 |
Text Size: A | A | A | A
Join us in Facebook:
CSI Good News
(Church of South India Good News)
Vol. 2 / Issue 35 / October 5 2000
Contents of this issue
Editorial
Jesus appears to a Muslim - I
Is Hell real?
53rd Anniversary of the formation of the CSI
News Items (Common to all issues) :
Through the Valley of Death & other Books
Download Articles in Handheld Computers
Kids Page - Free Tutorials
Hindi / Malayalam/Tamil Bible Online
Your Spam Folder
Your Feedback
Editorial
Psalms 23:6, "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the LORD Forever."
These verses were spoken by David – A man who went through many ups and downs, a man who did grave mistakes in his life, a man who ran for his life and thinking, "only a step between me and death." (1 Samuel 20:3) Though he went through all these troubles, problems and heart breaking experiences he still says, "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."
"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life." How could he say these words while going through much pain and tears? Because he experienced the goodness and mercy of almighty God. And the same goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our lives if we are children of God, if we are washed by the blood of Jesus.
Goodness and mercy above every sin:
David sinned against God but when he truly repented, God forgave him and showed His goodness and mercy upon him all the days of his life. God’s goodness and mercy will do the same thing for you no matter how big the sins you might have committed in your life. If you repent from your sins, He will gladly forgive your sins and will show His goodness and mercy in your life as we read in 1 John 1:7, "…and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin."
Goodness and mercy above every sickness:
"In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, went to him and said to him, "Thus says the LORD: 'Set your house in order, for you shall die, and not live.'". Then he turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the LORD, saying, "Remember now, O LORD, I pray, how I have walked before You in truth and with a loyal heart, and have done what was good in Your sight." And Hezekiah wept bitterly. And it happened, before Isaiah had gone out into the middle court, that the word of the LORD came to him, saying, "Return and tell Hezekiah the leader of My people, 'Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father: "I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; surely I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the LORD. And I will add to your days fifteen years. I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for My own sake, and for the sake of My servant David."' Then Isaiah said, "Take a lump of figs." So they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered." (2 Kings 20:1 –7 )
We read about Hezekiah that he was very sick and near death but when he cried out to God, God healed him and extended his life. Today you may be going through sickness and sufferings but God can heal your sicknesses and cure your diseases no matter how big or small the disease may be. Bible says in Hebrew 13:8, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever."
He has the same power today which healed Hezekiah completely. He has not changed a bit. He can do the same today also. Look to Him and He will not disappoint you. His goodness and mercy is above your sicknesses.
Goodness and mercy above every problems and battles:
Whenever David went to fight his enemies, God gave him victory. He never saw defeat in his life. Yes, His goodness and mercy went before David and gave him victory after victory. You may be going through failures in your life and might have thought, "I will never be able to come out from these situations." You might have thought, " will I be ever victorious in my life?"
Yes, you can have a victorious life by His goodness and mercy. The same goodness and mercy which followed David and His children all the days of their lives will follow you and lift you up from your downtrodden status and will give you victory over everything. He will walk before you and give you victory. Just look to Him and ask Him to come and show His goodness and mercy in your life and He will gladly do that.
In this Issue I am publishing a thrilling testimony of a Muslim brother to whom Jesus appeared and showed the straight path. I pray that it may be a blessing for many who are struggling to find the True Path.
Jesus appears to a Muslim - I
By Athanasios Abdulrahman
I was born to Muslim parents, and I'm a descendent of 'ALI IBN ABU TALIB the cousin of Mohammed, the prophet of Islam, and the fourth Caliph (i.e., "ruler").
At an early age, I was one of the Muslims believers who performed all of the religious duties, from praying to fasting and everything in between. I was planning to be an Imam of a mosque, like my grandfather. I started to study the Fiqh and the Quran (Islamic sacred scripture), but after some time, I felt bored reading similar books and essays. I recognised that there are a lot of differences in Islam. For instance, in Iraq (my country), there are a lot of Shia, and it was strange for a Sunni like me to know that there was someone different from his faith but claiming to be Muslim, so I decided to study the various Islamic schools of thought.
After a lot of reading in this field, I become more familiar with Mu'tazilah than any other school of thought. Mu'tazilah is more reasonable than the rest of the schools, in the sense that it involves argumentation and philosophy.
I began to be open-minded for the first time in my life. Gradually, I decided to study other religions. I tried to preach the Quran, starting in Da'wa (i.e, evangelizm) with some young Christians, using my good knowledge of the argumentative tools, and I created many faith problems for them. Because of this, their families appealed to the priest of their church and asked him to invite me to visit him.
Arguing with him was very difficult for me because he always answered all my doubting questions. After I had known him a year, he died, but he had changed a lot of my thoughts about Christianity. However, I still didn't believe in it.
After this, I started to see Islam with new eyes, seeing the contradictions in it, studying it in comparison to Christianity.
One night in a dream, I saw a vision of a man with a beard talking to me:
"Son", he asked me, "why do you attack my sheep?"
I replied, "Who are you sir?"
He answered, "Jesus Christ"
So, I answered his question, "I'm not attacking your sheep, sir, I'm trying to bring your lost sheep back to the straight path."
He said, "You are the one who is lost; I'm the straight path."
I woke up asking myself a number of questions: Did I really see Jesus? He said that I'm lost. What did he mean? Does that mean that the Christian is right and that I'm on the wrong path? But it was only a dream. Still, Mohammed said in one of his Hadith that if you see a prophet in a dream, you see him truly because Satan could not act like a prophet in a vision. Obey him, and follow what he says. That is what Mohammed said.
After some time being a little confused, I left the two religions and became a non-believer.
To be continued in next Issue...
Is Hell real?
By Vinod Isaac
John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
John 3:17, "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved."
These verses speak very clearly that Jesus came into this world and gave His life so that we may not perish.
The question is "are we perishing"? and if yes what does perishing mean? Answer is - if we fail to get righteousness from Almighty God we are perishing and are on the way to hell.
Often when we talk about hell, people have the reaction that, "hell is not real" or "we do not want a God who sends people to hell" or "God is so loving He will not send a person to hell."
Today we are going to see what the facts are and why these logics are only pure imagination. First of all let us find out whether there a Hell.
Is Hell real?
Bible talks very clearly that there is a hell.
Writers of Psalms 9 and 86 agree that there is a hell and that the wicked go there.
Psalms 9:17, "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God."
Psalms 86:13, "For great is Your mercy toward me, And You have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol."
King Solomon also agrees that there is hell.
Proverbs 23:13, "Do not withhold correction from a child, For if you beat him with a rod, he will not die.
Proverbs 23:14, "You shall beat him with a rod, And deliver his soul from hell."
Jesus mentioned about Hell so many times. For example
Matthew 5:22, "But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire."
Matthew 10:28, "And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."
He is saying to the religious leaders of that time that they are also in danger of going to hell.
Matthew 23:33, "Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?"
Bible says in Revelation 20:13,14 that hell will deliver up the dead so that they be judged and those whose name were not found in the book of life also will be cast into the lake of fire.
Revelation 20:13, "And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works."
Revelation 20:14, "And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death."
Revelation 20:15, "And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."
Does God send a person to Hell?
Answer is - no. Bible very clearly says in John 3:16,17 that Jesus did not come to condemn the world but to save the world.
John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
John 3:17, "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved."
So it is very clear that the God of the Bible is not willing to send any person to hell. He is so much concerned with the fact of Hell that He sent His only begotten Son to come into this world and die for us. Then what sends us to Hell?
Answer is - a person's evil deeds send him/her to Hell.
Jesus says in John 3:18 to 21 that people reject Jesus Christ because their deeds are evil and that they do not want to come to light. And such people are already condemned. They are already on the road to hell. But Jesus came into this world to save such people that they may not go to hell but make it to heaven.
John 3:18, "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."
John 3:19, "And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil."
John 3:20, "For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed."
John 3:21, "But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God."
I have talked to many people and often I am surprised that most of them have one thing in common. They say that, "give us everything else but Jesus. We do not want to hear about that person called Jesus." They do not want the one who gave up everything for them, who even gave His very life for them.
Because God is love, He will not send any body to hell. Is this true?
Again answer is - no. We already saw that God does not send a person to hell but it is the person's own deeds which send him/her to hell. So, there is no question of God intervening in the matter.
Also because God is just He will not overlook sin. He will surely impose penalty. But Because He is love He has made a way. He sent His only begotten Son into this world, so that by His sacrifice many can become righteous.
Isaiah 53:10, "Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand."
Isaiah 53:11, "He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities."
Isaiah 53:12, "Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall divide the spoil with the strong, Because He poured out His soul unto death, And He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors."
Bible says in Isaiah 53:10-12 that it pleased the Lord to bruise Him(Jesus). Why? Verse 11 says - to justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. And He poured out his soul unto death for you and me. My friends what more do you expect from God? When He has not spared His own son for you and me. Do you want to live in sin and still go to heaven? That is nothing but making fun of the Almighty God who did so much for you. He has done all these so that you may not live in sin but attain righteousness.
Good news is - you can have a Holy life through Lord Jesus Christ. You can inherit the Kingdom of God through His son Jesus Christ.
Do you want to come out of your sins? Do you want to live a Holy Life? Come to Jesus and He will give you life abundant. Yes He not only gives life, but He gives it in abundance.
John 10:10, "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly."
Look to Him and say, "Lord Jesus I am sorry for every thing I have done. Please forgive me of my sins and wash me with your precious blood that you shed on the Cross. Please come into my heart and make me a new person. I ask all these things in Jesus Name Amen."
53rd Anniversary of the formation of the CSI
I am writing this to share with your members the celebrations that we had for the 53rd Anniversary of the formation of the CSI.
We had a Service at 7 am followed by a seminar for the youth of the diocese. This seminar was addressed by Rev. Vinod Victor of the CSI Synod and the Rev. Jacqulin Jothi of our Diocese.
At 5pm Bishop Rt. Rev. Dr. V. Devasahayam opened an exhibition depicting the origins of the union negotiations right from 1901. This was followed by Eucharist at 6pm. Rev. G. Dyvasirvadam, General Secretary of the CSI Synod was the Guest speaker for the Occasion. The day ended with a fellowship meal in which the Officers of the Synod and the Diocese and the Directors of both the Synod and the Diocese participated.
The greatest attention of the celebration was the launching of a website for the Diocese.
The web address is csidiocesemadras.org This is online but has very few information. We hope to have it updated in a few day's time.
Asir Ebenezer.
Director of the Diocesan Board
for Socio Economic Concerns
Through the Valley of Death & other Books
As many of you know that in the year 2005, our dad was very sick even unto death. God miraculously healed him. We have compiled it in a book form. I sure believe that it will inspire you and encourage you greatly.
This book is available for purchase at JasmineCorp Store
Also read these two books by Sherly Isaac "Allah and Elohim - Are they the same God" Available at JasmineCorp Store, and "Is Jesus God?" Available at JasmineCorp Store,
Both books compares the Bible and the Quran and read eye opening facts about Jesus, God of the Bible, Allah and Islamic faith. I am sure that you want to read this.
Download Articles in Handheld Computers
You can now download articles in Palm Doc format for your palm handheld computer. It will work with any devise that has Palm OS and Palm Doc Reader installed. To download click on the link named "Palm Doc Format" i.e. at the top of this page by the side of each articles.
Kids Page - Free Tutorials
Now you can learn Graphics and web designing online at Kid's page. These tutorials are free for kids who subscribe for CSI Kids Newsletter. Currently tutorials for Paint Shop Pro, HTML and Dreamweaver are available.
So please enroll your kids by going to http://kids.csinewsletter.org/member/join.asp
And visit CSI Kid's page at http://kids.csinewsletter.org
Hindi / Malayalam/Tamil Bible Online
Now you can read Bible in Hindi online at http://www.hindibible.org
in Malayalam online at http://www.malayalambible.org
in Tamil online at http://www.hindibible.org?ver=tamil
Your Spam Folder
If you are getting this newsletter in your bulk/junk/Spam folder please hit the "not junk" or "not spam" button so that you could receive it in your mailbox. Also adding news@csinewsletter.com email address into your contact list can avoid this email from ending up in your bulk folder.
Your Feedback
Your feedback and comments are Welcome. Please send your Parish news & articles to Editor (Sherly N. Isaac) at this address News@csinewsletter.comThe messages submitted will be checked whether they are correct according to the word of God. Editor reserves the right to accept, reject or edit the messages. The writers are responsible for the contents of their writings.
 
|
