Hello & welcome!
Whom I?
Usually, one will introduce themselves by saying their name, but my intro is a little bit different. Bear with me.
The first time I heard the name of Jesus was when I had taken a Gideon bible home after raising my hands at Religious Education class in school, which I hid from others. Why did I hide the bible and why I did hear Jesus’ name for the first time? Because the culture and the home I was raised in was Muslim. I was born in the UK, lived abroad for a while with my extended family and return to the UK, speaking only the language of my country. I was completely awestruck by the simplicity of the words I read in the Gideon Bible compared to the Quran and one of my favourite verses that I will read repeatedly was 1 John 3:1 “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!” and later Psalm 27 became my affirmation. From the time of reading the Gideon Bible, I went through extraordinary events, which led me to accept Jesus as my Saviour at 15 years old and a year later I had a revelation of Jesus Christ which dispelled any concerns that I had that Jesus is the Son of God and that became my reality, no matter whatever life throws at me, Jesus will always be that reality that I could not deny or dismiss. From the time I came to know the Lord, I was drawn to the Prophets, even though I could not fully read or understand English and it was made harder by KJV. I knew no other translations. Obviously, my interest grew to other books.
But for many years my life was full of pain, shame, failures, fear and abandonment. Throughout these years my affirmation was Micah 7: 8
“Do not rejoice over me [amid my tragedies], O my enemy!
Though I fall, I will rise;
Though I sit in the darkness [of distress], the Lord is a light for me.”
So, here I am, many years later, and about 5 years ago, through an extraordinary incident, "He drew me out of many waters" and I am here today as result of God’s grace at work in me. So, I put the past behind me and go forward in God.
"For by You I can run against a troop,
By my God I can leap over a wall.
For You will light my lamp;
The Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.
As for God, His way is perfect;
The word of the Lord is proven;
He is a shield to all who trust in Him."
Psalm 18: 29-30
About this blog
Back in 2016, I bought a laptop and I find myself preparing sermons and commenting on world news from a Christian perspective even though I had no platform to do this. However, many years ago I used to publish a weekly newsletter for our church and contributed to the Church magazine by interviewing a Christian “rap” star and covering a review of Commissioned’s (American gospel group) latest CD. So, I have a little bit of experience of this, but I also wanted to get involve in publishing Christian articles, but it never happened. Until now. Wow!
The Word of God has always been a large part of my life. The more I read it, the more I discover hidden treasures and the more I want to share it. I am passionate about proclaiming Jesus, bible prophecy, comforting others and contending for the Faith.
There is no doubt that we are living in the last days of the church age. The times that we are in is unique and unprecedented. Signs of the end times unfolding before our eyes are:
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Israel returning to the land in 1948
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Jerusalem is back in the hands of a returned Israel since 1967
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focus of the whole world is turning toward Israel and Jerusalem
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preparation for rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem
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alignment of nations taking place before our eyes. Russia and China are in the Middle East, on the Euphrates River. Russia and Iran (Persia) are a putting their militaries together. Turkey is aligning with Russia and Iran. The pieces really seem to be coming together for the fulfilment of end time prophecy in Ezekiel 38/39.
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the increase in knowledge - computers and the internet now control more than ninety-five percent of buying and selling in the developed part of the world. Computer chips have been developed that can be implanted in the human body to replace credit and debit cards. Similar chips have been created to track criminals and pets and military personnel by satellite and the increase of knowledge and understanding on the prophetic aspect of the Bible.
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the rise of Europe as the Revised Roman Empire from the ashes of the old.
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world government - world treaties are eroding national sovereignty making way for the final kingdom that will be destroyed.
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increase of war and violence on the Earth
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rise in earthquakes and volcanic activities
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apostasy (departure from biblical Christianity) - the degeneration into a worldly-minded, pleasure/prosperity-seeking church, the unifying of all religions – a One World Religion
But there is good news. Many people, particularly among Muslims whether Sunnis or Shiites, and Jews, are coming to know the Lord through dreams and visions.
So, what are we to do as Christians? Get in the Word by making time to study. How? Ask the Holy Spirit. The disciples had Jesus whilst He was on earth and He has given us as believers the Holy Spirit to be our Teacher, Helper and Comforter. We shall never understand Christ, nor see His Kingdom until the Holy Spirit interprets Him to us. No amount of listening to sermons and lectures, no matter how able, no amount of mere study of the Word even, would ever reveal to us "the things of Christ”.
John 14:26 “But the Counsellor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you”.
How is the Holy Spirit to remind us if we don’t first read? The Word must become your “daily bread” and in the scriptures it doesn’t indicate how many times in a day you should be eating this daily bread. In Jeremiah 15:16 we read:
“Your words were found, and I ate them,
And Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart;
For I am called by Your name,
O Lord God of hosts”
The Word of God reminds you who you are and who He is. John 16:13 “But when He, the Spirit of Truth, comes, He will guide you into all Truth. He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come.”
The Holy Spirit is longing to teach us, but we need to make the time.
"There are few things quite so boring as being religious, but there is nothing quite so exciting as being a Christian!
Most folks have never discovered the difference between the one and the other, so that there are those who sincerely try to live a life they do not have, substituting religion for God, Christianity for Christ, and their own noble endeavours for the energy, joy, and power of the Holy Spirit. In the absence of reality, they can only grasp at rituals, stubbornly defending the latter in the absence of the former, lest they be found with neither!
They are lamps without oil, cars without gas, and pens without ink, baffled at their own impotence in the absence of all that alone can make man functional; for man was so engineered by God that the presence of the Creator within the creature is indispensable to His humanity. Christ gave Himself for us to give Himself to us! His presence puts God back into the man! He came that we might have life - God's life!
There are those who have a life they never live. They have come to Christ and thanked Him only for what He did, but do not live in the power of who He is. Between the Jesus who "was" and the Jesus who "will be" they live in a spiritual vacuum, trying with no little zeal to live for Christ a life that only He can live in and through them, perpetually begging for what in Him they already have!" an excerpt from Major W. Ian Thomas' book "If I perish, I perish". I highly recommend you buy this book or listen to this sermon online.
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