THERE WAS HEAVY RAIN & WIND ALMOST FOR TWO WEEKS HERE IN MALAWI & AFTER IT SO MANY HOUSES FLOW DOWN ,CROPS DEVASTATED.
On 24th February, 2013 Pastors from different places visited the damaged home of their senior Pastor Peter Timothy Fungulani for prayers & discussing way forward to help the homeless Pastor.
Before everything the meeting was opened by a prayer given by Pastor Noah from Mozambique, then a 74years old Pastor Hassan from Nsanje give people word of God from the book of Genesis 12:1-3—-He tells the attendee that our present Abraham is Pastor Peter & if we show love /support/ bless him then the Lord will also help us in other ways in our critical situation.
-Due to heavy damage caused to the house all Pastors were deeply touched & agreed to discuss way forward to assist our dear Pastor , & A lot contributed this:
There are some men who are builders they volunteered to build the house of Man of God Pastor Peter without paid their heart is breeding to see the Pastor homeless.
Three Pastor in the meeting are timber/lumber makers they promised to give 10timbers/lumbers each & if the house needs more then they shall charge those new ordered half down to the actual price.
When these news was broke to the gathering at Tengani (a place where Pastor Peter normally based) almost 127strong Women (excluding Widows but they too promised to take part)promised to carry water from the borehole to the place where the house is intended to built freely.
Youth group promised to carry bricks from the old place to the newly allocated .
Pastor Peter is not a father to his family only he is also the father to Orphans ,Widows ,Pastors & even when Lord allows you to visit us you shall sleep in this house & we pray & intend to build a house to have enough rooms ,& with the damage caused to house some bricks are not in good shape we just need to buy 2000more bricks for the house.
The builder intend to build a strong building & they need 5 bags of Cement .
There is a need for tins / iron sheets for roofing the house.
..
With prayers & fasting ,
Pastor Hassan Chikalango——On behalf of all Pastors in Malawi.
Pastor Noah Dimmingoh—— On behalf of all Pastors in Mozambique
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Pastor Peter Timothy Fungulani and his lovely wife, Emily, are blessed with three children and is called by God as an evangelist. Pastor Peter and has a passion to win souls for Christ. He has been the Senior Pastor of Maranatha Pentecostal Churches since 2008. They have churches in Malawi and Mozambique.
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Lord Bless Pastor Peter and his family during this time of rebuilding. Lord Bless all those who have come to his assistance.
“Hurry up and wait!” I heard that often enough during my years of military service. Waiting was as difficult as busy work, which was meaningless toil, drudgery, to prevent just sitting around waiting. There are other sorts of waiting, too. School kids “wait” for the bell to ring during last period so they can zip out the door to freedom. A parent waits late into the night for his or her teenager to return home from a date. And there’s the waiting of a Believer, a Follower of Y’shuaJesus, waiting for the Trumpet to call us to be with the Lord.
Waiting’s hard work. While driving truck, after delivering a load I often had to wait for another assignment. It could come at any time, too. Depending where I was, I might be able grab a quick shower at a truck stop that was close to where I delivered. Or perhaps grab a meal, if convenient. More often, I simply parked in the parking lot outside the plant to which I’d delivered and waited. I tried to read, but would find myself looking often and anxious at the Qualcom, the communications system on which I’d get a load assignment. It was hard to relax between loads unless I knew I had a set amount of time. Once, after delivering a load south of Dallas, Texas, I pulled into a dirt lot next to a restaurant, and went in for a meal. Every fifteen minutes I’d go out and check to see if a message arrived on the Qualcom. I was there about a couple of hours when I received a telephone call from the dispatcher asking why I hadn’t responded to the dispatch message. I went immediately out to the truck, but there was nothing there. He had to verbally dispatched me to a steel plant for a load going into Georgia. Not a bad run, but one I almost missed if I hadn’t had a cell phone with me. I took another twenty minutes or so after pulling out of the parking lot to receive the written dispatch on the Qualcom. Perhaps the metal building walls reflected the satellite signals, preventing me from receiving the dispatch. I don’t know.
Waiting is hard work. It is also a dangerous time; it is a time when we can be distracted and wander off in some other direction. There’s a story that Y’shuaJesus told about the maidens that fell asleep, letting their lamps go out. And in Luke chapter 12, after Y’shuaJesus talks about laying up treasure in Heaven, He talks about what to do while playing the waiting game.
Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them. And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. And this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through. Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not.
Luke 12:35-40
Matthew Henry commented on this scripture that Y’shuaJesus, “charges them to get ready, and to keep in a readiness for Christ’s coming, when all those who have laid up their treasure in heaven shall enter upon the enjoyment of it.” So there are two elements, according to Mr. Henry, in this waiting game. First, get ready; second, stay ready. That means waiting is active. It isn’t just standing around. Sometimes we are likened to servants whose master has gone away. Picture a servant standing by the door awaiting his master, doing nothing, just waiting. Probably not the best way to wait, I’m thinking.
So it seems there is good waiting and poor waiting. I’m on the poor side of waiting a lot of the time, especially when it comes to cooking. Even with a timer set, I’ll often just stand watching, waiting for the timer. In some of my best moments in the kitchen, I’ve put a pot of water on the heat, and while waiting for it to boil, done other things in the kitchen, or in the laundry room next to it. I’ve gotten distracted, too. I’ve left a pot to boil until nearly dry, and once totally ruined a batch of steamed vegetables.
Additionally, playing this waiting game takes balance and awareness. I’m thinking of when Y’shuaJesus went into the house of Martha and Mary. Martha was too busy to sit with Y’shua while Mary did only sit with Him. Y’shua said Mary picked the best of the two extremes. Y’shua hasn’t come into our house physically yet, so perhaps we need to be active while at the same time foster the spiritual communion with our Lord that He desires. But is our activity just busy work. What we do, is it necessary? Or is just something to fill the space between other things? Back to the kitchen. Perhaps when there is two minutes to wait for some vegetables to steam, it’s okay not to always have to be doing something. Perhaps standing in front of the stove is okay, and using that very moment to consider the One for Whom we wait to return. We can offer words of Praise, offering hearts of Worship, and we can offer prayers.
Occupying my waiting time then is a balance of activity that is purposeful, balanced with the spiritually uplifting elements of Praise, Worship, Prayer. And in all this activity, in all that I do, all must be done as to the Lord.
Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men. . .
A Song of Praise. Of David. I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever. Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts. On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.
Psalm 145:1-5
“Those who, under troubles and temptations, abound in fervent prayer, shall in due season abound in grateful praise, which is the true language of holy joy. Especially we should speak of God’s wondrous work of redemption, while we declare his greatness. For no deliverance of the Israelites, nor the punishment of sinners, so clearly proclaims the justice of God, as the cross of Christ exhibits it to the enlightened mind. It may be truly said of our Lord Jesus Christ, that his words are words of goodness and grace; his works are works of goodness and grace. He is full of compassion; hence he came into the world to save sinners. When on earth, he showed his compassion both to the bodies and souls of men, by healing the one, and making wise the other. He is of great mercy, a merciful High Priest, through whom God is merciful to sinners.” (Matthew Henry, from his concise commentary)
In Mr. Henry’s comments, I find that the reward for “fervent prayer” during trials and temptations will be that some day I’ll “abound in grateful praise. I shant disagree with Mr. Henry; certainly there are always rewards at future times for today’s righteous acts. I will add, however, to Mr. Henry’s comment. David sang to his Lord, our Lord, “I will extol you, my G-d and King, and bless your name forever and ever.” When David sang this, he could not help but be elevated into the joyful realm of G-d’s Heavenly Kingdom, if only for a minute, even an instant. And one minute, even one instant, of Heaven is enough to change one’s heart for the day of troubles that follow.
