Monday, 4 November 2013

Choice

Read John 18
Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then?”
  Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king.
  For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world,
 that I should bear witness to the truth.
  Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”
Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” 
 And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, 
“I find no fault in Him at all.
“But you have a custom that I should release someone to you at the Passover. 
 Do you therefore want me to release to you the King of the Jews?”
Then they all cried again, saying, “Not this Man, but Barabbas!” 
 Now Barabbas was a robber.
                                                                                                     John 18:37-40
“Pilate  said to Him, What is truth?” this phrase that has echoed down through the ages.  “What is truth?” the words of Pontius Pilate Governor.  It is something everyone who lives must ask about Jesus.
Pontius Pilate made a judgment on Jesus, he said, “I find no fault in Him at all.”
Pilate gave the crowd the chance to free Jesus.  But, as far as is recorded no one said release Jesus.
Represented in that crowd were three groups, the religious leadership of Jesus’ day, who claimed to know the Scriptures. The average person, standing in the crowd, and the secular government.
The representative of the secular government did what all governments do ‘bowed’ to political expediency.  Not wanting a riot, Pilate acquiesced to the demands of the crowd and gave into their demands.
The average person in the crowd did what the average person did in the crowd, not think.  Just followed taking on the mentality of the crowd.  Demanding without any thought, the death of an innocent man.
The religious leadership did what they did best, followed their dogma, their distorted beliefs, their self righteousness.  They played politics for fear that if the truth be known, they’d loose their position of power.  And as a result, they too committed an innocent man to death.
Something to think about
Truth was lost that day, but as Scripture says:
“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, 
to those who are the called according to His purpose.”
God had a purpose and a plan for Jesus’ life, the plan is stated earlier in the Gospel of John, when it says in John 3:16-18:
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes
 in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
     “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, 
but that the world through Him might be saved.
“He who believes in Him is not condemned; 
but he who does not believe is condemned already,
 because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
While sinful men perverted the truth and condemned the innocent son of God to death. God’s purpose was fulfilled. Christ died for our sins.
Thus giving us the same choice as those who condemned Christ at his trial had. To accept Him as Lord and Saviour or reject Him.

Wednesday, 30 October 2013

A Note to Christians in the LGBT Community

A note to Christians in the LGBT community

Authors Preface
I know when it comes to the word ‘sin’ with respect to the LGBT community, especially when it comes from a ‘Christian’ it raises very big red flags.
With many, particularly in the evangelical community centering out homosexuality as a so called ‘special sin’. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Remember Paul wrote, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” That all means everyone. From Billy Graham, to the pope, to the woman and man on the street. “All have sinned”.
What I have written here are what Christians believe. What defines a Christian. If you believe it and have prayed and asked Jesus to come into your life then by any Christians definition you are saved. You are a Christian.

A Christian believes John 14:7
  “ Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. 
No one comes to the Father except through me.” 
                                                                                             John 14:7
A Christian believes Romans 3:23-26
“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 
 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 
 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, 
through faith in his blood. 
He did this to demonstrate his justice,
 because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished
 he did it to demonstrate  his justice at the present time, 
so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”
                                                                                                  Romans 3:23-26

A Christiana believes that we were once slaves to sin. And that sin leads to separation for ever from God.
A Christian believes that the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus.
A Christian believes Ephesians 2:8-10
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--
and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--  
not by works, so that no one can boast. 
For we are God's workmanship, 
created in Christ Jesus to do good works,
 which God prepared in advance for us to do."
                                                                                       Ephesians 2:8-10
A Christian believes that it is by faith we are saved it is a gift of God. That we cannot work our way heaven.
That once we accept Christ by faith he comes into our lives and transforms us to his ways.
That if we truly have accepted Christ, we will want to do what he wishes and that the change in our life will be evident to those around us.

A Christian believes and obeys Jesus when He said,
“Do not judge, or you too will be judged.  
For in the same way you judge others, 
you will be judged, 
and with the measure you use, 
it will be measured to you.”
                                                                             Matthew 7:1,2
Christians are not the judges of the world.

Christians are the presenters of salvation to the world. Matthew 28: 18-20 clearly states this.
 “Then Jesus came to them and said,
 "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, 
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
  and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.
 And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”


Becoming a Christian is a conscious choice. One we must make when we fully understand what we are doing.
It is not incumbent on if our parents were Christian. It has nothing to do with the lifestyle we live.
It is all about a decision we as an individual must make, be we from the LGBT community or the heterosexual community.
I am certain there are as many heterosexual people, including many pastors and evangelist that will find themselves in hell much to their surprise.
Contrary to what many,... most, of my friends in the evangelical community think, I believe there are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered Christians.
After all becoming a Christian is simply believing what I have quoted above and saying a simple prayer asking Christ into ones life. A prayer like this.

