For One Week Only - Gratitude Saturday!!

Sorry, it was my homecoming day yesterday, so I didn't have a chance to write the 'Gratitude Friday' post. I will do it now, instead:

Thank You Lord for a great first year at uni.

Thank You Lord for a safe journey back home.

Thank You Lord for a great night of football: Italy 1-1 Romania (including a spectacular penalty-kick save from Gianluigi Buffon) and the Netherlands 4-1 France!!!
(It's Spain vs Sweden tonight on ITV)

Thank You Lord for internet connection in my room.

Thank You Lord for the sunshine.

Thank You Lord for Wales.


Now, a special prayer request.
Please pray that Isaac would get his visa back by the 21st of June.
Thank you.

God bless you all.

To All Athiests: "Why Live?"

If there is no God, and there is no life after death, then you might as well die now; it wouldn't make a difference. Not a sausage.

I mean, what are you living for? What could you possibly look forward to? Ultimately, Nothing.

Another annoying thing about atheists is that they believe in evolution (if you don't believe in a God, then you don't have much of a choice). What is worse, some atheists are Evolutionary Hypocrites!! I'm talking about Charitable Atheists! If you believe in survival of the fittest, then why bother supporting the needy, the elderly, victims of African famines?
The Nazis believed in survival of the fittest.

Jesus, on the other hand, loves everyone and gave his life for you all.

Believe that Jesus died for you, to take away all your sins. Then all your sins will be forgiven, and you will live forever in Heaven rather than spend eternity in torment in Hell.

Salvation is through Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ alone.

Satan's lies to the World #5 - Christians and Muslims worship the same God

This lie is allied to lie no.2. Again, because it is a lie, it is WRONG.

How on earth did anyone come up with this one?

Christians believe in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit

Muslims don't.

Jesus said, "I and the Father are one." (John 10:30 NIV)

Therefore one must believe in both God the Son and God the Father; you can't just pick and choose. Since Muslims don't put their faith in Jesus, how can they say that they believe in God the Father? They don't.

God's Word states that God is Love (1 John 4:16).

The Muslims make no such claim.

Now there is a choice for you to make: do you follow Mohammed, who is still dead in a tomb somewhere, or Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who died for your sins and rose again, is now seated at the right hand of the Father, and is coming back one day soon?

Eternal life or eternal death. Don't leave it too late. Don't leave it late at all.

Prayer Requests Tuesday

This week, please would you pray for the following:

• The peaceful reunification of North and South Korea sometime soon
  


• Complete restoration of my grandfather's memory sometime soon.
  


• That I would: "16Be joyful always; 17pray continually; 18give thanks in all circumstances" (1 Thessalonians 5). Koreans will be familiar with the Korean version of this text, which reads as follows: "16항상 기뻐하라 17쉬지 말고 기도하라 18범사에 감사하라" (데살로니가전서 5)
  


• That I would finish well (it's my last few days as a first year in uni. I get to go home this Friday, 13th June, Praise God :)
  


• For the following people with A2, AS, GCSE exams around about now: 요한, 이삭, 선웅, 영일, 예림, 종석, 예은, 지상, 지혜, 하랑, 지예, 동현, 캐서린, 혜인, 선엽, 병현, 재형, 경민, 원상, 성민... I may have left some people out. Apologies.
  


• Grandparents' visit in July.
  


• Unsaved family members, yours and mine.
  


• That my Dad's studies would be completed soon
  


• Anything else you can think of!

So, only one additional prayer request this week. Have you spotted it yet?

Sometimes, we are all atheists

I believe that the sad fact is, we are all atheists to some extent. A lot of the time, we act as if God isn't there. I just hope that I'm not acting like an atheist on the day Our Lord Jesus Christ returns. Therefore, I had better act more like Him all the days of my life, because nobody knows when Jesus is coming back (except God the Father). Wouldn't it be disastrous if, on the one day we decide to let our guard down, Jesus came back?

Matthew Chapter 24

36"No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 37As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
42"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
45"Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? 46It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. 47I tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 48But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, 'My master is staying away a long time,' 49and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. 50The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. 51He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

LORD's Day

Perfection.

It was one night in the Spring of 2004. I was in Year 10 at the time, and doing some English Literature coursework, when I heard the following piece for the first time, on the radio. I just closed my eyes and listened... and it totally cleared my mind. It is so logical and refreshing. It is musical perfection. It has remained my favourite piece ever since. It is the Prelude to Partita #3 for solo violin by J.S.Bach.



This is the version by the famous violinist Nathan Milstein. Close your eyes and have a listen. The prelude only goes up to 3:32, but you are more than welcome to listen to the rest of the Partita.

If you want to watch as well as listen, here is a video of Nathan Milstein playing the same piece in what looks like an abandoned warehouse; you might reasonably presume that he had been kidnapped and coerced into playing.



By the way, the very next piece Bach composed was the Cello Suite No.1, the prelude to which is probably the most famous cello piece in the world. Here's the link to an interpretation of it by the late maestro Mstislav Rostropovich: http://youtube.com/watch?v=LU_QR_FTt3E

It is said that, at the end of each of his compositions, Bach wrote the initials S.D.G., which stands for Soli Deo Gloria. It means "To God Alone be the Glory!"

Amen and Amen.

Satan's lies to the World #4 - Money is Bad

This lie is closely allied with lie #3. Not as many subscribe to this view, however.

As I have said before, money is NEUTRAL. It's like a knife; you can cut meat with it or you can stab the Pope. Although it is true that "a poor man hears no threat" (Proverbs 13:8, NIV. For example, "I'll take your home from you." "I rent." "I'll take your car, then" "I have no car" "..."), a poor man cannot give as much to world missions. The problem isn't how much money you have; it's what you do with it.

Earn as much money as you can (making sure that God has the highest place in your life and making time for friends and family); just don't let it stick to your hands.

"and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday." - Isaiah 58:10 (NIV)

Gratitude Fridays

Here's another new feature to my blog: Gratitude Fridays. As the name suggests, every Friday, I will be recounting the things which I am grateful for, thus encouraging myself and others to be grateful.

Here goes...

Thank You Jesus for dying for my sins and, in so doing, saving me from an eternity in Hell

Thank You God for sending Your Son Jesus Christ to die for our sins

Thank You Holy Spirit for interceding for us continually

Thank You Lord for my parents' good health

Thank You Lord for a bed, blankets, and a roof over our head

Thank You Lord for a great and memorable childhood

Thank You Lord for bringing our family to Britain

Thank You Lord for all five senses and the use of all four limbs

Thank You Lord for a smooth first year at uni

Thank You Lord for the Bible

THANK YOU LORD

smiling orphan boy