Can You be a True Christian and still have a swell time on this earth?

Yes you can.

But first, we must understand what being a true christian really 
means. This is important otherwise we'll miss the whole point.

Living a chritian life simply means living that life which is devoid 
of those activities that cause harm to our neighbour. In other 
words, abstaining from those things which are not of benefit to
those with whom we interact.


Definitely, this doesn't mean we cannot go on picnics, neither 
does it suggest that we cannot have parties, or go on outings 
with friends. It doesn't also say we cannot play tennis or listen
to music. Surely  we are allowed to have fun. Off course we are.


But, in having fun, in living life, in pursuing our personal desires,
we should not cause harm to others. This is the Will of God for
us.

And in order to make it easier for us to understand what falls into
the category of "causing harm" to others, we are given the ten 
commandments as a guide. This is in addition to our conscience, 
which is meant to alert us if we are heading in the wrong direction
but which unfortunately, we always fail to heed.



So we are free to have fun, so long as we do not harm our neighbour.

We are free...free to talk, but not to gossip; free to drink, but 
only those drinks that nourish our bodies; free to have sex, but only
with our spouses; free to party, but not half naked or with intent to 
sexually intimidate; free to make money, but not to the detriment
of our neighbour, not by fraud or deceit.

We are free. But are we? Really!


Can we decide to abstain from indiscriminate sex and keep by our decision?

Can we decide not to gossip or tarnish the image of others and 
keep by it? 

Can we decide not to obtain money by hoax from people or steal 
from them, and keep by it?

Can we decide on anything positive at all?

Or is there something that decides long in advance some of the 
evils we must do? Something we seem powerless under; something 
dark....


Are we therefore really free?


Those who serve The Almighty God are.
Are you? Where do you stand?
Whom do you serve?

Oghenero.

Why do we praise God

I read an article recently which talked about why we should praise

God. Some of the reasons given were:

(1) God is excited at praises, which moves Him to empty His heart

towards us.

(2) When we praise God, we are placed where we cannot be pulled

down by circumstances.

(3) Praise gives us freedom.

So many reasons were given but since they all imply that we

praise God to get His favour, I picked just these three.

The average believer today sees God as human, possessing the

same weaknesses as humans. He feels God needs praise, needs

adoration, needs worship and even thrives on these.

This is very far from the truth. God does not need our praise or

worship. Rather, we need Him and cannot exist without Him.

True Praise is usually spontaneous, resulting from a deep inner

joy that comes from the recognition of the power and love of God.

If, for instance, a good child always receives everything he needs

from the mother, he would naturally have strong feelings of love

for her. These feelings would always get stronger and if he had

the opportunity of expressing them in words, he would praise his

mother, he would even sing to her. This is also what happens in

our relationship with God. You noticed I said good child.

Genuine praise therefore, comes from those persons who recognise

that God is Almighty, and that he is love. Out of a happy and

joyful heart they want to reach out to Him. They recognise His

Power and experience His grace. They see that He is The Creator

and they, the created. Their whole being bows down to Him in

worship, and in words they burst out in praises. This is praise in

the truest sense. It is not mechanical, but being quite natural,

comes about spontaneously, and also during moments of quite

contemplation and periods of worship. With such human beings

there is the endeavour to adjust their lives to be in harmony with

the Will of God. People that fall into this category are in the

minority.

The man of today is selfish. Apart from indulging in every possible

evil,with very little or no genuine attempt to change to a better

person as willed by his Creator, he approaches Him with demands,

and clothes these demands in words of praise. Such conceit!

He wants to believe that God is pleased with such empty praise

words and so he deceitfully offers them in exchange for a better

life, even while at the same time poisoning his surroundings with

envy,jealousy, lust, hatred, avarice and all of such other evils that

emanate from him.

You see why it is said in a holy book that "their praises are like

filthy rags". Again man fails to understand this simple statement.

He thinks that man being a descendant of Abraham and coming

into the world with sin can only offer unclean praise and therefore

needs the grace of God for such praise to be transformed into an

acceptable form. This is a very sad picture indeed.

To worship means to show respect. We therefore can not claim to

worship God if we do not respect Him. We cannot also say we

respect Him if we do not endeavour to keep His Will. It is as

simple as that.

Hence those persons who possess the strong desire to live in

accordance with the Will of God and translate this desire into

deeds, such that, their thoughts, words and actions are in

harmony with His will, already worship Him. In joyful or prayerful

moments therefore, they would burst out in songs of praise,

thanking the Lord for His grace and acknowledging His power and

justice. Their words therefore would only be an extension of their

deepest or innermost feelings, not something thought out, or

calculated to get some form of compensation. Their praise would

then not be "like filthy rags". They would be children of God in the

real sense, who look upon Him in "awe and trembling"; and who

"do unto their neighbour only that which they would wish their

neighbour to do unto them".

Where do you stand?

Heaven, Hell and the Herd Mentallity

There is so much doubt about the existence of God and as long

as there is doubt, even the slightest of it, humankind would

never really commit itself to the change that is so necessary.

To man, life is a game of chance. Its all about surviving here and

now on earth. Issues concerning Salvation, The Almighty God, 
Heaven, Paradise and Hell, can be considered some other time,
not now. They are too busy. Only when they are harassed by

misfortune do they bother with such things.

For those who do consider these things however, they're either in

one extreme or the other. If they are not over zealous, then they

are lackadaisical in their approach to the worship of God.

But there is yet another group. These actually go out to propose
that there is no God; that all creation came into existence by
chance. In other words, the sun and all the other stars; the earth
and all the other planets; the galaxies, the mountains, seas and
rivers; the animals, the plants,and all mankind came into existence
by chance.

Sadly enough these are the people that populate the earth today.

Only a very infinitesimal few do not belong to these groups.

Is it therefore surprising that the world is in its present state?

Would you still wonder why there are numerous conflicts and wars,

why there is famine, hunger and disease? Look about you. Can you

not see that with every passing day the condition of the earth

worsens?

Funny enough amidst this decadence humankind claims to be
making progress. The world is sinking and no one seems to notice.
Man is supposed to be the crown of creation; he is meant to have

brought a paradise on earth by now. But look at what he has

made of his time on earth; the same earth which was given to

him as a gift. To be its Guardian, keeper and Lord.

The custodians of this planet do not see that they have failed

and therefore cannot see where they are headed. They do not

see the gloominess of the present time, and hence cannot see

the doom that awaits, unless....there is change. But will mankind

change?

Human beings are not a herd of cattle. It is an individual battle.

Man should cease going along with one group or the other just

because it is convenient for him to do so. He should not be
bothered about popular opinion when it concerns matters of
salvation but should calmly reflect on everything he sees and
hears. He should ask himself pertinent questions about his
existence, his salvation and his Creator, The Almighty God.

He should do deligent study and if he is sincere in his desire to
find the truth, he will find it. For it is a promise by God that if
you seek you shall find, if you knock, it shall be opened unto
you, and if you ask you shall be given. Man can never be led
astray. He must start now.

The time is short.

Oghenero.

What if it turns out there is no Heaven.

You hear this uttered now and again. Some would even ask of any

one who has ever been there.Take a look at these scenarios.

You are at a friends party in another town late at night.You have
never been there before and its hot, so hot you feel like going
outside and maybe even taking a swim in the pool at the side
of the building. You want everyone to come along with you, and
you start heading out the door. Then someone offhandedly tells
you that he would prefer to sweat it out, indoors than to risk
loosing his life out there with those deadly insects.You stop dead
on your tracks.

He goes on to say that at this time of the year, insects as small
as mosquitoes but as deadly as bees fly about in large swarms
attacking any human who happens to be out at such late hours.
He tells you that several people have died already and he looks
very serious.

