Hello people, I write again and this time too I write on a topic off my study. The Bible says that there were will come a time when all people on heaven earth and the world below will bow down to Jesus and proclaim Him as Lord.

Philippians 2:10-11

10 And so, in honour of the name of Jesus

all beings in heaven, on earth, and in the world below

will fall on their knees,

11 and all will openly proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

Romans 14:11

11 For the scripture says:

“As surely as I am the living God, says the Lord,

everyone will kneel before me,

and everyone will confess that I am God.”

From the above scripture it is clear that all beings including Satan and all his angels will confess that Jesus is God but any Christian will tell you that their confession will not grant them stay in God’s Kingdom, do you know why? The Bible does say in Romans 10:9 that if you confess that Jesus is God and believe in your heart that God raised him from the death then heaven is what you would call home, that is: you are saved from damnation. You see that this confession of those are against the Gospel of Jesus, their confession will not involve “belief in their heart” in the resurrected Jesus for their confession would come from their defeat despite all their wicked scheming against the Gospel, proving that Jesus is God not because he will defeat all his enemies on the last day but because He will prove Himself to be Sovereign (in complete control) despite all the corrupt plans carried out against Him as His people. According to the dictionary the word Lord means: “a person who has authority, control, or power over others; a master, chief, or ruler.”

Let us check a few things in the Old Testament book of Ezekiel. I would like to quote to you scripture of what declares to the enemies of God’s people and how they will know Jesus is Lord.

Prophesy against Ammon (Ezek 25:6-7)

6 “This is what the Sovereign Lord is saying: you clapped your hands and jumped for joy. You despised the land of Israel. 7… I will destroy you so completely that you will not be a nation any more or have a country of your own. Then you will know that I am the Lord.”

Prophesy against Moab (Ezek 25:11)

11 I will punish Moab, and they will know that I am the Lord.”

Prophecy against Philistia (Ezek 25:17)

17 I will punish them severely and take full revenge on them. They will feel my anger. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

Prophecy against Sidon (Ezek 28:23)

23 I will send diseases on you and make blood flow in your streets. You will be attacked from every side, and your people will be killed. Then you will know that I am the Lord.”

About Egypt (Ezek 30:19)

19 When I punish Egypt in this way, they will know that I am the Lord.”

The above scripture talks about how the enemies of God’s people and the ungodly on whom God’s people relied instead of God would be punished and it is in this punishment that they would know who is God. These nations even today are not Christian and therefore do not believe that Jesus is God. Even Israel was to be shown who their God is.

Ezek 28:24-26

24 The Lord said, “None of the surrounding nations that treated Israel with scorn will ever again be like thorns and briars to hurt Israel. And they will know that I am the Sovereign Lord.”

25 The Sovereign Lord said, “I will bring back the people of Israel from the nations where I scattered them, and all the nations will know that I am holy. The people of Israel will live in their own land, the land that I gave to my servant Jacob. 26 They will live there in safety. They will build houses and plant vineyards. I will punish all their neighbours who treated them with scorn, and Israel will be secure. Then they will know that I am the Lord their God.”

From the above scripture you can see that when Israel begins to live in peace it is then that their Lord will be revealed to them in Jesus Christ. It is no breaking news that Israel is struggling to exist on the world map because her very existence is under attack. It is very plain that the above scripture speaks of the time after the last days, a time when all the enemies of God and His people will be destroyed. Let us check out some scripture from the book of Revelations, that shows the punishment that would come from God in the book of Ezekiel would be coming from Jesus & the defeat of Jesus’ enemies  would come by just the power of Jesus’ Word (sword that comes out of the mouth) which would make the enemies of His Lordship confess that Jesus is indeed is God.

Revelations 19:19-21 (The one on the horse is Jesus)

19 Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered to fight against the one who was riding the horse and against his army. 20 The beast was taken prisoner, together with the false prophet who had performed miracles in his presence. (It was by those miracles that he had deceived those who had the mark of the beast and those who had worshipped the image of the beast.) The beast and the false prophet were both thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulphur.

21 Their armies were killed by the sword that comes out of the mouth of the one who was riding the horse; and all the birds ate all they could of their flesh.

It is after this victory that Israel will have peace because they will see how it is that Jesus got victory by just the power of His Word & at this time all Gentiles (non Jews) chosen by the Father and added to Him, will be complete and this will form the army of Jesus with  His  angels.

Mark 13:24-27 (Son of Man refers to Jesus: dual nature of fully God and fully man)

24 “In the days after that time of trouble the sun will grow dark, the moon will no longer shine, 25 the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers in space will be driven from their courses. 26 Then the Son of Man will appear, coming in the clouds with great power and glory. 27 He will send the angels out to the four corners of the earth to gather God’s chosen people from one end of the world to the other.

Romans 11:25-27

25 There is a secret truth, my brothers and sisters, which I want you to know, for it will keep you from thinking how wise you are. It is that the stubbornness of the people of Israel is not permanent, but will last only until the complete number of Gentiles comes to God. 26 And this is how all Israel will be saved. As the scripture says:

“The Saviour will come from Zion

and remove all wickedness from the descendants of Jacob.

27 I will make this covenant with them

when I take away their sins.”

So you see in this way that Israel will know that Jesus is God, she will see the victory of Jesus along with His glory and power then for a change she will live in peace. Her stubborn will therefore fall away and she will accept Jesus as Her God and eternal Messiah, who will deliver her from her sins.

In all this, God’s people will rejoice in the victory proclaiming Jesus is God and enemies of the Gospel will fall on their knees in defeat and proclaim that Jesus is truly God to the glory of God the Father.

Hello people today I write on a topic rather unusual for me and that is praising and worshipping God in no matter what situation we are in.

The world has taught man that if he wants to do well he must consistently seek his own interest. The people of this day and age find it unusual to think that they can work towards their best interest by thinking less of them-selves.

Luke 9:23-24 (Jesus’ word)

23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

The above scripture is so contradictory to the values of the world, parents are forever telling their children that if they want to succeed in life they need to study towards a brighter future, not that this is wrong but the world by itself teaches to the core to be self centered. Each and every person good or bad does what he does to further his own interest in particular area of life that he finds crucial. Biologically we are made to see that everything we do helps us in some way or the other, right from breathing, which helps carry oxygen to muscles and organs; to eating which nourishes us; to interacting; helping us build relationships. All that we do whether good or bad we hope to see something good come out of it for us.

Matthew 6:33

33 Instead, be concerned above everything else with the Kingdom of God and with what he requires of you, and he will provide you with all these other things.

The Bible teaches you of the God of gods and Lord of lords, the Provider of providers. The Bible teaches you that in Jesus, you are provided for. Listening to Him and putting Him before yourself is ironically in your own best interest. If you know of what Jesus taught and you follow it, provisions will come out of no where for you. If you don’t know what it is what Jesus taught then you may want get yourself a Bible, in a language and style that you understand best and then leave it to Spirit God to teach you as you read. The Bible is so unique that it tells you of a God who is a provider and your creator in Him you don’t have to worry about the necessities in your life. You will certainly not be deprived but you will be provided for you and unlike the world you will be able to enjoy to the fullest what you are provided with.

In Genesis 22:1-14, we have the story in which Abraham is told by God to offer his own son Isaac as a sacrifice on Mount Moriah, now we know this is a desolate place because Abraham took with him wood from the base of the mountain to use as fuel for the fire. Abraham when asked about where is the lamb for the sacrifice, he replies saying that the Lord would provide. Do you know that Abraham is known as the father of all those who believe and trust in God.

Romans 4:11

…And so Abraham is the spiritual father of all who believe in God….

Abraham knew that even if it would come to pass that Isaac would be sacrificed, he trusted that that was what was best just because God told him so. There on that mountain God stops Abraham from sacrificing his son and Abraham then finds a ram caught in the bush by its horns and offers it as a burnt offering instead of his son Isaac. God is pleased with Abraham and Abraham is put right with God not because of the sacrifice but because he trusted God to the extent that he dint keep back the life of Isaac when God asked for it, Isaac: whom the Bible say was the son Abraham loved a lot Genesis 22:2.

Hebrews 11:17

17 It was faith that made Abraham offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice when God put Abraham to the test. Abraham was the one to whom God had made the promise, yet he was ready to offer his only son as a sacrifice.

So the example of Abraham we need to learn from is that we need to know that just believing that God exist is not enough, we need to put Him first even before ourselves. After the sacrifice, Abraham named the place “The Lord Will Provide”, “Provide” is a word with Latin roots. “Pro” means “before” and “video” means “to see”. So it means God sees in advance before the need is known. Remember in acting in obedience to God, God will be preparing a solution before we know that it is a need.

So coming to Praising and Worshiping Jesus during the difficult times in our lives, it becomes a sacrifice beyond anything money can buy, offered to Jesus & it is by such trust that we are put right Him and inherit eternal life

Matthew 19:29 (Jesus’ word)

And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake, will receive a hundred times more and will be given eternal life.

2 Timothy 1:8 (words of Apostle Paul)

8 Do not be ashamed, then, of witnessing for our Lord; nor be ashamed of me, a prisoner for Christ’s sake. Instead, take your part in suffering for the Good News, as God gives you the strength to do it.

1Peter 4:12-14,19 (words of Apostle Peter)

12 My dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful test you are suffering, as though something unusual were happening to you. 13 Rather be glad that you are sharing Christ’s sufferings, so that you may be full of joy when his glory is revealed. 14 Happy are you if you are insulted because you are Christ’s followers; this means that the glorious Spirit, the Spirit of God, is resting on you.

…

19 So then, those who suffer because it is God’s will for them, should by their good actions trust themselves completely to their Creator, who always keeps his promise.

So remember no matter how down you are in life and no matter how painful it is to obey Jesus leave alone praising and worshiping Him, know this, in that suffering you have been given the opportunity in stand in Abrahams shoes, could you imagine what Abraham would have gone through emotionally to be asked to offer to God his only son? Abraham honoured God in the midst of that emotional storm, will you?

Here is the blessing that was decreed upon Abraham, after the Isaac sacrifice incident.

Genesis 22:15-19

15 The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time, 16 “I make a vow by my own name — the Lord is speaking — that I will richly bless you. Because you did this and did not keep back your only son from me, 17 I promise that I will give you as many descendants as there are stars in the sky or grains of sand along the seashore. Your descendants will conquer their enemies. 18 All the nations will ask me to bless them as I have blessed your descendants — all because you obeyed my command.” 19 Abraham went back to his servants, and they went together to Beersheba, where Abraham settled.

So remember if you are deeply troubled and if obeying, praising and worshiping Jesus seems the unlikeliest of solutions then you got a chance to take a great shot at some serious faith. Do you know how much it is that God values your thanks and praise especially during the times of hurt? It is times like these that make way for personal sacrifices that are pleasing to God & I have scripture below both from the Old and New Testament to back this statement.

Hebrews 13:15 (New Testament)

Let us, then, always offer praise to God as our sacrifice through Jesus, which is the offering presented by lips that confess him as Lord.

Psalms 50:7, 9, 14 (Old Testament)

7 “Listen, my people, and I will speak;

…..

9 And yet I do not need bulls from your farms

or goats from your flocks;

……

14 Let the giving of thanks be your sacrifice to God,

and give the Almighty all that you promised.

Have your ever thought, how could praise and thanks to God ever be called a sacrifice, well if you were in a place of a particular hurt and despite those feelings of emotional sickness you choose to forget yourself and praise, obey, worship and give thanks to God, would not that be a personal sacrifice. A sacrifice no money could ever buy, which would definitely please God for the faith from which it comes (Heb 11:6). Wouldn’t you feel a sense of awaiting reward from that? Since your sacrifice will proclaim that you live not on bread alone but on every word of Jesus (Deut 8:3), which in turn will declare that it is Jesus who is Lord over you (Heb 13:15)? Will not great blessing be in store for you for this action? You may feel that God may have used up most of His blessing on Abraham, yeah Abraham was blessed infinitely to have descendant as may as the grains on the sea shore all of whom would be conquerors. Do you know in Math when we take away something infinite from something infinite what we are left with is still infinite and that is how blessing from Jesus is because it is in Jesus that the descendants of Abraham were made more than conquerors.

Romans 8:35-37

³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ³⁶ As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

Romans 4:16,24

…For Abraham is the spiritual father of us all; …who are to be accepted as righteous, who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from death.

So remember the infinite blessing you have at hand the next time you are down and you proceed to obey/worship/praise/give thanks to Jesus.

Revelations 2:10 (Jesus’ word)

Don’t be afraid of anything you are about to suffer. Listen! The Devil will put you to the test by having some of you thrown into prison, and your troubles will last ten days. Be faithful to me, even if it means death, and I will give you life as your prize of victory.

Hello people, I write again after quiet a break, today I would like to write on legalism. Well if you asking me what indeed is legalism? Then I would like to tell you it is about going to heaven and being spared of punishment based the idea of adherence to precise religious laws. Well in the Bible reading today, this is what I came across.

Ezek 22:26 (God prophesying through Prophet Ezekiel to the people of the Old Testament)

6 All … leaders trust in their own strength and commit murder. 7 You people in the city do not honour your parents. You cheat foreigners and take advantage of widows and orphans.8 You have no respect for the holy places, and you don’t keep the Sabbath.9 Some of your people tell lies about others in order to have them put to death. Some of them eat sacrifices offered to idols. Some are always satisfying their lusts. … 12 Some of your people murder for pay. Some charge interest on the loans they make to their fellow-Israelites and get rich by taking advantage of them. They have forgotten me.” The Sovereign Lord has spoken.

…

26 The priests break my law and have no respect for what is holy. They make no distinction between what is holy and what is not. They do not teach the difference between clean and unclean things, and they ignore the Sabbath. As a result the people … do not respect me.

Looking at the above scripture you can see the Lawlessness of the people of the Old Testament, Lawlessness to the extent that God had to uses Moses to lay down some ground rules for them. Now a day’s public law is rather streamlined across developed and developing nations. Law is what maintains smoothness in society.  Well I feel there was good reason for God to introduce Law to His people; God may have been trying to introduce a system of society among His people. The Law had its own purpose; the Bible says that it was Law that made known what wrong doing is.

Romans 5:13

There was sin in the world before the Law was given; but where there is no law, no account is kept of sins.

The Law stated different things right from what is eatable to how it is to deal with fellow people to how to worship to what should be kept holy. Well you may say that Law is good and I will agree with you to a certain extent but pleasing God  can never be done by following a list of do’s and don’ts. Let me give you an example, during the holocaust, which was caused due to sick ideology of pseudo-scientific, biologically based racism that saw Jews as a “race” locked into mortal combat with the “Aryan” race for world domination. This Holocaust which saw the extermination of 6 million Jews by anti-Christian Nazism, now consider this, there were Jews during this time that were sheltered by Christians, now the Law prohibits telling lies, just imagine how many more Jews would have lost their lives had these Christians admitted sheltering Jews when questioned by the Nazi regime. There can never be a set of Laws to keep you from doing wrong. Have you heard of the term “loop hole”, you know if you are hell bent on doing the wrong thing you may sure find a loop whole in law allowing you to do what you want to do. Will your conscience be at ease, I don’t think so but I don’t think you will let that feeling come in the way if you desired that thing so strongly?

