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A Miracle at Prairie Avenue: The Quest for Faith
A Miracle at Prairie Avenue: The Quest for Faith
A Miracle at Prairie Avenue: The Quest for Faith
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A Miracle at Prairie Avenue: The Quest for Faith

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This book is designed for all groups of people for personal devotion, and group bible study. If you are in the ministry, this book will help you through your struggle.

LanguageEnglish
PublisherAuthorHouse
Release dateJan 28, 2011
ISBN9781456700874
A Miracle at Prairie Avenue: The Quest for Faith
Author

Pastor Stephen Kyeyune

Pastor Stephen Kyeyune is currently the senior pastor of the Multicultural Family Fellowship Church at South Bend IN U S A. He is the author of several books including The New Generation of Worshipers; The Spirit is the Crown of the Heart; The Acts of the Holy Spirit; When God Calls a Man; The Legacy of the Hero; A miracle at Prairie Avenue; Devotional Journal Living; Imparted Wisdom in Troubled Times, Making a sense of the senseless situation; Today’s Prayers – Praying through the Scriptures; Securing the Never Ending Peace in Times of Trouble; A series of books > Shaping the Society – Culture vs Christianity. You can order now at AuthorHouse 833.262.8899. Or contact me @ stephkyeyu@hotmail. Com. Telephone – 574- 8851014.

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    A Miracle at Prairie Avenue - Pastor Stephen Kyeyune

    A Miracle at Prairie Avenue

    The Quest for Faith

    Pastor Stephen Kyeyune

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    AuthorHouse™

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    Phone: 1-800-839-8640

    © 2011 Pastor Stephen Kyeyune. All rights reserved.

    No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

    First published by AuthorHouse 1/24/2011

    ISBN: 978-1-4567-0087-4 (e)

    ISBN: 978-1-4567-0086-7 (sc)

    Library of Congress Control Number: 2011901212

    Printed in the United States of America

    This book is printed on acid-free paper.

    Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

    Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any Web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

    From my Desk: A ministry is about people. God naturally grows a ministry using the human resources. When a ministry does not experience natural growth it is like stagnant water that ends up stinking. Many preachers who are stigmatized in such situation end up searching for answers in wrong places ending up irritated and eventually quit. We are at war with the world that is at war with the communities.

    The right source of information is the Bible. However, many read books in anticipation of understanding how this thing called ministry works. They read in search for wisdom and the working formula; also using logic in bid to reverse their stagnant situation. The prosperity of the ministry depends not on information but on the person of Jesus Christ.

    The secret of success in the ministry is that God grows the ministry. Apart from God there are no books, no logic and no road-map towards the prosperity of a ministry. I consider this area a uncharted territory; no single map will lead you to your answers.

    After reconciling with God, we become effective by serving others. That is when human instinct and observation are necessary to supplement the divine presence. The Christian God is a personal God and He calls all believers to the obedience of faith but in different areas of service. God is unchanging and His Word never changes. Given the fact, every revelation leading to a new vision comes with a different challenge. We have the diversity of callings; We pursue our callings from the same prospective but we receive different orders for implementation. Concerning our callings what works for somebody might not necessarily work for you or what worked today, may not work tomorrow. The key is depending on God alone for guidance and directions (godliness).

    This book is designed to introduce you to the principles of godliness and the testimonies of other people who walked the same track you are walking. Dreamers are creative people who search for new ideas. They are optimistic and future oriented. They are practical workers. They are realistic and confidence concerning the provisions of God. God anoints men to impart wisdom to others. Be the one who is busy doing something for the kingdom of God instead of saying that, Is there anything God wants me to do?

    Many times when people read self help books or listen to motivational speakers they get fired up but the fire does not last to yield tangible results. There is nothing wrong with reading and searching because a ministry is compared to the relationship: People lend their ear, spend their time and money and pay attention to somebody in whom they have interests. When people are interested in the relationship they observe every action and reaction, trying to discover certain things even at times unknown by the other party whom they are interested in. In fact when some body is interested in something he can correct information faster than the FBI.

