Lynn Green

Category: Current Events

  • Congregating in the Egyptian Desert

    Congregating in the Egyptian Desert

     

    **This is a personal website and reflects my thoughts and convictions. It does not represent any official position held by Youth With A Mission.**

    CONGREGATING IN THE EGYPTIAN DESERT

    Why would two to three thousand people from dozens of nations gather in the Western desert of Egypt (between Cairo and Alexandria) just to worship and pray?  There were no guest speakers, and the very long sessions were mostly prayer and worship.  In fact at one point the whole group simply sang the name of Jesus (sounds like “Yassu” in Arabic) for nearly an hour.  Why would over 300 Chinese risk coming to the event, knowing they are likely to be questioned by the Police and possibly punished on their return?  Why would people pay their own way, then sit on buses travelling under armed guard from Cairo to the desert and back each day – a journey that took at least three hours?

    Described that way, it sounds like torture to me — especially the idea of being in a tent in the desert with the temperature approaching 40 degrees C.  But it wasn’t!  Something very powerful happened, of which I can only give you a glimpse.  In fact trying to describe this event reminds me of the Apostle Paul’s phrase that we “see through a glass darkly”. 

    THE COMPLEMENTARY BODY

    Perhaps it helps to think firstly about who we are.  We are all created as individuals, and we differ immensely.  Some of us are very logical and concrete and linear in the way we think and live – I am one of those.  Others are deeply moved by symbolic gestures, visions and dreams or connections that remind them of scripture passages.  This kind of gathering tends to attract more of the people who get visions and dreams and see great significance in what sometimes looks like coincidences to me.  I need these people, and they need me.  Together we represent body, as Paul writes in I Corinthians 12, and we can safely discern what God is saying and doing – at least as much as He wants us to .  But, there will always be mysteries.

    ANCIENT “GODS” IN MODERN TIMES

    Let me back up a bit, though.  It didn’t start in the Western desert.  About ninety of us started in Aswan, in the region of Egypt where there were the most temples, obelisks and symbols of the ancient Egyptian gods.  These “gods” manifest themselves right through human history, and those who seek spiritual power often gravitate back to the symbols that appeared in Egypt about 5000 years ago.  I think especially of the sun god Ra.  Here are some obvious illustrations:  As I understand it, the family of the Japanese Emperor make a covenant with the sun god and that has a direct connection to their flag and national symbol of the rising sun. 

    That symbol appears in many other nations too, including Korea.  Freemasons and others have recognised the power in the symbols of ancient Egypt, so a couple of centuries ago they exported the obelisks from the Luxor region to the financial capitals of the world at that time.  These obelisks still stand in London, Rome (which has eight), Paris and New York; in fact about 25 nations have obelisks in their capital cities. These were all very important symbols of prosperity in the eyes of Freemasons, and so a huge amount of effort was put into dismantling, transporting and reassembling them all across the world.

    A SIGN TO US?

    To the modern mind symbols like that often don’t make immediate sense, and yet we see the significance of symbols throughout the Scriptures.  A central command of the Ten Commandments that God gave is that we should have no idols, and when you stop and think about the Biblical stories they are full of physical objects and acts that seemed to have direct spiritual power.  I am deeply convinced that some material objects represent a direct connection to spiritual power.  Interestingly, on the first day we began to worship in Aswan, with a number of Japanese believers present, a recently-erected 40 ton golden statue fell face downward in Okinawa.  It was exactly like the story of Dagon in Judges 16.  If you do a google search you can see a picture of it.  The statue was 38 metres high (125 feet).

    Here is what I think was going on both in Aswan and in the Western desert.  Firstly, Egypt is a spiritual “mother” nation, and is the source of historical spiritual power, but can also be a mother of nations for blessing.  We gathered in Egypt because we were convinced that God had said to do so, but gathering in Egypt alone does not give you power.  What gives power is when people come together across the usual social divides:  those can be national, racial, cultural, linguistic, economic or gender.  The list could go on and on, and has to include age.  I have been in many of these prayer and worship gatherings now, and the most notable characteristic of them is family affection.  When God’s people come together and bridge all the usual divides which cause conflict, then we fulfill the condition for exercising the authority that Paul describes in Ephesians 1 and elsewhere, when he says “we are seated with Christ … far above all principalities and powers”. 

    ARE WE UNDER OR OVER?

    We can get used to operating under the spiritual powers, and the divisions, suspicion, fear and even violence that they foster between different groups.  But the Body of Christ is called to oneness and interdependence across all these divides.  From that place we have the authority that the Bible describes. Sadly, we too rarely rise to that high calling of authority.

    So that is what we did in Egypt.  We let the Holy Spirit lead without a pre-planned agenda, and we ended up with a sense of God speaking into various nations, including China, Japan and Korea, but also with a day-long emphasis on the entire continent of Africa.

    I have to add one thing, otherwise these events could appear to have no direct application.  The Lord did bring a lot of encouragement to the Egyptians, who have experienced great discouragement and despondency, especially in the last decade or so. The Christians there are discriminated against, and the nation itself has experienced one huge setback after another. 

    So there were many words of encouragement to the Egyptians, but it was not only that.  On the second to last day, a soft-spoken Sudanese pastor stood to describe how much racial discrimination he had experienced at the hands of Egyptians, including the Christians.  It exposed another divide that God wanted us to close.  The Egyptian response was deep humility, worship, repentance, and asking forgiveness, not only of the Sudanese who were there but all the Africans, as they realised that they had discriminated on the basis of skin colour.

    Throughout the four days, we did not seek to address any of the spiritual forces, but we focussed on worshipping Jesus. As we did so some of these issues of division were dealt with indirectly and, I believe, the kingdom of darkness were dealt a mighty blow.

    The principalities and powers are forces of division, fear, hatred, and violence—all towards the end that the image of God would be eradicated from the earth.  However during a few days in the deserts of Egypt under a burning sun, we bridged  many of the divisions, and it seemed that God smiled—then He achieved some of His purposes all over the earth because a group of His people really did act as His body with Jesus as the Head.

    Lynn Green.

  • Faith and Finances – Session 4

    Faith and Finances – Session 4

    **This is a personal website and reflects my thoughts and convictions. It does not represent any official position held by Youth With A Mission.**

    Faith and Finances Session 4
    (Why God does not provide to me?)

    Don’t be surprised if you go through a period of time where you’re kind of living day to day and you’re not sure what you’re going to have for tomorrow. It’s a good exercise don’t resent it.

    Jesus said and Matthew 6 which is don’t be anxious about what you’re going to eat and what you’re going to wear and you said you know your father knows you. You have a need for these things but he said to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and then all these things will be added unto you.

    Seek first the kingdom of God His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you.

    Lynn Green.

  • O, Sacred Head Now Wounded

    O, Sacred Head Now Wounded

     

    **This is a personal website and reflects my thoughts and convictions. It does not represent any official position held by Youth With A Mission.**

    When Marti and I were first married we spent several months in Northern Ireland, a deeply enriching experience.  Although I had grown up in a Christian family, I met Christian men in Northern Ireland who were very different.  So many of them had a tenderness mixed with their unmistakable masculinity.  I had never heard men talk about the beauty of bird-song or discuss poetry.  I must add that my own dad loved poetry, but I don’t think he found like-minded men among his friends.  Those Irish men inspired me!

    We stayed in touch with many friends in N.I. and visited regularly for years afterward.  At one point we had the great privilege of close relationship with a large fellowship which had emerged out of the move of the Holy Spirit in the 1970s.  The fellowship was packed with very gifted musicians and they had a wonderful ability to find outstanding historical hymns and to then put them to modern (updated) melodies—often with a strong beat.  As I think about it now I can still visualize and hear their meeting hall filled with joyful music, their stamping feet keeping rhythm along with the drums and men praising God with all their might.

    Since then, I have been drawn to any efforts to resurrect some of the wonderful old hymns – – hymns that are moving and convey Biblical truths and often excellent theology.  I have listened again and again to The Second Chapter of Acts and their two volumes of hymns.  To my great joy, I recently happened across another group of musicians who have given new life to some old hymns.  Their two volumes of hymns were recorded more than a decade ago, but I just found them via Spotify.

    One hymn in particular moved me to tears the first couple of times I heard it.  “O Sacred Head Now Wounded” was written nearly a thousand years ago by Bernard of Clairvaux.  It has been set to different music from time to time in the intervening centuries.  The Africa-born group, Selah, have produced a deeply inspirational version with a great arrangement and perfectly matched vocals.

    The YouTube link below will enable you to read and meditate on the ancient lyrics, packed with deep content.  I hope you have the time to listen again and again and let the Holy Spirit draw you closer to Jesus!

    Lynn Green.

  • The Politics of Anger

    The Politics of Anger

     

    **This is a personal website and reflects my thoughts and convictions. It does not represent any official position held by Youth With A Mission.**

    I have been planning to write something about this for a long time, but have wondered if it would be wise to do so.  An article I read on the BBC news site a few days convinced me to go ahead and the Senate Committee hearings for the Supreme Court nominee has made it seem urgent.

    Here’s the relevant quote from the BBC article:

    Hawaii Democrat Mazie Hirono said “the men in this country” should “just shut up”.

    “Not only do women like Dr Ford, who bravely comes forward, need to be heard, but they need to be believed,” she told a press conference.

    The press conference she spoke at was called so that Senator Hirono could comment on the charges that Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, made a clumsy, unwelcome and unsuccessful attempt to have sex with Christine Ford (now Professor Ford) when he was 17 and she was 15 years old and both had been drinking.

    Now the charges and Kavanaugh’s response have gone to the Senate committee and there have been more tears , shouting, anger and hostility.

