Now - it's a fact that some religious groups are busting their gussets to get linked up with Rome.

And some couldn't really care less either way - but with a little push here and there will fit in with whatever's fashionable. Or convenient.

But it's also a fact that there are some denominations who would never agree to the Vatican's control in a million years.

Like our old Calvinistic cobbers back in darkest England. The Strict and Particular Baptists, bless 'em. Also the Exclusive Brethren. Plus others whose entire raison d'être (that's Chinese for get up and go) is to be hostile to Roman rule.

Surely they'll be okay? Wouldn't it be good to join them? Strength in numbers, style of thing.

No.

There's a weakness in numbers. (Anyone remember Gideon?)

Numbers - organisations - are highly identifiable. They can be easily manipulated by legislation. They can be infiltrated. They can be outlawed.

Individuals are harder to deal with. But represent no problem to God when he wants to mobilize them. Like the wind, a powerful force at hurricane strength. Like the wind, nothing to grab hold of and confine.

There's another weakness.

The bit that follows is a generalisation. It won't always apply in every case. But it's important to bear in mind...

When we started to research this book, we hadn't read much anti-Catholic literature. We preferred to get our facts from Catholic and pro-Catholic sources. However, lately we have handled quite a quantity of anti-Catholic material, some of which was good and accurate...

But time and time again we noticed three defects in the stuff...

* * *

1. "Our organisation" is better than "their organisation".

It is possible for a given denomination or religious organisation to have significant areas in which it avoids specific Catholic errors. That's no big deal when looked at in the context of the harlot church versus the kingdom of God.

You see - to say "our group doesn't do, believe, forbid, allow such-and-such", fails to recognise that the essential structure and identity of "our group" is an inheritance from Rome. Protest all you will that you have nothing in common - but you are only behaving like a teenage daughter who is ashamed of her mother's immorality and doesn't want to acknowledge the family connection.

Whatever outward changes she makes to her clothes and makeup, at heart she is still her mother's daughter and the behaviour patterns she despises in her mother will inevitably come out in her.

The very fact, the very existence of religious organisations comes from Rome. Yours may be young and fresh- faced. Time will tell, of course. But time is in short supply right now. It's not a matter of being "better".

It's a matter of being perfect.

Which means nothing less than the righteousness of Christ in the kingdom of God.

2. Ignoring the supernatural.

The Roman Catholic church has systematically tortured and murdered millions of believers. This is a matter of historic fact. Protestant denominations aren't that guiltless, either.

When the megachurch begins to flex its muscles, it will want to take drastic action against all who stand in its way. And much anti-Catholic literature betrays a strong fear of what will happen.

There's nothing to be scared of.

Don't get us wrong. We're not brave types.

Big 'n' ugly, maybe. (Eileen says I speak for myself.) But more chicken that a box of Kentucky.

Still - there's nothing to be scared of.

Let's explain.

Some people who write books against the Vatican quite rightly see serious defects in the Pentecostal and Charismatic moves. They see these areas as playing into the hands of the Roman authorities, and they see some of the excesses associated with these areas as being generated by forces other than the Holy Spirit.

Okay.

But then they over-react. They chuck out the normal supernatural involvement of God in the life of the believer. And consequently they have no defence against Satan. So although they are prepared to stand against the Roman church, it's a gritted teeth, Custer's Last Stand kind of attitude.

Awfully noble, awfully heroic. And scarey.

Whereas the fact is that if there ever is a point in history when the kingdom of God is to be manifested as victorious, it's now.

If ever there is a point in history when the Kingdom of God is to be aggressive, attacking, taking the initiative, it's now.

Now.

Not, fighting some rearguard action. Not retreating helter-skelter. Not hoping that the rapture will whisk us away before our faith fails.

Look - we believe that many accounts of Jesuits infiltrating protestant churches are the stone cold, sober truth. So? There's nothing to fear if you believe in discernment of spirits or word of knowledge.

Sure, the next few years promise to hold more excitement than making rude gestures to a Black Power gang member. Just remember that it'd be a third-rate army where the soldiers didn't get issued with the right kind of weapons, and didn't get the right kind of training before the battle.

There'll be everything we need when the time comes. Just don't be so busy playing religious games now that you miss out on the training sessions, that's all.

3. Ignoring a personal relationship with God.

Some literature that warns against Rome seems to push protestant Christianity as a concept.

Concepts are okay. But a bit bleak.

Doctrines and ideas are nice. Sterile, though.

And when the megachurch comes centre stage and wiggles her hips seductively, the average kind of non-churchgoers aren't likely to listen to theological arguments and carefully weigh the pros and cons.

It'll be the reality of a world-wide religious organisation versus the reality of God as Dad.

* * *

You see - we're not fighting man.

Man and his little ways can mostly be ignored. Oh, sure, the local ministers' fraternal gets all agitated when someone starts a new church in a flurry of leaflets and a $300 advert in the local rag.

It's no big deal. The excitement'll die down. Church members will swap around for a while, then settle. The new group will become acceptable.

It's the way man works. It doesn't mean much.

But what we're fighting is Satan.

Satan in the strictest sense of the word.

