RICE OR CHRIST?

Haven’t you noticed recently that what we eat during Easter (originally Passover) is mainly rice? And we celebrate each Easter with food, merry-making, and, to some extent, filthiness. Partying, vexations of spirit, and gullibility which preempt greed is now the order of the day. And where is Christ in these festivities? When Christ asked us to ‘do this in remembrance of Him’, the questions we should have been asking ourselves is whether we are actually doing what He says we should do? And if we are, is it in readiness for rapture? Maybe you have never thought to read through the original Passover experience for which our Easter bears its new name; this could be quite understood. But do not remain in darkness. You need to read the whole of Exodus 12:1-30; Luke 22:1-22 and 1Cor.5:1-8.

I expect that those who are interested in spending an endless eternity with God would at least take time to read what is written here. You only placed yourself in a position by how you respond to raised issues. Here’s an opportunity. DO SOMETHING POSITIVE! ©Emmanuel Enesi Ajanah

NIKOLAI KHAMARA Soviet Union, 1970s

Nikolai khamara was a criminal. Having been arrested and convicted for robbery, he was sentenced to prison for ten years in the former Soviet Union. There he shared the same jail cell with some Christians. They intrigued Nikolai because they were able to be joyful even in the midst of great suffering, even when everything seemed hopeless. He noticed that when they had a crust of bread, they shared it with someone who had none. Mornings and evening they folded their hands and spoke softly – though Nikolai could not tell to whom – until a peaceful expression appeared on their faces. One day as he sat with two of them, one asked Nikolai, “What brought you here?” “Ah,” Nikolai waved his hand, “it was just my bad luck.” Then he stopped. “No. it wasn’t luck. It was because I am a man without a conscience. I did not care who I hurt.” He then related his life of crime and turned aside with a shrug. “I am a lost man.” But before he could rise and walk away, a gnarled hand gripped his shoulder. “Wait friend,” one of the Christians said. “Let me ask you a question. What is the value of a ten-ruble note if you lose it somewhere?” Nikolai turned back, a frown wrinkling his brow. “What do you mean? Ten rubles are ten rubles. If I lose them” – he shrugged – “I’m out.” Then he grinned. “But whoever finds them would be very happy.” “Exactly,” said the Christian. “One more question. Suppose someone loses a gold ring. Would its value change?” “What a foolish question! A gold ring is a gold ring. If you have lost it, somebody else will gain when he finds it. But its value doesn’t change.” “Well, then,” said the Christian, “what is the value of a lost man? Even if he is an adulterer or murderer, he is still a man, and doesn’t his value remain the same?” Nikolai nodded slowly. “Every person is of such value that the Son of God forsook heaven and died on the cross to save him. God loves you, Nikolai. Nowhere in the Bible will you find Jesus asking someone what kind or how many sins he has committed. When He met men who had committed great sins, He said, ‘Be of good cheer. Your sins are forgiven.’ I also tell you that your sins are forgiven because Jesus died for you. All you have to do is believe.” The Faithful Believer Nikolai did believe, and when he was released, he joined the underground church. Then one day, his pastor was arrested by the Communists, who tortured him to get him to reveal how the Christians printed and distributed gospel tracks. But the pastor did not crack. Finally, the interrogator said “Enough. We have a better way.” And he brought in Nikolai Khamara, who had also been arrested. “If you do not tell all the secrets, we will torture one of your members in front of you.” “Oh, no. Nikolai, what should I do?” wailed Nikolai’s pastor. “Don’t worry,” said Nikolai. “Just be faithful to Christ and do not betray him. I am happy to suffer for the name of Christ.” But when the Communists prepared to gouge out Nikolai’s eyes, the pastor withered until Nikolai said, “When my eyes are taken away, I will see more beauty than I see with these eyes. I will see the Saviour. You just remain faithful to Christ to the end.” When they moved to cut out his tongue, Nikolai calmed his frantic pastor by shouting, “Praise the Lord Jesus Christ! There, I have said the highest words anyone can say. What does it matter now if they cut out my tongue?” In this way, the communists martyred Nikolai for the sake of Christ, even while he encouraged his pastor not betray the church. [JESUS SAID,] “IF ANYONE ACKNOWLEDGES ME PUBLICLY HERE ON EARTH, I WILL OPENLY ACKNOWLEDGE THAT PERSON BEFORE MY FATHER IN HEAVEN. BUT IF ANYONE DENIES ME HERE ON EARTH, I WILL DENY THAT PERSON BEFORE MY FATHER IN HEAVEN.” MATTHEW 10:32-33 © Dave & Neta Jackson, The Complete Book of Christian Heroes.

