Christians or Muslims, who will make Heaven? Neither if...

This question has become imperative at this time because of the battles raging between both groups.  The answer to it lies in having a proper understanding of why we are on earth; it lies in having the True knowledge of the God whom we serve and in knowing His Will.

It is just because of ignorance in these matters that there is so much enmity between members of the different religious groups.

We cannot see God; cannot touch Him, but we can see and interact with our fellow men. In loving God we must also love our neighbour whom we see; we must love all that God has created. There is no other way. It is God’s Will that we create a Paradise out of our temporary home, the earth, and this cannot be achieved with hate, or spite, and definitely not by murder.

Judging from the way the world is presently, one can only conclude thus;

MAN DOES NOT BELIEVE IN THE LIVING GOD; NEITHER DOES HE SERVE HIM!

Instead, he has created his own god. A god whom he can manipulate; a god who is satisfied with man so long as he claims to believe in him! A god who needs man to fight for him! A weak god!

However, behind this god created and worshiped by man stands the real Enemy; the one who presented this picture of a weak god to man in the first place; the one who wants his destruction- SATAN the devil.

He fanned our vanities and weaknesses, giving us a picture of a weak and changing god! He said man was created weak and that it was impossible for him to live without sin. Therefore he said, what was important for any man, was to believe in this god, to pray for forgiveness from sins every now and then and most importantly, to draw members to his religious group.

So man was given exactly what he wanted! He was told that he can live the way he likes and still be in the good books of his god, so long as he believes…and he swallowed this lie hook, line and sinker.

Unfortunately this seed was planted in many religious groups. Now man thinks he can eat his cake and have it.

Each religious group believes it is the only one accepted by God and actually looks down on and detests others. There is so much argument and counter argument. So much is quoted from Holy works.

Sadly the main issue of worship is overlooked. Man leaves the very important aspects of his relationship with his Creator and pursues the shadow. He is more interested in the externals-in the claims of being a believer.

He is unable to WALK his TALK. He stubbornly refuses to see that a True relationship with God is manifested in the kind of relationship he has with his fellow men. If he loves God and truly worships Him, he would love his neighbour as himself. And if he loves his neighbour as himself, he would not sin against him. Surely this can’t be so difficult.

But no! He considers it much too hard…and follows the easy way; the devils way, irrespective of his religion; he worships himself; his flesh; and Satan is happy.

Slowly but steadily the master of lies is leading all to Eternal Damnation. Like sheep being led to the slaughter house, man is gradually being guided to his doom.

BUT ONLY BY HIS OWN CHOICE!

Man cannot be forced to Hell by the devil. Satan can only lure him. If he succumbs to his enticements and thus walks the road to Hell, it is only because he wants to and not because he is compelled to. Satan knew that if he dangled a juicy enough carrot before man, he would follow him. And so as a master of guile he did just that.

So while the clock ticks away, man continues to trifle away his time.

Eternal bliss in Heaven is locked to all, whether Christian, Muslim, Jew, Buddhist etc, except to those who earnestly seek to understand why they are on earth; who seek to know The Almighty God, to understand His Will and to humbly apply themselves to it.

When a man applies himself sincerely to seeking God, he would find Him. He would find Him because it is the Will of God that he does. He has been given all the helps that he needs. He only needs to start. It has nothing to do with the name of his place of worship. Neither does it have anything to do with the claims that he makes. Wherever he is, if he seeks, he would find.

For God, The Father Almighty has said so.

As for Jesus, there is nothing more to say, He is the Son of God. Whoever is unable to absorb this now may do so later in his life.

If he cannot come to this recognition before his time of schooling is up, he would not make it to Eternal Bliss in Heaven.

May the Lord bless you.

Why was Christ crucified?

He was crucified to stop Him from saving mankind.

From the history concerning the devil or Satan, we know that through temptation he had always used man to attack those who showed loyalty to God. All through the bible, right from the beginning we see how he set his agents against those who refused to bow down to or worship one idol or the other.

In the time of Christ we see what happened to John the Baptist (Mark 6:19-29); we also see the fate of Stephen (Acts 7:54-60) and many others. What was their crime? They were spreading enlightenment about God and His Will. They were revealing aspects of the Truth to their fellow human beings. They were talking about the Son of God, Jesus and His kingdom.

These activities were against the wish of the devil whose desire is to lead all astray so that together with him, man would eventually suffer eternal damnation.
 
It was all the more reason he attacked the Son of God Who came from the Truth and Himself is the Truth. Christ was more dangerous than all the others combined. And Satan wasted no time in trying to destroy the mission of the Son of God. Right from the period of the birth of Jesus the devil pursued Him using every available agent of darkness; King Herod, the Pharisees, the Scribes; they all served their purposes as his tools.

In John 8:37-38 Jesus said,
“I know you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are trying to kill me, because you will not accept my teaching. I talk about what my Father has shown me, but you do what your father has told you.”

In John 8:42-44 He also said,
“I came from God and now I am here. I did not come on my own authority, but He sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to listen to my message. You are the children of your father the Devil, and you want to follow your father’s desires. From the very beginning he was a murderer and has never been on the side of Truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he is only doing what is natural to him, because he is a liar and the father of all lies. But I tell the Truth, and that is why you do not believe me.”

It should be clear whose bidding the Jewish Authorities, the Pharisees and the scribes were following. They were being directed by Satan the Devil. Did God therefore join hands with the devil in order to achieve the purpose of murdering His Son?

Christ tried to give a clear picture when He gave the ‘Parable of the Tenants’ in the Vineyard in Matthew 21: 35-39.
“When the time came to gather the grapes he sent his slaves to the tenants to receive his share of the harvest. The tenants seized his slaves, beat one, killed another and stoned another. Again the man sent more slaves, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. Last of all he sent his son to them. ‘Surely they will respect my son,’ he said. But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the owner’s son. Come on, let’s kill him, and we will get his property!’ So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.”

