The Cross and the pen

1) Why did Jesus come riding on a donkey? To fulfill prophecy Zech 9:9. Also some scholars say that when people come riding on a donkey, in their culture, it meant they were coming with peaceful news. 2) What does Hosanna mean? Hosanna means, 'Save us NOW' 3) Why were the people shouting Hosanna and waving Palm leaves? The Jews were God's chosen people. This got into their heads. They were like the "High Caste". Everyone else was a gentile... who is like a dalit.(Just a cultural reference... not trying to propagate divisions) The very fact that Romans(Dalits) are ruling over them(High Caste) was indigestable. They were unable to overcome the Romans. The gospels say that the Roman hand was heavy upon them. They had to give taxes- One more thing they couldnt accept. "Why should I give from the income of my hard work to gentiles whom I dont want ruling over me?" They badly needed a Savior. "Jesus, Save us NOW! ... Hosanna.. Blessed is He who comes ...

November 26th or 26/11 as it is commonly known, is a dark day in the modern history of India. We all remember watching on TV the chaotic scenes in Mumbai. A handful of terrorists, completely cripple the financial capital of our country killing hundreds. I remember watching an interview by one of the news channels. It was in a hospital ward, a 50+ year old policeman, bandaged all over, still shaken and scared, was being interviewed. It was …hmm… very pitiful and sad to watch that interview. In a quivering voice, he said, “ the terrorists had modern, automatic firing guns, but all that I had with me was my service revolver, which they gave me when I joined service .” Service revolvers are slow, not very powerful, self loading, only 6 bullets at a time gun. The poor policeman was almost in tears saying that he could hardly protect himself with that gun, leave alone fight and protect other with it. 1997, the movie Independence day, starring Will Smith was released. Great movie, man triumph...

Hi Confused friend! Thanks for writing to me. I wish to tell you that, my letter was intentionally incomplete. I was waiting for someone like you to write to me and ask me, "so what next?" Honestly, I am bad in giving advice on this topic, but I know just the person who can help you. For now, lets call Him "Love Doctor". This Doc is great in solving issues to do with the heart and love(He is so good that people call Him just "Love"). Love has a workshop where He mends broken hearts. He works 24x7 and He's just a toll free away. The reason Doc is exceptional in handling patients is because, He, out of love, gave His life for people who didn't even know or bother that He existed. He has done it in the past and people who fully work with Him are guaranteed a new heart! Generally, a crushed heart is sensitive. But the people around us don't care and hurt it even more but Doc... not Him. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he wil...

Hi Allan, I read your article "letter to the youth" on your blog. The "Lock and key" illustration was interesting! I wish I could rewind time and "protect" my heart from being broken. You see, I liked this girl. She was very sweet. She liked me too and it felt we were made for each other. Unfortunately, it was not to be. We had to split before things could get worse. It was very painful for both of us. I am not in touch with her now, but unable to stop thinking about her. But I know for sure that we can't continue to be together. I wish I had cut this relationship earlier if only I knew it would end like this. Is there a solution for my problem? Please help!! Confused friend.

Dear friend, I urge you to read this letter carefully as you will experince this feeling sooner or later in your life. This has nothing to do with spirituality, but from a friend’s heart to another… read on I wish to start this letter with this small pump in our body called ‘THE HEART’. Boy, can it pump! Have you ever observed the verbs used to describe the heart? A heart can be broken, it can be shattered, it can melt, can be blown to pieces, can be crushed, can leap with joy, etc., this small organ definitely does more than just pushing the blood around. It is also the birthseat of all our emotions. Out of the heart erupts love, hatred, anger, jealousy, revenge, etc. let us concentrate on arguably the strongest emotion- LOVE. It’s the theme of a poet, a painter, a songwriter. Hollywood, bollywood etc. worship it and glorify it, but it’s ironic to notice that songs such as “love hurts”, “I’ll never fall in love again”, “ Fool again (Westlife)” and so many other songs...

