Finding Purpose & Meaning In Life [should I say it is found when I experience 'whatever my eyes desired' (see this website's name) to borrow the lines from a Bible-author (Ecclesiastes 2:10)? Read this blog to discover the answer].

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  • YOGA GURUS: EMPTY YOUR MIND; BIBLE: FILL IT WITH GOD'S SPIRIT AND WORD!

    – Duke Jeyaraj

    Gayathri Devi writes about the conversation between a husband and wife in her ook, “A Calm Brain: How to Relax into Stress-Free, High-Powered Life”: 


    Wife to her husband: “My husband says Yoga would be good for me because I’ve become so hyper….When the (Yoga) teacher says, empty your mind, I think, what do you mean…”


    While Yoga teachers might say, “Empty your mind…” the Bible tells us quite the opposite. 

    Jesus did speak about the dangers of keeping your inner-being empty. 

    Eugene Peterson renders Jesus’ words when he pointed out this danger this fabulous, unforgettable way: “When a defiling evil spirit is expelled from someone, it drifts along through the desert looking for an oasis, some unsuspecting soul it can bedevil. When it doesn’t find anyone, it says, ‘I’ll go back to my old haunt.’ On return it finds the person spotlessly clean, but vacant. It then runs out and rounds up seven other spirits more evil than itself and they all move in, whooping it up. That person ends up far worse off than if he’d never gotten cleaned up in the first place” (Matt. 12:43-45, The Message). 

    Please notice the word, “Vacant”. If your inner self is kept vacant, that’s an invitation for Satan and his team to storm in! Also notice here that “seven other spirits” came back into that soul that was vacant. The number seven in the Bible is linked with “completeness or perfection”. Here, what Jesus is saying is perhaps this: “The completely swept and kept empty heart has potential to be completely demon-possessed!” Satan only comes to steal, kill and destroy, the Bible teaches. But Jesus, the only God-in-flesh came to give us, life, life to the full (John 10:10). What the world and its pleasures cannot give, Jesus gives! A life of meaning, purpose and true joy – only Jesus can give us that. That’s why he died for us on the Cross. His blood can cleanse us from every sin, when we repent and turn to Him, in faith, the Bible teaches (John 1:12).

    The message of Jesus in the Bible passage I first quoted is this: trying to live a clean, moral life (the imagery of the house, “empty, swept and put in order” (Matt. 12:44) with one’s OWN help, without the enabling power of the Holy Spirit who can fill us if only we invite Him into our hearts, is very dangerous. Those who try to live holy in their own strength can return to a life of sin that is far worse than it was before their coming to Christ. This is Jesus’ point.

    Trying to be holy with your strength is also impossible. You can’t pull yourself up, with your bootlaces can you? That’s why we need a Savior. The only Sinless Savior there is, is Christ Jesus. 

    Don’t keep your heart, mind, soul, inner being empty. Let the Spirit of God fill you constantly (Eph. 5:18).

    Elsewhere in the Bible the challenge to fill our hearts and minds with Scripture is often-repeated. Here are passages from five different Bible books which pose this challenge: 

    “Your Word have I HIDDEN IN MY HEART, That I might not sin against you!” (Psalm 119:11, NKJV).

    When we talk of God’s Word when we sit in our houses, when we walk by the way, when we lie down, when we rise up, pretty soon, that Word from God, will be hiding in our heart (Deut. 6:7). “Imprint these words of mine on your hearts and minds, bind them as a sign on your hands, and let them be a symbol on your foreheads”(Deut. 11:18 HCSB).

    When we keep God’s Laws (WORDS) as the “apple of our eyes” and “write them in the tablets of our hearts”, they would empower us to “keep from the immoral woman, from the seductress who flatters with her WORDS” (Prov. 7:1-5).

    Jesus, the Word in Flesh, told his disciples that His Words should “sink into their ears” (Luke 9:44, NKJV). That way, it was enroute to permanently stay in their hearts!

    “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” That was Paul’s way of saying “hide God’s Word in your heart” in Colossians 3:16.

    Don’t keep your mind empty. Fill your heart, mind, inner being, soul with God’s Written Word!

    So, in CONCLUSION what am I saying?

    Yoga has three elements (as some respected Bible teachers have put it): a PHYSICAL ASPECT, a MENTAL ASPECT and a VERBAL ASPECT. 

    ABOUT THE PHYSICAL ASPECT: Yes, Yoga is a form of physical exercise. There is nothing wrong with physical exercise as long as we know that our spiritual fitness counts more with God who told us through Aposle Paul this: “for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come” (I Tim. 4:8). “Over-weight” Israel priest Eli could not even survive a simple fall (I Sam. 4:18 NLT). Did Eli take his physical fitness like most of us do, lightly? Am I advocating Yoga purely as a physical exercise? Hang on. 

    We already talked about the MENTAL aspect of Yoga first up: Yoga tells us to empty our mind; but the Bible tells us to fill our minds, hearts, souls, inner-self with God’s Holy Spirit and God’s Word. To see Yoga as a way of worship of the Sun is absolutely unacceptable for we are called to worship the “Sun of Righteous who rises with healing in his wings”, even the Lord Jesus (Mal. 4:2). We worship Yahweh who gives orders to the obedient Sun and not the Sun itself (Josh. 10:12-13). To see Yoga as a way of Salvation is also ruled out for we know that that Jesus claimed to be ONLY way of salvation (John 14:6; Acts 4:12). To practice Yoga as a way of Salvation is to insult Jesus’ work on the Cross.

    Finally, we will talk about the VERBAL aspect of Yoga, which involves various chants. R. Stanley, respected Indian Bible teacher put it brilliantly: “Even chanting the name of Jesus in vain is forbidden in Scripture!”

    So, I would not recommend that Yoga even be used a pure physical exercise because of the MENTAL AND VERBAL BAGGAGE THAT COMES ALONG WITH IT. Let’s use forms of physical exercise that are not questionable biblically.

  • WHAT SO UNIQUE ABOUT JESUS' DEATH IN A WORLD OF MANY DEATHS?

    Duke Jeyaraj

    So many people die every day. What makes Jesus’ death unique?
     

    By definition God is eternal. So God cannot die actually! But God can die – if He chooses to. Jesus chose to die. He was unique in his death too. He said, “No man can take away my life from me. I lay down my life voluntarily. For I have the right to lay it down when I want to and also the power to take it up again” (John 10:18). And that is what exactly happened at Calvary’s cross: Jesus willingly gave up His life. The nails did not hold Him onto the cross but it was just love, as someone put it. No one died the way Jesus did: others would die and then bow down their head. But Jesus bowed His head and then died – He could pick and choose the exact moment He would give up his spirit without resorting to a suicide (Jn 19:30)!

    Jesus said that He was dying as a “ransom” for the sins of the world – a purpose for which no one has died or will die (Math 20:28). He explicitly said that the blood He would shed would bring “forgiveness of sins” – again a unique reason to die (Math 26:28). The rest of humanity – when it dies – does so for their sins. The wages of sin is death, we are told in the Scriptures (Rom 3:23). Put in another way, we all die because we are all sinners. But Christ wasn’t. He need not have died at all. But nevertheless He did – as a substitute for sin (Isa 53:5). A one-of-a-kind death! Because He was one hundred percent human – He could die as a valid substitute for the human race. And because He was one hundred percent God as well He could die for all people of all time. God is beyond time, you see! “A just-God Jesus could save us, but not understand us.” A just-man Jesus could love us, but never save us. But equally-God-and-equally man Jesus could understand, love and save us, if only we surrender our lives to Him alone!” – this is how someone put this whole thing irrefutably! 

  • THREE DUCKS IN THEIR BIGGEST ODI GAME & OUR "DUCK" WHEN IT COMES TO SALVATION

    Duke Jeyaraj brings out a spiritual truth from the Bible starting with an event from the World Cup Cricket Final 2015


    Andrew Ramsey wrote the following line about Brendon McCullum’s 3-ball duck in the World Cup Final 2015 versus Australia in Melbourne before 90,000 plus people: “If two successive air swings were not sufficient to alert McCullum to the peril that Starc posed, the third ensured the visiting captain’s World Cup Final batting memories will be brief, bitter and bereft of any contact between bat and ball.” Later in the New Zealand innings, two other batsmen, Corey Anderson (one time record holder for the fastest ODI hundred) and Luke Ronchi (whose ODI highest score is 170 runs) also recorded ducks. Three of the cleanest ball-strikers in the Kiwi line-up scored ducks in their biggest ever ODI game.


    Ducks. Zeroes. These words reminds me of our score when we compare it with the score of God’s score when it comes to purity: it is nought. We have ALL sinned and fallen short of His glory, the Bible records (Rom. 3:23). In other words: we have a duck across our name when it comes to salvation. We can’t make it heaven with our merits. We cannot save ourselves through our effort. Our good morals are like filthy rags (like menstrual cloth) before God, Isaiah wrote. All our “g-o-o-d” minus “G-O-D” is just a 0 – a zero (as someone said). But there is only one who coverts that duck into a hundred. That’s Jesus, the God in flesh, the only one who never ever sinned, the one Mediator between God and Man. All one needs to be saved is to put one’s trust in this Jesus, who died for us on the Cross and arose, with a repentant heart (Luke 13:5; Rom. 10:9). Paul writes, “It is by grace you have been saved, through faith…” (Eph 2:8). Would you come to Jesus to accept this free gift of salvation? Would you do it now?

  • DISAPPOINTED WITH OUR BATTING STARS? MEET THE “STAR” WHO WON’T EVER!

    Duke Jeyaraj put key moments of the India-Australia World Cup SemiFinal in Sydney on 26th March 2015 in poetry with an interesting thought at the end


    Virat Kohli is undoubtedly World Cricket’s Biggest Batting Star,

    His multiple, mind-boggling, batting feats keeps raising the bar,

    Batting first, the Aussies had in this knockout game posted a total above par,

    He arrived at the crease, when India’s target of 329, despite the brisk 70+ opening partnership, was still very far,

    A match-winning 150 would he would score in that India-Australia war?

    After such a knock would he blow kisses to Anushka Sharma, his girl yaar?

    Those were the skyrocketing expectations Indian fans had about their Batting Caesar,

    Like my daughter, who unable to resist temptation, would often reach for the Nutella jar,

    He fished outside the offstump for balls from which he should have stayed afar,

    His batting tempo appeared far slower than what he drove during the TV ad break: the car,

    Pretty soon, the Aussie keeper easily caught an edge from his bat without a sweat or a scar!

    With Rohit and Raina following him soon, India’s World Cup Celebration cake did char!

    Rahane was out when his snick, amidst Sydney’s deafening noise, caught Steven Smith’s alert ear,

    Maxwell’s direct hit caught out of the crease, India’s lone late warrior that night, Dhoni, the czar,

    “In Sydney, the Indian batting became a chutney!” – this, the creative critics did roar,

    It’s true all human heroes will at some point disappoint us: they are all hit by the sin tar,

    That’s why we need to come in repentance and faith to the Christ, whom the Bible calls, “the bright morning star!”

  • BLOOD ON SCHWEINSTEIGER’S FACE & THE BLOOD SHED FOR YOU TO EXPRESS GRACE

    A Duke Jeyaraj poem on the FIFA World Cup 2014 Final in Brazil with an important message at the end

    The FIFA World Cup 2014 trophy was brought out to the grand ground by Mr. Puyol and Ms. Bundchen
    Into the Maracana Stadium not far away from the statue of the One in Rio who from the dead, is risen!
    The most watched televised program in the World – this, about the World Cup 2014 Final, was written
    “Who will triumph, team Germany or Messi’s Argentina?” – with this question, crazed fans were smitten
    As both teams attacked and defended with equal enthusiasm – the pressure in the stadium increased like in an oven,
    Early in the game, German Kroos’ potentially-goal producing gift, by Argentine Higuain was not taken
    When what he thought was a goal was flagged off as ‘off side’, the celebrating Higuain was shaken
    At the stroke of half-time Hoewedes’ header bounced off the post with the Argentine goalie frozen
    Early extra time arrived and Palacio, by lifting the ball over the goalie, Argentina’s account he almost did open,
    Thanks to Jerome Boateng’s gutsy defending, Lionel Messi’s finishing was far from a perfect ten,
    In the 113-minute, the 22-year old Mario Goetze volleyed-in a goal with a World-class sheen,
    And in disgust the Argentine coach Sabella asked his defenders, “Where have you all been?”
    When Messi shot wide the 122-minute, 35 yard free kick, his team’s last chance to equalize, his face was ashen,
    The name of unified Germany in the list of FIFA World Cup winners, after 24 long years was seen!
    And that Joachim Loew’s German team was the best in the planet – this was clearly proven!

     

    Germany’s Schweinsteiger had blood on his face but was yet in the field by the time of the final siren,
    He reminded me of the One who came to give a gift more precious than the one gift to Argentina, mistakenly given by Kroos, the German!
    I am referring to the gift of forgiveness from sin which Jesus came to give by shedding blood as predicted by the Bible penmen,
    He was the only One to be born on this earth without the help of the male semen,
    Every sin of ours were laid upon Him on the Cross – no sins were excluded, not even the “sins that involve the hymen”,
    We must take a U-turn and come back to him to receive this forgiveness like the boy in the Gospel record who once ate from the pigpen!
    If you do that, then you will have a joy that is unspeakable while on this earth and go to live eternally in the glorious place where the streets are golden!
    And now we must be ready to meet Jesus, for he shall return to this Earth to judge everyone, all of a sudden.

    Duke Jeyaraj, an Engineer turned Doctor of Ministry graduate, is the founder of Grabbing the Google Generation from Gehenna Mission, a ministry to presentday people funded by Indians who read his writings and hear his messages. Find out more about Duke and this inter-denominational ministry by liking www.facebook.com/googleduke

     

  • NO STONES AT YUVI; NO STONES AT YOU….

    (Duke Jeyaraj puts the India-Sri Lanka T20 World Cup Final 2014 held on 6 April 2014 in Dhaka in poem and drives home an important message at the end!)
    “Will the T20 World Cup 2014, be Captain Cool’s 3rd World Cup win as India’s Captain?”

    “Would Lanka’s Twin Towers end their T20 Careers on the peak of the Victory Mountain?”
    Well, for the die-hard Cricket fan, these pre-match questions were the oft-asked refrain!
    With Kohli’s big-hitting in the 16th, certainly past 170, seemed to go, the Indian batting train!
    With him was Yuvraj, the 6-sixes-in-1-Death-Over man all geared up, one and all to entertain,
    But alas, he batted for 21 deliveries seemingly without applying his brilliant, big-hitting brain!
    His rusty, slow-coach 11, Kohli’s valiant efforts, seemed to send straight to the drain!
    What was worse, even Dhoni could make only 4 runs off 7 balls, that too after much strain!
    Raina, who plundered 17 runs in 1 Over in the Semis never got to bat and that was insane!
    With 19 scored off the last 4 – how well did Malinga & Co, the Indians at the end, did contain!
    The accurate wide Yorkers they sent down could have landed in an on-pitch proverbial grain!
    Theirs was one of the best ever Death bowling efforts seen in a T20 game – this was plain!
    The Lankans were off the blocks in the 130-run target chase set for them like a Great Dane! Just-in Sanga’s catch wasn’t taken by Mohit and unhappy Dhoni pushed back his mane!
    Sri Lanka still needed 53 in 45 with 6 wickets remaining when Mishra dismissed Thirimanne,
    But the match turned conclusively when from Thisara Perera’s bat, a barrage of sixes did rain!
    Sanga & He ensured it was Lanka that took with it the T20 World Cup home in their plane!
    Kohli hugged Sanga the legend, swallowing his bitter disappointment and hiding his pain,
    In fury, stones were thrown at Yuvi’s home – he was seen that sad night as a terrible villain!

    When the numb-in-pain Yuvraj pondered, “Why are stones thrown at me by all and sundry?”
    I recalled the One who refused to pick up a stone and throw it at a woman caught in adultery!
    He told her, “Leave your life of sin!” much to fury of those who watched him from the gallery!
    This “He” is Jesus, the God-in-flesh who came to release us from life’s purposeless drudgery!
    Repent from sin and turn to Him in faith, you will spend your life with him joyously in eternity! 

  • ESTHER ANUHYA: SHE IS DEAD, BUT SHE STILL SPEAKS….

    -Duke Jeyaraj

    She would perhaps check her WhapsApp updates early in the morning. Like you and me perhaps do. She died unexpectedly, unfortunately. Like you and I, unfortunately, perhaps can. We are talking about Esther Anuhya. Only 23. A Techie. From Machipatnam. Worked in TCS-Mumbai. Reached Mumbai’s LTT Railway Station after spending Christmas holidays in her hometown in Andhra Pradesh at 4:50 AM on 5th Jan. after a long train journey which started from Vijayawada, in all likelihood, going by her cell-phone records. Co-passengers confirmed that she had alighted from the train at the Lokmanya Tilak Terminus Station in Mumbai. She checked her WhatsApp at 4:54 AM on 5th Jan., 2014, according to reports. Someone who sent her a WhatsApp message saw the double green tick and understood this. But what they did not perhaps realize was this: someone perhaps put a tick next to Esther’s pic and said to himself, “I will harm this girl.” Her college Professor Dad Mr. Jonathan Surendra Prasad, was waiting her call which he hoped will go this way: “Daddy, I reached my room in YWCA Hostel Andheri, Mumbai, safely. I am missing you already!” But that call never came. Early that morning, it looks like she could have hailed an auto to her hostel. Her last published tweet to the world was this: “I rather have an honest enemy than a fake friend.” Whoever took her from that Railway Station tragically turned out to be a “fake friend” (see https://twitter.com/Esther_Anuhya). “Don’t put too much of belief in anyone. Even your shadow leaves you when you are in the dark,” she once tweeted. On that stomach-churning morning, it looks like she put her trust in someone – an auto-driver, cabdriver or whoever – much to her grave disappointment. On 16th Jan 2014, her half-decomposed, waist-down burnt, rodents-bitten, dead body was identified in the Vikhroli Creek just meters off the Eastern Express Highway in Mumbai.Esther’s uncle, Arun Kumar told a newspaper that while Esther was 5 feet 3 inches tall what remained of her body only made up two feet. The rest were burnt. Thus the nine-day long search her family launched for her in a city they knew little about came to a spine-tingling, sorry, end. The girl who wished Tennis Star, Roger Federer, a happy long life on his birthday via Twitter, did not live long, unfortunately. Her end came in the most saddest of circumstances. Was she raped and burnt to destroy evidence? “According to a preliminary post-mortem report, the victim was sexually abused before being killed,” a police source said. Police suspect that she might have been gang-raped. “She might have been taken to a secluded place off the Eastern Express Highway in Bhandup, Mumbai, where she was gangraped,” police sources revealed. (“Police looking at techie-gang rape theory,” page 5, January 18, 2014, Hyderabad edition; The Indian Express online edition, January 23, 2014; Hyderabad Chronicle, 26 January 2014). 

