Blessed is she who believed

Mary had a strange and unexpected visit. Angel Gabriel visited her and informed her that she will conceive and that the long awaited Messiah will be born through her! But there was a major problem; she was not yet married was not the type of woman who would stoop down to human solutions to a God sized problem. Her ancestor Sarah had also faced with a similar problem; God had told her husband Abraham that they will have a child in their old age. The wait was too long to bear and she had decided to “help” God by encouraging her husband to have a child through her servant. Mary could have tried a similar trick like her ancestor. Angel Gabriel had suggested the impossible: she would have a child although she was a virgin. She could have secretly had a sexual encounter with a man to “help” God out. God had probably forgotten that virgin can’t have a child. But she chose to believe the words of Angel Gabriel that “with God nothing shall be impossible”. Her amazing faith and refusal to choose a human solution to an impossible solution made her a truly blessed woman.

Will we be like Mary and choose to trust in Jesus, in spite of everything that seems to indicate that we are in an impossible situation? Or will we rather choose to go with quick fixes since God needs help? May Mary’s faith remind us this Christmas that God needs no help from us to undertake whatever He has promised and that He will accomplish whatever He has promised in His perfect time.

Open letter to John Daniel

Dear John Daniel,

It has been six and a half year since your father Joshua Daniel has passed away and you were made the President of the Laymen’s Evangelical Fellowship (LEF). In his earlier years your father lived in India and although he later relocated to the USA, he visited India frequently and was constantly involved in evangelistic work around the world. Although you were given his responsibilities, you still hold on to a secular job in the USA and have been a trustee of the Salem Township, Michigan, USA. I am not sure how you fulfill your role as the president of LEF with other important commitments.

You know that LEF is patronized only in India and outside India the number of LEF centers are limited and the people who attend can usually be counted on your fingers. Leaders of organizations move to the country where it has biggest operations. But you have strangely stayed back in the USA. In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught us to ask our Father in Heaven for daily bread. Unfortunately you are serving LEF bread cooked by your father and grandfather 10 to 60 years ago by way of videos and printed messages. Sometimes they get the same bread again and again! Is this not shameful? Why are you not in India giving the people fresh bread? Your parents owned a property in Coonor where you grew up as a boy. They later acquired another property in Kothagiri. You could have been living in the Nilgris, Tamil Nadu enjoying two beautiful properties. You would have got an army of helpers from LEF to be your drivers, cooks, maids, etc just as you and your parents enjoyed this when you were a boy. You would have then been able to give full attention to LEF and cooking fresh bread for them. Instead you are managing it remotely half way across the globe in your free time. It is very disappointing that you have remained in the USA holding on to your American citizenship.

As you know travelling around the world is no longer easy thanks to COVID-19. Additionally the current government of India dislikes foreign influence. So they are rewriting the rules. As a citizen of USA, you can no longer freely come to India and preach or lead LEF. Till now your status of Overseas Citizen of India allowed you to do this without much hassle. But on 4th March, 2021 the Government of India has changed the rules and you now need special permission to undertake “missionary activities”. Refer to https://egazette.nic.in/WriteReadData/2021/225647.pdf You can no longer freely come and address the crowds in Beulah Gardens or Stuartpuram. Please do not attempt to come surreptitiously like you did recently. A few years ago a police complaint was filed against you for threatening an Indian citizen both personally and from the pulpit. You escaped being arrested and deported by sending a lawyer to the police station. The climate in India is no longer the same and you will not be able to easily get away like that time.

The people of LEF adore the Daniel family. It will be a pity if they no longer have a guru from the Daniel family. So I hope you would take the appropriate action by giving up your American citizenship, relocating to India and taking care of the flock. If this is not appealing, please handover the responsibilities to Indian citizens. Please do not do Christian activities illegally and get hauled to the police station and get deported.

Regards,
Suniemi

Good Will at Christmas

Man was in mess, he was unable to please God and be right in His sight. In the Garden of Eden, God made hundreds of fruit bearing trees and told man and woman that they could eat any of the fruit except one special tree. But they could not keep this simple command! Thousands of years later at Sinai, God gave 10 commandments but even before Moses could get the physical tablets containing them, the people made an idol and broke the first commandment! There didn’t seem to be any way suitable way to remain right in God’s sight. But around thousand five hundred years later, an unexpected message arrived from an unexpected source on an unusual night! An angel appeared in glorious light and proclaimed “unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11 ESV). More angels appeared saying “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:14).

