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‘Christ Laid His Life Down for Me’: Greg Laurie Gives Powerful Gospel Presentation to Jordan Peterson
Christian megachurch leader Greg Laurie recently appeared on psychologist Jordan Peterson’s podcast, where he gave the professor-turned-cultural commentator a powerful presentation of the Gospel.
“When everything’s said and done, what’s more important than the afterlife?” the California-based pastor asked Peterson. “What’s more important than where we spend it? According to the Bible, I believe there’s a literal heaven, a literal hell, and I believe we choose in this life where we will spend the afterlife.”
Laurie added he’s going to spend eternity in heaven “not because I’ve lived a good life — because I failed in many ways — but because Christ laid His life down for me on the cross.”
“Coming back to Abraham, and what a picture, the son was willing to go and be sacrificed by the father,” the pastor continued, referring to the Old Testament story of Genesis 22. “[Isaac] knew what was going on: ‘Hey, Dad, where’s the sacrifice?’ ‘My son, God will provide for Himself a sacrifice.’ But Isaac made that sacrifice, too. The Son Jesus made that sacrifice for us, because He knew there was no other way that we could reach God, no other way we could satisfy the righteous demands of God. So Heaven isn’t for good people, as it’s often said; heaven is for forgiven people.”
The conversation between Peterson and Laurie stemmed from the 71-year-old minister opening up about the death of his son, Christopher, who passed away in 2008 as a result of a tragic car accident.
He described that day in July of 2008 as the “worst” day in his life. Nevertheless, Laurie said he is not without hope — because of his faith in the redemptive work of Jesus.
“I believe I’ll see my son again, because he believed in Jesus,” Laurie explained. “He won’t be in heaven because I’m his dad; he’ll be in heaven because he put his faith in Christ and he had that relationship. He’s a part of my future as well, so that gives me hope. But, also, I realize that God can allow these things in our life. I don’t know why. I can’t explain it. I don’t even try to explain it.”
Peterson, author of the new book, “We Who Wrestle With God: Perceptions of the Divine,” admitted to Laurie he struggles to intellectually reconcile a desire to perfect the earthly world with the knowledge the Christian life is heavily weighted toward considering eternity.
The famed psychologist and podcast host asked, “How do you reconcile, in your own mind, the insistence that part of the Christian moral pattern is to perfect the world and to raise the material up to the heavenly with the notion of the afterlife and immortality?”
Laurie referenced 2 Corinthians 12:2-4, in which the Apostle Paul wrote about experiencing a “third heaven,” as well as the thief on the cross next to Jesus, Who promised the man, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with Me in paradise” (Luke 23:42-43, NIV).
The pastor explained he has felt closest to God — and His promises of eternity — through life’s trials.
“God made a lot of promises,” said Laurie. “I’ve put those promises to the test, including the worst thing of all, to lose a child. And I’ve seen how God had come through for me. If He hadn’t come through for me after my son died, I would have given up preaching, for sure. Why carry on? But He came through for me.”
Sources:faithwire
us news
Biblical Archaeology From the Holy Land Revealed: ‘You’re Almost Touching…History’
An Israeli entrepreneur on a mission to highlight biblical artifacts has brought his “treasures from the Holy Land” to America.
Oded Golan’s “Discovering the World of Jesus: Ancient Treasures From the Holy Land” experience opened Dec. 3 at Atlanta’s Pullman Yards, with hundreds of ancient artifacts surrounding the New Testament on display.
“We are bringing [a] once-in-a-lifetime experience to people to look at items that they will probably not have other opportunities to see,” Golan recently told CBN News. “The 350 items that are presented here, most of them are from the time of Christ. They were all found in the Holy Land in Israel, and they are telling the stories that are mentioned in the New Testament, but in first hand.”
He added, “You’re almost touching the history.”
Golan said some of the items are related to Jesus’ family or people living during his lifetime. These elements allow people to explore life during biblical times, seeing the behaviors and practices that unfolded during the New Testament era.
Already, audiences are loving the experience, Golan said, noting that giving a lens into the past illuminates knowledge and understanding.
“It doesn’t change faith, it doesn’t change belief, but it changed, somehow, how do you feel and how do you see the stories that are mentioned in the Bible — in the New Testament,” he said.
Golan’s story is a fascinating one, as he started collecting antiquities when he was just a child.
What started as a passion project grew into something much more — a collection he calls the “biggest and largest … in the world of biblical archaeology items.”
“When I was young, even, you know, until the age of 16, 17, I had in mind that I should be an archaeologist one day,” he said. “But … in life it was changed … but I kept archaeology as a hobby.”
And that hobby grew as he traveled all over the Holy Land and collected artifacts — relics he brings to audiences in “Discovering the World of Jesus: Ancient Treasures From the Holy Land.”
“In this exhibition, we present only items that came from a very short period of time,” Golan said. “We are talking about the early first century AD, the time of Jesus. A few items are from the 3rd, 4th, 5th century because this was the time when the first churches emerged — the cradle of Christianity.”
He believes audiences will be captivated regardless of their age or religious beliefs.
“It doesn’t matter what age you are, and what [religion] you are, and how strong [a] believer you are,” Golan said. “It’s fantastic.”
The entrepreneur also made international headlines in 2012 when he was on trial after being accused by the Israel Antiquities Authority of forging an inscription on the James ossuary, a stone relic believed to hold the bones of Jesus’ brother, James.
He was acquitted after a seven-year legal battle. The ossuary, which has been a source of contention, has an Aramaic line that reads, “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus.” Proponents argue that the inscription pointed to evidence of Christ’s brother, James.
Ultimately, Golan was absolved of the most serious charges surrounding manufacturing elements of this inscription, among other serious charges. Some have since defended the authenticity of the artifact’s inscription, which would be the earliest reference to Jesus. Read more about the history of the matter.
Golan referred to this case while explaining he was in the “later stage” of his life – over the age of 50 — when he read the New Testament for the first time and started to understand it. Wanting to better comprehend the ossuary in his collection, he turned to the text for understanding.
Speaking about the James ossuary, he heralded the importance of the find, which is included in “Discovering the World of Jesus: Ancient Treasures From the Holy Land.” He’s hoping the collection inspires visitors to think more deeply about the past.
“You’re touching the history — almost physically,” Golan reiterated. “And that makes … a big difference compared to any other kind of exhibition. And, as I mentioned, it’s not only the artifact exhibition. It has much more than that.”
After the Atlanta run, Golan hopes to bring “Discovering the World of Jesus: Ancient Treasures From the Holy Land” to other cities across America.
Sources:faithwire
us news
എച്ച്1ബി വീസയ്ക്കു പുതിയ നിയമങ്ങൾ
വാഷിങ്ടൻ : യുഎസിൽ വിദഗ്ധ തൊഴിൽ മേഖലകളിലെ വിദേശ ജോലിക്കാരുടെ നിയമനം എളുപ്പമാക്കാൻ എച്ച്1ബി വീസയ്ക്കു പുതിയ നിയമങ്ങളുമായി ബൈഡൻ ഭരണകൂടം ഉത്തരവിറക്കി. എഫ്1 വിദ്യാർഥിവീസയിലുള്ളവർക്ക് എച്ച്1ബി വീസയിലേക്കുള്ള മാറ്റവും എളുപ്പമാക്കി.
വീസാച്ചട്ടങ്ങളിൽ കടുത്ത നിലപാടുള്ള ഡോണൾഡ് ട്രംപ് അധികാരമേൽക്കാൻ ഒരു മാസം മാത്രം ശേഷിക്കെയാണു ബൈഡൻ സർക്കാരിന്റെ നടപടി. ഡിപ്പാർട്മെന്റ് ഓഫ് ഹോംലാൻഡ് സെക്യൂരിറ്റി (ഡിഎച്ച്എസ്) ആണ് പുതിയ ചട്ടങ്ങൾ പ്രഖ്യാപിച്ചത്. എഫ്1 വീസ, എച്ച്1 ബിയിലേക്കു മാറ്റാനുള്ള നടപടികൾ എളുപ്പമാക്കിയത് വിദ്യാർഥികളുടെ നിയമനങ്ങളിൽ അമേരിക്കൻ കമ്പനികൾ നേരിട്ടിരുന്ന തടസ്സങ്ങൾ ഒഴിവാക്കും.