Satan succeeded in cutting short the mission of Christ; he succeeded in cutting short the earthly life of Jesus. But he did not win with that. He actually lost. He lost because he could not stop the truth from being told. Despite the murder of the Son of God; despite the persecutions and killings of His followers, the message of the Messiah continued to spread; from province to province, nation to nation…And people are still being saved.

Satan knows this. He knows that he lost the battle. But he also knows something else! He knows that the war has not ended. It rages on! Rev 12:12 tells us “…how terrible for the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, and he is filled with rage…”

And so he roams the earth, looking for whom to devour.
And the one formally called Lucifer—“the shinning one”, but now referred to as Satan the devil, is a master of cunning; of deceit; of treachery; of lies. He uses so many methods to lure man away from the right path. One of which is the distortion of the messages of Truth brought by so many servants of God and also by the Son of God Himself.

How else will man drop his guard if he is not told that the Almighty God is mysterious and that because He loves man so much He sent His Son Jesus to the earth to be murdered by them so that their sins might be forgiven? How else will he continue to indulge in sin if he is not told that we are saved by grace, and not by works?

Satan tells man that it is impossible to live without sin; that we can continue to live in sin so long as we believe in the death of the son of God and accept Him as our Lord and personal Saviour.

While Christ said “not those who call me Lord, but those who keep the Will of my Father who sent me,” Satan on the other hand says “as long as you call Him Lord, the Will of His Father is not so important.”

Here on earth, another is king. Satan! And he was enthroned by mankind. So far he has had a good time. Mankind is in confusion. The religions of the earth which are supposed to unite into one with the singular purpose of leading man back home, to Gods Kingdom are busy attacking one another, each one claiming to be the one true religion even while indulging in everything against the will of God such as hatred, suspicion, Avarice etc.

Christ was crucified because He brought The Message of Truth: He brought a Message that would show us the way back Home. Through this Message which teaches HOW and WHY man should ADAPT HIS LIFE to the Will of His Father, He brought Salvation.

If Man heeds the message of Jesus and changes his ways he would be saved. But if he refuses to adjust his life to it; if he refuses to start a new life, he would not make it back home to Heaven, despite the crucifiction of the Son of God.

The Son of God, Jesus was not crucified to save mankind; rather He was murdered because He wanted to save mankind.

faith of a child; III

This was fowarded to me via email recently from a christian friend of mine with the instruction to share it with friends so I thought I should post it here for many who are yet to receive it.
................................

An Atheist Professor of Philosophy speaks to his Class on the Problem Science has with GOD, The ALMIGHTY.

He asks one of his New Christian Students to stand and-

Professor:    You are a Christian, aren't you, son?

Student:       Yes, sir.

Professor:    So you believe in GOD?

Student:      Absolutely, sir

Professor:    Is GOD Good?

Student:      Sure

Professor:    Is GOD ALL POWERFUL?

Student:      Yes

Professor:    My Brother died of Cancer even though he prayed to GOD to heal him. Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill. But GOD didn't. How is this GOD good then?

(Student is silent)

Professor:    You can't answer, can you? Let's start again. Young Fella! Is GOD Good?

Student:      Yes.

Professor:    Is Satan good?

Student:      No

Professor:    Where does Satan come from?

Student:      From…GOD

Professor:    That's right! Tell me son, is there evil in this World?

Student:        Yes

Professor:    Evil is everywhere, isn't it? And GOD did make everything. Correct?

Student:      Yes.

Professor:    So who created evil?

(Student does not answer)

Professor:    There is Sickness; Immorality; Hatred; Ugliness. All these terrible things exist in the World, don't they?

Student:      Yes, sir

Professor:    So, who created them?

(Student has no answer)

Professor:    Science says you have 5 Senses you use to Identify and Observe the World around you. Tell me son! Have you ever Seen GOD?

Student:       No, sir

Professor:    Tell us if you have ever heard your GOD?

Student:      No, Sir

Professor:    Have you ever felt your GOD, Tasted your GOD, Smelt your GOD? Have you ever had any Sensory Perception of GOD for that matter?

Student:      No, sir. I'm afraid I haven't.

Professor:    Yet you still believe in HIM?

Student:       Yes

Professor:    According to Empirical, Testable, Demonstrable Protocol, Science says your GOD doesn't exist. What do you say to that, son?

Student:      Nothing. I only have my Faith.

Professor:    Yes. Faith. And that is the Problem Science has

Student:      Professor, is there such a thing as Heat?

Professor:    Yes.

Student:       And is there such a thing as Cold?

Professor:    Yes

Student:      No sir. There isn't

(The Lecture Theatre becomes very quiet with this turn of events)

Student:        Sir, you can have Lots of Heat, even More Heat, Superheat, Mega Heat, White Heat, a Little Heat or No Heat. But we don't have anything called Cold. We can hit 458 Degrees below Zero which is No Heat, but we can't go any further after that. There is no such thing as Cold. Cold is only a Word we use to describe the Absence of Heat. We cannot Measure Cold. Heat is Energy. Cold is Not the Opposite of Heat, sir, just the Absence of it

(There is Pin - Drop Silence in the Lecture Theatre)

Student:       What about Darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as Darkness?

Professor:    Yes. What is Night if there isn't Darkness?

Student:      You're wrong again sir, Darkness is the Absence of Something. You can have Low Light, Normal Light, Bright Light, Flashing Light, but if you have No Light constantly, you have nothing and its called Darkness, isn't it? In reality, Darkness isn't. If it is, you would be able to make Darkness Darker, wouldn't you?

Professor:    So what is the point you are making, Young Man?

Student:      Sir, my point is your Philosophical Premise is flawed.

Professor:    Flawed? Can you explain how?

Student:     Sir, you are working on the Premise of Duality. You argue there is Life and then there is Death, a Good GOD and a Bad GOD. You are viewing the Concept of GOD as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, Science can't even explain a Thought. It uses Electricity and Magnetism, but has never been seen, much less fully understood either. To view Death as the Opposite of Life is to be ignorant of the fact that Death cannot exist as a Substantive Thing. Death is Not the Opposite of Life: just the Absence of it. Now tell me, Professor, do you teach your Students that they evolved from a Monkey?

Professor:    If you are referring to the Natural Evolutionary Process, yes, of course, I do.

Student:        Have you ever observed Evolution with your own eyes, sir?

(The Professor shakes his head with a Smile, beginning to realize where the     Argument is going)

Student:      Since no one has ever observed the Process of Evolution at work and cannot even prove that this Process is an on - Going Endeavor, are you not Teaching your Opinion, sir? You're not a Scientist but a Preacher?

(The Class is in Uproar)

Student:        Is there anyone in the Class who has ever seen the Professor's Brain?

(The Class breaks out into Laughter)

Student:     Is there anyone here who has ever heard the Professor's Brain, Felt it, touched or Smelt it? No one appears to have done so. So, according to the Established Rules of Empirical, Stable, Demonstrable Protocol, Science says that you have No Brain, sir. With all due respect sir, how then do we Trust your Lectures?

(The Room is Silent. The Professor stares at the Student, his face unfathomable)

Professor:     I guess you'll have to take them on Faith, son.

Student:      That is it sir, the Link between Man and GOD is FAITH. That is all that Keeps Things Moving and Alive.

                           The FAITH of a child

That student was Albert Einstein

“The soul that sinneth shall die,” should not be taken in the physical sense.

A friend on mine on face book recently insisted that a man must be punished if possible by death if he was guilty of breaking the laws of God so I had to make this little post.

An adulterer was brought to Jesus by a group of people. They were led by some teachers and executors of the law. For her sin, she was to be stoned to death according to their law. But before then, they wanted to test Jesus.

Would Christ because of his preaching about love ask that she be set free, and thus go against the law? Or would he ask that she be put to death and thus make nonsense of his stance on love and forgiveness?

He did neither! Instead He asked that whoever was without sin should cast the first stone. One by one they began to leave. Eventually none was left.

Why? BECAUSE NOT ONE WAS WITHOUT SIN!

Why then did they think they had the right to take the life of a FELLOW SINNER on account of her sin?

With His action, Jesus wanted not to change the law but to clarify it.

The carrying out of justice on the Laws of God is done by God not man. When it is said that “the soul that sinneth shall die,” the death referred to is not physical death. Both those that live good lives according to God's will as well as and those that do not, would experience physical death. It therefore cannot be punishment for going against the Laws of God.

Taking the life of a man for sinning against the laws of God can only shorten his life on earth, and not punish him according to the law. The grace of God which permits the sinner to learn of the ways of God and make a change on his life is taken away from him by people who themselves are sinners and yet by still being alive, enjoy this grace which comes from God alone. Do they have more right to life?

The Justice of God is PERFECT and FINAL. No one can escape it. It does not depend on being caught first by his fellow man to be guilty of offending the Law. Whether done in hiding or in the open; whether seen by his fellow man or not; the one who engages in sin is GUILTY. If he has not adapted to a new life as willed by his Creator by the time he dies and leaves this world, then he shall surely DIE.

He would then not be permitted to have Eternal LIFE in Paradise. By his own choice he would have chosen DEATH. He would have chosen Damnation for Eternity.

That is why the gift of being allowed to live and learn is given to man. He is permitted to make mistakes but to learn from the mistakes; to fall but to stand up again. The grace of God is lavished on him that he may eventually become that man that is willed by The Almighty. The Grace is given to all equally.

We are permitted to make our own earthly laws which help to ensure a happy co-existence. It is important to draw these laws from the laws of God. But we must be careful how we interpret these laws, lest in trying to serve God, we might just be serving another who already has the stamp of death upon him.

Why was Christ born?

Take a look at this scenario.

A lady returns home from work very late. Her car broke down on her way back and she had to have it towed to the mechanics for repairs before finally heading for home. She resides with her husband, three kids and a nanny but her husband is not always around since he works with an oil firm offshore.

On this particular night he is on duty at work. She reaches her home to find it is on fire. There is a crowd outside and her nanny is at the side of the building crying. She looks around for her children but doesn’t find them. She is told they are still inside. In sheer apprehension she crashes in through a side door and begins to look for them. She can hear her baby who is barely a year old, crying and following his voice eventually finds him in his pram in the parlour.

There is smoke coming from the rooms so she leaves him in the parlour and rushes off to the children’s room to get the girls, hoping to bring them to the parlour also, so she can set off outside at the same time with all three of the kids. But she is prevented from doing so. The ceiling caves in at the passage way separating the rooms from the parlour. She can’t go back to the parlour through this passage. She has to get the girls out fast through the back door and then go back in, for the baby some other way.

But as she steps outside, with arms clasped tightly around both girls held to her chest, she hears a loud noise. She quickly drops the girls with some of the neighbours and rushes to the front of the house to find that the roof in front has collapsed. The entire building is now engulfed in flames and her baby is still inside. She can still hear him crying and can’t bear to think of what might be happening to him right now.

Despite all the attempts to restrain her she breaks away from the neighbours and crashes into the building through the front door. She makes her way through the flames heading for the parlour. Her clothes catch fire, but that’s the least of her worries right now. She has to get to the baby! She finds him in the pram where she left him. Luckily the fire hasn’t reached him. Her clothes are burning but she still ignores it. She has to move fast. She picks up the baby, pulls down a curtain, and rushes off to the kitchen where she soaks the curtain in water. Then she pours some water on her burning clothes, wraps the wet curtain around the baby, makes her way to a side window through the flames that has now engulfed the entire building, and crashes out.

Her baby is unharmed and the girls are safe.
She is rushed off to hospital in severe pains, but doesn’t make it.
She dies on the way.

Strange, but it seems she had a smile in her face when she died.

If the tabloids carry the story, some of the possible captions would be;
*Woman dies to save children
*Lady sacrifices her life for her children’s   
*Woman dies that her children may live
*Woman pays supreme sacrifice; dies for her children

Now the question is did she want to die? Was suicide the reason she entered the fire? Was she happy because she was dying at last?

On the other hand, was she happy because she had successfully saved the lives of her children and it didn’t matter if it cost her, her own life?

This question is very pertinent.

The children need to understand that the reason their mother entered the fire was not to die but to save them from a certain danger.

They must see that because of her love for them, she was prepared to lose her own life in order to save them from this danger.

They must know this danger.

If they cannot appreciate the real reason for her entering the fire; if they must place more emphasis on her death rather than on the danger from which she was trying to save them, then they would not be in the best frame of mind to avoid courting the danger in the future. In order words, the threat of the danger will for ever be present. Even after the great sacrifice of their mother.

So why was Christ born?

It is said that He came to die for our sins.

Is this true? Did He really come for that purpose? Did He come to be abused, flogged, stabbed and finally murdered to please God, his father in order for our sins to be forgiven?

Let’s put it this way. If as a sinner, I had offended God by killing my fellow man, would He require that I beat up His Son and finally murder Him in order to be forgiven for murder?

Is this thought or opinion not blasphemy?

Who tempted the Pharisees and the Scribes? Who tempted Judas?

Was it God?
…Or Satan, the devil!

If indeed God had wanted His Son to be killed He would either have needed to tempt man Himself, relied on the devil to do it for Him, or probably have worked hand in hand with the devil to achieve it. It also means that all those who helped to make it possible would be blessed. Why then should Judas who made the death of Jesus possible not be a Saint? Why is the name "Judas" not being happily given by parents to children? After all he did make it possible for man to be saved.

But God couldn’t have worked with the devil; He couldn’t have wanted His Son to be murdered.

And that is why in speaking about the betrayal of Judas, Jesus says in Matt 26:24, “How terrible for that man who betrays the Son of Man; it would have been better for that man if had had never been born!”

And in Luke 23:28 He told the women to weep, but not for Him, rather for themselves and their children. He actually told them to weep.

Again we see in Matt 27:45&51, that the whole country was covered in darkness for three hours as he suffered on the cross; the curtain hanging in the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom as He breathed His last. The earth shook and the rocks split apart. Surely, these signs cannot mean that the death of Jesus was pleasing to His Father.

In Matthew 21:33-39 the Son of God gave a clear picture of the evil that was about to happen. See 37 “Last of all he sent his son to them. ‘Surely they will respect my son.’ He said.” And 38 “This is the owner’s son. Let us kill him and we will get his property!”

Indeed God sent His Son to save mankind

He did this because He saw the path we were treading and where it was leading. He saw how far we had sunk. There was so much evil and it was spreading rapidly. Those who were supposed to guide us were themselves lost. The works of the prophets were no longer understood. There could have been only one outcome…Hell.

So as an act of emergency and out of His Grace, He sent His Son to save us from Satan; from self destruction and from death. The coming of Jesus was prophesied but the prophecy was misunderstood. The Jews had expected a king that would deliver them from hands of the Romans. An earthly king! But when he offered no resistance to his arrest and crucifixion, when He allowed Himself to be insulted, flogged and finally murdered, with no help whatsoever from God, He either had to be a fake or a Messiah sent to die for mankind. He was neither!

The mission of the Son of God was not a physical or earthly one. It was a Spiritual one! Yes, He was a Messiah, but not one sent to establish an earthly kingdom neither was He a Messiah sent to die. Rather he was here to point the way to a Spiritual Kingdom. A kingdom where He reigns as king; where all activity is in harmony with the will of God His Father!


In John 18:37 Christ said “I was born and came into this world for this ONE purpose, to speak about the Truth. Whoever belongs to the Truth listens to me.”

Let us not be deceived! Christ came to show us His Father; He came to tell us about His kingdom; to warn us against sin and by so doing to save us from eternal damnation. He came to show us the road we must follow; the kind of lives we must live. He came to ask us to live a new life, to be born again.

And He also came to tell us that, “unless a man be born again, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”

Find it out in the Bible

I stumbled on a small discussion recently on the brain teaser "which came first, the chicken or the egg"  and was really surprised that the answer wasn't apparent so, noticing that they were all christians, I decided to re-phrase the question and asked, "which did God create first."


And they all smiled. Now it was obvious! The chicken, they said.

You see, when it is asked which came first, the chicken or the egg, the mind might tend to wander around bit but when asked which did God create first, the mind especially of most christians, immediately goes to that great book that talks about creation. The bible!

And what does the bible say about it?

Well it didn't say that God created the egg and asked it to go ye and multiply. Definitely not the egg of a warm blooded creature like the chicken!

No, instead the bible says that God created Light and separated it from the darkness; and then He created everything else...and the birds of the air. He also created the land animals and finally man.  And then He said; "go ye and multiply?"

So when next someone asks you a somewhat tricky question, and you're not so sure which way to go, check out the bible. You just might find the answer somewhere in there.

Psalm 119

I was going through the Psalms and saw this: 

Psalm 119 1-16

Happy are those whose lives are fautless,

  who live according to the law of the Lord.

Happy are those who follow His commands,

 who obey Him with all their heart.

They never do wrong;

  they walk in the Lord's ways

Lord you have given us your laws

  and told us to obey them faithfully.

How I hope that I shall be faithful

  in keeping your instructions!

If pay attention to all your commands,

  then I will not be put to shame.

As I learn your righteous judgements,

  I will praise you with a pure heart.

I will obey your laws;

 never abandon me!

How can a young man keep his life pure?

 By obeying your commands.

With all my heart I try to serve you;

  keep me from disobeying your commandments

I keep your law in my heart

  so that I will not sin against you.

I praise you O Lord,  

  teach me your ways

I will repeat aloud 

  all the laws you have given.

I delight in following your commands

  more than in having great wealth.

I study your instructions;

  I examine your teaching 

I take pleasure in your laws; 

  your commands I will not forget.

May the Lord be with us.

Jesus, Messiah or Prophet

In answering this question I'll need to define the words, Messiah and Prophet.

