Peace in our times!

Politicians and religious leaders spend a lot of time and effort attempting to bring 'peace in our times'. Lasting peace is elusive and impossible purely by human effort and ingenuity. Most people fail to see that if they don't deal with the underlying causes of unrest, the problem will never be identified, and peace will never be created.

Our approach to producing peace often fails to dig deep enough. Jeremiah, the ancient prophet of Israel, faced this shallow approach to peace. He wrote on more than one occasion, 'Peace, peace when there is no peace?' Jer 6.14, Jer 8.11. People then, as in our day, were looking at life in a very superficial way. They had treated the word of God with contempt by ignoring what it said. The reason there was no peace was the sinful lifestyles of people. The same is true today. We cannot expect to have peace when we break the moral code of God (as nations, families and individuals) and flagrantly ignore the principles that are for our good. Scripture says, 'Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people,' Prov. 14. 34.

A simplistic approach to achieving peace will never be enough. The Bible predicts a day when a man who is outstanding in his ability to solve global problems and bring peace to the world will rise on the world stage. This man will ultimately create and manage a system without any reference to God and the law of Moses. The world will be seduced and convinced that he is the man they have been waiting for. But he is not the real deal. The peace he offers will be built on a shaky foundation and quickly collapse. Listen again to the prophetic words of scripture - 'When they say, "Peace and security," then sudden destruction will come upon them, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape,' 1 Thess. 5.3. World leaders currently are struggling to cope with the issues of war, social change, poverty etc, so it is easy to see why this leader will be so compelling and convincing. But, his peace deal will be deceptive and not based on the true moral values set by the creator, God.

What do you think about dying?

The subject of “assisted dying” has been exercising the minds of many people these days, writes Bert Cargill of St Monans Gospel Hall. Truly death and dying are serious subjects, but not just for discussion or decision by others in Parliament, but rather for each of us to prepare for it before it comes our way as it surely must. Death is one of the few certainties associated with life.

Unsurprisingly the Bible has a lot to tell us about death and indeed how to prepare for it. Of course it also tells us a lot about life and how to live it well for however many years we may be given. But uniquely and authoritatively its pages describe to us what comes next, after death. It unveils the beauty and bliss of heaven for all who have chosen Jesus Christ as their saviour from sin. It gives to believers the assurance of being with Him for all eternity freed from all the troubles of this life whatever these were. A Christian’s death is described as “dying in faith”, and “departing to be with Christ which is far better”.

Paying forward - Winston Churchill’s Survival

One day, a wealthy English family invited some friends over to spend some time at their beautiful estate. However, the happy gathering almost turned into a terrible tragedy on the first day, because when the children went swimming, one of them got into deep water and was drowning.

The gardener, hearing the others screaming, immediately plunged into the pool to rescue the helpless victim. That youngster was Winston Churchill. His parents, deeply grateful to the gardener, asked what they could do to reward him. He hesitated, then said, "I wish my son could go to college someday and become a doctor." "We'll pay his way," replied Churchill's parents.  

Years later, when Sir Winston Churchill was Prime Minister of England, he was stricken with pneumonia. Greatly concerned, King George VI summoned the best physician who could be found to the bedside of the ailing leader. That doctor was Sir Alexander Fleming, the developer of penicillin. He was also the son of that gardener who had saved Sir Winston Churchill from drowning as a boy!

Why do we hurt?

It’s our aim in this blog post to address some of the questions that people ask in life and to discover what the Word of God (the Bible) has to say about it. We place real confidence in the Bible because we have become convinced that the Bible is God’s communication to men and women and we wish people to benefit from what God has said.

I’m sure that most would agree that life hurts! That hurt can be caused by the normal progression from youth to old age and all the problems that come with ageing. Sickness also brings its heartaches! Natural disasters are devastating and destructive! To say nothing of the dreadful treatment that people endure at the hands of their fellow man. War and acts of terror produce unimaginable horrors. I’m sure that at times we all question why life is such a difficult and a hurtful experience.

Is it wrong to question why? No it isn't. Even the Lord Jesus asked the question - why? 

The first thing I’d like to say is that “it's not personal”. What I mean is that we do not usually suffer as individuals because of something specific we have done. Before I go any further let me qualify that statement.  There are times in life when we do reap what we sow. There actually are consequences to our actions! But all the awful things that happen in the world are not usually the direct result of our personal actions.

My main thought when I say it’s not personal is this: ;people don’t die as a result of some sinful thing that they have done; old age doesn’t come because you did something wrong. The fact that we die, that we have sickness, that we grow old is explained to us in the Bible. The Bible states that all of these conditions and circumstances exist because sin came into the world. As a result of Adam, the first man, disobeying God the floodgates to all that was evil were opened. The fact that all of this is the result of the first man’s rebellion to God is explained by the biblical statement “by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin,” Romans 5:12.

The Bible clearly teaches that God gave man a choice:

Obey Him,

Enjoy His presence,

Enjoy all that He created for him….

But, there is a but, God warned him that the day he ate of the forbidden fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that he would die. And that is what happened! Adam didn’t die physically but he died as far as his relationship with God was concerned. He was dead spiritually. Sin, death, pain and suffering became the normal experience of life. He had to work by the sweat of his brow for everything. Childbirth became a painful experience for the woman and the earth was cursed. So life hurts as a result; a fact that we know only too well.

However, what is quite incredible about the biblical story of salvation is that God had already a plan in place. God’s plan to provide forgiveness and to offer salvation to men and women was devised long before time began, 1 Peter 1: 19, 20.

God had always planned to send His ‘Son to be the Saviour of the world’. He made sure in the writings of the Old Testament, the first half of the Bible, that we would know Him when he visited earth. In the Old Testament, God told the prophets how to identify His Son. There were specific facts such as what family He would be born into, His distinctive and sinless lifestyle and His mode of death. Normally how people will die is an unknown fact but God was making a point in defining how Jesus would die in advance. Psalm 22:16 and Zechariah 12:10 speak of the death penalty as crucifixion and of the piercing of the hands and feet of the Lord Jesus which at the time was unknown. All of this information was so that when He came we would know Him.

To me the greatest and most amazing thing about this whole thing is that God came to earth in person. He was a real but sinless man. He suffered, He hurt and He endured death to pay for our sin. God wants us to be forgiven therefore the price and the legal penalty for our sin was dealt with by the Lord Jesus Christ when He died upon the cross.

The Bible explains it like this:  “Christ died for our sins.”, 1 Corinthians 15:3, “He was despised and rejected of men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief”, Isaiah 53:3.

Today God offers us not hurt but forgiveness;

Today God offers us love.

The Bible tells us, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life”, John 3:16. The greatest proof of the love of God is that, “God commends his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”, Romans 5:8.

I want to point you to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, if you pray to God, today, confessing your sins He will forgive you.

I trust that you will do this.

May God bless you!

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