നേരത്തേ എച്ച്1ബി വീസ ഉണ്ടായിരുന്നവരുടെ പുതിയ അപേക്ഷയിലും നടപടികൾ വേഗത്തിലാക്കും.ഉയർന്ന വൈദഗ്ധ്യം ആവശ്യമായ തൊഴിൽ മേഖലകളിൽ ജോലി നേടാൻ ഇന്ത്യയടക്കം രാജ്യങ്ങളിൽനിന്നുള്ളവർ ആശ്രയിക്കുന്നതു പ്രധാനമായും എച്ച്1ബി വീസയാണ്. ആഗോള വിപണിക്കനുസരിച്ചു ചില പ്രത്യേക തസ്തികകളുടെ നിർവചനങ്ങളും നിയമന മാനദണ്ഡങ്ങളും പരിഷ്കരിച്ചിട്ടുണ്ട്. സന്നദ്ധസംഘടനകൾക്കും സർക്കാർ ഗവേഷണസ്ഥാപനങ്ങൾക്കും കൂടുതൽ വിദേശനിയമനങ്ങൾ നടത്താനാകും.
Sources:globalindiannews
us news
German Archaeological Find Sheds New Light on Christianity’s Spread into Europe
Researchers in Germany have translated what they believe is the oldest evidence of the spread of Christianity into Europe. In 2018, archaeologists discovered what they’re calling the “Frankfurt silver inscription,” a rolled foil engraving inside a protective amulet, in the grave of a man in an area northwest of Frankfurt, Germany.
“Researchers have used CT scans to ‘digitally unroll’ the ‘wafer thin’ foil and read the inscription within for the first time since the 3rd century AD,” reports the Daily Mail. “Incredibly, the text represents the oldest known evidence of Christianity north of the Alps, dating back to between 230 and 270 AD, scientists say.”
While similar amulets from the 3rd through 5th centuries included mixtures of Jewish, Christian, and pagan texts (presumably because the wearer wanted to avoid missing out on the afterlife in any religion they knew of), the scientists behind this discovery refer to the inscription as “purely Christian.” The text is in Latin, which also surprised researchers, and refers to Jesus as well as St. Titus, an early church leader.
The trick to discovering what was on the inscription and translating it was that the delicate foil roll had been buried for 18 centuries. The staff at the Leibniz Center for Archaeology (LEIZA) in Mainz, Germany, and Frankfurt’s Goethe University spent the last six years working on it.
“The discovery of a Roman silver amulet is changing our knowledge of the early spread of Christianity: the 3.5 centimeter amulet from the 3rd century AD, discovered in the Roman city of Nida near Frankfurt, contains one of the oldest purely Christian inscriptions north of the Alps,” announced LEIZA in a press release (translated from German).
“The challenge in the analysis was that the silver sheet was rolled, but after around 1,800 years, it was of course also creased and pressed,” Ivan Calandra, an archaeologist at LEIZA, said. “Using CT, we were able to scan it at a very high resolution and create a 3D model.”
CT and X-ray technologies allowed scientists to scan the inscription and piece it together. Even though there were some gaps in the texts, scholars were able to translate them.
“I called in experts from the history of theology, among others, and we approached the text together, piece by piece, and finally deciphered it,” Prof. Markus Scholz of Goethe University said.
The amulet strongly suggests that the wearer was a devout Christian because it doesn’t include any references to Jewish theology or pagan practices. It’s also noteworthy that the inscription is in Latin because most similar inscriptions from this era were in Greek or Hebrew.
The inscription also contains a direct reference to Philippians 2:9-11, which reads, “Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in Heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”.
“The find offers unique insights into the early spread of Christianity and underlines the cultural importance of Nida as a central Roman settlement in Germania in late antiquity,” LEIZA said in the press release.
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Sources:BREAKING CHRISTIAN NEWS
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