1John 2:16
For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.

The above scripture shows you what exemplifies a great life in this sinful world… the lust of the flesh (that desire for wicked pleasure), the lust of the eyes (that thirst for corrupt power), the pride of life (selfish pride), which is nothing but the veil that blinds the unbeliever to the redeeming merit of the Lord Jesus Christ as presented in the Gospel (2Cor 4:3). The Bible teaches us that the believer must walk by faith and not by sight (2Cor 5:7) and in doing so, it qualifies saving faith as that sixth sense which overrides all our five senses because our flesh naturally from the fall of Adam, is wired to resist the good pleasure of God, but faith teaches us to say no to ourselves and say yes to God. In any case, when you take a look at the end result of our indulging in our own pleasure, when you have had all that you have wanted, whether it be: drunkenness, gluttony, drug addiction or nymphomania, when have had all of what pleases you personally, you are left feeling very squeamish if not diseased. The reason our pleasures handed to us from Adam are so morbid is because we are not God, we weren’t meant to serve our own interest. Instead we were made to serve the Lord and make his pleasure our own (Psalm 37:4).

John 12
24 Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. 25 He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.

Rom 5:17
17 For if by the one man’s (Adam’s) offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)

When we look at the above two verses we realize how the free will of man traces its way after the sovereign will of God, like water flowing through a channel made in the mud by hand (Prov 21:1). Keeping this in mind, when we look at the above scripture we realize that the dying to ourselves, which must happen in the life of a believer, is not God calling you to commit social suicide but instead it is the saving power of the Jesus’ Spirit working in the believer (Phil 1:6), in the bringing the believer to repent and believe in God. When Jesus said He didn’t come to call the healthy but sinners (Mk 2:17), we realize that we cannot receive the righteousness of God unless we lose our terribly fraudulent self-righteousness & acknowledge we are nothing but sinners in turning to God. Take a look at the thirst for corrupt power, people will do anything to climb the corporate ladder, sleep with their bosses, bribe their way to get a promotion, bear false witness against their colleagues, then when you look at politics we know that in most socialist countries the best upgrade a gangster or religious baba/conman can get is to become a politician, the whole world practically goes about trying to gain the whole the world at the cost of losing their soul (Mk 8:36).

Gen 3
4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

The above verse sights the Biblical account of the fall of man in the Garden of Eden. Notice how Satan baits the woman, he says you will be like God, in the sense you will have your own standard of what is right and what is wrong, separate from what God has set. Verse 6 of Genesis 3 is where the fall happens because the woman actually believes Satan and all the lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh and pride of life appears to take root in Adam & Eve here. In doing so the living faith that was in them perished but not just for them but for us all who are their progeny. Ever wondered Jesus was born of a virgin? It is so that he would have no part of Adam’s sin (Heb 4:15). It is no wonder that today people are more willing to listen to spirit mediums who communicate with demons impersonating the dead but these same people have the least interest in knowing what the good Lord says in the Bible, because it doesn’t quite whet their rebellious appetite, which is all thanks to fall of Adam.

Romans 8:28
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

When you look at the above scripture, you might begin to realize that unlike man, the reason good comes from God pursuing His own purpose/interests, is because the truth is God and God, man is not God, and to go against this simple and yet critical truth/principle is to dangerously err but we do it everyday unknowingly, and the Bible in this context is quite right in saying: the fool says in his heart- there is no God (Psalm 14:1); because that is the kind of ungrateful lives we are living and then we wonder where’s the joy all gone and why the suicide rates are so high. Still, God in his mercy keeps us alive each day, blessing us with sunshine, rain and all the other pleasures of life, which we can never put a price on. Now take a look at our selfish pride, besides it flying in the face of the Almighty Triune God, you also come to realize that selfish-pride and self-respect are mutually exclusive, the things selfish pride will make an unbeliever stoop to, is something no self-respecting believer will have anything to do with. For any person who takes pride in being very smart/learned, strong or attractive will senselessly speak ill of the other in his attempt to sabotage people’s perception concerning how the other excels in that field, which that person himself self-relates with so proudly. You will also notice that people who speak with great haughtiness concerning themselves can actually do very little, even for themselves. It is as the Bible says that the truth in not in them.

