Idol worship.

Que.  I’m from India,a Christian.From my childhood my parents prohibit me from going to Hindu temples and mosque. Now I am in college, my friends of other faith persuade me to go to temples and other religious centres.Is it wrong? My parents say that those places have evil spirits and possibly possess me. Who is correct – my parents or friends?

Ans.  Dear son, your parents are absolutely right and NEVER go with your friends to any temple or mosques ever to worship with them.  The Bible is very clear that those who do not trust in Christ are under the power of the evil spirits (Eph.2:2).  In fact, the whole world is under the power of the evil one (1John 5:19).  The Bible very clearly tells that those who sacrifice to idols are sacrificing to demons (1Cor.10:20).  So  NEVER go to temples or guru-dwaras or mosques ever to worship.

I need to give you a little more clarification about this.  Then only you will understand why this is very important.

Son, all religions say that man is a sinner.  We know this to be true in our personal life and in the life of all our friends.  There is selfishness, anger, envy, jealousy, pride etc etc in all our hearts.  These are the things which separate us from a holy God who is our one and only creator.  The Bible calls these attitudes of our hearts sin.  Sin is not merely adultery and murder or stealing.  Sin is the corrupt nature of our heart.

When any one calls on God without settling the sin problem, true holy God can NEVER listen.   When any one calls on god without a clean heart, only duplicate gods or gods of imagination will come to their aid. Demons come in the name of god and get their worship. Remember only house flies will come if there is some dirt in a place. Is it not?  You can never see a honey bee where there is dirt.

You can hear your friends who go to temples talk about miracles and answers to prayer.  True, Satan can perform miracles and that is how Satan is able to keep them in his fold. The Bible is very clear that when any one worships any idol, worship goes to demons (Acts 7:41,42).  But if you ask them whether their sins are forgiven, they will never be able to say it.  Truly, it is impossible for man to get forgiveness of sins by self effort (Mat.19:25,6).

So the Bible tells us that God made the way for man to be forgiven by sending His sinless Son as a man to this earth and Jesus took the punishment of our sins and if we repent and trust in Christ, we will be forgiven and our harts will be cleansed.  Then when we call on God, true and living God who is our only creator will listen to us and answer our prayers.

So what you need is to invite Christ into your heart now and become a child of God.  I will give you the link below which you can use to do that and you can know for sure that God has forgiven you and that you are a child of God.  May God bless you and make you a channel through whom many of your friends too will experience salvation and forgiveness of sins.    Here is the link for you.  www.4stepstogod.com/

If you have any more doubt or question please do not hesitate asking us.  I personally want to be with you and pray for you so that you can have a life full of blessings by God Almighty.  May His name be praised through your life.  Amen.

 

 

Is God partial?

God doesn’t show favoritism, says the Bible. Then why does God show visitation to some people who have never pursued him while to some, not? And why does He give great gifts to some of his elects and not to all?

You are right.  God does not show favoritism. Then you asked why He shows visitation to some people and not others.

The answer is very simple.  God visits some who never pursued Him and not others because some where some one is praying for those whom God is visiting.  Remember that only in answer to prayer God does any thing spiritual in the world today (Mat.7:7; James 4:2). 

Then you asked why He gives great gifts to some of His people and not to all.  Good question. 

God Himself gives answer to your question in 1Cor.12.  Read that chapter several times until you are able to understand what God says about different gifts to different people.  Take special note of v.24. 

Same is true about riches and poverty.   God is not showing favoritism but when you read the first chapter of the book of James you will come to know that riches and poverty are the trials of your faith. Read the whole chapter but see vv.9-11 specially. 

God is never partial.  If you don’t have some thing, you have some thing else which others don’t have (James 2:5). God bless!

 

Inter-caste marriage

I am a 23 year old guy. I was in a relationship with a girl in the same college. We started liking each other and even submitted to God before we took a decision to start our relationship. As time went by we decided to marry and also informed our parents who were interested to look into the matter. There was some problem related to caste even though both of us are from born again Christian families. As things grew serious the girls family summoned a prophet who prophesied about our relationship as not God’s will. We love each other very much and now are on the verge of separation due to this move taken by the girl’s family.  I personally am deeply hurt and don’t know what to do in this case. Can this be a true cause of not marrying?!!

Dear son, I am sorry to hear about your situation.  Tragically in India caste is playing a major role even among born again Christians.  Truly it is of the devil.  It is a pity that our people do not realize this.

You knew it very well all your life.  Specially, if you are from a so-called lower caste and the girl is from a higher caste, you knew things would not materialize that easily.  Knowing the Indian situation fully well, I think you did a foolish move to love a girl from another community.

And in India, love marriages are still looked at by the society as not normal.  When some one opts for such a marriage, one should realize that he/she is challenging a well established culture which has its roots going back to 5000 years.  The Indian society has not accepted love marriages as the pattern yet.  Marriages in India are done by two families coming together in agreement about the future of their children and not merely by two young people deciding their future.

So, in opting for a love marriage you were challenging two highly rooted cultural cores of the Indian society.  Naturally, you had to expect uneasy situations as you are now in.

But tragically, the girl’s family is withdrawing from the situation based on a so-called prophet and his predictions.  It is a pity that born again Christians do not study the word to know for sure that we do NOT have apostles and prophets today in the church.  Please read Eph 2:20 where it is clearly said that the church is  “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone”.

When the Bible was not completed, God used the Apostles and prophets to communicate the mind of God.  When the Bible was completed, the gifts of Apostles and prophets are no more in the church today. Today in the church we have Evangelists and Pastor-teachers. We do not read about Evangelists in the early church till we come to the 21st chapter of Acts (v.8).  By that time the church had past its infancy. Compare Eph 4:11 to see the truth for yourself.  “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers”,

Tragically, today’s prophets preach the deceit of their own heart as in the days of Jeremiah (Jer.23:26).  So that is not a valid reason at all.  The reason is cultural which the girl’s parents are hiding giving it a spiritual appearance.  What a tragedy!  You should have foreseen all these when you entered into a relationship with a girl from another community.

We need young believers in India who can challenge this caste feelings in the church, not by love marriages, but by arranged marriages.  If two are compatible in all other respects, caste should not play a role in deciding marriages among born again Christians.  May we pray that such a time will emerge in the Indian church soon.  May the good Lord give you grace to get over the present predicament. God bless!

 

Inter-caste marriage

I am from India,where there are a lot of castes. People from one caste don’t marry people of other caste, but being Christians should we follow that? Even though our parents are Christians, they don’t allow inter-caste marriage. How should we deal with this kind of situation, where both the bride and groom are Christians but of a different caste?

The Bible clearly says that once a person accepts Christ that he/she is a new creation (2Cor.5:17) and that he/she is now a member of a new nation (1Pet.2:9).  While this is the real truth, generally that truth is not put in practice even by born again believers in India.

There are many reasons for the same.   Caste in India is basically based on social and economic status.  It is highly unimaginable for a high caste Hindu girl to be the wife of an untouchable!    One must remember there are a lot of cultural problems.  Each caste and sub-caste has its own cultural strands and sometimes it will not be tolerable by other groups.   Simple example is food habits.  One thing which is panacea for one group is poison for another group. I know of a newly married couple who has to cook two different kinds of meals at home!

Another situation in India is that marriages are arranged by parents and elders and it is not just an agreement between young couples but two families coming into a contract with each other. That makes the situation more complicated. Is it imaginable to have family and their relatives being engaged together in one place with a family which is socially and economically  incompatible?

As we all know, no marriage is without problems.  But why invite more problems knowingly by being in alignment with a family which is not compatible in any way.

On the other hand, if the families are educated and socially able to accept each other, inter-caste marriage is ideal which will bring glory to God.  God bless!

 

Why death?

Question Text:  Why did God plant death upon the human race and why wouldn’t he grant life for those worthy?

Answer Text:  The Bible is very clear that death was NOT a part of God’s original creation.  We read about creation of man in Gen.1:26-31.   V.31 ends with the comment. “very good’.   If death and decay was a part of the creation, such a comment would be out of place.

But  in the second chapter God tells man that if he ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, he would die (Gen.2:15-17).  And from the third chapter of Genesis we know that man disobeyed God and thus man brought death into the world.

Please read what St. Paul says about the coming of death in to the world from Rom 5:12.  “Sin came into the world through one man, and his sin brought death with it. As a result, death has spread to the whole human race because everyone has sinned”. So it is very clear that death is the result of sin and if there was no sin,  there would not be death in the world.

Now,  the second part of your question is self explanatory.  Surely God would grant life to any one who is worthy!  In the Old Testament we know that Enoch did not die (Gen.5:24).   So is the case with Elijah (2 Kings 2:11).  The Bible clearly says that God has no partiality (Rom.2:11).   If some one today were to live like Enoch or Elijah,  surely they would not need to face death.  Have you found any one with out envy, jealousy, malice, pride, anger, selfishness etc.  which are sins which separate us from God?

In fact,  death means separation.  But God in grace  offers free salvation  through Christ our Lord by His death on the cross (Rom.3:23-26).  And to a believer in Christ physical death is just a sleep as Jesus promised that those who believe in Him shall never die (John 11:26 cf. 1Thes.4:15)!   Praise be to His Holy Name.  Amen.

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Meaning of Mt.22:14.

Question Text:   What does the Bible mean when it says, “Many are called but few are chosen”?

Answer Text:  This verse is found in Mat.22:14, at the end of the parable of the marriage feast told by our Lord. The good news of salvation is for the whole humanity. But tragically all do not have a chance to hear about this. Many are given a chance to hear this invitation. From among the many who hear the invitation, only few would ever respond to the call of God. Those who respond come under the category of the chosen ones.

The question of divine election is a mysterious doctrine. In the Old Testament God wanted ‘one’ nation through whom He would give His revelation to humanity. He wanted to bless the world through them (Gen.12:3). He chose them at random. Moses talking about the election of Israel in Dt. 7 tells them that God loved them because He loved them (v.8). No other reason is given for the election of Israel to their special privilege.

Coming to the New Testament, the Bible does NOT say that God chooses any one at random today. All are given the opportunity to respond to the gospel but only few will in fact respond to the call of God. So in the New Testament era, God chooses all who choose Him. In His foreknowledge God knows who all would choose Him (1Pet.1:2) and makes it possible for them to hear His invitation. All who hear the invitation may never accept His call. But few among them wiill respond and such are the ones who become chosen of the Lord for His glory.

 

Striving In Prayer?

Question text:  Why did God wrestle with Jacob in Genesis 32? What was the point?

Answer text:  You have a very good question.  Many well meaning Christians do not understand the logic of prayer.  They say, rightly so, that God is loving and almighty and He knows all our needs even before we ask Him.  No loving parent who knows the need of children would ever wait for children to ask. But Jesus, after telling that our father knows  before we ask goes on to say, “Therefore pray in this way “(Mt.6:9).   Please note the last phrase of the verse in Mt. 7:11.  “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father in Heaven give good things to those who ask Him?” (Matthew 7:11).  And James says, “you have not… because you ask not” (Js.4:2).

The Bible contains what is known as progressive revelation.  For example, if the Book of Revelation was not there, we would not have known who that serpent was who came to the garden of Eden to deceive Eve.  But Rev.12:9 makes it clear that it was the Devil who was that old servant.   Now, the OT can be understood  only in the light of the NT.  While OT is the shadow of things to come, NT makes things explicit.   In OT we read about men praying.  The NT makes it clear that with out prayer God would not do any thing spiritual in the world today (Mt.7:7; Js.4:2). The NT also goes on to say  that the will of God is achieved only through striving in prayer (Rom.15:30-32).  Striving in prayer is essential  not because God is unwilling to fulfill His promises but because Satan is against us enjoying God’s best for us.

One of the greatest truths of the Bible is that God does NOT fight the devil!   How can the infinite God fight against his own finite creature who rebelled against Him?  After all, when God became man in Christ our Lord,  He asked us to love our enemies.  How could He Himself fight against His own enemy?  Satan knows it and He prevents man from enjoying God’s best for them.  But we can resist the devil and remove Satanic hindrance for us to enter into the perfect will  of God.

This is the truth that is exemplified in the life of Jacob.  At Bethel God promised  Jacob that He would bless him (Gen.28).  Jacob, after 20 years of his sojourn,  became more miserable and helpless.  But then at Peniel (ch.32) Jaocb wrestles with the Lord and enters into the blessing that was promised at Bethel.  His name was changed now.  So wrestling in prayer is not trying to move an unwilling God but rather it is resisting against the devil to remove his hindrance  to obtain the promises of God.