Forget the downtrodden pentecostal who bleats "Oh, the devil's really been getting at me today" - as if the Prince of Darkness has nothing better to do than visit number 15 Railway Villas, Taihape and tempt someone to think naughty thoughts or something.

Satan is trying for total - visible - conquest. And the key word is "visible". If you know what to look for.

What we're saying is that there are always clues. Pointers. Things to watch for.

If you're expecting world conquest - it's no good sitting on Ninety Mile Beach, scanning the horizon for Japanese landing craft.

For one thing, it's too late to do much, then.

For another thing, that mightn't be the way events work out.

Military conquest is crude.

At the lowest level, it plays merry hell with the tourist industry. Which isn't just an Anderson-being-glib-again kind of statement. Fiji's 1987 coup was no joke. And the difference between the travel jingle "This is the way the world should be" and the reality of folk being beaten up with clubs and spears means a continuing loss of millions of dollars.

At the highest level, military conquest means endless devastation, deadly radiation for years - maybe centuries, and a world shivering to death in the gotterdammerung of a nuclear winter.

There are other, more genteel, ways to take over the world. Simply by manipulating three areas.

The end result is far tidier. If sufficient care is exercised, nobody winds up feeling all bitter and twisted towards the guys at the top. No matter how many eggs are broken in the process - there is the omelette for all to see and rejoice over.

Okay.

Watch out for changes in public opinion. In the way financial affairs are handled. Above all, watch out for religious trends.

Religion - in the form of evangelical Christianity - will become okay to mention in the media. Church affairs will become news items. The opinions of religious leaders will be quoted alongside that of economists and politicians. Religious music - not merely religious subjects in music - will be commonplace on radio.

The changes in the economy will be dramatic. Already it is hard to keep pace with the speed of alterations.

For example - in April 1987, O.W.L. magazine quoted "Time" as saying that "ECUs have never been printed as notes or minted as coins". What are ECUs? They are European Credit Units (sometimes called Eurodollars), an artificial currency, invented by the Common Market.

But when the statement in O.W.L. was published, it was already out of date. For, as "Plain Truth" observed in September 1987: "In March the Belgian government issued the first ever ECU coins as legal tender (in Belgium only) to mark the 30th anniversary of the Rome accords" - when European leaders met in Rome to sign a treaty establishing Europe's Common Market.

So ECUs are not only in daily banking use, they have physical existence as well, and, as Eurodollars, are quoted by your local bank on its tables of exchange rates.

But the Common Market is still not as unified as it might be. France is vocal and tries to dominate. Britain, as a late entrant, protests its rights. Yet no leader has emerged who can pull the whole thing together.

* * *

What if...

Britain went Catholic? Then the great religious majority of the EEC would be under the primacy of the Pope. And he is also head of state. Ruler of Vatican City. To be sure, it has a smaller acreage than the majority of Kiwi cow-cockies have in pawn to the Rural Bank. But sovereign state it is, nevertheless.

So what would be more reasonable than for the Pope to be appointed as President of Europe? At the moment there is an ineffective system whereby the presidency of the Common Market's executive changes at six-monthly intervals from one member government to another.

Former President of France, Giscard d'Estang, criticised this arrangement. "The absence of Europe in important world affairs is cruelly and often profoundly felt by public opinion. It is because there is no-one who has the quality and authority to speak in its name," he stated.

This must change. The Pope would be an ideal, and seemingly "neutral" choice of president. Then his power over kings and rulers would be seen to be immense. For already the laws passed by the European parliament are binding on citizens of the member nations...

What then?

Communism?

Communism has one major defect. It has no religion.

Oh, the praesidium has tried to make the state the god of the people. But the atheism of those in charge has prevented them from actually personifying and adoring it as a being.

So, although Communism as a system (...in common with Capitalism as a system...) is Satanically motivated, it is scarcely higher than a concept. An ideal. A theory.

It needs a god. It needs a religion.

What would be better than a deal between Rome and Moscow?

Bringing the Russian Orthodox church under the primacy of the Pope, and supplying Communism with its missing dimension. In which case, the current choice of a Pope from a communist country will have been most appropriate.

* * *

"But," you will say, "all this is awfully visible and practical. It may threaten the ordinary believer. But what's the justification for saying it's Satan himself at work.

Couple of things. Read Revelation. Check on the bits that Satan is personally responsible; see how they line up with the last few pages.

And remember - man is a bumbling creature. Great planner, maybe. Visionary, sometimes. But capable of blunders both hilarious and tragic. And always expensive. If you're too much of a kiddywink to remember the Groundnut Scheme, at least you'll remember the Falklands whoopsadaisy where British guns couldn't retaliate against Argie missiles because the computer had been programmed to identify Exocets as friendly. And there was no manual over-ride "to avoid the danger of human error".

It happens.

But there are no big bloomers and massive clangers in Satan's intention to lock the entire planet into a unified religious, economic and political system. Two thousand years ago, Satan lost his legal rights to mankind and to earth. Since then, he has laid his plans with the utmost care.

Lacking grounds for appealing against the legal decision, he has determined that the only course open is to have all humanity on his side. Thinking he is God. Acknowledging he is God. Unable to recognise anyone but himself - and the man whom he controls.

It's clever. It'll appeal to the media. The big business. To rulers. Politicians. Religious leaders will buy it.

