kingdom of God

IT’S A WAR OUT THERE! (Meditations on Mark – 2)

(February 13, 2023) Richard Winter shares some salient facts…

The rumours had come in from a far-flung corner of the Roman empire…

  • There was trouble over a Jewish teacher who had apparently led a nonviolent campaign.
  • To stop the problems He had been crucified as a common criminal.
  • His friends and many others are saying He has come back to life – and has been seen walking around and gathering with crowds of people.

So what are the facts? Mark tells them rather simply…

(A continuous history which – if you follow – you will know how it all links together and how that Jewish Messiah will affect your life and others).

Seven facts…

1. New start
A guy had come baptising people who were repenting of their sins. Jesus was baptised… even though He had no sin! What Jesus was doing was demonstrating that all old ways of doing things either religiously or secularly needed to be buried and everyone can start a new spiritual life.

(more…)

A TALE OF TWO KINGDOMS

(August 3, 2017) Dr Jim McClure, renowned theologian, challenges churches to their responsibility to alert people to the demonic activity around them that is cloaked in what appears to be ‘nice.’

In 1859 Charles Dickens wrote a book that he called, A Tale of Two Cities.  It is set in the conditions that led to the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror and the two cities are London and Paris. It begins with the famous sentence: ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.’ (more…)

WORDS OF LIFE (#G4) KINGDOM – BASILEIA

(July 23, 2017) Dr Jim McClure, noted theologian, continues his series on selected Greek words…

The first mention of ‘kingdom’ in the Bible is Genesis 10:10 where it states, in reference to Nimrod, ‘The first centres of his kingdom were Babylon.’ In biblical thinking Babylon often represented that power that was constantly opposed to God.

While many nations were ruled over by kings, for many years after the Israelites had settled in Canaan they had refused to appoint a king of their own because they accepted a theocratic system of leadership in which Yahweh was recognised as its king.

In this lay the secret of Israel’s uniqueness and its strength as a nation. From time to time other leaders were appointed on a temporary basis – we read about many of them in the book of Judges – however those leaders were never recognised as kings nor was their leadership hereditary. At other times a high priest or a prophet appears to have had a leadership role – such as Eli and Samuel – but God was still regarded as the ruler of his people. (more…)

TIME A-WASTING? SEIZE THE DAY! (July 11, 2016)

Dr Robert & Maureen (2)Robert and Maureen McQuillan reflect on ‘time’ …

We humans are definitely creatures of time! We’re preoccupied with it… measuring our days in time, wearing watches to keep check. At some point each day, we wonder ‘What time is it?’ Or ‘How much time do I have left to do this task?’

We may even lament ‘Gosh, time goes on’ or comment to someone, ‘Seems time stood still since we last met’ or ‘It’s been a long time, where did it go?’… and so on.

It’s been said that the concept of time has been problematical for philosophers, even biblical scholars in the divine scheme of things. (more…)