I Wonder

What if we carried it around in our purses or pockets?
What if we turned back to go get it if we forgot it?
What if we flipped through it several times a day?
What if we used it to receive messages from the text?
What if we treated it like we couldn't live without it?
What if we gave it to kids as gifts?
What if we used it as we traveled?
What if we used it in case of an emergency?
What if we upgraded it to get the latest version?

It's just something to think about...something to make you say hmmmm, and where is my Bible??
I wonder what would happen if we treated our Bible like we treat our cell phones?!

Inform Doubters Of ALL The Facts

Over the years, I have come across many people who deny God's existence, many people who do not believe in Jesus Christ. And, especially with the release of The Da Vinci Code, it seems that the number of people who question God and Jesus' existence are growing. And the Bible. It's all fiction. A pack of lies, stories and myths made up by humans. It has come to my attention that most of the people who claim this are not at all familiar with the Bible... neither the authors nor the era it was written in. They are not even familiar with the content. They are just convinced that Jesus is a mythological character that has been handed down to us over the centuries. Only interested in making uninformed claims. I ask these people to go and read the Bible. To study it's background and the era that it was written in. To look at the evidence from history and non-Christian writings. At archaeology confirms and to understand the reliability of the Bible. I ask them to be informed before making such pathetic claims.
I ask them to answer the following question. How did the Christian church come into being in the first century? We know that at the beginning of the first century there were no people called Christians, but by the end of that century Christians existed throughout the entire Roman Empire. History tells us that in the latter half of the first century there were men and women all over Palestine claiming that they had seen this man Jesus alive after his public execution. No one in the first century ever denied that this man was a real person. There were many enemies of the Christian church, who if possible, would have stopped this new movement. Yet no one ever did on the basis of his non-existence. So tell me... if there was no Jesus Christ, how and why did the Christian church come into being? Please, help me fill in this huge gap.
Not only is there evidence from history but also from non-Christian writings. Josephus, an aristocratic Jew, and Tacitus, the greatest of the Roman historians of the period, both wrote witnesses that Jesus lived and ministered in Galilee in the time of Herod Antipas. That he died in Judea following the accusations of Caiaphas the high priest, by the hands of Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor. They wrote that the movement led by Jesus did not cease with his death, but continued and spread westward to Rome. Surely they were not both lying. Wait a minute. Maybe they were both very talented storytellers who just both coincidentally wrote the exact same story. Maybe, eh?
To support the historical evidence and eyewitness accounts we also have archaeology confirms. In 1961 an Italian archaeological team working in Caesarea came across an inscription from the time of Jesus bearing the name 'Pontius Pilate Prefect of Judea'. In November 1990 the tomb of Caiaphas the high priest was found on a hill in Jerusalem. Can these skeptical people explain to me these discoveries? Do they not uphold the authenticity of the Bible about Jesus? Of course!

Then there are those people who declare that Jesus’ life story as recorded in the Bible is not at all reliable… that the story of Jesus has been changed by Christians over the centuries. We can be so confident that this was not the case as detailed accounts of Jesus’ life were compiled so close to the time that Jesus was living in. How do we know this? By 70 AD church leaders Clement and Ignatius were quoting from gospel accounts of Jesus’ life and today we have more than 24,000 early manuscripts of the New Testament against which to check our present copies. So how can they say that we have altered the stories of the Bible to suit our liking and that it is not accurate?

Yes, I went and saw the movie. It is, like most people know, fiction. And his fictional story-line uses certain facts, yes. However these facts are so obviously distorted in order to support his pathetic claims. If anything, the movie strengthened my belief in God and the Bible. The strength people will go to in order to deter and lessen people’s faith made me laugh. I am more determined to strengthen other people’s faith. We need to inform doubters of ALL the facts... undistorted. We need to view The Da Vinci Code as inspiration.

Marwa Hosni

He Is Playing

What does he think?
He who wants to play with me doesn't know me very well...
I'm talking about the devil, surely... as my enemies are not humane, but the worst souls ever...
It is his defence... to waste my time with something fictional... non-existant.
He thinks that I will stop talking about his bad ways... that I will refrain from talking about the beauty and highness of God...
He who plays with me is the weakest... as I am aware of his strategies... it is not the first time.
When we close the door, he enters from the windows... just as does a thief...
What is his strategy today? What is his target?
It is our stability, happiness, love, faith...
He is a loser... our stability is powerful as God is maintaining it...
He is already defeated... our happiness is always present as we are sons of God... and only because we are sons of God...
He thinks that love can be bought and sold... that love changes with days and places...
He is defeated as our love is the light that fulfills the world and destroys darkness... the darkest of darkness, him...
It's funny the way he thinks... hasn't he heard of rocks and mountains?
His war is useless... have we nothing better to do than listen to his bullshit... let alone accept it?He tries to take revenge... and each time he tries, he is not successful...In war we do not forfeit... in war we cannot ever be defeated...
And Just remember he is always after us... after a good catch...
And beware... He hates us... that's in his nature...He encourages us to make errors and then calls everyone to witness it... It is only he who is capable of this...
Beware... And Lock your doors and windows with the keys of prayer...

Sassine and Marwa

Between Our Love & Your’s

We were in a conversation about the relation between God and life… is it applicable or not?

A woman said: I don’t believe… why do I need the Bible? Religion is just made by men to rule the world and block any instability…
Look, inside your Bible there are many unclear issues… why women have no real role in it? For example, what is the role of St Mary? She bared Jesus, but what was she after?
Your Bible said that the woman must follow her man… and me, I don’t want to follow a man…

I said: the Bible is not a lonely phrase… it is a united continuous one… you cannot just read a cut of a phrase and say look, this is your holy book… as it appears, you know the Bible very well… so you must know that he said: the man must love his wife as Jesus loves the church… he said also that the man leaves his dad and mom to follow his wife… and the same to her… he said also: you don’t leave each other until death…
Don’t you see that the bible is the number one in that age and even in ours, that pushes to the equality between men and women…?
Where do you see that Jesus didn’t equalize between us…
Remember very well, women who do sins were killed until death with stones, but the men not… who is the first one in the world to protect her, and even forgive her while blaming all the others…
Remember also… the only ones who visited Jesus in his tomb were women, while all the disciples (men) were hidden in a secret place… and the ones who took the great news of resurrection were also women…
I can describe and talk till tomorrow about women in the Holy Bible…
The Bible can be collected in one word… love…

She said: but we don’t need a religion to love…

I said: very true… even sinners love their families and the ones who belongs to them… this is inside the Bible too… do you know it before?
Jesus didn’t come here to ask you to love these ones (this love is somewhat innate, but can also be lost in many conditions)… he came here to make you love your enemies…
Love is the light… it fulfills our hearts…
You cannot say I love someone and I hate another one in the same time… if you are doing that, even the one you love, there will be a time you hate him who ever who is… why?
Isn’t clear? Love and hate cannot stay in the same place… the same heart… the darkness will win… it’s simply what happens when you have an infection somewhere, and you didn’t treat… then the infection will grow up slowly, ending by killing you…
This is the difference between our love and your’s…
Our love is full while unlimited… our love is rich while poor … our love is modest while powerful… our love is complicated by being brother and sister of everyone on this earth, while very simple… our love can forgive… and specially, he is an eternal one as he is from the heart of our God…
While your’s is weak… poor even if he has all the goodies of earth…
He is complicated by hating everyone on earth… and he is surely limited…
So you have to choose between God and death…

She said: why do I have to choose?

I said: because life is just a decision… and you are free to take it or not…

Sassine El Nabbout MD.

Discussing The Gospel Of Juda

An article published by National Geographic since 2 weeks, introducing this important discovery of the 21 century, that will act in a way to make “A lot of people upset.”
I will introduce an aswer to every part of there article in a so strict way (in Bold).

They started there article with: “Lost for nearly 1,700 years, a crumbling papyrus manuscript presents the most hated man in history in a new light”.

Who said we hate Judas? where is this marked in our bible?
The one who hates is not a christian. Very simple...

“pe-di-ah-kawn-aus ente plah-nay. These strange words were Coptic, the language spoken in Egypt at the dawn of Christianity. They had gone unheard ever since the early church declared the document off-limits for Christians. This is a passage where Jesus is explaining to the disciples that they are on the wrong track".

The off-limits are for the one who don't know or refuse to know who is Jesus & why he came to us. Sirs, christianity is a shut off of every limits. His words are not something flying around, or written on books, his word is written on our hearts.

Disciples are humans as we are, then the faults are almost always possible, no one said that they are always right in everything, even our bible that you are blaming to be wrong said that many times... Jesus said it many times: till when i will stay with you...
Then, if he is saying that to his disciples, the ones who saw him, & believed him, what will he says to everyone of us?... are we on the wright track???!...

Jesus Christ’s close friend, one of the 12 Apostles, who sold him out for 30 pieces of silver, identifying him with a kiss.

Jesus is a close friend of everyone of us, not only the 12 Apostles, and we sold him and still doing it everyday, even cheaper than that... so what is your discovery?

"As Christianity distanced itself from its origins as a Jewish sect, Christian thinkers found it increasingly convenient to blame the Jews as a people for the arrest and execution of Christ, and to cast Judas as the archetypal Jew. The four Gospels, for example, treat Roman governor Pontius Pilate gently while condemning Judas and the Jewish high priests".

"Forgive them because they don't know what they are doing"... does someone remember these words... Jesus said that before dying, so stop this delire... no one is blaming anyone... all sins were forgiven...

"The “secret account” gives us a very different Judas. In this version, he is a hero. Unlike the other disciples, he truly understands Christ’s message. In handing Jesus over to the authorities, he is doing his leader’s bidding, knowing full well the fate he will bring on himself. Jesus warns him: “You will be cursed"."

Hey, we don't understand what he understanded?!... it is like you are saying: he is the only smart trusted one, and the other eleven are just dumbs, and even the enemies of Christ message!!...
The 12 were chosen, not by anyone, but by God himself, so no way to errors... even with Judas real story...
And if Judas was the best of the best, how couldn't God protect him from being cursed?!!... and why he took the 30 pieces of Silver?...

"This message is startling enough to raise suspicions of fraud, common with alleged biblical artifacts".

Christianity is the full & free love Of God... the ones searching for artifacts, are the ones who want to find a reason for their bad ways...

“Christianity trying to find its style.”

Christianity is not a style... it is a life...

"The Judas gospel vividly reflects the struggle waged long ago between the Gnostics and the hierarchical church. In the very first scene Jesus laughs at the disciples for praying to “your god,” meaning the disastrous god who created the world. He compares the disciples to a priest in the temple (almost certainly a reference to the mainstream church), whom he calls “a minister of error” planting “trees without fruit, in my name, in a shameful manner.” He challenges the disciples to look at him and understand what he really is, but they turn away".

They talk about Jesus, as if he is someone who hates his disciples... or if he don't want them to understand, or even, as if it was so difficult to him to make them understand...
They talk about Jesus, as if he died just for Judas, the one who is planting fruitful trees, not for us & Judas & every Disciple...
While searching if the disciples planted or didnt't plant fruitful trees, isn't reasonable to start planting something??!...

"The key passage comes when Jesus tells Judas: “You will sacrifice the man that clothes me.” Judas did to him a favor." The canonical Gospels say Jesus prayed to God that he would not have to die. In contrast, the Gospel of Judas says that Jesus wanted to die to rejoin the fullness of God."

What is that important discovery?! read the bible sirs before giving us your new gospel... read it well... Jesus knew very well that he is going to die & to resuscitate, he knew also that someone is going to deliver him... and he knew who is this one... he has many ways to escape if he didn't want to die... he came to die... it is his mission and it's already done...
That's very true, he prayed that he would not have to die... do you know why sirs?? because it was not a normal death as every one... he died while boring every sin on earth, done before his presence on earth, during it, now and till the end of life on earth... he prayed yes, but he accepted the will of God, even that it was dying for sinners, while no one accept to die to deliver a good one... Do you accept it once?

“Lift up your eyes and look at the cloud and the light within it and the stars surrounding it,” Jesus tells him encouragingly. “The star that leads the way is your star.” Ultimately, Judas has a revelation in which he enters a “luminous cloud.” People on the ground hear a voice from the cloud, though what it says may be forever unknown due to a tear in te papyrus.

Ah! what a chance... a word said by god, lost because of a tear in a papyrus?!!
Oh! what can we do now?

"We will stop loving each other... we will hate every one including the disciples... we will hate Jesus"...
"We can do whatever we want... enjoy our life in every way... there is no god... it is just stories made by someone to make us lose our freedom"...
" The bible is all wrong... just a big lie"...
"Believers are just dumbs like their disciples"...
"I question if their is really a Jesus"...

