When Esther Gulshan Fatima, a devout Pakistani Muslim girl, was six months old, typhoid left her a cripple. Her loving father took her from Pakistan to England to find a cure, but the only hope the British specialist could offer was prayer. Gulshan and her father made a pilgrimage to Mecca and begged Allah for healing . . . . As Gulshan began reading the Quran, her interest in Jesus grew, until one amazing night Jesus appeared to her in her bedroom in a blaze of light. Jesus restored her crippled arm and leg and taught her 'The Lords Prayer'. Jesus told her to go to his people now and tell them what he had done. Since that time, and to this day, Esther Gulshan Fatima has been a joyous, obedient disciple of Christ. Gulshan Esther now lives in Oxford, England. The Torn Veil has sold over 200,000 copies.
Category: Articles
Sadhu Sundar Selvaraj – Apostle To Tibet, The Himalayas And The World
On December 24, 1983, Brother Sadhu had a supernatural visitation from the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus then asked Sundar Selvaraj, "Will you continue the ministry of Sadhu Sundar Singh?" Without any hesitation, Selvaraj answered "Yes Lord!" Smiling, the Lord said, "Do not reply hastily! This is a very difficult ministry with lots of suffering. You may have to suffer loneliness, isolation, hunger, pain and persecutions. Now tell Me. Will you accept this ministry?" Humbly kneeling before the Lord Jesus, Selvaraj answered, "Yes Lord. I will continue Sadhu Sundar Singh's ministry." Pleased with that answer, the Lord Jesus came towards Selvaraj and placed a mantle. Laying on his hands upon him the Lord Jesus then said, "I am ordaining you as an apostle to Tibet. Go and evangelize Tibet and her people. From today you shall be called Sadhu Sundar Selvaraj."
YouTube Video: Anil Kant – Pray for India
A music video by Anil Kant and family and Johnny Lever. Anil Kant has been involved with music for many years. A Hindu-Punjabi, he spent three years in Singapore and ten years in Indonesia pursuing a career in music. In 1999, he was inspired by the teachings of the Lord Jesus to serve and minister in the land of his birth. This was when he dedicated himself to use his talents for the Lord. God was gracious and blessed his family with a recording business and Trinity Sounds Pvt. Ltd. was established under which two independent recording studios and a music brand called Trinity Sounds was introduced. The vision of Trinity Sounds and it’s director Anil Kant, is to reclaim the music industry for Jesus. Music was definitely created by God to praise and worship Him. We believe that God will use ‘Pray For India’ in an awesome way to touch lives across this nation.
What Does Climate Change Have To Do With Spirituality?
So what are the alternatives? Obviously it would be foolhardy to expect one to go back to the days of the bullock cart. To be sure one cannot entirely abandon reliance on fossil fuels for economic activity must go on. But if Pachauri words are to be taken seriously how can we cut emissions immediately and drastically? Wasteful use, for one, can be avoided. What are the areas you recognise wasteful use of energy? How could you alter those habits? That, you may say, is only a drop in the ocean! But isn’t the ocean made up of droplets of water? If large numbers do take action then we will most certainly make a difference. Besides acting we can also advocate greener lifestyles. What are the practical ways in which you could encourage your local church to promote greener lifestyles?
How To Have "Safe Sex"?
A lot more people are talking about it every day. There seems to be an increased attempt to spread awareness about “safe sex” these days. Rightly so, perhaps, with the rate of HIV/AIDS and other Sexually Transmitted Diseases’ (STDs) infections steadily increasing, especially among the youth. We might not have to ponder long over the seemingly intensifying lust among men and women. Pornography and erotic scenes are aired right into our unsuspecting living room; the newspapers which form our opinion every morning and the huge billboards along the road are certainly no better. Agreed, sex is the most exhilarating physical pleasure. Yet if it is not enjoyed in the proper way there is untold pain lurking behind.
