I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 18th of September, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Gospel of Matthew 26:14-16:

”Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said,” What are you willing to give me if I deliver Him to you?” And they counted out to him thirty pieces of silver. So from that time he sought opportunity to betray Him.”

This morning the Lord has laid on my heart to share with us the word, ”Betrayal.” I don’t think there’s anything worse, is there? I looked up the Oxford dictionary to find out the meaning of this word. It says, “To be disloyal to someone, to be unfaithful, to breach trust. Deception, double-dealing, stab in the back, sell out, double cross.”

I left my prayer room and I went through to the house, and my wife, Jill, was making the bed, and I said to Jill, out of the blue, ”What is the worst kind of betrayal do you think there is for a woman?” She looked at me, she said to me, ”Angus, unfaithfulness is the worst kind of betrayal,” she thinks for a woman, when a man is unfaithful to his wife. It must have really hurt the Lord Jesus Christ when the soldiers came into the garden and arrested Jesus but what was even worse was that Judas Iscariot said, ”I will tell you which one it is, out of the disciples, when I kiss Him.” He came and he kissed Jesus on the neck, the utmost betrayal. That’s a very hard thing to come back from.

Now you might be saying, ”But how can we counteract that? How can prevent that from happening?” Well, I want to tell you a couple of simple things that we employ here at Shalom Ministries. Number one is accountability. There are no lone rangers in the Kingdom of God. There are no one-man shows. We are a team. I have got five men that I am responsible to. I have asked them to mentor me, to guide me and to watch over me. I cannot make my own decisions. I can go to them and say, ”This is what I believe the Lord has said”, and they will pray about it and give me their counsel. It gives me a lot of peace in my heart.

When you go out, young man, young lady, to go out and tell people about the Lord, you go out two by two. “Why?” You ask - because that’s the way the Lord did it. He sent the disciples out two by two so the one could watch the other one’s back. I want to say to young people, when you’re dating, don’t go out on your own, go out with a group of people. The devil is a liar and a thief. That’s what he did to Judas Iscariot. Judas went on his own and betrayed the Lord. If you’re in business, always have a double signature. Be prepared for someone else to stand up for you when you make a decision and ultimately ask yourself the question, "What would Jesus do?" and then do it.

God bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 17th of September, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Book of Exodus 7:1:

“So the Lord said to Moses: “See, I have made you as God to pharaoh,…”

What a responsibility to be God’s mouthpiece, but oh, friends, isn’t that the case with you and me today? When we speak to people in a fallen world, people who see us as followers of Jesus, when we speak they perceive that the words you and I are speaking are from God. What a great responsibility we have!

Then we go to the Book of John 8:10-11:

”When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no-one but the woman , He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no-one condemned you?” She said, “No-one Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; Go and sin no more.”

- The words of our beloved Saviour.

Now, you and I need to speak the same way. We are not here to condemn people because people who live in glass houses don’t throw stones, do they? That’s a fact, but our counsel, our words, must be sweet because one day we might have to eat them, and that’s not a joke, is it?

I want to tell you a little story about a dental student from Central Africa. This happened a few years ago. He wrote me a heartbreaking letter to say, “Uncle Angus, I have been studying at university. I am in my final year but I can’t take it anymore. It is too much for me, I am not getting through it. I am really wanting to give up. What should I do?” I wrote back to him. I said, “Young man, press on. The Bible tells you in Philippians 4:13, that you can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens you.” I never heard from him again for another six months and then I got a beautiful email written and it was the dental student. “Uncle Angus, I want to tell you that I took your advice (God’s advice) and I pressed through and I passed my degree.” Signed Dr…, and he put his name there.

Oh folks, this is an opportunity that you and I have to be God’s mouthpiece. It is a very, very serious responsibility. You cannot condone sin. If there is a couple living together out of wedlock, tell them they must get married if they want a blessing on their marriage. Tell a young man not to get into debt. If you are borrowing more than you own, you’re in debt. Don’t do that. God doesn’t want you to do that. Sometimes we are unpopular for that kind of advice, but we need to do it if we are going to be God’s mouthpiece, for the sake of those who Jesus died for.

God bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Tuesday morning, the 16th of September, 2025 and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Book of Isaiah 40:8:

“The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.”

Isn’t that beautiful? Isn’t that authority? Isn’t that direction? In this troubled world we need direction. We need the comfort of authority.

Then we confirm the Word in the New Testament in the Book of Mark 13:31:

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.”

The Lord puts His word above His name. There is nothing in the universe that is more powerful than the Word of God. You know what it says in John 1:1:

”In the beginning was the Word…”

Jesus puts His word above everything else. You can bank on it. You can’t bank on much else, can you? But the sad thing is that some theologians will tell us that the Word of God is just a book, a guideline on how to live life. So sad, but those same people have no authority in their lives, nothing. They have no vision, they have no definite opinion. When young people come and ask them a question, like for example, “Can we sleep together before we get married?” According to the Bible, we can’t and if we do, we are fornicators, and (unrepentant) fornicators are not going to Heaven. We need direction like never before. It needs to be critical. You see, when we take the word of God literally as coming from the Lord, that brings law and order into the home. So when mom and dad are having an argument about something, and we all do, don’t we? Go to the word. What does the Bible say about the issue? And you stand on that. It is not about opinions, it is about the Bible. The Bible gives us moral principles. The Bible tells us what we can do and what we can’t do.

Now, we are not talking about being bound by the law. If anybody knows about the freedom of grace, it is me. Undeserved loving kindness, unmerited favour - that is what grace is, but we need the word of God for our security, our comfort. You will never see me in a photo without my Bible. It is Jesus in print! How many times have I told you, when somebody asks you, “Where is this Jesus you are always talking about?” Give them a Bible.

Oh folks, people love the word. It brings security. So, today spend time reading your Bible and that will give you direction for your future.

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye.