An Eternity Poem

An Eternity Poem
The poet wrote,

Where are the people?

Where?

Are they but shadows in the mall?

Are they?

Are they shadows in time,

Shadows wandering looking for the latest trinkets, bobbles and beads.

What is life?

What?

Is life but a wisp of smoke carried in the air?

A wisp in the eternal ether 

Are people wisps?

What of man’s or woman’s! accomplishments?

What of them?

Is the sum total of all ones life simply a pile of shinny tin, brass, and wood?

Is that life?

Is life simply a cacophony of sounds travelling through endless time?

Is it?

Or 

Is a life.

Yours or mine, 

more?

Is it a divine opera?

An opera played out on a high mesa 

A stage suspended between heaven and hell.

Are we as Shakespeare said simply actors?

Life is real,

 an opera, 

Played out before God.

On a high mesa between heaven and hell.

We are but actors in a play?

Actors awaiting the final curtain call 

sending us to eternity?

Are you ready for the final curtain call?

Are you?

What is the sum total of your life?

What?

A man lives in deeds,

What will your deeds say about you?

What will “they” say about you as you pass on?

What will God say?

Jesus said,

‘Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. 

If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, 

I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.’ 

                                                               Revelations 3:20

The Apostle Paul wrote,

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—

and this not from yourselves, 

it is the gift of God— 

Ephesians 2:8

The writer of Hebrews wrote, 

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for 

and certain of what we do not see...

And without faith it is impossible to please God, 

because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists 

and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”

                                                                                        Hebrews 11:1,6

Jesus speaking of Himself said,

“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

Where will you spend eternity?

Where?

Will you accept Jesus Christ into your heart and life today?

Will you pray.
Dear Heavenly Father,
I recognize that Jesus is your one and only Son.
That he came to earth to die for my sins.
I confess I am a sinner and that I fall short of what you want for my life.
Please forgive me of my sins and come into my life.
That I may spend eternity with you

                                      In Jesus name I pray
                                                   Amen.
Please think about it.

Too Late?

Too Late?
Billy Graham said,
“The Bible says today is the accepted time, today is the day of salvation... But there will come a time when it will be too late for you.”
                                               Billy Graham.
There was I believe an eternal question asked by Jesus to Martha that everyone must answer in their hearts. Jesus said,
“Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies;  and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
“Yes Lord” she told Him, “I believe you are the Christ the Son of God, who was to come into the world, 
       John 11:25,26.
Each and every person who hears the truth about Jesus Christ must make a decision on who He is.
C. S. Lewis said,
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” 
                                                                                         C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity.
What I would ask, you the person reading this, is to read the New Testament and see what Jesus said about himself. See what the Apostles wrote and believed about Jesus then make your decision as to who Jesus is. So you can answer the question Jesus asked Martha,
“Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies;  and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
Do you?

A Simple Truth

A simple truth

C. S. Lewis wrote,
“A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word 'darkness' on the walls of his cell.” 
                                                                                 C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain.
God exists whether the individual wants to admit it or not.
Peter John Kreeft wrote,
“Atheism treats people cheaply. Also, it robs death of meaning, and if death has no meaning, how can life ultimately have meaning? Atheism cheapens everything it touches, look at the results of communism, the most powerful form of atheism on earth.
And in the end, when the atheist dies and encounters God instead of nothingness he had predicted he’ll recognize that atheism was a cheap answer because it refused the only thing that’s not cheap the God of infinite value”
                                          Peter John Kreeft ph.d 
The nice thing about God is that He gave man a freewill. In order to be truly free however God had to give man the right to believe what he wishes. And if the individual chooses not to believe in God that is their choice.
The bottom line is simple however.
Jesus said about 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
If what Jesus said is not true. If what Christians believe is not true that there is a God and Jesus Christ is God’s one and Only Son, then the unbeliever has nothing to fear.
If on the other hand Christians are correct in their beliefs then the non-believer has a great deal to fear.
Are you certain what you believe is true?
Please think about it.

A Message for you

A Message for you

Luke the writer of the book of acts tells us about this incident in the apostle Pauls life. Luke writes,
“So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there.  
A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to dispute with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.   Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?  
You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we want to know what they mean.”  
(All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.) 
Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious.  
For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you. 
“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.  
And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.  
From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.  
God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.  
‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ 
“Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man’s design and skill.  
In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.  
For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.” 
When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.”  
At that, Paul left the Council.  
A few men became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others”
                                                                                              Acts 17:17-34.
The message the apostle Paul delivered that day to the Athenians is the same message God wants the people of the world to here today.
It is the message all true Christians want people to consider.
Please think about it.

You and Eternity

You and Eternity
The American Evangelist Tony Campolo said,
“The Jesus of the Scripture transcends all nations and calls all nations into judgment.”
                                                                                                                       Tony Campolo
Jesus made things very clear. Speaking of himself he said,
“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.
In Jesus God reaches down to man. He says I love you so much I entered my creation in the form of my one and only Son Jesus Christ.
The apostle Paul explains
“For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,” 
                                                                                           Colossians 2:9
Writing to the Romans the apostle Paul says,
“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.”
                                                                                                                                           Romans 5:6.
We, every man and woman that has ever lived are those ungodly people. We fall short of God’s ideal for our lives daily. We are far from perfect.
As the apostle Paul puts it,
“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”
                                                                                 Romans 3:23.
Sinning is falling short of God’s ideal. Sin separates us from God.
Paul however gives us hope. To the Ephesians he 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.
It is our faith in Christ that saves us. No one is perfect enough to stand before God. We all sin and fall short of God’s ideal for our lives. That is why we must accept the saving grace of Jesus.
The apostle John writes,
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.  
If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.” 
1 John 1:9-10.
By accepting by faith that Jesus is the one and only Son of God. By accepting that he died for your sins. Then confessing those sins to God directly you will receive eternal life with God.
The Apostle John telling us,
“Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—  children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” 
                   John 1:12,13.
Please think about it.

God exists like it or not!

God exists like it or not!
           C. S. Lewis wrote,
“A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word 'darkness' on the walls of his cell.” 
                                                                                C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain
“He(God)  has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men;...”  
     Ecclesiastes 3:11a.
Like it or not God exists. Individuals may deny His existence but that’s not to say God does not exist.
There’s an old joke that goes like this.
“A young school boy said to his teacher “Miss I believe in God.” to which the teacher said,
“Joey you can’t see God. Can you?”
“No.” said Joey.
“You can’t touch God can you?” said the teacher.
“No” said Joey.
“Then if you can’s see Him or touch Him, how can you believe He exist.” said the teacher
Joey thought for a moment and said “I cant see or touch your brain does that mean it doesn’t exist?”
Just because we can’t see or touch things doesn’t mean they don’t exist ask any good scientist will tell you that.
Abba Hillel Silver wrote,
“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.
Without fear of God’s judgement ultimately man could do anything he wants.
Rabbi Benjamine Blech wrote,
“In the aftermath of Nazi Germany we must once and for all understand that culture and crematoria are not mutually exclusive.  Scientific progress does not ensure moral protection, nor can secular humanism produce saints.  People will always find reasons to justify any kind of behaviour.”
-Rabbi Benjamin Blech, congregational rabbi and ancient professor of Talmud, Understanding Judaism.  The Basics of Deed and Creed (1991).
When God is left out of the picture. When man does not fear judgement, individuals and society suffer.
Hitler and his henchmen did not fear God. Nor do modern day terrorist. Nor for that matter do criminals of any kind. Be they murderers or thieves. These people throw out the moral code I believe God has written on the hearts of every individual. Morals such as do not kill, do not steal and so forth.
They if you will have set themselves up as the absolute moral authority. I’m sure Hitler and those in charge of the death camps believed they were moral people. Even though the rest of humanity would disagree.
Whether individuals believe there is a God to fear or not He is there. I also believe the words of Ecclesiastes that says,
“Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole  duty  of man. 
For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.” 
 Ecclesiastes12:13,14.
The choice however to believe in God is up to you the individual.
All I would ask is that you please think about it.

Kindness

Kindness
Anne Frank wrote,
“Give of yourself, give as much as you can?  And you can always, always give something, even if it is only kindness!  If everyone were to do this and not be as mean with a kindly word, then there would be much more justice and love in the world.  Give and you shall receive, much more than you would have ever thought possible.  Give, give again and again, don’t lose courage, keep it up and go on giving!  No one has ever become poor from giving!”                                                         Anne Frank.
Anne Frank knew what it was like to experience hate. She spent a good part of her short life hiding from the Nazis in the occupied Netherlands. Anne eventually died in a concentration camp the results of men who simply hated her and those like her because of who they were.
Such hatred is happening in the world today. I don’t see much love coming from the terrorist groups who are promising a better way of living.
You cannot have a better society if even just one person in your society is centred out to hate.
T. H. White wrote,
“There was just such a man when I was young—an Austrian who invented a new way of life and convinced himself that he was the chap to make it work. He tried to impose his reformation by the sword, and plunged the civilized world into misery and chaos. But the thing which this fellow had overlooked, my friend, was that he had a predecessor in the reformation business, called Jesus Christ. 
Perhaps we may assume that Jesus knew as much as the Austrian did about saving people. But the odd thing is that Jesus did not turn the disciples into storm troopers, burn down the Temple at Jerusalem, and fix the blame on Pontius Pilate. 
On the contrary, he made it clear that the business of the philosopher was to make ideas available, and not to impose them on people.” 
                                        T. H. White, The Once and Future King.
Terrorist groups around the world today are using the same tactics Hitler and every despot in history has ever used, the sword.
Napoleon Bonaparte noted,
“You speak of Caesar, of Alexander, of their conquests and of the enthusiasm which they enkindled in the hearts of their soldiers; but can you conceive of a dead man making conquests, with an army faithful and entirely devoted to his memory? My armies have forgotten me even while living, as the Carthaginian army forgot Hannibal. Such is our power.”
“I know men and I tell you, Jesus Christ is no mere man. Between him and every other person in the world there is no possible term of comparison. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have founded empires. But on what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded his empire upon love; and at this hour, millions would die for him.”
“I search in vain history to find similar to Jesus Christ, or anything which can approach the gospel.  Neither history nor humanity, nor ages, nor nature, offer me anything with which I am able to compare it or to explain it. Here everything is extraordinary.”
                                                                                               Napoleon Bonaparte.
Alexander the great, the Romans, Hannibal, Napoleon, and Hitler tried to rule the world by force. Today they are footnotes in history. Their fame fading their empires gone.
Yet Jesus the man who was born in the back roads of the Roman empire has a following that is represented in every country on the face of the earth.
Jesus who is the Son of God showed the world how to live. How to change the world. Jesus when asked,
 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 
Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’  
This is the first and greatest commandment.  
And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  
All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” 
                                                                           Matthew 22:36-40
Jesus also said,
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  
But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.  
If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?  
  And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?”
  Matthew 5:43-47.
Love for God, your neighbour and your enemy is something that terrorist groups and other groups that spout hate have not learned.
Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver wrote,
“There is one other fundamental difference between love and hate.  Love is always a refuge.  Hate is never a refuge.  Only a mentally sick person can find refuge in his hates.  But love is the enduring sanctuary of life.  Life may rob you of many things.  It often does.  But it can never bereave us of love itself.  That remains.
-Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver, rabbinic leader, from a December 22, 1940, sermon, quoted in Therefore Choose Life.
Terrorist groups and others spouting hate will never prevail ultimately they like the emperors and kings before them that have tried to conquer the world will be in the end a tiny footnote in history.
Ultimately those who hate will answer to God and be tried for their hate, and their crimes against God and humanity.
The writer of Proverbs wrote,
“Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. 
Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man.” 
                                                                               Proverbs 3:3,4.
This is what we all need to do.
Please think about it. 

Of God and Heaven

Of God and Heaven
Jesus said,
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. 
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls.  
When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.” 
                                                                                                                             Matthew 13:44-46.
As a Christian this is how I see heaven. It is a treasure, the finest of pearls. It is to be desired above all things on this earth. There is nothing to compare.
Man has known throughout history that there is a heaven and a hell. I believe its because it’s part of man’s make up. The writer of Ecclesiastes writes,
“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”  
                                                                                     Ecclesiastes 3:11.
Man being finite has a hard time understanding eternity yet he knows its there whether he wants to admit it or not he will one day end up.
Those who admit there is a heaven have throughout history strived to get there.
Throughout history through the Jewish scriptures, Moses and the prophets God has pointed man to himself.
On top of all of this he has sent his one and only Son Jesus. 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.
In Jesus God reached down to man. He said to each person on this earth here I am simply believe in me and you will get to heaven.
The apostle Paul 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.
In order to get to heaven we must simply believe by faith God exists and Jesus is God’s Son.
According to Hebrews
“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” 
                                                                                                                         Hebrews 11:1
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.’”
                                                                                                       Hebrews 11:6.
Some people I have talked to have noted to me that it’s hard to have faith in anything at times and doubly so if you can’t see it or touch it.
Perhaps that’s why God asks us to have faith in Him. Because God knows that those who truly have faith in Him without actually being able to see and touch him are true believers.
Please think about it.

Pilate's Dilemma

Pilate’s dilemma
The Gospel of John records,
“The Jews insisted, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.” 
  When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, and he went back inside the palace. “Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer.  
“Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?” 
Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.” 
From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jews kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.”
                                                                                                                 John 19:7-12.
In the above quote from the gospel of John we see the Roman governor Pilate has a dilemma.
The Jewish religious leaders of the day bring Jesus before him saying Jesus claims to be the Son of God. Therfore under Jewish law he must die.
As the Jews under Roman rule did not have the power of putting someone to death they called on Pilate to do so.
Judging by what John says Pilate seems to believe Jesus might be the son of God. John records,
“When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, and he went back inside the palace. “Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer.”  
“Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?” 
Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.”
Although we know Pilate did try to release Jesus he eventually bowed to the political pressure. Perhaps fearing a riot and definitely not wanting to have his loyalty to Cesar questioned  he gave into the enemies of Jesus and had him put to death.
Jesus knew full well that claiming to be the Son of God was claiming to be equal to God an act punishable by death. Yet Jesus never wavered from his claim.
Earlier in Johns Gospel John records,
“The Jews gathered around him, saying, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” 
Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father’s name speak for me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep.  
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.  
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.  
My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.  
I and the Father are one.” 
Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?” 
                                                                                                          John 10:24-32 
In John 11 Jesus when speaking to Martha says,
“Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies;  and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
“Yes Lord” she told Him, “I believe you are the Christ the Son of God, who was to come into the world, 
John 11:25,26.
C. S. Lewis put it this way,
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” 
                                                                                 C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity.
Jesus was no lunatic. Jesus was fully aware as to who He was and why He came to earth. He came to earth to die for the sins of each and every man. To quote Lewis again,
“He died not for men, but for each man. If each man had been the only man made, He would have done no less.”
                                     C.S. Lewis.
Jesus gives each person a choice. Jesus said,
“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.
The choice is yours.
Please think about it.

What Christians want you to know

What Christians want you to know.

Here for your perusal are several quotes from the New Testament that illustrate what Christians believe.
The apostle Paul wrote,
“For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,” 
                                                                                                    Colossians 2:9.
The Apostle John records this conversation between Martha a friend of Jesus and Jesus.
“Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies;  and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” 
“Yes, Lord,” she told him, “I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.” 
    John 11:25-27.
The apostle John also records Jesus as saying,
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. 
  “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” 
                                                                                                                     John 10:10,11
“Jesus answered, “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 also points out a very important thing about Jesus. Jewish law said anyone who called themselves equal to God at the time should be put to death yet Jesus never backed down on saying who he was,
John records,
“The Jews gathered around him, saying, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” 
Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father’s name speak for me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep.  
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.  
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.  
My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.  
I and the Father are one.” 
Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?” 
                                                                                                          John 10:24-32.
Even when he was hanging on the cross between two thieves he never denied he was the Christ. He even told one of the thieves who’d admitted his crime and believes in him that he would be with Him in paradise,
The apostle Luke records,
“One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!” 
But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence?  
We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” 
Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’” 
Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.” 
                                                                                                              Luke 23:39-43.
C. S. Lewis put it this way,
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” 
                                                                               C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity.
The choice as to who you believe Jesus is, is entirely up to you. No one can make that decision for you.
Either you believe Jesus is who he says he is or you don’t.
If we Christians are wrong in our belief then you have nothing to worry about. If we are however correct then your decision could have eternal consequences.
Please think carefully about it.

