Author: aidanbenbow

Testimony

When I grew up, I always believed in God and went to church with my family. But God wasn’t the most important aspect of my life. I had my own interests. For example, I liked football and Sunday’s at church, I was often thinking about what football match was on the television later.

When I was 17 years old, I realised that most people around me didn’t bother thinking about God, reading the Bible or going to church, but nevertheless seemed happy. So, I thought I would try to give these up as well. After a while though I realised that I couldn’t live this way. I felt empty and surrounded by darkness if I didn’t think about God. Thus, I soon returned to my religious way of life but it still seemed like something was missing.

Not long after this I went to university. I studied chemistry and had big plans to become a professor and maybe even discover something new! I knew that there was a Christian student group at my university, but I was unsure if I wanted to go.

At the beginning of the academic year, there was a Fresher’s fair. This is an event where different student groups and organisation have a table and present their activities. Students who want can sign up. I made an understanding with God that I would go and pass through the fair once. If I saw the Christian union table I would stop and talk to them. If not, I would understand that it wasn’t God’s will for me to get involved with them.

I went to the fair and quickly passed through the long hall that it was situated in. I didn’t see any Christians, so I hastily exited via a side door and hurried away, glad that I had fulfilled my side of the bargain and was now free to continue with what I wanted to do.

However, this wasn’t the end of the story. As I began my studies, I realised that I didn’t really like what I was studying (it was Chemistry after all!). Not only that, I am a closed person and don’t make friends easily. As a result, I began to feel down. This caused me to start putting deeper questions about life. What is the point? Where am I headed? What is there after death?

Especially, the question about my final destination bothered me. I saw that after death, we just become nothing. But if we become nothing, then what we do in this life doesn’t really matter, as we all end up not existing and one day forgotten, no matter what we do or achieve in this life. This thought was hard to swallow and caused me much soul searching.

One day though, the thought occurred to me Why don’t you pray to the God that you have heard so much about at church and in the Bible? If He really exists, then maybe He will answer, if not, then you haven’t lost anything!

So, this is what I did! After praying to God and asking Him, if He’s there, to help me and reveal Himself to me, He Did!

There were a number of things through which He spoke to me. The main one was that Bible verses started to come alive, as if they had been written especially for me. For example, Matthew 6:33 –

‘But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.’

From here it was as if God was saying to me that up until that point, I had really been seeking my way; although I acknowledged God, He wasn’t the centre in my life. I realised that this needed to change, and I realised how!

At the beginning of the next academic year, I prepared myself to head for the Fresher’s Fair again, this time with a different frame of mine; to find the Christian Union stand at all costs!

So, the day came and after morning classes at the university, I summoned up the courage and started making may in the direction of the said Fresher’s Fair. On the way I bumped into one of the students I knew who studied together with me. He asked me where I was going. I said to the Fresher’s Fair to which he replied that he also wanted to go there. This produced a dilemma.

Initially, I strolled along with him towards our common destination. I made no mention of my intention to look for the Christian group. Maybe he would change his mind, or something come up on the way to separate us. Alas, to no avail. Thus, as we approached the Fair, I realised that I was going to have to make my first public confession of Christian interest. ‘I’m going to look for the Christian Union!’, I managed to blurt out.

He hesitated and my embarrassment began to grow, when all of a sudden, things took an unexpected turn. ‘Me too!’ was his refrain!

I was surprised, but then felt a surge of encouragement. This was meant to be!

Eventually, we found the Christian group at their table. A second surprise (There was also to be a third surprise) was that the student manning it was also a Chemistry student like myself, but in the third year. He gladly signed us up and told us about their activities.

After this I was still hesitant to attend the Christian Union meetings, particularly as I was living far away from the university and their main meeting was in the evening. However, one day someone gave me a flyer for a lunchtime Bible study. I decided to go.

When I arrived at the meeting, there was a group of students already waiting outside. I was struck by their desire to study the Bible. Over the course of a number of meetings, the way these students took the Bible seriously, really spoke to me.

Gradually, I started going to other meetings. It took some courage, but slowly, I started going to more and more. Eventually, in my final year at university, I attended a Christianity explored course. Here there were six meetings. Each one involved a short talk based on a passage from Mark’s gospel and then a discussion time in a small group.

At the final meeting, there was a difficult moment as the usual room was booked. We had to go searching through the university to find an alternative. Once settled into the tight wooden benched lecture theatre the speaker began. This lesson was a little different as it mainly centred around a presentation of the Christian Good News.  Although I had heard aspects of this message before, this was the first time I had heard it so well and thoroughly presented. Suddenly, everything was clear.

As I listened to the words that were being spoken, I began to understand many things about myself and the way the world was. I also realised that God’s solution was to trust in Jesus Christ. I accepted this message and it began to guide me through my life.

I had wanted to remain at the university and study further. However, I felt like this wasn’t God’s plan for me. Thus, via the church I had started going to, I found out about an opportunity to get involved in student ministry with IFES, something which I did and eventually led me to Moldova!

During this final year at university, I got to know a little bit some of the others from the Christian Union. One day I entered into conversation with one of the guys and told me that he had been helping on the Christian Union table in my first fateful year, when I inadvertently missed them. I learned from him the reason why.

That year, there had been so many student societies and clubs, that some of them had to set up their tables outside. However, it had begun to rain and so they moved under the famous UCL archway. When I had exited the Fresher’s Fair, I was aware that something was going on outside, but also felt the rain and was already decided that I had done my bit, so headed off without exploring further. Thus, I missed the Christians!

However, God didn’t abandon me and found a way to eventually bring me back to where He wanted me to be!

Student Ministry in Moldova Summary

Moldova

The concept of student ministry has been around for a long time. Some use the example of Daniel and his three friends in exile in Babylon as an example of the first Christian student group.

The first chapter of the book of Daniel tells us that these four young men were to be trained along with other fine young men who had been taken captive from Israel in the language and literature of Babylon. This was obviously a challenging situation for these Jewish youngest as the Babylonian way of doing things didn’t necessarily match up to God’s law. Thus, Daniel boldly asks permission to not defile himself with Babylon food and wine and the first student fellowship is formed as Daniel and his friends are tested by the royal guard, eating only vegetables and drinking water.

Over the centuries not much is not known about Christian student fellowships until more recent times. From the later part of the 1800’s there is information that suggests God was starting to stir the beginnings of what would eventually become worldwide student ministry under the banner of IFES (the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students). A prominent example is the CICCU Student Christian Union at Cambridge university.

CICCU was officially formed in 1877. It was a group of Christian students at Cambridge university who desired to make Jesus known to their student friends. Not to be out done, OICCU (the Oxford version) was founded soon after in 1879. Gradually, a number of such Christian student groups began popping up throughout Great Britain and even the world!