    The dilemma is when their endurance fail the test of time and they end up falling flat on their face in spite of their mega attempts. I mean after intensive research, the implementation of the same knowledge into practical application becomes void. Every practical step they take into that direction becomes a frustration. This contradicts the notion that the best ministers are possibly those who have attended Bible collages or studied theology at the university level.

    The promise of God in the last days (today) is that young men and women, old men and women shall dream dreams (Joel 2: 28). Such are not normal dreams but dreams given by God to all; God respects no person and His provisions knows no boundary. He gives dreams pregnant with visions. The question is not whether you are dreaming but what is the inspiration behind your dreams?

    The mistake that many preachers make is for them to try to walk into the steps of others without consulting God. That is why every minister that bursts into the limelight behaves exactly like those before him, repeating the same wiles that maimed the other ministries. As the old adage says: history repeats itself. As long as people walk in the snares of the past generations, there is no discernible advance in the methods applied when pursuing their goals.

    In the secular world, competition generates efficiency. The failure in grooming competent leaders is the core to backwardness. But in the Christian ministry there is absolutely no room for competition with others. The competition is reserved in self: you compete within yourself to be a godly man that God called you to be. You will never be effective in the kingdom of God until you realize that it isn’t how you measured up against others that mattered but how you measured up against the man God called you to be. That is when you become competitive with yourself, constantly challenging yourself to try harder and to go an extra mile in doing and being what you were called to be.

    The victory begins by knowing who you are; that you are a new creature created in the image of God. The new nature involves acquiring the mind of Christ. You begin seeing things from God’s prospective. You acknowledge that every accomplishment in the your life is attributed to Jesus who by the grace of God works through His body (the Church). You acknowledge that He is Christ that works through you and it is obedience to His Word that matters. You use the divine power within you and the power of your thinking not to corrupt others but to impact them. Again, the beginning is by thinking correctly about you and thinking correctly about others. It is about focusing on Christ in you and on Christ in others.

    This book gives the correct way of thinking. It is important to learn not to think deceitfully. Have a reasonable assessment regarding who you are. If you think of yourself to be indispensable remember that the cemetery is filled with indispensable people.

    This book has practical example how God moved me step by step to a place where He wanted me to be. This book will guide you into the required steps to enable you to become a serious practitioner in any of your carrier. Hope you will benefit from my personal experience because experience is always the best teacher. Always remember that writers give you tips. The Bible is the manual for each and every aspect of life and project.

    We are called to reach out to the lost world by demonstration of God’s Word and power. The Word of God is manifested in the power of living. Peter is the only human being who ever walked on water. In reality Peter walked on the Word because the moment he took off his eyes from the Word of God he started to sink down.

    This book is called ‘A Miracle At Prairie Avenue.’ Every moment lived in the presence of God is a miracle. The conversion of the soul is a life time miracle. A miracle is when God defiles the laws of nature before the eyes of the people. When God defiles the laws of nature in the physical realm (before our eyes) it does not mean that the same laws are defiled in the spiritual realm. What is miraculous to us is normal to God. In the spiritual realm there are no limitations. Our limitation is due to our corrupt nature. Most of the normal things that we do with such ease technology today could have been considered to be miracles some three hundred years ago. The same ideas of technology were available since ancient times but were not yet known. What we consider to be a miracle in the physical realm is normal in the spiritual realm. After glorification we are not going to need miracles because we are going to be in the spiritual realm without limitation of the corrupt nature.

    A miracle is when God restores the faculties that were destroyed by sin. Any miracle of deliverance and healing from evil begins by the conviction of sin within a person and the acknowledgment of the sinless of Christ. When the Bible says that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), it means that there is none of our faculties which was not affected by sin. With out Christ, we are basically all spiritually blind, mentally sick, psychologically unstable and physically maimed. It means that without Christ we cannot rectify our predicament. The spiritual blindness is accompanied by the inability to recognize and understand the voice of God. The truth connects mankind to God. The truth is relevant to the person and the situation. The truth is what sets man free.

