IN DEFENCE OF THE GOSPEL
We live in a truly wondrous age. Wondrous for its communication resources. Wondrous for its discoveries and explosion of knowledge and for its ways of managing and applying that knowledge. Our age is most wondrous for its potential to spread abroad all that is good in God's sight.
There are, however, many temptations to use these advances in a bad way. There are untold numbers of predators looking for opportunities to take advantage of others. Victims range from defenceless young children, to those easily influenced, to underdeveloped countries. Unprecedented wealth sits in the pockets of a tenth of the world's population. Most fortunes are not made by being productive. They are 'made' through clever ways of getting hold of someone else's money. The combined defence budgets of the developed world alone could totally alleviate poverty and hardship everywhere. Churches are compromising the Gospel in order to stay 'relevant'. And now we see terrorists, so brainwashed by their cause they are willing to die taking their perceived enemy with them. The inconsistencies in our value systems are so blatantly obvious. Yet they are so much in our face, we don't notice anymore.
WHAT IS WRONG?
There really is something dreadfully wrong. The Bible says it all started when Adam and Eve disobeyed God. That was the moment when Man decided to live for himself, instead of for God.
WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?
Too many of us keep quiet, when we should speak up. Sometimes it is easier or safer to avoid confrontation. Sometimes we think one voice can't make a difference. Sometimes we compromise our values so others will still like us.
My name is Albert Van Leeuwen. I am a born-again Christian. And I don't want to be silent anymore.
AN ETERNAL LIFE-PARTNER
What is the meaning of life? Why are we here? These questions are asked by most of us intermittently throughout our lives. Only the Bible has an adequate answer:God wants to become One with his creation, or at least a select part of it.
Obviously I cannot tell you what I think about all of the worlds ills, nor do I think I have the wisdom to solve even a small percentage of them. But I do recognise double standards and inconsistency of logic in what is my reason for living - my Christian faith. So what I've to got to say has to do with Christianity and the way it interacts with its constituent churches and with the secular world. It has to do with the Church and its personification as a Bride for Jesus at his second coming.
Most of us have a mental 'list' of the qualities we are looking for in our perfect life partner. Is today's Church really the partner Jesus wants to come back for, His life partner for eternity? Or have we been so driven by the winds of change and compromised His Gospel, that the Church no longer looks anything like what Jesus had in mind?
STANDING UP TO BE COUNTED
When Jesus showed He was unhappy with the church of His day, He knew He risked crucifixion. When Martin Luther drew up his 95 theses and nailed them to a church door, he knew he risked being beheaded as a heretic. I am truly blessed to live in an age where what I have to say is unlikely to incur risks of such magnitude. But I will be sure to tread on many toes along the way, calling a spade a spade. And I know I risk being unpopular as a result. I say what I feel I must, out of love for Jesus and out of love for my brothers and sisters in Christ, desperately wanting to see the true power of God released to change lives and to change the Church into the Bride He wants to come back for.
MISSION STATEMENT
This is a call to all Christians to come back to the plain Gospel as proclaimed by Jesus Himself, so we can work together and in real-time relationship with the Holy Spirit, to prepare a Bride worthy of Him, ready, without spot or wrinkle, when He comes.
COMMENTS
You don't have to read what I have to say. And if you do read it, you don't have to agree with it. I don't claim to have a monopoly on the truth. Over 35 years of being a Christian, I have adjusted my views many times. I just have these burning issues inside of me, and I'm putting words to them and throwing them out there for anyone so inclined to evaluate. So I encourage feedback and healthy debate. I urge all visitors to this site, to think for themselves, rather than blindly following someone else's ideas, including mine.
If anyone convincingly shows me to be Biblically in error on a particular viewpoint, I humbly undertake to acknowledge this and change the content of my essays accordingly. The purpose of this web site is to turn Christians back to the Gospel as proclaimed by Jesus. It is not to prove me right.
Please feel free to convey your comments to me at thr email address at the top of every page.
I will reply to all genuine comments in due course, hoping to develop a strengthening Christian bond between us, whether we agree or not.
COPYING OF ARTICLES
You are free to copy articles from this web site, provided it is with the genuine intention to research the subject matter for yourself or to share it with others. I seek no donations. This is just my way of standing up for Jesus. If you think you have benefited and feel so inclined, buy a coffee and a meal for a homeless person.
Finally, may I say that I hope and pray that whatever you read or hear on this web site will be a blessing in your life and bring you into a closer relationship with Jesus Himself.