Looking forward to Egypt's Next Season

In light of the resignation of Hosni Mubarak, the victory of the protestors in Tahrir Square, Cairo and the outburst of joy from what seems to be the whole nation of Egypt, I wanted to write something in response to previous posts and thoughts looking forward to Egypt’s future.

During this past season of protest in Egypt I received several emails from different believers in Egypt so that we might join with them in prayer (obviously after the online restrictions were removed). Most of these messages were from individuals that I personally know. The email of the skewed Western media perspective was not from an individual I personally know, however I did receive it from a trusted friend, who verified the identity and credibility of the sender. A number of people have contacted me since then to say that this was essentially a pro Mubarak government communiqué and therefore of no credibility. After learning the identity of the source, I do not believe that it was a govt communique, and that is the reason I kept the post on my blog. I do think that certain details in that email were exaggerated and wrongly interpreted, however I think this is a more a mixture of wrong analysis and personal opinion rather than intent to deceive – again this is just an opinion.

The main reason I kept it on the blog however was that it spoke of another side to the protests, which was contrary to the mainline media and a side that we must be aware. The reason that Mubarak was able to stay in office so long with all of the attending corruption was that he was able to convince the US that he was a better alternative to anything or anyone else. In a nation where 90% of the population are Sunni Muslim and only 10% are either Coptic or Christian, and with some of the most developed Islamic training in the world, the delicate peace situation with Israel is something to be considered, as is the very real possibility of a Theocratic Islamic Government taking control in Egypt.

So what is the future for Egypt. It seems that everyone is now celebrating the departure of Mubarak and rightly they must, he came to exemplify the corruption of an evil regime. Corruption and greed are hard to eradicate as they are inherent in the fallen human state, but when they are deposed we must celebrate. The hardest challenge ahead for Egypt will be to replace a corrupt regime with another government that is not as corrupt. This will be a challenge, not because Egyptians are intrinsically worse than the rest of humanity, but when a society lives a certain way for a long time intrinsic change is hard. This is why the citizens of Cairo turned to the same hated Police tactics of searching and stopping suspected looters that had been so denounced.

The handover to the military is a decent interim solution that will please most, however there must be a process set in place for free and fair elections. But even with free and fair elections, the society that the social media democracy protestors envisaged will probably not come to pass, with the Muslim Brotherhood and El Bareidi being the only seeming alternatives at the moment the future for this great nation of Egypt really does hang in the balance. The election of Hamas in the Palestinian Territories was not unexpected due to the heady mixture of Islamic rhetoric, poverty and violence. The situation in Egypt is markedly different, but it is still unclear at the moment whether a secular political candidate would garner more support than a candidate from the Muslim Brotherhood.

We could speculate more – but now is probably just a time to celebrate the end of one corrupt regime and pray for future of Egypt and that this change might provide an open window for the Gospel of Jesus Christ to go forth in the land of Egypt.

New Email from Situation in Egypt

These events (though costly ) will surely transition our Nation into a new era of Freedom (expression and beliefs ) , where corruption is exposed and convicted.

This generation of Young people arising , to say No to corruption and to ask for change and reforms, is truly an answer to prayer, we have been praying in a very focused way for 2 years for the raising up a FOTB generation in our Land, and though our prayers had a more deep and broad implication than the rising up of the thousands of young people in their peaceful demonstrations. Yet in a sense it is an answer to prayer. J

These sincere demonstrations for reforms, were tainted by other movements with hidden agendas (religious /political) – international and national forces trying to imprison this nation into an Islamic Tyranny - and national political forces trying to maintain the core of the corrupt regime under a change of name - thus abort the divine destiny of this Nation in this hour as a key nation in theMiddle East regarding the Lord’s plans.

We know that the Lord has given the church, to steer the events through prayer into the Divine Purposes and the Heavenly agenda in this hour. We remain empowered and strengthened in this hour (Thank You for praying J )

Nationally:

*The hidden Islamic agenda of Muslim Brethren to ride this wave of change - is exposed and convicted by multitudes- even Moslems

*The corruption of the previous cabinet is well exposed and is being investigated and will be judged- it is unbelievable the billions of Egyptian pounds in their bank accounts- that they gained while in office !! – this is unprecedented - coz The Egyptian people have been oppressed along decades and had broken spirits from being manipulated by the ruling regime – so to arise and call for such exposure and conviction of darkness is truly Divine .

*There is an open fruitful dialogue between the Vice President and Prime minister and many of the representatives of the people - politicians - thinkers- business men – poor- old- and many of the young people who with sincerity, desire change

*Change of many unjust aspects of the constitution that prohibited freedom of expression and beliefs – this will give more freedom for Christians and will allow the many converted Muslims coming into the kingdom to have freedom.

*Many Demonstrators still gather in Tahrir Square , and their one and sole request remains to have Mubarak down and now (although many of their primary requests – have been achieved) yet they see Mubarak as a representative of the old corrupt regime and blame him for not stopping it along all those past 30 years. And as more of the corruption is exposed daily – more people see Mubarak as the one responsible- and are More Adamant about wanting him to leave his office- so the numbers of Egyptians desiring him to step down from office in a dignified way is daily increasing - because he represents the corrupt regime.

*In a sense, he has actually delegated to his VP who is a well respected man , much of his responsibilities. And according to the constitution, many others see that by remaining in his office till the end of his term in September may be the best and safest way to transfer power>

*The curfew hours have decreased , now from 8pm till 6 am – so morning life is almost back to Normal in Cairo, people have returned to their work, banks opened , courts are back in function , etc… yet Tahrir square (down town Cairo) remains as a closed area where demonstrators are assembling.

* Thousands were injured and 300 were killed - this is horrible coz when thousands gather, mobs are implanted to stir violence and inflame rage … the Young people who first assembled are innocent of causing such riots nor violence (They were the ones attacked and killed)- and now , with more corruption exposed – it is evident that the police of the old regime played a role in killing some of those innocent demonstrators !! it is horrible !

*As the international media was not objective - the national media was NOT TRUTHFUL- it helped steer the wheel to more delusion of the Egyptian people - yet the camera does not lie- and pictures / videos taken confirm the horrible situation- innocent youth killed for saying No to corruption –

Church/ HOP:

*We still can’t get to our church building / coz it is down town and securities have this whole area surrounded by Military Tanks to try to keep order – the church building is safe J

*We gather in homes to pray – we cover the 24/7 prayer schedule each at his/her place.

*We are strengthened by the Holy Spirit, we see the Sovereign Hand of the Lord in control , and we are praying for the fulfillment of All His Divine Purposes in this hour for our Nation.

*Every church congregation is praying and this shaking has awakened ALL the Church in Egypt to Pray and Seek the Lord

Thank You for Faithfully standing with The Lord as His Friends , for the Fulfillment of His Purposes for our Land in this hour.

Much Love from all here in Cairo

Thoughts on Egypt

- Photo from CNN

Watching the events that have unfolded in Egypt over the past week and then reading and listening to eyewitness accounts of what has gone on a few things strike me personally that I wanted to enumerate.

1) Mubarak is no different from most of the Old Men of Africa/Middle East – no better, but no worse.

Hosni Mubarak has been in power for 30 years, he has done things which would not have been accepted in “open” democratic nations. The corruption of many in government; the stifling of political opposition, the “virtual police state” are not to be lauded ever. One of the leaders at IHOP was detained for over 18 hours and finally not allowed in to Egypt last summer simply for his Christian message. These things are not good.

However Mubarak is not without support both within and outside of Egypt. Many inside Egypt look at the alternative to Mubarak , the Muslim Brotherhood and do not like what they see. The Islamization of any nation has never been a good thing. Afghanistan, Iran and Hamas are just a few recent examples. Mubarak is like many old men dictators, however he has adopted a non-aggressive stance toward Israel, he has seen trade with the west increase and seen Egypt become the leading Arabic nation during his tenure. If the Muslim Brotherhood gain power – despite their protestations of peaceful democracy, it is unlikely if they were in power that they would maintain these values. It is unlikely that Christian believers would have an easy time or even be allowed to exist under such a regime. Which leads to my second point

2) Democracy is an alien concept to many nations including most of the Middle East.

While the stated Foreign Policy of the US has been to promote democracy in every nation, in many nations this is simply too foreign to institute over night or even over a generation. This has been evidenced in Russia in the past 20 years. While the protests in Cairo began with peaceful Egyptians expressing their frustration at the current regime, it appears that these protests in Tahrir Square, the epicenter of this movement (and also interestingly where the House of Prayer is located in Cairo) have transitioned from a popular movement to a highly organized political grab for power. The general population have by and large accepted the replacement of the government and the appointment of Omar Suleiman, while looking towards a transition of power within the next six months. However in the square it appears many of the protestors are “plants” with exactly the same blankets, cell phones, and with strange dialects ie not locals. This would point towards a more organized grab for power by the Muslim Brotherhood who have everything to gain from Mubarak leaving office in the midst of protest and confusion and everything to lose with a more drawn out and orderly transition. It must be noted that revolutions and mob rule have never been the same as a democratic process, they are simply the actions of bullies.

3) What happened in Tunisia was a catalyzing spark for the whole of the Middle East, but what happens in Egypt is critical for the future direction of the whole of the Middle East.

Egypt is the leading Arabic nation, it has the largest military, has the largest funding (over $1billion pa) by the US (obviously these two facts are related) and arguably has the biggest influence on Arabic culture in the Middle East. Whoever eventually takes power over the next year will have an immense impact on the nation and therefore on the whole of the Middle East. Egypt’s peace with Israel has meant that the Middle East has been fairly stable for the past 25 years. (An Israeli may disagree with me on this point as they have been battling the Palestinian Intifada and their incursion into Lebanon), but war with Egypt is an entirely different proposition, especially with an unstable Iran who would love to join any party with an aim to “wipe Israel off the map”. An unstable Middle East is prophesied, but despite this we need to continue to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, as an unstable Middle East is not a good proposition.

So how should we pray?

1) Pray that the Lord would raise up a leader in Egypt, that the political grabs for power by men would be thwarted. Pray for Hosni Mubarak, Omar Sulieman and all those in power that they would encounter the Lord.

2) Pray for the House of Prayer and the believers in the Land of Egypt that they would be strengthened with might and the power of the Holy Spirit at this time. That in this time of uncertainty many would come to a saving knowledge of Jesus.

3) Pray for Safety of believers in Egypt.

4) Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem – that the unfolding events would not bring warfare to Israel, but peace and a reconciliation between Ishmael and Isaac.

Interesting Email about Western News Bias in Egypt

Dear friends,

I am writing this to you as a witness to what is going on from the streets of Cairo over the last few days. We have been following the developments since January 25th, which started with a large group of Egyptian youth taking to Tahrir square in an anti-government protest with specific demands. I know some of these people who were in that group and I talked with them. What is happening now has nothing to do with this original protest! What is happening right now is a conspiracy to topple Mubarak from outside the country!! I am not a conspiracy theorist, but let me tell you what I have personnally witnessed on the streets of Cairo.

I want to share first what the LORD told me on Friday morning.

I went to the LORD in prayer on Thursday evening, praying like many others for protection and for the restoration of peace and security in my land. I told the LORD: "Father, answer my prayers with rain", which He has several times before. I went to sleep. I woke up on Friday morning and went directly to prayer. Immediately, I sensed a strong urgency from the LORD saying: "As the people of Egypt presented their requests to Mubarak, I am calling on My people to rise up before me and present their requests to me for their nation". I went on to hear the LORD: "Let the Holy Council assemble". I didn't understand who this Coucil was, but I knew in my heart that the LORD meant that there are people in my land that are called by the LORD to stand before him as His Holy Council with authority to make declaration over the land, to establish the Kingdom in the land. My demands to the LORD were not political ny nature. I prayed for "good news to the poor, freedom for the oppressed, healing for the brokenhearted, and the acceptable year of the LORD" as the Holy Spirit gave guidance. The LORD spoke to me the words "JUSTICE" and "TRUTH". As I went to talk with Rania afterwards, she told me that she had been awake all through the night, and that IT RAINED around 12:45 am. It was very strong, but not for a very long time (a few minutes). I knew then that it was the LORD. The LORD spoke Psalm 97:1-2:

The LORD reigns, let the earth be glad;
let the distant shores rejoice.
Clouds and thick darkness surround him;
righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.

Indeed, there had been unusual clouds and very thick fog in December over Cairo, unprecedented in frequency and intensity. Again, the words TRUTH (or righteousness in the English translation) and JUSTICE resounded.

As we followed the unfolding of events including the announced change in government and president Mubarak's speech, we wondered why the international news media is focusing only on the thousands in Tahrir square who are escalating their demands and refusing dialogue. The news media is reporting this as "the people of Egypt" wanting Mubarak to leave immediately. Did they ask the "people of Egypt?". For one, they did not ask me! Where are those, like myself, that want change and reform, but accept the changes that Mubarak is proposing, and want a peaceful transition through elections in September?

We decided to take to the streets to voice our opinion. On Tuesday February 1st we went to Mustafa Mahmoud square in Mohandessin. There were about one thousand people there around 3:30 pm. (yes, we broke the curfew). the crowd grew to about 2500 by 5:00 pm. People were calling their friends over the phone telling them to come. We left at about 6:30 pm and returned yesterday, Wednesday, starting at 11:00 am. The small group had swelled to TENS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE standing together with banners saying things like:

- yes to stability, yes to Mubarak

- give change a chance

- we are sorry Mr. president

- we accept dialogue, we trust you

- no to ElBaradei, no to the muslim brotherhood (many like this one)

- we are the Egyptians, where is Al-Jazeera, let them come and see

- no to corruption, no to vandalism

- we got what we asked the president for, so why are people still in Tahrir? Who are they? What do they want?

etc., etc., etc.

By 2:00 pm, the crowd had grown to SEVERAL HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE, maybe up to a million, stretching from Sphinx square to Sudan street. We had a great sense of unity and victory. We met with people who were in the original protest in Tahrir square who decided to join us saying: we got what we asked for, and now we accept Mubarak's changes and proposals".

We left around 4:15 pm. The numbers had grown even more, POSSIBLY OVER A MILLION. As we drove home we saw the same slogans on banners all over the city, on cars, on walls, on shop windows. We learned that similar demonstrations are taking place ALL OVER THE COUNTRY, IN MAY DIFFERENT CITIES. THIS IS THE CRY OF THE PEOPLE OF EGYPT THAT IS BEING TOTALLY IGNORED BY THE INTERNATIONAL NEWS MEDIA. Is this on purpose??!!! I am perplexed!!! I am wondering: How come CNN, the BBC, and others are reporting ONLY the anti-government protests as the voice of the people? This is not JUSTICE, this is not TRUTH. There have been reports that these people are being paid by the government. NOT TRUE! I was there with many many others. I SAW THE STREETS.

