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CSI Good News
(Church of South India Good News)
Vol. 13 / Issue 10 / April 7 2011
Contents of this issue
Editorial
Why John MacArthur is Wrong! - Part 9
Join us in Facebook
News Items (Common to all issues) :
Through the Valley of Death & other Books
Download Articles in Handheld Computers
Kids Page - Free Tutorials
Hindi / Malayalam/Tamil Bible Online
Your Spam Folder
Your Feedback
Editorial
By Sherly Isaac
When I was a small child, my mom would often tell me that speaking lies or doing wrong things are bad things. She would say that, "Jesus has gone back to heaven and preparing houses for us and whenever we do bad things like speak a lie, hurt or cheat someone every time of each bad work one brick will fall off of the house which Jesus is preparing for us. If our house is not complete we cannot go to heaven."
Though this is not biblically correct, I would like to put it this way that whenever we sin, whenever we commit a crime we are moving closer to hell. Because Bible tells us that, "no sinner would ever enter in heaven". Bible tells us that we all have sinned as we read in Romans 3:23, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God". And in Romans 6:23, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Our sins separate us from God and there is no way that we could ever come near God with all our sins. But God in His great mercy provided a way for us so that we could come near to Him and could have a relationship with Him. For this very purpose Jesus came in this world and shed His precious blood on the cruel cross. Jesus said in Matthew 26:27-28, "Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins."
If we want our sins to be forgiven, we need to come to Jesus. 1 John 1:7-9 says that, "But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
Today our sins can be forgiven because of the precious blood of Jesus and we can come near God with boldness. Not only that, when our sins are forgiven, Jesus promised for mansions in heaven for the saved children of God. As we read the words of Jesus in John 14:1-6, "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know. Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?" Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."
What a wonderful thing it is that we can come out of our sins and there by we can have eternal life - A life that will never fade away. What a privilege to come near the awesome God and enjoy in His presence. What an honor to know Him as our Father!
Why John MacArthur is Wrong! - Part 9
By Sherly Isaac
To read previous parts or next parts please click on these links:
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17, Part 18, Part 19
John MacArthur writes in his book titled, "Hard to Believe: The High Cost and Infinite Value of Following Jesus" (page 8-9), "In Mark 10:17 the young synagogue leader ran up to Jesus, knelt before Him, and asked, "Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?"
What a setup for personal evangelism! Jesus could have said, "Pray this prayer" or "Make a decision to accept Me!"
Here we read the stunning comment made by John MacArthur on the reply of Jesus. The point John MacArthur wanted to make is that, "we do not need to pray a prayer of repentance or to make a decision to accept Jesus with a prayer of repentance." Just because Jesus dealt with this young man in a different way or did not ask him to do so does not mean that 'deciding to accept Jesus' or 'praying a repentance prayer' is in any way a wrong concept. While we read in John 1:12-13, "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."
In the above story Jesus is not saying that salvation of our soul is dependent on any human good work or denying ourselves. In fact it is just the opposite as we read in Eph 2:8-9, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." Jesus wanted this young man to realize that the kingdom of God is something that must be "received" with complete trust and with complete dependence on God and not trusting in our wealth, money or even denying ourselves. This rich young man's wealth made him self-reliant which was holding him back from receiving eternal life but Jesus wanted to help him to trust in God instead of on his wealth.
If Jesus meant that we cannot enter into heaven or we cannot get eternal life if we have great wealth and possessions then the followers of Jesus must have been poor, broken down and entirely hopeless beggars. But instead, all those who had followed Him were entitled to possess great blessings and even wealth in their lives. Jesus said in Mat 6:25-33, "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; "and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. "Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? "Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' "For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you."
Also Apostle Paul says in Romans 10:9-10, "that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."
All these verses tell us, how much important it is to confess with our mouth and how important it is to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Without accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior we cannot become children of God.
On the day of Pentecost Peter stood among the people and proclaimed the word of God. When he was speaking people were convicted of their sins and they asked Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:37-38)
Further we read in Acts 2:40-41, And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, "Be saved from this perverse generation." Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.
Once Paul and Silas were thrown in prison and while they were singing and praising God a great earthquake came and all the chains were loosed of the prisoners. When the prison guard saw that the doors were open, he wanted to kill himself but Paul said in Acts 16:28-31, "But Paul called with a loud voice, saying, "Do yourself no harm, for we are all here." Then he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. And he brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" So they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household."
Jesus Himself said in Mark 16:15-16, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned." And in John 3:16-18, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."
All the above verses talk about how we can get forgiveness of sin by just believing in Jesus and not by denying ourselves. If we deny ourselves or if we give up our wealth and possessions still we cannot get salvation of our souls until we come at the feet of Jesus and accept Him as our Lord and Savior.
John MacArthur has misunderstood how the salvation of God could be received, which is not by any other means than by our simple faith in Christ and by accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior who shed His precious blood on the cruel cross to purchase pardon for our sinful souls.
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Through the Valley of Death & other Books
As many of you know that in the year 2005, our dad was very sick even unto death. God miraculously healed him. We have compiled it in a book form. I sure believe that it will inspire you and encourage you greatly.
This book is available for purchase at JasmineCorp Store
Also read these two books by Sherly Isaac "Allah and Elohim - Are they the same God" Available at JasmineCorp Store, and "Is Jesus God?" Available at JasmineCorp Store,
Both books compares the Bible and the Quran and read eye opening facts about Jesus, God of the Bible, Allah and Islamic faith. I am sure that you want to read this.
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Hindi / Malayalam/Tamil Bible Online
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Your feedback and comments are Welcome. Please send your Parish news & articles to Editor (Sherly N. Isaac) at this address News@csinewsletter.comThe messages submitted will be checked whether they are correct according to the word of God. Editor reserves the right to accept, reject or edit the messages. The writers are responsible for the contents of their writings.
 
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