What is rejection and how can we remedy it? Sometimes in order to understand the concept of a word, we need to understand it’s opposite. The opposite of rejection is acceptance and a beautiful picture of acceptance is being honored in a banquet together with a king or a very important host. Another definition of rejection is to be denied access, to be denied fellowship, love or honor. The deepest wound one can receive is to actually be rejected, and there is a corresponding parallel between... Continue reading ...
Celebrating New Year always evokes in us a new hope and a new beginning. Hope is sorely needed in a world that is greatly shaken, in a world that is currently in recession, experiencing earthquakes, political turmoil, unrest and floods. I believe that we have come to a juncture in time when everything that will be shaken will be shaken. Paul writes about this , “See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much ... Continue reading ...
Already, many
candidates and major media are moving into full swing for next year’s
elections. We must first understand what must be done before we can
identify who can best help do it. Perhaps as important as any time since
our founding, those who believe in divine providence and eternal
principles must become well-informed and actively involved in the
political process. Christians, pastors, and all church leaders must
totally reject the lie that “separation of church and sta... Continue reading ...
“Do not
store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy,
and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves
treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where
thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there
your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:19-21
As King Solomon, the wisest
man to have ever walked this earth observed, earthly riches doesn’t last
forever, you can but cast a glance at them and then they ... Continue reading ...
“As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night
will never cease.” Gen 8:22
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.” Eccl 3:1
Have you been experiencing a general weakness? Or have you been
wondering about your purpose? What you are supposed to do at this stage
in your life? Sit, relax, God is in control and He is not pointing His
finger, worried about time, or wrangling about all the things... Continue reading ...
Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. Ecclessiastes 5:10
We have been talking about
money in order to gain a deeper understanding on how God views money
and the natural resources that we have been given. Obviously, the Lord
will not give more to those who squander their present resources or
those who do not have the wisdom to use what they were given. Money is a
powerful tool when handled properly but without the right h... Continue reading ...
The
shocking art exhibit of Mideo Cruz at CCP which took us all by surprise
is only the tip of the ice-berg of what went wrong in the modern
definition of art and freedom of expression. Some think that that art
comes from a natural desire to express oneself through drawing,
painting, sculpture, and installation of different pieces of articles to
compose one’s opinion or one’s viewpoint. Wikipedia defines art as: “Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items (often... Continue reading ...
Recently
I had a dream. In my dream, I saw a number of people whom I could only
recognize as probably missionaries. This bold company of people were
preparing to share the gospel and reach out a number of people and
tribes. They prayed. They prepared. But what stunned me afterwards is to
see that the same people were hacked to death and killed. When I saw
what happened I run and run away from the scene out of fear for my life
and mortified at what happened. Upon waking up I wondered wh... Continue reading ...
“No
servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the
other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You
cannot serve both God and Money.” Luke 16:13
Understanding the times is
not only crucial to our survival but for us to use the times of crises
to take action. Unless we have been prepared of the things that will
happen ahead, who will warn the others? Just as a loud serene warns of
an impending war, disaster or bombing in a city, the tr... Continue reading ...
After this I saw four angels standing
at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the
earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on
any tree.
Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, having the seal of the living God.
He called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea:
“Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God... Continue reading ...
I was happy to learn that more than 40 Filipinos reacted to my story "When God closes doors" which was published by the Philippine Daily Iquirer in its Global Pinoy page on Easter Sunday. Majority of those who posted online comments were believers while four were either skeptics or outright atheists. It always gives me a pleasant feeling to know that people are reading me, regardless of whether they agree with my views or not. We can not expect all people to agree with us all the time.
But on... Continue reading ...
“Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.
At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.” Matthew 24:9-14The persecution of believers since the time of Christ is a real issue. Make no mistake, every... Continue reading ...
“Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.” Matthew 24:7-8Like a woman who is about to give birth, the writhing pain and agony of the earth will just be a prelude to the end so that the New World Order which the Lord Jesus Christ will put up in His coming reign for a thousand years will be fulfilled. It is true that there will be much destruction because the judgment o... Continue reading ...
“Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.” Matthew 24:7-8The word nation translated here means ethnic from the Greek word ethnos. Almost all wars have been rooted in differences between tribal leaders and their practices which is why the travail in the last days would include severe wars between tribes or nation vs. nation and kingdom vs kingdom. For instance the case ... Continue reading ...
“Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.” Matthew 24:4-8The church has been in deep slumbe... Continue reading ...
“In that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the Lord near its border.
And it will become a sign and a
witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt; for they will cry to
the Lord because of oppressors, and He will send them a Savior and a
Champion, and He will deliver them.
Thus the Lord will make Himself
known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the Lord in that day. They
will even worship with sacrifice and offe... Continue reading ...
We continue our series on faith about what is faith and what is not faith. About two weeks ago we have been struck by Typhoon Juan but amazingly, we were spared the same effects that could have happened with Ondoy. What happened? Apparently, our new government was more discerning this time around and zeroed in for zero-casualty and evacuated villagers in the most vulnerable position of the Typhoon when it lashes out. Only the fools who waited and tried to save their cows and houses were destr... Continue reading ...
"Many are the plans in a man’s heart
but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails." (Prov. 19:21 NIV)
Sometimes
we are beset with many plans and we bring them before God in our daily prayers.
We ask Him to invoke blessings on our wish lists but often times we miss the
point of prayer, which is asking God that He may speak to us and guide us on
the present and on our future endeavours. There are many who ask for cars,
houses and even spouses, but the point of praying is not only asking the... Continue reading ...
There are three keys of success in our Christian life: 1) the faith
that overcomes the world, 2) our trust in the Scriptures as His
inerrant Word and 3) intimate relationship with the Lord. Let’s discuss
how we can grow in faith and develop confidence that can help us grow
and do mighty exploits for God. There are teachers that teach
self-confidence is a vain thing in this world and therefore we must
throw it away. There are also teachers that tell the opposite that we
need it and we cannot... Continue reading ...
I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples
no one was with Me. Isaiah 63:3
Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for
his friends. John 15:13
The old rugged cross was a symbol of the Roman empire’s prestige,
power and position. It is shameful to be crucified as the Scriptures say
that cursed be the man that hangs on a tree. The cross was a human
invention of the most wicked scheme of punishment to his fellow; yet
just as the human mind intended it ... Continue reading ...
Evil does have a life by itself. It cannot be denied that once this
life form infects the human being, he becomes its target until he is
fully overcome. The devil establishes itself in the believers mind and
heart as clearly expounded by Paul, For though we walk in the
flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our
warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction
of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing
raised up against t... Continue reading ...
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Hosea 4:6
Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of
wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been
brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as
instruments of righteousness. Romans 6:13 (NIV)
Like a virus that needs a host before it can infect an animal or
plant, evil is not transmitted without a host. It needs body before
being incubated and then shots up to infect othe... Continue reading ...
Just as faith is the door for God’s
Kingdom in one’s life, fear is the door for Satan to enter into a
person’s life and oppress him. He controls people, kingdoms and nations
through fear. To the degree that one has allowed fear in his life that
is the degree that he is influenced by fear. Every time there is
distrust among nations and among friends, it is because one has been
affected by fear.
For example the conflict between Christians and Muslims in the south
is not merely ... Continue reading ...
“The heavens are the heavens of the LORD, but the earth He has
given to the sons of men.” Psalms 115:16
The earth is the battleground between good and evil. It is occurring
in the hearts and minds of people. Even if we think we are inside the
church, God and the devil are pursuing us with diametrically opposed
purposes and intentions; the two most powerful beings in the universe
are both trying to kill us! Just as God desired to walk with man in the
garden in close and intimate fell... Continue reading ...
Resurrection power
There is true life in the Lord. Everyone who dies in the Lord lives
again. If this is the end of all things-we are the greatest of all fools
and our preaching is vain, “and
if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith
also is vain. Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God,
because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not
raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not
raised, no... Continue reading ...
The times in the wilderness
Israel was not quickly transported to heaven after believing God and
being “baptized” in the Red sea. She was thrust rather to walking the
great distance from that point on to the wilderness. This experience is
really a means of God to get their hearts truly aligned to His mind for
the calling that He has called them. This journey could have not lasted
very long, it could have been simply an 11 days journey and then to the
Promised Land, but because of t... Continue reading ...
“There seems to be a way for a man but the end thereof is death,”
Solomon wrote, and it seems that every man since tried to put up a
solution to solve every problem. There is a subtle thought, that just
one chance, just one idea, just one opportune time, and I will make it big. Like Lucifer, these
dreamers defile the sanctuary, use the name of God, their calling and
then trade it for the goods of the world. Every dream, goal and motive
which is not aligned with the Word of God, and ... Continue reading ...
The year 2010 is fraught with foreboding presence of either God or
the devil in the election. Our destiny hangs in the balance, and it
hangs on the captain we will choose to steer the Philippine leader ship
to either greater bondage or the freedom from it. This ship, which
I have discussed in my books “Freedom from religious bondage” (Bringing
down friarism), and also in “Restorers of the breach” (Contending for
the dream) symbolizes the present leadership and
 Francisco
Pizarro ...
I think most of us do not
grasp the degree of suffering and devastation that has hit Haiti. We
think because the front-page news about Haiti has diminished that
Haiti's need has also diminished, but it has not. The urgency of people
being buried alive has been replaced with the urgency of a million and a
half people without homes or shelter.
To put this disaster into
perspective, recall the terrifying Sumatran tsunami that killed 230,000
people in December 2004. Eighteen nations were... Continue reading ...
Yesterday was different. The clouds seem to have their shining luster, stirred as if brought nearer into the clouds of heaven, full of stars. The Jordan river was not full and overflowing at the day nor it flooded its banks. This is the place where many come to refresh themselves and gather some water for washing their camels and donkey. Few have ever imagined that this River would still continue its coarse running for more than 4,000 years feeding Israel and the Jordan valley for the neede... Continue reading ...
