Table of contents for July 2021 in JOY! Magazine

In the last issue of JOY! Magazine I wrote on the principle virtue of courage. Since then, I have been challenged to apply courage to a contemporary issue. Critical theory (colloquially known as being ‘woke’) is a school of thought that has permeated the very fabric of mainstream society – including much of the church. According to critical theory, the root cause of the world’s problem is the oppression of subordinate groups by dominant groups that hold ‘hegemonic’ power in society. These fixed groups exist primarily based on one’s race, class, and gender. Based on which groups we fall into, we either have an oppressor or oppressed status. Of these three categories, the pillar of ‘race’ has taken on particular prominence, evidenced by the global emergence of the Black Lives…

On Sunday 12 May 2019 at about 15:20 I died. If it was not for my wife, Susan van Vuuren, and a lifesaver named Allan Kuhnel – who were at the right place at the right time, laying hands on me and praying – I wouldn’t have been here today. There is much power in prayer. I am a living testimony of it. Experiencing severe pain I had been experiencing pain in the back of my right knee since Thursday night. As I suffer from gout I thought it was just a gout flare. This pain got severe on Sunday morning. After we came back from the airport, I had excruciating pain in my right knee and Susan went to Clicks to buy me some gout medicine. I was in…

Early in His earthly ministry, Jesus travelled with His disciples through Samaria, where He met a woman at a well. In fact, the conversation Jesus has in John 4 with the Samaritan woman at the well is the longest conversation He has with any single individual in the Gospels. There is a lot going on in this interaction between a Jewish rabbi and a scandalous Samaritan woman, but for our purposes here we’ll concentrate on one thing Jesus says to her, because it gives us insight into God’s nature. Proper worship After some preliminary comments, Jesus and the Samaritan woman begin to talk about proper worship. Jesus provides an insight about His Heavenly Father that is vital for us to know: “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must…

It wasn’t that long ago that we celebrated Easter and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. There remain many sceptics today of this miracle, which shouldn’t surprise us since even some of Jesus’ original disciples were doubtful. They saw Jesus’ arrest, brutal treatment, and death on a cross. They all hid in fear, wondering if the authorities were coming for them next. This month we’ll take a look at one of those openly sceptical disciples, who even after a week still did not believe that Jesus had risen from the dead. Doubting Thomas Jesus has the power over life and death. Who else but God has such authority? Thomas—also known as Didymus, which means “twin” (John 20:24)—was one of the original twelve disciples called by Jesus (Mark 3:18). Thomas is perhaps…

“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfil. For assurely, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.” - Matthew 5: 17-18 It’s amazing to discover that Jesus fulfilled more than 100 prophecies foretold 400-1500 years before His birth. These prophecies are specific enough that the mathematical probability of Jesus fulfilling even a handful of them, let alone all of them, is staggeringly improbable—if not impossible. Discovering God’s plan in the Old Testament As these prophecies reveal, God planned our redemption all the way back in the garden. Jesus’ death and resurrection were the most important events…

Many Indian believers would have starved to death without help from Open Doors. The persecution of Christians in India has increased significantly over the past five years. This South-Asian democratic country is currently the 10th most dangerous country in the world for Christians, as Hindu extremists try to rid the country of all Christianity and use extensive violence to achieve this goal. While Open Doors’ local partners hoped that the Covid-19 lockdown would lead to fewer attacks on Christians, this was sadly not the case – hundreds of believers in India were physically attacked last year because of their faith in Jesus. Many believers were denied government food aid during the Covid-19 lockdown, and would have starved to death without help from Open Doors’ local partners. Violent attack at a…

Why on earth do we (and our pets) do some of the senseless things we do? For instance, I cannot fathom why Sandy occasionally rolls her freshly washed and beautifully fragrant white coat in dirty, smelly Hadeda bird-droppings as she frolics in our garden. In her soiled and sullied state, she bounces into the house, eagerly expecting to be welcomed, only to hear me say something like: “Oh no Sandy – you smell horrid! Don’t even think about jumping onto my white couches!” And then I can’t even send her to wash herself clean – she is quite incapable of doing it herself. I am the one who needs to shampoo and cleanse her, to rid her of the filth. Upon seeing her downcast face I will add to my…

When Professor John Wycliffe of Oxford University produced the first hand-written translation of the New Testament into English (in the 14th Century), he wrote in the preface: “The Bible is given for the government of the people, by the people, and for the people.” American President Abraham Lincoln quoted from Wycliffe in his famous Gettysburg Address when he said: “Government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the face of the earth.” Lincoln also noted that: “The philosophy of the classroom will become the philosophy of the government in the next generation.” Many people labour under the delusion that the Bible has nothing to say concerning social structures, constitutional models, or political affairs. However, while approximately 29% of the Bible deals with spiritual matters…

“For behold, Your enemies make a tumult; and those who hate You have lifted up their head. They have taken crafty counsel against Your people, and consulted together against Your sheltered ones. They have said, ‘Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more.’” – Psalm 83:2-3 Support of the Jewish people’s right to return and live in the nation of Israel (geographically, the Promised Land) is often a conflicted matter for believers. A complicated history, biased media reports, a humanitarian crisis, and misguided denominational positions have confused many Christians – but one must have an accurate, biblical understanding. To offer clarity on this, we spoke to the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem SA (ICEJ) who have extensive knowledge…

The season of my involvement in the local community came at a time that I did not anticipate. By no means was I prepared for the challenges that awaited myself and our ministry. The awakening of my participation in the community was ignited when a former member of our ministry stabbed her boyfriend to death. In finding her guilty, the magistrate took into consideration that the father of her children was now deceased and that sending her to jail would leave their children orphaned. She was sentenced by the court to look for a credible role player in the community to write a motivational letter that would assist the court with a decision to place her under house arrest for the sake of her children. In submitting my letter to…

One of the biggest irks of the younger generations, believe it or not, is when we feel manipulated. We hate it, and we actually often do the opposite action just to feel that we have some sort of self-identity and self-control. Manipulation is a tool that has been successfully used by previous generations across all spheres – from propaganda, to advertising, to education, to parenting (just to name a few). Advertising, for example, used to yield the best results when adverts included strong calls to action, such as saying “Buy today!” or “Get yours now!” or the most common, “Don’t miss out”. With the younger generations, however, the best results are yielded through influencers – people or adverts that promote something without demanding an action from you or giving you…

After Thomas’ encounter with the risen Lord, we only see Thomas mentioned two other times in the New Testament, once in John 21 and again in Acts 1 when the original disciples gathered to select Judas Iscariot’s replacement. Both instances point to Thomas’ complete embrace of Jesus’ resurrection. Church history records that despite his initial doubt, Thomas took the Gospel as far as India, where he died a martyr’s death in AD 72. It is believed that he founded seven churches there over twenty years of ministry. Some of the oldest churches in that country still bear his name, and Thomas remains a popular name among Indian Christians.…

Women play a vital role in the economy of Mongolia and even more so in modern society. Over the past few years, families have invested heavily in the education of their daughters, believing that daughters will be better able to take care of them when they are older. Men are left to tend to livestock and are not often encouraged to leave the home in pursuit of a career. Very few women are unemployed and more are being recognised in society for their outstanding achievements. But, because of this, women struggle to relate to men giving rise to an imbalance in society referred to as the “reverse gender gap”. Unrealistic ideals must be countered In the capital city of Ulaanbaatar there are 60 000 more women than men. This imbalance…

Our Biblically-esteemed donkey—who carried our Lord Jesus Christ triumphantly into Jerusalem—is under threat in the world. The demand for donkey hides is exploding in China due to a growing middle class, and state-sponsored advertising that sells the benefits derived from donkey hides. Donkey hides are boiled to produce gelatin, which is used in a variety of products from traditional medicine to anti-aging. The tragedy is that if donkey slaughtering continues at the current rate, donkeys will go on to the near extinction list in a very short time. Shrinking donkey population A British charity The Donkey Sanctuary has estimated, “The demand coming from China could reach up to 10-million donkeys per year. This represents almost a quarter of the entire global donkey population.”The Chinese are also targeting South Africa to…

Jesus taught that we are to: “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s” – Matthew 22:21. The civil government does have certain legitimate rights and responsibilities, but these are very limited. We are to pay taxes—but any taxation as high as 10% was condemned as: “oppressive” (1 Sam 8:10-18)—to serve in the military when required, to testify in court as a witness to any crime, and to respect the life, property, and reputation of our neighbours. However, our worship of God, the education of our children, our private property, our individual enterprise, and personal views (freedom of worship, freedom of education, free enterprise, freedom of speech) are clearly not made in the image of Caesar and are outside of the lawful jurisdiction of a Bible-based…

What is polyandry and what is its relevance to South Africa? Polyandry is a situation where a woman is married to more than one husband. Recently it was announced in South Africa that there would be proposed changes to the Marriage Act, with one of the proposed changes including a move to legalise polyandry. Response to polyandry Many political leaders and parties have been outraged by the proposed amendments to the Marriage Act. Some political parties have even registered their intention to mobilise and rally against this proposed move. The general public in South Africa are either taken aback by this or regard it with much amusement. A small group of self-defined “feminists” see this as a positive move in the quest for “equality”. Polyandry is a situation where a…

Does it show a lack of faith if you keep on taking your medicine after you have been prayed for? A. When Moses called on the Lord and the Red Sea was opened, the Israelites had the assurance that God had done it for them, and they acted on that assurance. That is faith. The Egyptians acted on Moses’ prayer without that assurance. That is presumption and the results were disastrous. The same principle applies to believers. There are times when God does not do what we ask of Him in the way we expect (e.g. James 4:3). It is a very foolish Christian who acts without personal assurance from the Lord. We cannot depend on the faith, prayers, or convictions of others. If you do not have the personal…

