Even as the Father raises the dead, and gives new life, so the son will give new life to whomever he will."
--Jesus
Stealing Hope
"What a brute I am, Wilfrid! he said. 'Why shouldn't I be as good as Jesus Christ? It seems always as if a man might. But just look at me! Because I was miserable myself, I went and made my poor little sister twice as miserable as I was before. She'll never get over what I said this morning.'
'It was foolish of you, Charley.'
'It was brutal. I am the most selfish creature in the world -- always taken up with myself. I do believe there is a devil after all. I am a devil. And the universal self is the devil. If there were such a thing as a self always giving itself away -- that self would be God.'
'Something very like the God of Christianity, I think.'
'If it were so, there would be a chance for us. We might then one day give the finishing blow to the devil in us.'
(excerpt from 'Wilfrid Cumbermede' by George MacDonald)
'Convince a man that there is no God -- or, for I doubt if that be altogether possible -- make it, I will say, impossible for him to hope in God -- and it cannot be that annihilation
should seem an evil.' (Ibid.)
Is there a greater miracle possible than that a man should turn to God and hope in Him?
The growing clamor for "Socialism" in the USA today illustrates powerfully the attempt by man to make it impossible to hope in God. For it fills people who
bear the burden of a hard world with a false hope that lifts them from despair. But that hope is only temporary when they realize that their life hasn't made an appreciable improvement and those whose lives had served as an incentive to rise above the mundane have been pulled down so that everyone is "equal" while those who sold the fake future live in luxury and continually increase their demands for compliance. The last stage of despair is worse than the first!
A recent story from China reports that the government has been demanding
that citizens remove any religious symbols like crosses, scriptures or paintings and replace them with images of Mao or the current Chinese president. (www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-25/crosses-burned-in-china-religion-crackdown/10301956). If the internet has done nothing else it demonstrates daily man's attempt to "make it impossible to hope in God!"
The promises of "universal health care" or "free college" or "equal pay" or a "living wage" are a terrible price to pay to have Hope in God stolen from the soul of mankind!
Yet the devil in us will continue to steal and kill and destroy while a flicker of hope remains. Consider that the State of New York passed, and Virginia seriously considered, legal infanticide illustrating that those who have no hope in God see annihilation as a desirable outcome for dealing with despair.
Great is the One in us! The One who miraculously continues to give life and hope to all who trust in His sacrificial, Godself-giving love for mankind ...universally!
Stand your ground for Hope, followers of Jesus!
O Lord by Lauren Daigle
"What a brute I am, Wilfrid! he said. 'Why shouldn't I be as good as Jesus Christ? It seems always as if a man might. But just look at me! Because I was miserable myself, I went and made my poor little sister twice as miserable as I was before. She'll never get over what I said this morning.'
'It was foolish of you, Charley.'
'It was brutal. I am the most selfish creature in the world -- always taken up with myself. I do believe there is a devil after all. I am a devil. And the universal self is the devil. If there were such a thing as a self always giving itself away -- that self would be God.'
'Something very like the God of Christianity, I think.'
'If it were so, there would be a chance for us. We might then one day give the finishing blow to the devil in us.'
(excerpt from 'Wilfrid Cumbermede' by George MacDonald)
'Convince a man that there is no God -- or, for I doubt if that be altogether possible -- make it, I will say, impossible for him to hope in God -- and it cannot be that annihilation
should seem an evil.' (Ibid.)
Is there a greater miracle possible than that a man should turn to God and hope in Him?
The growing clamor for "Socialism" in the USA today illustrates powerfully the attempt by man to make it impossible to hope in God. For it fills people who
A recent story from China reports that the government has been demanding
 |
| Cross pulled down from Chinese Church |
The promises of "universal health care" or "free college" or "equal pay" or a "living wage" are a terrible price to pay to have Hope in God stolen from the soul of mankind!
Yet the devil in us will continue to steal and kill and destroy while a flicker of hope remains. Consider that the State of New York passed, and Virginia seriously considered, legal infanticide illustrating that those who have no hope in God see annihilation as a desirable outcome for dealing with despair.
Great is the One in us! The One who miraculously continues to give life and hope to all who trust in His sacrificial, Godself-giving love for mankind ...universally!
Stand your ground for Hope, followers of Jesus!
O Lord by Lauren Daigle
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Comments are welcome. You can post them here or send me an email: clyon2msu@gmail.com. Thanks for reading, hope you are encouraged, blessed, challenged and grow stronger in your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Charlie