Pages

Friday, July 31, 2009

IAR TU TRAESTI SI NU AI VIATA

Fiul nerisipitor

Costache Ioanid

Cu cel ce nu-i decât un ciob,
cu un hoinar te bucuri, tată.
Eu ţi-am dus greul ca un rob
şi n-ai fost vesel niciodată.

- Da, fiul meu, tu ai robit,
dar eu te-aştept de-o veşnicie
ca să-mi slujeşti ca fiu iubit,
din dragoste, nu pe simbrie…

- Cu-acest fugar, cu-acest proclet
petreci sub viţă şi sub cetini.
Şi mie nu mi-ai dat un ied
ca să mă bucur cu prieteni.

- O, nu un ied, ci zeci de zeci
ţi i-aş fi dat, căci se cuvine.
dar tu voiai ca să petreci,
vai, cu prietenii, nu cu mine…

- I-ai dat inel împărătesc
si mantie de in cu ciucuri.
Iar eu de ani şi ani trudesc,
şi tu de mine nu te bucuri.

- Tu eşti al meu. Dar eşti pustiu.
El s-a întors din foc şi gheaţă!
El a fost mort şi azi e viu,
iar tu trăieşti şi nu ai viaţă.

Amin!

http://barzilaiendan.wordpress.com/

Thursday, July 30, 2009

"The Motions"-Matthew West


Video montage to inspire and challenge you to live as an all-out, sell-out for Christ; and not just go through "the motions."

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Days of Praise
Five Commands
July 30, 2009
"Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ." (1 Peter 1:13)
In our text and the succeeding two verses, five commands are given to the believer striving to live a godly life. Let us look briefly at each one:
Gird up the loins of your mind: Using the long, flowing robes worn by most in Greek societies as a word picture, Peter commands us to gird up our minds, just as such a robe needed to be gathered up in preparation for strenuous activity. We need to discipline our minds for action.
Be sober: A drunken person has a disoriented mind, lacks self-control, and is not alert to his surroundings. We are commanded to maintain a calm and thoughtful state of mind, in full control of all our actions.
Hope to the end, or "patiently fix your hope": We must recognize that He is in control and patiently wait for Him. The focus of our expectation is His grace, which we presently experience, but which will be fully granted us at His return.
Not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance (v. 14): This phrase is translated "be not conformed" in Romans 12:2 and commands us not to adopt the world’s lifestyle and thought patterns, especially our "former lusts," which enslaved us before our conversion.
But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy (v. 15): God is first and foremost a holy God, and we are called to "fashion" ourselves after Him. Complete holiness is out of our reach this side of glory, but it should be our goal.
All five are commands indeed, but commands three and five are in an emphatic position in the Greek, and these two hold the key to success in the others. Only by patiently fixing our hope on Him and His grace can we successfully strive for His holiness. JDM

Monday, July 27, 2009

Three Lessons on Suffering

by William J. Stuntz


Bill Stuntz, Harvard Law professor, delivered this essay in March 2009. Enjoy more of Bill's thoughts in this interview with Jeff Barneson, or take a peek at Professor Stuntz' originally posted sermon.

Survivors of some horrible plague or battle often find themselves wracked with guilt: why did I live while so many died? Though I had no battle scars, I used to feel a similar sense of guilt. I married the only woman I’ve ever loved. We have three terrific children whom Ruth and I adore and who, much to our surprise, actually seem to like their parents. (I don’t know how that happened.) I have a secure job that I enjoy and that pays well. Sometimes I would ask God: Why have you been so kind to me? Why have I gotten such an easy life?

Bill Stuntz

I don’t ask those questions anymore. A little over nine years ago, when driving home from a family vacation, my car got a flat tire. When I started to change it, something nasty happened at the base of my back. Ever since, my lower back and the top half of my right leg have hurt. I had had a back operation as a teenager in the mid-1970s — they call it a fusion; the doctors take bone from your hip and lock two vertebrae together so they can’t move. After two more fusions, dozens of injections, physical therapy, psychotherapy, and thousands of pills, my back and right leg hurt every waking moment. Most of those moments, they hurt a lot. Living with chronic pain is like having an alarm clock taped to your ear with the volume turned up — and you can’t turn it down. You can’t run from it: the pain goes where you go and stays where you stay. Chronic pain is the unwelcome guest who will not leave when the party is over.

A few months after my back turned south, my family and I moved north: we lived in Charlottesville, Virginia until the summer of 2000, when I accepted a job at Harvard and we moved to New England. Our family began to come apart. One of our children suffered a life-threatening disease, and Ruth’s and my marriage unraveled. Those crises faded with time but left deep scars. Early last year, another piece of bad news rocked my life’s foundation. In February 2008, doctors found a large tumor in my colon; a month later, films turned up tumors in both of my lungs. In the past year, I’ve had two cancer surgeries, and between five and six months of intensive chemotherapy. I’ve been off chemo for a few months, but I’m still nauseous much of the time and exhausted most of the time. Cancer kills, but cancer treatment steals — it takes a portion of cancer patients’ lives, as though one were dying in stages. Some of that stolen life returns when the treatment stops. But only some.

Today, my back and (especially) my right leg hurt as much as they ever have, and the odds are overwhelming that they will hurt for as long as this life lasts. Cancer will very probably kill me sometime in the next two years. I’m fifty years old.

