From my observation over the past twenty years, I am firmly convinced that God is waking the ‘sleeping giant.’ He is shaking the church from its slumber and calling His people to stand up and be counted. However, God is doing this in a way that most Christians are not used to and most churches have not been prepared for. God is not, in my opinion, calling Christians to march in the streets with Bibles in hand or book football stadiums for evangelistic rallies. That is not the season I see emerging for the church in this nation. God is mobilising His army in a different way. He is calling them to interact with people around them on their own turf; in their own language and in a way that they can relate to.
In other words, God is calling us to manifest or ‘incarnate’ the life of Christ in the most practical possible ways in the communities and sub-communities in which we find ourselves: schools, universities, TAFE, workplaces, governments, shops, social and service clubs, sporting clubs, our neighbourhood … etc.
Why is God moving this way? Well, first of all, God is moving us into this ‘marketplace’ ministry more and more because that is where we should have always been in the first place. Whether you call this ‘lifestyle evangelism’ … ‘relationship evangelism’ or ‘incarnational ministry’ … this not new at all. In fact, Jesus was the One Who first introduced it. He did it, He showed us how to do it and then He left us to do it on His behalf.
The second reason why God is moving in this direction is because the institutionalised church has lost its influence in society. The church, as an organisation; as an institution; has increasingly over the past 20 years, become marginalised and is now largely irrelevant in our nation. That can change. That will change … but not in the way many people think. The church in this nation will not grow and become more effective by just running better ‘church’ programs and activities within the confines of the church structure and buildings. If that worked, we would have full buildings right across the nation because the institutionalised church has never run so many programs and events.
God is energising and mobilising people ‘on the job’ … ‘on the front-line’ of the battle … which is in the places where unchurched people gather and are relaxed and comfortable. At work, at the footy games, in schools, at the doctors’ waiting room, supermarkets, bank queues etc. I am always excited when I hear the stories of people’s conversations in these places and how God has gone before them and opened doors for them to speak about their faith.
In that interaction with people ‘out there’ we soon discover a very real need and a very serious concern which Christians across our nation must take to heart. This is not new by any means, this need has existed for a long time, but our awareness of it must increase as I believe this issue, in general terms at least, will be the primary catalyst for the advance of the Kingdom of God in the coming days.
Our Christian heritage as a nation is being forgotten and we are headed for very choppy waters if the current trend is not reversed. Like sheep without a shepherd and a ship without a rudder, this great nation is heading for peril if the people of God do not wake up, start praying … and talking … and voting … and re-establishing that solid foundation. If a nation forgets its Christian heritage and history and is ignorant of the Biblical principles upon which it was built, that nation is in danger of losing its freedom. We must teach the younger generation their Christian heritage and not leave it to teachers to omit such information because of their religious beliefs (or lack of them)!
We must stand up for our heritage and freedom or risk losing it! It is frightening to see what can happen to a nation that forgets its Christian heritage. Nazi Germany is one horrendous example. If you were to visit the Nazi death camps in Germany and inspect the gas chambers where thousands were murdered, you would see photographic records of the pitiful faces gazing down at you, including many Christians. You would also see a plaque which reads: “Those who forget their history are bound to repeat the same mistakes”.
After the first world war, Germany virtually became a fatherless nation, almost an entire generation of males had perished in the war. Without fathers in that culture, there was no one to teach the German children their heritage thus creating a perfect climate for the rise of Hitler. He was able to use his knowledge of German heritage and history to enslave its young people through the Hitler Youth Movement, and eventually the whole nation. Hitler said: “A man who has no sense of history, is a man who has no ears or eyes.”
Communist leader Karl Marx once said: “A people without a heritage are easily persuaded.” The communist dictum was “Capture the youth and you capture the nation.” It happened in Germany and Russia through war. It’s happening in Australia, but this time through moral abandonment and a complete loss of identity as a nation – while the church seems powerless, as it watches this decay.
Contrary to what has been taught in many circles over the years, Australia has a wonderful Christian heritage, a heritage of which we can be proud! Let me just say that when I speak of our Christian heritage, I am not speaking only about an Anglo-Saxon heritage. It doesn’t matter what colour, class, or race – there is neither Jew nor Greek. I am talking about our Australian Christian heritage!
From reading the Scriptures, it would seem that birthright (the passing of the Father’s blessing) is very important to God. The first-born son inherited a double portion as well as the blessing of the father. In Genesis 25:29-34 we see where Esau sold his birthright, inheritance or heritage to his younger brother Jacob for nothing more than some stew. From then on, the blessings ceased to flow to Esau and flowed to Jacob. It was he who handed those blessings or the heritage on to Joseph. Few people look at Biblical faith as a heritage, but God does! He says: “I am the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob”. He speaks in terms of generations. He speaks of fathers who pass on their spiritual heritage from generation to generation. Why? Because He is establishing a heritage of faith.
Many Australians place little value on their Christian heritage, often ‘selling it’ for short term gain. These are critical days for our nation. There are moves afoot to strip this “South Land of the Holy Spirit” of its Christian heritage. Some may even be tempted to doubt that anti-Christian humanistic forces could grow so powerful in Australia, even in a republican Australia. But consider what Manning Clark is quoted as saying about the late Lionel Murphy: ‘It had been one of Murphy’s aims to dismantle the Judeo-Christian ethic of Australian society.’(page 8 Sydney Morning Herald, 30.10.86).
Murphy’s protégé, Gareth Evans, a former president of the humanist society, and architect of the proposed “Bill of Rights,” was himself quoted as saying: “children want a light to sexual freedom and education and ‘protection from the influence of Christianity.” (Page 11 Sydney Morning Herald 7/5/76).
Psalm 78:1-8 “O my people, listen to my teaching … I will teach you hidden lessons from our past stories our ancestors handed down to us. We will not hide these truths from our children but will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the Lord. We will tell of his power and the mighty miracles he did … He commanded our ancestors to teach them to their children, so the next generation might know them even the children not yet born so they in turn might teach them to their children. So each generation can set its hope anew on God, remembering his glorious miracles and obeying his commands.”
The key here for parents is to teach the children their heritage, while the key word to the children is “remember.”Why do we need to remind them? “That they may set their hope in God. And not forget the works of God.”
In the story of Esther we find the exact opposite of Esau’s dilemma. It is the story of a Jewish girl who was raised by a relative, one of the nation’s leading men by the name of Mordecai. Esther, the beautiful Jewess, soon caught the eye of the king and he married her, but Esther concealed her Jewish heritage. (Esther 2:16-20). The king’s main leader, Haman, was an unscrupulous man who tricked the king into signing a decree that all the Jews were to be killed. Mordecai then came to Esther imploring her to go before the king and plead for the lives of her people the Jews. However to come before the king if not summoned could mean death. Mordecai speaks these prophetic words to her:
Esther 4:13-14 “… Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king’s palace any more than all the other Jews. For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come into the kingdom for such a time as this?”
Esther could remain silent and live comfortably for the rest of her life. The king did not know that she was a Jew with a death sentence hanging over her head. Her reply to the king is found in Esther 7:3: “Then Queen Esther answered and said, ‘If I have found favour in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request. For we have been sold, my people and I, to be destroyed, to be killed and to be annihilated …”
Her answer continues in verse 6: “For how can I endure to see the evil that will come upon my people? Or how can I endure to see the destruction of my countrymen?” The king was infuriated. Who would dare to do such a thing? He asked Esther who it was and she named Haman. The story ends this way: Haman the plotter was hung upon the very gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. Mordecai was promoted to replace Haman, while the Jews received “light and gladness, joy and honour.” (Esther 8:17). The Jews were so blessed that many of the people converted to Judaism while Esther was held in honour by the people and loved by the king. Look again at Mordecai’s words to her in Esther 4:14: “Yet who knows whether you have come into the kingdom for such a time as this?” Esther was placed by God in a strategic place for such a time.
I am astounded at how little Australians know about their Christian heritage. No wonder Australian youth have such horrendous drug and suicide statistics. Many of our youth leave these shores to seek a more ‘exciting’ life overseas. Hundreds waste their lives on drugs, sex and crime, or bludge on the beach. The strength of our youth is being lost. But we can change it!
There’s an old adage which says, “the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.” Winston Churchill is a classic example of this principle. It was neither his mother nor his father who formed Churchill’s character and influenced his beliefs, but his Godly nanny Elizabeth Anne Everest. It was she who taught him to pray and memorize scripture. She also taught him his Godly British heritage. Churchill was so inspired by his heritage that he wrote a six-volume biography about his ancestry. His studies helped shape his entire life and ultimately affected the whole world through his leadership during the dark and terrible days of World War II.
