Is Obama Biblically hostile? Check out the facts below. A lot if reading but it pays to be educated sometimes

When one observes President Obama’s unwillingness to accommodate America’s four-century long religious conscience protection through his attempts to require Catholics to go against their own doctrines and beliefs, one is tempted to say that he is anti-Catholic. But that characterization would not be correct. Although he has recently singled out Catholics, he has equally targeted traditional Protestant beliefs over the past four years. So since he has attacked Catholics and Protestants, one is tempted to say that he is anti-Christian. But that, too, would be inaccurate. He has been equally disrespectful in his appalling treatment of religious Jews in general and Israel in particular. So perhaps the most accurate description of his antipathy toward Catholics, Protestants, religious Jews, and the Jewish nation would be to characterize him as anti-Biblical. And then when his hostility toward Biblical people of faith is contrasted with his preferential treatment of Muslims and Muslim nations, it further strengthens the accuracy of the anti-Biblical descriptor. In fact, there have been numerous clearly documented times when his pro-Islam positions have been the cause of his anti-Biblical actions.

Listed below in chronological order are
(1) numerous records of his attacks on Biblical persons or organizations;
(2) examples of the hostility toward Biblical faith that have become evident in the past three years in the Obama-led military;
(3) a listing of his open attacks on Biblical values; and finally
(4) a listing of numerous incidents of his preferential deference for Islam’s activities and positions, including letting his Islamic advisors guide and influence his hostility toward people of Biblical faith.

1. Acts of hostility toward people of Biblical faith:

April 2008 – Obama speaks disrespectfully of Christians, saying they “cling to guns or religion” and have an “antipathy to people who aren’t like them.” 1

February 2009 – Obama announces plans to revoke conscience protection for health workers who refuse to participate in medical activities that go against their beliefs, and fully implements the plan in February 2011. 2

April 2009 – When speaking at Georgetown University, Obama orders that a monogram symbolizing Jesus’ name be covered when he is making his speech. 3

May 2009 – Obama declines to host services for the National Prayer Day (a day established by federal law) at the White House. 4

April 2009 – In a deliberate act of disrespect, Obama nominated three pro-abortion ambassadors to the Vatican; of course, the pro-life Vatican rejected all three. 5

October 19, 2010 – Obama begins deliberately omitting the phrase about “the Creator” when quoting the Declaration of Independence – an omission he has made on no less than seven occasions. 6

November 2010 – Obama misquotes the National Motto, saying it is “E pluribus unum” rather than “In God We Trust” as established by federal law. 7

January 2011 – After a federal law was passed to transfer a WWI Memorial in the Mojave Desert to private ownership, the U. S. Supreme Court ruled that the cross in the memorial could continue to stand, but the Obama administration refused to allow the land to be transferred as required by law, and refused to allow the cross to be re-erected as ordered by the Court. 8

February 2011 – Although he filled posts in the State Department, for more than two years Obama did not fill the post of religious freedom ambassador, an official that works against religious persecution across the world; he filled it only after heavy pressure from the public and from Congress. 9

April 2011 – For the first time in American history, Obama urges passage of a non-discrimination law that does not contain hiring protections for religious groups, forcing religious organizations to hire according to federal mandates without regard to the dictates of their own faith, thus eliminating conscience protection in hiring. 10

August 2011 – The Obama administration releases its new health care rules that override religious conscience protections for medical workers in the areas of abortion and contraception. 11

November 2011 – President Obama opposes inclusion of President Franklin Roosevelt’s famous D-Day Prayer in the WWII Memorial. 12

November 2011 – Unlike previous presidents, Obama studiously avoids any religious references in his Thanksgiving speech. 13

December 2011 – The Obama administration denigrates other countries’ religious beliefs as an obstacle to radical homosexual rights. 14

January 2012 – The Obama administration argues that the First Amendment provides no protection for churches and synagogues in hiring their pastors and rabbis. 15

February 2012 – The Obama administration forgives student loans in exchange for public service, but announces it will no longer forgive student loans if the public service is related to religion. 16

January 2013 – Pastor Louie Giglio is pressured to remove himself from praying at the inauguration after it is discovered he once preached a sermon supporting the Biblical definition of marriage. 17

February 2013 – The Obama Administration announces that the rights of religious conscience for individuals will not be protected under the Affordable Care Act. 18

2. Acts of hostility from the Obama-led military toward people of Biblical faith:

January 2010 – Because of “concerns” raised by the Department of Defense, tiny Bible verse references that had appeared for decades on scopes and gunsights were removed. 19

June 2011 – The Department of Veterans Affairs forbids references to God and Jesus during burial ceremonies at Houston National Cemetery. 20

August 2011 – The Air Force stops teaching the Just War theory to officers in California because the course is taught by chaplains and is based on a philosophy introduced by St. Augustine in the third century AD – a theory long taught by civilized nations across the world (except now, America). 21

September 2011 – Air Force Chief of Staff prohibits commanders from notifying airmen of programs and services available to them from chaplains. 22

September 2011 – The Army issues guidelines for Walter Reed Medical Center stipulating that “No religious items (i.e. Bibles, reading materials and/or facts) are allowed to be given away or used during a visit.” 23

November 2011 – The Air Force Academy rescinds support for Operation Christmas Child, a program to send holiday gifts to impoverished children across the world, because the program is run by a Christian charity. 24

November 2011 – Even while restricting and disapprobating Christian religious expressions, the Air Force Academy pays $80,000 to add a Stonehenge-like worship center for pagans, druids, witches and Wiccans at the Air Force Academy. 25

February 2012 – The U. S. Military Academy at West Point disinvites three star Army general and decorated war hero Lieutenant General William G. (“Jerry”) Boykin (retired) from speaking at an event because he is an outspoken Christian. 26

February 2012 – The Air Force removes “God” from the patch of Rapid Capabilities Office (the word on the patch was in Latin: Dei). 27

February 2012 – The Army ordered Catholic chaplains not to read a letter to parishioners that their archbishop asked them to read. 28

April 2012 – A checklist for Air Force Inns will no longer include ensuring that a Bible is available in rooms for those who want to use them. 29

May 2012 – The Obama administration opposed legislation to protect the rights of conscience for military chaplains who do not wish to perform same-sex marriages in violation of their strongly-held religious beliefs. 30

June 2012 – Bibles for the American military have been printed in every conflict since the American Revolution, but the Obama Administration revokes the long-standing U. S. policy of allowing military service emblems to be placed on those military Bibles. 31

January 2013 – President Obama announced his opposition to a provision in the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act protecting the rights of conscience for military chaplains. 32

April 2013 – Officials briefing U.S. Army soldiers placed “Evangelical Christianity” and “Catholicism” in a list that also included Al-Qaeda, Muslim Brotherhood, and Hamas as examples of “religious extremism.” 33

April 2013 – The U.S. Army directs troops to scratch off and paint over tiny Scripture verse references that for decades had been forged into weapon scopes. 34

April 2013 – The Air Force creates a “religious tolerance” policy but consults only a militant atheist group to do so — a group whose leader has described military personnel who are religious as ‘spiritual rapists’ and ‘human monsters’ 35 and who also says that soldiers who proselytize are guilty of treason and sedition and should be punished to hold back a “tidal wave of fundamentalists.” 36

May 2013 – The Pentagon announces that “Air Force members are free to express their personal religious beliefs as long as it does not make others uncomfortable. “Proselytizing (inducing someone to convert to one’s faith) goes over that line,” 37 affirming if a sharing of faith makes someone feel uncomfortable that it could be a court-marital offense 38 — the military equivalent of a civil felony.

May 2013 – An Air Force officer was actually made to remove a personal Bible from his own desk because it “might” appear that he was condoning the particular religion to which he belonged. 39

3. Acts of hostility toward Biblical values:

January 2009 – Obama lifts restrictions on U.S. government funding for groups that provide abortion services or counseling abroad, forcing taxpayers to fund pro-abortion groups that either promote or perform abortions in other nations. 40

January 2009 – President Obama’s nominee for deputy secretary of state asserts that American taxpayers are required to pay for abortions and that limits on abortion funding are unconstitutional. 41

March 2009 – The Obama administration shut out pro-life groups from attending a White House-sponsored health care summit. 42

March 2009 – Obama orders taxpayer funding of embryonic stem cell research. 43

March 2009 – Obama gave $50 million for the UNFPA, the UN population agency that promotes abortion and works closely with Chinese population control officials who use forced abortions and involuntary sterilizations. 44

May 2009 – The White House budget eliminates all funding for abstinence-only education and replaces it with “comprehensive” sexual education, repeatedly proven to increase teen pregnancies and abortions. 45 He continues the deletion in subsequent budgets. 46

May 2009 – Obama officials assemble a terrorism dictionary calling pro-life advocates violent and charging that they use racism in their “criminal” activities. 47

July 2009 – The Obama administration illegally extends federal benefits to same-sex partners of Foreign Service and Executive Branch employees, in direction violation of the federal Defense of Marriage Act. 48

September 16, 2009 – The Obama administration appoints as EEOC Commissioner Chai Feldblum, who asserts that society should “not tolerate” any “private beliefs,” including religious beliefs, if they may negatively affect homosexual “equality.” 49

July 2010 – The Obama administration uses federal funds in violation of federal law to get Kenya to change its constitution to include abortion. 50

August 2010 – The Obama administration Cuts funding for 176 abstinence education programs. 51

September 2010 – The Obama administration tells researchers to ignore a judge’s decision striking down federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. 52

February 2011 – Obama directs the Justice Department to stop defending the federal Defence of Marriage Act. 53

March 2011 – The Obama administration refuses to investigate videos showing Planned Parenthood helping alleged sex traffickers get abortions for victimized underage girls. 54

July 2011 – Obama allows homosexuals to serve openly in the military, reversing a policy originally instituted by George Washington in March 1778. 55

September 2011 – The Pentagon directs that military chaplains may perform same-sex marriages at military facilities in violation of the federal Defense of Marriage Act. 56

October 2011 – The Obama administration eliminates federal grants to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops for their extensive programs that aid victims of human trafficking because the Catholic Church is anti-abortion. 57

July 2012 – The Pentagon, for the first time, allows service members to wear their uniforms while marching in a parade – specifically, a gay pride parade in San Diego. 58

4. Acts of preferentialism for Islam:

May 2009 – While Obama does not host any National Day of Prayer event at the White House, he does host White House Iftar dinners in honour of Ramadan. 59

April 2010 – Christian leader Franklin Graham is disinvited from the Pentagon’s National Day of Prayer Event because of complaints from the Muslim community. 60

April 2010 – The Obama administration requires rewriting of government documents and a change in administration vocabulary to remove terms that are deemed offensive to Muslims, including jihad, jihadists, terrorists, radical Islamic, etc. 61

August 2010 – Obama speaks with great praise of Islam and condescendingly of Christianity. 62

August 2010 – Obama went to great lengths to speak out on multiple occasions on behalf of building an Islamic mosque at Ground Zero, while at the same time he was silent about a Christian church being denied permission to rebuild at that location. 63

2010 – While every White House traditionally issues hundreds of official proclamations and statements on numerous occasions, this White House avoids traditional Biblical holidays and events but regularly recognizes major Muslim holidays, as evidenced by its 2010 statements on Ramadan, Eid-ul-Fitr, Hajj, and Eid-ul-Adha. 64

October 2011 – Obama’s Muslim advisers block Middle Eastern Christians’ access to the White House. 65

February 2012 – The Obama administration makes effulgent apologies for Korans being burned by the U. S. military, 66 but when Bibles were burned by the military, numerous reasons were offered why it was the right thing to do. 67

Many of these actions are literally unprecedented – this is the first time they have happened in four centuries of American history. The hostility of President Obama toward Biblical faith and values is without equal from any previous American president.

Endnotes

1. Sarah Pulliam Baily, “Obama: ‘They cling to guns or religion’,” Christianity Today, April 13, 2008. (Return)

67. “Military burns unsolicited Bibles sent to Afghanistan,” CNN, May 22, 2009. (Return)

Introduction

It is 4^th of March 2009. I am in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, for just 48 hours, being taken by my host to Svay Pak:- a village 40 minutes north in a rickety old Tuk Tuk. On arrival I am ushered into a large room filled with happy playing children. It is now a Christian run children’s outreach. It was a brothel that specialised in very young children and in the production of child pornography. One little room has been preserved. It would be 8’ x 8’. A five year old Vietnamese girl, sold by her parents for $300USD was kept in this room, fed horse tranquilizers to keep her compliant and raped repeatedly by mostly western men on sex tours. This is the spot where I was ruined: where my heart broke and wept: and I pledged to be part of the answer to human trafficking and in particular the sex slave trade. Three and half years later, the organisation I lead, is involved in anti poverty or anti trafficking initiatives in Nepal, Cambodia, Vietnam, Uganda and China. The deeply disturbing statement that is the DNA of this paper:- is that there are more slaves now than at any other time in human history. The two primary questions that are birthed out of the previous statement and which the answers will form the basis of this paper are:- What role has globalisation played in causing this explosion of human slavery and secondly, what solutions to this most heinous practice are to be found in this newly globalised world?

The Vatican recently declared that human trafficking in our time is a greater scourge than the transatlantic slave trade of the 15^th century (Healey 2012:7). As American President George W Bush came toward the end of his speech to the United Nations General Assembly in September 2003 where he had spoke on Iraq, “he shifted his attention to another humanitarian crisis of Global proportions. Each year he said, 800,000 to 900,000 human beings are bought, sold or forced across the world’s borders. The trade in human beings for any purpose must not be allowed to thrive in our time” (Tran 2007:3). Right now estimates as to how many slaves there are in the world vary from 27 million (Tran 2007:11) to 36 million (Kara 2011:66). At best the numbers of people trafficked and in slavery around the world are an estimate. “It is extremely difficult to accurately calculate the number of people trafficked worldwide because:

· Trafficking happens underground or behind closed doors

· Victims are afraid of coming forward to report the crime

· Law enforcement has difficulties correctly identifying victims

· It is hard to apply a consistent definition of trafficking (Healy 2012:P7).”

To define precisely what this paper sees as slavery: The book Modern Slavery says “Slaves have lost their free will, are under violent control, are economically exploited and are paid nothing. They may be kidnapped or captured, tricked, or born into slavery and the contextual explanation of why they end up in a state of violent control, may be political, racial, religious, mythological, gender based, ethnic or a combination of these. The essence of slavery is controlling people through violence and using them to make money (Bales et al 2009:30).” Kevin Bales in Disposable People, identifies the three types of slavery in existence today. The first is Chattel Slavery and is most closely related to slavery of 150 years ago, where a person is captured, born or sold into slavery. The second is Debt Bondage or Serfdom, which Bales says is the most common form of slavery today:- A person pledges him or herself against a loan of money, usually related to travel expenses to get to the destination of “work”. This is form of slavery is strongly related to globalisation as people, even impoverished people, see opportunities in a smaller world. The third type of slavery is Contract Slavery and is used to control, manipulate and enslave people particularly in sweatshops. (1999:19-20)

In the decades leading up to the 1863 signing by Abraham Lincoln of the Emancipation Proclamation giving slaves their freedom, the predominant role that slaves played was that of manual labour. Today, slavery is predominately of a sexually exploitive nature, although there are a range of other purposes: These include: Labour, Child Soldiers, Child sacrifice, Adoption, Organs, To be involved in criminal activity, Suicide Bombers, Forced Marriages, Commercial Enterprises likes Begging, Human egg trade (McGovern 2009:3-4)

Section 1 – The forces of Globalisation that have caused or shaped Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery

The focus of this paper is first and foremost related to the role that Globalisation has played, if indeed any, in the rapid expansion of the slave trade since the days of abolitionists, William Wilberforce in Britain and Abraham Lincoln in America. Axel Dreher, Noel Gaston and Prim Martens in the book Measuring Globalisation say that “there is no unanimously –agreed upon definition of globalisation (2008:7).” It means different things to different people, depending on the researcher or commentator Thomas Friedman said it can mean “growing interaction of markets and nation states and the spread of Technological advancements (1999:1)”; Mignolo Walters defined it as “receding geographical constraints on social and cultural arrangements (Walters, 1995:3)”; To Martin Albrow, Globalisation is “the increased dissemination of ideas and technologies (1996:1)”; Ulrich Beck said it is “the threat to national sovereignty by transnational actors (2000:11)”; or finally to James Mittleman, Globalisation is “the transformation of the economic, political and cultural foundations of societies (2000:6).”

For the purposes of this paper, I would suggest an all encompassing definition that Globalisation involves the processes through which the world becomes smaller, or the processes by which we become a global village. The core of Globalisation is a seismic shift in the forms of human contact. Within Globalisation there are a number of currents or influences that are directing the flow of the globalisation processes and these are known as globalisms: Christianity, Terrorism, Environmentalism, Neo Liberal Capitalism, Feminism, to name a few. Whilst Globalisation often gets bad press:- violent protests outside of meetings of the World Trade Organisation, Occupy Wall Street protests etc, there are some significant benefits to a smaller world. For example:- greater travel options, greater choices of products and services, increased markets, a greater collective effort in the areas of AID and broader access to knowledge. But the question that must be answered is:- What role has a globalizing world played in the rapid increase of the human slavery atrocity?

Supply and Demand

Dehumanisingly reducing slavery down to an economic concept, slavery is about supply and demand and globalisation has fostered an explosion in both. The world’s rapid population increase since 1945, see Fig 1, has meant a corresponding increase in vulnerable people at the same time as there was an increase in demand, particularly for sex slaves, as economies grew, people’s net wealth increased and air travel became available and then more affordable. (The secularisation of the West and the decline of Christendom, reducing the globalism of Christianity’s moral influence could also be argued as a contributor to the increase in the demand for sex slaves.) Kevin Bales in Disposable People, observes that the greatest growth in population has been in countries where slavery is now most prevalent. (2009:12). The 2008 blockbuster French action movie Taken featuring Liam Neeson, was based on the concept of Human Trafficking and the demand for certain types of girls at high end slave auctions driving the industry. The demand for slaves was also the subject of the 2009 hit by Lady GaGa, Bad Romance, where she is auctioned to the highest bidder:- the room of bidders are a collection of rich western men.

Fig 1 Source: Mihai Andreoiu

Cost and Return on Investment

A second causal link to the increase in population is the significant drop in the price it costs to purchase a person for slavery purposes. This drop in price means the return on investment is dramatically increased which attracts a greater number of corrupt capitalists. Bales, Trood and Williamson in Modern Slavery provide anecdotal evidence of this: “The price of a slave in 1856, in 2001 dollar terms, would be $40,000, while in 2001, in Ivory Coast, workers are sold for $40 each. Or in Thailand, where rapid economic change has led to a new poverty and desperation, a girl aged 12 – 15 can be purchased for $800 to $2000. (2009:52).” So the rate of return on a trafficker’s investment is very significant, world wide annual profits are $32billion, (2009:43) and marrying this with the low risk in terms of “relatively anemic prison sentences and little or no economic penalties, (Kara 2011:66)” means you have ripe conditions for the growth of the exploitative trade in people.

Unfortunately “a fall in price has altered not only the profitability of slavery, but also the relationship between slave and master. The expensive slave of the past was a protected investment; today’s slave is a cheap and disposable input to a low level production” (Bales et al 2009:29) The organisation I lead, Nowra City Church is involved in an anti-slavery rehabilitation house for ex Nepalese teenage prostitutes who have been trafficked into the tourist areas of India. I have personally heard the stories of prostitutes around the age of 30, reaching beyond their physical beauty prime, and therefore their peak profitability, being killed and buried under concrete within the brothel compound: a young lady treated as a disposable commodity that has lived only to service the sexual pleasures of men too ugly (in so many ways) to have a loving wife who meets their sexual needs in the confines of a godly marriage.

Poverty

Linked in with the rise in population, has been an increase in Poverty. Bales et al observe that “One factor pushing these growing millions toward slavery was the very economic growth that was supposed to make their lives better. The economic transformations of first modernization and then globalisation have driven many people in the developing world both into the shanty towns surrounding the major urban centres and into serious social and economic vulnerability. These dislocated and impoverished people are a bumper crop of potential slaves” (2009:55). But it is not just poverty as we in the West understand it. It is not relative poverty. It is absolute poverty. UN Economist and Author Jeff Sachs describes this type of poverty by saying that households in absolute poverty cannot meet basic needs for survival. “They are chronically hungry, unable to access health care, safe drinking water, sanitation, adequate shelter and adequate clothing (2005:20).” It is raw and utter desperation beyond my cognitive ability and western worldview to grasp:- it is in this situation that according to author of The Bottom Billion, Paul Collier over 1 billion people find themselves living in.

Individual poverty is not only the only poverty that causes slavery. As the world economy has grown, it has had a profound impact on countries in the global south and the small scale farming that support their economies. (Bales et al 2009:56). Additionally trade policies by larger countries in a smaller globalised market place, at times produces poverty leading to national debt. “The US Government for example pays $19 billion a year to subsidize American farmers. It gives $4 billion to cotton farmers to grow a crop that is valued at $3billion. The cotton farmers in India, Benin, Mali, Burkina Faso and Togo (all countries with high levels of slavery) and high levels of national debt, cannot compete with this subsidy. (Bales et al 2009:57).”

As the processes of globalisation have opened up world markets, they have also opened up opportunities for transnational conglomerates to locate production sites into more economically viable and perhaps environmentally less restrictive countries. An example of this is the American Volta Aluminium Company. According to the Wkipedia Website, they loaned money to the Government of Ghana for the construction of the Akosombo Dam which was a hydroelectricity dam used to power an Aluminium smelter. 700 villages had to be relocated. The dam slowed the vigorous flow of water that had produced one of the greatest fishing lakes in the world and destroyed the local finishing industry – which also use to export fish. “Facing a newly impoverished environment, some fisherman began to enslave children rather than pay adult wages. Parents are promised the equivalent of $28 for their children and often the money never gets paid. Boys as young as six are forced to dive to disentangle nets caught on the tree stumps below the surface of this man made lake. The fisherman tie weight to the children to help them descend more quickly. When the water is too cold or the children get caught in the nets below, it is not uncommon to find bodies washed up on the shores (Bales et al 2009:23).”

One of the four poverty traps that author Paul Collier identifies, is that of conflict (2009:17). Conflict often causes mass displacement of impoverished people. Bales et al in Modern Slavery observes: ”Most vulnerable are displaced individuals. Poor, exposed to health risks and in unfamiliar circumstances, have little capacity to secure work and are therefore more likely to accept a traffickers false promise of employment.” (2009:108). A current example of this is the Syrian Civil War. Amnesty International on their Website say that 1.5 million Syrians have fled into Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq. These displace people are currently in crowded makeshift camps – fodder for human traffickers.

Globalisation has certainly led to the rise in Global organisations like the United Nations and Military alliances like NATO. When it comes to issues like the demand for sex slavery, it has been documented that the presence of international troops in various conflicts around the world has led to a significant increase in the demand for prostitutes.
“This was the case in Kosovo in the late 1990’s and one study argues that sex trafficking was also rare in Sierra Leone, Somalia and Cambodia until the arrival of international troops spurred a demand for trafficking victims. (Bales et al 2009:109)

In a Journal Article titled Slavery in History, the origins of slavery was traced back to Mesopotamia 6800BC. “With the ownership of land and the beginnings of technology came warfare in which enemies were captured and forced into slavery. (Healey 2012:22). One of the processes of Globalisation is technology and as “technology shrinks the world, reducing the conceptions of happiness to material prosperity and creating, along with actually poverty, relative destitution: the perception of poverty experienced when images of decadent wealth gets broadcast all over the world. (Tran 2007:1).” Now this is not to blame Kim Kardashian for slavery, but this relative destitution provides further incentive for parents to sell their children, or for young teen girls to pursue promised false jobs in the city.

No paper examining the link between Globalisation and Human slavery would be complete without an examination of the failure of the globalised world to address the issue. Certainly there has been an attempt to address poverty, which is a leading cause of slavery. William Easterly in The White Man’s Burden points out that globally, anti poverty aid has totalled $2.3 trillion dollars over the last 50 years (2006:4). Whilst there is some significant inroads being made in terms of reducing absolute poverty, it seems to be the economic basket cases that are left and unfortunately, as author Paul Collier observes, that’s about one billion people. If top down aid is not working in these economies then the globalised world needs to look for other solutions:- like a broadening of the issues that are being addressed which is what Collier prescribes, or the bottom up aid solution of William Easterly. Reality is that todate; the world has failed the bottom billion and failed the 27 million people in slavery.

Fareed Zakaria in his book A Post American World, speaks not of the decline of America but of a rise of the rest and for the purpose of the book, the rest seems to be China and India. With a population of over 1 billion, China’s human rights record has not been “globalised” to world standards. Population explosions and rural poverty as China becomes the world’s manufacturing plant, again form an unholy alliance in a nation where human life carries little weight. An article in the UK Daily Telegraph dated 5^th August 2012 reports “A major trafficking ring has been dismantled by Chinese Police with 137 people arrested, including 18 doctors who performed illegal operations on their impoverished victims.” This article is followed by another written by Dena Kram about the illegally harvested organs of executed prisoners in China.

As the processes of Globalisation have rendered the world a much smaller place, news of tragedy travels almost instantly around the world and aid organisation can be mobilized quickly to render the assistance needed. The 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami and the 2010 Haitian Earthquake are prime examples of that. Unfortunately with the same speed that aid organisations respond, human trafficking networks respond as well. With each disaster claiming around 300,000 lives, orphans are left vulnerable. In a Time Magazine article, on the Time.com website titled Human Predators Stalk Haiti’s Vulnerable Kids, dated 27 January 2010, Tim Padgett tells the following story”

Mia Pean’s heart sank last week when she saw the Toyota pickup truck cruising the debris-cluttered streets of Léogâne, ground zero for the earthquake that has devastated Haiti. Each time the driver saw a child — especially a young teen — he would stick his head out of the window and shout, “Manje, manje,” Creole for “eat.” Pean says she watched the hungry kids, four or five at a time, hop into the back of the pickup, which then disappeared. “I saw the same man again a few days later in Carrefour,” a poor suburb of Port-au-Prince, says Pean. “I asked him, ‘What are you doing with all those children?’ He said, ‘Don’t worry, we’re going to put them in safe homes.’ Then he drove off.”

Nowra City Church was active post 2004 Tsunami in Sri Lanka and similar reports were being received by the organization that Nowra City Church was partnering with. Unfortunately the ensuing and inevitable chaos that follows a massive natural disaster provides adequate cover for the exploitative and opportunistic human traffickers.

Section 2 – Globalised Solutions to the Human Slave Trade

Slavery must be stopped. Kevin Bales et al claims “slavery is ripe for extinction. (2009:154)” One of the great globalisms of the world is that of Christianity, a faith the author of this paper subscribes passionately too. One of many imploring Social Justice verses from the Christian Holy Book is located in Psalms Chapter 82 and verse 4 and simply says: “Rescue the poor and helpless from the grasp of evil men (NKJ).” If, as has already been proven, Globalisation has caused the rapid increase in slavery, what solutions then are to found within Globalisation?