Such stories are common, yet widely misunderstood. Two misunderstandings are worth noting here. First, illness does not beget virtue. Cancer and chronic pain make me sick; they don’t make me good. I am who I was, only more diseased. Second, though I deserve every bad thing that has ever happened to me, those things didn’t happen because I deserve them. Life in a fallen world is more arbitrary than that. Plenty of people deserve better from life than I do, but get much worse. Some deserve worse, and get much better. Something important follows: The question we are most prone to ask when hardship strikes — why me? — makes no sense. That question presupposes that pain, disease, and death are distributed according to moral merit. They aren’t. We live in a world in which innocent children starve while moral monsters prosper. We may see justice in the next life, but we see little of it in this one.

Thankfully, God gives better and more surprising gifts to those living in hard times. Three gifts are especially sweet. First, our God enjoys healing broken bodies — but that’s not all He enjoys. He also relishes redeeming the brokenness: using the worst things in our lives to bring about the best things. Second, Jesus saves sinners — but that’s not all He does. By willingly accepting the worst suffering imaginable, Christ forever changed the character of living with pain and disease. Third, our God remembers us in our suffering — but passionless memory isn’t all He feels for those made in His image. Incredibly, the God of the Universe actually longs for and grieves with us in the midst of our hardship.

Consider those gifts in turn, and begin with the most surprising one: God usually doesn’t remove life’s curses. Instead, he redeems them.

Joseph’s story makes the point. Joseph’s brothers were jealous of him and sold him into slavery, after which he was taken to Egypt. There, he was a servant in Potiphar’s house, where Potiphar’s wife made advances on him which Joseph quite properly refused. Potiphar’s wife accused Joseph of trying to rape her, whereupon Joseph was thrown in a dungeon. The story then takes a strange turn. Because Joseph is in that dungeon, he winds up being in a position to interpret Pharaoh’s dream, after which Joseph is taken out of the dungeon and becomes, in effect, Pharaoh’s prime minister. In that role, Joseph makes sure that enough grain is stored away to keep the nation from starving in the midst of the drought he knows is coming. The drought comes, and the nation survives.

Joseph was victimized by two horrible injustices: one at the hands of his brothers, the other thanks to Potiphar’s wife. God did not undo those injustices; they remained real and awful. Instead, God used those wrongs to prevent a much worse one: mass starvation. When Joseph later met with his brothers, he said this about the transaction that started the train rolling: “You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.” That doesn’t mean that slavery and unjust imprisonment are good: rather, the point is that they produced good, and the good they produced was larger than the wickedness that was visited on Joseph. Evil was twisted back on itself, like a gun barrel turned so that it aims at the would-be murderer firing the weapon.

Joseph’s story foreshadows the central story of the gospels. The worst day in human history was the day of Christ’s crucifixion, which saw the worst possible punishment visited on the One who, in all history, least deserved it. Two more sunrises and the Son rose: the best day in human history, the day when God turned death itself against itself — and because He did so, each one of us has the opportunity to share in death’s defeat.

That is our God’s trademark: He takes lemons and makes lemonade. Acorns fall to the ground, and great oaks arise in their place. Farmers scatter fertilizer across their fields — think about what that means — and life-sustaining food grows from them. Dirt and water provide the nourishment through which the loveliest flowers bloom. Down to go up, life from death, beauty from ugliness: the pattern is everywhere.

Christians err when we imagine that God is supposed to heal all our diseases. That is not promised to us, not in this life. More the opposite: Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble” not “might have,but “will have.” But while God does not offer to take my cancer or my pain away, He offers something even better: that good will come from those illnesses, and that the good will be larger than the suffering it redeems. Romans 8:28 says that “in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him.” Cancer and chronic pain remain ugly, killing things, enemies of all who love life and beauty. But try as they might, those enemies do not get the last word. Our pain is not empty; we do not suffer in vain. When life strikes hard blows, what we do has value. God sees to it. That is an enormous mercy.

The second gift is often missed, because it lives in salvation’s shadow. Amazing as that greatest of all gifts is, God the Son does more than save sinners. Jesus’ life and death also change the character of suffering, give it dignity and weight and even, sometimes, a measure of beauty. Cancer and chronic pain remain ugly things, but the enterprise of living with them is not an ugly thing. God’s Son so decreed when He gave Himself up to be tortured and killed. Two facts give rise to that conclusion. First, Jesus is beautiful as well as good. Second, suffering is ugly as well as painful. Talk to those who suffer medical conditions like mine and you’ll hear this refrain: even the best-hidden forms of pain and disease have a reality that is almost tactile, as though one could touch or taste them. And those conditions are foul, like the sound of fingernails on a blackboard or the smell of a cornered skunk. Some days, I feel as though I were wearing clothes soaked in sewage.

Some days — but not most days, thanks to the manner of Jesus’ life and death. Imagine Barack Obama putting on a bad suit or Angelina Jolie wearing an ugly dress. The suit wouldn’t look bad, and that dress wouldn’t be ugly. These are incredibly attractive people. Their attractiveness spills over onto their clothing, changes its meaning, changes the way other people respond to it. If Obama or Jolie wear it, it’s a good-looking outfit. If they wear it often enough, it becomes a good-looking outfit even when you or I wear it. God’s Son did something similar by taking physical pain on his divine-yet-still-human Person. He did not render pain itself beautiful. But His suffering made the enterprise of living with pain and illness larger and better than it had been before. He elevates all He touches. Just as His years of carpentry in Joseph’s shop lend dignity and value to all honest work, so too the pain He bore lends dignity and value to every pain-filled day human beings live.

A great line from a great movie captures that reality. The Shawshank Redemption is about a prisoner convicted of a murder he didn’t commit. That prisoner escapes by crawling through a sewer line until he’s outside the prison walls. The narrator describes the transaction this way: “He crawled through a river of [dung] and came out clean on the other side.” God the Son did that, and He did it for the likes of me — so that I too, and many more like me, might come out clean on the other side. That truth doesn’t just change my life after I die. It changes my life here, now.
The third gift
is the most remarkable. Our God remembers even His most forgettable children. But that memory is not the dry, lifeless thing we feel when one or another old friend comes to mind. More like the passion one feels at the sight of a lover.

The foreign-ness of that kind of memory is apparent in a transaction that happened while Jesus was being crucified. One of the two convicts executed with him said this: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus responded by telling him that he would be in paradise that very day. As we use the word “remember,” that story sounds off, as though the thief on the cross and the Son of God were talking past each other.

The story sounds off because the concept of remembrance means something very different in Scripture than in our culture. To us, remembrance means recall — I remember when I connect a student’s name to her face, or when I can summon up some fact or the image of some past event. That kind of remembrance is a sterile enterprise, lacking both action and commitment. In the Bible, remembrance usually combines two meanings: first, holding the one who is remembered close in the heart of the one doing the remembering; and second, acting on the memory. When God repeatedly tells the people of Israel to remember that He brought them out of Egypt, He says much more than “get your history right.” A better paraphrase would go like this: “Remember that I have loved you passionately. Remember that I have acted on that love. Hold tight to that memory, and you act on it too.”

Job understood that sensibility. Speaking with God Himself about what will follow Job’s death, he utters these words: “You will call, and I will answer. You will long for the creature Your hands have made. Surely then You will count my steps but not keep track of my sin.” Notice how memory and longing are fused. Job longs to be free of his many pains, which occupy his mind like a sea of unwanted memories. God longs for relationship with Job, and Job knows it: hence his belief that the Lord of the Universe remembers each of his steps but forgets his many sins. Satan seeks to use those pains to destroy that relationship. But our God is not so easily defeated. He is the lover who will not rest until His arms enfold the beloved. To Job, the curses Satan has sent his way are a mighty mountain that cannot be climbed, an enemy army that cannot be beaten. In the shadow of God’s love, those curses are at once puny and powerless.

Our faith is no mere set of abstract propositions.

Philosophers and scientists and law professors (my line of work) are not the people in the best position to understand the Christian story. Musicians and painters and writers of fiction are much better situated — because the Christian story is a story, not a theory or an argument and definitely not a moral or legal code. Our faith is, to use C.S. Lewis’ apt words, the myth that became fact. Our faith is a painting so captivating that you can’t take your eyes off it. Our faith is a love song so achingly beautiful that you weep each time you hear it. At the center of that myth, that painting, that song stands a God who does vastly more than remember His image in us. He pursues us as lovers pursue one another. It sounds too good to be true, and yet it is true. So I have found, in the midst of pain and heartache and cancer. So may you find in the midst of your own hard times.

Each of us longs for that God. Though I haven’t always realized it, I’ve longed for Him all my life. Here’s the amazing news: He longs for me, and He longs for you too. God grant that we would remember that truth, and act on it.

Bill Stuntz is the Henry J. Friendly Professor at Harvard Law School. Below, you’ll find his interview with Jeff Barneson, featured at Following Christ 2008 .

Dr. Bill Stuntz from twentyonehundred productions on Vimeo.

Comments:

Thank you for writing this essay. I really needed to hear your point of view on
pain and heartache. So many of my family and friends are into the new "name it and claim it" prosperity theology and have made me feel as if my faith is impotent. I have been longing for a modern writer to say what the old theologians (ie: C.S. Lewis ) used to say, that pain and trouble are not evidences that you do not have proper faith. The proclaimed message today is that if you have the "right" faith, you will see only blessings in your life. If those blessings are not there, then we can judge you to be a deficient Christian. What an extra burden to bear when all around you swirl bodily pain, family difficulties, job loss, grief, longings for service you cannot render, disappointments and death of loved ones. I believe satan (not capitalized on purpose) has won a great victory against the modern church by convincing a huge majority that Christianity is just a good insurance policy with great benefits. Just plug in and all will be well. I never understand what they do with the Apostle Paul's life.

Thank you for your brilliantly written interpretation of the "Christian condition".Sincerely,

Rebecca Morris

Sunday, July 26, 2009

O, iarta-mi, Te rog, Doamne;

http://psalmdedor.blogspot.com/2009/07/o-iarta-mi-te-rog-doamne.html

Pr. Marian Marcus - "O, iarta-mi, Te rog, Doamne"

O, iarta-mi, Te rog, Doamne;

Cântă Pr. Marian Mărcuş

O, iartă-mi, Te rog, Doamne, atâtea rugăciuni
prin care-Ţi cer doar pâine şi pază şi minuni,
căci am făcut adesea din Tine robul meu,
nu eu s-ascult de Tine, ci Tu, de ce spun eu. (bis)

În loc să vreau eu, Doamne, să fie voia Ta,
Îţi cer, şi-Ţi cer întruna să faci Tu voia mea;
Îţi cer s-alungi necazul, să nu-mi trimiţi ce vreai,
ci să-mi slujeşti în toate, să-mi dai, să-mi dai, să-mi dai... (bis)

Gândindu-mă că, dacă Îţi cânt şi Te slăvesc,
am drept să-Ţi cer întruna să faci tot ce doresc...
O, iartă-mi felu-acesta nebun de-a mă ruga
şi-nvaţă-mă ca altfel să stau în faţa Ta!... (bis)