Like a football match

Like a football match

Jesus said,
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” 
                John10:10.
Someone has said to me Christianity is a bunch of do’s and don’t’s. It’s very restrictive.
I know to listen to some preachers Christianity may seem like a lot of rules and regulations. I know to listen to some preachers and Christians God seems to be an old man with a big stick ready to bash you if you do wrong. It’s not true.
As you grow as a Christian you realize that it is quite and easy lifestyle to live.
I liken it to a Football match. The players must play to a standard set of rules. The rules of the game make for a good fun and exciting game.
Thus it is with Christianity. We have some basic truths we live by but living within them makes life interesting at times. At the same time it gives us a peace that follows us through all of life’s ups and downs.
Jesus’ call to the world is,
“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.
This, I as a Christian have found is true and I encourage others who are not Christian to start to read the New Testament and find out for yourself how the teaching of Jesus and the apostles make for a well rounded loving lifestyle. A life style that give you peace in all situations.
Please think about it.

The Church and Fake Christians

The Church and Fake Christians
The Apostle Paul writes,
“For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.  
They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” .
                                                                                                     2Timothy 4:3,4.
I as a Christian admit there are men and women in the media and churches that are not putting up with sound doctrine. This should not be so.
False teachers can be hard to spot as they sound good. They put scripture together in such away that it’s hard to tell if they are right or wrong at times.
We had a man come to preach at our little church once. Our pastor was going on holiday and this man a former pastor himself came recommended.
I happened to be on sound that day and from the sound booth I could see he was getting the congregation excited.
Unfortunately he wasn’t far into his sermon when he started to misquote scriptures. There were several afterwards that came up to me and mentioned that what he was saying was wrong. I knew it, and took the tape and a written transcript of the tape of the sermon to our pastor noting the errors, when he returned the next week. These were errors a Sunday School child could see.
In the eighty minute plus sermon there were dozens of errors. But because he was an excellent speaker, he made the garbage he spouted sound good.
The sad thing in all of this was the majority of the congregation did not see the errors. They trusted the man because he was in the pulpit.
Christians are not alone every institution has it’s charlatans. In the secular world one only has to look at wall street. Thousands of people trusted Bernie Madoff and many lost their life savings.
Daily there are many around the world falling for phone scams and other tricks.
   One should not look on someone calling themself a Christian, who quotes from the Bible and judge them to be a Christian simply because it may not be so.
Jesus said,
“Many will say to me  on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’  
Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” 
                                                                                                          Matthew 7:22,23.
For non-Christians it can be very hard to see a real Christian from a fake. There are however some things that are evident.
Most if not all good Christian ministries make their finances public.
In the case of the church I attend and all churches and charities in Canada, they must give an accounting as to where the money goes, to their congregations yearly. That includes how much is paid out in wages and benefits to the pastor and staff.
Also when it comes down to teaching in the church. The Bible is the absolute authority. Additionally while there may be minor differences in interpretation the basics, are still the same.
The Apostles Creed while not written by the apostles gives the basic beliefs of Christians,
1. I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth:
2. And in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord:
3. Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary:
4. Suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, died and buried: He descended into hell:
5. The third day he rose again from the dead:
6. He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father      Almighty:
7. From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead:
8. I believe in the Holy Ghost:
9. I believe in the holy catholic** church: the communion of saints:
10. The forgiveness of sins:
11. The resurrection of the body:
12. And the life everlasting. Amen.
**that is, the true Christian church of all times and all places.
Another clue as to a whether a church congregation or preacher is a legitimate Christian is they are open to questions. You should be able to approach the senior pastor and ask him or her questions about their beliefs.
In our church and many other churches I know big and small you can do just that and the pastor will take time to explain what they believe and why.
Our church is only small but we conduct our bible study in a very open way. I lead the study but everyone in the study has the right to give their interpretation of what they are studying, and the reason they believe so. If people disagree with the interpretation they are free to express their disagreements and explain why they disagree. We do not accept the answer “such and such a preacher said so”. People are expected to think and back their beliefs from the scriptures.
Everything is up for debate.
It is our goal to get to the unadulterated truth in what we are studying. We used  various commentaries, not just one. We delve into the history books and other resources  if necessary to understand things.
    It has resulted in the changing of some peoples minds on what they believed on some important issues.
I and other leaders in the church find that encouraging people to study the Bible themselves and asking questions is a good thing.
It keeps everyone on their toes and seeking truth.
This is what all who call themselves Christians should be doing.
Christianity is not a dictatorship. And good churches while they do have a doctrinal statement they follow is always open to questions.
So for those non-Christians reading this I would encourage you to start reading at least the New Testament and think about attending a local church. I recommend Baptist churches because they are open an honest about what they believe no matter where they are in the world.
Please think about it.