Plastic Surgery

A few years ago an 82 year old woman in America had major cosmetic surgery involving a face lift, botox injections to smooth out the wrinkles, lip re-sculpting, and much much more. It all had required seven hours of surgery and had cost $25,000. When she was asked why in the world she would do this, she replied that there was no point in waiting until she got any older.

Somewhere on our planet today, according to scientists, is a child who they say will still be alive 150 – 180 years from now. That sounds so incredible until, according to the same scientists, we consider how our lifespan has increased over the years.

When Jesus died at around age 33, He would have been pretty old for that part of the world. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the average lifespan  was 49 and many women died in childbirth. Many more people died of disease. If they lived to be 60, they were pretty old. If someone died in 1965 at the age of 74 it was considered relatively old for that time, but now the average lifespan is just over 81 years of age. The retirement age is being pushed up and there are people in their 80’s who are running marathons.  

Do we value the Bible - A reflection

All photos courtesy of Unsplash 

I was reading a few weeks ago about a missionary in Afghanistan who was being taken to pockets of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ by a Christian Afghani guide. The missionary sat down at the side of the dusty road, took off his khaki rucksack removed his Bible and put it on the rough ground while he took a much-needed drink. As he enjoyed the thirst quenching, cool, refreshing water, he was very aware of his guide running towards him crying, ‘Please no!’ 

The guide was upset that the Bible had been placed on the floor, in the dust. The guide picked up the Bible and handed it back to the missionary, he explained just how much he valued God’s word. He had trusted the Lord Jesus Christ through someone telling him the good news of Jesus Christ but had no Bible. He eventually was given a few pages of the Bible; these were so precious to him, and he treasured them and the care that he had ensured that they did not become creased or damaged.

Welcome home Mr President

All photos courtesy of Unsplash 

Hubert Horatio Humphrey Jr. was an American politician who served as the 38th Vice President of the United States under President Lyndon B. Johnson from 1965 to 1969.  When he died in 1978 hundreds of people from across the world attended his funeral. All were welcome, but one – former President Richard Nixon, who had not long dragged himself and his country through the humiliation and shame of Watergate. As eyes turned away and conversations ran dry around him Nixon could feel the ostracism being ladled out to him.

Then Jimmy Carter, the serving US President, walked into the room. Carter was from a different political party to Nixon and well known for his honesty and integrity. As he moved to his seat President Carter noticed Richard Nixon standing all alone. He immediately changed course, walked over to Richard Nixon, held out his hand, and smiling genuinely and broadly embraced Nixon and said “Welcome home, Mr President! Welcome home!”  

Self deception - this is an unbelievable story!

Have you heard the story of the bank robber named McArthur Wheeler in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania who was told that if he rubbed lemon juice on his face, he wouldn’t need to use a mask to avoid detection, because his face would be invisible to the cameras? This is not a joke it’s true! He bought a Polaroid camera and a couple of lemons, squeezed them and applied the juice to his face. He then pointed the camera at his face and clicked, rotated the camera and clicked. What he finished up with was a photo of the ceiling but no image of his face and fully believed that the lemon juice did the trick.

Visit to the USA

I’ve just arrived in the USA for a few weeks. It seems like we’ve been travelling for ever. We left Liverpool at 7:30 am yesterday morning and have just touched down in Chicago and it’s now 2:02 GMT. For some reason I’m not tired but I’m sure I will be tomorrow. We’ve one more leg of the journey to do by plane (1 hour 30 minutes) and then a drive by car to our destination. 

I’m in the US to tell people about how God is working in the UK, Pakistan and Uganda. Despite the flooding in Pakistan many people are becoming true believers in Jesus Christ. 

Over the coming days I’ll update you when I have more details of the conditions in Pakistan. In the meantime keep well. 

Kind regards,

Stephen

Hubble Trouble!

All photos courtesy of Unsplash

The Hubble Space Telescope was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990 and remains in operation to this very day. It was not the first space telescope but it is one of the largest and most versatile. Well known both as a vital research tool and as a public relations boon for astronomy, The Hubble telescope is named after astronomer Edwin Hubble. It is one of NASA's Great Observatories sent out to gather images of the distant stars and galaxies of our universe.

A Gesture of love and compassion

Hubert Humphrey was a former vice-president of the United States. When he died hundreds of people from across the world attended his funeral. All were welcome, but one – former President Richard Nixon, who had not long previously dragged himself and his country through the humiliation and shame of Watergate. As eyes turned away and conversations ran dry around him Nixon could feel the ostracism being ladled out to him.

