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151

Members keen to engage with Way Forward project

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Close to 400 people from across the LCANZ recently attended Way Forward webinars in which three ‘one church, two practices of ordination’ frameworks were introduced.

The project management team was thrilled with the level of participation and engagement at the webinars and with the project overall.

‘We’re excited about the response to our first Way Forward webinars, where we introduced the three frameworks’, project director Stella Thredgold said.

‘Thank you to everyone who attended and those who raised questions. There were so many great questions that some couldn’t be answered at the time. We are working through responding and updating our Questions and Answers section on the website.

‘We are so pleased with the level of engagement overall, which increased steeply with the release of Bishop Paul’s call to prayer video in late September, which to date has had almost 2000 individual views and 890 downloads.

‘Thank you so much for your participation. It’s not the project team who will find the best way forward; it’s the collective insights and feedback from the people across our church – people like you.

‘We want every member of the church to know what is happening, so they can consider the options and contribute to the project. We encourage people across the church to continue to provide feedback, particularly through the channels on the three framework webpages, which can be accessed from the Way Forward landing page (www.lca.org.au/wayforward).’

Since the General Church Board and College of Bishops’ release of the three frameworks, the Way Forward working groups have been generating more detail on each.

Stella said there was a lot of work to be done to understand each shortlisted framework in more detail. ‘This is a challenging process as different perspectives and diverse thinking are brought to the table’, she said. ‘However, it displays positive intent and an ability to work together with diverse views and an aligned focus on the future of our church.’

The project team is continuing to support the working groups and to ensure the process of deciding on one framework continues to be robust and assesses all relevant factors for a well-thought-out recommendation to go to General Synod in October 2024.

152

New era for deaf ministry

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by Jess Smith

Deaf Ministry in the LCANZ has entered a new era, with the ordination of Julian Mazzeo as a Specific Ministry Pastor of the Adelaide Deaf Community Church (ADCC).

Pastor Julian was ordained by LCANZ Bishop Paul Smith in October and installed to his role by South Australia – Northern Territory District Bishop Andrew Brook. Pastor Julian’s ordination service was held at Pilgrim Lutheran Church in Magill, the church where the ADCC is based.

Magill has both Deaf and hearing congregations who worship at different times, with Pastor Michael Prenzler ministering to both in a shared role since 2017. A hearing pastor with no prior experience of deafness, Pastor Michael spent several years learning Auslan before taking the call to serve at Magill. Now that Pastor Julian has been ordained, he will take over the lead ministry role for the Deaf congregation, with Pastor Michael’s support.

Earlier this year Pastor Julian, who is profoundly deaf, said he felt a strong call to the role to which he has now been installed.

‘I feel that God wants me to speak to the Deaf community and that he is showing me how to teach, how to help to fix relationships, how to understand the best fit for Deaf culture and how to create opportunities and be an encouragement’, he said.

Preaching in the richly expressive and visual language of Auslan is also something Pastor Julian finds rewarding. ‘Auslan is wonderful. It’s so creative, there’s so much storytelling and it’s clear and easy to understand.’

Pastor Michael echoed the sentiment. ‘I love the deaf approach to worship. All members are encouraged to participate in and contribute to the service,’ he said. ‘I also find it personally satisfying to worship in Auslan. There is something very profound about worshipping God with one’s whole body.’

Technology has become an important tool for the ADCC, and the congregation is thankful for a live-streaming system that was installed at Magill in 2020.

‘In some of my earlier travels I met some deaf Christians interstate who said they had no local church to attend, and I asked whether there was something the ADCC could do,’ said Pastor Michael.

‘We then applied for and received an LLL Mission Grant, and with contributions from both Pilgrim and the ADCC, we were able to install cameras in the church shortly after the COVID lockdowns began. We now have a few viewers from interstate who watch our service every Sunday. Without our videos, they would struggle to find somewhere to worship in Auslan, their heart-language.’

The church also has a video studio, funded through another grant, which is used for creating Auslan content. During the height of the pandemic, the studio played an important role in the creation of various worship-at-home resources, for both the hearing and Deaf congregations at Magill. The church plans to use the studio extensively in the future to produce more desperately needed Bible studies and resources for the Deaf community.

