COVENANT Voice  Published Quarterly by The Covenant People's Fellowship
COVENANT Voice the magazine of The Covenant People's Fellowship includes articles  on a wide range of Bible teaching, prophecy, history, current events and other matters pertaining to the Christian faith. Published quarterly and mailed to subscribers  throughout the United Kingdom and around the world it is available for a minimum  annual subscription of £8.50 including postage. Overseas £10.50 or $17.00 (US dollars)

From the Winter 2001/2002 issue
	The Wise Men
Traditionally, Christians have come to think that there were three 'kings' who brought gifts to the Baby Jesus, after following a miraculous star which led them to where the young child lay. They brought gifts for the Holy Child of gold (to symbolise His Kingship), frankincense (to symbolise His Divinity) and myrrh (to symbolise His mortal manhood). The Bible does not in fact tell us how many men there were, nor that they were 'kings', neither does Scripture give us their names, although tradition names them as Melchior, Gaspar and Balthazar. The names of the wise men date from a tradition of the seventh century AD and legend has also invested them with the racial characteristics of the three main types of mankind. However, it is more likely that they came from Persia or Media and were therefore of the same type as those peoples. Tradition tells us that the Empress Helena, mother of Constantine, brought their bodies to Constantinople originally, whence they were taken to Milan and finally to Cologne, in 1162 by Frederick Barbarossa. They were, in fact, members of a priestly caste of Medes and Persians, adept at reading the signs in the heavens. The ancient Persian religion and, further back in time, that of the inhabitants of Iran and Iraq had included ziggurats where the astronomical experts ascended to scan the heavens and worship their gods. However, they seem to have also been aware of the prophecies concerning the Messiah in the Israelitish, and subsequently Jewish, religions, as demonstrated by their answer to Herod.  They are also known as the 'Magi', from whence we obtain our translation of 'Wise Men'. In ancient times the magi were the experts in astrology and astronomy and their name, which is the plural form of 'magnus' , comes from the Persian 'magu', meaning magician. 'Magic' is from the same root. Incidentally, the Simon Magus mentioned in the New Testament was of this school, and he was converted to Christianity by Saint Philip. "But there was a certain man, called Simon, which beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one: To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest saying, This man is the great power of God. And to him they had regard, because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries. But when they believed Philip preaching concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptised, both men and women. Then Simon himself believed also: and when he was baptised, he continued with Philip, and wondered beholding the miracles and signs which were done." (Acts 8: 9-13). The term simony, meaning to procure spiritual office by gifts, originates with this Simon. However, this is not to say that the Wise Men who brought gifts to Jesus were of this corrupt practise. They probably followed a very ancient tradition which appears to have been that of Melchizedek, who is mentioned in Genesis chapter 14. He was a High Priest and a foreshadower of the Aaronic priesthood, as we can see from verses 18-20. "And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God. And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abraham of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth: And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all." We should note that he was the priest of the Most High God, so he held true to the ancient original monotheism before it was corrupted into polytheism and magic, and Abram visited him,; perhaps to learn from his wisdom. This true faith must have continued in Mesopotamia amongst some of the priests, and it must have been a continuation of this that the Wise Men practised. Their ancient British Equivalent were the Druids, who retained in their faith many of the Old Testament traditions and rituals A burial which was excavated at Stonehenge contained a bresatplate exactly like that described as being worn by the Aaronic priesthood of Israel. Both the Druids and the Wise Men were deep students of astronomy, and they would have been well versed in the "signs in the heavens" and cognisant of the fact that they were believed to foreshadow momentous events on earth; of which people and astronomers are today quite ignorant. Astrology, is the corrupt descendant of their art which has become the mere superstition about which Scripture warns us. "Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee. Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before." (Isaiah 47: 13-125) Some traditions would have Melchizedek to be the builder of the Great Pyramid of Egypt. Since the pyramids were in the tradition of the ziggurats it is possible that a follower of the ancient faith of Melchizedek built a pyramid, but it need not have been the Great Pyramid. King Herod as was to be expected, for such travellers would be noticeable, came to hear of the arrival of the Wise Men in his realm. He sent for them to ask them of their mission, and when they announced that they had come to seek the King of the Jews, Herod became alarmed as he feared a takeover of his throne. It was none too secure, so he was probably looking over his shoulder continually. He was not a true Jew, for he was an Idumean, which is a variation of the name of Edomite. His distant ancestor had been Esau, who had given away his Birthright for a meal, so Herod had no divine mandate to rule in Judaea. His authority came from the Roman conquerors. In 63 B.C. Pompey had appointed a priest named Hyrcanus to rule Galilee, Samaria, Judaea and Perea. He had a courtier named Antipater, also an Idumean, who was both ambitious and crafty. Antipater's two sons succeeded to his office. Phasael was murdered shortly after Julius Caesar was assassinated, and Herod escaped to Rome where he ingratiated himself with Octavian (later Augustus Caesar). He administered Judaea, under the aegis of the Roman Emperors, from 40 to 4 BC. The Jews were not happy with his rule, for he secured his power by a strong military regime and built menacing strongholds, of which Masada was one. There had been murder committed within his own family, and it may truly be said of him, "Uneasy lies the head which wears a crown". It is not surprising, therefore, that he was alarmed at the Wise Men's claim that they had come to seek the King of the Jews. From the fact that the Wise Men encountered Herod, it must be inferred that Jesus' birth was in or about 4 BC, or perhaps a little earlier, and recent studies of ancient astral movements and phenomena recorded in former times would also seem to suggest a time nearer this date. When Bishop Ussher surmised the Biblical dates which are in our copies of the Bible, he did not have access to the knowledge available today. Since the Wise Men were astronomers they were intrigued by an unusual and bright star which arose in the heavens, and they searched their books of wisdom to discover its significance. They must have had access to the Scriptures and Messianic prophecies, for they worked out this portent foreshadowed the coming of a King of the Jews.  It may have been a sudden bright light in the sky, such as a shooting star, a comet or a nova, but this is not particularly likely, for the Romans did not record it. The idea that this was a new and unique star is not a modern one, for in AD 200 an early Christian who lived in Alexandria, named Origen, expressed the opinion that the star of Bethlehem was a new star, one which would have been previously unknown to the most learned stargazer. There is a wealth of historical and archaeological information about astronomical phenomena of ancient times. Experts have access to Greek, Romans and Babylonian records and those of the Egyptians and the Chinese. They are also beginning to understand the Mayan and Aztec observations of central and South America. We now know that when Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC a comet was sighted, and another in AD 66, shortly before Nero committed suicide. Hayley's Comet is mentioned in great detail in Chinese records, and it was seen in 1066 (and embroidered into the Bayeux tapestry). Then in our day, it was again visible in 1986.  However, there is no mention in the Roman records of a comet or similar star appearing around 4 BC. This could have been because it was not visible in the Mediterranean countries, although it would surely have been seem in the Eastern Mediterranean if it was followed from the east to Bethlehem. Other theories have postulated that the star was a conjunction of two planets, Saturn and Jupiter, for there was a rabbinical tradition that the Messiah would come when there was a conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in Pisces. The astronomer Kepler calculated that there would have been such a conjunction in 6 BC.  In 1925 the German scholar, P Schnabel, deciphered some cuneiform scripts of the ancient School of Astrology from Sippur, in Babylonia. The position of the planets were carefully marked and it showed a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in Pisces in 7 BC. The records indicated that the planets were visible for five months, and this could have been the time in which the Wise Men marked and followed the lead of the planets, until they arrived in Palestine. This conjunction would have been visible in the Mediterranean. It is possible that the Romans did not record it because it was not as spectacular as a comet and they would not, of course, have realised its significance to the Jews of the day. The Wise Men would have carefully observed the rising and setting of this 'twin star', which would have appeared as one planet as viewed from earth. Since the time of Judah's captivity many Jews had lived in Babylon, which was taken over by the Medes and the Persians. They did not all return to rebuild Jerusalem with Ezra and Nehemiah. Many remained and some may have studied at this very school of Astronomy. They would have been aware of their people's traditions and Scriptures and, in this way, the Wise Men may have come to their conclusions. It is even possible that they were of Judah ancestry. As October 23rd was the Jewish day of Atonement, it may have been around this date that they either began their journey or completed it, on their arrival in Jerusalem It is significant that Jesus was born to be an atonement for the sins of the whole of mankind. We now come to a difficulty, for Luke tells us that at the time of Jesus' birth, the shepherds were abiding in the field. In the month of December, in Palestine, there is frost in the hill regions. Both Jerusalem and Bethlehem are situated on higher ground and the flocks would therefore have been brought into shelter in November, not being put out again until March. Jesus' birth must, therefore, have been before winter set in. Another difficulty is that Joseph and Mary had travelled to Bethlehem for the census. Critics have said that a full census was carried out in AD 6/7. However, there were probably local counts of the population both before and after this. About the year 6 BC the Pharisees and Herod had a great dispute, for Herod considered himself to be a Messiah - how typical of dictators! The Pharisees predicted Herod's death as a punishment, so Herod had their leaders executed. This would have been about the same time as the conjunction of the planets. It is true, of course, that he died shortly afterwards; but at the age of seventy.  Herod was so alarmed at the revelations of the Wise Men that he commanded all the male infants under one year old should be murdered. But the Wise Men were in touch with the Lord, and were warned in a dream not to disclose the Babe's whereabouts to Herod when they found Him. So, as Scripture tells us, "they departed another way", and left Herod's realm stealthily to return to their own country. Herod did not let the matter rest, but diligently sought the Holy Child. However, once again in a dream, God warned Joseph and Mary to flee from Bethlehem and travel down into Egypt. No doubt the expensive gifts were a useful means of meeting the expenses of their flight and their temporary sojourn in a foreign land. Perhaps warnings from the Wise men also confirmed their decision. The Wise Men must have felt themselves privileged indeed to have been among the first to see the young child Jesus, and to worship Him. Their lives would most likely have been very different after such an experience, just as our lives today are different when we have seen Jesus and believed in Him and in His mission of salvation for the individual, and redemption for Israel.

From the Summer/Autumn 2001 issue
	Numbering the People
NOTWITHSTANDING the optimistic "count me in" slogan at the head of the Census 2001 Forms delivered in good time, or not, dependant on the efficiency of a somewhat misnamed 'enumerator' some two million households, it was reported at the last count, decided that they would prefer that the Census takers should "include them out!" Such was the confusion in which the first census of the millennium was both promoted and conducted, both with regards to a number of the questions and the criteria upon which the answers were to be completed, that thousands in frustration telephoned the help lines, which Mr. Graham Jones, the director of the census, interpreted as people keen to "get it right". Others, as we now know, just gave up and did nothing.  Despite the exhortation on the leaflet accompanying the census form, that you should put yourself in the picture because "This is your Census" it was clearly, nothing of the kind. Added to which the instruction that one should "Simply" fill in the form was a clear indication that at no time during the preparation of the questions had anyone actually asked themselves, or anyone else, just how they were to be answered. Aside from the well publicised questions about race and religion, which caused some furore in the press, in which one can be born in England, Wales or Scotland but not actually be English, Welsh or Scots (Questions 7 and 8), there were other ambiguities. For we find question 17 in asking "Do you have any of the 'following' professional qualifications?" in which it lists only teaching and medical qualifications everything else being 'other', then offers a box in which to answer by ticking 'no professional qualifications' Then for good measure there are questions 25 and 26 in which the self employed 'without any' employees are then asked to indicate how many people they 'employed'. Having also claimed that the census is all about planning for the future, there was also at least one pointless question in which pensioners, up to the age of seventy five, were asked what their occupation had been before they retired. The answer to that question will clearly be of paramount importance in planning for new businesses!  It has been reported that whilst Lady Thatcher, as Prime Minister, insisted on checking for herself the questions being proposed in the previous census, our present Prime Minister left it all to the officials of the Statistical Office. Although in some respects that might have been a good thing, it certainly shows, and the cost of this debacle at some two hundred and fifty million pounds makes it the most expensive census undertaken since the present regular ten years censuses began in 1801. With the exception, that is, of 1941 when the country was otherwise engaged with fighting a war for our freedom (including our freedom not to answer silly questions!), a little matter which the writers of the bump handed out forgot! Further confusion was ensured with regards to the date of completion of the Form when it was revealed that not only could it be completed after the date but that the telephone help line would remain open throughout the following month of May, indicating that Census Day was not to be so regarded after all. Consequently encouraging not only late completion but early completion as well, which was compounded by the New Labour innovation that forms were to be returned by post rather than being collected and checked on the doorstep by the enumerators. Thus the enumerators became mere deliverers of census forms whereas previously, as the writer knows from first hand experience of the census carried out thirty years ago, it was their function to ensure not only that all forms were collected but also, so far as possible, that all the questions were answered, even if there might be some slight doubt of their absolute accuracy in those days, with regards to personal relationships.  It is currently estimated, with local managers struggling to gather their share of the twenty million forms, that less than three quarters will ever be collected. Of those as few as half it is said, in some areas, may contain the detailed information that it was hoped to collect. With such huge gaps this means that the so called 'count me in' operation is likely to collect full details of only fifty per cent of the population, making it the biggest failure since census gathering, as we know it, commenced two centuries ago, when just five questions were asked of the then ten million people, for which those of us who have undertaken family tree research are truly grateful! This year's form of forty questions would be something of a nightmare to research. There is of course nothing new in census taking, despite the recent farcical episode which might make some think so, and we in England would probably look to William the Conqueror's efforts in 1086 with the production of the Doomsday Book as being our first census in which, amongst other assets, ownership of cattle and sheep were included much as motor vehicles are today. While our brethren in Scotland would no doubt claim to be the first in the Isles with the seventh century Gaelic document, Senchus fer n'Alba. The average Christian, in looking for an early census, will of course, recall the journey of Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem, "because he was of the house and lineage of David", when the decree was sent out from Caesar Augustus, "that all the world (as he knew it) be taxed" and each went to his own city to be enrolled. (Luke 2: 1-7). It was whilst there as we know that Jesus was born, and the prophecy of Micah 5:2 was fulfilled, "But thou Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel .…" Acts 5:37 indicates that this was a census in preparation for taxation a later date. Some view census taking with some misgiving having in mind the time when King David, against the advice of Joel, insisted that, "all who drew the sword" in Israel and Judah be numbered. (2 Samuel 24:1) The exercise took nine months and twenty days to complete and the count revealed that there were eight hundred thousand men in the armies of Israel and five hundred thousand in Judah. When God later took David to task over his vanity in doing this, for there was no reason to count the armies at that time, David placed himself in to the hands of the Lord and He caused a pestilence which carried away seventy thousand of his men.  On other occasions however the numbering of the people was to the glory of God. As in the reduction of Gideon's army, recorded in Judges 7:6, when the Lord distinguished between those who went down on their hands and knees to drink from the stream and those who were ever ready by placing their hands only in the water and lapping from them, to reduce the army to only three hundred men, who then went out in the power of the Lord to fight the Midianites so saving Israel from her enemies as God had promised Gideon. .  Earlier in the history of Israel, when the family of Israel was developing into the nation which was to become a kingdom, Moses and Aaron had been instructed by God when they were in the Sinai wilderness to number all those from twenty years and upwards "who drew the sword" in each of the tribes with the exception of the Levites (Numbers 1:3). There follows a quite detailed census which resulted in a total of six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty men in all twelve tribes, and an even more detailed census of the families of the Levites. These numbered some twenty two thousand which were offset against the first born of the households of the other tribes and taken in substitution of the first born of each household of Israel which God instituted in Egypt. This is further followed, in Numbers 4: 23-49, by a details of the offices and functions within the priesthood and administration which the Levites performed. Then when the Israelites, under Moses, had come within sight of the land of Canaan the Lord separated all those who were twenty years and upwards who had seen God's hand when He had brought them out of Egypt and did not listen to His voice, "all that were numbered of you …. according to your whole number" (Numbers 14: 29) except Caleb and Joshua from the "little ones" that they should not enter the land of promise. Being destined, because of their murmuring against God to wander for forty years while their children grew to maturity and subsequently occupy the land which their parents had despised.  While on the way the Israelites came into the land of Moab and it was here that Balak, the king's son, sent for Balaam to curse them but God met Balaam and he prophesied instead, "For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the fields I behold him: lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations, who can count the dust of Jacob and number of the fourth part of Israel?"  So taking us back to that great Covenant when, following the sacrifice of the ram substituted by God in place of Isaac on the mountain in the land of Moriah, the Lord promised Abraham, "….. I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore ….." (Genesis 22: 1-17). A Covenant which the Lord re-affirmed to Isaac himself, "because that Abraham obeyed my voice" (Genesis 26: 4-5) and later to Jacob and subsequently to Moses when he was on Mount Sinai (Exodus 32:13) receiving the law and commandments by which the Nation and Kingdom of Israel was to live and prosper.

From the Spring 2001 issue
Photograph Copyright Powerstock Zefa Limited	A Very Grievous Murrain
AT PRESENT our thoughts are focused on the outbreak of foot and mouth disease, which is having a devastating effect on our farmers, their families and the countryside in general. This is a cruel blow, coming shortly after an outbreak of swine fever, and the previous problems from BSE. Added to these troubles are the difficulties which EC legislation is causing the hard pressed farmers, some of whom have become so desperate that they have committed suicide. I have even read in a newspaper an article wondering whether this is a judgement upon us! However, the author's conclusions were not what a Christian would conclude. At least, it is a step in the right direction, that someone even begins to talk about judgement. Agriculture is the lifeblood of any nation. Without our farmers growing food for us, we will not eat. In this modern world, the effect is not quite so immediately noticeable as it would have been in a less mechanised era, but the present situation will force us to import more of our food from abroad, with all the attendant problems, both logistically and economically. Moses was aware of the dangers of the wrong treatment of the soil, which in ancient and modern times has resulted in 'dust bowls', causing formerly fertile areas to become deserts. God laid down the Laws for the proper maintenance of the land by crop rotation, and warned that abuse of the soil results in starvation. You may read about this in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28. For several generations now, we have farmed the land intensively, relying upon chemicals to boost the yields, and not replenishing the soil's goodness naturally. We have moved further and further away from God's instructions for agriculture, and for all other aspects of life. God told us that the land should be rested once every seven years, and that there should be a complete cessation from tilling the ground every fiftieth year. The Lord assured us that the previous year's yield would be sufficient to see us through the Sabbath year.  "And the Lord spake unto Moses in mount Sinai, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath unto the Lord.  Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof; But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the Lord: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard. That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes of thy vine undressed: for it is a year of rest unto the land. And the sabbath of the land shall be meat for you; for thee, and for thy servant, and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant, and for thy stranger that sojourneth with thee. And for thy cattle, and for the beast that are in thy land, shall all the increase thereof be meat. And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years. Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land. And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you." (Leviticus 25:1-10) We are warned in Scripture that abuse of the land results in desolation, and our ultimate starvation. We have ignored the Sabbaths, in order to squeeze as much produce from the soil as we possibly can. The inevitable result is impoverishment of the soil and the subsequent use of chemical fertilisers. If we should treat the land properly, as the Lord has instructed, we would have a constant abundance. There is no evil in over production, in fact, it can benefit the soil by using the surplus to make an enriching compost to nourish future crops. Mankind has become rather too clever for his own good. There is hardly a food on the market which has not been processed or chemically adulterated in some way. Without the chemical fertilisers the yield is not so great, but the quality is so much better. During recent years, organic farming has become more popular than hitherto, and therefore more viable. It was a struggle for those trying to market it to start with, because there was little demand for the products, but people have gradually come to realise how much better such food tastes, and despite the vested objections of some, many more are now amenable to it. Our food is only obtained by tilling the soil and rearing animals, so it follows that agriculture plays a key role in maintaining and promoting health. Organic food may yield a little less, but with such a marked improvement in quality. Conventional modern farming sacrifices quality for quantity. The farmer has the greatest responsibility of any producer in civilisation, but through the misuse by some of this responsibility, and the demands of the declared economic wisdom of the day together with the coercion of governments during more recent decades, many are now suffering. Ultimately, all the people will suffer, the innocent with the guilty, for we are all part of the one system. There are quite a few enlightened people, notably the Prince of Wales amongst them, who are convinced that the key to successful farming and better general health is to return to God's methods, as set forth in the Bible. This does not mean that we should abandon all our agricultural machinery, which has done so much to alleviate the back breaking work of tilling the soil, sowing and reaping, for these are a necessary adjunct to ease the work of those who toil on the land all day, especially in these times of fewer farm workers.  We should, however, respect the natural cycles, for there are many of them - the cycle of the seasons and the 'nitrogen cycle', for instance, by which the soil is replenished. If we read Genesis 3:19, we can see that plants, animals and mankind were formed from the dust of the earth, "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return."  Also in Ecclesiastes 12:7, we read, "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it." This is referring to what we now call humus. God's Plan has made the provision that all living things should contribute to this after death. We now know that even humans are composed of comparatively few elements, literally, 'of the dust of the ground'. It is understandable why the farmers have had to turn to chemicals to boost their crop yields, for the downside of the mechanisation of farming has been the depletion of the supplies of manure for fertilising the soil, and the upsurge of population has created a greater demand, whilst that same population increase has resulted in ever larger areas of arable land being used for housing. We have drifted so far from God's way that we have had to muddle along in our own ways, and we are now seeing the results. Some may say that animal and plant diseases are not new, but have been with us since the dawn of time. This is not strictly true, for the Lord created everything perfect, and He 'saw that it was good'; it is mankind's disobedience which has allowed the weeds and diseases to develop and spread. We cannot plead ignorance, for it is all written down in God's Guide Book, the Bible. Our experts ignore this, for they think that they know better.  Animals have routinely been fed antibiotics, for their health is not as good as it should have been if they had lived in natural conditions. We are now reaping the rewards, in that germs have built up a resistance to antibiotics to such an extent that doctors are now finding that they are no longer effective. There is much concern about drug resistant bacteria nowadays. Another aspect which has not been fully explored, is that of the interaction of the different chemicals, one with another.  We are so puffed up in our own conceit that we will not even listen when some people try to point out that there is an alternative to all the chemicals currently in use. In the present outbreak of disease, a reader wrote to the "Daily Telegraph", citing the fact that in the previous outbreak, some thirty or so years ago, many farmers saved their stock by giving them homeopathic borax. The writer contacted the Ministry of Agriculture to alert them to this fact, thinking that the officials would be glad to try an alternative, or even to grasp at a lifeline. However, the response was that the Ministry wanted nothing to do with this method of treatment, because they 'did not believe in it'! Such prejudice is certainly no help to farmers who are facing ruin. Who would, surely, be willing to try anything to preserve their stocks. Movement of stock has been restricted, due to the outbreak of disease. It has been reported that it would not be quite so much of a problem if we had not had to close numerous small local abattoirs, because of EU legislation, which has resulted in animals from Sussex, for instance, being transported many miles away, often to the north of the country. Subjecting them, inevitably, to unnecessary stress and adding to costs. Under this European system, it appears that everything is directed towards ruining our farming and supporting industries. This 'doomsday scenario' is becoming alarming. We will have to face up to hardships sooner or later, for only in this way shall we begin to understand what we have done to ruin the natural balance of nature. The present outbreak of foot and mouth disease may be the beginning of a process to help bring us to our senses, and perhaps, we would like to hope, make us seek our Lord God for help and guidance in our lives, both personal and national. For Scripture tells us, "When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the Lord thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice; (For the Lord thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them." (Deuteronomy 4:30,31) Let all true believers pray earnestly to the Lord, that He will send His Holy Spirit to guide our experts and our rulers. Let us pray that He may raise up men to be our leaders, both spiritual and temporal, who are of sufficient calibre and who are unmotivated by the greed for money and power, that we may be led back to the righteous and health-giving Laws of the Lord.

From the Summer 2000 Issue

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth

   The Queen Mother

IN THIS, the first year of our new century, the “nation’s favourite Grandmother”, the Queen Mother, also attains her century. This should be an occasion of national rejoicing, for she is the first member of the royal family to attain this venerable age.

      It seems, however, that our present government and leftist BBC wish to play down such royalist rejoicings, but even amongst our young people, tainted as they have been by the republican bias of their education, there are many who are very fond of her, and who admire her tenacity and devotion to duty. We, who are starved of colourful ceremony in these days, will surely enjoy the festivities which are planned.

The Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon was born on August 4th 1900. She was the youngest of four daughters of the 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorn, and his wife, Nina Cecilia Cavendish-Bentinck. The family seat was at Glamis Castle, the scene of Shakespeare’s tragedy of  “Macbeth”, and she had a happy childhood amongst her brothers and sisters in the rural settings of the family estates. This gave her an enduring love of the countryside and its pursuits. One of her brothers was killed in the first World War, and Glamis was turned into a convalescent home for wounded military personnel. The young Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon helped with the nursing duties.  In 1923 she married the Duke of York, the second son of George V, who subsequently became King George VI, on the abdication of his brother, Edward VIII. During the years of the second World War, as Queen Consort, she was an inspiration to the beleaguered people of the British Isles. Setting an example of steadfastness, in that she refused to allow the princesses, Elizabeth and Margaret Rose, to be evacuated to safety and plenty in Canada, insisting that as the King would never leave England, she too would never leave the King, and that they wished to have their family with them.

Photograph Ó  Copyright “The  News, Portsmouth”

   From the Winter 1999 - 2000 issue

               The Millennium Dawn  

THERE HAS BEEN some concern expressed, as we come to end of the year and indeed this century that the Millennium Dome, currently under construction at Greenwich, will not be completed in time for the much heralded ‘Millennium Celebrations’. Which is a curious thing, because as most of us know, the true Millennium will not commence for another year; as, in fact, we pass from the 31^st December 2000 to the 1^st January 2001.  

This simple fact notwithstanding, much of the world is determined to regard the 1^st January 2000 A.D. as the commencement of the next Millennium, so we cannot in all conscience  totally ignore the change of year whilst perhaps feeling, as with the question of the coming of age when many families now celebrate both the eighteenth and the twenty-first birthday, that we shall most probably find ourselves similarly celebrating both dates; although many currently do not seem too certain exactly what it is they are meant to be celebrating. Certainly it has little to do with the birth of Jesus Himself for if the generally accepted date of 4 BC is correct, (some suggest other dates all of which are BC) the second millennium from that date was in 1996, or even before!     

It may well be that much of the present confusion, aside from having its origins in the original dating errors,  owes much to that other misnomer the, so called, Millennium Bug which again has nothing to do with the true Millennium and even less to do with bugs, as we know them! Being merely a problem of computer memory capacity, or lack of it, in which the earliest programmes, presumed to be destined to be totally obsolete long before the year 2000 which in fact could never happen unless every original system was scrapped, expressed built-in dates in terms of the last two digits only.  

So it seems that despite our better judgement, the ‘Millennium’ or perhaps we ought to say the ‘Pre-Millennium’ is almost upon us.  

Whilst countries with calendars other than ours, the Gregorian calendar,  may not celebrate the Millennium including the true one when it comes all nations, because of the International Meridian Conference held in Washington in 1884, allow that Greenwich is both the centre of time and space and the home of the Meridian Line, Zero Longitude, upon which all navigational aids depend and where time, as we know it, commences.  

It was the matter of accurate navigation for shipping, in particular, which prompted the United States to suggest a conference to establish the principles, amongst others, to adopt a single world meridian based upon the meridian passing through the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, to agree that the universal day be a Mean Solar Day beginning at the Mean Midnight at Greenwich and to accept that nautical and astronomical days world wide would begin at Mean Midnight.  

