesus’ first coming. Let us make sure the church acts on the Scriptures that prophecy Jesus’ second coming.
On January 31, 2024, at 7:30am the National Gathering for Prayer and Repentance (http://www.ngpr.org) gathered with Christian and government leadersto pray for the USA at the Museum of the Bible.
Our nation needs God. Now. Our Founding Fathers understood that our strength and unity were found in our commitment to Him and to His righteousness. We think America is strong, yet a long train of events reveals weakness on every front and historic level of division. We assume America will always be. It will not. ‘Under God’ must become more than a part of our Pledge of Allegiance. ‘In God we trust’ must be more than our national motto on our currency. America needs God. While some may refuse to accept that reality, we readily acknowledge that America truly does need God. It is for that reason that we come together at the National Gathering for Prayer and Repentance to repent of sin.
January 27, 2024, was International Holocaust Remembrance Day. On this day, people around the world remember the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust during WWII. The horrors inflicted by evil men and women on human beings made in God’s image are absolutely sickening. And as we soberly remember those victims, many of us will naturally think of the ongoing horrors inflicted on the Jewish people in Israel today by the vile actions of Hamas—yes, evil continues. Sadly, the attack by Hamas and Israel’s response has only resulted in antisemitism rearing its ugly head across Western nations and elsewhere.
There is only one place we can go for the truth about what is unfolding here. It is to God’s Word. Ever since God established Israel as His nation over 3000 years ago to be a witness to the world it has been under attack. The real battle is spiritual with Satan and his demons using people to destroy God’s nation, the Jewish people. They did so almost 2000 years ago but God miraculously rebirthed the nation in 1948.
About the horror unfolding we always need to go to God’s Word for answers. Learn from Habbakuk.
“O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,and you will not hear?Or cry to you “Violence!”and you will not save?Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong?Destruction and violence are before me;strife and contention arise.So the law is paralyzed,and justice never goes forth.For the wicked surround the righteous;so justice goes forth perverted. (Habakkuk 1:2–4)
Let me remind you of God’s answer to Habakkuk. He revealed to his prophet that, yes, God would judge his people (who were sinning greatly against him) by a horrifying invasion from the Babylonians but that God would also judge the Babylonians when their time came—they did not get away with any of their sin! They too were eventually judged. And Habakkuk ends with a message of great hope:
Habakkuk was probably written about 640–615 B.C., just before the fall of Assyria and the rise of Babylon (Chaldea). God used Assyria to punish Israel (722 B.C.); then he would use Babylon to punish Assyria and Judah. This prophecy would be fulfilled several decades after Habakkuk, in 586 B.C. The “theme question” of Habakkuk is, how can God use a wicked nation such as Babylon for his divine purpose? God judges all nations, said Habakkuk and even Babylon would eventually be judged (Babylon fell to Persia in 539). Though God’s ways are sometimes mysterious, the central message is simple: “The righteous shall live by his faith” (Habbakuk 2:4) while awaiting salvation. These words are quoted three times in the New Testament.
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek (Gentiles). For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”Romans 1:16-17
“Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” Galatians:3:11
And finally, we need endurance but each one of God’s children was given the Holy Spirit when we repented and accepted Jesus as our Lord and Saviour (John 14:26, John 15:26, John 16:7-11). He is our counsellor, teacher, and comforter. He will enable us to persevere knowing that Jesus is coming back. The many prophecies about Jesus’ second coming are beginning to play out in our day so we know what is coming and can prepare accordingly to do the will of God so that we may receive our reward in Jesus’ coming Millennial Kingdom.
“For you need endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For, “yet a little while and the coming one (Jesus) will come and will not delay, but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” Hebrews 10:36-38
“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him, we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Romans 5:1-5
Here’s what society desperately NEEDS to realize about identity and sexual orientation. In this presentation, Martyn Iles shares important truths about our identities according to the Word of God.
In this ever-shifting world, we can safely anchor ourselves to the solid, unmoving, unchanging Word of God!
“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” Matthew 24:35
“The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.” Isaiah 40:8
“Forever, O LORD, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens.” Psalms 119:89
“The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone forces his way into it. But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the Law to become void.” Luke 16:16
“Since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.” 1 Peter 1:23-25
“We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” Hebrews 6:19
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock” Matthew 7:24-25
“So that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,” Ephesians 4:14-15
Parliament House has been placed into lockdown after Invasion Day protesters swarmed the front of the building to protest Australia Day and Israel’s war in Gaza.
