13th February 2026
Always opportunity to witness
”Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord does not count against them and in whose spirit is no deceit. ”
Psalm 32:1-2NIV
A man once stood and looking in through a shop window. In the window he could see clocks, bells, golden and silver things. On the inner side of the window there was hanging one piece of paper that read: "We cannot afford to give credit. Read Psalm 32.1-2. "This man was a believer. He therefore smiled, for he knew what Psalm 32nd said.
He opened the door and entered the store and got into conversation with the salesman, who told him that many people came in and asked what Psalm 32 said. So he gave them a card on which he had printed these verses. He showed the man two piles with small booklets, which he used to give curious people when they came inside to ask. One booklet was the Psalms, so they had a chance to read all of the psalms of David, and the second booklet was the Gospel of John. This had been a great blessing for people, who had even been reborn and began faithful to meet for worship and meetings.
When we really get into it, then there are many ways to witness. But what does the Psalm 32NIV say? It reads as follows: “Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord does not count against them and in whose spirit is no deceit.”
The man who has been forgiven his sins, has the "receipt" on it, he can truly be happy, for it is the greatest that can happen to a human being. God wiped out the debt letter, and he eliminated it, as he nailed it up on the cross (Col.2,14). If we receive it and thank Jesus for what He has done for us, so the gift is ours. This is confirmed in the word:
“that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.” 2. Cor. 5.19 NIV
E. Campbell translated
12th February 2026
Who laughed?
”he said, “Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep.” But they laughed at him.”
Matt.9:24NIV
They did not know his qualifications to meet death. They were gathered there to provide in accordance with the oriental traditions with noise and flute playing, and then he came and said: "The girl is not dead but asleep.”" They knew that she was dead and that now awaited the funeral.
Jesus was not disturbed by of their laughter. He is high-minded and knows that people say what they do because they do not know better. Who would not have had death's grim realities resolved? One who can solve problems of death, is a reality, but most just do not know. Not yet, at least! Here applies the grace of God.
The synagogue leaders daughter became ill and died. Then it was that God's grace was found in this man.
Who can explain why some people are so open to spiritual facts, while others only can handle the material concrete physical reality? Some have spiritual senses, others not. It belongs to the enigmatic that we do not get solved in this world. But we have both from Scripture and from experience that prayer is the key subject of faith hands. This we can use, and we should do it.
"So much faith I have not found all over Israel," Jesus had said when he shortly before this episode met the Roman officer. And then he met nevertheless a similar faith of this jew: “While he was saying this, a synagogue leader came and knelt before him and said, “My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live.” ”
Math. 9.18
“Jesus got up and went with him...” While in Israel he found faith. His heart must have rejoiced, because when all is said and done, he was primarily sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. First the Jews, then the other, the Bible tells about this. But the gift of faith given to the individual's soul, regardless of whether it may be jew or not jew. The roman as well as the Jew got their heart's prayer fulfilled.
The synagogue leader got his daughter back alive, just as he himself prayed: "But come and put your hand on her, and she will live. '" He got what he prayed for, in spite of the others infidels, who just laughed .
Jesus did not arouse all dead when he walked down here on this earth, but it happened sometimes as a model for the great resurrection that will happen when God's full plan is to be completed. Right now we live in a time when the people of Israel gather in great numbers in the Promised Land and where pagans from many countries repent. We cannot prevent that the outrage comes the gruesome events that take place in our apocalyptic time. But we can put our trust in the Lord, then we will not be ashamed.
E. Campbell
11the February 2026
Georg Müller and his Bible
”But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ”
Mat.6:33NIV
The known Georg Müller, who founded several orphanages in Bristol, once said:
"Our spiritual growth depends closely on the space, the Bible has in our lives and thoughts. This I solemnly can affirm after 54 years of experience. In four years I mistreated the Bible, I did not read it coherently, even though I was a word messenger. I was a child in knowledge and grace. I had no success, because I didn't take the food that God himself has shown us, so our spiritual life can be strengthened.
But then I got to see that the Holy Spirit is the teacher, and the Word the tool he uses. I was three hours on my knees and it was so good that I
during these three hours learned more than I had learned in several years. In July 1829 I started on this process, namely to read both the Old and New Testament. Since I have read the Bible from one end to the other hundreds of times, and each time with greater joy. When I start it again, it is always as if it could be a new book. I cannot tell how great a blessing that I've had, because I daily read the Bible coherently. When it sometimes happens that I do not get a good Bible study, then I believe that this day is ruined for me.
My friends often say to me: "Oh, I have so much to do, so many people I have to talk to, there will be no time left for Bible studies."
There are not many who have had more to do than I do. For more than half a century, there has not been a day that I have had more to do than I could handle. For 40 years I have received appx. 30,000 letters a year, and most have gone through my own hands. I have 9 clerks who incessantly work to write letters in German, French, English, Italian, Russian and other languages. I am leader in a congregation that counts 1,200 believers, and this has taken up much of my time. In addition to this I have 5 very large orphanages and a printing house, where I print and spread millions of tracts and books. But I have made it a rule never to begin my work before I've had a good time together with God, and then I start the day's work with heart and soul, but stop for a few minutes now and then to pray. "
E. Campbell translated
10th February 2026
The road
”I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you. ”
Psalm 32:8NIV
A missionary was driving in his car. Before him lay the road, gray, wet and dull. But then he came to look at the rearview mirror, and here he noticed that behind the car the road was dry and the sky was beginning to turn blue.
Then it came to him that just such is human life. The days ahead frequently seem gray and heavy, and there is so much to fear. But when we examined them, and put them behind us, they were nevertheless not quite so bad, and then we can see that Jesus led us through everything, although we could not see it, when we stood in the specific situation.
We remember the past days and know the moment now. Jesus on the other hand also knows the future and has a good overview of everything that is called time. Therefore, we must have real confidence that as he leads us, that's for our own good - although everything seems gray and dull - for he knows the final result.
E. Campbell translated
9th February 2026
Wold's top travel guide
“Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.”
Psalm 119:105NIV
Guide books are helpful. They help us find the places we want to visit. They make the trip more exciting and interesting.
The Bible is somehow a guidebook for our journey through life. The Bible can make our lives more fruitful and meaningful. It warns us against the dangers of the journey and recommends the best way forward.
Some people have a travel guide with them when they're traveling, but they do not use it. Therefore, they may miss many good and exciting treats. Some people have the Bible standing on the bookshelf or lying in a drawer. This is not much help. The Bible must be visible and in use. Regularly.
Some guidebooks are difficult to navigate in. So it is with the Bible. It is therefore important to know the "instructions" to the Bible. It's the same as with other guidebooks, do not start reading the first page of the Bible and then forward.
Rather you could rather begin to read the Gospel of Luke or Mark. Here we get a kind of summary of the most important in the Bible. In recent years Bibles and New Testaments in Danish and Norwegian have been published, which are easyer to understand than in the old Bibles. "Well nytt. The New Testament for people today. " Is Norwegian and easy to understand with explanations, drawings and new division into smaller sections with headings.
Although the words of the Bible have been expressed 2-3000 years ago, they are still topical issues for people today, in the midst of peoples daily chores.
Try it!
Talk to others about what you read. Some Bible verses are difficult to understand. Here it can be helpful to talk to a friend about it, or a missionary or a pastor.
E. Campbell translated
8th February 2026
Witnessing
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.””
Acts1:8NIV
"For God so loved the world ..." said Jesus. We certainly have something to tell all around us, a tale of love and light.
To travel through a desert with others and suffer from thirst, and then finally finding a source and drink from it yourself without telling others about it, so they can be rescued, that is the same as to enjoy the salvation of Christ the Savior without telling others about it.
In the book of Joshua, we read about the israelites who were about to conquer the land, God had promised them. Like the people of Israel we also have a "country" that we need to conquer, and that is all the non believers, the unconverted that we come into contact with. We do this by witnessing to them - telling them about Jesus - and praying for them.
Many people who are not believers, moan, "How are we to believe? Scripture is translated and interpreted exactly as it fits them best, and everyone says they are right!"
Well, this is undoubtedly correct! But do not be tempted to believe that the Bible is to blame for this. The Bible goes right against the future interpretive jumble! Here are two examples:
“'For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. '”
2. Tim. 4:3NIV
“Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. ”
2. Pet. 2:2NIV
How is it so very very necessary today as ever to be preserved in the TRUTH, so we do not let ourselves be misled by interpretive subtleties!
But word of the Lord stands - unyielding as rock and announces us into the midst of our interpretive jumble: “one Lord, one faith, one baptism;”
Eph. 4.5NIV
God has not called us to interpret, but to witness! And exactly this, we will do: Tell and Testify to others of a living Savior and His glory and power. - He who holds fire in his hands, he can never wait long.
E. Campbell translated
7th February 2026
Are we disobedient?
“Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain started falling and Ahab rode off to Jezreel. ”
““...there is the sound of a heavy rain.””
1.Kings 18.41
““Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the land.””
Lord had said.
Elijah was obedient and thus the rain came.
We sigh for rain - to hear the rush of the Spirit by the living water. But can God send rain from heaven?
That is, are we obedient?
“We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.” ” Acts 5:32NIV
We wish, we pray, we may do many things; but will we go to Ahab, saying, ““I have not made trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied. “But you and your father’s family have. You have abandoned the Lord’s commands and have followed the Baals. ” 1.Kings 18.18NIV
Will we clear away everything that stands in the way of God's kingdom and impedes revival? There may be some hidden household gods or worldliness. Will we be obedient in such situations, even though it might cost us our life - our selfish life?
“... “Go...” the Lord said “... and I will send rain ...” ” And Elijah went, and the Lord kept his word.
Let heaven's dew fall on my thirsty soul,
let dew from heaven fall on me.
Holy Spirit, come and fill my heart again.
Let heaven's dew fall on me.
E. Campbell translated
6th February 2026
Privilege
”Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ”
John 14:6NIV
Peter Haltorp
The most important thing in life is to be known by and to know Jesus as your friend and brother. I understood this early on through good parents and a vibrant church life. It can be useful and significant to know a lot about a person, but to gain personal knowledge is something completely different when the person you have come to know is the Way, the Truth, and the Light. The One who has the name above all other names and who won an eternal victory and so much more. Then I feel that I have a privilege and am happy.
The Lord has not given us a recommendation but a command to pass on the gospel of His resurrection, His grace, and His return. I don't think you have understood the gospel unless you take the mission seriously and live out what you have been entrusted with every day. The Bible takes it for granted that we not only hear what Christ has said, but that we also do it. If we don't, we are deceiving ourselves (according to James 1). Who wants to deceive themselves?
Translated by Effie Campbell
5th February 2026
God loves faith
”By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days. ”
Hebr.11:30NIV
God said he would let the city of Jericho fall into Joshua's hands, and in faith Joshua believed that this was true and would happen. Infidelity could very well have said: "It is probably best to wait with the triumph cry until the walls have truly fallen, for example if it were to go wrong, the people of Jericho would rejoice and we will bear the shame of the name of God."
But the belief laughed at such thoughts of doubt, and in confidence while resting on the word of God the victory shouted a cry of the moment when victory still seemed impossible.
Several hundred years later, the Holy Spirit says in the Hebrews about victorious joy of faith. ”By faith the walls of Jericho fell ...” Hebr. 11.30 NIV
E. Campbell translated
4th February 2026
Gods's wisdom
”“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.”
Matt.5:14
God gives power and wisdom in time. We do not have in stock, but get it in the hour we need it. Mikhail Sigarev from Russia says the following:
"I always used to listen with admiration to my Christian brothers when they talked about the conversations they had had with atheistic interrogators. I thought to myself that I had neither strength nor wisdom to implement such a debate. But then one day I was called for questioning, and I asked my family to pray for me.
I had to participate in a debate with mr Yanev, who was known for writing anti-Christian articles. Yanev said: "If God truly exists and can be found all over the earth, then most people would have believed in him and prayed to him the same way. Have you thought about how many religions that exist and every one of these religions claim to be the only true one? "
Yanev took one piece of paper and drew a circle, which he divided into several parts, and each of these parts were to imagine the various religions, faiths and the atheism. Out of these, only a small proportion was Christian.
I asked for a Bible, and Yanev took a brand new Bible from his pocket. I opened it and returned to the subject. ”“You are the salt of the earth...”
Matth. 5.13NIV
The mission of the church is to be salt in the world. Have you ever seen a housewife spend half a pot of salt to a pot full of food? The second task for the church is to be a light in the world, Matth. 5.14NIV
You and I sit in an office, a room which is merely illuminated by one single bulb . This corresponds to the small proportion previously mentioned. "
The words came easily to him and without problems, rather like the flow of a river. I spoke quietly. I had read God's promises; but I had never known that I was able to use the sword, the Word of God, in time. I experienced in my heart that God's truth is always much stronger and mightier than human wisdom.
E. Campbell translated
3rd February 2026
What will God say to you?
”Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ”
John 14:6NIV
”Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” ” Acts 4:12NIV
We encounter many questions on our way through life. We must pass through many narrow passages. Often the path is dark, murky, and tortuous. There will also be times when it becomes so difficult that we can hardly continue.
When all the battles have been fought, one question remains: the question of our salvation. When we have reached the farthest end, where it is impossible to return, nothing else matters. The last question on earth is the first question in eternity.
Before God’s judgment throne, everything else has no meaning. Where will you spend eternity, in heaven or hell? Are you saved or lost? What will God say to you?
The answer is linked to your relationship with Jesus. There is no salvation in any other name.
You cannot save yourself. You may have been a good and decent person, for whom many are grateful. But all that you have done does not count for God. He is not satisfied. The only one God is satisfied with is Jesus. God has linked salvation to Him alone: ”Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. ”
1 John 5:12NIV
Therefore, the question of your salvation is determined by your relationship with Jesus. Have you accepted Him as your personal Savior? Have you ever felt that Jesus stood at the door of your heart and knocked on the door? Have you opened the door for Him? If you can answer yes to this, then you should know that Jesus became the beginning of your life. But what has been begun is not finished. Have you persevered in your walk with Jesus as your Savior and your only hope? If you can truly answer yes to this, then you know Him and then you are saved in Him.
There is truly salvation in Jesus. If you belong to Him, then you are saved completely. Jesus does not boost and strengthen you so that you can save yourself. No, He has taken all the responsibility. He is the one who leads you to Heaven. It is His sacrifice and work that God counts on. You own everything in faith in Jesus. It is undeserved by grace. Therefore, allow Jesus to come into your heart and live your life with Him.
And for us who have accepted Jesus, it would have been good to remember the following sentence every day: “With eternity straight ahead!”
Imagine if it was clear to me in my daily life that I am on my way to eternity. Then would there possibly be both one and the other that had taken on a different meaning, both in my own life and in my Christian work? Then I have to stop at the questions: How do I use my gifts, my strength, my time and my money? Do I use it because I see eternity right ahead?
You must answer for yourself and I for myself, but if we are honest, it often fails for us, and then it is good to know that God is willing to start over with us and that we are allowed to come to Him with all that fails, with all the defeats and all the selfishness. May God strengthen us so that we are faithful until death, and may we be willing to run errands for Him, because the King's commands are urgent. The refrain in a verse goes like this:
What have you done for your neighbor today,
can anyone count on you?
