Heralds Digest

  “ Prepare your outside work, Make it fit for yourself in the field; And afterward build your house .” Proverbs 24 : 27 NKJV The title of Geisler and Turek’s book “ I don’t have enough faith to be an atheist ” has never ceased to fascinate me. It takes extreme stupidity or extraordinary sophistication to play down the evident display of intelligent design in the creation of the world. Besides the emphasis on the reality of the existence of God, creativity is one of the divine attributes in man. Without prejudice to our lazy subscription to corruption and indiscipline, everyone knows that productivity can never align with the concept of evolution. Preparation and prototyping must precede production. And to transform a consuming economy to a producing economy, everyone must believe and be committed to the principles of ‘Prepare your outside work ’ and ‘Make it fit for yourself in the field’ before there can be ‘ And afterward build your house ’. The preparation aspect is the inev...

  “ Therefore we wanted to come to you—even I, Paul, time and again—but Satan hindered us. For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? For you are our glory and joy. ” I Thessalonians 2 : 18 - 20 NKJV In a sane environment where regulation for customer satisfaction is at its peak, people readily derive pleasure in rating their level of satisfaction in services rendered by service providers. Even the best assessed level of satisfaction in this world’s services is always temporal. Some customers are often driven to abuse any fair return policy, by always attempting to cash back after the expiration of an earlier assessed 100% customer satisfaction. The reality in life is that material things can never provide an enduring satisfaction and joy fulfillment. For example, in spite of satanic manipulations and unpleasant physical constraints to Paul’s freedom, he was able to express the source of an endu...

  “ Blessed are the undefiled in the way, Who walk in the law of the Lord! Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, Who seek Him with the whole heart! They also do no iniquity; They walk in His ways. ” Psalms 119 : 1 - 3 NKJV There is no doubt that those who abuse the grace of God have little or no understanding of the concept of the narrow way. For  “ Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it ” ( Matthew‬ ‭7‬:‭13‬-‭14‬).  The narrow way cannot be widened because it is not only strait , it is extremely wrangled. So, when the scriptures proclaimed the blessedness of “ the undefiled in the way ”, it merely commends their consecration to righteousness and commitment to the wrangled way. The wrangled ways are the divine molding wheels for forming God’s children into His effective a...

  “ God is the Lord, And He has given us light; Bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar. You are my God, and I will praise You; You are my God, I will exalt You .” Psalms 118 : 27 - 28 NKJV Finding the g-factor in all of life’s pursuits is always a rewardable enterprise, whatever is defined as the g-factor. While the g-factor is grass to a lot of people, to some it can be gravel ; and probably the g-factor is gold to a handful of people. Unfortunately, the rewards from grass, gravel, and gold are still perishable and not pure, despite the variation in their strength of endurance in the ascending order. For example, those who are motivated by the momentary appeals, and appetites are rewarded with grass that burns off almost instantly at the heat of the moment. The gravel seekers do delight in the gathering of local appeals and appetites that do not have a far-reaching and wider relevance in the scope of life’s realities. They would have so many records of the ...

  “ But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.” Colossians 3 : 14 - 15 NKJV The peace from God and the peace of God can be used interchangeably as products of the grace of God. Notwithstanding, there is a significant difference or variation in the two concepts of peace. While the peace from God is God-given, the peace of God is man-driven. The former underscores the appropriation of the love of God through the acceptance of His peace; but the latter extends this love of God through a deliberate release of His peace to others. Therefore, when the scriptures admonish “ But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection “, it emphasizes the common experience where many believers claimed the receipt of the grace of God without an evidence of His love extension to others. Unfortunately, believers do readily extend the influence o...

  ““ If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, Then how can you contend with horses? And if in the land of peace, In which you trusted, they wearied you, Then how will you do in the floodplain of the Jordan? ” Jeremiah 12 : 5 NKJV The cheap defense of low-key independence anniversary by developing nations without sustainable strategy against the monsters of corruption, indiscipline, and absence of nationalism is always detestable. Citizens of these nations are often plagued with inferiority complexes, low self-esteem, and inability to sustain innovative ideas. Unfortunately, ‘footmen’ or unqualified artisans, high-handed development partners, and fraudulent politicians are often given free tickets to weary and worn-out endowed human resources, minerals and potentials whenever nationals failed to recognize  their consignable conquests. Like most developing nations in today’s world, Israel and Judah faced similar detestable realities in her economic and soc...

  “ Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might, Nor let the rich man glory in his riches; But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight ” says the Lord.” Jeremiah 9 : 23 - 24 NKJV Except for anyone who can correctly answer and appropriate the question “ What is the meaning of life? ”, life happens to all and not vice versa. For those who appropriate the pursuit of wisdom, weight, and wealth as the meaning of life, the likes of king Solomon had all these metrics and still got lost in the vanity of a lonely life. While a lonely life attracts the wrong crowd of people with conflict of interest in their desired appropriation of the subject’s wisdom, weight, and wealth, only a lovely life can find purpose even in the absence of these worldly metrics. So, when the scriptures say “ Let no...