As Christians, we are personally convinced that Jesus rose from the dead; but it's still wonderful to be able to read evidence of His resurrection that helps us to reassure doubters.
I never cease to be amazed by the volume of information that is available to us in this age, on the internet. In the Christian perspective, there is so much to read that is encouraging, informative, inspirational and educational. Whereas in the ages before the internet we may have had to do a great deal of research just to find out where to look for answers to questions we may have had, the internet makes the results of in-depth, studies and exhaustive research available to us with a simple search. I am grateful to all the authors who have dedicated so much of their lives in exhaustive studies - and to be able to benefit from their great work.
Just recently I read a number of very uplifting papers from a site called "y-jesus.com" (Link provided here under "Links to Recommended Sites" in the right-hand column). One of those papers was on the subject of Did Jesus Really Rise from the Dead . Links to more of these interesting studies, like Did Jesus Claim to be God, Is Jesus Really the Only Way and more are provided under "Links Of Interest".
Thank you to the team on y-jesus.com for your inspiring site.
Wednesday, 6 April 2016
Tuesday, 8 July 2014
Peer Pressure - the Hidden Persecution
Ever wonder how you would stand up under a great religious persecution? Most of us probably have. We know that it's happened before and that it'll happen again. Will we stand or fall? In some parts of the world, our Christian brothers and sisters suffer persecution even now. There are those who risk everything, including their lives and the lives of their families to practice as Christians.
While most Christians today take our religious freedom for granted, there is a hiddden persecution that we may not recognize as such - yet it can be as fatal to our success or failure as open persecution. It is called Peer Pressure.
While peer pressure is generally recognized as a serious threat to our youth, we are all subject to its devastation, in many cases without even being aware of it. For the Devil, it's the thin edge of the wedge that he drives into our lives to seperate us from the values of the Lord.
How many events do we attend where behaviour is contrary to our values; how many activities do we partake in that we know, if we consider, have a detrimental effect on our standing as Christians? How much of the media hype of entertainment and advertising sucks us in, where our herd instinct takes over and we happily cross lines because - well, what harm can it do?
Having some fun is not a sin, having a good laugh is no sin; but when we get sucked into the wrong kind of fun, the wrong kind of conversation because we don't want to fall out of the group, we can find ourselves developing wrong habits and unconsciously taking a path we shouldn't be walking on. We don't even realize it until we wake up one day and find that we've strayed far from the path intended for us, and we have to start the long process of finding our way back. All too often, painfully.
Peer pressure can be a dangerous weapon in the Enemy's hands to make us feel dissatisfied with our lives and particularly with what we have or don't have - compared to others. That dissatisfaction can easily lead to anger and misery, which have no place amidst the Fruits of the Spirit. It can spread like a spiritual cancer, quickly overpowering the peace, love, joy, humility and dedication to God that we once knew.
The overt religious persecution is a threat that is visible and enforces us to confront it and ourselves. The hidden threat is the one that we don't see and we avoid having to confront it, until the wedge is driven in so deeply that it is only with a great deal of pain that we have to claw our way back to the right path, bleeding and in spiritual tatters.
Let us be aware, therefore, of the inevitable onslaughts of the enemy each day, and remain safe in the armour of the Lord and the Fruits of the Holy Spirit, regardless of what our friends may think or what we may be missing out on. We are left in the world, not removed from it; but we are left in the world to reflect the glory of God to the unbelieviers, not to join them in their pursuits.
May God be with us and not only strengthen us, but grant us joy in our daily victories. Jesus is always with us. Let us rejoice in Him more than in anything with which the Devil's society may tempt us.
While most Christians today take our religious freedom for granted, there is a hiddden persecution that we may not recognize as such - yet it can be as fatal to our success or failure as open persecution. It is called Peer Pressure.
While peer pressure is generally recognized as a serious threat to our youth, we are all subject to its devastation, in many cases without even being aware of it. For the Devil, it's the thin edge of the wedge that he drives into our lives to seperate us from the values of the Lord.
How many events do we attend where behaviour is contrary to our values; how many activities do we partake in that we know, if we consider, have a detrimental effect on our standing as Christians? How much of the media hype of entertainment and advertising sucks us in, where our herd instinct takes over and we happily cross lines because - well, what harm can it do?
Having some fun is not a sin, having a good laugh is no sin; but when we get sucked into the wrong kind of fun, the wrong kind of conversation because we don't want to fall out of the group, we can find ourselves developing wrong habits and unconsciously taking a path we shouldn't be walking on. We don't even realize it until we wake up one day and find that we've strayed far from the path intended for us, and we have to start the long process of finding our way back. All too often, painfully.
Peer pressure can be a dangerous weapon in the Enemy's hands to make us feel dissatisfied with our lives and particularly with what we have or don't have - compared to others. That dissatisfaction can easily lead to anger and misery, which have no place amidst the Fruits of the Spirit. It can spread like a spiritual cancer, quickly overpowering the peace, love, joy, humility and dedication to God that we once knew.
The overt religious persecution is a threat that is visible and enforces us to confront it and ourselves. The hidden threat is the one that we don't see and we avoid having to confront it, until the wedge is driven in so deeply that it is only with a great deal of pain that we have to claw our way back to the right path, bleeding and in spiritual tatters.
Let us be aware, therefore, of the inevitable onslaughts of the enemy each day, and remain safe in the armour of the Lord and the Fruits of the Holy Spirit, regardless of what our friends may think or what we may be missing out on. We are left in the world, not removed from it; but we are left in the world to reflect the glory of God to the unbelieviers, not to join them in their pursuits.
May God be with us and not only strengthen us, but grant us joy in our daily victories. Jesus is always with us. Let us rejoice in Him more than in anything with which the Devil's society may tempt us.
Wednesday, 2 July 2014
Project Mankind
God has been around forever, but let's quantify that as multi-millions of millennia for the purpose of this post - yet mankind has only a 6000-odd year history. What has God been doing for all that time, before we came onto the scene? Mankind and Earth is a recent - and current - development! That is interesting, but how does that impact on our relationship with Him?
Funnily enough, I've been inspired by two previous blog posts that I wrote - the idea for which just seemed to pop into my head - "Imagine...." and "Project Earth". In the post "Imagine", I posed the question about what God might have been busy with in all that time before us. I was fascinated by what may have been created out there! Pondering the thought afterwards, I suddenly realized the impact of the fact that our 6000 year history wasn't anywhere near the beginning or middle of His multi-millennial activities, but tagged onto the end, or present; that we are virtually a current project after all that time, and the post "Project Earth" followed.
Those two thoughts have had a major impact on my perception of God and our relationship with Him.
God is not idle. He never has been. He has been creating and administrating for probably millions of millennia and more. What mighty civilizations has he established in His realm? Our 6000 years must be a very new and current project to Him, even though it may seem like a long time to us. Who are we, therefore, to think that we know so much - and to judge and contend with God? Suddenly I find it very frightening to think that such a large proportion of the occupants of Planet Earth rebel and actually condescend to God in so many ways in our attitudes towards Him.
The way Mankind lives, the way we conduct our lives, the values that we adopt that are so foreign to His instructions, the way we condescend, so often, in our attitudes towards Him and His values, places us in a very dangerous position! 'Condescend', in that so many relegate Him to being just a concept, or a mere 'figurehead' with great ideas, but in theory rather than in practice.
I can only imagine what he might think of us as a whole when He looks down on this planet and our activities; and I shudder. I shudder because He has so much power, and such advanced civilizations, that I can only imagine what He is capable of when His anger at us waxes hot.
We need to repent. This planet as a whole needs to wake up to our puny, selfish, destructive little statures and humble ourselves before the Almighty God. We need to do it with trembling; and we need to do it fast.
Funnily enough, I've been inspired by two previous blog posts that I wrote - the idea for which just seemed to pop into my head - "Imagine...." and "Project Earth". In the post "Imagine", I posed the question about what God might have been busy with in all that time before us. I was fascinated by what may have been created out there! Pondering the thought afterwards, I suddenly realized the impact of the fact that our 6000 year history wasn't anywhere near the beginning or middle of His multi-millennial activities, but tagged onto the end, or present; that we are virtually a current project after all that time, and the post "Project Earth" followed.
Those two thoughts have had a major impact on my perception of God and our relationship with Him.
God is not idle. He never has been. He has been creating and administrating for probably millions of millennia and more. What mighty civilizations has he established in His realm? Our 6000 years must be a very new and current project to Him, even though it may seem like a long time to us. Who are we, therefore, to think that we know so much - and to judge and contend with God? Suddenly I find it very frightening to think that such a large proportion of the occupants of Planet Earth rebel and actually condescend to God in so many ways in our attitudes towards Him.
The way Mankind lives, the way we conduct our lives, the values that we adopt that are so foreign to His instructions, the way we condescend, so often, in our attitudes towards Him and His values, places us in a very dangerous position! 'Condescend', in that so many relegate Him to being just a concept, or a mere 'figurehead' with great ideas, but in theory rather than in practice.
I can only imagine what he might think of us as a whole when He looks down on this planet and our activities; and I shudder. I shudder because He has so much power, and such advanced civilizations, that I can only imagine what He is capable of when His anger at us waxes hot.
We need to repent. This planet as a whole needs to wake up to our puny, selfish, destructive little statures and humble ourselves before the Almighty God. We need to do it with trembling; and we need to do it fast.