The British Christian student unions eventually formed a national organisation to help unite and coordinate them all. Today this is called ‘UCCF’ (the Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship). In 1947, representatives from ten such national Christian student movements came together in Boston, USA where they decided to form an international organisation to help link all these national movements. This was the beginnings of IFES.

The work of IFES was not just to help and oversee already existing Christian student movements, but also to pioneer new ones. During the days of the Soviet Union this was hard in the individual states that made up the Union, but after its fall, IFES style student ministry began propagating throughout these countries.

In Moldova throughout the 90’s student contacts began to be formed by visiting missionaries until by the end of the decade there was already effective ministry taking place and a leadership structure formed consisting of both Moldovans and international volunteers. By 2004, CSC (Community of Christian Students) as it was called, became officially registered. After this the ministry spread and became established also in the Northern City of Bălți. This resulted in two student ministries, one in Chișinău, the capital city, and the other in Balti, the second city of Moldova, which function even until this day.

The aim of the two CSC groups, as in any ministries one would hope, is to do evangelism and discipleship, with the IFES specific of this being concentrated on students. There are a number of means that are used to try and obtain these goals, which will be presented shortly. Before that it is worth mentioning that something that probably makes the CSC groups different to other similar ministries is that the emphasis is on student leadership. After all who is better placed to reach other students than students themselves. Thus, the intention is that each CSC group will be led by a group of Christian students with the help and guidance of a more experienced staff worker.

In Bălți, here are some of the ways we are trying to achieve the aim of doing discipleship and evangelism:

Socrates Club

Over the past couple of years, one of the most popular events in our student ministry has been the Socrates club. This is a monthly evening where 4 speakers (often but not always students) share a topic for 15 minutes and then answer questions on it.

The most recent Socrates club was attended by 41 people and there were talks on ‘the principles of love’ and ‘everyday Metaphysics’ sandwiching a presentation of our CSC activities and a talk on the difference between grace and legalism. Some photos here!

Bible and Life conference

The conference is based on different levels of training. The first presents the basics of the Christian life, the second is on the topic of preparing and leading manuscript Bible studies and the third level is about discipleship. An encouragement for us is that we have five people from Balti have completed level three and so we now have five members of our student group who have been through all three levels of training! Next semester, we will have to do for the first time ever in Moldova level four or get them involved in helping run the seminars of the other levels! Here are some photos

Rethink! Mission Week

The main evangelistic event each year is to organise a mission week for students during the autumn term. Here is some info about the most recent one last November:

After much planning, the event finally arrived in early November. The first evening (4th November) took place at our office and was a preparation time for Christian students and other helpers who were taking part in the event. Then, from 5th to 7th November, each day we went out to start inviting students to come to the evening talks, which were held in the festivities room of a local and well-known hotel. We invited students by giving out flyers and attracting their attention by playing songs on the guitar. One group had a particularly interesting experience as the director of the educational institute that they were visiting called them into his office. Initially, he was very angry, and they thought that he was going to call the police. However, after they explained that they had come to tell people about Jesus and invite them to an evening event, he all of a sudden, and almost miraculously, changed and said that they could go around all the classes taking place and give out flyers!

We had three evening talks, each on a different subject: Why does suffering exist? / Was Darwin right? / and what is the secret of happiness? We had planned for 80 people to come and were nervous that there would be nowhere near that number. But actually, on the first evening there were nearly one hundred people. On the second, over a hundred and on the final evening around 150! Of these, 86 people left their contact details and on the last evening, 26 indicated that they had prayed together with Slavko Hadzic, the speaker. There is a video of one of the days here and some photos from day two here

We also have other regular activities such as English club, Bible studies, Kino Klub and special events!

Challenges

Sometimes in life we are confronted with challenging circumstances.

One time in Romania I was at a Bible class. The teacher was American and the person translating approached me during the break to inform me that he needed to go somewhere and asked me, being an English speaker, if I would translate after the break. I was reluctant, not having experience and also even in English I didn’t know well all the names of the different Kings and other characters that were being mentioned as we were going through one of the books of Kings in the Old Testament. However, I didn’t really have an alternative solution to suggest. The break finished and we all gathered for the next lesson. The translator began, but after a few minutes his telephone rang. He glanced at it, then got his things together, motioned to me to come forward and then left. Talk about being thrown in the deep end. I had no choice to go forward and begin my career as a translator!

Life often puts us in difficult situations. Difficulties are of course relevant and maybe my predicament above was small fry compared to what some face. Financial hardships, sickness, violence, injustice and much more attack people everyday. One of the great things about the Bible is that it is a very realistic book and presents openly all the difficulties and struggles that different people went through. One person who most certainly was confronted with a challenging situation was Joshua.

We first read about him in the book of Numbers. We find out here that he is very faithful to God, for example in chapter 14 he together with Caleb tries to plead with the people when they want to rebel against God and go back to Egypt instead of entering the promised land. The fact that Joshua was one of the spies who went to check out the land of Canaan also testifies to the fact that he was one of the leaders of Israel. There are also passages where we see that Joshua was the assistant of Moses and chosen to succeed him (Numbers 27:18-21).

By the time we get to Joshua 1, we see that Moses is already gone and now Joshua has to fully take on his mantle. This is in and of itself a tough task. There were well over a million people to lead, enough to keep anyone busy. More than this though, Joshua is told here to lead these people into the promised land of Canaan, which would have been fine, except for the fact that there were some very well developed and aggressive peoples already living there, who weren’t just going to happily lie down and let the Israelites come and take over.

This is why we read a number of words of encouragement in this chapter. Joshua could well have been feeling daunted by what lay before him and so God offers some words of solace. Verses 6, 7 and 9 repeat the idea of being strong and courageous. This is however not just a sort of chin up, everything will be alright encouragement like what we often offer to people today, when we don’t really know what to say. Here we see that there is some real meat to these words.

In verse 5, God says that he will be with Joshua. This is a great promise because it was God’s presence that helped Moses through his tasks and so now Joshua is encouraged that God will be there to help him too. The presence of God is an important theme running throughout the Bible. Adam and Eve lost their place with God in the garden of Eden. Cain then loses God’s presence in Genesis 4:14 as a result of murdering Abel. As the story unfolds, we see though God restoring his presence among people, first of all establishing the tent of meeting and then the temple. In the New Testament he dwells among people in the form of Jesus and finally the Holy Spirit is given so that He now actually dwells within the believer. In any case, it is a great and vital thing to have God’s presence with you.

Joshua is also given an instruction as to how to be successful in his task. We see this in Joshua 1:7 and 8. He is told to obey carefully everything written in the law of Moses and in order to help him do that, it is important for him to meditate on it day and night. In other words, the secret of success is to keep as close as possible to God’s word and to obey it.