Deaf Ministry has been supported by the Lutheran Church since the 1970s and has evolved through many iterations to a current schedule of weekly Sunday services. Services are livestreamed so that viewers from afar can worship in Auslan, along with the Adelaide locals who attend in-person.

The South Australia – Northern Territory District has set up a fund that will go towards supporting Pastor Julian’s ministry, and his ongoing training, and to assist with providing interpreter services when he attends church events.

If you or your congregation feels led to contribute, the bank account details for donations are as follows:

Account name: LCA AGFund
BSB: 704 942
AC: 1009 69623

This content was first published on the SA – NT District’s website Online Together eNews and on the district website.

Jess Smith is SA – NT District Communications Officer.

153

Call to support Gaza hospital

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Australian Lutheran World Service (ALWS) committed $50,000 to support the work of the Augusta Victoria Hospital in East Jerusalem as the humanitarian situation in Gaza rapidly deteriorated in late October.

ALWS is calling on members of the church to add their support to the relief effort through donations.

The August Victoria Hospital is owned and operated by ALWS partner, Lutheran World Federation, and serves five million Palestinians, many of whom are from the West Bank and Gaza. The hospital specialises in care for cancer patients and provides haemodialysis for kidney patients. Children also receive critical care. Forty per cent of the hospital’s patients come from Gaza. Since the war started, many patients either have been unable to go home or have been unable to access life-saving treatment.

Donations to ALWS can help people hurt by the crisis in Israel and Gaza by supporting the Augusta Victoria Hospital to provide life-saving medical care. ALWS funding has been going towards providing the hospital with medical supplies, meals and dignity kits for patients and essential transport.

Donations can be made at www.alws.org.au/what-you-can-do/donate/?c=israel-gaza-crisis

To find out more about the Israel-Gaza crisis, visit www.alws.org.au/news-and-stories/israel-gaza-crisis/

154

Changes to Child Safety Plan timelines

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At its October 2023 meeting, the General Church Board agreed to make some important changes to Child Safety Standards (CSS) submission timelines.

The next round of Child Safety Plans will now be due in 2025.

‘We have made this change because we understand that you and your congregations need time and space to implement your Child Safety Plans’, said Mary-Ann Carver, LCA Child Protection Project Officer. ‘We want to give you every opportunity to put your agreed child safety actions into place during 2024 without the pressure of meeting submission deadlines.’

The change will also allow the CSS support team to focus more on supporting congregation leaders as they work towards achieving their child-safety goals, including the development of quality resources to assist them.

‘We will focus on providing you with tips for implementation, ideas for communications, and examples from other congregations’, Mary-Ann said.

‘We are looking forward to 2024. It will be the time for child safety consolidation and development, a time to embed the concept of child-safe congregations, and a time to strengthen the very good foundations we have already built.’

More CSS resources will be released over the coming months and will be uploaded to the CSS webpage www.lca.org.au/css

For more information, contact your district Professional Standards Officer (details are at www.lca.org.au/psd); or Nicole Hall or Mary-Ann Carver from the Churchwide Child Safety Team: email css@lca.org.au or phone Mary-Ann on 0490 281 727 or Nicole on 08 8267 7372 or 0491 011 643.

155

A simple showcase for Scripture

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Going GREYT! 1 Peter 4:10

In Going GREYT! we feature stories of some of our ‘more experienced’ people within the LCANZ, who have been called to make a positive contribution in their retirement. We pray their examples of service will be an inspiration and encouragement to us all as we look to be Christ’s hands and feet wherever we are.

by Helen Brinkman

Okay, hands up everyone who has attempted to read the entire Bible from beginning to end! How many of you completed the task? Whether you succeeded or failed, the fact is that reading Scripture end to end is not an easy undertaking!

Put yourselves in the shoes of a new Christian and consider how much more difficult it would be to navigate the language and historical context, not to mention all that fighting and bloodshed. This conundrum is exactly why 82-year-old Derryl Huf, from Port Macquarie in New South Wales, spent the past two years putting pen to paper to write up a 158-page summary of the Bible in plain language with added context.

‘I’ve been surprised how few people have read the Bible from one end to the other’, Derryl says. ‘They say they started but didn’t get far because it was hard going, reading about all the wars, fighting, bloodshed and different tribes.’

For his 80th birthday, Derryl received a lovely ballpoint pen from a church friend which he wanted to put to special use. Studying seven different versions of Scripture for comparison, Derryl filled three exercise books and three biro refills writing the summary.