    Hmmm. After discovering that women aren’t shying away from reporting rape these days, it looks like certain shameful, stubborn, men still want to rape and go on to destroy the possibly-damning evidence by burning their rape victims. By doing that, they perhaps think they are safe. Safe from being found out. Safe from a jail punishment. But God knows, the Bible declares (Josh 22:22). These people – whoever they may be – may escape jail here on the earth, but if they do not repent and come to Christ in faith, they will not escape hell on the other side of the earth. On the other side of eternity. This is true not only true about them. It’s true about everyone. We all need to repent. We all need to uncover our sins. We all need to come to Christ who died on the cross for our sakes. For our sins. If we do not uncover our sins before Jesus in prayer, here and now, they will be uncovered before the whole world on that terrible judgement that is certainly coming. This is the teaching of the Bible (Read Matthew 10 and 25 in the Bible and you will get this). The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare them; the cords of their sins hold them fast – so warns the Bible in Proverbs 5:22. Burning evidence of transgression cannot ensure escape from punishment, whoever we may be. Your sin will eventually find you out, the Bible teaches (Num. 32:23). On this side of eternity in certain cases like it happened in the case of Achan, Prophet Jonah, Ananias-Saphira, etc., in the Bible. Or on the other side of eternity like it will surely happen for those who reject Jesus stubbornly finally and go to hell. The fire that the perpetrators of the horrific crime against Esther Anuhya started died down. But the fire of torment in hell will never die down, Jesus warned (Mark 9:47-48). So, why do you run and hide? Come to only-God-in-flesh Jesus in true repentance and hide in His grace that was expressed on the Cross where he shed his blood for you. Do it now. Before it’s too late. There is no condemnation for those who go on being in Christ Jesus, the Bible teaches (Rom. 8:1).

  • Bubbly Outside, Yet Empty Inside?

    –Duke Jeyaraj

    THE SEARCH

    Aishwariya Raitalked about it – a vacuum in her heart. She told the press once, “You know as Miss World, I was suddenly exposed to so much that after that year was over, there was a vacuum!” (The Times of India, 20 October 1999). Lindsay Lohan, actress of the erotic thriller movie, The Canyons (2013), told Oprah Winfrey in an interview that she wanted to go even to prison to “find some peace” (in an interview aired on 18 August 2013).

    Do those real stories which you just read strike a chord in your bosom? Have you felt the same vacuum in your heart?  Have to sought after serenity? Have you gone on a peace-chase? Think of the nights you hit the bed and stared into the ceiling and asked the question, “Is that all there is to life?”You walk with a spring in your step. You invariably flash a beaming smile. Your eyes sparkle. But deep down inside you are perhaps empty. Mankind – from Mahendra Singh Dhoni to Manpreet Goni – is on a search for meaning, for fulfillment in life. There is a universal feeling that “life means more”. Life surely means more than growing up, studying, finding a job, getting married, having kids, becoming a grandpa and dying. Man is constantly on the hunt to discover that ‘something that is more to life’. We are all searching for true peace. We are all searching for salvation. “A college dropout, Steve Jobs floated through India in search of spiritual guidance prior to founding Apple.” (www.dnaindia.com, 6 October 2011). If you are searching for the meaning and purpose in your life here is a promise for you from the God of the Bible: Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I’ll make sure you won’t be disappointed (Jer. 29:11, The Bible, Message version)!

    THE SURPRISE

    In our quest to find what is missing in our life we try out different things: Drugs and discos; porn-watching  and perversion; shopping sprees; boozing binges; passionate petting of the private parts of the opposite gender;  working long hours, etc. But when these are tried they leave us emptier than when we started out. We can try to fill that vacuum with loads of wit or wisdom or work or women or wine.  Yet that vacuum will surprisingly and stubbornly stays, we have discovered, haven’t we?

    Here below are extracts from one of most heart-crushing suicide notes you will ever get to read:

    “I was scared of getting pregnant but I gave myself (to you) completely. The pain you have caused me everyday has destroyed every bit of me, destroyed my soul. The Goa trip was my birthday present but even after you cheated I still spent on you. I aborted our baby when it hurt me deeply. You promised me once we made it to one year we would get engaged. All you want in life is partying, your women and your selfish motives. I leave this place with nothing but broken dreams and empty promises….”

    Reportedly, those are actual lines from the suicide note of Bollywood starlet Jiah Khan made public by her mother Rabiya. Jiah was an American-born actress who was raised in London. In this note, Jiah was apparently talking about her boyfriend, Suraj Pancholi, at whose home she reportedly stayed, in what was her last weekend of her life before she killed herself on a Monday night, minutes after receiving a ‘break-up’ bouquet. Jiah’s Twitter bio suggested that she wanted to see life through her rose-colored glasses. Seeing life through her rose-colored glasses, she perhaps thought (as is revealed by suicide note) a sexual relationship with the man of her dreams and consequent marriage to the same person would give her life ultimate meaning, real purpose and lasting joy. But it did not. She was left feeling empty. She was left feeling shattered. She was so miserable that she committed suicide. On June 4, 2013, Bollywood was rudely woken up the news of her suicide by hanging from a ceiling fan during the previous night in her Juhu flat. She was just 25. She had acted in movies opposite to some big names in Bollywood – Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan and Akshay Kumar. Temporary fame only whetted her appetite for more fame and when that did not come, Jiah took her life in disgust. “You don’t find in sin, what you entered sin to find!” Ask Jiah Khan! Ask yourself!

