I would like to start with a small discussion, may the Holy Spirit guide me in this. Tell me what do you think about God? Does He exist? Let us start with considering a few things.

1. Life
2. Situation (so called coincidences)
3. Existence of the paranormal stuff.
4. Interdependence
5. Unexpected outcomes
6. Science

Lets start with, 1: Life.

1. Life

Allow me to ask you something, looking at all the life that exist around you, can you tell me of anything that has come into LIVING existence from something that is not living? I know that science talks of the big bang and stuff, like life started from simple unicellular organism and developed into complex multi-cellular organisms. But tell me, how would you explain life coming into existence just like that? Ok if you say the conditions were favorable, which caused life to blossom, even then the “seed / root cause” of life had to exist in order for it to germinate. If there were no seed then there would be no life. The seed of life can only come from something that is alive, which existed before that seed did. Even today unicellular organism (incase you bring this up) exist, they have not developed. You may take examples of amoebae and paramecium (singled celled organisms), according to science they existed before today’s human beings. Why did evolution leave these organisms out? Why are they the same till now? If the conditions were not favorable they would not have survived till today & even today (18/2/2010) they continue to multiply.

So the question we need to ask ourselves is something similar to, which came first the chicken or the egg? Ask you self how did life begin? If you stay in an apartment then “look at your building & ask yourself”, is there any such thing as a builder? May be you know your builder or may be you don’t. What if you never saw your builder at work on your building? Would there then be any logical explanation, to consider the existence of your building without considering the existence of a builder? You may also apply the same question by looking at your life and the life around you.

If you were to come back to favorable and unfavorable conditions then I would like to tell you that favorable conditions are different for different living organism. An example of this would be, the basic favorable living condition for a fish would be water, without water it would suffocate and die even if there is plenty of air in the new environment because fish can only breathe in water. So there is no such thing as a favorable condition for life to exist, may be there would be a particular living organisms that cannot survive in a particular environment but that would not necessarily mean that that environment is devoid of life. So now, ask yourself since there are no such things as favorable conditions for life to exist, why is it that other planets and not full of life like Earth?

Also consider this, do you remember being born, I don’t but even though you don’t remember being born you know were born because that is the reason you are here today. It is the same about being created, if your mind was not mature enough to recollect your own birth how will you then recollect the moments of your creation.

Ask yourself; what / who is responsible for life? Is there a Supreme Hand behind all that is living?

2. Situations (so called coincidences)

I am sure all of us have come across situations, which we term as coincidences. You may meet an old friend, whom you were just thinking of the previous day. Or you may be talking about someone and that same person walks in. You may have desired something strongly and it all worked out, for whatever reason. Calling an incident a coincidence is weak definition for something that has been planned. If you believe in the term coincidence, then you and I too, exist by mere coincidence, what if our parents never met? Then would have been no marriage or you or me, think about it, is it coincidence or a small part of a big plan?

Ask yourself; Who is in charge of all this planning?

3. Existence of the paranormal stuff.

This is something that you would not be able to explain, if you do not agree with the existence of spiritual forces. I am sure many of you, may have had spine-chilling encounters with spiritual forces, which you may not be able to explain till today. May be the experience is engrained in you. If you agree with the existence of these spiritual forces then you would also need to agree that they are submissive to a certain authority. All created beings that exist, have to answer to someone higher. If you are with me till here then you will also agree that as you move up hierarchy, you will reach the Pinnacle / Supreme Authority. Everything that exist living or non living is dependent on something (man, weather, environment, soil, resources etc), there is nothing that exist in absolute independence. There is something (you may call it a spiritually Supreme force) that allows all creation (living or non-living) to co-exist. This Spiritually Supreme force is alive and provides for all His creation by bringing them together & making them work in tandem.  The paranormal entities that you may have encountered, have not come into being by themselves, they co-exist with other creation, they do not exist independently & they are totally dependent on that Supreme Authority.

Ask yourself; who is this Supreme Authority?

4. Interdependence

Have you ever wondered as to why all that we know that exist is always dependent on something, be it living or non living. Everything is interdependent, dependant either on the weather or the environment or on the availability of food & water. If you believe in the survival of fittest then you will also believe that creation gets better with time. Now, if you hold on to this idea, then can you tell me as to why, even after millions of years of so called improvement, has creation not been able to move out from interdependency to total self-sufficiency? If you say that these millions of years were not enough, then are you implying that probably millions of years from now we will see self sufficiency in all creation? but if that were to happen then every cell in a living organisms would exist independently and there would be no use of cells coming together to form a body and in the same way, even atoms of non-living things would exist independently and there would be no need to for them to stay together, form molecules and so there would be no structures (mountains, hills, planets, star etc). If this self-dependence were to ever come to pass then that would be the end of the universe, as we know it. There would be no oceans or seas, no mountains or plains, no planets or stars. The term co-existence would be non-existent. Life as we know it would come to an end. The theory of evolution stands only to be questioned, that if according to evolution life goes from good to better then why did these small particles (cells and atoms) come together to form a body when they could remained isolated and evolved to be self sufficient over many years.

If you were to ask me to explain the interdependency in all creation, then I would explain it all by comparing it to a kingdom. In a kingdom everything has a purpose and each part is useful and serves the full kingdom body either directly or indirectly. Let me give you an example, in a kingdom, a farmer provides food for the people, the surplus food would go into storage and could even be exported. A soldier would fight to advance the kingdom or to defend it & so provide protection to its people. A cleaner would make sure living conditions are hygienic to reduce disease and so improve overall living conditions. Even a house wife serves in the kingdom by keeping her husband relatively free of house work, so that he can work to further the interest of the kingdom & she can also tutor her children. Non-living things too have their purpose in the kingdom be it spears, shields & swords used by soldiers or guitars, organs, drums used by musicians for entertainment or ploughs used by farmers. Animals such as cattle, sheep, poultry, dogs etc also play their role in the kingdom. The land too plays its role by supporting vegetation, cattle etc.

In the same way creation functions, winds blow and carry water as rain to crops; the crops grow and feed the people.  Beautiful mountains, sunsets, valleys oceans, beaches etc. makes you marvel at His creation. The sun burns millions of miles away and plants use that light to make food for themselves by photosynthesis, herbivores eats those plants, carnivores eats those herbivores & scavengers (maggots, vultures, hyenas) eats them all when they die. This interdependency seems too organized to happen just like that. If you were to answer “Nature” makes things work in tandem then you are probably implying that there is a unseen force responsible that makes things co-exist and interdependent. Do you think this force will exist on earth alone? I don’t think so, because all creation is interdependent no mater where it is, so this force should be in control of the whole known and unknown universe. That would make this force supreme since it is in control of all things and since it makes all creation harmonize, then that would mean that this force is sovereign and its kingdom would be all of creation. Also since this force appears to be capable of decision making (beyond human understanding), implying that this force/King must be alive.

Ask yourself; who is this Sovereign (in full control) and alive force/King?

Would you like to know what it is that holds most cells and organs together? The scientific term is Laminin. Laminin are a protein network foundation for most cells and organs. They are an important and biologically active part, influencing cell differentiation, migration, adhesion as well as survival.

Would you like to know what the Laminin looks like in structure? Google Laminin images.

Do you see a cross like structure?

The three shorter arms are particularly good at binding to other laminin molecules, which allows them to form sheets. The long arm is capable of binding to cells, which helps anchor organized tissue cells to the membrane.

Does this give you any idea of who really is this “Supreme and alive” force/King?

Note: As an unbeliever & a possible Biology student, you may say that under the microscope the only similarity Laminin share with the molecular diagram is that they both have four arms branching from a central point; the arms vary in length from one specimen to the next and are not rigid as the diagrams may depict.

However to counter such a statement I would like to add that even the cross that people know today is not necessarily the cross Jesus died on, the shape of the cross is not spelled out in the Bible, infact sometimes in the Bible the cross was refereed to as a tree (Gal 3:13-14), We know the structure of the cross today just as we know the molecular structure of Laminin. Similarly the real cross on which Jesus died may have been just as vivid as the real Laminin you may have seen under the microscope.

5. Unexpected outcomes

I am sure you will know by now how unexpected certain things can be. Allow me to put a question to you. Consider the tsunami that happened a few years ago, where thousands of people lost their lives. Science can explain “why it happened?” but can science explain “How it happened?” Well my question of “Why” & “How” are very similar but allow me to take you deeper into the question. Consider two people say Mangesh & Raj, these two were really close friends but suddenly there is a rift for whatever reason. Now the two them would be very capable to explain the reason for the rift (Why) but would the two of them be able to say “how” come these two very close friends, who got along so well for whatever length of time, suddenly drew apart? This is the “Why” & “How” that I am referring to. Sometimes some really bad stuff happens to us & a person who may not be very sure about God may say “Why me?”, he would rarely say “How come it’s me?” Because the word “How” seeks to know & the word “Why” is more of a defensive question, rather than seeking to know. I shall further support my statement, if you were to say “why am I reading this book?” it would be more like questioning why you are not rejecting this book, however if you were to say “how is it that I am reading this book?”, it would be like you wanting to know what is making you read this book. So you see “why” is more of a question that you ask in your own defense while “how” is you seeking to know how this all fits in the big plan.

I am sure you may have some really big or small questions about your life that you are finding hard to answer. Have you considered asking yourself, how come this (whatever it is) happened to you? Have you ever felt within you a really strong urge to cry out for help? Have you considered crying in your heart to the One who is Supreme, whoever you think He is?

Ask yourself; who is this Person you cry out to when you are in despair?

6. Science

Science is something that shows the splendor in all of God’s creation. So that we may stand in awe of God & give Him glory. Let me give you an example; consider our computers I am sure that most of you would have your own desktop or laptop. Now you may have had a computer for so long that you may have lost your enthusiasm for your computer. However if anyone were to take you through the science behind your computer, like showing how millions of semiconductors fit into your processor, which is just the size of a potato chip or showing how all the information in the books that students carry in those bulky bags can be accommodated in a memory chip the size of your thumbnail or showing you the science behind wireless data transfer via Bluetooth. If I were to help you understand this, you would be intrigued but you would not give glory to man. I have never come across man glorifying man because of technology that man made. Man may say that he is not satisfied because there is much more to learn and make but deep within man knows that what ever he has learnt has come from God. Man has never been self sufficient that is why man is never satisfied when he relies on himself. Coming back, just as the knowledge of how your computer is made and how it works, helps you appreciate technology. In the same way the Science of (we, this world with every thing in it & the universe) helps us see the splendor of God (with the right state of mind) and so give Him glory.

Science is good subject to talk about; it helps you understand the nature of things around & their function. However may I add a word of caution; if you use science to disapprove the existence of God then that would be like using God inspired knowledge against God Himself. God sustains all things. There are many things that human science cannot explain because it works on the basis of human knowledge and human logic. Man has tried several things in terms of science for perfect living, but has man achieved that? Man till now, has been unable to use his human logic and knowledge to make sense of his own life. Yeah a man may say that he has his whole life worked out but time works in God’s favour and sometimes makes man eat his own words in disgrace. This same man who has been unable to make sense of his own life (growing up, studying, making friends, getting a job, finding a partner, getting married, buying a house, having children, raising children and handling a job at the same time, staying in touch with friends, finding security in old age….and so on), attempts to make sense of God. What he knows cannot even help him, but he considers himself thorough, to develop his own doctrine about what he thinks about God.

May I use science to show you how insignificant we (man) are in all creation.

If were to compare my planet Earth to the Sun, it would be like comparing my city Mumbai to the state Maharashtra that it is in. It would be like the size of a really small coin & that is also the same way the Earth is, in comparison to the Sun. Now if I were to compare the size of the Sun to our Solar System, the Sun would be a very small fraction of the entire Solar System. The Sun would probably be like another small coin in our Solar System. Now let us go back through some school science. I would like to tell you that the Solar System is one where we have our Sun in the center with the planets and their moons revolving around the Sun. I think its time for me to tell you of the measurement that is used for telling distance between stars. The measurement is called light-years. The speed of light is 3X10^8 meters per second, which is some amazing speed. Think of this, light takes just 8 minutes to go from the Sun to the Earth, which is roughly 93 million miles. So just imagine the distance light would cover in one whole year & that is called 1 light-year. Just like our Solar System, there are many other Solar Systems that together form one Galaxy. The Galaxy that holds our Solar System is called the Milky Way. Do you know the diameter of our Galaxy (Milky Way)? It is 100,000 light-years. Now just like our galaxy there are millions and millions of other galaxies holding their own solar system. Can you imagine how big that is? I can’t but this is just the known universe. The telescopes that we have today can only look this far. As Physics says that the universe is ever increasing, I cannot comprehend, when it will be, that we will be able to see, the entire universe, which also is small fraction of God’s creation. How visible do you think we are in all of this creation? The Only Being that can see us in all this (our known) vastness is God.

Atheists are not people who we need to fight, they are people we need to educate with reason & love. May be they have a fear in them and prohibits them from thinking about eternal security. This is something that discourages them from asking themselves questions that will get them to start thinking, whether God exist. For those who don’t believe in God. This may happen when people go through hard times in life but I will tell you this they will come to the conclusion that God does not exist when they are out of the bad situation. They somehow fail to see who was instrumental in pulling them out. I say instrumental because God often uses the environment around His people to help them out. As my Pastor rightfully puts it there is never an atheist on a sinking ship except may be in the movies. Even an atheist will say “yes” to God in a dire situation but when he is out of that situation he may forget God, may be that would be because he still wants to stick to his own notions or he will make himself believe that it was just a coincidence or he got lucky or he had some good people to rely on. He thinks everything worked in his favour without God, something like a diesel engine running without diesel. Without God nothing happens & nothing exists.

I do not feel like I can convince a head strong Atheist that God exists in this chapter alone. Force of any kind is certainly not a way God uses to draw people to Himself. God loves using his resources (people, situations & time) to bring people to know Him & so I would like to share with you, 3 testimonies of Atheist, who came to believe and trust in Jesus.

1^st Testimony: Sanjay Merchant

At one time in my life I considered myself an atheist. At least I thought that I was an atheist. However, I often struggled with the hypocrisy that I saw in my life due to the difficulties with actually living out atheism. From a detached “intellectual” point of view it’s easy to wave your hand and proclaim, “there is no God because there is no proof of his existence.” Yet most atheists are really shaking an angry fist in spite of the evidence which they know to exist.

You see, it’s easy to claim atheism, but it’s difficult to live atheism. I’ll explain this later on. But first, I’ll explain some things for those who don’t know what atheism is about. The word “atheist” literally means, “without God”. In other words, the nature of man, his moral standards (or lack thereof) and purpose can be explained outside of the recognition of a creator. Most atheists believe that everything we see in existence is the result of natural, physical processes, which can be observed today.

For example, I believed in the “Big Bang” theory and Darwinian evolution. I believed in the “Big Bang” because I thought that it was a scientific explanation as to our existence, while religion was just full of myth. Through later research I found that the “Big Bang” is not science at all since it is not based on direct observation or testable methods. In contradiction, it is adhered to “religiously” by those who wish to purposely reject the idea of accountability and a moral standard. Some say, “Well God could have initiated the Big Bang.” But by the time you get to Ylem (the supposed source of the bang) you’ve effectively eliminated any worshipable god from the picture (a very convenient trick for those who don’t want God but can’t disprove him; just make him really small). In turn, I had simply assumed this theory to be fact as my sixth grade teacher had told me it was so. We studied it along with the fact that the earth revolves around the sun, and that’s certainly provable and accepted.

Similarly, I believed that my origins were found in evolution. This was superficially pleasing to me as it was an adequate method to explain away actions that I knew were immoral. Deep inside I was convinced that many of my actions were wrong, but evolution helped me to conveniently rationalize those fears. I was able to blame my actions on my “natural instincts”. I would lie to my parents to better my own existence, I would hurt others to ease my own life and assert my dominance over rivals (survival of the fittest), and I would sleep with my girlfriend due to my animal instinct to procreate (though had we succeeded we would have had an abortion – logical?).

I had trouble, however, trying to explain the guilt and sickness I had felt when I knew that I had done what was wrong.

Another real problem arose for me when it came to discussing religion. I could calmly discuss the teachings of Mohammed or Buddha, but when it came to Jesus I became very angry. I thought that an atheist should act rationally and never get angry. After all, it was evolutionarily useless to become so mad, unless it preserved my life.

I argued with and harassed Christians without cause. I hated their joy and love for one another. I felt that they simply needed a crutch; they could have their crutch… I was man enough to face my death. But, I found that I was afraid of life. I hated almost everyone, especially myself… but of course, this was “natural”.

One evening I went to a Christian Bible study to argue and set people straight, as I thought. I was convinced that I understood life even though I had never heard the Christian message. I simply believed the hypocrisy I had seen in the headlines, the strict regulations imposed by the Vatican and the hate spread by racists who said that they were Christians (its surprising to note the roots of racism lie in atheism, and are nowhere found in the Bible).

I met people who were nothing like I had imagined. I hung on every word of the speaker. I was in awe of his wisdom, while still attempting to disagree. At the end of the evening he asked if he could pray for me. I allowed him as I did not believe in prayer, but didn’t want to be rude. As he finished I opened my eyes in amazement. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. It was as if I was a newborn… all my vain arguments and anger passed away. I no longer hated these people. I almost ran out in fear. That night I prayed for the first time. I asked Jesus to help me if he was able.

The next day I called my former best friend (I say former because he had become a Christian months before and after many arguments I decided to have no contact with him). He brought two other men that had been close friends of mine in the past also. They answered all my lingering questions and I understood about God for the first time. Afterwards, they prayed for me. I felt as if I had come into the presence of the Jesus that I had hated so much. I raised my hands to fight, but I felt that his arms were wide open… ready to forgive and help me. I broke down in tears and gave my life over to Jesus. I didn’t join a religion or a church… I simply can to realize what happens when an atheist meets Jesus.

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2^nd Tetimony: Richard Deem

This is the testimony of Richard Deem, a sinner saved by the grace of God. Even though I was unworthy, God loved me and called me to be His child. This is my story of discovery.

I was raised in a moral, but non-Christian home, by loving, but agnostic parents. From my earliest memories, I have had a profound interest in science and nature. I pursued studies in the sciences in my classes and on my own, primarily in the old “playhouse” room adjacent to the garage in the backyard of my parents’ home. During these early years I came across several religious people, all of whom seemed to believe theirs was the only true religion. The need for God seemed remote, since I was very capable and self-sufficient.

I pursued a bachelor of science degree in biology at the University of Southern California, which included several classes which discussed the theory of evolution. Studies on the possible chemical evolution of life were unconvincing and led me to the conclusion there must have been a Creator God who at least created the earliest life forms (and the universe itself). I became a deist, but was skeptical of being able to sort out which of the religions of the world represented the true God.

After graduating, I began a master of science program in microbiology at California State University Los Angeles and worked part time counting inventory at night for an inventory service. One of these night jobs involved doing an inventory at a Christian bookstore. The store’s owner was very friendly and helpful, but halfway through the job he announced to our crew that he was going home. He told us to finish counting and leave the totals on his desk, lock the door, and drop the keys in the mail slot. We were all amazed that he would trust total strangers with his store. There was obviously something very different about this Christian man.

I graduated with a master degree and began my career doing research in the field of immunology. Things went very well and within six years I had published eight articles (five of which I was primary author) in prestigious scientific journals. I was running my own life and ignoring God until I got very sick. The tests revealed I had Crohn’s disease, a serious, incurable inflammatory disease of the intestines. I found myself unable to do things using my own abilities and strength. After two months of being bedridden in severe pain, I cried out to God and promised to try to follow Him and do what He wanted me to do (although I had no idea what that was at the time). Within three months all symptoms of Crohn’s disease had disappeared.

Three years later I was “set up” for a blind date with a Christian woman. We got along fine, except when it came to the issue of God. I was given many things to read, including the gospel of Luke (which she thought would be of interest, since Luke was a physician). None of this reading was convincing, so I decided to read the entire New Testament, beginning with the gospel of Matthew. Things seemed rather bland until I got to the Sermon on the Mount (chapter 5). What Jesus had to say was unlike any of the messages of the world, but was what I would expect to be God’s message. I was suddenly aware that I was guilty in the eyes of God, even though I had led a “good, moral life.” The Holy Spirit convicted me that Jesus was the Son of God and that He was only way to have peace and communion with a Holy God.

Since that time, I have grown in faith as I have followed the course laid out by the Holy Spirit. The joy and peace found by following Jesus is unlike anything the world has to offer. It is something that I could not have understood as a non-believer. If you are a non-believer, I’m sure you have doubts about the peace Jesus promises. However, through simple faith and a prayer to God, you can experience this peace yourself. You have nothing to lose and eternity to gain. If you still have some doubts or questions about the Bible, trust that the Lord will answer those questions. The Lord has been faithful in answering my doubts regarding the harmony between science and the Bible through the ministry of Reasons to Believe. One of my favorite verses is from Isaiah:

“Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool.” (Isaiah 1:18)

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3^rd Testimony: Shawn

This testimony is about how my life changed “instantly” one night in a hotel room as I hovered the edge of death while my whole life flashed in front of me.

These wonderful events happened during a time in my life when God was non-existent to me. My atheistic views fed a notion that “He” was nothing more than a theory in the imagination of weak-minded people, people who are starving for meaning and purpose in this dull and bleak world. But not I. I was not one of them, I was stronger than that and had all the answers and did not need a God.

This belief system turned out to be only half-truth, because little did I know, a series of events would happen, ultimately changing my view forever and bringing me face to face with reality.

Prior to these events, life at best held little meaning to me. So much had already happened to me as a child, things I had no control over. Things like, being given-up for adoption into a family who treated me like an outsider. Being forced to deal with mental, physical and sexual abuse and even racism by the ones who claimed to love me. It was a very difficult childhood in many ways and my sensitive nature did not make it any easier either. None of it made any sense to me so I gave up on the idea of a purpose filled life.

As a result, I concluded life to be too short to be concerned about such nonsense, nonsense about a living God I mean. Especially a God who would allow an innocent child like my self to go through the things I did and not do anything about it. Instead, I sought freedom from it all with a no-matter-the-cost frame of mind, and at the age of seventeen my search began that lasted nearly eighteen years. What I didn’t know though, was that those eighteen years would be spent digging a hole so deep that eventually I would reach a point where I would have only one direction to look – that was up.

In the latter part of my wandering aimlessly around the states, my past began catching up with me in a major way. I soon found myself unable to bear the painful memories of my childhood and looked to drugs and alcohol as a means of escaping. For many years, substance abuse became my God.

As time went on, I found myself in a serious state of depression and loneliness and eventually slithered into a recluse condition. I was a mess; haunted by an unfortunate past and left to deal with it all on my own and not understanding the reason why. The more my memories manifested themselves the more inflamed my reckless lifestyle became. I reached a point where drugs, alcohol and sexual stimulation controlled my life, every aspect of it, and everything I did evolved around them. From the moment I woke up, until I passed out, I was under the control of this artificial release; even my dreams were intoxicated.

Throughout my travels, I of course met many people but it was impossible to maintain a lasting relationship, not only due to the fact I moved around continuously but mainly because of my instability and loss of interactive social skills. I did not realize it at the time but I was swimming in a sea of depression. It was more than just a blip of abnormality; it was a chronic infection and it overshadowed me day and night. It was fueled by feelings of abandonment, loneliness, and worthlessness and any problems I encountered quickly escalated to nuclear size proportion. I was at the point where I did not want to be around anyone. I was a walking barrage of misery, inapproachable and unpredictable, and ready to implode at any given moment.

As years past, I increasingly became more dependent upon those things that were tearing my life apart; they became the norm and I found myself drifting coast to coast in search of them. And I eventually ended up in South Beach Miami, Florida, where I met a beautiful girl named Emma, from New Zealand.

Emma was able to touch me in a way that no one else had ever done so before and I quickly fell in love with her. She was away from home and her studies, traveling around the world and was only to be here in the states for a short period. Although I knew her stay was to be limited, I allowed myself to fall head over heels just the same. She was unfamiliar to me, but treated me so well, and seemed to overlook all of my flaws. I was shown the kind of attention by her that I had always longed for, and for a brief moment, while in her presence, I felt normal. When we were together, it seemed as if the darkness had lifted away from my life, and I could breathe again. However, that readiness did not last.

When it came time for her to move on, I couldn’t take anymore. My heart and mind were too weak to handle another person walking out of my life and the pain that was to follow would have been too much to bear. I had already convinced her to stay longer than she had planned, on a couple of occasions, but the time came when she had to go; there was no other choice. When that time reached its point, I lost what little control I had left, and on the night before, I overdosed on extra strength pain pills.

I was rushed to the hospital and spent three days in intensive care and another three days in the psych ward but eventually signed myself out against the hospital’s recommendations. When they questioned why I did it, I told them I had made a big mistake, that I did not want to die and that it would never happen again. I convinced them, and even myself, that I could handle the situation and did not need help from anyone; I was in total denial.

That episode sparked an accelerated downturn and I soon found myself speeding on that road of self-destruction, once again. As time grew, so did my depression, loneliness and substance abuse until it eventually ended up in Phoenix Arizona, the one last stop before my life would be changed forever.

I had been living in a hotel room for about a year and soon found myself not wanting to live again but this time, it was worse than before. The feelings of despair were stronger and I more weakened, and I spent countless days alone, drinking, drugging and contemplating the best way to take my life, but this time I would do it right.

Unlike before, I was not afraid of death; in fact, it would have been the ultimate relief for me, so I thought. I was so tired and just could not imagine anything else better but to “close my eyes and go to sleep.” I had completely stopped looking for reasons to live and searched for every reason to die.

The more I thought of my life the wearier it made me. My day-to-day routine became too heavy of a struggle. I felt bogged down in misery and did not have the energy left to carry on. I was a walking dead man on a path of hopelessness; I felt I was beyond help and there was no way out in sight. I had reached a dead end of it all . . . who knew that this would ever happen to me? That the hole I had dug for myself all the years past would finally hit its rock bottom. And on that night, while sitting in that lonely hotel room, the reality of it all came crashing down on top of me.

June 14th, 2002 – Phoenix, Arizona (approximately 10:00pm)

I was in the hotel room, alone as usual, drinking, smoking marijuana and crack cocaine; I had started around 4pm or so. After turning on the television, I noticed it left on a religious channel. This was odd to me because I never watched that kind of stuff, religion was nonexistent, to the extent that I did not believe I mean. I felt it was just another form of brainwashing, a way of controlling lives and their hard-earned money, and I wanted no part in it.

I did not put too much emphasis on why the T.V. was on that station. I just assumed the housekeeper had been watching while cleaning my room. Besides, I was not interested in watching TV anyway; it was just another form of distraction while getting high.

I went back to what I was doing and after awhile the television caught my attention once more. This time a female preacher was ministering. She talked about the world and the things that were happening at that time and went on to mention something about 9/11 and then related all of what was happening to end time prophecies. I guess this is why my attention was drawn initially; 9/11 was a traumatic time for the world.

She then went on to speak about things like heaven, hell and sin, but the more I listened to her the angrier it made me. It was sounding like nonsense to me, and I eventually got up and turned the set off before sitting back down to my cocktail of drugs.

Moments later, I caught myself daydreaming about what she had been talking about and briefly considered the possibility of some truth behind it. However, it did not take me long before I shook off the idea and laughed at the same time for even thinking of such foolishness.

Some time had passed before I found myself sitting on the edge of the bed thinking about my own life and the way it had ended up. The more I thought about it the more saddened I became. It all seemed so unfairly divergent to anyone else’s life I had ever known before and I asked myself. “Why is it that my life is the way it is and what did I do wrong that I am not able to change it?” No matter how hard I had ever tried, I just could not make any changes. (It took me some years to realize why this is sometimes the case . . . this is actually a blessing in disguise.)

As I thought more, I started feeling sorry for the way things had turned out. I began admitting to myself that I was an outcast and a failure. I presumed this to be the reason why my biological parents gave me up for adoption in the first place; I was some sort of bad apple, I felt.

I thought of how hard it was growing up as an adoptee and not feeling loved by the people who took me in, or like part of their family. I went on to think about all the trouble I was into and that no one cared enough to investigate the reasons why, but that I knew there were reasons behind it. I thought more of the loneliness that I had no choice but to live with, the sadness I suffered my whole life, and of all that weight I carried on my shoulders and how tired I was of carrying it.

I thought of my ethnicity and the labels the world gave people like me because of my mixed race, and not fitting in with my peers. I hated the names they called me, names like “mixed breed, mutt, zebra, half baked, yellow,” etc. I just did not feel normal in any way. I felt worse off than a dog and that I was no better than the slop swine feed on or the waste they tread underfoot.

I thought of how hard it was growing up in a town that hated interracial relationships and they hated me because I was a product of one. I felt it all to be unfair that I had no control over the way I was born or the life that I had been given. I would often ask the same question . . . “Why, why did I have to be so different?” I was, though, never given an answer.

No one loved me . . . I was sure of this. No one cared how I lived or what I was going through, and I knew this. Why? Because I felt it. How could it be though? How could the world be so insensitive? How could they not care when I was hurting so much? Couldn’t they see it? It was beyond me. However, the truth is that I could not see past my own pain. It made me want to crawl under a rock and hide from it all. And in addition to all that, unbeknownst to everything else I was going through, I realized my addictions.

I had become addicted to crack cocaine, alcohol, sexual stimulation and even depression. These were major strongholds on my life and I hated myself for it. It was then when I realized I had truly hit rock bottom, but somehow, I felt like that bottom was where I belonged.

I sat there realizing I had reached my destiny and it would never change. Why? Because it wasn’t meant to. I imagined myself being born as an example of someone else’s mistakes and left to suffer for them the rest of my pathetic life. There was no way out of it. I was convinced of this. No matter what anyone said, or did, it would never change, not one single thing would ever change because this is where I was meant to be.

I hid my face into my hands and felt the unfairness of it all. I did not have a chance from the moment I was born, I thought. I still couldn’t understand the reason why, either. I was innocent and didn’t ask for any of it. Why me? What had I done? I kept asking myself these same questions repeatedly that night.

I thought of the times I tried to make a change but didn’t make progress. It felt like something was holding me back; I just could not break free. Every time I put one foot forward, the force of that something pushed me three steps back. I tried – I tried many times to move forward but no matter how hard I tried, I found myself beating against an unrelenting wind.

I filled with anxiety and finally stood up and began pacing back and forth around the room while keeping in deep thought. After some time, my attention fell upon the Holy Bible that had been sitting on a nightstand next to the bed. It had been collecting dust there for as long as I had been living in that room and until that moment, I had not considered reading it.

(Here in the States, a group called the Gideons left bibles in motel rooms across the country . . . it is an American Tradition)

Strangely enough, I remember at least on one occasion I threw it into the trash only to come back later in the evening to find the housekeeper had taken it out and placed it back on the stand. I also remember wanting to get rid of it on several occasions but for some reason, I either forgot or just became preoccupied. The only time I ever gave any real thought to it was when I ran out of rolling papers.

Anyway, as I sat on the edge of the bed staring at the Bible, the desire to pick it up became even stronger. It was an unusual feeling to say the least, as I said before, I never gave it consideration. Nevertheless, I finally gave into the urge and picked it up.

As I took it in my hands and randomly opened it, it turned to the book of 1st Thessalonians . . . but reading it was a task. I realized I was too intoxicated to understand anything written down. Nonetheless, I stumbled through a couple of paragraphs trying to comprehend. “This is a waste of time,” I said. I could not remember one single verse from the other. “I am too high,” I said. However, the urge kept me trying.

Suddenly, one part of a page jumped out at me with clarity. It talked about all kinds of sin and the consequences of them. Everything about my immoral life style, it seemed to be mentioning. It went on to explain how detrimental this lifestyle is, and one in particular screamed at me – the sin of sexual immorality. It all pierced my heart definably.

As I was reading all of this, it was becoming uncomfortably clear to me that the way I was living my life was wrong. I understood it exactly, and it was a deep understanding as well. This understanding went deeper than anything I had ever understood before. It was as though the effects of the drugs had stripped away and my mind had opened to its core. Indeed, it had.

I can’t put it into better words, to explain to you exactly how I felt at that moment, but believe me when I say it; it was a powerful perception that could have only come from God.

As I read on, it talked about many different types of sin and I realized that every one of them mentioned played a major role in my life, a controlling role. I felt as if God was talking directly to me in admonishment for the way I was living.

When I realized this, I increased with sorrow and shame. It was the most uncomfortable feeling I had ever experienced in my whole life and it was at that point when I realized just how unclean I was in the eyes of God. And immediately upon acknowledgment of this, I opened up, pleading from the bottom of my heart, “GOD IF YOU ARE REAL THEN HELP ME.”

As soon as I uttered those words, at that exact moment when they left my lips, my heart opened even further, and for the first time in nearly five years I began to pour tears like a baby. I had never cried like that in my entire life. It was as if the floodgates to my heart had exploded and the water rushed through my eyes as if rushing back to where it came from.

I became weak all over my body, and lightheaded to the point I had to lie back on the bed. As I tried stopping the flow of tears, the more I resisted, the heavier they persisted. I soon stopped fighting and allowed them to pour. I cried my heart out that night.

A long time went by as the tears continued without ceasing, then, the even stranger happened. I started having flashbacks of my past. They were vivid images of things I had done to myself and to others. It was as if a film projector from within my mind was replaying parts of my life. They were projections of bad things I had done and went back as far as my childhood. Some of these visions were of things I had forgotten all about; they were of every evil thing that I had ever done in my life.

My whole life was flashing in front of my eyes – one vision after another – they just kept coming. First, the vision and then the memory of it followed. They kept coming and coming for what seemed like an eternity and there were so many of them.

At first, I was at awe by it but soon afterward it freaked me out. It was very disheartening and emotionally overwhelming to see these memories replaying in my mind and I had no control over them. It was as if I was reliving my past.

As the visions continued, my heart began beating rapidly and I became short of breath. I was to the point where I was fighting to breathe, and then I became even more afraid. I realized in the deepest part of my spirit that this was an act of God. He suddenly became very real to me, more real than any tangible thing in this world. I felt the fear of death for the first time in my life that night. I knew that at that point I was dying and these memories of my past were my judgments and the reasons why I would be spending eternity in hell.

A dreadful and inexpressible feeling of fear overwhelmed me right then. My heart, my mind and my entire body was entrenched with anxiety. It was like nothing I had ever experienced before in my life. No words can express the level of fear I was going through. It was not natural, I assure you. It came from somewhere far more terrifyingly empty than any place here on earth and wherever it is, that fear was definitely a product of it.

Moments later, I fell to my knees beside the bed and began to pray but all I could say was, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” and “please forgive me.” The more I pleaded, the heavier the tears flowed.

After some moments, I sat back on the bed and reached for the bible once again, still trembling. As I picked it up, I began reading more. This time I focused on the next page. It no longer talked about sin or the condemnation of sin but talked about a way out of it through Jesus Christ and God’s forgiveness through him. And as quickly as all that fear came into me, it left and was replaced with an inexpressible feeling of joy, hope and promise.

Once again, I was enveloped by an indescribable level of emotion but this time it was very positive. My entire body submerged in a positive pool of emotional illumination. I cannot express it, but to say that the level of fear and shame I felt moments before was replaced tenfold by the joy I felt then. It was more amazing than anything I have ever experienced in my life . . . I wish I could walk in that feeling forever . . . it was truly amazing. I then went back to my knees beside the bed and closed my eyes to pray.

(I must stop now and explain something that is very important, because later on, I realized the significance. God did something else amazing.)

I grew in a small town back in the Midwest, in a southern Baptist Church. The name is not important but it taught that all “white people” were devils, among other false doctrines. Do not misunderstand me, not all Southern Baptists churches believe this way, it was just a deceived mind of the pastor of that particular church. What he believed was totally opposite of who and what God is. God is of love and loves us all the same without discriminating and more than what our minds are able to conceive.

Nevertheless, I remember growing up as a child thinking how it would be possible for half of me to go to heaven and the other half to hell . . . it was quite confusing and I quickly lost interest in the church and in God.

My point is this: no one ever taught me the correct ways of God or what the Holy Bible was really saying. No one ever taught me how to pray for forgiveness or that I should ask Christ into my heart. I did not even know what it meant to accept Christ into my heart. But that night, while I was on my knees the second time, I suddenly knew exactly what I should pray for and what I should say. It was as if God had planted the words directly into my heart, as I know he did.

The words came to my mind exactly like in the book of Romans 10:9.

. . .if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

It was not an audible voice, but more like a knowing. It was as if I had always known the way to salvation, as if it had always been inside of me my whole life. In a sense, I guess it had been. It has always been in my spirit; it’s in all of our spirits. Thus, I spoke those words with belief and with expectation.

After I prayed and confessed Christ as my Lord and Saviour, I immediately felt a warm sensation enter into my body. Once again, it is difficult to describe the feeling but it was like a gentle electrical sensation, like pins and needles but softer and it filled my entire body from head to toe. Every hair stood up on end. (I later understood exactly what that sensation was . . . it was the Holy Sprit of God.) At that point, I was being changed from the inside, from deep within. All the way to the core of my existence, I knew it, because I felt it.

At that moment, I knew God had just entered my life and He was there to stay, to never leave nor forsake me. He had made a permanent home in my heart that night and I knew from that moment on it would never be the same again, nor would my life be.

Upon realizing this, I stood up and felt as if I were floating on a cloud of air, as if my feet were not touching the floor. All the heaviness, all that weight I had been carrying around with me my whole life had suddenly disappeared. It vanished in an instance. I felt a hundred pounds lighter, no, two hundred pounds lighter, as though the world lifted from my shoulders. I had been changed, made into a completely different person – a new person. It was as if I had been reborn – spiritually transformed.

Needless to say, the visions faded away completely. My mind cleared and there was no sign that I had done any drugs that night. Upon realizing all of this, I began crying all over again but this time they were tears of thankfulness.

Everything about me that night was replaced with newness. I knew that I just become a child of the Most High God and He was real and I was glad He was real. Furthermore, I knew that the God of love and compassion was about to lead me in a very new direction.

As I cried out, thanking him for what he had just done, I realized, or better yet, I was given a sense of release from everything that had kept me in bondage for so many years. Not only was the weight gone but also I knew that along with it went my addictions. Those chains that bound me had broken away and were gone forever. I knew it without a doubt; those controlling strongholds I had lived with most of my life, the depression, all of it, they were gone, gone forever. And indeed they are.

It was an amazing night; God miraculously changed my life in a blink of an eye. I realize now that He took me to the brink of death, let me feel what hell is like, and showed me all the reasons why I deserved to go there. He then brought me back from it all and offered me a reason for living, a reason for change and a second chance with him through Jesus Christ.

I find it hard to express to you how much this all means to me. But I was an atheist, at best an agnostic, even to that night, to that very hour to be exact. I even cursed God and hated anything to do with him. I was a thief and a liar and filled with thoughts of lust and deprivation.

I overflowed with anger, hate, depression, and hopelessness and was even suicidal but God loved me just the way I was and waited for the right moment to take it all away from me. In doing so, He did allow me to dig a hole so deep that I would hit rock bottom at which point I would have No Other Direction to look but up. He never forced himself on me, but waited patiently while conditioning my heart to receive him, and for that I am deeply in love with him.

It took me going to hell and back in more ways than one but you may not have to go that far. You can ask him right now to come into your life. He will remove from you whatever it is that is trying to destroy you.

You may feel like your life is just perfect, that everything is falling into place just the way it should be but if you accept Christ in your life it will be so much more profitable and so much more meaningful. More than you can ever imagine.

Amen.

Shawn

*

Hi folks, I am back with another article, which God has enlightened me with. This time it’s about the Law of Moses in the Old Testament.

You see looking at the whole picture (Old and New Testament), I can say that the purpose of the Law was to show how useless it was for people to try and lead perfect lives even after they had received instructions from God himself. You see the worst penalty for disobedience of the Law was death. Let me quote some scripture for you to show you from my Old Testament to show you the same.

Leviticus 20:9

9 The Lord gave the following regulations. Anyone who curses his father or his mother shall be put to death; he is responsible for his own death.

Leviticus 20:10

10 If a man commits adultery with the wife of a fellow-Israelite, both he and the woman shall be put to death.

Leviticus 20:27

27 “Any man or woman who consults the spirits of the dead shall be stoned to death; any person who does this is responsible for his own death.”

Exodus 21:12

“Whoever hits someone and kills him is to be put to death

Exodus 21:15

“Whoever hits his father or his mother is to be put to death.

Exodus 21:16

“Whoever kidnaps someone, either to sell him or to keep him as a slave, is to be put to death.

Exodus 21:17

“Whoever curses his father or his mother is to be put to death.

Now we all know that the God we have is a good God full of compassion and mercy. Here is one more piece of scripture from my Old Testament to show you what I am saying.

Psalms 116:5

The Lord is merciful and good; our God is compassionate.

Now the question we need to ask ourselves is that why would such a good God place such as Law which is a choice of life with him or death?

You see God wanted to show us that we cannot lead prefect lives even if he told us how to do so. Well the Law was perfect and whoever could do all that the Law instructed would be perfect in the eyes of God. Here is some supporting scripture again from my Old Testament.

Psalms 19:7

The Law of the Lord The law of the Lord is perfect; it gives new strength. The commands of the Lord are trustworthy, giving wisdom to those who lack it.

Psalms 119:1

The Law of the Lord Happy are those whose lives are faultless, who live according to the law of the Lord.

But the thing, each and every one of us right from the beginning have fallen to sin, there is no one who has been able to live a perfect life in the eyes of the Law. I have mentioned some supporting scripture from my Old Testament.

2 Chronicles 6:36

³⁶“If they sin against you— for there is no one who does not sin—and you are angry with them and give them to an enemy, so that they are carried away captive to a land far or near,

Now I need to move to my New Testament to show you what Jesus said about the Law.

Matthew 5:17-18

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. ¹⁸For 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.

My friends, I would like to quote some more scripture to show you when the Law (Scripture) was fulfilled (accomplished). I will be quoting the last moments of Jesus on the cross from my New Testament, John 19:28-30.

²⁸After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.

²⁹Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth.

³⁰When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

Note: John 19:28 All things were now accomplished. The Law of Moses was fulfilled when Jesus died on the cross. That death penalty for all sin as per the Law was what Jesus took upon himself and so the man who was Jesus gave his life for us all but Jesus just as he was fully man he was also fully God and so his sacrifice was pure because he was without sin & because he is God he lived even after death, as that was his Father’s will.

I would like to render some more supporting scripture where Jesus and the Law of Moses are concerned. I will be quoting John 8:3-11 from my New Testament.

3 The teachers of the Law and the Pharisees brought in a woman who had been caught committing adultery, and they made her stand before them all. 4 “Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. 5 In our Law Moses commanded that such a woman must be stoned to death. Now, what do you say?”

6They said this to trap Jesus, so that they could accuse him. But he bent over and wrote on the ground with his finger.

7 As they stood there asking him questions, he straightened himself up and said to them, “Whichever one of you has committed no sin may throw the first stone at her.” 8 Then he bent over again and wrote on the ground. 9 When they heard this, they all left, one by one, the older ones first. Jesus was left alone, with the woman still standing there. 10 He straightened himself up and said to her, “Where are they? Is there no one left to condemn you?”

11 “No one, sir,” she answered.

“Well, then,” Jesus said, “I do not condemn you either. Go, but do not sin again.

You can see that Jesus saved this woman’s life from being taken according to the Law. She was condemned to die but Jesus saved her and that is exactly what Jesus came to earth for, to save sinners & we are all sinners. One more quotation from my New Testament to show you I am talking from my Bible.

Romans 6:23

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

So what can we take home to our hearts from all this? Well now that you know that Jesus has fulfilled the Law, we must understand that we are saved through GRACE that is we are saved because God is so good that he paid the price of our sins with his own life. You know there is nothing we can do to EARN ETERNAL LIFE be it fasting, praying, alms giving, visiting holy places… nothing. I’ll quote some supporting scripture from my Old Testament.

Psalm 49:7-9.

7 A person can never redeem himself;

he cannot pay God the price for his life,

8 because the payment for a human life is too great.

What he could pay would never be enough

9 to keep him from the grave,

to let him live for ever.

You see, all this (fasting, praying, alms giving, visiting holy places etc) is good but it cannot hide our sins because it will be like sweeping and hiding the dirt under the carpet. We can do a lot of good but what about the sin in our lives? I would like to quote some supporting scripture for this from my Old Testament.

Ezekiel 33:12

“Now, mortal man, tell the Israelites that when someone good sins, the good he has done will not save him. If an evil person stops doing evil, he won’t be punished, and if a good person starts sinning, his life will not be spared.

God gives us eternal life because he is so good that he came as man and died to pay the price of our sins. So the bottom line is that we are saved through GRACE because God is so good and loving and not because we are deserving, one last piece of supporting scripture from my New Testament.

Romans 3:23-24

²³for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

So my friend to be saved (that is to have eternal life) all we need to do is believe in what God has done for us.

Romans 10:9

9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

I found something in the Old Testament that show that the Savior of the world, who would die for our sins, could be not other person than God himself. You see right through the Old Testament, what ever was offered to God had to be without blemish i.e. without any fault. I have mentioned a few verses below that show the same.

Exodus 12:5
The animal you select must be a one-year-old male, either a sheep or a goat, with no defects.

Leviticus 1:10
“If the animal you present as a burnt offering is from the flock, it may be either a sheep or a goat, but it must be a male with no defects.

Leviticus 4:32
“If the people bring a sheep as their sin offering, it must be a female with no defects.

Leviticus 5:18
For a guilt offering, you must bring to the priest your own ram with no defects, or you may buy one of equal value. Through this process the priest will purify you from your unintentional sin, making you right with the Lord, and you will be forgiven.

Now that you have seen that you have seen that a sacrifice can only be acceptable when it is with out fault. Now in the case of man, without fault would mean that he is pure in his thinking, in his heart and also his actions.

Note: Such criteria cannot be applied to any animal. So they can be termed without fault as long as they are physically ok and mentally stable.

Now I would like to show you that there is no being that God created that exist without fault. Be it man or the spirits or any of the prophets or even the angels for that matter. I would like to state some verses that show the same.

2 Chronicles 6:36 (man)

³⁶“If they sin against you— for there is no one who does not sin—and you are angry with them and give them to an enemy, so that they are carried away captive to a land far or near,

1Kings 22:19-23 (spirits)

¹⁹And Micaiah said, “Therefore hear the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing beside him on his right hand and on his left; ²⁰and the LORD said, ‘Who will entice Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one said one thing, and another said another. ²¹Then a spirit came forward and stood before the LORD, saying, ‘I will entice him.’ ²²And the LORD said to him, ‘By what means?’ And he said, ‘I will go out, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And he said, ‘You are to entice him, and you shall succeed; go out and do so.’ ²³Now therefore behold, the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; the LORD has declared disaster for you.”

1 Kings 13:18 (prophets)
¹⁸And he said to him, “I also am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the LORD, saying, ‘Bring him back with you into your house that he may eat bread and drink water.'” But he lied to him.

Job 15: 15 (angels)

Why, God does not even trust his angels; even they are not pure in his sight.

So you see that the man, who would pay the price for the sins of all men, would also be God because He alone is without any fault. He was conceived without sin lived a sinless life and died through no fault of his own. This person who was fully man is Jesus and this is one of the many ways that shows that he was also fully God because only a man can suffer and die and only God could be without sin and so be the sacrifice for all sin & live in flesh even after death.

Psalm 27:1

A Prayer of Praise The Lord is my light and my salvation; I will fear no one. The Lord protects me from all danger; I will never be afraid.

Wait I have not finished yet. I would like to show you something quoted in my Old Testament, which you can call God’s trademark and Jesus does just that ….. just exactly that. Let me quote Psalm 107:23-30.

23 Some sailed over the ocean in ships,

earning their living on the seas.

24 They saw what the Lord can do,

his wonderful acts on the seas.

25 He commanded, and a mighty wind began to blow

and stirred up the waves.

26 The ships were lifted high in the air

and plunged down into the depths.

In such danger the sailors lost their courage;

27 they stumbled and staggered like drunken men —

all their skill was useless.

28 Then in their trouble they called to the Lord,

and he saved them from their distress.

29 He calmed the raging storm,

and the waves became quiet.

30 They were glad because of the calm,

and he brought them safe to the port they wanted.

Now moving to Mathew 8:23-26 of my New Testament, I’ll show you Jesus pulling off this move, here it is…

23 Jesus got into a boat, and his disciples went with him. 24 Suddenly a fierce storm hit the lake, and the boat was in danger of sinking. But Jesus was asleep. 25 The disciples went to him and woke him up. “Save us, Lord!” they said. “We are about to die!”

26 “Why are you so frightened?” Jesus answered. “How little faith you have!” Then he got up and ordered the winds and the waves to stop, and there was a great calm.

I would like to tell you 4 (Simon, Andrew, James & John) of 12 disciples were fishermen …experienced in sailing boats. So you see the remarkable similarity.

• In both passages the waters were stirred up by a fierce storm.
• In both passages the boat was out of control despite having experienced sailors on board.
• In both passages they called out to God (Jesus) in their distress.
• In both passages God (Jesus) and only God himself calms the storm and the waters.

Note the quotation JESUS ORDERED THE WINDS AND THE WAVES TO STOP. This shows that Jesus used his own authority & who else can have such authority other than God.

So you see from all of the above, the Messiah who was promised to man was God himself. Only God can save man, man cannot save man. It will be like a blind man leading a blind man….both are doomed to fall. One more thing knowing Jesus is privilege I say this because He has given us the gift of Salvation at the cost of his own life & we can only say that salvation is ours when we accept what he has done for us. I hope you are getting my drift you know you cannot say something is yours if you reject it when it is given to you. As it is quoted in my Old Testament in Psalm 91:14

God says, “I will save those who love me

and will protect those who acknowledge me as Lord.

There was once a man named Kareem,

from the time he was young,

he wanted to fulfill a dream.

His aim alone,

was to please the One,

who wove Him flesh and bone.

All his life, Kareem worked with full effect,

but who he intended to please,

he was brought up to reject.

He lived & did as he was taught,

praying, fasting, holy places, charity and other sorts,

but what was he missing, he always thought,

the sacrifices he offered, had God remembered or forgot?

So he started to think,

To please God, what else could I bring?

One day he asked himself a question,

did he love the One responsible for his creation?

He answered a yes without hesitation

& wondered for all he had done, was it only for his society’s appreciation?

He then asked God, what did He want?

It was obvious that Kareem was now getting blunt.

He cried out for help with a lot of frustration?

Where was God in this dammed situation?

One day with a friend, he happens to see,

something intriguing on God TV

and wonders, “who is this God, they preach who can save me?”

He went home thinking and thinking,

This was certainly not his upbringing.

Son of God? How can this be?

Or did God have a Son just to save me?

Kareem by the Spirit began to understand & see…

God’s Son was God’s own Word,

God’s very Authority, the perfect sacrifice to save the world.

He wondered, if man could have a son, then why not God?

is there any good that man can do, which is not so with God?

Kareem then added 2 and 2,

& learned he had to say “YES” to the One to whom all praise was due,

who was the Son of God, Jesus, whom he barely knew.

He grew up with laws but no permanent solution,

If he had continued, he knew he would be due the retribution.

All these days he ran the race,

Sometimes he was at first place,

all this out of fear of the punishment he would embrace.

“Yes” to Jesus, he learned is the Ace,

that would save him alone by grace.

Of salvation, how could he, ever be worthy?

Countable years of works, could it ever be worth eternity?

This God about whom he learned through life’s experience, whom he now banks upon,

is the Godhead THREE in ONE

The Only God

& exist as FATHER, SPIRIT & SON.

Hello people, I am writing again. I could not write last week as I was in Pune. Anyways today I heard a sermon from a theologian. It was very intellectual, good stuff. I liked the way he put 2 and 2 together. Anyways people what I’ll be sharing with you is just a duplicate of the amazing original. Even the best of duplicates are not as good as the original. The only good thing is that it makes the original more popular.

Well I’ll be talking about what I’ve understood on his sermon on Knowledge and Grace. To start of, I would like to ask you, how you take a stand against false teaching? Let me quote 2 Peter 3:16-18

2 Peter 3:16-18 (This is part of Apostle Peter’s letter to many early Christians)
There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. 17You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. 18But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

From verse 17 we see that we are warned not to get carried away by false teachings, verse 18 tells us how to do it. We do it by growing in the grace & knowledge of Christ. Well as you all may know anything that stays stagnant is liable to decay and fall away from its stand, but if something is always moving forward then it does not fall to decay.

The below passage will show you that false teachers can come in disguise.

2 Corinthians 11:12-15 (This is part of Apostle Paul’s letter to the Christians in Corinth)
12 I will go on doing what I am doing now, in order to keep those other “apostles” from having any reason for boasting and saying that they work in the same way that we do. 13 Those men are not true apostles  they are false apostles, who lie about their work and disguise themselves to look like real apostles of Christ. 14 Well, no wonder! Even Satan can disguise himself to look like an angel of light! 15 So it is no great thing if his servants disguise themselves to look like servants of righteousness. In the end they will get exactly what their actions deserve.

Coming back to the topic of grace, I would like to show you that this God’s grace in the New Testament, existed even in the Old Testament. Take the below passage for instance.

Deuteronomy 7:7-8
“The Lord did not love you and choose you because you outnumbered other peoples; you were the smallest nation on earth. 8 But the Lord loved you and wanted to keep the promise that he made to your ancestors. That is why he saved you by his great might and set you free from slavery to the king of Egypt.

You can see that Israel was the smallest nation, yet God chose them. From verse 8 you can see it was because of God promise to their ancestor, Abraham. Now consider this, before Abraham was called by God, he worshiped idols or the moon or something like that. I can’t find the scripture to support this but I know it exist. So you see God did not call him because he was worthy, in fact God tested Abraham after he called him. This clearly shows that when God chose Abraham, it was purely through grace and nothing else. Now if God’s promise to Abraham was because of grace & if Israel was chosen because of God promise to Abraham then putting 2 and 2 together, we get that God chose Israel purely through grace.

Now for those of you who cannot put the word “grace” in the context of the real world, I would like to help you out by giving you a real life example. When I was in my second year of senior college, in my first semester, I plugged my Math II exam by 11 marks. Since its been 8 years I don’t know how much I got nor do I remember now how was the minimum marks required to pass but I’ll tell you why & how I remember it was 11 marks short. You see for the marks that I got on my own, what I deserved was a fail in that paper but my professor was good enough to give us failures the additional marks that we required to pass. Now this was purely through his goodness. He did not want to see us fail and so, since it was within his power to get us to pass, he did it. That is grace, you see what I deserved was failure but my professor in his goodness made me pass. This is the main reason why I don’t remember what I got or what I required but I remember the marks I got as grace. So we have a similar situation when we consider our Salvation through Christ, which we receive purely through grace.

So you see when a person is touched by Jesus, he is saved by grace & what he holds on to is not who he was but what was given to him by grace.

Romans 3:23-24
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.

Philippians 3:7-8 (Apostle Paul writes something similar in his letter to the Philippians Christians)
7 But all those things that I might count as profit I now reckon as loss for Christ’s sake. 8 Not only those things; I reckon everything as complete loss for the sake of what is so much more valuable, the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have thrown everything away; I consider it all as mere refuse, so that I may gain Christ.

Also when a person is saved, he becomes a new creation in Christ, it is almost as though he is born again.

John 3:3
Jesus answered, “I am telling you the truth: no one can see the Kingdom of God without being born again.”

I would like to tell you that when you are saved (born again), you cannot just stay there, you need to grow. For example, if you were to visit a friend who just had a baby, you would join them in celebrating new life. You may even say that the baby is very beautiful. Now consider this, if you visited that same friend after a few years and found that baby to be the same as when you previously visited, then how would you feel? You may be shocked as it would be something abnormal, you would not compliment the parents then saying the baby is beautiful because the natural growth that had to take place did not happen. This is the case with all things that are alive; they should have some growth in any aspect. So it is the same with a person’s faith in Christ. It must grow if it’s alive and this is the growth that is mentioned in 2 Peter 3:18 (mentioned above).

Well as you may all know that in order for us to grow spiritually there should be learning of the knowledge of Biblical scripture, which transforms us into people that do works that please God.

2 Peter 1:2
May grace and peace be yours in full measure through your knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

Colossians 1:9-10 (This is part of Apostle Paul’s letter to the Christians in Colossae)
9 For this reason we have always prayed for you, ever since we heard about you. We ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will, with all the wisdom and understanding that his Spirit gives. 10 Then you will be able to live as the Lord wants and will always do what pleases him. Your lives will produce all kinds of good deeds, and you will grow in your knowledge of God.

To come to my next point, as you may have understood from all of the above, we are saved by grace & for those who have experienced this saving grace; God gives them the knowledge/insight so that they may know that they are saved purely by grace. From Colossians 1:10, we see that it is by this knowledge that we please God by good deeds. This is exactly what the Apostle James talks about.

James 2:14
My brothers and sisters, what good is it for people to say that they have faith if their actions do not prove it? Can that faith save them?

James 2:18
But someone will say, “One person has faith, another has actions.” My answer is, “Show me how anyone can have faith without actions. I will show you my faith by my actions.”

Allow me to help you fix the above verses in the Biblical jigsaw. Well I have shown you that your very first step into salvation in purely through grace. Now when this happens, God also gives you the knowledge to understand this. It is from this knowledge that we know & do the works/actions that please God. As for the faith part of it, let me give you some Biblical support showing that faith is not what man has by himself but what God has given him through grace.

Romans 12:3
3For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

Roman 1:5 (Apostle Paul greets the Romans in the name of Jesus)
5through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations,

So that is what is talked about by the Apostle James that faith with actions go hand in hand when you are saved by grace because when God saves (eternal life) a person, that person just cannot sit and lay back with his salvation, God would want that person to make, the salvation only through Christ, known to all mankind, starting with those around that person.

Finally, I would like to close this topic saying that grace does not mean that we are free to sin. Sin is still a major concern with God. If God the Father willed that his Son suffer to death to be that pure sacrifice for sin, then it should be clear to understand that our Father would not want us to misuse the salvation through Christ, that we have received through purely grace. Christ did not die because the world was deserving but because we needed salvation.

Romans 6:14-15
14For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.15What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!

Hi people I am writing again. I am always hungry to write on an article of my own & I did have one this time, I was going to write on Isaiah 64 because when I read it I felt as though I was spiritually in a cup & stirred with a spoon. I mean it was amazing. However I have an odd feeling to write on the Word I heard again in Church. The reason I feel more strongly to write on this is because there are people who site this piece of scripture so as to show that Jesus is not God. This situation seems to me as very dangerous, which can pollute a mind that knows little. Like one famous preacher puts it, if you were to come across a poisonous snake when you enter your house, will you say O see there is a poisonous snake and then get about your daily chores around the house. No, you would make sure that the snake is so far out that there is no chance of it coming back. So that is how I feel right now and that is why I will leave Isaiah 64 for now and write on what I heard in Church today. I would like to compare “people who try to prove that Jesus is not God as per the Bible” to this. Consider this if I were to tell you “Hey friend, you are so amazing & the last thing I would want to do is hurt you”. A person can easily choose words from this sentence & put it as “Hey friend, I want to hurt you”. So you see the words taken do exist in what was originally said but it totally changes the meaning of the sentence. In fact, if I may say so it is a corruption of what was originally said. This is the parallel that I draw with people who try to prove from the Bible that Jesus is not God. These people carefully choose scripture to suit their convenience & will ignore the context the scripture was written.

The piece of scripture I am talking about is Luke 18:18-30

Luke 18:18-30
18 A Jewish leader asked Jesus, “Good Teacher, what must I do to receive eternal life?”
19 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked him. “No one is good except God alone. 20 You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery; do not commit murder; do not steal; do not accuse anyone falsely; respect your father and your mother.’ “
21 The man replied, “Ever since I was young, I have obeyed all these commandments.”
22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “There is still one more thing you need to do. Sell all you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven; then come and follow me.” 23 But when the man heard this, he became very sad, because he was very rich.
24 Jesus saw that he was sad and said, “How hard it is for rich people to enter the Kingdom of God! 25 It is much harder for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.”
26 The people who heard him asked, “Who, then, can be saved?”
27 Jesus answered, “What is humanly impossible is possible for God.”
28 Then Peter said, “Look! We have left our homes to follow you.”
29 “Yes,” Jesus said to them, “and I assure you that anyone who leaves home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the Kingdom of God 30 will receive much more in this present age and eternal life in the age to come.”

As you can see from verse 18, the Jewish leader is asking the wrong person the wrong question. He is calling Jesus Good and at the same time he calls Jesus teacher, which is more like that of a prophet. So it is more like him referring to Jesus as God as well as a prophet. Leaving this aside the question he puts to Jesus is “What can he do to go to heaven”. He was looking to earn his salvation, which as I have helped you understand earlier, Salvation is purely through grace & mercy that purely comes through the sacrifice of Jesus.

Romans 3:23-24
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

Ephesians 2:8-9
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Titus 3:5-7
5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Coming back, so what does Jesus do? He puts the question back to the Jewish leader as you can see. This is not Jesus denying that He is God but Jesus is trying to bring about an understanding in the mind of that Jewish leader by asking him some thought provoking questions. In verse 20 Jesus asks the Jewish leader if he knows the following commandments ..’Do not commit adultery; do not commit murder; do not steal; do not accuse anyone falsely; respect your father and your mother.’ You will notice from the above that the very first commandment is missing from the above list. Let me take you to Exodus 20:3 to show you what it is.

Exodus 20:3
3 “You shall have no other gods before me.

To explain the above commandment, it means that you should not only put gods worshiped by others before the One God but you should also not hold on to anything more that you hold on the One God. Now the Old Testament says that God knew His people but His people did not know their God.  Here is some scriptural proof.

Jeremiah 4:22
22 “For my people are foolish;
they know me not;
they are stupid children;
they have no understanding.
They are ‘wise’in doing evil!
But how to do good they know not.”

It is in the New Testament that God has plainly revealed himself as One God in the Father Son and Holy Spirit. So you see that when Jesus put the statement to the Jewish leader, asking him to give up his riches, which was most precious to him (Jewish Leader) & then follow Jesus. You can then plainly see the parallel between Luke 18:22 and Exodus 20:3. Jesus was actually testing the Jewish leader to see if he willing to hold to the very first commandment. The Jewish Leader subconsciously acknowledged Jesus as God in the start by calling him Good but as Jesus tested, the Jewish leader held on to his money more than he held on God (Jesus). The Jewish leader’s held on to his money like it were a god.

A similar scenario to this is in John 4, where the Samaritan woman also thinks of Jesus as a prophet but Jesus towards the end helps her understand that He is the Messiah, meaning He saves His people from their sins.

John 4:6-26
6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.
7 A Samaritan woman came to draw some water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink of water.” 8 (His disciples had gone into town to buy food.)
9 The woman answered, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan  so how can you ask me for a drink?” (Jews will not use the same cups and bowls that Samaritans use.)
10 Jesus answered, “If only you knew what God gives and who it is that is asking you for a drink, you would ask him, and he would give you life-giving water.”
11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you haven’t got a bucket, and the well is deep. Where would you get that life-giving water? 12 It was our ancestor Jacob who gave us this well; he and his sons and his flocks all drank from it. You don’t claim to be greater than Jacob, do you?”
13 Jesus answered, “All those who drink this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring which will provide him with life-giving water and give him eternal life.”
15 “Sir,” the woman said, “give me that water! Then I will never be thirsty again, nor will I have to come here to draw water.”
16 “Go and call your husband,” Jesus told her, “and come back.”
17 “I haven’t got a husband,” she answered.
Jesus replied, “You are right when you say you haven’t got a husband. 18 You have been married to five men, and the man you live with now is not really your husband. You have told me the truth.”
19 “I see you are a prophet, sir,” the woman said. 20 “My Samaritan ancestors worshipped God on this mountain, but you Jews say that Jerusalem is the place where we should worship God.”
21 Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, the time will come when people will not worship the Father either on this mountain or in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans do not really know whom you worship; but we Jews know whom we worship, because it is from the Jews that salvation comes. 23 But the time is coming and is already here, when by the power of God’s Spirit people will worship the Father as he really is, offering him the true worship that he wants. 24 God is Spirit, and only by the power of his Spirit can people worship him as he really is.”
25 The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah will come, and when he comes, he will tell us everything.”
26 Jesus answered, “I am he, I who am talking with you.”

You can see that Jesus does not force his Lordship on us as if it were some sought of dictatorship; Jesus helps his chosen people understand that He is God through divine understanding. From verse 21 you can see that the man was expecting Jesus to be pleased with his reply. In verse 22 Jesus test him by asking him to give up all that he has and follow Jesus. I would like to clear a common misunderstanding here to; this verse does not mean that only the poor will go to heaven. The reason the Jewish leader is asked to give all he has to the poor is because that is the best way in the eyes of Jesus for him to give up everything and follow Jesus. This also does not mean that everyone who follows Jesus is supposed to give everything away to the poor because as you will notice form 23-25, there was something (riches) that the man held on to that was dearer to him than God (Jesus) & that is why Jesus said in verse 25 that it is harder for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle.

Now this does not mean that all rich people are going to hell because salvation is not earned as I said earlier. If a rich person were to give up all his belonging and live the life of a sage that would not mean that he has EARNED eternal life. As I said earlier eternal life cannot be earned. It is those to whom God chooses to reveal Himself, in whichever way, who are saved. As Jesus said in verse 27 in terms of being saved, what is humanly impossible is possible by God.

From verses 28-30, I would like to quote the same story from Matthew 19:27-29. I would first like to brief you on the Gospels of Matthew, Mark & Luke. These are called Synoptic Gospel as they have similar content with variation in presentation, just as how different people would relay the same event that they mutually experience, differently through words.

Matthew 19:27-29
27 Then Peter spoke up. “Look,” he said, “we have left everything and followed you. What will we have?”
28 Jesus said to them, “You can be sure that when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne in the New Age, then you twelve followers of mine will also sit on thrones, to rule the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 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.

To conclude you can see from verse Matthew 19:29 that if you put Jesus before whatever you put first in your life then you will not only receive a hundred times more but it would show that God is working within you & you are destined for paradise (heaven).

Hello folks, a write after quite a break. I have been down with tonsillitis, fever and body ache, I am a little better now but not completely well. I so write for Jesus because that is my purpose just as for an engine its only purpose is to run in whatever condition so is mine to witness for Jesus.

I will be writing on trust and belief, Biblically and fundamentally they are the same thing but with time the world has watered down the definition of belief and lost direction for Whom to trust in. Allow me to explain, belief to people in this day and age appears to be something in which they might just possibly feel/agree. For example people nowadays normally say: “Today being Sunday, I believe Crawford market would be closed” or “Arjun believes Dharmesh is a man of good character”. In terms of trust, people trust in the silliest of thing, right from the superstitious cat crossing the road, to the reading of daily horoscopes. The funny thing is, only the hale and hearty people find time and energy to trust in these sillies, a person in his death bed would be least bothered even if a cat is sitting under his government hospital bed nor will he be bothered about his daily horoscope because that would have nothing about “you will be fighting for your life today”.

Let see what the real among the counterfeit, the Book of books, the Bible says. The Bible says that we ought not to trust in our wealth or strength or people or power or even our own judgment if it is contrary to trusting in God.

Jeremiah 17:5 (about trusting in people)
The Lord says, “I will condemn those who turn away from me and put their trust in human beings, in the strength of mortals.

Jeremiah 49:4 (about trusting in power)
Why do you unfaithful people boast? Your strength is failing. Why do you trust in your power and say that no one would dare attack you?

Jeremiah 48:7 (about trusting in strength and wealth)
7 “Moab, you trusted in your strength and your wealth,
but now even you will be conquered;
.

Proverbs 3:5 (about trusting in understanding contrary to God)
Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;

Now when I say trust in God, you will know that it is Almighty God that I am talking about but let me introduce you to the god of this world/age with whom the people of the world agree.

2 Corinthians 4:4
The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

The god of this age is Satan, who makes people trust in everything other than Jesus. He puts into people a fear of doing what is right and makes the consequences seem bigger than Almighty Jesus. Disobedience has various forms and Satan is the father of them all, doing the right thing has just one way and one reason and that pleases Jesus but doing the wrong thing has multiple choice and multiple reason and all disobedience pleases Satan.  A man may say that he did what he did just to make a living, that man’s god was his own well being for that is what he put first. The Bible says to those who know not of the Law of God to them sin is un-accounted for (Romans 5:13) but to those who claim to practice the Law of God, the more stringent/fanatical the practice the more severe the punishment if they do not trust in God’s solution (Jesus) for sin.

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.

As I said earlier Satan is known as the god of this age for he has had his way with the world and takes them for a nice ride (Revelation 12:9), deception can be of various forms but the right trust has just one point and one way and that is Jesus (John 14:6). Contrary to popular belief there are no multiple ways to God for if that were true Jesus would not give his life for me and you. If I wanted to lie to you, I can make up any God dammed story I wanted and present it to you, I do not have to confirm to anything to lie to you so long as you find what I say acceptable & so it is with Satan to hide the Light of God that is in Jesus, he has made different concoctions of religious beliefs right from that of one god to that of many. To Satan no rule applies, he works ever so fervently as days pass for he knows his punishment draws nearer with time(Revelation 12:12).

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.

John 14:6
Jesus answered him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one goes to the Father except by me.

Revelation 12:12 (Satan after his defeat is thrown out of heaven)
12 And so be glad, you heavens, and all you that live there! But how terrible for the earth and the sea! For the Devil has come down to you, and he is filled with rage, because he knows that he has only a little time left.”

Bottom line, my friend: it is trust in Jesus that saves (John 3:16). Saves; not only from damnation but also our life’s consequences, if you doubt this it means you have never truly applied this science for your fear of the consequences seemed bigger but if you believe this then you are blessed for you have witnesses this at least once. Remember the reason God is telling you something different is because it does not seem right to you, you are unable to grasp this by your own power. Had it made sense to you, you would do it without being told.

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.

Why is the Bible alone is the Word of God and what is it that sets the Bible uniquely apart?

The Bible is actually a collection of books that have been compiled together, written by men of God, living at times relevant to that period. There is a lot of effort put in to preserve the accuracy of the Bible. The Bible consists of the Old Testament, which is of the time before Jesus came & the New Testament, which is the time of Jesus’ ministry and the early Church.

If you were to ask me what is so unique about the Bible, then I would like to tell you that even though the Bible has been collectively written by different authors at different times in history, the New Testament consist of the fulfillment of the Old Testament. The New Testament is the absolute completion of the Old Testament. In the New Testament, Jesus uniquely fulfilled prophesies of all the Old Testament prophets stated in their respective time. This is the uniqueness of the Bible compared to any book this world may refer to holy.

You may read some of the Old Testament prophesies which were fulfilled by Jesus in the New Testament. They are mentioned below with references.

Born of a virgin & called Immanuel (God is with us) (Isaiah 7:14) – fulfilled: Matthew 1:22-23; Luke 2:7
Born in Bethlehem of Judea (Micah 5:2) – fulfilled: Matthew 2:1; Luke 2:4-6
Tenderness & compassion (Isaiah 40:11; 42:3) – fulfilled: Matthew 12:15,20; Hebrews 4:15
Without guile (meaning deceitful cunning ) (Isaiah 53:9) – fulfilled:1Peter 2:22
Preaching with parables (Psalms 78:2) – fulfilled: Matthew 13:34,35
Working miracles (Isaiah 35:5,6) – fulfilled: Matthew 11:4-6; John 11:47
Betrayed for thirty pieces silver (Zechariah 11:12) – fulfilled: Matthew 26:15
He would be crucified (Psalms 22:16) – fulfilled: John 20:25, 27
His body would be pierced (Zechariah 12:10) – fulfilled: John 19:34-35
None of His bones would be broken (Psalms 34:20) – fulfilled: John 19:32-36
People would cast lots for His clothing (Psalms 22:18) – fulfilled: John 19:23-24
He would pray for his executioners (Isaiah 53:12) – fulfilled: Luke 23:34
He would be executed with criminals (Isaiah 53:12) – fulfilled: Matthew 27:38
He would not retaliate (Isaiah 53:7) – fulfilled: Matthew 27:12
He would be forsaken by His followers (Zechariah 13:7) – fulfilled: Mark 14:50
He would be betrayed by a trusted friend (Psalm 41:9) – fulfilled: John 13:18, 26
He would be offered vinegar and gall (Psalms 69:21) – fulfilled: Matthew 27:34
He would die for the sins of His people (Isaiah 53:12) fulfilled: Matthew 20:28; Matthew 26:28
Buried with the rich (Isaiah 53:9) – fulfilled: Matthew 27:57-60
Flesh not seeing corruption (Psalms 16:10) – fulfilled: Acts 2:31
His resurrection (Psalms 16:10; Isaiah 26:19) – fulfilled: Luke 24:6,31,34
His ascension (Psalms 68:18) – fulfilled: Luke 24:51; Acts 1:9

If you think that the above is a little exhaustive then I would like to tell you that there are in total 360 prophesies about the Savior, of which 109 could be fulfilled by NO ONE other than Jesus. Jesus fulfilled all that was prophesized about the Savior (who saves people from their sins).

Another thing that makes the Bible stand out among other holy/religious books is that in the Bible, it is God Himself who is speaking.

Consider few pieces of scripture

Genesis 2:18 (Old Testament)
Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to live alone. I will make a suitable companion to help him.”

Deuteronomy 5:6 (Old Testament)
‘I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from Egypt, where you were slaves.

Jeremiah 1:8 (Old Testament)
Do not be afraid of them, for I will be with you to protect you. I, the Lord, have spoken!”

Acts 9:5 (New Testament: Jesus talks to Apostle Paul before Paul’s conversion)
“Who are you, Lord?” he asked. “I am Jesus, whom you persecute,” the voice said.

You will notice from the above scriptures that when God talks in the Bible he speaks in the first person. Notice the “I” when God is speaking. However if you were to consider other religious book and see as to how it is that the god of that book speaks then you will notice that, that god speaks in the third person. You will find stuff like “he is like this or like that”, notice the ” he and him” when that god speaks, indicating these are not the words of that god but the words of a religious leader speaking on his authority in the name of that god. As for the Word of God in the Bible, that Word comes straight from mouth of God. In 2 Timothy 3:16 Apostle Paul tell us that all Biblical scripture is “God Breathed”, he uses the Greek term “theo-pneustos” to describe Biblical scripture in the original Greek translation, “theo” meaning “God” and “pneustos” meaning “breathed”. “All scripture is God breathed”, meaning all Biblical scripture came directly from the mouth of God. Only in the Bible God speaks directly to us, using men of God who have been possessed by God’s Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21). The Bible does away with in-betweens (angels or whatever) when it comes to God delivering His Word to man.

2 Peter 1:21
21 For no prophetic message ever came just from human will, but people were under the control of the Holy Spirit as they spoke the message that came from God.

2 Timothy 3:16
16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

If you were to ask, what is it that draws people to the Bible? Then I would like to explain it all just like this. I am sure we all love to go for the best deals in whatever we intend to keep for ourselves. When it comes to the Bible, the billboard message is “freedom from laws and also from sin – GRACE”. The message of the Bible is often referred to as Good News because according to the Bible, we are saved purely by grace.

I would like to further explain to you why the message of the Bible is known as Good News (Salvation by Grace).

John 1:17
17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

Romans 3:23-24
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

The most common notion of God is that you do good, impress God and you are rewarded with eternal life. So man through out the ages man has tried everything he could imagine to please God. Man has tried offering sacrifices, praying as often and possible, charity, performing lengthy rituals, fasting, bringing pain in different sought of ways to oneself to show selflessness & devotion to God, making a personal sacrifice in one’s life to please God, making pilgrimages & the list goes on.

So you see when God was preached to people, the most common thing that occurred to people was will I ever be worthy to set foot in heaven. People who did all of the above, still felt unsure of heaven, many did the above mentioned, out of fear of punishment or hell. All who wanted heaven did all the good possible with the purpose of going to heaven but with all that they did, they could not keep sin out of their lives.

Now when the Bible/Gospel was preached, it was preached that God was an unconditional lover. A God who loves us so much that he does not keep track of wrongs.

1 John 4:16
16 .God is love,

1Corinthians 13:5
5 .; love does not keep a record of wrongs;

You all would know that God is just & knowing this you may ask me, how can the Bible says that God does not keep track of wrongs when he is just? Well the very same just God, also happens to love us unconditionally and it is this love for us, that made God Himself pay the price of all sin, which was death.

So you see when the Bible was preached, the people were told that the Kingdom of heaven was now at hand because there was no question of sin for those who believed what Jesus had done for them. Let me give you some scriptural support.

Mathew 10:7
7 And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’

Romans 6:23
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

As you can see from Romans 6:23; God gave us the eternal life for FREE in union with Christ. The FREE means it does not require work from the believer, for his salvation. Here is some more support from scripture.

Titus 3:4-6
4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared,
5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,
6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,

So you see eternal life was at hand just by believing & putting trust in Jesus because when you trust in Jesus you are sure that your sins had all been paid for on that cross. So for every believer it was “Heaven here I come”. Here is some supporting scripture.

John 3:16
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

So this is what the Good News (Gospel) was all about, salvation is yours all for free in Jesus without you requiring any obligation. Now I know you may ask me, is not God pleased when you do good? Well my answer is yes, He is, but I don’t feel God or take for matter anybody would be impressed if someone were to do good, either out of obligation or with the intention of getting a certain job done (going to heaven), this kind of good would be more like bribing your way to heaven.

The good the Bible talks about comes this way,

you may be a wretch,
you come to know Jesus,
you repent for your sins,
you trust Jesus & you are saved.
You then come to understand God’s love & you accept it because it is so irresistible.
You then start loving God, God’s Spirit then begins to dwell in you & this help you to do the good that pleases Him .

It is because of this love relationship that you develop with God, that you then start enjoying worshiping God because you know you are already saved in Christ & your worship is through no obligation at all but out of pure joy for what God has done for you. That is why all the Churches include singing in their worship & many even dance.

I don’t know how many of you will agree with me but when there is a love relationship between ..let us take an example of a good & bad person, then even the wretch begins to change because they both love each other. The good person understand the bad person’s shortcomings and the bad person begins to change to become more like the good person & that is exactly what happens between Jesus and you / me. God saves us and then changes us by the power of His Spirit, into good people, all through love. Here is some support.

Colossians 1:28 (Him refers to Jesus and we refers to the disciples)
28 Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.

It is after we are saved that we are called into mission to help fellow men, physically as well as spiritually (telling them of the salvation that is in Christ).

Proverbs 14:31
If you oppress poor people, you insult the God who made them; but kindness shown to the poor in as act of worship.

As for prayer, the prayer the Bible talks about is one where you come to know God & learn of His sacrifice, which was just to save you. You are swiped off your feet & fall in love with God because he loved you first (1John 4:19). It is with this love that you enjoy talking with God, sharing your joys and your troubles. As you may already know, talking with God is prayer. So prayer according to the Bible is said, not because you have to, not because you are bound to or even forced to but it is said because you love to. Don’t we all enjoy talking to someone we love?

1John 4:19
We love because God first loved us.

Remember, the good works the Bible teaches (prayer, fasting, preaching and reaching out to the unfortunate) is not done with the idea of finding favour with God so that you can go to heaven. The good works the Bible teaches is what God (Holy Spirit) enables you to do with great zeal and joy (Psalm 35:9) after you have found that your Salvation (ticket to heaven) by trusting in Jesus (John 3:18). The Bible does not teach that you work to be saved (going to heaven), it teaches that God is pleased by “work” that is done by people who are already saved by their faith in Jesus (Hebrews 11:6).

John 3:18
Those who believe in the Son are not judged; but those who do not believe have already been judged, because they have not believed in God’s only Son.

Hebrew 11:6
No one can please God without faith, for whoever comes to God must have faith that God exists and rewards those who seek him.

Psalm 35:9
Then I will be glad because of the Lord; I will be happy because he saved me.

Another thing is that this Good News was preached by the disciples without using any force of any kind. The only thing they had as back up was the authority of God that was with them to work miracles of healing and to cast out demons, all in Jesus’ name.

Mark 6:7 (He refers to Jesus)
He called the twelve disciples together and sent them out two by two. He gave them authority over the evil spirits

It was all these miracles that convinced people that God was with the disciples & this is what made the people put their trust in Christ. Also Consider

Matthew 28:18-19 (Jesus send his disciples on a mission, after his resurrection)
18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

You will notice in verse 19 it mentions, making disciples of the nations. It is easy to interpret that every culture, people and language was included in God’s saving plan through Christ.

I would also like to say that it is for this very reason the Bible is the most widely read book in the whole world, having being translated in so many languages. According to the Bible there is no one holy language because all things seen and unseen including people, cultures & languages are from God himself.

This is the Good News & uniqueness of the Bible, Salvation for any man, for free, in union with Christ.

Hi people, I am back with another topic, which God is helping me figure out. You see I was reading the Old Testament & I came across this verse.

Psalms 130:4

But you forgive us, so that we should stand in awe of you.

I have checked the meaning of “awe” in an online dictionary and this is what I got…..

an overwhelming feeling of reverence, admiration, fear, etc., produced by that which is grand, sublime, extremely powerful, or the like: in awe of God;

Now what was God talking about when he said that we would stand in awe of him when he would forgive us? For us to stand in awe it would mean that God would do something so drastic/radical that we would be left stunned and speechless & he would do that just to forgive our own sins.

Now to try and make sense of the above piece of scripture I will make use of what I have learned from my Bible. I know that our God is a God who is just, loving & merciful. Check out some Old Testament scripture.

Psalms 33:5

The Lord loves what is righteous and just; his constant love fills the earth.

Psalms 145:8

The Lord is loving and merciful, slow to become angry and full of constant love.

I also know that he forgives because of his Grace (because of how good he is and not how good we are). You see sin is a very serious issue for God & as our God is just, he deals with sin with justice. Now in the times of the Old Testament the wages of sin was living in separation from God, which was as good as death, I have quoted some supporting scripture showing God abandoning Israel at a point of time when Israel was lead into sin by its King Jeroboam.

1Kings 14:16

The Lord will abandon Israel because Jeroboam sinned and led the people of Israel into sin.”

Some more scripture below on Gods dealing with sin,

Isaiah 57:17

I was angry with them because of their sin and greed, and so I punished them and abandoned them. But they were stubborn and kept on going their own way.

In the light of the above scripture I would like to add that just as God is just he also loves us immensely, he knows we are all sinners & will not survive to pay price of our sins which is eternal death. I have mentioned some scripture from the Old Testament to show as to how much God loves us.

Isaiah 49:15

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.

So you see just as God is just in dealing with sin (the punishment for sin cannot be escaped) & as said before God knows we will not survive his punishment & so because of his great love he sent his own Son to the world as a man to be that pure sacrifice that would take that punishment for sin which was to come upon us. As it is stated in my New Testament,

John 3:16

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.

I would like to continue from Psalm 130:4 in my Old Testament and show you its complete fulfillment in the New Testament through Jesus.

Psalms 130:5-8

5 I wait eagerly for the Lord’s help,

and in his word I trust.

6 I wait for the Lord

more eagerly than watchmen wait for the dawn —

than watchmen wait for the dawn.

7 Israel, trust in the Lord,

because his love is constant

and he is always willing to save.

8 He will save his people Israel

from all their sins.

Now I would like to quote a verse from my New Testament where an angel of God speaks to Joseph, who was to marry Mary & tells him of Jesus’ purpose of coming to this world.

Matthew 1:20-23

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”).

Now that I have shown you Jesus’ purpose, I would like to tell you that Matthew 1:21 from my New Testament is God’s promise that was spoken of to his people from Psalms 130:8 from the Old Testament.

As for verses 5 & 6 from Psalm 130 of my Old Testament, which shows God’s people eagerly awaiting their salvation from God, the same is spoken of in my New Testament showing people being saved and awaiting their salvation (Hebrews 9:28) because they trusted in the ultimate sacrifice that was from God for once and for all and for all sins of all times.

Hebrews 9:25-28

25 The Jewish High Priest goes into the Most Holy Place every year with the blood of an animal. But Christ did not go in to offer himself many times, 26 for then he would have had to suffer many times ever since the creation of the world. Instead, now when all ages of time are nearing the end, he has appeared once and for all, to remove sin through the sacrifice of himself. 27 Everyone must die once, and after that be judged by God. 28 In the same manner Christ also was offered in sacrifice once to take away the sins of many. He will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are waiting for him.

So as I said in my previous mails I will say it again all we have to do is believe in what Jesus has done for us. However I would also like to say that in order to accept forgiveness that comes from Jesus’ sacrifice we must first accept that we are sinners. It’s like you can only accept correction when you accept that what you have done is wrong. As it is stated in my Old Testament,

Lev 5:5

When a person is guilty, he must confess the sin,

Like the case of the 2 criminals who were crucified with Jesus, one of whom accepted his own punishment as just & recognized Jesus’ sacrifice, for Jesus’ death was through no fault of his (Jesus’) own & for that Jesus rewarded him with eternal life

Luke 23:32-43

32 Two other men, both of them criminals, were also led out to be put to death with Jesus. 33 When they came to the place called “The Skull”, they crucified Jesus there, and the two criminals, one on his right and the other on his left. 34 Jesus said, “Forgive them, Father! They don’t know what they are doing.”

They divided his clothes among themselves by throwing dice. 35 The people stood there watching while the Jewish leaders jeered at him: “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah whom God has chosen!”

36 The soldiers also mocked him: they came up to him and offered him cheap wine,

37 and said, “Save yourself if you are the king of the Jews!”

38 Above him were written these words: “This is the King of the Jews.”

39 One of the criminals hanging there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”

40 The other one, however, rebuked him, saying, “Don’t you fear God? You received the same sentence he did. 41 Ours, however, is only right, because we are getting what we deserve for what we did; but he has done no wrong.” 42 And he said to Jesus, “Remember me, Jesus, when you come as King!”

43 Jesus said to him, “I promise you that today you will be in Paradise with me.”

Note:

1. Even though Jesus was suffering to the point of death he was not furious or hurl insults at his persecutors but he showed his Godhead (a chip of the old block) by showing his mercy (Psalms 145:8) towards his persecutors & asking his Father to forgive them (Luke 23:34).
2. Jesus does not force himself on us, he knocks on the door of our hearts & leaves it to us to open that door and welcome him in. This is the sharp contrast between the 2 criminals that were put to death with Jesus, both of them knew he was the Messiah (Savior of the world) but only one accepted him.

So I hope you understand this very radical message & this is how (through Jesus’ sacrifice) that we stand in awe of God when he saves us.