Heard this over the radio during the Senators-Bruins game: Red Auerbach, the legendary Boston Celtics coach and general manager, died of a heart attack at the age of 89.Auerbach's passing is the kind of news that pushes everything else off the front page; he's the godfather of the NBA. The first line of his obituary writes itself -- he coached the Celtics to nine NBA championships -- but he, of course, was about much more than that.
The Celtics have been a source of controversy when it comes to race -- especially in the '80s, when that was dividing line in the debate over who was better, Larry Bird's Celtics or Magic Johnson's Lakers. Still, Auerbach did a lot to shape the modern NBA. He helped bring African-American players (some would say too slowly, but the point is, he did it, and in a racially divided city such as Boston, maybe he was wise to move ahead slowly) into the NBA and he hired the first African-American coach when he appointed Bill Russell as his successor in the '60s. The fast break? That was Auerbach. The eight-man rotation that teams use today? Auerbach started all that when he made John Havlicek the first sixth man.
The victory cigars, the blunt honesty -- Red was an original.
That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.
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I sincerely pray in the name of Jesus Christ that Red Auerbach was truly born-again by the Spirit of the living God. Jesus said in John 3:3 “Except a man is born-again he cannot see the kingdom of God”.
For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world achieve many great accomplishments in this world and die and spend eternity in a burning hellsfire.
Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace are ye saved through faith; AND THAT NOT OF YOURSELVES: it is the gift of God: NOT OF WORKS, lest any man should boast.
In Luke 16:19-31 Jesus spoke of a rich man who died and went to hell and was being tormented in the flames. And when he realized that it was too late for him because once a person enters hell it is for eternity “Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send someone to my father's house for I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also COME INTO THIS PLACE OF TORMENT.
Abraham saith unto him, they have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.
And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will REPENT And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.
John 3:36 declare: He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
Here is an excellent commentary on this passage of scripture by Albert Barnes:
“Hath everlasting life - Has or is in possession of that which is a recovery from spiritual death, and which will result in eternal life in heaven. Piety here is the same that it will be there, except that it will be expanded, matured, purified, made more glorious. It is here life begun the first breathings and pantings of the soul for immortality; yet it is life, though at first feeble and faint, which is eternal in its nature, and which shall be matured in the full and perfect bliss of heaven. The Christian here has a foretaste of the world of glory, and enjoys the same kind of felicity, though not the same degree, that he will there.
Shall not see life - Shall neither enjoy true life or happiness here nor in the world to come. Shall never enter heaven.
The wrath of God - The anger of God for sin. His opposition to sin, and its terrible effects in this world and the next.
Abideth on him - This implies that he is “now” under the wrath of God, or under condemnation. It implies, also, that it will continue to remain on him. It will “abide” or “dwell” there as its appropriate habitation. As there is no way of escaping the wrath of God but by the Lord Jesus Christ, so those who will not believe must go to eternity “as they are,” and bear alone and unpitied all that God may choose to inflict as the expression of “his” sense of sin. Such is the miserable condition of the sinner! Yet thousands choose to remain in this state, and to encounter alone all that is terrible in the wrath of Almighty God, rather than come to Jesus, who has borne their sins in his own body on the tree, and who is willing to bless them with the peace, and purity, and joy of immortal life.”
I conclude with the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord believe the gospel and “truly repent of their sins shall be saved.
Bondservant of the Lord Jesus Christ,
William
www.actioncross.net
Beware of false religions and doctrines of men that proclaim another Jesus, another gospel or another Spirit. 2 Corinthians 11:4
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