We are "Scum and Garbage" - Apostle Paul.

We are "Scum and Garbage" - Apostle Paul.

In our day to day life, we will come across many tasks, of which some may be challenging and some may be relaxed and we may come across many such tasks. At the end of the day, in spite of giving our best efforts, the resultant in some tasks may be successful and in some we may not be satisfied as much as we are, but our efforts to overcome them make no difference. Our experiences how we dwelt through those times is expressed only through our emotions, either orally or in writing. Our great apostle Paul is no exception to any such emotions. He had about thirty years of tedious journeys and human relations before being a martyr. His emotions include rejoicing, praising, pain, grief, hope etc. And out of the blue came one such human emotion, disappointment. 

Apostle Paul speaking about the ministries in the work of God, presume themselves as "scum" and "garbage", "We have become the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world — right up to this moment." (1Corinthians 4:13, NIV). 

Don't know how depressed was Paul, while writing/saying these words. A synonymous meaning can be drawn from the words of Jesus in Matthew 11:16-24. In spite of his number of miracles, parables about the kingdom of God, the people gave a deaf ear to these things. Despite of many prophets, His forerunner John the Baptist, Jesus himself, and the apostles, people are unoffended and unrepentant. These words of Paul may seem to come out of helplessness of the dire situation of this generation in the near future.

However, these two degrading and humiliating words still make sense, if thought properly. The greek words for scum and garbage are perikatharma and peripsema. When Paul was using this word perikatharma, he might mean an outcast or a person who is worthless and non considerable, and while using the word peripsema, he might mean the greasy and gluey part inside the kitchen utensils or a discardable or useless utensil. Now we can understand how gloomy and sad he might be after some dedicating, faithful, tired, and exhaustive travelling for the kingdom of God, since his conversion in AD 37(?), till his writing of this letter in AD 56(?), and till his martyrdom in AD 68(?). He had gone through every hard situation, we can read about his toil and hardships in 2Corinthians 11:16-33. He calls himself foolish, weak, runaway, scum, garbage etc. How hard life could have been for Paul in spreading the good news of the Lord with the stonyhearted, uncaring  people around.

I would like to delve more deeply to make you understand and take you to the grossroot meaning of these two words in Paul's writing. Away from this subject for a while I would like to take you to 1897's, when Mahatma Gandhi, as we call him the father of India and his wife Kasturba were staying in South Africa with his young law clerks in "Beach Grove Villa, a beautiful, spacious five bedroom house", writes the author Neelima Dalmia Adhar, in her authorial "The Secret Diary of Kasturba". She goes on to explain about the chamber pot and it's purpose. How lowly Paul would have been while writing the word peripsema, which meant the greasy and gluey part inside the kitchen utensils or a discardable or useless utensil(s). Neelima Dalmia Adhar writes about Kasturba' experience on one fine day. The author goes on like this, "All my life I had looked upon the cleaning of toilet pots [chamber pot is a bowl kept in a bed room and used as toilet at night] as the lowliest of jobs; a task that condemned those who did it as sub-humans, unfit to even reside inside the city limits where decent folks lived. I knew that even their shadows were unclean and deemed you ritually impure if they were to fall upon you. These wretched cleaners were allowed into our homes only in the thick of the night, so that no one set sight on their ill-omened faces while they went about their jobs of removing night soil [the human excreta] from homes of the upper castes. And now Mohandas [Gandhi] tells me to defile myself and clean my own toilet and if need be, others toilets as well! How dare he?" 