Dear Heavenly Father
I recognize that Jesus is your one and only Son that he came to earth to die a sacrificial death for the sins of all mankind.
I admit that I am a sinner as are all people. I therefore accept Jesus as my Lord and his sacrificial death for my sins.
Please Lord Jesus come into my heart and life this day. Direct my path from this day forward.
Amen.
If you have believed all I have written above and have prayed this prayer they Jesus will come into your life and if you let Him will direct your path in life.
If you already are a Christian let your light shine to those around you. Point people to Christ both in word and in deed.

Monday, 14 October 2013

Give Thanks


“Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. 
Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. 
Know that the LORD is God. 
It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. 
Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; 
give thanks to him and praise his name. 
For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
 his faithfulness continues through all generations.” 
                                                                                          Psalm 100

As I write this it is thanksgiving morning in Canada. A time when we can reflect and give thanks to God for all we have.
I am not a Canadian I am simply a landed emigrant although I’ve spent most of my life here.
As a result I have been blessed richly by this country.
Thanks to the freedom of worship in this land I was introduced to my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
I was through serving the Lord introduced to my wife whom I have been with for thirty-four years.
As a result we have two wonderful children both of whom are serving the Lord in various capacities.
While there have been difficulties from time to time life has still been good to me and my family.
We know God will not forsake us. We know he loves us and will take us safely through even the worst storm. Which he has.
My oldest son when he was eight was hit by a car and lay in a coma for a week. With the doctors telling us every day he was in the coma meant that he may not recover fully.
After much prayer, God answered us and he today is in his mid thirties perfectly normal and planning his wedding.
My younger son just recently fell twelve feet from a ladder in Kenya and broke both bones in his lower leg.
He just happened to be near one of the best hospitals in Africa and there just happened to be one of the best bone specialist from England available to fix his leg.
He did an excellent job according to the Canadian doctors my son went to upon returning to Canada.
That to me is God.
Over the last two years both my wife and I have had to have life saving surgery after being rushed to hospital.
Surgery we came through with out any problems.
Not only that thanks to the Canadian health care system we didn’t have any medical bills.
The God I serve is a great and mighty God and I for one am thankful for all he has done for me and my family.
Above all I am thankful that God sent his one and only Son Jesus Christ to die for my sins. That I upon accepting Him into my life am assured of my salvation and a place in heaven.
Dear reader do you have that assurance.
Do you know for certain that if you were to die to day that you would get to heaven?
Jesus said “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6. 
The apostle John wrote, “If we confess our sins, he (Jesus) is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9.
All we have to do is pray a simple prayer and ask Jesus into our lives a prayer like this,
Dear Heavenly Father
I recognize that I am a sinner. That I have done things wrong in my life and fall short of what you want for my life.
I recognize that Jesus Christ is your one and only Son who came to this earth to die for my sins. To save me and show me the way to heaven.
I accept Him as my Lord and Saviour.
Please dear Jesus come into my life today. Cleanse me from my sins.
I give you permission to work within my life conforming my life to your ways.
Amen.
If you prayed that prayer and truly mean it then you can be assured of getting into heaven. It really is that easy.
Now I would urge you to get a Bible and read it. Also pray and ask God to lead you to a bible believing Church. One that believes you are saved by faith according to Ephesians which states, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—   not by works, so that no one can boast.” 
Ephesians 2:8,9
And may God bless you.

Monday, 7 October 2013

What Jesus said about Himself


"Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” 
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."  John 14:5,6

Jesus makes it clear in the above statement. There is only one way to haven, through him.
You hear people all over the world today stating that there are many ways to heaven. But Jesus clearly states there is not.
The only way to heaven is through him. There is no middle ground. He states “No one comes to the Father except through me.” it couldn’t be any clearer.
This is an incredible claim yet it is the base of what Christians believe. We cannot deny or modify it as it is a clear statement of the author and finisher of our faith.
Getting into heaven is an act of faith in Jesus Christ it is not an act of works. In Christian thought no one can be good enough to work their way to heaven. They always fall short even if it’s in the smallest of ways.
The apostle Paul writes, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”
                                                                                                          Ephesians 2:8,9
God however is an inclusive God. He does not care who you are, what lifestyle you live, your ethnic origin or your status in life.
He cares only for you.
My challenge for you the reader is to read the new Testament and see what God through his Son Jesus Christ has to offer you.

Monday, 23 September 2013

Jesus is God

Read John 10
“I am the good shepherd; 
and I know My sheep, and am known by My own.
“As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father;
 and I lay down My life for the sheep.
“And other sheep I have which are not of this fold;
 there also I must bring, and they will hear
 My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.
“Therefore My Father loves Me, 
because I lay down My life that I may take it again.
“No one takes it from Me,
 but I lay it down of Myself,
 I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.
  This command I have received from My Father.
Therefore there was a division again among the Jews because of these sayings.
And many of them said, 
“He has a demon and is mad.  Why do you listen to Him?”
Others said,
 “These are not the words of one who has a demon, 
“Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”
                                                                                                             John 10:14-21
Who is Jesus?  This is the question you and everyone who hears about Him must answer.  It is a controversy, that has been around since Jesus started His ministry.  No other spiritual leader in history, has made such claims.
Jesus claimed to be God.  Those who opposed Him point that out as recorded in John 10:32,33:
Jesus answered them,
 “Many good works I have shown you from My Father. 
 For which of those words do you stone Me?”
The Jews answered Him, saying,
 “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because
 You, being a Man, make Yourself God.”
If Jesus was not God, He had to be as C. S. Lewis stated “a lunatic, as mad as someone who thinks he is a poached egg.”
Calling Himself God, or claiming to be equal to God, was going to get you killed in the days Jesus walked the earth.  The only other possibility, is that He was who He said He was.  The choice is that simply.
Something to think about:
                  John 10:21 states:
"Others said,
 “These are not the words of one who has a demon, 
“Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”
John 10:40-42 goes onto state:
And He went away again beyond the Jordan 
to the place where John was baptizing at first, and there He stayed.
Then many came to Him and said, 
“John performed no sign, but all the things that John spoke about this Man are true.”
And many believed in Him there."

Question: Who do you think Jesus is?

Wednesday, 18 September 2013

Unifying Love

Read John 17
I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me 
through their word;
“that they all may be one
 as You Father, are in Me,
 and I in You; 
that they also maybe one in Us,
 that the world may believe that
 You sent Me....
“I in them, and You I Me that they maybe made perfect in one, 
and that the world may know that You have sent Me, 
and have loved them as You have loved Me.
“And I have declared to them Your name,
 and will declare it,
 that the love with which You loved Me
 maybe in them,
 and I in them.”
                                                                       John 17:20, 21-23, 26
Here in Chapter 17 of John, Jesus prays for Himself, the disciples and in verse 20 to 26 for all believers.
He prays for their unity in love.  That the love of God, be in them, as it was in Christ.
We, as individual Christians, must first of all know what we believe and why we believe it.  That is why we must study the Word of God, and sit under a good teacher, we trust.
Then, it is absolutely, imperative, that we find a church congregation that believes as we do or as close as we can find.  A congregation where we feel God would have us work.  And we must submit ourselves to that group.
In order to do this, we must think, and pray.
A Bible School teacher once said to me, “most Christians think with their heart and forget God gave them a brain for that purpose.
They think their hands are only to use to pick things up with, not put together in prayer, and that their ears are the only thing they hear with.”
What he meant was, many Christians go to where they feel good, not necessarily, where God wants them.  That they never pray and seek God’s guidance about which church they should attend or what they should do.  They listen to others and what comes in through their ears, not what God is telling their heart.
Here Jesus talks about the unity of the believers, about them being one.  And He asks:
“that the love with which You loved Me  maybe in them,  and I in them.”
Something to think about:
I go back to the words of the Apostle Paul in 1Corinthinas 13:4-8a
“Love suffers long and is kind: love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil. does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.”
This is what Jesus prayed for, for all Christians. This is the kind of love we must show to both our brothers and sisters in Christ and the whole world.