Twelve months after starting work, he hadn’t made it halfway. ‘I felt I had bitten off more than I could chew and felt it was too hard’, he says. ‘I constantly prayed about this, and everything came together, and my biro was guided by God’s hand.’

Helped by his speed-typing daughter Christine, who transferred the handwritten words to a computer, the summary was finished in August this year. ‘She could type faster than I can read – what a blessing, like all of our kids are’, Derryl says. He has now shared his self-published copies with friends, parishioners, fellow travellers while holidaying, and even his doctor – who grabbed it with both hands, he was so excited, says Derryl.

This latest endeavour is part of a life-long journey of sharing his faith.

Born in the Tabor district of western Victoria, the first boy of eight children, Derryl couldn’t wait until the day after he turned 14 to leave school and work on the family’s mixed farm of sheep, cattle and cropping.

At age 18, he felt called to the ordained ministry. ‘A sermon by (Pastor) EW Wiebusch hit me hard’, he recalls. ‘I wanted to join college and become a minister.’

But having left school so young made studying difficult for him. ‘After a year, I went back home and got very involved in Luther League and working with young people’, he says. ‘I realised that you didn’t have to wear a dog collar to be a minister.’

His local Tabor Lutheran Church had more than 100 youth group members, and so did many of the surrounding towns in the district, such as Tarrington and Hamilton. Derryl was appointed to the league zone executive, becoming president, and helping to run zone rallies, camps and state conventions.

It’s also how he met his future wife, Aileen Unger, who was on the NSW district executive. They were married in 1967 and stayed on his family farm for nine years before moving to Aileen’s hometown of Parkes in NSW.

After the move, Derryl’s urge to witness found him joining the Gideons, which he calls a wonderful introduction to spreading the gospel. ‘You can learn Scripture but if you can’t get it across to others, you are still only part way there’, he says.

Derryl diversified into carting primary produce after buying a semi-trailer to transport his bumper canola crop to Melbourne for crushing. The cost of the truck was less than the haulage charge. So began his carting business, which also led him to become a heavy vehicle driving instructor.

That opened the door to new ways to share the gospel. He received permission to offer his driving students a copy of a Gideon New Testament, also including the Psalms and Proverbs. ‘I had one refusal out of about 1500, and the driving lessons included many questions about why I offered this testament’, he recalls.

Derryl says the whole idea behind his Bible summary is to encourage people to study God’s word, and to make it easier to read. ‘St Paul writes in 1 Corinthians, chapter 3, verses 1 and 2, that you may not be ready for solid food, so start off easy with milk’, Derryl reflects.

While tackling a Bible with around 1750 pages may be enough to scare the average reader, Derryl hopes his two-year journey helps to simply showcase the lifesaving message of the Bible – loud and clear.

However, the summary would never have been written had events on a New Year’s Eve fishing trip in 2003 turned out differently for Derryl. He, Aileen and a friend of the couple were lost at sea for 26 hours after their 20-foot boat capsized off Port Macquarie. Then, as during his challenges working on the Bible summary, Derryl put his trust in God.

Forced to hang onto the overturned hull for more than a day, they were seen by a passing Greek coal ship having drifted 150 kilometres north of where searchers were combing the sea. Derryl had been praying all through the night and felt that God was at work the next morning when their ultimate rescuer, who was winched down from a helicopter, called out to them: ‘Let go of what you are hanging on to, I have come to save you.’

Derryl is happy to share copies of the summary and can be contacted at deenasea.339@gmail.com

Helen Brinkman is a Brisbane-based writer who is inspired by the many GREYT people who serve tirelessly and humbly in our community. By sharing stories of how God shines his light through his people, she hopes others are encouraged to explore how they can use their gifts to share his light in the world. Know of any other GREYT stories in your local community? Email the editor lisa.mcintosh@lca.org.au

156

Your Voice – December 2023 – January 2024

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LETTERS FROM MEMBERS OF THE LCANZ

Prayer for voting delegates 

The debate on the ordination of women has lasted for three decades, numerous votes have been taken under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and the answer has always been ‘no’.

