Newsletter 83

Newsletter 83 from Maurice Sweetsur 

Ministry Update.

This is proving to be another busy tear for "Uncle Maurice". As well as my regular "Bible in School' classes, Sunday morning visits to churches throughout Auckland, holiday programmes and Kids clubs, I have had the pleasure of participating in a number of special events. These include the "Family Life International" annual gathering, the "Interserve. N.Z." annual meeting, the West Auckland Girls Brigade companies annual gathering, and annual Vacation Bible schools run by St. Thomas Marthona church and Redeemer church (Manukau) respectively. I was also the Speaker at the January Willow Park Christian camp.

Contents.

Does "Bible" teaching in state schools make a difference?

O.L. 73 - Changing water into blood.

O.L. 74 - Predicting a number.

T.T. 55 - Christian Myths.

Laugh Break - Things learned with time.

Does "Bible" teaching in state schools make a difference?

In New Zealand many Primary schools have weekly 30 minute Christian based values programmes. These are taught by trained voluntary teachers drawn from churches across all denominations. Recently there has been a concerted press campaign conducted by the "Secular Education Network" aimed at eliminating all "Religious" aspects from these values programmes.

As all "Values" programmes that are run in the schools, whether Christian based or not, are designed to produce more respectful, disciplined and conscientious students, the important question is "Are they effective?" If so, then this should be reflected in improved results across all subjects. Until recently this has been impossible to assess. However "National Standards" have now been introduced. With these the results for pupils from all schools can be compared for the core subjects of Reading, Writing and Arithmetic.

Each New Zealand school is given a Decile number between 1 and 10, with schools located in the most affluent areas being a "10" and those in the least affluent areas being a "1". Not surprisingly pupils in the high decile schools (where expectations are high) generally performed better that those from lower decile schools. Results seemed to indicate that the number of pupils failing to reach the National standard level in Decile 1 schools was about 55%, compared to about 20% for those in Decile 10 schools. There appears to be a gradual increase in failure rate of about 3.5 % for each reduction of "1" decile number.

I have personal knowledge of 29 schools near my locality. Of these, twelve operate a Christian based values programme (I currently teach it in six of them) and the other seventeen do not. I thought it would be interesting to compare National Standard results for these two groups to see if our teaching is really making a quantifiable difference.

The average Decile numbers for the two groups of schools are similar - 5.7 for those with the Christian based values programme and 4.9 for those without. Thus, because of their slightly higher decile level, the first group could be expected to do better than the latter by about 3%. I found however that on average, of the pupils in the schools operating the Christian based values programme, only 27.3% failed to achieve the National standard. In contrast, the failure rate of pupils in the other schools was 37.0%. Or putting it another way the results suggest that (for example) pupils from a Decile 3 school that operate this programme are likely to perform just as well as those from a Decile 5 or 6 school that do not.

Obviously the above results are only from a relatively few schools compared to the total number. However, if the results were found to be similar throughout all schools in New Zealand, they would provide a strong argument for our continuing to provide Christian based values programmes for them.

Object Lesson 73 - Changing water into blood.

One of the best known miracles in the Bible occurred when Moses struck the waters of the river Nile with his staff, and they turned into blood. This is how you can recreate that miracle.

For your staff you will need a stick with a hole in at least one of the ends. Bamboo cane is ideal for this as it comes with inbuilt holes at both ends. Into one hole place a little red food coloring powder (available from many food manufacturers). Compress the powder so that it doesn't fall out beforehand (The flat end of a pencil is ideal for this). At the appropriate part of your story, dip your stick into a clear container of water. It will turn red almost instantly.

Turning the "blood" back to water is a little more difficult. This is because the food coloring is hard to remove. An alternative is to use Potassium permanganate in your stick instead of food coloring powder. However it will take a little time for this chemical to dissolve in the water (you will probably need to stir it vigorously), and the color once produced is more like maroon than red. However, if you do use Potassium permanganate, you can instantly turn your "blood" back to "water". In the other end of your stick place a little Sodium metabisulphite, press down, and dip into your "blood" at the appropriate time.

This is how I usually perform this object lesson. I produce a glass full of previously dissolved Potassium permanganate, and announce it to be the blood. Say "I turned this water into blood earlier, but then I thought you would like to see me do it." I then produce a second glass of water, and dip my stick with red food coloring into it. "That worked even better. This time it looks more like real blood. Now watch me turn the blood back to water." I then dip the end of my stick containing Sodium metabisulphite into the original blood (Potassium permanganate). Miracle completed!

Object Lesson 74 - Predicting a number.

Preparation.

Prepare six cards, each showing 32 numbers, as illustrated below.

Presentation.

This illustration is sure to be a "winner" with lots of laughs. It could be used for pure fun, or as a lead in to teaching about heaven, or about God being all-knowing.

Chose a volunteer. Ask them to think of any number between 1 and 63, and say that you are going to predict which number they will choose. Hand your volunteer a pen and piece of paper and, while you are turned away (or even out of the room), get them to write down their chosen number, show it to the rest of the class, and hide the paper.

Tell your volunteer that you are going to show them (and the rest of the class) six cards (prepared as shown below), each with lots of different numbers written on them. All they have to do is say "Yes" if their chosen number is on the card, or "No" if it is not. 

This next part is where you can really have a lot of fun. If your volunteer says "Yes" to a certain card, say something like "Are you sure, that is supposed to be a "No" etc. etc. However, you place all the "Yes" cards in one pile, and all the "No" cards in another. At this point you will know (see below) the chosen number (say 37 for example), but pretend that you are still confused. 

Having completed this task, say something like "Oh, I am sorry, this appears to have gone completely wrong -------------- I know lets talk about something else. Lets talk about my favorite subject - heaven. Do you know that some people think that there are many different ways of getting to heaven. They think there may be, say, 37 ways of getting to heaven. But I am sure you don't think there are 37 ways of getting to heaven. I an sure you know that there is only ONE way and that is through Jesus Christ. But why do I get the impression that you are thinking about the number 37. Hey, could that be the number you have chosen? Come on let me have a look at that paper ------. Wow, I got it right after all, you did choose "37".

This trick is actually a lot simpler than it sounds. The right number is arrived at by a process of elimination. There are 64 possible numbers to choose from (including "0"). Each of the six cards shows 32 numbers - write them out on large pieces of cardboard (or paper) as shown below, and make your numbers large enough for all the class to read.

After your volunteer has said "Yes" or "No" to the first card, the number of possible numbers has been reduced from 64 to 32. As you continue the process, the number of possible numbers is halved each time, i.e. 32. 16. 8. 4. 2. and 1. So after the six cards, you have deduced the chosen number.

The six cards are designed in such a way that you can quickly calculate the chosen number. All you need to do is add up the FIRST numbers on all the "Yes" cards. For example "37" is found on cards 1, 3, and 6. Thus, adding the first numbers on these cards, you have 1 + 4 + 32 = 37. If the chosen number was "54", it will be found on cards 2, 3, 5, and 6. Thus, adding up the first numbers, you have 2 + 4 + 16 + 32 = 54.

Card 1

1 3  5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 37 39  41 43 45 47 49 51 53 55 57 59 61 63

Card 2

2 3 6 7 10 11 14 15 18 19 22 23 26 27 30 31 34 35 38 39 42 43 46 47 50 51 54 55 58 59 62 63

Card 3

4 5 6 7 12 13 14 15 20 21 22 23 28 29 30 31 36 37 38 39 44 45 46 47 52 53 54 55 60 61 62 63

Card 4

8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63

Card 5

16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 73

Card 6

32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63

Teaching tip 55 - Christian Myths.

People are susceptible to believing many different strange beliefs. Unfortunately many people even have wrong ideas about what true Christians believe. In fact even some professing Christians have beliefs that contradict the clear teachings of the Bible. Listed below are some of the most common "Christian Myths."

How do we know what is true and what is false? As Christians we believe that the Bible is the inspired and infallible Word of God. As God knows everything, is never wrong and cannot lie, we must compare whatever we believe with the Bible. If what we believe is contradicted by the Bible, we have to admit that we were wrong and change our belief so that it lines up with God's Word.

1. If you lead a good life, you will go to heaven.

I am continually amazed at how many children believe this, even after they have been exposed to "Bible" teaching. No, none of us are good enough to go to heaven. As Romans 3.23 puts it "There is no difference. All have sinned and come short of God's glory".

If we could all earn our salvation and a place in heaven by being "good", then God must have made an awful mistake in sending His Son to die on the cross! I don't believe that God makes mistakes. On the contrary, Jesus had to suffer and die because that was the only way that we could get to heaven. Salvation, eternal life, a place in heaven is a free gift. We can never deserve it or earn it, but we can all accept it.

