Hymn for today . . .

I remember the night in November 2007 when I was driving home after a choir practise and this worship song just popped into my head. I started to sing the first few lines over and over, and by the time that I arrived home about fifteen minutes later the song was outlined in my head, ready to rush to the computer and write it down before I forgot any of it. I never cease to be amazed at the way God gives these songs to me through the Holy Spirit, and all the praise for them goes to Him.

I hope that you enjoy singing it!

Precious Blood of Jesus 8.8.8.7.

O, the precious blood of Jesus,
Blessed and precious blood of Jesus,
O, the precious blood of Jesus,
Shed for us at Calvary.

On the cross He bled and suffered,
On the cross He cried forgiveness,
On the cross when love was bleeding,
He died there at Calvary.

In the darkest tomb they laid Him,
In the garden trees were sighing;
All was silent, save the crying
Of His friends at Calvary.

But the day was fast approaching,
When the Son would soon be rising,
And the world be realising
He had conquered death and sin.

Came the morn, the grave was open,
Christ had risen, the tomb was empty;
Though once dead He now is living,
In His name we can live too.

O, the precious love of Jesus!
Great and precious love of Jesus!
O, the precious love of Jesus,
Proved for us at Calvary!
© 2007 Colin Gordon-Farleigh

A Terrified Nancy Pelosi

Why does House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, look so terrified in this photograph? Could it be because she realises that supporting the building of a mega-mosque at Ground Zero might lose her job for her?

More than 100,000 signatures have now been added to the petition to stop Ground Zero being violated. The latest twist in the growing national opposition to the Ground Zero Mosque is House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s stunning call yesterday for an investigation into who is supposedly funding opposition to the Ground Zero Mosque.

In case Ms. Pelosi has forgotten, America is not a police state. Calling for such an investigation is the very type of strong-armed tactic totalitarian governments use to intimidate their citizenry and suppress freedom.

How different is this from the intimidation tactics Islamists use worldwide to suppress free speech, as occurred in the aftermath of the publishing of the Danish cartoons of Mohammed? Not much.

Pelosi feels that some dark organisation is funding the opposition to the building of the proposed mosque at Ground Zero. Does she really think that more than 70% of concerned Americans need funding in order to make their opposition known?

In the photo above she looks terrified about something. Could that something be the realisation that she is wrong?

Joanne Lowe's Meditations

NO ONE IS HOPELESS

“But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.”

Matthew 19:26 (King James Version)

Someone said “He is a hopeless alcoholic”. I submit to you on the authority of the Word of God that no one is hopeless. We can’t stop someone from drinking but God can. What a sad commentary it is on those of us who claim to be Christians that we criticize people.

How it must hurt and break the heart of our precious Saviour when He hears the cruel words we say. When we say things to people that hurt them, we might as well take a gun and shoot them. It has the same effect as a bullet. If someone has ever said something cruel to you, then you know how it hurts.

We read in the Bible “Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop: but a good word maketh it glad” (Proverbs 12:25). When I was a teenager in school, I was called fat and ugly and stupid. Because of those cruel words, I believed that I was no good and was in a deep depression for almost thirty years.

It is time that we stop hurting Jesus by the cruel words we say. “And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me” (Matthew 25:40). We should hang our heads in shame for hurting Jesus!

Heavenly Father, we have hurt Jesus and hurt You by the cruel and thoughtless words we have said to people. I pray that You will please have mercy on us and forgive us. Please help us to realize that when we say cruel words to people, we are also saying them to Jesus. Amen.

Joanne Lowe

joannelowe8@cox.net

www.joanne-ourprecioussaviour.blogspot.com

Obama and the Ground Zero Mosque

There should really be little surprise that the allegedly Kenyan-born President of the United States, Barack Hussein Obama, who hails from a Muslim background, is supportive of proposals to erect a massive mosque on the site of Ground Zero, despite the fact that at least 70% of US citizens are opposed to it.

