Feed The Sheep And Defend The Gospel!

Intercession vs. Free Will

2011-12-18T15:12:00.000+05:30

The teachings of New Age always emphasize free will and how we are responsible for our destiny; which can be changed at any time by changing our thoughts towards a positive orientation. Creepily this ideology has entered into the psyche of the people, where they believe that each one deserves what they are getting. Interfering with this or helping people come out of the conundrum that they find themselves in is seen as a violation of free will where we take away their right to choose, even if they’re headed towards destruction.

Thank God that he sent Jesus Christ to take away our sins even when we were sinners. We were reaping our choice till someone up there thought something better for us and interceded, and are we glad. Was this kind of intercession a violation of our free will or the fulfilment of it? Can we truly have free will if we are ever ignorant that a choice for something different from what we see and know exists?

Christians and Intercession

This is where intercession plays its part and as a Christian it is our duty and our right to intercede on behalf of others. By default people are headed for destruction because of the choice made by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. They have no free will on this, it’s done. By interceding on behalf of them we bring in the element of free will by providing them with an opportunity to break the bondage through the blood of Jesus Christ and to change their citizenship from this world to heaven. Hereon, there is free will to make a choice, to choose between the God of this world or our Lord Jesus Christ.

Power of Intercession

One of the most potent weapons placed in our arsenal is the power of prayer. When we pray we can change things, we can intercede on behalf others to help them, to encourage them and to save them. Suffering and evil is not something we choose but was foisted upon humanity after the fall. Suffering is not a manifestation of negative thinking; neither can all the positive thinking save you. Don’t fall for the trap of you can create your reality. Can your thoughts bind Satan or defeat spiritual powers and principalities – No, but Jesus Christ interceding on behalf of you CAN and WILL.

The Trap of Free Will

The concept of free will as promulgated today is a trap that leads you to the door named apathy. Where under the guise of respecting free will you just don’t care and as Christians we are supposed to care about what happens in this world and to people. We are stewards who are managing the house while waiting for the master to return. This is our job and apathy has no place with us.

Concluding

Yes there is something as free will and as Christians we choose Lord Jesus Christ, as for the worldly free will, we can see through the trap as we've been warned to be ever watchful of all the tricks and deceptions of the adversary – and this one has been recognized.

The Doctrine of Eternal Security.

2011-10-17T00:00:00.000+05:30

The doctrine of eternal security is one of the hottest debated topics in Christendom. What is the qualifier for being saved? And if saved, is it a permanent privilege or can one lose it. The main hypothesis is that when one accepts Jesus Christ as his lord and savoir, one is saved. One cannot lose it from here. This is the stance taken on this topic by the majority. As with all things related to Christianity, any kind of approach or accepted belief has to be backed by Biblical scriptures, and if that is lacking – then it is just an opinion and has no semblance to what actually is. The basis always has to be the Bible.

What does the Bible say about it?

We begin well by trying to understanding some of these Biblical quotes from the scriptures:

“Cling to your faith in Christ, and keep your conscience clear. For some people have deliberately violated their conscience; as a result, there faith has been shipwrecked. Hymenaeus and Alexander are two examples. I threw them out and handed them over to Satan so that they might learn not to blaspheme God”. – 1 Timothy 1:19-20

“Demas has deserted me because he loves the things of this world”. - 2 Timothy 4:10

Whom is Paul talking about in these letters? Is he talking about unbelievers or people who have claimed to be faithful? It is the latter!

If you have studied your Bibles carefully you will realize that accepting Jesus Christ as lord and saviour is only the first of the many steps. The others are you living a holy life and not letting the world corrupt you. Your life is your testimony and if you endure to the end, you will be saved.

Lacking this, and with faith that only amounts to lip-service with no works to show for it, that kind of faith is worthless and cannot save as James mentioned in his letter.

The doctrine of eternal security based only on accepting the Messiah and nothing else is incorrect. Accepting the Messiah is only the starting point and not the end. Hence, all who think that they have accepted the Messiah and can lead any kind of life with no inhibitions, and are saved only because of their faith are fooling themselves.

Conclusion

This is a very concise explanation. For deeper work on this subject read the letter of James and Paul. Read the entire chapters and not few verses so that you grasp the underlying meaning of the letter. Start with the letter of Paul to the Galatians, why did he write it and what is the message!