USING WHAT IS IN YOU

THERE is a gold mine hidden in every life. Nature never made a failure. Every man has success hidden away in his soul. No one else can find it but himself. He holds the key to the hidden room. Failure comes because we never sought that hidden treasure. Failure comes because we tried to find it somewhere else. You can’t find it anywhere else. Success, victory, achievement are in you. The exceptional people are those who develop what is within them. That quartet is winning fame and success because they developed what they had in them. Singly they could not do it but united they make a harmony that thrills the heart. The soloist had it in her. It was there and she developed it and made it of commercial value. I have seen three great baritones. One was a miner who, had he not been too lazy and loved the companionship of drinking men and useless women, would have been known the world over. What a voice he had. I picked him up a drunkard. I tried to make a man of him. I bought him clothes. When it was known that Scotty was going to sing the building could not hold the crowd. I said to him, “I don’t know whether my pianist can play the pieces that you want to sing without looking them over.” He looked at me with a peculiar expression and said; “I need no accompaniment.” He stood by the piano that first night in his old mining clothes and sang. I closed my eyes and I couldn’t locate him because his voice utterly filled that whole room. He seemed to be everywhere in it. That great voice was strange, sweet, wonderful music. He made the songs all over that he sang that night. I raised the money and sent him back to his own land. He promised to sing again. As a boy he sang in Drewry but he confessed he was so drunk it took a man to hold him up. But he never amounted to anything. He did not develop the thing that was in him. Genius has grown up to weeds about it, just because they did not develop the thing they had. I know it is hard work but you will learn to love hard work. There are no great gold nuggets lying on top of the earth now. You have to go down into the earth for them; you must dig for them. You want the applause of the world? You want money to buy fine clothes and build splendid houses? Awaken young men. Go find that hidden place in your own nature. Did and dig until you have conquered. A father was dying. He had two sons. The boys had always felt that he had gold that he had hidden away somewhere. He had never been a strong, healthy man so his farm was not developed. Back of the house there was ten acres of stump land. When he was dying he said, “The stump lot.” Again and again he said, “The stump lot.” As soon as the funeral was over the boys said, “The gold is out in the stump lot.” How feverishly they worked. They tore up every inch of it. But they found no gold. Then the older one said, “We have the land in good condition, let’s put in corn.” In the autumn they found in the ripened corn the gold. You have a stump lot in you. Dig it up, clean it up, and you will find the gold in it. © Kenyon.

A MISSION ADAPTATION OF 1ST CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 13 BY MRS. C. E. COWMAN

“Though I speak concerning foreign missions with great eloquence, and have not vision, I am become as sounding brass, or tinkling cymbal. “And though I spend long hours in study and reading missionary literature, and know much concerning the hardships and difficulties of a missionary’s life, and have not vision, it profiteth me nothing. “A vision holdeth one steady before God; a vision enableth one to pray earnestly; a vision burdeneth, that others may have salvation. “Doth not exalt any but Christ, seeketh only the redemption of the lost, is given to those who earnestly seek for it, thinketh no price too great to pay; “Trieth not to discourage those who would be missionaries, but trieth to encourage them to answer the call of God. “Beareth another’s burdens, believeth that God is willing to undertake, hopeth for the salvation of many, endureth seeming failure and disappointment. “A Vision doth not soon fail, but where there be excitement aroused by hair-raising stories, it shall fail; where there be only interest, it shall vanish away. “For all Christians know in part, and all Christians see in part; but when they have a vision their lukewarmness and intermittent interest shall be done away. “Before I caught the vision, I spoke as one without a vision, I prayed as one without a vision; but when I caught the vision, I put away half-hearted things. “For now at least I have caught a faint glimpse of the need which Jesus alone can satisfy, but some day I shall realize it fully; now I know something of the price salvation cost, but then I shall see it clearly even as also it hath been purchased for me. “And now to be a missionary Christian are necessary – a prayerful heart, a surrendered life, a vision; these three, with others, but one of the greatest of these is a vision”.

LIVINGSTONE FOLLOWS HIS LEADER By Naomi Dallas (Africa)