Now to the situation in Tahrir square. Only a few people (hundreds?) are still there from the original protesters. They have been slowly replaced by other HIGHLY ORGANIZED GROUPS. They all have the same model of cell phones. They all have the same blankets (eye witnesses). THESE ARE NOT THE PEOPLE OF EGYPT. Some witnesses claim that they don't look Egyptians, and don't sound Egyptians (different accent, different dialect). THIS IS A BIG ORGANIZED COUP TO TRY TO CONVINCE THE WORLD THROUGH THE MEDIA THAT EGYPT WANTS MUBARAK TO GO, AND THE MEDIA IS PART OF THE DECEPTION. People in Tahrir square are escalating the situation on prupose to topple President Mubarak FOR THEIR OWN HIDDEN AGENDAS. This is TYPICAL OF THE MUSLIM BROTHERS, AND EVERYBODY IN THE STREETS OF CAIRO KNOWS THIS. We heard people on the streets saying that the plot to take over the country is now clear. THE INTERNATIONAL MEDIA DON'T WANT YOU TO KNOW THIS. The escalation of violence in Tahrir square is because of this. Egyptians who love Egypt, the millions that took to the streets yesterday, want this to end. They fully understand that president Mubarak is between a rock and a hard place, that he cannot quench the unrest in Tahrir through the army, so the people want to go to Tahrir to disperse the crowds there by themselves. People in Tahrir are vastly outnumbered. If Egyptians go the Tahrir square to take control of the situation, more chaos will erupt, giving a chance to the international media to blame the President even more.

If Egypt falls, then neighbouring countries are going to fall one after the other. WE NEED PRAYER, WE ASK FOR TRUTH, WE ASK FOR JUSTICE, and above all LORD, in wrath, REMEMBER MERCY. Stand with us. The Lord calls Egypt "My people". He is calling on His HOLY COUNCIL in the land of Egypt to stand before Him, to make declarations in the heavenlies to establish a new 'constitution' in the land based on the principles of the Word of God, to establish a 'new foundation' for His kingdom to come. Pray for the schemes of the enemy to be annulled and voided. Pray for deception to be exposed. We humble ourselves and pray. We seek the Face of the LORD. We turn from our wicked ways. LISTEN TO US LORD, FORGIVE US, HEAL OUR LAND. In the Name of Jesus.

In Him, standing for God's purposes in Egypt,

Rafik

Becoming a Media Messenger

The Resurrection and the Age to Come

¹²But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? ¹³If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. ¹⁴And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. ¹⁵More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. ¹⁶For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either.¹⁷And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. ¹⁸Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. ¹⁹If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.

²⁰But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. ²¹For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. ²²For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. ²³But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. ²⁴Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. (1 Cor 15)

1 – Personal Journey in Understanding the Resurrection and the Age to Come

When I was growing up I would read the story of Jesus and the New Testament and would wonder at many things. One of the things that made me ponder was Jesus continual references to this age, the end of this age and the age to come. What did that mean? Was the world as I knew it somehow going to come to an end, and what would the new world look like?

I was also confused by the continual references to “the Resurrection” in the New Testament. I understood (at least in part) that Jesus had been put to death on a Roman implement of execution called the cross. He died for our sins, and then was raised to life on the third day; this was for me “the resurrection” – Jesus rising from the dead. Yet I could not help but ponder all the verses that referred to the resurrection, which didn’t really seem to be in the context of Jesus rising from the dead, this seemed to be a big point of contention between the Jewish sects of the Pharisees and the Sadducees; what was that all about? Nobody really taught about the resurrection in the churches that I went to; if it was taught on it was placed in the context of life after death. When someone died they would be resurrected somehow, but this answer didn’t seem to be quite right, the people who I knew that died didn’t come back to life like Jesus had, they didn’t have bodies. I guessed there must be a spiritual meaning that I couldn’t quite understand. But I did know it was important, after all Paul devoted a long chapter at the end of Corinthians to this very subject.

My confusion of these matters was only deepened as I grew in large part due to the general lack of interest and focus on these teachings of Jesus by the church at large. In terms of “eschatology” (the study of end times) the understanding that I received was muddled. The fact that Jesus was coming back was definitely part of my emerging theology; that part was easy to figure out. There was a vague thought picked up from some books and music from the US which led me to believe that Jesus could come at any moment, and I better be ready if I didn’t want to come home one day and find that my parents had been secretly “raptured”, while I had been “left behind”. I guess I knew there was “an age to come” but didn’t really know much about it.

The things that I learnt about the life of Jesus and the way to walk righteously were all excellent. The ministry of the Holy Spirit and the development of a prayer life and a worshipful heart were all good and needed. I knew if someone was to find eternal life they must be born again, and so we needed to obey the Great Commission of Jesus. Yet I always tried and still try to reconcile what I do in following Jesus with the intent of what Jesus meant when he asks us to follow him. If I am a true follower of Jesus, then I express my love by obedience to his teaching. If I deliberately don’t do what he asks how can I sing songs of love? And for me to know what he asks I need to devote my life to hearing his voice. This could be through prophecy or dreams and visions, but I would contend the main way is through his revealed word – everything else must be weighed against these scriptures.

So what does understanding some obscure verses about the end times and this thing called the resurrection have to do with following Jesus today? Is it needed? Well, actually no it is not, but you can be saved as if by fire and not understand lots of things, but it does mean that you will be at best a babe in the Kingdom. If you are a soldier in the battle do you really have to know the point of the war? Not really, your commander can just tell you, to shoot your gun when he commands – but it’s not really the best strategy. It would be much better for you to have some understanding of why you are fighting. In following Jesus it is much better that you have a little understanding of his plans and where he is going.

2 – What is the Resurrection?

Which brings us to the question what is the resurrection and the age to come. First let me lay out some common notions regarding life after death, which are built more on Greek philosophy than biblical thought and beliefs that the church in recent centuries has not been very helpful in disabusing us of. A common picture of evangelism (telling people about the Gospel of Jesus) in recent centuries has seen the eager preacher asking his audience if they know where they are going when they die, do they know their eternal destiny - Heaven or Hell? If a person says the sinner’s prayer they are headed to live forever in heaven and have their fire insurance, if a person does not then they are going to the “other place”. This becomes a particularly hard thought at the funerals of those who have not said the prayer. There is definitely some truth to this picture, but it is confused as we shall see. It is especially confused, because it is based on some common Greek philosophical assumptions that the physical body we have now is evil and the release to a spiritual body will be so much better. This has led many to think that the resurrection actually is the acquisition of a spiritual body (which after all what Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians 15) in heaven, which will be better by far.

This view however would not have been a common assumption to the Jewish community of Jesus day. The very common view amongst that community was a belief that at the end of history everyone who had died would be raised to life, with new “resurrected” bodies. This was the event known as “the resurrection”. The age to come would be the age where everyone was resurrected. Since the time of Adam the corruption of the flesh was plain for all to see, and the death of the body was the ultimate fulfillment of the curse, death was and is the ultimate enemy. But what happens then? The belief that the flesh would die and disintegrate to dust, while the spirit of a man would remain intact, was and is a common and biblical belief - from “dust to dust” (see Gen 3:19 and also the Prayer Book) Yet this is generally viewed as a bad thing, for a human soul and spirit to be unclothed. There was a belief of a temporary holding area for spirits of the deceased called Sheol. The distinction between a good and a bad area – Paradise and Hades comes a little later, nevertheless it is a temporary residence for our unclothed spirits. Our ultimate destination is with a resurrected body which means that the message of the resurrection is NOT talking about heaven and the immortality of the Spirit, these are both true and part of our journey, but that is not what resurrection is about, the resurrection did not speak of life after death, the resurrection spoke of as NT Wright has coined the term “life after life after death.” This is the reason today on the Mt of Olives you will see lots of Jews buried, because they want to be near the temple when the resurrection happens. This was the reason Job spoke with confidence

²⁵ I know that my Redeemer ^[a] lives,

and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.

²⁶ And after my skin has been destroyed,

yet ^[c] in my flesh I will see God;

²⁷ I myself will see him

with my own eyes—I, and not another.

How my heart yearns within me! (Job 19:25-27)

Resurrection is not just limited to the righteous however, both the wicked will also be raised to life for their ultimate judgment to be thrown into the Lake of Fire for eternal conscious torment. This is a fairly strange view? It is not what is preached in many pulpits, yet it is completely biblical. Just two portions from the Hebrew Scriptures indicate a common understanding.

“Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. ³ Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever”. (Dan 12:2-4)

It was such a common belief by the time of Jesus that even uneducated women such as Martha knew about this theology. Regarding her brother Lazarus she told Jesus

²⁴Martha answered, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day." (John 11:24)

Evidences for belief in the event called “the resurrection” are numerous throughout the New Testament. It is the very thing that the Pharisees and the Sadducees argued about (the Pharisees believing in it and the Sadducees not) It was a belief which the other nations around Israel ridiculed the Jews for believing – Why? Because it was seen as so preposterous by the Greeks and the Romans (Acts 17 and other Greek writers, and yet this event called the Resurrection was and is the hope of the Jewish nation and also the hope of the Christian Gospel.

3 – What about Jesus’ Resurrection?

So what about Jesus? I have studiously avoided the fact that Jesus was resurrected up to this point. But the fact is that Jesus was resurrected from the dead and now lives with a resurrected body – seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven. (Yes, this means Jesus has a real body made of flesh, with scars to prove it and is not in some ethereal spirit state.) Makes me ask why? Well, let me start by saying that Jesus is the only person in history that has been resurrected and is now living with a resurrected body (the only possible exception to this could be the other people who were raised to life when Jesus was). This is different to instances of revivification and resuscitation that had been seen throughout Israel’s history and in Jesus ministry as well. Lazarus and Jairus’s daughter are just two examples of people who were revived from death, but who would die again. I have personally met a number of men who have been brought back from death, yet only one man has been resurrected and he was resurrected long before the “event” of the resurrection.

Let me begin by saying that the Resurrection of Jesus is central to our belief in Jesus and salvation through him. If he had not been raised to life on the third day then we are as Paul says to “be pitied more than all men” for at the heart of what we believe is the death of the Christ Man being sacrificially given up for our sins, justifying our Spirits before God AND his rising to life, so that all those who live in him would be raised to newness of life through him thereafter – we now live IN CHRIST, because of his resurrection. The fact of the resurrection is the very thing that turned timid disciples into a glorious church and the reason for 2 billion people on the face of the earth who at least say that they are Christians.

However the fact that Jesus was resurrected IS also proof that resurrection happens, and as Paul said so well, He is the “first fruits” of the resurrection and when he comes again in an event in the Bible known as “The Day of the Lord”, then as he comes in the clouds we will be resurrected.

