Written By Mission Frontiers

A.K. Amberg is a church planter and missiologist researching contextualization in church planting movements. He is a director at Waha, a company dedicated to empowering people everywhere to multiply disciples. Find out more at www.waha.app.

The Dream

Miriam woke up in a cold sweat. The image of a man dressed in white and shining like the sun was scorched in her mind. It was far from the first dream she had ever had, but this was different. It was like the dream reached out from her sleeping mind right into the real world.

“Find this book,” the man in white had said, handing her a strange tome. “It will show you the Way.” What could the dream possibly have meant? She needed some tea. Groggy, she lumbered from her bedroom and into the common area of her apartment. But before she could flip on the kettle, something stopped her in her tracks. There, on the coffee table was the exact same book from her dream. She could tell because of the strange, golden letters printed on its spine: B-I-B-L-E.

There’s an App for That

At Waha, we love Miriam’s story, because it reminds us of all the ways God works. He reveals himself through miraculous dreams and visions, but also through human innovation.

Waha is a not-for-profit whose mission is to empower people everywhere to become disciples who multiply disciples among the unchurched and unreached. We do this through technology. Our app facilitates a Discovery Bible Study and disciple-making course with the push of a button so anyone can lead one with almost no training or expertise whatsoever. It’s easy to see why we get excited about God meeting people through technology.

Take Miriam, for example. As a refugee in a Middle Eastern city, she had little access to gospel materials. But when she saw her roommate’s Bible on the table, she knew she had found something real. Before long, she was sitting in her roommate’s house church, discovering God’s Word herself.

“We have always been told this book is only for Christians,” she said once. “But it’s not. It’s for everyone!” She wanted to share with all the Muslims she knew but struggled to communicate clearly. That’s when the leader of her house church told her how to download Waha on her phone. All she had to do was invite friends to join her for a meeting and then push the play button.

The app read a story from the Bible, asked a question about the story, and made a tone, signaling for her to press pause and discuss the answer with her group.

A Theology of Technology

Technology has a role to play in missions, but many can be forgiven for suspecting its trustworthiness. We live in a time when technology meant to connect us has instead sown deep division in our societies,(1) even to the point of inciting violence.(2) When we innovate new technologies to aid missionaries, how do we avoid unintentionally creating something that does more harm than good?

Writing on the topic for the Lausanne Committee, Swiss theologian Stefan Lindholm offers a helpful theological framework. Because we are fallen yet made in the image of God, he says, “we must reckon with both the dignity and depravity of human beingsdue to the enormous impact technology can have.”(3)

Technology reflects our depravity when it isolates us, dehumanizes us, or molds us “according to the patterns of this world” (Rom 12:2). Technology reflects our dignity, however, when it creates community, encourages wonder, and helps conform us to the image of Christ (2 Cor 3:18).

Technology is an extension of ourselves but can also shape us. To better understand how it does, those who study media suggest we think in terms of hot or cold media. Hot media is high-information and requires less of the user, while cold media is intentionally low-information so the user is encouraged to take an active role in its use.(4) When we innovate technologies for the mission field, we should ask ourselves: Is this hot or cold? Does it encourage active participation in the life of God or passive receipt of biblical truth?

Miriam learned about this when her movement exploded across the Middle East. It began one night when she was scrolling TikTok and came across a video of another Muslim woman sharing the exact same experience as her; a dream of a man in white telling her to follow him. Before she knew it, the algorithm had figured out she wanted similar videos and introduced her to young men and women across the Muslim world all talking about the same dream.

Miriam decided to reach out. She created a Whatsapp group and invited as many of the people behind these TikTok videos as possible. Before long, she had assembled an array of people from multiple countries in the Middle East and North Africa. When she told them how this mysterious figure is Jesus, they wanted to know more. So, she sent them a link and told them to download Waha.

She could easily have sent a YouTube video, a podcast, or even a sermon from one of the best teachers in the world, but these hot media would have required little of those in her Whatsapp group. The Waha app is intentionally designed to require a group of real people to sit together, read, discuss, and challenge one another to obey and share the Word of God. Not only does it require a great deal of participation from users, but it encourages the formation of communities around being and making disciples of Jesus. In this way, Waha lays the foundation for perhaps the most powerful form of cold media: the Church.

How Waha Makes It Easy to Catalyze CPM

David Garrison lists five key principles that contribute to the formation of church planting movements.

They are:

1. Reproduction

2. Multiplication

3. Indigeneity

4. Churches Planting Churches

5. People Groups (5)

The people in Miriam’s Whatsapp group found it easy to replicate DBS with Waha because of its plug-and-play design. Each lesson asks how the group will obey and share what they have learned, so it encourages multiplication from the start. This eventually leads to house churches that plant other house churches, until a movement overtakes an entire people group.

Perhaps the biggest challenge for an app is to encourage indigeneity, but that is why Waha has been localized into over 40 languages with nearly 50 more on the way. Over time, Miriam’s groups matured. They made decisions to identify with Christ as a Jesus community, undergoing baptism as a mark of their faith. The disciples in these churches shared their faith and made other disciples until they, too, established themselves as churches.

Before she knew it, Miriam found herself leading a multi-ethnic church planting movement spread across many nations in the Middle East and North Africa. There is one city, she said, where virtually all immigrants are involved in some form of DBS, whether using Waha or not. Another of her stories tells of an Islamic extremist who began reading the DBS content in Waha in secret.

One day, he was discovered by his comrade, but instead of facing consequences, he led his comrade to faith. Another story from the movement tells of a witch doctor led to faith by her grandson and planting a church with everyone she used to curse.

Conclusion

Innovation doesn’t just happen because we use a fancy new technology. It is a part of a continuous process of collective intelligence that brings the Body of Christ together to access the mind of Christ for the nations.(6)

We believe Waha is made better by users just like Miriam, who send in stories from all over the world and provide precious insights into new ways the tool can be made more effective. Some of the best ideas have arisen from the field among local believers like Miriam, who cannot reveal their actual identities due to security concerns, and for them we are truly grateful.

If you or your organization is looking to innovate new ways to use technology in Great Commission work, we hope our experience has provided meaningful insight. When we approach innovation with a healthy theology of tech, understand its formative effects on all of us, and encourage living discipleship communities as its bedrock, we are confident that the Body of Christ will see the most exciting and effective breakthroughs in our work to share the good news.

1. David Herbert and Stefan Fisher-Høyrem, eds., Social Media and Social Order (Warsaw: De Gruyter Open, 2022), 111. doi.org/10.2478/9788366675612.

2. Samuel Musa and Samuel Bendett, Islamic Radicalization in the United States: New Trends and a Proposed Methodology for Disruption, Defense & Technology Paper no. 77 (Washington, DC: US Department of Defense, September 2010). www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GOVPUB-D5_400-PURL-gpo55900/pdf/GOVPUB-D5_400-PURL-gpo55900.pdf

3. Stefan Lindholm, “Technology and Missions: How Technology Is Changing Our Lives and Why It Matters for the Great Commission,” Lausanne Occasional Paper (Lausanne Movement, 2025), lausanne.org/occasional-paper/technology-and-missions- how-technology-is-changing-our-lives-and-why-it-matters-for-the-great-commission#a-brief-theology-of-technology.

4. Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, 5th printing (New York: Signet Books, New American Library, 1964), 36–38.

5. Garrison, David. Church Planting Movements: How God Is Redeeming a Lost World (Monument, CO: WIGTake Resources, 2004), loc. 245.

6. A.K. Amberg, “Success, Failure and the Mind of Christ: How Collective Intelligence Turns Our Losses into Victory,” Seedbed Journal 36, no. 2 (August–September 2025), 118.

One of the most important parts of our meeting is the “I Will” statement. In a Discovery Bible Study (DBS), we don’t want to just fill our heads with new information; we want God’s Word to change our lives. An “I Will” statement is a simple, personal commitment to take a specific action based on what we just discovered in the Bible passage. It is the difference between someone who just says they believe something and someone who is actually living it out.

It’s All About Obedience.

The “I Will” statement is the heartbeat of obedience in discovery groups. We often read the Bible just to get “nuggets of wisdom,” which isn’t wrong but Jesus said we are His friends if we actually do what He commands. These statements help us move from just thinking about a story to putting it into practice in our daily lives.

What Makes a Good “I Will” Statement?

To make sure these commitments actually lead to change, you can follow a few simple rules.

• It Must Be Specific and Concrete. We want to avoid “religious talk” or vague goals like “I will be kinder” or “I will trust God more”. Instead, a good statement is something you can actually measure, like “I will show kindness by mending my neighbour’s fence tomorrow afternoon”.

• It Must Be Small and Doable. Choose something they can finish in the next 24 to 48 hours, or at least before you meet again. Instead of a huge plan to change your whole life, look for that first small step.

• It Must Relate to the Passage. The action should come directly from what the group discovered about God or people in the story we just read. If the story were about forgiveness, the “I Will” statement should probably be about forgiving someone.

• It Must Be a New Step of Growth. We aren’t looking for things people already do every day. We want to find fresh and new ways to grow and follow Jesus.

Things to Watch Out For

As a facilitator, you’ll want to gently help people avoid “I Will” statements that don’t lead to real change.

• Avoid Just “Religious Practices”: Sometimes people will say, “I will pray more” or “I will read my Bible”. While those are good things, they are often just “trained responses” that don’t actually change how we treat people or live our lives.

• Avoid “I Will” Statements for Others. Each person should focus on their own change, not what they think someone else should do.

• Avoid Statements That Are Too Big: If someone says, “I’m going to stop all my bad habits,” help them narrow it down to one small thing they can do tomorrow.

Why This Matters for the Group

Fostering good “I Will” statements is often the toughest part of a DBS to get right, but it is critical if we want to see the group grow and multiply. When you meet the following week, always start by asking, “How did you do with your ‘I Will’ statement?” This accountability helps us encourage one another and celebrate how God is working in our lives. If we don’t focus on obedience, the group can become just another “knowledge club,” and we won’t see the life-changing power of God’s Word in our communities.

This encounter with Zacchaeus follows the story of Jesus responding to blind Bartimaeus who had shouted out to him from the crowd (18:38) – so now he addresses one who didn’t want to be noticed! They represent two extremes of the social landscape, and both were rejected by their peers. Jesus loves reaching those others despise or reject. In this case, Zacchaeus was despised for being little, being a tax collector (and so lonely – because he would have no friends) but his greatest issue was that he was ‘lost’.

‘Jesus entered Jericho…’ (v1) – Jericho was a prosperous, desirable place on the east-west trade route – so a good location for a tax collector! ‘Zacchaeus…was a chief tax collector…wealthy’ (v2) – Zacchaeus literally means ‘pure’ or ‘righteous’ but he would be anything but! He would be seen by everyone as a collaborator with Romans and likely had become wealthy through exploiting his status as a tax collector. But as Isaiah made clear, money does not itself bring satisfaction, ‘Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy?’ (Isaiah 55:2) and Solomon said much the same thing, ‘Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless’ (Eccl 5:10).

Luke tells us, ‘He wanted to see who Jesus was’ (v3). This suggests there was an emptiness in his life, a longing for something more despite his prosperity? This seems to be a common experience for people who are famous or wealthy people. Despite their riches and apparent success, people are still empty and ‘lost’ until they find Jesus – there is the famous ‘God-shaped hole’ in their hearts and lives.

Zacchaeus had a physical problem – he was LITTLE

‘…being a short man’ (v3) – despite his wealth, status etc., he was limited physically and was obviously conscious of it – note the huge industry today driven by people’s desire to be physically attractive (fitness centres, special diets, expensive clothes etc).

It has been observed too, that a common reaction of short people is to compensate with aggression, dominance etc. Some of the most powerful people in history have been short in stature: Napoleon was (5’6”), Hitler (5’9”), Stalin (5’5”), Winston Churchill (5’6”), Mussolini (5’6”), Khruschev (5’3”), Yasser Arafat (5’2”), Queen Victoria (5’). They should have accepted the dictum:

It’s better to be small and shine than big and cast a shadow!

Or better still taken on board the words of Jesus, ‘Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature’ (Matt 6:27 NKJV). Or, as Warren Wiersbe says: ‘“all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). No one measures up to God’s high standards; we are all “too little” to enter into heaven’.

Zacchaeus had a soulish problem – he was LONELY

‘…because he was short, he could not see over the crowd’ (v3) Zacchaeus knew he was despised and would not be given any favours. You can’t buy true lasting friendship with money as the prodigal son found out (see Luke 15:11-16) or as David wrote in Psalm 142:4 ‘Look on my right hand and see, for there is no-one who acknowledges me… no-one cares for my soul’.

It is noteworthy that the UK has a Minister for Loneliness: … of the 68 million people in the UK, 9 million people report often or always, feeling lonely. One study showed that about 200,000 elderly people in the U.K. had not had a conversation with a friend or a relative in over a month. “Loneliness can kill. It’s proven to be worse for health than smoking 15 cigarettes a day,” Mark Robinson, chief officer of the non-profit Age UK Barnet, says. And The American Psychological Association writes that up to 40 percent of Americans over the age of 45 suffer from chronic loneliness.

The real problem is not the lack of human companionship but of a divine relationship. We are actually really lonely because we think we can live without God! We were created and designed by God to be in an intimate relationship with him but like Adam and Eve we hide from him: ‘Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden’ (Gen 3:8).

‘… so he ran ahead… and climbed a sycamore-fig tree…’ (v4), this shows his strong desire and determination to at least see Jesus. What effort do people make today to be with Jesus? I was told by one member of my church:

If it’s raining don’t expect me to go to church!

‘Jesus reached the spot…looked up and said…’ – what a poignant moment! Zacchaeus thought he could hide unnoticed – a lot of people hide in their ‘tree’! It gives them the opportunity to not be too committed. Jesus looked right through it and said ‘come down immediately’. Note: Adam and Eve sought refuge in a tree to hide their shame in the garden of Eden.

What tree are we hiding in?

• The I’m not good enough tree?

• The I’m OK as I am tree?

• The I don’t want to be committed tree?

• The I’m too busy tree?

• The I’m too old tree?

• The I like my sin too much tree?

• The I don’t want to rock the boat tree?