A Messiah is a person sent by God into the world to save people from evil, sin and death.

However a Prophet is a person sent by God to teach and give mankind messages from God. Such messages may include events that would happen in the future. A prophet can also be said to be the founder of a religion.

It is clear from both dictionary definitions that Jesus was both Messiah and Prophet.

Jesus was sent by God to teach. He came with a message from God. Hence, just like others before Him such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Elijah etc, He was a Prophet of God

However, unlike the others, He was not just any Prophet; He is The Messiah, sent by God to save mankind from evil, sin and death. He is also the Son of God.

His message is the message of Truth because He is the Truth. He came to clarify the messages brought by the others, to tell mankind that the kingdom of peace it seeks is not on this earth. He came to show us the way out of damnation, out of Hell; and He showed us the path we must follow.

His message was simple and clear, but it came at great price; the price of death; death on the cross.

It is therefore hoped that His sacrifice would not be in vain; that His message of salvation would be accepted and the path shown would be followed.

If instead, we continue to live our lives in such a manner that our ultimate end becomes Eternal Damnation, then it would be a complete waste for the Son of God to have come at all, either as Messiah, Prophet or both.

May the Lord continue to give us the strength to do His Will.

How to be redeemed by Jesus Christ

Through the grace of the Almighty God, Jesus Christ His Son came down to this earth. He lived as a man; having the pains and joys of humans. He laughed and He cried. He ate and drank.

He also brought a message of Salvation along with Him. A message of Truth; a message which was meant to point the way out of the darkness into which man had sunk himself and to lead him back home to paradise.

But we rejected Him. He was mocked and flogged. He was stabbed on His side with a spear and a crown of thorns placed on His head. Finally He was hung on a cross and left to die slowly.

Lucifer had hoped by this to force Him into abandoning His mission or to stop Him directly, by killing Him. And Satan used everything in his arsenal to accomplish this; Man!  That same man whom Jesus had come to save from the hands of death!

It was man that bore false witness against Him; it was man that betrayed Him; it was man that flogged Him and placed a crown of thorns on His head; it was also man that hung Him on the cross to die.

Man allowed himself to be used by the darkness. He was a willing tool in the hands of Satan.

However, in His last moments on the cross, it was this same man He prayed for when He looked up into the heavens, to His father who sent Him; The Almighty God; The Creator of existence.

In pain and anguish, but with a voice laden with love, He spoke with  God; He spoke with The Alpha and Omega, The Beginning and The End, The I am that I am.

He said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

And then He died!

Indeed He loved us. He was prepared to face anything, including death on the cross in order to give us the message of Truth. A Message which if heeded would lead us back home. A home prepared by His Father! Paradise!

The Son of God Jesus brought the message of Love. He brought Salvation…to all of mankind.  It is now up to us to receive it.

A horse can be led to the banks of a river, but it cannot be forced to drink water from it.

Jesus offers us living water. Through great suffering He brought the river to us. Now He says drink.

He came for all of mankind, but not all would receive Him. He brought salvation to all, but not all would be saved; He came to redeem all, but not all would be redeemed. By their choice a good number will be lost. And yet this need not be so.

Redemption is offered to us on a platter. We can all be redeemed.
But in order to be redeemed by Christ we must fulfill the following conditions;
    We must believe in God
    We must accept the message of Christ
    We must be born again.

Belief in God:
We must believe that there is one God; Creator of all that exist. Of all Human kind, the plants, the animals, the seas, the rivers, the mountains, the stars and the galaxies! We must understand that we did not just come to exist by accident. We must believe that all of existence was brought into being by The Creator, the Almighty…God.

Accepting the message of Christ:
We must be convinced that Christ is the Son of God. That He came from God with the message of Salvation. In His message He points the way back home. He tells us to believe in God, His Father who sent Him. He tells us to love our neighbour as ourselves and to do unto them that which we wish them to do unto us. He tells us that we have another home, our real home. A home where we would live in an eternity of bliss; a home where the Love of God lives! A home where there is no evil. It is very important that we accept this message.

Being born again:
We must be born again. We must change our ways. We must do away with our old life. Every thought, word or action that is not in harmony with the will of God must be done away with. We must live a life that is one with the life in Heaven. A life of Justice, Peace and Truth; a life of Love!


To be redeemed therefore, we must believe in God. We must believe that He sent His Son Jesus to save us from Sin and Hell by showing us the path we must follow. We must follow this path. We must be born again.

Continuing in our old ways would take us to no other place but Hell. And this would defeat the purpose of the coming of the Son of God to this earth. It is of no avail to claim that we believe in Him. Remember Christ said, “Not those who call me Lord, but those who keep the will of my father who sent me.” Again The Almighty said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.”

If therefore, we truly believe in Him, if we believe in His Father who sent Him, if we love God above all things, we would live in harmony with His Will.

We would be born again.

How can I avoid going to Hell?

A very pertinent question in these times when the entire human race seems to be heading in the direction of Hell! it is not the claim to believe in Christ or the claim that we worship God that takes us to Heaven. The claims we make mean nothing as long as we do not change our ways. 

We know in our hearts, what is wrong in the sight of God. We know it when we sin. Long before we sin, we sense that we are about to do something which is not right before God. But we indulge ourselves. We allow the devil to deceive us with the lie that we'll always get away with it; that our God is an all forgiving God; a loving and merciful God Who will always forgive us when we ask. We know this is a lie, but accept it and go on sinning in the hope that we'll later pray to God for forgiveness and change our ways. We'd change our ways later; always later! Some other time!

In all these the devil laughs at us. He laughs as we call ourselves Christians and believers. He laughs as we attend religious services. He laughs as we pride ourselves in belonging to one religious group or the other, each one believing that it stands a better chance of making Heaven than the others.


He laughs because he knows that we miss the one important point; the point made by Christ when He said; unless a man be born again, unless he becomes a new creature, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.  
 
Hence, Satan watches as we heed his own advice and indulge in every kind of sin imaginable; lies, fornication, adultery, envy, jealousy, arrogance, avarice etc. He's amazed that we can still think of going to Heaven with the kind of lives we are living, but he's happy nevertheless and he expects that We'll keep him company when the time comes...in Hell
.

But we can avoid going to Hell. We can defeat the devil, if only we try. Christ has given us everything we need. He has also said that we cannot be tempted beyond our means. This implies that we will always have enough strength to overcome temptation. However we must have the desire to overcome sin. Without the wish to overcome sin, we will not be able to use the strength given to us by God. 

We must go beyond claiming to be children of God to actually being children of God. We must start now to live as His children, doing His Will through Christ our Lord and Saviour Who strengthens us. Hell would therefore not be our portion, but instead, we would be heading for eternal bliss in our real home, Heaven.

May the grace of God be upon us.

If you love me keep my commandments

There was once a woman who had two children, Cain and Abel. She loved them so much and would do anything for them. Every morning before going to work she would drop them off at school which was not too far from their home. As she was leaving, the kids would hug her and tell her how much they loved her. She would promise to buy something for them when coming back from work. Then she would ask them to be of good behaviour while she was away.  She would also remind them of what they should and should not do. She had done this so many times the kids had a list of dos and don’ts in their memory. The list looked like this.
•    Leave for home as soon as school closes
•    Do not talk to strangers while returning home from school
•    Change from your school clothes and have a bath as soon as you get home
•    Take your dinner from the microwave oven and eat.
•    Clear the table and put your plates in the kitchen sink
•    Stay indoors! Do not go outside to play. Watch television or play video games instead.
•    Take your siesta by 4pm. I’ll be home by 5pm.

The mother would then head off to work and the children would remain in school. As soon as school closed the kids would head for home.

Now, Abel was always able to do his mothers wish. He only felt happy when what he was doing was pleasing to his mother. He found it very easy to avoid talking to strangers; he not only cleared the table after eating, but would also wash the plates; he also would remain indoors, watch TV and take his siesta at the proper time.
Cain on the other hand, could not care less about what his mother wanted. He could not understand why he should not talk to strangers; he did not see why he should have a bath as soon as he got home from school; he did not think he would be strong enough to clear the table after a full day at school; he did not see anything wrong in playing outside for just a little while instead of watching television or playing those silly video games. And so he did whatever he liked; besides, he reasoned, his mother loved him so much, she would always forgive him for his bad behaviour.

Around 5pm the children’s mother would return home. As usual she would come with things she bought for the kids. They would run to her, hug her and kiss her. Again they would tell her they loved her and as usual she would tell them she loved them too.

But did they? Who really loved her? Was it Cain who did not really care about what pleased his mother? Or was it Abel whose only wish was to do what made his mother happy?

Why was it so easy for Abel to adhere to his mother’s instructions? Was there something inside him that made it easy for him to follow the mother’s instructions?  Something strong enough to help him overcome a natural reluctance to do work, to the extent that he would even enjoy washing plates when he really didn’t have to!  Could it be love? It is said that when we do love someone, we feel the pains and joys of that person and we try to do only what pleases that person. Was Abel's feeling for his mother not love? True love!

Now this woman happens to have hidden cameras in and around the house. And these cameras are linked to her mobile phone. So that even when far away, she could still see them.  She would watch as one child engages in only those things that are pleasing to her while the other does only what pleases himself.

But she says nothing about what she sees. The list she made is really not for her own benefit, but for the benefit of the children. It is meant to protect them from danger and to make them stronger and better human beings.

Because she loves them, she gave them a list of dos and don’ts which if followed would be a blessing to them. If they truly love her as they claim, they would endeavor to do only those things which are pleasing to her; things which are in harmony with her will, as expressed in her list and as a consequence of which they would receive blessing.

The blessings are not the gifts received from their mother every now and then when she comes back from school. No!
The blessings are not so obvious. Rather they are the transformations that take place gradually in Abel as he grows from a kid into a young man. A young man that has control over himself; one that is diligent and disciplined; one who knows the value of doing the right thing at the right time; and who can hold his head up high anywhere, anytime!

Cain on the other hand cannot get these blessings. He has locked himself away from them and unless he changes for the better, he would eventually grow up into a self centered, lazy and unruly young man; a man with no respect for time.

We are like Cain and Abel and we have been given a list…the Ten Commandments. Through the endeavour to live in accordance with the Will of God as expressed in the Commandments, we would gradually be transformed into such human beings as are worthy to enter the kingdom of Heaven; human beings that are children of God; children who do the bidden of their father.

But do not be deceived, you cannot eat your cake and have it. You cannot live sinful lives and expect to make it to Heaven simply because you call yourselves children of God. Singing praises to God and telling Him you love Him are equally immaterial if at the same time you do not endeavour to do His Will. What therefore is important, are your activities…what you think, what you say and what you do. These activities show whom you serve and hence where you would be headed when you leave the earth. If good i.e. if in harmony with the Will of God, then you serve God and would thus be heading to His Kingdom when you leave here. But if bad,i.e. if in harmony with the will of the darkness, you can only have one master; Satan! Hence you would be heading in his direction when you leave here. The choice of the direction we face at any point in time and our ultimate destination lies with us.

God loves us. That is why He gave us the Ten Commandments; that is also why He sent prophet after prophet to help guide us along our earthly path and finally, that is why He sent His Son Jesus, to give us first hand, the message of Truth, a message that admonishes us continuously to keep the Will of His Father who sent Him.

Now just as we have the “Ten Commandments of God”, there also are the commandments of Satan. Where do you stand? Whose commandments do you keep? Do you really love God, or do you just claim to do so.

The Almighty God has this message;
     if you love me, keep my Commandments.

faith of a child; II

Christ once said; "with the faith of a mustard seed you can move mountains." Now a mustard seed is a small seed, a very small seed!

And somewhere else he also said "be like children,” little children.

What was he trying to say?

When he used the words little children and mustard seed, was he simply telling us not to be complex; was he saying that we don't really need some big, mighty philosophy to achieve anything great? Was he saying that rather than being complex adults, who believe we require something big; something hard, all we really need is just to be simple, as simple as children, little children?

