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].

Category: Uncategorized

  • The Ultimate Combination Champion is Jesus, not Barack Obama, Bill Clinton!

    – Duke Jeyaraj


    Former US President, Bill Clinton, was oozing with eloquence when he spoke thus of President Barack Obama in the Democratic National Convention, in Charlotte, NC, on 5 Sept 2012: “I Nominate A Man Who’s Cool On The Outside… But Burns For America On The Inside”… He was praising Barack Obama for possessing a rare combination of contrasting qualities. I want to say that no one had a greater measure of contrasting qualities than the Lord Jesus himself. I call Jesus, ‘the combination champion’. Not only was Jesus amazingly powerful (he had miracle-working power) but he was absolutely pure (there was no muck in him). Not only was Jesus 100% God (Titus 2:13), he was also 100% human (Acts 17:31). While Jesus was loving (a bruised reed, he would not break), he could lash out at people with words of judgement as well (he called the unrepentant Jewish religious leaders “a brood of snakes”, “white-washed tombs” who were headed for hell, and Herod as “that fox”). Jesus’ contrasting qualities far out-beats anyone you can care to name (Acts 4:12; John 14:6).


  • DO YOU DOFF YOUR HAT TO YOUR OPPONENT LIKE DJOKOVIC DID?

    – Duke Jeyaraj
    After Andy Murray became the first Britisher to win a Grand Slam in 76 years by beating him in the 2012 US Open Final, Serbia’s Novak Djokovic showered praise on his opponent: 
    “I had a great opponent today. He deserved to win this grand slam more than anybody, I’m sure, because over the years he’s been a top player. He’s been so close, lost four finals. Now he has won it, so I would like to congratulate him.
    “Happy that he won it.” (from Yahoo News).
    Djokovic’s verbal act of doffing his hat to his opponent was refreshing to read for we live in the world were envy is everywhere and feelings of jealously are not uncommon! The tricky thing about envy is that no one can tell if you are envious, for sure. Only God who knows everything and from whom nothing can be hidden would know. And you, the person who harbors envy, would know.
    Apostle Paul was like the Novak Djokovic we just read about. He could have chosen to be envious of young evangelist Apollos, who apparently was more eloquent than him (see Acts 18:24 and I Cor. 2:3). But he did not. Instead, Paul chose to “strongly” recommend the ministry of Apollos to the church in Corinth in his letter to them (I Cor 16:12). Wow! By doing this, Paul was just practicing what he wrote to the church at Philippi: “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves” (Philippians 2:3 ESV). Paul was simply following Jesus who appreciated the folk who loved to hate him, the Jewish leaders. Jesus appreciated the Jewish leaders for their discipline of searching of Scripture for long hours and for their discipline of giving to God one-tenth of items found even in their kitchens (see John 5:39; Math 23:23).
    What about you? Do you appreciate the bloke in your team who is better than you in the tasks you both have to execute in the company you work for? He collects more dollars than you, perhaps. She gets more customer appreciation, maybe. Do you go green with envy when you spot some more accomplished than you in a certain discipline – be it taking photographs, be it dressing up well, be it preaching a Bible message, be it speaking the English language, be it in cooking, be it in scoring exam grades, etc? Don’t! Learn from Djokovic. Learn from Paul. Appreciate the person who does things better than you!
    The only person who can truly transform your life from the cancer of envy is the one who died because of the envy of others – even the Lord Jesus Christ (Math 27:18 – Pilate understood that it was out of envy that the Jewish leaders wanted Jesus to die). Jesus died not just because of the envy of the Jews. He died as a punishment for our sins, the Bible declares (2 Cor. 5:21).  Come to him who shed his blood for you on the Cross. His blood will flush you of all sin – including the sin of envy, which he clearly named as sin in one of  his sin lists (see Mark 7:22). Jesus will give you the power to genuinely appreciate your opponents/teammates who are perhaps better than in you in certain matters!
    Don’t forget – being envious is injurious to your health! “Envy makes the bones rot!”, the Bible declares (Prov 14:30)! Before our bones rot, let us blot the sin of envy in our heart by asking Jesus to cleanse us from it!

  • TALKING ABOUT THE 100 METERS DASH AND ANOTHER CLASH

    Duke Jeyaraj’s poem on the eve of the men’s 100 meters dash in London 2012 Olympics

    In every Olympics, the most watched race is the 100 meters dash,
    The tag of ‘fastest man on the earth’ belongs to the winner of this clash!
    In this Olympics, will the winner be World Record Holder Usain Bolt?
    Or will it be his country-mate Yohan Blake, the young colt?
    Some Americans would like to think, it’s going to be Tyson Gay!
    W

     hile the Sun still shines, former Olympic champ Justin Gatlin, would seek to make hay!
    Don’t forget, you also have, among the contenders, Jamaica’s Asafa Powell,
    The 100 metre dash will be truly absorbing contest, well, well, well!

