Gandhi and the Christians

"Almost you persuade me to be a Christian." (Acts 26:28)

When Mahatma Gandhi was attending university in London, he became almost convinced of the validity of Christianity, seeing it as possibly the one true supernatural religion.

After graduation, he continued to seek evidence that would persuade him to become a committed Christian. When he accepted employment in East Africa, and lived with a family who were members of an evangelical Christian church, he believed this would be his greatest source of evidence for the Christian faith.

Gandhi lived with this family for seven months, but after seeing their causal attitude towards God, hearing them complain about making sacrifices for Christ, and becoming acutely aware of their religious apathy, he became disillusioned.

"No," he concluded, "Christianity is not the one true, supernatural religion I had hoped to find. A good religion, but just one more of the many religions in the world."

While the circumstances were vastly different between King Agrippa who heard Paul's testimony and rejected it, Gandhi, too, was almost persuaded to become a Christian, but didn’t become one because of a Christian's very poor testimony.

Dick Innes

How Valuable Is Salt?

Thousands of Napoleon's troops died because of the lack of salt.

Let me ask you this: How valuable is salt? 
 
40 million tons are required each year to fill our needs. Homer called it divine. Plato called it a "substance dear to the gods." 

Shakespeare mentioned salt 17 times in his plays.

Perhaps Leonard da Vinci wanted to send a subtle message about purity lost when he painted "The Last Supper."

In that painting an overturned salt cellar is conspicuously placed before Judas.

In ancient Greece a far-flung trade involving the exchange of salt for slaves gave rise to the expression, "...not worth his salt."

Special salt rations were given to Roman soldiers and known as "Solarium Argentums" the forerunner of the English word "salary."

Thousands of Napoleon's troops died during his retreat from Moscow because their wounds would not heal--their bodies lacked salt.

The human body contains about 4oz. of salt. Without enough of it, muscles won't contract, blood won't circulate, food won't digest and the heart won't beat a beat.

Without a doubt, salt is the essence of life. And Jesus said, "Ye are the salt of the earth."

Simply stated, you are here on earth for a reason. And one of your missions is to share Christ to people.

A Polish Pastor, A Jewish Doctor and A Gestapo Officer

Gestapo Officer

From the pages of The Wall Street Journal comes the story of a Polish man named William E. Wallner who became a Lutheran minister in Prague. 

Author John Murray writes: "By 1939, Wallner was leading a Lutheran parish in Prague. Shortly after Hitler's invasion of Czechoslovakia, a doctor in Wallner's parish was sent to a Nazi concentration camp...The doctor, a Jewish convert to Christianity, encouraged his fellow prisoners 'to die bravely, with faith in their hearts.' As a result, the doctor became a target of Gestapo officers.

"Although struck with an iron rod until one of his arms had to be amputated, the doctor would not be quieted. Finally... 'one Gestapo officer beat the doctor's head against a stone wall until blood was streaming down his face.' Holding a mirror before the doctor, the Gestapo officer sneered: 'Take a look at yourself. Now you look like your Jewish Christ.'

"Lifting his remaining hand up, the doctor exclaimed, 'Lord [Jesus], never in my life have I received such honor—to resemble You.' Those would be his last words on Earth.

"Distraught by the doctor's proclamation, the Gestapo officer sought out Wallner that night. 'Could Pastor Wallner help him, free him from the terrible burden of his guilt?'

"After praying with him, Wallner advised, 'Perhaps God let you kill that good man to bring you to the foot of the Cross, where you can help others.' The Gestapo officer returned to the concentration camp. And through the aid of Wallner and the Czech underground, he worked to free many Jews over the years that followed." In fact, he helped save more than 350 Jewish children from death at Nazi hands."

The power of the risen Christ can transform lives -- a Polish minister, a Jewish doctor, a Gestapo officer. He can even change you and me.

Mahatma Gandhi and Christianity

Young Gandhi

When Mahatma Gandhi was attending university in London, he became almost convinced of the validity of Christianity, seeing it as possibly the one true supernatural religion.

After graduation, he continued to seek evidence that would persuade him to become a committed Christian. When he accepted employment in another country, and lived with a family who were members of an evangelical Christian church, he believed this would be his greatest source of evidence for the Christian faith.

Gandhi lived with this family for seven months, but after seeing their casual attitude towards God, hearing them complain about making sacrifices for Christ, and becoming acutely aware of their religious apathy, he became disillusioned.

"No," he concluded, "Christianity is not the one true, supernatural religion I had hoped to find. A good religion, but just one more of the many religions of the world."

Rachel Scott - The Unstoppable Teenager

The story of Rachel Scott, a teenage victim of Columbine High School (USA) tragedy. It's another powerful tale of unstoppable worship. 

On 20 April 1999, two bitter twisted students entered the gounds of the school with guns and explosives, planning to wreak havoc. One of the grudges they were bearing was against Christians, and when they found Rachel Scott that grude was made very clear. 

The killers shot her twice in the legs and once in the upper body. As she struggled to crawl away to safety, they pulled her up by the hair, and asked, "Do you believe in God?" They thought they'd won the battle; expecting her to back down from her faith with whimpering "no". But this bleeding, unstoppable bravely affirmed, "You know I do." Furious with that answer they yelled, "Then go be with Him" and shot her right through the head."

Imagine the heart of God in that moment, as one of His precious worshipers threw her life on the line for His glory. In a gruesome moment of decision, she chose His honour over her survival. And if it affects us so much, imagine what effect it must have on the heart of Jesus.

By Ricky Sim

http://thepraiseandworshipconnection.blogspot.com/

You Can't Even Find The Post Office

Billy Graham tells of a time, during the early years of his preaching ministry, when he was due to lead a crusade meeting in a town in South Carolina, and he needed to mail a letter. 

He asked a little boy in the main street how he could get to the post office. 

After the boy had given him directions, Billy said, "If you come to the central Baptist church tonight, I'll tell you how to get to heaven." 

The boy replied, "No thanks, you don't even know how to get to the post office!" 

Carl The Quiet Man

Carl was a quiet man. He didn't talk much. He would always greet you with a big smile and a firm handshake. Even after living in our neighborhood for over 50 years, no one could really say they knew him very well.

Before his retirement, he took the bus to work each morning. The lone sight of him walking down the street often worried us. He had a slight limp from a bullet wound received in World War II. Watching him, we worried that although he had survived the war, he may not make it through our changing uptown neighborhood with its ever-increasing random violence, gangs, and drug activity.

When he saw the flier at our local church asking for volunteers for caring for the gardens behind the minister's residence, he responded in his characteristically unassuming manner. Without fanfare, he just signed up.

He was well into his 87th year when the very thing we had always feared finally happened. He was just finishing his watering for the day when three gang members approached him. Ignoring their attempt to intimidate him, he simply asked, "Would you like a drink from the hose?" The tallest and toughest-looking of the three said, "Yeah, sure," with a malevolent little smile. As Carl offered the hose to him, the other two grabbed Carl's arm, throwing him down. As the hose snaked crazily over the ground, dousing everything in its way, Carl's assailants stole his retirement watch and his wallet, and then fled.

Carl tried to get himself up, but he had been thrown down on his bad leg. He lay there trying to gather himself as the minister came running to help him. Although the minister had witnessed the attack from his window, he couldn't get there fast enough to stop it. "Carl, are you okay? Are you hurt?" the minister kept asking as he helped Carl to his feet. Carl just passed a hand over his brow and sighed, shaking his head.

"Just some punk kids. I hope they'll wise up someday." His wet clothes clung to his slight frame as he bent to pick up the hose. He adjusted the nozzle again and started to water.

Confused and a little concerned, the minister asked, "Carl, what are you doing?"

"I've got to finish my watering. It's been very dry lately," came the calm reply.

Satisfying himself that Carl really was all right, the minister could only marvel. Carl was a man from a different time and place.

