From:-
TORCH TRUST FOR THE BLIND, Torch House, Torch Way, Northampton Road, Market
Harborough, Leicestershire, LE16 9HL, U.K.
Telephone: (01858) 438260, Fax: (01858) 438275, email: info@torchtrust.org
Charity Number 1095904.
Studies in the Book of Revelation
The chief of sinners – behold he prays!
“Married in the Lord” is a wonderful phrase Christians often use when two believers become man and wife. On 21st May, a group of us from Torch joyfully witnessed Paul and Susana’s wedding – in Madrid, Spain.
Paul (Wood) heads up magazine and book preparation at Torch, whilst Susana has connections with Nueva Luz. (You may remember Señor Antonio Padilla writing about his organisation in an earlier issue of this magazine.) It was fascinating to attend a wedding in a different country. The marriage ceremony was spoken in both Spanish and English so that all of us could understand. Paul and Susana made their own promises to one another, based on the Bible and on their mutual love.
Afterwards, we moved on to a fabulous feast including some food we don’t normally have in the UK. Chilled cream of melon soup was delicious in a hot country like Spain!
There was one disappointment, though. I was eagerly awaiting the speeches after the dinner, especially from Paul’s “best man”. Some “best man’s speeches” can be very enlightening. Secrets from the past which the bridegroom might prefer remained hidden may be revealed – on the basis that it’s only fair the bride should know! It’s all good, harmless fun – but at this wedding, we waited in vain – no secrets to be revealed at a Spanish wedding!
During the sermon in Church, the pastor read lots of Bible verses about marriage, brides and grooms and the love given by God. He led us to think about the church, the glorious bride of Christ. What a wedding supper all Christians will experience at that final marriage when our Lord Jesus comes for His church, the love of His life! All of us were full of happiness and gratitude to God for Paul and Susana’s marriage.
Please pray for Paul and Susana as they set up a Christian home together.
Sheila Armstrong and the editors.
by Mike Townsend
In the last study we learned how God controls history through the opening of the seals. “When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven.” (8:1.) Though the four chapters we are considering in this study contain many dreadful scenes, they show that God really cares. Perhaps this silence is a pause “to offer the prayers of all the saints” (v 3).
Trumpets are instruments with a message. They summon to battle, herald an important arrival, and sound an alarm. The seven trumpets in these chapters represent the clear gospel message: “don’t put your trust in anything else but God.” The first trumpet proclaims a warning from the environment. “A third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up” (8:7). Human carelessness is gobbling up the earth’s resources. Global warming seems inevitable despite some attempts to stop it. I recently watched a TV programme on the Pacific island nation of Tuvalu. The sea is rising, and submerging a lot of the low islands which make up this nation. Some of the people are “burying their heads in the sand” and hoping that it will not happen. Others are making plans to leave. This first trumpet blast is God’s warning not to put our hope in environmental improvement.
The economy was prominent in the recent British election. The second trumpet blast challenges us not to hope in commercial success. “A third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed” (8:9). Fish stocks are dwindling. Vast commercial companies, like Enron and Marconi, become valueless overnight. We should put our trust in God rather than failing pension schemes.
The third trumpet brings a message from human tragedy. Sudden disaster, pictured in the phrase, “a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky” (v 10) causes deep bitterness of heart. “The name of the star is wormwood; a third of the waters turned bitter” (v 11). On the news as I write is a dreadful tragedy in the Irish Republic. Seven teenage girls have suddenly lost their lives in a school bus accident. The bitterness burned through the voices of the family members as they were interviewed. That bitterness can eat away at the heart and aptly be described as “wormwood”. Human tragedy can point us to God.
Darkness is the warning from the fourth trumpet. “A third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them turned dark. A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night.” (v 12). All kinds of evil happens in the dark. The deepening darkness of human hearts results in immorality, violence, vandalism and theft. Nothing seems to stop this relentless tide of evil and chaos. But, “every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” (James 1:17) Jesus is the light of the world.
Special notice is given for the next three trumpets because they are so horrendous! The eagle calls out, “woe! woe! woe!” People think that a full life comes with possessions, and that the more we have, the better we are. Greed is the woeful warning from the fifth trumpet. Locusts, those devourers of our possessions, arrive straight from the abyss, Satan’s lair (9:2,3.) Look at them! “The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces.” (9:7.) They appear to be crowned leaders going out to battle. Their enemy is people, “to torture them”. Greed has lead to famine in the Sudan and other African countries. The leaders seem unwilling or unable to help. Disabled people do not receive the aid, and thousands of blind people face starvation. “During those days men will seek death, but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them.” (9:6). Starvation grinds people’s hope away. But those who are sealed by God hope in Him.
The sixth woeful trumpet releases a massive army: “The number of the mounted troops was two hundred million.” (9:16). War will solve the problem, people think! But you ask the victims! War leads to war. The horses of this war have an unexpected weapon, for their tails were like snakes, having heads with which they inflict injury.” (9:19). The major religions proclaim “peace” with their mouths, but their venomous tails spit war. The religious wars of our age solve nothing. People “did not stop worshipping demons and idols, nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.” (9:19,20).
“Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven. He was robed in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs were like fiery pillars.” (10:1). This must be Jesus striding into the world of woe carrying the good news of salvation in his “little scroll”. John obeys the heavenly voice, “so I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, ‘take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey’.” (10:9). The gospel is sweet with hope for those who accept God. But it is sour with judgment for those who reject him.
Two witnesses join John in the gospel team. “These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.” (11:4). Who are the two witnesses? We find the answer in Zechariah 4 where the two olive trees are explained. Verse 13 reads: “These are the two who are anointed to serve the Lord of all the earth.” In that time they were Joshua, the high priest, and Zerubbabel the national leader. We are God’s witnesses during this period between the two comings of Jesus. Our witness is through the church (Joshua), and society (Zerubbabel). Jesus says, “I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy.” (11:3). The secret of Christian power is the Holy Spirit: “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘not by might nor by power, but by my spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.” (Zechariah 4:6). “Now when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them. Their bodies will lie in the street. (11:7,8.) Jesus’ gospel is hated by many, and the gospel of evil appears to triumph. But, “a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet.” (v 11). Resurrection!
The seventh trumpet, the third woe, brings judgment. But that is for next time.
[All Scripture quotations are taken from the New International Version Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Published by Hodder & Stoughton.]
by Tony and Rona Gibb
24 years ago Prabhu Rayan, a young Indian Christian worker in the slums of Bombay, led a destitute blind young man named Paramanandam to the Lord. This proved to be a life-changing experience for them both.
From that time Prabhu met up with more and more visually impaired people. He and his young wife, Nancy, began to invite these folk to their home, and as they shared the Good News of Jesus with them, many from Hindu, Muslim and Buddhist backgrounds accepted Jesus as their personal Saviour. But quite quickly a problem arose.
It was hard for any disabled people in India to find acceptance in society. Even within the Church they were usually not accepted. Prabhu and Nancy longed to see their new brothers and sisters integrated into the Church, but how should they go about this?
At the same time as they were beginning to work with visually impaired people, we, Tony and Rona Gibb, were similarly involved in other places in India. Camps (holiday houseparties) had been run in Tamil, Hindi and Nepali languages, and many people had come to faith in Christ. Sometimes we travelled widely around India, running programmes in Churches and Bible Schools to help envision people to integrate those with sight problems into their Church life. God in His wonderful plan brought us, through a mutual friend, in contact with Prabhu and Nancy. We have been friends, colleagues and co-workers ever since.
For the last 20 years Prabhu and Nancy have been leaders of India Fellowship for the Visually Handicapped. The twin aims of the ministry remain those of sharing the gospel with visually impaired people, and integrating these folk into the Church.
The work has spread over many parts of India, and the team of staff includes both disabled and non-disabled members. People with other disabilities are now welcomed at Camps and Fellowship Centres, and when seminars and disability awareness programmes are run for Churches and Christian groups, teaching on integrating people with any kind of disability is always included.
Although it is over 25 years since this ministry began, Prabhu and Nancy and their team are all concerned to know how the Lord would have them develop the work in the future, both in India and other countries. They want to know the most effective way so that God’s glory will be seen to the full and they so value prayer support; surely they are workers together.
You can contact at: India Fellowship for the Visually Handicapped, 937, 6th Avenue, Anna Nagar West, Chennai 600 040, India, or email: raycap@md3.vsnl.net.in
by Mum Heath (co-founder of Torch Trust)
As we read the Bible accounts of men and women, we come across times in their lives when they reach a crisis, and at that point, they turn to God in prayer. The crises might be widely different, but the results were always staggering as the power of God was revealed in answer to prayer.
Take Saul of Tarsus for example. What a character he was! Educated at the best school, he was already making a name for himself in the religious world as an orator and deep-thinker. Yet he had one consuming hate: he could not tolerate this new sect who were following Jesus from Nazareth and were declaring that He was the Son of God. It went against all that Saul had believed in, and he determined to stamp this heresy out!
He made a good start when he hounded Stephen to his death. Stephen had stood boldly and defied the learned teachers and elders – even the High Priest – declaring that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God.
Soon Saul was on his way to Damascus, to create havoc there among the little band of believers who worshipped Jesus.
That was when God Himself stepped in. The proud young zealot found himself surrounded with the light of God, so bright that it took away his sight. As he picked himself up from the ground where he had been struck, he heard the voice of Jesus: “Saul, why are you persecuting me?”
Blinded and baffled, Saul was led into the city where he had planned to destroy all trace of the Jesus people.
Meanwhile, in the city itself, an insignificant believer, praying in his home, had heard the voice of God in a vision. “Go to Straight Street, to the house of Judas. I am sending you with a message for Saul of Tarsus.”
Saul of Tarsus?! Ananias must have wondered if he had understood right. The very name of Saul smote the hearts of believers with fear. Why! He was determined to kill the likes of Ananias!
Then the Lord said this: “Behold he is praying”. Saul praying? That didn’t sound like the arrogant young man, so sure of himself, who was fighting to extinguish the light of the gospel.
Yes, God was working in his heart. Saul the persecutor was praying, and Ananias, the unknown believer, was willing to risk his neck to go and pray with him.
The result was that Saul was born again, into the very family of believers which he had tried so ardently to destroy.
The power of prayer, and the obedience of Ananias resulted in the commissioning of the first missionary to the Gentiles, the writer of many letters which bless us all as Christians to this day. And it happened all because Saul prayed, and Ananias obeyed when God spoke to him.
Maybe you know someone who is opposed to the message of the gospel. Keep praying. Even now the Holy Spirit may be working in their lives. God can do the impossible in the heart of that person. Be prepared, keep praying. Believing prayer is so powerful. Be ready, expect God to “move mountains”. He can!
“Have faith in God” Jesus urged His disciples . . . “I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” (Mark 11:22-24).
· Giant print books have a new look! This is due to so-called “perfect” binding – just like standard paperback books – made possible by new equipment recently installed.
· On average Torch adds at least one book a week to both the braille and audio library collections.
· A team from Scotland have committed to travelling to Dezna in August to complete the construction of Casa Torch.
· The first Lazuri houseparty of 2005 – for adults from the Romanian asylums like the one at Dumbroveni – was a great success.
· During May three towns across Britain enquired about starting new Torch Prayer Groups.
We congratulate the following people who have successfully completed Bible study correspondence courses:
Douglas Aganawine Atubire (Ghana), K K Valsan (India).
Julio Nyausiwa (Malawi), Gabriel Godwin (Nigeria), Boddu Sathyanandam (South India).
Josephat Adagala (Kenya), Charity A Ohiogu (Nigeria).
Nehemiah Arulappan (India).
Irene McMinn (Australia).
Caiphas Mulenga (Zambia).
Solomon Shem Phiri (Zambia).
Moses K Kamau (Kenya), Solomon Shem Phiri (Zambia).
Special congratulations to Moses and Solomon who have now completed the whole course.
by Norman Hillyer
A favourite prayer of many preachers is, of course, not restricted to those standing in pulpits:
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer (Psalm 19:14, KJV).
The Hebrew word behind acceptable basically means to settle a debt. We owe it to God to speak and think at all times in a manner that meets His standards.
by Lapson Mbewe (Malawi)
I grew up in a Muslim family. Life was not easy for the family, as Dad was taking beer and also had two wives. He passed away in 1984 without knowing the Lord. I grew up as a child who didn’t have enough parental love and care. I had to work for others for my school fees and whatever I would need as a child.
In 1983 I got employment in Blantyre, Malawi, with a Pastor who was preaching to me the true gospel of Jesus. I made a decision to accept Jesus as my personal Saviour and Lord. I thank God that through the great change the Lord made in my life, some of my relatives and friends came to know the Lord. Today all my relatives are now Christians – they left Islam. Hallelujah!
