"Now see that I, even I, am He, and there is no God besides Me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; nor is there any who can deliver from My hand." Deuteronomy 32:39

Regularly we hear proclaimed on TBN and God T.V., and from many pulpits:
"Sickness is of the devil!";
"It is always the will of God for you to be healed!";
"Don't pray 'If it be Thy will!' Claim your healing! It is your right!";
"Demand your healing! You are a child of the King! Health is your birthright!";
"God can never be glorified by a sick body!";
"If you are not healed, then it's your own fault. It is either sin, or lack of faith, or a need for more seed money!"

But What Does the Bible Say?"
So the Lord said to him, 'Who has made man's mouth? Or who make the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I the Lord?'" Exodus 4:11

"Now see that I, even I, am He, and there is no God besides Me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; nor is there any who can deliver from My hand." Deuteronomy 32:39

"Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. His disciples asked him, saying, 'Rabbi who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?' Jesus answered, 'Neither this man, nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.'" John 9:1-3 ​

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As we are reminded again of the sufferings of Christ on the Cross, we need to consider the question: Who is responsible for the sufferings of Christ? As we read the Gospel narratives, or as we see the crucifixion of our Saviour depicted by The Passion of the Christ film, we have to ask the question: Who killed Jesus?
 
1. Do we blame the Roman soldiers? Certainly, they crucified Him.
 
2. Surely though it was the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, who was responsible? He alone had the power to enforce the death penalty, it was he who, as a magistrate of the Roman Empire, declared: "I cannot find any reason to condemn Him" John 19:4; "I find no reason to condemn Him" John 19:65; "I find no reason to condemn this Man" Luke 23:4. Yet, Pilate bowed to pressure and condemned an innocent man for political expediency and popularity.

As panic spreads over the Coronavirus (COVID-19), it may be appropriate to draw attention to spiritual diseases, which pose serious risks to us all.
 
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"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh and strength to your bones." Proverbs 3:5-8
 
We cherish health for our bodies but most tolerate disease in their souls. Holiness is to our soul and spirit what health is to our bodies. We are body, mind and spirit. Our thoughts affect our emotions. Our understanding affects our decisions. It is all interconnected. Many people today are living far below their potential and failing to fulfil their purpose, or accomplish their destiny, because of spiritual diseases.

​Truth is Under Attack
“Justice is turned back and righteousness stands afar off; for truth is fallen in the street and equity cannot enter. So truth fails and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey…” Isaiah 59:14-15
 
Deception and Theft Go Together
“You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another.” Leviticus 19:11
 
Truth is Being Killed
“…This is a nation that does not obey the voice of the Lord their God nor receive correction. Truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouth.” Jeremiah 7:28
 
Deception is Pervasive
“Everyone will deceive his neighbour and will not speak the truth; they have taught their tongue to speak lies; they weary themselves to commit iniquity.” Jeremiah 9:5
So That Satan may Deceive the Nations No More
“Then I saw an angel coming down from Heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the devil and satan and bound him for a thousand years and he cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more…” Revelation 20:1-3
 
The Whole World is Being Deceived
“And war broke out in Heaven… that serpent of old, called the devil and satan who deceives the whole world…” Revelation 12:7
 
Beware of Your Mind Being Corrupted
"But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ." 2 Corinthians 11:3

​"And they sang a new song, saying: 'You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals; for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your Blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation.'"
​Revelation 5:9

Complex Infrastructure
Any city requires well-organised delivery and defence systems. Every municipal area requires supplies of water, food and electricity. These supplies are delivered through a complex infrastructure. Thousands of trucks travel down the freeways, roads and side streets delivering essential supplies to stores and homes. Other trucks remove refuse to allow the city to function effectively and thrive.

Transportation System
It is a biological fact that our bodies have a transportation system far more complex and complete than that of a metropolis. Our bodies' transportation system cuts through every tissue and organ by means of a network of approximately 100,000km of blood vessels. Each cell of your body is a hair's breadth from a blood capillary. The heart of this vast system is a pump about the size of an apple that has to pump thousands of litres of blood through its chambers every day, sending blood to every part of your body. This blood carries vital, life giving oxygen and nutrients to every cell in your body.

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“Which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of Holiness, by the Resurrection from the dead.” Romans 1:2-4
 
Careful Investigation is Encouraged
There is nothing wrong with being cautious and careful when it comes to eternal matters. Indeed, there is much in the world that we should be skeptical about. We should not be gullible. There is far too much superstition and ignorance in the world. We should carefully investigate and establish what the facts are. We need to have the courage to face the facts.

​Faith in Facts
Christianity does not require one to make a blind leap into the dark. False religions require blind faith. Christianity is an intelligent step into the light, in response to facts.

"The message of the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." 1 Corinthians 1:18
 
All too often the Cross is seen as the "national flag" of the church. The Cross was never meant to be the mere nostalgic symbol of a religious system. Neither is the Cross a signpost. The Cross was not meant to just re-direct our lives, but to end them. The Cross was not an ornament, but an instrument of death!
 
Life Out of Death
The cross was used by the Romans in the same way as people have use the gallows, the guillotine, a gas chamber, an electric chair, or a firing squad. The Cross in the Bible is an instrument of death, yet out of it has come life. It was meant to be the sign of a curse, but it has become a symbol of God's blessing. It should have signified defeat, yet through it Christ achieved a triumphant victory. Christ has turned that instrument of destruction into the means of salvation.

While much has been written concerning the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, surprisingly little attention has been given to the Islamic slave trade across the Sahara, the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.  While the European involvement in the Trans Atlantic slave trade to the Americas lasted for just over three centuries, the Arab involvement in the slave trade has lasted fourteen centuries, and in some parts of the Muslim world is still continuing to this day.
​
CONTRASTS IN CAPTIVITY
A comparison of the Islamic slave trade to the American slave trade reveals some interesting contrasts.  While two out of every three slaves shipped across the Atlantic were men, the proportions were reversed in the Islamic slave trade.  Two women for every man were enslaved by the Muslims.

While the mortality rate for slaves being transported across the Atlantic was as high as 10%, the percentage of slaves dying in transit in the Trans Sahara and East African slave trade was between 80 and 90%!​

While almost all the slaves shipped across the Atlantic were for agricultural work, most of the slaves destined for the Muslim Middle East were for sexual exploitation as concubines, in harems, and for military service. 

While many children were born to slaves in the Americas, and millions of their descendants are citizens in Brazil and the USA to this day, very few descendants of the slaves that ended up in the Middle East survive. 

​10 October used to be celebrated as Kruger’s Day, a public holiday in South Africa, which marked the birth of this great founding father of our nation.
 
Oom Paul was born on his grandfather's farm at Bulhoek, 10 October 1825. Paul's parents were Casper Kruger and Elsie Steyn. Drought, locusts and migrating herds of buck forced them to lead a nomadic existence in the Karoo. He was hardened by nature and schooled by the Bible. He received only three months of formal education, mostly being home schooled. He read the Bible daily.
​
​Voortrekker
His father, Casper Kruger, joined the Trek party of Hendrik Potgieter in one of the very first of the expeditions, 1835. As a young boy of 10-years-old, Paul Kruger set out on the Great Trek under Hendrik Potgieter.

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To download, print and distribute the tract: The Bible and Halloween, click here for English and here for Afrikaans.

To read this article in Afrikaans, click here.

"Test all things; hold fast to what is good. Abstain from every form of evil." 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22

 A Celebration of Evil
Halloween is a religious day, but it is not Christian. Tom Sanguinet, a former high priest in Wicca has said: "The modern holiday that we call Halloween has its origins in the full moon closest to November 1, the witches' new year. It is a time when the spirits (demons) are supposed to be at their peak power and revisiting planet earth… Halloween is purely and absolutely evil, and there is nothing we ever have, or will do, that would make it acceptable to the Lord Jesus."

 Day of Death
Halloween has strong roots in paganism and witchcraft. It began as the Druid festival of Samhain. The Celts considered November 1st the day of death, because, in the Northern hemisphere, this was the beginning of winter, the leaves were falling, it was getting darker earlier, and temperatures were dropping. They believed that their sun god was losing strength and Samhain, the lord of death, was overpowering the sun god. The druids also taught that on 31 October, on the eve of the feast, Samhain assembled the spirits of all who had died during the previous year to return to their former home to visit the living.