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Vol. 8 / Issue 18 / November 18 2004

Contents of this issue

Editorial Download Palm Doc format
Holiness Download Palm Doc format
I won't go huntin Download Palm Doc format
Reader's Mail Download Palm Doc format
Praise and Prayer Download Palm Doc format


News Items (Common to all issues) :
Standing in the Gap - Fasting prayer on 13th Jan. 2009
Printed Version of the Magazine
Download Articles in Handheld Computers
Please Join us in "Peace Prayer Room"
Your Spam Folder
Hindi / Malayalam/Tamil Bible Online
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

Bible tells us about the mighty power of God that transforms people inside out. Moses was an young man when he saw the burdens of his people, the pain which he could not bear. One day he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren. So he looked this way and that way, and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. (Exo 2:11-12)" Moses who was outrageous, who was a murderer, who was afraid to face people, who was a stammerer when he met God at the burning bush, his life changed dramatically.

Bible tells us that Moses was the most humble man in the sight of God as we read in Num 12:3, "Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth." The same Moses whom people rejected saying, "Who made you a prince and a judge over us? (Acts 7:35)", God made him a ruler and judge over them. The same Moses who was so afraid to face people because he was slow in speech but day came when he stood before Pharaoh and his army as a roaring lion. God showed mighty miracles and signs in Egypt to bring the Israelites out through a man who thought that he was not qualified to do that job.

In the New Testament we read about another young man who was so zealous for his religion that he took permission from the high priest to kill and bound Christians or disciples of the Lord. His name was Saul. He was no ordinary man but a Pharisee and his father was also a Pharisee. (Acts 23:6)" Paul says in Acts 22:19-20, "Lord, they know that in every synagogue I imprisoned and beat those who believe on You. And when the blood of Your martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by consenting to his death, and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him." He thought and believed that he was doing the right thing. This was Saul whom when Jesus met on the way to Damascus, his life changed completely. He became a faithful and very useful servant of Jesus Christ.

The greatest tragedy of human history is that man fell in sin and lost everything. Today we have achieved big scientific advances, modern equipments and yet we are unable to absolve ourselves of our sin, guilt and past mistakes. There is no medical or scientific cure for our sinful nature. Science cannot transform a person. If a person is violent or a murderer, the authorities can lock him up, that is the only solution they have. But if you turn to Jesus, He will transform your life completely and make you a new person.

Even today God is looking for people whom He can transform completely and use them for His glory. God does not want your ability but He is looking for your willingness to go to the world with His true Gospel of salvation, peace, joy and happiness. You may be thinking that you are not able to do certain things but God does not care what you can do and what you cannot. He is simply looking for your availability. You may be thinking that you are not worthy to be used by God. But it does not matter whether you have lived in utter sin and violence but if you repent and turn to Christ He will change your life and use you for His glory. Come and meet the wonderful Jesus He will transform your life completely and give you a new life.

Holiness

By Sheela Isaac

1 Pet 1:16, because it is written, "Be holy, for I am holy."

Jesus said, Be holy, for I am holy. But this is a very less taught subject in our churches. I don’t hear many messages on holiness. Why? I do not know. If you do not know how to lead a holy life or even if you do not know what holiness is, you may not preach on this subject. Right? Instead I heard that giving of bribe is ok if it cost you less money and if it involves fewer trips to offices for getting your work done. Not only that but the preacher emphasized from Colossians or Ephesians that it is wisdom of God. So are you saying that God has given us wisdom to steal, to make dacoity, robbery and to kill others because it takes less effort and less time? Are you saying that God has allowed all these things?

Jesus said, Be holy, for I am holy. It means that holiness is a must in the life of a believer. It is not a choice but obligation for a believer to walk in holiness as our master is holy. If Jesus said, ‘be holy’ it means that it is totally possible. But what people say today, ‘nobody can lead a perfect life so a little sin is ok. Nobody is perfect in church so close your eyes and let things happen the way it is happening’. Do you not see contradictions here? Jesus was speaking about holiness, that is the higher level of holiness which Jesus has and Jesus says that this type of holiness is needed by you, but today churches teach that sin is ok, little bit manipulation is ok, little bit bribe is ok. Today churches are loosing its spirituality why? Because we can see deception and deceptive messages in churches. I was hearing a pastor for more than two months and he was speaking about salvation all the time. At times he was so enthusiastic in his preaching that he spoke about heaven, white garments, going to heaven, salvation, born again experience etc. One day my family was around the dinning table and we were talking. I asked my brother, “do you think this pastor is saved though he speaks lot about salvation but do you not feel that these messages are not coming from his heart? My brother laughed and said, “it is too early to conclude and get happy that this pastor is saved because we saw lot of deception and deceptive messages in resent years.” Well more than two months passed and suddenly he began to speak messages just opposite of salvation. He said, “all are God’s children, we are all going to heaven etc.” I was shocked and thought in my heart, “well finally the deception is over, the truth has come out.” Why should somebody deceive people? Why preach salvation when you are not saved and when you do not believe in salvation. How true is the Bible? Bible says, “in last days false teachers and prophets will emerge and they will deceive many.”

