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Word from Nairnshire
by Sandy Shaw
The annual media presentations and surveys have again reported the level of unbelief in the nation.
Two thirds now say they do not accept the biblical record regarding the birth of Jesus Christ. Some claim to be Christians, with even ministers among them! Ministers of what? This is serious.
One Sabbath day Jesus went into the synagogue to teach. A woman who had a spirit of infirmity for 18 years was present. She was bowed down and bent. She needed help and she was not getting help where she was worshipping.
This wasn't a simple physical illness, if there is such a thing. Her suffering came from Satan. Her pain, agony, distress, bondage, came from Satan. She had been crippled by a demonic spirit for 18 years. That in itself would have been another form of suffering.
People can come into worship under all kinds of influences, be mixed up in all sorts of things, and with all kinds of motives. Then one day Jesus comes, and takes the initiative.
When Jesus saw her, he called her, released her, set her free, laid his hands upon her, and she straightened up, and praised God.
The ruler, or leading elder, in the synagogue, was furious and indignant. Why? Because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath day.
This is what I find hard to believe in the Bible. Not the virgin conception of Jesus; not angels and miracles; certainly not the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, nor the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, but this; that a leader in the synagogue could be furious at what Jesus Christ was saying and doing.
There is always a clash between formal religion and the living Christ.
This dear woman got straightened out, but the leader didn't.
Sandy Shaw
Nairn Christian Fellowship
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Sandy has a weekly radio talk which can be heard via the Internet on Saturday at 11:40am, New Orleans time, at wsho.com.
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