Loneliness - it's a major problem in our society!

One of the most undesirable experiences that a person can encounter is that of loneliness. Some look back to childhood days when they were surrounded by family members; there was laughter, companionship, helpfulness, mutual care and love. However the enemy, death, gate-crashed the family and one after another, loved ones were taken and loneliness followed.

Perhaps others feel the emptiness of loneliness because a spouse died after many years of happy marriage. How often we have heard the following sentiment expressed, "It’s not too bad during the day when I can get out and about, but it is when darkness falls and I am alone in the house. A house that formerly was alive with chatter and friendly banter is now silent."

If loneliness on earth for a period of time is so sad and painful, what an awful thing it must be to experience this for eternity. For every soul that dies without Jesus Christ as Saviour the only outlook is the "blackness of darkness forever" Jude v.13. Some foolhardy and spiritually ignorant people have the mistaken idea that when they arrive in hell they will meet their friends and enjoy an eternal party! Since the judgment of God will be absolutely righteous, no two people will have the same sentence allocated to them and so each will be alone for eternity. What a horrendous thought, lonely and in the dark, under the judgment of God for all eternity.

However, there is One Who can save us from such an eternity of woe. In wondrous love God sent His Son to die for sinners. He bore the judgment so that we, so undeserving, could be rescued from hell. God’s Son, Jesus Christ, experienced loneliness in His life. He was, "despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief" Isaiah 53.3. We read that He was homeless, John 7.53-8.1 "And every man went unto his own house. Jesus went unto the mount of Olives". He had no comfortable shelter, "Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head" Matthew 8.20. However, when we want to see the depth of the loneliness He suffered for us, we must come to His death. As He anticipated His sufferings He said, "Reproach hath broken My heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none" Psalm 69.20. But it was when He hung in the agony of dark Calvary’s cross He cried, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" Matthew 27.46. God left Him alone when "His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree" 1Peter 2.24. 

H. K. Burlingham wrote these words:

"Alone upon His cross, God’s judgment Jesus bore,

He paid in full the cost of glory evermore:

His precious blood was freely shed,

And Jesus crushed the serpent’s head!"

"The blood of Jesus Christ His [God’s] Son cleanseth us from all sin" 1 John 1.7.

 By trusting Him as your Saviour you will never experience eternal loneliness, but will enjoy the bliss of His companionship both now and for evermore.

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video bible teaching visit www.seekthetruth.org.uk.

Written for FTMP by a Guest Blogger (copyright Assembly Testimony)

A Comparison of Cities

In 1859 Charles Dickens wrote ‘A Tale of Two Cities’, the opening paragraph reads, ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.’ 

The two cities were London and Paris and records life as it was leading up to the French Revolution. Dickens observations of his day are timeless and well fit the day we live in too.

The Apostle John wrote the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ at the close of the first century AD and majors upon two cities at the end of the Book, Babylon and Jerusalem, also a third city, the New Jerusalem. Those chapters also speak of  Heaven and Hell but more of that later!

The first recorded city is found in Genesis 4:17, “And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch.”Cain was the first person to be born into the world and he became a murderer when he killed Abel, his brother. From the beginning of time cities have been associated with murder. In our day there are cities throughout the world that record over a thousand homicides every year.

Genesis 10 to 12 tells us of the beginning of two notable cities, Babylon, built by Nimrod, and Nineveh built by Asshur (Assyria). 'And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth.  He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah, And Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the same is a great city.'

A true story of a city beneath the waves involves an island called Pavlopetri, off the south east coast of Greece. Forty years ago an oceonologist first observed the submerged city and recently a team of Australian scientists have charted the streets, walls and buildings and produced a very interesting documentary about this lost city.

Genesis 19 tells us of the destruction of Sodomand Gomorrah, two cities of extreme wickedness that God rained fire and brimstone upon. The man Lot and his two daughters escaped to a place called Zoar which lays at the southern tip of the Dead Sea. Although there is no biblical record of the whereabouts of the remains of these cities many believe that they are at the bottom of the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea is a lake and the lowest place on earth, it is about 1400 ft. below sea level and is over 1000ft. deep. Israeli scientists are presently drilling in the centre of the lake, for forty days and forty nights, to a depth of 300 meters, taking core samples for analasis to determine (amongst other things) previous volcanic activity and possible future ones. The present conflict of Gaza and Israel is indicative of the hatred between Arab and Jew, which will spread further affecting neighbouring nations and the world at large.

John tells us in Revelation 17 and 18 of the destruction of Babylon (in Iraq) both religiously and politically. Babylon epitamises all religious rebellion to God, embracing all false cults and religions of the world. Christ will destroy all of these along with the political power of the Beast with all his military might at Meggido in the valley of Jezreel. Jerusalem is called in Psalm 48 and Matt. Ch.5 “The city of the great king”. It is the city where Christ will reign universely.

Exerps from the opening paragraph of this month’s editorial of the Society for Distribution of Hebrew Scriptures reads, ‘ ‘JERUSALEM TRODDEN DOWN. From the time of Israel’s first carrying away into captivity under the Babylonian conquest until 1948, Jerusalem had been in the hands of Gentiles. To judge from its physical state in the year of Israel’s return, the Gentiles had done precious little with the land in all the years of occupation. Over the centuries the city has been destroyed twice, besieged twenty-three times, captured and re-captured forty four times. We cannot think of any city that has been the subject of so much destruction.’ Jerusalem has been the devil’s target to destroy from the beginning, but he has not succeded and he never will.

I mentioned earlier a third city called The New Jerusalem. Revelation ch.21 begins, 'And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.' That will be a great city to live with Christ. 

Will you be there?  God bless.

Written by a Guest Blogger for Liverpool Photo Blog

Tall Ships Festival, Greenwich

Tall Ships Festival, Greenwich. Privileged to preach about the grace of God to the Woolwich crowds.








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Seek the Truth Bible Media - Podcast - Troubled Times

It's the weekend! Maybe you can find some time to relax and listen to the latest podcast from Seek The Truth Bible Media. Troubled Times - Does the Bible have anything to say about the days in which we live? It does and we cannot afford to ignore it.
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/seek-the-truth/id397674698

Location:Liverpool, UK