Nu tot cerându-Ţi Ţie să fii Tu robul meu,
ci Tu cerându-mi mie, iar robul să fiu eu.
Să înţeleg că felul cel bun de-a mă ruga
e să doresc ca-n toate să fie voia Ta. (bis)
Publicat de Sorin M. la 23:29

Friday, July 24, 2009

24 IULIE UMBLAREA PRIN CREDINTA
"Cel neprihanit va trai prin credinta" (Evrei 10:38)
Nu este usor sa umbli prin credinta. Cand te hotarasti sa te increzi in Dumnezeu, sansele iti stau de obicei impotriva. Iti aduci aminte de Noe? Cand a construit arca nu plouase de multa vreme! Rezultatul nu este totdeauna cel asteptat. Umblarea prin credinta nu inseamna ca problemele tale se vor evapora dintr-odata. Uneori credinta nu schimba circumstantele in care te gasesti, ci te schimba pe tine dandu-ti tenacitatea de a rezista cand nu mai ai bani, cand doctorul iti spune "este cancer", cand sotia/sotul iti cere divortul, copiii o iau razna sau cand firma la care lucrezi de 30 de ani isi inchide portile. Credinta iti da taria de a indura toate aceste lucruri, increzator fiindca Dumnezeu lucreaza pentru tine. "Credinta este o incredere neclintita in lucrurile nadajduite, o puternica incredintare despre lucrurile care nu se vad. Pentru ca prin aceasta, cei din vechime au capatat o buna marturie" (Evrei 11:1-2).
Asadar umblarea prin credinta inseamna:
a) sa te increzi in credinciosia lui Dumnezeu;
b) sa calci pe urmele unor oameni obisnuiti care au facut lucruri extraordinare;
c) sa-ti folosesti credinta, caci ea este moneda cerului.
Cand Biblia spune: "Cel neprihanit va trai prin credinta" aceasta nu se refera la izbucniri sporadice. Nu, ci ea vorbeste despre un stil de viata! Toata lumea poate rezista cateva runde in ring; dar cand ai fost doborat in runda a noua ai nevoie de credinta de a te ridica si de a continua lupta. Cand avionul in care te afli intalneste o zona de turbulente, nu iti arunci biletul si nu iesi afara, ci stai pe loc si ai incredere in pilot. Asadar ignora circumstantele, detroneaza-ti indoielile si incepe sa umbli prin credinta!

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Monday, July 20, 2009


Cele mai frumoase poveşti de dragoste… - MARIUS CRUCERU

Sînt cele cu bătrîni. Nu am spus-o eu. Nu mai ştiu cine a spus-o. Conu Paleologu? Cele mai frumose poveşti de dragoste nu sînt în genul Romeo şi Julieta, cu tineri prospeţi, cu vine ascunse bine în carne, păr pe cap, dantură perfectă şi fără burţi.

Cele mai frumose poveşti de dragoste sînt în genul celor Conu Leonida faţă cu reacţiunea, în care o femeie de aproape 60 de ani, Efimiţa, se uită cu admiraţie la bărbatu-său şi spune: Ei! cum le spui dumneata, să tot stai s-asculţi; ca dumneata, bobocule, mai rar cineva….

Cîtă dulceaţă! Cîtă admiraţie!

Curaj în iubire este să rămîi îndrăgostit şi plin de admiraţie faţă de cineva încercat de chelie şi varice, riduri şi piele lăsată. Aceasta este o iubire extraordinară şi inexplicabilă, care acopere tot, orice defect al celei iubite, crede tot, orice poveste a celui iubit, nădăjduieşte tot, împotriva oricărei nădejdi că cea iubită se va schimba, sufere tot, încercînd să recupereze permanent relaţia.

Romanticii îşi ucid îndrăgostiţii. Nu au curajul să îi lase să îmbătrînească. Vă puteţi imagina un Romeo cu burtă, o Julieta încreţită toată şi cu osteoporoză?


Curajul de a îmbătrîni împreună este mai admirabil ca dragostea fierbinte din primii ani ai răsăritului în care tot trupul nostru bombardat de hormoni ne ajută. Fenomenală este dragostea rezistentă atunci cînd trupul s-a ofilit, cînd adrenalina şi estrogenul s-au risipit şi cînd tot ce mai rămîne este parfumul iubirii autentice.

***
Era pe la începutul anilor 90. Richard Wurbrand a venit în Bucureşti. Era după o călătorie lungă. Trebuia să predice la Biserica Sfînta Treime din Iuliu Valahori. Serviciul religios începuse. Maşina specială care îl transporta pe fratele Richard întîrzia. M-am nimerit pe acolo în momentul în care maşina a ajuns, căruciorul a fost coborît, iar fratele Richard se pregătea să intre în biserică pentru a-şi începe predica. Era slăbit şi călătoria lungă îi provocase dureri.

Sora Sabina s-a aplecat spre el, l-a îmbrăţişat cu drag şi i-a şoptit ceva la ureche. A fost o scenă ameţitoare. Probabil una dintre cele mai frumose scene de dragoste pe care le-am văzut. Faţa fratelui Richard s-a schimbat, sîngele i-a coborît în obraji, parcă durerea îi fusese anesteziată de un sărut prelung.

Ce a urmat au auzit şi ceilalţi. Cei cîţiva tineri care ne-am aflat atunci împrejur am văzut cum arată o căsnicie privită dinspre căpătul celălalt, dragostea care devine mai bună cu trecerea, ca o rodie, mai puternică şi aromată, ca vinul, mai solidă şi de nezdruncinat ca trunchiul copacului adînc înfipt tot mai adînc înfipt cu anii în ţărînă.

Doi bătrîni ţinîndu-se cu drag de mînă în miezul zilei este un act eroic, o poveste mai vrednică de povestit decît o mie şi una de nopţi cu poveşti de tinereţe.

Înţeleptul spune în Eclesiast 7:8 Mai bun este sfârşitul unui lucru decât începutul lui… şi

Evrei 13:7 Aduceţi-vă aminte de mai marii voştri, care v-au vestit Cuvântul lui Dumnezeu; uitaţi-vă cu băgare de seamă la sfârşitul felului lor de vieţuire şi urmaţi-le credinţa!

De ce nu, şi nădejdile şi dragostea?

24 martie 2009

Idei despre casatorie (empirice)

“Cu o sotie buna necazul e pe jumatate, iar bucuria dubla.”
Proverb rusesc
“O femeie cu suflet bun e ca o comoara; cine o gaseste nu trebuie sa se laude ca o are.”
La Rochefoucauld
“Se pare ca vremea in care ne apreciem cel mai mult partenerul este inainte de casatorie si dupa funeralii.
Autor necunoscut
“Barbatul care se lauda ca n-a facut nicio greseala in viata are o sotie care nu poate spune acelasi lucru.”
Autor necunoscut
“Familia este aceea care face omul sa treaca de la egoism la altruism.”
Auguste Comte
“Se spune ca dragostea e oarba; casatoria este cea mai sigura cale de vindecare.”
Autor necunoscut
“Un barbat trebuie sa se casatoreasca numai cu acea femeie pe care ar fi ales-o ca prieten daca ar fi fost barbat.”
Joubert
“Nunta de aur este cea mai impresionanta dovada de spirit tolerant.”
Autor necunoscut
“In partile rurale ale Japoniei rudele sunt cele care aleg sotia pentru mire, care o cunoaste abia dupa cununie. In America obiceiurile sunt total diferite, insa rezultatul este … acelasi.”
Autor necunoscut
“O casnicie reusita este aceea in care te indragostesti de mai multe ori , insa de aceeasi persoana.”
Autor necunoscut
“O sotie ideala nu se asteapta sa aibe un sot ideal.”
Autor necunoscut
“Inainte de a te grabi sa-i critici sotiei defectele, adu-ti aminte ca tocmai ele au impiedicat-o pe sotia ta sa se casatoreasca cu un sot mai bun.”
Autor necunoscut
“Un barbat nu este niciodata atat de bun cum il credea sotia inainte de nunta, si nici atat de rau cum il crede dupa aceea.”
Autor necunoscut
“Daca ai ajuns sa crezi ca-ti iubesti sotia prea mult, n-ai ajuns inca sa o iubesti cat trebuie.”
Autor necunoscut
“O femeie frumoasa place ochilor, o femeie buna place inimii; una este o bijuterie, cealalta este o comoara.”
Napoleon
“Daca vrei sa fi tratat acasa ca un rege, trateaza-ti sotia ca pe o regina!”
Autor necunoscut
“Nu te casatori pentru bani! Ii poti imprumuta mult mai ieftin.”
Autor necunoscut
“Sotul (sotia ) este mangaierea sotiei (sotului ) pentru necazurile pe care nu le-ar fi avut daca nu s-ar fi casatorit.”
Autor necunoscut
“Casatoria este ultima noastra sansa de a ne maturiza.”
Joseph Barth
“Nu diferenta dintre cei doi doare, ci in-diferenta…”
Autor necunoscut
“Cand vrei sa te casatoresti, cauta o femeie cu care vei putea discuta intelligent cel putin 50 de ani.”
Proverb francez
“Casatoreste-te numai atunci cand esti dispus sa sacrifici admiratia multora pentru critica unei singure persoane.”
Autor necunoscut
“Casatoria aduce nenumarate suferinte, dar celibatul nu aduce nicio placere.
Samuel Johnson
“Celibatarul nu are valoarea pe care o dobandeste prin casatorie; el seamana
cu jumatatea desperecheata a unei foarfeci.”
Benjamin Franklin
“Adevaratul camin nu e cladit cu mainile, ci cu inima.”
Autor necunoscut
“Casnicia este o conversatie lunga, pigmentata cu dispute.”
Robert Louis Stevenson
“Casnicia este trei parti iubire si sapte parti iertarea pacatelor.”
Langdon Mitchel
“Casnicia este o carte in care primul capitol e scris in versuri, restul fiind scris in proza.”
Beverley Nichols
Sursa : Depozitarul lui Dumnezeu

Friday, July 17, 2009

Are You Washed in the Blood?

– Elisha A. Hoffman, 1878

Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing pow’r?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Are you fully trusting in His grace this hour?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

Are you washed in the blood,
In the soul-cleansing blood of the Lamb?
Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

Are you walking daily by the Savior’s side?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Do you rest each moment in the Crucified?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

When the Bridegroom cometh will your robes be white?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Will your soul be ready for the mansions bright,
And be washed in the blood of the Lamb?

Lay aside the garments that are stained with sin,
And be washed in the blood of the Lamb;
There’s a fountain flowing for the soul unclean,
Oh, be washed in the blood of the Lamb!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNGDTTiM_v4&feature=related

Versiunea in limba romana:

Curăţit eşti de păcat şi înnoit
Prin sfânt sângele al Lui Isus
Eşti născut din nou, de patimi mântuit
Prin sfânt sângele al Lui Isus.

Vrei să fii mântuit
Şi de tot păcatul curăţit
Vin’ te spală pe Golgota-n sânge sfânt
Şi ascultă de-al Lui Isus cuvânt.