    Did you know, history’s greatest EVER clash was between Jesus and the Devil
    When Jesus died and rose again, He won this clash and solved the problem of sin and evil
    When you repent and turn to Jesus, your life with true joy and real peace, He will fill!

  • THE EPIC RACE & GOD'S GRACE!

    Duke Jeyaraj’s Good News Presenting Poem on the London Olympics Men’s 100 Meters Dash Final which Usain Bolt won on 5 August 2012.
    It was on the London Olympics 2012 100 meters men’s final dash the world’s eyes did lock,

    To watch this one heart-stopping event, live, people from all over the world, to the Olympic stadium did flock,

    To catch this breathtaking sprint live on TV, folks like me in India, woke up with the kids, as early as two o’ clock,

    The cynosure of all eyes was ‘Lighting Bolt’ Usain Bolt – no athlete in recent times, like him the universe, did rock,

    After his pre-race theatrics for the crowds (that included Prince Harry and William) and the cameras, Bolt crouched on the starting block,

    At one point in the race, he was third last, and the question did arise if someone his Olympic title, from him would possibly knock,

    But he blazed forward as the finish neared – it was as if he alone ran while others’ legs were arrested in some sort of a padlock,

    A talented field of athletes including the current World Champion Blake, former world record holder Powell, 2007 World Champion Gay and the former Olympic Champion Gatlin, he effortlessly did sock,

    History’s three fastest 100 meter dash times were now his, as he crossed the finish line in a Olympic record of 9.64 seconds, his nagging critics to mock,

    His World Record of 9.58 seconds could have possibly been broken had he not, while he was about to cross the finish line, wasted precious nano seconds, trying to look at the stop-clock,

    Bolt’s phenomenal power sprint pulled all seven out of the eight finalists under the 10 second barrier, expect Asafa Powell, who slowed down in utter shock,

    In this epic race, Justin Gatlin, though he ran 0.06 seconds faster than his 2004 Gold Medal performance could only add a bronze to his Olympic medal-stock,

    After the race, Bolt struck trademark ‘To The World’ pose pointing both fingers in the air, after bowing prostrate to the ground, to perhaps do God-talk.


    Talking about God-talk, I am reminded of the race that Jesus, God in flesh, undertook to reach atop Golgotha hillock,

    To wash away your sin and mine, he would shed his sinless blood there after having received from cruel Roman soldiers, knock after knock,

    He did this all to give you a real happiness which you are still searching for after that secret fling with that pretty girl in that pink frock,

    Turn from sin and trust in Jesus, your life will be meaningful and purposeful and you won’t have to, like Socrates, drink poisonous hemlock!


    —
    Post Script – Poor Tyson Gay! He finished fourth despite clocking a sensational time of 9.80 seconds in the 100 meters final. In every Olympic 100 meters men final before Beijing 2008, this effort would have won him the Gold Medal. But this time – thanks to Gold Medal winner Usain Bolt’s power sprinting that pulled the seven out of the eight finalists into the sub 10 seconds mark – this guy called Gay did not even win a bronze medal despite a fabulous effort this Olympics and was reduced to tears.  This is a imperfect picture of how all of us, sinful us, have fallen short of the glory of a holy, holy, holy God despite our best efforts and how we can be saved only through placing our total trust in Christ!

  • Hate Story Movie's Paoli Dam & The Damnation of the Soul

    – Duke Jeyaraj
    “Love killed her soul; her body seeks revenge” – so goes the movie poster punchline for VIKRAM BHATT’S, Hate Story, as I discovered from newspaper ads. The ‘her’ referred to in this movie poster punchline is actress Paoli Dam. Starting  from Paoli Dam, we can learn a lesson from the Bible about the damnation of the soul! Shocked? Let me elaborate. Even the makers of movies of the cadre a Christ-follower would consciously avoid, like the HATE STORY, surprisingly, concede that humans have a soul – not just a body. We have a soul, because we are made in the image of God who too has a soul. “My soul is well-pleased!” so said the God of the Bible about the sinless life of only incarnate Son, Jesus – the Bible records (Math 12:18). Yes, all of us have a soul! This soul, the Bible declares, will go on living forever (Eccl 3:11). We can gain the whole world, and yet forfeit the soul, Jesus, God-in-flesh warned (Mk 8:36). Nothing can be given in exchange for the soul, ever, Jesus taught (Math 16:26). Not the diamonds of South Africa. Not the cars of Germany. Not the cheap thrills that come in viewing movies like HATE STORY. Just nothing. Without a living, daily, deep relationship with Jesus, our soul and body will be consigned to eternal hell – this is the declaration of Jesus who always spoke the truth (Math 10:28). Jesus’ question to all who are reading this is this: if your soul is required of you tonight, where will it spend eternity (Lk 12:20)? If you not sure of the answer, repent and come to the one whose ‘soul was troubled’ because of our sinful deeds (John 12:27). Come to the one who went to Gethsemane garden being ‘sorrowful in his soul’ and eventually to the Cross of Calvary for our sakes, and for our sins (Math 26:38). Come to the one whose ‘soul was not abandoned to death’ but rose again from the death – the only one to do so (Acts 2:27). Come to Jesus. Come now. After you have come to Him, start to love Him ‘with all your soul’ – which is his greatest command (Math 22:37). And, by his power overcome temptations that will come your way, live holy. Start reading his word, the Bible and start talking to him in prayer. Join a Bible-believing fellowship. Witness for him, through your life and lips. Then, when Jesus comes back the second time to this planet as judge, you will be “kept blameless in your body, soul and spirit” (I Thess 5:23).

