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“Sin and immorality make the heart as hard as granite”
"Mine eye runneth down with rivers of water, for the destruction of the daughter of my people. My eye trickleth down and ceaseth not without any intermission, till the Lord look down, and behold from heaven. "(Lam. 3:48-50)
We see a grave insensitivity and hardness of heart gripping the men of our generation. The mass media, newspapers, TV and magazines are full of violence and the coverage given to heartless acts of terrorism and bloodshed is simply appalling. All this has the effect of making the heart hard and compassionless.
A man came up to the platform soon after a public address and said to me: "Sir, just like you were saying in your message now, I got drunk, beat my wife who was pregnant and drove her away. Then I deceived another girl into thinking that I was an unmarried man and married her." For the first time in his life, this man began to repent for his sins and turn to Christ. Moreover his free-wheeling sexual promiscuity had brought upon him an awful skin disease and I had to pray for him. Compassion for his poor wife, whom he had ill-treated so much, was only just beginning to dawn upon him. Sin and immorality make the heart as hard as granite. But when sin is confessed to Jesus and put away, then love and concern for others breaks upon us as a new dawn.
When you stand before the cross of Jesus, there comes an unmistakable melting in your heart. That studied coldness, that lofty indifference to the cry of human misery, that icy expressionless countenance would give way to a positive attitude and love. The warmth of heaven comes into that hard and wintry face. This is the love of Jesus, just seeping in.
In the Book of Lamentations we see the prophet Jeremiah grieving over the spiritual destitution of Jerusalem. With a prophet's foresight he had foretold the physical destruction of Jerusalem. Now he weeps for the people of God. "Mine eye runneth down with rivers of water, for the destruction of the daughter of my people."
The art of modern hypocrisy is so advanced that they simply will not acknowledge that a higher standard of living is the full and final solution for their problems. How long are we going to delude ourselves into thinking that when we fill our homes with materialistic comforts of all sorts, then we shall be happy?
A lady in said, "TV has brought a total breakdown in communication in our home. Formerly, we used to sit and talk with each other. Now my husband and children are so taken up with the TV programmes, they scarcely talk to me." What a tragedy! Another woman would have become a nervous wreck. But this lady who had repented for her sins and found the wonderful healing which Jesus gives to a sin-sick soul, at one of our retreats in Europe, is proving that Jesus is sufficient for all her need. I could weep for her. How much suffering her husband inflicts on her.
There are homes around us for whom we must shed tears in prayer. Real prayer opens a fountain of compassion in our souls. I simply can't understand how people spend all their days in a sort of selfish seclusion. It seems as though they have told themselves, "Well, there is little I can do to lift the load of others, while I am literally crushed by my own load." So saying they shut their eyes and walk through life, occupying themselves with nothing but their own wants and pleasures. One could weep for such people. What poor miserable persons they are! They are a curse to their own children.
A life without Christ, a heart without compassion and tearless eyes are a great calamity. You don't know what you are missing. How it grieves me when I get letters, which say, "I have never known a father's love!" Let us weep in prayer for souls who are lost, love-lorn and bitter in this sad world of ours.
- Joshua Daniel
Captivity Taken Captive!
“Thou hast
ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive... Blessed be the Lord, who
daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation.” (Psalm 68:18
& 19)
God
hath destroyed the enemy that He may load us with benefits. He led captivity captive.
The evil one came and took mankind captive. Jesus Christ came and took the
armies of the evil one captive. He took captivity captive. So there is no fear
to those who look up to Jesus.
Once
David’s wives and the wives of his followers were carried away captive while he
was away. When David returned, he prayed to God and rescued the captive women
and destroyed the captors. Once enemies carried away all the goods of the king
of Sodom and they took Lot, Abraham’s nephew, as captive. Abraham went and delivered
Lot and brought back all that they had carried away. Think of Lot, how happy he
would have been when he saw his uncle coming to deliver him. When Jesus Christ
came, He took captivity captive; our enemies are defeated. So there must be a
sense of conquest in us. The final conqueror was Abraham, not Lot’s captors.
