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

how can we overcome sin?

Our situation today is very grim. Man seems to have chosen death over life. All the helps that have come from above to make him retrace his steps have been disregarded. He doesn’t seem to mind where he is heading; doesn’t care about the Will of God and, for many, doesn’t even know there is a God. He is thus surrounded by darkness out of choice.

Consequently evil has permeated the entire planet. We are now in a world where being a lesbian is no longer seen as abnormal and the most sexually promiscuous persons are virtually being worshiped; a world where the more you show of your nakedness the more fashionable you are; a world that confuses the word sexy with beautiful; where might is right and guile is acceptable so long as you can beat the earthly laws. The hold on mankind by the darkness is suffocating. It seems impossible to go against it.

But not for you who sincerely wish to serve God; you who believe that there is a heaven and wish to thread the path leading back home to it.

There certainly is a way back home. It is not as difficult as you may think. It has nothing to do with the walls erected everywhere by different religious groups. The worship of God is not supposed to be something rigid or regimental. It should not choke or oppress you. It’s supposed to be a way of life; the kind of life willed by God; a life of love, peace and harmony; a life of freedom…spiritual freedom; a life devoid of sin. Those who serve God should therefore flow with such life. They should be one with it; should possess it.

Here on earth, you are learning how to live that life; and you can. The way lies in knowing your God, understanding His Will and living in harmony with it so you can go back home to Heaven where you can live it to the full.

You serve The Almighty God, Creator of everything that exists, Who sustains all by His Will, The Holy Spirit. It is in His Will that you make it back home to Paradise and He has therefore equipped you with everything you need for the journey, everything you need to overcome sin, but you must make use of what has been given to you. I will briefly talk on two of these.

Your conscience:
Given to you as a gift by the Creator, it is meant to warn you when temptation approaches you. And it does warn you without fail…Always. The warning comes early enough. Long before any iota of darkness linking itself to you in the form of unclean thoughts has gained strength at all. If at this stage you heed the warning and snuff out the life in such speck of evil thought you wouldn’t have problems resisting evil, but no, you dwell on it instead; you play with it, allowing it to grow; building up strength in the process, until finally becoming so strong, it overwhelms you.

The point is, when you dwell on unclean thoughts, you show your desire for sin and thus stretch your hands to the darkness. The moment you do this you automatically turn your back on the power that is available to you from God; you break the connection with God and hence stand momentarily on your own, unprotected and when the darkness eventually envelops you, causing you to sin, it is because you desired it.

You cannot fight the darkness on your own. You can only do so with the power of God. You must therefore remain connected with this power against which the darkness stands no chance.

Therefore be alert. Listen to your conscience. The more you heed its warning the louder it gets and the stronger you become. The reverse is the case when you fail to heed its warning. Always busy yourself with noble things. Do not tempt yourself; do not say you are so strong and can go anywhere or see anything. It is self deception; a trick of the darkness. You are not strong. Instead you have access to the source of all power…God.

The darkness knows this, and so it lures you into situations or conditions where you cannot but dwell on evil thoughts which disconnects you from the protecting power of God, thus creating the opening for it to reach and control you.

Prayer:
Prayer is the lifting up of our heart and soul to God. Through prayer we lay our spirit flat before His Mightiness, acknowledging His Power and Love, and asking Him for strength to live in harmony with His Will. Hence through prayer we also receive the strength we need to overcome sin. But you do not wait until you are almost completely overcome by temptation before you pray.

You pray as soon as an approach is made to you from the darkness. And that is where your conscience comes in. It alerts you as the approach is made, long before you get into the danger zone i.e. long before you disconnect yourself from God.

Once in danger zone you will not wish to pray. Remember you are already disconnected from God by your choice and are connected to the darkness even more strongly instead. The thoughts assailing you then will only be evil thoughts from the darkness. Surely you don’t expect the darkness to ask you to pray against it, do you? What is more likely is that you’ll be asked to complete the task at hand; get it over and done with and repent later…but the cycle is always repeated.

