Couldn't have said it better myself...

Here is an excerpt of a recent article by Chuck Norris on Oprah Winfrey and her recent book endorsement and her 10-week webinar. For the entire article, click here.

Today, a live ten-week webinar hosted by Oprah Winfrey and Eckhart Tolle, author of "A New Earth," will begin on the Internet. Both the book and the online course purport to be able to awaken you and our world to life's grand purpose.

Since Oprah's endorsement of Tolle's book a month ago, 3.5 million copies of his spiritual self-help guide have been sent out to enlighten the minds of people around the globe. And more than 2 million people in 125 countries have already signed up for the worldwide web seminar…

…Like most self-help spiritual texts of this type, it is a blend of half truths and half fabrications. One could easily save the purchase price of "A New Earth" and subsequently avoid misleading remarks by reading a Bible, which gives a much more thorough and accurate picture of life's purpose and methods for overcoming its obstacles…

…The reason Tolle's psychology and spirituality is marketed so easy is that it is an eclectic mix of conventional and unconventional wisdom, and Western and Eastern beliefs, presented in a tolerant, non-threatening, and non-sectarian way. In other words, it's "Religion Light," in which one can be spiritual with "little down and no credit."…

…My battle is not with Oprah – she has her guru (Tolle), and I have mine (Jesus). The real war is between those who espouse to be bearers of the truth, like Tolle and Jesus. And the question is: With contradicting truths, will we believe a mere man or one who claimed to be so much more? As C.S. Lewis, the great Oxford scholar and writer of the "Narnia" series who was once an avid atheist, wrote,

A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a good moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg – or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great moral teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.

That might not be what Oprah, Tolle or others around the world want to hear on their webinar, but he is everything we all need to obtain peace with God and peace with one another.

Again, the question is: Will we turn from what's easy, what's new, what's popular, what's even "Oprah" and take a step back and rediscover the answers that have been there all along? As C.S. Lewis also said, "We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive."

Please Pray

This will be a quick one, but I would like to ask that you pray for Wes' brother and family (Samuel, Monica and Ruth) as they are meeting with the consultate today to get their visas to the United States. Also, please pray for his Dad as his meeting with the consulate in India is on Friday, April 11th. Please pray that both interviews go well, by God's grace. Please pray that the paperwork they have is sufficient, and there won't be any complications in getting their visas.

An answered prayer is that I received my visa to go to India. Thank you for your prayers!!

"I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." (Ephesians 3:16-19)

What's so "good" about Good Friday?

This morning I have been reading Colossians 1. This is a letter from Paul and Timothy to Christians in Colosse, but today I’ve been reading it as a letter from Paul and Timothy to me. I have also been reading it as a letter from me to my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. I would just like to encourage you to do the same. For if you are in Christ, this letter is to you… and it is also a great example of how we should be encouraging and praying for our fellow brothers and sisters.

However, I've been reading this passage today because of verses 19-22, which says: "For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross. This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault."

Each year when Good Friday rolls around, I find myself asking why they call it “good” when as Christians, it is a very sad day to think that Jesus Christ suffered and died a cruel death on the cross. Humanly speaking, it’s anything but “good”. But of course we know that “good” in this sense does not mean happy or cheerful, but it illustrates good in the sense of “holy”; it is observed as a holy day.

Yet in my sadness and reverence, I can’t help but look at Good Friday as a “good” day too, especially after reading Colossians 1:19-22! It is good because, while the fate of the entire world hung in the balance, the price for mankind’s redemption and reconciliation to a loving Father was being paid for by the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. For this very reason we can have hope and a future… for this very reason we are considered holy and blameless as we stand before Him without a single fault… this is a very “good” thing!

Paul was very clear in this passage in that He was speaking to those who believed in Christ as their Savior. We can only have this hope if we confess our sins, and believe that Jesus is Lord. If you want to know more, please click here.

Have a GOOD Friday, and a blessed Easter!