    Paul says that when we were dead in our sins Christ redeemed us. It means that apart from the help of God we were dead and unable to redeem ourselves or even to see God. God stepped out of eternity to restore life into us and the required communication with Him. The cross of Jesus Christ bridged the gap that separated man from God.

    This book is dedicated to the Multicultural Family Fellowship Church in South Bend.

    *Believing in God is the Right Order of the Minds : The Apologists Views

    *Social Order and Politics

    *The Order of Serving

    *The Apostolic Doctrine is the Foundation of the Church

    *The Church in Apostasy

    *The Miracle at Prairie Avenue

    * The Yard Sale

    *The Tent Revival

    *Joined by other Ministries

    *The Global Power of Economic and Electronic Communication

    *Beauty and the Necessity of Proper Planning

    *The Qualities of Good Leadership

    *Success in Accordance to the Christian Principles

    *God Calls A Believer

    *Fanatic Muslims Champion the Persecution of the Church in the Last Days

    Believing in God is the right Order of the Mind: The Apologists Views

    God is known for His intelligent design and order. The term ‘cosmogony’ means the generation of order (cosmos). Torah provides Israel both with a general cosmogony (Genesis 1: 1-11) and with the cosmology of Israel herself (the epic): Devine ordering of Israel (Genesis 12- Deuteronomy 34); Election and the promise (Genesis 12-50; Deliverance (Exodus 1-18); Covenant (Exodus 19- Deuteronomy 34).

    We have the divine ordering of the natural universe and the separation of Eden. Then the loss of Eden because of human disobedience. Disorder is the reality of the presence of evil. Satan is the source of evil. God created Satan the perfect being but Satan became evil. The word evil stands for the wicked one. Evil is the opposite of perfect love. The Bible does not tell us who tempted Satan in order for him to become evil but it tells us that Satan tempted man and sin ushered in mankind through disobedience causing disorder and confusion between man and God and between man and man.

    Evil entered the earth through the evil one. When evil entered the heart of man, righteousness exited. Mankind became venerable to evil intents as result of the contaminated hearts by evil. Man became the most dangerous enemy to humanity. We may not be able to explain evil but evil cannot be ignored because it is everywhere among humanity. The minds of the believers are not opened to fully understand evil but our minds are fully opened to understand the opposite of evil which is the perfect love of God. God is good because God is love. The infinite righteousness of God was revealed by His love. We are no longer in darkness concerning God because we know Jesus Christ.

    God created Satan for His own purposes and instructed us not to mess with him. In the physical realm there are the negative and positive; also the north and south magnetic poles that attract and repel each other. We need the positive and the negative to make electricity. In the same manner the power of the engine of a plane needs the opposing gravity in order to take off. In politics there can be no democracy without the opposition. In the spiritual realm there is evil and good. We may not understand the reason behind creating such a monster called evil but we have the guidelines of holiness to defeat the evil one. For sure we know that without the cross we would have not known the sacrificial love of God that loved not the holy ones but the sinners. It was a normal situation for God to love the holy but unthinkable (amazing grace) for God to love the sinful people, who were contaminated by evil.

    The Egyptian captivity symbolized the spiritual bondage: "But you, Israel, My servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, descendant of Abraham, My friend. I brought you from the ends of the earth and called you from its farthest corners. I said to you: You are My servant; I have chosen you and not rejected you…"

    The divine deliverance of Israel from Egypt had a spiritual significant of salvation and the restoration of order. God delivered His people to Mount Sinai where he revealed His covenant to Moses.

    The Torah (Law), made Israel the people of the covenant. The Torah (Word) became flesh (human) to make the New Testament believers the people of the covenant. The Torah was the life of Israel. The resurrected life of Jesus became the life of the believers. Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil and He succeeded.

    The people of the new covenant are delivered from the evil one; they are called out of the world. They are called to the life of the gathered community, to read and to listen to the Word of God (scriptures proclaimed) - the liturgy of the Word it is sometimes called.