What does this look like? Well, the events of the day of the Lord ie the return of Jesus a many and we could spend a long time explaining them, however as it relates to the resurrection we are told in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 -17

“The Lord himself will descend from heaven (that is the return of Jesus) with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel and with the sound of the trumpet of God (which means it will probably be quite a loud and conspicuous event – keeping in mind Paul is writing to people who think it has already happened and Paul is making the point – You aren’t going to miss this!). Now here is the part about the resurrection – And the dead in Christ will rise first (so a whole bunch of decomposed bodies/molecules reform to make bodies and join up with their disembodied spirits meeting Christ in the air) Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so we will always be with the Lord. Which means that those alive on the earth at the time will join those who have been resurrected.

Paul talks about it this way in 1 Cor 15: 51-53

We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead shall be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.

John adds this detail in 1 John 3:2 “We know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is”

This has many amazing implications – I highlight a few

1 – On that day our Salvation will be complete. Our Spirits were made right before God the day we repented and accepted his sacrifice for our sins – we were truly justified before God then. We were saved. However through faith we continue to work out our salvation, it is abundantly clear to many of us that we are not yet perfect and for that reason we are being saved daily through sanctification. Yet our salvation will only truly be complete when we have glorified bodies. Another name for the resurrection is the glorification.

2 – Our bodies will be like Jesus – Paul talks about different glories, and yet just like we were created in the image of Adam, so the new creation of the body is in the image of Jesus. This means there are differences – we cannot walk through walls presently, yet there will be continuity and we will be recognizable. Paul takes some time to outline what the resurrected body is like.

3 – Our bodies will be fitted for the age to come. Many would ask why do we even need bodies? Many have not given much thought to the return of Jesus and if they think a little more about it would conclude that he is coming simply to whisk us away to heaven, yet this is not what the scriptures state. The sciptures paint a picture of the Parousia of a Sovereign outside a city waiting for the welcoming committee to escort him back in. Which means once we acquire our newly resurrected bodies we are accompanying Jesus back down to earth where he will ultimately rule and reign from the city of Jerusalem. It was his purpose from ages past to bring heaven and earth together (Eph 1:….). That is why we need bodies - And this is what the age to come is all about – the fulfillment of the Messianic hopes that Israel has always had. This is the hope of Israel and the hope of all those who are grafted into the Olive Tree of Israel by the blood of Jesus.

4 – Why has the resurrection been a contentious issue and why has it been de-emphasized in modern times?

If the resurrection is the hope which the early church spoke of, it is helpful to understand why it seems so strange to modern ears and why it has been deemphasized.

Well, the de-emphasis is not a new phenomenon, St Augustine in the fourth century said "No doctrine of the Christian Faith is so vehemently and so obstinately opposed as the doctrine of the resurrection of the flesh” The reason for this is that all religions which were part of the Greco-Roman thought pattern saw the flesh as corrupt and the spirit as pure. Which led to things like the suicide of Socrates being seen as a good thing as he escaped the confines of his mortal body by drinking the hemlock. This Greek thinking infected both our worldly culture and indeed the culture of the church. One of the first heresies the church had to deal with was called Gnosticism and it was so permeated with this kind of thinking that they even believed Jesus only “seemed” to appear in the flesh. For him to be born of a woman was bad and for us to get our bodies back was even worse. For this reason the resurrection of the flesh and the millennial reign of Jesus upon the earth was in the second century the touchstone of orthodoxy.

And yet as time progressed and Constantine adopted Christianity, more and more Greek thought invaded Christianity, so that in the end it is seen that death is a time when your spirit ascends straight to heaven and that is your ultimate destiny.

Yet Jesus himself agreed with the Prophets of old

John 5:28-29 (New International Version)

²⁸"Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice ²⁹and come out—those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.

And this is an amazing future or a horrific future – for there are two resurrections, not just for the righteous but also for those who will be condemned – to suffer forever in a place called the Lake of Fire. And this is why ultimately there are two destinations that everyone that you meet will find him or herself in.

5 – Is the Resurrection Your Hope?

So this brings us to our conclusion to ask the question of ourselves – is the resurrection your hope? The resurrection can only be your hope if you have entered into Christ through his blood shed for us. You have accepted his sacrifice in your place, you have risen to new life with him by the Power of the Holy Spirit and as part of his new covenant community live empowered by the same Holy Spirit – developing the fruit and operating in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. If this is true of you listen to Jesus words concerning you.

John 6:39-40 (New International Version)

³⁹And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. ⁴⁰For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."

If it is not true I pray that you start on this journey. That the Hope in Jesus and in the final Resurrection of the Dead may be your hope is my prayer.

Introducing Phineas (Finn) David Hall!!

Just thought I would share some photos of our newest addition for those who haven't seen them yet. Finn was born on April 14, 2010. He is doing (and feeding) really well - thank you Jesus!

onething Regional Video

Update on Josiah

So much has been happening lately that I really want to blog about three things. The first thing I want to write about is an update about Josiah's eating situation. We went out to the feeding clinic four times last year and always typically have had the same result - an increase in the amounts Josiah was receiving orally in food from about 4oz of the puree - but then as time progressed the amounts would decrease and feeds would become harder. So we have been in a dilemma, do we get a G-Tube (something I have always been against) or do we go back to the clinic for another try. We have tried other therapists over the summer, none have helped at all. feeding has been quite problematic in recent months. Until a glimmer of hope a few weeks ago. Shari managed to get in touch with a good pediatric dietitian - who let us know about a good pediatric GI called Dr. Hyman who had previously practiced at KU Med but was currently practicing at the Children's Hospital in New Orleans.

