About Face

I have been reading just recently in 2 Chronicles chapter 33 about one of the amazing turn-arounds mentioned in the Bible. It's well worth reading for yourself and to take encouragement for those of us who have family and/or friends who have abandoned God and pursued sin with a vengeance.

Manasseh was a direct descendant of King David and was crowned King of Judah when he was only twelve years old and his reign lasted for fifty-five years. Talk about a reign of terror - there was never such a wicked despot of a king to lead the people of Israel.

Manasseh is the epitome of wickedness and perversion unheard of in all the annals of history of the genealogy of ancient Israel and Judah combined.

He worshipped the Baals, the disgusting gods of the Midianites and the peoples that occupied the land prior to the Children of Israel.

Manasseh was the son of Hezekiah ~ the king who had worked hard to bring the people back to God ~ Hezekiah had torn down the idols and burnt the Asherah poles which the people were worshipping in the hill country. Hezekiah encouraged the people to turn to God and he re-built the temple and obeyed the laws of Moses and in turn the people followed his lead.

Manasseh on the other hand, constructed heathen alters in the holy place of the temple ~ he consulted spiritualists and mediums and fortune tellers ~ he ignored completely the God of his ancestors.

He even sacrificed his own children as burnt offering to the gods and he encouraged every sort of evil imaginable.

He also slaughtered many innocent lives including his own people and prophets of the Lord.

2 Kings 21:16 tells us that he shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem from one end of it to the other. Moreover he caused the people of Judah to commit vile and evil sins that turned God against him and the people.

Ancient records also tell us that he probably killed the mighty prophet of God, Isaiah by sawing him in half from head to toe. Hebrews 11:37 says that many were 'sawn in two" and Isaiah was more than likely the very first to suffer this grisly execution.

So we can see that Manasseh's rule was one of terror and evil and he became THE very worst king in all of the history of Judah.

Yet God had other plans...

Manasseh had an amazing example in his dad ~ Hezekiah was probably one of THE most Godly kings in the history of Judah yet Manasseh couldn't care less about that because he loved himself and hated God and because of this he caused the entire population to turn away from the one true God who had saved them over and over again.

If there was ever a person destined for hell it was Manasseh. He was truly a hopeless case until God stepped in and we can read about an incredible turn-around in him and the people that he led.

You know ~ our God is so merciful. It is not His intention that anyone should suffer because of their personal sinfulness. God wants all of us to be saved ~ all we have to do is to come to Him and repent of our sin and turn away from temptation and trust Him to fill us with His spirit. He is the God of the impossible as we will soon discover.

As we read in Chapter 33, Manasseh "encouraged the people to do even more evil than the nations that inhabited the land before them" (verse 9)

Many brave souls were sent by God to warn him and the people to turn back to God but they were totally ignored (verse 10). I hate to think whatever happened to those poor courageous people ~ all for doing what God had asked them to do.

Strangely it was the barbaric and evil Assyrian army that finally opened the eyes of our evil king. They attacked Judah and took Manasseh in bronze chains and hooks and carted him off to Babylon. It was there that he came to his senses ~ enslaved to an evil king and people he cried out to God and humbled himself before Him.

God answered His prayers and he found himself back in Judah ~ You know God will answer your prayers too ~ sometimes it's not exactly in the way we think it may have been answered, but God loves us and the mercy he showed Manasseh is the same mercy He extends to all of us today.

Manasseh's rule changed dramatically. He destroyed all the idols he personally had set up and rebuilt the alter for the Lord in the temple. The people turned back to God and his reign ended up being one the longest in the history of the Israel.

No matter how bad you think you may be ~ how evil your thoughts, actions or motives, God wants to take control and change you as He did to Manasseh..

If our great and miraculous God can change someone like Manasseh, He can change you! God does not promise us a trouble and strife free life ~ all those wicked things that Manasseh did and all of those people that he murdered so brutally were not restored to life miraculously. No! there were scars aplenty!

Just like in our lives ~ we can't change the past ~ there may be scars and big ones at that ~ but like Manasseh we CAN be reconciled to God and our sins CAN be forgiven by our Father and forgotten by Him as well.

Many many families are broken and destroyed by sin and often they will never be mended. Yet many have come to Christ and been changed for the good for eternity. Scars of our past remain but in place of those there is reconciliation and undeserved blessings given by a gracious, loving and merciful God.

Manasseh's reign was horrific to say the least ~ yet at the end of his life, because of his repentance and obedience, God welcomed Him into his presence and God will do the same for us no matter our past and what we are dragging around after us.

If you have a past that you feel is just way too gross to come to God ~ please relate back to the story of Manasseh ~ come to God no matter what you have gone through ~ He is more than willing to bring you back to Him if you are truly repentant.

