by Henry Pool | Apr 16, 2018 | News
The other day I was reminded about the rich man coming to Jesus asking Him how he can get eternal life (Matt. 19: 16-26). Like almost in every time, this was also one of the important things people talked about in Jesus’ days. The standard answer was: do the commandments. However, it appears that Jesus knew something about him and his reputation. Jesus mentions 5, not 6 commandments about relationships with others. He leaves out the 6th commandment which prohibited coveting, i.e. greed, always wanting more. Coveting happens when you are not at peace. The man says he’s kept all the commandments. Jesus asks him to sell his possessions and give the money to the poor. Jesus doesn’t tell this to other people, because it is not an issue to them. But, it is, for this man. The man is greedy – and greed has no place in the world to come. He has not learned yet that he has a sacred calling to use his wealth to move creation forward. Jesus promises him that if he can do it, if he can trust God to liberate him from his greed, he will have a ‘treasure in heaven’. The man cannot do it, and he walks away. Important to note: Jesus takes the man’s question about his life then (heaven) and makes it about the kind of life he’s living now (earth). Jesus drags the future into the present, promising the man that there will be treasure for him if he can do it. That raises the question: What does Jesus mean with that word: ‘heaven’.
Actually, all that Jesus taught, and all what the prophets taught, what all Jewish tradition pointed to, and what Jesus lived in anticipation of, was the day when earth and heaven would be one. The day when God’s will be done on earth as it is now done in heaven: the day when earth and heaven will be in the same place. That is the story of the bible: Life in the age to come. Taking heaven seriously, then, means taking suffering seriously. Now.
Let me give an example: Around a billion people in the world do not have access to clean water. People will have access to clean water in the age to come and working for this access for all is participating now in the life of the age to come. That is what happens when the future is dragged into the present!
Paradoxically, it often happens that those who talk the most about going to heaven when you die, talk the least about bringing heaven to earth right now. Yet Jesus taught us to pray: Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. On the other hand, it often appears that those who talk the most about relieving suffering now, talk the least about heaven when we die. If you believe that you are going to leave and evacuate to ‘somewhere else’, then why do anything about this world? A proper view of heaven leads not to escape from the world, but to a full engagement with it, all with the anticipation of a coming day when things on earth are perfect as they currently are in heaven.
Jesus teaches us to pursue the life of heaven now and, and bring it to earth. Also then, always anticipating the day when earth and heaven are one.
by Henry Pool | Feb 20, 2018 | News
For there is hope for a tree, if it is cut down, that it will sprout again, and its tender branch will not cease. Though its root becomes old in the earth, and its stump dies in the dust, yet at the scent of water it will bud and bring forth branches like a plant. But man dies and is cut off; and man expires, and where is he? As the waters fail from the sea, and a river falls away and dries up, so man lies down and does not rise. Till the heavens are no more, they shall not awake, nor be awakened out of their sleep. Job 14:7-12
Not so long ago a supplement from a Sunday newspaper came with a question to some of the local celebs: “What happens after death?” The question was most probably asked by the journalist as a pointer for herself to find out what people think. Of those asked, some would simply avoid the question by making jokes. Others expressed the hope for something good or better. Some answered a bit like Job did, not knowing, exactly….but hoping….One does expect that people who do not confess that Jesus is the resurrected Son of God actually would answer the question more or less the same as Job did.
Why did Job not confess positively that there is a resurrection from death? One must consider that the people living before Christ did not yet know of the resurrection of Christ. Life before Christ is different to life after Christ. Job was still searching and hoping. But the answer as to what happens to people after death could only become evident after Christ’s own choice in Gethsemane to go to the cross and lay down His life as a sacrifice for us all.
We read in Genesis how earth became a place of impermanence after man rebelled against God. In fact, it seems the whole universe was affected, e.g. it is common scientific knowledge now that not even the sun will shine forever. Reading carefully through the book of Job and all the other prophets of the old testament, you will find that God did speak through the people about His grace, to say that this impermanence will not last forever. Then, in the New Testament we learn that the Spirit of God, which is Jesus, came to live in all of us making eternity a fact of life. Observe what Jesus says to Martha:
Then Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now, whatever You will ask of God, God will give You. Jesus said to her, Your brother shall rise again. Martha said to Him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said to her, I am the Resurrection and the Life! He who believes in Me, though he die, yet he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this? She said to Him, Yes, Lord, I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who has come into the world. John 11:21-27
AFTER DEATH THE UNTHINKABLE HAPPENS
Once you realize that you have the Spirit of God in you, the unthinkable happens. With Christ in us, we live forever!!
Note that :
… the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a rushing noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat. And the earth and the works in it will be burned up.
But according to His promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. (2 Peter 3: 10 & 13)
You see? It does not matter how much time passed before you were born or how much time will pass again after you have died, [or after the world has ended], as that time does not really exist [for you/ us].
Our Father, who was able to make our vast Universe, with all its contents and all its complexities, most surely He will also be make a New Heaven and a New Earth, as He has promised us.
I sometimes wondered if Jesus (God) would have enough place for all those that live, lived and had faith, – faith is the key – but Jesus simply answered and said that there are many mansions. (John 14:2)
Isn’t that amazing?
It is unthinkable….but true!
by Henry Pool | Oct 18, 2017 | News
Though the fig tree does not bud, and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails, and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls:
Yet will I rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in my God and Savior. The Lord is my strength, He makes my feet like the feet of a dear, hen enables me to tread on the heights! (Habakkuk 3 : 17-19)
Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying: pray! Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle down on your spirit. It is wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life. (Philippians 4: 6-7).
Something else to remember: You cannot help with a burden unless you come close to burdened people. You often find that everyone is fighting some kind of battle, so let’s focus on being a bit more tolerant of those who come across as unlovable. In fact, you, may be the only Bible someone gets to read in their lifetime. Therefore, let your actions and words always reflect Jesus, at all times. Do not become weary in doing good for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Sometimes it may not look like it is getting us anywhere, but it is definitely putting a smile on Christ’s face!
by Henry Pool | Oct 12, 2017 | News
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Heart for Children
by Henry Pool | Oct 2, 2017 | News
If you watched our program on Sunday (12h00 on CTV, DSTV ch. 263) you would have heard Mother Teresa being quoted from her “Anyway” poem. Some of you have asked me for the exact text thereof, so here it comes:
People are often unreasonable, illogical and self centered: Love them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives: Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies: Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you: Be honest and frank anyway.
What you have spend years building, could be destroyed overnight: Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous: Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow: Do good anyway.
People really need help but may attack you, if you do help them: Help them anyway!
Give the world the best you have, and you may get kicked in the teeth: Give the world the best you have got anyway.
“As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you, says the Lord (Isiah 66:13)”
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God; it never was between you and them, anyway…..
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