THE ROCK OF OUR FAITH

Three days ago, while sitting at the top of our apartment building roof top, contemplating the magnificent view of the mountains towering over the bay of Rio, my eyes stopped at a rock outcropping that I never noticed before. (See photo above).

Seen from afar, it looked to me as if the huge rock near the top had been forced out of the mountain, its distinct contours outlined the shape of a shield. Interestingly enough, I had never noticed it even after spending some time meditating on the roof top before, during the 3 weeks since our arrival here.

Besides the adjustment expected from being in new surroundings, the spiritual battle has been intense, especially with Mírian having to train at a new job, while my life here has been quiet and gratifying.

Needless to say praying for protection has been redoubling. The Lord has answered with an increase in his grace over the situation as he is orchestrating the circumstances in our lives. We have seen the hand of God moving in our family and heard his responses in ways that are so encouraging as we witness his faithfulness and his ever present loving kindness and tender loving care in our lives.

The morning this happened we had been praying for the edge of protection to be around Mírian and that her faith would be strong against the schemes of the enemy.

As I was looking more closely at the shield shape, the Lord reminded me of the covenant with Abraham and his words when the Lord appeared to him in a vision: Do not be afraid, Abraham. I am your shied and your very great reward. Genesis 15:1.

I am not one to seek signs, but the Lord at times shows me visuals and then interprets and confirms it for me through the Scriptures. We all know the various verses relating to faith in the Old and the New Testament. This however was directly related to fear that Mírian was feeling. To me this was clear, we are to raise our shield of faith against the enemy’s flaming arrows as a part of our spiritual armor. But in looking at the mountain two things seem to be relevant and underline the relevancy of the situation. The shield formation was taken out of but still very much attached to the mountain, which is to say that our faith depends on being connected to the Rock of our faith, namely our Lord Jesus through the communion with the Holy Spirit. Secondly, the faith shield was near the top of the mountain, which to me, means that the victory was close but that more efforts and cooperation on our part was necessary to reach the top of the mountain.

Another component of that scripture is that the reward of faith comes after having exercised the faith that God requires in our daily walk. Isaiah talks in chapter 40: 9,10, 11 about not being afraid and looking at the coming of the Lord in the last days:
Lift up your voice with a shout, Do not be afraid .See, the Sovereign LORD comes with power, and his arm rules for him. See, his reward is with him, his recompense accompanies him. He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.

Hebrews 10:35-38 says basically the same thing adding the need for perseverance in doing the will of God:

"So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For in just a very little while, "He who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him."

And finally on the last page of the Book of Revelation, the Lord Jesus himself reiterates His promise in Revelation 22: 12:

"Behold, I am coming soon, my reward is with me and I will give to everyone according to what he has done."

Since the Word says that a matter shall be confirmed by the testimony of two or three witnesses, three more confirmations with more explicit details came from our family who had been praying fervently about our present situation.

I feel so grateful and greatly encouraged that when our Lord gives us instructions and shows us the way, in response to our prayers, He also empowers us and accompanies us even though sometimes we get discouraged and temporarily experience fear and doubts that we are in the will of God. This is why we need to exercise the faith that He provides when we ask Him and receive the encouragement that we are on our way to the victory that he has promised us and that He already gained for us at the cross.


Jean-Louis.

He invites suicide jumpers for a cup of tea

Don Ritchie moved to a house outside Sydney, Australia, for the clifftop view. But soon he was stopping suicides by inviting potential jumpers inside for a cup of tea.

Don Ritchie has been awarded a medal for bravery and an Order of Australia (the nation’s second highest honor) for averting hundreds of would-be suicides by approaching people and offering them a cup of tea. ‘I used to sell kitchen scales and bacon cutters,’ he says. Now, ‘I’m trying to sell people life.’

Jeremy Piper/AP

By Kathy Marks, / Correspondent / October 18, 2010
Sydney, Australia

Don Ritchie bought his house for the beautiful views it affords of Sydney Harbor and "the Gap," the tall sandstone cliffs that guard the harbor mouth. Rather than simply admiring those views, though, he has spent the past 40 or so years persuading tortured souls not to jump to their deaths.

When he moved here with his wife, Moya, Mr. Ritchie was aware of the Gap's reputation as Australia's most notorious suicide spot. But he didn't think much about it.