One of the signs of a great society is the diligence with which it passes culture from one generation to the next. This culture is the embodiment of everything the people of that society hold dear: its religious faith, its heroes. When one generation no longer esteems its own heritage and fails to pass the torch to its children, it is saying in essence that the very foundational principles and experiences that make the society what it is are no longer valid.
This leaves that generation without any sense of definition or direction, making them the fulfilment of Karl Marx’s dictum, ‘A people without a heritage are easily persuaded.’ What is required when this happens and the society has lost its way – is for leaders to arise who have not forgotten the discarded legacy and who love it with all their hearts. They must become the voice of that lost generation, wooing them back to the faith of the fathers, back to the ancient foundations and the bedrock values.
Winston Churchill was the voice and embodiment of such a heritage. As an historian, Churchill studied societies that disconnected themselves from their historical moorings. He discovered that when a generation isolates itself from its past and begins to measure progress only in terms of its own accumulations, the history of that civilization begins drawing to a close. Churchill concluded that what holds society together from generation to generation are those shared values and traditions that comprise heritage. Civilizations can only thrive from age to age when the legacy each generation receives from its ancestors is passed on in strengthened form to their children.
Through the course of his long life, Churchill had watched the gradual erosion of vital Christianity as a cultural force in England. He grieved at the loss of honour, respect and humility that resulted. Listen to Churchill’s warning: “Those who seek to plan the future should not forget the inheritance they have received from the past. If the present tries to sit in judgment on the past, it will lose the future.”
In 1954, Churchill said this to the Reverent Billy Graham, “I do not see much hope for the future unless it is the hope you are talking about, young man. We must return to God.” Churchill hoped that the next generation would recover what it had not accepted from the generation before it: faith in God and the culture that faith produces.
Proverbs 22:28 says: “Do not remove the ancient landmark. Which your fathers have set.” In other words we are to respect and honour the foundations that the nation’s founding fathers, have laid down. Yet some Australians remain blissfully ignorant of their country’s Christian heritage and foundations and are continually pushing to change them. Either they have forgotten their nation’s history, or in many cases, they have never been taught it in the first place. This has brought disastrous consequences.
In the 1911 national census 95.9% of Australians said they embraced the Christian Faith. In the 1991 census 73.8% of the population confirmed their acceptance of Christianity, while in the 1996 census 70.9% acknowledged their Christian belief. Can you guess what that figure was in the 2021 census? In our most recent census, less than 44% of Australians identified themselves as Christian.
Dr. Graham McLennan, an Australian Christian historian, and my former dentist and co-labourer in the gospel at Orange, once wrote these words: “Obviously we are not yet a nation of Christians. But we should steadfastly resist all who presume upon our Christian tolerance by trying to subvert or deny our Christian heritage. The tolerance, freedom, tranquillity, justice and prosperity we enjoy exists only in that tiny handful of nations that enjoy Biblical Christianity but will diminish quickly if we neglect or depart from that Christian heritage.”
Brothers and sisters, I want you to hear this warning: the battle to beat all battles is drawing closer. The forces that have always been at work in our nation which seek to attack, undermine and dismantle the very foundations of our society … are increasing by the day. We need to pray, and not stop praying, that God will place the right people in positions of authority across our nation. We also need to pray for those people and their families, their Churches and their communities. Satan will do all he can to destroy the work of God and distract, discourage and deceive the people of God. That should not evoke fear or anxiety, rather it should trigger more prayer and a sense of excitement and anticipation as God takes us all further into the front line of His kingdom ministry. He is in control and He has gone before us. Satan is not calling the shots – God is.
As Jesus declared when He walked among us, the Kingdom of God is forcefully advancing against the kingdom of this world. We are the aggressors here, and we are moving into enemy territory to take back what the devil has stolen. At every level of society, God is at work. Yes, so is Satan and the media shows us the fruit of our neglect of God every day.
But it’s not all bad news. There are many committed disciples of Jesus in key positions in Government, business and community service agencies. God is doing mighty things across the world and in our own nation. He is calling us to join Him.
If we truly believe that God is in control and that His kingdom will come and His will must be done, then we also have to believe that His Spirit has been preparing us all ‘for such a time as this.’ This is God’s battle; He will bring the victory; but He will not do it alone; He needs us to step up, seize the day and be His faithful soldiers in a thousand different ways. Each and every one of us needs to ask Him what He requires of us at such a time as this. He has a role for each and every one of us to play.
God is able – He just needs to know if we are available.