My understanding was that the last vote to be taken would be at the 2023 General Synod. Then someone thought of the radical idea – one church, two doctrines, which is a good recipe for division in our church. We are asked to pray for unity when we have a divisive proposition put to us, is it right that we put God to the test? I think not. It is like a country with two flags – it is divisive and hinders prosperity and growth. It is a statement that there are two parties with diverse views. You cannot have a foot in both camps (as the saying goes) and you can’t serve two masters, as God’s word says in Luke 16:13. We may as well go back to the ‘them and us’ days when we had two synods.

What we need is decisive leadership from our officials – don’t leave important decisions to our congregations, because it ultimately comes down to whether congregations accept the decision or break away and go their own way. We don’t want to see a repeat of a breakaway decision by a Christian denomination not long ago.

It is my fervent prayer that all delegates at our next General Synod, who have the responsibility of voting, will give prayerful consideration and a lot of thought before casting their votes. A lot depends on it.

Neil Bittner – Curramulka SA

Unity based on ‘oneness of the Trinity’

I write in response to the letter to The Lutheran (Oct-Nov 2023) regarding the unity of believers through ‘Christ crucified’ as the ‘overarching concern’ for the LCANZ’s future. This unity applies to all believers throughout the world. This unity of the Spirit is God-given and cannot be broken. And yet, by observation, there is not a visible unity among the believers of the world and the Holy Spirit is grieved by this.

I acknowledge that, at the formation of the LCA, there were dissenting voices to parts of the founding documents. This is lamentable, as is the breaking of fellowship between individuals and the LCANZ which has occurred since. Yet, there seemed agreement at union that our practice and doctrine (Scripture-derived teaching of the church) went together to teach that the ordained ministry belonged to those men called into that office to be supported by those not called into this office.

It would seem that, somewhere between the formation of the LCA and now, there has been a change in status of the teaching of male-only ordination from it being a part of the doctrine of the Holy Ministry to it now being considered a theological opinion outside of a genderless doctrine of the Holy Ministry. How did this occur?

The unity that is ours is based on the unity and oneness of the Holy Trinity. The fullness and purity of the Holy Trinity make us new creations with pure hearts in Holy Baptism. That is why the confession of the LCANZ includes the doctrine of Holy Baptism and the practice of infant baptism. This causes divisions and rejection among believers. The confession rejects this rejection. Does this have any parallels with what is happening in the debate over the ordination of women as well as men?

Karen Tromans – Glandore SA

Good to be reminded of evil forces

Thank you for the focus on ‘Angels and Demons’ in the latest edition of The Lutheran. Having attended Sunday school and church all my life (closing in on 80!), I sense a change in the focus of the sermons. In my younger years, the words devil, Satan and hell were often mentioned, but nowadays we seem intent on not upsetting people and rarely are these words mentioned.

The current state of chaos in the world and ‘wokeness’ is fertile ground for Satan and the malevolent beings in the heavenly realm. It is good to be reminded they exist and not fear them but depend on our Creator and Saviour to overcome these forces in our lives.

Otto Stumbras – Maryborough Qld

Let’s practise what we preach

In Australia, we’re taught to ‘swim between the flags’ for our own safety on our beaches.

A church that fails to ‘swim’ between the two bastions of Scripture (Old Testament and New Testament) risks being caught up in the rips of secularism. Failing to practise what we preach (i.e. a place ‘where love comes to life’) can lead to a lack of authenticity about ourselves. People are quick to judge false or misleading advertising.

Far better to return to why we exist, and to what we practised at the start, or risk lampstands being removed (Rev 2:1-7).

Rev Peter Fuhlbohm – Lavington NSW

Opinions expressed in letters are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect those of the editor or the Lutheran Church of Australia and New Zealand. Shorter letters will be given preference over longer letters. Subscribers’ letters will be given preference over those from non-subscribers. Letters longer than 300 words and those containing personal attack will not be published. No more than two letters from the same author will be published in a calendar year. Some letters may be edited for clarity.

157

Editor’s letter

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I remember fondly from my childhood a particular print that hung on a wall at home. The image was of a guardian angel watching over children walking across a rickety and damaged bridge over a gorge.

The oft-adapted famous painting is usually listed as ‘Lindberg Heilige Schutzengel’ (‘Holy Guardian Angel’), though the name of the actual artist is the subject of some conjecture. (Lindberg was one of the poster printers for the work, not its creator.) Perhaps you can picture it. And, if you can, perhaps like me, you found a sense of comfort and safety in the image. It reminds me of our cover text Psalm 91:11 – ‘God will command his angels to protect you wherever you go’.

I also remember that, on the night the woman who gave that picture to my mum died, it fell off the wall. Was that just a coincidence? I guess I’ll never know.

Of course, believing that angels are a reality is one thing. Acknowledging that there are demons and other forces of evil active in our world is quite another. But in Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, we read again and again about Satan and his dark purposes, just as we are told about the angels who serve and worship the one true God.

In his explanation of the first article of the Apostles’ Creed, Martin Luther says that the evil angels or devils are ‘spirits who were created holy, but sinned and are forever rejected by God; cunning, powerful, and of great number; enemies of God, and of man, [who] endeavour to destroy the works of God’.

No wonder thinking about the devil and his charges working among us can be terrifying.

But the warning of St Peter – ‘Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour’ (1 Peter 5:8) – is not the sum total of this story. God, as Father, Son and Spirit does not allow the Prince of Darkness to be sovereign over the earthly realm. Already in Genesis 3:15, God set in motion the plan for our rescue. And Luther again leaves us in no doubt in his explanation of the second article of the same creed – reminding us that our Lord has redeemed us, ‘purchased and won’ us from ‘sin, death and the power of the devil’.

God is in charge of the world we can’t see AND the world we can see, too.

In this edition, members of our Lutheran family share their reflections on and experiences of ways in which the spiritual and earthly realms intersect. I hope you will find them as enlightening, challenging and encouraging as I have.

In addition, you’ll find in these pages news, views and resources from around our church, along with our popular regular columns and devotional content.

May God bless your reading,

Lisa

158

Because we bear your name

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Bishop Paul’s letter

Rev Paul Smith
Bishop, Lutheran Church of
Australia and New Zealand

‘Let your holy angel be with me so that the evil one may have no power over me.’ I say those words every day with my wife, Heidi, as we begin our day praying together the ‘Morning Prayer’ written by Dr Martin Luther.

This prayer is part of the daily worship plan that Luther included in his Small Catechism so that everyday Christian people would have guidance about what to pray at the beginning and end of each day.

Because I pray these words so frequently, I have often reflected on why Luther would include this focus on the ‘holy angel’ and ‘evil one’ in a prayer to start each day.

Firstly, the words which focus on angels set our minds on the witness of the Bible. Throughout Scripture, angels are mentioned repeatedly. They appear in biblical stories as messengers from God to humankind and our English word, ‘angel’ is drawn from the original Biblical word which means ‘messenger’.

In particular, angels appear at key moments in the story of our Lord Jesus, from his birth where angels proclaimed, ‘Glory to God’ before the Bethlehem shepherds, to the empty tomb where the angel told the women ‘Go quickly and tell … ’.

Secondly, the mention of angels in Luther’s prayer lifts our eyes from mundane matters of the human world to the things of God and mysteries not fathomed by our human reason. We live in a material world where advertising has reduced our identity to ‘consumer’ of products and services.

At the same time, we are barraged by the human quest to be in control, to know all and be certain of everything. The mention of angels in the morning prayer captures the mystery of the gospel – that there is more to this life than what my eyes can see or what my mind can figure out.

Like all of us, our young people need to be reminded of God’s mystery at work in our world. They need this message that they are not alone but can pray with Luther’s words, ‘Let your holy angel be with me’. Here is that reminder that our gracious God is present and active, daily providing for us.

Finally, Luther’s mention of the ‘holy angel’ and the ‘evil one’ in his morning prayer, takes me to the work of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. I am a human being who is flesh and blood and born in sin. Therefore, I need a saviour from sin, death and the power of the devil.

At the start of the day, Luther wants Christians to recall that God has entered into my world to rescue me and to give me hope in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Because of the work of the cross, I know that ‘one little word’ can overcome all the powers of ‘the evil one’.

As I write this message for you, I am aware that Christmas is coming and soon our lives will be inundated with Christmas advertising. Because of their prominence in the nativity story, angels will appear for sale in stores.

Knowing that angel means ‘messenger’, you might consider giving a family member or friend the gift of a little angel to remind them of the mystery of God at work in the gospel of Jesus. But remember to include in the gift, something of the message of God for us all: ‘Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those upon whom God’s favour rests.’

