November | 2023 | Edhird's Blog

Sermon topic: “How might hatred of evil bring healing in body, mind and spirit?” (Proverbs 8:1-21 )

Nov 26th All Saints Healing Service

“Does not wisdom call out? Does not understanding raise her voice? At the highest point along the way, where the paths meet, she takes her stand; beside the gate leading into the city, at the entrance, she cries aloud: “To you, O people, I call out; I raise my voice to all mankind. You who are simple, gain prudence; you who are foolish, set your hearts on it. Listen, for I have trustworthy things to say; I open my lips to speak what is right. My mouth speaks what is true, for my lips detest wickedness. All the words of my mouth are just; none of them is crooked or perverse. To the discerning all of them are right; they are upright to those who have found knowledge. Choose my instruction instead of silver, knowledge rather than choice gold, for wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with her. “I, wisdom, dwell together with prudence; I possess knowledge and discretion. To fear the Lord is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech. Counsel and sound judgment are mine; I have insight, I have power. By me kings reign and rulers issue decrees that are just; by me princes govern, and nobles—all who rule on earth. I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me. With me are riches and honor, enduring wealth and prosperity. My fruit is better than fine gold; what I yield surpasses choice silver. I walk in the way of righteousness, along the paths of justice, bestowing a rich inheritance on those who love me and making their treasuries full.”

Proverbs 8:1-21 NIV https://bible.com/bible/111/pro.8.1-21.NIV

How many of us want to grow in Biblical wisdom? How many want greater healing in your lives? How many want Christ the King to reign as Lord in every area of our lives? You will remember that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom (Proverbs 9:10). The Fear of the Lord is mentioned 18 times in the Bible. Isaiah 33:6 calls the fear of the Lord ‘the Lord’s treasure’. What do we do when we receive an inheritance, a treasure? You don’t ignore it; you value it. The fear of the Lord is a godly inheritance that w e need to deeply appreciate and apply into our life.

You may move powerfully in the charismatic gifts like healing, but will still crash and burn if you lack the fear of the Lord and don’t hate evil. The fear of the Lord protects us from the world, the flesh and the devil. Psalm 34:7 says that the fear of the Lord releases the Angel of the Lord to encamp around those who fear the Lord. How many of us want God’s warrior angels fighting for us? What if we chose the fear of the Lord & the hatred of evil?

Have anyone noticed that the devil knows our weaknesses, he knows the Bible often better than us, though out of context, and he fights dirty? One of my weaknesses is impatience which I have been impatiently working on for the past 52 years of my Christian life. Yesterday, the devil used inefficient bureaucracy to test how much I have grown in this area of temptation. How many of you have noticed how hard it is for telephone AI to let you talk to a live human? AI in banking, telecommunications, and commerce, is getting more and more controlling of our lives, using in the name of so-called cost-savings for big business. A month ago, AI decided that I am committing the sin of using an ad blocker on Google, so it has intermittently blocked my YouTube access and then unblocked it after I convince AI that I am not using an ad blocker.

Two days ago, UPS turns up as promised at our apartment complex with our Elisha Code books for the booksigning. Unfortunately they didn’t press our buzzer or phone us before leaving. UPS finally phoned us at 6:30pm to promise that the books will be dropped off at our apartment from 12noon Saturday. In the meantime, Google, without warning, messes up my Telus email so everything is bouncing back. While I continued to work on my sermon, I waited for four hours just inside the front door to make sure that UPs doesn’t mess up again. Their email and internet message is that the UPS package is in the mail. There is no way to contact them except through chatting with a remarkably mindless AI UPS assistant. Did I ever tell you that the answer to all life’s problems is more bureaucracy and paperwork? I had great chats with many of my bemused new neighbours, as well as endless Amazon, FedEx, and delivery people. Did you know that FedEx doesn’t want you going into their truck while looking for an ups package? But by the end of Saturday, UPS was a no-show. How do you think that I might have been feeling? How about very disappointed, frustrated, even angry? I was struggling with H.A.L.T (Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired).

We Hirds pride ourselves on being prompt and reliable, and struggle at times with anger over inefficient bureaucracy. Our Hird ancestors were hardworking Yorkshire shepherds and Danish bodyguards to Kings. Have you noticed in Proverbs 8 vs 13 that God hates pride and arrogance?

Fortunately I went to the Oikos Prayer Vigil which greatly gave me peace after I forgave UPS, YouTube, & Google and surrendered them to the Lord. I had to pray: lead me not into temptation and deliver me from emaiI. Did I say ‘email’? 😉 (note: UPS finally delivered the books on Monday night at 6:30pm).

