All equal before God

(GB Message)

Each of us is born in this world under circumstances that are different from those of the next person. Some of us are born into good families, some in very unfortunate families, some in affluent families, and some in families that are extremely poor. Some families had a good educational background while others were more backward. Some of us hail from families with a Christian background, and some of us hail from religious backgrounds that are alien to Christianity.

Because such is the case, do we consider that some are in advantageous positions and some in very disadvantageous positions? We may imagine so. But strangely the conditions to be in heaven are in no way connected to the categorization that we have just mentioned.

Introspection

(GB Message)

Last time I pointed out:
• Satan taking over most of the visible churches
• Need for introspection to see whither we are going
• Meaning of phrases I use: emotional understanding Vs intellectual understandings, and the difference between them.

Genuine believers who are caught up in Satan-controlled visible churches are rushing out of them in despair. I am myself a typical example. People respected, loved, and admired me in whichever church I was; but unmindful of such respectful treatment, I came out of them after realizing that they were inadequate for my spiritual growth. I rushed out of them. In one of the churches, they admired me so much that I was the first Indian from that Church to be admitted in a Theological College in USA. But I came out of all these churches. Even before that, in two churches, I was given the rank of a church council secretary but I fled from there also. I was searching for God’s church but found none. There may have been some, but they were invisible to me. God gives people a few chances to escape from a wrong church but not too many. This should be a warning to you all.

Colossian Heresy and Its Implications

(GB Message)

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This devotion is about Paul’s struggle to wean the Colossian Church from a subtle satanic deception, theologically known as heresy. This heresy came about because of a combination of Jewish legalism and pagan mysticism. Some of the members of the Colossian church were easy prey to this snare because of their association with heathen neighbours.

The church at Colossae began during Paul’s three-year ministry at Ephesus (Acts 19). We should not assume that this church was planted by Apostle Paul. It is believed that it was planted by Epaphras. This person was perhaps saved during a visit to Ephesus and then likely planted the church in Colossae when he returned from Ephesus from this trip. Some years after this church was founded, a dangerous heresy started spreading. This is known as the Colossian heresy in church history.

Gospel concerning Jesus Christ Part 2

(GB Message)

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The first lesson was an introduction about the contents of the Bible. I taught you that the Bible is God’s announcement to the people of this earth about the availability of a glorious opportunity to attain immortality and to inherit a place in God’s celestial region, free of cost with a little effort on the part of the individual. Even for that little effort, God is willing to grant the strength if one sought for it earnestly, trusting Him.

After that initial little effort God shows the next step. Through many such steps God leads him in the heavenly path of sanctification. When people do not complete a step, God waits, and does not show the next step. Many stop along the way and do not progress. This is how dead churches are formed and over such churches alone, the gates of Hades prevails.

You have learnt earlier that God is really in search of genuine truth seekers in order to enable them to escape from the clutches of Satan and from the worldly influences dangerously poisoned by the powers of all kinds of evil forces. After all, no one is born with any adequate knowledge of God. A desire for the knowledge of God develops in an individual only gradually and progressively and not at once. The process may vary from person to person. To some it develops with an accelerated speed. But to some others, it is rather slow and progressive.

Gospel concerning Jesus Christ Part 1

(GB Message)

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This is the commencement of my teaching about Jesus Christ and His Gospel (good news), which He proclaimed to the entire world through the Bible.

What is the Bible?
The Bible is one of the greatest literary writings in the world of literature. No book of literature can come anywhere near it in the quality, nature, and purpose of this book. But as true Christians, we are not excited because of this high honour bestowed upon this book, but are exceedingly delighted that it is a spiritual book par excellence and above all the very word of God.

The world does not believe the Bible, and there is nothing we can do about it. The Bible itself makes mention of the world’s rejection. “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him”, Jn 1:10. Sad as it is, this is true.

The oldest manuscript of any ancient publication available in the world is the Bible in the forms called Codex Sinaticus, Codex Vaticanus and the like. I myself was fortunate to spend a few hours looking at these great materials while I was in London.

God Almighty of the Bible

(GB Message)

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This article contains my humble submission as to why I have chosen to worship the God Almighty of the Bible. This is also in accordance with the verse in Peter’s epistle that requires my preparedness to give a defense to everyone who reads this article to find out about the reason for the hope that is me.

But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear (1 Pet 3:15)

Besides, this is a witness, humble though, to my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the Son of God, glorifying the Name of the One who offered Himself as an atoning sacrifice for all those who pray for salvation with genuine repentance.

Reality of heaven and the hazardous path to it Part 9

(GB Message)

Unfamiliarity with heaven makes a believer a dull person spiritually. A spiritually smart person, on the other hand is spiritually active, studious, alert, and bubbling with joy as he engages in fruitful spiritual activities. For instance, the person who is as yet unaware of his brilliant success in his exams, which have just been announced, is worried and restless. But once he comes to know of it, he is no more in that gloomy state of mind, but rather is very busy now planning his next course of action with great enthusiasm.

In the same way the person who was once a natural man, but who has subsequently been transformed into a spiritual man, having become a brand new creation in Lord Jesus with his citizenship changed to that of the kingdom of God, is not dull and lethargic and engaged in all kinds of irrelevant and stupid activities.

Reality of heaven and the hazardous path to it Part 8

(GB Message)

Heaven transcends the earthly dimensions of time and space. I have already introduced a term called ‘mysticism’ to indicate spiritual concepts which cannot be measured or evaluated in human terms. The concept of heaven can be classified under this term.

Concepts that are both mystic and in the Bible are not man made. Apostle Paul explains them in this way: “which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words”, 1 Cor 2: 13 (NASB). Heaven is, in that sense a term that can be listed under the classification “mysticism”. We, in this church are familiar with the term “spiritual” which is more or less synonymous with the term “mysticism”.