Pictured here is the Western Wall–one of the most sacred sites in Judaism. On the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur, hundreds of thousands of Jews flock to the site, praying and seeking atonement for their sins. Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is the holiest day on the Jewish calendar. On the Yom Kippur of October 6, 1973, Egypt and Syria launched a coordinated surprise attack on Israel. Photo: IDF photo archives. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
If you were to enter a synagogue today, Chabad.org has a guide to what to expect. It includes: “You may also notice that many people are wearing white clothing, and some are even wearing a white robe called a kittel. This is because on Yom Kippur we are likened to angels. The angels do not eat, and neither do we. The angels devote themselves to praising G‑d, and so do we. The shroud-like kittel also reminds us that all life on earth comes to an end.”
Yom Kippur is the Day of Atonement. It’s history and significance is as follows (also from chabad.org):
“Forty days after they received the Torah at Mount Sinai and committed to be G‑d’s chosen people, the Children of Israel worshipped a Golden Calf. Moses pleaded with G‑d not to destroy His errant nation, and on the tenth of Tishrei G‑d said, “I have forgiven.” Ever since, we observe this date as the “Day of Atonement”—a celebration of our indestructible relationship with G‑d. It is the holiest day of the year, when we reconnect with our very essence, which remains faithful to G‑d regardless of our behavior.
“Yom Kippur is a fast day: from sundown on the eve of Yom Kippur until the following nightfall, we do not eat or drink. We also abstain from certain physical pleasures: wearing leather footwear, bathing or washing, applying lotions or creams, and marital relations. It is also a “day of rest,” on which all work is forbidden (as on Shabbat).
“The greater part of the day in the synagogue we engage in repentance and prayer. There are five prayer services: 1) The evening prayers, which begin with the solemn Kol Nidrei. 2) Morning prayer. 3) Musaf, which includes a description of the Yom Kippur Holy Temple service. 4) Afternoon prayer, during which the Book of Jonah is read. 5) Ne’ilah, recited as the day wanes and the verdict for the new year is sealed. The first four prayers include a (private) confession of sins to G‑d. Ne’ilah concludes with the congregation calling out the Shema in unison, and then a blast of the shofar signals the end of the day.
“Yom Kippur is followed by a festive meal. We rejoice, confident that G‑d has forgiven our sins.”
The author of the “New Testament” letter to the Hebrews wrote about the yearly sacrifice offered at the Temple to atone for the sins of the People of G-d.
For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.'” When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying, “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,” then he adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.” Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
This morning I’m in Tennessee. Manchester, Tennessee, to be exact. I’m having complimentary breakfast at a motel. There are 532 people in town this morning for “Warrior Dash.” Here in the dining room, the run/obstacle course is the common topic of most that are sitting at the tables. The conversations extend between tables, between people who don’t know one another. They are all here for one thing: to challenge themselves in the ultimate marathon.
One man, sitting near me, says he ran the course in Georgia last winter. He said it nearly killed him. He’s a runner, but he didn’t train for fifteen foot walls, pools of deep, ice-cold water, and mud holes that had to be negotiated to complete the run. He said he’d get cold, then run and get warm, only to dive in icy water or crawl through cold mud under wire. It takes a warrior to complete this run. One thing stands out to me in hearing the conversations. Old, young, they all seem to be comrades in a common goal. Yes, there are “winners.” Yet they talk of how they work together to just complete the course. They talk as if they will all be winners just to complete the run. Wow!
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
1Corinthians 9:24-27
No, I’m not making the run this year. Perhaps, Lord willing, my knees will one day be in shape enough to try one. It’s my son, and a friend, who will run this event today. They are on the wrestling team in their high school. Their coaches inspired them to try this out. They looked at videos of past events and thought it would be “fun.” That’s what my son said after crashing his tricycle when he was three years ole. I didn’t remind him that through his tears, he’d said, “I thought it was going to be fun!”
Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .
English: HOLLISTER, Calif. (Oct. 28, 2011) Petty Officer 1st Class Darryl Hill crawls through the mud pit, the final obstacle at the Warrior Dash in Hollister, Calif. (U.S. Navy photo/Released) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Since the beginning of our current “global recession,” many have compared it with the American Depression of the late 1920s and early 1930s. I’m not sure it really matters which hard time, which bad time, was the worst. During the life of Micah’s preaching, he lived through three kings’ reigns. In all of them, there were some really bad times. Bible scholars have wondered about which king’s reign Micah described when he wrote:
Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grape gleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat: my soul desired the firstripe fruit. The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net. That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, the prince asketh, and the judge asketh for a reward; and the great man, he uttereth his mischievous desire: so they wrap it up.