  • “CAN WE GLEAN THEOLOGY FROM KOLAVERI DI, DA?”

    -Duke Jeyaraj

    Most Watched Youtube song in India


    The song, “Why This Kolaveri Di…” is the most watched Indian song ever uploaded on Youtube.com. This song has become the heart anthem of the Google Generation. Paul quoted from a secular poet to drive home a Biblical truth in his Gospel presentation in Athens (Acts 17:28). If that can be done, it won’t be a bad idea to glean theology from the hugely popular, “Kolaveri Di” song.

    Holy Vs Holey!

    This song is about the extreme anger that a girl showed her boyfriend (‘kolaveri’ in Tamil means murderous rage). Only God has the right to exhibit a rage that could kill anybody – no one else has this right. This is because, only God is holy. And the rest of us are “holey” – full of holes, full of sin (Rom 3:23). Paul talks about this extreme anger of God in Romans 1 – “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth” (Rom 1:18). In the Bible we read about how God righteously expressed this anger on certain individuals to kill them instantly. The sons of Eli, the priest, who slept with young women who served in the temple were struck down by God through circumstances (I Sam 2:22-25). I will say this even though it will not be a popular thing to say – God can show ‘kolaveri’ on each one of us. But he does not do so. Instead, he gives us opportunities to repent and return to him. If the Lord would kept record of our sins, none of us could stand before him alive (Psa 130:3). This great grace encourages us to return to God without delay. And God would be absolutely justified in striking any of us still stubbornly playing around with sin, dead in his holy ‘kolaveri’.


    Only a white girl’s heart is dark?



    Dhanush goes on to sing these lines in this ‘hit’ song: “White skin-u girl-u girl-u/ Girl-u heart-u black-u/ Eyes-u eyes-u meet-u meet-u/ My future dark.” These lines reveal the hurt of the boy who has been ditched in love by a “white girl” with a “black heart.” Did you know that the Bible teaches each one of us have “black heart” (and not just girls with white skin)? Prophet Jeremiah wrote, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jer 17:9). In other words what Jeremiah was recording here was this: everyone heart is blackened by sin! And the good news is this: though our sins like scarlet (or shall we saw black as soot!), they can become as white as snow (Isa 1:18). This can happen when those confessed sins come under the cleansing blood of Jesus, the Bible teaches (I John 1:7-9).


    Alcohol consumption, the solution?




    Dhanush, in yet another paragraph of this song, seems to suggest that he thinks that drowning himself in alcohol would enable him to handle his hard-to-handle love-break-up with this pretty white girl. It is in this context that he talks about a ‘Scotch’ whisky bottle in his hand and ‘tears’ in the eyes, in this song! ‘When you are depressed, get drunk’ – this is what the World teaches. But what does the Word teach? This: Almighty’s presence – not alcohol intake – is the solution for depression. Bible prophet Elijah who wanted an early end to his life when he was depressed, discovered this. His first destination was God’s mountain – the very presence of God – after his bout of depression (I Kings 19:8). When things go wrong in our lives, we must run to God’s presence through the discipline of intense, intimate prayer. God’s presence is an antidote for depression for no one can love us and accept us like God. If God had a purse, your picture will be on it! If God drove a car, your name will be on that car’s bumper! If God had a fridge, your photo would be stuck onto it! You are inscribed in the palm of his hands! You are the apple of his eye! (Thanks to Max Lucado for planting those last few sentences in my heart!).

    The Bible makes it clear that alcohol consumption is never the solution for anything. The Bible teaches, “It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, or for rulers to take strong drink lest they drink and forget what has been decreed and pervert the rights of all the afflicted” (Pro 31:4-5). The word “lemuel” in the Hebrew, the language the most of the Old Testament was written in, meant “devoted to God.” So here is the message of that just-quoted Bible passage: those devoted to God will not consume alcohol and those who do so will be poor leaders and deplorable examples of Christian living.

    Your future cannot be dark, when…

    Dhanush, in the “Kolaveri” song confesses, “My future dark-u…” He thinks this way because his relationship with the girl he really was in love, head over heels with, was now abruptly broken, with her walking out of his life, all of a sudden. But for a believer in Christ, the future will never be dark for he has the Word of God which the lamp unto his feet (Psa 119:105). A person who spends unhurried time with the Bible with an open mind and a teachable spirit will never grope in the dark. The Bible says, “the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day” (Prov 4:18). Through a living relationship with Christ we inherit the free gift of righteousness (Rom 5:17). When our relationship with Christ gets deeper and more intimate, darkness (which is symbolic of sin) will be nowhere in sight and a day will come when we will be in the very presence of God who dwells in approachable light, forever and forever (I Tim 6:16)!

    “Sex, with the girl of my dreams will…”

    “Empty life-u/ Girl-u come-u/ Life-u reverse gear-u” – those are lines from the mouth of Dhanush in the song, “Kolaveri.” What he says here is this: he thought his empty life would be filled by the beautiful girl he had fallen in love with; but what happened was just the ‘reverse’ – he became even more empty after this beautiful girl came into his life! Dhanush’s honest confession here sort of agrees with a truth that the Bible talks about through an real life story – the real life story of Amnon. Amnon thought sex with the girl of his dreams would fill the emptiness in his life. He just had that. He raped Tamar, his half-sister. And what happened after that was this: he felt so empty that he asked the girl he had sex with to get out of his sight! Sex with the girl of his dreams left him feeling emptier than he was, when he first met her! (Read 2 Samuel 13). But the goodnews is that a relationship with Jesus (who said, “I have come that you may have life – life to the full!” – Jn 10:10) is the only way to plug empty feeling or the vacuum in the heart. Jesus alone qualifies to plug that emptiness because he never ever sinned. Jesus knew no sin, the Bible records (2 Cor 5:21). Even his worst enemies, the Pharisees, were mum, when he asked them, “Which of you can truthfully accuse me of sin?” (John 8:46). So as a person without a scent of sin in his life, the only person to be like that, Jesus was never empty. What is the connection between being empty and sin? Emptiness first came into our lives because of sin, the Bible explains. “Emptiness will be their (the wicked’s) only reward” – the Bible records (Job 15:31, NLT). Having understood this, when we come in repentance to have trust in Jesus who died for us on the Cross, we can be indeed be redeemed from “the empty way of living” (I Pet 1:18, NIV; John 1:12).

    Mrs. Lot did not have lots of time!

    Dhunush in the last para of “Kolaveri” sings, “Cow-u cow-u, holy cow-u/ I want u hear now-u!” I have tried hard to figure out what he is saying here. But I have not been able to. In fact, even Dhanush in various interviews has stated that this particular song has no meaning in some places! But what I do understand is this: he was to wanting to hear something then and there! May be he wanted to hear the words “I love you again! I will get back to you again!” from the girl who left him ‘high and dry’ – without any delay! In the same way, Jesus wants each one of us to come back to him without delay. Jesus preached once, “Remember Lot’s wife!” (Luke 17:32). I have wondered why Jesus wanted us to remember Lot’s wife. It was because he wanted to remind us of the grave peril in when we postpone our coming back to him. Mrs. Lot thought she had lots of time to repent. “I still have time for one last look at sin!” – she thought. We too may think that way. “I still have time to have one last look at that pornographic site!” – we may tell ourselves. “I still have time to carry that grudge with that brother or sister for one more day!” – we may fool ourselves. But, lets not forget that Mrs. Lot did not have lots of time to flirt around with sin. She turned into a pillar of a salt, instantly. She died suddenly while she was still in sin to go into an eternity without God! What happened to Mrs. Lot could happen to us who may think ‘we have lots of time to repent’! So, let’s come to Christ when there is still time which is now! A newly married groom can perhaps postpone his first night with his wife but he should not postpone getting right with God which is the preparation for the day of the Judgment which can arrive at any second – this is the message of Prophet Joel (2:12,16).

    Becoming really alive!

    “Godu I m dying now-u; She is happy how-u” – those lines are the last few lines that Dhanush’s “Kolaveri.” He is talking about death here. He is talking about a different kind of death – a death after which he will be still alive! A death in his spirit, if you can call that. Jesus too talked about such a kind of death in one of his parables. While talking about a young man who returned to his father’s home after years in rebellion and in sin, Jesus makes this interesting statement: “He was dead, but now he is alive!” (Luke 15:32). This young man was physically alive. But the sins he indulged in, made him spiritually dead. But his act of repentance, his decision to take a U-turn and return back to father’s home, gave him the opportunity to be spiritually resurrected. You too are spiritually dead. We were dead in trespasses and sins, the Bible declares (Eph 2:1). But a relationship with Jesus after we have repented from sin, after we have taken U-turn in our life and returned to him, will make us alive – really alive!