‘Let your holy angel be with me.’ This short prayer keeps us focused on the scriptures and God’s gracious plan to bring us life and salvation, in mysteries beyond our human knowing.

I invite you to join Heidi and me, in regularly praying Luther’s morning prayer:

‘I thank you, heavenly Father, through your dear Son, Jesus Christ, that you have protected me through the night from all harm and danger. I ask you to keep me this day, too, from all sin and evil, so that in all my thoughts, words, and deeds, I may please you. In your hands I place my body and soul and all that is mine. Let your holy angel be with me, so that the evil one may have no power over me. Amen.’

In Christ,
Paul

Lord Jesus, we belong to you,
you live in us, we live in you;
we live and work for you –
because we bear your name.

159

The realm of God … of demons and angels

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On a number of occasions, I have surveyed people to find out their ideas about what happens in the spiritual realm – the world we cannot see. The realm of God, of demons and of angels.

I ask them, ‘How much of what happens in the spiritual world do you think impacts on your day-to-day living?’ The answers vary from ‘basically nothing’ to ‘a huge impact’. ‘Some days not much. Other days a lot.’

I also ask, ‘How much impact do you have in the spiritual world?’. Again, the replies range between ‘some’ and ‘a lot’.

My next question is, ‘What specifically do you do that impacts the spiritual world?’. The answers: ‘prayer’ or ‘how I live my life’.

My short survey certainly reveals a variety of ideas about what goes on in the spiritual world, how it impacts us and how we impact it. Lots of people have lots of different opinions based on what they have experienced and how they have interpreted those experiences.

But what does the Bible say about the spiritual realm? One book that says a lot on this subject is Ephesians. In Ephesians, Paul refers to the spiritual world as the ‘heavenly realms’.

I once read in the newspaper that an insurance survey revealed that one-third of all Britons believe that their houses are haunted, and a quarter are convinced that a poltergeist has moved their possessions. If they believe that, what do they believe they can do about it?

I’ve travelled to Vietnam, and you don’t have to convince the Vietnamese people that there is a spiritual realm.

I’ve spent time teaching the pastors there, based on what we read in the book of Ephesians. From that teaching, they told me they had learnt about the authority we as Christians have in the heavenly realms.

In New Testament times from what we know, the people of Ephesus were also very aware that there is a spiritual realm. Witchcraft was practised, there was a temple to the pagan goddess Artemis and the people witnessed demonic manifestations in others, as well as miraculous healings through Paul.

Paul didn’t have to convince the Ephesians of the existence of the unseen realms, but he did need to teach them the truth about what goes on there.

So, what does happen in the heavenly realms, in the world that we cannot touch, and we cannot see? Who is there? What do they do? What’s it got to do with me?

In the heavenly realms, we have every spiritual blessing. As Paul says in Ephesians 1:3, ‘Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ’.

It’s also where Jesus is … ‘he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms’ (Ephesians 1:20).

It’s where you and I are … ‘And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus’ (Ephesians 2:6).

If you are a Christian, you are already living in the heavenly realms. Not you will be, or could be, but ARE right now. It is a present reality.

And Ephesians is not the only place in the Bible where we are told that – examples include Luke 17:21 (‘The Kingdom of God is already among you’ – NLT).

If you never thought you could be in two places at once, think again. You’re reading this article and you’re sitting with Jesus in the heavenly realms.

The heavenly realms are also where rulers and authorities are. As Paul tells us in Ephesians 3:10, ‘His [God’s] intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms’.

What are those who are in the heavenly realms doing? Waging war against you and me.

In Ephesians 6 we read: ‘For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms’ (Ephesians 6:12).

But, critically, it’s not a battle between Jesus and the devil, with the result still undecided. Through Jesus’ death on the cross and resurrection, he defeated the devil. ‘In this way, God disarmed the evil rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross of Christ’ (Colossians 2:15 – NLT).

The victory has been won. At the time that Jesus decides, there is no question that the devil and all other evil forces will end up in hell. Until that time, there is still a battle going on in the heavenly realms. Jesus isn’t fighting the devil and his forces. We are the ones in the battle.

And what we do as we live our day-to-day lives does have a huge spiritual impact, which in turn has an impact on our day-to-day lives. For example, did you know that making peace with someone who you are angry with makes an impact in the heavenly realms?

Paul tells the Ephesians, ‘And “don’t sin by letting anger gain control over you”. Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry, for anger gives a mighty foothold to the devil’ (Ephesians 4:26,27 – NLT). Dealing with anger has an impact on earth and in the heavenly realms. It stops the devil from getting a foothold in your life.

Accompanying this article are two depictions that attempt to answer the question, ‘What do the heavenly realms look like?’. One picture was first drawn on a whiteboard about 30 years ago by a friend of mine. The other was painted in the Middle Ages and appeared in a Bible in 1534.

My friend, Shannon, drew a model of what the heavenly realms look like. I found it very helpful in how all these truths about the heavenly realms fit together.

The Bible talks about three places, or dimensions:

  • Heaven – where God is
  • The Heavens – where angels and demons are
  • Earth – where we are.

Heaven is also referred to by Paul as the third heaven, while heaven and ‘the heavens’ are ‘the heavenly realms’.

Jesus came down from heaven to earth – at his baptism it says that the heavens were torn open; the Spirit came down like a dove, and the Father spoke. After his death on the cross, the Bible says, ‘that God raised him up and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come’ (Ephesians 1:20,21).

When Shannon first drew this model for me, I had never seen anything like it. Then I saw a picture that Lucas Cranach painted which features in the Luther Bible from 1534.

When we are born again into God’s family, we are also seated in the heavenly realms. So, my spirit is in the two places – here in me, and also with Jesus. Seated next to Jesus, we have his authority and power.

We see in the Bible that Jesus used his authority to access the power of God to nurture and protect the good and to stop and overrule the bad.

He overruled the agenda of the devil, including driving out demons; he overruled sickness and injury in bodies when he healed and raised people from the dead; he showed authority over nature when he turned water into wine, calmed the storm and fed 5,000 people; and he showed authority over the human agenda of people influenced by evil (for example, Luke 4:28–30).

Of course, one way in which we access Jesus’ authority and power is to pray for God to work through us and in the lives of others.

Paul prayed for the believers in Ephesus at the start of his letter, that they would know three things: ‘I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you; the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints; and his incomparably great power for us who believe’ (Ephesians 1:18,19 – NIV).

The eyes of our heart to know the hope, riches and power that is ours. Sounds like good things to be familiar with, especially since they belong to you and me.

What would your life and my life look like if we really knew the hope, riches and power available to us? Can you imagine what God could do for us, in us and through us? It’s beyond our human comprehension.

As Paul concludes his prayer for the Ephesians, ‘Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen’ (Ephesians 3:20,21).

Pastor Michael Dutschke serves with the congregation of Grace Lutheran Church Bridgewater in the Adelaide Hills. He also leads prophetic ministry workshops on the topic of ‘Power and Authority in the Heavenly Realms’.

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Spiritual connections

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No two cultures are exactly alike in understanding or beliefs about spiritual matters, even within Christian traditions. There is also a diversity of views and customs among Indigenous peoples across Australia and New Zealand. But, for one First Nations perspective, we asked Dora Gibson, a Thuubi Warra woman from Hope Vale in Far North Queensland, for her thoughts about the spiritual side of life.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are traditionally very spiritual people and their connection with the land – with country – and how it was created is a big part of that. However, people of every ‘country’ within First Nations people are different, with different traditional customs and practices.

Even prior to Christianity coming into the community, there was a belief in the afterlife and the concept of a soul that lives on – in our Guugu Yimithirr language, we know the soul as Wa wu. There were dances that were about the spirits, too.

There was also a belief in a supreme being, a creator. When Christian missionaries came, we came to understand the supreme being as God.

Our animal totems connect us to the spirit world. For instance, if an elder passes, that particular animal shows itself through sound and image to let us know, and we have this intuition that our loved one has passed. Also, after a person passes, it is believed that when it rains soon after, the rain washes his or her footprints off this world.

We believe that when people die, parents or ancestors, they move to another realm. But sometimes they come back or stay and watch over you – they are like angels.

Dora Gibson is a retired teacher, a Hope Vale local commissioner with the Family Responsibilities Commission and an activity supervisor at the Hope Vale Community Activity Hub. She also runs cultural workshops and is a member of St John’s Lutheran Church Hope Vale.