AUNT MARY

Ninety-One years of a memorable life on earth ended on the 16th of August 2012. Aunt Mary exited earth whilst still in her sleep. I thought i'd celebrate her life on my blog since she would surely be an inspiration to you just as she has been to me!

Aunt Mary was the oldest sister to my mother-in-law and lived in Byculla, Mumbai all her life. She lost her husband whilst the couple was still in their forties. Raising her three young daughters all by herself was a gargantuan task but her firm trust in Jesus carried her through that rough patch in her life. Later, losing her five year old grand daughter (in the pic above) to a strange fever, shattered her beyond measure. Another death followed, and that was of her beloved nephew Anthony, married, with three little girls! These earthquakes in her life never shook her from her strong relationship with Jesus.

Aunt Mary never grumbled nor murmured whilst going through her 'tests' of faith. She always had an encouraging word not just for family but for everyone in the block. Once all her daughters got married, she opted to stay alone in her little room in 'Stone Building'. Her daughters visited whenever they could but she always had the company of great neighbours, young and old.Her neighbours will miss hearing her booming voice responding to the Mass on television!

The last time we visited Aunt Mary as a family was last December. She loved to speak in Konkanni although she spoke fluent English. Although i met her very late in life, she had a special liking for me. Whenever i would visit her, she would hug me and kiss me incessantly! She loved to sing 'Mandde and Dulpods' and cooked excellent Goan food. She had the memory of an elephant! She would enquire about everyone in the family in Dubai and pray for their well being.Whenever i joked about she completing a century, she would pull my beard and say that her Jesus was going to take her soon.

She told me she was never lonely. She could see and hear Jesus very clearly. One thing she would keep saying to me all the time - "Jesus is all you'll ever need!"

Corrie Ten Boom said, “You may never know that Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you have.” Jesus is not quite all we HAVE, and so we are reluctant to say that Jesus is all we NEED. The problem, dear friends, is not that we have too little, but that we have too much!

HOAX SLAYER

Have you received the following message recently (or sometime in the past?)

NASA predicts total blackout on 23-25 Dec 2012 during alignment of
Universe.

USscientists predict Universe change, total blackout  of planet for 3
days from Dec 23 2012.

It is not the end of the world, it is an alignment of the Universe, where
the Sun and the earth will align for the first time. The earth will shift
from
the current third dimension to zero dimension, then shift to the forth
dimension. During this transition, the entire Universe will face a big
change, and we will see a entire brand new world. (Note: The message was longer than this ... this is just an extract!)

The HOAX SLAYER website has the following to say:

Not surprisingly the claims in the message are complete and utter nonsense. NASA has made no such prediction. Nor has any other credible scientific organization anywhere else in the world.

In what is apparently an utterly lame attempt to make its outlandish claims seem more believable, the message links to a video featuring NASA administrator Charles F. Bolden, Jr. In the video, Bolden does talk about family preparedness but makes no mention of planetary blackouts, universe alignments or even shifts to the zero dimension. The video can be seen in its original context on the NASA website.

And, for the record, there is no mention of such an impending blackout anywhere on the NASA website. Nor are there any reports about it on any credible news or scientific websites.

Perhaps who ever penned this peice of nonsense to begin with meant it as just a leg pull. A really bad science fiction writer perhaps? And a master of understatement? The messages predicts a catastrophic, utterly world changing event but ends with a casual warning to avoid traveling in December! But whatever its motivation, submissions and comments indicate that the message is nevertheless causing fear and anxiety among at least a few of the more wide-eyed among us.

For those of you who are in fear of this predicted event, know that GOd has plans for you; plans for your prosperity and not for your destruction! (JER. 29:11)

ANCHOR FOR THE SOUL

^{HEBREW 6: 13 to 20
13} When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, ¹⁴ saying, “I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.”^{[a] 15} And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.

¹⁶ People swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. ¹⁷ Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. ¹⁸ God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. ¹⁹ We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, ²⁰ where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.

If any 'descendant' (that is you and i !) is able to understand what has been extracted from Hebrews 6 and is able to remind God of his OATH that includes, not just Abraham but ALL OF HIS DESCENDANTS, you will surely live a life where there's NOTHING BROKEN, NOTHING MISSING!

God bless Bro. Johnson Sequeira for his persistent reminders to us of this ANCHOR FOR THE SOUL!
(Please go to www.jcilm.info to know more about his ministry. Please try to attend his retreat asap! )

DRY BONES

Brother Johnson Sequeira is preaching in Dubai again and yesterday was the first day. He was speaking on the topic of 'Dry Bones' from Ezekiel 37. It is so very amazing how God reveals to his servants the golden truths hidden in His Holy Word!

I assume you already know about Ezekiel's vision of the 'valley of dry bones' and how God asks him to prophesy on the dry bones. Lo and behold, the bones get covered with flesh but there is no spirit in the body! Then the Lord commands Ezekiel to breath into them and they come to life! (Please do read the whole chapter to remind you of the exact account of the vision).

Bro. J explained the above vision from a different perspective altogether. He compared the 'dry bones' with the 'dead situations' in our lives and encouraged us to prophesy over them 'in the powerful name of Jesus', BELIEVING that Jesus is alive and His Holy Spirit is hovering over us (just like in Genesis ... the Spirit was hovering over the 'chaotic' earth, waiting to move on God's command to bring order into creation!) to act on our behalf, to restore and give life to all the 'dead situations' in our lives.

The point was further straightened by Tanya's testimony of a total healing from cancer when she UNDERSTOOD the topic of FAITH (Hebrews 11:1) and got out of her desperation and got into the LOVE OF GOD and His FAVOUR. Every doctor's bad report was cancelled and she is now living a 'cancer-free' (Both physically as well as spiritually!) life! Imagine being given only 6 months to live by every doctor she went to for another opinion!

This is why the psalmist in Psalm 63 seeks the Lord from a dry and thirsty land where there is no water. It is the water of the gospel he seeks. He seeks to be bathed in the waters of Christ. (Psa 105:41) He opened the rock, and the waters gushed out; they ran in the dry places like a river. When Christ went to the cross for the sins of His people the Rock of God was opened and then the waters of the gospel gushed forth in the dry places after He was resurrected the third day. Those dry places are the entire world to seek out His elect in all the nations.

This Ezekiel passage also points out the fact that a person is a dead bone before salvation and only God can make them live.

THE GLITCH

Yesterday was a trying day for me! I was woken up early in the morning by an irate friend telling me that his email account was clogged with my emails and that i should do something to put an end to the madness. At first i did not know what he was talking about. I stumbled out of bed into the bathroom and splashed some water into my groggy eyes. I went straight to my laptop to access my mail. To my horror, i saw what was happening! Members from my web mailing list were inundating my box with pleas and threats, asking me to 'unsubsribe' them from the list. So i started unsubscribing them one by one. As i was doing so, even more mail was pouring in from all around the world asking me to stop sending emails.

What actually happened was that there was a small 'glitch' in the setup of the mailing list. The mailing list address was revealed at the bottom of each email that was sent, allowing the list members to respond to all 2000 list members with their responses. Some person somewhere (God bless him!), instead of just hitting the 'unsubscribe' tab, sent an email to the whole list! Everytime someone wrote to the list, every member on the list got an email. That was what was clogging everybody's email account!

After many desperate attempts to reach my web designer/ Administrator in India, i had no other way but to delete the whole list in desperation to stop this madness!

Whilst i will use this posting to apologise to as many readers as possible, i would also like to request readers to send me an email at: jodias27@gmail.com telling me to re-list you on my website. This time around, i promise to be more careful with the mailing list.

I looked at my emails this morning and let out a long sigh of relief that the nightmare had passed at last!

God be praised!

BLACK & WHITE LIES!

Leander was listening to TED TALKS last night. I was doing my meditation and instead of asking him to use his headphones, I let my mind focus on the talk instead of pursuing a thoughtless state of mind! It was about LIES and how to spot a LIAR! As usual, we discussed this topic over dinner and I was surprised how the ‘modern liar’ has mastered the art of deception even to pass the lie detection test!

That made me mull over what the Bible had to say about lying -

Proverbs 6:16-19 says, "These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren."

Everyone tells a white lie on occasion, it’s just a question of why.  Some white lies save relationships, some ease a hectic situation, and others buy us time.  The list could go on forever.  Stretching the truth is a natural component of human instinct because it’s the easy way out.  We all do it, so there is no reason to deny it.  “As long as we aren’t hurting others or breaking the law, these innocent lies can make life more pleasant”- is our justification for our lies! 

Deceit, lying, and falsehoods lie at the very heart of our cultural heritage. As the moral climate of our society has been deteriorating, lying has become a major problem. The business world is particularly plagued by this problem--men’s dishonesty with each other. Even God’s ministers are not immune and many of them are infected with it.

The Bible is filled with admonitions against being dishonest and lying. One of the Ten Commandments states:

"Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour." Exodus 20:16

Let us examine our own lives to see if we are infected with the same disease. What kind of witness are we to those around us? Are we deceived and have we become liars ourselves? The Bible also lists this sin of lying as one that can lead us to hell along with some other grievous ones.

Revelation 21:7-8 says, "He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death."

A LIE IS A LIE EVEN IF SPOKEN IN LATIN!

THE EVIL EYE

It's been three days since Lorine left for Portugal to join her sister and mother who are holidaying there. I could not join because of the deadlines at work. My two sons opted to stay behind with me. Last night the topic at the dinner table was 'evil eyes' and is it merely a superstition. Leander popped that question and i had a hard time explaining the 'phenomenon'!
 
From my own experience as a child, specially growing up in Goa, where people are pretty superstitious, i've had my fair share of 'evil eye' attacks and the frequent runs to the 'disht-kan' (The lady who removed the spell). I still remember her sitting outside her hut in Mandel in Margao, rubbing some wierd smelling roots on a stone and spraying the water thrice on the face with much force, accompanied by the 'i believe'.
 
Most of us in Goa has experienced this sometime or the other in their lifetime (I believe?). My grandmother explained it to me as being the ill effect of somebody's envy or praise. It is important to understand that the person who praises the child is not evil per se. IT JUST HAPPENS!
 
A typical account of such a mishap might be: "I dressed the baby in new clothes and took him to town and a woman who has no children saw him and said, 'Oh, what a pretty child!' and as soon as we got home he began to vomit!" The "evil" in these accounts of the evil eye indicate that it is thought to be situational in nature and that it is caused by a failure to restrain envy within proper social bounds.
 
Mentions of the evil eye in the Bible clearly refer to the role that envy and covetousness play in its development. We can read in Proverbs 23:6 "Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meat" and likewise in Proverbs 28:22, "He that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye, and considereth not that poverty shall come upon him."
 
Then over in Mark 7:21-22, we see that the early Jewish Christians believed in evil eye, for it is written there that when Jesus Christ lectured about defilement, he told his followers that evil eye comes forth from a man and defiles him just the same as if he had committed a physical crime: "From within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness."

There are many 'cures' followed by people in various countries, some of which may be: Olive oil dripped into water with prayer...Wax dripped into water with prayer ... Coals or match heads dropped into water with prayer ...Passing a whole raw egg over the face, then breaking it ...Breaking an egg in a dark, shadowed place, unseen ...breaking an egg and drawing a cross on the victim's forehead ...Victim drinks three sips of holy water ...Victim is bathed in holy water ....

As for me, i believe in one tried and tested method which has never failed me. It is to confess Holy Scriptures and certain assertions daily. For example: I AM THE BODY OF CHRIST, SATAN HAS NO POWER OVER ME, SICKNESS HAS NO PLACE IN ME.

TRUE SUCCESS ?

TRUE SUCCESS

What is true success? Let's examine Scriptures to find out!

