Fear of Hell

Fear of Hell

Fear of hell causes beginners to shun evil.

Desire to be rewarded with divine blessings confers on those who are advancing a readiness to practice the virtues.

But the mystery of love transcends all created beings and makes the intellect blind to all that is sequent to God.

Only upon those who have become blind to all that is sequent to Him does the Lord bestow wisdom, showing them what is more divine.

St Maximos the Confessor


 

May History Pass And The End Of Times Come!

May History Pass And
The End Of Times Come! 


From the inspiration of Daniel (11) 


All the history is under Your control, and nothing is hidden from You.
Giants arise and many perish.
Covenants are established, some keep them while others break them.
Kingdom arises against kingdom, and all is past history.

May all the events of the history pass away, and may the End of Times come.
The Antichrist will poison all, but the Conqueror One, the Christ is certainly coming!
May You, the Victorious One, come and may Your believers be glorified!



Fr. Tadros Malaty
From the Inspiration of the Book of Daniel    

The Heart's Delight

The heart's delight  

First return to yourself from what is outside you, and then give yourself back to him who made you; for he is the sum of all our happiness and our perfect good. To worship him is to love him, to long to see him, and to hope and believe that you will see him.  This is to long for happiness - to reach him is happiness itself.

Ask yourself how much your love has increased: the answer your heart gives is the measure of your advancement. We now see him confusedly, as our love increases - but then we shall see him clearly.

Beloved, this love does not come to us of our own free choice, but by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us; for how could we have cleaved to God if he had not spoken to our hearts?

At the last we shall all receive the reward of salvation, like the labourers in the vineyard who came at different times, yet all were given the same wage. With the Prophets, apostles and martyrs we shall contemplate the glory of God, and looking in his face sing his praises for ever. There will be no more sin, no more falsehood, and in love we shall cleave to him for whom we now sigh.  We shall live for ever in that city whose light is God, finding in him that happiness we now labour for.

  DAILY READING WITH

St Augustine --- The Heart at Rest

HOW LONG WILL YOU WAIT, O MY SOUL!

HOW LONG WILL YOU WAIT, O MY SOUL!  

From the inspiration of Ezekiel (7)  

Your voice, O my God, never stopped! 

It warns me: The end is near!

As the Architect of the whole world, You know its mysteries.

You confirm to me, that heaven and earth will disappear.

Yet, with my idiocy, I remain slothful and negligent.

Until when will you wait, O my soul?!

Will you escape to the mountains?

They are shaking!

Do You lean on your friends?

All hands will be feeble,

And all knees will be like water!

Do you trust in your silver and gold? They will not deliver you!

Do you lean upon the formalities and letters of worship?

Your God seeks the heart and depths!

Do you lean on authority? Everything will come to an end!

Until when will you wait, O my soul?! 

Fr. Tadros Malaty

From the Inspiration of The Book of Ezekiel

My God, My All

My God, my all  

Why do you mean so much to me? Why do I mean so much to you that you command me to love you? And if I fail to love you, you threaten me with great sorrow, as if not to love you were not sorrow enough. 

Have pity on me and help me. O Lord my God, speak so that I may hear your words. Whisper in my heart, ' I am here to save you'.  My heart has ears ready to listen to you, Lord, open them wide and I shall hear your voice and make haste to clasp you to myself. 

My soul is like a house, small for you to enter, but I beg you to enlarge it. It is in ruins; I ask you to rebuild it.

In it is much that will displease you: this I know and I do not conceal it from you. But who is to empty it of these things? To you only I can say, 'I trust, and trusting I find words to utter'. Lord, you know that this is so, for I have acknowledged my sin.

I do not dispute your judgement for you are truth itself, and I have no wish to delude myself lest I betray my own malice.  'For if you, Lord, will mark iniquities who may abide it?' 

     DAILY READING WITH

St Augustine --- The Heart at Rest 

The Titanic's Last Hero

John Harper was born to a pair of solid Christian parents on May 29th, 1872. It was on the last Sunday of March 1886, when he was thirteen years old that he received Jesus as the Lord of his life. He never knew what it was to "sow his wild oats." He began to preach about four years later at the ripe old age of 17 years old by going down to the streets of his village and pouring out his soul in earnest entreaty for men to bereconciled to God.

As John Harper's life unfolded, one thing was apparent...he was consumed by the word of God. When asked by various ministers what his doctrine consisted of, he was known to reply "The Word of God!" After five or six years of toiling on street corners preaching the gospel and working in the mill during the day, Harper was taken in by Rev. E. A. Carter of Baptist Pioneer Mission in London, England. This set Harper free to devote his whole time of energy to the work so dear to his heart. Soon, John Harper started his own church in September of 1896. (Now known as the Harper Memorial Church.) This church which John Harper had started with just 25 members, had grown to over 500 members when he left 13 years later. During this time he had gotten married, but was shortly thereafter widowed. However brief the marriage, God did bless John Harper with a beautiful little girl named Nana.

Ironically, John Harper almost drowned several times during his life. When he was two and a half years of age, he almost drowned when he fell into a well but was resuscitated by his mother. At the age of twenty-six, he was swept out to sea by a reverse current and barely survived, and at thirty-two he faced death on a leaking ship in the Mediterranean. Perhaps, God used these experiences to prepare this servant for what he faced next.......

It was the night of April 14, 1912. The RMS Titanic sailed swiftly on the bitterly cold ocean waters heading unknowingly into the pages of history. On board this luxurious ocean liner were many rich and famous people. At the time of the ship's launch, it was the world's largest man-made moveable object. At 11:40 p.m. on that fateful night, an iceberg scraped the ship's starboard side, showering the decks with ice and ripping open six watertight compartments. The sea poured in.

On board the ship that night was John Harper and his much-beloved six-year-old daughter Nana. According to documented reports, as soon as it was apparent that the ship was going to sink, John Harper immediately took his daughter to a lifeboat. It is reasonable to assume that this widowed preacher could have easily gotten on board this boat to safety; however, it never seems to have crossed his mind. He bent down and kissed his precious little girl; looking into her eyes he told her that she would see him again someday. The flares going off in the dark sky above reflected the tears on his face as he turned and headed towards thecrowd of desperate humanity on the sinking ocean liner. As the rear of the huge ship began to lurch upwards, it was reported that Harper was seen making his way up the deck yelling "Women, children and unsaved into the lifeboats!" It was only minutes later that the Titanic began to rumble deep within. Most people thought it was an explosion; actually the gargantuan ship was literally breaking in half. At this point, many people jumped off the decks and into the icy, dark waters below. John Harper was one of these people.

That night 1528 people went into the frigid waters. John Harper was seen swimming frantically to people in the water leading them to Jesus before the hypothermia became fatal. Mr. Harper swam up to one young Man who had climbed up on a piece of debris. Rev. Harper asked him between breaths, "Are you saved?" The young man replied that he was not. Harper then tried to lead him to Christ only to have the young man who was near shock, reply no. John Harper then took off his life jacket and threw it to the man and said "Here then, you need this more than I do..." and swam away to other people. A few minutes later Harper swam back to the young man and succeeded in leading him to salvation.

Of the 1528 people that went into the water that night, six were rescued by the lifeboats. One of them was this young man on the debris. Four years later, at a survivors meeting, this young man stood up and in tears recounted how that after John Harper had led him to Christ. Mr. Harper had tried to swim back to help other people, yet because of the intense cold, had grown too weak to swim. His last words before going under in the frigid waters were "Believe on the Name of the Lord Jesus and you will be saved."

Does Hollywood remember this man? No. Oh well, no matter. This servant of God did what he had to do. While other people were trying to buy their way onto the lifeboats and selfishly trying to save their own lives, John Harper gave up his life so that others could be saved. "Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends..." John Harper was truly the hero of the Titanic!


But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved). Ephesians 2: 4 - 5 NKJV

Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. John 15: 13 NKJV


Sources for this article: "The Titanic's Last Hero" by Moody Press 1997,
Scriptures are quoted from the New King James Bible. John Climie, George Harper

Testimonies and tributes originally published in Scotland in 1912. Compiled and edited by John Climie at the request of John Harper's brother, George. Also published as: John Harper: a hero on the Titanic, 1997


Also named: A True Story of the Titanic... Sacrifice at Sea... John Harper Preached... Twice Saved - A True Titanic Hero