Category: The Hour has arrived

Pamela and Ben entered the huge library for the first time. “Look at all these books, Ben! How many hours would it take to read them? We haven’t started studying yet and I am already tired just thinking about the work that lies ahead.”

“You know Pam, that the name ‘library’ stands for ‘a place to bury lies and false history’?”

“No ways!” Pamela answered.

“Oh yes,” Ben said, “which means that the place keeping the most lies and false history surely ought to have the largest library. That place is the Library of Congress in Washington DC. They have 118 million items covering 800 kilometres of shelving. Boy, I wonder whose lies and history they are keeping.”

“If they cover so many lies, can you believe them when they give you those figures about the items and shelving?” Pamela laughed.

“Makes you think,” Ben said. “You know what is amazing? God does not have a library because every book of His embraces the truth and He gave us the whole collection as His word, the Bible.

The Bible is the Words of God written down and is such a truth that when the devil tried to lie to Jesus, He merely answered the devil with ‘it is written down’. When something is written down, it is a fact that no one can change.

Another important book is the ‘book of the living’ in which is written the names of all the people who would go to heaven. And of course, somewhere between those books in heaven you would even find a book of Ben and a book of Pamela.” (Rev 20:12)

“Are you sure, Ben?”

“Pamela, this is no joke. Every word that comes out of your mouth is written down in your book, alongside with what you have done and what you harbour in your heart or mind. What you do and think and what you say are so important in your life that everything about you is written down in detail. It is written down to confirm what you have done and it is sealed as a fact. (Prov 15:4,26)

People can lie and accuse you of many things but God has captured all the evidence about you as a fact that nobody can undo or change. He knows the truth and just like the Gospel, the truth will set you free.”

“I just hope nobody gets my book to read. Wow, that would be embarrassing,” Pamela said.

Ben laughed. “You don’t need to worry about that, Pam. Your book will have pages with pictures and words and a lot of empty deleted spaces in between because on the day you accepted Jesus as your Saviour,

He erased all the ugly and bad stuff. You have a beautiful book, Pam, a book written by you and edited by Jesus Christ.”

The date was 21 February 2011. The place – Christchurch, New Zealand. The event – a magnitude 6.3 tremor.

The air was filled with dust. Everyone tried to grasp what had happened. It seemed unreal. Abbey looked at the ruins of the church building on the other side of the street. She thought that if she was dreaming the time to wake up was overdue. Gradually reality settled in.

Marc walked up to her to calm her down. “It seems so unreal, Abbey. But hey, thank God we’re alive!”

“Marc, look in front of you at that old iconic church building! It is completely ruined! The house of God is gone!”

“Abbey, I don’t want to burst your bubble but that heap of rubble was not the house of God.”

Abbey looked at Marc with an expression of disgust on her face. “How can you say that, Marc? It was a church building, the house of God!”

Marc took her hand as he spoke to her softly, “Do you really think God would stay in a cold and empty building only to meet a few people once a week for a brief hour or two and then just watch them go out and leave Him again to be on His own for the rest of the week? Definitely not!”

He continued, “On the day Jesus died on the cross, the curtain in the temple was torn from top to bottom. That day God removed His presence from a building and He would not move into another structure made by man ever again! You are a Christian, Abbey, and since the day you accepted Jesus Christ as your Saviour, the Holy Spirit has been indwelling you. God is in you. You and every other Christian all over the world are His house now. (1 Cor. 3:16, 6:19, 2 Cor. 6:16)

You know what? Jesus showed me a picture of this ruined church some days ago. No, He did not tell me what would happen here in Christchurch. He told me that thousands of His churches look like that. I could not believe what He told me but He said there are thousands upon thousands of empty broken down spaces like this. Some appear to be fine but at closer inspection one would notice them to be in disrepair, speaking of confusion and despair among their inhabitants.

If you would look at the inventory lists you would notice that all these houses are still counted for as perfect churches, a false picture, however. But He also told me that the situation was not that bleak. God had not forgotten them or left them in ashes.”

This quake took place in Christchurch, the oldest city in New Zealand, but the real church of Christ is still alive. Take note however, that many also need some repair.

So many people have lost their way because of the cares and/or pleasures of this world. Many think that joy is only found in the world. Many think salvation depends on the way they live.

