IS JESUS COMING BACK ?
PART 2
(Copied from
Y-Jesus.com)
What are the signs of Jesus' Return
* Major earthquakes
* Worldwide famine
* Wars
* Worldwide epidemics
* Persecution of believers
* Gospel proclaimed worldwide.
Earthquakes, famines, epidemics, and wars have
occurred throughout human history, but Jesus
said there would be a noticeable increase of such
events prior to His return.
Persecution of believers began with the apostles and is on the increase today. More Christians are
being persecuted today than at any time in history.
Jesus tells us that such persecution will continue
until His return, as will the worldwide proclamation of the gospel.
According to Jesus, when all these events capture the world scene we are to "look up," for His return will be soon. Although Bible scholars don't agree on all the details regarding Jesus' return, many believe that the time Jesus spoke of is rapidly approaching. Paul told believers to be ready and "watch for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our Great God and Savior,
Jesus Christ."
So we need to know if Jesus' promise to return is still true. And if so, why He is delaying so long to fulfill His promise?
Peter explained the reason for Jesus' delay:
"But you should never lose sight of the fact, dear friends, that time is not the same for the Lord as it is with us, to Him a day may be to us a thousand years, and a thousand years only a day.
The Lord isn't really being slow about His promise, as some people think. No. He is being patient for your sake. He doesn't want anyone to be destroyed but wants everyone to repent."
Peter was writing to believers who were experiencing trials and persecution. They wanted Jesus to come sooner rather than later. However Peter tells them that God's first priority is to spread the gospel of Christ throughout the world, reaching as many people as possible.
Jesus had already told His disciples that the gospel would be preached to all nations before He came.
next post 13th December
ONE HEARTBEAT AWAY
PART 65
Due to unforseen circumstances this post has changed to Wednesday for this week only.
(Mark Cahill's Book)
On a flight one day, I was sitting next to a scientist in the Air Force. He was very intrigued and wanted information on the proofs for God and the Bible's reliability.
Once he heard the evidence he wanted to know what it took to go to heaven. So I went through The Ten Commandments
with him. I asked, "have you ever told a lie? " He replied, "yes." I said
"So what does that make you if you told a lie?"
He said "human."
Pretty good answer, also very true!
I said, "If someone murders, he is a murderer. If someone rapes, he is a rapist. If you tell a lie, what does that make you? He said, "a liar." I asked, "have you ever stolen something?"
He said, "yes." I asked, " What does that make you? " He said "a thief."
I asked, " have you ever lusted in your heart?" he said, " yes." I told him that
Jesus said if we lust in our hearts it is the same as committing adultery.
"Have you ever taken the Lord's Name in vain?" He said that he had. I told him that is blasphemy in the eyes of God.
"Have you ever been angry with someone?" he said that he had. I told him that anger is the same in God's eyes as murder. It is murdering someone in your heart.
I then looked at him and said, " you have just told me that you are a liar, a thief, an adulterer, a blasphemer, and a murderer,
according to the standard of God's Law.
By that standard would you be guilty or not guilty on judgement day. He answered ,"Guilty."
I asked " would that mean heaven or hell? "
He said, "Hell,"
I asked " Does it bother you that you would be going to hell? " He said, "yes."
Then he asked me what it would take
to make sure that he didn't go to hell for eternity. And I got happy.
You see the Law of God leads us to
discover that we will be guilty on judgement day, so that we will begin
to earnestly seek a way to go from "guilty" to "not guilty" when we finally stand before God as our Judge.
The Bible tells us :
"Wherefore the Law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith."
(Galatians: 3:24)
When you face the Law of God, it speaks to your conscience, just like it did to the Air Force Scientist's. Our conscience informs us that we have broken the commands of Almight God, Whose Law , as we have seen is written on our
hearts. And our conscience tells us about it continually:
".....which shew the work of the Law
written in their hearts, their conscience
also bearing witness and their thoughts, the meanwhile accusing or excusing
one another ..... "(Romans:2:15)
By God's standard,, right now, how are you doing?
next post 11th December
ONE HEARTBEAT AWAY
PART 64
(Mark Cahill's Book)
For example, King David stole a man's wife while her husband was away fighting the enemy. Then she got pregnant. So David called her husband back from the front, thinking he would be with his wife and then the expected child would seem to be his.
But the man was a good and honourable man, so when he came to see David, he slept in a corner and wouldn't go home.
And Uriah said unto David, the ark, and Israel, and Judah abide in tents, and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamped in the open fields; shall I then go into my house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? As thou livest and as thy soul liveth, I will not do this thing. (2nd Samuel 11:11)
Eventually David had Uriah murdered to cover up his sin. God sent a prophet to
face David and declare to him the wrong he had done. Until then he had felt that he was the king and could do as he pleased. But when the thing was shown to him from God's point of view, it woke him up to the reality of what he had done. His reaction is quoted in 2nd
Samuel 11 and in the prayer-song in which David spoke to God about it.