Micah 7:1-3
According to Matthew Henry, Micah described a time in the reign of King Ahaz and the earlier reign of King Hezekiah. There were reformations and a rekindling of desire toward G-d during the reign of King Hezekiah, though. Unfortunately, it didn’t last; after King Hezekiah died, under the reign of King Manasseh, the country fell once again into idolatry and pagan worship. I read that this was because the hearts of the people were not changed. Laws may change the outward behavior, but it takes a change of heart to make a lasting change.
Micah, like many of the prophets, looked ahead to the coming of The Messiah who would redeem us and change us. Like Micah, we live in bad times. But we do not have to look to a future time for our salvation. Salvation came to us, is now ours, in Y’shuaJesus. We only must choose to accept. If we accept that salvation comes from no one, from no where, other than through Y’shuaJesus’s life, death, and resurrection, we may look forward to His coming to collect us to Himself. In this knowledge alone we may rejoice. In Y’shuaJesus we rejoice. He is the Way, the Truth, the Life. As He has told us, no one comes to the Father unless he or she comes to Him.
The other night, standing around the kitchen, my wife told her Mom about a women she’d seen on a news program. The woman had died, she’d said, while kayaking, but came back from the dead with a great tale, er, story. This woman wrote a book about it, to encourage others. My wife relayed the essence of this woman’s message: there are people waiting beyond death, family and friends, and there is so much love.
It’s a common theme. There is life after death. There are families gathered together. There is light, warmth, love. Every thing turns out alright, after all.
My Mother-in-law didn’t follow what my wife was saying. She’s eighty-three years old. How does someone die, and experience that, and come back, is what probably confused her. I interrupted. I had to at this point. I said, “The woman thought she was going to die while trapped under the water. She had a dream. In the dream all the things that she longed for were right there, in front of her.” I went on to say that people want to know there is something after we pass from this life. They want to believe there is something more. And that it’s all available to them without them doing anything at all for it. “That’s basically what Y’shuaJesus said,” I continued on. “It’s a free gift for believing in Y’shuaJesus. But people don’t want to hear about Y’shuaJesus.” My wife said I was right.
Yes! I’m right! Well, more-or-less right. What I didn’t continue with, didn’t say, is that believing is the start, the beginning of salvation that culminates in a walk that is with our LORD.
Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
“O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
1 Corinthians 15:51-58
Paul tells us that not all will sleep. If not all sleep, that means some will. That’s how death is referred to by these First Century Jewish Believers in Y’shuaJesus as Messiah. Sleep. Not death. Sleep from which we will be awakened. And when we are awakened, we will have new, glorified bodies. Disease-free bodies. Incorruptible bodies. Perfect bodies. And a perfect heart. Tears wiped away, forgotten. And there will be a Central Figure before us when we awake: Y’shuaJesus! Praise the LORD!
And that’s exactly what’s desperately wrong with a woman’s story in which she says she died and found love and friends and family. It’s a tale from a few minutes hanging on the edge of suffocation. The brain without oxygen dreaming.
Y’shuaJesus will be there for Believers and non-believers alike. For the former, to wipe away tears and show His love. To the latter. . . well, it won’t be pleasant. They will see the love. Bow before the King in submission. They will, too late, realize He is The Way, The Truth, The Life. They will confess, too late, that Y’shuaJesus is LORD. And even if G-d, Father G-d, Abba G-d, were to invite them in, they would refuse. They would choose to turn away. They would be angry, hurt, afraid.
Sad! They would choose to turn away because they’d not turned away from their own miserable, sinful ways while on Earth. Repent! is to turn away from one’s sin. But before one can turn away, one must acknowledge sin. And in our society, our culture of liberalism and chaos, we are taught there is nothing Absolute, nothing evil, nothing that is sin. All things are relative. One person’s truth is his or her own truth. Not The Truth. All ways, all roads, lead to Rome AND HEAVEN, or so we are led to believe by the great liar, that devil satan.