Fröhliche Weihnachten! Naragsak a Pascua kadatayu amin. These two words are often painted in canvass of mixed colors, splashed with creativity, they hang almost everywhere in most shops and department stores. Some even glow at night
with neon brightness. This happens not just in Europe but around the
world where Christ is named and the
 To the extent that we do good deeds to the least of His Brethren, we did it to Him practice celebrated with assiduous religiosity. Sometime ago, I felt
the pa... Continue reading ...
“For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and
all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so
also is Christ.
 Just as the body of man is but one, so is the Body of Christ but one
For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body,
whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to
drink of one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. If the
foot says, “Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,” it
is not for ... Continue reading ...
In an amazing twist of destiny, we have been spared from
another possibly deadly typhoon attack but praise the Lord for as we
have all been praying, God stopped Ramil in the sea. Can God really
stop a typhoon, much less a superstrong one in the radar of weather
forecasters? Yes, that truth is easier realized than anything when we
think that He is both just, merciful and loving God. God can stop any
percolating typhoon, windstorm, thunderstorm or even tornado. Even at
the risk of being ...
In
1 Samuel 17:1-11, we are told that the Philistines were all lined up in
battle against the Israelites, and then, as if to display their
arrogance, brought their massive weaponry into the thick of the
conflict and challenged the Israelites if they could truly fight them.
“Bring out your champion and let each of us fight together,” shouted
the giant in taunting manner. “If he will win, we will be your slaves,
but if I will win, you will be our servants,” rung the words t... Continue reading ...
There are three keys of success in the Christian life: 1) the faith
that overcomes the world, 2) our trust in the Scriptures as His
inerrant Word and 3) intimate relationship with the Lord. Today we will
be discussing what is confidence and how can we develop it in our
lives. There are teachers that teach self-confidence is a vain thing in
this world and therefore we must throw it away. There are also teachers
that tell us the opposite, that we need it and we cannot survive
without it. So who... Continue reading ...
Given all the prevailing issues that have come due to the
floods that has brought our country to its knees, there is only one
sure solution that everyone of us need to understand. We must build our
houses on the Rock, that is plain, stable and solid ground that none
can push away. This Rock is not dead, nor is it of volcanic origin or
“earthly” as many geologists would mistake. It is not. We have to see
the perspectives that is upon us now by asking three salient questions,
1) Wh... Continue reading ...
One of my favorite books in the Bible is the book of Daniel. This
man of God tread down the serpent and acted as counsellor, watchman and
interpreter of God in the courts of the Kings during his days. He
served one of the most cruel king ever born of woman, Nebuchadnezzar.
He also served Darius the Mede as well as Cyrus the great. During one
instance in his service to the house of Nebuchadnezzar, when his son
was already ruling in his place, a finger appeared suddenly on the
wall. Lost of wor... Continue reading ...
We continue our discussion on how we can best become the harbingers of peace and light into our families, communities and eventually our nation. The church is the most powerful entity in this world when we all combine our resources together as one big cooperative and institution. Whenever the Lord looks down from heaven, He does not see His body as bodies but He only sees one Church, His Bride. It is therefore very repugnant if not at all presumptuous to think that we own the people of God as... Continue reading ...
In one of the most prophetic songs I have ever heard, Michael W. Smith’s Above All declares the majesty and power of God over the creation and dominion of man and all created beings. God’s power is really above all authority, above all powers, above all kings, above all thrones and dominions-He truly is the epitome, the one above all things. If Jesus is then King above all, what is the question? This is the struggle of all believers during times of crisis and during trials. Can God be tru... Continue reading ...
I was wondering if there were signs to be observed and things that we have overlooked why we have not known before hand the magnitude of the flood that will be coming. If we could have known then we could have prepared very well. This in essence is the conclusion of many of those who were surprised of the flooding that took away millions of pesos of infrastructure damages and more than a hundred lives.  Because we thought that PAGASA forecasts are not worth learning, most of us were caught una... Continue reading ...
This past two days we saw the great swell of water that flooded Marikina, Rizal, Bulacan and 23 other provinces that could only be described as catastrophic in nature. Typhoons and hurricanes represent one of the most potent forces of nature that could ever bring disaster on earth. With an average of 20 typhoons passing all over the country, there is no doubt that it takes a great faith and patience to truly build something of value and wonder in our country specially in Luzon and parts of Vi... Continue reading ...
Previously, we discussed that one of the greatest barriers that is coming down is the carnal reasoning that we must only take good care ourselves and forget the others. Being our brother’s keeper is loving our neighbor as we love ourselves which is the second commandment of Love. Probably, all the great mistakes in history is rooted in self-preservation, thus Jesus forewarned “For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake shall find it. “For w... Continue reading ...
The following is our tribute to the family of Renan Gup-Ay who
passed without even saying goodbye to his family because he was
snatched into eternity while studying Medicine as a second year proper
at St. Louis University Baguio. May the Lord comfort all the bereaving
family and give them the grace to stand and face the storms in this
life. God bless you all.
A monologue of the dead
How fallen is the man of the family,
How terror has befallen us all,
Death has taken one slain,
Where is victor... Continue reading ...
|