A few weeks later the three returned. Just as before their threat was unchallenged. Carl again offered them a drink from his hose. This time they didn't rob him. They wrenched the hose from his hand and drenched him head to foot in the icy water. When they had finished their humiliation of him, they sauntered off down the street, throwing catcalls and curses, falling over one another laughing at the hilarity of what they had just done.

Carl just watched them. Then he turned toward the warmth giving sun, picked up his hose, and went on with his watering. The summer was quickly fading into fall. Carl was doing some tilling when he was startled by the sudden approach of someone behind him.

He stumbled and fell into some evergreen branches As he struggled to regain his footing, he turned to see the tall leader of his summer tormentors reaching down for him. He braced himself for the expected attack.

"Don't worry old man, I'm not gonna hurt you this time." The young man spoke softly, still offering the tattooed and scarred hand to Carl. As he helped Carl get up, the man pulled a crumpled bag from his pocket and handed it to Carl.

"What's this?" Carl asked.

"It's your stuff," the man explained. "It's your stuff back. Even the money in your wallet."

"I don't understand," Carl said. "Why would you help me now?"

The man shifted his feet, seeming embarrassed and ill at ease. "I learned something from you," he said. "I ran with that gang and hurt people like you. We picked you because you were old and we knew we could do it. But every time we came and did something to you, instead of yelling and fighting back, you tried to give us a drink. You didn't hate us for hating you. You kept showing love against our hate." He stopped for a moment "I couldn't sleep after we stole your stuff, so here it is back." He paused for another awkward moment, not knowing what more there was to say. "That bag's my way of saying thanks for straightening me out, I guess." And with that, he walked off down the street.

Carl looked down at the sack in his hands and gingerly opened it. He took out his retirement watch and put it back on his wrist. Opening his wallet, he checked for his wedding photo. He gazed for a moment at the young bride that still smiled back at him from all those years ago.

He died one cold day after Christmas that winter. Many people attended his funeral in spite of the weather. In particular the minister noticed a tall young man that he didn't know sitting quietly in a distant corner of the church.

The minister spoke of Carl's garden as a lesson in life. In a voice made thick with unshed tears, he said, "Do your best and make your garden as beautiful as you can. We will never forget Carl and his garden."

The following spring another flier went up. It read: "Person needed to care for Carl's garden." The flier went unnoticed by the busy parishioners until one day when a knock was heard at the minister's office door. Opening the door, the minister saw a pair of scarred and tattooed hands holding the flier. "I believe this is my job, if you'll have me," the young man said.

The minister recognized him as the same young man who had returned the stolen watch and wallet to Carl. He knew that Carl's kindness had turned this man's life around. As the minister handed him the keys to the garden shed, he said, "Yes, go take care of Carl's garden and honor him."

The man went to work and, over the next several years, he tended the flowers and vegetables just as Carl had done. In that time, he went to college, got married, and became a prominent member of the community. But he never forgot his promise to Carl's memory and kept the garden as beautiful as he thought Carl would have kept it.

One day he approached the new minister and told him that he couldn't care for the garden any longer. He explained with a shy and happy smile, "My wife just had a baby boy last night, and she's bringing him home on Saturday."

"Well, congratulations!" said the minister, as he was handed the garden shed keys. "That's wonderful! What's the baby's name?"

"Carl," he replied.

That's the whole gospel message simply stated.

The Trickiest Questions

“What about all those people who never heard of Jesus, like people in Africa? Do they go to Hell just because they never heard of Him?”

 
Those are the Trickiest Questions, and they are usually asked by people who don’t want to consider their dismal eternity. 

Please read this article by my friend Tony Yu that explains this more clearly. Then read how I answer this question when it’s posed to me.

True or False: You mean I’m going to Hell just because I don’t believe in Jesus?
The correct answer is “false”.

If you said “true” you have fallen for one of the most subtle deceptions. Please read on before you label me a heretic and a blasphemer.
The key to understanding the correct answer is found in John 3:17-18:

For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

Did you catch that? Humanity’s condemnation has nothing to do with Jesus. We were condemned before Jesus ever stepped foot on earth. It was our need for a Savior that moved God the Father to send God the Son. This need predated Jesus’ arrival on earth. We would all still be condemned if it wasn’t for Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. The best way to explain the principle is with the following illustration:

Sin is the disease, hell is the prognosis, Jesus is the cure.
Is it clear now why the correct answer is “false”? We are not going to Hell because we don’t believe in Jesus. We are going to Hell because we are sinners. 

