You Version has the Bible available free in over 1000 languages. Simply go to their website and download the app to your phone or computer to get to the language you want. Here is the website link: http://www.youversion.com
Archive for Christian
Free “Jesus” Movie in 1000 Languages
The “Jesus” movie is available free in over a thousand different languages. Simply go to the following website and download their app to your phone to find the language you want. Here is the website link: http://www.jesusfilm.org
Free Gospel Recordings in 4000 Languages
Global recordings has free Gospel recordings available in over four thousand languages. Simply go to the following website and type the language or country you want into their search engine: http://globalrecordings.net
Bibles to Southeast Asia
For quite a few years Unreached Peoples’ Missions(UPM), a nonprofit ministry, has been supplying Bibles to national missions in India, Pakistan and Nepal. Lately, UPM has been supplying links, particularly on Facebook, to Bibles and Christian movies in various languages in the 10/40 Window. This has grown immensely in the last few years. Here is one such link to Indigitube which has hundreds of movies, some of which are animated, targeted at unreached peoples’ groups: http://www.indigitube.tv
If you would like to donate to UPM, you can send a check to Craig Dressler, Unreached Peoples’ Missions, 245 Southview Ave., Apt. 102, Moscow, ID 83843 or contact UPM at cwdupm@yahoo.com
Good Cop, Bad Cop
With all the chaos and protests and the like, some good, some bad and some horrible, I thought it was time to add my view by delineating examples of two people. Both are real people.
Let’s start with the good cop. The good cop grew up in a two parent household where both parents made quality decisions early in life to follow Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Those decisions led them to caring for orphans and foster care kids. Through the years they cared for hundreds of foster care kids. In addition, they adopted six kids of their own, two of whom are of Latin descent and two of whom are African-American.
The good cop, the only child not adopted in the family grew up in a multi-ethnic family. Why? Because of the parents’ quality decision early in life to follow Jesus which led to seeing kids in need and doing what they could for every one no matter their ethnicity. Was that related to some system or some government program? Not in the least unless it was social services and foster care. It was individuals and a family doing that what they could to rectify other broken families.
The historian Pliny identified the family as the foundation of society not some system. Systems can do little if anything to deal with the root cause of evil in society which is sin. Only dealing with the root cause of our own faulty issues like the good cop’s parents did when they made Jesus Christ their Savior will allow us to go beyond our ethnocentricity and change us from the inside out. This deeply affected how they treated others. The good cop did the same early in life and has followed his parents’ example and adopted a kid of Latin origins.
Now let’s look at the bad cop. The bad cop almost certainly had none of the positive influences listed above and almost certainly grew up in a household where racism and anger were prevalent. The bad cop almost certainly had a totally secular education with nothing like the Ten Commandments and “Thou shalt not kill”, God and prayer as part of the instruction. By the way, those who say the system is broken should carefully look at that previous sentence because it is the liberals and the left who have systematically attempted to remove the Bible and its teachings from the public sector. It is only when those precepts and stories like Jonah, the Good Samaritan and others are lodged educationally in kids’ neural networks by parents will racism be defeated. Protests and demonstrations are fine if they are done peaceably but will do little good unless the above is done throughout households in the country. “The sins of the fathers are visited on the children…” as the Bible says. Again, we are talking about family and heart decisions not systems.
It’s about time we all searched our hearts to determine if we have made that quality decision for Jesus. Only after making that choice for Jesus will we find our real purpose in life like the good cop’s parents and begin to change hearts one at a time towards holiness and away from racism.
Natural or Spiritual Thinking? Dedicated to my brother
For four years I studied in two different higher educational settings. These studies were almost entirely in the secular realm and dealt with natural thinking. God gave us our ability to reason, but reasoning without God, the Bible and the help of the Holy Spirit often leads to all manner of wrong think and ultimately wrong actions. That is where I ended up at that time in my life.
Generally, natural or secular or even liberal thinking usually concludes that the correct party or politician or government is the cure-all for every problem. On the other hand, spiritual thinking sees the Christian church and Christian ministries as the answer for most of the ills of society. Now, it is quite easy to find huge government waste in multitudes of different programs, The Christian realm is not without its faults, but for the most part funds used to help people by a Christian ministry are much more likely to meet real needs than huge government programs.
Let’s look at a clear case in point where the results have been measured: education. Very clear studies have been done comparing children in secular and Christian schools. By the time children in Christian schools are in middle school, they are much more than a grade ahead of those in public schools. Why is that? There are probably a variety of factors involved, but the one I believe is most important(and I taught in Christian middle schools for five years) was Bible study and prayer. When God is brought on the scene, the atmosphere changes, and the Holy Spirit goes to work to help students. When parents, teachers, students and administrators pray, educational advancement occurs. What is amazing is that the average cost per year for students in a Christian school is less than half of what it is in a public school. I rest my case.
Note: Even though this blog was written awhile ago, I decided to dedicate it to my brother who recently passed away. Most of his working life he spent teaching in a Christian school.
Postscript: This blog is in no way meant to denigrate those godly, righteous teachers who are working in secular education. Almost certainly they are doing the best they can with their hands tied, so to speak, in terms of bringing biblical values into the classroom.
Japanese Kids & Christmas
The timid youth hid their emotions as we began the English class. Today, the last class before the break we would talk about Christmas. Not about the pagan origins of the celebration that still remained to a vast majority in Japan but about the Christian meaning. When I asked what Christmas was about besides Santa Claus, the blank stares I received reflected more than lack of English ability but little or no knowledge whatsoever of Jesus’ birthday celebration. I had been surprised before in my English classes but never more than now. These students seemed to never have heard of Jesus. It was a wonderful opportunity for me, but I wondered if these junior high students might never have heard about Jesus if I had not come to Japan. When I talked about the cross, the resurrection and the fact that Christians believe Jesus is God in the flesh, there may have been a glimmer of recognition in one or two pair of eyes. The bottom line is that I am thankful that I did come to Japan and share the Good News of the Gospel because I not sure they would have ever heard the message otherwise.
Note: This is throwback article written a number of years ago while I was in Japan.
What You Worship You Become
The title pretty much says it all. If you worship a particular ideology, you will become like it. If you worship an icon of society like a political figure, you will become like that person. If you worship the truth, you become like the truth. But which truth are you talking about because in our world there are supposedly multiple truths?
First of all, let us define truth. According to Webster’s dictionary truth is “that which accords with fact or reality”. For example, a math problem has one answer that is true not several answers. In other words, there are not multiple truths but only one.
Now, we must decide where the truth resides. Does it reside in politically correct philosophies, some religious dogma or in the Bible? They can’t all be true as Webster pointed out. In fact, in many ways they contradict each other, so there is no way they can all be true.
Two thousand years ago Jesus came to earth and fulfilled numerous prophecies of the Old Testament written hundreds of years before. In addition, historians like Josephus attest to the truth of the New Testament. Today you can go to Israel and walk where Jesus walked and visit churches on many of the prominent sites of the Old and New Testament.
Now, you can try and deny the facts of the preceding paragraph, but in the end there is no getting around them, and what is listed there is only the tip of the iceberg. If what I have stated above is true(and it is quite easy to verify), then it is time to set aside the false and embrace biblical truth and place our worship where it belongs.
Labels Can Block Healing
Most everyone is fighting against some type of infirmity in their life. In many cases a doctor labels us this or that medical term usually with a correct diagnosis. The problem, though, with accepting such a label as “truth” and calling ourselves by such a word is that it can block God’s healing power in the process. What we say about ourselves has tremendous power as this verse in Proverbs declares: “The power of life and death is in the tongue.”
Now, I am not suggesting that we stop going to doctors or stop taking medication if we in fact we are. What I am suggesting is that we recognize that there is a higher truth that supersedes a doctor’s diagnosis. When we feed spiritually on God’s words of healing in the Bible and proclaim those words over our life, the labels of infirmity fall away and healing can begin.
This process often takes time and energy and so some give up, but with an extended effort over a period of time even the worst infirmity can see marked improvement. “With God nothing is impossible.”
Motives And Purposes
What motivates you? Is it some particular activity you enjoy? Is it a particular purpose? All of us have motives that drive us, but I wonder how many of us have examined our own motives or the motives of others.
Let me give you an example. There is a religious group that continually condemns racism. On the exterior that looks positive. However, because the group is predominately of one minority, the motive of that condemnation is to get more members and to keep the members it already has. In fact, in that particular religious group the leadership has condemned other ethnic groups in a kind of reverse racism. Motives are not always easy to discern.
What is important is to try to keep our own motives and purposes pure. Only with God’s help, the Bible and the Holy Spirit can we begin to face our own flaws and overcome them. Motives matter because God judges the heart and why we do what we do not just outward performance.
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