<![CDATA[Frontline Fellowship

<![CDATA[Frontline Fellowship - Articles]]>Sat, 16 May 2026 17:28:58 +0200Weebly<![CDATA[Literature for Africa Evangelistic Outreach]]>Sat, 11 Apr 2026 07:26:08 GMThttps://www.frontlinemissionsa.org/articles/literature-for-africa-evangelistic-outreach

On Easter Saturday we conducted an evangelistic outreach at Sea Point.

"Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord." Colossians 3:16

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Despite rain the previous day, it was a beautiful day in brilliant sunshine and there were crowds of people out enjoying the Sea Point promenade.

We set up a Literature for Africa Table and gazebo, with shark fin banners, inviting Pedestrians passing by to help themselves to a variety of Gospel literature on our table. This included the Jesus Messiah Gospel comic books And The Case for Easter book by Lee Strobel. These books were offered free to those who completed Our Spiritual Well-being Survey, which basically takes people through the Evangelism Explosion and Way of the Master Evangelistic questions. By God's grace I was able to lead 7 people through these convicting Evangelistic questions and pray with them before presenting them with their copies of these life changing books.

"So shall My Word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it." Isaiah 55:11

Muslims for the Messiah
We were also joined by more than 10 volunteers who distributed World Missionary Press Gospel booklets to the many passersby. Several Muslims gladly received How to Know God Gospel booklets from us.

"For… the Gospel of Christ, … is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes…" Romans 1:16

Jews for Jesus
We were also able to pray with a number of Jewish people and lead one of them to Christ. We designed a Gospel tract specifically for these people: How to Recognize the Messiah. There were also four men in wheelchairs that I was able to have evangelistic conversations with and pray with. We had some encounters with atheists and some hostile individuals, some of whom we were able to pray with and some of them even took Gospel literature to read.

"For the Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Hebrews 4:12

Consignment for KwaZulu
This morning we had the joy of loading up and sending off a consignment of hundreds of Bibles and many thousands of Gospel booklets to KwaSizabantu Mission in KwaZulu Natal, over 1600 kilometers away.

"The Lord gave the Word; great was the company that published it." Psalm 68:11

]]><![CDATA[DEALING WITH DECEIT]]>Sat, 11 Apr 2026 07:20:07 GMThttps://www.frontlinemissionsa.org/articles/dealing-with-deceit

“Then I saw an angel coming down from Heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the devil and satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and he cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more…” Revelation 20:1-3

God is Truth. God’s Word is Truth. Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

“And war broke out in Heaven… that serpent of old, called the devil and satan who deceives the whole world…” Revelation 12:7

Deceiving the Nations
Satan is deceiving the nations. Education teaches you how to think. Indoctrination teaches you what to think. The ability to think critically is becoming less and less common. We are being subjected to the greatest flood of misinformation and disinformation in the history of mankind.

Misinformation
Misinformation is error, either as a result of sincere mistakes or typographical errors. Frequently trusting in unreliable sources results in misunderstanding the facts of a matter.

Disinformation
Disinformation is the intentional distortion of events or issues. Communist governments establish departments of disinformation to manufacture deceit and confuse the issues. While misinformation is unintentional, disinformation is intentional.

The Duty to Stand for the Truth
Under the Duties Required in the Ninth Commandment, the Westminster Larger Catechism lists: The Duty of preserving and promoting truth. The duty to stand for the truth and to do so from the heart. The duty to speak the truth and only the truth in matters of judgment and justice. The duty to speak the truth at all times. The duty to study and practice everything true, noble, lovely and of good report.

Enemies of Truth
Under the Sins Forbidden in the Ninth Commandment, the Westminster Standards includes: The sin of giving false evidence. The sin of lying. The sin of concealing the truth. The sin of misconstruing intentions. The sin of exaggerating minor faults. The sin of perverting the truth to a wrong meaning.

World Opinion
The Scripture teaches us that satan is deceiving the nations. If we find ourselves in full agreement with the United Nations, we need to stop and carefully consider where we have been deceived. Global warming! Sexism! Racism! Black Economic Empowerment. Affirmative Action. Alternative Lifestyles. Evolution. Atheism. Socialism. If you agree with the world on these issues then satan has deceived you.

Pervasive Propaganda
Propaganda, the calculated manipulation of public opinion to serve political and ideological interests is pervasive. Propaganda aims to do other peoples thinking for them. Propaganda today has moved into Prop-Agenda, not only controlling what we think, but how we think, and what we think about.

Privileges for Pervert
If you don’t support gay rights (privileges for perverts), then you are a homophobic, narrow-minded, hateful bigot!

Repeat this Mantra
Islam is a peaceful and tolerant religion! If you dare to suggest that Islam is violent and intolerant then you are a mean, intolerant, Islamaphobe! (and you may receive death threats or worse.)

Science Fiction
If you don’t accept the politically correct fairy tale for grown ups: Evolution, then you are unscientific. A whole lot of time and a whole lot of nothing made everything. From goo, to the Zoo, to you. From mud, to monkeys, to man. If you demand evidence of these unproven assertions, or advocate Intelligent Design, then you are an ignorant, unscientific fool and you are too dangerous to allow as a teacher or lecturer in government schools and colleges.

Pro-Abortion Propaganda
If you oppose abortion, then you are against women’s rights! If you insist on calling it the killing of a baby, we will try to have you prosecuted for hate speech. It is a Product of Conception (POC) and we need to refer to Termination of Pregnancy (TOP) not aborting the baby! If you insist on equal rights for unborn babies, then you are anti-choice and should expect to never be promoted or appointed to any senior position in a government hospital.

Revolutionary Truth
In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.

Politically Correct Euphemisms
Secular humanist indoctrination requires that you use the politically correct euphemisms: Racial discrimination is now called Black Economic Empowerment and Affirmative Action. Sexual perversion is to be called Alternative Lifestyles. Looting of farms and murder of farmers is to be called Land Reform. Killing of babies is to be called Removal of the Product of Conception or Termination of Pregnancy. Killing old or sick people is to be called Euthanasia. Censorship is to be called the Information Bill.

Newspeak
George Orwell in his book 1984, described it as: Newspeak and Thought Control.

The Manufacture of Consent
As American journalist Walter Lippmann wrote: The art of democracy required the manufacture of consent.

Rewriting History
Karl Marx declared: The first battlefield is the rewriting of history.

Propaganda and Agitation
Vladimir Lenin, in his book: What Is To Be Done, required the Communist Party to use propaganda to indoctrinate the educated and intelligent masses, and agitation – the use of slogans, stories and selected half-truths to exploit the grievances of the uneducated and ignorant masses.

Justifying Deceit
Every unit in the Communist Party is to have an Agit-Prop section. As Vladimir Lenin taught: Deceit in propaganda is justified, because the end justifies the means. As Vladimir Lenin famously noted: Treaties are like pie crusts, made to be broken. To tell the truth is a petty bourgeois habit, but to lie and to lie convincingly is a sign of superior intelligence.

Regimenting the Public Mind
As Walter Lippmann wrote in Public Opinion: The simple minded and sheep-like people need to be led by a specialised class of enlightened elites. The goal is: the making of one general will out of multitude of general wishes. As Edward Bernays of the Committee of Public Information (CPI) declared: The public must be regimented.

A Bodyguard of Lies
Sir Winston Churchill, the British Prime Minister during World War II declared: In war time, truth is so precious, that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.

Manipulation of Minds
George Creel, who coordinated the Committee on Public Information in the United States, defined their goals as: To manipulate attitudes, beliefs and actions.

Daily Deception
On almost any given day you will be confronted with deception. Certainly through the news media and the entertainment industry. Deceit is their stock and trade. As has been observed, you can always tell when a politician is lying, his lips move. An even when he dies, he lies still.

Identifying Propaganda
There are numerous tell tail signs that you can look for to identify deception in propaganda. Propaganda can be subtle, but it is aimed at your emotions. Oversimplification, emotionalization and sentimentality are all dead giveaways of deceit. Propagandists tend to reuse short, catchy slogans to communicate their agenda. Its repetivity begins to sound something like a mantra.

Alternative Opinions Forbidden
When you come across forcefulness and authoritarian implied condemnation of any alternative viewpoint then you are ensured that you are dealing with indoctrination, not education.

Ignoring the Wider Context
Propaganda commonly ignores the historical context, uses selective stories and a narrow source of experts, those who tow the party line. Propaganda demonises the enemy and uses such a narrow focus that you could describe it as using the zoom lens rather than the wide-angle lens of context.

One-Sided Generalisations
The always, or never type of extremism also frequently rears its head in propaganda. There is only one side of the story when it comes to classic propaganda.

Stampeding the Herd
Propaganda often intimidates readers, listeners or viewers into joining the herd by using prejudicial and harsh labels for anyone who disagrees with the party line. This stampede into rubber stamping the prescribed agenda is a hallmark of all propaganda: All right thinking people agree! No one in their right mind would deny! Scientists have confirmed! Those who care for the poor agree… All freedom loving people want to see…

Criminalising Dissent
Lies, omissions and distortions are a hallmark of propaganda. There are frequently logical fallacies and inconsistencies if one looks for them. When laws need to be passed criminalizing those who disagree with any given piece of indoctrination, then you know that it must be a lie. The truth does not need to bully people into chanting a mantra of agreement.

Animal Farm
George Orwell’s books: 1984 and Animal Farm, are most insightful in exposing the inconsistencies and falsehood inherent in propaganda. In Animal Farm, the chant of the faithful sheep: Four legs good! Two legs bad! The rewriting of the laws of their revolution on the barn wall:
All animals are equal, later becomes: All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.
To: No animal shall kill another animal, is later added without cause.
The: No animals shall sleep in a bed, is later changed to No Animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets.
The pigs who represent the Communist Party officials, violate and change every rule of their own Revolution. George Orwell didn’t dream all this up, he merely was using a parable to communicate exactly what had happened in the Soviet Union.