Also keep praying for those of your family/friends who may have turned their backs on God ~ Our God is able to do what we consider may be impossible. All we have to do is keep trusting in Him and bringing our family and friends to Him constantly.

God bless you this week as you turn your past, present and future over to the one who holds it all in His hands of love and mercy.

The Illusion

Everyone has heard of Harry Houdini - the greatest escape artist in America, if not the world. A man who performed before crowned heads of state and U.S. presidents. Some of his escapes are so difficult no one has dared attempt them, all these years after his untimely death.

He was an amazing Illusionist as well as an escape artist and won international fame for his many and varied feats of amazing dexterity and 'magic'.

Even on the day he died of peritonitis he performed his acclaimed "Chinese water torture cell" suffering from what we now know as a ruptured appendix. He died on 31st October, 1926 aged just 52.

Harry was a illusionist, magician, escapologist. stunt performer, actor, historian, film producer and pilot.

In many of his more dangerous routines, assistants were present with knives and keys to release him in the event that he was unable to escape. Often a doctor was on hand.

What was interesting and what brought my attention to Harry Houdini and to writing this blog was the pre-show discourse the presenter made to the audience prior to Houdini doing 'his thing". It went like this:-

"Never forget that by entering our show you're abandoning reality. What you're absolutely convinced you see might not exist at all. 

What you know has to be an illusion may turn out to be God's hard truth.

Your companion at our show might turn out to be a complete stranger. A man and woman in the audience you don't recognise may know you far too well.

What seems safe may be deadly. And the dangers you guard against may be nothing more than distractions to lure you to greater danger.

Who can you believe and who can you trust?"

The question I would like to ask today is Who indeed can you believe and who indeed can you trust - Is life really all an illusion?

I lived so many of my years being so naive, trusting in people and things, believing just about everything anybody ever told me. I was like that wave described in the book of James, blown and tossed about in the wind ~ going from one thing to another, never really believing, never really trusting.

I got to the stage in my life thinking "is there anything or anybody in life you can trust ~ Is there anything in life you really can believe?'

Looking at the world today, I can see why so many thousands are asking the very same question I asked myself for fourteen long years of my life. The world with its deceit, and where lying in governments has become the norm, where paedophile rings in religious and other organisations have ran rampant over decades and where billions of dollars are embezzled in corporate fraud - Oh yes I can really understand where people are coming from.

Can I say this in all honesty, if it wasn't for Jesus and the example and truthfulness He offered when he was here on earth and the claims proven true over many many years, I hate to think where I would have ended up.

Jesus' sheer truthfulness alone overwhelmed me then as it overwhelms now. His confidence in God and His word, even to death, made such an impact on my life that I honestly had no option than to follow Him.

The very prophesies of the Bible coming from the Old Testament and being brought to reality in the New is enough proof on its own. Prophesies that were made hundreds of years before they actually came to pass can't be just swept under the carpet as coincidence. Jesus was unique and why?

I truly believe with all my heart that Jesus is indeed God and man - Born of a virgin and died a criminal death to pay the penalty of my sin and yours all those years ago.

I can so understand why some folk find it hard to trust God considering what has gone on the past and especially as they see for example little ones dying horribly of cancer. You know God isn't the author of death and suffering.

I truly believe that the world as we know it is not what God intended it to be. It was a prefect world until the fall of man. When man decided to walk a way from God and do his own thing ~ abandoning God . Praise God that He didn't abandon us.

I quote Dr. Krish Kandian of the London School of Theology when he says "...to blame God for natural disasters and childhood cancer is like blaming the landlord after tenants have trashed their house"

Yes! the world certainly is not like it was intended to be. But God, because of His grace, mercy and forgiveness, stepped into history and came as Jesus to die for us and brought that forgiveness and reconciliation to those who trust and believe in Him.

God promises us a future where death, disease, misery and all sorts of evil will be overthrown and I know now what, for years, I sought and longed for ~ that Jesus died for me and on Him I can trust even when the world around me falls apart.

Lots of things in life can be an illusion ~ lots can be untrustworthy and deceitful ~ we can be lied to and taken advantage of but this I can assure you from my own experience that God will never let you down even in the mightiest struggle you may be going through at the moment.

I have proven Him over and over again - In Him will I trust ~ in Him will I pin my future.

God Provides

Been reading through Jonah this week and all I have to say on this matter is WOW! How God speaks though this amazing book and how much love as He got for His people.

Right at the very beginning of the book, Jonah is called by God to do a specific role in the conversion of the Ninevehites - BIG call - BIG job.

Straight away this got me thinking 'how does God call us today?' I believe that God still calls His people to various tasks all included in His great overall plan. It's what we do when we get called that can have amazing and incredible results.

We can be called through reading the Bible or listening to a message or even through an ordinary conversation with anybody, God can call and convict us to do His bidding. I remember all so vividly how God called me to ask forgiveness of a person who I thought had definitely wronged me not the other way round. I DIDN'T want to do it!! - NO way!!! I was the one wronged!!


But fortunately that conviction from God was absolutely right and I was the one who was blessed by it all in the long run.

Are you listening to  God when He speaks? Before God will convict us we need to be in a position where we are ready to hear Him - that means drawing close to Him, spending time with Him and actually being prepared to do what He asks us to do even if that request could shock us even traumatise us.

Jonah heard distinctly what God wanted him to do. Now whether this was God speaking directly to him or whether it was such a strong conviction that Jonah had no doubt whatsoever that God wanted him to go Nineveh we will probably never know but regardless of the actualities, Jonah had no intention of going there. Nineveh was one of THE most ruthless places in the known world at that time.

Unfortunately nothing much has changed. Today the ancient land of Nineveh is located in Northern Iraq and is today's MOSUL which sadly and tragically is under direct control of Islamic State.

The whole site of ancient Nineveh was hidden for some time after it had been eventually destroyed as God said it would be in Nahum 3:11. It was not until 1842 that archaeologists rediscovered its location in modern day Iraq.

I could just imagine how scary that command of the Lord would be ~ imagine for a second if today any of us were called to go to the same place with the same message. It just may give us the tiniest idea of what Jonah was asked to do ~ no wonder he took off at speed.

If we are indeed walking with God, then his call to us will not cease just because we have decided it is too hard and too dangerous ~ we won't be able to run away ~ we won't be able to hide either.

Jonah decided to get away as far as possible in the opposite direction to Nineveh ~ he chose Tarshish in Spain way across the Mediterranean Sea ~ about the extent of the known world ~ you just couldn't go any further.

Just as Jonah was determined NOT to go to Nineveh ~ God was determined that he should ~ God's plans for us, if we are truly His, will not be thwarted no matter where we run and or what we do or who we talk to. We can try to ignore God, but that still small voice will keep reminding us that we are HIS and there is no turning back, not ever.

As you know, Jonah boarded the boat to take him to Tarshish ~ and I can imagine him hiding in the cargo hold in a dark corner ~ and can you blame him? He must have been terrified ~ as we have discovered Ninevah was a bad, wild and wicked city. It was a city of violence, known for its brutal treatment of those it conquered. The Assyrians were notorious for child sacrifice, amputating hands and feet, gouging eyes, and impaling & skinning their captives.  No wonder Jonah was hiding.

But then God provided!!!

Here we have the very first of what God provided to get Jonah where God wanted Him to be. The STORM!!! - And what a storm it was!

The sailors tried everything ~ throwing all the cargo overboard to lighten the ship ~ praying to their myriad of gods to help ~ all to no avail.

Then suddenly they wondered why this guy (probably in the cargo hold) wasn't praying to his God. They demanded to know what he had obviously done to put all of their lives into so much jeopardy.

God provided a storm to wake the run-away Jonah to His mighty plan. Jonah relents and knowing deep in his heart that he is to die because of his disobedience demands that the sailors throw him overboard. They finally capitulate and do as Jonah says ~ the storm immediately abates.

The God provided again!!!

Jonah sinks through the violent water ~ obviously sea weed, thrown up by the storm, winds it way around his body as he sinks to the bottom of the sea. The suddenly THE FISH!

We all know the story so well ~ God is a God of miracles ~ whatever happened to Jonah in this precarious time ~ through it all God was there with Him ~ Jonah prayed and God answered.

This astounding creature was designed by God for this particular time and in this particular place for this particular reason.

(Interesting to note that Jonah was three days inside this amazing creatures belly in the depths of the sea and Jesus was three days in the depths of the earth after His crucifixion.)

Then God provided yet again!!!

After three days, Jonah was vomited out by God's special creature. God spoke again and this time Jonah obeyed.

Jonah preached repentance and obedience to the people of Nineveh. They turned and followed Jehovah God.

God provided a special man for Nineveh ~ looking at the story it is so easy for us to say Jonah should have trusted God and obeyed Him. But what about us? What would we have done and where would we have gone? What would have been our response given the same set of circumstances?

God provided Jonah for Nineveh and God provided Jesus for us.

The story of Jesus ~ sent to a hostile world ~ cruelly treated ~ killed on a cross ~ rose again after three days ~ taking with Him the sins of the world ~ paying the price for our salvation.

Don't delay any longer ~ give your life to Jesus right here right now. Walk with Him and step out with Him daily. Give Him all of your life and obey Him when he speaks to you.

God loved the people of Nineveh so much He sent a special guy to help them - God loves YOU so much He sent a very special person in the form of Jesus to help you.

All you need to do is to accept His amazing gift of life ~ You can break the power that sin has over you ~ ask His forgiveness today and start living a free life in Jesus