Almost from Day 1, though, he found himself keeping an eye on the rugged cliff tops. Since then, he has coaxed hundreds of people back from the brink: the desperate, the depressed, and the mentally disturbed.

Ritchie, now an octogenarian, has been awarded a bravery medal and an Order of Australia, the country's second-highest honor.

To some, he's the "Angel of the Gap." It's an accolade that makes him smile with embarrassment. "Now I'm an old angel," he says during an interview at his home in Vaucluse, a suburb east of Sydney.

He and Moya live across the road from the Gap. Through the picture window in their living room, he has a bird's-eye view of the cliffs, which attract a steady flow of tourists and joggers. If he sees someone lingering a little too long, he crosses the road and offers them a cup of tea.

Over the years, many have followed him home. Others have not – his kind words have been the last thing they heard.

The self-effacing former salesman shrugs when you ask him why he does what he does. "I'm just trying to save a life," he says. "I used to sell kitchen scales and bacon cutters, then I was state manager of a life insurance company. At the Gap I'm trying to sell people life."

Australians have been committing suicide at this spot since at least 1863, when a local woman, Anne Harrison, leapt to her death. An estimated 50 people kill themselves there every year.

The municipal council wants to install taller, curved fences; emergency telephones; and closed-circuit TV cameras. But it needs $2.1 million (Australian; US$1.96 million) and the federal government has twice turned down its request for funds.

Over the decades, Ritchie says, many of the faces of the people he's saved have blurred. But some he still remembers clearly, such as the woman he spotted from his bedroom window early one morning, sitting right on the cliff's edge.

"I quickly got dressed and went over," he recalls. "She had already put her handbag and shoes outside the fence, which is pretty common. They very often leave something behind – sometimes it's a note, but generally a piece of clothing.

"I said to her: 'Why don't you come over and have a cup of tea?' She came with me, and Moya made her breakfast. When she got home, she rang to say she was feeling much better. Two or three months later, she walked up the garden path with a magnum of French champagne."

Dawn O'Neil, chief executive of Lifeline Australia, a counseling service for the suicidal and depressed, says the intervention of someone like Ritchie can be crucial when people are considering killing themselves.

"We know from research around the world that most people who are suicidal are ambivalent about dying," she says. "Most don't want to die; they just want to end their pain.

"So there's a hesitation, and anyone or anything that can distract them, or assist them to get help, can save their lives."

Gordon Parker, executive director of the Black Dog Institute, a clinical facility that treats people with depression, says: "People go to places like the Gap in a state of perturbation. They pace up and down, and in that period of time there's a window of opportunity. Don has saved lives because he has gone up to people and chatted to them."

Tragically, Ritchie's efforts are not always successful. He recalls a 19-year-old who jumped as Ritchie stood beside him. As he fell, his hat flew off, and the wind blew it into Ritchie's hand.

"It turned out that as a little boy he had lived in the block of flats just behind our house, and he used to play with our grandkids," Ritchie says. How did that make him feel? He removes his glasses and rubs his eyes. "It's just another case," he says.

In years past, Ritchie would scale the fence and sometimes physically drag people to safety. Once a woman nearly hauled him over the edge with her. He claims not to be troubled by those he couldn't rescue. "You can't do much about it," he says, turning his palms upward.

Dianne Gaddin, whose daughter, Tracy, committed suicide in 2005, says Ritchie may have been there for Tracy when she went up to the Gap on previous occasions. "Maybe he changed her mind those times," says Ms. Gaddin, who now campaigns for better suicide-prevention measures.

She is full of admiration for Ritchie's work. "It takes an enormous amount of courage just to go up to a person who is going to jump," she says.

"Don has a charisma about him. He makes people feel safe, secure, and calm. I really think he is one special man."

La Révolte des Dorlotés

Traduction de l'article par Pat Buchanan


Posted: October 14, 2010
7:57 pm Eastern
© 2010


Cela fait quatre jours que la France est paralysée par les grèves. Les compagnies aériennes annulent des vols. Les voyageurs venant de Charles de Gaulle et d’Orly à destination de Paris subissent de longs délais.

Les touristes sont coincés. La Tour Eiffel fermée. Le trafic des trains et du métro sur Paris est restreint. A cause de la fermeture des raffineries, les ouvriers français pourraient provoquer la fermeture des stations-service et forcer le gouvernement à entamer les réserves stratégiques de pétrole.
Des millions de personnes font la grève. Un lycée sur 10 est fermé. Les élèves du secondaire et les universitaires manifestent côte à côte avec les ouvriers et bloquent les portes d’entrée pour paralyser le système d’éducation publique.
Et pourquoi cette crise de colère nationale ?