A group of Indigenous rights protesters amassed on the lawn outside Parliament brandishing the Aboriginal flag, amid chants of “always was, always will be.” Others waved Palestinian flags and beat drums.
One woman yelled “F–k Israel, f–k Australia”, in response to parliamentary security shutting the doors.
The protest wrapped up at the tent embassy near Old Parliament House, where cries for Indigenous land rights mixed with pleas for the Palestinian cause. Some activists brandished signs calling for a boycott of Israeli goods and declaring the Jewish state was not “above the law”.
In Melbourne, hundreds of people gathered outside the Victorian Parliament House for the Invasion Day rally. Some protesters brought the Aboriginal and Palestinian flags, with some signs at the event appearing to co-opt both causes.
Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance, the event’s organizers, said January 26 “is not a day to celebrate”. “It is an annual reminder of invasion, occupation, genocide, and the ongoing impacts of colonisation that continues to destroy our lives, our land, and our waters,” the group wrote on social media.
Free Palestine Melbourne, the organization that plans the weekly pro-Palestine rallies, has told their followers they will not hold a march this Sunday. Instead, they have instructed their followers to attend Friday’s Invasion Day protest. “We urge you to show up as you do weekly in your thousands and build up consciousness within your networks of the demands of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people this invasion day,” they said on Instagram.
Can I ask you to take a look at my recent post Spirituality of Indigenous Australians; The Truth of It. The number of European Christians who have given their lives to ensure Aborigines received the Gospel of Jesus Christ is countless.
“And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” Matthew 24:12-14
The Uluru Statement from the Heart, though successful in uniting Indigenous peoples, should be re-examined. The key document in the voice referendum held last year, it insisted in poetic language that all Indigenous peoples were bonded spiritually to the specific homeland where they were born. Their soulsorspirits “must one day return thither to be united with our ancestors”.
A shock to these affirmations of spirituality was delivered by the census held nationwide in 2021. It revealed that the Uluru Statement was preaching a myth. In fact, most Aboriginal Australians today are not worshippers of an Indigenous religion. In the Northern Territory, still viewed as a stronghold of the ancestral religion,94,000 of its Indigenous peoples are Christian and only 3400 worship an Aboriginal religion. Across the nation as a whole, fewer than 2 percent of the Indigenous people declare that they worship an “Australian Aboriginal traditional religion”.
Australian Aboriginesare more Christian than the mainstream Australians who live in the capital cities.
Most of these Aboriginal Christians probably would not conceive of themselves as primarily victims of the so-called Invasion Day. After all, it was this so-called invasion that, year after year, spread the very religion they worship. Indeed, the Torres Strait Islanders were so grateful for the arrival of the London Missionary Society in 1871 that they still designate it not as Invasion Day but as the Coming of the Light.
I am thankful to Geoffrey Blainey and his article in The Australian – Australia Day A Time to Reflect on the Country We Call Home for most of the information in this article.
“Let me first thank the Body of Christ, (which I believe, consists of all Christian Churches), and the Department of Community Development and Religion for organizing and facilitating this platform on which I stand today to make this statement, in my capacity as the 8th Prime Minister of our Nation. People of Papua New Guinea, today, I stand here before God and His people with an overarching thought which permeates my spirit “That a nation who fears the Lord God of the Universe, shall be blessed”. In my heart, I know that this day marks, not just a National Occasion in our National Calendar but a grand occasion. I emphasize – a grand occasion because today marks a day on which our Nation invokes the Creator of all things, to intervene in our national affairs.
Our National Day of Prayer and Dependence speaks of us acknowledging the God of Israel as our strength against enemies, source of sustenance, and origin of our very existence. Therefore, the value of this occasion is far greater than every other occasion on our National Calendar. My brothers and sisters, this day is different in that it is not a National Public Holiday, rather it is a solemn day of our people coming together in unison, to bow before God in humility and prayer, seeking His forgiveness, love, and direction in a turbulent time of confusion, fear and panic. As leaders in the public domain, occasions and events are our norms, but I do not take such an event of this value and greatness today, lightly.