2 Pet 2:1 But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. 2 Pet 2:2 And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. 2 Pet 2:3 By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber.

If you say that all church goers are saved or all those who are in the church are saved and if all are going to heaven, then why do we see all kinds of sin in churches. Do you not see that churches are full of liars, murderers, witch-crafters, backbiters, drinkers. After coming to USA I attended many weddings. You may wonder to know that Indians (Asians) who think that they are very highly cultured were sitting and drinking in these parties. Once a woman was sitting just in front of us with her 2 years old grandchild on her lap. She was giving the child wine with spoon. To my surprise the 2 year old drank the cup full of wine. Whenever I remember it, it really sends shock waves in my spine. Yes I am talking about Indian people who came from India. These are church goers but do you think that they follow Bible? Does Bible approve drinking? Bible says, drinkers will not inherit heaven. If the said pastor is saying that all are God’s children, all are going to heaven then why do we see open drinking parties? Why we see sin in church?

What is Sin?
The things which is not right in the sight of God is called sin. When you read Bible you can find various small as well as great sin described in it and Bible teaches us to stay away from these sins. That’s why Jesus said, Be holy as I am holy. It means, if you say that you are a Christian, follower of Christ then it is a must or mandatory that you should follow your master in your words, deeds and thought. There are many sins which are considered as silly things. Many people are so indulged in such sins that they even do not know that they are so immersed in it. When they talk they cannot talk anything else but lies. Lies flow from their mouth like river. Another sin is called backbiting. Biting somebody’s ear all the time tastes good but what about God? Do you think whether God likes and appreciates you because of this? No, Bible says that Backbiters will not reach heaven nor can they stand before God in heaven.

Psa 15:1 LORD, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell in Your holy hill?
Psa 15:3 He who does not backbite with his tongue, Nor does evil to his neighbor, Nor does he take up a reproach against his friend;

Many people talk ill about others. When you meet such people you’ll find they’ll always be talking about somebody. If they do not do it they may not feel good. These habits slowly gets into their system and time comes when it becomes a routine life style. It might be so knitted deep in their life that even they do not realize that they are in grave sin. Spreading false rumors about others is called backbiting. Are you a backbiter? You need to repent from your sins and need to turn around so that you can have a place in heaven.

The other silly sin is called spying on others. Have you ever done it? When I was in India and was a child I used to see aunties send their little children to spy on next door so that they can get updates about their neighbors. Now we got more sophisticated method to spy on others called Telephone. People use many tactics through telephone to spy on others home like, to locate where you are at any given time. Whether you are at home or not, whether you are going by particular route or not, whether you are invited for particular function or not, whether you are going out stations for some particular meetings or not. They might find some function at those dates and they would invite you just to know for sure about your plans. Some times when you return from such trips you might find your caller ID is full of such calls. Spying on others with any motives whether to harm them or just for fun it is not a good idea. Well if you are a saved person you would never involve in such things. If you want to reach heaven you need holiness. Remember one day you have to give an account for each and every deed you do on this earth. Bible says, without holiness no one can ever see God. Heb 12:14 Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.

Holiness – how to gain it?
Bible says clearly that without salvation you can never lead a holy life. It means that holiness is a by product of salvation. You can never deny this truth. So what is salvation or born again experience? Jesus said to Nicodemus, “unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Yes that is the key to reach heaven. Born again experience where Jesus forgives ones sins and washes him/her from all past unrighteousness and declares that this man or woman is now My child and Satan has no authority over this child. Yes salvation washes away all the past sins not only that but it helps to lead a holy life. Until I got saved I never felt that secular movies are dirty or sinful. After salvation many years have passed and once I read in a newspaper that old movies were very clean but now a days quality of movie is declining. One day as I was just flipping channels in my TV to find some good program I came across a familiar movie, which I saw before salvation. At that time a dance was playing on TV so I just stopped there for a minute or two. To my surprise I found that, that dance looked very vulgar and dirty. So I started thinking how come I never felt it bad then long years back when I watched it in a theater but now it looked so vulgar to me.

Yes salvation does that for us. Through salvation Holy Spirit of God comes and seals us for eternal life. And this experience transforms us to holiness. When you get saved then only you know that the past things which once looked good is no longer good, past entertainments which looked good to eyes once were sinful, past friends who looked good once but were not good, past hobbies which looked nice once were really not good in the sight of God. This awareness only comes after salvation when you get the seal of the blessed Holy Spirit. That’s why people quit smoking, drinking, quit going to night clubs after salvation and many changes take place. Do you not want to lead a holy life? Then come to Jesus and accept Him as your Lord and Savior. When Jesus will come inside of you He will transform you into a new person. And someday when you close your eyes He will take you to heaven.