Thursday, 17 April 2014
Easter
Not by chocolate are our sins washed away, but by blood - the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Celebrating the most awesome event in history, is what it's about; not chocolate bunnies or eggs, or the various symbols of fertility representing new life. Those are bogus celebrations of the pagans. Celebrating a new life and new beginnings shouldn't be in the form of pagan symbols, but rather of heads bowed and spirits lifted in awe of the magnitude of Christ's sacrifice in order to reconcile us to God and give us a chance of a new life.
How dare we reduce such an epic event to the frivolity of hidden easter eggs and chocolate bunnies! Jesus Christ suffered the most awful torture and a death on the Cross that no person should have to endure, much less an innocent one. He didn't fight His persecutors; He gave Himself up to it in love and sacrifice for those of us who really didn't deserve His love.
He died tragically and miserably in that barbaric fashion for our sake, so that we may live. And on the third day He rose from the dead in the ultimate triumph over sin and evil, to be our Lord and King, High Priest and Holy Redeemer, King of Kings in a realm mightier than we can imagine.
Celebrate, in awe, the Passover, the forerunner of the true Sacrificial Lamb, when God delivered his people from physical slavery in Egypt, and the ultimate Passover when the True Lamb was sacrificed for us that we may be delivered ultimately from the spiritual slavery of this world - the most amazing event in Human history.
Relegate the eggs, bunnies and "braai's" (barbecues) to their rightful place in simple family enjoyment, and use this Passover Remembrance to rededicate yourself to the reality of your life's true design, to God and to Jesus Christ . It's time to regroup and remember what our lives are about and where we stand - or fall - in the purpose of our lives.
If you haven't yet taken Jesus Christ into your life and accepted Him as your Saviour, now would be the time.
You may not be here tomorrow.
You may not be here tomorrow.
Monday, 14 April 2014
Help My Children
Lord God Almighty,
I bow my head in humble submission and beg you to help my children. Please intervene and intercede for them. They need you desperately. Only you can deliver them. Please, Oh, God.
I pray through our Lord Jesus Christ, and I pray in His holy name.
Amen.
I bow my head in humble submission and beg you to help my children. Please intervene and intercede for them. They need you desperately. Only you can deliver them. Please, Oh, God.
I pray through our Lord Jesus Christ, and I pray in His holy name.
Amen.
Friday, 11 April 2014
Project Earth
......come to think of it, further to the post below, the 6000 years that we're talking about is the present - tagged onto the end of the millions of previous years. In other words, Mankind on Earth is a current project!
After all that God has been doing, we are not 6000 years lost somewhere in the midst of all that time - we are a current project, designed after all those years of experience and experiences, fresh and new in His scheme of things. We weren't a mistake made long ago.
Kinda awesome, isn't it.......?
After all that God has been doing, we are not 6000 years lost somewhere in the midst of all that time - we are a current project, designed after all those years of experience and experiences, fresh and new in His scheme of things. We weren't a mistake made long ago.
Kinda awesome, isn't it.......?
Thursday, 20 March 2014
Imagine.........
What has God been up to for so long?
God has been around forever. "Forever" is not an easy word to measure, so if one had to quantify it in terms of numbers that mean something to us, could one say for anything between many, many millions of years to millions of millenia and beyond?
Yet man was created only around 6,000 years ago. In terms of God's history, that's hardly a wink in time - and ever so recently, at that. So what has He been doing for all that time before Mankind was created on Earth?
It's pretty mind-boggling, isn't it? He is creative, He is busy and He doesn't tire - so he must have been busy then too. My only point is this:
There must be so much more out there than we can ever imagine! So just imagine, if you will, how much we can look forward to being a part of ....one day!
If one considers how short our six thousand years must be in God's experience of time, and how much must be out there, it must surely alter, in some way, our perception of our time on Earth in terms of the big picture.
We seem to endure our sufferings endlessly; but let us take heart in our vision of the big picture and endure what seems to take forever with a little more courage. Hang in there, be brave, keep up the faith. It's easier said than done, but this suffering will end - and what lies beyond is really so much more than we can imagine.
God has been around forever. "Forever" is not an easy word to measure, so if one had to quantify it in terms of numbers that mean something to us, could one say for anything between many, many millions of years to millions of millenia and beyond?
Yet man was created only around 6,000 years ago. In terms of God's history, that's hardly a wink in time - and ever so recently, at that. So what has He been doing for all that time before Mankind was created on Earth?
It's pretty mind-boggling, isn't it? He is creative, He is busy and He doesn't tire - so he must have been busy then too. My only point is this:
There must be so much more out there than we can ever imagine! So just imagine, if you will, how much we can look forward to being a part of ....one day!
If one considers how short our six thousand years must be in God's experience of time, and how much must be out there, it must surely alter, in some way, our perception of our time on Earth in terms of the big picture.
We seem to endure our sufferings endlessly; but let us take heart in our vision of the big picture and endure what seems to take forever with a little more courage. Hang in there, be brave, keep up the faith. It's easier said than done, but this suffering will end - and what lies beyond is really so much more than we can imagine.
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