Shari emailed Dr. Hyman about Josiah's condition. Dr. Hyman wrote back quickly saying that the problem was that the GIs at Children's Mercy in KC didn't know what they were talking about in trying to treat reflux. He said

"The GI docs you saw at Mercy misled you because they do not realize that ex-premees who have gone through mutiple pain experiences have pain memories and a sensory sensitivity that makes them want to empty their stomachs. "Reflux" is the end result of pain, as the kid pukes to relieve the discomfort assoc\iate with gastric filling. To get your child better, it is necessary to treat neuropathic, chronic pain for 8 weeks to allow desensitization of the hypersensitive pain nerves in the stomach."

Interesting theory - in fact it would make sense why the "flooding" therapy at Los Altos was not altogether successful. Children's Mercy had previously said there was nothing physiologically or anatomically wrong with Josiah, which was probably correct to the degree of their knowledge - but that was the problem - if Dr. Hyman is correct there were still some medical complications that could be dealt with. Dr. Hyman and the team at KU Med have a procedure they have done on 10 kids, whereby they put a J tube, bypassing the stomach and they desensitize the stomach for 8 weeks with a pain killer, then they administer a powerful appetite steroid called Megace for 6 weeks. All the kids they have done this on were 100% tube fed and they have had 95% success with 9 out of the 10 kids feeding orally at the end of the process. The 10th kid was getting half feeds from tube and half orally at the end (but also had Cerebral Palsy - so didn't have the stamina to eat).


We went for a feeding evaluation this week at KU Med with Dr. Ann Davies. They considered us good candidates for the treatment - but with a proviso. All the other kids who have undergone this treatment were 100% G-Tube fed. Josiah is not - this is a little anomalous, thanks to Los Altos and our persistence we still get all of his calories in orally and he is not small (75-90th percentile height and 40-50th percentile weight). This means they are not advocating surgery to get a J-Tube - rather do the whole thing orally. We have an appointment with the GI at Children's Mercy on December 9th to get the medication prescribed. So despite the fact the solids we are getting in at the moment have decreased to about 10g or less a feed there is some hope on the horizon.

Thoughts on Healthcare in the US

I’ve been thinking a lot about healthcare recently. The furor over “Obamacare” has created much passion on every side of the argument and caused much castigation over “socialized medicine” found in such underdeveloped nations as the UK!

I have many thoughts about this; I grew up under the National Health Service in the UK and am now in my seventh year of residing in the US, with a US family. First off I will give you my personal journey over healthcare (which cannot help but form my opinion, but I also realize I could gather nightmare stories from every healthcare system on the planet) then I will look at wider metrics to determine where the problems lie.

Firstly, the British NHS is anything but a perfect system, however I have to say I have always received excellent healthcare growing up; yes there was typically a little waiting in the Casualty (Emergency Room) if you had strained an ankle or had broken an arm (as I’ve found there also is in the US), but doctors and nurses were kind and there was never any concern over the cost involved. The concern was simply how you can get better. I can say the same for all members of the family. Recently my grandmother, who is in her mid nineties had a mild stroke and was in hospital for about 4 weeks where she received excellent care and for the last few weeks of her stay she received physiotherapy every day.

Moving to the US, I had concerns over the healthcare provided here. Especially as the Christian Ministry I work for does not provide insurance. I am fairly young and healthy and although looked into private insurance when my wife got pregnant, we decided we would have to pay out of pocket $5000+ anyway + the $300 a month for insurance so we decided against insurance, after all my wife was healthy.

Six months into the pregnancy Shari got pre-eclampsia. We went to the ER of the nearest hospital after spending 2 hours there we were transferred by ambulance 5 miles to another hospital. Shari was in hospital for 1 week, costing $30k+. When I paid the bill for the first hospital’s 2 hours it came to $3000. The ambulance a cool $1000; I called up the hospital and went through the line items “Line Item 2” I ask “Blood Test - $500. How can this be? If I go to a profit making lab such as Lab One I can receive the same blood test for under $40” The answer I received was “Well, this is a hospital sir”. I would have thought it would be easier for a hospital to do a blood test – how can they justify costs like this?

Our son was born prematurely and had many medical challenges over his first 3 months of life. So much so that we cannot insure him privately, virtually every medical cost could be attributed to something in the US called a “pre-existing condition”. This is the insurance company’s way of saying – “Oh you are sick – well we’re not going to pay for that”. But there is a type of social net in the US called Medicaid – as it happens, because we earn under a certain income threshold we actually qualify for Medicaid for Josiah and this is how we have paid for a majority of Josiah’s healthcare. But we have a problem, in that we still have out of pocket medical expenses that Medicaid will not pay for (ie KU Med and Los Altos Feeding), we are in a dilemma whether to receive gifts that would pay off some of our debt to the hospital, as if we do it will mean our income will exceed a certain level after which our son would no longer be insured, and we would have to divert the gift aimed at paying off debt to actually paying out of pocket for the highly overpriced health care that Medicaid would have paid for. We are personally between the proverbial rock and a hard place!

