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Vol. 15 / Issue 12 / September 29 2011

Contents of this issue

Editorial

John MacArthur is Wrong! - Offensive & Scandalous message - Part 20

Join us in Facebook



News Items (Common to all issues) :

Standing in the Gap - Fasting prayer on 8th Dec.. 2015

Download Articles in Handheld Computers

Please Join us in "Peace Prayer Room"

Your Spam Folder

Hindi / Malayalam/Tamil Bible Online

Through the Valley of Death

Free Tutorials for your Kids!

Allah and Elohim - Are they the same God? Book

Free E-Cards

Online Games for you!



Editorial

By Sherly Isaac

Heb 12:14, "Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord."

Bible tells us that holiness is the key through which we can see God. If we look at the life of Samson we can see that though he was called and ordained to live a holy life he failed to live a holy life, a life pleasing to God. He stumbled and stumbled all his life and failed to do according to the will of God. And the result was that he lost everything and his life became a misery in the hands of his enemy.

Bible tells us about his great fall in Judges 16:16-22, "And it came to pass, when she pestered him daily with her words and pressed him, so that his soul was vexed to death, that he told her all his heart, and said to her, "No razor has ever come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother's womb. If I am shaven, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man." When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, "Come up once more, for he has told me all his heart." So the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hand. Then she lulled him to sleep on her knees, and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him. And she said, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" So he awoke from his sleep, and said, "I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free!" But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him. Then the Philistines took him and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza. They bound him with bronze fetters, and he became a grinder in the prison. However, the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaven."

God left him; In other words God departed from him. Yes, where sin is, God cannot stand. What a consequence of his sin that his enemy took over his life, put out his eyes, bound him with bronze fetters and made him a grinder in prison. How terrible his condition became!

God is holy and He wants us to be holy. He told the Israelites specifically that they should not defile themselves with any of the things that defile them. One of it is in Lev 11:44-45, 'For I am the LORD your God. You shall therefore consecrate yourselves, and you shall be holy; for I am holy. Neither shall you defile yourselves with any creeping thing that creeps on the earth. 'For I am the LORD who brings you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy."

And Jesus came in this world to give us a holy life and He came to forgive and forget all our sins. If we come to Him, repent from our sins and accept Him as our Lord and Savior He is ready to forgive and forget all our sins.

Back to the story of Samson, though Samson was in such a terrible state in his life yet when he called upon the name of the Lord, God heard his prayers from heaven and answered him.

Today also God is ready to listen to your cry. No matter what you are, no matter how sinful your life is, if you come to Jesus, He is ready to forgive your sins and ready to give you a new life. It is possible that you might have backslided and had gone back to your old sins and addictions but if you repent and turn from your sins, He is ready to forgive you and give you a new start.



John MacArthur is Wrong! - Offensive & Scandalous message - Part 20

By Sherly Isaac

To read previous or next parts please click on these links:

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17, Part 18, Part 19, Part 20, Part 21, Part 22, Part 23, Part 24, Part 25, Part 26, Part 27, Part 28, Part 29

John MacArthur writes in his book titled, "Hard to Believe: The High Cost and Infinite Value of Following Jesus" (Chapter 2, page 23, Title "The Hard Truth") that, "When we truly proclaim it in its fullness, the saving message of Jesus Christ is, frankly, outrageously offensive. We proclaim a scandalous message. From the world's perspective, the message of the cross is shameful. In fact, it is so shameful, so antagonizing, and so offensive that even faithful Christians struggle to proclaim it, because they know it will bring resentment and ridicule."

I am very much shocked to read the above words of John MacArthur. I am not sure how a person could ever call the saving message of Jesus Christ as "outrageously offensive"? It seems to me that John MacArthur does not understand the simple meaning of "saving message". If a person is drowning in deep waters and he screams for help and by hearing his screams rescuer comes to pull him out. Could the rescuing message of rescuer be outrageously offensive? If yes, how? I cannot understand - how?

We, In fact every person is in the deep waters of sin and there is no hope for us that we can come out of our sins by our own efforts. But Jesus came to rescue us or save us from our sins. How could this "Good News" be ever offensive? It is not offensive but it is truly Good News for those who are dying that there is hope for the perishing world that Jesus is ready to pull them out of their sins, if they just come to Him and put their sins at His feet.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is offensive only to those who believe in their own ability for getting saved and be in salvation through self-denial. In the Bible also we read that this Gospel was offensive for the Pharisees, Scribes and Sadducees who thought that "if we allowed Jesus, He and His disciples will take our place because of the mighty and awesome miracles He does and they will lose their position and money..." So they were concerned about money and their status in society instead of rescuing the perishing. And that was the simple reason that every moment they were looking how they could trap Him in His words or deeds. But when they could not find anything they tried another method and when Judas betrayed Him, they crucified Him. You can see how much the Pharisees, Sadducees and Scribes were offended not only by the saving message of Jesus but also with His life because the crowds and multitudes were following Him instead of following Pharisees, Sadducees and Scribes.

Further MacArthur claims, "We proclaim a scandalous message." What!!

Scandalous means "1. disgraceful; shameful or shocking; improper: scandalous behavior in public.
2. defamatory or libelous, as a speech or writing.
3. attracted to or preoccupied with scandal, as a person: a scandalous, vicious gossip."

I am not sure why John MacArthur is preaching Scandalous message, improper, shameful or vicious gossip? While the whole Bible tells us that Jesus' message is the message of HOPE and that it is indeed GOOD NEWS! Isaiah says in Isa 52:7, "How beautiful upon the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news, Who proclaims peace, Who brings glad tidings of good things, Who proclaims salvation, Who says to Zion, "Your God reigns!"

I urge John MacArthur to stop preaching scandalous messages and start preaching Jesus' good news that not only brings hope in the lives of people but also will bring hope for John MacArthur.

Further MacArthur writes, "From the world's perspective, the message of the cross is shameful. In fact, it is so shameful, so antagonizing, and so offensive that even faithful Christians struggle to proclaim it, because they know it will bring resentment and ridicule."

I am sorry but the message of cross is not shameful but it is the only message that brings HOPE for the dying humanity. The message of cross is the only ray of light for those who are sitting in utter darkness. Because there is no other light that could bring us out of darkness and destruction.

Now the meaning of antagonizing is "1. to make hostile or unfriendly; make an enemy or antagonist of: His speech antagonized many voters.
2. to act in opposition to; oppose."

So you can see how John MacArthur has misunderstood the Gospel of Jesus Christ! He is trying to paint the simple good news of Jesus Christ as very bad message. If John MacArthur is really preaching the true message of Jesus Christ, He could have seen that Jesus is the most gentle, loving, caring, kind and wonderful person who preached the message of hope, peace, joy, blessings and life. When Jesus walked in this world, He wiped away the tears of people, raised the dead, healed the sick, fed the hungry, helped the needy and when He sent His disciples, He said go and preach the same what I preach and do the same what I do... He did not say to them to go and offend others, make hostile or kill them... it is not there, not in the whole Bible and it is not the message of Jesus. Instead the message of Jesus or the message of the cross is, "Repent and turn to God" and "make peace with God".

Jesus Himself said in Rev 3:20, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me."

Your enemy cannot come and dine with you but look at the creator of this universe who says, if you hear His knock at your heart's door and open the door for Him, He is ready to come and dine with you. That's what Jesus' heart is - full of Love! This is what Jesus is, loving His enemies and would dine with them when they reconcile with Him.



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Standing in the Gap - Fasting prayer on 8th Dec.. 2015

As the Bible says in Ezekiel 22:30 "So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it." And also the Bible says in Numbers 16:48, "And he (Aaron) stood between the dead and the living; so the plague was stopped." We have fasting prayer every second Tuesday of each month. Our next fasting prayer meeting will be conducted on 16th Nov. 2015

Download Articles in Handheld Computers

You can now download articles in Palm Doc format for your palm handheld computer. It will work with any devise that has Palm OS and Palm Doc Reader installed. To download click on the link named "Palm Doc Format" i.e. at the top of this page by the side of each articles.

Please Join us in "Peace Prayer Room"

If you have any prayer request please join us any time at our New Chat Room at http://insearchofpeace.org/prayer If any of us available in prayer room, we will be praying online otherwise you can email your prayer request to feedback@insearchofpeace.org

Your Spam Folder

If you are getting this newsletter in your bulk/junk/Spam folder please hit the "not junk" or "not spam" button so that you could receive it in your mailbox. Also adding feedback@insearchofpeace.org email address into your contact list can avoid this email from ending up in your bulk folder.

Hindi / Malayalam/Tamil Bible Online

Now you can read Bible in Hindi online at http://www.hindibible.org
in Malayalam online at http://www.malayalambible.org
in Tamil online at http://www.hindibible.org?ver=tamil

Through the Valley of Death

As many of you know that in the year 2005, our dad was very sick even unto death. God miraculously healed him. We have compiled it in a book form. I sure believe that it will inspire you and encourage you greatly.

This book is available for purchase at JasmineCorp Store

Free Tutorials for your Kids!

Now you can learn Graphics and web designing online. These tutorials are free but you may need to get login ID by registering yourslef. Currently tutorials for Paint Shop Pro, HTML and Dreamweaver/Fireworks are available but in future more tutorials will be added.

Check the tutorials at:http://jasminecorp.net/tutorial

Allah and Elohim - Are they the same God? Book

Now available "Allah and Elohim - Are they the same God" Available at JasmineCorp Store, and "Is Jesus God?" Available at JasmineCorp Store,

Both books compares the Bible and the Quran and read eye opening facts about Jesus, God of the Bible, Allah and Islamic faith. I am sure that you want to read this.

Also read:
Book Title: Is Jesus God?
Author: Sherly Isaac
ISBN: 0759628092
http://insearchofpeace.org/books.htm

Free E-Cards

Send free E-Cards (Greeting Cards) to your friends and family. Its an easy way to stay in touch with friends and family. The website address is:
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Online Games for you!

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