It is doubtful that Obama could have insulted the American people in a more calculated manner than by giving his support to this outrageous proposal. In the face of already waning popularity, Obama has really shot himself in the foot this time. The first part of his statement, made at an event to mark the Festival of Ramadan, is innocuous enough. After all, most right-thinking folk will agree that it's a basic human right to enjoy the freedom to practise the religion of your choice in your home country. Obama said, "As a citizen and a President, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practise their religion as anyone else in this country." Who can justify arguing against that?

The problem is with the next part of his statement: "That includes the right to build a place of worship and a community centre on private property in lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances." Obama then presses on to upset the vast majority of God-fearing moderate Americans by saying that he considered Islam to be a major force in 'advancing justice, progress, tolerance and the dignity of all human beings' and that it (Islam) had always been part of America. In this statement he showed his ignorance about the history of his adopted land, for the USA was founded on Christian principals. The concepts of 'freedom of religion' would not have included those practises carried out in some Islamic nations which revolt the civilised world; practises such as the stoning to death of women who have been found guilty of adultery, or the slaughter of any Muslim who dares to convert to Christianity.

Since Islamic Fundamentalists perpetrated the atrocity of 9/11, murdering thousands of US citizens of all races and religious creeds, the site of the Twin Towers, known as Ground Zero, has been regarded as a national shrine. Newt Gingrich has likened building a mosque on the site to placing a Nazi swastika on a Holocaust memorial or a Japanese Cultural Centre at Pearl Harbour.

There are many sites that could be used to site a Mosque, apart from Ground Zero, but none of them would have the same triumphant statement of successful conquest as building it on ground revered by so many US citizens out of their respect for those who were murdered on 9/11.

This time it would appear that Obama has talked himself into early oblivion. History will be the judge.

Hymn for today . . .

Come, Lord Jesus, Come! 8.7.8.7.

.

I am ready and waiting Lord,

Watching the heavens aglow;

Watching and waiting and serving,

Serving You down here below.

.

I’m spending my days

In worship and praise;

O come, Lord Jesus, come!

I’m serving You, Lord,

I’m fed by Your Word,

O come, Lord Jesus, come!

.

I am spreading Your gospel Lord,

Telling the world of Your love;

Watching and serving and waiting,

Waiting to join You above.

I’m spending my days

In worship and praise;

O come, Lord Jesus, come!

I’m serving You, Lord,

I’m fed by Your Word,

O come, Lord Jesus, come!

.

In heav’n I’ll join You forever,

Then for eternity praise;

Waiting and serving and watching,

Seeing You then face to face.

.

I’m spending my days

In worship and praise;

O come, Lord Jesus, come!

I’m serving You, Lord,

I’m fed by Your Word,

O come, Lord Jesus, come!

© 2006 Colin Gordon-Farleigh

Some Andalucian Holiday Pics.

Lake Negratin is a 13km man-made lake/reservoir just a few miles from Bacor, where we stayed in the CasaCave Bed & Breakfast last week. Check them out for yourself, dear reader, and you might be tempted to sample Debbie & Kev's hospitality as well like we did.

The fountain in the village square at Bacor, Andalucia, made you imagine that you felt a little cooler at least. The temperature when this pic was taken was about 34C, and so it's no wonder I look a little warm! Note the shorts, allowing my legs a little sunshine! This, I can assure you, is an extremely rare sight and one which is even rarer to find in a photograph!

This is the dried-up river-bed at Guadix which will become a veritable raging torrent once the rains come.

e="text-align: center;">A great street scene at Guadix. As a jigsaw puzzle enthusiast, I could imagine this would make a great puzzle.

v style="text-align: center;">Side entrance to the Cathedral at Guadix. Below is a close-up detail of the courtyard in front of the entrance gates.

Here's the Cathedral in all its glory. The interior was extremely dark and there was too much gilt and statuary for my personal taste. There were also too many opportunities placed around for visitors to put money into. All in all, I didn't really feel any sense of God's presence in the building, but too much of the presence of man.

Quite apart from relaxing in the sun and having a good time in the water, I also spent quite a few Euros buying ice-creams at this little kiosk.