  • THE MOVIE, THE DIRTY PICTURE, AS A PURITY PARABLE

    – Duke Jeyaraj
    The movie, The Dirty Picture, starring Vidya Balan, created a tremendous buzz in India and across the World. This movie grossed Rs.50 Crores within one week of it’s release. “It had the biggest opening ever for a woman-oriented film in the history of Indian Cinema,” reported The Times of India (December 9, 2011). Can we glean out lessons for purity from a movie named, The Dirty Picture? Yes we can! Here’s how:

    This movie is obviously based on the life of Silk Smitha, though there is an explicit denial of this by the movie makers. Can it be a mere coincidence that the movie released on the same day the real Silk Smitha was born – December 2nd ? As one website put it, “(This movie) is an unofficial biopic around the life and upheavals of Southern sex symbol Silk Smitha.” What was the end of Silk Smitha’s life like? She committed suicide by hanging from a ceiling fan in the bedroom of her home in Saligramam, Chennai on September 23, 1996, when she was just 36 years of age, leaving a suicide note that talked about several failures and financial difficulties. The years of having men lust over her body through her erotic performances on screen, the years of having affairs with several men, the years of alcohol consumption, the years of making a quick buck from the movie world by compromising her moral values, did not satisfy the inner longings of her soul. Vidya Balan, talking about the character ‘Silk’ she played in the movie, The Dirty Picture says, “She has no restraint. Some may feel that she is shameless. I think she is a girl who wants to enjoy the pleasure of life at every opportunity. Whatever she feels, she says it and whatever she wants to do, she does it…” This sort of ‘bold’ behavior left her in the ‘cold’ – feeling empty, dejected and depressed. It left her reeling in loneliness that she decided to end it all.


    ‘Silk Smithas’ in the Bible!

    In the Bible, we get to meet a ‘male Silk Smitha.’ Bemused? Don’t be. I want to refer to Ahitophel, the counselor to kings of Israel as the ‘male Silk Smitha’. While Silk Smitha was the most famous item number dancer of the South India Film Industry in the 1980s, Ahitophel was the most trusted advisor to kings of Israel in those times. Both folk reached the pinnacle of their professions in their times. Having reached the pinnacle of their careers, both suddenly faced failures. While Silk Smitha faced competition from other item-number dances, Ahitophel’s advice was ignored. Ahitophel’s sad end came after he committed suicide, just like Silk’s – the Bible reveals (2 Sam 17:23). Unable to face failures in their professional lives, both of them tragically ended their lives. What Silk Smitha 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 Silk Smitha – we can see the woman from Samaria that Jesus met at a well that way. 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!”

    I believe, we meet another Silk Smitha in the Bible in the person who authored the book of Ecclesiastes who was King Solomon, perhaps. “I tried cheering myself with wine,” he writes (Eccl 2:3). In the movie, The Dirty Picture, Silk played by Vidya Balan, drowns herself drinking alcoholic drinks when the going in her personal and professional life become tough and rough. But wine, could not ultimately bring meaning into his life, the writer of the book of Ecclesiastes ultimately discovered to his utter dismay (Eccl 2:11). “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). Silk, too, discovered that wine-addiction, ultimately left her only to whine, one fine day. The beer habit, instead of cheering her, irreversibly wove the option of suicide into her thoughts, and drove her deep into bottomless well of depression.



    The Savior for all Silk Smithas!

    Yes, you could chase all the pleasures in the world in a desperate effort to discover happiness and peace, like Silk 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). Silk Smitha ended her life deeply disappointed with all what soft porn movies, sex in front of the camera, illicit relationships, lots of money, overdose of alcohol, etc, could have ever offered her. If you chase the very things she chased – sex, silver, soul-mates, Scotch, 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.

  • Unwise Daniel Christian, Unwise you

    Duke Jeyaraj’s poem on the nerve-wracking CLT20 Game Between Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) Vs South Australia Redback (SAR) on 5 October, 2011, Bangalore that ended in a last ball six win for the former.

    After South Australia Redbacks’ opener, Daniel Harris was still unbeaten on a brilliant 108 at lunch,
    RCB had to make 215 to win – this was the kind of cricket match that would’ve interested even the French!
    Flat-six hitting Gayle and Dil-scooping Dilshan, an intent-revealing opening partnership did launch,
    Before murderous Virat Kohli came into the middle to blast a 36-ball 70, that packed a punch,
    As the post-Kohli dismissal 16th over by offie Nathan Lyon yielded just 4, RCB faced a run-crunch,
    Tait’s tight ‘3-wickets taken, just 4 runs given’ 19th over left RCB 14, in the last over, to fetch.
    A throw in the 2nd ball of the final over, the cheeky single seeking Syed Mohammed, short of the crease, did catch,
    The scoop-4 Aravind hit in the 3rd ball, the bad name he earlier earned by giving 69 runs, slowly began to scratch,
    The next two balls Aravind could score just 3 runs, and he was now in the non-strikers end feeling like a wretch!
    6 off 1 ball – this is what RCB had to now miraculously hatch!
    “The last ball will surely be a slower one, since the first 5 in this last over were!” – this was Arun Karthick’s hunch!
    He slog swept Daniel Christian’s predictable slower ball for a six, a win in the very last ball for RCB to snatch!
    Man of the Match Virat Kohli said that this game, RCB Vs SAR, was his life’s most exciting T20 match!

    Yes it’s true that Daniel Christian was extremely unwise to bowl six straight slow balls in the last over,
    But of course, not Just Daniel Christian – we too are unwise in other matters of life, dear brother!