Again this truth is exemplified in the life of Daniel.  In ch.9 Daniel learns that the captivity was to come to an end at the end of 70 years.  Living at the end of 70 years Daniel turns his face to God in fasting and in prayer asking God to fulfill His promises for His people.  In the tenth chapter of Daniel we see that Daniel had to fast and pray for 21 days (or wrestle in prayer) to remove Satanic hindrance before he could get answer from the Lord  (Dan.10:2,3  cf.vv.12,13).

Let us learn this truth clearly that all promises of God remain promises unless they are claimed in prayer.  There are areas where Satanic hindrance is heavy and we need to strive in prayer before we can enter into the promises of God.  May the Lord help us to learn this truth and may He give us grace to strive in prayer against Satan and his viles. If interested please read my small book on prayer from www.mathewpaul.org/category/book-on-prayer . God bless

 

Why Christians Suffer Pre-mature or Cruel Deaths?

Question Text:

You know how they say that God will protect you and shower you with blessings once you trust in him. My question is that, there are so many people that are Christians that die horrible deaths, untimely deaths, etc.. So how come God’s protection is not there at these times?

There was a Muslim convert that I knew of that decided to, in spite of the controversies that his conversion had sparked, preach the gospel in Kashmir. He was shot during one of his sermons. If he was under the protection of godthen this should not have happened, and if you say that this was God’s will, then isn’t it possible for any of us, old or young, to die or suffer and any
point in time without any guarantee?

So even if I love God and trust him, it IS possible that I will lose lovedones and that I will suffer in the future, and that I may die a terrible and untimely death right? Isn’t that scary? And wouldn’t there be more fear in me knowing all these things?

Answer Text:

Thank you for your excellent questions.

Natasha,  The Bible clearly promises that God will indeed protect His children as the apple of His own eyes.  There are many promises which are crystal clear that angels of God watch over His children and protect them from all possible dangers.  But there are at least two exceptions to it.

On two different occasions I did experience the mighty hands of God in my personal life.  Both happened in road accidents.  First was when I  was driving in 1985, my Matador van was found to have a break failure when it was at 75 kms speed.  A car was getting a tyre change on the road side and opposite came a heavy laden lorry at full speed.  When I applied break, pedal went right in and my van would not stop.  With nine of us in the van, I was not willing for a collision either with the repairing car on the road side or with the lorry coming from the opposite direction. And I turned completely left and came right out of the road.  Who can believe what happened?   My van came to a perfect stand still while the back wheel was still on the tar road!!  Would you believe that a three month old child who was sleeping in the mother’s lap did not wake up nor any one knew that I had a break failure!!  My hair pulls up even today when I think of it.   Who can explain how my van came to a perfect stop when there was NOT EVEN  ONE DROP of break fluid in the cylinder?

Another time in 2004 my Maruti Omni toppled in the ghat roads on the way down from Kodai Kanal.  Driver broke his hand and I had to spend Rs.10k to get all the window glasses and other repairs for the van.  Would you believe,  I was sitting in the front seat  WITH OUT a seat belt  AND  YET  I DID NOT FALL DOWN!! The van was on the road with wheels on the side and I was still sitting straight in it!!  How will you explain my experiences if God did not protect me?

Ok,   now to your questions.   It is true that many Christians DO suffer premature deaths and suffer in accidents by illness.   Study the situation individually, we always have an explanation about it with out fail.   While the Bible is clear that God protects His people, the Bible also tells us that on certain occasions He permits them to go through untimely deaths and accidents.   Please read (1Co 11:30)  “That’s why many of you are sick and weak and why a lot of others have died”. This verse clearly tells us that some of God’s children have premature deaths and suffer illness or accidents BECAUSE there was some thing in them displeasing to the Lord.  They did NOT bother to live lives pleasing to the Lord and the Lord had to interfere in their lives so that they will NOT go to hell and suffer there.  Please read (1Co 11:32)  “But when the Lord judges and punishes us, he does it to keep us from being condemned with the rest of the world”.  Natasha,  you know that all Christians are NOT living perfect lives,  don’t you?  If a child of God commits sins God will punish him here and now and wont send hem to hell as the unbelievers because  their eternal punishment was born by Christ on the Cross.

