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Showing posts from December, 2020

The Secular Messiah.

  The Catholic Catechism warns society about making a secular messiah because the church knows that only when Jesus Christ returns, will society enter the perfect age that can only be possible after Christ has judged this earth. The church also teaches that just before the Second Coming of Christ, an anti-Christ will appear on this earth to lead unbelievers astray and prepare this world for the last and final Judgment of God. Throughout history there has been many world leaders who have persecuted the Church, but the final secular leader is prophesied in 2 Thessalonians 2, the bible warns about the final Anti-Christ that will appear before the Second Coming: 2  Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters,  2  not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter—asserting that the day of the Lord has already come.  3...

Why was Jesus Filled with Grief?

Suffering servant.    10  Yet it pleased Jehovah to bruise him; he hath  [ a ] put him to grief:  [ b ] when thou shalt make his soul  [ c ] an offering for sin, he shall see  his  seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of Jehovah shall prosper in his hand. Isaiah 53:10.  Jesus Christ was literally filled with grief, but what does that mean? Why would the Messiah be sad, if He was God you would think that in his incarnation that He would be a happy man? In other words, why would the Messiah be filled with sadness? Jesus came as a "suffering" servant to be filled with all kinds of sorrow. God allowed this so Jesus could relate to us in our deepest pain. Jesus' message isn't one that says; strength over weakness, in fact Jesus appeals to us as sinners, and the only way we can accept His free gift of Salvation is by humbling ourselves and admitting to God that we are sinners. This truth is not in contradiction to the Old Covenant...

What was the Meaning for the First Coming of Jesus?

  Who is Jesus Christ and why did he have to come to this earth? Many of us know the story of Christmas, how a king was born in a humble stable, in humble circumstances. How the angel Gabriel appeared to the Virgin Mary, and announced that she would become pregnant through the Holy Spirit and that her son would be the Son of God. What does all this mean? Yes Jesus is the Son of God, and he is also the Saviour of the world, (Luke 2:11). Jesus came with a message but the real reason he came was to die!   How can you say that, you ask? Well, because it is through the death of Jesus Christ that we have forgiveness of our sins, (Ephesians 1:7). As human beings we were created with a sin nature, our natures were corrupted through Original Sin, when our forefather Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden. Eden was a place of perfection, but man was given the freedom to choose, and we chose to sin. I say we because Adam’s sin was credited to us (Romans 5:12)  12  Therefore, just as...

Why I Believe in a Literal Hell.

  Evil actions and God’s justice demands that people pay for their wrong choices, choices that especially hurt other people, and sin against the law of love. Love is not just a conceptual reality, but the only reality that people will be judged on at their deaths, or the second coming of Jesus Christ. The reason why I believe people will be sent to hell by God is because human beings are made in the image of God, and when we sin against this, we wound the soul of our humanity and stain our own souls, and the souls of others. Hell must be real because people make mistakes every day, and there are really big sinners and really small sinners. When people continuously wound their own conscience and the conscience of others, God’s justice and mercy are shamed, and sometimes there is no restitution for some sins that seriously wound the fabric of humanity’s love.   I believe hell is eternal, and I believe there are people there right now. I can’t say that I know the exact nature of ...

The Thing I Hate, I Do.

"  I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.   16  And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.   17  As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.   18  For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. [ a ]  For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.   19  For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.   20  Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it." (Romans 7:15-20)  The Apostle Paul wrote this to the Romans, and he expresses a common theme that is experienced by Christians throughout the world. Our struggle is with sin and until we are finally and fully in God's Presence, we will have to battle our sinful natures. The apostle expresses that the thing he wan...

Blessed are the Merciful.

  We are living in a time where there is a lot of talk about sacrifice, doing for your neighbour what you wouldn’t do for yourself. We don’t see or hear anything about mercy from the secular worldview because they have rejected the teachings of Jesus for a very long time. Regardless of the times we are living in now, Jesus had something to say about mercy, which I personally think our generation should still seriously consider.   In Matthew 9:9-13 we read  9 “ As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. 10  While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples.  11  When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 12  On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick....

Salvation is a free Gift.

  There is nothing we can do to earn our salvation, God offers it freely to all men and all women freely for all time. The nature of this gift never changes, we either accept it or reject it. Salvation is based not on what we do, but on what Jesus has already done for us alone by dying on the cross over 2000 years ago. Our part is to simply believe this message. We accept this gift by repentance and faith, and the moment we trust Jesus Christ for salvation all our sins are forgiven. There is nothing we can do to deserve it, it is God’s unmerited favour or grace that saves us.   Our names are written down in the Lambs Book of Life the moment we accept Jesus as personal Lord and Saviour and we are on our way to Heaven. We cannot loose our salvation, and our sins are taken care of by the blood of the Lamb. No one will have anything to boast about in Heaven because Jesus paid the full price for our sins, and we didn’t contribute anything to it.  Yes but you will say “I believ...

When Your Problems Seem too Big.

  Sometimes we are not made to solve all our problems. Life can seem too big at times, and we need the help of others. When I was 25 I was faced with a crisis that was too big for me. What helped me get through it was my faith. I entered health uncertainty for the first time, and I had to learn from the new normal that I was going through. I believe there is always a greater plan at work in the world, and this is the source of my faith.   We can face life’s trials when we learn to look outside of ourselves and look to a bigger plan that is active in this world. We only have one life to get this, and yes it takes faith to believe in God. Some people want proof of the existence of a higher plan, but then we wouldn’t need faith. Faith gives me something to hope for, and as I am learning it is hard to hope during difficulties. However this becomes the test for our faith.  Sometimes we like to hide from God, we feel if we brought our sins to Him, He wouldn’t hear us or underst...