Pete's Blog

 “And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight”.  1 John 3:22 When we read the Bible, when we hear from God, we need to put it into practice . It is the concept behind the words that are important. Words can come to us in a variety of different media. We can hear them being spoken. We can listen to them on our iPod as we go jogging. We could read them printed on paper, we can read them on a Kindle or even our mobile phone. The words can come in all different shapes, sizes, colors but these words have meaning behind them and if the meaning of the words comes from God then they can have an impact on our life but they’ll only have an impact if we do what they say, otherwise, it is like God casting his pearls before swine. We are simply not throwing back the riches that we’re being offered. “Do not give dogs what is highly valued and do not throw pearls before swine, lest they trample them on the...

 The Bible does not teach us to ask individuals in heaven for their prayers. Why do many Catholics pray to saints in heaven and request their prayers? Catholics view these saints as "intercessors" before God. They believe that a saint, who is glorified in Heaven, has more "direct access" to God than we do. Therefore, if a saint delivers a prayer to God, it is more effective than us praying to God directly. However,  Hebrews 4:16 tells us that we, believers here on earth, can "approach the throne of grace with confidence." "For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." (1 Timothy 2:5.  There is no one else that can mediate with God for us. If Jesus is the only mediator, that means that the saints cannot mediate our prayer requests to God. Further, the Bible tells us that Jesus Christ Himself is interceding for us before the Father: "Therefore He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him...

This week on #tgnsuk what are you "a martyr to" #martyrsyndrome and a look at a real martyr — The Good News Show (@tgnsuk) May 15, 2014 Do you know the phrase "I'm a martyr to it", it sometimes refers to bad feet or poor memory or any other ailment that's irritating.  But would you ever be a true martyr, we look a this in the Good News Internet Radio Show.

There was a large group of people who’d gathered from all over the world, from different countries. And had come to that one place in Jerusalem. There were religious leaders, there were people of great philosophical learning and they all heard the disciples of Jesus getting up and appearing to be drunk early in the morning, 9am in fact. That’s first thing. They accused the disciples of this. Of just being drunk. And Peter replied to them, ‘men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem. Let this be known to you and give ear to my words. For these people are not drunk as you suppose since it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was uttered to the prophet Joel.’ Then he went on, to quote from the prophet Joel. The prophet from our old testament and he applied this prophesy of Joel to what was happening right then. In fact, he applied it to what had happened to them that made them appear drunk. This was what he quoted: ‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares,...

The Good News at its heart is a declaration that Jesus Christ is in charge, he is Lord of all.  The resurrection of Jesus was a vindication of his claims to have "all authority" and that he had a special relationship to God the Father (I and the Father are one).  Jesus's death was in obedience to God the Father and in it he accomplished his great victor over sin and death.  The Good News is that Jesus in in charge, the Good News is also that Jesus in his death has wind for us the victory over sin and death.  This latter victory means that those who recognise him as Lord and choose to follow him get to receive the blessing of eternal life that he brings.  This receiving of eternal life as a free victory gift  from Jesus is also called being "born again".  This is all so well known even Wiki gets it right, as we discussed on The Good News Show recently.  But it needs to be appropriated personally to be effective, that is, each person needs to not o...

The interview with Baliva, the Gospel rapper, was popular but blighted by a high pitched whine. Before you ask, the whine was not the voice of the interviewer! This background noise has been removed digitally, so listen again or for the first time without distraction. This interview was a special episode of the show with Peter Cooper interviewing Baliva about his musical and Spiritual routes. There is also a discussion of how Hiphop culture relates to church culture. A fascinating insight into  the life and work of a Christian creative artist.

Article by George Cross in 1967 In 1967 George Cross predicted that in the 21st Century Ice Hockey games would no longer have boards round them to prevent the puck going out of bounds.  Rather, he surmised that the game would be surrounded by a force field. This is rather a prosaic use of the futuristic concept of force-fields. However, lasers are used for life changing surgery on eyes and to improve self esteem in plastic surgery. They are not used that often as the weapon so beloved in Sci Fi stories of old. You never know what the future may hold. One thing that George Cross did not predict was that Ice Hockey would not be around.  There were certain things he assumed would remain constant.  But with the culture around us changing at a dizzying pace there is little that we can assume will remain constant.  This is unsettling.  However we can be confident that the Lord Jesus Christ will be here , the same Lord, Saviour and friend.  He will be wit...

At Christmas, Jesus was born. At Christmas, God became a human being to rescue us. This human being who came to rescue us was born in a stable in Bethlehem and laid in a Manger, he is Jesus Christ. All of us need to receive Jesus Christ, to receive him in the same way as we receive the King or President of our country when they come to stay. We need to invite him in and give him the run of the price. Without Jesus Christ, we "perish," as John 3:16   makes plain "...that whosoever believes in him should not perish..." T he word "perish" means just what it implies and the only way to avoid this is to receive God’s grace by faith—his grace displayed in Jesus.   Without him, we are "lost" a terrible thing to contemplate—though millions of people today never give it a thought. I n Acts 4:12 we are told: "And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be save...

An article that appeared in USA Today had this title: “Psychologists now know what makes you happy.” And the writer discovered a not-so-surprising fact, forgiveness is most strongly linked to happiness and the Bible closely links forgiveness with healing. "Forgiveness is the trait most strongly linked to happiness", said University of Michigan psychologist Christopher Peterson. T he Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa, in removing revenge from the agenda, brought, to a certain extent, forgiveness and healing to the country.  There are reported to be still deep divisions in the country of South Africa.   However, the situation would have been far worse, most political commentators agree, if revenge had been left to take it's course. Truth is  important, but so is reconciliation. At a personal level forgiveness also has a profound effect.   The psychologists are right on this one. Happiness is closely linked to forgiveness.  The truth is t...

It is often claimed that the Devil currently rules over this world without having a physical throne and an earthly physical presence.  The Devil or the Satan showed that at least he believed that he had power over the kingdoms of the earth when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-10) However, after the victory over evil on the cross, Jesus says “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18–20).  Jesus from that point on has been reigning over the world. Jesus’ throne is in heaven: “Thus says the Lord, ‘Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool. Where then is a house you could build for Me?’” (Isaiah 66:1; Acts 7:49). Jesus occupies David’s throne in heaven (Acts 2:29–36). When Jesus asc...