Joshua shows his willingness to obey God straight away. He doesn’t hesitate or remonstrate with God, but rather he sends out the officers of the people to tell them to get ready for going into the promised land. They obey on the condition in verse 17 that the Lord will be with Joshua as He was with Moses, and they even threaten with death any who don’t obey Joshua’s word. Thus, we see that Joshua’s initial acceptance of God’s word to him as had a positive result.

I heard an interesting example of a student group in Serbia. They decided that they wanted to organise a mission week. In Serbia it is very popular for people to go to Cafes and spend their time there. So, the group had the idea of hiring out a cafe for their evangelistic meetings. There was a problem though to find a suitable one. Serbian culture is generally closed to evangelical Christians and over four years they tried 10 different cafes, but each time there were problems. Often, they were rejected, but also staff were unfriendly, some were too small or otherwise unsuitable.

One day the group leader was walking past a cafe on the site of the university. He decided to try it. He explained to the manager that they were a Christian group and wanted to organise evangelical meetings. To his surprise, the manager agreed without problem. So surprised was he that he reiterated the situation to make sure the manager had understood. Not only did they want to talk about Jesus, but they also didn’t have much money to pay for the meetings. The manager still agreed!

For this group, it was a challenging task to organise these missions. It took four years and a number of difficult situations, but eventually God led them to an excellent venue, right on campus, and even opened up the way to using it, in spite of potential problems.

Ultimately then, God can and does work for good even in the challenges we and others around us face!

True Love

Once on a very cold February night, I was walking back to my flat from the CSC student office. In front of me, I saw a man swaying from side to side as he crossed the road. In England it’s usually drivers whose cars sway from side to side who are drunk, whereas they joke that in Moldova it’s those who drive straight who are drunk (if you see the roads here, you’ll understand). In any case, this was definitely an English swaying.

Eventually the man approached the other side of the road but collapsed before making the pavement. I was tempted to look the other way and carry on, but it was a cold night and the man was lying in the roadside. I reluctantly crossed over to try and help. Fortunately, he managed to get up and I helped him on to the pavement. He started to move on his way, but quickly grabbed a lamp post so as not to fall over. He then just stood there clutching the lamppost swaying about.

I tried to talk to him, but he just kept saying to me ‘Italiano’. My Italiano is not too belissimo so it didn’t make for much of a conversation. Wondering what to do, I called a friend from church who advised me to call an ambulance, which I did. I explained the situation to the lady at the ‘skoro pomochi (emergency help) centre. She asked me whether the man was going to still be there as it would be 20 minutes before an ambulance came. He didn’t look like he was going anywhere in a hurry, so I said it would. Then we waited.

I tried to tell the man a little about God, but not in Italiano so it didn’t make for much of a discussion. After about 15 minutes all of a sudden, the man built up a burst of energy, let go of the lamppost and headed off down the road. This was a problem because I had promised the lady on the phone that the man would still be here when the ambulance arrived. I thought about going after him and informing that he had to wait for said ambulance, but then I thought it was better to let him get on his way. Besides, I had had enough Italiano for one evening.

So, the man disappeared off and not knowing what to do, so did I. Except that after taking a few paces all of a sudden, an ambulance pulled over and said that they were looking for someone who had called. I was a bit nervous, knowing that he in England you can get in trouble for a false 999 call. However, as the ambulance door opened, I noticed the driver was someone I knew from church. Also, when I said that the drunk man had left they seemed more pleased than annoyed, closed the door and drove off.

In the Bible Jesus tells in Luke 10:30-35 the story of a man who needs help, although on this occasion not through any fault of his own. He is a man travelling from Jerusalem to Jericho. On the way he unfortunately falls into the hands of robbers who beat him and take what they can.

Two people pass by on the same road, one after the other. Both see him, but, like I was tempted to do in the above example, pass by on the other side of the road. This is not what you would expect as the first was a priest, the people who brought the sacrifices to God at the Jewish temple, so in other words, important and well-respected people in the Jewish religion. The second was a Levite who were helpers in the temple, so once again people with a good position in the Jewish religion. Despite their religious status neither did anything to help the fallen man.

After this, a third person passes by. This time a Samaritan. Jesus was a Jew and in the occasion when he told this story, he was speaking to an expert in Jewish law. The Jews looked down on Samaritan’s becuase they considered them to have mixed the Jewish religion with other faiths. In 2 Kings 17 the story of how this happened is told. Due to the fact that the people in Israel hadn’t been obeying God, he allowed the Assyrian King to conquer them and take them into exile. In Samaria, a large area of land in Israel, he sent other people’s to live in the place of the Israelites. These people also didn’t worship the Lord, so He sent lions among them. As a result the Asdyrian King sent a Jewish priest back to teach them how to worship the Lord. However, they only started half heartedly worship the Lord, keeping many of their former, pagan religious practises. Over the yeats them a Samaritan religion developed that was based on the Jewslish religion but that wasn’t pure. For this reason, the Jews looked down on Samaritans. They even considered them enemies.

So, getting back to the story, a Samaritan was the last person that a Jewish audience would have expected to help the fallen man, especially as the man was travelling beteeen Jerusalem and Jericho, so was probably a Jew himself. But, surprise, surprise, the Samaritan stops, assists the man in need  and even puts him on his donkey, and takes him to an inn where he can rest and recover.

Jesus tells this parable as a response to a teacher of the law asking him who is our neighbour that, according to Leviticus 18:19, we are supposed to love as ourselves. Thus, it seems like here Jesus is illustrating what it means to love your neighbour.

When I think of the word neighbour, a certain Australian Television show often comes to mine and when we think of love in today’s society, we tend to concentrate just on the emotional side of things as emphasised by, for example, the aforementioned televison programme, which generally seems to be about the feelings people in one particular street have for one another.

However, I once heard a wise preacher give an interpretation to this parable that I have never forgotten. In the story, we see three different types of people, with three different attitudes to the traveller.

Firstly, there are the robbers. Their attitude to the man is ”What’s yours is mine, if I can take it”. They beat the man and take by force what they want from him. It’s not too hard to see that rather than love, this is simply taking advantage of someone weaker.

Secondly, there are the religious people; the priest and the Levite. Their approach is ”What’s mine is mine, if I can keep it”. In other words, instead of sacrificing what they have to help the needy man, they cross over the road and keep what they’ve got. To help the man would have cost them something, and the are obviously not keen on that. Again, not a good example of love.

