JOY! Magazine May 2022

“Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.” – 1 John 3:4-6 Sin is not a word that one hears often, both in Christian and secular circles, yet it was the reason why Jesus came to the earth and died on the Cross. ‘Sin’ sounds like such a judgemental word in our modern-day vernacular, and should one use it, strange looks or awkward silences can be expected. Why? I believe the devil has‘captured’that word in order for sin to be redefined and minimised. Times have…

Jesus, I believe that You died on the Cross for me. There You were wounded for my transgressions, You were bruised for my iniquities; and the punishment for my peace was upon You. I have been like a lost sheep, I have turned to my own way, but I believe that God laid my iniquity upon You. You died for me. Then You rose from the dead, You ascended into Heaven, and now seated on Your throne as Lord of all. Jesus, forgive me. I now turn away from my sin and put my trust in You. Fill me with Your Spirit, cleanse me, and take me as Your own. AMEN…

Dear readers, we love to hear your thoughts on the stories that we publish, what is going on around the world, and what the Lord has placed on your heart! Email your letter through to editor@joymag.co.za for a chance to be featured – please try to keep letters to 150 words as we have limited space. A treasured subscription Thank you very much for my subscription to JOY! Magazine. Your magazine has always been treasured in my home. God is with you and yours. Pst Mamonyane Christian books are great I first noticed JOY! Magazine’s Passover issue in 2018. I have been a reader ever since. I was surprised to find an old copy of JOY! in my files – a 2004 issue. At that time in my life I was…

The other day my Arnie (Aunty Trish) said to me, “Midgey, WYSIWYG! In computing, the way something displays on a screen is how it will print out, hence,‘What you see is what you get.’”However, sometimes in“real life”, what you see is not always what you get. Us doggies see that some humans appear to be happy, living a good life, but things aren’t always “WYSIWYG.” We know this because we possess a sixth sense, a “gut” feeling that we get when something doesn’t feel or seem right. Then, some humans appear to be sad or down and out, but Arnie tells me that in the Bible it says, “Blessed are the poor, the hungry, the grieving, the hated…”. “Midgey,” she says, “everyone who chooses to believe is truly blessed! “…

See how many of these you can fill in before checking the answers on page 74. After you test yourself, try reading the questions aloud to a friend or family member and see how they do! 1 How old was Noah when he had his three sons? 2 At the time of the famine in Egypt, all countries came to Joseph to buy what? 3 The plague of ______ were so thick that they covered the whole land of Egypt 4 Samson tied 300 _____ together, set them on fire, and sent them out to burn the Philistines’ crops 5 Which disciple walked on water beside Jesus? 6 Who argued with the devil about the body of Moses? 7 In Genesis, the half fallen angel / half human children were…

Some of the “First” and “Second” books were divided after they were written In the old days, they couldn’t print massive tomes for each book of the Bible. It was hard to fit the very lengthy works on one scroll—and even if the scroll was big enough for all that content, it would be too heavy to manage. They broke some of the longer books down into two volumes. So the book of 2 Samuel is really more like the book of Samuel, part two. *tome = a book, especially a large, heavy, scholarly one. Biblical life expectancy 969 Out of all biblical characters, Methuselah lived the longest, finally passing at 969 years of age. But Adam, Seth, Noah, and a few other characters apparently also made it past 900.…