King Solomon, a man to whom God gave great wisdom, wrote most of the Proverbs such as:

“Do not toil to acquire wealth; be wise enough to desist. When your eyes light upon it, it is gone; for suddenly it takes to itself wings, flying like an eagle toward heaven” (Proverbs 23:4–5, RSV).

 “Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart rejoiced in all my labour; and this was my reward from all my labour. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done and on the labour in which I had toiled; and indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 2:10–11).

Again, there are the following instances when...

The mother of James and John—two of Jesus’ disciples—came to Him with a request: “She said to Him, ‘Grant that these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on the left, in Your kingdom.’ But Jesus answered and said, ‘You do not know what you ask’” (Matthew 20:21–22). He then told them that those positions were for those chosen and “prepared by My Father.”

“You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:25–28).

The greatest is one who is a true servant—one who truly cares for and helps others! Notice that it was the Son of God, Jesus of Nazareth, who took little children up in His arms and who stooped over to wash the feet of His disciples. You can read about that foot-washing service in John 13.

Jesus’ example was one of service, sacrifice and love. “For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life” (Romans 5:10).

Whatever position we may hold in this life, we will never find true success unless we have an attitude of godly service toward others. One of the measures of true success is the degree of godly service one is willing to give.

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: "Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgement, including every secret thing, whether good or evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:12–14).

PHOTOSHOPPING!

A few days ago, i spent a good hour at the photo studio. I had gone there to 'photoshop' a friend's image with Justin Bieber. It was her birthday and knowing she loved Justin, i thought i'd poke some fun at her.

Whilst i was waiting there for my turn, i saw a man getting his head transported onto another body that was with a suit on. He wanted a photo with him in a suit and the simplest way to do that was to photoshop the image. Another 'pimply-faced' girl got her pimples removed. yet another couple had their pic done as if they were sitting inside a beautiful house.

What scared me most was how we tend to do the same in the 'spiritual sense', just to look good!
Hmmmm ... Enough said!

STAY CLEAR OF DEBT!

I was at the bank this morning, trying to stop the 'standing instruction' i'd set up a while ago. As usual, i chatted up the customer relations officer who first tried to 'sell me' a loan and when i told him that i wanted to stay clear of loans, he related an interesting story to me. Apparently, an Indian working for the government, earning a salary of 35,000 dirhams, had recently taken a huge loan to avail of the 'exchange rate' opportunity due to the fall in the rupee against the dollar. The day, the loan was granted to him, he also lost his job!

There was an interesting article i read on this very topic. I have 'gleaned' some important points from that articel for our enlightenment. Satan's goal has always been to create so much debt that it is impossible for the individual to pay it back. Debt creates a relationship of servitude and slavery to the one who offered the 'apple of death'. Satan does not care what kind of debt one adopts: money, promises, material things, food, time, tithe, favors, or sins. In the Old Testament times, loaning money to fellow Jewish brothers was only under the condition of charitable giving. It was absolutely forbidden (still is) to charge interest to a brother of the race. The children of God were not to borrow, or loan, to people outside their race. If they did, they were accused of forming partnerships with the "unequally yoked." The early Jews knew the interest charged would create long-term bondage. Under Hebraic law, if a person loaned money to a brother and he refused (or couldn't) pay it back, the loan was then considered "charitable giving." This was not determined until the end of the seventh year. If the borrower was caught a second time "stiffing" a fellow brother for a loan, he was to be treated as a foreigner. This included no financial dealings, which would force him to leave the community.  

Nowadays, when an individual cannot pay a debt, he considers ideas such as bankruptcy. Bankruptcy is not a biblical solution, nor does God support these kinds of resolutions. Bankruptcy laws are changing to make it easier for individuals and corporations to go this route. It used to be when a person went bankrupt, his assets were turned into legal tender and the money would be used to pay down the debt. As the years have passed, bankruptcy has become a way of escaping from the responsibility of paying debt.

 God tells us to "be in debt to no man" and to pay up all of our debts, unless we are forgiven of that debt.