Mark Hitchcock on Dec. 21, 2012

December 21, 2012 is a widely discussed subject. There are people who believe that world will come to an end or something will happen. Way back on July 6th 2007, I wrote a blog on it when this subject was not that popular. This blog was read by many people and even listed on a website on this subject. You can find it here http://tinkuthompson.blogspot.com/2007/07/biblical-response-dec-21-2012.html

You can see it on december122012.com at
http://www.december212012.com/articles/religion/Biblical-Response.htm

Mark Hitchcock has written a book on it. He gave a talk about it at Credo House@ Reclaiming the Mind ministry. If you are interested in knowing more about this subject then go to this link and watch the video.
http://vimeo.com/6990852

Cybermission challenge and Blogs on godsownmanna.com

Few years ago I came to know about CyberMissions. I was greatly impressed with it. I tried doing lot of things and tried to encourage people. Keeping motivation level high has always been a challenge since you never know what's the impact its making. You keep doing it and you never know.

Especially I have noticed that people whom I was targeting are less expressive and don't think of appreciating someone very fast. But from time to time I do get odd emails or responses from people who say that they are blessed. So it's a challenge for anyone who is trying to do any kind of Cybermission.

Podcast hits on gospel-link.com shows a good response but I don't hear that much from people. So I don't update new episodes thinking that not many people are listening to it. But Stats gives a different figure. Sometimes I think that if we didn't have stats then I would have stopped doing most of the things I do long time ago. When you do things without expecting anything back, responses from people can mean a lot.

Well during the last 1 month I got some responses about this blog and site. Especially from people whom I never expected will ever read my blog. That just reminds me that all our labor is not in vain. Someone somewhere may be getting benefit out of it.

Today if you are reading this blog then I want to ask you a small favor. Go to any ministry site or blog or resource site you visit often and send an email to the people who are behind it. Just send them a response that you are blessed by their effort. I can assure you that that's the best thing you can do from them. I see websites with videos of messages and other stuff which requires money and most importantly time and effort. Most of them are free. So let the people behind those wonderful ministry sites know that what they are doing is a good job.

Now let me come to the point behind which I taught of writing this blog. Recently I came across a new site www.godsownmanna.com . They asked me if I can write blogs from them. I agreed after visiting the site. It has lot of resources. You should visit it.
At this time let me also suggest some sites which has some Malayalam christian resources

http://www.godsownmanna.com
http://www.mannaforyou.org
http://www.yourlivingmanna.com
http://www.indiachristian.com

Indiachristian.com has links to hundreds of Christian websites. I know this is not the full list. If you know of other good sites then you can add in the comments.

May God bless and help all those people who put hours to convert videos and make other resources and put it on internet with the desire to see other people blessed.

God Bless!

Moral Purity in a Corrupt World

We are living in the information age. People have so many ways to get connected to each other. With the wide spread use of Internet came the popularity of services like email, chat, social networking etc. In many cases, privacy of people is compromised as most of the information about a person can be found out with the click of a button. Sometime ago I was reading an article in a leading Journal as how people check social networking sites to find information about a boy or girl when some marriage proposals come. The downside of all this is that people have access to so much information and materials again at just the click of a button. Most of the things we get at the click of a biutton though is not beneficial. Many times it can becomes dangerous.

A common issue expressed by many young people is their addiction to Internet and especially to the filth which is available free of cost. It's free of cost at times but people forget that they are paying a heavy price in regard to destroying their moral standards and convictions. Recent surveys have shown that many families are shattered and many lives are being destroyed as a result of people becoming addicted to pornography and other things. Sometime ago a friend of mine who is also a counselor shared this sad story with me. A family was almost broken with the husband insisting for a divorce. There was no visible problem. Financially they were doing good. Finally my counselor friend could get to the root cause as why this man wanted divorce. He was so much addicted to pornography that he has lost his sense as what are the acceptable standards in a family life. Earlier in order to get access people had to go out but now things flow into your house through your Internet connection. Now everything is available even on mobile phones and you don't even need a computer.

The subject to which I want to draw your attention is about Moral purity. How important is Moral purity for a young person in this corrupt world. Most of the things in the media and things available in the entertainment sources we have are so much sensual in nature that many times you feel that you are defiled after you read or watch something. I used to visit a news portal/website for years for reading news. But recently I have found that I will have to stop visiting that portal and move to some other for news. What's the reason? I have found that of the late the material they have on their homepage and the visuals displayed doesn't confine to the moral standards expected. Their website traffic may have increased after they have changed because we know that more people often visits sites which will feed their appetite for evil.

Recently we have seen reports of people who were considered as good people in society are caught in crimes which nobody ever expected them to commit. where is the starting point? Most of the time you will find that the it started with people ignoring moral purity. Repeated exposure of filthy things changes your convictions and moral standards. It can drive you towards moral depravity. Many times people who have lost their moral standards or whose moral standards are degraded end up committing crimes which destroy other people's life. Many times young people end up in complete mess from where they don't know how to come out. All this can lead to other problems like drug addiction, physiological and medical problems. We have many examples of people who have ended up in big problems because they allowed their convictions regarding morality to be degraded.

There is a pattern in which people slowly slip. Let me point it out to you here. The first exposure to evil is met with recoil and revulsion or shock. The repeated exposure in small doses will lead to the removal of shock. That will lead to desensitization. Then the person starts overlooking the evil which will lead to the tolerance of evil. Then starts a dangerous phase in which you start liking the evil which leads you to desire the evil. It's not over yet. What you desire , you will start justifying. Then comes the tragic phase which leads you to eventual indulgence in evil and further justification of evil.

Did you see how it works? Something which was received with sock initially ends up with the person getting indulged in the same. If you think then you will find that many things in our life is like that. Little ignorance and overlooking can lead to dangerous consequences.

We all have a life in which we can choose how to live. We can be good people of our society who will lead a life which confines to the acceptable moral standards. Leading a life like that will not only give happiness in our life but also to the people who are around us including our family members, neighbors and friends. On the contrary we can allow all the evil things to influence us and allow the degradation of our moral standards. Leading a life like that will give us pleasure for some time but regret and sorrow for rest of our life. It will not only effect our own life but also the lives of people around us including our family members.

The choice is your's? Will you choose to live a life of moral purity in this corrupt world and make an impact in your society with your life? Or will you allow your moral standards to be degraded? What will you choose?

My Grandfather

My grandfather passed away last Tuesday and I was in Boston for the funeral. I have mentioned about him earlier also. It was a good time even in sorrow as our whole family got together. I couldn't attend the funeral of my grandparents from my father's side. So it was different and as far as I can remember this was the first funeral service of a close family member which I was attending.

In this post I just thought of adding what I spoke during my grandfathers wake service being the eldest grandson. Here is what I spoke:-


Greetings to all in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I am the eldest grandson among the nine grandchildren and I want to say a few words in memory of my grandfather.

My grandfather lived a remarkable life, one that inspired me greatly. When I think of him, first my thoughts go back to my childhood days back in India when during the summer vacations I used to go to my grandparents house along with my sister and 2 other cousins. Everyone who knows my grandfather knows that being an ex military personal he was very strict but at the same time very loving. At one point of time he was the person whom I feared most in the world. But his love was evident in mist of all this.

But for me the most important thing was his role in helping me and my sister to reach where I am now. God really used him during some crucial periods of my life. There was a point in my life when my family had to go through some tough situation and nobody was there for me. At that time it was my grandfather and grandmother who took care of me and my sister. I still remember the times when my grandpa would come to meet me at my boarding school and would leave behind packets of Chocolate with my hostel warden giving instruction to give it to me. There are so many small but significant examples which I can remember which reflected his love and concern for me. I still remember the day when after getting a Job in US and one day before flying out of India, I called him to tell that I am going. He was very happy for me and mentioned that it was his prayer and concern for since I was the only one out of all his grandchildren who was in India. He was very happy and I could feel his joy and gratitude towards God during that conversation.

