Yesterday was the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. In June
1941 my family on my father's side were rounded up as Jews in Bratislava and
herded off to Auschwitz. Only one member of the family, a doctor, survived.
After the war he re-married and had one son who in turn had two children.
Last June we had a wonderful time of family reunion as we attended the
wedding of one of these children in Tel Aviv.
This is a wonderful story of the survival of a
family against all odds. Survival against the strongest forces of evil in the
last century: the forces of Nazism, Communism and Atheism. God's gift of
family affection shone through.
As for me, when walking through the streets
of Frankfurt one day the Holy Spirit spoke into my heart: "Peter, you need
to forgive the Germans". As I did this, the freedom and peace of God
flowed into my heart.
The cry of Auschwitz is NEVER AGAIN. Yet
the forces of controlling destruction are rampant in our world today. So it
is good that Auschwitz causes us to ask: how did this happen? How did Nazism
nearly destroy the world? How could the holocaust have occurred?
I believe the answer to these questions are
essentially twofold:
-
The early
successes of a regime who followed the occult and were empowered by Satan in
their capacity to lead the country out of depression. The German people in
turn substituted capability for righteousness.
- The loss of influence of the Church in
Germany through the period of enlightenment and the churches loss of
engagement with its biblical foundations.
Today we still often choose power instead
of righteousness... and our church continues in a state of disempowering
disunity. The institutional church has been shamed and has conveyed an
impression that God is boring, irrelevant and potentially dangerous with
children. What greater sins could the church perpetrate against God in our
spiritual responsibility for our country?
In the following article Francis Frangipane
challenges us to come back into unity in order to lead our nation back to
God. I encourage you to engage with these thoughts in the spirit of what we
must learn from Auschwitz: NEVER AGAIN.
Peter Kentley
"I appreciate and defend the origins of our
many denominations. Most were born as godly men fought against the sin and
spiritual apostasy of their times. Their heroic stand preserved (or in some
cases, restored) the truth of God in an otherwise dark world. From my heart,
I thank God for our denominational heritage.
Today, however, the need to remain divided from other evangelical
congregations is unjustified. We can remain unique churches with unique
callings and people, yet be united spiritually, and even functionally, with
other congregations in our communities. Knowing Christ has called for unity
in His church, many leaders today are re-examining the legitimacy of division
in the church. Today's heroes are not separating from other churches, they
are working to restore the church to its one foundation and build unity upon
Christ alone.
Every true Christian believes the Bible is God's sacred, eternal word.
Indeed, heaven and earth will pass away, but God's word will endure forever.
What was relative and powerful in the first century ought to be just as
powerful today. Listen, therefore, to what Paul wrote to the Christians in
Corinth: "Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that you all agree, and there be no divisions among you, but you be made
complete in the same mind and in the same judgment. For I have been informed
concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe's people, that there are quarrels among
you. Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, 'I am of Paul,' and 'I
of Apollos,' and 'I of Cephas,' and 'I of Christ.' Has Christ been divided?"
(1 Cor 1:10-13a).
How strange that we smugly look upon the divisions in the Corinthian church.
But why was it wrong in the first century to say "I am of Paul (or Apollos),"
but permissible in these last days to say, "I am of Luther or Wesley or of
the Baptists or Pentecostals"? Again, please remember, I am not suggesting we
should strive for unity with churches that do not believe in Christ, or God's
word, or the Holy Spirit, or the virgin birth, or the second coming. However,
I am saying that, within the sphere of the born again, living church of Jesus
Christ, divisions are unbiblical and wrong.
The apostle later continued, "For since there is jealousy and strife among
you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?" (I Cor 3:3)
The credibility of the church is that we are not "mere men," creatures born
of women without spiritual vision or destiny. We have been born again of one
Spirit from above. Within our spirits is the actual spiritual substance of
Christ Himself. "Do you not know that you are a temple of God, and that the
Spirit of God dwells in you?" (I Cor 3:16) We are the temple of God.
Our churches, like the stones of the temple, are to be laid side-by-side,
building us together ". . . into a dwelling of God in the Spirit" (Eph 2:22).
Paul went on to issue a warning which every Christian should heed. He said,
"If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple
of God is holy..." (I Cor 3:17). We have attempted to use this verse to
condemn such things as cigarette smoking and sexual vices and, on an
individual basis, there are obvious consequences to these sins.
However, Paul is speaking here of more than the sins of excess and immoral
pleasure. The apostle is warning against allowing division in the temple of
God, the church. He says, "if any man destroys the temple" (through jealousy
and strife), "God will destroy him." The context is plainly speaking in
regard to divisions in the church! When pure Christianity degenerates into
divided camps of ambitious people, it literally destroys the harmony, power
and blessing of the "temple of God." The individual who brings or supports
such carnal divisions in the church has positioned himself in a very
dangerous place before God. The temple of God is holy. Our unity together is
holy. Our love for one another is holy, for the Father Himself dwells in the
resting place of caring attitudes and loving relationships.
Collectively, we are the dwelling place of God on earth. The warning is
severe: "If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him." The
Living God is a God of order; He will not dwell in ruins! Because He is a God
of love, He will work with us to rebuild, but He will not sanction our fallen
condition with power. He will not lend His credibility to our disorder.
When Nehemiah, living among the Jewish exiles, heard of the condition of
Jerusalem and its temple, he "sat down and wept and mourned for days." The
fallen condition of the temple thrust him into an extended position of
"fasting and praying before the God of heaven" (Neh 1:4). The modern Jews
also weep as they face the Wailing Wall, lamenting over the ruins of their
temple. Paul mourned when he saw the ruined condition in Corinth. He said,
"For I am afraid...that perhaps there may be strife, jealousy, angry tempers,
disputes, slanders, gossip, arrogance, disturbances; I am afraid that when I
come again my God may humiliate me before you, and I may mourn over many of
those who have sinned" (II Cor 12:20-21).
And Jesus Himself wept over the divisions of Jerusalem, lamenting, "How often
I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks
under her wings, and you were unwilling" (Matt 23:37). This mourning
concerning the disunified condition of the Father's house ought to be in our
hearts as well. Yet, for most of us, not only have we failed to mourn our
situation, we have not even grasped that our disunity, jealousy and strife is
a fallen state!
While the redemption of man was always motivating Jesus, remember, His most
ardent desire was His zeal for His Father's house; He was "consumed" with it
(Jn 2:17). Building the house of God, the born-again, praying, loving,
citywide church is still Christ's highest priority. The world is His harvest,
the church is His bride. His love for the church was the basis of His last
recorded prayer: that we would be one (Jn 17:20-23). It is still His highest
passion today. For, until we are united in Him, the world will not believe
that God has sent Him (17:21,23).
There were many reasons why Jerusalem fell to Babylon during Jeremiah's day,
but underlying them all was the spiritual apostasy of the religious leaders.
God Himself would have defended a humble, praying city, but in Jerusalem the
spiritual leaders were corrupt. Listen, therefore, to Jeremiah's fearful
revelation:" The adversary and the enemy could enter the gates of Jerusalem"
because of "the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests" (see
Lam 4:12-13). Do we see this? Israel's enemies entered Jerusalem because the
spiritual leaders were unrepentantly full of sin. Oh God, help us to see and
accept that the future of our cities exists in the corporate relationship the
spiritual leaders have with You and one another.
Jesus said that any city, any house "divided against itself" cannot stand
(Mat 12:25). The place of spiritual protection of a community has its origins
in the quality of life that exists in the spiritual leadership of that
community: a vibrant, praying united church will move that city toward the
blessing of God; a divided, sinful leadership will allow the adversary to
enter the city's gates.
The path narrows for leadership, until our only privilege is to become
Christlike in everything. However, Christlike leadership in the church can
transform the world around it! You see, our cities are in disorder because
the church is in disorder. James tells us that where there is jealousy and
strife, "there is disorder and every evil thing" (James 3:16). Our selfish
ambitions have taken our eyes off the will and purposes of God for our
cities. We have become jealous of one another. Consequently, the "disorder,"
lawlessness and "every evil thing" we see in our society are, at least in
part, rooted in the soil of a misdirected and distracted church community.
Because of this the church has lost a measure of its credibility. How can we
expect the world to hear our message of love when we, as Christ's body, fail
to love each other? We have no right to condemn the world for its pride and
arrogance when we, the body of Christ, still refuse to humble ourselves and
work with the other churches in our neighbourhoods. Over the years the world
has seen many incredible ministries. However, the time of the "incredible"
has passed; the hour for the credible is being established."
By: Francis Frangipane
Source: Australian Prayer Network
www.ausprayernet.org.au
Festival Victoria
Christian Life and Witness Classes
On Now
Please encourage friends and small groups
to participate who have not already had an opportunity to attend, or may need
to catch up one or two classes. These are a fantastic learning experience.
Note: One session commences at
6:30pm at Swanston Street Church of Christ for those who study or work in the
Melbourne CBD.
More info:
www.festivalvictoria.com.au