Wedding update!

It's been quite a while since I've updated my blog with anything substantial. I don't know if this post will be deemed worthy of a "substantial post", but I thought I would just share an update on the wedding plans (each paragraph could be its own post of God's faithfulness and provision).

So, if you haven't heard... I'm getting married to Wesley Jeremiah Moses on Saturday, May 24, 2008!

I recently went to Florida for my dress fitting. For those who don't know, my Mom is making my dress (and all the bridemaid's dresses too!). The dress is beautiful... it was such a surreal feeling to put it on and imagine myself on the "big day". I would attach a picture of it, but what fun would that be?!! You'll have to come to the wedding to see the final product!

The invitations are just about ready to be sent... the assembling of the envelopes is all that is left (which by the way, assembling a formal envelope is quite stressful... even with the step by step guide, I still don't understand what order everything goes in... I'll never complain about sending Christmas cards again!!). Hopefully they will be sent tomorrow (in whatever order I feel like putting it in). Please know that each of you have been prayed for as your name has crossed our path... whether it be on our computer screen, through the printer, or as you come to mind.

In the midst of wedding plans, I am also packing up my house. Wes and I were able to find an apartment and he will be moving in it in April. This is a great story of how the Lord provided for us. I will be moving my things (furniture, etc.) sometime in April so that we don't have to worry about moving anything after the wedding. That's another neat story how the Lord provided a mover. Please pray with us that someone else will be moving west so that we can share the moving expenses and keep the cost down.

I recently had the opportunity to correspond with Wes' family and am blessed to be a part of such a wonderful family. I look forward to meeting them and knowing them better. Wes' Dad, and two brothers and their families will be able to attend and participate in the wedding for which we are thankful. Unfortunately, Wes' Mom and sister are unable to attend, but we (Wes, I and his Dad) will be flying to India the Tuesday after the wedding for a reception there. I am looking forward to meeting everyone! By the way, if any of you would like to go to the reception in India, you are invited! Let me know!!

Speaking of traveling to India... in order for Wes' Dad to come to the U.S., he will need a visa. Please pray for him as he will be meeting with the consulate soon. Please pray that everything goes smoothly and he is able to get his visa without any complications. Also pray for Wes' brother and family, who live in England, and will also be applying for their visas. Just as they need visas to come the U.S., I need a visa to go to India. My application is being reviewed by the consulate as I type this post. Please pray that I would receive my visa without any complications as well.

Finally, Wes and I have been busy planning the wedding ceremony and putting the program together. It is our prayer that the Lord be glorified and be the center of our wedding. We pray that each aspect of our ceremony will not merely be ritual or routine, but may your eyes be lifted to our Lord, Jesus Christ and what He has done for us. To God be the glory, GREAT THINGS He has done!

And this is my prayer for you this Easter weekend. Christmas is wonderful in that we celebrate our Lord's birth... but the whole reason He was sent is wrapped up in this weekend observance alone. As you meditate on the suffering that He went through on Friday, may you also rejoice in His resurrection on Sunday because it is YOU that He did it for.

"But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." --Romans 5:8

Save the date!

Wes and Barb's Wedding

will be on May 24, 2008

in Horseheads, New York

Hope to see you there!

Bring the rain

So I pray…
Bring me joy, bring me peace, bring the chance to be free
Bring me anything that brings you glory
And I know there’ll be days when this life brings me pain
But if that’s what is takes to praise you
Jesus, bring the rain

This song by MercyMe has become one of my favorite songs. I played it over and over and over… throughout the day today. I love the phrase: BRING ME ANYTHING THAT BRINGS YOU GLORY. Oh, may that be my heart’s prayer! In everything that comes my way, may it draw me closer to God, and may my response bring Him glory.

May I forever sing…
Holy, holy, holy
Is the Lord God almighty!

The Truth Will Set You Free?

I receive "A Slice of Infinity" each day, and thought I would share today's entry on the blog. Enjoy!