Le Président Sarkozy a proposé à l’Assemblée Nationale et pousse au Sénat une mesure élevant l’âge de la retraite pour les pensions d’état de 60 à 62 ans.


Or si la France n’élève pas l’âge de la retraite, le système de service de la gestion de la retraite et des pensions fera face à un déficit de 58 milliards de dollars en 2018. La réforme Sarkozy vient à la suite de sa victoire lors de l’abrogation de la loi socialiste datant d’une décennie qui autorisait la semaine de 35 heures de travail.


Sur quelle planète, se demande-t-on, vivent ces français ?


Vers 2050, ces élèves de lycée et étudiants atteindront presque ou surpasseront l’âge de la retraite à 60 ans. Qui, croient-ils, va cracher l’argent pour leur pension ? Sont-ils ignorants de ce qui attend la France et l’Europe?


Aujourd’hui, 23 pour cent des hommes et femmes français ont 60 ans ou plus. Ce chiffre passera à 33 pour cent vers 2050, quand il y aura un travailleur pour verser pour chaque retraité, si on garde l’âge de a retraite à 60 ans.


Aujourd’hui, 5,5 pour cent des hommes et femmes français ont 80 ans ou plus. Vers 2050, ce chiffre doublera jusqu’à 11 pour cent.


Qui, les grévistes français pensent-ils, va payer les impôts pour les frais médicaux de cette neuvième partie infirme et vieillissante d’une nation ?


Alors que l’âge moyen est de 40 ans, en 2050, il passera à 45 ans. Cependant, derrière ce chiffre se cache une réalité encore plus effrayante.


Depuis 1970, le taux de fertilité des femmes françaises est resté au-dessous des 2,1 enfants nécessaires à maintenir la population de la France, ce que les démographes appellent la croissance démographique zéro. Pour les prochaines quatre décennies jusqu’en 2050, il est prévu que le niveau de fertilité des femmes françaises se maintiendra à peu près à 15 pour cent au-dessous de la CDZ


Pourtant il est prévu que la population française de 62,6 millions va faire un bon saut jusqu’à 67,7 millions. Comment une population peut-elle continuer à croître quand le taux de naissance depuis près de 80 ans jusqu’à 2050 est au-dessous du niveau de remplacement ?


La réponse: au fur et à mesure que les français prennent leur retraite, vieillissent et meurent, la France se remplit d’immigrants qui viennent remplacer ceux qui partent et ceux qui sont près de partir et les milliers de bébés français qui ne sont jamais nés parce que leurs parents potentiels ne les voulaient pas.


D’ou viennent-ils ces immigrants?


Certains viennent de l’Europe de l’Est. Mais le plus grand nombre arrivent du Maroc, de l’Algérie et de la Tunisie et des anciennes colonies français au sud du Sahara. Les arabes et les africains peuplent les villes comme Marseille et Grenoble, remplissent les banlieux bourgeonnantes autour de Paris, où toutes les quelques années, ils se déchainent et mettent le feu à des milliers de voitures. Sauf s’ils se déplacent en pelotons, les banlieues sont hors-limites pour les policiers à Paris.


Ces immigrants n’amènent pas les connaissances professionnelles, l’éducation ou les aptitudes aux langues de la jeunesse française. La plupart ne gagneront pas les salaires des français nés en France et de là ne contribueront pas au même niveau d’impôts nécessaires à maintenir un état providence construit par un parti socialiste qui a régné en France de temps à autres pendant des décennies.


Avec la fin de la semaine à 35 heures et celle de la retraite à 60 ans, la perte des bénéfices octroyés aux français au temps des jeunes années du socialisme vient à peine de commencer. Ils peuvent marcher dans les rues, manifester et faire la grève, mais ils ne peuvent pas empêcher l’inévitable.


Ce qui est vrai pour la France est aussi vrai pour l’Europe, où pas une seule nation a un taux de fertilité qui puisse remplacer la population autochtone. Parmi les russes, les ukrainiens, les estoniens, lithuaniens et latviens, le taux de la mort dépasse déjà celui de la naissance. Ces pays ont commencé à disparaître. Et leurs voisins vont les suivre.


