Pilgrim's Ponderings

  Disclaimer: This article is not some attempt to arbitrate on the Ravi Zacharias report neither will it attempt to draw any conclusion on his eternal destiny. It is not my opinion on what happened rather It comes from my reflecting on my own heart through this season of events.   There are two kinds of people who have or will read the report about the noted Christian writer and apologist Ravi Zacharias. There are those readers who love the Lord Jesus and those who do not. This article is not about the latter group whose reactions to the report range from indifference to aggravated arrogance and all that is in between. Among those readers who love the Lord Jesus there many groups as well. There are those who are hearing his name for the first time (yes, another example of how big the world is). Then there are those for whom he was just another speaker and possibly one they were not particularly excited about. Then are those who were impacted by his ministry in many ways an...

  We all have understandings and images of what God’s punishment might look like and by contrast what His protection would look like. These images very often portray discomfort and displacement as God’s punishment upon people for their sin. As you study the Old Testament you find that “dwelling in the promised land” is seen as a blessing from God for the people of Israel, provided they continue to walk in obedience. If they should walk away from YHWH then the punishment was to be them being displaced from the land. The prophets of the Old Testament keep warning of God’s judgment coming in the form of foreign kings that would carry Israel off into exile. One such prophet is Jeremiah. Much of his prophecy is to do with this coming judgment of God and how the Jews would be taken in to exile.   In chapter 24 of Jeremiah we find that the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar has invaded and has carried off the king and many of the Jewish people as his prisoners. Nebuchadnezzar then se...