Hypocrites
Those who claim to stand for freedom became the most oppressive regime in history. Those who claimed to want to uplift the poor, actually oppressed the poor worse than any other state in history. Those who claimed to champion world peace, caused more war, more bloodshed and more massacres of civilians than any other movement in history. Though they talk of freedom, they themselves are slaves of corruption (2 Peter 2:19).

Thought Crimes
In 1984, George Orwell wrote of Thought Crimes. Today one is getting to the stage where if you disagree with, for example, perversion, you can be accused of a hate crime!

Deceptive Language
Jargon is also used to obscure the truth. Civilian casualties are referred to as: collateral damage. Murder is frequently: liquidation. Terror bombing of cities is called: Saturation Bombing or Strategic Bombing Campaign. Starvation of civilian populations is called: an economic blockade, or sanctions.

Labels
Scientology speak about those people who have gone through their programmes as: clear. Those who have not are labelled: toxic!

Foolishness
Frequently we are encouraged: If it feels good, do it!, or to follow your heart!
Yet the Book of Proverbs warns us that those who trust in their own heart are fools!

True Freedom
It is absolutely essential that we know the truth of history to recognise the lies of propaganda and indoctrination. We need to study God’s Word in the Bible so that we can be freed from the deceptions of the world, the flesh and the devil.

Jesus Christ said: “You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:32

]]><![CDATA[CONVERSION to CHRIST and CALL to MISSIONS]]>Thu, 02 Apr 2026 22:00:00 GMThttps://www.frontlinemissionsa.org/articles/conversion-to-christ-and-call-to-missions

3 April 1977, I was converted to Christ.

It happened at the Ster Kinekor cinema in Pinelands...

My family had moved from Rhodesia to Cape Town. We were living in Pinelands, just a few kilometres from where I had been born. It was Sunday evening, 3rd April 1977, when I walked over to the local cinema, with little realisation of how dramatically that would change my life forever.

Ambushed by the Gospel
At that time, commercial activity on Sunday was prohibited in South Africa by law. No cinemas were open, in honour of the Lord’s Day. The local Baptist Church had hired out the cinema for an Evangelistic rally. The guest preacher, Rev. Rex Matthie, preached a powerful message on what Christ had suffered for us: “Jesus died for you. What have you ever done for Him?”

Conviction
I sat stunned and ashamed. I had never done anything for God. My family was quite secular. We never attended church services, not even on Christmas days. Sunday school had never been part of my life. We did not even pray before meals. Like my father, I described myself as an “agnostic.”

Contrition
Now, all of the arguments I had picked up over the years against God and Christianity seemed awfully puny as I bowed before the Creator of the universe. I could not question the existence of God. His presence was overwhelming. I had nothing that I could say in my defense. I realised that I was lost. If I had died that night, I knew that I would go into an eternity separated from God, in hell. I was a selfish, self-centred, ungrateful creature. I had never even so much as thanked God for the life He had given me, or for His many evidences of grace in me and my families, life.

Grace
My mother had told me that there had been complications before I was born. My mother, who was a nurse, had made use of thalidomide tablets, which were prevalent in 1959, to counter-act morning sickness and nausea. Children born to those who had used thalidomide were born horribly deformed, frequently without arms, or legs. My mother had been advised to have an abortion. Even though abortions were illegal in South Africa at that time, because of the revulsion and hysteria of many over the severe deformities suffered by those affected by thalidomide, abortions were not only being allowed in these cases, but encouraged. My mother told me how she just could not bring herself to consider it and called for a hospital chaplain to pray for her baby. Although we were not a praying family, this story had made quite an impact on me and I realised that there was a Higher Power who had smiled upon us and spared my life before I had even taken my first breath. Rex Mathie declared: “If God has preserved your life thus far, it is for a reason!”

Mercy
As I sat in that cinema hearing the Word of God, a whole lot of other incidents came to my memory. I remembered when I was just 5 years old, I had been run over by a car, just in front of our home. My mother ran out, lifted up the car and pulled me out from under it! I was rushed to the hospital, where the doctor was amazed. Although plainly one of the tyres had gone right across my chest (the tyre tracks were clearly visible on my clothes) there was no injury. I remember the doctor declaring: “God must have been looking after him!”

God
This was my first conscious recollection of the concept of God. The picture that I had in my mind was of one of the Colstream Guards standing outside Buckingham Palace in London. He had a long white beard but was dressed immaculately in a red soldier’s uniform with a tall bearskin hat on his head and a rifle, with bayonet fixed, in his hands. The similarity of the two words guard and God, made me think of God as a soldier. He was plainly up in the clouds and had excellent vision because He could see me all the way down in Southern Africa. Somehow He had been able to intervene to save my life. That was my first concept of God. The preacher said: “if God has preserved your life thus far, it is for a reason.” I wondered what that reason could be.

Bombardments
All the life threatening experiences that my parents had related to me came flooding back into my memory as well. What if God had not protected my mother and father when they were enduring the mass aerial bombardments of the Second World War? Both my mother and father had experienced people being blown up to the left and right of them and, yet, they had not been harmed. For what purpose had God preserved their lives?

More Lives Than a Cat!
There were also many incidents that my parents had mentioned of how “lucky” I had been: when I had fallen deathly ill with a contagious disease on board HMS Pendennis Castle sailing between England and South Africa, the ship had wanted to put me off at the Canary Islands. Again, my secular parents had asked for prayer from a minister on board the ship and I had been healed. My mother also mentioned when, as an adventurous little boy, I had tried to cross a waterfall and was washed over! My mother had said that it was incredible that I had not been killed, or crippled in that and in so many other incidents. Several times my mother said to me: “You have more lives than a cat!”

Why?
Why had God preserved my life when I had not even acknowledged Him? I had not even prayed to God before that night. I had never even thanked Him for all of these incidents, which my parents had reminded me of through the years. In that cinema, on 3 April 1977, I felt myself standing before the Throne of Almighty God, guilty of disobeying His Law, justly deserving to be condemned to an eternity in hell. I was overwhelmed with a sense of my unworthiness and wickedness.

Commitment
There was no way that I could possible deserve God’s love, but I felt this absolutely overwhelming compulsion to stand up and go forward and make a public commitment of my life to Christ. The very least I could do was to thank God for all that He had done in Christ for me.

Conversion
They were singing “Just as I am without one plea but that Thy Blood was shed for me” as I walked down the aisle and bowed in prayer at the front of that cinema in Pinelands. One of the church deacons, Bill Parker, counselled me, explained the implications of what I was doing and led me in prayer. It was the most exhilarating experience. There could be no doubt whatsoever. God was reaching down and putting life within me. I had been deaf, dumb, blind and dead in my trespasses and sins. For the very first time my (spiritual) eyes were being opened. For the first time I could consciously sense the presence of God. In fact, I was absolutely overwhelmed with a sense of the presence of God, His love and His mercy. I trembled before His holiness and power, even as I revelled in the joy of knowing that my sins were forgiven. I was a new creature in Christ!

Joy
I wanted to jump and leap and shout and proclaim what God had done. This was a completely new experience for me. With a German mother and an English father, we Anglo-Saxon’s do not particularly go much into expressing emotion about anything. My upbringing had very much been in the restrained, “cool, calm and collected” British tradition. But, as I walked and skipped on my way home from the cinema that night, all kinds of emotions were bubbling within me. I could not restrain it.

Called
I was absolutely overwhelmed with the conviction that God had called me to a lifetime of service as a missionary! But what did I know about missions? The only missionary that I had ever heard about was David Livingstone and that was from the history books. Of course, I had sometimes heard reports about missionaries being killed by Communist terrorists in the war in Rhodesia. I had wondered why anyone would do anything so stupid as to go into a war zone and present themselves as targets for blood-thirsty Marxist guerrillas. But now, on the night of my conversion, I was absolutely convinced that God was commanding me to go and to proclaim His Gospel and to be dedicated for the rest of my life to serving and extending His Kingdom.

Coming Home
What was I to say at home? I could not wait to tell my parents what God had done for me. However, as I opened the door, I saw that someone had beaten me to it. A friend of the family, who had also been at the rally, had rushed over to inform my incredulous parents that their son had gone forward at one of these “Billy Graham things!” Jeers and scorns greeted me.

Confrontation
“So, you have become a born again Baptist like Jimmy Carter!” That really stung. As a patriotic Rhodesian, I despised everything that Jimmy Carter was doing in betraying our and so many other, countries into the hands of Marxist revolutionaries. To us Jimmy Carter was the epitome of a hypocrite and a traitor. Shamefully I lashed back with razor sharp tongue defending my conversion and disassociating from everything that Jimmy Carter stood for. Like my parents, I was an argumentative type and rose to the challenge with characteristic verbal aggression.

Repentance
Later that night, as I bowed in prayer at the side of my bed for the first time in my life, I was ashamed that the very first witness I had given to my parents had been to dishonour them and argue. How would I ever be able to be a Christian? I despaired at the sinful desire to justify myself rising so quickly out of the heart of one who had, at that very hour, given his life to Christ. What kind of poor excuse for a Christian could I ever hope to be?

Christian Union
The next day at Pinelands High School, Mark Liprini, one of the boys from Pinelands Baptist Church who had been at the rally, came over and introduced himself to me. He told me of the Christian Union that met during break time. It was tremendous to join in singing songs of praises to the Lord with others who loved Jesus. I had no idea that there were so many Christians at school.

Introduction to Sunday Worship
The next Sunday was Easter Sunday. The Liprini family from the church came and collected me for morning worship. I am so glad they did. I was dreading having to go to church for the first time. I do not think people brought up in church-going families realise how intimidating it is for a secular person to enter a church building! No more would we think of going into an exclusive club, where we were not members, than to walk, on our own, into a church building. It was so very helpful and thoughtful of the Liprini family to have driven over to my home and taken me to Pinelands Baptist for the first time.

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Experiencing the Reality of Hymns in Worship
That first Sunday morning service was absolutely tremendous. I was astounded that I knew the hymns. We had sung these very same hymns in school assemblies in Rhodesia. Yet, now, for the first time, I was understanding what I was singing! I marvelled that for so many years I had sung hymns that had been insensible to me. Yet now they were coming alive and I was no longer singing a hymn, but worshiping God in thanksgiving for the reality of what He was doing in my own experience!

Communist Idolatry in Moscow
The guest speaker, Rev. Rex Mathie, proclaimed the Resurrection of Christ. He described in great detail how on Easter Sunday, in Moscow, in the Soviet Union, long lines of Communists file past the corpse of Vladimir Lenin, to see their god. He is dead. In fact, a full time taxidermist was employed by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union to maintain the illusion of life-likeness for the decaying corpse of Lenin. Very little of his original body remains. Mostly the worshiping Communists are only seeing plaster of paris repairs for the ears, nose, etc. which had already fallen off. There was absolutely no doubt that Lenin is dead.

Christ is Risen
However, on the other side of Red Square, in Moscow, St. Basil’s Orthodox Church has a ritual each Easter Sunday. The congregation walks around the church exclaiming: “Where is He? He is not here. Where is He? He is not here.” Then the minister exclaims: “HE IS RISEN!” And then the entire congregation resounds in response: “HE IS RISEN INDEED!” What a contrast between the dead ideology of communism and the Resurrection power of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ!

We Serve a Risen Saviour
When we sung that hymn: “We serve a Risen Saviour…” it felt as if my heart would burst with joy and excitement for this tremendous truth of the Gospel.

No Turning Back
Another hymn that I sung at that time continued to resound within my heart and mind: “I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back! Praise the Lord! No turning back!”

Saved to Serve
My pastor, Rev. Doc Watson, later testified that from the beginning I harassed him for more teaching and for more opportunities to serve the Lord. Within 2 months, I was working on a Scripture Union team for a holiday mission in Somerset West. During that outreach I gave my first message, A Missionary Challenge, at the local Presbyterian Church in the evening service.

Literature Ministry, Youth Work and Evangelism
Within the year, I was a Sunday school teacher and a youth leader and administering the book table at Pinelands Baptist. I devoured Christian literature, attended every meeting and training course possible, whether on evangelism, counselling, holiness, or missions. Door-to-door evangelism, placing the Gospel of John in every home in Pinelands, tract distribution in the streets and at railway stations, ministering in old ages homes and other Christian service filled my days. One prayer I prayed over and over was the words of that chorus: “Break me, melt me, mould me, fill me, Spirit of the Living God fall afresh on me.”

An Adventure of Discipleship
That was the beginning of this incredible adventure of discipleship which has taken me across 4 continents, over 140 missions behind enemy lines, smuggling Bibles to persecuted Christians, serving the suffering in communist and Muslim lands. Whether under fire, or in prison, sick, or healthy, I have experienced the reality of Gods mercy, guidance, provision and protection. The will of God will never lead you where the grace of God cannot keep you.

“And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the Word through the accompanying signs. Amen.” Mark 16:20

]]><![CDATA[The Real Jesus of History]]>Mon, 30 Mar 2026 11:17:01 GMThttps://www.frontlinemissionsa.org/articles/the-real-jesus-of-history

The Real Jesus of History and The Verdict of Sceptics
By Dr. Peter Hammond

Responding to Skeptics
During an intensive conversation in a doctor's waiting room, I was told: “All religions are the same! They all teach the same thing and they are all fraudulent!”

I conceded that there may be some fraudulent religions and some individuals who are conmen and fraudsters, But remember that nobody counterfeits what is worthless.

Nobody is attempting to counterfeit Zimbabwe dollars!

The existence of the false does not disprove the true and the real. No one can point out anything fraudulent or false about the Lord Jesus Christ.

And it is false to suggest that all religions teach the same thing.

The life and legacy of Jesus Christ is absolutely unique.

Look at what He did: Jesus Christ healed the sick, He cleansed the lepers, He made the lame to walk, He enabled the blind to see, the mute to talk, the deaf to hear, he even raised the dead to life again! He multiplied food and fed the starving. He could still a storm with just a word!

Consider what He taught: To love your neighbor as yourself, to care for those in need, to feed the starving, to clothe the naked, to care for the sick and to visit those in prison, to do unto others as you want them to do to you, to even love your enemies.

Consider how He lived: simply, unselfishly, in service to others, sacrificially. Consider how He died, Courageously, praying not my will but Thine be done! Even praying for God the Father to forgive His enemies for what they were doing to Him!

Consider how He rose from the dead and conquered death, hell and the grave! There is an empty tomb in Jerusalem! Christ is Risen!

His life changed all of history and His teachings transformed civilization: inspiring compassion for strangers, the establishment of hospitals, Charities, orphanages, schools and universities.
He transformed time itself, becoming the hinge of history, turning the river of the ages into BC before Christ and AD anno domini in the year of our Lord.

The whole world determines dates in relation to the coming of Jesus Christ, the greatest Man who ever lived.

Character Witnesses
Today, let us call forward some character witnesses to testify of Jesus. Of course, we could call forth millions of Christians throughout the ages who would eagerly testify to the incomparable goodness and greatness of our Lord and Saviour. However, we will call forward only skeptics, many of them enemies of Christ.

Hostile Witnesses for Jesus
Thomas Paine, who was an outspoken opponent of Christianity, still admitted in writing: "Jesus Christ was a virtuous and amiable man. For the morality that He preached and practiced was of the most benevolent kind; and while those similar systems of morality had been preached by Confucius, and by some of the Greek philosophers, many years before; by the Quakers since, and by many good men of all ages, it has not been exceeded by any."

The Christ
The first century Jewish historian, Josephus Ben Mattathias, the author of The Antiquities of the Jews, wrote: "Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call Him a man, for He was a doer of wonderful works, a Teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to Him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles. He was the Christ and when Pilate at the suggestion of the principal men among us, had condemned Him to the Cross, those who loved Him at the first, did not forsake Him; for He appeared to them alive again the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand wonderful things concerning Him. And the tribe of Christians, so named from Him, are not extinct to this day." (Antiquities XVIII, 33)

The Greatest Example and Inspiration
William H. Lecky was one of the leading historians of the 19th century and the author of The History of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of Rationalism in Europe. Lecky spent his life advancing the cause of Rationalism, attacking Christianity and the supernatural. Yet, he admitted: "It was reserved for Christianity to present to the world an ideal character, which through all the changes of 18 centuries has inspired the hearts of men with an impassioned love, has shown itself capable of acting on all ages, nations, temperaments, and conditions, and has been not only the highest pattern of virtue, but also the strongest incentive to its practice, and has exercised so deep an influence that it may truly be said that the simple record of three short years of active life has done more to regenerate and soften mankind than all of the dispositions of philosophers and exhortations of moralists."

Pre-Eminent
John Stewart Mill was perhaps the most influential and respected economist of the 18th century. He often spoke out against Christianity, yet he had to acknowledge: "Christ is still left - a unique figure, not more unlike all of His percusses than all his followers. Even those who had the direct benefit of His personal teaching. It is of no use to say that Christ, as exhibited in the Gospel, is not historical in that we know not how much of what is admirable has been added by the tradition of His followers ...who among His disciples, or among their proselytes, was capable of inventing the sayings attributed to Jesus, or of imagining the life and character revealed in the Gospels? Certainly not the fisherman of Galilee. ...When this pre-eminent genius is combined with the qualities of probably the greatest moral Reformer and Martyr to that mission who has ever existed on earth, religion cannot be said to have made a bad choice in pitching on this Man as the ideal representative and guide of humanity; nor even now would it be easy, even for an unbeliever, to find a better translation of the rule of virtue from the abstract into the concrete then to endeavour to so live that Christ would approve our life."

Recognising Reality
Even as determined an enemy of Christianity as Charles Darwin who popularized the theory of evolution had to concede, in an article written for a newspaper in London: "They forget, or will not remember, those who minimize the work of missionaries in pagan countries. They forget, or will not remember, that human sacrifices and the power of an idolatrous priesthood; a system of profligacy unparalleled in another part of the world; infanticide, a consequence of that system; bloody wars where conquerors spared neither women nor children - that all of these have been abolished in these savage islands. And that dishonesty and intemperance and licentiousness have been greatly reduced by Christianity. In a voyager, to forget these things is base ingratitude. For should he chance to be at the point of shipwreck on some unknown coast, he will most devoutly pray that the lesson of the missionary may have reached thus far!"

Civilising
On another occasion, Darwin wrote: "The lesson of the missionary is the enchanter's wand. The house has been built, the windows framed, the fields ploughed and even the trees grafted by the New Zealander. The march of improvement, consequent on the introduction of Christianity throughout the seas probably stands by itself in the records of history."

Irreplaceable
Another hostile witness that could be brought to testify of the uniqueness of Christ was Darwin's bulldog, Thomas Huxley. It was Huxley who first coined the word agnostic, which is what he claimed to be. Huxley did more than any other to popularize the theories of Darwinism. Huxley was steadfastly opposed to almost every aspect of Christianity. Yet, in 1870, he wrote for The Contemporary Review: "I have always been strongly in favour of secular education, in the sense of education without theology. But, I must confess that I have been no less seriously perplexed to know by what practical measures the religious feeling, which is the essential basis of conduct, was to be kept up in the presently utterly chaotic state of opinion on these matters - without the use of the Bible. The pagan moralists lack life and colour. Take the Bible as a whole, make the severest deductions which criticisms can dictate and there still remains a vast residuum of moral beauty and grandeur. By the study of what other book could children be so much humanized and made to feel that each figure in that vast historical procession fills, like themselves, but a momentary space and interval between two eternities and earns the blessings, or curses, of all time, according to its efforts to do good and evil?"

Conceited Ignorance
When a fellow agnostic philosopher debunked the Bible, Huxley rebuked the man for putting on display his "conceited ignorance."

Indispensable
Huxley even had to go further in admitting: "The Bible has been the Magna Carta of the poor and the oppressed down to modern times. No state has had a constitution in which the interests of the people are so largely taken into account, in which the duties so much more than the privileges of rulers are insisted upon, as that drawn up for Israel. Nowhere is the fundamental truth that the welfare of the state, in the long run, depends upon the uprightness of the citizen so strongly laid down. I do not believe that the human race is yet, and possibly never will be, in a position to dispense with the Bible."

Immeasurably in Advance
Another vocal sceptic who can be called upon to testify of Christ was George Romanes. He wrote many articles against Christianity during his lifetime. Yet, in his book Thoughts on Religion, Romanes observed: "Not only is Christianity thus so immeasurably in advance of all other religions, it is no less so of every other system of thought that has ever been promulgated in regard to all that is moral and spiritual. Whether it be true or false, it is certain that neither philosophy, science, nor poetry has ever produced results in thought, conduct or beauty in any degree to be compared with it. It is the greatest exhibition of the beautiful, the sublime, and all else that appeals to our spiritual nature which has ever been known upon our earth. What has all the science, or all the philosophy of the world, done for the thought of mankind to be compared to this one Doctrine - God is Love?"

The Dominant Figure in History
H.G. Wells who wrote Outlines of History is best known for his science fiction and film making. However, by profession he was an historian. Despite being a very outspoken critic of Christianity, H.G. Wells wrote: "Jesus of Nazareth is easily the dominant figure in history. I am speaking of Him, of course, as a man. For I can see that the historian must treat Him as a man, just as the painter must paint Him as a man. To assume that He never lived and that the accounts of His life are inventions is more difficult and raises more problems in the path of the historian than to accept the essential elements of the Gospel stories as fact. Of course, you and I live in countries where to millions of men and women Jesus is more than a man. But the historian must disregard that fact. He must adhere to the evidence which would pass unchallenged if His book were to be read in every nation under the sun. Now, it is interesting and significant, isn't it, that an historian setting forth in that spirit, without any theological bias whatsoever, should find that he simply cannot portray the progress of humanity honestly without giving the foremost place to a penniless teacher from Nazareth."

Unparalleled
The final hostile witness which I would like to call to testify of Christ is the brilliant and volatile journalist and writer H.L. Mencken. Mencken dipped his pen in acid whenever it came to writing on Christianity. Mencken was the journalist who transformed the evolutionist's legal defeat in the courtroom at the Scopes trial to a victory in the court of public opinion. In his work: Treaties on the gods, Mencken declared: "This historicity of Jesus is no longer questioned seriously by anyone, whether Christian or unbeliever. The main facts about Him seem to be beyond dispute ...it is not easy to account for His singular and stupendous success. How did it come about that one who in His life had only the bitter cup of contumely to drink should have lifted Himself in death to such vast esteem and circumstance, such incomparable and world shaking power and renown? ...It seems to be certain that many persons saw Him after His supposed death on the Cross, including not a few who were violently disinclined to believe in His Resurrection. Upon that theory, the most civilized sections of the human race have erected a structure and practices so vast in scope and so powerful in effect that the whole range of history shows nothing parallel."

A Unanimous Verdict
So, here we have testimonies of some famous skeptics, some of them Christ's enemies, over almost 2000 years, including: rationalist philosophers, a Jewish historian, some famous evolutionists, a secular humanist journalist, a world renowned economist, a religious sceptic and a famous science fiction writer and Hollywood director. None of them were Christians. They all rejected Christianity. Yet, they all had to acknowledge that Jesus Christ was the greatest Person to ever walk on earth. His impact on history and the Bible's contribution to life and civilization are incomparable. The verdict of these skeptics is unanimous. This One who was born in obscurity, who lived in poverty, who died in agony, became the most important and positive influence in the history of the world. No one has influenced the world for the good more than Jesus Christ.

Condemning the Eternal Judge
The chief priests in the Sanhedrin conspired against and condemned Christ. The Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, acquitted Christ three times, declaring Him not guilty and yet he ordered Him to be whipped and crucified to appease the mob in the streets. Pilate then had the audacity to wash his hands in public declaring that he was innocent of this just man's blood.

The Day of Judgement Will Come
Today many presume to sit in judgement upon Christ. But the day will come when each one of them, and each one of us, will stand before the judgment throne of Jesus Christ to give an account of our lives to Him.

"It is appointed unto men once to die and after that the judgement." Hebrews 9:27

Jesus Will Judge You and I
The question is not so much what you think of Christ - but what does He think of you?

The question is not so much what will you do with Christ - but what will He do with you?

On the Day of Judgment will you hear: "Well done! Good and faithful servant?" Or will you hear "Depart from Me ye cursed, into the lake of fire prepared for the devil and his angels?"

"For we must all appear before the Judgement seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad." 2 Corinthians 5:10

]]><![CDATA[SHATTERED HOPES – BROKEN DREAMS]]>Mon, 23 Mar 2026 12:16:01 GMThttps://www.frontlinemissionsa.org/articles/shattered-hopes-broken-dreams

Who Cares?
Jesus Christ came into this world to reach those who feel that nobody cares. Jesus does care, and He is reaching the lonely and the desperate, the confused and the hurt, the grieving and devastated, the depressed and the disillusioned. Jesus, Himself, is reaching out to you.

“But God demonstrated His own love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ did for us.” Romans 5”8

SHATTERED HOPES – BROKEN DREAMS
by Dr. Peter Hammond

Who Cares?
Jesus Christ came into this world to reach those who feel that nobody cares. Jesus does care, and He is reaching the lonely and the desperate, the confused and the hurt, the grieving and devastated, the depressed and the disillusioned. Jesus, Himself, is reaching out to you.

“But God demonstrated His own love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ did for us.” Romans 5”8

Turn to God
Turn away from your sin and submit to Jesus: tell Him where you’re at, tell Him what you’ve done and what you need. Confess your sins to Him and listen to what He tells you.
Read God’s Word – the Bible (I suggest you start with The Gospel of Mark and Acts of the Apostles) – and give God control of your life.

One Way!
You’ve tried it your way… and it hasn’t worked. Now do it God’s way – The Jesus way – only His way works!

Follow in His steps
“For to this you were called, because Jesus also suffered for us leaving us an example, that you should follow in His steps.” 1 Peter 2:21

The Very Best
God gives the very best to those who leave the choice to Him.

Transformation
Pray to God and surrender to Him all the bad things in your life: your hurts, disappointments, fears, failures and sins. Give them to Him, and leave them with Him. Let Jesus heal you inside, and forgive you and clean you up. He will change you, and turn your sorrows into joys, your fears into peace of heart, and mind. Submit to Him and He will give you a new direction in life.

“Repent and… be baptised in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Acts 2:38

A New Start in Life and a New Life to Start!

The Great Exchange
But, you must also surrender to Him all the good things that He has given you. Your talents and your abilities, your plans and your opportunities, your energy and your time as well as your love. Give them all to Jesus and say: “No longer will I do with them just what I want to do, or what others tell me to do – from now on I’ll use them as You want me to! I’ll ask: what would Jesus do in my place? I won’t live any longer just for me, myself and I, anymore – from now on I’m going to live for JESUS, no matter what the cost to help and to love and to reach this world for Him!”

You do that and the Lord will do a miracle in your life – He’ll make you into a brand new person – a Jesus Person!

Forgiveness and Freedom
As we turn away from our sin and turn to Christ we find forgiveness and freedom.

All for Jesus
Have you surrendered your life to Christ? Pray to God, and give Him all the bad things in your life: your hurts, disappointments, fears, failures and sins. Give them to Him, and leave them with Him. Let Jesus Christ heal you inside, and forgive you and clean you. He will change you, and turn your sorrows into joys, your fears into peace of heart, and mind. Submit to Him and He will give you a new direction in life.

“Repent and…be baptised in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sin; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Acts 2:38

A New Start in Life and a New Life to Start
Jesus Christ gives us a new start in life and a new life to start. We must not only surrender to Him all our sins and failures, but all the good things that He has entrusted to us as well: your talents and your abilities, your plans and your opportunities, your energy and your time, as well as your love.

Talents, Time and Treasure
Give everything to Jesus Christ and determine:
No longer will I do with them just what I want to do, or what other people tell me to do. From now on I’m going to use my talents, time and treasure as God wants me to.
I will ask: what would Jesus do in my place?

For Christ Alone
I will no longer live just for fame and fortune, for popularity and prestige, no longer will it be just for me, myself and I, anymore. From now on I must live for Jesus Christ, no matter what the cost, to help and to love and to reach this world for Him.

His Great Commission - Our Supreme Ambition
His Great Commission will be my supreme ambition. His last command will be my first concern. My highest priority will be to love God with All my heart, soul, mind and strength and to love my neighbour as myself.

Only One Life
We only have one life – it will soon be passed; only what’s done for Christ will last.
The will of God will never lead us – where the Grace of God cannot keep us.