Someone must start and strike a blow,
someone must pave the way.
Do not stand still while time passes,
do something, do it now.
Once you reap what you sow,
you should think about that.”
E. Campbell
2nd February 2026
God's presence or absence
„Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. “
Ps.107:1NIV
Håkon Bojsen, parish priest in a Church in Silkeborg, Denmark.
I will say a little about this trial, based on Psalm 107 in the Old Testament. What do we hear here – no less than four times? They cried out to the Lord in their distress, and He helped, saved them from their troubles.
What was the reason for the grace? They had gone astray, sat in darkness and the shadow of death, were sick because of their way of life and were in pain because of their iniquities, so that they were blurred and wavering and knew neither up nor down." And this was the result: God was gone. They no longer felt his presence, only absence.
Because of this need – and undoubtedly also through repentance and penance – they called upon the Lord! For they were completely out of themselves and wanted only one thing: to return to God at any cost.
And when the need is greatest, help is nearest! God intervened and saved them from their troubles. And the people experienced God's presence again – with all that it implied in blessings for a people, so that they could say from the heart (verse 1): „Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. “ Ps.107:1NIV They had just experienced that this was true.
Such an experience of God's presence should be an experience for all Christians too. Because it is not merely a charismatic or Pentecostal experience. And how great is this for our Christian and congregational life. We know this from the New Testament churches, perhaps especially from the church in Jerusalem, where the Christians had become the “body of Christ”, a “temple of the Holy Spirit” and where they “let themselves be filled with the Holy Spirit” every day. They could truly say: The Lord is near!
And we need exactly the same thing, so that we too can have a tangible experience that Jesus forgives, raises up and sets free. An experience that he is able to heal physical ailments and mental afflictions, or that he helps people to bear them. An experience that Jesus is the comforter and the guide. An experience that he creates growth and equips us for the tasks.
E. Campbell translated
1st February 2026
Christ’s Invitation
„“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. “
Matt.11:28
Now I will show you what our Lord Jesus Christ promises you. “Come to me,” he says, “and I will give you rest.” Rest is one of the greatest and most significant gifts the gospel offers you.
“Come to me,” says the world, “and I will give you wealth and pleasures.” - “Come to me,” says the devil, “and I will give you greatness, power and riches.” - “Come to me,” says Christ, “and I will give you rest.”
The rest that Christ offers you is something internal and spiritual. It is rest for the heart, conscience, mind, emotions and will. It is a rest that springs from a knowledge that our sins are forgiven and our guilt is taken from our shoulders.
Such a rest Jesus gives to everyone who comes to Him. He does this to show them the perfect work of the cross by putting on His own righteousness and cleansing them in His own precious blood. When a person sees that the Son of God died for that person’s sins, the soul begins to taste inner peace and rest.
There is only one royal way to the rest of the soul. Never forget that. There is only one way to the Father: Jesus Christ. There is only one door into heaven: Jesus Christ. There is only one way to peace of heart: Jesus Christ.
Come to Christ in faith. Lay your heart open before Him. Tell Him your life story and ask Him to receive you. Cry out to Him as the repentant thief on the cross did when he saw Jesus on the cross. Say to Him, “Lord, save me also! Lord, remember me...”
Come! Come to Christ.
E.Campbell translated
26.1.2014
Evangeline Booth
26th January 2014
WHO WAS IT THAT KISSED ME?
“Dear friends, let us love one another,... " 1.John 4.7
See video of Evangeline Booth
Evangeline Booth stood outside a court building and watched various prisoners that came out of there. A moment ago she had heard someone in there shouting, squalling and swearing, and now she saw a feisty looking woman being led out of the courtroom accompanied by six police officers. Two went in front of her and two others behind her, while two held in her arms. The woman struggled to get free. The clothes she had on was torn and full of holes, her hair was woolly and bristly, and her filthy face was clotted with blood. What could she do for her?
Evangeline knew there was no time to preach to her. It would be a crime against her to give her money, and to sing for her would be useless. In a minutte this woman would be far away. Powered by a sudden impulse Evangeline ran onto this dirty, cursing and ugly smelling woman and kissed her.
The woman slipped her hands loose and searched with a wild expression the field with her eyes." Who was it that kissed me?" She shouted. "Who kissed me? Nobody had done that since her mother died."
She raised her torn apron to her face and burst into heartbreaking tears, and as a mild lamb she followed the officers into the wagon, which drove her to jail.
Some days after this incident Mrs Booth went on a prison visit to see the woman. Her face was now clean, and she now looked quite handsome. She looked at the stranger and asked, "Do you know who kissed me?"
Then she told Mrs Booth her life story. "When I was a baby my father died, and when I was 7 years old my mother also died. She died in a dark backyard in a poor neighborhood. When she was dying she called to me, took my small face between her hands and kissed it and said: "My poor little girl! O God, be merciful to my little girl and take good care of her!"
From that day until now, no one has kissed my face until the other day."
Then she asked again: "Do you know who it was that kissed me?"
Evangeline Booth replied: "It was me."
She told this lost woman of God and how he loved her so much that he was willing to die for us on the cross, where he wore all our offenses. He was wounded and disabled, so that he could save everybody from their sins.
This was something completely new. The woman had never imagined that Jesus loves so much. She opened her heart to Jesus, and before she got out of prison, she had also learned many other prisoners to love Jesus.
All this happened because Evangeline Booth kissed her. Fantastic, and what a beautiful and good deed! Evangeline Booth was the daughter of the man who founded the Salvation Army, William Booth.
Let us show our fellow human beings our love and learn the many unhappy and broken people that God truly is a God who saves sinners.
E. Campbell translated
25th January 2014
THE WAY - ALSO INTO THE THIRD MILLENIUM
"For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believs in Him shall not perish but have eternal life."
John 3:16
The way is a messiah-description, which is used throughout the Bible, from Abraham to Moses, from the Psalms of David to all the prophets. The Patriarchs and the Prophets spurred the Israeli people to follow the path and not deviate from the way. When Jesus came as the living Messiah, he said: "I am the WAY! "Therefore followers of Jesus in the New Testament did not name their faith Christianity, but the Way. There are many passages in the book of Acts, where the Christian faith is called, "The Way" and "the way of God."
Jesus is the Way, and not the roadside. There is good reason to warn against the 2000 hysteria and their deviation from the Way. The world needs the Gospel of Jesus, not the many oddities, tall tales or Christian laws.
An example of the essence of the gospel is the Apostolic Creed and John.3.16.
The creed reads: "I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, Our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into Hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into Heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father almighty, from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and life everlasting.
And John 3:16 reads: "For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believs in Him shall not perish but have eternal life."
Jesus and the apostles also warned against false prophets, the false Messiah, the Antichrist, and other aberration in the last days. The so-called Christians waves from the U.S. Also knock on our doors in the Nordic region with all sorts of weird stuffs
What is from God puts Jesus in the center and acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God come in the flesh, while all that is false deny Jesus.
The great danger, where "chosen" Christians are being misled, Jesus and the Apostles connect with the Jews and their reception of the false Messiah. Jesus said, "I have come in my Father's name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him." (John 5.43 )
The false Messiah, which the Bible calls "the Antichrist" will sit in the temple of God.
The believers must follow the Way, preach the Gospel and show Jesus' love and friendship to all.
In the Hebrews, Jews believing in Jesus were in danger of going back to animal sacrifices in the temple and reject Jesus' sacrificial death as the only foundation of salvation. They had already been warned not to tread on the Son of God and hold the blood of the covenant unholy, and again crucify the Son of God ( Heb. 10.26-29 and 6,4-6).
