God blessed man with the free-will so that man on his own could overcome all the evil ploys of Satan and walk with God. However, man rebelled against the will of God and tried to be equal with God on his own, as a result he lost his relationship with God. The likeness and image of God left him, his spirit became darkened or dead, his heart began to imagine vain things. His soul became the seat of a bitter struggle between his desires and thoughts. His free will weakened, his conscience was corrupted, and spiritually he died, he became the slave of his desires, and came under the judgment of God. He became the enemy of God, the child slave of Satan, and eternal death took man into his possession. Because of sin man’s days became numbered, God instituted the law that every man shall die, no one is exempt from that. Life became full of sorrows. Because of one man’s sin, all human kind became sinners as they are born of him. We do not become sinners because we sin, but it is the other way round, every one born of man is a sinner therefore he commits sin. Sin is not something that is sticking to our outer body, but it is there in our blood. From the day man fell, he is in search of peace and salvation. If God wanted, he could have killed man the day he committed sin and could have created another man out of the dust. But righteous God instead of killing the first man drove him out of His presence by giving him a hope. Man you on your own cannot get salvation, the seed of the woman shall come and shall bruise the head of Satan and re-establish man’s relationship with God. Man cannot get salvation by his religion. All that religion does is to give man some rules and regulations, but cannot save man. No man can get salvation on the basis of his good works. Today when we look at mankind, he is doing good deeds to any how please God; he feeds the poor, gives alms, and feeds the animals and the birds. Why? So that any how at any cost he could attain salvation. Our good deeds are like filthy rags before God. When sin is there in our own blood, then which of our deeds can be counted as good. All have sinned and no one is holy. We cannot earn salvation. The word of God says that salvation is a gift. When man was not successful in getting salvation, almighty God who is the creator, He opened the door of salvation for mankind. God in His foreknowledge knew before He made man that, this very man whom I am fashioning with my own hands will fall in the temptation that Satan will bring before him. So to restore this fallen God had set in place His plan well before he had created man. That is why after the fall, when he cursed mankind, there was a beckon of light for mankind; the seed of the woman will come who will crush the head of the serpent. In fulfillment of that promise, God in His appointed time came to restore man. Two thousand years ago an incident took place right in the center of this world that changed the course of the history of mankind for ever. Almighty, Creator God who is the father of all, the Supreme One, the “I am that I am” took the form of man and was born of a virgin. Why was there a need for the almighty to take the form of man? To understand this mystery, we need to look at this illustration, if there is a bird sitting near your window and you like it, and you want to go and talk to it, if you go near it, not intending to harm it, but to do some good to it, it will not understand your motives, it will just fly away, because it is not in a position to understand what you intend to do. On the other hand, if you take the form of a bird and sit near it, it will hear you, will be able to understand you, and will respond to your words and actions. In the same way, if the Creator of this universe, who is all powerful, who is supreme, Infinite, a consuming fire, who holds the universe in its place, by the power of his word if he came down on this earth in all His glory, the earth will not be able to stand before Him, neither will we, we will get the shock of our life. That is the reason He left his glory and took the form of man to talk to us in the way we could understand Him, because He loved us. Then why was he born of a virgin? On this earth, every one is born out of union of man and woman. No one is born on his own. Even great men whom we respect and adore and at times, we worship had parents who gave birth to them. After some time, they claim to have had enlightenment and gave some teachings to man kind. But they accepted the reality of sin in their own lives, because they were also simple men like us. To redeem men from their sins it is necessary for a sinless person to come and offer himself. Therefore, it was necessary for Him to be born of a woman without the union with any man. No virgin can conceive on her own. The woman, Mary did not conceive Him on her own, the Holy Spirit overshadowed her. Almighty God just took her womb for nine months. This is something impossible for man, but for the One who created this vast universe it is not a big thing, to take the form of man and come in the womb of His creation and come into this earth just like any other ordinary men. How did this incident unfold? The angel Gabriel was sent by God to a virgin in Nazareth a small town in Galilee, a province in the land of Israel. The angel came to her and said, “Peace be with you! The Lord is with you and has greatly blessed you!” Mary was deeply troubled by the angel’s message, and she wondered what his words meant. The angel said to her, “Don’t be afraid, Mary; God has been gracious to you. You will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High God. The Lord God will make him a king, as his ancestor David was, and he will be the king of the descendants of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end!” Mary said to the angel, “I am a virgin. How, then, can this be?” The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and God’s power will rest upon you. For this reason, the holy child will be called the Son of God. This incident did not take place all of a sudden, around 750 years before this incident Isaiah the prophet had prophesied about this incident. It was clearly prophesied thousands of years ago, where He will be born, the family into which He will be born, and the manner in which He will be born. The name “Jesus Christ” means “savior.” Today why do we need salvation? We are following an ancient religion, we have good teachings, good principles, we are following the rituals and tradition we got from our forefathers. Then why do we need salvation? The reality is that though we have all the above mentioned things, of which we are proud, but each and every one of us is a slave of sin, bound by its strong cords, though we do not want to commit sin, yet we commit it day in and out because sin has taken root in our life. Many of us do not eat meat, fish, or even eggs, thinking that eating them gives rise to anger and other evil thoughts. We should remember one thing that the things which we eat do not make us sinners, but sin resides in us, just ask those who are vegetarians, they too have the evil human nature which shows itself in immoral, filthy, and indecent actions, in worship of idols and witchcraft. People become enemies and they fight; they become jealous, angry and ambitious. They separate into parties and groups; they are envious, get drunk, have orgies, and do other things like these. We try our best to keep our flesh under control. For that, we take the help of Yoga, do meditations, try to have perseverance, we chant mantras. We control our food and try to put so many restrictions in our life, to anyhow keep their body in control, and not to sin. They do all this thinking that the sinful natures are there in these food items. We try our best to put restraint on our sinful desires. Outwardly, we appear very descent before men before the society, but we cannot escape the fact that sin still reigns in our life, one slip and it overcomes us. Can man root out sin from his life by rituals, or going on pilgrimages or by making offerings before deities? Never. If sin was something that was on our body, we could have washed ourselves clean, but sin is something that has afflicted our soul and spirit. There is no point in taking bath in some holy river. You just get an emotional satisfaction, nothing else; there is no change in you. Then how can we root out sin from our life? For that our Creator, our only Father, loving us took the form of man and lived in our midst. His name is Jesus Christ. Then why should we call Him the son of God? Can God have a son? Does God marry? Does He have a wife? No. God is Spirit, and He does not marry like us humans. We all humans are His children. In the same way when He took the form of man, He was called the Son of God. Just like the prophecy of Prophet Isaiah thousands of years ago, the angel of the Lord gave the testimony that the child born will be called “Immanuel” meaning “God is with us.” The child that was born in the streets of Bethlehem and placed in the manger was not an ordinary child. Just as all mankind has a date of birth, He does not have one, the reason, we had our beginning in the womb, but He is the eternal One, therefore the word of God does not say on which day He was born. He was not born on the 25th of December, Christmas day is not biblical. He has no beginnings. He is eternal. He is not one among the prophets, He is not one among the gurus or so called Holy men, but he is the almighty Creator, loving us took the form of man for the sake of mankind. Just look at the great love of God for man, whom He formed with His own hands from the dust of the ground and when His creation rebelled, He did not forsake them, but took the form of man and came in search of mankind. Can we compare this love to anything in this world? When man could not reach Him, through his own deeds, and was frustrated in life, having lost all hope and took solace in false theories about rebirths reincarnations) and were making vain imaginations about life and death and eternity, and through our actions we proved that we were the enemies of God, yet while we were sinners, He loved us, we did not call Him, He came in search of us to give us hope in life. What more you need? It is true that in the in the past God spoke to our ancestors at many different times and in many different ways through the prophets. In these last days He has spoken to us through His Son- Jesus Christ. We were like sheep wandering without a shepherd. Many so called gurus are there on this earth, piping their own theories, trying to give good teachings, but no one ready to answer the question of sin. Man does not need to be told to lead a good life, he already knows that and there is a conscience within him, but the problem is who is going to deliver him from sin that hinders him from pleasing God? Lord Jesus Christ lived on this earth for 33 and half years. He lived and walked as man. He showed His love for us by living amidst mankind as a man. He left all His glory and lived as man. Today men are trying to become like God on their own, but almighty God became man. He revealed His great love for mankind by healing the sick and delivering men from the possession of the evil spirits, and feeding the hungry. Once, while He was ministering and going from place to place, a leper, who was forsaken by his family and his society cried out for His mercy, In those days, if a man is afflicted with leprosy, he was considered a cursed man, he would be thrown out from his house, and from his society, and he will have to live outside the city in the garbage dump and wait for the day of his death. When ever he came inside the city, he had to cover his head and ring a bell saying “I am a leper.” No one would have pity on him and would touch him. But Lord Jesus Christ had mercy on him, He went near him and touched him and healed him of this cursed disease. There was a man named Lazarus who lived in Bethany and had two sisters Mary and Martha. Whenever Lord Jesus came to their town, He used to live with them. On day Lazarus fell ill and his sisters sent Jesus Christ who was ministering somewhere to come and pray for their brother, but He did not come, and Lazarus died, and on the fourth day after his death Jesus Christ came to their place. Many thought He had come to grieve with them. He should have come early. But when He came to their place, He asked them where they had buried him; they took him to the place the people thought he wanted to pay respect to the dead. Lord Jesus Christ went to the graveyard and stood outside his tomb and asked the people to remove the stone they had placed on it, the body was in the tomb for the past 4 days. The people were surprised what he is going to do there, the body is four days old and has begun to rot, it will be stinking inside. But when the people were gazing, He just cried out, “Lazar come out,” the moment He uttered those words, the dead man whose body which had begun to rot, got life, he came out walking. No one went inside to carry him out, the once dead man walked out. If Lord Jesus Christ had said, “O dead come out,” then the whole cemetery would have been emptied that very moment, because death knows the voice of the Creator, it cannot withhold anyone in his cold grip, the moment he hears this voice. Death knows who is calling, the voice is not of a guru, or an avatar or so called holy man, but the one who blew the breath of life into the nostrils of the dust to make him a living soul. A day is coming in the future, when this same Jesus Christ will sit on the throne and call out on that Great Judgment day, and the sea will give up its dead, all the graves will the emptied, and all those whose bodies have been cremated or even if the animals have eaten them, they all will return to give an account of their lives before their creator. On an another occasion Lord Jesus Christ was crossing the lake Galilee in a boat with His disciples, He was sleeping and when the boat reached the middle of the lake they were surrounded by a storm, and the boat began to fill up with water, the disciples were skilled boatmen but they were not able to face the storm, they cried out to the Lord, and He just stood up and commanded the storm to be calm, and immediately the storm ceased. The disciples wondered how even the nature obeys His voice. In your life also you might be buffeted by storms that arise because of sin in our life, it may be a storm of financial problems, physical problems or any other kind of storm. If you allow the Lord Jesus Christ in your life, He is able to help you to face the storm and overcome it. After proving that He is not one among the gurus or one among the prophets, but He is the Creator of the Universe. He came forward to offer His life for the salvation of mankind. Almighty God is righteous and Justice, His Justice demands that the wages of sin is death there is no other alternative. God is love but He is Justice. Therefore, to maintain His justice He came forward to offer the price that His Justice demanded. The wages of sin is death, the physical death of man is just like a sleep after which we wake up. If while living on this earth if we accept the way of salvation that God has opened for mankind, then we have the privilege to live with our eternal Father for eternity in heaven, if we reject his plan of salvation, then we are doomed for eternal damnation in the eternal lake of fire. Where we will be tormented for eternity. That is eternal death. God our Father does not desire that any one should be cast in the lake of fire. Therefore, to open a way of salvation for mankind, He came forward and offers himself in place of man. When the Lord Jesus Christ was preaching about the kingdom of God and healing the sick, the religious leaders of that time felt threat to their position and their hypocrisy, so they conspired and took hold of Christ, they raised false allegations against Him, and sent the Roman solders and took Him into custody and they blindfolded Him, and they smote Him on the face, and spit on His face and hit Him on His head with rods and made fun of Him and then whipped Him with roman whips 39 times. At the end of the Roman whip are tied bone pieces, nails and glass pieces, so once it is whipped, these pieces grip into the flesh and when the whip is pulled out the skin is torn, once a person is whipped 39 times, then his back is like a field ploughed apart. They put a crown of thorns on His head, how much He suffered for us. It was in our place that He was suffering, He