Monthly Archives: April 2009

With a Different God

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“For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”1

In, James Michener’s novel, The Source, he describes an ancient family. The father of the family sacrifices his son to Malek, an ancient God. The mother grieves while the father then goes and visits the temple prostitutes. She is deeply grieved at what her husband is doing in the name of religion. She laments: “With a different god, he would have been a different man.”

How true these words are in real life. Time and again we’ve seen the carnage caused by those with a different god. Bali—until the Islamic terrorist attack a few short years ago which killed almost 200 people—was looked upon as Paradise by Westerners.

Even since 9-11 many Western leaders and others have stated how Islam is a peace-loving religion claiming that we worship the same God. The fact is we don’t. Allah is not the triune God. For Muslims Jesus Christ is not God the Son nor is he the Savior of the World. He is only a prophet and second to Mohammad. True, not all Muslims are terrorists by any means and while most Muslims are moderate, there are many who take the Qur’án seriously and are dedicated to the destruction of Jews, Christians, and the West.

As Chuck Colson points out in BreakPoint, “If you want evidence of Islamic extremism, just ask any Indonesian Christian. For nearly three decades, Indonesia’s Christians have endured one outrage after another at the hands of their Muslim neighbors. In 1975, Indonesia invaded and annexed East Timor, killing hundreds of thousands of East Timorese Christians. Twenty years later, as East Timor gained its independence, the government again did nothing as more Christians were slaughtered. In the mid-nineties, Indonesia’s Christian Chinese were made the scapegoat for the country’s economic woes. Again, the government stood by as Christian businesses, homes, and churches were looted and burned.

“And in the last few years, an Islamic militia, the Laksar Jihad, has declared war on Christians living on the islands of Sulawesi and the Moluccas. The militia, which includes members from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Albania, and Bosnia, has attacked Christian villages and forced Christians to either convert to Islam or be beheaded.”

So, says Colson, “Overlooking the true nature of Islam is not only wrong, it’s folly—the kind of folly that can turn any paradise into hell on earth.”2

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, forgive us Westerners for overlooking the plight of Christians in other lands where they have been and are being slaughtered in your name by the thousands. And help us to wake up and realize that if we continue to turn from you—the one and only God—we too (or our children’s children) may very well be facing the same kind of terrorism as Christians in other lands are facing. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. I Timothy 2:5 (NASB).

2. Copyright 2002 Prison Fellowship Ministries http://www.breakpoint.org.

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Angels Unaware

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“Let brotherly love continue. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”1

According to an article by G.K. Chesterton, “Francis of Assisi was terrified of leprosy. One day, full in the narrow path that he was traveling, he saw, horribly white in the sunshine, a leper! Instinctively his heart shrank back, recoiling from the contamination of that loathsome disease. But then he rallied; and ashamed of himself, ran and cast his arms about the sufferer’s neck and kissed him and passed on. A moment later he looked back, only to find that there was no one there, only the empty road in the hot sunlight. All his days thereafter he was sure it was no leper, but Christ Himself disguised as a leper whom he had met.”

Perhaps this is why he wrote the beautiful prayer known as the “Prayer of St. Francis,” which reads:

Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Let this beautiful prayer be our suggested prayer for today. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Hebrews 13:1-2 (KJV).

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Where Is God?

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“Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD … From heaven the LORD looks down and sees all mankind … [and] considers everything they do. No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength…But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine.”1

I recall having read in a college newspaper about a student who painted in big white letters right across the side of a garbage truck, “Where is God?” Perhaps he was thinking at some level, why does God allow garbage to happen?

It’s an age-old question, as old as Job and as fresh as today: “Where is God when tragedy strikes … when a loved one dies and the heart is torn with grief … when innocent children are kidnapped, sexually abused, and murdered? And where was he on September 11, 2001? And again, when terrorist bombs blasted a resort hotel in Bali? Or when a sniper in the Washington, D.C. area was shooting and killing innocent people at random?”

I don’t want to sound callous by any means but we are asking the wrong question because God is where he always was and always is. The Apostle Paul said it best, in that God “is not far from each one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’”2

So the question needs to be, “Where is man?”

Our problem lies in the fact that we as nations have left God—or are fast leaving him. As God’s Word, the Bible, says, “Blessed is that nation whose God is the Lord.”3 And what of those nations whose God is not the Lord? Perhaps history can best answer that question.

But the great tragedy is, as Friedrich Hegel said, “The only thing we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history.”

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please open our eyes and help us to see that when we leave you, forsake your Word and throw out your commandments, we open the door to evil. Grant that we will see in today’s senseless acts of terror a wakeup call to turn back to you. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Psalm 33:12-19 (NIV).