Animal sacrifices in the Old Covenant could not take away sins (Hebrews 10, 4)
Only when we stick to the Way, Jesus, we avoid falling into the ditch in those last days.
Aril Edvardsen, "Troens bevis".
E. Campbell translated
24th January 2014
SAME RELIGION AS THE OLD BY BLOOD
The then known persons representing materialism and atheism, Professor KW, Mr HB, Mrs KD and several others had announced with a large anti- biblical lecture at Viktoria Hall in Stockholm March 19 - .
After the lecture, the word was given freely to the audience.
The hall was crowded to bursting point, most of them godless people. Then Professor W. Rose to the pulpit, and people clapped eagerly to honor him. He confirmed once again that there was not a single evidence that Jesus ever existed. The only thing people relied on, in terms of the historical Jesus was something that Josephus had written down, but this turned out to be a forged supplementary document, and therefore there was no longer any evidence that Jesus ever existed.
Then the word was given free to all. An elderly man stood up. He father wore the distinctive red jacket of the Salvation Army. The moderator watched him scornfully as did quite a few others of the audience, who shouted that they had not come to a Christian revival meeting, and therefore it was best that the old fellow kept silent. But he demanded to speak since they had advertised it, or did they fear their counterpart? So they let him speak. With clear and powerful voice, he said:
"It seems to be a matter of great concern and distress with these professors and this science. How does the professor know that Jesus didn't exist?"
The professor said mockingly: "Well, how do you know that he lived?" And even more condescending the audience chimed: "Well, how do you know? "
But then the old man thundered : "Should I not know that Christ is? Should I not understand?"
"We demand proof! Give us proof!" Someone shouted from the audience and from the podium.
" Yeah, I will give you proof" he replied with a resounding voice." I am a proof myself that our precious Savior lives. Some years ago I was the most shabby drunkard in Stockholm. I drank and used every penny I could get my hands on on booze, and when i became drunk I ended up in the detention at the police station. From there I was sent to the judge, and since I was unable to pay the fines, so I had to back to prison. But hardly I was outside again until over and over I repeated this miserable cycle, from the pub, to the court and imprisoned and so on back to the pub. I signed up for every possible and impossible temperance society and took a sacred pledge after another, but the problems just got worse. I sank deeper and deeper into a bottomless misery.
“But then one day in my deepest despair I met the Lord Jesus Christ, and he liftet me with his pierced hand out of the muck and purified me with his blood. And since that day I have been saved and preserved in the faith, and I have been a hard workin, valued and useful citizen since then. Should I not know better than anyone that Christ exists? "
There was a complete silence in the hall, and everyone seemed to be moved by this personal testimony. After a long pause Mr D. B. Was given the word, but it was not easy for him to maintain his usual arrogant attitude when it came to spiritual matters. He noted:
" Ladies and gentlemen, if I had to think about religion – obviously that will hardly happen - but nevertheless if it was occur for me to think of such a thing, I would want to have the same religion as the old man by the blood!"
It was obvious that the testimony had also hit him.
" ...and when I see the blood, I will pass over you." Exodus 12.13 or as it says in a Swedish Bible: "And the blood shall be a sign unto you to salvation!"
E. Campbell translated
23th January 2014
NOT OUTSIDE BUT INSIDE !
They stood on a street corner and discussed. One was a man of faith, and the other was active in politics. The latter was convinced that the party he represented would be of greater benefit to people and society than all Christianity and belief in God.
The politician came with one argument after another and became more and more eager in his view of things: "You do not change the social conditions in this world by going around and preaching about a possible eternal salvation! It is here and now that we need changes and improvements that can stem corruption and rottenness, and that can create equality and justice for all - and make it possible for everyone to live a decent life ... "
As soon as he had said this a very dirty and tattered homeless man past by. The politician, who by now was really worked up, observed the man and said, "Take for instance that man. Society has failed! Our political program can save men like him: We will provide new clothes for such people!"
Then the man of faith answered: "The Gospel works the other way round. It gives new people to such clothes!"
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!"
2 Cor. 5.17 NIV
"Tro & Fakta" No. 6/ 1997.
E. Campbell translated
22th January 2014
THE BIBLE - THE HOLY SCRIPTURE
That's the name of it - and it's contents!
The Bible is a divine book. The words are full of spirit - God-breathed!
Paul:
"All Scripture is God-breathed"
2 Tim. 3.16
I believe everything that is in the law, and what is written in the prophet.( Acts.24,14)
Peter:
"For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit."
( 2.Pet. 1.21)
Prophets have pondered and searched when they prophesied what the Spirit of Christ showed them. (1.Pet. 1.10 - 12).
People have written down what they got from God. How far does human thoughts go in this? Find the answer in the parable that the Bible itself set between the Word and Jesus! Joh. 1.1 and 1.Joh. 1.1 etc.
As surely as Jesus was true man, yet without sin, the Bible is true human, yet without fault!
Jesus was God and man in one body - the Bible is divine and human in one volume!
Just as Jesus was different from us - the Bible is different from all other books. The true humanity of Jesus was, among other things, that he was born by a woman, the son of man. He may have resembled his mother immensely. He was tired and hungry and tempted, but God was his model, "Father, if it is your will ... ?"
The true human of the Bible is among other things-, It bears the mark of the period and of the writers who have written. However, always guided by the will of God : "For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets"
2 Pet. 1.21
"The Bible through the ages" V. Munch.
Effie Campbell translated
21th January 2014
HOW DO WE FIND GOD?
"...no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
Joh. 3.3 NIV
There are many who do not know what it is to be born again, nor what rebirth truly means in the life of a human being.
Being born again is more than merely to accept Christ in your consciousness and your mind. Even if you live a "decent" and a morally irreproachable life where you live and behave the very best you can on your own, then it is not and will never be enough for wether you make the so-called "small sins" or large, you are still a sinner on the road of perdition. "... for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God..."
Romans 3:23 NIV
When a child is born, the proud parents announce this great news far and wide. This newborn child starts a life in a world that is totally new to it. When a sinner is born of God's Holy Spirit - reborn - we also bring the happy news to others. The newborn “child of God” also enters a world that is new to it - a new life. The heart and the mind is totally changed, he or she has been given new wishes, a new setting and meaning of life, new interests and new thoughts.
Imagine, a life of victory over sin, and peace instead of strife and temptations! What a marvelous life!
Perhaps you ask, "How can I experience this new birth? "You must turn away from sin and come to God with the intention fully to give him your life. Simply pray the Lord to forgive you and save you.
When you are born again, then you will know it. The condemnation has gone.
E. Campbell translated
20th January 2014
SAFE IN THE ARMS OF JESUS
"And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them."
Mark 10.16
Fanny Crosby was born in New York ( 1820-1915). Just six weeks old she lost her sight and was blind for the rest of her life. 12 years old she went on a blind school, where she stayed for the following 23 years, first as a student and later as a teacher.
Fanny Crosby wrote more than 2,000 songs. The impact Lina Sandell had on the Nordic region Fanny Crosby had for the English-speaking countries.
The song "Safe in the arms of Jesus" was written 30 april 1868. Fanny tells that on this particular day one well-known music artist, W.H. Doane wisited her.
He brought along with him a new melody, which was missing a text. When he played the song for her, she said : "This tune says: Safe in the arms of Jesus."
After a while Fanny went for herself to be alone and in silence. She then remembered an incident that she had been told two days before. On a street in New York, which swarmed with people there was a mother with her child and they came into this great human multitude. In this congestion the child lost his mother and the child began to sob fiercely and was completely inconsolable right to the point when it again lay in his mother's arms.