Wednesday, 11 September 2013

What Really Matters


“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.... 
                                                                          Genesis 1:1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, 
and the Word was God.  
He was with God in the beginning. 
Through him all things were made; 
without him nothing was made that has been made...
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. 
We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, 
full of grace and truth. 
                                                                                       John 1:1-3, 14

Perhaps one of the most controversial parts of the Bible is the Genesis chapter one, the creations chapter.
Non Christians point to it and say how could the world be made in six twenty-four hour days. They claim it took aeons.
Frankly I could care less. It doesn’t make any difference to my faith if the world was made in a hundred forty-four hours or a hundred forty-four billion years.
I believe the universe and everything in it was created by God. AND more importantly I believe that Jesus is God.
That he came to earth to live among His creation, to point mankind to heaven.
Jesus said of himself,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, 
that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  
For God did not send his Son into the world 
to condemn the world,
 but to save the world through him.  
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, 
but whoever does not believe stands condemned already 
because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. "
                                                                                                     John 3:16-18
God gives us a free will but he makes it clear that we have only two choices in this life.
To either accept Jesus for who he says he is. The very Son of God the Saviour of the world, or to reject him as a liar who has perpetuated the most monumental lie in human history.
The choice dear reader is yours.
Do you believe Jesus is Lord and God. The creator of the universe who came to earth to pay the price for your sins?
If you believe, then the question is, if you were to die tonight are you certain you would get to haven?
If not hear is a prayer you may want to pray.
Dear Heavenly Father
I know that I am a sinner. That I fall short of what you want for me in my life. 
I recognize that Jesus is your One and Only Son. That he came to die to take away my sins.
Please forgive me of my sins.
Please Lord Jesus come into my heart and life this day. Lead me and guide me from this day forward.
Amen

If you prayed this prayer and really meant it then Jesus will come into your life. I urge you to read the Bible. Start with the New Testament and read through the whole Bible.
Pray before you read each chapter that God will reveal Himself to you and that He will reveal what you are reading means to you personally.
The next thing is to pray and find a good church in your area.
I personally would recommend a good Baptist church as I have found their teachings to be very well balanced and in line with the word of God.
But above all of this Pray, Pray, Pray, that God would lead you to the right church or group of believers that can help you grow in Christ.
And remember always that with God in your life, if you let Him, He will change your life in a wonderful way.

Sunday, 8 September 2013

You are Grass

You Are Grass

“A voice says, “Cry out.” And I said, “What shall I cry?” 
“All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. 
The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the LORD blows on them. Surely the people are grass. 
The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.” 
                                                                                                     Isaiah 40:6-8
      Question, do you know who the following are?
Humphry Davy, Peter Durand, Samuel Fahnestock, Barthelemy Thimonnier, John Walker.
Each one of these men have a first to their name. Each one created what today are common things, Humphry Davy invents the first electric light, the first arc lamp.
Peter Durand invents the tin can. Samuel Fahnestock patented a soda fountain.  Barthelemy Thimonnier invents a sewing machine. John Walker invents modern matches.
These men invented things we in the twenty-first century take for granted yet their names for the most part are lost to history. Remembered only in dusty library books or found in the occasional google search.
There inventions it could be argued made life somewhat better today. Yet their inventors names are not remembered.
“The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the LORD blows on them. Surely the people are grass.”
States the prophet. “People are grass.
Have you ever looked out over a field of tall grass? Have you ever picked out a single blade of grass somewhere in the middle of that field. Then closed your eyes and turned three hundred sixty degrees, opened your eyes and tried to find that exact blade of grass again?
It’s virtually impossible.
That’s the way it is with humanity. Most people will enter this world live their whole lives in almost total obscurity and die never to be remembered except by a few close family. Even then after several generations the person is forgotten.
“The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.” Nero the persecutor of Christians has long past on to stand before his judge. And other than his name what he said is unknown.
Yet the word of God he tried to suppress continues on.
God’s word in the Bible is eternal. It is a road map to heaven. It doesn’t change. The words are eternal.
Today as you’re reading this I urge you to pick up a Bible and read it from cover to cover.
I find many of those who don’t believe the Bible have never read it. They have come to the conclusion that it is a flawed book with mistakes. Yet when asked to name a dozen mistakes in it they can’t.
I believe the Bible because I have read it with an open mind and come to the conclusion that it what is contained within it is real and relevant for today.
Can you honestly say you have read it without any preconceived ideas and come to the conclusions you hold today.
Think about it.

Sunday, 18 August 2013

The Strongest Bulwark


Faith in God is the strongest bulwark of a free society.  Human freedom began when men became conscious that over and above society and nature there is a God who created them...who fashioned them in His likeness, and that they are, therefore, possessed of intrinsic and independent significance and are endowed, as individuals, with original and irrevocable rights and authority.
                                  Abba Hillel Silver
All societies around the world believe in an afterlife, weather their governments or the intellectuals of their society believe it or not. Likewise the majority of people believe in God. Some in many god’s.
I wonder without God would mankind even be around today?
Think about it. In order to exist mankind needs a set of morals to live up to. A set of guidelines to live by.
I grew up in the “do your own thing” era. As long as is didn’t hurt anyone you could just do what you wanted.
Still even those who espoused this kind of lifestyle realized there was a basic of rules we had to live by. Do not murder for example, don’t bare false witness. Be honest in all you do.
Which begs the question where did our morals come from?
Was it possible for the cave man to write a universal set of morals? A moral code that even the most ardent atheist follows today thousands of years on?
It seems to me that the basic moral code all people live by is with us from the moment we are born. Perhaps proving it is part of our very make up as human beings. Psalm 139:13 hints at just such a thing,
“For you created my inmost being;you knit me together in my mother’s womb”
For me I cannot believe that all of what we have today is by chance or random acts in the universe that just happened to result in us. There has to be a creator.
As I look at what Atheist and many scientist believe I wonder who has the greater faith, them, or me?
I think it takes greater faith to believe there is no God or Creator of the universe than it does to believe.
I see the world as carefully crafted. Very much in the same way an engineer would build it.
Just looking into something as common as a tree leaf fills me with amazement knowing that beyond what I can see with my naked eye are intricate arrangements of cells. All of which work together to make the leaf what it is.
Such structure to me cannot be mere chance. There has to be a God.
It is my firm belief that given enough time and provided scientist keep an open mind they will one day prove there is a creator. That the universe is not just chaos and random chance.
I see such proof coming to light as scientist study fractals. Its something that has been around for several centuries but only recently, with the advent of modern computer capacity has it started to be studied in depth.
I have a definition of Fractal’s that comes from, what is .com, it states,
“The term "fractal" was coined by Benoit Mandelbrot in 1975. It comes from the Latin fractus , meaning an irregular surface like that of a broken stone. Fractals are non-regular geometric shapes that have the same degree of non-regularity on all scales. Just as a stone at the base of a foothill can resemble in miniature the mountain from which it originally tumbled down, so are fractals self-similar whether you view them from close up or very far away. Fractals are the kind of shapes we see in nature. ...
We find trees, mountains, rocks and cloud formations in nature, but what is the geometrical formula for a cloud? How can we determine the shape of a dollop of cream in a cup of coffee? Fractal geometry, chaos theory, and complex mathematics attempt to answer questions like these. Science continues to discover an amazingly consistent order behind the universe's most seemingly chaotic phenomena.”
I like that last sentence “Science continues to discover an amazingly consistent order behind the universe's most seemingly chaotic phenomena.”
Science is an on going process. It is not complete. All good scientist are continually asking questions searching for answers.
Much of humanity is looking for answers this is most prominent when they are near death or someone close to them is near death.
Sadly today all to many people are looking for the answer to life in all the wrong places.
They need to turn to the Bible and learn about Almighty God and the saving power of His Son Jesus Christ.

Tuesday, 13 August 2013

Eternal Consequences


Read Titus 2
But as for you, 
speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine:
that the older men
 be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience;
the older women likewise,
 that they be reverent in behaviour,
 not slanderers, not given to much wine,
 teachers of good things–
that they admonish the young women to 
love their husbands, 
to love their children.
To be discreet,
 chaste, homemaker’s, good, 
obedient to their own husbands, 
that the Word of God may not be blasphemed.
Likewise, exhort the young men to be sober-minded,
in all things showing yourself 
to be a pattern of good works: in doctrine
 showing 
integrity, reverence, incorruptibility,”
sound speech that cannot be condemned, 
that one who is an opponent maybe ashamed, 
having nothing evil to say of you.”
                                        Titus 2:1-8
Take a good look at the words above in
* all things showing yourself
* to be a pattern of good works in doctrine showing
* showing integrity,
* sound speech that cannot be condemned
* having nothing evil to say of you.”
All too often, people do have evil to say of Christians, because the example they have seen is negative.
Some groups of people don’t feel welcome in our churches.  They feel they are being condemned.  As a result, they run the other way, when asked to come.
     The world sees self-appointed Christian leaders and speakers, pointing fingers in judgment at various groups. As a result they call all Christians hypocrites, and hate mongers or worse.
The world sees Christian businesses as a Christian version of the secular world.  They see no difference between us and the world.  How sad.
“Judge not” said Jesus.
While Paul here, tells us we should be an example of integrity, reverence, incorruptibility and sound speech that cannot be condemned.  (Titus 2:7)
Something to think about
  I think the key in all of this is that we should be vigilant in what we say and do. We should be very different from the world.
Our churches should be a place where all are welcome regardless of who they are or their lifestyle.
Our Christian leaders should be held to a much higher standard than that of the world. And we should be willing to stand up to those leaders who are in error and correct them in accordance to scriptural principles.
All to often this does not happen but it must.
For if we do not live up to the standards of God. If we do not make our leaders both in the churches and in the media live up to the standards God has ordained for them it will have eternal consequences.
Eternal Consequences for those who don’t live up to the standard and those who were turned from Christ because of them.
Think about it.