Children who KNOW and are CONVINCED that no matter how hard the situation is Mother would always get them food to eat; no matter how homeless they may seem mother would always find them a place to roost; children who feel it in their bones that their mother would never let them down.

Now their “Mother” is just a woman, a mere mortal.

But you have heard of God Who is Creator of all things seen and unseen, Creator of the stars and galaxies; of the universe. You have heard of God Who has always been; The Alpha and Omega, The beginning and The end, The I am that I am.

Do you know this God? Do you believe in Him? Do you have the faith of a mustard seed? Do you have the faith of little children?

You cannot have this kind of faith if you do not know God.

Now the child was in the womb of its mother for nine months, was suckled by its mother for many months; was carried about in her arms for a long time. Indeed the child had a personal relationship with its mother. It knew its mother. No wonder the child had such faith.

Do you have a personal relationship with God? Do you know Him?

faith of a child; I

A child learning to walk may stumble and fall but doesn’t remain flat on the ground out of fear of falling again, or out of anger that he fell at all, or out of pain that others saw him fall, no.  Instead he gets up again quickly, and while even smiling happily continues on the task at hand. 

He may fall again several times, but gets up again each time, never looking back but always forwards and upwards to the time when he would eventually fulfill his task, always confident that he would soon make it.

And he does make it. Always! Without fail! It is willed by God.

That unshakable confidence that he has; that confidence which makes him to move on fearlessly, in the face of any and many obstacles, has another name…FAITH.

Why are we on earth? II

I’ll give you yet another rough picture.
You must have heard the saying that goes like this; “those who live in glass houses do not throw stones.” To be permitted to live in a glass house therefore, you must have trained and thus, developed yourself to the point where you are in complete control and can no longer carelessly throw stones about. And what better place to get you trained than in a wooden house! Now if the wooden house was rough and hard, and also had an elastic property, such that whenever you collided with its walls, or throw something against it, you either got bruised or that that same thing you threw rebounded and hit you, then soon with time, through personal experiencing, you’d learn to move about more carefully; maybe even gracefully and also learn not to throw stones.

On earth you are required to learn through experiencing, about the value of each of your desires or actions, good or bad. That, which you give out, whether just desiring or an actual action, is placed carefully on your bed for you to lie on so that through the experiencing you come to appreciate its value, good or bad.

As you make your bed so you shall lie on it. Put another way, your deeds, i.e. your thoughts, words and actions, shape your destiny.

It is also called “the Law of Sowing and Reaping” and is put like this; “what a man sows, that shall he reap.”

The “making of your bed and lying on it” or the “reaping from where you have sown” should not be seen from the angle of punishment for any error, rather it provides opportunities to learn of the value of your deeds. If good, you enjoy from the returning goodness, if bad however, you suffer from the returning evil. Either way you gain. You gain because through your own experiencing you are able to appreciate the pains and joys you cause others via your deeds. You are thus better placed to change for the better.

Gradually, on the one hand, as you experience goodness more and more, and as you enjoy and bask in it, you would also want to give it to others. That is growth. On the other hand, if as you suffer from any evil, you also begin to hate it, to abhor it and you no longer wish to be part of it, i.e. you no longer have the desire to inflict it on your fellow man, then you have gained a valuable lesson for that particular evil. That again is growth.  Soon you’ll shed off one vice after another and would no longer wish to harm your fellow man in any way. What then follows, if you've really learnt your lesson? You only do that which is good.

But remember what I said earlier.
“As you make your bed, so you shall lie on it.”
Also, “What a man sows, that shall he reap.”
And finally, “Your thoughts words and actions shape your destiny.”

Consequently, all that comes your way is one blessing after another. You experience an avalanche of goodness and your joy knows no bounds.

Do you now understand the wisdom of the Son of God when He counseled “Do unto others what you want others to do unto you” and when He also said, “Love thy neighbour as thyself”?
What ever you do for your neighbour, in reality you do for yourself, and even many times over.

Learning these lessons therefore, understanding them and maturing into them, prepares us for another life. A life of bliss for all eternity! One in complete harmony with the Will of God!

If we cannot adjust to such a life, if we must continue to court the darkness until we leave the earth for good, then we would have failed. We would then not be able to make it back home to Eternal bliss in Heaven as matured children of God. Our time on earth would have been completely wasted. More importantly and very sadly too, the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, would have been for nothing.

But we can make it! We can get there. God is with us and He has given us everything we need for the journey in this School called earth.

I urge you not to relent.

Why are we on earth? I

It is believed by many that at death we cease to exist altogether. Some say we came from nothing, and hence, we go back to nothing. Not a small number believe we even came by accident. It is this belief that makes many to live lives of complete recklessness; feeling accountable to no one but themselves.

I am thus obliged in my own small way and from my understanding of it, to give an insight into this big question. Let us take this analogy.

A child is born into a family. At birth it cannot fend for itself; it cannot distinguish between its parents and complete strangers. But as it matures it begins to discern things around it. Soon it’s able to recognize its parents. It learns what is good for eating; learns to creep, walk, and run. It also learns to talk, and eventually begins to write and even solve arithmetic.

Soon, he leaves for boarding school, college or university to learn more. While there he may engage in different kinds of things, such as having his bath, washing his clothes, cleaning his room, eating, taking part in club activities etc. These things are important, no doubt, but are not the main reason for his being in school. While in school he has to learn those things which would also be of value to him when he has left school. Things which would be useful in another life…the life after school! These are the lessons taught in his field of study. If while in school he focuses much of his time on how well his room looks and gives very little or no time to these lessons, he may end up being useless to himself economically later in the life outside school. He therefore needs to put a lot more effort into his studies than on anything else. These other things only help to make life in school more comfortable or enjoyable. They are not the key to his future life. Hence no matter how badly he does them, if he performs very well in his field of study, he would still be assured of a bright future. But if on the other hand he does very well in these other things and performs poorly in his field of study, a better life outside might not be so assured. He would have squandered the time allotted to him for his studies and would therefore have to bear the consequences.