At the local cemetery in Bacor they entomb the dead in these burial chambers and then block up the front with a tombstone until they need to pop someone else in. Quite a strange experience walking around, but also very peaceful.

In this pic you can see some cave entrances just waiting for a buyer to come along and turn them into terrific homes, hollowing out as many rooms as they need. Several of the properties were similar to the one we stayed in and are half house/half cave.

My final pic is of the village church at Bacor. Unfortunately it was locked and we were unable to see inside, which was a pity.

Amazing painting of the Resurrection of Christ by Ron DiCianni

Ron DiCianni, a popular Christian illustrator was commissioned to paint the largest mural depiction of the Resurrection ever. You might know DiCianni by his popular portrait of a father kneeling at his child’s bed in intense prayer called ‘Spiritual Warfare’ which is shown above.

His picture of the Resurrection of Christ is amazing, and you can watch a video of it by clicking on this link.

The Resurrection of Christ is 12 feet by 40 feet, and it took him two years to complete. The mural is notable because not many paintings show Jesus emerging from the tomb in a triumphant, forward facing pose. The painting also shows prophets who came before Jesus – Moses, Elijah, King David.

The painting will be installed at the Museum of Biblical Art in Dallas.

Hymn for today . . .

Water of Life 8.8.8.8.
Tune: Celeste

Show me the glorious river,
that flows with the water of life;
as clear and as pure as crystal,
with its source at the throne of God.

Show me the tree of life, that grows
by the river on either side;
show me the leaves that heal the world,
and the throne of God and the Lamb.

Show me the everlasting light
that shines from the glory of God;
wash me in Christ’s holy fountain,
and cleanse me with His holy Word.
© Colin Gordon-Farleigh, 2006

Hymn for today . . .

I hope that singing this hymn that I've chosen for today's 'Hymn for Today' will bring you much blessing as well as helping to focus you on Jesus and the provision of all that we need.

I remember writing this hymn during the time that I was at the Summer Healing School, held at Gregynog, near Newtown in Powys, three years ago. We had been studying and discussing the passage in John 4, (verses 7-15), about the Samaritan woman whom Jesus met at the well. Jesus speaks of the difference between the water drawn from the well and the Living water that He can give, telling the woman that "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." As we left the group to break for our evening meal, the words of this worship song came to me in a rush. During the course of the meal the tune was playing in my head, and as soon as I could I went up to my room and wrote it out on my laptop.

That evening, in the main hall, a friend and fellow minister, Robert Parry, played the tune whilst I sang it through with another friend, Joyce Nuttall. The following morning we sang it during the morning praise time.

A few weeks ago, whilst at Gregynog for this year's Summer Healing School Conference, I met up with Joyce and her friend Gwen Wildman, and they shared with me that they had been sitting by a well singing this worship song the last time they were in Kenya. It was a great blessing to hear about it.

Here are the words; the sheet music above can be copied and printed. All I ask is that if you use this at your service you report its use to CCLI.

Living Water

We will drink Living Water,
We will drink Living Water,
Yes, we’ll drink Living Water,
From Jesus, our well.

He will feed and sustain us,
He will feed and sustain us,
Yes, He’ll feed and sustain us,
When we give ourselves.

We will never go hungry,
We will never go hungry,
No, we’ll never go hungry,
The rest of our days.

He will cleanse us for ever,
He will cleanse us for ever,
Yes, He’ll cleanse us for ever,
When His name we praise.

We will never be thirsty,
We will never be thirsty,
No, we’ll never be thirsty,
When His name we raise.

For we’ll drink Living Water,
We will drink Living Water,
Yes, we’ll drink Living Water,
From Jesus, our well.
© Colin Gordon-Farleigh, 2007

Joanne Lowe's Meditations

IS THE RIVER FLOWING

“In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.”

John 7:37,38 (King James Version)

When we accept Jesus as our personal Saviour, He puts a river of living water in us. However, there are times when we stop the river of living water from flowing because of our attitudes and the way we act.

When we are critical and judgmental of people, the river of living water in us can’t flow freely. We put a barrier in the way of the river. It is time that we start loving one another unconditionally as Jesus has commanded us to love them.

There are many people who are thirsty for love. They need to know that Jesus loves them. Unless they see Jesus in our smiles and hear Him in our words and feel Him in our actions, they will never accept Him as their personal Saviour.

I don’t know about you but I don’t want to have to hang my head in shame on the judgment day because I didn’t live for Jesus. Is the river of life flowing in your life? Do your family and your friends see Jesus in your smiles and hear Him in the kind words you say?

Heavenly Father, we confess that we have sinned because we don’t always love one another unconditionally. Please have mercy on us and forgive us. Help us to live so that people will see Jesus in our smiles and hear Him in the kind words to say to each other. Amen.

Joanne Lowe

joannelowe8@cox.net

www.joanne-ourprecioussaviour.blogspot.com

Is Your Local Mosque 'Moderate' or 'Radical'?

Is Your Local Mosque 'Moderate' or 'Radical'?

by Tawfik Hamid

www.tawfikhamid.com

After the problem of Ground Zero Mosque has escalated it becomes an urgent necessity to distinguish 'Moderate' from 'Radical' Islam. Without making such a distinction the US and the rest of the world will remain divided regarding this issue. Debates about the issue can be endless unless we define the words 'radical' and 'moderate'.

Mosque leaders, Islamic scholars, and organizations who want to be considered Moderates MUST clearly and unambiguously declare the following declaration in their media outlets and on their websites.

I suggest that you send this declaration to Mosque leaders and the Islamic organizations inside the US and worldwide to see if they are ready to accept such a declaration or not.

Please feel free to circulate this newsletter so that we can start a process that allows us to distinguish radical from moderate Islam.

Ask the Imams of Mosques, the Muslim leaders, and the Islamic organizations in the US and worldwide to sign this declaration reproduced below:

Declaration of Beliefs of Muslim Moderates:-

I (We) are Muslims who want contemporary understandings of Islam to replace currently predominant harsh and radical (Salafi/Wahabbi) interpretations of our religion. We therefore declare that:

1- Redda Law, the Sharia Law that allows the killing of Muslims who convert to other faiths, must be banned in Islamic teachings and in Sharia legal doctrine. Islamic countries that practice Sharia must stop the practice of this law and must admit that Freedom of belief and the right to convert to other faith or believe is a basic right that must be given to all Muslims.

2- Current mainstream Sharia doctrines justify the use of violence against women. They encourage men to beat their wives to discipline them. They allow women accused of adultery to be stoned to death. These doctrines are barbarically inhumane, non-egalitarian, and teach Muslim children to be violent. These teachings must be ended by reinterpreting the Islamic text that justifies such violence.

3- Traditional Sharia doctrines teach Muslims that they must engage in war so that Islam will dominate the world. When Islam becomes dominant, Non-Muslims are offered three options: to convert to Islam, to pay Jizzia (a humiliating tax), or to be killed. These doctrines run contrary to modern respect for diversity and for personal freedom of speech and belief. This understanding of Jihad that seeks domination of Islam over other peoples must no longer be regarded as an Islamic value and its teaching as a duty for Muslims must end.

The early Islamic wars known as "Futohaat Islameia" were fought to implement this doctrine of Jihad. These wars therefore should now be regarded as un-Islamic and un-justifiable.

4- Jews are individuals who deserve the same respect accorded to all individuals. They should not be called "pigs and monkeys." The Islamic teaching that Muslims must fight and kill all Jews before the end of days is totally incorrect and unacceptable as it does not exist in the Quran. All teachings that encourage anti-Semitic attitudes, violence or disrespect toward Jews must be declared un-Islamic.

5- Slavery is a crime against humanity. All Sharia laws that justify slavery in our modern times must not be taught any more. Muslim scholars must have a clear and loud voice against slavery.

6- Islamic Sharia laws currently permit the killing homosexuals. These laws also are advocating a crime against our fellow human beings. They must be declared un-Islamic and their implementation must be considered criminal.

Signed,
Dr. Tawfik Hamid


Comment:
The above violent teachings, which currently are taught in mainstream Islamic books in America, are implemented in countries that allow governance according to Sharia Law. Future Muslim generations must be protected from these destructive doctrines, interpretations and customs.

These violent Sharia doctrines must be replaced with clear and unconditional explanations of why they no longer are valid.

Anything short of a fully clear and unequivocal stand against these doctrines indicates passive approval. Therefore, all Islamic leaders who genuinely consider themselves to be Muslim moderates must post these principles in English and in Arabic in full public view on their websites and declare them in their media outlets.

Failure to publically post and support these principles should be interpreted as clear evidence that a leader's mosque or Islamic organization must be considered radical.

Hymn for today . . .

I've written lots of hymns in collaboration with Greg Scheer, one of which I share with you today. It's called Walking in the Power, and it's a great song to sing for congregations, soloists and groups. Why not copy and paste it from this blog and try it out during your next worship service.

Back from my holiday . . .

Yesterday afternoon we returned from a wonderful week spent in a Cave House in Bacor, Andalucia, Spain. We had a great week of relaxation and sunshine, with temperatures soaring on occasion to over 34C.

The cave houses, or troglodyte dwellings, are fascinating! We visited Purellena, the first town to be completely made up of cave dwellings, which it was thirty years ago, although now cave houses account for about 60% of the village population.

Whilst there we visited the Cave Museum which showed the changes in the style of cave dwellings over the decades. A very worthwhile visit. We also enjoyed the cave shops which had thousands of items of earthenware on sale for the tourist, and at more than reasonable prices.

If sharing this glimpse of Troglodyte life encourages you, dear reader, to go and experience it for yourself, then I hope that you stay with a couple like Kevin and Debbie Coles as we did at CasaCave, for they went out of their way to make our visit special. Take a look at their website.

Why There? Attempts to ban building of Mosque at Ground Zero

A New York City panel voted unanimously Tuesday to reject landmark status for a building near the World Trade Center site, paving the way for construction of a mosque and an Islamic community centre.

Opponents of the project, including 9/11 first-responders and family members of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, have said the location would be insensitive.

The mosque is slated to be part of an Islamic community center to be operated by a group called the Cordoba Initiative, which says the center will be a space for moderate Muslim voices.

Several members of roughly 50 people who attended the hearing applauded the ruling, while others shouted "shame" as commission chairman Robert Tierney called for the vote. The city Landmarks Preservation Commission then proceeded to vote 9-0 against granting landmark status to the site's 152-year-old building, which can now be torn down to make way for the Islamic center.

One opponent, Linda Rivera, of Manhattan, held a sign reading, "Don't glorify murder of 3,000. No 9/11 victory mosque."

Supporters of the landmark status, including GOP gubernatorial candidate Rick Lazio and some Sept. 11 family members, had argued that the building warranted landmark status because it was struck by airplane debris during the attacks.

But commissioner Christopher Moore noted that the debris struck a number of buildings in the area.

"One cannot designate hundreds of building on that criteria alone," Moore said. "We do not landmark the sky."

The commission was asked to determine whether the building is architecturally important enough to preserve, not to consider the merits of the proposed mosque. Demolition and construction of the mosque can now proceed.

The move was applauded by the New York Civil Liberties Union and the American Civil Liberties Union, citing principles of religious freedom.

"We congratulate the Landmarks Preservation Commission for promoting our nation's core values and not letting bias get in the way of the rule of law," the groups said in a joint statement. "The free exercise of religion is one of America's most fundamental freedoms. For hundreds of years,our pluralism and tolerance have sustained and strengthened our nation. On 9/11, religious extremists opposed to that very pluralism killed 3,000 Americans. Those fanatics would want nothing more than for our nation to turn its back on the very ideals that make this country so great."

Oz Sultan, the program coordinator for the proposed Islamic center, said last week that the building has been changed too much over the years to qualify as a landmark.

"I think a lot of the negativity we're getting is coming from people who are politically grandstanding," Sultan said. "We're completely open and transparent."

Daisy Khan, executive director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement, told The Wall Street Journal in Tuesday's editions that the center's board will include members of other religions and explore including an interfaith chapel at the center.

"We want to repair the breach and be at the front and center to start the healing," said Khan, a partner in the building and the wife of the cleric leading the effort.

But Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, said Khan's proposals fail to address the crux of opponents' criticism that constructing the mosque near ground zero is insensitive to 9/11 victims' families.

Last week, the leading Jewish organization came out against the mosque. The ADL said "some legitimate questions have been raised" about the Cordoba Initiative's funding and possible ties with "groups whose ideologies stand in contradiction to our shared values."

Rick Bell, executive director of the New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects, said the building does not deserve landmark status.

"The nature of the current building isn't worth preserving," Bell said.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg supported the mosque's construction, but the project has drawn opposition from former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, among others.

There can be no doubt that this is part of an aggressive thrust into the heartland of America by Islamic Fundamentalism, no doubt encouraged by Mayor Bloomberg's commitment to the imposition of Islamic Sharia Law on the secular marketplace. It's the old story once again. Give an inch and they take a mile! I will accept the building of Mosques in prominent positions in major cities in both America and the United Kingdom, provided that for every mosque that is built a Christian Cathedral and a Jewish Synagogue is built and protected from attack in every major city in the Islamic world. Seems only fair to me. After all, as the expression goes, what's good for the goose is good for the gander!

Hymn for today . . .

I wrote the following hymn in June 2006, and share it with you here today. The tune is Quam Dilecta, to which the hymn We love Thy place, O God, is sung. Why not sing it at home or in one of your church services. You can download more of my hymns by visiting www.sheerjoymusic.com

The One True God 6.6.6.6.
Tune: Quam Dilecta

You are the one true God,
And we our worship bring;
Creator of all things,
This song of praise we sing.

Alone You’re holy, Lord,
You are the One-and-Three,
The Father, Spirit, Son,
The holy Trinity.

All heav’n bows down to You,
Acknowledging Your ways,
In wonderment and awe,
Give love’s eternal praise.

We join with angel throng,
Who gather up above,
To glorify and praise
With wondrous songs of love.

So may it never end,
This holy song of praise,
We praise the one true God,
Our Father, all our days!
© Colin Gordon-Farleigh, June 2006

Daniel Ubani : Killer GP. Who will be his next victim?

Second-rate Nigerian trained German doctor, Daniel Ubani, who killed David Gray by injecting him with ten times the recommended dosage of the pain-relieving drug, diamorphine, is attempting to use European Human Rights laws to silence the late Mr Gray's two sons from speaking out the truth about how he (Ubani) killed their father.

He claims that their campaign to bring him to justice is denying him the right to continue practising. Thank goodness that the brothers are waging their campaign, for by so doing they are preventing the killing of another victim of Ubani's flawed 'expertise'.

Ubani claims that the reason for the overdose he administered to David Gray was that he was unfamiliar with the drug and that he was tired, having only had three hours sleep after flying to the UK from Germany on the day prior to the incident. If these reasons are true then he is guilty of malpractice on both accounts. Firstly, if he was unfamiliar with the drug why did he not familiarise himself with it prior to using it? Secondly, if he was too tired to perform his duties safely and efficiently, why did he continue to proceed regardless?

Rather than allowing Ubani to succeed in his attempt to silence the Gray brothers protests he should be returned to the UK to face the charges that have been made in a British Court.

His continued refusal to be brought to justice for the killing should guarantee an ongoing ban against him working in the medical profession. He has proven by his actions that he is incompetent, so until he can prove that he is now competent then he should be barred from practice anywhere.

Poem for Today

When We Meet With Jesus 6.6.6.6.

When we meet with Jesus
And look Him in the face,
We’ll all be overjoyed
To stand there by His grace.

Stand before the Saviour,
And at His feet bow low,
Worship in His glory,
His power and blessings know.