There in the arms of the mother it was safe and sound – here the weeping seized. This one small everyday incident became a picture for Fanny Crosby of how human beings can only be safe in one place, in the arms of Jesus!
Twenty minutes later, Fanny handed the music artist lyrics to this song, "Safe inn the arms of Jesus." Doane wrote it immediately, and the original text has never been changed since then.
You can hear the song on the following link .
"Safe in the arms of Jesus."
E.Campbell
19th January 2014
ARE YOU IN TROUBLE
If you are in trouble, then hook you on this promise from God: "For I am the LORD your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you."
Isaiah. 41.13
E.C.
18th January 2014
MY GOD DIED
" Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends.”
Joh. 15.13 NIV
That was what my God did for me at Calvary. There he paid for my sins, so I do not have to pay with death, which means being separated from God forever, lost.
Throughout history, there are many who have been appointed as God, but where is the God who died for you, he, who, when the wolf and the bear came, fought to the death? No, they were only hired workers.
My God died - but he lives! On Easter morning, he was raised from the dead, the tomb is now empty, the living, who were to keep watch over him, were like dead. Jesus Christ, King of kings and Lord of lords - he lives!
This is what we will testify just as clearly and simply as Paul, when he testified for both young and old, "that the Messiah would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would bring the message of light to his own people and to the Gentiles.”
Acts 26.23 NIV
We must never evade the blood because "and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness."
Heb. 9.22 NIV
How it is difficult to understand why there are so many who decline the offer that Jesus gave to each of us, which was completed when he broke the power of death on Easter morning and rose from the dead. Will you accept His gift, a brand new life, even a life of abundance?
E. Campbell
17th January 2014
WHERE IS THE LAMB?
Genesis 22.7
Everything was ready for the sacrifice, but "where is the lamb?" Isaac Asks his father, Abraham. We have good reason to pass the same question on to many people today.
Nations have their gods, Islam has its prophets, Israel has its laws and worship of God, but where is the lamb?
And all the nominal Christians in the West, they often have everything in order. They are baptized, and sometimes they come to worship and communion, they have a God, a God up in heaven - but where is the lamb?
They have no lamb. They have never had a moment, not one moment when the Lamb of God, the slaughtered Lamb became their lives, their salvation and peace - all of their Christianity.
That is why they are lost in everything else. For only in the Lamb there is salvation. Only in the blood of the Lamb there is atonement and access to God. And in heaven with God himself all is about the Lamb. The song up there is "the song of the Lamb ," the bride is "the Lamb's bride" and the wedding is the "marriage of the Lamb."
Revelation . 15.3 and 19.7
You expensive soul - is the "Lamb of God" your only access to heaven. Otherwise you'll never get there.
The Lamb that was slain, is Jesus Christ. Jesus said:
"I am THE WAY ... No one comes to the Father except through me."
John 14,6
Believe in him and let him guide you.
E. Campbell
16th January 2014
NOW JUST A WORD FOR JESUS
The chorus of one of Fanny Crosby hymns reads:
Now just a word for Jesus,
’Twill help us on our way!
One little word for Jesus,
Oh speak, or sing, or pray!
Yes, it is as true as it is said. If we say a word about Jesus, then it may be for the salvation of someone, often perhaps without our knowledge about it.
So it was with the English speaker Spurgeon. He was to have a sermon in the Crystal Castle in London for a large crowd. Before he had to go live on the podium, he would like to know how his voice sounded in this huge hall. The day before the sermon he went into the hall and stepped up to the podium and said loud and clear the following words: " credible is the word and worthy of all acceptance For Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners "Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”
1 Tim. 1.15 NIV
Spurgeon uttered these words two times and then turned back home. He was convinced that the audience would hear him .
Then 25years later. One of Spurgeons employees were then asked to come on a visit to an old laborer, who was dying.
" Are you prepared to die," the preacher said.
" Yes, the Lord be praised," replied the patient happy, and so he began to tell how he had been converted, and his face was beaming with joy.
"I was a skilled laborer occupied with laying lead roofs. Many years ago I worked under the dome at the Crystal Castle. Back then I was not a believer. I lived my life without God and without hope. I thought I was alone in the building, but then I heard a voice loud and clear that I almost thought came from heaven, saying: "Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”
These words convinced me that I was a sinner and that God is merciful. I learned to trust in faith in Jesus, and from this day I have only built all my hope of salvation on him."
E. Campbell
15th January 2014
THE CHALICE
An old story from Scotland tells of an old man sitting at the altar of worship and felt unworthy to participate. He sat there and felt miserable and in such sad state of mind, that he dared not participate in the remembrance of the Lord's death on the cross.
During the aisle he saw a very young girl burst into tears. She then passedd the chalice without drinking from it. Suddenly, all his fears vanished, and he whispered clearly to the girl: "Drink from the chalice, my friend! It is for sinners!"
"Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day."
Joh. 6,54 NIV
E. Campbell
14th January 2014
THREE WORDS FOR THOUGHT
Some years ago I sat in a bus that drove through London's city streets. During the trip, I noticed a man who swept the streets. He had a big sign on his back. The sign read: Without God - no hope.
In the north of Scotland I became aware of an embroidered image on wall in an ordinary living room, which read: "prepare to meet your God."
Back home I found the same word in the Bible in Amos 4.12.
Once I saw the following sentence in a Danish teacher's Bible: This book will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you away from this book.
Effie Campbell
13th January 2014
ENDURANCE
“So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.”
(Hebrews 10.35 to 36 NIV)
Impatience, discouragement and unbelief can hit people so hard that they resign and let their hands fall down because they have prayed and labored for the Lord so long, and it turns out to be fruitless. They are tempted to give up.
When we feel like this we must cling to the word of God, which helps us and says, "So do not throw away your confidence" There is a real danger of throwing away confidence, and thereby lose what God has promised to those who believe.
Yes, we need endurance to do God's will. Jesus says in Luke 21.19: "Stand firm, and you will win life.” Bible calls endurance for a commandment.
Thus we read in Revelation 3.10: "Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial”
Daniels prayer.
Daniel had to wait 21 days before the answer came, but from day one, after he gave his heart to seek Gods wisdom and humble himself before God, his words were heard (Daniel 10:12). But he had to struggle in prayer against "the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”( Eph. 6:12) , but the "prince of the Persian kingdom" resisted 21 days, but then came "Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me" (Daniel 10:13). Not until all obstacles had gone God granted his prayer - there had to be a struggle in prayer first.
Jeremiah's prayer.
Jeremiah had to wait for 10 days before the answer came, when people begged him to ask the Lord to show them which way ought to go and what to do.
Abraham's prayer.
Abraham had to wait many years for the promised son, Isaac. "Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations...Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.”
(Rom. 4.18 to 21 )
God's answer to perseverance in prayer also in our days.
A female missionary had a brother who was not saved, and it troubled her deeply. However, he was an alcoholic. One day she read in
2.Mos.10.26: "Our livestock too must go with us; not a hoof is to be left behind."
“Not a hoof is to be left behind." She repeated this and got such faith in this word that she thanked and praised God for this promise.
The letters that was sent to her the following months only told how sad his brother's condition was, and in the last letter the message was that now his condition had deteriorated significantly.
However, the missionary didn't let this throw her off balance, and still she praised God for the promise she had in his word. Then one day there came a letter with great news. The brother had been saved, and all his craving for alcohol was gone.
"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."
(Galatians 6:9)
12th January 2014
INVITATION FOR A WEDDING
A pastor's wife once told me this story:
There was an old man who dreamed that he died.
The angels came and carried him up and carried him thus into heaven. Jesus himself received him, and many people who had gone home before him flocked to him and welcomed him.
