The Parable of the Good Samaritan is one of the unique parables narrated by the Lord Jesus Christ as it is found only in the Gospel of Luke in chapter 10:30-37, and it conveys the principle of high morality in the salvation that has been provided to the fallen humankind. The reason for Jesus to expound this parable was to answer a test question posed to him by a lawyer, which was: “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” (Luke 10:25). Jesus, knowing that this was a learned lawyer who posed this question, replies in turn with two questions for the lawyer to answer: “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?” (Luke 10:26).

Ahmad Deedat a Muslim scholar challenged Josh McDowell in a debate on the subject "was Christ crucified"? The debate took place in August 1981, in Durban, South Africa. Deedat posed the following challenge to McDowell “Throughout the length and breadth of the 27 books of the New Testament, there is not a single statement made by Jesus Christ saying "I was dead, and I have come back from the dead." The Christian has been belaboring the word resurrection. Again and again, by repetition, it is conveyed that it is proving a fact. You keep on seeing the man, the man's eating food, as though He was resurrected. He appears in the upper room - He was resurrected. Jesus Christ never uttered that word that "I have come back from the dead," in the 27 books of the New Testament, not even once.” What do you think?

February 14th is observed in many parts of the world as “Valentines day” We give and receive Valentine’s Day cards and gifts. Watch out what you might get in the mail: A guy walks into a post office one day to see a middle-aged, balding man standing at the counter methodically placing "Love" stamps on bright pink envelopes with hearts all over them. He then takes out a perfume bottle and starts spraying scent all over them. His curiosity getting the better of him, he goes up to the balding man and asks him what he is doing. The man says, "I'm sending out one thousand Valentine cards signed, 'Guess who?' "But why?" asks the man. "I'm a divorce lawyer," the man replies. Some cards may be not as bad as these. Some children’s Valentine’s Day cards seem to communicate the crying need for love and friendship.

In the run up for Lok Sabha elections 2009, Varun Gandhi an emerging young politician dominated the media for his speeches that were alleged to be hate campaign against minority communities in India especially the Muslims.  Many social leaders, prominent citizens and common people voiced their grave concern over this and condemned the speech.  But, Varun did not have any remorse for his speech, instead defended it.  Later, he said he was victim of political conspiracy.  He made his arrest a public stunt and even inspired violation in the city of Pilibhit.

Saleem was the son of a Muslim Mullah in Kashmir, India. He came to Mumbai to sell Kashmir carpets and shawls. He had high hopes of making a huge profit however he ended up being cheated by locals and lost a lot of money. He was dejected and lonesome; to find peace of mind and get away from the scorching heat of Mumbai city he went into a nearby park and sat in the shade of a tree. A group of young people came up to him and began to talk to him about Jesus and his gift of salvation. Salem was very argumentative and upset about the claims of Christ.

I was a doctoral candidate in a very prestigious institute in India.  Though I did many of the required courses for a year, it was derailed by petty politics, sabotage and silly conspiracy.  One of my friends who heard about it came to meet me to offer sympathy.  He was more downcast and disappointed than me.  I said, “I have already written two books.  In the next two three years, I would write few more books.  One of the candidates from this very institution would do his/her Ph.D. thesis on my writings and thoughts – books and articles.  I dream that would be a greater honour instead of worrying about a sabotaged opportunity.”  He was startled and perplexed.

Abigail is an icredible example of a woman of extraordinary courage and unflinching integrity who was able to overcome the adversities of life

It is an irony!  The word 'Satyam' means truth, but the IT company occupied the front pages of newspapers and prime time of television news channels for ?asatyam?, which means untruth or false or fraud.  The Chief of Satyam, B. Ramalinga Raju confessed that he doctored the balance sheets to a tune of about Rs. 7000 crore to keep his company?s reputation, client attraction and stock rates at the highest level for several years.  The country's fourth largest IT Company with 53000 employees - after TCS, Infosys and Wipro and ahead of HCL - was for several years cooking its books by inflating revenues and profits. It was a creative, innovative accounting fraud.  This pulled the stock market down and it would affect more in the coming days.

Baptism is an act of obedience by which a person who has accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and savior fulfills or completes the inward righteousness he already enjoys in his heart. This righteousness is a result of believing in Christ’s atoning death and resurrection

We have many Why questions in life. Why did he die, why did I fail, Why did I lose my job, Why did my wife leave me, Why do I have this illness? Will people who have Jesus in their lives face these situations? Isn’t He all sufficient for us?

I am of the opinion that unless we determine to teach absolute spiritual principles to our children, we will lead them to chaos and confusion and subsequently to hell instead of heaven. One of the founding fathers of America, Benjamin Franklin, was so determined to lead a Godly life that he carried a personal book that listed thirteen virtues - Temperance, Silence, Order, Resolution, Frugality, Industry, Sincerity, Justice, Moderation, Cleanliness, Tranquillity, Chastity, and Humility.

St. Luke provides panoramic view of the Resurrection of Lord Jesus Christ in chapter twenty four.  The Open Tomb provides the evidence of Resurrection.  The disciples on the Emmaus road experienced revelation of God’s presence or Opening of their eyes; then Lord Opened the Scriptures to them.  The essence of Easter is: Open Tomb! Open Eyes!! And Open Scriptures!!!

Once I was in the city of Colombo, the capital city of Sri Lanka.  Lal Withanage, National Director of Global Action is my good friend.  We usually have long friendly conversations.  One time, I was sharing my life story in which there were many struggles, failures, and deceptions by friends, exploitation by organizations and other painful experiences. 

Evangelism focuses on reaching out to people who are lost.  Depravity of human beings is described as ‘lostness’ in the Scripture.  Luke 15 is an interesting chapter on lostness of humanity with three parables told  by Jesus. Pharisees and scribes considered all people as sinners, who were ignorant of the Law. (John 7:49)  The Pharisees opposed and grumbled as they did not appreciate Christ’s love and motive to reach out to sinners. The three parables describe four kinds of people who ought to be evangelized.  The parable of the Lost Coin appeals to women who live indoors, while the parable of the Lost Sheep appeals to men who work outdoors.  The parable of the Lost Sons brings to focus the context of the family. 

Balancing is a great leadership act of excellence.  In fact, an excellent leader balances and blends the two extremes to bring out brilliant performance.  Lord Jesus Christ model of leadership shows the marvelous balancing of extremes.  Leaders of excellence have the knack to tackle the extremes and bring out creative solutions.  Such leaders enjoy the creative tension caused in the process of balancing and even excel in doing so.