    When we choose fleeting sinful pleasures over the eternal pleasures that Jesus offers, we are just as unwise!
    When we tell ourselves, “One last look at this porn site may not cause any harm,” we are believing Satan’s lies!
    Life’s purpose is not found in finding a job that fills our plates with rice and marrying a girl that’s really nice!
    It’s not also found in munching french fries with funny friends while licking a KFC-chicken leg piece!
    It’s only found in having a relationship with the sinless Jesus who took the punishment that brought us peace!
    Will you not repent from your sin and come to Him who is alive ever more, now, please?

  • Sangakkara made the finest speech ever by a cricketer recently. But the way he ended it was not without major logical flaws.

    -Duke Jeyaraj on the Sangakarra Cowdrey Lecture 2011“I am Tamil, Sinhalese, Muslim and Burgher. I am a Buddhist, a Hindu, a follower of Islam and Christianity. I am today, and always, proudly Sri Lankan.”

    That’s how Kumar Sangakarra finished a breath-taking, Obama-esque, standing-ovation-evoking speech at MCC. That’s how he finished the Cowdrey lecture. It is touted as the best speech ever given by a cricketer. Read it in full at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/international/srilanka/8618261/Kumar-Sangakkaras-2011-MCC-Spirit-of-Cricket-Cowdrey-Lecture-in-full.html

    It will be well worth your time if you did that. The man who played the greatest Test innings ever according to me (I am referring to the 192 runs he made at a time of great adversity even as Sri Lanka chased a 500 plus in the fourth innings in a game against Australia in Australia before he was wrongly given out in November 2007) has made a speech that dwarfs that phenomenal cricketing achievement. I gathered tips for myself – someone who gets to give speeches now and then – from that landmark, lovely, lashing-out-at-injustice and politically incorrect speech. Sangakarra takes time to appreciate, very graciously using wowing words, the role of Christian Missionaries in bringing cricket to the beautiful island nation of Sri Lanka in this super speech.

    Hold on. I do not agree with the point that Sangakarra made as he ended his spell-binding speech. He seems to say that one can follow both Christianity and Islam without fooling one’s self. I am baffled that an intelligent man like Sangakarra (a trained lawyer turned Cricketer) could actually make such a logically inconsistent statement. Let me elaborate here: Islam believes in One God. Christianity believes in one God who exists in three persons – a blasphemous claim for our Islamic friends. Buddhism says, “Desire is the root cause of all evil!” In the Bible, the person called as a ‘man after my own heart’ by none other by God has a strong desire, longing – he is panting after God with the same passion a desert-dweller thirsts for water (Psa 63:1)! Hinduism talks about a cycle of rebirths. But the Bible talks about one life and one judgement (Heb 9:27). So, obviously you can’t claim to be follower of all the religions without lying. You have to necessarily reject what one religion says and embrace what the other says, if you are true to yourself. Well, you can respect all religions. But you can’t follow them all without lying to yourself. In fact, when one makes a statement like Sangakarra just did (and let me tell you, it is quite fashionable to do so in this secular, postmodern world!), he or she is calling Jesus, a liar. For Jesus said, “I am THE way, THE truth, THE life! No one comes to God except through me!” (John 14:6; See Acts 4:12 too). Jesus also said, “If you won’t believe I am who I say I am, you’re at the dead end of sins. You’re missing God in your lives” (John 8:24, The Message). You have to make a Choice – to believe in Christ alone for your soul’s salvation or any of the rest or all of the rest. You can fool yourself thinking you can follow them all. Come on – you just can’t do that!

    Dr. Ravi Zacharias put what I just said, plainly and eloquently. Let me quote him so that what I have just said gets re-enforced compellingly: All religions are not the same. All religions do not point to God. All religions do not say that all religions are the same. At the heart of every religion is a stubborn commitment to a particular way of defining who God is or is not – and a particular way of defining the meaning and purpose of life. The truth is that every major religion in the world claims exclusivity, and every major religion in the world has a point of exclusion. Hinduism, for example, is often represented as being the most tolerant and accepting of other faiths. That is just not true. All Hindus believe in two fundamental, uncompromising doctrines—The Law of Karma, and the belief in reincarnation. These will not be surrendered. In fact, Buddhism was born out of the rejection of two other very dogmatic claims of Hinduism. Buddha rejected the authority of the vedas and the caste system of Hinduism. The issue here is not who was right or wrong. The truth is that they were systemically different—both claiming rightness. Islam, is very clearly an exclusive claim to God. A Muslim will never tell you that it doesn’t matter what you believe or that all religions are true. But before we get upset with such claims, let us remember that it is the very nature of truth – Truth by definition is exclusive. Everything cannot be true. If everything is true, then nothing is false. If nothing is false then it would also be true to say everything is false. We cannot have it both ways. Let these profound, perfectly-worded lines sink in to your system. Close your eyes and let the truth of the above lines close-in on your very being. Read the above lines again and again till it gets to your above – your brains! Memorize them. Parrot them. Preach them.

    The reasons why Christ is unique is beyond the scope of this article. But those reasons are available in plenty!

