What a Friend we have in Jesus

God is watching over us - part 1.

2011-12-09T20:03:00.000+02:00

It is now the second time that I have seen something exceptional whilst flying. Previously I have seen that my aircraft made two shadows on the ground - and this has occurred on two separate long flights. It is impossible for an aircraft to make two shadows, and this puzzled me very much, specially because the shadow was on the left side. I had thought at the time that it was the Lord watching over me - and I still do, but scripture says in Psalm 121:5 ... the Lord is thy shade/shadow on thy right hand - so I am still waiting for some explanation.

The second sight was recently. I was flying above the clouds and a halo was formed around my aircraft shadow on the clouds. I publish the photo here - which I personally vouch for, since my wife took it. I am again quite sure that it was the Lord watching over me.

Posted by Peekay

According to this, it was God's shadow Pekay!
God's Shadow by Henry Morris, Ph.D.
"Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings" (Psalm 17:8).
There are twelve references in the Bible to God's "shadow," understood as a type of His invisible, but very real, guiding presence. The reference in our text above is the first, and there are three other references to this beautiful metaphor -- the "shadow" of the wings of God. Psalm 36:7 assures us that men can "put their trust under the shadow of thy wings" and Psalm 57:1 that we can take refuge there "until these calamities be overpast," and then we can "rejoice" there (Psalm 63:7). The Lord's presence is like "the shadow of a great rock in a weary land," according to Isaiah 32:2. The same prophet quoted God as saying that "I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand" even as He formed the heavens and the earth, while hiding us "in the shadow of His hand" (Isaiah 51:16; 49:2). Then there is the wonderful promise of Psalm 91:1: "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." He can also be "a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall," bringing down "the heat with the shadow of a cloud" (Isaiah 25:4-5). Similarly, He is "a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain" (Isaiah 4:6). The last reference speaks of "the anointed of the Lord" (that is, of the Messiah, Jesus Christ), assuring God's people that; "Under His shadow we shall live among the heathen" (Lamentations 4:20). These are all "exceeding great and precious promises" (II Peter 1:4). Hidden under the shadow of God is indeed a good and safe place to be in times like these. HMM

The promise must die first

2011-11-18T15:44:00.002+02:00

We know the promises of the Lord and know that they stand fast, but time and again we reach a place where we feel that the Lord has left us in the lurch and not fulfilled his promise to us. We then become disheartened and even angry with the Lord.

However, if we reflect on the matter we will find that the Lord has not left us in the lurch, but that we misunderstood the promise or did not grasp the time for the fulfilment of the promise correctly.

In any case it is not simply a matter of promise and fulfilment that go together like cause and effect – although it does have a lot to do with this as well.

A promise from the Lord is akin to his Word going forth and we can also apply the parable of the sower to it. The sower sows these promises, but some fall next to the road and are eaten by birds, a portion falls on rocky places and is scorched and some are choked by weeds. Even those that fall in good soil do not come up immediately.

When one looks at the old pilgrims in the Bible, one notices that for them also promises did not come up immediately. I quote a few examples of people who received the promise, but never the fulfilment (because God determined something better for them):

1. Hebr. 11:32 And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak and Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, v.34 quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword, whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. V.35 Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. V.36 Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. V.37 They were stoned; they were sawn in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins; destitute, persecuted and ill-treated - v.38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. V.39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised.

In Hebr. 11:13 the scriptures also say - All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.

Those for whom the promise indeed went into fulfilment, it also took a long time – until they became disheartened and bade the promise farewell. For them the promise first had to die.

1 Jacob received the promise that his brothers would bow before him, but it cost him slavery, prison and a famine before it came to pass.

2 Abraham had to leave his family and journey to the Promised Land, but it cost him famine in Canaan and an embarrassment in Egypt before he could go and live there – and even then he neglected the promise by allowing Lot to live there.

3 John the Baptist had the promise of the Lamb of God and later had to ask – Are you the one who was to come?

We receive the answer in 1Cor. 15:36 - How foolish, What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. V.37 When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed… V.38 But God gives it a body as he has determined.

So also with the seed of the Lord. He fulfils his promise after he has sown it in the shape of a seed and awakens it in a shape as determined by him, but he awaits it like the farmer:

Remember the scriptures in James 5:7 – Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains.

We also just have to wait for the promises until our souls have received the early and late rains, because the Lord also awaits them patiently.

As best example I hold up to you the promise of the Father in John 3:16 - For God so loved the world…

Here he says nothing about the Lord Jesus having to die – yet that promise had to die on the cross so that we could receive the promise of salvation and John said ahead of time, but did not realise, that the Lamb of God first had to die.

Will we then not see the promise from a distance and believe and welcome it and, like the farmer, patiently await it?

PK Odendaal July 2008

The Simplicity of the Gospel

2011-11-16T15:42:00.001+02:00

One of the aspects which drew me to our church was the simplicity of the Gospel. When the Lord saved my soul, many churches, preachers and other persons gave me their version of the Gospel and eventually I found it so complex that I was completely confused. What worried me even more was that I could not testify to other people because I was not able to understand such a complex gospel or to carry it across.

When I entered the church as a novice, my expectations therefore were the same as that of Naaman in 2 Kings 5:11 – “I thought that he (Elisha) would come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than any of the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?”

The reasoning of the tradition from which I came was exactly the same – but I could not get rid of my leprosy (sin) there and the rivers there (baptism) weren’t the right rivers.

But when I came here, I received this simple advice – confess your sins and be baptised.

Paul points this out (1 Cor. 1:26) – “Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things- and the things that are not – to nullify the things that are, so that no-one may boast before him. “

The first apostles and congregation (Acts 2:46) “ …broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts” and in 2 Cor 1:12 Paul writes, “Now this is our boast: our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in this world…in the holiness and sincerity that are from God. We have done so not according to worldly wisdom but according to God’s grace.

In the scriptures I also see that the Father and Son answered the people simply or with simplicity.

In the argument between the Pharisees and the Sadducees about the resurrection of the dead, they asked the Lord Jesus for his opinion and his simple answer was that God is the father of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and that God is not the God of the dead (Luke 20:37)

As already mentions, Elisha told Naaman – “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan.”

As a matter of fact nowhere in the Bible do I see that the Lord Jesus gave long explanations about anything. His example and his words were short and powerful.

To the rich young man he said, “Keep my commandments’ and, “Come here and follow me.”

To the young man who first wanted to go and bury his father, the Lord Jesus said,” Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead (Matt. 8:22).

I myself once suffered from severe back pain at the conference and expected that prayers would be said for me – the answer was: “You have come all this way – go and confess.”

The Lord is not interested in our qualifications and knowledge, and these are often barriers so that the Lord cannot achieve his purpose in our lives. When I pray and ask that the Lord conclude a matter for me in a certain way, I always think of the refrain: “God has a thousand ways to answer every prayer” – I usually do not have more than one or two answers to that.

Recently I testified that should the Lord want me to serve him like a zombie I would be prepared to do so. This may be exaggerating, but in my own case it is necessary to come to such a realisation as I am in a consulting profession and I find it difficult not to advise the Lord.

However, I can assure you that from all my experience that all the advice I have given the Lord and others have after long consideration proven to be the wrong advice and today I am absolutely certain that the only advice comes from the Lord (and that is always the simplest advice).

Many of us have also often received advice from the Lord and it was always so simple that it seemed to be almost ridiculous, but if we did follow it, in the end it worked out well for us.

We know what advice Elisha had previously received from the Lord – to visit a widow during a time of drought – it seems to be completely wrong.

What I have also noticed is the way in which the Lord gives us good advice by forcing us to do self-examination through asking us a simple question.

To Cain he said, “Where is your brother Abel?” (Gen. 4:9)

He asked Balaam: Who are these men with you?” (Num. 22:9).

He asked Elija, “What are you doing here?” (1 Kings 19:9).

He asked Adam, “Where are you?” (Gen. 3:9).

His instruction to man is just as short and simple. To each one of us He says: “Give me your heart.”

P.K. Odendaal Nov 2001

Amazing Grace

2011-11-14T15:40:00.001+02:00

I would like to begin a song of praise over the indescribable amount of grace that became ours through the salvation of our souls.

The scriptures say: Eph. 2:8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.

1 John 3:1 How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!

By surrendering our will to the Lord we have therefore received so much – think about it, the salvation of our souls, the communion with the Father and his Son, a legacy that cannot be surpassed, and the privilege of being the children of the Almighty. And over and above that, protection against the world’s grief and sorrows. Think about alcoholism, drugs, love of power and money, irrationality, greed – the Lord protects us from all of these.

Our world is one of cause and effect. Another world without cause and effect would be absurd and the only meaningful world is one of cause and effect. This cause and effect follow on good and bad things and we, who by nature are inclined to the bad, can also quote this law as : actions and revenge. In Rom. 1:27 the scriptures speak about men who “…received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.”

I often have to answer questions about this aspect. People in the world say that they do not believe in the Lord because a loving God would not be able to see the grief and suffering in the world and let it continue without doing something about it. Previously I could not answer them or I did not wish to answer them, because I would have had to tell them (with doubt in my heart) that they had received their just deserts for their deeds, but it is becoming all the more clear to me that it could in actual fact be the only answer.

Why do most of these plagues not visit us as children of God, because many of our deeds are also wrong or even evil. The only answer I could find to his is in Ps. 91:1 – He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

Where is the shelter of the Most High? For He hides me in the fissure of the rock standing in a far thirsty land. (This means the Rock is to be found at the site of the tribulation).

How can we have a share in this grace ? 1 Cor. 1:4 – I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus (and)

1 Peter 1:13 – THEREFORE, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.

When did I become a shareholder in this grace?

Rev. 3:20 – Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. This is a door only you or I can open, but also in that we have received a lot of grace to enable us to open the door. When we come to the realisation of how lost and helpless we are, the Holy Ghost immediately comes to our rescue to prepare us to believe, to open the door, to recognise the Lord for what He is and to say yes. We can go through these 4 steps only by the intervention and preparation of the Holy Ghost, because we cannot do it by ourselves – these are all gifts from the Holy Ghost. How indescribably huge does this grace become!

and

John 3:16 – For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

We also do wrong things and then expect the Lord to avert disaster from us or be lenient, and the Lord does so, but what greater grace can we receive if we listen to the voice of his Holy Ghost to not fall into Satan’s trap. When we do transgress, grace multiplies, but in Rom. 5:20 to 6: Paul warns – But where sin increased all the more, grace increased all the more, 21 so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. 6 WHAT shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning, so that grace may increase? 7 By no means!

He forgives us our sins without ever giving it a second thought. Is that not amazing grace?

P.K. Odendaal April 2005

The Mayonnaise Jar

2011-11-12T15:23:00.001+02:00

Priorities in your life are very important. They will determine your every decision you make, the course of your life and ultimately tour destiny.

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day is not enough;
remember the mayonnaise jar and 2 cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and started to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured it into the jar. He shook the jar lightly.
The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was. The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with an unanimous 'yes.'

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

'Now,' said the professor, as the laughter subsided, 'I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.

The golf balls are the important things in your life - God, family, your health. Things that, if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the things that matter like your job, a house, friends and your passions.

The sand is everything else -- The everyday small stuff.

'If you put the sand into the jar first,' he continued, 'there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you.

Consider your priorities! The rest is only sand. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your spiritual growth and happiness . Play with your children. Make time for God, family, church, medical check ups. There will always still be time for things like removing the trash, dinner parties, or internet surfing…. Take care of the golf balls first -- The things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.'

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented. The professor smiled. 'I'm glad you asked'. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend.'

Matthew 6:33 But first be concerned about God's kingdom and his righteousness, and all of these things will be provided for you as well.

Noah's Ark Life Lessons

2011-11-10T15:34:00.000+02:00

All I need to know I learned from Noah's Ark
* One. Don't miss the boat.
* Two. Remember that we are all in the same boat.
* Three. Plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the Ark.
* Four. Stay fit. When you're 600 years old someone may ask you to do something really big.
* Five. Don't listen to critics, just get on with the job that needs to be done.
* Six. Build your future on high ground.
* Seven. For safety's sake travel in pairs.
* Eight. Speed isn't always an advantage. The snails were on board with the cheetahs.
* Nine. When you're stressed, float awhile.
* Ten. Remember the Ark was built by amateurs, the Titanic by professionals.

* Eleven. No matter the storm, there's always a rainbow waiting.

Grief and sorrow

2011-11-09T17:21:00.001+02:00

I attended the funeral of the dearest 22 year old daughter of a friend of mine yesterday, and afterwards I had to take the time to consider grief and sorrow.

They are demanding enemies.

Whether they are enemies or friends, I have not been able to decide, but demanding they are.
I know their fruits are delicious - so someday I might consider them as friends, but I am not ready for that yet.

I advised my friend to read (and listen to) this webpage as consolation, as it has served as a consolation for me in times of crisis (it has the lyrics, as well as the history of why this song was written) : http://www.biblestudycharts.com/A_Daily_Hymn.html

The end of this story is the enjoyment by posterity of one of the most tender gospel songs : 'It is well with my soul'.

Maybe we can come to that point one day when we can turn grief and sorrow into abundant joy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPPSG_SpojY&feature=related

Kings and Priests

2011-11-08T06:36:00.001+02:00

by P.K.Odendaal - 4 November 2011

We know that we must (one day) reign as Kings and Priests. I have had a statement given to me recently, by a friend fo mine, that we are now reigning as Kings and Priests over the earth. I think, no doubt, he bases his statement on :

Rev 5:10 And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

My first reaction was - no - it cannot be. The time has not come, we are only Priests, because we serve reconciliation and atonement with God through the the Blood of Jesus Christ as in :

2Co 5:18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; v:19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

I have, however, not seen in scripture, that He has also given us dominion over the Earth to rule as Kings over it, so let us look at who has dominion over the Earth presently, and whether and when it was given to us, maybe implicitly.

Argument One

So, we start off at the Beginning. God made Heaven and Earth, and He gave Adam and Eve dominion over all living things and the over the Earth :

Gen 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

This scripture says : The Earth belongs to God, because He made it, but He has no diminion over it, because He has given dominion over it to Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve were in fact then kings of the Earth.

This dominion over Earth, that Adam and Eve had, they have given over to Satan in the garden of Eden during that fateful visit of the serpent, during a time that they did not watch over it, as they were instructed in :

Gen 2:15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress (work or husband) it and to keep (guard and protect) it.

It is not surprising then, that He says in the parable of the vineyard :

Luke 20:9 ... A certain man planted a vineyard, and let it forth to husbandmen, and went into a far country for a long time.

Although we lack some insight into the physical, spiritual and symbolic meaning of this encounter, it is not difficult to deduct, that from this meeting with the serpent in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve gave over dominion of the Earth to Satan, because after that, they did not have that dominion anymore, as they were expelled from this Garden and became labourers, not kings :

Gen 3:17 .... cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; v:18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; v:19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, ...

It is quite clear from the altercation between Jesus Christ and Satan in the desert, that Satan owns 'the kingdoms of this Earth' :

Mat 4:8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; v:9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

Jesus Christ acknowledges this fact to Pilate saying :

Joh 18:36 Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.

How can we be Kings on Earth now, as suggested, while Satan has dominion over the Earth? By becoming one of his subjects, like the kings of the Earth. That is why this war against Satan is also a war against the kings of the Earth :

Rev 19:19 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.

God can only take back dominion over the Earth by making war or by cession, not just and only to let Jesus Christ die on the cross.

We may be tempted to think that the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ 'made everything right'. Although the prognosis is such, the event had not occured yet. There will be a war, but the satan is never going to cede this Earth without a fight, and that fight is described in two battles, the first of which returns the dominion of Earth back to Him (God), and in the second, Satan is devoured, because God already has dominion over earth to do that :

Rev 19:11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. v:12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. v:13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. v:14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. v:15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. v:16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.

Against whom will this war be fought. Not against man, but against the forces of evil, now united under Satan, his kings of the World, Anti-christ and the demonic angelic forces.

After their defeat in this war, they will spent some time in prison, to see whether they will not repent, and when they come out (on parole) they will do what every jailbird does :

Rev 20:8 And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.

Rev 20:9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.

Here Jesus Christ has already given over the dominion of Earth to His Father, God, who can devour those who transgress against Him. He received that dominion from His Son, Jesus Christ, who won the dominion over the Earth in the war in Rev. 19:11 above, and then gave it over to His Father.

First Jesus Christ conquers all and is all and in all :

Col 3:11 Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.

He then gives it over to the Father who then becomes all and is in all :

1Co 15:28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

So ,where does the original scripture quoted come in?

Rev 5:10 And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

There will be a new Earth and a new Heaven in which we will reign with the Son:

Rev 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

Remember - on the old Earth only a third of the sea was smitten, but there was still two thirds left - where has that gone now, only seconds after the victory, when we have been changed in the twinkling of an eye ?

Argument Two

So much for the scripture, but let us also look at the parables, types and examples we find in scripture regarding this.

We should be well acquainted with the types and anti-types in the Bible, and I am taking one of these as an example, before I go to the real parable.

We, as saved souls, should have gone through two stages before we reach that Celestial City.

We, who have died due to our sins, and lived in bondage should have been :

Baptised with water.

Baptised with the Fire of the Holy Spirit.

Similarly, the Earth was baptised with water (The Big Flood) and baptised with Fire (Armageddon).

Now for the real parable.

1. God's people lived in bondage, under the cruel government as slaves of a king of the Earth, one of those mentioned in Rev. 19:19 above.

2. There had to be a messiah (Moses) in conjunction with an interpreter Aaron), to persuade God's people and the king (Pharoah), to let God's people go.

3. God had to send ten plaques, to convince this king to let God's people go.

4. God took His people OUT of this sinful and earthly ruled place and brought them into the promised land.

5. God destroyed this earthly king and his subjects (in the returning flood of the Red sea), when His people had left the land.

6. God's people had to go through the Jordan (a type of the carnal death, and also a type of the baptism with water) to reach the promised land.

Now to the end time :

1. God's people lives in bondage, under cruel governments as slaves of the kings of the Earth, those mentioned in Rev. 19:19 above.

2. There have to be a Messiah in conjunction with the Holy Spirit, to persuade those kings to let God's people go.

3. God will have to send ten plaques (the seven seals and the three woes), to convince the Earth and its kings to let God's people go.

4. God will take His people OUT of this sinful Earth and bring them into the promised land - The New Jerusalem.

5. God will destroy this earthly kings and their subjects (Rev 6:16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:), when His people had left the land, in what is called the Rapture and the war of Armageddon.

6. God's people will have to go through the Jordan (a type of the carnal death - and also a type of the baptism with water) to reach the promised land.

In fact, when one delves deeper into the comparison of the ten plaques of Egypt and the ten plaques in the Great tribulation, one stands amazed at the (not so) coincident parallels.

Argument Three.

It is quite evident from Revelations, that there will be very little left of Earth once God had 'finished' with it, and the reasons are plenty.

Many meteors will have struck it, and will have made it totally unsuitable for any life to continue on Earth.

Here was shed the blood of the martyrs.

Here occured the innocent bloodshed of millions of people, and also of the Son of God, on which basis God cannot establish His New Jerusalem.

Here was the inbreeding of devils in the son's of man (called Nephilim), a plan Satan made to get his offspring to enter the gates of Heaven, as part of the Rapture of the First Fruits - the so-called harvest as depicted here :

Mat 13:26 But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. v:27 So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? v:28 He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? v:29 But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. v:30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

Mat 13:37 He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; v:38 The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; v:39 The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. v:40 As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.

Yes - God has reason to make the Earth void, like it has once been before Adam and Eve, like the prophecy for Babylon, which prophecy is not for Babylon, but for this Babyloneous Earth :

Isa 13:19 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. v:20 It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there.

and

Rev 18:2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. v:3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. v:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, COME OUT OF HER, MY PEOPLE, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

Argument Four.

In all these above I have not come across any scriptural evidence based on more than one scripture, which teaches that we will inherit the Earth - it will only go to the meek, and Christ was the only meek One.

Comments welcome.

Fill my cup Lord!

2011-10-24T10:33:00.002+02:00

Like the woman at the well I was seeking
For things that could satisfy
And then I heard the Savior speaking
Draw from my well that never shall run dry

There are millions in this world who are craving
The pleasures earthly things afford
But none can match the wondrous treasure
That I find in Jesus Christ my Lord

So my brother , if the things this world gave you
Leave hunger that won't pass away
My blessed Lord will come and save you
If you kneel to Him and humbly pray

Chorus

Fill my cup, Lord I lift it up, Lord
Come and quench this thirsting of my soul
Bread of heaven, feed me till I want no more-
Fill my cup, fill it up and make me whole

I wonder - have I done my best for Jesus?

2011-10-04T07:14:00.000+02:00

I wonder have I done my best for Jesus,
Who died upon the cruel tree?
To think of His great sacrifice at Calvary!
I know my Lord expects the best from me.

Refrain:

How many are the lost that I have lifted?
How many are the chained I’ve helped to free?
I wonder, have I done my best for Jesus,
When He has done so much for me?

The hours that I have wasted are so many

The hours I’ve spent for Christ so few;
Because of all my lack of love for Jesus,
I wonder if His heart is breaking too.

I wonder have I cared enough for others,

Or have I let them die alone?
I might have helped a wand’rer to the Saviour,
The seed of precious Life I might have sown.

No longer will I stay within the valley

I’ll climb to mountain heights above;
The world is dying now for want of someone
To tell them of the Saviour’s matchless love.

Lyrics: Ensign Edwin Young
Music: Harry E. Storrs

We'll talk it over....

2011-09-24T12:40:00.000+02:00

Tho' shadows deepen, and my heart bleeds
I will not question the way He leads;
This side of heaven we know in part
I will not question a broken heart.

Chorus:
We'll talk it over in the bye and bye.
We'll talk it over, my Lord and I.
I'll ask the reasons--he'll tell me why.
When we talk it over in the bye and bye.

Verse 2:
I'll trust His leading, He'll never fail,
Thru' darkest tunnels or misty vales;
Obey his bidding and faithful be
Tho' only one step ahead I see.

Verse 3:
I'll hide my heartache behind a smile
And wait for reasons till after while.
And tho He try me, I know I'll find
That all my burdens are silver lined.