So you see God’s idea for introducing the Law was to keep it there only till its purpose was fulfilled and the following  are Jesus’ words.

Matthew 5:17-18 (Jesus’ word)

17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.

So incase you are asking me what was then the purpose of the Law. Let me quote from my Bible to answer that question.

Galatians 3:19-20

19 What, then, was the purpose of the Law? It was added in order to show what wrongdoing is, and it was meant to last until the coming of Abraham’s descendant, to whom the promise was made. The Law was handed down by angels, with a man acting as a go-between. 20 But a go-between is not needed when only one person is involved; and God is one.

It is important to note that it was Jesus, descendant of David, descendant of Abraham to whom the promise was made please read the below scripture for the same & pay special attention to Hebrew 7:28.

Hebrews 7:26-28

26 Jesus, then, is the High Priest that meets our needs. He is holy; he has no fault or sin in him; he has been set apart from sinners and raised above the heavens. 27 He is not like other high priests; he does not need to offer sacrifices every day for his own sins first and then for the sins of the people. He offered one sacrifice, once and for all, when he offered himself. 28 The Law of Moses appoints men who are imperfect to be high priests; but God’s promise made with the vow, which came later than the Law, appoints the Son, who has been made perfect for ever.

Galatians 3:16

16 Now, God made his promises to Abraham and to his descendant. The scripture does not use the plural “descendants”, meaning many people, but the singular “descendant”, meaning one person only, namely, Christ.

So you see the Law was accomplished by Jesus, looking closely at verse 20 of Galatians 3, you can see that no angels or prophets were involved in delivering the God message to the New Testament Christians. This is because God Himself was with His people.

Matthew 1:18-23 (Pay special attention to verse 23)

18 This was how the birth of Jesus Christ took place. His mother Mary was engaged to Joseph, but before they were married, she found out that she was going to have a baby by the Holy Spirit. 19 Joseph was a man who always did what was right, but he did not want to disgrace Mary publicly; so he made plans to break the engagement privately. 20 While he was thinking about this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, descendant of David, do not be afraid to take Mary to be your wife. For it is by the Holy Spirit that she has conceived. 21 She will have a son, and you will name him Jesus — because he will save his people from their sins.”

22 Now all this happened in order to make what the Lord had said through the prophet come true, 23 “A virgin will become pregnant and have a son, and he will be called Immanuel” (which means, “God is with us”).

You can clearly add 2 and 2 here and see that Galatians 3:20 & Matthew 1:23, implies that no one was needed to deliver God’s word to His people because Jesus Himself was God and Jesus Himself was with His people and therefore He needed no in between angel or prophet. You can clearly see that the emphasis made in Galatians 3:20 stating that God is one which stands so much in contrast to the scripture it is coming from because how can how can someone promise another person something without involving more than one person & therefore Galatians 3:19 can only make sense if you consider the Tri-Union identity of God, that is Father Son and Spirit being together as One God.

Well let’s get back to the topic of Legalism, so the Law was to make known to man what Sin is, I am sure you all know how legalistic the religions of the world are. The Bible says that religious Law does not save you but just makes you aware of sin and it consequences.

1Corinthians 15:56

56 Death gets its power to hurt from sin, and sin gets its power from the Law.

Romans 6:23

For sin pays its wage — death; but God’s free gift is eternal life in union with Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 6:23; feels so good because it gives you the bad news with a Solution, the name of this Solution is Jesus. The Bible clearly says that we are not saved by observing the Law we are saved (going to heaven) because we believe Jesus paid with His life our ransom for sin.

Romans 3:21-22

21 But now God’s way of putting people right with himself has been revealed. It has nothing to do with law, even though the Law of Moses and the prophets gave their witness to it. 22 God puts people right through their faith in Jesus Christ. God does this to all who believe in Christ, because there is no difference at all:

John 1:17

God gave the Law through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

So you see it is not out of your merit of following the Law that you are heaven bound if you indeed are, it is by grace through God saving promise to His people that you are saved.

Psalms 69:13

But as for me, I will pray to you, Lord; answer me, God, at a time you choose. Answer me because of your great love, because you keep your promise to save.

Psalms 119:41

Trusting the Law of the Lord Show me how much you love me, Lord, and save me according to your promise.

So to follow or attempt to follow religious law is like you using a “pager” in this day and age of mobile communication. Remember the Law was present, was fulfilled & now we called to live under grace that is a calling to heaven, purely of God’s goodness. If you were to follow the Law it would be like being blind to the goodness God is showing you.

Galatians 5:4

Those of you who try to be put right with God by obeying the Law have cut yourselves off from Christ. You are outside God’s grace.

In Jesus, we now have freedom from being ritualistic and religious, we are free to eat all that is eatable and free to go about our lives without being ritualistic and still be free from sin because of what God worked out for us on the cross.

Hebrews 9:14-15 (New Covenant =Grace through Christ & Old Covenant=Law of the Old Testament)

14 Since this is true, how much more is accomplished by the blood of Christ! Through the eternal Spirit he offered himself as a perfect sacrifice to God. His blood will purify our consciences from useless rituals, so that we may serve the living God.

15 For this reason Christ is the one who arranges a new covenant, so that those who have been called by God may receive the eternal blessings that God has promised. This can be done because there has been a death which sets people free from the wrongs they did while the first covenant was in force.

Colossians 2:20-23

20 You have died with Christ and are set free from the ruling spirits of the universe. Why, then, do you live as though you belonged to this world? Why do you obey such rules as 21 “Don’t handle this,” “Don’t taste that,” “Don’t touch the other”? 22 All these refer to things which become useless once they are used; they are only human rules and teachings. 23 Of course such rules appear to be based on wisdom in their forced worship of angels, and false humility, and severe treatment of the body; but they have no real value in controlling physical passions.

Colossians 2:13-17 (Pay attention to verse 16)

13 You were at one time spiritually dead because of your sins and because you were Gentiles without the Law. But God has now brought you to life with Christ. God forgave us all our sins; 14 he cancelled the unfavourable record of our debts with its binding rules and did away with it completely by nailing it to the cross. 15 And on that cross Christ stripped the spiritual rulers and authorities of their power; he made a public spectacle of them by leading them as captives in his victory procession.

16 So let no one make rules about what you eat or drink or about holy days or the New Moon Festival or the Sabbath. 17 All such things are only a shadow of things in the future; the reality is Christ.

Hi people, I write after a short break but I have found something rather interesting to share. I am currently reading the book of Ezekiel from the Bible and it made me think on a few things.

You know sometimes I feel we ought to read the New Testament first because it is in the New Testament that we have an invitation through Jesus to be called a people of God and the Old Testament shows how God deals with His people, He is tolerant even when His people are rebellious.

I would like to start with Ezekiel 9:1-11 & 10:1-2, this article may take some time.

Ezekiel 9:1-11 (Old Testament)

1 Then I heard God shout, “Come here, you men who are going to punish the city. Bring your weapons with you.” 2 At once six men came from the outer north gate of the Temple, each one carrying a weapon. With them was a man dressed in linen clothes, carrying something to write with. They all came and stood by the bronze altar.

3 Then the dazzling light of the presence of the God of Israel rose up from the winged creatures, where it had been, and moved to the entrance of the Temple. The Lord called to the man dressed in linen, 4 “Go through the whole city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the forehead of everyone who is distressed and troubled because of all the disgusting things being done in the city.”

