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Showing posts from May, 2021

Israel at War - Again. Why?

It is a familiar sound that had not been heard for a while: air raid sirens in major cities. People fleeing to bomb shelters. A thousand rockets had been fired into Israel within a period of 24 hours. While Israel’s Iron Dome intercepted many rockets, some got through, resulting in the death of six people, including an Arab father and daughter. Israel retaliated by bombing targets in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. Several dozen people were killed, including Hamas leaders. It’s horrible, nasty, and deadly. But why now?   When it comes to the conflict between Israel & Palestine & the Arabs, it is easy to get it wrong. Part of the reason is that we are dealing with thousands of years of history, cultural clashes, and vastly different world-views. Also, there is temptation to over-simplify the causes of conflict, or view it from a one-dimensional secular political perspective. Unfortunately, the media has not helped - either through ignorance, ideological bias, or both. Gaz

Like a Bamboo Tree: How to Grow Spiritually and Quickly

  2 Timothy 3:16-17 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. Life in the fast lane of the 21st Century requires spiritual strength and maturity. With potholes and speed bumps on the road and deep ditches on the side, it will take an amazingly resilient spiritual condition to keep steady and come out on top. It is said that the bamboo tree has a very slow start. Its growth is short and measured. Then suddenly it miraculously shoots up overnight. In the coming days, we need to be like a bamboo forest. Would you like to grow spiritually? And quickly? Experiencing God’s peace at all times, a flourishing prayer life where you get big answers and breakthroughs, and endowed with wisdom that unscrambles every riddle and points the way to a brighter future? For the born again Christian, there are several ke

The Seventh Commandment - Part 04: Adultery & New Testament Teaching

    A Christian theologian and culture war blogger sent out an SOS message to his readers: Help. HeChr had just posted a blog on the benefits of Biblical Christian sexual morality and was being mercilessly attacked online. Yes, the unchurched were at him but he could handle it. He’s an experienced debater. It was the putative Christians who criticised him as well that precipitated the SOS. The blogger wanted his readers to comment in support of his stance. It may sound strange that there is not a solid consensus on something as fundamental as Biblical morality. One of the key reasons is that only a fraction of Christians have a Scriptural worldview whereby they live. Biblical illiteracy is the key reason for this. This author simply asks those who dissent: 1.        Did God relax His holy standards in the New Testament? 2.        Did God tighten His standards in the New Testament? 3.        Are God’s clear standards still applicable today? 4.        Finally, is western so

The Kingly Messiah: Why Study the Gospel of Matthew? Part 01

  Welcome to the New Testament! Having given introductions and surveys of all thirty-nine books of the Old Testament, the Issachar Teaching eLetter is pleased to offer you the same regarding the twenty-seven books of the New Testament. We begin with the Gospel of Matthew. Our purpose is to encourage you to do your own in-depth study of God’s Word. Purpose of the Gospel of Matthew Matthew’s apparent purpose is to persuade a primarily Jewish audience the case that Jesus of Nazareth is the long-awaited ‘Son of David’ and ‘Messiah of Israel.’ He does so by highlighting the following: 1.       1.    Fulfilled Old Testament prophecy, 2.        Christ’s supernatural conception, 3.        The flight to Egypt, 4.        The use of parables, 5.        His genealogy via Abraham and David, 6.        The testimony of God the Father and the Holy Spirit at His Jordan River baptism, 7.        The witness of John the Baptist, 8.        Sermons, 9.        Discourses and, 10.    E

From Meltdown to Mountaintop: Making a Dynamic Ascent from the Lowest Valley Part 01

  And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God — 1 Samuel 30:6   Meltdown (noun): A disastrous event, like the fall of share prices; an accident at a nuclear reactor, a nervous breakdown, an emotional outburst. It happened to Job: He had gone from plenty and blessing to trial and tribulation, losing assets and family members all in one day. His was possibly the most extreme example of compound intense suffering in history Yet it also happened to the ‘ man after God’s own heart, ’ King David. When he and his 600 men returned to their city of Ziklag, it had been burned with fire and their wives, children, and possessions were missing. The only consolation is that nobody was slain but they were hostages in the custody of the carnal Amalekites. Here in 1 Samuel 30:6 , we learn that David and the mighty men were r