had done no evil against anyone. We should have faced this insult because we are sinners. How many evil thoughts have we entertained, how many bad things do we speak against the people. He suffered silently. Never once did He open His mouth. If He wanted, He could reveal His real identity and no one would have ever dared to lift their voice against Him. But for our sins, He paid the penalty. He was whipped for us, that is why the scripture says, “By His stripes we are healed” Now if we are sick, we just have to believe that He has payed the price and trust Him and in the name of Jesus Christ the sick are healed today, the dead are raised to life. The cases which the doctors have forsaken He has miraculously healed. The doctors have not created us, they try to make our body work. But He is the Creator. Nothing is too hard for Him. After He was whipped, they lay a heavy cross on His shoulders and made Him to carry it to the place called Golgotha, His blood is flowing out and all through the path, the marks of blood are there. Because of the heavy cross, He fell down many times, but every time He fell down, the roman soldiers whipped Him again and made Him carry the cross. The sight was so depressing, that the on looking people began to cry out of pity. He silently carried the cross. What for? For you and for me. Slowly He walked towards Golgotha, on reaching there, they removed His clothes and made Him completely naked and cast lots on His cloth, and laid Him on the cross that He had carried. And laid His hands on the cross. If we were in His place, people would have to hold our hands if we were to be nailed, but these very hands which had touched the leper and healed him, broke the bread and fed the hungry, He stretched His own hands. And the roman soldiers without any mercy they nailed His hands and his feet, and then they lifted up the cross and put it in the hole they had dug, the moment the cross was put in it, it went with a thud, and the one who was hanging on the cross His joints were loosened, just look at that sight. One person hanging on the cross naked. His back is fully plowed, thorny crown on His head, His face fully swollen the sight is so depressing, that the people covered their faces. While hanging on the cross He asked for water, but they gave Him vinegar to drink. They made fun of Him, saying, “if you are the king of Jews come down they cried out. You came to save others, now save yourself.” At that time, He could easily come down but He remained there hanging on the cross. It was not the power of the nails that were holding Him to the cross, but it was the His love for His creation that He silently suffered. And at the end He cried out with a loud voice “it is finished” what was finished? Now man does not have to wander here and there for salvation – forgiveness of his sins, he does not have to go after the gurus or trust on his good deeds. The penalty for the sin man committed has been offered. Now all that he has to do is to believe what Christ has done on the cross for the redemption of mankind. If one believes all his sins will be forgiven and his relationship with God can be restored. Now man does not have to go on pilgrimages, or worry about rebirths, he does have to take the help of yoga meditations or does not have to give offerings and no need to punish his body. Jesus Christ has offered His body as a sacrifice and fulfilled the demands of the Justice of God. The demands of the Law have been met. He gave up His spirit. He is the only one who gave up His spirit, rest all mankind do not give up their spirit, their spirit is taken from them against their will. No one knows what time death will separate their spirit from their body, only one gave up His spirit, because He Himself said, “I have the right to lay down my life and to take it back,” no one ever claimed this except Jesus Christ – the almighty God. According to the custom of crucification, the soldiers pierced His side to see whether He was dead, and blood and water flowed out, thereby showing that all His blood had been offered. God’s justice has been maintained. When Christ gave up His life, the sun hid its face, it was dark for three hours, the earth shook, and seeing all that, the centurion standing at the bottom of the cross remarked truly He is the son of God. When men did not recognize Him, the creation knew who was hanging on the cross, it could not bear it. In the evening, before it became dark His disciples brought down His body from the cross, covered His body with cloth, and as was the custom laid Him in a tomb, and covered its face with a big stone. But the religious leaders and the Roman authorities placed Roman soldiers at the tomb. Why are the Roman solders guarding the tomb? They sealed the tomb with the Roman seal to show that the tomb now belonged to the Roman Empire and it was not anyone’s property. Why all this? The reason, before Christ had laid down His life He had said that He will rise again from the dead on the third day. Therefore, they placed the guard. When the guards were guarding the tomb, on the third day morning which was a Sunday, the One whom they had crucified rose again from the dead, the grave could not hold Him, and He broke open the Roman seal the soldiers fled for their life. He proved He is victorious over death. On that morning Mary Magdalini went to the tomb to offer fragrance as was the custom to offer for the dead. She went while it was still dark, while going the only thought worrying her was who will remove the stone for her, but when she reached the tomb, she was dumb struck, the tomb was open, the soldiers were not there, when she went inside, the grave clothes were there, but the body was not there, she thought the soldiers had taken away the body. She ran to the place where the disciples were, and told them that the body had been removed, Peter and John ran towards the tomb, they also saw that the body was missing. At that time angel came and stood there and told them you must not be afraid,” he said. “I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has been raised, just as he said. Come here and see the place where he was lying. Go quickly now, and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from death, and now he is going to Galilee ahead of you; there you will see him!’ Remember what I have told you.” Therefore, they left the tomb in a hurry, afraid and yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. But Mary remained there crying, at that time, she saw one person in the garden nearby and thinking him to be the gardener went to him and asked him whether he knew where the body was kept so that she could carry it back. Why was she so much concerned about the body? She loved the Lord from the bottom of her heart she was ready to carry the dead body of the Lord she loved, because He had delivered her from the 7 demons that had once possessed her, and she had that gratitude, He had delivered her, and she could not forget Him. When she asked the person about the body, this personality standing before her was not the gardener, but her Lord she did not recognize Him, because she did not expect Him to be alive, but He called her by her name which He used to call her, at that time, she understood the tone and recognized the one standing before her, she immediately fell down to worship Him, He told her to go back and tell others this good news, and she ran to tell others, that their Lord is indeed risen up. After that on many occasions, He revealed Himself to His disciples. He ate food with them, when one of them named Thomas doubted Him, He went near him and asked him to put his fingers in His wounds, and when he did he immediately recognized that his Lord had really risen from the dead. Lord Jesus Christ remained on this earth for 40 more days. Contrary to what many today think that he went to some other place and got married to Mary and had children, that is rubbish the scripture clearly says that at the end of the fortieth day, He took His disciples to the Mount of Olives and there He commanded His disciple to go all over the world and to preach the good news that the door for salvation has been opened, the price has been paid for man’s salvation. Make disciples and teach them what all He had taught the disciples. And when the disciples were looking on to Him, He was lifted up to heaven and when they were looking up, two angels came and stood in their midst and said. “Galileans, why are you standing there looking up at the sky? This Jesus, who was taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way that you saw him go to heaven.” When Jesus Christ was on this earth He had promised, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper who will be with you forever. That helper is the Spirit of Truth. The world cannot accept him, because it doesn’t see or know him. You know him, because he lives with you and will be in you.” The helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything. He will remind you of everything that I have ever told you.” The Holy Spirit is there to help you lead a holy life that is pleasing unto God. Dear friend, just look at the great opportunity God has provided for you to get right with God. How long will you continue to live in sin, far away from your creator and loving Father? You do not know how many more days you have got in your life on this earth? Our life is just a bubble on the water any time the bubble can burst and we are gone, leaving not race behind. Maybe the booklet that you are reading now is the first and the last chance God is giving you to get right with your God. Do not waste any time, your life is precious. It is your life; God will not force anything on you. He has given you the free will. Till now you walked as you liked, you know how life has been this far, do you want to continue to lead a roller coaster life, or will you submit your life into the hands of One who created you and then shed His last drop of blood for you on the cross. If He can run the whole universe, will He not be able to lead you and direct your paths. He has a plan for your life. He does not ask for anything else from you. He created you. He sent you, now He will lead you provided you on your own commit your life into His hands. You have made a wreck of your life, you may be thinking, that there is no hope for you, you may be a vessel completely broken down, remember with all love as you read these words your master is there beside you. He is no longer in the grave He has risen. There is only one tomb open on the face of the earth. It boldly proclaims that He is not there. All that He asks is a willing submission, will you pray a small prayer, it is not necessary for you to go inside a church and pray, wherever you may be this time, just take few moment, look at your own life and make a decision. The decision that you make now will effect your life eternally. Remember death is not the end of life. If you want to commit your life, pray this small prayer. “Father I am a sinner, you know how I have lived thus far, I realize my mistake, I come to you, Lord Jesus Christ I believe that you died on the cross for my sins, forgive my sins, Henceforth be thou my Master and do as you want with my life, thou art the potter I am the clay. Let thy will be done, cleanse me with your precious blood and come thou into my heart and be my Lord and Savior.” If you have sincerely prayed this prayed, just look inside of you. Do you experience peace and joy in your heart? In answer to your humble prayer, your Father has come into your life, He has forgiven all your sins that you have committed this far. Made you white as snow, now sin no more. Now He will lead you, all that you have to do is just take each step as He directs you. Now you are no more alone, He will never leave you. His promise is there with you. “Can a woman forget her nursing child? Will she have no compassion on the child from her womb? Although mothers may forget, I will not forget you. I have engraved you on the palms of my hands. Your walls are always in my presence.” Once you have committed your life into your hands, here are some guidelines you have to follow. Get a copy of the Bible and start reading it. It is the word of God for you. Just as you labor hard and take care of your physical body, now remember there is a spiritual man born in you. He needs spiritual food. The word of God is the food that will give him strength to grow and face life. Read it, meditate upon it with prayer. Just as the manufacturer of a product, gives you an instruction manual for the product, and warns you to read it before you use it, In the same way the Bible is the creator’s manual for us to lead our life. If we live as the Bible says, then the Creator will take all responsibility, the guarantee is life long, provided you do as the Book tells you to do. Do not try to read it using your intellect, but with faith read it, believing it is the word of God for you. Remember you have not accepted Christian religion. Jesus Christ has got nothing to do with that religion. It is man made, it is one of the most rotten religions. Never try to follow that religion, but follow Christ. He is not the founder of that religion. Christ gave His life for the world, no religion has right over Him. He is the father of every one. The command that Christ gave while leaving this world was to make disciples and not a religion. Now you are the child of God. Believe it and walk according to what the word of God says. Do not try to interpret the word as you feel like, ask the Spirit of God who resides in you, who is your Counselor to teach you the word and friend, learn from Him. Now you have become a new creation, all the past has been cleansed away, God no more remembers your past. It is the command of God that after you have committed your life into His hands to take the next step of water baptism. Go to the nearest place where you find people really following the word of God and ask them more about water baptism. It is not a ritual but a command of God who gave His life on the cross for you. There is no need for you to buy a cross and hang it around your neck. Christ is no more hanging on the cross, He is alive. He is there in your heart, He does not want to hang around your neck hanging on the cross made of silver or gold, those who do it, are ignorant of the fact of what He did for us The next step for you is to ask the Lord is to fill you with His Spirit. The Spirit of God has come in your life the moment you realized that you are a sinner. But that is not enough, pray sincerely Lord I want thy Spirit to lead me as you will. Lord Jesus Christ has promised, “Ask, and you will receive. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened for you. Everyone who asks will receive. The one who searches will find, and for the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” You do not have to worry about any of your material needs. He will take care of that, but you need to ask for the infilling of the Holy Spirit. When you are filled, at that time you will start speaking in a language that you have not learnt before. That is the language to speak to God, at that time your spirit speaks to God. That is a blessed privilege. Usually when we talk to others, we use the language which we know and we try to articulate our words using the language we know, but that is not possible while talking to God, you cannot see him with your naked eyes, but you can feel Him in your spirit, therefore the Holy Spirit that is in you will help your spirit to talk to Him that is why we speak in different tongues. It is God’s promise – Ask and ye shall receive. You do not have to be worried about the future, there is no need of yoga, meditation, or going here and there in search of God, no need of bowing before idols or following any tradition, God is not there in any of them. No holy water can cleanse you. He has cleansed you with His precious blood. What more do you need? Your prayer should be, “Lord instruct me, and teach me the way that I should go . let my life be a blessing for others.” Now the peace and joy that you have got no one can snatch it away from you. Le the world take away every thing you have then also you will be happy, now death cannot frighten you. You have got life eternal. The moment death comes it will take you to your father. You can smile at death and say, O death where is your sting? You can be victorious over ever circumstances.
Posted on: Thu, 17 Jul 2014 04:56:19 +0000
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