THE PROMISE

Where the Holy Ghost implants divine life in the soul,

there is a precious deposit which none of the refinements of education can equal.

C.H. Spurgeon

This has been a wonderful summer for most and the weather continues to be all blue skies and sunshine the ancient trees decked in their autumn splendour.   In my part of the country man has not been allowed to interfere and destroy these magnificent specimens although nature did down a couple of trees that might well have been rotten or their roots shallow as they succumbed to the tail end of a recent weather system.   I realise how very blessed I am to live in this precious place far from the polluted cities and war zones as the killing continues and little children suffer and die in a world where the rich survive and the poor starve.

Christians live in uneasy times and their faith has to be on solid ground with deep roots.   Many worry about the fate of family members who have long been absorbed by the sirens of this age.   Those living in the Middle East have already fallen foul of Islamic Fundamentalists and rather than deny Christ have lost their heads, whole families have been slaughtered.   In the western world the attacks are less bestial but nevertheless are causing hardship and suffering for those who stand on their christian principles.   Sometimes it involves their livelihoods or even imprisonment on the dubious testimonies of others.  Families estranged and ignored for their witness.   Their lives always the target of satanic attack.   Yes, sounds rather like fiction, not fact, but it is a reality for many.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon wrote:

"Children are a precious gift from God, but much anxiety comes with them.  They may be a great joy or a great bitterness to their parents; they may be filled with the spirit of God or possessed with the spirit of evil"  He suggests we can do little other than pray and hand them over to God.

Mark 9-19

Jesus said:

"Oh faithless generation how long shall I be with you?  How long shall I bear with you?   Bring him to Me"

Perhaps I could be forgiven for believing my generation was the last to bring up children in awe of a Holy God and the necessity to obey His precepts.  The chaos that will follow three generations of permissiveness, self preservation and materialism is too horrible to consider.  God's laws are ignored, most children don't know the meaning of the word discipline although no one would wish to return to the atrocities inflicted on innocent children by either parents, religion or society, however the pendulum appears to swing violently from one side to the other.   Without firing a single shot Afghanistan has produced enough opium to kill the youth of this country and bearing in mind the children of today are our future, the depths society has yet to sink to might well be described as "hell on earth"

Spurgeon continued:

 "When they are grown up they may wallow in sin and foam with enmity against God; then when our hearts are breaking we should remember the great Physician's words "Bring them unto Me" advising we must continue to pray for them until our last breath.   The teaching of this great man of God continues to inspire and encourage christians around the globe.

This week as I was enjoying a walk in the local park I met a young woman and as our conversation developed it soon became clear I was talking with a 'born again christian' and sister in Christ.   She had been unable to find a church that followed the 'Word of God' and had stopped going to church.  She is not alone.   There are many devoted christians who will never put a foot over the threshold of a church is this once christian country.  They see the hypocrisy and twisted scripture for what it is.  Number crunching.  Get them in and fill the pews it matters not that they contaminate His sheep.   It has come down to "home groups" sincere christians seeking their Lord and praying for a country on the slippery slope to hell.

Perhaps the warning in Revelation 18 - 4-5 stands for all those who feel lost and bewildered as to where they can worship their God.

"And I heard another voice from heaven saying "Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins and lest you receive of her plagues.

For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.

Can't be long before judgement will come on this world.

Every genuine born again son and daughter of our Father in Heaven will be able to rest in His love and peace in the sure and certain knowledge that He will lead them home.   This world has nothing on them.  Death has no hold on them.  Yes, the beast and his minions may cut of their heads but their blood is on the hands of the perpetrator and hell awaits.

For the worst drug addict, pusher, pimp, prostitute, the sexually deviant and the atheist the answer is Christ Jesus there is no other way.   First remorse, then repentance and finally the strength to live a life pleasing to God.

Revelation 19 - 2

For true and righteous are His judgements, because He has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication and He has avenged on her the blood of His servants shed by her"

Christ encourages you as he points to the heaven He has won for you,

and the Spirit encourages you as He works in you to do God's will and pleasure.

C.H. Spurgeon

As our messianic brothers and sisters have celebrated the time God led his people out of the land of Egypt - Succoth - we also must put our faith in God.   There will be times when others will mock and even suggest He does not exist.   The time of miracles is not over, the unexplainable and unimaginable is yet to come - the New Jerusalem.

SHALOM