    If you are reading this, you will probably be likely to side with Ford if you tend to be a progressive liberal in your political persuasions, but conservatives are likely to see Dr Ford’s statement as false or irrelevant.  What is going on with this humiliating process?  What is driving this polarization?  Something is driving the Senator to direct men to “just shut up” and to assert that “women should be believed”.  It’s pretty obvious that her position is not consistent with our established understanding of truth or justice.  What would happen in our courts if all women were automatically believed and men could not speak?

    Why would an intelligent woman make such a foolish statement?  She has enough life experience to know that the question of who is more likely to lie or tell the truth is not related in any way to sexual identity.  What is the origin of such unreasonable thinking?

    I am convinced that anger is a major factor in our political life.  And that is not a good thing! To further illustrate the point, while I was writing this, an angry woman cornered Senator Flake in an elevator during a break in the Senate Committee hearings and berated him for not immediately taking Dr. Ford’s side.

    Anger has roots.  It doesn’t usually start as anger; it starts as hurt, and hurt is an unavoidable aspect of life.

    Sometimes, the hurt has a systemic dimension to it.  Few people are more disadvantaged than the Dalits in India.  Dalits, or untouchables, are born into a caste that is at the very bottom of a stratified social system.  They are discriminated against and deprived of opportunity at every stage of life and that will not change until the dominant religious system changes.  Amazingly, though, you can find Dalits who have a positive outlook and have overcome all the odds to make a successful and happy life for themselves.

    More often hurt comes, not from systemic injustice, but from personal encounters with other people and it therefore has little or no systemic root.  I am ashamed when I think of “Raymond” who was in my class when I was 9 and 10 years old.  Raymond came from a family who lived on a very poor and small farm in the nearby mountains.  They did not have running water and had very few clothes.  Raymond rarely washed and wore the same clothes day after day.  He smelled.  He was also the slowest learner in the class.  Raymond had no friends in our class but he had many mockers.  As far as I can remember, no one ever stood up for Raymond.  My shame now is that I didn’t stand up for him either; I was one of the mockers.

    I can’t remember ever seeing Raymond again after we all moved on from grade-school to junior-high school.  I wonder how he coped.  Did he grow up to be well adjusted and happy, or did our cruelty leave permanent, distorting scars on him? To put it another way, did Raymond find the grace to forgive his tormentors and rise above the cruel treatment, or did his hurt turn to anger and his anger to violence?

    I can empathize with women who have been subjected to sexual assault.  I have listened to, counselled and prayed for many victims of sexual assault by strangers or friends or family members.  I know that sexual assault alters a woman’s life from that point on.

    I recently had a conversation on this subject with a therapist who, since she was a woman, could say what men cannot say these days.  She said, “I have also been disgusted to see many women use sexual attraction as a tool or weapon in the work place, but you can’t say that in the current climate.”  It seems that sexuality is used as a weapon these days by both men and women, though the power has usually rested more with the men.  Is it now shifting to the women?  Will they be able to get even because we all feel obliged to believe the claims of every accusing woman?

    Hurt has turned to anger and anger is dominating our public discourse.  Truth and justice are the victims.  That is why forgiveness is such an important alternate pathway following hurt.

    These are the two competing pathways available to us: forgiveness leading to the development of strong and admirable character—or nursing the hurt until it becomes anger.  The path of hurt becoming anger makes us vulnerable to exploitation by more powerful people with their own agendas.  There are many who would like to marshal all the hurt into a powerful force to overthrow the democratic system we have developed over the generations.

    It seems to me that all human beings admire those who forgive and don’t become bitter and angry in spite of suffering great injustices.  Surely Nelson Mandela is a contender for the most admired man in modern history.  We were and are deeply impressed by his gentle and forgiving attitude to the men, and the system, who imprisoned and attempted for decades to humiliate and break his dignity.  His forgiveness and gracious voice enabled an entire nation to take a giant step towards justice when it seemed destined for a bloody civil war.

    On the other hand, we don’t generally admire angry people who see themselves as victims of “the system” or some particular aspect of it.  Other angry people might want to get behind the hurt and angry voice, but we know intuitively that anger cannot produce justice and peace.

    Politicians understand that the angry groups represent votes so they attempt to “speak the language” of the bigger angry groups.  If their goal is to get elected or re-elected they have to figure out how to appeal to as many of the larger or more outspoken groups as they can.  But there is a problem here.  The angry groups always have a louder voice than those who are not angry, so the politician can get behind a very vocal group and find they are losing votes from those who are quiet.

    These are the dilemmas of the current tumultuous, angry public square.  Doesn’t it make us all long for leaders who are not seeking to appeal to the emotions of the angry groups and who are motivated by selfless public service for the common good?  Where are the political leaders who have deep convictions about what is right and what is wrong and who will not deviate from that path and will not violate their well-developed conscience?

    If you have seen a member of that endangered, and possibly extinct, species do let me know!

    Lynn Green.