Bible

The war to end all wars

This entry was posted in Thought for the month and tagged anniversary Bible Christianity peace remembrance war on by

This month marks 100 years since the end of the first world war. We shall be reminded of the peace accord that was agreed at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 and there is a special poignancy to Remembrance Sunday this year for it falls on Sunday 11th November.

Over 37 million people died in total and it was declared to be the war to end all wars by the president of the United States. The whole world agreed that such horrendous slaughter must never happen again.

Yet just 21 years later world war broke out again, over 60 million people lost their lives and a horrified group of nations met in America in October 1945 to form the United Nations in another attempt to stop a further catastrophic war. We should not be surprised to learn that this also has failed for every year over fifty state sponsored wars are recorded in the world.

History shows us that it is impossible for humankind to eradicate wars and the Bible explains why. The Letter of James tells us that wars and fighting come from within us. Nations, like individuals desire to have more and will go to any lengths to achieve their goals. Jesus himself warned of wars continuing after his ascension to heaven leading up to a time when nations will be so distressed that people’s hearts will fail for fear and there will apparently be no solution to the problem.

But God will provide one for at that time He will send Jesus back to earth to reign as king over the whole earth and bring world-wide peace. How will he do this? The Bible calls Jesus ‘king of righteousness and king of peace’ and the order of these words is important. Righteousness describes a process of being made right with God. Through Jesus our sins can be forgiven and, in that sense, we are made righteous now. But when Jesus returns, his disciples will  be changed to be like him and help bring the world into subjection to God. Only then will wars cease and everlasting peace fill the world.

Addiction

This entry was posted in Thought for the month and tagged Addiction Bible Hope Thought for the month on by

Recently I suffered with a trapped nerve in my back. The pain was intense and visits to the doctor brought nothing but increasingly strong pain relief tablets. I very quickly realised that one type turned me into a zombie, unable to think or function in a normal way and a little bit of research showed me that this was quite common. Indeed there were people who took the same drug daily to help them get through life and, as an opiate, it can be addictive.

More recently we had a talk at church from a doctor who specialises in treating drug users, helping them to kick the habit. We realised that this was a life’s work and that it took an incredible amount of expertise, compassion and patience dealing with people who were often extremely unattractive because of their drug fuelled lifestyles. And, by a strange coincidence, in the previous week the news had been full of drug related problems – cocaine as the recreational drug of choice at middle class dinner parties, the spice epidemic in Manchester, turning people into zombies, drugs now available for ordering by mobile phone and then delivered to your door. Drug addiction is a terrible, life destroying thing.

But when we turn to the Bible we find an addiction problem far worse than anything any known drug can produce. It is a 100% killer, once taken you are completely hooked and can never give it up. It has infected everyone in the whole world except for one man.

It is of course sin and the Bible talks about it in this way, as something highly addictive with terrible consequences for the wages of sin is death and everyone dies because we have all sinned.

The Apostle Paul, one of the greatest disciples of Jesus who ever lived, was distraught about its effect on his own life. He wrote ‘I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Because of sin that dwells within me’.

The Bible also tells us why it is so addictive as it describes it as ‘the pleasures of sin’. We can understand this, we all enjoy doing what we want, what pleases our egos and satisfies our desires.

Fortunately the Bible offers a solution involving the greatest doctor who ever lived. The Lord Jesus Christ, the only sinless man who ever lived died on the cross that our sins might be forgiven and our addiction cured. His promise is that, through God’s grace, our mortal, dying lives might be changed miraculously into immortal perfect and sin free ones when he returns to set up his kingdom If we believe in him, when he comes we shall be changed to be like him.

Here is a doctor worth visiting, one who has a complete understanding of our addiction and can cure it through his healing touch. Why not book a consultation?

Love

This entry was posted in Thought for the month and tagged Bible God love. wedding marriage on by

I think it’s fair to see we all enjoy a good wedding, and last month the country was able to celebrate the marriage of Prince Harry and his fiancé, Meghan Markle.

 

The pastor at the service spoke of the power of love, quoting the French Philisopher, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin: “Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire”.

 

The Bible has a lot to say about love. The writer Paul emphasises its importance in Galatians 5, saying “in Christ Jesus… the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love” and urges people to “serve one another in love”.

 

Love needs to be our motivation, and should fill our lives, guide our thoughts and actions.  Love will make us into the person God hopes we will be.  The bible says that the two greates commandments are to love the Lord your God with all your mind, soul and strength and to love your neighbour as yourself.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3v 16).

Hope of Summer

This entry was posted in Thought for the month and tagged Bible Christ Hope Jesus Return Signs Summer on by

The month of May is when we see the flowers and blossoms coming to abundance around us. The apparent deadness of winter, the cold and grey skies, the short days and long dark nights all are behind us and we look forward to the long warm days of summer to come, the sunshine and the blue skies.

Jesus spoke of the Springtime. He was telling his disciples about the future time when he would come back to set up God’s Kingdom here on earth. He gave a number of signs to look forward to so that we could recognise when the time of his return was near. Then he said:

“Look at the fig tree, and all the trees. As soon as they come out in leaf, you see for yourselves and know that the summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near.” (Luke 21:29-31 ESV)

Just as we can look at the flowers and blossoms blooming around us and understand that summer will soon be here, so we can look at the signs in the world that the Bible talks about and understand that the Kingdom of God is near.

There are signs all around us in today’s world so we can be certain that Christ’s return and the establishment of God’s Kingdom on the earth is very close.

For more information about this, contact us by clicking the link below.

http://doncasterchristadelphians.org/contact-us/

There are also some links to videos and web pages giving more information.

Video talk – Ezekial 38 and signs of Christ’s return: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KV7x5IdF6QQ

Video talk – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udPqNBZDWd0

Signs from the Bible – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E83KGQdPftQ

Olivet prophecy signs – http://www.christadelphians.com/biblebasics/app03nearnessofchristsreturn.html

Luke 21 online lesson – http://www.cbm.org.uk/cbm40lesson08.pdf

‘Christ is coming!’ book – http://www.thechristadelphian.com/christ_is_coming_online.htm

 

Sleeping in Death, Waking to the Resurrection

This entry was posted in Thought for the month and tagged Bible Christ Death Hope Resurrection Sleep on by

Sleeping in Death, Waking to the Resurrection

Like many older people I don’t sleep well these days, I wake often during the night and have vivid unsettling dreams; fortunately I can’t remember them when I wake up. Nights are often not restful times for me!

Yet the Bible describes death as a sleep for disciples of Jesus’ disciples and I used to be puzzled about this as death surely could not be anything like my sleep experiences!

Then I remembered the two occasions on which I had been into hospital for an operation. Each time I had a general anaesthetic and each time I was amazed at its effect. One moment I was laid on the operating table chatting to the anaesthetist and the next moment I was waking up in a recovery bed. I was not aware of ‘going under’, I had no memory at all of anything that happened to me during the operation; I did not know how long I had been asleep. This must be the picture we are meant to see when we read of the sleep of death. For the dead in Christ time does not exist, however long we wait for his return and the resurrection does not matter, in one sense his coming is never more than our lifetime away. But there is no continuing existence, no awareness of anything amongst the dead, no part of them continues at all.

It was Jesus himself who first spoke of death as a sleep. He was approached by an elder of the Jews whose twelve year old daughter was dying. ‘Please come and heal her’ he begged of Jesus. Yet by the time Jesus arrived at the house she had just died and the ruler’s message was that he was too late. ‘She is not dead but sleeps’ the Lord said and all who heard him ridiculed him until he gave the girl her life again.

We learn more later in the Lord’s ministry when he raised Lazarus back to life. This friend of Jesus had been dead and buried for four days and people at the tomb were horrified when Jesus told them to remove the stone covering the entrance to the tomb. ‘He stinks!’ they cried, knowing that Lazarus was not only dead; his body had begun to decay back to dust as do all dead people. But Lazarus came out of the tomb, alive and healed to resume his life. These people lived again for a while but then died and remain dead. Like all who lived in faith they await the return of Jesus when the dead in Christ will be resurrected, not to a resumption of mortal life, but to be made like their immortal Lord.

“If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep…

But each in his own order: Christ the first-fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.”