Place your hand in His hand,
Then give to Him your heart,
Heaven’s Son before you,
Where love and mercy start.

Seek to be like Jesus,
Serve him your whole life through,
Claim Him as your Master,
And know that He’ll own you.

Walk each day with Jesus,
Be like Him in your ways;
Then one day in heaven,
Sing His eternal praise!
© Colin Gordon-Farleigh, June 2006

Joanne Lowe's Meditations

CLEAN OUR HEARTS

“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.”

Psalm 51:10 (King James Version)

I think if we are honest with ourselves that there are times when we harbor unforgiveness, bitterness, resentment, jealousy and hatred in our hearts. These things hurt Jesus and break His heart.

We may not say unkind things to people but we think unkind thoughts about them. We need to ask God to clean our hearts and renew a right spirit within us. It is very important that we keep our hearts in right standing with God.

We don’t know when Jesus is coming back but He is coming back. What condition is your heart in today? If Jesus came for us right now, would you be able to look Him in the eyes or would you have to hang your head in shame?

We can take a bath when our bodies get dirty but only God can clean our hearts and renew a right spirit within us. Have you allowed God to give your heart a bath and renew a right spirit within you?

Heavenly Father, we come to You today confessing that we have allowed things to remain in our hearts that hurt You. We’re sorry. Please have mercy on us and forgive us. Help us to keep our hearts clean so we won’t hurt You. Thank You. Amen.

Joanne Lowe

joannelowe8@cox.net

www.joanne-ourprecioussaviour.blogspot.com

The King is Coming!

THE KING IS COMING

Read: Matthew 24: 4-14

Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name claiming, “I am the Christ,” and will deceive many.

(Matthew 24: 4-5)

‘SUFFERING IN SUDAN’ — THE CHURCH IS UNDER THREAT IN IRAQ — PASTOR KILLED BY GUNMAN — ACCUSED CHRISTIAN BROTHERS KILLED OUTSIDE COURT — KYRGYZSTAN: CHRISTIANS BECOME LATEST TARGET IN ETHNIC VIOLENCE.
Just a selection of reports that have been sent to me in the last few weeks, and similar in content to reports which come in to me all the time from around the world. In this country we often hear about Christians who are being persecuted in one way or another for their faith, and only the foolish would dare to think that Christianity is not being systematically sidelined by the governing authorities.
In addition, there are increasing numbers of Christians who are being totally misled by false doctrines many of which start life in America and are then shipped over to the United Kingdom. These include the much-publicised ’Toronto Blessing’ and the more recent ’Lakeland Revival’, all of which display a variety of signs that indicate demonic influence. Tested against the indisputable truth of the Bible they can easily be seen to be suspect, and yet those who are being influenced by them seem to be blind to the facts that stare the more discerning Christian in the face.

Liberal theologians will tell you that the Bible is a collection of ideals which are to be interpreted by men for their betterment, and they will dismiss the aspects of the Bible that they fail to either fully understand or have the ability to offer a literal explanation for. You don’t have to go very far to find many clerics who refute the story of Creation as recorded in Genesis, yet Jesus Himself often referred back to it in order to underpin and stress the points that He was making. If the story of Creation is just a load of symbolism and folklore rather than the truth, why would Jesus quote from it so often? Countless members of the clergy refute the story of the virgin birth and there are those who deny the resurrection, so how can they retain their positions of leadership?
The truth is that many churches and church leaders have so watered down the bible in vain attempts to make it ‘user-friendly’ that have become guilty of misleading those whom they are appointed to lead. The result in the end will be that many are denied eternity with Jesus Christ because they have readily accepted false doctrine.

Only this year one member of my congregation told me that they believed that people would get to heaven if they were ‘good people’, despite the fact that this claim is disproved in the Bible. Jesus said, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6). Yet when I pointed this passage out to the person concerned the immediate response was that they believed that the various gods worshipped by other religions were all Jesus under a different name!

I believe that we are in the end times, and that the state of the world is all the proof that we need when considered in the light of God’s Word. There are many indications in the Bible that point to God’s measure of time being far different to man’s understanding of it. Jesus warned against the coming of the Antichrists. These were not total strangers to the church; they had once been in the church, yet without belonging to it. Many people, including those in leadership positions, may call themselves Christians for dishonest reasons. For some people going to church is a tradition or a habit, often maintained because people enjoy the social contacts they make there. The only good reason for going to church has to be Christ-centred. It has to be that you want to be part of a fellowship of believers who come together to worship and praise God, and who desire to be loyal and trustworthy followers of Jesus Christ.

The apostle John warned against the Antichrists, Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many Antichrists have come (1 John 2:18). By his reference to ‘the last hour’ John is speaking about the last days, the time between the first and second coming of Christ. We are living in the last days, just as the First-Century believers were, but the indications are that we are also living in the end times of the last days. The purpose of the false teachers, who are the Antichrists referred to in Scripture, is to lure weaker members of the Church away from Christ by their false teaching.

Our faith, given to us initially as a gift from God, needs to be fed on God’s word in order to grow, and growth is important in faith as in all things. The Bible teaches us: Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see (Hebrews 11:1). Our greatest defence against false teaching is by immersing ourselves in the Word of God and trusting in its absolute truth. As we immerse ourselves in Scripture so we are drawn nearer to God through an increased knowledge of Him, and as our knowledge of, and closeness to, God increases so our ability to discern the truth increases proportionately.

Our hope is in Jesus Christ, and in His promises that He will return for us and that He has prepared a place for us in heaven to be with Him. To disbelieve these promises is to disbelieve Jesus Christ and to doubt the Word of God. Have no doubt in your mind that Jesus will come again. The important thing is to be ready for Him. Jesus said, “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father (Matthew 24:36); and the apostle Paul writes to the Thessalonians that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night (1 Thessalonians 5:2).

As we move closer and closer to Christ’s return the first and most important sign that points to it is increased religious deception, and this will affect many of those who claim to follow Christ. Jesus warns that the false prophets will come performing great signs and miracles and deceive even the elect — if that were possible (Matthew 24:24). Paul writes to Timothy, “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.” (2 Timothy 3:13).

The George Barna Group, a market research company specialising in studying the religious beliefs and behaviour in America, has uncovered some alarming facts which, whilst they may be the results of research into American beliefs, may nevertheless be concluded to apply similarly to the United Kingdom. Their research demonstrates a radical gap between what many Christians publicly profess to believe and what they actually believe in private.
They found that:
59% do not believe in the existence of Satan.
51% believe that praying to dead saints is beneficial.
35% believe that you can communicate with the dead.
50% believe that salvation is earned and not a gift of grace.
75% believe that people are born neither good nor evil, and that therefore the concept of ‘original sin’ is untrue.
44% believe that the bible, the Qur’an and the Book of Mormon are all different expressions of the same truth.
54% believe that truth can only be discovered through logic, human reasoning and personal experience.
These deceptions grow in people who reject God’s Word as the infallible authority on truth, yet these same people claim that they are Christians.

Time is running short before our Lord returns. I believe that the disastrous state of the world is an indication that the birth-pains of His return are already with us. The early signs foretold in the Bible are with us already. We have wars, famines, earthquakes, and violence and disruption in our world. Christians are being persecuted on a massive scale. The persecution is very real. People are being executed and murdered because of their belief in Christ. All of these things are signs that the end is coming.

Do not be deceived! Test everything that you are told against Scripture, knowing that the Word of God is always absolute truth. When Christ returns there will be no time then to make ready. Scripture tells us that everything will happen in the twinkling of an eye, so we need to live our lives in a state of readiness.

Jesus has given us all the signs that point towards His return: Deception; Persecution; Global Birth-pains; False Prophets; Falling away from the truth; Wickedness and Global Evangelism.

Christ is coming again for certain, and He is coming soon!
Amen

A Smile from God!

......... and looking up into the night sky, the pink of the setting sun as the day prepared to rest, God sent a smile to reassure His people that He was there and that he cared for them.