“At last I’m in Africa!” declared Dr. David Livingstone as he walked down the gangplank at Capetown in 1841. The man was happy to be on land again. The past six months had been spent on a ship coming from England. But Livingstone was still not at the end of his journey. For another two months Livingstone walked or rode in an ox-drawn wagon over rugged trails. He was headed for Moffat’s mission station at Kuruman, about 500 miles north-east of Capetown. In Kuruman, Livingstone said, “I cannot stay here to preach. The Lord is telling me to go farther north toward the centre of Africa which is still unexplored!” So, with his helpers carrying the provisions on their heads, Dr. Livingstone started out. There were no roads. The foot travel led over swamps and through tangled forests. Blood-sucking bugs and stinging mosquitoes made Livingstone miserable, but for two years he traveled deeper and deeper into the interior of Africa. Wherever he went, he doctored the sick people he found and told every one about God’s love for them. The name Bwana Livingstone became a very special name in many parts of Africa. Bwana means friend or teacher or doctor in many of the African languages. The people called him that because he proved to be friend, teacher and doctor to them. Livingstone felt God would have him make maps of the trails he traveled. “Many missionaries must come here and tell these people about God. I am only one person to tell of His great love. I can tell only a few! But if I map routes for other missionaries to follow, surely more will come and tell of God. These dear African people must know that God gave His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ to be their Saviour!” In those days, maps of Africa were blank in the whole central part. At the edge of this unknown part, several weeks’ walk north of Kuruman, Livingstone started a mission station. Using this as a place from which to work, the missionary went far in every direction, doctoring the people, telling them about Christ, and marking down the new-found trails and villages on his maps. One day as he came near a village, he heard wild screamings. “A lion is after our sheep! It will kill us too! Help! Help!” Livingstone and his men dashed to help hunt the lion. Livingstone sighted the beast and shot it twice! The great creature lurched into the air and jumped directly on Livingstone. It ripped the flesh on his left shoulder and splintered the shoulder bone. Then suddenly the lion crumpled over, dead. Livingstone’s men lifted their beloved Bwana to his feet. The natives doctored the arm as the missionary directed. But an imperfect boneset caused the arm to trouble Livingstone as long as he lived. The exploring missionary kept at his work as he felt the Lord leading him. He left the mission he founded first and went further into the heart of the continent to tell the people about God. Livingstone discovered rivers in the central part that could be used for travel. The natives told him of a great wonder far away on the Zambezi River. “There’s smoke that thunders, there on that river!” they declared with excitement. Livingstone pushed on until he beheld what the natives had tried to describe. The great falls of the Zambezi roared over the cliffs. The noise could be heard for miles! Livingstone watched the mists from the gigantic waterfall. It did look like smoke as it rose more than half a mile into the air. “Smoke that thunders! How well these people describe their wonderful land!” Livingstone said to himself. “Victoria Falls will be its name, in honour of Queen Victoria of England!” Soon Livingstone made a sad discovery. African people were being sold to other countries as slaves! The missionary wrote letters to newspapers in many parts of the world, describing the horrors of the slave trade. Many countries became aroused against it. Finally Livingstone wrote of watching helplessly as Arab slavers suddenly seized and killed scores of people in the busy market place in an African city. The missionary also described the hundreds being shot or drowned in the nearby river trying to escape. From Livingstone’s reports, at last other countries helped to stop the slave trade. But it continued for many more years in remote areas of Africa. Livingstone found traces of it as he explored on and on in the great land. Many times as he traveled, the explorer was almost dead from starvation or disease. Finally on one long journey Livingstone became so ill his faithful black boys carried him into the nearby village of Ilala. “This white man truly loves the black people!” they whispered. Next morning the one who truly loved them so dearly and showed them God’s wonderful love was found kneeling beside his cot. He could not be awakened. Livingstone had died praying for Africa. Under a tree in the village, Livingstone’s black friends buried his heart. “But his body must go back to his own people,” they said. So for fourteen days they dried the body in the hot sun and then enclosed it in a cylinder of bark and sailcloth. They carried it for nine months over a thousand miles through the jungles, sometimes crossing rivers four miles wide, until they reached the coast. “Bwana Livingstone said God told him to come here and tell us about Christ!” said the African people. “And he came! He traveled from one end of the land to the other to tell people the good news that Christ died for them. He also taught how Christians should love and obey Christ. Bwana Livingstone surely did do what the Lord told him to do!” When David Livingstone’s body was taken back to England, crowds thronged the street to pay tribute to the noble missionary. An elderly man among them sobbed aloud, and people wondered at his deep grief. It was revealed that he and Livingstone had been friends in their youth. As an ambitious young man, he had scorned Livingstone’s choice to give his life for Christ in Africa. Now, his life spent in selfish interest, the old man realized with regret that Livingstone had made the wiser choice, and he cried out, “I put the emphasis on the wrong world.” PRAYER: (For Parents): Ask the Lord this concerning your children/ward each. (For Sunday School Teachers): Ask the Lord this concerning each pupil under your care. Yes, ask that the Lord will guide them in following and obeying Him and to help each one make the right choice for his life.

FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS

Now, all I have is now To be faithful To be holy And to shine Lighting up the darkness Right now, I really have no choice But to voice the truth to the nations A generation looking for God For such a time as this I was placed upon the earth To hear the voice of God And do His will Whatever it is For such a time as this For now and all the days He gives I am here, I am here And I am His For such a time as this You – Do you ever wonder why Seems like the grass is always greener Under everybody else’s sky But right here, right here for this time and place You can live a mirror of His mercy A forgiven image of grace Can’t change what’s happened till now But we can change what will be By living in holiness That the world will see Jesus © Wayne Watson

Breathe Series: BEANS…FOR CHEAPSKATES!

www.facebook.com/emmanuelajanahBreathe Series: BEANS…FOR CHEAPSKATES!

