The story follows Jacob, fresh out of school and dissatisfied with life, who asks his father, a prosperous car workshop owner, for his inheritance in order to start a business venture in Johannesburg, South Africa. Upon arrival, he meets up with an old friend, Teboho, and soon finds himself caught up in a world of gambling, bars and women. When his father becomes increasingly worried, having not heard from Jacob, he sends Benjamin, his older brother, to look for him. While Benjamin tries hard to track him down, Jacob learns valuable lessons about the importance of family, true friendship, and forgiveness.

There are currently 600 000 deaf people in South Africa who use South African Sign language as their first language in order to communicate. South African sign language is very different from other sign languages around the world; consequently the deaf community cannot understand programmes for the deaf that are made in the USA or UK. This tends to marginalize the deaf community of South Africa from receiving good quality impactful Christian content in their own language.

“We hope to create an entertaining, informative and impactful film that will be made available to the entire Deaf community throughout South Africa. Our hope is that the film will work to allow the Deaf to ‘hear’ the Gospel with their eyes and that this will work to stir a translation into the language of their hearts!”

CVC Media wants this project to not only impact the local Deaf community at large, but to inspire and challenge others towards generating meaningful and relevant content.

This 2-disc Jesus Culture album features artists Jake Hamilton, Kristene DiMarco, and Bryan & Katie Torwalt. With 16 powerful worship tracks, including originals like “Awaken Me” and “Father of Lights” and favourites such as “We Are Hungry”, “Dance” and “The Anthem”, this live album gives you a chance to be a part of what took place at this monumental event.

Jesus Culture is a humble band and brings the crowd to the throne of God. They bring the anointing into their worship and point the people to the cross of Jesus. The band compiled a powerful anointed CD live from Chicago. God’s presence is released through their worship and continues to touch lives around the world.

Absolutely Awesome!

Although it’s based on an adaptation of Brian Selznick’s novel (The Invention of Hugo Cabret), the five time Oscar-winning Hugo seems to be the lovechild of Scorsese’s personal views and his love for the magic of cinema. While Hugo is uncharted territory, Scorsese holds his own and delivers a film filled with wonder and technical brilliance. The breath-taking opening sequence of 1930’s Paris, which looks like an image straight out of a children’s fantasy book, winds us back into the past and sets the tone.

The story centers on a young orphan (Asa Butterfield) in post – World War 1 who lives in a major train station. He spends his days maintaining the station clocks and painstakingly collecting parts to repair a mechanical automaton (clockwork man), which he believes holds a secret message from his late watchmaker/inventor father. When his father’s diary is confiscated by a grumpy toy shop owner (Ben Kingsley), he befriends a young girl (Chloe Moretz) who might hold the missing puzzle piece in his mysterious adventure. Soon all the dots are connected and surprisingly everyone is magically linked to the mechanical automaton.

Underneath the visual prowess lie remarkably well-acted characters. The children, especially the wide blue-eyed Butterfield, deliver the most charming performances. Their on-screen chemistry is both believable and sweet. Kingsley is, as always, on the ball, delivering a gripping performance. Yet the biggest surprise comes from crass comedian Sacha Baron-Cohen who channels his best Peter Sellers impersonation to play the strict and uncompassionate station police officer. Who knew he had any “real” acting ability?

Ultimately most of the praise belongs to Scorsese who reminds us of both the importance of fantasy and film, and ultimately the link that holds them together. Hugo gracefully draws its audience into a world of clocks, mechanics, steam trains and cinematic homages. It’s a world you would love to escape to, again and again.

Note from the Editor: The reviews on this page do not imply our endorsement of the material and content of the movies. We would like to provide our readers with enough information to be able to make an informed decision whether or not they would wish to see the movie themselves, or allow their children, family or friends to see them.

1. What did I do well that I can share with others? And
2. What lessons did I learn from this that I can improve on?

In my life I have goals and I know I am running a marathon; I know this is a journey. I know what I want to achieve and I know that I can get there from an inner place of power. I constantly give myself and seek feedback from others on my behaviours. I adjust where I need to and am always aware of what I am moving towards. I take responsibility for my behaviours that take me off track and I correct immediately. I break through my limiting selfimposed beliefs and strive to grow and learn every day. This is the heart-and mindset that has me enjoy this journey, moment by moment, day by day, kilometer by kilometer. If I want success, I can achieve it if I live my God-given abilities. My daughters have an affirmation that empowers them to live their God-given abilities so please share this with your kids. “I can achieve anything I want, if I believe in myself and put my heart and mind to it.” If you want a successful life and want to enjoy the marathon of life, here are a few simple steps.