  • Hell-talk: Actress Kajal Agrawal n Jesus

    – Duke Jeyaraj

    The Hyderabad Times, quoted actress Kajal Agrawal saying this the other day: “What the hell is happening?” (That was the article’s headline in bold letters as well). This was her first reaction to certain reports which quoted her saying that “I have not seen myself as a South Indian actress. I am a Punjabi girl!” (Hyderabad Times, 24 June 2011). The words, “What the hell….”, “Who the hell…”, “How the hell…” have become so common in our present-day English language use – as common as ‘and’ and ‘well’! When people use the word ‘hell’ this frequently and so casually they don’t even remotely understand the horrific place hell is.

    Jesus, the greatest hell preacher!

    Max Lucado writes, “Of the twelve times that the word ‘gehenna’ – the strongest Biblical word for hell – appears in Scripture, there is only one time in which Jesus was not the speaker. No one spoke of hell more than Christ did” (When Christ Comes, Page 118). But Jesus did not speak of hell in casual terms like today’s youth or actors. If anyone knew how hell looked like (or would look like) it was Jesus – the all-knowing, ever-existing God in flesh and bone.

    Hideousness of hell

    Jesus painted the hideousness of hell by pointing out that we must do whatever it takes to escape going there. For example, he said, “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell” (Math 5:29). He repeated this almost verbatim in Mathew 18:9. If Jesus had not repeated this, his saying on hell, Mathew would not have recorded it twice in his Gospel, would he? By saying what he did, Jesus was not advocating plucking of one’s eye to beat the temptation to lust. He was simply telling us, that hell is so terrible and horrible, that if one can escape it by plucking his eyes out, it would be a cheap price to pay.

    A place to make you wish that you were never born!

    Jesus also depicted the gruesome nature of Gehenna (Hell) by the way he talked about Judas Iscariot – the one person we know for sure would go to hell. He categorically said this about Judas whom he referred to as “the son of destruction”: “It would have been better for that man if he had not been born” (Math 26:24; John 17:12). In other words, this was Jesus’ message here: If you are not born-again or if you turn away from the born-again experience, like Judas did, you will go to a place which will make you wish that you were not born at all! Hell is so painful! Hell is so agonizing!

    Children of hell – that is what we are

    Jesus gave us humans a new name: children of hell. That is what he called the religious big shots of his time (Mathew 23:15). They were hypocrites. We are all hypocrites. And we too deserve such a title – the title of “children of hell”. What God originally prepared as a destination for the Devil and his angels – the terrible place called “hell” – becomes our destination as well (II Pet 2:4). It is only right that the devil’s ultimate destination becomes ours as well because we choose to follow the devil and his sinful urgings in our day-to-day lives. I refer to his urgings like “Use abusive language to get even with those who abuse you!”, “Watch pornography – it will not harm you!” etc, etc! Calling someone a “fool” may be quite cool with this google generation. But doing that can take you to hell, Jesus taught (Math 5:22). Undressing the person of the opposite gender who is not your married partner, in one’s mind, may be the favorite pastime of the Youtube Youth of today. But when such sins are persisted upon, hell is where we land up in, Jesus warned (Math 5:28, 29). The human race, by and large, is on the broad road that leads to destruction (hell), Jesus pointed out (Math 7:13). The way to hell is sleazy and “easy” (Math 7:13).

    A name for God which worship leaders hardly use

    Jesus also gave a new name for God, a name you will not hear worship leaders use often: him who can destroy both soul and body in hell (Math 10:28). It was only re-coining an Old Testament title for God: Consuming Fire (Duet 4:24). Yes, it is true. God is not only a Compassionate Father. He is also a Consuming Fire. He is love. But he is not only love. He is just and righteous as well. That is why all sin must be punished. God cannot wink at sin and pretend that it did not exist. If he did, he no longer can be called just and holy. That is why, Jesus taught about the existence of hell which serves as the ultimate punishment for “rebels” against God – a place of unquenchable fire in which both the worms feasting on the human body, and humans themselves “will not die” forever (Isa 66:24; Mark 9:43-48). The human race is in a hopeless situation. Jesus asks us the same question he asked the Religion Biggies of his time: You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? (Math 23:33). We have no answers to Jesus’ question. And guess what – Jesus decided to answer that question himself. He said in-effect: “I will open a way – in fact it will be the only way – for you to escape being sentenced to hell! I will experience hell instead of you. You need to trust in me – the One who experienced hell for you – to be saved from going to hell!” Stumped? Read the next paragraph for more details….