This is the minimum said by many ones after opening the pages of Juda's Gospel...
What i can say: "Devil is just making another effort to improve his kingdom on earth, so be CAREFUL"...



Sassine El Nabbout MD.

Regarding The Gospel Of Judas

I am continually amazed at the ability of the modern press to show it's own colors to an apparently colorblind nation.
Recently therehas been a swarm of coverage around the Gospel of Judas, an apparentrecent discovery, and insightful document concerning therelationship between Jesus Christ and Judas Iscariot. What the press failed to mention is the wealth of information regarding the Gospel of Judas, it's origins, meanings, and impact on Christianity.
The media would have you believe that some newdiscovery or truth about Christ has now been revealed. One radio reporter inferred that Easter would now be changed forever becauseof this new information.
People have been surprised to learn of a possible friendship between Judas and Jesus. Even more astounding, it seems, is the idea that the actions of Judas were, in fact, inline with the will of God through Jesus.
The Gospels contain nothing which would lead readers to believe that Judas and Jesus were not close. Judas was the treasurer for the chosen twelve. Obviously he was trustworthy, and a man of honor. Heseems no less close to Jesus than the 4 authors of the canonical gospels. Of course he is painted in a negative light by hisbrethren. Imagine living with a man for 3 years, communing with him daily, trusting him, only to have him betray the one Person you haveboth sworn to serve. That is a wound which does not heal easily.
And truth be told, Judas's actions were directly in line with thewill of the Father. Christ had to be turned over to the authorities, that he might be sacrificed for all mankind. This does not mean that what Judas did was righteous, or self lessly motivated. The idea Judas was a hero is historically claimed as being popular among the early gnostics, who proposed the idea of Godas an evil ruler and the biblical anti-heroes as the bringer of the Messiah.
Accuracy aside, let us assume this Gospel of Judas is authentic. What is the significance of Judas's actions, if they were in factdone out of obedience? What effect do they have on the Salvation which Christ's death brought to humanity? Absolutley none.
Evenif Judas had been instructed by Christ to betray Him, that would not change the significance of the cross.Remember that the media may have taken hold of this document inorder to promote their own present agenda, but the church has bothacknowledged and studied the Gospel of Judas since 180AD, when it was first mentioned by Irenaeus, an early Church Bishop.We must not fear the attempts of the enemy to trip us up. The truthis infallible in it's own right.
Remember, that any rash ordramatic reaction from the Christian community only pro-ports what the enemy is trying to tell the world: the present day Christian Church is an irrational bunch of bible bashers who don't know theirown history. Let us be calm, controlling ourselves in the face ofconstant adversity. Remember God's advice to Cain, "...sin is crouching at the door. It desires to dominate you, but you must subdue it."
The power of Christ's actions and their everlasting effects cannotbe altered by any document, ancient or not. Know your history, know the story of our Savior and cherish every detail.

Copyright 2006 by JM Leary

من أقوال الآباء

الفضيلة والرذيلة هما للنفس كالصحة والمرض للجسد، وكذلك المعرفة والجهل بالنسبة إلى الذهن. وكلّما واظبنا على التقوى أو على العمل، ازداد الذهن إشراقاً بالمعرفة، ونصبح عندئذٍ أهلاً للرحمة عبر الوصية الخامسة، وفيها يقول الرب:" طوبى للرحماء ".
الرحيم هو المتعاطف مع القريب فيغيثه بما ناله من الربّ من مالٍ، وغذاء، وقوة، وكلامٍ مسعفٍ وصلاة. أي أنّه بكلّ قدرته وبدافع رقّته، يفتح قلبه للسائل ويحسب أنّه مدينٌ له، لأنّه نال أكثر بكثير ممّا طلب منه. إذ أنّ المسيح جاد عليه في هذا الدهر وفي الدهر الآتي، بأن يدعى

مثل الله رحيماً.

******

ليس المؤمن من يؤمن بكلّ شيء، بل بالله وحده. أترك البحث واعتنق الإيمان.
الإيمان نورٌ منيرٌ للجميع، وحيث يكون تكمن القوّة.

