Servant of Messiah Ministries

Preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.

Robert Murray M’Cheyne – Annual Bible reading plan

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Reading plan is available here   MCheynes-Daily-Bible-Reading.pdf

Daily Bread, A calendar for reading through the Word of God in a year

by Robert Murray McCheyne

“Thy Word is very pure; therefore thy servant loveth it. Psalm 119 v 140”

MY DEAR FLOCK,—The approach of another year stirs up within me new desires for your salvation, and for the growth of those of you who are saved. “God is my record how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ.” What is the coming year to bring forth, who can tell? There is plainly a weight lying on the spirits of all good men, and a looking for some strange work of judgment coming upon this land. There is need now to ask that solemn question—”If in the land of peace wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?”

Those believers will stand firmest who have no dependence upon self or upon creatures but upon Jehovah our Righteousness. We must be driven more to our Bibles, and to the mercy-seat if we are to stand in the evil day. Then we shall be able to say like David—, “The proud have had me greatly in derision, yet have I not declined from thy law.” “Princes have persecuted me without a cause, but my heart standeth in awe of thy Word.”

It has long been in my mind to prepare a scheme of Scripture reading, in which as many as were made willing by God might agree, so that the whole Bible might be read once by you in the year, and all might be feeding in the same portion of the green pasture at the same time.

I am quite aware that such a plan is accompanied with many

DANGERS.

1. Formality. We are such weak creatures that any regularly returning duty is apt to degenerate into a lifeless form. The tendency of reading the Word by a fixed rule may, in some minds, be to create this skeleton religion. This is to be the peculiar sin of the last days—”Having the form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.” Guard against this. Let the calendar perish rather than this rust eat up your souls.
2. Self-righteousness. Some, when they have devoted their set time to read the Word, and accomplished their prescribed portion, may be tempted to look at themselves with self-complacency. Many, I am persuaded, are living without any Divine work on their soul—unpardoned, and unsanctified, and ready to perish — who spend their appointed times in secret and family devotion. This is going to hell with a lie in the right hand.
3. Careless reading. Few tremble at the Word of God. Few, in reading it, hear the voice of Jehovah, which is full of majesty. Some, by having so large a portion, may be tempted to weary of it, as Israel did of the daily manna, saying—, “Our soul loatheth this light bread;” and to read it in a slight and careless manner. This would be fearfully provoking to God. Take heed lest that word be true of you— “Ye said, also, Behold, what a weariness is it! and ye have snuffed at it, saith the Lord of Hosts.”
4. A yoke too heavy to bear. Some may engage in reading with alacrity for a time and afterward feel it a burden grievous to be borne. They may find conscience dragging them through the appointed task without any relish of the heavenly food. If this be the case with any, throw aside the fetter and feed at liberty in the sweet garden of God. My desire is not to cast a snare upon you, but to be a helper of your joy.
If there be so many dangers, why propose such a scheme at all? To this I answer, that the best things are accompanied with danger, as the fairest flowers are often gathered in the clefts of some dangerous precipice. Let us weigh

THE ADVANTAGES.

1. The whole Bible will be read through in an orderly manner in the course of a year.The Old Testament once, the New Testament and Psalms twice. I fear many of you never read the whole Bible; and yet it is all equally divine. “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect.” If we pass over some parts of Scripture, we shall be incomplete Christians.
2. Time will not be wasted in choosing what portions to read. Often believers are at a loss to determine towards which part of the mountains of spices they should bend their steps. Here the question will be solved at once in a very simple manner.
3. Parents will have a regular subject upon which to examine their children and servants. It is much to be desired that family worship were made more instructive than it generally is. The mere reading of the chapter is often too like water split on the ground. Let it be read by every member of the family beforehand, and then the meaning and application drawn out by simple question and answer. The calendar will be helpful in this. Friends, also, when they meet, will have a subject for profitable conversation in the portions read that day. The meaning of difficult passages may be inquired from the more judicious and ripe Christians, and the fragrance of simpler Scriptures spread abroad.
4. The pastor will know in what part of the pasture the flock are feeding. He will thus be enabled to speak more suitably to them on the Sabbath; and both pastor and elders will be able to drop a word of light and comfort in visiting from house to house, which will be more readily responded to.
5. The sweet bond of Christian love and unity will be strengthened. We shall be often led to think of those dear brothers and sisters in the Lord, here and elsewhere, who agree to join with us in reading these portions. We shall oftener be led to agree on earth, touching something we shall ask of God. We shall pray over the same promises, mourn over the same confessions, praise God in the same songs, and be nourished by the same words of eternal life.

CALENDAR DIRECTIONS
1. The [first] column contains the day of the month. The next two columns contain the chapter to be read in the family. The two last columns contain the portions to be read in secret.
2. The head of the family should previously read over the chapter for family worship and mark two or three of the most prominent verses, upon which he may dwell, asking a few simple questions.
3. Frequently the chapter named in the calendar for family reading might be read more suitably in secret; in which case the head of the family should intimate that it be read in private, and the chapter for secret reading may be used in the family
4. The metrical version of the Psalms should be read or sung through at least once in the year…If three verses be sung at each diet of family worship, the whole Psalms will be sung through in the year.
5. Let the conversation at family meals often turn upon the chapter read and the psalm sung. Thus every meal will be a Sacrament, being sanctified by the Word and prayer.
6. Let our secret reading prevent the dawning of the day. Let God’s voice be the first we hear in the morning. Mark two or three of the richest verses, and pray over every line and word of them. Let the marks be neatly done, never so as to abuse a copy of the Bible.
7. In meeting believers on the street or elsewhere, when an easy opportunity offers, recur to the chapters read that morning. This will be a blessed exchange for those idle words which waste the soul and grieve the Holy Spirit of God. In writing letters to those at a distance, make use of the provision that day gathered.
8. Above all, use the Word as a lamp to your feet and a light to your path—your guide in perplexity—your armor in temptation—your food in times of faintness. Hear the constant cry of the great Intercessor,

“Sanctify them through Thy Truth: Thy Word is Truth.  John 17 v 17”

St. Peter’s, Dundee, 30th Dec. 1842.

Reading plan is available here   MCheynes-Daily-Bible-Reading.pdf

Old paths and Old books by C.S. Lewis

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Many so-called “Christian” books today are not worth reading, and some are spiritually dangerous. Given the vast number of such books in the marketplace, we need wisdom and discernment in what we read, lest we be unwittingly led astray. C.S. Lewis gives us wise guidance on this important issue………

There is a strange idea abroad that in every subject the ancient books should be read only by the professionals, and that the amateur should content himself with the modern books. Thus I have found as a tutor in English Literature that if the average student wants to find out something about Platonism, the very last thing he thinks of doing is to take a translation of Plato off the library shelf and read the Symposium. He would rather read some dreary modern book ten times as long, all about “isms” and influences and only once in twelve pages telling him what Plato actually said. The error is rather an amiable one, for it springs from humility. The student is half afraid to meet one of the great philosophers face to face. He feels himself inadequate and thinks he will not understand him. But if he only knew, the great man, just because of his greatness, is much more intelligible than his modern commentator. The simplest student will be able to understand, if not all, yet a very great deal of what Plato said; but hardly anyone can understand some modern books on Platonism. It has always therefore been one of my main endeavours as a teacher to persuade the young that firsthand knowledge is not only more worth acquiring than secondhand knowledge, but is usually much easier and more delightful to acquire.

This mistaken preference for the modern books and this shyness of the old ones is nowhere more rampant than in theology. Wherever you find a little study circle of Christian laity you can be almost certain that they are studying not St. Luke or St. Paul or St. Augustine or Thomas Aquinas or Hooker or Butler, but Keller, Piper, R.C. Sproul, MacArthur,  N.T. Wright or even myself.

Now this seems to me topsy-turvy. Naturally, since I myself am a writer, I do not wish the ordinary reader to read no modern books. But if he must read only the new or only the old, I would advise him to read the old. And I would give him this advice precisely because he is an amateur and therefore much less protected than the expert against the dangers of an exclusive contemporary diet. A new book is still on its trial and the amateur is not in a position to judge it. It has to be tested against the great body of Christian thought down the ages, and all its hidden implications (often unsuspected by the author himself) have to be brought to light. Often it cannot be fully understood without the knowledge of a good many other modern books. If you join at eleven o’clock a conversation which began at eight you will often not see the real bearing of what is said. Remarks which seem to you very ordinary will produce laughter or irritation and you will not see why—the reason, of course, being that the earlier stages of the conversation have given them a special point. In the same way sentences in a modern book which look quite ordinary may be directed at some other book; in this way you may be led to accept what you would have indignantly rejected if you knew its real significance. The only safety is to have a standard of plain, central Christianity (“mere Christianity” as Baxter called it) which puts the controversies of the moment in their proper perspective. Such a standard can be acquired only from the old books. It is a good rule, after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between. If that is too much for you, you should at least read one old one to every three new ones.