This personal story leads me to examine the wider issue of healthcare in the US. The United States of America is the richest nation on the planet. Its GDP is more than 3 times the nearest other OECD – Japan. Its GDP per capita again is nearly at the top of all lists , it certainly has the most billionaires, being a country of several hundred million people however means that there are large amount of poor people who bring the average income down significantly. This being the case one would expect the health of the average US citizen to be good, surely near the top of the world rankings, especially given that spending on healthcare in the US is more than double the median healthcare spending in all other OECD nations – not so.

A recent report "Health Spending in the United States and the Rest of the Industrialized World" (Health Affairs, July/August 2005), Gerald F. Anderson, Peter S. Hussey, Bianca K. Frogner, and Hugh R. Waters of the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University - tried to find the root of why spending in the US was so high compared to other industrialized nations, was it because they were socialized with waiting lines and therefore spend less? It found rationing with waiting lines had nothing to do with it "Health spending in the twelve countries with waiting lists averaged $2,366 per capita," the authors say, "while in the seven countries without waiting lists, it averaged $2,696—both much less than U.S. spending of $5,267 per capita. In fact health spending in the US is 53% more than the nearest other OECD nation Switzerland. It is actually 140% more than the OECD median. One would think with such high spending on healthcare that it would be better than all other nations. While it is true that US does boast some of the best and cutting edge research in different specializations when it comes to normal run of the mill statistics it fares very badly.

The World Health Organization stopped ranking health systems in 2000 due to complexity of the task – at that time the US ranked 37th in the world. Hardly something to shout about. The WHO however does track many other metrics in the nations of the earth and for fun I looked to compare the “broken NHS” of the UK with the metrics of the US. In every metric that I looked at, infant mortality, adult mortality, life expectancy, maternal mortality the UK had better results, meaning people lived longer, kids had a better chance of survival at birth and people were healthier for longer. This surprises me, especially given that health spending is per capita almost double in the US what it is in the UK. Added to this is the fact “the U.S. has fewer per capita hospital beds, physicians, nurses, and CT scanners than the OECD median” Something is broken in the US Healthcare system and needs fixing.

Before we move on to talk about specifics, a brief word about “socialized healthcare”. This has come to be a demonized term among the political right (of whom on many issues I would count myself). Anything which smacks of socialism is a potential risk of communism and suddenly we are thrown back to McCarthyism. However I don’t hear of big calls amongst the Republicans (it always strikes me as funny that the Republican color is red – in England it is the socialists who are red!) for privatization of the police force, of the mail service, of the library service. Why is there a socialized Police force in the US? Why don’t we privatize? Well the argument is that we could never entertain the notion of a private army, it would lead to corruption and a mafia state, with some areas getting better protection than others, the rich would be protected, amongst the poor there would be anarchy – a privatized protection racket no less. I have to say I have similar feelings about the healthcare system in the US. When your loved ones need vital life saving treatment and you face a monopoly you will pay anything. I believe nearly every other industrialized nation has a form of socialized medicine and that does not mean they are necessarily a socialist nation.

That said, what Obama is currently recommending in his Healthcare reform is not socialized medicine, and in fact until the root problem is dealt with, increased spending on a broken system will never solve the problem. Increased spending in fact it will only harm business owners who will have to pick up the tab. So what are the problems?

1) Health Providers Costs – until these are addressed things will never work. Health should never be viewed in purely capitalist terms. In my opinion it can never be a free market. The question “How much is your loved one worth?” should never be a motivating factor for profit – it has become so. Health care professionals are the highest paid earners in the US by a long shot; who regulates what they receive? Is the answer to whether the anesthesiologist gets a million a year – he needs to be paid a lot because otherwise he could kill you if you don’t pay him. This sounds similar to being held to ransom. A New Zealand friend recently told me of a well respected surgeon in New Zealand who earned $400k per annum in his homeland had accepted a job at a hospital in Houston with a salary of $2.5million per annum. This doesn’t really feel like a free market to me, it feels more and more like a protection racket; the question is who pays for this greed?

2) Pharmaceuticals – The cost of healthcare is clearly out of proportion to what it should be. Certain groups however exacerbate this for profit. For me the pharmaceutical lobby in Washington is one of these powerful groups that clings onto the status quo and is looking to increase the dividends of all of its shareholders. Who will break its stranglehold?

3) HMOs – Interestingly the insurance companies were introduced into the US system at exactly the same time that a famed legal case called Roe v Wade was passing through the courts. I believe in much the same way it has made profitability and greed the metric of success in the healthcare system not the health of the patient. Many in the US balk at the so called “death panels” in socialized medicine. I am not aware of any death panels in the UK, however I hear on a regular basis of insurance companies turning away sick people because they do not qualify. If this is not a “death panel” I do not know what is. If the metric of your success is financial profitability over the health of the patient, then the health of the patient will always suffer. As we live in a world of scarce resources tough decisions will always have to be made by someone, there are therefore “death squads” in every healthcare system. The question is who would you rather making those decisions? An elected official who is looking to garner votes because of his success with the people or with an unseen insurance official who is trying to please shareholders. I know who I would prefer to make the decision.

All of these problems contribute to the big mountain that must be tackled – medical costs are too high in the US. I actually appreciate certain elements of the bill that Obama proposed to congress, however without getting to the root of the cost problem and putting the patient’s health above profit the problem of the US healthcare system will never be solved.