Psalm 37:4 (Pleasure)
4 Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Romans 8 (Power)
15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

Do you remember the parable of the pearl of great value in Mat 13:45-46, the Gospel is compared to this pearl of great value, where a merchant in realizing its value (1 Cor 2:14) relinquishes his self-righteousness in receiving Jesus Christ as His Lord/Master & Saviour? From Jesus we learn that a man cannot believe in the Gospel unless he repents (Jn 12:24-26), which is to say that he willingly and happily renounces his self-righteousness in receiving the righteousness of God. The scripture I have quoted above, tell us what exactly is the pleasure, pride and power a Christian is genuinely brought to yearn for. We must remember that we were made in the image in God (Gen 1:26) that was broken in Adam but restored in Christ (Rom 8:29), and so the pride, pleasure & power we ought to reflect must be all for the glory of the Triune God Almighty.

P.S. I DON’T SUPPORT #GayRight or #GayPride for the same reason I DON’T SUPPORT the Right to murder, or the Right to rape, or the fallen Pride murderers/rapists take in their capacity to sin. After all these are all sins deserving of death but our world is lost ever since the fall.

Mat 10
26 “Therefore do not fear them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. 27 What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim upon the housetops. 28 Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.

Have you ever heard that story of the Emperor’s New Clothes, it took a kid to tell the emperor he was parading naked! The people of this world vehemently despise those who are morally straight, it’s almost as though the righteousness of God which is revealed through the Spirit of Christ working in the believer, convicts the unbeliever of his sin and in that moment the unbeliever’s heart is either hardened (Rom 9:18) or his unbelieving heart is pierced with the weight of godly sorrow that brings him to repentance (2Cor 7:10-11). Today, Christianity for many namesake Christians is just a story but for those who really believe in the Lord Jesus, this religion is an original filled with substance. Take a look at Stephen (Acts 6:8 – 7:60), the first Christian martyr, when he was brought before the council, he spoke boldly of his faith in Jesus Christ before the pharisees and the apostate Jews, to the extent that their hearts were hardened and they took his life because God did not grant those poor fools the capacity to repent and be saved from their sins. Look at the average Christian witness today, does his life testify of the righteousness of Christ working in him, does it convict the unbeliever as Stephen did. No! To a great extent, unbelievers see namesake Christians living the same lives they are living but only believing in a different story and there is really no conviction in that. So, what is the point am driving? I am certainly not implying that the true Christian must be on a suicide mission. This is not Islam, where you can excuse yourself from the hardship of life by blowing yourself up in the midst of non-Muslims and fool yourself into thinking this is your straight ticket to heaven because that’s more like going from the frying pan into the fire.

Mark 1
14 Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

“Until Sin be bitter, Christ will not be sweet.” Thomas Watson

If we are living by what is right in God’s sight then we are walking by faith and not by sight, knowing that the righteousness of Christ we are called to exercise in this world, will be met by hostility, but our lives and theirs, is in God’s hand and they shall be able to nothing to us, until and unless God decrees that we suffer martyrdom for His namesake. After all, if Christ could suffer and die at the hand of sinners what right do we have to consider ourselves as more privileged to lead a Godly life without paying a dear price, which even if it be we lose our lives, it is nothing compared to what Jesus endured. Think about this, God’s wrath was not satisfied when He destroyed all of mankind in the days of Noah but His wrath was satisfied when He poured out the wages of all sin upon His Son Jesus Christ, who suffered the humiliation of this world leading up to death on the cross and then 3 days in hell. Look at us, we have a rough week at work and an anxiety filled weekend and we start grumbling against God. What we are going through for the sake of Christ is nothing compared to what Jesus went through, He was born in the stable because there was no room in the inn, Joseph and Mary had to flee to Egypt because Herod wanted to kill Him when He was a child, in the wilderness in His weak state (from His 40 days of fasting) he was tempted by Satan, during his ministry the pharisees in their inability to deal with their own guilt claimed He performed miracles by the power of the leader of demons, the foxes have their holes and birds have their nest but my Lord Jesus had no place to lie down, then His own disciple Judas betrayed Him and He was slandered, whipped, scourged and put to death on the cross among two thieves and then after He died He went to hell for three days. So, if the Captain of our Salvation could go through all this why should we surprised when affliction visits us as the means of perfecting our faith in Jesus Christ and proving our religion as genuine.

