Dear friends

I'm probably THE worst blogger through all times..........:-) It's hard to find time to tell all the things that happens, but now I'm trying!

I have to apologize to my acquaintances that dislikes my use of english, and that would rather see me writing in norvegian on this blog. It is my language-training. Not everyone have the opportunity to live in an english-linguistic country.........You are lucky guys, Paal and Tine:-)

An old saying: " Going to church, doesn't make you a Christian anymore than going to a garage, makes you a car." Norway is said to be a christian-country, since we have a statechurch where most of the population are members. The official numbers (www.kirken.no) tell us that 3.88 millions, 85,7% of the norwegian population, are members in the church. Most people would say that this should make our nations to a christian nation. My statement is clearly that this is wrong.

2000 years ago, a now well-known man, Jesus-Christ, walked on earth. Some few years before Jesus became "famous", another man, by the name John (Johannes), with the nickname "the Baptizer". He was preparing the "road" or making it level for a man that John described with the words " I am not good enough to undo his shoes" (John 1,27b). The message John was sent to preach, was for every men to repent(change their minds and lifes) "preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission(forgiveness) of sins" (Luk 3,3).

Some time after he had preached this message for the first time, he met Jesus. The first thing he proclaimed when he saw Jesus Christ was; " The day after, John sees Jesus coming to him and says, See, here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" Jesus is, was, and will always be the Lamb that was slaughtered for our sins, when he was killed on a cross on Calvary!

A friend of mine asked me a time ago (look at my last blog), what she should do to be good enough! My answer is that we can't do a thing. Nada, zero nought. In the letter to the church in Rome, Paul said "For all have done wrong and are far from the glory of God!" Even if all the wrong someone ever has done, is to tell a vague lie, the person is disqualified for a future in heaven. Look in James (Jakob) 2.10 " For anyone who keeps all the law, but makes a slip in one point, is judged to have gone against it all" As it says in the Romans 3.23, all have done wrong, and will therefor be judged (james 2.10) Judged means not discharged, that is guilty. We are slaves of sin, and the payment of following Satan, is death and eternal hell "For the reward of sin is death; but what God freely gives is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord." (rom 6,23)

Oh how I love the fact that the verse doesn't stop after "death", but also tells us that we can inherit in Jesus Christ our Lord! IN him there is life, in him the light truly is. But how can we be IN him, so that all our sins can be erased. Jesus himself gave and is still giving us the answer. Join me to John 3. "Now there was among the Pharisees a man named Nicodemus, who was one of the rulers of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we are certain that you have come from God as a teacher, because no man would be able to do these signs which you do if God was not with him. In 3,3 : "Jesus said to him, Truly, I say to you, Without a new birth no man is able to see the kingdom of God. Joh 3:4 Nicodemus said to him, How is it possible for a man to be given birth when he is old? Is he able to go into his mother's body a second time and come to birth again? Joh 3:5 Jesus said in answer, Truly, I say to you, If a man's birth is not from water and from the Spirit, it is not possible for him to go into the kingdom of God.

To "BE IN" Jesus Christ, that means to one day reach heaven, we must be born again. The Pharisee naturally asked how anyone could be born again when he was old. The Bible isn't talking about a new birth in our bodies (flesh), but a new life in our Spirit. In Mark chapter 8, from verse 34 we can read: "And turning to the mass of people with his disciples, he said to them, If any man has the desire to come after me, let him give up all other desires, and take up his cross and come after me. 35 Whoever has a desire to keep his life, will have it taken from him; and whoever gives up his life because of me and the good news, will keep it. 36 What profit has a man if he gets all the world with the loss of his life?
37 And what would a man give in exchange for his life? 38 Whoever has a feeling of shame because of me and my words in this false and evil generation, the Son of man will have a feeling of shame because of him, when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.

Before I got to know Jesus Christ personally, I had a Lord that I followed, and his will was my will, therefore he was my Lord. And his name was Satan, and the reward of serving him, was death and eternal hell (Rom 6,23). I walked in the darkness, and there were no light. I knew that Jesus once had lived, and that he supposedly had taken my sins, but I didn't know Jesus, and what I should do to get to know him! One day some friends told me that I had to give my life to Jesus, and receive him as my Saviour and Lord. From the same moment I asked Jesus to come into my life and to be my Lord, he gave me a new birth. Gone was all of my sins that I had done, even the worst and the gravest of my sins. I had moved from darkness into the Light, to the Father of Lights, Jesus Christ (James 1,17). But to understand how I could, and how you (?) can receive this gift, cos a free gift it is, the life of Jesus shed for us, we have to go back to John 3 and look some in the Romans chapter 10.

In John 3,5 Jesus claims: "...If a man's birth is not from water and from the Spirit, it is not possible for him to go into the kingdom of God." As simple as this, but what does it mean. A birth in water means to be baptized, to be baptized means to go intirely under water. The Bible speaks about bury in Colossians 2,12 "Having been put to death with him in baptism, by which you came to life again with him, through faith in the working of God, who made him come back from the dead."

2 b continiued

2 b continued some shiny dag in the future!

Existence

Rip my arm off and I will still exist. Rip my heart out and I will still exist. So will you. You better find out what's next.

A friend of mine asked me recently what he had to do, to be good enough for heaven! Look in the next blog for the follow-up