    We listen to the scriptures not as mere documents of the past or enunciations of human wisdom in the present - although Scriptures are surely both. But we gather like Israel on Mount Sinai or after exile, like Jesus in the synagogues or the Church after Pentecost.

    A believer’s ability is in trusting in Jesus. There cannot be trusting without knowing whom you trust. The knowing begins with intimate relationship. The trusting is motivated by the character of whom we trust. We trust that God alone is holy. Holiness stands for perfect (completeness) without lacking of any kind in Him. In His holiness, God does not have any evil intents towards His creation. We trust His perfect wisdom and sovereignty. God’s anger is raged towards evil. God calls us to stand alongside Him by having the same attitude towards evil. Disobedience to God is the magnet that attracts evil.

    Without God, life is meaningless and without form. Jesus installs order into the vanity of life. I have explained what it takes to find life. It takes the knowledge of the truth. Why is it necessary to know the truth? Because we need to be reconnected to God; we need eternal life. Eternal life begins here in this world and continues throughout eternity. The evidence of eternal life is the tangible manifested works in the lives of the believers: It is the transformed life. We love God’s commandments because we have the nature that is compatible to His.

    God’s grace sustains us in this life. Because we are humans we need love and security in order to experience the reality of life. Life is much more than the oxygen that we breath in. Remember that even plants and animals breath in and out.

    There is a poplular saying that this world is a small place. The reality is that the universe is much bigger than humanity but God is by far much bigger than the universe. Yet He is closer than our imaginations. St Augustine said that, God is near to us than we are near to ourselves.

    Trusting in God means trusting into the one who is much bigger than our problems. Of all creations we are at the center of His affection or the objects of His affection. Our salvation is entirely a gift from God. God demands our faith but we do not have to present to Him our own faith because our faith is a gift from Him (Ephesians 2: 8). Our salvation has its source from His infinite love. Because of His infinite love He freely gave Himself to us when we were yet sinners. The Father has revealed Himself in the Son so as to enable us to have a direct relationship with Him.

    God woos His elect and win them to Himself. Not because the elects deserve His mercy but because of His grace. Our God is an elective God and an effective God. He chooses us and uses us to win others. We should therefore look at all sinners as possible elects of God.

    History holds pages of memories, even painful memories that we cannot naturally erase. The survival strategies of over six billions people on the face of the universe depends on knowing just one man even Jesus Christ. Communion with Jesus Christ is the perfect form of worshipping involving fulfillment.

    Jesus is the only way of knowing God. I know some might consider my views as narrow minded that is void of cogitation but this is the undisputed truth as provided by the scriptures. Believing the scriptures means taking God by His Word.

    Pastor Lutzer says that, As the central figure in all of human history, Jesus Christ stands alone as the mediator between God and man. No one has ever commanded people’s allegiance, and hatred, as has the Jesus who lived 2,000 years ago. While some say it is OK to believe in God, they recoil at believing in Jesus.

    Honestly speaking, Jesus made a claim that He was the Son of God. Despite the assurance of the scriptures that He is who He claims to be, many skeptics deny such validity. I want to say honestly that despite the pragmatic struggles that surface when we believe, the intellectual credibility of the gospel is not a mystery. The message of the gospel is that God saves sinners and bring them to Himself through Jesus Christ. The fact is that God justifies the ungodly because of His grace. Heaven is reserved for sinners who are under the grace. The blood of Jesus qualifies the sinner to be connected to the only holy one (God).

    Salvation is the process that begins and ends by the very act of God. It begins by justification and continues with sanctification and it ends in glorification. Dr. Stephen Olford says that the walk of faith and obedience in the life of the believer is the progressive sanctification made possible in him by the Holy Spirit. When you come to the crossroads of a spiritual decision, you can choose to muddle through it on your own or heed God’s call to holiness.

