What the Bible says about Jesus

The True Light "In him, (the Lord Jesus) was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world,…the world didn’t recognize him." John 1:4,9.
The Good Seed and the Weeds The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seeds in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. Matthew 13:24,25.

Sunday, March 26, 2023

Language Adaptation as the Best Defense for the Immigrant

 One of the primary survival skill to ensure success in your immigration long lasting process after becoming a resident.

 Written and published by Jean-Louis Mondon

Chameleon (Hebrew Koach "ko'-akh"): adapts to any climate, any situation or circumstance and creates the resources necessary - an atmosphere conducive - to it's own success.

After having spent an incubation period of six years in a chameleon egg, my eye sight afflicted by its innate stereoscopy woke up to its environment. I had gone through a metamorphosis that went beyond my sense of Cartesian analysis. The mirror only reflected kaleidoscopic dimmed lights whose alternation never ceased to engulf me in a deep and disquieting instability.

The more I looked at myself in my new habitat, the more my perception of public approval of my appearance of a weird animal in the cultural show window did not stop me from being aware of a certain internal protection against an imperceptible, but yet strongly felt erosion. This provoked in my being, a profound malaise similar to what happens to a sailor on a drifting boat, I had let go of my moorings, my roots had no more soil in to hold on to.

On the other hand, with the passing years, I have learned to accept this new nature of the chameleon. After all, it doesn´t wonder if its instinctive protection system follows the latest trends if the political, intellectual, social or artistic winds are in vogue, if he must today clothe himself in blue, red or as the order of the day dictates in green or with a bizarre costume. Adaptation , including a new language learning acquisition, if only a change of accent is a must if the immigrant´s career or being an integral part of society depends on his willingness to integrate and assimilate to his new environment.

Can we accuse the chameleon of being a weather vane? Of course not, the weather vane is blown by and follow the direction of the wind whereas the chameleon confronts the changing winds and his alarm system allows him to detect incoming danger and to trigger his inoffensive yet effective security device.

Or could we chide or blame the long lasting statesman Marquis de Talleyrand of having survived several successive governments or rulers without losing his head. Perhaps was it his reptilian composure (in French: cold blood) that allow him to keep it attached to his shoulders?

This is simply one of the adaptation mechanisms I had to develop along my life experience, without resorting to human psychology therapy, without artificial prescription or other drugs creating a false peace and illusory and ephemeral contentment.

Note from the author: Born in Algeria from 3 generations French parents, life carried me through 3 immigration processes that demanded acquiring survival skills. Learning a new language is a passport or a visa to a new way of life and demands efforts, courage, resilience and perseverance in the face of numerous challenges.

I have already survived 3 immigration successful processes and I am about to embark on another exciting journey on my 4th. Adventure. Going back home to Europe. Wish me well. 

Jean-Louis 




Thursday, March 23, 2023

A Testimony of God’s Tender Loving Care

Written and published by Jean-Louis Mondon August 2015

“A BATTERED REED HE WILL NOT BREAK OFF, AND A SMOLDERING WICK HE WILL NOT PUT OUT, UNTIL HE LEADS JUSTICE TO VICTORY. Isaiah 42:3 and Matthew 12:20. NASB

This scripture is very dear to me.
It reminds me of an experience that happened some years ago around 1995. A neighbor used to come to my house about once a week to ask for prayer and encouragement.

She had a very traumatic childhood, abused repeatedly by a stepfather,  had gained a lot of weight, didn´t do well at school, didn´t know how to read or write (she was in her mid-twenties) when I knew her.

She was a poor afflicted soul, who was on medication for a number of ailments and chronic depression. But she was sweet tender soul who loved the Lord and grateful in spite of all her life of suffering. She was also married to a wonderful, good husband who loved the Lord and loved her and took good care of her and their children.

One morning she came to talk to us as was her custom. After a chat, I wanted to pray.

You know by now that I am not a prophet, nor claim to be. At some rare times during my life the Lord in his mercy has seen it fit to show me some things, mostly for the benefit of others, insights for understanding and direction and at times to simply help or warn me or others of a dangerous, even life threatening situation.

So as I was praying and asking the Lord to show me in his Word how to minister and comfort her, suddenly I saw in my mind´s eye a candle barely burning about to be snuffed out by the movement of the air around it. I felt bad, but waited in silence to see what would happen next. Then, a hand came into view in front of the candle with a glass chimney for an old fashioned kerosene lamp and protected the weak flame from being extinguished.

Then I knew what to pray. Of course this verse came back to me and I described the scene to her explaining that the Lord was going to keep her from getting worse, that he loved her and protected her and gave her the verse. After the prayer, her whole countenance had changed, her smile came back and her face was glowing.

This picture is very similar to the holder that I gave my friend.

Candle and globe

I got up and found in the kitchen closet a small wooden frame with a mirror and a holder for a candle and of course a chimney just as I had seen.

To help her remember this divine encounter, I gave her the candle holder and the verse on a piece of paper with the date, which she put on the wall of her living room as a reminder of God´s faithfulness and blessing.

Then, as a practical illustration and memory exercise, we reenacted the scene. She lit the candle and blew on it up to the point of almost extinguishing it and then she was so happy to place the protective chimney to illustrate the verse. What a lesson it was for all of us! Those are the altars that the patriarchs of old erected in the desert as a remembrance of the goodness and the mercy of God.

Something wonderful happened to her. From that day on, she got much better, happier, her condition improved in all areas of her life. She became more confident, registered with a free reading program with a one on one tutor. Her goal was to be able to read the Bible.

