Imagine ( Matthew 10 v 28 )

 Imagine there's no heaven ,no hell,no religion, here we have some of the words from a song by John Lennon,it was a best seller. Imagination  is a wonderful gift, we all have, but no matter how much we imagine something it does make it so. Fairy tales are imagery tales nothing more, nothing less,the cow cant jump over the moon,nor pigs fly,there is no superman, the moon isn't made of cheese,nor is there a man in the moon.These and many other things are not real,there are no such things as ghost's,and so we could on imagining.Lets get real, there is a heaven,the historical Jesus proved that when He ascended to heaven, there is a hell for the historical Jesus told us there was,and in hell there are no atheist.There is religion ,now I am going say to something,that I hope makes you think,all religions but one are the delusional imaginings of people,they are taking their followers,to the place that will not go away, by  their imaginations,that is hell. There is a song with these words in it,' Wake up to reality', hell is real, and if you don't know Christ as your Saviour, that is were you will be going.Don't be carried away by Lennon's folly, for that what it is folly. Believe the words of the historical Son of God, Jesus,who through his historical death on the cross, made a way back to God from the dark paths of sin.

                                                     Flee from the wrath to come

All you need is Love. ( Galatians 2 v 20)

Poor mixed up John Lennon, of Beatles fame,I will mention one song that he jointly wrote (1 ) 'All you need is love', what about truth?,what did he mean by love? , love devoid of truth, becomes a distortion, it becomes what you want to make it, far removed of what real love should be.  True love starts with God who is love,  and at the greatest manifestation of love,the cross on which Jesus died for sinners,and to reject that love of God,is the most unloving thing anyone can do, it is like spitting in God's face.

                                                   'For God so loved the world

                                                   that He gave his only begotten

                                                   Son, that whosoever believeth

                                                   in him should not perish , but

                                                   have everlasting life.

                                                             John 3 v 16.

Death wish. ( Revelation 2 v 10 )

I was listening to a program on the radio about,'Early Christian Martyrdom', right throughout  history, many Christians have suffered martyrdom, even today there are Christians who are dying for their faith. Christian research says that ,900000 Christians were martyred over the last decade, and it is estimate that over the last two millennia that over 70 million Christians have been martyred.Why ,did they have a death wish?,the answer is no.no one with any sense would want to suffer the horrible deaths inflicted on them. It is said that the apostle Peter was crucified upside down,that was not something he wanted.In fact our Saviour foretold his death, and said that he would be taken were he didn't want to go,He was speaking of hit death ( John 21 v 18 - 19). But he went nevertheless,as many have,one may ask oneself would I be prepared to die for my Saviour? , I would be confident in this ,the God who granted me grace to live for him, will give me grace to die for Him.It would be a great honour to lay down ones life for ones Saviour, after all my  dear Saviour laid down his life for me, and for you. No we don't have a death wish, but we should have a desire to glorify our Saviour by our lives, and if need be, by our deaths.

Escapism. ( Philippians 3 v 1 - 27)

 Someone said that religion is just  escapism,  I  believe it originated from Karl Marx statement that religion is,' the opium of the people', As a Christian I would agree with that term ,'Escapism',but we have to divine what I mean by that, am I an escapist,as one who doesn't live in the real world,and daydreams,no I face up to life, I have never run away from it,or ignored the realities of life,in fact with my Saviours help I gain strength,to help me day by day.Well what do I mean when I say am an escapist? when I trusted  Jesus, I escaped the power of sin,I also escaped the consequences of sin, sin that enslaves,sin if left unforgiven will shut a person out of heaven,and take them  to hell. Trusting Jesus brings one into a wonderful relationship with God, a relationship that cannot be bettered,an eternal relationship. If you know Christ,rejoice be glad,if you don't know Christ why not join me and became an escapist.

                                                      'Who condemned escapism?,

                                                                     Jailers'

                                                              Author unknown.

The front door ( John 10 v 1 - 18 )

I turned the radio on in my car, heard a program on the BBC , the title being,'A history of the front door'' I must confess it made me smile,and I wondered who could have thought of  making a program about the history of the front door?,as I write this I am now laughing,I didn't listen to all of it, I wonder why?.Of course front doors are important for many reasons, did you know that Jesus talked about Himself being the front door?.We read about it in John 10,of course we are not meant to take it literally,he used it to illustrate a spiritual truth.This chapter is about a shepherd and his sheep,in the evening the shepherd would bring his sheep into the sheepfold, he would not leave them for anybody,instead he would lie down across the entrance,becoming as it  were a front door. There thee was no other way in but through Him,the spiritual application is very simple,here people are likened unto sheep,like sheep who have gone astray (Isa 53 v 6) ,they can be saved only if they come through Jesus.He and He alone is the front and only door whereby people can be saved. Simple but profound,there are many false religions,they cannot save you,in fact they are called thieves and robbers,while they promise much,  like a poison chalice,it will destroy you,it only savours of death.  But Jesus declares that He has come that we may have life , and that we may have it more abundantly.

Duty. ( 2 Corinthians 5 v 14 )

My wife and I, and our youngest son his wife and their two children,recently went for a short break in the county of Norfolk,it is a nice county.As one drives into it,there is a board with the following words on it,'You are now entering Nelson  country'. Of course it is referring to England's great sea Lord, who defeated the french navy on a number of times,the most important being the battle of Trafalgar .As the English fleet entered into the battle, Nelsen sent this message to  all the fleet,'England expects everyman will do his duty'.And just before he died for he was seriously wounded during the battle, he said,'Thank God I  have done my duty'.the word duty means a moral or legal obligation a responsibility.Duty for Nelson was very important, and it should be for all of us,it might sound legalistic, but it does not have to be.It can be for love of ones country,ones spouse,children ,etc.as Christians we owe our Saviour everything,what duty we have to perform  should not be because of a threat hanging over us, but for the love shown to us by our Saviour. It can be summed up in the words of Isaac Watts in that hymn he wrote,'When I survey the wondrous cross.'Look  afresh on the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,there you will see love incarnate. what is your response?. Isaac Watts response was this,

                                                   'Love so amazing, so divine,

                                                    Demands my soul , my life,

                                                                MY  ALL'

The gift of reading. ( Psalm 119 v 105)

 In that murder camp  Auschwitz there was a library, I say a library,but it was very small,for it only had 8 books in it.You see books were banned in that horror camp for as one person said,''Books are extremely  dangerous''.Dictatorships and oppressive regimes don't just want control of what you do, but also of what you think. So if one was found  having a book in Auschwitz it would have cost you your life. So even though it was a small library it was to those in that dark place a window of escape from the grim realities that they endured day after day. One of the most precious gifts I possess is being able to read, that opened so much to me,for it gave me pleasure,educated me,and indeed helped me in so many ways.I love books, I remember a lady in a church I once attended,could only read the bible.I know a little lad who at this stage can't read he is autistic,and he gets very frustrated.I know people who can read,and they don't read books ,I know Christian and they don't even read their bibles. To have the gift of being able to read,and not use it, is very sad, let us rejoice and praise God for the gift of reading, especially in being able to read God's word.

                                                 'The best book to read is the bible'