DID YOU KNOW THESE FACTS?
I SURE DIDNT TILL NOW
Death is certain but the Bible speaks about untimely death!
Make a personal reflection about this.....
Very interesting, read until the end.....
It is written in the Bible (Galatians 6:7):
'Be not deceived; God is not mocked:
for whatsoever a man sow,
that shall he also reap.
Here are some men and20women
who mocked God :
John Lennon (Singer):
Some years before, during his interview with an American Magazine, he said:
'Christianity will end, it will disappear.
I do not have to argue about
that. I am certain.
Jesus was ok, but his subjects were too simple, today we are more famous
than Him' (1966).
Lennon, after saying that the Beatles were more famous than Jesus Christ,
was shot six times.
Tancredo Neves(President of Brazil ):
During the Presidential campaign, he said if he got 500,000 votes from his
party, not even God would remove him from Presidency.
Sure he got the votes, but he got sick a day before being made President,
then he died.
Cazuz a (Bi-sexual Brazilian composer, singer and poet):
During A show in Canecio ( Rio de Janeiro ),
while smoking his cigarette, he puffed out some smoke into the air and
said:'God, that's for you.'
He died at the age of 32 of LUNG CANCER in a horrible manner.
The man who built the Titanic
After the construction of Titanic, a reporter asked him how safe the Titanic
would be.
With an ironic tone he said:
'Not even God can sink it'
The result:I think you all know what happened to the Titanic
Marilyn Monroe (Actress)
She was visited by Billy Graham during a presentation of a show.
He said the Spirit of God had sent him to preach to her.
After hearing what the Preacher had to say, she said:
'I don't need your Jesus'.
A week later, she was found dead in her apartment
Bon Scott (Singer)
The ex-vocalist of the AC/DC. On one of his 1979 songs he sang:
'Don't stop me; I'm going down all the way, down the highway to hell'.
On the 19th of February 1980, Bon Scott was found dead, he had been choked
by his own vomit.
Campinas(IN 2005)
In Campinas , Brazil a group of friends, drunk, went to pick up a
friend.....
The mother accompanied her to the car and was so worried about the
drunkenness of her friends=2 0and she said to the daughter holding her hand,
who was already seated in the car:
'My Daughter, Go With God And May He Protect You.'
She responded: 'Only If He (God) Travels In The Trunk, Cause Inside
Here.....It's Already Full '
Hours later, news came by that they had been involved in a fatal accident,
everyone had died,
the car could not be recognized what type of car it had been, but
surprisingly, the trunk was intact.
The police said there was no way the trunk could have remained intact. To
their surprise, inside the trunk was a crate of eggs, none was broken
Christine Hewitt (Jamaican Journalist and entertainer)
said the Bible (Word of God) was the worst book ever written.
In June 2006 she was found burnt beyond recognition in her motor vehicle.
Many more important people have forgotten that there is no other name that
was given so much authority as the name of Jesus.
Many have died, but only Jesus died and rose again, and he is still alive.
So 1st, look in the mirror. Tell me what you see? Is it perfection? of course not. Dave Ramsey says "I'm better than I deserve". I totally agree with that. I'm a poor sinner with no hope of digging myself out of the pit of sin I have dug on my own. My only hope is in Jesus Christ.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life. God did not send the Son to the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved thru him. "
The first question you should ask after reading the above email is "did God smite them?" Basically that's what the email was saying. These people rejected God, or spat at him, or vocally mocked him and now they are dead. Coincidence. Yeah I think so. Some people die of natural causes, some die when bad things happen, and some die of stupidity. What I hate about the email is it infers that if you believe in God you are ok. There is a small step from this to the prosperity preachers on TV saying if you just pray louder and have more faith you will have prosperity.
Back to our first scripture of John 3:16. For God so loved......THE WORLD. Here is where many people get off track. The "children" of God are not only the people who have a saving faith in Jesus Christ. The "children" of God are all people. Unfortunately, there are many of the children who have turned their back on the Father resulting in the loss of that wonderful relationship they can have with him. Your heavenly Father loves you more than anyone here on earth could love you.
For those who are not believers and reading this, I want to assure you....Christians are not perfect. It's that simple. As a Christian we have assurance of an eternal relationship with God. Unfortunately there are some Christians who have "pet sins" they like to Preach about. Whether it be adultery, homosexuality, pride, anger, materialism, etc, etc it doesn't matter. What I used to preach to the congregation was "You cannot save anyone." It's impossible. You can only lead them to the living water. You can only share the living water. You cannot make them drink.
Read mark 4, the parable of the sower. The sower spread his seed on the hard road, rocky ground, among the thorns, and on fertile ground. Jesus was the sower for his parable. You as Christians are sowers today. However, that's it. You sow. Spread the Word and let the Holy Spirit penetrate the hardened heart. Only those who are wanting to see the truth will be able to accept it. Others actively cover their eyes wanting rather to live with the darkness instead of seeing the truth before them. One of the things I learned as a pastor was "unsolicited advice is never taken."
I get tired of beating down on the pet sins. Yes they are wrong. I won't deny that the bible says in Romans 1 that homosexuality is wrong. But I am more interested in how a person's spirit is doing more than what they are doing in bed.
Shane Claiborne has a great book out called Irresistable Revolution. He really shows what it means to love your neighbor as yourself. Him and a small group of people moved to the inner city in Philly and they live among the poorest of the poor. When scripture says "the poor will always be with you" he understands what that means. But I bring that up because Christ said in Matthew 25 "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, and I was thirst and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you visited me....I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of these least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."
I realized from reading Shane's book, that we all come fromd ifferent worldview backgrounds, so our emotions will be focused on different things. For example, a woman who is racked with guilt over having an abortion will be engaged in coversation or social justice regarding abortion. However, a man with 2 kids married for 15 years and just fired from his job will engage in conversations regarding employment, healthcare, and being a good father.
Have you read the bible and thought "I can apply that to my life"? Of course you have. Interpretation leads to Application. But maybe instead of "apply that to my life" we should "apply that to my community." Will O'Brien has a great article HERE. He gives some good illustrations of obsticles to biblical literacy. I can narrow those down to "worldview". But one of his main points is how we should read the scriptures as the 1st century people would have heard them, as a community. He says:
Similarly, we cringe at the story of the rich man whom Jesus counsels to sell
all his possessions (Mark 10:17-22). Only a handful of saints could ever do
that, we think. But we miss that this story is part of Jesus' teaching on a new
way of communal economic sharing (10:28-31), a way of living that Jesus insists
is both practical and possible. Gospel economics are not a matter of heroic
individualism but are rooted in ancient covenantal practices. Paul's writings
have been particularly skewed by the individualist paradigm. As Krister Stendahl
and other biblical scholars have argued, we moderns read Paul through the lens
of Augustine, Luther, and the "introspective conscience" of Western
individualism. As a result, Paul is diluted into a theologian of personal
salvation with a minimal or even conservative social viewpoint. Yet scholars
like Neil Elliott, Elsa Tamez, and Ched Myers have helped increase understanding
of Paul as a builder of communities very much rooted in Jesus' radical vision.
We are a community of individualist. Who is #1? I AM or I am? For God so loved the world. He loves the world thru the church. The church is not a haven for Christians to huddle in the basement while the storm of society swirls outside. Jesus said "I am the vine, you are the branches." On the back wall of our house last year we planted some vines (I think they are jasmine). We were trying to keep the heat off the house. They grew some, but not what I was hoping. Oh well.
Well this year, they came back with a vengence. The Vine is now thick and hearty. The 'branches' running from that vine are going in all directions. None of them are going back into the earth though. I try to make them grow down (after reaching the roof) and they turn right back around.
O'Brien tells how communities were formed around him:
How can we begin to put aside this filter of individualism so endemic to our own
culture? A primary way is to situate ourselves within a community as the context
for our Bible reading. Within our Alternative Seminary, we've encouraged study
group members to covenant together as community. (In fact, a small house church
grew out of our first study groups; other groups have formed prayer circles or
have continued to meet for more life-sharing and discernment.)Structuring our
lives so that we read Scripture within a committed community of fellow believers
and disciples is a fundamental challenge to our cultural values. Whether such
groups happen through a church, an intentional community, or some other
structure, they would ideally include serious life-sharing, reflection on our
social context, mutual accountability, and prayerful attention to the presence
of God's Spirit. The core biblical image of covenant is itself a guide for our
Bible study.
You see, God so loved you and me and everyone else in the world that he wants to have a relationship with you, not only individually, but also communally. In the spiritual sense, 1+1=3 because we are stronger standing together than we are standing alone.
Looking back at the original email I received from a caring friend. I don't know if the people who died were believers in Jesus Christ or not. That is not a determination I am here to make. I can lead you to the water, but cannot make you drink. However, I do know that God loved them as much as he loves you and me and you and you and you :o). I believe it was Peter that asked in the book of John regarding John, "well what about him. what will happen to him?" and Jesus responded, "that is none of your concern." Remember that God loves the world and everyone in it. we are all children of God. make Him proud.