    Bollywood Director, Mahesh Bhatt makes a great point we must consider here: “It’s true. Stars (not just them, each of us, we would admit) hide their pain and emptiness not only from the media and the world but also from themselves.” Then Mahesh goes on to talk about how the movie stars “act out their inner pain in a wide variety of ways, including wild living, drug-intake, angry brawls, etc.” His conclusion is telling: “But having seen and experienced the highs and lows of the show business oneself. I can say with certainty that drugs won’t help you to deal with the loneliness of stardom. Money won’t help you. Sex won’t help you. You take a drink or drug to quench the fire that blazes inside you. Instead the alcohol and drugs (and the rest of the stuff you do) only make the fire burn more insanely….” (The Hindustan Times, 13 May 2001).

    You know what? The Bible, God’s Word put in human words, agrees with Mahesh Bhatt here. The Bible explains why we have such emptiness in our hearts in the first place. It is because we try to fill that emptiness without God, who alone can give us real and ultimate enjoyment (Eccl. 2:25, The Bible). “Life under the sun, will be meaningless and futile until we make a living relationship with the one above the sun – God!” (This is how Selwyn Hughes summarized the message of Ecclesiastes – one of the 66 books that the Bible is a library of). Only God can satisfy our search for true meaning in life. “Show us the Father (Father was the word Jesus used for God) and we will be satisfied.” That is how Philip, one of the disciples of Jesus expressed this truth (Jn. 14:8 The Bible, NLT Version). Pascal put it precisely: “There is a God-shaped vacuum in our heart and only God can fill it!” That God-shaped vacuum entered our souls because of sin, the Bible explains (Isa. 57:20,21, The Bible). “Emptiness is their only reward,” the Bible says, when it speaks about people who make sin their life-style (Job 15:17,31; The Bible, NLT Version).

    The emptiness, the God-shaped vacuum entered our lives because of sin, the Bible explains. We are all sinners – from Gandhi to Godse, from Mother Teresa to Lady Diana – without exception. This is an assertion of the Bible (in Rom. 3:23). Hollywood interestingly titled a movie, Six Degrees of Separation. The Bible’s teaching is that sin has separated us from God who made us in his pattern (Isa. 59:2, The Bible). Hence this empty feeling in our soul came into existence. The Bible also warns that sin will make us its slave and ultimately take us to the lake of burning sulfur where worms would feast on its ever-conscious human residents  which Jesus called as Hell (Mk 9:48; Jn 8:34: Rev 21:8; The Bible). Hell was created by God for the Devil and his Angels, the Bible declares (Mt. 25:41, The Bible). It is the Devil who brings about an endless, restlessness and vacuum in our being as he is in that very state.  In the Bible, Jesus pointed out that he wanders around desperately looking for a place to rest (Mt. 12:43, The Bible). The restless Devil brings in restlessness and void in your heart and, if given room, he can push you to self-destructive habits like smoking, porn-watching, having sex outside of marriage, fits of rage, use of profanity, etc. (See Mk. 5:5 in The Bible).
     

    THE SURRENDER
    This statement of Charles Spurgeon is biblical and true: “Morality can keep you out of jail. But it takes the blood of Jesus to keep you out of hell!
     

    The Bible also makes it clear that we cannot fill this emptiness in our hearts on our own (Isa. 57:12, The Bible). You can’t lift yourself with your bootlace, can you? Our good deeds are like a woman’s menstrual cloth in God’s sight, according to the Bible (Ezek 36:17). This statement of Charles Spurgeonis biblical and true: “Morality can keep you out of jail. But it takes the blood of Jesus to keep you out of hell!”  Max Lucado wrote, “Two kids in a mud puddle can’t clean each other. They need someone clean. Someone spotless. We need someone clean too. That’s why we need a Savior.” That brings us to the reason why Jesus – God cloaked in human flesh – came to planet earth two millennia back.

    Let’s look at a Cricket story which will help us to understand why Jesus came into this world. Virat Kolhi had just got out as Dilshan took a brilliant return catch. Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar were back in the pavilion, already. 161 runs were still needed by India. They had to score them in 170 balls. That was the equation. It was the 22nd over. India were in a tight situation in the World Cup final at packed Wankhade stadium, Mumbai, on 2nd April 2011. India was in the danger of losing the game. Then someone spoke up. “I will go in. Though it is not my turn to. Just give me a bat!” It was the Indian captain. It was Mahendra Singh Dhoni speaking.

    The world is in trouble. You and I are heading to eternal, ever-burning hell, along with everyone else. “I will go in to save the world, Father! Just give me a body to clothe my eternal spirit. I will get into Mary’s womb!” So said the ever-existing Jesus  in a possible planning meeting in the heavens dated eternity past.   Then, over 2000 years ago, Jesus executed what was decided in that meeting. He entered the womb of virgin Mary.  Thus happened the first ever Christmas (This paragraph is based on Heb. 10: 5-8 in the Bible air-brushed with creativity).

    India became the first team to win the World Cup at home, thanks to Dhoni’s  daring voluntary act. You and I have the only way of being saved from going to hell and finding purpose in life because of Jesus’ sacrificial, voluntary act that resulted in the first Christmas.

    Jesus came to give each one of us LIFE – LIFE TO THE FULL, the Bible teaches (Jn 10:10, The Bible). He came to plug that vacuum in the soul of every human heart and save every willing person from the disease that is far deadlier than cancer or AIDS – the disease called sin! He in-effect told a woman who had sex with at least 6 different men something like this: “The water of sex and men cannot fill the emptiness in your heart, lady.  But if you come to me in faith and drink the living water I give you, you will be satisfied. Just like you drink water every day, if you have a living, daily,  relationship  with me,  your life will be satisfied (John 4, The Bible). He says the same thing to you as well.  Without a relationship with Jesus, no matter what you do or what you have, your life will never be “full” – it will always be empty and void. Yes, Jesus came to plug that vacuum in the soul of every human and save every person from his sins! He alone is qualified to do so because he never ever sinned in all his life – something no one else has done in all of the world’s history – and therefore did not experience a vacuum in His heart. He wagged his bony finger at his worst enemies during that time – the religious heads of the Jewish religion – saying, “Which of you can truthfully convict me of sin?” They were mum (Jn. 8:46, The Bible, NLT version). You see, because Jesus never sinned, he never had this emptiness in his soul and therefore logically qualifies to be the only one who can plug the vacuum in every human heart and give it purpose and meaning.  He is the Living Water we must drink (believe in) in order to never thirst again (or experience the empty feeling in our soul).

    The Ram Gopal Verma movie The Attacks of 26/11 chillingly showed how Assistant Sub-Inspector of Police, Tukaram Gopal Omble, a family man and a father of four daughters, armed with just a baton took on the dreaded terrorist Ajmal Kasab in a Mumbai road on 26.11.2008. Kasab acted as if he was dead when the police fired into the hi-jacked silver color Skoda car he and his accomplice were riding on towards a checkpost.  Kasab’s accomplice died in the firing. When Omble daringly took the lead to open the Skoda car door, Kasab suddenly started to move menacingly. Omble acted quickly to catch hold of the barrel of Kasab’s AK47 rifle with both hands. Kasab, in retaliation, opened fire. A spray of bullets entered Omble’s stomach and intestines. Omble tightly held onto the barrel of Kasab’s AK 47 and would not simply let go of it till he breathed his last. This brave act forcefully prevented Kasab’s AK47 – a machine that he had mercilessly used to kill innocent people in the Mumbai CST Railway Station and the Cama Hospital just minutes before this event – from firing at anyone else. Omble died but he gave the police forces enough time to reach the terrorist and catch him alive. Kasab, part of a team of 10 terrorists who entered Mumbai that day, was the only terrorist to be captured alive (Story reconstructed using various news websites). Omble sacrificed his life for many Mumbaikars who did not even know him that day.

    Omble’s sacrificial act somewhat typifies what Jesus did for us in an imperfect way. He died a cruel death for each one of us when we were still sinners and far away from him enjoying the temporary pleasures of sin, the Bible teaches (Heb. 11:25; Rom. 5:8, The Bible). The punishment that brings us peace was upon him when he hung on the Cross, the Bible declares (Isa 53:5, The Bible). Our backs should have been whipped as a punishment for the sins of our body – be that over-eating or masturbation coupled with porn-watching or any other unprintable sin.  But Jesus took that punishment upon his own back. Strong-armed Arnold Schwarzenegger-like Roman Soldiers whipped Jesus’ back 39 times with leather belts that had broken bone and nail pieces embedded on them. As a result his back was lacerated and looked like a plowed field in accordance to a Bible prophecy – just one of over 110 major prophecies that Jesus fulfilled during his earthly life (Micah 3:12, The Bible).  He loves us so very madly that he himself took upon his body, the punishment for our sins meant for our body (I Peter 2:24, The Bible). Because Jesus is 100% God who in turn is beyond the dimension of time he could die for all humans of all times. Because He is 100% human (even while he was 100% God) he could become the substitute for every human being. As the Bible puts it, “Jesus loved us and gave himself for us” (Gal. 2:20, The Bible). No one could have loved us the way Jesus did! No one loves us the way Jesus does. And what is more – Jesus came back to life, a feat that points to the fact that he is God and he is above everyone in the long line of self-proclaimed gods, so records the Bible (Rom. 1:4, The Bible). 

    The only cure for ache in your heart is to leave your life of sin and believe in Jesus. It is to turn away from sin and turn to Jesus. This is what the Bible teaches.  When we will take a U-turn in our sin-filled life journey and get back to the ancient path called Jesus, we will find rest for our souls, the Bible asserts (Jeremiah 6:16, The Bible).  The Bible calls this as “repentance”.  Jesus preached repentance. He said, “Unless you repent you too will all perish!” (Luke 13:5, The Bible).  We might think we have lots of time to repent. Jesus talked about the wife of a man called Lot who did not have lots of time to repent in the Bible (Luke 17:32). She turned into a salt shaft and suddenly died when she wanted to take one last look at sin! It is never too early to come to Christ. But at any moment it can be too late because there is no salvation after death, the Bible reveals (in Heb. 9:27). Over 300 times the Bible declares in various ways and using different imagery that Jesus will return to planet Earth in a public, dramatic manner. French News Agency AFP Photographer, Oliver Morin, clicked a picture of Usain Bolt crossing the finish line in the 100 meters final at the Moscow World Athletic Championships 2013. In that picture, there was a bolt of lighting across the black sky as (Usain) Bolt crossed the finish line. When Jesus returns back to the earth, to judge all of the earth, the Bible declares that lightning will flash and light up the sky from one side to another (Luke 17:24, The Bible). And to think the Bible – God’s Word in human words – has never ever gone wrong in over 600 historical events it has predicted! To ignore the words of the Bible would be like shooting yourself on the foot! And after Jesus returns for the second time, it would be too late for anyone to repent from their sin, then and come to him. He who is willing to save you now, would not be willing to do that when he comes back the second time, the Bible teaches (Luke 17:28-32, The Bible). If we uncovered our sins to Jesus and confessed them to Him with a repentant heart, our sins will be covered when he comes back the second time to judge the world, thanks to His shed blood on the cross of Calvary, the Bible teaches (I Jn. 1:9, The Bible). But, on the other hand, if we cover-up our sins now and act as if we have not sinned, then, on the great day of judgment our sins will be made public before the whole world much to our shame, leading us to an eternal torment in hell. This is the teaching of the Bible (Prov. 28:13; Rom. 2:5; Rev. 21:7-8, The Bible).

    Michael Schumacher was racing against time to catch a flight after having bought a puppy. This seven-time Formula One World Champion car-racer was in a taxi on the way to the airport. At that time, he politely asked the driver to vacate from his seat and took over the driving from him. And he drove incredibly fast and overtook at some improbable places to reach the aerodrome near Coburg in time. He gave the excited and amazed driver named Tuncer Yilmaz a very generous tip of 100 Euros over the 60 Euro taxi charge (www.Telegraph.co.uk, 11 December 2007). Jesus asks you to trust him and turn over the driving seat of your life to him by faith. When he drives the car of your life, the journey would be incredible and the reward he will give you at the end of that journey would be immeasurable – life eternal in heaven. What is more, every moment of your journey with him will be meaningful and purposeful. Don’t wait even for a second to turn over the driving seat of your life to Jesus by faith.

    You have to make a choice about Jesus. You can call Jesus the biggest liarwho ever lived. Or you can call him a nut-loose – a lunatic. Or you can call him the Lord – the only Savior of your soul and invite him into your heart and life. But you have no way of getting around his claims to say, “Jesus was one of the good men who lived in the earth.” In fact if you call Jesus as one of the many good men or god men of this world you are in-effect calling him a liar. He did not give you the option of doing that in the first place. So he’s got be one of the three: a liar, a lunatic or the Lord he claimed to be (as C. S. Lewis put it). He can’t be a liar. He was sinless, the Bible records. He couldn’t be a lunatic. He did not giggle in glee like a madman when he was hammered on the Cross – did you notice? That leaves us with just one option: he is the only Way to Heaven; the only Way to fulfillment and purpose in life. He categorically stated in the Bible, “For unless you believe that I am who I say I am, you will die (which ultimately means to be cast in the lake of burning sulfur to be tormented forever) in your sins!” (Jn. 8:24, The Bible).

    So, come to Christ, with a simple faith – even if we may never fully understand all about him – that he died and rose to take away the blankness in your bosom, right now without any delay!

    By praying this prayer with all your heart you can invite Jesus into your heart and life and see the vacuum in your heart go:

    Dear Jesus, I am a sinner. I acknowledge that the vacuum in my heart is because I have sinned against you. Please forgive me. I repent of my sin. Thank you for dying for me on that hill and rising up again. Cleanse me with your blood, which you shed for me! I promise to live for you – with you helping me out. So be it!”

    If you have a question, please feel to email them at duke@aol.in. To read the Bible online go to http://www.esvbible.org

     

  • EDGE-OF-THE-SEAT EXCITEMENT AT EDGBASTON END-GAME

    Duke Jeyaraj puts the Champions Trophy 2013 India-England Final in Edgbaston, England on 23 June 2013 in poetry

     

    This Champions Trophy Final almost never took off because of the near non-stop rainfall,
    In the end, it was it proved to be an edge-of-the-seat exciting game for all,
    A gripping World Tournament Final it was, with any result possible until the very last ball.
    Like he had done all through the tourney, Opener Dhawan the ball in his typical style, maul,
    As India’s innings progressed, big-match hero, Dhoni’s duck did the Indian frenzied fans, appall,
    Bopara’s mid-innings wicket-to-wicket wicket-taking bowling India’s run-progress, did stifle and stall,
    But Kohli & Jadeda’s calculated hitting got India, in the given tough conditions, a total which was definitely not small,
    India bowlers bowled a tight line, and it looked like England’s were to suffer their typical World Tourney Finals’ fall,
    But battler Bopara and ‘monk’ Morgan counter-attacking hitting had India’s backs against the wall,
    Raina’s three tight overs kept India in the hunt – this was turning out to be a match whose end was certain to enthrall,
    When Dhoni asked his least-effective bowler of the day, Ishant, to bowl over No. 18, he, a fool, some wanted to call,
    But it proved to be a Master stoke, and winner of that nerve-wracking Over No. 18 mini-battle was the man so tall,
    Edgbaston crowd were at the edge of their seats, as Ashwin bowled with six needed off the last ball,
    Tredwell’s heave did not connect, it was England’s turn, yet again, in a global ODI Final, to drink ‘wine mixed with gall’,
    Jumping like an excited School Kid, Dhoni let out a scream that would have been heard even in the land of Gaul!
    At the presentation, Dhoni remarked that he told his team, that it was not to God for intervention, they must look to call,
    But instead, they had to make England, fight for every run, and give every ball, their all,
    And the Indian team’s heeded to their captain’s words to jailbreak from their potentially boat-sinking squall!
    The World T20, the World ODI, the Test No.1 and this Champions Trophy – long was the list of Dhoni’s title haul!

    Dhoni’s advice to his team during the break may have worked a wonder,
    But in the game of life, when we refuse the Ever-Present Help’s help, that would be a big blunder,
    “How can my life be purposeful and meaningful?” – if that’s the question about which you deeply ponder,
    Here is my answer – a living, daily, relationship with Jesus will give a lasting joy, which the Devil cannot plunder!
    And fill your walk with purpose, peace-amidst-storm, in each step and an eternal home to bask in, yonder!

  • LIFE THROUGH JIAH KHAN’S ROSE-COLORED GLASSES & THE LIFE THE ‘ROSE OF SHARON’ WILL GIVE THE TRUE-JOY-SEEKING YOU!

    – Duke Jeyaraj on what gives life, the ultimate meaning, real purpose and lasting joy starting with the Jiah Khan suicide story.

    Here are extracts from a heart-crushing suicide note:

    “I was scared of getting pregnant but I gave myself completely. The pain you have caused me everyday has destroyed every bit of me, destroyed my soul. I can’t eat or sleep or think or function. I am running away from everything. All I wanted was love. I did everything for you. I was working for us. But you were never my partner. My future is destroyed my happiness snatched away from me. You destroyed my life. The Goa trip was my birthday present but even after you cheated I still spent on you. I aborted our baby when it hurt me deeply. You promised me once we made it to one year we would get engaged. All you want in life is partying, your women and your selfish motives. All I wanted was you and my happiness you took both away from me.…”

    Reportedly, those are actual lines from the suicide note of Bollywood starlet Jiah Khan made public by her mother Rabiya. Jiah was an American-born actress who was raised in London. In this note, Jiah was talking about her boyfriend, Suraj Pancholi, at whose home she reportedly stayed, in what was her last weekend of her life before she killed herself on Monday night. Jiah’s Twitter bio suggested that she wanted to see life through her rose-colored glasses. Seeing life through her rose-colored glasses, she perhaps thought (as is revealed by suicide note) a sexual relationship with the man of her dreams and consequent marriage to the same person would give her life ultimate meaning, real purpose and lasting joy. But it did not. She was left feeling empty. She was left feeling shattered. She was so miserable that she committed suicide. On June 4, 2013, Bollywood was rudely woken up the news of her suicide by hanging from a ceiling fan during the previous night in her Juhu flat. The news of her suicide reached Bollywood director Ram Gopal Varma at 1:30 am on 4th June. She was just 25. She had acted in movies opposite to some big names in Bollywood – Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan and Akshay Kumar. Temporary fame only whetted her appetite for more fame and when that did not come, Jiah took her life in disgust.
    In the Bible, we get to meet a ‘male Jiah Khan.’ Bemused? Don’t be. I want to refer to Ahitophel, the counselor to kings of Israel as the ‘male Silk Jiah Khan’. Both folk reached the pinnacle of their professions in their times. Having reached the pinnacle of their careers, both suddenly faced failures. When Jiah starred opposite to Amitabh in 2007 in a movie, she was perhaps the brightest newcomer to Bollywood. While Jiah faced competition from other upcoming starlets, She was ignored. “Jiah was in Hyderabad the day before her death for an audition which didn’t go well,” new websites reported. When she contacted, Director, Ram Gopal Verma, he told her that he was not able to fit her in any of the movies he was currently working on. Jiah felt like a failure in her profession, following these experiences. She ended her life. In the same way Ahitophel’s sad end came after he committed suicide, just like Jiah’s – the Bible reveals (2 Sam 17:23). Unable to face failures in their professional lives, both of them tragically ended their lives. What Jiah and Ahitophel did not perhaps realize when they committed suicide was that they couldn’t really kill themselves. The real persons inside this duo – their souls – continued to live long after their body became lifeless following their shocking suicides. Yes, each one of us has a soul inside of us which will go on to live forever and ever. This is what the Bible teaches. God has placed, eternity in our hearts – this is the teaching of the Bible (Eccl 3:11).

    In the Bible, we meet yet another Jiah Khan – we can see the woman from Samaria that Jesus met at a well that way. Both were similar in their viewpoint that sexual relationship and men would give their lives meaning and purpose. The woman from Samaria perhaps thought to herself that if she drank the water called ‘love of a man’ she would find true satisfaction in her life. She was married to five different men, one after the other. Marriage number 1, perhaps failed and she sought solace in Marriage number 2. Then Marriage number 2, too failed. This went on till Marriage number 5. After each such sour relationship, she became frustrated and sincerely believed ‘another husband who was different’ would make her life ultimately happy. But she could not find that elusive happiness. She could not find in sin, what she entered sin to find. Sin did not satisfy her soul’s inner longings! When she met Jesus at the well, she was in her relationship number 6 – a relationship that involved living-in with a man, a relationship that involved, most certainly, sex outside the boundaries of marriage. What Jesus told her was in-effect this: “If you drink the water of sex, you will thirst again. If you drink the water I give you (in other words, if you have a living, daily relationship with me) then you will never thirst again!”

    “Life under the sun was meaningless unless one has a relationship with the one above the Sun – even God!” – that was the message he tried to convey in this key Bible book (Eccl 2:25). Jiah, too, perhaps, discovered that the fleeting fame of the movie world and a sexual relationship with a Movie Star’s kid, ultimately left her only to whine, one fine day. These, instead of cheering her, irreversibly wove the option of suicide into her thoughts, and drove her deep into bottomless well of depression.

    Yes, you could chase all the pleasures in the world in a desperate effort to discover happiness and peace, like Jiah did. But the pleasures of the World will not offer true happiness and peace – you will soon discover that. Only a daily, deep, relationship with Jesus – the one who died on the Cross for each one of us – will give us true happiness, peace, meaning and purpose. The punishment that brings us true peace was upon Jesus while he hung on the Cross, the Bible declares (in Isaiah 53). Jiah Khan ended her life deeply disappointed with all what movies with big stars, a sexual relationship, etc., could have ever offered her. If you chase the very things she chased – sex, silver, soul-mates, stardom, etc – or those of that kind, you too will be disappointed. Come to Christ, the one who explicitly said that he came to give you life – life to the full (John 10:10)! And you will not be disappointed! And you will find true peace and lasting joy. A loving relationship with Jesus, the only God who revealed himself in the flesh during the first Christmas, would be “enough” to satisfy the inner longings of the human soul, the Bible reveals (John 14:5,6). What’s more, when you come to Jesus in true repentance, your sins – even if they uncountable and even if they are unprintable – will be purged clean through the blood he shed for us on the Cross. This is a promise of God in the Bible who never tells a lie (cf. Isa 1:18).

    If we pursue a living relationship with Jesus in our lives, our soul will be joyous on this side of eternity while we are still on this earth. Not only that – we will join Jesus after death to live with him forever after our soul will be reunited with our resurrected bodies. On the other hand, If we rejected Jesus, our souls, along with its resurrected bodies, will go to a place of torment that Jesus often talked about called Hell (See Daniel 12:2). This is the teaching of the Bible. So, what would you decide to do? What choice would you make? Would you reject Christ, live a life of living hell and go to literal hell? Or, would you live in Christ, experience the peace and joy he alone can give, and go to heaven to enjoy him, forever? I hope your choice will be wise.

    One of the shadow-names of Jesus in the Bible is “Rose of Sharon” (Song of Songs 2:1, The Bible). Jiah Khan hoped what she saw on the other side of her rose-colored glasses – a sexual-relationship culminating in life-long love and marriage, a successful movie career, etc., – would give her life ultimate purpose, real meaning and lasting joy. She was disappointed. She committed suicide. Come to the Rose of Sharon, even, the Lord Jesus. Just as a Rose flower’s full fragrance is felt when it’s crushed, Jesus showed his full extent of his unparalleled love for us, by allowing himself – God-in-flesh – to be crushed as a punishment for our sins on the cross two millennia ago – this is what the Bible narrates (see Isaiah 53:5 which says, “But he (Jesus) was pierced for our transgressions;
    he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed”). This ‘Rose of Sharon,’ will not disappoint you. He will give purpose and meaning in life. Jesus put purpose in each step of his, confessed Paul, a Jesus-follower (I Cor. 9:26, NLT Version of the Bible). When you give your life wholly to Jesus, the Rose of Sharon, you too will have purpose in each step!