Lately I have been emotional, reactive,tense on other's view/s which are different to mine on this website. Today after coming out from our Bible study and learning some teachings on patience. I thought those lessons are good principles to apply. We live in a free country and we have free speech. So I thought I need to have a new attitude but not to compromise.
On spiritual matters which are mostly the topic on this website, I have seen different views some even affecting our salvation in one or the other side point of view. We could be very strong about our belief and interpretation but one thing is sure God rules. God is in control. History is full of examples of how man misinterprets God, some even think they are doing God a favor, an example are the men who crucified our Lord . And when confronted still refused to repent.
Anyway we could talk , write, do, think as we want to but the real issue is does the true God approves of them ?
My new attitude is not to worry, God has the final word. I have the responsibility to tell what I know is truth otherwise their blood will be in my hands, but if the other choose a different path then it is their responsibility.And vice versa.
Search me O God and know my thoughts and see if their wickedness in me (which for me are many) and cleanse me and guide me into life everlasting. I based this on the Psalms of King David.
For quite a while now we were introduced to Internet. I wanted to blog something light so as not to stress myself so I chose this topic. For me the Internet is a form of pen pal, only this time the responses are quicker. Is it in the Internet that we can live our reality, dreams or fantasy ? Is it in the Internet that we can reveal ourselves or disguise ourselves ? Is it a form of expression of our inner being or expression of our suppressed feeling ? It appears to be being in touch with the world without leaving our home.
I want to know what you think. If you can leave your comments for me and others to see,it seems that will be fine.
To be or not to be serious ? That is the question. I just read in the forum a member decided to quit and I wondered.I have joined this website because of the name True2ourselves and I tried to be one . Sometimes I pour my heart out only to find one or two readers, I end up reading my own blog to review the accuracy and truthfulness of it. I have not corrected any of my blogs after being posted, except for changing foot into feet.
I believe what we write here is also our responsibility, not only on what we write but our purpose. I expect to be accountable for them now and later.
Found some verses in the Bible and I hope this does not apply to you andme as we read them. 2 Corinthians 11:13-15 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel: for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness: whose end shall be according to their works.
To be or not to be serious ? my answer is for me is to be serious, because I am accountable for mine. Yours is yours.
A quick browsing of forums and blogs in this website, reveal a lot of people who loves the law and they present a good argument for it. Basically it boils down to if a person accepts Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior or being saved by grace through faith and not by works lest anyone should boast, yet law abiding believers would like these new and old Christians who are not saved by the law but by faith to come back to obeying the law. If I follow their logic, they say yes you are saved by faith but to remain saved you have to follow perfectly the law after accepting Christ. They present scriptures after scriptures quoting the virtues of the laws and commandments and the necessities of obedience. Of course the Bible won't tell anyone to disobey the law. Apostle Paul who used to be a Pharisee a sect strict on the law wrote several epistles after becoming a Christian, dealing about law and grace in his letters to the Romans, Colossians, and the Galatians and emphasizing that the law is schoolmaster, a shadow of things to come,who is Christ. Yet these lovers of law believers try everything in their power to bring believers back to the schoolmaster or back to the shadow which is the law.
This reasoning survived 2000 years of Christianity. Perhaps this needs to be reexamined. The laws are given to man by God. The laws then according to Apostle Paul leads to Christ. Jesus Christ the Second Person in the Godhead being God then is the Author of the law. Jesus Christ is the Author and finisher of our faith. I believe these proves that having Christ is more than the law itself. The Author of the Law fulfilled the Law not for Himself but for the lost humanity. I believe having the Maker of the law is more than having the law. As I see the lovers of the law love the law so much that their priority is to be obedient to the law. Did any human being able to satisfy the requirements of the law?. The Bible declared that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, all we are like sheep who have gone to our own ways, and God lay on Christ all our iniquities. If the law is our final destination after being declared guilty by the law, then is our accuser became our reward ?
Perhaps a simpler explanation will help. If the law is the wrapper and Christ is the gift, which one would you choose the wrapper or the gift ? I believe I will choose the gift.
Seems to me winning souls in the West gets harder because we already have many churches here, many Christian radio and TV programs, bookstores. Jesus said to His apostles I will make you fishers of men.Souls are compared to fish. Here in the west , there are many fishermen , not too many uncaught fish. Yet in the 10/ 40 window there are estimated 2-3 billion souls or fish that needed to be caught but very few fishermen. We can not all be missionaries, like me I am too old for that. Of course there are many missionary groups that are already working but we need more.
For those who can not go and have some change to spare, you can support a missionary for $30.00 dollars a month, yes you saw it right 30 dollars a month. For those of you, who felt led, you may check www.gfa.org.
I am writing this blog because of my own defense and answer to those who insist on Saturday. I believe Sabbath will be restored in the New Heavensand New Earth but for now let us consider one day Sabbath for the whole world at today's setting. Those who believe strictly on the law must also consider the proper observance of the law. First , no one should work or travel. That means all power plants and factories have to shut down before Saturday and all transportation had to stop. No hospitals, no telephone, no television, no nothing. Could we imagine the scenario or scenarios ?By the way these are scenarios that we tried to avoid during Y2K or year 2000. Another one is because of time zones of the world the Sabbath will exceed 24 hours.I believe these are a few reasons why God allowed Paul to write Romans chapter 14 which allows for discretionary Sabbath. Another one is the verse "This is the day that the Lord has made,let us rejoice and be glad in it". Every day is made by God and therefore not wrong to choose any day.
We are serving a God of love,mercy and reason not just a God of rules.Sabbath was made for man ,not man for the Sabbath. Did nature stopped operating in the Sabbath ? Did the sun stopped shining ? God did not intend us to be mechanical followers but people to be like His Son Jesus Christ, whose laws are written in the hearts of flesh and not on hearts of stone.
This month seems to be exhausting and interesting for me. Maybe because of the economy, expectation on the Super Bowl ( rooting for a Christian player ),restudy of Law and Grace. Looking at last days belief or eschatology. Concern about the Great Commission, the so called 10/ 40 window where it is estimated that three billion souls have not heard the gospel, or heard the name Jesus Christ ( for more details please see www.gfa.org.)
Back to my blog " A reflection on the Cross ". I was not sure on my study of the Ten Commandments and its implication or application on this modern time. We all know that the law is holy, that the law is established and not abolished. I searched books for explanations on the Sabbath. I have addressed this on my other blogs. The law as we may all agree shows we have disobeyed and sinned before a Holy God. We can not gain righteousness by following the law as written by Apostle Paul yet other verses in the Bible says If you love Me (God speaking ) keep my commandments.For now I will let you reflect on this.
Now let us look at the cross. The cross shows the heart of a loving God, who sent His Son to die for the sins of the world. Our Lord says " if it is Thy will let this cup (the cross) pass from me ,yet not my will but Thy will be done". Why did Jesus had to go through this great sacrifice , is there any other way ? If we could certainly be justified by the law then Jesus did not have to go to the cross, and as history and The Holy Bible revealed Jesus Christ did die on the cross. After the cross do we have to go back to the law ? At the cross Jesus said it is finished (paid in full ), does that mean we could disobey the law ? Some argue that we could obey the law now, but practice shows otherwise. We live in a fallen world and I find it hard to see anybody have a perfect day that is one who follows the Ten Commandments perfectly and humbly in any given day.
I could only find myself at the foot of the cross, pleading and being washed by the blood of the Lamb. Thank God for churches who still preaches the power of the cross.
I just got through reading Pastor Christian's blog " Persecution" and it got me asking "will Western Christian's faith be tested ?". Observing the trends of the erosion of our Judeou-Christian faith, it seems we could be leading that way. If our faith is tested are we ready ? First , does the enemy knows us ? Or will the enemy find it hard to identify us ? I heard this question before that if we are accused in court for being a Christian, will there be enough evidences to convict us ?
As for me I am preparing myself as humanly as possible but I believe it will not be enough. I need Jesus and the Holy Spirit to strengthen me. I am old,slow and taking a lot of medications. I will not be able to run away from the Antichrist, but I am relying on 1John 4:4 Greater is He that is in me than he who is in the world.
Our Bible study teacher yesterday taught on the fruit of the Spirit found in Galatians 5:22,23 which say But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,kindness,goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. I remember too a discussion I had with a dear brother in the Lord long time ago about the difference between our fruit and the fruit of the Spirit. Could it be possible that we produce two kinds of fruit?From Matthew 7:15-20 we are warned about false prophets and that we will know them by their fruit. We then think of false prophets as others but it could also be us if we are not careful. Let me prove this point.
In John 15:1-8 The verses talks about abiding in Christ, and that we should remain in Him. That if we separate ourselves from Christ then we can not produce good fruit or no fruit at all.
Our life in Christ is a conscious decision, it is not automatic. We need to acknowledge Him daily. I find that when I neglect prayer and do things that does not please God that the fruit is sour but when I acknowledge Him then the fruit is sweet.
Normally I wait for another day to write another blog, but on this one I felt an urgency. I have been a Christian now for over 26 years but only these last two years that my growth increased. I attributed this growth to two things, one is when I was diagnosed with tumor in my pituitary gland ( inside my skull) and I had to undergo surgery. I thought I was ready to go home to see the Lord but I survived the surgery. Some said maybe there is something else that the Lord wanted me to do. Another thing that happened to me is I got hold of a book " Revolution in World Missions" by K.P.Yohannan of Gospel for Asia about a year ago. I was touched by the book and I started supporting their ministry. Last November I started blogging through true2ourselves.com and still going on now. Last two or three weeks ago Gospel for Asia send letters asking for volunteers to give away their book"Revolution in World Missions" for free. I volunteered and three days ago I received five books , four of which I gave away today. Today I was thumbing through the remaining book that once again I was touched.
Maybe some of the people here in true2ourselves.com will experience the same thing after reading "Revolution in World Missions" by K.P. Yohannan of Gospel for Asia. You may request your free copy from www.gfa.org. And I would like to thank true2ourselves.com. for allowing me to write this.
