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Was Mary dismayed?

Did Mary, the mother of Jesus, end up perplexed and disappointed?

(Read Luke1: 26 – 38)

Can you imagine how blessed and excited Mary must have felt after hearing the words of the angel Gabriel, announcing to her that her future son Jesus will be called the Son of God, and that he will reign on David’s throne for ever?

What a glorious future was surely awaiting her, who will be nurturing the only Son of God the Eternal King of Israel!

A blessed and happy life was certainly awaiting her!

So, she thought…

After all, these were the very words that God transmitted to her through this angel, and God’s words are bound to happen!

Most certainly so!

And yet…, they did not happen. Not in her lifetime:

Less than a year after Jesus’ birth, at the occasion of his circumcision, it was prophesied to her that “a sword will pierce her own soul!” (Luke 2:34)

“What did this prophet, Simeon, mean”, she must have thought?

Nothing could go wrong, could it! God had promised that she would be blessed more than all women! (Luke: 1: 28)

Indeed, she was blessed for having given birth to the most important man who ever lived on earth, the only one who can save the living and the dead, if they repent of their sins and change their ways. (Luke 2: 77- 79).

To be precise, the blessings that will be hers in the eternal life are untold and many.

But here on earth, she certainly had a troubled life, filled with difficulties, fears and sorrows:

Barely a few weeks or months after giving birth, she and her husband had to flee from Israel, in fear, in the middle of the night, taking the baby Jesus quickly out of Bethlehem moments only before king Herod’s soldiers arrived to kill all the babies in that village, so as to get rid of the prophesied future King of Israel!

They hurried to Egypt, where they lived as miserable refugees, and where Jesus learned to walk and talk.

In the years that followed, after it was safe for them to return to Israel, Mary lost her husband and became a widower!

Jesus, her first-born son, had to take over his father’s business, carpentry, in order to provide for his mother’s and his many siblings’ needs…

(Mark, 6: 3)

In Nazareth, where they lived, it must have been particularly difficult for them all, since the inhabitants of that village had a particularly bad reputation: It was said of them: (John 1: 36)

“Surely there is no one who is good in Nazareth!”

Then, as Jesus started his ministry, Mary lost the person she loved most, Jesus not only having left their home and business, but also apparently disowning his family when he said to his followers:

“My true mother, brothers and sisters are those who listen to God’s Word and put it into practice in their life!” (Luke 8: 21)

Mary certainly adored Jesus, him being not only her son but also her God and Saviour, (Luke 1: 47) and we cannot even imagine how terribly painful it must have been for her to finally see her son badly beaten, humiliated, naked for all to see, and crucified like a common criminal!

A sword certainly pierced her heart that Passover day, (as it was prophesied).

All in all, the mother of Jesus lived a life filled with sorrows, not blessings…as she thought it would be.

But her faith and trust in God was not shaken.

She may have often been perplexed and hurt during her lifetime,j but she knew that she would never be able to comprehend God and his purposes which are often hidden from our eyes and understanding, on purpose; so that we may be tested and proven to be faithfully following him simply by trusting him even while living in complete spiritual ignorance.

(Isaiah 50:10): “All of you who fear the Lord and obey the voice of his Servant even though you may be walking in darkness, with no light at all to see and understand, learn to trust in the name of the Lord and rely upon God’s goodness!”

Strange, isn’t it, that the few in this world that fear and obey God’s words can expect to walk in darkness, with no light or understanding at all as to why God allows this or that to happen to them…

The rule being that God’s righteous ones must trust in him and cling to their faith, no matter what…

May we learn, like Mary did, to keep on trusting and faithfully following God and his Word, even when the promises of God that we make “our own” from the Bible actually fail us, and we find ourselves living in utter darkness rather than in the light that we were promised and expected.

One day, when in heaven, God’s Words will all be proven to be true!

But until we get there let us remind ourselves that:

“As the heavens are far above the earth, so are God’s thoughts (and plans for our lives) high above our expectancy or imagination” ( Isaiah 55:9)

Let us not loose faith and get discouraged when our life does not turn out to be as we expected it!

We must cling to God in faith, and trust in his faithfulness, no matter what.

Constantin Economides

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Modern day Ananias & Saphira

Post author By Economides
Post date July 26, 2024
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In the bible we are advised to « test the spirits, making sure that what they teach is indeed from God, for there is much falsehood being taught by some pseudo christians ». (1 John 4: 1)

Let us therefore test what churchgoers maintain, since many false teachings are taught in our churches.

The Pentecostal and charismatic movements, for instance urge believers to experience the « baptism of the Holy Spirit » just as the early believers did once the apostles had laid their hands on their heads.

These deceivers have managed to fool many, starting with themselves…

For they, themselves, were told that they should « open their mouth » so that incomprehensible words from the Holy Spirit start flowing through them…

Start uttering words, they advice, and soon they would flow.

And they did so, in order not to appear to be less spiritual than those among them who « spoke in tongues », and « at another level » from those who didn’t!

What a travesty…

The damage that results from such a pretension is very real, deep and unforgivable:

The Truth of God has been tarnished because of this!

The bible tells us clearly that the experience of actually receiving the gift of speaking suddenly in other foreign human languages or even the language of angels, (as they all claim it is the case today) was given only by the laying of hands of the apostles such as Peter, John, James and Paul.

Period!

This is clearly stated in Acts 8: 18

“…the Holy Spirit was given to the believers by the laying of hands of the apostles…”

With the death of the apostles this “outpouring” of spiritual gifts ceased to be experienced,

Let us stop now the pretending, and not not allow such hypocrisy to take place in our congregations.

The apostle Paul wrote:

« Am I seeking the approval of man, or of God?

If I were trying to please men, then I would not be a servant of Christ ». (Galatians 1: 10)

Let us prove to be true servants of Christ by stopping this pretence.

Let us repent and confess this sin that is a very serious one in God’s eyes and does much harm to his church.

God made it clear that he strongly disapproves of God’s people wanting to impress the church by pretending to be what they are not.

In the Acts of the Apostles 5: 1 – 11 we read that, Anania and Saphira had decided to lie to the believers, making out that they were more devoted and generous Christians than they really were!

So as to impress the other christians, they lied to the congregation, stating that they had sold a plot of ground of theirs and were now giving all the money they had earned from the sale to the church, when in fact they only gave a part of it…

It goes without saying that no one expected them to give any money to the church!

And, of course, if they wanted to give, they could have given as much or as little as they wished…the believers and the church would have been grateful anyway.

By pretending to give the whole amount, they were simply trying to impress their fellow believers, trying to convince them that they were more spiritually driven, more generous and dedicated than others.

Such motives are totally unacceptable in the church.

God made an example of them by putting them to death there and then, right at the feet of the apostle Peter, for lying to the believers and by extension to the Holy Spirit.

The believers who saw or heard what happened became very afraid, and where careful not to provoke God’s wrath by being hypocritical in any way again.

And yet, today, Christians show no such fear of God when it comes to try to impress the church of God!

Pretending seems to be the name of the game:

Pretending to be holier than thou, pretending to love one another and forgive, when, they don’t, truthfully. Pretending to be happy when they are not, and pretending also to be spiritually superior for having been baptised in holy spirit, as their gift of tongues indicates…

No wonder the world refers to churchgoers as hypocrites…

“Hypocrisy” is a very serious sin! It gives the church a bad name.

There are many Ananias and Saphiras among believers today, many, church loads of them, who act in such a way so as to appear more spiritual to others…

As a rule, those who « speak in tongues » today utter deceitfully words that do not originate from the Spirit of God, as they claim, but from their own self.

They do that for the same reason that Anania and Saphira did: so as to appear to be in « another level » spiritually!

They will certainly pay dearly for this!

Beware of such teachings. They go against the very grain of Christianity.

Constantin Economides

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Jesus’ pre-ministry life

What kind of childhood and life did Jesus have before starting his ministry ?

The bible tells us very little about the kind of life that Jesus had before starting his ministry, but what it tells us makes us believe that he had a terrible life.

Terrible indeed !

“God’s ways are not our ways!”, the Bible tells us. (Isaiah 55: 8)

And one of the reasons why the only Son of God had to become a human being was to experience much of the many awful circumstances that we, humans, go through in this life so as to be able to relate with us, on Judgement Day!

It had to be so, since Jesus is to judge us all. He had to experience all of the tragedies we go through, so that no one could ever say to him:

“How can you judge me? You do not know what it is like to suffer as I did, to be hungry, poor, unloved, desperate, rejected, sick, to be tempted, treated unjustly, to be betrayed by those you love most, hunted, tortured, and feeling abandoned by God himself…

God’s only beloved Son had to experience the worse treatment that we, humans can have in this life!

So, God the Father made sure that Jesus was made as insignificant, troubled and vulnerable as many of us are, in order for him to experience all of these unpleasant times that mankind goes through, hopefully without him ever failing to do what is right and pleasing in his Father’s eyes in every circumstance, thus being a model for us to follow and to be judged by!

God the Father made his beloved Son suffer much, more than most of us will experience throughout his life, and even in death.

We would all agree that dying as Jesus did, having been tortured, crucified and feeling perplexed and abandoned by all, even by his heavenly Father, is the worse way of dying…

Jesus cry: “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” (Matthew 27: 46) says it all.

Jesus death, and the subsequent suffering that he experienced in the world of the dead, having been “counted among the lawless ones”, (as it is written in Isaiah 53:12), was the final test he had to go through.

But, much of his life was much worse than most of us will ever go through:

Consider Jesus’ birth: When Mary was due to give birth, she was made to travel a long journey to Bethlehem, and no sooner had she and her husband arrived there, her birth waters broke…

They could not find a room in Bethlehem, where she could give birth and Jesus was born practically in the street, in a dirty, smelling barn!

What a place for the most important human being to be born!

There was nothing cute or romantic about it, as we portray it at Christmas.

His parents must have been perplexed as to why God allowed his Son to enter this world in such a way… Little did they know that it was indicative of what kind of treatment God had in store for him through his life!

As soon as the baby Jesus was born, his parents had to hide him and rush him away to another country, Egypt, so that he may not be killed! (Matthew 2: 14)

Jesus was a refugee when he learned to walk and talk…not the best environment to be in for any baby!

There, his parents were at the bottom layer of society struggling to survive in a dignified way!

A few years later, the family could return to their country, but, out of fear that Jesus, (the future King of Israel), would be discovered and eliminated, they had to settle in one of the less reputable towns of the country, Nazareth, of which it was said: “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?!” (John 1: 47)

So, Jesus did not grow up among the best of people and must have had many unpleasant experiences there in his youth, living among people of the worse reputation. His heart must have been constantly grieved by what he saw and went through there.

He could not have had a pleasant youth.

No wonder that as soon as Jesus started his ministry, the Nazarenes were the first ones who tried to kill him by attempting to throwing him down a cliff!

(Luke 4: 29)

Which brings us to my next observation:

While Jesus was preaching in the synagogue of Nazareth, he told them:

“You have heard of the many healings I have performed in Capernaum, and you must be thinking: Why don’t you first heal yourself?” (Luke 4:23)

What was wrong with Jesus that made his compatriots think: “Why doesn’t he heal himself?”

The writings of the New Testament do not tell us, but we know, from the Old Testament prophesies (that speak of the future Messiah) that Jesus would be subject to sicknesses (Isaiah 53: 3)

What exactly, we do not know, but the effects that one of them had on him is clearly depicted:

It made him ugly, very ugly, at least for some time:

In Isaiah 52:14 it is written:

“Many were appalled by his face, so ugly and disgraceful it was, it’s shape being more distorted than that of any of the sons of men…”

And, in Isaiah (53: 2-3) it goes on saying:

“He was totally unattractive, without any charm whatsoever for us to even like him. He was despised and rejected among men, a man filled with sorrows and so affected by disease that all would turn their faces away from looking at him, considering him to be a no-one…”

From those passages we gather that Jesus contracted a disease that distorted badly his face, at least for some period of time…

His Father had decided that it had to be that way!

Yes, God loved mankind so much that he gave his only begotten Son over to so much suffering, trouble and disgrace, in order that that some of us may learn to love him for all that he endured for our sake…and they…, be saved! (John 3: 16).

In contrast, we believe that God wants us, Jesus’ followers, to have the best of this age, as well as the future one: he wants us to be happy, blessed, healthy, successful…

But: Can the disciple expect to be treated better than his Master?

Would we still love him if God was to allow us to experience what he experienced?!

For his Only Son that he loves above all, God had in store the worse treatment we can think of!

Jesus must have lost his father while still young…He had to work as a carpenter for his family to survive.

For the last three years of his life he was living in the bushes, followed by his disciples!

The rulers of the country wanted to kill him, and he had to move all the time, fearing for his life…

He once said to someone who wanted to follow him:

“Foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head” (Matthew 8: 20),

Emotionally, Jesus must have been a wreck, witnessing all the evil that people do to one another!

He was constantly distressed, and when his time came to die, he sweated drops of blood so anguished was he about what he knew was still coming his way. (Luke 22: 44)

To top it all, he was betrayed by one of his closest friends and abandoned by all of them…

The words of the prophet Isaiah all came to be true:

“The Messiah, even though he is seated at God’s right hand, will be like a tender green shoot whose roots are buried in a hard, dry ground. (Isaiah 53:1)

He will be despised and rejected, a man of sorrows, used to grieving; our sorrows and our sins will weigh him down.

He will be pierced on a cross for our rebellion towards God his Father, beaten and whipped so that our sins could be erased…

He will be oppressed and treated harshly, unjustly condemned though he would do no wrong and never deceived anyone.

His life will be cut short at midstream for the rebellion of mankind.

It was the Lord’s good plan to crush him and to cause him so much grief.

And when his life will be made an offering so that our sins to be forgiven…he will be pleased and satisfied that through all this, he made it possible for many men to be counted among the righteous!” (Isaiah 53: 1-11)

It was the Lord’s good plan to crush him and to cause him so much grief.

Similarly, it often is the Lord’s good plan to crush us also, and cause us much grief, for through suffering our faith is tested, our soul is cleaned, and we become much more like Jesus, our role model!

Jesus told his followers: “no disciple is greater than his master! (John 13: 16)

Meaning: You are not entitled to have a better treatment than he had in this world!

The Scriptures make it clear that is not normal if some of us have it nice and easy in this world…

Couldn’t it be that those of us who manage to live such an easy and pleasant life do so simply because they we are not willing to “pick up their cross, daily, and follow Jesus’ example” (Luke 9: 23).

Many “Christians” avoid suffering by not giving when they should give, not helping when they should help, not suffering when they should endure hardship instead of managing to avoid suffering by immersing themselves in the sinful pleasures that this treacherous world offers us?

Let us mean business when following Christ, and not avoid the cross that we have to bear.

Ours is lighter, much lighter than what our Lord and Saviour was given by his loving Heavenly Father!

Constantin Economides

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A good relationship with the King is necessary

Post author By Economides
Post date July 26, 2024
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Let us imagine that you present yourself at the gates of Buckingham Palace and ask to be let in!

Will you be admitted?

Of course not.

If you demand to be let in on the grounds that you are a “good person”, a good citizen…you will be told:

Being “good” is not enough!

You need to be a member of the royal family to be let in, or you need at least to have a very good relationship with the members of the royal family…

Do you have such a relationship with them? If not, you will not be allowed to enter, no matter who or what you are.”

Does this answer make sense? It does.

How then can we hope to enter the Kingdom of God one day if we have not developed a good relationship with Jesus, the only Son of God, “in whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily”

(Colossians 2: 9 – 10)

Ever since he came on earth, Jesus has been offering his friendship and Lordship to each one of us, inviting and expecting all who want to truly be “good” to chose him to become their Lord, their best friend and their Saviour, even though they do not deserve such an honour.

Sad to say, very few respond to that invitation.

By rejecting Jesus’ invitation we automatically disqualify ourselves from being allowed to ever enter his Eternal Kingdom!

Being “good” in our eyes is not good enough for anyone to enter the realm of eternity and perfect happiness.

Only if we have chosen to become a follower of Jesus will we allowed in!

Having a close relationship with Jesus” does not mean, of course, merely becoming “religious”, going to church and praying to him for his protection and blessings, as many do.

The relationship must be real, not fake!

If we mean business with God, our Creator, we must start by reading daily his “instruction book”, his “Word” that has been preserved in the New Testament. We must let him speak to our heart through his written Word!

That is the first and most important decision that we must make:

Spend time everyday, to study the Bible, God’s Instruction Book, in order to get to know him better and start thinking and seeing things as he does!

When we do this, we will first of all realise how much gratitude we owe to God’s Only Son foraccepting to pay for our sins himself, bearing the punishment we deserve in order that his Father’s sense of “Justice must be done” be fully satisfied.