"If we can be acceptable to God by obeying the law, Christ died for nothing". Galatians 2.21.

2. All religions lead to God and heaven.

There are hundreds of different religions, and many people believe that if you are sincere, if you do the best you can in following your particular religion, you will eventually end up in heaven. An illustration has been given of a mountain. The mountain top represents God or heaven where everyone wants to end up. But there may be many different paths that lead up to the top of the mountain. It doesn't really matter which path (religion) you choose to take because they all lead to the top.

The above belief is contradicted by Jesus, Himself who made it plain that He was the only way to God (heaven).

"I am the way, ------------- no-one comes to the Father, except through me." John 14.6.

True Christianity is actually the opposite of Religion. All religions are about trying to please God, to reach Him by doing "Good works". Christianity is about God (in the form of Jesus) coming down to meet us where we are.

"Religious people" are probably the unhappiest people on earth. They each have a set of rules which they try to keep, but when they inevitably fail to match up to their standards, they end up feeling condemned. Christians, on the other hand do good deeds, not to earn a place in heaven - they know that that is already secure, but because it is "natural" for them to do so. The ongoing presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives causes them to become more and more Christlike. And no-one did more good than Him.

3. Jesus was just a good man.

The Christian faith is entirely based on the belief that Jesus was actually God Himself who had taken on the form of a man. If Jesus was just a man, then his death on the cross cannot have any value for us whatsoever! So is/was Jesus God or man?

If Jesus was a man, then he certainly wasn't a good man. That is not an option. Jesus made some remarkable claims about Himself, such as He was the only way to God, He could forgive sins, He and the Father were one, all authority on earth had been given unto Him, and anyone who has seen the Son had seen the Father. If Jesus was just a man, all those claims were false, and Jesus was a liar and a deceiver who has misled countless millions by giving them a false hope. No, if Jesus was just a man, he definitely wasn't a good man.

Was Jesus, therefore, a bad man? Good trees produce good fruit, and bad trees produce bad fruit. It is the same with people. Good people are known for their good deeds, and bad people are known for their bad deeds. I don't think anyone can argue that Jesus did many good deeds. In fact, over the last two millennium, most of the "good" on the earth has been carried out by the followers of Jesus.

A third alternative is that Jesus was a mad man. If anyone today went around making the claims that Jesus did would certainly be considered "mad". But Jesus certainly didn't behave like a mad man. In fact He always behaved in a balanced and normal way.

So who is/was Jesus? As C.S. Lewis put it - The choice comes down to three possibilities - MAD, BAD, or GOD.

4. We have more than one life.

This belief is known as reincarnation. Many "Eastern" religions, such as Buddhism and Hinduism, teach that when a person dies they "come back" as someone else. This cycle of death and rebirth is then repeated over and over again. Usually, if a person has led a good life, they will be reborn into a "higher" position (e.g. into a wealthier family). Conversely, if they have led a bad life, they will be reborn into a lower position (e.g. a poorer family). Many believe that if a person has led a particularly bad life, they may not be reborn as a human at all, but rather as an animal - or even as an insect!

This teaching is clearly contradicted by the Bible which states (for example) "Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment." (Hebrews 9.27). Obviously, if reincarnation were true, that would mean dying more than once.

Does it really matter if a person believes in reincarnation? Yes it does. What we believe determines the way we live our lives. Belief in reincarnation is dangerous for two reasons :-

1. It lulls us into a false sense of security. We think "If I make a mess of my present life, it doesn't really matter because I will have another chance of doing better in my next life." However, there is no "second chance". We only have this life to make sure that we are in a right relationship with God before we go to give an account of our lives to Him. (Romans 14.12).

2. Belief in reincarnation can often lead to danger, disease and poverty. In some cities in Asia, where belief in reincarnation is the norm, there are infestations of rats. These rats pass on diseases to humans, sometimes bite them and have even killed some babies. However not much is done about this massive problem. Why? Well people think "I cannot exterminate that rat - it might be my Grandfather in another life!"

In many Asian cities there is much poverty. People literally starve to death. But very often there is a huge food supply right where they live. Many cows roam freely through these cities. But they are regarded as sacred or holy. People are not allowed to slaughter and eat them. Why? They think "Well that cow might be my Grandmother in another life. And I cannot risk eating my Grandmother! And if that cow isn't my Grandmother, she is probably someone else's Grandmother."