This came about in 1986. I was one of the choir members and a Sunday school teacher. I really liked what I was doing in the church and my pastor also loved me. I was appointed secretary general for the church and the Lord gave me a gift to be a teacher in the church. I was also a teacher in a Government school for 10 years, then the Lord called me to leave this.
Having grown up without a father I knew what this meant and when I had a lad in one of the classes I was teaching in the same position, my heart went out to him and God asked me to help him. This was just the beginning, and now we (my wife and I and our three daughters) have 35 children as part of our family who have lost their parents, and about 80 widows in our home area that we visit.
In 1984 I was asked to take a certain blind Pastor to a meeting where it was thought he would receive his sight after being prayed for. But things did not work well for him. After this the Lord said he wanted me to care for blind people – but not to bring back their physical sight, but spiritual sight. So I obeyed and started working among the blind – I am so happy to see what is happening in the lives of many blind people today. They are coming to the Lord and some even taking part in church activities.
I thank God for Ellen my wife who stands alongside me and assists to fulfil the vision the Lord called us for. I also thank all those who help me in the work.
[A number of years ago when we first met Lapson, we saw a man with a servant heart, who had been called of God to the ministry he was involved in. In recognition of this he was invited onto the council of Torch, Malawi, and is also a trustee. He coordinates 12 Torch Fellowship Groups in Malawi and has a team of very caring helpers.]
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.
10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
12 No-one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
13 We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.
14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world.
15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God.
16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.
17 In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgement, because in this world we are like him.
18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
19 We love because he first loved us.
20 If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.
21 And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.
[Taken from the New International Version Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Published by Hodder & Stoughton.]
by Gordon Temple
[This article is based on the passage of Scripture in Let the Scriptures speak, previous to this.]
Many people suppose that being a Christian is about living to a set of commandments or rules that are set by God to spoil our fun. Actually, being a Christian is all about relationship – a liberating and fulfilling relationship with God. Jesus famously abbreviated the mass of commandments to just two: love God, love your neighbour as yourself.
John writes that “God is love”. This suggests to us that God not only has the capacity to love, not only that He does love, but that it is so much part of His character to love that He can’t help loving.
God, although one, is three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Relationship is therefore in the make-up of God. It’s love that holds the trinity together – that makes one God of the three persons. The perfect love that exists within the Godhead binds them together in relationship that’s so close it’s hard to tell where one ends and the other begins.
God is love, and God expresses love . . . towards us. Love is the invisible force that holds us in relationship with God and with each other. The relationship between us and God the Father is made through his son, Jesus, and is sustained by the Holy Spirit who lives in us. (v 13-15).
Love is like gravity. Gravity only attracts. Magnetism can attract or repel, but gravity only works one way – it only pulls, never pushes.
Gravity holds the moon in orbit around the earth and the planets around the sun. Although both the earth and sun exercise a gravitational pull upon each other, it is the overwhelming strength of the sun’s gravity that holds the earth in its orbit. And John explains the strength of the bond between us and God comes from God’s side: “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us”. Just as the earth is held securely in the grip of the sun’s gravity, so we are held in God’s love.
As Christians we are all held by God’s love – just as the planets are held in the solar system – and we are therefore held in relationship with each other. John makes this appeal: “Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”(v 11). Not to love others who are in the same relationship with God as we are can make no sense. As John puts it: “If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar.” (v.20).
We are interdependent. The outmost planets of our solar system were first discovered through their influence on the orbits of the visible planets. Between Christians there is a bond of love that should be evident to onlookers. Jesus made it very clear: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34). The love that is evident in our relationship with other Christians, signals to unbelievers that we are Jesus’ disciples. And it is a clue to the quality of God’s love. (v 12).
Paul clearly got excited when he explained that nothing can separate us from the love of God: “I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38).
Things can isolate from other forces – like magnetism – but it’s really difficult to escape the grasp of gravity. It holds us, whatever might get in the way. There’s absolutely nothing – no distance, no barrier, no speed – that puts us beyond the reach of God’s love.
Sometimes we think it’s down to us to initiate a relationship with God. Actually it was God that made the first move (v 9-10). Our rebellion against God is the one obstacle to our relationship with Him. Never was there a clearer expression of God’s love than when Jesus died to deal with this. The relationship we have with God is on His initiative (v 19).
God’s love is not passive, it’s active and has transforming power. “God loves you just the way you are, but too much to leave you that way . . .” writes Max Lucado. God’s love is at work in us to make us more like Jesus; that we would speak as He spoke and act as He would have acted.