Pray for the victims of this quake and for the church of Christ all over the world – we need it!

WYSIWYG is a term used in the software and computer world that stands for “what you see is what you get.” If you should see something in the development stage of a program you would get exactly that when the program is running.

Two computer programmers, Ronnie and Linda, were sitting on the beach admiring the scene. The waves came running in towards the beach at regular intervals. Some were big and noisy and some were just rolling quietly along to dissolve into the sand on the beach.

Every now and then one unusually sized wave would gather more momentum and leave the people on the beach scrambling for safety with their possessions bundled together. After the wave, a wet print is left on the sand with the remains of sandals or towels partly buried in the sand.

In his mind Ronnie was comparing the waves with people. Every person has his own chance to make a wave, to roll or thunder and crash or quietly dissolve and disappear.

Deep inside he felt his own life was merely a ripple nobody noticed and when it was over, nobody would ever know he existed.

Ronnie was a Christian and he knew many prominent Christians whom he would refer to as great men of God. In his heart he desired to be like those people. To be able to preach, and touch the hearts of many, to make a wave and leave demons scrambling when he prayed, to make a miracle happen by simply touching a sick person, that was his desire.

“Ronnie, what are you thinking about?” Ronnie looked at Linda sitting next to him. “I am thinking about all the successful preachers and evangelists and wished that I could be like one of them. They are like big waves and must have a great time to be blessed by the Holy Spirit this way.”

Linda answered, “Ron, when a person is born, he is unique. No other person in the world is exactly like him. And every person is more or less WYSIWYG, but only until that person is born again and he receives the Holy Spirit. At that moment the WYSIWYG is completely replaced by the character and power of the Holy Spirit. Then he might still be looking like Ron, but in essence he would be a giant of a man with power and ability that abound.”

“Wow,” Ron said. “I disagree, Linda. Look at all the great preachers. They definitely must have received a lot more of the Holy Spirit than we have received.

“Ron, when you read your Bible you would find great leaders like Moses, Elijah, and many more, people whom God had chosen and equipped with special gifts and power. After Jesus ascended into heaven, God sent us the Holy Spirit and since that day all Christians are like those great people. In fact we have more than what they had.

It is a very important fact that not one single individual Christian has more of the Spirit than his neighbour has, because God does not give the Spirit by measure. (John 3:34)

If you feel like a ripple, it is your fault. You are part of the sea; you have the same measure of Spirit than those great evangelists have.

It is wrong however, to sit on the beach and enjoy and watch those waves come in. You are not a Christian to be entertained. You have to make your own wave.

WYSIWYG does not apply to you anymore. You look like Ron on the outside but inside you have the Power and miracles of God waiting to be splashed onto the people who need it most. All you have to do, is askJesus to train you to use that Power and then do it!

And then, when you know how, teach others what you have learnt. When a great preacher fails to teach what he has learnt, he might be making a big noise entertaining people, but in the end he would achieve less than a ripple.”

There are two people in my life who’ve made an impression on me, not because of who they are in particular, but sadly, because of what happened in their lives.

The prominent figure in the couple’s life was the wife, Nelly, because she behaved in a way that pushed her into the centre of attention wherever she went. Contrary to Nelly, her husband, Rick, was a quiet and tender loving person. His love for his wife was obvious. I remember his words, “Yes, dear, it’s fine, dear, here you are, dear,” always caring and gentle towards his wife. Nelly’s words and attitude distorted the picture somewhat. No-one remembered anything she said because it was just “blah, blah, blah, blah,” loud remarks about herself or things important to her.

Then one day Nelly’s life tumbled from the wall and was broken into pieces and she was unable to put it back together again. Rick died.

At first Nelly did not really notice the difference until she started to realise that there was nobody who cared for her the way Rick did. No more, “I love you, dear, yes, dear, here, have this, dear.” Suddenly Nelly realised there was nobody left who cared for her the way Rick did. For the first time she missed him. For the first time she realised who he was and what she had lost.

I was thinking about a time when I was little and sat next to Rick when he gave me sweets or took me outside and gave me some of the grapes that grew next to their house. I remember his tender voice and loving nature and I missed him. For the first time I longed to know him better but, sadly, it was too late.

Then Jesus stepped in. “Ken, what happened in the lives of these two people, is more or less a picture of many lives on earth.”

“Why do You say that, Lord?” I asked.

“Nelly had everything she could ask for. She had her loving husband and the attention and pampering of Rick every second of her life. She got so used to all her blessings that she did not realise how much she had. You could say that her mountains of blessings made her insensitive to the really important stuff in life. Only when she had lost her husband and the blessings had dried up, she suddenly noticed she had lost the love of her life. Then it was too late to change!

So many people live in the blessings I provide for them, sunshine, health, food, attention, protection, and, yes, you could carry on and count the abundance of provisions I put into your lap every day. People get so used to all the blessings, it is not counted as blessings anymore. Like Nelly, many rather complain about the lack of blessings or when the blessing is not exactly the colour, size or taste they wanted it to be.

Most tragic of all, is that My people got so used to everything I bless them with, they forgot Me! The blessings became more important than Me! If I should leave them, they would also notice My absence for the first time but then it would be too late.

The way the people are treating Me would drive a normal person to divorce. I am not a normal Person, I love you and care for you.

I will not leave you nor forsake you; all you have to do is to remember Me! Talk to Me, live with Me, laugh with Me, cry with Me! Most importantly, notice Me!” Isaiah 42:16.

During the holidays I saw Bill sitting on a bench next to the beach. He was looking at the people enjoying their day in the sun. He appeared to be lonely and I sat down next to him. We started chatting. After a while, he told me a story.

“A ranger walked into a forest one day to find the most beautiful tree. The forest was so dark and dense, the rays of the sun seemed to be banned from the carpet of leaves and small plants on the ground. Deep in the bush, he found what he was looking for, the most beautiful tree he had ever seen.”

“He was so glad, but he suddenly started wondering what he was going to do with this tree. It was too big to uproot and take home. The only thing left to do was to claim it. He took his pen, wrote his name on it, and added the words: ‘This tree is mine’.”

“Soon however, the rain washed his name off the tree, but he still longed to be close to the treasure he claimed to be his.”

Bill looked at the people around us and said, “We are like trees in a forest. Some are big and have all the light from above. Some are small and live in the shadow of others surrounding them. Some are what we call ‘mine’ but in reality they are not, and we are all alone. I found one a long time ago and thought she was mine… I was wrong.”

“So you see, when you look at me everything seems fine. However, unseen to the naked eye, bruises and loneliness are hidden deep inside. Every single person is hiding something painful somewhere.”

Bill stopped talking and after a while we parted and went our different ways.

Jesus revealed to me why I had to experience this and why I heard Bill’s version of the forest. God created everything and He is still doing that. Every person is born through the miracle of childbirth and every child receives his physical characteristics form his parents…. but his spirit comes from God. Every newborn receives a spirit newly created by God.

Some people have grown old and are withered; some are young, but sadly, withered too. The spirit of man cannot age but it certainly can bruise. In our forest, we often find even juvenile trees with broken branches and withered leaves.

Some bruises are obvious but most of them can only be seen through the eyes of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus wants us to look for the bruised “trees”. It is more urgent than ever before to get ourselves trained to walk in the Holy Spirit by acknowledging our own spiritual nature and then look after the needs of other people.

Ask Jesus for a spiritual eye test and a new pair of spiritual glasses to tend to people in your part of the forest.

If you are one of those bruised trees, don’t be afraid to put up your hand.

As I was paging through a magazine one day when I stumbled upon an article about an autistic boy called Will. Will could not tolerate the close presence of strangers and obviously, he could not speak to them either. His skin being extremely sensitive to the touch of water, his mom had great difficulty washing his hair. In short, it was not easy to keep house with Will or move around in town with him without making a scene in the presence of other people.

Will went to school but he was a lonely figure, unable to communicate with his classmates. He simply was unable to open up to love and attention from others.

Then something happened. Will got a dog which he called Cowboy. She was a retriever and from the first day they met, they were the best of friends.

One day when Will took a bath, Cowboy managed to enter the bathroom and jumped into the water. True to the nature of a retriever, Cowboy had the time of her life, diving in and out of the water, leaving Will covered with soap and completely wet from top to bottom. For the first time Will’s mom heard her son cry out in laughter like she never heard before.

Cowboy changed the life of this little boy immensely.

Unfortunately, one day Cowboy fell ill, seriously ill and she died. Will was in school when that happened and when his mom picked him up, he knew. He asked her, “Cowboy is dead, isn’t she?” When his mom confirmed, he dropped his case and ran to the car.