I was also reminded through Rev 12:11 that I overcome Satan by the blood of the lamb, the word of my testimony, and because I love not my life unto death. The nightly Oikos Prayer vigil , as 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 puts it, is helping me tear down the strongholds of unforgiveness and take every angry thought captive, making it obedient to Christ. The battle belongs to the Lord. By the way, you probably have figured out that our booksigning will now be next Sunday. Perhaps you may wish to come forward for prayer this morning to break the generation stronghold of impatience, frustration, anger and unforgiveness? Healing is more than just healing a physical backache.

You will be pleased I have now individually contacted 6,000 of my 44,000 social media contacts, inviting them to watch the amazing Oikos video. Does it surprise you that right before this healing service that the devil attacked me in the area of technological bureaucracy? This is spiritual warfare. That is why it is so vital that we make sure to attend the Oikos Prayer Vigil in this final phase of the Oikos 3 Project. How many of you are willing to commit to attending the Oikos Prayer Vigil at least once in this coming week? Prayer is the key to this Christmas miracle of raising the $2 million by Dec 31st.

How many of you, by the way, have already watched the Oikos 3 video? How many have emailed it to your friends or family? It is amazing.

You may remember on Oct 26th with part one of my two-part series on the fear of the Lord where Proverbs 3:7-9 says “Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.” While this is not mechanistic, there is a strong biblical connection between fearing the Lord, hating evil, and living a more healthy lifestyle. The reverse is also true: despising the Lord and dabbling with evil does not go well for us in body, mind or spirit. Dr E Stanley Jones wrote a book called the Way in which he said that Jesus and his Kingdom is not just the way of salvation. He is the way for every area of our lives. Life comes down to the Way and not-the-way. Not the way doesn’t work. Sin is never good for us, especially in the long term. Can you get away with lots of junk food and no exercise in the short term? Maybe, but we soon have to pay the piper. Every extra pound from overeating is equivalent to two pounds pressure on our knees. Some people then give up regular walking because it is too hard on their knees. It becomes a vicious cycle. Would you be willing to come forward this morning to get healing in the area of overeating or overdrinking?

Many people struggle with a secret addiction to the annual $97 billion dollar pornography industry which is both omnipresent and much darker and more violent than our grandfather’s pornography. All my teenage friends were into porn. Before I met Jesus, I didn’t even see it as sinful. Many Christians know that it is sinful, but still do it on the side. As AA puts it, we are as sick as our secrets. So many marriages break up through secret porn. That is why I am so impressed with our Nephew Matt Cline who leads Restored Ministries helping people get free from sexual addiction. Matt has discovered that daily Bible reading reduces porn addiction by 61 percent. Unless we learn how to hate evil, we will never break the power of our addictions. Stinking thinking causes us to believe that we can manage our addictions on our own, and just reduce the harm. Isolation however kills. Transparent community is a key to healing our addictions. Denial however is not just a River in Egypt. My late father often told me how impressed and shocked he was by Bishop Peter’s honesty in his sermon over his breaking the power of alcohol and sexual addiction. Perhaps you may want to come forward this morning to ask for prayer for your secret porn addiction. Healing is more than just healing your migraine.

Some of us struggle with the manana addiction. We want to deal with our problems. We want to be more responsible. But we procrastinate and put stuff off until tomorrow. How many of you are the youngest child in your family? Youngest siblings often struggle in this area. Some marriages collapse over broken promises and procrastination. Many spouses get sick and tired of waiting for us to grow up. Perhaps you might want to come forward this morning to deal with the deadly stronghold of procrastination, or maybe just wait until Manana.

Our western culture has been been carefully conditioned to see good and evil as mere human constructs. Many Westerners have been deluded into thinking that choice is the highest virtue, and that choice alone turns evil into good. You have probably heard the expression “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” Most evil, like in the 1930s with Stalin, is cloaked with fine-sounding words that most of us would find initially impressive. Solzhenitsyn wrote: “Communism has never concealed the fact that it rejects all absolute concepts of morality.” In other words, Marxism and its numerous modern day woke spin-offs do not believe in right and wrong, good and evil, sin and righteousness. What marxism does believe in is resentment and blaming others. The only evil is to be successful. In Ukraine during communism, Mennonites were severely punished for being Kulaks because they might have two cows. That made you the oppressor. The only good in marxism is being the oppressed victim, whether economically, socially, racially, or sexually. Evil is using brilliant at co-opting the media who are skilled at subverting our core moral convictions. Evil tries to make us feel guilty and ashamed over believing in the Ten Commandments. Isaiah 5:20 says: “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put butter for sweet and sweet for bitter.”