YouTube Video: Deepak Mahtani – A Sindhi Christian And Succcessful UK Based Management Consultant
Deepak Mahtani, a succcessful ethnic Indian management consultant based in London describes the events which led him to question the meaning of life and finally yield his life to the Lord Jesus Christ
Painful, Precious And Priceless Life Changing Truths
During the 47 years that I have been a born-again Christian, I have learnt some important truths that have encouraged me and given direction and purpose to my life. I share them here with you with the hope that they will be an encouragement to you as well. God Loves Us As He Loved Jesus, God Delights In Honest People, God Delights In A Cheerful Giver, Holiness Comes By Looking Unto Jesus, We Must Be Continually Filled With The Holy Spirit, The Way Of The Cross Is The Way Of Life, Man's Opinions Are Fit Only For The Garbage Bin, Nobody Can Harm Us Except We Ourselves, God Has A Perfect Plan For Each Of Our Lives, Knowing God Intimately Is The Secret Of Being Strong, We Are Called To Be Rejected And Persecuted By Men, We Must Receive All Whom God Has Received, We Must Treat Every Human Being With Dignity, We Must Reveal Our Financial Needs Only To God. Read and be blessed by Zac Poonen's journey in faithfulness to God.
YouTube Video: Google Your Heart – Self-Entrapment: Is There A Way Out?
I would like you to do a private search of your memory—the memory of your life. Google your heart. I want you to type the following into the search engine of your mind: [your name] = guilty. In my case, it’s “Ramesh = guilty.” Of course, my find is extremely private. I don’t want you to be probing my pages, and I’ve password-protected it with a strong, alphanumeric password. Go ahead and type in that equation, your name = guilty. Count the number of pages that come up in your memory. A dozen pages? Thousands of results? Hundreds of thousands of results of guilty actions, guilty attitudes, guilty behaviors? Now take a peak at these private pages. Notice that some of them are relevant, even recent. You’ve become self-entrapped in your sin and guilt. You need to be rescued from your self-entrapment before you become a permanent casualty.Why I Am A Christian
I was above the top of my class, I was well known and respected in my community and school, I had a solid, loving, well-off family — in short, I had every prospect of a bright, successful future ahead of me. I had everything that most of the people around me were striving for, and I realized it didn’t matter. It wasn’t worth a thing. The reason it didn’t seem worth anything was because I had no friends. I was utterly alone. I had a few people I hung around, but nobody I felt close to. Nobody really seemed to appreciate me for who I was. What was worse was that I realized I didn’t deserve any better. I knew that deep down inside I was a selfish, uncaring individual. I didn’t really love anyone else, so why should anyone love me?
Jesus – A Man Of Sorrows And Familiar With Suffering
Just as there were many who were appalled at him, his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likenes, so will he sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him. He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
Seven Ways the Resurrection of Jesus Christ Affects True Believers
Often, many people view the resurrection of Christ merely as an historical event that supplies us with Christian doctrine without understanding the vast implications it has for believers. The following points will attempt to make the implications of the resurrection of Christ much more real and practical to us. When I experience the resurrection of Christ my personal values begin to change to more reflect the heart and character of God. What I once valued as a priority now becomes low priority so that eternal things can take the ascendancy. Jesus said that the things honored by man are detestable in the sight of God (Luke). Where once possessions possessed me, now I own nothing and steward everything. Where once I wanted to express my persona, now I want Christ in me to shine. Where once I lived for today, now I live in eternity. Where once I wanted to live for my purposes, now I endeavor to die to self for His purposes.
Seven Verses Spoken By Jesus From The Cross
Every Good Friday, in most churches around the world, the people of God would meditate on the seven verses spoken by Jesus from the Cross. First verse: Jesus said, "Father, forgive them: for they do not know what they are doing." And they parted His garments, and cast lots (Luke 23:34). Second verse: One of the malefactors said to Jesus, "Lord, remember me when You come into your kingdom". Jesus said to him, "I tell you the Truth, today you will be with Me in paradise" (Luke 23:42-43) Third verse: When Jesus saw His mother, and the disciple standing by, whom He loved, Jesus said to His mother, "Dear woman, here is your son!" Then He said to the disciple, "Here is your mother!" (John 19:27).
Why Hurt People Hurt Other People?
It is an old adage that says “hurt people hurt people.” It is well known that those who have been emotionally damaged tend to inflict their hurt and pain on other people. For example, a large percentage of those who have been sexually abused become the abusers of others; those who suffered under an alcoholic parent often themselves cause their future family to suffer because of their drunken stupors. Until we as a church deal with the whole person as shown in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 our congregations will be filled with people who are spiritually gifted but act like emotional infants. As in other words, the church must deal with emotional health and not just spiritual health and power.