1. Have a vision of where you are going and who you are becoming – What is your race?

2. Write down goals that will help you get there – what is your definition of Success?

3. Know your purpose for being here and running this race called life because this will provide the fuel, motivation and inspiration for the journey.

4. Feedback to yourself and seek feedback from others to constantly ensure you are moving towards your greatness – be vulnerable and humble.

5. Take time to enjoy the moments as you move through them – be present to your life.

6. Celebrate your successes along the way and love those who support you on your journey.

“The only life worth living is the one you create for yourself,” ~ Stephen Light.

Be courageous in the pursuit of your marathon in life, be committed and use love as your approach. You will know success every moment and life will be sweeter than you could ever have imagined.
Love and Courage

Kutless has longevity, something rare in today’s ‘one hit wonders’ music world. After a decade, they encounter the same dilemma facing all artists in the same boat, do they please their old fans or grow up and move on. Kutless now have two possible audiences, the die-hard fan and the first time listener. ‘Believer’, the band’s seventh studio release, will surely leave the former questioning their commitment to a band who seems to have broken all ties with their Nu Metal past. Even rockers like ‘If it ends today’, a ‘punch your fist in the air’ praise anthem comes across as a bit more cheesy than crunchy. For the first time listener looking for Christ centered music with a bit more bite, (think Jeremy Camp with fangs), ‘Believer’ is for you. ‘Carry on’ and ‘This is love’ are sure to be radio favourites, while ‘Identity’ and ‘Carry me to the cross’ are touching worshipful moments.  The later penned with the assistance of ex audio adrenaline front man, Mark Stuart. Speaking of guests, the track ‘I’m with you’ features Jon Maddux who was axe man for metal legends Deliverance in the mid-nineties. Believer is a solid radio rock album with uncompromising songs, I just didn’t find any that where that memorable.

I can only imagine the look on some of your faces as you read the title of this article… (On that note, please make sure my mother doesn’t see this because I would never hear the end of it!) But seriously, I fully stand by the statement that RELIGION SUCKS, because, well, it does! RELIGION SUCKS THE LIFE out of the Gospel of Jesus Christ! Religion has a way of twisting and perverting our FREEDOM purchased by the blood of Jesus into a form of bondage… Do you know that’s what the word “religion” actually means? The root word for “religion” means to “return to bondage”. Um, EW! Who wants to “return to bondage”!? It reminds me of a dog returning to its own vomit… Let’s not go into detail about what the dog does with the vomit when he returns to it (**shudders**)!

In this article we are going to address WHY religion sucks the life out of the Gospel and WHY people confuse religion with true Christianity. First things first, we must establish that the words “Christianity” and “religion” should never be paired together because, in truth, they couldn’t be more opposite. How so? Let’s find out….

If you seek out the meaning of the word “Christian”, you will find that, literally translated, it means, “little Christ”. The early disciples were given the name “little Christs” because they were just like the original “big Christ”. So why were they considered the “mini-me” versions Jesus Christ? Because they walked like Christ, talked like Christ, did miracles like Christ, carried the same anointing of Christ, exercised the same authority as Christ, demonstrated the same love of Christ, etc., I love the part of scripture in Acts 4:13 when the people said of the disciples, “these are ignorant and untrained men; yet we can tell they have been with Jesus!” Wow! We must ask ourselves, “Can people tell that I have been with Jesus?” They were called “Christians” not because they joined a church or answered an altar call; they were called Christians because they SO RESEMBLED Christ-not by mere words, but because their ACTIONS and LIFESTYLE merited no better definition than “little Christ”.

The word “Christ” actually means “Anointed One”. That is who Jesus was- the Anointed One. What was He anointed for? In Luke 4:18 Jesus Himself tells us that “The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon Me, because He has anointed Me [the Anointed One, the Messiah] to preach the good news (the Gospel) to the poor; He has sent Me to announce release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to send forth as delivered those who are oppressed [who are downtrodden, bruised, crushed, and broken down by calamity], to proclaim the accepted and acceptable year of the Lord [the day when salvation and the free favours of God profusely abound.”

Acts 10:38 reminds us why the Anointed One came in the first place- “How God anointed and consecrated Jesus of Nazareth with the [Holy] Spirit and with strength and ability and power; how He went about doing good and, [a]in particular, curing all who were harassed and oppressed by [the power of] the devil, for God was with Him. ”. Jesus made it VERY clear to us that He came to set the captives free….Up until that point, the only bridge people had to God Almighty was through the Law- a set of rules and regulations from the Old Covenant.

You see, when sin came into the world, it separated humanity from their relationship with the Father God. The Law was put in place to maintain a temporary connection between God and man and it was there to show man how much we NEED a Saviour- it had a way of pointing out the carnal, frail nature of man. The problem with the Law was that it was an imperfect system because no matter how hard man tried, he always failed to maintain the rules and regulations that the Law gave. When Jesus came to earth, He came to restore humanity back to a loving relationship with the Father. He came, of course, to take our sin punishment once and for all AND to empower us with the Holy Spirit, thus giving us the DESIRE and the ABILITY to live for Him. What MAN could never do through a system of rules and regulations, Jesus DID do through His death, burial, and resurrection power.

So, why the history lesson? We must understand the DIFFERENCE between the systems of man and the power of Christ. The systems of man always leave you falling short; the love and grace of Jesus blots out our failings. The systems of man give the rules and the standards, but not the power or ability to meet the requirements; so in essence, it makes you accountable because you know what you’re supposed to do, but you can’t do it! The power of Christ gives you desire to do good in the first place, then it gives you the power to follow through with it! The Christ-like says, “though I am weak, in my weakness His strength is made perfect” (2 Corinthians 12:9). The Christ-like way says “with man, it’s impossible; but with God, all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26). Man’s way says, “by my works I am made righteous”; the Christ-like way, says, “by His grace I am righteous”. Ephesians 2:8-9: For it is by free grace (God’s unmerited favour) that you are saved through [your] faith. And this [salvation] is not of yourselves [of your own doing, it came not through your own striving], but it is the gift of God; Not because of works [not the fulfilment of the Law's demands], lest any man should boast. [It is not the result of what anyone can possibly do, so no one can pride himself in it or take glory to himself.]

This is why RELIGION SUCKS the life out of the Gospel. You see, the system of man is RELIGION DEFINED! Religion is MAN’S way of doing things. RELIGION IS MAN’S ATTEMPT TO GET TO GOD THROUGH THEIR WORKS. Religion will give you a list of things to do and not to do- as if that’s going to earn you favour with God. Religion is BONDAGE because it keeps you a slave to trying to prove your righteousness through good works. Religion is CONTROL. Religion doesn’t rely on the grace and mercy of God- it relies on human strength. RELIGION and the GOSPEL are opposites- The GOSPEL means Good News. Religion demands man must DO something to get to God. The GOSPEL says GOD DID SOMETHING to get to YOU!

Do you see now why we cannot classify religion and Christianity in the same category? Remember, Christ, the Anointed One, came to SET US FREE from our vain attempts to obtain right standing with God through our works- Jesus knew it would never work out like that. So, Christ, the Anointed One, came to give us a new way- through GRACE. That GRACE is what gives us the DESIRE and the POWER to live righteously- to live like He did, thus becoming a “little Christ” (Philippians 2:13).

How then, do people classify Christianity as another religion? It is sad to say, but MANY people have made a “religion” out of Christianity. They have tried to convert the grace and mercy of God into a man-operated formula. This is why there are some churches that demand their members “pay the priests” to pray to God to receive forgiveness from their sins. WHAT!? This is what Jesus came to SET US FREE FROM! Yet many, and I mean many, act as if He never came! They may bear the label of “Christian”, but they do not know WHO HE IS and WHY HE CAME; their lives do not resemble “little-Christ”.

The Bible is clear to tell us that we will know them by their fruits (Matthew 7:16) and that we will know those who love Him because they do the Father’s will (John 15:8). What is the Father’s will? As we read earlier, it is “to destroy the works of the devil” (Acts 10:38), “to set the captives free…, to heal the broken-hearted…” (Luke 4:18).