Every age has its own outlook. It is specially good at seeing certain truths and specially liable to make certain mistakes. We all, therefore, need the books that will correct the characteristic mistakes of our own period. And that means the old books. All contemporary writers share to some extent the contemporary outlook—even those, like myself, who seem most opposed to it.  Nothing strikes me more when I read the controversies of past ages than the fact that both sides were usually assuming without question a good deal which we should now absolutely deny. They thought that they were as completely opposed as two sides could be, but in fact they were all the time secretly united—united with each other and against earlier and later ages—by a great mass of common assumptions. We may be sure that the characteristic blindness of the twentieth century—the blindness about which posterity will ask, “But how could they have thought that?”—lies where we have never suspected it, and concerns something about which there is untroubled agreement between Hitler and President Roosevelt or between Mr. H. Wells and Karl Barth.

None of us can fully escape this blindness, but we shall certainly increase it, and weaken our guard against it, if we read only modern books. Where they are true they will give us truths which we half knew already. Where they are false they will aggravate the error with which we are already dangerously ill. The only palliative is to keep the clean sea breeze of the centuries blowing through our minds, and this can be done only by reading old books. Not, of course, that there is any magic about the past. People were no cleverer then than they are now; they made as many mistakes as we. But not the same mistakes. They will not flatter us in the errors we are already committing; and their own errors, being now open and palpable, will not endanger us. Two heads are better than one, not because either is infallible, but because they are unlikely to go wrong in the same direction. To be sure, the books of the future would be just as good a corrective as the books of the past, but unfortunately we cannot get at them.

I myself was first led into reading the Christian classics, almost accidentally, as a result of my English studies. Some, such as Hooker, Herbert, Traherne, Taylor and Bunyan, I read because they are themselves great English writers; others, such as Boethius, St. Augustine, Thomas Aquinas and Dante, because they were “influences.” George Macdonald I had found for myself at the age of sixteen and never wavered in my allegiance, though I tried for a long time to ignore his Christianity. They are, you will note, a mixed bag, representative of many Churches, climates and ages. And that brings me to yet another reason for reading them. The divisions of Christendom are undeniable and are by some of these writers most fiercely expressed. But if any man is tempted to think—as one might be tempted who read only con- temporaries—that “Christianity” is a word of so many meanings that it means nothing at all, he can learn beyond all doubt, by stepping out of his own century, that this is not so.

Measured against the ages “mere Christianity” turns out to be no insipid interdenominational transparency, but something positive, self-consistent, and inexhaustible. I know it, indeed, to my cost.

Reading classic works is a good way to gain the perspective we need to guard our hearts and minds in this age of abundant nonsense and heresy.

With Christ in the School of Prayer – Andrew Murray – Audio Book

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The power of intercessory prayer is a great gift from God. God listens to those he loves, and works all things for their good. Murray, in his classic work With Christ in the School of Prayer, calls the church to exercise that powerful gift. Murray skillfully describes the role of the Holy Spirit within the church and exhorts Christians to use the blessings God has given us. This book is a guide to living a life as a temple of the Holy Spirit.

The book is available here  With-Christ-in-the-School-of-Prayer-Murray.pdf

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The School of Obedience – Andrew Murray – Audio Book

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Andrew Murray’s passion for the spiritual well-being of Christians shines through in his School of Obedience. Murray is well-known as a powerful and engaging writer, and the School of Obedience is no exception.  In it, Murray takes traditional Christian ideas about obedience and recasts them to show believers the true power and importance of those ideas. He emphasizes, in particular, how obedience to God is obedience to a Personal Being, our Creator and Sustainer. He also calls believers to obedience each day and every day.

He also calls believers to obedience each day and every day. With less than ten chapters, School of Obedience is a short essay on the nature of obedience, but one that anyone can profit from reading.

Download Book School-of-Obediance-Andrew-Murray.pdf
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Fourth of July – Independence or Slavery

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At Toastmasters we start our meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance, standing at attention with our right hand over our heart and face the American flag hanging in the corner.

“I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”,

Not being raised in America, gave me an opportunity to hear the pledge with adult ears and think about the words….One Nation under God……Liberty…. Justice for all…..

Does God see “One Nation under God” when He looks at America?

Do you think He cares that we are:

  • The world’s largest arms dealer
  • Largest consumer of illegal drugs
  • We lead the world in incarcerated citizens. We are 5% of the World population and we have 25% of world prisoners.
  • One in six black men had been incarcerated as of 2001 and African Americans now constitute nearly 1 million of the total 2.3 million incarcerated population.
  • We are number 1 in defense spending and outspend the next 15 countries combined despite the fact that 13 are our closest allies.
  • We send more missionaries preaching the “word of faith”  RIPOFF  to the poor in Africa and South America.
  • We destabilized the Middle East – and then went home leaving 6 countries in ruins and millions dead. They have reason to hate us…..
  • We are the largest creator and exporter of PORN to flood every smart phone on the planet – with a target age now of 10 years old….25% of all net traffic is porn.
  • We kill more unborn than any other nation and promote and fund abortion here and overseas. The number of legal abortions performed in the United States is about 1.5 million per year. In the United States, we deliberately kill one of every four unborn babies.
  • We  allow the sale of human body parts, despite its laws that are supposed to protect against it.
  • We promote the homosexual agenda, both domestically and internationally.
  • We lead the advertising and media industry, to mislead consumers.
  • We produce and promote poisonous food (banned all over except here) harming people and the environment.- G.M.O.’s and other poisons leading to an obese and undernourished nation.

We are not the greatest country in the world in any of the measures that matter.

  • We are
  • 7th in literacy,
  • 27th in math,
  • 22nd in science,
  • 49th in life expectancy,
  • 178th in infant mortality

 

America isn’t number one in:
The U.S. ranks 47th in press freedom, according to Reporters Without Borders.
The U.S. is 25th among 43 developing countries for the best place to be a mother.
The U.S. is only the 11th happiest country in the world, according Columbia University.
There are 21 countries better than America in freedom from corruption, according to Heritage.org.
The U.S. was ranked 24th in perceived honesty, according to Transparency.org.
The U.S. is an embarrassing 142nd out of 150 countries in infrastructure investment, according to the CIA World Factbook. Our infrastructure is old and falling apart.
The US growth rate of industrial production is ranked 79th,according to the CIA World Factbook…..It seems we shipped all those jobs overseas.
The US. is ranked 192nd, dead last, in the net trade of goods and services,according to the CIA World Factbook.

Personally, I think God cares less about our failing industrial production and being the greatest debtor nation in history.

He does care about a  corrupt society, satiated in blood, drugs, and immorality. 

Ezekiel 16:48-50 God compares Jerusalem to Sodom, saying “Sodom never did what you and your daughters have done.” He explains that the sin of Sodom was that “She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me.”

He further explains Jude 1:7…”Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange (Greek: different, other) flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of fire.”

If God is God,  who changes not …He has three choices….

To remain Just and Righteous…God must…

  • He has to destroy us.
  • He must change Us (Revival).
  • He must apologize to Sodom.

BREXIT – The world changed forever.

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Britain is the second-largest EU economy after Germany. It also has a seat on the UN Security Council, and it’s a close ally of the US, and of course, Australia.

Last year, Britain’s government borrowed an equivalent of 4.4 percent of its gross domestic product. The only EU nations with a higher level of borrowing are Spain and Greece, both troubled economies that have required some form of bailout.

Britain’s trade is in a dire position. Its current account deficit is at 7 percent of GDP—the highest peacetime level since records began in 1772. At the heart of this problem is the simple fact that Britain is importing far more than it is exporting.

BREXIT (the vote to leave the EU) was motivated by the following fears and concerns:

  • Over 300,000 immigrants directed from the EU settling in the U.K. in 2015 taking jobs and straining public services.
  • The inability to negotiate trade agreements unless all 28 nations of the EU agree and vote to adopt the agreement so trade with India and China and Australia were stalled.
  • Fears of a German proposal for an European Army separate from NATO, and the possibility of Turkey joining the EU and the subsequent new flood of economic refugees.

A short history of Britain in Europe

1951 – European Coal and Steel Community founded under the Treaty of Paris, as a way to prevent  future wars between France and West Germany

1957 – European Economic Community (EEC) founded under the Treaty of Rome (pictured) – original signatories are West Germany, France, Luxembourg, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands

1963 and 1967 – French leader Charles de Gaulle vetoes UK membership.

