The Cross and the pen

  Believer, beware! Satan is out to get your soul. Last week, the newspapers in India had a full-page advertisement. “Netflix is dropping its price!” It’s cheaper to have thousands of hours of delectable entertainment at your fingertips now! A few years ago, 4G internet rolled out in India for very affordable rates. Technology has now advanced to fibre connections for home use and very soon 5G technology for our mobiles. Because of the pandemic, almost every individual has a smartphone including school children. Why should you and I be concerned about this? Isn’t fast, cheap internet a boon for us, our families and the nation? Narrating another perspective here. Our chief enemy is Satan. He is a master strategist who uses every trick up his sleeve to make us fall. He uses the world and our flesh to trap us, and as the accuser, he will be ready to accuse us when we slip. He is using the infrastructure of internet & our devices (which we pay for and maintain) to deliver to...

  Every time my phone pings, invariably it’s the message of one more person testing positive, or someone’s situation has become worse, and maybe once a day, somebody has died. The news of someone’s recovery is dwarfed by all the other news that makes you feel depressed. No beds, no oxygen cylinders, no ambulances, no doctors, nurses, etc. I open the news feed, Twitter, etc. and I get to visualize this great tragedy - ambulances, crying relatives…. sometimes you wish you were born in a different period in history. मैं अपने देश को देखता हूं और रोता हूं। मुझे मेरे घुटनों पर लाया गया है | मेरे खुदा तुम कहाँ हो? I look at my nation and weep…. I have been brought to my knees. My God where are you?   How do I find my footing in a time like this? What if the next phone call is the message of someone very close struggling to breathe? What if, this night, I start developing symptoms?   Where can I put my hope? What can I hold on to during a time like this?   My friend, I know ...

The Word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before me.” The next time you pick up the Bible, see how the different books are introduced. They are very interesting and different! The book of Jonah, is very direct and gets straight to the point. There was a problem, God wanted someone to get down under the car with the spanner and the wrench, get dirty and clean it up and that man was Jonah. Jonah, however strongly felt that he was not the man for the job. Bible scholars tell us different reasons why Jonah acted the way he did. Nineveh was a sinful and an arrogant city. Jonah was almost certain that sharing the news was pointless there…”these people are going to ridicule me, mock me…it’s throwing pearls before swine. God – I don’t like this plan. Please change it immediately and get back to me if it would be something that would interest me and go well with my personality.” ...