You must know your Bible and be able to check for any kind of teaching by referring to it. This is your job that cannot be outsourced.

Aliens Vs Christians

2011-09-14T09:53:00.000+05:30

Ever since Roswell the concept of extraterrestrial beings and civilizations has caught our imagination. Is it true that we are not alone? Though the subject has turned into a cottage industry with people claiming meeting benign entities here to help mankind - to the bizarre malevolent creatures who wish to turn Earth into a prison planet. The fact is we don’t know. All of this is conjecture. Besides the usual new cropped up Gurus, we also have Christian Evangelist who divide their time between fighting Satan and aliens.

The Threat

The most cited threat stated is that if this knowledge is made public, the world, especially the Christian religion will collapse. Giving it some thought, I am wondering even if we assume these entities to be real, why it would pose a threat to Christianity. And this is the view that the majority hold i.e. Christianity will collapse or finally the world will be rid of Christianity and the world shall know the truth albeit through sitting at the feet of these alien masters.

Why should it bother us?

Paul and other apostles in their writings hint at the spiritual enemies in the high places in heavens. When they talk about creation, they mean the universe as we know it and not only our planet. They refer to Gods and state that for us there is only one God. Even the Bible talks about non-human entities in the flesh, Og of Bashan to name one.

From a Christian standpoint, all of this is already taken into account and those who know their Bible are not caught off-guard at the introduction of new entities into our psyche. It has been factored in; this does not make our faith either archaic or obsolete. In fact, it tells more than those with secret knowledge proclaim what they know.

If only one would bother reading the Bible as it is meant to be read, rather than following one’s course of selectively reading verses into conformed patterns we already know, Christians will understand that they have been equipped for any and all contingencies which they have never even considered.

Who is Jesus Christ?

There are many now who proclaim that Jesus Christ was an alien, from an advanced civilization who came to Earth to save mankind. This is now giving a whole new spin to the subject. Our Jesus Christ was a man, like any one of us. The Bible clearly states that he was made a man because we are the Children of Adam, and he was to be like us including our shortcomings.

Conclusion.

Introducing or revealing aliens possesses no threat to Christianity, only thing that will be threatened is the pet beliefs and structures humans have created to comfort themselves without a Biblical foundation.

As a Christian, the Bible trains you for more you can comprehend. Start from learning more about who Jesus Christ really is as mentioned in the Bible. He is God, the one who created the manifested.

Preaching is Not a Sales Job!

2011-08-10T12:33:00.000+05:30

With the mandate of soul-winning, preachers and evangelist around the world stay motivated to preach the gospel. This is a commendable activity as ordained by our Lord, yet it does happen that in the enthusiasm of doing a good job - the objective on what the job is and what is our role in accomplishing it is lost.

One of the most overlooked factors is the consideration that our job is to preach the gospel with Biblical foundation; our job is not to win a soul at any cost, including twisting Biblical teachings to arrive at the number of won-over souls set down by the church.

This is where a gospel preacher ceases to be a man of God and becomes a salesman!

Warnings from the Bible

The Bible is replete with warnings about those who moved away from the true faith in their quest to grab the maximum followers, eventually the lust of the eyes overtaking them, with their own self-importance leading to ruination. The biggest example in the Bible is that of Balaam.

“It is true that some are preaching out of jealousy and rivalry. But others preach about Christ with pure motives.” Philippians 1:15

Even in the New Testament we read about those who deviated from the faith in their quest to collect followers, assuming large followers as a testimony to their large anointing. Paul also compares his ministry against those whose boasting is only about the size of their ministry and emphasizes its uselessness in standing with God.

What is happening today?

In churches today you can see the Pastor refraining from asserting Biblical precepts that are so important. He does this to avoid any displeasure among the congregation (who many times have the ear to only hear what they want to hear).

The emphasis on numbers, where the quantity (of people) in the ministry or church membership taking precedence has short-changed the quality of Biblical teachings. This is to our peril and we Christians will pay a heavy price as stewards for diluting the faith to make it more appealing.

A preacher is not in competition with any other businesses nor are bench-marking against corporate models the right way to run a church. Preaching is foremost the most important and holy activity, separate from any other. It is with this that the preachers must go out into the world.

Where does this leave us?

God knows who are his. The preacher’s job is to preach the gospel accurately, after that those whose names are written in the Book of life will come to Christ. Sometimes this may not be immediate but it will happen. A greater power is at work behind the scenes.

The trouble arises when the preacher thinks he has to ensure that the soul is won over, focusing on his efforts to force the issue rather than letting the Holy Spirit do the job.

In this bid the preacher enters into a territory where he is not supposed to, being overzealous the preacher enters into unbiblical methods to win the account. From here both stand condemned, the deviated preacher and the new believer of no faith.

Christianity Is Not a Spiritual Drug!

2011-07-31T22:38:00.000+05:30

Sometimes being overzealous in preaching the Gospel; what the Gospel stands for and our complete role is not emphasized resulting in a deviation from Biblical Christianity - making it compete with the very belief systems that the Epistles of the New Testament warned against.

This has resulted in a myopic focus on Christ Jesus, and the corresponding blessing stemming from that to the exclusion of everything else that needs to be known and followed.

The best known examples are the prosperity and healing ministries of today where the sole purpose of proclaiming Jesus Christ in one’s life is to get the money and to remove that disease. One is not discounting that these benefits don’t happen or are not important. The problem arises when possessing the money or health acts as the testimony and the sole reason of having faith in Jesus Christ.

What happened to Discipline?

Does not the Bible say that God chastises and scourged all whom he considers his children, and this should make us happy since he is treating us as his own and not as illegitimate children?

He is pruning us as we show ourselves to be capable branches that can bear much fruit and that while it is happening it seems very painful yet we shall see the wonder of it.

“May you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light.” Colossians 1: 11-12

Isn’t the body of Christ to share in the suffering of Jesus Christ in the flesh so that his glory too can be revealed in us? These teachings from the Bible are not emphasized at all. While most claim that all the problems are the designs from Satan or lack of faith, the fact that we should focus on how we live our lives or whether this is the discipline that a child must endure to become mature in Christ is not even considered.

I’m in it only for the money and to feel good!

One can also see in some of the outreaches and churches that solving their immediate problems is why the majority are flocking in, being disciplined and growing in the knowledge of the God is something they cannot be bothered with. On the flip side there are those who are looking for the feeling of ecstasy and euphoria in a socially approved channel. All they want is to feel high listening to music or words, and it ends there.

The danger lies in not looking at growing from faith to faith, but looking forward to these temporary euphoric states only and then thinking this is what Christianity is. While those with whom all these ecstatic states doesn't happen or who don't end up getting cured from the touch of the Evangelist stand condemned as if God does not love them.

There is nothing new under the sun.

One is reminded of Jesus Christ healing the ten lepers and after healing them he finds none are present to thank him but one. They have all gone away, with their problem solved that is all they needed from Jesus Christ and don’t see why they should be with him anymore.

Sadly, today there seem to be a lot of Christians with the attitude of those lepers, maybe they are spiritually.

Note: Get these posts as articles in PDF format from my official website.

Autobiography of a Yogi’s False Christianity!

2011-07-21T02:31:00.000+05:30

Many have heard of the Indian Yogi Paramhansa Yogananda’s spiritual onslaught to the west where he mesmerized them with tall yogic tales. An idea that he introduced to the western hemisphere was the idea of Christ Consciousness. A state of mind where you and the Father become one, an altered state of being where you are one with the universe that you enter using the chakras or energy vortices of the body.

According to Paramhansa Yogananda, Jesus Christ’s contribution to humanity was his ability to access and utilize Christ consciousness which in effect opened the gateway for anyone to become a son of God by accessing the same state through the chakra in one’s body. He expounded this concept through biblical scriptures using verses from the bible to prove his point in his writings.

Though this seems like a very nice spiritual explanation for those with whom the message of the cross is foolishness and who seek deep secrets to gain access to heavenly realms. For those who are being saved this doctrine is a gross violation to the gospel we have inherited.

What was never stated!

“And the word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth”. John 1:14

Notice the verse very carefully, the word became flesh (underlined), the flesh did not become the word. When the word became flesh, Jesus Christ, the word which from the beginning was with God dwelt on the Earth in a human form as the only son of the Father.

They are deceiving us!