1969 – UK applies for a third time, this time successfully

1973 – UK joins the EEC

1975 – UK holds its first referendum on membership of the EEC; votes to stay a member

1991 – Maastricht Treaty formally establishes the European Union as a political body

1999 – Single European currency adopted by 11 member states in 1999; UK does not join.

2016 – UK votes to leave the EU with 51 – 48 majority voting to leave or BREXIT.

On June 23rd 2016 the British people voted to leave the EU. Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty goes into effect for the first time ever, as the UK now has 24 months to negotiate its way out.

The successful BREXIT vote was clear and shocking. Financial markets plunged. Worldwide markets lost more than $2 trillion on Friday in paper wealth, according to data from S&P Global, the worst on record.  The pound traded at a 40 year low, and the Credit Agencies lowered Britain’s credit rating.

This event is as momentous as the end of the cold war and the Wall in Germany coming down.

The world is also economically due for another recession (7 years since 2008-2009)  and the discontented angry voters will stage more nationalistic uprisings. All over Europe we will see the rise of a Nationalist Right. America as in the 1930’s will become more isolationist leaving the rest of the world to fight their own battles. This will lead to a rearming of Japan, Korea, China and Germany.

The financial chaos of the 1929 crash and the subsequent depression gave rise to the following leaders who were nationalistic and promised answers to their nation’s woes.

  • Tito – Yugoslavia
  • Tojo –Japan
  • Mussolini –Italy
  • Hitler –Germany
  • Stalin –Russia
  • Mao –China
  • Franco – Spain

We are entering a similar time with all the same problems…..aggravated by an unstable Middle East and the Islamic threat. The EU will be under further threat as other countries like the Greece choose to leave.

There is an end time scenario that holds to a union of 10 kings arising in Europe. Revelation describes this union as….. The ten horns which you saw are ten kings, which have received no power as yet but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.  These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.” (Rev. 17:12-13)   The message to us is to watch and pray….and just perhaps world events will shake us from our sleep.

 

BREXIT – Acts of God.

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This week we witnessed history in the making. Britain was to decide whether to stay in the EU. For weeks the BREXIT polls had been tied with all the establishment leaders including the Prime Minister confident in a “REMAIN” vote. Bookies offered 13 to 1 odds against a BREXIT.

The demographics pointed to the over 40 age favouring “LEAVE” and the younger voters wanting to “REMAIN.” London in the South had elected a Muslim mayor and favored “REMAIN” while the further North more and more favored to “LEAVE.” A high turnout was seen as helping the “remain” camp, a Wall Street Journal story said. That’s because it would suggest younger people, who typically don’t bother to vote, would actually cast ballots, and younger people supported EU membership.

Although the British seemed ready to vote in the Brexit referendum to “Remain” in the European Union, an intense “Act of God” storm system moved in and favor a vote for the “Leave” campaign by bringing a month’s worth of rain in “just three hours” on voting day.

The eve of the election at precisely midnight a huge storm hit England. Summer storms always came from the West and Atlantic Ocean. Eerily this storm came from Europe and Brussels in the East. In London alone 300 calls an hour poured in to emergency services…while 6,000 lightning strikes hit. The storms would move North from the Southeast as the day progressed.

The Breakdown was as follows:

Central England (High Brexit support): Largely dry day with more showers in the evening.

East (High proportion of Brexiters): Wetter than northern and central England with the chance of thunder during the afternoon.

Southwest (Around 40 per cent of people plan to vote leave): Wet and rainy during the morning, becoming clearer and drier through the afternoon.

Southeast (Relatively high percentage of leavers): Largely dry with showers around the coast.

London (High support to stay): Heavy rain in the morning, drying out later with thunderstorms predicted in the afternoon.

Two London polling stations were forced to close due to flooding. Another two, in Kingston-upon-Thames, had to be moved at the last minute. Then the London Underground flooded. Conspiracy theorists saw an attack on their democratic rights.  Even Britain’s loudest blond, Boris Johnson, who made it to his local polling station with only 18 minutes to spare after his flight from Edinburgh, was delayed by the weather.

Despite the storm, the flooded Underground, and the power blackouts the older voters came out. They held their nerve and were not deterred by warnings from the Bank of England, or by the money markets, that the pound would plunge (it did) and markets would crash (that happened too).

They were not defeated. The BREXIT “LEAVE” campaign won by more than a million votes. Europe and England were forever changed.

We forget who is Sovereign over all.

Leaders scheme and masses vote….but Daniel 2 v21 says It is God who alters the times and seasons, and He removes kings and promotes kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. The weather played a part. Some feel it tipped the scales to favour BREXIT.  Jeremiah 10:13 When He utters His voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, And He causes the clouds to ascend from the end of the earth; He makes lightning for the rain, And He brings out the wind from His storehouses.

Creation Groans

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Over a single two week (14 day) period the we count staggering losses of fish, birds and animals. The words of the bible written 2000 year ago,  describe today's reality. Day after day, the dying continues.

Hosea 4 v 3   The LORD has a charge to bring against …………because of this the land dries up, and all who live in it waste away; the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky and the fish in the sea are swept away…”

Zephaniah 1:3  “I will sweep away both men and animals; I will sweep away the birds of the air and the fish of the sea. The wicked will have only heaps of rubble when I cut off man from the face of the earth,” declares the LORD.

5th May 2016 -  40,000 TONS of Salmon and 8,000 TONS of Sardines have washed up dead, due to red tide in Chile. Link

5th May 2016 - 30+ TONS of dead fish appear in a lake, 'people in shock' in Hainan, China. Link

4th May 2016 - 39,000 turkeys killed due to avian flu in Missouri, America. Link

4th May 2016 - Hundreds of cattle dead due to disease in Kampong Thom, Cambodia. Link

3rd May 2016 - 2,600 Turtles and thousands of sea birds found dead during past 6 months in southern Brazil. Link

3rd May 2016 - Massive fish kill in Lake Thunderbird in Oklahoma, America. Link

3rd May 2016 - Hundreds of TONS of fish suddenly die in Lake Toba, Indonesia. Link

2nd May 2016 - 200 TONS of fish found dead in a lake in Alfenas, Brazil. Link

2nd May 2016 - Thousands of dead jellyfish found washed ashore, 'a rare phenomenon' along Odisha coast in India. Link

2nd May 2016 - Hundreds of dead fish found in a lake in Florida, America. Link

30th April 2016 - Millions of dead molluscs found washed up on beaches, 'a disaster' in Los Lagos, Chile. Link

30th April 2016 - 14 TONS of dead fish found in a lake in Xiamen, China. Link

29th April 2016 - 80,000 birds killed due to avian flu in Al Biqa, Lebanon. Link

28th April 2016 - 100+ TONS of clams have died in central Vietnam. Link

28th April 2016 - 80,000 Chickens killed from fire at a farm in Connecticut, America. Link

26th April 2016 - 720,000 birds killed due to avian flu in various parts of Iraq. Link

25th April 2016 - 65 TONS of fish have died in the waters of Kampong Thom, Cambodia. Link

25th April 2016 - 40 TONS of fish have died in a lake in Nalgonda district, India. Link

23rd April 2016 - Hundreds of dead fish wash up on a beach in Cattlewash, Barbados. Link

23rd April 2016 - 70+ TONS of dead fish found in a river in Magdalena Department, Colombia. Link

23rd April 2016 - Massive die off of fish in a river in Hulunbuir, China. Link

22nd April 2016 - 1 TON of shrimp and other fish have died in a pond in Phuket, Thailand. Link

22nd April 2016 - 200,000 fish have died in fish farms in Taiping, Malaysia. Link

21st April 2016 - 50 dolphins found stranded, 10 dead on a beach in Cambutal, Panama. Link

21st April 2016 - Hundreds of fish die in a lake, 'whole lake is dead' in Alberta, Canada. Link

21st April 2016 - Massive die off of fish, 'never seen this before' in Quang Tri Province, Vietnam.Link

21st April 2016 - Hundreds of fish die in a lake, 'never seen this before' in Princeton, New Jersey, America. Link

21st April 2016 - 190,000 birds killed, 62 farms closed, due to avian flu in Plateau, Nigeria. Link

21st April 2016 - Thousands of dead fish found in a lake in Yuriria, Mexico. Link

Losses are not measured in pounds but in thousands of tons. How long will it take for this trend to show up as shortages and higher food prices? Will that prompt our groaning?

Rom 8 v 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

“Afraid” by Betty Stam

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Afraid

Afraid?  Of what?

Afraid to see the Saviour’s  face,

To hear His welcome, and to trace

The glory gleam from wounds of grace?

Afraid  –  of THAT?

 

Afraid?  Of what?

