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Showing posts from June, 2011

Here Comes Another Lost Tribe!

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Raj Kosaraju and 6,306 others like this. June 24th, 2011 Thousands of kilometers to the east, in the furthest reaches of northeastern India, a long-lost community continues to nourish its age-old dream of returning to its ancient homeland, the land of Israel. The Bnei Menashe, or “sons of Manasseh,” are descendants of one of the 10 lost tribes of Israel, which were exiled by the Assyrian empire more than 27 centuries ago. The community, which numbers 7,232 people, resides primarily in the Indian states of Mizoram and Manipur, along the border with Burma and Bangladesh. Despite generations of wandering, the Bnei Menashe never forgot who they were, where they had come from, or where they aspired to return. Three times a day, every day, they turn in silent prayer toward Jerusalem, pleading with the Creator to put an end to their long exile and bring them home to Zion. That dream is now poised, at last, to become a reality. This past Monday, an extraordinary meeting of the

This is not the time for grieving. This is a time for believing.

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I remember the last time when he came to see me off at Nagpur airport on October 3, 2007. We attended a couple of meetings the whole week and I was heading to Belgaum enroute Mumbai.  We finished the wonderful programs on the 2nd October in which more than 1200 participants gave a commitment to serve Jesus. It was the hard work by many godly servants of Nagpur. Pastor Benjamin Joseph was one leader among them who was humble, soft spoken, always cheerful, servant heart attitude and above all gentle in spirit. I saw him a couple of years ago on CBN TV where he shared his testimony how he had a renal failure and both his kidneys were damaged and how Lord Jesus was able to save him. He said he had called his wife and told her it is over. He is going to die. All the doctors told the same. But his wife Sujatha did not lose hope. She prayed the whole night. And Brother Benjamin came out of his unconscious situation the first thing in the morning.    Kidney dialysis removes t

Question: "Does God still speak to us today?"

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Answer: The Bible records God speaking audibly to people many times (Exodus 3:14; Joshua 1:1; Judges 6:18; 1 Samuel 3:11; 2 Samuel 2:1; Job 40:1; Isaiah 7:3; Jeremiah 1:7; Acts 8:26; 9:15 – this is just a small sampling). There is no biblical reason why God could not or would not speak to a person audibly today. With the hundreds of times the Bible records God speaking, we have to remember that they occur over the course of 4,000 years of human history. God speaking audibly is the exception, not the rule. Even in the biblically recorded instances of God speaking, it is not always clear whether it was an audible voice, an inner voice, or a mental impression. God does speak to people today. First, God speaks to us through His Word (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Isaiah 55:11 tells us, “So is my word that goes out from my mouth: it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” The Bible records God’s words, everything we ne

Jesus Christ, Provider of Eternal Life, Our Judge

When God made us in His image, He created us to live forever. So, though our earthly body will perish, our spirit will never die. The question about eternal life is important, as we'll spend eternity either with God in heaven or in an insufferable state, separated permanently from Him ( Matthew 25:34 , 41 ). Scripture tells us that we have inherited a sinful nature from the first man ( Romans 5:12 ). Ever since that time, humanity has been in rebellion against the Lord and under His judgment. There is nothing we can do to pay for our sin. If this were the end of the story, we would be a people without hope for today or the future. But the good news is that the heavenly Father recognized our plight and mercifully provided the way to heaven ( John 14:6 ) Sin, according to the Bible, is any action that violates the law given by God in the Ten Commandments. The law was given by God to show us what it means to live a life deserving of God's love. It was also given to show