Thursday, 8 August 2013

Think about it.

“He spreads out the northern  skies  over empty space; 
he suspends the earth over nothing.” 
                                                                                                        Job 26:7
You can think of the Bible what you want. I have always maintained that it is not a science book. It is a book calling people to have faith in the one true God.
Job obviously believed that God created the heavens and the earth as to do I. And  it matters little to me weather the world was formed in six days or six millennium or six trillion years. It does not affect my faith.
Throughout the bible however God reveals Himself to us. He takes a man like Job and inspires him to write the above statement.
On Christmas of 1968 as someone has put it “Apollo 8 discovers the earth,” taking the first ever photograph of earth from space as they orbit the moon.
God is very real and he shows himself in a myriad of different ways to us.
The Psalmist writes,
"The heavens declare the glory of God; 
the skies proclaim the work of his hands." 
                                                            Psalm 19:1                          Astronomers have a place they call the Goldilocks zone. It is the place they look for around distant stars. The place where the right conditions exist for possible life.
The place is like where we are located around the sun.
Our planet is exactly the right distance from the sun. It is exactly the right temperature, (a few degrees either way and we couldn’t live on earth). It has exactly the right balance of gasses, liquids and everything else we need to exist.
That is one of the reasons I firmly believe God exists and that he made the earth the heavens and everything in them.
I firmly believe it takes more faith to be an atheist than it does to be a Christian. I also believe that given time man will see that everything is connected and that connection leads to God.
One just has to look at the complexity of something as simple and everyday as a tree, a blade of grass or an ant climbing on them.
Intricately detailed bio-mechanisms that point to a divine creator.
                                                                                 Think about it.

Monday, 5 August 2013

Dust in the Wind

Kerry Livgren of the group Kansas wrote,
I close my eyes
Only for a moment and the moment's gone
All my dreams
Pass before my eyes with curiosity

Dust in the wind
All they are is dust in the wind.

Are we that, just dust in the wind?
Isaiah the prophet wrote,
A voice says, “Cry out.” And I said, “What shall I cry?” 
“All men are like grass,and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. 
The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the LORD blows on them. Surely the people are grass. 
The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.” 
                                                                                                           Isaiah 40:6-8.

If you listen to an atheist I’m sure they would give you that impression. To their mind we are born we procreate and die ending in oblivion. I can’t believe that.
I believe there is in every man, woman and child that has ever walked the face of the earth, a piece of eternity.
I believe inside every human being there is at the very least a knowledge that there is something awaiting us after death.
Throughout history we have whole civilizations that made elaborate preparations for a journey to the after life.
There is not one civilization known to man that hasn’t believed in some kind of life after death.
I believe sadly that men claiming to be wise. Possessing a wealth of knowledge of this life have become blind to what happens after death. They are blind because they only understand what they see, feel and hear. They many times see faith as a crutch and dismiss it.
We are made in the image of God and when this life is through we will meet Him as our saviour or our judge.
We I strongly believe we will be given every opportunity in this life to come to a saving knowledge that only comes through Christ Jesus.
In order to do that however a leap of faith is required and that is hard. And to me it seems to be made harder with the more knowledge one possesses.
Many point and say the Bible contradicts science. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Firstly the Bible is a book of faith not science. And if it seems to contradict science it is the interpreter that is in error.
Science I believe should God tarry will one day prove the existence of God.
In the mean time Jesus calls out through the Bible.  
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  
For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” 
                                                                                                        Matthew 11:28-30
Will you turn your life over to Jesus today?
Think about it.