Now, as human spirits, we were not created here, but some place else…Paradise. That is our true home. Here on earth we happen to be in school; a school where we are supposed to learn those things which would be of value to us when we leave the earth and head back home. 

In this school, through gradual development, we should eventually come to the recognition of God; to know and see Him as Creator of all things seen and unseen; as The Almighty God. We should come to know of His Power, and Grace; of His ways, of His Will…and adapt to them

Thus, as students on earth, we should learn to live a life of giving and sharing; a life of love; we should learn to make ourselves one with the Ten Commandments so that ultimately they become one commandment, the commandment of Love; loving God above all things and our neighbour as ourselves.

These are the lessons we take from here. Every other thing we engage in while on earth only helps us to absorb these lessons. Whether it is raising a family, work, social life etc, these things are in themselves of no value if at the same time we cannot through them learn to love each other; if through them we cannot adjust to a life free of envy, jealousy, avarice, greed, selfishness, covetousness, etc; if through them we cannot come to recognize the folly of a sinful life.

Simply put, using our earth life as school, we should learn how to live the heavenly life; a life that recognizes the value of love;

Ultimately therefore, through life on earth, we should come to recognize God…in His Love, Justice and Power.

Without imbibing these lessons, i.e. without knowing God, making ourselves one with His Will and adjusting to the kind of life lived in heaven, we cannot make it back home to eternal bliss in heaven.

Christ is your strength so you can do all things.

Because Christ is your strength, you can do all things. Yes 

anything, as long as it is not in disharmony with the Will of God!

No matter what it is! So long as it is good. And so long as it is not

borne  out of envy or jealousy, or out of spitefulness of another 

being! If you do not wish to oppress others by it; if I do not wish 

to feel like a better or more superior human being to others, then 

you are free to set out boldly, to accomplish any task.

All you need to do is
Pray,
prepare a plan,
pray,
work the plan,
pray,
accomplish the goal,
pray, pray, pray.

Offcourse it's easy. All you need is focus, disciplen, strength and
all these you get through Prayer.

Prayer connects you with your creator, the Almighty God. The One
Who cares for the birds of the air and the lilies of the fields; The
One Who gives you life. Why then miss the advantage. Why not
connect? Why not PRAY?

That is why it is said,
"I can do all things in Christ Who strengthens me"

But there is something else you can also do with the strength
given to you by Christ.

You can also Overcome Sin.

You must believe this. If you do not, you cannot achieve it.
Its in your hands.

Crush the Devil - Can You Achieve This?

Quite a number of Christians sing songs with sentences such as crush the devil; flatten him, destroy him, etc, and you see them stamping their feet hard on the ground as if they are treading on him. They do this with all seriousness.

Though it may seem funny, it isn’t. Do people really think they affect the devil in some way by doing this?

You cannot touch the devil let alone tread on him. The devil is very far away from you. He’s right down in the regions of hell, but can however influence you from there despite the vast distance.

While living on this earth, we have two paths to choose from; that of God and that of the devil. Both paths have their final destinations. For those who don’t know already, the way of the devil leads no where else but to hell and eternal damnation, while the way of God leads back home to bliss in heaven for all eternity.

Now it is the will of the devil to lead as many as possible, if not all of mankind to damnation for all eternity so he draws a blue print and asks us to follow it and sadly, very sadly we do. What then is the use of singing such songs if at the end of the day we still do his bidding.

If you really wish to hurt the devil, you would refuse to do his will, Period. In other words you would not engage in gossip, fornication, adultery etc; you would not be envious or jealous of others. Basking in the power and grace of God, you would strive to overcome all your weaknesses.

It not so difficult to fathom but we prefer to deceive ourselves. We swallow every line of the devil and refuse to see that we are exactly where he wants us to be. Because he wants us to go on sinning he tells us we cannot overcome sin; that God would understand and that His grace through Christ covers us. He tells us that as long as we believe in God, our sins, even those yet sinned, are washed away. He quotes texts from the bible, the same way he did when he confronted the son of God, Jesus on the mountain some 2000 years ago. And so like sheep being led to the slaughter house we are guided straight to Hell by Satan.

You cannot touch the devil. You cannot even see him, but you can refuse to do his will and thus refuse to share in the reward meant for him and all those who freely choose to follow him.

As a child of God, you have access to the power and grace of God.

Use it if you wish to make the devil unhappy.

The speck in thy brothers' eye

People find it more convenient to dwell on the faults of others than on their own faults. They spend too much time on gossip. And yet just as Jesus, said while He was on earth, "that very fault which they look for and find in others, they have to an even greater extent in themselves."

Everyone has faults. No man can say, "I have not sinned." Remember the story of the woman caught in the act of adultery and brought before the son of God Jesus." As the teachers of the law and the Pharisees questioned Him, He straightened Himself up and said; let him who is without sin cast the first stone.” John 8:3-11.


Why point fingers at others? Why say this is a lesbian, and that an adulterer. Why do we feel bitter? Or is it that we feel bad at not being able to engage in such sinful activities ourselves? Is the real problem therefore, not that of jealousy? Or is it a question of being holier than thou?

All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Rom 3:23

Bear in mind that the act of gossip is sin anyway, and condemning others is also not right before God. So, while we point one finger at others and calling them sinners, three fingers point back at us.


Let us therefore focus on ourselves. The grace of God is with us. If we truly desire to serve Him, we would continually live in the endeavour to harmonize our lives with His Will. We would thus continue to work on ourselves while at the same time stretching a hand of fellowship to our neighbours, praying for them as they pray for us and so grow ever stronger as the body and church of Christ on earth.

May the grace of God continue to be upon us!

Reflect on this

I'm so sorry I've been off for some time now. My ISP had a problem

and I had to wait for them to get it sorted out. Mainwhile, reflect

on this.

To he that overcometh will I give to eat of the

Hidden Manna