Just
think of how the wives of David’s men would have run to their husbands who
freed them. But we have not yet realised the victory we have got. We feel we
will fall into temptation. Oh, we fear so much that we will fall! No, that is
wrong.
“Captivity
is taken captive!” The ‘Prince of this world’ who had taken us prisoners is now
taken up as a prisoner. A sense of mastery over human nature must be in us.
Jesus conquered and so we will conquer too. He will infuse into us the same
victory as we look to the Cross.
“Blessed
be the Lord who loadeth us with benefits!” What are these benefits? The things
of this world and the worldly blessings are nothing to a spiritual man. The
benefits are Christ-likeness, Christ-like nature and Christ-like hope. “Be of
good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). That is the triumphant
note of Jesus’ message.
As a
Christian develops in the spirit, the Cross begins to fill his life. The Cross
fills his thoughts. To get any victory he comes again to the Cross. It was at
the Cross his resistance to God first broke down. It was there he got a broken
spirit.Only at the Cross, our
pride leaves us and the spirit of humility takes hold of us. It begins with a
sense of unworthiness. We pray, “Lord, have mercy on me!” We beg for God’s
mercy and grace—there are no merits in us for a plea. At the Cross all our
righteousness becomes filthy rags.
These
are the benefits we are loaded with. First the sense of unworthiness and then
the forgiveness of sins and then the sense of victory.As Jesus overcame, you too will
overcome. His nature comes into us and we are made into spiritual men to
exercise God’s power.
The
Jews ate bitter herbs with unleavened bread. You may eat bitter herbs but they
will not make your life bitter. They ate bitter herbs, but that very night they
marched out of Egypt and their bitter bondage ended. Your sorrow at the thought
of your sin may be very bitter. You may even come close to despair. But Egypt
ends there. The victorious march from Pharaoh’s kingdom begins.
Every
thought that God brings into your heart will be a great blessing to you and to
those around you. As you go into His presence, His thoughts take hold of you,
your will is strengthened and your affections are directed. You are being
shaped into a great personality. Let the Lord be your standard. That will keep
you humble and make you aim higher and higher.
No man
who goes into His presence early in the morning and studies the Bible will be
satisfied with himself. Do not compare yourself with others and be satisfied.
Wherever you go, remember that the first hour of the day belongs to God, and
you must be humbled there. The more you are hammered by the Word into His
likeness, the more your love is strengthened like the Love of God. Then your
healing and soul-winning ministry extends.
Moses’
word became power. He once trusted in his fist and was a murderer but now he
becomes the mouthpiece of God. He is loading us with benefits. God is making you
a magnetic personality which does not repel a sinner but attracts him.
“Behold, at that time I will undo all that
afflict thee: and I will save her that halteth, and gather her that was driven
out; and I will get them praise and fame in every land where they have been put
to shame.” (Zephaniah 3:19) Do not be afraid if people mock you, disgrace you
and drive you out. You have your rights with God. He will load you with His
benefits. One day the Lord will fill you with His Spirit and sanctify you and use
you to build His Kingdom. You will not fail. Be loaded with the benefits of God
at the foot of the Cross. A man with the mind of Christ is the strongest and
greatest man.
- N. Daniel
"Henry Martyn"
He is on of the best known nineteenth-century Christian missionaries. Martyn lived during the Napoleonic Wars, a period of great international upheaval as the British empire clashed with its European rivals in a struggle from which it emerged as a world superpower.
"Now let me burn out for God! " exclaimed Henry Martyn when he arrived in Calcutta in April, 1806. But he probably had little idea how fast the blaze would consume him. He died six years later at the age of 31. Eager to devote his life to the Lord's work in India, with an incredible determination and unselfish dedication, Martyn compressed a lifetime of service into those six years.
Early Life
Martyn was born in Truro, Cornwall. His father, John Martyn, was a "captain" or mine-agent at Gwennap. The lad was educated at Truro grammar school under Dr Cardew and he entered St John's College, Cambridge, in the autumn of 1797, and was senior wrangler and first Smith's prizeman in 1801. In 1802 he was chosen as a fellow of his college.