Today, the Nation of Papua New Guinea rises in one voice, reaffirming our deepest convictions regarding fundamental issues that matter most to us as a Nation. As you all know, we have declared our intention to “Take Back our Nation and make it the richest Christian Nation on Earth”. The occasion today is grand because I stand here with this vision, seeking God’s wisdom, His strength, and direction so that He may establish His eternal will and purpose for us as a Nation just as He prayed, “thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth, or in Papua New Guinea, as it is in heaven.” Brothers and Sisters, this day must not be confused with our traditional days of worship. This is the National Day of Prayer and Repentance, declared and gazetted by the Government of Papua New Guinea.
Therefore, I, as the Prime Minister of our Nation, stand here today, not as an invited Guest to a Church meeting. Rather, I stand here today as the Chief Executing Officer of the Government of Papua New Guinea, paying homage and tribute to the King of the Universe, the Lord Jesus Christ, invoking His unmerited favour and grace upon my Government for the sake of His Name and for the sake of His own people of this blessed nation. So, I stand to Offer to our King, the Highest Order of Protocol by leading and officiating on this Prayer Occasion with a higher purpose to cause the People of our Land to come with me to stand before our God in Solemn Prayer and declaration of our collective faith without fear, intimidation, and shame.
I stand today before our God, to call on our mothers, our fathers, our sisters and our brothers, our girls and our boys including our substances and our possessions, our visitors and friends from other Nations, to pause for a moment with me, to acknowledge the most high God of the Universe, the God of Israel, who is now our God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Distinguished worshippers, brothers and sisters, I take this occasion as a Servant of the Most High God, appointed and mandated by grace, in His season and timing, to be His mouthpiece and His instrument, to unleash a message that is unquenchably burning and fiercely yearning in the heart of every genuine Citizen of our Land. I must state from the outset, that I have one business that I must complete, for which I had made it vehemently clear on the day I took Office as the Prime Minister.
For this reason, I was born and raised, and for which I am prepared to sacrifice and forego everything that the World could offer, and it is the message of our unshakable, unerasable heritage, crafted by the hand of God, meticulously and miraculously, giving us our national sovereignty, our very identity, and our priceless gift of national unity. The National Day of Prayer is the most important event of our National Calendar, which symbolizes this special blend of National Sovereignty, under which 864 known language groups of our land are gloriously woven into one united people, one Nation. We truly are the United Nation on earth, the United Tribes of Paradisia. Ladies and Gentlemen, listen to my words attentively and carefully. I came today to discuss without any apology, the very spirit of our Sovereign State, the very being of our Nationhood.
We are not just another collection of people aggregated into a particular geographical location, demarcated by a political boundary. We are put here by design, not by fluke or by evolutionary chance. This is what I have come to announce and discuss with you on this solemn occasion. The message is very simple and clear, yet so deeply profound, that it is impossible to be resisted, stopped, or destroyed. The World would desire so much to know “how such a difficult and diverse people, trapped in rugged terrains and scattered atolls, could be brought together as one people. How could any leader possibly carve a Nation out of an extremely fragmented tribal people? What really was the undercurrent power that worked day and night to aggregate a greatly diverse people into one Nation? What power indeed colonized our people and created a modern PNG?
Today, I came to discuss these questions and reaffirm the answer. The answer that I came to deliver today is coded wonderfully in these few words that I have thoughtfully selected: It was our colonial masters that gave us independence, (and we thank God for them) but listen to me, it was the word of God that made us, it was the Bible that made Papua New Guinea, it was God who gave us our identity and established our national sovereignty and our modern history. Therefore, today we came together to reaffirm our faith and declare in unison, that our nationhood hangs entirely and safely on our faith in God as our Creator, Jesus Christ as God’s only begotten Son and our Saviour, and the Bible as the infallible Word of God, which are the fundamentals of our common Christian Faith, that made us who we are.
We came today to trumpet this message throughout our Land and “shout again for the whole World to hear” who we are. We are here with this intent and purpose. I am overly delighted today to know that the preamble to our Constitution acknowledges the “guiding hand of God” who led this Nation of a thousand tribes, 864 known different languages and cultures to be stitched into one independent sovereign State. Lest we forget, this solemn occasion today tells the story of how a greatly fragmented nation on Earth with 1000 tribes, was meticulously woven into one single nation! Our Nation is one of the last “Wonders of the World”, so greatly divided geographically, culturally, and linguistically, yet so miraculously stitched into one people. This is our timeless gift from the Lord through the work of the early missionaries.
Therefore, lest we forget, this occasion today also marks a solemn moment to reflect on the selfless sacrifices that the earlier missionaries and our pioneering converts made, to give us our National Identity and our Unity that is solidly founded on the Word of God. It was the work of the early missionaries and the early converts with the Word of God in their hands, who made the biggest and most profound difference in our modern history. The missionaries and our local pioneering church leaders with the message of salvation, love, and forgiveness, were the frontiers and undercurrent power that worked tirelessly day and night making untold sacrifices. It was the work of the early Christian Churches that laid the foundation for our unification well before we were given Independence in 1975.
Today, we came together to remind ourselves, that this is an unerasable part of our national history that transcends our diversity and inspires our shared history as one people. The early political parties such as Pangu Pati undoubtedly rode on the waves that were created by the power of the Gospel, to unite our Nation. It is therefore fitting also that the Pangu Pati, which led the fragmented Nation into independence, riding on that wave, will yet again, after 40 years, under my leadership, consolidate the true and timeless foundation of our national sovereignty, our identity, and our unity. Today, we came together to reflect on the power that made us. Many of us are products of the early Missionaries. If not all, a vast majority of learned Papua New Guineans today were impacted by the Church and the Church-run schools in one way or another.
All our founding leaders were trained, coached, and mentored by early Missionaries. Many current leaders are sons of either missionaries, or Pastors, or church workers. One of them is standing before you today to speak to you. We are here today, also to remind ourselves of the work of our founding fathers who, under the guiding hand of God thoughtfully constructed our Constitution, and directed the citizens of this Nation to “guard and pass on to those who come after us our “noble traditions” and the “Christian principles” that are ours”. Drawing from, and giving effect to, the moral foundation laid in the preamble of our Constitution, the founding father of our Nation, Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare, officially dedicated our Nation to God on this day, in 2007, and declared it a “National Day of Prayer.
On this occasion, as the 8th Prime Minister of PNG, I want to pay special tribute to our founding fathers for laying the Foundation correct, for the succeeding generations to build on. On this note, I must also acknowledge the significant event that took place on the 31st of July 2015. On that day, our leaders on the Floor of Parliament unanimously passed a motion to place the antique 400-year-old King James Bible in the chamber of our National Parliament. My predecessor, Hon. Peter O’Neil declared the Bible the “national treasure” of Papua New Guinea. Honourable Peter O’Neill, willingly accepted the antique Bible before a sea of people at Jackson Airport on 27th April 2015 and further directed the Bible to be placed in Parliament by a motion, introduced by the Governor of Southern Highlands, Honourable William Powi, representing the Prime Minster, for which, I pay tribute, on behalf of the people of Papua New Guinea.
This action is of historical significance, reaffirming our collective and undeniable resolve as a fully pledged Christian Nation on Earth. It is a symbolic act that recognizes PNG as a Bible-believing nation. It is a symbolic act that acknowledges the great work of missionaries in uniting the country into one Nation through the preaching of the Bible. It is a significant symbolic act that will go down in history and long remembered for many generations to come because the Bible stand above all development models and belief systems as the source of our national identity and our national unity. It signifies our resolve that the principles of the Bible must influence policies for long-term development of our Nation as reflected in Strategic Pillar 6 of our Vision 2050.
If there is one task yet to be executed on our National Journey: that is to formalize our resolve by an Act of Parliament to declare PNG a Christian nation and protect the Bible as a symbol of our Christian faith and our National Treasure. It is my commitment today to work with the Church and our people to ensure that we achieve this goal. To this end, today, I announce to the Nation that my Cabinet has approved a law to go before Parliament to officially declare “PNG a Christian nation”. God’s people of Papua New Guinea, I request you today to join me in acknowledging God’s grace and his faithfulness upon our Nation, by ensuring that this law is passed on the floor of Parliament. Drawing from the strength of the Christian Church and the declarations of the former Prime Ministers, I stand today, to commit myself to this one cause, to introduce this Law on the Floor of Parliament to capture and protect the historical heritage of our faith, and to declare that we shall always seek God’s guidance for our development and direction.