Out of all the events which happened recently, 2 would always be there in my memory and I will cherish it for a long time. The first one was the conversation I had with him 1 week before he was hospitalized. Normally whenever I call he will not speak too much but would allow my grandma to do most of the talking and he would hear and give some comments here and there. But that day it was different. He picked up the phone and spoke with me for sometime before calling my grandma and handing over the phone to her. I was unusual and I even called my mother later to tell that Appachen i.e. my grandpa spoke for a longer time with me. I will remember most of the things we spoke that day as that was my last conversation with him.

The following Monday I got the shocking news that he is admitted in hospital in a serious condition. I took the early morning flight from MN with the prayer that God will give me at least a chance to see him alive once. Indeed I could see him in ICU. The next 2 days spent in the hospital where tense and I spent most of the time reflecting on the old days I had with my grandpa. Thursday night was unique as I asked God if He can give me one chance so that I can go back with the peace that my grandpa saw me after a long time and at least speak to him with some response back from him. Many people were praying for him. Friday evening God gave the answer to the prayers. He was out of vent for 3-4 hrs and we had a great time. That was one of the most joyful moments in my life. I will cherish that moment for a long time as it was both an answer to my prayer and an opportunity to talk to my grandpa and see him responding.

Out of all his grand children, I may be the one who has spent least amount of time with him especially during the recent years due to various reasons, but I am thankful to God that I was blessed with a wonderful grandfather who above everything constantly prayed for me. I could learn from other people that He was very happy about the Spiritual activities with which I am involved and spoke to others with great honor about it. That was always encouraging and will remain as an encouraging factor in coming days also.

One more things which make me specially thank God at this time is the fact that at this occasion the whole family could be here. Four Children and their families could spent time with him during his last days and everybody could be here on this occasion. I am sure that its a great blessing and our whole family is thankful to god for that.

Before concluding I would like to read few verses from the Bible. The scripture portion comes from I Thessalonians 4:13-18. It’s from NLT translation

13 And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died.
15 We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the Christians who have died will rise from their graves. 17 Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. 18 So encourage each other with these words.


I will miss my grandfather dearly. But I will treasure his memory forever.

When your Calculations go wrong

When faced with a crisis in life, everything seems to take backseat and you seem to move forward with crisis issue. Then life takes another turn and you get used to things and then what was once a crisis moves down your priority list. Sometimes I feel that the ups and downs in our life make it interesting.

Last week I had to rush to Boston as my grandfather was admitted in ICU. It was tough to be there realizing the fact that someone who did so much for your life may be gone forever. But by God's grace I could get some time when he was taken out of ventilator for first time when I could talk to him. Those moments I will remember as some of my best moments with him. He is still in ICU. Keep him in your prayers.

I was back in MN this week and we are having some good time of fasting and prayer. It is true that "better is one day in the courts of God than thousands elsewhere" (Ps 84:10). The sons of Korah were absolutely right.

The title of this post is when your calculations go wrong. What's that? There are many times when our calculations go wrong. We feel rejected, lonely, hopeless etc. We feel like maybe we did something wrong. In Bible there are many examples when people’s calculations went wrong. In John 2:1-11 Jesus did a miracle at a wedding in Cana in Galilee. Jesus was invited along with his disciples. But the person who arranged this function had something go wrong. His calculation about the wine needed went wrong. It is written that there were 6 stone water Jars which could contain 20-30 gallons. So if I take an average of 25 then its 150 gallons of wine. I don't think that if the shortage was only 5-15 gallon then Jesus would have asked to fill all jars but just one. But it was a big crisis. Calculations went wrong big time. So what to do now?

Many times in our life also calculations go wrong. Things may not work in the way or in the time we think it should. It can be for anything in your life. Sometimes you may desire a change in life. You may do some calculations for better job or better house. Sometime it may be for your family, ministry and may be for your marriage. But everything may go wrong. The feeling of a person who has lost everything in life may take hold of you.