Globalised Successes so far

Many of the great obstacles faced by abolitionists in the past have already been dealt with by the forces of Globalisation. “First the moral argument has been won, with slavery illegal in every country in the world and no ethnic majority or powerful religious group arguing that slavery is desirable or acceptable. Secondly, there is no economic argument to be won. The monetary value of slavery in the world economy is very small and slave based revenues flow to support not national economies, or transnational industries, but small scale criminal networks. The end of slavery threatens no countries livelihood. The third advantage is there is no legal argument to be won. For the most part, the necessary national and international laws are already on the books (Bales et al 2009:146).” These three factors alone are significant milestones and the fact that they have been dealt with is a crucial part of the complex set of steps that will need to be undertaken if slavery is to be eradicated in my lifetime.

Impacting Supply and Demand

As I have discussed the causes of slavery in the first section of this paper, the primary issue identified is an increase in the supply and a corresponding increase in demand for slaves. So to eliminate slavery, any approach must hit at the core of either supply or demand. Obviously then, effective poverty eradication programs would have to be at the heart of any slavery solution movement. Solutions to world poverty are many and varied. For example: There is the top down Aid solution that Jeffery Sach’s espouses in his book, The End of Poverty, a bottom up solution that William Easterly preaches through his book The White Man’s Burden, where the focus for the solution comes more from the empowerment of the end user and finally Paul Collier’s multi pronged approach in The Bottom Billion, using the tools of Aid, Military Intervention, Laws and Charters and Trade Policies. Time does not permit for me to discuss and unpack in detail the merits of each of these solutions nor the positions of each author on how they define the causes of the poverty traps that the bottom billion face. I personally subscribe to Colliers multi pronged approach with the addition of using Easterly’s bottom up methodology. I would add though that the concept of Appreciative Inquiry be used to connect whatever Aid is going to flow to the end user. According to my fellow Fuller Seminary student Lily Dunn in a Week 8 forum post, “Appreciative inquiry is where development workers will enter a community and not just ask them to define their needs, but ask them to identify the things they do well as a community and the resources they do have. Then, the development worker works alongside the community to enhance and expand what is already working”. It seems that a tapestry of poverty solutions most be woven together, using Collier’s ideas, Easterly’s empowering of the end user with Dunn’s concept of Appreciative Inquiry. There is no silver bullet to poverty eradication. As write this paper, the United Nations have released their largest humanitarian aid appeal ever, calling for $5.2 billion in Aid to help the people who are victims of the Syrian conflict, many of whom are now in makeshift refugee camps. A search through the United Nation’s Website and multiple News Sites failed to turn up any strategy attached to the appeal. Unfortunately therefore I am not able to comment on how this $5.2 billion will be used nor am I able to predict its impact on reducing vulnerabilities to slave traders.

To reduce the demand for slavery, there are a number of national and international initiatives that have been or are currently being undertaken. First of these is raising awareness. There are a significant number of anti slavery campaigns and organizations that amongst others things are harnessing the power of the Internet and Social Media to bring an awareness of the slavery issue to the main stream population of the West. Songs have been released like Matt Redman’s 27 Million – speaking directly of the number of slaves: Already mentioned has been Lady GaGa with her song Bad Romance. As reported on the Compassion First Website, US President Barrack Obama declared January 2012, National Awareness Month for Human Trafficking and Slavery culminating in National Freedom Day on February 1. Awareness harnesses the people power that now exists through Globalisation and one of the key channels of how this produces change is by exerting pressure on democratically elected governments to do more. At the launch of a Report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNOCD) titled Global Report on Trafficking in Persons, in New York, the Executive Director of UNODC, as reported on the UNODC website, Antonio Maria Costa said that “many governments are still in denial. There is even neglect when it comes to either reporting on, or prosecuting cases of human trafficking”. He pointed to the fact that while the number of convictions for human trafficking is increasing, two out of every five countries covered by the UNODC Report had not recorded a single conviction.” This is where people power through greater awareness can pressure governments into greater crack downs on criminals trafficking in people. We need an Arab Spring against slavery.

Awareness is one thing; changing people’s purchasing habits is much more powerful in terms of reducing the demand for the products that are produced by slavery. The Ivory Coast is the world’s biggest producer of cocoa. There are 600,000 cocoa farms in the nation and children are trafficked from the neighboring countries of Mali and Burkina Faso to work the farms. “In April 2001, Humphrey Hawksley produced a report for the BBC, exposing the problem of human trafficking to the Ivory Coast. He found children imprisoned on farms, beaten if they tried to escape and some were not even 11. The going rate for these children were $27.” (Chalke 2009:99). As cocoa is the main ingredient in chocolate, the chocolate companies around the world are complicit in child slavery and anyone who buys chocolate keeps the demand for these slaves in place. Through globalisation the world is the now the market place of these companies and the world’s consumers can now put pressure on these companies to change their practices. One such successful example of this is Nike, who after its shoes were shown to be being made in child labour sweat shops in Cambodia, China, Indonesia and Vietnam, on the front page of the November 8th 1997 New York Times, changed their policies and now ensure they don’t use child labor. This also followed an aggressive campaign outing Nike.

Reducing Profits/Increasing Risks

In terms of impacting the demand for the biggest area of human slavery, the sex industry: Siddharth Kara, a former investment banker, uses theoretical economics to propose measures that could eradicate sex trafficking in his book Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery:

There could be no sex-slave industry without male demand for commercial sex. While there are many initiatives intended to elevate the sensitivity and morality of male commercial sex consumers, I believe a more efficient attack on demand can be deployed against the economic drivers of demand for sex trafficking. It should be no surprise that sex services are highly elastic. As prices increase, demand drops considerably, especially when low-end consumers such as tuk-tuk drivers and day laborers are priced out of the market, as they largely were a decade ago.

From a policy standpoint, this drop in demand suggests that the most effective measure to eradicate the global sex-trafficking industry is to increase the slave owners’ costs, forcing them to drive up retail price or to accept a less profitable, hence less desirable, criminal business. The most effective way to attack profitability is to elevate real risk: Here are seven tactics that I believe will accomplish this goal:

1. Create an international slavery and trafficking inspection force, modeled on United Nations weapons inspections and charged with searching for establishments that exploit slaves, freeing the victims, and detaining the criminals.

2. Create trained and paid community vigilance committees, consisting of members of the community, taxi/tuk-tuk drivers, and other specially trained individuals, to seek out establishments holding slaves and report their findings to the inspection force.

3. Initiate proactive law enforcement raids against establishments for which there is a strong suspicion of slave-like exploitation, with protections in place to minimize adverse effects on the individuals living in those establishments.

4. Increase salaries for anti-trafficking police, prosecutors, and judges.

5. Create fast-track courts to prosecute trafficking crimes, with international observers and judicial review to minimize corruption.

6. Fund witness protection programs and provide living income support for slaves and their families for the duration of a trial and up to twelve months afterward.

7. Significantly increase the financial penalties associated with sex-slave crimes, including asset forfeiture and victim compensation. (2010:P28-30)

These 7 proposals aimed at reducing the profits and increasing the risks for the slave trader, if implemented in concert would certainly have the impact of interrupting the supply side of the slave market. Harnessing the power of a global organisation like the United Nations and giving it some legislative teeth even to cross sovereign state’s rights, would be a brave but potentially powerful force for freedom. The danger would be that something like this could spark an even stronger rise in Nationalism in defence of a country’s sovereignty. Some of the other initiatives put forth by Kara, could potentially be implemented through the World Social Forum. The WSF, according to Wikipedia, sees itself as a permanent space and process to build alternatives to neoliberalism and has the slogan “Another World is Possible”. Working with advocacy groups, community vigilantes (positive vigilantes) Non Government Organisations and International Witness Protection Programs could be undertaken as part of the WSF’s anti slavery push.

Conclusion

I conclude this paper with a photo. This paper has addressed the causes within Globalisation of human exploitation of the worst kind:- forced slavery of 27 million people. The processes that have been the driving force of Globalisation unfortunately and unintentionally have also created a fertile soil for wicked and evil capitalists to make dirty money from the buying and selling of humanity. This is made all the worst because the humanity being traded is the most vulnerable of all, our children, our women, our poor. This is the dark side of Globalisation. But to talk about the slavery issue as 27 million people can cause us to miss the fact that these 27 million are individual people. People like you and I with hopes, dreams, loved ones, and a desire to live a happy and fulfilled life. The picture below, is of me with 6 teenage Nepalese girls that are housed in the house Nowra City Church finances.

(Photo has been edited to protect the identity of the girls)

These girls were forced into prostitution in India’s tourist area when they were just 14 and 15. They were raped up 40 times a night. This is the face of my paper. There are solutions within globalisation that will interrupt the supply and demand for slavery: empowerment, poverty eradication, awareness, pressure on governments, stronger borders and a commitment from global organisations to be more focussed on solving the issues that cause slavery. The World Social Forum’s motto is Another World is Possible. Globalisation has already produced “another world” to what it was 100 years ago. Within Globalisation are the forces to now change that world for the 27 million human slaves. Globalisation can be the Wilberforce and Lincolns of my era: “the end of slavery is ripe for extinction (2009:154).”

You may also be interested in reading

• Globalisation and Poverty
• Disturbing statistics on Human Trafficking and Relevant Bible Verses
• When Girls Pay a Terrible Price for Poverty
• Major Paper written on the Biblical Theology behind the First Crusade

Bibliography

Author Unknown. Article on Akosombo Dam. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akosombo_Dam>. Last viewed on the 29^th May 2013

Andreoiu, Mihai. Senario Thinking <http://scenariothinking.org/wiki/index.php/World_population_growth>. Last viewed on the 5^th June 2013

Albrow, Martin. 1996. The Global Age:State and Soceity Beyond Modernity. Cambridge:Polity

Bales, Kevin. 1999. Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy. London:University of California Press

Bales, Kevin. Trood, Zoe. Williamson, Alex Kent. 2009. Modern Slavery: The Secret World of 27 Million People. Oxford:One World Publication

Batstone, David. 2007. Not for Sale. New York:Harper Collins

Beck, Ulrich. 2000. What is Globalisation? Cambridge:Polity

Chalke, Steve. 2009. Stop The Traffick: People Shouldn’t Be Bought and Sold. Oxford:Lion Hudson

Collier, Paul. 2007. The Bottom Billion. New York:Oxford

Dreher, Axel. Gaston, Noel. Martens, Pim. 2008. Measuring Globalisation Gauging its Consequences. New York:Springer Science and Business Media

Easterly, William. 2006. The White Man’s Burden. New York:Oxford

Friedman, Thomas. 1999. The Lexus and the Olive Tree. New York:Anchor Books

Healey, Justin. 2012. Human Trafficking and Slavery. Thirroul:Spinney Press

Kram, Dena. Illegal Human Trade From Executed Prisoners from China. <http://www1.american.edu/ted/prisonorgans.htm>. Last viewed 25^th May 2013

Kara, Siddharth. “Supply and Demand”. Harvard International Review, Summer2011, Vol. 33 Issue 2, p66-71.

Kara, Siddarth. 2010. Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery. New York:Columbia University Press

Maktzahn Kathleen. 2008. Trafficked. Sydney:UNSW Press

McGovern, Kevin. “Human Egg Trade Exploits Women.” Eureka Street. 31/07/2009, Vol. 19 Issue 14, p3-4.

Mittlelman, James. 2000. The Globalisation Syndrome:Transformation and Resistance. Princeton:Princeton University Press

Padgett, Tim. Human Predators Stalk Haiti’s Vulnerable Kids. Time Magazine. 27/01/2010. <http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1953379_1953494_1957160,00.html#ixzz2V6uAz2Eq> Last Viewed 29^th May 2013.

Rovera, Donatello. People on the Move. <http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/people-move-many-displaced-syrians-going-back-home-out-question-2013-05-22> Last viewed on the 30^th May 2013

Sachs, Jeffrey. 2005. The End of Poverty. New York:Penguin Books

Tran, Jonathan. “Sold into Slavery.” Christian Century. 11/27/2007, Vol. 124 Issue 24, p22-26, 5p

Walters, Mignolo. 1995. Globalisation. London:Routedge

Zakaria, Fareed. 2008. The Post American World. 2nd ed. New York:W.W. Norton and Company INC.

Background to the book

“This Epistle is really the chief part of the New Testament and the very purest Gospel, and is worthy not only that every Christian should know it word for word, by heart, but occupy himself with it every day, as the daily bread of the soul. It can never be read or pondered too much, and the more it is dealt with the more precious it becomes, and the better it tastes.”¹

“It is the most remarkable production of the most remarkable man. It is his heart. It contains his theology, theoretical and practical, for which he lived and died. It gives the clearest and fullest exposition of the doctrines of sin and grace and the best possible solution of the universal dominion of sin and death in the universal redemption by the second Adam.”²

The Book of Romans is one of the most profound books in existence; it is certainly one of the most valued parts of the Holy Scriptures.

It has been appropriately termed the Cathedral of the Christian faith.

Its profound theology and impressive style were reason enough for it to be assigned the first place among the Pauline epistles.

When Paul wrote this epistle to the church in Rome:-

• that congregation must have already been in existence for a number of years, for Paul writes that he had desired to visit them “these many years” (15:23).
• To him this church was strong enough to help him carry out further missionary activities.
• They are not called recent converts; they are not treated as having been improperly instructed, but seem to have been an organized and well-grounded congregation (15:14, “filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another”).
• The epistle deals with no major error in the church; nor does it have to deal with organizational principles.
• It was a church that was universally famous (1:8), and not merely because it was in Rome.

The Roman church was a group that had a large Jewish element, but was also filled with Gentile converts from paganism, both free as well as slaves.

How the church in Rome was started is unclear.

The Roman Catholic view is that Peter founded it; another view is that Roman Christians from Pentecost in Jerusalem made their way there.

But it may simply be that several Christian families or groups from Pauline churches in the East settled in Rome and grew together.

An Immense Multitude

According to the end of the book, there were several congregations meeting in the city. At the outbreak of Neronian persecutions, Tacitus says that the Christians in Rome were “an immense multitude.”

The Place and Date of Romans

Based on the material from Acts and the Corinthian epistles, the Book of Romans clearly indicates that it was written from Corinth on Paul’s third missionary journey. Paul had never visited Rome; but after fulfilling his mission of mercy to Jerusalem, he hoped to go to Rome en route to Spain (Rom. 15:23-25). At any rate, the date of the book is probably 60 A.D.

The chronological order of the Pauline epistles is about as follows:

• First and Second Thessalonians,
• Galatians,
• First and Second Corinthians,
• Romans,
• Colossians,
• Ephesians,
• Philippians,
• Philemon,
• First Timothy,
• Titus,
• and Second Timothy.

Romans is placed first among Paul’s letters in the New Testament not only because it is his longest work, but because it also furnishes a massive and basic theological frame-work for the whole collection of the apostle’s writings.

The Theme of the Book of Romans

The theme of the book centers on the Gospel of Christ (Rom. 1:16,17).

¹⁶ For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,^[a] for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. ¹⁷ For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”^[b]

Paul is deeply concerned that his readers understand how a sinner may be received as righteous by a righteous God; and how a justified sinner should live daily to the glory of God.

Most commentators have said that verses sixteen and seventeen of chapter one are a concise summary of the content of the epistle.

But C. K. Barrett goes a step further to say that it is not wrong to see in them a summary of Paul’s theology as a whole.³ Perhaps we can be very precise here. Perhaps in the text of Habakkuk 2:4 as it is used in Romans (and elsewhere), we have a pithy expression of the essence of the doctrine of the Word of God—”the just shall live by faith.”

Habakkuk 2:4

Behold the proud,
His soul is not upright in him;
But the just shall live by his faith.

The Structure of the Book of Romans

• The book falls neatly into an introduction (1:1-17),
• A doctrinal section on justification (1:18—5:11),
• A doctrinal section on sanctification (5:12—8:39),
• A parenthetical section on Israel (9:1—11:36),
• A practical application section (12:1—15:13);
• A conclusion (15:14—16:27).

Breakdown of the Chapter.

Verse 1

1 Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God

Paul begins his magnificent letter with the longest of his salutations.

In 1:1-7 he tells them

• who he is (1:1),
• gives them the heart of the gospel (1:2-4),
• the nature of his mission and ministry (1:5)
• and addresses the audience he has presumably never met (1:6-7).

In this first verse Paul sets out for his readers three important facts;

1) his master;

2) his office;

3) his purpose.¹

First, Paul considered himself a slave or bondservant (dou`lo”) of Christ Jesus. While it was unthinkable to a cultured Greek that a relationship with a deity would involve the concept of slavery, it was not at all uncommon for a Jew.

Undoubtedly the background for the use of the expression “a bondservant of…” is to be found in the Jewish Old Testament scriptures so that it does not connote drudgery, but honor and privilege.

It was used of Israel in general at times (Isa 43:10),

Is 43:10

¹⁰ “You are My witnesses,” says the Lord,
“And My servant whom I have chosen,
That you may know and believe Me,
And understand that I am He.
Before Me there was no God formed,
Nor shall there be after Me.

but was especially associated with famous OT personalities including such great men as Moses (Joshua 14:7), David (Ps 89:3; cf. 2 Sam 7:5, 8) and Elijah (2 Kings 10:10): all these men were servants of the Lord.

Joshua 14:7

⁷ I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh Barnea to spy out the land, and I brought back word to him as it was in my heart.

Ps 89:3

“I have made a covenant with My chosen,
I have sworn to My servant David:

2 Kings 10:10

¹⁰ Know now that nothing shall fall to the earth of the word of the Lord which the Lord spoke concerning the house of Ahab; for the Lord has done what He spoke by His servant Elijah.”

Though there is indeed much honor in the use of the expression, for it was an extreme privilege to serve YHWH, it was not Paul’s desire in this context to simply place himself among venerated OT saints, or express his gratitude to be a servant of Christ Jesus (though both are true), but rather to communicate in plain terms his commitment and devotion to the Messiah Jesus. Though there are several reasons for his allegiance to Christ, it is ultimately due to his recognition of who Jesus is. Paul’s insertion of “Christ Jesus” into the OT formula “a servant of YHWH” shows the high view of Jesus that he maintained. He considered Jesus worthy of the same obedience and devotion as YHWH.

Practical Application

• Would you consider yourself a servant of the lord?
• In what way does that manifest?
• Is there a heart adjustment to be made in this area in some part of your life?

Prayer Spot:

Take a moment to lead Nowra City Church in a prayer of fresh commitment to be a servant of the Lord.

Next, Paul was called to be an apostle (ajpovstolo”). With the use of the term apostle, Paul moves from his allegiance to Christ to his authority to speak on Christ’s behalf.

It was God who called him in history to become his spokesperson for the gospel.

While the term ‘apostle’ is used with a general force in the New Testament to designate someone who is sent (cf. Phil 2:25; 2 Cor 8:3),

Philippians 2:25

²⁵ Yet I considered it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker, and fellow soldier, but your messenger and the one who ministered to my need;

it is also used by Paul to speak of someone who is specially gifted to communicate revelation from God and to whom the churches were responsible (1 Cor 12:28; Eph 3:5).²

1 Corinthians 12:28

²⁸ And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues.

Thus the apostolic gift was foundational to the development of the church (Eph 2:20; 4:11). This latter meaning is the sense Paul intends here. He is about to communicate revelation from God and the Roman church needs to know that as a servant of Christ, and one called as an apostle, he has the authority to do so.

Next, while Paul was keenly aware of his allegiance to Christ and conscious of his foundational role in the church as an apostle, he also knew that the particular expression of his servanthood and apostleship was by means of being set apart (ajfwrismevno”) by God for the ministry of the gospel (eujaggevlion) to Gentiles.

Being ‘set apart’ has in it the idea of consecration and total devotion to the service of God.

It was used of the offering of the first-fruits (Num 15:20) and God setting apart Israel as His special possession (Lev 20:26). It may carry the sense of Jeremiah 1:5 here

Jeremiah 1:5

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you;
Before you were born I sanctified you;
I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”

that is, set apart before birth, but more than likely since it follows called it refers to Paul’s dedication to the gospel at the time of his call to apostleship.³ The gospel refers to God’s saving activity in Christ and comes from the Hebrew term rvb (bashar) in the OT.⁴ It means to proclaim good news, especially of victory (e.g., 1 Sam 31:9).

Practical Application

In Summary – this is referring to Paul’s dedication to the gospel – which is God’s saving activity in Christ. What level would you say is your dedication to the God’s saving activity?

How does your dedication to God’s saving activity manifest?

Do you invite people to church?

Do you share about your faith to unchurched family and friends?

Do you pray for your unchurched family and friends?

Does your dedication to participate need an adjustment?

Prayer Spot

Lead the church in a prayer committing afresh to being dedicated to God’s saving activity/

Verse 2

² which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures,

The mention of promised beforehand in the holy scriptures indicates that Paul views the gospel about Christ as naturally arising out of the OT and supported by it.

We will see his use of OT scripture in chapter 4 to demonstrate just such a truth and that the proper interpretation and fulfillment of OT hope is in Christ. This will be critical in his discussion of the Law throughout Romans and the place of Israel in God’s plan of salvation.

Verse 3

³ concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh,

Having already stated that the gospel was promised beforehand in the OT, Paul now moves on to further define it.

Notice that Jesus was God’s son before his resurrection from the dead. The mention of David links Jesus with all that was promised to David in 2 Samuel 7:8-16, Ps 72, 89, etc. and asserts his true and enduring humanity.

2 Samuel 7:12

¹² “When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹³ He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. ¹⁴ I will be his Father, and he shall be My son.

^{Verse 4}

⁴ and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.

The reference to the Holy Spirit as “spirit of holiness”. This is an uncharacteristic phrase (Semitic) for Paul. The use of this expression along with other un-Pauline markers in the text may suggest that Paul is drawing on church tradition with which his readers may have been familiar.

Verse 5

⁵ Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name,

The nature of the grace to which Paul refers here is linked closely with apostleship and must be viewed as that enablement which works itself out in the context of one’s divine calling and vocation.

Practical Application

God’s grace is an enabling factor that empowers you in your ministry call – and everyone has a ministry call.

Back to Verse 5

Here we have one of the many universalistic statements of Paul concerning the scope of the offer of salvation in Christ. Though Jesus came as the fulfillment of OT promise he is not for the Jew only, but indeed for the Gentiles as well. His name is that of YHWH (10:9-10) and he is Lord over the entire world.

The tension between particularistic theology and universalistic theology. This verse should settle it once and for all.

Verse 6

⁶ among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ;

The reference among whom you also shows that a good number, if not the majority, of the Christians in Rome were Gentiles. Further, Paul says that these Gentile Christians are called to belong to Jesus Christ. For Christians, all of reality is wrapped up in a relationship—a personal relationship with their Lord to whom they gladly belong. He has bought them with a price (1 Cor 6:19-20) and they are secure in him (Rom 8:38-39).

1 Cor 6:19-20

¹⁹ Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? ²⁰ For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body^[a] and in your spirit, which are God’s.

Romans 8:38-39

³⁸ For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, ³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Practical Application

Do you feel secure in your relationship with God?

Do you feel loved by God?

Encourage the congregation to meditate on this verse throughout this next week.

Verse 7

⁷ To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul says that these Christians are loved by God and called to be saints. The reference to them being saints is in accord with their attachment to Christ, through faith, and not as a result of their deeds.

Though their calling will affect their lives, here the focus in on their status before God; they are holy in his sight. Paul ends his rather lengthy salutation with a commendation of grace and peace, the former being the efficient cause of the latter.

Practical Application

Does the grace through which you are saved bring peace into your life?

Prayer Spot – Pray for people’s revelation of grace and increase in peace in their life.

Summary of the Passage

In his salutation Paul wants his readers to know that he is a slave of Christ in the spirit of important OT personalities, and that he is an apostle with authority and set apart to the ministry of the gospel. The gospel he preaches has its antecedents in the OT and is about God’s son who was of regal descent and was declared the Son of God in power by the Holy Spirit in consequence of his resurrection from the dead. On the basis of Christ’s Lordship Paul had received grace and apostleship to win the Gentiles to obedience to Christ. Those in Rome constituted part of the field assigned to the apostle’s ministry.

Verse 8

Desire to Visit Rome

⁸ First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.

· In this next section, vv. 8-15, Paul wants to tell his readers how he longs to visit them in order that both they and he will benefit from each other’s faith.

· The faith of the Roman Christians had become known probably throughout Asia minor and all the way back to Palestine and Jerusalem.

· Indeed, the fact that people had bowed the knee to Christ in the capital city was significant for the cause of Christ around the world. For this Paul was extremely thankful to God.

Practical Application

Is your faith known?

What is your faith known for?

What could you do to increase the fame of your faith? (In a good way)

Verse 9

⁹ For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of His Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers,

It was common for the apostle to assert his constancy in prayer for other christians, both for those whom he had ministered to as well as those he had not (1 Cor 1:4; Eph 1:16; Phil 1:4; Col 1:3; 1 Thes 1:2; 2 Thes 1:3 Phlmn 3).

1 Cor 1:4

⁴ I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus,

The term serve connotes the idea of worship and is so used in the Greek OT to refer to Israel’s commitment to worship YHWH (Ex 20:5; Deut 5:9) and in her desire to leave Egyptian captivity and worship/serve God in the desert (Ex 7:16). Thus Paul’s service in the gospel of God, in that he preaches it to others and prays unceasingly for them, is really his deep expression (cf. in my spirit) of worship to God.

Practical Application

I am deeply challenged by the thought of what do I pray about without ceasing.

Have you ever analysed your prayers over a 6 month period?

Think through what you have prayed for even this week – what is the consist area of prayer?

Verse 10

¹⁰ making request if, by some means, now at last I may find a way in the will of God to come to you.

It was Paul’s strong desire to be able to visit the church in Rome, and not just to use it as a base of operations for the Spanish mission (cf. 15:24), but to contribute to the church (1:11). In any case, he was not entirely certain that God would grant the request.

Verse 11

¹¹ For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, so that you may be established— ¹² that is, that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.

In fact, whatever the gift is, it will lead to their strengthening.

Commentary quote “Would that all christians would have this mindset. To seek to strengthen others by contributing to their spiritual needs is truly a sign of a deep relationship with Christ. Not only did Paul preach the gospel, and defend it, he also lived it.”

Practical Application

Does your faith strengthen others?

How would you do this

Would you make a commitment today to follow the example of Paul and aim to strengthen others? Certainly giving encouragement is one primary way of strengthening people.

Verse 13

¹³ Now I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that I often planned to come to you (but was hindered until now), that I might have some fruit among you also, just as among the other Gentiles.

Paul had often tried to come to the Romans but was unable.

He says the same thing in 15:22 where the pressing need to establish new churches and promulgate the gospel in other areas hindered him from coming.

Thus we may assume that this is what he means here in 1:13. Paul maintained a tremendous zeal for the gospel to go to the Gentiles and that he have some fruit among them referring probably to both new converts as well as spiritual growth among the christians.

Verse 14 and 15

¹⁴ I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise. ¹⁵ So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also.

The fact that Paul knew he had been set apart for the gospel of God (1:1) led to his deep conviction that given such a privilege he was now in debt to all men, that is, to preach the gospel to them. It is clear that Paul means all men by the description he gives.

Scholars have put forth many suggestions, some better than others, but the most reasonable seems to be that the first pair refers to cultured Greeks as well as Barbarians, that is, those who were not Greeks. Thus we have here a reference to all of Gentile humanity. The second pair, the wise and the foolish, could be a further explanation of the first pair or simply a cross section of Gentile humanity including those who thought they had achieved some intellectual status and those who obviously had not

Practical Application

Are you ready to preach?

Do you have an elevator pitch for your faith?

Verse 16

¹⁶ For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,^[a] for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.

Paul was certainly not ashamed of the gospel for as he saw it, it was the power of God to save men, both Jew and Gentile alike. He will explain how it not only saves from the penalty of sin, but also from its power and ultimately from its very presence.

It has the power to bring anyone into a right relationship with God through Christ at the moment they believe in God’s saving action in Christ. The reference to the Jew first and also to the Greek is not merely temporal such that the Jews were the first to hear the good news, but also one of priority for the promises of salvation through God’s messiah were first given to the Jew. This theme will be developed at length in Romans 9-11.

Verse 17

¹⁷ For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”^[b]

The word for takes us back to the preceding idea in v. 16 about the gospel being the power of God for salvation.

How is that so? Paul knows that the gospel saves because it reveals the righteousness of God.

We may understand the expression righteousness of God in a broad sense referring both to God’s saving activity and the resultant status of those who have been saved; they are now in a right relationship with him.

It is not simply a reference to his character, though all that he does in saving men and women flows from his righteous character.

The reference to from faith to faith has been variously interpreted throughout the history of the church:

1) it refers to the faith of the OT saints to the faith of NT saints;

2) from an immature faith to a more mature one;

3) from a Law-oriented faith to a gospel-oriented faith;

4) from the faith of the preacher to the faith of the hearers;

5) from present faith to a future faith;

6) from God’s faithfulness to man’s faith, etc.

The point of Habakkuk’s comment in the OT is that it is only by sheer faith that one can ever comprehend the seemingly difficult things God does

Thus we may say that, by the phrase from faith to faith, Paul is simply arguing that it is by faith and faith alone that one receives this righteous status and understands God’s work of saving sinners. This doctrine, Paul says, is anticipated in the Old Testament as (kaqwV”) the quotation from Habbakuk 2:4 argues.

But its function is to substantiate the claim that the gospel is appropriated only by faith.

It is enough to say that by faith is probably to be taken with the righteous rather than will live as we have translated it. (But cf. the Greek OT and the Hebrew text which take by faith with will live).

Thus the point Paul is making is that the person who is righteous by faith, will live. Paul uses this text in a way somewhat different than it is understood in the OT. The reader is urged to compare the two.

I trust this has deepened your understanding of these verses

Peter

You may also enjoy these sermon notes blog posts

• How to study the book of Psalms
• Ever been concerned that Heaven might be downright boring?
• The Holy Spirit in the New Testament
• Powerful meditation on Ezekiel 37

Now I basically live at sea level and Colorado Springs is about 5000 feet above sea level and the top of Pikes Peak is about 14,000 ft about sea level. I had failed to read the briefing from Fuller Seminary that recommended you spend a few day acclimatizing before going up the Peak. Anyway on the way up I sat next to a guy who was from Texas and we chatted  for a bit. When we got to the top, Jason and I took photos for each other. You could definitely tell the air was thinner and the percentage of oxygen was less than normal. Just walking around I found myself a little short of breath but nothing major.

We were up there for about 40 minutes and then it was time to get back into the Cog Railway carriage for the trip down. As I was walking toward the carriage I remember thinking that I don’t feel so good. I got into the carriage and by this stage I was not feeling well at all and so thought I would sleep it off, so I put my head back to take a little nap. Then I was having this most bizarre dream. The dream was that there were several people standing over me and they were slapping me in the face saying, Mister Mister, wake up. In the slowest fashion, the dream slowly morphed into reality as I was regaining consciousness. What had happened was that I had passed out from altitude sickness and had landed head first onto the floor of the carriage. There was an off duty paramedic on board and a paediatric nurse on holidays from LA, both had come to my aid when I had used my face to break my fall. My sunglasses had cut the top my nose quite deeply and my forehead was bleeding – which was nothing substantial yet I am still scarred on my forehead. Anyway, Jason, the Texan guy I was sitting beside, grabbed my camera and took some photos. (Not the most flattering photos I will admit).

The Cog Railway driver had called an ambulance and said that they would take me to hospital for examination once we got to the bottom. By that stage I was fully conscious and so I said I wouldn’t go to hospital as I had only two days to be a tourist and I didn’t want to spend the rest of my Saturday in an American Hospital, so they cancelled the Ambulance. I was telling this story to Dr Robi Sondereggar (Clinical Psychologist who was preaching recently at Nowra City Church) and he was saying that it was good that I fell out of my seat as the danger with Altitude Sickness is that it turns into High Altitude Pulmonary Edema which is potentially fatal.

Good times.

Probably should read my briefing sheets in the future.

Peter

Here are a few more photos from the top of Pikes Peak. If you ever get the opportunity to go up Pikes Peak – make sure you go.

I posed a question on my Facebook page today asking – If you could rid the world of one evil – which one would you get rid of? I had many responses. Here are a few:-

• Child Pornography
• Abortion
• Selfishness
• Rape
• Love of money
• Sickness
• Cancer
• Greed Lying
• Deception
• Violence
• Disobedience
• The Catholic Church
• Hatred

Anyway it got me thinking about what I would get rid of if I could take out one evil in the world. I decided I would get rid of sexual depravity. If the skewed version of sex that the world traffic’s in ceased to exist, think of all the subsequent evils that would no longer be part of our world:

1. No Child Sexual abuse
2. No human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation
3. No Prostitution
4. No Sexualisation of our children
5. Greatly reduced rate at which HIV is being spread, particularly in poorer African nations. The result of this would be less orphans as the death rate from HIV would be very low. With both parents still on earth, children would be protected from being trafficked as child soldiers or for their labour.
6. No more one night stands where sex is viewed completely in the framework of fulfilling lust.
7. No Pornography: child or otherwise
8. No rapes
9. A greatly reduced abortion rate
10. No Affairs therefore no heartache from being cheated on and no pain for the children when the family breaks down
11. No unwanted or unwelcomed sexual attention
12. Reduced number of Sexual Transmitted Infections
13. No sexual harassment in the workplace
14. Fewer political scandals like Peter Slipper and Craig Thompson
15. No Kidnapping and enforced sex slavery like the incident in America recently

If only we as humanity would follow God’s prescription for intimacy in marriage.

Peter

You can follow me on Twitter @PeterPilt

You may also like to read

• God’s Perspective on Sex
• The Dangers of and the Damage Pornography Causes
• Disturbing Statistics on Human Trafficking

I read this powerful short story about ten years ago and I think it sums up life well. My observation is that people get stuck in different chapters. As you read this – can you identify what chapter you are in right now?

Biography in 5 Chapters  by Portia Nelson

Chapter 1
I walk down a street
there is a deep hole in the sidewalk
I fall in
I am lost…I am hopeless
It isn’t my fault
It takes forever to find my way out.

Chapter 2
I walk down the same street
there is a deep hole in the sidewalk
I pretend I don’t see it
I fall in again
I cant believe I am in the same place
but…it isn’t my fault

Chapter 3
I walk down the same street
there is a deep hole in the sidewalk
I see it is there
I still fall in it, it’s a habit
my eyes are open
I know where I am
it is my fault
I get out immediately

Chapter 4
I walk down the same street
there is a deep hole in the sidewalk
I walk around it

Chapter 5
I walk down another street

As I read the poem I am thinking of the Top Ten Potholes that in my experience and observation, people, including myself, step into:-

1. Wrong thinking
2. Destructive Habits
3. Negativity
4. Wrong choices
5. Bad Attitudes
6. Reactive living
7. Unresolved marital or relationship issues
8. Unresolved hurts and anger
9. Critical or judgemental spirit
10. Excluding God
11. Lack of willingness to persevere through hard times
12. Unwillingness to learn or change

Both the hummingbird and the vulture fly over America’s deserts. All vultures see is rotting meat, because that is what they look for. They thrive on that diet. But hummingbirds ignore the smelly flesh of dead animals. Instead, they look for the colourful blossoms of desert plants. The vultures live on what was. They live on the past. They fill themselves with what is dead and gone. But hummingbirds live on what is. They seek new life. They fill themselves with freshness and life. Each bird finds what it is looking for. We all do.

My prayer for you is Chapter 5 and that you avoid the common potholes.

Peter

Follow me on Twitter @PeterPilt

You may also like to read The Top Ten Best Pieces of Advice that I Have Received in Life

Congratulations on becoming a Christian. Here are ten pieces of advice you need to keep your new faith healthy.

