Friday, February 21, 2020
Tuesday, January 28, 2020
With the recent Corona Virus outbreak I thought my dream from 2011 certainly fit.
Dream: I was walking on top of a grassy ridge. People were all around me. It felt like wartime and I could see soldiers all around us. It felt like Nazi Germany but I knew I was in the US somewhere. Tables were set up with small boxes open on the tables. I heard an air-raid siren wailing close by and the people started running towards the boxes. The boxes held surgical masks. The people were quickly putting them on and running down the hill to the ravine. Pup tents were set up and everyone was piling into them. Sensing the imminent danger I ran to the table grabbed a mask and ran down the hill. I went into the first tent I could find. Several young people were inside the tent panicking. A young girl was crying. We could hear the bombs squealing as they were dropping from the beautiful blue sky. A bomb dropped right beside us and I knew we were doomed. I heard a whirring sound from the bomb and thought it was a dispersant bomb that released some deadly virus or toxin. Some young guy grabbed a defenceless girl and held her up to protect himself from the bomb. What a spineless jerk I thought to myself and I grabbed her and put her behind me trying to protect her from the explosion.
Tuesday, September 10, 2019
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the great German pastor, theologian, martyr, spy was asked in 1943 how it was possible for the Church to sit back and let Hitler seize absolute power
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the great German pastor, theologian, martyr, spy was asked in 1943 how it was possible for the Church to sit back and let Hitler seize absolute power. His firm answer: "It was the teaching of cheap grace."
"Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ." - Dietrich Bonhoeffer
We live in a time and culture that not only teaches cheap grace but praises i
Friday, August 30, 2019
Tuesday, August 6, 2019
Saturday, July 20, 2019
HOW THE APOSTLES DIED. Sobering
HOW THE APOSTLES DIED.
1. Matthew. Suffered martyrdom in Ethiopia, Killed by a sword wound.
2. Mark. Died in Alexandria, Egypt , after being dragged by Horses through the streets until he was dead.
3. Luke. Was hanged in Greece as a result of his tremendous Preaching to the lost.
4. John. Faced martyrdom when he was boiled in huge Basin of boiling oil during a wave of persecution In Rome. However, he was miraculously delivered From death.
John was then sentenced to the mines on the prison Island of Patmos. He wrote his prophetic Book of Revelation on Patmos . The apostle John was later freed and returned to serve As Bishop of Edessa in modern Turkey . He died as an old man, the only apostle to die peacefully
John was then sentenced to the mines on the prison Island of Patmos. He wrote his prophetic Book of Revelation on Patmos . The apostle John was later freed and returned to serve As Bishop of Edessa in modern Turkey . He died as an old man, the only apostle to die peacefully
5. Peter. He was crucified upside down on an x shaped cross. According to church tradition it was because he told his tormentors that he felt unworthy to die In the same way that Jesus Christ had died.
6. James. The leader of the church in Jerusalem , was thrown over a hundred feet down from the southeast pinnacle of the Temple when he refused to deny his faith in Christ. When they discovered that he survived the fall, his enemies beat James to death with a fuller's club.
This was the same pinnacle where Satan had taken Jesus during the Temptation.
7. James the Son of Zebedee was a fisherman by trade when Jesus Called him to a lifetime of ministry.
As a strong leader of the church, James was beheaded at Jerusalem. The Roman officer who guarded James watched amazed as James defended his faith at his trial.
Later, the officer Walked beside James to the place of execution. Overcome by conviction, he declared his new faith to the judge and Knelt beside James to accept beheading as a Christian.
8. Bartholomew. Also known as Nathaniel. He Was a missionary to Asia. He witnessed for our Lord in present day Turkey. Bartholomew was martyred for his preaching in Armenia where he was flayed to death by a whip.
9. Andrew. He Was crucified on an x-shaped cross in Patras, Greece. After being whipped severely by seven soldiers they tied his body to the cross with cords to prolong his agony.
His followers reported that, when he was led toward the cross, Andrew saluted it in these words, "I have long desired and expected this happy hour. The cross has been consecrated by the body of Christ hanging on it". He continued to preach to his tormentors For two days until he expired.
10. Thomas. He Was stabbed with a spear in India during one of his missionary trips to establish the church in the Subcontinent.
11. Jude. He Was killed with arrows when he refused to deny his faith in Christ.
12. Matthias. The apostle chosen to replace the traitor Judas Iscariot. He was stoned and then beheaded.
13. Paul. He Was tortured and then beheaded by the evil Emperor Nero at Rome in A.D. 67. Paul endured a lengthy imprisonment, which allowed him to write his many epistles to the churches he had formed throughout the Roman Empire. These letters, which taught many of the foundational Doctrines of Christianity, form a large portion of the New Testament.
Perhaps this is a reminder to us that our sufferings here are indeed minor to compare to the intense persecution and cold cruelty faced by the apostles and disciples during their times For the sake of the Faith.
And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: But he that endureth to the end shall be saved.
And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: But he that endureth to the end shall be saved.
Pass on to encourage other Christians. Why Do we feel sleepy in Prayer, but stay awake through a 3 hour movie?
Why are we so bored when we look at the HOLY BOOK. But find it easy to read other books?
Why are we so bored when we look at the HOLY BOOK. But find it easy to read other books?
Why is it so easy to ignore a massage about God,
Yet we forward the nasty ones?
Yet we forward the nasty ones?
Why are Prayers getting smaller, but bars and clubs are expanding.
Why is it so easy to worship a celebrity, but very difficult to engage with God?
Make this message your contribution to the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Sunday, July 7, 2019
Sunday, June 30, 2019
Friday, April 26, 2019
Wednesday, April 10, 2019
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