YOUNG PEOPLE, if we are going to call ourselves “CHRISTIANS”, then we must PRODUCE what Christ produced. Christian is not a label for a certain set of beliefs- it is a lifestyle that bears the character of Christ. Christianity can be another name on the list of “religions” if you allow it to be. It can be another set of good morals, rules, regulations, and a lack of power to produce righteousness. The Bible calls it like it is: 2 Timothy 3:5

For [although] they hold a form of piety (true religion), they deny and reject and are strangers to the power of it [their conduct belies the genuineness of their profession]. Avoid [all] such people [turn away from them].

What separates Christianity from the other religions in the world? What separates YOU from other religions? Are you a Christian because of your label or because of your lifestyle? If we DENY THE POWER OF GOD that was made available through the blood of Jesus, then we make His sacrifice on the cross useless. Why should someone believe in your Jesus Christ rather than in Muslim god, Allah? I can assure you that a debate on doctrine is not going to win anybody over. IF YOU CAN BE TALKED INTO IT, YOU CAN BE TALKED OUT OF IT!

The power of the Gospel that we profess to believe is NOT in the WORDS we speak or the labels we give ourselves….The POWER of the Gospel is only realised when we choose to DEMONSTRATE what we believe (1 Corinthians 2:4). The power of the Gospel is made available not because we are nice people with good morals- there are plenty of those out there; rather, it is made available because we live, breath, move, walk, talk, demonstrate like Jesus did when He walked the earth! Do we give people a reason to believe that we “have been with Jesus”? Do we give people a reason to see the difference between a BIBLE and a KORAN? If we cannot demonstrate what we believe, then we must ask ourselves if we really believe it.

The message here is clear: Jesus did not come and die on the cross so that we can have a religion-another attempt of man trying to get to God. The DIFFERENCE IS THIS: He didn’t just die on the cross- He ROSE AGAIN! People, THAT is the difference because when He rose from the GRAVE, He proved that He defeated death, He defeated man’s failed way of doing things; He gave us His grace, mercy, and righteousness; He restored our relationship with God; and He gave US the power to LIVE FOR HIM and LIKE HIM!

There is no other “religion” or belief system on the planet that compares to this Gospel. There is POWER in this Gospel!

When you take the POWER of God out of the Gospel, you make it another DEAD, BORING, RELIGION! When you take the POWER out of the Gospel, you turn it into a system of man, a system of control, a system of bondage. When you take the POWER out of the Gospel, you nullify the purpose of our RESURRECTED Saviour!

Religion sucks the life out of the Gospel. STOP THE SUCKAGE! Be determined to live and walk in the resurrected power made available to you through the cross of Christ. Let us be a generation of whom no one can deny, “they have been with Jesus”!

Eternal Life

The most famous verse in the whole Bible, in my humble opinion, is John 3:16 which says ‘For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life’, (NKJV). If we look at the verse before that Jesus says, ‘Whoever believes in me shall not perish but have eternal life’. Eternal life begins the day you accept Christ as your Saviour. For me it was on 18 February 1979 in the little Methodist Church in Greytown when my life was transformed forever and I started to live my eternal life with Christ.

Not so long ago I had the privilege of speaking at a very beautiful retreat at the base of the Drakensberg mountains, a place called Pevensey. It was one of the highlights of my year 2011. I made a statement that ‘good people don’t go to heaven, believers go to heaven’ and I got a very loud amen and a rousing applause from all the residents, but did meet up with a little bit of friction with some writers who seem to think that I have the wrong end of the stick, but this is actually the truth. If we look at these two scriptures it is so clear that it is believers in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour who inherit eternal life, not workers of good deeds. If that was the case there would be a lot of people from other religions who would get to heaven much quicker than myself for example. My dear friend, once again we know that it is by grace we are saved, through faith, and that not of ourselves, (Ephesians 2:8).

I will never forget the 18 February 1979 as long as I live and neither will my wife Jill or my family. My life was transformed! I was in a state of depression up until that time, I was working seven days a week trying to build some kind of farm for my family. I was working so hard that I lost all joy and perspective in life. I couldn’t hear the birds singing in the early mornings, I couldn’t see the beautiful sunrises and sunsets anymore, everything was just a hard grind. I was dying very fast and I was barely 32 years old.

Then I met the son of God, Jesus Christ, at that church service. It was conducted that day by a Lay Witness Mission. These were building contractors, farmers, mechanics, policemen and housewives. They started getting up into the pulpit one by one sharing about how they had found eternal life through giving their lives to Jesus Christ. Many of them were weeping and some were even laughing for joy. I had never seen this happen before. A simple altar call was made at the end of that service by a professional musician who used to play on the SABC in the old days and he asked those who wanted to receive eternal life to come to the front. Jill and myself and our children went forward and we prayed a simple prayer, I don’t remember any flashes of lightning, sounds of thunder or divine revelation but one thing I did know in my heart of hearts was that I found eternal life.

The Bible asks ‘What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and he loses his soul? Of course, we have seen this many times before, multi-billionaires chasing the wind. That is all it is. That is what Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, talks about no less than four times in the first few chapters of Ecclesiastes.

Eternal life does not depend on good works, it depends on faith. Jesus says very clearly in John 3:16 that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. My dear friend, I ask you a question: ‘How is it possible to frighten a Christian with heaven?’ According to Paul in Phil.1:21, ‘For me to live is Christ and to die is gain’. Paul could only say that because he knew that he had received eternal life. The Lord had forgiven him of all his sins and he was destined for heaven.

That is why we see that believers are always content. They might not always be laughing because many of them are being persecuted for their faith, but they have a future to look forward to – eternal life. Their names have been written in the Lamb’s Book of Life and so they are sojourners. You will find that these are people who speak much about eternal life, they are not too concerned about the day to day issues here on earth. Yes we are involved in every facet and aspect of life but it is not our main goal, our main goal is heaven.

Robert Murray-McShane was responsible for starting a huge revival in Dundee, Scotland. He died at a very young age and what he said was so true. He said, ‘Live near to God, and all things will appear little to you in comparison with eternal realities’. If you look at our Master himself, He walked on this earth for a mere 33 years and then He returned to His eternal home.

You might ask ‘what do we need to do in order to prepare ourselves for eternal life?’ Thomas Chalmer said, ‘The sum and substance of the preparation needed for a coming eternity is that you believe what the Bible tells you and do what the Bible bids you’. I think that is so well put. A wise man once said that we need to live as if Jesus Christ was coming to take us to be with Him in eternity tomorrow, and we need to prepare like He is coming in a thousand years. In other words we need to carry on living in this world but our home is in heaven.

They asked Martin Luther, the great reformer who introduced us to grace, (remember the scripture that changed his life and indeed another mighty man of God, John Wesley, was Romans1:17 – ‘The just shall live by faith’), what he would do today if he knew that Jesus was coming back to take him to his eternal home tomorrow. He said that he would plant an apple tree, meaning that he would carry on living until Jesus came. (There are many apple trees in Germany, I have seen them, especially in Bavaria). They asked John Wesley the same question and he replied that he had a Bible study that morning followed by two other meetings. In other words, we continue to live in this world and live life to the fullest, but our eyes, our hearts and our expectations are aimed towards eternity.

Many of us are spending too much time on temporal things and not enough time getting ready for eternal things. We are worrying ourselves to death trying to keep up with the Joneses, trying to put in a bigger swimming pool, upgrading your car because you want one like your next-door neighbour, buying new tractors because your neighbours have bought new ones, when you don’t really need one, putting up a new fence because everyone else has one, and in the meantime you are getting yourself horribly in debt! Dave Hunt said, ‘Life is only lived wisely to the extent that it is spent in preparation for the eternity which follows’. That puts it in a nutshell.

My friends we are sojourners and travellers in this world, this is not our home, we are going home. I read that beautiful story of a missionary who had been preaching the gospel in the Congo or some far off land for forty years and was returning to America on a ship. As the ship sailed past the statue of liberty and came into the docks there were crowds of people shouting and cheering and throwing streamers onto the ship. The old missionary was so excited because he thought it was a welcome home committee, but he was very soberly brought back to reality when he saw that the crowds were cheering a soccer team that had returned after playing away for a mere two weeks. He stood weeping at the back and said ‘Lord, I have given my whole life for the gospel and I have come home and there is not a soul here to meet me’, and then he heard a still, small voice whisper into his heart, ‘My dear son, you have not arrived home yet’, indeed his home was heaven.

Let us hold lightly to the things of this world and let us be prepared for whatever God calls us. At the back of my Bible next to the last verse of Revelation I have written in bold italics, ‘Keep short accounts with men and God for the time is now very short’.

God bless

Angus Buchan