Dear Friends,
 Greetings in Jesus Christ’s name.

 The inroads of the New Age neo-paganistic mind-set has never been stronger
 here in Australia! One of the ways of getting our citizens to embrace
 paganism and reject Christianity and the Bible is the “indigenous peoples”
 hysteria! We hear endlessly  about the virtues of the aboriginals and their
 Dreamtime religion, and endlessly we hear of the cruelties and abuses of
 those hypocrite “Christians” in Australia. This May we had a “National
 Sorry Day.” On that day white people invited aboriginals to meet in parks
 and halls, and they spoke over the microphones about the “stealing” of the
 aboriginal children, which happened a generation or so ago. Apologies were
 delivered by weeping, contrite, humiliated white Australians. The whites,
 mostly the Churches, have been accused of deliberately kidnapping black
 children in order to split families, to make black children into carbon
 copies of the Europeans,  and to keep the children from embracing the
 Rainbow Serpent religion of the indigenous peoples. This taking -of
children action did take place, instigated by government groups and some
 church groups. But, it was not done out of cruelty, hate or racist bias,
 but rather it would seem out of frustration and misguided paternalistic
 concern. Never a voice is heard bringing a balanced view of the sad action
 which was taken back there! Not that I am saying that it was wise or proper
 to remove these children, it was something that caused great heartache to
 many black people, but it was not an act of aggression or bigotry;  it was
 done to help under-privileged people cope in a white dominated society. The
 white people saw that the aboriginals would never adapt to the modern world
 which was exploding around them, and sought to assimilate the young, who
 they rightly judged were the only ones who could be rescued from being
 misplaced  and lost in an alien, industrialised, western culture.
 
 In our Sunshine Coast local paper we were delighted to read in a tiny
 column a voice which spoke honestly and fairly. We commend the anonymous
 woman cited in this article:
 
 “A full-blooded Aboriginal raised by white parents has lashed out at
 National Sorry Day.
 The Sunshine Coast woman who wishes to reImages anonymous said white people
 had nothing to be sorry about, the stolen generation was not stolen.
 ‘I think the Sorry Day is disgusting and so do my friends, all the
 do-gooders will do is make the situation worse,’ she said.
 The Aboriginal woman, who recently graduated from university, was raised by
 white parents.
 ‘They   put me through university, I got a good degree and I’m proud to be
 living with them,’ she said.
 ‘All this nonsense about Aboriginals being taken away from their parents is
 baloney. The babies were given away to the whites because the Aboriginals
 couldn’t look after them all.’
 The woman said she became part of a white family when she was 12 months old
 and was grateful for the life she had been given.
 ‘ My white parents used to travel a lot, they pulled in to an Aboriginal
 reserve and started talking to the people and one of the elders said there
 were too many children and asked them if they wanted to take one,’ she said.”
 ==============================================
 
 WONDERING ABOUT GUIDANCE FROM GOD?
 The world is a tough place, how important to get guidance from God on a
 sound, sensible level, and avoid the extremes which are confusing many,
 many church-goers these days. We hope these few thoughts will make a
 difference in your life:
 
 HELP! I NEED GOD’S GUIDANCE.
 One of the most abused areas of Christian belief and practice is the area
 of guidance. Many strange, mystical and superstitious methods of getting
 God’s guidance for our lives have been peddled in our day, it is high time
 we approached this subject of guidance with sense, and maturity. Are you
 seeking guidance right now on some important issue? Then it is vital that
 you and your loved ones gain a Biblically sound understanding of what
 constitutes gaining a knowledge of the Lord’s will in a given matter. Shall
 we begin by listing what is NOT sound practice in seeking God’s guidance.
 
 1. Guidance should not be sought by seeking a vision, or by dreams or a
 supernatural impression. To move by mere spirit impression and emotion is
 dangerous practice.
 2. Guidance should not be sought by taking note of a “prophecy” over your
 life, this is merely another version of fortune telling. Fake “prophets”
 are everywhere!
 3. Guidance should not be sought by opening the Bible randomly, and going
 by the first verse that meets your eye. This is almost like tossing a coin,
 or getting guidance by pulling the  petals out of a daisy!
 4. Do not seek guidance by giving God a ultimatum. Such as saying, “Lord,
 if such and such happens, I will know that you are saying ‘yes’ to this way
 I want to take. If it doesn’t, then I will know that You do not want me to
 do this.” People can say that if a certain person phones, a wet day
 arrives, a cheque comes in the mail - all sorts of things can indicate
 God’s will in a matter. They do not allow God to guide them in His own way.
 5. Do not seek guidance when you have already decided what you are going to
 do any way, and you only want God to “rubber stamp” your own plan. Yield
 your will to Him, and submit yourself if this is the case. Be honest if you
 are saying in your heart of hearts, “God bless my plans.”
 