2. See Acts 17:24, 26-28.

3. Psalm 33:12.

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Diverted by Lesser Things

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“Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.’”1

Julian Aldridge, Jr., tells how “Some years ago, Hollywood produced an exciting film titled, The Bridge on the River Kwai. The setting was during the Second World War in a Japanese Concentration Camp for prisoners of war. One of the prisoners, the Senior British Officer, talked the Japanese into letting the prisoners build a bridge over the River Kwai. The officer realized that it would boost morale, give life some purpose, and engender hope if the men had something to which they were committed each day.

“The work proceeded to the point of conclusion with a bridge that was a substantial piece of engineering skill; in fact, it was such a logistical benefit to the Japanese that the Allies had to send in an expedition force to blow it up. In the movie, there is a dramatic scene when the Senior British Officer, himself a prisoner of the Japanese, suddenly confronts with stark realism the fact that the other prisoners and he had spent all their time and energies building a bridge for the enemy!”2

As Aldridge pointed out, “There is, in the story, a lesson for all time. We, too, often spend our time and energies in pursuit of, or to perfect, the wrong things. This was the situation with those invited to the wedding banquet in the story Jesus told. They had an invitation to the party of a lifetime, and yet, they were diverted by lesser things.”2

May God help you and me not to be diverted by lesser things and thereby dissipate our energies and resources in non-essentials. Keeping eternal values in mind, let us make the most important things the most important things—both in the church and in our personal lives. And above all, whatever you do, don’t miss Christ’s invitation to you—his invitation to attend his “banquet in heaven” to be with him forever. For help see the article, “How to Be Sure You’re a Real Christian” at: www.actsweb.org/articles

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me always to live with eternal values in mind—not in a legalist manner—but with a sense of freedom doing what I do because I love you. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Matthew 22:1-3 (NIV).

2. Rev. Dr. Julian M. Aldridge, Jr., Sermon: “Amazing Grace.”

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Love’s Greatest Symbol

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Sir John Bowring, at one time governor of Hong Kong, was a very gifted naturalist, statesman, political economist and linguist who could write in thirteen different languages and dialects.

One day when he was in the Orient, he was looking over an area devastated by an earthquake. Standing high above the ruins, like a lone sentinel, stood the tower of a church. And piercing the sky with its silhouette, on the very tip of the tower was a cross. The sight of this so moved Sir John Bowring that he penned the words of that great old hymn:

In the Cross of Christ I glory,
Towering o’er the wrecks of time;
All the light of sacred story
Gathers round its head sublime.

And out of the midst of the turmoil, violence and suffering of today’s world stands the Cross of Jesus Christ of which there is no greater symbol of both love and hate … death and life … judgment and forgiveness …. despair and hope.

Most crosses are a symbol only of death. But the Cross of Christ is much more than this. While it is a symbol of Christ’s death on the cross, more than ever it is a symbol of life—eternal life.

Every time we see a cross, whether it be by the roadside or on a tombstone, we are reminded of the certainty of death—an appointment we all will keep. As God’s Word says, “No one has power over the day of his death.”1 And, “It is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment.”2

But everytime we see a cross that represents the Cross of Christ we are reminded of the fact that over two thousand years ago the Son of God came to earth to die in our place that we might receive the gift of eternal life. He came to identify himself with all mankind, only to be rejected, condemned and crucified on the Cross at Calvary. He came to die, not for himself, but for us in our place, to pay the just penalty for all our sins that we might be cleansed, forgiven, made whole and fit for Heaven.

God’s Word explains it this way: “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.”3 And again, “For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.”4

No matter how hard we try, we simply cannot save ourselves—neither through good works, intellectual achievement nor man-made religions. Had we been able to save ourselves, Jesus Christ never would have had to die for us. And as “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’”5 Now through Jesus Christ we can receive the gift of eternal life by placing our faith and trust in him.

Jesus Christ is God’s only provision for man’s sin. Only through him can we find true hope for this life and the life to come. This hope of eternal life can be yours today simply by accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Saviour.

You can do this right now by praying a simple and honest prayer such as the following:

“Dear God, I confess that I am a sinner. I believe Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sin and I invite you to come into my heart and life to be my Lord and Savior. Please forgive me for all my sins and help me to become the person you want me to be. I commit and trust my life to you and ask you to direct me in all my ways by your Holy Spirit. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. In Jesus’ name amen.”

If you genuinely prayed this prayer, please let us know by filling in the form at www.actsweb.org/decision.php and we will send you the web address of specialy articles to help you in your Christian life—all without charge.

1. Ecclesiastes 8:8 (NIV).

2. Hebrews 9:27 (NASB).

3. Romans 5:12 (NASB).

4. 1 Corinthians 15:21-22 (NIV).

5. John 14:6 (NIV).

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Two Days That Changed the World

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“But he [Jesus] was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement [punishment] for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.”1

G. Franklin Allee wrote how, “Years ago, a young mother was making her way across the hills of South Wales, carrying her tiny babe in her arms when she was overtaken by a blinding blizzard. She never reached her destination alive, and when the blizzard subsided her body was found beneath the snow. But the searchers discovered that before her death she had taken off all her outer clothing and wrapped it about her baby. And when they unwrapped the child, to their great surprise and joy, they found he was alive and well. She had given her life for her child, providing the depth of her mother love.

“Years later that child, David Lloyd George, when grown to manhood, became prime minister of the United Kingdom, and without doubt was one of Britain’s greatest statesmen. The UK was a better place for a time because a mother gave her life for her son.”

On a much greater scale the world today is a better place because on Good Friday 2,000 years God the Father gave his Son, Jesus Christ, to die on a cruel Roman cross to pay the penalty for the sins of all mankind. Thank God that includes you and me. And now, because of Jesus’ death, all who put their trust in him will live forever in Heaven with God where there will be no more sickness, sadness, sorrow or death.

Thus Good Friday and Easter Sunday—when Jesus rose from the dead—are two days that changed the world forever.

Note: If you have never accepted Jesus as your Savior, be sure to read the article, “How to Be Sure You’re a Real Christian” at: www.actsweb.org/articles.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, how can I ever thank you enough for giving your Son, Jesus, to die in my place on the cross. Because you died for me, Lord Jesus, I give my heart and life to live for you all the days of my life. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Isaiah 53:5 (NKJV).

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The Power of Attitude

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“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might.”1

I have read how William Wilberforce (who became an evangelical Christian) was a diminutive man and never enjoyed good health. For twenty years he was under doctor’s orders and had to take drugs to keep body and soul together. Yet he stopped the British slave trade. Boswell once went to hear him speak and said afterward: “I saw what seemed a mere shrimp mounted upon the platform, but as I listened, he grew and grew till the shrimp became a whale.”

The interesting thing is that so many successes in history have been achieved by people who have either been limited by some kind of handicap or have suffered a major setback or failure of one kind or another.

It’s one’s attitude in life that makes the difference. No matter what happens to us, with a positive attitude we can rise above our difficulties and achieve notable things with our life.

By having a positive attitude I don’t mean the denial of reality, but rather to be a positive realist. For instance, if I have been hit by a truck, all the positive thinking in the world won’t take away the pain. To be a positive realist means that I admit that I have been hit and hurt real bad—but with God’s help, and that of the medical profession and the support of loving friends, I will recover to the fullest possible extent and turn this experience into another blessing.

As another has said, “Our lives are not determined by what happens to us, but how we react to what happens; not by what life brings to us, but by the attitude we bring to life. A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events and outcomes. It is a catalyst … a spark that creates extraordinary results.”

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, whatever it is that I can do, regardless of my circumstances’ please help me to see what it is and do it with all my might. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Ecclesiastes 9:10 (NKJV).

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Struggling to Believe

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“Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world.”1

“Robert Robinson came from a poor family; his father died when Robert was a child and his mother sent him to London to learn barbering when he was a teenager. Instead he fell in with a gang and was involved in vandalism, looting and petty theft. They went to heckle a traveling evangelist, George Whitefield, who was preaching in the town square but Robert encountered the Lord Jesus and eventually accepted him as his Savior. He went on to become a renowned preacher and pastor, as well as a writer of extraordinary hymns and was well known throughout Europe. But late in his life he left the faith. We don’t know the reason why, we don’t know the circumstances, but the story is told that there came a day late in his life when he was traveling by stage coach, seated next to a woman who was humming the hymn, ‘Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.’

“If nothing else, maybe simply to make conversation, she asked him, ‘Sir, do you know this song?’

“Robinson replied, ‘Know it? Madam, I am the miserable man who wrote it and I would give a thousand lives to know the joy and peace that I knew then but I’ve lost it.’

“Mr. Robinson died shortly thereafter.

“’Come thou Fount’ is one of my favorite hymns and that story is one of the saddest—and I am afraid, all-too-familiar—ones that I know.”2

This hymn also happens to be one of my favorites. The words of the last stanza say: “O to grace how great a debtor / Daily I’m constrained to be / Let that grace, Lord, like a fetter / Bind my wand’ring heart to Thee / Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it / Prone to leave the God I love / Take my heart, O take and seal It / Seal it from Thy courts above.”

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please keep me from straying from you for I, too, know that my heart is prone to wander and that I could very easily leave the God I love. Please take my heart and seal it from and for your courts above. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus name, amen.”

1. 2 Timothy 4:10 (NKJV).

2. By Tod Bolsinger, Sermon, “The God Who Does the Impossible … A story for those who struggle to believe.”

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Was Jesus Ever Politically Correct?

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“In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.”1

It’s amazing how, in our day and age, so many are afraid to stand up and be counted when it comes to taking a public stand for that which is morally correct, based on biblical principles and the Judeo-Christian ethic, for fear of not being politically correct. To bash Christianity, the Ten Commandments, the Word of God and even Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount” has become acceptable (and even popular) among certain circles, but try condemning gay marriage or other religions such as Islam and it becomes a different story.

But did Jesus Christ ever allow himself to be so controlled? Hardly.

Jesus was a man of passion. He hated the abuse of God’s house so he drove out the money changers with a whip. He hated evil and sin, not simply because these were opposed to his Word but because they were, and are, damaging to those whom God loves—us. But he always loved sinners and was against anything that hurt them, kept them in bondage, or hindered their growth. And he was hated for his stand.

“In Jesus’ case, we have the story of the holiest man who ever lived, and yet it was the prostitutes and lepers and thieves who adored him, and the religious who hated his guts.”2 Why? Because he loved people and was opposed to religious dogma and programs that kept people in bondage and used them for their own ends rather than helping them to grow.

“People were offended with Jesus because he violated their understanding of religion and piety. The religious of his day were particularly incensed that he deliberately healed on the Sabbath…. They accused him of being a drunkard, a glutton and having tacky taste in friends. As Gene Thomas is fond of saying, ‘Jesus was simply not your ideal Rotarian.’ It is a profound irony that the Son of God visited this planet and one of the chief complaints against him was that he was not religious enough.”3

In other words, Jesus was totally committed to people’s spiritual and personal growth and was strongly opposed to anything that stopped or hindered that growth. Political correctness was never ever a part of his agenda.

As an English Bishop once said, “Wherever Jesus went there was either a revival or a revolution. Wherever I go, they serve tea.”

Question: Do we, the members of our church, want to start a revival or a revolution? Or do we just prefer to serve tea?

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please give me the courage to stand up and be counted as a true follower of Jesus Christ and never be afraid to state clearly, in love, what your Word, the Bible, teaches—and help me to live it first. And help me never to allow myself to be controlled by today’s politically correct nonsense. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. 2 Timothy 4:1-3 (NIV).

2. Rebecca Manley Pippert, Out of the Saltshaker and Into the World (Downer’s Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 1979), p. 39.

3. Ibid, p. 40.

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Hurry, Hurry, Fast, Fast

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“Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”1

“I’m not a sociolinguist,” writes Karen Carr, missionary psychologist, “but I find languages fascinating. The other day in Ghana I was walking past a Ghanaian man talking on his cell phone in Twi (a local language here). Suddenly, in the midst of a sea of words I could not understand, I heard, ‘Hurry, hurry. Fast, fast.’

“Why did he need to switch to English to use those words? In a culture where relationships are valued more than task, where listening to someone is more important than crossing off my ‘to do’ list, where greeting someone before you get to the point of your conversation is a very high value—hurry, hurry, fast, fast is apparently a value grafted in from the West. I chuckled as I walked away and slowed my pace down just a fraction—reminding myself that I can enjoy the journey just as much as the destination.”2

Back in college days I used to have a small placard on my desk that said, “Beware of the barrenness of a busy life.” Some years ago there was a popular song that said: “Slow down you move to fast, got to make the morning last…looking for fun and feeling groovy.”

I don’t know about you but I still struggle with being too busy most of the time and need to remind myself that I need to take time to have fun and to smell the roses as life is short. At the same time I also realize that my life is an investment in eternity so I need to make sure my days are balanced and wisely spent. As William Penn said, “I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good, therefore, that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.”3

And as another has wisely said, “Only one life ‘twill soon be past. Only what’s done for Christ will last.”

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to live a balanced life, to invest my life wisely with eternal values in mind, and never be too busy to ‘be still and know that you are God.’ Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus name, amen.”

1. Psalm 46:10 (NIV).

2. Karen Carr of Mobile Member Care Team, Ghana, West Africa, http://www.mmct.org/

3. Steven Grellet.

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