Christianity is founded, or rather stands and falls, on the person of Jesus Christ. He is the third person of the Trinity. He is God himself though in other faiths like Islam He’s referred to as a prophet; off course that is not true. The Christian faith makes sense when it has to be anchored unto Him. Salvation, for all people, is found in no other than Jesus Christ (John 20:31).
Lest we forget, His resurrection is of significance as well as His death. Much is written and preached about His death yet it is of importance we focus that he was raised from the death too. Thomas, the doubting one, commits an act that is recorded for us to note and get a deeper meaning about Christ Jesus.
John 20: 24-29…..Now Thomas, one of the twelve, named Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples said to him, we have seen the Lord. But he said to them, if I do not see in his hands the print of the nails and put my finger into the print of the nails, and if I do not put my hand into his side, I will never have belief. And after eight days, his disciples were again in the house and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were shut, Jesus came, and taking his place in the middle of them, he said, May peace be with you! Then he said to Thomas, Put out your finger, and see my hands; and put your hand here into my side: and be no longer in doubt but have belief. And Thomas said in answer, My Lord and my God! Jesus said to him, because you have seen me you have belief: a blessing will be on those who have belief though they have not seen me!
If an individual said that He would bodily die and spiritually resurrect, there would be nothing so amazing about it after all how do you verify a spirit of a certain individual. But is the person made the same claim and stated that he will bodily resurrect, you would be able to verify the results which is the case here. Jesus had said that he will die and on the third day he would resurrect (Mathew 16:21, 17:23, and 20:19). Thomas emerges in the picture as one who is doubting to seek to know if really Jesus had resurrected. He touched and he verified it.
The women who went to the tomb to undertake embalmment were witnesses too of the bodily resurrected Christ Jesus. All they found were the linen that had covered his body. The disciples similarly at the tomb had the same scenery and not only that, they encountered him on the first day of the week, at Tiberius. In fact he breaks fast with the disciples in chapter 21 John vs 1 -16. Ghosts don’t eat, bodily creatures do. The resurrected Christ
In acts 1:1-11, it is stated that in a span of forty days he manifested himself all over unto the disciples and unto over five hundred people (1 Corinthians 15:9). He, Jesus Christ, has ascended unto the heavens and an angel of the Lord came and asked these men vs 10-11… And while they were looking up to heaven with great attention, two men came to them, in white clothing, And said, O men of Galilee, why are you looking up into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken from you into heaven, will come again, in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.
The faith of a Christian is captured in the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Would he have not resurrected, there would not have been salvation. The resurrected Christ is soon coming. The coming, second, is this time round of a glorious king who is coming to judge the world. Mathew 26:64…Jesus says to him, you say so: but I say to you, from now you will see the Son of man seated at the right hand of power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.
PURGATORY, DOES IT Exist?
Jesus. He is highly regarded in the Christian and Islamic faith. According to Christianity He is God and unto Islam He is a prophet. Either way these are the two faiths I do interact with often. As to whether He is God or prophet, I leave it there. If the two faiths esteem Him, then His life: actions and words do matter to us a lot. The two faiths also have eternity in the scene. The description to get where, heaven or hell, varies. Either Islam or Christianity is correct while the other is wrong- case for another day. What happens after death is my concern in this article. From a common point of view I’ll pick Christ.
What happens to an individual after death? Can anything be changed after death? Jannah. This is an Islamic funeral prayer offered in congregation to seek pardon for the deceased and ALL DEAD MUSLIMS. If no one fulfills it, then all Muslims will be accountable. This is not only done before the burial but also in the continuous life, that is, all along. No wonder Muslims always say this statement ‘peace be upon him (PBUH) everytime they mention Mohamed or one of his disciple. But they are dead, why pray for them to change or will God review His decision? This practice is also practiced by traditionalist who keep on conducting libations and offering sacrifices to the dead – classified as the living dead and the ancestors and spirits and such wayward believes. More to it Catholicism also practices this. I have been to burials where the mass was conducted by catholic and they prayed that the dead be forgiven and his/ her soul delivered from hell. Purgatory, the place for temporal punishment, is a belief they hold dearly. This makes me think then that there is no need to fear dying even if you are a sinner because if such a place exists you’ll still get to heaven after going through purgatory for just a shortwhile. Additionally I’ve heard of my friends and relatives who are Catholics take the names of their dead relatives for prayers, that’s long duration after burial, to pray for them so that their souls rest well and that God may have mercy on them. But, is that the truth? Dis Jesus Christ really teach that anywhere?
What does Jesus teach about life in eternity? Referencing Christ’s word from the Bible, since Quran doesn’t have His citations, He gave a description of what happens. Luke 16:19-31 “There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate “desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. “So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. “And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. “Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’ “But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. Besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.’ “Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’ Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’
Mundu aakagirwo na miti iria etuiriire (your hut is built using the stalks you have gathered). How one lives this life dictates where one spends eternity. The prayer for the dead is an unbiblical doctrine for people who don’t want to come to terms that their friends/ relatives/ buddies never lived the way He (Christ) wanted. One can’t dispute Christ’s word unless with another of His reference. Indeed he said that He’s the way, truth and life John 14:6 and not only that but live in obedience to his word. John 15:1-15. He claimed this because He is the Saviour John 3:16. Just like the rich man, after death the book is closed and what awaits is God’s judgement and whatever the living do, it will never alter the place where God has dictated for your life. The earlier we accept that life is to be lived as God has ordained it, the better we are in securing our eternal destiny in heaven, otherwise, the destiny is the opposite. The conclusion of the matter is this: AFTER DEATH: JUDGEMENT.
WHEN WE GET HOME
When we were young we would go for holidays at our grandpa’s home under the instructions of Mama. Trust you me irrespective of the goodies and freedom experienced, one often felt that home was the best place to be irrespective of the duties and tasks and decimal freedom experienced. As a matter of fact even if one was experiencing privileges of that which they don’t experience at home, still home remained the best place to be.
Even now, as an adult, the feeling of wanting to be at my home still dwells in me. I miss being at my home place as opposed to being far away. No wonder we call it homesick. There is an attachment that is associated with the whole idea of getting to land home. Soldiers are more better to explain this. Fighting in a foreign land for a worth course of defending your nation yet when you get home you feel refreshed.
It is in a similar case with the hear of man. The Bible say that the heart of a man is restless till it finds its resting place in Him (God). Though there be a contenment of a kind, yet there is no completeness in it. This is so because the heart has been created with a deficiency which only the grand designer can fill: God. You fill it with all the luxury and thought and merry etc, still the space will leave an unsatisfied blank.
The thoughts about a glorious world will often cross an individuals mind. The same one will build castles in the mind yet work hard to achieve it, one has to think of heaven, hell, life after death even if one be in denial. I’m sure that all would like to be in the better place than in the worst place. In anycase, we always prefer good to evil/bad.
The earlier the better an individual summons themselves and asks if there are standards required to get there or the path or is it a place for anybody. The most certain way is to know that this imagination is of a place eternal. A desire to get home, eternal place, is not only longed for by the heart as at this moment but it is a place we long to go to and dwell. The desire rekindles ones flame to to be on the look-out and therefore guarding themselves and denouncing everything that may distract them from from getting to the place: home.
WE DEFINE CROOKED FROM STRAIGHT
In our day to day life we often feel, hear, experience and engage in affairs that trigger mixed reaction. It is C.S Lewis who said that a man can’t call a line crooked unless he had an idea of a straight line. I’m sure you and I can attest to this. We often talk of unfairness because there is fairness, injustice because there is justice, bad because there is goodness, evil because of right amongst others.
I frequently hear of oppression taking occurrence between employer and employee as well as experience it, individuals narrating of how in the pursuit of justice they were taken for a walk in the jungle and gave up on the course and how others got it through a backdoor. Such vices do create bitterness in the hearts of many who deep within are sure that they deserved, yet it was served to another. Bribery is recipe for the day just like coffee is in almost all restaurants. Unfortunately these vices are so popular that they been normalized by being baptized and sugarcoated with sweet nametags like handshake, chai (tea), kurudisha mkono (extending a hand of gratitude) amongst others. The nametags are in themselves good used for the wrong motive: cover-ups.
Sure enough the moment you state that it is wrong to practice such, people will look at you as if you want to hold their eyes in your palm. Facts are facts, truth is truth even if all people think it to be opinions and lies respectively. If these things are just but a feeling, then nobody should feel offended by the other person’s actions and responses because according to them they were right and fine in doing so. Then, why do we complain? It is because there is a standard higher than us. that’s the moral law giver: God.
These vices are not inventions that we’ve invented. King Solomon in Ecclesiastes dictates that all we can see happening was happening in the olden days: a replica. Throughout the Bible, the story of Israelite is a mirror to us of the ways in which we fail God yet he doesn’t crush us at a go because if willing, He can. He has allowed time. Himself, God, keeps on calling us to change for the betterment of ourselves as well as others. Total vengeance is his and he can opt to pass it on in this life or life after. In Amos 5, he declares of the signs he has laid open before them to just draw them to change yet it doesn’t occur to them that he is doing so. They continue in wickedness and injustice, shedding of blood of innocent people, oppression, etc just like our modernized society. The strong find it funny when they are told that God will revenge for the weak, the oppressor too, the judge too, etc. A time and again the ultimate judgment seems to be a thing unimaginable but the Lord always declare that it is near.
His, God, word is not in vain. His whip befell them just as forewarned, even after Amos pleading their case. 1 timothy 2 admonishes us to pray for all including them that are in authority. However, God ain’t a magician or one intending to create robots in that he may force one to change even upon being prayed for. There is a freewill whereby change has to be a personal initiative under his guidance if we let him be. Hence, our leaders and everybody else has a choice to make. To walk in justice or not, to love or to hate, to worship or not to, to be corrupt or not to, and so on but the equation will always have an ultimate answer: to whose drum beat is one dancing at and how will The Just Judge judge you. We have choices when it comes to making decision but we have none when it comes to the outcomes.
Jesus is God Indeed — kensammoh
Islam claims Jesus was a Muslim and christianity depicts him as God.. Part of trinity. They say God cannot be a man, can’t marry, can’t have a child. No wonder they don’t like the Christians idea of man being created in God’s image. To them God is far and beyond while christianity claims God is […]
Jesus is God Indeed
Islam claims Jesus was a Muslim and christianity depicts him as God.. Part of trinity. They say God cannot be a man, can’t marry, can’t have a child. No wonder they don’t like the Christians idea of man being created in God’s image. To them God is far and beyond while christianity claims God is emmanuel living with us.
Jesus, if he was a Muslim, could not have claimed to be a son to father because that’s blasphemy in Islam. Yet that’s what he claimed to be. This justifies christianity’claim of an all powerful God who can breath his life in a woman and a conception happens. It’s possible because he’s God of impossibility.
In chapter 18:20 of Mathew he makes a great statement. When people 2 or more gather for his name he’ll be there with them. This is but to claim to be omnipresent. Who is able to be where different gatherings are other than God. This is what christ claimed.
Mathew 22:41-46 he, Jesus, asks pharisees his origin and referred to David of the old who called Jesus my Lord. How then is he a son. They never asked him anymore question.
During the night of the mocl trial in Mathew 26:59-66 Jesus is asked who he is and his answer in vs 64 made the priest tore his clothes. Being a Jewish priest, this answer must have been a real blasphemy. And Jesus, if he was a Muslim, was a blasphemy indeed. But now that he was God in human nature and was telling the truth, it then vindicates the point of him being God.; not a Muslim believer. In any case, with such and many more scriptures, he ain’t then a good ‘prophet’ or ‘Muslim’ to follow. If he’s God, then his description of the true status of the heart of man and the solution makes it worth to follow and believe in him.
But wait a minute, a Muslim will exclaim, your version of injeel(Gospel) is corrupt. But the answer to that quiz is this: where is the original version then? You can’t call something wrong without a standard hence they must provide the correct and non-corrupt version in order to discredit what we have. Second answer : why justify that Jesus was a Muslim using the corrupt version whereas in using the same version to proof that he’s God you term it as corrupt. That’s being subjective and cunning. When one is objective they’ll find truth. Truth is eternal and all must pursue it and abide with it.
WHEN WE GET HOME
When we were young we would go for holidays at our grandpa’s home under the instructions of Mama. Trust you me irrespective of the goodies and freedom experienced, one often felt that home was the best place to be irrespective of the duties and tasks and decimal freedom experienced. As a matter of fact even if one was experiencing privileges of that which they don’t experience at home, still home remained the best place to be.
Even now, as an adult, the feeling of wanting to be at my home still dwells in me. I miss being at my home place as opposed to being far away. No wonder we call it homesick. There is an attachment that is associated with the whole idea of getting to land home. Soldiers are more better to explain this. Fighting in a foreign land for a worth course of defending your nation yet when you get home you feel refreshed.
It is in a similar case with the hear of man. The Bible say that the heart of a man is restless till it finds its resting place in Him (God). Though there be a contenment of a kind, yet there is no completeness in it. This is so because the heart has been created with a deficiency which only the grand designer can fill: God. You fill it with all the luxury and thought and merry etc, still the space will leave an unsatisfied blank.
The thoughts about a glorious world will often cross an individuals mind. The same one will build castles in the mind yet work hard to achieve it, one has to think of heaven, hell, life after death even if one be in denial. I’m sure that all would like to be in the better place than in the worst place. In anycase, we always prefer good to evil/bad.
The earlier the better an individual summons themselves and asks if there are standards required to get there or the path or is it a place for anybody. The most certain way is to know that this imagination is of a place eternal. A desire to get home, eternal place, is not only longed for by the heart as at this moment but it is a place we long to go to and dwell. The desire rekindles ones flame to to be on the look-out and therefore guarding themselves and denouncing everything that may distract them from from getting to the place: home.
Watch Therefore, For You Don’t Know His Hour.
If there be an issue that is of concern in our century is Security. Weapons of sophisticated form
are being manufactured to assure, if soothing ain’t the best term, of safety. It is of so much
concern to both the poor and the rich, those with plenty and those with limited. Within statehouse
doors are locked, if not hammered to the wall, even if security is termed tight as well as those in
the slums. We are all proactive in safeguarding ourselves; we don’t sleep with our doors
unlocked. The thief is more likely to hit anytime as so preparedness is inevitable.
Our Lord Jesus Christ explaining about the second coming and judgement of the world gave the
illustration of a thief to remind all that we need to always be prepared. Mathew 25:43-44 …But
know this, that if the good man of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he
would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye
also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. With reference to this,
two things are true. Either Jesus may return or He may call us home. Time in this status is not of
essence unlike the status and the condition of the heart.
Jesus’ call is for us to safeguard our hearts lest the thief, Satan, comes to steal that which is and
has been deposited within our hearts. But the question of what is this that is our heart must arise.
Jesus in this case is talking to His disciples; men who had known Him and accepted Him. The
believer has something to safeguard. Salvation has to be safeguarded lest the devil ensnares us to
fall at his trap and his plan is to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10) whereas Christ comes to give
life in abundance.
For sure He went but dwells within us for He is Emmanuel. He, Jesus Christ, will physically
return. Whether He tarries to come or call you home, He’ll still do it. That preparedness arises
from first acknowledging the malady and the brokenness in you. That I’m a sinner and separated
from Him, God. Secondly, that Christ has taken upon Himself to reconcile every one of us to
God the Father by being the sin sacrifice to bridge the gap. Thus, going through the bridge
includes accepting that He died for you, resurrected and ascended to heaven. Because He lives, I
live. Once you accept Christ Jesus’ sacrifice, you have something to protect and to safeguard
from the thief – salvation. John 3:17 – 18 … For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn
the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not
condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the
name of the only begotten Son of God.
He, Jesus, has made a call to all of us, and He is, to come unto Him because He is waiting for
anyone that comes to call unto Him and He will save them. The good thing is that salvation is not
based on the magnitude of sin one has, colour skin, country or continent, tribe or race, etc. It is
about a heart that soul searches itself and needs a Saviour. What is needed is not a self-pitied
heart and soul but rather a soul that confesses unto Him: oh wretched soul that I am, who will
save me if not you my God, who knows the status and condition of my heart if not you my God,
Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise
Jeremiah 17:14. His arms are open unto all of us who run unto Him for help as He speaks to our
hearts: ‘Watch Therefore, For You Do Not Know My Hour.’
