Muslim Friend Wants To Convert

I know it’s been a while, but I had my focus on an old friend who suddenly contacted me out of the blue. We just started chatting about this and that and eventually it arose that she wants to convert from Islam to Christianity.

She wanted some guidance (I seem to have many people asking me this lately) and to learn more about Christianity. I then explained to her what it means to be a real Christian and not just someone who claims to be one just because he / she doesn’t form part of some other religion. I explained the whole concept of salvation and the Christian way of life according to the Bible and I was quite fascinated at how open and accepting she was of everything I told.

She then came to the conclusion the mind has been made up about becoming a Christian and following Christ, but there was the one dreadful ting holding her back... She would be totally, completely and inevitably disowned by her mother and grandmother. She has a brother and sisters, but she never mentioned them which probably means they will openly accept her decision.

I explained to her that Jesus said that whoever forsakes his mother, father, sister, brother, wife, husband, etc, in His name will be blessed with much more in His Kingdom. She understands this completely, but needs to come to terms with losing everyone important to her.

So my brothers and sisters I ask that you pray for this dear friend of mine so that our Living God may fill her heart with the peace and assurance that her sacrifice will be worth it.

I will keep you informed of the progress of this situation. Peace be with you...

Mary did not ascend to Heaven like Jesus did.

I have been searching the Bible thoroughly (using e-Sword) to find evidence that Mary ascended to heaven as Jesus did, but found nothing that even points to this event actually happening.

Now I know that some Catholics would argue that she was “assumed into heaven body and soul” (raptured), but this is not stated in the bible either, so where did this nonsense come about? Some talk about no burial or death of Mary mentioned in the Bible so it must mean that she was taken to Heaven body and soul... Wow so much for Scriptural evidence that she was “assumed”. Maybe that’s what it is... one big ASSUMPTION!

I believe that if something is not written in the Bible then it is a lie. After all Scripture makes it clear that nothing should be added or subtracted from the Word of God.

Proverbs 3:5 "Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and don't lean on your own understanding."

Many of us say that we trust in the Lord completely, yet in certain situations we tend to rather make decisions based on our own knowledge or understanding of how things work.

For example we might be flat broke with not a cent in the pocket, have no food in the kitchen cupboards and be very hungry. This is usually when we have the tendency to give in to Satan’s temptation and rely on ourselves to ensure we have something to eat, yet Scripture tell us that man cannot live on bread alone. What we need to do in this case is go on our knees and pray that the Lord will provide food and whatever we need to survive and be patient in waiting for our prayers to be answered. (Again I urge not to have doubts when asking for God’s help)

I think the most difficult thing to do here is “don’t lean on your own understanding.” Remember that every difficult time we face is just a trial and test of faith. Pass these tests and you will grow in faith and in spirit.

Just last week I went through such a trial. I had no money, could not borrow from my neighbours, had no food and my kids were complaining that they were hungry. I was frustrated at feeling so helpless and I just started thinking of what I could do (my own understanding) to feed my kids, when my wife reminded me about Proverbs 3:5. I thank God for her…

I then went on my knees and prayed that God would help me and my prayers were answered… My mom came out of nowhere with some money, then a few minutes thereafter I got a text notification on my cellphone stating that an amount of R400 was deposited into my account. The my boss calls me up and tells me he had some cash and put it in my account. I wasn’t at work for a month due to slow business and I understood that my boss didn’t have any money, so this was a surprise to me. It could have been described as nothing else, but God answering a prayer.

So I encourage my brothers and sisters in Christ to never give up or give in the Satan’s temptations and keep praising our mighty God and he will never leave us in the dark.

 

 

 

God's Army

All my life all I ever wanted to do was join the military. I always dreamed about joining either the army or navy, but not so much the air-force. I used to joke that the one thing holding me back was that I didn’t want to lose my hair as I like my long, braided hairstyle. This hairstyle was also my trademark when I was still a “famous carnival singer” while I was going through high school.

Then came 16 June 2009... On this day I did indeed join the army... God’s Army! I gave my life to the Lord and committed myself to obeying God’s commands rather than obeying and dying for a president and country who doesn’t know a thing about me much less care about me the way God does.

So now I am a soldier of God... My body is the soldier, my tongue is my rifle, the Bible (Word of God) is my ammunition, the Holy Spirit is my compass so I do not get lost in the wilderness (this world), God is my president, Heaven is the country I fight for and Jesus... Jesus remains my saviour, because all soldiers of God need Jesus as their saviour.

So join the same army I did and you can be assured that you are fighting on the right side of the battle between good and evil.

Sins of the Wicked - a Trap

Proverbs 5:22 (GNB)
The sins of the wicked are a trap. They get caught in the net of their own sin.

The wicked lie and one lie leads to another to cover for the first one, which is then accompanied by another to cover for the other two and so it will go on until one day they end up not remembering what they said in the beginning or a few lies after that and they slip up on one little thing and all the other lies are revealed.

The ones committing adultery feel so good about the extra-marital affair or affairs they may be involved in, because they think they are good at what they do without letting their partners find out. Then when something happens that makes the innocent partner become suspicious, they then spin a web of lies to cover up the truth. They then have work extra hard to hide their affairs and also put more lies in place to hide the truth... until they end up either impregnating someone or becoming pregnant or even end up with a sexually transmitted disease. Then everything is revealed.

Now when these things are revealed the wicked lose everything. They lose respect, wealth, dignity, friends, family and worst of all they lose their place in the Kingdom of Heaven... unless of course they repent of their sins and accept Christ as their saviour, but most of them are too stubborn and too proud to even admit that they are sinners. So by not acknowledging that they are indeed sinners they condemn themselves to the fiery pits of hell.

Now these are only two examples of everyday occurrences we see happening all around. In some cases people are caught up adultery, lies, filled with pride, love money and commit idolatry all at the same time. One day and in some way, they will slip up and end up losing everything they have.

So for me it is better that I gain whatever I may get from honest works and that I remain honest in everything I do and say even if I never get the car or house I or anything else I always wanted. At least I don’t have live with the worry about losing everything I have all because a few seconds or moments of pleasure. Live according to the Word of God and you will be rewarded.

 

Jesus Heals My Daughter

Wow. This morning one of the most awesome events happened before my very eyes.

My one twin daughter (4 yrs) awoke with a huge fever. I gave her some meds (paracetamol and disprin). A while later she was still trembling and I then went on my knees to pray for her.

When she saw this she picked up her trembling body and kneeled down next to me then her twin sister kneels on my other side too. Sweet, I think to myself smiling at this scene.

I then ask Jesus to heal her so she can enjoy this wonderful day and as soon as I said Amen, her fever was gone and she was playing with her sister.

Scripture is so true... If you believe without doubt then anything is possible. Wow, it made me feel like a desciple.

Seven Things God Hates According to Proverbs

Proverbs 6:16-19 (GNB)
There are seven things that the LORD hates and cannot tolerate: A proud look, a lying tongue, hands that kill innocent people, a mind that thinks up wicked plans, feet that hurry off to do evil, a witness who tells one lie after another, and someone who stirs up trouble among friends.

So there we have it clear as daylight... the seven tings God hates.

·         Pride

·         Lying

·         Killing of innocent people

·         Wicked thinking

·         Eagerness to do evil

·         A lying witness

·         A trouble maker

These are only seven of a few other things God hates, divorce being one of them. As Christians we need to constantly keep these things in mind so we don’t end up being as dead as we were before we were reborn in Christ.

 

Get Master's Degree or Feed Family

I was stopped in the supermarket by a guy who works there and he said his friend needed advice.

This friend is married with kids and recently got the opportunity to further his studies to obtain a Master's Degree in Engineering. The course would be fully paid for and would take 4 years to complete, but he must be a full time student giving him no option but to leave his job. This guy is now torn between getting a better job and earning more money (in probarbly 4 years time) and feeding his family.

Now my decision would be to feed my family with what I already have as its my duty as husband and father. But this guy was obviously not thinking that way so this is what I said:

Scripture instructs us not to aim to build our riches on earth, but to keep our eyes on our treasures in heaven. The more you give up on earth the more you will gain in heaven.

He also needs to consider that aiming for more money at the price of feeding his family would put strain on his marraige and it might just end up in divorce and that is one of the things God hates. So he needs to consider the fact that satan might be trying to tempt him with riches, but break up what God has put together in the process.

The guy seemed to be satisfied with this explaination and said he would quote that to his friend.

I prayed to God to give me wisdom and I thank him deeply for answering my prayer.

The Season for Preaching Salvation and not Sin

A few weeks ago I visited a church (or church hopping as some of you would put it) and a pastor was preaching about how we have different seasons for different things. He got me listening attentively until he made a certain statement...

“This is no longer the season for preaching sin. This is the season for preaching salvation. We must not be stuck in the season of preaching sin, but must move on with the changing of the season and preach salvation”...

With this statement he got me stuck in that moment throughout almost the entire service. It was hard for me to continue listening to him as my mind was debating this issue.

As for as I believe one cannot obtain salvation if one does not believe that he / she is a sinner. Is it not true that we obtain salvation through the conviction of sin by the Holy Spirit? If we are not convinced that we are indeed sinners would we ever even think about true salvation through Jesus Christ?... No...

How will people get to believe that they are sinners without first being preached to about sin? What this pastor was actually then saying is that we can obtain salvation without even knowing what we are being saved from. Does that sound right? I don’t think so...

Didn’t Jesus after all also preach about the sinful nature of man before he told them that He is the only way to salvation?

Needless to say that church will never see me again. That is dangerous preaching.