Now he could be lying. It might just be a joke, a stupid joke. But
would you take the chance? Would you risk it? Or would you rather
prefer to miss that badly needed dip in the pool. Would the risk
be too much to take for just a short period of fun, or would it be
worth it? You could take a hundred meters dash for the pool you
know, and then when you are through another hundred meters
dash back to the house. Would you risk it?

If it turned out to be a joke, what would you have lost if
you had stayed indoors? On the other hand, if it turned out to
be true, what would you not have lost if you had ventured
outside?

Or this,

(1) You live a good life, a very good life and then die, and it
turns out there is nothing after death...nothing at all; no heaven,
no hell, no eternal damnation, no existence, nothing. What 
would you  have lost? Nothing much I would say; You no longer
exist anyway.

(2) On the other hand, you live a terrible life, or maybe, a not
so good life, and eventually die, and it turns out there is a
Heaven after all, a life of bliss for ever and ever and ever; an
eternity of enjoyment in a place millions of times better than our
present world. WOW! And...there is, also an eternal gnashing of
teeth in hell or hades or anywhere, with recognition that at any
moment, there are others having a swell time , and that these
others also had the same opprtunities as yourself, the same
freedom of choice...aagh! What wouldn't you have lost?

Cheers

Oghenero.

Just a regular guy who wants to make Heaven

Hi,

So who is this guy? you may ask.

A preacher, pastor, religious bigot, a die hard fanatic? naa...

Non of these.

I'm just a regular guy who is obsessed with the belief that there

is a Heaven...and wants to get there at all cost.

But who, unfortunately comes loaded with all the faults of man.

Faults, he wondered if he can have, and still make it to Heaven.

He therefore, had to clarify certain issues within himself.

* Are we here by accident?

* Can life just be about living on earth for twenty, forty,maybe

eighty years and thats it. Nothing more?

* Is there really a God?

* Is there a Heaven?

* Can he possess just a little of these faults and still make it to

Heaven?

* Is there an easy way?

After contemplating on these and many other questions for

some time, and eventually carrying out some diligent research,

he came to a conclusion.

That everything indeed lies in his hands. That there is a Heaven

and he can make it there, only  if he treads the path that leads

there. It is in his power to do so, given to him by his Creator, The

Almighty...God.

But unfortunately, alas, he can also use this power, and freedom

to tread another path. The path that leads in a different

direction, one direction...to eternal damnation.

So he made a choice.

Whom do you serve

Hi,

my name is Oghenero.

I intend to use this medium to briefly discuss something most
important to me... "the worship of God".

Here, I'm not referring to singing and dancing or attending one

religious service or the other, no, but rather, to how we live our

lives daily. You and I. In our interactions with each other; in

what we say, what we do and what we think. These are the
things that really count in the worship of God. Singing, dancing
and church attendance only become relevant when we have the
genuine desire to serve God, and thus constantly live in the
endeavour to do His Will at all times. It is this constant urge to
do the Will of God at every moment that place you as His child
who worships Him in Truth and in Spirit. Church hours of
worship then make meaning, because already you bow down to
God in your activities...in your will.

As we go along on this blog, you will always be confronted with

one question. Whom do you really serve?

Now, what you may say in response to this question is not really

so important. In fact, what is more important than what you may

say, is what you actually do. What do I mean by this? Well, let
me put it this way. What I may claim to do, and what I actually
do, may not necessarily be the same thing.

For instance I may claim to serve God, but....If I serve God,

it is His Will I'll do, which can only be good. If on the other
hand, I serve the darkness or the devil or satan or lucifer, it is
his will I'll do instead, which can only be evil.

And what things fall under the category of evil?

Hatred, envy, jealousy, avarice, adultery, fornication, lying,

gossiping, tanishing the image of others and so many other evils.
There are so many, you only need to desire to genuinly serve God
and you'll be clear on what constitutes evil.

So, by implication therefore, you either serve God or you serve 

the darkness, never both. You cannot serve two masters at the 

same time. Your activities show you whom you serve. There is no

scheming in this matter. Good activities; you serve God. Bad

activities; you serve satan. No more no less.

Hence I ask your Spirit,

whom do you serve?