Posts Tagged ‘aramaic’

THE PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS, PART 1

Saturday, September 14th, 2013
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.  (Matthew 5:10-12, ESV)
When the terrorists in Syria recently charged the ancient Christian village of Maaloula in the Syrian mountainside where the minority Christians lived for almost 2000 years, do you think they felt blessed? According to eyewitnesses, the moslem terrorists told villagers “‘Either you convert to Islam or you will be beheaded,”. The village of Maaloula is one of the last on this earth which still spoke the ancient language of Aramaic. Aramaic was the language spoken by Jesus Himself and can only be found in Syria, in these last days.
What has been happening during the violent Syrian civil war has already been repeated in Iraq, with one million Chaldean Christians being persecuted, killed and displaced and in Iran and other middle eastern countries. Pakistan and India are catching up with their cousins in the middle east and doing the same to God’s people.
These are just some of the latest examples of what has been happening to followers of Jesus Christ since before He was even crucified in 33 AD in Jerusalem. Jesus warned of this and this warning has been fulfilled time after time after time for almost 2000 years now. Persecution is occurring in not just these Arab countries, but in almost every corner of this earth.

FLIRTING WITH DISASTER

Monday, May 21st, 2012

Part 2 – RUN LIKE HELL!

We’re flirtin’ with disaster, ya’ll know what I mean 
And the way we run our lives it makes no sense to me 
I don’t know about yourself or what you wanna to be, yeah 
When we gamble with our time we choose our destiny…(Molly Hatchet, 1979)

Yesterday, we looked briefly at the possibility of pitfalls when people play with fire by indulging in what they think is “innocent” flirtation in offices. This is not limited to offices, but men of God and pastors face the same thing when the council females of any age, one on one in their offices. Neither of these actions are wise at all – no way!

I believe in the Sufficiency of Scripture, in that, the Bible has both the illustrations and the examples for us to learn from, glean and then follow as we seek to improve and grow as men and women of God. There are two perfect examples of Temptation and let us look how each person involved dealt with it.

JOSEPH (Genesis 39: 1-12) was tempted by the boss’ wife while serving Potiphar, the head official in Egypt. He was obviously a lot younger and a single man so Potiphar’s wife began to eye him. She made several blunt approaches and, with integrity, he politely but firmly, declined them all. The final time she tried to seduce him, she actually laid her hands on him and grabbed his coat as he escaped her evil clutches. Joseph, for lack of better terms, ran like hell!

EVE (Genesis 3:1-6) was negotiating with a snake who told the first lies of Creation. He deceived her. She took the forbidden fruit and offered it to the man, Adam, who stood there and watched the entire thing without saying a word, and they both ate it. This was in direct defiance and disobedience to the Word of God and here we are today.

 

CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE