CHRISTIAN LITERATURE
& LIVING

Was blind, but now I see.

3 : 6 June 2004


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Copyright © 2001
M. S. Thirumalai


Cross Roads


CONTENTS

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  • MARRIAGE - Building Strong Lives and Strong Relationships by ... Pastor Dave Strem with James Skeen
    Often marriage is seen as a way to happiness. Man and woman say "I do!" expecting only great things from each other. They expect to fit nicely with their new mate. But they do not and they begin to grate upon each other, and sometimes even crash on each other. There is nothing more painful in relationships than the grinding and grating that goes on between husband and wife. ... What do people do when their marriages are far less than they hoped them to be? Trite and pat answers will probably get the resignated nod and smile, but the heart will begin to back away from you, and maybe even the church. I believe there are some other answers. I want to start by increasing our understanding of what marriage is all about, combating, somewhat, what our secular culture says marriage is all about. I want to elevate our view of marriage to the grandeur that God designed it to have.
  • THE GREATEST THING -- Learning To be A Servant! by ... Alec Brooks
    What Samuel Logan Brengle, later on to become a great leader of the Salvation Army, but now a fresh college graduate, learned that morning in a dingy cellar polishing dirty boots is that Jesus meant what he said when he told his disciples, "He that would be the greatest among you must be the servant of all." And no one is exempt. ... Many of us have the mistaken notion that learning to be a servant is like being an apprentice; it is something that you do for a period of time before moving on to better things, once the lessons have been learned and the tests have been passed. Not so, God is not looking for people who are willing to do particular and occasional acts of service.
  • A TIME TO LIVE! -- Abundant Life in the Present Tense!! by ...George Foster
    Christians, of course, aspire to abundant living. We know it's available and consider it indispensable. Why, then, do so many of us-who truly reject Satan and accept Jesus-fail to enjoy the life He offers us? ... There are a multitude of answers to that question, but I would like to focus on just one of them: We don't live the victorious life today because Satan has us reliving the bitter and painful experiences of yesterday and dreading the repetition of those experiences tomorrow. ... I can't help asking: If time is a sequence of events, and a sequence of events has hurt us, how can an extension of events heal us? Our reactions will not change nor will our wounds be healed unless we experience a powerful intervention of God in our lives.
  • "THE FOOL HAS SAID IN HIS HEART" -- How to Build Our Trust in God in This Modern Babylon by ... Ryan J. Haase
    When I think of the word "fool" I tend to think of the word "idiot." However, this is not the sense that we see it used in the Hebrew. The Hebrew word nabal, which is translated "fool" in most translations, would probably be better translated as an "empty person." This is what the word literally means, which goes along with the saying "there is no God", since being empty, he is devoid of God. ... This is what practical atheism is: to say outwardly that there is a God, but to live as if there was no God. He says there is no God in his heart, and eventually this will quiet his conscious to the point where he doesn't feel guilt anymore. "No man will say, 'There is no God' till he is so hardened in sin that it has become his interest that there should be none to call him to an account."
  • THE AUTHORITY OF PRAYER by ... Pastor Harold Brokke
    Prayer is the great means by which the blessings of the Spirit are released into the world; it is the place of spiritual origin. The will and purposes of God are conceived and born into the world through the power of effectual prayer. ... How does this, then, pertain to prayer? Prayer is the means by which God is permitted to perform His will in the world without withdrawing man's original stewardship of the earth. Through prayer man contacts God and obtains His guidance, grace, and authority to perform God's will.
  • THE PASSION FOR CHRIST -- God's Love for His Son by ... David Lewis
    The love that you and I are privileged to share and experience as human beings is a direct result of the relationship that God the Father has with God the Son. Long before you and I came into the story, long before there was a planet Earth or a universe or even angels, there was the Trinity and they were not lonely. They did not live a life of unfulfilled desires and sit around saying, "You know, I am getting tired of just the three of us. We have to bring somebody else into this picture. What can we do? Maybe we can create something. We need somebody to love." ... Getting to know Jesus the way God the Father wants us to will have four important results. ...
  • WHAT DID THE AUTHOR REALLY INTEND? PROBLEMS OF RETRIEVING ORIGINAL MEANING -- Translating Biblical Hebrew by ... Mike Leeming
    One faces a lot of challenges in the analysis of texts in classical languages. Linguistic tools help us, in many ways, to charter a course that would be most appropriate, taking into various factors such as sociological, cultural, historical, etc. However, it is also true that there is a possibility that one may be tempted to see the text from one's own world view, including theological and denominational underpinnings, and impose such views on the text. In the absence of clear nonverbal cues provided in the classical text, it is more difficult to clearly identify extralinguistic expressions such as sarcasm and irony. ... On page 14 of the text, in the section dealing with "gesture," the statement is made that, in the Scriptures, "Winking is 'always associated with sin.'" ... Surely, if every case of winking in the Bible were associated with sin, then we could say that, according to this verse, God Himself was guilty of sinning. Although other versions of the Bible substitute the word "overlooked" for the words "winked at," I believe that my point is still valid. ...

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.

CONTACT EDITOR



The Solitary Poet, poems of reflection by Stan Schmidt


Hadassah, a novel by Tommy Tenney


If I gained the World, a novel by Linda Nichols


Godwrestling Faith, a spiritual development book by Mike Evans


Sharing Your Faith with a Buddhist, a book on evangelism by M. S. Thirumalai


Short Term Missions, a book by Roger Peterson, et al.



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