At significant moments in Biblical history, we see God changing the names of people and places when He is about to do something fresh and new. Abram became Abraham, Jacob became Israel, Simon was renamed Peter, Saul became Paul, and so on. Cinnamon Network International recently changed its name to NAYBA™ in a move to double its efforts to help churches reach their neighbourhoods. Where does the name come from? NAYBA founder Matt Bird explains, “The global church is facing a historic inflection point in the opportunity to be Christ in the midst of this crisis. Our global family has chosen a name that we believe will mark a new era of our impact and enable us to easily talk about Jesus and the heart of our mission to help…

Gerard Crozier’s hidden secret in life is that he kept his faith hidden from those around him. He attended church regularly, received communion, and prayed. He explained, “This will come as a pretty huge shock to my friends and peers, it’s something I keep completely private and hidden. Why? Because I’m a coward, mostly. There’s been a big shift in Western culture over the last few decades, an anti-Christian shift, which has left many closeted Christians, afraid to speak out.”Crozier had always struggled to align his actions and everyday persona with his religious beliefs until a few years ago when everything changed. Peaks and troughs of faith Gerard Crozier’s hidden secret in life is that he kept his faith hidden. Crozier was brought up in the 1990s – he went…

It is essential to realise that we only go through circumstances. No matter how long they last, they are never permanent. Milo Mlangeni has the God-given gift of encouragement. Her love for the Lord bubbles over into conversation—she uses each opportunity to speak God’s Word with contagious enthusiasm, to give others hope and increase their faith. The gift of encouragement can have great impact, as many people are looking for the strength and hope to keep going in difficult times. I spoke to Milo about her new book, and how she uses her gift to bless and encourage others. Milo was born in Stanger, KwaZulu Natal, and currently lives in Johannesburg. She is a born-again Christian who is committed to serving the Lord and others in different capacities, as an…

When not in gear, the strongest vehicle will go nowhere, even if the engine is revving out a deafening noise! To move, the gearbox must engage the vehicle’s engine with the wheels. If it’s in neutral, the vehicle will not move. Many Christians are also in neutral, parked on the side with no influence at all in this world. In 1 Samuel 10:23-27, we read about the history of Saul’s inauguration at Mizpah by Samuel. In verse 24 we read, “And Samuel said to all the people, ‘Do you see him whom the Lord has chosen? There is none like him among all the people.’ And all the people shouted, ‘Long live the king!’” When Samuel announced these words, three responses followed that compare in many ways to our responses…

Those who obey His commandments have the right to the tree of life and may enter through gates into the city. In Revelation 22:12 Jesus says, “Behold, I am coming quickly and my reward is with me to give to everyone according to his work.” How we live is important to God. “Blessed are those who do His commandments.” – Revelation 22:14. Notice, it’s not ‘blessed are those who live by faith or grace’, it is, “blessed are those who do His commandments that they may have the right to the tree of life and enter through the gates into the city.” – Revelation 22:15 Those who obey His commandments have the right to the tree of life and may enter through gates into the city. We clearly see that…

In order to understand absolute or universal truth, we must begin by defining truth. Truth, according to the dictionary, is “conformity to fact or actuality; a statement proven to be or accepted as true.” Some people would say that there is no true reality, only perceptions and opinions. Others would argue that there must be some absolute reality or truth. Situational ethics Today, many people are embracing a cultural relativism that denies any type of absolute truth. One view says that there are no absolutes that define reality. Those who hold this view believe everything is relative to something else, and thus there can be no actual reality. Because of that, there are ultimately no moral absolutes, no authority for deciding if an action is positive or negative, right or…

In its attack on the world, Covid-19 has not bypassed any of us. It has undone financial systems, church services have been shut down, family relations have been broken down, and the reality of death has confronted many. In my quest for spiritual understanding of this disease, that which God has been working behind the scenes, I came to the following conclusions: Covid is part of an end-time strategy to facilitate the plans of a “new world order” upon the earth. This world order seeks to bring all of humanity under the control of the antichrist spirit, which is preparing the way for the Antichrist to soon appear. Covid is a time where the power of our words is being tested. My testimony of being healed from Covid Severe sickness…

Woke is a fairly modern term that has come to describe being “conscious of injustice in society.” A “woke” person is especially attentive to racial discrimination and the issues surrounding it. Although the word woke has been closely linked to the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement in the US, the term goes back further than that and can be found in the 2008 song Master Teacher by Erykah Badu and in an 1962 essay published in the New York Times called If You’re Woke You Dig It by William Melvin Kelley. When it comes to being “woke,” Christians should keep three things in mind: Real justice is possible only when individuals have been justified in Christ. 1 There is still work to be done First, Christians must acknowledge…