And so for this weekend, my thoughts and my observations are about the state of this world. I was watching CNN last night and was horrified by two people discussing with the host about the increase in rape incidents across America. A young schoolgirl was found unconscious in the campus grounds after she was allegedly raped by a group of boys in the school. The assailants had vanished without a clue leaving the poor victim to die. Friends, this is the way it is everywhere. We only have to pick up the daily newspaper or click the television channel to learn about one crime after another being committed against innocent people. I can imagine the plight of the parents of that girl who was sexually abused. Her trauma must leave them permanently damaged in mind and body. My heart goes out to these unfortunate people. I too have wondered as to how Our God can allow such evil to continue and increase in today’s world. What do we need to do? How can we face the situation after it has happened in our midst? We can console ourselves with the fact that Our God will heal on the inside of us through His Spirit, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the final doctor; he will go deep into our hearts and minds to help us get over the pain. He will not allow us to slide into permanent depression and disaster. We know of the first reaction of the victim or the victim’s loved ones. They will want to get even with the person who has hurt them so deeply. Even my own response to the person who has kidnapped and raped my daughter will be to get even with the rogue. I too will want an eye for an eye – I will want revenge, a revenge of the extreme kind. But soon as a born – again Christian, I will see the intervention of the Holy Spirit. He will point out that revenge and seeking justice on my own does not belong to me; it belongs to the Lord. It is not for us to take the law into our hands and kill the offender. We have been told to allow the law take its course. But all of this is easier said than done. Ask anyone who has been a victim. He or she will assert vehemently that they would rather go to jail and spend a life in … [Read more...]
What does the Bible have to say about Reincarnation?
I have just returned from a pilgrimage visit to Puttaparthi, the abode of the most famous saint in India – Satya Sai Baba. Satya Sai is known all over the world as a spiritual icon who has followers from every corner of the Earth. I had the joy and privilege of mingling with Russians, Argentines, Brazilians, Czechs, Austrians and many more. All of them were gathered everyday in the main compound where ‘Baba’ made his appearance in the evening. You only had to look at their faces to guess what was going on in their minds and why they were all there. They simply believed that here was a man who had the power to change their destinies! And quite rightly so. The stories I heard from people as to how they were miraculously healed of disease, how their most intricate family problems were resolved, how Baba talked about their secrets with them during those personal interviews after they had surrendered to Him, can only be found in the book of old legends. Satya Sai is real – they call Him God in human form. As a born again Christian I am not here to rebut and refute the faith of these wonderful people in India. That is not the reason for today’s post. But what struck me was the word ‘Karma’ being freely used by everyone here. ‘Karma’ for Hindus here is ‘deeds’ performed both good and bad by every individual while on this Earth. You are born with certain luck based on the good deeds you performed in the life gone before. All of those who came here to see Baba believed that they were reincarnated in the present birth after they had died in the previous one. They truly believed in Reincarnation. The idea of reincarnation is catching up in a big way in the United States and many other countries. People are searching for spiritual answers to all their pending issues even though they knew what the Word of God in the Bible had to say about them. They had believed in Bible for generations and still had not seen or experienced the promises given all over the Bible. Many of them have even come to believe that they were suffering now because of the sins they had committed in their previous birth. They were reincarnated now to … [Read more...]