The old man suddenly remembered one person that he did not see anywhere. " Where was George ?" He asked.
Then Jesus eyes was filled with tears. "No one has invited him ," the Savior said.
"Oh, please give me permission to go down to earth a short moment, so that I can invite George! " the old man said.
The moment he woke up. He ran immediately to the hot-tempered and irascible blacksmith, to whome almost nobody dared to talk.
"I greet you from Jesus and invite you into heaven, " said the old man.
At first the blacksmith became angry, but guess what , it ended up that he received the invitation and began to walk on the Heaven Way.
You cannot say that you are not invited to Jesus. But today he sends you once again a new greeting: "Come to the wedding banquet”
(Matt. 22.4)
You are invited to an eternal celebration and salvation . Do you know how often the word "come" is repeated in the Bible? An avid man found out that the word "come" occurs 479 times!
Einar Lyngar . E. Campbell trans .
11th January 2014
Verily JESUS COMES
Matt. 24.32-33
Have you ever experienced a winter that never came to an end? It felt like spring would never come.
Perhaps this is why Jesus chose to use exactly this picture to assure us that he is indeed coming.
"“Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door.”
Matt. 24.32-33
Early in March, while we still wear coats buttoned up to the neck, and while we still have to go on ice and snow that we see a tree with bulging green buds, and we feel a little warmer because knots clubs tells us that spring is imminent.
Jesus knows this feeling. He longed for spring. And he promises that he will come back for us, just as unerringly sure as spring follows winter.
E. Campbell translated
10th January 2014
PROVE IT
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”
Mat. 7, 24
A painter, who traveled around Switzerland was stopped one day by some inspectors who demanded to see his passport. "I didn't bring it with me," he said, "but my name is Doré." "Prove it," said the inspectors. They knew this famous artist name, but were not sure that it was him.
Doré took a piece of paper and drew a sketch of some peasants who were nearby. This he did so outstandingly well that the inspectors had to admit: "It's OK. You are Doré."
The world does not care about our oral testimony. We need to show that we are Christians by our lives and our actions.
E. Campbell translated
9th January 2014
Almost persuaded now to believe;
Almost persuaded Christ to receive;
Seems now some soul to say,
Go, Spirit, go Thy way,
Some more convenient day
On Thee I’ll call.
Almost persuaded, come, come today;
Almost persuaded, turn not away;
Jesus invites you here,
Angels are lingering near
Prayers rise from hearts so dear;
O wanderer, come!
Almost persuaded, harvest is past!
Almost persuaded, doom comes at last!
Almost cannot avail;
Almost is but to fail!
Sad, sad, that bitter wail—
Almost, but lost!
P. P. Bliss.
Press here to here the song
Then Agrippa said to Paul, “Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?” Paul replied, “Short time or long—I pray to God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains.”
Acts. 26, 28
Bliss wrote both lyrics and tunes to some of our songs. He was born in 1838 in North Pensylvania in a godly home.
His interest in music was awakened already at the age of 10. About this the story tells: One day as he strolled along the way he heard music that he had never heard before. He stopped - a door was ajar and he went inside. Soon he was standing by a door that opened into a sitting room where a woman was playing on a black wooden box with black and white " buttons " (piano ) . When she was finished he shouted enthusiastically : " Play more, please play more! "
After working a few years of farming bet he solely turned on the music and started at a school where he could train in music.
14 years old, he came to personal faith. He now lived in Chicago and was a Sunday School teacher there. Here, his musical talents benefitted him particularly well because he wrote songs that the children understood and could sing. When Moody became acquainted with this young music virtuoso he urged and supported him to accompany him on his meeting tour around the country.
However, his working day was short because he died in 1876 in a railroad-accident with his wife, just two years after being hired.
Bliss was often captivated by a particular word or a particular phrase, which he heard in a sermon. The serious song, "Almost persuaded" Bliss composed after hearing a sermon about being an almost Christian, almost on the way to Heaven - and yet not to be with.
Has this song spoke to you?
You can hear the song by pushing this link
F. Campbell translated
8th January 2014
DO YOU TURN DOWN?
A gang leader in the United States were arrested some time ago. He was very hard of hearing, so he had to go with a hearing aid. Every time he was wheeled into the courtroom and his case was treated, he muffled the sound of his hearing so that he heard nothing of what was said.
No one could understand that he was so calm and that nothing seemed to touch him of what he argued. Then came the last day on which his case was to come on. This was the day in which he was to be sentenced. As he approached the courtroom, he turned down the volume so that he could not hear. Then the sentence was passed. He was condemned to death in the electric chair, but he heard nothing of what was said, so he was quite unaffected by the circumstances.
When the day came that he was to be executed, the guards came after him. He was quite calm. He did not know where they were going. But when they arrived and he noticed the electric chair, he was quite beside himself. He yelled and screamed like mad, because now it occurred to him how stupid he had been, because he would not listen and therefore had turned down the hearing aid.
God calls on us in many ways, and he uses every opportunity, because he loves us with an everlasting love. God can call you through another person, a hymn, a treaty or any other Christian literature. If in your heart you feel a warm alluring force and you have a desire to be good and pure, then it is God who is calling you. If you, while you 're having fun with others, feel that everything is empty and worthless and you are overwhelmed by a longing to be free of sin, which only inhibits and binds, then it is God who calls.
Al longing for the good comes from God. He would like to get in touch with us. But quite often we are like this abowe man. We turn down and do not want to hear. So he will have to send hardships, sickness, sorrow through a close family member's death, so that close relationships are interrupted.
Do not turn away from him, do not screw down. He only wants the very best for you. He wants to fill your life as a Christian. And soon he comes back, and takes you back home with him, because you are the heir to his Kingdom. (Jak. 2.5)
E. Campbell
7th January 2014
I WAS NOT DIVORCED - BUT SAVED!
After being married for 15 years - we had at that time a 14 year old son - I was misled by the evil tricks and wanted a divorce from my husband. The final papers had been handed in, and I already had plans for a new marriage. But inside me everything was in turmoil and in total chaos. Then something happened, something that was nothing short of a revolution: I received Christ!
Laila Heimli tells: "3 days before this revolution in my life, two believing women met in the city. One of them was my mother in law. She told the other that I and my husband, Kari, had split up and that there was no longer any hope for our marriage. But the other answered, "Yes! For God there is nothing impossible. Let us immediately pray for Laila and Kari!"
So they went together in prayer for us, and the burden was heavy on them while they stood there in Bergen city center.
Three days later I was invited to a meeting at a congregation. Such a thing as attending a Christian meeting was totally new for me, and I was very much in doubt. Anyway - after a conversation in confidence, it ended up that I agreed to go. At that time I did not understand that it was God's Spirit that worked in me.
At this time there was a bible verse that spoke to me. The reason was that our 14 year old son went to the pastor while we were separated, and one day he came home with a New Testament. On the front page there was a greeting and a reference to a scripture. I was curious and came up with this scripture in Rome. 13.8: "Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another" NIV
These words both intrigued me and tormented me and made me feel that my situation was even more messy.
When I was at the meeting and heard the song and testimony this evening, I was so moved that I just could not hold my tears back. A servant of the Lord came gently towards me and asked: "Are you unhappy, my dear friend?" - "Yes," I stammered out through my tears. - "Do you want us to pray for you tonight?" - "Yes, please!"
That evening, I gave Jesus my heart. I did not understand much of what happened, but a miracle happened, a salvation miracle! This is the truth. Oh, how unbelievable and wonderful to be allowed to fall on your knees and become small and receive the Savior's forgiving grace!