Because God's kingdom doesn't need fancy dress and expensive buildings to succeed. God's kingdom is ready for war even while its members are pottering in the garden or yahooing in the Mall during late-nite shopping.

Satan's plan - if it is to succeed - depends on keeping ordinary people, the laity, regimented and unprotesting. Never thinking, never acting as individuals.

God's kingdom will succeed because ordinary folk (God only has ordinary folk) are willing to yell "rhubarb!" or "the emperor's got no clothes on!" and simply refuse to go along with the system.

* * *

The magic of religion has been an important part of everyone's lifestyle.

Until recently.

Now, Dad is making quite clear that he's outlawing it. Which is very uncomfortable.

Just in case you didn't know...

(...and maybe you didn't know for the simple reason that church-oriented religious magazines are scarcely to print the good news...)

All over New Zealand, God is closing down churches.

Not only all over New Zealand - but throughout the world.

Sure, there have been the lush and lurid sex scandals that involved high-profile preachers and gave the Sunday papers something to smack their lips over.

Not surprising, either.

For one thing, TV evangelists and ministers in general are designed in precisely the same way as every other bloke. And have precisely the same lusts and deviations as thee and me. Possibly a few more - because vigorous preaching against sins and things is often a symptom of something nasty 'neath the surface.

For another thing, God's not going to let folk get fooled by phoney holiness. When we interviewed Luis Palau in 1987 he told us illicit sex was one of the two problem areas for evangelists. (Money being the other one. Surprise, surprise.) And at an international conference in Amsterdam he announced publicly that many big names were going to topple through immorality unless they quickly got their act together. Wasn't far wrong, eh.

But - that's not the only reason for religious organisations closing down.

* * *

There are vigorous, moral, financially sound, evangelical, charismatic churches where God has been locking the doors and chucking away the key. Selling everything; giving the proceeds to the poor.

But sometimes, when the chips are down, a denominational building turns out to be owned by a thing, not by believers, and so cannot be closed; think about that one! And where denominational leaders have insisted that the building is kept open, the King has said to everyone who could hear him, "C'mon then, let's go."

We know of a great number of churches where this has happened. We have met and talked in depth with hundreds - literal hundreds over just a few weeks before writing these sentences - who have quit all forms of structured religion.

Not rebellious teenagers. We never talked to a teenager. As a generalisation, the folk were mostly in the 30 to 60 bracket, previously active in church work. "Mature believers" is how you'd describe them if they'd been applying to join your fellowship.

Except that they weren't joining. They were on the way out.

There's only one reason we aren't going to list names and places. It's because there's still a strong, denominational pride thing that hears about an AOG bunch closing down and says, "Well, they're a mickey mouse lot anyway." Or hears of a New Life Centre that's folding and says "Thank God we're Apostolic and won't get into such a shambles".

Your lot mightn't have the same symptoms as their lot, but the disease is still the same.

Religion.

So, no names-and-places wow-story for now. Just a bit of a sketch. A few trends...

* * *

Here and there it's started with a revelation of the cross. The words haven't been new ("the cross represents death of self... of sin... of all that is flesh... only the life of God can remain") but it has been a revelation.

And over a short period of time, preacher and hearers have been electrified by the realisation of the reality of the cross.

Great stuff.

Then God says: "apply it".

The people say: "we have done". They've been making any number of changes in their personal lives.

"I mean - apply the cross to every aspect of your religious life. Your Christian life. Your church life. Your organisational life."

And -

- that means total death.

Four major areas. Think about 'em.

- all have to die. Because they are flesh.

Tongues tend to stop. Just like that. Not because there's no such thing as a genuine gift of tongues (- sorry, Brethren and Bible Baptists; you're very sweet, but awfully humanistic). But because few people have ever experienced speaking matter-of-factly in tongues in non-fervent situations.

Praise and worship grinds to a halt. Not because there's no such thing as praise and worship. But because there is no longer any place for something (even a nice something) that is controlled by the man on the platform via the musicians. That's flesh.

All spiritual disciplines have to stop. Because they are of self. Of flesh. So Billy Graham reads Proverbs twice before breakfast? So the Scripture Onion notes'll get you through the scriptures in thirty years flat? So Brother Swaggart became the saint he is today by praying for an hour (or was it five hours) after lunch? So you get awfully blessed if you tithe and farst?

So what? It's all flesh. And has to die.

God demands nothing less than moment-by-moment control of your life.

That's spirit and truth.

* * *

No problems?

You'd better believe that folk who quit the religious magic have problems.

Some folk sin.

Because if that's what they want, that's what they'll do.

Surprisingly few, though. Read our chapter on no-hopers in "Beyond Murphy's Law" and see that no-hopers just want non- stop attention from lovey-dovey men and women. Which you won't get outside the system.

And some folk - most of 'em - suffer withdrawal symptoms.

Helped by religious types.

Isn't it funny how your friends (friends!) often wish the worst for you.

Drop out of church and they'll entertain you with all the horror stories they can dream up. And always the same punch- line.

"Remember - a coal taken out of the fire soon goes cold and dies!"

There's an answer to that one...

If it's from the glow of the other coals, yes, you'll cool down pretty rapidly. But if your fire comes from the Lord within you then he keeps you going.

Yet there are withdrawal symptoms.

Being part of a snug, supportive, enjoyable, musical system is a buzz. A high.

Go cold turkey and it hurts.

And God isn't likely to give you warm fuzzies to make up for the loss. He's there. But not pushing the emotion button.

There's another snag with quitting the religious system - especially if you're a minister.

No - not the loss of income. (Fancy you even thinking of that!) Nor loss of prestige. (Never occurred to you, did it!)

It's the infuriating business of having to wait for God. A recently-ex ex-minister told us this as we stood looking out across a lake near his home.

"See that speedboat?" he asked. "That was me. I'd decide where to go and when. And how fast I'd get there. But all the time there was the wind. Annoying me. Because the faster I went, the more it blew in my face."

"Now, though," he added quietly, "God's turned me into a yacht. A fair bit slower. Becalmed, on occasions. But now I'm not fighting the wind - it's the driving power that takes me where I'm supposed to go. At the right speed."

He smiled thoughtfully. "And a speedboat can run out of petrol at the most awkward times. But for a yacht, there'll always be a wind, sooner or later."

Yet - God's real. In real life. And people who quit church find they've got time for real life.

No more the hassle of getting brats clean and quiet for church. No striving for position. No condemnation for not being as good as the last visiting speaker.

Just being.

Enjoying having time for friends. Saints and sinners. Of all denominations. Or none.

And there's a fringe benefit.

Time after time we heard this one. Once out of church, and heathens from family and neighbours want to know more. Want to know what makes you tick. Want to meet God.

"It's like an artificial barrier has been removed."

That's an understatement. And maybe it answers an unspoken question that bothers many believers. "If conviction comes from God - why doesn't he do more for the unsaved?"

What if church has always been a hindrance? And what if God has always been quietly at work in every generation? Convicting and saving many whom he never allowed to be involved in a religious structure.

* * *

Now, quitting church isn't without hiccups. People are human. And no doubt there have been "unwise attitudes", "bitterness", "spiritual pride". It happened when you went charismatic, backalong, remember?

But we heard rumours. Ugly rumours about the drop-outs. So we checked them out.

In every case they were false. In every case they began where the stay-inners (particularly other ministers and denominational hierarchy) couldn't or wouldn't grasp what was going on.

"We could have understood it if the minister had seduced his secretary. Or if he'd embezzled the funds. But he hasn't made a single dollar out of this. All he's done is to dismantle the organisation. He's out of his mind."

He wasn't. Not even mildly fanatical. Just -

Obedient.

There's a need for a lot more like him.

But, the trouble is, that sort of criticism is hard to take. A smack on the chops often upsets us less than a snide, malicious only-in-love sneer-smear.

"Gone off the rails. Left the Lord. Backslidden. Split the church. Mad."

Remember that bit in the Bible that says Jesus had to put up with the "contradiction of sinners against him"?

Think it through. The whores and tax officials didn't give him a hard time. The "sinners" referred to are the religious leaders.

And nothing has changed.

* * *

So if you like everyone to be nice to you - stay in the system and die. But if you're concerned about getting to together with God - then quit.

Yesterday. Today at the latest.

And don't worry about spiritual pride. Maybe you'll have thirty seconds' worth of feeling one-up on those who've stayed in the system. Then, all of a once, you'll realise there's a long way to go before you catch up with all those folk who never tangled with religion. You've got an awful lot of technique to unlearn before you can get used to living all the time with Christ in you. That he doesn't need any magic spells to make him appear.

We went to several homes, met untold people who'd dropped out. Always someone would ask us "what we wanted to do".

Pokerfaced, one of us would say, "Let's all hold hands. That's right. Shut our eyes. Everybody now. And let's sing, everso softly, 'Puff, the Magic Dragon'".

There'd be a split-second of shock, then a general guffaw as the penny dropped.

No invocations.

Just reality.

* * *

And this exodus is gaining momentum.

When we first started the manuscript of "Beyond Magic" we had been religious dropouts for nigh on thirteen years. And we had a growing heap of letters from others who'd left the system.

But recent months, whole churches are folding.

With no man masterminding the operation.

What about our books? God's used 'em as confirmation. Gene Edwards, Madame Guyon, and others. All as confirmation.

But this move of God can't - CAN'T - have any man or men (or women) fronting the thing. Any glib religious salesman who tries to take over is in for a surprise. Because this is the countdown to the return of the King. And it won't exactly be safe for any suave motivation-trained entrepreneur who tries to corner a share of the market. Not any more.

* * *

So - the hard sell.

If this is the move of God, get out of religion. Perhaps you'd hoped that Dad was merely going to teach you to fine- tune your services. Make them more fun. Bring new doctrines to fascinate your intellects.

(That was why you re-named your meetings as "Celebrations" and called your church activities "Kingdom this" and "Kingdom that" in the hopes that God would fit in with your end-time plans.)

Unfortunately...

We're being brought all the way back to where Jesus began his ministry. Because he did it right first time. And we've spent an energetic nineteen-hundred-and-fifty-plus years getting away from it and making a ricketty structure out of bits of Judaism, bits of paganism and bits (carefully selected safe bits) of Christ's teaching.

And it's got to go.

Trouble is - can you recognise Dad at work? The charismatic move was enough of a problem for the religious. And it took an awful lot of effort for them to compress it to fit the system.

This time, though, it's either... or. It's the death of the religious system. You can't have non-religious meetings. You can't have non-structured organisations. You can't have any gods apart from the Lord - because he's a jealous God.

It's quite a shame, really. If we want it any other way, that is.

Because this is the biggie. And there's not much time to drag our heels and dither.

* * *

So what's beyond magic?

Just faith.

Faith is nothing less that the perfect will of God. For you. At this moment. In this situation. Coupled with all that is necessary inside you and in outside circumstances to make God's will work.

It needn't always be spectacular. Sometimes you can be very much aware of faith for trite, "unspiritual", amusing things.

Or faith can involve the most incredible jack-up of event to bring people and happenings together at precisely the correct instant. With nobody puffing and panting to get there just in time.

But incredible or trite, the fact that faith represents the will of God will help explain what we said in an earlier chapter about qualifying for the lake of fire by being fearful and unbelieving.

If you don't live by faith - you're setting yourself up against God. It's that simple.

(Hey - you evangelicals! Stop worrying about the fate of the heathens for a moment. Start to realise that some of the heaviest texts on punishment are for church folk.)

Scripturally - did Jesus find the best use of faith among High Priests and Pharisees, or among Syro-Phoenician women and centurions? And which bunch were the straight guys, religion-wise, and which were the outsiders?

If outsiders find it easier to use faith, why not be an outsider? If people in the religious system are the people who make a poor showing faith-wise, why stay in the system? Why devote time and effort to something scripture teaches doesn't work, and tends to incur penalties at the end of the day.

And just a thought on being fearful. Don't let being scared put you off using faith. Because no matter what Satan and man may get up to - it's not going to be long now before we're all due to have a rather personal interview with the King. Somehow we suspect that no religious cop-outs will work then. ("Here he comes, fellows. Now - one, two, three: "Thy lov-ing kind-ness...").

It'll be me and him, you and him. As we really are. And it should be possible to look forward to that time. Servants shouldn't be scared when the King comes back. Brides don't normally clump down the aisle muttering "oh heck". So how do we get to start feeling eager about his return?

Not by holding let's all get eager meetings.

Using faith.

* * *

And that's the whole pivot of what God'd doing right now.

If the just shall live by faith... and if whatever isn't of faith is sin...

We're going to need to identify and use faith for shopping and watching telly, driving to work and sunbathing, making love and shaving under our arms.

What on earth is faith?

Before we answer that, let's have a bit of a look at what's in it for us. Remember the four religious things that have to go when the cross spells death to flesh?

Okay. What d'you get in return in the kingdom of God?

Think about it as a package, first. It's time that believers stopped gambling on the so-called law of averages and moved into what their Dad wants 'em to enjoy.

F'rinstance. What are the odds against being hit by lightning? Something in the region of one in a million. Give or take a few.

But that's statistics. Taking actual ker-wallops per head of population. Which - as far as you are concerned - is meaningless. Either you get hit. Or you don't. For you, the odds are fifty-fifty.

Like being pregnant. Either you are or you aren't. There's no little bit or sort of.

So? Life's too dodgy to risk living outside the kingdom. We need to live in protection, provision, health and God's presence. Like - all the time. As a minimum.

Problem is - how?

Glib answer: faith.

Here's where it gets tricky. Leastways, explaining it does. So stick with us. 'Cos we've got to go off in all directions to make sure we've said what we're supposed to.

* * *

First - us, we're not supersaints. If you've met us, you know. If you haven't - take our word for it. We're learning. Mostly by our mistrakes.

So we haven't got all this sussed, believe you us.

However, for maybe sixteen years we have lived in God's provision. We've learned to use faith for everything we've needed - and almost everything we've wanted.

That's not the prosperity trip. We've had to find what kind of lifestyle Dad's chosen for us. You've got to find out for you.

Might be a whole lot higher than what you're into now. On the other hand, it might be a whole lot less. Whatever. But the truth'll be that after the initial shock wears off, you'll love it. No hassles. No coveting.

Would you believe that Christians are covetous? "I only want to make a fortune so's I can give to missions." Have you ever met a greedy trade union member? Could you imagine a business man who served mammon rather than God? "God's reputation would be at stake if we didn't buy a Toyota Landcruiser."

Greed, covetousness, mammon functions at all levels. As believers are only just admitting. Maybe one day there'll be a time of thanksgiving for the stockmarket crash. Meanwhile there's just the pain of waking up to reality.

* * *

Where were we? Oh, yes - living in God's provision.

It works. But then there's health.

Health. Forget healing for a while. Healing's a red herring. Healing means you got sick. Better you stayed well, eh.

The problem is - how?

We've had healings. From God. And we're v-e-r-y thankful. But we've also had a fair swag of negative teaching to suggest that when we get sick, often as not it's from God.

Oh yes?

If sickness is a result of the fall - and if Jesus took our sicknesses and our diseases - how come we get crook?

If God sends illness - what right have we got to go against his will with medicine and doctors?

But does sickness ever come from God? (Steady on before you start writing to us - let's make a point first.) Imagine this loving, considerate father... who's got a little problem kiddie... who just won't act right... so he cuddles the wee bairn up close to him... takes his little arm in his strong hands... and SNAP - breaks the kid's arm over his knee.

End of problem. Brat has learned lesson rather quick.

Except that a loving father doesn't do that. So before we start attributing sickness and calamity to God, we'd better be awfully sure of our facts.

Otherwise we're holding the door open for the wrong father. The father of lies.

* * *

Us two - we had this health problem, a recurrent thing. A mild version of M.E. or Tapanui Flu. Okay, we know some medical blokes still don't believe it's genuine, and we sympathise. Because it went like this...

We'd wake one morning feeling like death warmed up. No energy. No will to move. Happy (happy!) to just lie there. Sure, we could do anything - if we really had to. But with zero get-up-and-go.

Fortunately it passed after a few days.

Till the next time.

That was flippin' annoying for us. Because we're activists. And there are always any number of interesting jobs to get into around the house and on the land.

But almost regularly - zonk.

Sure, we moaned like crazy to our Dad about it. Didn't seem to get answers. Except that cutting back on percolated coffee seemed to help. Only a little. For what it's worth.

Then - one bright 'n' breezy morning I (George doing this bit) woke feeling awful. (For those who know us: more awful than is usual in the morning.) And my thoughts ran somewhat along these lines:

"Oh dear! It's a lovely day, but I'm not going to be able to do the chainsawing I'd planned. What a terrible shame, eh. I'll only be able to sit and play with my computer. Sad, that."

Anyone detect a slight note of hypocrisy anywhere?

Yeah, well - even I noticed. But what's the significance?

Simply that it is possible (even in the nicest, most unselfish, saintly people - like you, dear) to sometimes want to be a bit ill. Or to use illness in a selfish manner.

No, we know you thoroughly dislike the full-blown consequences of being ill. But there's still that little thing called sin that finds an odd fringe benefit in being crook.

Think it over.

And... look, if you don't reckon that Jesus was much into small-talk, how come now and then he'd ask some bloke suffering from something awfully obvious what he wanted done for him.

Ask a silly question? Don't think so.

Jesus was - is - the truth. When he asked what the person wanted, that was a moment of honesty between them.

When a blind beggar was faced with losing an easy income. A manipulating mother losing her means of blackmailing the family. A brattish youngster losing its hold on parents. Where you are faced with losing...

Fill in your own details. We're all human.

* * *

'Nother thing. Bit different from illness being useful.

Condemnation - for anything, real or imaginary - is nothing more nor less than communion and communication with Satan.

Sorry. That sounds dramatic. But that's the way it is.

Read Romans 8 and follow Paul's argument on the subject. Essentially he's saying that God is incapable of condemning, simply because his whole purpose is precisely the opposite.

In which case, condemnation plugs in a neat little two-way link down to Guess Who.

And allows him a little area of control.

Now, you don't avoid condemnation by never doing anything wrong. (Well - we don't, 'cos we're us.) You avoid condemnation by putting that wrong right as soon as you notice it.

What's a fruitful source of condemnation? Two areas, actually. One bad, one good.

Religion's the bad trip.

"You can't be saved if you don't speak in tongues." "There's no revival because of your lukewarmness." "Jimmy Carter failed as a Christian president because you didn't pray enough." "When did you last lead a soul to the Lord?" "You haven't... you didn't... you mustn't... you ought..."

Acts as a curse, it really does. And folk buy it. Little wonder God's handing around "get out of church free" cards.

What's the other area where condemnation flourishes? The good, godly, cor-smashing area?

Marriage.

Unity, honesty 'twixt him 'n' her in marriage is in bloomin' short supply.

Ever wondered why your spouse isn't the sexy turn-on, the let-me-get-my-hands-on-you, oh for just us two on a desert island that he or she was in those naughty-naughty courting days?

Look - often it's nothing more than a lack of doing what really (like, really) pleases your beloved.

You may work real hard to earn millions. You may spend twentyfive hours a day polishing the ceilings.

But what if wife or husband would rather you didn't read that, watch that, go there. Or whatever?

Talk it over. Discuss how to please each other.

And when you drop a clanger, put it right at the double.

For the record - we're working at it. We may not be all that good, but it's worth it. Is it ever!

It affects both the area of health and protection, too.

And as a matter of interest, since we started to deal with wanting to be sick and dealing with condemnation, we've had no recurrence of that Tapanui flu thing.

Which is interesting.

Hey - did anyone say "it's all in the mind"?

(Psychosomatic is the big word.)

That's probably right. No, we're not about to go all Christian Science on you. But think of the implications of "I pray you may prosper and be in health even as your soul prospers".

And there's another one. A heavy-heavy one.

If you fail to recognise the body of Christ, you actually eat and drink condemnation - and for this simple reason some people get sick, and some have in fact died.

Teach that at a communion service if you dare.

If you can't (or won't) recognise other believers as part of Christ's body, you've got problems.

Medical problems.

You'd better realise that included in the body are some who are Branhamites, Catholics, AOG, those who've quit church, and some who've never been to church ever.

Sure, it looks very saintly to suffer illness and tragedy. And it's a fact that God will use that sort of thing to refine his kids.

But that's using our insistence on linking up with Satan. That's not his normal, basic will for us.

Now - grab hold of those two words. "Normal" and "basic".

We're not talking about God's "highest purpose in our lives". (What was the old catchphrase? "My utmost for his highest". Stirring stuff, but leaves us plodders feeling a weeny bit second-class.)

We're talking about a simple starting point.

Faith.

Faith is something missionaries get with their airline tickets. True or false.

Jesus talked about tiny faith. Microscopic faith. Don't blink you'll miss it faith.

Perfectly adequate for uprooting trees and hurtling a hillside into the sea.

In other words, the minimum quantity of faith that God is capable of giving...

...packs all the punch of a cyclone or an earthquake. Ask folk in Gisborne or Whakatane what that means. And that's the effect of the smallest bit of faith that is possible to exist. So, for now, forget "great faith". Stick to the speck-of-dust variety.

* * *

How d'you get faith?

You got it.

"Whatever" (we've said it before; we'll say it again) "is not of faith is sin." Therefore, unless you believe that your Dad leaves you totally unprepared for vast areas of your life - then you got faith.

Does that mean you can charge out and do whizz-bang miracles.

No. (Yes or maybe, if you think it sounds better. But no is where we start.)

Faith isn't a cute little magic device for manipulating God. Faith is beyond magic. It's where you live comfortably in the will of God and make love and clean your teeth and talk about Dad and heal the sick and read an Asterix comic because your purposes and his purposes mesh.

But... What is it? How d'you recognise it?

Answer: experiment.

We tend, when chatting to folk, to use the phrase "God said..." Sooner or later we get asked - "What d'you mean by 'God said'?"

Not an audible voice. (There was one time, when this minister offered us the pastorate of a church, and God literally said "No, George". But that's another story.)

Mostly it's an impression. A thought. (We won't say a feeling, because some painful friends still go all Brethren on us and say that's existentialism and you can't go by feelings and the "if it feels good, do it" philosophy.)

So we follow it up. Experiment, in other words. And see how things work out. That way, you get to recognise the voice of God. That way, you bring your thinking into line with his.

That's all there is to faith. Nothing more. Sorry 'bout that, if you were expecting something terribly impressive.

It's the pay-off that's impressive. You see, if you're spending the afternoon in the way your Dad wants you to, you can handle any situation. A phone call, a neighbour dropping in - it's all part of "your ministry".

No, you mayn't necessarily say or do anything "spiritual". Whatever that is. Just be. And be ready to give account for the hope that is within you.

* * *

But what about doubts.

Doubts are okay. Mostly they're a sign of faith. Because you can't really have the things unless you have faith, can you. Doubts are just the mind's naughty reaction to the non- reasoned intrusion of faith from the spirit.

Peter had faith for going walkies on the lake. He had to have, otherwise it was immoral of Jesus to invite him.

Peter had doubts when he looked at the weather. Which is why he did the sensible thing and sank. Not stupid, our Peter. Just kept preferring to use his soul instead of his spirit. It was always his problem.

(So if he's the founder of your church, guess what your problem is. Disciples don't get any better than their master, according to the handbook.)

Okay. Start living by faith. See how it works. And don't let anyone get between you and the King. Husbands and wives: you're one flesh. (...whether you like it or not...) so get agreed on this. And relate direct to God.

Right now, friends and neighbours are looking at believers to see if God works in real life. Signs and wonders will impress them, and there's a place for such things. But signs and wonders in isolation aren't where it's at.

What do we mean by "in isolation"?

Soon, very soon, the Pope will begin to do miracles in the name of Jesus. It is both technically and theologically possible that these will be genuine.

You see - the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. That's a neat little ambiguity, that one. It can mean that the person who gets the gifts and call needn't hav repented. It also can mean that God needn't withdraw either gifts or call just because of what the person becomes.

Ever realised that Judas raised the dead? Cleansed lepers? Cast out demons?

Don't believe it? Listen: Jesus sent the twelve out two- by-two to do precisely that. The twelve returned with a hop 'n' a skip to say wow and phew. Nobody said they bombed out. Nobody said it worked for me but not for my cobber here.

Judas did miracles. He is a type of the deceiver.

And just as the signs and wonders he genuinely did, didn't signify God's good housekeeping seal of approval on his attempts to manipulate the Messiah...

Neither will the Pope's miracles be God's stamp of acceptance on the superchurch.

Okay. But what if you... and we... get into the signs and wonders business?

Simple. We've got to start with a down-to-earth, real-life life. Out there. At home where the kids can see us. With our heathen friends in their homes. Round the shops. At the factory or office.

Remember that, generation for generation, the children of this world have a darn sight more wisdom than the children of light. They can sniff out a phoney quicker'n you can. They're watching you.

And deep, deep down, they're hoping you're genuine. They don't want the smooth, supercool TV evangelists. They don't want robes and incense and high, resounding titles. They're looking (with a clearer vision than religious folk have) to see if you (despite your oddities and your mistakes) have got anything that's worthwhile. Anything that doesn't need an elaborate artificial structure to keep it going. Show 'em. Begin to live.

* * *

Time was when end-time teaching was designed to scare the pants off you.

And the last time we had a squiz at the book of "Revelation", there were still these word pictures about plagues and umpteen-headed monsters and death on horseback. The story hadn't changed.

But something is changing. God's kids.

Events may be worse than ever John on Patmos or Hal Lindsay was able to describe them.

Somehow, though, as believers move away from the artificial warmth of religion into the vigour, the heat and the cold of the real world - they find that the King has everything in control.

And he's more than adequate for them at this moment.

Don't you fear the Mark? The Antichrist? The Superchurch?

Not if Jesus is here. Now.

People we've met haven't necessarily got their end-time concepts neatly stacked and memorised. They're just quietly confident that God's got a foolproof way of getting them through. They may feel less cocksure about being ready for his return than ever before - yet they aren't panicking or feeling guilty. They're getting down to the serious, satisfying business of making themselves ready - his way - for him.

And that's unbeatable.

Governments can close down churches. They can tax organisations out of existence. They can't abolish individuals. Or ban living.

Satan can infiltrate churches with his followers. He can insinuate his double agents into positions of leadership. But he can't send men to seduce folk who are led by the Lord. He can't raise up big names when people won't settle for less than their Dad.

Believers who've quit religion have - simultaneously - nothing and everything.

You can't threaten to confiscate where people have nothing. You can't bribe where people have everything.

And as believers come to realise the incredible tensile strength of their relationship with the King, not only will they know they have nothing to lose, but they will know they have nothing to fear.

If you believe (like - believe) that the truth of Christ in you is greater than anything to be found in the world - then you'll say exactly what you feel about the sham of religion. The hard work of religion. The unnecessary-ness of religion. You won't wait until "everybody else" is saying it. (Remember the charismatic move? "Yes, I'm baptised in the spirit - but don't tell anyone; our church isn't ready for that yet.") If you wait for leaders to be raised up, you'll wait for ever.

Because the only leader any of us are going to have is Jesus.

Messiah and King.

* * *

These next few pages were added to the original book in April 1991.

The Gulf War is officially over; peace talks have begun. Even people who hate to admit that prophecy could have been fulfilled now (the distant past or the distant future is so much safer) are conceding that the smoke of Kuwait's burning may ascend to at least the "Age of ages" if not "for ever and ever", and the burning of chemical and biological weapons may have been foretold in the O.T.

Several decades of hard work by the P.R. boys in the Vatican issuing a steady flow of press releases on Mother Teresa to keep her name as no.1 household word have at last paid off. They wanted to ensure that Catholicism would receive official approval when Albania's hard-line atheism was switched off, and promoted vigorously a nun born of Albanian parents. A few weeks ago, Mother Teresa returned to Albania, opened a home for the poor there, received high government honours, and distributed communion wafers in a cathedral hastily restored after long years of use as a cinema.

And Pope John Paul II has kept up his double-edged pressure on the Israeli government. It is his "greatest desire" to pray beside Jewish and Moslem leaders in Jerusalem, he claims. But he will not recognise the State of Israel unless Jerusalem is removed from Jewish control and made an international city. A United Nations resolution already exists that demands just that, and orders the appointment of a governor to supervise "the three great monotheistic faiths" who is neither Israeli nor Palestinian.

The phrase "New World Order" is now used by established statesmen. Time runs cover stories on global control, while successive New Zealand governments obey their masters, the IMF and OECD.

And the exodus of serious believers from organised religion continues. Australian churches have done their sums and find there are more ministers who have quit (excluding by reason of age or ill-health) than who are still "in the ministry". The Vatican held an "extraordinary meeting of cardinals" who reported that "hundreds of thousands of Catholics a year are abandoning their church" - with the greatest effect felt in traditionally conservative Latin America. Our mailbox bulges with letters from believers who walk away from structured Christianity and find to their astonishment that there are literally tens of thousands of others doing the same. No man or woman heads it up. Nobody coordinates the quitters. The only big name is God.

Get to know him well. Get used to the idea that he and we may be seeing rather a lot of each other in the near future. That promises to be interesting.

And what if God doesn't share the views of the more vocal British Israelites: namely, that most/all Israelis area a bunch of imposters? If he doesn't, we can expect a mind- boggling revival among the Jews as they wake up to the fact that Jesus isn't a gentile creation, but their own flesh and blood.

Rethink the tale of Joseph and his brothers...

They were jealous of his being the Old Man's favourite. They did their best to get rid of him forever. Then times became tough and they reluctantly had to get involved with someone apparently gentile to the back teeth. Their brother.

Thanks to the trappings of religion, the Lord Jesus has the reputation among Jews of being a gentile god. And a growing number are beginning to look at him and wonder.

Two questions.

One: can we rejoice with them - then - when they recognise their Brother and are embraced by him?

Two: can we recognise him - now? As he really is, not in the religious disguise that two thousand years of gentile traditions have tried to force on him?

The next few - what? - years? - months? - weeks? - are going to be full of surprises for each one of us. Without a doubt he will have quite a few tears to wipe from our eyes.

But the close of the present age means the opening of a new era. And we reckon it's a high privilege to be allowed to be around at this time.

* * *