In the Light of Grief.

We normally think of someones passing as a dark and mysterious thing and in some cases it is. May I say that death doesn't have to be the end of your life. It was the end of mine. When someone dies there is a normal grief process that we all go through. We normally grieve more for someone who has loved us very much, or we have perceived it that way. Despite the truth that for a Christian, death is the beginning of a brand new life in Christ and we should not grieve as those who have no hope. It is sad when an unbeliever dies because we have no assurance that that person is in the presence of God, surely they have seen God but not as Saviour and Lord but as their judge.
Christ didn't come into the world to condemn the world he came to save sinners who were willing to repent and the offer still stands as I am writing these words. The problem is that we are not willing to come to God as sinners, we want to keep our own self righteousness and offer it to God, which he will never accept. I want to tell you a secret. There will be no sinners in Heaven who have not repented. It doesn't matter how good you feel you are, you don't have to become a sinner to repent. God called everyone to repentance, that means you and that meant me.
The fact that Christ saved me, doesn't make me a better person, if I thought that way, God would humble me very fast or I would be in trouble. The fact that he is not willing that any should perish should give you a sense of fear before God because that means that he loves sinners and you are one of them.
We are not saved by our good thoughts or actions, we are saved through faith and belief in the Jesus of the bible. If you are not willing to believe in Him, he has already said you are condemned. The trick is not to get to the point where you reject the Saviour before it is too late for repentance and only God knows when that is. I want to give you hope, and there is comfort for all men through Jesus Christ. Christ came to save sinners, and He will not condemn you. He has paid the price for you, so all you need to do is call upon His name.

Lord, draw men and woman to be born anew through your word and through your Spirit that you may gain glory for Yourself and Your Son. Through our Saviour and Lord. In Jesus Name. amen.

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Catholic Identity.

I was born into the Catholic Church and was baptized as an infant, I had my first communion and reconciliation as a child, and was confirmed as a teenager. Although I was never devout, I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Saviour when I was 21 through an evangelical Christian radio ministry, which in turn gave new life to my Catholic faith. Although I remained a Catholic, I identified as a born again Christian. It wasn’t until much later in my life that I learned the difference between the two denominations and what they taught about being born again. Regardless, there was a significant change in my life back then, which continues to this day. Being Catholic is much like an identity to me and I remember growing up under the papacy of St. Pope John Paul II. The culture I grew up in was largely affected by his papacy, and the way the culture viewed the church was significantly different from the way the current culture views it. Growing up, the pope didn’t try to be rele...

Age of Brokenness.

We are living in an age of brokenness, no matter what age you are, you probably have been touched with relationships falling apart, which causes more and more people to live in isolation. In this generation there is less of an incentive to heal and reconcile relationships, but that doesn’t excuse the amount of people who are broken. Why people don’t seem to be motivated to heal relationships is because our beliefs about faith and God have changed, really giving us less of an incentive to do what our religion says. If I act from my personal beliefs, but the person that I am responding to has abandoned religious beliefs, than the response to my wanting things to be better can be misinterpreted and rejected then by someone else. Generally when a society has expectations about broken relationships, loneliness and isolation, and the beliefs are generally accepted, society becomes a more compassionate society, because all value the same things. When religious values are undermined and ...

The Biblical Meaning of “Life in the Spirit.”

“Life in the Spirit” is an example that the Apostle Paul gives in the book of Romans starting in chapter 5 and going through to chapter 8. He begins by telling us we are justified by faith (5:1), and have gained access by faith into the grace of God (5:2). We have been delivered from God’s wrath (5:9) and we have been reconciled to God through the death of His Son (5:10). He goes on to explain that through Adam all die (5:12), and that the free Gift of God brings justification and righteousness to the believing sinner (5:15-17). Through our conversion we are baptized into Christ and into his death, which frees us from the law and makes us dead to sin (6:2-4). He explains that just as Christ was raised from the dead, we are given new life in Christ (6:4). Our old unregenerate self was crucified with Christ so that our body of sin might be done away with (6:5-6). Because we have died to sin, we now submit ourselves to God being that we are now under grace, not the law (6:8-1...

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