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CSI Good News
(Church of South India Good News)
Vol. 13 / Issue 9 / March 31 2011
Contents of this issue
Editorial
Why John MacArthur is Wrong! - Part 8
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
Bible tells in Rom 3:23-24, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus," And in Rom 6:23, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
When God created the human beings He created them perfect without sin, but Adam and Eve could not withstand the temptation and they ate the forbidden fruit. The consequence was terrible because as soon as they ate the forbidden fruit which God told them not to eat, they died spiritually. They lost everything including the presence of God. Sin came in this world so did all the troubles, trials, heartbreaks, pain, sorrow and even death.
Today we sin because the same corrupted blood is flowing through our nerves. That one act of sin brought Adam and Eve to nothing. They lost the goodness and blessings which God gave them in their lives. They had to leave the Garden of Eden and they had to toil for their living. The most tragic thing that happened was that they died spiritually so that they were separated from God and also physical death awaited them. Because of our sins death came as well as the punishment of hell. But God in His mercy sent His only Son to die for us and to take the punishment over Himself so that we could have eternal life.
Sometimes people think that, "Oh, Adam and Eve sinned many thousands of years ago. So how could their sins affect us?"
Now look at the effect of the failure of nuclear reactors in Japan. Three out of the four reactors are in trouble. Despite all the efforts, nuclear radiation is leaking and one reactor having been cracked, nuclear materials are pouring out into the ocean. Even within three weeks it had traveled through the air from there and had reached USA and minuscule amounts of radiations have been found in milk. Something that had happened in Japan which is more than 5000 miles away had its effect in USA.
If a person gets exposed to high amount of radiation, it would kill him because it is highly poisonous.
Sin that came in this world through Adam and Eve has corrupted everything. We are already exposed to the deadly poison called sin and one day it would surely kill us. But God made a way for us so that we could escape death and could find life through the shed blood of Jesus on the cruel cross.
Before going to the cross, Jesus told His disciples in Mat 26:26-28, "And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, "Take, eat; this is My body. 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."
The blood of Jesus eradicates the deadly poison of sin from our lives, removes death from our lives and gives us new life that is ever lasting. Jesus said in John 10:10, "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly."
Why John MacArthur is Wrong! - Part 8
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 6), "Anyone who wants to come after Jesus into the kingdom of God - anyone who wants to be a Christian - as to face three commands: 1) deny himself' 2) take up his cross daily, and 3)follow Him. These words are hard to believe. They're not consumer friendly or seeker-sensitive. Christianity Lite is nowhere to be found."
I think that John MacArthur has mixed up, "Salvation of our souls" and "walking with God as Disciples of Jesus" together and he has messed up the whole thing. If we really want to become a Christian then we really do not need to do anything except to repent from our sins, turn to God and accept Him as our Lord and Savior.
Bible tells us 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."
When a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews came to Jesus and during the conversation, Jesus told him in John 3:3, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?(John 3:4)" Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. (John 3:5)"
Jesus made it very clear that by denying ourselves or by our own efforts we could never become a Christian or could never be able to get rid of our sins. The criterion for getting saved is very simple. Just come to Jesus and fall at His feet. All the other things like denying ourselves, taking the cross daily and following Him will all be coming far later. But the first thing is that we need to be born again, we need to get forgiveness of our sins. Bible also tells us that without holiness no one will see the Lord as we read in Heb 12:14, "Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord." When Adam and Eve sinned, they were removed from the presence of God. The separation which came because of sin continues even today and this separation can only be removed when our sins are forgiven. When one's sins are forgiven he/she unites with God and becomes a child of God. All else things come later on.
In the New Testament we read that when people were turning to Christ, they were confessing their sins and taking baptism. They were repenting of their sins and were added in the Church. Even Jesus started His ministry preaching the repentance of sin as we read in Mark 1:14-15, ".... Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel."
So we can see that confessing our sins, repenting from our sins and accepting Jesus is the first step to become a Christian or to become a child of God. Unless we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we do not have any part in Him.
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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.
Download Articles in Handheld Computers
You can now download articles in Palm Doc format for your palm handheld computer. It will work with any devise that has Palm OS and Palm Doc Reader installed. To download click on the link named "Palm Doc Format" i.e. at the top of this page by the side of each articles.
Kids Page - Free Tutorials
Now you can learn Graphics and web designing online at Kid's page. These tutorials are free for kids who subscribe for CSI Kids Newsletter. Currently tutorials for Paint Shop Pro, HTML and Dreamweaver are available.
So please enroll your kids by going to http://kids.csinewsletter.org/member/join.asp
And visit CSI Kid's page at http://kids.csinewsletter.org
Hindi / Malayalam/Tamil Bible Online
Now you can read Bible in Hindi online at http://www.hindibible.org
in Malayalam online at http://www.malayalambible.org
in Tamil online at http://www.hindibible.org?ver=tamil
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Your Feedback
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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