5 And I heard God say to the other men, “Follow him through the city, and kill. Spare no one; have mercy on no one. 6 Kill the old men, young men, young women, mothers, and children. But don’t touch anyone who has the mark on his forehead. Start here at my Temple.” So they began with the leaders who were standing there at the Temple.

7 God said to them, “Defile the Temple. Fill its courtyards with corpses. Get to work!” So they began to kill the people in the city.

8 While the killing was going on, I was there alone. I threw myself face downwards on the ground and shouted, “Sovereign Lord, are you so angry with Jerusalem that you are going to kill everyone left in Israel?”

9 God answered, “The people of Israel and Judah are guilty of terrible sins. They have committed murder all over the land and have filled Jerusalem with crime. They say that I, the Lord, have abandoned their country and that I don’t see them. 10 But I will not have pity on them; I will do to them what they have done to others.”

11 Then the man wearing linen clothes returned and reported to the Lord, “I have carried out your orders.”

Ezekiel 10:1-2 (Old Testament)

1 I looked at the dome over the heads of the living creatures and above them was something that seemed to be a throne made of sapphire. 2 God said to the man wearing linen clothes, “Go between the wheels under the creatures and fill your hands with burning coals. Then scatter the coals over the city.”

I would like to inform you that verse 3 talks about the winged creatures built on the “Arc of the Covenant”, which is a sought of vessel built out of gold to carry God’s commandments. The presence of the Lord often appeared between the winged creatures as bright light.

I would now like to quote the references in regards to the above Old Testament scripture from the New Testament.

Revelation 7:1-8 (New Testament): Ref: Ezekiel 9:3-4

1 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds so that no wind should blow on the earth or the sea or against any tree. 2 And I saw another angel coming up from the east with the seal of the living God. He called out in a loud voice to the four angels to whom God had given the power to damage the earth and the sea. 3 The angel said, “Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees, until we mark the servants of our God with a seal on their foreheads.” 4 And I was told that the number of those who were marked with God’s seal on their foreheads was 144,000. They were from the twelve tribes of Israel, 5-8 twelve thousand from each tribe: Judah, Reuben, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Manasseh, Simeon, Levi, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, and Benjamin.

Revelation 9:4 (New Testament): Ref: Ezekiel 9:3-4

4 They were told not to harm the grass or the trees or any other plant; they could harm only the people who did not have the mark of God’s seal on their foreheads.

Revelation 14:1 (New Testament)

1 Then I looked, and there was the Lamb standing on Mount Zion; with him were 144,000 people who have his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads.

Revelation 8:5 (New Testament): Ref: Ezekiel 10:2

5 Then the angel took the incense burner, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it on the earth. There were rumblings and peals of thunder, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.

From Ezekiel 10:2 and Revelation 8:5, we can see God’s fiery wrath being poured out on the disobedient.

In the book of Exodus, God promised His Jewish people that they would never endure the disasters God brought upon the Egyptians, provided they obeyed God.

Exodus 15:25-26

…. There the Lord gave them laws to live by, and there he also tested them. 26 He said, “If you will obey me completely by doing what I consider right and by keeping my commands, I will not punish you with any of the diseases that I brought on the Egyptians. I am the Lord, the one who heals you.”

The book of Revelation has plagues which will afflict the world similar to those described in the book of Exodus which afflicted the Egyptian. I have an example for you: Exodus 10:12-13//Revelation 9:3.

Exodus 10:12-13 (Old Testament)

12 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Raise your hand over the land of Egypt to bring the locusts. They will come and eat everything that grows, everything that has survived the hail.” 13 So Moses raised his stick, and the Lord caused a wind from the east to blow on the land all that day and all that night. By morning it had brought the locusts.

Revelation 9:3 (New Testament)

Locusts came down out of the smoke upon the earth, and they were given the same kind of power that scorpions have.

I would like to tell you that Biblically, something written of a person’s forehead would mean that that what is written is something that is dearest to that person. So you see that the 144000 (Revelations 7:4), Jewish people who are saved, are saved because they believe,  trust & adore the Lamb (Jesus) who was sent by His Father to pay the price of sin. Considering Exodus 15:25-26, we can see that the 144000 saved from the 12 tribes of Israel are those who obey God and put their trust in His Son who was promised to them as the Messiah/Saviour/Deliverer – the One who would save them from their sins.

Acts 13:23,38-39

It was Jesus, a descendant of David, whom God made the Saviour of the people of Israel, as he had promised.

…

38-39 We want you to know, my fellow-Israelites, that it is through Jesus that the message about forgiveness of sins is preached to you; and that everyone who believes in him is set free from all the sins from which the Law of Moses could not set you free.

Let’s see what the Bible says about who is a Jew?

Romans 2:28-29 & 3:21-24

28 After all, who is a real Jew, truly circumcised? It is not the man who is a Jew on the outside, whose circumcision is a physical thing. 29 Rather, the real Jew is the person who is a Jew on the inside, that is, whose heart has been circumcised, and this is the work of God’s Spirit, not of the written Law. Such a person receives praise from God, not from human beings.

….

21 But now God’s way of putting people right with himself has been revealed. It has nothing to do with law, even though the Law of Moses and the prophets gave their witness to it. 22 God puts people right through their faith in Jesus Christ. God does this to all who believe in Christ, because there is no difference at all: 23 everyone has sinned and is far away from God’s saving presence. 24 But by the free gift of God’s grace all are put right with him through Christ Jesus, who sets them free.

So to conclude, it is interesting to see that during the end times those form the Israelite tribes who are obedient will have their eyes open to see the God’s saving grace worked out on the cross & these will be marked that disaster would avoid them when it strikes the world.

Hello folks, how are you? Hope all is well. I’ll be writing fewer articles now, as I now plan to take my writing into the music arena. Yeah I want to learn to compose music and am planning to invest my free time in learning the basics of music so that I can pass the interview for the 4 month course in music composition and direction starting January 2011 from Mumbai University.

Today I shall be writing on what was preached to the Church; however I feel the need to adapt to readers new to Church doctrine. Let us together go through the Parable of the Prodigal son in Luke 15:11-24.

Luke 15:11-24

11 Jesus went on to say, “There was once a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to him, ‘Father, give me my share of the property now.’ So the man divided his property between his two sons. 13 After a few days the younger son sold his part of the property and left home with the money. He went to a country far away, where he wasted his money in reckless living. 14 He spent everything he had. Then a severe famine spread over that country, and he was left without a thing. 15 So he went to work for one of the citizens of that country, who sent him out to his farm to take care of the pigs. 16 He wished he could fill himself with the bean pods the pigs ate, but no one gave him anything to eat. 17 At last he came to his senses and said, ‘All my father’s hired workers have more than they can eat, and here I am about to starve! 18 I will get up and go to my father and say, Father, I have sinned against God and against you. 19 I am no longer fit to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired workers.’ 20 So he got up and started back to his father.

“He was still a long way from home when his father saw him; his heart was filled with pity, and he ran, threw his arms round his son, and kissed him. 21 ‘Father,’ the son said, ‘I have sinned against God and against you. I am no longer fit to be called your son.’ 22 But the father called his servants. ‘Hurry!’ he said. ‘Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and shoes on his feet. 23 Then go and get the prize calf and kill it, and let us celebrate with a feast! 24 For this son of mine was dead, but now he is alive; he was lost, but now he has been found.’ And so the feasting began.

Note: Parables are stories that Jesus told the people to reveal heavenly truths through earthly events.

Consider this, those who trust in Jesus are those God calls his children because just as a father would call an orphan ‘son’ because of the close relationship the orphan may share with his own son. In the same way God the Father calls ‘spiritual orphans’ His sons when they come to trust in His Son Jesus.

Ephesians 1:5

⁵ He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,

Now may be you believe and trust in Jesus or may be you are on your way there or may be you don’t want to think of that right now but I’ll tell you this those who trust and believe in Jesus do so because God chose them before the foundation of the world, you can see this from the word ‘predestined’ in Ephesians 1:5 above.

So the Parable of the Prodigal Son has more to do with God’s predestined Children being reconciled to God. Now this shouldn’t be any news when I tell you that when the first man Adam was created, he lived in union with God and at that time the Bible refers to that union as that of a Father and son.

Luke 3:23-38

²³ When He began His ministry, Jesus Himself was about thirty years of age, being, as was supposed, the son of Joseph, the son of Eli,

²⁴ the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph,

……….

³¹ the son of Melea, the son of Menna, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David,

……….

³⁸ the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

Yes the above is the Genealogy of Jesus, it is important to note here that Biblically Jesus was God who was man in every respect, except where the nature of sin is concerned. ‘God who was man’…oxymoron…yeah I agree, but my God is All Powerful, he is not bound by the limits of human ideology. Monotheist may reject this because their god can go just as far as they can think. Let me give you some Biblical proof to show you the dual nature (God and Man) of Jesus Christ. You can see from Luke 3:31 that Jesus comes from the lineage of King David, from whom was prophesied that the Messiah would come. So let us now check a conversation Jesus had with the Jewish religious enlightening them on the dual nature of the Messiah.

Matthew 22:41-46

⁴¹ While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them,

⁴² saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?” They said to Him, “The Son of David.”

⁴³ He said to them, “How then does David in the Spirit call Him ‘Lord,’ saying:

⁴⁴ ‘ The LORD said to my Lord, ” Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool” ‘ ?

⁴⁵ If David then calls Him ‘Lord,’ how is He his Son?”

⁴⁶ And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore.

Note: Christ in Matthew 22:42, means Messiah; that is He who saves/delivers people from their sins.

Now coming back to the topic of the prodigal son, you can clearly see from Luke 3:38, the relationship our great great great …grandfather Adam (1^st man) had with God was that of that father and son. Adam and Eve then sinned against God & because of their disobedience there was a break in this Parent child relationship but at that time they were not reconciled because the sinless Son of God was yet to pay the price of sins for God’s people.

Romans 5:19 (Reference made to Adam and Jesus)

¹⁹ For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.

So the story of the prodigal son can be seen as God’s people coming back (being reconciled) to God through the Salvation plan carried out in His Son. Luke 15:12-15, portrays a life a person before he comes to Jesus, before coming to Jesus he was purely living of the inheritance of God’s grace which saw him through all his reckless living but at a point he hits rock bottom because there is nothing that can replace the relationship he had with his Father.

Luke 15:17-24 reflects amazingly in Act 26:18.

Acts 26:18 (Jesus words to Apostle Paul about his mission to the people)

¹⁸ to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.’

Eye opening – Luke 15:17

Transition from darkness to light – Luke 15:18-21

Reconciliation and enjoyment in being sanctified by faith in Jesus – Luke 15:22-24.

We see something very clearly in Luke 15:18-19 and this is an important part in the transition from the darkness of this world (1 John 5:19) to the light that is in Christ & that part is repentance, meaning seeing the error of your reckless living. Just as you need to admit you are wrong when you accept correction. In the same way all who come to Jesus are automatically made known of their follies, but what matters is that they all submit themselves to Jesus in repentance and they are then rewarded with Salvation (predestined for heaven).

1 John 5:19

¹⁹ …. whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.

2 Corinthians 7:10

¹⁰ For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.

If today you feel that you are living recklessly and still feel that the going is good, it does not mean and God is slow in taking action, you are purely living off your inheritance of His grace. A person’s life is like vapour (James 4:14) before God. A man may live for, let’s optimistically say 100 years, what is that compared to infinity? Like the life span of vapour before it vanishes into thin air.

James 4:14

¹⁴ Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.

2 Peter 3:9

⁹ The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

Remember, God is a good God and he does not even take pleasure in the punishment of wicked (Ezekiel 18:23, 32). Have you ever heard of the phrase living on borrowed time; yeah borrowed time is exactly what the wicked are living on, out of love God hopes to see even the wicked be saved through repentance and faith in His Son Jesus (John 3:16).

Ezekiel 18:23, 32

²³ “Do I have any pleasure in the death of the wicked,” declares the Lord GOD, “rather than that he should turn from his ways and live?…..

³² “For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies,” declares the Lord GOD. “Therefore, repent and live.”

John 3:16

¹⁶ “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

To conclude: if for any reason you feel like you are in the dumps, hoping to grab a bite of what the pigs eat then it should be just a matter of time before realization strikes you and then I hope this articles will helps you come home to Jesus. There is never such a thing as a person who is too bad to come to Jesus.

Luke 15:7 (Jesus’ words)

⁷ I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

Hello people, I write yet again, I’ve noticed that quiet a few Christian writers including me have received hate and abusive mail following the recent row over burning books which some consider holy. I find it hard to believe that such hatred sprang up within a span of a week or two, it felt rather like this hatred was nurtured, may be by handed down religious teaching and this time they found reason to express their hatred. So far I have had a horrible 2 weeks and I’ve also learned that even the closest of friends can be manipulative and strut two hoots attitude.

Well today our Pastor brought about an interesting piece of scripture. Allow me to quote it for you.

Mark 9:14-27

14 And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. 15 And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him. 16 And he asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?” 17 And someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. 18 And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.” 19 And he answered them, “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.” 20 And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. 21 And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. 22 And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” 23 And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” 25 And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” 26 And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. 28 And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” 29 And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”

Verse 14, shows what normally happens to Christian, people question, argue and ask to prove ourselves. Verse 15 exposes this world’s funny bone, they are willing to get locked into arguments with Jesus’ believers but at a given time they all run to Jesus. Verse 17, shows Jesus’ passionate stand for his believers and he questions the crowd: “What are you arguing about with them?”. Verse 18 is where the story starts, here the man’s sorrow over his son’s suffering is revealed. I don’t know how many of you readers are parents but I have seen the worst of people being the most tender & loving with their children, to them to see their child suffering is worse that seeing their own selves suffering. Parents generally wish that the suffering would come upon themselves rather than on their children; thank God we have Jesus, who suffered for us and bore our inequity. Verse 19 shows that even the disciples who stayed and learned from Jesus in person, did not have the faith (in Jesus) that would drive the wicked spirit out. Verse 20 shows you the Majesty of Jesus because the evil spirit appears to go into panic mode at just the sight of Him. From verses 21 & 22 you will see that this evil spirit has tormented this boy since childhood and even tried to kill him. Let us however go in deeper into 21 & 22 can you notice that Jesus is asking this of the boy’s father something critical. In the Bible, Jesus has asked people what it is they want, even if it were a blind man (Mark 10:46-52). To you and me it is very obvious that a blind man may want to see but Jesus is God and God is good. He does not only give you what you need, he gives you your hearts desire, which is much more than what you just need. The Bible does show us situations where Jesus is clearly Omniscient (All Knowing), here are a few examples:

• Jesus Speaks about his Death (Mark 9:30-32)
• Payment of the Temple Tax (Matthew 17:24-27)
• Catch of Fish (John 21:6)
• The Samaritan Woman (John 4:17)
• The resurrection of Lazarus (John 11:4)
• Jesus predicts Peters denial of knowing Him at the hour of Jesus’ death (Luke 22:34)
• The woman who touched Jesus and was healed while He was in a crowd (Luke 8:40-56)
• Jesus declares to Peter how Peter would die (John 21:18)
• Jesus all-knowingly reproves Apostle Thomas’s unbelief that he had been raised from the death. (John 20:27)
• Jesus send his disciples to a place where a Passover meal was prepared for them (Matthew 26:17-19)
• Jesus tells his disciples of where they would find the colt that had never been ridden, for He was to ride into Jerusalem on it (Mark 11:1-7).

I could go on and on to show God’s Omniscient nature in Jesus but this article is not for that. My point here was just to show you that Jesus being all knowing shows compassion to the boy’s father by asking him about his troubled son. Coming to Mark 9 verse 23 shows Jesus repeating the rather absurd part of the statement of doubt put to Him by the boy’s father:“BUT IF YOU CAN DO ANYTHING, have compassion on us and help us”. This statement shows how much the father was beaten down in trying for years to heal his son. This father has come to Jesus, the same God who made his son (John 1:3) and doubts that He (Jesus Creator) will be able to heal him. In verse 24, you can see that the father immediately cried for he cannot help his own belief but he wants to help his son, you can see that the father asks Jesus to help him believe.

I don’t know how many of you trust in Jesus but this I do know that Satan makes doubt creep in, in even the strongest men of God, he did that with John the Baptist too (Mat 11:1-6), of whom Jesus said that there was not man of God ever like him (Mat 11:11). From verse 24 of Mark 9, you can plainly see that the boy’s father submits to Jesus even in his unbelief, this may seem like the king of all oxymorons but this was a broken man who was trying Jesus. The Bible says that those who trust in Jesus are saved (Psalms 22:4//Luke 7:50) and it here seems so clear that Jesus saves this man, from his own unbelief, in verse 25-27 Jesus does help this man with what he was desperate for and unable to do for years.

Verses 28-29 shows us how it is that we can develop faith in Jesus that can even moves mountains, the answer is prayer. Now prayer is not some ritualistic religiously sounding scripts, which at the most you may only know what it means. Prayer is a conversation with God, if your religious script declares your faith in your god and you find it hard to believe that God will work your situation out for you then of what use is that scripted prayer. Has not God given you a mind and a mouth to make your own prayer or do you feel that the person responsible for the script can play your role in your interaction with God better than you can do for yourself? If that were ever true then there would be no such thing as a personal relationship between God and each individual and that god would be casting identical religious men/women like a company that were manufacturing a certain product.

To conclude, yes; it is faith in Jesus that saves but what matters is not that you have enough faith, what matter is that you come to Jesus, if you don’t have the faith in Him that will save you then submit that unbelief to Him, He being Almighty and Sovereign God will then proceed to instill that faith in you & then heaven is what you would call home.

Hello people, am back with one more article based on my Bible study. This is what I was reading just the other day.

Jeremiah 50:24-26, 33-34

24 Babylonia, you fought against me, and you have been caught in the trap I set for you, even though you did not know it. 25 I have opened the place where my weapons are stored, and in my anger I have taken them out, because I, the Sovereign Lord Almighty, have work to do in Babylonia. 26 Attack it from every side and break open the places where its grain is stored! Pile up the loot like piles of grain! Destroy the country! Leave nothing at all!

….

33 The Lord Almighty says, “The people of Israel and of Judah are oppressed. All who captured them are guarding them closely and will not let them go. 34 But the one who will rescue them is strong — his name is the Lord Almighty. He himself will take up their cause and will bring peace to the earth, but trouble to the people of Babylonia.”

Note: Babylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq), with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged when Hanmurabi (Sixth king of Babylon) created an empire out of the territories of the former Akkadian Empire (an empire centered around Akkad).

Now do you know who was Biblically referred to as the spiritual king of the wicked empire of Babylon, it was Satan himself. Let’s check out some scripture for the same.

Isaiah 14:12-15 (Amplified)

¹²How have you fallen from heaven, O light-bringer and daystar, son of the morning! How you have been cut down to the ground, you who weakened and laid low the nations [O blasphemous, satanic king of Babylon!]

¹³And you said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven; I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will sit upon the mount of assembly in the uttermost north.

¹⁴I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.

¹⁵Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol (Hades), to the innermost recesses of the pit (the region of the dead).

Let us read the Isaiah 14:12 from the NKJV (New King James Version) English translation of my Bible to see the name of Satan revealed and this we can link to the same verse of the Amplified English translation of my Bible to know that Satan was referred to as King of Babylon.

Isaiah 14:12 (NKJV)

¹² “ How you are fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning!
How you are cut down to the ground,
You who weakened the nations!

Note: The Bible was not originally written in English, so when you begin studying the Bible you will find the need to refer to various English translations in order to dwell into what exactly a particular passage is saying.

We can now try to understand how Lucifer (meaning light-bringer) has surely tried to deceive the world in order to place himself above the throne of God (Isaiah 14:13-14). There are enough references in the Bible which shows certainties of Satan deceiving people by claiming to be an angel of the light (2 Corinthians 11:14) and so bringing a counterfeit beliefs where God (Jesus) is not is in first place (Jeremiah 14:13).

2 Corinthians 11:4,13-15 (Apostle Paul warns early Christians against false teachers/prophets)

4 For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.

..

13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.

I am sure it is no news to you that there are monotheist beliefs in this world that claim to know Jesus and at the same time deny His Godhead (Jeremiah 14:13; Satan trying to place himself above God), they may also claim their belief to have come via an angel of God (2 Corinthians 11:13). So now know who that deceiving angel was, I would now like to show you the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophesy of Isaiah 14:15 sees this angel of deception get kicked out from heaven to earth and then to hell.

Revelation 12:9

The huge dragon was thrown out — that ancient serpent, called the Devil, or Satan, that deceived the whole world. He was thrown down to earth, and all his angels with him.

Luke 10:18

Jesus answered them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

Revelation 20:10

Then the Devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of fire and sulphur, where the beast and the false prophet had already been thrown; and they will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

Wait the story is not over as yet, I have so far explained the defeat of Satan & his kingdom. Allow me now reveal the Glory of Jesus as Almighty and Sovereign God. Let us look at Luke 11:14-23.

Luke 11:14-23

14 Jesus was driving out a demon that could not talk; and when the demon went out, the man began to talk. The crowds were amazed, 15 but some of the people said, “It is Beelzebul, the chief of the demons, who gives him the power to drive them out.”

16 Others wanted to trap Jesus, so they asked him to perform a miracle to show that God approved of him. 17 But Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he said to them, “Any country that divides itself into groups which fight each other will not last very long; a family divided against itself falls apart. 18 So if Satan’s kingdom has groups fighting each other, how can it last? You say that I drive out demons because Beelzebul gives me the power to do so. 19 If this is how I drive them out, how do your followers drive them out? Your own followers prove that you are wrong! 20 No, it is rather by means of God’s power that I drive out demons, and this proves that the Kingdom of God has already come to you.

21 “When a strong man, with all his weapons ready, guards his own house, all his belongings are safe. 22 But when a stronger man attacks him and defeats him, he carries away all the weapons the owner was depending on and divides up what he stole.

23 “Anyone who is not for me is really against me; anyone who does not help me gather is really scattering.

Can you see the remarkable similarity, the God of the Old Testament in Jeremiah 50:24-26, 33-34 in the start of this article, refers to Himself as the stronger entity that not only rescues His people but piles up the loot captured from the enemy, Babylon. I have shown you that Satan was referred to as the king of Babylon. Now look at Luke 11:14-23, the situation is same just presented differently. Jesus in verse 21 of Luke 11 is clearly referring to himself as the stronger man compared to Satan and Jesus too loots the house of Satan and divides the spoils.

Here is some scripture to enhance your understanding and to show how the Church (Body of believers in Jesus) will break through the gates of the house of Satan to save souls in the Name of Jesus.

Matthew 16:18

And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

To conclude, the secret behind the prophesy of Jeremiah 50:24-26, 33-34, is that it contains a title that refers to Jesus and they are “Almighty and Sovereign (meaning: in complete control) Lord” (Jeremiah 50:25, 34).

Hello folks today, I write on Sunday word to the Church. The word was on being deceived. Let us look at some scripture from the Old Testament.

The scripture is from Joshua 9:1:20, the scripture is very big so allow me to summarize it for you. A man called Joshua, who took on the leadership from Moses, is out to claim the land, God promises to the children of Jacob (Israel). God was with them and the Israelites had many victories even in the most ridiculous of odds. Now there were a people from a land called Gibeon who stayed in a part of the land that Joshua was to claim for Israel. The Gibeonites were however smart and decides to trick the Israelites into a peace treaty so that they could continue to live in that land. What they did was they went to the Israelites is worn out clothes and footwear, taking with them stale bread and carrying wine is patched up wine-skins. When they reached the camp of Joshua and the Israelites they claimed to come from a distant land and was outside the land God promised to give the people of Israel (Jacob). They lied and said that when they had left from their land, the bread was fresh, wine-skins new, along with presentable clothes and footwear but now that they have traveled this far and for so long, their clothes & footwear were now worn out, the bread had turned stale and the wineskins carrying wine needed to be patched up. They presented themselves as a people who were willing to serve the Israelites. Joshua and the leaders did not consult God and took an oath of peace & friendship with them in the name of God, based on what appeared to be true. Three days later the Israelites realize that they have been deceived because the Gibeonites were a people who lived on part of the land that was promised to Israel but having made an oath in the name of the God of Israel, Joshua and the leaders have no choice but to stick to their promise. Joshua had a spotless Biblical record of leadership other than this and Achan’s sin (Joshua 7:1-28).

We must remember every believer in Jesus has 3 enemies

1. The World (Gal 3:22)

Gal 3:22

But the scripture says that the whole world is under the power of sin;….

1. His flesh (sinful desire: Gal 5:17)

Gal 5:17

17 For what our human nature wants is opposed to what the Spirit wants, and what the Spirit wants is opposed to what our human nature wants.

1. Satan

The Bible says in John 10:10 that Satan is like a thief that comes to steal, kill and destroy. Satan is referred to as a thief not because he steals money or someone life or brings destruction. He may do all or some of the same but his purpose is mainly to steal our peace. Satan is one creation who has the most experience in deceiving & he also has been the most successful. 2 Corinthians 11:14 says that Satan can even easily disguise himself as a angel of light, does it now strike you from where all false belief that leads people away from the salvation in Lord Jesus, comes from? Satan can even perform miracles (2 Thes 2:9) to add some icing on the cake of false doctrine.

Satan appeared as a crafty servant and tempted Eve into eating the forbidden fruit that lead them to sin.

Rev 12:9

9 The huge dragon was thrown out — that ancient serpent, called the Devil, or Satan, that deceived the whole world. He was thrown down to earth, and all his angels with him.

It must be noted that just like Eve, you too can be deceived and be lead away from the true Christ that saves (2 Cor 11:3). Our fight is not flesh against flesh but against the principalities and powers that corrupt that world.

People often say we must resist Satan but they forget goes before that, according to scripture.

James 4:7

So then, submit to God. Resist the Devil, and he will run away from you.

Submitting to the will of God is recognition that you put God first before yourself and this claim is what shows the Lordship of Jesus in a person’s life. Consider this, even though Jesus created the whole universe (Hebrews 1:2), as per the Biblical record of His life on earth, he submitted to the will of His Father (Mat 6:10; Luke 22:42) all the time.

To conclude, what we must know is that in all that we do we need to seek Jesus’ will in our lives. Walk by faith and not by sight or else you will wind up being deceived as Joshua was.  Remember even what appears to be good may not be necessarily good because it may not be from God.

Many Jesus lovers & trusters have begun their walk confidently in Jesus but Satan desperately attempts to bring in doubt and in doing so deceives. Like the story of Peter getting of the boat to walk on water with Jesus.

Matthew 14:22-33

22 Then Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side of the lake, while he sent the people away. 23 After sending the people away, he went up a hill by himself to pray. When evening came, Jesus was there alone; 24 and by this time the boat was far out in the lake, tossed about by the waves, because the wind was blowing against it.

25 Between three and six o’clock in the morning Jesus came to the disciples, walking on the water. 26 When they saw him walking on the water, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost!” they said, and screamed with fear.

27 Jesus spoke to them at once. “Courage!” he said. “It is I. Don’t be afraid!”

28 Then Peter spoke up. “Lord, if it is really you, order me to come out on the water to you.”

29 “Come!” answered Jesus. So Peter got out of the boat and started walking on the water to Jesus. 30 But when he noticed the strong wind, he was afraid and started to sink down in the water. “Save me, Lord!” he cried.

31 At once Jesus reached out and grabbed hold of him and said, “How little faith you have! Why did you doubt?”

32 They both got into the boat, and the wind died down. 33 Then the disciples in the boat worshipped Jesus. “Truly you are the Son of God!” they exclaimed.

So remember friend in all things seek God’s counsel and when you feel you are drowning call out to Jesus this will keep you from the deceit of the world and of Satan.

Jesus is the most dominant figure in history, he is pinnacle figure of true Christianity. Yes there many contrary view and books that claim that the real Jesus was not the Jesus of the Bible. These views or books may claim to be fictitious for entertainment sake or may claim to be true. But a trust-worthy story of Jesus can only come from those who were with Him while he was on earth, these stories/accounts of Jesus can only be found in the 4 Gospels that is Matthew, Mark, Luke and John in the New Testament (Bible). These accounts started with the Jesus’ disciples (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) themselves and were then passed on orally, while adhering to Church to maintain accuracy and were then all penned down all before 70AD. All heretic views/books date much after this and lay a less than genuine claim to be true.

I would like to present you with a book from the United Church of God, who bring into this dark religiously deceived world the light of the real Jesus. Please visit the URL below to read this rather interesting book.

Click to access JC.pdf

Hi people, today I’ll be writing on God’s Love. Yeah, this to is from a sermon I heard. I can’t help but share this with you all because it is so soul stirring. I am actually starting to live of sermons…lol, may be someday I’ll get back to writing my own. Anyways coming back, let me share with you what I understood so far of what he spoke of on God’s love, I would like to tell you guys that the Bible is founded on the Love of God. In the Old Testament, God declares to his people how much he loves them and in the New Testament, he actually proves it in action. Let me give you an example.

Isaiah 49:15 (Old Testament)

So the Lord answers, “Can a woman forget her own baby and not love the child she bore? Even if a mother should forget her child, I will never forget you.

1 John 4:10 (New Testament)

This is what love is: it is not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the means by which our sins are forgiven.