There is no greater expression of God’s love for us than him sending Jesus Christ on earth and on the cross for us ! (John 15: 13)

Once we have grasped that, we will learn to love him and want to become more like him in every way, seeking to please him rather than please ourselves.

Jesus will become our “role-model”, and we will become his obedient and faithful subjects and friends.

This “relationship” is what is needed as a pre-requisite for us to be admitted in God’s eternal home and kingdom one day!

Now that you know this, you, must make the decision to become a slave of Christ Jesus!

As for those who have not been introduced to Jesus in this life, they will have the opportunity to know all about him in Hades, the world of the dead, and will have to choose then how to respond to him.

And then…comes Judgement Day!

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A Believer’s Mission in Life

Post author By Economides
Post date July 26, 2024
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We, who read and believe in the bible have become aware that an awesome fate is awaiting those who do not know what we know, and it is our duty to tell and encourage everyone what they must do in order to be saved.

Picture the following scenario:

While I stroll one evening, I see a tall building whose basement is on fire. Isn’t it my duty to do all I can in order to warn all those who live higher up?

It certainly is.

We, who know the Truths of God must help our fellow men see what we see, and do what we did: that is to fear God, to submit ourselves to him, and learn to love him.

We can only do that by introducing Jesus to them, the only person that can save them.

This is our outmost duty, our mission while on earth. It is the reason that we are still alive, that we did not pass away the moment we were born again: so as to find ourselves in a better world!

Sure, we have to spend most of our time and efforts working and looking after ourselves and our families, but we must not neglect to fulfil our duty of helping others to know Jesus and all that he told us.

Jesus made of each one of us a light in this world.

Of course, we have no light of our own! We are just the lantern…

We just have to keep it clean, so that Jesus’ light may shine through it, and we must display it where others can see its light, not hide it… in a monastery of some sort!

Jesus also told us that we are “the salt of the earth”. Salt causes thirst!

We are strategically placed in this world in order to create thirst to those who are around us, thirst of knowing, belonging and loving the only True God!

We all have a talent, something particular to us that we can use in order to encourage others to join our universal affiliation, the body of Christ, that they may also escape from the wrath of God that will soon be unleashed and that they may receive instead his pardon and an eternal blessed life, just as we did.

We all have a part to do in this body of Christ: Let us not stay idle.

We must look for a way to be useful in propagating the Word of God and drawing others to Jesus Christ!

The way I found is to send these messages of mine “sandwiched” with my music through the air…

Time? Money? Abilities? Knowledge? Family? Friendships? Contacts? Compassion?

It will certainly cost you, but that is the reason that you are still alive, that you did not pass away the moment you were born again so as to find yourself in a better world!

Use your time here on earth, and whatever you may possess to help others turn to Jesus.

Do your part, that nobody else can do…

Deciding to follow Jesus implies joining a community that has been given a mission by its Founder!

The Mission is for us to be a Light to the World so as to inspire those who live in spiritual darkness or error to do the same as we did: Submit to Jesus’ teachings and example.

and we must show them the way to get there, instruct them with the Words of God, the Bible.

It is our duty to do so.

Just as we had been pulled in by others to Christ, so, each one of us must do what he can to pull others to him.

It is our duty, our mission that was given to us by our Lord: we must do our part in the body of Christ so as to bring many others to repentance, change of life and eternal life.

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Does the law of Moses still prevail?

Post author By Economides
Post date July 26, 2024
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There are passages in the Bible that are difficult for sincere seekers of Truth to accept or understand.

One such passage is found in Matthew (5:17-20).

There Jesus says:

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the laws of the old covenant.

I did not come to abolish them but to fulfil them!

I assure you that as long as heaven and earth exist, not one jot or one tittle shall pass from the Law until all things are done, fulfilled.”

At first glance, reading this verse, we would all understand that no commandment from the Law should ever be removed or changed…

But, notice that Jesus completed the above sentence with the words:

“Until all is fulfilled, done”

And I believe that all that was to be fulfilled, was done:

They were fulfilled when Christ cried out with his last breath on the cross: “It is finished!” (John 19: 30)

At that moment everything that was prophesied to happen for our salvation was fulfilled:

Jesus Christ became the expected High Priest between God and us, and offered himself as a sacrifice to God the Father freeing those who follow and obey him from the curse of the law.