Avec la crise financière de 2008-2009, suivie par la menace de non-paiement de dettes par un ou plusieurs pays de l’Union Européenne, soient le Portugal, l’Irlande, la Grèce et l’Espagne, l’Europe entière semble aussi réduire les budgets de la défense pour sauver tout ce qu’ils peuvent de leur États providence.


Ce qui amène à se poser une question que nous-mêmes les américains qui sommes bourrés de dettes ne pouvons plus remettre à plus tard. Pourquoi, 65 ans après la 2ème guerre mondiale, défendons-nous ces nations ? Alors que l’Europe a plus de richesse, a une plus grande population et un état providence plus généreux que le nôtre, pourquoi imposerions-nous des sacrifices à nos compatriotes qui paient pour le privilège de défendre ses populations ?


Au lieu d’emprunter à l’Europe pour défendre l’Europe, pourquoi ne pas les facturer pour assurer leur protection ? Si nous voulons imiter les Romains, pourquoi ne pas demander un tribut, comme les Romains le faisaient?


America est le premier empire de l’histoire qui paie un tribut à ses satrapes.

Bem-te-vi - Português

Credit: from Carlos Weick's Flicker album.

Escristo e posto por Jean-Louis: http://thelightseed.blogspot.com 

Dedicado a Mamy, a melhor mãe que eu conheço. Com carinho.

Bem-te-vi, Bem-te-vi

Como eu gosto do seu canto

Pode ser monótono

Mas o chamado do seu coracão
Diferente em cada estação

É uma confissão ou uma caricia

Segundo minha alegria

Ou minha tristeza

Bem-te-vi, Bem-te-vi

Você, mensageiro dos ceus

Com seus olhos vigilantes

Os bons você chama

Como os maus

Se encarega fielmente

De revelar os segredos

Do coração escondidos

Sem acrescentar seu juízo

Bem-te-vi, Bem-te-vi

Por favor, seja meu amigo

Você me olha, eu sei

Porque você me o diz

Mas quando ao Pai

Minhas faltas você relata

Não esquesce de contar

Igualmente o bem que eu faço

Bem-te-vi, Bem-te-vi

Anjo disfarçado

A Palavra fala de ti

Como mensajeiro divino

Pois ela declara: Cuidado

Quando ao rei você vilipendia

Ainda em seu coração

Ou em privado ao rico maldiz

Porque Bem-te-vi podería

Até os ceus esvoaçar

E suas palavras divulgar

Por Jean-Louis

BEM TE VI -- Español

Bem-te-vi, bem-te-vi

Como me gusta tu canto tan lindo

Puede ser monótono

Mas el llamado de tu corazón

Diferente en cada estación

Es una confesión o una caricia

Según mi alegria o mi tristeza

Bem-te-vi, bem-te-vi

Tú, mensajero del cielo
Con tu ojo vigilante
Los buenos tu llamas

Como los malos

Te encargas fielmente

De revelar los secretos

Del corazón escondidos

Sin añadir tu juicio

Bem-te-vi, bem-te-vi

Por favor, seas mi amigo

Tu me miras, yo lo sé

Porque tú me lo dices

Mas cuando al Padre

Mis faltas relatas

No olvidas de contar

El bien que yo hago

Bem-te-vi, bem-te-vi

Angel disfrazado

La Palabra habla de tí

Como mesenjero divino

Pues declara: Cuidado
Cuando al rey vilipendias

Aun en pensamiento,

Y en privado al rico maldigas,
Pues Bem-te-vi podría

Aletear hasta el cielo

Para divulgar tus palavras

Jean-Louis.

BEM TE VI -- Français

Composé et publié par Jean-Louis Mondon

Bem Ti Vi le nom de l´oiseau qui en français donne "je t´ai vu" 

A ma femme Mírian qui adore les Bem-te-vis  

Bem-te-vi, bem-te-vi

Comme j’aime ton chant si joli

Il est peut-être monotone

Mais le son de ta voix différent

En été, ou en automne

Selon ma joie ou ma tristesse

C’est un aveu ou une caresse

Bem-te-vi, bem-te-vi

Toi, messager du ciel

A l’œil vigilant

Les bons tu appelles

Comme les méchants

Et te charge fidèlement

De révéler les secrets

Du cœur bien cachés

Sans porter de jugement

Bem-te-vi, bem-te-vi
Sois mon ami, je t'en prie 

Tu me vois, je le sais

Puisque tu me le dis

Mais quand au Père

Mes fautes tu rapportes 

N’oublies pas de raconter

Aussi le bien que je fais

Bem-te-vi, bem-te-vi

Ange déguisé

La parole parle de toi

Comme divin messager

Car elle dit : "fais attention

Quand tu méprises le roi

Même dans tes pensées

Ou maudis le riche

Dans ta chambre à coucher"

Bem-te-vi pourrait battre des ailes

Et rapporter le fait au ciel

Jean-Louis.

