Why did I leave the established Church in our area?

Hebrews 10:25 is often quoted to allegedly demonstrate that Christians should not forsake meeting together as members of an established church. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. (Hebrews 10:25) Some will even use the example of a coal that is removed from a hot fire will soon lose its heat and may only regain that heat when it is placed back with the other hot coals. However, that is not what this passage is really saying. It is not to do with the gathering together for worship, but instead with who they actually are worshipping with. The synagogue (sunagoge = an assembly of people; a place of assembly) was the accepted place for Jews to gather together for worship according to the Old Testament laws. But here that term “gathering … together” (Hebrews 10:25) is episunagoge, a term used in the New Testament specifically for the gathering of Jewish Christians as opposed to the gathering of Jews at the Temple or synagogue. The context was of the persecution of Jewish Christians especially those who lived in Jerusalem. The writer to the Hebrews exhorted the Jewish Christians to not forsake their Christian worship meetings by returning to their previous Judaism gatherings for worship. In fact, in the early Church, small gatherings in people’s homes were common; often the groups were small, they had no established worship building, and persecution was minimised if groups were kept small (thus keeping a low profile).

In 2013 we decided to hold home church meetings for the extended family. The move was prompted initially by the apostasy of a local supposedly biblical church (Living Springs Baptist Church, Rockbank, Victoria) that some of the family attended. In 2012 they did not have anyone appointed as pastor, and toward the end of 2012 I was informed that they were advertising for a pastor. Interestingly, while I received a copy of the advert, it was apparently never made public. The person who was filling in for the pastor position (a deacon and a member of that church) had apparently decided to not make the vacancy widely known. As it turned out, he seems to have desired the position for himself without having to compete for it.

Living Springs, via their pastor-hopeful, was at that time coming under the influence of a nearby calvinist church, Gracewest Bible Church. It is interesting to note that so many calvinist churches like to advertise themselves as “Grace” churches (when they show so little grace) and “Bible” churches (when they show so much disregard for biblical truth). Gracewest was supplying some of the speakers for Living Springs, and they regularly used the Living Springs property for their own meetings. At that time I was just starting to gain some understanding of the immensity of the apostasy of calvinism and wanted to ensure that Living Springs was given an opportunity to make a stand against this heretical doctrine.

Therefore I applied for the position of pastor at Living Springs. At first the person (DD) making decisions (and my competition as it turned out) didn’t seem to take my application seriously. I received no reply and contacted him again to see what was happening. Perhaps he was trying to hold me off until he got his own pastoral options more settled. He then initially promised me quite a few Sunday mornings, but didn’t get back to me. Again I contacted him and he now said he only had a few Sundays left for the first half of the year, and I could take them or leave them. I took all 4 dates offered.

It was then that DD announced that he was officially applying for the position, but told me that it was only a part-time position offered, because the church was unable to provide full-time pastoral upkeep. At this time there were only 2 deacons, DD and another. I contacted the other deacon and said I’d been told it was only part-time. The other deacon then apparently queried it being announced as only part-time and brought it up with DD who promptly demanded that 2 more deacons be appointed, nominating two who were his supporters; both were appointed. The diaconate, now with numbers to support DD, then recommended to the church membership that DD be appointed (I wasn’t mentioned at all) and the church membership, with just one option from which to choose, selected DD.

I had one more Sunday preaching there after DD was selected. DD had arranged for a church trip to the snow that weekend and the church was almost bare. (I don’t think he wanted to hear any more of my preaching!) I gave the sermon and then informed them that I was not available for any further preaching there. It was soon after that I decided to commence our home church meetings.

It was clear that there had been a lot of less-than-Christian conniving going on to ensure that I was not able to get a chance at the pastor position there. But the whole story still has more to go. Two months before the church voted to appoint DD, he announced to me that he was withdrawing from the running for pastor. He told me he had a heart condition that apparently (according to him) could be dangerous, especially if he got excited or stirred up at any time. However, the following Sunday (when I turned up to preach), he then said he was back in the running. (I suspect his wife, who hadn’t appreciated him withdrawing his application, may have influenced him.)

I wasn’t too disappointed; getting the position would have meant a lot of travelling and I didn’t need the money, having already retired. But the extent of subterfuge and deception shown by DD and his two extra-appointed deacon-supporters was breathtaking in its audacity. I had considered that if God wanted me there, then I’d be available. But DD didn’t seem to consider whether or not God wanted him there; he apparently had decided that he wanted to be there regardless of whether God wanted him there or not. After all, if he were called by God to that position, why would he need to deceive others in order to obtain the position? And yet he manipulated the whole lot so much that I was basically shut out. Even the nominating and appointment of the two extra deacons (in such unholy haste!) was not done according to the requirements of their constitution.

I had thought that, having effectively run a church at Timboon (much larger than Living Springs) for many years should have been worth considering, but, as it turns out, it seems DD was to sacrifice truth for the sake of selfish convenience and desire. Such behaviour done in God’s name but instead opposed to God’s holiness does not bode well for those who take this action. God is not mocked, and it does seem that Living Springs is now not the church it used to be. How the mighty are fallen! I also wondered what became of those who used deceit to gain control of that church.

 Many years ago an ungodly woman took control of a Christian school where I was principal. I was working for greatly reduced wages and she manipulated the school board to get rid of we two teachers and appoint another whom she apparently thought she could better control. However, after they’d dismissed the two of us, they appointed another whom they declared (allegedly with 3 Bible passages to “prove” it) had been chosen by God to replace us. And yet, according to that same school board, just 2 months later, God’s “chosen” principal had been “unchosen” by God (no doubt again with verses to “prove” it); God no longer wanted her to stay and wanted her dismissed. They went through 2 more principals after that, and by the end of the year after I was dismissed, the school had lost ¾ of its enrolments. They should have supported, not dismissed, the 2 teachers who were doing a good job!

But the story doesn’t end there! When I advised our church at Melton (ODBC) that we were commencing home church for the sake of avoiding the heresy of calvinism, we were told that our “Bible studies” did not take the place of worship at church on Sundays. Of course, ODBC was reasonably calvinist itself. After one of their leaders had one day mentioned something about evangelism, I asked how he carried out the great Commission (calvinist theology is by its very nature non-evangelistic). He replied that he did it because he was commanded to do so. This is a rather standard calvinist response to the great commission. Apparently, to him, the great commission didn’t extend to making efforts to winning souls!

ODBC had appointed a pastor around the time I left to hold home church. He also made it clear to me that home church was alright for a Bible study but we should attend worship services with the rest of our church in Melton. He visited us in January 2014 primarily it seems to advise us to return to the fold at ODBC. He said we should get our son (who used to attend Living Springs) to return to Living Springs and that we should return to ODBC. (Apparently he considered DD of Living Springs to be a godly man, something I would have disputed after my interactions with him.) At one point in the conversation, I had occasion to state that I was a very logical person, having a Pure Maths degree from Melbourne University. He said that being mathematical didn’t make me logical and that I was suffering from the delusions of an over-sensitive nature (a nice way, it seems, of declaring me mad or illogical). After he left I pondered our future with ODBC. I didn’t want to rush into it, but it had felt like he was trying to use his assumed authority as our pastor to manipulate our decision-making for our family. After ten days of pondering, we decided to resign our membership at ODBC in order to remove any assumption of pastoral authority over us from someone who seemed as if he were trying to manipulate us against what we perceived to be God’s will for us.

When the vote had been taken at ODBC in 2013 whether to call the pastor, I had not been confident of his suitability. I’d had misgivings but wasn’t able to define those misgivings clearly enough at that time to vote against him. However, we did abstain from voting for him; we had decided we couldn’t vote in favour of his appointment. After his visit in January 2014 I was more assured that he was not the pastor we wished to have over us and thus we resigned on 21/01/2014.

Later on (in April 2016), I became aware (via continued contacts with attendees of ODBC) that their church was allegedly teaching Paul Tripp materials. After researching Tripp extensively, I reported my findings back to an attendee of ODBC. I concluded that Tripp was not a biblical Christian, instead teaching heresy associated with calvinism and spiritual mysticism. The ODBC person acknowledged that my assessment of Tripp could be right and that he had identified what he considered to be heresies in Tripp’s teachings.

Tripp does happen to be a major component of what is today called Biblical Counselling, a not-very biblical counselling associated alongside the new calvinism doctrine developed (from about 1970 onward) at Westminster Theological Seminary of USA. And ODBC did appear to get a “biblical counsellor” appointed no more than 2 years or so after the ODBC was allegedly teaching Paul Tripp materials. (I note that on 16/04/2018 the ODBC advertised Biblical Counselling on its website.)

It was originally the emphasis upon the unbiblical teachings of MacArthur by some of the ODBC leadership that first prompted us to consider cutting ties with ODBC. Gracewest, the church that appears to have influenced Living Springs to slide down into the apostasy of calvinism, based its doctrine largely upon the teachings of MacArthur. It was also largely those MacArthur teachings that caused me to have serious discussions (mostly by email) with a member of Living Springs (after our home church commenced). It was also that same Living Springs member who enabled me to understand the depth of heresy that MacArthur’s teachings were taking Living Springs. When I had emailed the members of Living Springs (after we left), warning them of the dangers of the MacArthur calvinism that was being inflicted upon them by Gracewest, I received no response, other than that some appeared to have been cautioned by their leadership to not have any communications with me. It was clear that the leaders of Living Springs (probably DD and his faithful deacons under the guidance of Gracewest leadership) didn’t wish for their members to know what was happening! And like the blind leading the blind, they could all end up in the ditch unless they start testing things for themselves as per 1 Thessalonians 5:21. Calvinism doesn’t like the common membership to ask too many awkward questions in case they start to actually see where they are heading!

After all, it was A W Pink (one of their revered calvinist “authorities”) who taught that, in general, church members were unqualified to oppose the “authoritative” teaching of their qualified church leaders; he said of the fall of Jericho: The priests blowing with the trumpets of rams’ horns pictured the servants of God preaching His Word. The forbidding of “the people” to open their mouths signified that the rank and file of Christians are to have no part in the oral proclamation of the truth―they are neither qualified for nor called to the ministration of the Word. Nowhere in the Epistles is there a single exhortation for the saints as such to engage in public evangelism, nor even to do “personal work” and seek to be “soul winners.” (STUDIES IN THE SCRIPTURES July, 1948) That is, keep quiet, don’t argue, and obey your church leaders!

Therefore we have continued to be committed to our home church rather than attend any local church group, most of which do not appear to be biblical and most of which also have loud rock bands playing music from Hillsong (which is more committed to making money than evangelism).

 

 

Israel today: Replacement, Covenant or Displacement theology?

Replacement theology: Over many years, various cults and false ideologies have tried to write Israel off as no longer having any future in God’s planning. It does seem to stem from a desire by these groups to be God’s special people, replacing Israel as God’s covenanted people. They want to be God’s chosen people; anything less would reduce their feelings of exclusiveness (and therefore increase their feelings of low self-worth). They do not like Israel having such importance in God’s will, desiring to gain that importance for themselves. This desire to write Israel out of God’s will is known as Replacement theology. Their theology demands that Israel’s time as God’s chosen people has ended either (a) from simply completing God’s will for them as a nation, or (b) due to their iniquities being so great that God has replaced them with an allegedly more-righteous people (generally assumed to be the Church). Replacement theology is the belief that the Church has replaced Israel as God’s chosen people, that a new covenant through Jesus supersedes the covenant God made with Abraham. According to Replacement Theology, Israel is no longer God’s chosen people; the Church is now God’s chosen people.

Covenant theology for Israel: This view believes in Israel’s right to remain God’s chosen nation as per the Abrahamic covenant, and that God’s promises to Israel remain fully valid despite their current unbelief, and ultimately that Israel’s relationship with God will be fully restored. This teaches that Israel has never been (and never will be) replaced by the Church in any prophetic statements referring to Israel. While the Church is currently God’s people, one day they will effectively (in the Rapture) hand back to Israel that final 7 years remaining on their timeline before Armageddon. Most biblically-correct Church groups believe in Israel’s covenant with God remaining forever independently of the Church. In the Old Testament, Israel is seen as the unfaithful wife of God, and sometimes is portrayed as His rebellious children; the Church instead is seen as the Bride of Christ.

Displacement theology: I also add an extra term – Displacement theology – where Israel is not actually removed or replaced, but merely continues to exist as a junior partner of the Church (or is even seen as a part of the Church itself). It would have the idea of having been moved (or displaced) from its previously-held position of being God’s chosen people, to a lesser position usually subordinate to the Church. The term Displacement theology is sometimes used in place of (that is, synonymous with) the term Replacement theology, but the two terms should be seen as somewhat different. Displacement theology did become more popular after Israel came back as a nation in 1948 (something which seriously changed a lot of thinking about Israel being written off as God’s chosen people), when it became clear that Israel might still be an active part of God’s prophecy. In a way it’s a half-way point between Replacement theology and Covenant theology; Israel is still in the running, but may not be permitted to regain the promises that the Church is claimed to have taken on when Israel failed. It’s generally seen as a way to explain Israel’s current existence without impinging upon what is seen as the right of the Church to replace Israel as God’s chosen nation. The Church remains God’s chosen people but accepts Israel as part of the work of the Church. Sometimes Israel is portrayed as being integrated into the Church and sometimes as a separate but definitely junior partner in ministry for God. Effectively it is a theology which allows Israel to exist as long as they do not interfere with the overall jurisdiction of the Church, especially in end-times prophecy.

In general, Replacement and Displacement theologies are doctrines of those groups who also believe that they are in some way exclusive members of the only doctrine that can truly save to the uttermost. Such groups teach that you either have to belong to their religious doctrine to be saved or at the very least you must acknowledge their exclusive doctrines as necessary for true salvation. These exclusionist groups include the catholics, calvinists, mormons, JWs (jehovah’s witnesses) and SDAs (seventh day adventists), plus a multitude of weird exclusionist cults. Such groups hold salvation beliefs that exclude all who do not believe likewise.

Catholics: The catholic teaching is that you must be baptised as a catholic and hold to that baptism for life. If you leave the catholic church, you are declared anathema, lost forever, for they teach that there is no genuine salvation outside the catholic church. They also hold to Replacement theology for Israel; although some now would teach Displacement theology as defined above, especially since Israel came back as a nation in 1948. Catholics generally believe in no actual millennial reign of Christ on earth, instead believing that Christ already reigns in heaven in a spiritual sense. They believe that the Church (that is, catholics) would remain until that final battle of Armageddon. after which they will be taken up to heaven. For those who accept Israel’s existence in some way as God’s people, this would normally mean any of Israel whom God would also take to heaven with (and possibly also as part of) the Church. Catholics do not generally believe in an actual 7-year period of Tribulation as such; instead, they affirm that the Church will undergo a final trial and tribulation period before Christ’s second coming, which may involve significant suffering and persecution. Israel, if included, is almost a non-event in catholic end-times theology.

Calvinists: Their teaching is very similar to the catholic teaching here; no wonder, for Calvin himself never left the catholic church and taught that his catholic baptism was that which saved him from sin for all his life; he persecuted the Anabaptists for teaching that the catholic baptism alone could not save anyone. Calvinists believe that unless you are chosen (via the calvinist unconditional election) you can never be saved; and that praying a prayer to be saved is of no use unless you have been firstly chosen and regenerated by their God. Effectively their gospel is that you have to be a calvinist to be saved. Until the 20^th century calvinists generally believed that they had replaced Israel, and that the Rapture (if it existed) was at Armageddon at Christ’s second coming. The original calvinists (such as Presbyterians) did not believe in a literal millennial reign of Christ, but, like the catholics, believed instead in a spiritual reign of Christ in heaven. “New calvinism” today generally believes in a literal millennial reign of Christ (over the Church, not Israel), with the Rapture occurring just before or at the same time as Christ’s second coming. Calvinists generally believe in a time of tribulation which may be 3½ or 7 years before Armageddon, with the Church replacing Israel in all events. Once Israel began to show signs of a return to their land, some calvinists have taken a more Displacement theology stand, with Israel permitted to exist in the end-times but all major prophecies still apply to the Church alone. Israel, if it is involved, may not be permitted to have any authority with the Church in any way.

Mormons: They believe that they are the only group who can be truly saved according to their claimed “new revelation”; such new revelation is the foundation of their church and that it remains an essential element of their self-claimed “true” church today. Without this new revelation (and thus not a mormon) you cannot be saved. They teach that the gathering of Israel in the end-times is a significant event in the restoration of God’s covenant people. However, mormons also believe that they are part of the house of Israel, sharing a common ancestry with the Jewish people. They teach that they are included in the covenant relationship between God and His people. They believe that they will play a major role in fulfilling God’s promises to gather His people. Effectively, therefore, Israel will be God’s people only in conjunction with the mormons, and thus it appears the mormons have actually replaced Israel unless Israel are also mormon by belief. This may be seen as a displacement of Israel from their true role as God’s covenanted people; however, any of Israel who are not mormon by belief are effectively Replaced.

jehovahs witnesses (JWs): They teach that they are the Replacement for the 144,000 sealed of Israel as per Revelation 7:3-8. They claim that salvation is only through their JW watchtower society, and that they must remain in good standing as a JW including doing good works and remaining faithful to their society. This is as exclusionist as it can get; and Israel is effectively totally demolished as God’s chosen people. JWs identify as “Israel” in scripture, especially in prophecy; they declare themselves to be God’s chosen people Israel. They do not accept the ethnic people of Israel today as the “spiritual Israel” with which JWs identify. They do not believe in a literal millennial reign of Christ on earth, instead teaching that Jesus has ruled in heaven since 1914 and that since then satan rules on earth until God’s kingdom is established. Christ does not return nor reign on earth physically. JWs believe in a time of tribulation culminating with Armageddon, after which God established his kingdom on earth. This is an extreme version of Replacement theology.

Seventh day adventists (SDAs): The SDA gospel does sound biblical at first glance, but such salvation can be rendered null and void if you break any of the 10 commandments. In particular, worshipping on a day other than Saturday is taught by their “prophet” as taking the mark of the beast.  And therefore any church that worships on any other day but Saturday is leading their people into hell. It must be noted that SDAs do teach that Israel’s covenant with God still remains in force, and that God will honour all Old Testament promises made to Israel. (This is because the SDAs place far greater emphasis on OT law rather than NT revelation.) However, they do not believe in a specific 7-year Tribulation period but instead a time of global crisis preceding Christ’s return to earth. They do not accept a Rapture of the righteous before the Tribulation; instead they believe that all believers (as defined by SDA doctrine) will be taken to heaven at the same time, as described in the Bible. They teach that this event will be seen worldwide, and not hidden or secret. That is, while SDAs teach that Israel is a separate covenanted people, there will be only one taking to heaven of all “believers” simultaneously; effectively the Church and Israel are combined as a single group of God’s chosen people. Therefore the SDA teaching on Israel may be somewhat similar to the mormon teaching: that Israel will be part of God’s eternal covenant if they are together with the SDA believers. It is likely that SDAs view Israel as covenant holders as per the OT along with SDAs who also view themselves as having a similar yet separate covenant with their emphasis upon obedience to all the OT law of Moses. Perhaps this could be seen not as Displacement theology, but a Co-working theology, in an equal-share partnership. Effectively though it waters down Israel’s separateness as God’s chosen people by defining them as somewhat yoked together with the SDAs in ministry for God.

In general, those who choose Replacement theology (or even Displacement theology as defined above) have certain characteristics.
(a) They tend to be comprised of people who think they are better spiritually and therefore more eligible to be God’s chosen people.
(b) They tend to consider that they are the only true people of faith in God; that God has chosen them alone to bring salvation to others; and that such salvation cannot be found outside their belief group. They preach an exclusionist gospel.
(c) They see any acknowledgement of Israel as God’s chosen people as a reduction of their own exclusive spiritual standing. They do not like to share their spiritual standing with those whom they see as not eligible.
(d) They generally see Israel as competing with them for God’s favour and thus do what they can to reduce the concept of the effectiveness of Israel spiritually, even to the extent of denying that they are God’s chosen people in any way.

Replacement theology is biblically unacceptable. Nowhere in the Bible does it even suggest that Israel will not return to being God’s chosen people for that final 7-year Tribulation. Likewise Displacement theology as described above cannot be justified biblically because, while Israel is still permitted to exist, they have no effective ministry due to the Church taking it from them. Any doctrine that diminishes Israel’s eternal status with God as His separated people is unscriptural.

The only correct end-times doctrine for Israel is that they remain God’s covenanted people forever, and that one day God will restore their righteousness forever.
Daniel 9:24 – Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. Daniel 9:24-27 teaches that Israel has one week of years (= 7 years) remaining on their timeline with God before their everlasting righteousness is granted to them by God. That 7 years is almost upon us; it will commence once the righteous of the Church are taken away in the Rapture. Israel will then experience the most extreme affliction of all time for 7 years during which many will repent and return to God for ever, after which those saved of Israel will go into the millennial reign of their Messiah, redeemed for eternity. This does not exclude the Church from being a people of God, a people which will be taken away in the Rapture before Israel recommences her final 7-years as God’s chosen people before Christ the Messiah returns at Armageddon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

My call from God to Christian schools (Part 6)
The govt VRQA were so opposed to anything biblical that it was hard to see how River City Christian College (RCCC), Echuca, was going to get out of the no-creation dilemma. One thing is clear: if the previous principal had been still running the school, it would never have remained open by the start of 2009. I had set up all relevant policies, and had avoided a legal disaster over the underhand funding set in place when I had arrived as principal at RCCC. The requirements listed by the Registered Schools Board a few years before (and never implemented) were now largely dealt with. But the creation issue remained a big headache. The VRQA were certain that they would shut us down on this issue alone. In fact, in March 2009 they gave us an ultimatum: remove the creation component of your science curriculum and we may consider permitting your continuing registration as a school.

In November 2008 the school board chair and I had attended a meeting with the VRQA in Melbourne. There was a lot of disagreement between them and us over the one single issue: creation content in our science course. So I asked the VRQA chair: If, then, you do not accept our science curriculum, which school’s curriculum would you accept? She said: The science curriculum of Waverley Christian College. So when I returned to RCCC the next day, I made contact with Waverley Christian College to ask them if they would make their science curriculum available for us to look at. They agreed. We also arranged for our science teacher to go to Waverley for a week in February 2009 to see how it worked in practice. It looked workable, and it did happen to accept some creation content. (I wondered if the VRQA actually knew this?) Plans were made to implement the Waverley curriculum as soon as possible in 2009. Meanwhile, before we could set up the Waverley science curriculum, the VRQA sent us an ultimatum: to drop creation from our curriculum or be closed down in 30 days. We told them that we were still in the process of implementing an alternative curriculum. They then came to re-assess us in Term 2 and, upon noting that we still had a creation component in our science curriculum, informed us that they would refuse our re-registration to operate as a school in Victoria. I then informed them that the science curriculum we were now using was the Waverley College curriculum as recommended by the VRQA Chair in November 2008. That actually stopped them in their tracks and they said that they would check this out and get back to me. When they did get back, we had passed the assessment and had been granted provisional registration to operate. It was clear that we had won this round.

That necessary certificate that gave the school legal right to operate as a school was missing when I started at RCCC. No-one seemed to know what it was, and no-one recalled seeing such a document. Then (in maybe late 2008) one of the board members said he’d been given (by the previous principal) a box of papers to be burnt or otherwise disposed of. He’d stored this cardboard box under his house. He now brought it in to see if there were any documents there that we might need. And that necessary certificate permitting our operation as a school was in that box. Fortunately, in spite of the previous principal’s efforts to get rid of it, we were able to frame it and hang it on the office wall. We were now legally permitted to operate a school on that site! In fact, it is clear that if the previous principal had stayed on longer, the school most likely would not have survived. He apparently didn’t have much idea of running a school properly and should never have been appointed principal in the first place. (I suppose they were desperate for someone to employ!) I had the experience of many school reviews in previous schools and knew a lot about what was required to pass an assessment. I had set about doing what was needed from the time I started at RCCC and in my three years managed to bring the school back from disaster. But it came at a cost to my health; I needed a break to recover from my stress-related health problems. And the school enrolment numbers did not slide any further while I was there, in spite of no longer being able to count Yr 11&12 students in the figures.

While there we had the opportunity to have a new science building built using a govt grant for such buildings. Some on the school board wanted a local builder to build it, rather than accepting the builder the govt had chosen for the task. A school meeting was held and by a narrow margin it was decided that the govt-approved builder should do it. However, I was constantly harassed and pestered by the board chairman, even in my own time, including a holiday break. I would get phone calls over and over to get me to change my mind. Then the board chairman started harassing the woman who had made the application in the first place. It was never expected that her application would get us something but when it did the school board wanted to control it (even though the school board had rejected putting in the application in the first place). The board chairman harassment was so intense that, due to my stress problems, I was not able to withstand, and I signed the request to use a local builder. The project was delayed for a few weeks while this was considered, and then we were told that by then the last half dozen building grants had been cancelled due to funds running out. We missed out because of that harassment! I often think what the school could have had if only the board chair hadn’t bullied me into submission. Still, he has to wear that, not me!

I was desperately wanting a break to recuperate and in the last few months of 2009 I took a few afternoons off due to my stress levels. I notified the board that I would resign at the end of 2009. I would have liked to have stayed longer but needed some time off to regain my health. I think if they’d wanted me to continue, then perhaps a paid sabbatical might have worked, or at least my house rent paid. I couldn’t afford to pay money on rental when not working, so I’d have to move away from Echuca.

In June 2011 the RCCC council chairman contacted me requesting that I consider taking a secondary teaching position for 2012. I refused on the basis that (a) I would need rental once again, (b) my wife would have to stay home this time, and (c) they should have kept me on while I was still living there. I didn’t need the funds anyway. Once I left Echuca, I was never coming back!

If only the school board had recognised my stress levels and had acted to offer support while I was working so hard to save their school from closure. I remember going to a school board meeting in early 2009 and telling them that I had assessed my effectiveness as principal and was not performing as well as I should be now because of my stress levels. Unbelievably the general mood seemed to be that if I thought I need to improve, then I should try harder. I don’t think they understood at all!

This was the last teaching job I’d take on. God didn’t open any more doors after that, and I had ample funds to permit me to just stay at home, and consider that my retirement began for me at the age of 60. We have made many acquaintances over the years at Benalla, Alice Springs and Echuca, and keep some communications going even now. God has been good to us; we lack for nothing in spite of no longer having our farm which was the price we had to pay for my teaching ministry. There’s always a cost in ministry. If there is no cost, then there’s probably no victory either. I am satisfied that every cost involved with all my travels has been worth it. I have followed where God has called and do not regret my teaching ministry in spite of leaving much comfort and financial ease behind.

Finally, it was an “all or nothing” desire that led me to go into ministry. I reasoned that if God couldn’t have all of me, then I would always be compromising in having to choose those things of the world I would accept rather than condemn. I didn’t want one foot in the world and the other in ministry. It had to be all or nothing!

 

My call from God to Christian schools (Part 4)
I almost lasted a full three years teaching a difficult class at Yirara College, Alice Springs. We were able to do a lot of outback travel while there, being already in the outback to start with. Alice Springs had 1-week school holidays after 1^st and 3^rd terms, and a 4-week holiday in the middle of the year (winter). Winter was the best time to travel outback because of its milder weather, and drier too – the wet season up north was mostly during summer and early autumn. In 2001 we did the bottom half of the Canning Stock Route (the top half was flooded that year), and in 2002 and 2003 we did other areas of Western Australia (WA) (these being harder to reach when travelling from Victoria). We did tent camping because it allowed us to travel light and get to more offroad 4WD places.

In September 2003 we travelled south, returning to live in our house in Melbourne. This time I had a principal position at Moonee Vale Christian School (MVCS), a small school just north of central Melbourne. I started in 4^th Term 2003 with three teachers plus other staff. Our site was very small though, and we were on the lookout for a larger block to shift to. When I took over leadership of the school, the school was told they would have to relocate. It had originally been set up by the Uniting Church, but were now told by that same church that we would have to agree to a multi-faith doctrine or else part company with that church. The multi-faith option was unacceptable from a biblical point of view so we therefore needed to find a new location. I went through the legal procedures of separating the school from the ownership of the Uniting Church, establishing ourselves in our own right. We also researched where we might relocate to, including a large block which used to be Kangan TAFE. All our options involved moneys way beyond our current capabilities; I felt we should step out in faith and make a move, believing that God would provide. Many on the school council felt that we needed to persuade the Uniting Church to permit us extra time on the current site in Moonee Ponds so we could have time to better research our options. However, the Uniting Church had made it clear that we were to move off the site by the end of 2004.

Later in 2004 the school council realised that we would have to move by the end of 2004 with no option for negotiations. By now though it was getting too late to have anything set up for 2005 and we needed to obtain a place to exist on and to find it in a hurry. We looked again at the Kangan TAFE site but the 2 million price tag was too much for most on the school council to accept. We investigated sharing with a couple of state schools in the area that had empty classrooms due to lower numbers attending. One of these did seem promising, until the then state minister for education Lynne Kosky made a ruling that no private school would share facilities with a state school. This effectively shut the door on us. It is interesting that at that time, there was a shared facility school in the Caroline Springs area with 3 separate schools on the one site: a state college (Brookside College), an independent college (Mowbray College) and a church college (Christ the Priest catholic primary school). “The Brookside campus was located at the Brookside Learning Centre, which hosted common facilities (such as administration facilities, library, gymnasium, arts rooms, and science rooms) shared by Mowbray, the Brookside campus of Caroline Springs College and Christ the Priest Catholic Primary School.” (Wikipedia)

I put this to the Victorian state education ministry to consider, but it did appear as if the minister for education was determined to block any attempt by MVCS to be able to share facilities (paying fees and costs) with a state school. Lynne Kosky was not an effective leader of any ministry areas she took on, being moved into a new ministry regularly when her current one failed apparently due to her incompetence. The decision she made regarding the sharing of our school with a state school was not based upon logic, and was not consistent with other decisions made at that time regarding similar projects. It is my belief that she was anti-Christian, using her position as minister for education to single us out for opposition based on our Christian beliefs which she did not seem to like. Nevertheless, we still had to find a place for 2005 or close down.

Nearing the end of 2004 we were able to come to an agreement with another Christian school in Thomastown for 2005. This meant effectively combining the student bodies and staff of both schools. It also meant a bus had to be hired every morning and afternoon to transport the MVCS students to the Thomastown site every day. This lasted for just 2005 with the church owners of the Thomastown Christian school not extending the arrangement into 2006.

We had been considering the Kangan TAFE site during this time, but it wasn’t available for rental and the purchase cost was considered more than the school could afford. (Rental was out of the question anyway because buildings had to be established on the site.) The school council still couldn’t bear to consider trusting that much to God in faith. Into 2006 we looked at other options but there was nothing available. We were told by the Registered Schools Board that we had to have the school up and running before the school term commenced. I was able to persuade the authorities to extend this to sometime in February, but the deadline came and went and we were still without a site. We officially closed in February 2006.

I decided to take that year off. It was too late to look at teaching elsewhere after the school year had already started. I had some funds set aside, enough to go camping outback as long as I was careful with my spending. I had purchased an offroad camper trailer in 2004 and would live in that for maybe 6 months. It was very basic: no fridge, no basic lighting, a canvas cover that unfolded when it was opened up, basically a bed on wheels. But it could be towed just about everywhere my 4WD Rodeo could go. My time at MVCS had been very stressful and I needed a break. I’d look for a job after I came back. I believed that God would call as He had done so in the past. And it would be no different this time. I would apply for a job at River City Christian College (RCCC) in Echuca for 2007. God would confirm it with someone we knew asking if I could consider it because they were having trouble finding a replacement for a principal who had suddenly resigned.

When I told my older sister that I was resigning from the state education department at the end of 1993, she told me I was making a big mistake. If I stayed at my state school job I could retire at 55 on ⁵/₈ of my retiring wage indexed for life. I had 11 more years to go and then be on easy living. Certainly giving up a secure job with good retirement benefits did look bad, but I was convinced that there was more to life than just a comfortable retirement at just 55. I went ahead with my Christian schools ministry and found that every time I’d looked for a job, one had come my way. The pay was never anywhere near as good as my pay with state schools but I have always had sufficient for all my needs since then. The Echuca school principal position would end in January 2010 due to stress-related health issues; it would be my last job with a wage. But now, 26 years later, I still have more than my basic needs requirements. It is clear that God has always provided for my needs throughout my Christian schools’ ministry.

Do I regret leaving my farm, though? (We had sold the remainder of the property at the start of 2003 while living at Alice Springs.) The answer is that I do miss the wide open spaces, especially when I have to put up with Melbourne traffic and crowds. I once said many years ago that I’d never live in a place like Melbourne, and yet, here I am, in the very place I never wanted to be in. Sometimes we have a choice between living according to our desires and accepting the consequences of a ministry. Is my Christian priority to enjoy this life, or instead to maybe be able to assist others to have the life that I know is yet in my future? This current life is merely the preparation for the life to come. Do I want the best life can offer me in this life or in the next life for eternity? What we do in this life will determine how and where we spend eternity. Always keep in mind that this life is a mere blink of the eye compared with future eternity.

My call from God to Christian schools (Part 2)
I wasn’t overly deterred by the negative effects of my foray into turning my teaching into a ministry at a Christian school. I admit that I’d had rosy-tinged views of how enjoyable it would be if I could actually use my teaching as a Christian ministry. (I think I had my rose-coloured glasses on at the time!) It didn’t take long to have those very positive views disappear like fog on a sunny day. By the time I’d finished my three years at Benalla Christian School, looking back, it was as if I had entered a spiritual battle-field. It was something I’d read about in various books by missionaries on overseas missions, but never expected to be hit with it in allegedly civilized Australia.

I had been well aware of spiritual warfare before I left for Benalla. In the early 90s at the rural school where I was headteacher, we had some serious demonic opposition. (And for those who claim that demonic attack is not common even for Christians, Paul wrote that it was more or less constant: “As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” (Romans 8:36) We were holding a sleep-in camp night at the school. Parents brought food supplies and some stayed to assist with the evening. After their evening meal, some older siblings who were attending went off on our church bus to the church youth group meeting, while the school children had various camp-style activities and games, including a large campfire. And then it all began, sudden sickness for some (but no symptoms for the others). Amidst ringing up some parents to come for their children, we also checked what had been eaten, but could find no food that had been eaten by the “sick” group and not by the “not sick” group. Whatever it was also affected some adults but not others. Everyone was either sick or not sick; there was no-one who was just a bit sick! It was all very mysterious indeed. To add to this, the church bus was late and we were wondering why; it had been due around the time the sickness began. (Mobile phones just weren’t around then.) The bus finally turned up maybe an hour late, with the driver saying sorry I’m late but we had to stop on our way home because three of the passengers had suddenly got sick. And at least one of them had not eaten food at, nor attended, our sleep-in evening.

It was weird just how it happened. All of the sickies got sick at the same time. One minute all were healthy; the next minute (or so it seemed) around a third suddenly were violently sick, while the rest showed no symptoms at any time. And they were all miraculously fully healthy the next morning. The meals at the sleep-in were spread out with food being eaten over a period of maybe an hour, bites in between activities. But it was the bus situation that really stood out. All three sickies had got sick at the very same time (the driver said they all started all at once). They were all away from each other, so it couldn’t have been a case of one sickie setting off the others. The driver was visibly shaken by the ordeal. The food at the sleep-in was not responsible for at least one of those on the bus. So, all we could come up with is that it was case of spiritual warfare. This was just one example of some of the weird things that occurred, events that I can only attribute to spiritual warfare. So when I settled in Benalla, I should not have been surprised when spiritual warfare hit hard right from the beginning.

Soon after we arrived in Benalla, and had finally bought an old house that had a sloping floor and old facilities (the recent floods had made housing scarce and what was available was costly), a group moved into the rental property next door. From then on, every Saturday night (for much of the night), plus many other times, very loud rock music disturbed my sleep. I’d  wake up most Sunday mornings exhausted from lack of sleep, only to have the Ford dealer behind us pressure-cleaning cars from around 6am for a few hours. I don’t know exactly who our neighbours were, but it was clear that they had an agenda. They played their noise near a window facing us, mostly left open even on colder nights, and the stereo had a goat’s head glued to the plastic cover on it. Witchcraft was rampant in Benalla with at least three significant witch covens operating: the Benalla East coven; the Gaskin St coven, and the Benalla hospital area coven (sometimes referred to as the Calder St coven, where Calder St was the extension of our street. We suspected our neighbours belonged to the Calder St or hospital coven (the hospital was not far south of us).

I couldn’t stop the noise even with ear plugs because the sound could be felt more than heard. And every Saturday from late evening until at least 4am the house literally shook with the blast. On Saturday nights a group of them (maybe a dozen or more, noting that quite a few cars would park out front) would gather for the noise. They’d arrive around 10 or 11pm and the “party” would begin. And the noise ramped up to unbelievable levels! It got to the stage where I was seriously considering moving back home to the farm, with no job and no income, but at least I could have some peace and quiet. One night maybe around August 1994 I’d had enough. I prayed (in my thoughts, not aloud – I wouldn’t have heard myself much anyway!) for an answer. Or else I was out of there as soon as I could pack up.

 I prayed for three things: for their party to break up, for them all to clear off from there, and for their music machine to blow up. What happened next sounds unbelievable but it really happened. Immediately they all started shouting at each other (I could hear bits of this above the “noise”). Then they ran and got into cars and drove off, so quickly in fact that as one car pulled away I heard one of them shouting, “Hey, wait for me!” But the noise machine kept on thumping its noise at me. I thought Well, 2 out of 3 isn’t too bad. Then, after maybe 15-30 minutes (I wasn’t counting time that much), the noise abruptly stopped (around midnight). At first I thought that maybe someone had turned it off because their “party” was over, while hoping that it had actually blown up! For the first time in months this Saturday night was quiet. In the morning I told my wife what I had prayed for and what had happened. She was sceptical; maybe it was just a coincidence. Most likely the noise machine had been turned off after their party ended early. But the peaceful evenings went on; even the following Saturday evening was peaceful! However, when she saw that noise machine being delivered to the house by the local electrics store repair van (after 10 days), she decided that what I had said was probably true.

It was clear now that the next-door disruptions were a matter of spiritual warfare, and that these Saturday night meetings were the local coven gathering for mayhem on the Christians in town. From that night on, while the noise machine continued to hammer us on Saturday nights, it was no longer threatening to make me leave Benalla. And then, one day, those neighbours just weren’t there anymore.

The local Baptist church used to hold open air street meetings in the Gaskin St area in East Benalla. And their local coven (the Gaskin St coven) used to attend, not to get saved, but to be as disruptive as they could. The Baptist pastor told me of one meeting they held on a nice sunny Sunday morning in the Gaskin St area. The coven turned up in force. As soon as the church meeting began, the rain poured down, and as soon as the church finished up and packed things away, the rain stopped and it became a nice sunny day again. Things like that used to happen in Benalla!

We were told at the school that the local covens prayed against local Christian ministries on a roster basis; and we used to cop it every 5 or 6 weeks. I remember being at the school one morning and feeling like I was trying to walk through deep water or even quicksand. Moving was a struggle, and thinking was difficult. I  was to find out that it was our turn on the coven roster. Benalla seemed such a nice place but underneath it all there was a lot of evil running deep.

However, it wasn’t just the local covens that hit out at the two teachers at the Christian school. In my first two years there the school board chairpersons were reasonable, but in my third year the woman who took over seemed intent on destroying the Christianity of our school. She seemed to take delight in using the school board to create difficulties for the teachers, and was most likely the one who pushed for the staff hours (and wages) to be reduced and to have them both dismissed at the end of the year. It appeared to be a power game with control being her issue here. She had a full-time job in Benalla, but after interfering with our careers, I was informed that she lost her full-time job in Benalla and ended up with a part-time job in Wangaratta which meant less income and greater distances to cover to get to work. She made no effort to assist the teachers in their difficult task and seemed to want to punish the teachers who had given up much to teach at the Christian school.

I used to mostly attend the church she attended but in my third year, after she took over the school board chair, I had to go to the pastor and tell him that I had difficulty in attending with someone who seemed intent upon destroying me. He acknowledged that she was difficult but didn’t accept that she was deliberately opposing me. After that, when I attended other churches in Benalla, a rumour went around that I was no longer attending church; I was even questioned about this by people at the school. (I suspect the rumour may have begun with this woman, too.) Many years later, when talking to her pastor, he told me that she had left because of certain difficulties (unstated). In a way I think it could have been an admission that she might have been a problem when I was at Benalla. I certainly do not believe she was Christian in the way she treated the teaching staff while I was there.

There were many other issues that I would have to describe as spiritual warfare during my three years there. I found it hard to believe that there could be such anti-Christian attitudes in what seemed to be a civilised place like Benalla. By the time I left Benalla, though, I had learned a lot about spiritual warfare, an understanding that has been very useful since then in the discernment of spiritual opposition. I believe that once I decided to move into full-time ministry in schools, satan moved to try to dissuade me from succeeding. I think he would have preferred that I be convinced to move back to the farm, something that I almost ended up doing because of the pressure applied in Benalla. For those considering greater service for God, keep in mind that satan will do his best to oppose you. Christian school ministry was not easier in any way, nor comfortable at all.

I am glad that I made the move into ministry work, but at the time it was not easy to see where I was going with it. But over the years God has led me into different ministry areas. When I first decided in 1993 that I might resign and go into ministry in Christian schooling, I left it up to God to lead. Soon after I had decided to go ahead if something turned up, a call came from a long-time acquaintance (whom I hadn’t heard from for many years). He asked if I would be interested in teaching at the Benalla Christian School; and he had known nothing of my thoughts of resigning! Things like that do not just happen all too often, so I made the assumption that this was a call from God. And while it felt like hell had been set loose on me in Benalla, the enemy trying to oppose me also had to be a spiritual warfare response to what I saw as a calling. I have learned now that any calling from God will attract opposition from satan and his demons. And I have learned somewhat how it works now and that such opposition cannot succeed against any calling from God if God is trusted to be in charge and in control at all times.