THE ETERNAL GIFT VOUCHER
The other day I was reminded of a special gift that is often given out – but it has special conditions to it. Call it the gift voucher. I never knew this till I saw from my friend and learnt how it operates. A gift voucher has a worth, date at which I was issued, the consignee and the validity duration. The consignee is not so much considered because if you lose it, someone can take it to the supermarket and use it. Secondly, the gift voucher doesn’t last forever, it had a duration within which it ought to be used after which it becomes obsolete. When man sinned and was driven off the Garden of Eden, God sought of a way of reconciling the world, Humanity, back to Himself. Christ Jesus, Son of God, came into the world and paid the ransom to our sin. He paid the ultimate cost for sin committed by us and not Him. He was motivated by love. Just like the person who purchases the gift voucher for you. Christ, through His death on the cross as stated in the Gospels … Mathew 27, Mark 15, Luke 23 &24 and John 19 &24, gave the universe a gift: the gift of salvation. He died and resurrected on the third day just as He had stated earlier on. The consignee of this gift voucher, salvation, is anyone who accepts His offer. He died for the sin of the world and the privilege is unto anyone who accepts His offer. Even upon being gifted with the voucher, one may choose to reject it and so is salvation. It is an offer that has been given to every human but the willingness to receive or reject it depends on one’s freewill – this is an inherent characteristic that was set in place by God. All men are mortal while God is immortal. That means that we ain’t gonna live forever in this world – life on earth is temporal. A gift voucher has a limitation of time and value of what an individual can obtain with it but one may add money to get a thing of higher value than the one in the voucher. By the fact that we shall not live in this world forever is an illustration that the offer for accepting Christ Jesus will not last forever. It will last for as long as life endures on earth and after that the offer is no more. Romans 10: 8- 13 tells us that we just need to call unto Him and He will saves us for whoever believes in Him shall have eternal life John 3.16. Believing in Jesus’ death and resurrection and the power behind this is the gift. The value of this gift is immeasurable and needs not to be topped up to get a thing of higher value. It is the ultimate gift upon which we kick off life eternal the moment we receive it. The assurance is that we are guaranteed of life eternal the moment we receive Him. That the moment we die we shall rise again and be joined to Him. Failure to accept this offer will result to spending life in eternal condemnation. The call is to repentance, being born again and walking in the ways of holiness. Today is the day of salvation and upon hearing His voice, we are admonished not to harden our hearts
THE ULTIMATE COST
A story is told of a navigator whop owned a very amazing yacht. He had invested his time as well as resources in making the yacht. He made a journey into a new land and docked it at the docking zone within that area and went to attend to the issues that had brought him there. As he returned to the to the docking bay he never found his yacht. He searched for it with his efforts bearing nothing. After a while he found another sailor with a yacht similar to his. He was could absorb the idea that that was not his yacht; however, he was willing to pay anything just to possess that yacht. He paid for it with all the precious stones he had and money that he had with himself – he was a rich man.
In the beginning, God. Genesis 1:1. He created all that was, is and will ever be. He said let there be, and it was. As for man, he created him on the 6th day Genesis 1:26-31. The cunning nature of the devil ruined it all by drawing man into sin creating a separation between man and God. The fellowship they used to have in the cool of the day broke when man ate from the tree of knowledge and death – which was the only not-to-do they had been given.
God created man for a reason. Fellowship being one of them and not separation. Thus, He chose for an avenue of reconciling man back to Himself which is the reason Christ comes in space – John 3:16. He paid the ultimate price- death on the cross- which was a cruel indeed. He has become curse he who hangs on a tree Galatians 3:13. The man who paid double cost for his yacht was motivated by the love it. It meant something to him. We are in His own likeness and He, out of love, has sought to reconcile us back to Himself. His love is extravagant, immeasurable beyond anything else.
He, God, is quite conversant with our hearts. He knows well that out of the heart of man comes wickedness: evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander Mathew 15:19, Jeremiah 17:9-10. What man requires is not a set of rituals on which hand to use while perusing the Bible or How to enter bathroom, positions for prayer. Man needs a saviour. He needs redemption from self- from sin. The redemption has been given through the shedding of the blood of Christ at Calvary. Whatever that is required is for man to submit to Him and He’ll set you free. It is only in so doing that 2 Corinthians 5:17 will become a reality. A new creature will be born out of every person that receives Christ Jesus. His love has costed Him twice. He has paid the ultimate cost moved by love.