Finally, there is the enemy, the Samaritan. He takes the position ”What’s mine is your, if I can give it to you”. He stops and gives up time, energy and resources to bandage the man’s wounds, put the man on his donkey and taking him to an inn, where he can rest. There he also pays money so the man can be looked after. And he does all this, even though he was someone who others looked down on and could even have considered an enemy.

Thus, we understand from this parable that love is sacrificial. It means giving of what we have for the good of others, even if it costs us something, even if we don’t receive anything in return and even if we don’t like those who are in need.

Jesus finishes with a challenge, ”Go and do likewise”, which raises the question how can we love others in this way. The answer we discover reading the rest of the Bible, where we see that this is exactly what God did for us in the person of Jesus, who sacrificed what He had for our good, even though He didn;t have anything to benefit personally and we humans were His enemies because of our rebellion before God. Indeed, it was humans who Jesus was actually helping by showing them the right way to live, who decided to have Jesus killed. This sacrificial love is what is known as agape love.

In conclusion, how can we show this sort of love to others? It’s very hard as my example at the beginning illustrates. However, it is possible because Jesus has already shown us such a love and as it says in 1 John 4:19 for example, if we have experienced this love in our lives then we are able, and indeed should, show such a love to those around us. It’s not easy and sometimes we will fail, however it is possible, if we truely know Him.

Vegan Cheese Substitutes

Veganism is the practice of not eating any animal related products. It can be taken a step further and include not using any products, which contain material taken from animals. This is something more than standard vegetarianism, which is generally just not eating meat. Indeed, the term vegan was born in 1944 when some members of the Vegetarian Society in Great Britain decided to give up dairy products as well and formed the word ‘vegan’ by abbreviating ‘vegetarian’, in order to refer to their new approach to eating.

There are a number of reasons why people adopt veganism. One of the main ones is due to the potential health benefits of consuming a natural, low-fat diet based on plant products. There could be other reasons, such as in the case of people who react badly to certain animal-based products (for example lactose found in milk) and so need to avoid eating them. Some people want to fight against cruelty to animals, to promote a green lifestyle, or simply belong to a religious group that believes in veganism.

Whatever the reasons for veganism, one thing’s for sure and that’s that it’s on the rise! Statistics show that many countries in the world have at least a small percent of the population who are vegan. In Great Britain for example, the number of vegans has grown from 150,000 in 2006 to 542,000 in 2016.

Obviously, if someone converts to a vegan diet it will mean giving up a lot of the foods that they enjoy and are used to eating. However, these days, due to the popularity of veganism there exist many plants based alternative foods that people can include in their diets. Following on, we are going to look at just one example, that of a vegan substitute for Parmesan cheese.

Parmesan, the king of cheese toppings

Parmesan is a cheese well-known for its use in grated form as a topping for many dishes in order to add flavor. The authentic Italian version of Parmesan cheese is called, ‘Parmigiano-Reggiano‘. This is a hard cheese, which has been produced for hundreds of years in certain regions of Italy. Its hardest and crystalline texture combined with strong pleasant taste is what makes it is ideal for grating and adding to dishes as a flavoring.

Buying original Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese produced in Italy can be expensive due to a number of reasons; it can only be produced by manufacturers in certain regions of Italy; it undergoes a traditional, well-controlled manufacturing process and finally, once made has to be shipped out all over the world for sale. As a result of this, a number of cheaper alternative Parmigiano-Reggiano style cheese exist, which are cheaper and generically known as Parmesan cheese.

Unfortunately for vegans, both Parmigiano-Reggiano and these other Parmesan cheeses are all off limits as they are made using cows’ milk. However, the good news is that a number of plant-based alternative Parmesan cheeses exist.

Soybeans to the rescue.

Soybeans were cultivated in East Asia long before records even began and gradually over the centuries their cultivation has spread throughout the world. Initially, their use was more for practical purposes, such as in crop rotation due to the fact that the soybean plants helped renitrogenese soil. Also, they were used in animal feed. Gradually though, people been to discover and appreciate their many other uses as a food substance.

Soybeans are an excellent source of protein and can be used as a meat substitute due to the fact that they contain a good spread of proteins, such that by consuming them someone obtains the proteins they need without having to worry too much about eating other foods. For this reason, they are a good option for vegans who are in danger of lacking proteins in their diet as a result of not eating meat or dairy products.

By boiling soybeans and then filtering the product soy milk can be produced. Yogurt or a yogurt starter can then be added to this milk, which after being left to stand in a warm place, will start to separate into liquid and solid, mimicking the process of curdling cheese. The curd produced can be used just like any other cheese, giving rise to, amongst other things, the possibility of Parmesan cheese suitable for vegans.

Almonds, a nutty alternative

As well as beans such as soy, nuts are also a good source of protein for vegans. This is good news for vegan cheese lovers as nuts can be very easily blended into a cheese-like food that can be used in many ways.

In the case of almonds, they are simply blanched (that is to say boiled briefly in water and then cooled and the skin removed), and then blended in a blender with nutritional yeast, salt, and garlic powder until a fine powder is formed. This can then be stored and used to sprinkle on food as an excellent alternative to Parmesan cheese.

Cashews, a nutty alternative to the nutty alternative

The above mentioned Parmesan cheese using almonds can just as easily be made using cashew nuts. The method and ingredients are identical except that cashews replace the almonds and so the process is slightly simpler as the cashews don’t need to be blanched. It is even possible to use a mixture of blanched almonds and cashews to produce a nut combination Parmesan.

No need for vegans to miss out

As we have seen, it is quite possible for vegans to enjoy the taste of Parmesan cheese on pasta, pizzas and the like. There are a number of commercial products available that imitate well Parmesan cheese, but use plant-based ingredients such as soybean, almonds or cashews. Those of us, who for whatever reason are following a vegan diet can try out some of these commercial products to see which one is most to their liking. But, as these vegan substitute Parmesan cheese are so easy to make, it’s also worth trying to make your own at home. By experimenting you can come up with your perfect combination and never have to miss out on that Parmesan cheese goodness again!

Feel free to leave below any experiences or suggestions you have regarding alternative Parmesans.

Names of Italian Cheeses – A Linguistic Feast!

Even to those of us who aren’t fans of Italian food, the names of Italian Cheeses (at least a few of them!) are probably familiar. Mozzarella, Gorgonzola, and Parmesan are famous Italian cheeses, known by many people throughout the world. However, these three are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of Italian cheeses. Italy is the fourth largest cheese producing country in the world and there are estimates that Italy actually has over 450 varieties of cheese.

In this article, we will see very briefly the origins of cheese production in Italy followed by some examples of Italian cheeses belonging to different categories of cheese. 

Where it all began

Nobody actually knows where or when cheese production began. Milk was almost certainly consumed many thousands of years ago, ever since humans started domesticating animals. In the Biblical book of Genesis, for example, Abel, one of the first humans to have ever lived, is reported to have offered some of his flock as sacrifices to God.