    The natural corrupt man is not comfortable with the idea that he stands blameless before God because of God. It simply doesn’t make sense to him. He prefers to be saved by his own efforts because he wants to take credit for his salvation. His reasoning begins by focusing on what he can do instead of focusing on what God had already done for him. The Bible says that Satan has blinded the minds of the unbelievers so that they can’t see the glory of Jesus Christ. All that they can see in Jesus is a good teacher, a prophet but not a Savior.

    The battle for your soul begins within your minds. Who ever controls your minds controls you. Dr Merritt says that, The battle begin the moment you reach the point where you can begin to think for yourself. Once it starts, it’s never over - not until you take your last breath. It’s the battle for your mind. Your mind is like a castle, a stronghold or a fort. It’s targeted by Satan as if there were a bulls-eye in the center. Your beliefs, however, determine your behavior and that’s where the battle is won.

    Paul said that, In whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them (2 Corinthians 4:4).

    Our believes determine our behaviors. The mind is the key that unlocks the heart.

    The Bible says that repentance is the changing of minds. At this juncture I want to point out that the role played by our minds should never be taken to an extremity of believing that the truth depends on what we believe. On the contrary, the truth is absolute. The truth is independent of human cogitation. The truth does not depend on what you know or believe.

    As far as our sins are concerned, repentance is hard and restitution is impossible without the divine help. There are other forms of restitutions that are impossible for example an opportunity squandered. Also the pleasure consumed that cannot be given back. We must be aware that God cannot forgive a sinner without repentance and without restitution because it would be considered to be injustice. God is a just God and cannot be injustice. Repentance is only possible after the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Restitution for our sins is only possible by God.

    I mentioned that our spiritual battles begin in the minds. Repentance is the change of the minds. The mind is the most sophisticated instrument in the universe. Every modern technology that surfaces began as an idea in the mind. You cannot control yourself unless you control your minds.

    The Bible gives us the responsibility of controlling our minds: "Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, ands bringing into captivity every thought to obedience of Christ" (2 Corinthians 10: 5).

    We cannot stop bad thoughts from circulating our minds unless we fill our minds with the Word of God: "And be not conformed to this world: but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God" (Romans 12: 2).

    God sent a Savior who went through all kinds of temptations without sinning. He resisted temptation all the way. He was like a rock that is hit continuously with the waves of the ocean and it remains unmoved. Jesus helps us to steer clear of sin. The Bible says that, "For in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to secure them that are tempted" (Hebrews 2: 18).

    Our free will depend on the power of our thinking. Ralph Shallis says that, God never does violence to man’s reason. True, He demands that we follow Him by faith and not by reason; but He always takes our reason into account. Evil spirits, on the contrary when posses a man, obliterate his personality, his reason, and his will. The Spirit of God never does that; He respects our humanity. (Ralph Shallis, From Now On, pg 72).

    Unless we are born again, our freewill is not independent from the corrupt nature: It is in bondage to the corrupt nature. It means that the depth of the deepest of our reasoning cannot march the required standard by God. Unless we acquire the new nature the motivations and intents of everything that we do are corrupted. In the natural minds there is prejudice against God that was passed on from the fall of Adam. The tragedy of our culture today is that we have cultivated a very low view regarding who God is. It is not surprising that most people who do not believe in the existence of God openly acknowledge the existence of evil and the devil.

    Unbelief is the tradition that is passed on since the times of the fall of mankind. Dr James Merritt says that, Most of the time, a person’s first religious beliefs are those passed down from a previous generation. Think about it. How many of your first impressions about God were painted by a parent or a grandparent? If you grew up in a Christian home, you might have heard things like, The devil made me do it! or even, Now that Aunt Mary is in heaven, she’s our guardian angel."

    The problem is that many of these fun little family heirlooms of wisdom regarding angels, demons and the devil aren’t biblically correct. The devil and his demons are real. They are vile, vicious beings who seek to defeat you. But angels are also real. They are numerous and powerful, and ever-ready to perform on God’s behalf."

    Unlike the cults, the Christian faith encourages thinking and debating. The Bible quotes God saying, Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord (Isaiah 1: 18). Jesus said that, When you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free (John 8: 32)

    Truth is the absolute standard of reality. The truth is the reality that connects man to God. The truth exist and the truth must be known in order to set you free. The freedom is the reality of the transformed life experienced. Freedom does not mean the absence of boundaries or restrictions. For example a fish has freedom to be in water but not to dwell in the jungle. A believer’s freedom depends on his unrestricted favor of God to be moral.

    Freedom means operating in the legitimate boundaries or release from illegitimate boundaries. It is to be and to think as God intended you to be. The bondage is what restricts people from being and thinking as God created them to be and redeemed them to become. It is impossible to look at the redeemed people and fail to recognize how much the renewed and organized minds can achieve.

    Human reasoning has limitation. That is why there is always the need to adjust what is known even in science. Statement of facts are made and contradicted with time. The truth is different from the fact. The truth contains facts but goes much deeper than facts. The truth is your prospective regarding the facts. The fact is the right place to begin searching for the truth but the fact is not an end it itself.

    The freedom of minds (to think) is given by the truth. The ability to reason does not determine the truth because our reasoning is limited (finite). Truth is not determined by feelings because feeling differ (are relatives) and feelings change. Truth is not determined by moral instincts because our instincts are different.

    The Christian faith begins in faith and continues in faith until glorification. Faith on the other hand, is that faculty of spiritual perception or discernment which is given to us at the time of our new birth. Faith is never in conflict with reason. By means of faith, God brings within the reach of our reason the truths which reason then recognizes as authentic and which is fulfilling and satisfying. Faith is the spiritual ‘sense’ which enables us to see and touch and understand God; faith connects us to God. Anything that is done outside faith is not pleasing to God.

    Faith comes by hearing the Word of God. The Word of God is the mind of God. When we act on the truth we think like God. We discover our true image in Jesus Christ. We cannot access God in His holiness on our own unless helped by the grace of God. God alone has the description of humanity that corresponds with reality. Lewis said that, You do not have a soul you are the soul, you have just a body.

    The Christian holy book states that, In the beginning God meaning that nothing existed apart from God. God created everything and then He evaluated what He created: And God saw everything He made, and, behold, it was very good (Genesis 1: 31). Dr Ravi says that, You begin with God you have value; you don’t begin with God you become valueless.

    It is our faith in Christ that creates hope. It is somebody’s blood that covers our guilty and our shame. The scars of Jesus appeals to His love. Only in Him love can be defined and only in love good can be defined. Our redemption is self evidence. Self evidence is something that is undeniable.

    Ralph says that, Without faith, reason is restricted, limited by a ‘ceiling’ of spiritual insensitivity or unconsciousness; it has to work in dark. That explains the failure of all non-biblical philosophy. Faith and reason, on the other hand, walk hand in hand and in step with each other, with faith always one step ahead! Yet reason is always justified by the out come.

    Modern Myths is the great threat to the faith of the modern generation. According to Lyotard, there are two modern myths, the liberation of humanity and the speculative unity of all knowledge. One might state these stories more concisely as ‘individualism’ and ‘rationalism’ or as one of their many corollaries:

    Individualism> Freedom, Rise of Middle Class, Liberalism, Subjectivism, and Egalitarianism.

    Rationalism> Science, History, Unity of Knowledge, Urbanization and Bureaucracy.

    Modern humans consider individualism and rationalism self-evident goods. Such evaluation indicates, of course, their mystic status. Not surprisingly, post-modernism to mention.

    I read this article from the internet: Secularism for Freud represented an advance on religious thinking. It was recognition of the illusory nature of religion. Sort of. But when Freud talks about illusion he doesn’t mean an error. Illusions aren’t errors that can be corrected by an increase in intellectual ability or understanding. Illusions are beliefs we have because we need to have them in some way. And he says that we cannot imagine a world where the mass of humankind - I would say ‘anybody’ - can manage without illusion. Freud didn’t go along with the classical freethinkers of the Enlightenment who worked on the assumption that human life could be exorcised of superstition, fantasy, and illusion. He cannot conceive of humanity without illusions."