An old but beautiful song!

Second Chances

2011-09-19T03:26:00.003+02:00

Nobody wakes up one day and suddenly find they are lost. Failure and success is about consecutively making right, or wrong, decisions. By doing small things different everyday, you can change the course of your life, for better or worse. Jim Rohn said: Watch your thoughts, they become your words. Watch your words, they become your actions, watch your actions, they become your lifestyle.

King Saul was one of those people who thought that small disobediences here and there will not matter. In fact, he made so many "small" mistakes and wrong choices, he didn't even notice his life was in a downward spiral, until he found himself fighting for his throne in the company of a witch, forsaken by God. What a vicious circle. Unfortunately for Saul, by then he was so in denial, he didn't even recognise the trouble he was in and therefore missed this very serious wake-up call.

Saul was the first chosen King of Israel. 1Samuel 31:3-6 He was stressed out, unable to live up to certain expectations, felt rejected and a failure. In a war against the Philistines, Saul's three sons were killed, and Saul himself was seriously wounded. I think God tried to prevent him from dying, hoping he would finally come to his senses and repent, since he was so lost in the weeks before this incident. God gave him three chances to reconsider: First he got seriously wounded, but didn’t die. Secondly his armor bearer refused to kill him, and we all know how tragically that ended for the armour bearer, and lastly Saul fell on his own sword in an effort to commit suicide and STILL didn’t die! Even after all that, he didn’t see the light, he didn't take the 3 chances God gave him to repent and spare him. He finally was killed by a passerby. Talk about wasted chances.

God is a merciful God, and He wanted Saul to grab the chance to repent and turn his life around, to be the King he was called to be. Instead, he caused a lot of heartache and deaths and died himself at the lowest point in his career. Jer. 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Peter is also an example of wasted chances, with one difference: he got the wake up call! Jesus told him that before the rooster crows that night, he would have denied Him three times. He was insulted and said NEVER would he do that! The sad truth is that he did deny God three times that night, Matthew 26:75 Suddenly, Jesus’ words flashed through Peter’s mind: “Before the rooster crows, you will deny three times that you even know me.” And he went away, weeping bitterly." He repented and stood up there to become one of the greatest men ever to live! He took Christianity through the world, suffered through hardships* and ultimately died a horrible torture death, but he NEVER flinched after he got a second chance, because he got a second chance and wasn't going to waste it!

*(2 Cor 11:24 Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked)

God wanted to walk trough the Garden and talk to us, He wants to have fellowship with us and be our Friend. He will always give us a second chance, we must just be willing to take it. Question is: are you ready to repent and take that second chance, or harden your heart and ignore it, and carry on without God's hand over you, on the road of self-destruction?

1 Cor. 1:9, "For God is faithful through whom you were called into Fellowship with His Son Christ Jesus."

To be Obedient

2011-09-16T11:00:00.004+02:00

1 Samuel 15:22 “Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed, better than the fat of rams.”

Here we see how upset Samuel was that Saul took matters into his own hands and not follow the right protocol, by choosing to not be obedient to God. This was the beginning of his fall. Had he had respect for God and their traditions and obeyed it, he would have been blessed.

Do you know that God wants to use us for His purpose and let us help Him spread the gospel and do good? God uses the Holy Spirit to put an idea or plant a seed in our hearts. We have to be prepared and in a place where we will be able to hear this voice, then we must act on it in obedience. If we don’t act on it, it will burn you to do so. Jeremiah 20:9 “But if I say I'll never mention the LORD or speak in his name, his word burns in my heart like a fire. It's like a fire in my bones! I am worn out trying to hold it in! I can't do it!” If you still choose to ignore it, you will miss out on a wonderful opportunity to be blessed and be a blessing, and your heart will start to harden. Hebrews 3:15 “Remember what it says: "Today when you hear his voice, don't harden your hearts as Israel did when they rebelled."

Even though we are special to God and He wants to use us, He is still God, and if we refuse to do what He wants us to do, He will use someone or something else to do His work. When Bileam wouldn’t listen, God spoke through a donkey. That is how serious He was to get that message across! When Jesus came into Jerusalem and the crowds cheered Him, calling Him the King and Messiah, the Pharisees asked God to rebuke them, but God said in Luke 9:40 “I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out!”

Remember, it is not a burden or a job, you get as much blessing out of it as you are a blessing in return! What a privilege to be a messenger for the Almighty God!

I would like to tell you of two incidents that happened to me. One where I had the privilege to be obedient and one where somebody else blessed me by being obedient.

I met a couple at church, they were extremely dedicated and served God with all their heart. They were always happy and everything seemed fine, but God pressed on my heart do do something special for the two of them. I didn’t know them very well, so I was too shy to approach them. Every time I saw them, I crinched and walked away, but that feeling inside of me grew intolerable to live with, so one night after service, I told the husband that God wants me to do something special for him and his wife. I asked him when his wedding anniversary was. You will not believe it! That week was his wife’s birthday and their anniversary, and at the time they were having financial difficulties which also put strain on the marriage. He had no idea what he was going to to for her, so I bought them a overnight stay at a spa, it was literally Godsend! Afterwards he contacted me again to say how much it meant for them, and that they could reconnect again. I felt so ashamed that I didn’t act immediately. I might have missed this opportunity, and both parties would have missed out on a true blessing!

On another occasion I had a huge problem I was struggling with spiritually. God was working in my heart to expose everything, and I had two dreams that showed me how serious the situation was, but somehow I could not believe it, and everybody who knows me, knows how I feel about it, so their input would also not be objective. I asked God for a final confirmation, because I couldn’t make a hasty decision and then regret it. One hundred and fifty kilometres away from me there was a woman who never met me and had no idea who I am or what I am going through. She had a dream about me, where God clearly told her to give me a message. She wanted to be obedient, but had no idea where to find me or who I was. She prayed that God would send me her way so she can give me the message. A week later I was tagged in a photo of someone who is a friend of hers on Facebook, and when she opened the photo and saw me, she couldn’t believe that she recognised me! She contacted me via Facebook to give me the message, and we were both just in awe once again at the wonderous ways God works in.

God can make anything that seems impossible, possible. We must just listen, hear and obey, to receive a tremendous blessing from Him. The crux of the matter is: God wants to bless us, but in order for us to receive the full benefit of the blessing, we need to be obedient. We have to listen and be aware of how the Holy Spirit is working in our hearts.

Numbers 6:22-27: “And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, ‘This is the way you shall bless the children of Israel. Say to them: “The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.” So they shall put My name on the children of Israel, and I will bless them.”

Who Am I - Casting Crowns

2011-09-11T19:30:00.000+02:00

Suicide Watch.

2011-08-12T20:14:00.000+02:00

The age old question: Can you go to Heaven if you commit suicide?

How will we know? It's not like we can pick up the phone and ask them. Although I cannot conceive that our merciful God will not have any circumstantial clause where we can be forgiven and still go to heaven, I understand that it is a great sin and one the Bible warns us against. I also know that a lot of people have been saved by the bell so to speak, like the murderer who hung on the cross next to Jesus. When he realised Jesus is innocents and took accountability for his own sins with true repentance, God told him that they will be together in paradise that same day.

Why would you want to take your life? It is so unnatural, that even people who commit premeditated suicide, almost always end up with scratch marks on their necks, hands, or car handles, as evidence that they wanted to quit at the last minute, but wasn't physically capable of doing so successfully.

Is it just a cry for help? A pathetic attempt for attention? A mental illness? Inability to cope with problems in the real world?

Suicide is not a new idea. The Bible even records a few suicides. There are many stories of individuals who either pleaded with God to end their life, or who killed themselves, or who sought the assistance of another to kill them:

Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 contain two similar versions of the Ten Commandments. "Thou shalt not kill." It has generally been interpreted as meaning that one should not murder a human being, except in cases of self-defence or warfare. Many liberals believe that there are circumstances where suicide is morally justifiable. When you talk to a volunteer at a suicide prevention line, you’ll learn that suicide is rarely justifiable; it is often a permanent solution to a temporary problem. It is an extremely selfish deed as well. You family will never be the same afterwards. The pain and damage you leave behind, is just not worth it. "Do not be a fool - why die before your time?" Ecclesiastes 7:17

Clear cut suicides:

Judas Iscariot, Matthew 27:3-5. His motivation for suicide was guilt. After betraying Jesus – his best friend and master, he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, departed, and went and hanged himself. Depressed, Judas felt trapped by materialism and guilt.

King Saul's armour-bearer, 1 Samuel 31:5. His motivation for suicide was fear and impulse, he wanted to die with his boss. 40% of teenage suicides are impulse. When Saul's armour-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell likewise upon his sword, and died.

Ahithophel, 2Samuel 17:1,23. Ahithophel was bitter because his advice was not followed. They plotted to overthrow David. Ahithophel recommended that he be allowed to choose 12,000 men, to pursue King David immediately, and kill him. When his advice was not accepted, he became so depressed that he returned to his city, "put his household in order, hanged himself and died."

Zimri, 1 Kings 16:18. His motivation was rebellion, he had a problem with authority. Zimri, king of Tirzah, saw his city besieged and taken. He was distressed at the sins that he had committed, so he went into the palace of the king's house, and burnt it over him with fire, and died.

Attempted suicide:

King Saul, 1Samuel 31:3-6 - Saul was stressed out, unable to live up to certain expectations, felt rejected and a failure. In a war against the Philistines, Saul's three sons were killed, and Saul himself was seriously wounded. He asked his armour bearer to kill him, but his assistant refused for he was too afraid. So Saul took a sword and fell on it. An unidentified Amalekike man described to David a very different account about Saul's death. In this version, Saul had the Amalekite, a stranger, kill him. After hearing the story of how the Amalekike had carried out the wishes of Saul, David had him executed on the spot, because he had "slain the LORD's anointed." Saul's justification for committing suicide was that because of his injuries, if the Philistines arrived, he would have been abused and killed by uncircumcised men. From the above accounts it can be seen that Saul's intention was to commit suicide but was unsuccessful. A bystander gave him the final blow that killed him.

Were these suicides?

Samson, Judges 16:26-31. Samson has been blinded and was captive, then Samson called unto the LORD and said, O Lord God, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes. And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, knowing he would die too. He bowed himself with all his might and the house fell upon the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life – which were considerable. Samson died for a cause he believed in and for revenge. By causing his own death, he had a chance to destroy many of the enemy. I don’t see this as an actual suicide. He was a captive in war-like circumstances. This might even be described as war-like heroism. He had one more chance to destroy the enemies of God and the Israelites, and he made a strategic decision. He even asked God for help, and God answered him, by giving him his strength back for one last time.

Abimelech (Judges 9:54) - Dying of a skull fracture during a siege ordered his armour-bearer to slay him. The warrior-king of Israel, Abimelech, He felt that he was mortally wounded. The king's contempt for women was so great that he quickly asked his armour bearer to kill him with his sword, in order that people not say that he had been killed by a woman. To be attacked and fatally injured by someone whom he considered so inferior was more than he could handle. Abimelech lacked personal identity. His armour bearer thrust him through, and he died. He did not kill himself, although he asked to be killed.

A lot of people asked to be killed, but never went as far as to commit suicide, and God really worked in their lives afterwards:

Jonah 4:1-11 God had threatened the destruction of the Nineveh, a city of 120,000 people. But the king and people of the city listened to Jonah, repented of their sins, and fasted. God changed his mind and did not destroy the city. Jonah was so angry at God's display of mercy that he asked God to kill him, "for it is better for me to die than to live!"

I King 18:40 and 19:4 In an act of vicious religious intolerance, Elijah ordered 400 priests of Baal executed. Ahab went to Jezebel, telling her that Elijah had executed all the prophets with the sword. She swore to kill Elijah within the next 24 hours. Elijah fled into the wilderness, and "prayed that he might die." He said, "It is enough! Now, LORD, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!" 1 Kings 19:5-9 “All at once an angel touched him and said, "Get up and eat." He looked around, and there by his head was a cake of bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again. The angel of the LORD came back a second time and touched him and said, "Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you." Strengthened by that food, he travelled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God, where he was able to face God and have communion with Him. He was able through God’s help to do many other great deeds in the name of the Lord and was led to even train his successor Elisha. Had he committed suicide, he would have missed all these golden opportunities.

Paul’s jailer, Acts 16:27-28 “The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, "Don't harm yourself! We are all here!" Paul’s jailer woke in terror. In a miraculous way all prison doors had been opened. Facing disgrace and certain death, he had decided to commit suicide. God had other plans. He was stopped through Paul. An opportunity was given to him that was unheard of: the gospel message was shared with him. The result? Acts 16:33 “he and all his family were baptized.” Himself and his family were saved. Had he committed suicide, he would have missed a golden opportunity. Salvation was offered to him and his family.

Moses: Num 11:14-17 “I cannot carry all these people by myself; the burden is too heavy for me. If this is how you are going to treat me, put me to death right now." Moses was in despair because of the complaints of the Israelites whom he was leading. The burden of leadership was too heavy for him to bear. Moses was tired of taking care of Israel all by himself, and they were a hard people to please. They complained constantly. Finally his patience wore out, and he begged God for death. He then had an encounter with God, who gave a solution to his problem:"Bring me seventy of Israel's elders who are known to you as leaders and officials among the people. I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take of the Spirit that is on you and put the Spirit on them. They will help you carry the burden of the people so that you will not have to carry it alone.” Again Moses would have missed the golden opportunity to lead his people to the promised land. Had he committed suicide, he would never have been talked so highly among his people. Our God is a God of hope. He can and will answer our pleas of despair.

If we take the 4 suicides and 1 attempted suicide, we get to the number 5. The fact that there are five suicides mentioned is very significant and makes me think that all is not necessarily lost for them: Five is the number of Grace and Mercy in the Bible, and as we know, nothing in the Bible is a coincidence.

Our God does not want us to commit suicide, He is a God of hope. Jesus promised us in Matthew 28:20 “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Jesus is with us, why not hand over our burdens to Him, instead of carrying them all by ourselves. No wonder we are tired. Here is what Jesus promises us if we hand over our burdens to Him Matthew 11:28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

God has a great plan for your life. God has created us in His image. He created us for a purpose. God has a specific plan in mind for everyone. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

God's plan is for life, not death. The Bible teaches that both physical and spiritual death are the result of our sin and disobedience to God, but eternal life is a gift to those who receive it. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23

Jesus taught that death and destruction are the work of satan. The feelings of despair that lead to suicide are caused by some of his lies. Jesus wants us to have life. He said: The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full John 10:10.

Life belongs to God. It is never our place to take our own life or someone else's life. "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own, you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your body." 1 Cor 6:19-20. It is a slap in Jesus's face, that when He paid with His blood for you to be free, you choose to pay with your own blood.

It is very clear that murder and suicide are sins. In my own opinion, however, and speaking as someone who knows and has experienced God's enormous love and grace, I can only think that maybe there is a slight chance that some people who committed suicide could have asked for forgiveness in the moments before they died. Maybe they had no idea what they did. Maybe in their last moments they finally had a personal encounter with God and experienced what they missed their whole lives: God’s mercy and love, and they died with the deepest regret, realising that there was hope after all.

"Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men...but he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation."Mark 3:28-29

Striking up a conversation with God - Part 3

2011-08-07T08:31:00.001+02:00

Conversing with God - Part 3 - by P.K.Odendaal - 23 June 2011.

The question I wish to ask is - How can we fulfill our obligation towards God to strike up a conversation with Him ?

My view is that we need all the skills we can muster to communicate all these things to God. He wants to know what our problems and aspirations are, how we feel, what we think of Him, what we like, how we adore His creation, how we adore our fellow men, what He can do for us. what do we like and what don't we like and a myriad other things. We need to communicate with Him on all levels.

Chris Barnard wrote a very basic prayer (Prayer for the Earth) by someone he knew, and I repeat and translate it here as best I can :

'Lord, These lemon trees below the second dam - the trees we planted last year - oh, almost all of them died. And even the older orchards. I just walked this afternoon through the tangerine - no not those on the river edge, Lord, they can pass - but the tangerines near the stone patches, You know ? They look horrible. I said again tonight to the wife, Lord, said I to her, if there is no relief for them this week, then I don't know. Lord, I wish I can take you with me tomorrow morning early to the other side of the river. Those poor avocados there ! Those avocados must bear fruit now. And how can they bear fruit if they do not get water. Those trees look at me the whole day. I wish you could see how they look at me. I actually have to go there again tomorrow to weed and hoe, but I almost do not see my way open to have them look at me that way again. Now I ask you tonight - I ask you straight - why ? What have we done to you ? I mean, let us talk straight for a change ! '

Ok - that is basic and mundane and simple, but straight from the heart. Can you and I do that on another level that suits us - God can meet us at any level.

Let us then practice to communicate with God in sessions of communion rather than in simple conversations, but lets start with the simple conversation and try to progress it to intimate communion. After all - that is what a love affair is all about.

Where shall I start ? If I do not know how do communicate with God and get His attention, I will look at what we do on earth. Say I see a woman whom I wish to marry - love at first sight. I do not talk to her like I do to an old friend. It will all start with a look and a touch and other scarcely noticeable hints known as body language - maybe you did not know - but God uses body language as well, known as discernment in the body.

There are quite a few methods God uses to catch our attention and they are :

1. A sudden realisation that something strange is busy happening to me - given into my spirit by the indwelling and working of the Holy Spirit. A realisation that I cannot walk this road of life alone, realising that I miss something in my spirit, realising that after all - there is a God - by watching other children of God or watching His creation and realising how great and beautiful it is and that no-one I know could have created that.

2. Body language. If you are attentive you will start to realise that certain parts of your body starts to ache or pain or get numb for no apparent reason. This is discernment in the body and it takes time to practise or experiment with that, but after a time you will realise that certain same parts of your body sends certain same messages. As an example I can cite that a numb right arm means victory in the spirit. There are many telltales of this kind and I know of many people who get these body language telltales .

3. Discernment in the mind. Have you ever found that you suddenly thi nk about something that you do not know why you think about it because it is totally unrelated to your present line of thought. That is discernment in the mind and it is given in by the Holy Spirit. It can get so strong that I takes possession of your thoughts totally. It is a very common way of God talking to us and we seldom realise it. This is also known as God speaking in our ear.

4. He places words in our mouth literally. Have you found that soemtimes you say something - maybe not even audibly - and you do not know what you say. It is God taking command of your tongue and saying something to you through you. With me it gets very audible at times.

5. Visions and dreams. Many people get visions and dreams and disregard their meaning argueing that they had too much meat to eat the previous night. That may be so - but they may also be warnings and promises from God. One needs to practise these by trying connecting the vision to the reality. After many years one gets quite good at this like Joseph did.

6. Circumstances. God speaks through circumstances, specially when He has exhausted the others and we have not listened. Are you diappointed about where you are, who you are, what is happening to you, your circumstances etc.. This is God talking to you. Remember - my disappointment is His appointment - even as you stand next to a grave. When this happens to you, it is normally best to become quiet, go into prayer and wrestle with God until you find the answer. I you truly seek you shall find.

7. God speaks to us through His prophets - people (children of God) accustomed to speaking to Him in the abovementioned ways. There are many ways these prophets speak to us, known as the gifts or manifestations of the Holy Spirit and are :

1Co 12:7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. v:8 For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; v:9 To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; v:10 To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: v:11 But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.

8. His Holy Spirit envelops you. It will sometimes happen when you see the beauty of His creation or hear a testimony of His works that the Holy Spirit takes control of your body starting with goose bumps from the back of your head down. In those circumstances you usually wish to start crying or laughing and the tears of both will run slowly down your cheeks. These are times when you come into communion with God and there is no need to speak to God then, because He speaks to you on these occasions, opening your mind and spirit to Him and His works, transforming you in ways man do not understand, but after some time you will realise that you have changed. It is like a doctor doing an operation on you while you are under aneasthetics. He works similarly. Some necessary changes in us which are hard for us to undergo or understand, He can only do in this way with our approval of course, which we normally give with the words : Have thine own way Lord , have thine own way.

If you practice this which I have put down here in these eight paragraphs (there are others too), you are well on your way to become like Moses with whom God spoke from mouth to ear, or through a burning bush or through a donkey as He spoke to Balaam.

Good luck and God bless you.

Striking up a conversation with God - Part 2

2011-07-30T08:26:00.001+02:00

Conversing with God - Part 2 - by P.K.Odendaal - 23 June 2011.

1. God wants to talk to us.

This is His main need and the reason why He created Adam and Eve, and it 'made' His day when he could go to them every evening to talk to them.

Gen 3:8 And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. v:9 And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? (He is looking for them to hold conversational communion with Him).

2. God wants us to have our own thoughts, ideas, feelings etc.

The main reason we were created was to have free will, so that we could become friends of God and not automatons or slaves of Him. If you do not believe this, you will never understand the richness and implication of the creation of man to be a friend of God, being created in His image and after His likeness. It means that we have the potential to be gods ourselves, having been born into such a Creative, Holy and Royal family and kingdom.

3. God wants to be proud of us and boast with us, for being His friends, much the same we do with some of our more 'important' friends.

Job 1:8 And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?

Job 2:3 And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause.

4. God has compassion for our feelings.

When the following people were distresses, He talked to them compassionately.

Gen 21:17 And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is. v:18 Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation. v:19 And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink.

Gen 4:6 And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? v:7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

Exo 2:24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. v:25 And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them.

5. God is guided by our thoughts and opinions.

Exo 32:9 And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people: v:10 Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation. v:11 And Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand? v:12 Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people. v:13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever. v:14 And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.

Gen 18:23 And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?

and with Abraham.

Gen 18:24 Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? v:25 That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? v:26 And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes. v:27 And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes:

6. God needs us to do Him favours.

Isa 6:8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.

7. God needs us to worship Him.

Rev 15:4 Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.

8. God wants us to turn our communication with Him into communion with Him.

Rev 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. .

He is not not talking here about food.

I find myself not competent or worthy to talk about this communion concept, but I know it is there, I can feel it, I can sense it.

God could have sent us a message telling us that he forgave all our sins, but He sent His Son so that we could have physical, verbal and visual communion with Him and His Body.

Take this 'weird' communion He had with Abraham : Gen 15:17 And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. (Read the whole story of that communion).

Let me try and explain it by way of a more mundane activity - dancing. I wrote a blog recently on the Invitation to the dance and linked it to the Music of the night. My conclusion was that if you and I were into dancing only for the physical and limited verbal activities associated with it, we should rather leave the dance floor and engage in more shallow physical activities like croquet or darts.

The whole point of the dance is to forget the physical side of it and be elevated with your partner to a land or realm of romance, excitement, infatuation, spiritual contact, passion and even make belief. Be sensitive to the subtle nuances of touch and look of your partner.

The words of Music of the night says it so well (although in a spiritual realm and not a religious one - but the example holds)

Night time sharpens, heightens each sensation
Darkness stirs and wakes imagination
Silently the senses abandon their defenses

Close your eyes and surrender to your darkest dreams
Purge your thoughts of the life you knew before
Close your eyes let your spirit start to soar
And you'll live as you've never lived before

Let your mind start to journey through a strange new world
Leave all thoughts of the life you knew before
Let your soul take you where you long to be
Only then can you belong to me

Floating, folding, sweet intoxication
Touch me, trust me savor each sensation
Let the dream begin, let your darker side give in to the power of the music that I write
The power of the music of the night

Now to come back to the subtle nuances of touch and look - from Jesus Christ. Are you looking out for that ?

You and I know that billions of dollars are spent every year listening out to radio waves from outer space to establish whether there is intelligent life out there. How much more must we listen out to the subtle touch and look of Jesus Christ. Let me give you an example of His touch and look.

Mat 14:36 And besought him that they might only touch the hem of his garment: and as many as touched were made perfectly whole.

We also know the beautiful song by the Gaithers, so well sung by Jimmy Swaggart - He touched me.

What about a look at Him. The song of the Homecoming group descibes it beautifully.

Only a look at Jesus
If your bowed down with care
Jesus promised to defend you
and He'll all, our burdens share

Chorus:
Only a look, Only a look
Turns me away from sin
Just one look will bring salvation
Eternal life to win

Striking up a conversation with God - Part 1

2011-07-23T08:26:00.000+02:00

Conversing with God - Part 1 - by P.K.Odendaal - 23 June 2011.

Yes sir, no sir, three bags full sir.

This adage is a corruption of the nursery rhyme : Baba Blacksheep, have you any wool?

But, it says so much and has a very subtle innuendo of blaming the person spoken to for being dictatorial in the sense that one cannot do or say anything that undermines his authority - so the most one can do is give him a totally useless reply, confirming one's subordination to him, but saying less then nothing. It is also a veiled accusation of the misuse of power by the person spoken to.

And this is the way some of us talk to God.

Not that I criticize them for it, for anyone can talk to God as he/she pleases.

However, let me lead you to a more exciting communication with God exploring some of His and your inner feelings and needs.

If it comes to communication, we are mostly inept in our daily communication with our fellow human beings in that we try and say as little as possible or as much as possible, hiding our feelings, not being able to frame our thoughts properly, using the wrong words due to our limited vocabulary, not having time to air our thoughts properly, not sure what we really want to say, scared something we say might offend the listener, unaware of our real motive for speaking, generally mumbling on in ignorant self infatuation and unable to express ourselves using too few words and soothing the listener with adages such as - you know what I mean - and - a good idea needs only half a word.

There is a book written with the name : "What do you say after you say Hello". The name says it all and descibes the awkward situation we often find ourselves in, when we are in the presence of a stranger and we do not know what to say. For some of us God is such a stranger and we find it difficult to get a conversation with God going.

In fact, most of the time, when we find ourselves in such an embarassing situation, we will try and disengage the conversation by the following well known fail-safe replies (or conversation enders):

• I don't know
• Is it so?
• Are you sure?
• I will refer you to someone else
• How did you get into this situation
• Sorry, but I am really busy now.
• Whatever happened, I am not responsible
• Would you like to see some photos of my grand-children or my last holiday
• You cannot talk to me in that tone

You may argue that the above replies to my fellow men are in order, and of course when God speaks to me I will give proper attention.

If you have this opinion you are wrong and I will quote some scripture to prove it. In all these cases God was met with conversation enders.

1. Job 33:14 For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not.
2. Gen 4:9 And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?
3. Ex. 3:10 Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.
Ex. 3:11 And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?
Ex. 4:1 And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The LORD hath not appeared unto thee.
Ex. 4:10 And Moses said unto the LORD, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.
Ex. 4:13 And he said, O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send.
4. Adam. Gen 3:9 And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? v:10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
5. To spy out the land of Canaan. Num 13:31 But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. v:32 And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. v:33 And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.
What a gross self humiliation : and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers. This is the children of the King of the Universe who says it.
6. Elijah. 1Ki 19:13 ...... And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah? v:14 And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.
7. Jdg 6:12 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him, The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour. v:13 And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? but now the LORD hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.
8. Balaam. Num 22:27 And when the ass saw the angel of the LORD, she fell down under Balaam: and Balaam's anger was kindled, and he smote the ass with a staff. v:28 And the LORD opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times? v:29 And Balaam said unto the ass, Because thou hast mocked me: I would there were a sword in mine hand, for now would I kill thee.

What makes you so sure you can do better. Rather practice good conversational skills with your fellow men and then you can give God a better reply.

Man is a social animal and communication is one of our vital social skills - so why not develop it somehow that it adds some depth and meaning to our lives and the lives of others - and my present subject - to the life of God.

I am a human being full of hopes, emotions, feelings, ideas, creativity, needs, love, compassion, longing , uncertainty, need of recognition and adoration - and a very strong yearning to add value and meaning to my life. (OK - that is pushing it somewhat, but I am trying to make a point)
I was created in the image of God - so God must have the same or similar characteristics, except for the iniquities that polluted my body and soul - no, I do not mean it in a sacrilegious way, but I am quite sure God also have many of the needs I enumerated. As a start - God really wants to communicate with us, needs our love and adoration and wants to be a true friend of us and wants to be proud of us and hold us as as an example of His best friend to others He talks to.

Again, I wish to stress that I mean this in a very humane and benevolent way, and I will provide scripture to back up these claims.

Checkmate?

2011-07-20T07:37:00.001+02:00

“The King is the most important piece. When he is trapped, his whole army loses. The King can move one square in any direction. The main goal of chess is to checkmate your opponent’s King. The King is not actually captured and removed from the board like other pieces. But if the King is attacked (‘checked’) and threatened with capture, it must get out of check immediately. If there is no way to get out of check, the position is a ‘checkmate,’ and the side that is checkmated loses.”

We all know what the game of chess involves. Now there used to be a painting in the Louvre art museum called "Checkmate", painted by Friedrich Moritz August Retzsch. It is now in private hands after being sold at Christie’s in 1999. This painting depicts 2 chess players, one is satan whom appears arrogantly confident, and the other player is a man who looks forlorn. If satan wins, he gets the man's soul.

According to legend, a chess champion visited the museum once and after studying the painting, noticed that the arrangement of the chess pieces were incorrect. According to him, the devil who thought he was winning, was in fact not winning. The man, who thought he was losing, was winning, because according to the pieces left on the chessboard, his king had one more move left, which would make him the winner of the game!

He called the curator and they determined that the title didn’t fit the scene because the forlorn-looking player actually has the ability to defeat his opponent, though he obviously doesn’t realize it. The painting is a lie. His king can still make another move!

- A little boy with two fishes and a few loafs of bread, sees that thousands of people needs food. It looks like checkmate, but it is a lie, our King has another move left! They collected twelve baskets of leftovers afterwards!

- Daniel gets thrown into a lion’s den full of hungry lions. It looks like checkmate, but it is a lie, our King has another move left!

- The woman by the well is about to be killed by angry men with stones. It looks like checkmate, but it is a lie, our King has another move left! He tells her to go and not sin anymore.

- The murderer next to Jesus on the cross thought it was the end, yet he still repented. It looks like checkmate, but it is a lie, because the King has a move left and says: Today you will be in Paradise with me.

- On Good Friday the people were screaming: Crucify Him! They mocked and hit Him, spit and tortured Him and nailed Him to the cross. They said He could save others, but not Himself. It is over. Checkmate. Satan smiles as everybody leaves thinking God is dead. But Jesus still has a move left! Come Sunday and Jesus rose from the dead! Our King had another move left!

- We think our country is a mess. Farm murders and violence everywhere. People lose their jobs, marriages gets destroyed, moral values are non-existent. You get scared and feel lost. You are looking for direction but end up on the wrong path. It looks like checkmate, but it is a lie, do not fear, the game is not over.

Our King still has one move left! Our lives and future are in His hands. You have been bought with His blood - a very expensive price, and received amazing grace.

1 Peter 2:24-25 …who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

*I heard this story and after doing some investigation, I found that the original story was published in a chess magazine in 1898/99. Various sermons were based on it afterwards.

Do you have a life verse?

2011-07-15T13:41:00.000+02:00

Why should I have one?

Do you have a verse you can recall when you feel discouraged or angry? A verse that can comfort and calm you. A verse that can encourage you to stop looking at the current problem and look at the bigger picture? When God was tempted, what did he do? He quoted scripture! Matthew 4. Shouldn’t you do that too when you feel you can’t carry on anymore? That is why it is so important to know your Bible.

Today when you get discouraged, why not quote a Scripture from the Bible?

Salvation:
Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. Rom 10:13

Temptation:
God is faithful and will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you can bear. 1 Cor10:13

Anger:
The anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. James1:20

Fear:
Fear not, for I am with you. Don’t be dismayed for I am your God. Is 41:10

A Life Verse:
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding: In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths. Prov 3:5-6

Reassurance:
God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble. Psalms 46:1

Psalm 18:29 With your help I can advance against a troop , with my God I can scale a wall.

Matthew 6:30 And if God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and gone tomorrow, won't He more surely care for you?

Baptism in Water

2011-07-11T13:37:00.000+02:00

It is the identification with the Death and Resurrection of Christ . Baptism was ordained to have a unifying effect on members of the body of Christ. Baptism should not be an empty ritual – an outward act carried over from past traditions. Baptism should carry meaning and have a positive effect upon the believer. “Being Born Again” is only the beginning of the life in Christ. The words themselves imply a beginning – and growth! Salvation is a process the believer now launched upon. This is the salvation process – being rooted out of this evil world and moved on toward completeness in Christ.

Peter touched on the answer at Pentecost, as he preached to the rebellious that he tells them to do something implies that there is something they could do. In verse 37 of Acts 2 the same crowd asked Peter, “What can we do to be saved?” His answer contained three parts.

First, repent (this is part of the New Birth, the initial inward experience).

Secondly, be baptized (this means in water).

Thirdly, receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

These three experiences from the foundation of the Christian walk. Those who heard and received Peter’s word that day were baptized, and received the Holy Spirit. We start with our initial inward experience – because of this experience with Christ, being born again, and as a result of the believer is instructed by the word of God to take the other two steps; be baptized in water and receive the Holy Spirit – these steps are designed to move us out of this evil age towards completeness in Christ.

The word Baptise comes from the Greek word ‘baptizo’ which means to submerge, to immerse completely into water or another fluid.

Why should believers in Christ be baptized? Jesus commanded that believers be baptized “he who believes and is baptized will be saved.” (Mark 16:16)

Jesus Himself was baptized to fulfil all righteousness (Matt 3:13-17)

It is the practice of the New Testament Church. (Acts 10:44-48, Acts 16:29-33, Acts 19:4-5)

What are the prerequisites for Baptism? You must be born again and old enough to understand the significance of water baptism.

What is the significance of water baptism? Water baptism is the first step of obedience for the new believer and it openly identifies you as a follower of Christ. It symbolizes death to your old life and announces your new life in Christ. It is a physical picture of a spiritual truth. Like a wedding ring, it is a visible reminder of an inner commitment of the heart.

What takes place at water baptism? As you are obedient to Jesus’ command to be baptized, and you respond to the Word in faith: You are united with the Lord Jesus Christ in His death, burial and resurrection and walk in the newness of life. “Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life”. Romans 6:4-5. You receive a spiritual cleansing and renewal. “Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord”. Acts 22:16. You have new victory over life-dominating sins and bondages from the past. “But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness,” Rom 6:22

Water baptism is more than just an external experience in the Christian life. God wants to do something lasting and permanent at this special time. If you respond in faith to all that God makes available to you in baptism, it will be one of the greatest experiences of your Christian walk.

"Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, "See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptised?" Then Philip said, "If you believe with all your heart, you may." Acts 8:36,37

And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.’ Acts 22:16

Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:38

"Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life."Romans 6:4

Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. Romans 6:6

the Blood of Jesus Christ

2011-07-09T13:37:00.000+02:00

The phrase "blood of Christ" refers to the Work of Jesus Christ on the Cross. Blood represents judgment - the judgment for our sins while Christ was bearing them on the Cross (His spiritual death). The physical death of the animal in the Old Testament sacrifices is analogous to the spiritual death of Christ. "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed." 1 Pet. 2:24

"For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." 2 Cor. 5:21

"He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth." Isa. 53:7 The animal had one nothing wrong but was judged anyway. In the judgment, the animal died physically. Jesus Christ had done nothing wrong, in fact He was impeccable. In His judgment, the sins of the whole world were poured out on him. The phrase "blood of Christ" sets up a representative analogy with the animal sacrifices of the Old Testament. The Work of Christ was presented by means of these ceremonial practices. "And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus." Heb. 10:18-20

This judgment served to remove the Barrier between man and God. There is a meeting between the two sides of the Cross, and that meeting is in the phrase "blood of Christ".

The teaching of the death of Christ for the sins of the world was, to Old Testament people, by the use of the blood sacrifices. And the significance of the analogy is that it relates us directly to the millions of people who were saved before the time of Christ. They were saved just as we are, by grace provision and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no longer a need for animal sacrifices, because Christ's sacrifice on the Cross is once for all. "And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission." Heb. 9:22

The blood of Christ is the basis for all of the salvation doctrines of the New Testament, including the following:

Redemption: "For as much as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:" 1 Pet. 1:18,19

"In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace." Eph. 1:7

Joh 6:54 Whoso eat my flesh, and drink my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.

Justification: "Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him." Rom. 5:9

Imputation: God's righteousness is imputed (credited) to us because our sin is imputed (credited) to Christ. 2 Cor. 5:21 (above). God looks at the believer and sees a righteousness equivalent to His own. This is possible because our sins were judged at the Cross and we were given righteousness by Grace.

Propitiation: "Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God:" Rom. 3:25

Forgiveness, Cleansing and Restoration to Fellowship: "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanse us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:7-9.

Rev 1:5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood.

Adapted from Grace Notes Materials

The Fall of Adam.

2011-06-26T09:07:00.002+02:00

The Fall of Adam - by P.K.Odendaal - 26 June 2011.

I get some questions from time to time - specially from non-believers - who ask why God could not have foreseen that Adam would fall or whether is was an experiment that went horribly wrong.

Of course it is neither of these and I wish to discuss this in a logical and simple way, although I must say from the start that there are also other aspects of this that we do not know, for God also had other considerations which He did not tell us of or which we may not understand.

To get to grips with this, we should first look at the fall of Israel as a nation which will give us some insight into the fall of Adam.

The facts of Israel as a woman, is that God married her and that he wanted to gather he under His wings as a hen gathers her chickens - now that is real close. (see Luke 13:34)

Israel however had other plans and a free will and drifted into idol worshop with their golden calf (Ex. 32:4), and whoredom as in Num 14:33 And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness.

There are also many other instances of this.

Eventually, God had to give her a bill of divorce : Jer 3:8 And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also. v:9 And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks.

This error was due to their free will and was expected as anyone with a free will will sin as we have seen with the angels who rebelled against God even before Adam was created. A third of them rebelled against God and went into damnation.

If you take anyone into a house of sin with enough time and money, liquor and women or whatever other distraction we may conjure up, chances are about 100% that he/she will sin. So sinning with free will is a given and God knew it even better than we do.
However, God wanted mankind to have free will so that He can have a friend likened unto Himself who could, with Him, enjoy creation and enjoy God. It was so important to God to give mankind free will, even although He knew man would sin. The only thing he needed to do then was to send His Son for their sins, which He knew He would do. If one reads about the fall of Adam one sees that God immediately had a plan to save man and one gets the impression that God all along had that plan, even before Adam sinned. Gen 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. (This is a reference to the crucifixion of Christ)

Returning to Israel. God had to leave Israel for a moment to save the gentiles and then return to them again as Paul so aptly describes.

Rom 11:11 I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. v:12 Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness? v:25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. (In part means - God also had other considerations)

Now we are ready to return to Adam and the able words of John Wesley will tell the story more fully.

'Was it not easy for the Almighty to prevent it ? - He certainly did foresee the whole ... But it was known to Him, at the same time, that it was best, upon the whole, not to prevent it. He knew that ... the evil resulting from the former was not as the good resulting from the latter, - not worthy to be compared to it. He saw that to permit the fall of the first man was far best for mankind in general; that abundantly more good than evil would accrue to the posterity of Adam by his fall; that if 'sin abounded' thereby over all the earth, yet grace 'would much more abound'; yea, and that to every individual of the human race, unless it was his own choice ...

.. Mankind in general have gained, by the fall of Adam, a capacity for attaining more holiness and happiness on earth than it would have been possible for them to attain if Adam had not fallen.
Unless all the partakers of human nature had received that deadly wound in Adam, it would not have been needful for the Son of God to take our nature upon Him ... there would have been no room for that amazing display of the Son of God's love to mankind .. It could not then have been said, to the astonishment of the hosts of heaven 'God so love the world that He gave His Son.'

... What is the necessary consequence of this? It is this : There could then have been no such thing as faith in God thus loving the world, giving His only son for us men, and for our salvation ... the whole privilege of justification by faith could have had no existence'

My own words : As we know from the duality of life on earth, that after Adam ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, that good and evil would co-exist on earth, and it is for us to prevail over evil.

Just so free will and sin will co-exist, but we must choose.

Fasting

2011-06-22T15:09:00.001+02:00

WHAT IS A FAST?

Fasting is part of the Christian faith life. In a fast, one chooses for a set time to do without something that is hard to do without, in order to focus on spiritual growth. It refers to the denial of the needs of the flesh in order to enhance our spirit and get closer to God. Fasting should also increase the power of prayer manifold. By us putting even our most basic urges and needs into a lower priority than the task at hand, we can put our whole selves into it.

Our busy modern lifestyle takes us away from all things spiritual and religious, so we turn to God in fasting to focus and gain perspective again and certain closeness with God. It is mentioned in the Book of Acts that believers fasted before they made any important decisions (Acts 13:4; 14:23). The Bible shows fasting as preparation for major deeds. (1 Sam 14:24; Judges 20:26 Acts 13:2-3). Fasting and prayer are generally mentioned together in the Bible and most holy men have been mentioned as fasting at one time or the other.

Jesus went out to the mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. Luke 6:12. How many of us retreat to a mountain to pray for a whole night just because we have important decisions to make the next morning? How many of us fast, as Jesus fasted, as an adjunct to prayer? Jesus never ran a homeless shelter, or start study groups on end-time events, but He evangelised everywhere He came and sometimes prayed all night long, and once He even fasted for forty days.

WHY DO WE FAST?

"Isn't this the fast that I want : to loosen the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free and break every yoke?" Isa 58:6

Do you fast and pray? If you don’t, your spiritual life is unbalanced. If you do not already know of the power and importance of fasting, here are some very important facts:

- Fasting was an expected discipline in both the Old and New Testament eras. For example, Moses fasted at least two recorded forty-day periods. Jesus fasted 40 days and reminded His followers to fast, "when you fast," not if you fast.

- Fasting and prayer can restore the loss of the "first love" for your Lord and result in a more intimate relationship with Christ.

- Fasting is a biblical way to truly humble yourself in the sight of God (Psalm 35:13; Ezra 8:21). King David said, "I humble myself through fasting."

- Fasting enables the Holy Spirit to reveal your true spiritual condition, resulting in brokenness, repentance, and a transformed life.

- The Holy Spirit will quicken the Word of God in your heart and His truth will become more meaningful to you!

- Fasting can transform your prayer life into a richer and more personal experience.

- Fasting can result in a dynamic personal revival in your own life-and make you a channel of revival to others.

Fasting and prayer are the only disciplines that fulfil the requirements of II Chronicles 7:14: "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."

Fasting is the most powerful spiritual discipline of all the Christian disciplines. Through fasting and prayer, the Holy Spirit can transform your life. Fasting and prayer can bring about revival - a change in the direction of our nation and the fulfilment of the Great Commission. Fasting is one of the most neglected spiritual admonitions. In fact, it has been ignored for so long that it is difficult to find information on the "how-to's" of this life-changing experience. One of the most powerful discoveries of small prayer groups, is the use of fasting with intensive prayer over urgent matters. If you fast, you will find yourself being humbled as I did. You will discover more time to pray and seek God's face. And as He leads you to recognize and repent of unconfessed sin, you will experience special blessings from God.

EXAMPLES OF FASTING? TYPES OF FASTING:

Fasting to ask God to change course: Ezra 8:21-23

Fasting for a life threatening problem: Esther 4:15 Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: 16 “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.”

Fasting for mercy: "While the child was alive, I fasted and wept, thinking, 'Who knows, maybe the LORD will be gracious to me so the child may live.' But now that he has died, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again?" 2 Samuel 12:22-23 The time for fasting was over; the time for renewed living was at hand. By setting himself right with God, David was once again blessed by God, as the Lord took that twisted relationship and made from it David's eventual heir, Solomon.

Moses and Elijah engaged in what must be considered a supernatural absolute fast of forty days (Deuteronomy 9:9; I Kings 19:8).

HOW DO WE FAST?

The Bible Recounts Primarily Two Types of Fasts: A partial fast is described in the book of Daniel. Although the water fast seemed to be the custom of the prophet, there was a three-week period in which he only abstained from "delicacies," meat, and wine (Daniel 10:3). An Absolute fast: These are total fasts - no food (solid or liquid) and no water. Paul went on an absolute fast for three days following his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:9).

Usually, the fast is to do without food. Food is one of the great blessings of God in our lives, a true pleasure and a true necessity. Our hunger can force our hand, and occupy our thoughts. When we have anything in our lives that we don't or can't say no to, then it is lording over us. But God is in control. If something else takes up God's place in our lives, it is an idol. Fasting helps to bring it back into enough control for us to surrender it to God so it can be returned to its rightful place in life. Food is the foremost example of such a thing.