John 16 (Jesus Speaking About the Holy Spirit)
8 And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; 11 and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.

The world garnishes their sinfulness with hypocrisy, it’s like the unbeliever sins against his neighbour in the full view and knowledge of his neighbour, so as to subdue & assert his godless authority over his neighbour, which is in keeping with the ungodly leadership this world resorts to, in controlling their environment through tyrannical/unholy fear (Mat 20:25). However, if you have the courage to confront them with what is clearly evident, they will be taken aback because somehow it seems they have no problem with sinning against God and their neighbour but tell them about it, and God will either harden their hearts to hate you or God will take away their hearts of stone and give them a heart of flesh to obey His Law (Ezek 11:19). So what God reveals to you in your quite reflection of scripture, it is good to hide in your heart & keep your peace (Ps 119:11), till you confront your neighbour in the light of that knowledge at an opportune time as guided by the Holy Spirit (1Cor 6:2). Remember, the world’s people are neither your standard nor your audience, whatever you do, do it as unto the Lord (Col 3:23-24). When God is your audience and standard, your hands and tongues will not be tied to speak out against the sinfulness that plagues the whole world, instead you will be shouting out their judgement from every rooftop for the Glory of God alone.

Yes, this is all possible when you are in Christ (Mark 3:27).

Did you know that India’s Standard & Poor’s rating stands at “BBB-” implying we are adequate in capacity to meet our financial commitments but adverse economic conditions or changing circumstances are more likely to weaken our capacity to meet these financial commitments! India’s population is currently 1.345 billion, and according to ICE 360° Survey conducted in 2016 over 90% of the average monthly household income is under Rs. 35000. What worsens the matter is that there are over 400 thousand beggars in India as reported by NDTV in 2015, while DNA reported in 2016 that over 60 thousand children and kidnapped and forced into begging each year. Add to this the 21.5 million who work for the government with about 3 million in central government and 185 million employees working under state government. The reason am counting government employees it because these jobs are supported through the taxes paid by the common man. This is that socialist’s utopia that defines a democratic nation, that the people who are actually inching the nation onward are marginal in number but these are not helped in anyway, instead these are taxed further for the benefit of the rest who are sitting on their butts. It is for this reason that many of NASA’s scientists are Indian and the reason why Bose couldn’t find a market for his sound engineering in India (his home country) as he did in the USA on the count of its Christian environment, which makes it the land of opportunity like no other.

Coming back to India, there is nothing wrong with giving alms to people who are in need but the people who are in need are those who are struggle to see a better day, not those who are living off that religious gesture of alms giving. Sometime when I see beggars lined up outside Hindu Temples and Mosques, I think its almost like a set up to make the rich look good with their generosity that comes across as convenience to ease their conscience, as over people trying to help their neighbours learn to make a living for themselves. I think able-bodied, doesn’t necessarily mean handicapped but people who are willing to work hard for a living despite their physical or mental setbacks… which in other words is to carry your cross and follow Jesus, wherever it is you are in life (Lk 14:27). The Bible teaches us that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life and in him we learn something called dignity of life(Jn 14:6), which is a far cry from the self-righteously abusive mafia run begging business we see here in India. Yes, Jesus did heal and was sympathetic towards many beggars and lepers but after their encounter with Jesus they did not go back to being vessels of the people’s sympathy. Rather they became bold witnesses for the gospel standing against even people in power to speak out for Jesus (Jn 9:3-8, 16-27).

Mat 5
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

1 Cor 15:10
10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace to me was not in vain. No, I worked harder than all of them — yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.

I don’t know how many of you have watched this movie “Slum Dog Millionaire”, the maiming of people in that movie in preparing them to beg is as real as it gets in that movie. There have been newspaper reports where doctors have taken bribes from beggars to maim them, that people may take pity on them and give them money. The problem is not so much about people being financially poor but about them being spiritually poor and living in denial of it. If we were to look at the scripture mentioned above, we see that salvation involves coming to terms with God’s saving grace, that unmerited favour by which we learn how filthy our self-righteousness is before the Majesty of a perfect Triune God, who saves us in Jesus Christ. By this grace we receive in Christ, we receive a spiritual rebirth, which makes God interests our own interest and gives us that capacity to do His will and good pleasure (Eph 2:8-10).
Phil 3:14
I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Phil 4:13
13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

In India, there are many different kinds of beggars. Some of them are even revered by the people. Take the eunuchs for instance, whose blessing or curse is seemed to carry a lot of power as believed by many because they have seemingly given up their manhood for such a lifestyle of spiritual power. I remember my stupid cousin once offered a eunuch Rs. 5 in the local train to bless his little sister, his sister whom he today doesn’t talk to anymore. My colleague too, recently had a son and he laughingly told us that eunuchs came demanding Rs.5000 since he had a baby boy and he had to give it to them or else they would have taken his baby away. I lost my temper just listening to that… a bunch of castrated men come demanding a ransom from a father else they will kidnap the baby & this fool thinks it was the right thing to pay them the money. My righteous disgust at this reverence for eunuchs was however met by reproof from another fool of a colleague, who said that eunuch have supernatural powers in brings curses or blessings to pass and he said this with a tear rolling down his cheek. Also, I need to mention that according to the telegraph UK, there were about 2 million eunuchs in India as of 2014, who live in groups under a eunuch guru and make a living through begging. The funny thing, people who become eunuchs, do so because there’s money in it. It’s just like a beggar maiming himself to become subject for the people sympathy. It’s not a nice thing to live at the mercy of people, I get it but this is the curse of a godless society where people are not religiously tutored to love their neighbours as themselves. The masses from the fall of Adam think they are gods to themselves and so they will only help those who call upon their self-righteous pity or trigger their unholy fear because that is how people who are a law to themselves function.

Mat 22
36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Jesus has said that you can tell a tree by looking at it fruit (Mat 7:17-20) and when you look at how intricately beggars fit in from a sense of culture and religion in India, you come to know that what we are dealing with here is really a social problem fabricated by a pagan belief system. You must understand that there would no supply if there was no demand and so since the rich and powerful want to feel good in the self-righteousness, there is therefore a market for beggars in this country which is of no help to national growth as its only aim is to attempt the satisfy the godless pursuits of those who are in power in an environment where ignorance is bliss.

Prov 26 (Old Testament)
4 Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you yourself will be just like him.
5 Answer a fool according to his folly, or he will be wise in his own eyes.

Very often when I correct people on their lifestyle choices, I am supposedly schooled on what the Bible teaches concerning YOU SHALL NOT JUDGE. I happen to understand that people find their security in numbers (not in God) and when I express my disagreement on homosexuality, abortion, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism, I suddenly see people who claim to believe in “live and let live” turn fascist, from a sense of insecurity that undermines the sweet lies they have been living by, which helps them maintain their complacent and lukewarm nature towards the truth about God (Rev 3:16). The road to damnation is indeed broad (Mat 7:13) thanks to the fall of mankind in Adam, and for the many who swim against the flow by the redeeming power of Christ, these are labeled by the world as homophobic, Islamophobic and haters of humanity, but God has already warned us in His word (Prov 26:4 & Mat 7:6) of the kind of backlash we would suffer in coming after him (John 15:19). This is the cost of discipleship which we are to take into account when we take that decision to carry our crosses and follow Jesus (Luke 14:26-33), lest we be the soil where our spiritual growth is choked by the worries of the world being unable to bear fruit in Christ (Mat 13:22), which brings God-the-Father to prune these away in His time (John 15:1-6). Surely the cost is great (Mat 5:11-12) but the harvest is priceless (Mat 13:44) [afforded to us who persevere by the redeeming power of Jesus Christ (Phil 3:14 & 4:13)] and justifies the cost in every way because the Triune God Almighty is deserving of such sincere worship in truth and in Spirit (John 4:23-24).

Mat 7 (New Testament)
1 Judge not, that ye be not judged.
2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.
6 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.

Taking a look at the Mat 7:1 presented above, we see that the context in which we are told not to judge is in the sense that we are to practice what we preach. Take for instance, liberals in the USA who speak out against “gun violence” because the death toll in 2018 is so far 2,213 with 3,772 injuries on the whole while these same liberals actually support abortion, where these licensed murders across USA alone is 166,971 in 2018 so far. So, when you consider the reasons for abortions are: 0.3% in cases of rape, 0.03% in cases of incest, 0.1% in cases of risk to maternal life, 0.8% in cases of risk to maternal health, 0.5% in cases of fetal health issues and 98.3% being elective due to socio economic reasons; you understand how much these liberals value their fun and how little they value their God given responsibilities, which as opposed to gun-rights is not in the interest of helping civilians defend themselves in the case of a threat. So, for the liberal fool who does not fear God (Prov 1:7) it really is no big deal to hide a mountain behind a molehill by justifying abortions with reasons like rape, incest and maternal health. Now, if liberal hypocrisy allows them to do that, it therefore is well within their lifestyle of double standards to vouch for gun-control to make their self-righteousness look good being estranged from God and all truth. However, it is as the Bible says in Prov 8:36 about these humanist fools that: those who hate God eventually love death in any and every form.

Ezek 3
18 When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
19 Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.

Eph 2
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

It’s amazing to see the extent to which people are self-centered that they will actually use the “Word of God” to excuse their sin and hear nothing that will make them feel uncomfortable in their sin. To add to this, you also have foolish sympathizers who will senselessly side with the #LGBT and every other apostate religion saying, it is not for you but for God to judge. On the contrary, in bearing witness to the Gospel we who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as called upon by God to judge these godless fools that they may repent unto Christ and not perish forever in the fires of hell (Acts 2:38). Also, knowing the kind of hypocrites unbelievers are, these same people who tell us to keep our mouths shut concerning their sin are very capable of telling God on the day of judgement that there was no one to correct them and show them what is right when they were alive and well upon the earth, else they would have turned from the sin and believed the Gospel. Surely, God is sovereign and God is good, and it is in His sovereignty and He decrees us to speak out against the sins of the world (Ezek 3:18-19/Eph 2:10) and call them to repentance that they may believe and live a holistic life, delighting no longer in their sin but in the righteousness of God revealed to us in Jesus Christ.

Numbers 11 (Old Testament)
16 The Lord said to Moses: “Bring me seventy of Israel’s elders who are known to you as leaders and officials among the people. Have them come to the tent of meeting, that they may stand there with you. 17 I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take some of the power of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them. They will share the burden of the people with you so that you will not have to carry it alone.

Luke 10 (New Testament)
After this the Lord appointed seventy-two[a] others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. 2 He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. 3 Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.

If you look at the scripture mentioned above you will understand that preaching of Gospel is based on the understanding that you one must repent in order to believe in the Gospel and unless one does not realize his/her sinful nature before the divine majesty and holiness of God, there really is no truth in the saving faith a person has received. Remember, Jesus came to called call sinners unto Salvation and not self-righteous fools, who are wise in their own eyes (Luke 5:32). So, we who are filled with the Holy Spirit are not called to tell sinners of the wonderful plans God has for their lives despite their sin as though God Almighty exists to wait on their every need in exchange for some religious attention. Instead, we who are filled with the Holy Spirit are given a living spirit to pursue the righteousness of God and His Gospel, and in doing so, call out the grave nature of the people’s sin that they may repent and turn to God, for as much as God is glorified in His good justice as He does so in His great mercy, it is in His mercy in which He delights, because it is by the power of His resistible grace that He draws people unto Himself in Christ, propitiating/overcoming their sinful nature by the power of Jesus’ blood and in doing so conforming their nature to His own likeness, because that is how we were made… in His image (Gen 1:26/Rom 8:29).

Rev 13 (look at this in the context of John 16:7-15)
17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.

I would like to conclude by simply saying this, the thoughts of the world and ways of the world, is nowhere compared to thoughts of God and ways of God, which as Isaiah 55:8-9 describes is as different as the high heavens over the earth. So, for a person who is fallen in Adam, who is a god to himself/herself, he/she naturally likes to use every wicked instrument in his/her arsenal to rise over and belittle his neighbour, and we know that is wrong because the truth is no man/woman is God, except of course for Jesus who is the God-the-Son incarnate as Man to be that unblemished sacrifice for all sin. For most part when Christians point out the sins of people in this godless world, they perceive it as belittling and what further agitates them is that there is absolute truth in that discerning judgement, which the unbeliever finds it very hard to deal with. So, the unbeliever finds it very hard to die to that that god-identity he/she has of himself/herself (John 12:24-26) and prostrate (bow out) before God and His righteousness revealed in Jesus (John 1:17) who truthfully is God. Yes, the Christian lifestyle is one that is set against the grain of this unbelieving world but God has promised in His word that He is going to reclaim this world to Himself in His time (Dan 2:31-45 & Col 1:16-20) and unbelief is only here to make hay while the sun shine because God sovereign making the rain fall and sun shine on the righteous and the unrighteous alike (Mat 5:45).

Growing up as a Roman Catholic, I always felt that Lent was a time for us to be religious. However, I as I grew up and began to study the Bible I learnt that the concept of lent is nowhere in the Bible. Roman Catholic priest happen to go around advising people on abstinence to show God some love and devotion in this season with an abstinence that makes a difference in their lives, like if they usually crave for non-vegetarian food they should abstain from it and if they are habitual smokers or drinkers then they should abstain from that too. Now let’s see what the Bible has to say about such religiosity.

Colossians 2
20 If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as,
21 “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!”
22 (which all refer to things destined to perish with use)–in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men?
23 These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.

Speaking of severe treatment on the body in verse 23, I am reminded of the extreme practices on the supposedly lenten Good Friday by Roman Catholics in the Philippines, whose religious zeal doesn’t appear to come from the Bible but from copying Muslims during Muharram, whose ungodly rebellion promotes the fear of men in religion as over the fear of God. However, it is typical for Christians who do not know their Bible to go aping non-Christians in their practice of Christianity. My guess then is as good as yours concerning the future of the lenten season that it may someday become a food festival as it is with the case of the Islamic season of fasting called Ramadan, where the sale of food and grocery items go up by about 71%.

Mat 17
5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!”

John 8 (Jesus’ word)
23 And He was saying to them, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world.
24 “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”

If we are to acquaint ourselves with what pleases God, we should understand that it more to do with morality than it has to do with anything else. Take a look at the 10 Commandments from Exo 20:3-17 in the light of what Jesus says in Mat 22:36-40, notice that the first four commandments speak of the believer’s primary duty to love God and then the other six is his duty towards those in his environment. There is nothing here about what you must not eat or drink, it’s all about how you think, speak and act because that show the condition of your rebellious heart before God (Lk 6:43-48). The reason God requires you to believe in His Son Jesus is because of the redeeming power that is made available in Him to turn you from your sins to the Triune God Himself.

Luke 6 (Jesus’ word)
43 “For there is no good tree which produces bad fruit, nor, on the other hand, a bad tree which produces good fruit.
44 “For each tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they pick grapes from a briar bush.
45 “The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.
46 “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?
47 “Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them, I will show you whom he is like:
48 he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock; and when a flood occurred, the torrent burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built.

What Lent is about according to the Catholic Education Resource Centre
“Most importantly, Jesus fasted and prayed for “40 days and 40 nights” in the desert before He began His public ministry (Mt 4:2).”

To every Catholic I know and have been brought up with, believes that Lent observes the 40 days of Jesus fasting but the Catholic Education Resource Centre neither corrects this stand in the Church nor does it document this stand, which it does so only to play safe. For many Roman Catholics, it seems that Jesus’ 40 days of fasting culminated with His death and resurrection but this stand is absurd because reading Mat 3:13 to 4:20 in the context of John 1:19-42 shows that Jesus’ 40 days of fasting was the very initiation of His ministry and so it is absurd to have the Last Supper during such a Lenten season when Jesus hadn’t any disciples during this time. However, if you were to take a look at what the Catholic Education Resource Centre has to say, it seems they are well aware of this fact but the people’s ignorance plays well in their favour during this season and so this touch topic is best swept under the carpet. History has seen the Roman Catholic Church not only deny people access to the Bible but also persecute and slander people as heretics, people like William Tyndale who made the Bible accessible to the people.

Decree of the Council of Toulouse (1229 C.E.): “We prohibit also that the laity should be permitted to have the books of the Old or New Testament; but we most strictly forbid their having any translation of these books.”

Fate of William Tyndale in 1536 C.E.: William Tyndale was burned at the stake for translating the Bible into English. History has it that the Church forbid owning or reading the Bible to control and restrict the teachings and to enhance their own power and importance.

John 15
19 “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.

To conclude, I would like to say that there is no such thing in Christianity as a season of pleasing God or a season of obedience to God for that matter because when one is born again as mentioned in Jn 3:3, his nature towards sin is overcome by the saving power of Christ to a nature of obedience unto God. When I speak of nature, I mean the effect of Christ’ atonement in this person’s life is for real and not a seasonal show of trifle religiosity, owing to one’s sloth or ignorance of the Bible. Remember, we were made in the image of God i.e. we shared in the very nature of God before the fall of Adam and the redeeming power of Christ restores this nature to us in Salvation.

Deut 4 (Old Testament)
19 “And beware not to lift up your eyes to heaven and see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, and be drawn away and worship them and serve them, those which the LORD your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven.
20 “But the LORD has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, from Egypt, to be a people for His own possession, as today.

Rom 1 (New Testament)
20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
22 Professing to be wise, they became fools,
23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.
24 Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them.
25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

The above scripture speaks of God’s sovereignty in reprobation and man’s wilful rebellion against God unto eternal damnation. We ought to understand that though all things are reconciled in Christ (Col 1:16-20), none can come to Jesus unless the father first draws them (Jn 6:44). In this reconciliation, Jesus makes peace by the power of His blood between God and the elect and thus the elect who are called out from this world as peacemakers and sons (Mat 5:9), these rightfully oppose the world, who from their appetite for anarchy are given to abuse their stewardship over the earth by using everything to serve nothing more than themselves.

Yesterday I was unfortunate enough to pull my beloved building dog Hoppit out of the gutter. The reason he jumped in was because he wanted to escape the firecrackers of Diwali. I have heard many Hindus contemplating on the kind of nuisance their festivals are and I do agree with them fully because their festivals showcase a very poor stewardship over the environment. Besides every attempt made to keep Diwali safe, Holi safe, Dahi Handi safe and Ganesh Chaturithy safe has failed badly. I think the main issue with these festivals is the idolatry because these people have exchanged the worship of the living God Almighty with the lies they themselves have fabricated to deceive their own souls into eternal damnation. As an Indian, I believe in talking about all the issue that affect this country and I couldn’t care less about people who are scared about raising important issues out of fear of displeasing the masses. If we want a clean India, we need to deal with all the major factors that are affecting this country and not just the ones which people are OK to talk about.

Those who live in Mumbai will know that at high noon, it is hard to even get a straight 300 meters of visibility, thanks to the smog which is worsening day by day. There was a time you could see the Gateway of India even when you were far-off by ferry but that doesn’t happen today. It said, since 2010, the average Diwali pollution levels have shown very rapid build-up at least seven to eight times, while peak levels have hit ten times the standard. As per a study done by Chest Research Foundation (CRF), Pune, fire-crackers increased the level of sulphur dioxide 200-fold above the safety limits prescribed by World Health Organisation (WHO). This doesn’t only affect us but has a profound impact on birds and animals as well in the area. Such pollution levels happen to trigger asthma attacks in people and cause new cases of asthma with pollutants linked to firecrackers such as:
• Sulphur dioxide: Causes wheezing and shortness of breath
• Cadium: Can cause anaemia, damage kidneys and can also affect the nervous system
• Copper: Irritates the respiratory tract
• Lead: Affects the nervous system
• Magnesium: Can cause metal fume fever
• Nitrate: Can cause mental impairment
• Nitrite: Can cause skin problems, eye irritation, and respiratory problems in children

Gen 1 (About our God given stewardship)
28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

John 3 (How salvation is holistically dependent on Christ)
18 “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

Rom 5 (How we are restored in Christ from fallen Adam)
17 For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.

If we were to look at Gen 1:28 & Rom 5:17 in the light of Jn 3:18, we understand that the poor failed stewardship of Adam is restored only in Christ, and it is for this reason that nations which were shaped by the Gospel happen to do more for the environment than any other because if truth be told, if you are living for nothing more than yourself then you happen to be robbing yourself of all the hope, life has to offer you in God.

John 12
24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
25 “He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal.
26 “If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honour him.

Someday we shall understand that the origin of government is not the people but God and that exactly is the issue we have with democracy because though we have laws in place like the ‘Right to Sleep’… a fundamental right, which moved the Government of India to ban firecrackers between 10 pm and 6 am during Diwali, while also having The Central Pollution Board of India ban firecrackers with a decibel level greater than 125 at a distance of 4 meters from the bursting point; though we have such laws in place, nobody follows them because the government in its attempt to appease the masses denies the individual his/her rights and so demonized democracy exercises anarchy and functions as an ochlocracy (mob rule) in infringing upon the rights of the individual.