Then there is another reason.  You mentioned about the Muslim convert being shot dead. It need NOT be that He was living an unacceptable life before God.   Did you know that all the 12 apostles of Christ died cruel deaths like their Master and Lord?   It is because the Bible says that only those who suffer with Him will reign with Him (2Tim.2:12).  The Bible says that if you are called to suffer for the sake of Christ, it is a higher calling and it is NOT for every body.   God chooses a few to suffer for Him in this world so that they can be with Him as rulers in the Eternal Kingdom.

Your fear it might happen to you is a possibility.   But would you be rather comfortable on this earth for fifty or a hundred years and be willing to suffer for all through eternity?

Natasha, the only heaven for unbelievers is here on earth and you know how long they can enjoy it here and remember the ONLY hell for the followers of Christ is this earth.   What will you choose if option is given to you?  Surely, choice is yours and you need to make up your mind.   But mind you, the call to suffering is NOT UNIVERSAL for all followers of Christ.   It is only for the selected few.  For example, if you are chosen to write the IAS exam,  would you be happy or sad?    And yet, preparing for IAS;   is it an easy task?  Would you think that the difficulties involved in the preparation period is any thing worth comparing to what comes after the result?   The Bible says,   (2Co 4:17)  “And this small and temporary trouble we suffer will bring us a tremendous and eternal glory, much greater than the trouble’.  When the Lord calls some one for it,  He also will give grace along.  Read what Paul says in (Act 20:23,4  GNB)  “I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit has warned me that prison and troubles wait for me. But I reckon my own life to be worth nothing to me; I only want to complete my mission and finish the work that the Lord Jesus gave me to do, which is to declare the Good News about the grace of God”.  God bless!

 

Christian cults!

Question Text:   Is New Testament Church(USA)/The Pentecostal Mission(India)/Ceylon Pentecostal Mission(Sri Lanka)/Universal Pentecostal Church(UK) a christian cult organization or a good doctrinal Church?

Answer Text:  Any group which claims to be exclusively God`s people and who claim that no one else other than they who belong to that group will ever be saved, is to be considered a cult. If that is what those groups which you mentioned teach, then it is best to avoid them. God has not given authority to any human agency to be His agents here on earth. Any one, any where who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved (Rom.10:13). That clearly is the teaching of the Scriptures. One need not associate oneself with a particular human group to be able to do that. While salvation is a free gift based on the atoning work of Christ (Rom.3:24) which is to be received by faith alone (Eph.2:8), our status in heaven depends on what we do with the least of the commandments of the Word (Mt.5:19). So each of us must make sure that we call upon the name of God through Christ our Lord and walk in His path as found in His Word. One must also make sure that one is associated with a group of people who are trying to do the same. No denominational teaching is ever found in the New Testament. In the book of Acts God`s people came together to worship and then went out to witness. Local group of believers were led by a group of elders. We do NOT read about ONE PASTOR for one church in the New Testament. We do not read about local bodies of believers coming together to form an organization with elected officials to guide them.   Where in the New Testament do we read about Central Pastors or Bishops who have sway over several churches in a geographical area?    These are all man made additions and we need to be careful not to fall prey to such traps of the devil. I wonder why many ignore the New Testament teaching about the independence of local assemblies of God`s people as found in the New Testament! I wonder why many would dare to name a group and make them to be exclusively the saved ones! If we are to believe what the Bible teaches about the triune-ness of Godhead and all other doctrines, on what ground are we allowed to reject the doctrine of the `church` as taught in the New Testament? May the Lord save us from falling into the pit of the devil. May His name alone be glorified through us. Amen.

 

Bindi (Hindu mark of respect) and Christian believer.

Queston text:  Is wearing Bindi(Mostly Indian women wear on middle of forehead) wrong in christianity? Give us bibilical answer please.

Answer text:

Indian culture is very much influenced by the Indian religion. In fact, it is very difficult to separate Indian culture from its religion. Most of the cultural practices are based on some religious concepts. Bindi is no exception. It was originally given by the poojaries as a mark of approval after idols were worshipped. Though Bindi today has become just a beauty spot, originally it has had its religious implications. Now to answer your question whether it is right for a Christian believer to use it, you need to see it in this light. We are commanded in the Bible that no relics of idolatry is to be brought home lest we be cursed(Dt.7:25,26). Read what the Psalmist would say about other gods in Psa.16:4. God hates idolatry and worship of other gods because it destroys the worshipper and takes the worshipper away from God for time and for eternity. So no trace of idolatry is to be found any where near the child of God. God bless!