It is impossible.[ Matthew 16 v 18]

I recently saw a movie called ,''Silence'', I did not realise what it was about,
but when I viewed it, I discovered it was about a moment in time when Christianity  was introduced into Japan. Many professed to be Christians. But the powers that be ,sought to eradicate it, which to some extent they did, with much cruelty. I was sharing this with one of my sons, and he said that their is a museum in Japan, which has a collection of  Samurai swords,
it was discovered that a number of them had, Christian symbols on them. It
reminded me of the times that Elijah the prophet lived, when a weak king
reigned, who had a wife called Jezebel. She was a heathen ,did not believe in Israels God. Not only did she not believe in God, she had many of Gods servants killed. The situation was so bad that Elijah the prophet thought that he was the only one left.[ 1Kings 19v10],but it was not so, God told him that there were seven thousand who were still faithful followers of God.[  v18 ] The history of Gods church ,from beginning to this present time, has been that of persecution, but no matter how the powers that be, try as they may, they will never be able to eradicate Christs Church.
                                        A prayer.
Dear God we bring before You, those countries where persecution of your people is taking place. Help your dear people not to despair, to be faithful
yes even unto death, in Jesus our Saviours name we ask this Amen.

Punishing evil.. [ Luke 23 v 39-43 ]

Let us continue to look at the subject, of God punishing evil, we highlighted
 the Israelites actions towards the inhabitants of the promise land. God used
Israel as His instrument to bring His judgment on those inhabitants. He uses
whatever He wants as His instrument, to punishment, whoever He wills. He used water, fire, sickness, and people to bring judgment upon those whom he wills. It appears that judgement can be avoided if only people genuinely
repent and seek His forgiveness,[ Jonah 3 v10].The case of King Manasseh
is a wonderful example of a very ,very wicked king, whom God dealt with, by having him taken captive, taken to Assyria with a ring in his nose, bound by bronze  chains. In his captivity he turned to God and humbled himself, the result God forgive him and restored him as King[ 2 chronicles 33 v1-17]
Yes God will punish sin, but He will also forgive the sinner, no matter how evil they have been ,if they but turn and seek forgiveness. We must never take forgiveness for granted, a man called Heinrich Heine said,'' God will forgive me, that's His business'', that is His business, but it must never be taken for granted, never. There must be a genuine seeking of God ,a godly repentence, we are not playing trivial pursuit.
                                           A  prayer.
Dear God we thank You that there is forgiveness when we ask Jesus, to save us ,when we sincerely, and humbly come to You Amen.
in Jesus name Amen
                                       

Punishing evil. [ Romans 1v18 ]

Is it wrong to punish wrong doers?, most of us would agree that wrong doers deserve punishment, that is why we have prison's.  Now another question do you  think it is wrong for God to punish people because of their sin?. Well it appears He does, He destroyed the ancient world by sending a massive flood.[  Genesis 7/19 v12ff.  Acts 5 v1-11]Now there are those who have problems accepting, that God punishes sinners. I know there are those
who judge Israel for destroying the inhabitants of the promise land, we read about this in Joshua. They equate what they did as genocide , so they liken it unto Hitler and his destruction of Jews, or what happened in Rwanda. But
the fact is Israel acted on Gods command, it was not something they thought
up themselves .[CP Joshua 6 ]Why God had Israel destroy the inhabitants of
Canaan was a long delayed judgement foretold by God to Abraham [Genesis 15 v16].Many years would pass before this judgement would take place. Instead of repenting of their evil they grew more and more sinful. and so judgement fell.
                                       A  prayer.
Dear God forgive us for judging You and your righteous judgments in Jesus name Amen.

We have lost all these famous people. [Revelation 20 v11-15 ]

2016: The year we lost all these famous faces, so read the headlines in the newspaper  I was reading. Now of course the death of anyone is sad, but whither one is famous or not, death will eventually come. But after that the
judgement, on that day it will not matter whither one was famous or infamous, poor or rich. God is not swayed or even bothered that a person is
whatever. On that day the only thing that will matter, do we know Jesus as our Saviour and manifested that reality.There the empty profession will mean nothing, the I did it my way, will be seen for what it is, empty yes that sums it up empty. On that day those have been the worst of people, yet had sought Gods mercy, and been forgiven through Jesus, will be saved. Much to the surprise of the religious crowd, for lets be honest ,being religious can mean very little, no ,only those who have been brought ,into a right relationship,will be welcomed into Gods heaven. When one goes into a shop to purchase something they examine the money note you offer for payment , to see if it genuine or counterfeit, so it is on that  day, the genuine and the counterfeit will be separated by Jesus. That is why it is so important to be ready, for that time when we will die, for the fact is we are all going to die.

                         Out of my bondage, sorrow and night,
                         Jesus I come, Jesus, I come.
                         into Thy freedom, gladness and light ,
                         Jesus I come to Thee.
                         Out of my sickness into Thy  health,
                         Out of my want and into Thy wealth,
                         Out of my sin and into Thyself,
                         Jesus I come to Thee.

                         Out of the fear and dread of the tomb,
                         Jesus, I come, Jesus, I come.
                         Into the joy and light of Thy home,
                         Jesus, I come to Thee.
                         Out of the depths of ruin untold,
                         into the peace of Thy sheltering fold,
                         Ever Thy glorious face to behold,
                         Jesus ,I come to Thee.
                          [Words --W.T.Sleeper]
                           

Children [1 Corinthians 1 v 18- 31 ]

Derek Tidball,writing about children in his book on Leviticus, points out that,'' Jesus  gave time to children in a way that would have been unheard of
among Rabbis, and treated them with an unprecedented respect. C.P.  Matthew 19v13-15/Mark 10 v13-16/Luke 18 v15-17 .The statement that the
Kingdom of God belongs to such as these, has nothing to do with sentimental views about the innocence or trustfulness of children It means that the Kingdom of God is open to nobodies and nonentities, which is how
children were viewed in Jesus day .'' I am sure that is one way of looking at it, it is not a new thing, we all have heard the saying as regards children, that they should be seen but not heard. Of course in a world were many people are treated as nobodies, nonentities, this explanation is  wonderful. So many people throughout history have been classed as such, when slavery was practiced, slaves  would generally thought of as a thing with no writes, they were nobodies. Even today Islam treats women as nobodies, the Hindu religion treat certain people as untouchable,in many parts of the world
those who have leprosy are seen as the lowest of the low. I praise God that in His eyes all humanity is precious, no one need feel excluded. We are told ''God chooses the foolish things of the world, the weak, the lowly, the despised[1 Corinthians 1 v 27-28]
                                             A  prayer.
Dear Lord we thank you that You love the whosoever, yes even nobodies
 Amen.

What chaos is coming? [ Isaiah 65 v 17 / Revelation 21 v 5 ]

In Shakespeare's Othello,we read; 'Chaos is come again'', these words are so meaningful. When God had created this world we  read,''God saw all that He had made, and it was very good.''[Genesis 1 v31]Here these ancient words, uttered by God, all that He made was good, and in that good world ,
there was no chaos, no war ,no conflict, everything was harmonious. But then sin entered this universe and things change, disharmony reigned, which brought in uncertainty. We skip forward to Genesis 6 v 5 ,and we read,'' The Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had  become''. And so it is, all things had changed, for the coming in of sin, brought into this world
that which not good. There is no certainty of peace anywhere, the war to end all wars , did nothing of the sort, it only laid the foundation for more wars. We see awful things happening in this world, the natural creation
can suddenly erupt in earthquakes ,and all such natural happens. We do not need to be reminded of what takes place on the human side,and in all this
we ask with apprehension, what chaos is coming next?, for we do not know.
Although all this true, our Saviour told us, ''Do not be frightened''[Luke 2v9]
                               God is our refuge and strength,
                               an ever present help in trouble.
                               Therefore we will not fear,
                               though the earth give way
                               and the mountains fall into
                               the heart of the sea
                              though its waters roar, and foam
                              and the mountains quake with
                              their surging.
                                     [Psalm 46 v 1-3 ]

                                  

He is for us . [Romans 8 v 28 -32 ]

A  Christian couple were supporting their son and his wife, they where
having difficulties in their marriage, They were leaving them to go home,
and the father said this to them, remember we are for you, but more important  remember ,God is for you. The word of God tells us that if God is for us who can be against us,[Romans 8v31].If you are a Christian ,God is for you, to help you ,to face whatever difficulties, you are facing. He is there to bring good to you out every situation, you are in. Yes He will use whatever means, to help you, he used ravens to feed a prophet [1 Kings 17v4],He used a child's lunch to feed 5.000,[ John 6].This God is your God He changes not, as He was, so He will be,[Malachi 3 v6 ]We must always have double vision, we look out and and we face reality, the difficulties are
real,but we do not stay focused on them, we must look up, to our God who is for us. When Elisha the prophet and his servant were in great danger, the servant despaired, he asked Elisha, ''Oh my lord, what shall we do?, the prophet replied,' 'Don't be afraid, those who are with us are more than those
who are with them''. Elisha then prayed for his servant, that the Lord would open his eyes. The Lord did this, and the servant saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire, ''[2 Kings 6 v15-17]
                                    A prayer
Father in heaven we praise you that we your children are not alone, nor ever will  be, you have promised that you are with us and for us, with that assurance help us to go for into the future with confidence in you, with trust in you, in our Saviours name we ask this. Amen.