(Galatians 3:13)

With the coming of the Messiah Jesus, the Levitical Priesthood that prevailed until then was abolished.

And when the Priesthood changes (the Bible tells us), the law necessarily changes as well.

(Hebrews 7: 11-12)

Since then, we submit to the laws that Christ gave us, and no longer to the “poor” laws of the Old Testament! ( )

And Paul, the Apostle of the Gentiles, explains to us:

“We know that a man cannot be declared righteous by trying to keep the laws of the old covenant zealously, because it is not possible to keep them all as God requires.

And those who do not thoroughly observe all the laws are damned…

(Galatians 3:10)

According to the gospel of Christ, we are declared “Righteous” in God’s eyes only because we believe and try to carry out with sincerity and zeal the teachings of Jesus Christ and not the commandments of the old covenant law which we must now regard as obsolete and imperfect.

Is there a fear now that, as we no longer obey the laws of the old covenant, we become transgressors and sinners in the sight of God?

Of course not! Instead…

We would be transgressors of the Truth if we tried to bring back again the poor elements of the old covenant law, to which we must consider ourselves dead (Galatians 2:17-19)

We now live in the age of grace, not of law! (. )

And we do not despise the “grace of God” that we received in Christ Jesus, who gave his life to justify us and to free us from the curse of the law that condemned us all! (Galatians 3:16)

The Bible tells us that the law of the old covenant was given to us as a teacher until the expected seed of Abraham came, that is, Jesus Christ.

(Galatians 3:19, 24)

Now that Christ has come, the era of the “New Testament” has begun. The Old is passing away…. (.

The new teachings and commands that Christ gave us are not mixed with the commands that were given in the time of Moses!

It is the same with wine: The new wine must not be put into sacks that contain or have contained old wine because these have been stretched by the boiling, and will burst as the new wine boils…

You mustn’t mix the old with the new! (Luke 5: 36 – 39)

It is not possible to keep the laws of the old covenant and at the same time be guided by the Spirit of Freedom that we received when we believed in Jesus Christ! (Galatians 5: 18, 13)

So let’s not go back to the poor and outdated commandments of the Old Testament, such as strictly observing the Sabbath or the feasts of the Old Testament. (Galatians 4: 9-19 / Romans 14: 5 / Colossians 2: 16…), or not to eat pork or other formerly forbidden foods (Colossians 2: 20-23), which God cleansed, as God revealed to Peter…(Acts 10: 9 – 16)

So let us not be concerned about such affairs (Colossians 3:2) which are shadows of future affairs that will take place in future ages (Colossians 2: 17), knowing that:

“If you are led by the Spirit of God you are no longer under the Old Testament Law!” (Galatians 5:18)

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Our loving God wants his dear children to suffer.

Post author By Economides
Post date July 26, 2024
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Our loving God wants his dear children…to suffer!

Dear Christian brothers and sisters:

“Do not be surprised, at the fiery trials that you have to go through as if something strange was happening to you but be glad that you also suffer, just as your Lord Jesus Christ did. (Peter 4: 12 – 13)

Indeed, for one good reason or another, God wants his faithful followers, his chosen people, that he loves…to suffer!

Many Christians will shake their heads in disagreement to this statement.

It is not their experience, and they have been told again and again in church that God wants, expects his children to be happy!

In fact, many of today’s believers have “accepted Christ as their Lord” trusting that they will have a happy, and sheltered life here on earth, under God’s protecting care…

But this is not what God’s Word tells us.

Instead, the Bible urges us “not to be surprised, at the fiery trials that come our way”.

Just about all of God’s children and servants mentioned in the Bible have lived lives filled with hardships and sorrows…

Take for example the prophet Jeremiah, who wrote in the 3rd chapter of his “Lamentations”:

“I am a man who has experienced much affliction by the rod of God’s wrath!

He has made me walk in darkness rather than in light!

He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.

He has shut out my prayers and has made my paths crooked, leaving me without help!

He has pierced my heart with many sorrows and made me the laughingstock of everyone.

He has sated me with gall, broken my teeth with gravel, trampled me in the dust, and deprived me of peace”.

“Still, it is a good thing for a man to bear the yoke of affliction while he is young…

Let him sit alone in silence, bury his face in the dust and offer his face to those who beat him.

Yes, let him be filled with disgrace.