As you know, God (Jesus) endured being tortured and put to death to pay the price of our sins, which was death itself. This was the will of the Father. This is something, which shows that Faith in Jesus is the only Faith that you can have in God because this is the only faith in the whole world that shows God’s Sacrificial Love not only in word but also in action. Do not get me wrong, I am not trying to show you some “new age love stuff” or some sought of “hippy love idea”, you know like “make love not war” or like in the 60’s when a hippy would give a soldier a flower. What I am talking of is what message the authors of the Bible were talking of. Let me add a drop of water to your ocean of what you already know. Well for starters the New Testament was written in Greek because at that given time Greek was the most popular language. So the Bible was written in a time & in a language that the majority could understand. Now the “love” that was written of in the New Testament was written as “Agape”, which is Greek. Check the definition given below.

Agape/Agapao defined:
Agape (noun)/Agapao (verb) is an unselfish, unconditional, sacrificial love, and is a love that can also be given to one who is NOT worthy of it. It is often referred to among Christians as the God kind of love.

Here is a break down on “Agape/Agapao”:

Agape (noun) is used 116 times in the New Testament.
Agapao (verb) is used 146 times in the New Testament listed below.

So you see this kind of love existed even during the time the Bible was written, which was a few decades into AD for the New Testament and many of years into BC for the Old Testament. Let me emphasize that the Love spoken of here is “unselfish, unconditional, sacrificial love”, this kind of love exist fictionally only in movies & in reality only from God. This kind of Love is given not because the recipient is deserving, infact the recipient does not have the potential to Love the same way because human nature takes advantage of what is good not to give back good but to make use of what is good to the fullest ….that is what human nature is by itself. Let me put it this way, God love us so much that he gave up his own Son to save us, fully knowing that we would never deserve or be able to repay such love. Let me quote Titus 3:5-7.

Titus 3:5-7 (he is God)

5 he saved us. It was not because of any good deeds that we ourselves had done, but because of his own mercy that he saved us, through the Holy Spirit, who gives us new birth and new life by washing us. 6 God poured out the Holy Spirit abundantly on us through Jesus Christ our Saviour, 7 so that by his grace we might be put right with God and come into possession of the eternal life we hope for.

If you would allow me to be very blunt then I would say that man is worse than an animal. I’ll give you 2 examples.

1. Consider a dog, you will know that a dog by nature will never bite the hand that cares for him but you cannot say the same about a mans nature.
2. We all know that 90% of the damage caused to the environment is because of no animal but because of man.

Don’t get me know wrong people I do not hate mankind. I am a man myself and I love the new life that Christ has given me but what I was trying to show you is that God love us so much that he saved us by his grace even though we are sinful by nature. Here is some supporting scripture.

Ephesians 2:5

that while we were spiritually dead in our disobedience he brought us to life with Christ. It is by God’s grace that you have been saved.

Another thing that I would like to enlighten you with is that it is God’s love that saves us. Let me light you up with some more scripture.

1 John 4:16

16 And we ourselves know and believe the love which God has for us.

God is love, and those who live in love live in union with God and God lives in union with them.

1Corinthians 13:4-5

4 Love is patient and kind; it is not jealous or conceited or proud; 5 love is not ill-mannered or selfish or irritable; love does not keep a record of wrongs;

From the first piece of New Testament scripture you can see that God is love. The second piece of scripture tells you among other things, that Love does not keep a record of wrongs. Linking the two, you can see that it is God’s love that will make sure that your wrongs are forgiven. I repeat it is God’s Love, which is the reason you are forgiven… again I would say God’s Unconditional Love. I have shown you from above that this unconditional is from the Bible (Agape). So my friends your sins are NOT forgiven because of what you have done, you may have prayed everyday or have done good / charitable deeds or fasted or sacrificed an animal. You are forgiven because God loves you. This forgiveness in love makes sense ONLY when you consider the Jesus’ died for your sins. Unconditional Love my friends that is why we are saved. If our salvation were to depend on us it would not be called Unconditional Love. God’s love is unconditional and it is for this reason that we receive what we don’t deserve and this is what is known as His grace.

Ephesians 2:8

For it is by God’s grace that you have been saved through faith. It is not the result of your own efforts, but God’s gift, so that no one can boast about it.

To continue, I would like to clear a common misconception. Let me put a question to you, if you could change something in a person’s life in order to get that person closer to you then out of 2 people

1. A horrible sinner
2. A light sinner

Who do you think will yield a better result? Keep your thoughts with you & read the scripture below.

Luke 7:36-50 (Pharisee is like a Jewish Priest & the Pharisee thought of Jesus only as a prophet because he knew little of Jesus)

36 A Pharisee invited Jesus to have dinner with him, and Jesus went to his house and sat down to eat. 37 In that town was a woman who lived a sinful life. She heard that Jesus was eating in the Pharisee’s house, so she brought an alabaster jar full of perfume 38 and stood behind Jesus, by his feet, crying and wetting his feet with her tears. Then she dried his feet with her hair, kissed them, and poured the perfume on them. 39 When the Pharisee saw this, he said to himself, “If this man really were a prophet, he would know who this woman is who is touching him; he would know what kind of sinful life she lives!”

40 Jesus spoke up and said to him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”

“Yes, Teacher,” he said, “tell me.”

41 “There were two men who owed money to a moneylender,” Jesus began. “One owed him five hundred silver coins, and the other owed him fifty. 42 Neither of them could pay him back, so he cancelled the debts of both. Which one, then, will love him more?”

43 “I suppose,” answered Simon, “that it would be the one who was forgiven more.”

“You are right,” said Jesus. 44 Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your home, and you gave me no water for my feet, but she has washed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. 45 You did not welcome me with a kiss, but she has not stopped kissing my feet since I came. 46 You provided no olive oil for my head, but she has covered my feet with perfume. 47 I tell you, then, the great love she has shown proves that her many sins have been forgiven. But whoever has been forgiven little shows only a little love.”

48 Then Jesus said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven.”

49 The others sitting at the table began to say to themselves, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?”

50 But Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

From the above piece of scripture, I would like to talk of different love, a God given love/zeal from man for God. You see you may say “hey, I am the worst of sinners. I have been the ring leader in all the bad stuff that happens in my neighborhood”. Well the above scripture show that when Jesus walks into your life, His love will bring about the best of changes in you despite your human nature. Jesus is God and he will use his power to transform you, then you will gladly accept Jesus, because deep within, you will know that all your sins in the past, present and even in the future….have been forgiven. You have been set free. In fact as the above scripture says, you will love Him more than the others because, your sins were a lot but He loved you first (1 John 4:19) and forgave you of all your sins. Allow me to show you the unlikely people whom God has loved & used according to his purpose. So do not feel like God can’t use you, just remember.
Noah was a drunk (Genesis 9:21)
Jacob was a liar (Genesis 27:19)
Joseph was abused (Genesis 37:23)
Moses had a stuttering problem (Exodus 4:10)
Gideon was afraid (Judges 6:27)
Samson was a womanizer (Judges 14:1-2, Judges16:1, Judges16:4)
Rahab was a prostitute (Joshua 2:1)
David had an affair and was a murderer (2 Samuel 11)
Isaiah preached naked (Isaiah 20:2-3)
Jonah ran from God (Jonah 1:3)
Naomi was a widow (Ruth 1:3)
Job went bankrupt (Job1:13-22)
Peter denied Christ (3 times!) (Matthew 26:69-75)
Mary Magdalene was the Samaritan woman who was divorced, more than once. (John 4:15-19)
Zacchaeus was too small (Luke 19:1-3)
Paul was a persecutor of God’s people [Christians] (Acts 8:1-3, Acts 9:1)
Lazarus was dead! (John 1:1-16)

So you see, just as God loved these guys, despite who they were, God loves you for whom you are but it is this same love that makes you change into who He wants you to be. I would like to close this post the most popular of scripture on the love of God for the world.

John 3:16

16 For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life.