Basic cheese is made by curdling milk using enzymes from animals’ stomachs. Animals’ stomachs themselves were used as storage and transportation containers for animal products. So more than likely, at some point in history people realized that milk being contained in animals’ stomachs was starting to turn into cheese.

Over time cheese production developed. People began to devise methods to extract rennet (the enzyme-containing substance in animal stomachs that curdles milk) and use it to make cheese. Gradually, different types of cheese were produced using variations on the basic method. As time went by people also discovered that by allowing the cheese to mature in different ways, also resulted in different types of cheese.

In any case, there are different ideas and claims about the origin and early development of cheese, but one thing is for sure, that by the time of the Roman Empire, cheese making was a well-spread art!

Roman Cheese Spread

Obviously, due to its size and high level of civilization the Roman Empire had many lasting effects on human society. Cheese was a popular food during Roman times and as a result, its consumption spread to many places, which had been conquered by the Romans and where previously cheese making was not so well-developed.

More so than this, cheese being a popular Roman food led to the discovery throughout Italy of many techniques that could be used to produce all sorts of different cheeses. Over the centuries these cheese making processes have been refined and added to, resulting in the modern-day diversity of types of cheeses available in Italy.

It’s all in a name

Classification of cheeses is a difficult business. One method used is based on the firmness of the cheese. In this case, soft cheeses refers to those that haven’t undergone a maturing process. The most famous example of this in terms of Italian cheese is mozzarella. This cheese is literally the product of the basic cheese making process and this is reflected in its name, which means ‘little cut’, as in a little cut off the curdled milk.

A variation on mozzarella is burrata. This is another Italian soft cheese, made in exactly the same way as mozzarella, except that it is filled with butter or cream. This then explains the name as in Italian burrata means ‘buttered’.

A final cheese worth mentioning in this category is Bocconcini. This cheese is in essence simply small balls of mozzarella. In Italian, its name simply means ‘small mouthfuls’. 

Moving on up the scale

The problem with the firmness scale as a measure for categorizing cheese is that firmness is a very subjective quality. There’s an obvious difference between something that is soft and hard. But in between, it’s hard to say if something is harder or softer. This in preciseness means that it is debatable where different cheeses go in the classification and different terms such as semi-soft, medium-hard, semi-hard are employed.

In any case, a cheese which is most certainly harder than mozzarella, but not hard compared to some other cheeses, is Gorgonzola. It is an Italian blue cheese, which means that it is matured in such a way as to allow mold to develop, thus giving the cheese a blue element to its color and a very distinctive flavor. The name Gorgonzola comes from a town near Milan, which claims to be the origin of this cheese.

Finally, we reach the hard cheese category, the king of which is Parmigiano-Reggiano. Quite possible you have never heard of this cheese, but actually, you probably have, just under a different name. Parmigiano-Reggiano is the true name for Parmesan cheese. In fact, according to European Law, the name Parmesan can only be used to describe Parmigiano-Reggiano, whereas in other parts of the world Parmesan is often the name for various different cheese that are approximations of Parmigiano-Reggiano. This is a very hard cheese, so much so that although it can be eaten on its own, it is usually added to pasta, soups or salads by grating. It has a strong flavor, so is a seasoning for these other foods. The name refers to Parma and Reggio Emilia, which are the two main areas of Italy in which it is produced.

Only the beginning

In this article, we have seen a little about the origins of cheese in Italy and we have very briefly become acquainted with a few of the most famous names in Italian cheese. There really are many more Italian cheeses, which we can discuss on another occasion. Just to mention a few in passing to whet your appetite before we close though:

Asiago, a semi-hard cheese, which is good for grating in its aged form and in sandwiches when fresh.

Caciocavallo is a medium-soft cheese produced in a manner similar to mozzarella except that the cheese is formed into balls and tied in twos after production. These pairs are then hung to dry and mature. This is possibly the origin of the name which translates as “horse cheese”, as the cheeses are saddled up and left to age. The cheese itself has a sharp taste.

Provolone is another cheese produced using the same method as mozzarella, except that the final product is semi-hard due to the cheese being left to age. For provolone dolce (sweet provolone) the aging process is two to three months and for provolone piccante (sharp or spicy provolone) the process is at least four months. This cheese has a claim to fame as it is the cheese used in the USA in Philadelphia Cheesesteak sandwiches.

Liverpool vs Wolves: Life Lessons from VAR

Human beings are funny old creatures. In the past, when watching football highlights, there always used to be lots of debates. He was offside! No, he wasn’t. Yes, he was. Or Look at that! The ref has made a blatant mistake. They were robbed!

So, after many years of such arguing and with the development of technology, a natural and logical solution to the problem arose, ‘Why don’t we just use video technology to correct the mistakes?’

It seems to make sense. A lot of the controversy is a result of the fact that so many matches are televised and the people analysing them have access to all sorts of video replays. So, why not give the people officiating access to said replays when they are judging so that they can make the right decisions?

A Tale of Two Goals

Well, in yesterday’s Liverpool vs Wolves match, there were two interesting incidents. Firstly, the ball was played forward and it looked like it bounced off the attacker’s arm into the path of a second attacker who scored. Not only that, but the defender who played the ball forward also appeared to touch it as he got it under control. However, using video replays someone was able to check and come to the conclusion that in the second case the ball came off the shoulder and in the first it was inconclusive and so didn’t merit being penalised. Maybe these were the right decisions although with regard to the goal it could be considered unfair as there were suggestions that the whistle had been blown and so the defensive players eased up, thinking that a free kick was going to be given (debatable though, as some of them at least continued playing).

A few minutes later, Wolves went into attack and scored an equaliser to make up for this first incident. Or so they thought! The equaliser preceded to be ruled put for offside. On the video replay, it could have only been offside by a fractional margin, so called millimetres as it were! It seemed harsh, especially considering what had happened moments earlier when a goal had been given because there was no conclusive evidence against it.

Expert Analysis

The interesting aspect to all this was that during the highlights programme, the football pundits spent their time debating the ins and outs of all this. Thus, technology was introduced to stop all the debating and arguing about different decisions, but all it has done has been to transfer the debating and arguing from one subject to another. Instead, of discussing the rights and wrongs of the referee’s decisions, the experts spend their time bemoaning technological mishaps and controversies.

It would seem that this says something about human nature. Decisions in something like football, which is fast paced and not clear cut, are always going to be subjective. There are some things that are obvious such as a direct elbow to the face or a man being a yard offside but what about when two men are practically level? It’s then just down to camera angle and the straightness of computer drawn lines. Likewise, many fouls are open to interpretation so it doesn’t necessarily help seeing it 10 times from 20 angles as it’s a matter of opinion. Did he catch him or not? Was it intentional?