For it is the Lord himself who lays all these sufferings on him, since we know very well that both, calamities and good things come because the mouth of the Most High ordained them…

Our God brings grief to us, but he also shows compassion, for he does not willingly bring affliction to the children of men!

He will not cast us off forever.

So, let those whose hope is in God, and seek him, bear quietly their suffering, and wait for the Lord to deliver them from their afflictions!”

(Lamentations of Jeremiah 3: 25 – 33)

From passages like this one, it is clear that our loving God wants his dear children…to suffer!

After all, he ordained much suffering for his only beloved Son, our Lord Jesus, the Messiah, who was to be a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief…

(Isaiah 53: 3)

We, his followers, should not expect better treatment from God than Jesus himself received while on earth!

We must simply be determined to remain faithful to our loving God and allow him to cleanse us of all impurity that remains in our soul…

Gold can only be purified in the fire, and our soul can only be cleansed from its impurities by going through the “fire” of sorrows and afflictions.

There is no other way: Suffering is an integral part of a God centred life!

Expect it, and make sure that you do not try to avoid it when it comes your way, as the world does, by branching off to other, worldly distractions and pleasures in search of finding some comfort there…

So, let us not start doubting God’s goodness when we face much suffering ourselves.

This is the norm for everyone that God accepts as his child! (Hebrews 12: 6- 7)

And if we want to know the “why”, let us concider that God is much more interested in making better people out of us than of making us happy here on earth…

Our hearts will be cleansed better in the fire of afflictions, than in the blessings of a happy life!

Let us also keep in mind that we live in the “last days”, We are to brace ourselves to face the terrible period that is coming, one of untold sufferings that will test our faith to the extreme, so as to prove that we are indeed genuine, faithful followers of Jesus Christ:

The “Mark of the Beast” that has been predicted 2.000 years ago will soon be enforced on all humanity.

We, the faithful children of God, know very well that we are not allowed to accept it on our right hand or forehead, even though we will not be able any more to buy or sell without it.

So, we know very well that we are heading towards much much suffering, imprisonment and beheadings!

We must suffer though all that will come our way, since we have been warned that anyone who accepts this coming Mark of the Beast will receive the full furry of God’s wrath and be tormented with burning sulphur night and day…

(Revelation 14: 9 – 12),

Being surrounded by the example of so many biblical figures such as that of the apostle Paul, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and many others, we must brace ourselves up and be strong.

Let us be thankful when happy and contented for a time, but let us be ready for the worst!

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A Preposterous Plan!

Which mortal man in his right mind could have ever invented a scenario, (like the one that Jesus presented), in which God himself would have to suffer and die by his own creation in order to be able to forgive mankind’s sins?

It is downright outrageous! Think of it!

A man’s mind would have never been able to think of such a farfetched, ridiculous scenario as depicted in the Bible:

God himself, borrowing a human form and dying the worst kind of death there was, being tortured on a cross like the worse of criminals!

Who would have ever thought of that?

And what for?

Because God needed to satisfy, appease, his own sense of Justice!… him being willing to pay himself the sentence that every man had to pay for his personal sins!

Preposterous!

And yet that is what Jesus claimed!

He said that the whole of the Deity lived in himself, him being the only Son of God.

He came to earth as a baby, lived a sinless life, and experienced all the sufferings that we, sinners, deserve to experience.

He was killed in the worst possible way, and descended in the world of the dead where he experienced a further torturing of his spirit, until his Heavenly Father esteemed that he had suffered enough for his creation.

Having submitted himself to all that, however, Jesus had opened up a way for his followers to be rightly forgiven of their sins.

Unthinkable, isn’t it?

And yet, the more you think about it, the more it makes sense:

It was a divine plan.

Only God could have thought of such an un-thinkable, impossible plan of salvation for mankind.

And the only reason that mankind did accept and believe in it was that Jesus’ contemporaries saw all the unbelievable miracles that Jesus had performed throughout his ministry and were convinced by them.

There was no way they could reject such a mind boggling, “mysterious” plan of salvation, since it came out of the very mouth of the Messiah!

They, in turn, willingly gave their lives for what they had seen, heard and experienced in Jesus, and the world started living a new era, the “Christian” Era…

And we, silly men of the 21^st century, do not even give a thought of the unbelievable self-sacrifice God himself had to bear in order to save us!

How will we ever escape from his fierce wrath on Judgment Day?