Când sfinţit eşti prin sângele Lui Hristos
Îi cânţi laudă Lui ne-ncetat,
Nimic nu e mai plăcut şi mai frumos
Decât să te păzeşti de păcat.

Când satan te vede că aşa trăieşti
Şi prin sângele sfânt eşti spălat,
Te încearcă-ntr-una, dar îl biruieşti
Şi el pleacă atunci ruşinat.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Days of Praise
Tears in Heaven
July 16, 2009
"He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it." (Isaiah 25:8)
It may be surprising to learn there are tears in heaven, but there are three places in the Bible where we are told that God will wipe away our tears there. This promise appears first in the Old Testament in our text--a text which is quoted in the New Testament as applying to the events of the second coming of Christ. "Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" (1 Corinthians 15:54-55). The graves will be emptied and death itself will die when Christ comes again! But there will still be those tears, even after death, which God must wipe away.
The other two occurrences are in the last book of the Bible, both again in the context of the return of Christ, "|who| shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." Finally, in the new Jerusalem, "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away" (Revelation 7:17; 21:4).
But why should there be tears at all when death has passed away? The Scriptures do not say specifically why, but it seems probable that these may be tears of regret at lost opportunities, and tears of sorrow for unsaved friends and loved ones. It does say that, in the new earth, we shall somehow "look upon" the lost (Isaiah 66:22, 24) and that even some of the saved "shall suffer loss" when their works in this life do not "abide" in the judgment (1 Corinthians 3:13-15). But then, after these tears are shed, God will graciously wipe them away, and there will never be sorrow or crying anymore. HMM
Institute for Creation Research | 1806 Royal Lane | Dallas | TX | 75229
www.icr.org/change

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

B-I-B-L-E...Basic Information Before Leaving Earth.

15 IULIE "ISSUMAGIJOUJUNGNAINERMIK"
"Cum v-a iertat Hristos, asa iertati-va si voi" (Coloseni 3:13)
Intr-o comedie, Joe se plange lui Jerry despre obiceiul suparator al unui prieten comun care ii impunge cu degetul in piept pe oameni atunci cand vorbeste cu ei. Apoi Joe ii arata lui Jerry o mica sticluta cu nitroglicerina puternic explozibila atasata de o sfoara si explica: "Mi-am infasurat-o in jurul gatului, iar sticluta atarna pe locul unde ma va impunge cu degetul. Data viitoare cand face asta, i-o platesc!" Dar si Joe va plati! Fiindca ochi pentru ochi devine dinte pentru dinte, job pentru job si reputatie pentru reputatie! Pavel spune: "Cum v-a iertat Hristos, asa iertati-va si voi". Treci peste situatie inainte sa se transforme in ura! Misionarii moravieni au cautat un cuvant pentru iertare in limba eschimosilor. Atunci au descoperit cuvantul ISSUMAGIJOUJUNGNAINERMIK, un incurca-limba de 24 de litere care inseamna "a nu mai putea sa te gandesti la asta". Iertarea autentica inseamna sa mergi mai departe si sa refuzi sa te mai gandesti la ce s-a intamplat.
Este simplu sa-l ierti pe cel din trafic ce ti-a taiat calea, dar repetarea ofensei asa cum a facut Saul, care a continuat sa-l urmareasca si sa-l ameninte pe David, trebuie adusa inaintea lui Dumnezeu. Nu trebuie sa sustii un astfel de comportament sau sa te prefaci ca nu s-a intamplat nimic. Fii plin de mila, dar pastreaza distanta. Dupa ce s-a confruntat cu Saul, David nu l-a invitat la cina. Biblia spune: "Saul a plecat acasa, iar David si oamenii lui s-au suit in locul intarit" (1 Samuel 24:22). Il poti ierta pe cel ce ti-a gresit fara sa urmaresti a avea o relatie personala cu el. Pavel scrie: "sa va feriti de cei ce fac dezbinari si tulburare impotriva invataturii pe care ati primit-o. Departati-va de ei" (Romani 16:17). Iertarea nu este o nebunie; ea inseamna sa-l vezi pe cel care ti-a gresit prin ochii lui Dumnezeu.


--
"Pe Cel ce n-a cunoscut nici un păcat, El(D-zeu), L-a făcut păcat pentru noi, ca noi să fim neprihănirea lui Dumnezeu în El." 2Cor.5:21

Inteligenta fara dragoste, te face pervers.
Justitia fara dragoste, te face implacabil.
Diplomatia fara dragoste, te face ipocrit.
Succesul fara dragoste, te face arogant.
Bogatia fara dragoste, te face avar.
Supunerea fara dragoste, te face servil.
Saracia fara dragoste, te face orgolios.
Frumusetea fara dragoste, te face ridicol.
Autoritatea fara dragoste, te face tiran.
Munca fara dragoste, te face sclav.
Simplitatea fara dragoste, isi pierde valoarea.
Vorbele fara dragoste, te fac introvertit.
Legea fara dragoste, te supune.
Politica fara dragoste, te face egoist.
Credinta fara dragoste, te face fanatic.
Crucea fara dragoste, reprezinta tortura.

VIATA FARA DRAGOSTE...ISI PIERDE SENSUL.

"DUMNEZEU ESTE DRAGOSTE". 1Ioan4:8

Cu multa stima si respect
Viorel Balaian

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Home
FIND A RADIO STATION:
GOING DEEPER ARCHIVE
2008 China Earthquake

Tent Update Video
Video Clip


Africa Programs

Capital Christian Ministries Website
Ministry of Hope Website


Against All Odds

Renee Bondi's Website
VIDEO - Renee Bondi


Amish School Shooting

Deliver Us From Evil
The Events


Bible in 90 Days

90 Day Bookmark
BibleIn90Days.org
Blog
Ted Cooper Testimony - Part 1
Ted Cooper Testimony - Part 2
Ted Cooper's Story
TV News Report from Waterville
Video Trailer


Biblical Archaeology

Archaeology & the Bible with Dr. James Hoffmeier
Archaeology & the Bible with Dr. James Hoffmeier (part 2)
Archaeology & the City of God
Archaeology Bible Sample
Archaeology Bible Video
Faith Meets History - with Dr. Walter Kaiser
Is the Old Testament True?
James Hoffmeier
Mount Sinai
Pictures of the Alphabet Discovery
Tel Zayit Inscription Info
What Is Your Exodus?
When History Reveals the Past


Brother Andrew

About Brother Andrew
Links
Secret Believers (Part 1)
Secret Believers (Part 2)


China 2008

The Tentmakers Freedom
VIDEO - Canaan Hymns


Christians You Should Know

Afshin Javid
Amy Carmichael & Elisabeth Elliot
Charles Spurgeon
Donald Grey Barnhouse
George Whitefield
How Spurgeon Met Jesus
John & Charles Wesley
Jonathan Edwards
Katherine von Bora
Lilias Trotter
Octavius Winslow
Oswald Chambers
Robert Taylor
Selena, Countess of Huntington
Spurgeon on Depression
Submit a Story
VIDEO - Afshin Javid
William Borden


Christmas Poetry

A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Light
A Christmas Prayer
Christmas Bells


Close Calls: Affair-Proofing Your Marriage

Close Calls - Part 1
Close Calls - Part 2
Friendship Quiz


Coaching for Jesus

CoachesOutreach.org
Program with Tommy Maxwell
Tommy Maxwell's Biography


Da Vinci Code

Exploring The Da Vinci Code with Lee Strobel
Exploring The Da Vinci Code with Lee Strobel (part 2)
Lee Strobel's Website


Debt-Proof Living

Program #1 with Mary Hunt
Program #2 with Mary Hunt
Program #3 with Mary Hunt
VIDEO - Mary Hunt
Visit Mary's Website


Disaster Preparedness

Kathy & Tom Rainey Links


Donald Grey Barnhouse

Your Right To Heaven


Engaging The Shack

Dr. John Stackhouse's Blog
Encounter the Living God
Program with Dr. John Stackhouse
The Shack with William P. Young (part 2)
The Shack with William�P.�Young
VIDEO - Dr. John Stackhouse


Fernando Ortega

VIDEO - Sing to Jesus


Gary Chapman

VIDEO - Gary Chapman on Love Is A Verb


Have a New Kid by Friday

Have a New Kid by Friday - Video
Part I with Kevin Leman
Part II with Kevin Leman
The Deception of Perfection


Haven Music

Buy Haven Music!


Haven's 75th Anniversary

75th Anniversary Program
VIDEO - Bob Bowman recalls the first days of the Haven of Rest Quartet


Health and Fitness

VIDEO - Fitness and Exercise
VIDEO - Health and Diet


HEAVEN

Heaven is Home
VIDEO - Don Piper


Isaiah

The Syro-Ephraimite War


Islam

A Muslim Meets Jesus
A Muslim Meets Jesus (Part 2)
A Muslim Meets Jesus (Part 3)
Dr. Mateen Elass: Four Jihads
Dr. Mateen Elass: What Muslims Think of America


Jesus the Christ

INTERVIEW - Bruce on HAVEN Today
TRAILER-Jesus the Christ


Jim Grams

June Thoughts


Kabbalah

E-mail Fred Klett
Fred Klett's Website
Kabbalah Fact Sheet
Why the Kabbalah Craze?
Why the Kabbalah Craze? (Part 2)


Losing Fear

10 Ways to Lose Fear


Marriage

10 Principles
The Intimate Mystery
The Intimate Mystery (part 2)
The Intimate Mystery (part 3)
The Intimate Mystery Video


Mary Hunt

VIDEO - Mary Hunt


Messages from Malawi

African Enterprise website
Joy to the World Ministries website
Stephen Lungu Testimony


Michael Card Music Video

Things We Leave Behind


Michael Graham -- Eastern Mysticism to Faith in Christ

A Spiritual Journey
Program Part I
Program Part II
Turning from Guru to God


Mormonism

Dr. Ravi Zacharias
Mormonism & the Gospel of Jesus (part 2)
Mormonism & the Gospel of Jesus Christ (part 1)


Mother's Day

A Letter From Juana Mikels
Motherhood - Depending on Jesus


Mumbai

Dr. Mangalwadi's Website
Nightmare in Mumbai ... the Religious Side of Terror


My Big Fat Greek Diet

Dr. Nick's Website
Program with Dr. Nick (Part 1)
Program with Dr. Nick (Part 2)
VIDEO - Dr. Nick


Os Guinness: The Call

Os Guinness - Program 1
Os Guinness - Program 2
VIDEO - Os Guinness


Parenting

A Mother Finds Christ
Don't Make Me Count to Three (part 1)
Don't Make Me Count to Three (part 2)
Free Study Guide
From Diapers to Disciples
Raising Teenagers God's Way (Part 2)
Raising Teenagers God's Way (w/ Dr. Paul Tripp)
Sacred Parenting (part 2)
Sacred Parenting (with Gary Thomas)
Shepherding a Child's Heart (Part 1)
Shepherding a Child's Heart (Part 2)


Pornography

Filtering software for your computer
Full Alan Perry Interview
Full Interview With an Accountability Group
Get Prayer to Overcome Pornography
Overcoming Pornography
What you see isn't what you get


Ray Ortlund

Amen & Amen ... the life of Ray Ortlund
Ray Ortlund On The Air (09/08/1992)
Ray Ortlund On The Air (09/10/1993)


Revelation

Dr. Darrell Bock - How to Read Revelation (Part 1)
Dr. Darrell Bock - How to Read Revelation (Part 2)
Finding Your Way to Paradise
Seeing Jesus in Revelation (Part 1)
Seeing Jesus in Revelation (Part 2)
VIDEO: 'What is Revelation All About' with Darrell Johnson


Ruth Bell Graham

Biography
Ruth Bell Graham speaks about her faith and God's protection


Sacred Marriage

GaryThomas.com
Giving up the Grudge
Seminar Video


Sally Lloyd-Jones

A Giant Staircase to Heaven
Becoming Like Little Children (part 1)
Becoming Like Little Children (part 2)
Captain of the Storm
Daniel
He's Here
King of All Kings
Sally's Blog
Sally's Website
The Light of the Whole World
Video


Saving a Life

Picture of Charles and Janet
Radio program
Radio program (part 2)
Sample Chapter
Table of Contents
Video with Charles and Janet


Sean Dietrich

Sean Dietrich's Website


Seeing Jesus Testimonies

Cheryl Hoopes's Story
David Hoover's Story
Dr.. David Hamilton's Story
For God So Loved... A Hezbollah Terrorist
For God so Loved... A Muslim Radical
Marlene Hamilton's Story
Matt, a Bible translator, shares his story
Michele Dillon's Story
Pastor Chuck Holliday Shares His Story
Reina Cherry, mother and coach shares her testimony


Sexual Abuse

10 Steps to Recovery
Door of Hope (part 2 with Jan Frank)
Jan Frank's Website
Practical Helps for Counseling the Abused
Program with Jan Frank (Part 1)
Program with Jan Frank (Part 2)
Warning Signs of Abuse


Short Article

Michael Jackson Tragedy


Steve Green

Program with Steve Green (Part 1)
Program with Steve Green (Part 2)
VIDEO - Find Us Faithful
VIDEO - God and God Alone


Steve Ragsdale



Stolen Identity of Jesus

Muratorian Canon
Program with Dr. Peter Jones
Reader's Guide
The Gospel of Judas: Two Levels of Scam


Stories of Changed Lives

Story of Aurelio Barreto
Story of Stephen Lungu
VIDEO - Aurelio Barreto


The Bible Experience

Video Sample


The Calm After the Storm

A Letter from a Kansas Chaplain


The Expanded Bible

(Part 1 of 8) Why another new translation?
(Part 2 of 8) Just give me the Word of God!
(Part 3 of 8) The Gospel of Mark
(Part 4 of 8) The Gospel of Mark
(Part 5 of 8) The Gospel of John
(Part 6 of 8) The Book of James
(Part 7 of 8) The Book of James
(Part 8 of 8) The Book of Romans


The Five Love Languages

Program #1
Program #2
VIDEO with Dr. Gary Chapman


The God Delusion Debate

Fixed Point Foundation Website
Program with Dr. John Lennox
Program with Dr. John Lennox (part 2)
VIDEO


The Jesus Conspiracy

A Spoof on Da Vinci - The Conspiracy Game Video
Perspectives - The Gospel of Judas
The Jesus Conspiracy
The Jesus Conspiracy (Part 2)


The Jesus Storybook

The Story and the Song
Washed With Tears
Zacheus


The Lord My Portion

Full Audio Chapter - The Lord My Portion
Full Chapter - The Lord My Provider


Theology

Is the Trinity True?
Trinity Radio Program


Three Christian Martyrs

Full Interview with Fikret
Photo Essay


Travels in Israel

An Arab, a Jew, and a Gentile
Believing in Capernaum
Caesarea by the Sea
He Is Risen
Jesus Was Pressed
O Little Town
VIDEO with Charles Morris


Troubles in Kenya

Agape Children Website


Truitt Ford's Legacy

In Loving Memory
Truitt Memories


unChristian

David Kinnaman Video
What a New Generation Thinks About Christians
What a New Generation Thinks... Part 2
What A New Generation Thinks... Part 3
What A New Generation Thinks... Part 4


Weight Loss

Getting thin to live for Him
Getting thin to live for Him (Part II)
Healthy Body - Healthy Soul (Part 1)
Healthy Body - Healthy Soul (Part 2)
Thin Again (part 2)
Thin Again - Dr. Garlow
Thoughts on Weight Loss


What Thief Are You?

Dennis Griffith Life Story
Listen to part 1
Listen to part 2
Teen Challenge Website


When God Breaks Your Heart

Program #1
Program #2
VIDEO - Ed Underwood


When Sinners Say "I Do"

Part 1 with Dave Harvey
Part 2 with Dave Harvey
VIDEO with Dave Harvey


WW II Remembered

FDR - After Pearl Harbor
Philippines POW
Radio News Clips


Other

Giving to Russian Ministries
How Can I Know God?
Laurie Wang's Testimony
Ray Ortlund - Home with Jesus
Statement of Faith


home | give to haven | program archives | shop | prayer | anchor | about | contact | privacy policy | return policy
Copyright © 2009 Haven Ministries