By Sidharth Mohandas

Scripture tells us , “The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” [Isa 53:6]

The Hebrew word used for “iniquity” here is “avon”, and the closest equivalent for this word in English would be the word “rebellion”. However even rebellion does not fully convey the full meaning of avon. In it’s biblical use, avon also carries the meaning of punishment or evil consequences.

For example in Gen 4:13, Cain says, “My punishment is more than I can bear“. In this verse, the Hebrew word used for punishment is “avon“. It covered not only Cain’s rebellion but also the punishment it brought on him. In Lev 16:22, concerning the scape goat released on the Day of Atonement, the Lord said “The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities [Hebrew: avon] to an uninhabited land….”. Here, the goat not only bore the sins but also the evil consequences/punishment.

Again in Lam 4:6, it says, “The punishment of the iniquity….”. The Hebrew for this sentence would be “avon avon…”.

In order to  explain this better, let me share with you some kingdom principles. I want you to consider a colony, which by definition is an extention of a kingdom in a foreign land. As long as the colony is under the rule of the kingdom, it receives all the benefits of the source kingdom. However, if the colony resists the rule of it’s source kingdom and proclaims Independance, all the benefits that the colony enjoys that comes as a result of the source kingdoms rule will be with-drawn. This is exactly what happened to the Adamic race as well. The Adamic race was a colony of heaven, a colony to bring the dominion and lifestyle of heaven on earth. However, when Adam and Eve rebelled against God’s Government with a desire birthed in them to “be like God”, they were declaring their independance. Now though they received their independance, with it they lost all the benefits of the Kingdom of God. The consequences…..?? Sickness, disease, curses, demonic influences and so forth.

Coming back to the first verse in Isaiah 53:6, we read that Jesus not only bore our sins, but He also bore all the evil consequences of the rebellion. It is a part and parcel of the Gospel. This is why when Jesus sent forth His disciples to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom, He also gave them the authority to heal, to cast out demons, to cleanse the lepers and so forth. In fact, never did He send His disciples to preach the Gospel without giving them the power to heal, cast out demons, cleanse the lepers etc. These go hand in hand. God’s kingdom is not just talk, it is power. [1 Cor 4:20; GW]

By Sidharth Mohandas

Though I came to know the Lord Jesus at the age of 9, my 16th year was marked by rebelliousness and waywardness. I had strayed away from the faith into sin. Not that I didn’t believe in the Lord, I had gotten into bad company and all that mattered then was the pleasures of sin and the acceptance with my friends. My mother was very hard on me during those times. She tried her best to discipline me, but my rebelliousness just grew with her strictness. I particularly remember a day where I did something and she slapped me, and I slapped her back. She and I were both surprised at my response. When I got out of control, she usually got a belt or a wire to hit me. But none of those affected me. This went on for days and one day she just broke down and in her anguish she started offering sacrifices of praise to Him. She told me later that she had let gone at this point, and had let God take over. A week later I was deeply convicted and I just wanted to get back to where I was with the Lord. I called a friend I knew who was strong in the Lord and asked him to help me out. He ministered to me, and I made a fresh commitment to God and I haven’t gone down on that ever since that day. My point is, our striving to do things in the flesh are in vain. Months of my mom trying to discipline me didn’t bear much fruit. God could turn my life upside down in just a week’s time! [Don’t misunderstand me; I’m not talking against disciplining your children.]

Stop striving in your flesh, let go and let God. Remember, the builder man builds in vain if the Lord is not the builder. [Psalm 127: 1]

Courtesy to magickcanoe.com

By Bala Samson

Isaiah 51:7-8 “Listen to me, you who know the right from wrong and cherish my laws in your hearts: don’t be afraid of people’s scorn or their slanderous talk. For the moth shall destroy them like garments; the worm shall eat them like wool; but my justice and mercy shall last forever, and my salvation from generation to generation.”

God today wants us to know the right from wrong and cherish His laws in our hearts. Did you know using pirated softwares is illegal? It starts out innocently enough with somebody asking you to install your copy of Office XP on their system. Next thing you know that Office XP CD has found its way on to more systems than you’d care to know about. What’s wrong with that? Unless you have enough licenses for the software, all that innocent copying is completely illegal and the OTHER NAME FOR IT IS THEFT. Friend, let us not be ignorant of this stealing which is happening around the world but today I warn you to away from it.

Using pirated software is a moral and ethical issue. After all, how can we tell our children that it is unethical to cheat when adults readily use illegal software to run the computers? Software piracy takes several forms. The most common method involves making a copy of a program to give to a friend. Seems innocent enough but it is illegal. The Internet has made it very easy to steal software. You can find anything you want on the Internet. It contains a rich treasure of illegal treasure. May be you ask now what do I do?

• Conduct your own audit of all the software you are using.

• If you have a computer at home and if you have not purchased the Office XP software that you are currently using, then remember you have a stolen item in your home. Remove it right away and buy it from approved vendors. Even if you are delaying in purchasing the software, don’t delay in removing the pirated software. Remember, you are using something for which you have not paid for.

• Buy the software from approved vendors and keep the license numbers on file.

• Don’t fall into the trap of doing what the world is doing by stealing software.

• Never make use of what is known as ‘peer to peer’ (P2P) resource sharing software (examples are limewire,WinMX, Kazaa, Azureus, Bearshare, Zango, Morpheus etc.) for illegally downloading songs, books, movies or anything that is required to be paid for. There are numerous arguments for and against this, as these involve one person paying for some product, and sharing them for all, on the net. Hence it may be immensely profitable to get things freely. However ok it might seem, it hurts the interest of the producers of these products, who lose out on revenues immensely. The real motive that most people go for such resource exchange is to avoid paying money, and hence even be considered equal to software piracy (another name for theft).

• If you are not sure about what you have on your computer, don’t ignore this message which has been brought to your desk through the Holy Spirit, call a friend who is proficient on this subject and clarify it with him.

There are some sins which are large and obvious but there are some sins which are secret, sins like the moth …white, soft, noiseless, and delicate, that lay their eggs in the secret places of the imagination. They are quiet, until one day they hatch out moral moths, silent and noiseless like their mother, but with teeth as sharp and vicious as Satan’s which will cut the holy fabric of character and leave it useless as a moth-eaten garment.