“In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria, and he carried the Israelites away to Assyria and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. And this occurred because the people of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods and walked in the customs of the nations whom the Lord drove out before ...

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by Robert J Morgan

When Richard Dawkins and Bill Maher salivate about the demise of religion as they did in a recent telecast ("Gay marriage, pot, religion's the next one to fall"), they forget that biblical Christianity has been buried many times, but the uncooperative corpse won't stay in the grave. From its very beginning, Christianity has been grave-proof.

Jiang Qing, the last wife of Chinese leader Mao Zedong and a member of the infamous Gang of Four, helped unleash the Cultural Rev...
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The whole gay issue is very prominent in the media these days, what with gay 'marriage' and the whole Russian situation. On television the soaps regularly carry a gay story line. Casualty recently had the story of a gay Iranian illegal immigrant trying to escape persecution because of his homosexuality. The male nurse who was also gay tried to help him and it turned out that the Iranian was having an 'affair' with the married bisexual boss who had illegally employed him.

Why am I saying this?...
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A local Elim pastor (fully endorsed by the general superintendent's like) put up a Facebook status quoting 2 Chronicles 7:14 as what seemed to be a rallying call to prayer for revival in 'the land'. Sorry to burst a lot of Christian bubbles but this verse has nothing to do with praying for our country but has everything to do with God's promises to the land of Israel.

Context is the key here. Solomon had dedicated the newly built temple to God who speaks to Solomon and tells him that his pr...
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I  read somewhere that postmodernism was subtly creeping into many churches. One idea of postmodernist thought is that there is no absolute truth and that understanding is down to individual interpretation. Following from this, if there is no absolute truth then neither is there absolute authority and so the Bible is ignored as God's Word given for guidance and example or it is read as a matter of personal meaning and interpretation. It has become harder to encourage or challenge believers an...
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I read something the other day on Facebook which stirred me into response. It always saddens me when some want to dilute the Bible's teachings or put aside its full authority for the sake of, what I hear termed 'free thinking'. They speak of being liberated, unshackled from conformity or institution. They see themselves upon a journey of discovery, of open vistas leading to who knows where. Yet I see in that perceived freedom a new set of chains which when pulled taut allow for a journey but ...
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There's an old hymn which begins: 'My hope is built on nothing less...'
What exactly is hope? Some people see hope as a vague longing for something to happen - 'I hope I get the job'; 'I hope I pass the test' and so on. With this kind of hope you are never quite sure whether the thing will come about. It's more of a wish.

For the Christian hope is something else. It is an assurance based upon God's love and promises. The Psalms in the Bible are songs about life and faith, about deep depression...
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"For many are called, but few are chosen."

What did Jesus mean by this? Some might understand it to mean exclusiveness. Out of all only some receive the privilege of entering God's Kingdom. But this does not seem to agree with John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life..."

The context of this verse is the parable of the wedding banquet:

Matthew 22:2-13
“The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding feast for his so...
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