Yes good will was unleashed on man and it would no longer be impossible to please God. “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone” (Isaiah 9:2 ESV). A child was born who perfectly pleased God. God looked at this perfect Man’s righteousness and overlooked our inability to please God. We deserve death for our repeated failure to please God. But in an act of good will that we humans did not deserve, God decided that He would personally step into the mess that we had gotten ourselves into. This child was none other than the one and only Son of God! He was born only to die at the premature age of 33 years. When He died a gruesome death on the cross, God put the entire mess of the world on His Son Jesus. The good will of God was accomplished.

Man had to only believe on His Son to get right in the sight of God! “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16 ESV). Can this really be true? Does it not sound too good to be true? Why would anyone pay such a costly price for you and me? Are we so valuable that God should pay such a great price for us? Yes, God loves us so much that even though we are messed up and helpless, He wants to be in a relationship with us. And all that He asks of us is to believe on His Son Jesus!

If you have believed on His Son, He goes one step further and makes you His child and a brother (or sister) to His dearly beloved Son! “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God” (1 John 3:1 ESV). From an outcast unable to connect to God we are transformed to His child through the good will that came to earth on the first Christmas.

When we accept this unexpected and unspeakable good will of God, is it not necessary that we respond in good will to God? Shall we not cleanse our lives from the mess that we were living till now? Shall we not look to Jesus for inspiration to live just as He lived and pleased God? Shall we not forgive those who hurt us just as God has forgiven us freely even though we killed His Son Jesus? Shall we not love our neighbours and do them no harm just as God has loved us? Since God is a holy God who cannot see evil, shall we not live a holy life? This good will between God and man is commonly known as GRACE.

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. (Timothy 2:11-14 ESV). This Christmas may we give up our own useless ways of getting right with God and be transformed by the good will or the grace of God.

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The Spirit of Control

Thanks to the Corona virus aka Chinese virus aka Wuhan virus, large parts of the world are under some sort of lock down. Many countries and officials have been quick to lock their countries and cities down. Some have increased surveillance and imposed rules not related to the Corona virus. But it appears that economic fallout and the difficulties inflicted on individuals especially the migrant workers of India is often greater that the purpose of the lock down. This reveals the tendency of man to control others whenever an opportunity arises.

From the Bible we see that God does not control, force or manipulate people. A creator generally controls his creation and God having created man has the right to totally control man. But in contrast Jesus tells “behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him” (Rev 3:20). The Bible says about Jesus that “all things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:3 ESV). Yet Jesus does not force His way into our lives, even the Christian who has professed faith in Him.

The devil is unlike Jesus and tries to manipulate situations and force his ways in our lives. Unlike gentleman Jesus gently knocking at the heart’s door, “the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8b ISV) and “he was a murderer from the beginning” (John 8:44b). Murders often happen when one is unable to force the other person to do or give something but the murderer refuses to give up.

Sadly most of the world is patterned after the devil. Governments force unfair rules on its citizens, bosses control the employees, parents try to control children, children the parents and even churches control the congregation. I have seen a lot of control in the Laymen’s Evangelical Fellowship (LEF). The leaders, especially the Daniels, try to control whom you marry, who you are friendly with and even which city to live. If you do not toe the line you can be sidelined, treated like a pariah and even publicly criticized in their meetings.

The world says control is great but King David said “Your gentleness made me great” (Psalm 18:35b ISV). So instead of patterning ourselves after the world and the devil, we need to pattern ourselves after King David and Jesus and do what the Bible teaches. How can we who have been influenced by the world become gentle? By coming to Jesus as He said “Come to me, all of you who are weary and loaded down with burdens, and I will give you rest. Place my yoke on you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble, and you will find rest for your souls” (Mat 11:28,29 ISV). Then as we live in the Holy Spirit, we will bear fruits of which gentleness is one (Gal 5:22,23). Then there is no more room for revenge and control as Romans 12:19-21 (ISV) says, “do not take revenge, dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath. For it is written, Vengeance belongs to me. I will pay them back, declares the Lord. But if your enemy is hungry, feed him. For if he is thirsty, give him a drink. If you do this, you will pile burning coals on his head. Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good.” Thereby we can truly follow Philippians 4:5 (LEB) “let your gentleness be made known to all people” and crush the spirit of control out of this world.

Jehovah Rapha

This is a time of great concern and fear for many as the tiny corona virus aka Chinese virus has overwhelmed the world. Viruses are non-living submicroscopic agents that are much smaller than bacteria and can be seen only on special microscopes but still the corona virus has brought fear and panic to many. Thankfully a Christian doesn’t have to be much concerned as we worship a God who heals us.

From early Biblical history we see the God that heals. Soon after the Jews left Egypt, God taught them “if you will carefully obey the LORD your God, do what is right in his eyes, listen to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, then I won’t inflict on you all the diseases that I inflicted on the Egyptians, because I am the LORD your healer” (Exodus 15:26 ISV). Later during their journeys in the wilderness when they grumbled, “the LORD sent poisonous snakes that bit and killed many of them” (Num 21:6 CEV) but when they repented, “the LORD answered, “make a snake out of bronze and place it on top of a pole. Anyone who gets bitten can look at the snake and won’t die … and all of those who looked at the bronze snake lived, even though they had been bitten by the poisonous snakes” (Num 21:8,9 CEV). When King David counted the people of Israel, 70,000 men died. In repentance, “David built an altar to the LORD there and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then the LORD answered his prayer in behalf of the land, and the plague on Israel was stopped” (2 Samuel 24:25 NIV). When King Hezekiah was sick and about to die, when he cried and prayed and the Lord said “I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Look, I will heal you. … I will add fifteen years to your life” (2 Kings 20:5b,6a NET).

Healing takes a completely new dimension in the New Testament. When Jesus was on earth He was always healing people and doing amazing miracles; “Jesus went to every town and village. He taught in their meeting places and preached the good news about God’s kingdom. Jesus also healed every kind of disease and sickness” (Matthew 9:35 CEV). Jesus healed the blind, deaf, dumb, lepers, paralytics and sick. He raised people from the dead and exorcised many of their demons. After His departure, healing kept continuing through His disciples. “Many signs and wonders were being performed by the apostles among the people, … people kept carrying their sick into the streets and placing them on stretchers and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he went by. Even from the towns around Jerusalem crowds continued coming in to bring their sick and those who were troubled by unclean spirits, and all of them were healed” (Acts 5:12,15,16 ISV). “Philip went down to the city of Samaria and began to preach the Messiah to the people … unclean spirits screamed with a loud voice as they came out of the many people they had possessed, and many paralyzed and lame people were healed” (Act 8:5,7 ). “God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul so that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them” (Act 19:11,12).

Jehovah Rapha is one of the names of God meaning “I am the LORD your healer” (Exodus 15:26b) This tells us that one of the characteristics of God is healing. God does not bring sickness upon us but He heals us when we are sick. Psalm 103 repeated by many after a prayer clearly mentions in verse 3 that it is the Lord “who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases”. Some of us may have thought that healing has ended with Jesus and the apostles. But 1 Peter 2:24 says “He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed”. Peter is quoting from Isaiah 53:5b which says “with his wounds we are healed” but he changed the tense from the past to the present! Healing goes into the future to the new earth where in New Jerusalem is “the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations” (Rev 22:2b).

Healing is not obtained in a casual manner but it required Jesus’ death to provide health for us. The Bible often links healing with forgiveness of sin as we see in Isaiah 53:5, 1 Peter 2:24 and Psalm 103:3. As Christians we should believe and receive healing. In this time of lock downs, meditate on how God loves you so much that He sent Jesus to suffer, be gravely wounded and die for you so that you will be safe from corona virus, sin and death. If a tiny sub microscopic agent can be so deadly, sin is infinitely more deadly. I hope that you will gain the understanding and strength to put it away and live in the blessing and health of God!

The deadliest pandemic

We are in the midst of the coronavirus aka COVID-19 aka the Chinese virus pandemic. Nearly 2 million people have been infected and 113,300 people have died across the world (as of 12 April 2020). There have been many other pandemics in the history of our world like the plague of Justinian, Black Death, the third plague pandemic and the Spanish flu. The worst of them was the Black Death which is said to have killed nearly one third of the population of the world! Due to a better understanding of bacteria, viruses, diseases and huge improvements in medicine, the world has been spared major pandemics for the last 100 years. But the corona virus has stealthily travelled across the world and fear has gripped people, especially since there is no known cure.

There is another pandemic greater than corona virus and even Black Death. It got introduced soon after man appeared on the scene and it is still infecting people with deadly accuracy, with a 100% infection and mortality rate! The name of this virus is sin. Sin was introduced when Adam and Eve decided to listen to the devil and ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil instead of obeying God. The Bible says “sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men” Romans 5:12 (ESV). People kill and steal; there is poverty, sickness and disease. The ground is unable to yield enough food and many go hungry. There is distrust between man and animals. Many have tried different ways to overcome sin and death but never succeeded. The Old Testament prescribes an elaborate set of rituals and sacrifices to deal with sin but even that could not solve the sin problem as Hebrews 10:3,4 (ISV) says “through those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year after year, for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins”. But around 2000 years hope arrived, Joseph was told about his virgin fiancée that “she will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus, because he is the one who will save his people from their sins” Matt 1:21 (ESV).

Smallpox was a deadly disease and it is said that most of the Native American population died due to viral diseases like small pox. But Dr. Edward Jenner induced immunity against smallpox by infecting people with the milder cowpox. Similarly in 1 Peter 2:24 (AMP) the Bible tells that Jesus “personally carried our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin [becoming immune from the penalty and power of sin] and live for righteousness; for by His wounds you have been healed”. Just as small pox has been eliminated in the world thanks to vaccination, the perfect vaccine for sin was produced on the cross by Jesus Christ around 2000 years ago on Good Friday and revealed to the world that Easter. The Bible says in 1 John 1:7 that the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. Although sin is the deadliest virus, the vaccine needs no painful injection; it is free and comes with a gift! Romans 6:23 (ESV) says “for the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”.

Romans 10:9 (ISV) says that “if you declare with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved”. So if you have been not been vaccinated against the deadliest virus of all time, turn away from your sin, declare that Jesus is Lord and believe on Him. You will get vaccinated from sin and get the free gift of eternal life. You will also get protection against the coronavirus aka COVID-19 aka Chinese virus since He is also our healer about which I will give more detail in my next post.

 

Jesus the Light for the pandemic

The Prime Minister of India has asked the 1.3 billion citizens of India to light candles & torch lights for 9 minutes at 9 pm on 5th April 2020 to “challenge the darkness spread by the corona crisis, introducing it to the power of light”. Unfortunately to experience “the superpower of light”, Indians have to do this at night and switch off the lights!

There is a greater light than the power of 1.3 billion candles and torch lights. Jesus was born “to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death” (Luke 1:79 KJV). God’s light is so powerful that in the new earth “they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light” (Rev 22:5 KJV). God already has a way of escape from diseases: “if you will diligently listen to the voice of the LORD your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, your healer” Exodus 15:26 (ESV). The way out of a plague is by making God our dwelling place: “because you have made the LORD your dwelling place … no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent” Psalm 91:9-10 (ESV).

Many Indians have dismissed this event as a gimmick but every day we are bombarded by subtle forms of “light”. Movies, music, books, fashion, gossip, advertisements, products, internet, alcohol, drugs, etc compete to light up the darkness in our lives. Millions of people try to light up their lives by such “lights” but are condemned because Jesus said “this is the condemnation, that the light is come into the world, and men loved darkness more than the light because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19). Jesus warned “be careful that the light in you isn’t darkness” (Luke 11:35 ISV). We have to choose what will light up our lives. Jesus said “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12 ESV). Choose to turn your eyes away from the world and it’s darkness and turn it instead upon Jesus and you will have eternal life and shine with His light and become the light of the world (Matt 5:14).

Zechariah’s Prophecy for Christmas and the New Year

The devil hated Adam and Eve and deceived them in the Garden of Eden and since then human beings have come under his authority and have struggled with sin. Although sacrifices were offered, sin could not be tamed nor could the devil be overcome. When the first children Abel and Cain offered sacrifices, sin caused Cain to murder his brother. When the country of Israel was formed, an elaborate set of sacrifices were given but sin still kept ruling in the hearts of the people. Therefore the author of the epistle to the Hebrews says in chapter 10 (KJV) “the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect” (v1) and “it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins” (v4).

Finally the time arrived for God to reveal the perfect solution. In Luke 1:68,69a, 71 (ISV) Zechariah prophesied “”Blessed be the Lord God of Israel! He has taken care of his people and has set them free. He has raised up a mighty Savior for us …, that he would save us from our enemies and from the grip of all who hate us”. Most of those reading this post do not need a mighty savior to rescue us from a physical enemy or from someone who hates us. This prophecy has to be understood spiritually; the enemy is sin, the one who hates us is the devil and his demons and the Saviour is Jesus Christ. As old habits die hard, there had to be a transition from the old to the new. John the Baptist was to bring about this transition and Zechariah his father continues prophesying, saying about his son “you will go ahead of the Lord to prepare his way and to give his people knowledge of salvation through forgiveness of their sins” Luke 1:76b,77 (ISV). As his father prophesied, “John went throughout the entire Jordan region, proclaiming a baptism about repentance for the forgiveness of sins” Luke 3:3 (ISV). The focus was no longer on sacrifices because Jesus Christ had come to earth and in a few years He was going to become the ultimate sacrifice on the cross, dealing with sin and the devil. 1 John 2:2 (CCEV) show us how He dealt with sin “Christ is the sacrifice that takes away our sins and the sins of all the world’s people” and Colossians 2:15 (ISV) shows us how He dealt with the devil “and when he had disarmed the rulers and the authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in the cross”.

So this Christmas as you reminisce about the birth of Jesus and the surrounding events like the birth of John the Baptist remember that these incidents lead up to the cross where Jesus Christ hung to save us from sin and the grip of the devil. Zechariah also prophesied in Luke 1:74,75 (LEB) “we being rescued from the hand of our enemies, could serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days”. May this prophecy come alive in your life this Christmas, having been saved from sin and rescued from the devil, may you live in 2020 without fear and in holiness and righteousness.

Should you observe lent?

Lent is a period of 40 days (excluding Sundays) that comes just before Easter when Christians remember Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the cross and also His 40 days of fasting in the desert. During this period, Christians commit to fasting or giving up certain food like meat. Some also give up habits like smoking, drinking, watching television, social media or telling lies. This tradition began in the early church and is practiced by the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, Methodist, Lutheran and other churches. Prayer, mortifying the flesh, repentance of sins, etc, seems to be a good practice but should Christians who have really understood the salvation that Christ has wrought in us practice lent?

We are called to have a daily fellowship with God. Jesus said in Luke 9:23 (KJV) “if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” and in Matthew 25:13 (NKJV) “watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming”. In the Lord’s Prayer we pray “give us this day our daily bread”. Paul teaches in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 “pray without ceasing” and in Ephesians 6:13 (ISV) “take up the whole armor of God so that you may be able to take a stand whenever evil comes.” The Bible teaches us to be always alert and communing with God 365 days a year and not limit our devotion and alertness for 40 days.

Instead of merely contemplating and meditating on the death of Christ; the Bible asks us to understand that we are also dead. “Don’t you know that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?” (Romans 6:3 WEB) and “our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be in bondage to sin” (Romans 6: 6 ISV). We are also told “you too must continually consider yourselves dead as far as sin is concerned, but living for God through the Messiah Jesus” in Romans 6:11 (ISV). So the focus on our death should surpass the focus on the death of Christ.

Once we realize that we are dead in Christ, we need to understand what is accomplished by this death. First we get a new life. Romans 6:4 (ISV) says “through baptism we were buried with him into his death so that, just as the Messiah was raised from the dead by the Father’s glory, we too may live an entirely new life”. 1 Peter 2:24 (ISV) says “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to those sins and live righteously.” Secondly we get victory over sin. Isaiah 53:5 “He was wounded for our transgressions, and He was crushed for our iniquities, and the punishment that made us whole was upon Him, and by His bruises we are healed”. Romans 8:13 (WEB) says “if by the Spirit you continually put to death the activities of the body, you will live“. Thirdly we are blessed. Galatians 3: 13&14 says “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law … that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Christ Jesus”. 2 Corinthians 8:9 (ISV) says “although he was rich, for your sakes he became poor, so that you, through his poverty, might become rich”. Our focus should be on what His death accomplishes for us by putting away all sin (visible and hidden) and enjoying His blessing rather than focusing only on His the death and temporarily giving up some sin.

Once we understand the potential that we have through Christ’s death and resurrection we need to appropriate it in our lives. Romans 8:14 (LEB) says “all those who are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God“. Colossians 3:1&2 (LEB) says “if you have been raised together with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things on earth“.1 Corinthians 14:1 says “pursue love, and strive for spiritual gifts”. Galatians 5:22 & 23 (LEB) says “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control “. So our final focus should be on how His resurrection enables us to move into an entirely new dimension in life, being lead by the Spirit and growing in the Spirit.

Although Lent has good motives, it falls short of what God has in mind for us. 1 Peter 2:9 says “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people to be his very own and to proclaim the wonderful deeds of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” I pray the prayer of Paul in Ephesians 1:8 that you “having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, may know what is the hope of His calling, and what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints“. A 40 day period of remembrance of Jesus’ suffering limits the gospel and seems like attending kindergarten school when we should be attending the best universities. May you live daily with Christ and in the Spirit!