    Psychologically, illusion is a mental state: It is believed that there are levels of knowledge before comprehension. Illusion in this case does not necessarily apply to non-existence but also to something real but not yet revealed. According to one writer, One can only understand teachings within one’s own level of awareness, and hopefully consistently just above and beyond it, stretching our experience of life into ever-new vistas of appreciation. This means that even if one hears the absolute truth, its meaning may not really be accessible to the person’s current level of understanding. This is one reason spiritual teachers in various traditions have insisted that disciples undergo a period of spiritual purification before they are given higher knowledge. It’s not because these teachers are selfish or greedy, rather because the student must be ready to receive and digest higher knowledge. How can one pour a huge lake into a small cup.

    According to science, an illusion is an image or representation believed to be real in our mind’s eye, but that is not actually real. In other words, because of the way our eyes and brain work, our eyes are tricked into seeing something that is not really there or into seeing something happen that did not really happen. We normally acknowledge that a glass that is half-full is actually half-empty. Yet, in an optical illusion, it can be glibly argued: which is more preferable, half full or half-empty one? Illusions can be very deceiving, and magicians use illusions to their advantage to make the audience believe that something happened by magic.

    Positive psychology motivational speakers argue that illusion is the end of literacy and the triumph of spectacle. Tony Robbins says that illusion applies to religion equally. David Jopling wrote that, The deeper and more persuasive an individual’s positive illusions, the greater their effect of diminishing his range of awareness of himself, other people, and the situation confronting him.

    Jopling argues that self-deception strategies are reality filters that organize what people understand into self- relevant and self-serving packages. With the diminishing of the range of awareness comes a corresponding diminishing of the range of responsiveness and openness to what is real. One’s ability to interact intelligently with all of the world’s real consequences diminishes.

    I want to say that Christianity is not a form of religion but a faith. The truth that connects mankind to God is not a principle but a person of Jesus Christ who lived, died and rose from the dead as narrated by the scriptures. Jesus Christ was a historical figure that lived. His story is given not only by the Bible but by other historic books. The new life among the people who were at one time considered to be a reproach to the society who were transformed is undeniable evidence. I mean the broken lives which have been restored after receiving the gospel giving life.

    Christianity propagates to serve a moral God with moral integrity to prescribe what is good. Christians have objective ethical standards for being good, based in a morally good creator God. The question is not who knows what is moral but who can be moral. The atheist have no ultimate justification for being moral.

    Consider what Dr. William Lane Craig wrote: If life ends at the grave, then it makes no difference whether one has lived as a Stalin or as a saint.… Who is to judge that the values of Adolf Hitler are inferior to those of a saint? The world was horrified when it learned that at camps like Dachau the Nazis had used prisoners for medical experiments on living humans. But why not? If God does not exist, there can be no objection to using people as human guinea pigs." [Apologetics: An Introduction, pp. 37-51].

    Morality is based upon what God commands. To the skeptics obedience to God cannot be the reason for morality. After all the atheists have no regard for God. To them the idea of the existence of God is mythology. The idea that if God commanded it, then it is right. If God forbids it, then it is wrong does not hold water. Of this theory Socrates asked a fundamental question: Is conduct right because the gods command it, or do gods command it because it is right? [in Plato’s Euthyphro]

    The atheists say that, Just because God commands something does not make it moral. They see no reason to do something just because God commands it. It makes God’s commands arbitrary, because there is no reason why God commanded something other than the fact that he did. We cannot call them good, for to call them good we’d have to have a standard above them to proclaim that they are indeed good commands. They claim that it is impossible to know that God is good without the standard of goodness showing that He good.

    I want to say that God does not function contrary to His attributes. Holiness is one of the attributes of God. To choose means there were alternatives to choose from. God does not choose to be holy because His very nature is holiness. God cannot be unholy and He cannot instruct His people to do immoral things. In Him there is no grain of corruption or poison of sin. The atheist need first to understand properly the character of God before making vague statements. God in His sovereignty and supremacy lacks nothing and needs no consultation regarding what is moral. You cannot define good without defining purpose and you cannot define purpose without defining the cause. The problem with the atheists is that they refuse to believe who God say He is. They try to come up with a god of their own imagination. The are ripped off by there own imaginations.

    All people including the atheists live in this world full of evil and injustice in anticipation of the future day of peace and justice although no body can point to any single human being that is capable of providing the awaited peace and justice. Does this mean that there is never going to be real peace? No. The Bible says there is going to be peace. The human race is not headed for destruction: we’re not going to destroy ourselves. The Bible teaches that God is going to intervene in the affairs of men and that we are going to know permanent peace in this world. The human race is headed toward utopia. Micah the prophet said, He shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

    If the world if full of injustices there should be somebody somewhere beyond the world to appeal to for justice otherwise there would have been hopelessness among all people. We have hope because we believe that there is indeed a day of peace coming, God is going to bring it, and it is going to be on his terms. The Jew looks for the Messiah, and the Christian looks for the Messiah also. The difference is that the Christian says that Jesus is the Messiah. But there is going to be a Messiah. Jesus is the divine figure who will bring about peace in our world. We therefore have assurance that evil is going to cease to exist. Every person must come to that point of realizing the need of the Savior who will bring about the long awaited peace.

    Today, there are atheists’ groups of free-thinkers in the secular world encouraging and promoting reason and critical thinking in this highly superstitious society. ‘Free-thought’ is a philosophical viewpoint that holds that opinions should be formed on the basis of science, logic and reason and should not be influenced by authority, tradition, religion or other dogma. They base their arguments on the mere assumption that countries that are less religious are scoring highly on dealing with corruption while the religious are performing very poorly. According to them religion is not necessary for morality because a 90 per cent religious country like Uganda is very corrupt. They question the power of prayers saying that if praying works why is there increased turmoil all over? They consider preachers who proclaim divine prosperity and divine healings to be fraudsters who promises people miracles in exchange for their meager earnings.

    It is unfortunate that freethinking has crept in and stolen the hearts of our young people. Some call themselves free-thinking born again Christians. They claim to be believers in Christ, however their belief in God is not based on scripture but on reason, science and logic, so in principle. True born again believers are against the tag > free thinkers. The true believers defend and explain their beliefs against all the verbal thrashing freethinkers seem to mete out and then of course, the freethinkers. The free thinkers ignore the fact that science is catching up with the Bible rather than disapproving the Bible.

    Most of the freethinkers have a verbal proficiency; they are ready with backing knowledgeable information regarding what they believe and project this with an engulfing passion. They consider themselves thinking tanks because they bash the religious mentality that requires obedience without questioning. They consider themselves elites who do not blindly take on what was handed down by their parents or even religious backgrounds. Yet their culture of transgression delight is sinning and make evil cool. Atheists believe that evil is the rock of atheism. Despite their belief, they fight oppression with endless defeat. No wonder the majority of people who take their lives prematurely (suicide) are atheists. They take their lives because they could not handle it; life without Christ is too hot for them to handle.

    I want to say that the existence of evil is not the problem but the disobedience of man that gives evil the power. Max Lugado said that, We all need the reminder. The heart of the human problem is the heart of the human. And God’s treatment is prescribed in John 3:16. It’s more than a verse, it is the answer.

    We fight evil by trusting in Jesus who defeated evil. He is only the Christian God that has wounds to prove His love for His people. We are sure that God the Father is there because He sent Jesus His Son to redeem the earth.

    The freethinkers analyze everything with tangible evidences and trash it into the bin if it does not have merits. The free thinkers have found fertile grounds in the New Age Movements and it is unfortunate that some of their ideologies have infiltrated the Church.

    I want to emphasize that the freethinkers are not robust

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