‘DENY JESUS’ or ‘DIE NOW’. What will you opt?

If someone threaten you with a gun and gave you two options, ‘DENY JESUS’ or ‘DIE NOW’. What will you opt?

Answer:

I will opt to DENY JESUS. It is not because I really want to deny Jesus, but it is what God wants me to do at that situation to handle the situation by wisdom. Some may think it will be a sin to deny their Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and they may even lose their position in heaven. That is just because of their lack of right understanding of the bible.

To all who opt to DIE NOW, my questions are,

Do you think Peter is in hell now for he denied Jesus Christ 3 times and even cursed Jesus? NO. (Matthew 26:24, Mark 14:71 )

Did Jesus Christ denied Peter for denying Him and cursing Him? NO.(John 21:12-25)

If NO, Why do you think that you will go to hell or Jesus Christ will deny you?

If Peter acknowledged Jesus Christ at that moment, they might caught Peter and killed or crucified him. In that case, there won’t be no more Peter for Jesus to restore him back and to use him as a mighty tool for the spread of gospel. That is not the purpose Jesus had with Peter. Jesus preferred Peter to deny him and fulfill his purposes rather than acknowledging Him and die.

Friends, Rather than facing the bullet with a wide opened bosom, God wants you to use your wisdom at these kinds of situations. You may think it will be courageous and there will be some special reward to die like that for Jesus Christ. I absolutely doubt even such people will go to heaven because it is just like committing suicide if they did not try to escape when they had a chance.

There are many situations in which Jesus escaped when Jews tried to kill him. John 8:59, At this, they picked stones to throw at Him. But Jesus hid Himself and slipped away from the temple area. John 10:39, And again they tried to seize him, but he escaped their  grasp.” Jesus escaped the situations by God’s help, by using His wisdom and physical movement. He could have stood there and to escape from the scenario can be considered as, not standing strong for God, not willing to die for God, not willing to die for His mission, not courageous and bold, etc.

Why do you think Jesus escaped the situations? The fact is Jesus Christ escaped those situations because it is not God’s time for him to die. If He opt to give Himself to death at that time, it will be like committing suicide without accomplishing the things He was sent for. That was not even going to be pleasant in the eyes of God Father. At the time for Jesus to die, He did not attempted to escape because He knew that it was His time to die and God won’t help Him as well to escape.

So what should I do? You have to use God’s help, your wisdom and try your best to escape from that situation alive by denying Jesus. Understand that it is not a sin to deny Jesus at that kind of moments and God will not deny you as well. In case even if you are seeking for an opportunity like that to die also you don’t have to worry about missing the opportunity to die thinking if you've missed God’s time and God made opportunity for you to die. Because if it is God’s time for you to die even if you escape, you will die somehow.

Now some of you might be confused about, Matthew 10:32 “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. 33 But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.” Yes. Jesus said to do so in normal situation. Even we know that it is also not fair to deny Jesus in any general situations before our relations, friends, colleagues, etc. But it is not to acknowledge Jesus in a situation of threat for your life. Also understand that Peter denied Jesus after Jesus said these words.

BUT, there is another scenario in which it is going to happen. It is at the time of tribulation and reign of Antichrist, if someone threaten you and give you two options, MARK OF ANTICHRIST IN FOREHEAD / HAND or DIE NOW. Surely you must opt to DIE NOW because if you opt the other, you will not go to heaven as bible makes it very clear that those who accepts the mark of Antichrist will not go to heaven. At that time, be happy to opt DIE NOW because surely you can go to heaven and it would be better to die rather than living at the time of tribulation. Revelation 13.

Is it okay for a young man to marry an older women according to the bible?

Is it okay for a young man to marry an older women according to the Bible?

Yes. It is absolutely okay for a young man to marry an older women according to the bible. Many Christians and church do not know that this kind of marriages are supported in bible. They preach and teach this kind of marriages as a sin or unfair in the eyes of God and hesitate to approve such kind of marriages.

Base in the bible 1:

In Genesis 38:8, we can see that Judah asking his second son to marry Tamar, the wife of his first son. “Sleep with your brother’s wife and fulfill your duty to her as a brother-in-law to raise up offspring for your brother.”

What made you think that his second son is younger than Tamar?

I believe he is younger than Tamar because, later we can see his second son also died and he said to Tamar to wait until his third son grows up until becomes able to get married. Gen.38:11 "Then Judah said to Tamar, his daughter-in-law, "Go back to your parents' home and remain a widow until my son Shelah is old enough to marry you."

What do you think is able to get married?(Guess)

It makes it very clear that his third son was much younger than Tamar. And if Judah made such an offer, I believe it was absolutely okay to marry a women who is older and there were many who were married like that also.

Base in the bible 2:

Deuteronomy 25:5 If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband’s brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her. 6 The first son she bears shall carry on the name of the dead brother so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel. 7 However, if a man does not want to marry his brother’s wife, she shall go to the elders at the town gate and say, “My husband’s brother refuses to carry on his brother’s name in Israel. He will not fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to me.” 8 Then the elders of his town shall summon him and talk to him. If he persists in saying, “I do not want to marry her,” 9 his brother’s widow shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, take off one of his sandals, spit in his face and say, “This is what is done to the man who will not build up his brother’s family line.” 10 That man’s line shall be known in Israel as The Family of the Unsandaled.

Now, my question is, what made you think/guess that all brother in laws are elder than their sister in laws?

If the dead person is the eldest, his young brother who might be younger than his dead brother's wife is commanded to marry her and to fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law.

For all those false teachers, the following commandment given by God through Moses will be more than hard to bear because since from the time of this commandment there will be ten thousands of young men who go got married to a older women based on this commandment. And I believe if to marry a older women was not biblical, it would have been clearly specified along with that commandment.

Base in the bible 3:

Matthew 22: 24 “Teacher,” they said, “Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for him. 25 Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother. 26 The same thing happened to the second and third brother, right on down to the seventh.

My question is, How do you compare the age of this women to the age of youngest brothers? Based on various things, I assume that women is surely elder than not less than 3 or 4 of that younger brothers.

So based on these 3 strong evidences from bible, I would recommend not to prohibit marriages of older women to younger man saying that it is not supported on the basis of the bible.

What are God's plan and will about my life?

What are God's plan and will about my life? What if I didn't or failed to go through that?

It is a very good thing to seek, know and follow God's plan/will about our life. To know these, it is very necessary to understand the strategy of God regarding how God set plans about our life. As human beings, we think and believe that God has predestined all the things that is going to happen in our life and we just go through it in His appointed time. We even believe that our life is controlled based on that predestined plans of God. But the fact is not like that.

There is a very important thing called 'Free Will' that coordinates and manages the plans/will of God in our life. God has predestined our beginning to end and it is entirely based on our free will as well as the free will of those who control our life such as parents, partner, children and friends.

To make it more clear, I would like to compare it with a big flowchart. Our life is like a flowchart in which there is a start and there is an end. Our life flow through the flowchart based on all the decisions we make according to our free will. God knows the whole flowchart of our life, no matter which ever decisions we make in life. An easy example to understand it can be the decisions we made regarding our education or career. After your primary education at school, we have to make a decision to choose further education. We have many options like medicine, engineering, artist, accounting, programming and so on. God knows how our entire life is going to be, no matter whatever we opt. There is no need for God to re-plan our life based on the decisions we make because He already is well aware of our destination irrespective of our decisions.

So before we seek the will of God, we have to understand that it is not just one option that is ultimately the best option for us to take a decision. In the above example, suppose, there is nothing like a person should take the path of medicine for his life to be successful in life. Maybe even if he choose accounting also, it is going to be good for him, while engineering or programmer maybe not a good option for him. So it is okay for us to aim for something that is going to be a good option for us. Another good example is marriage. I would say that God have a complete flowchart about your life with more than the number of partners all over the world. Many people think like God has made one partner for them and they have to get them no matter what for their life to be successful. It is just an imagination like daydream. The fact is that there are thousands of partners that will be good for you according to the plan/will of God and all you have to do is to try to get one good partner among that. Else it will be not possible to explain remarriages, being single, late marriages, divorces and so on.

What If I Failed To Go Through That?

It is not possible for us to go through God's plan and will about our life. Whatever plans or decisions we made, God have the complete plans about it to our very end. But it is necessary to make decisions from options which will be very good for our future. Many times God won't give us clear directions about what decisions to make in life and sometimes He prevent us from taking some decisions because He knows that our future is going to be miserable if we opt that. In many other cases, God just remain very silent and want to see what decisions we make in life. Because we do not know clearly what decisions God want us to take, it is always important to pray and think well before making decisions.

Another thing to understand is that our life will not be successful based on one single decision we make. For example, if a person realized from God that it would be the best option for him to opt for engineering and he opted engineering. But his flowchart will have factors that control his life such as weather he studied well, yes/no, weather he given himself for drugs/addictions, yes/no and so many such things and only if he take the right decisions in all of that, then only he can be successful.

From Bible:

There are many examples in the bible to prove that we are free to make our own decisions and God's plan about our life depends and varies upon every single decision or action of us. The plan about Adam and Even changed when they sin. Abraham when he left his home town. The plans about Israel. About making Saul as king and removing him as king. About promising almost all the kings that God will bless them if they walk in the ways of God and not if they don't walk in God's ways. About Samson, Jonah, David, Daniel and so many other examples are there all over the bible.

Specific incidents: Abram fell into a deep sleep causing Israelites to live in Egypt as slaves for four hundred years. (Gen.15) Jehoash was limited 3 times to take victory over Aram just because he struck in the ground with arrows only 3 times. Deuteronomy 28 is an amazing chapter that gives a detailed plan of God of Israelites if they obey and disobey. His plans was clear and predestined already even if they obey or disobey and He has given the complete free will for them to obey or disobey.

So I pray for you to be able to take the decisions in life in which your future will be safe and happy in the hands of God.

Whom Should Christians Pray To? (God, Son of God or Holy Spirit)

Due to the reason that God(Father), Son of God(Son) and Holy Spirit are mentioned as God, Vast majority of Christians do not know and not bothered about whom to pray exactly according to the word of God. But bible clearly instruct us whom to pray and I believe it is very necessary to do exactly as it says.

Christians usually have a tendency to pray to Jesus Christ, knowingly or unknowingly. You assume you are praying to Jesus Christ because of your love and intimacy. The fact is you are doing it due to your ignorance or due to your lack of attention when praying.

In bible, Jesus teach us as a commandment is to pray to Heavenly Father. Matthew 6:6 “But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your FATHER, who is unseen.” Matthew 6:9 “This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our FATHER in heaven, hallowed be your name. 

All the prayers in Bible was made to God LORD in the Old Testament as well as new testament. You can see all the list of references in the end. There is not even in a single prayer or single instruction in bible that allows you to even pray to Jesus.

What is wrong in praying to Jesus Christ?

The only wrong in praying to Jesus Christ is disobeying His own commandment, “Pray to your Father”. We are not even permitted to pray to Jesus Christ due to our love and intimacy. Because Jesus says in Matthew 7:21 that, “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” And again Jesus instruct us in John 14:15 "If you love me, obey my commandments.”

Can I pray to Jesus because Son is in Father and Father in Son?

In bible Jesus has made it clear that anyone who has seen me has seen the Father(John 14:9) and if you really know me, you will know my Father as well(John 14:7). But Jesus did not, “who is praying to me has prayed to my Father.” Despite of that Jesus also commanded to pray to Heavenly Father when you pray. 

Can I pray to Jesus because Son and Father are same after resurrection?

Some Christians says that it is alright to pray to Jesus Christ, because there is no difference between Father and Son after crucifixion and resurrection. It is completely wrong because we can see in the book of Revelation which is written after resurrection that Jesus introducing himself again as son of God. Rev.2:18, “These are the words of the Son of God” and again Jesus representing Heavenly Father as His God in, Rev. 3:7 Before my Father, 12, In the temple of My God, the name of My God, 21. Sat down with my Father on his throne. As well as bible clearly says what happened after crucifixion and resurrection is that God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name.(Phil.2:9)

LIST OF REFERENCES:

From Old Testament

Genesis 20:17 Then Abraham prayed to God

Genesis 25:21 Isaac prayed to the Lord

Genesis 32:9 Then Jacob prayed, “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, Lord, you who said to me

Deuteronomy 9:26 I prayed to the Lord and said, “Sovereign Lord, do not destroy your people

Judges 13:8 Then Manoah prayed to the Lord:

Judges 16:28 Then Samson prayed to the Lord, “Sovereign Lord, remember me. Please, God, strengthen me 

1 Samuel 1:10 In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly.

1 Samuel 14:41 Then Saul prayed to the Lord, the God of Israel,

2 Kings 6:17 And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.

2 Chronicles 7:14 If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

Psalm 5:2 Hear my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray.

Jeremiah 29:12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you.

From New Testament

Matthew 6:6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen.

Matthew 6:9 “This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name

Matthew 18:19-20 Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

Matthew 26:39 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

Matthew 26:42 He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”

Luke 6:12 One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.

John 16:23-24 In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.

John 17:1 After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.

Acts 1:24 Then they prayed, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen

Acts 4:24 When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and everything in them.

Acts 16:25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.

Ephesians 3:14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father

Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

1 Thessalonians 1:2 We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers.

Can I marry my lover who is a non believer?

Yes and No. If you are a believer and follower of Jesus Christ, the best and wisest thing you can do is to not marry your lover as a non believer. But Yes; you can marry him/her, if you can make him a believer by accepting Jesus Christ as personal savior and follow your faith. And No if you fail to achieve it.

Even though it is best to find a partner who is a believer, on the basis of various circumstances and weaknesses, it is quite normal to fall in love with a non believer. In that situation, it is your choice to marry him as a non believer or believer. Many christian believers compromise their faith in order to marry a non believer. Those who marry that person as a non believer are literally surrendering their faith and love for God, for the love of a human. What am saying is to make your lover a believer and then marry him. You may think it is impossible, but it is quite easy with the help of God and there are lot of people who successfully achieved this.

Why is it necessary to marry a believer?

Couples sometimes feel bad if their partner eat without with them. It will not be practical to follow Jesus without the support of your partner. We all know that a married life will not be easy if our partners have disagreement on certain important things such you want children, where to live, etc. To have disagreement in God and prayer is even worse than that. A family that prays together can stay together at the time of challenges and adverse situations and your partner can support you spiritually when you need support. It will also avoid conflict regarding on whose faith the children should brought up with. Even if these things may appear not important when you are in the fire of love, once married and when your first love and passion cools down, these will appear to you as some issues which you can not resolve.

MAKING YOUR PARTNER A BELIEVER

You can make your partner a believer by following few simple things and before that you have understand some basic things which you have to always keep in mind.

Basic Things:

1. Understand that this procedure will not happen within a day or week. It will take from 3 months to 6 months approximately.
2. Understand that you cannot achieve this by imposing or by any means or quarreling or external pressure.
3. You have to pray for your lover everyday that their eyes to be opened and to accept the truth about God and to follow God and His commandments.
4. Believe that nothing is impossible for God and whatever your lover’s religion or god is, or even if he is an atheist, it is not a hard thing for God to touch his life and change his life.

First Phase: Find an opportunity and smoothly tell your lover about Jesus Christ; how much you love God and tell all your major experiences with God. Gradually he will soon develop an interest in God because there is always a tendency in all of us to find interest in the likes of our partners. Once he show any small symptom of interest, tell him the benefits and necessity to develop a personal relationship with God. Then guide him to develop a relationship with God by reading bible, praying and attending church.

Gradually make sure that he is reading a certain number of chapters or pages from bible and pray for a certain period of time. It is very important that he does this everyday. At first he may feel bored or tired, but it is okay to make him read by your love. As his interest grew, gradually increase talking about Godly things and understand and support him in the area where he needs help. Even if he might have started to do these things for you, surely he will develop an interest for himself within a time of 1 to 2 months.

Second Phase: Within a period of 3 months, you can notice tremendous difference in his words and actions as well as changes in behavior and character and by that you can make sure that h is growing spiritually. Understand that when he develop a personal relationship with God, he will also develop an interest to follow your faith and your God. Then you can guide him to involve in other activities at church and gradually take water baptism. After that you will be also able to guide him to receive the baptism of Holy Spirit. Along with these, you can also help them to follow the other commandments of Jesus.

Regarding Marriage: By his words, actions, behavior and character, you can know if he is growing spiritually. Even though it is okay for both of you to get married once he has taken the water baptism, the best thing is to wait until he is baptised with the Holy Spirit. Because once he received the Holy Spirit, it will be a great confirmation for him to realize that all things he believed was true and he will be so thankful for you. This can also give him the power to stand for Jesus Christ even if he has to face any opposition that may arise from his family, relatives or friends and regarding following this new faith or to getting married to you. Also by any chance if he was just pretending and making you a fool all these time, he cannot do the same to receive Holy Spirit. So once he received the baptism of Holy Spirit, you can confirm 100% that he is good. And beyond you can be proud for gaining a soul and surely God's blessing and favor will be there upon your marriage.

What if he is not interested?

If his love is true, he will surely be interested within a certain period of time. In such cases, gradually and slowly take your relationship to a situation in which you tell him that, if you want me, you have to read bible and pray like I guide you. Do not tell that you are going to get me only if you accept my God and my faith because by giving external pressure, we are not going to get the result we want.

Try your best to tell him and explain him that accepting Jesus Christ is the best thing you ever had in your life and you are assure that Jesus Christ is the Lord by various things such all your testimonies, Holy Spirit and the gifts of Spirits. Tell him that more than anything else, what you want is for him to know the truth about God which I know. Make him in situations with questions like, if you are not able to believe the most important truth in my life, how can I expect you to believe me in any other things?

You have to use your wisdom all these time because anything can happen during these situations. Maybe he will ask you to accept his faith and maybe even leave you saying that he don’t need you anymore. Understand that those words are all to make you feel that he is not interested in you with your God. At that time, you should also not give up. Tell him it is absolutely okay with you too because I love my God that much. After few days, if he come back ready to accept the things you said, you guide him to follow your God. In case he doesn’t come back, let him know clearly that, you will wait for 7 more days and warn him that you will say goodbye after that.

What to do if I fail?

Even after you tried your best and you failed, you have to understand the fact that his love is not true love. Remember the words of Ruth(gentile) who truly loved Naomi, Ruth 1:16 "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.” If your lover’s love is true it can only produce the same result.

It is your choice weather to marry a person who cannot understand and accept the biggest truth in your life. How is your married life going to be successful if he cannot listen to one and the most important thing in your life. To be honest with you, whoever you are, it will not be hard to get any better partner than this hard hearted person. And finally you can write it down that, if you fail to achieve this before your marriage, never ever imagine that this is going to happen after marriage.

Anyway I have seen many people who have successfully made their partner a believer before marriage and I pray and bless you also to achieve the same.

How to develop a personal relationship with God?

How to develop a personal relationship with God?

 In this world where majority of the people live a life without any personal relationship with God, I appreciate your desire to gain a personal relationship with God. I will explain very simply and clearly how to develop a personal relationship with God.

 To develop a personal relationship with anyone, the two most important things are,

To know about the person: If you want a relationship with a person, you want to know the true details about that person such as his likes and dislikes, character and behaviour, name and details, past, present and future life and acts.

To talk to that person: Even if you know the complete biography of a person and don’t ever talk to that person, you will never be able to develop a relationship with that person. Since the day you start talking, a relationship will begin and the more you talk with him, the more you will become closer to him.

 To develop a relationship with God is the same as to develop a personal relationship with anyone else.

 To know about God: To know about God, the best thing you can do is to start reading the bible which can give you all the details about God such as, who is God, where is He and how can we access Him, what are his likes and dislikes, how other people developed a relationship with God, how to please him, the past, present and future about God and His acts.

 So as a first thing, you start to read bible from today with a commitment that you will read at least 5 chapters of the bible in an order, everyday without compromising. To know, How to read bible and what to read? Click here.

 To talk to God: To talk to God is another word to pray. Everyday you spent not less than 15 minutes talking to God about whatever is coming to your heart. Tell him your desire to know Him more and to develop a personal relationship with Him and ask Him to help you. Tell him about the situations you are going through, your wishes and tell what you want Him to do in your personal life, family, profession or business.

 If you can talk to God everyday within a while, you will be able to see the favor and blessings of God in many areas of your life. You will gradually start to hear what God is speaking to you and will also be able to sense the presence and protection of God in your life. To find many points to pray, Click here.

 You may wonder how long it may take to develop this personal relationship?

From my experience by helping lot of people to get closer to God, I would say it will take normally from 3 months to 6 months depends on how strong is your desire, commitment and dedication to know God. If you can read bible and pray 90% of 6 months for yourselves with a sincere desire, I can guarantee that you will assuredly develop a personal relationship with God and will experience and encounter God in your life.

Yahweh, I ask you that this person who read this will make a commitment today and may succeed in developing a very intimate personal relationship with you. In Yeshua’s name. Amen!