CHRISTIAN LITERATURE
& LIVING

Was blind, but now I see.

2 : 8 July 2003

HOME PAGE


We invite you to support this ministry. Contributions in support of this Ministry are tax-deductible. Kindly send your support to
Bethany Fellowship International
6820 Auto Club Road, Suite A
Bloomington, MN 55438.
Please write Thirumalai's Ministry in the memo column.


BOOKS FOR YOU TO READ
AND DOWNLOAD


BACK ISSUES


SEND YOUR ARTICLES FOR PUBLICATION IN Christian Literature & Living.

  • E-mail your articles and book-length reports to thirumalai@bethfel.org or send it by regular mail to:
    M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
    6820 Auto Club Road #320
    Bloomington, MN 55438 USA
  • Your articles and booklength reports should be written, preferably, following the MLA Stylesheet.
  • The Editorial Board has the right to accept, reject, or suggest modifications to the articles submitted for publication, and to make suitable stylistic adjustments. High quality, academic integrity, ethics, and morals are expected from the authors and discussants.

Copyright © 2002
M. S. Thirumalai

CONTENTS


Christian Literature & Living is a monthly online journal devoted to the worship of the Lord Jesus Christ through literature, and through living according to His Word. We wish to introduce our readers to the best Christian literature, Christian devotionals, counseling, and to the understanding of the relevance of the Word of God in our daily life, in popular language. Christian Literature & Living is a cross-cultural journal, focusing on Christian literature written in all the languages, and Christian living around the world. We learn by listening to and reading our brothers and sisters in Christ from all around the world. We believe that any creative writing with literary sensibilities that focuses on the presence and life-changing ministry of Jesus Christ is Christian literature. We believe that we all need the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ in order to live a life according to His Word. Christian literature and other writings anointed by the Holy Spirit help us to develop a personal relationship with Jesus as the Lord and Savior.

  • TO SEEK AND SAVE: Can we be fully assured of eternal life in heaven? by George Foster
    What was the purpose of Jesus for coming into the world? Jesus came to save lost humanity from sin and its consequences and that includes you and me. Consider the following: "FRIEND, YOUR SINS ARE FORGIVEN," "NEITHER DO I CONDEMN YOU," "YOUR FAITH HAS SAVED YOU; GO IN PEACE," and "TODAY YOU WILL BE WITH ME IN PARADISE." The most important issue we will ever face is the salvation of our soul. Since we receive salvation by an act of faith, there can be no room for doubt. Therefore God provided the most reliable assurances possible. He gave us three principal witnesses by which we can know that we are saved: The witness of God's Word, The witness of the Holy Spirit, and The witness of a changed life.
  • HUMILITY: Philippians 2:1-11 by James W. Skeen.
    This passage contains some of the most profound truths taught anywhere in Scripture. Many people will immediately recall in these verses a description of Christ's glorification as Lord of all. But many will not understand the context from which this glorious outburst comes. It will be the purpose of this paper to supply that context-to supply the reasons for the exaltation of Christ and what that means to Christians. At first reading, Paul appears to be exhibiting doubt as to whether consolation, comfort, fellowship, affection, and mercy are to be found in Christ. He appears to be saying that "if these are in Christ, do them." In other words, the "if" sounds like doubt in Paul's mind as to whether these virtues really lie in Christ. But that is not Paul's point.
  • WHAT IS PRAYER? by Leonard Ravenhill.
    Prayer is the oldest known language in the world, the language of the Spirit. At times it finds expression in articulation, but it may not always be so. Prayer has its own syntax. Its punctuation is not after the manner of Webster or the manner of the lexicographers, for it is punctuated by sobs and may have groans for its periods. Its tense is always present continuous, for it brings the past into the present and the future into the now. It has no dictionary. It offers no scholarships. It confers no graduation with gilded degrees. Its vehicle may be eloquence, or its channel may be dumbness.
  • COUNSELING AGAINST RELIGIOUS SUICIDE by M. S. Thirumalai.
    Only a small number of suicides are committed for religious reasons. Starving oneself to death, self-immolation, hara-kiri (self-killing by belly-cutting or self-disembowelment), and mass suicide to escape persecution or to seek a glorious afterlife are some of the most popular forms of religiously motivated suicide. There is also another category, martyrdom, that may be considered a religiously motivated suicide. The Old Testament records only a few incidents of suicide. The New Testament records only one suicide: suicide by Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus and helped Roman soldiers to catch him. This led to Jesus' ultimate death on the cross. Judas' death is portrayed as a suicide driven by remorse. In Islam, some ambivalence is maintained about religious suicide. Martyrdom for establishing Islam is glorified. Buddhism and Hinduism accept religious suicide as an instrument of giving up one's life for spiritual purposes, for seeking ultimate enlightenment.
  • HOW DID EARLY MISSIONARIES LEARN FOREIGN LANGUAGES? AN ASIAN SCENE IN 1700s by M. S. Thirumalai.
    Nearly 300 years ago, a German boy, along with his friend, arrived in the small Danish colony on the eastcoast of India, Bay of Bengal, in south India. He was the first ever Protestant missionary to India, a tribe of whom it is said in the Word of God, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" (Romans 10:17). He was not the first one who tried to learn an Asian language for practical ends. There were many others before him, but he is one of the few early missionaries who kept some record of the methods they adopted in learning foreign languages. In this short paper we present a record of the statements made by the first ever Protestant missionary, Bartholomaeus Ziegenbalg, as to how he learned an Indian language that was foreign to him .

HOME PAGE | CONTACT EDITOR

At the Crossroads. Let us take the Gospel to the whole world, with love, hope, and faith. Courtesy: DINAMALAR