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الصلاة تقودنا إلى الينبوع السماوي، تملأنا من ذاك الشراب، فتجري منّا ينبوع ماءٍ أبدي.
الصلاة تؤكد لنا الخيرات الآتية، وبالإيمان تعرّفنا المعرفة الفضلى للخيرات الحاضرة.
الصلاة لا تقتصر على الكلمات، بل إنّها اندفاعٌ إلى الله، حبٌّ غريب لا يأتي من البشر.
الصلاة غنىً لا يُسلب وغذاءٌ سماوي يشبع النفس، من ذاقها غاص في شوقٍ أبدي إلى الله، كمثل نارٍ آكلةٍ تضرم القلب.

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الصلاة التصاقٌ بالله في جميع لحظات الحياة ومواقفها، إلى أن تصبح الحياة صلاةً واحدة بلا انقطاعٍ ولا اضطراب.

******

الصلاة هي أمّ كلّ الفضائل، فالصلاة تحفظ العفة وتربيها في حضنها، تبطل الغضب وتوبخ عليه، تمنع ميول الكبرياء والحسد، تستدعي الروح القدس ليحلّ فينا، وتسمو بالنفس لترتفع إلى السماء.

*******

When God calls u...

When God calls you, there are but two choices: Obedience or diobedience. There is no third option!
When God spoke to Abraham & asked him to go to a land he would later give him, Abraham's response was,"Ok, let's go!"
Today, many would say, "Hey, God, what's the matter with my serving you here? Ur's a nice place-good schools, shops & golf courses. Nice neighborhood- looks good on a business card."
When God said," Abraham, i want you to give Me your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love," he responded in simple obedience, assured ( so says Hebrews11) that if God should demand the life of his son, he would raise him from the dead. The response of many today would more likely be,"God, can't we make a deal? I've got quite a lot of money & lots of servants. How about giving you ten of my finest men? I will pay their salaries, & you can send them anywhere you want."
Many well-qualified individuals lose out with God because they want to make a deal with Him, saying, " I'll go so far but no farther." They are interested in serving God more in an advisory capacity than in grassroots involvement. This kind of attitude not only leaves them out of corporate head-quarters but also doesn't give God much to work with when it comes to kingdom.
God wants all you are & all you have...

From the book:
Successful Servants
Harold J. Sala

بسيطة

اعتدنا أيّها الإخوة كثرة الكلام والحشو، حتى في الصلاة... كأن اللّه لا يسمع، أو أنّه لا يعرف ما بنا وما نحتاجه...
الصلاة أيّها الإخوة طهارةٌ للنفس... هي لغة التخاطب مع اللّه عزّ وجلّ... وتلاوتها كلّ اليوم تؤكد عزم الإنسان على البقاء ملاصقاً له... كما أنّها درعٌ تخشاه الشياطين...
وبما أنّ كلاً منّا في معركةٍ على مدار الثواني مع عدونا اللدود والوحيد، فالتخلّي عن الصلاة تعني تسليم النفس لإبليس...
يجب التنبّه من سقوط النفس في الضجر والفتور، وهذه واحدة من سيئات التكرار... لكن يجب أن يتسلّح كلّ منّا من قبل بمعرفة ألاعيب إبليس... فلا تدعه يوماً يقنعك بأنّك صليت ما يكفي... طبعاً، لأنه المتأذي الوحيد ممّا ترتّله روحك...
وعندما تصلي، لتخرج الكلمات من قلبك وليس من شفتيك... ولتكن صلاتك بسيطة... ليس أكثر ولا أقلّ ممّا علّمنا السيد المسيح:
أبانا الذي في السماوات، ليتقدّس اسمك، ليأتي ملكوتك، لتكن مشيئتك كما في السماء كذلك على الأرض، أعطنا خبزنا كفاف يومنا، واترك لنا ما علينا كما نترك نحن لمن لنا عليه، ولا تدخلنا في التجربة، لكن نجّنا من الشرير. آمين

الرسالة

نحن في عالمٍ مظلم بسبب بعدنا عن النور الذي يشعّه اللّه ...
كلّ منّا بحاجةٍ إلى هذا النور الذي يدخل حياتنا في الصميم كي ينير خفاياه فيعلنها، لكي تشفى من مرضها الداخلي الذي هو الخطيئة...
نعم أيّها الأحبّاء، كلّنا موتى بالخطيئة التي تظلم حياتنا...ومن غير المسيح أتى ليشفي أمراضنا ويحمل عنّا هذا النير الثقيل...
ونحن نؤمن بذلك كلّه وبه نتكلّم...
نعم! نحن نؤمن ولذلك نحن مخلّصون...

د.ساسين ميشال النبّوت