The author writes about Kasturba' experience when "a new Christian house guest moved into Beach Grove Villa. The atmosphere of our open and always welcoming home must have lured him to stay, but I felt a sharp twinge of loathing. That lowly malech! [the last or the fourth varna in the hindu caste hierarchy. The caste system divides humans into four main categories - Brahmins at the top, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and the Shudras or Malechas at the bottom] I couldn't bear to be eating from the same plate as him. And what if he touched the faucets of my kitchen and polluted them? ..within the twenty-four hours of his arrival. Unaware or probably unmindful of the rules of Beach Villa Grove, he had left his un-emptied chamber pot under his bed and was gone for the day. I was furious. I knew Mohandas would pick up the dirty pot of the stranger, empty it out, clean it and place it back for him to soil again. To prevent him from the humiliation, suppressing my own outrage and spilling tears, I yanked out the filthy pot, holding my breath as I dragged it down the stairs and emptied it out into the main collection trough. ..as I lugged the pot downstairs with angry pouring out of my eyes. "Ek toh malech! Upar se uska pot mai uthaaon? [Besides being an outcast! why should I empty his pot? - translated into english from hindi language]." 

Such was the experience of Kasturba about the human excreta chamber pot. Till now  (2019), in northern India, human scavengers are at work. Indian states like Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi etc. have human scavengers, who are seen lowly in the society. Links provided below to know more about the lifestyle of human scavengers.

Coming back to our subject - It is justifiable on part of Paul in using the words perikatharma and peripsema due to non responsive people towards the good news. Although these greek words might mean outcast, worthless, non considerable, discardable, useless; with right interpretation we can learn something extraordinary from these two filthy, self blasphemous words of Apostle Paul.

In the dye industry these very worthless chamber pots, waste vats and cesspool which Paul equates himself with, can't contain fresh water and are worthy of what they contain. Since the time man has acquired the knowledge of dying, the chamber pots and large vats are used for holding liquid dyes. Consider the dyes like royal purple, true purple, imperial purple etc. which are used by noble families. The dye gives the colour to the cloth which differentiate between the aristocratic and the normal citizens. The purpose of the vat or chamber pot is to give what it is filled with. It's like the concept of redemption, from the old or the past to the new, the process of purification or atonement. It's like an expiation for the guilty. The worth of expiation or atonement is nothing but the Blood of Christ. In the Old Testament we can see many daily and annual redemptive sacrifices of sheep, bull, etc. done by the High Priest for sin and guilt as part of temple sacrifices, which will re-establish the covenant between God and man/humans. But in the New Covenant, Jesus "..entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. [In the old Covenant] the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ [in the New Covenant], who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death.." (Hebrews 9:11-14 NIV). "Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself." (Hebrews 9:25,26 NIV). "For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people. (1Timothy 2:5,6 NIV).

The gospel of Jesus Christ is which that carry the Blood of Christ which will wash and cleanse you from all sin and guilt. Come to that redemptive and salvific Blood and cleanse yourself. 

*Words within parentheses are my additions and a hindi translation into english as well.

Sources :

1. Pages 98, 100, 101, The Secret Diary of Kasturba by Neelima Dalmia Adhar, ISBN: 978-93-86036-53-7, first published in Tranquebar Press by westland ltd 2016.

2. Links about human manual scavengers.

(a). https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=J6d8cfBvR3w

(b). https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=l-xrOYYuoWg

(c). https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OuKeydsNxHY

(d). https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oXYRjqivvhA

(e). https://www.facebook.com/65543352052/posts/10157603500187053/

11th, Nov - Hate this Day.

Hate this day or the hour I was born.

"..opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth."

“Let the day perish on which I was to be born, And the night which said, ‘A boy is conceived.’"

“Why did I not die at birth, Come forth from the womb and expire?"

Job 3:1,3,11.

"Cursed be the day when I was born; Let the day not be blessed when my mother bore me!"

"Why did I ever come forth from the womb to look on trouble and sorrow, So that my days have been spent in shame?"

Jeremiah 20:14,18.

If there is a day in the whole calendar which I hate much is this day. A celebration is for him who is alive, but people I know well, pierced the sword right through my belief, trust and faith. I'm a dead man now. Dead don't celebrate, but mourn.

For "the day of one’s death is better than the day of one’s birth." 

Ecclesiastes 7:1.

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” 

Job 1:21.

A faithful cry - Just God and His Home is all I hope with.

A faithful cry -

What hope is that I'm left with?

Counting my days to reach my home.

My Father awaits my return.

As a warrior who fought his fight faithfully.

I reach Him with fear and gladness.

At His throne I surrender as a Knight.

Fulfilling what I was commanded with.

With His mighty hand and His strength.

The Lord is my fortress and stronghold, where my soul rest in peace.

Just God and His Home is all I hope with.

As a Season followed by a Season,

Autumn followed the Spring.

Day dosen't wait for Night sky,

They just follow their time.

Time doesn't wait to keep me strengthen,

It just rolls on till I need to rest.

Lord, help me to count my days,

As I approach Your Throne of Grace.

There is nobody for anybody, is the truth to look at,

Just God and His Home is all I hope with.

Parents, Relatives, Family and Friends,

So close for a while to leave at sometime.

Riches, Strength, Men and Power are there to rely on?

But everything is just in vain.

One who made us out of mud,

and breathe into our nostrils is the One we are all left with.

This is the truth I just look at,

Just God and His Home is all I hope with.

Greed and it's fruit - a Biblical perspective.

Greed and it's fruit - a Biblical perspective. 

The Infographics Show on it's Facebook page on 10/11/2021 posted a short information about famous Pole vault champion Sergey Bubka. The information goes on like this -

"Ukrainian pole vaulter Surgey Bubka won the 1983 World Championship when he was just 19 years old and he went on to win six consecutive world titles. Eventually, Bubka became famous for breaking world record for the highest pole vault 35 times. Between 1991 and 1993, he broke the record 14 times by incremental amounts just to collect prize money in amounts of upto $100,000 each time."

On reading the post, thoughts ran on my mind about "greed", and thought of writing my views on the biblical point of view on the subject. My thoughts are as goes -

That's how you can make easy money. Know your potential first and dispose it in number of intervals. Be sure you'll get an appreciation every single time. That's it. But the Bible names it  as "greed".

The Bible is very clear about the fate or the consequences of being greedy. The Book of Proverbs 15:27 says, "The greedy bring ruin to their households..", "The greedy stir up conflict..", in Proverbs 28:25. King Solomon writing in Ecclesiastes 5:10, "Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income." In Proverbs 28:22, "The stingy are eager to get rich and are unaware that poverty awaits them." Jesus warns us in Luke 12:15, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” And the warning has a horrific destiny. Apostle Paul writing to Corinthians about who will not inherit the Kingdom of God, "Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God." (1Corinthians 6:9,10). Again writings to Ephesians, Paul says, "For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater —has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God." (Ephesians 5:5).

For those who are not greedy are will be like, "..but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf." (Proverbs 11:28), and, "..but those who trust in the LORD will prosper." (Proverbs 28:25).

We are Kings and Priests

God wanted to be a sovereign King over his people, but they denied him as king. (1Samuel 8:7), (John 18:33, 19:15).

Apostle Paul says that, Jesus was not a high priest on legal regulation about physical descent, and if He were on earth he would not be a priest (Hebrews 7:16, 8:4), but the sacrifices and offerings are the shadow of the heavenly things.

Now that we have a change in law (Hebrews 7:12).

Let's recognise who we are through His blood?

The multitude of heavenly host (Luke 2:13), saying, "And (Jesus) hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth." (Revelation 5:10).

And again in Revelation 1:6, "And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

For Jesus emptying himself (Philippians 2:7), and gave us the honour of being kings and priests of God the Father. What a great blessing we have, though ineligible.

God and Family: a Relationship

God makes Eve grow from Adam's rib, Byzantine gold ground mosaics, Cathedral of Santa Maria Nuova, Monreale Cathedral, Monreale, Province of Palermo, Sicily, Italy.

God and Family: a Relationship.

A classic verse in the Psalms which describes God's blessing on families is from Psalm 128:3, "Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table". This is a Pilgrims Psalm; a Bible Commentary says that it's a piligrimage of heart rather than of the feet.

A family would be like a father, a mother and children, which came down from our first ancestors Adam and Eve, who were made out of the hands of our Creator. Let's see some of the creation mythologies around us.