WHAT TIME IS IT?

For a French translation of this text by the author, click on the following link:
http://thelightseed.blogspot.com/2010/08/quelle-heure-est-il.html
Written and posted by Jean-Louis.

Since I wrote this reflection 3 years ago, things have changed at a mind numbing pace. Now almost anybody around the world can experience first hand or by the proxy of television or one of the many means of communications the latest events that are tearing the fabric of life apart and spelling doom for humanity. 

Governments, citizens of all countries are perplexed trying to find a viable solution to the insurmountable problems facing mankind and unfortunately coming short of a solution that would set the earth and its population on the right course, avoiding a final global catastrophe that threatens to reduce our once habitable planet as the Lord creator made for the human race as wonderful abode, into a ruinous heap of nuclear ashes. 

From looking at the Doomsday clock that signals our eventual obliteration,  even concerned eminent scientists have not moved the minute hand from 5 minutes away from midnight in an attempt to warn earth people to change their ways or else.

Long before there was a Doomsday clock, God provided a way for men to examine his ways and provided a solution in the scriptures to remedy the terminal disease of sin or suffer the consequences. He has told us in no uncertain terms through the prophets  and the scriptures concerning the end times that if we do not heed the warning, the consequences will destroy the earth like clock work in incremental steps. 

    
Problems might be complex and seemingly unsolvable but the solution is simple. Sin is universal, so we are all guilty. so we all have our part in the solution. God´s message doesn´t change. If we persist in our sin, we die, if we repent and turn away from our sins towards him, we live. Repent and turn to God has always been the remedy.

Here are a few scriptures about turning back to God:
(Isa. 6:10 ; Jer. 3:1; Hos. 6:1; Mal. 3:7) 
Here is a link to a simple explanation of the process:
http://www.bible.ca/ef/expository-joel-2-13.htm

Actually, since time is so short, we should all consider what we should do if there was an emergency so great that needed an instant response. We should ask the question: what would I do if the flames of a raging fire were leaping across my property and threatening to engulf my house and my family? This is not indulging in cheap fear-mongering but trying to wake the sleeping, blind, unaware persons that will have a rude awakening when it all happens. 

If you are a Christian believer, then The Lord Jesus is your refuge that never fails. Believers don´t even have to think about what they would take in case of an emergency. The Lord Jesus in Revelation 3:11 told the Church in Philadelphia (the raptured church): 

"I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown."

We find the same counsel in Rev. 2:25. and II Tim. 1: 13-14.

What do we have that we can hang on to? We have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, His seal guaranteeing our secure position in Him now and our future eternal security with Him in His Kingdom, the love of God that no one can separate us from, the promises of God that are sure, the Word of God trustworthy and true and all the privileges and benefits our inheritance as adopted children of our beloved and gracious Heavenly Father. 

So we have all we need already bestowed on us, inside of us and we have no fear of losing anything material if our treasure is in Heaven kept for us. So where is our heart? Jesus said in Luke 12:34:  For where your treasure is, there your treasure will be also.

What do we dwell upon when we go to sleep at night and we wake up in the morning? 

So here is the question again, what would you take with you if you had a few seconds to evacuate your house? What are we so attached to? 

I hope we would have enough time to pick up a Bible. and if not that we have enough of the scriptures in our heart that in case of widespread persecution, we would be able to provide spiritual help and nourishment to others.   

I didn´t intend  to write such a long introduction, but this is the place where I have been dwelling lately, following the advice of my Pastor´s message a few weeks ago that it´s better to dwell in the house of mourning. 

Eccl. 7:2-4 "It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart. 3 Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better. 4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth."   

I personally believe after re reading the post about what time it is? that now the main concern of the Church should be ( as it always should have been) to proclaim the true, pure Gospel that the Lord Jesus came to preach because only the Gospel has the Power to change the hearts and minds of man, to bring reconciliation between man and God and peace with Him and his fellow man.

The Gospel in its essence is found in I Cor. 15: 3-11:
 For I delivered to you ^[b]as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, ⁴ and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, ⁵ and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. ⁶ After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; ⁷ then He appeared to ^[c]James, then to all the apostles; ⁸ and last of all, as ^[d]to one untimely born, He appeared to me also. ⁹ For I am the least of the apostles, ^[e]and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. ¹⁰ But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me. ¹¹ Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

The next important question I would ask myself is: 

Does my life exemplify the ways, the thoughts, the heart and the  walk of Christ so that people around me can really understand what time it is on God´s clock and turn to him with broken heart and a humble willingness to obey His commands and be set free for the power of sin that keeps them in slavery. 

  

Who are the lost people going to turn to and ask for help if we ourselves do not know what time it is or we pretend not to know because in reality we don´t care.

************************************************************************************************************** 

WHAT TIME IS IT?
10/17/2010

A teacher gathers his students around a fancy chronometer watch that indicates everything about time that 21st century man needs to know in order to live a full life. He has removed carefully the crystal in the front and is showing the face with all the many different hands.


What time is it ? he asks the young people. Everyone gives the right time in unison.
How about now ? removing the tenth of second hand. Still the same answer.
Then, he removes the second hand and the students can still give him the correct time within a minute.
Now he removes the minute hand, leaving only the hour hand. Can we still tell the time ?
Yes, of course, respond the students. It is sufficient to indicate the hour.

I know this might sounds trite, but have you noticed that when someone asks for the time, the question always is: what time is it ? The French are even more to the point; they say : What hour is it ? as do the Spanish speaking people. Have you ever heard someone ask: what minute or what second is it since we live in a world in which our lives depends of decisions made with the help of computers capable of functionning at the speed of a nanosecond ?!

If we apply this lesson to the Bible, who created time, dividing the day and the night with the sun, the moon and the rotation of the earth in 24 hours from which we get the time zones each of which measuring one hour?
How could our ancestors live simply with the help of a solar dial or an hour glass or later with a clock indicating only hours and minutes ?


Now let us think about Jesus when he criticized the pharisees for focusing their attention and judgment on small unimportant details that they elevated at a level that God himself did not require, when at the same time neglecting the more important commands.
Nowadays, there exist in some churches persons who make splitting hairs a pastime, concentrating their attention on an isolated, obscure, difficult to understand or explain bible verse in order to validate their viewpoint or to justify a false doctrine.


This Pharisaical attitude makes me think about a watch with the tenth of a second hand, or the minute hand that are obviously practical, but are not really essential when it comes to know what hour of the day or night it is. Could we compare the hour hand to the great essential doctrines of the Bible without which nobody could understand the existence, the nature and character of God, the prophecies, salvation and the forgiveness of sin, His will and his commands that he gave us for the benefit of mankind? The others isolated and very few verses are certainly a part of the biblical canon of the innerant Scriptures , but when we use them to divide the brothers and poison the Christian discourse, we are entering into a dangerous territory. Paul warns about the danger of being sectarian in I Corinthiens.

The question remains a valid one: What time is it in the church today?  Is it the primitive church with its martyrs that some believers like to dream about as the perfect church, the time of Augustine,   Martin Luther's time? do we live in the era of Calvin, of the Wesley brothers, of Charles Spurgeon or any other great man of God, even a founder of a denomination or do we live according to God's time? Granted, these men were powerful instruments in the hand of God and in the propagation of the Gospel, but they are not the ones on whom, neither are their thoughts on which our salvation depends.


The Bible is always the up to date and eternal word of God. What does God say of his salvation, the greatest manifestation of his love for mankind:
"As God's fellow workers we urge you not to receive God's grace in vain. For he says: "In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you. I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation.” II Corinthians 6:2.


Again in Hebrews 4:7-11, Paul declares: Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts."For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.”


Let us live in the eternal present of God and let us beware of becoming slaves of a time imposed by man and believe that we are going to miss the rewards of the frantic modern life if we do not follow the patterns of a world which does not even know where it is going, neither knows what hour it is in the time allotted to it by God, the sovereign Lord and Creator on this earth. Now is the time for us to preach His Gospel, do His work, to serve Him with gladness, in His own time, empowered by His Holy Spirit in our heart full of faith, love  and joy and gratitude for his abounding grace and mercy. 


Jean-Louis.