Category Archives: The Good News

“Merry” Christmas? Bah humbug!

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“Merry Christmas…” “Happy Christmas…” Will somebody please tell the world that it’s not going to happen this year… just like it didn’t happen last year!

Forgive me for playing Scrooge for a moment, but it is just a bit ironic that while more people than ever are wishing each other happiness associated with Christmas, practically no one here in Britain seems to know anything of the joy that God designed in the Christmas message!

I’m not exactly in favour of saying it, but “Happy Holidays” is at least a bit more accurate a wish for most people. All the vast majority can expect over the next few days is a short lived blast of the pleasures of food, drink and family-fun.

The harsh reality, of course, is that all the festivities in the world don’t actually solve our problems, and while postponing them for a few days can feel good at the time, we can’t escape the mess we live in. When we surface after Christmas, all the best gifts that this world can offer leave us wondering if it’s all just glitter and ribbons on an empty cardboard box.

“Good news of great joy”

When you hear that the angel announced to the shepherds that Jesus’ birth was “good news of great joy that would be for all the people,” you might be forgiven for wondering what happened to all the joy!

The tragedy is that our generation has missed the joy of the Christmas message simply because it’s almost completely lost the original Christmas message that God designed for our joy.

The double tragedy is that the message is not difficult to grasp. Understanding it is as easy as understanding two words.

It’s my prayer that this Christmas will be a truly happy one for many here in Britain as people come to understand this message of joy!

May this Christmas message from GraceLife London bless you in that way as these two words that hold the key to understanding the first Christmas are unfolded for you.

Happy viewing!

A tweet way to get forgiven

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What does it take to get forgiveness from God for your sins?

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The Independent.co.uk article: One hell of a deal: Pope Francis offers reduced time in Purgatory for Catholics that follow him on Twitter

If the Pope and his ‘church’ is to be believed, you can now benefit from forgiveness via twitter – just by following the Pope doing his sacred stuff. Oh… and you have to ask for forgiveness, offer prayers, and attend mass for it to work.

Now you might think that sounds like you’d be getting off quite lightly, and you’re right… except that there’s a catch.

The forgiveness they are offering amounts to some days off Purgatory (which doesn’t exist according to the Bible) and whatever meagre forgiveness they do offer you, you’ll need to go back and get some more to cover the sins you do next week.

You might be forgiven for thinking that this sounded like a good marketing deal, but then, if you thought that, you’d have to follow the pope’s tweets, confess, pray, and attend mass some more.

You might also be forgiven for wondering if Jesus would have walked into the Vatican and turned over a few of their computer tables… since when you read the New Testament, you really don’t get the idea that Jesus was busy selling forgiveness! Instead, Jesus famously declared complete forgiveness of sins to be freely available to the very worst of sinners. His message was one which amazed and liberated poor sinners from the oppressive religious system of his day…

Check out this for the radical New Testament alternative to forgiveness via twitter: