In a recent, fascinating article in an Annapolis Valley newspaper, entitled “What is Old Can Be New, Wendy Elliot wrote, “You could be 20 and think you’ll live forever and one morning simply not wake up. Or you might be 50 and fighting a possibly lethal disease. In these scenarios, death is to be considered.” Referring to funeral expenses, Elliot says that while we don’t want to think about death, when it happens, there can be expensive consequences. And it is true. Many people put off thoughts about death or taking appropriate action. But that does not change anything The prudent will prepare final earthly arrangements and the wise will make arrangements for what comes after the funeral- eternity. The Prophet Amos advised, “Prepare to meet your God.” And Jesus invited, “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

Pastor Alex Rockwell

Law Professor Michael Geist, Chair of Canada Research in Internet and E- Commerce is shocked to learn that Bell Canada will soon start tracking how its customers use the web, their mobile devices, what they watch on TV, where they live, gender and age range. Such actions can cause concern and discomfort. The big question is who will see this private information and what will be done with it? The Psalmist informs us that our Maker already sees and knows all about us, writing, “O Lord…. You understand my thought afar off….are acquainted with all my ways.” It is natural to be concerned when fellow humans invade our private lives. But if we’ve “been justified by faith,” and “have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” we can relax, knowing He always has our best interests at heart and uses information about us for our good and His glory.

Pastor Alex Rockwell

A bionic man has now been assembled with a 60 to 70 % function of humans. It stands six and a half feet tall, steps, sits, stands, Medical science has progressed. But this bionic man is not alive. While scientists may create a life- like and a human-like robot, only God can create living beings. The Bible book of Genesis informs us,”….the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being.” And just as only God can give physical life, so He alone can give spiritual life. Jesus made that clear when He said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Jesus later explained that when we admit our spiritual poverty and invite Him into our lives, “…I give them eternal life and they shall never perish…”It’s possible to be physically alive, but spiritually dead.

Pastor Alex Rockwell

Plains-clothed enforcement officers helped the RCMP to target unsafe drivers on PEI this fall. At major intersections, significant numbers were caught texting, having spirited phone conversations, surfing the internet, or on social media sites. As a result, accidents are happening and people are getting hurt because of distracted drivers. But until attitudes change, the problem will not be solved. In other words, change must happen on the inside before behavior is modified. Interestingly, the Bible teaches the same principle. Any amount of self-imposed behavior will not make one a Christian. It is only when the heart is changed by the power of God that one becomes a true child of God. The New Testament says, “if anyone is in Christ, he (or she) is a new creature. Old thing pass away, all things become new.”

Pastor Alex Rockwell

It was just a finger, but all the Police needed to get their man. A nineteen year old youth in Toronto stole a car, drove it in a dangerous fashion, had an accident and failed to remain at the scene. He was using a suspended driver’s license, and he was in possession of another person’s license. But in the accident, he lost a finger which the police found in the wreckage. After comparing its print with fingertips in their records, the young man was arrested and charged. Now most criminals are not tracked down in such a spectacular fashion. However, in the long run, all wrong- doers will be eventually caught, if not by man, by God. Paul, in the new testament put it as follows-“do not be deceived, god is not mocked. Whatever one sows that he will also reap.” Nobody wins at the sin game. Please, today, acknowledge your wrong-doing and ask Christ for forgiveness.

Pastor Alex Rockwell

I seldom pick up hitch-hikers, but made an exception for a young man in his 30’s looking for a drive into town. He had just learned that his wife, whom he thought was paying their mortgage, had used the money for several months to support her gambling addiction. They were losing their home. Gambling and often accompanying addiction is taking a huge toll in the lives of many, in a variety of ways. People are losing jobs, homes, families, and, in some cases, their lives. But perhaps the worst gamble of all is the gamble that there is no God, no accountability, and no hereafter. Jesus warned, “What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world, but loses his own soul? ”And Paul warned, “Don’t be deceived. God is not mocked. Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.” Please, don’t gamble. Invite Christ in and play the game of life safely.

Pastor Alex Rockwell

Last month, a man flashed a gun several times on a crowded commuter train in San Francisco, but passengers were so absorbed in their phones and tablets they didn’t notice until he randomly shot and killed a university student. Although they were in close proximity, they were completely engrossed in texting, oblivious to the obvious danger. It is easy to rush through life being controlled by the tyranny of the immediate and neglect our souls. We are tuned to the present and forget the future. The Bible is filled with clear warnings such as, “what shall it profit a man if he gains the world and loses his own soul?” And Paul warned “Now is the time of God’s favor…now is the day of salvation.” Another New Testament passage asks, “how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?” But are we listening???

Pastor Alex Rockwell

Privacy is mostly an illusion, according to a recent issue of Time magazine. We may assume no one sees or hears our private moments, but the rise of technology is quickly changing that. Video cameras, satellites and drones, smart phones relaying information about their owners, license plate cameras all track car movements. While all this can be unnerving, there is something which is even more sobering, and of which we should all be aware. The God of the universe is ever present, all seeing, all knowing. The Psalmist put it this way. “O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up. You understand my thoughts afar, and are acquainted with all my ways.” If we’re trying to hide from our Maker, that knowledge is frightening. But if we have come to Christ and God is our Father, it makes for peace and security.

Pastor Alex Rockwell

The cover of a recent Time magazine read, “Can Google Solve Death” It explains, “The search giant is launching a venture to extend the human life span. The authors give what they call the worldview that “there is no problem that can’t be addressed by the application of liberal amounts of technology and everything is solvable…,” However, not surprisingly the question of death goes unanswered. That’s because the Bible, the final authority on death tells us“…it is appointed for men to die…” Perhaps our Lord made the most riveting statement of all, when He said, just before raising Lazarus from the dead, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, shall live. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.” He was acknowledging the reality of death, but making it clear that when we put our faith in Him, and what He did for us on the Cross,” though the wages of sin is death,” happily “the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Pastor Alex Rockwell

In Pueblo Colorado a man claiming to be a police officer approached an undercover detective and demanded he hand over drugs as part of a police drug bust. But when he ordered the detective to “give him the drugs,” the real detective showed his own credentials and arrested him for impersonating of a peace officer. There are also many fakers who pretend to be genuine Christians. They fool others, but Jesus warned that He is not fooled. Matthew records, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ The only real Christian is the one who has sincerely invited Jesus Christ into his or her life. Are you real or fake?

Pastor Alex Rockwell