The Best of all is God with us

In 1993, 32 years ago on Friday, August 13th, I understood the depth of God's call to Abram (Abraham). The call, "Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you," was a command to leave his comfort zone in obedience to God. Having been released by the Methodist Conference in 1984 to serve full time at Dev Suwa Sevawa, an institute founded by my late father for the ministry of healing, I intended to serve in the same place, comfort zone, for the rest of my life. A released minister in the Methodist Church means the person is full time committed to the work in the institute he serves; he is not appointed by the Methodist Conference to be in any committees; he is not appointed to hold any office in the administrative structures of the church; he is not transferable to any Circuits for pastoral work.  In 1989 and 1990, I followed the Clinical Pastoral Education courses (Basic and Advanced Units) at Auckland Public Hospital and North...

  The Ven. Dr. Madampagama Assaji Tissa  Mahanayake Thero of the Amarapura Maha Nikaya Ven Dr. Madampagama Assaji Thissa Thero was born on April 28th 1955. Having entered the monkhood in 1962 he received his higher ordination on July 6 th 1975. The Ven. Thero has served with utmost dedication for the furtherance of the Budda Sasanaya under various capacities for many years. In July this year, the   Amarapura Maha Nikaya elected Venerable Dr. Madampagama Assaji Tissa Thero as the Mahanayaka of the Amarapura Maha Nikaya.   The presentation of the Sannaspathraya to the Ven. Thero took place amid a distinguished gathering which included Hon. Hiniduma Sunil Senevi (Minister of Buddasasana and Cultural Affairs), Hon. Karu Jayasuriya (Former Speaker of the Parliament) Hon Sajith Pemadasa (Leader of the opposition) and His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith on the 7th of December 2024 at the BMICH. The Ambassador of the Republic of Union of Myanmar (Burma) H.E. Marlar Than...

    Establishment of the state of Israel in 1948  Christians who support the creation of the state of Israel in 1948 often quote Ezekiel's prophecies. The point is, should Christians rejoice that a significant biblical prophecy is fulfilled by this historic political event?  It would be helpful for all of us who identify as Christ's witnesses to research the context in which Ezekiel wrote his predictions and their significance. I'm pleading with everyone to understand the fundamentally God-centered message of Ezekiel rather than using a single or a couple of verses as proof texts. During the turbulent time that followed Israel's exile to Babylon in 597 B.C., Ezekiel prophesied. Jehoiachin, who was eighteen years old, was one of the exiles, and the Babylonians had placed his uncle, Zedekiah, in control of Jerusalem as a puppet ruler. Ezekiel's prophecies were not limited to his fellow exiles in Babylon; they also reached Judah's survivors. God is portraye...

  With the current war going on between Israel and Hamas of Palestine, Jews, Christians and Muslims around the world have begun to show their support to either Israel or Palestine. The sad part is that these groups have pulled out their daggers at each other believing that they do so in the name of their God. They hardly realize that they do so as followers of the same God worshipped and served in three different traditions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam. I strongly believe that it is not the will of God to have an armed struggle between them, seeking to annihilate the other. I do not entertain the antisemitic feelings as some would do especially the extremist terror groups like Hamas. I also do not condone the merciless retaliatory actions of the state of Israel against the unarmed civilians who are vulnerably sandwiched between Hamas and the Israeli army. In this article, I state my stand on Christian Zionism which is heavily lobbying unconditionally to support the current s...

  Kingsley Thesiganesan Muttiah was born on May 7, 1935, as the 3 rd Son of Rev. and Mrs. D.N. Muttiah of the Methodist Church Sri Lanka. He was Inducted as the President of the Methodist Church Sri Lanka in August 1990 and led the church with distinction. His untimely death took place while he was in office in the final year of his term as the President of Methodist Church Sri Lanka. The 29th Death Anniversary falls on the 29 th of October. This article is written in celebration of our personal friendship with him, Grace his wife, David, Niruban and Jessica. In January 1984 I was stationed in the Kandy Circuit of the Methodist Church. This was my second posting and the final year during the three-year probationary period before ordination. Having worked under a strict but very caring superintendent minister like the late Rev. L. Victor Salgadoe in the first two years of probation, I was rather apprehensive about how things would turn out between me and Rev. Kingsley Muttiah th...

  Judgement in Zephania’s prophesy I received through social media another Bible verse or a prophecy which is circulating with reference to Gaza – the disputed land between Israelites and Palestine. It quoted Zephaniah 2:4 “Gaza will be abandoned…” with a note saying “The truth is here in black and white written 2000 years ago…” This seems to be an excellent verse from the Bible to support the Israelites' destruction of the Palestinians. But it is a miserable position if anyone quotes only Zephaniah 2:4 without reading the entire book’s message. Zephaniah prophesied during the reign of King Josiah (640–609 B.C.), a Judean king who wanted a religious reformation together with acceptable worship practices before God (2 Kings 22:1–23:30). From the following Timeline you could see that the Prophetic ministry of Zephaniah occurred between the fall of the Kingdom of Israel and the fall of the Kingdom of Judah - both were the chosen people of God. Despite having seen the dest...