We are being led like sheep to a slaughter. There are too many movies in which some human is a great hero, saving the day. There are too many movies depicting aliens coming to Earth to assist it in it’s healing. There are too many academia that are steering young people to believe in their own deity. Humanism is at the core of the United Nations Agenda 21. Humanism is satan’s tool to trick, if possible, even Christians. satan desperately wants to take worship of G-d from Him. He doesn’t want us to feel the warmth of a relationship with our Heavenly Father while we are on Earth. satan doesn’t need our admiration, our love, our praise. he just wants our soul.
We must be ready. We must be prepared. We must keep our eyes upon Y’shuaJesus!
A.W. Tozer compiled, in The Christian Book of Mystical Verse some of his favorite devotional verse to share with us. He says “it has been carefully and lovingly prepared for those God-enamored persons who … lack the gift that would enable them to express their feelings adequately.
While the word mystic is used in Eastern religion, and has crept inappropriately into some churches, to A.W. Tozer it refers to an evangelical Christian “who has been brought by the Gospel into intimate fellowship with the Godhead.”
Today, I share with you All Must Be Well, Mary Bowley Peters, 1813-1856
Through the love of God our Saviour,
All will be well;
Free and changeless is His favor,
All, all is well;
Precious is the blood that heal’d us,
Perfect is the grace that seal’d us,
Strong the hand stretch’d out to shield us,
All must be well.
Though we pass through tribulation,
All will be well;
Ours is such a full salvation,
All, all is well;
Happy, still in God confiding,
Fruitful, if in Christ abiding
Holy, through the Spirit’s guiding,
All must be well.
We expect a bright tomorrow,
All will be well;
Faith can sing, through days of sorrow,
All, all is well;
On our Father’s love relying,
Jesus ev’ry need supplying,
Or in living or in dying,
All must be well.
Ants. A large, black carpenter ant climbed up the edge of the wooden deck. Those black ants don’t sting, I don’t think. There are also large red ants down here in Georgia that do sting—terribly so. Fire ants. And we have those small ants I think of as a grease ants, too. These are the ones that lick the oily stuff of the peonies so that the flower will bloom fully. But the large black ants just roam about ignoring everyone and everything. Harmless, seemingly. Except I’ve been told they are carpenter ants, and eat the insides of wood structures to build their nests. I’ve not seen evidence of their destruction, however. Perhaps it takes years to weaken a board on the deck, to make it collapse from my weight as I walk.
Carpenter Bee (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Bees. This is also the time of year I see small piles of wood dust in some places around the deck posts. There will be a small hole above the pile, bored by a black and yellow bee. I’ve seen these bees go in and out. I always thought they just bored in an inch or so and laid eggs. I thought that until one day when I cut into an old board that had been laying out back for a while. Inside, the bees had dug throughout the board, building quite a network of tunnels. I’m sure the deck posts will be damaged if I let bees continue to nest there.
Earth worm (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Worms. A few years ago we were using some lawn treatment that helped prevent weeds. It worked pretty well, too. But I’ve never really been a fan of chemicals, and finally we gave it up. Our neighbors have done likewise, so we all now just mow the weeds with the grass. What I’ve noticed is that we’re now getting worms back in the grass, and more in the gardens that surround it. I think the chemicals destroyed the worms. Worms are good to have around, eating there way through the dirt, making small spaces that allow air to saturate the ground. That’s not bad, either. A lot of people pay to have lawns punctured with holes to do the same thing.
What do all these critter have in common, the carpenter ants, the bees, and the worms? The all makes small holes. I read Regular Joe’s article on zombies on his blog. He came out and said what needs to be said. There are zombies walking around today. Lot of ’em, too. They are the walking dead. Unless they receive Messiah Y’shuaJesus as their Lord, the will be dead for eternity.
To take up on that idea, we can see the dead speaking loudly, making small holes like the ants, bees, and worms. They teach in public schools, especially colleges. They report for various news organizations, write for television shows, produce movies, write movies. They are in our political arena, as well. And unfortunately these walking dead infiltrate our churches. And the walking dead are deceivers. As Jude wrote (Jude v10-13.):
But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves. Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core. These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.
Paul put it this way: “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. . .” Romans 1:22
Deceivers. At least three types of deceivers. One like the ant, one like the bee, and one like the worm. The holes deception bores begin small, getting beneath the surface where we don’t see what it’s really doing. Eventually, with a destroyed foundation, the structure collapses. Y’shuaJesus said that our faith must be built upon a rock. And, yes, we say Y’shuaJesus is the Rock. Out faith is built upon Him. It is still faith. We have to remember that our sins are forgiven. We have to remember that Y’shuaJesus paid the price of for our lives. But deception undermines our faith, slowly chipped away, by the walking dead, whether in the “world” or in the church. Do we begin to think we have to earn salvation through works or doing a certain type of mystical prayer? What can we offer G-d in trade for eternal life?
The black ant deception looks perfectly sound, fine. We don’t suspect a thing is going on. The bee is more direct. We see signs, but don’t think it’s really too dangerous. The worm. Well, the worm of deception appears to be a good thing. Like the worms in my lawn and garden. But our faith is to be a rock, not a garden. Worms say “The Bible teaches. . .” and we applaud, or say “amen.” Worms, well, worm their way into our lives, eating at us in ways we don’t even know.
The aim of deception is to undermine our faith. We are called to endure until the end. We can suffer set backs, but our faith must endure. We must be prepared to endure hardships without the loss of our faith. Our faith must endure. The Gospel Faith. That Y’shuaJesus lived, died, returned from the dead, and lives at the right had of the Father. Truth.
The cure to deception is what Paul wrote to the Corinthians (Ephesians 4:14,15):
That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ. . .
One example. There is a deception today that goes by the name of “emergent.” It isn’t new: It’s “new age” wrapped in Bible quotes. It looks so spiritual, even something Y’shuaJesus would approve. “From the Lighthouse” is a great place to learn about exactly this type of deception, and more. You can find it here:
Evangelism and the Walking Dead. In his article, Regular Joe wrote about evangelism of the walking dead, that they might be awakened. I agree. It is our mandate, too easily forgotten as we duck assaults from an enemy that is not flesh and blood (though too easily works through physical forms). We pray for all to come to the knowledge of Messiah, to the salvation that is preached in the Gospel Message.
Tom White, from his column in Voice of the Martyrs magazine encourages us: “Don’t let the big dogs in our country—who growl loudly through the media—prevent us from finding ways to reach out.” Throughout the world, Believers in Y’shuaJesus reach out to, and from within, countries in which the Gospel is restricted or simply outlawed. There are 54 nations like this. Here, in America, we are, for the present, unrestricted in our out reach with the saving message of Messiah and Lord Y’shuaJesus. “We must thereore go outside the fence with childlike faith,” wrote White.
And we must also not become discouraged in our efforts, must not question why there seems such poor return for our efforts. Not all will hear. Paul wrote (2Corinthians 4:3,4):
But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
Oh, Lord, You are our Rock. You will not be moved. Help us endure, with our faith intact, that we might greet You at Your Glorious Return and Feast with You, even reign with You as You’ve said we shall. Amen.
Matthew 28 — KJV
1 In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.
2 And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.
3 His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow:
4 And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men.
5 And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.
6 He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.
7 And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you.
8 And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word.
9 And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshiped him.
This is the Day The Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. We remember not the bunnies, the eggs, that have nothing to do with the Messiah. Rather we remember the Lord is Risen. Praise the Lord. We remember that Adam disobeyed G-d, and that death is the punishment. We remember the Cross upon which Y’shuaJesus, fully G-d, fully man, took our place in death. We remember that death could not hold our Lord. We remember that Y’shuaJesus is risen. He is Lord.
Pastor Peter Timothy Fungulani and his lovely wife, Emily, are blessed with three children and is called by God as an evangelist. Pastor Peter and has a passion to win souls for Christ. He has been the Senior Pastor of Maranatha Pentecostal Churches since 2008. They have churches in Malawi and Mozambique.
Jonah’s Song 