According to the Mixtec Indians of Oaxaca, Mexico, illustrate how their gods created the world. According to their cosmology, the first humans were the Primordial Twins. One Deer, with magic incense copal and ground tobacco, created the Mother and the Father of the Gods. Mother and Father then made four men and an entire constellation of spirits for crops, fire, smoke, forests, and other aspects of nature and the world.

The Chinese mythology, a giant called Pangu used his own body to create the world. Before creation, Pangu was like an egg yolk inside an egg. After eighteen thousand years, the world began to open. The light air called "Yangqi" flew up and became sky, and the heavy and wet air called "Yinqi" sank down and became earth. When Pangu breathed, his breath became wind. When he cried, his tears became oceans and rivers. After many years, Pangu died, and his head, body, and limbs turned into five famous mountains in China. Pangu created the world, but left imperfections. Because the sky was tilted at the northwest corner, the sun, moon, and other celestial bodies were not in harmonious order. The earth was lopsided because Pangu did not fill the southeast corner, causing the oceans, lakes, and rivers to pour in one direction. Nüwo, the Goddess of Creation, fixed these mistakes and then used mud to make men and women.

The Symposium by Plato (428–347 B.C.), depicts a first human as described by the playwright Aristophanes in the text: "The primeval man was round, his back and sides forming a circle; and he had four hands and four feet, one head with two faces. . . . He could walk upright as men now do." After these humans rebelled against the gods, as Zeus punished them by slicing them in two. Ever since, according to Aristophanes, humans have been driven by love into trying to reunite with their missing half to make a perfect whole.

In Egyptian creation mythology, the self created god Atum, after self impregnating himself brought out Shu and Tefnut, when they were lost in the dark waters of Nun, after finding them with the help of his eye, out of his joyful tears, sprang out men and women.

In Norse mythology the genderless giant Ymir and a Audhumla a hornless cow came out when Niflheim (ice/waters) and Muspell (fire) met. When this cow licked people from blocks of ice, the first day hair, second day his head and on the third day the shape of the whole man was revealed, whose name is Buri. Buri took wife from giants and had a son Bor, who again married another giant Bestla and had children  Odin, Vili and Ve. These three killed Ymir the giant. Out of the giants flesh made soil, his bones into mountains, his teeth into sand, the stars is the upper part of the skull, and the water was already present there. Because it's a flat earth, as to keep the waters at bay, made walls out of Ymir's eyelashes. This place is called Midgard. Midgard was empty. At the edge of the sea/waters Odin, Vili and Ve found two logs. One log was of Ash wood and the other was Elm wood. Odin breathed life into them. Vili gave them will, intelligence and made them to move. Ve carved the logs and gave them male and female genitals. The man was named Ask and the woman Embla.

Can you spot the difference, they all are believed to be true by their adherents. In creation of man and woman, some were finished by later gods, some were done in parts, some were already there, some were made out of secretions and some made out of scrap. How a god can have a loving relationship with those who are not part of his emotions or in a Biblical view who have not shared his attributes? How can the created beings find love for each other if they are not connected with one universal thing? How can they trust their Creator, if they are not one with Him?

Genesis 2:7 reads, "And the Lord formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul". To this man God brought every living creature, but still God did not find a suitable 'help' for him (v19, 20). So God made Eve out of the rib and flesh of Adam (v22), and a new relationship was born, "bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man" (v23). Now Adam has a suitable help. 'Help', in hebrew is ēzer, which has ʿAyin ע‎ Zayin ז Rēsh ר‎ as alphabets. Each and every hebrew alphabet has a specific meaning to it. To understand the word 'help', I choose to go with the original form of hebrew, which includes a Pictographic form, a Mnemonic meaning, a Syllabic meaning and a Phonetic sound. Of these I use Mnemonic meaning. Every Pictographic alphabet has a Mnemonic meaning, which has the extended meanings related to the picture (Pictographic alphabet). 

ʿAyin ע‎ 𓁹 (Ghan) = watch, pay attention, heed - as keeping a close eye on something; occupation - one paying attention to the task.

