Monthly Archives: March 2011

Stay Safe People!

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Acts 20: 29 I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. 31 Therefore be alert…

Part of a shepherd’s job is to make sure that those under his care remain safe from the predators who seek to devour them. Most of the time the threat comes from false doctrine. Sometimes it comes from false teachers who seek to devour the sheep financially with all sorts of gimmicks using pshychological pressure and Christian lingo. However, over the last decade or so, a new threat has emerged, namely the online predator who seeks to steal either a person’s identity or their savings, or both.

I just came across this information online and if it helps even one person to stay safe on the internet, it will be more than worthwhile me posting these brief words. An anonymous hacker has offered some very practical tips on how to protect yourself online here.

Stay safe people!

HT: Justin Taylor

When A Tsunami Comes

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“Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.” – Psalm 135:6

When it comes to God and His Sovereign right to do all He pleases in heaven and on earth, such is the depravity of mankind that we take our seat in the court of human opinion as both the jury and the Judge. We want answers! We feel we have a right to answers. God owes us an explanation (we think). So we schedule an immediate trial. God Himself must answer to us. He must be put in the dock. We demand that He answer the charges made against Him of injustice. And He had better come up with an adequate explanation. He had better be convincing, for we are more than ready to find Him guilty as charged for violating our moral sense of “goodness.”

Yet, though we schedule the court hearing, hiring the best prosecution attorneys to act on our beahlf, God does not show up for the trial. This makes us all the more angry of course. But from His perspective, He feels no need or obligation to explain Himself.

You will remember, I am sure, that Job asked a whole lot of questions as to why calamity had struck him and his family and never once did he receive an answer. God felt no obligation to explain Himself, but instead asked Job “where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?” Job is stunned into silence as God asked question after question, none of which he could answer.

When devastation occurs, many wish to point their cannons Godward, demanding that He explain Himself to us. Many are doing exactly this as the events of the last few days have unfolded. Some Christians and even some preachers, feeling the weight of the questions posed against God, resort to very unscriptural concepts of God to try to shield Him from scrutiny. They say “God is just as upset as you are. Once the tsunami occurred, God was weeping in heaven, knowing the calamity would strike. There was nothing He could do. If only there were something. See His tears, as He weeps!”

Really? Is that an explanation? God was powerless to prevent it? Really?
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Miracles Today?

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Do miracles happen today? If we believe in a God who still answers prayer, I am sure we as Bible believing Christians would say “yes.”

I try to refrain from using the word “miracle” too often though because as I understand its definition, it refers to something that totally defies natural law – something that cannot be explained by natural process alone.

I can testify to seeing the Lord do some amazing things in the region of Kerala, India. I remember taking a small team there in 1996 and praying for two young girls aged 7 and 9, one deaf and mute since birth, the other deaf since birth, and they were totally healed by God’s power, which resulted in their mother, a Hindu (before all this happened), making a profession of faith in Christ. It was something I will never forget and still brings tears to my eyes when I think of it. The image of a young child hearing sound and speaking for the first time is forever etched on my mind.

In a village in Mongolia (in 2005), I saw the pastor’s mother healed of a lame leg which she had suffered with for more than 60 years. Apparently, she had injured her leg when she had fallen off a horse as a teenager, and now at age 76 brought her home village a tremendous visible testimony to the power of God and the authenticity of the gospel!

I mention these two incidents (though I could speak of others) because I am still in contact with people who were present at the time and who can verify these things.

Though I am sure every Christian can testify to seeing answers to prayer even in the realm of physical healing, why do we not see the same level of miracles today as in the time of the early church? Here (below) is a short video (less than 4 minutes) by Dr. John Piper which I think is quite helpful in this regard: