PRISON WITH NO WALLS

" I saw your picture in the newspaper. I was wondering how you are managing..."

The letter in Tony's hands was from a stranger.

In prison, and in pain, it was the only letter he got.

Finallly he met the writer who visited him every Thursday and he came to see him as his father.

Tony changed.

Because John White told him one day...you haven't tried Jesus.

That night Tony cried more than he had ever cried before.

The next morning, in a real prison , he woke up feeling FREE.

"I woke up feeling more free than some of you looking at me today...Did you hear what I said?

Prison can take many forms...

It can be a relationship,..it can be religion.."

I found myself clapping when he mentioned religion

because I knew how religion could be a prison,

A prison with now walls

THE WORST PRISON OF ALL

BARAPUI

Barapui is looking for his father. For he was born in the jungle hidden by the Eagle, the protector.

The Evil One, Bao Buduk had deceived his father, Lian Aran, that she was Dayang his wife.

So Barapui grew up with no father, but the Eagle was his guide.

"Where is my father. Why does he not look for me? " Barapui asked the Eagle one day.

"He does not know you are here"

" Then I will look for him.."

( I was fascinated by this legend. It spoke of a Father who lost his son . And a son who went searching for his father...It speaks for us.. seeking...I painted this picture of the search...)

TRUTH VS LIES

I seem to be in pursuit of lies and in the process I encounter truth.

Sometimes I prefer to listen to a lie because the truth is painful.

Here is a piece written by Ivan Stang...

"I find that much of what we perceive as reality is highly subjective and unstable. I am not the only one who tries to create different realities for people to believe in. The world is full of things to believe in and someare more detrimental than others. The problem seems to be that their is a shade of truth to most things out there even science fiction. Some things appeal to some more than others. I think this is part of human nature tolove what it sees as truth.

I have followed many different spiritual paths and have found that they all lead to the same truth or its converse lie. The truth that all reality leads to is that Jesus Christ the son of the living God came into the flesh and died for our sins.

All error seems to lead to an idea that Jesus Christ did not come into the flesh. This is a dangerous lie because Jesus came into the world in the likeness of sinful flesh to condemn sin in the flesh that we might have away out of the death that sin brings.

I have spent a long time following the spirit of error and been thoroughly deceived by it. I recognized it as error when I came to the truth.I bought the lie and was disappointed enough to go out and find the truth."

WHY ARGUE ABOUT THE CROSS?

I guess I was meant to find this information tonight and post it tonight. It must be urgent. 'Cos I was, u know, sleepy, and don't know.. why I decided to type 'Jesus and Muslims' and that suddenly led me to some surprising sites..

So much to read and rather disturbing I must say.

So much emphasis on the need to prove that Jesus did not die but was raised by Allah. Well, now I must say that as far as I am concerned My Father In Heaven did not do this so I have specifically refered to My Heavenly Father. I am accountable for what I say here.

One argument has it that Jesus did not have a physical body but a phantom body. I mean this argument was in a site trying to show that Jesus did not die on the cross.

The thing is, I ask myself... why la get so upset about Jesus dying for our sins? Does it show His great love as the Son of God?

What is so critical about dying on the cross?

It must be the fear that Jesus dying on the cross points to salvation.

And because there is a need to confuse people about salvation, thus the SPIRIT OF RELIGION sets out these detailed arguments to attack the simple truth...that God so loved us that he sent his only son to die for us and thus save us.

Why is it so hard to accept God's love?

It is back to the deception of the master of lies... the cunning one... the one who allows lies to be told as tho they are truth. And the most tragic lie is a faith that is accepted by those who are actually looking for God.

Heavenly Father, save all who are confused by the SPIRIT of religion... wherever they may be.

SOME ARE HARDENED

I have been wondering what is meant by some being hardened.. and blinded. It refers to the nation of Israel. Why la did God blind and harden? Why o....As I pondered on this I guess HE wanted to send me a clue. So one morning when I was doing my bible reading... by random selection... I read about Paul telling the Roman I believe... er you see I am still blurr about the scenario...Well he was saying that they would not be saved because they followed the law ( rules???) NOT BY FAITH.