One of my professors divided the class into groups of five and asked us to decide which of the following three individuals had the most freedom:

(1) A person who is not able to sin,
(2) A person who is both able to sin and able not to sin, and
(3) A person who is not able not to sin.

Less than five minutes into the discussion, my group had concluded that the person who was both able to sin and able not to sin (person #2) had the most freedom. We correctly eliminated option #3 since a person who cannot help but sin is really in bondage. But the unanimity of the decision and the ease with which it was arrived at caused us to suspect that something was wrong. Why would we be asked to "discuss" such a "simple" question in a graduate seminar?

We had made two serious errors in our deliberation: we did not take into account the biblical meaning of "freedom" and we did not fully appreciate the nature of sin. Like most people, we thought freedom was the ability to do what one wanted to do--whenever, however, and wherever one chose to do it. Consequently, we reasoned that the person who had the most choices automatically had the most freedom. When I wondered out loud whether we really believed that a person who could sin had more freedom than God, who cannot sin, we found out why we needed some time to discuss the question.

Biblically speaking, freedom is the ability to function the way God designed us to function. This is the reason why freedom and truth are so intertwined; we need to know what our purpose and design are before we can exercise the freedom to fulfill our mission on earth. That is also true of things we ourselves make. A meticulously manufactured Ferrari which, I've been told, is a marvel on the road, is completely useless in the ocean. A hammer functions at its best when it is pounding nails, and a multi-million dollar piece of equipment made for space travel is useless to us unless we know its purpose. Similarly, we function at our best when our lives measure up to our Designer's specifications. It is true that God's purposes can be fulfilled even through people who reject Him, but true freedom is found only in Him.

Misunderstanding the kind of freedom Christ offers leads to a distorted view of the nature of sin. Some find it hard to give a good reason why sin is prohibited by God. Don't God's prohibitions limit our freedom? Wouldn't some acts, at least, be harmlessly enjoyable if God, for some curious reason, did not brand them "sin"? The answer to both questions is no, and the reason is that sin is a serious defect in humanity, not a virtue. It will eventually turn those who relentlessly cling to it into grotesque distortions of God's original intent for them. Anything that impedes our progress towards our true identity and calling diverts us from our journey to freedom, even when no one else finds out.

That is why it is not quite true to tell people that knowing the truth will set them free. That phrase is part of a very instructive discipleship statement in John 8:31-32 which reads, "To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, 'If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.'" Did you notice the conditional nature of the freedom proclaimed here? Only by holding to the teaching of Christ in the context of purposeful discipleship can true freedom be found. James 1:25 tells us that practicing God's perfect law gives us freedom. Without a clear understanding of our call to freedom in Christ, our thirst for righteousness and passion for the lost will be seriously hindered, for we will secretly think that the requirements of righteousness are really deprivations.

No, I am not advocating works salvation. We are saved by grace through faith alone, but in the process of growth as believers, the light of the gospel must gradually shine on those areas of our lives that hold us back from fulfilling our true calling. When the gospel of Christ begins to chip away at those holdups, we learn what it means to be truly free and why it is prudent to hate sin. John Witherspoon was right. In his sermon on the first Thanksgiving Day called after the war for independence in the US, he declared, "A republic once equally poised must either preserve its virtue or lose its liberty."(1) Whether for an individual or a sovereign nation, truth and virtue are the rails upon which the wheels of freedom roll.

J.M. Njoroge is associate apologist at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

(1) Quoted by Francis Schaeffer, A Christian Manifesto, 33.

Copyright (c) 2007 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM)"A Slice of Infinity" is aimed at reaching into the culture with words of challenge, words of truth, and words of hope. If you know of others who would enjoy receiving "A Slice of Infinity" in their email box each day, tell them they can sign up on our website at http://www.rzim.org/slice/slice.php. If they do not have access to the World Wide Web, please call 1-877-88SLICE (1-877-887-5423).