Where God guides – He provides
God’s servant is God’s responsibility. Where God guides – He provides. God’s work, done God’s way, will never lack God’s supply.

Seek first the Kingdom of God
Our priority must be to seek first God’s Kingdom and His righteousness, then all these things will be added unto us (Matthew 6:33). When we delight ourselves in the Lord, He gives us the desires of our heart (Psalm 37:4).

Perfect Peace
The Word of the Lord promises us: “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.” Isaiah 26:3
Do you know that peace that passes all understanding? Does the peace of Christ guide you? Is your mind steadfast? Are you trusting wholeheartedly in Christ alone?

The Lord is my helper
“For He Himself has said: ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we may boldly say: ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?’” Hebrews 13:5-6

Revive Your Devotional Life
If you want to revive your devotional life turn to the Psalms. The Psalms are the middle book of the Bible, the biggest book in the Bible, the Prayer book and Hymn book of the Bible. If you don’t know what to pray. If you don’t even want to pray – turn to the Psalms and begin to read and pray through them. There are 150 Psalms. If you pray through just one Psalm a day it will guide your prayers for 5 months. Make the Psalms the prayer of your heart and you will experience a revival in your devotional life.

No Condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus
This is God’s Word for you: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit…and we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose…who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword?…Yet, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:1, 28, 35-39

Jesus Is Alive…
Jesus Christ is a friend to the friendless, a helper to the helpless.
He gives freedom to the addicts.
He loves the unloved.
He accepts the outcasts.
He forgives the unforgivable.
He changes the unchangeable.
He accomplishes the impossible.
He saves the sinners.
He seeks the Lost.
He gives direction to the aimless.
He gives hope to the disillusioned.
He gives truth to the confused.
He gives joy to the depressed.
He gives purpose to the purposeless.
He answers prayer.
He loves YOU.

His Name is Jesus.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17

“I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU NOR FORSAKE YOU”

“Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.
Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him and He shall bring it to pass.” Psalm 37:3-5

]]><![CDATA[ARE YOU AFRAID FOR THE FUTURE?]]>Sun, 15 Mar 2026 05:29:19 GMThttps://www.frontlinemissionsa.org/articles/are-you-afraid-for-the-future

ARE YOU AFRAID FOR THE FUTURE?
By Dr. Peter Hammond

Are we as Christians doomed to defeat on earth – or are we destined for victory?
Does your understanding of the future inspire you to positive prayer and action?
Or are you being paralysed into inactivity by an eschatology of escapism?
Is your faith being strengthened by the victorious vision of the Bible?
Or have you been neutralised by a defeatist view of the end times?
Do you long to see the Church revived and faithfully “making disciples of all nations”?
Or do you long to be removed from your responsibilities here on earth?
Is the fulfillment of our Lord’s Great Commission your supreme ambition?
Or is your main obsession to be raptured from your responsibilities here on earth?

Many Christians seem to have succumbed to a negative and defeatist view of the future. Paralysed by pessimism, many passive pew warmers are praying for the rapture to rescue them out of their responsibilities. Yet, if we were to rightly divide the Word of Truth, and correctly understand the signs of the times, we would return to the fight of Faith with renewed vigor and a revitalised vision.

God is all-powerful, all knowing and everywhere present. He is sovereign over the affairs of men. History is His-story. God has not predestined defeat for His people. The ultimate victory of the Kingdom of God is inevitable. Christians are not doomed to defeat, but called to conquest.

“Ask of Me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. You will rule them with an iron sceptre; you will dash them to pieces like pottery. Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned you rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear…” Psalm 2:8-11

“All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will bow down before Him, for dominion belongs to the Lord and He rules over the nations.” Psalm 22:27-28

“In His days the righteous will flourish…He will rule from sea to sea…to the ends of the earth…His enemies will lick the dust…all kings will bow down to Him and all nations will serve Him.” Psalm 72:11

In these and so many other Psalms it is made clear that the Great Commission of our Lord Jesus Christ will be fulfilled. The ends of the earth will be His possession, the nations His inheritance. All the families of all the nations will bow down before Christ, and He will rule the nations. Because of these Scriptural prophesies we can have every confidence that the Great Commission will be fulfilled – that all kings will bow down to Christ and all nations will serve Him. We are neither working at uncertainty nor afraid of the result. God’s cause will triumph.

In that famous verse so often quoted at Christmas time: “For unto us a Child is born, to us a Son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders…of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end.” Isaiah 9:6-7

Daniel saw clearly that Jesus “was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshipped Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and His Kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.” Daniel 7:14

Even more than this, Daniel prophesied of the day when: “The sovereignty, power and greatness of the kingdoms under the whole Heaven will be handed over to the saints, the people of the Most High. His Kingdom will be an everlasting Kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey Him.” Daniel 7:27

This is confirmed throughout the prophets: “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” Habakkuk 2:14

“The Lord will be awesome to them when He destroys all the gods of the land. The nations on every shore will worship Him, everyone in its own land.” Zephaniah 2:11

“The Lord will be King over the whole earth. On that day there will be one Lord, and His Name the only Name.” Zechariah 14:9

Is there hope for the future? Absolutely. Almighty God is sovereign. He has granted us the keys of the Kingdom, what we bind on earth will be bound, what we loose will be loosed. The Gospel is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes (Romans 1:16). We are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus Who loves us (Romans 8:37). Greater is Him Who is in us than him who is in the world (1 John 4:4). We can do all things through Christ Who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13).

This is what the Great Commission calls us to: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples of all the nations…teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you…” Matthew 28:18-19

This is what it means to pray the Lord’s Prayer: “Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” Matthew 6:10

“The kingdom of this world has become the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever.” Revelation 11:15

]]><![CDATA[A BIBLICAL RESPONSE TO HALLOWEEN]]>Thu, 23 Oct 2025 22:00:00 GMThttps://www.frontlinemissionsa.org/articles/a-biblical-response-to-halloween

"Test all things; hold fast to what is good. Abstain from every form of evil." 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22

A Celebration of Evil
Halloween is a religious day, but it is not Christian. Tom Sanguinet, a former high priest in Wicca has said: "The modern holiday that we call Halloween has its origins in the full moon closest to November 1, the witches' new year. It is a time when the spirits (demons) are supposed to be at their peak power and revisiting planet earth… Halloween is purely and absolutely evil, and there is nothing we ever have, or will do, that would make it acceptable to the Lord Jesus."

Day of Death
Halloween has strong roots in paganism and witchcraft. It began as the Druid festival of Samhain. The Celts considered November 1st the day of death, because, in the Northern hemisphere, this was the beginning of winter, the leaves were falling, it was getting darker earlier, and temperatures were dropping. They believed that their sun god was losing strength and Samhain, the lord of death, was overpowering the sun god. The druids also taught that on 31 October, on the eve of the feast, Samhain assembled the spirits of all who had died during the previous year to return to their former home to visit the living.

Human and Animal Sacrifices
On Halloween, for thousands of years, druid priests have conducted diabolical worship ceremonies in which cats, horses, sheep, oxen, human beings and other offerings were rounded up, stuffed into wicca cages and burned to death. These human and animal sacrifices were apparently required to appease Samhain and keep the spirits from harming them.

Trick or Treat
To obtain these sacrifices, druid priests would go from house to house asking for fatted calves, black sheep and human beings. Those who gave were promised prosperity, and those who refused to give were threatened and cursed. This is the origin of "trick or treat."

Jack-O-Lantern
The Jack-O-Lantern has its origin in the candle-lit pumpkin or skull, which served as a signal to mark those farms and homes that supported the druids' religion, and thus were seeking the "treat" when the terror of Halloween began. The World Book Encyclopaedia says: "The apparently harmless lighted pumpkin face of the Jack-O-Lantern is an ancient symbol of a damned soul."

Dance of Death
While people and animals were screaming in agony, being burnt to death, the druids and their followers would dress in costumes made of animal skins and heads. They would dance, chant and jump through the flames in the hope of warding off evil spirits.

House of Horrors
One of the popular heroes of Halloween, Count Dracula (or Vlad the Impaler), was also a real person. Dracula lived from 1431 to 1476. During his six-year reign, Count Dracula massacred over 100,000 men, women and children in the most hideous ways. He devised a plan to rid his country of the burden of beggars, the handicapped, the sick and the aged by inviting them to a feast at one of his palaces. He fed them well and got them drunk. Then he asked them: "Do you want to be without cares, lacking nothing in the world?" When his guests yelled "Yes!" Dracula ordered the palace boarded up and set on fire. No one escaped this original "house of horror."

The Word of God

"When you come into the land, which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For all who do these things are an abomination to the Lord, and because of these abominations the Lord your God drives them out from before you. You shall be blameless before the Lord your God, for these nations which you will dispossess, listened to soothsayers and diviners; but as for you the Lord your God has not appointed such for you." Deuteronomy 18:9-14

"…teach My people the difference between the holy and the unholy, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean." Ezekiel 44:23

"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you from being priests for Me; because you have forgotten the Law of your God, I will also forget your children." Hosea 4:6

"Train up a child in the way he should go, then when he is old he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6

"That whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone was hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world because of offenses! For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes!" Matthew 18: 6-7

"Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good." Romans 12:9

"Therefore, let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the Armour of Light." Romans 13:12

"You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord's Table and of the table of demons." 1 Corinthians 10:21

"Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? What communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? For what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? …Therefore, come out from among them and be separate says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean and I will receive you." 2 Corinthians 6:14-17

"And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather expose them." Ephesians 5:11

"Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy - meditate on these things." Philippians 4:8

"Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the Faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron." 1Timothy 4:1-2

"Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you." James 4:7

"Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world." James 1:27

"Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God."