O my... now that sounds familiar. I seem to recall that there are some poeple really hooked up about rules and all that... To the extent that I look at them and feel that they have lost their freedom, the right to choose and the right to change when they have in fact encountered a new truth.

Can one encounter a new truth.

Of course ma...

Just like you can discover that burgers are not healthy. One fine day you could realize that what you had believed to be the whole truth and nothing but the truth was in fact PART TRUTH and therefore NOT TRUTH AT ALL!!!!

The thing is... this leads me to the notion of partial blindness. Or partial sight. Sheesh. this is like so dangerous. Because whoever has this condition is completely HARDENED...

Because they BELIEVE they can see ma.

We are the last , the latest and the most just religion, they say. In our religion we have freedom...because it is for ALL people. The thing is...because there is partial sight and partial blindness, the UNFREEDOM and CONDITIONAL LOVE and all the rest that is OPPOSITE to salvation through Lord Jesus Christ is not available to those who are hardened.

But you see,...Lord Jesus wants these hardened ones too.

When the fullness of the Gentiles comes to Jesus, the whole nation of Israel will come to Jesus.

Then we will know Jesus is the Prince of Peace.

BURNING BOAT

" Some things you can't explain" he told me.

I shed tears. "What?" I asked..'cos I really could not catch what he said...

The steep ravines were so distracting even as the jungle was so refreshing.

"I always considered myself tough. I am a scout. But you know the river was low and I tried to push with the paddle. And I was alone. And I fell backwards.

And the diesel spilt.

And it caught fire.

It was a split second decision.

Everything I had was in the boat. My gun. My certificates. My mattress.

And I looked at it..it was just inches way from the engine..it would explode.

I threw water on the fire.

It died down.

I can't explain why.

It must have been God.

Somethings you can't explain."

MOUNTAIN ROAD

I was not expecting to see the jungle from a road leading up to a mountainside school. The mist in a distance made it almost unreal. So beautiful and yet so alarming. For trucks bigger than I have ever seen carried logs longer than I have ever known. No branches. No bark. Left somewhere to rot , he told me.

There is something I want to tell you, I told him. I have changed. I told him of the moment when the Holy Spirit touched me and why I now had this blog. For I wanted to reach out to all who were afraid to read the Bible.

Why some were forbidden to read a letter from God seems absurd. For are they not afarid that not to read is actually what they should be worried of.

Yet the Evil one is so complex an enemy. The deception , the Spirit of Religion , as my friend Theresa put it...yes, sadly I agree. Many people searching for God get persuaded by the Spirit of Religion that seems to take them to where they wana go. Only to be taken not to Salvation but to a place where they feel they are on the right Path. But sadly , so tragically, it is not the right path at all.

One great deception is this notion that all religions are the same because they teach us to do good. If we are talking of right conduct yes. But right conduct is no substitute for Salvation.

And Benjamin put it well. He said, they always tell me, we are praying to the same God. He answered. There is one God. But Jesus is the way to salvation.

It seems that that is where we defer. I mean where religions are concerend. I mean people are comfortable about saying we pray to the one God and even the same God. But when we say Jesus is the way to Salvation, that is where some back away. Afraid?

If you have backed away all this while... ask yourself...why back away?

What if Jesus is the way to Salvation.

Are you going to waste your life and lose this one chance to know your Saviour?

THANK YOU FATHER

Thank you for your Grace. For you have brought us to you again. though we do not deserve your presence for we are flawed, you love us as a father.

Thank you for the pain of sending your son. For he took our iniquities upon himself and made it possible to heal our realtionship.

Thank you for each trial that comes our way. For you are making us stronger.

The battle is on. The distractions are plenty. The Evil is complicated. So many truths are in fact leading us away from your love.

So confusing isn't it...

Thank you for waiting for us to come home