Freedom Many years ago, on the 15th of August, an announcement by Lord Louis Mount Batten changed the direction of our country. From that night, Indians could sleep peacefully on their beds. If it wasn’t for that blessed day, we cannot imagine our position now. We would have never become the biggest democracy, we would have hardly had any Nobel laureates, India could have never won the world cup (we cannot expect a lagaan team to really defeat any other country), India would have never sent a rocket to space leave alone an astronaut, Bangladesh would have been a country of the past (India tirelessly fought a war with Pakistan to free Bangladesh). Wow. The list keeps going on…. It is simple to come to the point that a country or an organization or an individual can definitely achieve greater heights being free than being enslaved by a force, be it small or powerful. The answer is obvious. But am I being controlled by something? “Ah well…. I don’t really know…” Is that what you say? It c...

Freedom Many years ago, on the 15th of August, an announcement by Lord Louis Mount Batten changed the direction of our country. From that night, Indians could sleep peacefully on their beds. If it wasn’t for that blessed day, we cannot imagine our position now. We would have never become the biggest democracy, we would have hardly had any Nobel laureates, India could have never won the world cup (we cannot expect a lagaan team to really defeat any other country), India would have never sent a rocket to space leave alone an astronaut, Bangladesh would have been a country of the past (India tirelessly fought a war with Pakistan to free Bangladesh). Wow. The list keeps going on…. It is simple to come to the point that a country or an organization or an individual can definitely achieve greater heights being free than being enslaved by a force, be it small or powerful. The answer is obvious. But am I being controlled by something? “Ah well…. I don’t really know…” Is that what you say? It c...

Dear diary, It was an extremely tiring day…. but an exciting one!! It is past midnight now…. and I am very sleepy but I cannot sleep without telling what happened…. Well I have been up since it was dark. I woke up for the big day…..my master’s son’s wedding… Yesterday the master told me and the other slaves to work very hard. He said that all the big people of this town and the neighboring towns have been invited and he wanted the wedding to be very grand. He promised us good presents if we worked hard. That was not the only thing pushed us to work…the mistress came early today morning and sternly warned us to work seriously and keep everything in order. She is very rude…. I don’t like her and ….I’m not alone. Anyway we were all mentally prepared to make our master’s son’s wedding a success. I like him. He gave me one of his old coats. It had nice colors. It’s been 2 ½ years since I’m working here and because of the trust placed in me by my master, I was asked to t...

31 AD, Third watch, My house From the time I can remember, I have been a boring, dull fisherman. My grandfather was afisherman, my dad was a fisherman, I am fisherman my brother is a fisherman, my son will be a fisherman… all my life,, fishes, boats, nets…that’s all I know… but the last few days have been very very ….dont really know what word to use… a mixture of exciting, full of surprises, weird, interesting…amazing… from the time I dropped my nets…when Jesus called me to be a fisher of men(still don’t know why I chose to listen to him) I have been observing strange things… few days back He did this amazing thing at Cana, He changed water into wine!! Whenever He does this amazing thing like healing the sick or freeing the demon possessed or even raising the dead..(ya …I know…is that cool or what??) He uses certain phrases like, “your sins are forgiven”, ”I command you to come out”, “ your faith has healed you” etc… each time it’s different.. but something hap...

Characters : Screw tap e- A senior satan who writes letters to his nephew wormwood. He has lots of experience in pulling down Christians and always refers to Jesus as “our enemy”. He critically analyses every move his nephew and constantly encourages or scolds him for his move. Wormwood - The nephew, who is inexperienced, constantly tries to make the believer for whom he is responsible, fall. Letter: Dear Wormwood, I am very disappointed with you that you have allowed your patient to meet his old friend. You very well know how his friend is passionate for our enemy. You should have anticipated his every move. Now, your patient has got involved in ministry and regularly attends the fellowship and prayer. What a big blunder! In the fellowship, he is being made to pray and read that dangerous Book (Bible). You worked so hard before this to keep him from all these unhealthy habits. And from what I see, many people from outside come to this fellowship and pollute his mind even more! ...