Later that day Will and his mom gathered all Cowboy’s toys and stuff and put them into a box. Then they sat close to each other on the carpet next to the box and for the first time she saw her son cry like never before.

Here I was, a grown man, crying my eyes out too. Then the question popped up in my mind, “Why am I crying?”

The reason is obvious. I love kids and I love dogs but I realise, most of all it is because I love God and He loves us. He loves us so much that He provided animals for our welfare and need and care. Animals that love and touch us in a special way and where humans are unable to reach.

They say, “Cowboys don’t cry.” Cowboy, the dog, never cried, because she had her best friend at her side and everything she could ask for.

I am so glad I am not a cowboy and can cry as much as I want to. Oh, how I love God!

John shakes his head as he looks at the figures in front of him. He’s been trying desperately for his business to succeed but success seems to be constantly evasive. “Why, Jesus? What am I doing wrong?”

The answer came in an instant. “If I would ask you to take a step closer, John, where would you be? Closer to the edge of the cliff or closer to Me?”

When people surrender their lives to Me, they also make a decision to follow Me and that is what a Christian is supposed to do. However, many, like you, as soon as they get busy and involved in the things life requires of them, take their eyes off of Me and in the process distance themselves and their visions from Me. You likewise, followed your dream regardless of Me.

I gave you everything for free. I created the whole world and the universe, everything that exits in its magnitude, every beautiful creature, plant, planet…. everything that exists was created for you in order for you to live abundantly, and yet, you behave like a moth. When a moth notices a light at night, if flies to it only to circle around it, bumping against the hot light until it kills itself. What a waste. If the moth realised that the light is only a distraction, it would still be alive and do what it was created for. In the eyes of the moth the blinding light outshone all the plants and fruit that are available.

People sometimes follow what seems like a living, fascinating light and give all their attention to that light instead of to what really matters in life.

If you would close your eyes to picture your accomplished vision some time in the future, would I be part of that picture?

If I should draw you a picture of My vision for you, you would think that you’re looking into a mirror because My most precious treasure, My vision is you.”

“Am I doing the wrong thing, Lord? Am I in the wrong business?” John asked.

“No, John, you do what you want to do and enjoy doing it. I grant you your vision and plans, all the wonderful things you experience every day and all the beautiful lights, but remember to make room for Me too! Prov. 19:21.

Consider one last question. Why have you become a Christian? To go to heaven or to be close to Me?”

Sometimes God inspires me to write poems. The words are not directly from God but the meaning and ideas portrayed are. I would like to share with you the essence of one I have received recently.

In a previous series, I wrote a message about the manager of a hardware store, Sam and his wife Liza. I’ll be using a day in their lives to explain what Jesus told me. These two people are Christians who have a genuine relationship with Jesus, spending quality prayer time with Him daily.

Sam desires to be the best manager in the group he is employed with and aspires to be promoted to a bigger branch in the city. Consequently he spends most of his days planning to reach that goal, living with his hands almost literally stretched out towards that, regardless of the fact that it seems to be out of reach at present. Tomorrow is the time Sam’s mind would be found speculating on most of the time.

Liza looks forward to the day Sam’s dream would be realised, but she is concerned about the amount of time Sam is spending at the office lately. She nurtures the memories of the old days when he had more time to spend with her and the children.

One day when Sam and Liza prayed, Jesus revealed something to them. His words came softly but what He said, impacted firmly in their minds.

“You two have no idea what life is about. You are dreaming about tomorrow or dwelling on yesterday, planning for something in the future or longing for something in the past. Have you given today any thought?”

“But, Lord, today consists of present issues, the time we use to work and plan for tomorrow or clean up where we have lived a moment ago. Life is work, Lord,” Sam and Liza replied.

“That is true, but regardless of work and other issues which are part of life, our moment together, like this moment now, is always in the present tense.

I am always with you. For Me the best time is the present. It is not wrong to think about the past or plan your future but the best moment is now while you are with Me. THIS ‘NOW’ CONTINUES THROUGHOUT THE DAY AND NOT ONLY WHILE YOU ARE PRAYING.

When you are working or driving your car or chatting with your friends, I am with you. Yesterday is over with, and tomorrow is out of reach but I am always with you and I am always the same loving God. What matters to Me most, is now because it happens this very moment.

Make the present your goal and set your vision on the here and now to experience Me. The only moment to do that, is now and for Me it is awesome. Take My hand and make the most of My presence every second of the day. THIS HOUR IS THE ESSENCE OF LIFE! Take it and live! (Matthew 6:25-34)

A man telephoned the airline office and asked, “How long does it take to fly to Durban?” The clerk said, “Just a minute…” “Thank you,” the man said and rang off. It is easy to make a mistake and misinterpret words but it is a sin to use words to change facts.

Creationism and evolutionism are two words that are sometimes applied within a spiritual context in such a way that it becomes as far removed from Christianity as creation is removed from evolution. Words are important and can be used to either build or break down. Evolution is one of those words used to negate the fact that God created everything.

Evolution had no role whatsoever in creation. God created everything using words the same way a conductor uses his energy to synergise and harmonise sounds in an orchestra. The only difference is that in the beginning God generated every sound in the orchestra Himself.

Words should be used by us the same way God used them by using thought, meaning, intention and sound to create a landscape of hope, love and new life.

Yes, that is correct – God wants us to take over the work of creating new life into this world.

We call a new year “new” when it has just begun. Unfortunately it soon fills with old patterns and old schemes directed by followers of the devil. Because the devil cannot create anything new, he uses old schemes and old words to repeat old failures and disasters. In his cunningness he somehow succeeded in changing the old good meaning of words to fit into his sinister scheme.

Gay meant happy before he changed it into “I am different”. Silence meant quietness before he changed it into killing someone. Sex meant the unification only of two people bound together in matrimony.

How negative this may sound, we are still supposed to use words to create and no, we are not turning into gods. We must speak to our loving Father who in turn acts upon our words and create solutions to problems, real order out of chaos and love out of hate, the same way He spoke everything into existence in the beginning.

Ever wondered why you are alive? We are living in 2011 for exactly the purpose of creating a new world for God and destroy the plans of satan who tries to establish a new world order run by demons.

If every Christian all over the world would ask the Holy Spirit to assist them in praying to God by speaking words, these words would resound like a billion megawatt amplifier around the length and breadth of this planet. What a wonderful experience that would be! Each and every one of us is part of God’s live orchestra.

God can change everything by speaking again but He loves us so much that He wants us to be involved in His business and experience the wonder of real life the way He did in the beginning.

I always ask Jesus for the subject of the next message. This time He answered, “You want Me to give you the next message?”

“Yes, Lord, its due on Friday.”

“Take your pen and write down what I give you. If the readers don’t believe you, it’s fine, just carry on writing.

Who is in charge of the world, Ken?”

“You are, Lord.”

“If I am in charge, why are there so many problems, sin, unfairness, corruption and a lot of bad stuff present? Would you be blaming Me for that?”

“No, Lord.”

“Now who seems to be in charge then?”

“It seems the devil is in charge, Lord, using all the people who chose to follow and serve him to achieve his sinister goal of destroying all mankind and everything that was created perfectly on this world.”

“Now, Ken, who is supposed to be in charge?”

“I suppose it is us who choose to follow and serve You, Lord.”

“Why is that not taking place?”

“Jesus, would you please give me the answer to that question?”

“There is only one answer, Ken, and that is lack of faith. Christians walk on this earth with My indwelling presence. However, when they see the problems in the world they get scared and wonder when I would step in to change it all or end it all. They read the Book Revelation and then wonder when exactly everything is going to end. That is not faith, Ken, that is believing in fate.”

“Then what should we do, Jesus?”

“I gave Revelation to you to tell you that God is in charge but it implies that you have a task to perform also. I have done many miracles when I walked this earth but have you noticed how much time I spent praying? (John 17)

Pray and ask. You can do that every day at any time. Then listen to what I am telling you and then you do. Every Christian plays a crucial part in the end times. The biggest mistake people make is that although they have the Holy Spirit, they don’t believe it. They don’t believe I am with them and they don’t believe they can hear Me talking to them.

They should listen and hear just like you are doing now.

You see, Ken, you have the power of God on your side, but if you do not believe that…. you have nothing.

You have Me in you but if you do not believe that … you do not have Me and then you will not hear Me.

Believe! Have faith!”