16 nov. 2010

You have to evaluate how you spend every dollar and everything else you do in the light of eternity. The way each one of you lives is where we begin our crusade to reach the lost of this world.
(K.P. Yohannan - Revolution in world missions - pag.201)

15 nov. 2010

Why do we live?

All of us are called for a purpose. Some years ago when I was in North India, a little boy about eight years old watched me as I prepared for my morning meditations. I began to talk to him about Jesus and asked him several questions.
What are you doing? I asked the lad.
I go to school, was the reply.
Why do you go to school?
To study, he said.
Why do you study?
To get smart
Why do you want to get smart?
So I can get a good job.
Why do you want to get a good job?
So I can make lots of money.
Why do you want to make lots of money?
So I can buy food.
Why do you want to buy food?
So I can eat.
Why do you want to eat?
To live.
Why do you live?
At that point the little boy tought for a minute, scratched his head, looked me in the face and said, Sir, why do I live? He paused for a moment in mid-tought, than gave his own sad answer: To die!
The question is the same for all of us: Why do we live?
(K.P. Yohannan - Revolution in world missions - pag. 168-169)

11 nov. 2010

In the 25 years following World War II, 71 nations broke free of western domination. And with their new found freedom, most decided Western missionaries would be among the first symbols of the West to go. Now 86 nations - with more than half of the world's population - forbid or seriously restrict foreign missionaries.
But there is a bright side to the story. The effect of all this on the emerging churches of Asia has been electric. Far from slowing the Gospel, the withdrawal of foreign missionaries has freed the Gospel from Western traditions that foreign missionaries had unwittingly added to it.
Sadhu Sundar Singh, a pioneer native missionary evangelist, used to tell a sotry that illustrates  the importance of presenting the Gospel in culturally acceptable terms.
A high-caste Hindu, he said, had fainted one day from the summer heat while sitting on a train in a railway station. A train employee ran to a water faucet, filled a cup with water and brought it to the man in an attempt to revive him. But in spite of his condition, the Hindu refused. He would have rather die than accept water in the cup of somenone from another caste.
Then someone noticed that the high-caste passenger had left his cup on the seat beside him. So he grabbed it, filled it with water and returned to offer it to the panting heat victim who immediately accepted the water with gratitude.
Then Sundar Singh would say to his hearers, "This is what I have been trying to say to missionaries from abroad. You have been offering the water of life to people of India in a foreign cup, and we have been slow to receive it. If you will offer it in our own cup - in an indigenous form - then we are much more likely to accept it."
(K.P. Yohannan - Revolution in world missions - pag. 154)

10 nov. 2010

Real Christian missions always are aware there is eternal hell to shun and heaven to gain. We need to restore the balanced vision General William Booth had when he started the Salvation Army. He had unbelievable compassion for winning lost souls to Christ. His own words tell the story of what he envisioned for the movement: "Go for souls, and go for the worst."
What would Jesus do if He walked into our churches today?
I am afraid He would not be able to say to us: "You have kept the faith, you have run the race without turning left or right, and you have obeyed My command to reach this world." I believe He would go out to look for a whip, because we have made His Father's house a den of robbers. If that is so, then we must recognize that the hour is too desperate for us to continue to deceive ourselves. We are past the point of revival or reformation. If this Gospel is to be preached in all the world in our lifetime, we must have a Christian, heaven-sent revolution.
But before revolution can come, we must recognize the need for one. We are like a lost man looking at a road map. Before we can choose the right road that takes us to our destination, we must determine where we went wrong, go back to that point and start over. So my cry to the Body of Christ is simple: Turn back to the true Gospel road. We need to preach again the whole counsel of God. Our priority must again be placed on calling men to repentance and snatching them from hell-fire.
(K.P. Yohannan - Revolution in world missions - pag.134)

8 nov. 2010

Beware of boasters. They are usually covering up something. One of the great boasts of many Western evangelical Christians is their devotion to the Scriptures. It is hard to find a church that does not at one time or another brag about being "Bible-believing". When I first came here, I made the mistake of taking that description at face value.
But I have come to see that many evangelical Christians do not really believe the Word of God, especially when it talks about hell and judgment. Instead, they selectively accept only the portions that allow them to continue living in their current lifestyles.
It is painful to think about hell and judgment. I understand why preachers do not like to talk about it, because I don't either. It is so much easier to preach that "God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life" or to focus on the many delightful aspects of "possibility thinking" and the "word of faith" that brings health, wealth and happiness. The grace and love of God are pleasant subjects, and no one more beautifully demonstrated them than our Lord Jesus. Yet in His early ministry, He made more references to hell and judgment than He did to heaven. Jesus lived with the reality of hell, and He died on Calvary because He knew it was real and coming to everyone who doesn't turn to God in his life.
(K.P. Yohannan - Revolution in world missions - pag. 93)

5 nov. 2010

Lumea va fi adevărată atunci când omul va ști să iubească - până atunci, vom trăi crezând că știm ce e dragostea, dar vom fi lipsiți de curajul de-a înfrunta așa cum este ea. Dragostea este o forță sălbatică. Când încercăm să o ținem în frâu, ne distruge. Când încercăm s-o înțelegem, ne tulbură și ne amăgește. Această forță există pe pământ pentru a ne face fericiți, pentru a ne apropia de Dumnezeu și de aproapele nostru. Dar așa cum iubim acum, avem parte de un ceas de neliniște pentru fiecare minut de pace.
(Paulo Coelho - Zahir - pag. 99-100)

1 nov. 2010

God gives some people more than they need so that they can be channels of blessings to others. God desires equity between His people on a worldwide basis. That's why the early Church had no poverty.
(K.P. Yohannan - Revolution in world missions - pag. 85)