Fanning the Flame of Faith – Faith Can Move The Mountains In Your Life
In this story of different kinds of faith, I want to give us the opportunity of examining our levels of faith. The author of Hebrews tells us that it is impossible to please God without faith. Faith is an action word. It does something. It moves forward. It is responding to a Person. Indeed, faith is to believe what we do not see and the end reward of this faith is to see what we believe. The woman with the issue of blood touched the heart of the Father when she fanned into flame the faith that was inside her. Today, are you asking God, “If only I could touch the hem of your garment”. He is here to heal. He is here to touch and make you whole. The same Jesus that we read about in the gospels is right here. Come and respond to Jesus. Only He can touch you. Only He can heal you. Only Jesus can make you whole.
Where Is God When It Hurts?
In Passion of the Christ, Jesus appears helpless – a victim of religious hatred and intolerance; a victim of social power-play between religious orders clamoring for a shrinking social space in the face of alien occupation; and a victim of a Roman governor who reflected his own insecurities of political failure, nonetheless different from the Empire he represented in the troubled Roman outpost. Why couldn’t God help Jesus? Where was God when Jesus was falsely accused and unjustly punished with a death penalty? It hurts to see BAD things happen to GOOD people. Even today, there are many whose right to life itself is crushed by forces of systematic evil, which constantly re-invents itself and continues to threaten hope for new life. Jesus’ pain and powerlessness and his consequent death raise a question, ‘Where is God when it hurts?’
From Rejection To Rock Bottom, God ReCreated, Restored and Filled Me With His Presence
I came to know this girl and was interested in her. She was attending New Creation Church in Singapore so I decided to go to church with her to see her more often. As time went by, I fell in love with this girl and I got hooked to going church with her because I wanted to see her more often. Whenever the church service was going on, I used to shut my ears and tell myself how stupid all these people can be to worship this man (Jesus) whom they think died for them. For about nine months I had been attending church with her and then suddenly came a surprise announcement. My girlfriend told me she was not interested in me anymore and I was hurt really deeply in my heart. At that time I started looking for answers. I felt deeply rejected because I used to look at myself and say "What is wrong with me!"
Family Relationships – Enjoying Not Enduring
God designed family relationships as a place of security, safety, learning and joy. People need people; we are created to enjoy relationships, to love and be loved. . . . . But it doesn’t take much observation to see families have been under immense attack. There has been a breakdown in the family unit. Couples have suffered in their relationship with each other, which in turn has had a huge impact on their relationships with their children. What should have been a safe, secure place to learn and grow in many places has become a battleground of hurt, pain and mistrust. So people grow up with hurt, bitterness and a wrong understanding about life and relationships.
Awake From Your Slumber
“And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.” (Romans 13:11) Paul exhorts us to wake up from our slumber or sleep. Medical science also provides a lot of insights about sleep. Rapid Eye Movement sleep is when brain is active, while body is inactive. This is the normal sleep. Non–Rapid Eye Movement sleep is when body is active, brain is inactive. In the spiritual life of a Christian it is possible to fall asleep. Like Jonah we could fall asleep in disobedience. Like Samson, we could loose our spiritual vitality by being in the wrong place with wrong people. The Lord calls us to awake and be alert. The Praying Hands
"No, brother. I cannot go to Nuremberg. It is too late for me. Look! Look what four years in the mines have done to my hands! The bones in every finger have been smashed at least once, and lately I have been suffering from arthritis so badly in my right hand that I cannot even hold a glass to return your toast, much less make delicate lines on parchment or canvas with a pen or a brush. No, brother for me it is too late." . . . . One day, to pay homage to Albert for all that he had sacrificed, Albrecht Durer painstakingly drew his brother's abused hands with palms together and thin fingers stretched skyward. He called his powerful drawing simply "Hands," but the entire world almost immediately opened their hearts to his great masterpiece and renamed his tribute of love "The Praying Hands."
Towards A Desi Gospel
The primary call for the Indian-Christians is to make the gospel relevant to Indians. The gospel needs to be 'situated' in our language and culture if it has to be 'acceptable' to Indians. What is worrisome is the uncritical 'Americanization' of the gospel if not the McDonaldization of the gospel – 'same gospel everywhere'. We trust the 'tried' and 'tested' American gospel to work a miracle in India. Do not get me wrong. This is no smear campaign. There's nothing wrong with American Christianity itself. It is its uncritical application in the Indian context that causes me to raise the alarm. The point I am making is that 'localized' flavor is essential to reach out to a larger audience. It is important to be sensitive to local 'tastes' and 'preferences' and serve local needs. Indian curry is popular in England but one finds curry served in London 'less-Indian' than what is normally served in India. It is cooked to 'please' British taste buds.