Divine Call
Martyn had planned to study law, but while at Cambridge, Pastor Charles Simeon of Holy Trinity Church stirred Martyn's interest in the Far East with stories of William Carey's work in India. The shoe cobbler Carey had gone to India in 1792, and within ten years had established a strong gospel witness in the region of Bengal. Martyn was also deeply moved by reading the journals of David Brainerd, the Puritan missionary in North America, who passionately labored among the Native Americans in the cause for Christ.
He resolved, accordingly to become a Christian missionary. On October 22, 1803, he was ordained deacon at Ely, and afterwards priest, and served as Simeon's curate at the church of Holy Trinity, taking charge of the neighbouring parish of Lolworth. He was about to offer his services to the Church Missionary Society, when a disaster in Cornwall deprived him and his unmarried sister of the provision their father had made for them, and rendered it necessary that he should obtain a salary that would support her as well as himself.
Mission to India
He accordingly obtained a chaplaincy under the British East India Company and left for India on July 5, 1805. For some months he was stationed at Aldeen, near Serampur. In October 1806 he proceeded to Dinapur, where he was soon able to conduct worship among the locals in the vernacular, and established schools. In April 1809 he was transferred to Kanpur, where he preached in his own compound, in spite of interruptions and threats.
Bible Translation
He occupied himself in linguistic study, and had already, during his residence at Dinapur, been engaged in revising the sheets of his Hindustani version of the New Testament. He now translated the whole of the New Testament into Urdu also, and into Persian twice. He translated the Psalms into Persian, the Gospels into Judaeo-Persic, and the Prayer-book into Hindustani(Urdu), in spite of ill-health and "the pride, pedantry and fury of his chief munshi Sabat." Ordered by the doctors to take a sea voyage, he obtained leave to go to Persia and correct his Persian New Testament, whence he wished to go to Arabia, and there compose an Arabic version
Accordingly, on October 1, 1810, having seen his work at Kanpur crowned on the previous day by the opening of a church, he left for Calcutta, whence he sailed on January 7, 1811 for Bombay, which he reached on his thirtieth birthday. In 1811 he left India for Persia, hoping to do further translations and to improve his existing ones, there and in Arabia. After an exhausting journey from the coast he reached Shiraz, and was soon plunged into discussion with the disputants of all classes, "Sufi, Muslim, Jew, and Jewish Muslim, even Armenian, all anxious to test their powers of argument with the first English priest who had visited them."
April 30, 1806, shortly after arrival in India, my soul was first sore tried by desponding thoughts; but God wonderfully assisted me to trust him for the wisdom of his dispensations. Truly, therefore, will I say again, "Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shall become a plain." How easy for God to do it; and it shall be done in good time: and even if I never should see a native converted, God may design by my patience and continuance in the work to encourage future missionaries. But what surprises me is the change of views I have here from what I had in England. There my heart expanded with hope and joy at the prospect of the speedy conversion of the heathen! But here the sight of the apparent impossibility requires a strong faith to support the spirit.
Oct 6, 1812, Last written words: No horses being to be had, I had an unexpected repose. I sat in the orchard, and thought, with sweet comfort and peace, of my God; in solitude my company, my friend and comforter.
Having made an unsuccessful journey to Tabriz to present the shah with his translation of the New Testament, he was seized with fever, and after a temporary recovery, had to seek a change of climate. On September 12, 1812, he started with two Armenian servants, crossed the Araxes, rode from Tabriz to Erivan, from Erivan to Kars, from Kars to Erzerum. On the 16th of October he died.
- Great Men & Women who changed the world
"Reality Check"
"Truly my soul waiteth upon God: from him cometh my salvation." Ps 62:1
God at Work
A
Professor of Surgery from Sydney University had just returned from the island
of Tierra del Fuego at the southern tip of South America where he had been
continuing his studies into the life of the famous biologist, Charles Darwin.
He was reminded that even Charles Darwin, the man who propounded the theory of
evolution, admitted the presence of sin within the hearts of people,
particularly the natives of Tierra del Fuego whom he described as ‘the most
savage people’ he had ever seen.
Darwin wrote that he found among the people the most horrifying savagery and
bestiality beyond description. But when he returned there after a missionary
arrived to work among the people, he was amazed at the change in them.
He acknowledged that the gospel does transform lives. He was so moved by what
he saw that he contributed money to the mission until his death. He also wrote
to a new minister in his home village:
“Your services have done more for our
village in a few months than all our efforts for many years. We have never been
able to reclaim a single drunkard, but through your services I do not know that
there is a drunkard left in the village!” Only the Gospel Can Transform a
Nation. The Gospel is no gossip!
Proud Words Turned to Ashes
Be Careful in What you say and Do!
Death is certain but the Bible
speaks about untimely death! Make a personal reflection about the sudden end
that came to some of these men and women who mocked God and bragged about
themselves.
John Lennon (Beatles):
In 1966, during his interview
with an American Magazine, he said: “Christianity will end, it will disappear.
I do not have to argue about that... I am certain. Jesus was ok, but his
subjects were too simple, today we are more famous than Him!"
Lennon, after saying that the
Beatles were more famous than Jesus Christ,
was shot six times and met his
end in a very tragic way.
Tancredo Neves
(President of Brazil):
During the Presidential campaign,
he said if he got 500,000 votes from his party, not even God would remove him
from Presidency!
Sure, he got the votes, but he
got sick a day before being made President,
then he died.
Cazuza
(Bi-sexual Brazilian composer, singer and poet):
During a show in Canecio ( Rio de
Janeiro ),while smoking his cigarette,
he puffed out some smoke into the
air and said: “God, that’s for you.”
He died at the age of 32 of lung
cancer in a horrible manner.
The man who
built the Titanic:
After the construction of
Titanic, a reporter asked him how safe the Titanic would be. With an ironic
tone he said: “Not even God can sink it!”
The result: We all know what
happened to the Titanic.
Marilyn Monroe
(Actress)
She was visited by Billy Graham
during a presentation of a show. He said the Spirit of God had sent him to
preach to her. After hearing what the preacher had to say, she said: “I don’t
need your Jesus.”
A week later, she was found dead
in her apartment, having taken an overdose of sleeping pills to end her life.
Bon Scott
(Singer) The ex-vocalist of the AC/DC
On one of his 1979 songs he sang:
“Don’t stop me; I’m going down all the way, down the highway to hell.”
On the 19thof February 1980, Bon Scott was found dead, as hehad been choked by his own vomit.
Campinas
In 2005, at Campinas, Brazil , a
group of friends, drunk, went to pick up a friend. The mother accompanied her
to the car and was so worried about the drunkenness of her friends. So she said
to the daughter holding her hand, who was already seated in the car: “My
Daughter, Go With God And May He Protect You.”
She responded: “Only If He (God)
travels in the trunk, ’cause inside here... it’s already full.”
Hours later, news came by that
they had been involved in a fatal accident and everyone had died. It could not
be recognized what type of car it had been, but surprisingly, the trunk was
intact. The police said there was no way the trunk could have remained intact.
To their surprise, inside the trunk was a crate of eggs, but none was broken!
Christine Hewitt
(Jamaican Journalist and Entertainer)
Hewitt said the Bible (Word of
God) was the worst book ever written. In June 2006 she was found burnt beyond
recognition in her motor vehicle.
Many more important people have forgotten
that there is no other name that was given so much authority as the name of
Jesus. Many have died, but only Jesus died and rose again, and He is still
alive.
“For it is written, As I live, saith the
Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So
then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.” Romans 14:11-12
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About Us
This newsletter is produced six times per year by the Laymen’s Evangelical Fellowship International. It is printed and distributed in the US, UK, Germany, Singapore, Canada, and Australia and is supported by unsolicited sacrificial gifts of young people. For a free subscription or for other enquiries, please contact any of the addresses below.
This Fellowship is an inter-denominational missionary and prayer group working for revival in churches and amongst students in several countries. We invite every layperson to become God’s ally in changing his or her corner of the world. We train people in evangelistic work and to be self-supporting missionaries.
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