Please pray this simple but powerful prayer from the bottom of your heart:
Lord Jesus I am a sinner. I know that my life is not clean in your site. So I know that I cannot reach heaven. I am involved in such silly sins. Please forgive and forget my sins. Wash me with your precious blood and cleanse me today itself. Today I accept you as my Lord and Savior. Please come into my heart and cleanse my life thoroughly. Take away all sins and guilt from my life. Help me so that today onwards I can lead a holy life. Thank you for listening to this prayer. Thank you for accepting me into your family. I pray in Jesus precious name. Amen.

I won't go huntin

By Unknown

Back in the 50's there was a well known radio host/comedian/song writer in Hollywood named
Stuart Hamblen who was noted for his drinking, womanizing partying, etc. One of his bigger hits
at the time was "I won't go huntin with you Jake, but I'll go chasin women".

One day, along came a young preacher holding a tent revival. Hamblen had him on his radio show presumably to poke fun at him. In order to gather more material for his show, Hamblin showed up at one of the revival meetings.

Early in the service the preacher announced, "There is one man in this audience who is a big fake." There were probably others who thought the same thing, but Hamblen was convinced that he was the one the preacher was talking about (some would call that conviction), but he was having none of that. Still the words continued to haunt him until a couple of nights later he showed up drunk at the preacher's hotel door around 2 am demanding that the preacher pray for him! But the preacher refused, saying, "This is between you and God and I'm not going to get in the middle of it." But he did invite Stuart in and they talked until about 5 am at which point Stuart dropped to his knees and with tears, cried out to God.

But that is not the end of the story. Stuart quit drinking, quit chasing women, quit everything that was "fun". Soon he began to lose favor with the Hollywood crowd.

He was ultimately fired by the radio station when he refused to accept a beer company as a sponsor. Hard times were upon him. He tried writing a couple of "Christian" songs but the only one that had much success was "This Old House", written for his friend Rosemary Clooney.

As he continued to struggle, a long time friend named John took him aside and told him, "....all your troubles started when you 'got religion', was it worth it all?" Stuart answered simply, "Yes". Then his friend asked, "You liked your booze so much, don't you ever miss it?" And his answer was, "No". John then said, "I don't understand how you could give it up so easily." And Stuart's response was, "It's no big secret. All things are possible with God." To this Stuart's old pal John said "That's a catchy phrase. You should write a song about it."

And as they say, the rest is history. The song Stuart wrote was "It Is No Secret" - It is no secret what God can do. What He's done for others, He'll do for you. With arms wide open, He'll welcome you. It is no secret, what God can do....

By the way......... the friend was John Wayne. And the young preacher who refused to pray for Stuart Hamblen? That was Billy Graham!!

Disclaimer - I received this from a yahoo group where I am a member of.

Reader's Mail

I have visited your website and read your articles which was very encouraging me in my dilemma. Chechi, really I want to say that these articles (in Malayalam) are very good in growing spiritually. I would be grateful if you could send Malayalam translation and books to me. PLEASE DO NOT SAY "NO"..
With lots of love & prayer,
NIZY MOL

Praise and Prayer

With your prayers my husband has got his residence permit to work in the new company in a foreign country. Lord help him in getting his driving license. Lord please continue to shower your blessings upon us and in our smooth relocation as I am in India and yet to join my husband. Help him dear Lord to get his employment confirmation letter. Oh Lord, with your blessings my head office have called me for an interview to join them. Please Lord help me to get my visa on time and help me to get this job as this will help a financial boost for my husband. Please deliver me from the negative/evil thoughts that haunt me at times. Please fulfill my dream of starting the Esther prayer group.
Thank You!
Reema

Standing in the Gap - Fasting prayer on 13th Jan. 2009

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 13th Jan. 2009

Printed Version of the Magazine

We are excited to announce that we are starting printed edition of the magazine that will be monthly. And will contain all the four or five issues of a month. Our online magazine will still be free and can be read via email or on our website

There was a huge demand that we send our magazine by snail mail. So that you can read it offline as well as give it to your friends. So we are starting a printed version. To cover the printing cost we decided to charge a small subscription fee. And it is just $35/year that you can pay using our subscribe link at In Search of Peace Magazine

Hope this will bring the Gospel to people where we cannot reach online.

Thanks and God bless for your continuous support and interest in what we do.

Download Articles in Handheld Computers

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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

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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

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" and "Is Jesus God?"Books in major book stores like http://amazon.com, http://bn.com (barnes & noble), http://booksamillion.com etc. 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. Here is the link:
http://insearchofpeace.org/books.htm

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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