In other words, somethings are down to how we interpret the situation, something that is never unbiased because we are all influenced by the circumstances around us, or indeed in us, so surely it’s better to let the referee make his mind up and just go with that. Indeed, in many situations our first, instinctive decision is often best (how many students have regretted changing their original answer to an exam question!). In any case, human beings are fallible creatures and so, even with video technology, mistakes can be made.

Anyone up for a good argument?

There is another aspect to this. It would seem that it’s human nature to  criticize and be negative. This whole VAR situation arose because in the past many refereeing decisions were taken to task for being wrong. But we could have just been positive and accepted that mistakes happen because that’s human nature and accepted them. Trying to use technology to eradicate mistakes isn’t going to happen because it is ignoring the source of them.

The mistakes are not simply a result of the fact that the referee hasn’t seen something clearly but rather there are many complicated factors, not all of which can be avoided by watching video replays.

Play to the Whistle

Beyond the debate about the strengths and weaknesses of the VAR system, there is another lesson to be learned from this particular match. Wolves, the team seemingly wronged by the VAR decisions in the first half, could have let their heads go down and give up due to frustration. However, they didn’t. Indeed, based on the highlights, they were the better team in the second half and came closed to scoring. Liverpool didn’t have any good second half chances and the match could easily have been a draw.

So, here we learn that in life, even when some thing doesn’t go your way, it’s not a good idea to just give up. If we keep going, we still have a chance and actually some times, things can work out better than expected!

Good News

Aurelius reclined on his triclinium. It had been a hard day at the agora. He hadn’t managed to sell much casus. He wasn’t sure why, although that was just the way it seemed to be. Maybe it was to do with the weather or, as some would have you believe, the whim of the gods, but in any case, those Sestertii were hard to come by. He was hoping to save up for a new villa, but he had a long way to go. He had been working on a new line of hard caseus, using skimmed milk and various herbs brought from distant lands. He hoped that this healthy, exotic line might go down well.

Just as he was beginning to dream. The door to his domum burst open and in rushed a sturdily built fellow. Without a word he grabbed Aurelius and began dragging him outside. Aurelius attempted to protest and resist his abduction but it was in vane. His assailant was far stronger than he.

Aurelius was man handled, rapidly without explanation, until he had been brought through the domum’s courtyard and out the front porta. Here, he was released, collapsing to the floor from exacerbation.

Somewhat dazed, Aurelius raised himself to his feet with the intention of legging it to safety. He was most exceedingly annoyed by the experience and would have lashed out at the man, had it not been for his size.

Strangely, the man had backed off. Aurelius thought about daring to give him some verbal abuse, but thought better of it and turned to run. However, as he span around, his eye was caught by an unexpected sight. There was smoke rising from the neighbours condominium and the wall which adjoined Aurelius’ was being consumed in flames.

Ipso facto thought Aurelius. His neighbour’s domum was on fire and it was threatening to spread to his own residency. He realised that the man who had dragged him from his sweet thoughts, rather than being an attacker, was actually a saviour who had sacrificed himself in order to rescue Aurelius from an impending danger. Aurelius was suddenly filled with a joyous maximus!

In life there are many contrasts. For example white and black. Black writing looks good on a white background as does white on black. However, black writing on a dark grey background is hard to read. In other words, the darkness of the one, is made clearer by the lightness of the other.

Christianity is often referred to as the Good News. Indeed, this is the origin of the word gospel. In ancient times, long before the internet, news had to be delivered by heralds who travelled all over the empire and announced it in the public squares. Their messages were known as Euangelion in Greek, literally good news. This term Euangelion came to be used for the Christian message, such as can be seen in the first verse of Mark’s gospel. The old English translation of Euangelion was ‘Godspel’, which eventually became gospel. Remnants of the word Euangelion can also still be seen in the English language in the word evangelical.

In order to fully understand and appreciate good news, it needs to be seen in contrast with the alternative. The news that someone is getting married is good news because two people, instead of continuing to live their lives in singleness, will now be forming a family, which is often seen as a superior way to live. However, this good news is tapered by the fact that singleness is not so bad (well, that depends on your point view!).

In another scenario, if someone has a bad illness, but then finds out that they have been cured, this can really be considered good news as the alternative would have been sickness, suffering and maybe even death.

Thus, to be able to fully understand why the Christian message is good news, we need to understand the alternative.

In Genesis 3 we see that although humans were created in a good world and had a perfect relationship with God, a tempting factor manifests itself in the form of the serpent. This serpent manages to convince Eve to go against God’s command of not eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

The consequences can be seen in the ensuing verses as the humans feel shame, hide from God and start passing the blame. Moreover, God gives punishments. The woman receives pain in child birth and the man has to toil hard to make a living from the soil. The ultimate punishment though is banishment from the garden of Eden. Paradise lost as it were. This is the bad news.

The good news can however also be seen in this passage. Firstly, God does not abandon the people He has created, indeed it is He who goes looking for them and calls out, ‘Where are you?’.

Next, in verse 15 there is a famous prophecy. In the middle of God giving out the just punishments, we see that there is even here a beacon of hope. A promise is made that although the serpent will strike the seed of the woman, he will ultimately crush the serpent’s head. This is seen as a reference to Jesus, who after being born from a woman is crucified and killed, thus is struck by the serpent, but eventually rises to life after three days and so defeats death. This death has been caused by the serpent, whose head is crushed so to speak by Jesus’ victory!

 Finally, towards the end of the chapter in verse 21, there is an important detail that could easily be missed. God is said to have clothed the humans with skin. In this way, he covers over their nakedness with something better than the leaves that the humans had managed to rustle up. This skin must have come from the sacrifice of animals, so here we have a picture of the gospel. That in spite of humans disobedience to God He was prepared to make a sacrifice in order to cover their shame.

Of course, if we think that we are alright, this won’t seem like such a big deal. But if we understand that the fig leaves we are all naturally trying to use are not doing a very good job of obscuring our nakedness, we will be infinitely grateful to receive the gift of skin from God, bought by sacrifice, which truly does the job of covering up all that we have to be ashamed of and thus freeing us to live life to the full!

Rejection

Ben felt his heart pound as he moved swiftly along. The reason for the pounding was twofold.

 There was the obvious breathlessness caused by physical effort. He was in a hurry to not be late for his meeting. However, there was something more. The said meeting could be described as a rendezvous and thus Ben, like any romantic hopeful, was nervous. What would he say exactly? More importantly, what would she say?

Ben was starting to feel decidedly tired, so he began to slow his pace. He was not used to such moments as these and so had misjudged his preparation time. He usually spent just a few moments readying himself before debarking into the world, but this time various different thoughts had plagued him. Was his hair combed okay? Had he forgotten anything? Was this even a good idea? This was topped by the present which he had already lovingly prepared, but he constantly felt the need to check on it and the accompanying letter, debating in his mind possible improvements.

At last, his destination was in sight. The agreed meeting point was in the central courtyard of the university, a fitting choice as it was during years doing student ministry that they had met and got to know one another. Ben turn a sharp right turn and entered the university campus via a back entrance. This wasn’t because he was worried about being seen, the campus was open throughway for all and sundry, but it was just the most convenient option and after all, he had no time to spare.

Glancing at his timepiece, he observed that he was right on time, 5.30 p.m. on the dot! Relieved, he quickly made his way through the campus to the middle, where there was a fountain surrounded by benches. As he approached it, he scanned around to see if the young lady that he had arranged to meet was there. She wasn’t. Resigning himself to one of life’s constants, he seated himself down on a bench to wait.

Fortunately, he didn’t have to wait long, which was good because the butterflies were churning.  From his vantage point, he could clearly see all the way to the main entrance of the university and after a while, he observed the shadowy figure of someone entering through the open gate and heading in his direction. He began to get his hopes up, in spite of previous experiences, and sure enough the figure had set a collision course towards him. It certainly looked like it was her and as she came closer the doubt melted away. It was her!

Ben felt a certain relaxation of tensions inside of him as the first two obstacles had been overcome; both he and she had made it. However, the most challenging part lay ahead.

Ben was a great one for small talk, especially when he was nervous, but Andriana obviously preferred the direct approach. ‘So, what’s this all about?’ was her cut to the chase question, without the usual pleasantries.

Ben was slightly taken aback. He had exchanged a number messages with her over a longish period of time, before mustering the courage to tell her that he had a present to give her. She had reacted with surprise and began questioning him via the internet. Ben was more of a face-to-face kind of person, so hadn’t known what to respond. Eventually though, Andriana had realised that Ben was angling for a meeting and so here they were.

‘Well..’ began Ben hesitantly, his plans already being derailed. He had written everything he had wanted to say in his letter, thinking that better as he could easily put his foot in it when speaking freely. He planned a short speech in order to offer the present with letter to Andriana and then was expecting that she would obediently take it, go away, read the letter, and then give a reply. ‘I, err, just wanted to give you this.’ He started to open his bag to get the present out, but she recalled.

‘For what reason a present?’

Ben realised this was going to be a lot trickier than he had anticipated.

‘I was thinking that I quite like talking to you and I thought that maybe we could get to know each other better.’ Andriana stared and Ben began reflecting on whether he had more dug himself out of or into a hole.

‘I mean to say that maybe we could keep communicating to see what God’s plan is for us?’ Ben said, reiterating his intentions, hoping that different words might produce a different respone. Andriana stared.

A brief, but not uncomfortable, silence followed. Ben thought about how he could have said things better and if he had been clearly understood. It was unclear to Ben what Andriana was thinking about, but it didn’t take long for her to verbalise her thoughts.

‘I hadn’t ever thought about that. It’s nice when someone asks you how you are and shows a genuine interest in you.’ She paused and then continued. ‘How old are you?’

This seemed like an unfortunate interjection at this stage. Ben mumbled a response, hoping that it wouldn’t put her off.

‘Okay, I’ll have to think about and it and get advice. How long have I got to give you an answer?’

Ben hadn’t thought about this and so didn’t know what to say. He mumbled again. Nevertheless, they somehow managed to agree on a timeframe of as long as you need, but not too long!

Ben didn’t know quite how to conclude things. He made a second attempt to offer his present, but the negative reaction, which included the word ‘Why’, caused him to abandon the idea. It seemed alright to offer to pray, so he did and this offer was accepted. After a few brief words of thanks for Andriana and a request for wisdom and guidance for her, they said their goodbyes. They then set off, ironically in the same direction, thus after exiting the university gate, they said goodbye again and were finally separated.

Each of us longs to be accepted. Whether it is about a desire for a loving relationship or a group of friends or particular community, we want others to like us and accept us. Thus, we are willing to change and conform to certain standards in order to increase our chances. How many young men and women adopt the latest fashions in clothes and hairstyles in the hope that they will be accepted.

But the truth is that no matter how hard we strive, we are not always well received. There are many factors at play when it comes to being accepted, especially with regard to romantic relationships. The other person could have so many different issues that it is hard to be sure how they will receive us.

It is additionally challenging for Christians who need to submit to God’s standards, something which can often cost popularity, certainly in terms of society, but even in one to one relationships as well. On the other hand, being a Christian offers a great comfort in the face of the rejections in this life by other people.

Christianity can be defined as a living relationship with God through Jesus Christ who is our intermediary. This connection to Jesus offers great hope and solace because He accepts all who come to Him (Matthew 11:28). He doesn’t have various pretensions or conditions for us. Indeed, this is the very meaning of grace; that He accepts us in spite of our flaws caused by sin due to the fact that He has already dealt with our sinfulness on the cross and furthermore, he offers us something that we don’t deserve, an abundant life in Him!

Hence, we can face the rejection of others, knowing that He sticks closer than a brother (proverbs 18:24).

It had been a whole week since they had met at the university. Ben was sitting in his room, resting after returning home from church, when the moment of truth arrived.

He was busy looking at one thing and another on his telephone as was his want, when all of a sudden a message appeared from Andriana. This caused quite a stir in Ben’s inner being. What could it say?

Cautiously, he opened the message, metaphorically speaking, and there before him were Andriana’s words. ‘Hi! I’ve made my decision. Would you like to meet or share I write it to you?’

Ben didn’t know what to say. In one sense it would have been nice to meet up again, although he wasn’t sure how his emotions would stand up to this. Alternatively, in writing was a good option as it was less confrontational.

 Ben dithered and then began writing. It was in vane though as Andriana, by this stage proving herself to not be one to mess about had already started typing. Ben hurriedly rushed his message through that it would be nice to meet up, but if it was easier for her, she could write him an email. She wrote her message here in messenger.

Because she had already started typing, the agonising wait, was that little bit less agonising. The message, although quite long, appeared quickly. Ben couldn’t help himself scanning it before reading it, hoping for a clue as to its contents. He saw the word no and so quickly regretted his forwardness, although nevertheless embarked upon reading the message, conscious that the word no could have many contexts and connotations.

After some reassuring words about how she had seriously thought about Ben’s proposal, Andriana got to the business end of things. As Ben was now used to, there was no beating about the bush. The phrase, ‘my answer is no’, didn’t leave room for too much speculation as how this could be interpreted. The message did at least conclude with some encouraging words about trusting in God to show Ben his future wife.

Deflated, Ben resigned himself to another romantic defeat, and wrote a few cordial words in reply. This was however not quite the end.

A few days later an evangelistic meeting was taking place. Ben had been encouraged to try and invite some people, just one of which accepted. He arranged to meet this person at the bus stop by the university, so that he could bring her to the meeting. He arrived at the stop and she wasn’t there yet. This wasn’t the first time that he had a few moments to kill, waiting for someone by the university. As he daydreamed and looked around all of sudden he spied a familiar figure. It was Andriana on the other side of the road, heading towards the entrance to the university. Ben’s instinct was to call out to her to try and attract her attention. These proved fruitless though as she didn’t hear, or at least she didn’t stop.

Once again instinctively, Ben stepped forward, desiring to go after her. However, he realised that she was quite a bit ahead and already disappearing into the university campus. He now found himself in a quandary wondering about whether to go after her or not. His dilemma was disturbed by a voice.

‘Hi! Sorry I’m late!’ Ben turned to see the only student who had accepted to go to the evangelistic meeting. Her timely arrived reminded Ben that his calling from God was not to chase after possible spouses, but rather to serve those around him.

False Teachers

Ben sat glued to the television screen. The offer sounded too good to be true.

Above Image

Before him were four men, smartly dressed in expensive looking suits. Three of them had introduced themselves as pastors from America and the fourth as a pastor from Australia, each one overseeing churches with names like, ‘New Life Christian Center’ or ‘Victorious Christian Fellowship’.  So far all seemed good.

The leader of the group had begun to explain that in front of them was a pile of letters that these pastors had received from people with various different problems. The screen then cut to a different angle so that the huge mountain of letters that was indeed before them came into view.  

The leader then proceeded to open his Bible and read some verses from the book of Isaiah. Ben hadn’t quite caught the reference for where the pastor was reading, but in any case it didn’t matter too much because the pastor then launched into the thrust of his message which was that God has two anointments for his children; one of financial blessing and the other of physical healing. Ben was slightly taken aback. He had never thought of things this way before.

The pastor continued his message, expounding the idea that God would protect his children from financial crises and that he would offer healing to those who were faithful to him. Sounded good on first hearing, especially as the pastor had been backing it up with Bible verses. The conclusion then came as the main pastor said that he and the other pastors would now pray for God’s anointing over all those who had sent letters.

All four pastors raised their hands and began to pray for anointings for all those who had written letters. After a quick prayer, the shot cut back to the lead pastor who now announced, ‘…and as a special offer for you, we have a study Bible for sale that includes our guide on God’s financial and health plan for your life. It can be yours for just £50. Ring the following number right now to order!’ An image of said Bible appeared on the screen with the appropriate telephone number. After a fair few seconds (so that viewers had adequate time to get the phone number written down, presumed Ben) the screen cut away to the end credits and the pastors were gone, leaving Ben to reflect on God’s plan of health and wealth and whether a £50 Bible was what he needed to get his life in order.

Most people desire to be healthy and wealthy. These are two basic aspects of life, without which we suffer. Thus, the offer of a God who offers both in abundance to those who follow him is tantalising.

However, if we read the Bible, whether a £50 one or a free one that we have been given at an evangelistic meeting, we discover that God’s plan is not quite that simple. A good example is King Solomon.

Solomon was King David’s son with Bathsheba. He gets off to a good start in life, being born into a royal family and eventually inheriting the throne from his father, although he has to be involved in some unsavoury moments in order to establish his throne. We then see him having a very prosperous reign as king. He builds the Jewish temple, a significant architectural work, where God was to be worshipped for the next few hundred years.

Beyond this, we see him also building a royal palace (1 Kings 9:10), becoming so famous that a distant queen comes to visit him (1 Kings 10:1), accruing so much gold that silver has no value in his kingdom (1 Kings 10:21), not to mention many other things such as robes, weapons, spices, chariots and horses (1 Kings 10:25,26). On top of all this, he has many wives and concubines (1 Kings 11:3).

Alongside, this great wealth, we can speculate that his health must have been pretty good for him to have been able to do everything he did. Thus, we see someone who was blessed from a health and wealth point of view far beyond most of us today. However, this is not just God’s benevolence towards a person who does all the right things, but rather God ‘s reward for Solomon having a right heart.

We see in 1 Kings chapter 3 Solomon having a genie in bottle moment. God appears to him in a dream and offers him whatever he wants. However, instead of asking for the obvious health and wealth, he asks for something that you don’t often hear about in genie jokes.

In verse 9 he requests a discerning heart so that he judge the people he is governing fairly. As a result, God promises to make him the wisest man who ever lived (verse 12), not to mention to give him these other good things that he didn’t actually even ask for (verse 13).

Thus, we see an example of God blessing someone with health and wealth, but only as a consequence of him seeking what is right. There is also a condition attached. In verse 14 the word if appears, warning Solomon that he needs to obey God’s decrees and commands in order to fully benefit from what is promised. Herein is the catch, which we also see clearly presented in Deuteronomy 28; God’s blessings were for those who obey Him.

In other words, in Old Testament times God did promise health and wealth to His people, but with the condition that they carefully followed His commands. If they didn’t, curses were promised. Solomon for all his greatness, fell foul of this condition.

Returning to the issue of Solomon’s many wives, while for many men the thought of many wives might inspire dread, Solomon seems to have married many women from the surrounding nations for political reasons (1 Kings 11:1,3). This was against God’s commands, which specified that His people the Israelites shouldn’t marry foreign women because they would lead them into idolatry. (1 Kings 11:2). This very thing is what happened to Solomon (1 Kings 11:5-8). We see that the consequence of this is that God decided to take the kingdom away from Solomon, although even here we see God’s grace as He decided to fulfil this judgement only in the time of Solomon’s son.

This idea of grace carries over into the New Testament. Time and time again the great men of the Old Testament fail one way or another, and it is only in Jesus do we see the perfect God-man who didn’t do any wrong and thus was able to become our model saviour. Like Solomon, who in the first place sought what was right and only after that did he receive other blessings, we are also called ‘to seek first’ the kingdom of God and His righteousness and then to trust in him for the other things we need (Matthew 6:33).

Unfortunately, there are many who want to put the emphasis on God’s material and physical blessings, bypassing the more tricky issues of sin, repentance and trusting Him. There are constant warnings of this in the New testament such as Titus 1:10,11 where the apostle Paul warns Titus about those who are full of meaningless and deceptive talk, teaching what they shouldn’t for financial gain.

However, true Christianity is not about what we can get out of God, but rather a loving relationship with Him, which we can enjoy whether in need or plenty.