Mat 22
36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”
37 And He said to him, ” ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
38 “This is the great and foremost commandment.
39 “The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
40 “On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

To conclude, the issue with Diwali as it is with many other festivals, which so often infringes upon the law, is that the people do not have God first in their lives and so long as God is not first in their lives, everything they have been given stewardship over, they will use to sinfully satisfy their own appetite. It is no wonder that the Bible teaches in Rom 8:19 that the earth anxiously awaits the revealing of the children of God (Jn1:12-13), who will ascertain their rightful stewardship over the earth in living for God’s glory.

Very often I come across people who don’t have their own lives in place but find themselves in the position to comment on God, saying religion is merely a fabrication of the masses. However this is only true when talking about religions people have fabricated in their rebellion against God. Take Sati for instance or the offering of female neonates to Hindu goddesses by drowning them in milk in presenting the family’s request that the next child be a boy. Or Buddhism or Jainism, where roaming nude has more to do with enlightenment than morality itself. It is no wonder that their temples are filled with erotic sculptures that decorate their façade. What about Islam, where bestiality is allowed to whet the individual’s appetite for sex, as though the devout Muslim was no different from animals so as to be joined with them.

Mat 22
36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

When it comes to Christianity, the code we are given to live by is the Moral Law, where we treat the people around with the same concern as we treat ourselves. However, the world is so blinded by unbelief that instead of painstakingly weeding out false religions, it chooses to carpet bomb religion all by itself, when it is actually the fabricated lies of men about God that needs to be dealt with. It is funny that the same people who say religion is fabricated by men, turn out to be the same who take immense pride in their own religion under the banner of culture and so it seems that these people are nothing more than hypocrites.

Mat 5
36 And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. 37 All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.

Today, the reason people have to makes promises is because the rest of the time what they say has little substance or relevance. These people cannot be held for what they say because they speak that which is only most convenient to them in serving their own godless purpose in that moment. Owing to their unbelief, people think that if God was out of the way, people would be able to relate with each other much better and build society on a better social platform. However, the only reason people want God out of the way is because they choose to live as they please. Be their own boss even when it comes to morality.

John 14:6
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Another thing people misconceive about religion, is that it has been the cause for all the wars. According to the Encyclopaedia of Wars, from the 1763 wars recorded in the world only 123 of them had a religious motive, which is about 7%. Now I don’t know from where secularist get their facts but it looks more like they speak only that which is most opportune in that moment, being removed from all truth, thanks to their broken communion with God, which they would rather not admit. The Bible teaches that man in his fallen state in Adam is given to Anarchy, man loves senseless chaos and this is what man supposes to achieve by discounting genuine faith in God.

James 1
26 Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. 27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Like the term “gay”, which today has been abused beyond genuine recognition, so too is religion. There was a time when the word “gay” was associated with joyous festivity like the Deck the Halls Christmas Carol which had the verse: Don we now our gay apparel. Today, such a statement would be met with ridicule but that is because the homosexual community has hijacked the word gay is associating it with itself, just as it has also done with the rainbow, which Biblically is God’s covenant with mankind, saying that He would not destroy the world with a flood as He did in the time of Noah. Imagine today, if people look up at the rainbow in the sky and associate that with the gay community; that would be so typically of the world whose mind-set is naturally given to blasphemous unbelief from the fall of Adam. The same world who like a bunch to hypocrites deny God on the count of all the suffering in the world.

2Peter 1
19 So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. 20 But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, 21 for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

To conclude, religion that is fabricated by men who fashion their gods and stories of them after their thoughts, can never be trusted because they choose to mislead people to eternal damnation from their own fallen nature. Contrary to what people generally believe, God is an absolute reality and the only reason people choose to deny it is because it is God who stands between them and the lives they choose to live as they please but just because God stops you from the living as you please, it doesn’t mean God doesn’t exists. On the contrary, it is because God exists that you cannot live as you please. Remember, life belongs to God to the extent that even suicide is a sin and there is no way you can get around having your own way in life. The only thing you can do well, is live on God’s terms and that is only possible by setting your heart straight with God through repentance unto Jesus Christ. You must understand that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, so unless you abide in Him (Jn15:4), you really haven’t lived life in all its fullness.