Thus reincarnation, as well as being a false teaching, is also very destructive.

5. Jesus was able to perform miracles and heal the sick because he is God.

This is a very common misconception. Jesus is God, but He is God who became a man. When Jesus came to earth about 2,000 years ago He left his divine (Godly) qualities behind in heaven. During his 33 years on earth, He was still God, but totally human, just like other men.

For the first 30 years of his earthly life, Jesus didn't perform any miraculous deeds. Then, at the time of his baptism, he received the Holy Spirit. Although the Holy Spirit is God (The Third  Person of the Trinity), He is also the power of God. God always accomplishes what He wills through the power of the Holy Spirit. Thus, for the remainder of his earthly life, Jesus did do many mighty deeds - through the power of the Holy Spirit.

The exciting thing for all Christians is that this same Holy Spirit that was in Jesus is available to all believers. That is why miracles and healings still occur today.

Jesus once said "If you have faith in me, you will do even greater things than I." (John 14.12). Even greater things than Jesus? That is a remarkable claim! Let us consider this for a moment. During his time on earth, about how many disciples did Jesus personally make? It is impossible to say, but because of the much lower population back then, it is not likely to have been more than a few thousand. However, there are Christian ministers today (such as Reinhard Bonnke) who regularly preach to up to a million people in one day - with sometimes as many as 100,000 of them putting their trust in Christ. A hundred thousand in one day, compared to a few thousand in 3 years for Jesus! This is surely an example of the "greater things".

During his time on earth, how many people did Jesus raise from the dead? I think the answer is three (at least only three that are recorded). Yet in the first half of the last century, it is claimed that Smith Wigglesworth was used by God to raise fourteen people from the dead. Fourteen compared to three! Surely another example of the "greater things".

Of course, I am not suggesting that Bonnke or Wigglesworth are greater than Jesus. No-one is greater than Jesus because He is God, and you cannot compare a man with God. But in these specific areas of works, "greater things" have been done by followers of Jesus because of the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit.

6. If we do wrong, God will punish us.

People might think to themselves such things as :-

"I've got sick. It must be because I told all those lies."

"I've had an accident. That was probably because I stole some cakes.'

"My Dad has left home. God must be punishing me because I disobeyed my Dad."

"The people in Christchurch must be really wicked. That is why God sent those earthquakes."

Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!

God has already punished sin. On the cross Jesus was punished for all our wrongdoing - past, present and future. And a Just God cannot punish twice for the same sin.

The reality of life is that "bad things" can just as easily happen to the "good" as to the "bad". Matthew 5.45 puts it like this "He sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous."

In view of this, is there any real benefit in being a Christian then? Yes. A million times "yes". Although God has not promised to take us out of tough situations, He has promised to always be with us as we go through them. We are able to know His peace, comfort and guidance even at the worst of times. And we have all His hundreds of wonderful promises. One of my favorites is Romans 8.28 "All things work together for good, for those who love God."

The worst thing that could happen to you is that you die. But for the Christian, that will turn out to be the best thing - because then you will enter into God's eternal presence!

Laugh Break.

THINGS LEARNED WITH TIME

~ I've learned that making a "living" is not the same thing as making a "life."

~ I've learned that, regardless of your relationship with your parents, you'll miss them when they're gone from your life.

~ I've learned that even when I have pains, I don't have to be one.

~ I've learned that people will forget what you said... people will forget what you did... but people will never forget how you made them feel.

~ I've learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles three things:  a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.

~ I've learned that life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer it gets to the end, the faster it goes.

~ I've learned that we should be glad God doesn't give us everything we ask for.

~ I've learned that money doesn't buy class.

~ I've learned that under someone's hard shell is someone who wants to be appreciated and loved.

~ I've learned that the Lord didn't do it all in one day. What makes me think I can?

~ I've learned that to ignore the facts does not change the facts.

~ I've learned that the easiest way for me to grow as a person is to surround myself with people smarter than I am.

~ I've learned that no one is perfect until you fall in love with them.

~ I've learned that one should keep his words both soft and tender, because tomorrow he may
have to eat them.

~ I've learned that a smile is an inexpensive way to improve your looks.

~ I've learned that it is best to give advice in only two circumstances; when it is requested and when it is a life threatening situation.

~ I've learned that I still have a lot to learn.

Copyright 2012 Mike Atkinson | www.mikeysFunnies.com