    The hedge on the broad road to hell

    Jesus not only preached about hell, he did what it takes to prevent you from going to hell. This is what he did: he voluntarily endured hell instead of you. While he hung on the cross he cried out, “My God, My God why have you forsaken me?” (Math 27:46). Hell is the one place which is truly God-forsaken. Jesus experienced hell even as he hung from the cross. That is why he cried out that way. Because your sins and my sins were laid upon Jesus on that day – two thousand years ago – the holy God whose eyes are too pure to even look upon sin, had to turn his face from his Only Son, Jesus, and forsake Him, for our sake (Hab 1:13). This happened at the “ninth hour” – the Gospel-writers tell us (Math 27:46; Mk 15:34). Every year, exactly at that very hour, Jewish families would chop the neck of a lamb that would take away their sin – symbolic of what Jesus, the sinless Lamb of God would do on the cross, years later. The God who stopped Abraham between the neck and the knife as he was about to chop his son Isaac, did not stop the knife of the cross falling on the neck of his son. The reason? Jesus died for our sins.

    How Jesus endured hell for you

    Jesus also cried out, “I thirst” from the cross, remember? (John 19:28). He was echoing the words of the rich man who went to hell, he once talked about. That rich man too cried out in thirst saying, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame’ – do you recall? (Luke 16:24). What that rich man underwent in hell, Jesus underwent even as he hung on the cross, Bible Scholars tell us. That is why he uses almost the very same words as that of that rich man. Why did Jesus have to endure all of this? To prevent you and me from living a life of hell and going to actual hell. He was taking the”punishment”, which is ultimately hell punishment, instead of us, the Bible declares (Isa 53:5, Rev 21:7, 8). Jesus died so that we may not have to experience “second death” – another Bible word for hell (Rev 21:7, 8). And we will only go to hell, if we reject Jesus, who claimed to be the only way of salvation from our destruction in hell. If we jump over the cross of Jesus in pride, the cross which acts as a hedge to prevent people from going to hell, this is where we will land in: Hell!

    You could remember this essay – from hell

    Jesus warned – six stunning times – that hell is a place where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Math 8:12; 13:42; 13:50; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30). He repeated this depiction of hell, because it was mighty important. Who weeps? Those who are sad. Who gnashes teeth? Those who are angry and frustrated. You have guessed it right – Jesus wants us to understand that hell will be a place where our memories would be intact by using this phrase to talk about hell. Should we go to hell, we will remember and recall, every opportunity we ever had on planet Earth to escape coming to hell, and we will feel sad and shattered, angry and frustrated, that we did not make the most of it! My prayer is that you will not land up in hell, but if you do, you will remember reading this article, that explained to you, in black and white, the only way to escape hell!

    A line from I Know What You Did Last Summer….

    Don’t get me wrong – Jesus did not come to this planet to condemn you to hell. Far from it. The Bible says, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him” (John 3:17). But hell is where we will go, if we ignore Jesus’ repeated warnings about hell.

    “There was a murderer in the balcony. I saw him from the stage in the beauty contest. And you will fry in hell, if you ignore my words!” – those are the words in-effect that Sarah Michelle Gellar screamed at a Police Officer who doubted the veracity of her claims in the 1997 Hollywood horror movie, I Know What You Did Last Summer. The skeptical police officer, who made fun of Sarah for making such a claim was promptly and shockingly “hooked” by a sickle to a gruesome death, by the very murderer whose existence he doubted, shortly after he heard Sarah’s warning. If you and I doubt Jesus’ claims on hell, I am afraid, on the day of Judgment, or on the day of your death (which can be any day), you and I will be in for a similar shock, like that police officer was in for, in the movie I Know What You Did Last Summer.

    Jesus said, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). Why do want to experience hell in this life and go on to experience hell in the next life to come, forever and forever, when Jesus can give you “abundant life” – a life which nothing or no one can give you?

    How to escape hell – here’s how

    May be you are asking the question after reading this essay, “What must I do to escape hell and experience the heaven Jesus can alone offer me?” What you must do was put in plain words by Jesus. You must first leave. I mean, leave your life of sin. I mean repent. I say this because, Jesus preached, “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3). When he used the word “perish” there, he meant “perish in eternal hell”. So repentance from sin is the first step to escape this horrible hell.

    Second, you must believe. We read in the Bible that “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” (John 3:36). Yes, that is right. You must believe that Jesus died on the cross to save you from going to hell with all your heart. You must believe, that He is alive right now, having risen from the dead on the third day, to be able to walk with you daily in the narrow road that leads to heaven.

    If you have decided to repent from sin and believe on Jesus, why don’t you join me in saying this prayer, which will help you begin a relationship with Jesus – the only one who can save you from eternal Hell: Dear Jesus, I am sorry for my sins that took you to the cruel cross, where you experienced hell for me. Please forgive me. Please wash my manifold sins with your precious, pure blood that was shed for me on the Cross. I pledge to join you on that narrow road that leads to heaven from now on! Thank you for saving me! I am grateful! I am glad! So be it!”

    If you have any questions about this article please call Duke at +91-9441352433 or e-mail him using emailduke@gmail.com . If you have made a decision to follow Jesus for the first time, after having read this article, join a local church where Bible is taught faithfully, for if you are in an active fellowship with fellow believers in a local church, “the gates of hell will not prevail” against you (Math 16:18).

    The text in brackets refers to Bible Verse References. And they are taken from the English Standard Version of the Bible available online at http://www.esv.org .