I represent our collective view that Papua New Guinea is made up of a thousand nations within a nation. We are culturally and linguistically diverse. The natural divisions are obvious. The risk of disintegration is real. Unless we, as a nation, can quickly identify and embrace a common ideology as the basis of our National Unity for our common good, we are threatened by dangerous external forces and competing ideas that are detrimental to our Christian heritage which is the source of our democratic strength. PNG as a member of the global community, is open to competing ideas that have the potential to destroy our unity, our identity, our Christian values and Constitutional democracy. How can we craft a thousand tribes into a single nation? What will be the basis to unite this nation, the common ideal?
I have a moral duty to protect that which is near and dear to the very fabric of our people’s survival as a Nation. You and I are presented with a moral responsibility to build this nation on the sure principles of the Word of God as the historical roots of our National Unity as it provides the only common ideals. Therefore, let us all as a united and peaceful Papua New Guinea, as one people, take heed to God’s Word and act accordingly as leaders and citizens to keep proclaiming our well-founded motto: “One Nation and One People” founded solidly on the sure Word of God. This is the undeniable truth about us and our proud and lasting legacy to pass on to the next generation.
In Conclusion: Today, I am privileged to also announce that, after this program, we will proceed to the Boulevard in front of the National Parliament to launch a monument called National Identity and Unity Pillar, which symbolically captures the history of our journey to sovereignty and nationhood, which I have just explained. The fundament truth that I have echoed today, must be inscribed on every monument and tablet, lest we forget. It must be written in every book and institutionalized in every school curriculum. This truth, our heritage, must be preached, taught, and passed on from one generation to another. It must be heralded from the mountain to the sea….it must be trumpeted again and again for the whole to hear, lest we forget the power that made our modern Papua New Guinea.
Therefore, the Unity Pillar, for which I will officiate the launching ceremony shortly after this program, is a physical embodiment of our sacred and precious national history, which must be practically represented and declared, for ourselves and for the whole world to know that we are a Christian Nation. I am compelled by our short but yet profound history, to begin the process of rebuilding and restoring our nation founded on Christ the solid rock. The Foundation Stone of the Unity Pillar has been cut out of a precious gemstone known as Jasper, which is described in the Book of Revelation Chapter 21 and Verse 19, as the first Foundation Stone of the walls of the City of New Jerusalem. Ladies and Gentlemen, on this precious gemstone, symbolizing our National Foundation, shall be written the timeless Words from the first Book of Corinthians Chapter 3 Verse 11 which shall read: “for other foundations can no man lay than that is laid, which is Christ Jesus”.
This is the sum total, the consummation of our short historical journey and the direction that we must take into the future. Brothers and sisters, as we leave this place, with this message of our National Identity and Unity, which provides the justification for declaring PNG a Christian nation, may the Lord bless and keep us. May His face shine on us and give us His Peace. May the Lord of the Bible, who united us and gave us our National Identity as a Christian Nation, strengthen our faith against all forces of darkness. May our hearts continue to glow and radiate the spirit of unity through the love of God, His life, His vision, and His direction for PNG, and that the world may know that God has given no other Name under heaven, by whom humanity shall be saved except Christ and him alone. To this end, I vow to commit myself. Amen.
A.W. Tozer wrote, “The man of pseudo faith will fight for his verbal creed but refuse flatly to allow himself to get into a predicament where his future must depend upon that creed being true. He always provides himself with secondary ways of escape so he will have a way out if the roof caves in. What we need very badly these days is a company of Christians who are prepared to trust God as completely now as they know they must do at the last day (facing death).”
Sadly, Jesus tells us that in the last days before His return when persecution of Christians increases there will be a great falling away/apostasy, and those with pseudo faith will not endure. Already we are seeing institutional churches compromising with the world on issues such as homosexual pastors, gay marriage, and now transgenderism. Every age has its defectors, but the falling away at the end times will be extensive and worldwide. The whole planet will be in rebellion against God and His Christ. Every coup requires a leader, and into this global apostasy will step the Antichrist.
“Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed (Antichrist), the son of perdition” 2 Thessalonians 2:3
“Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared ” 1 Timothy 4:1-3
“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.” Matthew 24:9-12
We should not be surprised, persecution comes with the territory of being a Christian and living out our faith.
“Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.” 2 Timothy 3:13
The Parable of the Sower is also relevant here: The seed that fell on the rocky ground in the time of testing fell away. “And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away.” Luke 8:13
