We’ve been busily writing and preparing new content. When some sigh at the word “doctrine”, other’s attention perk up. We’ve been working on a doctrinal series, presented both as live-streamed sermons, as well as later edited in HD our studio. Explaining what we believe and why is important. Heartfelt testimony matters. Faith and hope matter. Rationale and insight matter. Good exegesis and apologetics are essential for those Spirit-led in those areas.
We also see the need for shorter, creatively produced video posts. The YouTube universe is growing, not only as a source of entertainment but also providing educational and thought-provoking content. While there is plenty of Christian content being uploaded daily, I believe we are positioned uniquely with decades of experience, close to 700 gospel films, and a heart for what Jesus is preparing throughout the world. What starts out with the pen, then streams via video, ends up in the heart. That’s our prayer!
A small piece of broken bread, a sip of the fruit of the vine, and with towel over the arm, a heart closely examined, and a face stained with tears of repentance, let’s again commemorate, celebrate and proclaim covenant with the Lord Jesus Christ. (This is a video post.)
Another devastating fire season has come and gone in Australia, leaving in its path thousands of hectares of burnt out landscape, houses turned to ash, 129 deaths, massive loss of livestock and innumerable endemic animals gone. The very faint wisp of smoke on a 45 Celsius degree day is enough to send panicked phone calls to emergency services.
Vast tracts of farm land still smoulder. Bush land is eerily blackened. For a few weeks, the Eyre Highway was closed, isolating Western Australia from its usual conveyance of trucks laden with essential supplies. Caravans (RVs), trucks and cars were stranded in hot conditions near the Nullarbor Plain, prevented from driving because of the relentless thick smoke.
International news media beamed images around the world of the unfolding tragedy. The United States generously sent teams of skilled firefighters to help, and loaned large water bomber aircraft, only to sadly lose one fire-fighting aircraft and their dedicated pilots in the thick smoke near the Blue Mountains in New South Wales.
As the fires abate, the recovery process is now underway. Insurance assessors are hard at work responding to claims. Convoys of semi-trailer trucks are carting hay to fodder-starved farms half way across the country. Stunned residents are slowly trying to recover their lives, searching for mementos among the charcoal ruins of what was once their home.
Yet, through all this, there have been amazing moments. State Emergency Services personnel, the Fire services, the Police and other emergency services, worked tirelessly in exhausting conditions. Charities collected and distributed funds to the needy. There were notable people who rescued and cared for traumatised animals. In some cases, smaller animals survived the heat by hiding in wombat caves, dug deep into the ground. And, in a few reported cases where farmers prayed, houses were miraculously spared as the firestorm swept by, leaving a blackened, smouldering landscape.
In some parts of Australia, smoke haze still lingers, a reminder that this great dry southern continent has a history of boom and bust, fire and flood, life and death.
Throughout all this, the media, more equipped than ever before, shared a narrative that these fires were essentially caused by a lack of assertive action towards solving the “climate change” issue. The unfolding tragedy of loss and death became thus somewhat politicalised as leftist political parties attributed generous blame against more conservative voices. Notably, also, those same sources of dissent didn’t refer to the records that reveal 186 people over the past year throughout Australia where formally charged with arson-related offences.
Historically, however, this year’s fires were in some ways comparable to those fires that have been recorded since the 1800s. Records show that, to varying degrees, there has been even greater loss of life, land and property in previous seasons.
Sometimes, with such catastrophic events, we also hear a narrative that’s likened to the “end of the world”. And, for some emotionally and physically, it is. The death of a young fire brigade volunteer, whose young wife and baby are left behind, grieving. The loss of 5000 sheep was too much for one farmer and his wife. Or, an entire enterprise turned to nothing more than uninsured ashes.
In an earlier Australia that had a distinct Christian ethos, the suffering and traumatised could somehow see their vulnerability within the context of a greater transcendent reality. God would provide. God would comfort. God would restore – according to His riches. God allows these things to happen. God is with us, no matter what.
Today, we’ve evolved into a different generation whose values have changed. We’ve become a secularised country that possesses an unspoken public disdain, almost a hatred, of anything that reflects Jesus’ name. God is no longer in the nation’s psyche. Politics, education and media now speak in unison with a nuanced, “politically-correct” voice. And as a result, our way of dealing with disaster has also changed. Funding for mental health services has increased, in many cases to meet the significant rise in suicide and post-traumatic stress. No longer do we pray; in fact, when our Christian prime minister offered “thoughts and prayers” for those dispossessed by the fires, he was immediately ridiculed and taunted by a leftist media.
Another fire season has passed. Next year there’ll almost certainly be another season of flood, hail, fire or drought. There’ll be those who pray, and those who don’t. There’ll be lives lost and lessons learned. Will there also be a similar “climate change urgency” narrative, we may ask, next year?
As followers of Jesus Christ, amidst the precedent of Biblical narrative, we can wonder what does it take for a nation’s heart to turn back to God? Prosperity and material abundance (blessing) have certainly moved us further away from faith. Would a losing of all we take for granted somehow speak deeper into our pain, and cause us to seek those transcendent values our forebears held onto? It’s an interesting question as we spare a thought for those who have suffered and braved so much.
When we say that over two decades we’ve produced some 678 gospel videos, the first curious question is where are they all hosted? Our old website unfortunately has hundreds of broken links, because in the years prior to YouTube, our WMV and RM files were often hosted on users’ ISP server space. Many of those accounts have been closed, and very few people watch video content nowadays in Windows Media or Real Player formats.
There’s another reason why we’re not actively promoting those early videos, and it’s what we all recognise as the “cringe factor”. The enthusiasm of those early years certainly shows, but as any disciple knows in their formative years, theirs was a work in progress. I recall eagerly submitting some video content to a television station in the early nineties, and their polite response was that it probably wouldn’t translate well into television. I now understand why! While our old website is still partially functional (with lots of broken links), as time permits we’re currently working to revive a selected few of our older videos. These videos are reprocessed into HTML5 format, and are now hosted on our archive page. In 2016 we rebuilt our website into the current responsive design in order to accommodate increasing smartphone usage.
Keep an eye out on our archive page. You might just find something that takes us all down memory lane.
We’re always pleasantly gladdened to hear the affirming responses from our viewers. The reason being is that the universal and timeless nature of the gospel resonates with those who have received and believed in Jesus Christ. This transformational experience results in a seeing and hearing that transcends our physical human limitations. The gospel is indeed good news. It’s the best news we could ever hear. Indeed, it is LIFE. Whether someone lives on an isolated farm, or in a city apartment block, or whether they’re just around the corner or somewhere far away on another continent speaking another language, the universal nature of the gospel of Jesus Christ has a powerful and reassuring meaning.
In this day and age, the multimedia connectivity we share via cable, satellite or wireless enables almost everyone to experience and benefit from our online work of sharing the gospel via video. I was in central Asia last month, where the availability of the smartphone was evident everywhere. The same is true for much of Africa, where more daily transactions are simply done with the convenience of a smartphone. This doesn’t mean that connectivity is as good as it could be all the time, but it does generally mean greater collaboration and communication. Learning is possible in places it never was previously.
Our video content is in English, with just a few clips translated into Spanish. How we would love to now increase our reach with a team of translators. I recently wrote a pastoral letter in English which within a few days was manually translated into French, Spanish, Portuguese and Swahili. If only we could do the same with our film work.
Perhaps the next miracle, beyond the AI of translation algorithms, is the simultaneous translation of an audio track into the viewer’s native language. This was the miracle on the Day of Pentecost some 2000 years ago. The gospel proclaimed in Aramaic was heard in Greek, Latin, Arabic, Parthian, Hebrew and perhaps a host of other languages. The linguistic limitations placed on humanity at Babel was reversed at Pentecost. And, as the Kingdom of God grows, the visual nature of our mission work will only increase in importance, linguistic diversity and scope.
Thanking God for His providence over many decades, slowly heading along the path Christ is leading. As a result, and I trust that this is true for most of us sojourners, the desired outcome is that we all have a testimony – our own unique story of joy and sadness, struggle and gain, even temptation and courage! What’s your story? Do you have one?
We’ve been telling the same story by video for some 22 years now. The chief protagonist is Jesus. The scene is corruption, decay, wickedness amidst smoldering promise and hope. It’s a battle between good and evil, truth and compromise, light and dark.
This week we uploaded our 666th gospel film. Like those streets that don’t have a number 13 (preferring instead a 11B letterbox number), the number 666 has it’s own connotations and symbolism. So, how might we manage this conundrum? Number the video as 665B, or plunge right in and tell it like it is?
This week we uploaded out 655th gospel film. As Secretary of the International Ministerial Congress of the Church of God (Seventh Day) I discuss with Joshua Anderson my experience in this service role.
A visual generation requires a visual gospel. To that end we’ve been trying new things in film, even creating a short film from B-roll footage.
Filmed at Nulla Nulla Farmhouse Stay, near Moorine Rock, WA.
Last week we filmed in the state forest in Mundaring, WA. The lighting was great, and the surrounds uniquely Australian.
IMC Annual Sabbath introduction.
Our goal is simply to share the good news of Jesus Christ using film media. If you would like to join our efforts on any level, be it script writing, video editing, film work, or by donation, then we welcome your partnership in Christ. https://www.message7.org:7777/
We are currently refurbishing our film studio in Western Australia, adding another cinema camera, as well as working on better lighting. By God’s grace and providence, we’ve just uploaded our 631st gospel video.
The cameras we’ve been using in our more recent films has been the Canon EOS 80D, the BMCC 2.5k, and we now have a new BMCC4K on order. This will allow us to film each clip from multiple angles. Over the past 22 years, we’ve used a variety of cameras, including some old VHS cameras, various prosumer cameras including Canon and Sony, as well as a range of DSLRs. But, whether originally written on parchment, or conveyed by digital film, it?s the same timeless message that centres on Jesus Christ.
We?re all aware of the role that media plays in our lives. With the continual roll-out of better and faster technologies throughout the world, and the windows of opportunity that still exist in the free world, whether written on parchment or conveyed in bytes and bits, the follower of Christ has a commission and mandate to share the good news everywhere – to the ends of the earth.
We invite you to partner with us in this labour. Please pray that the LORD of the harvest would call and commission many more disciples, who with fervent vision and Christ-centred identity, embrace with diligence the work of supporting this and other ministries. We need capable media producers, presenters, researchers and those skilled in apologetics who can speak into this generation. We need those who are prepared to sacrifice in the name of Jesus that one more person may hear the good news. More than that, Jesus wants you to step up into his vision.
Someone once asked me, ?Why all this effort into sharing the gospel?? I suppose it?s a fair question, considering the apathy and lack of scriptural integrity that exists in parts of the Christian community. How would you answer? Perhaps mine would be: “Taste and see that the LORD is good!” After all, he is the Bread of Life!
John and James were two of Jesus’ disciples, brothers who were young with idealist aspirations, called to ministry with an awesome promised destiny of glory. Their questions often reflected an anticipation for Jesus to setup His Kingdom then, asking, “Will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6 ESV)
Rightly, their sense of destiny and promised leadership was given to them by the Lord. But how they understood their leadership journey differed greatly to what the Lord had intended.
Conspiring together, one day their mother approached Jesus, asking, “Say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.” (Matthew 20:21)
Young and naively exuberant, their request soon upset the rest of the disciples who were indignant that these two brothers would ask for the “best seats”. This was also against the background of Jesus chiding the Pharisees for loving the best seats in the synagogues. Jesus also taught the same in a parable: “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honour, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him…” (Luke 14:8 ESV)
John and James both had a sense of destiny, but in that instance, were trying to accelerate God?s leadership intentions for them. The lesson for us, as children of God with awesome and great promises of glory reigning with Christ, we must never try to pre-empt God?s purpose and plan.
An excellent example of living on God’s timing was set by the young David who was anointed to be the next king in Israel. However, instead of being catapulted into the top seat, the throne of ancient Israel, David spent many years as a wrongly-accused fugitive, vigorously pursued by the incumbent king Saul.
In one of those pursuits where David’s life was being sought, as chance would have it, Saul entered a cave not knowing that David and his men were hiding in the innermost parts of the cave. There, David had the opportune moment to end his troubles; his men in fact encouraged him to kill king Saul.
Despite being prompted by his loyal men, David said, “I will not stretch out my hand against my lord, for he is the LORD’s anointed.” (1 Samuel 24:10)
David waited on God?s timing and purpose rather than his own understanding of events, and in a stunning act of faith, trusted the righteousness of God above his own rights. David did not try to accelerate God?s purpose for him.
Likewise, today, in our calling and ministry, we also have an awesome identity in our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. We too are offered glory, power, and life eternal. For the work we’re called to do in this life, the Holy Spirit conveys to us not only just how special we are in our Father’s eyes, but also often a clear and prevailing sense of destiny and purpose. But like David who trusted in God’s timing, and as John and James quickly learned, we must never try to accelerate God’s plan for us. Christian leaders always wait on God?s timing.
John Klassek,
John Klassek