Christianity
All posts tagged Christianity
By, Schuyler Montague
Several years ago while shoveling snow outside of the business I worked for, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around and was greeted by a gentleman who asked, “Do you believe in the existence of God?” “Absolutely!” I replied. He then asked “And, you believe that he created everything?” Again, I replied “Yes, absolutely!” This gentleman went on say, “So, of all of His creations, the universe, the stars, the oceans, the animals and so on… He, can reach out and have as much of His creations that He desires at anytime, except for one..” “And, this one thing that He cannot just have at His own choosing is the one thing He desires the most.. Do you know what this one thing is?” I thought for a moment and not being one myself for just guessing replied, “No I do not, what is the one thing God desires the most?” The gentleman then said, “Our Love!” “Of all of God’s creations, the one thing he desires the most is the one thing that He cannot just have at anytime because “we” must choose to give it to Him.”
As profound as this message was, it became even more amazing. I turned for just a brief moment and looked away from the gentleman as something drew my attention off in the distance. I then turned back towards the man with whom I had been talking… and, he was gone. I scanned the area with my eyes but there was no one to be seen. It struck me as odd that he could just vanish so quickly but my greatest shock came when I looked down at where he had been standing and there was only fresh untouched snow. There were no footprints where he had been standing nor were there any tracks leading to or away from where I was.
One thing I have learned over the years is that it takes so much more effort to not believe in a Creator, than it does to believe. We only need to open our eyes, open our hearts and open our minds to the truth. If we simply look at the evidence, even the blind can see the fingerprints of a Creator and the perfection within His design.
As you read this, you are sitting on a ball that is spinning in space at a speed of 1,070 miles per hour. (1,670/kph.) It is not on rails or tracks but yet it keeps on a perfect course. It only maintains this perfect course due to the gravitational pull of the sun’s mass in the center of our galaxy and the counter-balance of the gravitational pull of the moon in our atmosphere. The size, mass, weight and distance of the sun, the earth and the moon are completely relative. The balance of our rotation and essentially the balance of our existence would not be possible if every one of these variables were not exact.
As humans, there are of course several things that are absolutely essential to the existence of life and humanity. Among these are oxygen to breath, water to drink, food to eat and a heat source for warmth. We just happen to have all of these things right here on earth where humans require them. Nowhere in all of space does oxygen exist except a small envelope just around the surface of the earth. Nowhere in all of space has evidence of water been found to exist except here on earth and we have an endless supply since our earth’s surface is composed of 75% water. The sun is at just the perfect location and distance from the earth to warm the surface for us to an inhabitable environment. If the sun were just a little closer we would burn up and just a little further away, we would freeze. We have an ionosphere that acts as a protective barrier around the earth. It holds in the heat and oxygen for us and at the same time, blocks out harmful radiation and deflects incoming objects from space.
One of the most amazing facts about our existence though comes through our food sources. Just look at the various forms of food that just grows up from beneath the surface of the earth. The numerous fruits, berries and nuts that just grow from the trees and dangle awaiting to be picked. The various animals and wildlife here on earth that provide meat for a required protein source and the unlimited amount of food in the seas. On the earth there are four perfect seasons: Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. Spring is the birth of all that is new and facilitates the germination process and the beginning of the new life. Summer is the growth period which allows the food source to mature for consumption. Autumn is the period for harvest and reaping the mature food. Winter is the season that kills off the germs in the earths surface by freezing and prepares the ground for the following spring. If you remove any one of these four seasons, you would throw off the balance of nature. The earth tilts towards the sun allowing both hemispheres their adequate seasonal requirement. We possess a symbiotic relationship with so much of our surroundings that cannot be ignored. Humans breath in oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide whereas plants take in carbon dioxide and give off oxygen. It is possible that neither one could exist without the other. Thereby concluding that each was created at the same time for each others benefit of existence.
There is just an endless amount of evidence of creation and just too much to merely be attributed to “luck” or “coincidence.” To simply say that all of these necessary variables and factors of existence just aligned themselves by chance, is to almost make oneself appear uneducated. For the believer, physical evidence is not required nor necessary for belief. Their belief is based on faith in that which is unseen, since the spiritual is more real than the physical. The believer will often tell you that God does not exist because they believe, but rather they believe because God exists. For some though in today’s world, they search out for evidence that is tangible. Evidence that can be seen with the eye. The further science goes into the realm of the unseen, the more we begin to see the fingerprints of perfection upon creation.
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In Islam they worship a “God” whose followers die for him.
In Judeo-Christianity, we worship a God that sent His Son to die for us.
Love is the answer to every question and the solution to every problem.
Hate only breeds hate. Violence only begets violence.
When we hate anyone or anything, that hatred resides not in the hated person or thing, but rather, within ourselves.
Within our own hearts.
Please try to eliminate ALL hate from your heart because when we hate, space within our hearts is taken up, where just a little more of Our Lord’s Love could be.
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Muslims are turning to Christianity in Iran (video)
Click Link to Play Video: http://youtu.be/GpfgWpLh840
In an audio file posted on a Christian satellite TV channel, prince Abdullah al-Sabah declared his faith in Jesus Christ. Muslims have attacked him saying “he isn’t a member of the royal family”
Vatican Insider – Rome -
According to reports, a Kuwaiti royal prince has become a follower of Jesus Christ. In an audio file posted with his name, he affirms that if he is killed because of a recording he made where he talks about his conversion, he firmly believes that he will meet Jesus Christ face-to-face. The news comes from Middle Eastern sources which state that al-Haqiqa – a Christian satellite TV channel in Arabic that transmits Christian religious programmes – broadcast an audio file attributed to the Kuwaiti prince, identified as Abdullah al-Sabah. The al-Sabahs are the royal family of Kuwait, a country rich in oil. The name Abdullah (servant of God) frequently appears in the Emir’s family tree.
In his audio file, Abdullah declared: “First of all, I fully agree with the distribution of this audio file and I now declare that if they kill me because of it, then I will appear before Jesus Christ and be with him for all eternity.” In this statement, the prince demonstrates his awareness of the fate in store for a martyr of the faith, according to Christian doctrine. The television channel stated that Abdullah is a member of the royal family, and that he recently renounced his faith in Islam and became a Christian, without specifying which particular branch of Christianity he had chosen. After stating his full name, the prince declared: “I will accept whatever they do to me, because the truth in the Bible has guided me towards the right path.”
In the audio file, Abdullah talks about the Islamic groups that are winning the elections in Egypt and declares: “Islamic communities have always wanted to attack in different parts of the world but God has preserved the world and still protects it. This is why we have recently seen disagreements appearing among Islamic groups who are now fighting with each other. They are about to divide further into different groups.”
Mohabat News, a Christian Iranian website which has been following the fate of Christian minorities in the Middle East closely and which has monitored Abdullah’s statement, confirms that this news was published briefly by Arabic news agencies and also by the Iranian state news agency. Some independent websites with Shiite leanings denied the reports and quoted another Kuwaiti prince, Azbi al-Sabah, who said: “There’s no one by that name in the Kuwaiti royal family.” In actual fact, the name Abdullah does not appear on the list of the 15 members of the royal family who rule this small, extremely wealthy country in different capacities: from the Sheikh down to Princess Nijirah al-Sabah, who testified in the US Congress under the assumed name of “Nurse Nayirah” on the humanitarian situation in the country after the invasion by Saddam Hussein’s Iraq and just before the Gulf War. That isn’t to say that this high-profile convert is not hidden somewhere within the extended family, under a different name.
In Kuwait the overwhelming majority of the population is Muslim (only 4% is Christian) and the country’s Constitution states: “Islam is the official religion of the country and Sharia is the main source for legislation.”
As is well known, the problem of conversions from Islam to other religions is a recurring problem in relationships between followers of the Prophet and other faiths and it is a very serious problem in all countries where the majority of the population is Muslim, even those that at first sight would seem socially progressive. The problem has always been there, but in the last few years the majority religion has become more sensitive in towards the increased evangelical activity being carried out, not so much by “traditional” Christian religions who have always been used to the insurmountable limits of living alongside Muslims, but rather by Protestant faiths.
These seem to be enjoying enormous success – not just in Kuwait; it’s likely that the mysterious prince could be one of their followers – but also in countries that are definitely more mistrustful, such as the theocratic Iran of the ayatollahs.
After Heidar Moslehi, the Iranian intelligence minister, asked Muslim seminaries to become proactive in stopping the spread of Christianity, a high-ranking cleric declared that Evangelical Christianity is the most horrifying intelligence and security organisation in the world. This statement seems to have appeared on press agencies close to the Revolutionary Guard.
In a conference on “New Age cults” held in Varamin, a district south of Teheran, Akhond Mohsen Alizadeh declared: “We should not allow these cults to question Islamic jurisprudence under the cover of mysticism.” He went on to add: “They tell the youth that God is wrathful and horrible in Islam but is love in Christianity. Also, Christian preachers answer the questions and doubts of youth in their own interest and try to attract them.” Nevertheless a whole series of signs seem to indicate that non-traditional Christianity – there are Catholics and Orthodox Christians in Iran as well as a large Armenian community – is spreading. The regime’s press recently spoke of them with concern and the number of cases of repression and condemnation following conversions is growing.