BEANS…FOR CHEAPSKATES!

Beloved, Have you ever asked yourself why you are who, and what you are…today? Ever wondered why God had allowed you to be a trained doctor, teacher, writer, singer, engineer, nurse, marketer, pharmacist, journalist, etc? How about your make up? Why do you find yourself doing the things you do? Is it possible that such things that you do do have a bearing towards what you are to ultimately become…in His hands? The things you have a proclivity towards might just be the investments (besides the daily consumption of His word, its watering by prayer and its strengthening by the exercising of faith) you’ll need to groom you for what and where you’ll eventually be a USEFUL VESSEL in His able hands. You know, it hurts when a BELIEVER said he is jobless and unemployed, short of saying that he is unemployable, I guess. I fell for that lie once. And as long as I lived that lie (feeling frustrated and discouraged) precious souls were trooping into HELL…in droves…and I’m supposed to be on His rescue team. The terrible sin of negligence! Yes, the millions of souls inadvertently finding their way to hell today could just as well be the result of our terrible sin of negligence, all in the name of ‘living according to the pursuit of today’s system’. I ask: Has God indeed failed us? Are we not searching for our ‘genuine’ daily needs (food, shelter, clothings, security etc) exactly like the ‘publicans’ while His ‘temple’ and His ‘harvest fields’ lie untended? “But,” you chipped in, “How would one survived since one need all these things?” Frankly, it’s about who you trust? When a child believes its parents cannot provide for its needs, it naturally seeks to fend for itself, isn’t it? I’ve seen that in the animal world, too. And, yes, ever seen the righteous forsaken? God recently impressed upon my heart that faith is when my pocket is empty and His business in my hand is flourishing. Beat that?! I’m still dazed myself. There’s this story of a pig and beans. You don’t want to be the pig, believe me. Neither will you want to be taken away by the ‘beans’ of life, seriously. It happened that some persons taking their pigs to an abattoir for slaughter were having a hard time pulling these animals along. In spite of the ropes tied round their neck the pigs were simply recalcitrant, giving their owners pretty tough times. Suddenly trotting alongside its owner was this pig which seemed so happy; and there was no rope round its neck. When asked what the magic was, the owner simply said: beans. Dropping one at a time, the pig ate, trotting along happily, not knowing it was heading to its slaughter. What kind of ‘beans’ is the devil feeding you with that is worth abandoning His calling for? What ‘beans’ is the devil using to distract you? Don’t fall for that, buddy! You are valued higher that a pig. Pigs love murky ponds. A child of God CANNOT be comfortable with any sinful distraction, otherwise, he is up for raised eyebrows in the body of Christ. You gamed? The cities we dwell in today were the sweats of other missionaries who heed the call years ago. Just imagine if they had refused His promptings…and there are other virgin lands and territories. Who’s fooling who here? You be the judge. It’s your decision. And hey, never trivialize the warnings of God to you, especially the ones spoken to you directly. “Half a word…” Looking forward to hearing from you. In the meantime grow deep, grow well, grow strong, keep breathing in His grace and remain irremovable and irrevocable in Christ.

"Hitherto hath the Lord helped us." — 1 Samuel 7:12

The word "hitherto" seems like a hand pointing in the direction of the past. Twenty years or seventy, and yet, "hitherto the Lord hath helped!" Through poverty, through wealth, through sickness, through health, at home, abroad, on the land, on the sea, in honour, in dishonour, in perplexity, in joy, in trial, in triumph, in prayer, in temptation, "hitherto hath the Lord helped us!" We delight to look down a long avenue of trees. It is delightful to gaze from end to end of the long vista, a sort of verdant temple, with its branching pillars and its arches of leaves; even so look down the long aisles of your years, at the green boughs of mercy overhead, and the strong pillars of lovingkindness and faithfulness which bear up your joys. Are there no birds in yonder branches singing? Surely there must be many, and they all sing of mercy received "hitherto." But the word also points forward. For when a man gets up to a certain mark and writes "hitherto," he is not yet at the end, there is still a distance to be traversed. More trials, more joys; more temptations, more triumphs; more prayers, more answers; more toils, more strength; more fights, more victories; and then come sickness, old age, disease, death. Is it over now? No! there is more yet-awakening in Jesu's likeness, thrones, harps, songs, psalms, white raiment, the face of Jesus, the society of saints, the glory of God, the fulness of eternity, the infinity of bliss. O be of good courage, believer, and with grateful confidence raise thy "Ebenezer," for— He who hath helped thee hitherto Will help thee all thy journey through. When read in heaven's light how glorious and marvellous a prospect will thy "hitherto" unfold to thy grateful eye!