A flash  –  a crash  –  a pierced heart!

Darkness  –  Light  –  O Heaven’s art!

A wound, of His a counterpart!

Afraid  –  of THAT?

 

Afraid?  Of what?

To do by death what life could not –

Baptize with blood a stony plot,

Till souls shall blossom from the spot?

Afraid  –  of THAT?

While students at Chicago’s Moody Bible Institute in the early 1930s, Americans John Stam and Betty Scott individually sensed God’s call to serve as missionaries in China. The country was enslaved by idol worship and torn apart by a violent Communist uprising. After leading them separately to China, the Lord brought their lives together in marriage and a shared ministry.

But just three months after the birth of their daughter, Helen Priscilla, John and Betty were captured by Communist rebels.  Helen’s remarkable deliverance led to her being dubbed “The Miracle Baby.”

This poem was written by Betty Stam,  just before being martyred together with her husband in December, 1934. They were paraded through the middle of town naked, led to the town square where the Communist regime forced everyone to watch. 

There they were decapitated for the whole world to see.

The Stams’ powerful testimony was carried around the globe by secular newspapers that featured front-page stories about the young couple’s faith, dedication and martyrdom.

As a result of their deaths, many unbelievers turned to Christ and numerous Christians were moved by the Stams’ sacrifice to become missionaries themselves.

Like the Lord they served, John and Betty Stam reached more people through their death than in their short ministry.

 

“Chocolate Soldiers” by C.T. Studd

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HEROISM is the lost chord; the missing note of present-day Christianity!

Every true soldier is a hero! A SOLDIER WITHOUT HEROISM IS A CHOCOLATE SOLDIER! Who has not been stirred to scorn and mirth at the very thought of a Chocolate Soldier? In peace true soldiers are captive lions, fretting in their cages. War gives them their liberty and sends them, like boys bounding out of school, to obtain their heart’s desire or perish in the attempt. Battle is the soldier’s vital breath! Peace turns him into a stooping asthmatic. War makes him a whole man again, and gives him the heart, strength, and vigour of a hero.

EVERY TRUE CHRISTIAN IS A SOLDIER—of Christ—a hero “par excellence!” Braver than the bravest—scorning the soft seductions of peace and her oft-repeated warnings against hardship, disease, danger, and death, whom he counts among his bosom friends.

THE OTHERWISE CHRISTIAN IS A CHOCOLATE CHRISTIAN! Dissolving in water and melting at the smell of fire. “Sweeties” they are! Bonbons, lollipops! Living their lives on a glass dish or in a cardboard box, each clad in his soft clothing, a little frilled white paper to preserve his dear little delicate constitution.

Here are some Portraits of Chocolate Soldiers taken by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

“He said, ‘I go sir,’ and went not.” He said he would go to the heathen, but he stuck fast to Christendom instead.

“They say and do not”—they tell others to go, and yet do not go themselves. “Never,” said General Gordon to a corporal, as he himself jumped upon the parapet of a trench before Sebastopol to fix a gabion which the corporal had ordered a private to fix and would not fix himself, “Never tell another man to do what you are afraid to do yourself.”

To the Chocolate Christian the very thought of war brings a violent attack of ague, while the call to battle always finds him with the palsy. “I really cannot move,” he says. “I only wish I could, but I can sing, and here are some of my favorite lines:

I must be carried to the skies
On a flowery bed of ease,
Let others fight to win the prize,
Or sail thro’ bloody seas.

Mark time, Christian heroes,
Never go to war;
Stop and mind the babies
Playing on the floor.

Wash and dress and feed them
Forty times a week.
Till they’re roly poly—
Puddings so to speak.

Chorus:
Round and round the nursery
Let us ambulate,
Sugar and spice and all that’s nice
Must be on our slate.

GOD NEVER WAS A CHOCOLATE MANUFACTURER, AND NEVER WILL BE. God’s men are always heroes. In Scripture you can trace their giant foot-tracks down the sands of time.

NOAH walked with God, he did not only preach righteousness, he acted it. He went through water and did not melt. He breasted the current of the popular opinion of his day, scorning alike the hatred and ridicule of the scoffers who mocked at the thought of there being but one way of salvation. He warned the unbelieving and, entering the ark himself, did not open the door an inch when once God had shut it. A real hero untainted by the fear of man!

Learn to scorn the praise of men.
Learn to lose with God;
Jesus won the world through shame!
And beckons us His road.