During my trip to Europe, I gained more insight into the history and humanities of this complicated region. Ever since I started learning about history from my studies at Morling College, I noticed repetitive patterns occur over and over again. This repetitiveness sometimes frustrates me because I am a person who enjoys new things and get bored easily when repetitions occur. A week ago, I asked God, why is this all so repetitive? Where is revival? Then a thought entered into me: revival need to start within myself first. “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13).
Recently I saw a short clip which mentioned that cultural and conceptual changes occur from up to down. Another words, it is the leaders of various fields in society that influence change in the culture of the people they lead. People can ignite movements but if the leaders resist change, schism occurs. For example, in the church, we see so many denominations occurring from schism. This reminds me of a movie I saw recently, called “Divergent”, which is based on a novel written by Christian writer Veronica Roth, whose grandparents survived the Holocaust.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divergent_(novel)
full movie
http://youtu.be/CsNN_jZW7vg
It is really from this Europe trip that I gained more insight into its complicated humanities and history. We all know about the Holocaust, but it is only during this trip that I gained a bit of knowledge of how it actually happened. The “Jewish Question” was the name given to a wide-ranging debate in European society pertaining to the appropriate status and treatment of Jews in society. This term was first used in Great Britain in around 1750, as a neutral expression for the negative attitude toward the apparent and persistent singularity of the Jews as a people against the background of the rising political nationalisms and new nation-states. The Jews generally tend to be very successful in society (especially in the field of economics), yet they refuse to assimilate into the nations they lived in. In Nazi Germany, the existence of Jews in Germany posed a problem for the state, and Hitler’s solution to this question was to kill them all!
Another interesting movie I saw on the plane was “The Railway Man”. This is based on the autobiography of Eric Lomax, a prisoner of war during World War II and being forced to help build the Burma Railway for the Japanese military.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Railway_Man_(book)
Lomax and several other prisoners are severely beaten and two of them die from their injuries. Later, when guards discover Lomax has drawn a detailed map of the Siam-Burma railroad, which the prisoners are being forced to help build, he endures intense questioning and torture, including being waterboarded. He and the others are found guilty of anti-Japanese activity and are sent to a harsher prison, where they are almost starved to death. Many years after the war, Lomax eventually makes contact with one of his Japanese interrogators after the war, and receives counselling to control his urge to hunt him down and attack him. Lomax discovers that the man has spent his life trying to make amends for his actions during the war by speaking out against militarism. In fact, the Japanese soldiers had been severely brainwashed into thinking that Japan will win no matter what and the things they did will bring honour and the man only snapped out of these beliefs after he saw all the dead bodies of the people killed by the Japanese soldiers. Lomax eventually goes back to Thailand to visit the area of the camps where he was a prisoner and meets his interrogator. Lomax is able to forgive him, and both men find the experience extremely moving. They remained good friends until death.
Leaders control the system and the cultures of the organisation they lead. National leaders control the legislation and education in the nation. If a national leader abuses their power to brainwash the citizens, how scary is that! But in an environment absent of love, one can only manage a group of people, through laws and regulations, to force people to perform their duties and responsibilities, so that the organisation or nation operates normally.
It is human nature to be content when things are going along smoothly, and lack the motivation to leave their comfort zone. Often times, there are two main fuels that drive people into action: love and fear. Often times, leaders use one of these two to influence or control the people they’re leading. In fact, often times, the desire to control or manipulate comes from a sense of insecurity deep inside.
Lately I have been studying about John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist church. In his younger days, Wesley was already living the life of a model Christian. He led the Holy Club at Oxford, which visited the prisoners, the ill, and the poor. He was so passionate about ministry that he sailed to America wanting to preach to the American Indians! But this journey led him to discover his lack in faith, and he came to realise that it was fear (of death and going to hell) that drove him to do the good works he was doing earlier. This experience served as was a true test of faith for him. Things changed during John's famous "Aldersgate experience" of 24 May 1738, at a Moravian meeting in Aldersgate Street, London, in which he heard a reading of Martin Luther's preface to the Epistle to the Romans, and penned the now famous lines "I felt my heart strangely warmed", revolutionised the character and method of his ministry. (I actually accidentally walked to this place a few weeks ago when I was walking around randomly in London!) When God planted the love for the people in Wesley’s heart, he preached passionately to the poor and brought on the Evangelical revival movement in England, which rapidly spread throughout the world.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wesley
To have a loving heart like that of a parent for their children is such a challenge, yet it is so vital.
On Sunday 5 Oct, 2014, I visited the Grovonor Baptist Church in Ireland, which my mom regularly attends. A well-known international missionary speaker, George Verwer, came. He is the founder of the missionary organisation called Operation Mobilisation. The OM team has a ship called Logos Hope, which is the biggest giver of free Christian books! George said we should feel free to ask his organisation for free books.
http://www.om.org/history
http://www.georgeverwer.com/
I found his message, “send me”, very interesting. The message is based on Isaiah 6:1-8, “here I am, send me” and Mark 1:16-18, “I will make you fishers of men”.
George believes that every believer is a missionary, and it is a mission field everywhere.
George emphasised the importance of revival in the home. He is married to his wife for 54 years already. Although he is the founder of a big missionary organisation, he states that his life’s priority is to become more and more Christ-like rather than developing organizations or missions. This is in fact a very difficult process as often times we are “just too human”. He was not afraid to admit that this is a very challenging journey for him too as he is also very human. There is more damage done by Christians to the church than non-Christians, (for example, through Christians attacking Christians, Christians causing others to stumble). The only way to live for Christ is to humble ourselves. I also agree that character development should take precedence over ministry development. Sometimes we see that in Mega churches, the leader may lead the church ten steps forward, but if the leader stumbles due to a lack of integrity, the church falls one-hundred steps backwards. If one lacking in love and integrity and want to stand out to establish something big, they will only bring many people to harm instead when they “succeed”.
In the second half of his talk, George shifted the focus onto career missions. At altar call, he prayed the Prayer of Availability from Isaiah 6 (here I am, send me) and emphasised that often we may find that we have already been sent and is in that position already, and simply just need to respond with a “I’m here, use me”!
John 3:8
The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.
As God prepares for revival, please prepare me so that my heart is right when revival comes.