Participating in Paganism
Instead of participating in paganism, walking with Wicca, being in harmony with Halloween, having our children celebrate cruelty, and dabbling in a day of death, we should focus our family and congregation on celebrating Reformation Day.

Reformation Day vs Halloween
It was on 31 October 1517, that Dr. Martin Luther nailed the 95 Theses on the door of the Slosskirche (castle church) in Wittenberg, Germany. His bold challenge against the unBiblical practices of the medieval Roman papacy inspired the Protestant Reformation. All Bible believing churches should celebrate the greatest revival of Faith and freedom ever. The Reformation was one the most important turning points in world history. The energies that were released by the rediscovery of the Bible in the common tongue led to the most extraordinary spiritual Revival in history. The Reformation freed the Christians of Northern Europe from the decadence of Renaissance paganism and led to the greatest freedoms and scientific discoveries in history.

Every Bible believing Christian should celebrate the Reformation. No Christian should have part in celebrating the occultic Halloween.

We are in a spiritual world war. Cruelty to animals, vandalism and murders occur with far greater frequency during Halloween. Every Halloween many thousands of animals, and even people, are sacrificed in satanic rituals worldwide, while millions of other people, including well-meaning Christians, participate in Halloween celebrations. Halloween is a prime recruiting time for witches and Satanists. Many people have testified that they were introduced to the occult at a Halloween party. Halloween is very religious, but it is not Christian. "Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good." Romans 12:21

Choose Life
This 31 October, take a stand against Halloween by mobilising your family and congregation to celebrate the Reformation, and to engage in spiritual warfare, earnest prayer, praying the Psalms, and sharing the Gospel with our friends and neighbours, particularly those who may be unthinkingly participating in this occultic celebration of divination, necromancy, human sacrifice and cruelty to animals.

"Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole Armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole Armour of God, that you may be able to stand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the Breastplate of Righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace. Above all, taking the Shield of Faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the Helmet of Salvation, and the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints." Ephesians 6:10-18

Download and print the PDF article as a leaflet, The Bible and Halloween for distribution to your congregation or school.

Screen a film to your Sunday school, youth group, or congregation such as:
Halloween: Have You Been Tricked? (Suitable for children, 27 minutes).
Halloween: Trick or Treat? (Suitable for teens and older, 48 minutes).

All available from Christian Liberty Books: tel: 021-689-7478, fax: 086-551-7490
email: admin@christianlibertybooks.co.za,
website: www.christianlibertybooks.co.za.

Resources for Reformation
Our Mission has been producing books and audio-visual materials to empower churches dedicated to working for Reformation and praying for Revival. These strategic resources include: The Greatest Century of Reformation; The Greatest Century of Missions, The Power of Prayer Handbook; Reforming Our Families; Biblical Principles for Africa; Practical Discipleship; Discipleship Training Manual; Reformation FIRE Manual; Victorious Christians – Who Changed the World, War Against God, Church History Survey boxset, Church History Overview MP3, The Great Commission Course Audio and Data boxset and the Church History Manual. Many of these are also now available as E-books.

Visit www.ReformationSA.org for articles, events and resources which you can use to inspire your congregation, students, family and friends.

“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear.” 1 Peter 3:15

Dr. Peter Hammond
Frontline Fellowship
P.O. Box 74 Newlands 7725
Cape Town South Africa
Tel: 021-689-4480
Fax: 086-494-8070
Email: mission@frontline.org.za
Website: www.frontlinemissionsa.org

]]><![CDATA[Undermining Terrorism with Evangelism]]>Mon, 13 Nov 2023 13:54:06 GMThttps://www.frontlinemissionsa.org/articles/undermining-terrorism-with-evangelismYou can listen to the From the Frontline radio podcast Transforming Terrorists here: https://fromthefrontline.podbean.com/e/from-the-frontline-episode-282-transforming-terrorists/

Tracts for Terrorists
While serving in the South African Infantry, during an all-night prayer meeting, the Lord laid upon our hearts the need to evangelise our enemies. The communists were coming to us with bombs. We needed to counter-attack with Bibles. They were coming to us with hate. We need to go to them with the love of God and the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The best form of defence is attack.

David was a conqueror – he killed Goliath. Our Lord Jesus Christ is More than a Conqueror – he took Saul the persecutor of the church and turned him into the Apostle Paul the Missionary of the Church. We are called to be more than conquerors and throughout the last 40 years as a missionary to persecuted churches I've had the privilege of leading communists to Christ and counselling Muslims to the Messiah. I have had the opportunity to screen the Jesus film in communist and Muslim countries, leading enemy soldiers and terrorists to surrender their lives to Christ.

We have designed Gospel booklets and evangelistic tracts to reach revolutionaries and radicals with the message of Christ's Redemption.
“the Gospel of Christ… is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes…”Romans 1:16

In this time of terrorism, the church needs to respond with Evangelism. We want to print and distribute thousands of Gospel booklets and hundreds of audio and video evangelistic messages on solar powered audio Bibles, SD cards and flash drives. Real freedom for freedom fighters, the Gospel for guerrillas, tracts for terrorists, Redemption for revolutionaries to transform terrorists into Evangelists.

Will you help us to print the Gospel literature and purchase the SD cards, microSD cards and flash drives needed to put gripping audio and visual Gospel presentations into the hands of radicals and revolutionaries? https://www.givesendgo.com/TerrorismEvangelism

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17

To listen to Dr. Hammond's Sermon "The Strategic Weapon that can Change the World" click the link below:
https://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=1113231340125605

Written by:
Dr. Peter Hammond
peter@frontline.org.za
PO Box 74 | Newlands | 7725 | Cape Town | South Africa
Tel: +27 21 689 4480

]]><![CDATA[The Seven Year Jericho Prayer March and the fall of the Iron Curtain]]>Fri, 03 Nov 2023 13:25:07 GMThttps://www.frontlinemissionsa.org/articles/the-seven-year-jericho-prayer-march-and-the-fall-of-the-iron-curtain

The Seven Year Jericho Prayer March
Shortly after I returned from my two years National Service in the South African Infantry and had returned to Hospital Christian Fellowship, Brother Andrew (of God’s Smuggler fame) visited Hospital Christian Fellowship headquarters in Kempton Park. At the Devotions, he reported back on the success of Project Pearl smuggling a million Bibles into Red China. And he challenged us to join with Christians behind the Iron Curtain in a Seven-year Jericho Prayer March! This was not something being initiated in the West. It had already begun with the prayer meetings in Leipzig, East Germany, behind the Iron Curtain. We were challenged to a seven year prayer focus on bringing down the Iron Curtain, collapsing the Soviet Empire and opening up Eastern Europe and Russia to missionary work! To me, at the time, this sounded more than a bridge too far. I had seen the Iron Curtain. There was no doubt in my mind, at that time, that the Iron Curtain was an immovable fact of 20th Century history and it would be up until Jesus returned.

The Fall of the Iron Curtain
A speech at Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri, 5 March 1946, declared, “An Iron Curtain has descended across the continent.” From Stettin
in the North to Trieste in the South, barbed wire and barricades, walls and machine gun towers were erected, sealing off the captive nations occupied by the Soviet Union from their neighbours in the West. The Iron Curtain divided a continent and trapped hundreds of millions of people under communism. Soviet dictator, Joseph Stalin, declared that the Second World War was not a disaster but “a great opportunity” to extend communism into the very heart of Europe.

Poland Betrayed
Even Poland, for whose freedom Great Britain had ostensibly entered the war, became little more than a satellite of the Soviet Empire ruled by men chosen by Moscow. Its population was now imprisoned behind a line of barbed wire, watchtowers and minefields, a physical iron curtain.

Secret Police
To spy on its captive populations the Soviet empire set up secret police. In the Soviet Union it was the KGB, in Bulgaria it was the DS, in Czechoslovakia the StB, in Hungary the AVB, in Poland the SB, in Romania the Securitate and in East Germany it was the STASI (the Ministry of State Security). The STASI maintained a huge network of 90,000 secret police and 175,000 paid informants. They kept files on 4,000,000 East Germans, a quarter of the population.

Berlin Blockade
The Berlin Wall was manned by 15,000 guards, the so-called Volkspolizei (VOPOS). When Joseph Stalin attempted to starve West Berlin into submission by cutting off all electricity and supplies on 23 June 1948, the Western powers responded with the Berlin Airlift. The Berlin blockade was the first serious global crisis of the Cold War. West Berlin was kept alive by an airlift of over 150 aircraft, supplying an average of 5,000 tons per day. By the time the Soviets ended the blockade on 12 May 1949, over 2.5 million tons had been delivered at the cost of 60 air-crew who had died in aircraft crashes.

Korean War
There were numerous hot fronts in the Cold War, including a fullscale military war in Korea where two million died in the three-year conflict. Evidence has since surfaced that Stalin was planning to follow up the Korean attack with a military offensive in Europe. He was deterred by the quick international response in Korea.

Protests in Berlin
After the death of Joseph Stalin (5 March 1953), over 100,000 East Berlin workers protested against the Soviet occupation. Two Soviet armoured divisions were sent into East Berlin to crush the protest in June 1953. Over 100 civilians were killed and 25,000 protesters arrested.

Uprising in Hungary
In July 1956, a full-scale uprising in Hungary shook the Soviet Empire. Mass demonstrations demanded the withdrawal of Soviet troops and in Budapest, a massive statue of Stalin was toppled. Soviet troops poured into Hungary and over 20,000 Hungarians were killed in the repression. Tensof-thousands more were arrested and imprisoned. 250,000 Hungarians fled to the West.

The Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was concrete proof of the failure of “scientific socialism.” To prevent Germans in the Soviet zone from fleeing to the Western zone in Berlin, a 165 km wall was constructed to seal off West Berlin’s island of freedom from Soviet occupied communist East Germany. The Berlin Wall included 302 concrete observation posts/machine gun towers and 123 km of electric fencing.

Death Strip
A further death strip stretching 1,393 km along the border between communist East Germany and free West Germany was constructed with:
724 observation posts/machine gun towers, 1,161 km of electric fencing, 54, 000 self-firing devices and 190 km of mine fields.

Kill Zone
Just between 13 August 1961 and 30 July 1983, 73 people were killed by the communists while attempting to escape over the Berlin Wall, 182 more people were killed attempting to escape from East Germany across the border into West Germany, 60,000 people were imprisoned for “preparation, assistance or complicity”, in attempting to escape from East to West Germany (with sentences ranging from 16 months to life imprisonment). By 1989, at least 239 escapees from East Berlin were known to have been killed just at the Berlin Wall alone. Thousands died trying to flee across the Iron Curtain.

Voting With their Feet
Yet from the founding of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in 1949, more than 4,500,000 (over one quarter of the population) voted with their feet by fleeing to West Germany. 38,515 escaped from East to West Berlin by tunnels, by improvised air machines or hot air balloons, hidden inside vehicles travelling from East to West Berlin. 2,768 East German soldiers and officers on duty (including a Colonel) escaped to the West.
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cold War almost went nuclear during the Cuban missile crisis, October 1962. The vicious conflicts in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, Rhodesia, Mozambique, Angola and South West Africa were hot parts of the Cold War.

Invasion of Czechoslovakia
Those who believed that communism could be reformed from within, were shaken by the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, when Czech communist party chief, Alexander Dubcek, attempted to create “socialism with a human face.” As a result of economic reforms in Czechoslovakia, the other East European satellite states complained that their positions were being undermined by the reforms in Czechoslovakia. The Soviet response was: Leonid Brezhnev ordered a full-scale Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia to restore orthodox communism. The Prague Spring ended in August 1968 as half-a-million Warsaw Pact troops invaded Czechoslovakia and overwhelmed the courageous resistance of Czech patriots.

Détente Deception
The Soviet Empire reached its peak during the period of Détente, as they sponsored, trained and armed revolutionaries to seize power in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam in 1975, Ethiopia in 1974, Guinea Bissau, Angola and
Mozambique in 1975, Grenada and Nicaragua in 1979 and Rhodesia/ Zimbabwe in 1980. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 was a major wake up call to those in the West who still believed in Détente.

Freedom on the Offensive
As a result of this unprecedented Soviet advance, there was a backlash throughout the West, epitomised by staunch anti-communist US President, Ronald Reagan, British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, West German Chancellor, Helmut Kohl and South
Africa’s P.W. Botha. South Africa confronted and defeated the Soviets and their Cuban surrogates in Angola. The West went on the offensive, directly supporting the anti-communist Solidarity trade union movement in Poland, which soon organised nationwide strikes and protests against the Soviet occupation. The USA began to arm and support anti-communist resistance movements as far afield as in Nicaragua, Afghanistan and Angola.

Bankrupting the Soviets
Ronald Reagan’s policies forced the Soviets back onto the defensive and strategically undermined their economy. Spectacular re-armament programmes and the space based Strategic Defence Initiative (SDI) quickly left the Soviets far behind in the arms race and totally bankrupted the Soviet Union in their futile attempt to keep up with America.

The Iron Lady
British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher’s determination to fight to reclaim the Falkland Islands, after the Argentinean invasion, helped convince the Soviets that the West was not nearly so decadent and weak as they had imagined. Thatcher’s success in reviving the British economy also helped demonstrate that capitalism had a future even while communism was bankrupting the Soviet Union in Eastern Europe. The Iron Lady had this to say about the Berlin Wall: “The Berlin Wall stands as concrete proof that when people have a choice, they choose to be free. Freedom has its problems, but we’ve never needed to build walls to keep our people in!”

Defeating the Communists
Brave anti-communist resistance fighters in Mozambique, Angola, Nicaragua and Afghanistan severely bled the Soviet forces, inflicting serious defeats upon them. The Rhodesian resistance throughout the 60s and 70s had set back the advance of communism in Southern Africa and the destruction of entire Cuban-mechanised divisions in Angola by South African conventional forces in the battles on the Lomba River in 1987 and 1988, convinced the Soviet Union that they would not even be able to win a conventional war against the West.

Recognising Reality
Russian soldiers began to refer to Afghanistan as their ‘Vietnam’. As Russian casualties mounted in that conflict, the ongoing political crisis in Poland and widespread resistance to communism throughout the Soviet empire helped convince the Soviet leaders that their bankrupt system was doomed.

The Glasnost Gulag
Even under Gorbachev’s much-acclaimed Glasnost, the Soviet Gulag imprisoned millions. When US President, Ronald Reagan, stood at the Berlin Wall and challenged: “Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” the Soviet Union operated 1,976 concentration camps, 273 prisons, 85 psychiatric prisons and 41 death camps. In this Soviet Gulag, over 5,000,000 political and religious prisoners were incarcerated. Alexander Solzhenitsyn, author of The Gulag Archipelago, documented that between 1918 and 1953 (under Lenin and Stalin’s rule) over 50,000,000 Russians served long sentences in the Soviet concentration camps, with millions perishing.

The Hypocrisy of Communism
It was pointed out that while the communists claimed to have liberated Russia from the oppression of the Czars, there were 5000 times more official executions under communist rule in Russia as occurred under Czarist rule in the same time period. By comparison with Russia under Czarist rule where the highest figure of political prisoners was 183,949, the communists imprisoned seventy times as many people at any one time.
Callous Disregard for Life
Vladimir Lenin famously declared that it did not matter if three quarters of the population of Russia perished, as long as the remaining quarter were communist. Joseph Stalin
observed: “The death of one person is a tragedy; whereas the death of a million is just a statistic!”

Prayer and Protests
As candlelit prayer vigils and protests spread from Leipzig, through Dresden, to all of East Germany, the East German government was bankrupt and tottering. Gorbachev’s Soviet Union was also bankrupt and could no longer bail them out. So, Erich Honecker, the dictator of East Germany, turned to the West Germans (who in the past had always been willing to provide enough to keep East Germany going). This time, however, the West German Federal Government was not willing to bail them out. They demanded reforms.

The Fall of the Wall
While governments negotiated, the people in both East and West Berlin rose up to breach the wall and began to dismantle it physically. The leaders were overwhelmed by events. Days after the Berlin Wall collapsed, mass demonstrations broke out in Czechoslovakia. Vaclav Havel, long-time leader of the Resistance movement and prisoner of the communists, rose to power and dismantled communism in Czechoslovakia.

The Fall of the Wall
While governments negotiated, the people in both East and West Berlin rose up to breach the wall and began to dismantle it physically. The leaders were overwhelmed by events. Days after the Berlin Wall collapsed, mass demonstrations broke out in Czechoslovakia. Vaclav Havel, long-time leader of the Resistance movement and prisoner of the communists, rose to power and dismantled communism in Czechoslovakia.

The Christmas Revolution
Street fighting erupted in Romania to overthrow the brutal communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. Soon resistance spread to Bulgaria where the communists were overthrown in December 1989. In Hungary, the communist government was overthrown in October 1990. In Albania, the first free elections were held in March 1991. Yugoslavia split into different republics as each broke away from the communist control in Belgrade. Soon the Baltic
Republics, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, were demanding and achieving their independence from the Soviet Union.

The End of the Soviet Union
In August 1991, a coup in the Soviet Union was frustrated in its attempt to return the country to hard-line communism. Boldly waving the white, blue and red Russian flag, Boris Yeltsin abolished the Soviet Union and pulled down the Soviet Flag. The Cold War had formally ended.

Victory Over Communism
“There is nothing they despise more than weakness. There is nothing they respect more than strength.” The Cold War was won by a combination of Christian courage by persecuted Christians who endured decades of brutality, steadfast resistance by brave anti-communist soldiers who fought the Soviets to a standstill, persistent prayer and pressure from Christians in the West and the bold strategy of Ronald Reagan, which dismantled the Evil Empire.

“While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption…”
2 Peter 2:19

The Statue and the Stone
In Lubyanka Square, in Moscow, about 900m North East of Red Square, a huge statue of Felix Dzerzhinsky, the founder of the Cheka, which later became the NKVD and then the KGB, was erected in 1958. This statue was directly in front of the Lubyanka, the notorious Headquarters of the KGB, wherein many Christians were interrogated, tortured and murdered. In 1991, the statue of Dzerzhinsky was removed and a simple stone from the Monastery on Solovetski Island, which had been the first prototype Concentration Camp of the Soviet Union, was placed in the square where the statue of Dzerzhinsky had once stood. The symbolism of the Victory of Christ over Communism is striking.

The Lord Jesus Christ declared:
“The Stone which the builders rejected has become the chief Cornerstone. Whoever falls on that Stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.” Luke 20:17-18 (Matthew 21:44)

“But there is a God in Heaven Who reveals secrets… This great image, whose splendour was excellent, stood… a Stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces… And the Stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth… And in the days of these kings the God of Heaven will set up a Kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the Kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms and it shall stand forever.” Daniel 2:28-44

This article is adapted from a chapter in Frontline: Behind Enemy Lines for Christ https://www.christianlibertybooks.co.za/item/frontline__behind_enemy_lines_for_christ_pb

12 November is International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted. Visit www.idop-africa.org for resources to mobilize prayer and action on behalf of those suffering for Christ.

