Growing in a Middle Eastern culture I was often compared with other men based on height (and I am relatively short), looks (and I am an average looking Middle Eastern man), education (and I was a general labourer/forklift driver for 4 years), wealth (and I come from a middle class family and I earned minimum wages). Because of this throughout all my life I have always wanted my wife to love me for who I am: my God-given personality and talents, my continuously conforming character to being Christ-like, faith and relationship with the Lord, and my love and commitment to her. This desire to find a woman who loves me for who I am scared me from getting education early in my life (that is, right after graduating from high school) because I was always told, “Fadi, get a good education so when you want to get married the woman… read more
Christian
There is something else I thought about the other day while walking to work. For years I prayed and cried for something I wanted God to do. But God in His infinite love and wisdom did not give me what I had asked for! If He did allow it to happen then I would have been absolutely miserable for the rest of my life! And you know what? Five years later while I was talking to Him about it I realized He did it because He loved me, and I thanked Him! Five years later I thanked Him! You know, if a stranger holds a public door for me for 2 seconds then I would thank him whole heartedly and without hesitation, yet I waited five years to thank my Savior and Heavenly Father for freeing me from an absolutely miserable life! This is a perfect example of the idolatry… read more
At the Jesus in the City parade I decided to take a shortcut: instead of going with the parade around the many downtown city blocks, I decided to take a shortcut and meet the floats on the way back. As I walked through the shortcut I got a bit tired and thirsty so I bought a cool drink. It was a sunny and hot afternoon so soon I was thirsty again and the sweat on my forehead started to bother me. As I reached the end of this shortcut street and met up with the floats of the parade I saw this man who was playing the role of our Lord, Jesus Christ: he was barefoot and wearing minimum clothes under the hot sun. Being tired and annoyed by the heat I immediately thought, “Is he crazy? I would never do that!†Then almost immediately I thought, “Thank God Jesus… read more
Christians can be persecuted for not only sharing the truth of Jesus Christ which is rejected by the world, but also for living a holy life. A couple of weeks ago when I wrote about modesty I remembered so many instances when as a child I attended the Roman Catholic church in Iraq where “Christian†women would ridicule a modest woman behind her back saying things such as, “Why is she wearing this? Is she this poor?â€, or, “My goodness she has no sense of style!â€, or, “She looks so ugly and old wearing this!â€, or, “Didn’t she wear this outfit last time?†As the above example shows: often times Christians are persecuted by other “Christiansâ€. My youngest uncle’s wife was born in Egypt to a Christian Coptic Orthodox family. In her second year of medical school she met some born-again youth, and soon after she accepted Jesus Christ as… read more
For years I wondered, “How does a Christian get persecuted in North America in comparison to other parts of the world like in communist countries or Muslim countries?†When I look at this story of king David dancing I see a godly man persecuted because of his love for God. Persecution does not always express itself through physical pain or death. I will tell you my story: I had a best friend for about 5 years–a Middle Eastern Christian lady—whom I loved dearly. She was, after God, the dearest thing to me (she was definitely more precious to me than my life), and I loved her purely, unconditionally, and sacrificially. I brought her to Christ and she started going to church, and I have no doubt in my mind that her faith is genuine. A couple of years later I fell in love with her. At the time I was… read more
When I write I target a very small percentage of Christians. In this writing I am targeting even less–no more than a handful of ladies who are actually seeking to get closer to our Lord, to please Him, to live for Him a holy and blameless life. I am seeking those few ladies who are asking, “What can I do to get closer to Him? What can I do to be more like Him? What can I do to take my faith to the next level.†Let me tell you a story: Few years ago I was working in a warehouse as a general laborer. One day after I finished my lunch I decided to go sit in the warehouse reading my Bible for few minutes before my lunch time is over. So I sat on a box and I opened my Bible and prayed to the Holy Spirit to… read more
I am not doubting the sincerity of Christian women’s love for Christ, and so I am not saying that those Christian women who dress immodesty are doing it because they hate Christ. But the Bible does not say we are perishing because our lack of love, no, it says we are perishing because of our lack of knowledge: “My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. ‘Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children.’†(Hosea 4:6) Also, when you love someone you have to love that person the way they want and need. For example, if my wife wants to go to a certain restaurant but I take her to the restaurant I like then I have not expressed love toward her. So it is the same with Christ: we… read more
Now, here is what I think are some of the reasons immodesty is such a big sensual problem in the church today: 1) I believe, the biggest problem with immodesty is that it is a very well disguised idolatry. Anything that we replace God with to make us feel whole, to fulfill us emotionally, to make us feel wanted and desired, to lift our self-image, to make us reach our goals (such as attracting a husband-to-be), or to make our lives feel complete is an idol. For example, a man does not lust for the sake of lusting: a man lusts because momentary this physically attractive woman makes him feel a satisfaction he hasn’t fulfilled with his relationship to Christ. The same applies to other sins such as getting drunk–nobody gets drunk to make a fool of himself—people get drunk to escape a reality they do not like because they… read more
I was so pleased when I saw this group of youth dancing for the Lord on stage at the 2011 Jesus in the City parade in Toronto. I was particularly glad because the dancers were dressed so modestly, and so they looked so beautiful—more beautiful than any lady I have seen in a long while. Sadly, modesty was not the norm at this event: there was a worship group from Ottawa composed of two ladies who were dressed so immodesty that I didn’t photograph them (I didn’t even watch them), because I would’ve been nearly impossible for me as a photographer to edit their photos to make them acceptable with Christianity’s teaching about modesty. There was also another two ladies in the crowd who I avoided standing behind them because they wore such tight pants (both, to avoid temptation and to avoid photographing them), and so you can imagine my… read more
The Jesus in the City Parade was beautiful; it was beautiful to see so many children of God come together in a public square and have the freedom and right to worship and love their God. But there is something I want to talk about that’s not directly related to this event or this photo. It seems whenever I hear a preacher–whether at church, on radio, or at an event—they all seem to complain about how prayers and scripture reading were taken from public school and how that’s the work of Satan. Well, I disagree with that: first, I don’t think it’s a spiritually bad thing; second, I don’t think it’s the work of Satan—I think it’s the work of God. Here is why I don’t see a problem with that. First, it’s wrong to see Christianity as a state religion. Some preachers say that this country or that country… read more
I learn by examples best, so I think the best way to explain what being born-again means is through an example: Let us say you are a cat, and you want to live as a human. So you start your day by trying to wash your face but the sink is too big for you and the faucet was not designed to be turned on by paws. Then you try to make the bed but the bed is so big–because it is a human bed–that there is no way you can do it. Then you try to put on a shirt but shirts were designed for humans so they will not fit you and you cannot button up the shirt with your paws anyway. Even if you succeeded in doing those tasks the fact of the matter is that you are still a cat. You can try to pretend to… read more
Eight years ago I took a sexual purity online course, and it was the best Christian teaching I got. It was a daily online course for two months and I loved every day of it. One thing though I disagree with them is that they said many members who do not follow the precautionary rules (such as: move your computer to an open space in the house, or install Internet filtering software, or acquire an accountability partner, etc) fall back into sin even though they were free from it for a period of time. The problem I have with that statement is that I believe a person is only truly free if he is free on the inside through being set free by the power of the Holy Spirit. I think the best way to explain this topic is by talking about what it means to be born-again and what… read more
I took this photo at the Jesus in the City parade in Toronto. At first I wanted to make everything black and white except for the robe of the actor who is portraying our Lord Jesus Christ, then I realized this will make the robe the center of attention so I changed my mind. Here I just want to talk about the crucifixion. In 2004 a non-Christian co-worker told me that he went to watch The Passion of the Christ movie and said it was very brutal then added, “But it wasn’t the worst [physically] torture that anyone had endured.†Of course, he was right: our Lord did not endure the most physical torture in the history of mankind, because some men were crucified for days before they died, many others died more horrible physical deaths. As far as we know the two thieves who were crucified alongside our Lord… read more
When I took this photo of the white flower I remembered how in Christ we are new creation. But here I would like to just talk about the joy of being new creation in Christ, because it seems that joy is the first gift Christ gives us through the Holy Spirit when we surrender our lives to Him. Here is a little story… In the summer of 2003, I had just graduated from high school and by then I was in Canada for 4 years, I decided to find Christian chat rooms online. I had never been to a chat room before (or since) but I really wanted to join one because I needed spiritual advice on how to overcome lust, and I didn’t have any other source of help. So I went to MSN chat rooms (been closed for a while now) and I looked through few Christian chat… read more
Road trip! Map, cellular telephone, written directions, friends to take turns driving and a tank full of gasoline. You prepared for the journey and went your way knowing that you would reach your destination. On the way everything was fine, until you took that wrong turn. You then had to adjust your plans and make every effort to get back on the right route to your destination. Have you ever been in that position or heard of a similar situation? When the righteous turneth from his righteousness, and commiteth iniquity, he shall even die thereby. ~Â Ezekiel 33:10 He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness ~Â Psalm 23:3b Your Christian walk is similar to that journey, in that, you cannot afford to make the wrong turn. The word of the Lord clearly outlines the Path to Salvation. We are even warned not to make wrong turns. As a servant of God… read more