You can fast from some foods, and not others. You can fast from watching television, hobbies you crave, places you are unhealthily drawn to, music, books, news, and movies.

Jesus went up to the mountain and prayed all night. When was the last time you prayed for ten minutes? Jesus fasted forty days and forty nights to prepare for His ministry. When was the last time you skipped lunch to spend the time with God? Have a nice, long chat with God first thing in the morning and in the late evening. If you have a habit of taking a daily walk, you could resolve to talk to God during that entire walk, to talk things out.

Start slowly. Fast for one meal a day, or one day a week, or one week a month. Build up your spiritual muscles.

The disciples often did not fast at the usual times specified by the Jewish faith. (This was so very different from the Pharisees and the followers of John the Baptist, who would fast regularly.) This was not done to make a point about fasting, but a point about Jesus, since Jesus' coming was God's response to the pleas of all those who had been fasting in repentance and for God to rescue them. Jesus spoke little of fasting, and when he did, it was about the right spirit to fast in. He spoke of the role of fasting and prayer in healing and in casting out evil spirits.

Traditionally, people have fasted by eliminating luxury items from their diets, such as meats. You could have a fast that consists of eating whatever you want, but drinking only water. Orthodox Christians has various levels of fasting, like Abstaining from meat, Abstaining from meat, eggs, milk, butter, and cheese, Abstaining from all foods and beverages except bread, water, juices, honey, and nuts.

Every time you get an appetite for those items, you will be reminded of your fast and that will remind you of the reason for your fast, and you can pray instead of eating. This can have immense spiritual benefit. You are simply using your belly as a spiritual snooze-alarm.

The ancient church fasted on Wednesdays and Fridays, so it has been historically customary for Christians to fast on Wednesdays and/or Fridays. In fact. John Wesley, the Anglican priest who founded Methodism, refused to ordain anyone who did not fast on those two days. He felt that anyone who could not rule his own belly could not be expected to rule the church of God.

HOW TO NOT FAST:

As far as the concept of religious fasting is concerned, it should be done only as means of coming closer to God , rather than serving a dual purpose as a diet or detoxification. It's not a divine weight-loss plan. Treated that way, it could be a disguise for an eating disorder. Fasting is not for self-punishment. Self-punishment is a form of self-destruction and self-hatred. You do not have to punish yourself of try to deserve God's love (you'd just be wasting your time), because the Bible says: Romans 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. Ephesians 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast.

Sufferings caused by fasts are not an excuse for being grouchy, stingy, or rude. Fasting can make your mind get weak and unable to focus, which can make for angry or delusional reactions. When it does, stop fasting, because you're starting to harm yourself and you're bearing a bad witness to God's love.

Jesus speaks of the hypocrites who fast so that other people are impressed. Fasts are not for getting others to notice. The relationship between you and God is the point of a fast. It has been mentioned in the Bible (Matthew 6:16-18) that, "When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you".

Another thing to keep in mind is that fasting is not just a means of starving the flesh, but of feeding the soul, and thus should be supplemented by prayer and deeds of kindness. Remember, the most important consideration in fasting is your motive.

Why are you fasting? To seek something personally from God's hand or to seek His face in worship, praise and thanksgiving.

Lord, make me an Instrument of Your Peace

2011-06-13T19:19:00.000+02:00

The Peace Prayer of St. Francis apparently dates from the early part of this century, and was found in Normandy in 1915, written on the back of a holy card of St. Francis, from which the name comes. It takes a true and tested Christian, to write something like this:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
when there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

Grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand,
to be loved as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Amen

Radical Obedience to God

2011-06-08T09:01:00.000+02:00

Luke 5:1-7 & John 14:15

Jesus said 'if you love Me, you will obey Me'.

Your obedience to God's Word in your life is the most important step in fulfilling your destiny and finding His blessing.

Obedience is not always an easy task. The choice of obedience can make you nervous, uncomfortable and even unpopular with others. However your decision to obey the Holy Spirit's leading in your life on a daily basis is your platform to true success.

After spending all day trying to catch fish in the river, Peter and his men were about to give up. That very moment, Jesus turned up on the scene and asked him to cast his net one more time on the other side. Peter was understandably hesitant. He was an experienced fisherman who had been trying all day.

However, he chose to obey the word of the Lord.

Noah chose to obey God despite never seeing rain. Abraham chose to obey God and took Isaac to the point of sacrifice until God stepped in. The rich young man, whom Jesus told so sell all his things and join them, couldn't obey. What an opportunity did he not give up! If only he knew.

God requires radical obedience from you. He asks you to heed His words and obey them. Follow His precepts. Apply His principles and allow the leading of the Holy Spirit in your life.

Your obedience is the greatest expression of your love for God.

Bethink yourselves.

2011-06-02T10:00:00.000+02:00

Bethink yourselves - Leo Tolstoi - abstracts.
Article by P.K.Odendaal

Well, I take my hat off for Leo Tolstoi, who was not afraid to tell the Russian rulers what we are afraid to tell our rulers.

Just a few of his statements to bring us back to earth and to our mission. He gets the name of the words from a citation of Jesus Christ. Tolstoi knew very well that war was not about who was right, but rather about who was left.

All over Russia, from the Palace to the remotest village, the pastors of Churches, calling themselves Christians, appeal to that God who has enjoined love to one's enemies - to the God of Love Himself - to help the work of the devil to further the slaughter of men.

Let everyman interrupt the work he has begun and ask himself : Who am I? From whence have I appeared, and in what consists my destiny? And having answered these questions, according to the answer decide whether that which thou doest is in conformity with thy destiny.

This unfortunate and entangled young man (The Tsar) ... confidently thanks and blesses the troops whom he call his own for murder in defence of lands which with yet less right he calls his own.
... but how can a believing Christian ... take a gun, or stand by a cannon, and aim at a crowd of his fellow-men, desiring to kill as many of them as possible ?

If there be a God, He will not ask me whether I retained Chi-nam-po with its timber shores, or Port Arthur or even that conglomeration which is called the Russian Empire (from being taken by the Japannese in that war), which He did not confide to my care, but He will ask me what I have done with that life He put at my disposal; - did I use it for the purpose for which it was predestined, and under the conditions for fulfilling which it was intrsusted to me? Have I fulfilled His law?

Therefore, for a religious man there is no question as to whether many or few men act as he does (resisting war and maybe getting shot for not participating in it), or of what may happen to him if he does that which he should do. He knows that besides life and death nothing can happen, and that life and death are in the hands of God whom he obeys.

I cannot act otherwise than as God demands of me, and that therefore I as a man can neither directly nor indirectly, nor by helping, nor by inciting to it, participate in war; I cannot, I do not wish to, and I will not.

The Bible - spiritual value

2011-06-02T09:51:00.000+02:00

The Bible:

This Book contains the mind of God, the state of man, the way of Salvation, the doom of sinners and the happiness of believers.

It’s doctrines are holy, it’s precepts are binding, its histories are true and it’s decisions are immutable.

Read it to be wise, believe it to be safe and practice it to be holy.

It contains light to direct you, food to support you and comfort to cheer you.

It is the traveler’s map, the pilgrim’s staff, the pilot’s compass, the soldier’s sword & the Christian’s character.

Here paradise is restored, heaven opened and the gates of hell disclosed.

Christ is the grand subject, our good it’s design and the glory of God it’s end.

It should fill the memory, rule the heart and guide the feet. Read it slowly, frequently, prayerfully. It is a mine of wealth, a paradise of glory and a river of pleasure.

It is given to you in life, will be opened at the judgment and be remembered Forever.

It involves the highest responsibility, will reward the greatest labour and condemn all who trifle with its sacred contents.

The Bible - some interesting facts

2011-05-30T08:54:00.000+02:00

The Bible contains 66 books, written by 44 authors over a period of about 1500 years. The 39 books of the Old Testament were composed between 1400 and 400 B.C., the 27 books of the New Testament between A.D. 50 and 100.

The Bible is the best-selling book of all time. How many Bibles do you think are sold in one year? 150 million! There are over 4 billion Bibles in print and yet most people have not yet heard the gospel of Jesus Christ!

Knowing that the Bible is written by God, is there any evidence to prove this supernatural words and of the Bible? There is. From history, archaeology, science and prophecy we have a lot of evidence to show that the Bible is indeed the word of God. Let's look briefly at it.

Historical evidence: First of all, they are over 24, 000 ancient copies of portions of the New Testament. The closest in all other books is Homer's Iliad, which has 643 ancient copies

Secondly, the Bible itself does not have any contradictions within it.
Thirdly, the external evidence for the Bible is incredible. There is a Roman historian named Tactitus and a Jewish historian named Josephus that both support the historical accuracy of the Bible. Also, there were 17 secular historians, who wrote about the death of Jesus by crucifixion. This could not have been made up by men, and shows that external historical records support the Bible.

Finally, no one has been able to identify one historical mistake anywhere in the Bible. If man did write the Bible, we surely would have found mistakes after 2000 years. But there are none.

Archaeological evidence: There have been more than 25,000 archaeological findings relating to people, places, and events in the Bible. And believe it or not, not one of them has contradicted anything in the Bible. That in and of itself is incredible proof of the Bible's trustworthiness.

So if we can believe the historical and archaeological evidence for the Bible, why do you think it's hard for us to believe the spiritual part of the book? Well, let's investigate and see.

Fulfilled prophecies validate the Bible:
Did you know that approximately 25% of the entire contents of the Bible is prophecy. That means about 25%, predicts future events. And to this date, every single one of them has come true to the smallest detail, except the remaining prophecies about the return of Jesus. Statistically, there is no way any man can predict the future with 100% accuracy.

When someone predicts the future, and then what they say, comes true. And then they predict the future again, and what they say comes true over and over and over again...you can trust whoever it was that predicted the future to 100% accuracy.

The New Testament was faithfully transcribed into Hebrew, Syriac, Egyptian, Coptic, Latin and other languages by 60-70 AD. The first translation of the English Bible was initiated by John Wycliffe and completed by John Purvey in A.D. 1388.

The first American edition of the Bible was perhaps published some time before A.D. 1752. The Bible has been translated in part or in whole as of 1964 in over 1,200 different languages or dialects.

The system of chapters in the Bible was introduced in A.D. 1238 by Cardinal Hugo de S. Caro, while the verse notations were added in 1551 by Robertus Stephanus, after the advent of printing.

The Bible was divided into chapters by Stephen Langton about A.D. 1228. The Old Testament was divided into verses by R. Nathan in A.D. 1448 and the New Testament by Robert Stephanus in A.D. 1551.

According to statistics from Wycliffe International, the Society of Gideons, and the International Bible Society, the number of new Bibles that are sold, given away, or otherwise distributed in the United States is about 168,000 per day. There are 8,674 different Hebrew words in the Bible, 5,624 different Greek words, and 12,143 different English words in the King James Version.

The longest intercontinental telegram ever sent was the text of the New International Version of the Bible, sent from Geneva, where it was translated, to New York for printing.

The Bible can be read aloud in 70 hours.

The Divine Conspiracy

2011-05-27T18:31:00.002+02:00

The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard helps us rediscovering our hidden life in God. A Powerful, Thought-Provoking Guide to Living the Life Jesus Intends for Us.

Is Jesus part of your daily life—here and now? Or, by failing to take him seriously, have you relegated him to the realm of the "hereafter"? In The Divine Conspiracy, biblical teaching, popular culture, science, scholarship, and spiritual practice are weaved together to capture the central insights of Christ's teachings in a fresh way and show the necessity of profound changes in how we view our lives and faith.

Christians for the most part consider the primary function of Christianity to be admittance to heaven. But a faith that guarantees a satisfactory afterlife, yet has absolutely no impact on life in the here and now, is nothing more than "consumer Christianity" and "bumper-sticker faith." In an era when so many consider Jesus a beloved but remote savior, readers of The Divine Conspiracy will explore a revolutionary way to experience God—by knowing Him as an essential part of the here and now, an integral part of every aspect of our existence.

The Divine Conspiracy calls us into a more authentic faith and offers a practical plan by which we can become Christ-like. It challenges us to step aside from the politics and pieties of contemporary Christian practice and inspires us to reject the all too common lukewarm faith of our times by embracing the true meaning of Christian discipleship.

"My hope is to gain a fresh hearing for Jesus, especially among those who believe they already understand him. Very few people today find Jesus interesting as a person or of vital relevance to the course of their actual lives. He is not generally regarded as a real life personality who deals with real-life issues, but is thought to be concerned with some feathery realm other than the one we must deal with, and must deal with now."

"Actual discipleship or apprenticeship to Jesus is, in our day, no longer thought of as in any way essential to faith in him. It is regarded as a costly option, a spiritual luxury, or possibly even as an evasion. Why bother with discipleship, it is widely thought, or, for that matter, with a conversational relationship with God? Let us get on with what we have to do."

"This book, then, presents discipleship to Jesus as the very heart of the gospel. The eternal life that begins with confidence in Jesus is a life in His present kingdom, now on earth and available to all. So the message of and about him is specifically a gospel for our life now, not just for dying. It is about living now as his apprentice in kingdom living, not just as a consumer of his merits. Our future, however far we look, is a natural extension of the faith by which we live now and the life in which we now participate." -- from The Divine Conspiracy

What is "the divine conspiracy"? It is God's plan to intervene in human history... now.

To read the book, go to http://www.dwillard.org/books/DivConsp.asp

Travelling Lightly - Part 2

2011-05-23T16:23:00.000+02:00

Travelling Lightly - Part 2 - Baggage

So here we are to explore what baggage we are carrying on this pilgrimage and why we carry it, whilst we know we will not need it.

The first part of this baggage is our Own Thoughts and Opinions, and they are indeed the heaviest kind and the most destructive, we can carry. In aviation parlance it is known as carrying dangerous goods - like explosives.

Have you heard these remarks from yourself or other people?

· I thought that ....

· If I had known that ...

· But I was taught to ....

· Nobody told me .....

· I will never .....

· It does not make sense to me ....

· Beware of him .....

· This theory is not proven ....

· It can't be God talking to me ...

· That is clearly wrong ....

The other is our opinions :

· This team is the best ...

· I don't think it will work ...

· I like ....

· You cannot trust ....

· Beware - it has happened to a friend of mine ...

· These people are .......

· These churches are ....

· I have been through this, and let me tell you ....

· Take my advice ....

These are the basis of our thought processes and they control what we will believe and what not and what our attitude towards things is.

Most of these thoughts and opinions are based on our perspective of our previous experience, and you can bet, having seen only one side to this with our limited vision, we are mostly wrong.

An easy example to demonstrate this is just listening to a person discussing why his team lost the last match. His team was the best yes, but ....

We get so wound up and intoxicated by the strength and exuberance of our own knowledge and wisdom that we cannot see the wood for the trees.

Let us look at some examples from the Bible.

God wants Moses to do this exciting, historical exodus, but rather than listening and doing he has this argument with God relating to his previous experience and his pre-conceived ideas :

Exo 4:10 And Moses said unto the LORD, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.

Exo 4:13 And he said, O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send.(Get somebody else)

God's Angel spoke to Gideon :

Jdg 6:13 And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? but now the LORD hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.

Jdg 6:15 And he said unto him, Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.

The prophet ELisha tells Naaman to wash himself on the Jordan River to cleanse him from Leprosy - here are his opinions :

2Ki 5:11 But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the LORD his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper.

2Ki 5:12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage.

Jesus Christ tells Peter that he will deny Him and that He is about to die :

Mat 16:22 Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.

Mat 16:23 But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.

Mat 26:35 Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee.

You and I go around with the same types of opinions, thoughts and apologies, and we miss the blessing which is laid away for us.

If we wish to have an exciting walk with God, we need to forget what we have learned because God moves in mysterious ways.

This luggage withholds us from a free and exciting walk with God.

Next time before you utter that stereotyped excuses, first think and say - why not. Someone once said - People dream of impossible things and say - How can that be, but I dream of impossible things and say - Why can't it be.

Just a personal thought from my own experience :

I have been to many Churches in my life, and when joining each Church, I had to learn fast what the policies, rules, beliefs, do's and don'ts of that Church is, and why all the other Churches are wrong. Then I used to cling to that framework for life and death, believing it to be the do all and end all of my salvation, only to go to a next Church and find that that was all wrong, and here your next set of beliefs are .... and so it went on for almost 50 years, until I came to the realisation that these opinions only add to the luggage I carry. So these days I am travelling quite lightly with regard to these. There is nothing true in life and in the Church, as the truth is only in Jesus Christ - so much so that Pilate in desperation asked Jesus Christ - What is truth? Here is a learned man who thought he knew the truth, but in this crisis hour, he realises that there is no such thing in human affairs.

We need to know that these pre-concieved ideas is a built in mechanism to protect us from the dangers of this world - to not fall into a trap someone else fell into, but there are no danger in serving God - so let go and let God have His way !!!

Skatryk kerke in `n brandarm wêreld (Beeld 09/09/29)

2011-05-21T07:11:00.006+02:00

Rykdom hou `n groter bedreiging in vir die kerk as armoede.

Paul Verrayne het nou die dag by `n konferensie oor teologie in die stad (aangebied deur Pen) gesê dat die kerk in Suid-Afrika waarskynlik net soveel eiendom soos die staat besit en bygevoeg: “And we all know what Jesus would have done with that!”

Die afgelope tyd het ek vir `n hele paar kerk-ooms gevra waarom dit dan nodig is dat gemeentes sulke groot somme geld op belegging moet hê. Hulle antwoord was dat dit `n sekuriteit is vir die moontlike maer jare wat voorlê, `n belegging in die toekoms van die kerk.

Dit is dalk nie `n slegte besigheidsbeginsel nie, maar dit is baie swak teologie. `n Belegging in die voortbestaan van die kerk moet onderskei word van `n belegging in die voortbestaan van kerkstrukture en kerkgeboue.

As ons vir Paulus met `n tydmasjien kon in-“beam” en vir hom sê dat daardie gebou met die toring, `n kerk is, sou hy ons eenvoudig nie glo nie. “Ecclesia” was `n beweging, nie `n struktuur nie.

Die vroeë kerk het baie goed gefunksioneer sonder baie van die strukture, geboue en finansiële sekuriteite waaraan ons vandag so vasklou. Hulle grootste bates was juis hulle mobiliteit en waagmoed. Ons groot probleem vandag is dat ons te swaar reis en te veilig probeer speel. Te veel bagasie maak `n mens lomp en stadig. Materiële sekuriteite kan `n mens dalk baie veilig laat voel, maar dit span dikwels ook jou grense.

In Europa is daar vandag heelwat voorbeelde van “kerke” sonder mense (nie omdat die geld opgeraak het nie...). Die geboue en strukture is al wat nog staan. As die mense weg is, moet die kerk mos eintlik ook ophou bestaan? Want die kerk ís mense. Die leë doppe is `n vals illusie, dit getuig van alles wat “ecclesia” nie veronderstel was om te wees nie.

Daar is niks fout met `n kerk wat ryk is nie, maar wel met `n kerk wat ryk bly. Wanneer die kerk geseën word met finansies, eiendomme en ander gawes en selfsugtig daarmee omgaan is daar fout. Jy lees dalk nou hier en verstaan glad nie waarom ek so tekere gaan nie. Min mense weet dit, maar baie gemeentes het behalwe vir `n klomp eiendomme letterlik miljoene rande op een of ander belegging (ek het onlangs weer gehoor van drie gemeentes met beleggings van tussen twee en ses miljoen rand elk).

Dit is natuurlik `n geheim, en ek is seker dat baie finansiële voorsitters se bloed kook omdat dit hier uitgelap word - min dinge is meer heilig in die kerk as geld. Gaan vra `n bietjie vir jou dominee hoe groot is julle gemeente se finansiële beleggings en hou sy reaksie dop (natuurlik is daar ook vandag baie gemeentes wat finansieel swaar trek - wat dit nog erger maak dat sekere gemeentes met miljoene rande in surplus fondse sit en hulle self net verder verryk).

Hier is `n paar praktiese voorstelle vir ryk gemeentes:

Verkoop jou goed en gee die geld vir die armes. Dalk kan gemeentes en sinodes lidmate wys hoe!

As dit te veel gevra is, belê dan eerder jou gemeente se geld in eiendomme. Rig dit in as laekoste-behuisingsprojekte (of gratis behuisingsprojekte?) - eerder as om dit in die bank of geldmark te sit, waar dit niks te doen het met die kernbesigheid van die kerk nie. Let wel, die idee is nie om geld te maak uit mense in nood nie.

Neem `n besluit om meer as 50% van die gemeente se inkomste buite die gemeente te spandeer.

Kry die armste mense in die gemeente om op die finansiële kommissie te dien.

Vat die eiendomskommissie op `n uitreik. Laat hulle byvoorbeeld een aand buite slaap saam met die straatkinders of in `n skuiling vir haweloses.

Gee aan elke gemeentelid `n afskrif van al die gemeente se finansiële state (en beleggings!) - en skryf bo-aan: “Ek was honger en julle het my iets gegee om te eet, dors en julle het my iets gegee om te drink, `n vreemdeling en julle het my gehuisves…”

Moedig gemeentelede aan om hulle geld sommer direk vir die armes te gee – en nie via die kerkstrukture nie.

Die bring van hoop is die kernbesigheid van die kerk. `n Mens kan baie diep teologies hieroor raak, maar die vraag is nie soseer hoe ons hieroor praat nie, maar eerder wat ons doen met wat ons het.

Die verhaal word vertel van `n man wat `n masjien ontwerp het wat teen `n ongelooflike spoed ghries kon vervaardig. “Waar is al die ghries?” vra `n joernalis met die bekendstelling van die nuwe masjien. Die ingenieur antwoord rooi in die gesig dat die masjien, as gevolg van al die wrywing en hoë temperature waarteen hy moet werk, al die ghries wat hy kan vervaardig self weer nodig het om net aan die gang te bly …

Dit is ook die storie van baie kerke vandag. Die geboue, administrasie, strukture en vergaderings van die kerk gebruik dikwels so geweldig baie energie, geld en mannekrag, dat daar maar min oorbly vir die uiteindelike doel waarvoor dit alles oorspronklik veronderstel was om te gaan - en dan word dit wat wel oorbly in die bank gebêre?!

Daar word die laaste tyd baie gepraat oor die morele verval in ons land, gewoonlik met verwysing na `n toename in seksuele losbandigheid, alkoholmisbruik en bedrog. Vir my is een van die grootste morele krisisse van ons tyd nie soseer die sondes van die tradisionele “sondaars” nie, maar die sondes van kerkmense. As jy gemaklik kerk hou met `n paar miljoen rand veilig in die bank (en `n boodskap van liefde verkondig!) terwyl daar grootskaalse werkloosheid en armoede oral om jou is, is dit `n saak van reuse immoraliteit.

Vandag word ons vir die eerste keer werklik gekonfronteer met die besef dat te veel rykdom `n groter bedreiging inhou vir byvoorbeeld die ekologie as te veel armoede. `n Klomp groen wetenskaplikes het somme gemaak en besef dat dit nie in die eerste plek die verskriklike armoede en ekonomiese verval is wat die welsyn van die wêreld bedreig nie, maar eerder die moontlikheid van grootskaalse ekonomiese vooruitgang. Ontwikkeling in veral lande soos Indië en China, dreig om af te stuur op `n ekologiese ramp.

Miskien is dit ook tyd om `n bietjie eerlik in die spieël te kyk na die effek van rykdom op die kerk. Dalk is een van die grootste uitdagings van die kerk vandag nie net om uit te reik na die armes nie, maar om arm te wees saam met die armes. Miskien is die koste te groot?

`n Kerk wat die sekuriteit vir haar voortbestaan in finansiële beleggings vind, is `n ongelowige kerk. `n Kerk wat miljoene rande op belegging het en elke dag verby mense in nood ry, is `n liefdelose kerk. “Wie aardse besittings het en sy broer sien gebrek ly, maar geen gevoel vir hom het nie - hoe kan die liefde van God in hom wees?” (1 Johannes 3:17).

'n Beter belegging in die voorbestaan van die kerk is `n belegging van hoop in die lewens van mense in nood.

Jaco Strydom

Travelling Lightly - Part 1

2011-05-16T15:38:00.000+02:00

Travelling Lightly - Part 1 - by P.K.Odendaal.

A variation on the theme is the crux of creativity, so, after writing a blog on Minimalism, I am back to spiritual things and wonder how heavy is our load on this pilgrimage we are on. What luggage have we brought along, and who carries those we can't. Why can we be minimalists in the spirit.

Maybe I should not even try and figure out, because the load we carry for someone else is not heavy - remember the song - He aint heavy, his my brother.

But it is really the load we carry ourselves for ourselves that is soooo... heavy.

Back to scripture :

Mat 23:4 For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.

What are these loads. Lets look at our houses, which are temples of God, and see what we have which we do not need to carry. Maybe we should start at our store-room where we have heaped up the bitterness and accusations against our fellow men, but on second thoughts - that would be too painful. We will rather carry it than discard it with pain. So leave that for a moment.

What are we carrying that would be of help to us when we enter that Celestial City? Do we fit the decription of the dog in 'The Prophet' where he talks about giving ?

And tomorrow, what shall tomorrow bring to the over-prudent dog burying bones in the trackless sand as he follows the Pilgrims to the Holy City?

I can think of quite a few things that one can carry that would be useless to us when we enter that City. These things are :

1. Earthly possessions, wealth and vast amounts of money.

2.     Bitterness and accusations.
3.     Sins we think are too painful to confess.
4.     Emotional pain and other baggage we are too afraid to address here on earth.
5.     Wordliness and fashions and that which is fashionable.
6      Hatred and racial hatred.
7.     Hardness of heart. The seed of the Holy Spirit will not grow on the stoney places of our heart.

There are many others, and maybe you can help me with some which I wish to address in this blog series.

I don't know about the future, but know Who holds my hand

2011-05-14T15:26:00.000+02:00

I don't know about tomorrow, I just live from day to day.
I don't borrow from it's sunshine, For it's skies may turn to gray.
I don't worry o'er the future, For I know what Jesus said,
And today I'll walk beside Him, For He knows what is ahead.

Many things about tomorrow, I don't seem to understand;
But I know Who holds tomorrow, And I know Who holds my hand.

Ev'ry step is getting brighter, As the golden stairs I climb;
Ev'ry burden's getting lighter; Ev'ry cloud is silver lined.
There the sun is always shining, There no tear will dim the eyes,
At the ending of the rainbow, Where the mountains touch the sky.

I don't know about tomorrow, It may bring me poverty;
But the One Who feeds the sparrow, Is the One Who stands by me.
And the path that be my portion, May be through the flame or flood,
But His presence goes before me, And I'm covered with His blood.

Many things about tomorrow, I don't seem to understand;
But I know Who holds tomorrow, And I know Who holds my hand.

THE PRACTICE OF SELF-SACRIFICE IN MARRIAGE

2011-05-10T08:39:00.001+02:00

"It is easy to say we love God when that love doesn't cost us anything more than weekly attendance at religious services. But the real test of our love for God is how we treat the people right in front of us--our family members and fellow believers. We cannot truly love God while neglecting to love those who are created in His image." (Commentary from the Life Application Bible in reference to 1 John 4:20-21)

Our Lord Jesus Christ demonstrated LOVE to us, in its truest form. The Bible says: "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who being in the very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death--even death on a cross." -Phil. 2:3-8.

We often have a problem when in every day living we're challenged to love our spouse in a way that requires emptying ourselves of wanting things to be done our own way and serving them when we don't want to. But when we neglect these "opportunities" we miss being faithful in the little things that display our love for God. We miss the chance to "offer hospitality to one another without grumbling," as the Bible tells us in 1 Peter 4:8.

Author Ellyn Sanna writes, "Our families are small communities, and within them we experience a 'magnitude' of opportunities for service. We're accustomed to thinking of Christian service in terms that are nobler, more dramatic, more like Mother Teresa in the slums of Calcutta or Florence Nightingale on the battlefields of the Crimean war. But even for women like Mother Teresa and Florence Nightingale, service boils down to simpler assistance in 'trifling, external things.' This means things such as matching socks, packing lunches, or wiping kitchen tables. 'Be faithful in little things,' Mother Teresa advises, 'for in them our strength lies.'

"Self-righteous, self-centered service demands visible external rewards, but the sort of service that Jesus modeled doesn't concern itself with results. Instead, it's contented even with obscurity."

"Jeremy Taylor's "Rule and Exercises of Holy Living,' written in the 17th century, says we should 'love to be concealed, and little esteemed; be content to lack praise, never be troubled when thou art slighted or undervalued.' We need to remind ourselves that our value springs from God's love. We find our truest identities in the midst of His unmerited grace."

What God laid upon our hearts through these thoughts is: marriage is not about us. It's about reflecting the love of God through our words, and "regarding each other as more important than ourselves" in how we treat each other.

Al Janssen, in his book, The Marriage Masterpiece, says it well: "Meaning in marriage is not found by pursuing happiness or self-fulfillment; meaning in marriage is discovered by practicing self-sacrifice. ...How does this play out in daily life? In much the same way it happens for an athlete. If a team wants to win a championship, every player must sacrifice daily by training and following the coach's instructions.

"I have numerous opportunities every day to give up what I want to do and instead serve my wife. In this way, I glorify God because my sacrifice is a reflection of His heart and how He loves His bride. I've finally realized that my marriage is satisfying to the degree that I daily sacrifice myself for my wife's good. What does that mean?

- "It means biting my tongue when I'd rather defend myself against something she said.
- "It means getting up in the middle of the night when a child cries rather than pretending I don't hear anything.
- "It means putting down my reading material and really listening when she wants to talk.
- "It means taking over some chores when she's got a hectic day.
- "It means cleaning the kitchen Sunday evening rather than leaving the mess for her to face on Monday morning.
- "It means that when I'm accidentally exposed to porn while channel surfing in a hotel room far from home, I shut off the TV because I won't allow any impure thoughts to invade my marriage.

"One of the original purposes of marriage as God intended in the Garden of Eden was to reflect His image. That means marriage is about something bigger than the two of us. Marriage is one of God's primary means of speaking to the world, and the world takes notice when a man truly loves his wife the way Christ loves the church.

"An athlete doesn't enjoy the pain of serious training. He trains for the future reward of winning. That is the challenge for marriage --to sacrifice my momentary definition of happiness for the long-term good of my spouse, thus reflecting God's heart and earning His praise, "Well done, good and faithful servant.'

"Marriage becomes a masterpiece when I choose to surrender my selfishness and give myself to my wife. That is the daily challenge. But as hard as it is for me to love as Christ loves, I think wives have a harder job submitting to their husbands as the Christ. I can think of many evenings when I've thanked my wife for preparing another wonderful meal, and she has said, 'I didn't feel like fixing dinner tonight.' What compelled her to do it? Sure, she knows that her husband and family expect it. But it is also her sacrifice for Christ.

"My wife accepts primary responsibility for the day-to-day care and nurture of our 3 children, staying on top of details about school & making sure their physical and emotional needs are met. I have the ability not to see what needs to be done around the house. My wife finds an unending list of work to do and I sometimes have to remind her that it's okay to let some things slide.

Iwish I could say we succeed in always loving each other sacrificially.Of course, we fail often, but one consolation is that we're in the game. Every athlete knows he can't be a hero unless he's actually playing in the game. My wife and I have new opportunities to demonstrate sacrificial love, and when we fail, our covenant reminds us that the next day we have the chance to try again to get it right."

If you're like us, you've failed many times too. But we've stayed "in the game" and we're thankful that grace was given for a "new beginning." Did you fail in some way today in your marriage? If so, confess it, asking God to help you do better tomorrow. And take it a step further --look for ways to out-serve your spouse. Show love through your actions "as unto the Lord."

Cindy and Steve Wright

Religions and Philosophies - Part 3 - Buddhism

2011-05-03T18:18:00.004+02:00

Religions and Philosophies - Part 3 - Buddhism
by P.K.Odendaal - 3 May 2011.

In this part we will be looking at Buddhism, which is regarded by some as a religion, contrary to its own claims, and it has a following of about 400 million people - more than the number of Protestants belonging to congregations. It is the second oldest philosophy in the world, only exceeded in age by the Judaic/Mosaic one).

The movement was started bySiddharta Gautama who was born in ca. 560 B.C..

It was never intended by him that it would be a Religion, as it denies that there is a God. it is merely a philosophy of life which is based on ignoring reality and practising the living of life in the surreal. It cleverly steers away from the practical explanations of life by argueing that questions like 'where do I come from' are unaswerable (and should therefore be unasked).

It is based of four truths :

1. Life is suffering and it may be punctuated by brief moments of happiness - yes we can agree with that to a certain extent - if we also have to agree that there is no God, which was his first premise. We know there is a God and that there is limited suffering for other reasons than he put forward.

2. All things are transient and our ceaseless attempt to grasp at transient things traps us in an endless cycle of suffering. This is a subtle lie or distorted truth, because there is also certainty and hope in God and Christ, but none in Buddhism. Once we loose sight of everlasting life and Heaven, we get into the rut of everyday life and we become afflicted by the fashions of the World. An atheist or cold Christian may well agree with Buddhism here - and many cold Christians seek relief here.

3. We can release ourselves from this treadmill of suffering, if we cease trying to grasp what is not there. We should not seek a rebirth because it will just prolong our suffering. This is patently wrong having followed from the wrong premises.

4. There is an eightfold path - a plan for living that will help us achieve Nirvana - a state of bliss or non-existence. These eight conditions are : the right view, the right intention, the right speech, the right action, the right livelyhood, the right effort, the right mindfulness and the right concentration.

!!!!! We are all bowled out !!!!! We cannot attain these right paths even nearly, as we do not even know what is right, and if we knew it would be impossible to follow them - neither does Buddha know and neither can he follow them.

It is said that Siddharta reached the condition of Nirvana - which is another patent lie, because nobody knows what Nirvana is - it is supposed to be a state where we do not exist anymore, because if we existed, we would have suffered. We know that such a state cannot exist while we are concious.

In fact, it reminds me of Hell. Hell is Hades or the World of the Dead. So, although one is tempted to think that there is no life, suffering or consciousness in that dismal Place of Death, scripture says that even they live in everlasting turmoil and suffering : Mark 9:44 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.

If that was all, there would have been still hope for his followers, but they seal their fate by regarding it as a religion and living a sort of spiritual life. Spiritual means that they live in another realm, those of the spirits, and they are thus subject to abuse and deception by the spirits. We as Christians do not even venture into that realm alone, as we go there by invitation of Christ only, and then only under the protection of His Blood.

See my article on Religion versus Spirituality

BEWARE - IF YOU GET CAUGHT IN THIS - THERE IS NO WAY OUT - IT IS NOT A RELIGION, NEITHER PRETENDS TO BE.

Is smoking a sin?

2011-04-27T10:14:00.003+02:00

Adapted form an article by Tony Warren
This question is one which is asked much more frequently in modern times since more Pastors are taking a hands off approach to Church correction. You are more likely to hear things like, 'it's a matter of Christian liberty, so use your individual conscience.' In light of this attitude, it is possible that many Christians who smoke may have not even considered this an issue, or not even realized that it could be sin.

While no one in our day who is in their right mind would ever say smoking is a good thing, incredibly many theologians have nevertheless taken the indefensible position that 'this' doesn't mean it's a bad thing either. They place smoking into some sort of cosmic 'grey area,' and categorize it as a matter of conscience. When one chooses to look at things more from a personal rights viewpoint rather than strictly the scriptures, it is easy to blur the line between good and bad. When searching through scripture and considering all of the pertinent facts, I believe that the only 'honest' answer that we can come to regarding this question, is Yes. Smoking is a Sin. And it is a sin on multiple levels. It usually goes with defiling the body of Christ, bondage, addiction and selfishness.
Here are 5 points I wish to emphasise:

1. It is a Detriment to the Body

Considering the universal Medical opinion, I don't know anyone who could legitimately argue today that smoking is not injurious to one's health. The fact is, nine out of ten lung cancer victims are smokers. The scientific evidence is that smokers have a three to one chance of heart attack, over non-smokers. Even smoking in (so-called) moderation, on the average, will shorten one's life span by many years.

Not only is it harmful to the smoker, but the preponderance of evidence is that it is also harmful to others through what is called 'second-hand smoke.' A Christian who knows that other people may be harmed by their smoking, and yet chooses to indulge in this act simply to pleasure himself, has spiritual issues beyond and above the issue of smoking.

James 4:17 "Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin."

It is clear that deliberately doing something which is injurious to others is sin. But one might ask, 'what if they smoke in total isolation from others, would that still be sin?' The answer I believe is yes, for smoking is a sin against the body which is the Lord's. Just as a Christian wouldn't knowingly harm others because he understands that it is a sin to do so, likewise, one can not knowingly harm himself, because that would be just as much a sin. It is the same as if you went about poisoning yourself. For we glorify God in our body, which belongs to the Lord. Therefore, to defile or poison that body, is a sin or transgression against God to whom it belongs.

1st Corinthians 6:19-20 "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."

We are to regard our Body as a holy vessel of the Lord, literally! For He has both bought us, and dwells within this vessel. Our body is not our own, and we should seek to live clean and Holy lives both in reverence to the Lord and as an example to others showing that we are different from the world. To smoke (which we know hurts this body which is the Lord's), is desecration of the Lord's Temple. The problem (as I see it) is not one of doing what we know is right, but one of selfishness, or of doing what we want. A problem of trading what is the prudent and righteous thing to do, for the physical and temporal pleasures of a few puffs of smoke. Many are simply unwilling to give that up, even for the cause of Christ. Yes, I know that this is a harsh way to put it, but I believe in many instances, this is an accurate assessment.

It is somewhat of a spiritual dichotomy, because most non-Christians won't even attempt to pretend that smoking is not harmful. But the Christian often will. They will often retort that, 'it's their body and they have Christian liberty to do with it what they want.' Contrasted with God's declaration that we are 'not' our own, but are bought with a price and belong to Him (1st Corinthians 6:19-20, 7:22-23). Unfortunately, the Christian who is supposed to be more honest than the world, seems to go to great lengths to justify himself in desperately attempting to ease his conscience and hold onto this vice. One of their favorite verses to hold up in support of their vice is Matthew chapter fifteen. This is used as an 'end-all' proof text for their liberty to smoke.

Matthew 15:10-11 "And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand: Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man."

They joy in pointing out that what Jesus was teaching is that what a man consumes does not defile him. Therefore, they reason that the consumption of cigarettes cannot defile a man. However, this is misapplication on three levels.

One, they are taking this out of context for their own selfish purposes. Jesus is not saying that you can put poisons into your body, because it doesn't defile you (which is the logical conclusion drawn from their use of this verse this way), but Jesus is saying that it is their doctrines which defile them, not neglecting to wash your hands before meals. In no way is Jesus putting forth a principle that people have liberty to take poisons into their body, nor is he proclaiming that doing so is not a sin. That is a ridiculous use of this passage, and what's more, most know it. They are simply looking to 'rationalize' away their actions.

Two, in fact the Scriptures do clearly warn about doing things to harm our body, and so this passage cannot possibly be contradicting other scriptures. For example scripture tells us that gluttony or over-eating is a transgression of God's law, and it just as clearly warns about over-drinking or drunkenness. And so we can not in any way remove guilt of sin by arrogantly declaring that we have 'Christian liberty' to put into our bodies anything that we want, when it harms us. The 'truth' is, we don't have Christian liberty to do so, we have Christian responsibility not to.
Three, if Christ was indeed saying this, it would negate the spiritual, about defiling ourselves by putting something into our mouths which will bring damnation to us (as in the communion).

1st Corinthians 11:29 "For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body."

How is this passage true if what goes in the body means nothing? The answer of course is, this is true, because that was never what Jesus meant when He spoke of what defiles a man. Eating unworthily 'is' a Sin, because sin begins in the mind. The sin is in the thought to commit the act itself, not in the substance that is eaten. Likewise, the sin is in the mind to commit the act of smoking, knowing what it does to the body, and to others. It is not in smoke. Smoke is no more sin than a communion wafer is sin, but it is the act of smoking itself, or of eating unworthily, which is sin. So this passage in no way absolves man from sin in his smoking.

The question is, does smoking harm the body, and is harming the body a sin? When we answer that question 'honestly' then, and only then, will we stop rationalizing away sin. For the health problems related to long term smoking are well documented.

2. It is Addictive

Some people claim that Smoking does not involve a fundamental moral issue, but they are wrong in that also. For at it's root is the sin of lust to bondage. To protect what has grown to be no less than 'sacred moments' of smoking pleasures, people will deny that smoking is harmful, or even addictive. The reason for these illogical declarations come from their inability to discern their addiction, nor to look at themselves honestly. In many instances they do not want to face the actual extent of their enslavement to tobacco and nicotine. And make no mistake, it is an enslavement, even though those addicted usually profess ability to stop smoking whenever they want. Because to confess that they cannot would be to admit enslavement, and thus to admit that it is a sin. Frequently they do not realize the extent of their bondage because they have never faced the real prospect of it's loss. But in looking at this honestly, we face the fact that we actually 'like these type sins,' which we subconsciously consider insignificant in the big scheme of things.

The very 'fact' that even attempting to quit smoking is a very hard thing to do is reason enough that it is a sin which all Christians should be against. But the pride in rationalization can be blinding. The truth is, quitting smoking is known to be one of the most difficult things in this world to do. Research has shown 'conclusively' that nicotine is one of the most addictive substances on the planet, even more addictive than heroin some say. Such information should make us all sit up, take notice, and wonder how anyone professing Christianity could 'biblically' justify or condone the use of this substance. Yet, many professed Christians routinely attempt to do it, and just as routinely become indignant that any Theologian would actually say it is wrong for them to indulge in this vice.
1st Corinthians 6:12 "All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any."

Anything which one cannot stop doing makes him a slave to it. For all intents and purposes it becomes his 'god' which he is dependent upon. i.e., in bondage he serves it, rather than our Lord. In a word, idolatry. Whether psychologically or physiologically addicted, it is idolatry. We cannot serve two masters, whether alcohol, smoking, or any other addictive substance, and to say it is not sin (considering the facts), is just plain sticking one's head in the 'proverbial' sand. Christians should treat the smoking addiction like any other sin. We confess it as sin (as opposed to claiming we have no sin), and we tackle it in the strength of Christ. We lay this burden down at the foot of the cross.

Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."

Even though it is difficult, and withdrawal may take time before one is no longer desiring the puffs from cigarettes, we as Christians are to look to God from whom comes our help. And anyone who says cigarettes are not addicting are kidding themselves. And if it 'is' addicting, then it is a sin, because it makes man a slave to this substance. And Blessed is the man who can face these truths honestly. Jesus has died for us to make us FREE of sin and bondage.

3. It is a bad Witness and a cause for the Brethren to Stumble

Even if a Christian were convinced that they could smoke without sinning (I cannot imagine how), knowing what they do about cigarettes, it's addictive properties, and the probability of a weaker brethren emulating and being brought into addictive bondage by smoking, it would still be a sin. Because the true Christian should for the sake of the weaker brethren, not smoke. And we won't, except our hearts be hardened, or we be so addicted that we must. Again, we are our brothers keeper, and we love the brethren as ourselves.
1st John 3:14 "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death."

If we love our brother, we desire the best for them as we do for ourselves. Most people who smoke wish that they would have never started smoking, and though they rationalize it and justify it, I'm sure that deep down they realize that it is a dirty, addictive habit. So why would a Christian want to continue to smoke, knowing that by their witness as a Christian, they are encouraging others to start? i.e., the weaker brother sees other Christians doing it, and feel justified in picking up the habit. That is not the witness that a true Christian wants to put forth. The principle applies:

Romans 14:15-16 "But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died. Let not then your good be evil spoken of:"

We cannot destroy a weaker brethren even if we think we can be justified in doing it ourselves. If something were lawful, and yet causes our weaker brethren to fall, for his sake we cannot do it. And it is sin if we do. For we are living examples.

2nd Thessalonians 3:9 "Not because we have not power, but to make ourselves an ensample unto you to follow us."

Christians are an example to the brethren and to the world, and that example in no way should include smoking cigarettes that a weaker brethren might stumble and fall. And if we take the attitude that it's not our fault and we don't really care if they do, then again, we have more spiritual issues than smoking to contend with.

4. It is Not to the Glory of God

If I may relate a story, there was a woman who had been smoking for a long while and when told it was not a good witness protested to her Pastor that she didn't think smoking was a sin. The Pastor asked her if smoking was something that she would be embarrassed about doing if the Lord returned today and met her face to face? She thought on that a while, and had to reluctantly admit that it would indeed be embarrassing. For up until that point, she had not realized that she was not addressing the issue 'honestly.' But when it came to Christ watching her puff on a cigarette face to face, she understood 'personally' the sin. We should all look at things that way, realizing that Christ 'is' watching us, and there should be no difference in what we are embarrassed about now, or when Christ returns. The old adage applies, 'When in doubt, leave it out!'

Romans 14:23 "And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin."

Another Christian admitted that smoking was a bad habit, a foolish habit, and even a habit which might be harmful, but still insisted that it is not a sin, and thus not really a big moral issue. Because when did a bad habit, a foolish habit, and a harmful habit, become not a sin? Such rationalizing leaves you wondering if you have missed something somewhere. Whatever is a 'bad' thing to do, is automatically antithetical to doing the Good thing, and is thus sin. Bad means that which is not good, or that which is in error or wrong to do.

Isaiah 65:2 "I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts;"

The problem with man is that he walks after his own thoughts, doing what is right in his own eyes, and not 'bowing' or surrendering to authority of scripture. To do what is 'not good' rather than what is the good thing. But whatever is not good, is bad, and thus sin. Likewise, whatever is a foolish thing to do, is automatically the incorrect thing to do, and is also sin.

Proverbs 9:6 "Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding."

When we go in the way of understanding, we are not foolish, and consider all of God's Word on a matter. Anything we do which is harmful to ourselves or to others must be confessed sin. If we smoke, knowing it can harm others, it is as if we have set out poison for them. In the Biblical vernacular, as if we have set devices, nets or traps to hurt them.

Psalms 35:7 "For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit, which without cause they have digged for my soul."

When we harm people without a reason, we are committing transgression (sin) against them. And so for all these reasons, to say that smoking is bad, is foolish, and is harmful to ourselves and others, and yet insist it is not sin is simply, biblically ridiculous. Would a true believer be able to smoke with a clear conscience knowing all we know about the harm that it does to both us, and those around us? I don't know. But I do know that he 'shouldn't' have a clear conscience doing it.

Hebrews 13:18 "Pray for us: for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly."

How could we smoke and have a clear conscience knowing that we are slowly poisoning our body, and harming others, and that it is an addicting substance? How could we have a clear conscience knowing that we are a witness to others that this is an appropriate way for a Christian to act? It's a good question.

1st Corinthians 10:31 "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God."

This is a command of God, not a suggestion. Smoking is not to the Glory of the Lord, and is therefore, sin. A transgression of God's law that 'whatever we do, do all to the Glory of God.' So again, those choosing to rationalize away that smoking is sin, must be throwing God's word behind the back, or trampling it under foot. Because there is no way that smoking can be seen as to the Glory of God. Thus it is sin.

5.Smoking is Rooted in Paganism

The historical aspects of smoking is not germane to whether it is Biblically permissible, and thus to this article, but it is interesting that there is no record of any Christian ever smoking in scripture. It was probably unknown to believers in Biblical times. If it was, it would have been seen as the diverse rites and customs of the gentile or heathen nations.

Another interesting thing is that most false religions all over the world, from the very beginning, mimic the Christian religion, whether in their burnings that supposedly take prayers to their gods in the smoke, of building temples, or praying, or of human sacrifice to their god, it is a imitating the one true faith (and that is not by accident). It's not some cosmic coincidence, nor reason to doubt there is one God (as anthropologists insist), it is because Satan is the false or 'substitute' Christ. The antichrist who was/is/and will be the great deceiver of man through false or substitute religion. Scripture is replete with prophesy and evidence of this. Smoking in religious practices is just another of his devices to try and make a mockery out of the true Religion.
As far as anyone knows, smoking began as a religious rite of the Mayans. They were a people who used it in their worship of false gods, and who practiced human sacrifice. The American Indians, who many believe were their progeny, believed that the smoke carried the messages from whoever was smoking, to the spirit world. Much like the ceremonial burning of incense in Israel signified the prayers, or as in revelation of prayers being taken in the smoke before God. We see this same mimic of Christian belief that smoking carries the prayers to the spirits in the false religion of Buddhism. It is not insignificant that many of the pagan customs which have infiltrated the Churches, have their roots in the false religions of these cultures.

Conclusion

God has commanded us (not suggested to us), that we strive to live Holy lives. The fact is, even economically, cigarettes costs so much that it causes an unjustifiable financial impact for any Christian. i.e., is this the best way to use the mammon which God has put in our care? To quite literally burn it up in the fire? Obviously, it is not, and is both a waste time, and of our resources. Christians are the faithful stewards of what God has given them (Matthew 25:14-30), and our body, money, and time, are not our own, but the Lord's. This is what those who have their eyes so focused on themselves, refuse to understand about this issue.

That smoke defiles the body is readily seen. Looking at the lungs of a person who has smoked for any length of time, we see that they are 'black' with the collection of this smoke pollution. Can we honestly say this is God Glorifying? Not with a straight face! And the health care expenses after years of smoking increase exponentially. The Longer you smoke, the more health problems you will have, and it is all avoidable simply by 'denying ourselves,' for the Cause of Christ.

So, does smoking mean that a person is not a Christian? Certainly not. That is not the question here. The question we are addressing is, '..is smoking a sin?' And in that regard, there is one thing we can say with absolute certainty, and that is that smoking is not to the Glory of God in any way whatsoever. It is a detriment to the body, it is an extremely addictive substance which makes a slave out of those who use it, it is a bad witness for the cause of Christ, it may be harmful to others, and it is a cause for our weaker brethren to stumble. Therefore, it is without question, a sin. And anyone claiming that it is not, is 'lying' to themselves. God tells us that if we've broken just one single commandment, we stand guilty of the whole law of God. Which means there are no insignificant sins. If we know that it is sin, then we should pray that we would be delivered from it. There isn't one good thing about smoking. What that ultimately means to us depends upon if we would rather do the will of God, or our own will.

The Victory

We will never gain the victory over smoking so long as we keep telling ourselves that we have some 'God given right' to pollute our body with this substance. Victory over any sin starts with recognizing it for what it is, confessing it as sin, and repenting of it.

"How do we get the victory over it?" For starters, we must not coddle it, or make excuses for it, but confess that it is indeed sin. Confession, repentance, and our need for the strength of Christ in overcoming it, is paramount. We set our hearts on things above, and pray the Lord will, "forgive us sinners, and give us the strength to gain the victory in this trial." So many people leave the Lord out in their attempt to overcome evil, and that is a big mistake. Prayer is expressly 'for' these type situations, where we can take our problems directly to the throne of God and Him who can solve them.

If thy hand offend thee, cut if off. In other words, we break away from that which is an offense. We throw those cigarettes away, not leave them around the house as a temptation. We cut it off leaving no avenue for further tempting, and we lean upon the Lord for our strength.

2nd Corinthians 12:9 "And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me."

We don't need smoking, God's Grace is enough for us. Our weakness for cigarettes will be manifest as we grow realizing strength in the Lord. The power of God working within us to alleviate the pressure to smoke. All to His glory. The strength in humility, wherein we will no longer boast that, 'I like smoking, so no one is going to tell me what to do!' The strength wherein we put Christ first, and ourselves last. The strength wherein we love our neighbor as ourselves, and wherein our concern for them far outweighs our concern for our own pleasure. In this we will find that giving up smoking is not giving up liberty, nor is it some sort of prideful defeat. On the contrary, it is a realization of true Christian liberty, and bountiful spoil in true victory. If we Glory, let us glory in the Lord.

We pray that the Lord who is Gracious above all will give you the wisdom and understanding to discern the truth of His Holy Word for our lives

Amen!

Religions and Philosophies - Part 2 - Judaism, the Religion

2011-04-24T09:02:00.003+02:00

Religions and Philosophies - Part 2 - Judaism, the religion by P.K.Odendaal - 23 April 2011.

Today we start our study with Judaism, the Religion. There is also Judaism, the Philosophy which we will address in the next part.

As per our definition of a religion we say Judaism is a Religion which believes in a superhuman controlling power and especially in a personal God entitled to obedience and worship.

The God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and the Christians.

The obedience He command of them, is that they serve only one God - Himself, and that they do what He commands them to do.

This advice includes :

1. Where they should live
2. How they should worship Him
3. What laws and rituals they should keep (apart from the advice as to their daily life which is discussed under philosophy).

In return He vows to them that :

1. He shall govern and keep them.
2. He shall send them a Messiah who will redeem them.
3. They shall have everlasting life and their seed shall be as the number of the stars and the pebbles of sand on the beach.

This seems to be a very fair covenant, but it has two very serious setbacks.

1. It is impossible for mankind to keep all His commandments all the time.
2. When he sent the Messiah, they killed Him.

The commandments He commanded them to keep, is contained in Exodus 20 - very clear, very concise and very useful and in fact very advanced for their generation of 1300 years B.C.

He also gave them laws to abide by and this is set out in the first five books in the Old Testament written by Moses on the inspiration of God.

These laws are very advanced and fair, even for our generation, and it could not have been written by Moses himself. They are still today part and parcel of our Common Law.

There may also be draconian and even unfair laws in this, of which I name only one, namely : An eye for an eye. It may be revengeful to take an eye for an eye, but it must be kept in mind that in those days a man would kill a whole family if he lost one of his eyes, due to an attack or delict of another man, and this law really says ONLY ONE EYE for an eye and it is indeed much fairer than the customs of the time.

The detail of these laws are not written in these five books, but the Rabbis of the centuries have decided by themselves what the regulations with regard to these laws are. For instance a sabbath day's journey is not specified in the law but in the Talmud, which is the interpretation of these laws by the Rabbis over the centuries. So, one may get an impression that the laws are impossible to abide by, even in its smallest detail, but one must keep in mind that it is really the detail implementation laid out in the Talmud by the Rabbis, which is a prescription of man by himself for himself, that is so difficult to keep, although Orthodox Jews give it a go even today.

I cannot support the interpretation by Rabbis in the Talmud and must conclude that the laws given in the five books of Moses are fair, reasonable and even perfect. Why I cannot support the interpretation of these Rabbis, is that Jesus Christ, the most perfect Rabbi of them all, gave a very drastic and very different interpretation to these laws in the Sermon of the Mount, setting out what was the intention of God with these laws. He said that the laws were perfect and they were there to protect and guide mankind and that the purpose of these laws were Love, not to take them into bondage as has happened. Just the fact that He did this, was an indication of the authority Rabbis had to interpret the laws of God.

In fact, the words of Paul was : 1Ti 1:5 Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned: v:6 From which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling; v:7 Desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm. v:8 But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully;

Typical of man, the elders of Israel have used the law to wield power over the nation, making it useless. Here is what Jesus Christ said of them :

Mat 23:1 Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples, v:2 Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat: v:3 All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not. v:4 For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. v:5 But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, v:6 And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, v:7 And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi. ......

Mat 23:13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. v:14 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. v:15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. v:16 Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor! v:17 Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold? v:18 And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty. v:19 Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift? v:20 Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon. v:21 And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein. v:22 And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon. v:23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. v:24 Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. v:25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. v:26 Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. v:27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. v:28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. v:29 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, I do not know of anyone who got a more severe rebuke than these Rabbis.

it also seems then that the Jews are a lost race today, having despised and rejected their Messiah, but there is hope for them according to the Old testament :

Zech 12:10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. v:11 In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. v:12 And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart;

In the New Testament Rom 14:11 For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.

One sees their tribulation in every generation, but one is also reminded that they asked for this specifically : Mat 27:24 When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it. v:25 Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.

Easter 5 - Jesus is coming again!

2011-04-22T09:37:00.000+02:00

Of course we know He is coming again!

Acts 1:9-11 And when He had said this, even as they were looking at Him, He was caught up, and a cloud received and carried Him away out of their sight. And while they were gazing intently into heaven as He went, behold, two men dressed in white robes suddenly stood beside them, who said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing into heaven? This same Jesus, Who was caught away and lifted up from among you into heaven, will return in just the same way in which you saw Him go into heaven.

A Jewish tradition:

Why did Jesus fold the linen burial cloth after His resurrection? The Gospel of John (20:7) tells us that the napkin, which was placed over the face of Jesus, was not just thrown aside like the grave clothes. The Bible takes an entire verse to tell us that the napkin was neatly folded, and was placed at the head of that stony coffin. The cloth being set apart implies that someone took the clothes off in an ordinary manner; furthermore, the Greek text uses the word, entetuligmenon, "having been folded up", seeming to imply some intentional action had been taken.
Luke 24:1-8 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; He has risen! Remember how He told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” Then they remembered His words.

When they talked to others about Jesus, they did not say, “We found an empty tomb,” instead they said, “He has risen!”

Is that important? Absolutely. We know that the Jews had very specific meanings to all their traditions. In order to understand the significance of the folded napkin, you have to understand a little bit about Hebrew tradition of that day.

The folded napkin had to do with the Master and Servant, and every Jewish boy knew this tradition. When the servant set the dinner table for the master, he made sure that it was exactly the way the master wanted it. The table was furnished perfectly, and then the servant would wait, just out of sight, until the master had finished eating, and the servant would not dare touch that table, until the master was finished.

Now if the master was done eating, he would rise from the table, wipe his fingers, his mouth, and clean his beard, and would wad up that napkin and toss it onto the table. The servant would then know to clear the table. For in those days, the wadded napkin meant, "I'm done". But if the master got up from the table, and folded his napkin, and laid it beside his plate, the servant would not dare touch the table, because the servant knew that the folded napkin meant, "I'm not finished yet." The folded napkin meant, "I'm coming back!"

Easter 4 - Christian / seccular tradition?

2011-04-21T13:58:00.002+02:00

What’s with the bunny?

There is a lot of confusion regarding what Easter Sunday is all about. For some, Easter Sunday is about the Easter bunny, colourfully decorated Easter eggs hunts. Most people understand that Easter Sunday has something to do with the resurrection of Jesus, but are confused as to how the resurrection is related to the Easter eggs and the Easter bunny.

Like Christmas, the date coincide with a completely non-related pagan festival. Dating Easter in conjunction with the vernal equinox and full moon had nothing to do with the Biblical account of Christ’s resurrection or the Passover. The only thing that is Biblical regarding when Easter is now observed, is the fact that Easter is always on a Sunday.

The name "Easter" did not become associated with the resurrection of Christ until the second century. It most likely comes from the ancient Saxon spring festival called Ostern. Some Easter customs also originate from ancient spring festivals. The tradition of the Easter bunny has its origins with the Saxons, who would adorn their villages with rabbits carved from wood. The giving of brightly colored eggs was a custom in the Middle East during the spring. In many cultures, the egg symbolized rebirth or renewal.

The Bible makes it clear that Jesus was resurrected on the first day of the week, Sunday (Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:2,9; Luke 24:1; John 20:1,19). Jesus' resurrection is most worthy of being celebrated (see 1 Corinthians 15). While it is appropriate for Jesus' resurrection to be celebrated on a Sunday, the day on which Jesus' resurrection is celebrated should not be referred to as Easter. Easter has nothing to do with Jesus' resurrection on a Sunday.

As a result, many Christians feel strongly that the day on which we celebrate Jesus' resurrection should not be referred to as "Easter Sunday." Rather, something like "Resurrection Sunday" would be far more appropriate and biblical. For the Christian, it is unthinkable that we would allow the silliness of Easter eggs and the Easter bunny to be the focus of the day instead of Jesus' resurrection.

By all means, celebrate Christ's resurrection on Easter Sunday. Christ's resurrection is something that should be celebrated every day, not just once a year. At the same time, if we choose to celebrate Easter Sunday, we should not allow the fun and games to distract our attention from what the day should truly be all about—the fact that Jesus was resurrected from the dead, and that His resurrection demonstrates that we can indeed be promised an eternal home in Heaven by receiving Jesus as our Saviour.

It was pagan practices, such as the spring fertility goddess rituals that the Catholic Church “absorbed” and attempted to Christianize. Should we celebrate Easter or allow our children to go on Easter eggs hunts? This is a question both parents and church leaders struggle with. There is nothing essentially evil about painting and hiding eggs and having children search for them. What is important is our focus. If our focus is on Christ and not the eggs, our children will understand that the eggs are just a game. Children can participate in an Easter egg hunt as long as the true meaning of the day is explained and emphasized, but ultimately this must be left up to the discretion of parents.

Is celebrating the Easter Holiday important? The Bible does give us freedom in these matters, however. Romans 14:5 tells us, “One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.” Rather than remembering Christ's death on a certain day, once a year, the Bible instructs us to remember Christ’s death by observing the Lord’s Supper. First Corinthians 11:24-26 declares, “...do this in remembrance of me...for whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.”

Since it is a matter of Christian freedom and not a biblical command, it would seem that there is also freedom as to precisely when the celebration of Christ’s resurrection is observed. Just as with Christmas, the exact date is not important. It is the fact that Christ was resurrected that is important. Christians are free to follow the traditional dating system for Easter, thereby observing Easter on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox.

THE CRUCIFICTION DEATH OF JESUS

2011-04-20T14:17:00.001+02:00

At the age of 33, Jesus was condemned to the death penalty. At the time crucifixion was the "worst" death. Only the worst criminals condemned to be crucified. Yet it was even more dreadful for Jesus, unlike other criminals condemned to death by crucifixion Jesus was to be nailed to the cross by His hands and feet.

Each nail was 6 to 8 inches long. The nails were driven into His wrist. Not into His palms as is commonly portrayed. There's a tendon in the wrist that extends to the shoulder.. The Roman guards knew that when the nails were being hammered into the wrist that tendon would tear and brake, forcing Jesus to use His back muscles to support himself so that He could breath.

Both of His feet were nailed together. Thus He was forced to support Himself on the single nail that impaled His feet to the cross. Jesus could not support himself with His legs because of the pain so He was forced to alternate between arching His back then using his legs just to continue to breath. Imagine the struggle, the pain, the suffering, the courage.

Jesus endured this reality for over 3 hours. Yes, over 3 hours! Can you imagine this kind of suffering? A few minutes before He died, Jesus stopped bleeding. He was simply pouring water
from his wounds.

From common images we see wounds to His hands and feet and even the spear wound to His side. But do we realize His wounds were actually made in his body. A hammer driving large nails through the wrist, the feet overlapped and an even large nail hammered through the arches, then a Roman guard piercing His side with a spear. But before the nails and the spear Jesus was whipped and beaten. The whipping was so severe that it tore the flesh from His body. The beating so horrific that His face was torn and his beard ripped from His face. The crown of thorns cut deeply into His scalp. Most men would not have survived this torture.

He had no more blood to bleed out, only water poured from His wounds. The human adult body contains about 3.5 liters (just less than a gallon) of blood. Jesus poured all 3.5 liters of his blood; He had three nails hammered into His members; a crown of thorns on His head and, beyond that, a Roman soldier who stabbed a spear into His chest.

All these without mentioning the humiliation He passed after carrying His own cross for almost 2 kilometers, while the crowd spat in his face and threw stones (the cross was almost 30 kg of weight, only for its higher part, where His hands were nailed).

Jesus had to endure this experience, so that you can have free access to God. So that your sins could be "washed" away. All of them, with no exception!
Don't ignore this situation.

JESUS CHRIST DIED FOR YOU!

Because He lives!!!

2011-04-20T14:04:00.001+02:00

Because He Lives

God sent His son, they called Him Jesus
He came to love, heal, and forgive.
He lived and died to buy my pardon,
An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives.

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow.
Because He lives, All fear is gone.
Because I know He holds the future,
And life is worth the living just because He lives.

How sweet to hold a newborn baby,
And feel the pride and joy he gives.
But greater still the calm assurance,
This child can face uncertain days because He lives.

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow.
Because He lives, All fear is gone.
Because I know He holds the future,
And life is worth the living just because He lives.

And then one day I'll cross the river,
I'll fight life's final war with pain.
And then as death gives way to victory,
I'll see the lights of glory and I'll know He lives.

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow.
Because He lives, All fear is gone!
Because I know He holds the future
And life is worth the living just because He lives!
~ William and Gloria Gaither ~

Easter 3 - Why is the date of Easter so confusing?

2011-04-19T13:55:00.005+02:00

Why is the date of Easter different every year and how do they determine it?

Have you ever wondered why Easter Sunday can fall anywhere between March 22 and April 25? This is a good question with answers that require a bit of explanation.

Since the days of early church history, determining the precise date of Easter has been a matter for continued argument. For one, the followers of Christ neglected to record the exact date of Jesus' resurrection. From then on the matter grew increasingly complex.

The four Gospels make it clear that Jesus was crucified in conjunction with the Jewish Passover (Matthew 26:17-19; Mark 14:12-16; Luke 22:7-15; John 18:28,39; 19:14). The four Gospels also make it clear that Jesus was raised from the dead three days later, on the first day of the week (Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:2,9; Luke 24:1; John 20:1,19). Biblically speaking, then, Christ’s resurrection should be celebrated on the first Sunday after the Jewish Passover meal. However, this is not the case.

At the heart of the matter lies a very simple explanation: The early church fathers wished to keep the observance of Easter in correlation to the Jewish Passover. Because the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ happened after the Passover, they wanted Easter to always be celebrated subsequent to the Passover. And, since the Jewish holiday calendar is based on solar and lunar cycles, each feast day is movable, with dates shifting from year to year. Easter marks the Resurrection of Jesus three days after his Crucifixion.

Easter is observed on the Sunday after the first full moon on or after the day of the vernal equinox (where the sun is directly over the equator in the spring of the Northern Hemisphere). Since our calendar is based on the movement of the Earth and not the movement of the Moon, Easter falls on different dates every year.

The calculation of Easter is complicated because it is linked to (an inaccurate version of) the Hebrew calendar. Jesus was crucified immediately after the Jewish Passover (Luke 22:15), which is a celebration of the Exodus from Egypt under Moses. Celebration of Passover started on the 14th or 15th day of the (spring) month of Nisan. Jewish months start when the moon is new, therefore the 14th or 15th day of the month must be immediately after a full moon.

The formulas can be taken as a good indication of when Easter was celebrated in the Western Church from approximately the 6th century. Today in Western Christianity, Easter is always celebrated on the Sunday immediately following the Paschal Full Moon date of the year. (In actuality, the date of the Paschal Full Moon is determined from historical tables, and has no correspondence to lunar events.)

As astronomers were able to approximate the dates of all the full moons in future years, the Western Christian Church used these calculations to establish a table of Ecclesiastical Full Moon dates. These dates would determine the Holy Days on the Ecclesiastical calendar. In Western Christianity, Easter is always celebrated on the Sunday immediately following the Paschal Full Moon. The Paschal Full Moon can vary as much as two days from the date of the actual full moon, with dates ranging from March 21 to April 18. As a result, Easter dates can range from March 22 through April 25 in Western Christianity.

For this means of measurement it can be understood why the dates of future Easters will appear to be in such flux:

· 2011: April 24

· 2012: April 8

· 2013: March 31

· 2014: April 20

Why Easter Will Never be in May?
For those wondering why the holiday doesn't just go flying all over the calendar, the answer lies in its anchor: the moon cycle. The moon cycle is just under 30 days, meaning that the Easter holiday can never stray more than 36 days beyond the vernal equinox since it occurs on the first Sunday after the full moon.

Easter 2 - The History

2011-04-18T13:54:00.004+02:00

What is the history behind Easter weekend according to the Bible?

The history of the crucifiction and ressurection of Jesus Christ can be found in the 4 Evangelical books of the Bible, namely Matthew, Mark, Luke & John. Here is a short synopsis:

Easter is celebrating the event that Jesus Christ was resurrected, after having suffered and died on the cross for our sins. It reminds you that Christ, who was crucified on what is now called the Good Friday, showed himself up on the Easter. So, it is a time to celebrate. To celebrate that Jesus, who appeared on Earth for the salvation of mankind, is always with us.

That Jesus would resurrect was foretold. And with memories sharpened by hatred, His enemies were the first to remember his prophecy. Hardly had he been buried when they approached the Roman Governor Pontius Pilate with a request to guard the tomb. Pilate gave them soldiers and instructed them to secure the tomb. They went, sealed the stone that closed the entrance, and set the guards to keep watch day and night.

During the night of Friday, the day of his Crucifixion, through to Saturday, nothing had really happened. So did go the whole of Saturday, the weekly rest day in Jerusalem.

Then things turned different on the early morning of the Sunday, the third day since Jesus was crucified. There was a great uproar and the guards of the tomb were all struck by lightning, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone, and sat upon it. His face shining like lightning and his garments white as snow. At this sight, the soldiers trembled with fear and remained as dead men. When they came to their senses there was no point in watching over an empty tomb any longer.

They went to report to the chief priest about the incident. In reply they were asked and paid to distort the truth, and spread a story that the body of Jesus was stolen by his own disciples when the guards were asleep during the night.

Meanwhile, early on the following morning, that was Sunday morning, some women went to the tomb. They were surprised to see that the stone had been moved aside. They entered the tom and found it empty. As they wondered what all these meant, two angels appeared and told them that Jesus had risen again, as He had already told.

Soon Peter, the chief of Jesus' twelve apostles, got there along with John. They found only the linen and the piece of cloth used to wrap his body lied in the empty tomb. Puzzled, they left.

But Jesus was yet to appear in front of them. Instead, Jesus went farther. He turned up to join two of his disciples who were journeying from Jerusalem to a village called Emmaus. However, Jesus did not make himself known to them. Jesus seemed to them as a stranger who had real mastery over the holy Scriptures. Impressed, they invited Jesus to stay with them and share their meal. Jesus agreed , but as they recognized Jesus at the table, He disappeared.

In no time the two disciples headed for Jerusalem. When they met the apostles and told them about everything that happened, Jesus made His appearance. Jesus proved to them all that He was alive and asked them if they had anything to eat. Everybody there became overwhelmed with joy that their Mster had returned to life. And life again had become meaningful to the apostles.

Jesus had eaten with and talked to them in a familiar manner. He reminded them that He had come from heaven, sent by his Father to perform a task. Now, the task had been done by offering His life for the sins of mankind so that we can live forever, it is time for the apostles to follow His suit. He gave them the great commision to spread the gospel over the whole earth!Jesus also told the apostles that He leaves the with the Holy Spirit. After this, Jesus left as suddenly as he came in.

Jesus returned to the same place on the Sunday next, to make believe the unbelievers. And Jesus showed himself now and then to teach his apostles the lessons and to teach them to live without him. Jesus did this for a period of forty days.

On the fortieth day of reappearance, when he felt he had given the disciples all that he had to, he went back to the heaven. This same Jesus will come back just the same way He has left.

He had left his disciples to carry on his work and to reach his message of love and peace to all.

The Easter timeline runs as follows:

· Good Friday (Crucifiction)

· Easter Sunday (Ressurection)

· 40 days Jesus spent on earth

· The Ascension (Jesus was taken up to Heaven in a cloud)

Religions and Philosophies - Part 1 - Introduction.

2011-04-17T18:54:00.002+02:00

by P.K. Odendaal - 17 April 2011

Part 1 - Introduction.

We have been asked by some of our readers to explain the different Religions and Philosophies in the World today. It seems that there is confusion between the different religions and philosophies in that people do not know which of them are religions and which are philosophies.

The definition is quite easy in that a religion is the belief in a superhuman controlling power especially in a personal God entitled to obedience and worship. A philosophy on the other hand is just a set of rules to explain our lives in a (non religious) way that we can understand, and it provides rules to live by.

Most religions also have a philosophical part and in the discussion I will differentiate between the religions and their philosophies.

In this regard I classify the religions and philosophies as follows and in the chronological order (from ancient to recent) in which I will discuss them.

Religions :

1. Judaism
2. Christianity
3. Islam

Philosophies :

1. Mosaic philosophy
2. Buddhism
3. Confucianism
4. Christian philosophy

If I feel led, I will also discuss some other philosophies.

Of course I will look at them mainly from a Christian viewpoint, but I will try to review them without bias, as many of them provide valuable insights and perspectives that we can live by.
For instance, most of them are not mutually exclusive which I will demonstrate with an example.

One school of thought might say that we must live healthy lives to live longer, and another one that we must exercise daily to live longer. This is two very different viewpoints, but they can co-exist in any longevity program.

The other point I need to make is that some philosophies, like Buddhism, are thought by some people to be religions, but they do not conform to the basic definition of a religion as I have given above. Just to say that Money is a religion and Mammon is a god, as it is practised by some advanced capitalist nations who worship it, does not make it a religion. It has to conform to the basic definition. For some people football might be a religion, the way they worship it, but that type of religion and that type of god is not what I am talking about.

So my first guest to appear will be Moses... until next time then ...

Easter 1 - What is Easter?

2011-04-16T15:52:00.006+02:00

What happened on Easter? Why is the Resurrection important?

Easter Sunday is the day of rejoicing that follows the sorrow of Good Friday. For Christians, Easter is the celebration of Christ's resurrection from the dead. It bears witness to God's enduring promise of eternal life. As the climax of Holy Week, Easter is a time of hope and assurance. It is humanity's turning point from destruction, to glory and salvation.

Jesus died to pay the penalty of death that we deserve for our sin, was buried, and rose with a glorified body, gaining victory over death and the grave. When we put our faith in Him by believing through faith alone in Christ alone, we have the promise of one day having a body like our Lord’s and reigning with Him in heaven.

Philippians 3:20-21 states, “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.”

2 Timothy 2:11-12 says “Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him. . .” This gives hope to the Christian at Easter time and throughout the year.

Isa 53: 5 But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed.

For the first three centuries, the Church celebrated the real meaning of Easter in connection with the Jewish Passover. The Passover began on the evening of the full moon in the Jewish month of Nisan, which coincided with the Spring Equinox.

As the crucifixion occurred on the first day of the feast, early Christians found a scriptural correlation between Jesus and the sacrificial lamb. The Apostle Paul refers to this in his first letter to the Corinthian Church where he states: "For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." (1 Corinthians 5:7-8) The flexibility of Passover allowed the early Church to celebrate Christ's resurrection any day of the week on which the third day of the festival happened to fall.

Easter is a time of rejoicing for Christians. Protestant Churches have Easter services that include Communion, special sermons and sometimes Easter plays. Many Evangelical Churches have sunrise services that include much singing and rejoicing. Easter Sunday is preceded by the season of Lent, a 40-day period of fasting and repentance culminating in Holy Week and followed by a 50-day Easter season that stretches from Easter to Pentecost.

The purest meaning of Easter is the celebration of the resurrection or rising of Christ after His crucifiction, to heaven, which is the foundation of Christianity. Easter Sunday reminds all Christians of their heavenly calling and of the open door for relationship with God through Jesus, His Son.

If you would like to learn more about why Jesus' death on the cross was so significant for your salvation, please read the following articles: How do I give my heart to Jesus? What do I have to do to receive this gift of God to go to heaven?http://www.whatafriend.co.za/page14a.html

Because of the commercialization and pagan origins of Easter, many churches prefer to refer to it as “Resurrection Sunday.” The rationale is: the more we focus on Christ and the less we focus on the pagan holiday, the better. As previously mentioned, the resurrection of Christ is the central theme of Christianity. Paul says that without this, our faith is futile (1 Corinthians 15:17). What more wonderful reason could we have to celebrate! What is important is the true reason behind our celebration, which is that Christ was resurrected from the dead, making it possible for us to have eternal life (Romans 6:4)!

The Grace of God

2011-04-09T06:48:00.003+02:00

THE PRAYER THAT SHOCKED THE WORLD

2011-04-07T16:48:00.000+02:00

When Minister Joe Wright was asked to open the new session of the Kansas Senate, everyone was expecting the usual generalities, but this is what they heard:

"Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance.
We know Your Word says, "Woe to those who call evil good", but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values.
We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.
We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.
We have killed our unborn and called it choice.
We have shot anti-abortionists and called it justifiable.We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self esteem.
We have abused power and called it politics.
We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition.
We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.
We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.

Search us, Oh, God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free.Amen!"

The response was immediate. A number of legislators walked out during the prayer in protest. In 6 short weeks, Central Christian Church, where Rev. Wright is pastor, logged more than 5,000 phone calls with only 47 of those calls responding negatively. The church is now receiving international requests for copies of this prayer from India , Africa and Korea . Commentator Paul Harvey aired this prayer on his radio program, "The Rest of the Story," and received a larger response to this program than any other he has ever aired. With the Lord's help, may this prayer sweep over our nation and whole-heartedly become our desire so that we again can be called: "one nation under God."

Testimonies

2011-04-04T16:41:00.001+02:00

What is more powerful than a personal testimony? Visit our Testimony link and get inspired! If you wish to have your testimony published here, send it to us via facebook, publish it as a comment of this post, or email it to us.

Should you wish to receive our blogs via email, let us know too.

whatafriend.christian@gmail.com

Looking forward to hearing from you!

A dialogue between Sir Thomas Moore and William Tyndale

2011-04-03T22:03:00.001+02:00

A dialogue between Sir Thomas More (A man for all Seasons 1478 - 1535 A.D.) and William Tyndale (1494 - 1536 A.D.) - from Transcripts of their debate.

Written by P.K.Odendaal - February 2011

Foreword for all my Dialogues

Note by the Scribe (writer) : This piece was compiled with the latest facts and interpretations of History and the Bible. It is, after all, an unfinished work as the dialogue will only be conducted after the rapture when everyone will know everything, but it is also conceivable that it has already taken place, because there is no clear scripture that says one first has to go to a place of detention before inheriting your prize - be that eternal life or eternal damnation.

In any case, chances are that this would be a very accurate transcription of that dialogue. Part of this is of course speculation.

The intent of this dialogue is to bring the false theories, false statements, frailties and errors of humans to light, whilst confirming the events of the Bible which has stayed true for 3 300 years.

The reason that I have chosen these two characters is that both are the best mankind had to offer in these fields - Sir Thomas More as a man for all seasons and his triumph and failure as a man of the Church and William Tyndale as an exemplary example of a Man of God and of human excellence, resilience and tenacity.

Although I have tried to interpret the Bible and History as accurately as possible, I have had to use my poetic license to fill in the gaps, but I have not stretched that license unduly. If I have unduly criticised someone, due to my ignorance, I beg their pardon beforehand. I do, however, give them the benefit of the doubt as I am writing this with hindsight which is 20/20 vision, whilst they did this in uncertain times, in doubt, with partial knowledge, in the heat of the moment and some under pressure and duress.

More : Tyndale!!! What have you done again!!!!

Tyndale : I can't help it if these other clergymen do not like what I say and do not agree with me.

More : But John Bell says that you defy the Pope's policy, and as under-treasurer of the Exchequer I want to know what is going on.

Tyndale : Well, I said that the Pope was not the only representative of Christ on earth, but that every believer was.

More : It seems to me that you are also becoming one of those Reformers who want to change the world. It is not our duty to change the World - it is our duty to serve the Pope! Our King Henry VIII made it clear that he would support the Pope against all these heretics like Martin Luther. You can be glad Pope Leo X died last year, otherwise he would have excommunicated you. Pope Adrian VI, the last non-Italian Pope for the next 456 years, is busy with the Counter Reformation, and here you are busy undermining him. This is the last time that I will be lenient with you!!!

... somewhat later ...

More : Bishop Tunstall tells me that you want permission to translate the Bible into English. Where do you come at such outrageous ideas!! You know it is forbidden to translate the Bible into English since 1409 under the Constitutions of Oxford!!!

Tyndale : I feel that God has called me to do this, and I can read and write eight languages. I also obtained the Bachelor of Arts degree in 1512 and the Master of Arts degree in 1515. I also feel that the Bible should be available to all Englishmen in their native tongue, so that they can understand it.

More : Don't you realise that once we have an English Bible, every peasant will interpret it in his own way and the Pope and our Archbishop of Canterbury and ourselves will have no authority or power over them. I am presently helping our King Henry VIII with a rebuttal against the statements of that ape, drunkard and lousy little friar of a Martin Luther.

You know that Pope Leo X declared our King as the Defender of the Faith and excommunicated Martin Luther, and I must support our King in this fight against the Reformers and Heretics. We will never allow these Heretics in England.

Having God's Word available to the public in the language of the common man, English, would mean disaster to the church. No longer will we control access to the scriptures. If people were able to read the Bible in their own tongue, the Church's income and power will crumble. We would not possibly continue to get away with selling indulgences (the forgiveness of sins) or selling the release of loved ones from a church-manufactured "Purgatory". People would begin to challenge the Church's authority if the Church Officials were exposed as frauds and thieves. The contradictions between what God's Word said, and what the priests taught, would open the public's eyes and the truth would set them free from the grip of fear that the institutional church held. Salvation through faith, not works or donations, would be understood. The need for priests would vanish through the priesthood of all believers. The veneration of church-canonized Saints and Mary would be called into question. The availability of the scriptures in English is the biggest threat imaginable to the Catholic church. We will not give up without a fight.

Tindale : You leave me no choice but to defect to Wittenburg to do it there. I have already told one your clergymen who said : "We had better be without God's laws than the Pope's" that : "I defy the Pope, and all his laws; and if God spares my life, ere many years, I will cause the boy that driveth the plow to know more of the Scriptures than thou dost!"

.... somewhat later ....

More : Tyndale!!! How do you get these illegal Bible translations into England!!!

Tyndale : I have people who smuggle it in for me by way of wool bales on the ships. You are a bit late to condemn me now, as Bishop Tunstall has already condemned me in October 1526, and issued warnings to booksellers and had copies burned in public.

More : The King has asked King Charles V to have you apprehended and returned to England. I have also read your a reponse - An Answer unto Sir Thomas More’s Dialogue - to my rebuttal of Luther, and I have responded thereto with more than a half-million words in the Confutation - written in the form of a dialogue between you and me - a document thicker than the Bible.

What I said, in the main, was that you changed the meaning of the Bible in your translation so, that the teaching thereof is false and in line with the belief of these heretics, and it will instigate other heretics to follow suit.

Tyndale : But when King James will publish his version, he will incorporate 70% of my Old Testament translation and 90% of my New testament translation unaltered. Will King James also be a heretic?

Nevertheless, I will go into hiding in Antwerp or Hamburg and you will never find me. You have no jurisdiction in those Cities.

More : I hate you with an insatiable hate, you hell-hound in the kennel of the devil!!!! The Pope rules the World and I will get you from anywhere - be it by hook or crook.

Tyndale : You should not hate me. We have so much in common - rather support this effort of mine.

We were both disdainful of the Middle Ages, eager partisans for the new learning of the Renaissance, opposed the annulment of the King's marriage to Katherine of Arragon, loyal subjects of the King, prepared to defy the King to death, and I have a feeling we both will one day die a martyr's death.

The King is going to secede from the Catholic Church and he will need an English Bible to use in his newly founded Church of England. I know this. My friend Thomas Cromwell sent Stephen Vaughn to me while I was in hiding in Holland, asking me to retract my heretical opinions and come back to complete the full translation of the Bible into English, but of course I did not trust the King and stayed in exile.

More : Maybe you forget the fate of John Wycliffe - called the Morning Star of the reformation, although he died a hundred and thirty years before it started - who translated large parts of the New Testament into English on hand written manuscripts.

He was exhumed, 31 years after his death, on the orders of Pope Martin V, burned at the stake as a heretic, his bones broken and his ashes scattered in the River Swift.

Tyndale : I do not fear the Pope - I fear God!!!!

..... somewhat later ....

Tyndale : Why have you paid and sent Harry Phillips to betray and abduct me from Antwerp? He was a real conman - who provoked my trust before binding me and delivering me to the Pope. He said you paid him to do it.

I found him (Phillips) an honest man, handsomely learned and very conformable, so I shared my beliefs and secrets with him, not knowing it was to be the betrayal of the century.

When he called on me on May 21, I invited him to dine with me with the words : "You shall go with me, and be my guest, where you shall be welcome." As we left the safety of the English House, Phillips insisted with a great show of courtesy that I lead the way. He pointed at me to identify me to the imperial officers he had brought with him from Brussels. The arrest was quiet and easy. The officers said later that they pitied to see my simplicity when they took me.

More : I wanted to find you and burn you at the stake so that all the water in the world will not be able to quence you. I will stay loyal to the Pope - even if it costs me my life!!!!

You know I have already, as Lord Chancellor, imprisoned and interrogated Lutherans, sometimes in my own house, and I have sent six reformers to be burned at the stake. Your burning will be the crown of my achievements.

Tyndale : It will one day cost you your life, for as soon as King Henry VIII marries Anne Boleyn, he will inflict on you the death of a traitor, which is known as hang, drawn, and quartered. This means that you will be hanged by the neck (not dropped through a trapdoor, but slowly lifted off your feet) until you lose consciousness, then you will be taken down and revived, then castrated, then disemboweled and your intestines burned in a fire, then you will finally be put out of your misery by beheading, after which your head will be placed on a pike on London Bridge and your body will be cut into four quarters to be sent to four parts of the kingdom and displayed there as a warning against treason.

And what is more - this fate will befell you even before my death. Beware that you do not fall into the trap you set for me.

More : There is no way I will be treated like that. I am the Lord Chancellor and if I am to be charged with thwarting the divorce of the King, I will take the way of the coward and just say nothing.

(Note by Scribe : It turned out later that Sir Thomas More was beheaded with an axe only and 15 months later William Tyndale was strangled and burned at the Stake. If one looks at the accomplishments of both these characters one must admit that that of Sir Thomas More certainly was useless and destructible.

Sir Thomas More was, after all, not a Man for All seasons, but only one for the Pope's Last Season in England. The misnomer of Man for All Seasons was just a name the writer of the play by that name gave him, to bring some commercial credibility to a totally misguided man. If there was really A Man for All Seasons, it would certainly have been William Tyndale.

The author of A Man for All Seasons, Robert Bolt, says this in his Preface : Henry VIII found what various voices had urged for centuries, that the supposed Pope was no more than an ordinary Bishop, the Bishop of Rome. This made everything clear and everything possible. If the Pope was not a Pope at all, but merely a Bishop among Bishops, then his special powers as Pope did not exist. In particular, of course, he had no power to dispense with God's rulings in Leviticus 18, but equally important, he had no power to appoint other Bishops.

For if the Pope had not the power to appoint Bishops, then who did have, if not the King himself - the King by the Grace of God. Henry's ancestors, all those other Henries, had been absolutely right; the Bishops of Rome. without a shadow of legality, had succeeded over the centuries in setting up a rival reign within the reign, a sort of long drawn usurpation.

Many wars were fought, just because of this usurping of the power of Kings by the Pope - but that is another dialogue.)

Are you good enough?

2011-03-30T15:30:00.002+02:00

The next time you feel like GOD can't use you, just remember...

Noah was a drunk
Abraham was too old
Isaac was a daydreamer
Jacob was a liar
Leah was ugly
Joseph was arrogant
Moses had a stuttering problem
Gideon was afraid
Samson had long hair and was a womanizer
Rahab was a prostitute
Jeremiah and Timothy were too young
David had an affair and was a murderer
Elijah was suicidal
Jonah ran from God
Naomi was a widow
Job went bankrupt
Peter denied Christ (3 times!)
The Disciples fell asleep while praying
Martha worried about everything
Mary Magdalene was the Samaritan woman who was divorced, more than once...
Timothy had an ulcer...
but they were all WILLING to listen and do what God called them for!

No more excuses! God can use you to your full potential. He doesn't call the qualified, he qualifies the called!

Hebrew 3:14-15 For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said:
“ Today, if you will hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

Besides, you aren't the message, you are just the messenger.

Eph 2:8-10 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

John 1:12-13 Yet to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in his Name, He gave the right to become children of God - children born ..... of God.

So today, when you hear His voice, obey and you will find a peace that surpasses all understanding. (Phill 4:7)

Do you hear the people sing?

2011-03-23T10:47:00.002+02:00

I saw Les Miserables for the umpteenth time last week and was once again touched by the depth and complexity of the show and it's characters. Val Jean is the typical symbol of Grace & Freedom, where Javert is the Law and Bondage. I just realised again that we can not judge people, because we do not know what their journey is about. How many of us will give someone who has wronged us a second chance, or more important, who will USE the second chance they get. As in my previous blogs, I say again: Do not let an encounter with God leave us untouched.

I include the finale song's words here for today's blog, because I think that it means a lot in a spiritual connotation too:

Do you hear the people sing
Lost in the valley of the night?
It is the music of a people
Who are climbing to the light.
For the wretched of the earth
There is a flame that never dies.
Even the darkest night will end
And the sun will rise.

They will live again in freedom
In the garden of the Lord.
They will walk behind the plough-share,
They will put away the sword.
The chain will be broken
And all men will have their reward.
When the beating of your heart
Echoes the beating of the drums
There is a life about to start
When tomorrow comes!

Will you give all you can give
So that our banner may advance
Some will fall and some will live
Will you stand up and take your chance?
Then join in the fight
That will give you the right to be free!

Will you join in our crusade?
Who will be strong and stand with me?
Somewhere beyond the barricade
Is there a world you long to see?
Do you hear the people sing?
Say, do you hear the distant drums?
It is the future that they bring
When tomorrow comes!

God, I am on your side.

2011-03-22T21:54:00.005+02:00

God, I am on your side.

My quest for the truth continues.

There is one characteristic we all humans have - and that is partisanship. It is illogical, it is not founded on facts, it is in our hearts.

Do not ask me why I like BMW's and can't stand Mecedes Benzes - Why I shout for the Spanish football team and not for the French - and why I take the side of my kids against the whole world. I do not know !! But still I do.

Why do the tears roll down my face when I am touched by Love or by the finger or Spirit of God? I do not know - and it is not my intellect which responds, but something inside me over which I have no control. Trying to suppress the feeling as much as I can, I cannot do it completely.

I know on which side I am, but how I got to that I do not know, but I know with all my heart that I am on that side.

But is this side I am on, the side I take with my heart, or the one I am selling?

To quote from The Big Kahuna :

It doesn't matter whether you're selling Jesus or Buddha or civil rights or 'How to Make Money in Real Estate With No Money Down.' That doesn't make you a human being; it makes you a marketing rep. If you want to talk to somebody honestly, as a human being, ask him about his kids. Find out what his dreams are - just to find out, for no other reason. Because as soon as you lay your hands on a conversation to steer it, it's not a conversation anymore; it's a pitch. And you're not a human being; you're a marketing rep.

I'm saying you've already done plenty of things to regret, you just don't know what they are. It's when you discover them, when you see the folly in something you've done, and you wish that you had it do over, but you know you can't, because it's too late. So you pick that thing up, and carry it with you to remind you that life goes on, the world will spin without you, you really don't matter in the end. Then you will gain character, because honesty will reach out from inside and tattoo itself across your face.

Do one thing everyday that scares you. Sing. Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts; Don’t put up with other people who are reckless with yours. Floss. Don’t waste your time on jealously, sometimes you ahead, sometimes your behind. The race is long, an in the end its only with yourself. Remember compliments you receive; forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this tell me how. Keep your old love letters-Throw away your old bank statements.

The question I wish to ask is : Am I on the side of God with my whole heart?

I go to prepare a place for you - part 2

2011-03-21T13:59:00.001+02:00

After I prepared the first part of this blog, something gnawed at me, as I knew I did not address heaven properly - not that I ever would, as the Truth is only in Jesus Christ.

What I do is groping with my fingers in the darkness to feel what this image of heaven is which has been partly disclosed to us in scripture. In this i am reminded of the words of a song of ABBA :

I have a dream, a fantasy
To help me through reality
And my destination makes it worth the while
Pushing through the darkness still another mile

Although I have only looked at three types of heaven there are surely many more - heaven as a place we can see (the sky), heaven as a place God and Jesus Christ is thought to be in and where we will meet them someday, and heaven as a state of the soul at peace.

There are however a few aspects I still did not address. Coming back to the words of Solomon in 1 Kings 8:27 he talks of the heaven of heavens. The heaven itself in the Greek refers to the sky and the heaven of heavens to a loftier heaven which is the heaven of stars. If there is a heaven of heavens, can there not also be a heaven of heavens of heavens - or a third heaven so to speak?

What is it Paul talks of in : 2Co 12:2 I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven. How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.

Could the third heaven then be paradise and still not be Heaven itself as it is generally thought that paradise is not yet the Heaven wherein God and Jesus Christ dwells. The the words of Solomon would then be correct wherein he stated that the second heaven(heaven of heavens) could not contain God. So one could infer from this that there is a fourth heaven.

The next problem one sits with is : where is the new Jerusalem presently. I believe in some heaven as scripture says : Rev 21:2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

Why would scripture say ... prepared as a bride adorned for her husband, if it is not the vision of the Bride of Christ indeed, and seeing this comes from God out of heaven, it also points to another heaven which might even be a fourth or fifth heaven, but still not be one wherein God dwells. The scripture says ... from God out of heaven ... not from the heaven wherein God dwells. It is like receiving something from God on earth. The thing comes from the earth, but is received from God who does not (only) dwell on earth.

One also reads that the angels and birds fly in the midst of heaven. Where are the bounds of heaven then ?

This concept is indeed much more vague than one realises, and one should then stand still and wonder as one wonders of God. Is God part of His creation or does he stand apart and separate from it. One interpretation that I find insightful, but not necessarily true, is that the whole of creation is indeed God himself and that we are no more that parts of God. This is borne out by these scriptures :

1Co 12:27 Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.

1Co 15:28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

This also gives some perspective of life - if God was all in all, then the life and breath we have in us, is indeed God's life and breath in us and this is probably why God changed the names of Abram an Sarai to Abraham and Sarah - adding the ha in both.

This ha refers to God's name which is Haweh, so every time you would say their names, you would say God's name. What is even more delightful is that God says His name is I am, meaning that nobody else Is, and anybody other than God, would thus be a part of God. We might even take this analogy further and say that everytime we breathe (like in exhaling and saying softly ha) we mentions God's name. Is that then the reason why David says in Psa 145:10 All thy works shall praise thee, O LORD; and thy saints shall bless thee.

Is it then not so that everytime we inhale or exhale we praise God's name and His works.

These are profound thought to contemplate, although I am still not much nearer to the truth, but in the process I hope I have also gloried the works of God. Halleluja!!

A Dialogue between Pope Leo X and Thomas Paine

2011-03-13T20:03:00.000+02:00

A dialogue between Pope Leo X (1475 - 1521 A.D.) and Thomas Paine (1737 - 1809 A.D.) - from Transcripts of their debate.

Written by P.K.Odendaal - March 2011

Foreword for all my Dialogues

Note by the Scribe (writer) : This piece was compiled with the latest facts and interpretations of History and the Bible. It is, after all, an unfinished work as the dialogue will only be conducted after the rapture when everyone will know everything, but it is also conceivable that it has already taken place, because there is no clear scripture that says one first has to go to a place of detention before inheriting your prize - be that eternal life or eternal damnation.

In any case, chances are that this would be a very accurate transcription of that dialogue. Part of this is of course speculation.

The intent of this dialogue is to bring the false theories, false statements, frailties and errors of humans to light, whilst confirming the events of the Bible which has stayed true for 3 300 years.

The reason that I have chosen these two characters is that both are the best mankind had to offer in these fields - Leo X as the worst example of a man of God and Thomas Paine as an exemplary example of human excellence and human failure.

Although I have tried to interpret the Bible and History as accurately as possible, I have had to use my poetic license to fill in the gaps, but I have not stretched that license unduly. If I have unduly criticised someone, due to my ignorance, I beg their pardon beforehand. I do, however, give them the benefit of the doubt as I am writing this with hindsight which is 20/20 vision, whilst they did this in uncertain times, in doubt, with partial knowledge, in the heat of the moment and some under pressure and duress.

Paine : Hi there Giovanni, and how are you today ?

Leo X : Not so good Tom, I suffer here in Purgatory.

Paine : Why so? You should have done what I did - ignoring the Catholic Church and Purgatory - so I skipped that session of self redemption - and sitting pretty here in Hades.

Leo X : But what is so wrong with self redemption. All of us pay for our transgressions, and I am only doing my part here.

Paine : But your part was so great, that I doubt whether you will ever get out - not before the end of Eternity.

Leo X : Why say you so? I occupied the the most Holy Office on earth for eight years (1513 - 1521 A.D. - the Reformation started in 1517 A.D. due to the conflict between Leo X and Martin Luther) and I was the Vicar of Christ, having been put in command of all the world by Jesus Christ, through his servant the Apostle Peter. Because of this you can justly say that I will be one of the Elect in Heaven.

My only problem really is that I sold indulgences to everyone regardless of race, creed or faith, but I never bought one for myself.

You probably know that undulgences take away their earthly (temporal) punishment after they have confessed. I also sold to dead people who of course did not confess - just for making some money on the side. Even if you confess your sins, you still have to go through punishment, and that is what I am doing here now.

Paine : I never thought Peter was a Pope - my, my ,my ... I missed that one, but being a antogonist of the Bible and every Religious Instition, it is not strange that I am not up to date with your dogma and Catechism. In fact, I am still a novice on the difference between Catechism and Schism - I suppose the latter is boss when the Cat is away. However, I heard that the Reformation was the Mother of all Schisms.

And as for your punishment, I cannot think that you have been so stupid so as not to buy an indulgence. You know the adage : Healer heal thyself!

My church do not require indulgences - only that I do good to my fellow men. I think you should have tried that instead - I mean being good to your fellow men, but obviously you were too busy warring with them. I have always maintained that The Vatican is a dagger in the heart of Italy.

Leo X : I will have you know that Jesus Christ handed the keys* of the Kingdom of Heaven to Peter, who handed it down to me through all the Popes. So what I bind here will be bound in Heaven, and what I unbind here, will be let loose in heaven. You must have seen how I bound up Martin Luther, by excommunicating him - no way he will ever 'suffer' salvation!

(* Mat 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. v:19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.)

Paine : But your Church only started after Peter died - did he know he was the first Pope - I am sure that will embarassed him endlessly - please spare him that. I know he was not a friend of mine that I should come up for him, but I have a compassion for all mankind.

It is said that you gave indulgences - as you acknowledge yourself - even to people who were already dead - of course at a price. I mean (sarcastically) salvation comes at a very high price, specially when one never believed in your God, as I did - and whats more - you needed a lot of money for your parties of rioting and drunkenness.

So can you please absolve me of all my sins, so that I can also enter into Heaven - please man, I am tired of waiting here in Hades. I also want to join in the fun. Let them just stick a notice to my grave that you have absolved me, as you did with thousands of other Atheists, Unbelievers and Sinners - and even for non-suspecting Christians.

Leo X: Yes, I must say I made a lot of money, but the problem really is that I spent it much quicker than I could lay my hands on it, so that the Catholic Church was virtually bankrupt when I died. I left it to my cousin to fix that, when he became Pope after me.

Paine : But how could you and your cousin become Popes? You were not even Priests?

Leo X : If one's father is rich, one can do anything. My father was Lorenzo de Medici - one of the richest men in the world, and he bought us Cardinal's hats - that's how we became Popes.

Paine : And is it because of that favour, that you also felt compelled to sell these Cardinal's hats and other Holy Offices in the Church to secular people? It is said that you sold over 2150 offices to the value of three million Ducats. Must have been lavish parties that you could hold with that type of money.

Leo X : It could have been better, had that monk of a Martin Luther not spilled the beans on my money scams. Can you imagine - he, a monk, thinking he could take me on in a fight where I had God, Money, The Church and the World on my side.

Paine : But I thought Martin Luther had a point. He said that he read in the Bible that man is saved by Grace alone, and here you tell me man is saved by Money and Your Holiness alone. This is a somewhat different viewpoint.

Leo X: No, it is really these Gutenburg Rebels who printed the Bible, who made it difficult for me (in the 1450's), so I was not anymore in total control of who goes to Heaven and who not. Learned people could read this Bible, although I have strictly forbidden it. I have also forbidden anyone from writing any book, unless I had approved that beforehand. It was not in the interest of the Church to have every Tom, Dick and Harry have their own interpretation of the Bible. My interpretation of the Bible (of the little I knew of it) was the correct and only allowed one.

Paine : So you mean to say that no-one in the world, except you, had any rights? Not even human rights.

Leo X : Yea, thats for certain. We have been killing these heretics for hundreds of years already, who thought that they could go behind my back and talk to God or Jesus Christ. We started with the Cathars and Albigensians since the eleventh century (1209-1229 A.D.), and killed almost everyone in that twenty year war. We moved against the Huguenots (from 1700 A.D.) and we drove about 200 000 of them out of France. I am sure you also know of the Spanish Inquisition and my agent there, Thomas de Torquemada who tortured and burned at the Stake about 140 000 people in Spain - all at the request of our good friends Ferdinand and Isabella.

Paine : But how can you just kill people in the name of God? Do you mean that Jesus Christ who has power over life and death, has just given it to you?

Leo X : Yes, of course, that is why the Reformists called me Antichrist. Anti means in the place of, like in antipasta. I am here in the place of Christ as I am His Vicar, but I also have a notion that they called me Antichrist our of hatred for me and the Church as they regarded us as opposing Christ.

Paine : You should have been there during the French Revolution, when I put up such a fight for Human Rights and the Girondins. I even opposed the killing of King Louis XVl, who was the cause of the Revolution, only because of my moral objection to Capital Punishment - and here you come and do not give a hoot for the life of others ? Are you Christians not supposed to show Mercy and Grace? They must have gotten you to execute Louis XVl and his family - would have been a feast for you.

Leo X : No! I don't like executions. I left that to other subjects of mine. I was the humanist, like yourself. History says I was a good-natured and extremely free-hearted man, who avoided every difficult situation and above all wanted peace; I would not undertake a war myself unless forced into it by my advisors.

Paine : Sorry - you lost me on that one - I thought God was your adviser.

Leo X : No, I have a lot of Cardinals that advised me. God left it up to us to come to decisions, apart from the one unfortunate incident where Pope John Paul I was elected by the leading of the Holy Spirit, but that - as you might have expected - did not last long - only 33 days before we killed him.

Paine : I cannot agree with your vicious persecution of mankind, neither with your arrogant wielding of power, neither with your false representation of Jesus Christ, and that goes for the Protestants too - and so for all institutionalised religion.

Leo X : From which Church are you then?

Paine : My mind is my own church. My country is the world, and my religion is to do good. All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.

Leo X : But you need to belong to a Church or to believe in something or some god.

Paine : I believe in one god, therefore I am a Deist. The religion that approaches the nearest of all others to true deism, in the moral and benign part thereof, is that professed by the Quakers. Though I revere their philanthropy, I cannot help smiling at their conceit; if the taste of a Quaker had been consulted at the Creation, what a silent and drab-colored Creation it would have been! Not a flower would have blossomed its gaieties, nor a bird been permitted to sing.

Leo X : Is it true that people say that you had been called a Corsetmaker by trade, a Journalist by profession and a Propagandist by inclination ?

Paine : You might say that, but I prefer to think that I was a fighter and propogandist for Human Rights and Righteousness. I believe in the dignity of man, his right to live and to be respected, his right to pursue happiness, his right to be heard and his right to have his own opinion. I believe in free speech, in the Rights of man, in the Age of Reason and in Common Sense - I even wrote books on these subjects.

He that rebels against reason is a real rebel, but he that, in defence of reason, rebels against tyranny has a better title to Defender of the Faith, than George the Third.

Christianity differs from the pure and simple profession of Deism! The true Deist has but one Deity, and his religion consists in contemplating the power, wisdom, and benignity of the Deity in his works, and in endeavoring to imitate him in everything moral, scientifical, and mechanical.

I believe in the equality of man; and I believe that religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavoring to make our fellow-creatures happy.

I was once charged for libel and my defence was this : "If, to expose the fraud and imposition of monarchy ... to promote universal peace, civilization, and commerce, and to break the chains of political superstition, and raise degraded man to his proper rank; if these things be libellous ... let the name of libeller be engraved on my tomb"

Leo X : Wow !!! Now that is something. You must have had no friends then.

Paine : How did you know that? Yes, there was only six mourners at my funeral of which two were black. The Christian Churches refused to bury me, and ultimately I was buried under a tree on my farm. However, in 2002, I was rated as #34 in a list of the 100 Greatest Britons who ever lived, by the BBC.

But as for being unpopular - I was never afraid of being so. Neither was my friend Voltaire who wrote on Civil Liberties, Freedom of Religion, criticizing intolerance and religious dogma - and he is a French Hero today.

Leo X : On hindsight - do you really believe that man should have a free will, a free say, a human right and all these other cosmetics?

Paine : Then I must quote you from the book of my friend and colleague of the Revolution, Jean Jacques Rousseau and his Social Contract, which says : Man was born free, but everywhere he is in chains.

That was the slogan of us Romantics during the French Revolution, but sad to say we got nowhere. As soon as things settled, Napoleon Bonaparte, although I supported his invasion of England, reinstituted Monarchy and Dictatorship - he was "the completest charlatan (swindler) that ever existed". So I left France on invitation from President Jefferson and never returned.

Yes, I still believe that man must be free!! However, slavery and bondage has become the norm, and I mean slavery and bondage in its most wide connotation. Man must be free from slavery and bondage by any institution - even the Church - because he was created so.

But to return to yourself - you were probably one of the most hated persons ever. You were the direct cause of the Reformation in which more than a million people were killed - and even today this persecution goes on, albeit under a new secret organization called the Jesuits.

I quote from the Jesuit oath :

“I now, in the presence of the Almighty God, the blessed virgin Mary, the blessed Michael the Archangel, the blessed St john the Baptist...and my ghostly father, the superior general of the Society of Jesus, founded by St Ignatius Loyola, do, by the womb of the Virgin...swear...the Church of England...Calvinists, Huguenots, and others of the name of Protestant...to be damnable....I will, when opportunity presents, make and wage relentless war secretly or openly, against all heretics, Protestants...as I am directed to; extirpate them from the face of the earth; and that I will spare neither age, sex, or condition, and that I will hang, burn, waste, boil, flay, strangle and bury alive those infamous heretics; rip up the stomachs and wombs of the women, and crush their infant’s heads against the wall in order to annihilate their execrable race.”

Leo X : I was never party to that, it was established in my cousin's time, but is was pretty much the same during the time of the Reformation. Maybe that is the reason I will never get out of Purgatory.

Paine : Why did you not come to the aid of Savanarola when the Pope wanted him tortured, hanged and burned in Florence - you were there - only being 23 - but still you could have done something? He was tortured for three weeks, only sparing his right arm, so that he could sign a cofession.

Leo X : Yes, but the Pope said that he would send our whole city to Hell by excommunicating us, if we did not deal with Savanarola - so in the end we had to kill him.

Paine : But was he such a bad person that the Pope had to have him killed?

Leo X : Yes, he went behind the Pope's back to talk directly with God. He preached against sin (which the Pope was fond of) and this embarassed the Pope so much, that he had to make a plan.

Paine : And how do you know he spoke to God?

Leo X : Now, with hindsight, I know he did. He preached against sin and forgiveness in Jesus Christ, so much so that people came to the City Square to burn their idols, books, naked paintings and all. I can assure you Satan would never have instigated this.

In fact, the Catholic Church also now realises it, because in the last century a group within that Church wanted to declare him a Saint, but opposition by the Jesuits was too strong against it, as they regarded his 'sin' (that of talking with God and his contempt for the Pope) to be unforgivable.

But many others have also been burned at the stake innocently - take Jean D'Arc as only one example - but there are many. (Joan of Arc was declared a Saint in 1920 and is now one of the most popular saints in the Church)

Paine : So there were thousands like him (Savanarola) and you have the moral arrogance to become a successor to this Pope and this Church. It seems to me that you have no more morals than your Church. So enjoy Purgatory, but just between us, Purgatory does not exist at all and self redemption will bring you nowhere. There are many Bishops, in your Church and in the Jesuits, who practice self redemption through self inflicted severe physical punishment, but I doubt any has become saints because of that.

Shall I pose one last question?

Leo X : Yes, go ahead.

Paine : If you were God, would you side with the Pope or with mankind?

Leo X : With His Holiness the Pope of course.

Paine : I see there is no way we will ever be able to reconcile our views, so I must move on in further search of the Truth. Bye now.

PRAYER

2011-03-05T08:50:00.002+02:00

WHAT IS PRAYER?
In Philippians 4:6 it says, Do not be anxious over anything, but in everything by prayer and

supplication along with thanksgiving, let your petitions be made known to God.

Basically prayer is simply talking to God just like you would talk to your very best friend. God made us all unique and wants our love. He is our Father and loves us very much. Talk to Him, tell Him you love Him and thank Him for the blessings you do have. Prayer's purpose is to assist us in building our relationship with God. There is incredible power in prayer. Proverbs 3:5-6: Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.
How should you pray?

Matthew 6:5-15: Is the best example of how we should go about it. It starts by addressing God as our Father in heaven, that although His name is honoured, and above all other names, we are His children. As such, we occupy a place of privilege, and He wants us to spend time in prayer with Him. The Lords prayer then moves on to pray that God's Kingdom, or rule, will become the norm on earth, replacing human rules and governments, which too often are driven by greed and power. Only then do we turn to our own needs, and ask our Father for our basic human needs to be satisfied, and that He would forgive the wrong things that we have done. We ask for God's guidance and protection as we journey through life. Finally we turn back to God, and acknowledge His supremacy and position as the Almighty ruler.
Types of Biblical Prayers:

Confession (Psalm 51; Luke 18:10-24) ; Praise (1 Chronicles 29:10-13; Luke 1:46-55)

Thanksgiving (Psalm 105:1-7; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18) ;

Petition (Genesis 24:12-14; Acts 1:24-26) ;

Intercession (Exodus 32:11-13; Philippians 1:9-11) ;

Commitment (1 Kings 8:56-61; Acts 4:24-30) ;

Forgiveness (Daniel 9:4-19; Acts 7:60) ; Confidence (Psalm 23; Luke 2:29-32) ;

Benediction (Numbers 6:24-26; Jude 24)

Work through these types of prayer, and see how God strengthens your faith and your relationship with Him!