The Christ consciousness brigade are twisting the scriptures to denote that the flesh (Jesus Christ) became the word (Christ Consciousness), which means that all of us in the flesh have the opportunity to become the word i.e. Jesus Christ, if we can manage to access the Christ consciousness within us.

For those who know their Bible, this doctrine is blasphemous. The Bible says we have hope to become the children of God in adoption under the name of Jesus Christ, who is the firstborn of the dead. We will never ever be the direct children of God as is Jesus Christ.

What is the truth? You can’t see the truth...the god of this world has made you blind.

The truth is the Father has only one son, Jesus Christ. He is our intercessory and we have a hope of salvation in his name for he is our Adonai because he ransomed himself for us. We stand nowhere and can do nothing on our own.

Removing the confusion.

The Bible does ask us to seek the same mind that was in Christ Jesus, but this does not mean that there is a type of consciousness that exists in the heavens which Jesus managed to comprehend in his earthly flesh and we can do that too. Such a statement removes the divinity from Jesus Christ! But it does emphasis to use our Lord as the measure by which we chart our walk on the path of the Lord.

What about David Icke?

2011-07-15T18:14:00.002+05:30

Frankly, I don’t know what to make of David Icke. Having read through his writings, the allegations he makes of the world’s movers & shakers belonging to an alien race of reptilians who wish to enslave mankind make it sound more science fiction than something I would put in my library to research on comparative religion. Yet today the interventionists (who say entities from outer space populated Earth) are getting more vocal, and if they are dismissed outright without being paid attention to, we’ll regret that arrogance.

There are many who discount David Icke and call him a disinformation agent, yet, I think attention needs to be paid to the kind of teaching he has introduced into society, which is heavily immersed with paganism and New Age Theology that in the hoopla of chasing invading reptilian aliens across dimensions one often overlooks. This is what the Christian must pay attention to, what is the message behind the theater.

These kinds of teachings focus on the Matrix, a kind of a digital artificial system that has us enslaved, popularized into everyday consciousness by the movie with the same name. This point is not disputed, after all since the fall from Eden we are trapped in an artificial system where we don’t really belong. What is disputable is how we get out.

We as Christians proclaim that Jesus Christ has beaten this system as he has destroyed the works of the devil. We get out through him - since he is the narrow gate through which we escape. The others systems reject this and highlight other means of escape. It is from this we sort out the wheat from the chaff.

In my opinion, the interventionist must be paid attention to, not in what they say but how they say. Paralleling Christianity in creationism, an unaware Christian can easily be caught off-guard and end up agreeing to their version of creationism that we are not created by God (the Christian God) but other entities from outer space, and here lies the trap.

I would not recommend an average Christian to delve into such topics before they are ready. I’d strongly advise to read the Bible thoroughly and have a solid foundation in Biblical teachings before leaping into the abyss of the kind of information David Icke and his ilk peddle lest you are swayed into accepting the doctrines of demons.

As for me, I’ve just turned down a tea party invitation from the Buckingham Palace.

Credo Mutwa: The African Witch Doctor

Credo Mutwa is a man who renounced Christianity to fall back on paganism. He introduces an entity knows as Chituali, a kind of a reptilian beast with a third eye in between the forehead that can kill people (now where have I heard all this before) and feast on us. Such is the dread of this thing (Yes, I call it a thing). There are Biblical verses that talk about such scheme of things that you can start with by learning more about what the Bible calls the Nephilim.

Christians must keep this in mind at all times.

No matter what you’re exposed to, you cannot abase yourself before anyone or anything. All authority has been given to Jesus Christ which further has been given down to the Saints. The power is with you not with them!

Why is this World so Evil?

2011-07-11T15:17:00.000+05:30

Religions and philosophies are at quandary in explaining why this world is so evil. Observe, and you will notice that we live in a predatory universe – each one for himself, and if you fail --you’ll be consumed. Yet the desire of humans is to love and be spiritual. An oddity to the environment we find ourselves in.

Hinduism and eastern philosophies tries to explain this by stating that our lives are a play in an illusion. When we are awakened, we will laugh at all the pain and the travesty that we call our life today. Our painful lives full of sorrows seems to be anything but playful, what kind of a degenerate would think of a game like this.