Every single one of us, because of our sinful nature, is inexorably and irrevocably headed for Hell. Everyone of us has sinned by breaking His 10 Commandments. All have lied, stolen, blasphemed, looked with lust (which is adultery), or hated someone (which is murder). This is the only way that God redeems mankind: to put His own Son on the cross to atone for our sins. 

To say that we are going to Hell because we do not believe in Jesus is tantamount to blaming God for our well-deserved fate. Adam tried to do that in the Garden of Eden when he said “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” (Genesis 3:12)

Here’s another way to look at this. Imagine you are walking in the woods when all of a sudden you feel a sharp pain in your calf. You look down and see a snake slithering away. You’ve just been bitten by a black mamba. You go to the doctor and he tells you that he needs to administer anti-venom right away or you will surely die. At this point you self-righteously say to the doctor, “Do you mean I’m going to die just because I refuse your anti-venom?”

First, it’s silly to get mad at the doctor. He’s trying to save your life. This is what people do when they get mad at God because Jesus is the only way to Heaven. Rather, we ought to be glad that there is any way at all to Heaven.

Secondly, it is technically true that you will die if you refuse the anti-venom. But the root cause of your impending death is the snake’s venom and your own stubbornness—not the anti-venom. Similarly, you won’t go to Hell just because you don’t believe in Jesus. You are headed for Hell because you have sinned and you won’t believe in Jesus.

Why does it matter?

Is this an exercise in semantics or spiritual trivia? No! There are real-world implications. The enemy did not craft this deception for fun and games. He had a goal in mind when he did this. 

The trickiest part of this question does not lie in the fact that most people—even Christians—get it wrong. The most deceptive aspect of this question is that it’s not even a question. For most who pose this question—especially if there is poison in their voice— it is a statement disguised as a question.

This is what most people are actually asserting when they ask, “You mean I’m going to Hell just because I don’t believe in Jesus?”:

• This sounds arbitrary and capricious. It doesn’t make any sense.

• God could never send people to Hell just because I don’t believe in some ancient rabbi.

• Christianity is nonsense.

• You are a fool.

Just as the word of God is the Sword of the Spirit, this question is a weapon formed by the enemy to attack God’s servants who are obedient to the Great Commission. Be on notice Christian. 

When an non-believer asks this question, you are most likely being attacked spiritually. You and God are being mocked and discredited before an unbelieving audience. 

If you have a heart to reach the lost and yearn to serve the Lord you need to have the right answer to this question. Fortunately, not only can you deflect this attack, you can turn this attack back upon the one asking the question and go on the offensive (but always in love).

The following is a sample script of how you can effectively defend the faith:

Him: You mean I’m going to Hell just because I don’t believe in Jesus (sarcasm in his voice)?

You: Actually, NO, you’re not going to Hell because you don’t believe in Jesus.

Him: What (stunned)? I thought you Christians think we have to believe in Jesus to get to Heaven.

You: Jesus has nothing to do with you going to Hell. All of human-kind was headed for Hell because we are all sinners. Hell is mankind’s eternal destination because we have all sinned. Jesus came to change all that.

Him: Oh (flabbergasted).

You: Do you understand how you’ve sinned? Do you know what sin is? Would you like to see how you’ve broken God’s law? (You then take this opportunity to go through a few of the Ten Commandments…Have you ever lied, have you ever stolen anything…etc.).

******

Steve’s note: This is how I answer someone who asks me: “What about all those people in Africa who never heard of Jesus?”

Me: If you are so concerned about those people you should get saved now—then become a missionary so you can tell those people about Jesus.

Source: Stone The Preacher 

http://stonethepreacher.com/2010/10/19/atheist-tuesday-the-trickiest-questions.html#more-6091