The Gospel Of Repentance

  The origins of Easter are unclear but have been connected to legend and paganism. The day most call Easter Christians refer to as Resurrection Day – the day Jesus rose from the dead. The word Easter has been associated with two pagan goddesses,  Eostre  the eighth century goddess of spring and fertility, and  Ishtar  the Babylonian goddess of fertility, war, and sex. There is no concrete proof this is where the word Easter comes from.   Other theories (I believe to be more reliable) say the word Easter in Latin is the phrase  In   Albis.  In Old German, the phrase  In Albis  (means dawn or daybreak) was changed to   eostarum .  In   more modern German, the word is  Ostern   from which we get the English Easter. The French word for Easter is  Pâcques , based on the Latin and Greek  Pascha , meaning “Passover.” This appears to be another case where the pagan Easter celebration is celebrated the same time as the Biblical festival of Passover. Both are in the spring. Spring is the season

  The kingdom of God is the sphere where God rules. He is Master and Sovereign.   Jesus declared, "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:17).   Jesus’ words carry a lot of weight. Why? Because He is  providing  revelation in what He is preaching. What He was telling His audience is that  in order for  one to  enter into  His kingdom, they must repent – that is change their mind  regarding  their sinful ways and agree with the gospel. We must receive the gospel positively.    Where is the kingdom of God now? Currently the kingdom rules in the hearts of all who have believed in Christ. The physical kingdom of God as a place has not manifested yet. We as Christians must bring the kingdom to the lost. That is what Jesus was telling Nicodemus in John chapter three – unless you are born again (i.e., born from above) you canno t   enter in t o  the kingdom of God (John 3:3). The kingdom is ruling in the hearts of those who are children of God. When Jesus became incarnat

  T hose of us who contemplate the creation and fall of man often wonder why God would create man when He knew in advance he would rebel and hurl  the human race  into ruin. The writer consistently wonders the rationale behind the Lord’s thinking  regarding  this matter. Surely God could have prevented the world from falling since He is all powerful right? So why didn’t He? Why did He allow  all  this pain suffering and death to overtake His perfect creation? Why even bother? To most when considered carefully, it does not make any sense.   Humanly, it does not make sense at all. But, in the mind of God, it makes perfect sense. What we must do for this drama to make sense to the human mind is we must look at this problem through God’s eyes. That is the only way we are going to get some peace of mind in our souls.    As strange as it sounds to our ears, evil serves a profound purpose in God’s universe. Keep in mind evil is the unwilling servant of the Lord. Human evil exists because of t