Islam offers a different answer, this life is a test and how we perform against all odds determine our rank in the next life, a heaven filled with houris. Yet all this exercise is for what – just a reward at the end of this life. That’s it! Such an answer does not offer any consolation.

It is Christianity that offers a unique answer. Man is born to trouble ever since Adam fell from the Garden of Eden. All the trauma, pain and anguish that we suffer is not part of God’s plan for us. But the day our authority was usurped from that of God’s to Satan, we were forced to eat what our authority offered; and what do you think Satan will offer to you.

"Father pities his children." Psalm 103:14.

Why would the Father pity us if it was he who created all this that we face today? He can only pity if he sees his children trapped and subjected to a tyrant who delights in our sufferings, who like a false shepherd can only think of skinning us alive. He is the God of this world and the ruler of this age. Yet his rule came to an end at Calvary.

"We know that we ourselves are children of God, and we also know that the world around us is under the power of the evil one." 1 John 5:19

Yet Jesus Christ freed us of this oppression by giving himself up for us. All we have to do is to abide in him and become the new creation so that this world does not hold any power over us anymore, and in the name of Jesus Christ we can stay protected in this cruel and mean world.

Now you know why the world is so evil and will always remain evil– because it follows the bidding of its Master: The Father of all lies.

Christianity is not a Mystery Religion

2011-07-06T10:47:00.002+05:30

It is a common practise to acknowledge the presence of many in-depth teachings or mysteries hidden in ancient texts and symbols that are outside the ken of most people. A quick scan on the topic of religion/spirituality and self-help exposes a plethora of secret systems to the readers each teaching secrets never revealed in ages foregone. Based on this, secret orders and special teachers spring up to reveal these hidden gems and for a price.

While the secret mysteries may create an aura of divine providence on various religious/spiritual belief systems promulgating it, such a though is anathema to Christianity, for there is no secret that has not already been revealed to us.

“But be alert; I have already told you everything.” Mark 13:23

These are the words of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who taught at the temple of Jerusalem, and hid nothing from the people. In fact, he taught them everything and frankly without evading the subject at hand; even asking us to be on watch against false Messiahs and Christs and to recognize them by their fruits.

The book of Revelation informs us about the last days that no secret teachings can even come close to. God’s plan to redeem mankind which even the angels were not privy to has been revealed to us and for free without anything brought to the table by us. This is how Christianity works; it works because of the grace of our Lord. In our faith nothing is hidden and no secrets are taught to special elitist group or cabal in secret chambers.

We don’t talk about the abomination of desolation in hushed tones but publicly. We know who our enemy is and what stands against us: the son of perdition. Christians don’t hide all this but talk openly and to anyone who wishes to know about the topic or asks.

We have no need for any special teaching or sacred knowledge. Our book, the Bible, has laid bare to us everything that we need to know. Besides it, there is no secret knowledge that can even add an iota to our understanding or help us in any way.

“Surely the Lord God does nothing, without revealing his secrets to his servants the prophets.” Amos 3:7

Our Lord keeps no secrets but reveals to us entirely what he plans to do and his plans for us, this our Lord has done so far through the prophets. By reading the Scripture we can understand what has happened, is happening and will happen. Nothing has been hidden from us; all that we need are eyes that can see and ears that can hear.

The Christian must avoid falling into the trap of running after secret knowledge, for there is no knowledge that has been made secret to us and their knowledge is useless, it can neither instruct nor correct or protect us from the evil one. In fact, these secret initiates and knowledge comes from the evil one but let Christians stand behind the words that have been breathed by God.

I conclude with a verse from the Scripture that will make Christians smile to the clarity and openness with which our Lord speaks.

“Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.” Mark 14:18

Jesus Christ never even kept his betrayal, his sufferings, his death and his resurrection – a plan that would bring Satan to his knees – a secret!

Is Yoga Demonic.

2011-07-02T04:44:00.001+05:30

There is a lot of controversy around Christians practising yoga. Is that activity demonic and whether Christians should practise yoga? There are proponents both for and against it. Some state that it is a harmless physical activity while others ascertain that it leads to demon trafficking. Let us then roll our sleeves and work from the bottom-up.

What is Yoga?

Yoga is not just asana involving only bodily postures. It comprises one of the six philosophies that make up Hinduism (Sankhya, Yoga, Nyaya, Vaisesika, Mimamsa and Vedanta). It is a philosophy subscribing to the notions of Purusha (pure consciousness) that it classified as the innermost conscious self with a human and Prakriti (the world of matter). The entire aim of Yoga is to liberate this Purusha from the Prakriti through meditation and by practising what we call yoga that leads to self-annihilation i.e. death of the ego to enter the blissful state of liberation.

The Threat

So it becomes a tool of trying to reach an altered state of reality for liberation and it is here where it becomes dangerous, because just based on an idea you don’t know what you are opening yourself to.

Yoga was never meant to be just a form of body exercise.

Quoting Edwin F. Bryant, The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, page xxx:

Neither the Upanishads nor the Gita mentions postures in the sense of stretching exercises and bodily poses, asana is not mentioned as one of the six limbs of the Maitri Upanishad, and Patanjali himself dedicates only three brief sutras from his text to this aspect of the practise. The reconfiguring, presentation, and perception of yoga as primarily of even exclusively asana in the sense of bodily poses, then, is essentially a modern Western Phenomenon and finds no precedent in the premodern yoga tradition, although the fourteenth century Hath yogaPradipika does dedicate one of its four chapters to asana.

Paradox

There is also a paradox today where yoga has been converted into something that it was never meant to be: just plain exercise and millions are benefiting today because of practising these bodily postures looking at it as a purely physical activity, which it actually is in the way it is performed by these modern yoga practitioners (not to be confused with a yogi, which is an entirely different animal after you have dismissed the marketing). This has brought us to an interesting fork at the road.

My analysis on the subject after researching on the subject is this. Any form of yoga that subscribes to any philosophy or spiritual practise/ altered state or connecting to any kind of ancient belief system is forbidden to Christians, this includes Yoga as it meant or understood in the mainstream. However, the modern yoga that works just as a physical exercise created out of ignorance (not even doing the asana as prescribed by the ancient system, but a unique modern day creation running parallel to other body fitness systems - if I may add) does not harm the Christian. It is just plain excercise.

Tip

Whenever accessing or going through any metaphysical or esoteric philosophies claiming all kinds of deep knowledge, always remember this.

One important distinction between Christianity and any metaphysical approach is that all metaphysical approaches stop at the soul, whereas Christianity makes a distinction between the soul and the spirit, a division or a split caused by the Word of God. The other systems never get to the spirit.

Always keeps this in mind.

The One World Religion.

2011-06-28T04:27:00.001+05:30

Today, one is continuously exposed to the term ‘One World Religion’ repeatedly, thereby, causing confusion among many who try to decipher what that word entails. Sadly, many are being enrolled in the machinations of the One World Religion without even realizing it, they think they are practising a kind of evolved/pro-human thinking when actually they are being set-up to walk down on a path that they never signed up for. This is the great deception.

As they say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

The One World Religion states that all religions pray to the same God, what is different amongst them is the exoteric form, but at the core all religions pray to the same God, understanding the same universal energy through prisms of their own geographic and cultural conditioning. The understanding of this concept will remove hatred and conflict in humanity as all come to understanding that we are from the same source. This concept though high-sounding has a problem - it is wrong!

“All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” Matthew 11:27

None of us on our own know who the Father is, only Jesus Christ knows who the Father is – and we know Jesus Christ. When you worship using any belief system that does not acknowledge Jesus Christ, you don’t know what you are worshipping. No matter how ideal sounding the scenario or the cultivated belief is, without Jesus Christ you are out at sea, because you don’t know who the Father is. When we believe in Jesus Christ, we are safe, simply because he is the Son. We’re not. We can be but only though adoption in Jesus Christ. Where does this leave you, if you think you have alternatives?

“You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” John 8:19

From this verse it is certain that if you know Jesus Christ, you know the Father. When agreeing with the concept of the One World Religion, you don’t know who the Father is, who are you worshipping. Besides our Lamb, what other rock is there on which we can depend on...no one and nothing.

“I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.” John 10:9.

Of late, there is a tremendous pressure on Christians to give up on the belief that Jesus Christ is the only way and that all religions are equal. This is not true, for Jesus Christ is the only way.

For this belief, Christians are mauled the world over. They are considered bigoted, uneducated, primitive etc., but it is never showcased that even after having this belief, Christians are good to people from other religions, and those who think that they are paragons of human evolution never realize how bigoted is their approach against Christians who mention Jesus Christ being the only way and refuse to participate in alternative belief systems.

This One World Religion is a trap, and we were forewarned about this by prophets of yore. Thanks but no thanks! We are dumping the charter of the One World Religion - we have no use for it.

A Short Note!

2011-06-24T08:20:00.000+05:30

The measure we give is the measure we get, this is a constant theme in Christianity, where it is ascertained that what we receive reflects what we have given. It is the kind of seed sown by us, which brings us the corresponding fruit of our tree, and we taste of it. It would not be wrong to state that the fruits we taste are the ones of our labour. What have you laboured for will become evident after you’ve tasted of your fruit.

Yet god is kind, for he died for us when we were still sinners. This aspect states that we received something even when we were undeserving for it. Why would God do such a thing? Is this what we call love. Doing something for the other, giving a gift especially at the time they are undeserving.

For God loves us, because he has created us, we are his wheat. But how many actually belong to him and love him not because of any worldly compulsions – no one can say, just like no one can tell a real Christian from a fake one. Many firsts will be last and those last will be first.

In the meantime, keep walking in the faith.

What is faith?

2011-06-16T23:36:00.000+05:30

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the convictions of things not seen.” Hebrews 11.1

When we place our faith in Jesus Christ, we have a conviction on an individual not seen by us, but we believe in him. There are promises made to us for an eternal life in Jesus Christ, a promise we cannot verify – but we choose to believe that such a promise has been offered, and it is true – because God is not a liar. This is faith. Such a perspective places things where they belong, you can either choose to believe or disbelieve. That is your choice, and you make that choice by either putting your faith in Jesus Christ or not. It is that simple and that complicated.

“By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain’s.” Hebrews 11.4

“By faith Enoch was taken so that he did not experience death; and ‘he was not found, because God had taken him’.” Hebrews 11.5

“By faith Noah, warned by God about events as yet unseen, respected the warning and built an ark to save his household.” Hebrews 11.7

“By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance, and he set out not knowing where he was going.” Hebrews 11.8

The scripture is filled with people who had shown the faith, by believing in things that they had no foreknowledge of. Don’t think that faith is relegated to a time before; your faith is called for every single day. What you decide to do with that is you call!

Yet they displayed a kind of faith that even we today don’t show today because:

“All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them.” Hebrews 11.13

We are of the generation for whom the promise is decked out, and we can participate in that promise at any moment we decide to. We have the opportunity that Abel, Enoch, Noah, and Abraham didn’t have for the Lamb of God who would take the sin of the world had not arrived!

He then arrived - and we are the generation that has the promise that those preceding Jesus Christ could only see and greet from a distance, but for us, it is not a far of longing but a reality ever available.

Now, is there faith!

The Foundation of Christianity!

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The entire foundation of the Old Testament is based on one thing only – awaiting the Messiah, who will redeem us, and we know the Messiah, he is Jesus Christ. This is the foundation of Christianity. All the scriptures talk about him. He is the Lamb of God who establishes the new covenant replacing the old. It is the grace of God, his mercy that sends us the Son, and our blessing to be under the wing of the Son, who loves us by offering himself up to pay for our sins, and gives us the opportunity to call God – father!

“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” John 8:12

It is Jesus Christ on whom we have pinned our hopes. He is the salvation, the truth, the gate and the way. It is our faith in him that that adds the chutzpah to our steps. The promised crown of life that awaits us if we abide in Jesus Christ, and he in us; we live by faith, and what does that mean:

“So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentarily affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, because we look at not what we can see but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:16

Belief in Jesus Christ and abiding in his word, while following the path laid by the apostles and prophets is the foundation of Christianity. Christianity is not about showing up for Church on a Sunday morning or devoting two hours a week for a religion you espouse. It is life itself, not a counterfeit life which you lead currently but the real thing; it is the word of God that heals you and the Holy Spirit that opens the living waters.

Don’t be complacent thinking that you have a soul, which amounts to nothing. It is the spirit of God that is meaningful and how you deal with it is based on how strong your foundations in Christianity are.

Make a start and read the Bible. It is not someone else’s job to do it for you – it is your job. So shake off the dust and get real – honour the Son and abide in his word.

Taste the Lord!