Now let me add the final verse of this story here. John 2:11
"This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed in Cana of Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him."

Jesus used this calculation which went wrong to perform a miraculous sign and revealed his glory. His disciples put their faith in him. The beginning of the powerful ministry of Jesus started here. The source or the reason is someone’s calculation went wrong. There are so many examples in Bible where people thought they have lost everything and then God turns their situation and use it to reveal his glory so that many can put their faith in him.

What will you do with your calculations which went wrong? Are you going to be disappointed and lose hope in life or trust in God and pray that God will use all the circumstances in your life to reveal his glory.

My friend, you may be going through some tough times. But trust in God and put your faith in Him. Other side is that don't blame or expect anything if your are rebellious and go in your own way. Make sure every step and decision you take has the approval of God.

So if your calculations go wrong even when you are walking in close fellowship with God then don't worry. God is in control. Thank God that your calculations are going wrong. God's glory will be revealed in your life very soon.

May God bless You!

Increase in Wickedness - Love will grow cold

We are living in a time when wickedness has become a sort of style or fashion of the day. If we notice the news and keep track of the things happening all around us then we know that with each day wickedness is not only increasing but getting popular and accepted. What was in the list of wickedness few years ago is no longer there and has become accepted things. Its true with Christians also. Many things which are forbidden in the word of God is slowly creeping in and is becoming part of normal life. Tolerance is a good things but sometimes it can become dangerous in the sense that slowly it can make us cold. Last days I was meditating on a verse. Let me share it with you. Mathew 24:10-13:-

"At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved."
In these verses when Jesus was talking about the signs of end of the age. Jesus says that because of increase in wickedness the love of most will grow cold. As people of God, we should check our life always against this. Is our love growing cold?
Do you have the same passion and love for Jesus which we had when we believed? What is the condition of our hearts now? Jesus says that love of most will grow cold. Also the reason given is
increase in wickedness. How true is that? It's very much true. Many times we turn to every side and what we see is wickedness. Constant exposure to wickedness will slowly take us away from fellowship we enjoy with God.

One example I can give here so that you can check yourself to see what are the areas of you need to be careful in your life. I used to visit some news web site for reading news often. But recently I have noticed a change in their content. They still have news but all other things are sort of wicked in nature. They have all sort of useless things around. I have noticed and initially those things made me uncomfortable. Then I thought that I am only going to read the news and why should I care about other things. But soon I realized the my comfort level was changing. You may say its normal. Yes its normal but its a negative thing in respect to the standard a child of God has to follow. I hope you can understand what point I am trying to make here.

When we carefully see we will notice that many times its our lack of seriousness and our tolerance towards the wickedness which slowly takes us away from God. Many times it makes us lukewarm in our spiritual life. When we go to church or hear a sermon then we are hot but again we become cold in few hours.

I want to encourage you to look at your own life is see whats your condition. Are you growing cold? What is your hearts attitude towards wickedness?

Remember what Jesus said in these verses. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.

Let's not allow the wickedness around us to make us cold but rather stand firm till the end so that we will be saved.

May Goid Bless You!

Hindi Podcast & Other updates on www.gospel-link.com

About 1.5 yrs ago I started the Gospel Link Podcast. It was mostly in English. This month God helped us to start the Gospel Link Hindi Podcast. Already 2 Episodes are out. First message is about Disappointments and 2nd updated today is about transformation. If you like to listen to Hindi messages then visit http://www.gospel-link.com/Podcast_Hindi.aspx

Also today we added some Hindi Songs by Pr.Renny Thomas from Rajasthan, India. Thanks to Brother Finny Thomas for sending it so that we could add it.

Another important update was the Gospel Link Media Hindi Video message about Dissapointments. I haven't got the final copy which will be released in the first week of May 2009. Some brothers are putting lot of effort behind it. But I have just added the message in the site. I will update it once I get the final copy. But you can still see the message in the site. Visit http://www.gospel-link.com/videos/Messages/Hindi/Dissapointments.aspx

May God Bless Your Spiritual Life!