The Son of God, Jesus gave us everything in His admonition to “watch and pray.”
“To watch,” means to listen to your conscience; to be alert to the warnings it sends out to you; to receive them and to heed them.
“To pray,” refers to actively connecting yourself with the Power of God; a power that nothing can stand against. A short heartfelt prayer for help would suffice and the darkness would retreat immediately.

In order to overcome sin therefore, you must know your strengths and weaknesses. Do not tempt yourself. Keep away from occasions of sin. You do not need to prove to yourself that you are strong because you are not. You only have access to power from God by being connected to Him. You loose this privilege when, and for as long as, you desire evil.

Therefore, let your heart be a temple of God; raise an altar in your heart for the worship of God. Protect the altar. Pray without ceasing.

Put simply, keep your thoughts free of evil.
Be alert to your conscience.
Be Prayerful

May the Almighty God bless you.

Merry Christmas Everyone

As we celebrate the coming into the world of our Lord Jesus Christ, I wish
you all, His Love peace and happiness. I also pray that you are able to conquer
your weaknesses and live a life that is in harmony with the will of God, so that
ultimately you can make it back home to that place where we shall have joy for
all Eternity. Living any other way makes nonsense of His sacrifice.

Jesus is knocking on the door of your heart

When Jesus knocks on the door of our hearts, He is not just

asking us to say that we love Him; He is also not begging us to

tell others that we do either. Fine! It’s good to say these things.

But what good is it if we still indulge in every vice that exists;

how do we show that we love Him, if we still make massive contributions to the rapidly increasing spread of evil on earth?

Jesus once said
“Not those who call me Lord, but those who keep the Will of my father who sent me.”  Who are those who call Him Lord? These are people who say they believe in Him; people who say they love Him; who bear the name Christians (like-Christ); those who attend Christian service and fellowships; and who go for Christian song festivals. Now Jesus doesn’t condemn these, no, rather He says they should not stop there but take another step forward towards Him. They have opened the door. Now they should tread the path shown by Him.
 Jesus Christ the Son of God, the Prince of Peace knocks on the door of our hearts. He is “THE WAY, THE TRUTH and THE LIFE”
When we open up to let Him in, we are confronted with the following;

1    THE WAY;
The path we must tread if we are to make it back home to Heaven as members of the family of Christ; that path which is in harmony with the Will of His Father who sent Him. We cannot have the strength to tread this path if we do not genuinely love Him. Mere claims of loving Him do not suffice. We would always end up indulging in sin and sadly, very sadly, always fall back on the notion that we are covered by His grace and can make Heaven nevertheless so long as we believe in Him…A recipe for destruction. Therefore, in order to help us in this, He clearly stated;
“If you love me keep my commandments.”
It is not as difficult as one may think. We do not use our own strength. We use a power given to us by God. Such power is given when, and only when we earnestly desire to overcome sin. That is why it is said that
 “We can never be tempted beyond our means” to overcome. if we fall it is because we chose to ignore the support given to us at all times.  
Hence, Christ is the way back home; a path we must thread; a pointer to Heaven.

2    THE TRUTH;
that there is a God, The Father Almighty, Creator of the Heavens and the earth, and of everything that exists; that He came from God; and that He is the Son of God Who came to show mankind the way out of the darkness into which they had sunk themselves; that He was prepared to face anything, even humiliation and death on the cross; that the home of mankind is not “planet earth,” but Heaven; and that all who believe in Him and thus walk in the direction shown shall be saved.

3    THE LIFE;
that He came from the source of all Life; that He is thus a part of this Life; that He is Life; and that all who believe in Him and live in harmony with The Will of His Father Who sent Him shall be saved and thus have Life, Eternal Life…the Life of God.

Thus The Son of God knocks on the door of your heart. When you open up to let Him in you are shown the path you must thread if you must make it back home, the truth you must believe in if you are to be a member of his family, and the gift of life that becomes your own when you worship Him in Truth and in Spirit.

Having Sex - Is it Sinful?

Sex in itself it not sin. After all Insects, plants and animals all

have sex. Even micro-organisms reproduce sexually. So why

should sex by man be sin? Every organ in the human body has a

purpose. The sexual organ also has its purpose; Excretion and

Procreation, two vital functions necessary for the health,

wellbeing and propagation of the species. 
With the command “Go ye and multiply”, the importance of such

an organ cannot be over emphasized. However, man is not just

any creature. He is the crown of creation; Lord over everything

that exist here on earth.

That is why in order to eat he doesn’t just pounce on a cow for

instance and start tearing away with his canines. Instead he uses

tools all the way; from the point of killing the animal, through

cooking, right up to eating. He even uses tools to introduce food

into his mouth; what most animals would consider a sheer waste

of time. Again he doesn’t just graze on the fields; rather he uses

massive technology to convert grass through a very long and

tedious process to stuff like bread, cornflakes and spaghetti. And

he’s not done yet. He still has to process these further before

finally eating. What patience!

Now take a look at chicken kingdom. A male looks up and spots a

female. He looks around to make sure there is no stronger male,

then takes off in her direction. She makes a run for it but he finally

catches her. Wham bam and its over. He’s through. Any weaker

male would have to wait until the stronger one wanders off. Or

better still he would have to move to a new territory. But this

doesn’t guarantee that he has sole rights over the hens in his new

territory. Any really strong male can wander into any territory at

any time and zoom in on any hen, and the weaker males would

pretend not to notice.

Now we are not animals, No; we are human spirits, built

with the potential to develop into the likeness of the Image of

God; Spirits with wisdom, dignity, compassion, grace, diligence,

humility and skill, from a home much higher than this earth, a

home more proximate to God, a home that is eternal, a home

called Paradise.

We will eventually make it back home to eternal bliss, but only if

we keep on track. The track shown us by the many guides,

teachers and prophets of old, and also by the Son of God, Jesus

and the Son of Man, Emanuel, the Comforter; the Prince of
Peace. Otherwise we are headed in only one direction; eternal 
damnation.

That is why we must not engage in behaviours that degrade our

status as human spirits; Behaviours that can only lead us to Hell.

As a help, and out of the grace of The Almighty we were given the

Ten Commandments. Two of these touch on sex.

1.    Thou shalt not commit Adultery.
You shall not disturb the Love, Peace and Harmony of any
couple united in Marriage. You are not allowed, for any selfish
reason, through any form of activity, to cause a separation
between such a couple. This precludes acts of seduction or sexual
intimidation of any member of such a pair. If you happen to fall
in love with any of such a couple, prayerfully look elsewhere. You
will surely find another. Marriages of such nature are blessed and
protected by The Almighty and MUST thus be respected. Couples
not yet married but deeply in love with each other and having the
desire to get married are also protected by God, and must also
be hallowed by all including parents.

2.    Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife.
You shall not lust after any woman, married or unmarried. You
may howerver have honourable feeings of love for a woman and
are permitted to woo her. Such feelings are honourable if your
desire is to have her as your wife and not just sex mate, and you
have first of all ascertained that she does not belong to another.
In such a case, and because you genuinely love her, you would
therefore not make unclean demands on her for sex but may
patiently court her and when her love is finally won, may then go
on to solicit for marriage. Untill then you are not permitted to
desire her sexually.

Thus as Human beings and Lords of the Earth; Spirits built in the

likeness of the image of God; having sex is not sinful so long as

two conditions are fulfiled.The first being that there must be love

between the couple concerned. The second, and of  equal

importance being that they are happily married to each other.This

is the Will of God for mankind and separates them from the
animals. Anything outside this drops them below the status of
human beings and places them on the same level as animals,
sometimes even beneath the animals and would thus be a
transgression of the Laws of The Almighty God. Such
transgressions cannot go without grave consequences.

Can there be a Heaven on Earth ?

Yes there can be a heaven on earth, just as there can also be a 
Hell on earth.Everything needed by the earth for its growth and 
development was put into it by God and human beings inhabiting 
it are created or born with the abilities necessary for harnessing 
its abundant resources.

In other words we have been given the power to rule over all that 
exists on earth by God. This is a great responsibility.
It is therefore in the hands of man to shape the conditions in 
which he lives on earth. He can shape these conditions into a 
“Heaven on Earth” or a “Hell on Earth”; it is for him to decide 
and this decision is reflected in his activities. Right now however, 
judging from the activities of the majority, man has chosen to 
create Hell. 

In the Lord’s Prayer, the “Our Father”, a vow is made to God, 
for “His Will to be done on earth as it is done in Heaven”, a 
declaration which is also made by members of some other major 
religions on Earth. If man had honoured this promise to keep the 
Will of God in his daily activities, the World would have been a 
much healthier place; a place where love abounds. All he had to 
do was to live in love, peace and harmony with the people with 
whom he interacts daily. It is not so difficult.

Yet he failed. He became a slave to sin, loving himself only and 
carrying out every request of the tempter. He thus spread Evil 
and eventually created an empire of Darkness…a hell on earth.

But it is possible to have a Heaven on Earth; a world free of all 
the earthly vices; free of jealousy, envy, lust, hatred, avarice,
covetousness,  laziness, gossip, suspicion and so many other 
earthly evils.

Man can bring about this. He has the power, but he must use it 
rightly; he must work on himself. There is no other way. When 
in each one there is true love for others and no desire to harm 
them; not in his thoughts, words, or actions, then the vices 
would die naturally and evil would cease. Then the kind of life 
experienced in Heaven would have its semblance here on earth.

But if on the other there exist in each one such desires as can 
only cause harm to others, evil would always abound and rather 
than having a Heaven on earth, we would have a Hell on earth 
instead.

Man must bear one thing in mind: If his activity is indicative of 
a contributor to Hell on Earth, then he cannot be headed 
anywhere else after his death but to that region whose life he 
had copied while on Earth…HELL. If he cannot adapt to a life 
Willed by God, a life in harmony with that in Heaven; if he cannot 
adjust his being to a heaven on earth, then all that awaits him is 
Eternal Damnation and not Eternal bliss in Heaven. But he 
cannot cease to exist. He is Immortal and must therefore continue 
to exist somewhere.

Out of the Grace of the Almighty, You have been given the power 
to choose; the "freedom of choice". Heaven beckons on you and 
you are given all the help you need to stride back Home to it. But 
you must decide to stride on the path leading towards it. It is 
your choice.




Make Haste.
The time is shorter than you think.

Must we worship God on Sundays

I was prompted to writing this because of the action of a friend of
mine recently. I noticed on this particular weekend that while he 
indulged in what he clearly perceived was not right before God, 
he at that same moment was making arrangements for worship in 
church on the following sunday. He didn't want to miss church. Not
for anything. And yet he continued in his vice.


Clearly, he has removed the worship of God from his normal daily
activities. To him these are two different things. Thus he can live
the way he likes everyday and then on Sundays, to fulfil his weekly
obligations, he would get dressed and go to church, to worship God.
Now, there are many who think and act like this.


Before going on to discuss whether it is necessary to worship God 
on Sundays, we must first of all understand what the worship of 
God entails.



To worship God means to honour Him; to show respect to Him; to
bow down to Him. But this is not just in body movement or weekly 
church attendance, but rather in the entirety of the activities 
carried out by such a person; in his thoughts, words and actions.


Hence, when there is in man, the endeavor to live in accordance 
with the will of the Almighty God, such a person shows respect 
to his creator. He honours God with his being, in his activities 
and therefore trully worships Him. The worship of God, should 
therefore be done with each passing second.


Sundays, however, are special days set aside by God; days meant 
for Reflection, Worship and Service.

On such days, one rests from normal everyday work and takes 
advantage of such precious moments to reflect on his activities 
of the previous week. For instance, could he sincerely say to 
himself that he was living as a child of God, doing the Will of his 
Father? 


He attends hours of worship with other fellow believers, where he 
opens up his soul to his Creator, thanking Him for His grace and 
praying for strength to live in harmony with his Will.


And finally, just as in every other day, he continues to serve
God, in his activities; engaging only in those things that are of 
benefit to his neighbour and himself.


In summary, Sunday is indeed a very important day. It is the 
crowning of the week. A day for worship, a day for thanksgiving,

a day for contemplation, a day to receive strength to carry on
through the coming week.


With the strength you continually receive, you should be able to 
adjust you thoughts, words and actions, and thus your will, to
be in harmony with the Will of God. Your life will then be in 
service to God and you worship him in Truth and in Spirit.


Oghenero.