As soon as I got the chance, I told my mother what had happened. My new life gave me the courage and desire to share what I had experienced. Kari was very surprised. He was equally unknown about Christian life, just as I had been! Yet, despite the fact that he was not able to follow me on the road of faith right away, we both got through this a new perception of life and of each other. We cut off the connections we had with previous relations and started a completely new life. All honor and thanks belongs to my Lord and my God!
I got to start all over again - both as a wife and mother, in a brand new home, and now we are building on faithfulness and show each other confidence. And you who are reading this testimony, let me tell you that my husband has now chosen the Heaven Way. I 've been prayed and waiting for this for 17 years, and all the believers have also prayed! To God belongs the glory. In October 1997 we held 40th wedding anniversary. Thank God !
Our family was blessed with a precious daughter, exactly a year after I was saved. As a gift from God, she came to us. Today, 1998, our daughter is also the mother of our two grandchildren, and for all this we thank and praise Jesus, our precious Savior.
Yes, conciliation and reconciliation and a new start that is the will and ways of God! However, in cases where this is no longer possible, then the Word of God is at any rate unwavering - also for you:
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:”
2 Cor. 5.17 – 18 NIV
(also reconciliation ministry, both to God and the Father and between us humans.)
TF - magazine
E. Campbell translated
6th January 2014
THE RIGHT CHOICE
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
Matth. 7,13-14 NIV
Every day we are faced with choices, whether we are to choose this or that. When we are out doing our shopping the question is often: what would be the bestt to buy now, the cheapest or the slightly more expensive and better?
But there are also times when we are faced with choices of far greater importance, which may have serious consequences if we do not choose the right way. God has given us the choice whether to go the broad way that leads to hell, or the narrow road that leads to heaven. There is "no middle ground", as is so often asserted. Here it is either – or.
"But how can I know what is right?" Many do say. "There are so many religions and many different Christian churches. How do I know which of these has the right teachings?"
Jesus said to Pilate, "Everyone on the side of truth listens to me."
John. 18.37
Pilate said to him, "What is truth?" V. 38
He stood actually opposite to him who said "I am the way and the truth and the life" ( John 14:6 ), but Pilate "Wanting to satisfy the crowd" (Mark 15.15), and therefore he gave up Jesus to the crowd to be crucified.
And while he( Pilate) “sat on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him and let say," Stay out of this righteous man . For I have the night had many bad dreams because of him . "
Matt. 27.19 NIV
God had warned him, and several times he(Pilate) had said to the crowd that he found no fault in Jesus, but nevertheless this prefect chose wrong. He was more afraid of going against the people than to go against the will of God.
Everyone can find God, just by searching him with all your heart. This is stated in Jer. 29.13 and in Matt. 7.7 Jesus says to us: "seek and you will find;"
So there is no excuse to choose wrong. Therefore, walk the narrow road that leads to heaven.
E. Campbell translated
5th January 2014
THE WORLD'S MOST MIGHTY POWER – PRAYERS
“Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’ “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”
Luke 18.1
This is the parable that Jesus himself told us that we always have to be persistent in prayer, and not faint. Luke 18.1
Some years ago there was a couple in Sweden, who had a half-grown son. One day he had an errand to a neighboring town. It was winter, and when the boy had left his parents he fastened his skies firmly and left. The hours passed by, and the mother became increasingly worried because her son did not return. She opened the door again and again to see whether she could see anything outside. But no. The evening came, still nothing and now everything was dark. The boy had not yet come back. The following morning the father went out to search for his son along with the village men. The search was done very thoroughly and they searched everywhere, but in vain. The boy was not found.
It is always tragic to lose a child, but it gets many times worse when you do not know what kind of death, you child had had.
One day the husband says to his wife: "I am desperate to know what has happened to our son and what kind of death he has had. Therefore, every morning when you pray your morning prayer, you must ask God to show us the death that our son has been given. I will do exactly the same. Like this the same prayer will come to God's throne twice a day. This may take time, but you must not lose faith.
The years passed. In fact there were 7 years without anything happened. God had not given them what they had asked for. One day the husband says to his wife: "From now, we will also carry this prayer to God in our evening prayers. Then the same prayer will come to God's throne 4 times a day. We must endure in prayer, like the widow, then God's answers will come, this Jesus has promised us."
So they prayd faithfully the same prayer each morning and each evening. How many years went by like this, that I cannot remember, but one day God answered our prayer. The weather was so good that the husband had dragged the boat out of the boat shed.
He was to go out on a lake near here to fish. This was in the spring, the sun shone on the blank and calm lake. All of a sudden the father becomes aware of something on the bottom. He then throws the fishing net down and pulls it up. He finds out that it is a human skeleton. He threw the net down several times to get it all up and noticed that there was a fragment of a sock on one leg. On the verge of this sock he read very clearly the sewn initials of their son. His wife always used to sew the name on the socks. 'Then it was all quite clear for the father. The son had wanted to take a shortcut to the neighboring town and had gone off gliding over the lake.
The ice had not been thick enough and had given in, and the son had drowned. All these years he had been there and had long ago dissolved, but part of the socks with the initials, God had left intact to the parent that had been so persistent in prayer to know what death, their son had got. The father folded his hands and thanked God for hearing them. Yes, verily, God is in full great, and he hears all prayers. Do not be discouraged, but be persistent. Then you will get God's answers.
Effie Campbell
4th January 2014
The story of the song: "There is might in the small folde hands"
Press this link to hear the song
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened."
Matth. 7,7-8 NIV
We let the author Trygve Bjerkheim even tell how this song came to be.
Some years ago I sat in Forbundsshallen in Oslo one Sunday morning and heard a young missionary speech. One phrase he used, I wrote down. " The strongest superpower in the world at all times is the front with small folded hands."
The small decorated card with this phrase was in my French New Testament, and so it was that I was constantly reminded of these words by seeing them again and again. I wanted to write a song about that phrase, and thus it worked continuasly in my mind.
2 - 3 years later - or maybe 4, I woke up one night and came to think of the words of " the strongest Superpower " - the folded hands. When the phrase, “ There is might in the small folded hands."
There was a verse, a chorus and one more verse. I was almost finished with the song before I turned on the light and wrote them down. These verses were then printed as a small poem in the yearbook of the Mission-Union in 1955: " Deeper Down". They fit in well with the cover photo - a little chinese girl standing with her head bowed and holding her hands together in prayer.
When this book came to Dronningborg College in Grimstad early in 1956 teacher Haugen discovered this little poem, and he soon after that got a tune that matche the poem. This tune made the song widely known. But the song has 3 verses. A little later a retired officer from the Salvation Army, Colonel Linderud, turne up at the office in Mollergata 19.
Han sagde, at han var blevet så glad for digtet og havde skrevet en melodi til dette og spurgte så, om han kunne få lov til at bruge teksten til denne melodi.
Det fik han naturligvis lov til; men så tilføjede han: ”Min kone og jeg ville ønske, at du digtede et vers mere, hvor du medtog forældrene, der beder for deres børn.” Jeg lovede at forsøge. Da han var draget videre, nedskrev jeg et nyt vers: ”Du som be'r for dit barn, dine kære-.
He said that he had become very fond of the poem and that he had written a tune for this. Then he asked if he would be allowed to use the poem-text of this song. Naturally, he was allowed, but then he added: " My wife and I wish you wrote one more verse in where you included the parents who pray for their children." I promised to try. When he had gone on, I wrote a new verse: "You who pray for your child, your loved ones...”
Colonel Linderud came by again a few days later and then got this new verse. That was the last time that I saw this strange man. Shortly after that, he was with his wife and visited some old friends in Egersund.
Before he was supposed to leave the house for a meeting at the parish hall later this evening, he sat down and relaxed a little in a deep armchair. Suddenly his head fell backwards, and he passed away. After the funeral a large memorial service was held, and the song was sung with his melody.
E.Campbell translated
3rd January 2014
AN ACCOUNT OF A JOURNEY OF A YOUNG STUDENT
"You deceived me, LORD, and I was deceived" (persuade) Jer. 20.7 NIV
A young student in the USA was on his way home from the university. Along the way he entered a hotel. The host turned towards him and said:"Sorry, but we only have one room left, and it is located right next to a sick room. A young man is dying in there and there is only a thin wall between thoes two. I do not know if you like it?"
"Well, that doesn't bother me," the student replied. But when he went to sleep, it was impossible for him to fall asleep. The groaning of the sick and the nurse's footsteps back and forth could be heard very clearly.
He could not fall asleep. A strange uneasiness fell over him that made him ashamed. He was known as a free-thinker much to the dismay and sorrow for his parents. His father was a priest and had been looking immensely forward to the day that his son would become a priest. He still remembered his father's deep sorrow and his mother's tearful prayers when he last time he was home on vacation told them that he did not believe that there existed an afterlife.
The unrest plagued him, but he could not let go of the thought that on the other side of the wall, there was someone who was soon going to die - and what, if there should be something after death? What had Ellison thought if he had seen him in his present state of anxiety? Ellison was one of his friends at college. It was particularly his views and convictions that had caused him to be a freethinker. Well, what would he think? - "It is foolish. I have nothing to be afraid of," he said to himself.
On the other side of the wall the plaintive sounds of the sick had now become weaker and weaker. Eventually total silence. But this young student still could not fall asleep. The night seemed to be endless. Finally, it was morning. When the student came down he asked the host how things were with the sick.
"He's dead, poor thing. The doctor had actually said that he would not survive the night,"was the reply from the host.
" Do they know who he was? " the student asked. - "Well, it was a student from the High School in Providence, he got sick on his journey," said the host. It gave a jolt to him, because he went at the same school. "What was his name?" - "Ellison," the host replied, "did you know him?"
This young man was as stunned. It was his friend, the friend who had brought him to deny. Many hours had to pass before the student could stand to move on again. All the way home was this repeating sound inside his heart:"dead - and how? - Lost, lost!" His whole conviction and thought of existence was now totally overturned. He came home to his parents, completely changed - heartbroken, challenged, in anxiety and depressed by guilt. His old man had a gratifying task the following days to tell him about God's promises until his son found peace in believing in Jesus. This son was later to become one of the previous century's greatest missionaries: "The apostle, Burma". His name was Adoniram Judson.
"You deceived me, LORD, and I was deceived" (persuaded) Jer. 20.7 NIV
E. Campbell
2nd January 2014
THE ENTRANCE OF TEMPTATIONS
It was very interesting to read of the Age of Chivalry in world history. Back then many of these men made great fortunes, and for that money they built themselves castles. Times were troubled, and therefore they had to think of defending themselves and as good as possible. Many of these knights therefore built castles on an islet or small island in a small lake. They used a drawbridge to connect the castle with the mainland. In this way they could keep the enemies at a distance, because when the enemy approached the castle they only had to raise the bridge, thus preventing the enemy free passage. Like this he could be standing there on land without having to worry. - He also made the walls very thick. But perhaps the most important thin was the windows. Those he made very small. Therefore, it was very difficult for the enemy on land to hit these small windows with their arrows.
Have you ever thought that the human body is just like such a castle? The windows of the castle are the eyes, ears, mouth and nose. Our enemy is Satan, and he always aims to send his arrows through the window openings to damage and destroy our soul. And he has succeeded with this many times.
Through the eyes TV and video images enter, which in large part deal with adultery, murder and brutality. This is corrupt and rotten food for the soul. Rarely it is far from thought to action. What people see, they also often do in their daily lives. "When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” (James 1.13 to 15)
Or this to let his eyes linger on someone else's spouse. I think there are many people who can talk about this, even King David, who was tempted by Bathsheba, Uriah 's wife. Like this David despised the word of God and did what displeased God with many unpredictable and far-reaching sorrows as a result of this ( 2 Sam. 11 and 12). So Satan succeeded in shooting his destructive arrows through David's eyes, and he fell.
Job was more cautious.
“I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a young woman.
“If my heart has been enticed by a woman, or if I have lurked at my neighbor’s door, then may my wife grind another man’s grain, and may other men sleep with her. For that would have been wicked, a sin to be judged. It is a fire that burns to Destruction; it would have uprooted my harvest."
(Job 31.1 . 9-12) . NIV
Through the mourth, Satan sends his deadly arrows in the form of intoxicating drinks. A secular saying goes, " When the beer comes in, reason goes out." And it is correct. People can be drunk to do things they would never dream of doing if they had been sober. But God also has something to say about these substances that deplete the body and destroys creation.
"Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple." ( 1 Cor. 3.16 to 17 ) NIV
Through the nose young people do sniff, and it can be fatal. It paralyzes the respiration and can cause sudden cardiac arrest. It is sad to see young people lie in bed without being able to eat or do anything that young people who may be cared for as diaper children due sniffing. Yes, indeed, Satan has luck.
The last window, we mention here is the ears. We must not listen to bad advices and temptations from our fellowmen. Similarly, there are also music which is both harmful and destructive.
There is help to get if we repent, yes, we have full redemption, God showed us His love in Jesus. His blood cleanses from all sin. We are purer than snow (Psalm 51.9 ). Sin will be lowered into the deepest sea (Micah 7.19 ) and Corrie ten Boom used to say : " A sign with the words " Fishing prohibited "hanging over there. So these sins will never again return and accuse us someday. The sins will not come to God's thoughts again.
Yes, you must understand, for he says of King David, who was a murderer that took someone else's wife, that he was a man after God's own heart (Acts 13.22 ). So great is God's forgiveness. You get a new beginning, a new life, the old has gone (2 Cor. 5.17 ). Does not that sound great ? But then you must also come to him, repent and ask for forgiveness.
Effie Campbell
1st January 2014
BIBLE VERSE IN OUR MODERN AGE?
Isn't it oldfashioned to learn Bible verses by heart today? However, many parents and teachers have told how Bible verses have been a blessing to their children.
In Copenhagen I taught a children's ring with appx. 20 children. One day a girl came to me and told me about the importance that a Bible verse had for her. " At my school I often recite the verse from John. 6.37: Jesus said " ... All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away."
She had seen the value in the fact that she could always come to Jesus.
We have seen that children have attended only a few times in the children ring, but that they had learned a bible verse back then that later bore fruit. People whom we met later in life, still remembered the Bible verses they learned as children in the ring.
Kresten says: "I could cite many examples, but I will restrict my self to mention only one example. One day I was at a car dealer. There was a "Hells Angel type” in black leather clothes and with a long ponytail. He looked at me a few times, and then he said: "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost." Luke. 19.10 NIV
I smiled at him, but he noticed on my face, how amazed I was.
"Yes," he said, " I've met you once before. You spoke to a family worship, and you taught all in the church this verse." - I was pleased to hear that and I knew that I had not only taught them the Bible verse, but I also carefully had explained to them the context so that the verse could strengthen them, when the audience later in life were in need of the Word of God. "
A mother says the following: "Last summer we were at a family camp. The children taught the kids a memory verse from the Bible. Lea was just 4 years. The 4 days we were there, Leah did not say a word, but when we got home, she said : “because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.” Hebr. 13.5 NIV
How I was happy, touched and grateful because she had remembered the word of God.
I would recommend anyone who has contact with children in their work, to teach the children memory verses, for it is God's truth. Teach them even a few memory verses a year, so that they stick in their memory.
"Focus on the child ."
E. Campbell translated