One day, two years later, she announced that she had gotten her diploma and was proud to be able to show me that she could finally read the Word. What a joy and burst of thanksgiving that was as we praised the Lord loudly with tears of joy!

God is faithful and will do what he has declared and his Word will not return void but accomplish what he has sent it to do. Amen!

The Lord never ceases to amaze me how he knows exactly what we need at the precise moment we need it.

A Menina de Tranças

Composto e publicado por Jean-Louis Mondon

Abril 2010


Espero na plataforma
O trem atrasado,
O trenzinho da serra levando
Os sonhos da menina.

Nunca deixarei escapar
O balão cheio do precioso tesouro 
Dos seus ternos pensamentos
Que sua mão num gesto generoso
Confiou ao fiel mensageiro. 
O caminho da serra
É o mais árduo de trilhar
Até chegar ao luar.
 
Ondas no mar
Nuvens no ar
Cada um seguindo
Seu próprio destino.

Mas, para nós
O amor é a mais
Curta distância entre
Duas olhadas cúmplices
Descortinando-se em silêncios confiáveis
Vestindo-se de suspiros inefáveis
Na longa esperança do retorno.

Jean-Louis.

Wednesday, March 22, 2023

Breaking News: Israel is in a Dangerous Situation

How far in the future are the Bible's prophesied events?

 By Dave Hunt

How far in the future are the Bible's prophesied events? Isaiah’s prophecies end with Israel restored to her land and the Messiah reigning in peace over the entire world. We seem to be experiencing right now the very things that Isaiah foretold would lead up to the final restoration.
 
The language...is riveting:
"Who hath heard such a thing?"
"Who hath seen such things?"
"Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children."
"Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith the Lord: shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? saith thy God."
"Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn for her…"
 
Surely, a nation “born in a day” can refer only to the rebirth of Israel in 1948. It was an event unprecedented in the history of mankind.
And, as Isaiah describes, it was also a birth that was not completed in a moment. It has been in process for the more than a century and has been coming to a climax over the past sixty years. God is causing “to bring forth,” the womb is open, but Israel will not be fully birthed until she possesses all of the territory that God gave to her, as described in Genesis 15:18-21. That miraculous birth now being in process, God will not “shut the womb.” This rebirth cannot continue much longer without a full deliverance of Israel.
 
As soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children. The greatest travail in Zion’s history was without doubt the Holocaust. Had it not been for that horror and the momentary twinge of conscience among the nations of the world, the United Nations would never have voted for partition of Palestine. That vote gives Israel a legitimacy—which the UN votes against today, the Arabs still deny, and which, bit by bit, the “peace process” has been taking away. 
 
There are eyewitness reports that many Jews went to their deaths in Nazi gas chambers singing psalms of faith in God. Surely, in their distress, many must have believed in God’s promise of the Messiah and understood what it meant to them personally for eternity. No doubt many cried out to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and found mercy according to His promise: “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” There was no miraculous intervention for the victims of the Holocaust—but there will be at Armageddon.
 
Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth?...shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? This is language of assurance. We have come a long way in history. Israel has been brought to birth once again in her own land; she is surrounded by enemies who are all united to destroy her; the technology and weapons are at hand to fulfill prophecies that could not have been understood in prior generations.
 
Many prophecies are being fulfilled before our eyes. God is not going to shut it all down and wait a few more centuries. The day is at hand when Israel will be brought fully to birth! Now is the time for all mankind to make an eternal choice.

Saturday, March 18, 2023

A Reflection on Love.

Written and published by Jean-Louis Mondon

Love always hopes. When everything seems hopeless to the world, the Christian has hope in God working out His will and plan for the ultimate best.

We can do more than praying after we have prayed.

We cannot do more than praying until we have prayed.

In Corinthians, we have love defined by its nature and principles, in Ephesians Paul calls the believers to understand and grow into the dimensional aspect of love.

The Corinthians being immature needed to learn the ABCs, the rudiments of doctrine, they needed things to be spelled out for them.

In Corinthians 10:7, Paul tells them: You are looking only on the surface of things.

Again in 2 Cor 3:15 he tells them: “So fix your eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal”.

In 2 Cor 5:12, he talks about those who take pride in what is seen rather than what is in the heart.

The Corinthians had all the external trappings of religion, the experience of the emotional release that can be found in and is similar to any gathering of people coming together for whatever the happening is football game, movie, circus, concert, etc.

The danger present in the situation is that they would revert back to the kind of worship and life style that was prevalent in Corinth among the pagan cults they came out of and wouldn’t know the difference.

This is why Paul took time to explain to them the principles of godly agape love, not some kind of philosophical, cerebral, ethereal, or emotional kind of love, but a love that has practical application in its outward manifestation as willful and deliberate attitudes of the heart, a relational love resulting in works of love.

Now contrast this with the prayer found in Ephesians 3:16 through 3:19

Paul's Prayer for the Ephesians

I ask that out of the riches of His glory He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being,17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. Then you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 will have power, together with all the saints, to comprehend the length and width and height and depth 19of the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.…

If in Corinthians Paul writes about the nature of love and what to do, in Ephesians, he writes about the dimensional aspect of love and how this love is manifested.

The qualities and nature of Christ’s love as it is expressed through the believer’s life have width, length, height and depth which implies the ability to be measured and the possibility of increasing.

Sometimes, time and space which we consider to be limitations in the natural state of man can be turned around for our ultimate good and our benefit in the development of the qualities of love, if we understand them properly and apply them accordingly in their dimensional aspects and grow into “being filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” that Paul speaks of in Ephesians 3:19.

Psalms 71 declares:“My mouth will tell of your righteousness, of your salvation all day long though I do not know its measure”.



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