1) Understand that you have not just joined a church, started a new hobby, or got religion. You have just entered a relationship, yes it’s with God, but a relationship none the less, and as such the normal principles of developing a relationship apply. They include, get to know each other, spend time with each, be committed, communicate to each other.

2) Read the bible every day. The bible is spiritually alive (Hebrews 4:12) and as you feed on the Word through reading and study, you will grow strong in your walk with God and in your new faith.  Here is a link to my Blog on My Top Ten Favourite Bible Verses

3) Pray. There is no set format or formula for prayer. You can pray standing, sitting, kneeling, in the shower, on the motorbike, in the car, at work or in bed. You can pray silently, loudly, whispering, whatever. Prayer is just a Christian term for talking and listening to God. But it is essential if you are going to grow in your relationship with God. Imagine two people meet for the first time and they don’t ever talk to each other – they are never really going to get to know each other.

4) Find a good Church. A church that preaches the word of God with passion. If I was looking for a church, I would want to check out their statement of belief to make sure it was straight down the line biblical doctrine. You need a church that is also focussed on others not just itself. Here is Nowra City Church’s Statement of Belief

5) Commit to Church. When you have found a good church, commit to it. Make it yours. Turn up early and leave late. To the best of your ability, be in church every Sunday.  Join a life group and serve somewhere in the life of the church. Develop relationships – this is key. But don’t sit back and wait for friends to drop into your lap – go out and be friendly.

6) Get Baptized. Jesus in Luke 3:20-21, got water baptized and the bible records that the heavens open and the Holy Spirit descended like a dove upon Christ. Getting baptized is a public statement of your faith, it is intensely spiritual and is the outworking of what has happened to you spiritually since you gave your heart to Christ. Have a look at Romans 6 for more information.

7) Tell people you know about your new faith and invite them to your church.

8) Don’t have the mentality that all Christians are perfect and that you will never be hurt or disappointed in church. Reality is that a church is in some senses a hospital where broken people are being put back together by God’s grace. We are all a work in progress and at times, you may get hurt, offended or disappointed by people in Church. Love them regardless and stay focussed on Christ.

9) Begin to read and learn about the Holy Spirit and the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. This is different from Water Baptism and is a wonderful experience promised to every believer.  Here is a link to my blog on the Holy Spirit in the New Testament.

10) Commit to being an on fire radical for Jesus Christ. The bible warns of luke warm Christianity. Instead commit to being passionate for God, for His Church and for people. It’s the greatest life you can live. I have been a Christian for 38 years and I am more passionate now than ever.  Here is a link to my blog on Things you can do to move your faith from Good to Great.

Here are some other links that may help you:

• 8 Biblical Ways to Follow Jesus
• Compelling Evidence of the Authenticity of the Bible
• What is God Like?
• How to Study the Book of Psalms.

I pray a blessing on your walk with God.

We can connect via twitter @PeterPilt or via Facebook https://www.facebook.com/peterpilt#!/peter.pilt.5?fref=ts

Peter

Was thinking today about the Top Ten Problems in Australia right now. I know that sounds negative but I am passionately patriotic and not wanting to dump on our great nation. However there are some issues that really concern me at the moment. Here are my ten:-

1) The blatant bias of the media.

2) Lack of Statesmen like Leadership amongst our politicians: on both sides.  You only have to look at the behaviour during Question Time to see this:- but its much more than just this.

3) The vilification of people personally when they speak out against popular opinion, leads me to conclude: Free Speech is dead in Australia. This is exceptionally sad as it stifles robust debate.

4) The valueless society we now have which means we have a society without boundaries. Humanity needs boundaries for health living.

5) The popularity of philosophies that traffic in hopelessness: – evolution, atheism and post modernism.

6) The entitlement mentality that has been generated by our welfare system.

7) The lack of honour and respect in our society for others.

8) The prevalence of the hypocritical tool of opinion control called the doctrine of tolerance, which basically plays like this: You must tolerate every opinion except the Christian’s opinion.

9) The culture of binge drinking and all related problems associated with that.

10) Lack of Mental Health services in rural Australia.

What would you add or subtract from my list?

Peter

1) Psalm 1:1-3

Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
² But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
³ He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.

I love the picture that this Psalm gives of the person who delights themselves in the Word of God. Verse three says, He shall be like a tree, not a tumble weed, planted, not in a pot plant, but planted beside rivers of life giving water. There is a sense here of a gardener strategically planting the tree in a specific location according to a grand design and according to what best suits the needs of the tree. The Psalmist then goes on to say that this person will be like a tree that brings forth fruit in season, that does not wither, in other words it’s there for the long haul and then summing it all up, the Psalmist says, whatever that person does will prosper. What a powerful encouragement to love the word of God.

2) Galatians 1:6

⁶ I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel,

I marvel at how quick you are departing from the faith. I love this scripture as it reminds me that even if the Apostle Paul himself was the person who led me to The Lord, and/or started my church, the longevity of my faith is not a guarantee without me continually firing up my faith and making sure that I have a biblical orthodoxy. The background to this scripture is that the church at Galatia had after just a very short time, returned to the teaching of the law. The emphasis of the law in those days was human effort to connect with God. Another reason why I love this scripture is because it serves as a reminder for me to always emphasis grace in my life and that I am saved by the mercy and grace of God and that it is not a works based faith at all.

3) Proverbs 13:20

 He who walks with wise men will be wise.

I love this scripture as God use this scripture to speak into my life when I was 18. I had just read in the books of James that God gives wisdom liberally to anyone who asks:- and so I asked. Two days later I was reading Proverbs and when I read He who walks with wise men will be wise, God spoke and said – there is the key to wisdom. 25 years later and that verse continues to unlock wisdom for me as I surround myself with wise men and women.

4) Micah 6:8

He has shown you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justly,
To love mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God?

I love this verse as to me it sums up the priorities of my life. One is an inquiring heart:- What do you require of me Lord? My heart is to serve you, follow you and be obedient to you. And then He gives the answer. I am to act justly. I am to love Justice. I am to cause Justice to happen. I am to champion Justice. I am to be a Justice Hero. Secondly God says I am to love Mercy. Not just to be merciful, but that I would love mercy. That mercy and I would be in relationship and then change my life so that mercy would overflow through my world, much actions, my words, my spending, my thoughts, my relationships. Thirdly, as I inquire of The Lord and I am being a Justice Hero, and I am loving Mercy, that I would build humility around my life as I walk with The Lord. To walk with The Lord, means we are going the same direction, heading to the same destination, walking at the same pace, and have close proximity.

5) John 3:16

¹⁶ For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Herein is the entire bible summarized in 25 words. It speaks of man’s sinful need, his eternal density as a result, the moving and motivating love of God being the agenda behind the sacrifice of Christ, the most precious only son:- which speaks of the expense of my salvation. Its a gift, which to me shows the character of God is being amazingly generous and just this one aspect alone demands a response from my life, that I too would reflect that generosity. It continues with the universality of the access to salvation:- the whosever, and the means by which one accesses this salvation:- faith, which is awesome that it is not by works so it is emphasizing Grace. Finally it promises eternal life, laying out the most amazing promise of the scripture, that I can be with God for all eternity.

6) Acts 17:16

¹⁶ Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols.

At the time of writing there were about 30,000 idols in Athens. Paul looked around and saw the futility of all this idol worship going on and his spirit was provoked within him. In other words there was a heart reaction. It is a sad person who cannot be moved by the injustices of the world or the need of people for salvation. The bible records multiple times that Jesus was moved with compassion. I love this verse in Acts as it inspires me to keep my heart soft in the presence of God, so that I can be moved by what moves God’s heart.

7) Romans 15:13

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Hope is the spine of our faith and I love how here God introduces himself as the God of Hope. He then goes on to say that through the Holy Spirit and faith, we may abound in Hope. In a world that is filled with hopelessness and plagued with philosophies that rob the world of Hope: like Evolution, Post Modernism and Atheism, what a contrasting picture – abounding in faith is. This verse reminds me of the power of my faith. I live my life abounding in hope.

8) Psalm 82:3

Rescue the poor and helpless from the grasp of evil men.

This is a new favourite for me. I have recently researched a lot on human slavery and this verse God used to motivate me to do something about it. As a Western Christian, I must do something about the abomination called the Human Slave trade. I must rescue the poor and helpless from the grasp of evil men.

9) 1 Corinthians 13:4

Love is patient. Love is Kind.

Kindness is love’s conduct. Its how love behaves. Kindness is love in shoe leather. Kindness adds sweetness to everything. Of great consequence is the immense power of kindness in bringing out the good of the characters of others. I use this verse to keep my life focussed on kindness.

10) Isaiah 29:13

In as much as the people draw near me with their mouth and they do honor me with their lips, yet their heart is far from me.

Love this scripture as it sums up the fact that relationship with God is about sincerity of heart.

If you got something out of this blog, you may also enjoy

• How to Study the Book of Psalms
• Ever Been Concerned that Heaven Might be Downright Boring
• Inspiring Thoughts on the Power of Kindness

I encourage you to follow me on Twitter @PeterPilt

Peter