The Gates of Hell Cannot Prevail

I believe that there is something in man that wants to worship God as his Creator, his God and sustainer. When we refuse to give in to that desire or refuse to recognize it, we end up worshipping other things. We end up worshipping cars, houses, sex, and status. All these things only give momentary pleasure or happiness but can never satisfy. I also believe that there is something in all of us that tends toward depravity and we can go either way. In God’s word we not only find hope for our souls as the Word points to God, we also find strength to fight off the demons that seek to lead us to the dark side.

Apart from having an on-going relationship with God, I believe one of the greatest things ever to happen to us is the Bible. In the thousands of years since the Old and New Testament were written, the sacred words in them have given hope, strength, peace and joy to those who adhere to the words written there. Not just the letter of the words but the spirit. The words were not written for our comfort but they are a template for us to live our lives by. The words are light which show us the state of our heart and lives in relation to God and how they should be. Thanks to the fall in the Garden of Eden, man has developed a great aversion to light. The natural tendency of man is to hide from the light and pretend that all is well.

The words written in the Bible were those men like Paul the Apostle, John Knox, Charles Spurgeon, Smith Wigglesworth, Charles Finney, John Wesley and Watchman Nee all lived by and they found God and lived great and fruitful lives. These men did great wonders and saw great revelations of God’s power as a result of these wonder. It is therefore no wonder that I marvel at the arrogance of the men of this age who say they are “Christian” but hide from the light of these words. These people say the sacred words are outdated and we should jettison them and look for other words that agree with our predilections and proclivities. We should look for words that agree with our depravities and which do not show us the wrong that we do. Because they are condemned in their hearts by the sacred words, they want to away with the words. In this they have as allies those who hate God. Those that say they as Christian do not see any wrong in the alliances they have formed because they are moved by their senses.

Ever since the birth of Christianity, several people have risen up with the stated aim of killing it. In the intervening period, they are the ones who have died and the Church has gone on. I am convinced above all that the Church can never die. Jesus declared that the gates of hell would never prevail against the church. I believe this with all my heart. Therefore when I see hell rising up against the Church, while it worries me because I remember the persecution the Church will suffer before Christ returns, I am consoled and strengthened in knowing the Church has prevailed.

JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO published by WestBowPress, a division of Thomas Nelson publishers, http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU000194087/Deceptio.aspx and LOST, BUT FOUND available at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DPLLEUQ/. You can follow him on Twitter @Cruz_JCReal. 

It’s The Blood

There is a tendency in us humans to associate ourselves with success whether national, familial or individual. The opposite is true of disappointment as we try to move as far away from it, afraid that it might taint us.  We like to associate ourselves with successful people and we look for a way to establish something of a nexus between ourselves and the originator of the successful exploits. Trying to associate ourselves with a successful person is not really that hard. We can always find something that associates us with them no matter how nebulous. However, trying to disassociate ourselves from a disappointment or someone who has done something terrible can be extremely hard. Or practically impossible. In that regard, no matter how much they want to, the Germans can’t deny that Adolf Hitler was one of them or that the Germans started World War II.

Megyn Kelly, a Fox News anchor recently made a statement on her programme the Kelly File on the Fox News Channel to the effect that Santa Claus and Jesus were both white. She later said the comment was made tongue-in-cheek. However this was not before there was a huge outcry on both the conventional and social media. I have no intention of talking about Santa Claus as delving into the history of mythical creatures or human is not really my thing. My concern is about the person whom billions of people both living and dead call the originator of their faith.

When I read about the comments from Ms. Kelly, I went online and I read several articles and comments made about the colour of undoubtedly the most famous person that ever walked the face of the earth. There were those that postulated he was black, white or some other colour. There were even comments referencing books written on the subject, especially one written by Jeremiah Wright, President Obama’s former pastor. Reading all those articles, the major emotion that coursed through me was not one of anger or humour. All I felt was a sense of overwhelming disappointment.  I felt disappointed that people could try to reduce the impact that Jesus and his teachings had made on the world to the colour of his skin.

I don’t know about the other people who identify themselves as Christian but I can say that I have never put much thought into what colour Jesus was. In fact, it’s never been something that has agitated my mind and I doubt if it was something that agitated the minds of Martin Luther or John Knox. I also do not think it is something that agitates the minds of most Christians.    For people to even try making it a topic of discussion is beyond my understanding. To even start a discussion about what colour Jesus was diminishes and obscures the real reason why he came and what he did. To talk about his skin colour to my mind somehow diminishes the impact of his sacrifice on the cross to redeem us from our sins. I do not follow Jesus or call myself a Christian because of his skin colour. I call myself a Christian and I follow him not because of his skin colour but because I realise I need help with my sins. I follow him because I realise he came as a gift from a loving God who sent him to me to help me find a way back to God. There are several reasons why I follow him and none has to do with his skin colour.

I wonder why people would be fixated about a person’s colour. Would his colour diminish or accentuate a person’s message? Would a person’s colour determine whether or not we would listen to his message or follow him? Would a person’s colour tell us what kind of person they were? Are we so inherently racist that we judge the content of what a person says based on the pigmentation of his skin? Does his skin colour lend greater credence to his message? If we cannot see past a person’s colour to the content of his message, might I suggest that we are definitely prime candidates for washing in his blood.

JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO published by WestBowPress, a division of Thomas Nelson publishers.http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU000194087/Deceptio.aspx and LOST, BUT FOUND available at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DPLLEUQ/. You can follow him on Twitter @Cruz_JCReal.