One of the key reasons for the choice of Greenwich, at the time, was that three quarters of the world’s commerce already depended on sea charts which used Greenwich as the Prime Meridian which, as a matter of interest today, runs just alongside the site of the Millennium Dome.  

Greenwich itself has a long and, one must say, distinguished history. Today, thousands visit each year to see the splendid collection of charts, clocks, chronometers and other inventions without which we, and most of the world, should still be navigating the seas and getting lost; and to stand astride the Meridian Line with one foot in the Eastern Hemisphere  and the other in the Western. Not, perhaps, a very significant step for mankind but nonetheless something unique. 

One interesting aspect of all this is that because each day begins at midnight the first people to actually experience the dawn of the first day will be those living on the other side of the world, which has generated considerable rivalry, with an eye to a commercial advantage, to be the first to see the first dawn of the New Year.  

The International Date Line at 180 degrees Longitude, which was also agreed at the 1884 Conference, being the other side of the Greenwich Meridian Line has caused some heated competition as Pacific islands bordering the line which was originally agreed not to pass over any landfall, is, it seems, being ‘claimed’ by some such as Caroline Island, in the Republic of Kiribati where the sun will rise at 5.43 am on the 1^st January 2000 (but it will be 3.43 pm GMT on the 31^st December 1999). Other claimants include Tonga, Pitt Island and the New Zealand’s North Island coastal towns of Gisborne and Hastings while the United States claim the last sunset and the first sunrise between Dibble Glacier and Victor bay in Antarctica.  

However, astronomers at the Royal Observatory tell us that the place to see the first dawn will not be in the Pacific but on Katchall island on the eastern edge of the Bay of Bengal, 6000 miles west of the International Date Line. This calculation being based on the Mean Solar Day, which as was agreed in 1884 begins at Midnight at Greenwich, it will at that moment be 5.30 am on the 1^st January 2000, on Katchall Island; the time the sun rises there.  

Such is man’s ability to confuse the issue to the extent that we no longer know what date we are talking about, nor why we are celebrating it anyway,  that it rather overshadows all the forecasts, dire and otherwise, of the events which the pundits promise us will take place immediately the Millennium begins. We need in all truth to ask only one question, “What millennium?”  

In the event, of course, despite all expectations the New Century will dawn and the only certainty is that we know that God will be waiting there for us, as He always is; every dawn. He has already prepared a new day and a new century for us and we shall be that much nearer to that other Millennium for which we long and pray. ‘The Millennium’ which really counts. The day when our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ will return; and here we do see a similarity in that where the day will soon come when the year 2000 AD begins so too, although we have been waiting for it for most of those two thousand years, the day will also come when, “every eye shall see him” (Revelation 1:7) as He comes with clouds and His angels on His return to this earth, to begin the restitution of all things.    

This Millennium, a word which does not in fact appear in Scripture, is the one thousand year period during which Christ will reign and Satan will be bound and helpless (Revelation 20: 1-3). which will bring nearer to fruition God’s plan for His people Israel.  

Without Satan’s influence it will be a millennium of peace. Something which we, with our experience of life today and knowing that of our forefathers’ experiences  during centuries past, find  difficult to comprehend. Until, that is, we consider the causes of greed, envy and evil which lay behind the problems which continually beset us. Without Satan’s influence, even amongst our own people, how our thoughts would change and consequently our actions. 

God, when He caused the flood in Noah’s time did so because, “every imagination of their thoughts were evil continually,” (Genesis 6:5). The people of his day had begun some 1600 years previously well enough, they had known God and obeyed His law. But generation by generation they began to think that the law did not matter; and once they thought it, they acted upon that thought, until by the time of the flood Noah was the only righteous man left. What they thought, they did!   

Were we able to have just one generation without Satan’s influence our own and our children’s thinking would change beyond all recognition. In the millennium to come not only will Satan be bound but, even better, Christ will reign and the Law of God will prevail. God has given mankind His law before, but man has never kept to it so he has never seen the benefits of it; never reaped the rewards! Consequently man tires easily and not understanding that “the law of the Lord is perfect” (Psalm 19:7), as mentioned in our last issue of “Covenant Voice” with reference to the planets,   substitutes his own ideas, with disastrous  consequences  

In the garden, Adam conversed with God and could have learned to love good but through Eve’s sin of disobedience he chose instead to listen to Satan. Since when, for the past six millennia mankind has had to learn instead to hate evil.  

As God was with Adam in Eden so Christ will be with mankind during His millennium reign. But since Adam, Christ came and paid the penalty for man’s sin and in ‘His Millennium’ there will be no serpent; and those who have witnessed to the word of God, “lived and reigned with Christ a

thousand years”, (Revelation 20:4).  

This Millennium is part of God’s plan for bringing together and fulfilling those things promised which are yet to be and preparing the people of all the nations for a righteous judgement, both the believer and the unbeliever. For it is not until the end of the thousand year period  that scripture tells us of the casting of the devil into the lake of fire and the second resurrection. “ …. and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life….and they were judged every man according to their works” (Revelation 20: 12-13). 

Here we see the Book of Life, described earlier as, “… the book of life of the Lamb ….” (Revelation 13: 8) so we know that those whose names appear in it are those who belong to the Lamb of God, (John 1:29) or Christ, which assures their place in the Kingdom of God. While the other books, the Books of Works, record their doings by which they are judged, or assessed, for their function in the Kingdom. And we see here the operation of the doctrine of Justification by Faith Alone, faith being all that is required, followed by the Sanctification or works after faith which follow.  

Before that there will be the Millennium, the One Thousand Year Reign, which Jesus Himself likened to the time of Noah when those not understanding, not watching, there are so many today who will not accept the fact of the promised return of Christ, will be taken unawares, “… so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” (Matthew 24: 37-39).

  “When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory.” (Matthew 25:31). And The Millennium will dawn.

    From the Autumn 1999 issue

The Heavens Declare …

FOR A FEW brief moments, on the 11^th August 1999, people living across a great swath-like band of the earth stopped whatever they were doing and gazed skywards in awe and wonder at the majesty of God, as they observed the last eclipse of both this century and this millennium.  

As the shadow of the moon sped across the world at 1,500 miles per hour, obscuring the light of the sun, thus plunging the earth into total or partial darkness for a brief period of  from less than a minute to just over two minutes, dependant on from where one was viewing the event, most of us experienced an eerie sense of wonder at the strangeness of this natural phenomena and, curiously, many applauded when the sun reappeared as if they were, despite themselves, afraid that it just might not do so.  

Some, perhaps, appreciated for the first time in their lives how dependant we are on the provision of God for our very existence and how precisely the apparently random array of planets is in fact placed in the heavens; and ordered for our well being.  

Not that most actually mentioned God, for across the world many myths still pervade the reasoning of man where some still live in fear of the unexplained, while even here at home such is the indifference amongst our own people who no longer believe in a munificent Creator,  choosing rather to see science, which is but the examination of the created world and the Creator’s power, as the arbiter of  all things.  

That the timing could be so accurately forecast was taken for granted. There have, after all, been many eclipses before; and they have all arrived on time. So, to the second the timing was calculated from Nova Scotia, as day dawned on the eastern coast of Canada at 10.30 a.m. British Summer Time (BST) to the Bay of Bengal at 1.29 p.m. BST, as dusk began to fall, and the shadow of the moon completed its three hour journey across the earth. Reminding those who have “eyes to see” that in the words of the psalmist, “The Heavens Declare the glory of God”. (Psalm 19: 1).  

To which he adds that which is self evident in the beginning, “and the firmament showeth his handiwork.” For it was in the beginning that God created the heaven and the earth (Genesis 1: 1) as it was in those earlier times of creation  that, “God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night….” (Genesis 1: 16). Two lights, the Sun and the Moon, which together played out this particular drama, this last spectacular show in the heavens of God’s handiwork before we pass into a new millennium, and all which that may hold for us in the wonderful plan of God.  

If we continue to the end of this verse we find, in a very few words, another instance of God’s  handiwork, indeed in so few that it almost seems like an afterthought, “…he made the stars also.” And then in the next verse we are told that He set them in the firmament (heaven) to give light upon the earth and then we find later in the Word of God that these stars, these lesser planets which fill the heavens and make up our night sky, are not so insignificant  after all for in Psalm 147: 4 we read, “he telleth the number of stars;  he calleth them all by their names.” We then recall that other reference to stars when the Lord promised Abraham when He chose him because of his faith, as His friend, to be the founder of the nation of Israel, “…. I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven….” (Genesis 22:17) and we know that God knows all  their names too, as He does everyone who will acknowledge him as their personal Saviour and call him Lord.  

We Know that the heavens and the planets have long held an immense fascination for mankind, from Abraham’s time; and before. The ancients searched the heavens in anticipation, that they would foretell future events. Abraham, himself was something of an astronomer and we know that the Magi, at the time of the birth of Jesus, told Herod that they had seen His star in the east, “ and are come to worship him”. (Matthew 2:2).  

We read that when Moses gathered the Israelites together before they crossed over into Jordan into the land which God had promised them he said, “…ye are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude” (Deuteronomy 1 :10}. We find that David when he had appointed his son, Solomon, to become king of Israel and had arranged for a census of the people that he did not count those under the age of twenty one, “because the Lord had said he would increase Israel like to the stars of heaven.” (1 Chronicles 27:23). In  Daniel, we read of the time of the end days when every one that shall be found written in the book, the believers, “they that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars for ever and ever.” (Daniel 12:3).  

Many must have been the times when our ancestors gazed at the sky, as we do, and wondered as to the order of it all, and perhaps dreamt the impossible dream that one day there might be a means of reaching the stars and the planets.  

That event, then future, was destined to take place just thirty years ago when mankind made that first giant step as Neil Armstrong, walked on the Moon in 1969. Whilst this could never have been achieved without expertise of the Lunar spaceship planners and programmers  and the courage and expertise of the astronauts themselves, that they could ever reach the moon at all depended on one factor over which they had absolutely no control at all; the certainty  with which they could calculate the exact location of the planets at any one time; and that depended on the precision with which God has set and ordered the movements of the planets over the millennia past by which one can predict the present and, when planning years in advance for a space voyage, the future. The same means by which we were able to know, in advance, the precise moment of our Eclipse at any place along its path .  

Since that first visit to the moon the explorations, which commenced in earnest during the 1930’s when probes discovered that Pluto was ice-bound, have increased in range and number until the Voyager space probe launched in the late 1970’s embarked on a twelve year journey to explore Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune and found worlds that defied imagination. Bringing to us images of God’s handiwork so magnificent that they truly declare the glory of God and the majesty of His power.  

The power which these planets, and in some cases their satellites, unleash and is so awesome and devastating that life as we know it could not survive, let alone thrive. Power from God, which mankind on earth despite all these discoveries arrogantly chooses to defy every day. Yet God, in His provision for us, has given us in the midst of this turbulence which is there for our benefit, for without the intense heat caused by the violence of the sun we could not flourish, a world so little affected by all that goes on around us, so gentle and so perfect for our peaceful existence, if we would but obey Him and keep His law as the planets do, despite their volatility. 

For in the words of the psalmist, in the same psalm which speaks of the sun and the moon and the stars, we read, “the law of the Lord is perfect.” (Psalm 19:7). Without this perfection none of that which we see in the heavens would be possible, and we would not be able to predict the future orbits of the planets nor, least of all, the eclipse which so many have so recently witnessed.  

Every eclipse, and although the next total eclipse which will be observable in the British Isles will not be for another ninety two years, at 5pm on the 23^rd September 2090 in West Cornwall, there are many others in other parts of the world before then, the next being in 2001 over Southern Africa, should remind us that, “The Heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth His handiwork.”  

From the Spring 1998 issue

The Fruitful Seed

It had been another of  those occasions, one of the many during His ministry, when Jesus speaking to the multitude spoke about that which most readers will know well; that which we have come to know as the Parable of The Sower.

“Behold,” He said, “a sower went forth to sow and when he sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside,… some fell upon  stony ground, … some fell among thorns;  but other seed fell into good ground and  brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. Who hath ears let him hear.” (Matthew 13:3-9).  

The meaning to us is plain. We understand that this seed is the Word of God. We know  about the seed by the wayside, where those who hear about the word but do not understand it, find that Satan comes along and takes it away from them before they have a chance of accepting it. We know too about the stony ground, when some who receive the Good News initially with joy, but developing little depth to their understanding  reject it in times of difficulties. We also know about the thorns, and how they choke and strangle the Word with the cares of this world; and we know too of the Good Seed which flourishes and bears fruit. We know because, unlike those who were hearing it for the first time, we have the explanation in the verses following and we have the benefit of the witness of those who have expounded the scriptures down through the centuries. We are heirs to their work and faithfulness.  

It is clear, however, that many who heard on that day did not have the ears to hear, or the understanding to understand, and when the disciples were with Jesus later during those times when He discussed with them the day’s events, which scripture tells us He frequently did in private following His preaching to the multitudes, even they asked, “Why speakest thou unto them in parables?” His reply, which is as much to us today as it was to them, “Because it is given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom….” reminds us of the great privilege that we share in knowing something of God’s plan for His people Israel and the Kingdom of Heaven, for He went on to conclude, “but to them it is not given.” And with our privilege, as with any privilege, great is our responsibility.  

As we contemplate, at this time of the year - when we see the rebirth of Springtime and the coming to life and blossoming of that seed which has lain dead in the ground these past months - those events which took place in Jerusalem  culminating in the ‘trial’ and, at the behest of the people, the crucifixion of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ and all that He endured that all who believe in Him might have eternal life; we do well to remember this parable of the sower. For it surely points the way to us today in our witnessing and teaching of the Word. Encouraging us when we might, in these days of unbelief, perhaps, be inclined to despair just a little, as we see the ‘faith once delivered to the saints’ denigrated by many through their ignorance and undermined by others, who should be upholding it and proclaiming  it.  

This parable fixes in the minds of those of us in these days, who have ears to hear, the difficulties which even our Lord encountered when reasoning with some people. Should we therefore expect to find it any different? Any easier? Even He, we find, spoke to people whom He knew would not understand, about the Kingdom of God. “Therefore I speak to them in parables, because they seeing see not; and hearing hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias… for this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have closed….” (verses 13-15). Note, they have closed. How like today!

Yet, with His foreknowledge  of their spiritual blindness He spoke to them, when He did not need to do so, in such a way that those who would hear and would understand might not remain in ignorance, but might hear and see, “Blessed are your eyes,” He tells the disciples, “for they see: and your ears, for they hear.” (verse 16).  

They came to understand then, as we do now, that the seed to which Jesus referred in this parable is the seed of the Word of God, just as they already knew what He meant when He said to the Pharisees on  another occasion, when castigating them for their unbelief, “I know that ye are Abraham’s seed.” In response to their attempts to justify themselves in their misguided belief that all that is required for Salvation is to be able to claim descent from Abraham.  

Today, it is this other seed which is largely misunderstood rather than the seed of the Parable of the Sower. This seed of Abraham which God promised would also be a good seed, not in the sense of being good but in the sense of being fruitful, “That in blessing I will bless thee, in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore…” We have much explaining, much teaching, to do today to reach out to the Lord’s people if they are to truly understand the plan of God. For they have, in the main, lost sight of the  vision of the disciples with regards to the return of Jesus Christ to actually reign as King of kings. Having understood the meaning of the Parable of the Sower, which those of Jesus’ time on earth had such difficulty with, many sincere believers in Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour  are now having equal difficulty in understanding that the Kingdom of God over which Christ is to rule, is to be here, on earth.  

Abraham’s seed, of which the Northern House of Israel is the larger part, for truly has it multiplied as the stars of heaven and the sands of the sea shore, in fulfilment of God’s Covenant with Abraham, is assured a rightful place in the fulfilment of God’s plan for His people in that day.  

The promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob through the blessing of Jacob of his grandsons Manasseh and Ephraim, of a nation and a Company of nations has long been fulfilled in Great Britain and her Commonwealth and the United States of America which all, together with the descendants of the other tribes, forms the  Commonwealth of Israel (Ephesians 2:12). And God’s other promises will follow in due time.  

The seed of Abraham and the seed of the Word of God come together in God’s great Plan. Where those of Abraham’s seed, who have received that other seed - the fruitful seed of God’s Word - and believing in Jesus Christ who, “took upon Himself the seed of Abraham, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.” (Hebrews 2:16-17), as their personal Saviour take up their place in the Kingdom. Together, with any who believe in Christ for, “If ye be Christ’s then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” (Galatians 3:29).  

Here, all in the Kingdom are in the words of Peter, “born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.” (1 Peter 1:23).