Zacchaeus had a spiritual problem – he was LOST

‘When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today”. So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly’ (Luke 19:5-6)

Note, ‘I must stay at your house today’ (v5) is an imperative – there’s no other option! Jesus doesn’t just sign you up as a voter! He comes to stay! (see Rev 3:20). Also he said ‘today’ – so there is a sense of urgency and remember Jesus’ amazing promise to the thief on the cross, ‘today you will be with me in paradise’ (Luke 23:43). As my dad often said:

The presence of Christ is imperative to our humanity!

‘… he came down at once and welcomed him gladly’ (v6) – Zacchaeus’ response was immediate and with joy. Note the contrast with the ‘wealthy’ young ruler who, in response to Jesus’ invitation for him to follow him ‘became very sad, because he was very wealthy’ (Luke 18:23).

‘…the people saw…began to mutter’ (v7) – from their perspective Jesus’ actions deserved disapproval – Zacchaeus is dismissed as a ‘sinner’ and so Jesus has ritually polluted himself by association with him.

‘…Lord! Here and now, I give half of my possessions to the poor…’ (v8) – Zacchaeus gave tangible evidence of the inner change by his outward action. In addition, he promised ‘to pay back four times the amount’ of money he had extorted from people. According to the law, it was only required to give back the original amount that he had stolen plus one fifth, ‘when they sin in any of these ways and realize their guilt, they must return what they have stolen or taken by extortion, or what was entrusted to them, or the lost property they found, or whatever it was they swore falsely about. They must make restitution in full, add a fifth of the value to it and give it all to the owner on the day they present their guilt offering.’ (Lev 6:5).

‘Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man too, is a son of Abraham”’ (v9). This is an amazing statement to make about someone so far from traditional covenant living – but this is the nature of Jesus’ promise to save anyone who repents. As Paul puts it. ‘Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. (Gal 3:7-9).

The story of Zacchaeus finishes with the profound statement that ‘…the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost’ (v10) – a final affirmation that this was the true purpose in Jesus’ life and a powerful demonstration of what Jesus was about to achieve through his death at Calvary and resurrection from the tomb.

This was an amazing transformation in Zacchaeus’ life – he went from hiding in a sycamore tree to gaining eternal access to the tree of life! As John put it in Rev 2:7 ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God’.

So, have you stepped out of your tree yet?

Application/Prayer

Have I realized that wealth will not bring happiness?

Am I drawn to Jesus but still keeping a ‘safe’ distance from him?

Have I realized he knows exactly who I am, where I am and what I am?

Am I willing to change?

Have I truly received ‘salvation’?

Written by Rev Keith Bell, retired Presbyterian minister, Wycliffe Advocate, geriatric teenager at STB workshop.

Wycliffe Bible Translators has developed a program which provides the Church with the means to excite our (young) people in sharing their faith in Jesus, particularly with their non-Christian friends. This program is Story The Bible (STB) which aims to train disciples of Jesus into being disciple-making disciples, in effect, fulfilling Jesus’ command to be His witnesses to every people group (evangelism) and to teach them to obey His commands (discipleship).

I have attended two STB workshops for high school students which were organised and led by high school students. One participant commented: I found it really cool having youth teaching youth instead of just adults like normal. Are these students potential missionaries? Sure are.

I believe we (the Church) should do all we can to encourage these young people to develop their abilities as disciple-making disciples; and promote the STB program as an effective tool in evangelism and disciple-making.

… let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good

Imagine

Imagine being able to tell a Bible story to people in such a way you don’t put them off and then leading them in a conversation about Jesus.

Imagine a group of 15 high school students who did just that in Bendigo in the April school holidays. In about 1 hour, they told 19 people 10 Bible stories. They gave away 20 gospels and prayed for 3 people.

Imagine learning to do this in just 3 days.

Imagine 5 high school students organising and leading a workshop, to teach other high school students to craft Bible stories so they can tell them simply, accurately, and memorably with a view to engaging their hearers in a discussion about Jesus.

Imagine 10 high school students giving up three days of their holidays to attend this workshop.

Imagine this group going into a shopping centre or a park and telling Bible stories to people they meet.

Imagine yourself in Bendigo where this workshop took place in the April school holidays.

Imagine the workshop group.

Imagine the 5 teachers:

Jerome, year 12, program organiser, teacher, teaching his 7th workshop

Heather, year 12, event organiser, teacher, 2nd workshop, 1st as a teacher

Archie, year 11, teacher, 2nd workshop, 1st as a teacher

Joseph, year 11, teacher, 2nd workshop, 1st as a teacher

Bailey, pastoral assistant, teacher, 2nd workshop, 1st as a teacher

Imagine the 10 participants: from 3 different schools and a home schooler, who represent 4 denominations: Anglican, Baptist, Pentecostal and Presbyterian.

Imagine the geriatric teenager, Keith (me) as overall supervisor.

Imagine crafting Bible stories and being challenged to think about Bible stories in ways you hadn’t previously. Participants learned that not all the events of the story are listed in the Biblical account and that many which are listed are not necessarily included in the telling of the story.

Imagine learning how to keep the story simple, in everyday language, so as not to confuse hearers with religious or church jargon.

Imagine learning to keep the story accurate by developing a storyboard so you can “see” the story thus understanding a principle in Bible storytelling:

If you can see the story, your hearers will too.

If you can’t see the story, your hearers won’t either,

Imagine learning to keep the story memorable by using a variety of techniques (e.g. direct speech, repetition, mimicking the emotion of the story), and telling your story in an exciting and engaging way.

Imagine going into the world to tell your story, and becoming convinced of the truth of another principle of Bible storytelling:

There are oodles of people who would listen to a Bible story, if only there were someone to tell them.

Imagine what such a program could mean in your church. Here are a few comments from the participants:

“My experience overall was good. I was nervous at the beginning because I wasn’t sure what I was involved in. When it came to telling Bible stories to the public, I was very scared, but I ended up telling a whole story to a family.”

“This workshop has been a blessing, allowing me to encourage and mentor others as well as revise and improve my knowledge and skills in this field. I came, I saw, I conquered.”

“Initially, I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but in the first minutes we learnt a story and I was like ‘whoa this is going to be epic’. I liked how practical the whole workshop was.”

“Overall, the workshop was a step in my faith that I needed to take and now I feel a lot more confident in sharing and expressing my faith.”

The theory in story crafting will help me write the puppet scripts for our church.

Who knows what God has in store for me, but I hope He will use these new skills to further His glory and increase His people.

Imagine becoming as excited as I am when you take up the challenge of these 5 high school students and have an STB workshop in your area to train people of all ages to be disciple-making disciples.

For more information on Story The Bible workshops contact Malcolm Barker malcolm.barker@ghd.com

Art lovers are dismayed when highly prized artworks are revealed as forgeries, which is doubly sad for forgers who shortchange themselves - producing copies instead of honing their talent to gain genuine reputations or influence.

During World War Two, European art gallery curators desperately tried to protect artworks from Nazi confiscation, using secret storages or daubing them with primitive paintwork; aiming to restore them later. But few curators survived, so mediocre stuff may still conceal lost masterpieces.

Art valuations can still be subjective - or embarrassing, as art critics once found after heaping praise on “original, subtle tones and vivid contrasts” in the abstract paintings produced by an unknown artist.

And the artist? A gorilla at Melbourne Zoo!

But have you ever recognised the masterpiece you can see every day – in your mirror?

For we are all masterpieces, uniquely made in God’s image, which doesn’t depend on how we look or perform. Instead, it reflects our value and our potential to know God personally, unlike animal instincts that can only rely on hoping to survive in a universe that’s impressive but ultimately beyond our understanding.

Better still, knowing God lifts us above having to imitate anyone. Role models may guide us, but trying to copy them will cheat us of being ourselves. Much like an art forger’s results.

We may find this image blocked or blurred if we focus too much on what goes wrong, whether it’s our fault, others’ fault, or if no-one’s to blame.

Whatever its cause, evil limits our ability to reach our potential and our concern for others, and it makes God seem too far away to care about us.

Jesus came to reveal the masterstrokes of God’s image in the least-likely people. And whether they were crippled physically, emotionally, socially, or spiritually, they started again in his acceptance and forgiveness.

It cost Jesus his life, but his comeback included a still-current invitation for anyone to claim this image and explore the relationship that he has planned from before time began. Accepting his invitation enables us to discover his masterpiece within us, and more importantly to encourage others to discover and develop the brushstrokes of his image for themselves.

Artistic masterpieces are incredibly valuable, but they cannot be changed - while by God’s grace, we can continue to develop our skills, deepen our insights and learn how to affirm people’s value in a world that feels devalued.

Noel Mitaxa
On behalf of a church near you,
Inviting you to explore God’s love

Written By Paul Romano

The gospel shifts us from selfishness to love by changing our identity and perspective. This change comes not from willpower or “trying harder.” It’s a supernatural work of grace that happens as we get born again, become a new creation in Christ and renew our thinking with the truth of what Jesus accomplished. Here is how that shift takes place:

A Change of Identity and Value

The fall of man twisted love into self-centredness. In Genesis 3, when Adam and Eve fell, Adam blamed God, saying, “It was the woman YOU gave me,” thereby deferring blame and responsibility.

The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” Genesis 3:12 ESV

We began to live by our feelings and crave validation.

And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” Gen 3:10 ESV

The gospel reverses this by showing our value comes from the price God paid for us—the blood of Jesus—not from performance, good works, or others’ opinions. When we know we are accepted, holy, and beloved in Christ, the “rat race” for others’ affirmation ends. This freedom lets us love without expecting anything in return.

The Death of “Self”

True Christianity requires us to deny ourselves and reckon the “old man”—the self-centred nature—as dead. When we are dead to our own reputation, rights, and well-being, we remove the “target” that allows us to be hurt, offended, or disappointed. By carrying our cross, we follow Jesus’s model of remaining in love even when treated unjustly, shifting from “I love you for me” (needs-driven) to “I love you because I am loved” (overflow-driven).

Renewing the Mind through Communion

Transformation happens in the “secret place” of intimate communion with God. As we spend time alone with Him, we release our “want to”—our sincere desire to look like Him—and His grace meets our faith to mould our hearts into His image. This process replaces old, counterproductive emotional patterns with a “God reality” that sees people through His eyes of compassion.

From Need to Overflow

The goal of the gospel is for us to become love, not just to be loved. When we are filled with the fullness of God, we are no longer a “cup going dry” looking for others to fill us; we become a “cup running over,” where love, mercy, and forgiveness naturally flow to everyone around us, regardless of their behaviour.

Deny Yourself

Truly denying yourself means shifting your entire reason for living from self-survival and personal well-being to manifesting the image of God. It is a relational surrender where you “reckon” your old, self-centred nature as dead so that Christ can live through you.

In practical terms, this transformation involves:

• Laying Aside “Rights”: You surrender your right to be offended, defensive, or to insist on your own way. When you are treated unjustly, you refuse to take it personally because you are no longer living for your own reputation.

• Moving from Need to Overflow: You stop trying to find value or affirmation through people and instead find your fulfilment in God. This shifts your relationships from “I love you because I need you” to a selfless “I love you for your sake”.

• Removing the “Target”: By dying to self-interest, you become “buttonless.” Since you are no longer seeking your own gain, the enemy has no hooks of insecurity or pride to use against you.

• Waking up to Shine: Instead of praying for God to bless your day or fix your problems, you wake up to be a “cup running over,” seeing your life as a gift intended to manifest His love to the world.

This shift isn’t earned through effort or discipline — it grows out of time with God, a sincere desire to look like Him, and the grace that meets you there. Practically carve out some time with God this week, where you can just be with Him. As you open the Bible, be aware of what the Word says about your new identity and believe it by faith. Pray it out and begin to show people Jesus.

Written By Paul Romano

What do you pray when you don’t know what to say. We have all faced those times in prayer with the Lord when we don’t know where to start our prayers. Jesus even told his disciples not to “babble on as the pagan or unbelievers do” hoping that we will be heard because of all the words we are saying or how loud or fast we can pray.

The Bible has many prayers already throughout that are powerful and (obviously) Spirit inspired. Praying the Bible can inform and guide our prayer life to be more biblically based and Spirit inspired that can change the way we not only view prayer but how we pray. I’m not trying to twist Gods arm into doing what I want him to do. Prayer is aligning and agreeing with God will where we are changed and our minds renewed.

I pray because I can’t help myself. I pray because I’m helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time, waking and sleeping. It doesn’t change God. It changes me —C.S. Lewis

That doesn’t mean we don’t come before the Father with our needs, Jesus told us to pray for “our daily bread.” However, we also know that we don’t live by bread alone but on the words that come from God. So we pray not just to have our needs met but to know God and be formed by God into the image of Christ.

“Some people pray just to pray and some people pray to know God.” Andrew Murray

I personally have found praying the scripture to be the best help in guiding my prayers when I feel stuck. Often praying the Apostle Paul’s prayers to the Ephesians or Colossian brothers and sisters and either persoanlising them or adding peoples names into those prayers and address those back to the Father.

For example Ephesians 3:14-19 which is:

14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

I will rework into a prayer something like:

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of your glory God would you grant (insert name here) to be strengthened with power through your Spirit in his or her inner being, so that Christ may dwell in (insert name here) heart through faith—that (insert name here), being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and for (insert name here) to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that (insert name here) may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Below you can download a Bible Prayer Guide based off the letter to the Galatians to help you begin letting the scriptures guide your prayers. In the booklet there is a prayer that I wrote out based on the corresponding chapter in Galatians, a blank page for you to write out your own and the whole letter to the Galatians from the Berean Standard Bible to read and reference when praying out of Galatians. Enjoy!

Download Galatians Prayer Guide

Written By Matthew Romano

There is a product currently in development called Friend. You wear it around your neck. It records your entire day — every conversation, every interaction, every awkward silence. Then at the end of the day you pour yourself a glass of wine, open the companion app, and talk through your day with your AI. Who heard everything. Who judged nothing. It is your therapist, life coach, best friend, and mentor — for $129.99. No vulnerability required. No messy human relationships.

I say that not to ridicule it. I say it because something about it stopped me cold. Not that someone built it — markets always fill gaps. What stopped me is what it reveals about the gap. The hunger to be truly known is so real, so unmet, that a device around your neck has become a credible answer to it.

And I think I know how we got here.

We are becoming what we’ve built

It didn’t happen dramatically. It happened in small surrenders. We got busier. We got more connected to screens and less connected to faces. We outsourced more of our interior life — our attention, our memory, our emotional processing — to devices. And slowly, without really noticing, we started to become what we had built.

Writer Paul Kingsnorth names it precisely: “We are building a world which runs on the logic of the machine, and then wondering why we begin to think like machines ourselves.”

You can hear it in the language. We recharge. We get downloads. We lack capacity. We need to switch off. The language of devices has quietly become the language of our inner lives. And language doesn’t just describe how we live — it shapes how we see ourselves.

The pace of life accelerates. We move faster, skim instead of reflect, react instead of discern. And we slowly lose things that are harder to name than possessions — wonder, attentiveness, the unhurried ability to be fully present with another person. And when the emptiness grows large enough, instead of stopping to ask what caused it, we build something to fill it. We try to replace what we’ve lost with the very thing that helped us lose it.

The most radical document in human history

Genesis wasn’t written in a vacuum. It was written into a world that already had answers to the question of what humans were here for. In the ancient Near East, creation accounts like the Enuma Elish told people that humans were created because the gods were tired. Humans existed to serve. To carry the burden. Your worth was your usefulness.

That was ancient. But it doesn’t sound entirely ancient.

And into that narrative, both ancient and modern. Genesis flips the script entirely. Tim Mackie from BibleProject explains that in the ancient world, only kings were called the image of God. Archaeologists have found thousands of texts from Egypt, Babylon, and Assyria. In every single one, only the Pharaoh, only the supreme ruler, bears the divine image. It was the most exclusive title in the ancient world. Then Genesis uses it not for one king, but for every human being. Every farmer. Every woman. Every child.

That was scandalous.

And look at how Genesis says it. Every other act of creation follows the same pattern, God speaks and it is. “Let there be light” and there is light. Immediate. Declarative. Then the language shifts. “Let us make mankind.” For the first and only time, God pauses. He deliberates. Every other creature was spoken into existence. Humanity was thought into existence. You were not an afterthought. Before you existed, you were considered.

You were not created to perform, produce, or optimise. You were created to bear the image of the God who made you. As Irenaeus wrote in the second century: “The glory of God is a human being fully alive.”

Living it out on a Tuesday

The Imago Dei is not just a doctrine about dignity. It is a call to inhabit the world in a particular way, and it takes shape in three movements.

The first is representation. Every time you walk into a room, your home, your workplace, your street, you carry the presence of God with you. The question is only whether what people encounter when they meet you gives them a truer or a lesser picture of the God whose image you bear. When you feel outrage at cruelty, that is His moral nature echoing in you. When you stay through the night with someone in pain, that is His faithful presence made flesh.

The second is embodiment, actually living what you claim to believe. This doesn’t happen in grand moments. It happens in the ones nobody sees. How you speak to the person who has let you down for the third time. How you treat someone who can do nothing for you in return. Character is not a coat you put on for Sunday. It is the accumulated weight of a thousand small choices, made in private.

The third is active participation. God handed humanity a deliberately unfinished world and commissioned us as co-creators. The Hebrew word for the human vocation — abad — means to work, to cultivate, to serve. It is the same word used for priestly service. Ordinary work was always priestly work. When a teacher forms a child’s capacity to think, when someone restores a broken relationship rather than walk away, these are the continuation of Genesis.

Before the face of God

There are two Latin words from the ancient church that I believe speak into our exact moment with more precision than almost anything written in the last decade.

Coram Deo. Before the face of God.

Here is why this matters. A machine cannot live before the face of God. It has no inner life that can be met by another. It cannot be known, and it cannot return love. It processes. It outputs. It performs its function and moves to the next task. It will never know what it is to be seen — because being seen requires a self. And a self requires a soul.

But you have one. Because you bear the image of God.

This is what makes coram Deo not just a spiritual practice but a uniquely human one. The very reason we can live in the awareness of God’s gaze is because we were made in His image shaped for relationship with Him in a way no other part of creation was. The Imago Dei is not only about dignity and calling. It is about this: that we were made for the face of God. That we are not complete until we are living before it.

To live coram Deo means living the whole of your life, every ordinary Tuesday, every crowded inbox, every moment when nothing seems to matter in the settled awareness that you are seen, known, and held by the God whose image you carry. Not performing for God as though He needed to be impressed. Not managing your image before Him as though He could be deceived. Just living, openly, with nothing hidden and nothing to prove, in the continuous awareness that the One who made you has not looked away.

The world built Friend because the hunger to be truly known is real and deep and very human. But that hunger was placed in us by a God who knows us completely, who thought about us before we existed, who breathed His own life into us, who has been looking at us with something that resembles love since before the first morning of the world.

The answer to that hunger is not a better device. It is the recovery of the truth at the heart of Genesis: that every human being is made in the image of God. That worth is given, not earned. That the most important thing about you was settled before you ever did a single thing to deserve it — or disqualify yourself from it.

That is no small thing about you. That is the most important thing about you.

Written By Paul Romano

Often attributed to psychologist Abraham Maslow is the quote: “It is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail.”

In seeking to make disciples, we tend to focus on teaching and curriculum, relying on increased Bible knowledge to foster growth. As the quote above illustrates, if all we have is a hammer, every problem is treated as a nail. When people we know, or pastor over, face a problem or are in need of spiritual growth, we often tell them to read the Bible more or offer instruction from it. This results in an emphasis on biblical knowledge, but not as much on biblical obedience.

At its heart, a Discovery Bible Study is a tool used to help people discover God by reading His Word, obeying what they learn, and sharing it with others. Unlike a traditional Bible study where a teacher gives a lecture or explains the Bible, a DBS is student-focused. There aren’t “experts” in the room telling everyone else what to think; instead, we act as facilitators who point people to the Bible and let the Holy Spirit do the teaching. That is not to say that teachers aren’t important, but rather that Discovery Bible Studies are not primarily for teaching, but for learning to hear God through His Word, putting what we hear into practice in our lives, and sharing with others what we are learning. This method is designed to be straightforward, allowing anyone—whether they have been a Christian for a long time or have never opened a Bible—to be able to lead a group with their friends and family. We have an abundance of teachers and resources today, but far less personal accountability for whether we obey the scriptures and put them into practice.

How Does a Discovery Bible Study Work?

A typical meeting follows a predictable pattern, often referred to as the “Three Thirds” format, which helps the group stay focused on community, the Word, and obedience.

1. Looking Back (Connect)

We always start by checking in with one another to build community and relationships. We ask simple questions like “What are you thankful for this week?” and “What is stressing you out?” We also talk about how we can help each other with any needs that were shared. A vital part of this first section is accountability. If the group has met before, we ask two very important questions:

• How did you obey what we learned last week? We check in on the “I Will” statements we made.

• Who did you share the story with? We want to see who else is hearing these good words.

2. Looking Up (Discover)

This is where we dive into the Bible passage itself. We follow a simple process to make sure the story gets deep into our hearts:

• Read: One person reads the passage out loud while everyone follows along.

• Read Again: Often, we will read it a second time or have someone else read it to make sure we didn’t miss anything.

• Retell: Someone in the group tries to retell the story in their own words as if they were telling a friend who wasn’t there. The group helps fill in any parts that were missed.

• The Big Questions: Then, we ask two main discovery questions:

  • What does this passage teach us about God?

  • What does this passage teach us about people (or humanity)?

3. Looking Forward (Go and Obey)

The goal of DBS isn’t just to get more information in our heads; it’s about changing our lives. We ask, “If we believe this passage is from God, how must we change?” Each person then creates an “I Will” statement. This is a specific, doable action that you can complete within the next 24 to 48 hours. Instead of saying something vague like “I will be more kind,” a good “I Will” statement would be “I will show kindness by mowing my neighbour’s lawn tomorrow afternoon.” Finally, we ask, “Who are you going to share this story with this week?” This helps the group stay focused on reaching others and starting new groups.

Why We Do It This Way

We focus on discovery rather than teaching because we want people to learn how to hear from God for themselves. When people discover a truth on their own, they are much more likely to own it and obey it. Keeping the process simple and reproducible allows the movement to multiply quickly, as even a brand-new believer can immediately turn around and lead the same study with their own social circle.

Choosing the Right Stories

Once your group is ready to begin, one of the most important decisions is which stories to study. In Discovery Bible Study (DBS), we often use “scripture sets” or reading plans so the group knows where they are going and can see how the whole Bible works together.

Here are the most recommended sets of stories to help you get started, depending on who is in your group:

1. Creation to Christ. This is one of the most popular and effective sets to use, especially if you are meeting with people who don’t know much about the Bible yet. It takes your group on a journey from the very first pages of Genesis all the way to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. By starting in the Old Testament, people begin to understand who God is, why we are here, and why Jesus eventually had to come and die for us. Some of the key stories in this 26- to 28-story set include:

• God Creates (Genesis 1:1-2:3): Discovering that God is the Creator of everything.

• The Fall (Genesis 3:1-13): Seeing how sin entered the world and changed our relationship with God.

• God’s Promises (Genesis 12:1-8, 15:1-6): Learning about God’s covenant with Abraham.

• The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-21): Understanding what God expects of us.

• The Sacrificial System (Leviticus 4:1-35): Seeing how God provided a way for sin to be forgiven.

• The Birth of Jesus (Luke 1:26-38; 2:1-20): Witnessing God’s promise coming to life.

• Jesus’ Death and Resurrection (Luke 23:32-24:53): The ultimate display of God’s love and power.

2. The Commands of Christ. If you are meeting with a group of new believers who want to learn how to live for Jesus, this is a fantastic starting point. This set focuses on 10 specific commands spoken by Jesus that help ground a new disciple in a lifestyle of obedience. The stories paired with these commands include:

• Repent and Believe (Luke 7:36-50): The story of the sinful woman.

• Be Baptised (Acts 8:26-39): Philip and the Ethiopian official.

• Pray (Matthew 6:5-15): Jesus teaches His disciples how to talk to God.

• Go and Make Disciples (John 4:4-42): The Samaritan woman at the well.

• Love (Luke 10:25-37): The story of the Good Samaritan.

• Give (Mark 12:41-44): The widow who gave everything she had.

• Gather Together (Acts 2:36-47): Seeing how the first church lived as a community.

3. Stories of Hope. This set is specifically designed for “seekers”—people who are spiritually hungry and looking for hope in their lives. It is one of the most widely used sets in the West. It contains seven beautiful conversations between Jesus and people searching for something more. Three additional inspiring stories round out the set. It is a very gentle and powerful way to introduce someone to the person of Jesus.

4. Specialised Thematic Sets. Sometimes people in your life might be facing a specific challenge. You can find sets that address those needs directly.

For example:

• Overcoming Fear: This is a 12-passage study that focuses on God’s message of “do not fear” and His promises of peace.

• Journey of Jesus: A 12-story set for people who are specifically interested in the life and purpose of Jesus.

• Crossing Barriers: This set is ideal for exploring how God reconciles people to Himself and to one another, regardless of their background or history.

• Foundational Questions: For athletes or student groups, you might start with sets like “Who is Jesus?”, “What is the Bible?”, or “The Gospel.”

How to Choose? If you are just starting out and don’t know which to pick, Creation to Christ is usually the safest and most complete place to begin. It builds a strong foundation so that the group doesn’t have “holes” in their understanding of who God is. Whichever list you choose, remember that the goal isn’t just to finish the list, but to let the Holy Spirit use these stories to transform your lives as you discover them together!

Written By Irene Shand-Len

Psalm 27:10 declares “Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me.” David is expressing confidence that even if the closest human relationships fail, God’s care does not. Some suggest that David is speaking hypothetically to highlight the superiority of God’s love over even the most devoted parents. Others think that the verse shows how God gathers up the vulnerable like the unborn, offering protection when human support collapses. Perhaps it’s both.

God’s unwavering tenderness toward the forsaken and forgotten is clear in the Bible. This includes the unborn and unwanted and the women carrying them. God defends the fatherless and receives those that others overlook. The Church should reflect this welcome and be a haven for the vulnerable without exception. Women considering abortion can feel abandoned by partners, family, circumstances and finances. This is a powerful opportunity for the loving safety and support of the Church to engage.

The Church should be a place without judgement, where fearful mothers are received, struggling families are not shamed and unborn children are valued and not forgotten. This is the practical compassion we are called to. Hospitality in the Church is not just giving food and having a café, it’s raw and messy and often requires showing a love that may never be reciprocated.

Psalm 27:10 is an invitation to express the mercy, protection and the whole hearted love of God we have all received. It speaks too, to women who have experienced abortion and perhaps carry deep wounds and remorse. God receives and restores those who feel forsaken, even by themselves. He holds them close when they come to Him.

Sometimes as Christians, instead of entering someone’s pain, we analyse it. We debate it, diagnose it or distance ourselves from it. It’s easier to have an opinion than to have a heart. Easier to critique from afar than to sit beside someone whose world has fallen apart. Many people are hurting, overwhelmed and stretched thin. When our own reserves feel low, empathy can feel like a luxury we can’t afford. But the paradox is this, compassion doesn’t drain us it enlarges us. It strengthens our soul and it reminds us that we are not alone.

People don’t heal through policies or programs alone. They heal through people who choose to see, to stay and to care. People who believe that kindness still matters, not because it fixes everything, but because it changes something. It takes courage to enter someone’s suffering. Courage to listen without fixing. Courage to care without controlling. Courage to love without knowing how the story will end. This is what a Christian’s courage should look like.

No one, including an unborn child, is ever forsaken by God. If He receives even those that parents forsake, then the unborn, whose life is unseen or unprotected falls uniquely under His care. This simply shows the intrinsic worth of every human life, especially the smallest and the most voiceless.

Pregnancy Help centres stand at this intersection of life, love and possibility. We serve God and His Church. Our hearts and hands are an extension of God’s. Every woman. Every baby. Every family. Every story. No one forsaken or forgotten, but loved and valued.

Pregnancy Help Australia National Help Line:1300 139 313

Women’s Life Centre: wlcpregnancysupport.com

Written By Barry Setterfield

In the last few weeks there have been many questions asked relating to Noah’s Ark and its location because of the recent media headlines on that topic.

People have been searching for Noah’s Ark for hundreds of years. Because of the Biblical account, these searches have often concentrated on the area near Mt. Ararat in Turkey, although there are a number of other sites under investigation. The first assumption, that all the searchers make, is that the Ark still exists, either in part or in whole. Keeping in mind, however, that after the Flood there would have been no available wood for building, it would not be unthinkable that part or all of the Ark was dismantled to provide building materials for the growing families. This point has appeared in articles about Ararat, including this one:

“The problems of establishing exactly what the biblical record in this case means are serious ones that need to be settled even before one accepts [any] particular high mountain as the right place to look for the ark. In itself even that ignores the possibility that Noah and his family used up the ark in bits and pieces to build their new homes, a fate that has destroyed many other famous structures in the Near East since.”

https://www.allaboutturkey.com/ararat.html#google_vignette

So what has actually has been found to cause this excitement?

Noah’s Ark Found?

During the month of April and into May, 2026, there has been much publicity about an object, in the Tendurek Range near Mount Ararat in Turkey, which has been claimed to be Noah’s Ark. On April 22nd, 2026, Fox News included a 3 minute interview with the researcher, Andrew Jones, one of the research team from Noah’s Ark Scans, that gives the relevant information here:

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6393619617112

This interview paints a very positive picture of an object that has been a matter of contention ever since it was first found by aerial surveys of the region for NATO in October 1959 by Captain Ilhan Durupinar.

Although some others noticed the object in 1947-1948, it now bears the name of the Durupinar Site for Noah’s Ark, and is about 18 miles (29 km) south of the summit of Mount Ararat in Eastern Turkey and is just 2 miles north of the Iranian border. Mount Ararat is a large strato-volcano, about 16,900 feet high, while the boat-shaped object is in a valley at an altitude of 6450 feet. This object is about 538 feet long and has a maximum width of 157 feet. While the length corresponds with the biblical account, the width is significantly greater. There are a number of other biblical problems, some of which will be addressed below.

Geologically, this object it is made up of an iron-rich limestone in the form of a syncline (a down-warped almond-shaped structure) that has been shaped, eroded and added to by a series of mudflows into the valley it lies in. The researchers have claimed it has a central corridor running down its long axis, that has been picked up by ground penetrating radar and other scans. It is this feature that has caused the current excitement. This is a possibility geologically because of the symmetrical synclinal structure of the down-warped limestone, and so may not uniquely qualify it as Noah’s Ark. There is another important explanation we will mention later based on the geology of the area, There was also another aspect of this object discovered as far back as the1980’s and 1990’s, namely the presence of iron in the structure. Exploration of the immediate area back then also revealed that the exterior limestone contained similar quantities of iron and iron nodules. So the presence of iron in itself may not be a good indication that the formation is Noah’s Ark, or, indeed, any other man-made structure.

The Turkish authorities for a while accepted it as the Ark and built a tourist center there. However, in the region around Ararat a number of similar boat-shaped formations were found that could be similarly mistaken for the Ark. One Turkish Airforce photo contained 3 exactly similar structures in one frame. Turkish archaeologist/geologist, Dr. Salih Bayraktutan, examined the Durupinar site in detail along with these other formations, and discussed the various threads of evidence with other scientists. It was then concluded that it was not the Ark. While enthusiastic researchers give optimistic reports claiming it is Noah’s Ark, most geologists see it as merely a natural formation in the limestone that has been mineralized. Organic material has also collected there because of the drainage pattern in the valley. Unfortunately, the present news releases on the topic do not seem to reveal anything startlingly new, as similar lineations within the object had been detected in the 1990’s. What many do not realize is that the discussion about this site has been going on since the early 1980’s and at times has been very acrimonious.

It is at this point that several other factors also play into the discussion and need to be considered before we accept it as Noah’s Ark. We have no difficulty with the scriptural account this matter, and can explain many aspects of the written record scientifically (see below). However, some basic questions first need consideration.

The word ‘Ararat’ itself:

It is important that we examine what the Bible says first, so we will begin with something basic; namely the word “Ararat” itself. It is acknowledged by Bible scholars and archaeologists that the original ‘word’ for where the Ark landed was simply “RRT” in Hebrew. Interestingly, this is not a known Hebrew word, modern or ancient. In “Meaning and etymology of the name Ararat” it is stated that: “The word Ararat is probably imported from a foreign language and it doesn’t really mean anything in Hebrew.” This is further emphasized by a colleague in Israel who stated “Even the sound of the name ‘Ararat’ sounds very ‘un-Hebrew,’ so to speak.” He went on to say that “it appears that the name Ararat has nothing to do with the Hebrew language.” He pointed out that it was the much later additions of vowels which produced ‘Ararat’ and/or ‘Urartu.’ Mt. Ararat did not have that name until about 1200 AD; before that, it was called ‘Agri Dagi.’ One theory behind the history of this current name is explained by Robert Cornuke in “Noah’s Ark/Mountains of Ararat.” He writes:

“I, as well as many others in the modern era, have searched Mount Ararat in Eastern Turkey for the remains of Noah’s Ark. It pains me to admit this, but I think I’ve spent a lot of time and money looking in the wrong place. A careful reading of Genesis will reveal why. Genesis 8:4 states, “then the ark rested in the seventh month on the seventeenth day of the month on the mountains of Ararat.” (NKJV)

The mountains of Ararat signify a mountainous region or kingdom. This verse does not refer to a singular mountain named Mount Ararat. Mount Ararat, as such, does not appear in the Bible. Mount Ararat in Turkey, is a singular volcanic cone mountain that rises out of the Anatolian Plain in Eastern Turkey.

So how did Mount Ararat get its name and therefore the attention? Many of earliest translations of the Bible, done in the centuries just before and after the beginning of the Christian era, render the term “Ararat” as “Armenia.” Consequently, readers of Genesis probably understood the word “Ararat” in terms of the geography of their day rather than that of the Genesis narrator. That is, they likely restricted the term to the small district on the Araxes, the Ararat of their time, rather than considering the much larger ancient Kingdom of Urartu. (Urartu could at times be considered the entire mountainous region north of Syro-Mesopotamia.)

Thus, when Armenians read in the early translations that the Ark had come to rest in “the mountains of Armenia,” they understood it to be the one tall mountain in this area, Agri Dagi (traditional Mount Ararat in Turkey), which rises dramatically from the plain of the Araxes. But Armenian literature of the fifth through the tenth centuries knows nothing of any Ark story. It is not until the thirteenth century that the Ark legends began to appear in Armenia, and by the fourteenth century these stories became popular. Agri Dagi did not become known as Mount Ararat until about 1200 A.D.”

Because of a number of close linguistic similarities, and similar pictogram roots, it has often been considered good scholarship to look to Ugaritic texts to provide insights into Biblical passages. For our purposes here, the question concerns the original Hebrew form “rrt,” which has been translated as “Ararat” in the Biblical account. We find that, in Ugaritic, the root “rrt” often has the letter “s” as a prefix. Quotes from Ugarit texts then show that the letters “srrt” can mean “summit,” “heights” or “heart”. In each case the word “srrt” is used in Ugaritic in reference to a mountain, just as in the Scriptural account. Thus, in Genesis 8:4, the Ugaritic word “srrt” can become the Hebrew “arrt” and may legitimately be translated as “summit”, “heights” or “heart” without specifying a particular existing summit.

Some Geological considerations:

What is referred to as the geologic column is a series of strata found all over the world. Although there are individual strata not present in some areas, and some which are not in what is considered normal order, what we do find is that there are four major sections which are always present and always in the same order. A common belief regarding Noah’s Flood is that it was responsible for almost all the strata in all four ‘eras.’ We disagree with that, not only on the basis of geology, but on the basis of the Bible. A Brief Earth History gives more detail on this, as does our study of Genesis 1-11. There is more detail in our YouTube session on the Bible and Geology found here:

The majority of Mount Ararat in Turkey is made up of volcanic strata of recent origin geologically. In fact, the claim is made that the oldest rocks from Ararat date from the about the beginning of the Ice-age. As a result, many feel that this disqualifies the mountain scientifically from being where Noah landed in the Ark. Others think that, once the Ark landed on the original Ararat, some 15 different volcanic eruptions or flows occurred and, perhaps, covered the Ark. It has been pointed out by Snider and Stewart in “Geology of Greater Mount Ararat - Part -1” that this “volcanic mountain also consists of literally hundreds of spatter cone eruptive areas having boat to canoe like shaped extrusionary volcanic impressions on Greater Mt Ararat and Smaller /Little Mt. Ararat itself.” This may well account for the boat-shaped formation at the Durupinar site. It is simply a region where spatter-cone volcanism occurred, which may be why the central axis is hollow, being the volcanic vent. If so this could, perhaps, account for the current reports.

Other Biblical Data:

A factor that must be taken account of in the search for this object is the size of the Ark and the wood used in its construction. The Bible states it was 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide and 30 cubits high. For the short cubit of 18 inches, this makes the Ark 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. For a Royal Cubit of about 24 inches, or thereabouts, which was used in special building projects, we get the dimensions of the Ark as about 600 feet long, 100 feet wide and 60 feet high. These measurements indicate that a cubit is roughly half a meter, so the approximate size in meters would be 150 meters long 25 meters wide and 15 meters high. The Ark’s volume using the Royal cubit is 3.6 million cubic feet, or on the metric system, over 56,000 cubic meters. It has been estimated that about 25% of the Ark was actual wooden structure, with the rest being space for the cargo. A longer vessel was not built until 1858 when I. K. Brunel produced the Great Eastern some 692 feet long. But this was made of steel. The Ark is still the largest wooden vessel ever built.

The comment in Genesis 7:20 about the waters reaching 15 cubits upward may be indicating that this was the water depth at which the Ark actually started floating, and also indicating the fact that it was floating over what had been the highest areas of the antediluvian world. If that is the case, then the Ark’s displacement tonnage (weight of water displaced by that volume) was in excess of 35,000 tons. This places the Ark in the same category as some of our larger container vessels.

As far as the Ark’s stability is concerned, the Ark seems to have had an essentially rectangular cross-section, with a length to width ratio of 6:1. Experienced designers recognize this ratio is the optimum required for stability, which is why many ships today have that ratio. Those with higher ratios of 7 or 8:1 are built for speed. The Ark only needed to float and maintain reasonable stability.

The ratio of width to height is of equal importance. The center of gravity for the rectangular cross-section can be easily determined as well as the forces tending to restore stability for any degree of tilt. If the restoring force is too great, the resulting jerk can injure crew or damage cargo. On the other hand, a tall, narrow, top-heavy ship has forces acting to capsize it. It has also been suggested that the Ark’s stability would be enhanced if the lower timbers were thicker, and hence heavier, with the thickness of the timbers tapering up the structure. Even without the tapering thickness of the timbers, the Ark cross-section is optimal, and it would right itself automatically for any angle of tilt up to 90 degrees. That means it was almost impossible to capsize. A model of the Ark was put in a test tank, and subjected to wave action. When the wave action the model was able to withstand is mathematically corrected up to the size of the Ark, it appears it would have been able to withstand waves 500 feet high.

Where did the Ark land?

Many sites on Mt. Ararat and elsewhere that have been investigated because of “Ark-shaped Objects.” Unfortunately, in the early 2000’s as the melt-back on the mountain was extreme, most possibilities were completely eliminated. Though some still continue to explore, many Ark-search veterans have decided that the Ark did not land on Mount Ararat, and are looking elsewhere. These locations include Mount Cudi or Judi, also in Turkey; Mount Suleiman in Iran; and several mountains in Azerbaijan region. Though there have been conferences, discussions, and exploration of all these locations, nothing has been found. The general conclusion is that, while these locations are geologically older than Ararat, none are viable options for the Ark’s location.

The simple fact is that, geologically, Ararat and these other sites were simply not there at the end of the flood. It has also been shown geologically that the entire Mesopotamian region was under water for several hundred years after that, until at least the time of Babel. That means that Babel was also not in Turkey. So where were these things? There was only one range of mountains anywhere near the Middle East at that time which was not only a range of mountains (versus one mountain), but which also has an area near its base that today is still referred to as Sinaar, or Shinar. It is in eastern Africa, in the area known as Ethiopia and Sudan. The mountain range stretched north-south along East Africa, and the current Ethiopian Highlands with their high peaks are derived from this earlier range. Interestingly, the earliest human fossils are also from this area.

The timber used to construct the Ark

As for the timber used to construct the Ark, the English version of the Scripture states that it was made of “gopher wood.” The original Hebrew actually uses the word “gopher” which was translated by the Septuagint (LXX) team of scribes as “square timber.” So, by the second century BC, when the LXX was translated, the knowledge of what the wood actually was had evidently been lost. Many translations today use the term “cypress wood” instead, but this is a mere guess. There is a chance we may be able to get an idea from a related word in English, namely “goffer” or “gauffer” and hence a “goffering iron”. In Webster’s dictionary, the idea comes across that this has to do with lace edging or frills or layers. The goffering irons were usually used to iron layers of lace on a dress according to those who used them in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The French word “gaufrer” is related and means to emboss or decorate or describes a design raised above the surface. It is from this concept that “waffle irons” and “waffles” derived their name because of the imposed pattern. The Dutch word “wafel” or “wafer” in English carries the same idea where a compressed substance or layers of a substance are involved. So the idea from the English and European derivatives is some sort of embossing or layering or stamping.

Further help comes from a related word in Hebrew, namely “gophriyth” which primarily means a “resin” from which comes the idea of something flammable. If we carry these current ideas of “layering,” “resin,” and “stamping” back in time, we find something interesting from the Romans. They often used a glue made of the sap or resin of birch trees, which was stewed with a ground-up charcoal made of birch-wood or birch bark. This glue was so powerful that it would tenaciously hold wood, pottery, and other items that were joined using it, so that if a break ever occurred, it would never be at the join itself. This was discussed in “New Scientist” of March 6, 1993 under the title “The Glue Which Held the Roman Empire Together:”

“When people in Roman Britain broke their clay pots, they glued them back together with a tar made from birch bark, according to archaeologists. The evidence comes from a ceramic jar found among Roman artefacts unearthed at the West Cotton site in the Rounds area of Northamptonshire.

The jar had been repaired with a black tarry adhesive. When scientists at the Universities of Bradford and Liverpool analysed the tar, they found that it contained betulin, lupeol, lupenone, allobetul-2-ene and other pentacyclic triterpenoid (Archaeometry, vol 35, p 91). This composition was similar to both fresh birch bark and a freshly made tar from birch bark.”

The scientists found that this sort of glue was so strong that if the material glued together broke, it did not break at the point where it had been glued, but somewhere else. The glue was evidently usually stronger than the material being glued.

Putting all this together, it is possible that “gophering” may have been a process rather than a specific wood. The process may have been the lamination and stamping or forcing of layers of wood together using the birch-bark glue or some equivalent adhesive agent. This would be stronger than our plywood today. The Scriptural command to “pitch it within and without with pitch” may be a reference to the birch-resin-and-charcoal equivalent. The word “pitch” is “kopher” and means “a covering, a village, a coating, a redemption price, or bitumen or pitch.” [The fact that the meaning includes ‘redemption price’ is typical of the Hebrew language using one word to describe not only a thing but an idea as well, or even a description.]

The carrying capacity of the Ark

A very common, and actually very ignorant, criticism regarding the Bible narrative of the Flood and the Ark has to do with the number of animals brought on board. Most people understand that the biblical “kind” is not the same as “species.” The biblical “kind” refers to the original populations of various types of animals which carried in their genetic pools the ability to vary. Thus, we are pretty safe in saying the “kind” would be approximately analogous to the “family” or “sub-family” taxonomic classification today. The problem we actually have with this is that there is no definition for “family” in our current taxonomy. Nor is there any definition for “kingdom,” “phylum,” “class,” “order,” or “genus.” The only definition available, and that is widely argued about, is for “species.” So the argument that there is no exact definition for the biblical “kind” is rather hypocritical. Still, we can look at the various types of dogs and say that ‘canine’ might classify as a ‘kind.’ The same would go for “feline,” “bovine,” and “equine.” Each of those breeding pairs would have had a complete gene pool capable of producing the range of characteristics we see today within that particular ‘kind.’

Let’s look carefully at what the Bible says regarding the animals to be brought on board. The first reference is in Genesis 6:19-20, and we choose the ancient LXX version here:

“And of all cattle and of all reptiles and of all wild beasts, even of all flesh, you shall bring in by pairs [in Greek, literally “two, two”] of all, into the ark, that you may feed them as well as yourself: male and female they shall be. Of all winged birds after their kind, and of all cattle after their kind, and of all reptiles creeping upon the earth after their kind, pairs of all shall come in to you, male and female, to be fed along with you. “

A couple of notes here: the ancient Alexandrian quoted is the one translated by Hebrew scholars from ancient Hebrew to classical Greek in Alexandria, Egypt, about 285 BC at the request of Pharaoh Ptolemy. It is primary to recognize that the LXX makes it plain that Noah would not have to go out and gather the animals himself. They would be brought to him.

Genesis 7:2-3: Alex. LXX – “And of the clean cattle take into you sevens, male and female, and of the unclean cattle pairs male and female. And of the clean flying creatures of the sky sevens, male and female, and of all unclean flying creatures pairs, male and female, to maintain seed on all the earth.”

Genesis 7:8-9: “And of clean flying creatures and of unclean flying creatures, and of clean cattle and of unclean cattle, and of all things that creep upon the earth, pairs went into Noe into the ark, male and female, as God commanded Noe.”

Genesis 7:14-15: “And all the wild beasts after their kind, and all cattle after their kind, and every reptile moving itself on the earth after its kind, and every flying bird after its kind, went into Noe, into the ark, pairs, male and female of all flesh in which is the breath of life.”

It is this last detail that gives us some very important information. The animals that were brought onto the ark were all animals with “the breath of life.” The word “breath” is “ruach” in Hebrew, simply meaning “breath, wind, or air.” It is sometimes translated “spirit.” The word “life” is “chay,” meaning “alive.” These creatures needed to breathe to be alive, and that indicates lungs. The phrase is first used in Genesis 1:20, referring to the large animals. Thus, it is not only interesting to see what was included on the Ark, but what was excluded. No sea animals were on it, no insects were on it. No worms, no spiders. They probably survived on floating vegetation mats, such as we see after monsoons in southeast Asia today (but probably larger).

So we have representatives of flying animals and land animals that breathe air on the Ark. How many kinds? The estimates vary widely, but 60,000 individuals would not be far off. Ranging in size from mice to young dinosaurs, elephants, and such, the average size has been estimated by some to be about the size of a sheep.

With its rectangular cross-section, the Ark’s 3 decks had a total area of 180,000 square feet or 11,250 square meters when the various approximations for the cubit are used. Using these approximations, the total volume was about 3.6 million cubic feet or 56,000 cubic meters. Using 1/3 of that space for a combination of ballast and food and water storage and, as the trip progressed, waste, that leaves 2.4 million cubic feet. Giving Noah and his family two or three thousand square feet of private living space, each individual animal still has over 30 cubic feet of living space. Mice would need a lot less. Others a lot more, but it would work out rather well without crowding.

Food and Waste on the Ark

Food on the Ark: When Genesis 6:21 is compared with Genesis 9:3, it becomes apparent that all breathing creatures, including mankind, were vegetarian before the Flood. Compressing vegetation into pellets and cubes is not technologically difficult and provides extremely efficient storage for long periods of time. Fruits can be dried. The idea that storing enough food for these animals was difficult seems to the be product of minds that are not familiar with animal husbandry.

Waste: A lot of imaginations have gone to a lot of trouble to try to deal with this question. We simply don’t know. That being said, construction which would allow waste to be rinsed down to the lowest deck is not a far-fetched idea. There is something else to consider, though: when many animals are stressed, they go into a sort of survival mode where they eat little and sleep a lot. If this, or some kind of hibernation due to darker quarters might have been happening, this, also, would have lightened the load in terms of care for these animals.

There is much more that could be discussed. The more complete story, along with many photographs and other different location, including Africa, may be found at this URL:

https://www.barrysetterfield.org/Ark/The_Ark.html#other

We trust you have found this material helpful.

Barry & Helen Setterfield. Sunday 3rd May 2026.

Written By Noel Mitaxa

“Pack up your troubles in your old kitbag and smile, smile, smile,” runs an old First World War song. Worrying is useless, it continues, for the sun will soon shine. It reflected the confidence that this war would be over in no time, so the young and able-bodied rushed to enlist before they missed all the excitement.

However, their infantry training and the tactics they learned were no match for the advances in weaponry, so their optimism quickly faded as they became engulfed in a climate of misery, pain and anxiety throughout the conflict and through years of post-war recovery and restrictions.

Troubles that could never be packed away…

We don’t need to go to war to find troubles that refuse to be packed away behind smiles. And if these troubles hit without warning, we may find ourselves retracing or retelling the details as we try to grasp how or why they have come.

Retelling the details to people we can trust will help us to release the pain, in a process that psychologists call catharsis. Catharsis clarifies our thinking and it builds our confidence and strength to move on. Friends and family are invaluable at such times, as they stay with us to back up any sustained professional help if it is needed.

If we cannot call on friends, or have no access to professional help, it’s reassuring to know that we may draw on God’s presence in prayer – a relationship builder that God has designed to be so simple that we can even do it with our eyes shut! God sees the whole picture and he’s available to lift our load and clarify how we see our troubles, and he confirms our value more deeply than even our closest friends or the most capable counsellors.

It’s also worth knowing that the bible lists three hundred and sixty-five “Fear nots.” One for each day of the year, to remind of his promise that he will never leave us or turn his back on us.

And since God is so creative, he can help us to recognize and activate any solutions that are hiding in our problems, so we may either overcome them and consign them to history or exhaust their power to keep holding us back. Better still, he helps us turn our challenges into new avenues of hope and healing for people whose problems are beating them up.

Noel Mitaxa
On behalf of a church near you
Inviting you to explore God’s love.

Written By Peter Thomas

This was the seventh time! Jesus had announced that he would be delivered to suffer and die (5:35; 9:22, 44; 12:50; 13:33; 17:25) – but this time with more detail (v31-33). But ‘the disciples did not understand any of this.

Physical blindness is a very sad thing for people to have to deal with and Satan is in the business of making or keeping people spiritually blind if he can – which is even more tragic: ‘The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the Gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God’ (2 Cor 4:4).

The Spiritually Blind – the Disciples v31-34

‘…their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away… whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away’ (2 Cor 3:14-17).

The precise meaning of ‘hidden’ krypto (v36) is ‘covered’ or ‘veiled,’ rather than hidden completely. “It was not hidden in that Jesus did not want them to understand… it was hidden because of their reluctance to accept it” Ray Summers (Professor, Baylor University).

What is spiritual blindness? UNBELIEF

Despite the Presence of Jesus v31

‘Jesus took the Twelve aside…’ (v31) – he was clearly wanting them to be prepared and to understand the full purpose of his mission but also wanting to share the emotional burden and stress – there is a sense of intimacy in the taking them ‘aside’ – note he said “We are going…’ – he still wanted their company even though he knew he would be arrested and killed.

But ‘the disciples did not understand any of this…’ (v34) – despite all the teaching and miracles they’d witness there was still unbelief about the full purpose of Jesus’ ministry. Another example of this was Philip who asked Jesus to ‘Lord, show us the Father…’ and ‘Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time”’ (John 14:9).

Remember the writer to the Hebrews (Heb 13:5) assured the believers that just as Moses assured Joshua that ‘the LORD your God… will never leave you nor forsake you’ (Deut 31:6,8), we today, have the complete scriptures and nearly two thousand years of Christianity and the presence of Jesus in our lives and yet maybe we can be spiritually blind because of unbelief too?

Despite the Testimony of the Word

‘…everything that is written by the prophets…’ (v31) – this is a reminder of the inspiration and authority of Scripture which ‘will be fulfilled’. Remember how Jesus rebuked the two disciples on the road to Emmaus: ‘“Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” and beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the scriptures concerning himself’ (Luke 24:26-27).

Paul also consistently affirmed the authority and reliability of scripture, ‘For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures’ (1 Cor 15:3-4). Note that Paul despite his personal miraculous encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus was still affirming the scriptures as the reason to believe (just as Jesus had done with the disciples on the road to Emmaus).

Despite the Promise of the Resurrection?

‘On the third day he will rise again’ (v33) there was no ambiguity or hesitation in Jesus’ words – rather a confident assertion of truth. But ‘the disciples did not understand…’ (v34). It was not the words themselves they didn’t understand but the revelation of suffering and death when they were expecting success and victory – they had not understood the divine plan of redemption despite the Old Testament scriptures (Is 49; 50; 53 etc.) see also 1 Cor 1:20-25. Peter, despite his amazing profession of faith in Jesus’ person ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God’ (Matt 16:18) almost immediately after that completely rejected Jesus’ plan: ‘From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things… be killed and on the third day be raised to life. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him “Never Lord!” he said, “This shall never happen to you!”’ (Matt 16:21-22).

Because of the Danger?

‘mock…insult…spit…flog…kill…’ (v32) - these predictions must have seemed contradictory to Jesus’ claim to be the Son of Man (the Messianic title used by Jesus 81 times in the Gospels – see also Dan 7:13-14 & Mark 13:61), surely the Messiah would take over the kingdom from the Romans! The disciples had already experienced opposition from the religious authorities and were not immune from wanting to be violent themselves (see Luke 9:54) but they were learning that Jesus’ agenda was non-violent despite his miraculous powers and so maybe were beginning to fear that they were part of a lost cause and so could suffer the same fate.

Because he knew they would remember – so not a waste of time

In John’s account, Jesus knew they were not understanding the full purpose of his mission at the time but that it would bear fruit later, ‘Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand…. I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am who I am.”’ (John 13:7,19). So, there’s no excuse for us because we have the complete story of Jesus life, death and resurrection and the whole canon of scripture not to mention nearly two thousand years of Christian history!

Later on in Luke Jesus met the two disciples on the road to Emmaus and said ‘“How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself’ (Luke 24:25-27).

The Physically Blind - the Beggar v35-43

‘As Jesus approached Jericho’ (v35) – Jericho was a place of prosperity (it was famous for having springs) and was called ‘city of palms’ but despite this ‘prosperity’ there was ‘a blind man… begging’. His name was ‘Bar Timaeus’ (Mark 10:46) and he ‘… heard the crowd going by’ – no doubt he thought this was a chance for some rich pickings! But when told that the commotion was because of Jesus of Nazareth, he asked for and received more than a few coins! It is ironic that the physically blind man could see what the physically sighted disciples couldn’t!

What is Spiritual Sight? ACTIVE FAITH

He called out to Jesus ‘Have mercy on me’

‘…Jesus, Son of David, have mercy’ (v38) – an amazing recognition of Jesus true person from one physically unsighted! He gave Jesus a messianic title and requested mercy not money!

He knew who Jesus was, the ‘Son of David…’

He is the only person in Luke’s gospel who gave Jesus this title!

He resisted opposition ‘he shouted all the more…’

Luke tells us that ‘Those who led the way…rebuked him’ (v39) – they saw no value in his support – they were as blind as the disciples (2 Cor 4:3-6; 1 John 2:9-11), ‘but he shouted all the more…’ – this shows his persistence and is clear evidence of his yearning to be delivered from his blindness.

He followed Jesus ‘he received his sight and followed Jesus…’

When asked by Jesus what he wanted, he said ‘Lord, I want to see’ (v41) – he already sees spiritually (he calls him ‘Lord’!), but now he wants to see physically. Jesus says ‘Receive… your faith has healed you’ (v42) – his active faith drew Jesus’ gracious response.

‘immediately he received his sight…’ (v43) – there’s no delay, as there isn’t when Jesus hears our cry for mercy, and ‘he received his sight and followed Jesus…’ – this sets the pattern for Jesus spiritual ministry throughout the ages – when we realize our need of Jesus’ spiritual healing and reach out to him with repentance and faith, he responds and calls us to follow him.

He witnessed to others ‘when all the people saw it, they also praised God…’

When he received his sight and followed Jesus, he was ‘praising God’ and when all the others saw it ‘they also praised God’ (v43) – the work of the Lord is infectious and always points to the Father’s glory.

The Spiritually Sighted Christians - Because of PENTECOST

All true Christians should be spiritually sighted now because the Holy Spirit indwells them – not just come upon them (as in the OT). We are no longer ‘soulish’ saints – atoned for… and having imputed righteousness – but regenerated and having imparted righteousness! ‘It is because of him (God) that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption’ (1 Cor 1:30).

One of the greatest examples of being truly spiritually sighted is the transformation of Peter from denial to proclamation. In the gospels Peter is all about Peter – but after Pentecost, he is all about the Lord Jesus and the Word of God. In his last letter he says, ‘we were eyewitnesses of his majesty… we ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven…’ but then he says, ‘we also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it’ (2 Peter 1:16-19). As Charles Spurgeon said:

‘we shall never find comfort or assurance by looking within… the Holy Spirit turns our eyes entirely away from self… look not so much to thy hand with which thou art grasping Christ… look not to thy hope, but to Jesus the source of thy hope… look not to thy faith but to Jesus the author and finisher of thy faith.

And as the writer to the Hebrews says, ‘let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith’ (Heb 12:1-2)

How is your spiritual sight?

Application/Prayer

Have I realized I am spiritually blind?

Have I cried out to Jesus like Bartimaeus despite the rejection from the world?

Have I received the Holy Spirit?

Have I prayed ‘Open my eyes Lord’?

Can I say, ‘once I was blind but now I see’?

In 2024, Mission Frontiers magazine released an issue that examined strategic shifts required to reach the world’s frontier people groups, specifically the 300 largest populations with no known Christian movements.

According to the Joshua Project, a Frontier People Group is:

• an Unreached People Group (UPG)

• with virtually no followers of Jesus and

• no known movements to Jesus,

• still needing pioneer cross-cultural workers.

• 0.1% or fewer Christian Adherents and

• No confirmed, sustained movement.

In Frontier People Groups, pioneer workers are generally starting with non-believers. In other UPGs, it is often possible for workers to partner with believers already within the culture or area.

The data reveals that while the global church has expanded significantly since 1980, over two billion people remain in groups with virtually no gospel presence, concentrated mainly within India and Muslim-majority nations.

Strategic Significance of the 300 Largest FPGs

These 300 groups collectively make up about 1.6 billion people, representing 20% of the total human population and 80% of the total population residing within all FPGs. Approximately 97% of the FPG population lives in either India or Muslim-majority countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh. Despite this, it receives a disproportionately small number of missionaries (10,000) compared to Africa (93,000) or the United States (38,000).

Protestant missions evolved from focusing on geographic coasts (First Era) and inland areas (Second Era). Starting with Cameron Townsend and Wycliffe Bible Translators in 1934, the Third Era focused on overlooked people groups.

Progress and Current Status

In 1974, Ralph Winter shocked mission agencies by revealing that 60% of the world’s population lived in people groups with no indigenous church, contrary to the prevailing belief that the task was nearly finished. Since 1980, the percentage of the world living in FPGs has decreased from 60% to 25%. While the population of FPGs decreased from 2.5 billion to 2 billion, the number of evangelicals globally increased by 300% (from 250 million to 1 billion). Reached people groups, which contain half of the world’s non-believers, currently have 97% of the mission force. Conversely, UPGs/FPGs represent the other half of non-believers but receive only 3% of labourers. Yet only 1% of the world’s mission force works among FPGs, and less than two cents of every mission dollar is directed toward unreached groups.

Proposed Keys to Breakthrough

A 2023 consultation identified eight essential keys for catalysed breakthroughs in these large FPGs:

1. Prayer and Adoptions: Utilising global prayer networks and the systematic “adoption” of the 300 largest FPGs by specific ministries or prayer teams.

2. Technology: Leveraging media technology and the internet to bridge geographic and political barriers.

3. Mobilisation: Actively recruiting and sending out local and global labourers to overlooked harvest fields.

4. Disciple Making Movement (DMM): Using DMM methodologies that empower ordinary people to multiply disciples and house churches rapidly.

5. Blessing Families and Communities: Moving away from inviting individuals into foreign “Christian communities” and instead focusing on blessing existing family lines and transforming communities from within.

6. Entrepreneurship: Establishing profitable, biblical businesses to gain residency, model work values, and create sustainable access in restricted nations.

7. Supporting Indigenous Jesus Movements: Recognising and blessing movements that emerge within resistant communities and avoiding traditional “Christendom” labels.

8. Diaspora Bridges: Engaging diaspora communities (people living outside their home countries) to serve as cultural and relational bridges back to their home FPGs.

The 31 largest Frontier People Groups (FPGs) are a strategic priority because they contain over 800 million people, representing about 40% of the total population living in FPGs worldwide. Each group has a population exceeding 10 million, no confirmed indigenous movements to Christ, and a Christian population of 0.1% or less. These “mega-groups” are prioritised because breakthroughs within them are expected to “overflow” and influence hundreds of smaller, culturally related FPGs around them.

They are almost entirely Muslim or Hindu. They are heavily concentrated in India and Pakistan, followed by other Muslim-majority countries. The list includes groups like the Uyghur and Hui in China, the Shaikh in Pakistan and India, and the Brahmin and Yadav in India.

According to a 2025 update, the 31 largest groups, ordered from greatest need to lesser need, are:

1. Uyghur in China

2. Northern Yemeni Arab in Yemen

3. Brahmin in India

4. Bania in India

5. Sudanese Arabs in Sudan

6. Shaikh in India

7. Shaikh in Pakistan

8. Pashtun in Pakistan

9. Mahratta in India

10. Nai (Hindu) in India

11. Arain (Muslim) in Pakistan

12. Algerian Arab in Algeria

13. Hui in China

14. Jat (Muslim) in Pakistan

15. Jat (Hindu) in India

16. Yadav (Hindu) in India

17. Ansari in India

18. Kumhar (Hindu) in India

19. Kurmi (Hindu) in India

20. Mali (Hindu) in India

21. Rajput (Hindu) in India

22. Northern Uzbek in Uzbekistan

23. Dhobi (Hindu) in India

24. Teli (Hindu) in India

25. Kapu in India

26. Kunbi (Hindu) in India

27. Sylhet (Muslim) in Bangladesh

28. Najdi Arab in Saudi Arabia

29. Turk in Turkey

30. Moroccan Arab in Morocco

31. Malay in Malaysia

These 31 groups collectively represent over 800 million people, accounting for roughly 40% of the total global population living in FPGs. Notably, several groups that were part of the original lists, such as the Hausa and Bengali Muslims, have been removed because self-sustaining movements to Jesus have since been discovered among them.

First Order of Business

Prayer is the “first order of business” and the primary way God brings about mission breakthroughs among the world’s most resistant groups. Because Frontier People Groups (FPGs) have no indigenous church or movement to Christ, they require a pioneering strategy centred on prayer to open “households of peace”. Households of peace are considered the “seeds” of indigenous movements because they allow the message of Jesus to take root within existing social structures rather than pulling individuals out of them.

Workers look for a “person of peace”—an influential local who is open to change and welcomes the messenger into their home. Instead of one-on-one evangelism, the strategy focuses on the entire household (oikos), ensuring that the movement spreads through existing family and community lines. By discipling a whole family together, members support each other and avoid the social stigma of “betraying” their culture to join a foreign religion.

Once a household experiences transformation, they naturally share the news with their own relatives and neighbours, often leading to exponential growth—sometimes “30-, 60- or even 100-fold”. In India, for example, this approach led a small group of 15 Christians to start 65 Bible studies in Hindu households within just six months, eventually growing into a movement of millions.

The Strategy of Adoption

The Joshua Project provides a comprehensive people group database of the world and tracks what God is doing among these peoples. Its goal is to get churches, prayer groups, and youth ministries to systematically “adopt” each of the approximately 300 largest FPGs (those with over one million people).

It is recommended that a single ministry or believer adopt just one FPG to ensure all 300 mega-groups are covered by at least one dedicated prayer advocate. Participants typically commit to praying for their chosen group for one year, often registering their commitment through agencies like AIMS to track global coverage and connect with field teams. A 2023 consultation formed a specific “task force on prayer” to create synergy between prayer networks and other breakthrough keys like technology and entrepreneurship.

Tools to Support Adoptions

Several resources exist to help believers engage in informed advocacy:

• Prayer Cards and Guides: The Joshua Project provides prayer cards with pictures and profiles that can be displayed in churches. The Go31.org guide focuses specifically on the 31 largest groups, which represent 40% of the FPG population.

• Digital Platforms: The GetInvolved.com platform allows for the formation of digital prayer communities, while the FPG of the Day phone app provides daily profiles and prayer prompts.

• Collaborative Prayer: Newer initiatives include 24/7 collaborative prayer over Zoom for specific groups, such as the 135 million Muslim Shaikh with concentrations in India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan.

Conclusion

The Church has made deep progress in reaching unreached people groups since 1980. More believers are getting involved and the Lord of the Harvest is sending out the labourers needed for the task. However, there is still much work to do with billions yet to hear the name of Jesus. The gap is closing and can get closed faster with your prayers, help and participation.

Adopt a people group below at the Joshua Project to pray for, give to financially and to go and help.

Museums may display historical relics, while historical theme parks bring these relics to life and invite us to explore them. Sovereign Hill, in my hometown of Ballarat, Victoria, has recreated our 1850s Gold Rush roots; and nearby Kryall Castle surrounds us with a replica of life in medieval England.

I’ve sensed how late seventeenth century life values still shape Amish people, from visiting Amish Acres in Nappanee, Indiana, fifteen years ago.First Century life was interrupted in 79AD, when Vesuvius erupted over Pompeii, and archeologists have since unearthed houses with internal plumbing and central heating; and sophisticated urban facilities that reflect living standards which took at least sixteen centuries to replicate.

That first century is revealed more simply in Nazareth Village’s winepress, crafts, industry, agriculture, where I bought a pottery oil lamp which I call my “Israel-light.” Each of these theme parks reflects how long-lost skills and technology can produce goods of surprising quality, with the most basic tools or equipment. Yet though they call us back to distant eras, I’ve found that their merchandise is only for sale at 21st century prices…

Historical relics all express a common thread of creative steps towards what we enjoy today. For few museum staff – maybe apart from those at Amish Acres – ever return to homes without any modern comforts. We’ve always had metal - like iron, tin, lead, brass, bronze, silver and gold, but the 1800’s saw a quantum leap as electricity supplies emerged with more controlled heat for refining them.

For thousands of years, people had produced small quantities of steel by heating iron with carbon. But in 1855, Henry Bessemer hit on blowing air through molten iron to burn off impurities, so mass-production of high-quality steel became quicker and cheaper. Alum had only ever been a dye component until 1886, when Charles Martin Hall and Paul Héroult Charles dissolved it in molten cryolite and ran electricity through the result - to introduce our world to the non-corrosive metal of aluminium.

Spiders spin their webs, birds build their nests, and beavers construct their dams, but only for their own use. Our imagination and creativity take us way past the limits of personal benefit, to endorse how the bible describes us - made in God’s image, so we may apply his love to our imagination, energy and will-power; and face our personal and wider challenges to make our world better for others.

Noel Mitaxa
On behalf of a church near you,
Inviting you to explore God’s love

Considering Iran and its Proxies

The Events:

It was early on Friday 17th April, 2026, that a number of reports came in from various sources that President Trump had announced that peace negotiations with Iran were well advanced and that a 10-day truce had taken effect. The Straits of Hormuz were now fully open. It was also announced that Iran would give up her nuclear dream and hand over her stocks of refined nuclear fuel, provided the US insisted on a cease-fire between Israel and the Iranian proxies in Lebanon (the Hezbollah) as well as elsewhere. To that end Israeli sources reported that the US had insisted that Israel not engage in any military action against the Hezbollah or southern Lebanon, as the US was now handling the issue personally and peace moves were in train.

Just over 24 hours later, around mid-morning on Saturday 18th Pacific Daylight Time in the US, various media were reporting that Iran had reversed course and reimposed its restrictions on the critical waterway. Indeed, Iranian gunboats had just fired on several vessels trying to transit the Straits, and they were forced to turn back. Iran stated that any vessel trying to go through the Straits will be considered as an “enemy” and will be fired upon. The problem went further because Iran had also threatened to resume firing missiles at Israel if there was not a complete ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, no matter who started what. As I write this, President Trump is reportedly meeting with his advisors to determine the best course of action. At the same time, a BBC reporter in Tehran, the capital of Iran, stated that: “Tehran does not think it has lost this war.” The report went on to say that Iranians really do want a solution to the long-running animosity with the US, but Iranian leaders are “not willing to make a deal on Washington’s terms.”

About 1:00 PM (PDT) on Saturday, Iran emphasized this point when Deputy Foreign Minister, Saeed Khatibzadeh, insisted that the country would not hand over any enriched uranium to the United States, rebutting an earlier claim from President Donald Trump. He said: “I can tell you that no enriched material is going to be shipped to United States. This is a non-starter.” The rebuke represented Iran’s first public commentary on the matter after Trump said Friday that they had “agreed to everything,” including a demand to give up the enriched uranium.

https://www.foxnews.com/live-news/trump-iran-us-war-strait-hormuz-blockade-israel-lebanon-april-18

Late News: U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz says Iran’s Foreign Ministry is in conflict with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.

https://www.foxnews.com/live-news/iran-war-israel-us-strait-hormuz-april-19

Unravelling the Knot:

Part 1 – Iran and Proxies:

To understand what is happening, the theology of the Shiite Leadership running Iran and its proxies must be appreciated. As Shiite Muslims, they are not only expecting the imminent appearance of their Mahdi (Islamic Messiah) as all Muslims are, but they consider the actions that they, as a country, are taking will get the region ready for this event and hasten its arrival. They consider that it is out of this sort of confrontation that they will be given the help they need to defeat the Great Satan (the USA) and Little Satan (Israel). On their specific Shiite theology (which is different from the Sunnis), this defeat must be achieved before the Mahdi can arrive. Thus, according to their theology, Iran will not be defeated (even if it looks that way) because they are going to be used to neutralize the US and defeat Israel – and the current turmoil is simply part of that process.

If it is indeed necessary to make a peace deal with the US and/or others in the region, it will be considered temporary by Iran until a favorable opportunity arises to achieve their ultimate goal. This is perfectly legitimate for the Shiites to do since their Prophet (Muhammad) did exactly the same thing with the Treaty of Hudaibiyah, to gain time before later defeating the people in Mecca. Some of the treaties between Israel and the Arab nations actually have that proviso appended to them. Therefore some, like the Israeli Prime Minister, Bibi Netanyahu, have warned against this theology, which impels the behavior of the Iranian leadership and their proxies. Netanyahu and others call it Apocalyptic Islam. This gives a reason for the behavior of the Iranian leadership that is pursued even to the detriment of the general Persian population. It is also the reason why the Iranian proxies in Lebanon (the Hezbollah), in Yemen (the Houthis), and Hamas in Gaza and the West Bank are causing such trouble—they are Shiites who have the same apocalyptic theology as Iran and are in accord with Iranian aims and methods.

Late Note: All of these above aims have been enshrined in the Iranian Constitution for the last 47 years, with the ultimate aim of assisting the Mahdi to introduce One World Government based on Koranic principles and Sharia Law. This is explained in a Sunday 19th April article in Fox News found here:

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/real-iran-threat-black-white-even-constitution

Part 2 – The United States:

It seems, then, that the current Iranian leadership is prepared to sacrifice the lives of thousands of its subjects to achieve its goals. It has consistently done so since 1979 when it first came to power after deposing the Shah. By way of stark contrast, President Trump of the US, has stated on a number of occasions, that too many people have died in recent conflicts, and he finds that disturbing, as does much of the rest of the world. For that reason, he is trying to bring conflicts around the world to an end. To do that, he is using his expertise in economics and finance and his experience in making attractive business deals, only this time it is on a national and international basis. He is using “the art of the Deal” to try and bring peace, or at least a cessation of conflict. He has also found that a positive outlook on the whole process often smooths things along and encourages the deal to be made. Sometimes he must use a big stick – other times a carrot to get some appropriate action. Like most things we humans attempt, it sometimes is a success and sometimes it fails.

Because it is a different approach to the long-established, pre-existing norms of diplomacy, it shocks the European leaders just as much as the Democrat party back home. Anything that deviates from the norm in this area is to be eschewed, rejected, and pulled down. So, for this reason, among others, our NATO allies despise him and do not feel like assisting him. This is exacerbated by the fact that, following over a generation of immigration (illegal and otherwise) there has been a very significant rise in the Islamic population in European and NATO countries. There are many Shiites, and these people now control who gets to govern those countries, their armies and police and administration. They do not want their new host countries supporting either the nations of the United States or Israel, nor the local Jewish population at home, because, as one officer said “this confronts us with a moral dilemma;” as it goes against the edicts in the Koran. So, President Trump has an uphill battle with a deceptive enemy, and an uncooperative military alliance.

How does the Eternal view this?

Personally:

We will look at the Lord’s revealed outcome from His prophetic word in a moment. However, we need to first see how He is working in human hearts. It is God’s character that “He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).” In line with this are the amazing reports from mission teams in the Middle East and elsewhere where literally hundreds of Muslims are turning to the Lord each week. These Muslims see Jesus as the only answer to the problems they are facing with their personal lives as well as with the concepts of Islam and its outcome in the real world. This conversion is all the more amazing as those who turn to Jesus have their lives threatened immediately by their relatives and colleagues. The Lord Jesus has appeared to individuals in person, and in dreams. Also, in response to people searching their own hearts and crying out to God, whoever He is, to meet with them and guide them. The number of reports about this have left us with no doubt that He really does love all these people. As we examine these reports, we note that it is through the current unrest in the Middle East and elsewhere around the world that Muslims are turning to the Savior. We need to pray earnestly for Jesus to meet these people in the midst of their distress and show them His beauty and grace and truth that is not found in other religions, and pray for their protection.

His means of operation:

We need to be aware that “the heart of the king is in the Lord’s hands and He turns it wherever He will” (Proverbs 21:1). He also uses our prayers as a means of empowerment on the world scene. One important example will suffice. In October 1973, in the days of President Nixon during the Watergate crisis, the Europeans had blocked the US from getting any resources through to Israel. This nation had a brazen attack by Arab nations on Yom Kippur, the Jewish High Holy day on October 7th 1973 and the battle was ongoing a full week later, with Israel’s resources failing. According to satellite images, Russia was loading paratroopers onto aircraft in Moscow to drop onto Israel and help their Arab colleagues wipe out the Israeli problem once and for all. The Russians also had destroyers and aircraft carriers in Alexandria harbor, in Egypt, with their guns trained on Jerusalem. Nixon then issued a red-alert, but many saw it as a ploy to deviate attention from Watergate. Meantime, Israel had run out of ammunition and useable weapons, and the US could not fly in any replacements because all European Union controlled airfields were closed to the US – and that included the UK.

At that stage, the Lord spoke to two servants, one in England [1], one in India and said to them, “Pray! My enemy is trying to precipitate Armageddon.” The records in the diaries of these two people told the story. After a significant prayer time, the Lord told them their prayers had been answered. The time and dates were noted from both diaries. At that precise moment, Portugal had opened up Lajes Airfield in the Azores to US aircraft – the planes got through just in time. Meantime, Russia was watching US activity via satellite. When they saw aircraft being loaded with war material in the US, the Russians halted the loading of their paratroopers, and then they eventually unloaded them, and their ships sailed from Alexandria harbor. Because of the prayers of two people, a premature Armageddon was prevented, and supplies got through to Israel, which allowed them to finally win out against the pre-emptive Arab attack. I do not pretend to know how it all works; all I know is the Lord pays attention to our prayers, and the He wants our cooperation with Him via his Holy Spirit as He works with us in these days. He turns the King’s heart where He wants it to go, but uses our prayers to assist in the process.

[1] This was Jonathan Howells, the son of Reese Howells, Principal of a Bible college in Wales who was an intercessor during World War 1. His prayers changed many things then and are recoded in the book “Reese Howells, Intercessor.” I do not recall the name of the girl from India.

God’s Program Itself:

The Lord God of heaven and earth had made a Covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. In His word, He points out that, although “the earth is the Lord’s and all its fulness,” nevertheless, He is like a landowner who has subdivided part of his holdings for rental purposes, but has still retained a segment as his own unique portion. That area was known in earlier times as the “Holy Land.” The Covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was that their progeny would be God’s caretakers for God’s land. God was going to use them to accomplish His purposes and reveal His ways to the rest of the world. It was through those people, the Children of Israel, that He would give us prophets who spoke or wrote His messages to His chosen caretakers, Israel, who were to share His messages with the world. It was through them that the Bible came, and that Messiah came, with His perfect life and His blood sacrifice for the sins of the whole world.

There was also a warning to His caretakers for His Land. If they disobeyed His Laws and ignored the instructions from His prophets, the caretakers (Israel) would be punished appropriately. When disobedience happened in the days of the Judges, The Eternal allowed them to become subservient to the surrounding nations until they repented and turned to the Lord. In the days of the Kings, when the nation rebelled against the Lord, he sent them into the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities for a specific time - Jeremiah prophesied 70 years and it was fulfilled exactly on time. In the closing chapters of Deuteronomy, Moses prophesied all this 1500 years before it happened. Then Moses concluded with the prophecy of the coming Messiah, and warned of world-wide dispersion for the whole nation of Israel, again for a set time, if they rejected Messiah. The prophet Hosea at the end of chapter 5 and continuing into chapter 6 hinted that it would be 2000 years, then the nation would be revived and live in God’s sight for the 1000 year golden age of the millennium under Messiah’s rule.

In that time-gap of the 2000-year dispersion for Israel, the prophet Amos stated the God would call out of the Gentiles a people for His name. It is the discussion of this passage by the early Messianic believers in Acts 15 that brought the realization that the “Times of the Gentiles” – the Church Age - had started. In fact, Jesus, the Messiah (Christ in Greek) had said in Luke 21:24 that once Jerusalem was destroyed, the ‘Times of the Gentiles’ would go on for a specific period. The Apostle Paul states it would continue until the “fullness of the Gentiles has come in” and then finally, all Israel will be saved (Romans 11:25-26). Jesus gave us the time-marker for the end of the ‘times of the Gentiles’. Jesus stated in Luke 21:24-36 that the sign that the Church Age, the Times of the Gentiles, was about to close was the restoration of Jewish control over the city of Jerusalem. This is an echo of Psalm 102:13-22. That date was June, 1967. At that point God was fulfilling His promise to bring back His caretakers for His land and settle them in their old estates. That process is outlined in detail, along with the Arab response in Ezekiel 36. Ezekiel 37 is often taken to refer to the revival of European Jewry from the graves of the Holocaust and their subsequent return to the Holy Land. Ezekiel 38 brings us up to the present. Because the Eternal is acting in accord with His promises and timetable revealed by the prophets and Messiah, many find this disconcerting, and upsetting. But in it all, remember He still has an undying love for the individuals caught up in this, and seeks to bring them to Himself through these difficult events.

What is next?

There are two major events that are prophesied to occur very soon. The first is the destruction of Damascus, capital of Syria; the second is the wipe-out of the Russian and Iranian armies and their allies on the hills of Israel as detailed in Ezekiel 38.

a). The destruction of Damascus:

This is listed in several prophetic passages. The fact that, up until now, Damascus is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the Middle East, and some would say the world, is an indicator that these prophecies are becoming ready for fulfillment. The utter destruction of Damascus, so that it no longer is habitable, raises the question as to whether or not nuclear weapons are involved. They can be found in Isaiah 17:1-11, as well as Zechariah 9 1-17 and 10:9 -11:3. From these verses, it will be seen that Tyre and Sidon in Lebanon are also involved (Zechariah 9:2-4). Further, Israel conquers southern Lebanon up to the city of Zarephath near the Zahrani River, and the comment is made that Israel settles in southern Lebanon until no place is left for them. Jordan is also involved as Isaiah 17 says that the cities of Aroer (on the east bank of the Jordan) will be deserted and only inhabited by flocks. This again may indicate that ongoing radiation close to Damascus may be the reason. Also Gaza plays a role as the leader there (from Hamas?) is killed (Zechariah 9:9). The present problems with Iran may feed into this prophecy directly as the Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza are controlled by the Iranian regime. Exactly how Syria is involved may depend on its attitude to Iran, or alternately, the way the Turkish leadership decides to play its cards, as Turkey is essentially powering the regime in Syria. We just need to watch as this situation develops.

b). The destruction of Russia, Iran and their allies on the hills of Israel:

The details are given in Ezekiel 38. The scenario it presents is Israel is enjoying a brief period of peace and prosperity as this attack occurs (Ezekiel 38:8, 11, 14). Perhaps this period of peace and safety results from the current actions against Iran and some subsequent treaty. It is apparent that the wipe-out of Israel is still the intent of both Iran and its allies as well as Russia. This suggests that there may not be much of a change in the regime controlling Iran. In February 2025, Russia and Iran signed a security, trade and defense agreement for 20 years, which covers Ezekiel 38.

The wipe-out of these invading armies is miraculous. God uses 5 natural phenomena to effect the destruction of these forces. Those five things are listed off in Ezekiel 38:18-23. In the Isaiah 17 passage verses 12-14 cover this later invasion of Israel. There we are told that the invaders come at evening, but God has wiped them out by the following morning (Isaiah 17:14). This dramatic result convinces the nations that God fights for Israel, or, as Ezekiel 38:23 “And it will be known in the eyes of many nations that I am the LORD.”

May our eyes be enlightened to see these things in God’s way rather than work it through in our own limited wisdom. He knows the end from the beginning and with Him, nothing is impossible.

Blessings and Maranatha

Barry Setterfield

In 2008, underwater archaeologists discovered a first-century ceramic bowl in the sunken ruins of Alexandria, Egypt, featuring a Greek inscription that may contain the earliest physical reference to Jesus Christ.

“The story of the ‘Jesus Cup’ is both fascinating and contested, with ongoing debate surrounding a ceramic bowl found in the sunken ruins of Alexandria, Egypt. This artifact is significant because it potentially contains the earliest physical reference to Jesus Christ outside of the Bible, dating to approximately 50 AD—just two decades after the crucifixion.

The Discovery and Context

The “Jesus Cup” was unearthed in 2008 by French marine archaeologist Franck Goddio and his team during underwater excavations of Alexandria’s ancient harbour. The cup was discovered in a submerged area that once included the island of Antirhodos, near where Cleopatra’s palace may have been located.

The bowl itself is a simple ceramic vessel, well-preserved except for a missing handle. Archaeologists date the layer where it was found to the first half of the first century AD. In this era, Alexandria was a “melting pot” of paganism, Judaism, and early Christianity, where different religious traditions often merged into unique magical and spiritual practices.

The Inscription: “DIA CHRSTOU O GOISTAIS”

The central mystery of the cup is the Greek inscription scratched into its surface: “DIA CHRSTOU O GOISTAIS”. There are three primary ways scholars translate this text. Some scholars, including New Testament scholar Dr Jeremiah Johnston and epigrapher Prof. André Bernand understand the inscription to mean “Through Christ the chanter” or “By Christ the magician”. Under this view, a practitioner of “lecanomancy” (divination using oil and water in a bowl) invoked Jesus’ name because of his reputation as a powerful wonder-worker and miracle healer.

Other experts, such as Klaus Hallof and Bert Smith, argue that “Chrestos” was a common name at the time. They suggest the bowl was a gift from a man named Chrestos to a religious association called the “Ogoistais,” possibly related to the deity Osogo.

A third theory, proposed by György Németh, who is a faculty member in the Ancient History department at Eötvös Loránd University, suggests the inscription is a recipe for a “diachristos” (anointing salve or ointment). In this reading, the cup was used to measure ingredients like wine and oil for medicinal purposes.

The Age of the Cup

Archaeologists used three primary methods to determine the age of the “Jesus Cup”:

• Stratigraphy (Layering): The bowl was discovered in the “second stratigraphical layer” of the sunken harbour. This specific layer is dated to the first half of the first century AD because it was found alongside other identifiable items from that period, such as imported cooking wares and “eastern sigillata”.

• Typology (Physical Design): Experts compared the bowl’s shape and technical characteristics to other known ceramics. Its form is similar to vessels produced in Pergamon between the late second century BC and the early first century AD.

• Epigraphy: Epigraphy is the study and analysis of ancient inscriptions engraved on hard surfaces like stone, metal, or pottery. In the case of the “Jesus Cup,” epigraphists analyzed the Greek capital letters scratched into the ceramic after it had been fired. By examining the style and characteristics of this writing, scholars were able to date the inscription.

Historical Significance

If the “Jesus Cup” does indeed refer to Christ, the implications are profound. It would prove that Jesus’ reputation as a miracle worker had spread from Judea to Egypt within 20 years, much faster than many secular historians previously thought. It would represent the oldest material evidence of Jesus’ existence and influence outside of Christian scripture. And it demonstrates how early knowledge of Jesus was adapted by different cultures, even being used in pagan magical rituals to “legitimise” soothsaying.

Some scholars have raised serious questions about whether the inscription could be a forgery, noting the lettering appeared unusually crisp for an object submerged for centuries.

The ancient world continues to yield discoveries that enrich our understanding of the historical context in which early Christianity emerged.

Down a remote, narrow dirt road in the rolling hills of South Wales stands the Hanover Chapel in Llanover. Built of staggered grey stone, this quiet sanctuary holds a secret that ties a nineteenth-century Welsh village to the explosive growth of Christianity in East Asia. Inside, a portrait of Robert Jermain Thomas hangs on the wall—a man who, at the tender age of 17, stood in this very pulpit to deliver his first sermon: “Jesus Christ, the Same, Yesterday, Today, Forever.”

More than 150 years ago, this congregation sent Thomas to the “Hermit Kingdom”—a nation then defined by its fierce isolationism and closed doors to the West. Today, the spiritual descendants of Thomas’s sacrifice have returned to Wales.

Tragedy Was the Prelude to Purpose

The road to martyrdom began not with a victory, but with a series of crushing personal losses. In 1863, at around the age of 24, Robert Jermain Thomas arrived in Shanghai with his pregnant wife, Caroline. The mission was fraught from the start; while Robert was away in Hankow searching for suitable accommodation, Caroline suffered a miscarriage and died shortly after. Thomas returned to find himself a widower, his unborn child dead, and his sense of calling shattered.

Broken by grief, he resigned from the London Missionary Society and took a “secular” job as a customs officer in Chefoo (Yantai). It was in this professional capacity that Thomas met Korean traders—Catholic believers who had fled the “Byeong-in Persecution,” where thousands of Christians were being slaughtered. These encounters allowed him to learn the Korean language and re-ignited his missionary fire.

In a letter dated April 5, 1864, Thomas wrote through his tears:

“I did not expect that the first letter I write here from England would be of such sad news. My dear wife, Caroline, died on the 24th of March last... I trust to give myself more completely than ever to the noble work on which I have just entered... The Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord.”

The Gospel Entered on a Ship of War

Thomas’s final mission to Korea was a study in contradictions. He secured passage as an interpreter on the General Sherman, an armed American merchant vessel. It was a 187-ton side-wheel schooner motivated by commercial ambition and potential plunder, a stark contrast to Thomas’s peaceful intent.

The voyage was a tactical disaster. In August 1866, the ship entered the Taedong River, navigating easily due to unusually high summer rains. However, as the waters receded, the vessel was marooned on a sandbar near Pyongyang. The crew became sitting ducks for the hostile local militia. Violence erupted when Captain Page ordered the ship’s cannons to fire into the crowds, killing civilians and confirming the Koreans’ worst fears about foreign invaders.

The manifest of the General Sherman revealed a jarring juxtaposition of kingdoms:

• The Ship’s Cargo: Cotton textiles, tinware, mirrors, glassware, and two cannons.

• Thomas’s Cargo: Stacks of Bibles printed in Chinese characters.

As Korean fire-boats eventually set the schooner ablaze, Thomas spent his final moments frantically throwing Bibles toward the shore, desperate for the Word to reach the shoreline.

The Most Dangerous Wallpaper in Pyongyang

The most cinematic and improbable moment of this story involves how the Bibles survived the fire. As Thomas leapt from the burning ship, he waded toward the shore, clutching his remaining Bibles. He was met by an executioner named Chu Won Park (also known as Park Chun-Kwon). And in those two men was a haunting contrast: in one man, anger and hatred; in the other, the love of Jesus. Thomas knelt, held out his last Bible, and offered it to the man who was about to kill him.

Thomas was executed on the riverbank, but the “treasure” he carried did not perish. The Bibles were scattered and recovered by three key people:

1. Chu Won Park (The Executioner): He took a Bible home, eventually leading to his conversion forty years later during a public confession.

2. Choe Chi-Liang (The Boy): An 11-year-old who salvaged three Bibles, keeping them until a later missionary could explain their meaning.

3. Pak Yong-Sik (The Official): A local government official who gathered the high-quality paper and, in a fit of utilitarian irony, used the Bible pages as wallpaper for his home.

For years, Pak Yong-Sik lived inside a house literally lined with the Gospel. Guests and residents would lean against the walls and find themselves reading the Sermon on the Mount or the Gospel of John. This “wallpapered” home eventually became a house church, and later, the site of the Nuldarigol Chapel—the very first church in Pyongyang.

The “Jerusalem of the East” Was Built on a Riverbank

The 1866 martyrdom was the “grain of wheat” that fell into the earth to produce a staggering harvest. By the turn of the century, the spiritual climate of Pyongyang had shifted entirely.

The growth was explosive:

• 1904: Approximately 10,000 converts.

• 1907: 50,000 more joined following the Great Pyongyang Revival.

Pyongyang became so saturated with Christian life that it was dubbed the “Jerusalem of the East.” While North Korea is today a “closed country” where the church has been forced underground, the foundation remains anchored in the riverbank where a young Welshman died.

The Debt Repaid: A Full-Circle Legacy

The legacy of Robert Jermain Thomas is no longer a Western story; it is a Korean one. South Korea has transformed from a missionary destination into at one time the second-largest missionary-sending nation in the world.

Conclusion: The Echoes of a Martyrs Life

The life of Robert Jermain Thomas ended with a brutal, literal finality: a soldier killing him on a muddy riverbank. To his contemporaries in 1866, he was a tragic footnote—a young man who died on a burning ship before he could ever plant a single church or baptise a single soul.

Yet, history and theology suggest a different metric for success. Thomas’s death became the soil from which a national movement grew. If he had successfully traded his textiles and returned safely to the comfort of Wales, would the “Hermit Kingdom” have ever been reached? Is a “failed” mission sometimes the only way to win a heart? Thomas’s story makes us ponder a difficult truth: that the most enduring messages are often those written in the blood of the messenger.

There’s a letter in the New Testament that has always struck me as slightly conflicting — in the best way. It was written by a man under arrest, possibly awaiting execution, to a community of people he loved and couldn’t get to. And it reads, somehow, like the most cheerful thing he ever wrote.

The letter to the Philippians doesn’t feel like a letter produced under difficult circumstances. It feels like someone who has genuinely received a revelation and wants to share it before time runs out.

Sometimes the setback is the story

Paul’s imprisonment should have ended his influence and reach for the gospel. Instead, it extended it somehow. He ended up in regular contact with members of the imperial palace guard — not because he engineered it, but because he was chained to them. And rather than quietly falling apart, he was apparently so visibly at peace that people started asking questions.

He notes this almost as a side point. His chains, he says, have actually advanced what he was trying to do. The whole palace guard knows why he’s there.

There’s something worth sitting with in that. The situations we’re most embarrassed by — the job loss, the failed project, the very public mistake — sometimes become the most relatable part of us. Not because suffering is fun or noble, but because how we carry hard things tells people something our better moments never could.

Let the work matter more than who gets the credit

While Paul was stuck, other people were out preaching, some genuinely, but some apparently trying to make his situation worse by doing the very thing he couldn’t. A pettier person would have been furious. Paul asks himself one question: “What then?” (ESV) or in other translations “But so what?” (CJB)

His conclusion: the work is moving forward, so there’s nothing to be angry about.

That’s harder than it sounds. Most of us would struggle when someone succeeds at our expense, or does good things for the wrong reasons. We find it nearly impossible not to care. Paul’s “what then?” isn’t indifference — it’s a deliberate decision about where to put his energy and focus. The outcome matters more than whether he gets the credit or not.

Paul goes on to say to do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more significant than yourself. Don’t look to your own interests but also to the interests of others. Just like Jesus did. To do all things, not a few things, but all things without grumbling and complaining. If anyone has to give in to complaining, it would be Paul, who is in jail simply for telling people about Jesus.

The credentials aren’t the problem — clinging to them is

Paul lists his former résumé in Philippians 3 with the tone of someone who has genuinely stopped being impressed by it. By any measure of his world, it was remarkable: the right lineage, the right training, one of the best in his field, a résumé that most people couldn’t match.

Yet he calls it rubbish. The word he uses in Greek is stronger than that, actually, but that’s putting it politely.

He had discovered something that made everything he’d accumulated feel, by comparison, like it was getting in the way. Most of us may never feel that strongly about anything. But most of us also know the specific hollowness of reaching something you worked hard for and discovering that the feeling doesn’t last as long as you thought it would.

Contentment isn’t a personality type — it’s a practice

The most misused verse in this letter is probably “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” It gets put on gym walls and graduation cards, used to suggest that faith is a performance enhancer for ambition.

In context, Paul is saying the opposite. He’s talking about having learned, through actual experience of both poverty and abundance, to be okay regardless of which one he’s currently in. The “all things” he can endure isn’t a championship. It’s any circumstance. The strength he’s describing isn’t exceptional output; it’s stability.

That’s a less exciting message, but a more useful one. Contentment isn’t something you’re born with or something that arrives once your life gets easier. It’s something you get incrementally better at, mostly through having it tested.

You have more control over your mental diet than you think

Near the end of the letter, Paul gives a list of things to think about: whatever is true, honourable, right, pure, lovely, admirable. If anything is excellent or worth praising, he says, dwell on those things.

This isn’t a call to positivity or to pretend bad things aren’t happening. It’s a recognition that the mind tends to go where you point it — and most of us are pointing it, almost constantly, at what’s wrong, what’s unfair, the worst-case scenario. Paul is suggesting something more active — not denial, but a deliberate choice about what gets your attention.

It’s a discipline, not a mood. And the promise attached to it is peace, not happiness. Those aren’t the same thing. Peace is abiding, happiness is temporary; it can come and go. Peace is a lifestyle and perspective, not the absence of trouble.

The Bigger Frame

The thread running through Philippians is that Paul’s stability doesn’t come from his circumstances being manageable. They aren’t. It comes from his sense that his real identity isn’t located in his current situation — not in the cell, not in the chains, not in whether the verdict goes his way. In Acts 20:23, Paul said that “the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me.” He knew what was coming, but he also knew who was with him through it.

Paul was in chains, and he wasn’t crushed. God was holding him up. Paul was unshaken, generous, clear-eyed about what actually matters, and that is worth aspiring to.

An unborn baby in Australia has no rights. Australian doctors no longer take the original Hippocratic Oath. They affirm the Declaration of Geneva. This oath emphasizes respect for human life, ethical practice and patient dignity. However, it does not explicitly mention the unborn. The AMA does not have a policy that recognizes the unborn child as a separate ‘rights-holder’. The unborn fetus is part of a woman’s medical situation and not an independent legal person. Babies don’t have their own rights until they are born alive and if we have been paying attention to exposed hospital procedure of late, the situation raises serious ethical concerns.

It is possible to be a prolife Christian doctor in Australia, but it is increasingly difficult. Dr Jereth Kok, felt the full force of Australia’s legal policies, losing his professional career. Australia’s medical profession is often challenging for those with Christian convictions. Some nations have rejected the current ‘global’ position on abortion and face their own challenges to turn the tide from what had become accepted medical practice. How sad that something so weighty becomes a politicisation.

The Word of God says this: “Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter. If you say, ‘But we knew nothing about this,’ does not He who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not He who guards your life know it? Will He not repay everyone according to what they have done?” Proverbs 24:11-12

This is our mandate as followers of Jesus and Bible believing Christians. The ‘personhood’ of an unborn baby is clearly affirmed by scripture. God’s love for a mother carrying a baby is just as certain. This is never an either-or subject; it’s about both lives always. Doctors may face limitations in their expression, but we do not. We still have the freedom to support, counsel, cheer and affirm a woman’s desire to keep her baby.

Hope is a powerful fuel. Hope doesn’t change the circumstances of an unplanned pregnancy, it brings courage and clarity to a heart burdened by fear. And when hope is offered with kindness, a woman can make decisions from strength not fear. When fear dominates, an unplanned pregnancy feels like a problem. When kindness enters with hope, she may better see a child, a future, a relationship and a gift. We can all offer hope with kindness, it’s what God’s Word encourages us to do.

Karly, (not her real name) meets with me each month. Her pregnancy resulted from a domestic violence incident and she now lives in a woman’s refuge while waiting to resettle her life. The baby she carries is a life long link to the man who shifted from a loved partner to a violent controller. Karly chose to keep her baby. She moved from fear to strength and with the support of pregnancy help and other organisations, her hope for a future as a mum has been restored and she is eager to meet her little child. It’s an ongoing mental and emotional battle. The frequent encouragement and kindness she receives goes a long way to helping her stay optimistic.

Lila, (not her real name) is pregnant with her second baby. Unlike the first unplanned pregnancy, this one was anticipated. Not a crisis or problem, but still she called us to share her joy and once again connect. Every time we meet she expresses how grateful she is that we were there for her first pregnancy. Her little one is 3yrs old now. Her words, “I don’t know what would have happened if you weren’t there for me. Meeting you changed everything.” We were there with hope offered in kindness and it changed Lila’s life.

Kindness if free. Offering compassion, time, presence, and truth is so powerful. We are giving women the gift that changes everything: hope. This is what Pregnancy Help Centres around Australia do. And when a woman chooses to terminate her pregnancy, we still love and care for her as God would. Often deep healing and counselling support is required post-abortion. Hope and kindness are freely given there too.

Pregnancy Help Centres need your support and prayers. They stand in the gap for women at perhaps the most vulnerable time in their lives. Their work can be emotionally and spiritually heavy to carry at times. Sometimes they are misunderstood and opposed. Funding is mostly by donations and not government grants. And they carry the heart of God into the places where fear, shame and pressure try to speak the loudest. Pregnancy Help Centres work at an intersection of life and possibility where the stakes are eternal.

PHA National Helpline - 1300139 313

Women’s Life Centre Melbourne - wlcpregnancysupport.com