Then Jimmy Carter, the serving US President, walked into the room. Carter was from a different political party to Nixon and well known for his honesty and integrity. As he moved to his seat President Carter noticed Richard Nixon standing all alone. Carter immediately changed course, walked over to Richard Nixon, held out his hand, and smiling genuinely and broadly embraced Nixon and said “Welcome home, Mr President! Welcome home!”

The incident was reported by Newsweek magazine, which wrote: “If there was a turning point in Nixon’s long ordeal in the wilderness, it was that moment and that gesture of love and compassion.” Jimmy Carter certainly knew that there is little to gain from kicking a person when they're down. After all, they're already down!  Creating a culture of civility of not kicking someone while they're down is to the benefit of everyone... you never know when you're going to be the one who's down.

This is not quite how it happens in everyday life, is it? But, things are different to what normally happens in everyday life when to comes to the gospel. A small, a very small gesture of love is just enough for the greatest reward to be bestowed, for the fulfilment of God’s promise to be with us always. 

God’s Word (the Bible) teaches us to show kindness and forgiveness not only to our friends, but to our enemies too. Here’s what Jesus said about it “Love your enemies, and pray for those who hurt you.” That seems hard to do. When people hurt us, we sometimes want to hurt them back. But the Lord Jesus teaches not to do that. He teaches us to be kind and loving, even to someone who is unkind to you. He teaches us to have mercy on others.

Why should we have mercy on people who hurt us? The reason is because God shows us mercy. We hurt God when we do things we know we shouldn’t do. But He still loves us even when we sin. Romans chapter 6 verse 23 tells us that ‘the wages of sin is death’. When we sin, our punishment should be death, but, thankfully, the Bible also tells us that when ‘we were yet sinners, Christ died for us’. That’s the wonder of the gospel, that God sent His Son to die in our place. All we have to do to receive God’s mercy is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and what He did for us on the cross to save us from the penalty, power and presence of sin. The scriptures record that if we ‘believe on the Lord Jesus Christ’ we will be saved, Acts 16:31.

Isn’t that amazing? Even though we break God’s heart, He still loved and cared enough for us to sacrifice His only Son. God has a lot of mercy for us. He even went out of His way to meet us where we are. God’s mercy to us is a good lesson: Just as He forgives us, we should also forgive other people, even our enemies. 

God's love is not cheap, for it is so different to the world’s type of love. God's love is not cheap, but it is gratuitous. It is a gift that keeps on giving and multiplying itself. But most important is the assurance, the promise, that His act of kindness and mercy can be ours today. His gesture of love to us, which we didn't deserve, can be ours if we only believe.

Prepared by ‘Your Five for Today’ and used by permission 

Would you forgive your brother’s murderer?

On September 6, 2018, Amber Guyer—an off-duty patrol officer in Dallas—entered the apartment of 26-year-old accountant Botham Jean. She later said she thought it was her own apartment and mistook Jean for a burglar, shooting and killing him.

One year later, on October 1, 2019, she was found guilty of murder. On October 2, she was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Is Donald Trump right to doubt?

Is Donald Trump right to doubt?

Anyone who is reading the news at the moment especially, in relation to the affairs of the United States of America, will be aware of the fact that Donald Trump refuses to accept the findings of the intelligence community. He blatantly states that their findings and conclusion that Russia had any involvement in the recent elections for the President of the United States is false. 

Everyone has the right to believe or disbelieve things that they hear but sometimes it seems irrational to deny something that to many people is true. Donald Trump may be right and he may be wrong but the practice of refusing to believe what many have found to be true and what has been authenticated by many is quite common. One of the most obvious illustrations of this is Christianity.

Many people deny that Christianity could be true. They refused to take account of archaeological evidence and manuscript evidence that has been the basis of Christian's historical belief in the real Jesus over many centuries. Again they point blank ignore the fact that each of has a moral compass that is built into our DNA. They ignore the fact that each of us finds it hard to live up to personal standards never mind the standards which God has set in his word the Bible.

As I close I will leave you with how the Bible explains the future of those who refuse to belief the truth:

2 Thessalonians 2:10-12English Standard Version (ESV)

10 they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, 12 in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Romans 1:18-32English Standard Version (ESV)

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world,[a] in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

²⁸ And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. ²⁹ They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, ³⁰ slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, ³¹ foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. ³² Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

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