My comments : The suitable 'help' as in Ge.2:20, is a powerful caretaker of the family and keeps a strong watch over the affairs of the family.

Zayin ז 𓏭 (Zan) = tool, harvest; food - from the cutting of the crops with the tools; for storing the harvested food.

My comments : Understanding 'help' from this is, a useful tool/weapon which would work in storing of the food for the family.

Rēsh ר‎ 𓁶 (Res) = head - as top of the body; chief - the head of the tribe; rule - the role of chief; who can reason.

My comments : Through this we can understand 'help' as, one who can take up the responsibility, who can think and reason.

From the above analysis, we can understand that a wife is equal to the husband. She is no property to be owned, no inferior being and no subordinate. We can understand that a "suitable help" of Adam, his wife Eve is an equal partner who can take care of the family, who can provide, who can take up responsibility. What more can a man ask God more than this? God has great thoughts for us, He knows our needs and He knows how to meet them and He knows how to fulfill them. What more can a husband expect more than this from his wife, who is a bone of his bones, and flesh of his flesh.

The best example I can say is from the Book of Esther. King Ahasuerus (heb, Xerxes) made Esther his Queen who replaced Vashti (Es.2:17). And Haman the Amalekite(?) was been promoted in rank and gave him a higher position than all other officials (Es.3:1). His position is supposed to be a Vizer or a Prime minister to the King. He is responsible to the King, and not a subordinate to the Queen. The Queen has her place beside the King, but the Vizer can't sit beside the King. The Vizer can make a proposal to the King, for his authorization, but not to the Queen (Es.3:9,10). But a Queen doesn't have the power to over-rule the decision taken by the King, but definitely has the power to redraw a new draft or an ammendment to the order given by the King (8:1,7,8). That's the place of a suitable wife, who can refine the decisions that are going to be taken. A wife is not above or a subordinate to a husband, but an equal partner, who is an ēzer.

Till now we saw how God has a relationship with His creation. Now let's see how He intervenes in their lifestyle to be a blessing. To not to be distracted from His blessings, He gave us some commandments to be followed. These are (Exodus 20:1-17, Dt 5:6-21), the Ten Commandments, of which 4th, 7th and 10th are for a better family relationship. And I want to concentrate on the 4th commandment, "Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee", (Ex 20:12). Showing obedience to one thing results in receiving something more. The words "Honor" and "giveth" or in a different word "receive" are our focal points.

In different purposes of God's intervention in our lives, one of which He desperately wants is a relationship with us and to bless us though undeserving, out of His abundance. To bless us He demands us our faithfulness, "Honor", is one of them. Honor, in hebrew is "kābēd", which means to weigh heavily, to be heavy... It actually means a responsibility to be done. For example, if an ox has a heavy yoke on it's back, it knows that it's master has a task for it to do. In the same way, we too should feel like God through His commandment has His heavy hand laid on our shoulder expecting something from us. He is expecting Honor for Himself and for our parents as well, which in return we are honoured with the blessing. Whatever the situation might be around you, when you honor God you're blessed.

Let's see some unusual blessings of Israel. When I say Israel; from blessing within the family, some readers might think that I'm going out of context, but as parents are the head of the family, so do Israel is a family and God is the head of that family.

1. In Isaiah 26:15, "Thou hast increased the nation, O Lord, thou hast increased the nation: thou art glorified: thou hadst removed it far unto all the ends of the earth".

On reading Isaiah 26:7-15, though the Israelites has turned against their evil, and started honouring God, they are blessed by undeserving kindness of God. God is honoured by blessing them, this is how God can be trusted.

2. Psalm 22:23,24 "Ye that fear the Lord, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel. For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard".

For glorifying or honouring God, has made God to listen to our petitions, He will not hate the helpless and He will not turn away when we reach Him.

3. Jeremiah 30:18,19, "Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I will bring again the captivity of Jacob's tents, and have mercy on his dwelling places; and the city shall be builded upon her own heap, and the palace shall remain after the manner thereof. And out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of them that make merry: and I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small". 

Here we can see the Lord's hand at work. On honouring the Lord, the Lord will honor you back. 

From the above three readings, we saw how honouring God will work for our best. In the same sense, when you honor your parents, they will bless you because you've honoured them. Though you may not done your best in your life tasks, they are trying to fulfill your needs, they will not hate you when you are troubled, they will not turn their face away when you reach them, with their help you can have joyful songs, you're boundaries are enlarged, your failures will be met with possessions (the Parable of the Prodigal Son, Luke 15:11–32), your lives will be rebuilt, you will be blessed in such a way that you will be honoured before all. More so, they are happy to go into debts to bless you, this is what our Lord Jesus Christ has done for us. He paid the price of our debts and gave us a new beginning. This is how honor works. Lord blesses us in such a way, that as in "like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither.." (Psalm 1:3), and we are so blessed so blessed with abundance that our hands cannot fit to hold those blessings as like Peter, John and James were surprised by the catch though they tried all night (Luke 5:5-10). What they did was honoured the words of Jesus and rowed back into the sea again. 

In this troubled world, "Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour" (1Peter 5:8), to devour the families and your minds. This is the need of the hour to retrospect ourselves. Before closing I would like to direct you to some needful things for a happy family relationship. "Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble", "..and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought", "Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace" (1Peter 3:8, 1Coronthians 1:10, Ephesians 4:3). This is the secret of a happy and a successful family relationship.

To conclud, heading of Psalm 128 reads, "a song of ascents", "maàlāh", mean in hebrew to ascent, used as a step or stair towards Jerusalem/God. Let's always remember the above read three Scriptures and start our watchful journey step by step ascending the stairs of the throne of God to reach Him by honouring Him and showing our complete obedience towards his commandments. Amen.

A Strong Mind

A Strong Mind.

Be strong (heb: chazaq) in mind and depend upon God, while making decisions in times of trouble.

2Chronicles 16:9 reads, "For the eyes of the Lord roam throughout the earth to show himself strong for those who are wholeheartedly devoted to him."

King Asa of Judah depended upon God in when he was facing a massive army from Ethiopia (Cush). Asa depended upon God and defeated the enemy and was victorious. But at an other instance when King Baasha of Israel was invading Judah, this troubling time, Asa instead of looking towards God, Asa sought help from King Benhadad of Syria. Prophets like Azariah and Hanani encouraged Asa to depend upon God in a troubled times. Asa sometimes listened and was rewarded within his walls with peace and rest, and when stopped worshipping the Lord he faced trouble. Though he defeated a massive army once, he sought help from an idlatrous king Benhadad, named after the the son of god of storms and thunder. 

Asa meant healer, rather than being a healer for his people and his land depending upon the Lord, he looked towards idlatrous king rather than making the Lord supreme over him. Sometime we too look unto the idlatrous rulers for our benefit rather than depending upon the Lord for help. Being a small army, Asa defeated a massive army, though we in this world are a small faithful people of the Lord, we too can defeat this massive hostile vigilantes. The only thing we require is the help of the Living Lord and an untroubled heart of strong faith in a gruesome world. 

C.S.Lewis in his 1948 essay, “On Living in an Atomic Age,” his words follow, seemingly applicable today as they were 70-plus years ago.

How are we to live in an atomic age?

I am tempted to reply: “Why, as you would have lived in the sixteenth century when the plague visited London almost every year, or as you would have lived in a Viking age when raiders from Scandinavia might land and cut your throat any night; or indeed, as you are already living in an age of cancer, an age of syphilis, an age of paralysis, an age of air raids, an age of railway accidents, an age of motor accidents.

If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb when it comes find us doing sensible and human things—praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts—not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs.

They may break our bodies (a microbe can do that) but they need not dominate our minds."

Let's not be troubled in this world as like ill knowledge people, but be strong in mind and decisions to face a troublesome world. Let's be aware that the Lord is searching for his faithful.