How long Adam and Eve lived this life of bliss in daily communion with God, we do not know? Because so much is written in the first four chapters of the book of Genesis, some of the events may have taken a much longer time than we may presume! We are tempted to think that all happened much quicker than it actually did. Hence, we do not know, when how long Adam lived alone with God, for it is He taught Adam all about the husbandry of his estate, of which he was completely ignorant. Years could have passed before God actually created Eve? It is possible that after her creation that Adam and Eve&nb... read more

The promise that God made to Adam and Eve to send a Saviour, a deliverer that would defeat Satan and free men from the curse of sin, and cleanse those that believe from every trace of corruption. By the power of the blood of Christ, those that would believe in Him and surrender to Him. Now, Jesus, God the Father, and the Holy Spirit, work together to create and perfect this new man, as I have mentioned so much previously. This was God’s purpose right from the beginning of the creation of the world that we know, as He said: ‘Then God said, Let us make man in our image, in our likeness’! (Genesis 1: 26) This he did and is doing in the last Adam, Jesus Christ and tho... read more

That is what all Christians are destined to be, as stated previously: ‘For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His son, that He might be the first born among many brothers.’ This process is called sanctification, for the Apostle Paul continues and says: ‘And those that He (God) predestined, He alsocalled; those that He called, he also justified; those that he justified He also glorified! So, the Christian grows by being firstly fed on milk of the words, being fed with milk, the Holy Spirit will begin to reveal to him the beauty of the Lord Jesus, then he will help him, so be like Him, and he... read more

Therefore, without playing with words, I understand that the Father, (Jesus’ Father – God – our Father) has the important role in the calling of His sons, because it is those that He gives to Jesus,by His own initiative, they come (to Him) for the right reason! Therefore, it is not man’s free will that is the deciding factor it is God’s! All the initiative to save comes from Him! He has taken thedecision to choose who will come to Jesus; this is confirmed abundantly in many other parts of the Lord’s teachings. Those that were listening to him were from Nazareth, and following what Jesus said upset them for He said: ‘My father’s will is, that everyone that looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise Him at th... read more

We must realise that the biggest fight of faith is with the naturel, fallen man, called the flesh! The flesh is that part of us that is rooted in sin and spiritual death. It is constantly in disagreement with the new created man in his action or thought. I will not go into details but the apostle Paul makes a strong case about this in the epistle to the Romans chapter seven. The real fight of faith begins when man becomes a Christian. Not that he did not sin before, but since the new spirit is alive in him, he becomes more conscious of it, I mentioned it afore! The apostle Paul knew this contest and writes: ‘So I find this law at work. When I want to do good, evil is right there with... read more

So, being converted into a saint, for every child of God is a saint,which means being set apart by God, separated from the world,called out from the it, God has separated a believer from the world of sinners to be his child! He took him, or her, out of the corruption of a dead world, to be His treasured possession. The apostle Paul, as he addresses the Christians of His days, and us to this very day, writes: ‘To all in Rome who are loved by and called to be saints!(Romans 1: 7) To those in Corinth he writes: ‘To the Church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Jesus Christ and called to be holy! (1 Corinthians 1: 2) To be a saint is to be sanctified called out, set apart by God, to be part of H... read more

I remember leading a young man to the Lord, this happened in a home. We prayed together and I saw that he was touched. I have not seen him for quite a few months, may be even a couple of years! When I saw Him again, I shared a burger and cup of coffee with Him. During our conversation I wanted to enquire and ask about his decision. I was surprised that he well remembered it and testified to the emotional experience that it was. During the rest of the conversation, I realised that he wanted to say more, so I just let him talk, he definitely had gone through a very hard time. When He finished, I had to tell him, that listening to his story I could see that the Lord had his hand on him and brought him through to much better day. I am sure that the Lord wi... read more

Anointed by the Holy Spirit the gospel to this day. is still. ‘the power of God for the salvation of everyone that believes. (Romans 1. 16) ‘by its power, still the same, is what starts every man that God calls, on a journey to become a Christian until by faith In Christ, he reaches the shores of his heavenly Canaan! Paul preached with the strong certainty, with deep conviction, knowing that God will fulfil His promises, and that all that have committed themselves to Jesus Christ, shall see Him and be at home with Him!

The apostle Paul fulfilled his calling, among others, he wrote two epistles to a youn... read more

Therefore, I now answer the second question: ‘What is a Christian?’ I must just quote these last statements to this conclusion before I introduce my third and last point to this one, it will actually lead us to new introduction. They are words that the apostle Paul wrote to the Christians in Colosse. Paul states: Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you. (now I rejoice in all my sufferings for you – King James version) and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regards to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of His body, the Church. I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in all its fulness – the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed... read more

Now we need to know certain very important things concerning being part of this great world mission! To really know true commitment to the cause and glory of the Lord, and what it means, we must turn to the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, where we find what kind of life the Christians lived under the guidance and the anointing of the Holy Spirit. We will learn that the spreading of the Good News was not limited to the apostles. The whole Church to this age is, as the apostle Peter says: ‘But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.’ (1 Peter 2: 9-) WE have a fight on our hand... read more

These forty days have been necessary for the restoration of the disciples who went through some awfully stressful times. One can understand how they felt for they saw, the Lord Jesus die, a thing they did not expect at all, and if not all of them, most were very disappointed and distressed and concluded that the death of Christ was the end, the final chapter to their dream of seeing Jesus taking His throne to reign over Israel, and from there over the rest of the world! They did not understand that two comings of Christ were prophesied by the prophets of the Old Testament nor did their teachers in the synagogues and the civil and religious authorities! T... read more

Nevertheless, I will mention just few verses, that make it so plain. It happened to one called Nebuchadnezzar, the King of the Babylonian Empire. He was humbled by the hand of God to teach him and through him others, this basic fact. It happened as written in the book of Daniel; God said to him: ‘You will be driven awayfrom people and will live with the wild animals; you will gras likecattle and be drenched with the dew of heaven, seven times (years)will pass by for you, until you acknowledge that the Most-High, is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone He wishes. (Daniel 4: 32) Nebuchadnezzar, lost His sanity and during seven years he li... read more

This calling of men to Jesus Christ for salvation, is the work of God, and every Christian must be a vessel dedicated and committed to His glory. He still says to His disciples: ‘Go into all the world and preach the Good News to all creation…And surely, I am with you always, to the end of the world…Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere…The Lord working with them and confirmed his word by signs that accompanied it.’ (Matthew 28: 20 – Mark 16:15-20)) For many years the Gospel of a risen Saviour was done in Palestine by the apostles, having Jerusalem as the base, then when God’s time came, some were led outside of it, this was done faithfully until Paul and Silas were in turn led by the Holy Spirit to Europe, and established in it, the first assembly of disciples in Phillipi.... read more

It is obvious, that the people and even the disciples thought the same, for, after making so many claims, he was finally dead, laid and sealed in a tomb; finished! And after this unbelievable catastrophe, His disciples stayed together, behind closed doors in fear of the Jews, fearing the whole corrupt political, and religious set up! It seemed to the faithful disciples that the campaign of hate against their Lord and master, has succeeded. Beginning with John the Baptist, whom Herod Antipas executed. Then, after many attempts to silence Jesus, whom they would never manage to eliminate, they could not have done so, if He had not surrendered wilfully to them in the garden of Gethsemane. He did it, knowing the time had come to lay down His life to accomplish God’s plan to atone for the sin... read more

As I mentioned it before, what many forgot, even the disciples, is that this nucleus of insignificant people, most of them despised Galileans, were under the mighty protection of their Father in heaven, and that legions of angels were watching that no harm came to them, for to God His children are precious! Paul wrote the following amazing words to some of them: ‘Praise be to God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with the pleasure of His will – to the praise of His gracious grace, which He has freely given us in the O... read more

After what Jesus told Him, Pilate tried even more to free Jesus, but the Jews would not have any of it and shouted back to him: If you let this man go, you are not friend of Ceasar! They had him where they wanted, because: ‘When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat, at the place known as the Stone Pavement … and said: Here is your King. But they shouted: Take Him away! Take Him away! Crucify Him! ‘Shall I crucify your King’ Pilate asked. ‘We have no king but Ceasar.’ The chief priest answered. Pilate handed Him over to them to be crucified. (John 19: 1-16) But that did not exonerate Pilate, for he finally agreed with their wicked and unlawful decision! Such a condemnation brought the death of the Son of God, on the Hill called Golgotha, outside the ci... read more

The apostle John remains true to his favourite subject ‘love.’ In the last two chapters of His Gospel, he mentions how Jesus systematically, with great tact and much love appeared to His disciples, from Mary Magdalene on the Sunday at dawn to more than five hundred on the mount of Olives that saw Him ascend to back to heaven. In the twentieth chapter He mentions how she, finding the tomb empty, distraught at what she found, she run to tell it to the disciples, broken up no doubt! finding Simon Peter and John exclaimed: ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him.’ Hearing this they both run, Peter went in and: ‘saw the strips of linen lying there as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’s head, the cloth was folded by itself, separa... read more

The four Gospels mention in detail, step by step, how Jesus appeared and talked with His disciples, ate in their presence and they realised that he was truly alive, that it was not a phantom, but the same Jesus, in a glorified body, Jesus Christ, their beloved Master, resurrected from the dead, appearing, and suddenly disappearing! But they arrived at the stage, that they were fully convinced, and could rejoice over this tremendous miracle, it is my advice that you read it all, and enjoy what is the most challenging message in the world, the greatest miracle ever, for Jesus is the only one, the first man, the Son of God, was alive in an immortal glorified body! victorious over death, and yet, still bearing the marks of the nails in His hands and feet, and the open wound in in His side,... read more

Mark ends his gospel with these words: ‘Later Jesus appeared to the eleven as they were eating; He rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those that had seen Him after he had risen. He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people and they will get well.’ After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God... read more

So, going back to the gospel of Mark, I need to state again, that it is now accepted that those last verses of it are authentic. (Mark 16: 9-29) I say this because the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, or baptism the with the Holy Spirit is not ended, God restored it definitely to the Church at the beginning of the twentieth century, called the latter rain. But most of the established, humanised Church, did not accept it, including Evangelicals! What the Jews did with the Law, the church, as it likes to be called, this unholy establishment, did with the Gospel; it violated it by replacing its power with precepts of men, Yet, Jesus clearly teaches that men can never, not even the Pope, never mind the country curate, forgive sins, for they are direct acts of rebellion to God! This, they try... read more

Coming back to the appearances of Jesus Christ, as written in the twentieth chapter of the Gospel of the apostle John, where he mentions how Mary Magdalene finding the tomb empty, distraught and in tears at what she found, her mind in turmoil, runs to tell it to the disciples and found the apostles Peter and John, all excited and out of breath, exclaimed: ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!’ Hearing this they immediately run to the tomb, Peter went in and: ‘saw the strips of linen lying there as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’s head, the cloth was folded by itself, separate from the linen.’ John fearful, would not enter the empty tomb, but once Peter entered it, he followed, and he adds: ‘He saw and believed. After t... read more

So, Peter and John, left the grave pronto! It could be that they were afraid that the Jews were watching them, not knowing what they planned to do to/or with them, they stayed in their rooms behind locked doors for fear of them! Realising that Jesus was taken from the tomb, added to their fears! I can imagine that they felt completely disturbed, for in their minds they thought that it could only be the Jews, that for an unknown reason, took away Christ’s body, they may have done it so that they, His disciples, did not make His tomb a meeting place, and turn it into a shrine. Such a thing was the last thing that they wanted. It was for that reason that they sealed the tomb, and put guards to make sure that His disciples did not come to take his body, and that the Lord’s body remained und... read more

Nevertheless, what they tried to stop, happened, and a big shock was about to reach them, because some of the guards witnessed the greatest divine intervention of God, for it is written: ‘There was a violent earthquake, for the angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone, and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead! Still shaking they run away for fear of their lives: the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that happened.’: (Matthew 28: 2-4 -- 11). It is not mentioned that the guards saw Jesus come out, for He was out already, but these murderers, when the guards told them what happened early that... read more

Mark alone mentions a woman called Salome, being one of the three that went early to the tomb to anoint the body of the Lord. The apostle John, mentions that by the cross stood His mother and His mother’s sister; His Mother’s sister is identify as Salome, the wife of Zebedee, so, it is strongly possible that James and John, were cousins of the Lord Jesus! I believe that the apostle John mentions only Mary Magdalene, because she did not return with the other women, as I mentioned above, and in her despair, she lingered trying to find somebody, that knew something, as to what really happened to the Lord. Following what I wrote above, when Jesus spoke to her, bent down and crying, for some reason she did not recognise His voice at first but: Thinking that it was the gardener, she said: Sir... read more

I believe that Jesus revealed Himself to Mary Magdalene first, to give women the respect they deserve. I remember when I was the pastor of a church, in France, at one point, its oversight needed a replacement, as one of the brothers of it, moved away. Among the members that I presented to the Church membership, for his replacement, was a very faithful dedicated woman. The astonishment of the majority was amazing, in that Roman Catholic country, and it proved my point. When the vote was carried out, she was adopted by the majority. This is not a century ago, at the time of writing it is around twenty-five years ago! Nobody can evangelise, preach, or teach the people of God without the anointing of the Holy Spirit, and it is the Lord that gives these ministries to His Church. I have been,... read more

Matthew wrote the following: ‘After the sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone, and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.’ (Matthew 28: 1-4) The Holy Spirit gives us here a small account as to what happened to the guards and their reaction to the revelation of a mighty angel, an event unknown and unseen in the world hither to. Many in their days, as in ours do not believe in the existence of God, of angels. Spiritual things very real, which are normal for such celestial beings; al... read more