Lecture 4: Glorious spiritual step called ‘Believing’

(GB Message)

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek”, Rom 1: 16.

Let us go through this verse and consider carefully the meaning and implications of the step called “believing” in the life of a believer, and how the under-noted expressions in the same verse garnish it.

• the power of God
• not ashamed of
• the Gospel of Christ
• every one
• the Jew and the Greek.

The power of God
What does an average man understand by this expression “the power of God”? He does not even know what ‘God’ means and so there is no chance of his knowing anything about matters pertaining to God. Even to understand the meaning of the word “power” a man does not have sufficient knowledge.

There was a time when man worshipped the sun, moon, stars, lightning, rivers, mountain, mud, stone, animals, and birds. Things have not changed much since those days. Man is still ignorant, and his ignorance of the fact that he is ignorant leads to more transgression. This ignorance coupled with his sky-high pride are his greatest handicaps in understanding God.

Lecture 3: Faith

(GB Message)

The word faith is like an icon on a computer desktop. The icon by itself serves no purpose unless it directs the user to a document. Quite a number of believers stop with admiring the size and shape of the icon as it were, by being content with a superficial knowledge of ‘faith’. I urge every one of you to get better acquainted with the concept behind the icon rather than the glorious looking icon.

In order to have a sound knowledge of the concept of faith, let me divide it into two parts:-

1. Faith in the inerrancy of scripture (a belief in the truthfulness, inerrancy and the urgent message behind the word of God James 2: 17, 24)
2. Faith in the atoning work of Christ (the acceptance by the believer of God’s salvation offered by grace through the atoning sacrifice of Christ. It is to be availed with deep gratitude to Him, and also believing that other than Christ Jesus there is no salvation in any other Acts 4: 12)

We shall try to understand these two parts of faith in some depth. At this stage it will be useful to introduce the concept what I call the twin side principle, with respect to each of the two parts of faith viz.: (i) The theological aspect and (ii) the work aspect.

The story of the Caliph of Bagdad

(GB Message)

Click for Tamil translation

There was once a caliph of Bagdad who was known for his justice, fair play, and also for cruelty. A Christian prisoner awaited capital punishment and according to the usual practice, the caliph wanted to give him a last chance to escape. He summoned for him and said to him, “What is the most important factor or requirement in order to be saved; is it faith, repentance, baptism, or something else? If you answer me correctly in one word, you will be set free; otherwise, you will be executed.” Because the prisoner was a Christian, the caliph had arranged, with the help of the local missionaries, to prepare a question such as this.

In Neyrathil (In times like these)

[Feeling that Tamil hymns and lyrics, generally, do not have the depth that English hymns have, GB has, for the EBA church hymnal, identified some good hymns, translated many hymns and choruses from English, and composed some lyrics. He has recorded the accompaniment for all the songs in the hymnal, and these are available in MP3 format. All recordings have been done at home using very simple equipment. These songs may not be copied without permission.]

 

Song translated by Gnana Bhaktamitran.

(Hymn 90 in our hymnal)

Here is a recording of this song In Neyrathil sung by Prathiba and Amala and accompanied by GB himself.

Ini Oru Bodhe-u Baiyam Veyndaam

[Feeling that Tamil hymns and lyrics, generally, do not have the depth that English hymns have, GB has, for the EBA church hymnal, identified some good hymns, translated many hymns and choruses from English, and composed some lyrics. He has recorded the accompaniment for all the songs in the hymnal, and these are available in MP3 format. All recordings have been done at home using very simple equipment. These songs may not be copied without permission.]

 

Song composed by Gnana Bhaktamitran in August 2004

(Hymn 109 in our hymnal)

Here is a recording of this song Ini Oru Bodhe-u Baiyam Veyndaam sung by Rani akka and accompanied by GB himself.

Colossian Heresy and Its Implications

(GB Message)

Click for Tamil translation

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.