terça-feira, 29 de março de 2011

The Chronicles of Narnia and the Gospel of Jesus Christ


When I watched this movie for the first time, I had already heard that the author (CS Lewis) based the book on many aspects of the Gospel, which were amplified in the film.
I knew the author was a Christian and who was an atheist before, and that he had written several Christian books, but had not seen the movie yet (nor read the book).

I will mention some scenes which I've noticed some similarities with the gospel of Christ:

1 - The fact that the wardrobe (Natural) lead to the world of Narnia (Spiritual).

This shows us that God used natural means to reveal spiritual things to men, because the Bible was written by men (natural), but through the supernatural and spiritual inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

If you look at a Bible with your normal and natural eyes, you can see a cover, several pages, several texts, and several books, chapters and verses numbers, like any normal book. BUT...

When you read it with your heart, you'll see that it is not just a regular book, but THE book that it will lead you to know God, the devil (origin and cause of evil on earth), and Jesus Christ, which is the proof of the love of God for us, who died on the cross for us, save us and make us children of God.

2 - Only the girl (Lucy) enters and after her brother, but older siblings can't see anything at first, just a regular wardrobe...

Jesus said, "whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all" (Mark 10:15)

And that is why Jesus wants us to believe in Him, surrender our life to Him, die to sin and born again in Him, as new creatures and sons of God (as spiritual children who will grow up in Him).

The Bible says "I want you to be wise in what is good and innocent in what is evil," and children are the best example of this !

3 - The Devil is represented by the White Witch, who claims to be queen of Narnia.

The devil thinks he's the owner of the world, but he is a liar.

He stole over the world (which was given by God to Man) by Adam's sin ...

By deceiving Edmund with candy and craft, we see that the devil deceives human beings with the temptations...

Temptations which in the beginning seems be good, but then they imprison, enslave and mistreat people.

4 - The power of sin and the grace of God.

The Spear of the Witch symbolizes sin, which imprisons and makes the separation between man and God.

Realize that at the beginning of the movie, Narnia is frozen, cold, colorless, gray ...

And this same ice increases the crown of the witch.

Sin makes the world an ugly place, where men are far from God (Isaiah 59:1-2), who created the human being with free will, and respect this freedom, without forcing man to believe in Him and have fellowship with Him obligation.

Therefore, the Bible says "the world around us is under the control of the evil one" (I John 5:19)

5 - Intercession and the deliverance of Edmund

By talking to Aslan (Jesus) about the arrest of his brother (and intercessory prayer), they receive answer (response of prayer, He sends his warriors (angels) to fight with the white witch's servants (demons).

If you pay attention, you will see that few warriors (angels) easily defeated many demons, in another words, God is sovereign and powerful.

6 - The sin of men and the grace and forgiveness of Jesus.

Aslan forgives Edmund, and says "Your past is clean for me, you're forgiven."

The Bible says this in II Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come." ·

7 - The Witch goes to Aslan, acuses Edmund and says that according to laws of Narnia, Edmund belongs to her now, and he has to pay for what he did.

"For the Wages of Sin is Death ..." (Romans 6:23 a)

But Aslan said that He will take Edmond's place.

"But the free gift of God is eternal life" (Romans 6:23 b)

8 - Aslan gives himself in sacrifice for Edmund.

Here we see a representation of the Crucifixion, and we see that Jesus gave himself for us. (Isaiah 53)

9 - But He Ressurrects,and explains the concept of the substitute sacrifice of an innocent, and says that without the blood shedding there is no forgiveness.

Jesus is the eternal and perfect sacrifice.

Jesus never sinned, but paid the price of sin in our place, which is Death.
Death reigns in the world because of sin, like a law of action and reaction, because of Adam's Sin.

(You see this in Romans 5:12-19)

10 - A Hypothesis about the reason of the name Aslan.

The character is called Aslan maybe because it symbolizes that Jesus is the second Adam.


"So it is written, The first man Adam became a living soul, the last Adam (Jesus Christ), life-giving spirit."
(1 Corinthians 15:45)

11 - Peter gets a gift of a sword and shield.

That symbolize the sword of the Spirit (The Word of God) and The Shield of Faith
(Ephesians 6:10-17)

12 - At the Battle, Edmund breaks the white Witch's Spear with a sword.

In this we can see that through the Word of God (Sword) we can break the power of Sin in Us
"then you will Know the truth and the truth shall set you free" (John 8:32)

And David, in Psalms 119:11 says, "I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you."

13 - Aslan Revives the ones who were petrified by the spear of the Witch.

Only Jesus can give life to those who are dead in sin!

"At one time you were like a dead person because of the things you did wrong and your offenses against God.

You used to act like most people in our world do. You followed the rule of a destructive spiritual power.

This is the spirit of disobedience to God’s will that is now at work in persons whose lives are characterized by disobedience.
At one time you were like those persons. All of you used to do whatever felt good and whatever you thought you wanted so that you were children headed for punishment just like everyone else.

However, God is rich in mercy.
He brought us to life with Christ while we were dead as a result of those things that we did wrong. He did this because of the great love that he has for us. You are saved by God’s grace! And God raised us up and seated us in the heavens with Christ Jesus. God did this to show future generations the greatness of his grace by the goodness that God has shown us in Christ Jesus.
(Ephesians 2:1-6)

14 - The children are crowned and their names have changed: The victory of the Church

" But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people who are God’s own possession. You have become this people so that you may speak of the wonderful acts of the one who called you out of darkness into his amazing light."
(1 Peter 2:9)

15 - The Time in Narnia

When they left Narnia, although it seemed a long time, Time hasn't passed as much when they entered there through the wardrobe.

The Bible says that 1 day to God is like 1000 years and 1000 years is like one day.

16 - They talk to the professor about Narnia (the second coming of Jesus and the Rapture of the Church):

He says that Aslan (Jesus) will come back when you least expect, and they must keep their eyes open, that is: Watch and pray !

sábado, 5 de junho de 2010

Poem of Hope

and Martin would say: "I have a dream",
and all other dreamers would say "SIM !" ...
but the pessimists would start mocking,
poor guys,What do they know about dreaming ?

Reality is cold and tough, that ain't easy !
but the dreams can cure wounds,
with a dose of comfort and some honey and peace,
and sooner the pains go away, making you new, ready to run in the fields !

The mind wander far away and contemplate the possibility
of overcoming the obstacles imposed by reality,
and it rejoice with an image of future: the fruit of believing and persevering !

Planted with Tears, watered with hope,
mocked so many times, considered by many as madness, fool Ilusion !
But what was only a relief, ended up becoming a rote for the solution !


*PS: Sim is 'Yes' in Portuguese.

sábado, 20 de fevereiro de 2010

Faith and Hope keep us Alive !

Yesterday,While I was meditating on the Word of God, I read a verse I really like and God blessed me a lot.

It was Romans 12:12, That says: "Let your hope make you glad. Be patient in time of trouble and never stop praying".

While I was reading this text, I was thinking about the big importance it has in the christian's Life, specially what it means to me.

I believe hope is something very close to faith, or even a part of it, because the bible says: "And this hope is what saves us. But if we already have what we hope for, there is no need to keep on hoping." (Romans 8:24)

We also learn that Salvation is by faith (Ephesians 2:8).

So, they are really close to each other.

We also can see hope and faith together in this passage: "Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, "So shall your offspring be." (Romans 4:18).

So I came to the conclusion that hope is the element that has the power to keep our faith alive, For it not only helps us to believe as it also help us to keep believing.

So we can see the reason why many people say they have faith, but the stop believing, that's because they had no hope, a little one, or they totally lost their hope.

" We must hold tightly to the hope that we say is ours. After all, we can trust the one who made the agreement with us".
(Hebrews 10:23)

Yep, only hope can save us when the situation of our life is the opposite to what we believe.

Just because of hope you keep believing, because You hope God is going to bless you, just the way He said he would do, Because He is Powerful and faithful.

We keep believing in hope, and our faith is kept stronger, alive, based in the things that we can't see yet, but we are sure that they exist.

Once I heard someone saying something like this: "It's in the midst of troubles that our faith is proved, because when everything is calm, it seems to be sleeping, but when our boat is shaked by the big waves of life we have to awake our faith and it will keep us strong".

That sentence reminds me of a very wise proverb written by Solomon : "If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small. " (Proverbs 24:10)

Yes, That's the opposite of what habakkuk used to do, we can see it clearly: " Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines, the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat, the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls--

yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.

The LORD God is my strength; and He will make my feet like hinds' feet, and He will make me to walk upon mine high places."
(Habakkuk 3:17-19)


In English the word hope is both a verb and a noun, but in Portuguese the verb 'Hope' means to wait and the noun is "Esperança", that can be translated as having good expectations.

Sometimes that we have to accept is that our expectations not always are like the ones God has to us...

Because His expectations for us are greater and more excellent that we have always imagined for ourselves.

We want good things, but we can't look to the future and see if they really were the best things we could have or at least as good as we thought they would be.

If we gather all the material goods, money, and properties of the whole world, We will definitely see that they can't be compared to the grandeur of God's plans to us and also his precious and eternal salvation that He have already prepared to us.

We should never exchange the certainty of God's eternal plans for us by the pursuit of personal happiness.

So if they come into conflict, choose God!

It's like what Jesus said "For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?"
(Matthew 16:26)

We can see that waiting is the essential aspect of faith and hope, because We know that something good happens if we believe, but we have to wait patiently...

"I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry."
(Psalm 40:1)

Hope brings joy and helps us to keep believing, it's because of Hope we can wait patiently.

It makes us believe that we are waiting for something that is worthy, and we'll not be disappointed.

"And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us."
(Romans 5:5)

To remain strong in hope, we'll also need endurance, which we receive day by day when we wait patiently.


Yes, We need perseverance, and being patient we can reach it !


"You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised." (Hebrews 10:36)

The last part of the verse talks about prayer and the necessity of never give up praying.

We don't need to see things to pray, but we need to keep believing.

So we can see that the invisible things are spiritual ones, or in another words, things that still don't exist here (in this natural world)...

Through Prayer we'll ask God to bring this things to the existence, to make them appear here.

You may not see your dreams yet, but you have to believe that God is preparing it to you, and in the right time He'll give it to you.

We have to take our eyes off the problems and put in in God, Who is powerful to change any situation.

It's Like Abraham did " Abraham, against all hope, believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which had been spoken, "So shall thy seed be." (Romanos 4:18).

When we receive a promise from God, we have to believe, to let hope gives us joy and to keep patient in faith, and we'll be blessed.

When we gather faith, hope, joy and endurance, Do you know what we will have ?

P-E-A-C-E !

And through this peace we can be patient and remain strong in the midst of troubles, and we certainly will be blessed !

So, Never give up your dreams, Persevere in prayer, keep believing, never give up.

And you'll see that it was good to believe, because when you receive the blessing you're waiting for, you'll be very happy.

And you will forget the times you cried, for the happinnes will be bigger than that !

"At night we may cry,

but when morning comes we will celebrate."
(Psalms 30:5b)

May God bless you so much !

quinta-feira, 17 de dezembro de 2009

Nicodemus’ heart revealed

When we start reading the third chapter of the Gospel of John, we see a quite interesting dialogue between Jesus and one of the Jewish religious leaders called Nicodemus.

He went to meet with Jesus at night, because he admired Jesus, but he didn’t want the others to see him talking to Jesus.

We can clearly see that Nicodemus admired Jesus’ lifestyle, Because He preached with authority and power and it also reflected on the way He lived his life.


When can suppose that Nicodemus was tired with his spiritual life and religion, and he wanted something new, a practical faith and relationship with God, instead of a dead religion, based on rules, traditional rountine liturgy that couldn’t lead him to God.

He certainly had questioned why he couldn’t see such great miracles that God had done through normal men like Moses, Joshua, Elijah, Elisha.
(Joshua 24:17, Judges 6:13, Psalms 44:1)


He certainly saw that Jesus was growing up before them like a tender shoot and like a root out of dry ground. (Isaiah 53:2)

For Nicodemus, There was no reason anymore to keep believing in a god tied up on the practice and faith of a dying religion after he saw a Living God being showed through the life of Jesus, That’s why he went to Jesus.

Although we went at night, his fear of being seen with Jesus wasn’t bigger than his thirsty for knowing this living God Whose that humble nazarene rabi so preached, honored and manifested his power, love and mercy.

“Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.”
(John 3:2)

Jesus knew that Nicodemus felt in his his heart the desire of living faith that way, and he said that in order to see the kingdom of God a person have to be born again.

Nicodemus didn’t understand that, because he associated that with his natural concepts and not with the spiritual ones.


Jesus then explain that we first Born as human beings, but we have to be Born again, as sons of God, through the work of the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 9:16-18)

To explain this Born again process, Jesus present two elements: water and the Spirit, which are directly connected to repentance, grace, forgiveness, redemption, adoption as sons of God, a good conscience toward God, santification, a new life in Christ, a desire to serve him and bare fruits and salvation.

The water that symbolizes the baptism, remember a ritual of purification only used for gentiles, but that was done by John the baptist (that prepared the way from Jesus).

It is associated to the desire of a life changing, abandoning sin and getting back to God.
(John 1:19-37, Mattew 3, Mark 16:15-16, acts 2:14-47, Galatians 3:26-29, Romans 6:3-11, colossians 2:8-15, 1Peter 3:11-22).

The Spirit is related to the regeneration produced by the Holy Spirit, a transformation from the flesh nature (sinful and adamic) to the spiritual nature (Holy, according to Jesus Christ) (Romans 5:12-17)

The Holy Spirit guides us into all truth (John 16:13), He takes us from the deceit of the flesh and its fruits and leads us to the truth of the spiritual fruits (Galatians 5:16-25)

And finally, I would like to talk about the main purpose of this conversation: God’s love for the humanity (John 3:16, Romans 5:6-21)

I don’t know if Nicodemus was saved by the mercy of God (before death), or if he became a disciple of Christ after or even if he wasn’t saved, But Jesus wanted him to be saved.

The man who looked for Jesus because of the miracles had to learn that salvation is more important than miracles…

This great love is real, and the Same God still love his creation, and this is the reason for his care for our lives and for Jesus have given his life in the cross, because He loves as more than anything (John 15:12-13, John 10:14-18)

If you have the same desire that Nicodemus had (to know God, to walk with him), I invite you to believe in Christ, and Give your life to Him.

I’m not talking about that religion Jesus that each year born in Christmas and die in the Easter, but in the only way to God, the living Savior, who invites you to look for Him in the scriptures (John 5:39-40).

If you’re already a christian, I wanna remind you how important is to live a real and alive Christianity, beyond having a religion, a set of beliefs, beyond the walls of a temple...

Those things aren’t wrong, but faith isn’t all about these things, faith has be connected to your personal daily life...

We have to look for a constant and honest relationship with God, Loving Him above all things and our neighbor as ourselves , obeying to the Lord and His Word.


May we desire above all things being the way our heavenly father wants us to be: His beloved sons, holy, fruitful, disciples of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.

terça-feira, 15 de dezembro de 2009

Salvation... the most precious gift !

Last week I was reading the bible when I saw a very interesting passage in the book of psalms and it made me think really seriously about the way we've been guiding our life.

The text was Psalms 49, and the part that got my attention was this:

" 16 Do not be overawed when a man grows rich,
when the splendor of his house increases;


17 for he will take nothing with him when he dies,
his splendor will not descend with him.

18 Though while he lived he counted himself blessed—
and men praise you when you prosper-

19 he will join the generation of his fathers,
who will never see the light of life .


20 A man who has riches without understanding
is like the beasts that perish."


This text made me think about the great amount of people that are living under the "Gospel of the Prosperity" nowadays...

And I also thought about the modern 'pursuit of fame' fever, which can be seen in the great amount of people willing to participate on reality shows, wanting to be actors, singers, or simply 'famous for at least 15 minutes'...

I was thinking about this and I got to the conclusion that in 100 years it won't matter how rich you were, how famous or acknowledged by your accomplishments you were, it won't help you at all...


" No man can redeem the life of another
or give to God a ransom for him-

the ransom for a life is costly,
no payment is ever enough -
that he should live on forever
and not see decay."
(Psalms 49:7-9)

Do you want an example of it ?
Solomon !


He was a very rich, wise and famous man, but he saw it was not enough...

"I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind."
(Ecclesiastes 1:14)

So, Do You think your happy ?

Good, but remember that your happiness doesn't mean your saved !

You're rich ?

Don't rely on your money to save you !

Salvation is something that only can be achieved by faith...


And faith alone in Jesus Christ !

And this faith have to be strong enough to persevere even when things are difficult, when you're not being very happy, when you're financial situation isn't going well...

" Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,

yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
I will be joyful in God MY SAVIOR."
Habakkuk 3:17-18

I pray that we can say like Paul (the apostle said):

"I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.
I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.
I can do everything through him who gives me strength."
(Philippians 4:12-13)

May God bless you in the name of Jesus Christ !

quarta-feira, 18 de novembro de 2009

The trust in the Father's Love

Yesterday I was thinking about the way God shows his glory, love and mercy in the moments we got frustrated for we were expecting Him to act in a different way with his providence and power to change our lives.

I saw that He always is right and has a defined purpose when we doesn't bless us the way we wanted Him to do.

Just like a father, that wants nothing but the best for his son, God knows when we really need something or we just desire that and we certainly could wait some more time.

He knows the right time to bless us, and even if we aren't so ready to receive this blessing as we think we are.

Do You remember that Jesus said that a good father won't give a scorpion to his kid (who was thinking it was an egg) ?

So, God doesn't give us things He knows that won't be good to us (even when we really ask that, thinking it will be the best thing we could ever get) !
For example, what father would be insane to give a car to his 10 years old son ?

Or What father would allow his son to use drugs (just because all his friends say it's cool) ?

So, the Lord showed me that He always proves that "In all things He Works for the good of those who love him" (Romans 8:28)

Knowing these, wouldn't we be wise if we always rely blindly on His grace, endless mercy, eternal love for us, his care for our lives, his always good plans for us ?

People, God loves us ! He is Faithfull !

That must be the reason that Paul the Apostle said: "I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.

I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.
I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

I can do everything through him who gives me strength."
(Philippians 4:11-13)

Trusting this way in God, he could say:

"We live by faith, not by sight."
(2 Corínthians 5:7)

This is the big faith, the one that allows you to keep believing even when things are not good or at least not they way we expected it to be.

When will we ever learn that our faith isn't an instrument that we can use to manipulate God in order to receive what we want ?

Are we believing in God or in an invisible Genius of the Lamp ?

Is Faith just a Lamp for us ?
People say "I have faith I'll get anything I need".

Oh, really ?!? Does the Lord HAVE to Bless you ? Just because you believe ?

Who is the Lord: God or you ?

Faith is a way of salvation and providence in time you need, not a way to receive money, power, good jobs, status...

If You say you have faith when things are good, just wait for the troubles and tribulations to see if you really have it...

This is the way our faith should be:

" Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,

yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.

The Sovereign LORD is my strength;
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
he enables me to go on the heights. ."
(Habakkuk 3:17-19)

May God Bless us and help us to keep believing no matter what happens !

terça-feira, 2 de junho de 2009

There's something New in the Valley of dry bones

On this Autumn, when I was looking to the effects of this season in the trees, I suddenly realized that the same happens to us when the problems and tribulation come to our lives.

All that green appearance vanish away slowly: the leaves fall and everything start to get gray and sad, so different from the life we used to see before, with the colorful Spring look or the happiness found in the Summer.

From this moment, we know that the Winter is coming soon, right after this Autumn and the things may get a little bit worse.

We always knew that problems and tribulations make people lose their hearts and became apathetic, drawn, weak, but now we start to feel it !

In spite of everything getting so cold and dead, there is still some powerful hope: As the Winters always have an end, these problems also will have one soon.

If you are in the valley, don’t let the dryness that comes from the incredulity and conformism kill you slowly, be strong in the hope that soon the wind who gave live to those dry bones in the valley will blow upon your life (Ezekiel 37), and the winter will finally end.

If you continue looking to your life with carnal eyes, the problems will continue being dry and dead bones, nothing else !

The secret is to look by the eyes of the One who is the most interested in blessing and changing lives !

WE HAVE TO LIVE BY FAITH IN THE POWER, LOVE AND MERCY OF OUR HEAVENLY FATHER !

ENOUGH OF SUFFERING ALONE AND STRUGGLING BY OURSELVES, ENOUGH OF USING THE PROBLEMS AS KNIVES AGAINST OURSELVES !

WHY SHOULD YOU REAFFIRM ON AND ON THAT YOU ARE UNEMPLOYED, LONELY, WITH PROBLEMS IN YOUR MARRIAGE ?

THAT DOESN’T CHANGE ANYTHING, START WALKING AND LIVING BY FAITH !

GOD WANTS TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE, TO TAKE YOU OUT OF THE VALLEY OF THE DRY BONES, WIPE AWAY THE TEARS FROM YOUR FACE, CALL YOU HIS SON AND SAY: “ DIDN’T I SAY TO YOU THAT IT WOULD WORTH TO BELIEVE THAT I WOULD NEVER LET YOU DOWN, BECAUSE I REALLY LOVE YOU ?"

GOD IS READY TO BLESS YOU, ARE YOU READY TO BELIEVE AND TAKE SOME STEPS BY FAITH ?

FAITH IS TO BELIEVE IN THE UNBELIEVABLE, TO SEE THE INVISIBLE AND RECEIVE THE IMPOSSIBLE !

May God bless you !