Revenge and God

Revenge is sweet! Or so the saying goes.... What does God say about taking revenge and getting even. For about one year now I have been subjected to a severe, unwarranted attacks obviously originating from the enemy of God and man - Satan. I have been through the fire for the past year and have thought several times of dealing with those who are trying to destroy my life with 'an eye for an eye' attitude (they 'do' me and I 'do' them back worse). This would have brought great satisfaction to me...if i were of the world. But Christ lives within me, sooo what did I do? Welll...I started to pray as never before. I began to take my Christianity more seriously (not that I hadn't been serious before). I started studying the Bible and the writings of Ellen White to discover why this was happening to me and by extension my family. As I read the Bible I was struck by how the prophets of old in many instances did NOTHING when oppressed by enemies. Even our beloved Saviour did nothing when His enemies taunted Him on the cross. The Bible even says in Romans 12:17 that we ought not to Recompense to no man evil for evil. Furthermore it states in Romans 12:19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
So then if God will deal with those who oppress you and are determined to make your life miserable because you are a Christian, why should I try to do God's work? Let us leave God to do what he has promised to deal with those who treat us thus. Now some who name the name of Christ do justly get opposition due to their inconsistent lives. So I (and you) need to examine ourselves to see if there are aspects of our lives that are not in accordance with God's will. Now God has entrusted to us our work: To carry the gospel to the entire world. So I now leave the scheming and plotting to those agents of Satan. I will stand still and see the glory of the Lord.
The past year has been highly challenging as never before, but God has taken me through each trap set for me by evil persons and I am here still. Make no joke about it Satan wants to destroy all who obey Christ. So far I have seen one person who sorely oppressed me start to come to church on a Sabbath. I think this is great as Jesus died for all of humanity even the wicked. May God have mercy on us all but more so on those who oppress His people. Be blessed.


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What is the Church?

What is the Church? Is it a place of worship...or is it entirely something else? Read more to find out. If I were to ask the average person what is the/a church, the many would reply a building, place of worship etc. What would be God's response to this? The answer can be found in the Bible - God's thoughts written for us. Ephesians 2:19-22 says, "19Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; 20And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; 21In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:22In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." This shows us that we (believers) are the habitation of God not a building or structure. Another scripture, 2 Corinthians 2:16 says, "And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people" This clearly shows without a doubt that the church consists of the body of believers. So a family is the church, two persons studying the Bible is the church. I am the church, you are the church, we are the church. Additionally what does the word translated church mean in the Bible? It comes from the Greek word Ekklesia which refers to "an assembly", or "calling out". Obviously this does not refer to a building. In Old Testament times God chose to dwell in the Ark of the Covenant but since atonement was made for sin, God has now chosen to dwell in us. Isn't this a wonderful privilege? That God who in former times was hidden in the temple away from the common people now wants to live in me, in you. Thanks be to God for His great mercies. Make we make the choice today to allow Him to live in us so that we may be living temples.
This work by Ann Singh is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.


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