 What is guidance? It is being so surrendered to the heavenly Father that
 you want only to do His will, you want to know that will clearly, because
 you habitually obey God in everything (in His strength and grace), and you
 are seeking to please only Him in the matter you are bringing before Him.
 Guidance is given to those who will accept God’s “NO!” as quickly as His
 “yes.”
 
 It is imperative that God’s people reject all occult-style guidance
 methods, which are predominately used in churches which call themselves
 Christian in the 1990s. The reasons are clear. The evil spirits who are
 counterfeiting Christianity in these Last Days, are vindictively desirous
 of leading as many Christians into error and  severe trouble as possible.
 
 Now to the ways that have proved most sensible and reliable in our own
 lives. These ways have stood the test of simply living, they have been
 verified by Christians who we have trusted throughout our lifetime, and
 they are true to Biblical instruction.  A quote from Jessie Penn-Lewis
 would be helpful here:
 “...the evil one knows that the armour of light can only encase the soul
 whilst he walks in the path marked out for him by the Lord, hence his wiles
 are planned to imitate the voice of the Lord so as to confuse or mislead,
 or to ensnare in guidance, and in this way to draw out of the keeping-power
 of God, and then lead into any snare he can devise to suit his victim. Let
 the one who would live an overcoming life keep carefully to the written
 Word of God, and depend as a child upon the Lord. Then He Who was given to
 guide into all truth, will teach the trusting heart, and he will be kept
 guarded by the power of God.” (“The Warfare with Satan” p.87).
 
 How to get guidance from the Lord.
 1. Come before God, ask Him to cleanse you from all sin in the Blood of
 Jesus Christ.
 (I John 1:9). Confess honestly if you have sinned against Him, ask Him to
 reveal if in any way you have displeased Him.
 
 2. Be aware as you seek God that He is your own heavenly Father, who longs
 to bless you just as any loving earthly father does his child. (Philippians
 4:6,7).
 
 3. Now spread out before God  everything about the matter. If there are
 difficulties, certain problems, various ways you could choose, just tell
 the Lord all, knowing He cares so very much for you. (Proverbs 3:5,6).
 
 4. Then utterly surrender the whole business to Him. Know that God has a
 knowledge of the future, He understands every detail of what will happen,
 and is happening,  in regard to your matter of guidance. He alone knows
 what is best.
 
 5. Remember that it is not just the matter of guidance which is important.
 It is more important that GOD’s higher purposes for you and your
 circumstances be fulfilled. Yield to God to work in and through everything
 to bring these about. (Romans 8:28).
 
  6. Trust all the matter to God, as well as your whole life. Do not remove
 yourself from this position of faith and confidence in your heavenly
 Father. Here I will refer to Jessie Penn-Lewis again:
 “Trust Him to work in the will to will His will.
   Trust Him to work out in the life in practical obedience.
   Trust Him to sway the affections into the right direction.
   Trust Him to guide the judgement into clear decision.
   Trust Him to restrain quickly when turning toward the wrong.”
 
 7. Now, do not just reImages inactive, if something lies ahead which you must
 do. Move ahead if no closed door is in front of you, if there is a clear
 next step. Know that your heavenly Father is faithful and He is guiding
 you. “Do the next thing” be quiet in spirit, don’t try to force God to
 answer you by your own expected method, leave Him to give guidance in His
 own way. God will not fail you, He loves you. If you are still not clear
 what to do, keep quietly confident and patient. The circumstances and the
 peace of God will show you just what course to take. (Hebrews 10:35).
 
 8. God will never guide you to do something which is against the clear
 teaching of Scripture. Do not depend on the Spirit alone, the Scriptures
 will always agree with the
 Holy Spirit’s guidance, and they complement each other. Read the Bible
 sensibly, not superstitiously and the Lord will confirm His will through
 His Word.
 
 9. The Holy Spirit will take the responsibility to bring about God’s plans
 for your life. If a thing is of God, you do not have to push and struggle
 to make God’s will come to pass. If you trust Him He will open doors, make
 your steps straight, cause His will to be accomplished. God’s timing is His
 own affair, wait for His time, do not act with impatience thinking that
 everything must come to pass at once, if it is God’s will. This becomes
 just carnal activity.
 
 “But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for He that cometh to
 God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that
 diligently seek Him.”
 (Hebrews 11:6).
 
 The above verse is often the entire problem with people seeking guidance.
 They simply do not believe that “He is” i.e. that God truly exists, is
 really wanting to lead them in His paths of righteousness in all the little
 decisions, and also in the larger ones. The Father is interested in every
 thing we do. God is indeed “a rewarder” of those who do not lean to their
 own understanding and plans, but instead surrender to the Him:
 “...lean not unto thy own understanding. In ALL thy ways acknowledge him;
 and he SHALL direct thy paths.” (Proverbs 3:6,7).

W. B. Howard ...Editor of Despatch

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