Written by:
Dr. Peter Hammond
peter@frontline.org.za
PO Box 74 | Newlands | 7725 | Cape Town | South Africa
Tel: +27 21 689 4480

]]><![CDATA[An Urgent Call for Prayer and Action Countering Terrorism with Evangelism]]>Fri, 27 Oct 2023 12:20:56 GMThttps://www.frontlinemissionsa.org/articles/an-urgent-call-for-prayer-and-action-countering-terrorism-with-evangelism

Bad Times are Good for Spiritual Work
During an all-night prayer meeting in the South African Infantry, the Lord clearly communicated a vision of responding to terrorism with Evangelism. The communists are coming to us with bombs and hate, have we ever gone to them with Bibles and the love of Christ? They are planting landmines in our roads, we need to plant Bible study and Prayer Fellowships in their countries. Marxists seek to subvert our society, we need to undermine terrorism by launching evangelistic missions across the border into their areas. The Great Commission must be our supreme ambition. The best form of defence is offence. Frontline Fellowship was born out of the Bible study and prayer meetings of 6 SAI Bn. We smuggled thousands of Bibles and tens of thousands Gospel booklets into communist Angola and Mozambique, screened the Jesus film to multitudes of Marxists. I had the privilege of preaching the Gospel to terrorists and counselling communists to Christ. Then we helped train and equip chaplains amongst the anti-Communist guerrilla forces of UNITA in Angola and RENAMO in Mozambique. We can undermine terrorism by promoting evangelism in those areas targeted by extremists. https://www.christianlibertybooks.co.za/item/frontline__behind_enemy_lines_for_christ_pb
“But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 5 : 20, 21

Exponential Church Growth in Africa
We need to rise to the Strategic and Practical challenges presented by the tremendous church growth in Africa today. Operation World informs us that there are now over 600 million people in Africa who claim to be Christians. The number of Christians in Africa is set to double by 2050 when, if present trends continue, our continent is expected to be home to 1.2 billion Christians! There is phenomenal church growth in Africa, but the challenges include that over 100 million churchgoers in Africa do not yet have a copy of the Bible, or even a New Testament. Most of the pastors and Africa have no formal Bible college training. Most pastors have no access to a library. Study Bibles are rare and some pastors do not even have a full Bible. Africa's greatest and most urgent need is Bibles and Bible teaching.: https://soundcloud.com/user-779428885/responding_to_challenges_and_two_muggings_in_10_minutes-dr_peter_hammond?in=user-779428885/sets/redeemer-broadcasting

Leadership Training
This week we heard back from our William Carey Bible Institute satellite school in North Africa where 13 Muslim background believers have joined the programme. They have found our Greatest Century of Missions an inspiring and helpful textbook and had a number of questions for me to respond to. The harvest is very large and the workers are far too few. We need to invest in far more leadership training. More textbooks need to be printed. More missionaries and lecturers need to be sent into the field. https://www.frontlinemissionsa.org/priority-projects.html

Literature4Africa
A vital part of our Africa for Christ vision is to provide Bibles for Africa. We regularly receive container shipments with tonnes of Bibles, Sunday school materials, Gospel booklets and books which we offload by hand, sort through, categorise, designate and distribute. On average we freely distribute over 100 tonnes of Bibles and books throughout Africa every year. https://www.frontlinemissionsa.org/news/quartermaster-store-for-missions-throughout-africa

Bibles in indigenous languages
Many Africans read English, French or Portuguese and we do distribute large quantities of Bibles in these languages. However, there is still a great need and demand for Bibles in indigenous African languages. These tend to be quite expensive as the print runs are much smaller than for English, French or Portuguese. We need designated support for these special projects in order to be able to purchase Bibles in indigenous African languages from the Bible Society. https://www.givesendgo.com/africanindigenousbibles

You can listen to the Responding to the Challenges that Confront Us message on From the Frontline: https://fromthefrontline.podbean.com/e/from-the-frontline-responding-to-the-challenges-that-confront-us-1694081051/
Or read the article with pictures: https://www.frontlinemissionsa.org/articles/responding-to-the-challenges-that-confront-us

Leadership Training Missions - Ministering to Prisoners, Students, Ministers and Youth
So far this year, we have had several successful missions to Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal, including conducting a Discipleship Training Course in a prison, lecturing on African Church History, Biblical Greek and Hebrew to students of Back to the Bible Mission and ministering at the Ministers Conference of over 2000 ministers and missionaries from over 60 countries and to the KwaSizabantu Mission Youth Conference to over 7000 participants. https://www.frontlinemissionsa.org/prayer--praise-updates/prison-discipleship-lecturing-on-african-church-history-during-mission-to-mpumalanga-congo-river-mission-and-youth-conference-in-kwazulu

I have also been called upon to present regular lectures to the Missions Department of the University of Orange Free State, (both for first years and 3rd years). They have adopted my book: Greatest Century of Missions as a textbook. https://www.christianlibertybooks.co.za/item/greatest_century_of_missions
Literature4Africa and the Power of the Printed Page
We have also received a number of container shipments of Bibles and books and distributed tonnes of World Missionary Press Gospel booklets, Bibles and Sunday school materials, in multiple languages, throughout the country and across the border into neighbouring Mozambique, Swaziland, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia and even further afield. Although we distribute these Bibles and books completely free, it still costs us to clear customs and transport the containers from the harbour to our mission house. https://www.frontlinemissionsa.org/donate.html

Congo for Christ
Please also pray for our missionary to the Congo, Johan. https://www.frontlinemissionsa.org/prayer--praise-updates/prayer-and-praise-update-congo-sudan-romania-mpumulanga

Spiritual Armoury and Quartermaster Store for Missions Throughout Africa
Livingstone House is like a beehive with trucks arriving and departing to deliver or collect Bibles, books and other evangelistic and discipleship materials from Literature4Africa. We regularly host seminars, services, Bible studies, prayer meetings, counselling, camps and conferences. Other missions and ministries also make use of our Bathman Memorial Upper Room multipurpose hall and Pioneers Network Recording Studio. Every week we also have a series of International radio and TV ministry opportunities. https://www.frontlinemissionsa.org/news/quartermaster-store-for-missions-throughout-africa

Strategic Network for Evangelising and Discipling Africa
Mission workers, Evangelists and Preachers are trained at our courses and seminars. Numerous Local outreaches and cross-border missions are planned and supplied from our mission-base. To continue to effectively serve persecuted churches, Evangelise in Restricted Access areas, and work comprehensively for the fulfilment of the Great Commission throughout Africa, we urgently need to increase our support. https://www.frontlinemissionsa.org/africa-christian-network.html

A Macedonian Call
We need more volunteers who are called, committed and competent for pioneer Evangelism, Bible teaching and leadership training in neglected and restricted areas. https://www.frontlinemissionsa.org/news/making-disciples-of-all-nations-great-commission-course-2023

Times of Crisis are also Opportunities
The needs are desperate and urgent. Bad times are good for spiritual work. The opportunities are great. We have far more invitations and opportunities for strategic Christian service than we have people and resources to respond with. But we have decades of experience, great books and Gospel materials and a tremendous network throughout the continent. However, in the present economically depressed situation, with so many people out of work and suffering the inevitable consequences of the economic suicide of the Lockdown Lunacy Covid Cult, and massive increases in the costs of fuel and electricity, many important printing projects, outreaches, invitations and priorities are being delayed and, in some cases, cancelled, just for lack of funds. Precious opportunities and valuable momentum is lost when there is insufficient support. https://www.frontlinemissionsa.org/news/thanksgiving-for-40-years-of-gods-grace-and-guidance-provision-and-protection

We Can All Do So Much More
As a Faith Mission which depends upon God to provide all our needs through the free will giving of His people, we need our friends who believe in this mission to partner with us in regular prayer and practically, as God leads. We are involved in a world war of worldviews. It is intense Spiritual warfare. https://www.frontlinemissionsa.org/news/rapidly-escalating-conflict-erupts-in-sudan

The Battle for the Soul of Africa
There is a battle for the soul of the continent of Africa. Operation World informs us that Statistically Africa is the continent with the fastest-growing church and Africa will soon be the continent with the most Christians on earth. However, of the over 600 million churchgoers in Africa today, over 150 million do not yet have a Bible or even a New Testament. Bibles and Bible teaching are the greatest needs for the fast-growing church in Africa today. https://vimeo.com/437081457

The Threats that Confront Us
We are confronting communism, radical Islam, secular humanism and witchcraft. It is a life and death struggle. We are working in a cutting-edge ministry against all odds in a very dangerous and difficult environment, making disciples of nations, teaching obedience to all things that the Lord has commanded. https://vimeo.com/111096179

The Great Commission is our Supreme Ambition
We have a track record of over four decades of sacrificial service in some of the most dangerous mission fields in Africa. God has provided for and protected us through so many trials, tribulations and snares. We have come through fire and flood and God has delivered us from prison and pestilence. We have seen closed countries opened, captive nations go free and whole nations transformed by the power of the Word of God, in answer to prayer. Will you please continue to stand with us and prayerfully support us as we seek to rise to the new challenges and faithfully serve God and His people throughout Africa during difficult times? Africa for Christ! https://www.frontlinemissionsa.org/donate.html

The Need of the Hour
Our mission and the people we serve urgently need your prayers and support. Thank you for your steadfast prayers and faithful support over so many years. We need and appreciate you as an essential part of this Mission. https://www.frontlinemissionsa.org/
You can listen to the From the Frontline podcast on Living by Faith, here: https://fromthefrontline.podbean.com/e/from-the-frontline-episode-268-living-by-faith/

Writen by:
Dr. Peter Hammond
peter@frontline.org.za
PO Box 74 | Newlands | 7725 | Cape Town | South Africa
Tel: +27 21 689 4480

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