Against Thee, and Thee only have I sinned; and done this evil thing in Thy sight; that Thou mightest be justified when Thou speaketh ; and be clear when Thou judest (Psalm 51:4)
The problem is that most of us don't think like that.
I was speaking at a local basketball
banquet that included kids from second grade up through high school . Now I don't do much speaking to second-graders, so I wasn't too sure what to do with them.
When I began to talk all of the second-graders crowded around the stage to hear me speak. I walked through each of the Ten Commandments. Then I threw names out to the crowd and asked
them , by the standard of the Ten Commandments, and knowing that
breaking just one would make you guilty, how would each of these people
do by that standard?
I mentioned the name Timothy McVeigh,
Hitler, Stalin, Osama bin Laden, and of course everyone yelled out "Guilty".
Then I mentioned Mother Theresa and asked the crowd whether by that standard she would be guilty or not guilty on Judgement Day?
It is always interesting when I do that because some people will shout out "Guilty" and others shout "not Guilty".
In our minds we have impressions of
certain people that are hard to break. At this event people were saying both answers. Suddenly one of the second-graders stood up and said, " Wait a minute sir, don't you think she lied at
least one time in her life?
Wow! The second-grader knew the truth, but many of the adults didn't.
"For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God". (Romans 3:23)
"As it is written, there is none righteous, no not one ". (Romans 3:10)
By the standard of the Ten Commandments none of us can say "Not Guilty."
next post 7th December
ONE HEARTBEAT AWAY
PART 63
(Mark Cahill's Book)
Chapter 6 - THE BAD NEWS
The high minded man must care more for the truth than for what people think.
-Aristotle , Philosopher , 384 - 322B.C.
Imagine a man in a courtroom who is a liar, a thief, a murderer, and a rapist. But some people stand up and say that he was a good next-door neighbor. He kept his yard clean, he looked out for other people in the neighborhood, and he always went to work on time.
Would the judge let him off for these good deeds? You and I both know that there is no way a good judge would let him off.
A good judge must make a just ruling. The man has broken the law and there are consequences he must face. He knew about the law when he broke it, so it is not a surprise to him. He just hoped he wouldn't get caught.
We know that judges should make just
decisions and we know deep down that we want that judge to make a just decision - especially if the accused has done something against us.
So, doesn't that mean that the just God of this universe will also have to make just decisions when we stand in front of Him?
We all want justice in this world. However, each of us is going to face a just Judge at the end of this life. Will justice be what we want then?
After reviewing the Ten Commandments we may think we are not too bad if we have broken only a few of them, we may have missed the mark, we think, but we can try a little harder from now on.
However, as I quoted a little earler:
"Whosoever shall keep the whole Law and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." (James: 2:10)
So, if we have broken even one of The Ten Commandments it is as though we have broken all of them. That is a pretty tough standard to live up to. By that standard, Adolf Hitler, Mother Theresa, Joseph Stalin, Billy Graham, Timothy McVeigh, Osama bin Laden, You and I, - we would all be found guilty. That is because none of us meets the standard that God has set for us in The Law?
All of us are guilty. I have offended God with my sins. You have offended God with your sins. We are all in the same boat. And the seriousness of our sin is measured not only by the deed, but also by Who it is committed against. God Almighty.
Is that true? Have we sinned against God, not just other humans? Yes, the Bible makes that clear
next post 5th December
TWENTY
SEVENTEEN
PART 34
Hello folks,
It is now the 26th of August and Jeff is back in hospital on a feeding drip.
Monday 28th - AA start new regime: switching power off at 10am until 1pm
0n at 1 to 2pm and
off again till 4 pm
Our rent includes water and light so this is theft. Saturdays and Sundays when they are both at home there is no load shedding.
Monday 4th September- power goes off at
1.40pm -
Jeff is still waiting for his operation to clear obstruction in stomach. He has been in back in the hospital and has had no food for 10 days. He us on a feeding drip . He is over 6 foot tall and now weighs 53 kilos. Apparently a bed has now been booked for him in I.C.U. for Thursday 7th. He is only allowed to drink water. His stomach is gnawing from hunger.
Tuesday 5th - power goes off at 10am as usual but comes back on at 12.30pm
7th Thursday - Jeff has his operation early in the morning - he phones me in the afternoon - he is back in his ward - not I.C.U.
He now has to lie on his back, and finds it difficult to sleep in that position. He is not allowed to drin water until Sunday 10th . Relieves his thirst with ice.
Saturday 9th - Jeff is now allowed to drink water.
Sunday 10th - Jeff can now eat soft foods, like oats, mash, mince and yogurt.
Monday - Jeff is going home today.
Tuesday 12th - It is Andy's 63rd birthday. Danny has been gone three months today - the pain is very raw and I am very weepy. The day starts off badly. After doing all my technical stuff , like blogs, daily WhatsApps etc I go back to sleep and wake up at 10.55am. Power is off and I presume that it went off as usual at 10am. It could have been earlier because it has happened previously on a number of occasions that it was switched off at 9.30am.
Power does not come back on at 1pm as expected, we wait another fifteen minutes to no avail. Ruth gets dressed and goes to the AA abode and is informed that they have run out of prepaid units
She WhatsApps Mr A. but receives no reply. At approximately 1.30pm she WhatsApps Mrs A and fifteen minutes later is informed that she did tell her husband to buy prepaid - she is so sorry. Mrs A arrives home at 3.25pm but only puts the power back on at 3.50pm . This is really not funny.
We have been without power all day. I could not wash dishes as we had switched the geyser off yesterday at 9am (complying with saving power)
So no hot water and no power to boil the kettle.
Also because of no power there is also no water in the taps. The borehole pump does not work when the power is off. The battery in my tablet is flat, my computer's battery hasn't worked for almost a year. I can only use it when plugged into a power socket. No cooking. No TV. Just have to lie and look at the walls.
I also note that one of the other tenant's by the name of Willem, has vacated his cottage - there are no curtains on the windows and it is empty of furniture. Charmaine tells me Willem left at the end of last month.
Wednesday 13th - 10.55am power is still on. Ruth will get local paper this afternoon and we are trusting God to provide us with other living arrangements. Living here is unbearable.
Found this wonderful comforting verse
The peace of God which passes all understanding, will guard your hearts
and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Phillipians 4:7
next post 10th December
MY FAVORITE PSALMS
PART 89
Thy testimonies are wonderful,
Therefore my soul observes them
The unfolding of Thy words gives
light
It gives understanding to the simple
I opened my mouth wide and panted
For I longed for Thy commandments
Turn to me and be gracious to me
After Thy manner with those who
love Thy Name
Establish my footsteps in Thy Word
And do not let any iniquity have
dominion over me.
Redeem me from the oppression of
man
That I may keep Thy precepts
Make Thy face shine upon Thy
servant
And teach me Thy statutes
My eyes shed streams of water
Because they do not keep Thy
Law.
Righteous art Thou, O Lord,
And upright are Thy judgments
Thou has commanded Thy
testimonies in righteousness
And exceeding faithfulness
My zeal has consumed me
Because my adversaries have
forgotten Thy words.
Thy word is very pure
Therefore Thy servant loves it
I am small and despised
Yet I do not forget Thy precepts
Thy righteousness is an
everlasting righteousness
And Thy Law is truth
Doubt and anguish have come
upon me
Yet Thy commandments are my
delight
Thy testimonies are righteous
forever
Give me understanding that I
may live
next post 8th December
PRAISE
Praise the Lord!
Praise God in the sanctuary,
Praise Him in His mighty expanse
Praise Him for His mighty deeds
Praise Him according to His
excellent greatness.
Praise Him with the trumpet sound,
Praise Him with the harp and lyre,
Praise Him with timbrel and dancing,
Praise Him with stringed instruments
and pipe
Praise Him with loud cymbals,
Praise Him with resounding cymbals
Let everything that has breath
praise the Lord!
Blessed be the Lord, my Rock,
Sing to the Lord a new song
and His praise be in the
congregation of His godly ones.
Let Israel be glad in His Maker
Let the sons of Zion rejoice in
their King
Let them praise His Name with
dancing
Let them sing praises to Him
with timbrel and lyre
For the Lord takes pleasure in
His people,
He will beautify the afflicted ones
with salvation.
Let the godly ones exult in glory
Let them sing for joy on their beds
Let the high praises of God be in
their mouth
Praise the Lord!
I will extol Thee, my God, my King
and I will bless Thy Name forever
and ever.
Great is the Lord and highly to be
praised
and His greatness is unsearchable
One generation shall praise Thy
works to another
and shall declare Thy mighty acts
On the glorious splendor of Thy
Majesty
and on Thy wonderful works will
meditate
and men shall speak of the power
of Thy awesome acts.
and will tell of Thy greatness
They shall eagerly utter the
memory of Thy abundant goodness.
and shall shout joyfully of Thy
righteousness.
The Lord is gracious and merciful
Slow to anger and great in loving-
kindness
The Lord is good to all
and His mercies are over all
His works.
All Thy works shall give thanks
to Thee.
And Thy godly ones shall bless
Thee.
They shall speak of the glory
of Thy kingdom.
And talk of Thy power.
To make known to the sons
of men
Thy mighty acts
And the glory of the majesty
of Thy kingdom.
Thy kingdom is an everlasting
kingdom.
and Thy dominion endures over all
generations.
next post 8th December
IS JESUS COMING BACK ?