GK Chesterton noted that evil always takes advantage of ambiguity. Solzhenitsyn commented: “It is almost a joke now in the western world to use concepts like ‘good’ and ‘evil’. They have become almost old-fashioned concepts, but they are very real and genuine concepts. These are concepts from a realm higher than us.” Sin is a master at disguising itself. Bishop JC Ryle commented that “Sin will not come to you saying, ‘I am sin.’ It would do little harm if it did. Sin always seems ‘good, pleasant and desirable’ at the time of arrival.” C.S. Lewis, in The Allegory of Love, said that “The descent to hell is easy, and those who begin by worshipping power soon worship evil.”

What exactly is the hatred of sin? Bishop JC Ryle said that “The heart that has really tasted the grace of Christ will instinctively hate sin.”

Charles H. Spurgeon said that

If I hate sin because of the punishment, I have not repented of sin—I merely regret that God is just. But if I can see sin as an offense against Jesus Christ and loathe myself because I have wounded Him, then I have a true brokenness of heart.

Hating evil is not about hating other people. We hate evil by blessing instead of cursing those who persecute us (Romans 12:14). Practicing healthy boundaries as we confront abusive people is an example of biblical blessing. While we as followers of Christ forgive horrendous evil, we must be careful to not allow innocent people to be revictimized.

Sin is evil, and evil is sin. Romans 3:23 says that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

In order to hate evil, we have to become practiced in discerning between good and evil, right and wrong, truth and untruth, light and darkness. Can we count on our government institutions teach us this? Sitting under Bishop Peter’s teaching for the past six years has definitely help sensitize me in this area of discernment.

Does a loving God, however, hate anything? The answer is yes. Here is what the Bible teaches in Proverbs 6:16-19 (& 8:13): “There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.”

To hate evil is to resist evil. Some people can resist everything but sin. The hippie movement used to say if it feels good, (do it). You may remember the song that said ‘how can it be wrong when it feels so good?’

All sin is poison. God hates our addictions, while simultaneously loving us in our addictions.

God hates whatever harms and hurts you. Unchecked evil will ultimately destroy us. We would be wise to hate what the Lord hates and love what he loves. Does God love people? Yes. Is he pleased when we deeply and selfishly harm other people? No. You will remember how Jesus in Mark 3:5 looked at them in anger, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, because they were more concerned about sabbath rules than the man who needed healing.

Charles Spurgeon said “If any man live in sin and love it, he has not the faith of God’s elect; for true faith purifies the soul.”

To hate evil is to hate sin, not just other people’s sin which is easy, but especially our own personal sin. It is very tempting when standing against sin to become self-righteous, judgmental, and hypocritical. But the blame game always ends badly, especially in marriage, family, and church. Have those of you who are married ever noticed how your spouse’s sin can sometimes seem much less forgiving than your favorite sin?

Solzhenitsyn said: “the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political classes either -/ but right through every human heart.” As my wife’s favorite Bible verse Jeremiah 17:9 puts it, The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” NIV. KJV says ‘desperately wicked’. ESV says ‘desperately sick’. The Message says “hopelessly dark and deceitful, a puzzle that no one can figure out.” How many married people here today will agree that Jeremiah 17:9 is true about their spouse? Do I hear an amen from any brave souls? Would you be willing to be brave enough to come forward today to ask for healing for your marriage or your family? How many of you have ever gone forward to ask for healing prayer? Perhaps today could be your first time.

Could rampant gossip in many churches be rooted in the minimizing of our sin and the maximizing and even demonizing of others’ sins? Would you be willing to go up for prayer to be healed from the stronghold of gossip?

Jesus said that you cannot serve two masters. We will love one and hate the other. Could the fear of the Lord cause us to hate the greediness of the spirit of mammon, and love the generosity of our Lord and Master Jesus Christ? How might the fear of the Lord release more tithing and radical generosity in this final phase of the Oikos Project? Would you be willing to go up for prayer today to break the stronghold of mammon and greed?

If we really feared the Lord, we would hate our self-reliance and self-dependence. Many of us even as Christians think it is more responsible to depend on ourselves than on God. One of the greatest strongholds of our culture is trying to do everything on our own in our own strength. Would you be willing to come forward today to break the power of this stronghold of independence, or would you rather beat this one on your own?

If I told you that the Oikos Project ultimately depends on God, is that good news or bad news? Even as Christians, we are tempted to rely more on our techniques, our programs, our incredibly gifted Bishop Peter, our connections, and our bank accounts, rather than radically depend on God for his provision, for his healing and wholeness. Is the joy of the Lord really the security, the foundation of our Lord?

How many today want to become healthier in body, mind and spirit? How many are willing to come up for prayer today? Choosing to hate evil will bring a major breakthrough in your life. Let us pray.

posted in the Light Magazine

November 3, 2023 by Rev. Dr. Ed & Janice Hird

janz team

Who would have imagined that God would use pacifist Canadian Mennonites to bring revival in Germany?

The Janz Brothers, who lived on a Saskatchewan farm, began as Country & Western singers. Hildor, together with his brothers Leo and Adolph, and Adolph’s brother-in-law Cornelius Enns, formed the Janz Quartet in 1946. They had a passion to serve God through singing, and to bring others into a relationship with God. Being eager to learn more about God, they went to Briercrest Bible Institute/College in Caronport, Saskatchewan. Then they finished their education at Prairie Bible Institute in Three Hills, Alberta.

At Prairie (PBI), they had a radio studio, connected to CFCN in Calgary, where they did live broadcasts every day. The Janz Brothers used to travel with Eli Maxwell, the Prairie Bible College President. They really gave a big boost to Prairie. There were 2,000 students attending Prairie at that time.

In 1951, the German branch of the mission organization Youth for Christ invited the Janz Quartet to minister as part of a three-month nationwide crusade in Germany. After that trip to Europe, they said ‘We’ve got to go as missionaries.’ The mother of their nephew Jim Janz ran the home office for them in Calgary. The Janz team would usually come back at Christmas time for a Janz family reunion. Jim and Sharon Janz supported them for over 50 years. They were definitely like Billy Graham in their massive impact on German-speaking people in Europe. The crowds were standing room only. Once in a while, they had to move venues to get everyone in. Thousands of people came to Christ during that time. Like Billy Graham and his team, the Janz Brothers would work together with local churches in Germany. They would go for several months, sometimes a year in advance, doing training sessions. Jim Janz said: “This is where their ministry really took off. Because of their Mennonite heritage, they spoke fluent German; so, they decided to go to Germany just to see what the lay of the land was like. They went over there for a couple of months and had a tremendous response. They ended up with 20,000 people attending each rally. They came back, all fired up, and decided to move there with their families. This kicked off a 50-plus year ministry that was tremendously successful.”

Their record label, Songs of Life Records, produced singles that were popular throughout the German-speaking world as well as in Canada, the USA, and South America. They even released a Black Spiritual album in Germany.

Beginning in 1965, the Janz Team made several evangelism trips to Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina. The ministry also established what eventually became known as the Black Forest Academy in 1956 which still thrives to this day.

Jim Janz commented: “The Janz Uncles were regular menschen. (Yiddish/German: a person of integrity and honour) They had two offices, one in Germany and one in Switzerland right across the river from each other. This allowed them to connect with the Swiss German people.”

Dr. Ed Penner noted that many German people were so distraught by what happened with Hitler that they became atheists, losing all hope. Jim Janz agreed, saying “They lost their hope, but they also felt lost and needed to find solid ground again. They were looking for truth, for the gospel to be preached. So, they were ready.” Ralph Shareski, who served as an Alliance missionary for decades in Germany, commented: “It was certainly a time of harvest. We’ve met several Germans in our time who came to Christ through the Janzs’ ministry, including a pastor in Heidelberg.”

The Janz Team has now changed its name to TeachBeyond. George Durance was the President of the Janz Team School for over twelve years in Germany. Then he became the President of TeachBeyond. They now have over 1,000 teachers around the world. TeachBeyond’s vision is to serve our Father’s world, to love Jesus Christ, and to see individuals and societies transformed by His Spirit through education. Jim Janz’ daughter is the chairwoman of the TeachBeyond board. As opportunities grew, the original Janz Gospel Association established various national Janz organizations to serve needs in Europe and South America.

Thank God for how God used Canadian Mennonites to transform the German-speaking world. How might God want us to be more like the Janz team in their passion for global transformation?

About Rev. Dr. Ed & Janice Hird

Books by Rev. Dr. Ed & Janice Hird include God’s Firestarters; Blue Sky, a novel; and For Better, For Worse: Discovering the keys to a Lasting Relationship. Dr Ed’s newest award-winning book The Elisha Code is co-authored with Rev. David Kitz. Earlier books by Dr. Ed include the award-winning Battle for the Soul of Canada, and Restoring Health: Body, Mind, & Spirit.