Today I have a note from a great friend named Scott, hope you will be blessed by what he wrote: If you asked me today if I was religious, I would tell you “no”. This might seem weird if you knew that I go to church as often as I can, read and believe every word of the Bible, and pray to God. The reason I would say that is because of what people think when they hear “religion”. People tend to think things like laws, judgmental people, power, repetition, and as the result of some recent and unfortunate events, crazy people predicting the end of the world. Feel free to add your own words to the list. Chances are it’s not what Jesus Christ and His way is all about. – It’s not about religion and obligation, it’s about freedom and love. You might not know but the word… read more
Today I watched the Francis Chan sermon called “Holiness†and he talked about some verses that we don’t normally hear about. “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For ‘the two,’ He says, ‘shall become one flesh.’†1 Corinthians 6:15-16 The image that Paul paints here is very strong. You see as Christians we are all part of the body of Christ, this isn’t something to be taken lightly. We all know that sexual immorality creates a spiritual bond between two people. When we are involved in sexual immorality as Christians, whether it be pornography or sexual activity outside of marriage, it’s forcing the spirit of Christ within us to engage… read more
Absolutely Stunning Christian Album Art – On stepping into a music store, our eyes are immediately attracted to the beautiful album art. Graphic Design plays a major part in capturing our attention and communicating the message of the album. Below you will find some of the best Christian album art, enjoy! Pages – Shane & Shane Surrender – Seventh Day Slumber My Brightness – Charlie Hall Not Afraid – Stephanie Smith Hear My Worship – Jason Ingram You Are Everything – Matthew West There Is A Savior – Sandi Patty Forever You Reign – Nicole C. Mullen Choose – Christy Nockels Let it Fade – Jeremy Camp Blessed And Highly Favored – The Clark Sisters Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone) – Chris Tomlin All I Want – Phillip LaRue Jesus Messiah – Chris Tomlin Give… read more
20 Beautiful Christian Wallpapers – The Bible is filled with life changing words that can also be translated into beautiful eye-catching wallpapers. These wallpapers allow us to experience the Word of God in a whole new light. We collected some beautiful and inspirational wallpapers below, remember to share them with someone today.
Historical Accuracy of the Bible Revealed Historical Accuracy of the Bible Revealed – To be divinely inspired, a book must be historically accurate. Â For if its credibility cannot be established on the basis of known events, it certainly cannot be relied upon as an adequate guide in matters beyond our ability to check. Â On the other hand, if we can demonstrate that such a book is correct in historical matters, to an extent unknown among human writings, then we have strong evidence that the authors were inspired by God. Â In this lesson we shall learn that this is true of the Bible. The Bible is it’s own best defense – John McArthur Down through the centuries, enemies of the Bible have attacked its historical accuracy. Â Time after time, the Scriptures have been thus questioned, only later to be shown correct by archaeology. Â Archaeology is a study of relics, monuments, tombs,… read more
Today we feature the art of Bryan Clark. Bryan is an animator from Oklahoma City and does some amazing spots as senior graphic designer at LifeChurch.tv. Bryan does not work for LifeChurch.tv anymore but you can still download some of his work from LifeChurch.tv OPEN, a free resource with thousands of files geared towards Church Marketing. Check out more of Byran’s amazing artistry at bryanclark.wordpress.com. [sam id=3 codes=’false’]
There are billboards, bumper stickers, park bench ads, bus wrap ads etc., all over America, announcing that Judgement Day will occur on May 21, 2011. Most of these announcements are accompanied by the notice that, ‘The Bible Guarantees It.’ The man behind these bold and frightening proclamations is Harold Camping, leader of an Oakland-based “Christian Ministry” called, Family Radio Worldwide. Mr. Camping recently told the Associated Press that the Bible acts as a calendar, by which the dates of the prophesies can be calculated. Mr. Camping apparently has done the necessary calculations, and he has determined that the Day of Judgement will take place on the 21st of May. Unfortunately, Mr. Camping is not the first to brainwash people into these false teachings, here is a list of so called dates predicting Jesus’ return. “Perhaps the most notorious date-setters have been the Jehovah’s Witnesses. The group has been forced by… read more
I have spent a lot of time thinking mostly about the future. For a long time I have had a plan in my mind about how my future was going to work out. As you who are older and/or wiser than me know, “the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray.†This has been a hard experience but it has also been a very healthy one. It was good to step back and take a look at life after the future I thought was so certain, vanished. I realized that God was simply a part of my plan and that ultimately I was still living life for myself. I wanted to live out my life how I had planned it and I essentially told God that He could come along for the ride, because I wanted some of Him in my life. I realized though that it’s… read more
I am in Vienna-Austria, waiting for my dad and sister to arrive, so I have some time to myself. I was thinking about life these last few days and I have really been bored with life. To be honest, if I had the choice of being here or back at school I would choose the little, dinky town of Schladming (where school was). Here I have been living the “good life,†I have a hotel room all to myself with a nice view and I have a public transit pass to get me anywhere in this beautiful city. Yet compared to experiencing God, it does not even come close. I say this because I feel that too few Christians truly experience Christ. They go to Church on Sunday, going through the motions, and then live life pretty normally throughout the week. Life with Christ is an adventure and… read more