Sydney under Siege

Has this world gone mad?

The life of Man Haron Monis came to an end after a 17 hour siege of the Lindt Cafe in Sydney. Welcomed into Australia as an Iranian refugee in 1996 and with the help of his girlfriend this man had recently been charged with the death of his wife was well known to police, on bail from his wife’s murder and awaiting trial for as a ‘spiritual healer’ sexually assaulted 40 people had nothing to loose.

He, a self proclaimed spiritual leader acted alone, but he firmly believed he represented God with his black flag stating “There is no God but Allah and Mohammad is the messenger of God”.

Most recently, he was charged with more than 50 allegations of indecent and sexual assault relating to time allegedly spent as a self-proclaimed “spiritual healer” who dealt with black magic at a premises in western Sydney more than a decade ago.

This man had a long history of violent crime, in 2003 he even wrote poisonous letters to the families of soldiers killed in battle personally delivered to the families at funerals as they grieved over the loss of their loved ones. He claimed that they his own version of a “flower basket” or “condolence card”. He claimed to be an expert in astrology, numerology, meditation and black magic. He allegedly placed ads in local newspapers offering “spiritual consultation”.

Clearly this man believed he was spiritually connected with his God with a commitment to do whatever it took to serve him does this sound like the kind of man the God of the Universe would use to fulfil His purpose on earth? Who was he actually serving? He had 14,725 “likes” on his Facebook page when it was eventually shut down and many agreed with his actions.

He believed he was right when he brought chaos to Sydney with the death of two hostages, trauma to those who escaped and an end to his own life. Did he die for a noble cause or was he deluded?

We know it’s possible to be wrong when we’re convinced that we’re right but we can’t all be right, especially about God, so how can we know for sure that our beliefs are correct?

These extremists are preaching that we only have one choice, conformity to their ideologies or death. Fear is the weapon they are using to try to convince us that they’re right.

None of this hatred remotely represents the one true God I’m in relationship with, the God I love, the One who speaks to me personally and because we can have a personal relationship with this God, Satan wants to discredit Him in any way he can.

The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the one true God said a lot about His heart when He stressed how important love is.

The first 2 commandments given to Moses were:
- You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ The second is equally important:
- Love your neighbour as you love yourself. No other commandment is greater than these."

So how important is love to God?
If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing – 1 Corinthians 13:2

We all know how important love is to us – we’re designed for love and appreciation, it’s in our DNA.

God also desires that we put others before ourselves:
“Do for others what you would like them to do for you – Matthew 7:12

What we personally believe can be influenced by many things but there’s only way to God and if we reject Jesus and we’re not following the light of truth, our beliefs are wasted. We can only form our opinions from the information we have, so here is information you may have never heard before about Jesus.

In the Bible God says He is the ONLY WAY to God! It also says anyone who denies Jesus doesn’t have God either:

Anyone who denies the Son doesn’t have the Father either, but anyone who confesses the Son has the Father also. 1 John 2:23 NLT

My name will be great among the nations from the rising to the setting of the sun. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to my name, because my name will be great among the nations," says the LORD Almighty. Malachi 1:11

And Jesus went through all the ridicule, physical and emotional affliction leading to death, to free us from the pain of blundering through life on our own – Jesus died to bring freedom from ourselves, to bring forgiveness for past failures and a new start without the consequences of our actions to live the way we were meant to live without any fear of the future!

Click on this link to discover God’s plan for you

If terrorists cause fear to rise up in you take heart, the Bible also says:
Be strong. Take courage. Don’t be intimidated. Don’t give them a second thought because God, your God, is striding ahead of you. He’s right there with you. He won’t let you down; he won’t leave you." Deuteronomy 31:6

That’s the God I serve! My prayer is that God has touched your heart as you’ve read these words and you’ll begin the journey you were uniquely designed to take….

© Copyright 2015 Elaine Costin All Rights Reserved
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